A Dream So Realby ThreeZeusChaptersPrologue: RunTrying to UnderstandGetting CloserPrologue: RunI've been here before. This is nothing new. I look up at the sky. It's the same as it always is when I come here; smoggy. This is nothing new. There are thousands of others around me, all going to their respective destinations. Every single one has somewhere to be, it seems. I'm the only one who stops to just take it all in. This is nothing new. I look at the buildings; that's what I always look at. I used to look at the others, but they're all so boring. I can't talk to them, and they won't pay attention to me even if I get in their way. They're all the same, all so boring. So instead I look at the buildings. Most of them are similar too, but you can look inside them. Each one has something different. I don't know what the things inside are for the most part, but it's always interesting to look at. This is nothing new. Usually when I'm here I feel cold; emotionless. Like the others all around me who just stare down or in front of themselves and show no emotion. When I think about it later, it's breathtaking, but in the moment it always seems so banal. So unexciting. This time I feel something. This time I feel terrified. This is something new. My eyes dart around the crowd. I don't know who or what I'm looking for, but I know I'm looking. I spot them. Two of them. They look different. They're not like all the others. They're not looking down or just straight forward, they're looking at something specific. They're looking at me. I do something I never do here; I walk. Normally it seems too much to walk; all those around me would stop me from getting anywhere. It would be too much effort. I have a fine perspective to begin with as it is. This time I feel the need to walk, so I walk. Away from those two, but I turn back to look at the, They're still looking at me. They're walking towards me. They're walking fast. I follow suit. I increase my pace and return looking forward to make sure I don't collide with anyway. I can't resist though, soon I turn backwards again. I lock eyes with one of the two. We all stop. Time seems to slow down immensely. I see the one I locked eyes with open his mouth to yell something. Before he even says it, I know what he's going to say. Then, yet another something new happens. I hear. I never hear anything here. It's always silent. But this time I hear something. I the one I locked eyes with yell to the other. “GET HER!” My eyes go wide. I turn around. I start to run. In that instant, everything comes to life. I can hear everything; I hear the others walking and myself running. I hear the idle chit-chat. I hear, and feel for that matter, the wind rushing by my face as I sprint as fast as my legs will carry me. I hear other noises too; noises I don't recognize; high-pitched horns and roaring noises other things I can't place. I don't have time to think about it now though. Right now I just know I have to run. The others come to life too. They still generally only look ahead, but they react to things, they say things, and when I knock people over in my frantic sprint they yell things. Do these people not understand I'm trying to make a get-away here? They're so in the way. Why are there always so many of them? All the others have stopped at the edge of the road. They're waiting, I'm not positive why. I don't have time to wait. I push through the crowd and dash across, only looking ahead. I hear yelling and screeching and horns, I think I've done something wrong, but I don't care. I keep running. Have to keep running. Can't stop running. I don't dare turn back, turning back will slow me down. I decide to turn into an alley. Dead end. I gulp. They're going to catch me. No. No they're not. I won't let them. There's a fence in this alley, but I can climb it. I charge at the fence and jump onto it, latching hold and wasting not time getting up and over. The metal feels cold on my fingertips. I don't turn around to see if they made it over too; I don't want to know. For now, I keep running. Don't stop running. Whatever you do, don't stop running. Well, that's what I tell myself, but I feel my body tiring out. I don't have nearly the stamina I usually do. I run into a huge crowd of people and start to slow down after convincing myself that I've lost them. I don't see either of them anyway. Maybe they didn't cross the road. Maybe they didn't clear the fence? Maybe they lost their breath before me and had to stop? Maybe they lost me in the crowd? An instant later, it doesn't matter. I see complete darkness descend over me. I feel felt on my face and feel string closing in around my neck. It's over. I feel myself fall to my knees, then I feel nothing at all. The last piece of sensory input I get is a sound. The sound of a man speaking softly into my ear through the darkness. “Gotcha.” ________________________________________________________________________________ Lyra jolted awaking, sat right up in bed and began breathing heavily. Another human dream, but this one had been different. “Lyra?” came a soft voice. “What is it?” Bon Bon's tone was a mixture of annoyance for being woken and concern for Lyra. “Nothing” Lyra finally said after many moments of tense silence. “Just... just a bad dream.” At that, Lyra lay back down, but her eyes stayed wide open. Getting back to sleep would be no easy task. Trying to UnderstandWhen Lyra had woken up for the second time, she still felt in shock from her terrifying dream. Like most mornings, Bon Bon had already crept out of bed and was preparing breakfast in the kitchen. Before moving in with Bon Bon, Lyra had always found it difficult to force herself out of bed in the mornings, but now that waking up was always accompanied by the fragment aroma of a delicious breakfast, the task was much easier. “Morning Lyra,” Bon Bon said as Lyra entered the kitchen. When Lyra gave no response, Bon Bon turned around to face her. “Something wrong Lyra? You look...” Bon Bon struggled momentarily for a fitting word. “troubled. You look troubled.” “Yeah. Had a crazy dream,” replied Lyra. “Want to talk about it?” asked Bon Bon. “I do, but first,” said Lyra, her glum expression lightening up somewhat. “let me get some of those.” Lyra pointed the scrumptious looking stack of pancakes which Bon Bon had prepared. “Sure thing.” Bon Bon placed a couple pancakes on a plate and pushed them over in front of a chair beside Lyra. Lyra quickly sat down and began stuffing her face full deliciousness. “Another human dream?” Bon Bon asked. This hadn't been the first time Lyra reacted to a dream, and when she did it was almost without fail one about humans. Considering her mouth was full of chewed up pancakes, Lyra decided to just nod in reply. “I keep telling you Lyra, it's no wonder you have dreams about them if they're constantly on your mind. You shouldn't get so alarmed by-” “This one was different,” said Lyra, her mouth now clear of pancake. “Normally nothing happens in the dreams and they're fuzzy in retrospect. This time though, something did happen, and I still remember it all perfectly.” “So what happened?” “Well it started out like all the other ones. I was in that city with all the humans,” Lyra began. Bon Bon nodded in recognition, this was indeed the way all of Lyra's human dreams were set up. “But I felt scared for some reason... and then I saw these two humans looking straight at me.” Lyra continued to explain her entire dream in extreme detail, covering every sensory detail and each piece of action that took place in order to prove her point on how vivid this dream really was. “Is that all?” Bon Bon said when Lyra had finally finished. Lyra seemed both shocked and disappointed at Bon Bon's reaction, so Bon Bon quickly amended her response. “I didn't mean it like that. I just think you're getting a little too worked up over nothing. So you had a bad dream, and it involved humans because you're always thinking about them. Doesn't seem too crazy to me. Try not to stress out over it too much.” “I guess,” Lyra muttered . She really shouldn't have expected much else from Bon Bon, ever the realist. “It's just, it didn't feel like a dream. It felt like...” Lyra paused to try and think of the word she was looking for. “...well I don't know, but do you get what I'm saying?” Bon Bon just shook her head; she really wasn't getting it. Deciding it wasn't worth pursuing, Lyra turned back to her pancakes. ________________________________________________________________________________ “Running a little late, Lyra.” Lyra looked over to one of the many clocks on the wall of Dr. Hooves' workshop to check the time. “Thirteen seconds late. Gimmie a break.” Leave it to a clock maker to be that picky about time. “Hmm... well I suppose I'll let you off the hook this time.” Dr. Hooves chuckled. “I've got to head out and do my morning rounds on the public clocks of Ponyville. Colgate's already in the back, so just ask her what you should tackle today.” “Got it. See ya around Doc,” Lyra responded as the Doctor happily exited the workshop. Lyra walked into the back room to find Colgate happily working away at a cuckoo-clock. She pointed Lyra to a pile of damaged clocks and told her to work her way through repairing them. Yet another day of work as a clock maker began. Clock making and repairing certainly wasn't Lyra's dream job, but she certainly did have some of the necessary skills. Just like playing a lyre, tinkering with clocks required very precise, careful magic. Beyond that, Lyre was quite fond of her co-workers. Dr. Hooves was a very good-natured boss and a enjoyable person in general. Colgate on the other hand was an absolute joy to be around. Save for perhaps Pinkie Pie, Lyra had never met a funnier pony. If there was one good thing that came out of this job for Lyra, it was her friendship with Colgate. The work itself was often somewhat boring, but between casual conversation and reminding herself of the excellent pay, Lyra was generally able to keep herself sane. Today however she found herself unable to take Bon Bon's advice and was still thinking about her dream. Apparently Colgate noticed Lyra's distracted mood, as she brought it up not long into the day. “So what's eating at ya Lyra?” Colgate asked without warning. “Hu? What makes you think something's eating at me?” “You're uh... working... slower than usual,” Colgate replied. Lyra looked glumly down at the clock she'd be basically just staring at for the last hour. “It's nothing,” Lyra said, trying to refocus on her work. “C'mon, you can tell me! We're friends! Issues with Bon Bon or something?” “No, nothing like that. It's just... well you'll think it's stupid. Let's just get back to work.” “No way, now I really want to know! Come on!” Colgate begged. “Promise you won't laugh?” Lyra asked. Colgate nodded in reply. “Okay... I uh... had a really bad dream.” Colgate kept a straight face a few moments, then cracked a big grin. “Alright, I admit I was holding back a bit of laughter there. But I guess if it's bugging you this much it must have been pretty bad one. Another human dream?” Lyra nodded. “Well you talk about those things constantly, it's no wonder they're in your dreams ya know.” Lyra groaned. “You sound exactly like Bon Bon.” “Nice.” Colgate grinned wildly. “Anyway, tell me about this dream, I wanna hear all about it.” By now, the two had completely dropped their work in favor of conversation. Lyra described the dream in great detail, just as she had to Bon Bon. Rather than seem unimpressed as Bon Bon had however, Colgate was clearly eating it up like a young filly being given a bedtime story. When Lyra finished with her capture however, Colgate's expression rapidly turned from interest to concern. “I don't know why it's bothering me so much.” Lyra said as soon as she had finished. “It didn't feel like a dream, it felt like... like...” Lyra still couldn't find the word she was looking for. “Wow.” Lyra's co-worker shifted awkwardly in place. “That's some dream. Guess we better get back to work though, hu?” With that Colgate turned around to return to the pocket watch she had been fixing up. “Wait!” Lyra shouted, though she quickly felt embarrassed at how loud she had said it. “I mean, you don't think it means anything, do you?” Colgate turned her head back to Lyra and bit her lower lip. “I'm not sure. Mayb-” Suddenly her face brightened up as if she had been suddenly blessed with an idea. “I know! You should speak with Pinkie Pie. She's great at understanding weird stuff like this.” “Pinkie Pie? Are you sure?” Lyra felt unsure about asking Pinkie Pie for advice on something she was trying to take seriously. “Positive! In fact, you should go speak with her now! She's probably at Sugercube Corner. Go on.” “Right now? Really? Are you su-” “Lyra,” Colgate's face suddenly became extremely serious. “You should really go speak with Pinkie Pie. Now.” Lyra nodded sheepishly and rushed out of the workshop into Ponyville. She had no idea why Colgate felt so strongly about this, but if it made Colgate turn on her serious face, it was probably very important. Unfortunately when Lyra did reach Sugercube Corner, the line was flowing all the way outside. She wasn't ordering any food though, she just wanted to ask some questions, so Lyra figured it would be okay if she crept in and bypassed the line. Doing this got Lyra a couple glares, but no one called her out as she didn't seem to be inserting herself into line. Behind the counter was Mrs. Cake happily helping her customers. No Pinkie Pie in sight. “Mrs. Cake?” Mrs. Cake looked over to Lyra. “Something you need hun?” “Sorry to bug you, is Pinkie Pie around?” “Hmmm...” Mrs. Cake thought a moment. “No, I remember Rarity and her leaving together earlier though, so maybe they went to Rarity's shop?” “Thanks,” Lyra said, quickly running out of the shop and to the opposite side of Ponyville. Part of Lyra was tempted to just return to work and say she couldn't find Pinkie Pie, but Colgate had seemed very serious, so she would probably just send Lyra right back out. Luckily when Lyra reached Carousel Boutique she could hear Pinkie Pie's voice inside, quelling her fears that she would be spending all day hunting down the pink pony. “Pinkie Pie honestly, stop moving!” Rarity's voice called out. “Hehehe, but it tickles!” Pinkie Pie giggled. Lyra cautiously entered the boutique to find an exasperated Rarity struggling to keep Pinkie Pie still. From what Lyra could tell, Pinkie Pie had agreed to do some modeling for Rarity, and what Rarity had chosen for Pinkie to wear appeared to be, well Lyra wasn't sure what one would call it. It didn't necessarily look bad, but it was one of the frilliest dresses Lyra had ever seen, and she had to admit it looked rather ticklish. “Oh hello Lyra dear. What can I help you with?” Rarity asked, not daring to remove her hooves from securing Pinkie Pie's shaky body. “Actually I was just looking for Pinkie Pie.” Lyra admitted. “Really?” Pinkie chirped. “What's up L-” “She's a bit busy at the moment, could it perhaps wait?” “Yeah, sorry Lyra. I promised Rarity I'd wear her tickle dress,” Pinkie said with a grin, clearly stifling back a few more giggles as she spoke. “Oh, yeah I guess it could wait,” Lyra agreed, feeling somewhat disappointed. “It's just Colgate said I should really talk to you immediately.” At the mention of Colgate, Pinkie Pie's expression blanked out for a very brief moment. A second later, Pinkie's grin returned. “Sorry Rarity, but this sounds super-duper important!” Before Rarity could react, Pinkie Pie hopped into the air and did a twirl, flinging all the clothing she was wearing haphazardly around the room. “I'll be back soon! See ya!” Rarity looked as if she could scream, but merely muttered some harsh words under her breath instead as she began to pick up the scattered articles of clothing. Lyra felt somewhat bad for Rarity, but something was telling her she really had to speak with Pinkie Pie. It hadn't occurred to Lyra how strange it was that Pinkie reacted when Colgate was mentioned. “So what didja want to talk about Lyra?” “Colgate told me I should ask you about a dream I had.” Pinkie Pie already seemed interested. “Okie-dokie-lokie! What was it about?” “Well it started off with...” Lyra trailed off. With Bon Bon and Colgate they knew about Lyra's earlier human dreams. Lyra wasn't even sure Pinkie Pie knew what a human was. “Do you know what a human is?” “Yup! Big tall things, walk around on two legs, no fur,” Pinkie responded happily. “Hu, so you do know plenty about them.” “You have no idea,” Pinkie said cheerfully. Lyra chose to ignore the comment. Instead she went into a explanation of her past human dreams, how they always seemed so uninteresting in the moment, how all the other people seemed so expressionless. Then she delved into the dream, just like when telling the last two times, Lyra was sure to fill in every detail. By the end of the dream Pinkie Pie had concern spread across her face. “Jeeze Lyra, that's some doozy of a dream,” Pinkie Pie observed. “I feel like it meant something... do you think it did?” Lyra asked, desperately hoping Pinkie Pie would have some insight. “Lyra I...” Pinkie Pie looked down at her hooves. Lyra could tell she was uncomfortable with the conversation. She then noticed Pinkie muttering things very quietly under her breath. Who was she talking to? “It didn't feel like like a dream,” Lyra began, hoping this time the word would come to her. “It felt like...” Luckily, she didn't have to search. Pinkie Pie finished the sentence for her. “A memory.” “Yeah... Pinkie, what does this mea-” A pink hoof placed over Lyra's mouth stopped her from speaking further. “Listen Lyra,” Pinkie Pie spoke in an extremely serious tone. First Colgate, now Pinkie Pie. Why was everyone so serious today? “You will understand soon, okay? I promise. But you have to promise me something, okay?” Lyra nodded. “Pinkie Promise me you won't tell anypony else about this dream. It's very important that you don't!” “Okay okay. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye I won't tell anypony,” Lyra performed all of Pinkie's silly motions as she spoke. It seemed to satisfy some of the party ponies' worry, since she was now smiling. “Good! Now, who else have you already told?” “Besides you, just Colgate and Bon Bon.” “Great! Colgate won't blab. Make sure Bon Bon doesn't,” Pinkie instructed. “Okay, fine. Now will you tell me what my dream meant? Please?” Pinkie Pie sighed and looked down. “Not yet. You can't know yet. You aren't ready.” Lyra grunted angrily in response and marched off, now feeling very upset at Pinkie's refusal. “Don't forget your Pinkie Promise!” Lyra heard Pinkie shout after her. To hell with the Pinkie Promise. Lyra wanted answers and she would get them. Pinkie Pie wouldn't tell her though, so who would? Colgate maybe? Lyra considered demanding answers from her, but a better idea came to her as she spotted a pony she was sure could help. Twilight Sparkle. “Twilight! Wait up!” Lyra shouted as she ran to the purple unicorn. “Something the matter Lyra?” Twilight Sparkle asked as Lyra stopped along side her. “I need some help understanding something,” Lyra answered. With that Lyra walked with the purple unicorn, who was currently returning to the library, and explained her entire dream, not thinking twice about the Pinkie Promise she was breaking. Twilight's interest seemed purely scholarly. Lyra wasn't as surprised as she was with Pinkie when Twilight revealed she knew plenty about humans as well. When Lyra finished describing the dream, she was delighted to find that Twilight didn't suddenly become awkward or evasive. Instead, she had insisted Lyra come to the library with her, saying that she had some books on dream interpretation which may be able to help. Lyra was, of course, more than happy to come. As soon as Lyra entered the library however, the mood of the encounter changed drastically. The door was magically slammed behind her and latched. Lyra looked over to Twilight, who's face now bore something cyan unicorn had never seen before. Lyra had seen the librarian frustrated or neurotic, but this was different. Right now Twilight's face was pure rage. “Who else did you tell?” Twilight demanded through gritted teeth. “I- What?” Lyra was taken aback by Twilight's sudden demeanor. “I said, who else did you tell!? About your stupid dream!” “W-w-why do you want to kno-” “TELL ME!” Twilight screamed. “N-nopony,” Lyra lied. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to lie, but she felt the truth my make Twilight even angrier. “LIAR!” With that, Twilight turned and bucked Lyra right in the flank, eliciting a loud yelp of pain. “Come on Lyra, don't play games with me.” Twilight spoke down to the now fallen over Lyra. “Just tell me which ponies you told about your dream and we can be done with this.” Lyra prepared herself to refuse, but suddenly felt whispers in her head. Tell her. Tell her. Tell her. Lyra found herself completely unable to resist them. She picked herself up and began to speak softly. “Just B-Bon Bon, Colgate and P-Pinkie Pie,” Lyra stuttered. At the mention of the latter two, Twilight did indeed become angrier. “Oh boy, you've made a big mistake Lyra.” Twilight smirked with malice. Lyra began backing away, but Twilight walked slowly forward. Soon Lyra bumped into the wall of the library and could only whimper as Twilight closed the distance between them. Lyra clamped her eyes shut in fear, when suddenly she felt the presence of everything around her fade away. She tried opening her eyes only to find she could not, they were sealed shut. ________________________________________________________________________________ The next moment, Lyra bolted awake, she was in her bed once again. A dream. That's all it had been, just a dream, of course. But when had she fallen asleep? Lyra moved to get out of bed, only to find that her flank hurt to move. She turned her head to give it a look and realized with horror that a hoof shaped bruise had developed. “What's happening to me?” Lyra asked aloud, not expecting any answer. Despite the fact that she had apparently just been asleep, Lyra felt immensely tired. Too tired to think about what had been dream and what had been real, or any of what just happened. Lyra's head crashed into her pillow, and only moments later, sleep overtook her. Getting CloserLyra did not dream. Upon waking, the drowsy mare noticed something different about this particular morning. There was no aroma of breakfast coming from the kitchen. That was, however, no real cause for concern, it had happened before. Sometimes Bon Bon felt like sleeping in, though she was clearly not in bed. Sometimes she had some early appointment or some other urgent business that prevented her from preparing the morning meal. She usually left a note of some sort to tell Lyra. Not wanting to take the gift of deliciousness for granted, Lyra of course never complained at these sporadic events. There was no note. This was a bit more worrying. Bon Bon always left a note. Perhaps she had just forgotten? Perhaps she had to leave suddenly? Perhaps she was just elsewhere in the house? Lyra called out for Bon Bon, but received no response. Whatever the reason, Lyra didn't let herself fret too much. After all, there were some heavier things in her mind at the moment, and there was always a box of cereal in the pantry just in case she needed to make herself breakfast. Lyra thought carefully about the day before and what had happened. The bruise on her flank was proof that Twilight had really kicked her, so why had she suddenly woken up like that? Maybe she passed out? Why did she wake up in her own bed unharmed besides the bruise then? Even with plenty of rest and food in her stomach, none of this made any sort of sense to Lyra. “And where's Bon Bon?” she wondered aloud. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't get too worked up over the earth pony's sudden disappearance, but in combination with everything else happening it seemed strange. It was at that moment Lyra noticed the time. Lyra always checked the time as soon as she woke up to ensure she hadn't overslept, and today she had woken up at around 7:30. However the clock in Lyra's kitchen now read 7:15. Upon closer inspection, she discovered the second hand ticking backwards. Having plenty of experience in clock repair, Lyra was pretty sure that couldn't just happen on it's own. Was Bon Bon pulling pranks or something? Her mind on clock repair, Lyra realized she should probably leave for work soon; if this clock had been wrong the rest of the clocks in the house could be as well, so she couldn't be sure what time it was. Upon attempting to leave her house however, Lyra experienced yet another oddity. She reached out to open her door, and the second her hoof touched it, it gave off a loud bang and shattered into a thousand tiny pieces, causing Lyra to jump back and react with a loud expletive. To the unicorn's surprise however, it seemed no passersby noticed the explosion, nor Lyra's reaction. Deciding to ignore the inexplicable explosion for now, Lyra rushed off through Ponyville towards Dr Hooves' workshop. At one point she stole a glance at the clock tower in order to get a feel for the time, but as if the rest of the day hadn't been weird enough, the two hands of the clock appeared to be blinking in and out of existence over 12 o'clock. Just like the door however, nopony seemed to be reacting to this whatsoever. A brief jog and another exploded door later, Lyra finally arrived in the workshop. To her dismay, the Doctor was not present, meaning she had likely missed him she was so late. “Later than usual, Lyra,”Colgate said as she entered the front of the workshop from her workstation in the back. “Yeah, uh...” Lyra paused, trying to word herself without seeming dumb. “How late am I?” “Well the walls in this room are covered in clocks Lyra.” Colgate grinned to herself. Lyra looked nervously to the walls, but each clock appeared do be malfunctioning in some bizarre manner. Some were ticking backwards, some blinked like the clock tower, some had hands moving in opposite directions. Some had hands that appeared to be racing around the clock. None of them, as far as Lyra could tell, would reveal to her the actual time. Could Colgate not see any of this? Lyra looked back to Colgate and shrugged. “Wow Lyra. I have to say, it's pretty impressive that you've lasted this long here without being able to read a clock!” “No! It's not that! The clocks just...” Lyra carefully considered what to tell Colgate. She didn't want to appear a crazy pony. “They're all doing strange things, or at least they look like they are. Can you not see it?” Colgate looked at Lyra strangely for a moment, as if Lyra had just said something out of place, which granted she had. The next moment however, Colgate's eyes went wide in realization. “They're doing it already!?” “What? Who?” “I can't believe they're ready that fast? Or maybe they already knew? That must be it. Wow! This is excit-” “Colgate!” Lyra shouted, cutting her friend off. “What's going on? What do you know?” Colgate just smiled at Lyra's clear exasperation. “What's happening to doors?” she asked. “What?” “Doors. What happens when you touch them?” “How-” “Tell me tell me tell me!” Colgate was practically bouncing with anticipation. “They explode,” Lyra finally said. Colgate went wide eyed and she gasped loudly. “That's... so cool! I'm super jealous! When I went through transfer doors just dissolved! Oh Lyra you get all the fun, you know that?” “Fun?! It's not fun. And what do you mean 'when I went though transfer'? This happened to you too?” “Most ponies see all the same kind of stuff, but everypony has a different reaction to doors. But yours is probably the coolest I've heard so far! Well except for maybe Pinkie Pie; doors turned into a pile of jigsaw pieces for her.” “Colgate you're not answering my questions!” Lyra remarked. Colgate just shook her head at the confused unicorn. “You're in no state to work Lyra. You need to go out and explore! There's sure to be all sorts of cool stuff to see!” “But Colgate,” Lyra protested. “You haven't explained-” “No buts! It'll be creepy and weird at first but you'll regret it forever if you don't savor this day!” Colgate shoved Lyra outside the workshop without another word and slammed the door shut. “And I know you could just explode this door to get back through, but don't!” Colgate called outside. Lyra's felt tempted to respond with anger, but contained herself and instead decided on taking Colgate's advice and observe her surroundings. What she saw simply astounded her. Had all this just happened or had she been completely inattentive the last time she walked through town? It was, as Colgate had said, rather creepy and Lyra had to constantly assure herself she was not going insane, but the sights she saw were in so many ways fascinating as well. Pegasus ponies appeared as though they were all flying backwards and upside down; unicorn horns were all flashing like strobe lights and with various bright colors; and perhaps strangest of all were earth ponies whose heads seemed to be perpetually spinning around on their necks. “Discord's got nothing on whoever is doing all this,” Lyra thought aloud. “It hasn't really got the same effect if only one pony can see it,” a voice from behind the confused mare spoke. Lyra spun around immediately to find none other than her boss, Dr. Hooves, smiling kindly at her. “Dr. Hooves! I'm so sorry I was late this morning! It's just- I just- the clocks-” “Lyra, settle yourself,” Dr. Hooves chuckled. “I will of course forgive your absence, I understand the presence of some abnormal conditions. But would you please satisfy a stallion's curiosity?” “Er, sure?” “What happens when you touch doors?” Dr. Hooves asked. At that moment Lyra felt inclined towards a variety of reactions, including but not limited to screaming, running, groaning, and burying her head in the ground. However in the end she just sighed. “They explode.” “How interesting!” Dr. Hooves exclaimed. “Oh and don't look so worried; I assume you crossed paths Colgate this morning and she presented you with a similar query?” Lyra nodded. “Yes, well there are very few other ponies who are aware of your current state of mind, you just happen to have close connections with a relatively large number!” “Right. And Colgate wouldn't explain anything. Will you please tell me what's going on? And tell me who else is in on this crazy thing so I know who'll ask about doors?” Lyra begged. “Of course Colgate told you nothing, it wasn't her place. She may be a strange one but she knows perfectly well there are lines one does not cross. You'll be able to spot others by the fact that they don't seem altered by your damaged perspective.” Lyra blinked. “By which I mean my head isn't spinning in circles right now, is it?” “Oh, right. But you still haven't answered my second question,” Lyra pointed out. “Hm? Oh, well yes, I promise it will all be explained in time. However it's really something that needs to be told at just the right time and I'm afraid-” “So you're not telling me anything either.” “That's correct,” Dr. Hooves affirmed. Lyra swore under her breath. “No need for such language.” “Right right right. Did you want something?” Lyra said, not bothering with manners at this point. “Yes, you need to stay close to me,” Dr. Hooves explained. “Not everyone in Ponyville is an ally or just neutral. We have many enemies as well.” “Twilight?” Lyra asked, remembering yesterday's encounter. “Among others, yes. I understand that yesterday you may have felt desperate, but you really should have listened to Pinkie Pie. Talking to Twilight Sparkle was beyond dangerous. You're lucky to still be in Ponyville.” “I don't suppose you could explain what happened back there? I have no idea what happened after she started attacking me, I just remember waking up in bed.” “Yes, I suppose they wouldn't want you to retain that memory,” Dr. Hooves mused. He then turned to Lyra and began to explain. “We got lucky; we realized what was happening and came to your rescue. They blanked your memory to just before that point it seems.” “Who's they?” “I... can't tell you that.” Lyra growled with frustration. “You can't expect me to understand the danger if you won't explain any of the details to me!” “You're right,” Dr. Hooves admitted. “I shouldn't have told you anything.” “Uhg!” Lyra began to walk off. “I'm done with this. I'm going home.” Lyra heard the Doctor shouting after her, begging her to come back, but she was having none of it. She was sick of this craziness, sick of ponies not telling her things, sick of it all. Once home Lyra entered the kitchen and simply began pacing back and forth. She had no idea what was going on, when this insanity and exploding doors would end, or why this was all happening. She wanted nothing more than for all of this to end, but has no vestige of how to accomplish this goal. For now, her only indication was the pace back and forth, and so she did. After what could have been hours just as easily as it could have been mere minutes of pacing, Lyra heard a faint whisper in her ear. Lyra... More craziness. Lyra chose to ignore it. It would go away if she ignored it. Lyra... Louder that time. Just ignore it. Lyra. That time it was loud and clear. Despite knowing it probably wouldn't help, Lyra shoved her hooves in her ears and shook her head vigorously. Lyra. “Great. Now I'm hearing voices. It's official, I'm insane.” No Lyra, you're not insane. You're just getting closer. ________________________________________________________________________________ Lyra jolted awake once more. “NOT AGAIN!” she screamed. “Not wha...?” Bon Bon's tired voice muttered. Lyra apologized softly and put her head down on her pillow, feeling fearful for what insanity tomorrow might hold. ________________________________________________________________________________ Time to wake up Lyra... “Mmmphhh.” Wake up, there isn't much time. “No,” Lyra said through her pillow. Come on Lyra... Lyra slowly opened her eyes; the sun in the window told her it was not too long into the morning; both Bon Bon and herself were usually asleep at this hour. “Just let me go back to-” Lyra rubbed her eyes as if she did not trust her vision. Then again, after the events of the day before and now with voices in her head she had no idea what to trust anymore. You're wondering where Bon Bon is, yes? “Where is she?” Lyra yawned as she spoke, still not fully awake. They took her. Lyra shot into an upright position and now appeared completely alert. “Who? What? Why?” We're in a dangerous situation Lyra. As soon as they can, they'll take you too. “Are they here? Will they take me in my house? And who are they?!” Your house is safe for now, but it won't be for long. If you want to escape, you need to trust me implicitly. “Well I don't trust you,” Lyra said. She got out of her bed and crept into the kitchen, which appeared exactly as it had been left. You're going to have to if you want to evade capture. “Tell you what,” Lyra felt rather silly speaking to air, but her voice stayed firm and composed. “You tell me what's going on and I'll do what you want.” We don't have time. “Then I'm not moving.” Lyra had been expecting an immediate response to her retort, but silence followed it for an extended period. Finally however, the voice did return. One question. “Huh?” You get one question. I will answer it truthfully. But if I answer this question, you need to trust me afterwords. Deal? “Deal,” Lyra agreed. Her first instinct was to ask what was going on, but it occurred to her not to ask something vague. She needed to ask something which had an answer that she could comprehend; something that didn't only raise more questions. After a few minutes of careful thought, she finally asked her question. “Who and what are you?” I believe that's two questions, but for the sake of fostering our trust I will answer them both. My name is Smith. I am a human, and I am a friend. Satisfied? Lyra was at a complete loss for words. She was unsure what the answer to her question would be, but what she had been told was perhaps one of the last things she expected. A human. Most people assumed they were made up, and while Lyra was always fascinated with them, she had never been especially convinced they were real either. Now however, there was a voice inside her head claiming to be one of them. I'll take your silence as confirmation. Go to the Market Square, there will be someone ready to escort you from there. Lyra contemplated the absolute insanity of her situation, then proceeded with the voice's instruction. “Well if I've gone crazy, I may as well just keep going along with it,” she rationalized. That's the spirit. When Lyra did arrive at the market, she was surprised to find just how crowded it was even this early in the morning. She knew Ponyville was active from an early hour, but the idea that so many ponies chose to wake up this early just gave Lyra the chills. Somewhat more calmly however was the fact that everything seemed back to normal; no exploding doors on her way here and nopony was flying backwards or flashing their horn like a strobe like or twisting their heads. “So where's this escort?” Lyra asked quietly. She did not want to appear as though she was talking to herself. One moment... I'm wondering the same thing myself. Lyra felt her nerves tensing. This voice was supposed to know what's up, why did it now sound unsure? I have some bad news. It seems our escort was intercepted. Change of plans; you're going need to get yourself out on your own. Terror gripped Lyra. “You can't just abandon me!” she said with no regard to her volume. Many ponies looked over and gave her strange looks, but she paid no heed. I'm not. It's now more imperative than ever that you do everything I say exactly. Understood? “O-okay.” Lyra tightly clamped her eyes closed for a moment, as if she was hoping she was about to awake from a bad dream. ________________________________________________________________________________ I open my eyes. I look up at the sky. It's the same weather as always; clear and sunny skies. Ready? I hear the voice say. I don't really know what I'm getting ready for, but I don't think it matters if I'm ready or not, so I try to appear confidant by nodding slowly. In truth, I feel completely terrified right now. Look. Straight ahead, little bit to the right. I look and spot what the voice must be referring to. Two stallions sticking out of the crowd. Everypony else is just going about their business, engaging in casual chatter, but these two look dead set on doing important something, and I have some unpleasant guesses as to what it may be judging on what they're looking at. They're looking straight at me. I start to back away, and they pick up the pace. A sudden thought occurs to me, a thought which screams in my mind so strong I can't help but speak it aloud. “This is just like my-” It doesn't have to end the same, I hear it say. I certainly hope it's right. Trust me. I can guide you to safety. “Okay,” I say. “What do I do?” Then I hear it. It's the same voice from the dream. “GET HER!” Run. I'm happy to oblige that command. I bolt away in the opposite direction of my two assailants, weaving my way through a crowd of ponies. Cross the street. Sure, that's no problem. I remember this being a big deal the last time I lived this, but crossing the road isn't such a issue in Ponyville. I keep sprinting forward after making it across, waiting for my next instruction. There's an alley on your right. Go in there. That's a dead end, and I know it. If I go in there, I'll be trapped. Trust me Lyra. I should trust him, shouldn't I? And I almost do, but just as the alley in along side me and I look down it, I make a decision. There's no way I could get through there; it's two walls and a tall fence. No way out. I keep running forward. Lyra... Voice sounds disappointed. I guess I understand, but his idea wasn't a good one, and I have to look out for myself. Besides, that's the way I went last time. I need to do something different, right? Okay, if you go- DUCK! What? CRASH Everything is dark for a brief moment, but I come to pretty quick. I look around; there's Rainbow Dash lying on the ground staring back at me. She looks exceptionally confused. I guess she must of just smashed right into me on accident. Then I hear them, those two ponies chasing me. I try to get up and run away, but I'm too late. I feel a hoof push me back down to the ground. The last thing I see is Rainbow Dash's eyes go wide with horror. I suspect she doesn't really understand what's going on, but this can't be a pretty sight to behold. Darkness descends over me. The feeling of felt on my face and string tightening around my neck quickly fades as all my senses go blank. Once again the last thing I hear is a sound. The sound of a stallion whispering softly in my ear. “Gotcha.”
Prologue: RunI've been here before. This is nothing new. I look up at the sky. It's the same as it always is when I come here; smoggy. This is nothing new. There are thousands of others around me, all going to their respective destinations. Every single one has somewhere to be, it seems. I'm the only one who stops to just take it all in. This is nothing new. I look at the buildings; that's what I always look at. I used to look at the others, but they're all so boring. I can't talk to them, and they won't pay attention to me even if I get in their way. They're all the same, all so boring. So instead I look at the buildings. Most of them are similar too, but you can look inside them. Each one has something different. I don't know what the things inside are for the most part, but it's always interesting to look at. This is nothing new. Usually when I'm here I feel cold; emotionless. Like the others all around me who just stare down or in front of themselves and show no emotion. When I think about it later, it's breathtaking, but in the moment it always seems so banal. So unexciting. This time I feel something. This time I feel terrified. This is something new. My eyes dart around the crowd. I don't know who or what I'm looking for, but I know I'm looking. I spot them. Two of them. They look different. They're not like all the others. They're not looking down or just straight forward, they're looking at something specific. They're looking at me. I do something I never do here; I walk. Normally it seems too much to walk; all those around me would stop me from getting anywhere. It would be too much effort. I have a fine perspective to begin with as it is. This time I feel the need to walk, so I walk. Away from those two, but I turn back to look at the, They're still looking at me. They're walking towards me. They're walking fast. I follow suit. I increase my pace and return looking forward to make sure I don't collide with anyway. I can't resist though, soon I turn backwards again. I lock eyes with one of the two. We all stop. Time seems to slow down immensely. I see the one I locked eyes with open his mouth to yell something. Before he even says it, I know what he's going to say. Then, yet another something new happens. I hear. I never hear anything here. It's always silent. But this time I hear something. I the one I locked eyes with yell to the other. “GET HER!” My eyes go wide. I turn around. I start to run. In that instant, everything comes to life. I can hear everything; I hear the others walking and myself running. I hear the idle chit-chat. I hear, and feel for that matter, the wind rushing by my face as I sprint as fast as my legs will carry me. I hear other noises too; noises I don't recognize; high-pitched horns and roaring noises other things I can't place. I don't have time to think about it now though. Right now I just know I have to run. The others come to life too. They still generally only look ahead, but they react to things, they say things, and when I knock people over in my frantic sprint they yell things. Do these people not understand I'm trying to make a get-away here? They're so in the way. Why are there always so many of them? All the others have stopped at the edge of the road. They're waiting, I'm not positive why. I don't have time to wait. I push through the crowd and dash across, only looking ahead. I hear yelling and screeching and horns, I think I've done something wrong, but I don't care. I keep running. Have to keep running. Can't stop running. I don't dare turn back, turning back will slow me down. I decide to turn into an alley. Dead end. I gulp. They're going to catch me. No. No they're not. I won't let them. There's a fence in this alley, but I can climb it. I charge at the fence and jump onto it, latching hold and wasting not time getting up and over. The metal feels cold on my fingertips. I don't turn around to see if they made it over too; I don't want to know. For now, I keep running. Don't stop running. Whatever you do, don't stop running. Well, that's what I tell myself, but I feel my body tiring out. I don't have nearly the stamina I usually do. I run into a huge crowd of people and start to slow down after convincing myself that I've lost them. I don't see either of them anyway. Maybe they didn't cross the road. Maybe they didn't clear the fence? Maybe they lost their breath before me and had to stop? Maybe they lost me in the crowd? An instant later, it doesn't matter. I see complete darkness descend over me. I feel felt on my face and feel string closing in around my neck. It's over. I feel myself fall to my knees, then I feel nothing at all. The last piece of sensory input I get is a sound. The sound of a man speaking softly into my ear through the darkness. “Gotcha.” ________________________________________________________________________________ Lyra jolted awaking, sat right up in bed and began breathing heavily. Another human dream, but this one had been different. “Lyra?” came a soft voice. “What is it?” Bon Bon's tone was a mixture of annoyance for being woken and concern for Lyra. “Nothing” Lyra finally said after many moments of tense silence. “Just... just a bad dream.” At that, Lyra lay back down, but her eyes stayed wide open. Getting back to sleep would be no easy task.
Trying to UnderstandWhen Lyra had woken up for the second time, she still felt in shock from her terrifying dream. Like most mornings, Bon Bon had already crept out of bed and was preparing breakfast in the kitchen. Before moving in with Bon Bon, Lyra had always found it difficult to force herself out of bed in the mornings, but now that waking up was always accompanied by the fragment aroma of a delicious breakfast, the task was much easier. “Morning Lyra,” Bon Bon said as Lyra entered the kitchen. When Lyra gave no response, Bon Bon turned around to face her. “Something wrong Lyra? You look...” Bon Bon struggled momentarily for a fitting word. “troubled. You look troubled.” “Yeah. Had a crazy dream,” replied Lyra. “Want to talk about it?” asked Bon Bon. “I do, but first,” said Lyra, her glum expression lightening up somewhat. “let me get some of those.” Lyra pointed the scrumptious looking stack of pancakes which Bon Bon had prepared. “Sure thing.” Bon Bon placed a couple pancakes on a plate and pushed them over in front of a chair beside Lyra. Lyra quickly sat down and began stuffing her face full deliciousness. “Another human dream?” Bon Bon asked. This hadn't been the first time Lyra reacted to a dream, and when she did it was almost without fail one about humans. Considering her mouth was full of chewed up pancakes, Lyra decided to just nod in reply. “I keep telling you Lyra, it's no wonder you have dreams about them if they're constantly on your mind. You shouldn't get so alarmed by-” “This one was different,” said Lyra, her mouth now clear of pancake. “Normally nothing happens in the dreams and they're fuzzy in retrospect. This time though, something did happen, and I still remember it all perfectly.” “So what happened?” “Well it started out like all the other ones. I was in that city with all the humans,” Lyra began. Bon Bon nodded in recognition, this was indeed the way all of Lyra's human dreams were set up. “But I felt scared for some reason... and then I saw these two humans looking straight at me.” Lyra continued to explain her entire dream in extreme detail, covering every sensory detail and each piece of action that took place in order to prove her point on how vivid this dream really was. “Is that all?” Bon Bon said when Lyra had finally finished. Lyra seemed both shocked and disappointed at Bon Bon's reaction, so Bon Bon quickly amended her response. “I didn't mean it like that. I just think you're getting a little too worked up over nothing. So you had a bad dream, and it involved humans because you're always thinking about them. Doesn't seem too crazy to me. Try not to stress out over it too much.” “I guess,” Lyra muttered . She really shouldn't have expected much else from Bon Bon, ever the realist. “It's just, it didn't feel like a dream. It felt like...” Lyra paused to try and think of the word she was looking for. “...well I don't know, but do you get what I'm saying?” Bon Bon just shook her head; she really wasn't getting it. Deciding it wasn't worth pursuing, Lyra turned back to her pancakes. ________________________________________________________________________________ “Running a little late, Lyra.” Lyra looked over to one of the many clocks on the wall of Dr. Hooves' workshop to check the time. “Thirteen seconds late. Gimmie a break.” Leave it to a clock maker to be that picky about time. “Hmm... well I suppose I'll let you off the hook this time.” Dr. Hooves chuckled. “I've got to head out and do my morning rounds on the public clocks of Ponyville. Colgate's already in the back, so just ask her what you should tackle today.” “Got it. See ya around Doc,” Lyra responded as the Doctor happily exited the workshop. Lyra walked into the back room to find Colgate happily working away at a cuckoo-clock. She pointed Lyra to a pile of damaged clocks and told her to work her way through repairing them. Yet another day of work as a clock maker began. Clock making and repairing certainly wasn't Lyra's dream job, but she certainly did have some of the necessary skills. Just like playing a lyre, tinkering with clocks required very precise, careful magic. Beyond that, Lyre was quite fond of her co-workers. Dr. Hooves was a very good-natured boss and a enjoyable person in general. Colgate on the other hand was an absolute joy to be around. Save for perhaps Pinkie Pie, Lyra had never met a funnier pony. If there was one good thing that came out of this job for Lyra, it was her friendship with Colgate. The work itself was often somewhat boring, but between casual conversation and reminding herself of the excellent pay, Lyra was generally able to keep herself sane. Today however she found herself unable to take Bon Bon's advice and was still thinking about her dream. Apparently Colgate noticed Lyra's distracted mood, as she brought it up not long into the day. “So what's eating at ya Lyra?” Colgate asked without warning. “Hu? What makes you think something's eating at me?” “You're uh... working... slower than usual,” Colgate replied. Lyra looked glumly down at the clock she'd be basically just staring at for the last hour. “It's nothing,” Lyra said, trying to refocus on her work. “C'mon, you can tell me! We're friends! Issues with Bon Bon or something?” “No, nothing like that. It's just... well you'll think it's stupid. Let's just get back to work.” “No way, now I really want to know! Come on!” Colgate begged. “Promise you won't laugh?” Lyra asked. Colgate nodded in reply. “Okay... I uh... had a really bad dream.” Colgate kept a straight face a few moments, then cracked a big grin. “Alright, I admit I was holding back a bit of laughter there. But I guess if it's bugging you this much it must have been pretty bad one. Another human dream?” Lyra nodded. “Well you talk about those things constantly, it's no wonder they're in your dreams ya know.” Lyra groaned. “You sound exactly like Bon Bon.” “Nice.” Colgate grinned wildly. “Anyway, tell me about this dream, I wanna hear all about it.” By now, the two had completely dropped their work in favor of conversation. Lyra described the dream in great detail, just as she had to Bon Bon. Rather than seem unimpressed as Bon Bon had however, Colgate was clearly eating it up like a young filly being given a bedtime story. When Lyra finished with her capture however, Colgate's expression rapidly turned from interest to concern. “I don't know why it's bothering me so much.” Lyra said as soon as she had finished. “It didn't feel like a dream, it felt like... like...” Lyra still couldn't find the word she was looking for. “Wow.” Lyra's co-worker shifted awkwardly in place. “That's some dream. Guess we better get back to work though, hu?” With that Colgate turned around to return to the pocket watch she had been fixing up. “Wait!” Lyra shouted, though she quickly felt embarrassed at how loud she had said it. “I mean, you don't think it means anything, do you?” Colgate turned her head back to Lyra and bit her lower lip. “I'm not sure. Mayb-” Suddenly her face brightened up as if she had been suddenly blessed with an idea. “I know! You should speak with Pinkie Pie. She's great at understanding weird stuff like this.” “Pinkie Pie? Are you sure?” Lyra felt unsure about asking Pinkie Pie for advice on something she was trying to take seriously. “Positive! In fact, you should go speak with her now! She's probably at Sugercube Corner. Go on.” “Right now? Really? Are you su-” “Lyra,” Colgate's face suddenly became extremely serious. “You should really go speak with Pinkie Pie. Now.” Lyra nodded sheepishly and rushed out of the workshop into Ponyville. She had no idea why Colgate felt so strongly about this, but if it made Colgate turn on her serious face, it was probably very important. Unfortunately when Lyra did reach Sugercube Corner, the line was flowing all the way outside. She wasn't ordering any food though, she just wanted to ask some questions, so Lyra figured it would be okay if she crept in and bypassed the line. Doing this got Lyra a couple glares, but no one called her out as she didn't seem to be inserting herself into line. Behind the counter was Mrs. Cake happily helping her customers. No Pinkie Pie in sight. “Mrs. Cake?” Mrs. Cake looked over to Lyra. “Something you need hun?” “Sorry to bug you, is Pinkie Pie around?” “Hmmm...” Mrs. Cake thought a moment. “No, I remember Rarity and her leaving together earlier though, so maybe they went to Rarity's shop?” “Thanks,” Lyra said, quickly running out of the shop and to the opposite side of Ponyville. Part of Lyra was tempted to just return to work and say she couldn't find Pinkie Pie, but Colgate had seemed very serious, so she would probably just send Lyra right back out. Luckily when Lyra reached Carousel Boutique she could hear Pinkie Pie's voice inside, quelling her fears that she would be spending all day hunting down the pink pony. “Pinkie Pie honestly, stop moving!” Rarity's voice called out. “Hehehe, but it tickles!” Pinkie Pie giggled. Lyra cautiously entered the boutique to find an exasperated Rarity struggling to keep Pinkie Pie still. From what Lyra could tell, Pinkie Pie had agreed to do some modeling for Rarity, and what Rarity had chosen for Pinkie to wear appeared to be, well Lyra wasn't sure what one would call it. It didn't necessarily look bad, but it was one of the frilliest dresses Lyra had ever seen, and she had to admit it looked rather ticklish. “Oh hello Lyra dear. What can I help you with?” Rarity asked, not daring to remove her hooves from securing Pinkie Pie's shaky body. “Actually I was just looking for Pinkie Pie.” Lyra admitted. “Really?” Pinkie chirped. “What's up L-” “She's a bit busy at the moment, could it perhaps wait?” “Yeah, sorry Lyra. I promised Rarity I'd wear her tickle dress,” Pinkie said with a grin, clearly stifling back a few more giggles as she spoke. “Oh, yeah I guess it could wait,” Lyra agreed, feeling somewhat disappointed. “It's just Colgate said I should really talk to you immediately.” At the mention of Colgate, Pinkie Pie's expression blanked out for a very brief moment. A second later, Pinkie's grin returned. “Sorry Rarity, but this sounds super-duper important!” Before Rarity could react, Pinkie Pie hopped into the air and did a twirl, flinging all the clothing she was wearing haphazardly around the room. “I'll be back soon! See ya!” Rarity looked as if she could scream, but merely muttered some harsh words under her breath instead as she began to pick up the scattered articles of clothing. Lyra felt somewhat bad for Rarity, but something was telling her she really had to speak with Pinkie Pie. It hadn't occurred to Lyra how strange it was that Pinkie reacted when Colgate was mentioned. “So what didja want to talk about Lyra?” “Colgate told me I should ask you about a dream I had.” Pinkie Pie already seemed interested. “Okie-dokie-lokie! What was it about?” “Well it started off with...” Lyra trailed off. With Bon Bon and Colgate they knew about Lyra's earlier human dreams. Lyra wasn't even sure Pinkie Pie knew what a human was. “Do you know what a human is?” “Yup! Big tall things, walk around on two legs, no fur,” Pinkie responded happily. “Hu, so you do know plenty about them.” “You have no idea,” Pinkie said cheerfully. Lyra chose to ignore the comment. Instead she went into a explanation of her past human dreams, how they always seemed so uninteresting in the moment, how all the other people seemed so expressionless. Then she delved into the dream, just like when telling the last two times, Lyra was sure to fill in every detail. By the end of the dream Pinkie Pie had concern spread across her face. “Jeeze Lyra, that's some doozy of a dream,” Pinkie Pie observed. “I feel like it meant something... do you think it did?” Lyra asked, desperately hoping Pinkie Pie would have some insight. “Lyra I...” Pinkie Pie looked down at her hooves. Lyra could tell she was uncomfortable with the conversation. She then noticed Pinkie muttering things very quietly under her breath. Who was she talking to? “It didn't feel like like a dream,” Lyra began, hoping this time the word would come to her. “It felt like...” Luckily, she didn't have to search. Pinkie Pie finished the sentence for her. “A memory.” “Yeah... Pinkie, what does this mea-” A pink hoof placed over Lyra's mouth stopped her from speaking further. “Listen Lyra,” Pinkie Pie spoke in an extremely serious tone. First Colgate, now Pinkie Pie. Why was everyone so serious today? “You will understand soon, okay? I promise. But you have to promise me something, okay?” Lyra nodded. “Pinkie Promise me you won't tell anypony else about this dream. It's very important that you don't!” “Okay okay. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye I won't tell anypony,” Lyra performed all of Pinkie's silly motions as she spoke. It seemed to satisfy some of the party ponies' worry, since she was now smiling. “Good! Now, who else have you already told?” “Besides you, just Colgate and Bon Bon.” “Great! Colgate won't blab. Make sure Bon Bon doesn't,” Pinkie instructed. “Okay, fine. Now will you tell me what my dream meant? Please?” Pinkie Pie sighed and looked down. “Not yet. You can't know yet. You aren't ready.” Lyra grunted angrily in response and marched off, now feeling very upset at Pinkie's refusal. “Don't forget your Pinkie Promise!” Lyra heard Pinkie shout after her. To hell with the Pinkie Promise. Lyra wanted answers and she would get them. Pinkie Pie wouldn't tell her though, so who would? Colgate maybe? Lyra considered demanding answers from her, but a better idea came to her as she spotted a pony she was sure could help. Twilight Sparkle. “Twilight! Wait up!” Lyra shouted as she ran to the purple unicorn. “Something the matter Lyra?” Twilight Sparkle asked as Lyra stopped along side her. “I need some help understanding something,” Lyra answered. With that Lyra walked with the purple unicorn, who was currently returning to the library, and explained her entire dream, not thinking twice about the Pinkie Promise she was breaking. Twilight's interest seemed purely scholarly. Lyra wasn't as surprised as she was with Pinkie when Twilight revealed she knew plenty about humans as well. When Lyra finished describing the dream, she was delighted to find that Twilight didn't suddenly become awkward or evasive. Instead, she had insisted Lyra come to the library with her, saying that she had some books on dream interpretation which may be able to help. Lyra was, of course, more than happy to come. As soon as Lyra entered the library however, the mood of the encounter changed drastically. The door was magically slammed behind her and latched. Lyra looked over to Twilight, who's face now bore something cyan unicorn had never seen before. Lyra had seen the librarian frustrated or neurotic, but this was different. Right now Twilight's face was pure rage. “Who else did you tell?” Twilight demanded through gritted teeth. “I- What?” Lyra was taken aback by Twilight's sudden demeanor. “I said, who else did you tell!? About your stupid dream!” “W-w-why do you want to kno-” “TELL ME!” Twilight screamed. “N-nopony,” Lyra lied. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to lie, but she felt the truth my make Twilight even angrier. “LIAR!” With that, Twilight turned and bucked Lyra right in the flank, eliciting a loud yelp of pain. “Come on Lyra, don't play games with me.” Twilight spoke down to the now fallen over Lyra. “Just tell me which ponies you told about your dream and we can be done with this.” Lyra prepared herself to refuse, but suddenly felt whispers in her head. Tell her. Tell her. Tell her. Lyra found herself completely unable to resist them. She picked herself up and began to speak softly. “Just B-Bon Bon, Colgate and P-Pinkie Pie,” Lyra stuttered. At the mention of the latter two, Twilight did indeed become angrier. “Oh boy, you've made a big mistake Lyra.” Twilight smirked with malice. Lyra began backing away, but Twilight walked slowly forward. Soon Lyra bumped into the wall of the library and could only whimper as Twilight closed the distance between them. Lyra clamped her eyes shut in fear, when suddenly she felt the presence of everything around her fade away. She tried opening her eyes only to find she could not, they were sealed shut. ________________________________________________________________________________ The next moment, Lyra bolted awake, she was in her bed once again. A dream. That's all it had been, just a dream, of course. But when had she fallen asleep? Lyra moved to get out of bed, only to find that her flank hurt to move. She turned her head to give it a look and realized with horror that a hoof shaped bruise had developed. “What's happening to me?” Lyra asked aloud, not expecting any answer. Despite the fact that she had apparently just been asleep, Lyra felt immensely tired. Too tired to think about what had been dream and what had been real, or any of what just happened. Lyra's head crashed into her pillow, and only moments later, sleep overtook her.
Getting CloserLyra did not dream. Upon waking, the drowsy mare noticed something different about this particular morning. There was no aroma of breakfast coming from the kitchen. That was, however, no real cause for concern, it had happened before. Sometimes Bon Bon felt like sleeping in, though she was clearly not in bed. Sometimes she had some early appointment or some other urgent business that prevented her from preparing the morning meal. She usually left a note of some sort to tell Lyra. Not wanting to take the gift of deliciousness for granted, Lyra of course never complained at these sporadic events. There was no note. This was a bit more worrying. Bon Bon always left a note. Perhaps she had just forgotten? Perhaps she had to leave suddenly? Perhaps she was just elsewhere in the house? Lyra called out for Bon Bon, but received no response. Whatever the reason, Lyra didn't let herself fret too much. After all, there were some heavier things in her mind at the moment, and there was always a box of cereal in the pantry just in case she needed to make herself breakfast. Lyra thought carefully about the day before and what had happened. The bruise on her flank was proof that Twilight had really kicked her, so why had she suddenly woken up like that? Maybe she passed out? Why did she wake up in her own bed unharmed besides the bruise then? Even with plenty of rest and food in her stomach, none of this made any sort of sense to Lyra. “And where's Bon Bon?” she wondered aloud. Under normal circumstances she wouldn't get too worked up over the earth pony's sudden disappearance, but in combination with everything else happening it seemed strange. It was at that moment Lyra noticed the time. Lyra always checked the time as soon as she woke up to ensure she hadn't overslept, and today she had woken up at around 7:30. However the clock in Lyra's kitchen now read 7:15. Upon closer inspection, she discovered the second hand ticking backwards. Having plenty of experience in clock repair, Lyra was pretty sure that couldn't just happen on it's own. Was Bon Bon pulling pranks or something? Her mind on clock repair, Lyra realized she should probably leave for work soon; if this clock had been wrong the rest of the clocks in the house could be as well, so she couldn't be sure what time it was. Upon attempting to leave her house however, Lyra experienced yet another oddity. She reached out to open her door, and the second her hoof touched it, it gave off a loud bang and shattered into a thousand tiny pieces, causing Lyra to jump back and react with a loud expletive. To the unicorn's surprise however, it seemed no passersby noticed the explosion, nor Lyra's reaction. Deciding to ignore the inexplicable explosion for now, Lyra rushed off through Ponyville towards Dr Hooves' workshop. At one point she stole a glance at the clock tower in order to get a feel for the time, but as if the rest of the day hadn't been weird enough, the two hands of the clock appeared to be blinking in and out of existence over 12 o'clock. Just like the door however, nopony seemed to be reacting to this whatsoever. A brief jog and another exploded door later, Lyra finally arrived in the workshop. To her dismay, the Doctor was not present, meaning she had likely missed him she was so late. “Later than usual, Lyra,”Colgate said as she entered the front of the workshop from her workstation in the back. “Yeah, uh...” Lyra paused, trying to word herself without seeming dumb. “How late am I?” “Well the walls in this room are covered in clocks Lyra.” Colgate grinned to herself. Lyra looked nervously to the walls, but each clock appeared do be malfunctioning in some bizarre manner. Some were ticking backwards, some blinked like the clock tower, some had hands moving in opposite directions. Some had hands that appeared to be racing around the clock. None of them, as far as Lyra could tell, would reveal to her the actual time. Could Colgate not see any of this? Lyra looked back to Colgate and shrugged. “Wow Lyra. I have to say, it's pretty impressive that you've lasted this long here without being able to read a clock!” “No! It's not that! The clocks just...” Lyra carefully considered what to tell Colgate. She didn't want to appear a crazy pony. “They're all doing strange things, or at least they look like they are. Can you not see it?” Colgate looked at Lyra strangely for a moment, as if Lyra had just said something out of place, which granted she had. The next moment however, Colgate's eyes went wide in realization. “They're doing it already!?” “What? Who?” “I can't believe they're ready that fast? Or maybe they already knew? That must be it. Wow! This is excit-” “Colgate!” Lyra shouted, cutting her friend off. “What's going on? What do you know?” Colgate just smiled at Lyra's clear exasperation. “What's happening to doors?” she asked. “What?” “Doors. What happens when you touch them?” “How-” “Tell me tell me tell me!” Colgate was practically bouncing with anticipation. “They explode,” Lyra finally said. Colgate went wide eyed and she gasped loudly. “That's... so cool! I'm super jealous! When I went through transfer doors just dissolved! Oh Lyra you get all the fun, you know that?” “Fun?! It's not fun. And what do you mean 'when I went though transfer'? This happened to you too?” “Most ponies see all the same kind of stuff, but everypony has a different reaction to doors. But yours is probably the coolest I've heard so far! Well except for maybe Pinkie Pie; doors turned into a pile of jigsaw pieces for her.” “Colgate you're not answering my questions!” Lyra remarked. Colgate just shook her head at the confused unicorn. “You're in no state to work Lyra. You need to go out and explore! There's sure to be all sorts of cool stuff to see!” “But Colgate,” Lyra protested. “You haven't explained-” “No buts! It'll be creepy and weird at first but you'll regret it forever if you don't savor this day!” Colgate shoved Lyra outside the workshop without another word and slammed the door shut. “And I know you could just explode this door to get back through, but don't!” Colgate called outside. Lyra's felt tempted to respond with anger, but contained herself and instead decided on taking Colgate's advice and observe her surroundings. What she saw simply astounded her. Had all this just happened or had she been completely inattentive the last time she walked through town? It was, as Colgate had said, rather creepy and Lyra had to constantly assure herself she was not going insane, but the sights she saw were in so many ways fascinating as well. Pegasus ponies appeared as though they were all flying backwards and upside down; unicorn horns were all flashing like strobe lights and with various bright colors; and perhaps strangest of all were earth ponies whose heads seemed to be perpetually spinning around on their necks. “Discord's got nothing on whoever is doing all this,” Lyra thought aloud. “It hasn't really got the same effect if only one pony can see it,” a voice from behind the confused mare spoke. Lyra spun around immediately to find none other than her boss, Dr. Hooves, smiling kindly at her. “Dr. Hooves! I'm so sorry I was late this morning! It's just- I just- the clocks-” “Lyra, settle yourself,” Dr. Hooves chuckled. “I will of course forgive your absence, I understand the presence of some abnormal conditions. But would you please satisfy a stallion's curiosity?” “Er, sure?” “What happens when you touch doors?” Dr. Hooves asked. At that moment Lyra felt inclined towards a variety of reactions, including but not limited to screaming, running, groaning, and burying her head in the ground. However in the end she just sighed. “They explode.” “How interesting!” Dr. Hooves exclaimed. “Oh and don't look so worried; I assume you crossed paths Colgate this morning and she presented you with a similar query?” Lyra nodded. “Yes, well there are very few other ponies who are aware of your current state of mind, you just happen to have close connections with a relatively large number!” “Right. And Colgate wouldn't explain anything. Will you please tell me what's going on? And tell me who else is in on this crazy thing so I know who'll ask about doors?” Lyra begged. “Of course Colgate told you nothing, it wasn't her place. She may be a strange one but she knows perfectly well there are lines one does not cross. You'll be able to spot others by the fact that they don't seem altered by your damaged perspective.” Lyra blinked. “By which I mean my head isn't spinning in circles right now, is it?” “Oh, right. But you still haven't answered my second question,” Lyra pointed out. “Hm? Oh, well yes, I promise it will all be explained in time. However it's really something that needs to be told at just the right time and I'm afraid-” “So you're not telling me anything either.” “That's correct,” Dr. Hooves affirmed. Lyra swore under her breath. “No need for such language.” “Right right right. Did you want something?” Lyra said, not bothering with manners at this point. “Yes, you need to stay close to me,” Dr. Hooves explained. “Not everyone in Ponyville is an ally or just neutral. We have many enemies as well.” “Twilight?” Lyra asked, remembering yesterday's encounter. “Among others, yes. I understand that yesterday you may have felt desperate, but you really should have listened to Pinkie Pie. Talking to Twilight Sparkle was beyond dangerous. You're lucky to still be in Ponyville.” “I don't suppose you could explain what happened back there? I have no idea what happened after she started attacking me, I just remember waking up in bed.” “Yes, I suppose they wouldn't want you to retain that memory,” Dr. Hooves mused. He then turned to Lyra and began to explain. “We got lucky; we realized what was happening and came to your rescue. They blanked your memory to just before that point it seems.” “Who's they?” “I... can't tell you that.” Lyra growled with frustration. “You can't expect me to understand the danger if you won't explain any of the details to me!” “You're right,” Dr. Hooves admitted. “I shouldn't have told you anything.” “Uhg!” Lyra began to walk off. “I'm done with this. I'm going home.” Lyra heard the Doctor shouting after her, begging her to come back, but she was having none of it. She was sick of this craziness, sick of ponies not telling her things, sick of it all. Once home Lyra entered the kitchen and simply began pacing back and forth. She had no idea what was going on, when this insanity and exploding doors would end, or why this was all happening. She wanted nothing more than for all of this to end, but has no vestige of how to accomplish this goal. For now, her only indication was the pace back and forth, and so she did. After what could have been hours just as easily as it could have been mere minutes of pacing, Lyra heard a faint whisper in her ear. Lyra... More craziness. Lyra chose to ignore it. It would go away if she ignored it. Lyra... Louder that time. Just ignore it. Lyra. That time it was loud and clear. Despite knowing it probably wouldn't help, Lyra shoved her hooves in her ears and shook her head vigorously. Lyra. “Great. Now I'm hearing voices. It's official, I'm insane.” No Lyra, you're not insane. You're just getting closer. ________________________________________________________________________________ Lyra jolted awake once more. “NOT AGAIN!” she screamed. “Not wha...?” Bon Bon's tired voice muttered. Lyra apologized softly and put her head down on her pillow, feeling fearful for what insanity tomorrow might hold. ________________________________________________________________________________ Time to wake up Lyra... “Mmmphhh.” Wake up, there isn't much time. “No,” Lyra said through her pillow. Come on Lyra... Lyra slowly opened her eyes; the sun in the window told her it was not too long into the morning; both Bon Bon and herself were usually asleep at this hour. “Just let me go back to-” Lyra rubbed her eyes as if she did not trust her vision. Then again, after the events of the day before and now with voices in her head she had no idea what to trust anymore. You're wondering where Bon Bon is, yes? “Where is she?” Lyra yawned as she spoke, still not fully awake. They took her. Lyra shot into an upright position and now appeared completely alert. “Who? What? Why?” We're in a dangerous situation Lyra. As soon as they can, they'll take you too. “Are they here? Will they take me in my house? And who are they?!” Your house is safe for now, but it won't be for long. If you want to escape, you need to trust me implicitly. “Well I don't trust you,” Lyra said. She got out of her bed and crept into the kitchen, which appeared exactly as it had been left. You're going to have to if you want to evade capture. “Tell you what,” Lyra felt rather silly speaking to air, but her voice stayed firm and composed. “You tell me what's going on and I'll do what you want.” We don't have time. “Then I'm not moving.” Lyra had been expecting an immediate response to her retort, but silence followed it for an extended period. Finally however, the voice did return. One question. “Huh?” You get one question. I will answer it truthfully. But if I answer this question, you need to trust me afterwords. Deal? “Deal,” Lyra agreed. Her first instinct was to ask what was going on, but it occurred to her not to ask something vague. She needed to ask something which had an answer that she could comprehend; something that didn't only raise more questions. After a few minutes of careful thought, she finally asked her question. “Who and what are you?” I believe that's two questions, but for the sake of fostering our trust I will answer them both. My name is Smith. I am a human, and I am a friend. Satisfied? Lyra was at a complete loss for words. She was unsure what the answer to her question would be, but what she had been told was perhaps one of the last things she expected. A human. Most people assumed they were made up, and while Lyra was always fascinated with them, she had never been especially convinced they were real either. Now however, there was a voice inside her head claiming to be one of them. I'll take your silence as confirmation. Go to the Market Square, there will be someone ready to escort you from there. Lyra contemplated the absolute insanity of her situation, then proceeded with the voice's instruction. “Well if I've gone crazy, I may as well just keep going along with it,” she rationalized. That's the spirit. When Lyra did arrive at the market, she was surprised to find just how crowded it was even this early in the morning. She knew Ponyville was active from an early hour, but the idea that so many ponies chose to wake up this early just gave Lyra the chills. Somewhat more calmly however was the fact that everything seemed back to normal; no exploding doors on her way here and nopony was flying backwards or flashing their horn like a strobe like or twisting their heads. “So where's this escort?” Lyra asked quietly. She did not want to appear as though she was talking to herself. One moment... I'm wondering the same thing myself. Lyra felt her nerves tensing. This voice was supposed to know what's up, why did it now sound unsure? I have some bad news. It seems our escort was intercepted. Change of plans; you're going need to get yourself out on your own. Terror gripped Lyra. “You can't just abandon me!” she said with no regard to her volume. Many ponies looked over and gave her strange looks, but she paid no heed. I'm not. It's now more imperative than ever that you do everything I say exactly. Understood? “O-okay.” Lyra tightly clamped her eyes closed for a moment, as if she was hoping she was about to awake from a bad dream. ________________________________________________________________________________ I open my eyes. I look up at the sky. It's the same weather as always; clear and sunny skies. Ready? I hear the voice say. I don't really know what I'm getting ready for, but I don't think it matters if I'm ready or not, so I try to appear confidant by nodding slowly. In truth, I feel completely terrified right now. Look. Straight ahead, little bit to the right. I look and spot what the voice must be referring to. Two stallions sticking out of the crowd. Everypony else is just going about their business, engaging in casual chatter, but these two look dead set on doing important something, and I have some unpleasant guesses as to what it may be judging on what they're looking at. They're looking straight at me. I start to back away, and they pick up the pace. A sudden thought occurs to me, a thought which screams in my mind so strong I can't help but speak it aloud. “This is just like my-” It doesn't have to end the same, I hear it say. I certainly hope it's right. Trust me. I can guide you to safety. “Okay,” I say. “What do I do?” Then I hear it. It's the same voice from the dream. “GET HER!” Run. I'm happy to oblige that command. I bolt away in the opposite direction of my two assailants, weaving my way through a crowd of ponies. Cross the street. Sure, that's no problem. I remember this being a big deal the last time I lived this, but crossing the road isn't such a issue in Ponyville. I keep sprinting forward after making it across, waiting for my next instruction. There's an alley on your right. Go in there. That's a dead end, and I know it. If I go in there, I'll be trapped. Trust me Lyra. I should trust him, shouldn't I? And I almost do, but just as the alley in along side me and I look down it, I make a decision. There's no way I could get through there; it's two walls and a tall fence. No way out. I keep running forward. Lyra... Voice sounds disappointed. I guess I understand, but his idea wasn't a good one, and I have to look out for myself. Besides, that's the way I went last time. I need to do something different, right? Okay, if you go- DUCK! What? CRASH Everything is dark for a brief moment, but I come to pretty quick. I look around; there's Rainbow Dash lying on the ground staring back at me. She looks exceptionally confused. I guess she must of just smashed right into me on accident. Then I hear them, those two ponies chasing me. I try to get up and run away, but I'm too late. I feel a hoof push me back down to the ground. The last thing I see is Rainbow Dash's eyes go wide with horror. I suspect she doesn't really understand what's going on, but this can't be a pretty sight to behold. Darkness descends over me. The feeling of felt on my face and string tightening around my neck quickly fades as all my senses go blank. Once again the last thing I hear is a sound. The sound of a stallion whispering softly in my ear. “Gotcha.”
