A Lyre's Taleby oron61ChaptersSpeculatioSusitatioFluttershyHistoriisMagnum ProeliumSpeculatioLyra’s daze and disorientation were waning away; she was beginning to remember why she was there and whatever it was that she was doing. A long, pale creature strapped to the table was the last thing on her mind at the moment, though it should have been the first. A small hourglass on her desk was still falling its sand. Barely an hour had passed since she has cast the spell. She turned it over as the last grains of sand fell through. Gathering her thoughts together, she was just now understanding the lengths in which she went to do whatever it was that she had done. Three weeks ago she had been summoned by the Canterlot Orchestra to work on a few songs requiring a harp. The townspony left to the palace and even played in front of Celestia herself. Meanwhile, she had been going to the Canterlot Library and researching transdimentional interaction. Now, just an hour ago, she had just summoned a Human from another universe just for the sake of her curiosity. She didn’t tell the Princess, she didn’t even tell BonBon. Now, in 23 hours, this human creature was going to wake up. It was 4:00 in the morning. She looked around her. Lyra was in her dark, damp basement. The last light of two small candles flickered on the table upon which she piled dozens of books and scrolls. Upon yet another table: jars. At least a dozen. Some nearly full, others completely empty, along with scales, spoons, and a kitchen knife. A cauldron lay on a pile of ash, a faint, soft glow emitting from its core. Streams of mist and little sparks were still lightly flying from the cauldron to the figure lying on the table. Just as the sparks did, her thoughts flew to the human as well. She stepped over to the table and gazed upon the creature that she had just summoned from across reality. It was nothing like in the books, no prince in a castle-- no sorceror’s apprentice. This was the real thing. A pale, naked, half bald—thing just lying there. Two hours later. BonBon set off to work. The paycheck from her latest musical works would last her and BonBon a long time, but she didn’t want to lounge around. Lyra was in the garden outside the house. She was not used to cultivation. That was an Earth pony’s job. She was honest with herself, and admitted that she was terrible at it. She couldn’t grow the flowers nearly as fast and beautiful as the slowest Earth Pony around, but she was decent at harvesting. She pulled a sickle from the toolshed and began working on the flowerbed, nervously passing the morning away, picking only the ones ripe enough to stew. Lyra thought again about the creature locked up in the basement. Come to think of it, this creature must have been an earth human as well. She had no wings, nor a horn. The drawings in the books didn’t provide much detail relating to human anatomy. The human’s muzzle, or lack on one, she should say, had its mouth separated from her nostrils, and her ears were like those of a monkey. She wondered what he would be like once she awakened. ‘Will she be shy or go on a rampage? Will she be strong or weak? Would Lyra even be able to communicate with her? She was a different species after all.’ She could take care of that later, she supposed. Lyra crept down into the basement again. It was three in the afternoon. Twelve hours left. In her mind, she tried to make an excuse for going down there again. The basement was really unlike her. BonBon never went down there. She hated the place more than Lyra. Whenever the furnace needed to be heated, BonBon would rather suffer through a blizzard waiting for Lyra to come home before going down there. Lyra was the pony who knew every square inch of the storerooms: she filled them herself. She figured the only excuse for going down there was to escape the heat. She went into the kitchen and opened the basement door. The darkness and a sense of adventure beckoned her there. She stepped down cautiously, as if she didn’t want to disturb anything from its place. She walked over to the furnace in the dim light from the doorway and lit her horn. The door above closed in her aura. Her horn was the only dim light source in the room. It really was cool in the basement, and she needed it after spending half the day in the garden. She found a candle, and with her own spark, lit it. After a couple of minutes, with 5 candles lit, Lyra decided to look through her notes and books on humans. ‘Obsessive,’ she thought to herself. ‘Just what we’re looking for.’ There weren’t many, if at all, intellectual studies on them. Ponies interested in mythical beings usually only liked to hear stories about them, not studies on a creature they only half think to exist in the first place. The bookmarks in place in the fiction stories told a lot despite the lack of concrete study or organized information. There was a lot of mention of human nature made by wizard humans. In her book, the wizard called Aritsotle made interesting comments about his own species. The first was that humans are social and sexual creatures. This was no surprise. Ponies are like this too. ‘Perhaps,’ Lyra figured, ‘relating to these creatures wouldn’t be so hard after all. Let’s see,’ she thought. ‘The next point… humans are political.’ She thought about it for a second. ‘I know Mayor Mare was a type of political pony, but having another Mayor was more than this town needed. Perhaps this is all realtive.’ Lyra didn’t think ponies were really political in nature. Pinkie Pie certainly wasn’t. Neither was BonBon. ‘Or is she?’ BonBon and Lyra worked out their differences and chores by negotiation. Was this politics? Lyra continued thinking in great detail about her interpretations of the words of the pages. The hour glass turned. Searching through the books, she had gone off topic within 5 minutes. A new record. She was already looking through love stories again. She loved romance stories. Just thinking about anonymously watching a couple and relation develop from the writer’s hoof made her heart beat faster. She looked long into the day about stories of human nobles and damselles and romance… Suddenly, somewhere deep in a story, Lyra heard a door close from outside the dark, cool, damp basement. “Lyra, I’m here!” came BonBon’s voice. Lyra gasped. Already! It was five o’clock already! “I-ah- Coming!” Lyra blew out the candles and ran up the stairs. “What were you doing in there?” asked BonBon. “I- ah- nothing! Just cooling off! I- ah- was just out trimming for dinner, see?” She pointed toward the small basket with freshly trimmed flowers. “It’s nice and cool in there!” “Heheh… if you say so,” said BonBon with a cringe. Lyra pulled out a pan from under the sink. “You thinking about roses tonight?” asked Lyra, as her aura sifted through the flower trimmings. “Am I? It’s my favorite!” They both giggled and set to work. After dinner, Lyra and BonBon usally lounged around in their living room or visited across town, whatever they fancied. Lyra was in the mood to head off to the Library. After sneaking in and out of the basement, bringing out a small stack of several books in her saddlebag, she started out the door. “Hey, Lyra?” She froze. Did BonBon suspect anything? Was her cover blown? Did she find anything about a human in their basement? “Y-yes?” “You find me a book I haven’t read yet? I just finished the fourth in the Daring Do series. See if you can find the fifth while you’re there?” What a relief. She suspected nothing. ‘I’m panicking too much!’ she thought. “Yeah, sure!” She galloped off into the setting sun. The library was nearby, on the outskirts of town. SusitatioLyra walked down once again into the basement after giving the book to BonBon, who promptly went to bed. Early to bed, early to rise, as she always would say. Lyra was amazed that BonBon hadn’t noticed anything strange going on at all. Whenever she spoke to anyone anymore, she could always feel herself break into sweat and start quivering. Lyra had 7 hours left until the human was to awaken. The Cauldron still emitted a glow from its core. What was there to do for the next hour? She set her saddlebag down and mouthed out the books she had just borrowed. This time around it was a piece of historical fiction, based in a time of these human devices called cannons and rifles. It appeared that they were at what they called war, and it seemed a lot more dangerous then combat on the western planes. Looking further, it seemed as if they were actually leaned to kill each other. Lyra shivvered. She didn’t like that idea at all. Yet, despite the incredible violence shown in the book, there were also mentions of great feats of charity and fraternety, even across the battlefield. Lyra read the last line of the book mentioning the larger scheme of things: “The events leading up placed brother against brother in a prolonged, bloody conflict which, though a great tragedy in their history, was unavoidable.” ‘Unavoidable?’ It seemed to be the most violent word in the entire book. Were humans warlike? Were they really as awful as she thought that they were? But that was impossible. They still had good in them, even sometimes showing love to the people they were commanded to kill. There must have been a reason. Suddenly, it came to her. The reason that the humans were provoked into war is because they don’t have a mediator who is both just, supreme, and tangible, like the princess. If only… Lyra spent the next untracked amout of time drifting in her thoughts at random. Nothing stayed with her for a long period of time. After a while, they landed back on the human on the table. She looked at it as if it were the first time she examined it. This time, her search wasn’t anatomical: she didn’t examine the human’s toes or hands or bone structure. She looked right at her face. She (if it was a she)* had, from what Lyra could discern, a calm, serene expression on her face. Lyra smiled. Then she frowned. Her thoughts were now on topic as to what was really going on. In just hours, a human was going to wake up in this room and it was hers. Or so she saw it. She had brought the human into the world, she was to show her through the world, she was responsible for her, and for her actions. After a while, Lyra almost thought of this human as her own, like her own daughter. Looking at this from the third person, this notion sounded silly, even ridiculous, but in Lyra’s bright eyes, this felt like the moment her whole life had been waiting for. She had already seemed to establish a connection with this human just by looking into her face. She finally admitted to herself: she loved the creature from the moment she first laid eyes on it. These thoughts cycled through her mind for what felt like hours for her. After snapping to, her eyes drooped. It was probably somewhere in the middle of the night. She shivvered violently. Where was she to sleep in this hard room with stone floor? It was getting very cold. She would need fuel to light the furnace, but there was none to be found. She certainly wasn’t going upstairs. She wanted to see the human awaken with her own eyes. She needed something warm to be with, and fast. She looked, and there she was, almost waiting for her. Lyra did the craziest thing that she had ever done in her life. She crawled up on top of the table, found a place to sleep, circled once, and lay down almost right on top of the human on the table in the basement. As her thoughts slowed and a dream fell in, Lyra could have sworn that she felt something wrap around her torso- something warm and welcoming… Lyra awoke to a moaning. Her eyes opened and she gasped. Falling off the table, she scrambled to see what was going on, listening carefully. Silence. But wait. There was a noise. A soft breathing sound, almost like a snore. The Candles had burnt out. It was probably well past 2:00 in the morning. Before lighting her horn, she saw that the cauldron had gone out; no glow within. It seemed so very dead. It reminded her of an imcomplete memory. She closed her eyes, remembering the spell. The gold aura of her horn was cast in a whirl surrounding her, the table, and the cauldron itself. She took the last ingredient: Heart’s Desire, and dropped it into the mix. Suddenly, the snore-breathing stopped. A long yawn came out from behind her. She froze. Turning around, she looked carefully. As if on cue, when she was ready to see, the human’s eyes opened. Green. FluttershyLyra gazed into the creature awakening before her. Her green eyes pierced the darkness. She blinked and looked up. Lyra glanced at the ceiling. The human’s head tilted foreward, leaning off the table, and looking down her long, slender body. She -again if it was a she- struggled against the ropes holding her down. After a few seconds, realizing that she was trapped, threw her head back onto the table like it was before. Lyra, standing on the human’s left, saw her throw her face towards her. Then away. ‘What happened?’ Lyra thought. ‘Can she see me? Was she paying attention? Could she be able to see ponies at all? Was she blind?’ The human threw her face thwards her again. Their eyes met. It felt like an eternity. Lyra and the human memorized each others’ souls. Nopony spoke. An odd, steady voice emmitted from before her after what felt like a long, long time. Compared to most ponies’ voices, it was smooth, almost seductive, but full of emotion. “Lyra?” She gasped and fell back. Her head pounded into a jar and a table fell over behind her. There was a clanking of glass. She knew her name! How could it be? The human then said something that she didn’t understand. The same steady voice made a smooth poem of grunts and articulations and sometimes moans. Lyra panicked. She ran up the stairs. Lyra burst out of the basement. ‘How is this possible?’ her mind screamed within her head. ‘I can’t understand her? What am I going to do? If I can’t talk to this creature, who could? Nopony could understand that strange babbling!’ she paused, her panicked breath suddenly very calm. “Or could they?” she said under her breath. Lyra grabbed a pen off the counter and a bit of paper, and began to scribble. BonBon: I’ve gotten up early to take care of some unfinished business. ~Lyra BonBon wouldn’t question it, Lyra reasoned, nor remember to ask about that evening. If there was one pony who could talk to this creature, it was Fluttershy. Lyra knocked on the small wooden door. “Um-- Ms. Fluttershy? Are you there?” Silence. “Fluttershy? Are you there? Please answer, I need your help.” A cliddly-op cliddly-op of her hoofsteps grew louder as Fluttershy rushed over to the door. “Oh- I- am sorry to keep you waiting,” came the soft, airy voice as the door opened. She averted her eyes in an embarrased manner. She had obviously been hoping that whoever was at the door would assume that she wasn’t home and would give up. Lyra didn’t care. “Fluttershy, there’s something important I have to show you-- you- you can’t tell anypony!” “Huh?” “Shh! I can’t explain now that we’re outside,” said Lyra, suddenly looking around. “Just follow me, and promise—no. Pinkie Promise that you will not tell anypony.” Once the coast was clear, Lyra and the confused Fluttershy went into the house. Though at first terrified of the dark, damp basement, Fluttershy, hearing about an exotic creature that Lyra had discovered, trotted right in. Lyra shut the door behind herself with a large, echoey clang. “Where is this li’l guy you’re talking about?” she asked, preparing to see an adorable little rodent skittering across the floor. Lyra struck a match. She saw. She gasped. She stopped in her tracks. Lyra began to panic again. “Look. I know what you’re thinking, but I really did. You probably thought that it was just a foal’s tale, but I did it, yes. I managed to summon—“ “Ropes!”, she wailed through tears. She immediately ran to the table and began gnawing and ripping ferociously at the coils that bound the confused human to the table, who was now turning her head, straining to see what was happening. Within seconds, Fluttershy’s teary, outraged voice began. “How dare you? How dare you tie this poor, innocent creature in ropes like some prisoner! How dare you! How dare you!!” Tears fell from the yellow coated mare’s eyes as fast as the perspiration from her brow for tearing at the ropes, which lay in tatters on the ground. Suddenly, from behing her, the human’s faint, dazed voice spoke again. “Fluttershy?” Fluttershy screamed. The sound resounded through the stone walled basement, making a half-second yipe draw out into two seconds. The scream was one of pure surprise and terror, and with all the throat and neigh fluttershy had ever produced in her life. The human stared, her frightened green eyes seemed to retreat back into their sockets as she rolled onto her belly; they said, ‘What have I done?’ Lyra stared as the human’s long, slender body repositioned itself, to her what seemed almost like some huge spider. The human sat onto the table and and turned her elegant head towards Lyra. “Fluttershy,” the smooth voice said again, which said other inaudible things in its beautiful speech. Fluttershy’s ears perked up. She ran over to the human and “Aww- this poor little guy. He must be so confused!” “He?” blurted Lyra. “Of course it’s a he!” said Fluttershy with her last edge of patience. After a few seconds of Fluttershy talking to the human, Fluttershy in common speech and the human in her- his smoothened language, Fluttershy stepped back, wrapped in her thoughts. “A Human? You summoned a human? Ohh, he must be so far away from home!” She paused. “He seems to know a lot about us,” she said to Lyra, who was behind her. Lyra suddenly noticed, since she was distracted by Fluttershy’s outrage and frustration, as well as her ease in talking with this creature, that the human was now standing at his full height. The little pony’s withers reached to his waist. Fluttershy walked upside the human, tilting her head affectionately in his direction. “I don’t think he’s fully grown. Not an adult, but not a foal, or in this case—“ After thinking about it, Lyra said, “I think a human foal is called a child. They call this age group the Teenagers because they are in their late teens.” Fluttershy was barely listening. All anger vanished like smoke, she gazed into his green eyes; she almost looked entranced. She fell under a spell and began nuzzling him affectionately. This happened so fast, Lyra didn’t know what to think. She stroked the side of her face into the human’s waist and around his arms inside and out. The human was just as surprised as Lyra was, but after a few seconds, he put his arms areound her neck, knelt down, and hugged her. Lyra grew jealous. She didn’t know why. Perhaps it was the human’s spell. She, not Fluttershy after all, had brought him into this world. She had stared into his eyes the first, and he said her name first. And now, right in front of her, he was hugging and cuddling with Fluttershy, and not her. She grew irritated, but didn’t want to come off as such. She inwardly schemed that if she kept her cool, she would look better than Fluttershy, since it was she who screamed at her in the first place about the ropes. She wanted to see the human reject Fluttershy and begin cuddling her instead. She caught herself. Why was she being so petty? She hadn’t thought up anything so foalish before. She seemed to want him so much that she was getting worked up. She figured that either way, she had to say something. “Ms. Fluttershy,” she said timidly, “Can you help me?” “Mmm?” Fluttershy’s attention only went half way to her. This irritated her even more. “How-“ she swallowed her pride. “How can I speak with him?” she said as clearly as possible. Fluttershy stopped and stood erect. “I guess—the same way I do it,” she said slowly and unsurely. Lyra gave Fluttershy a critical look that said, ‘And that is?’ Fluttershy was lost for words. Before she could gather her thoughts together, they were interrupted. “You,” said Lyra so quickly as to make her gasp, “have been able to speak to animals—for years now—and you don’t know how you do it?” Fluttershy, with a teary strained expression on her face, sprang to attention with an enlightened look on her face. “Understanding!” “What?” “You have to understand what the creature is feeling and why,” She said, her mood working with Lyra instead of against her. Lyra considered the idea, and made an unspoken agreement with Fluttershy not to be at odds with one another anymore. “Can you show me?” “For this human?” “I guess,” she said, “I doubt I’d need it for anypony else. “Of course,” said Fluttershy, with her joyful, shy demenor returning. “To start with,”she began, “I do believe he’s rather confused. He’s in a place he says he’s seen before but has never been to before, I think. You ought to explain to him how he got here: you owe him that in the least.” She looked over towards the spellbooks and jars, and walked over to them, deciding to make her exit as Lyra was presumedly trying to buff up her courage. Fluttershy knew she could do it. Lyra had a strong will even if she was obsessive and panicky. She stepped towards the human, eyes downcast. The human collapsed on the floor before anything could happen. HistoriisThe human was finally awake. He felt himself wrapped in blankets lying on something soft. Fluttershy and Lyra stood over him. When he opened his eyes, he glanced to see he was wrapped up on a couch. It wasn’t quite so cruelly cold as it was shivering naked in that dark room. He quickly closed them again. He didn’t want to distract Fluttershy and Lyra from whatever they were talking about. He wanted to hear everything and pretend to wake up at just the right moment. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy- it must have been the cold that made him pass out.” “Here- you go make some tea for him- if you don’t mind- while I light the fire. He let his eyes open. The room was dim. The shutters were probably closed. He heard the sound of Fluttershy’s shoe striking at a piece of flint. He saw nothing but the ceiling and part of the couch. He tried to move, but he couldn’t. The attempted movement got his blood flowing a little bit faster. The cold struck again. This time, the blankets didn’t help. Suddenly his senses were dimmed. His vision darkened and hearing went half way. He felt a strangled moan fall out of his throat. He struggled against it with his will, but everything went dark. He awoke in the same place. There was no more light leaking from where there would be windows. The only lights there were flickering. His hearing came back to him and he could make out a voice. “He doesn’t look good.” “What are we going to do?” “We can’t take him to the hospital or the vet. I think we’ll have to take him to Twilight if he’s going to live.” “But- I-“ “Listen, Lyra! I want to see him live as much as you do- and if there is only one way to help him and keep our little secret, it’s Twilight.” He heard Fluttershy’s voice turn teary. “We have to do this.” The human didn’t understand why Fluttershy would even be this severe with anypony. It was as if something was different about her. He slipped again. He woke up to a familiar looking wooden library. It was just like the cartoon, but it, and everything for that matter, was much more detailed. Suddenly in his vision, he saw a small, big eyed, scaly, purple face peek over his own. The baby dragon’s claw rested over his forehead as the little creature sniffed him. “I haven’t seen or smelt something like this, before, Lyra; where did you find him?” “You promised never to tell anypony, so I’ll tell you. I looked up a transdimentional summoning spell and summoned a human from his native world- and- I-“ Lyra burst into tears. The human didn’t at the moment understand Lyra’s emotional outburst, nor did anypony at the time. Unbeknownst to anypony, a human’s presence in the pony world is akin to a pony’s presence in the human, and, just like the humans fall in love with the ponies in the stories that they read and watch, the ponies fall in love with the humans that they read about. “A human?” said Spike. “Like one of the humans in the ‘Mankind’ short stories and the little colts’ comic books that-- grown-- mares like to read? Those kinds of humans?” There was a long silence. Everyone looked at Lyra, who blushed. “Okay, I confess: I am a fan of the Schoolboy series. Don’t judge me-“ she sniffed. Everypony was now blushing- except Spike, who rolled his eyes. There was another long silence, which was broken by a knock on the door. Everyone got to their hooves. Fluttershy and Lyra pulled the human up the stairs while Spike looked out the window. “It’s Derpy with a package!” He opened the door. “I have sumthing for th’ library,” said the cute, wall-eyed pony. “She’s out to Canterlot for the week. Can I help you?” “I was given this package and told to come here,” she said bluntly. She backed from in front of a large wooden crate that was bigger than she was. It looked over 18 hooves tall.* “And,” she said with her speech slightly more slurred than usual, “It was really heavy~” After dragging in the box and tipping Derpy (almost 25 bits for that kind of work), Spike gave an all clear and scurried up the stairs. The human, he saw, was breathing heavily, his eyes rolled back and his face pale and sweaty. He passed out again. “Prop his back legs up,” said Spike. They did, and the human came back to life. They slowly moved him up onto Twilight’s bed and gave him some water. “He doesn’t look good,”came Fluttershy’s voice. Tears where in the two ponies’ eyes. Spike turned downcast. He didn’t want to see two grown mares cry. He went down stairs and spat sparks at the joints of the crate until he was able to pry them open. There were two other crates inside the large one. He opened the first. “Medical tools?” The second. “A Chemistry set? Twilight must have sent them here after going shopping or something. I’d better catalogue and store them in the basement.” Spike, having forgotten the human entirely for the moment, was busily cataloging racks of test tubes, flasks, and beakers when Lyra showed up. “Spike? Do you have any Mirrorpool Lotus around here?” “There’s a small box with some in it in the upper left-claw shelf above spine grass. Just look into the spice sections of the stores down here.” Several moments passed. Spike ignored the continuous whispering and mumbling between Fluttershy and Lyra. “Um- Spike- if you don’t mind, can you tell me where the Cockatrice scales are?” “Right under the Baby Dragon Scales,” said Spike, painfully showing her the empty patches on his chest. “I don’t know why Twilight is getting into alchemy right now. She’s been buying medical and Alchemical books for the past three weeks now.” “So we’ve noticed,” said Lyra, her aura holding up a freshly printed vetrinary volume. The human slipped in and out of consciousness for the rest of the week until Twilight returned. Lyra, Fluttershy, and Spike confided in her the secret of the human lying sick in Twilight’s bedroom. Twilight healed him for the next day and a half until he was able to walk again. By lunchtime, Twilight trotted over to the sugarcube corner, where Fluttershy and Lyra were talking casually (Lyra doing most of the talking of course); there seemed to be significantly less enmity between the two of them since last time she saw them. Twilight walked in and sat down. “He’s able to walk now.” They both gasped in excitement. “Can we go see him?” “Yes, and we’d better hurry while he’s still awake.” Twilight, Lyra, and Fluttershy galloped to the library, where inside, the human was sitting in a rocking chair by the fire. His green eyes met theirs. They were spell bound for a half of a second before they walked over to him. “How are you feeling, Amotus?” “Amotus? That’s his name?” asked Lyra. “Lyra” came the weak, but still smooth and lyrical voice. He looked longingly and lovingly at the three ponies, then looked downcast. It seemed he was sad that this wouldn’t last, or as if this dream was going to end soon. “What’s the matter?” asked Twilight with an encouraging smile. “You’re here and safe with us” The human smiled weakly, like Darth Vader after having his mask taken off for the very last time. With his head leaned back into the rocking chair, his eyes crawled out the window into the fresh blue sky. “But why were you all so easily corrupted?” “There are now only two things that nautrally drive a human’s heart—those are fear, and greed. I’m sure that you all are familiar with those. We were consumed by them and live in disharmony to this day. “ “Wait—I don’t understand. You seem normal and nautral, and you also seem to be a good person by nature—and now you are telling me that goodness is unnautral in humans? That doesn’t make any sense.” “That’s because I am alone,” said Amotus. “I’m not surrounded by pliable crowds. I’m surrounded by colorful magical ponies.” “This is all too complicated for me to understand,” said Lyra. The window outside was now dark, the only lights were the candle and the moon. They had been talking for nearly nine hours. Fluttershy had already left for the evening feeding. Lyra looked and saw what the human was using to hold the book, which she hadn’t noticed since he was in the basement tied to the table. He yawned. Lyra, Twilight, and Amotus had practically shared their worlds and histories with each other, and had already gotten comfortable with each other’s calmness and openness. Amotus felt much more open to talk about himself after talking about his people, but he yawned again. There was a minute’s silence while the human leaned back in the chair with his eyes closed. Lyra eyed the seeming majestic creature. Spike came up. “Well,” Spike said, “Today’s work is finished, and the distillery is done.” “Thanks, spike,”said Twilight, who walked over and nuzzled the dragon’s scaly face. “Lyra? Twilight?” “Yes?” they both responded serenely, probably as tired as Amotus was. “I just realized. I’m tired and hungry” “Good,” said Spike, “Dinner is still warm over the fire and I brought in an old matress from outside a mover’s warehouse for you. I’ll bring it in, and a pillow with the dinner. They ate in silence. Lyra eyed the human’s hands. He collapsed on the mattress and fell asleep almost before Spike could put the pillow under his head. Twilight nuzzled Spike again, and they both went to bed. The human’s bed was right under and next to Twilight’s. Every once in a while, Twilight tosses and turns in her sleep, sometimes falling out. This night she did just that, and fell right on top of Amotus. He didn’t wake up, but she did. The next thing that she knew, was that the human had wrapped his arms affectionately around the pony’s neck. She serenely and sedatedly made herself comfortable, leaned back into the human’s chest, and went back to sleep. She didn’t even know why. Magnum ProeliumTwilight woke to a start. Spike had slammed open the door. Spike ran in carrying a scroll in his claw. “It’s urgent!” Dear Twilight= Equestria is in desperate need of you and your friends’ help. Here is the background on the current situation from the Royal Archives as of yesterday: 08:00- Notice given from QUEEN CHRYSALIS OF THE CHANGELING SWARM- Declared soverignty over DODGE CITY 08:05- Ultimatum rejected my HER MAJESTY PRINCESS LUNA 09:00- Day Court established 10:23- Multiple contacts report of changeling presence occupation over DODGE CITY. 10:23- HER MAJESTY PRINCESS CELESTIA orders military operation DDC 011 10:24- Security threat adjusted: level 5 11:00- DODGE CITY declared secure by intrakindgom branch of the Royal Guard 11:01- Security threat adjusted: level 4 15:00- HER MAJESTY PRINCESSS CELESTIA orders military operation DDC 012, DDC 013A, DDC 013B. 21:00- Night Court established 03:47- Contact Reported: Changeling presence in APPLELOOSA 03:50- EMERGENCY DUAL COURT ESTABLISHED. NIGHT COURT DISMISSED. 03:57- Contact Confirmed: Changeling presence in APPLELOOSA 03:59- Contact Reported: Changeling presence in DODGE CITY 04:00- Secutiry threat level: X- Barricade construction initiated in CANTERLOT- Intrakindgom branch redeployed Our militia is currently being pushed back. What I need for you to do at the moment is to give this letter to Mayor Mare and tell her to once again lead the Ponyville Militia across the Everfree. She knows what she’ll need to do from there. After that, I need you to bring your friends and yourself into Canterlot as fast as you possibly can with your magic. Remember the Dragon Scale trick I taught you. I’ll see you in a few minutes. “Here- you take this to Mayor Mare- and hurry!” “Yes Ma’am!” “And I need six of your scales” “What? But we already-“ “There’s no time! Princess Celestia is depending on us!” Spike cringed as Twilight ripped six more scales from Spike’s already patchy chest. She then suddenly ripped another as Spike ran out the door. “Ahh-hoo-hoo!” Spike wept in shame, still running as fast as his short little legs could carry him. Amotus heard the town alarm bell ringing as Twilight was doing something on the ground. “And this one’s for Pinkie Pie,” Poof! Amotus saw the scale burn up on the ground. “and here’s one for Lyra” another one went into smoke “ and here’s for you-“ Amotus suddenly felt as if he were flung across the world. As soon as his eyes were open, there were seven other ponies looking around just as confused as he was. The other ponies didn’t seem to be surprised by his presence, but only at their own sudden circumstances. Twilight must have shared the secret with her friends- and he suddenly realized that the pajamas that he was wearing weren’t his own, but a work of Rarity herself. This awkward moment didn’t last long, though, as Twilight suddenly spoke “Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, come with me- Canterlot is being attacked by the Changelings again!” Though not sure of where they were, dazed and confused, they all stumbled out the door. “Lyra, you take care of him and keep him hidden. I don’t want anypony to know about his presence here. Keep him in this Tower, and nopony should come in.” The door shut. “Uhh- ahh- w- where are we?” “I remember this-- this is the Canterlot Library—this is where I researched for-“ “What’s going on?” “I don’t know, but we’d better stay here.” “Princess! We’re here!” Rarity gasped at Celestia, outfitted tale-to-neck in shining golden armor; her aura held the helmet. “Good- put these on,” said Celestia, opening the armory room as she stopped her run down the vast halls of the castle. She spoke as they fitted themselves in Lunar Equestrian Armor for the first time. “Twilight, Rarity, I’m going to need you both to put up a long-term aerial supression field and maintain it until another group of unicorns is available. You’ll need to climb up the observation tower. No one stays off the ground within a mile of the city.” They both ran off, Twilight, knowing the castle like the back of her hoof, leading the way. “You four will need to help put up the rest of the barricade. Our scouts report that the Changelings are circumventing the everfree forest and moving straight in toward Canterlot. There isn’t much time to lose. You four get outside and help where you can.” “What do you see?” “I’m not sure,” said Amotus, looking through the Library telescope that pointed into the main highway tunnel that leaded into the city. “It looks like the city has set up a large stone wall blocking the highway, and everyo- everypony is wearing armor. All the unicorns have short lances over their horns on their helmets, and the pegasai have blades over their wings.” “There must be something terrible going on,” said Lyra, who stumbled over a book. It lay opened to an article- ‘Legend of Nightmare Moon’. “Everypony looks so worried. There are Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all helping to build this big wall. And Twilight and Rarity just joined them. Wow, they look so pretty in that armor. Oh, and there’s Princess Luna, and Shining Armor, Twilight’s brother. “Even I didn’t know that. How do you know so much about us?” “I guess it’s time that I explained the show.” “Show?” There was an hour’s wait before the marching of a thousand hooves rumbled through the mountain. Tromp-tromp-tromp-tromp-tromp-tromp-tromp! “With the supression field, I guess we can’t get topside and clear out that stormcloud that’s coming in from the west,” said Rainbow Dash, speaking to herself as if she were trying to convince somepony to take it down. “Rainbow, you know that with that field up, this is the only way in. The changelings intend to take us down on our own turf, and they aren’t stopping at anything. If there’s one chance to defend the Kingdom, this is it.” A long roll of thunder growled through the sky- strong enough to put chills up everypony’s spines. “Come to think of it, that storm might help us. The Changelings don’t wear shoes, like we- at lease most of our shoes have good grip, and the flashes of lightning can ruin their night-vision,” said Twilight to Princess Luna. “You’re right, my dear”, said Luna, “We just hope that it doesn’t come too soon, or it might not last long enough to fend them off. We can’t count on this helping, so let’s put every effort into getting ready. Force always beats luck.” “Come to thing of it, that storm coming in might help us,” said Lyra “Changelings don’t wear shoes with grip like we do, and the lightning might ruin their night vision. They should realize that and use magic to take control of the cloud that we might use it at the right time.” “Well, if they won’t do it,” said Amotus, “Perhaps you can.” “I’m not so sure about that,” said Lyra “That kind of magic could require a great amount of concentrations based on years of prac-“ She was suddenly met with strong sting across the side of her face. “Lyra! Your entire country is depending on you to help do something! You might be the only one who knows of the advantages of this storm! You have to at least try!” “I- ah- alright.” Twilight looked through the binoculars mounted on the wall. “Rainbow Dash, you have good eyes. Take a look at this.” Rainbow Dash looked through the scopes. “Is that what I thought I saw?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. That was all that Twilight needed to see. “They’re comiiiiing!!” The alarm sounded. Every stallion and mare resting against the side of the battlement lept to his hooves and put on his helmet. Every guard in sight leaped onto the wall. “Amotus looked through the Library telescope again. “Oh, my God,” “What?” “The fighting must have started. Everypony is running around and picking up their lances! Hurry it up! There is no time!” “I.. almost... got the- storm cloud.. in position…” “Strike team 1, over the wall! Hold them off until reinforcements arrive!” Two minutes passed “They’re everywhere!” “They’re trying to breach!” “Pony down! Pony down! Bring him to the back!” “It’s Strapping Do!” “Big Brother!” “Ditzy.” “There’s a Pony down on the field! They’re trying to breach the wall- Lyra! Do you have the cloud ready yet?” “… YES! Letting ‘er rip!” CRA-BOOM The great thundering cloud, finally permitted to let its hell loose, opened its gates and poured rain upon the city. Within a matter of moments, the storm covered the whole kingdom. Lamps were drowned. The constant flashing of the lightning and the distant glow of the castle was all that was left to light up the street. Meanwhile, in a tent marked by a red cross, Strapping Do lay dying under the lamplit shadow of his younger sister, Ditzy Do. A gaping hole lay opened in his chest. Not even all the magic in the Kingdom could save this stallion’s life. All they could do was keep him alive long enough for his last words. “Big—Brother!” “It’s over, Ditzy.” “What?” “Li-“ He coughed a soup of blood- some of it spattering into the mare’s short yellow mane. “Big Brother-“ “Listen, Ditzy- I need you to tell the Princess- One life is not worth exhausting…” “Strapping!” “exhausting the elemen… we need… to learn… we can’t.. lean on that crutch for…” “What crutch? You’re not wearing any crutches!” “If we… Ditzy… rely on the elements… we’ll become…”He coughed again. More blood. Strapping began to sink into the ground as the mud gave way to his weight. “I’m sorry, Ditzy. I’m sorry. I will have to leave you now.” “What? Why? Where are you going? You’re too badly hurt to leave.” “Tell the Princcesss… We can’t forever rely on the elemen…” “Brother? Big Brother? Strapping! Wake up! Wake up, Big Brother! Wake up!” Luna peeked in just in time to feel his heart stop, his eyes already closed and Ditzy leaning over his body and crying. A tear peeked into her eye as well. Her armor clanked slightly as she stepped into the blood-stained mud. Ditzy whirled around. Luna closed her eyes in shame and faced the other way. “This—this was the first. In over 400 years.” Ditzy said nothing. She now understood. The shouting and clashing continued outside despite her absence. Luna left without a word. Ditzy turned around again. She took the last look at her brother before they placed a sheet over him and carried him out. Ditzy just stood there. A blank, straight eyed stare across her face. Ditzy Do’s eyes had never been straight except when terrified or grief-stricken. At this time, she was both. She felt more lonely than she had ever been in her life. There was nothing in that tent with her but the light, and a crimson stain in the mud. She thought about what he had said. She shifted it over and over again in her head, trying to make sense out of it. It’s the last few moments that usually end up counting for the most of a person’s life. This was no exception. The wind picked up. “They’re dragging somepony out of a medical tent- and- there’s a blanket wrapped over him.” “What? Let me see,” said Lyra. She grabbed the telescope in her frog from Amotus’s hand and pointed it toward the camp. “Intolerable! We have to do something! Come on, Amotus!” “Amotus?” “Pull back! Get back over the wall! Defend right here!” “Twilight. I’m afraid it’s time again,” said Princess Celestia. “You will have to go through the-” The wall gate cracked. Changeling hooves and horns were visible, prying and picking at the gate with all their might. “Hold them off! Defend here! Don’t let them-” ATTACK! Suddenly from out of nowhere, A mysterious figure in ill-fitted armor vaulted over the wall edge with somepony’s lance. He landed with his hind legs on top of two changelings’ heads, pinning them to the ground. The swarm changed shape to a circle around him- they were surprised as the ponies were. He dropped the lance and pulled out a shorter Gryphon Sword with his hand. Lyra lay with her head down underneath the telescope in the Library. ‘What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do? He’s out there. He’s out there in danger. And I’m sitting here. I’m sitting here in safety. I’m so selfish. I’m a horrible person. Why did I let him go? What is he doing?’ She looked through the telescope. One changeling advanced to his front. He sank the blade tip deep into his mouth, and ripped it out, bright green blood falling out in drips. The frowns on the changelings’ faces turned from frightened to furious. They all advanced on him. In the pouring rain and thundering fog gathering over the mountain, Amotus slayed two more changelings before they were on top of him. He held the sword up high, blade pointed down as another charged from his right. He swung the blade wide, hitting the creature on the leg. More blood. The second swipe almost missed, but hit the broad side of the sword glancing off the top of her head. The changeling crumbled. The other came from the left. It hopped on top of him and bit his ear as he whacked the first. He took the pommel, and barely missing his own skull, smacked the changeling in the temple with a sickening crunch. The next thing that he knew, his adrenaline rush was telling him to run. Never having been so courageous before in his life, he rejected the offer, and ended up tackled by a dozen changelings in the next three seconds. As he lay there smothered by a score of changelings, he realized that he never would have been brave enough to do such a thing in his own world. He didn’t have time enough to think about that however, as he felt the pile-up shift above him. “Who by Celestia was that?” said Rainbow Dash. “Ah don’ know, but she sure is on our side- c’mown, lets go help ‘er!” They both jumped down to help the human and pony pile-up. As if snapped out of a daze, the rest of the ponies and changelings stopped looking at the bloody tostle on the ground below and resumed, but this time, the tables were turned. The changelings’ morale was crushed. A wall of ponies pushed foreward and plowed through the pileup. Amotus’s limp body fell through between everypony’s hooves. He opened his eyes to Princess Celestia’s sopping wet face. “There you are, Princess.” “Ah, Twilight. This is the human you wrote to me about.” “Yes, Princess. I wanted to keep him safe in case the Changelings invaded Ponyville next.” “Well, lucky for you, that precaution won’t be needed for a while. I was just told that the Changelings have been scattered. We’re going to take care of him here for now. Besides- we owe him one.” “That’s another thing I’m wondering,” said Twilight, thinking back to the times when she was still in Canterlot as Celestia’s personal student. Whenever there was the atmosphere for questioning, Twilight could get all of the information that she could possibly get out of her mentor. “Why was he the one able to save us? How did Lyra manage to find this human at the right moment before the attack? And how?” The Princess thought for a moment. She was pulling some bit of information out of her eons’ worth of memories. She spoke again, her voice much shallower and lighter- almost parenthetically: “Come to think about it, that’s how they always were..” “Wait- You mean…” “Yes, you didn’t take much interest in history and magical creatures, and it wasn’t my intention to test you on them, so I might as well tell you about them now before you get too confused. We have plenty of time now.” They both sat down in the castle clinic after the long trip following the dolly with the unconscious human on it. Everypony else wasn’t paying attention to them. They were only concerned with stabilizing Amotus, who had left a trail of blood in wake of the dolly. None of them knew what the human was exactly, so they learned his anatomy while operating on him. The Princess cleared her throat and began. “I believe the Humans were here before we were, but I’m not certain about that. When our kingdom was first established, the humans lived in the woods. When I first met them, they were friendly, simple people. They are (in this world at least) very pliable with their beliefs- not stubborn at all. It seemed very easy to get them on your side- or anypony’s side. They weren’t very decisive. Whatever cause they chose, they would stick for it- fight for it- aggressively if they needed to. They tended to stick together when in danger, though they were not very social creatures- they tended to keep to themselves. They had high opinions of everypony, treating the smallest mouse like they would treat each other, though they didn’t have very high opinions of themselves: they would blame themselves for anything that went wrong. Because of all this, they were also easily made into slaves.” “After meeting them, I, having just recently learned of the Magic of Friendship, taight it to them as well. They were good allies of the Ponies, fending us off from danger, sacrificing themselves for our sake without a second thought. That was- until Sombra came.” Twilight winced. “That’s strange. Amotus here said that humans were almost the exact opposite on his world- they they were stubborn with their beliefs instead of pliable; social; wavering instead of stubborn with loyalty; selfish instead of selfless; that they were driven purely by fear and greed- caring only of themselves.” “I think we’ll both understand why in a moment. You see, Sombra, seeing this race so easily changed with belief, came down upon them and corrupted them. He then had his armies march them to the Frozen North into the newly attained Crystal Empire, and had them do his bidding. When Sombra was sealed away, his armies vanished, and the Empire disappeared; they were left in the cold, so they travelled back south to Canterlot, and resumed their lives in the woods, but this time they were different. They had—changed completely. They were more fearful and paranoid. They lived closer to one another and always had their eyes suspiciously looking outside—and at each other.” “When I spoke to them about it, they told me that Sombra would easily fly into a rage, slaughtering hundreds of humans at a time if they fail his orders. “ “Shortly after that, Nightmare Moon manifested, and before I was forced to banish my sister, they vanished completely.” “So the reason that they might be like Amotus says in their other world,” said Twilight, “Is because of the tortures and terror afflicted upon them by Sombra! “That’s what it seems, if it is how he says. I suppose they were afraid that nightmare Moon might have gotten what she wanted.” “I need to go now. I just heard that there’s a new report on what’s going on. You take care of him, Twilight.” The human stirred as the staff were bandaging his ear. “Maamaa. Mama.. I’mn so cold… Mama. Why are these ponies so mean to us?” “He’s having a nightmare,” said Twilight, mainly to herself, although the nurses heard. “Mama- Whan are we going to get something to…” Twilight, remembering what Celestia said, suddenly started listening intently. “Why is the King doing this? Why are they dead? All of them~” “Little brother- can you reach through the bars and grab that piece of scrap? I’m starving…” “I told you, lil’ bro. No one’s gonna stick up for us. We’re lost and the only people we have are each other. I know we’re not supposed to do this, but- can we join up in this escape plan? We might have a better chance.” “Why should we care about the scraps left for the guards’ dog? We either take from them, or die a sad, pitiful, painful death.” Twilight realized that Amotus was having nightmares about the humans’ plight through their enslavement by Sombra. She also noted the changes in tone and attitude throughout. “I told you, Juxtus, either he dies, or we die. Is this flogging monster worth dying for? Think, for once in your life! He promised that he’ll kill us both tomorrow, and you’re the only one who can fit through and get to him! I made this knife for you to use- use it! We all let ourselves get pushed around for centuries- and I’m going to change that system. We’re going to break outta here, Juxtus. We’re gonna do it tonight. Do it for us- do it for yourself!” “Look- there’s someone out the window. It’s.. so… shiny and—and bright… who are those people? There’s a white horse with wings and red hair—and a horn!” “He’s awake! He’s gonna- no! NO! Get away! Get--” Amotus snapped up. Twilight understood. Humans had to be selfish. They would only be a sad memory if they didn’t become that way. The only positive feeling in her head was how much better she felt about what happened in the C.E. defeating Sombra. How much worse things would be if he existed one second longer! Amotus, back straight up, took one glance at Twilight. His face then relaxed quickly. It told her that he felt safe. He fell down again. Out. Twilight moved from the foot of the bed to the side. She felt a sudden and very strong urge. She wanted to be close to him. Remembering last night, she looked around. Nopony in the room. She rested her head on his chest.
SpeculatioLyra’s daze and disorientation were waning away; she was beginning to remember why she was there and whatever it was that she was doing. A long, pale creature strapped to the table was the last thing on her mind at the moment, though it should have been the first. A small hourglass on her desk was still falling its sand. Barely an hour had passed since she has cast the spell. She turned it over as the last grains of sand fell through. Gathering her thoughts together, she was just now understanding the lengths in which she went to do whatever it was that she had done. Three weeks ago she had been summoned by the Canterlot Orchestra to work on a few songs requiring a harp. The townspony left to the palace and even played in front of Celestia herself. Meanwhile, she had been going to the Canterlot Library and researching transdimentional interaction. Now, just an hour ago, she had just summoned a Human from another universe just for the sake of her curiosity. She didn’t tell the Princess, she didn’t even tell BonBon. Now, in 23 hours, this human creature was going to wake up. It was 4:00 in the morning. She looked around her. Lyra was in her dark, damp basement. The last light of two small candles flickered on the table upon which she piled dozens of books and scrolls. Upon yet another table: jars. At least a dozen. Some nearly full, others completely empty, along with scales, spoons, and a kitchen knife. A cauldron lay on a pile of ash, a faint, soft glow emitting from its core. Streams of mist and little sparks were still lightly flying from the cauldron to the figure lying on the table. Just as the sparks did, her thoughts flew to the human as well. She stepped over to the table and gazed upon the creature that she had just summoned from across reality. It was nothing like in the books, no prince in a castle-- no sorceror’s apprentice. This was the real thing. A pale, naked, half bald—thing just lying there. Two hours later. BonBon set off to work. The paycheck from her latest musical works would last her and BonBon a long time, but she didn’t want to lounge around. Lyra was in the garden outside the house. She was not used to cultivation. That was an Earth pony’s job. She was honest with herself, and admitted that she was terrible at it. She couldn’t grow the flowers nearly as fast and beautiful as the slowest Earth Pony around, but she was decent at harvesting. She pulled a sickle from the toolshed and began working on the flowerbed, nervously passing the morning away, picking only the ones ripe enough to stew. Lyra thought again about the creature locked up in the basement. Come to think of it, this creature must have been an earth human as well. She had no wings, nor a horn. The drawings in the books didn’t provide much detail relating to human anatomy. The human’s muzzle, or lack on one, she should say, had its mouth separated from her nostrils, and her ears were like those of a monkey. She wondered what he would be like once she awakened. ‘Will she be shy or go on a rampage? Will she be strong or weak? Would Lyra even be able to communicate with her? She was a different species after all.’ She could take care of that later, she supposed. Lyra crept down into the basement again. It was three in the afternoon. Twelve hours left. In her mind, she tried to make an excuse for going down there again. The basement was really unlike her. BonBon never went down there. She hated the place more than Lyra. Whenever the furnace needed to be heated, BonBon would rather suffer through a blizzard waiting for Lyra to come home before going down there. Lyra was the pony who knew every square inch of the storerooms: she filled them herself. She figured the only excuse for going down there was to escape the heat. She went into the kitchen and opened the basement door. The darkness and a sense of adventure beckoned her there. She stepped down cautiously, as if she didn’t want to disturb anything from its place. She walked over to the furnace in the dim light from the doorway and lit her horn. The door above closed in her aura. Her horn was the only dim light source in the room. It really was cool in the basement, and she needed it after spending half the day in the garden. She found a candle, and with her own spark, lit it. After a couple of minutes, with 5 candles lit, Lyra decided to look through her notes and books on humans. ‘Obsessive,’ she thought to herself. ‘Just what we’re looking for.’ There weren’t many, if at all, intellectual studies on them. Ponies interested in mythical beings usually only liked to hear stories about them, not studies on a creature they only half think to exist in the first place. The bookmarks in place in the fiction stories told a lot despite the lack of concrete study or organized information. There was a lot of mention of human nature made by wizard humans. In her book, the wizard called Aritsotle made interesting comments about his own species. The first was that humans are social and sexual creatures. This was no surprise. Ponies are like this too. ‘Perhaps,’ Lyra figured, ‘relating to these creatures wouldn’t be so hard after all. Let’s see,’ she thought. ‘The next point… humans are political.’ She thought about it for a second. ‘I know Mayor Mare was a type of political pony, but having another Mayor was more than this town needed. Perhaps this is all realtive.’ Lyra didn’t think ponies were really political in nature. Pinkie Pie certainly wasn’t. Neither was BonBon. ‘Or is she?’ BonBon and Lyra worked out their differences and chores by negotiation. Was this politics? Lyra continued thinking in great detail about her interpretations of the words of the pages. The hour glass turned. Searching through the books, she had gone off topic within 5 minutes. A new record. She was already looking through love stories again. She loved romance stories. Just thinking about anonymously watching a couple and relation develop from the writer’s hoof made her heart beat faster. She looked long into the day about stories of human nobles and damselles and romance… Suddenly, somewhere deep in a story, Lyra heard a door close from outside the dark, cool, damp basement. “Lyra, I’m here!” came BonBon’s voice. Lyra gasped. Already! It was five o’clock already! “I-ah- Coming!” Lyra blew out the candles and ran up the stairs. “What were you doing in there?” asked BonBon. “I- ah- nothing! Just cooling off! I- ah- was just out trimming for dinner, see?” She pointed toward the small basket with freshly trimmed flowers. “It’s nice and cool in there!” “Heheh… if you say so,” said BonBon with a cringe. Lyra pulled out a pan from under the sink. “You thinking about roses tonight?” asked Lyra, as her aura sifted through the flower trimmings. “Am I? It’s my favorite!” They both giggled and set to work. After dinner, Lyra and BonBon usally lounged around in their living room or visited across town, whatever they fancied. Lyra was in the mood to head off to the Library. After sneaking in and out of the basement, bringing out a small stack of several books in her saddlebag, she started out the door. “Hey, Lyra?” She froze. Did BonBon suspect anything? Was her cover blown? Did she find anything about a human in their basement? “Y-yes?” “You find me a book I haven’t read yet? I just finished the fourth in the Daring Do series. See if you can find the fifth while you’re there?” What a relief. She suspected nothing. ‘I’m panicking too much!’ she thought. “Yeah, sure!” She galloped off into the setting sun. The library was nearby, on the outskirts of town.
SusitatioLyra walked down once again into the basement after giving the book to BonBon, who promptly went to bed. Early to bed, early to rise, as she always would say. Lyra was amazed that BonBon hadn’t noticed anything strange going on at all. Whenever she spoke to anyone anymore, she could always feel herself break into sweat and start quivering. Lyra had 7 hours left until the human was to awaken. The Cauldron still emitted a glow from its core. What was there to do for the next hour? She set her saddlebag down and mouthed out the books she had just borrowed. This time around it was a piece of historical fiction, based in a time of these human devices called cannons and rifles. It appeared that they were at what they called war, and it seemed a lot more dangerous then combat on the western planes. Looking further, it seemed as if they were actually leaned to kill each other. Lyra shivvered. She didn’t like that idea at all. Yet, despite the incredible violence shown in the book, there were also mentions of great feats of charity and fraternety, even across the battlefield. Lyra read the last line of the book mentioning the larger scheme of things: “The events leading up placed brother against brother in a prolonged, bloody conflict which, though a great tragedy in their history, was unavoidable.” ‘Unavoidable?’ It seemed to be the most violent word in the entire book. Were humans warlike? Were they really as awful as she thought that they were? But that was impossible. They still had good in them, even sometimes showing love to the people they were commanded to kill. There must have been a reason. Suddenly, it came to her. The reason that the humans were provoked into war is because they don’t have a mediator who is both just, supreme, and tangible, like the princess. If only… Lyra spent the next untracked amout of time drifting in her thoughts at random. Nothing stayed with her for a long period of time. After a while, they landed back on the human on the table. She looked at it as if it were the first time she examined it. This time, her search wasn’t anatomical: she didn’t examine the human’s toes or hands or bone structure. She looked right at her face. She (if it was a she)* had, from what Lyra could discern, a calm, serene expression on her face. Lyra smiled. Then she frowned. Her thoughts were now on topic as to what was really going on. In just hours, a human was going to wake up in this room and it was hers. Or so she saw it. She had brought the human into the world, she was to show her through the world, she was responsible for her, and for her actions. After a while, Lyra almost thought of this human as her own, like her own daughter. Looking at this from the third person, this notion sounded silly, even ridiculous, but in Lyra’s bright eyes, this felt like the moment her whole life had been waiting for. She had already seemed to establish a connection with this human just by looking into her face. She finally admitted to herself: she loved the creature from the moment she first laid eyes on it. These thoughts cycled through her mind for what felt like hours for her. After snapping to, her eyes drooped. It was probably somewhere in the middle of the night. She shivvered violently. Where was she to sleep in this hard room with stone floor? It was getting very cold. She would need fuel to light the furnace, but there was none to be found. She certainly wasn’t going upstairs. She wanted to see the human awaken with her own eyes. She needed something warm to be with, and fast. She looked, and there she was, almost waiting for her. Lyra did the craziest thing that she had ever done in her life. She crawled up on top of the table, found a place to sleep, circled once, and lay down almost right on top of the human on the table in the basement. As her thoughts slowed and a dream fell in, Lyra could have sworn that she felt something wrap around her torso- something warm and welcoming… Lyra awoke to a moaning. Her eyes opened and she gasped. Falling off the table, she scrambled to see what was going on, listening carefully. Silence. But wait. There was a noise. A soft breathing sound, almost like a snore. The Candles had burnt out. It was probably well past 2:00 in the morning. Before lighting her horn, she saw that the cauldron had gone out; no glow within. It seemed so very dead. It reminded her of an imcomplete memory. She closed her eyes, remembering the spell. The gold aura of her horn was cast in a whirl surrounding her, the table, and the cauldron itself. She took the last ingredient: Heart’s Desire, and dropped it into the mix. Suddenly, the snore-breathing stopped. A long yawn came out from behind her. She froze. Turning around, she looked carefully. As if on cue, when she was ready to see, the human’s eyes opened. Green.
FluttershyLyra gazed into the creature awakening before her. Her green eyes pierced the darkness. She blinked and looked up. Lyra glanced at the ceiling. The human’s head tilted foreward, leaning off the table, and looking down her long, slender body. She -again if it was a she- struggled against the ropes holding her down. After a few seconds, realizing that she was trapped, threw her head back onto the table like it was before. Lyra, standing on the human’s left, saw her throw her face towards her. Then away. ‘What happened?’ Lyra thought. ‘Can she see me? Was she paying attention? Could she be able to see ponies at all? Was she blind?’ The human threw her face thwards her again. Their eyes met. It felt like an eternity. Lyra and the human memorized each others’ souls. Nopony spoke. An odd, steady voice emmitted from before her after what felt like a long, long time. Compared to most ponies’ voices, it was smooth, almost seductive, but full of emotion. “Lyra?” She gasped and fell back. Her head pounded into a jar and a table fell over behind her. There was a clanking of glass. She knew her name! How could it be? The human then said something that she didn’t understand. The same steady voice made a smooth poem of grunts and articulations and sometimes moans. Lyra panicked. She ran up the stairs. Lyra burst out of the basement. ‘How is this possible?’ her mind screamed within her head. ‘I can’t understand her? What am I going to do? If I can’t talk to this creature, who could? Nopony could understand that strange babbling!’ she paused, her panicked breath suddenly very calm. “Or could they?” she said under her breath. Lyra grabbed a pen off the counter and a bit of paper, and began to scribble. BonBon: I’ve gotten up early to take care of some unfinished business. ~Lyra BonBon wouldn’t question it, Lyra reasoned, nor remember to ask about that evening. If there was one pony who could talk to this creature, it was Fluttershy. Lyra knocked on the small wooden door. “Um-- Ms. Fluttershy? Are you there?” Silence. “Fluttershy? Are you there? Please answer, I need your help.” A cliddly-op cliddly-op of her hoofsteps grew louder as Fluttershy rushed over to the door. “Oh- I- am sorry to keep you waiting,” came the soft, airy voice as the door opened. She averted her eyes in an embarrased manner. She had obviously been hoping that whoever was at the door would assume that she wasn’t home and would give up. Lyra didn’t care. “Fluttershy, there’s something important I have to show you-- you- you can’t tell anypony!” “Huh?” “Shh! I can’t explain now that we’re outside,” said Lyra, suddenly looking around. “Just follow me, and promise—no. Pinkie Promise that you will not tell anypony.” Once the coast was clear, Lyra and the confused Fluttershy went into the house. Though at first terrified of the dark, damp basement, Fluttershy, hearing about an exotic creature that Lyra had discovered, trotted right in. Lyra shut the door behind herself with a large, echoey clang. “Where is this li’l guy you’re talking about?” she asked, preparing to see an adorable little rodent skittering across the floor. Lyra struck a match. She saw. She gasped. She stopped in her tracks. Lyra began to panic again. “Look. I know what you’re thinking, but I really did. You probably thought that it was just a foal’s tale, but I did it, yes. I managed to summon—“ “Ropes!”, she wailed through tears. She immediately ran to the table and began gnawing and ripping ferociously at the coils that bound the confused human to the table, who was now turning her head, straining to see what was happening. Within seconds, Fluttershy’s teary, outraged voice began. “How dare you? How dare you tie this poor, innocent creature in ropes like some prisoner! How dare you! How dare you!!” Tears fell from the yellow coated mare’s eyes as fast as the perspiration from her brow for tearing at the ropes, which lay in tatters on the ground. Suddenly, from behing her, the human’s faint, dazed voice spoke again. “Fluttershy?” Fluttershy screamed. The sound resounded through the stone walled basement, making a half-second yipe draw out into two seconds. The scream was one of pure surprise and terror, and with all the throat and neigh fluttershy had ever produced in her life. The human stared, her frightened green eyes seemed to retreat back into their sockets as she rolled onto her belly; they said, ‘What have I done?’ Lyra stared as the human’s long, slender body repositioned itself, to her what seemed almost like some huge spider. The human sat onto the table and and turned her elegant head towards Lyra. “Fluttershy,” the smooth voice said again, which said other inaudible things in its beautiful speech. Fluttershy’s ears perked up. She ran over to the human and “Aww- this poor little guy. He must be so confused!” “He?” blurted Lyra. “Of course it’s a he!” said Fluttershy with her last edge of patience. After a few seconds of Fluttershy talking to the human, Fluttershy in common speech and the human in her- his smoothened language, Fluttershy stepped back, wrapped in her thoughts. “A Human? You summoned a human? Ohh, he must be so far away from home!” She paused. “He seems to know a lot about us,” she said to Lyra, who was behind her. Lyra suddenly noticed, since she was distracted by Fluttershy’s outrage and frustration, as well as her ease in talking with this creature, that the human was now standing at his full height. The little pony’s withers reached to his waist. Fluttershy walked upside the human, tilting her head affectionately in his direction. “I don’t think he’s fully grown. Not an adult, but not a foal, or in this case—“ After thinking about it, Lyra said, “I think a human foal is called a child. They call this age group the Teenagers because they are in their late teens.” Fluttershy was barely listening. All anger vanished like smoke, she gazed into his green eyes; she almost looked entranced. She fell under a spell and began nuzzling him affectionately. This happened so fast, Lyra didn’t know what to think. She stroked the side of her face into the human’s waist and around his arms inside and out. The human was just as surprised as Lyra was, but after a few seconds, he put his arms areound her neck, knelt down, and hugged her. Lyra grew jealous. She didn’t know why. Perhaps it was the human’s spell. She, not Fluttershy after all, had brought him into this world. She had stared into his eyes the first, and he said her name first. And now, right in front of her, he was hugging and cuddling with Fluttershy, and not her. She grew irritated, but didn’t want to come off as such. She inwardly schemed that if she kept her cool, she would look better than Fluttershy, since it was she who screamed at her in the first place about the ropes. She wanted to see the human reject Fluttershy and begin cuddling her instead. She caught herself. Why was she being so petty? She hadn’t thought up anything so foalish before. She seemed to want him so much that she was getting worked up. She figured that either way, she had to say something. “Ms. Fluttershy,” she said timidly, “Can you help me?” “Mmm?” Fluttershy’s attention only went half way to her. This irritated her even more. “How-“ she swallowed her pride. “How can I speak with him?” she said as clearly as possible. Fluttershy stopped and stood erect. “I guess—the same way I do it,” she said slowly and unsurely. Lyra gave Fluttershy a critical look that said, ‘And that is?’ Fluttershy was lost for words. Before she could gather her thoughts together, they were interrupted. “You,” said Lyra so quickly as to make her gasp, “have been able to speak to animals—for years now—and you don’t know how you do it?” Fluttershy, with a teary strained expression on her face, sprang to attention with an enlightened look on her face. “Understanding!” “What?” “You have to understand what the creature is feeling and why,” She said, her mood working with Lyra instead of against her. Lyra considered the idea, and made an unspoken agreement with Fluttershy not to be at odds with one another anymore. “Can you show me?” “For this human?” “I guess,” she said, “I doubt I’d need it for anypony else. “Of course,” said Fluttershy, with her joyful, shy demenor returning. “To start with,”she began, “I do believe he’s rather confused. He’s in a place he says he’s seen before but has never been to before, I think. You ought to explain to him how he got here: you owe him that in the least.” She looked over towards the spellbooks and jars, and walked over to them, deciding to make her exit as Lyra was presumedly trying to buff up her courage. Fluttershy knew she could do it. Lyra had a strong will even if she was obsessive and panicky. She stepped towards the human, eyes downcast. The human collapsed on the floor before anything could happen.
HistoriisThe human was finally awake. He felt himself wrapped in blankets lying on something soft. Fluttershy and Lyra stood over him. When he opened his eyes, he glanced to see he was wrapped up on a couch. It wasn’t quite so cruelly cold as it was shivering naked in that dark room. He quickly closed them again. He didn’t want to distract Fluttershy and Lyra from whatever they were talking about. He wanted to hear everything and pretend to wake up at just the right moment. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy- it must have been the cold that made him pass out.” “Here- you go make some tea for him- if you don’t mind- while I light the fire. He let his eyes open. The room was dim. The shutters were probably closed. He heard the sound of Fluttershy’s shoe striking at a piece of flint. He saw nothing but the ceiling and part of the couch. He tried to move, but he couldn’t. The attempted movement got his blood flowing a little bit faster. The cold struck again. This time, the blankets didn’t help. Suddenly his senses were dimmed. His vision darkened and hearing went half way. He felt a strangled moan fall out of his throat. He struggled against it with his will, but everything went dark. He awoke in the same place. There was no more light leaking from where there would be windows. The only lights there were flickering. His hearing came back to him and he could make out a voice. “He doesn’t look good.” “What are we going to do?” “We can’t take him to the hospital or the vet. I think we’ll have to take him to Twilight if he’s going to live.” “But- I-“ “Listen, Lyra! I want to see him live as much as you do- and if there is only one way to help him and keep our little secret, it’s Twilight.” He heard Fluttershy’s voice turn teary. “We have to do this.” The human didn’t understand why Fluttershy would even be this severe with anypony. It was as if something was different about her. He slipped again. He woke up to a familiar looking wooden library. It was just like the cartoon, but it, and everything for that matter, was much more detailed. Suddenly in his vision, he saw a small, big eyed, scaly, purple face peek over his own. The baby dragon’s claw rested over his forehead as the little creature sniffed him. “I haven’t seen or smelt something like this, before, Lyra; where did you find him?” “You promised never to tell anypony, so I’ll tell you. I looked up a transdimentional summoning spell and summoned a human from his native world- and- I-“ Lyra burst into tears. The human didn’t at the moment understand Lyra’s emotional outburst, nor did anypony at the time. Unbeknownst to anypony, a human’s presence in the pony world is akin to a pony’s presence in the human, and, just like the humans fall in love with the ponies in the stories that they read and watch, the ponies fall in love with the humans that they read about. “A human?” said Spike. “Like one of the humans in the ‘Mankind’ short stories and the little colts’ comic books that-- grown-- mares like to read? Those kinds of humans?” There was a long silence. Everyone looked at Lyra, who blushed. “Okay, I confess: I am a fan of the Schoolboy series. Don’t judge me-“ she sniffed. Everypony was now blushing- except Spike, who rolled his eyes. There was another long silence, which was broken by a knock on the door. Everyone got to their hooves. Fluttershy and Lyra pulled the human up the stairs while Spike looked out the window. “It’s Derpy with a package!” He opened the door. “I have sumthing for th’ library,” said the cute, wall-eyed pony. “She’s out to Canterlot for the week. Can I help you?” “I was given this package and told to come here,” she said bluntly. She backed from in front of a large wooden crate that was bigger than she was. It looked over 18 hooves tall.* “And,” she said with her speech slightly more slurred than usual, “It was really heavy~” After dragging in the box and tipping Derpy (almost 25 bits for that kind of work), Spike gave an all clear and scurried up the stairs. The human, he saw, was breathing heavily, his eyes rolled back and his face pale and sweaty. He passed out again. “Prop his back legs up,” said Spike. They did, and the human came back to life. They slowly moved him up onto Twilight’s bed and gave him some water. “He doesn’t look good,”came Fluttershy’s voice. Tears where in the two ponies’ eyes. Spike turned downcast. He didn’t want to see two grown mares cry. He went down stairs and spat sparks at the joints of the crate until he was able to pry them open. There were two other crates inside the large one. He opened the first. “Medical tools?” The second. “A Chemistry set? Twilight must have sent them here after going shopping or something. I’d better catalogue and store them in the basement.” Spike, having forgotten the human entirely for the moment, was busily cataloging racks of test tubes, flasks, and beakers when Lyra showed up. “Spike? Do you have any Mirrorpool Lotus around here?” “There’s a small box with some in it in the upper left-claw shelf above spine grass. Just look into the spice sections of the stores down here.” Several moments passed. Spike ignored the continuous whispering and mumbling between Fluttershy and Lyra. “Um- Spike- if you don’t mind, can you tell me where the Cockatrice scales are?” “Right under the Baby Dragon Scales,” said Spike, painfully showing her the empty patches on his chest. “I don’t know why Twilight is getting into alchemy right now. She’s been buying medical and Alchemical books for the past three weeks now.” “So we’ve noticed,” said Lyra, her aura holding up a freshly printed vetrinary volume. The human slipped in and out of consciousness for the rest of the week until Twilight returned. Lyra, Fluttershy, and Spike confided in her the secret of the human lying sick in Twilight’s bedroom. Twilight healed him for the next day and a half until he was able to walk again. By lunchtime, Twilight trotted over to the sugarcube corner, where Fluttershy and Lyra were talking casually (Lyra doing most of the talking of course); there seemed to be significantly less enmity between the two of them since last time she saw them. Twilight walked in and sat down. “He’s able to walk now.” They both gasped in excitement. “Can we go see him?” “Yes, and we’d better hurry while he’s still awake.” Twilight, Lyra, and Fluttershy galloped to the library, where inside, the human was sitting in a rocking chair by the fire. His green eyes met theirs. They were spell bound for a half of a second before they walked over to him. “How are you feeling, Amotus?” “Amotus? That’s his name?” asked Lyra. “Lyra” came the weak, but still smooth and lyrical voice. He looked longingly and lovingly at the three ponies, then looked downcast. It seemed he was sad that this wouldn’t last, or as if this dream was going to end soon. “What’s the matter?” asked Twilight with an encouraging smile. “You’re here and safe with us” The human smiled weakly, like Darth Vader after having his mask taken off for the very last time. With his head leaned back into the rocking chair, his eyes crawled out the window into the fresh blue sky. “But why were you all so easily corrupted?” “There are now only two things that nautrally drive a human’s heart—those are fear, and greed. I’m sure that you all are familiar with those. We were consumed by them and live in disharmony to this day. “ “Wait—I don’t understand. You seem normal and nautral, and you also seem to be a good person by nature—and now you are telling me that goodness is unnautral in humans? That doesn’t make any sense.” “That’s because I am alone,” said Amotus. “I’m not surrounded by pliable crowds. I’m surrounded by colorful magical ponies.” “This is all too complicated for me to understand,” said Lyra. The window outside was now dark, the only lights were the candle and the moon. They had been talking for nearly nine hours. Fluttershy had already left for the evening feeding. Lyra looked and saw what the human was using to hold the book, which she hadn’t noticed since he was in the basement tied to the table. He yawned. Lyra, Twilight, and Amotus had practically shared their worlds and histories with each other, and had already gotten comfortable with each other’s calmness and openness. Amotus felt much more open to talk about himself after talking about his people, but he yawned again. There was a minute’s silence while the human leaned back in the chair with his eyes closed. Lyra eyed the seeming majestic creature. Spike came up. “Well,” Spike said, “Today’s work is finished, and the distillery is done.” “Thanks, spike,”said Twilight, who walked over and nuzzled the dragon’s scaly face. “Lyra? Twilight?” “Yes?” they both responded serenely, probably as tired as Amotus was. “I just realized. I’m tired and hungry” “Good,” said Spike, “Dinner is still warm over the fire and I brought in an old matress from outside a mover’s warehouse for you. I’ll bring it in, and a pillow with the dinner. They ate in silence. Lyra eyed the human’s hands. He collapsed on the mattress and fell asleep almost before Spike could put the pillow under his head. Twilight nuzzled Spike again, and they both went to bed. The human’s bed was right under and next to Twilight’s. Every once in a while, Twilight tosses and turns in her sleep, sometimes falling out. This night she did just that, and fell right on top of Amotus. He didn’t wake up, but she did. The next thing that she knew, was that the human had wrapped his arms affectionately around the pony’s neck. She serenely and sedatedly made herself comfortable, leaned back into the human’s chest, and went back to sleep. She didn’t even know why.
Magnum ProeliumTwilight woke to a start. Spike had slammed open the door. Spike ran in carrying a scroll in his claw. “It’s urgent!” Dear Twilight= Equestria is in desperate need of you and your friends’ help. Here is the background on the current situation from the Royal Archives as of yesterday: 08:00- Notice given from QUEEN CHRYSALIS OF THE CHANGELING SWARM- Declared soverignty over DODGE CITY 08:05- Ultimatum rejected my HER MAJESTY PRINCESS LUNA 09:00- Day Court established 10:23- Multiple contacts report of changeling presence occupation over DODGE CITY. 10:23- HER MAJESTY PRINCESS CELESTIA orders military operation DDC 011 10:24- Security threat adjusted: level 5 11:00- DODGE CITY declared secure by intrakindgom branch of the Royal Guard 11:01- Security threat adjusted: level 4 15:00- HER MAJESTY PRINCESSS CELESTIA orders military operation DDC 012, DDC 013A, DDC 013B. 21:00- Night Court established 03:47- Contact Reported: Changeling presence in APPLELOOSA 03:50- EMERGENCY DUAL COURT ESTABLISHED. NIGHT COURT DISMISSED. 03:57- Contact Confirmed: Changeling presence in APPLELOOSA 03:59- Contact Reported: Changeling presence in DODGE CITY 04:00- Secutiry threat level: X- Barricade construction initiated in CANTERLOT- Intrakindgom branch redeployed Our militia is currently being pushed back. What I need for you to do at the moment is to give this letter to Mayor Mare and tell her to once again lead the Ponyville Militia across the Everfree. She knows what she’ll need to do from there. After that, I need you to bring your friends and yourself into Canterlot as fast as you possibly can with your magic. Remember the Dragon Scale trick I taught you. I’ll see you in a few minutes. “Here- you take this to Mayor Mare- and hurry!” “Yes Ma’am!” “And I need six of your scales” “What? But we already-“ “There’s no time! Princess Celestia is depending on us!” Spike cringed as Twilight ripped six more scales from Spike’s already patchy chest. She then suddenly ripped another as Spike ran out the door. “Ahh-hoo-hoo!” Spike wept in shame, still running as fast as his short little legs could carry him. Amotus heard the town alarm bell ringing as Twilight was doing something on the ground. “And this one’s for Pinkie Pie,” Poof! Amotus saw the scale burn up on the ground. “and here’s one for Lyra” another one went into smoke “ and here’s for you-“ Amotus suddenly felt as if he were flung across the world. As soon as his eyes were open, there were seven other ponies looking around just as confused as he was. The other ponies didn’t seem to be surprised by his presence, but only at their own sudden circumstances. Twilight must have shared the secret with her friends- and he suddenly realized that the pajamas that he was wearing weren’t his own, but a work of Rarity herself. This awkward moment didn’t last long, though, as Twilight suddenly spoke “Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, come with me- Canterlot is being attacked by the Changelings again!” Though not sure of where they were, dazed and confused, they all stumbled out the door. “Lyra, you take care of him and keep him hidden. I don’t want anypony to know about his presence here. Keep him in this Tower, and nopony should come in.” The door shut. “Uhh- ahh- w- where are we?” “I remember this-- this is the Canterlot Library—this is where I researched for-“ “What’s going on?” “I don’t know, but we’d better stay here.” “Princess! We’re here!” Rarity gasped at Celestia, outfitted tale-to-neck in shining golden armor; her aura held the helmet. “Good- put these on,” said Celestia, opening the armory room as she stopped her run down the vast halls of the castle. She spoke as they fitted themselves in Lunar Equestrian Armor for the first time. “Twilight, Rarity, I’m going to need you both to put up a long-term aerial supression field and maintain it until another group of unicorns is available. You’ll need to climb up the observation tower. No one stays off the ground within a mile of the city.” They both ran off, Twilight, knowing the castle like the back of her hoof, leading the way. “You four will need to help put up the rest of the barricade. Our scouts report that the Changelings are circumventing the everfree forest and moving straight in toward Canterlot. There isn’t much time to lose. You four get outside and help where you can.” “What do you see?” “I’m not sure,” said Amotus, looking through the Library telescope that pointed into the main highway tunnel that leaded into the city. “It looks like the city has set up a large stone wall blocking the highway, and everyo- everypony is wearing armor. All the unicorns have short lances over their horns on their helmets, and the pegasai have blades over their wings.” “There must be something terrible going on,” said Lyra, who stumbled over a book. It lay opened to an article- ‘Legend of Nightmare Moon’. “Everypony looks so worried. There are Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy all helping to build this big wall. And Twilight and Rarity just joined them. Wow, they look so pretty in that armor. Oh, and there’s Princess Luna, and Shining Armor, Twilight’s brother. “Even I didn’t know that. How do you know so much about us?” “I guess it’s time that I explained the show.” “Show?” There was an hour’s wait before the marching of a thousand hooves rumbled through the mountain. Tromp-tromp-tromp-tromp-tromp-tromp-tromp! “With the supression field, I guess we can’t get topside and clear out that stormcloud that’s coming in from the west,” said Rainbow Dash, speaking to herself as if she were trying to convince somepony to take it down. “Rainbow, you know that with that field up, this is the only way in. The changelings intend to take us down on our own turf, and they aren’t stopping at anything. If there’s one chance to defend the Kingdom, this is it.” A long roll of thunder growled through the sky- strong enough to put chills up everypony’s spines. “Come to think of it, that storm might help us. The Changelings don’t wear shoes, like we- at lease most of our shoes have good grip, and the flashes of lightning can ruin their night-vision,” said Twilight to Princess Luna. “You’re right, my dear”, said Luna, “We just hope that it doesn’t come too soon, or it might not last long enough to fend them off. We can’t count on this helping, so let’s put every effort into getting ready. Force always beats luck.” “Come to thing of it, that storm coming in might help us,” said Lyra “Changelings don’t wear shoes with grip like we do, and the lightning might ruin their night vision. They should realize that and use magic to take control of the cloud that we might use it at the right time.” “Well, if they won’t do it,” said Amotus, “Perhaps you can.” “I’m not so sure about that,” said Lyra “That kind of magic could require a great amount of concentrations based on years of prac-“ She was suddenly met with strong sting across the side of her face. “Lyra! Your entire country is depending on you to help do something! You might be the only one who knows of the advantages of this storm! You have to at least try!” “I- ah- alright.” Twilight looked through the binoculars mounted on the wall. “Rainbow Dash, you have good eyes. Take a look at this.” Rainbow Dash looked through the scopes. “Is that what I thought I saw?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. That was all that Twilight needed to see. “They’re comiiiiing!!” The alarm sounded. Every stallion and mare resting against the side of the battlement lept to his hooves and put on his helmet. Every guard in sight leaped onto the wall. “Amotus looked through the Library telescope again. “Oh, my God,” “What?” “The fighting must have started. Everypony is running around and picking up their lances! Hurry it up! There is no time!” “I.. almost... got the- storm cloud.. in position…” “Strike team 1, over the wall! Hold them off until reinforcements arrive!” Two minutes passed “They’re everywhere!” “They’re trying to breach!” “Pony down! Pony down! Bring him to the back!” “It’s Strapping Do!” “Big Brother!” “Ditzy.” “There’s a Pony down on the field! They’re trying to breach the wall- Lyra! Do you have the cloud ready yet?” “… YES! Letting ‘er rip!” CRA-BOOM The great thundering cloud, finally permitted to let its hell loose, opened its gates and poured rain upon the city. Within a matter of moments, the storm covered the whole kingdom. Lamps were drowned. The constant flashing of the lightning and the distant glow of the castle was all that was left to light up the street. Meanwhile, in a tent marked by a red cross, Strapping Do lay dying under the lamplit shadow of his younger sister, Ditzy Do. A gaping hole lay opened in his chest. Not even all the magic in the Kingdom could save this stallion’s life. All they could do was keep him alive long enough for his last words. “Big—Brother!” “It’s over, Ditzy.” “What?” “Li-“ He coughed a soup of blood- some of it spattering into the mare’s short yellow mane. “Big Brother-“ “Listen, Ditzy- I need you to tell the Princess- One life is not worth exhausting…” “Strapping!” “exhausting the elemen… we need… to learn… we can’t.. lean on that crutch for…” “What crutch? You’re not wearing any crutches!” “If we… Ditzy… rely on the elements… we’ll become…”He coughed again. More blood. Strapping began to sink into the ground as the mud gave way to his weight. “I’m sorry, Ditzy. I’m sorry. I will have to leave you now.” “What? Why? Where are you going? You’re too badly hurt to leave.” “Tell the Princcesss… We can’t forever rely on the elemen…” “Brother? Big Brother? Strapping! Wake up! Wake up, Big Brother! Wake up!” Luna peeked in just in time to feel his heart stop, his eyes already closed and Ditzy leaning over his body and crying. A tear peeked into her eye as well. Her armor clanked slightly as she stepped into the blood-stained mud. Ditzy whirled around. Luna closed her eyes in shame and faced the other way. “This—this was the first. In over 400 years.” Ditzy said nothing. She now understood. The shouting and clashing continued outside despite her absence. Luna left without a word. Ditzy turned around again. She took the last look at her brother before they placed a sheet over him and carried him out. Ditzy just stood there. A blank, straight eyed stare across her face. Ditzy Do’s eyes had never been straight except when terrified or grief-stricken. At this time, she was both. She felt more lonely than she had ever been in her life. There was nothing in that tent with her but the light, and a crimson stain in the mud. She thought about what he had said. She shifted it over and over again in her head, trying to make sense out of it. It’s the last few moments that usually end up counting for the most of a person’s life. This was no exception. The wind picked up. “They’re dragging somepony out of a medical tent- and- there’s a blanket wrapped over him.” “What? Let me see,” said Lyra. She grabbed the telescope in her frog from Amotus’s hand and pointed it toward the camp. “Intolerable! We have to do something! Come on, Amotus!” “Amotus?” “Pull back! Get back over the wall! Defend right here!” “Twilight. I’m afraid it’s time again,” said Princess Celestia. “You will have to go through the-” The wall gate cracked. Changeling hooves and horns were visible, prying and picking at the gate with all their might. “Hold them off! Defend here! Don’t let them-” ATTACK! Suddenly from out of nowhere, A mysterious figure in ill-fitted armor vaulted over the wall edge with somepony’s lance. He landed with his hind legs on top of two changelings’ heads, pinning them to the ground. The swarm changed shape to a circle around him- they were surprised as the ponies were. He dropped the lance and pulled out a shorter Gryphon Sword with his hand. Lyra lay with her head down underneath the telescope in the Library. ‘What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do? He’s out there. He’s out there in danger. And I’m sitting here. I’m sitting here in safety. I’m so selfish. I’m a horrible person. Why did I let him go? What is he doing?’ She looked through the telescope. One changeling advanced to his front. He sank the blade tip deep into his mouth, and ripped it out, bright green blood falling out in drips. The frowns on the changelings’ faces turned from frightened to furious. They all advanced on him. In the pouring rain and thundering fog gathering over the mountain, Amotus slayed two more changelings before they were on top of him. He held the sword up high, blade pointed down as another charged from his right. He swung the blade wide, hitting the creature on the leg. More blood. The second swipe almost missed, but hit the broad side of the sword glancing off the top of her head. The changeling crumbled. The other came from the left. It hopped on top of him and bit his ear as he whacked the first. He took the pommel, and barely missing his own skull, smacked the changeling in the temple with a sickening crunch. The next thing that he knew, his adrenaline rush was telling him to run. Never having been so courageous before in his life, he rejected the offer, and ended up tackled by a dozen changelings in the next three seconds. As he lay there smothered by a score of changelings, he realized that he never would have been brave enough to do such a thing in his own world. He didn’t have time enough to think about that however, as he felt the pile-up shift above him. “Who by Celestia was that?” said Rainbow Dash. “Ah don’ know, but she sure is on our side- c’mown, lets go help ‘er!” They both jumped down to help the human and pony pile-up. As if snapped out of a daze, the rest of the ponies and changelings stopped looking at the bloody tostle on the ground below and resumed, but this time, the tables were turned. The changelings’ morale was crushed. A wall of ponies pushed foreward and plowed through the pileup. Amotus’s limp body fell through between everypony’s hooves. He opened his eyes to Princess Celestia’s sopping wet face. “There you are, Princess.” “Ah, Twilight. This is the human you wrote to me about.” “Yes, Princess. I wanted to keep him safe in case the Changelings invaded Ponyville next.” “Well, lucky for you, that precaution won’t be needed for a while. I was just told that the Changelings have been scattered. We’re going to take care of him here for now. Besides- we owe him one.” “That’s another thing I’m wondering,” said Twilight, thinking back to the times when she was still in Canterlot as Celestia’s personal student. Whenever there was the atmosphere for questioning, Twilight could get all of the information that she could possibly get out of her mentor. “Why was he the one able to save us? How did Lyra manage to find this human at the right moment before the attack? And how?” The Princess thought for a moment. She was pulling some bit of information out of her eons’ worth of memories. She spoke again, her voice much shallower and lighter- almost parenthetically: “Come to think about it, that’s how they always were..” “Wait- You mean…” “Yes, you didn’t take much interest in history and magical creatures, and it wasn’t my intention to test you on them, so I might as well tell you about them now before you get too confused. We have plenty of time now.” They both sat down in the castle clinic after the long trip following the dolly with the unconscious human on it. Everypony else wasn’t paying attention to them. They were only concerned with stabilizing Amotus, who had left a trail of blood in wake of the dolly. None of them knew what the human was exactly, so they learned his anatomy while operating on him. The Princess cleared her throat and began. “I believe the Humans were here before we were, but I’m not certain about that. When our kingdom was first established, the humans lived in the woods. When I first met them, they were friendly, simple people. They are (in this world at least) very pliable with their beliefs- not stubborn at all. It seemed very easy to get them on your side- or anypony’s side. They weren’t very decisive. Whatever cause they chose, they would stick for it- fight for it- aggressively if they needed to. They tended to stick together when in danger, though they were not very social creatures- they tended to keep to themselves. They had high opinions of everypony, treating the smallest mouse like they would treat each other, though they didn’t have very high opinions of themselves: they would blame themselves for anything that went wrong. Because of all this, they were also easily made into slaves.” “After meeting them, I, having just recently learned of the Magic of Friendship, taight it to them as well. They were good allies of the Ponies, fending us off from danger, sacrificing themselves for our sake without a second thought. That was- until Sombra came.” Twilight winced. “That’s strange. Amotus here said that humans were almost the exact opposite on his world- they they were stubborn with their beliefs instead of pliable; social; wavering instead of stubborn with loyalty; selfish instead of selfless; that they were driven purely by fear and greed- caring only of themselves.” “I think we’ll both understand why in a moment. You see, Sombra, seeing this race so easily changed with belief, came down upon them and corrupted them. He then had his armies march them to the Frozen North into the newly attained Crystal Empire, and had them do his bidding. When Sombra was sealed away, his armies vanished, and the Empire disappeared; they were left in the cold, so they travelled back south to Canterlot, and resumed their lives in the woods, but this time they were different. They had—changed completely. They were more fearful and paranoid. They lived closer to one another and always had their eyes suspiciously looking outside—and at each other.” “When I spoke to them about it, they told me that Sombra would easily fly into a rage, slaughtering hundreds of humans at a time if they fail his orders. “ “Shortly after that, Nightmare Moon manifested, and before I was forced to banish my sister, they vanished completely.” “So the reason that they might be like Amotus says in their other world,” said Twilight, “Is because of the tortures and terror afflicted upon them by Sombra! “That’s what it seems, if it is how he says. I suppose they were afraid that nightmare Moon might have gotten what she wanted.” “I need to go now. I just heard that there’s a new report on what’s going on. You take care of him, Twilight.” The human stirred as the staff were bandaging his ear. “Maamaa. Mama.. I’mn so cold… Mama. Why are these ponies so mean to us?” “He’s having a nightmare,” said Twilight, mainly to herself, although the nurses heard. “Mama- Whan are we going to get something to…” Twilight, remembering what Celestia said, suddenly started listening intently. “Why is the King doing this? Why are they dead? All of them~” “Little brother- can you reach through the bars and grab that piece of scrap? I’m starving…” “I told you, lil’ bro. No one’s gonna stick up for us. We’re lost and the only people we have are each other. I know we’re not supposed to do this, but- can we join up in this escape plan? We might have a better chance.” “Why should we care about the scraps left for the guards’ dog? We either take from them, or die a sad, pitiful, painful death.” Twilight realized that Amotus was having nightmares about the humans’ plight through their enslavement by Sombra. She also noted the changes in tone and attitude throughout. “I told you, Juxtus, either he dies, or we die. Is this flogging monster worth dying for? Think, for once in your life! He promised that he’ll kill us both tomorrow, and you’re the only one who can fit through and get to him! I made this knife for you to use- use it! We all let ourselves get pushed around for centuries- and I’m going to change that system. We’re going to break outta here, Juxtus. We’re gonna do it tonight. Do it for us- do it for yourself!” “Look- there’s someone out the window. It’s.. so… shiny and—and bright… who are those people? There’s a white horse with wings and red hair—and a horn!” “He’s awake! He’s gonna- no! NO! Get away! Get--” Amotus snapped up. Twilight understood. Humans had to be selfish. They would only be a sad memory if they didn’t become that way. The only positive feeling in her head was how much better she felt about what happened in the C.E. defeating Sombra. How much worse things would be if he existed one second longer! Amotus, back straight up, took one glance at Twilight. His face then relaxed quickly. It told her that he felt safe. He fell down again. Out. Twilight moved from the foot of the bed to the side. She felt a sudden and very strong urge. She wanted to be close to him. Remembering last night, she looked around. Nopony in the room. She rested her head on his chest.
