Playing the Heart's Strings

A month had passed since Twilight and Lyra cleared up their misunderstanding.

Autumn was coming to an end, bringing the chilling winds of winter along. The Running of the Leaves had taken place as usual, with Applejack beating Rainbow Dash by a nose. The athletic pegasus conserved a bad mood for a couple of hours, until Applejack brought a mug out of a certain cider reserve of the Apple family. Twilight Sparkle did not participate that year, as she was immersed in the study of Albert Jones, who had even gone to Ponyville’s Elementary as a speaker; he taught her many things about his world, to the point that Twilight’s notes were filling one of the Library’s shelves.

At the school, all the fillies and colts, even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, took great heed to his word. Lyra was still around, but she took care to not get too deep into her enthusiasm, though she did enjoy musical sessions with him, with a cheap guitar they had gotten their hooves/hands on. She also had attended a couple of successful presentations around Equestria.

Soon everypony in Ponyville was accustomed to the new, bipedal creature that had taken up residence in a makeshift bed at Fluttershy’s cottage, helping the kind pegasus with her animal friends. It was no fluke that he was living with her, as with the passing of the days, Albert and the ponies found that a regular pony diet was insufficient for him, causing him to fall sick.

After some deliberation from the ponies, Fluttershy came up front and offered to give him fish to eat, which he accepted eagerly. That brought him up to his feet again.

Since coming to live at the cottage, there had been a couple minor incidents regarding animals that ended up with parts of her home busted, but Fluttershy had been quick to ascribe them to their little familiarity with the new resident, calling out for Big Mac’s help with it.

Besides helping out Fluttershy, Albert served as a delivery boy for the Candies and Pastries Shop. Bon Bon and Pinkie were now employing their spare time to develop new recipes and sell them as a joint business, which was received favorably as they put forth the best of each one’s confectionaries, creating new and tasteful delicacies.

Despite some other few minor incidents around Ponyville, it all seemed quite good and clear (Rarity had almost had a stroke about the destruction of a dress made up of a quite expensive fabric; Opalescence was almost the victim of a cold bath until Rarity determined her innocence). Until it happened.

Straight Lace, the school’s janitor, was cleaning out the schoolhouse in a warm Saturday.  He was sweeping the floor, when he heard a cracking sound. He put the broom away and looked around, incapable of finding the source of the noise, but then he heard it even louder. He noticed the walls beginning to crumble and then turned around and ran away, just in time to avoid the whole structure falling on top of him.

The school was reduced to a mess of wood, bricks and mortar, with the school bell ringing its last call, as it was twisted and dented by the fall.

The townsponies were puzzled by the incident, now connecting the dots about the string of small accidents that were occurring around town, but no consensus could be reached. The school council reunited to discuss the proper procedures to take. They turned to the Apple family, who were very happy to lend their barn as a makeshift classroom, provided nopony minded it. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon did, but Tiara was overruled by her father once again, and so it was decided that classes would be held in Sweet Apple Acres until the school was rebuilt.

That same night, Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Albert were reunited at the Library. Bon Bon was also there, at Pinkie’s behalf. Lyra was away at a presentation at Las Pegasus and wouldn’t be back until two days later.

They all sat around two tables, with Albert at the center of the group, Twilight at his right.

“This is Mare do Well all over again...,” said Twilight, her furrow completely up.

Bon Bon looked over to her. ”Pinkie scared me. I thought she was having a seizure...”

“Yeah, that was a biggie! I’ve only had one as boomy as that!”  Pinkie jumped up on mere reflex, all around looking at her going up and back down. “I’m glad nopony got hurt.”

 “Yeah, we’ve been quite lucky ‘til now, but what if we run out of luck? When somepony gets hurt, it’s not gonna be so easy.” said Applejack, frowning. All sitting around the table nodded.

“I know that,” answered Twilight, levitating a piece of parchment she had in front of her. “That’s why Princess Celestia gave me this spell.”

All the eyes on the table fell upon her.

“What’s it, Twi?” asked Rainbow Dash, looking over Twilight’s shoulder.

“This is spell designed to measure the level of Chaos present in places and living beings. We’ve experienced a series of strange phenomena here in Ponyville, but we shrugged them off. However, it’s become quite clear that we can’t do so anymore.

The Princess has confided in me her worry that Discord’s release has sparked up the levels of Chaos.”

Several pages from newspapers were levitated over to the table and shown to its occupants. “Small incidents of this nature have been reported all over, but nothing like the school falling has happened in any other place.”

Every word flew in the air, coming inside of all that were listening to them. Next, Twilight levitated a book that lay on a nearby shelf, putting it on top of the table. It was a visibly old book in Middle Equinic, a language no one around knew but she understood easily.

“And that brings us to you.” continued Twilight, pointing a hoof straight to Albert’s chest, making the human open his eyes wide in surprise, all the others just following Twilight’s movements.

“Why me? I have nothing to do with this world!” He lifted his hands defensively.

“That is precisely why, Albert,” said the unicorn while opening the book, coming to a page which contained an illustration of three members of his race. She lifted the book and showed it to him. He regarded the drawings and his jaw fell open. They were Englishmen from the Middle Ages.

“What... what is this? There’ve been humans here before?”

Twilight nodded. “And we believe them, and you, have been brought here by transdimensional portals opened by Chaos.”

He looked at her, struggling to understand her words. She continued.

“I’m going to tell the story, but I’d like to ask of you not to go and get this outside. This is a book compiled by Princess Celestia a few centuries ago, out of much older notes that were decaying.  This book belongs to her personal Library. There is an official version in normal Libraries, not even the Canterlot Royal Library has this volume.”

She put her hoof down rather hard in the table. “Now, I know what some of you might be thinking.  And no, the Princess doesn’t do this regularly. But she, and Luna, feel that this particular bit of pony history is best forgotten. They strive to lead ponykind along the better path. And so, I want to be assured that you won’t comment on this outside of here.”

Her gaze swept all that surrounded her, but it was especially dedicated to Bon Bon and Albert, everyone else already knowing its contents. They nodded, and so Twilight proceeded to once again, tell the history behind Equestria’s founding.

Upon finishing, Bon Bon took a hoof to her mouth, lost in abject horror after hearing the tales of how the ponies of ancient times almost destroyed each other completely. Tears streaming freely down her cheeks, Pinkie Pie and Applejack doing her best to comfort her. The trio of earth ponies retreated to Twilight’s kitchen, while Albert just reflects on the implications of the story in relation to him.

“So here I’m a by-product of Chaos, is what you want to say?”

“Well, it IS what gave you entry to Equestria. But we don’t know if you have it inside of you. In the ancient times, they both were too busy bringing order to the recently formed Equestria to pay heed to that.”

He frowned, remembering the story. “You said that was two thousand years ago, right?”

“We’ve just crossed two thousand and one, last Summer Sun Celebration, actually.”

“But these humans couldn’t have existed more than four hundred, five hundred years tops in the past of my world!”

“Really?”  She looked at the drawings in the book again, taking every detail of them in. She frowned deeper, biting her lip.

“What is it, Twilight?” screamed both Albert and Rainbow Dash after a minute, unable to take her silence anymore. She broke apart from her book.

“This complicates things. Really.”

He just looked at her, goading her to go on. She acquiesced.

“Well, dimensional rifting is simply impossible for any level of magic known to anypony, including the Princesses. Being an effect of Chaos, I guess it’d be expected for it to be randomized. There’s two possibilities. First: the passage of time between Equestria and your world has dramatically different running rates. Second: The time jump simply hasn’t got a tiny bit of synchrony behind it. It sends you at a completely random point in time despite your beginning point.”

The remaining ponies, dragons and humans in the table looked at Twilight dumbstruck. Rainbow opened her mouth.

“And what the hay is that supposed to mean, Twilight?”

She looked around the table before answering. “It means that even if we’re able to send you back to your world, the possibilities of you going back at the same time period from which you parted are infinitely slim.”

The words hit him like a brick. There was just silence around him for a long time. Rarity, the one nearest to him, extended a hoof, talking quietly.

“Darling...”

He shook her head, alarming the white unicorn, who gasped and took back the hoof.

“It figures.” he said simply, in a dry tone. He looked back at Twilight. Rainbow Dash snickered.

“You had us worried a bit there, I thought your mind had gone flying even faster than me!”

“Are you fine, Albert?” asked Twilight, showing a lot of concern in her voice. He shrugged.

“I’m not fine, but I’ll deal with it later. There are things to do, right?”

They all looked at him, before Twilight shook her head. “Right. I think it’s better to get the measurement behind us as soon as possible. So, let’s do it?”

He nodded quietly. He followed Twilight to the other side of the Library, while the others remained behind. She brought a parchment, quill and ink next to her and then looked up, pointing her horn at him. He was soon enveloped by her purple glow. Both closed their eyes, Twilight focusing on her task. After about a minute, she let go of him and pointed to the writing supplies, which copied down a number in the parchment by themselves. She trotted over to the parchment and checked what had appeared on it.

“Your level of chaos goes up to seventy percent...” she announced in a barely audible whisper, which didn’t make it to the other side of the room.

“And what does it mean?”

“Well, a hundred percent is Discord himself. You would be the lowest point in the top tier...”

She looked at him, a completely serious expression on her face.

“We’ve got to contact Princess Celestia.”

The ovation was deafening. The public was very different from the stuck-up Canterlotian ponies, who thought the ones deserving of applause were themselves. It was a warm and friendly audience, despite the fact it wasn’t the most recommendable of places. Las Pegasus was the most out there city in the whole of Equestria, where business in other cities and towns were relegated to certain areas, here they were splayed around a big part of the city. Not to say that there weren’t many good places to be in, like the one she was in right now. Stage Lights always got the best places for her to play in, there was no doubt about that.

The lights finally shut down and she retreated backstage. She talked to the manager and got her share of the income, picked up her things and left the theater. That was her first presentation of the day. She would have another in the afternoon and the last one on Sunday noon and then she’d be free. She couldn’t wait to go around the shops in Las Pegasus and select souvenirs for her friends; she wanted so much to see their beaming faces when she showed her gifts. Distracted as she was, a hoof touching her shoulder had to do a mildly painful poke to win her attention. She turned back, angry.

“Ouch! But wh...” Her expression changed instantly to one of surprise when she caught sight of the three ponies before her. A grey pegasus with unfocused golden eyes, not unlike Lyra’s own, a young, soft lavender unicorn and an even younger purple unicorn filly. She then beamed widely, catching the three ponies in a strong embrace.

“Derpy, Sparkler, Dinky! What are you all doing here?!”

Derpy barely spoke, her voice muffled. “Lyra, you’re choking us...”

The mint green unicorn broke apart from them, grinning sheepishly. “He he, sorry, girls... But anyway, my question stands!”

“Oh, you see, Lyra...” began Derpy.

“...we’re in Las Pegasus...” continued the older unicorn.

“...in a mini-vacation!” finished the filly, grinning as wide as Lyra.

The musician tilted her head, looking confused at them. “Mini vacation?”

Derpy grinned, pulling out of her saddlebags a carnet, showing it to Lyra.

“Yes! You see, employees of the Equestrian Mail Service get discounts when travelling by train, you know? And I can bring my muffins with me! So we often hit the road and see the wonders that are there in the whole country. We hate being stuck all the time in Ponyville. Not that there’s anything wrong with my beloved village, but there’s so much out there. For our big vacations this year we plan to go Vanhoover and enjoy both the forests and the sea there!”

Lyra smiled, looking at them. “Good for you! But what are you doing in here, anyway?”

Dinky jumped happily around. “We were watching you play, Lyra!”

The older unicorn blushed, smiling. “Did you like it?”

“We...”

“...loved...”

“...it!”

Lyra’s eyes shone brightly, exactly like Derpy’s. “I’m glad, girls!  Are you going somewhere now?”

“Nope...”

“Not...”

¨

“Really...”

“Then how about you come and have lunch with me? I know a pretty good place near here.”

“Yes let’s go!”  shouted the three at once, gaining the sure attention of all surrounding them, but none of the four ponies minded. Lyra led the path to the restaurant.  The four sat at one of the tables and ordered. Dinky looked excitedly out of the window, while Sparkler went to the bathroom. Lyra pushed herself over the table, almost lying over it, looking straight into Derpy’s eyes.

“You’re thinking of something, right, Derpy? This can’t be as easy as you make it out to be...”

The mailmare backed from the musician, her eyes going nervously from one side to the other. “Lyra...”

“Come on, Derps, you know I’m a friendly mare. I won’t tell anypony.”  Lyra returned to her normal position at the other side of the table.

Derpy sighed. “Fine, Lyra, but not now...  When are you free? “

Lyra smiled, reaching out to her once again, a little more restrained this time, to talk to her friend.

Night fell all over Equestria. Derpy charged Sparkler with taking care of her younger sister and left the hotel, going downstairs to the lobby and exiting the building.  After some minutes of waiting, Lyra appeared down the street, stopping by her side.

“Ok, Derps. Ready for a girls night out?!”

The pegasus smiled and nodded, following the unicorn down the busy streets of the Las Pegasus nightlife, neon and music flaring from everywhere around them.