Playing the Heart's Strings

Twilight closed the book. Surrounding it, bulks of parchment were lying around in the table, full of notes, drawings and lists that detailed preparing procedures, work schedules, last-minute-rescheduling schedules –there was always some crazy, out-of-nowhere thing that appeared and threw her out of the loop.-  She checked the lists once and again, making sure they lived up to her standards. Everything was right.  The library was clean and organized and Spike was ready to be left in charge of it. The small dragon snickered at the unicorn's overzealous organization, all for an absence that could last one hour, two hours tops.

She didn’t care; he would eventually come to realize just how important was to have the proper order for everything. She was a lot more relaxed now, mostly because of certain events that had shown her the need to be less stuck up when it came to such matters, but it would not mean she was going to drop her guard and let everything come down to an ungodly mess.

The saddlebags were levitated to her back by her own magic, properly secured and checked –the vials and bottles she needed and some lists for the stuff she was going to get- before she sought out her assistant.

“Well, Spike, I’m heading out to the forest now. Take good care of this place, will you?”

“Yes, of course. It’ll only be a couple of hours, chill down,Twi!” blurted out the small dragon, pushing her out of the building.

“Ok, Spike, I trust you.”

She walked by the town, waving her hoof to a cheery, bouncy Pinkie Pie that jumped around –“Hi, Twi, have you tried pepper muffins?”- and ponies that went on their way across the streets; Apple Bloom and Big Mac were selling apples at the market. The path that led to the forest was calm and clear; as Twilight trotted by the side of Fluttershy’s cottage, she couldn’t see anypony around. Most likely, the shy pegasus would be inside her house, or behind it, feeding the small animals.

She trotted happily as the sunlight provided her with warm and fuzzy feelings. The Everfree Forest was a place where most ponies would not go, filled as it was with dangerous beasts and plants, but it was not as dreadful a place as most made it out to be. Zecora, the smart and gentle zebra, lived into its depths without much of a problem, having just many things of what she knew and needed for her concoctions. Such potions, creams and preparations, which the zebra was so skilled at, produced many results that would be very hard to achieve with simple unicorn magic; it would require extensive and deep study on magical theories before anything could be even thought of as being plausible. For that reason Twilight had requested from her mentoring in the ways of using natural ingredients to prepare many things that would be useful for ponies. She basked on the cherished, familiar feelings of learning new things; moreover, she would, for once, branch out of magic as a main topic of study.

A sudden sharp pain in the forehead interrupted her thoughts. Her horn and head ached and her body was trembling from the shock. Once she had recovered enough, she looked at the object in front of her.

It was a stone statue. A very weird stone statue. A bipedal creature that stood tall and had its face contorted in a very strange expression, halfway through fear and surprise. Its mane fell to its shoulders and down its face. It didn't have hooves, but arms like a dragon, except they ended in long, thin claws with nails, not small and sharp. It also wore very strange clothing. The figure clicked something on her mind, but she could not grasp what it was.  Sunlight fell on top of the statue, covering it in shadows.

The unicorn was mesmerized by the sight and a feeling inside that called for her to take it and carry to the library for study.

She trotted hurriedly to Zecora’s hut. The zebra accepted graciously her many apologies and assured her she would be there to help Twilight whenever the unicorn needed it. Relieved, Twilight went back to the forest clear where the statue was standing. She studied it; the stone monument did not bear any sign of damage, it in fact appeared such as if it were newly sculpted. And how and why did such a thing turn out spontaneously in the middle of the Everfree? Twilight’s curiosity only grew more as each second passed.

A purple glow linked the stone construction to her magic. She gave it a pull. The stone was heavy and pulled back against her. Still she held firmly on place and with a slow, steady rhythm, turned back to town, making her way through the forest; behind her, the statue hovered a few inches above the floor. As she came out from the thick trees, having taken a couple of rests along the way, she found Fluttershy outside of her cottage, feeding her critters. The yellow pegasus caught sight of her friend and the strange thing she had brought with her.

“Good morning, Twilight.  Um, what’s that you have in there, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Hello, Fluttershy. I found this statue in the path in middle of the forest and something told me I should bring it with me. It’s really heavy though…”

“I’ve never seen something like that…”

“I’m not sure about this, Fluttershy, but I think this… this is a human.”

The shy mare gasped rather quietly, her mouth forming a small “o” in surprise.

“A human? As in those that are spoken of in the old mare’s tales? You really think so, Twilight?”

“Like I said, I’m not sure. That’s why I’m taking it to the library, in order to study it properly. Once there, everything will be sorted out, I know.”

She parted from her friend, who promised she would come by later, struggling with the lifting of the figure. The sight of the main town appearing before her eyes at last set her at ease, or it would have done so if so many ponies didn’t turn around to look at her and her “package” crossing the streets. Whispers heralded her as she made her way through and continued when she left them behind. She made it to Ponyville’s park and put the statue down in order to rest. As soon as she had made it to the library, she would have to make sure to eat something before going on with anything else. She sat down below a huge tree to enjoy the shadow it provided when something –or somepony- rushed by her side, making her hairs stand on end. A green blur was all her eyes registered, until it came to a stop beside the statue.

The green mint coated unicorn musician, Lyra Heartstrings, lifted her gaze at it, awe striking from the very core of her being. From where she was lying, Twilight could have sworn she was gleaming. Lyra lifted her body to stand on her hind legs, supporting her forelegs on the statue’s midsection, looking up to its face. Her bright golden eyes saw the image reflected on their pupils. Four words broke the silence, as everypony was focused on the mare that was barely restraining herself from jumping up and down in overbearing glee.

“THIS. IS. A. HUMAN!”

Twilight rose and walked towards Lyra and the statue. She knew very little about the other unicorn, other than having seen her around sometimes, when she came to the library and put out books on ancient legends and music, or, for some reason, as one of Cadence’s bridesmaids at the royal wedding.  Catching up to them she brought out her best smile.

“Hello. Your name is Lyra, right?”

The green mare beamed, lowering herself to floor level.

“Yes!” screamed the visibly excited Lyra, jumping happily next to Twilight. “I’m  Lyra Heartstrings and this,” said she as her hoof pointed towards the stone “is a human, right?!”

Lyra’s filly-like excitement amused Twilight, who chuckled and nodded.

"Yes, I think that’s the most obvious answer for now. I found it in the Everfree Forest and was taking it to the library for study.”

Upon hearing this, the musician’s ears perked up, and she hopped in front of Twilight. She very much reminded the scholar of an overly hyped Pinkie Pie.

“Can I go with you, yes? Please!” pleaded the green unicorn, directing puppy eyes at Twilight, who couldn’t take it.

“Yes, come on, I’d like to have a research partner.”

“YES!”

“You’ll have to help me take the statue back to the library, though. I’m pretty tired already. There’s not much left to arrive.”

Her partner nodded and two different magical glows grabbed the statue. Each mare walked at one side of the statue, to the amazement of everypony they met in their way. Upon arriving to the library, Twilight screamed

“Spike, please come and open!”

The small dragon’s voice could be heard from inside.

“Coming, Twi. I thought you’d take more time, what with...” His speech was cut off as he opened the door and saw what floated in front of him.

“Celestia, Twilight! What is that thing?”

“Let us go inside and we’ll explain it properly, ok?”  He finally looked to the side and saw Lyra, who despite being silent, oozed cheerfulness from every pore.

The statue was laid horizontally so it could fit through the door and put on the middle of the room.

Twilight sat down on her haunches and exhaled a sigh.

“Spike, could you make something to eat? I’d like to have a small break, it’s been tiring hauling this from the forest.”

“Sure, boss, just give me a couple of minutes.”

Lyra’s ears deflated slightly and a pout formed in her lips. “Aww, I wanted to get to it right now…”

Twilight turned her head back, looking at her.

“Have a little bit of patience, Lyra.”  She mentally chuckled, thinking about how that would’ve sounded if she had said it to her old self of only some months ago.

Twilight levitated a book from one of the shelves. The big, old book fell on top of the table, its title was Ancient Equestrian Legends and Stories.  Its pages were flipped by her magic until she found what she was looking for: a page which had an illustration covering half of it. The creature it represented resembled strongly the one they had in front of them, only its skin seemed to have some hair in the face and its clothes were very much different from the ones worn by the one standing in the library. The text offered one recollection from the tales that were told of the strange race that had once stepped on Equestrian soil: humans.

“Some of these creatures were brought to Equestria… in the time of Discord’s reign?”

Twilight’s expression was soon changed to a frown as she read the scarce details available in the book. It did little to clear her mind. Next to her, Lyra sat with a confused look on her face

“Discord?”

Twilight looked at her. Oh, right… She cleared her throat.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything useful in these books, apart from the usual story… But I should be able to ask Princess Celestia about this.”

Lyra’s mouth opened in amazement again “It’s gotta be cool be an Element of Harmony and the Princess’ personal student!” Her expression became dead serious all of a sudden. “But does that mean we can’t find out anything right now? I can’t believe that…  Oh, wait until I tell Bon Bon about this! Can I come back later, then?!”

“Yes, you can come back later, Lyra. Now, I’m gonna write the letter and send it. Will see you later.”

With that, the green mare waved goodbye and sped through the door, surprising some of the ponies that were spying through the library’s windows. Twilight sighed, shutting down the curtains. She called to her assistant.

“Spike, I need to send a letter!”