Dr Lyra Heartstrings, PhD in Biology, Mechanics and Engineering, minoring in Music studies, had been spending the last few years, with her lovely assistant Bon-Bon, performing secret research for the government.
It was so top secret, that her parents thought she was an archeologist.
It was so top secret that she never left the facility without first getting written permission from the Queen herself, and that document had to be hand delivered by the mayor, sealed.
It was so top secret that she wasn’t even aloud to order pizza to the lab.
It was very hush hush.
But for good reason.
Lyra wasn’t studying flowers.
She wasn’t building cars.
And she definitely wasn’t writing music, during work hours at least.
Lyra was researching the abilities of monsters.
When she was still in high school, she had discovered a monster under her bed, that she had taken to calling ‘Clyde’. Ever since that fateful encounter, she had dedicated her life to replicating the creatures incredible powers.
She couldn’t tell anyone though. If the public knew there really were monsters under the bed, even ones as nice as Clyde, there would be mass hysteria.
No, this needed to be kept secret.
For the good of the humans,
For the good of the monsters,
And for the good of the world.
Unfortunately, the world didn’t get the memo.
Lyra clicked on the TV, and what she saw made her heart race.
An emergency news broadcast was playing instead of her favorite cartoon. Apparently, a group of monsters had decided that they deserved to be the species that ruled the world, and had chosen her home city of Canterlot to start their uprising.
“Bonnie!” she shouted.
Without a moment's hesitation the door opened and Bon-Bon entered in her lab coat and gloves, as if she had been waiting for the call to do more research.
“Do you just wait outside my door until I call you? Why are you already in your research gear.?”
Bon-Bon rolled her eyes.
“Did you call me in here just to ask that or was there something else?”
“Right!” Lyra exclaimed with a sharp clap. “Send a message to the queen and tell Derpy to warm up the jet. We’re leaving.”
She whirled around to face her bed, and shouted into the darkness.
“Clyde! You’re coming too.”
From the darkness, a large black creature formed, and though its incredible stature and huge green eyes were intimidating, its posture showed it had no ill intentions.
With the crew all gathered, Lyra’s eyes hardened with determination.
“We’re going home.”
“Lyra, what am I reading?” Bon-Bon said as she looked up from the page of messy handwriting her friend had given her.
“It’s my fanfiction! Do you like it?” Lyra asked with overflowing enthusiasm.
Bon-Bon frowned.
“Is it really fanfiction if it isn’t based on anything?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Lyra opened her mouth to speak but then closed it again to reconsider her position.
“No, I guess it isn’t, huh.” She conceded. Suddenly her eyes twinkled with mischievous glee. “I suppose that makes it Fantasy..”
The sound of Bon-Bon’s head hitting the table echoed through the cafeteria and caused the neighboring tables to look over, but when they saw Lyra laughing, they simply rolled their eyes and went back to eating.
For her part, Lyra almost sounded sorry. Almost.
“Oh come on, you set me up for that one.” She said as she prodded her friend up with her spoon. “You should expect this out of me by now.”
“I do.” Bon-Bon groaned. “That’s why I put the napkin down.”
She pointed to the table, and right where her head had hit the table, a small square of tissue paper sat.
Lyra eyed it with suspicion, as if expecting it to move.
“Touché, candy girl. Touché.”
Now it was Bon-Bon’s turn to roll her eyes.
“More importantly, why are you writing a story about your secret monster friend that lives under your bed? Because there might be a problem with that.”
Lyra flashed a devilish grin
“A-ha, my poor, naive little Bonnie. It’s elementary.” She hunched over the table, bringing her head closer to the other girl’s. “Do not tell me you are so blind that you can not see the intricacies of my plot!”
Bon-Bon’s face was an emotionless mask of indifference.
“I literally no idea what’s going on.”
Lyra pulled back.
With a hand on her chin, she chuckled to herself.
“Then let me explain it to you in simple terms.”
Suddenly, she dropped until only her head and arms were visible above the table.
“Camouflage.” she whispered, punctuated by jazz hands.
Bon-Bon’s face remained blank.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Think about it! It- hang on, I’m kind of…” The green haired girl struggled to get herself out from underneath the table. “... just gotta… There we go!”
She stood up and straightened her clothes.
“Guess I didn’t think that through.”
Bon-Bon sighed.
“Aaaaaaany way.” Lyra continued. “It makes perfect sense! For you see! Tsun Tsu once said ‘To hide a forest use a tree.’”
“Nothing you said in that sentence is remotely correct.”
“THIS IS MY TREE, BONNIE!” Lyra shouted. Had it come from anyone else, it might have caught the attention of the other students, but since it was Lyra, no-one batted an eye. “If I-”
“I’m going to stop you right there.” Bon-Bon interrupted. “I’m pretty sure you’re about to exposit your plan like a cartoon villain.”
Lyra looked around,as if noticing for the first time the many nearby, albeit uninterested, fellow students.
“Right, hush hush.”
She sat back down at the table and brought her voice down back to normal conversation level.
“So, if I start writing this story, and I’m vocal about it, then when I accidentally let slip about Clyde, and we all know that’s going to happen, everyone will just assume I’m talking about my story! It’s perfect!”
Bon-Bon massaged her temples.
“I’m not sure whether to be afraid, or impressed that you came up with that.”
Lyra laughed.
“Keep laying on the charm like that sweetie, and you might have a chance with me.” she said with a wink.
Bon-Bon’s body stiffened in time with the school bell. A reaction that did not go unnoticed by the girl across the table.
“Oooh I didn’t think you'd be so excited by that idea…” Lyra said as got up from her seat. She circled around to the embarrassed Bon-Bon. Placing her hands on her friends shoulders, she whispered in her ear. “Good to know, but that'll have to wait ‘til after class. Ms Harshwhinny isn’t going to tolerate me being late again.”
Lyra whipped out of the cafeteria leaving Bon-Bon still seated.
Bon-Bon let out a sigh, mostly from frustration but partly relief.
“Lyra, you are not in Ms Harshwhinny’s class!” She shouted after her friend, as she got up to follow her down the hall.
The upper northwest of Canterlot city was not full of the fanciest buildings, nor was it full of the fanciest people.
In fact, some of the fanciest people, had taken to calling it ‘the slums’ of Canterlot city.
The people living there often called it ‘The wrong neighborhood.’
Given it’s reputation, it wasn't the type of place you would expect to see a man in a perfectly tailored business suit.
And yet there he was, walking down the street as if he did it every day.
It wasn’t just his suit that set him apart either. His long blue hair was clearly professionally styled, and his cream chin didn’t have a trace of facial hair, well shaved was not a requirement for living here.
All in all, an uncommon sight.
When he came to a small run-down house nestled between two equally run-down apartment buildings, he stopped his stroll down the street and knocked on the door.
The man who answered the door was decidedly less dressed up, in fact, he was a pair of shorts and a ripped singlet away from being naked.
“if you're trying to sell something, then trust me man, you're in the wrong neighborho-”
The man's words were cut off as the suited man lifted him by the throat.
The man raised him up to eye level, and for the briefest moments his bright blue eyes flashed green.
“Find her.”
Author's Note
Yaaaaay it's here
And it's only a lot later than I had planned
Oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
