Memories and Melodies

Chapters

Chapter 1: Sunrise
Chapter 2: Hollowshade
Chapter 3: Shattered Memories
Chapter 4: The Investigations
Chapter 5: Evening
Chapter 6: Midnight
Chapter 7: Dawn
Chapter 8: Returning Home
Prologue: Darkness

Chapter 1: Sunrise

It was yet another wonderful day in Equestria. The autumn sun has just risen above the horizon, bathing the peaceful land in warm, soothing sunlight. Below the blue dome of the sky, a train zips through the green hills just outside the town of Ponyville, heading directly towards the city of Canterlot.

“Wind or Rain, Equestria Express always reins” is a common phrase known by nearly all ponies that had traveled by trains. Ever since the establishment of railroad systems all across Equestria, even reaching as far as the Griffon Stone and the Southern Wastelands, train had become the most efficient way of travelling for most ponies. On a workday like today, however, few ponies are travelling in this particular train. Most of the carriages only had three to four ponies sitting inside them, some of them even completely empty.

On this particular Thursday, though, two certain ponies, a grey Pegasus and a lavender unicorn, are currently sitting inside the first-class carriage of the train. Sitting on the red seat of luxurious carriage, wearing her trademark cloak and her saddlebags was Grey Wind, the ex-nanomachine aggregation and the current normal grey Pegasus. Accompanying her was Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia and the bearer of the element of magic. The two had received the invitation from the Princess during the party two days ago to visit Canterlot Castle and further discuss Grey Wind’s power, both old and new.

Gazing over the fleeting landscapes outside the window, Grey Wind lets out a sigh. The events that took place four days ago still lingers within her mind. Being directly hit by the elements of harmony and being sent to Limbo for one whole day before being pulled back was nowhere near pleasant. Unleashing the elements upon herself was a desperate move, and she doesn’t want to experience that anymore.

“Grey? What’s wrong? Something on your mind?”

Twilight’s caring voice interrupts her train of thoughts. Turning around to face her friend, Grey Wind finds Twilight looking at her with a slightly worried look on her face. She hastily responds:

“Oh, it’s nothing, Twilight. Just…Still recovering from what happened four days ago, you know? Dying and being resurrected…Just wasn’t so easy to forget.”

“I see…” Twilight rubs her chin, “From the books I read, such experiences relating to death could be highly traumatic. They have a very high possibility of inflicting nightmares on the ponies who experienced them. Perhaps I can find you a psychiatrist…”

“No, no need to do that, Twilight,” Grey Wind interrupts Twilight’s words, “I’m fine. Just need a few days to recover from the shock is all. Plus, nightmares won’t be a problem. I brought the dream orb.” She says as she opens her saddlebag, revealing a black wooden box inside.

Taking a deep breath and lowering her head, she continues:

“It’s just…All those things happened so fast. Two weeks ago, I was still a large gooey grey ball lying alone in a star cluster millions of light years from here. Just think about it, I experienced friendship for the first time in my life, retrieved a magical artifact, realized a filly’s dream, died once protecting my friends and was resurrected one day after, and found that I somehow carried part of the power of the elements of harmony, all in the course of one week.”

“Not hard to understand,” Twilight nods, “though what I think is the most important is-” She says as she smiles and gently lifts Grey Wind’s chin, “-is that you went through that. We all went through that. Now, you are safe. You’ve got a new purpose, and you have friends. No need to focus on the past when there is such a beautiful future lying before you.”

“I guess you are right, Twilight, thank you,” Grey Wind returns the smile, her mood uplifted, “So, what’s our plan for today?”

“Well, about that…” Twilight’s horn flares up and she floats a piece of paper from her saddlebag, “The train arrives in Canterlot at 10 a.m. I’ll show you around Canterlot a bit, and we’ll meet the Princesses at the castle at 11:30. We’ll have lunch with the Princesses, and we’ll discuss your abilities for around 3 hours. Princess Luna even wants a private session with you,” Twilight chuckles, “and then, after saying goodbye to the Princesses, we’ll head to the hospital to get the birth record for Lyra. We’ll stroll around Canterlot, have dinner and return by the train leaving at 6:30.”

“Meeting the Princesses and getting the birth record…Right.” Grey Wind mumbles as she remembers her promise at the sleepover at the library yesterday.

“-and then, before we could realize it, a colorful rainbow was launched from the elements of magic and completely enveloped Nightmare Moon. After the light subsided, lying in the place of Nightmare Moon was none other than Princess Luna. The elements had dissipated the dark magic and negative emotions that controlled her.”

“And that’s how we used the element of harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon and restore Princess Luna.” Twilight clapped her hooves as she finished her story, invoking a series of admirations from her audience, namely the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Lyra and Bon Bon. The other element bearers just sat there quietly, having known the story too well.

The ponies and fillies were gathered at the basement of the Golden Oak Library. Twilight had managed to pull all her experiment gear onto the first floor to make room for a sleepover of all Grey Wind’s friends. It was already eight at night, and the ponies were all sitting on their respective sleep bags, listening to Twilight’s story. The dream orb was placed at the center of the circle, an idea of Twilight to ensure everypony a good night’s sleep.

Grey Wind’s return was welcomed by most ponies of Ponyville. When she went to the Post office to continue her work as a mail carrier earlier that day, Mr. Fast Pace had insisted that she should take a full-salary holiday of at least one week before returning to work, “the least I can do for a mare who was brave enough to sacrifice herself for this town,” as he said. Grey Wind had happily accepted the offer, knowing by heart that what happened to her last week was indeed a bit too much.

Right now, the pony in question was sitting on her sleep bag, eyes widened, jaws agape, too stunned to say anything.

“Grey Wind? What’s wrong?” Noticing her friend’s expression, Twilight asked, a small frown on her face.

“Oh, no, nothing is wrong. Just…A bit stunned by the story is all,” Recovering from the shock, Grey Wind scratched her head, “It’s just a bit startling to me. I have a database that pretty much contains all the knowledge of my creators, and yet nothing in there could have explained neither six gems that could fire a high-energy rainbow nor a Princess that was controlled by her negative emotions.”

Letting out a sigh, she continues: “Well, guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. I’m on a world where horses can fly and somehow manipulate energy and have tattoos on their flanks that determines who they’ll become, after all.” She smirked.

The statement invoked a few chuckles around the room. Twilight, however, was more interested on a particular part of Grey Wind’s words:

“Database? You mean you still remember all the knowledge in there?” She asked.

“It seems impossible, but yes,” Grey Wind replied, “When the elements reshaped me, they replaced all my central processing units with brain tissue, neurons and all that. Somehow, all my memories, including those before I came to this world, persisted. I still remember every last bit of my database, all my creators’ knowledge, culture and technology.”

Upon hearing this sentence, Twilight instantly lit up, her mouth converted into a beam as wide as her ears, while small stars started appearing in her eyes. Noticing her friend’s reaction, Grey Wind smiled.

“I know what you are thinking, Twilight, but it won’t be possible to simply transfer all those knowledge to the ponies here. For one thing, there is simply too much knowledge, and putting them all to use would be a very time-consuming project. Plus,” Grey Wind shivered, “After seeing what happened to my creators, I’d rather not allow a technology boom take place on Equestria.”

“Oh…I see…” Twilight’s ears drooped, disappointment clear in her eyes.

“Hey, don’t be so disappointed, Twi,” Grey Wind chimed, “I can’t put them to use, but I can still show them to you guys. What would you like to know?” She said as her sight switched between her friends.

“Well…Ah’m mostly interested in the secret of life stuff you talked about,” Applejack interjected, “Y’know, the internal life thing?”

“Alright…Give me a second…” Grey Wind said as she concentrated. A batch of grey could floated from the back of her left wing and stopped mid-air at the center of the circle, slowly taking shape. Minutes later, a hologram projector was floating right above the dream orb, emanating a light green glow.

“This is a hologram projector. Basically, it can generate a 3-D model of whatever I want to show you guys,” Noticing the awed expressions on her friends’ faces, she explained, “Now, regarding the secret of life…” The green glow of the projector intensified, and seconds later a 3-D model of a double helix spiral structure was projected into the air.

“Is that a deoxyribonucleic acid molecule?” Twilight asked.

“Yep,” Grey Wind nodded, “My creators’ study regarding their genetic code had led to an amazing discovery. They found that the limitation of DNA replication rate was the only thing that hindered their cell division, which is determined by the length of telomere sequences on nucleic acid sequences. They developed a kind of enzyme that could elongate the telomeres, thus removing the limitation to their cell division, granting them immortality.”

Twilight had been actively taking notes while listening to this lecture, while the other ponies just stared at the two in confusion.

“Um, Grey, Equeish, please!” Rainbow interrupted, covering her ears with her front hooves.

“Basically, they developed a kind of medicine that could make their body tissues grow indefinitely,” Grey Wind explained, “According to my observation of Princess Celestia yesterday, the immortality of alicorns had the same mechanism, only that their cell division was prompted by magic energy, not by medicine.”

“That’s also how unicorns repair small cuts or bruises using magic,” finishing up her notes, Twilight suggested, “we use magic energy to accelerate the division of cells near the wound to fix it.”

A couple of nods can be seen around the room, even from Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom.

“Still doesn’t make sense to me…” Rainbow groaned as her bored eyes scanned the room, until suddenly she realized that one mare was unusually quiet during the past conversations.

Looking towards the direction of a certain pink earth pony, Rainbow Dash saw a scene that was probably the weirdest thing she had seen in her whole life----Pinkie Pie was lying in her sleep bag, her eyes fixed on a book in her front hooves and her mouth quietly shut.

“Hey, Pinkie, what are you reading?” Without waiting for a reply, Rainbow Dash took off and swooped down at the pink earth pony, snatching her book from her front hooves and ignoring her “Hey, Dashie, I was reading that!” protest. Flipping back to the front cover, she read the title:

“Your Family and You: A Guide for Building a Family tree… Pinkie? Why are you reading this egghead stuff?”

“Well, I just found this book from the bookshelf, and I thought it would be super doper fun to figure out who our family line descended from! Hey, what do you girls know about your family?” Pinkie exclaimed, her eyes darting around her friends.

“That’s indeed an interesting topic, Pinkie,” Twilight smiled, “Hey, how about we share with each other about the stuff we know about our respective families? That would be interesting!”

A group of excited agreements can be heard around the room, except for Rainbow Dash who let out a distressed groan.

“Come on, Rainbow, it will be fun! So, starting from me,” Twilight pointed a hoof to herself, “I was born in Canterlot, and my father and mother had been living there their whole life. I actually did a bit of research and found out that my family had been living in Canterlot ever since the city was established.”

“Well, I guess I am out of the question regarding this topic,” Grey Wind smiled, “Unless you girls consider the scientist who programmed me as my parent, then I should probably be able to look it up in my database.” The statement invoked giggles around the room, even Rainbow Dash broke into a short laughter.

“My turn then, I guess,” Rarity continued, “I was born in Manehatten, where my parents and grandparents had been living. I opened Carousel Boutique and started living in Ponyville…two years ago, I remember? My parents still live in Manehatten, but they visit from time to time. Not to mention dear Sweetie Belle who lives with me now.” She said as she gently patted her little sister.

“Oh, oh my turn! My turn!” Pinkie exclaimed, “My family owned a rock farm, and we’ve been working there for more than 3 generations! I moved to Ponyville right after I got my cutie mark, so I can bring joy and happiness to all the ponies in this town! Ta da!” She pulled out a party pipe from her mane and blew into it.

“Well, time for meh to present,” Applejack smiled, “Mah sister Apple Bloom and Ah were born right here in Ponyville, and the part of Apple family Ah belong to had been living here ever since the town was founded. I guess y’all are familiar with the story of Apple family establishing the whole town, right?”

“Um…It’s my turn, if you girls don’t mind…”Fluttershy whispered, “Um, I was born in Cloudsdale, and so were my parents. I started living in Ponyville after I discovered how I loved the animals on the ground. And…and that’s pretty much it.” The yellow Pegasus finished.

All the ponies in the room turned towards Rainbow Dash, eyeing her with anticipation.

“Alright, fine, my turn!” Rainbow groaned, “I was born in Cloudsdale, and so were my super cool parents! I was the fastest filly in the whole city! I haven’t really looked into it, but I’m sure one of my ancestors must have been a Wonderbolt!”

“Well, since Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle all have sisters to tell their stories, I guess its my turn now,” Scootaloo interjected, “I was born in Cloudsdale and my parents lived there as well. I came to live with my aunt in Ponyville when I got tired of my classmates calling me a chicken,” She glanced at her now not-so-small wings, “thankfully that part was fixed.” She said as she smiled gratefully to Grey Wind, who genuinely smiled back.

“It’s finally my turn, I guess,” Bon Bon suggested, “well, my family had been in the candy business of Trottingham for like, 3 generations? I’m not that sure, but I moved to Ponyville after I decided to open my own store here. I haven’t really done much research regarding my family.” She rubbed her chin.

“It’s alright, Bon Bon,” Twilight smiled as she turns to Lyra, “that only leaves you, Lyra!”

To Twilight’s surprise, Lyra seemed to be deep in thought, her eyes fixed on the floor, hiding her expression. A bit worried, Twilight asked:

“What’s wrong, Lyra? You can refuse to share it if you want…”

“That’s the funny part. I don’t know!” Lyra exclaimed, “Ever since I started remembering things, I had been living with my aunt and uncle in Canterlot. Now that I think about it, I don’t even know who my parents were! My aunt just told me that they couldn’t raise me up, so they left me with my mother’s sister…” Lyra said as her head lowered.

Silence descended upon the basement. Twilight rubbed her chin.

“Well, that’s…interesting to hear…”She mumbled as an idea popped into her mind, “Lyra, Grey Wind and I are going to Canterlot tomorrow. If you were born there, the Canterlot Hospital should have your birth record. We can look it up for you if you want.”

“You, you can?” Lyra raised her head. Seeing the assuring smile on Twilight’s face, she charged up and pulled her into a tight hug, “Thank you, Twilight!”

“Anything for a friend.” Twilight said as she returned the hug.

Toooooot!

The sound of the train siren pulls Grey Wind out of her reminiscence. Before she can realize it, the train has come to a complete stop at the Canterlot Train Station.

“We’re here, Grey Wind! It’s still half an hour before we should head to the castle, so I can still show you around Canterlot a bit. Let’s go!” Twilight exclaimed as she enveloped her friend’s front hoof in her magic and pulled her out of the carriage.

Regaining posture, Grey Wind found herself standing at the entrance of a majestic city. The entire city is built on a cliff side at the top of a mountain. The city sure is huge, covering the entire cliff side and even stretching a bit beyond the cliff. Towering over the city was a huge castle, definitely larger than the Castle of Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest. A river runs through the whole city, forming a gorgeous water fall when it reaches the cliff side.

As she trots down the main street of the city with Twilight, she is constantly looking around her, trying to take all parts of the huge city into view. Noticing her scanning sight, Twilight explains:

“The Canterlot City is divided into three layers. We are currently on the first layer of the city, which mainly consists of residential areas. The second layer mainly consists of shopping areas, with shops, restaurants and manors of upper classes of the city. And finally, the third layer is the Canterlot Castle, and where we will meet the Princesses.”

“Wow…” Grey Wind could do nothing but admire the beautiful city.

In the next half an hour, Twilight showed Grey Wind a bit around the second layer of the city, before the two headed directly towards the castle. Upon reaching the front gate, the royal guards standing in front of the gate stopped them.

“Halt! State your name and purpose!”

“My name is Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia and the wielder of element of magic. This is my friend Grey Wind. The Princesses are expecting us.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Ms. Sparkle. Please come in.”

Gaining permission, Twilight walked into the front gate with Grey Wind quickly following her. Walking inside the throne room, Grey Wind found the room to be very much similar to the throne room in the Castel of Two Sisters.

The room is built using white granite, with a large red carpet on the floor. On the far side of the room were two identical thrones, each with a banner just like the ones back in the Castle of Two Sisters hanging above them. On the left throne sat a tall white alicorn, none other than Princess Celestia. On the right throne sat a dark blue alicorn, slightly shorter than Princess Celestia. Grey Wind assumed her to be Princess Luna. Somehow, Grey Wind senses an intimidating aura emitting from the blue alicorn, making her wince a little.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed. She runs up to her mentor and hugs her. Celestia gently returns the hug with one of her wings.

“It’s nice to see you again as well, my faithful student. And you too, Grey Wind.” She says as she smiles at the grey Pegasus.

“It’s my honor, your highness.” Grey Wind responds and bows to the two alicorns. Celestia chuckles.

“Please, Grey Wind, no need to be so formal when there’s no outsiders, and by the way, I’ll be very glad if you call me Celestia.”

“Al-alright, your- I mean, Princess Celestia.” Grey Wind frantically replies.

Seeing the Pegasus’ nervous reactions sends another chuckle to the white alicorn. Releasing Twilight, she chimes:

“I believe we have a lot to discuss this afternoon, but why don’t we catch some lunch first? I heard that the royal chefs are preparing a generous amount of cloud cakes today.”
Celestia says, her mouth forming a light smirk.

Seeing nodded agreement from Luna, Celestia turns around and leads the ponies into the banquet hall.

The lunch had been proceeding for half an hour. Although the food is no doubt the best ones Grey Wind had tasted after she arrived at this world, she is sensing a growing sense of awkwardness descending upon the long table. Princess Celestia and Twilight have been constantly chatting throughout the meal, while Princess Luna remained quiet most of the time, occasionally casting a suspicious glance at her. And now, after the desserts are served, even Twilight and Celestia run out of topics. The four ponies just sit there quietly while munching into their cloud cakes.

“So, Grey Wind, what do you think about the meal?” Realizing the awkward atmosphere, Celestia broke the silence.

“Oh, it’s great, Princess!” Grey Wind replies as she takes another bite of her cloud cake, “I’ve never tasted such delicious dessert ever since I came here!”

“Well, looks like we can both agree on cloud cake being the tastiest dessert of Equestria. Right, Luna?”

“Oh, yes, certainly, sister,” Luna answers, her gaze fixed on Grey Wind, clearly not paying attention.

Silence.

The silence is becoming unnerving for Grey Wind just when the castle servants thankfully appear just in time to collect the dessert plates. After the plates are sent away, Celestia stood up from the seat and turned to her sister.

“Well, that was certainly a nice meal. Now, Luna, I believe you have something to tell Grey Wind in private, correct?”

“Yes, sister,” Luna nods, “Now, Grey Wind, wasn’t it? If you are so kind to follow us.” She turns around and walks away from the banquet hall.

Grey Wind casts a pleading sight to Twilight, who returns a reassuring smile. Realizing that she doesn’t actually have a choice, she lets out a sigh and follows the dark blue alicorn.

Princess Luna led her to a large room at the back side of the castle. As soon as Grey Wind enters the room, Luna instantly shuts the doors, locks them with her magic and casts a sound-proof spell on the room, preventing any sound from escaping. Grey Wind had to use all her might to suppress the urge of following her survival instincts and fleeing right away.

After all is done, Luna turns around and faces Grey Wind as her mouth opens:

“So, thou art the artificial grey cloud abomination that entered Equestria from outer space?”

“Y-yes, Princess Luna.”

“And thou art one of the mares that recovered the dream orb from our old castle?”

“Y-yes, Princess.” The volume of Luna’s speech causes Grey Wind to flinch back, nearly bumping into the wall of the room.

“And is it thou, who was willing to sacrifice herself to protect Equestria?” Luna raises her volume, her royal Canterlot tone in full swing.

“Yes…” Grey Wind whispers, her voice nearly as faint as Fluttershy. Backing up against the wall, she raises her front hooves and covers her face in a defensive position, “Please don’t hurt me…”

The statement seems to have confused Luna. The blue alicorn leaned down towards Grey Wind and lowers her volume:

“And why in the world do thou think we would hurt thou?”

“Because…Because I once enveloped your sister in a black ball of nanomachines?”

Luna staggers back in disbelief, surprise clear in her eyes.

“Art thou sure what thou said was true?”

“Yes…I’m sorry! I lost control! Please forgive me…” Grey Wind lowers her head and closes her eyes as she pleads.

“Grey Wind! Calm down!” Luna exclaims, shutting Grey Wind’s plead back into her throat, “we are not mad at thee for doing that to our sister, just a bit surprised that you defeated her.”

“Re- really?”

“Most certainly, Grey Wind,” Luna lets out a bitter smile, “we’ve committed much serious crime to our sister before. We understand thou feelings, and we also know that ponies shouldn’t keep punishing themselves for their past mistakes.”

Seeing the grey Pegasus loosening on the statement, Luna continues:

“Also, we apologize for our tone. We are still adjusting to this…modern life style. Royal Canterlot tone is something we are trying to change. Please, Grey Wind, don’t be afraid. We are no longer that devious Nightmare Moon.”

“Alright, Princess,” Grey Wind’s body completely relaxes as she puts her front hooves back on the ground, “so, Princess Celestia said you have something to talk to me about, in private?”

“Quite true, Grey Wind,” Luna nods, “we demand thy explanation for our inability to enter thy dreams.”

“Well, about that…” Grey Wind scratches her head, “According to my database, my creators installed a fireproof wall in my central programs. It blocks any attempts of breaching my mind by computer viruses. I suppose that might be the reason you are secluded from my dreams? Anyway, as far as I can tell, that wall was erased when the elements reshaped me, so my dreams won’t reject any visitors in the future.”

“We see,” Luna nods, “and, is it true that thou art made up of billions of tiny machines?”

“One week ago, yes,” Grey Wind replies, “but the elements have reshaped my body. Now I am just a normal Pegasus with few nanomachine subunits still under my control.”

“Show us.”

Grey Wind gulps as two grey clouds rise from the back of her wings and stays in the air. Luna lets out a small “wow” as she watches the two clouds.

“And, is that true that thou art acknowledged by the elements of harmony to help protect your friends?”

“I guess…”Grey Wind mumbles. The subunits gather on her neck, forming the golden collar with the grey gem shaped like her cutie mark on it.

“Interesting…”Luna mumbles. Suddenly, her horn lights up as a semi-spherical barrier is casted, containing the two mares and expanding to the size of nearly the entire room. Looking back at Luna, Grey Wind can see a small fire burning in both of her irises. Suddenly, a very bad feeling creeps onto her mind.

“Princess? What is that for?”

“Show us thou strength!” Luna exclaims as she takes off into the air, hovering above the floor, “If thou want our acknowledgement, then show us your strength in a glorious duel!”

“Wha-what?” Grey Wind staggers back and bumps into the edge of the barrier. Oh Celestia please let this be a joke…

“Thou art familiar with fighting, yes? Then show us!”

“But Princess, I’m not sure-“

“Enough talking!” Luna exclaims, a dark blue magical blade forming beside her horn, “Thou wish to protect thy friends, then show thy strength to me! Let us be the judge of your power!”

Seeing the determination in the blue alicorn’s irises, Grey Wind knows that she really means it. Gulping, subunits move to the tip of her wings, forming hard, sharp edges around them. The remaining subunits float to her sides, forming two small plasma cannons beside her. Watching the movements, Luna smiles.

“Good. The door is locked, the room is sound-proof, and the barrier will prevent us from damaging the room. Now, do not hold back, Grey Wind, because we won’t!” She exclaims before raising her magical blade and dashing towards the grey Pegasus.

The sudden assault catches Grey Wind off guard, forcing her to block the blade using her nanomachine-reinforced wings. A loud sound of metal clashing against each other is heard as Luna’s magical blade meets with her nanomachine edges. Luna keeps adding her force as she presses her guard, forcing Grey Wind’s wings down.

Before her guard is broken, Grey Wind quickly fires one of her plasma cannons. A green streak of energy flies toward Luna from her side, forcing her to generate a blue magical shield to dissipate the attack, and distracting her long enough for Grey Wind to escape her onslaught and roll to the side.

“Not bad, Grey Wind. We are impressed.” Luna smiles as she turns to her, “but this is not over yet!” She exclaims. With a flash of her horn, the large blue magical blade dissembles into two smaller but much swifter short swords, floating by her sides.

The last few seconds had prompted Grey Wind as well. During those seconds, a feeling she had never experienced before flushed into her mind. The urge to fight. The urge to become stronger and more experienced. Her emerald eyes light up as she spreads her wings, the plasma cannons floating to her sides. If the Princess wants to test the strength of the former Grey Tempest, then so be it!

“Bring it on, Princess Luna!” She yells.

“That’s the spirit!” Luna smirks.

Letting out two synchronized battle cries, the Pegasus and the alicorn charge towards each other.

“So, you restored your friendship with one of your old friends as well, I believe?” Celestia asks, taking a sip from her teacup.

“Yes, Princess. Grey Wind actually helped with part of that,” Twilight replies, putting her empty teacup back onto the small plate, “It feels so good to reunite with a friend that I have forgotten.”

“Then I guess you should have learned a valuable friendship lesson from that, correct?” Celestia smirks.

“Yes, Princess. I learned that it was never late to restore a lost friendship, and that good friends are always willing to forgive you. Moreover, restoring an old friendship is just as exciting as making new friends.” Twilight smiles sheepishly.

“Very good,” Celestia responds. Finishing her tea and casting a glance at the clock in the corner, she suggests, “It’s about time we go and collect Grey Wind from Luna. I do have a few questions for her, regarding her creators and her power.”

“Right, let’s go then, Princess.”

It took Twilight and Princess Celestia no time to locate the large room at the back of the castle. The room was intended to be built as a storage house, but up till now, it is still empty. According to Princess Celestia, Luna always prefers this room when it comes to having private meetings with her night guards.

Standing in front of the gate of the room, the two mares are surprised to find that the room had been locked.

“Princess Luna? Can we come in?” Twilight asks, knocking the door with her front hoof.

No response.

“Luna, are you two finished?” Celestia asks again after two gentle knocks on the door.

Still no response.

The two mares exchange a puzzled look, until finally, Celestia’s horn lights up as she unlocks the door with her magic. Opening the door, Celestia calls out:

“Luna, are you in-“ Her words were suddenly shut back into her throat as soon as she gets a clear view of what’s happening inside the room.

“Princess Celestia! What went wrong?” Twilight exclaims. She peeks into the room over her mentor, her eyes suddenly widen and her irises shrink into pupils.

The whole room in front of her is encased by a large, semi-spherical dark blue barrier. Through the barrier, Twilight can see Princess Luna and Grey Wind flying around the interior of the barrier, appearing to be in the middle of a heated duel.

Twilight opens her mouth to scream, but Celestia swoops a hoof into her mouth just in time. Leaning against Twilight’s ear, Celestia whispers:

“Let Luna have her fun.”

Twilight nods, and Celestia pulls back her hoof. The two manage to sneak into the room and find a place that has a perfect view of the entire battlefield, where the two quietly sit down and watch.

Although the battle seems to have lasted for more than 10 minutes, neither of the two competitors are showing any sign of retreat. Grey Wind is hovering above Luna, using her agility to dodge the multiple magical blasts and missiles the alicorn had been sending her, while occasionally firing a green laser or swooping down to slash or stab with her wings. Luna, on the other hand, maintains her onslaught while actively defending herself from the surprise attacks using her magical twin blades and her shield magic.

It took no time for Twilight to figure out Grey Wind’s strategy. The mare is actively trying to deplete her opponent’s strength. With every missed magical blast, Luna is wasting part of her reserve magic, and the random surprise attacks launched by the grey Pegasus worsens her situation. Even though Luna has an enormous magical reserve as an alicorn, her strength would deplete at a rate much faster than her opponent.

Luna seems to realize this after a minute or two. When Grey Wind swoops down for a wing slash once again, instead of blocking it with her magical blades, Luna generates a magical barrier in the direction of the attack. As Grey Wind’s wing clashes with the barrier, the barrier explodes. The generated shockwave causes Grey Wind to tumble back into the air, while Luna spreads her wings and harnesses the shockwave for a quick take off.

Catching her opponent’s blind spot, Luna wastes no time as she concentrates and generates a dark blue ball above her horn, which soon dissembles into a barrage of magic missiles that fly towards Grey Wind.

The grey Pegasus was not planning to be a sitting duck, though. With a quick maneuver mid-air, she quickly regains posture and charges towards the approaching missiles. With a surprisingly elegant “Z” shaped flight path, she manages to travel through the barrage without being hit a single time. After dodging Luna’s attack, she dashes towards her opponent, who readies her twin blades

Approaching her opponent, Grey Wind slashes Luna with her right wing, makes a 360 degree turn mid-air, and slashes again with her left wing followed by a quick stab of her right wing. In a few seconds, Grey Wind has dragged Luna into an intense melee assault, forcing Luna to focus on blocking her attacks with her magical blades.

Knowing that she cannot continue her defense for any longer, Luna channels a bit of magic into her horn and fires a small magic blast at Grey Wind during a window of her attack. Noticing her glowing horn, Grey Wind fires a laser towards her opponent at the same time.

The impact of two energy blasts generates a huge burst between the two mares, pushing both of them back to the edge of the arena. Quickly regaining posture, Grey Wind dismantles her plasma cannons and transmits all her subunits to the tip of her wing, forming two sharp grey spears. Luna assembles her twin blades back into a broad sword. Both mares point their weapons at their opponent, knowing by heart that this will be the determining strike.

Letting out a synchronized roar, the two mares lunge at each other. As their weapon clash for one last time, the spears and the sword shatter under the immense momentum, sending an earth-shattering energy blast across the whole room. Both Grey Wind and Luna are sent tumbling towards the edge of the barrier before bumping into it, falling flat on the ground. With muffled grunts, the two mares stand back up, showing no sign of backing up as they once again concentrate to regenerate their weapons.

“I believe that would be quite enough, Luna.” Celestia suddenly calls out, instantly gathering the two mares’ attention. With a flash of her horn, Luna lowers the barrier, eyeing her sister with shocked eyes:

“Ti-Tia! We thought—”

“No need to apologize, Luna. I know you need a chance to let out all those stresses of adjusting to modern life,” Celestia interrupts, walking up to her sister and gently nuzzling her, “Though I fear that if I let this duel continue, one of you might get hurt. Both of you have been exhausted as far as I can see.”

Releasing her sister, Celestia turns to Grey Wind, “That was quite a marvelous fight you put up against my sister though, Grey Wind. I haven’t seen such an intense duel in Centuries.”

Twilight, finally recovering from the shock of the final showdown of the duel, instantly runs up to Grey Wind and pulls her into a hug, frantically checking her body.

“Grey Wind! Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“Easy, Twilight, I’m fine,” Grey Wind says, spreading her wings to assure her friend, “See? Not a scratch.”

“That fight was amazing! Where did you learn to fight like that?” Making sure her friend was not hurt, Twilight lets out a relieving breath and asks.

“Well…That built-in war program, remember? I just kinda…activated it with my enthusiasm.” Grey Wind blushes a bit upon hearing the compliment.

“I believe you both had fun, but we still have many things to discuss, Luna and Grey Wind. Now, if you may, please follow me to the conference room.” Celestia smiles as she turns around and leaves the room, quickly followed by Twilight and Luna.

As Twilight starts walking out of the room, however, she hears a large “thud” coming from behind her. Turning back, she was horrified to find Grey Wind collapsed on the floor, her regular breathing replaced by sharp pants.

“Grey Wind! What’s wrong?” Almost instantly, Twilight runs to her friend, frantically helping her to get up.

“I’m…fine…Just…Give me a second…Too…Exhausted,” Grey Wind pants as she gets up with the aid of Twilight.

Watching the scene, both Princesses let out a chuckle. The group stands there for a moment waiting for Grey Wind to recover, before heading to the conference room of the castle.

1 hour later, Twilight and Grey Wind have left the castle front gate, and are on thier way to the Canterlot hospital. During the last hour, the two had been discussing the database Grey Wind carries with her with the Princesses. She showed many of the technologies of her creators to the two alicorns, and the four discussed the feasibility of utilizing those technologies in Equestria. During the discussion, Grey Wind had discovered that the reconstruction of many technology in this world might be much easier than her thought with the aid of magic.

Before they were about to leave, however, Luna pulled her into a waiting room of the conference room and gave her a “secret mission”. According to the blue alicorn, she sensed a magical burst in a distant town called Hollowshades a couple of days ago, and she was certain that the burst was from one of her lost magical artifacts, “the star lyre”.

Princess Luna had entrusted her with the task of recovering the magical artifact from an old temple of hers near the town, and had made her swear not to say a word about this to Celestia or Twilight. Although a bit confused about the quest, Grey Wind still accepted it, and made a mental note to look the artifact up once she gets back to Ponyville. Upon her departure, Princess Luna also told her that she would always welcome her if she ever wanted a rematch.

Twilight, on the other hand, is still a bit startled by her friend equaling Princess Luna in an all-out combat. In her opinion, being able to last that long, and even putting up a good fight against the Princess of the Night is alone a feat that could be kept in a history book. Chuckling at her friend’s thought, Grey Wind knew by her heart that both her and the Princess were already reaching their limits in that fight. If Celestia hadn’t called time out, there is a great chance the outcome of that battle would be more gruesome.

Within 10 minutes, the two are already standing in front of Canterlot Hospital, a large white building with a red cross hanging above the front door. On their way here, Grey Wind had asked Twilight how they would get the permission to look up the birth records, only receiving a slight smirk as a reply. Walking inside, the two made their way to the front desk. A brown earth pony mare wearing a white nurse outfit greets them.

“Welcome to Canterlot Hospital. How may I help you?”

“Hello,” Twilight responds, “I’m Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia’s personal student and bearer of element of magic. I would like to look up the birth record of all ponies born on April 15th 17 years ago,”

“Well, normally you’ll need an authorized permission to look up the records, but I can’t possibly turn down the request of the Princess’ personal student, can I?” The nurse smiled, “now, Miss Sparkle, please follow me to the documentary room.”

As the nurse turns around to lead the way, Twilight turns back and winks at Grey Wind, making the grey mare chuckle.

Minutes later, the two friends are sitting in the documentary room of the hospital, looking through the various birth records of the ponies born on Lyra’s birthday 17 years ago. Their search, however, was fruitless, as they encountered no name marked as “Lyra” or “Heartstrings”.

“This doesn’t make sense. We can’t find her birth record here. Are you sure you remembered Lyra’s birthday correctly?” Grey Wind closes the last birth record documentary and turns to ask Twilight, who is still looking through a document held in her magic.

“That can’t be true! I checked with Lyra three times before we came here!” Putting down her document, Twilight sighs, “The only logical explanation I can think of is that she wasn’t born here and moved here from somewhere else instead.”

“Then how can we determine where her birth pace was? Wait a second,” Grey Wind rubs her chin, “Do you know where Lyra lived when she lived in Canterlot? Didn’t she live with her aunt and uncle here? We can ask them about Lyra’s parents. Surely they would know what happened to them.”

“That…might actually work!” Twilight exclaims, “I know where she lived, and that could be our new lead!”

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Grey Wind smiles. The two friends quickly leave their seats and dash outside the hospital.

Minutes later, the two friends arrive at a small house amidst the lower level of Canterlot. The door was answered by a blue unicorn stallion, who Twilight instantly recognized as Lyra’s uncle, Mr. Deep Note.

Recognizing the friend of his niece, Mr. Note smiles and politely greets Twilight:

“Why, long time no see, Ms. Sparkle. And who is that you bring with you?”

Grey Wind hastily replies:

“My name is Grey Wind. I’m Lyra’s friend from Ponyville.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Wind. I’m glad to see my young niece making new friends in that small town she moved to,” Mr. Note smiles, “Please, do come in. It’s the perfect day for an afternoon tea with my niece’s friends.”

“You are too kind, Mr. Note,” Twilight replies as she walks into the house and sits at the dining table in the living room, quickly followed by Grey Wind.

Minutes later, the three ponies are sitting around the dining table, a teapot and three cups of tea placed neatly on the table.

“So, how can I help you? I believe you girls aren’t just here for a surprise visit, right?” Mr. Note smiles as he pours the tea into the cups on the table using his magic.

“Actually…We are here to ask about Lyra’s parents,” taking a sip from her teacup, Grey Wind asks, “she told me that she didn’t even know who they were, and we didn’t find her birth record in Canterlot Hospital. We…think that you and your wife might know something since you raised her.”

Deep Note’s smile stiffens on his face upon hearing the question. A frown is formed between his eyebrows, and he nearly dropped the teapot onto the table. Hastily, he responds:

“I see…I’m sorry, girls, that is a subject I’d rather not talk about, Now, probably you can tell me how has Lyra been living in Ponyville?”

Twilight and Grey Wind exchange a puzzled glance. There must be something behind this. Taking a deep breath, Twilight speaks up:

“Mr. Note, I understand that you might not want to speak about it, but this really means a lot to Lyra. When we brought up the topic last night, she was really sad,” Twilight pauses for a bit, and continues, “I haven’t experienced lives without having parents to rely on, but I can tell from one of my friends back in Ponyville, Scootaloo, that it must have felt really, really bad. Lyra and we will really appreciate it if you are willing to tell us the things you know.”

Mr. Note seems to be in deep conflicts within his heart. Minutes later, he lets out a sigh:

“I guess you are right, Ms. Sparkle. My wife and I have been hiding this for long enough. I was going to tell Lyra when she becomes older, but I guess it would be better if I tell you girls first.”

Taking a deep breath, Deep Note begins:

“Lyra’s parents, or my wife’s sister and her husband, didn’t live in Canterlot. To my knowledge, they lived in a town far from here called Hollowshade. Lyra was born there as well.”

The familiar name widens Grey Wind’s eyes. Talk about coincidence. Lyra’s hometown was the exact same town Princess Luna had tasked her to visit. Remembering her promise to the Princess, she quickly hides her emotion and continues to listen.

“Although The town was a small town that was kind of separated from the rest of Equestria due to the fact that it was located in the middle of a large forest, the ponies there were able to sustain themselves, even developing a unique regional culture. The town was also my wife’s hometown, before she moved to Canterlot around 20 years ago, where we met and got married.”

“From the letters we receive from Lyra’s parents, her family was indeed a happy one. They owned a music shop in the town, her father was a great lyre player while her mother was a skillful music conductor. I guess Lyra must’ve inherited her talent from her father.” Mr. Note smiles.

“However, when Lyra was 3 years ago, a cruel disaster befell on her parents. On that day, one of the workers in her family’s music shop noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Heartstrings never came to work that morning, so he set out to their house to look for them.”

“What he found out, however, was that Lyra’s parents were lying on the floor of their house, murdered.”

Both Twilight and Grey Wind let out sharp gasps. That was nowhere near the answer they were expecting. Deep Note looks at the two mares, sympathy and sadness clear in his eyes as he recalled the horrible event.

“People assumed that it must have been wild animals that attacked them in their sleep. Their house was located on the edge of town, so an animal attack is very much possible. They also found their 3-year-old daughter, Lyra Heartstrings, sleeping under a bed sheet on the second floor, presumably escaped her death by being hidden under the sheet.”

“The mayor of the town came to Canterlot 14 years ago and entrusted Lyra to my wife. She told us that we are Lyra’s only living relatives in Equestria, and pleaded us to take care of her. By that time we had already heard about what happened to Mr. and Mrs. Heartstrings, so we accepted her right away. We raised her all the way up until she decided to move to Ponyville. That’s pretty much the whole story.”

The air in the room stiffens. After minutes of silence, Twilight finally works up the courage to speak again:

“That’s horrible…I’m sorry, Mr. Note, that we brought back those bad memories.”

“No need to apologize, Ms. Sparkle, it’s all in the past now. Right now I’m just glad to see my little niece growing up happily and healthily, while making many good friends that care for her in the process.” Deep Note responds, smiling and wiping a tear off his cheek.

“…I didn’t expect that to be the answer we seek …” Grey Wind mumbles, “Thank you anyway, Mr. Note, I guess it would be best for us to take our leave now.”

“Let me see you off,” Deep Note offers as he accompanies the two ponies to the front door. Just before the two ponies leave, he calls out:

“Ms. Sparkle? Ms. Wind? Could you please not tell Lyra about what I just told you? I don’t think she is ready to face the truth yet.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Note, we won’t.” Twilight replies. The two friends wave goodbye to Deep Note, and trot towards the train station.

The trip to the train station and the quick dinner were both silent. The two friends shared no words before they got on the train back to Ponyville. Looking into each other’s eyes, there was no need for them to guess to know what their friend was thinking:

What are we going to tell her?

Chapter 2: Hollowshade

Grey Wind trots on the main street of Ponyville, past town square and towards a familiar two-story house not far from it. It’s already late at night, and the streets are almost empty. Streetlights illuminate the slumbering town, where most ponies have already switched off their house lights and drifted towards the dreamlands. As Grey Wind approaches her destination, however, she finds the lights to be still on inside.

Standing on the doorstep, the grey Pegasus lets out a sigh. During the train ride back to Ponyville, she and Twilight have come to an agreement that they will tell Lyra where she was born, while omitting any details regarding what happened to her parents. They will simply tell her that her parents went missing when she was very young. After they returned to the library, Twilight went to the basement to prepare for a magical experiment tomorrow, leaving the task of explaining to Lyra to Grey Wind.

So there she was, knocking on the door of Lyra and Bon Bon’s house at half past eight at night. After a faint “One second!”, the door swings open, revealing a milk white earth pony on the other side.

“Good evening, Grey Wind! What brings you here this late at night?”

“Good evening, Bon Bon. You remember Twilight’s promise to Lyra yesterday? We went to Canterlot Hospital earlier today, and…” Grey Wind manages a weary smile, “we found something.”

“That’s great! Come on inside. Lyra! Grey is here!”

“Coming!” Lyra’s voice comes from upstairs.

As Grey Wind enters the living room, a mint green hurricane dashes down the stairs and charges towards the grey Pegasus, stopping right in front of her, causing Grey Wind to flinch back and trip on the tea stand, falling flat onto the floor.

“Oops, sorry! Let me help you up!” Lyra exclaims. She envelopes Grey Wind’s left wing in her magic and yanks the Pegasus from the ground, receiving a painful “yelp!” in return.

Finally regaining posture and rubbing her sore wing, Grey Wind retorts:

“Lyra, you almost gave me a heart attack! Do I need to remind you that I’m no longer a nanomachine aggregation and won’t be able to reassemble if I am scared to death?”

“Hey, I apologized! But that’s not important now,” Lyra raises her left hoof dismissively as she looks at her friend with growing excitement in her eyes, “So, did you find anything? Did you find out who my parents are?”

“Well, about that…”A glimpse of uneasiness appears in Grey Wind’s eyes upon hearing the question, who quickly hides it and continues, “We didn’t find your birth record in the hospital, so we still have no idea who your parents are. I’m sorry.”

“Oh.” Lyra’s ears droop down, a small frown forming over her eyebrows. Her disappointment, though, lasted no longer than 30 seconds, as her ears flop back up and her frown disperses:

“But that’s alright! It’s still so great that you came to visit! We can still have a night treat or two—”

“But,” Grey Wind interrupts, a smile creeping back onto her face, “We did find out where your hometown was in the documents of the hospital. According to those documents, you were born in the town of Hollowshade.”

“Hollowshade? As in the Hollowshade located in the middle of the Midnight Forest?” Lyra’s eyes widen in surprise upon hearing the answer.

“Well…I suppose…Wait, you know about that town?”

“Of course!” Lyra lights up, small stars appearing in her eyes, “Everypony who studies ancient legends know about that place! That town was a religious center in ancient times, as most of its citizens worshipped Princess Luna! It was also one of the Princess’ favorite place to visit as well! I’ve always wanted to go there ever since I read about it! And, you are telling me that the one town I have been dreaming to go to is my hometown all along? This. Is. Awesome!” Lyra exclaims, hopping up and down around the room, forcing Bon Bon to stand clear of her path.

After Lyra finally calms down, she turns to Grey Wind and asks: “So…Did you find out what happened to my parents?”

“Well…Um…” Grey Wind flinches back, her eyesight evading Lyra’s eyes.

“Grey? What’s wrong? Oh, please tell me! I really want to know! Please!” Lyra runs up to her friend, pulling her face up against hers.

“Um…Okay, Lyra…Well…” Grey Wind mutters, “We found out that they…went missing 14 years ago. I’m sorry…”

Upon hearing the answer, Lyra steps back, leaning herself against the desk:

“Missing? What do you mean?”

“Well…”Grey Wind gulps, “According to what we found, one of your parents’ neighbors found out that they didn’t go to work that day, and went to look for them. They found nothing except their daughter under a bed sheet in their house. And they never returned as well.”

“I see…” Lyra mumbles as she lowers her head, “14 years ago…That’s when I was 3 years old…No wonder I don’t remember anything…”She manages a bitter smile, “Well, at least I know now that I used to have parents…”

“Lyres, are you—"

“I’m fine, Bonnie, really, I’m fine,” Lyra says as she lifts her head and wipes a tear from her cheek, “I had made mental preparations to face such results the moment I asked Grey and Twilight to look it up for me. Thanks for letting me know, anyway.”

“Lyra…”

“I’m Okay, Grey. Everypony needs to move on,” Lyra smiles, her jolly personality slowly returning, “So, it is real that I came from Hollowshade, right? Do you think we can visit there some time? You know, to check out what my hometown looks like?”

Judging from Lyra’s expression, the two friends can tell that there was not a bit of insincerity behind the cheerful ember eyes. Bon Bon’s nervousness eases, seeing her roommate really is fine.

“Well, now that you mention it, I remember reading in the newspaper about a new train line for that town being established, so I guess visiting there won’t be too much of a problem.”

“Yeah, Princess Luna informed me of that back in Canterlot,” Grey Wind nods, “and I do need to visit that town soon.”

“Visit Hollowshade? What for?” Bon Bon asks.

“Well, I promised Princess Luna not to tell her sister or Twilight, but I guess it would be fine if I tell you,” a small grey cloud floats from her left wing and hovers in the air, taking the shape of a hologram projector, which soon generates an image of a harp in the air, “Princess Luna had tasked me to retrieve a magical artifact called the star lyre. Apparently, she sensed a magical burst generated by that thing in Hollowshade some days ago.”

“Princess Luna gave you a secret mission? To Hollowshade? That is so cool! Can you bring me with you? I can sense another great adventure!” Lyra exclaims, grabbig Grey Wind’s body and rapidly shakes it.

Struggling in Lyra’s death grip and before Bon Bon can say anything, Grey Wind answers:

“Well, I guess one more helping hoof won’t hurt. Besides, it’s your hometown after all.”

“This is so great! Bonnie, are you coming?” Lyra turns towards her roommate.

“Well, I—”

“Come on, Bonnie! It’s going to be so much fun!”

Struggling in her mind for a few seconds, Bon Bon finally lets out a smile:

“Well, I guess one holiday from dealing with all my clients won’t hurt. Plus, somepony needs to ensure you don’t hurt your hoof or any body part again. So, when are we leaving? Are we going to tell Twilight about this?”

“I was thinking about taking a train that leaves at 10 a.m. tomorrow. I’m sure I can get two more tickets. I can tell Twilight that Lyra wants to visit her hometown. That should be enough to cover for Princess Luna’s mission.” Grey Wind rubs her chin.

“So it is decided then!” Lyra blurts, “Trip to Hollowshade, tomorrow morning! I’ll go pack up!” She turns around and zips upstairs, leaving Grey Wind and Bon Bon in the living room.

“Well, I suppose I should head back and pack up as well,” Grey Wind says, “Good night, Bon Bon. See you at the train station tomorrow.”

“Good night, Grey.”

Waving goodbye to Bon Bon, Grey Wind trots back to the library. As she walks into the door, she bumps into Twilight who was just getting upstairs, a batch of experiment apparatuses floating beside her.

“Oh, you are back, Grey! How did it go? How was Lyra? And did you tell her about her parents?”

“She was fine, Twilight, and I told her what we both agreed on. She seems okay to me, and she said that she had already made mental preparations for such outcome.” Grey Wind answers.

“Oh, that’s a relief,” Twilight lets out a deep breath.

“And one more thing. Lyra said she wanted to visit her hometown, so we are going to Hollowshade together tomorrow.”

“I see…” Twilight rubs her chin, “I may be unable to accompany you, since one of my experiments has entered its critical period. I’m sorry, Grey.” She sighs.

“It’s alright, Twi. We all know how you value your studies more than your friendships.” Grey Wind jokes.

Twilight’s eyes widen in fear the moment she hears the statement. Seeing her reaction, Grey Wind quickly adds:

“I’m joking, I’m joking, Twilight! Really, I know how busy your studies are, and I believe neither Lyra and Bon Bon nor me would want to give you more trouble. Plus, I believe I do need a small vacation after what happened last week. I’d better go and pack up now. Good night, Twilight.”

“Night, Grey.” Twilight relaxes as a weak smile appears on her face.

Returning to her room, Grey Wind drags her saddlebags (now with her cutie mark stitched onto them by Rarity) from the closet, and starts throwing all the needed adventuring gears into them, including a water-proof torch, a compass, and several cans of emergency food. She also brings along the dream orb, hoping that it will at least ensure her and her friends good night’s sleeps.

Finishing up, she crawls onto her bed and pulls the sheet above her. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.

As a strand of morning light shines through her curtains, Grey Wind mumbles and opens her eyes. Sitting up and extending her wings, she jumps from her bed, flips her saddlebag onto her back and puts on her cloak. After combing her mane, she walks down the stairs to the kitchen. Twilight is already there, munching into her sandwich while reading the newspaper.

“Good morning, Twi.” Grey Wind says as she sits beside the table, taking a huge bite from her sandwich.

“Morning, Grey. All packed up?” Putting down her newspaper, Twilight smiles.

“Sure. I got everything I need.” Grey Wind mumbles, storming her breakfast. Gulping down the last bit of her sandwich, she stands up from her seat and wave goodbye to Twilight:

“Well, guess I should get going. Don’t wanna miss my train. See you in a few days, Twilight.”

“Bye, Grey Wind. Have fun!” Twilight smiles, bidding her friend farewell.

Within 10 minutes, Grey Wind arrives at the Ponyville train station. By normal standard, today is still a workday, and the station is still mostly empty. At a distance, Grey Wind can already see Lyra and Bon Bon standing on the railway platform, both wearing a pair of saddlebags.

Noticing her friend, Lyra turns to Grey Wind and waves:

“Morning, Grey! Did you get the tickets?”

“Well, I was planning to buy them right before we get on the train,” Grey Wind scratches her head, “but I guess I can buy them now.” She says as she walks with her friends to the railway conductor.

“Two first-class tickets for the train leaving at 10 a.m to Hollowshade, please.”

“That would be 40 bits.”

“Here you go,” Grey Wind takes out a purse from her saddlebag and counts out the money.

Just before she hands the coins to the conductor, however, she hears Lyra yell at her side.

“First class? But Grey, you don’t need to—”

“I insist.” Grey Wind turns around and smiles to her friends, “It’s a 7-hour-train ride. Best to get comfortable for it. Plus, the Princesses gave me a large bonus for what happened last week, so my financial standards are much…freer now.”

The train arrives at the station 15 minutes later. After the three friends walked on the train and sit down around the round table in their carriage, the train starts to leave the station. Having decided that it would be best to double check her equipment, Grey Wind lays her saddlebag on the desk and pours out the contents of it, revealing a coin purse, a torch, an old compass, several cans and a black box.

“Wow, you even brought the dream orb along?” Lyra exclaims, eyeing the black box placed on the table.

“Yep, I presumed that at least it will ensure us good night sleeps after we arrive,” Grey Wind flips open the lid of the box, revealing the large pearl inside.

“That’s the thing you recovered from that creepy castle in Everfree? Interesting. Is it true that thing can get rid of nightmares? Just like Princess Luna?” Bon Bon asks as she eyes the pearl suspiciously.

“It certainly can,” Grey Wind replies, “it helped me a lot last week when I was torn by my old memories before coming to this world.”

“Well, guess I can expect a few nights without nightmares about my clients not satisfied with my products, then.” Bon Bon smiles, “So, what’s our plan once we get to Hollowshade?”

“The train is scheduled to arrive at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, and that won’t leave us much time for other stuff today. Therefore, first thing we do once we get there is to settle down. Believe it or not, I contacted Princess Luna in my dream last night, and she had agreed to arrange a place for us. She should give as the reply any minute now.”

Just as Grey Wind finishes the sentence, a scroll bearing the seal of a crescent moon appears directly above the table in a flash of dark blue light. Unraveling the scroll, Grey Wind begins to read:

Dear Grey Wind:

We have finished arranging thou lodging during thine stay in Hollowshade. Once thou arrive, look for Mr. Night Blade. He is a descendent of one of our most loyal night guard a thousand years ago, and has agreed to provide lodging for thee and thy friends. He runs an Inn in the south-most part of the town. A map of the town has been drawn on the back of this message.
Sincerely,
Princess Luna of Equestria

“Just in time.” Grey Wind smiles as she finishes her reading.

“And what about tomorrow? What’s the plan after today?” Lyra asks.

“Right. Tomorrow, we’ll visit the town library in the morning to look for the lead of the abandoned temple of the moon. Apparently the location of the temple had been lost not long before Luna turned into Nightmare Moon,” Grey Wind scratches her head, “and in the afternoon, we’ll stroll around the town and possibly buy some souvenirs for our friends back in Ponyville. We are on a vacation after all.”

“After that, we should take some time to make a plan for retrieving the star lyre, and commence the exploration of the shrine some time after that. Once we retrieve the artifact, we’ll spend the rest of the week relaxing and sightseeing around the town. We’ll return to Ponyville one week later.”

“Sounds good to me,” Bon Bon comments.

“Great plan!” Lyra exclaims.

“Is that so? Thank you, girls,” Grey Wind blushes a bit, “I actually learned most of the plan building from Twilight.”

Grey Wind’s expression invokes a round of chuckle from her two friends.

The rest of the train ride was uneventful. Grey Wind told her friends about her visit to Canterlot, and more specifically, her duel with Princess Luna. Both Lyra and Bon Bon were surprised by her matching Princess Luna in an all-out one-to-one combat. Grey Wind also showed her friends a range of arsenals she can form using her remaining subunits, ranging from sharp swords to plasma cannons.

Lyra, on the other hand, told Grey Wind about her stories with Twilight back when she lived in Canterlot. Both Grey Wind and Bon Bon awed at how Twilight had been the top student of the class in nearly all times. Bon Bon shared some of her candy ingredient lists with her friends, and even made one small butter candy using the butter provided on the train and a bit of Lyra’s cooling magic.

As the train nears its destination, all the ponies notice the change of scenery. About 4 hours after they left Ponyville, the scenery outside has switched from large, green planes to dark, flourishing forests. Though not so intimidating as Everfree, the path of the train has become less straight forward, making various turns to avoid rivers or valleys on the way.

After another three hours, just before the three friends run out of topics, the train finally comes to a full stop, a siren calling to signify its arrival. Stretching and walking out of the carriage, the three friends found themselves standing on a wooden platform in the middle of a forest, a dirt path before them leading away from the platform into the forest.

“Well…Are we there?” Grey Wind asks.

“According to what I read about, Hollowshade is located too deep in the forest to directly reach by train. Therefore, the train station is built outside the town, with a path connecting them,” Bon Bon responds, “The town must be down that path.”

“Then what are we waiting for!” Lyra exclaims. She jumps from the platform and starts trotting down the road, quickly followed by her two friends.

As the three trot down the path, they couldn’t help but admire the beauty of the forest around them. Although it’s still 5 in the afternoon, the forest is almost as dark as a night illuminated solely by a full moon. Tall oak trees grow on both sides of the path, with many plants of different shapes and sizes occupying the ground level. Vines wrap around the tall trunks, forming complex structures. Illuminative moss and mushrooms cover the fallen logs, emitting a faint blue glow. The scene is almost as serene as the dreamscape under Luna’s control.

After a 10-minute-walk, Lyra spots a faint green glow hanging on one of the tree branches on the path. Approaching, the three friends find the glow to be a signpost, with words on it written in some kind of illuminative paint:

Welcome to Hollowshade

The three friends exchange an excited glance, and hurry behind the post. After they walk past the sign, they find themselves standing at the entrance of the town of Hollowshade, a natural dome formed by two oak trees directly above them.

As the three ponies walk into the town, they all realize that this town is very much different then Ponyville. Like most other parts of the forest, the interior of the town is dimly lit, with nearly no sunlight penetrating the thick canopy.

Most of the buildings in the town are tree houses, carved out directly from large oak trees, much like the Golden Oak Library back in Ponyville. Unlike the neat arrangement of buildings in Ponyville, the tree houses in Hollowshade have nearly no arrangement patterns, forming a small forest of living quarters. Despite the narrow streets on the ground, most of the tree houses are also interconnected by wood plank bridges in the air. The town is lit not by fire or electric lights, but by some kind of round-shaped green lanterns hanging on most of the tree houses.

The town ponies the group encounter consists of all the pony species just like back in Ponyville, earth ponies, Pegasi and unicorns. The group even encounter several threstrals, or, in common sense, bat ponies on their way. What’s same about all the town ponies is that they all wear a long black cloak with a white crescent moon stitched on both sides. The sight makes Lyra and Bon Bon feel a bit uneasy, since they are the only ponies among the crowd who do not wear a cloak.

With the help of Princess Luna’s map, the three friends manage to navigate through the maze-like narrow streets to a tall tree house in the southern part of the town. A sign is hang above the front door of the tree house, with words on it written by blue illuminative paint:

The Night Inn

Walking into the open door, Grey Wind finds herself in a room that resembles a reception room of a regular hotel, with a wooden counter placed at the center of the room. Sitting behind the counter is a middle-aged male bat pony, with dark grey fur and dark blue wings. Noticing the three friends, he calls out:

“Welcome to the Night Inn, young ladies, how can I help you?”

“Um, my name is Grey Wind, and we are looking for Mr. Night Blade.”

“Oh, so you are the Pegasus the Princess had told me about. I am Night Blade. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Wind.” Leaving the counter, Night Blade walks up to the grey Pegasus and extends a hoof. Hesitating for a moment, Grey Wind accepts his hoof and shakes it.

“And these two here are your friends, I presume?” Night Blade says as he turns to Lyra and Bon Bon.

“Yes, My name is Bon Bon. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Blade.” Bon Bon says, shaking her hoof with Night Blade.

“Lyra Heartstrings, pleased to meet you, sir!” Lyra exclaims as she too shakes Night Blade’s hoof.

“Heartstrings…I must’ve heard about the name somewhere…Oh!” Night Blade’s eyes suddenly widen, an expression of pure surprise forming on his face as his sight fixes on Lyra’s cutie marks, “It can’t be…”

“Mr. Blade? What’s wrong?” Bon Bon asks.

“In the name Luna, it is you, the daughter of the Heartstrings family! So you have finally returned to where you were born after all those years! Welcome home!” Night Blade says, a grin forming on his face, “Last time I saw you, you were just still a little foal.”

“You…you know me?” Lyra asks, a frown forming in her eyebrows.

“I was not so sure at first, but I became certain as soon as I saw your cutie mark. It is nearly exactly the same as your father’s.” Night Blade smiles

“You…know my parents?” Lyra asks, her voice trembling.

“Well, they used to perform for a few times at my Inn here, so I know them a bit. I’m sorry for what happened to them, though. Sorry for bringing this subject back up,” Night Blade scratches his head.

“It’s alright, Mr. Blade. It’s all in the past now,” Lyra manages a weak smile.

“Glad to see that you aren’t mad,” Night Blade smiles, “why don’t we enjoy a dinner together? You are my first guests ever since the end of last summer, and I presume you must have been hungry after that long train ride.”

“That would be so kind of you, Mr. Blade.” A growl occurs just in time after Grey Wind finishes her sentence, causing her to smile sheepishly. Letting out a chuckle, Night Blade turns around and leads his guests into the back room.

After the ponies all sit around a round table around the room, Night Blade walks into the kitchen and moments later returns with four plates of different fruits balanced on his leathery wings. Putting the plates onto the table, he sighs:

“Sorry for dinner being a bit simple. I wasn’t expecting guests earlier today, and we bat ponies usually stick to fruits.”

“It’s alright, Mr. Blade, you are already too kind for agreeing to provide lodging for us,” Bon Bon replies as she lifts a mango from her plate and bites into it.

“I can’t possibly turn down the request from the Princess, right? Especially when my guests are the Princess’ friend as well.” Night Blade smiles, “So, what brings you here to Hollowshade?”

“Well, Princess Luna has tasked me with retrieving a magical artifact which she believed is hidden somewhere around this town. My friends and I have decided that it’s a great chance for a small holiday as well.” Grey Wind replies, “This town is very much different from where we came from.”

“Believe me, everypony who visits Hollowshade for the first time has the same reaction,” Night Blade chimes, “This town was originally found by a bat pony tribe more than a thousand years ago, and more ponies joined in later in history. Most ponies in this town used to worship Princess Luna as the goddess of the night. Now, although the religion is gone after the Princesses claim themselves as nowhere near gods, the traditions still preserve, and even become strong attractions for tourists and travelers.”

“Is it true that your ancestor was a personal guard of Princess Luna?” Bon Bon asks.

“From the family records, I can assure you that it is true, Miss Bon Bon, though I believe that was about 10 generations ago,” Night Blade answers, “After my ancestor retired, he returned to Hollowshade and started the business of the Night Inn. All of my family members maintain close relationships with Princess Luna until she turned into Nightmare Moon. Therefore, I cannot describe how excited I was when I heard that Princess Luna has returned.”

During the conversation, Lyra seems to be deep in thought, her head lowered and her eyes fixed on her plate. Noticing her expression, Night Blade asks:

“Miss Hearstrings? Is something wrong? Do the food not suite your favor?”

“No, no, Mr. Blade, the food was great,” Lyra hastily replies, “it’s just…since you know my parents, do you know where they used to live?”

“As far as I know, your parents used to live in a tree house on the northern edge of the town, far from the other tree houses. It’s at the end of a dirt path leading outside the town.” Night Blade rubs his chin, “Though I doubt you’ll find anything useful there. The house has been long abandoned.”

“I…I just wanted to see where my parents used to live, where I used to live, though I don’t remember anything about it,” Lyra says as she turns to Grey Wind, “Do you think we can visit my parents’ old house tomorrow morning?”

“Well, if you want to, of course we can!” Grey Wind answers, “Searching the library can wait until the day after tomorrow.”

Before the grey Pegasus can react, Lyra dashes towards her and pulls her into a tight hug:

“Thank you, Grey, thank you!”

“Anything for a friend.” Grey Wind smiles.

After the three friends finish their dinner, Night Blade led them to a tree house connected by an airborne wood bridge to the main building and gave them three copies of the key to the house.

The tree house is divided into three floors, with one bedroom on each of the floors. Bon Bon claims the one on the ground floor as hers, while Lyra takes the bedroom on the second floor, leaving Grey Wind the bedroom at the top. The three ponies quickly arrange their rooms and get ready to sleep as the night descends upon the town.

Putting her saddlebags back into a closet in the room, Lyra crawls onto her bed. Just as she lays down, however, she realizes one severe problem. The room does not have a single light source in it, and is engulfed almost in complete darkness.

Staring into the darkness around her, Lyra can feel a streak of cold crawling onto her spine. Frantically, she jumps from her bed and climbs onto the third floor as fast as her hoofs can carry her, before pounding extra hard on Grey Wind’s door.

“Lyra? What’s wrong?” Opening the door, Grey Wind mumbles as she rubs her sleepy eyes.

“Well…I was just thinking…Would you mind if I move the dream orb into my room? It’s…a bit dark in there.”

“Of course not, Lyra. I was actually wondering if its magic field can cover all three of us if I put it on the top floor.” Grey Wind answers. She turns back into the room and returns with the black box balanced on one of her wings.

“Thanks, grey. Good night!” Lyra replies, waving good night to the grey Pegasus, she returns to her room, places the box onto her nightstand and opens its lid, before crawling back onto her bed. The faint white glow of the pearl gives her a sense of assurance as it illuminates the dark room. Satisfied and assured, Lyra closes her eyes and drifts towards the dreamlands.

Chapter 3: Shattered Memories

Lyra’s ember eyes snap open. Sitting up and looking around, she finds the room to be still very dark. With the faint white light of the dream orb, she glances at the clock, and notices both the two needles pointing directly upwards, indicating that it is just past midnight.

Rubbing her eyes, the mint green unicorn lets out a yawn. Thanks to the dream orb, the last few hours of sleep had been dreamless, though she has no idea why she woke up in the middle of the night without a nightmare. However, this has occurred to her before, mainly before some of her performances. She had always blamed those sudden wakes to psychological pressure.

Just as she was going to let it pass as the nervousness of returning to her true hometown and lie back down, however, a small humming sound catches Lyra’s attention. A strange feeling of familiarity runs through her body, as her horn starts to emit a faint high-pitched humming sound. Feeling her horn with her front hoof, Lyra finds it to be slightly warm, indicating that there is a small amount of magic building in it.

Lyra is not unfamiliar with the situation. In fact, this phenomenon is one of the first things unicorns learn when they start learning about their magic. Magic self-building in a unicorn’s horn usually means that a magic source, possibly another unicorn, is resonating with the unicorn’s own magic.

Such phenomenon, however, usually takes place between genetically related unicorns, namely families and relatives, whose magic are on similar frequencies. But her parents should have been lone gone now, and her only living relative is still in Canterlot, hundreds of miles away. How could something in a town she had just arrived at hours ago resonate with her magic?

Her curiosity lifted, Lyra concentrates her mind and tries to determine the location of the magic source resonating with her, a neat trick taught by Twilight in her magic lessons last week. As she taps into her inner magic flow, she finds them entangled with a foreign magic flow emitted by another magic source, a faint glowing spot just outside the window.

Dismissing her magic and looking outside the window, Lyra instantly spots a dark green glow about 50 meters away in the forest outside, distinct from the much fainter glow from the illuminative mushrooms around.

Looking more closely, Lyra gasps and nearly jumps from her bed. Standing in the dark forest outside was another pony, a dark green unicorn mare. What startles Lyra is not only the fact that this unicorn is alone outside in the dark forest in the middle of the night, but also the faint dark green light emitting from her whole body.

Recovering from the shock, Lyra closes her ember eyes and rubs them with a front hoof. As she reopens them, however, she finds that the forest has returned to darkness. The mysterious pony is nowhere to be found.

Lyra’s first reaction is to pinch her front hoof. A sharp pain indicates that what happened seconds ago was not a dream. Lyra stares into the forest outside as her breath slowly steadies. Right now, her mind is occupied by a number of questions:

Who was that unicorn? What is she doing out there at midnight? Why is her magic resonating with mine? And why the hay is her whole body glowing?!

Her brain scrambled by surprise and doubts, Lyra sighs and lies back onto her bed. There is no way she is going to go out into the dark forest right now at midnight to look for that strange pony. Maybe it was just her wild imagination doing its work again, after all. Her mind is already occupied by accepting the fact that she was born in the middle of a dark forest, and there is no need to add another trouble into it.

Letting out a yawn, Lyra closes her eyes, and minutes later starts to snore.

Lyra is woken up once again by the sound of a few distant bird chirps from outside the tree house. Opening eyes and getting up from her bed, she notices a streak of bright light passing through the window. It is already morning.

Jumping from her bed, Lyra shrugs away the last few thoughts about the unusual sight last night. She is going to visit her family’s old house today, the place that holds her lost memories about her hometown and her parents. There is a long day ahead of her.

Trotting down the stairs, Lyra finds her two friends already in the dining room on the base floor, three plates of fruits arranged neatly on the table in the center of the room. Noticing her, Grey Wind waves:

“Morning, Lyra. Mr. Blade just came in and sent us some breakfast. Bon Bon was just going to wake you up.”

“Apparently that’s not necessary, cos I’m already here!” Lyra exclaims, “Geez, no need to rush me, Bonnie! It’s not like I sleep in every single day!” She zips to the table and starts munching into a pear.

“Says the mare who got late for work three days in a roll two weeks ago,” Bon Bon snorts, picking up a banana from her plate.

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault! The alarm clock went down that week!” Gulping down the pear, Lyra retorts, “so, we are going to visit my family’s old house today, right?”

“That’s right,” Grey Wind nods, a slight frown forming on her face, “though, are you sure you are ready for this, Lyra? We could always wait for a few days---”

“No!” Lyra blurts, interrupting her friend, “I mean, yes, yes, of course I’m ready! This might be my best shot of finding back my memories with my parents, and I simply can’t wait any longer for that!”

“…Alright, Lyra.” Grey Wind nods, “then, we should probably leave right after breakfast. We still have a tour around town scheduled this afternoon, remember?”

After the three friends finish breakfast, they set out for Lyra’s old family house in the northern edge of the town. Even at morning, the town is still dimly lit, with only a small amount of light penetrating the thick canopy.

Navigating through the maze-like tree houses, the three friends finally reach the northern edge of the town after nearly an hour of traversing the narrow passages and running into dead ends. Now, lying in front of the three mares is a narrow dirt path leading into the forest.

After another 10-minute trot on the path, Lyra finally spots a single tree house in the middle of a small clearing ahead of them. After she sees the building, she instantly breaks into a full gallop, quickly followed by her friends, coming to a stop as she reaches the building.

The house has definitely seen better days. The branches on the house have withered, many of them already snapped down, green leaves long gone from them. Spider webs crawl all over the building, covering the windows. The outer wooden wall has lost is original lively brown color, replaced by a withering dark grey.

Taking a deep breath and ignoring her friends’ worried expressions, Lyra envelopes the front door in her magic and slowly opens it. A large creaking sound is heard as the hinges that haven’t been turned for the last 14 years slowly crack loose. As the doors are opened, Lyra walks into the house. Grey Wind and Bon Bon exchange a worried glance, and quickly follow the mint unicorn.

Lyra finds herself standing in a large living room. Although it has been 14 years since somepony last walked in this room, she can still see how cozy the room once was. A fireplace is installed on one of the walls of the room, two sofas placed right in front of it. A round table is placed on the other side of the room, already covered by spider webs. Several dark marks that resemble burn marks can be seen scattering around the walls of the room. A bookshelf leans against the room, a pile of ash and dirt has gathered under the bookshelf, a metallic object sticking out of it. Walking up to it and lighting up her horn, Lyra wipes away the dust from the object, revealing a large, golden harp.

As soon as Lyra lays a hoof on the instrument, a sharp pain occurs in her head, causing her to flinch back and cover her head with a hoof. The world around her starts to descend into a blurry mix of colors as memories and visions only she can see are painted right in front of her eyes.

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It is already nighttime, and the room is dimly lit by a few glowing green lanterns hanging from the ceiling and the cracking fire of the fireplace. A light blue middle-aged unicorn stallion is sitting on one of the sofas in front of the fireplace, a large golden harp sitting in front of him. A smooth melody can be heard throughout the room as he gently tugs at the strings of the instrument.

Minutes later, a green unicorn mare appears from the staircase, carrying in her lap a sobbing mint green unicorn foal. Seeing her husband, the mare speaks:

“Midnight, darling, I’m so sorry to have disturbed your song, but the baby is crying again, and I can’t get her to sleep. I believe I need your help.”

“Is that so?” The unicorn stallion replies as he stops playing, “quick, bring her to me.”

Accepting the baby from his wife, he gently lays the still sobbing foal into his lap and tries to comfort her, “Shh…Shh…It’s alright…Daddy is here…”

No use. The foal is constantly sobbing, extending her tiny hoof towards the bright fireplace.

“Ah, I get it. Afraid of the dark, aren’t you, sweetheart?” The stallion smiles. Hearing the sentence, the foal stops sobbing and weakly nods through her tear-stroke eyes.

“Then I’ve got the perfect song for you,” smiling, the stallion returns to his instrument and gently tugs its strings. Moments later, the melody of an assuring lullaby fills the whole room:

so mi so do~~ so la do so, so do re mi, re do re……

As the song proceeds, the tensed-up body of the foal slowly relaxes. Her ears droop down, her eyelids drop, and she lets out a small yawn. Moments later, she has completely calmed down, her small ember eyes forming a smile as she fixes her gaze on the golden harp.

“Glad to see you enjoyed it,” finishing the song, the stallion smiles, “now, let me get you back to your room so you can sleep tight, alright?”

Letting out a whimper, the foal reluctantly shakes her head, her tiny hoofs tightly clutched to her father.

“Still afraid? Guess I know what to do,” The stallion’s horn lights up. He envelopes a box laid in the corner of the room, puts it in front of the foal and opens it, revealing a small bronze music box inside it.

“Daddy’s father gave it to me when I was a little older than you, but I guess I should give it to you now,” He says as he winds up the box. As soon as he releases the clockwork, the box starts to emit a familiar tone:

so mi so do~~ so la do so, so do re mi, re do re……

“I’ll place this right beside your bed, so you’ll know that daddy will always be with you even in the darkest of the nights, alright?”

Already half-asleep in the assuring lullaby, the foal lets out a weak nod before drifting towards the dreamlands.

“Wow…I will never know how you did that, Midnight…” Watching the sleeping foal, the mare comments.

“This was my favorite lullaby when I was young, my dear Melody. It always helped me to relax even in the worst situations,” the stallion smiles, “Now, let’s put her back onto her bed, shall we?”

Carefully carrying the slumbering foal, the two ponies made their way upstairs into a small bedroom. The stallion gently puts the foal onto the bed, and pulls a sheet over her with his magic, before placing the music box onto the nightstand. Both ponies smile as they look at their cute child.

“What should we name her, darling?” The mare asks,

“Well....” Hesitating for a while, the stallion replies, “Lyra. We will call her Lyra. Judging from how she loved my music, I’m sure she’ll grow to become a greater lyre player than her father.”

“Lyra it is, then,” leaning over to the bed, the mare places a gentle kiss on the foal’s forehead, “Good night, and do not be afraid of the dark, Lyra Heartstrings. Mommy and daddy will always be there for you.”

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Lyra gasps as the visions dissipate. Looking around, she finds her friends eyeing her with worried looks on her face.

“Lyra! What happened? Are you alright?” Bon Bon calls.

But Lyra could not hear her. All her attention is fixed on the spiral staircase leading to the second floor. Walking past her friends, she walks upstairs, quickly followed by her friends.

Reaching the end of the stairs, Lyra walks into a small bedroom. A tethered green bed stands in the center of the room, an old blue sheet still visible on it. A nightstand stands right beside the bed. All of Lyra’s focus, however, was fixed on a single object----a small bronze music box sitting on the nightstand.

Without hesitation, she raises a hoof towards the music box. Grabbing the small object, her horn lights up as she winds up it. A familiar tone is emitted from the box as soon as the handle is released:

so mi so do~~ so la do so, so do re mi, re do re……

As the music fills the entire room, a jolt of pain shoots into her body once again as one last vision appears in her mind.

“Melody, close the windows!” An eager call from her father wakes the foal up from her slumber. Through her ember eyes, she can see her father rushing into her bedroom, a nervous expression on his face.

“Lyra, sweetheart, I need you to hide under the sheet and don’t come out until I tell you so, alright? Can you do that?”

Noticing the eagerness in her father’s voice, the filly nods and covers herself with the bed sheet.

“Good. Now—”

“Midnight! They are coming!”

“I’m coming! Just don’t get out until I return, alright? I promise you that everything will be fine.” Her father smiles before turning around and dashing down the stairs.

Covered by the bed sheets, the foal could not see anything. The only thing she heard were a few small bursting noises, shouts and screams, until everything ends up in absolute silence.

Trembling, the foal peeks out of the bed sheet. Without a single light source in the room, all she can see was complete darkness. The darkness that encases her, scares her.

Letting out a squeak, the foal quickly hides herself once again under the bed sheet as darkness descends upon the entire building.

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“Lyra?”

Grey Wind’s worried call pulls Lyra out of her reminiscence. Looking at the small music box held in her hoof, she lets out a bitter smile.

“I remember now…” Lyra mutters. Before any of her friends can speak, she continues, “They were gone for protecting me…”

Grey Wind staggers back to the wall. Bon Bon flinches, her eyes widen as she raises a hoof to cover her mouth.

“…I thought they just had to left me because they couldn’t afford to raise me… I thought at least I maybe able to figure out where they went if I come here…”

“…And yet all I found here is that they were gone, forever… In order to protect me…” Lyra mumbles as she lowers her head. Tears roll down her cheeks and drip onto the ground, staining the wooden floor.

“Father…Mother…You promised me you will always be with me…Don’t leave me in darkness alone…” Lyra sobs, her body slowly curling into a ball, holding the music box tightly against her chest.

Suddenly, she feels herself enveloped by two warm, furry embraces. Through blurred vision, she finds Bon Bon and Grey Wind pulling her into a warm group hug.

“You are never alone, Lyres,” Bon Bon whispers, running a hoof through Lyra’s tangled mane, “We’ll always be there for you.”

“That’s right, Lyra,” Grey Wind says as she envelopes her unicorn friend with her wings, “you were the first pony that accepted me despite knowing that I was a cloud monster. I’m not leaving the first friend that fully trusts me alone in the dark.”

“…girls…” Lyra mumbles. Managing a weak smile, she returns the hug, “…Thank you…I couldn’t have asked for better friends than you...”

Time seems to have stopped as the three friends hold onto each other, filling the scars in each other’s heart. Slowly, Lyra releases her friends, a genuine smile appearing on her face:

“When Grey told me that my parents disappeared, I had thought of the possibility that they were gone, I had feared that I will be left alone on this world.”

“But now…Now I know I’ll never be alone. My friends will be the stars that light up my path…”

“I will move on…It’s what I should do…It’s what my friends would want me to do. It’s what my parents would want me to do!” Lyra exclaims, her eyes lighting up as she wipes one last tear from her face.

“Now, come on, girls! Let’s head back! I want to learn as much as I can about my hometown, and we’ve got a magical lyre to retrieve!”

Seeing Lyra’s mood lifting up, Both Grey Wind and Bon Bon let out a relieved smile.

“Almost…done…” Lyra mumbles, stitching one last green string onto her newly bought black cloak, leaving only one last string absent from the second golden lyre she had been working on. The three friends are currently sitting in a small workshop in a cloth store near the town center of Hollowshade, all concentrated on sewing their cutie marks onto the cloaks they just bought. The culture passed down from ancient times has prompted every local pony of Hollowshade to sew a crescent moon onto their cloaks, while tourists have the freedom of choosing to sew their own cutie marks.

After the three friends returned from Lyra’s old family house, they went straight for lunch in a small restaurant inside the town. What they discovered, however, was that the menu in Hollowshade is very much different than those in Ponyville. Here, sandwiches and apple pies are absent, while the restaurant serves various kinds of baked mushrooms and vegetable salads.

In the end, Lyra chooses a vegetable salad mix, while Grey Wind and Bon Bon settle for baked mushrooms. Although Lyra could not identify any of the vegetables in her salad, they prove to be fresh and delicious.

After lunch, the three friends took several hours to walk around the entire town and locate every place of interest, including the library and the marketplace. Although Hollowshade is somewhat isolated from the rest of Equetstria, the town does have complete infrastructure, including a hospital, a town hall, a police station, a post office and even a small supermarket. The arrangement of those infrastructures, however, are random just like the other shops in the town.

During the trip, the three ponies could not help but admire the unusual beauty of the forest town. They discovered that the green lamps all over the town actually contain illuminative fungi, and that the tree houses were all carved out from living oak trees. They also got used to navigating through the maze formed by tree houses. In Grey Wind’s opinion, this town has almost formed a commensalism relationship with the nature around it.

The three mares also used this time for a shopping session around the town. Grey Wind bought some groceries for the remaining days of their visit, while Bon Bon bought herself a water-proof torch and a batch of local spices that cannot be found in Ponyville. Lyra also grabbed a traveling guide for the town from the bookstore.

Just before they end their trip, Lyra convinced her friends that they would need to wear cloaks just like the locals do to get rid of the awkwardness of standing out from the crowd during their stay. So there they were, sitting in a cloth shop not far from their temporary “operation base”, as Lyra called it. Lyra and Bon Bon are working on their respective cloaks. Prior to her trip, Rarity had already sewed Grey Wind’s cutie mark onto her cloak right after it appeared, so she is currently sitting beside her friends, reading the traveling guide Lyra bought.

“I still don’t get why everypony here wears a cloak around,” Bon Bon says as she finishes the second-to-last candy for her cloak and proceeds to the last one, “It seems a bit inconvenient to me.”

“Aw, come on, Bonnie! It is so cool!” Lyra exclaims.

“From this traveling guide, apparently the culture was developed back when the town ponies worshipped Princess Luna. They wore the cloak bearing her cutie mark to demonstrate their loyalty to her. The religion is no more nowadays, but the culture is preserved,” Grey Wind answers, a frown forming between her eyebrows, “though what surprised me is that this guide mentioned nothing about that abandoned temple of the moon. Shouldn’t it be developed as a tourism spot if tourism really kicks in as part of the economy of this town?”

“Well, from what I read in the newspaper, this town only became a tourist attraction after that railroad was established several months ago. Maybe they just haven’t had the time to develop that field,” Bon Bon suggests.

“I guess…” Grey Wind sighs, “though I’m sure we’ll at least find something regarding where that temple was in the town library.”

“Doesn’t every town library hold the almanac of the town? Just like the Ponyville almanac held in the Golden Oak Library?” Lyra asks, “If that temple really was built by the ponies in this town in ancient times, shouldn’t it be recorded in the almanac?”

“Exactly,” Grey Wind nods, “that’s what I’m planning to look into first thing tomorrow. We should also look for additional information regarding the star lyre. Princess Luna seems a bit reluctant to tell me more about it.”

“Princess Luna asked you to retrieve a magical artifact and didn’t even tell you what it could do? How weird is that?” Bon Bon frowns as she finishes sewing the last candy on her cloak.

“I know, right?” Grey Wind scratches her head, “She even told me to not say a word about this to Twilight or Princess Celestia like I told you yesterday, but I guess it’s not my place to doubt the Princess,” she sighs, “perhaps she just doesn’t want her sister to know about the star lyre, just like how she didn’t tell Princess Celestia about the dream orb.”

“Aaaaaaand, done!” Lyra exclaims as she sews one last green line onto her cloak. Standing up, she puts on the cloak and demonstrates it to her friends, “well? How do I look?”

“You look fantastic, Lyres. I have to admit that now you finally look like you are actually from this town,” Bon Bon smiles as she stands up and puts on her own cloak.

“Aww, thanks, Bonnie! And you look awesome too!” Lyra blurts.

Bon Bon chuckles, a slight blush visible on her face.

With Lyra and Bon Bon wearing their new cloaks, the three friends head back to the Night Inn, where they enjoyed a quick dinner with the groceries they bought on the way. After dinner, the three friends quickly return to their respective rooms to prepare the investigations tomorrow with a long sleep.

Lyra hangs her new cloak into the closet and walks up to her nightstand. With a flash of her horn, she produces the small music box she found in her parents’ house from her saddlebag, and gently places it onto the nightstand, next to the box containing the dream orb. Crawling onto her bed, she winds up the music box with her magic. Once again, a soothing melody emits from the box as the handle is released:

so mi so do~~ so la do so, so do re mi, re do re……

“Good night, mommy. Good night, daddy…” Lyra mutters as she closes her eyes, listening to the soft tone of her favorite song.

Chapter 4: The Investigations

Lyra mumbles as she rolls under her sheet, trying desperately to fall back asleep. Noticing that her brain is refusing to get back to rest, she groans and reluctantly opens her eyes. A quick glance at the clock reveals the time to be five minutes until midnight.

Waking up in the middle of the night again…Great…

Lyra sits up on her bed and rubs her eyes. Things like waking up just before midnight two days in a roll had never occurred to her before. Her instinct is screaming at her that something is definitely off, but she can’t exactly tell what it is.

While Lyra is wondering, a strange feeling runs through her body. Without warning, her horn starts humming a high-pitched sound. Her magic is resonating with something else once again.

Exactly like what happened last night…Then…

Lyra wastes no time as she jumps from her bed and runs up to her window. Peeking out, she instantly spots the familiar dark green glow outside the window. This time, though, the glow is much closer to her window, no more than 20 meters away.

I knew I wasn’t seeing things… Lyra thought. Looking closely, she can clearly see the glowing pony right outside her window. Though it is still not close enough for her to identify the detailed characteristics, she can still identify the dark green outline of the unicorn mare. Suddenly, almost as if realizing that somepony is looking at her, the unicorn turns around and trots towards the depth of the forest.

Lyra knows that this time she cannot simply sleep through and shrug this encounter into the back of her mind. For two nights this strange pony has been standing outside her window, watching her secretly in her sleep, not to mention that that pony’s whole body is glowing! Hack, she could be the reason of her waking up in the middle of the night! Something fishy is definitely going on, and this time, Lyra is going to find out!

Standing beside the window, Lyra concentrates and channels magic into her horn. Seconds later, the mint unicorn disappears in an ember flash, only to reappear in a bush down her window. Using the thick ground plants of the forest as cover, Lyra dims her horn and quietly follows the dark green glow, maintaining a 20-meter-distance between her and the mysterious pony.

The silent chase goes on for about 15 minutes, until Lyra decides that it would be better for her to get closer to her suspect. Increasing her speed, she starts shortening the distance between her and the green glow. Minutes later, the separation has decrease to about 10 meters. Just a bit closer so she can identify her characteristics---

Crack!

“Crap!” Lyra’s ember irises shrink into pinpricks as she accidentally steps onto a dead twig. The twig splinters under the high pressure, sending a small cracking sound throughout the quiet forest. Upon hearing the sound, the glowing dark green unicorn turns around towards the direction of the source.

Time seems to have stopped as the two unicorns lock eyes onto each other. Almost instantly, the dark green mare turns around and gallops into the depth of the forest, the glow getting fainter and fainter as she runs away.

“Hey, wait!” Lyra calls out, galloping after the dimming dark green glow. Knowing that there is no longer much meaning to keep hiding herself, Lyra lights up her horn to light the way and avoid bumping into any obstacles.

Two streaks of lights, one dark green at the front and one ember just behind, zip through the darkness of the forest. Galloping at her full speed, Lyra still couldn’t get any closer to dark green glow. The chase went on for no more than 5 minutes, until the dark green light zips around a large oak tree and disappears right behind it.

Lyra stops dead in her track as she loses her target. Frantically, she looks around in an attempt to relocate her target. The dark green glow, however, was nowhere to be found. The forest is almost completely dark save for the faint blue light of the illuminative mushrooms and mosses. A chill runs up Lyra’s spine as she realizes that she is inside a dark, creepy forest alone at midnight, and without any knowledge of how to return to Hollowshade.

“It’s Okay, Lyra…This is not the Everfree Forest…You are just a bit lost…Everything will be fine…” She mumbles to herself in a feeble attempt to alleviate the intense fear that is building in her heart.

Roaaar!

A howl is heard inside the forest, right behind the large oak tree, loud enough to break any bit of courage that is still left within the mint unicorn. Letting out a scream, Lyra turns around and gallops away from the tree as fast as her hooves can carry her. Behind her, she can hear the sound of splintering twigs and ripped-apart ground plants, indicating that something REALLY big is after her. All those noises only serve to stain more fear into Lyra’s intense-beating heart, forcing her to resume her intense gallop.

Oh sweet Celestia, I have to run! I cannot let it cat-

“Ouch!”

Letting out a yelp, Lyra trips over a large tree root sticking out from the ground, the intense momentum sending her flying a bit in the air and faceplanting into the ground. Before she can get back up, something large and black latches onto her, pinning her to the ground. It takes Lyra no time to identify the sharp claws and the menacing green eyes.

Not again…

A nightmare beast towers over the mint green unicorn, its mouth drooping with saliva as its greedy eyes stare at its defenseless victim. Lyra could almost see a grimace forming on the beast’s face as it rears its claw. Lyra barely had the time to close her eyes as the beast slashes down.

Boom!

Just before the claw reaches Lyra’s throat, a dark green magical burst pierces the darkness of the forest and lands precisely on the beast’s head, causing it to stagger back as its attack misses. Before the beast had any time to react, another magic burst arrives, aiming directly for the beast’s left eye. Letting out a painful whimper, the nightmare beast turns around and flees into the dark forest.

Still startled, Lyra feels a warm hoof wrapping itself around hers, as she is pulled up from the ground. Standing back up, she finds herself eye-to-eye with the very pony she had been chasing the whole night.

Standing in front of Lyra is a glowing dark green unicorn. Her long mane consists of alternating streaks of dark green and mint green, her eyes bearing a similar ember color just like Lyra’s. Watching the unicorn, Lyra instantly notices that her flank is still blank. No cutie mark.

What startles Lyra the most, however, are the mare’s irises. Unlike a normal unicorn, the irises of this strange pony are two narrow straight lines, much like those of a bat pony. Right now, the unicorn is just standing there, looking directly into Lyra’s eyes. For 5 minutes, the pair just stood there, staring into each other, until the silence is finally getting into Lyra’s nerves.

“Um…Thank you?” she says in a suspicious tone.

“You are hurt.” The mare replies in a serious voice, strangely similar to Lyra’s but a little deeper, as she points a hoof at Lyra’s swollen right hind hoof. Before Lyra can respond, a dark green aura envelopes her hoof and releases it seconds later. Looking back to her injured hoof, Lyra finds the hoof to be good as new. The wound is gone.

“Wow, did you just heal a swollen hoof in like, 5 seconds?” Lyra exclaims, “that is so cool!”

“You shouldn’t be following me. It’s dangerous,” The unicorn says, ignoring Lyra’s words.

“Hey, I won’t be following you in the first place if you didn’t just stand outside my window and watch me every night!” Lyra retorts, “Just why are you doing that?”

The unicorn seems to be not expecting this answer as she winces back, a small frown forming between her eyes:

“You are… not afraid of me?”

“Why should I?” Lyra blurts, “you just saved my life!”

The unicorn flinches back under Lyra’s high volume, her ember eyes forming an expression that is a mix of surprise and fear.

“Huh? Are you alright? Is something wrong?”

“No, no…Just…I wasn’t expecting anypony to say that to me…” The unicorn responds in a whisper, hiding her eyes behind her mane.

Not expecting anypony to say that to her? Well, that is reasonable judging from how she looks like. If anypony sees a unicorn that has thin-line pupils and a glowing body, there is nearly a 100% chance that they’ll scream and run away, right?

Looking at the dark green unicorn, Lyra rubs her chin. If that really is the case, then this unicorn could have been all alone in her whole life! She had known from Grey Wind that it must’ve felt really, really bad. Heck, she could even be the first pony apart from her family that actually talked with her!

Well then, it won’t hurt if we become friends, right? Lyra rubs her chin, a grin appearing on her face. It always feels good wo help a mare escape her loneliness. Besides, she has just become friends with a nanomachine aggregation last week. What’s the worst that could happen?

“No way!” Lyra exclaims, “Okay, maybe your eyes ARE a bit intimidating-“ The dark green unicorn winces a bit at the statement, “-you were super cool when you fended off that beast!”

“You think I’m…cool?”

“Of course!” Lyra smiles, “though why were you outside my window for two days? I sort of couldn’t fall asleep with you out there.”

“Well, I…”a glimpse of nervousness crawls onto the unicorn’s face, “I…I heard the music coming from your room… I thought it was beautiful.”

Some part of the answer seems a bit…off, but Lyra shrugs it away. That answer was reasonable enough for her.

“Oh, you liked that song? It is my favorite one as well!” Lyra exclaims, “Hey, I know! We can become friends!”

“F…Friends?”

“Yeah! We could become the best of friends! Why don’t you come back to the tree house with me? I can introduce you to my other friends!” Lyra exclaims.

“No!” The unicorn exclaims, making Lyra jump back in shock, “I…I cannot go to town! I can’t let the town ponies see me!”

“Well…I suppose you do have a point…” Lyra rubs her chin as she watches the unicorn’s glowing body, “I can’t run out of town during daytime as well…Bonnie and Grey may get worried if I do that…then…” Her eyes light up as an idea pops into her mind, “I know! We can meet again tomorrow night! At midnight, just outside my window! I’ll bring the music box so we can listen to the music together!”

The unicorn hesitates for a moment, and seems to be weighing her options. After a few minutes, she smiles weakly and responds:

“Okay…We can meet again tomorrow night…”

“Great!” Lyra extends a hoof towards the dark green unicorn, “My name is Lyra Heartstrings. Call me Lyra! What’s yours?”

“I…I don’t have a name…My mother never gave one to me…” The unicorn whispers.

“Is that so?” Lyra rubs her chin, “well then, maybe I can make you one! I’ll call you…” Lyra’s eyes light up as she blurts out the first name that jumps into her mind, “Midnight Melody! I can call you Midnight!”

“Midnight Melody…That is a nice name…I like it.” A smile appears on the unicorn’s face. Lyra smirks.

“Great! Alright, Midnight, nice to meet you!” Lyra exclaims as she extends a hoof towards her new friend. Hesitating for a moment, Midnight accepts her hoof and shakes it.

“It’s a pleasure meeting you as well, Lyra… I’m glad to be friends with you…”

“Same for me,” Lyra smirks, “alright, Midnight, I guess I do need to get back to the town now. My friends would be worried if they find out that I’m missing. Goodbye, Midnight.”

Turning around, Lyra walks away a few steps only to stop dead in her track seconds later. Turning back to the dark green unicorn, she smiles sheepishly:

“Um, Midnight? Do you know how to get back to town? I kind of got lost when I was chasing you.”

“Oh, of course! Let me help you.” Midnight says as her horn lights up. A dark green glow forms on the ground, painting a flowing dark green path through the dark forest.

“Thanks, Midnight,” Lyra smiles, “See you tomorrow at midnight, then!”

“I promise I will be there, Lyra. Goodbye.” Midnight returns the smile. Turning around, she trots towards the depth of the forest and disappears.

With the aid of the glowing path, it took Lyra less than half an hour to navigate back to the tree house. With another flash of her horn, she teleports her back to her bedroom, making sure that she does not wake up her friends in the process. Crawling onto her bed, she closes her eyes and returns to sleep, grinning at the new friendship she gained through this small midnight adventure.

Feeling the increasing amount of light shed onto her face, Grey Wind opens her emerald eyes and jumps from her bed. It is morning again, and the beginning of the first day of their quest to retrieve the star lyre. There are many things that must be done today.

Putting on her cloak, Grey Wind sighs as she recalls their visit to Lyra’s old family house yesterday. She was actually worried about what would happen if Lyra discovered the truth, but judging from her reactions yesterday, the mint unicorn seems to be doing fine. Both Grey Wind and Bon Bon are relieved by her acceptance of her past and her moving on to her future.

At least she isn’t sad anymore. Grey Wind thought as she descends down the stairs and arrives at the dining hall. Bon Bon and Lyra are already sitting at the table, munching into the fruits set on the plates before them. Noticing her, Lyra waves:

“Hey, Grey! Ready to start the investigation today?”

“You bet,” Grey Wind smiles. Sitting down at the table, she quickly proceeds onto her breakfast.

After breakfast, the three friends leave the tree house and head directly towards the Hollowshade Library. On their way, Grey Wind notices that the town seems to be slightly darker than it was yesterday. Not strange, though. Probably because of a cloudy sky above the forest.

The library is, like all other buildings in the town, a large tree house, though significantly older than her neighbors from the sole fact that it is at least twice the size of the neighboring houses. In fact, the library reminds Grey Wind of the Golden Oak Library back in Ponyville, The similarities between the two buildings are astonishing.

The door to the library is open, granting the three friends easy access. Walking into the library, Grey Wind finds a dark grey bat pony mare with dark purple mane and tail hovering beside one of the many bookshelves around the ground floor. Her cutie mark is a quarter moon encased by a black circle. Noticing the three visitors, she flies to the door and lands in front of them.

“Welcome to the Hollowshade Library! How can I-“ Her words are cut back into her throat as her eyes suddenly widen. Staring at the grey Pegasus in front of her, she scans Grey Wind, until finally her gaze fixes on the sewed-on cutie mark on Grey Wind’s cloak.

“Oh my gosh! G-Grey Wind?”

Grey Wind is startled by this sudden reaction. Managing a smile, she extends her hoof towards the bat pony:

“Uh…Hi?”

An overjoyed Squeee! is emanated from the bat pony as soon as she hears her confirmation. Jumping into the air and lifting both of her front hooves up to her face, she squeaks:

“In the name of Luna, it is really Grey Wind! THE Grey Wind that stopped a black cloud monster from gobbling up Equestria a week ago! I can’t believe it! Grey Wind is in my library!”

“Hey, Grey, you are a celebrity now!” Lyra exclaims.

Grey Wind blushes upon hearing the statement, lowering her head, she mumbles:

“I didn’t expect news to spread that fast…”

“Are you kidding? It is all over the newspapers these days!” The bat pony screams, “I became a fan as soon as I read the story! You were so cool and brave back there when you sacrificed yourself for Equestria, Ms. Wind!”

“It was…nothing, really. I just did what I had to do for my friends,” Grey Wind mumbles, her cheeks still flaming, “anyway, it is a pleasure to meet you, Miss…”

“Oh, where are my manners,” the bat pony lands in front of Grey Wind, grabs her hoof and hastily shakes it, “Nightshade Echo, the one and only librarian of Hollowshade Library, at your service! Just call me Echo!”

“It’s nice to meet you, Echo. I’m Grey Wind, as you already know, and these are my friends, Lyra and Bon Bon,” the two mares wave at Echo, as Echo waves back almost instantly, “Also, you can just call me Grey.”

“It’s an honor to meet you all, Grey Wind, Lyra and Bon Bon!” Echo exclaims, “so, what brings you to Hollowshade Library? How can I help you?”

“Well…We are looking for the almanac of the town,” Grey Wind scratches her head, “and a book about the magical artifacts of Princess Luna.”

“History books and almanacs are right here! I’ll show you!” Echo turns around and flies towards a bookshelf on the far side of the room, followed by Grey Wind, Lyra and Bon Bon.

Minutes later, Grey Wind, Lyra and Bon Bon are seated around a table surrounded by bookshelves, with Grey Wind studying Artifacts of the lost Era, written by Shadow Moon, and Lyra and Bon Bon examining the almanac of the town, which has been divided into two thick wooden-covered books. Echo is sitting across the table, eyeing the three friends with an expression that is a mix of excitedness and curiosity.

The sound of flipping papers continues for about half an hour until it finally ceases as Grey Wind stops at one particular page on her book. Raising her head, she calls out:

“Um… Girls? I think I found something.”

Instantly, all the ponies in the room, including Echo, gather behind the grey Pegasus. Laying the book onto the table and revealing a drawing of a dark blue lyre and a dark green broad sword, Grey Wind reads out:

The Star Lyre and The Blade of Moonlight

Introduction:

The star lyre and the blade of moonlight are two magical artifacts that are believed to be owned by Princess Luna herself a thousand years ago. According to legends, the lyre and the sword were infused with the Princess’ magic, and were wielded by her during the royal sister’s quest to free Equestria from the vile creatures and beasts born from dark magic. The blade could unleash the fury of the moon upon its target, and also served as a guiding light for Princess Luna’s night guards, while the music played by the lyre had the power to get rid of the negative feelings inside the heart of all who listen to it.
Current location:
Unknown
Extra information:
According to legend, after the royal sisters freed a small town within the Midnight Woods called Hollowshade, Princess Luna left the two artifacts to the town ponies as gifts to help them fend off the remaining dark creatures threatening the town. The town ponies had placed it into a temple they built for Princess Luna. However, none of these information had been helpful when it came to retrieving the artifacts, as the temple mentioned in the legend was never found.

*** The moonlight only answers the call of the brave***

“So, what do you girls think?” Grey Wind says as she finishes reading.

“Well…At least we now know what the star lyre can do, right?” Bon Bon suggests, “Also, this book confirms that it IS left inside an ancient temple for Princess Luna.”

“You are looking for the star lyre? That’s why you are in Hollowshade?” Echo squeaks, stars appearing in her eyes, “This. Is. So. Cool! I thought it was just a legend when I read about it!”

“Exactly! And take a look at what I found here!” Lyra exclaims as she flips the thick almanac onto one tethered page in the middle of the book and reads:

A.E. 430: Construction of the Temple of the Moon commenced under the supervision of the elders of the town under the Crescent Ridge.

A.E. 431: Temple of the Moon completed.

A.E. 432: The Darkest Night.

“Here it says that there was a temple of the moon constructed right below some place called Crescent Ridge! This could be the temple that holds the artifacts!” Lyra exclaims.

“The Crescent Ridge? I know that place!” Echo interrupts, “it’s a small hill right beside the Full Moon Lake! It was one of my favorite spots to hang around when I was younger! Though I didn’t remember seeing anything resembling a temple there.”

“Well done, Lyra, and I believe I just found something as well…” Bon Bon says as she lifts her half of the almanac onto the table, “turns out there is a map collection of the town attached to this almanac. Look at this!” She flips to a page at the very beginning of the map section, urging all the ponies around the desk to look into it.

Drawn on a piece of tethered paper is a sketch of the map of Hollowshade a thousand years ago. On the upper edge of the map, a small house shaped mark located at the foot of a hill, with the words ‘the Temple of the Moon’ written below it.

“This must be where the temple is!” Grey Wind exclaims, “excellent! There is a great chance that the lyre will be there! Now we just need to figure out how to get there-“

“I can take you there!” Echo blurts as she jumps in front of the grey pegasus, her eyes shining with excitement, “Ohhhh, please take me with you! I’ve always wanted to go on such an adventure!”

“Well…” Grey Wind scratches her head, “nopony knows what awaits in that temple. It could be dangerous…”

“Oh, come on! I’m tougher than I look like! I’ve been sneaking out into the forest since I was, like 5 years old? I’m confident that nopony in this town knows about Midnight Woods better than I do! I’m the best guide you can find!” Echo points to herself with pride.

“You know, she does have a point,” Bon Bon suggests, “we hardly know anything about all the stuff we’ve been seeing around this town. A guide could be handy.”

“I suppose you are right, Bon Bon.” Grey Wind smiles as she extends a hoof towards the bat pony, “Alright, Echo, welcome to the team!”

A wide grin appears on the bat pony’s face as she takes off and barrel rows in the air.

“I can’t believe it! I’m going on an adventure with Miss Grey Wind! This is so exciting!” Landing back onto the ground, she turns to the grey Pegasus, “so, when would you like to go?”

“As soon as possible!” Grey Wind smirks.

“Aye-Aye, Miss! Just let me grab my cloak and we’ll be on our way!” Echo salutes before grabbing a black cloak hanging on one of the bookshelves and dashing outdoors, quickly followed by Grey Wind, Lyra and Bon Bon. After Echo locks the door of the library, under Echo’s lead, the group leaves Hollowshade and head directly towards the Full Moon Lake.

Chapter 5: Evening

After the four ponies leave the town from the Northern exit, Echo leads the group through the thick canopy, past Lyra’s old family house and deeper into the forest. On their way, the three ponies had to admit that the bat pony indeed knows the forest like the back yard of her house. Every time the group encounters a new kind of plant or critter, Echo would identify their names and explain to the other ponies about their characteristics. The amount of knowledge she holds about the Midnight Woods is astonishing to the three friends.

Right now, she is pointing at a small blue mushroom sitting on a fallen log, explaining to the group about the fungi:

“This is the Blue Spark Mushroom. They get their names from the fact that they glow a faint blue light when the environment around them is poorly lit. I believe you have encountered them around the town before. This kind of mushroom is native to the Midnight Woods, and can’t be found anywhere else in Equestria!”

“So these are the blue glows we saw around the town in the last few days. Interesting…” Grey Wind rubs her chins, “makes me wonder: why does this forest house so many unique organisms that can’t be found anywhere else on this world?”

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Echo grins, “According to the books I read, the environment of this forest is different from the rest parts of Equestria, wilder than an ordinary forest but much more serene than the Everfree Forest. This unique environment has become the home of many unique creatures, just like the creatures in the Everfree Forest! Though I believe it’s much safer here. I have never encountered too much danger when I sneak out to play beside the lake in the past.”

“Speaking of which,” Grey Wind asks, “How far is the lake from us now? We’ve been walking for around 1 hours, I believe.”

“Oh, it’s very close now! Another quarter and we should be there! Come on!” Echo exclaims. Turning around, she spreads her wings for a take-off, but is interrupted by a large growl behind her.

“Weird…” Ears perking up, Echo mumbles, “never heard that call before. What animal could it be from?”

“Well…” Grey Wind smiles sheepishly, “I’m pretty sure that was my stomach. I guess it’s time for lunch now.”

“Finally!” Lyra exclaims. Running to a fallen log, she flips open her saddlebag and lays several packages onto the large log. With a flash of her horn, she unwraps the packages, revealing four sandwiches and four big apples.

“Wow, Lyra, I was talking about the emergency ration I brought! When did you prepare this? And you even prepared one extra portion in advance!”

“I thought we might go on a field analysis this morning, so I prepared lunch in advance! Though I initially made that extra portion for myself. Guess that came in handy.” Lyra smiles sheepishly.

“Well done, Lyra.” Grey Wind smiles as she rubs her chin, “though I did forget to bring some bottles of bottled water. Should have bought some at the town yesterday…”

“Well…” Echo looks around, her eyes scanning the forest around her, until finally her sight fixes on a tall tree with large round fruits hanging on its branches as a wide grin appears on her face, “Don’t bother! The forest can give us all we need!”

Spreading her wings, she takes off towards the top of that tree. Landing on one of the top branches, she reaches out a hoof and picks four fruits from the tree. Looking towards Lyra, she throws the fruits towards her. With a flash of her horn, Lyra catches the fruits with her magic.

Landing besides the other ponies, she picks up one of the fruits in her hoof and asks:

“Anypony got a knife here?”

“Got it!” Bon Bon replies as she takes out a small knife from her saddlebags and hands it to Echo, invoking a series of gasps from her two friends. Frowning, she retorts:

“What? You girls seriously don’t think that I would go on a quest to retrieve a lost magical artifact without bringing at least something to defend myself, right?”

Holding the knife in her hoof, Echo starts jabbing a small hole on each of the four fruits as she explains:

“That was a Grassnot Tree. Its fruits bear a large amount of juice within the hard shells, just like coconuts! They are the perfect sources of water inside the Midnight Woods.”

“Great! I’m so thirsty!” Lyra exclaims as she grabs a fruit and takes a large sip from it. Almost instantly, her eyes widen as she coughs, while opening her mouth and frantically rubbing her tongue

“Well, should’ve warned you. The only problem is that they are a little bit bitter. Let me see…” Echo says as she desperately tries to contain her laughter along with Grey Wind and Bon Bon. Laying the holed fruits onto the log, she looks around and instantly spots a small bush with long, red berries growing on it.

“Aha!”

Echo exclaims as she runs to the bush and picks a hoofful of berries from it.

“This is a miracle berry bush. These miracle berries contain a substance that can temporally paralyze your tongue, making sweet the only flavor it can taste! Here, try one!” She hands a berry to Lyra, who thankfully grabs it and throws it into her mouth.

After a few chews, Lyra calms down as her expression slowly turns from fear to surprise. Hesitantly, she takes another sip from her fruit.

“Wow! It tastes sweet! I can’t taste bitterness anymore! This is incredible!”

Seeing her expression, both Grey Wind and Bon Bon accept a berry from Echo, and chew it in their mouths. Taking a sip from their fruit, their eyes widen in shock as sweetness fills their mouth.

“This is unbelievable…” Grey Wind mumbles as she takes another berry from the batch and examines it, “how did you know so much about all these?”

“Well…I live in a library, remember?” Echo blushes, “Hollowshade citizens aren’t exactly bookworms, so I sort of read through all the books in there. I also gained much hoof-on experience from all my sneak-outs previously.”

“You know, Echo, you remind me a LOT of one of my friends back in Ponyville,” Lyra chuckles as she recalls the appearance of one certain lavender unicorn, “say, Echo, can I ask you a question? There’s something on that almanac I read that kinda confused me.”

“Certainly, Miss Lyra! Fire away!” Echo exclaims.

“Well…There was this ‘the darkest night stuff written under the completion of the temple in the almanac. Do you know what that is?”

“Um…According to what I read, it seems to be a disaster that happened around a thousand years ago from now,” the bat pony scratches her head, “legends say that, on that night, the town was enveloped in some kind of dark magic that diminishes every single light source in the town, even causing a few deaths due to exposure to excess dark magic. I haven’t looked into it, but it sounds a bit scary.”

“Is that so? Hmm… So, you live alone in the library, right? Then where are your parents? Don’t they live with you?” Lyra continues her questions.

“They used to be the librarians of the town, until they were recruited to a pegasus city called Cloudsdale to work in the weather factories there. I’ve been taking care of the library for them ever since,” Echo replies, a small frown forming on her face, “the books are interesting, but I’m a little jealous towards them. I’ve always been stuck in Hollowshade ever since I was born, and I’ve always wanted to see the outside world just like them.”

“I see…” Lyra mumbles, munching into her sandwich, “say, why don’t you come with us back to Ponyville once this is over? We could afford another train ticket, right, Grey?”

“Certainly.” Grey Wind smiles as she swallows the last bit of her sandwich, “we can also introduce her to Twilight and the others. I’m sure they’d love to befriend a bat pony.”

“You…You would take me to Ponyville? And—and introduce me to the bearers of the elements of harmony?” An overjoyed squeak is released from Echo’s throat as she jumps up into the air and flies a few circles around her new friends:

“Sweet Luna, this might be the best day of my life!”

Grey Wind, Lyra and Bon Bon chuckle as they watch the energetic bat pony while finishing their lunch.

After the lunch, Echo leads her friends to a narrow path hidden in the depth of the forest. Following the path, the four ponies soon find themselves out of the forest, standing at the edge of a large lake in the middle of the forest. On the other side of the lake lies a series of small hills, all covered by tree canopy.

“This is the Full Moon Lake, and there lies the Crescent Ridge.” Echo says as she points towards the small hills across the lake, “Though I’ve been here multiple times previously, and haven’t seen anything resembling a temple. Are you sure you guys aren’t wrong about where the temple was?”

“But the almanac and the map did suggest that the temple should be right there!” Lyra exclaims, pointing a hoof towards the base of the tallest hill across the lake, where there lies nothing but trees and lake water.

“That’s strange…The almanac did say it should be here, and that is confirmed by the map as well.” Grey Wind comments as she eyes the hills across from the lake, “Could there be some kind of magical barrier that hides the temple?”

“If there is one, I should have already felt it!” Lyra points out. Letting out a sigh, she turns around and found Bon Bon staring at the lake and seems to be in deep thought.

“What’s wrong, Bonnie? Found something?”

“Well…I’m not so sure…” Bon Bon mumbles, “Grey, do you still remember how the map on the almanac looked like?”

“Yep, down to every detail. The elements seemed to preserve the memorizing capability of my old central processing units when they reshaped me,” Grey Wind replies.

“Can you imitate it using your subunits?”

“I suppose…” Grey Wind mumbles as two small grey clouds float from the back of her wings and stop right in front of the four ponies, invoking a gasp of admiration from Echo. Slowly, the cloud starts to take shape, turning into an exact copy of the ancient town map in the almanac.

“Great, Lyres,” Bon Bon says as she turns to Lyra, “do you still have that traveling guide? There is a town map inside it, right?”

“Yep, here it is!” Lyra exclaims. Lighting up her horn, she floats the small book from her saddlebag and flips to the page of the town map. Accepting the book from Lyra, Bon Bon’s vision switches between the two town maps in front of her, as a wide grin starts to appear on her face.

“Bonnie? You got something?” Lyra asks.

“You bet!” Bon Bon smirks as she shows the two maps to her friends. Examining the two maps, Grey Wind finds most parts of it to be almost exactly the same, the locations, the layout and the terrain. In fact, the only major difference is on the upper edge of the two maps. On the ancient map, the moon temple is painted below the Crescent Ridge, while a large lake lies in its location on the modern map.

“Look at this part of the map,” Bon Bon says as she points to the temple of the moon on the ancient map, “what difference do you notice?”

“There’s not a lake there…” Grey Wind rubs her chin, “whoever drew this map should not be omitting such a significant terrain. It could be either because of the drawer of this map being extremely careless…”

“Or the lake didn’t exist at that time!” Lyra finishes her sentence for her.

“Exactly. Now, dear Echo, do you have any knowledge about how this lake was formed?”

“The Full Moon Lake? Let me think…Hmm…Oh!” Echo’s eyes widen in realization as she remembers what she had read in the town’s history book a week ago, “the Full Moon Lake wasn’t there a thousand years ago! It is only a recently-formed terrain that resulted from a large earthquake that took place approximately 50 years ago! If that’s the case…”

“Then the Temple of the Moon must’ve sank to the bottom of the lake during that earthquake! That’s why nopony has been able to found it before!” Grey Wind exclaims, “Bon Bon, you are a genius! This could only mean…” She looks towards the hill across from the lake.

“The entrance to the temple is right there, at the bottom of the lake!”

The four ponies exchange excited glance at the realization. As their excitement dies down, Echo asks in a puzzled tone:

“It’s nice and all, but there is one slight problem,” she points out, “how are we going to get to the bottom of the lake?”

Silence.

“…I…haven’t thought about that part…” Grey Wind mumbles, “my subunits can’t go underwater. They would go short-circuit as soon as they come into touch with water.”

“Plus, we don’t know if the interior of the temple is filled with water or not,” Bon Bon suggests, “we could end up swimming through the whole thing.”

Silence.

“…So…That’s it?” Echo asks, “Nopony has a plan?”

The three other ponies shake their heads in unison.

“…Then, what do we do now? Are you just gonna give up like that?”

“…Actually, now that I think of it…I might have a plan!” Lyra exclaims, “Twilight taught me a spell last week that can perfectly resolve this situation!”

Lyra’s words reignite the sparks of hope inside her friends’ eyes. Wasting no time, Grey Wind asks:

“That’s wonderful, Lyra! What is it?”

“Oh, I intend to keep it a surprise,” Lyra smirks, “all you girls need to know is that I’ve come up a way that will get us inside that temple without getting our belongings wet.”

“Huh, suite yourself then, Lyres,” Bon Bon chuckles at the usual light-headedness of her roommate, “so, Grey, what’s our plan? Do we start the exploration right now?”

“I think it would be better if we wait till tomorrow,” Grey Wind replies, “first of all, it’s getting dark, and I don’t want to walk back to town through these woods during nighttime. Plus, we still need to prepare some gears for the exploration, both for the things we need and still don’t have at hoof and for our new member.” She smiles as she winks at Echo.

A beam on her face, Echo salutes towards her new friends.

“Alright, everypony!” Grey Wind exclaims, “Let’s head back to Hollowshade! Final preparation is underway!” The group cheers before turning around and trotting back together towards the forest town.

As soon as the four mares arrive at the town, they split up and went separate ways to prepare for the exploration of the temple. Grey Wind and Echo travel around the town and storm all the stores to purchase the required equipment, while Lyra and Bon Bon proceed to the marketplace to prepare the supplies, mainly food and drinks, for the exploration tomorrow.

The preparations took the ponies a whole afternoon. The forest is already dimming when Lyra and Bon Bon finally get back to their tree house with two full saddlebags of fruits and bottled water. Entering the room, Lyra finds Grey Wind sitting at the table in the dining room, a full saddlebag sitting beside her. The grey Pegasus is working on several small metal cans and a batch of silver-color powder, as she stuffs the powder into the cans and seals them.

“Grey! We got the supply like you asked!” Lyra shouts. Trotting to the table with Bon Bon, the two mares lay their full saddlebags on the table and take their seats.

“Good. Now just let me seal this one last can…” Grey Wind mumbles as she stuffs the a hoofful of powder into the last empty can on the table. Looking around the room, Lyra notices that their new bat pony friend is absent.

“Grey, where’s Echo?”

“She went back to the library. It’s where she lives, after all. She’ll meet us at the northern exit 10 a.m. tomorrow morning,” stuffing the cans into a saddlebag, Grey Wind replies.

“Alright then. Did you get all the equipment we need?”

“Oh, right, about that…” Grey Wind answers, “considering that the temple is underwater, and my remaining subunits could practically form anything we would need by that time, we just got these from a chemical store.” She points a wing at the remaining silver powder on the table.

“Silver powder? How is that supposed to help us?” Bon Bon asks.

“Bon Bon, these are not silver powder. These are magnesium powder,” Grey Wind says as she picks up a hoofful of the powder, “Magnesium emits a very strong light when burned. Echo and I were trying to find some flares, but none of the shops we visited had them. So I decided that we would just make some ourselves. Luckily I still remember how to make them from my database.”

“Fair enough. So, if we want to light some dark place up, we just need to throw one of these at it, right?” Picking up a can and examining it in her hoof, Lyra asks.

“Yep. Those tins are modified by my subunits. Any strong impact would cause a spark to be generated inside the can, setting the flare off,” Grey Wind nods, “Combined with the equipment I brought from Ponyville, I believe that’s all we need for tomorrow. Now, let’s have dinner and get as much sleep tonight as we can. We have to be fully prepared for the exploration.”

After a quick dinner of fruits and sandwiches, the three friends head back to their respective rooms. As Lyra enters her room, she hangs her cloak onto the closet and crawls onto her bed. She needs to get enough sleep for tomorrow despite her appointment tonight with Midnight Melody.

Lyra wakes up at precisely 10 minutes before midnight. Jumping out of her bed, she looks outside the window and immediately spots the familiar dark green glow outside the window.

Looks like she kept her promise.

Grinning, Lyra puts on her cloak and grabs the bronze music box from the nightstand. Her horn flashes with an ember-colored light as she disappears from the room and reappears outside her window. As soon as she recovers from the teleportation, she runs up to the glowing dark green unicorn.

“Midnight! You really came!” Lyra exclaims, “I almost thought you’d not be here!”

“Well… can’t possibly turn down the offer of the first pony who calls me a friend, right?” Unnoticed by Lyra, Midnight flinches slightly upon saying out the word “friend”, as if she just spat out a mouthful of boiling water.

“It’s so good to see that you actually consider me a friend,” Lyra smiles, “Oh, and I brought the music box!” Placing the bronze music box in her front hoof, Lyra winds up the box using her magic. As she releases the handle, a familiar tone emits from the box, gently caressing the air in the dark forest:

so mi so do~~ so la do so, so do re mi, re do re……

As the melody flows, Midnight closes her eyes, a serene expression forming on her face. As the song is completed, she opens her ember eyes and mumbles:

“It is so beautiful…Like all my worries would be gone if I just listen to it…”

“I know, right? It has been my favorite song since I was a little filly!” Lyra exclaims, “so, what are we going to do tonight? Got any plans for our first hang out?”

“Well…There is actually something I would like to show you…Follow me…” Midnight says as she turns around and trots towards the depth of the forest, leaving a glowing dark green trail behind her.

Following the dark green path, Lyra is led to a small pond not far from the tree house. As she reaches her destination, she finds Midnight lying right beside the pond. Walking up to her friend, she lowers her body and lies down beside her friend.

After Lyra finds a comfortable position, Midnight’s horn lights up as she concentrates a dark green magic energy ball above her horn. Slowly, she sends the ball into the center of the pond, right above the water surface.

“Stay quiet… and watch…” She whispers to Lyra.

Lyra nods. Looking around, she notices that several light green light spots have emerged from the bushes and trees around them. Soon, the light spots ascend into the sky, gathering around the dark green magic ball above the pound. Slowly, hundreds, no, thousands of light spots appear around the two mares and join their colleagues, forming an expanding circle of light green above the pond. Lyra can only watch in awe as the green lights dance around the dark green magic ball, forming the image of a tiny light green galaxy above the small pond.

“Lunar fireflies…They are attracted by the magic energy…Do you like it?” Midnight asks in the faintest voice Lyra can hear.

“Sweet Celestia…So beautiful…” Lyra mumbles, completely stunned by the wonderful view. She rolls onto her side and takes out the music box she had brought along, and Winds it up using her magic. Then, gently, she puts the box between she and Midnight, as the light green galaxy is accompanied by the soothing melody of the music box:

so mi so do~~ so la do so, so do re mi, re do re……

For a moment, the two mares just lie there, admiring the tiny galaxy and enjoying the relaxing music.

“Midnight.” Lyra whispers.

“Yes, Lyra?”

“I’ve been thinking…Tomorrow, my friends and I are going to the abandoned temple of the moon to retrieve a magical artifact for Princess Luna.”

“I know…”

“Wait, how did you know?” Lyra scratches her head, “I never told you about it, didn’t I?”

“Um…Well…” a glimpse of flurry appears on the dark green unicorn’s face, “I…I was watching you in the woods when you went to the lake today…”

“Oh. Fair enough,” Lyra sighs, “anyway, as I was saying, with some luck we’ll be able to end this job before the end of tomorrow. Then, we’ll soon be leaving Hollowshade. I fear…” she pauses as she looks into the needle-like irises of the dark green unicorn.

“I fear that we may never be able to meet again after I leave…”

“Lyra…”

“That’s why I am suggesting that I bring my friends here to meet you tomorrow night. I want them to meet you while we still have the chance.”

A nervous expression appears on Midnight’s face as she opens her mouth. However, Lyra interrupts her before she can say anything.

“I know you are a bit worried about how my friends would think about you, but I assure you that it will be fine,” Lyra smiles, “they are the kindest and most accepting ponies I have ever encountered in Equestria. I’m sure they will be as willing to be friends with you as me.”

Midnight seems to be struggling within his heart. After a few moments of silence, she finally sighs and smiles wearily:

‘Okay, Lyra…I will consider…”

“That’s all I needed to hear.” Lyra grins, “so, I’ll bring them along tomorrow at midnight, alright?”

“Alright…”

Lyra smiles at the response. Lighting up her horn, she winds up the music box again and let the music flow.

so mi so do~~ so la do so, so do re mi, re do re……

Time has lost its meaning in this serene night as the two mares lie side by side beside the pond. Listening to the assuring lullaby, admiring the beautiful scene, Lyra feels her eyelids droop down. She tries to remind herself that she is not in her room back in the tree house, but her eyelids just keep gettings heavier and heavier. Finally, she concedes as her eyes completely close.

After what seems like an eternity, Midnight breaks the silence as she whispers:

“Lyra? What would you think about me…If I tell you that I am actually a part of a being of pure hatred and wickedness?”

“Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……”

“Lyra?” Turning her head towards the mint green unicorn, Midnight finds her lying on the ground, her mouth still in a smile, her eyelids closed as she slumbers a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

“Oh well…Guess I’ll never be getting that answer…” Standing up, Midnight lights up her horn and casts a dark green magical barrier above the sleeping unicorn to protect her from any possible dangers in the forest. Slowly, she turns around and trots towards the depth of the forest. Before she enters the thick canopy, she turns towards Lyra one last time and whispers:

“I’m so sorry, Lyra…But I’m already far beyond my point of no return… I really need a body…”

After that, Midnight turns around and disappears into the dark forest.

Chapter 6: Midnight

“Lyra! Lyra Heartstrings! Where are you?”

Lyra was woken up by a deafening call not far from her. Mumbling, she rows to her side. The bed she sleeps on is particularly soft today, and she finds her body refusing to get up from it. Whatever is under her is extremely soft and comfy, even carrying the sweet scent of forest grass. She can even feel a few morning drops coming into touch with her body when she rows over.

Wait a second, morning drops?

Opening her eyes, Lyra instantly finds herself lying on the grass beside a small pound, her bronze music box right beside her. Rubbing her eyes, memories of the previous night flow back to her mind as she regains her senses.

Must’ve dosed of some point with Midnight last night…And of course she is gone now…

“Lyra!”

A shout she couldn’t be more familiar with pierces through the air of the forest. Before Lyra can react, she feels a pair of hooves pulling her into a tight hug. Bon Bon is clutching her tightly between her hooves, refusing to let her go.

“Finally found you, Lyra,” she blurts, “Grey and I have been looking for you the whole morning! Are you alright? Are you hurt?” She releases the mint unicorn and frantically scans her body for any potential bruises.

“Geez, Bonnie, I’m alright! Not a single scratch.” Lyra smiles.

“Here you are, Lyra!” Grey Wind’s voice can be heard as the grey Pegasus lands beside the two ponies, “What are you doing this early out in the forest? We were worried sick about you!”

“I…might have sleepwalked?” Lyra smiles sheepishly. Better not tell them about Midnight so soon.

“Again? I thought you’ve got rid of that habit long ago!” Bon Bon responds by glaring the mint green unicorn, thinking about those times when she woke up and found the unicorn munching her candies in her dreams, “and how the hay did you get out of the house?”

“I…might have casted a teleportation spell in my dream?”

“Whatever…” Bon Bon mumbles before hugging her roommate once again, “that’s not important. What’s important is that you are alright.”

“I agree,” Grey Wind nods, “we have more important matters to deal with first. Lyra, if you are feeling alright, we should get ready and head for the northern exit. I believe it’s already around nine, so we better hurry if we don’t want to keep Echo waiting. Come on, let’s head back. We need to grab our equipment.”

After the three friends return to their tree house, Grey Wind grabs three saddlebags from her room. Laying them on the table, she explains:

“All the stuff we need are in these saddlebags. In each of them, there is a water-proof torch, 2 flares and enough food and drinks to sustain at least two days. I’ve already given Echo her equipment yesterday before she went back. Now, put on the saddlebags and we’ll be good to go.”

When the three ponies arrive at the northern exit, they find Echo already waiting there, wearing her cloak and saddlebags. Together, the four ponies leave the town and head directly for the Full Moon Lake. An hour later, they are already standing beside the lake, watching the Crescent Ridge right across the lake.

“The Temple should be right down there,” Grey Wind says, “so, Lyra, how do you plan to get us through all these water?”

“Oh, you’ll see,” an evil smile appears on Lyra’s face, “now, my friends, gather around me so I can make sure my spell covers every one of us!”

After the four ponies form a circle around her, Lyra lights up her horn. An ember light envelopes the four ponies, forcing them to close their eyes. As they reopen them, they find their saddlebags enveloped in an ember barrier.

“Waterproof spell! This should prevent any of our equipment from getting wet!” Lyra grins as her friends admire their now 100% water proof saddlebags, :and regarding how to get to the bottom of the lake…Allow me to demonstrate!” She exclaims before dashing towards the edge of the lake.

Before any of her friends can stop her, Lyra jumps up into the air, shouts out “Cannonball!” before falling directly into the lake, causing a large splash as a result.

Sinking into the water, Lyra quickly regains posture. Inhaling mentally, she channels magic energy into her horn and closes her eyes. This better work.

An ember-colored light envelops her body. Reopening her eyes, she turns her head around and instantly notices her shape-shifted lower body. Hesitantly, she lets out the breath she holds, and finds herself able to breath in water. The spell has worked.

Grinning, Lyra swims back to the water surface. As her upper body reappears. She spits out the water that was caught in her mouth and waves to her friends, a beam appearing on her face.

“Lyra, don’t tell me that your plan is to simply SWIM there?!” Bon Bon scolds.

“Oh, of course not!” Lyra smirks, “well, in a way, yes, but that is totally going to work! Watch me!” She disappears from the water surface, and seconds later jumps out of the water, invoking a series of sharp gasps from her friends.

While Lyra’s upper body retained its usual shape, her lower body has changed completely. Where there should have been hind legs has become a long mint green fish tail. Her cutie mark is visible on a small backside fin on her back. Falling back into the water, she resurfaces and smirks at her friends.

“You…turned yourself into a seapony?” Echo exclaims, “That is amazing! How did you even do that?”

“I borrowed an old spell book from Twilight before we got here, and sort of self-studied a bit. Luckily it did work,” Lyra smiles, “now come on, Bonnie! Jump down! I promise I’ll transform you before you reach the water!”

“…Alright, Lyres, I believe in you,” Bon Bon smiles wearily as she trots to the edge of the lake. Taking a deep breath, she closes her eyes and jumps.

An ember-colored light envelopes her just before she splashes into the water. Seconds later, Bon Bon resurfaces. Lifting her tail out of the water, a frown appears on her face as she observes her new body:

“…That’s definitely the weirdest thing I’ve ever encountered in my life,” she comments.

“Aw, come on, Bonnie! It’s so much fun! Now, who’s next?” Lyra claps her hoof.

“Oh, Oh, me! Can I go next, Ms. Lyra?” Echo shouts excitedly.

“Of course! Come on, Echo!”

Getting permission, a wide beam appears on the bat pony’s face. Once again, an ember light shines above the lake as Echo jumps into the lake. Resurfacing, she swims a few circles around Lyra and Bon Bon while admiring her new body. Lyra notices that her wings have become two thin purple fins attached on her back.

“This is so amazing! I never knew swimming was so much fun!” Echo exclaims as she jumps out of the water and splashes back.

“Alright, Grey, that only leaves you. Don’t remember to put all your subunits into your saddlebags!” Lyra grins at the grey Pegasus.

“Got it, Lyra.” Two grey clouds detach from the back of her wings and make way to her saddlebags. Running to the lake, Grey Wind jumps into the water as Lyra turns her into a seapony. Resurfacing and admiring her tail and cutie mark embedded back fin, she comments:

“Gotta record that into my database. If one of my creators is watching this, it is for certain that their mind will literally blow up,” she turns to Lyra and smiles, “well done, Lyra. This will certainly get us inside the temple without much trouble. Now, I think we should swim across the lake to the temple’s used-to-be location, and swim directly down from there. This should prevent us from getting lost.”

Nodding at Grey Wind’s plan, the four seaponies swim across the lake to the foot of the highest hill of the Crescent Ridge, and dives directly down with Lyra leading in the front and her horn glowing with golden light, lighting up the water around the four friends.

The group encounter no trouble on their way to the bottom. Whatever is living inside the lake seems to be actively avoiding the light from Lyra’s horn. As the group gets closer and closer to the bottom, Lyra notices a small opening on the rock wall right in front of her. Swimming closer, she finds the opening to be the entrance of a narrow passage. The neatly-arranged rock slabs around the gate identifies the opening as artificial.

Motioning her friends to follow, Lyra swims into the passage. After following the upward-leading passage for around five minutes, Lyra finds her upper body out of water. Before her is a dark hallway, completely free of water.

An ember light envelopes the four mares as Lyra turns everyone back to usual ponies. Walking out of the water, Lyra shrugs the water stuck on her mane and tail away, and turns to her friends:

“So, the interior isn’t filled with water. Convenient!”

“Indeed it is. This should save us a lot of trouble,” Grey Wind nods, “now, everypony, grab your equipment and let’s go and retrieve that lyre!”

The mares cheer before proceeding to prepare themselves. Horn still glowing, Lyra watches her friends as Bon Bon produces the torch and a flare from her saddlebag. She switches the torch on and holds it with her mouth, while strapping a flare onto her side. Grey Wind made the exact same preparations, while Echo just takes out a flare and holds it in her front hoof. Soon, the dark passage is lit up by one glowing unicorn horn and two bright torch lights. Glancing at Echo, Lyra notices that the bat pony isn’t holding any light source. She is just standing there in the dimly lit passage, eyes looking forward.

“Echo? Don’t you need a torch? Didn’t Grey prepare one for you?”

“Oh, no, I don’t need it!” The bat pony smiles, “see my cutie mark? A white half-moon encased in a dark ring? That signifies my special talent of night vision! I can see in the dark better than most ponies!”

“That’s right. Echo told me about it yesterday so I didn’t bother getting her a torch,” Grey Wind suggests, “all good to go? Let’s move!”

The four ponies walk silently through the passage in a diamond shaped formation, with Grey Wind leading at the front, Lyra and Bon Bon right behind and Echo at the back. The formation was suggested by Grey Wind yesterday, so that the four ponies can cover all directions around them while looking out for any potential threats.

After around 10 minutes of walk, Lyra finds the path in front of the group opening up as they step into a large room. Their torches and Lyra’s glowing horn can hardly light up 10 meters in front of them. Turning around, Grey Wind asks:

“Echo? Can you see anything inside this room?”

“Um…I’m afraid not too much. The room is a bit too big. I can see several pillars around the room, but not anything more…” Echo scratches her head.

“Alright then…Alternate solution.” Grey Wind sighs as she takes a flare from her side. With all her might, she throws the can as far as she can into the room. The can explodes upon coming into impact with the floor, emitting a blinding white light that lights up the entire room.

Lyra finds herself standing inside a large stone room supported by a number of stone pillars around the room. At the center of the room stands a large stone table, with many stone carved seats scattered before it.

“Wow…It’s surprising how great this room has been preserved, taking into account that it has been more than a thousand years since this place was abandoned,” Bon Bon comments as she walks inside the room and admires one of the stone pillars.

“All these have been buried down this lake for so long…Just under my eyes…” Echo mumbles. She walks to one of the walls behind the stone table and starts examining it.

“This place was built into the mountains. That must’ve shielded it from the stains of nature for all those years,” Grey Wind comments.

“I don’t see anything resembling a lyre around here,” Lyra suggests as she examines the stone table, “though this table here looks very much like that some magical artifact had been placed on it.”

“From the layout of this room, this room should be the front room of the temple,” Echo explains, “it’s where the believers gather when the elders send them their tasks or spreads their religions. If this temple used to house the star lyre, then there is a great possibility that it had been placed here before.”

“Do you have any idea about where the artifacts a temple holds are contained when nopony is using them?” Grey Wind asks.

“Well…From what I read, they should be kept within the backroom of the temple. Let me see…” Echo glances towards the direction of the stone table, and, with the aid of her night vision, instantly spots a small door behind the table, “Aha! That door should lead to the backroom!”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Grey Wind walks towards the small room, “Let’s go, girls.”

The four ponies reform their formation as they walk into the door leading away from the room. The door leads to a stone passage very much similar from the one that leads to the front room, though much longer and darker. Somehow, the walls of the hall seem to be absorbing the light coming from the four ponies, forcing Echo to take out her torchlight just to light up the way for her friends.

As Lyra is walking inside the corridor, her mind drifts towards a certain dark green unicorn. Although they had just met for a total of 3 times, she and Midnight had already become friends. In fact, she finds herself a bit sad about the fact that she will leave her not long after. Plus, Lyra is not sure how her friends would react to the unicorn’s unusual appearance. Although she hated to admit it, the irises of the unicorn did in fact intimidated Lyra. She could just hope for the best for what would happen if she brings her friends to Midnight.

So lost in her thought, Lyra didn’t realize that Grey Wind has suddenly ceased her walking. Still thinking about Midnight, she bumps into the grey Pegasus, nearly causing them to both fall down onto the ground.

“Ouch!”

“Oops, sorry, Grey. Why did you stop? Is something wrong?”

“Well…See for yourself.”

Walking past her friend, Lyra finds herself standing in a small room at the end of the passage. What catches her attention, however, is that four entrances can be seen on the other side of the room, each leading to a different passage.

“What? Four passages? So what do we do now? Split up?” Lyra asks.

“Better not. Who knows if some of them leads to traps,” Bon Bon responds, “I suggest we stick together and explore them one by one.”

“Agreed,” Grey Wind nods, “even if there are really traps, we should be able to look out for each other. So, let’s go from left to right. If anypony sees anything that is dangerous, just shout it out.”

Once again, the four ponies assemble into their diamond formation and proceeds to the left most door. Just as Grey Wind enters, however, a dark blue barrier generates behind her, instantly stopping Lyra and Bon Bon in their paths. As soon as the two mares come into contact with the barrier, a shockwave pushes them back, forcing them to bump into Echo and resulting in a tangled mess on the floor.

“Ouch…What happened?” Echo’s muffled voice comes from below Lyra.

“Oh, sorry, Echo! That barrier just pushed us away!” Lyra exclaims as she raises a hoof towards the barrier.

“Huh?” Noticing the noises coming behind her, Grey Wind turns around and instantly notices the dark blue barrier behind her, raising a hoof, she gently touches the barrier and is instantly sent tumbling into the tunnel by a generated shockwave.

“Grey Wind!” Bon Bon shouts. Instantly, she runs up to the barrier and turns around, readying her hind hooves for an all-out buck.

“No, Bon Bon, don’t!” Getting back up, Grey Wind shouts, “it’s no use! You might hurt yourself!”

“Then what do we do? We cannot possibly let you go inside that passage alone!” Bon Bon exclaims as she regains posture.

“Just give me a minute! I’ll figure something out!” Two small grey clouds float from Grey Wind’s saddlebags and slowly takes the form of two cylinder-shaped objects. Green lights glow on the two objects as they slowly turn around all directions. Minutes later, Grey Wind recalls her subunits and turns to her friends:

“I just carried out an energy source analysis on that barrier. Turns out it is powered by an energy source somewhere deeper in this temple,” she pauses, and continues, “The other three doors should have the same mechanism. As soon as one of us enters a door, the barrier will be generated.”

“Then what’s our plan now?” Lyra asks.

“At least one of these passages will lead to the room containing the energy source. And, judging by the energy signature, the magical energy on this barrier is nearly the same as Princess Luna’s when we dueled her, indicating that the source is very likely the star lyre itself. If one of us can get to the artifact and take it away, the barriers should dissipate.”

Taking a deep breath, she continues: “I believe we should each take a passage and follow it. This way, at least one of us will get to the star lyre and free the others. Though, we have no means of communicating with each other if we do that, so everypony has to be careful.”

“I guess there is no other way,” Lyra says as she gets up, “let’s do this.”

When Lyra walks towards one door, however, something deep inside the tunnel catches her attention. A familiar dark green glow.

Midnight…?

Lyra blinks. She could not be imagining that, could she? Then what is Midnight doing here? Why is she in this temple?

While she is wondering, Bon Bon and Echo have each picked their passage. As the three ponies walk inside their respective passage, three magical barriers generate behind them, shutting them inside their passage.

“Alright, everypony,” Lyra can hear Grey Wind’s voice coming from her left, “Let’s go, and be careful!”

Gulping, the four ponies trot into the unknown darkness in front of them.

Bon Bon has forgotten how long she has walked along the tunnel. All the way, the scenery is the same. The narrow passage, the moist ground and the straight stone walls. During her journey, she encountered no turns. If the law of space still applies to this place, then she should be deep inside the Crescent Ridge by now.

Suddenly, her torch flashes. The sudden change of light environment causes her to flinch back and stop in her track. As the torch became stable, however, it lights up one object on the ground, one that Bon Bon could have sworn wasn’t there seconds ago.

A tethered black suite with a black tie.

Bon Bon is stunned where she stands like a dead wood. She knows what that thing is. She knows too well. Lying on the ground is an uniform of the S.M.I.L.E agency, once the only monster-hunting agency of Equestria.

Bon Bon has a secret. One that she has never dared telling anyone, including Lyra. Bon Bon is never her real name. Her name was Sweetie Drops, the youngest agent of the S.M.I.L.E agency. The agency was established by Princess Celestia following the banishment of Nightmare Moon, and its sole purpose is to help the Princess hunt down every last magical beast that could pose a threat to Equestria. The agency was disassembled when a beast captured by Sweetie Drops, namely a bug bear, escaped from Tartarus. Ever since then, Sweetie Drops has lived in Ponyville carrying the name Bon Bon.

After that, Bon Bon thought she could just ditch her past and move on, but the nightmares of the old times keep coming back at her. As the youngest agent in the agency, she had been on many dangerous tasks and experienced many bloody circumstances. They have become the nightmares that plagued her heart.

All those, however, changed when one certain mint green unicorn walks into her life. Although careless and lightheaded, Lyra Heartstrings had given her the courage to forget her past and move on. Ever since she started living with Lyra, the nightmares had never got back to her.

And here she is, holding the old uniform in her hooves and forced to relive her nightmare.

Glancing up, Bon Bon catches another reflection at the edge of the illuminated area of the torch light. Dropping the uniform and walking towards it, she finds it to be a family picture of a mother, a father and a filly.

It took Bon Bon no time to recognize what this is. It was a particularly gruesome case she took part in. She, along with a few other agents, were sent to a farm to investigate the dark magic sensed by Princess Celestia there. On their way, however, one of the agents found out that he had forgotten his equipment, and Bon Bon had commanded the group to stop and wait for him, wasting a few minutes on their way.

When they finally arrive at the farm, it is already too late. A family was found dead laying in the farmhouse, their throats cut open. One family photo was found at the scene, just like the one she is looking at now.

Though the culprits, three nightmare beasts were caught and destroyed not long after, the case had left an open scar in Bon Bon’s heart. She had always thought that, if she hadn’t let her group to wait for the careless agent, then there may still be a chance to save that family.

As old memories slip into Bon Bon’s mind, she hears a faint voice occurring behind her in the dark passage:

It’s all your fault…

“What? Who was that?!” Ears perking up, Bon Bon turns around towards the source of the voice. In the light of the torch, the passage is still empty.

They could’ve lived…

“Who are you? How did you know all this? Come out!” Bon Bon shouts towards the dark passage.

You are their murderer…

“That’s not true! We needed all my teammates to hunt down those beasts!” Bon Bon retorts.

Try fooling yourself…You won’t succeed…

“No, no! It’s not true…”Bon Bon lowers her head. Who is she fooling? It was her fault. With their equipment and training, lacking one personnel shouldn’t have been a problem. It was only her ruthless decision that sent that family to their deaths. The voice laughs, as if sensing her despair.

Blood…for…Blood…

Silently, a creature walks into the range of the torch light. A beast with menacing green eyes and long, sharp front claws.

The nightmare beast stares at Bon Bon, mouth drooping with saliva and ready to strike. Before Bon Bon can react, the beast charges at her.

Survival instincts kicking in, Bon Bon jumps to the side, narrowly avoiding the claws of the beast. Instantly, she pulls out a flare and throws it at the beast. The bright white light illuminates the corridor, stunning the beast in its track.

Not bothering to look back, Bon Bon grabs her torch and gallops deeper into the tunnel. It is her only way if she wants to live through this.

Grey Wind trots down the narrow passage, two energy sensors formed by subunits floating besides her. Although the hallway seems to be endless, the readings of the sensors indicate that she is getting closer to the source. If she keeps up, she’ll eventually reach the energy source and get rid of those magic barriers.

Suddenly, a high-pitched buzzing sound is heard behind her, causing her to stop and turn around. That sound was too familiar for her. She had remembered that sound too well ever since she heard it one and a half week ago.

The sound of gathering nanomachines.

Subunits gather onto Grey Wind’s wing tips, forming sharp edges on it. Although she is pretty sure her feat that day had got rid of most of the nanomachines that arrived in Equestria, who knows if some have already escaped after establishing their own free minds. If there is really a batch of them there, then they must be destroyed.

You think you can escape your past…

“Huh?” Grey Wind flinches as she hears a voice coming from the dark corridor.

But they’ll keep coming back to you…

“What? Who’s talking?” Ears perking up, Grey Wind exclaims as her sight scans the hallway around her.

You’ll always be the Grey Tempest…

“I’ve destroyed the Grey Tempest! Equestria is safe now! I’ve already escaped my past!” Grey Wind exclaims as more subunits gather beside her, forming two laser cannons beside her.

Heh heh heh…Got some courage, don’t you? Then allow me to show you how naïve you are…

A black cloud slowly appears in the range of the torch light. A black cloud of swarming nanomachines, a few black tendrils already forming around it.

“Horseapples! I knew some of them escaped!” Grey Wind mumbles. Even if these nanomachines are no match against the former Grey Tempest, they still pose a threat to Equestria and her friends. They must be destroyed right here, right now.

Readying her weapons, Grey Wind charges at the black cloud.

Lyra walks down the passage, the sound of her hoofsteps echoing through the corridor. She had walked for more than half an hour now. At first, she could still hear the sound of distant hoofsteps coming from her friends beside her, but after the passage makes a sharp turn, all those noises disappear, rendering the passage silent despite from her own hoofsteps.

Wondering how far she is from her destination, a dark green spark appears about 20 meters in front of the mint unicorn, widening her eyes. Blinking for a few times, Lyra concludes that her mind is not playing a trick on her. Joyed but also a bit confused by seeing her new friend here, she calls out:

“Midnight! What are you doing here?”

Upon hearing her, the dark green spark instantly starts moving deeper into the corridor, widening the distance between it and Lyra.

“Midnight, wait!” Lyra calls out as she breaks into a full gallop towards the spark. Like a mint hurricane, she dashes through the rock-made passage, chasing the dark green spark in front of her. However, although she is running at her full speed and even teleported a few times, she can’t seem to get any closer to the spark.

All parts of her mind focused on the spark, Lyra suddenly felt her front hoof touching nothing but emptiness when it should have made contact with the stone floor. Missing her footing, she plunges into a large gaping hole on the stone floor and falls directly into a narrow passage leading downwards.

Lyra barely had the time to scream as she is sent rolling down the narrow passage. She feels her body slamming against the hard stone walls, and her skin and hide ripped open by the sharp, jabbing stones on the wall. Screaming in pain, Lyra rolls out of the passage and plummets back first onto the floor of a stone room.

Before she can even try to get up, a dark blue magic aura envelopes her body and yanks her into the air. A strong wind is felt throughout the room as a dark blue magical spear flies across the room and penetrates the helpless mint unicorn’s body, nailing her onto the wall behind her.

Lyra cries in agony, tears rolling down her cheeks. The pain is too much for her. Coughing out a mouthful of blood, Lyra desperately tries to pull the spear out of her body, but the blood dripping away from her body has carried the last bit of strength she has with them. Very soon, her struggle ceases as darkness engulfs her vision.

The magical spear dissipates, allowing Lyra’s body to fall limply into the pool of blood already gathering beneath her. A dark green glow appears across the dark room as a dark green unicorn slowly approaches the unconscious body.

Midnight Melody walks up to Lyra’s body. This is the moment she had been waiting for more than 10 years. Her mother has wounded this mint green unicorn enough to let Midnight seize the control of her body. Then, she would be able to unleash the full might of her cover, and aid her mother in the glorious quest of ending the rule of that arrogant Princess of the Sun. This is the very moment she had dreamed for.

Then, why is she hesitating?

There is not much time left for her. Anytime, Lyra could bleed to death and diminish her last hope of obtaining a body. Just like how a parasite cannot live without a host, she’ll disappear along with the mint green unicorn.

Taking a deep breath, Midnight lights up her horn as a dark green aura envelopes her and Lyra. When the light resides, standing in the middle of the room is a dark green unicorn mare, her mane bearing alternating streaks of dark green and light cyan, her eyes bearing an ember color and line-like pupils. Her mane is floating in the air and glittering like a night sky, while her flank bears a cutie mark of a golden lyre.

Now, to fulfill her end of the bargain.

Turning around, Midnight trots towards the exit on the other side of the room.

Chapter 7: Dawn

Bon Bon dashes through the stone hallway, a howl coming from not far behind her. She had been running from the nightmare beast for more than 10 minutes, and her body is already screaming at her for reaching its limit. But she cannot afford to slow down. Her life is at stake now, and an aching body won’t stop her from getting out of here alive.

Making a sharp turn along the hallway, Bon Bon abruptly ceases her running as her torch light casts onto a brick stone wall. In her flurry, she has run herself into a dead end.

Turning around, she quickly gallops backwards, hoping to catch another side path she had missed on her way. However, before she can run out 10 meters, a black swift creature crashes onto her and sends her flying back and crashing into the stone wall of the dead end. Her torch light flies from her mouth and lands on the ground beside her, casting light on the hungry nightmare beast towering in front of her.

Bon Bon almost wants to give up. Her body is aching from the intense gallop. Her spine is burning with pain, making it painful for her to even stand up. The nightmare beast has approached her, its jaws agape, ready to bite down at its prey.

This is it. This is how the life of Sweetie Drops ends. Being eaten by the very beast she failed to save a family from, away from Lyra, from Grey Wind, from all her friends.

Her friends…What will they think if she is gone? Lyra will be sad, right? She will cry for a whole night again, won’t she? Then who is going to comfort her when she is sad in the future? Who will switch the light on in her room when she is alone in the dark again?

No, Bon Bon won’t allow this to happen! She can’t die like this!

Letting out a howl, the nightmare beast jumps at the earth pony. With agility she didn’t know she even had, Bon Bon rows to her side while grabbing the small knife from her saddlebags with her left hoof. Regaining posture and holding the knife between her teeth, she jumps up and slashes at the beast, causing it to flinch back into the hallway.

“I may have made mistakes in the past, and those that happened can’t be changed anymore, but I still have my chance to make up for the future!” Backing up against the stone wall, Bon Bon mumbles through the knife in her mouth, “My friends are still waiting for me out there, and I won’t fall here!”

A strange feeling course through her body as the words leaves her mouth. Without warning, the stone wall beside her slides open, revealing a narrow passage behind it, a light blue glow emanating from inside. As the hidden door completely opens, Bon Bon hears a voice echoing in her mind:

The moonlight only answers the call of the brave…

Before the beast can launch another attack, Bon Bon turns around and runs into the newly opened path. Without her torch, she can only see a blue light shining down the corridor. Wasting no time, she gallops towards the blue light.

As she approaches the light, she finds the source of the blue light being a large sword hanging on one side of the hallway. The sword seems to be purely made of crystal, its whole blade embedded with various decorative patterns, emanating an assuring blue glow.

Without thinking, Bon Bon drops her knife onto the floor, leans forward and snatches the blade with her mouth. Regaining posture, she turns around just in time to catch the nightmare beast entering the hallway from the hidden door.

Rearing up and holding the sword using both of her front hooves, Bon Bon raises the sword towards the approaching beast. Remembering her agent weaponry training, she aims at the beast’s head and slashes down.

A crescent wave of pure energy pierces through the darkness of the corridor and directly hits the beast in the head. The beast didn’t even have time to grunt before being sent flying back into the hallway, crashing into one of the walls and ceasing its movement.

A bit startled by the display, Bon Bon takes a few minutes to switch the blade into her mouth and get back on all fours. Walking over to the nightmare beast and making sure it is not moving anymore, Bon Bon straps the sword onto the saddlebags on her back and gallops towards the other side of the hallway.

The fight is not going on well for Grey Wind.

Narrowly dodging a tendril lashed at her, she turns around mid-air and slashes her wing at the tendril, dissipating it into a small black cloud which soon rejoins the others. The fight has been going on like this for more than fifteen minutes. Just as how she explained to her friends at Sugarcube Corner a week ago, she isn’t dealing any real damage to the nanomachines making up the black cloud. Every time she destroys a tendril, it reforms seconds later. Throughout the fight, Grey Wind can sense her stamina slowly depleting. If this keeps up, it will only be a matter of time before she loses.

Just as she is about to land, another tendril lashes at her, forcing her to block it with one of her wings. The impact causes her to lose balance and fall back first onto the ground. The nanomachine-made black cloud catches this open window as a third tendril wraps itself around her neck, yanking her into the air and slowly increasing its force, strangling the grey Pegasus.

Grey Wind can barely think about anything as her lung is struggling to suck in more precious air. Her weapons disassemble and fall to the ground as her concentration breaks, her hind legs futilely kicking into the air, and her front hooves trying desperately to untangle the tendrils around her neck. At this rate, her neck will snap in a few seconds.

Memories start flashing inside her mind as her conscious slowly fades into nothingness. Images of her laughing friends slip into her brain: Twilight, Lyra, Bon Bon, Rainbow, Applejack, Scootaloo… She has sworn that she would protect them, yet she can’t even protect herself.

No, she will not fail her oath!

The thought injects a wave of energy into Grey Wind’s body as she finds her brain working properly again. Thinking fast, she ceases her struggle and hangs her limbs limply downwards, while lowering her head and closing her eyes.

Seeing that her opponent isn’t moving anymore, the black cloud releases the grey Pegasus. As soon as she hits the ground, Grey Wind jumps backwards and lands about 5 meters away from the black cloud as subunits gather to her neck, forming a golden collar embedded by a grey gem around it. Grey Wind lowers her body as she touches into the intense energy building inside her nanomachine-made element of harmony.

Before the black cloud can react, a jolt of pure white energy shoots from the grey gem and envelopes the black cloud, dissipating all the tiny nanomachines in it into molecular level dust. After the lights finally dies down, silence returns to the corridor as Grey Wind collapses onto the ground, panting.

Sweet Celestia, that was so tiring…

Resting for a few minutes, Grey Wind stands up and recalls her subunits back to her wings. Taking a deep breath, she picks up her torch and continues her journey through the passage.

Lyra opens her eyes.

Darkness feels her vision, forcing her to light up her horn. With the ember glow of her horn, she finds herself lying on the floor of a dark passage. The walls of the passage are made of stone bricks, and the passage seems to be extending endlessly into the darkness.

Searching her mind, Lyra scratches her head. She doesn’t know where she is. She doesn’t know how she got here. She doesn’t remember why she is here. All she knows is that there is something out there inside this dark path that she must find.

But what is that? She does not remember. Whatever it is, it is very important to her. Lyra has to find it, no matter what.

Standing up and moving her numb limbs, Lyra starts walking down the dark passage.

The crystal sword securely strapped on her back, Bon Bon continues her journey down the dark passage. Although she has lost her torch, the crystal sword she just found provides her with a faint blue glow, just enough to light up her way.

As she walks down the passage, she notices that the blue glow of the sword is getting stronger, almost like an indicator that she is getting closer and closer to her destination.

Grey Wind finds the readings of the energy sensors going haywires as the path she had been traveling on comes to an abrupt end, leading into a large room. Unlike the front room they had stumbled into together, this room is bathed in a mysterious dark blue light, lighting up the entire room.

As she walks into the room, the first thing she notices is another door just on her right, a blue glow emanating from it. Seconds later, Bon Bon emerges from the tunnel, carrying a large blue crystal sword on her back. Then, along with Bon Bon, she spots a dark grey bat pony on the wall across from the room, her limbs secured on the wall by four dark blue magical cuffs, her head lowered, and her eyes clenched shut.

“Echo!” The grey Pegasus and the milk white earth pony shouts out in unison as they dash towards their friend.

Flying up to the bat pony, Grey Wind clutches her and shakes her head, frantically trying to wake her up.

“Echo! Wake up!”

“Huh…?” Echo mumbles as her purple eyes slowly open.

“Echo? What happened, are you alright?” Bon Bon exclaims from below, a worried expression in her eyes.

“Miss… Grey…Wind?” Echo mutters, her vision focusing on the grey pegasus. As she recognizes her friend, her eyes shrink into pupils:

“Miss Grey Wind? Why are you here? You shouldn’t be here!”

“What?” Grey Wind winces back into the air at the sudden outburst.

“Turn back! It’s a trap!” Echo shouts on top of her lungs.

Before Grey Wind can react, a dark blue spark explodes right in front of her, pushing her and Bon Bon to the other side of the room. A dark object falls into the center of the room, generating a large dark blue explosion as it hits the floor, forcing Grey Wind to cover her eyes with her wings. As she reopens her eyes, a sharp gasp escapes her mouth, a similar one coming from Bon Bon not far from here.

A tall figure stands in the center of the room. Her hide is as black as a starless midnight sky, her mane floating from her head like a dark blue cloud. A pair of large wings is visible on her back, while her head bears a long, spiral horn. Her eyes bear a dark green color, bearing irises that look just like two thin lines. A figure all ponies in Equestria know and fear. Nightmare Moon spreads her wings and lets out a maniacal laughter.

“Nightmare Moon!” Bon Bon gasps.

“Oh, it’s a pleasure to find at least somepony still remembers my name.” Nightmare Moon laughs, walking towards the two ponies on the ground.

“This is not true! Twilight defeated you a month ago!” Grey Wind exclaims, lowering her body and spreading her won wings, “not to mention that Princess Luna is still in Canterlot now! There is no way Nightmare Moon can be standing here!”

“One does not get rid of all the jealousy and hatred that easily, my little pony,” Nightmare Moon stops right in front of Grey Wind, towering above her like a dark boulder, “Sure, my sister did sends me to the moon a thousand years ago, but that fool never found out part of my power has already escaped to the only town where I could be worshipped just like how ponies everywhere else worship her!”

“A thousand years I spent hiding in this temple, regaining my power and watching this world under my sister’s rule, watching her accepting the love of her subjects and commanding the night sky she took away from me!” Suddenly, Nightmare Moon lowers her body and comes face-to-face with the grey Pegasus, forcing her to look into her dark green orbs: “And that purple unicorn? I should thank her. When she freed that cowardly alicorn from my control, she stripped away all my power left on her and returned them to me! I have become stronger than ever before!”

“Now, I just need a body to contain all my powers, and I shall end Celestia’s rule and bring eternal night to all of Equestria!” Nightmare Moon throws back her head and laughs maniacally, before returning her sight to the two mares in front of her, “My original plan was to lure Luna here with that lost artifact of hers, so I can absorb her magic and build myself a body. But now, you will have to do. Surrender your magic, and I shall grant you a painless death.”

A crescent blue wave of energy soars through the room, aiming directly towards the flank of Nightmare Moon, forcing the dark alicorn to block it with her wings and staggering back a few steps. Bon Bon has reared up, holding the crystal blade in her front hooves and facing Nightmare Moon, determination burning in her eyes as she spits out the words:

“In. Your. Dreams!”

Another green beam of energy pierces through the air and flies toward Nightmare Moon’s chest, who quickly dissipates it with a dark blue magical shield. Subunits have formed sharp blades on Grey Wind’s wings, two small plasma cannons floating beside her, one of them still glowing a menacing green light. The grey Pegasus lowers her body, wings widely spread as she shouts out loud:

“You want our magic, you are going to have to take it from us!”

“Have some courage, I see?” Nightmare Moon laughs, “you don’t seriously think two ponies could beat the queen of the night, do you, my little ponies? And I see you have even recovered that coward’s old sword.”

“So be it.” Nightmare Moon’s horn lights up as a magical sword forms beside her, “I could use a quick warm up before taking over Equestria! Your corpses shall be the first two to be hung on my castle!” Letting out a maniacal laughter, the dark alicorn charges at the Grey Wind and Bon Bon, who quickly ready their weapons.

Lyra knows not how long she had been walking. Hours? Days? Her limbs never felt anything, and neither hunger nor fatigue occurred to her body. She is just trotting aimlessly through the long hallways, making occasional turns at some of the splitting paths.

What contains her seems to be a dark maze. She has encountered multiple splitting paths on her way, when all those times she just picks a random direction and keeps moving. She has to if she wants to find the thing she had been looking for in the maze.

During her long journey, her magical supply is slowly depleting. The glow on her horn dims down, threatening to go out any second.

Lyra cannot let this happen. Her horn is the only light source in this maze. If it goes out, she’ll be left alone in the darkness. She has always feared the dark.

Whatever she is looking for, she has to find it, fast.

Grey Wind flies to the side, narrowly avoiding a lightning launched at her, before turning around mid-air and firing her plasma cannon. Nightmare Moon’s only response is to dissipate the attack with a swish of her magical sword, leaving her just enough time to block an overhead slash from Bon Bon.

The two mares are barely gaining ground against the black alicorn. Compared to Luna, she is stronger, swifter and much more aggressive. Grey Wind and Bon Bon has to concentrate every last bit of their mind to prevent themselves from being hit, while Nightmare Moon attacks them at every opening they expose.

Seeing Nightmare Moon’s weapon caught up by Bon Bon’s sword, Grey Wind concentrates as two nanomachine spears form on the tip of her wings. Pointing the spears at Nightmare Moon, Grey Wind charges at her, aiming directly at her side.

Noticing her assault, Nightmare Moon roars as her body starts to shine with a menacing dark blue glow. Her blade still clashing with Bon Bon’s, Nightmare Moon rears up before stomping her front hooves onto the floor, generating a huge magic blast around her.

The intense momentum disassembles Grey Wind’s spears almost instantly and sends the grey Pegasus tumbling back into the air. Bon Bon is pushed back a few steps, while her blade endures most of the shock and is struck off her hooves by the shockwave and nailed into the wall.

Nightmare Moon wastes no time to catch her opponents’ openings. A lightning is lunched at Bon Bon, striking her directly in the belly and sending her flying back and crashing into the wall before she can even let out a grunt. A magical spear is sent flying towards Grey Wind’s direction, precisely hitting her leftwing and snapping her wing bone instantly.

“Miss Grey Wind! Miss Bon Bon! No!” Echo screams.

Letting out a painful scream, Grey Wind falls from the sky and drops to the floor. Struggling to get up with her left wing limply hung on her side, she desperately tries to fight back using her plasma cannons as four dark blue magical vines erupt from the ground below her and directly stab into her hooves. The intense pain immediately shatters the last bit of concentration of her mind. Grey Wind lets out a painful grunt as her subunits disassemble and fall to her sides.

Looking to her side, she finds Bon Bon cuffed onto the wall beside her, blood leaking out from the back of her head. Nightmare Moon walks up to the restrained Pegasus, splitting her magical sword into two smaller daggers.

“It’s a shame that you couldn’t last any longer. I was really enjoying that fight. Now, my little pony, any last words?”

“You won’t succeed!” Grey Wind mutters while fighting the intense pain in her hooves and staring at the dark alicorn, “Lyra will get out of here! She’ll tell Twilight and the Princesses to stop you!”

“Oh, you mean that stupid mint unicorn who doesn’t even know she had been possessed for fourteen years?” Nightmare Moon laughs, “I’m afraid she has already lost her body.”

“What do you mean? What have you done to her?” Bon Bon shouts, struggling in her restrain.

Nightmare Moon grins. With a swish of her wing, a dark green unicorn emerges from a tunnel across the room, two saddlebags still visible on her sides. Just like Nightmare Moon, her green mane is floating in the air and glittering like a midnight sky, her ember eyes contain irises as thin as lines. All the three ponies in the room gasp as they notice the golden lyre cutie mark on the mare’s flank.

“Ah, I see you are satisfied with your new body, aren’t you, my child?” Nightmare Moon turns to the unicorn and grins.

“Yes, mistress,” The unicorn lowers her head and mumbles.

“Ly…Lyra?” Grey Wind calls as her gaze fixes on the unicorn.

“Lyra Heartstrings is no more!” Nightmare Moon exclaims, “Her body has been taken over by my brethren, and her mind will be trapped in the maze of her own nightmares! Forever!” She throws back her head and lets out a maniacal laughter.

“Mistress? What do you need me to do?” Looking towards her mother, the dark green unicorn asks.

“Oh, it’s simple, my child,” Nightmare Moon turns towards the dark green unicorn and manages an evil smile, before turning around to face Grey Wind and Bon Bon, her horn lighting up as she rears up:

“Watch them die!”

The light from Lyra’s horn flickers for a few times, and finally dies down. Darkness descends onto the corridor, enveloping the mint green unicorn in her worst nightmares.

Lyra gasps as she desperately tries to reignite her horn, and is horrified to find out that she has used up the last bit of her magical reserve. She is now left in complete darkness, with no ponies at her side to comfort her.

It is over. She’ll never find what she has been looking for. Very soon, she’ll be lost forever within this bottomless pit of nightmares.

Midnight watches as her mother gathers her magic into a large dark blue ball above her horn, while the grey Pegasus and the milk-colored earth pony can do nothing but to wait for their demise.

Her mother’s plan has been carried out down to every last detail, from when she was created as a part of Nightmare Moon’s magic to this scene before her. Very soon, her mother will kill the three ponies in this room and claim their magic. Using that magic, she’ll be able to forge herself a new body and claim Equestria as its new queen. Equestria will be bathed in the eternal night, just as her mother had hoped.

But these ponies are Lyra’s friends, aren’t them? What will Lyra think if they die? She will hate her, right? She’ll hate Midnight for taking her body from her and just sitting back and watching her friends die, won’t she? She’ll never want to be friends with her ever again, won’t she?

Memories flow into Midnight’s mind. The happy memories of the friendship between her and Lyra. She remembers defending Lyra from that nightmare beasts, she remembers Lyra giving her a new name. She remembers lying with Lyra beside the pond, admiring the tiny green galaxy above it and listening to that relaxing music.

Lyra was the first pony to show her the meaning of friendship, and those memories and their friendship are too precious for her to throw away.

Finishing her charge up, Nightmare Moon stomps the ground with her two front hooves. A giant dark blue magical burst is launched towards Grey Wind and Bon Bon, who reflectively close their eyes and wait for their deaths.

Grey Wind is expecting the greatest pain she would feel in her whole life, but that pain didn’t come. Opening her eyes, she is startled to find the dark green unicorn standing in front of her and Bon Bon, her horn glowing a dark green aura while a dark green magical barrier blocks the incoming blast.

“I…will…not…let…Lyra…down!” The unicorn mutters as she transmits every last bit of her magic into the magical barrier.

The barrier and the magical burst explode as their energy reach their limits, sending an earthshattering shockwave to the whole room, forcing both Nightmare Moon and the unicorn to stagger back a few steps. A small bronze object is blown out of one of the saddlebags of the dark green unicorn, as it flies into the back of the room and hits the ground. Inside clockworks set out by the impact, the box starts playing a familiar tune:

so mi so do~~ so la do so, so do re mi, re do re……

A familiar sound pulls Lyra out of her despair. Even still enveloped in darkness, she can feel her heart slowing down as she returns to her senses. The assuring melody has injected a new streak of energy into her, prompting her to continue her task.

Getting up, Lyra walks towards the source of the voice. Although she encounters various turns on her way, not to mention she can barely see anything in this darkness, she knows she’ll succeed if she follows the guidance of the music.

It didn’t take her long to locate the source of the music. A glowing small bronze music box placed on the ground of the maze. Galloping up to the small object, she extends a hoof and touches the music box.

The world around her blurs as a vision only she can see enters her mind.

A dark blue cloud silently rests in the center of a large stone room, casting an intimidating light throughout the room. It swirls and changes shape, glittering like a midnight sky.

Suddenly, a batch of dark blue cloud detaches from the larger blue cloud, and swirls outside the room. It passes through the dark passages of the temple, into the bottom of a lake of water.

The dark blue cloud streams directly upwards, until it finally flies out of the water. Changing its direction, it flies directly into the woods. After roaming around for a few minutes, it spots its target: a large tree house decent from the other parts of the town.

The front door is locked, but the cloud didn’t bother knocking it. With all is might, it bashes the door open, revealing a blue unicorn stallion and a green unicorn mare, both looking at it with a horrified look. Without warning, the two unicorns launch two streaks of energy at it, but did not give it any real damage.

The two ponies are dealt with in no time. After the cloud absorbs the last bit of magic from the ponies’ lifeless bodies, it crawls onto the second floor. There, it sees a mint green unicorn foal hiding under a sheet on her bed.

A small batch of cloud detaches from the large cloud, and shoots into the foal’s body, instantly putting her to sleep. With a quick dark blue spark, the cloud orders the brethren it just created to lurk within the foal’s body.

The cloud smirks mentally. With the help of this foal, its brethren will be able lurk in this world and observe the world for it, until it is the time for its return. By then, its brethren will be filled with this unicorn’s magic, and become its best aid in taking back what had been taken away from it. This part of it will always obey it.

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Whiteness.

A silent white land, a barren field, a serene land of silence.

This is the land Lyra stands on. Gentle wind blows onto her cheek, its gentle palms caressing her mane. A river rests at a distance, water still like a clear mirror. Above the river is a small wooden bridge. The scene gives Lyra a serene yet eerie feeling, for she somehow knows by her heart what this place is.

The finale of the song of life.

Two figures approach her from across the river, first just tiny dots horizon, their formation clearer and clearer as they come closer and pass the bridge. A light blue unicorn stallion and a green unicorn mare. Two ponies Lyra whose names Lyra would never forget.

“Mom, dad!”

An exclaim of a long-lost child, a call from a lost ship that has finally found the light of a harbor. Midnight and Melody Heartstrings open their embraces as their daughter runs up to them. A warm hug, a family reunion at the edge of the land of the dead.

Lyra buries her head inside her father’s chest, tears falling uncontrollably onto the white land below. An otherworldly spiritual voice enters her mind as her parents gently stroke her mane:

We are so, so proud of you, sweetheart…

“I miss you… I miss you so much…” Lyra sobs, clutching her parents tightly with her front hooves.

So are we, sweetheart. A spiritual voice, a bit more feminine than the prior, answers. Melody releases her daughter, a smile on her face.

I’s so sorry we had to leave so early. A sorrowful expression crawls onto Midnight Heartstrings’ face, If it wasn’t for Nightmare Moon, we could have created so many happy memories. Please forgive us for failing our duties as parents.

“Then don’t leave me again!” Lyra raises her head, looking directly into her father’s eyes, “Take me with you! We can still be a happy family!”

Smiling bitterly, Lyra’s parents shake their heads.

I’m afraid that would not be possible. Midnight Heartstrings gestures towards the bridge behind him, See that bridge over there? Once pass it, there will be no return. The land of the perished lies beyond. Tis where we belong, not where you belong.

Gently petting Lyra, he continues:

Our song has reached their finale, yet yours is still undetermined. Countless possibilities lie before you. Your friends need you. Equestria needs you. There are still countless things to experience, to wonder, to explore. It’s up to you to finish the song of your life.

“But…but you promised you’ll always be at my side…” Lyra grabs her father’s front hoof, a pleading look in her ember irises, “we only just reunited…You can’t just leave me again!”

Melody chuckles.

We have never left you since you returned to your home, sweetheart. A light appears beside Lyra, revealing a bronze music box as it dissipates. Remember what father told you 14 years ago? Mom and dad will always be with you, within the final gift of the Heartstrings family.

Lyra’s parents move forward and once again pulls their daughters into a tight hug.

Remember, my daughter, we’ll always be with you. Your friends will always be with you. Fear not the dark, for you’ll never be alone. Now, you must go. Nightmare moon threatens your friends. Their fate rests within your hooves.

“I…I…” Lyra whispers as she gently releases her parents, “…I will avenge you. I will defeat Nightmare Moon!”

Your courage is admirable, but do not let rage get ahead of you. Lyra’s parents stare into Lyra’s eyes, the purpose of true strength rests within protection, not revenge. Learn to move on, learn to cast away the scars of the past. Remember this, and remember well. This shall be your last lesson, our final legacy as your parents.

“Al-alright!” Lyra shouts, tears still visible in her eyes, “I will move on! I will stay strong! I will protect my friends!”

Now that’s our daughter. Her parents smile, Farewell, Lyra heartstrings, our sweet child, may the blessing of Luna’s night sky be with you.

“Alriight…Goodbye, mom…Goodbye, dad…” Lura mumbles.

With one last embrace, a green light envelopes the two older unicorns, engulfing them in bright spheres of light. Quietly, the two spheres ascend into the sky and flies across the river. A familiar melody appears within the silent land, a tune Lyra shall never forget:

so mi so do~~ so la do so, so do re mi, re do re……

As the spheres disappears into the air, a white light emits from the bronze music box, engulfing the whole landscape, and the mint green unicorn that sits upon it. Wiping away one last tear from her cheek, Lyra stands up and walks into the light, her eyes burning with flames of determination.

White light blinds her vision, until colors start to appear again around her. Finally, as the changes subside, Lyra finds herself standing in a stone room, facing a black alicorn whose emerald eyes are burning with hatred.

Seconds after Midnight’s barrier dissipates, a familiar voice appears in her head, causing her to emit a sharp gasp.

My god, is that Nightmare Moon? Come on, stupid body, move!

“Ly…Lyra?”

Midnight? What happened? Where are you?

A streak of Midnight’s flowing mane swoops in front of her eyes, forcing the dark green unicorn to swipe it away using a hoof. Lyra’s voice pauses for a moment, and continues.

…Oh…You took over my body, didn’t you, Midnight?

“Well, I…” Midnight flinches, “…Yes, I did…I’m sorry…”

Is that so? Then let me take over! I’ll show that moon-butted prick who’s the boss!

“You…are not mad at me?”

What? No! Oh well, maybe a little, but judging from the scene, you just saved my friends from her, so that kinda makes up for it. Now, that pony in front of you killed my parents, and I want my revenge! Give me control!

“Alright…” Midnight mumbles as she closes her eyes and hands the control of her body to Lyra.

The shockwave causes Grey Wind to close her eyes. As she reopens them, she finds the dark green unicorn standing in front of her and Bon Bon, examining her front hoof.

“Huh. This feels a bit weird.”

The voice is too familiar for Grey Wind.

“Lyra?”

“What’s up, Grey.” The dark unicorn turns to her and smiles. After that, she turns around and faces Nightmare Moon, who has just recovered from the shockwave.

“Nightmare Moon!” The unicorn shouts, “You’ll pay for all this! You’ll pay for my parents! My name is Lyra Heartstrings, and you shall face my fury!”

“What? This is not possible! How did you escape my mind maze?” Nightmare Moon exclaims.

“With a little help from my father,” Lyra smirks as she glances at the bronze music box lying on the floor not far from her, “your plan has failed, Nightmare Moon! Your brethren has accepted my friendship! She has lent her power to me! And now…” A dark green magical sword forms beside her as her horn lights up, “…I shall avenge my parents!”

With a flash of her horn, Lyra teleports behind Nightmare Moon and slashes at her side before she can even react. The magic blade leaves a sizzling wound on the alicorn’s flank, causing her to let out a painful yelp and stagger. Her concentration breaks down, causing the restrains around Grey Wind and Bon Bon to dissipate.

Regaining posture, Nightmare Moon turns around, her eyes burning with hatred:

“Traitor! I will kill you!” She roars as she lifts her magical sword and charges towards Lyra.

Grey Wind can only watch in awe as Lyra and Nightare Moon engage in an all-out one-to-one duel. With her newly gained power, Lyra is matching Nightmare Moon, even launching several surprise attacks that only miss by centimeters. The two wielders of the power of the night clash violently against each other, both unable to defeat their opponent.

Grey Wind grits her teeth. She wants to help her friend, but her snapped wing and injured hooves are preventing her from even getting up. A quick glance at Bon Bon reveals her to have the same feelings. Both the mares can only watch the fight from a distance, cheering for Lyra mentally.

Finally recovering from the turn of events and still restrained on the wall, Echo calls out:

“Miss Grey Wind! Use the power of the elements!”

“Huh?” Grey Wind lifts her head and faces the bat pony.

“The elements left part of their power in you, right? Use them!” Echo shouts on top of her lungs.

“Right!” Grey Wind exclaims as she mentally bucks herself for not thinking about that earlier. She had completely forgotten her best weapon for dealing with Nightmare Moon. Concentrating, Grey Wind’s subunits gather around her neck, once again forming the golden collar. Her eyes start glowing with a bright white light as her body ascends into the air.

Noticing the familiar energy, Nightmare Moon jumps back and turns around Grey Wind’s direction, before shouting out:

“No!”

Raising her sword, she charges towards the grey Pegasus. Before she can reach her target, Lyra jumps from the side and blocks Nightmare Moon’s blade, stopping her dead in her track.

“Don’t…you…ever…think…about…it!” She mutters beneath her teeth while pushing back her opponent’s blade.

Nightmare Moon roars as she pushes her blade further down. Before she can break Lyra’s guard, a milk-colored figure dashes towards her and joins Lyra’s repel, her crystal blade clashed against Nightmare Moon’s sword.

“Bo-Bonnie?” Lyra gasps.

“Somepony’s gotta make sure you don’t hurt yourself again!” Bon Bon exclaims as she smiles wearily at Lyra, small red drops of liquid dripping from her mane, yet a determined look on her face.

The nanomachine-made element of harmony has reached its power climax as Grey Wind reopens her eyes. A small streak of rainbow is shot at the black alicorn, enveloping her inside a blinding white light. Nightmare Moon screams in agony as her very existence is burnt away by the elements. Finally, with one last flash of light, a shockwave ravages the room as everything fall back into silence.

The magic restraining Echo finally dissipates as the bat pony lets out a yelp and falls back onto the ground. Standing up, a quick scan across the room reveals all her friends lying around the room, unconscious. The dark green unicorn they just encountered is standing right above Lyra’s unconscious body not far from her.

Instantly running up to her friend, Echo flinches upon seeing Lyra’s body. The original mint green hide of the unicorn is almost completely soaked with blood, with small cuts and bruises everywhere on her body. A gaping hole is visible below her chest, still dripping out drops of blood.

“Miss Lyra! No!” Echo screams as she turns to the dark green unicorn, “Is she, is she…”

“Dead? Not yet, but soon…” The dark green unicorn mutters, “The elements stripped me from her body just like how they stripped Nightmare Moon from Luna. My magic was the only thing that keeps her from bleeding out. Now, without them, she’ll…”

Taking a deep breath, she continues:

“Don’t worry…Go take care of the others…I’ll save her…Tell Lyra I’m sorry…”

Her horn starts glowing with a dark green aura as a dark green light envelopes the two ponies. As the light dies down, the dark green unicorn has disappeared, leaving only Lyra lying on the ground. The wounds on her hide have been healed, and Echo also noticed her horn becoming significantly longer than before. Her chest is steadily falling up and down, indicating that she is breathing.

Making sure Lyra is alright, Echo runs to her saddlebags and grabs a few bandages and batches of herbal plants she had brought along, and runs up to Bon Bon.

Lyra is woken up by the worried calls of Bon Bon. Opening her eyes, she finds Echo and Bon Bon standing over her, looking at her with worried looks on their faces.

“Echo…? Bonnie?” She mumbles.

Before she can react, Bon Bon pulls her into a tight hug, squeezing the unicorn between her arms:

“Oh, Lyra, thank Celestia you’re alright!”

“The same for you, Bonnie…” Lyra smiles weakly, “Where’s Grey?”

“Right here,” Grey Wind’s voice calls behind her. Sitting up and turning around, Lyra finds Grey Wind lying on the floor not far from her, with bandages wrapped around her hooves and left wing. Looking back at Bon Bon, she finally spots the bandages wrapped around the back of her head.

“Grey! Bonnie! You are hurt!” She exclaims.

“Nothing compared to yours!” Echo interrupts, “You were bleeding all over your body! If it wasn’t for that strange unicorn, you’d be, you’d be…”

“Midnight? Where is she?” Lyra hastily asks.

“She sort of injected every last bit of her magic into you and healed your wounds. She disappeared after that, Oh, and she also told me to say sorry for her.”

“…I see…” Lyra mumbles as she lowers her head. Midnight might have taken over her body, but that was because she was commanded by Nightmare Moon! Although being born from Nightmare Moon’s magic, she isn’t the same as Nightmare Moon. She has accepted her friendship, and helped her defeat Nightmare Moon in the last minute. She was a good fr-

Lyra? Where am I?

A familiar voice in Lyra’s head interrupts her train of thought. Lyra’s eyes widen as she stands up, frantically looking around the room:

“Midnight? Where are you?” Bon Bon and Echo exchange a worried glance.

I don’t know! I can’t control my body! It’s moving on its own!

“Moving on its own? Wait a sec,” Lyra says as she lifts a hoof in front of her eyes, “Can you see my hoof?”

I can! Oh…I see…I’m inside your mind…Just like how you were inside mine…

“Well, that explains it! You must’ve entered my body when you transmitted your magic into me! We are sharing my body now!” She exclaims. The three other ponies can only watch with clear confusion in their eyes.

“Lyra…? Who are you talking to?” Bon Bon asks.

“It’s Midnight! She’s inside my head now! Oh, you know what, Midnight! You take over! Say hello to my friends Bon Bon, Echo and Grey Wind!” She shouts as she closes her eyes.

When her eyes reopen, her expression has been replaced with one bearing both surprise and fear. The mint unicorn flinches a bit, before weakly raising her front hoof and waving it.

“Hello…”

The familiar voice invokes a series of gasps from the three ponies around the room, causing the mint unicorn to wince back.

“I’m Midnight Melody…Lyra gave me that name…” She mumbles as she tries to hide her eyes behind Lyra’s short mane.

“…Wow,” Grey Wind dumbfounds, “That’s definitely going to need some getting used to. Actually, wait a second.” Subunits float to the air as an energy sensor starts taking shape beside her.

Recovering from the shock, Bon Bon manages a weak smile.

“So, uh, Midnight, wasn’t it? Where’s Lyra now?”

“She’s in the back of my mind…Only I can hear her…” Midnight replies.

“Okay…So, care to explain a bit about what you really are?” Bon Bon asks.

Midnight flinches a bit, and mumbles:

“Should I tell them? Lyra?”

Go on, tell them everything! They have the right to know!

“Okay…then…” Midnight takes a deep breath, “so, from the beginning I guess…”

She explains to the other ponies about everything. Nightmare Moon’s plan, how she was created as a shard of Nightmare Moon’s magic, how she attached to Lyra, how she was able to leave Lyra’s body with the aid of Nightmare Moon’s magic in Hollowshade, and how Lyra and she became friends.

“-so I saved her by injecting all my magic into Lyra’s body…You know the rest…” Midnight finishes.

“Hmmm…That’s interesting…” Bon Bon rubs her chin, “actually, Midnight? Can you bring Lyra back? I need to talk to her.”

Midnight nods as she closes her eyes. As she reopens them, Lyra’s trademark jolly personality returns to the mint green unicorn.

“Bonnie? What’s up?”

“It’s just…” Bon Bon scratches her head, “I noticed you horn becoming longer, and Midnight talked about injecting her magic into you, so guess I’m just curious if your magic has become stronger.”

“Oh, really?” Lyra feels her horn, and instantly notices that it has become approximately 50% longer, “Let me see…”

Tapping into her inner magic, Lyra instantly realizes it has expanded dramatically. What’s more, a new area has appeared in her reserve that she has never felt before. Curious, she channels some of those magic energy into her horn, and releases it.

A dark green light envelopes Lyra’s body, causing Echo and Bon Bon to flinch back a few steps. As the light dies down, standing in front of the three ponies is a dark green unicorn with glittering long mane and line-like irises, invoking another round of gasps across the room.

“Guys? What’s wrong?” Lyra says as she lifts a hoof to her eyes, and instantly flinches back a few steps, “…Oh.”

“Um…Lyra? Is that still you?” Grey Wind asks, a frown appearing on her face.

“It is me! It’s just like I have turned into Nightmare Moon, but hasn’t gone mad!” Lyra exclaims.

That’s my power…You can wield it now…

“Huh? Oh, that explains it,” Looking around the room, Lyra explains, “Midnight injected her magic into mine, and her magic is from Nightmare Moon. So basically, I have part of Nightmare Moon’s power now!”

“Really, that’s super cool!” Echo exclaims as she runs up to Lyra and admires her new form, while instantly gasping as she looks onto her flank.

“Miss Lyra! Your cutie mark!”

“Huh?” Looking to her flank, Lyra’s eyes widened. Her golden lyre cutie mark is now embedded by a dark blue crescent moon, small glitters of stars visible on it.

“Wow…” Lyra mumbles, “guess that’s what happens if you absorb the power of Nightmare Moon,” she chimes, “Actually… Midnight! I think that might be your cutie mark!”

Huh…? What?

“Well, you didn’t have one when I first met you, so it’s reasonable for you to get one now!” She scratches her head, “too bad you can’t detach from me like before. We could check it out if you can still do that.”

I guess…

“So, what are we going to do now?” Echo asks, “should we get out of here?”

“We haven’t completed our task,” Grey Wind calls from across the room, “we haven’t found the star lyre yet.”

“Oh, come on, Grey! Those hooves aren’t getting you anywhere,” Bon Bon facehooves, “Judging from what happened minutes ago, I’m sure Princess Luna won’t mind if we fail to bring her the lyre. Plus, we did recover the blade of Moonlight.” She points a hoof at the blue crystal sword on her back.

Lyra? Can you let me take over for a minute? I might be able to find that lyre…

“Oh, of course! Guys, Midnight will take over for now!” Lyra exclaims as she closes her eyes. Seconds later, the mint green unicorn’s eyes reopen as Midnight takes over the control of the body.

“Girls…I may have a plan…”

“Really, what is it? Grey Wind lights up, turning around to face the dark green unicorn, “um, I’m talking to Midnight now, right?” She smiles sheepishly.

“Yes…Well…” Midnight nods, “If the star lyre really is infused with Princess Luna’s magic, I may be able to sense it. Nightmare Moon was born from Luna’s negative emotions in the first place after all…Just give me a minute…”

Midnight concentrates her magic as she searches through the whole room. Focusing on the flows of magic, she immediately locates a magic source buried underground emitting a similar magic as hers. The source’s magic energy seems to have extended towards the floor of the room, ending in the center of the room.

“Well?” Grey Wind asks eagerly as the dark green unicorn opens her eyes.

“I found it…Right here…” Midnight trots to the center of the room. With a flash of a horn, she injects a small magic impulse into the floor.

As soon as the magic is injected, the ground of the room starts to shake. With a large Crack! The center of the floor slowly opens, revealing a round stone platform inside. A dark blue lyre lies on it, emanating a dark blue glow.

Encasing the lyre in her telekinesis, Midnight floats the lyre out of the hole and gently places it into Grey Wind’s saddlebags.

“Got it…”

“That was amazing, Midnight!” Echo exclaims, “Mission accomplished!”

“Thank you…” Midnight blushes, “It’s the least I can do… Lyra? You can take over now…”

As Lyra returns to control, she looks around her friends and exclaims:

“So, everything is over, right? Time to get out of here!”

A dark green aura appears around her horn as a dark green light envelopes the four ponies in the room, making them disappearing into thin air. Seconds later, the four ponies reappear precisely inside the living room of their tree house, falling onto the floor. Grey Wind lets out a yelp as her injured hooves touch the ground.

“It worked,” looking around, Lyra smirks.

“Lyra? Did you just teleport us all the way back to Hollowshade? And is it 7 p.m. already?!” Bon Bon hastily asks, still recovering from the sudden teleportation.

“Why, yes! It’s a piece of cake with my magic and Midnight’s combined!” Lyra smiles.

The rest of the evening goes on uneventfully. The four friends enjoy a quick dinner, before Lyra turns back to her usual form and carries Grey Wind onto her bed. Bon Bon returns to her room with the blade of Moonlight, and proceeds to bed as well.

Finishing up, Lyra walks back to her room, lays the bronze music box beside the dream orb, and crawls onto her bed. However, a thought remains in her head, forbidding her from falling asleep.

“Midnight?” she calls out.

What’s the matter, Lyra?

“I’m just wondering…Since we have part of Nightmare Moon’s power, and Nightmare Moon was born from the negative emotions of Princess Luna…Then, we essentially have a part of the power of Princess Luna, right? Can we travel into other ponies’ dreams just like her?”

I’m not sure…But we can try…

“Right.” Jumping from her bed, Lyra taps into Midnight’s power as she turns into Midnight’s form. Trotting up the stairs, she arrives at Grey Wind’s room and sneaks in as quietly as she could.

Reaching towards the sleeping Pegasus, Lyra concentrates her magic on her horn as thin white light appears on her horn, connecting to the grey Pegasus. Lyra grins mentally as she feels a connection being established between herself and Grey Wind, as she enters Grey Wind’s mind.

Grey Wind finds herself standing on bare ground. Looking down her hooves, she finds them not bandaged anymore, not to mention his left wing has come back to normal as she easily spreads it.

Is this a dream…?

Grey Wind scratches her head. This is not normal. She has never had a dream ever since she recovered the dream orb. Something is not right.

“It worked!” A happy exclaim comes behind her. Turning around, she finds a dark green unicorn running towards her, her eyes filled with happiness.

“…Lyra? Did you…” Grey Wind looks around, remembering how it felt when Princess Luna entered her dream several days ago, “did you enter my dream?!”

“It’s amazing, isn’t it!” Lyra exclaims, “receiving Nightmare Moon’s power granted me access to the dream realm! Just like Princess Luna!”

“That’s great!” Grey Wind responds, “can you enter the dream of the others?”

“Actually, I have a better idea than that.” Lyra grins. With a flash of her horn, she disappears from Grey Wind’s dream, and seconds later reappear, bringing together Bon Bon and Echo.

“Grey?” Bon Bon exclaims upon seeing her friend, “we are really in…your dream?” She casts a confused glance at Lyra.

“Precisely!” Lyra exclaims, “I brought every one of you here! This is so exciting! Dreamscape is a land of countless possibilities. We can do so many things here! What do you girls have in mind?”

“Well…” Grey Wind raises a hoof, “I might have an idea…”

Luna was just travelling through the dream realm, experiencing another typical night of helping ponies deal with their nightmares when she sensed a disturbance in the dream realm. Another entity apart from her has entered the dream realm.

Luna frowns as she flies towards the disturbance’s source. No other entity in Equestria should be able to enter the dream realm. Who could have disturbed the realm of the night?

Approaching the source, Luna’s eyes widen as she spots a dark green unicorn and three other ponies, one of them being Grey Wind, fighting each other in a dream and instantly recognizes the unicorn’s line-like irises.

Just as Lyra is in the middle of a heated duel with Grey Wind, a dark blue alicorn pierces the barrier of Grey Wind’s dream and charges towards Lyra.

“Foul presence! How dare you disturb our realm of the night!”

Startled by the sudden movement, Lyra jumps to the side, narrowly avoiding the alicorn’s assault. Princess Luna lands on the ground and turns towards Lyra, her eyes burning with rage:

“Thou shall not plague the dream realm again, Nightmare Moon!” She shouts as her horn lights up again.

“Princess Luna! Stop! It’s me, Lyra Heartstrings!” Lyra calls out as she recalls her power and returns to her usual form.

“Thou art…Lyra?” Luna stops dead in her track. Eyeing the mint green unicorn suspiciously, she asks: “but how did thou perform…that?”

“Yes, and Princess, I can explain!” Lyra exclaims

“…Please, enlighten us.” Luna’ eyes twitch slightly as she stares at Lyra.

“Well…”

Luna listens as Lyra explains the whole story, her expression slowly turning from surprised to suspicion.

“So, thou art suggesting that thou own part of our power now,” Luna concludes, a glimpse of nervousness behind her eyes.

“You could say that, your highness,” Lyra responds.

“Then hath thou retrieved my artifact?”

“Yes, my Princess,” Grey Wind interjects, “we found the star lyre, along with your old sword. Though one thing has been bothering me,” she scratches her head, “if I may, your highness, why did you tell me to not tell Princess Celestia or Twilight about this?”

“We had no idea that temple was plagued by Nightmare Moon as well, and moreover…” Luna responds as she flinches a bit backwards, “we were driven by jealousy when we left those artifacts in Hollowshade. We wanted to be worshipped, to be loved just like my sister a thousand years ago,” Luna steps back, a bit of uneasiness in her voice, “so we sent those artifacts to the towners. My sister must not know about this.”

“Aw, come on, Princess Luna!” Lyra exclaims, “you are alright now, aren’t you? Ponies love you for helping them out in their nightmares!”

“We suppose you are right, Lyra,” Luna smiles, “It is good to see our power falling into the right hands. We shall take my leave now. There are more ponies awaiting our help. Stay safe, my little ponies, and be aware, Lyra Heartstrings, treat thy power carefully. Come to Canterlot afterwards, and we shall enlighten thou on how to control the power of the dream realms.”

With those words, Luna turns around and spreads her wings, a dark blue spark glowing on her horn. Watching the scene, an eerie feeling crawls onto Lyra’s spine. Now that she is able to use dream magic, she knows that the only color of the aura of dream magic should be pure white, not dark blue. It is a small detail, yet a detail worth investigation. In fact, she has only seen dream magic of that color in one other place…

There was also Luna’s smile. Although it seems like a happy one, Lyra senses a strand of other emotions behind that smile. A fake smile, a deep feeling, a dreaded emotion, almost like…rage?

Realization hits Lyra as an enormous tsunami. Previous unaccountable behaviors of the Princess of the Night are starting to piece together. Princess Luna’s secret request to retrieve the star lyre, the fact that she doesn’t want the two most powerful wielders of magic to aid her, and her reaction when she heard about Lyra’s new power, and most importantly…

Closing her eyes, Lyra concentrates as she starts examining the magic sources around her, just like how she located Midnight days ago. Reaching into her new magic, she instantly finds a familiar streak of dark magic emitting from Luna, just the same as what she encountered in the temple earlier.

Lyra, that magic…! It is… Midnight calls out from the back of her mind.

“Wait a second, Princess Luna!” Lyra shouts out. The spark on the dark blue alicorn’s horn dissipates as she turns around to face Lyra:

“Any more questions, Lyra Heartstrings?”

“Yes, your highness,” Lyra stares Luna in the eyes, “Nightmare Moon confessed during our fight earlier that she used her magic to generate the magical impulse of the star lyre to lure you here. You felt that impulse, and that’s why you sent Grey here, right?”

“Precisely,” Luna raises an eyebrow, “Is there anything wrong?”

“Mind my rudeness, your highness, but one thing has been bothering me,” Lyra rubs her chin, “if that magic was really Nightmare Moon’s, then surely you should have felt it. How come you didn’t know the whole thing was a trap in the first place?”

“We-well, we…” Luna staggers back, her gesture in a flurry and her wings fluttering hastily.

“You should have been the one closest to Nightmare Moon, and should be the pony most familiar with her magic on Equestria, since you used to share a body. I’m sharing my body now, so I know how that feels,” Lyra steps forward, further pressing the dark blue alicorn, “Furthermore, if you really wanted to be worshipped by the people of Hollowshade, why didn’t you go on this quest by yourself? Surely you remember how they worshipped you before. They’ll be gladly helping you to retrieve that artifact, much faster than Bonnie, Grey and me.”

Lyra is now standing right in front of Princess Luna, her eyes narrowing as she lowers her body:

“All things considered, the only logical explanation would be that you knew from the beginning what awaits us in Hollowshade, You knew Nightmare Moon would be waiting there in the first place, and yet you still send us, so that she can consume our magic, retrieve the shard she planted within me, and join you to overthrow Princess Celestia and rule Equestria!”

“Lyra!” Grey Wind’s eyes widen. Her mind has finally finished processing the turn of events and come down to a conclusion, “are you saying-“

Lyra’s horn glows as a dark green as a magical sword forms beside her:

“Am I right, Nightmare Moon?”

Sharp gasps can be heard from her friends’ direction, but Lyra didn’t bother looking back. Raising her sword, she points it towards the alicorn in front of her:

“I don’t know how you managed to take control of Princess Luna’s body even after the elements hit you, but there is no point in refuting my points. We all saw you use the nightmare magic seconds ago. Besides, the real Luna will never let her friends address her as ‘your highness’. And moreover,” Lyra smirks, “you did a pretty bad job imitating the royal Canterlot tone.”

“Princess Luna” growls as she turns around, her horn glowing as a dark blue blade is formed on her horn. Dashing towards the barrier of the dream, she desperately tries to cut it open and flee from this dream. Her blade, however, bounces harmlessly from the barrier. A horrid look on her face, Nightmare Moon turns around and instantly notices the dark green spark on Lyra’s horn.

“Don’t you even think about it!” Lyra exclaims, “most of your magic is already destroyed. You are no match against us now, and you are not going anywhere! The dream realm answers my command now!!!”

Lyra stomps a hoof onto the ground. Several magical vines erupt from the ground and restrains Nightmare Moon, securing her limbs in place: “your song of life ends here, Nightmare Moon!”

“She’s right!” Grey Wind exclaims, her subunits already forming the golden collar around her neck, “you won’t hurt anypony now, Nightmare Moon!”

The nanomachine-made element of harmony begins to glow with a blinding white light as Grey Wind slowly ascends into the air. As the power inside the element reaches its climax, a colorful rainbow is once again shot towards the alicorn, enveloping her. A dark blue cloud is stripped away from her body, flying towards the barrier of the dream.

“This is for my friends! And my parents!” Lyra exclaims. Clinging to her sword, she leaps towards the cloud and slashes at it, splitting the cloud in half. Her horn lights up, generating a massive dark green aura that engulfs the dark cloud, wiping out its very existence.

Serenity once again descends upon the dream realm as the light dies down. Lyra elegantly descends to the ground, turns around to face her friends, and manages a big smile.

“That. Was. So. Cool!” Echo exclaims, having recovered from the shock, “you totally destroyed her! Nightmare Moon didn’t even stand a chance!”

That was awesome, Lyra…

“Well, we defeated most parts of her earlier, so that was just a tiny bit of her magic. Even a regular unicorn could have defeated her. It was really no big deal,” Lyra blushes, her power fading as she returns to her normal form, “and thanks, Midnight.”

“A tiny bit of dark magic born from negative emotions, yet still strong enough to take over Princess Luna’s mind,” Grey Wind recalls her subunits to the back of her wings and sighs, “makes me wonder, how strong actually is Nightmare Moon’s dark magic? It was, how long, one month? All those time Nightmare Moon was taking control of Princess Luna’s body, and nopony, including Twilight and Celestia, noticed!”

“Hold on, I’m a bit confused,” Bon Bon steps forward, a confused look on her face, “So it was Nightmare Moon in Princess Luna’s place all along?”

“Should have noticed earlier,” Grey Wind scratches her head, “Princess Luna would never challenge a normal Pegasus the first time we met, and would never entrust a quest to me without even informing Princess Celestia and Twilight! I had a feeling that something was wrong, but I just thought it was because that she was still adjusting to normal life!” An uneasy expression crawls onto her face, “I’m so, so sorry, girls. If I had known earlier, I would never drag you into such danger.”

“Aw, it’s alright, Grey,” Lyra smirks, “we went through all that, didn’t we?”

“Yeah! And I made so many new friends!” Echo exclaims, “I also got to go on an adventure that I’ll never forget in my life! Those last few days were awesome!”

“Indeed. What you have accomplished is more than enough to be added to Equestria’s history book, Grey Wind, Lyra, Echo and Bon Bon.”

A serene voice calls behind the four friends. A dark blue alicorn is standing behind the group, a genuine, grateful smile on her face.

Princess Luna…I sense no dark magic lingering in her…It is really her this time…Midnight whispers to Lyra in her mind.

“Princess…Luna?” Lyra calls out, a bit of uncertain in her voice, “it is…really you this time, right?”

“It is us, Lyra Heartstrings,” Luna nods, “With thine help, we have finally escaped the vile control of Nightmare Moon.”

“Princess Luna, you are alright!” Echo exclaims.

“Only thanks to you and your friends, Echo,” Luna walks up to the bat pony and softly hugs her with one of her wings. Echo happily returns the hug with her own wings.

“Echo? You knew Princess Luna already?” Bon Bon asks.

“Princess Luna has been helping me with my nightmares ever since I was a little foal,” Echo turns to her friends and smiles, “we have been friends for a long time!”

“Indeed. We and Echo have been close several years ago,” Luna smiles towards the bat pony. Releasing her, she turns to the other ponies: “We thank you. It is only with thine help that Nightmare Moon is no more. You have done a great service to my sister and us. We own you one debt that we can hardly repay.” Stepping back, Princess Luna gently bows towards the four ponies.

The action startles the four friends. None of them was expecting to receive a deep bow from one of the royal sisters. As the four ponies are frantically searching for an appropriate response, Luna continues:

“We are so very sorry, Grey Wind,” Luna turns to the grey Pegasus and lowers her head, “nothing could have expressed our regret. Our weak mind has put thou and thine friends in great dangers.”

“It’s okay, your highness,” Grey Wind responds, “at least none of us was hurt too badly.”

“Yeah!” Lyra exclaims, “besides, we also gained something from that journey, right girls?” She turns to her friends.

Seeing the nodded agreements from the four ponies, Luna smiles weakly.

“It is a relief to see thou aren’t too bothered. Besides, it would be much better if thou would address us with ‘Luna’. So, I believe Nightmare Moon leaves part of her power within you, right, Lyra?”

Lyra nods.

“That is true, your high-“

“You may call us Luna.”

“Alright, Princess Lu-“

“Just Luna, please.” Luna stares into Lyra’s ember eyes. The two mares lock eyes for a moment and both let out a small chuckle.

“Okay then, Luna,” Lyra smiles sheepishly, “and yes, a shard of Nightmare Moon’s magic rests within my mind. She’s called Midnight. We are sharing a body now. And don’t worry, I can assure that her intention is just. She saved my friends’ lives after all.”

“We can sense her presence in thine body, Lyra, and I doubt not that she’ll be a great aid to all your future adventures. Please, send Midnight my regard,” Luna smiles, “We also see that you have possessed the power to command the dream realm.”

“That is true, Luna. I can enter other ponies’ dreams now. Though if my presence disrupts the dream realm, I won’t enter again.”

“It’s quite alright, Lyra. Thou deserve all those power for thine achievements. The dream realm shall be forever open to thou and thine friends. You shall guard the dream lands along with us.” Luna announces, “What Nightmare Moon said to you holds true. Come to Canterlot in the future, and we shall teach you the way of mastering the dream lands.”

A beam appears on Lyra’s face, nearly reaching her ears. The mint unicorn runs up to Luna, grabs her front hoof and hastily shakes it.

“Thank you, my Princess! Thank you so much!”

“It’s the least we can do, and it would be great to have another guardian of the dream realm. Guarding the dreams solely by ourselves is becoming tiring” Princess Luna smiles. Spreading her wings, she takes up to the air, “we shall take our leave and resume our duty now. I shall inform my sister of your heroic deeds, my faithful friends. Farewell.”

“Wait a second, Princess Luna!” Grey Wind calls out, “what are we going to do with the artifacts we retrieved? Do we need to bring them to Canterlot?”

“No, there is no need. Thou shall keep the lyre and the sword. They should be fitting awards for all thine efforts. And besides,” Luna smiles bitterly, “those objects are remnants of our old self, just like the dream orb. Ditching them would be the only way for us to move on.”

With these last words, Luna’s horn glows a gentle white light as she disappears from Grey Wind’s dream. For several minutes, the four friends just stare into the blank barrier of the dream, processing what they had just witnessed.

“So…” Echo raises a hoof, “it’s all over now, right? No more world-ending conspiracies?”

“I…suppose so.” Grey Wind scratches her head, “what do we do now?”

“Come on, Grey!” Lyra exclaims, “I control this dream, remember? It’s up to me about what happens here, and I can tell that this night is far from over!”

Lyra lights up her horn as the scenery around the four friends change. The four ponies are now standing in a large, round arena. A dark green light engulfs her as she unleashes Midnight’s strength.

“Let’s do this, Grey! Our fight is not over!”

“Alright, Lyra!” Nanomachine edges form around Grey Wind’s wings, the plasma cannons assemble besides her while Bon Bon and Echo quietly retreat to a safe distance, “bring it on!”

Chapter 8: Returning Home

A train zips through the Midnight Woods, heading towards the town of Ponyville. Four ponies wearing typical Hollowshade cloaks sit inside the first-class carriage of the train: Lyra Heartstrings, in her usual form with Midnight Melody currently taking a nap in the back of her mind, Nightshade Echo, filled with the excitement of meeting the bearers of the elements of harmony in ponies, Bon Bon, with the blade of Moonlight strapped on her back and Grey Wind, still lying on the couch with her hooves and left wing still bandaged.

Though Lyra suggested that her magic was not strong enough to cure her hooves and Grey Wind should rest a few more days to allow her hooves to fully recover before getting back to Ponyville, Grey Wind had insisted they should get back as soon as possible to introduce Echo and Midnight to their friends. Finally, Lyra had settled for using a stretcher to carry the grey Pegasus all the way back. So there they were, riding on the train back to Ponyville, and talking about their adventure two days ago.

The train ride back was uneventful. Midnight wakes up halfway through, and Lyra lets her take over for the rest of the train ride. Midnight tells her new friends about all the things she had known as a part of Nightmare Moon. Turns out the “Darkest Night” on the town almanac is precisely the time when Princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon to the moon, when part of Nightmare Moon’s magic escaped to the town of Hollowshade. Moreover, she had admitted that her power is slowly recovering ever since she started sharing her body with Lyra, and she’ll be able to detach from Lyra in the form of a glowing ghost not long after.

It is already nighttime when the four friends arrive at Ponyville, and Midnight returns her control to Lyra. The streets are already almost empty, and the four ponies attract not much attention on their way to the Golden Oak Library, even with Grey Wind lying on a stretcher carried by Lyra’s magic and the large crystal sword on Bon Bon’s back. As they get closer and closer to the library, Echo is becoming more and more uplifted.

“I can’t believe I’m going to meet the element of magic herself! This is so exciting!” She squeaks as she walks along her friends.

“Well, to my knowledge, Twilight has never met a bat pony before, so it is possible that she could be even more excited than you,” Grey Wind chuckles, “Speaking of which, how do you think Twilight would react when she sees us? One Pegasus lying on a stretch with one of her wings snapped, a bat pony, an earth pony carrying a magical sword, and a unicorn that has another mind living in her brain all after a short holiday?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Lyra smirks, “but I’m sure it is going to be PRICELESS. Hey, I know! Why don’t we show her what we got in our holiday by demonstrating what we gained?”

“Huh? What do you mean, Lyres?” Bon Bon asks.

“Oh, this is going to be the BEST prank ever!” An evil smile crawls onto Lyra’s face as she explains her plan to her friends.

“Well…I’m not sure if it is your own idea or the dark magic of Nightmare Moon already influencing you,” Grey Wind comments, “But that is one great idea.”

Are you sure about this, Lyra? I don’t want to scare your friend…

“Oh, we’re not going to scare her, Midnight,” Lyra replies, smirking, “we are going to SURPRISE her!”

Twilight Sparkle closes the book she had been reading since afternoon, and lets out a sigh. It’s almost a week since Grey Wind left for Hollowshade, and a part of her is a bit worried about the grey Pegasus. She is also concerned about Lyra, especially how she would react if she finds out what really happened to her parents. Though, they should be returning very soon. She may have to have a talk with Lyra about her mental status after she comes back.

Glancing at the clock, Twilight finds it pointing precisely at 9 o’clock. Time to call it for the day. Spike has gone for a sleep over with the Cutie Mark Crusaders at Sweet Apple Acres, so she is alone in the library tonight. Returning the book to the bookshelf, Twilight trots towards the staircase when suddenly a serious of haste knocks on the door breaks the serenity of the library.

Running towards the door and opening it, Twilight gasps. Lying at the door is none other than Grey Wind, her four hooves and one wing bandaged while her other wing is hanging limply at her side, an expression of pure agony on her face.

“Grey Wind! What happened?” Twilight exclaims as she lights up her horn and pulls her friend inside the library and lifts her onto a sofa.

“Twilight…! Run! They are coming…” Grey Wind mutters under her breath before closing her eyes and passing out on the sofa.

“Grey Wind? Grey Wind! Are you alright? What are you talking about? Who’s coming?” Twilight shouts, frantically checking the pegasus’ injured body.

Suddenly, the lights in the library go off, leaving the first floor in complete darkness. Alarm bells ringing in her head, Twilight staggers back and bumps into a bookshelf at the sudden change of light environment, before lighting up her horn and nervously glancing around.

Did the electricity go off again? And what happened to Grey Wind? She looks like she has been injured badly…

“Heh heh heh… We meet again, Twilight Sparkle…”

Twilight gasps as she hears the voice behind her. Turning around, she screams and jumps back as she finds herself face to face with a dark green unicorn mare. Her mane bears alternating streaks of light cyan and dark green, and is glittering like the stars in the night sky. Her cutie mark is a golden lyre embedded by a crescent moon, her eyes bear ember color, with line-like black irises. Twilight has only seen that kind of irises on one other creature except for Spike.

Nightmare Moon.

“Ly-Lyra…?” Twilight mutters, her voice trembling, “what happened to you? Why do you look so much like…”

“Mistress Nightmare Moon? Thought you’d never asked, my dear Twilight,” Lyra throws back her head and lets out a maniacal laughter, “We met Mistress Nightmare Moon on our journey. She has showed us how weak we were. We have accepted her blessing, and we will inherit her will! We shall bring eternal night to Equestria, starting from you, Twilight Sparkle!”

Twilight’s eyes widen in fear.

“That can’t be true! We defeated Nightmare Moon!”

“The Mistress is smarter than you, Twilight Sparkle. She has been hiding for a long time. And when you freed Luna from her control, you just returned her power to her!” Lyra smirks.

“No, no…” Twilight backs up from the dark green unicorn, searching her mind desperately for any possible solutions, “Lyra, don’t be controlled by her! You need to fight back!”

“Oh, I’m not controlled, my old friend, I assure you I’m acting on my own intentions.” Lyra smirks, “and that goes the same for killing you.”

Seeing no way to talk rational thought with Lyra, Twilight’s eyes scan the floor for any escape routes, until her gaze fixes on the library door. Whether intentionally or not, Lyra is blocking the staircase but not the door. If she can run there, then-

“Don’t you even think about it, Twilight,” Bon Bon walks into the door of the library, a large blue crystal sword held in her mouth, “you are not going anywhere.”

Turning around, Twilight notices the open window in the kitchen. If she can jump out of the window—

A hissing sound can be heard as a pony flies into the window. Although similar to a Pegasus, the pony that just flew in has longer ears and leathery wings, with two fangs sticking out of her mouth. Twilight has read about this kind of pony born from pegasi influenced by dark magic. A bat pony has blocked the window, hissing at the lavender unicorn.

“Your life ends here, Sparkle,” Lyra smiles.

“P-Please, Lyra, you don’t need to do this,” Twilight pleads as the three ponies slowly surround her and force her into a corner of the library. Backing up against the wall, she finds no way to escape as the three ponies corner her.

“Any last words, Twilight Sparkle?” Lyra smirks, her horn glowing with dark green light as a green magical sword forms above her.

“I----I…” Twilight takes a deep breath, gathers her courage and glares at Lyra, “You won’t succeed! Even if you kill me, the other elements of harmony will defeat you! The Princesses will defeat you! You and your mistress will never win!”

The words seem to have irritated Lyra, as she frowns and raises the sword above her head. Twilight closes her eyes and grits her teeth, expecting the pain of her throat cut open any second.

……Until Lyra bops her on the nose and the lights in the library switch on.

“Gotcha!” The three ponies, along with Grey Wind who has just quitted faking her death on the sofa shouts out in unison.

“All those were just a prank?!” Twilight exclaims. The five ponies are currently sitting around the center of the living room, with Grey Wind still lying on the sofa.

“The best prank ever!” Lyra shouts, having returned to her usual form.

“Sorry to have scared you, Miss Sparkle, but that was so much fun!” The bat pony exclaims, “Nightshade Echo, pleased and honored to meet the bearer of the element of magic! Call me Echo!” She extends a hoof towards the lavender unicorn, who hesitantly accepts it and shakes it.

“It’s nice to meet you as well, Echo,” Twilight smiles at the energetic bat pony, “but what happened to you girls? What took place in Hollowshade that resulted in…” her gaze switches between Grey Wind’s bandages, Lyra’s now significantly longer horn, and the sword on Bon Bon’s back, “…all this?”

“I…kinda hurt all my limbs during battle…” Grey Wind smiles sheepishly.

“And I got a crystal sword,” Bon Bon adds.

“…What?” Twilight casts a puzzled glance at the two ponies, “that’s…a lot to take in. And what happened to you horn, Lyra? It wasn’t this long last week, right?”

“Well…” Lyra scratches her head, “it’s kinda a long story, and it’ not just my horn and my new power. I’m now sharing my body with a shard of Nightmare Moon. Midnight, say hello to Twilight.”

“You WHAT?!” Twilight shouts as Lyra closes her eyes and reopens them, her jolly personality turning 180 degrees into a much shyer one. Upon seeing the lavender unicorn, the mint green unicorn winces back and whispers:

“It’s…nice to meet you, Miss Twilight Sparkle. I’m Midnight Melody.”

Twilight’s eyes roll back, looking like she is on the verge of fainting.

“We-well, I can explain, Ms. Sparkle…” Midnight hastily continues as she sees Twilight’s reaction, “well…”

Twilight could only listen to the whole story in awe as the mind that is living in Lyra’s body tells her the whole story. Occasional gasps are made as the story reaches the climax, namely how the ponies defeated the last bit of lingering power of Nightmare Moon.

“Then I found myself inside Lyra’s mind, and we found the star lyre before Lyra teleported us out of the temple. Two days later we come to you. That’s pretty much the whole story,” Midnight finishes her story as she closes her eyes and returns the control to Lyra.

“…Wow…” Twilight rubs her chin, finally calming down, “that’s certainly a lot you girls had accomplished. Maybe I should write to the Princesses and tell them about all this…”

“Don’t bother,” Grey Wind interrupts, “we’ll visit Canterlot soon anyway, after, well…” She glances at her bandaged hooves, “My hooves are strong enough to carry me all the way to the castle.”

“Definitely,” Twilight nods, “That was one astonishing adventure you girls went over. Rainbow would be so jealous of you girls. . Looks like the elements chose you for a reason, Grey,” she smiles.

Turning to her other friends, she continues:

“Well, it’s getting late, so I’ll take Grey Wind upstairs and get her some rest. She needs enough rest to recover. Echo, wasn’t it? Would you mind if you sleep in the library tonight? I’ve never met a bat pony before and I have a few questions,” she smiles at the bat pony.

“Oh, certainly not, Miss Sparkle! It’s an honor!” Echo exclaims, her wings fluttering in excitement.

“Then I guess we should return home and get some rest as well,” Bon Bon suggests as she stands up, “come on, Lyres.”

“Alright, Bonnie. Bye, Twilight!” Lyra waves at her friend as she leaves the library.

“Bye, Lyra! And do come to the library tomorrow! We need to further discuss your power!” Twilight waves at the mint unicorn.

“I won’t forget, Twilight!”

After Lyra gets back to her house, she directly heads for her bed and jumps onto it before switching the lights off.

Darkness falls upon the room, but this time, Lyra does not feel scared anymore. She knows that even in the darkest of the nights, her friends will look out for her, and she has got one of her best friends right here inside her mind.

Pulling the sheets over her, Lyra whispers:

“Good night, Midnight.”

Good Night, Lyra.

The end.

Prologue: Darkness

Author's Note

Never expected me to do a seqeul for a story that got less than 300 reads, did you? :trixieshiftright:

Well, it's more like a personal project for me, so it's no big deal. I still decided to write this down. (Though I would appreciate it if more people get to like my story :fluttercry: )

Anyways, this story would be not so much a crossover, as this idea just popped into my mind, and I can't help but to write it. Regardless of how many people read my previous story, Grey Wind was created by me, and I will help her carry on her adventures with her friends.

I’d like to thank everyone who positively commented my first story. You guys gave me the courage to finish this. :twilightsheepish:

So, please enjoy. And I would appreciate any comments and criticizes, as always :twilightsmile:

(Check out the prequel if you are interested! I did put a lot of effort into my first two fics, and I'm sure it's not going to let you down :twilightblush: I will keep improving with every one of your comments on both stories!)

Prologue: Darkness

Darkness.

A scheduled thunderstorm arrived at Ponyville precisely after noon on Monday. It was indeed the end of the harvesting season, and the weather management pegasi of Ponyville had decided that it would be best to use a rainstorm to clear the fields for the farm ponies, so that they can spare the trouble of cleaning their fields before the first snowflake of winter. The sky is completely covered by black clouds, without a single bit of sunlight penetrating it.

Darkness.

Even though it’s just 2 o’clock in the afternoon, Ponyville is already encased in darkness, only lit up when a streak of lightning pierces through the veil of rain. Wind howls like a thousand lost souls, bashing the window and doors of the houses in the town. In such dire weather, most ponies would rather stay in the coziness of their own homes, either spending time with their family or in solitude, with a cup of coffee, a good book and a warm sofa by the fireplace. All over the town, lights are switched on in nearly all of the houses, casting the shadow of happy ponies inside on the windows of the houses.

Darkness.

There is one particular house, however, where there wasn’t a single light on inside. A two-story building near the town center of the Ponyville. The house itself was not empty. On the bed of one of the bedrooms on the second floor of the house lay a mint green unicorn mare. Her mane and tail consisted of alternating streaks of white and light cyan, her eyes bore the color of burning ember. Lyra Heartstrings was lying on her bed, her right hind hoof bandaged and her horn glowing a faint, yellow light.

Darkness. Lyra hated darkness.

Ever since she was a little filly, being alone in the darkness had always been what Lyra feared most. Jolly as she was in everypony else’s eyes, she could never sleep with the lights switched off or without her aunt by her side. Whenever she is left alone without a light source, everything around her seems to become alive. In the unicorn’s wild imagination, unknown beasts lurk within the darkness, ready to gobble her up any minute.

Crack!

A lightning pierced through the sky, the loud noise made Lyra wince on her bed. Even knowing that a storm is inbound in the afternoon, Bon Bon had insisted on going to her candy store for any customers in the morning, considering that she had already lost enough business for taking care of Lyra at home yesterday. Clearly, she wasn’t expecting the storm to be that bad. It was almost for certain that she was trapped in her store by the storm.

Darkness.

Unfortunately for her, Bon Bon did not leave the lights on when she left in the morning, and Lyra couldn’t open them herself. Galloping at a speed almost as fast as Rainbow Dash didn’t actually help with healing her wound she brought upon herself when she tripped over a thorny Everfree vine in her adventure three days ago. Even letting her throbbing hoof touch the ground would send a sharp pain to the mint unicorn, prohibiting her from getting anywhere off her bed. Right now, the only light source in the room was the faint ember glow from her horn, and even that glow was threatening to disappear as her magic reserve slowly depleted.

Darkness.

It has been so long since she last experienced such intense fear. For Lyra, whenever she feels afraid, she had friends that could pull her out of it. Her old friends at Canterlot, Twinkleshine, Minuette and Lemon Heart still visit her on a regular basis, not to mention her roommate and best friend in Ponyville, Bon Bon. She has even recently made friends with a nanomachine aggregation that was not even from this world. They were like bright stars illuminating her night sky even in the darkest of the night.

But one of the stars has fallen.

Thinking about that grey Pegasus alone caused a tear to roll down Lyra’s cheek, the glow on her horn dwindled and dimmed as her concentration broke. The moment she walked out of her house and saw the black cloud gathering above Everfree Forest yesterday, she instantly realized what it was. She also knew that there was no chance that her new friend would let her old subunits devour Equestria. There she was, hiding in the bush, watching her friend disappearing in a blinding rainbow-colored light.

Darkness.

She didn’t know how she got home yesterday. Possibly dragged back by Twilight and the others. For a whole night she just sat there with the light in her room on, eyes blankly staring the ceiling. Losing Grey Wind was the greatest pain she’d ever known, a gaping hole in her heart that could never be filled. She could barely work up the courage to cry last night. Thinking about her lost friend caused her to start to sob in bed, which soon turned into an uncontrollable cry.

Darkness.

It was even like the darkness in the room had sensed her despair. The darkness gathered around her, enveloping her like a black ball. The glow on her horn dimmed as her cry continued, until finally, her magic reserve depleted.

Her horn made one last ember-colored flash, and died down, leaving Lyra in complete darkness. She gasped as her crying ceased, her irises shrank into pupils. Tears still in her eyes, she desperately tried to reignite her horn, and was horrified to find that she had used up every last drop of her magic. Her whole body tensed up as she looked frantically around the room.

Looking around, all she can saw was nothing but blackness. This was even worse than being alone in the night. At night, at least there was the moon, shedding a little bit of light into her room. This time, however, despite the curtains being open, not a single streak of light had leaked into the room. She could not see anything, even her front hoof before her face. She was left in complete darkness, all alone.

The darkness was encasing her, stripping away her feelings and drinking her despair. Unsightly beasts smirk amidst the darkness, ready to gobble up the defenseless unicorn. Letting out a whimper, Lyra curled into a protective ball on her bed. With her sight completely stripped away, she failed to notice a streak of dark magic emanating from her cutie mark, painting the fur around it into dark green. The dark green color spread from her cutie mark, all the way to her head.

But Lyra could not resist or feel. She just lay there, whimpering, as her imaginary beast in the darkness slowly extended its claw towards her throat. She didn’t even hear the hush hoofsteps hastily approaching her room.

“Lyra!”

Just before the dark blue color reached Lyra’s eyes, the door to her room swung open as the lights were switched on. Bon Bon was standing at the door, her mane and coat completely soaked, still dripping drops of water onto the carpet. Seeing Lyra, she instantly hurried to her bed and pulled her into a warm hug.

“My god, Lyra, I’m so sorry! I should have left the lights on! Are you alright?”

But Lyra didn’t respond. She was still curled up, her muscle tensed up, and her eyes tightly shut.

Seeing that her comforting had little effect, Bon Bon started humming a familiar song:

so mi so do~~ so la do so, so do re mi, re do re……

The familiar tune pulled Lyra out of her despair. The song had been her favorite one ever since her childhood. No matter how sad or down she was, listening to this song would always be able to light her up. It was also the first song she learned after she got her cutie mark as a lyre player. Looking up, she gazed Bon Bon with her teary eyes:

“Bon…Bonnie? How…How did you……”

“I hurried back as soon as the sky turned black. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t be back earlier. Those fillies were really on my tails when they asked me about Grey Wind. Lyra? Have you been crying? What’s wrong?”

Hearing her lost friend’s name made Lyra’s eyes water once more. Raising her hoof, she wiped a tear away and answered:

“I…I just can’t stop thinking about her…She was gone protecting us…Just like that…”

“I can’t blame you for that, Lyres,” Bon Bon responded by hugging her roommate tighter, “It’s been hard for me as well. Though, you have to move on. We have to move on. Grey won’t be happy if she sees you like this.”

Being in her best friend’s embrace relaxed Lyra’s tensed up body. Returning Bon Bon’s hug, she smiled weakly:

“I guess you are right, Bonnie. Thank you. I needed that.”

Bon Bon smiled.

During the two mares’ embrace, they both failed to notice the faint dark green spark glowing on Lyra’s flanks.