Little Lyra and You

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."