Unexpected Changes

Chapter 3: Ball 'n' Chain

As Sketch trotted down the road to his house, he couldn’t help but worry just a tiny bit over what Twilight had said, and how dark her mood had gotten. He hadn’t ever seen her like that. It worried him immensely.

Idly looking over at Gears as they trotted, he did his best to refrain from bursting into a gallop and racing home to check on his wife. He forced himself to be calm, and trust that she was safe.

“Dude, stop staring at me like that, it’s weird.” Gears cut in, interrupting his brother’s thoughts.

“Huh? Oh sorry.” He shook the thoughts from his head, trying to not think about it too much.

“Are you alright? You’ve been acting strange since we left Twilight’s…”

“Yes, yes. I’m fine. Don’t worry about It buddy, alright?”

Gears simply shrugged. “Hey, do you mind if I test out that climbing tool again at the house? I have an idea.”

“Just don’t set anything on fire like you did two weeks ago…”

“Hey, that was an accident. At least now I know that Scooter motors don’t like homemade fuel.”

“The neighbors would probably have a different opinion…it was their trash can you blew up with that thing.”

“Accident.”

“Mmhmm.”

Gears took off towards the house, which was just now coming into view, he disappeared behind the corner and Sketch saw him no longer.

Sketch himself made it to the house about a minute later, expecting to be greeted by Lyra. He had actually missed her quite a bit that morning for some reason, the selfish part of him wished that she didn’t have to go and meet with Vinyl, he wanted to spend all the time possible with her, he didn’t like sharing, at all.

But there was also the part of him that knew Lyra needed to do this, not because of the money, or the fame. It was because it was helping her with her confidence in her music abilities. Bon Bon had practically beaten it out of her that she would get anywhere with her music, and ever since the incident Lyra had slowly been recovering from said abuse, her self-confidence getting stronger each day.

He was extremely proud of her, she had grown tremendously once she had gotten away from Bon Bon. After she had come to peace with the fact she had shot Bon Bon after the mare had broken in, Lyra had shown some sides she hadn’t shown before, presumably because she wasn’t ready or comfortable showing them, due to Bon Bon’s abuse at the time.

As Sketch had discovered, Lyra had an extremely devious side that she had only ever shown around him. They had had quite a bit of fun, the two of them. Fun of many different kinds.

It wasn’t all sexual though, Lyra had also learned that Sketch wasn’t going to get mad if she messed up at something, and it had taken a week or so for him to get her to stop apologizing if she did something like drop a glass, and even longer for her to adjust to that sort of behavior.

In a way it was kind of sad that Lyra had been pushed to that point by Bon Bon, that she actually got scared of being yelled at if she messed up. Sketch didn’t blame her of course, he probably would have been the same way. Hell, he had been that that way when he lived with his mother; who he still hadn’t heard from since he moved.

Not wanting to dwell on his mother, at all, he trotted up the path to his house, not expecting what was awaiting him behind the door.

Now, normally, it is a common custom for somepony to alert another pony that they will be entertaining a guest at that pony’s house. That they would let them know in advance there would be a guest and that that guest possibly intended on hanging around for quite a while.

Normally.

Sketch’s life however, could be described by just about any word but “normal”. Even so, he found himself rather surprised when he opened his door to see Lyra sitting at a table with Vinyl Scratch, chatting it up like it wasn’t a big deal.

Maybe it wasn’t a big deal, on top of the fact Sketch had neglected to take the magical notebook he used to communicate with her. So it wasn’t like she could have told him even if she had tried.

Even so.

Vinyl Scratch was sitting in his house, he should have prepared himself for it, but he hadn’t. He should have at least seen it coming.

Lyra was sitting at the dining room table, across from Vinyl. The two were drinking some sort of coffee; from the smell of it, and Vinyl had her back hooves propped up on the table.

“Sketchy!” Lyra’s eyes lit up when she noticed he had come inside, she stood from her chair; Trotting over to him and giving him a hug.

“Hey, Lyra.” He nuzzled her softly, inwardly overjoyed that Lyra seemed perfectly alright, and not infected by whatever strange, new phenomenon was sweeping across Ponyville.

“Well, well, well.”

A new voice broke their loving moment. The voice sounded extremely confident and possibly the tiniest bit full of itself.

It was Vinyl.

“So you’re the ol’ ‘Ball ‘n’ Chain, Lyra’s been telling me about, huh?” She said, flashing her almost painfully white teeth with a grin.

Sketch pulled away from Lyra a bit as Vinyl trotted over, her spiky blue hair looking like something out of an Anime as it bobbed slightly with each step. Sketch noticed the purple lensed glasses that were the DJ’s most popular form of eyewear. They glinted in the light; polished to perfection.

“Uh…yes, I am.” Sketch barely let out.

“Vinyl, I did not call him that!” Lyra hissed softly.

Vinyl said nothing, she only trotted up and got rather close to Sketch’s face, the shiny purple lenses of her glasses blocking him from looking her in the eye.

“Uh…” Was all he let out.

Suddenly a smirk appeared on her face.

“Vinyl Scratch, DJ, Musician, a large amount of other fancy names for somepony who makes music and according to the newspapers I’m a vampire who sells weed.” Vinyl held out a hoof as she spoke.

Sketch was speechless, Lyra however, was not; as she was practically on the floor she was laughing so hard at Vinyl’s sudden introduction.

“Uh…I’m Sketch…I draw stuff and work at Sweet Apple Acres…” He shook Vinyl’s hoof cautiously. He was just starting to wonder why he felt the need to tell Vinyl his profession, when she; rather suddenly, pulled him over to her and draped her front hoof around his shoulders, holding him rather firmly.

“Oh, come on now Sketchy Boy, I don’t bite too hard I promise.” She said with a grin, obviously referring to how cautious he seemed when he shook her hoof.

“Lyra, you didn’t tell me he was cute!” Vinyl flashed a smile. Sketch couldn’t help but sense a seductive undertone, yet he couldn’t decide if she was teasing.

Sketch wasn’t sure how to respond to anything that was happening. At all. Lyra was quite obviously enjoying this little show however; it was evident by the fit of giggling that she was attempting to hold back.

“I’ve been talking to your lovely wife, about possible job opportunities and all that, and I’ll tell you what.” She poked his chest on the “what” then continued. “I think that sexy looking mare, right there.” She pointed at Lyra, who only smiled; obviously a tad embarrassed. “She’s gonna get pretty far with her music.”

“We’ve been talking about possibly integrating my music with some of the stuff Vinyl makes, she says it could be rather popular you know!” Lyra chimed in, not seeming to notice her husband was still being practically held against his will in Vinyl’s grasp.

“And, I hear you had some worries about her having to move to Canterlot and everything?” Vinyl looked down at her prisoner.

“Uh…Yes.” Sketch said, feeling a bit smothered.

“Well, don’t you worry your pretty little head about it Sketchy boy, all the work she’ll be doing she can do right here from home, and she can raise Lil’ Sketchy at the same time.” She ruffled his mane as she finished, finally letting go of Sketch and allowing him to return to his wife’s side.

“If I may, Lyra, Ball ‘n’ Chain. I must retreat to the restroom for a moment. I shall take my leave.” Vinyl took off to the restroom, seeming to already know where it was. As quickly as she had appeared, she was gone.

Sketch said nothing for a moment, he hadn’t expected Vinyl to be…like that. Hell, he wasn’t sure what he had expected her to be like at all. She seemed rather eccentric and like she was a “grabby” sort of pony.

“She’s rather…outgoing.”

“I swear, she came up with “Ball ‘n’ Chain on her own…”

“It’s fine.” He said with a smile, giving her a kiss after responding.

“How was your morning with Gears?”

“It was…intriguing.”

Lyra raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Speaking of Gears, where is the little guy?” She asked, obviously satisfied with Sketch’s previous answer.

“He’s-“

“I’m right here!” Gears cut in, he was covered in dirt and had a scrape on his head.

“Dude, I left you outside because you said you wanted to test that climbing tool again, did you get hit by a train or something?”

“Pffft.” Gears waved a hoof in the air. “I just fell off the side of the house is all, I’m fine.”

“What?!?” Lyra sounded very concerned.

Again Gears waved his hoof, dismissing Lyra’s concern. “I’m fine. It wasn’t even that high. I do need to adjust-“

“Mares and Stallions, Fillies and Colts, I return!” Vinyl unknowingly cut Gears off, feeling the need to announce her return from the restroom.

Now. Normally, Gears is rather quiet and reserved, as well as somewhat shy around other ponies. Even with the friends he had made, he was still rather shy sometimes; not always, just occasionally. In addition to this, he had an obsession; or rather, a fascination as he would say it was, With Vinyl Scratch. Something Sketch had only learned of very recently.

So it was rather out of character, yet also somewhat expected, when the small, dirt covered, scraped up, genius of a colt that was Gears, saw Vinyl.

He flipped his lid.

“YOU’RE DJ-PON3!” He proclaimed, not even bothering to finish his previous conversation with his brother before practically throwing himself across the room and sliding to a halt in front of the DJ.

“Indeed I am.”

“Oh my gosh I have so many questions, and, and, and I have an invention for you and everything!”

“Gears, maybe you should-“

“Don’t worry about it Sketchy Boy, he’s fine.” Vinyl waved Sketch’s comment away rather dismissively; something Gears didn’t even notice.

“Is it true, that you really sell weeds? I always thought weeds were too spiky to even touch.” Gears spoke rather quickly, he was very obviously quite excited.

“No, I do not sell weeds, thank you very much. I also find them much too spiky to even touch.” She said with a smirk.

Gears nearly squealed.

“And, um, do you want to see what I made for you?” His tone was a tad nervous.

“Do I? Of course I do!”

She was good with kids. Sketch hadn’t expected this.

“YES! Ok wait right here, I’m gonna go get it!” Gears turned and made for his staircase, then stopped halfway and scrambled back over in front of Vinyl; who was still rooted in place.

“Oh, I have one last question…” He said in a hushed tone, Sketch could barely hear him.

“What’s up big guy?” Vinyl too spoke in a hushed tone, crouching down so she was at eye level with Gears.

“Is it true, that, uh, well, that you’re really a vampire?”

Vinyl smiled the cockiest, biggest, toothiest smile Sketch had seen her smile since he had met her a few minutes prior; and she had smiled a lot in that time.

“You promise to keep a secret?” She asked, leaning in closer to Gears, who was practically radiating his eagerness.

“I promise, I won’t tell anypony, ever!”

Vinyl looked side to side, as if checking for spies. She was very obviously playing up the need for secrecy; something quite obvious to Sketch.

“I really am a vampire!” She said in a hushed tone.

“What! Oh my gosh that’s so cool!”

“Yep, but it’s a secret, just between you and me ok?”

“Got it!”

“If you tell anypony…I’ll have to bite you!” She said with a played up bearing of her “fangs”

Gears let out a squeal and bolted for his room, straight up the stairs and all was silent for a minute.

“I’ll be down in a minute! I’m getting your present!” He called after a moment.

“I’ll be here!” She called back, smiling and trotting over to Lyra and Sketch, who had watched the events of a moment ago unfold before them.

“Pretty cool little guy.”

“Sorry if he seemed a bit…”Lyra searched for the words.

“Bah, it’s fine. I’m used to it. At least he’s polite about it, that’s rare when it comes to Canterlot Paparazzi. I will say, I’ve never had somepony invent something for me though.”

“I apologize in advance if it blows up.” Sketch said with a grin, noticing that Vinyl seemed to have mellowed out a bit. He wondered if it would last.

“I FOUND IT!” Gears called from his room, not giving Vinyl time to respond.

The three turned to see Gears trotting down the stairs, a small bag in his teeth as he made his way down. Once he touched the carpet he was at Vinyl’s hooves in a flash, unpacking a familiar object from his bag.

It was the spider that he had shown Sketch the other day, yet it looked slightly different and appeared to have a speaker mounted on it.

“Gears, is that-“

“The Spider, yes, I modified it.” He cut his brother off. Seemingly too enthralled with demonstrating this contraption to Vinyl to give his brother much of a response.

“Dude, I flipping love spiders.” Vinyl cut in, only elevating Gears’ excitement.

“Ok, ok that’s awesome! You’re gonna love this then.” Gears placed the metal spider on the carpet, it looked like it did before, only it appeared to have speakers in place of the head and abdomen.

“Ok, you ready?” He asked, looking up at Vinyl like an eager puppy.

“Go for it big guy.”

With a brief cackle that sounded all too much like a mad scientist, Gears pressed a red button on his remote control and the spider shuddered then came to life.

Eight legs sprouted from it, each one making a soft “click” as it touched the ground, it pushed off the ground, holding itself a few inches off the carpet with its thin metal legs.

Vinyl was practically radiating excitement.

Gears pressed another button and the spider leapt a few inches in the air, causing all three of the ponies he was demonstrating it to, to gasp a bit.

With the press of yet another button, the spider spun in a circle, a faint clicking noise being heard as it did so. Then it proceeded to zip off; controlled by Gears.

Vinyl let out a satisfied laugh, very obviously enjoying this immensely.

A moment later, the spider spun around and skittered back towards Vinyl, stopping a few inches from her. With the press of another button a small port opened up on the abdomen of the spider, a small green light illuminating the port from the inside.

“Dude, that’s fantastic, sweet Celestia.” Vinyl crouched down and was practically laying on the floor, almost eye level with the spider. “What’s the USB port for?” She asked, poking her hoof towards it gently.

“Ah, I’m glad you asked!” Gears said with a flourish, not knowing exactly how proud his brother was of him at that moment. “The USB, was taken from an old computer I found in a trash can, and you plug a little hard drive into it!” Gears rustled around in his bag for a moment, then pulled out a small USB drive.

“Like so.” He plugged the hard drive in and was rewarded with a soft “click” He then pressed another button on the remote and the result made Vinyl smile like she had earlier during the “Vampire” conversation.

The spider started playing music.

“Whaaaaat? No way.” Vinyl honestly looked surprised.

“There’s more. I figured if you ever were to use it to play music or something, you might want pictures of the crowd for later, right?”

“Right…” Vinyl said slowly, looking over at Gears and wondering what else the small colt had crammed into the even smaller spider. On top of wondering how the little guy had even built the thing in the first place.

“So. I took apart an old camera phone that I found in, well, a trash can while exploring with my friends...”

“No way.”

Gears nodded. “You can take pictures with it. Here, you try!” Gears held the remote out to Vinyl, who took it almost cautiously, not wanting to damage it.

“Push that one there.” Gears pointed at a button on the remote, something he was able to do, due to the fact Vinyl was practically laying on the floor next to him.

“Ok…” She pressed the button, and a small camera popped out of the top of the spider, causing her to let out a small yelp of surprise; something Gears seemed rather pleased about.

“Now press this one, here.” He pointed to yet another button and the DJ did as asked. The result was a small “click” and a moment later, a small image of Lyra’s hooves showed up on a screen previously unnoticed on the bottom of the remote.

“Ohmygosh that’s freaking amazing.” Vinyl was quite shocked.

“And, if you want to see what the spider sees before taking a picture, you can push this button right…here.” Gears pressed a button on the remote in Vinyl’s hooves and a slightly fuzzy video feed of what the spider was seeing flickered onto the screen.

“Dude, this is…amazing!”

“Thank you! Oh my gosh thank you so much!” Gears hugged Vinyl’s leg firmly, causing the previously cocky, loud, extremely confident DJ, to be reduced to a pile of mush. Apparently children were her weak spot.

“You’re very welcome, big guy.” She smiled down at Gears, but not a toothy, cocky smile like before. This was a loving smile.

“Now I just gotta name it…”

“What about Spyder. Spelled S-P-Y-D-E-R?”

“Oh yeah! And, maybe, I could use a number three instead of the letter E! Like in your name!” Gears had pulled away and was practically bouncing with joy.

Vinyl let out an amused laugh. “I think you and I are gonna get along just fine.” She ruffled Gears ‘mane before he ran back up to his attic to work on the spider; after collecting up his things of course.

Sketch couldn’t help but notice the effect Gears seemed to have on Vinyl, he seemed to mellow her out; in a good way. Not only that, but she seemed…sweet, with him. Almost as if he were her own child. Sketch found it rather curious.

“They get along well.” Lyra whispered in his ear. “That’s a good thing.”

“I think I like him. He’s pretty kick-ass.” Vinyl said after Gears had left the room, pushing herself up off the floor in the process.

Sketch found it strange for some reason to see somepony like Vinyl laying on the floor.

“He thinks you’re fantastic, so the fact you like him is equally kick-ass” Lyra giggled.

“So, Dinner.” Vinyl changed the subject rather abruptly, her previous, cocky state seeming to return.

“Yes, Vinyl where do you plan on going for dinner?” Sketch asked with a smirk, trying to sound like smart-ass, and at the same time realizing how fast the time had flown by and that it was already almost dinnertime.

“Well, actually. I ordered everypony pizza.” She flashed another one of her cocky smiles at him, countering his attempt at being a smart-ass.

“Wait, what?” Lyra cut in now, sounding surprised.

“Oh yeah, when you said you wouldn’t let me pay for dinner before ol’ Ball ‘n’ Chain over there got home, I decided to be sneaky and when I said I was going to the bathroom earlier, I was actually ordering pizza on my phone. Sorry, not sorry.”

“Vinyl, I told you I insist on paying for this sort of thing…you’re a guest…”

“And you, missy, have a baby on the way, and don’t need to be paying to feed my sexy ass.” She booped Lyra on the nose playfully as he trotted by, heading into the kitchen and apparently feeling at home enough to dig through the cabinets and pull out a glass and get herself some water.

Sketch could only watch this all unfold.

“Oh and I guess we should tell Sketchy Boy, instead of letting him find out on his own.” She said after taking a sip of water.

“Tell me what…”

“OH! Uh…Sketchy…” Lyra rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof, looking extremely sheepish, like a foal who got caught with their hoof in a cookie jar.

“What…?”

“So uh…the hotel in Ponyville had a mix-up with reservations…”

He already knew where this was going.

“So…I kinda-“

“Lyra, being the fantastic mare that she is, is allowing me to crash here until tomorrow when the hotel business is sorted out.”

Well shit.

“Oh…well…that’s fine, I guess…” He lied.

“It’s just for one night Sketch, don’t worry. I’ll be sleeping on the couch, and I’ll even sleep with headphones in if you and your better half wanna mess around.”

“Vinyl!” Lyra hissed, her tone portraying an “I’m going to slap the shit out of you” type of mood.

“What? OH! Wait did you two want to do a threesome or something? I’m totally up for-“

“No, no, no. Thank you, we’re fine.” Sketch rubbed his face with one hoof and groaned. Lyra simply glared, and Vinyl let out a laugh.

“You two are so funny I swear. I’m kidding, chill out now. And Sketchy Boy, don’t think I don’t see you over there getting all excited at the thought of getting your hooves on my fine ass.”

“You wish.” He retorted.

Vinyl winced and then chuckled again. “Ouch.”

“You two are like children, I swear.” Lyra sighed.

“I’m the better looking of the children.” Vinyl prodded, only receiving an annoyed glare from Sketch.

“Shush, both of you. Sweet Celestia.”

--------@--------

The Pizza arrived shortly afterwards, Gears was extremely excited to be having Pizza and Doughnuts in the same day, and had insisted on sitting next to Vinyl. She had happily agreed to his terms of course, she apparently had a soft spot for Gears and she didn’t even attempt to hide it.

Apparently Lyra had been making noises about wanting mushrooms and cheese to Vinyl earlier in the day, and that was what had spurred the DJ to buy pizza, with mushrooms just for Lyra.

Teasing aside, Sketch found Vinyl to be extremely caring towards Lyra, and apparently they had been almost inseparable in their younger years. It turned out, Vinyl had been very conscious of Lyra’s pregnancy, and was doing everything to help her out with it. On top of that she was very friendly with Gears’; something which only made him happier, and Sketch couldn’t decide if Vinyl was attracted to him or just liked to screw with him. Throughout the evening she had “accidentally” bumped into him a few times, slapped his flank once, and even managed to lick his ear once. Lyra had simply laughed at it and scolded her friend.

Unbeknownst to Sketch, Lyra knew Vinyl was teasing and had no intention of doing anything. She was naturally like that, she even had done it with Lyra in their younger years. To her it was a form of good fun and if anypony told her otherwise she would simply laugh and dismiss them, or make some smart-ass remark.

In Vinyl’s defense however, Sketch was rather easy to tease.

“And that was the last time I ever ate cactus.” Vinyl finished her story. She had mainly been talking to Gears, who had been at her heels practically since they got home. When he had found out she was to spend the night with them he may have nearly fainted.

The four of them had been sitting around the living room table, having a rather relaxed dinner. Sketch had expected Vinyl to be more…”upper-class” as bad as that sounded. He hadn’t expected her to be so…cool about everything. She didn’t act like most of the ponies that lived in Canterlot, uppity and snotty about everything, acting like they were better than you because they were wealthy. Vinyl wasn’t like that, and as annoying she could be, Sketch appreciated how she acted. She hadn’t even wanted to go out and do stuff, or sightsee, or whatever you wanted to call it. She was perfectly content with relaxing around the house. Lyra treated her like family, and she did the same to everypony else.

That didn’t mean Sketch was used to her though.

“I didn’t even know you could eat cactus!” Gears said, scooting closer to Vinyl; who hadn’t seemed to mind Gears’ behavior at all.

“You can, you just have to make sure you get all the spines out and all that…”

“Ouch.” Lyra said.

“Indeed.”

Vinyl stretched out her front legs and draped them over the back of the couch, looking rather at home.

“Are you sure you’re ok with sleeping on the couch, Vinyl?” Lyra asked, for the umpteenth time that evening.

“Yes, Lyra, Hon, I’m fine with it. I promise. I sleep on my couch all the time anyway back in Canterlot. It’s fine.” She said with a slight laugh. “Besides, you have a baby on the way, you don’t need to be sleeping on a couch, and I don’t think Sketchy would approve of us sharing a bed.” She flashed a cocky smile over in his direction.

“Hey, I never said-“

“Now, Now. Sketchy Boy, don’t start having those kinds of thoughts.” She cut him off.

“What kind of thoughts?” Gears asked. Apparently Vinyl had forgotten he was there for a moment.

“Naughty ones.” She stated rather bluntly.

“Oh.” Gears' Pupils seemed to shrink a bit.

“Vinyl!" Lyra hissed.

"Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to taint his innocent little mind." She grinned.

“Hey! I do not have an innocent little mind!” Gears whined, apparently taking it as an insult.

“Oh really now?” Sketch asked, raising an eyebrow.

“And what non-innocent things has your mind been tainted with, big guy?” Vinyl looked down at Gears as she asked.

“Well, uh…”Gears was very obviously trying to think stuff up. “I know about, uh, kissing, and cuddling! Yeah!” He said, sounding all too innocent.

Vinyl laughed. “You’re right, I guess you aren’t all that innocent, huh?”

“Darn right I’m not.” He huffed and crossed his front legs.

“Alright, well, I’m sorry I said that then. Forgive me?” Vinyl put on her best sad face, but was very obviously trying her best not to smile. Gears looked up at her for a moment, staring her in the eyes; that had stayed hidden behind her glasses the whole day. He looked as if he were deciding if he would forgive her or not.

“I forgive you…”

“Yay.” Vinyl smiled and ruffled Gears’ mane.

Sketch looked over at the wall clock, it was nearly ten in the evening, and he hadn’t even realized they’d been up that late. Although normally they stayed up later, Vinyl had mentioned earlier that she wanted to experience Lyra’s music firsthoof, so it had kind of been unanimously agreed upon that they would all go to bed sooner rather than later.

“Gears, bud, it’s nearly ten, and you need to go get ready for bed, alright?” Sketch said, hoping Gears wouldn’t protest and call in backup on the matter; the backup in this case being Vinyl.

“Aww-  Err, uh, yeah…ok Sketch.” Gears’ gaze flitted over to Vinyl as he spoke. Was he…trying to impress her?

The look on Gears’ face very obviously said “The last thing I want to do is go to bed.” But what he was speaking was the exact opposite.

“Tomorrow, after Lyra and I are finished, you wanna help me make some music?” Vinyl said, seeming to pick up on Gears’ attitude.

Gears let out a sharp gasp of surprise, holding his breath for a moment before speaking. “Really?”

Vinyl nodded.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes!” Gears started bouncing on the couch, shaking it enough that it was bumping Vinyl around a bit.

“Alright, settle down bud, you’re gonna tire yourself out and not have energy to help me tomorrow.” She chimed.

Gears’ eyes widened a bit and his cheeks turned a bit red, very obviously embarrassed at his sudden outburst. “Uh…yeah, sorry…”

“Now, go get ready for bed buddy, you’ll need to be rested if you’re gonna help Vinyl tomorrow!” Lyra said with a smile, deciding to jump on the “convince Gears to go to bed” Bandwagon.

“Alright…” With an air of disappointment that was barely noticeable, Gears slid off the couch and trotted over to his staircase, looking back on the room for a moment as if he were going to miss something exciting, then trotting slowly up the staircase to the attic to go to sleep.

“He’s a pretty cool little kid.” Vinyl said after a moment of staring at the empty staircase.

“He’s probably smarter than Lyra and I combined.” Sketch said with a soft chuckle.

“Probably smarter than You, Lyra and I combined.” She added. “That spider thing he built was fantastic.”

“He’s been working on it for quite a while, he’s very proud of it.” Lyra said; standing up and starting to gather the dishes up.

“I’ll get ‘em.” Vinyl cut in, using her magic to levitate the dishes out of Lyra’s grasp.

“Thank you, Vinyl.” She obviously wasn’t up to arguing over who did the dishes, and now that Sketch thought about it, Lyra looked rather tired.

“You alright there?” He asked, watching her from his armchair.

“Mmhmm, I’m fine. Just a bit tired is all.” She nodded and gave a sweet smile.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s tired, she and I did get quite rowdy this afternoon before you got home Sketchy Boy.” Vinyl called from the kitchen.

“Dear Celestia, Vinyl, we did no such thing this afternoon…” She said with a light laugh, attempting to shut down Vinyl’s teasing before trouble started.

“Oh, yes, just like that Lyra, Oh yes pleeeease!” Vinyl teased, very blatantly directing it towards Sketch.

“You need a muzzle.” He glared.

“Whatever turns you on Sketchy Boy.”

“I swear, I’m going to slap you both.” Lyra moaned, rubbing her face with one hoof.

“Sounds Kinky.” Vinyl chimed, trotting back in to the living room.

Lyra simply glared at her, to which Vinyl giggled and threw herself onto the couch.

“Right…” Sketch said, pushing himself up out of his chair and ruffling his wings a bit. “I think Lyra and I’ll be getting off to bed now, do you need-“

“Already got ‘em.” Vinyl levitated a stack of neatly folded blankets and a pillow that Lyra had given her earlier.

“What time do you want to start tomorrow Vinyl?” Lyra said with a yawn, her eyes just barely starting to droop.

“Whenever you wake up, we’ll work around your schedule.” She waved her hoof dismissively at Lyra’s question.

“You sure…?”

“Sweetie, the spawn of Sketchy Boy is inside your womb, yes, I’ll work around your schedule.”

“Uh…ok…thanks…” Lyra fumbled a bit, not expecting the wording Vinyl had just used.

“Goodnight Lyra.”

“Night.” She replied, trotting over to the bedroom doorway as Vinyl unfolded her blankets. Sketch was already in the bedroom, idly poking at the feathers in his wings as he laid on the bed.

“I am so, damn, tired.” Lyra stated after shutting the door and slinking onto the bed next to him.

“Did you have a fun day though?” Sketch asked, folding his wings and rolling on his side so that he was facing Lyra.

“Mmhmm.”

“Well, there you go.”

Lyra giggled and scooted over closer, burying her muzzle into his chest as he held her in his hooves.

“Did you have to vent any magic or anything today?”

“Just this morning, after you left, it wasn’t too bad though.”

“Sorry…”

“It’s fine…like I’ve said before, it’s worth it.” Lyra looked up at him and booped her nose on his as she finished.

“It is very worth it.” Sketch smiled back.

Lyra hummed softly and returned her nose to his chest, using her magic to turn off the lights as she did so.

Sketch laid there, in total darkness. Perfectly happy with his life in that moment, it was…serene. He could feel her breathing, the warmth of her breath on his chest. The smell of her mane, always extremely clean and fresh; she was rather proud of it too.

“I love you…” Lyra said softly, after a moment.

“I love you too.” He kissed her on the head, smiling as he pulled away.

“You said you had something to tell me about…earlier, when you got home. What was it?”

Sketch wasn’t sure if he should tell her now, or wait until tomorrow. She was tired and he didn’t want her to worry, and possibly end up staying up and losing sleep over it, on top of the she might-

“Stop debating over if you should tell me, and just tell me. Silly Filly.” She giggled and bumped his chin with her nose. “I can practically hear you thinking about it, you know.”

Well, guess he had his answer.

“It’s just…when Gears and I were getting breakfast, we met Sweetie Belle, and she said her sister had acted like she didn’t know who she was or why she was at their house when she got home the other day, then when Rarity actually showed up to get Sweetie Belle, I felt like…something was off.”

“Wait…I saw a friend of mine at the Train Station today…she was leaving for Canterlot…and when I went up and said hi, she acted like she had no idea who I was…”

Sketch’s stomach did a somersault.

Not only had Lyra seen something similar to what he had seen as well, but she had been near it, and that worried him more than anything. The thought of Lyra being in any sort of danger. He instinctively hugged Lyra a bit closer to his chest, as if it would shield her from the fact she encountered this phenomenon.

“Maybe…It’s just a coincidence?” She suggested.

“I thought that too, but I asked Twilight about it when I went over to her place, She said that Pinkie Pie and the Cakes all seemed off too, they acted the exact same way as you’re describing with your friend at the train station…”

Lyra let out a worried whimper, the kind she let out only when she was really, truly worried about something. It melted Sketch’s heart, in that moment he wanted to hold her forever, to keep her safe from any and all harm, to cradle and nurture her and keep his love safe from the world.

“Hey…I’m sure whatever it is, Twilight will be able to figure it out. Alright? She’s used to dealing with this kind of stuff, and she told me she would send a letter to the princess as soon as possible, alright?” He tried to comfort her.

“I guess…It’s just…I don’t know…I get a bad feeling about this is all…” She idly traced shaped in his chest fur with a hoof as she spoke.

Sketch sighed and rested his head on her mane, nuzzling it and holding her just a bit tighter.

“Try not to worry about it too much, alright?”

Lyra simply hummed, sounding exactly what he didn’t want her to be. Worried.

“Hey…no matter what it is, I’ll do my very best to keep you safe, alright? I would fight an army to protect you…”

“You’re so cute, Sketchy…” She giggled softly. “Thank you though...that really makes me feel a lot better…”

“Good…”

The two laid there silently for a while, perfectly content in one another’s embrace, feeling their breaths, their warmth. Sketch enjoyed simply holding Lyra, embracing her. There didn’t have to be a reason, or a cause, he just enjoyed holding her. It made him happy, and it made Lyra equally happy.

“Sketch…do you think tonight, maybe you can wrap a wing around me…?” Lyra asked rather suddenly, sounding a tad embarrassed to ask.

“Huh?”

“I don’t know…just…it makes me feel safe…”

And in that exact moment, as he draped his wing over Lyra, Sketch knew that no matter what, come hell or high water. He had to do whatever it took to keep her safe, to protect her from any and all evil or malicious things that he possibly could. He had to protect her, their child and Gears. They were the most important things in his entire universe and he would do anything for them. It was his job, his solemn duty, because he loved them. He would risk his life to protect his family.

Although, that doesn’t mean he would be prepared for it when the time would come that he would have to do so, and that that day was approaching faster than he could have ever imagined.

Because, Unbeknownst to Sketch, Lyra, Gears, Vinyl or anypony else in Ponyville.

Twilight’s letter, the letter containing all of her findings on the phenomenon sweeping across Ponyville.

Had been stopped.

And destroyed.