Memories and Melodies

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.