Introduction: Hello!

And thank you for clicking here to my story!

Before you read my story, I'd like to take this chance to give a short introduction of what my goal and expectations is with this story.
First and foremost - without spoiling anything major, this story will heavily focus on an Anthromorphic version of MLP as the story progresses, while still remaining the original pony design in the background.
Hope that doesn't spoil anything! ;)
I'd just like to state this now before some of you may be put of by this when the story progress.
However, I personaly think it will fit into context with what I have planed, and can only ask that you give this first chapter a try - free of anthromorphic creatures - and judge if it's to your liking!

My goal is a bit hard to explain... My main goal is just to have fun writing something to relates to a show which I love!
While still putting my own twist into it. ;)
This will also play out as I will not follow the show to the letter - because let's face it, the show have flaws, and have steped on it's own toes more then once. And ruined good setups.
And in a lot of areas, I much preffer the fanfiction versions of certain charachters and events - Ie. Dittzy *Derpy* Hooves. (:3) Or, keeping Daring Doo a fiction-within-a-fiction cahrachter.
Also, I may put forward my own background story for certain things - I'll be sure to make the altered background clear in those cases.

Thirdly, and for the moment, finaly - Please, give me as much constructive critizism as possible!
I love writing, and write other stories on my free time.
My dream is to one day publish my own original story, or more!
However, for this, I am aware of a lot of my flaws which I am working on. And I need your help to improve!
Now, I won't state my know flaws straight out.
If no one notices them, I know I have improved. :)

ENOUGH CHIT-CHAT!
PLEASE... ENJOY! :)

The one with the Shattered Horn

Ch. 1: The crystal mine.

A water pearl rolled down the stalactite and feel to the rock floor, creating a small echo in the cave. The sound made the soft yellow mare yelp and collapse to the ground, folding her front legs over her head and helmet, and forcing her wings to retract swiftly to the sides of her being. "What was that?!" she whimpered in place.

The blue pegasus planted her face in her hooves and groaned before she flew over to the other pegasus and scoffed her up of the ground. "For the last time Fluttershy, it's just water! No monsters, no changelings - just water!"

The pink haired pegasus rose to her feet, albeit slowly and on edge. "I am sorry Rainbow Dash! These dark caves makes me uneasy, and the noise startled me."

A pink fluffy manned pony popped out behind Fluttershy, seemingly out of nowhere and giggled uncontrollably. "Yea! These caves are like uber-duper scary!" she said while bouncing away from the two pegasi. Both of them looked at the pink party-bomb before turning to each other and share a heartily giggle together. Fluttershy's troubled looks diminished and in its place took a calm smile.

"See? No worries, Shy! Just try to keep it cool, like me!"said the rainbow manned pegasus with a confident smile. She then folded her front limbs and hovered over to the source of the sound. The light of her mining helmet illuminated her object of interest. She inspected the rock formation swiftly... before she grew bored of it half a second later. "Although I wouldn't mind a monster right now. I thought exploring these caves would be cool! Like in 'Daring Do and The Caverns of Mystery'!" she said while waving her hoofs in different heroic fighting stances.

A lavender colored mare with wings and horn trotted over to her side."How can you not find this exciting Rainbow?" she said. Extending a hoof towards the rocks. "These stalactites here have been here for hundreds of years, some of them even thousands, depending on their size! They are made from the water that runs down, carrying..." she tried to explain before another pony with a light orange coat came and interrupted her. Her big cowboy hat hanging on her one side since she already wore a mining helmet.

"Ah'm sorry, Twilight, y'all remember we got something to do, right? I'd rather we'all finish up her so we can leave. These caves makes me som'what uneasy myself!" Applejack said, sincerely sorry to interrupt her friend, as she knew how much Twilight loves to both learn and share knowledge.

Taken out of her rhythm, the alicorn realized she was starting to monologue "Ah, yes! You are right, Applejack, we should investigate the mines first." She said and started walking further into the cave, with all other ponies following her lead. "Besides, I can tell you all about this when we get back out." Which earned her a bored sigh from Dashie, which in turn made everyone share a small laugh between themselves.

"Jokes aside, I too can't wait to get out of these caves! This damp air is going to ruin my mane!" said the white, blue manned unicorn. Dressed in the same mining hat as everyone else. Although she was also dressed in a bright yellow safety west which had been redesigned into a more exquisite piece of clothing, while remaining it's practical nature. "So, Twilight, can you please finally tell us what we are doing down here?"

Twilight levitated a book out of her backpack to her field of view, the helmet lighting up the pages for her to read. "I am sorry Rarity, but I am still unsure. But I'll tell you what I do know..." She turned a page where the one page was fully covered by image of a meteor. "It says here that approximately a thousand years ago, a great meteor fell from the sky and landed here. Luckily, it landed in the valley above us, so there were no reports of anyone getting hurt."

"So you are saying we are standing in a crater of a fallen star?" Rainbow questioned with a befuddled look in her face.

"Well... while a meteor isn't really a star... but, yea, that's about it. Of course, these particular tunnels are pony made." Twilight calmly corrected her friend, not feeling the need to go into further details of explanation.

"That... is so AWESOME!" She squealed, creating a sharp echo through the tunnel.

In the distance of the tunnel, a loud rumbling sound was heard, but it quickly died out. Twilight, Applejack and Rarity all froze in place, making sure no further rockslides were occurring. Fluttershy instantly collapsed on the floor with her hooves over her head again, Pinkie just kept bouncing in circles around her.

Raising her hoof over her mouth, Twilight said. "Shhh! Not so loud! We don't want to cause a cave in!"

Dashie hovered in place with her hooves over her mouth, expressing a muffled 'sorry'.

"It'all seem to be clear. We'all better get a move on!" Applejack suggested.

"Agreed!" Said Twilight and continued her trotting while reading. "At any rate, where was I... Ah, yes! The meteor rested her mostly uninterrupted till about a century ago when a expedition set out to research it. Upon exploring the crater, it was found that the meteor was carrying a generous amount of crystals."

Suddenly, Rarity's look seemed a lot more positive. "Crystals, here? What kind of crystals?" She asked, eagerly. "Perhaps something I can use in my latest project..." she mumbled to herself, silent enough for no one to hear.

"Hmm... Well, these crystals seems to range from transparent to semi-transparent. Even the color of the crystals differ, depending on how far into the core of the meteor they are..." Twilight cut her own sentence short and had a look as if she was thinking of something, before she beamed up in a energetic smile. "How fascinating! I wonder if this has got to do with the different temperature in the layers when it landed! *Sqee* I can't wait to study this further!"

"So... uhm, the reason why we are here? If... if you don't mind me asking." Fluttershy whispered while keeping her head low and casting a glance from side to side, searching for danger.

The alicorn turned around, giving her shy friend hasty smile "Sorry, I got carried away!" Clearing her throat, Twilight continued her explanation. "So after the discovery, a mining operation were established here. Shipping crystals all over Equestria."

"Wait, Darling, how come I've never heard of this place before? I am sure I'd be aware of such an elaborate crystal-based operation." The white mare said with confidence in her voice as she quickly glanced at her own cutie-mark of 3 finely cut crystals.

"These crystals have a high resonance towards magic, similar to those in the Crystal Empire. These were used to make magical tools, like crystal balls - rarely, if ever, as accessories." Twilight paused while turning to another page. "Besides, there haven't been any mining activity here for several decades."

"Why's that? They ran out'a crystals to mine?" Applejack questioned. "Still, that doesn't tell why'n tarnation we are in this abandoned mine!" she said, somewhat agitated as the darkness was getting on her nerves.

Twilight halted and turned around to face her friends."I'm sorry I asked you all to come with me here! As a princess, I wanted get the truthful answer to that question too." she said with a sad frown upon her face.

Applejack, feeling a bit sorry about her outburst scratched with the hoof at the rough ground before turning to Twilight with hurtful eyes. "No, no! Ah'm sorry, Twilight! I am letting this cave get to me. I am used to being up in the sunshine, with big open fields. Ah didn't mean to sound so brash! If you think this'ere is important to you, then Ah'm in!" the orange mare exclaimed with pride in her voice.

Twilights demeanor lightened up and she faced her friends with a big smile. "Thank you, Applejack. Thank you all for following me on this! I know the depths can be unsettling, believe me. It reminds me of the time I was trapped by Chrysalis."

"Hah! No sweat! This cave here got nothing but boredom against me!" said Rainbow Dash with a hearty beat to her voice, flexing her muscles.

Everyone shared a laugh before Twilight continued. "But still, thank you all for always being there!"

"Why of course, darling!" Rarity said trotting past the alicorn. "However... You do owe us a banquet at the castle for this." she said with a coy smile on her face.

Twilight giggled. "Yes, I am sure we can arrange that!" and they continued their exploration.

Applejack walked up to the side of Twilight. "So tell us, why'd they stop mining if they got a good thing going?"

Magically resuming the position of the book for her to read, Twilight took to word. "I am not sure, it happened so suddenly. The workers all decided they didn't want to go down here anymore, they claimed this place was haunted."

With the mention of the word 'haunted' they all heard a thud behind them.
As they all turned around and saw Fluttershy - her eyes wide as saucers with an empty glare of realization, while the helmet just slid of her head and into the rocky ground with a clank. Her body frozen, as if she was petrified in midflight and fell to the ground, her wings pointing straight to their respective sides, her legs locked in a walking motion. She was even wobbling back and worth as a real statue which had been disturbed, and risked falling over on its own unbalanced construction.

Luckily, Rainbow was quick to intervene before the yellow mare fell forward face first. "Get it together, Shy! It's just rumors, there is no way there can be ghosts here! It's only to scare little fillies!" She said to the other pegasus with no reaction. "Hey guys, I think we broke her!" She said as she waved her hoof in front of Fluttershy with not so much as a blink, just the eerie stare of nothingness.

Pinkie Pie walked around her and studied Fluttershy's stationary body. She then preceded with planting her face towards Shy's and stared her deep into the eyes with a menacing look. Deeper, deeper, deeper, all the time more and more threatening... Until she just suddenly turned around with her normal smile and said "Nope, it's not the Fluttershy-stare!" nonchalantly.

"Well, what in Celestias name do we do now? We can't very well leave her here!" Rarity wondered out loud.

Applejack trotted over to the blue pegasus. "Hey, dash, give me a 'oof here will'ya!"
With a might heave, they lifted the mare up and place her over their backs, sharing her weight between the two sturdy ponies. "There. Solved it! Shall we?"

Twilight stifled a laugh with her hoof. "Don't worry guys, I can carry her!" she said and closed her eyes. Instantly a swirling, violet colored energy enveloped her horn, then the entirety of Fluttershy, she used her magic effortlessly position the poor soul a little bit to the right, so she could keep a look at her. "Now, let us continue."

They proceeded in relative silence for several minutes, with only the occasional water drops and hoof steps to break the silence. They walked in the shadow, RD first, as the adventurous soul that she is. She didn't admit it, but even though she genuinely do believe there are no ghost, the mere though got her excited for some action, even if a little... cautious. Twilight were right behind her, showing her excellent multitasking of levitating a book, a pony and still walk with ease while reading, a sign that she have done a similar task before. The rest of the group just walking on and paying nothing particular in mind.

As they walked, the tunnel walls just suddenly disappeared, and the sound from their steps seemed to echo a lot more now, meaning they were in a much, much larger area right now. "The tunnel seems to just end here..." RD said, hesitantly if that was a good or a bad thing.

Raising her head from the pages of her book and looking around with her mining help. She could see a few glistering reflections, but sadly the helmet didn't provide enough light to tell anything concrete about the room they were in. Still "Ah, excellent! That means the book were indeed correct - we are here!" using her magic, she lowered the still unconscious pegasus. Her body having recovered from her petrified state, now hanging loose as if the pegasus were just lost in a pleasant nap as her body floated in a bed of magic. "AJ, do you mind...?"

Without letting her friend finish her sentence; "I got 'er, partner!" said Applejack. On her command, Twilight gently placed Fluttershy upon AJ's back. "There, there! I got you!" She whispered into the pegasus's ear. Softly brushing a few stray strands of her mane away from her face.

"Everybody, shield your eyes, I am going to use my magic to light up this entire room!" Twilight said with a stern face.

"Hey, wait!" Rainbow Dash Objected and took her helmet of, waving it in the air.

"Why'd we wear these stupid things if you could just use your magic to light things up?"

"To protect your head of course! Although..." Twilight paused with the edge of her lips curling into a smile. "If the book is right, this will be 'some view', and I wanted to give you girls the full experience."

Not really sure she buy the whole talk about 'some view', she still landed on the ground and covered her eyes.
AJ placed her hat over Fluttershy's head. Other than that she and Rarity followed Dashies example. Pinkie brought forth a weird pair glasses with black lenses, which she placed over her eyes. Where were she keeping them even...

"You guys ready?" Twilight said more as a statement, then a question. She covered her eyes and started to focus on the spell. Soon, a bright light erupted from her horn, so strong it seeped past everyone's protection of their eyes, it even startled Fluttershy out of her unconsciousness. The Light dimmed down to the point where it was no longer blinding.

Fluttershy groaned as if she recently woke up after a night's sleep. The light leaving bright spots on her very eyes. She rubbed her eyes trying to regain her vision. While still adjusting her eyes, she removed AJ's hat and tiredly inspected her surroundings. She saw her friends around her, peeking forth past the light spots and dark after images. All of the ponies, the two earth ponies, the pegasus, the unicorn and the alicorn, all stood slack jawed with their head tilted backwards, looking up. 'What's the matter?' she questions herself in her head, to dazed to properly puzzle things together.

Noticing Fluttershy rustling about on her back, Applejack turned her head to meet hear friends face. "Hey there partner! 'Bout time you woke up!"

Confused, Fluttershy spoke, "Oh... ah... ehum, wh-what happened? Did ah... Did I fall... asleep?" she said, trying to grasp the situation. Rubbing her eyes to get rid of the last of the weird light spots in her eyes.

"Never mind that! Look!" AJ said and raised her, pointing upwards. The pegasus followed her motion with a questioned look and gazed up into the ceiling of the cave. Her breath taken from her by sheer amazement.

The ceiling was filled with crystals, starting from white and transparent from around the area the tunnel ended, and the further in, the deeper the colors got.
The Bright pure light reflected from the transparent crystals, to the colored ones at the back of the cave. For some reason though, did the crystal not just go from transparent to one individual color. They still went from white to color, depending on how far in they were, but from side to side, the colors ran wild, like a color palette across the entire cave. The colors ran from red, to orange, to yellow, to green, to torques before the full circle was cut short, and disappeared into the ground. That was as far as the miner had come.

"It's... so beautiful! Simply dazzling!" Rarity said with almost a tear to her eyes, taken by the underground rainbow above her. "I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like this!"

Fluttershy stared with her mouth wide open as she slowly slid of off AJ. "I never imagined something like... this down here..."

"Me neither!" Applejack said. Her face bejeweled with a big bright smile, gazing from one side to the other of the room, taking in the sight from the cavern. Which only moments ago seemed void of any colors or life, but right now seemed to overflow with such spirit! "Ah 'ave to admit, Twilly. This was mighty worth that gosh darn walk down 'ere!" she said and nudged Twilight in her side with one of her front hoofs.

Twilight meet Applejacks remark with a chuckle. Resuming to tilt her head up and observe the crystal decorated roof above, she couldn't stop the onslaught of questions rising in her head as to how, why, where this all came from. But those questions quickly drowned in the simple amazement of this display. Turning her head left and right to explore all what the cavern had to offer. The light emanating from her horn followed her movement, and the moving light reflected in the crystals, casting dancing, multi-colored light all around them.

"Oooooh! Sparkeling-ly!" Pinkie said in awe and excitement = Awement!

"Hey! Take a look at this." Said the blue pegasus and flew further into the room and hovered there above the ground.

The ground, in contrast to the roof, were hard, cold and dark, even more so then normal rock. There were a few crystals that stuck up and out, here and there, across the cavern floor. A couple of blue, purple and so on, most likely the ones they were trying to extract before they stopped mining.

"About that ' mining operation'..." Dash continued, gesturing around her.
The entire cave floor were littered in all matters of mining tools. Pickaxes, spades, mining hats, hammers, lanterns, drills and what not! It all lay on the cavern floor as if they had just been dropped there before their wielders decided to hastily make their leave.

The blue pegasus picked up a pickaxe with her hooves with a somewhat serious look. "I don't know about you guys, but whoever worked here sure got out in a hurry!"

"Are you saying they... r-ra-ra-ra-an from the g-gh-ghosts...?" Fluttershy said and curled up into a small ball of fur on the ground.

"That would be the correct assumption, if we take into consideration of what this book says." Twilight said factually. She turned around and lowered her body to be right next to Fluttershy's "But in all probability, this may just all have been an elaborate prank played by a couple of bored miner, which then got out of hand."

The little yellow pegasus shaking seemed to ease, and she brushed her mane off of her face to reveal one of her big green eyes. "You-you really think so, Twilight?"

"I am certain of it!" She said and meet Fluttershy with an encouraging smile. "There are no ghosts!"

"Certainly, darling!" The white unicorn agreed. While she didn't say it, she was also eased by twilights words. "Why, the only ghosts here are those in our minds. It makes us believe things which are not there." Rarity said, continuously feeling more at ease with the logic in their words.

"Exactly, Rarity! I am sure this is all just a matter of superstition we are dealing with here." Twilight said and raised herself to a standing. "I promise you, Fluttershy, nothing is going to happen. Look here..." Twilight trailed of, using her magic to open up the satchel on the opposite side from the one which held her book.
Out of the satchel floated six very familiar pieces of jewelry. Five necklaces and a crown.

"The Elements of Harmony..." Fluttershy stated when she saw the items, each with a likeness to each of their respective cutie-marks.
"That's right. I brought the along just to be safe." Twilight said and levitated the four necklaces to their respective pony as they all raised their heads to ease Twilights' task;
The jewelry in the shape of balloons to Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter. *Click*
The necklace with apples to Apple jack, the Element of Honesty. *Click*
The one with crystals to Rarity, the Element of Generosity. *Click*
The one bearing a cloud with a rainbow colored lightning bolt to Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty. *Click*
For herself, Twilight donned her crown with a pattern of stars on her violet mane, the Element of magic.

"With the Elements of Harmony, we have nothing to fear. So what do you say, Fluttershy?" She continued and offered the yellow mare a hoof and with the same comforting smile.

Fluttershy looked hastily at the ground, seemingly ponder on the probability of what her friends just said. Choosing to believe it, she slowly un-curled and took Twilights hoof with her own and let her be helped up. "Umm... Okay, Twilight. If... if you say so!" She said and mustered a forced smile to give her friends, as well as herself, reassurance that she can do this!

The yellow pegasus raised her head and allowed Twilight to put on her element.
The necklace with butterflies to Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness. *Click*
She glanced down at the element adoring her neck, then proceeded with placing herself next to Twilight.

"Alright! Come one everyone! Let's show this ghost what we are made of!"

"Ah'm right besides you, partner!" AJ said with a grin as the both of them took the lead deeper into the meteor, followed by Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. In the furthest back, Rarity.

As soon as Rarity was about to leave the room, she heard something from behind her, and saw a weak flashing light in the corner of her eye.
Quickly turning to face what she thought she saw, she was instead met with nothing.

A cold shiver went from her neck, down her back, all the way out to her tail. She shook her head, once left, once right. Took a reassuring breath. "Now calm down, Rarity! There is no need to get jumpy. It was probably just an echo and light reflecting of this helmet." She murmured to herself before she turned back and followed her friends.

End Ch. 1