Little Lyra and You

Chapters

Chapter One: There's a Little Horse in my Shoe
Chapter Two: Living with Lyra
Chapter Three: Dealing with Company
Chapter Four: Snow and Ice
Chapter Five: Homecoming
Chapter Six: Waking Up
Chapter Seven: Confessions
Chapter Eight: Terms and Conditions
Chapter Nine: How Did I Get Here
Chapter Ten: Solace
Chapter 12: Blood on His Hooves
Chapter 13: Anti Hero
Chapter 14: This is War Pt.1
This is War Pt: 2
This is War Pt: 3
Epilogue
Chapter 11: Accepting Our Roles

Chapter One: There's a Little Horse in my Shoe

Chapter One: There’s a Little Horse in my Shoe

It had been a long days work and you just couldn’t wait to get home. You grumble to yourself as you climb up the stairs to your apartment about pay cuts and the rest of the steaming piles of bullshit that was going on thanks to the industry.

A loud clap of thunder pulls you out of your thoughts. Then the rain started pouring down and you hasten your climb up the stairs to your apartment. As you approach the door you reach into your small work bag and feel around in the pockets for that familiar key ring. “Where is it?” You ask yourself as you lift the bag up to your face to peer inside. You scan the nearly empty pocket for your keys, but all that’s there is your phone, Nintendo DS(You’re not afraid to admit you still play pokemon) and a thumb drive with some ‘special’ images stored on it. But no keys.

You sigh to yourself and close the flap on your bag. ‘Good thing I keep a spare under the mat.’ You say bending over and lifting the small, worn mat that had once said welcome but the ‘L’ had fallen off some time ago and it now read ‘We Come’ which was kind of creepy. You run your hand under the mat and pull out the small silver key. It had a few spider webs on it, but you just blew those off and inserted it into the keyhole and unlocked the door. You turn the knob and step into your apartment.

It wasn’t much, just a single living space, kitchen and a bedroom with a washroom across the hall. But it was all you needed. It was home, or at least, more so than back in Michigan. You had lived there for the better part of your life, not that you wanted to remember those years. You mentally shake your head to banish those thoughts from your mind and walk into the kitchen for some grub, kicking off your shoes at the door.

You pull open the fridge and rut around a bit before pulling out a can of Dr. Pepper and a half eaten log of sausage. You bring the sausage over to the cutting board that you had used that morning and picked up the knife that had been resting on it and began cutting the log of meat.

As you sliced the meat let your thoughts wander back to your work. You had landed a sweet job at Bungie two years ago as an artist and as a huge Halo fan, you had gladly accepted the position. Even after Bungie sold their rights to Halo you loved your work. But it wasn’t just what you did there anymore, but the people you had met in your time there. Like your friends John and Chris whom you had met through your time there. John was one of the artists like yourself while Chris was one of the story designers.

As you let your mind wander you paid less attention to the knife and eventually sliced your thumb open. “Ouch, shit.” You say to yourself examining the small cut. Blood was already welling up and running down your hand. You rush over to the small drawer where you kept the bandages with your thumb in your mouth in an attempt to keep from getting blood on the white tiled floor. You pull the drawer open and pull out a piece of gauze and quickly start wrapping it tightly around your injured thumb. You trim the piece of cloth and tape it down. Your dad had taught you how to patch up minor wounds like that one before he died.

Satisfied with your work you put the remaining gauze back into the drawer and turn back th the sausage. You didn’t want to risk cutting yourself again so you put the knife in the sink and the sausage into a plastic bag and placed it back into the cooler. You pick back up your Coke and walk over to your desk, which sat in the corner of your living space next to the recliner which sat across from your tv, and plop down into the comfy office chair and turn on your gaming PC. You glance up as the monitor that you had mounted on the wall when you first moved in flickered to life with the Windows Logo front and center in all its misshapen window glory.

As windows boots up you reach down and extract a small drawing pad and a stylus from your work bag and lay them out on your desk. The Windows logo disappears and is replaced by your home screen swamped with different icons along a backdrop of “Fallout Three”, one of your favorite games of all time.

As you load up your drawing software, the Skype notification ‘blurp’ sounds. The window pops up with a message from Chris. You have to squint to read the small text without your glasses. Hey man, you coming over tonight or what. We’re not gonna’ wait for you forever.

“Oh shit.” You exclaim as you remember what night it is. You grab your raincoat off the back of your chair and start walking to the door. “Can’t believe I forgot game night.” YOu mumble to yourself as you slip your arm through the stiff arm hole of the jacket, grimacing slightly as your thumb brushes against the fabric. You do your best to ignore the pain and go to slip on your shoes.

Right as your toe is about an inch away from the shoe, a small head pops out, no bigger than a golf ball. “Gahh!” You yell in surprise jumping back a few inches before tripping over the rug and falling flat on your ass. with the ruckus you were making, the head popped back into the shoe with a startled squeak. “Whaa?” You say, not entirely sure what you just saw. You pick up the shoe tentatively and turn it upside down. As you begin to shake it softly, a small body falls out of the hole and land on the ground with a soft thud, causing you to jump back a bit more.

It was just a little thing appeared to be a horse of sorts. Like the ones your sister used to play with, except it wasn’t those rainbow ponies, but a little mint green one with just a slightly lighter shaded mane split only by a small horn.

It stood back up and shook itself before looking back at you, not in fear, but curiosity. For such a small thing, it was quite brave. Normally, you would have been creeped out by something alive falling out of your shoe, but this, pony, had an air of calmness about it. While you were fascinated by it, you had the feeling it didn’t belong here. You reach over to it and grab its tail to pick it up. It thrashes about in your grasp but seeing there were no fruits to its labors, it calmed down and let you transport it from the ground to your hand.

You gently place her on your palm while she stares at you intently. Her small hooves pressed into your hand as she sniffed at your fingers, not taking her eyes off you. She nips the tip of your index finger causing you to jump slightly. It didn’t really hurt as much as it surprised you. The little blue horse giggled slightly and sat down on your palm, a wide smile on her face. Or, you guessed it was a female by the way it was colored.

“Ha ha, you’re real funny.” You say and to your surprise she shrugs as if she could understand what you were saying. “Wait, you can understand me?” You ask her. She nods and opens her mouth as if to say something, out all that comes out is a soft squeak. She eyes you expectantly with a goofy looking grin.

“Ummm.” You say with a confused look on your face. She raises an eyebrow and makes the same squeak again. ‘You think to yourself. ‘But what.’ As if to answer your question you hear a soft rumbling and the pony looks down at her belly. “Oh, you’re hungry! Why didn’t you just say so.” She looks up at you with a slightly annoyed look in her eyes as you stand up.

You place her on your shoulder, making sure she doesn’t fall off as you walk to your kitchen. She looks simply fascinated looking around at all your stuff on the way to the kitchen. You step into the small cooking space and set her down on the counter.

“So, what do you want to eat.” You ask. She seems to think it over as she scratches her chin with one small hoof. She seems to figure out what she wants and lets out another squeak. You stare at her for a moment, trying to figure out what it is she asked for before you spot a small notepad on the corner of the counter.

You walk across the kitchen to get it, leaving the small pony on the other side of the counter. You grab the notepad and a pen that was lying in a drawer and bring them over to the small pony who was staring at you with her head cocked sideways.

“I can’t really understand you, so I figured you could write down what you want on this here.” You said indicating the notepad. She shrugged trotted over to the pen, her hooves making small clicking sounds on the countertop. She grabbed the end of the pen and pushed the button on the top, jumping slightly at the loud ‘click’. She grabbed it in her mouth and tilted her head back, trying to pick it up, but to no avail.

She let go and growled slightly at the pen. Her horn glowed a faint green color that moved to surround the pen. It started to lift up, very slowly, as you watched in amazement. She closed her eyes to concentrate as small green sparks flew off the top of her horn. As the pen came in contact with the notepad, the pony opened one of her eyes and smiled. She walked closer to the pad, the pen still suspended in the air, but he seemed to be holding it with less effort that before.

She looked at the pen and flicked her head to the right and the pen started to move along the pad as she controlled it effortlessly. She set the pen down next to the notepad and lifted it up to you. You grabbed it and the green aura around it disappeared. Written on the pad was only one word, cookies?

You chuckle slightly to yourself as you set down the notepad and look at the small pony on the counter, waiting anxiously. You turn around and walk to the pantry and opened the door. The cookies sat just where you had left them. You pop open the plastic box and take out two chocolate chip cookies, each the size of your fist, and bring them over to the small pony. She eyed the cookies in your hand, a small amount of drool running down her chin and her tail beating the counter. You chuckle slightly and set down the cookie next to her and she immediately jumps on top of it.

You chuckle slightly to yourself and take a bite of your own cookie. At the sound of laughter, she looks up from her cookie. Her mouth was smeared with chocolate seeing as she had created a sizable hole in the center of the cookie. “you’re cute.” You say. She gives you a cute smile and then goes back to work on her cookie.

Chapter Two: Living with Lyra

One week Later

The cold rain falls in sheets as you walk up the steps to your apartment. At this point your hoodie is soaked and isn’t doing much but keep you cold. To put it simply, you were miserable. As you reach the final landing and walk up to your apartment door, the rain starts coming down harder and the lighting begins. You unlock the door and hurry inside.

As you close the door behind you, you hear a frantic clicking on the tile floor. You begin walking towards the noise, kicking your shoes off in the process. As the clicking grows louder, you walk into the kitchen and flip the light on.

In the center of the kitchen, Lyra was running around in circles and appeared to be freaked out of her mind. But at the sight of you, she stopped running in circles and towards you. you kneel down and open up your hand which she runs into. She wraps her hooves around your thumb and holds on as if her life depended on it.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” you ask her as you stand back up. She points her hoof towards the window on the far side of the living room. “What, the thunder?” You ask. She nods her head frantically in response as another strike of lightning lights up the night sky. She scurries down your wrist and crawls under the cuff of your hoody and into your sleeve.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a little storm. It’ll pass soon.” You sooth, stroking her back through your hoody. Since you realize she’s not coming out of your sleeve on her own, you walk over to the fridge and extract a small thing cookie dough. you tear open the package and get a little of it on you finger. You hold your finger just an inch away from the cuff of your sleeve and wait a moment. And sure enough, after a moment of waving your finger next to your cuff, she pokes her head out. Her nose pointed up as she collected the scent.

She pulls herself out of your sleeve, all fear forgotten, and starts making her way towards your finger. As she approaches your finger, you pull it just out of her reach. She growls at the finger and lowers herself to the ground. Just like a coiled spring, she leaps for your finger but misses slightly and goes over the edge of your hand. She lets out a surprised squeak as she falls. But rather than landing on the hard tile, she land in a soft pile of clothes that were lying on the floor. She had been so caught up in going after your finger that she hadn’t noticed you’d been moving.

she pokes her head up out of the mound of clothes with a sock on the end of her horn. You can’t help but laugh at her half surprised and half depressed look. Her horn glows under the sock and she picks up a pair of boxers and flings them at you. You didn’t notice the pair of underwear through your laughter and it hits you square in the face.

Now it was Lyra’s turn to laugh. She fell over on her back and into the clothes again. Even though you couldn’t see her, you could still hear the muffled squeals of her laughter. You can’t help but laugh at yourself as well as you threw the underwear back on the top of the pile. But as you do so, Lyra rockets out of the top of the pile and wraps her hooves around your finger and licks off the cookie dough that was on the end.

After she licks the last of the dough off your finger, she turns her head and gives you a look that just screamed “I win.” She climbs up onto your hand and scuttles up your arm until she’s resting on your shoulder. You chuckle slightly as she tickles your ear with her tail.

“You’re a strange little pony Lyra.” You say. In response she blows into your ear making you flinch. You straighten your arm and she hops off and lands on the armrest of your recliner. You pick up the Xbox remote and pop in a copy of ‘Battlefield 3’.

Lyra had seemed fascinated at first by the game and had been acting as your spotter for when you played, and it had really helped. She had a knack for finding the little bastards hiding in bushes. You slip on your headset and Lyra makes herself cozy as the match loads up.

As you pop the head off the last enemy player, ending the match you set down the remote. Suddenly, a six year old’s voice crackles over the mic. “Oh my god, you’re such a fucking cheater. You faggot, go burn in hell.” The kid’s voice says over the microphone along with other strings of profanity that you didn’t even know what meant when you were his age.

“I’ll see ya there mate.” You say to the little squeaker as you turn off the Xbox. You make your hand into a fist and Lyra touches it with her hoof, which you had come to call a hoof bump. You set down the Xbox controller and pick up the TV remote and begin flipping through the channels.

You land on an episode of The Big Bang Theory causing Lyra to squeak in happiness. It had quickly become her favorite show in the week that she had been with you. even if she didn’t get most of the humor and you damn sure weren’t gonna explain it to her.

She quickly jumps onto your arm and scurries up to your shoulder before climbing up on top of your head. She made herself a little nest in your hair and cozied up. You can barely contain the “D’awww that was waiting just behind your lips, but you allow yourself a smile before un pausing the show.

After a good hour of TV, you flick off the set and stand up. Lyra had dozed off about halfway through but woke back up with a start as you stood up. “Easy Lyra, just getting some grub.” You say feeling her body go rigid on top of your head. She relaxes and settles back down into your hair.

As you step into the kitchen, you pull out your phone and set it down on the counter and turned it onto the notes app. As you do so, Lyra hops off your head and onto the counter, her hooves making a soft clop noise as she lands and walks over to the phone.

“so, what do you want tonight?” You ask her. She immediately goes to work typing on the phone. She takes a step back for you to read the screen.

Cookies would be nice :) it read. You chuckle to yourself at the small smiley face. “Hmm, I don’t know.” You tease. as you say it, she brings out the puppy dog eyes that just melt your heart. “Hmm.” You say. Her eyes get even bigger to the point where you can see tears forming on the rims of her eyes. “Alright.” You say booping her nose with your finger. She jumps up into the air with excitement as you walk to the icebox and pull out a thing of cookie dough.

as you scoop out the last of the cookie dough and place it on the baking sheet, Lyra walks over and tries to get a taste of them early. She scoops off a bit of the cookie dough with her hoof and licks it. She scratches her chin as if she’s thinking for a moment before nodding. “Oh, so you’re a professional taste tester now?” You ask her. The smile grows on her face at the prospect of tasting all different kinds of cookies.

Just as you slide the cookie sheet into the oven and set the timer, a loud knock comes from your door. Immediately, Lyra jumps down from the counter and runs down the hall like you had taught her to if you had company. You slide off the oven mitt and walk to the door, speeding up your pace a bit as the person knocks again.

Chapter Three: Dealing with Company

Chapter Two: Dealing With Company

As you hear your door click shut from down the hall, you grasp the knob of your door and turn it. It swings open on a set of creaky hinges giving the door kind of a creepy feel. On the other side of the door stood Chris and John, both with wide grins on their faces, probably because of the surprise on yours.

“Well, are you gonna make us wait out here in the rain?” Chris asked breaking the silence.

“Uhh, sure. C’mon in guys.” You say stepping aside. Chris was a tall, muscular man with a shaved head and bright blue eyes while John was more like you in stature though you were a bit taller than John.

As John walks in, you close the door and follow them into the kitchen. As Chris step into the kitchen, he immediately sets down his bag which he had been carrying on his shoulder and taking great care not to bang against anything. ‘Can’t believe I forgot about game night.’ You scold yourself.

“Hey man, you listening?” Chris says waving his hand in front of your face. You shake your head, clearing your thoughts.

“Yeah, sorry Chris, just zoned out a bit.” You say rubbing the back of your neck. Chris looks at you dubiously before continuing.

“So, like I said. I did this guy a favor and guess how he repaid me?” Chris asked, his hand resting on the zipper of the bag he had brought in.

“Dude, I swear if you brought drugs into my app-” You begin.

“Oh no, nothing that good. But pretty damn close.” He says unzipping the bag and pulling out two small plastic cases and handing them to both John and yourself. You eyes Chris suspiciously in memory of the last time he gave you a small plastic case and it had ended with you chasing him down the street with a sausage. That was a bad day.

He eagerly motions for you to open the case, a strange smile adorning his face. You shrug and pop open the case to reveal the contents and nearly drop it. Inside the small plastic case was a brand new copy of Grand Theft Auto Five. “No way.” You say shaking your head and examining the disk.

“See, told you I had a great surprise!” Chris said almost bursting with excitement.

“There’s no way this can be legit. It isn’t due for a release for a good six months still.”

“It’s a dev copy I, acquired.” He said. You shake your head and put the disc back in the case.

“And how did you ‘acquire’ this copy?” you ask glancing over at John who was virtually foaming at the mouth at the sight of the game.

“Well, I did a favor for Leroy and turns out his cousin works for Rockstar as a Art Designer, Like yourself.”

"So my question is, how is this legal?" John asked butting in to the conversation.

"The question you should be asking is, when do you get to play." Chris said nudging him with his elbow.

"That's not what I'm asking at all." John said, killing the joke. Chris ignored him and looked to you. It was your home, and your Xbox.

"What the hell." You say walking out of the kitchen and into the living room and flipping on the TV. Chris follows eagerly behind you as you put the disk in the tray. “You’re just a bit too excited about this.” You say to Chris as you close the tray and pick up the controller.

“Well I’ll be damned.” John says as the game pops up in the upper corner of the dashboard. You shrug and launch the game as Chris and John plop down on the couch next to you to watch the game play.

After about an hour of intense car crashes and shooting NPC’s with un textured guns, Chris stands up and picks up his bag. “Whelp, I gotta get goin fellas.” He says as you pause the game.

“Hey man, thanks for dropping by.” You say showing him out with John right behind you.

“No problem.” He says before turning to John. “Your place next week.” He says before opening the door and stepping into the damp evening.

“I gotta get home to, Fisher wanted me to do a bit of overtime tomorrow.” He says stepping out into the night.

“Alright man, see you on monday.’ You say before closing the door and sighing with relief. You rush back to your room and open the door. “Hey Lyra, they’re gone now.” You call into the room. When she doesn’t respond, you begin to get kind of worried.

“Lyra?” You call, scanning the room for any sign of her. Suddenly, you feel something small land on your shoulder, making you jump in surprise. You hold out your hand and she hops onto it. “Sorry about keeping you in here, I forgot about tonight.” You say. She shrugs and motions to her mouth. “Right, sorry.” You say putting her back on your shoulder and walking to the kitchen.

As you step onto the tile floor, Lyra hops off your shoulder and onto the counter and begins sniffing around. After thoroughly searching the counter tops she looks to you questioningly.

“What, are you looking for, these?” You say pulling the tray of cookies from behind your back. The cookies had finished while your friends were over so you had placed them in the pantry so they wouldn’t devour them. But that wasn’t going to stop Lyra.

Her small body coiled up like a spring and she jumped off the counter. Launching herself onto the platter of cookies and began tearing one apart. You watch in amusement as she begins tearing through the first of three rows of cookies.

But your amusement turns to amazement as she finishes off the last of the cookies and falls onto her back while holding her belly. “How?” You ask in confusion. The small horse in front of you had just eaten a total of thirty cookies in less that five minutes.

As if in response she lets out a small burp before closing her eyes and beginning to snore. You pick up the small green pony and carry her to your room. All the while wondering how in god’s name it was possible for such a small thing to eat that many cookies so quickly.

Chapter Four: Snow and Ice

Chapter 4: Snow and Ice

Delicate snowflakes descended from the clouds. Carried only by the wind, and gravity. As eh made their way down from the sky, Lyra and you sat next to your windowsill. Snow was a normality where you were from, but it appeared to be a subject of fascination to Lyra.

While she stared out the window in awe of the white crystals, you drew inspiration from it. The sheer beauty of the winter captivated you almost as much as it did Lyra. And that's exactly what you were drawing.

On your sketch pad was a drawing of the small mint mare standing on the peak of a large mountain. A snowboard in one hood and her lyre wrapped in the other. As you shaded in the last of the shadows, something slammed against your window making you both just back in surprise, and you only just managed to catch Lyra before she fell off the windowsill.

After you set her on your shoulder, you open up the window and stick your head out to see if you could find what had slammed into the pane, but hat was your mistake. Just after you poked your head out, a cold ball of snow slammed into your face and exploded all over you. Covering your upper body in the cold powder which immediately began to melt. The water from the snow began soaking into your sweater immediately.

You pick Lyra up off your shoulder and placer her on the sill before pulling your sweater off. You stick it out of the window and shake shake it violently to get the snow off of it before bringing it back inside and throwing it over a chair to dry.

"And that was my favorite sweater." You say crossing your arms against your chest. Growing up in Michigan had conditioned you for the cold, so the sweater was really more of a comfort thing than anything else. But you were perfectly fine without one.

And as you stared at the sweater, an idea hit you. You quickly went to the kitchen and began filling up a small water balloon. As you tie it off you notice Lyra eyeing you from the windowsill.

"What?" You ask tying the balloon off and walking over to the window. Three floors underneath you, two kids roughly nine years old were snickering after hitting you with the snowball.

As he poked his head out one of the. Begins packing another snowball together. But you weren't going to give him the chance to finish. Just as he finishes packing the snow together, you lob the water ballon down in their direction. You and Lyra peer over the edge and watch it as it falls and slams into one of the kid's head and explodes showering the other one with the spray.

You quickly slam the window shut as you notice another snowball flying at you. As it slams into the window, you begin to laugh quietly and a few seconds later, Lora's squeaks of laughter a joins by yours.

After a few minutes of hearty laughter, you hear a knock at your door, which kind of surprised you. Barely anyone came outside on days like this, and barely anyone you know would be able to come visit today. In other words, you don't have many friends. It you stood up to answer the door anyway.

You undo the door chain and twist the knob before pulling the door open, but are incredibly surprised by what was on the other side. Just outside your apartment stood a tall, dark skinned man in a black suit. A pair of dark sun glasses rested on his young face. He didn't appear to be much older than you.

"Michael Jones?" The man asks. You nod slowly, wondering how this mysterious man knows your name. "Roy Shepard," he says pulling a black wallet looking object out of his pocket and flipping it open. Inside was a picture of him and a small brass star labeling him as a New York detective. "I was sent here under suspicion that you are harboring a new species, is that true?" Roy asked.

"New kind of species, hmmm." You say scratching your chin in mock curiosity. "There might be some mold on the bread, but that's all I can think of." You said shrugging. Roy didn't seem very amused by this.

"Well, if not, then you wouldn't mind if I take a look inside then?" He said.

"Sure, after I see the warrant." You say stepping back from the door. Roy fished a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to you. You unfold it carefully and read the fine print. You hand the warrant back to Roy and step aside, allowing him to enter.

He didn't do much more than poke around at you stuff for a few moments before walking back to the front door where you were waiting for him. "Well, seems you were right, that breads molding. But nothing new here." Roy said. "But I may have to come back later and have another look. Just to appease the EPA."

"The EPA?" You ask.

"Yeah, they said at there was some kind of new horse up here. Sounded like a load of bull but we had to investigate just to be sure." Roy said stepping outside. He took a few steps down the walkway before turning back around to face you. "If you notice anything, call me." He said handing you a small business card.

As he stepped onto the stairs, you walked back inside and closed your door. At the sound of this Lyra came out of your room slowly and peered around the corner at you. But you didn't notice as you rushed over to your computer and hagan shutting things off.

She jumped up a series of things that you had placed around the desk and hauled herself on top of it. We're going out of town for a little while Lyra." You say quickly. Though she was obviously concerned by your actions, she didn't question them.

As you loaded the last of your things into the back of your car, Lyra poked her head out of your chest pocket and looked around. She had never been outside before and it fascinated her. Though she didn't get to look around for long before you climbed into you car and closed the door.

As the engine roared to life, you flipped on the GPS and keyed in an address. Though it wasn't an address that held much happiness for you. "1032 Washington Drive, Michigan." You read aloud before throwing the car into gear and pulling out of the apartment complex parking lot.

Chapter Five: Homecoming

Chapter Five:Homecoming

As you barreled down the frozen Streets of Rocksbrough, Michigan Lyra dozed on the cold dashboard. It was cute watching her sleep, but you had different things on your mind. Like what did the government want with a new speciese of horse, miniature or not. You had seen it in the documentaries and read it in the wiki-leaks.

It began with simple examination, but soon turned to expirimentation, duplication and overall pain for the subject. And in this case, the subject was Lyra. And you had promised not to let anything bad happen to her. And that was a promise you were detirmined to keep, at any and all costs.

As the green light changed to yellow, you lightly applied the brake and the car slowed to a stop. At the feeling of the car slowing down, Lyra opened her eyes sleepily and stretched he neck to look at the road before them. She had been fascinated by the snowflakes falling earlier and now she was actually able to see more than what she could when confined to window.

It wasn't the way that it should be though, and you knew that. She should be able to run free amongst her friends in an open place. In a real home and not an appartment. But you knew that wasn't possible here. Not in you world.

It was funny how a single car trip made everything so clear for you. You had even come to terms that Lyra would eventually leave you. It was obvious that it would happen eventually, even if you wouldn't tell her that. It was incredibly selfish not to bring it to her attention, but you loved her too much.

A car honked behind you and pulled you out of your thoughts. You waved your hand in the mirror and applied the gas and the car began to roll forward again. But as you pulled out into the middle of the intersection, a small red sports car came barreling down the street and it appeared to have no intention of stopping. You had just enough time to pull Lyra down off the dashboard and put her in you seat before the other car slammed into yours, and then darkness.

It wasn't as much the pain that woke you but more of the sense of duty. You cracked open you eyes and were immeadiatly disoriented. You felt all the blood in your body in your head and it felt like your ears were about to explode. And as the red started to form on the outer edges of your vision you knew you were in trouble.

You tried to undo the clasp of the seatbelt, but it wouldn't budge and your pocket knife had fallen out of your pocket after the crash. You tried to wiggle your way out of the seat belt but that just made it harder to move. As the red began to encircle your vision, your head erupted in pain and began to pound to the rhythm of your heartbeat. You needed to get out of here now before you passed out.

You had to cut the belt, but with what. As your arms dangled lifeless lay in the air, your mind was working as fast as it could. Sweat dripped down your face and onto the ground before splattering against the glass and mixing with the blood that had dripped out of your arms. Wait, the glass! You thought. It had all shattered into little pieces after the crash and now littered the ground, err, roof.

You quickly reach down and grab a piece of the glass. You ran a finger along the edge to these the sharpness and in response it knicked you finger. A small trickle of blood rand down your index finger and fell to the floor just like everything else. But you didn't have time to worry about that. You turned the piece of glass around and leaned up to the lap belt and began to saw outward. It might have been easier to saw inwards, but you didn't want to run the risk of castrating yourself when the belt snapped.

In about a minute you had sawn your way through the lap belt, but the glass had slipped in your hand and sliced your palm open and blood began to drip from your hand and into your eyes. It burned like nothing you had ever felt before, but you didn't have time to worry about that. You moved on and began to make your way out of the chest strap. It was harder to do with the glass digging into your skin as well, but you grit your teeth and kept sawing. Just as the red enveloped your vision and your eyelids began to get heavy, the belt snapped and you fell out of the seat. But you hadn't braced yourself and landed head first on the roof of the car.

You felt the glass piece the back of your skull and neck, but ignored the pain as you wriggled yourof the seat and lied down flat on the roof, allowing yourself a moment to slow your breathing and let the blood come out of your head. As your thoughts re-organized themselves, you felt the flares of pain from your head, arms and chest. Places where you had been cut or where the airbag had slammed into you. But that was nothing vompared to your leg. Whenever you tried to move it, it just sat there limply on the ground, or roof, whatever. While your left leg was still functional.

After allowing yourself a few more moments to collect yourself, you began to look for a way out. It would be difficult to wriggle your way out of the door, or even open it after the crash. You glanced over at where the windshield had been and then you saw her. Lying on the ground a few feet from the car was Lyra. You could tell from here that she had been scuffed up pretty bad, but nothing life threatening. At least, not that you could see, and from this distance, which wasn't much. You couldn't make out the rise and fall of her chest and a feeling of dread began to wash over you.

A new strength ran through your body and you began to crawl towards the door closest to you. Pain shot through your limp leg as it bumped against things and dragged along the floor, but you did your best to ignore it. As you reached the door, you grabbed the handle and pushed, but it wouldn't budge. You tried agai to open the door but to no avail. And then you heard the sirens. The kind of noise that could be heard from miles away in this kind of weather. A sound at normally brought a feeling of safety now brought fear. You knew that of the police or anyone else found out about Lyra that wasn't a personal friend of yours would mean her getting turned over to the government. And you weren't about to let that happen.

Out of time and options, you brought back your elbow and slammed it against the glass, adding to the spiderweb bed cracks that ran up the length of the window. You brought back your arm again and slammed it into the window, feeling it flex a little after the blow. Your arm ached and you wanted to just stop and lie there until the police came and got you out of here, but that would mean losing Lyra. You brought back your arm and slammed it into the window again with the force of a giant and knock the pane of glass straight out of the door not leaving the slightest bit of shattered glass to risk cutting yourself on.

Your leg throbbed terribly as you crawled out of the damaged car. The sirens could be heard getting closer, probably only a mile away now. Time was running out. Rather than wasting your time trying to stand and walk, you crawled your way over to Lyra, or more like dragged yourself. Leaving a thin trail of blood from your arm and some that dripped down your neck. The pain in your leg had gone from hurting to excruciating. Every centimeter you moved felt like someone was running it over with a jumbo jet. But after a few. One feet of crawling, you reached the small pony. And you couldn't tell if she was breathing.

You rolled her over onto her back and pressed your finger against her chest. Under her fur, you felt a faint heartbeat. It was weak, but it was there. She was stil alive. You almost wanted to collapse in relief, but you were only half way there. Now that you had gotten Lyra, you had to find a safe place for her and yourself to hide. Staying and talking to the police wasnt an option at this point. But there was no way that you'd find a place to hide in time. Or was there?

You noticed that the road you had been driving on ran parallel to a this growing of trees only about twelve meters off. But you wouldn't make it in time by crawling, you would need to stand up to get there in time. And that was the only option, giving up Lyra wasn't even a possibility in your eyes.

And with that, you put Lyra's limp body in your breast pocket after making sure there weren't any holes that she could accidently slip through. You firmly planted your hands on the ground and used up. You weren't a weak man by any stretch, but your whole body ached and your muscles screamed in protest of this sudden movement. But you did you best to ignore the pain and push yourself up and managed to get yourself up on your knees with only a little bit of pain, but that wasn't standing. You took a deep breath and prepared yourself. Luckily you were standing near your car and had something to lean against.

You leaned your shoulder on it and pulled your left leg out from under yourself and planted it firmly on the ground. And then you forced yourself to stand. Using your leg and your arms to draw yourself up. And it hurt like hell. Your leg dragged along the ground as you stood up causing unpredictable spasms of pain to shoot through your body. But after a few moments, you managed to right yourself, though you still clutched your side in pain.

Enpowered by your success, no matter how bad it hurt, you began to shuffle forward. Your left leg took most of the weight while your right just dragged along behind you. Snagging on everything possible. From glass to twisted car parts, to chunks of asphalt. But you kept hobbling forward towards the treeline. And just as you made it to the trees and small shrubs on the side of the road, the police came into sight down the road.

And you watched them as they pulled up from the safety of the trees. You had tucked yourself into a shrub and rested your back on a thick trunked tree. Letting your tensed muscles relax to the sound of birds chirping and car doors of the police slamming. Suddenly you realized that your eyelids were increadible heavy. As to be expected after something like this. Maybe a nap would do you good in this situation. And with that, you shut your eyes and drifted off the the dark abyss know as sleep.

Chapter Six: Waking Up

You open your eyes to an unobstructed view of the clear blue sky. The air is filled with the smell of honeysuckle plants and pine sap. You sit up without feeling the slightest bit of pain anywhere on your body. You distinctly remember the car crash and the pain you had felt just before you blacked out.

You press your hand against your ribs where you were sure they had been broken, expecting the searing pain to rush through your body; but instead, nothing. You stop pressing your hands against your abdomen to look at your body as a whole. Your shredded clothes had disappeared and you were now wearing a thin, white t-shirt that had almost no weight to it so it felt like you weren’t even wearing a shirt at all. Along with that you had a pair of white jeans and sneakers to match.

“Okay, that’s strange.” You say. You voice sounds different somehow when you speak. Like it has more echo to it, but there’s nothing for it to echo off of. Suddenly, a shimmering white light appeared in front of you that steadily grew in intensity. It soon became so bright that you have to look away until it subsides. As the light dims you risk a look back and rather than the light, there is a woman.

She was taller than you by just a few inches with long, light brown hair and sharp grey eyes. Her skin was fair without a single blemish or wrinkle. Overall, she was gorgeous. “Rise boy.” She said. Her voice was soft but commanding all the same. You do as you’re told and get to your feet. She looks you up and down and before nodding to herself. “I see I have chosen wisely.” She said.

“Chosen what wisely?” You ask. “And where the hell am I? And where’s Lyra?” You ask all at once.

“Lyra is safe, I can assure you of that. As for where we are, this is called the dream fields.” She said stepping aside and motioning with her hand to the expanse of rolling hills in the distance. “Here is where dreams reside.” She said. She snapped her fingers and the sky suddenly went dark and the sun was replaced by the moon and the stars lit up, but these weren’t the stars you had seen before. These were spirals and smudges of cloud and dust in the sky rather than just the points of light. “I prefer galaxies over those boring stars. Much more structure than just burning balls of gas.” She said noting the look on his face and giggling slightly with amusement.

“That doesn’t really answer my question.” You say.

“This is where dreams take place. Where the world is able to be molded to suit the dreams of those inhabiting it.”

“So this is all a dream?” You ask her.

“Nope, this is reality. Or at least my reality that I built.” She said.

“So then where are all the other people? There must be somebody else out in the world dreaming.”

“Only a select few have the blessing of coming here to the dream fields. Only people like you.”

“Like me?” You ask.

“Yes, like you. You humans that have experienced a connection with a pony.” She said.

“So, there are more people out there with ponies than just me?”

“Well of course there are.” She said waving her hand. A disk of light appeared behind her and began projecting an image like a television. It showed a dark brown stallion resting his back against a tree filled with apples and an orange mare resting her head on his shoulder.

“But neither of them are human.” You say pointing to the two images in the light.

“Yes, but the stallion once was. But he was given the choice.” The woman said.

“The choice?” You ask.

“You see, every so often one of my subjects yearns for adventure, for excitement. So, I go into your world and find a suitable guardian for my subjects, like yourself. And I send them over for a short amount of time. But your world isn’t kind to ponies. Whenever they go, something bad always happens it seems. So, in that pony’s last days I offer their guardian a choice. Sometimes, the guardian manages to save the pony like in Joe’s case. But some aren’t so lucky.” She explained.

“If they always end up getting hurt, then why do you send them?” You ask, staring at the shimmering image.

“Because everypony needs a bit of adventure, but it’s not just for them. Sometimes the guardians need it to.” She said.

“I don’t understand.” You say taking a step back.

“Those terrible thoughts you had just days before Lyra came into your life. The terrible things you thought of doing to yourself. That’s what I’m talking about.” She said. you take another step back from the woman. How could she know these things. Things you had almost forgotten about yourself.

“W-who are you and why am I here?”

“My name is Princess Luna, the princess of the night and the fields of dreams, and I am here to offer you the choice.” She said, her voice taking on an ethereal quality.

“Y-you mean Lyra-”

“Her days are nearing an end, she has earned a place in the field of dreams with me when she dies.” She said.

“A-and the choice.” you say, tears welling up in your eyes at the thought of Lyra leaving you.

“I can give you life again, put you back in your wretched world for the rest of your life to be with Lyra for the last days of her life.” She said. A shimmering white light appeared next to her that turned into another television display like thing that showed you lying on a bed with your shirt peeled away and your arm wrapped tightly in gauze. But your skin was deathly pale and there wasn’t the normal rise and fall of your chest.

And suddenly it hit you, you weren’t dreaming or had been strangely teleported, you were dead. The car crash and the injuries you had received had killed you. Where your body was right now didn’t worry you as much as where Lyra was. You remembered putting her in your breast pocket when you had gotten out of your car, but you didn’t have a shirt on in the picture and she wasn’t lying on your chest like she normally did when you two slept.

“Or you can stay with me in the dream fields until she joins us. You can shape your own realities. Play with physics, build your own world with your own people until she comes to join us and the others that have accumulated here over the years. And then after she joins us, you can spend the rest of eternity with her.” She said.

You stand there in shock for a moment, not knowing what to say, what to do. You had never considered something like this.

“Not good enough yet, how about this. I can make you a pony in the dream fields. I can let you an Lyra be more than just companions. You can finally talk to her, be with her. All you have to do is stay with me.” She said. She said extending her hand.

You look from the portal to Luna and then back to the portal. Weighing the options in your mind. They were both very good deals. In one you got to live again, but not with Lyra for very long. But in the other, you can wait for her here, and then live with her forever. And not just the way you had in the past but truly with her. What to choose, what to choose.

Chapter Seven: Confessions

You stare up at Luna for a moment, considering your options. But the one that seemed to stand out the most to you also seemed the most practical.

“I-I’ll stay here with you. I’ll wait for Lyra.” You say extending your hand to meet her’s but you stop just inches away. “On on condition.” You say. Luna, the frustration obvious in her eyes, folded her arms.

“I’m listening.” She said.

“I want to be able to know where Lyra is until she joins us here. That’s all else I ask from you.” You say. She looked up to the sky that was dotted with beautiful swirls, mulling it over, though she had already made up her mind.

“Deal.” She said meeting you halfway. You immediately felt your hand heat up. Smoke rose from your palm and you could smell the sickening smell of your skin burning. You let out a sharp squeal of pain and tried to pull your hand away, but Luna’s grip was like iron.

“Shhh, it’s okay. The pain will come to pass.” She said. The burning passed up your arm and into your chest. Not too long afterward enveloping your entire body. you grit your teeth against the pain, but your strength was failing. You felt yourself drop to your knees and a few moments later she released your hand and the pain began to subside.

Your vision began to return and the buzzing in your ears began to subside. You straightened your back to look up at Luna who looked down at you with a pained smile. She crouched down and gazed into your eyes.

“It’s the only way to guarantee that the real world won’t try to take you back. When you awaken, I will teach you how to alter the fields, but until then, rest.” She said. She drew her finger across your forehead and you collapsed into a heap on the ground.

Lyra trotted through the knee high grass on a long stretch of rolling hills. She had been walking in one direction for a long time. For how long, she didn’t know. Hours, days, weeks, she didn’t know. But seen hadn’t seen a single pony, and worse, she hadn’t seen Michael. He had sworn to always be there for her, but he wasn’t here now, and it scared her.

She didn’t know why she felt fear in this empty field. It wasn’t the thought that something was watching her, or that she was alone. She had been alone for a large portion of her life. Even Bon Bon wasn’t always there for her. Going out of town for, ‘Bake Sales,’ and, ‘Confectioners Conventions,’ in Canterlot even though she knew she was just trying to get away from her.

She knew she could be annoying, but it seemed like the ponies around her only tolerated her, and only just that much.

“Hello Lyra.” A voice said behind her. She whipped around quickly to find the source. Behind her stood a tall, light blue pony with a dark blue mane with white streaks.

“W-who are you?” She asked, not recognizing the face of the pony behind her.

“I, it’s me, Michael.” The pony said.

“M-Michael. But, h-how are you, how can you, whaa?” She asked all of the questions running through her mind at once.

“Listen Lyra, I’d love to answer all your questions, but I don’t have much time. Luna’s already pulling me back to th-”

“Luna, as in, the princess?” She asked cocking her head sideways.

“Lyra please, I don’t have long and I have a lot to tell you.” He said, he seemed to shimmer in the sunlight and almost disappear completely before coming back into focus.

“What the bu-”

“Lyra please.” Michael said stuffing a hoof in her mouth to silence her. “Are you going to let me explain?” He asked. Lyra nodded and Michael removed his hoof. “Okay, where to start. Umm, do you remember the car crash?” Michael said.

“Not much of it, but I remember you putting me in your pocket and that was all.” She said.

“Yeah, umm, how do I put this.” He said.

“Put what?” She asked.

“Well, I didn’t make it out of that.” Michael said. Lyra stopped walking and stared at him.

“W-what do you mean didn’t make it out of that.” She asked, her voice cracked.

“I-I mean I’m dead. I didn’t make it out.” Michael said putting his hoof on her shoulder.

“T-then how are you-”

“I made a deal with Luna. She’s preserving me in something called the dream fields, I’m waiting for you.” He said. A tear ran down her cheek that Michael quickly wiped away.

“A-and me?” She asked.

“Lyra, I’m sorry, but you don’t have much longer than I do. How long exactly, I don’t know.” He said. Lyra broke the eye contact and let her head sag. “I’m sorry Lyra.” He said. Without warning Lyra’s head shot up and she wrapped her hooves around his neck in a hug that slightly surprised him but after a second her raised his hooves and followed suit.

“Michael, I don’t want to be alone.” She whispered in his ear.

“And you won’t be, I’ll be there watching over you the entire time, even if you can’t see me.” He said. His form shimmered again and and he had to focus extremely hard to stay where he was. “Lyra, I have to g-” He was cut off by Lyra pressing her lips against his. Her tongue danced behind her lips and she debated whether or not to go for it.

“I dont want to come on too strong, what if he doesn’t think of me the same way as I do.”

“Oh shut up and go for it already Lyra, You don’t know the next time you’ll see him. This could be your last chance to do this. It’s all or nothing.”

Michael pulled away from her with a warm smile. Lyra opened her eyes and was relieved when she saw his expression.

“I love you Lyra.” He said. Something stirred inside of her like a weight lifted off her shoulders.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that.” She said. Michael’s smile widened as he brought back in for another kiss, but before their lips met his form shimmered and he disappeared.

Chapter Eight: Terms and Conditions

You snap awake on another long expanse of long green grass wit the biggest smile on your face. You could still feel her lips against yours, it was an amazing feeling.

“I see you’ve already figured the ‘walking in dreams’ part.” Said Luna who you hadn’t noticed was sitting next to you on a small chair. But she was no longer the fair skinned woman that she had been when you first came to the dream fields, but a tall, midnight blue coat, not unlike your new appearance just a bit darker, and a slightly lighter, flowing main that appeared to be pulled by invisible currents of air.

“You and Lyra are quite cute I must say.” She said getting up from the small chair which disappeared leaving just empty space.

“Y-you were there?” You ask standing up and flicking a bit of dust out of your tail.

“No, but I was watching.” She said waving her hoof in the empty air and a disk of white light appeared. An image appeared on the disk showing Lyra and yourself, lost in each other's embrace. She waved her hoof through the disk and the image faded like the chair had done. “And you can do the same.” She said.

“How?” You ask picking up your hoof and looking at it like it was something else.

“Just think about her and you can see her as she is now, in your world or what she is thinking of.” She said. “Just like the rest of this,” She said motioning with her hoof to the rest of the dream fields. “It all works with the mind, your mind. If you think of it, then it can be a reality.” She said.

You brought Lyra back to the front of your mind and closed your eyes to concentrate better. From the shape of her body to the little dimples that appeared on her cheeks when she smiled. You built up a perfect image of her behind your eyes. You heard Luna gasp and your eyes snapped open.

Between you and Luna was Lyra, or what looked like Lyra. She was looking around like she was confused.

“L-Lyra.” You say extending a hoof, but it just passed through her, or the image of her.

“How did you manage a three dimensional mental projection?” Luna asked circling the image of Lyra.

“I-I don’t know I just..” He trailed off when Lyra turned her head to face you, like she knew you were there. And then she disappeared, or the image rather.

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Luna said. “No one’s ever been able to project anything but a two dimensional projection.” Her eyes were wide with awe. “C-can you…” Luna trailed off as you closed your eyes again.

The image of Lyra reforming in your mind until it was just as before. But it felt different this time, like you were closer to her. The image in your mind seemed more real, like she was really there in your head. Then you felt something click into place in your mind. You feel your body go limp and land on the ground with a soft thud before you lost consciousness.

Lyra’s eyes snapped open to darkness. Her body ached as she tried to move. in most cases she would have worried about where she was and why she was in so much pain, but she couldn’t focus on anything but Michael.

‘How could he be dead?’ She asked herself. She ignored to pain and curled herself into a tight ball. Tears streamed down her face and her small body shook with her sobbing. ‘He’s dead, and now I’m alone.’ She thought to herself.

“But you’re not alone.” A voice whispered. Her sobbing stopped and her body froze. “You’ll never be alone.” The voice whispered She picked her head up and looked around, but there was nothing but darkness. She forced some of the little energy she had left into the tip of her horn and a small point of light appeared at the tip.

The light revealed that she was in a very small space. The walls no more than a few feet away from her. But she was alone.

‘Great, I’m alone and going mad.’ She thought extinguishing the light.

“You may not be able to see me, but I am here.” The voice whispered.

‘Can you hear my thoughts?’ She said in her mind.

“But of course my dear, how else would I know that your name is Lyra, you were born in Canterlot and moved to Ponyville with your family when you were only six years old. You’ve lived there ever since until you woke up in Michael's apartment and have been living with him since then.” The voice said.

‘How do you know all that?’ She thought.

“I took the liberty of rooting around in your memories, I have to know something about my associates before I put them to work.” The voice said.

‘Associates?’ She asked in her mind.

“This is why I chose you,” The voice said. “You don’t ask why I’m in your head poking around, you just get straight to the point.”

‘Chose me, for what?’ She thought. She slowly uncurled her body.

“I have a proposition for you my dear.” The voice said. Lyra stayed silent to show she was listening. “A ‘You scratch my back, I scratch yours’ sort of thing.” The voice said.

‘And what could you possibly give or do for me?’ She asked.

“I can bring Michael back, make him live again.” The voice said. “I can take both of you back to your world and you can live the rest of your lives together and amongst your friends. All I ask is one teeny favor.”

‘I’m listening.’ Lyra said.

You slip back into consciousness to the smell of mildew and wood rot. You felt cold stones at your back but you weren’t lying on the ground. You were suspended on something, or at least it felt like it. You try to move your hooves but they wouldn’t budge as if you were bound to a wall.

Suddenly a door across from you bursts open flooding the dark room with bright light. You let your body hang limp to look like you’re still unconscious but keep one eye slightly open to see what was happening.

A tall figure, silhouetted against the light walked into the room. It was obviously a pony by the body shape and the sound its hooves made against the ground but who it was was a totally different story. You didn’t notice until now that it had something slung over its shoulder. It walked over to the spot next to him on the wall and let his cargo slide off his back and onto the ground with a soft thud. It then reached up to the wall and undid a clasp and fit the cargo, which was another pony, hoof into it before closing it again with a snap. It did the same with the other three hooves and took a step back.

“The first to pawns fall.” He said admiring his handiwork. He then walked over to you and slugged you hard in your exposed stomach driving the air from your lungs. You begin coughing and gasping for breath.

“Had to make sure you were still alive.” He before turning and walking back to the door. “You two have fun in here.” He said before slamming the door and casting the room back into darkness.

Chapter Nine: How Did I Get Here

Lyra snapped awake on what felt like soft shag carpeting beneath her pelt. There was a there was a soft light coming from the corner of her eye, like the light from a lamp. Whatever room she was in it reminded her of her old home back with her family. Bu the ringing of that mysterious voice was still in her ears and reminded her that she was not at home, or if it was she couldn't stay here long. There was a reason why she left her home and never looked back until now.

Lyra sat up and rubed a hoof against her head, it was then she noticed the wooden box resting on her chest. Bit she didn't have time to notice it before she noticed the bed a few feet to the right of her, which wouldn't have been a problem if there wasn't a pony resting onit. It was a skinny white mare with a curly lavender and a bright pink streak running down the center of it all. She looked familiar but Lura couldn't match the face with a name.

Lyra slowly stood up, the box clutched to her chest by one of her fore hooves and she slowly began to make her way to the door. She had practiced moving silently at night when she was just a filly and it seemed that she hadn't lost her touch. Bit it was just as she reached the door that everything went bad.

She wrapped her hoof Round the door knob and the door swing open, but it wasn't her who had opened it. On the other side of the door stood a wide eyed changeling with a deep red shell adorning his back.

"Who in Celestia's name are you and why are you in my bedroom?" The changeling said reading to his right with a single wing. Lura heard the distinctive hiss of metal scraping on metal and in an second there was a polished steel sword pressed against her throat.

"Kuray, is that you dear?" The mare said from the bed. She lifted her head from the pillow and yelped when she saw Lyra. She crossed her hind legs to hide her personal areas and drew them close to herself.

"Don't worry sweetheart, it's all going to be okay." Kuru said pressing then blade a little harder against her neck. Lyra instinctively threw her free forenoon up while moving her head back to knock the blade back, but the changeling was expecting this. He expertly controlled his wing as he steadied the blade, brought the handle around and slammed the pommel into Lyra's skull.

The blow sent her reeling and she dropped the box in the process. It hit the ground and the lid flipped open on the hinge and something metal clattered out and onto the floor. Lyra recognized it instantly and dove for it. She felt her hooves connect with the metal and she institivly wrapped her hooves around the grips and put the tip of her hoof into the trigger guard.

Writhing seconds Kuray found himself on the unhappy end of a .45 mm Colt model M1911. Being a veteran of the changeling army he learned these things.

"Now take it easy with that thing." Kuray said. He lowered the blade slowly and folded his wing calmly though there was fury in his eyes. Lyra turned to the mare who had curled herself into a ball on the bed but kept the gun trained on the changeling.

"Get over here with your colt friend." Lyra said. The mare uncurled herself and rolled off of the bed. She walked unsteadily over to the changeling, fear showed in her eyes. Lyra retrieved the scabbard from behind the door that the changeling and slid the sword into it and strapped it onto her back. Lyra picked back up the box and tucked it into the crook of her forehoof and pressed it into her chest.

"Please, leave my home." Kuray said, the fury still present in his eyes but his tone had leveled out. Lura checked to make sure nothing else had fallen out of the box and began to back towards a window. The used her magic and opened it up without taking her eyes off of the angry changeling. Immediately a cold wind blew into the wind making her shiver. Lyra looked out of the window quickly and saw fresh snow falling from the sky, and in the instance that she looked out of the window the changeling charged her. Lyra had little time to react. She quickly squeezed the trigger of the hoof gun and a bullet loud bang tore through the already tense air. A single billet tore through the air and collided with the changeling's shoulder and flew out of his back and colliding with the wall behind his girlfriend and spattering her with blood. The changeling tripped but his momentum carried him forward and into Lyra. The bug pony slammed into her and knocked her off balance and out the window and into the snow.

You awaken to the sound of a rusty door creak open. In the doorway stands a tall pony silhouetted against the weak light from the hallway of wherever you and your compadre in chains are locked up. The two of you were still strapped to the walls. You had struggled for a good hour or two against the clasps but they held fast and the only thing you had to show for your efforts were cut wrists and a this trail of dried blood running up the length of your right foreleg.

"Waley wakey!" The pony hissed banging what sounded like a metal pipe against the stone walls. The pony next to you snapped awak and began to thrash about. The silhouetted pony stopped banging the pipe and trotted over next to the other pony. You hear something whip through the air and connect with a torso with a stomach churning thud followed closely by a sharp cry of pain.

"Do you not appreciate my hospitality princess?" Princess, could that be Luna? The silhouette said as the scream died down. "Do you want to go home?" The pony asks. a muffled grunt comes from the pony chained to the wall followed by another blow from the pipe and a muffled scream.

"We'll too bad. I'm going to make sure you know the pain of being locked away for a thousand years. I'm going to make sure you know exactly how I felt for those thousand years I was locked away from my kingdom." The pony said.

"Luna, I'm going to get us out of he-" you began but were cutoff by a swift blow from the pipe to the ribs. Pain spread up your side and you let out a cry, half of surprise and half of pain. But the scream is cut off when the silhouette clamps your mouth shut.

"The more you scream the more I hurt you and the princess." The dark pony said taking his hoof hoof of your mouth. He takes the pipe and jabs you in the stomach with the tapered end off it. A sharp pain spreads up your body. Your body goes rigid but you stay completely silent through it all.

The honeysuckle bush Lyra landed in didn't do much to cushion her fall, but It did succeed in making her smell like a cheap candle. But there wasn't really anytime to worry about that. Most likely the guards or somepony else had heard the gunshot and were rushing over.

She glanced down at the box in her hoof and wondered to herself what else it had inside. As a matter of fact, how had she gotten it and why had she woken up in some random ponies' home. She remembered the voice asking her to do something in exchange for something else but what those two something's were she had no idea, or simply couldn't remember.

She considered opening the box right now to see its contense so she could find out what the hell she was doing here but the thundering sounds of hooves on the cobblestone streets snapped her attention back to the present. She closed he eyes and focused all of her energy into her horn. She felt the tip of it heat up as she initiated the spell and she disappeared with a bright flash of light. Even though she didn't know wherein needed to go, she knew where she could stay safe enough to figure that out and with the guards that would no doubt be searching for her safe places would be few and far between, but there was one place she knew, one place everypony else feared, the Everfree Forest.

Chapter Ten: Solace

You snap awake to the dim light of candles that were scattered around the room though they arejust smudges of light in your eyes blurry from sleep. You try to move a hoof to rub your eye but you're met with the sound of metal jangling. It weighs against your hoof but you're at least mobile. You rub the sleep out of your eyes and blink a few time until the room comes into focus, and you're slightly surprised by what you see.

You find yourself still in what seems like an underground celler or dungeon of sorts but rather than being chained to a stonewall you are seated in an old wooden chair at the head of a long wooden table laden with food. Everything from mashed potatoes to dressing and everything in between. Your stomach growls violently at the sight of the food and your mouth began to water, but the chains that were wrapped tightly around your hooves and a worn leather strap that was fixed tightly around your neck reminded you that this was all a sham. And after you tore your eyes away from the food you notice a sleeping, or passed out, Luna gagged and with her hooves bound together.

Bruises and cuts were visible all over her face and neck, and no doubt the rest of her body. Seeing her on this condition scared you because it proved to you that you weren't in the dream fields anymore, in which case you were now alive. You hadn't seen much of magic when you were with Lyra or the princess but common sense told you that whoever, or whatever, had the power to bring you back to life must be a force to be reckoned with.

Out if the corner of your eye you see something move in the shadows. You turn your head to face it and are met with only still, quiet darkness. You try to relax yourself but there's a feeling you can't shake, a feeling of dread that sits like a stone in your belly and grips your heart. It keeps your muscles tensed even though you most likely couldn't defend yourself if the need arose with these clumsy chains and leather strap around you neck. You had never felt so powerless before on your life, and you hate it. The feeling of having your life in someone else's hooves made you squirm.

Then you heard the distinct clop of a hoof behind you. You try to turn your head around but the collar that you are wearing prevented that. Without warning you feel a sharp prick against your neck followed by a dull ache.

"You aren't supposed to be awake yet. I'd much rather talk to you AND Luna at once, and I hate repeating myself." The voice behind you whispered in your ear. You feel a calming war ness spread through your body and relax your muscles as it goes. Soon you go slack in the chair and your ears begin to buzz slightly. "And I'm not going to wake her up. After all she's been through, she could use some sleep, and frankly, so could you." The voice said.

You felt a hoof press against the bottom of your chin and move your head up. You see the edge of a red cape with white trim out of the corner of your eyes. You could have looked over just a few inches to the right and seen your attacker, but you weren't thinking straight. Your vision was fixed to a point far off in the distance. You feel you eyelids becoming heavy and the buzzing in your ears become louder. "You're not looking too good champ. You should probably get some sleep." The voice says. Somewhere in your mind a little voice screams at you to stay awake but the rational part of your mind is already asleep so your thoughts affix themselves on the one thing that still seems beautiful in all this. And then, with the though of Lyra in your mind, you drift off to sleep.

Lyra felt like she was flying at a very high speed for just a moment before she felt hard packed dirt under her hoof and she opened her eyes. She smiled to herself after the wave of nausea left her anlooked around the room she found herself in. The walls were decorated with several strange looking masks that she had been gold were meant to signify different thinge: Peace, happiness, safety, prosperity and other things of the sort. They looked to be made of clay and were criss crossed with different colors, some very vibrant like blues and reds, but some muted and soft like a deep shade of brown. But there was something missing from the room, something Lyra had come to know very well, two things actually.

Lyra traced her hoof around a thin circle that was inprinted in the ground by something heavy, something iron, a cauldron. And the mare that normally was here to tend to the flames of the fires that were normally lit beneath said cauldron.

Lyra looked a bit harder at the room and noticed several things were missing from the room. The strands of rope that hung from the ceiling with various knots at different lengths to hold different herbs like garlic and thistle horn hung bare. The shelves that normally supported potions and curealls of various potencies and effects lay bare and with a thin layer of dust at that. As a matter of fact, the only thing that didn't have a thin layer of dust on it was the bed which was a mess.

Lyra heard a creak behind her whipped around to face the door. She locked eyes with a tall zebra with golden bangles that went from her shoulder and ended just below her jaw bone. Her normally black and white man had gone almost totally silver. Though her bright green eyes made it look like she hadn't aged a day. She was, most definaltey, Lyra's old friend. She was most definaltey Zecora.

"How could it be?" Zecora asked stepping into her home and not taking her eyes off Lyra, her normally sing-songy way of talking had disappeared and been replaced by an old, raspy voice. "You've been gone for thirty years, there's no way you could be here and still look as young as the last time I saw you. It's impossible." She said. Lyra noticed that her old friend was leaning heavily on a cane she hadn't noticed she had when she had walked in. Zecora edged towards her but Lyra was speechless.

'How could it have been thirty years?' She thought to herself. 'I was only in Michael's world for about six months.' Lyra thought. The though of michael's world made her heart ache, but she had a job to do.

Suddenly, Zecora ran at Lyra and swept her hooves with the cane. Within the blinks fan eye Lyra found herself on the ground with Zecora pressing her foreleg into Lyra's throat. She tried to get up but the old zebra held firm.

"There's no way that's really you. They found your body, or what was left of you anyway." Zecora said urgently. Tears streamed down Zecora's face but her expression was cold. "I waited for her. She was my best friend, and I waited thirty years for her to come back and she never did." Zecora said. She raised her hoof, clutching her cane tightly. "And whoever you are, I hope you burn on Tartarus." She said, pain evident in her voice. She locked eyes with Lyra and hesitated for just a second before she swung the cane in a wide arc. Lyra felt it connect with her head and then blackness.

Lyra's eyes slid open and she found herself at the edge of a forest with an empty expanse of bright green grass extending as far as her eye could see and trees going next to her and swallowing the light making it look pitch dark as she looked in. Deciding not to walk into the unknown she turned to her left and began to walk into the empty expanse.

She knew she was asleep, or unconscious, but it wasn't like whenever she had been knocked out in the past. Whenever she had been knocked out previously she remembered nothing like a dream but just empty blackness, but this was different. It felt like there really was the bright green, springy grass beneath her hooves. It was to vivid, to real, to be just a dream it was like the last time she saw Michael.

Suddenly she realized she had stopped walking in front of a bundle of blue fur and feathers that Lyra was able to identify immediately even though she had only seen them once.

"Michael?" She asked the mass of blue beneath her. At the sound of his name the ponyraised his head and looked around until he sees Lyra.

"It worked." Michael said standing up slowly. She noticed several bruises on his face and a cut running up his cheek. He looked like he had been through hell and back. She felt him tense up slightly as she raised her hoof and rested it on his collar bone And drew him closer. The space between them was merely inches now and her lips itched for his, but there was something she wanted to know.

"What happened?" She asked. Michael leans in next to her and rests his cheek on her's. His breath tickled her ear as he spoke.

"None of it matters, at least not now." You say. Suddenly, her body goes stiff and she stops breathing. You draw your head back and stare at her for a second. Her entire body has stiffened up and her eyes were fixed on a point somewhere off in the distance. Suddenly her entire figure disappeared in an bright flash of light.

"W-what?" You say taking a step back.

"She's fine, don't worry." A voice says behind you. You spin around quickly and lock eyes with Luna. "We need to talk." She says taking a step towards you. Her face is swollen and criss crossed by several cuts and one eye is shut tight.

"Where are we?" You ask her trying to force the image of Lyra suddenly disappearing out of your mind.

"We're in your dream Michael, can't you tell?" Luna replies cocking her head sideways.

"No, I mean where are we really, when we're awake?" You ask again, being more specific this time. Luna's expression turns grim and she turns herself to face the tree line.

"That's what I was getting to." She said, her voice sounded tired and defeated.

"Luna?" You ask walking towards her

"We're stuck in the crystal catacombs underneath the crystal empire, and Sombra is the gatekeeper." She said somberly. "And if you're alive and I got pulled out of the dream fields then something's happening, and you, Lyra and myself are right in the middle of it all."

Chapter 12: Blood on His Hooves

You snap awake to the sound of chattering voices all around you.

"Is he okay, he just appeared out of no where, that is an awesome tattoo," and several other questions that were lost in the crowd. Whenever you open your eyes you stare up at the faces of several ponies with crystalline facets running along their bodies that shimmered in the weak evening sunlight.

"Hey buddy, you okay." A crystalline white stallion with a dark red mane says pushing past to the front of crowd. You nod quickly, hardly able to take in everything that's going on at once. "On your hooves then, you drawing a crowd." He said. He offerer a hoof and you take it. He pulls you up until you're standing on your back two hooves and you don't realize until now that everypony else was standing on their back hooves as well, like humans. The white stallion pats you should and then steps away and you do the same and the crowd disperses.

As you walk away from the crowd you hear a faint buzzing that slowly grows in volume until it is clearly there and is starting to become annoying until it abruptly cuts off and is replaced with a smooth voice that awakens the hate within you.

"Hello my friend. It's been a few minutes and I realized that I forgot to tell you that the pony you send to me has to be royalty. Royal blood is much richer than peasant blood." Sombra says. "I'd kill Luna but she's still valuable so it's up to you champ." And with that you feel the voice go away from your mind. You sigh at that thought of having to kill royalty but you can't let that bother you. Lyra's life is at stake and you don't know how patient Sombra is.

But the only problem is you don't have a plan to kill some royal type, you don't even know who nearby could be royalty. That is until you look up from the sparkling concrete and notice a tall crystal building with long velvet banners hanging from its massive spires that billow in the wind.

"That's a palace if I've ever seen one." You say to yourself at the sight of the structure.

"Pretty impressive isn't it?" A voice behind you asks. You whip around and lock eyes with a bright red mare with a blond mane, facets ran along her body as they did everypony in this place. "Your not from around here stranger."

"How could you tell." You say jokingly.

"Funny AND cute, what's your name?" She asked smiling. "Unless you'd rather me call you stranger."

"I'm Michael, and you?" You say being friendly to the strange mare.

"I'm Rosa, I tend to the gardens on the palace grounds." She said.

"So you know the palace well?" You ask as a plan clicks into place in your mind.

"Like the back of my hoof." She said smiling and examining her hoof. "I could show it to you if you'd like." She said smiling even wider if that was even physically possible at this point.

"I'd love it." You say simply. She jumps up and down clapping her hooves together.

"Yay, I love giving tours almost as much as I love flowers." She said. You smile at her happiness and offer her your hoof.

"Shall we?" You ask.

"We shall." She replies taking your hoof and leading you through the streets crystal streets, Giggling like a mad filly. And as you follow her you think you see a hint of blush on her cheeks but you could be wrong.

The rest of the evening went by fairly quickly it seemed. The mare led you around the gardens and other parts of the castle grounds, showing you every square inch of the place, before taking you inside. Outside was nice, but the inside of the palace must be what heaven looked like. Massive columns that rose up to the ceiling and met an awesome stain glass dome that allowed enough sunlight through to bathe the crystal ground in different colors of lights that reflected through the crystals and made the entire palace look even more beautiful.

"This is my favorite time to come in here." Rosa said. She clutched your hoof tightly as you watch the sun go down and the shadows mix with the hues in the crystal flooring and columns.

"I can understand why." You reply taking in all of the beauty of what was around you. But then the voice slithered back into your head.

"Having fun you little moron? Need I remind you that your marefriend is still in my dungeon, I can't kill her but I can make her wish I will." Sombra shouts in your head. You feel your tattoo begin to burn. "Get me that blood before the moon sets or I will begin to make your marefriend into pony jerky." He shouted.

The burning in your tattoo began to subside and was replaced by an itching in your mind. You turn to rosa and do you best to act like you're dead tired.

"Hey Rosa, I just blew into town today and I was wondering if you knew somewhere I could stay, just for the night." You ask.

"Oh, of course, there's a spare room here in the castle actually. And there's and in just down the street if you'd ra-"

"Here in the castle sounds perfect." You say, letting out a fake yawn to convince her further.

"Well then I'll show you to your room." She said taking your hoof and leading you across the palace and to a flight of stairs that led up to the staff and guest rooms.

Rosa pushed open the door to the room and took step back. "One of the finest hotels in all of the empire." She said in a voice that made her sound like an esteemed hotel owner.

"And no one will mind that I'm staying here?" You ask stepping in.

"Oh no one will mind. No one ever uses these guest rooms and as a worker for the princess it's okay for me to bring friends over." She winked.

"Thanks Rosa for everything." You say looking back to her. She blushes slightly and smiles.

"It's not a problem." She smiled. "I'm in the room just down the hall if you need anything." She said. "I'll see you tomorrow." She said waving and shutting the door behind her. You sigh heavily and look back to the door one last time.

"I'll be gone by morning." You say to yourself you look to your tattoo. "Gone, or dead."

You pull the last bent feather out of your wings and let it float to the ground with a few others that had been plucked from your wings. On the time you had taken from when you had gotten to the room and until now you had decided to be as normal as you could possibly be before murdering royalty. You weren't proud of what you were going to do but it was what needed to be done, and for Lyra, it didn't matter.

You glance out the window to see the moon reaching its highest pony and sigh to yourself. 'Its now or never.' You say in your mind. You don't want to screw around to long and not get it finished in time. You pull the panel aside and let the cool night air flow into the room and ruffle your feathers before jumping out and into the night.

It only took you a moments to find the princesse's room for it is the one that is the most heavily guarded, or at least was. There were some signs of blood on the balcony that led onto the corridor in the hallway that led to her chambers, but no guards. You were quickly becoming uneasy by all of this. You land on the balcony and fold your wings. You didn't plan to take off any time soon but your knees and back were tensed, ready to spring or defend yourself.

And then a bright flash of light came from down the hall, illuminating the entire corridor for an instant before disappearing. But you had sene where it had come from and quickly made your way over there.

You press you back to the wall and steal a glance into said room. To find a single Pegasus leaning against a pedestal of sorts, facing you.

"I can see you there Michael, you can come out." The Pegasus says. You pul your head back behind cover and hold your breath. But it wouldn't help, he already saw you. So you release the breath and step out into the open tentatively.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" You ask stepping out. You notice the pony is clad in a dark leather armor that matches his brown coat. The only thing that really stands out about him are his bright green eyes.

"My name isn't important, what you're here for is." He said. He pulled a red vial out of the folds of his armor and held it in his wing. "The blood of royalty." He said shaking it. You felt your tattoo burn at the sight of it.

"Something tells me you're not going to just give it to me out of the kindness of your heart." You say dubiously. You tense the muscles in your hind legs and prepare to strike if you have to.

"Ha, no sorry." He scoffed. "There's a little thing called destiny you see. I already know how this war and everything is going to turn out, it's been predicted by Luna already. Were all just pieces on the chessboard." He said putting the vial back into the folds of his armor.

"So, if you want destiny to come true then come and get it." He said. He flicked both of his wrists and two blades shot out . The steel glimmered in the weak moonlight as if blessed by Luna herself. You swallow hard at the look on his face but after staring for a second you see something that you hadn't expected. Under all the determination and fury there was, fear in his eyes. Something about that calmed you. You spread your wings and launch yourself forward, using your wings to propel you.

But the pony that stood before you was smarter than that, he easily side stepped you and landed a blow to your ribs as you passed, but you were lucky and it was only his hoof that hit you.you whip around and lock eyes with him again and notice the fear you had seen a moment ago has disappeared. He readied his blades and shot forward at you, but rather than freezing up like you would have expected yourself to do, you jerk your right hoof forward and a bolt of pure black flies out of the end of your hoof and collides with the brown pony's chest, knocking him to the floor, before dissipating. You stare at your hoof for a second, astonished by what had just happened, but not long. You only just manage to block a slash from the side.

You hold the Pegasus' right hoof back with your left and deliver two direct blows to his stomach before he stumbles away, breathing heavily and clutching his chest, but you were perfectly fine save the dull ache in your side.

You bring your hoof up again and a long black tendril slithers out and across the room before wrapping around the pony's midsection. He sliced at it with his blade but it just deflected off harmlessly. You jerk your hoof to the right and slam him against the wall with a resounding thud that shook the walls. You withdraw your hoof and let the pony fall to the ground and quickly rush over to him in anticipation of him getting up and continuing the fight, but when you get there you realize that the pony is in no condition to fight anymore.

His breath come in ragged gasps and blood pros from his skull. But he still locks his half closed eyes with yours, but he doesn't do anymore than that, he probably couldn't even of he wanted to. Your kneel down and begin rifling through the folds of his armor looking for the blood that you needed.

"Destiny's a funny thing y'know." The pony said, his eyes now locked on the stones ceiling above him.

"Yeah, I guess." You say not stopping your search.

"We're just two little pawns on the massive chessboard of existence." He continues. "I just hope I died for something other than a pawn. I hope I died for a king." He says smiling oddly. He picks up his hoof and flicks his wrist and a small vial pops out of the end. "You earned it kid." He says. You stare at the vial for a second, astonished that this pony would just give it to you.

You take it in and look to his eyes and feel something tickle at the back of your mind. And then it clicks, this is the pony that you had seen when Luna had first shown you the dream fields, the pony she had shown your with the orange mare and you realized he wasn't just another soldier, he was a human, or at least was a human. Bu as you take it he grabs you by the throat and pulls you down until you were touching noses with him.

"Promise me that you'll so the right thing in the end!" He said with a sudden ferocity that took you by surprise. "Promise me!" He shouted. You nodded your head quickly.

"Yeah, yeah, of course." You say quickly. The pony underneath you relaxes and releases you neck. You pull away quickly as he draws his last breath and closes his eyes, and just like that he was gone, and then with a flash of light so were you.

You reappear in the dark dungeon yet again still clutching the vial on your hoof. You would normally have been freaked out by the sudden change of setting but you had either gotten to used to it by now or were to numb by the thought that you had just killed somepony.

"Excellent, you're not entirely useless." Sombra hisses from somewhere in the shadows.

"Just get out here and take your damn blood!" You shout, frustrated beyond belief with everything you had done.

"Woah there friend, there's no need to be angry." He says. You feel some thing tug the vial from your hoof's grasp and pulls it off into the shadows. "And Lyra?" You ask.

"I am a stallion of my word." Sombra said. You hear a thump as something drops next to you. You kneel down and rest your hoof on something soft, something furry and something warm.

"Lyra?" You ask. You feel the thing under your hoof stir and a little bit of light pops into the room casting a little more light on the thing next to you and it reveals a mint green pony covered in filth, grime and blood. She had a thick bandage on her chest where Sombra had slowly bored the sword into her chest slowly.

"Michael." She said. Her voice showed she was tired but she still found the energy to raise herself up and wrap her hooves around your neck. But something was off about her. It wasn't the normal, warm embrace. It was cold and lifeless. Even if she was as tired as she seemed, you could tell this wasn't Lyra.

You pull yourself out if the embrace and step away as much as you can before you feel your back hit a wall. "You're not her." You whisper in shock. Fake Lyra hauls herself to her hooves and states at you in fear and confusion.

"Michael what's going on?" She asks. Hurt in her eyes as well as tears. It hurt you heart to see her like this but you also knew it wasn't her.

"You're not her." You say. She begins to stumble towards you, her own hooves difficult to move. She raises her hoof and rests it on your cheek and you do your best not to turn away. But you couldn't take it anymore you bring up your marked hoof and a black tendril wraps around her stomach and you fling her away. She slams into the wall with a sickening crunch and sinks to the ground.

You pant heavily staring at the body. One of the hooves is bent at a strange angle and her chest isn't rising and falling like a love pony's would. The Lyra look alike was, with all intents and purposes, dead.

Suddenly, the body begins to shimmer slightly before all the color drained from it leaving behind a pure black outline of Lyra which eventually melted leaving a black puddle on the ground.

"Bravo, I must say you called my bluff quite quickly." Sombra says stepping into the light with two glasses held in the air next to him by a lime green aura. A table materializes out of nowhere in the center of the room with to chairs on either side of it. "Please sit, we have things to discuss." He says sitting down at the table. You follow suit but are obviously seething with rage.

He pros a dark liquid into a glass and slides it across the table to you. You sniff at it before taking a sip and eventually draining you glass in just a few seconds. You feel a light buzz in you ears and you movements feel more sluggish.

"Another." You say. Sombra raises his eyes in surprise but tips the bottle and refills your glass. You tip it back and swallow every drop before slamming it down on the table. Being the lightweight you were when it came to drinking you were already starting to see double. "Now abert the bersners." You say slurring your words terribly. Sombra chuckle slightly to himself holding the drink to his lips.

"Oh, the business is already finished." He says. He knocks back the drink and suddenly your tattoo burned ferociously and turned crimson. In your current state some of the pain was numbed, but not all.

"Whert did yer do?!" You slur clawing at your tattoo with your hoof. But Sombra doesn't respond, he just chuckles.

Suddenly your muscles go rigid and you jaws part and you open your mouth with open and Sombra did the same. Panic fills your body as you try to move but find yourself paralyzed.

Suddenly a black cloud pros out of his mouth and flies through the air and into yours. You feel a sock sense of dread spread through you, freezing your every nerve in a foreign fear. As it flows into your body you hear thousands of screams of ponies in your ears each being silenced one at a times till only one is left, yours, and then the black cloud ends and the last of it flows into your mouth and you body goes slack. But so ring stops your from hitting the table. And it was then that you realized you were still paralyzed but it wasn't just you in your body anymore, you feel a new presence in your head, like a second consciousness.

"Ooo, I like this body, nice and strong." You say, but it wasn't you who said it at all.

"W-where am I, what is this place. A soft voice says from the other side of the table. A tall black stallion clad in a purple and red cape stood, his knees shaking. He looked exactly like Sombra except for one key difference, his eyes were a soft shade of blue and not the ugly shade of green.

"Quiet knave." You shout at the pony. You flick your hoof and a burst of energy flew out of it and shit through the pony's chest, tearing a gaping hole through his chest where his heart used to be and splattering blood all over the table, ground and wall. "I know longer have a use for you." The thing possessing you says. "I have not time for petty unicorns, Pegasus or earth ponies, I have a war to plan. A war with only one battle, and it shall be spectacular."

Chapter 13: Anti Hero

"I'll give you a few minutes to get ready." Joe said motioning to the box that was next to Lyra before turning and walking out of the small home. Lyra sighed and began removing the equipment from the box that seemed to be bigger than it let on to be but she figured that was just her.

After a few moments she had laid out a black Kevlar mesh, a small grappling hoof but with a strong cable, a four inch blade and the gun she had already used along with two spare clips. Lyra let out a shaky breath at the sight of the equipment, she had never felt this way about doing a job, about going to work. She sighed and began to dawn the gear.

Within a few minutes she was fully kitted out, from horn to hooves. The Kevlar suit fit her like a glove as did the grappling hoof. There was a holster for the gun and a sheath for the blade at the small of her back.

She had to admit, it felt exhilarating to be doing this again. The have the nervous blood rushing through her veins before doing something like this, but it also came with that sick sense of dread that she had developed towards the end of her career. It was a strange combination of "I'm gonna live forever," and "I could die tonight." She had always thought of it as a healthy smattering of the two but one soon overtook the other.

"Hey, your ready?" Joe called from outside the home. Lyra walked over and pushed the door open.

"Let's do this." She said stepping outside. Joe nodded and reached into the fold of his wing and pulled out a small glass vial with a sealed cork stopper. The liquid inside glowed a light shade of blue. "What's that?" Lyra said motioning to the vial.

"It's called travel vapor, new kind of magic from the unicorns. You just hunk of where you want to go, inhale,the fumes and poof." He quickly explained.

"And where exactly do we want to go?" Lyra asked eyeing the vial.

"The Crystal Empire." He said simply. "Meet me at the crimson café at the edge of town if we don't show up together." He said slamming the vial against a rock. It shatters quietly and an ethereal blue smoke pours out from under it and up toward's Joe's nose and as soon as it reaches him he disappears with a quiet snap. Then the blue smoke homes in on her and slowly slithers it's way over to her. She steps into the cloud and let's it swirl around her body up to her nostrils. As it gets closer she catches the sweet smell of honeysuckle before she closes her eyes and feels the ground beneath her disappear.

Lyra didn't brace herself so she found it as a surprise when she felt her hooves collide with the ground, though she resigned her composure quickly she stumbled slightly. Her eyes fly open as she takes stock of her surroundings. She appeared to be in a small clearing surrounded by several small bushes covered in frost. She could see her breath before her, but she didn't feel the cold.

"Environmental control systems activated." She heard an invisible voice whisper in her ear. She felt her body begin to heat up and looked down at her chest where your suit had begun to glow a pale shade of orange on the outside where several raised parts of the mesh had appeared.

"Nice suit." She said to herself. She heard voices coming up from her right and she pokes her head over the bush to take a look. Below her were a few ponies bundled up tightly in scarves and coats looking up at where she had appeared. She noticed one a thin ring of smoke traveling down the hill that soon dissipated.

"Hey, is any pony up there?" One of them called up to her. Lyra pulled herself back into the bushes in fear of being discovered. She wasn't exactly in her normal daily get up. Suddenly a head poked up over the small shrubs and locked eyes with Lyra. Lyra jumped back in surprise and almost went over the other side of the hill.

"Woah there, no need to be worried. My names Jack." The stallion said landing in front of her and offering his hoof.

"Lyra." She replied taking his hoof tentatively. He grinned warmly at her.

"Now, if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing at the top of this hill?" He asked.

"I just came up here to think." She lied. Jack shrugged and ruffled his feathers.

"Well, me and my fiancé are about to walk back into town, if you'd like to come along we'd be happy to have you." Jack said.

"Uh, sure thanks." Lyra replied. Jack smiled, spread his wings and flew down to the foot of the hill. Lyra closed her eyes and teleported down to the bottom of the hill and re appeared with a flash.

"I told you there was somepony on that hill." A female earth pony said in a joking tone nudging Jack. "So, what's your name?" She asked offering Lyra her hoof.

"Lyra, and you?" She asks the mare.

"Melanie." She said smiling. Jack shuffled his hooves, eager to start making his way back to town. "We can talk on the way, let's get moving before we freeze to death." Melanie said. Her and jack turned and started walking up a small dirt road and Lyra followed.

Lyra could feel the air around her warming up and eventually the suit she was wearing informed her that it was powering down which must mean it was really staring to warm up. "So, are you some sort of secret agent or spy?" Melanie asked breaking the silence.

"Not exactly." Lyra replied, not wanting to give too much of herself away. Melanie took the hint and changed the subject.

"You're like us aren't you, not from around this part of Equestria?" She asked.

"No, I-I'm from Ponyville." Lyra said. She figured she could afford to give away that little bit of information.

"Ponyville eh, quaint little town. I spent some time there a few years back." Jack said.

"Oh?" Lyra asked, trying to keep them talking so they wouldn't question what she was doing here anymore.

"Yeah, lots of nice ponies there." He said. Lyra nodded and looked up to the sun to see what time it was. It appeared that it was beginning to set. "Almost there." Jack said pulling up the sleeves on his thin coat. Lyra looked away from the sun and noticed a tall spire coming up from somewhere in the distance. It would have taken away her breath had her heart not been racing.

As they drew closer the city in its entirety came into view rather than the single spire that dominated the sky. But the strange thing was the entire city was surrounded by a magical bubble that whirred with energy. Lyra stared at it for a moment but jack and Melanie simply trotted through unfazed. Lyra follows them through and does her best not to flinch as she walks through the strange bubble.

The party walks for a few minutes longer before Jack and Melanie stop and turn to Lyra.

"I guess we'll be seeing you Lyra." Melanie said smiling warmly.

"Oh you two live here?" Lyra asked looking up at the tall apartment building made of an opaque orange crystal.

"Drop on by if you need anything. We're in B13." Jack said turning towards the steps that lead up to the door. Melanie waved one last time before following him inside leaving Lyra alone on the streets.

Knowing she was now on her own Lyra began to trot down the streets in search of the Crimson Café where she had been told to meet him. As she walked she noticed that there weren't many ponies on the streets and the ones that were walking along with her didn't notice her. They were too engrossed in their own thoughts.

After walking across the town and back she finally found the café. It was a quaint little spot on a street corner. A few tables sat outside for the patrons that would rather be in the fresh air than the inside of a building. Lyra grabbed the handle of the door with her magic and stepped inside.

As soon as she stepped inside several ponies turned their heads to face her, but none of them were the pony she was looking for. But nit was the one pony that didn't turn to see the newcomer that she had come for. At the back of the place sat a dark brown Pegasus in a raised table. Lyra trotted past all of the patrons in the place to the past. She pulled up a chair and sat next to Joe.

"I was starting to think that you weren't going to show up." Joe said. He took a sip of his coffee and set I t back down on the table.

"And miss this, the biggest and most dangerous heist I've ever been apart of, not for the world." Lyra said sarcastically. Joe chuckled slightly and took another sip of his coffee. "So, when are we gonna get it on?" She asks. Joe casts her a sideways glance.

"I'm married, you realize that." He said raising an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean." Lyra said chuckling slight and pinching him in the shoulder. He joins in her laughter after he'd rains the last of his coffee.

"I figured we'd kick it of just before midnight." He said. The barista came by them and sat two mugs of coffee down In front of the two of them.

"It's not even close to midnight, what are we gonna do until then?" Lyra asked.

"We sit back, relax and enjoy this amazing coffee." Joe said sipping the coffee. Lyra sighed and spooned a few spoonfuls of sugar into hers.

Roughly give hours later Lyra sat just behind a bush with Joe beside her. He had a pair of binoculars pressed to his eyes and was staring at the castle. Every few moments he would shift his body and rustle the bush slightly but Lyra stayed perfectly still. Something told her that Joe wasn't exactly the most stealth pony to ever live.

"Okay, I think there's a good route in." Joe said finally, taking the binoculars from his face and folding them up before slipping them into a fold of his armor.

"And that would be?" She asked turning to him.

"You see that overhang just above that balcony?" He said pointing just above a small balcony. "We're gonna take those two guards out and then make our way inside. It's on the same floor as the horn, but there's one catch." He said

"And that would be?" Lyra asked though she had a good idea what the answer would be.

"There's more guards on that floor than anywhere else. Not just because of the artifact room but because of the princess." He said. Suddenly his hoof flicked out and in and instant he had the gun in his hoof. Lyra's heart skipped a beat it she soon calmed down when he flung it into the bushes. She heard it land with a soft clank. "Which means we don't want to to wake them up or attract anymore attention than we need to." He said. Lyra felt like protesting but kept her mouth shut because she knew he was right. "So, you ready?" He asked after a few moments.

Lyra's hoof closed around the hilt of her blade that was in the sheath sown into the back of her suit. "Let's do this." She said in the most determined voice she could muster. He nodded and took to the sky and she galloped out in front of him. Just before she reached the tall hedgerow that encircled the castle she flung her hoof up and the grappling hoof shot out of the end and into the sky. It flew for a few moments before she felt it catch and the line went taught. She had used this kind of thing before and she tugged on the line twice and jumped and the grappling hoof started to reel her in, faster than she remembered, but totally silent.

Within a few moments she found herself nearing the top of the overhang. She held her breath as she passed the guards on the balcony and prepared herself the catch the ledge and pull herself up, but she didn't realize how fast she was going at the time and with the speed she was going even after the hook disengaged she went up a fee more feet, clearing the ledge and only just sticking the landing.

"What took you so long?" Joe hissed at her as she landed next to him.

"Not all of us are born with wings wise-guy." Lyra snapped back. Joe chuckled slightly and peered over the edged two guards were positioned just below them staring out into the night.

"On three we take em' out." Joe said. He flicked his wrists and two blades slid out silently. "One, two...three." He whispered before jumping over the edge, but Lyra hesitated slightly and jumped off just an instant after him, but it was already too late.

Joe landed on the back of of one of the guards, driving his blades in between the pony's shoulders. The other pony jumped back at the sudden appearance of the pony next to him, taking him out from underneath Lyra. She hit the concrete hard sending a jolt of pain up her legs that made her body go stiff. The guard began to call out but was silenced quickly as Joe clamped his mouth shit and twisted his head ninety degrees to the right, emitting a sickening crack before slumping to the ground. Lyra felt like she was going to be sick.

"What was that kid?!" Joe hissed angrily.

"I'm sorry Joe, but I'm not a killer." She said cradling her hoof.

"These aren't ponies, they're spirit guards. Like automatons that bleed." He said. "Potesta." He said and the two bodies of the ponies dissolved into nothing leaving only spots of blood on the ground.

"How di-, was that magic." Lyra asked astonished

"More like a command. As a Pegasus my magical abilities are limited to clouds mostly." He said. "Now c'mon." He said roughly, the displeasure obvious in his voice. He turned and started trotting into the palace and Lyra followed halfheartedly.

Inside the palace there weren't as many guards as she had thought in the hallway. Only one or two which Joe quickly dispatched with his blades or his bare hooves before whispering the command and the bodies disappeared. They made quick progress and weren't spotted until they came to the actual artifact room which, as they had expected had several guards occupying it.

Joe sighed and turned to Lyra. He reached behind her and unsheathed the blade that glimmered slightly in the weak moonlight. "You swig for the neck, belly and head, don't try stabbing because the blade isn't that sturdy and for the love of Luna, please don't get killed." He whispered all on one breath. Lyra didn't respond and just nodded. Joe signed and stepped out into the room. Two ponies who had their heads' turned for an instant both got strapped in the back of the skull and slumped to the ground with a thud, as for the other guards, they all readied their weapons.

"Drop your blades and come quietly." The guard said, the fear obvious in his voice.

"You must be new here." Joe replied. He reached into the fold of his armor and withdrew a smaller blade and flung it overhoofed at the guard and it hurried itself in his neck. A strange gurgling sound came from his throat as he suck to the floor. As the guard died Lyra stepped out from behind the wall with her short blade in hoof, though the rest of the guards in the room were either paralyzed with fear or too focused on Joe to pay her any attention.

Suddenly two guards lunged for Joe spears held by magic next to them. Joe turned to one of them and pushed the spear up from the front of the shaft with his hoof and let the pony's momentum carry him into the blade and burry itself in his neck, but Joe only barely avoided the other pony's spear by mere centimeters but lost his hoofing when he slammed into him with his shoulder.

The guard pinned him by his shoulders and drew a dagger from behind him. Joe fought at the pony pinning him down with one hoof and held the dagger just inches from his neck with his other. But suddenly a small piece of steel Hussites out of the pony's chest, blood dripping off the end and onto Joe's chest. Then steel retracted and the pony's body slued down and landed on top of Joe who pushed him off and onto the floor next to him, but before he could get up three more guards were charging him, but were stopped in their tracks by the bright green beams that collided with each of their chests and sent them to the floor in heaps with blood seeping from massive scorch marks on their chests.

Joe looked over to Lyra stunned by her sudden violence but she didn't meet his eyes, or even turn to look at him. She had one pony who had tried to run past them by the tail and was doing her best to tug him back into the room which kept her from noticing the guard that was lining up a throw with his spear aimed directly at her. Without thinking he launched himself at her, knocking her to the ground and out of the way of the spear, but the same couldn't be said for him. The barbed tip of the spear grazed his shoulder but he didn't notice. They skidded to a stop in front of the guard that had thrown the spear. He tried to jump out of the way but bumped into a trophy case and fell over and within seconds Joe had driven his blade into his throat. He withdrew it quickly and spun around to find himself alone in the room. He lowered his hooves but kept his blades out just in case.

"Lyra?" He asked looking for her around the room but the only thing that accompanied him were the trophy cases. Suddenly, with a flash, Lyra appeared next to him and threw a trembling pony to the ground in front of him. He tried to crawl away but Lyra grabbed him in her magic and hauled him back up to his hooves.

"What do you want to do with him?" Lyra asked. Joe raised his hoof and pressed the blade to his chin but Lyra held his hoof back. "We don't have to kill him, he's not armed and he won't tell anyone." She said. "Right?"

"Y-Y-yes'm." The young guard managed.

"Lyra we can't leave anypony alive, and remember he's not real, just magic." He said. Lyra drew her blade quickly and nicked the pony's chin. A small drop of blood dripped off onto the ground.

"He bleeds, that's good enough for me. He's as much of a real pony as you or me." Lyra said sheathing the blade.

"Sir please don't, I won't tell anyone, honest. I'll move out of town and ever-" He never got to finish the sentence for he was cut off asJoe plunged his blade into the guard's chest. He made a slight moaning noise before his body went slack and he dropped him to the floor. Lyra stared daggers at him as the body sunk to the ground.

"No survivors." He said. He muttered the command and all of the ponies in the room that had died that night disappeared.

"Let's find that horn and get out of here, the less time I spend with you the happier I'll be." Lyra said hatefully turning her back to him and beginning to look for the horn that she had been sent for. Joe muttered something unintelligible before turning away from her and walking down a line of trophy cases. some of them had been knocked over during the fight, their glass cases shattered and their contense spilled out onto the floor.

"Hello?" He said noticing something black with a red tip covered in shattered glass. He reached down and grasped it in his hoof, taking care to avoid as much of the glass as he could. as his hoof closed around it and he lifted it from the glass he could feel it, humming with energy.

"Did you find anything?" Lyra asked turning around. anger was still present in her voice but it was much less apparent.

"I think so, come take a look." Joe said stepping out from behind a trophy case and into the center of the room and into the moonlight where he could see better. Lyra trotted over and pulled a picture out o the cuff of her uniform and held it up to the fragment. Sure enough, it matched it perfectly.

"I can feel its power from here." She said. "It must be used to boost magic or something."

"Not quite, but very close." Joe replied hoofing her the fragment which she his away in one of the many pockets of her uniform. "You could probably use that to boost your magic and teleport yourself back to Zecora's hut, my people should be waiting for you there." He said somberly.

"And what about you, are you going to use that travel vapor to get back?" Lyra asked.

"Sadly, i don't think this is a mission i'll be walking away from." He said calmly though Lyra could see the fear in his eyes.

"W-what do you mean?" She asked him,her previous anger towards him was gone and replaced by fear. Fear for him.

" Do you believe in destiny Lyra, the order of everything and everyone on the timeline that is history. Every little event that connects to another in impossible and unimaginable ways?" He asked her. Not waiting for a response he continued. "If you don't then you should. I've seen the future of this world, of myself you and Michel and every pony else. There is no such thing as leaving it to chance." He said. "You were the only one of the two of us that is meant to walk out of this castle alive." He said finally.

"Y-You're going to just stay here and die?" Lyra asked.

"Not without a good cause." He paused, "Someone's gotta give your boyfriend what he came here for." Joe said smirking. He moved his hoof over the bulge of the val of blood that was slid into his blade pocket.

"Wait, Michael's here?" Lyra asked looking around excitedly.

Time will come for that, but what you need to do is get that horn fragment back to Zecora's hut before it's too late. we don't have long before Sombra rises again, and this time with an army." Joe said. His ears perked up as e heard hoof steps coming from just up the hall. "Lyra, you have to go right now!" Joe insisted, trying to keep his voice low. Lyra opened her mouth to protest but the look on his face stopped her. She nodded somberly and took a step away from him. Her horn started to glow and in a flash she was gone.

Chapter 14: This is War Pt.1

This is War Pt.1

Four Months Later

Michael stood atop a freezing hill. He heard the chatter of restless soldiers behind him along with the crackling of fires. "Everything is going as according to plan." Michael said, but it wasn't his voice, it was a cold and snakelike voice that hissed from the depths of his throat. Michaels true voice was trapped inside his body, isolated, trapped.

"Hail captain." A voice said behind him. Michael turned around to face his lieutenant.

"You know I don't like to be bothered." Michael said turning back to the view atop the hill.

"My apologies sir, but I wanted to tell you that "they" are approaching just as you said they would." The lieutenant said. Michael smiled to himself.

"Things are looking up Steel Wing." Michael said. "How long until they show up?"

"About three days Sir." Steel Wing replied.

"Excellent, I want patrols out of the east and north sectors of the camp." Michael said chuckling madly to himself.

"Aye sir." silver Wing said raising his wing to his forehead in a salute before galloping back into the camp, his hooves making soft crunching sounds on the freshly fallen snow.

Somewhere else nearby ponyville and Sombra's army

Lyra sat next to one of the many campfires that had been constructed in this small clearing. Her two blades sat next to her in the snow but the rest of her gear was still on her. Her leather armor, the in coat she had been given to shied her from the elements and her neck wrap which was really a thin scarf that wrapped around up to her nose. She dozed slightly letting the crackling of the fire lull her to sleep.

But as she slept her nightmares came to her again. Images of Michael lashed to a wall somewhere bleeding and broken. He called out for help as blood poured from a wound oh his belly. His cries slowly died away until they were whimpers and then died all together.

The image then faded to one of Michael standing over her, his hooves pinning her to the ground and her two blades in either of his wings. His eyes mad with fury, but they weren't his eyes. The blue shade she had grown to love had disappeared and been replaced with a sick shade of green rimmed with black. He raised his wings and was bout to bring the blades down onto her but the dream dissolved and she slipped back into consciousness feeling somepony prodding her side. Her hoof shot out like lightning and grabbed one of her blades while her back hooves bucked the pony prodding her side away from her, her eyes shot open as she pinned him to the ground and pressing the blade into his throat.

"Maybe I taught you a little too well." The pony beneath her said pushing the blade away with his hoof. Lyra lowered her blade and got off of him and stepped back a bit. "Another nightmare?" he asked brushing some dust off of his coat and sat down next to her. "We already have reports of him in the other camp. You'll see him in a few days, I promise." He said.

"That's what I'm afraid of." She said remembering the nightmare. "So why did you wake me?" She asked.

"It's your turn for watch." He said hoofing her a pair of binoculars. Lyra sighed heavily and put the strap around her neck. "We all gotta do our part." He said lying down on his back and closing his eyes. Lyra sighed again and made her way to the front of camp.

The next morning in Sombra's camp

Michael stared out over the snow covered hills this was one of the few times that Micael's body and mind were at peace. But Sombra didn't see pristine untouched snow, only a blank canvas for a future painting, a painting that would be done in blood. "Sir." Steel wing said appearing behind Michael.

"What is it steel wing?" Michael asked sighing.

"Enemy scouts have been spotted less than five miles away to the west." Steel wing said quickly.

"Already!" Michael exclaimed surprised. "That's impossible, they're moving far too quickly." He said shaking his head.

"I doubt that their army is very far behind them." Steel wing said. Michael sighed again and sat down, the snow freezing his rear. "What would you have me do sir?" Steel wing asked. He was so accustomed to following orders that he couldn't even think of coming up with his own, he was a good soldier.

"We break camp, move back three miles to the next ridge and we position ourselves facing west and keep watching, the battle is coming soon but I shall pick the battlefield." Michael said turning his head to face steel wing.

"Aye sir." He said saluting quickly and running back into camp while Michael looked back out onto the snow covered hills.

"They move faster than I expected." He said to himself. "Maybe the battle will come sooner than I had hoped." He paused before chuckling to himself. "Just a sooner victory." He said as a a shiver traveled up his spine. "And the sooner I can get out of this damn cold." He said standing up and trotting back to camp. There was a fire with his name on it.

At the same Time with Lyra.

Lyra tried to be as small as possible as she marched with the rest of the ponies that called themselves Children of the Night. After she had brought back the horn to the few officers that she could find, or actually found her, they had spent the remaining four months teleporting all over Equestria calling upon old friends and recruiting new faces to join their cause which was simply stop Equestria from being destroyed by Sombra. They traveled all over Equestria looking for any pony that was willing to join and soon raised and army of Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, zebras and the occasional griffin or dragon that wanted to fight; but the one pony they had been looking for through their travels was the one they couldn't find. Luna had not been seen for four months and after that time they had decided that they couldn't wait any longer and set out for Sombra. Only they chose the worst time to begin searching for Sombra.

It was the middle of one of the coldest winters in equestrian history in northern Equestria and Sombra was at the northern most tip. The only comforting thing in all of this was that they were nearing the northern most tip of their great country faster than anyone had expected with the horn and mass teleportation spells and potions mixed up by some of the zebras which made the pegasi fly at the speed of sound without even getting winded so their travel across the country had been short; but with the horn's magic depleting they weren't going to risk another mass teleport and cutting their once in half as well as draining their biggest weapon.

Suddenly a bright pink pony ran out I front of the column of marching ponies. Lyra's hooves instinctively flew to the hilts of her blades but she relaxed when she recognized the leather armor and the small dagger sheath that was sewn onto her back right leg that identified her as a forward scout. She was covered in cuts and her nose and lip were bleeding slightly. Her mane was a tangled mess and fell in her face making her look even worse.

"Hawkfeather and I were scouting ahead when one of Sombra's border patrols ambushed us. Six ponies armed to the teeth with steel armor." She said quickly, gasping for breath between pauses.

"Where's my brother?!" One stallion said shoving past several rows of ponies. He had a pale green coat, a short orange mane and fiery eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, there were just so many and I couldn't"..." She trailed off, tears coming to her eyes. The stallion's eyes went from a look of disbelief to a look of absolute rage. He turns from her to the woods that she had stumbled out of and charges in. One of the officers started to follow him until several ponies stepped on front of him, barring his path.

"He'll be at the campsite before nightfall." Lyra said stepping out of the column of soldiers. The officer hung his head.

"Aye captain." He said shamefully.

This is War Pt: 2

Michael stood at the very top of a different hill that still had a great view but the snow wasn't like the other hill. It wasn't smooth and undisturbed but broken and moved before being covered by more snow that was pulled over back to break up the tracks. Michael sighed looking at small tendrils of smoke that were on the other side of the greenling across the shallow valley from them.

"That are moving faster than I thought they would, how is it possible to clear three days of distance in eighteen hours, mass teleportation is terrible for unicorns so they must have some kind of booster." He whispered to himself. The idea of a magical booster could completely wreck his plans and destroy his army. And he didn't want to rely on the booster being depleted for his victory. He had thought this out to the very last detail but this was not one that he had planned on. And this anomaly could prove to be beyond catastrophic, not just for his plans and his army, but also him. He had to find a way to ensure that booster wouldn't be used in the upcoming battle.

That night in Lyra's camp

Lyra sat in the snow outside the general's tent. She had been summoned from her warm campfire to the massive tent that the general had spent the day in with his enchanted armor that kept him warm but had been to expensive for everyone in the army to have. Lyra had been waiting outside for about fifteen minutes but she was already starting to feel the nip of frost bite in her rear. She picked her rump up out of the snow and started to pace about, trying to bring some warmth back into her frozen limbs.

Though her pacing is interrupted by the snapping of a twig in the distance of the wooded area surrounding the tents and the camp itself. She goes to the place of witch she thought she heard the snapping. She kneels down and picks up a broken twig that lay in the middle of a hoof print the snow. "Hmm." She said examining the hoof print. Suddenly she whips around to the sound of snow crunching behind her and locks eyes with a tall stallion in black armor, not like hers.

She saw the glint of a blade in the moonlight but it was still at his side, this would be too easy. She took advantage of the hesitation and lashed out her fore hooves and landed three quick jabs to his ribs. He stumbled back by the surprise of the blows, this time with his blade up, but his stance was clumsy and Lyra easily imbalanced him with another quick jab. He stumbled again but this time tripped over his own hooves and fell into the snow. Lyra came over and to pin him but he surprised her by bucking her chest with his back hooves sending her reeling, and giving him time to stand back up, though he had dropped his blade in the snow and didn't have time to retrieve it.

Lyra scoffed at his stance again. He had obviously been taught the wrong for of close quarters combat. His stance looked as if he was about to do combat wrestling but his hooves looked as if her was a boxer. He threw the first punch fully committing to it but Lyra quickly side stepped it and grabbed his hoof. She pulled him forward into her hoof driving the air from his lungs and hunching him over. As he gasped for breath Lyra placed her hoof on his back and slammed him into a tree head first. He groaned slightly before collapsing to the ground in a heap. Lyra smiled to herself, proud of what she had done.

Ten minutes later in the general's tent

"And I dragged him back here sir." Lyra said finishing the story of their new prisoner. He was still unconscious but was now tied to a chair. There was a steady stream of blood running from his scale and his snout was contorted in a funny way, so his nose was most likely broken as well.

"Right, let's see what he knows." The General said. He flicked the prisoners nose and suddenly his eyes flew open, full of fear. He looked around the room frantically before locking eyes with Lyra.

"What's your name son?" The general asks skipping any pleasantries.

"My name's Emerald." He said. Lyra scoffed at the name, most likely attributed to his green everything.

"Okay then Emerald why in the hell were you in our camp this evening?"The general asked angrily. The general's question was met with silence from the pony. "Are you going to tell me," He paused and Lyra drew one of her swords and pressed it to his throat, "Or do I need to let my associate take over?"

"You don't understand, I'm bound to an oath of secrecy. If I tell you one detail of my mission then I'll be executed." He said.

"And if you don't tell us then you'll still be executed, either way you loose I suppose." Lyra said circling the chair, keeping her blade level with her captive's throat.

"You don't understand," he said as Lyra stopped in front of him. "Their executions aren't like your executions. they lock you in a steel box and bury you in the snow where no one will find you and then loose the key. Its slow and painful and miserable." He paused and let his head sag for a moment before looking up at Lyra again. "It'd be better if you just killed me right here." He leaned forward until the blade was pressed against his throat.

Lyra stared into his pleading eyes, looking for any sign of deceit but all she found was pleading. He obviously realized his mistake in joining up with Sombra and wanted out, but the only way out with that army is in a body bag.

"Then I guess we're at an impasse." Lyra said putting her sword back into its scabbard . "Si I have come up with a deal. You give us the information we want and we don't kill you and you get to stay in our camp, under watch i may add, until the war is over in which you will be released to do whatever it is you please without surveillance." she said kindly. Emerald smiled weakly at the deal and opened his mouth to agree but shut it quickly and jumped back in fear when Lyra slammed her hooves down on the arms of his chair just in front of his hooves. "But if you even consider betraying me for a second then I wont hesitate to march you over to Sombra's camp by your scruff myself. Are we clear sweetheart?" She said. forcing the last word out as if it hurt she was so angry. Emerald nodded tentatively and Lyra resumed her kind and sweet posture. "I'm glad we understand each other." she said smiling. She held her hooves behind her back and walked out of the tent with the general at her tail.

"How did you manage to do good guard and bad guard?" He asked her in a reverent tone.

"I spent a lot of time in the past arguing with myself in the mirror, I got quite good at it." She said walking away.

"Aren't you gonna stay and help me get what we need?" he asked.

"I'm tired, I'll get back to it tomorrow. Give him some food and a bed roll in your tent, it'll soften him up.' She said though in the back of her mind she was thinking to herself 'Did I just give my commanding officer orders?' But she chose not to let that bother her, she was too tired and cold to get and she was already undoing the straps on the back of her armor before she got to her bed roll and got a few looks from the stallions at a fire she passed. It was hard for her to get accustomed to how these ponies saw it as an indecency if she didn't wear any. 'What does it matter?' She thought to herself as she rolled up in her bedroll she was too tired to care what any pony near by her thought right now.

The Next Morning

The camp was mainly quiet except for a few crackling embers in the remaining beds of this fires allowing,Lyra to sleep peacefully through the night, but waking up is a totally different matter. In the early hours just after Celestia's sun had begun to sow signs of rising a hoof shook Lyra awake. Her eyes snapped open to meet one of the sentries.

"The general sent forgot, said it was a matter of the utmost importance." He said. Lyra sighed and sat up reaching for a thin tunic as the sentry walked away to the other side of the camp,most likely to wake the next one manning the shift. Lyra stood up and walked over to the general's tent for whatever it as that they summoned her for. As she approached she picked up several voices coming from the tent, most likely the general and several other high ranking ponies from around the camp, but there was one that she couldn't put her hoof on, somepony that she had never heard before. She pushed the tent flap aside and the voices fell silent. Each of the officers turned to look at her, they were obviously all on edge.

Lyra examined each of the faces in the room until her eyes came to rest on a small mare that stood in the middle of them all. What she lacked in size she made up for in the obvious confidence and defiance towards the ponies around her. By her clothing he was obviously from Sombra's camp wearing a set of dark blue robes.

"You summoned me?" Lyra asked the whole room.

"Uhh yes Lyra." The General said after an awkward silence, "This here me sever from Sombra's camp has come with a message." He said nudging the messenger forward as a signal to speak.

"Yes, right." The messenger began. He had a light accent that was stereotypical among intellectual types. "King Sombra demands the return of Private First-Class Emerald to the camp of our lord." He said, adjusting his collar after the long winded speech.

"Or what?" Lyra said looking around the room for an answer from the higher ups but her gaze was met with a grim faces all around.

"Or Sombra launches the first strike earlier than we all planned. A missing soldier is a big deal for him, a captured soldier even more so." The messenger said.

"How much earlier?" Lyra asked stepping forward past her fellow officers until her face was merely inches from the messenger's and she found herself looking down at him.

"The attack will initiate tomorrow morning, just after the sun rises over the trees." He said smirking to himself. "And it will be over before the sunhigh." He said malice in his eyes. But soon the air was cut by the hiss of steel on leather and after that second the room was filled with a gasp, and then. Silence.

The messenger's face contorted into a look of pain and the malice and confidence evaporated into fear and pain. After a moment Lyra jerked her arm back and the body of the messenger fell to the ground, the blue robes now stained with the color of blood that was pooling on the floor.

Lyra slid the short blade back into the sheath at one of the officers belts and nudged the body with her hoof. "What have you done?" A soft voice asked behind Lyra, one she hadn't heard in a long time, but very important.

This is War Pt: 3

Everypony In the room quickly whirled around to face the owner of the voice, including Lyra who's blood turned to ice when she met the disapproving glare of the princess of the night, Luna had returned. Lyra felt like fainting but kept herself on her hooves though she swayed a little, some I her ponies in the tent weren't as good at controlling themselves as she was though.

"Princess." The General said dropping into a kneeling position and within a few moments everypony in the room was crouched down, everypony except Lyra, still frozen in place.

"Gentlecolts, can you give us some privacy." Luna said, her tone icy as she glared at Lyra through a slits. The officers in the room all stood up, bowed and then exited the tent leaving Lyra and the princess alone, she was beginning to feel incredibly uncomfortable.

"It's good to see you aga-"

"You killed that pony without a purpose. If we had taken them up on the deal it would have given us more time to make our forces even stronger." Luna said skipping the pleasantries.

"What's the purpose of waiting when we have everything and everypony we need to fight. We could win this war tomorrow." Lyra said. Few dared to even look Luna in the eye let alone talk back to her and challenge her authority.

"Oh yeah, and who told you that? The generals, the scouts, they don't know everything Lyra." Luna said angrily. She paused angrily and sighed. Her shoulders sagged making her look tired and defeated. "You are not the same Lyra that I knew, and Michael used to speak so highly of you. Has losing him made you so blind to what will actually happen if we fight tomorrow?" Luna asked, her tone more even now which inadvertently scare Lyra more than when she was angry. But as the tears filled her eyes the pent up sadness in her turned into a boiling rage in her chest.

"I haven't lost him, he didn't just vanish out of thin air." Lyra paused, that's actually exactly what he had done in her dream. "I know where he is and it's just a matter of getting to him." Lyra said, a tear fell down her face and hit the cold ground beneath her hooves.

"And do you think it's gonna be as easy as that. You just fight tomorrow and you get him back, do you know what he's doing over there?" Luna asked angrily.

"He's just a prisoner of war, a casualty. He's not going anything for Sombra, he wouldn't." Lyra challenged.

"Oh no, he is a vessel for Sombra. He chose to be controlled by him, his evil spirit. He chose to let Sombra lead his armies through him. He wanted to be apart of this war, and he wanted to be powerful." Luna said angrily. "Your little colt friend chose the loosing side and he's going to die for it." Luna spat.

Lyra didn't want to hear anymore and ran out of the ten, she accidentally shoved Luna out of her way in the process and ran off into the cold air. She didn't know where to go so she just stormed off into the woods and didn't look back.

After a few moments Luna stepped out of the tent after composing herself and was quickly surrounded by the officers of her army asking all sorts of questions. She raised her hoof for silence and quickly a hush fell over the group. "I want a search party to follow her and bring her back to camp. She can't be allowed to participate in tomorrow's battle. Confine her to one of the tents and post a guard." Luna ordered.

"Princess, if I may, she is one of the best fighters we've got here. She could prove to be crucial tomorrow." One of the officers spoke up and his words were followed. Y several head nods from his peers.

"Did I call for a vote?" Luna said, the frustration back in her voice. "Now get a move on." She said and the officers around her walked away to gather some ponies together for a search.

About three hours later Lyra found herself sitting in a small tent. Despite the window flaps being open and her sitting in the small shafts of sunlight she was still freezing. They had confiscated her armor and her blades so all she had now was a thin shirt and leggings.

"Hey!" Lyra called outside the tent knowing that there would be guards posted to keep and eye on her. "Can I get a blanket or something? It's freezing in here." She said. There was a bit of shuffling outside before one of the guards, a small mare with a dagger clipped to her belt, undid the tent flap and set a lit lantern on the ground in front of her. The mare mouthed sorry to her as she pulled her head out of the tent flap and did it up again. Lyra sighed and turned up the small flame on the lantern and held her hooves next to it, it was better than nothing.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside of the tent and Lyra looked out of the window flaps to see what was going on. One of the scouts was breathing hard like he had run all the way back here from his position. He was surrounded by several other ponies so she couldn't see or hear what he was saying but judging by the grim looks of the ponies around him it wasn't good.

"I'll be back in a moment." The stallion that was guarding her said to his female counterpart before trotting over to the now small mob of ponies. Once he was out of earshot the mare in front of the tent poked her head in. Lyra jumped back slightly surprised.

But the mare didn't miss a beat, she inclined the dagger from her belt and dropped it on the ground in front of Lyra. "Sombra's army is lining up earlier than we expected, they think that the battle is going to kick off very soon." She paused and took a deep breath realizing that she was about to commit treason against her princess. "It'd be a massacre without you there. Use this to cut the canvas and get out the back when the sun starts to go down, your equipment is in the armory tent with a few other goodies you might find useful." The mare said nudging the dagger towards her.

"Thank you." Lyra said picking it up and putting it under her shirt. The mare nodded and backed out of the tent just as her stallion companion turned around and began making his way back to the tent.

Five hours later

The sun was beginning to go down just after the last rank of ponies began to leave camp. They were betting on a double envelopment strategy by hiding ponies in the woods and using them to pick off Sombra's soldiers that they lured in, a strategy that Lyra had come up with.

Lyra picked her head up and looked out of the tent flap, the sun was just beginning to get low over the trees casting massive shadows over the camp. Lyra figured it was now or never and pulled the dagger out from under her shirt and moved to the back of the tent. She realized her hoof was shaking slightly, she had learned that it was stupid not to be nervous before a major battle of which she could die in; but she wasn't going to let that bother her. She sliced open the canvas silently and slipped out.

The camp was virtually unguarded with almost all of the ponies being gone so she made it to the armorer's tent without any problems, though once she got there she realized that it wasn't going to be as easy as she thought to get her stuff back, the quartermaster was sitting in a chair, a crossbow resting in his lap as he stared at the tent flaps waiting for it to open,con doubt waiting for Lyra. She considered cutting her way into the back but she knew he would hear her, the only way in was the front door. Lyra picked up a small rock and threw it a few feet away from the entrance before checking inside again. The pony's ear flicked but otherwise he remained motionless. Lyra cursed him silently walking to the front of the tent. At least the flaps were thick so he couldn't see her shadow from his side, or maybe she wanted him to see her.

Lyra smiled to herself as she thought up a new plan. "I'm brilliant," she whispered to herself. She took a deep breath before poking her head into the flap. "Toodaloo!" She said. The quartermaster whipped the crossbow up in one quick motion and fired a bolt at her; but Lyra pulled her head out of the flap just as it went wishing by. Now she was in the clear. She launched herself into the tent with the quartermaster who was hastily reloading. She flipped the dagger around and slammed the hard wood handle into his head. He wavered for a second before collapsing into a heap on the ground. The bolt he was loading clattered down next to him.

Lyra mentally high fived herself as she readied her gear. Her standard armor two long blades and buckled the dagger onto her held but just as she was leaving she noticed something on the the quartermaster's armor. There was a small cloth bound package tucked into his armor. Lyra reached down, plucked it out, and undid the wrapping to find Sombra's horn tip. It hummed with power, though not nearly as much as when she had first found it, but enough for her. Lyra's magic had never been very strong but this could really help her.

Suddenly she heard the clashing of steel in the distance and she bound the horn back in cloth and tucked it info her armor before rushing out of the tent and making her way to the battlefield.

It was the most terrible bloodbath she had never even seen in her worst nightmares with both sides' dead littering the ground. Several ponies stood up in the trees picking off any pony in blue armor every time they finished reloading their long rifles, while Lyra stood in shock staring out at the battlefield.

The battle had reached its peak soon after it started it seemed. Both sides had lost a lot of ponies and the ones still alive were locked in a stalemate. About a hundred ponies from each side matched each other blow for blow. But there was one pony that stood out to her, the general stood his ground against several ponies but he wasn't going to hold out much longer. One of them tripped him and he fell to the ground. Lyra snapped out of her shock and teleported behind the three ponies. She drew her blades with a terrible hiss but none of them heard it except Lyra, the clashing of steel was too loud.

The general looked up at the ponies standing over him, he hadn't felt fear like is in a very long time. The fear of quick, but absolute death. But just as one of his attackers raised his blade to end his life the end of a blade shot through his chest and prof feuded out of the other side. His savior withdrew the blade and the body collapsed to the ground in a heap and before the ponies could react two more lay dead, their blood staining the snow crimson, his savior was standing clearly next to him.

Lyra lashed out at the final pony with her right blade which the pony tried to deflect with his own, but Lyra had been trained to use two blades efficiently and her opponent only had one. Lyra chopped him down with a single thrust to the stomach and the pony collapsed. "Might I say you're a sight for sore eyes." The General said. Lyra turned and offered him her hoof after sheathing one of her swords.

"You can thank me later, where's Luna?" She asked scanning the battlefield.

"As soon as Sombra charged us she disappeared." The General said. "Didn't say where she was going."

"Figures." Lyra said.

"So, what's the plan?" The General asked picking up one of his dead assailant's swords.

"We round up what's left of us and waltz right up to Sombra's camp." Lyra said grinning.

"That's just, no offense, but that's a terrible plan. We'll be massacred!" The General exclaimed.

"That's the idea, he'd never expect it. He'd expect us to be setting up a flanking position in the woods and he'd have ponies combing the woods, so we knock at the front door."

"And then we kick it in." The general finished thinking the plan over. "You're a genius you know." He said.

"I know." She responded drawing her blade and teleporting over to were what was left of the forces fought valiantly against the rest of Sombra's forces, but it was an uphill battle, and unfortunately for her whenever she appeared every pony in the crowd noticed her and they all turned away and froze, including the ponies fighting on her side, but the pause wasn't for long.

A few ponies whipped around and cut down their opponents that were stunned by the sudden appearance before moving to her. At this the rest of the ponies put their guards back up and continued fighting. One of the ponies tried to bring his blade down on her with a wide overhead arch but Lyra was quicker than he was. She quickly brought up her swords and blocked the strike. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a pony about to jab her in the ribs with their short blade. Lyra pulled one of her blades out for the cross and parried the strike, successfully disarming her opponent, she then turned her attention back to the piny in front of her who was still trying to break through her sword barrier but to no avail. Lyra raised a hind hoof and kicked him back a foot, throwing him off balance a s stumbling back and falling into the snow. Lyra ran her sword through his chest, ending his life quickly and with as little pain as possible.

Call it instinct but Lyra sidestepped quickly away and a pony came past her who had planned to run her through but hadn't expected her to move. Lyra kicked her leg out from from underneath her and she fell to the ground but before Lyra could end it a magic bolt shot out from the pony's horn and sent her blade spiraling away from her left hoof and soon her right hoof was the same. The pony grabbed Lyra's hoof and yanked it out from under her and Lyra toppled to the ground and into the blood stained snow. Her attacker was on her in seconds, slamming her hooves against her face. Each blow sent bolts of pain through her body and her vision was beginning to get cloudy, but she couldn't let a pony best her in hoof to hoof combat, something she had trained the hardest at. She felt a new resolve flow through her body and she readied herself to catch the next strike.

The pony threw another blow an Lyra brought up her hooves and caught it. She twisted the hoof forcing the pony to roll off of her and Lyra pressed her face into the snow. The pony tried to lash out at her again but Lyra pressed her face down into the snow harder and twisted the foreleg a little more until it made a sicken ending crunch and the pony howled in agony. Lyra then picked the pony's face up by her mane and slammed it into the ground with all of her might and then the piny went limp.

And it was then that the sounds of war all died out at once. Lyra turned around to see all of the bodies that had fallen that were clad in the blue armor were slowly turning from whatever color they were initially to a dark shade of black including the pony she was standing over, and then it started to get weird.

Lyra watched, her mouth agape as the oldies that were on the ground or still up fighting slowly dissolved into pools of black smoke and began floating around on the ground, leaving their armor behind. Lyra followed them as they traveled past her and up one of the snow covered hills . They would run into and absorb each other and just kept on going until they had all disappeared over the hill top. Some of the ponies behind her began to throw up a cry of victory but Lyra raised a hoof to shush them, she had a sick feeling stirring in her stomach.

Suddenly a burst of reddish light blew over the hill and down around the ponies, washing over them and then dissipating. Lyra had shielded her eyes from the blast and looked around behind her and saw that everypony was standing still. No, not standing still, frozen. Several of them stuck in mod dive for cover from the blast. But why would she be free? And her answer was in the folds of her armor, slowly being depleted of its magic. The horn had saved her from being frozen, but she wasn't out of the woods just yet.

She looked back up to the top of the hill and spotted a single figure standing there, silhouetted against the weak light. He appeared to be a stallion by the way his head was snapped and the build of his body. He spread his wings and flew down from the top of the hill to the bottom. As he came down she could see the color of his coat, it was a deep blue. 'But that could just be the armor,' she thought to herself, Luna's words echoing in her mind.

Lyra stared silently as the pony landed a few feet to her right, with a pony appearing at his side from the black smoke that had coalesced from the enemy.

"Brilliant plan sire." The black pony said.

"Isn't it though, and just at the right time." Lyra's heart froze and her blood turned to ice as cold as the snow underneath her hooves as she heads the voice. The voice of the pony she had come to love. She choked down a sob as she realized Luna was right about it all. "Seeing as we've got this one here." Michael said popping into the side of Lyra's vision and she had to keep from freaking out to make it seem like she was still frozen. He rested a hoof on her cheek and stared into her eyes with his, and that was when Lyra saw what lit the small spark of hope in the cold dread that had settled inside her. The bright blue eyes that she had stared into on many occasions had been washed over and covered by a dark red stain, but there was still a tinge of blue around the edges.

"Goodbye my dear, you had your chance to help me and you refused me for these pigs." He said motioning to the dead ponies around him. "Not a mistake you'll have the chance to make twice." He said drawing a wicked looking heavy dagger from his hip and holding it up to her neck. Suddenly Lyra drew her own dagger and shoved him back.

"Not quite yet, sweetie." She said bundling her muscles together for a lunge at him. She. Opulent kill him because that would kill Michael and she wasn't willing to do that, but she would have to hurt him enough to make him want to leave. Michael would probably feel it too but he would want to her do it.

"Not quite yet." He said to her. He flipped the dagger around in his hooves to wear it was pointing into his chest. I could kill him right mow and then what else would you have left to fight for?" He asked her with a sickening smile on his face. Lyra was disgusted with herself at not thinking of that detail and being thwarted so quickly. She spun the dagger around and dropped it into the snow, handle facing up.

Lyra sucked in air quickly as she felt her leg lock up and she stumbled forward before two hooves fastened around her head. Lyra tasted copper in her mouth from fear. She looked up at the red eyes, pleading silently but it got her nowhere. But she though she could see a little more blue than red.

He pressed the knife to her cheek and knocked her slightly. She felt a warm blood on her cheek now and her desperation turned back to anger. This pony had taken the one she loved away,and she could not forgive him for that.

"You think that he's going to save you, that somepony is just gonna bust out of no where and save you from me, save him from me." He said circling her, chuckling madly to himself. "You're all alone again, no one to save you, no one to look after you. The only pony that didn't leave you behind that never stopped is about to kill you." He paused looking back down to her, she let her eyes wander away from him. "How does it feel?" Lyra's eyes snapped back to him as he asked the question.

"It feels, blue." She said smirking to herself. As if the word was some kind of trigger the tattoo on his right foreleg slowly began to glow white. At first a dull glimmer that grew into something to rival the sun his arm shone.

"What is this, what did you do?" Michael roared staring at his arm. He tried to thrust the knife into Lyra's throat but he was frozen in place, or no longer in control. Michael threw his head back and a black fog crackling with electricity flew out of his mouth and coalesced next to him, and very soon there was a swirling lit of black fog next to Michael and Lyra. She felt the hooves on her temples disappear just as the last bit of fog left his knout and his body went slack, but he managed to catch himself.

Lyra tried to pick herself up but her leg was still locked up and she couldn't walk so she dragged herself to him. He was breathing hard but otherwise appeared to be fine. She put a hoof under his chin and lifted his eyes to meet hers and she found no red, only pure sparkling blue. She breathed a sigh of relief before she felt a hoof on the back of her neck and his lips pressed against hers. She kissed back and felt his other hoof trace it's way up her spine. The kiss only lasted for a few seconds until he pulled his lips away, still breathing heavily.

"I missed that.." He said between gasps. Lyra rested her forehead against his.

"I missed you," she whispered softly. She say his cheeks light up at that though he didn't look up. His arm was still glowing but it was a softer, cooler light rather than the blinding white she had seen a moment ago. Though still when she touched it it burned her hoof.

Suddenly she felt something slam into her side and lift her off of her hooves. She spiraled through the air for a moment before slamming down into the snow. She gasped from breath but her lungs wouldn't work and she began to panic. She felt a thin trickle of blood from her side and her ribs were on fire and she screamed in pain when she some massive slammed down onto her chest. She looked up and saw and old black pony with a weather wanted face and a mess of a white mane. His flank slowly became flecked with white until the entire latter half of his body was white. He wrapped his hooves around her throat and squeezed so hard that she could see the muscles clenching in, not just his hooves or forelegs, but he's neck.

The edges of Lyra's vision began to go black and she struggled as hard as she could but everything was slowing down. Her limbs felt tired and her entire body ached, maybe it would be easier to go to sleep than fight back. All it would be is closing her eyes right here and waking up somewhere else. But just as her vision was washed over in black she felt the weight lift up off of her chest and she inhaled sharply, sucking in all of the sweet cold air she could. She looked to her left and saw the stallion lying in the snow a few feet away, a burnt patch of white fur was visible on his flank but he was still breathing. Lyre looked to her left and saw Michael standing on his hind legs with his glowing foreleg extended and pointed at the burnt stallion. His eyes were alight with fury and all of his muscles were tensed.

As the stallion started to stir again a bolt of light shot out of Michael's foreleg and collided with the stallion,scenting him back another few feet. Michael began to advance forward and a pure white long sword appeared in on of his hooves. Lyra tried to get up but it hurt too much, all she could do was watch.

As he reached the stallion Michael was surprised to see that it was still breathing. He was sprawled out on his back and was staring up at the sky, a the ail of blood led from his mouth and stained the snow crimson. Michael pressed the sword against his neck and the eyes of the stallion affixed themselves on him.

"Go on, do it. I've lived long enough, and I've accomplished what needs to be done." Sombra said.

"What exactly do you mean 'Accomplished what needs to be done?" Michael croaked.

"I broke a good stallion. I took something pure and tainted him." He paused and pressed a hoof to Michael's chest. "I broke you." He said with a wicked smile. Michael frowned and leaned down until his mouth was right next to Sombra's ear.

"You didn't break me, you made me stronger." Michael said. Sombra looked confused, but he didn't have long to dwell on it before the sword went through his throat and ended his life. The end came quickly and with little pain, but for him, maybe too quickly.

Epilogue

Michael stood alone on the balcony overlooking Canterlot. Luna had offered him and Lyra a place to stay for a few months until their imp juries healed up. He had his hooves braced against the railing. It was still very difficult for him to walk on his own so he'd been using a crutch for the past few weeks and his marked foreleg was covered in numbing salve and was heavily bandaged, but he had gotten off easy in that sense.

Lyra had several broken ribs and a heavy concussion, but the worst of it was that her spinal chord had been damaged and she hadn't been able to move until a few weeks ago. It had been a long, stressful recovery for them all but it seemed as if she was going to heal up okay. Michael sighed and grabbed the crutch next to him and hobbled back into the castle.

He passed several guards in the way back to his room who nodded warily to him. Some of me questioned Michael's mental health on top of his physical. Having Sombra in his head for so long scared some ponies, they believed that maybe Michael would go crazy and try and take over Equestria or something like that. But as he had said before he ended that pony's miserable life, Michael was very hard to break. He had passed every psychological test with flying colors, but still many questioned him, and that was fine.

He heard shouting from his room and he quickened his pace though the crutch impeded him. He came to the door and pushed it open to find several ponies trying to get Lyra to sit down in a wheel chair. "If I don't use my legs how are they ever going to get better!" Lyra shouted at one of the ponies who continued, without any success, to get Lyra to sit down but the stubborn mare refused. Micheal came over and tapped one of the mares on the shoulder. She whipped around quickly, obviously frustrated.

"I'll take care of her, don't worry." He said. The mare grunted angrily and walked out of the room followed by two others.

"I'm tired of all these ponies looking after me like I'm broken or something." Lyra said angrily.

"They mean well you know." He said sitting down next to her in the bed and kicking the wheelchair out of the way with his other leg. He rested his foreleg around her shoulders and she leaned against him.

"Do you think I'll ever be able okay again?" She asked him looking down at the bandages that were wrapped around her stomach and he lower half of her chest.

"A mare as stubborn as you, I bet you'll be doing cartwheels around the palace in a few days." Michael replied smiling. They both laughed for a moment and Lyra wrapped her foreleg around his back. She could feel the muscles expanding and contracting as he breathed along with his heartbeat, a steady thrum agains her hoof.

"I love you Michael." She said looking up at him.

"I love you too Lyra." He said looking down at her. He bent his neck down and kissed the tip of her horn which made her giggle madly ad she could feel her cheeks heating up. And for that moment, everything was perfect.

Chapter 11: Accepting Our Roles

Chapter 11: Accepting our Roles

Lyra snapped awake with the same wooden box resting on her chest as before.

'Im getting really tired of waking up like this.' She thought to herself. Her head pounded from where Zecora had slammed her stick, or cane, or whatever it was against her head. But despite the pain she made herself sit up, slowly bit surely and moved the box from her chest to her lap. It beckoned to her, calling for her to open it, but she could tell that it was filled with something very important, the reason why she was back in Equestria.

Her hoof traced the brass lettering on the front that read, "Property of Lyra Heartstrings." She slipped her hoof up under the lip of the box and flipped it open. Inside were several photos of a black crystal resting on a deep purple pillow in a glass box. Lyra set those aside and picked up the note at the bottom of the box next to the gun she had shot the changeling with.

It was a thin, yellowing paper. It felt old in her hooves but everything else in the box looked pristine. She squinted her eyes to read the small writing,

Dear Lyra,

I'm sorry it has come to this, I really am, but prophecy is prophecy. It was written by star swirl the bearded, a brilliant profit that obsessed over my bloodline for ages but that's a different story, that if I was not able to reclaim my horn that I would have to send the mint retriever to fetch it for me. Inured over those scrolls for the longest time until I was banished and locked away In the ground of my kingdom. But whenever I was resurrected, and destroyed again, a little piece of me was splattered away from the rest of my, bits. That little bit of me is all that ties me to the physical world, all that's keeping me alive. Im just a shadow now, but if I can manage to get that bit of me back then I can pull my self back into this world and love again. But the only problem is it's being held under maximum security in the crystal palace, that's where you come in my dear.

With your specific skill set you fit the bill perfectly my little courier. It's a quick snatch and grab from heavily guarded palace, your slice if cake. And don't worry, star swirl foresaw all of this. Including your success, so that's not something to worry about, just do your job and I'll give you what you want, on your case, your little colt friend.

Enclosed in this box is top of the line equipment from the time that you're living in. On the top is the information but there is a false bottom that would deter thievery or keep you out of jail if you were caught by the authorities. Just pull the string that runs up the right side of the box and take the equipment that is in it.

I wish you the best of luck my little courier,

-Sombra

Lyra out the letter back in the box and pushed it to the far side of the bed, as far away from her as she could get it. She hugged her legs other chest and wrapped her tail around her hooves, doing her best to make herself as small as possible. She didn't know what was worse about the situation; whether it be she had been sent back to Equestria by the tyrant of the ages or that she had bee sent here to steal something from one of the most secured places in Equestria to bring back said tyrant of the ages.

"Looks like you've got yourself Into one hell of a mess." A voice said behind her. Lyra's head snapped around to look in the direction of the speaker. Next to her, leaning on a bookshelf, was a tall chestnut brown Pegasus with sparkling green eyes that flickered in the candlelight of the room. He had some kind of metal contraption wrapped around his wrist that went almost to his knee.

"W-who are you?" Lyra asked scared by the sudden presence of a strange stallion, a Pegasus no less, appearing when she though she was alone.

"If I told you my name you wouldn't recognize it, but you'll recognize Michael's." The Pegasus said. Lyra's ears perked up at the mention of Michael's name.

"H-how do you know him." Lyra asked, she was beyond scared at this point, she was downright terrified by this Pegasus now.

"You could say we share a common bond. A brotherhood per say, though we've never met, I know he's a good stallion." The Pegasus said. He fiddled with the mechanism on his arm while the muscles in his back under his wings rippled with anticipation, of what she didn't know.

"H-how do you know that. How do you know anything about me and how do I know you're not here to kill me." Lyra asked frantically she reached for the box again, but slowly shifting her body as she went to hide the movement of her hoof as she moved.

"Because Luna never picks bad stallions or mares to join her ranks." He said she now noticed that she wasn't only seeing fur and feathers from the Pegasus but there were also very dark blue feathers poking up every few feathers though aside from the others they were rigid and stiff looking rather than the limp, normal ones.

Suddenly Lyra flipped open the box and pulled the gun out and lined it up with the stallion's head, prepared to blow it off. But the stallion didn't want to get killed today. He longed at her and slammed into her with full force.her head slammed against the wall causing her vision to go dim for a second and her to cry out in pain. He,pressed his fore hoof against her neck and held her down. He flicked his other hoof, the one with the contraption, and a long blade shot out of the end.

"I was given specific orders to bring you back alive, but if you try to kill me again I might just get away with it." The Pegasus said. Lyra dropped the gun to the ground with a clatter. The Pegasus flicked his wrist again and the blade retracted. He leaned back, taking his weight off Lyra. He folded his wings and went back to his leaning position against the wall.

"Now, the sooner you tell me how to save your colt friend the sooner I can get back to my wife and foal." He said with a forced grin.

"I don't tell you anything anything, until I know who you are." Lyra said pausing for breath and rubbing her throat. The Pegasus pursed his lips as if deciding whether or not to tell her the truth.

"My name is Joe Allen, currently serving as general of the followers of the night. A group consisting of the morally best ponies and people of the generation." He said all in one breath. "Now, if we could get get started that would be wonderful."

Luna and yourself both snap awake in the same wooden chairs with only one difference, the leather strap that was formerly around your neck was gone.

"Rise and shine friends!" The voice in the shadows said. The food on the table had disappeared for whatever reason as well as several sections of it so now Luna and yourself were just a few feet away from each other with a map laid put in from of both of you.

The old parchment had several statues of red and blue flags placed all over it, some of which were occupied by two flags at once as if the whole thing was a giant board game. You loo kip and study Luna's face intently for some sort of sign of how bad their current situation was but all he saw was her studying the map intently.

"What is this Sombra?" Luna asked finally looking up from the map and affixing her gaze on a spot in the shadows behind you.

"Why, it's a map of the territories of Equestria along with the placement and victories of out two armies. I took the liberty of making my flags the red ones and yours the blue ones." The shadow said.

"Our armies?" Lina asked raising an eyebrow.

"Oh I love how you try to be so innocent, try to act like you don't know what's going on. Even if you've been issuing orders from the shadows I know what's really happening. You were raising an army and I chose to raise my own." Sombra said. You feel something brush against your cheek and move away in surprise. The touch sends a cold sense of dread through your body that makes you shiver.

"That's why you're here my friend. You were meant to be one of her soldiers, but I doubt she told you that." Sombra said running his cold hoof over your shoulders. You stared at Luna fir a second looking for a sign that Sombra was lying, but you couldn't find anything but fear. The kind of fear that comes when someone uncovers a lie you've kept hidden for a while.

"Michael, he's lying to you. Why would I want to start a war with a shadow." Luna said quickly, losing her courage. Michael tore his eyes away from her and looked into the shadows behind you.

"Why are you telling me this?" You ask the shadows.

"Because I have a proposition for you, a deal to make." Sombra said. You incline your head to snow you're listening.

"Michael, he's lying, it's what he does!" Luna said. A pair of glowing green eyes appear in the darkness and shift to look at Luna. A black streak flies across the table and wraps itself around her mouth, effectively shutting her up. Her eyes were filled with fear, but at this point you didn't care.

"I can offer you two things. In exchange for one." He said. His snake like body moved through the shadows unseen except for the newly appeared glowing eyes that were more than a little unsettling.

"Your terms?" You ask. Luna tries to say something but her mouth is still clamped shut ad she is totally incapable of speaking.

"I can give you these powers," he said. Several black figures fly out of the space behind you and begin to dance around on the table in from of you before evaporating and forming on to the shape of a hand and slapping Luna. You chuckle slightly and the hand disappears. "And a leadership position I'm my new army." He said. You think the offers over in your head for a moment. The new powers AND a leadership position in the new world order.

"And what's in it for you?" You ask finding themes dancing around next to Luna.

"All you have to do is bring me the blood of one of your fellow ponies." Sombra said as if it was nothing. Your eyes snap open at that.

"No way in hell I'd kill an innocent pony!" You shout at him. The glowing eyes turn from green to a dark shade of red but soon return to their original color.

"How about I sweeten the pot." He says. Next to Luna's head a image appears of Lyra chained to a wall. She cried out in pain as a giant sword picks itself up and presses itself against her chest just over where her heart would be. A thin trickle of blood runs down her chest. "You say yes or I kill her and then I kill you.

"Please Michael, do as he says!" Lyra cries out in pain again as the sword twists.

"Stop!" You shout, tears coming to your eyes.

"Not until you agree to my terms." Sombra said as the sword continues to slowly drill into her chest.

"Stop now or I swear, I will kill you." You say as you tug at the chains on your wrists.

"You say yes or she does, plain and simple." Sombra says. Lyra was sobbing now and the trickle of blood on her chest had quickened.

"Michael, don't you say yes. That's not Lyra, he's tricking you." Luna said as the black thing around her jaws snapped. You look from her to Lyra to the sword to the pair of eyes floating around in the darkness, desperate for an answer as to what you should do.

"Fine," you say finally, letting your head sag in defeat.

"I'm sorry, what was that." Sombra says, slinking closer to you.

"I'll do it, I'll take your powers, I'll be in your army," you pause for a second and catch your breath. "I'll kill a pony if that's what I have to do, just please let her go." You plead. Sombra chuckles and the image of Lyra disappears.

The chains on your wrists pop off and dissolve into the ground. And the dread you feel is replaced by a burning in your right foreleg. You look down to see it glowing with long markings going up the length of your leg and ending just at the joint with a depiction of a spider, a shark and what looks like some sort of bird, flamingo sort of thing.

"Now, you go kill me a pony." Sombra says. And with a flash of light, you disappear from the room.