The Ballad of Xyclone

Deep in the Everfree Forest, early morning

I woke up late the next morning, at about 10 a.m. When I opened my eyes, Twilight and Bon-Bon were both staring me dead in the face, smiling creepily.

"GOOD MORNING, XYCLONE," Twilight greeted me.

"Um, hi?" I said uncomfortably, awkwardly scooting around the crazy ponies.

Lyra saw me and greeted me properly. "Good morning!" she said. "Don't ask me about Twilight or Bon-Bon. They've been staring at you like that since they woke up. I tried telling them to leave you alone, but they refused to listen. Anyway, I made you breakfast again!"

"I can see that!" I said, licking my lips at the sight of the huge breakfast Lyra prepared. "Difficult magic lesson?"

"Yes, but this one's a special one," she continued. "Since you obviously have a unique magical ability, I've decided to teach you...the memory spell."

"What?! Already?! But I thought that was, like, the last lesson a unicorn ever learns at magic school!"

"It is. But, like I said yesterday, you have a very powerful magic ability, so I figured I'd go ahead and teach you now. Who knows? It could come in hoofsy one day. It could very well save your life. Are you ready?"

I ate my breakfast as Lyra explained how to perform the spell. "Yep!"

"Okay...a memory spell is a lot more complex than just focusing your mind on something. With a memory spell you have to focus both your memories and your mind on a living thing. And living things are harder to control with magic than inanimate objects. The spell is difficult to learn, but once you get the hang of it, it's fairly easy. I think you're ready."

"But wait...one question..." I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Wouldn't I need someone to perform this on?"

Lyra sighed. "You...you can perform it on me."

"What?! What if I botch the spell and end up hurting you somehow? I would never want to hurt you..."

She smiled. "Xyclone, don't you worry about me. I promise you, I'll be okay."

"W-Well, alright...h-here g-goes..."

I closed my eyes again and began. I delved deep, deep into my memories; my fondest memories, my worst memories, my most embarrassing memories, my memories of my family and Veloci...even my memories of Lyra...and I attempted to channel them through her. It was extremely difficult. It was like trying to push a rock face several times heavier than you.

Once I channeled everything I could, I collapsed, exhausted. Lyra fell over as well, overwhelmed.

"That...was...a lot...of memories..." she gasped. "You have had a difficult life!"

"I...told you so..." I said, panting.

"I saw myself in there..." Lyra continued. "Y-You...you think about me?"

"Y-Yeah," I said nervously, smiling uncomfortably. "A-All the t-time..."

"That was amazing...How did you complete that spell in the first try?! I thought that was impossible!"

"Oh, trust me," I panted. "I couldn't do that again even if I wanted to. Besides, that wasn't all of my memories..."

We both sat in awkward silence for a moment, until Lyra spoke up again: "Y-You know, you've yet to teach me anything..."

"Teach you? A-About what?"

"A couple of days ago, when you—ahem—when you kissed me...you promised me you'd teach me how to be a human in exchange for my magic lessons..."

I felt like an absolute moron. I had completely forgotten. "Oh, my God, I'm so sorry, Lyra! I totally forgot!"

"It's okay..."

"No, it's not okay! I want to make it up to you! You know what? I'll teach you now! How's that?"

"Aren't you tired?"

"Y-Yes, but I broke a promise I made to a friend, and I never break promises to friends." I smiled at Lyra.

She smiled and blushed back. "Th-That's really sweet of you, Xyclone," she said.

"Besides," I continued. "There really isn't a lot to learn." I attempted to stand on my two hind hooves. "All you gotta do is stand on two legs—W-WHOA!!! OOF!!!" I fell over hard onto my back, which then caused Lyra to laugh. I was so used to being a pony that I had forgotten how to be human. It was...humbling. "Ow..." I groaned. "That didn't go quite as expected..."

"Heh...Are you okay?" Lyra chuckled, pulling me up.

"Y-Yeah. But all you have to do is the opposite of what I just did," I joked. "Just try and keep your balance while standing on your two hind legs."

Lyra slowly reared up on her back legs. She wobbled uneasily, but before she fell, I grabbed her hips and caught her. She gasped at the movement.

"Don't worry," I said to her. "I've got you, Lyra." She blushed.

"Th-Thank you," she said, smiling sweetly.

"Alright, now, I'm gonna let go and you're gonna have to try on your own, okay?"

"O-Okay...Wh-Whoa..." Lyra wobbled a little bit, but was successfully able to keep her balance. "I'm...I'm doing it!" she cried. "I'm walking like a human!"

I cheered her on. "Whoa, nice job! It seems like I'm not the only one here who's a fast learner!"

Lyra giggled, blushing even more. Unfortunately, it proved too much of a distraction for her, because she then lost her balance and fell right on top of me. "Whoops! Sorry!" she chuckled.

"It's...okay..." I groaned from beneath her. "Good lesson." Lyra giggled adorably. She stood and allowed me to get back up. We both stared at each other, smiling. I was thinking about kissing her on her beautiful cheek when her smile suddenly faded to panic.

"Xyclone, look out behind you!" she cried.

I turned around to see Twilight hurdling towards me, wielding a giant log with a murderous expression on her face; I ducked just in time to avoid being hit. As soon as Twilight realized she'd missed, she tried to hide the log behind her back. "Twilight, what the hell?!"

"W-WHAT??" asked Twilight nervously. "W-WHAT'D I DO?"

"'What did you do?!' You just tried to knock Xyclone's head off with a tree!!" said Lyra angrily.

"N-NO I DIDN'T!"

Groaning frustratingly, I looked back up at Lyra. I saw something behind her; I squinted to see what it was. It was coming towards us...fast. It kinda looked like a...changeling? My eyes widened; it was, in fact a changeling, and it was heading straight for Lyra. "LYRA, GET DOWN!!!" I screamed as I dove towards her, tackling her to the ground. The changeling soared right over us. Realizing it overshot, it immediately turned around. When it saw our faces, it hissed angrily. Suddenly, two more changelings flew in and invaded our campsite. Several of the ponies scattered, hiding in their tents.

"We've been looking for you poniessss." One of the changelings said.

"They're scouts!" cried Applejack suddenly.

"Yessss, the orange one issss right. We/re here to take you to our queen..."

"CHRYSALIS," snarled Twilight.

"Well, aren't you ssssmart?" one of the other changelings said.

"We're not going anywhere with you!" yelled Lyra.

"We thought you'd say that," said another changeling. "But really, it'ssss not like we gave you any choicccce!" As I and Lyra began to get back up, one of the changelings swooped down and knocked me back over again as it started to harass Lyra, trying to kidnap her. The second changeling dove down and attacked Rarity, while the third and final one got caught in between the two psychotic ponies Bon-Bon and Twilight. Bon-Bon grabbed a giant log similar to  Twilight's and the two of them smiled crazily as they began to face off with the changeling.

I couldn't believe that one of the changelings was messing with Lyra. I grew madder and madder the more it harassed her. Never before had I been so angry. My face red with rage, I furiously charged into the changeling. "RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I roared as I head-butted the beast. I collided with it so hard that I sent it tumbling several feet, dark sparks flying from its horn. I ran over to where it had landed and proceeded to violently pound its face in. "DON'T...YOU...EVER...HURT...MY...LITTLE...LYRA!!!" I screamed in between punches. I was so angry that Lyra had to pull me away from the poor little changeling. I couldn't believe what I saw when she pulled me away. I had completely mangled the changeling's face. He was almost unrecognizable as a changeling. I tried to calm down. I looked over to see how the others were fairing against the invasion of the changelings.

Applejack was knocked over several times as the changeling proceeded towards her crush, Rarity. The monster started to corner Rarity against a large tree. "AAAAAHHHHH!!! HEEELLLLP!!!" she shrieked.

Infuriated, Applejack got up once more and ran up to the changeling. "Y'all best step away from her if ya know what's good fer ya," she growled.

"Or what?" laughed the changeling.

"OR THIS!" roared Applejack furiously, rearing up on her front legs and angrily bucking the creature in its sides, sending it flying into the morning sky. She then approached Rarity, who was still cowering and trembling in fear at the bottom of the tree. Applejack offered her hoof to help her up. "Did he hurt ya any, darlin'?" she asked.

"N-No," went Rarity, getting up. "Th-Thanks to you, dear." They both smiled at each other.

I then turned to Twilight, Bon-Bon, and the final changeling as they all squared off. The changeling looked back and forth between the two crazy ponies, sizing them up. "Bring it!" it suddenly said. Twilight and Bon-Bon both charged towards the monster with their weapons. They swung hard, both of them hitting the changeling in the face. Dizzily, the changeling said, "O-Okay, I...wassssn't expecting that..." Twilight and Bon-Bon backed up and charged again. Like last time, they both swung simultaneously at the creature. Except, this time, the changeling dodged them and flew up into the air. "Ha! Can't get me now, can you, you inferior poniessss!"

Fuming, Twilight dropped the tree she was using as a weapon and flew up after the changeling. "WHAT, DID YOU FORGET THAT I HAD WINGS TOO, YOU FILTHY CRETIN?!?!"

"Oh, darn..." went the changeling. "Uh...hey, look, a disssstraction!" he hissed, pointing behind Twilight.

"WHAT?! WHERE?!" asked Twilight, looking away. The clever changeling darted away while Twilight was distracted. "GGGRRRRRR!!!" roared Twilight in frustration, flying after the changeling. "GET BACK HERE, YOU PATHETIC WASTE OF LIFE!!!" she screamed.

I watched the spectacular display of aerial acrobatics that were performed as Twilight furiously chased after the monster. I eventually lost sight of them as they disappeared beyond the trees. I heard distant shouting and, a few moments later, the changeling came crashing to the ground right in front of us. We all gasped, taking a few steps back. Twilight suddenly reappeared and gently landed on the ground behind the changeling. She looked down at its mangled body as it twitched and convulsed, unconscious. She smiled creepily and giggled insanely. "He laughed at my friends. WELL, WH-WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, HUH, MOTHERBUCKER?!?! WHO'S...LAUGHING...*NOW?!?!"* Bon-Bon trotted up to her and they both began to cackle madly.

I, Lyra, and the rest of the ponies who didn't head for their tents backed away from them slowly. The two of them scared me more than those three changelings combined. I looked at the changeling Twilight shot down, then over to the one I pummeled into the dirt. There was no sign of the one Applejack hit.

"We're gettin' close," Applejack mused out loud, looking up into the morning sun. "Ah jus' know it."

Suddenly, Vinyl Scratch came out from her and Octavia's tent. "Those dudes must've been sent here to look for us by Queen Chrysanthemum or whatever the heck her name is."

"We need to get out of here, now," I said firmly. "Those two are gonna regain consciousness soon and that third one is gonna eventually find his way back here. They're going to come looking for us. And I don't want anypony here to get hurt." I looked back at Lyra, who was adorably hiding behind one of my hind legs. I smiled gently at her. "Anypony." Lyra smiled back at me, blushing.

All of the ponies swiftly packed up and left no trace of any sort of campsite (Well, except for the two unconscious changelings.), then we disappeared into the forest. We quickly moved on to find another campsite. Although, I couldn't get over what I had done to that changeling. I couldn't get the image of his mutilated face out of my head. Why was I so angry? It's like all those memories of being bullied came flooding back with a vengeance. I absolutely pulverized him. I didn't think I had that much power. I felt sorry for the little guy; He was just doing his job. I thought hard about this, so much that I didn't even notice when we reached the next camping area that evening. I was so tired that I was the first one to go to bed. For the first time in quite a while, I didn't dream about Lyra for once. Instead, I had nightmares about that changeling I nearly murdered.