Pulling at the Heartstrings
"WAKE UP!!!"
I shot out of bed and downstairs, for some reason, I expected something to have changed, a curious moan from the bedroom confirmed that everything was normal, and that it was too early to be up, I refused to accept that. I knew in the back of my mind that something had changed, I would find what that was, no matter how the mare in my room protested.
knock knock
That was it, that's what had changed, somepony had knocked, I knew it, another loud moan signaled me to answer, I trotted up to the door, went through the five different mechanisms that had been insisted on, of course, she wanted them for looks, but I'm the kind of pony who can't leave a lock unlocked, so the combination made for an inconvenience and embarrassing situation when mail ponies arrived.
"Coming! just, hold on," I said through the door. No answer.
I opened the door and gazed upon the visi- the empty night, no pony was there, instead, a small parcel sat on the step at my hooves, it was formally addressed and packaged, but a mail pony wouldn't be out this late? Would they?
No, of course not, I levitated the parcel and brought in the house. I began to read the label.
'to miss Lyra Heartstrings' that's me, by the way, I'm, 'miss' Lyra Heartstrings, I like that, miss Lyra Heartstrings, very proper, I'm reminded of the olden days when I'm called miss, I picture myself in an old timey dress, it makes me chuckle.
'by decree of the Ruler responsible' ouch, that meant I couldn't go to, I don't know, Zebrica to get away from whatever was within.
'this item shall be given, on the date enclosed, with no obvious source, to the Unicorn in question, failure to do this, by the fault of anypony involved, will be taken as deliberate disobedience and treason, which can be prosecuted by any means deemed necessary by the ruler responsible.' wow, whoever organised this organised it carefully.
'Princess Celestia of Equestria' well, that explains it...
"Lyra..." A tired mare blinked as she plodded slowly to the stairs "answer all my questions..."
"Bon-Bon! The weirdest thing happened, I was dreaming, and everypony started writing on the walls and shouting at me to wake up, so I did and somepony knocked and I opened the door and found this!" I levitated the box up to her.
"What is it?" She moaned.
"It's a box!" I probably sounded too excited about that, oh well.
"I can see that, Lyra, what IS it?"
"It's a box."
"What is IN it then? If you'll be pedantic."
"I have no idea!" I smiled, revelling in my glorious display of unhelpfulness.
"Thanks, Lyra, for the sleep loss."
I debated saying 'you're welcome' but noticed Bon-Bon's anger, and changed my plan "anyway..."
"Who's it from?" Bon-Bon didn't care, I can tell when my best friend doesn't care, she will soon, but I'd savour the moment.
"You should get some sleep, you need to be up in the morning."
"You don't have to tell me twice," she retreated into the room. Leaving me alone with my box, I took it, dropped myself onto the sofa, and opened the parcel...
I peered into the box, afraid that something would eat me, fortunately however, my suspicions were not confirmed, instead, a small necklace lay in the bottom, a gold chain ended at the centrepiece, a large white crystal encased in a circle of gold, markings engraved into it depicted several, four, ponies, fighting a fifth, much larger pony. The crystal seemed to turn blue as I touched it, the same blue as my coat, I gasped in shock and dropped it, it didn't change, I picked it up again, and put it around my neck.
"Lyra! Lyra!?" I heard the voice, a mares, it sounded gentle and kind, but deep and responsible, I couldn't open my eyes "Lyra? Good, I must warn you, before you do this, make sure you consider it, well..." The voice faded, and my eyes opened.
I hadn't moved.
It was then I noticed a note in the box, I took it and began to read.
'miss Lyra Heartstrings.
I, Princess Celestia, personally invite you to Canterlot for reasons I am currently unable to disclose, the necklace enclosed will aid you, do not remove it unless ordered, it is vital that no pony knows your goals as of yet, we cannot have anypony listening in. You must bring three others, who they are is of no importance, but teamwork shall be vital.
Godspeed, Lyra Heartstrings, I need you.'
The letter shocked me, why did the princess need me? What's going on? And what is this necklace? But I needed to obey, I needed three more, Bon-Bon was an obvious choice, but who else, I galloped into her bedroom "Bon-Bon!"
Her mane shifted as she looked vaguely in my direction "Lyra?" She moaned "what is it now?"
"Princess Celestia, letter, box, necklace, four, I'll explain later! We need to go!"
"What?" Bon-Bon dropped her head "Lyra, isn't it a bit early to be-"
"I got a letter from Celestia!" I shouted.
"I got an appointment with Luna," she closed her eyes and rolled over.
"Oh no you don't," I lifted a shocked Bon-Bon into the air, coated in a golden yellow glow.
"Hey! Lyra!? Cut it out!"
"Sorry Bon-Bon, you, leave, me, no, choice!" I said as I pushed her out the door and down the stairs, I opened the
locks on the front door and threw her out into the night. She tried to run back in, but I slammed the door as I followed her out.
"WHAT THE HAY LYRA!?" She shouted at me.
"Sorry, I needed you out of bed, let me explain."
"There had best be a damn good explanation Lyra!" She seemed, somewhat less angry.
"Yes! There is, we're going to Canterlot. Let's go get Vinyl and Octavia."
"Lyra..."
"Trust me!"
She sighed "it's pointless arguing with you, Lyra, let's go, but we'll have to have some house rules if I'm going to live with you."
"Fine, let's go!" I called as I trotted down the path "we have to wake the others!"
***
"Lyra, this is not a good idea..." Bon-Bon sighed.
"I'll be fine! Possibility of death, small chance of success, what are we waiting for?" I smiled.
"Yeah, possibility of death, what if you do-"
"Then it'll all be your fault," I smiled, and hoped she wouldn't take me seriously, what I was doing wasn't as serious a danger as I made out, I just said it to wind her up, I think.
"How does that-"
Before she could answer, I was in their house, all over the room were electronics scattered around, that was enough to tell me whose room it was "Vinil!?" I shook her "Vinyl!"
"Not now Tavi, we can play Twing-Twang later," she mumbled, I didn't want to know what 'Twing-Twang' was, but that's not why I was here.
"Vinyl!!!" I shouted into her ear, no response, I gasped as I got another idea...
I grabbed two microphones from the piles of junk, plugged them into two amps, one of which I placed behind, and one in front of her head, I placed the two microphones touching each other, grabbed the nearest set of headphones and tapped the mics until I got the feedback I wanted, then I watched, and tried very hard not to listen.
Vinyl stirred, her eyes fluttered, her ears pricked up, and after a second, she screamed and leaped out of bed, knocking the microphone and cancelling the feedback, she stared at me, mortified, before shouting "LYRA! Not cool!"
"I can explain, everything, for now, we need your Twing-Twang partner."
Vynil blushed and stood strait "it's not what it sounds like!" She defended.
"Sure, you two are so cute together, I wouldn't want to get in the way," I teased, her blush deepened.
"Shut up!" Vynil pleaded.
"Ok," I smiled "but we need to go, like, now."
"Where? Why? What? When? Who? How? Why?"
"Canterlot, letter, no idea, now, Princess Celestia, train, letter," I chirped.
"Uh, why?"
"Letter."
"What?"
"No idea."
"No idea equals no go."
"No idea equals fun."
"No idea plus Lyra equals danger."
"I'm not sure whether to be flattered or offended."
"Me neither."
"Good, so, you coming?"
She sighed "it's pointless arguing with you..."
We trotted into Octavia's room, who was wide awake, sitting on her bed, and looking very angry at us as we entered. Specifically, Vynil.
"Don't look at me, I just, woke up," she glared at me, I just smiled sheepishly.
"Octavia, I need you."
"For what?"
"Help, letter, Canterlot, princess, I'll explain when we're there."
"That doesn't sound good."
"It might not be, I'm not sure."
"No."
"No?"
"No."
"Well I can't work with no!"
"You can't work anyway."
"That was uncalled for."
"I know."
"You will- wait what?"
"I know."
"That's not what you say!"
"We're not on a script, Lyra, no pony up in the sky is writing our dialogue right now."
"How do you know?"
"Science, Lyra, logic, and science."
"I thought you were all for the big Stallion in the sky?"
"You thought wrong."
"Well, you in?"
"No!" Octavia shouted.
"Come on, aren't we friends?"
"Friends remember each other's religious views."
"To be fair, you are a Cellist."
"What's that supposed to mean!?"
"Nothing."
"And you still owe me a Cello!"
"Oh come on! You still sour about that?"
"That was two hundred bits!"
"Oh, be fun for once!"
"Lyra's fun is not my fun," she sighed, one.
"We can do your fun afterwards."
"Who else is coming?" She sighed, two.
"Everypony, Sweetie, Vinyl, me, you? it's like the four musketeers."
"There are three musketeers," she cursed under her breath, three.
"Yeah, you're Dartanian."
"He's not a musketeer," she lowered her head, four.
"See, no pony likes Dartmaneian!"
Octavia sighed, five "it's pointless arguing with you..." And she followed me out.
***
We trotted across Ponyville to the train station and waited. The schedule said that the train was delayed, but it arrived sooner than expected, and we boarded it.
It wasn't hard to find a seat, the train was mostly empty apart from a few older ponies, who all glanced tiredly at us as we trotted through the carriage to a seat.
A soon as we sat down the girls fell asleep, apart from Sweetie Drops, instead she just stared at me angrily, but, to her evident dismay, I just smiled back, "Lyra, now you can explain everything."
"Sorry Sweetie, I can't."
"Don't, use my- why not!" Bon-Bon shouted, getting answering growls from the other ponies on board.
"Get some sleep Sweetie."
"Call me Sweetie Drops, otherwise it sounds like we're-"
"Don't be embarrassed," I teased.
"I'm not, we're not. Oh I hate you."
"You know what they say?"
"No."
"Hate means love in the classroom?"
"We're not in a classroom."
"Same thing."
"How is a train the same as a classroom!?" Bon-Bon screamed.
"I think it applies to everything."
"It tells-" she paused "I will strangle you if the princesses aren't fighting off swarms of maniacal candy right now."
A pony in the seat at the other side of the carriage looked up "maniacal candy?" He chuckled, and was gone in a flash of light.
"Huh," I turned to Bon-Bon, who was lying back, and seemingly trying to sleep, she did that sometimes. I watched them sleeping a while, before drifting off myself.
Author's Note
Vynil, Vinyl or Vinil?
I hate homophones, all there pears! Alliteration is all annoying, Sibilance sucks, and Hyperbole is literally the worst thing ever.
HeeHee, see what I did there?
If you get the Twing-Twang reference, I will send you a Coca-Cola...
Also, I am pony god...
