Memories and Melodies

“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.