Chapters Bubbles were an odd way to travel. The bubbles had brought them into some giant pool of pink liquid, like Cheese Sandwich's fruit punch lake, but if they were in an average pool, they'd be in bubbles the size of their fingernails.
FINGERNAILS? "What are we?" Vinyl Scratch wondered, her shades off. "We're humans!" Lyra exclaimed, staring at her nails, which already had hot pink polish with some peachy glitter. "I know about these things! These are what the Sirens became when they were banished to another world! THIS MUST BE WHERE THEY WERE BANISHED! They've been here for a long time, I think."
"That kind of explains why they were in the human world in Ancient Greece. If that's why, Star Swirl the Bearded must be way older than I thought!" Bon Bon said with a lot of giggles.
Maybe the bubbles had brains and ears and thought that Bon Bon said she wanted to go to Ancient Greece, because the pool led the into a big white thing. They were obviously clouds once the bubbles fell out of them into the sky. Everyone looked down, and found themselves gazing at... Ancient Greece. Well, they didn't know that's where the were. All they knew was that this wasn't Equestria.
A trip to a Wonder of the World!
It was kind of a blur. Octavia, Vinyl Scratch, Lyra, Derpy, and Bon Bon were kind of dazed once they hit the ground. Once they were walking they could remember things.
Bon Bon kind of recognized things. Fortunately, Derpy found on the ground a map of... Olympia? In Greece? That was, like, before time. And on the back of the brochure was a map of all of Greece. So they weren't in a newly founded town in Equestria. Darn. But also yay. Because they know where everything is. But also darn. "So we're in Olympia, Greece. Whoo hoo." Bon Bon said sarcastically. "But wait." Lyra said as she put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "If you don't know much about this place, and you know a lot about Greece, well, what do you know more about?"
Bon Bon thought. Only her and Lyra knew that Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack were brought here, because they were invited to the party, but they thought everyone else knew, too. She took a deep breath. "Athens." She knew most about that place because that's where Twi and her friends were first at.
It was hard. You're in another world, you're a different creature, yeah. Bon Bon the led her buds over to a place safe to burn their stuff. And they burnt their stuff and all that stuff, just like Twilight. And they prayed, just like Twilight. And then chatted a bit, just like Twilight. "I like that Orpheus guy. I wanna play as good as him someday!" Lyra said. "Have you heard the one about King Midas? The greediest, stupidest king ever? He didn't punish a satyr for accidentally intruding when Dionysus brought his pals to town, so Dionysus granted him one wish, and Midas wanted the ability to turn everything he touched to gold. Dumb, huh? He couldn't eat or drink. Then he had to bathe in a river to lose the curse thing." Bon Bon explained. "But uh, maybe we should focus on how to get back now?"
"I can help."
"Who said that?" Derpy was freaking out. Finally, she turned around, and saw a woman, but it was hard to see with the sun right behind her. Maybe Bon Bon was wrong, and Helios game Artemis the sun chariot and Apollo got Selene's moon chariot. But no, that wasn't Artemis, or the sun god or goddess, either way.
The lady then moved out of the way of the sun. Her skin, like Iaso, was grayish, but she was different. This woman's hair was black, no stripes. She bore a striking resemblance to their friend Lucky Clover. But he was still back home.
"I am Tyche. Goddess of good luck and fortune." human she-Lucky Clover said. "I will help you."
"How?" Derpy asked.
Something very odd happened.
Derpy fell asleep.
She began to disappear.
"What just happened?" Bon Bon asked frantically, looking at Tyche.
"She has... gone to... the underworld." the goddess replied. "I didn't do that. But I can help you get your friend back."
Bon Bon suspected a certain god might have something to do with it all. "What Derpy just said, before she disappeared... I wanna say that, but I'm not going to risk going to the underworld. Can you answer the question Derpy asked, though?"
Tyche smiled. Her green clover necklace charm sparkled. "Here." She handed Lyra a lyre. "You are under my protection." And she disappeared.
"Do I just... play?" Lyra was confused. "What else do you do with a harp?" Vinyl scratch snickered. "It's a LYRE! And yes, I know you play music with it. But what does this have to do with the underworld?"
Bon Bon's expression changed. "Wait, Lyra? remember that myth you mention earlier? How you want to play the lyre as good as that Orpheus guy some day?" she reminded her friend. The strings then began to move. They began so sparkle. An enchanted lyre, from the goddess of good luck, who makes sure everyone gets the good things they deserve. That's when the four girls knew exactly what to do.
Lyra and her friends then found a nice spot to play her music: by a little mountain. She sat down and began. Either the lyre was special, or Lyra had become a lot better. Either way, the side of the mountain started to crumble a teeny bit, just enough for everyone to get through.
It immediately brought them to the entrance of the underworld. Bon Bon knew a lot about this place, because she thought it was the coolest part in all her books!
There was one god she had in mind who could have taken Derpy. She led everyone over to the river Lethe, near a cave where SOMEbody lived. Sleep, underworld, HYPNOS.
Whenever someone walked toward them, MUSIC! And if Orpheus's music worked on Hades, with all his mean punishments (well, the underworld was the last realm left to rule in that little dice game to divide the world, and that includes the punishment thing but whatever), Lyra should be able to make the god of sleep sleepy. Er. Sleepier. With music.
Anywho,
Everyone was under the gods' protection, so they felt free to just build a random raft thing with whatever was there, go across the river, keep remembering everything they ever remembered, and go barging into Hypnos's cave and supposedly wake him.
And so a raft out of random stuff they made, and sailed across the river, remembering stuff, until they found the cave with a gazillion poppies.
It was dark. Like, seriously dark, but the magic lyre made some light.
It was weird. Lyra hid the lyre under her thick shawl. There were two ways, so she thought it was best to follow the one with the most light. But then Bon Bon reminded her that Hypnos wouldn't need light since he's pretty much an immortal sleeping handsomeness. So they split up.
BAD IDEA. BAD, BAD IDEA.
Vinyl Scratch and Lyra took one way. Octavia and Bon Bon took the other. Both ways were kind of dark.
But Octavia noticed something... glowing. She felt around it... And picked up a note.
Three luscious golden fruits that may be used to distract.
You can use them to help you win your friend back.
You will not be in danger, you are now also under my protection.
Now go out there and show your friend you love and affection.
"Apples? We're supposed to use apples to save Derpy." Vinyl Scratch complained.
"Special apples. From the goddess Aphrodite, I do believe." Bon Bon said.
"How do you know?"
Bon Bon sighed. She didn't know whether to be sad, relieved, or frustrated.
"Atalanta." She said.
"But we're in Greece. That's like... The capital of... Georgia, is it?" Lyra questioned.
"No, At- A- lanta. There's another A. She wanted to choose a husband judging by their speed. They'd have to race her. If they won, they'd marry her. If they lost, Atalanta would chop them up!"
"Did anyone win?"
"One did, Hippomenes, with some help of these apples from Aphrodite. No one can resist grabbing them, so he would throw one when Atalanta was too close. She would go back and get it while he kept going. I think I now know what we have to do."
"Well, we found the right spot in the cave. Follow us." Lyra said. She led them over to where they got a glimpse of the God of Sleep. "Here he is."
"Where is Derpy Hooves?!" Octavia demanded. "We want our friend back!"
"Yeah!" Vinyl Scratch agreed. "Why did you even have to take her in the first place?"
"Because she doesn't belong here." Hypnos said firmly. "I must kill her! I had visions of you and her entering this world. You shouldn't be here. Now that you have come, I will kill you all!"
"No." Derpy stood, her chains still on. "No, Hypnos. If you don't want us here, you can bring us back to where we used to be. Bring us back home. You'd be doing us a favour."
"Help you? Never!" Hypnos objected.
"Then I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." Bon Bon declared.
She dashed into the cave, three girls following. Hypnos charged. He jumped on top of Lyra. "He he he..." He snarled. Lyra shook her leg, one of the only things she could do, and an apple came flying out. Hypnos HAD TO HAVE IT. She pushed off Lyra and his feet hit the ground with big stomps. He took such huge steps that once his leg swooshed off the ground, his other leg did too. He was about to do a bellyflop, but he went so high he did a backflip and landed on his back. Octavia grabbed the apple he was going for and tossed it to Derpy. They desperately ran out of the cave, but the God kept following.
Lyra played a frantic tune, and they ran as fast as they could out the exit. It almost closed in time, but Hypnos got his hand in the pile of rocks. He fit his other hand in and spread his hands apart, and the rocks piled down. Panicking, a Derpy threw another fruit, and Hypnos ran. Oh, but he was fast. He caught up with them.
"I'm back, everypony!" Derpy called to some of her friends, Lyra, Bon Bon, Octavia, and Vinyl Scratch. "I got some BUBBLES!"
"What a surprise." Lyra joked, elbowing Bon Bon. But that didn't bother Derpy. She opened the bottle and blew into the stick underneath the cap. Funny, the bubbles were HUGE! "Wow! Ginormous bubbles!" Octavia said.
But the giggle came to an abrupt stop when Derpy went to get a muffin. The bubbles were getting bigger, fast, but Derpy wasn't blowing. She came around the corner with a cranberry blueberry burst coffee cake, but she immediately dropped it, and got sucked inside a bubble. Bon Bon, Vinyl Scratch, and Lyra went in separate ones as well.
Octavia thought she had a plan. All that wind, it was tough, but she managed to get around the corner into the kitchen where the wall blocked the wind. She grabbed a plastic spoon, and aimed it at Lyra's bubble, let the wind take it away, and the bubble popped. Octavia thought her friend's magic might work from outside the bubble, but she was wrong. The unicorn disappeared, leaving some soapy liquid on the living room floor. Four ponies gasped. Two bubbles burst, and just as the DJ's orb was about to, Octavia jumped into the last one and the two bubbles popped simultaneously.
A tan stallion then busted the door open. "I'm home! I just had to... Hello?" He stared at the yellow container with the soap concoction leaking out the top. He picked it up and read the label: BUBBLES! EXCLUSIVELY SOLD AT THE ENCHANTED COMIC BOOK SHOP!
"Oh no."