“Do you have to go? I’m sure that Twist can handle the shop for a day.”
“I don’t think so. Last time I left her alone for one hour and when I came back the store was a mess. I’d hate to think of what might happen if I left her alone for the entire day.”
Lyra sighed. Bon Bon was right. As good as she was, the little filly was not ready to run the store all by herself. Lyra knew this, but after a long stay in Canterlot preforming without her mare friend, she really wanted to be with Bon Bon.
“You know you’re always welcome to come with me.” Bon Bon added. Lyra smiled. Bon Bon always knew just what to say.
“As much as I want to,” Lyra yawned, “ I think I’d end up falling asleep on the floor.”
“Alright then,” Bon Bon walked over and gave Lyra a soft kiss, “Take it easy then, okay? I’ll be back soon.” And with that, she left. Lyra was sad to see her go, but that was quickly replaced with excitement for the chance to be alone. Well, she thought, not completely alone, as she grabbed six bits of the kitchen table and made her way down to the basement.
Lyra opened the door to a small, white room, occupied by a single chair with a lyre sitting on it. Lyra loved this room. A room where she could forget about concerts, about pieces to practice, about that high strung cellist that showed her up every opportunity she could, and lose herself in her music. And while Bon Bon would often comment on her awkward sitting position, in here she would keep quit and listen as Lyra expressed herself through her music. But as often as Bon Bon came to listen, she never noticed how one section of the wall was slightly sunken in. Lyra now concentrated on this panel, enveloping it in a turquoise aura and swung it open reveling a stretch of steep narrow stair. She levitated the lyre off the chair, and started down the stairs.
The staircase behind the door was completely dark. No lights except for the soft glow coming from Lyra’s horn. Her excitement grew as she made her way down the stair, she enjoyed working down here almost as much as spending time with Bon Bon. The bottom of the stairs opened up into a large dark room, lit only by her light.
“Sorry for being gone, but I’m back now,” Lyra said, walking towards a tall, dark figure standing in the corner of the room. “The concert went well. Would you like to hear some of it?” As she came closer to the figure, a chair came into view. She sat in it and started to playing a melancholy tune. “You know I was thinking about you the whole time, don’t you.” The shadowy figure didn’t reply. “I mean, how could I not, after all the time I’ve spent, and now you’re almost done.” She stood up and stopped playing, “Well, I guess I should be going now. Today is going to be a busy day.”
~~~
Applejack was repainting the barn when she heard a soft, gentle melody being played behind her. She turned around to see Lyra walking towards her, levitating and playing her instrument. “Mornin’ Lyra. What brings ya over to sweet Apple acres?”
“Well, I’m here because I need your help with a little project of mine.”
“Ah’m a bit busy at the moment, but soon as Ah’m done painting this barn here Ah’d be happy to help.”
“I’m sure you would. However, I’m on a bit of a tight schedule. So you really need to just come with me,” Lyra said, setting her lyre on the ground.
Applejack frowned, “Ah’m mighty sorry ‘bout that, but Ah ain’t goin nowhere till this here barn is painted.”
“I’d thought as much,” Lyra said, slowly removing the wires from the lyre, “That just means that I get to do this.” The wires shot forward, tightly wrapping around Applejack’s neck.
“What...are....you....doing?” Applejack managed to say. She had fallen to the ground, desperately trying to pull the wires off with her hooves with no success.
“Aw, you poor thing,” Lyra mused, watching Applejack, “If only you had some hands, that would be so much easier.”
“Hands?” Applejack whispered, weakly. Consciousness was fading away as she slipped into utter silence.
~~~
Applejack awoke in a coughing fit, tied down on something in a dark room. “Somepony’s going to have a lot of explaining to do,” she grumbled to herself. While she couldn’t see anything in the room, she could definitely smell something, soap. She could smell soap of all things, which was made more confusing with the fact that her coat felt damp.
Her thoughts were interrupted by hoofsteps coming down some stairs. As the hoofsteps got closer, a dull light appeared. She didn’t have to wait long before she could see Lyra coming down the stairs. “What the hay is this Lyra?”
“I told you that I needed you for my project.”
“So ya’ strangled me, strapped me to a table, and,” she took another quick whiff of the soap, “Did you wash me?”
“Yes, I did. I need you as clean as possible for my project. I almost had a heart attack when I saw you painting. If you had gotten a stain, I’d have to throw away that whole section.”
“Section of what? And for what? Whats this project you keep talkin’ about.”
Lyra chuckled, “I’ll show you.” She turned the lights on. Applejack could only see the empty ceiling with her head strapped in place, tight.
“Ah can’t see anything.” The table glowed and flipped forward, showing Applejack a empty room. “Ah still don’t see what yer talkin’ about,” she said, looking down at Lyra. Lyra spun the table around. “Lyra.”
“Yes?”
“What the buck is that?”
“That is my project. Her name is Sarah.”
Applejack was at a loss of words. She had never seen anything like it. She’d never imagined any thing like it. She was sure that even Twilight wouldn’t know what this was supposed to be. She almost didn’t believe it was real. That there was actually nothing in front of her and her mind was just playing tricks. But as she watched Lyra nuzzle it in a pure, loving manner. Applejack realized that it wasn’t fake at all.
At fist she thought it was some kind of animal, but she noticed that the various tan colored patches that made up its skin were stitched together, black lines separating the different patches. That, and the right side of its chest and stomach were missing. The only explanation that made sense to her was that it was some kind of giant doll.
It was tall, even taller then Celestia. It’s head looked like a ball. No hair, no snout, no face. It was standing on it’s back legs with incredibly straight poster. Its left foreleg was long, with five spike things on the end. One of them was smaller then the other four. It had these spikes facing forward on it’s back legs. Each one was a shade of tan, like the skin. The sight was horrifying.
“So, what do you think?” Lyra’s voice snapped to reality, a reality where she was still strapped to a table.
“Ah think you got about ten seconds to get me down from this table before something bad happens to somepony.”
“Actually, I’ve got several hours before Bon Bon will get back to finish my project,” Lyra said, thinking back to the short visit she made before grabbing Applejack.
“Wow, two whole bits!” Apple bloom exclaimed.
“Yep, two for each of you,” Lyra said, “Now why don’t you go visit your friend Twist at the candy shop.”
“Yeah! We could be Cutie Mark Crusader candy buyers,” Sweetie Bell said.
“That sounds boring. Can you even get a cutie mark for buying things?” Scootaloo said.
“I don’t know, but let’s go find out,” Apple Bloom said, “Thanks Lyra.”
“You three be careful now,” Lyra called. as they rode away on Scootaloo’s scooter.
Lyra smiled, she loved fillies. It always made her sad when she had to kill one for her project. She’d tried to just file down other unicorn horns, but they didn’t look the same as a filly horn, which were perfect for the little finger and toes. She always made sure to kill them quickly after she had sawed off their horns
“You on the other hand,” Lyra said, pushing a cart out from behind Sarah, “Have a lot less then ten seconds before something bad happens to you.”
“What are you....talking.....about?” Applejack said, slowing down as she saw what was on the cart. A bucket, a large pair of scissors, and a knife. “What are those for?”
“Well these,” Lyra said, levitating the scissors, “Are for doing this.” She stabbed Applejack just above her right hoof, but to Lyra’s surprise, Applejack didn’t scream. She gritted her teeth as Lyra worked the scissors through her skin, cutting out a small patch. “Then there’s the bucket for draining the blood, and the knife scraping off the hair. Any more questions?”
“ARE YOU BUCKING CRAZY?!” Applejack shouted.
“No,” Lyra respond as she squeezed the patch of skin over the bucket, “I just have a feeling that you’ll be perfect for my project.” Lyra quickly scraped the hair off the small patch, then brought it next to Sarah. She hovered it over a few different patches, then brought it to the empty space on its chest. “And I was right. You are the perfect color for this. I wish there was more of you, then I could make an a whole human with the same color.”
“Are you kidding me,” Applejack snorted, “Humans? That’s what this is about?” While no one really talked about it (or let alone cared), all of Ponyville was familiar with Lyra’s fixation on humans. “There are no such things as humans.”
“How can you say that when there’s one right in front of you?”
“That thing is not a human Lyra.”
“Well not right now. Right now it’s just bits and pieces of other ponies. Once I’m done, then it will be a human,” Lyra said, levitating the scissors again.
“Lyra, if you touch me again Ah swear Ah’ll kill you.” Applejack said with pure determination.
Lyra ignored the threat, “Could you try to keep the noise down? This is hard work and I need to concentrate.”
~~~
Lyra knew that Applejack was a tough pony, but this, she thought, is ridiculous. Lyra had finished skinning both legs and Applejack had yet to make a sound. Sure there were tears that ran down her face every now and then. But they were not accompanied by the crying, screaming, pleading, and begging that she was used to. To Lyra, it was infuriating.
“What is the matter with you?” she demanded, “Where’s the ‘please stop’s, and the ‘Celestia help me’s’. Where’s anything?” Applejack didn’t answer. She just continued to stare at Lyra with hateful eyes that would put the stare to shame. “Just do something already!” Lyra shouted.
At this, Applejack’s face scrunched together. ‘Finally,’ Lyra thought, ‘she’s going to cry.’ Lyra leaned in closer to Applejack, which made it easier for her when she spat in her face, hitting her in the eyes.
“UGH!” she shouted, stumbling backwards, “That’s disgusting.”
“You...wanted me......to do something. So there,” Applejack said between her heavy breathes. When Lyra had recovered, she saw that the farm pony was smiling.
“THAT IS IT!” Lyra screamed, picking up the scissors with her magic, “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!” The scissors darted towards Applejack’s chest. Applejack simply closed her eyes and waited for it to be over.
And waited, and waited.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the scissors had stopped inches from her chest. Lyra was staring at her, fuming. “WHY WON’T YOU CRY?” Applejack remained silent. “FINE,” Lyra shouted, picking up the bucket with her magic, bringing it in front of Applejack’s face. “Let’s try this.” Applejack felt the straps around her head come undone. Lyra’s magic then enveloped her head, forcing it down into the bucket. Applejack resisted the immediate urge to vomit, as her head was submerged in her own blood.
Applejack held her breath, but she couldn’t keep out the smell as the blood coated the inside of her nose.
*THUD*
Applejack felt a hoof slam into her stomach. She barely caught herself before she grunted. *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* Her lungs started to burn, as each blow tried to force the air out of her. *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* Applejack wasn’t sure how much more she could take. Each blow was now followed by a small grunt as she desperately tried to keep her mouth closed. Until something sharp scraped down her skinned legs. The searing pain was too much for Applejack to handle. She tried to scream, but as soon as she opened her mouth, blood rushed down her throat. The taste was horrible, it had a metallic copper flavor. The more she tried to spit it out, the more blood got in. She started thrashing around as her lungs continued to fill with blood.
Applejack felt her last grasp on life slipping away when suddenly the bucket was pulled back down to the ground. She looked around gasping for air and saw Lyra pacing around frantically. She finally caught her breath when Lyra approached her.
“You are one tough pony,” she said as she started to circle around Applejack, “Probably the toughest that’s been down here. I don’t think I’ll ever get you to cry and scream and beg for mercy,” she paused, waiting until she was facing Applejack again to continue, “ Unlike you friend Rarity.” The shock on Applejack’s face was exactly what Lyra wanted to see.
“What ….did ya …...do to her?”
“It was her own fault really. I invited her over to see if she wanted to help on my project. You see, I’m really bad at sewing. You would not believe how many times I’ve had to throw a section away because I’d ruined it. So I brought her down here to see if she wanted to help.” Lyra frowned, “Of course, she couldn’t appreciate what I was doing. Told me that I was crazy and should be sent to the moon,” she sighed, “I couldn’t just let her go after that, so I killed her.”
“No....”
“Oh but you should have seen it! She actually thought that with enough whining, I would just let her go.” Lyra laughed, “It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. And then when she realized that wasn’t going to happen, she completely broke down. Screaming and crying before I’d even touched her.”
“YOU MONSTER!” Applejack yelled, tears streaming down her face.
“But that was nothing compared to when I got started. She-”
“STOP IT!”
Lyra smiled, seeing that she had achieved her goal. Applejack was crying. “Oh, I suppose we’ve wasted enough time,” she said, picking the scissors back up, “Back to work then.
At fist, Applejack was crying because of Rarity. They didn’t see eye to eye on somethings, but she was her friend. And she was gone. Now she was crying for a different reason. She realized that very shortly, she’d be gone too.
“P-Please stop this,” she said through shaky, chattering teeth as her blood collected on the floor and her body temperature dropped. Lyra stopped what she was doing, Squeezing a fresh patch from her chest over the bucket. “Please Lyra.”
“Here we go,” Lyra whispered, turned around and smiled.
“Please Lyra, Ah don’t want to die,” Applejack sobbed, “You can let me go, Ah won’t tell anypony, Ah swear.”
“Now Applejack, we both know that’s a lie.
“No it ain't. Ah’m the Element of honesty, Ah’d n-never go back on my word.”
“Really? Because I remember not to long ago, you said you’d kill me. And that’s yet to happen.”
“A-Ah didn’t mean that.”
“Not convinced.”
“PLEASE! If Ah’m gone, somepony’s gonna notice. Th-They’ll looking me if ya don’t let me go.”
“Funny, Rarity said the exact same thing right before she died.”
“Please,” Applejack pleaded, as the cold, along with all other feelings began to fade. “Please,” she said, much quieter, as her eyelids became too heavy to keep up. “Please.” she whispered, as her head drooped down.
Silence.
Lyra gave Applejack an experimental jab with the scissors. Her lack of response confirming the obvious. Lyra continued her work in silence.
~~~
“Lyra, I’m home,” Bon Bon called, struggling to shut the door against the wind. A storm was being blown in from the Everfree forest. It wasn’t the worst they’ve seen, but it was still an Everfree storm. “Sorry I’m so late. Those cutie mark crusaders came over to visit Twist,” she sighed, “I swear those three will be the end of us all. I had to ask them to leave before they destroyed the entire shop with all there ‘crusading’” Bon Bon walked into the kitchen and was happy to see that Lyra hadn’t tried to make dinner. She had absolutely no cooking skills.
“Bon Bon,” Lyra’s voice called from upstairs, “Come up here Bon Bon. I have a surprise for you.”
“Coming,” Bon Bon replied as she quickly made her way upstairs to their bedroom. She knew exactly what kind of surprise this was. Dinner could wait.
When Bon Bon opened their door however, she did not see Lyra lying on the bed wearing her favorite pink and turquoise socks. In fact, she could hardly see any thing. The storm blocked out all traces of the night sky through the window. The door quickly closed behind her, throwing the room in complete darkness.
“Oooh, so we’re playing that game,” she said, closing her eyes even though there was no light in the room. “Marco.”
“Polo,” came Lyra’s voice some where in front of her.
“Marco.”
“Polo.”
“Marco.”
“Polo.”
Bon Bon smiled. Just one more call and she would have her. “Marco.”
“Polo.”
Bon Bon took a deep breath, and leaped forward. She landed on the bed next to Lyra. A startled “eep” escaping the unicorn.
“Gotcha,” Bon Bon whispered, pulling Lyra closer to her.
It didn’t take very long for Bon Bon to find Lyra’s lips putting them to work the moment she found them, kissing Lyra deeply, She ran a hoof through Lyra’s mane, while the other made it’s way slowly down her back, until....
“Bon Bon,” Lyra said, embarrassment clear in her voice, “Not while she’s watching.”
Bon Bon froze. “What? Who’s watching? Where are they?”
Lyra chuckled, her horn faintly glowing as she got off the bed. “Bon Bon, I’d like you to meet your surprise,” her horn shone brighter as the various candles in the room ignited. “I’d like you to meet Sarah.”
Bon Bon Stared at “Sarah”, who was uncomfortably close to the side of the bed. It was tall, what ever it was. Easily taller than Lyra when she stood on her hind legs, which is what it was doing. Its had no hair on its round head, and two black buttons sown into its face for eyes. It had no real mouth either, just a red line painted in a long, creepy smile on its tan, patchy skin. Then there were the forelegs, long and outstretched with five spikes on the end of it. To Lyra, it looked like it wanted a hug. To Bon Bon, It looked like it was trying to grab her.
“This is the surprise you were talking about?” Bon Bon said quietly.
“Yes it is,” Lyra beamed, “Are you surprised?”
“I can honestly say I’ve never been more surprised in my life,” Bon Bon said as she continued to stare at it, wondering what the various tan patches were made out of.
“Well, aren’t you going to give her a hug?” Lyra said excitedly, motioning her head towards Sarah.
“Sure...” Bon Bon said, making no attempt to mask the confusion in her voice. She got off the bed and slowly made her way around to Sarah. As she got closer, she noticed a particulate design on the spikes. Spirals. Every spike, even the ones on the bottom of its back legs, had spirals on them. As she got even closer, she noticed something in its right shoulder. It was faint but clearly visible once Bon Bon was close. Three red apples that formed a triangle. She backed up. All across its body, she could see more faint markings. Some of them, like the apples, she recognized. They were cutie marks. Bon Bon could feel herself fainting, unable to process what she was seeing. But before she blacked out, her brain seemed to find an appropriate reaction for the situation. She threw up.
“ Bon Bon! Are you ok?”Lyra asked as she pulled Bon Bon away from Sarah.
Bon Bon pushed Lyra away, “Lyra, what is that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? It’s a human.”
Bon Bon groaned, she knew this was going to come up again sooner or later,but this was more extreme then she thought possible. “Lyra, you know humans aren’t real.”
“Why dose everypony keep saying that?” Lyra said, annoyance growing in her voice, “First Rarity, then Applejack, then-”
“And what about Applejack?” Bon Bon shouted, “Why does that, thing, have her cutie mark on it?”
“That thing has a name. And you it hurts Sarah’s feeling when you call her a thing.”
“I’ll call her whatever the buck I want. Answer the question Lyra. Why are the cutie marks on that THING?” Lyra just looked away. “IT”S BECAUSE YOU KILLED THEM, DIDN’T YOU! YOU, YOU KILLED PONIES!”
“Lyra, if you’d just calm down, I can explain-”
“I hate you,” Bon Bon interrupted in a whisper.
“What?” Lyra said, shocked. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes.
“I. HATE. YOU!” Bon Bon screamed. She turned around and bucked Sarah, then ran out of the room. Sarah flew back and hit a dresser, knocking some candles over. The floor quickly caught fire, along with it’s leg.
“Bon Bon wait!” Lyra cried. She levitated Sarah and quickly made her way down the stairs, only to see Bon Bon run out the door into the dark storm. “Bon Bon!” Lyra sobbed, stopping in her tracks, “I’m sorry Bon Bon. Please don’t hate me.” A flash of lighting lit up the night. Lyra could briefly see Bon Bon as she ran away. “Bon Bon come back!” Another flash, showing that Bon Bon hadn’t stopped running.
“PLEASE BON BON , PLEASE COME BACK. PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME, I’M SO SORRY!” A powerful gust of wind blow through the door, closed it and knocked her over, facing her towards Sarah. It was fully on fire now, its once tan skin had turned black. “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” she screamed as she threw it across the room at the wall. The fire quickly spread. But Lyra laid still on the ground, still trying to call out to her partner. “I sorry Bon Bon, I only wanted to try to make you happy.”
Lyra.....
“I thought that if you could see them that you’d be happy. I was only trying to make -cough- you happy.” Smoke was quickly filling the room.
Lyra
“I won’t -cough- ever do it again, I promise. Pleas -cough- just come back to me.
“LYRA!”
Lyra opened her eyes and found herself in the bedroom. No fire, no storm, no human doll, but what about....
“Are you ok? I thought I heard you cry-”
“BON BON!” Lyra grabbed Bon Bon before she could finish and started crying.
“Lyra, what is it?” Bon Bon said as she held the weeping unicorn, slowly running a hoof through her mane.
“It was horrible Bon Bon. The wort nightmare I’ve ever had.” Lyra pulled back from the embrace and stared into Bon Bon’s eyes. “You left me. I made you a surprise, but you hated it and left me.” Lyra resumed crying into Bon Bon’s shoulder.
“Ridiculous. You know I’d never leave you. Especially after doing something so sweet.”
“I know,” Lyra said, holding Bon Bon tightly for a moment.
“So,” Bon Bon asked after a moment of silence, “ What was that you made?”
“I can’t tell you. It would ruin the surprise.”
Their embrace was broken again, as Bon Bon now stared into Lyra’s eyes, “You mean you actually have a surprise for me?”
“Of course,” Lyra chuckled at the silly question.
“Lyra.”
“Yes Bon Bon?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” They held each other again, and laid down to sleep.
Well, at least Bon Bon did. Lyra stayed awake, watching her cream colored companions peaceful breaths. Bon Bon was right. The idea that she would leave her truly was ridiculous.
Lyra slowly and carefully got out of bed. Guided by her horns light, she made her way into the kitchen and poured a glass of water, and took a quick glance around. Where were they? She thought she had left them out yesterday, but with the nightmare she couldn’t be sure. She kept looking until she had found what she was looking for on the table. Six bits, her lyre, and a set a extra thick replacement wires. Seeing that every thing was where she had left them, she finally took a drink from the glass. “Better get back to bed,” she told herself after finishing her drink, “I’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”
I do not own My Little Pony: FIM (It's probably for the best.), Hasbro dose.
A huge thanks to Diamond pick: for convincing my to post this and help editing, and Alan: for editing.
Please leave a comment on what you thought. This is my first story and I would like to know how I did.