Author's Note

I really enjoyed writing this one, so I hope you enjoy reading it. BTW this is a sequel to my at the moment incomplete Aftermath Dawn FanFic. Bye!

Lyron of Gainston

Long ago, there were once Two Sister Princes-

"We already know that one, Dad" Said a small, squeaky voice

"Yeah, we want to hear a different story!' Said the squeaky voice's sister, whose voice was just as squeaky

"Oh fine. Hmm." Lyron had grown weary of telling the same story over and over again, and wanted to spice things up. "How about I tell you about Gainston?"

"What's a Gainston?" The two siblings said in unison.

Lyron chuckled at the two. "Its a where, and it's the town I grew up in"

"Really?!"

"Really."

"Woooow..."

"Yeah, I know it might be hard to believe, but your dad here lived before you, crazy I know" Lyron said sarcastically with a smirk.

The two sister's frowned at the comment. Lyron had to give credit where credit was due, they were a lot smarter than he gave them credit for. "Alright, enough dilly dallying, lets get on with the story..."

So our story begins with my mother, sitting by the river reading a book about drinking copious amounts of alcohol

Heavenly Ichor was in a bad mood today. Okay, "Bad" doesn't even to begin to summarize how bad it was. Her coltfriend of 2 years had just broke up with her because she couldn't have foals, she was fired from her job at the brewery because she was crying into the brewer over her coltfriend, and her father, the village leader, was not happy about either of those two things transpiring within the same day.

Ichor just wanted to sit down and read, like a normal pony. She remembered a cozy little spot on the bank of the river and headed over there posthaste in an effort to avoid anypony who was looking for her. She found her little cove, sat down and opened her favorite book:1001 Ways to Drink Beer: Frat Colt Edition. It was an older book, made before the Great Collapse, when everypony in Equestria separated back into the original Three Tribes. Most of these older books were burned, but Ichor's father allowed her to have it after a casual debate that led to the leader having to use a wheelchair for a couple of weeks. Ain't nopony getting in the way of her learning.

Way #674: The Gnarly Cactapus, a classic. It involved taking a taxidermized Cactapus and pouring the beer through its mouth and drinking out it's as-

WahaAHA-hiccup-WWHAahahaHA

"Da fuck was that? Did Rose Thorns get into my personal stache again?"

WHaHA-hiccup-wahwWHWA

"Is that a foal?!" Ichor perked her ears up in an effort to locate the wailing infant. After a bit of searching, Ichor's gaze focused on a small basket on the river that had gotten stuck on some rocks. Ichor galloped over to see whose baby it was.

Only three foals had been born in the past two years since the towns founding, so the small village got to know the three very well, as there was no sound dampening in the wooden cabins that dominated the town.

But the foal in the basket wasn't any of those three. In fact, Ichor could say without a doubt that this little bundle of sleep depravation was not from Gainston at all! It was a little white pegasus with a grey mane that had a small, but noticable, strip of dark blue, which meant he had taken a considerably long journey to get here. Her dad said the nearest pegasus town was days of travel away. This poor little guy needed someone to take care of him.

Ichor froze up for a second. On one hoof, here was a foal that she could nurture and care for and love, to be a mother. On the other hoof, the lil' guy was a pegasus, so nopony would accept him, unless she had a say in it. Ichor decided that she wanted to stick it to the pony and picked up the small basket. She carried the small foal over to her little cove and took out a couple of apples, which she promptly smashed into applesauce. She took some of the goop to the little foal and got him to eat some out of her hoof. The stripe in his hair turning a beautiful gold.

"I'll name you... Lyron! Lyron Ichor, yeah, that sounds different!"

"Wait, daddy, doesn't that mean your ID says L. Ichor?" Said the first filly, "As in L-I-C-K-E-R?!" added the second.

The group heard snickers and suppressed laughs from the kitchen nearby.

Sometimes, Lyron just wished his two little fillies were just a bit dumber. "Yes, that's exactly what's on my ID. My mom hoped it would just be taken as 'L-I-Q-O-U-R', but she didn't take into consideration the former of the two words."

"You know, maybe your mother knew just how good you would be at licking when you were older, Lyron." Said the disembodied voice teasingly from the kitchen.

Lyron turned a deep red and his mane flowed a brilliant hot pink. "Not in front of the children, honey!"

The snickers turned into laughs as the whole house erupted in a joyous uproar.

"What does mom mean dad?" said the first filly.

"Yeah, what does she mean daddy?" asked the second.

Holding back tears, Lyron responded "I explain it to you when your older." Lyron grimaced at the thought, "Your mother will explain it to you when your older. Anyways, lets get back to the story, shall we?" Lyron said this, knowing damn well neither of them would ever explain such a thing.

"After calming me down enough to quietly move around the town, my mom took me to see my grandfather, the leader of the village, Big Devoted Ichor..."

Heavenly Ichor scooched quickly out of ponies ways as the sun fell over the horizon. She didn't want anypony to see her very important cargo, fearing they would report the little pegasus to the guards if they noticed his little wings. Eventually she came across a checkpoint at her house. Reports of entire towns being razed to the ground were starting to pop up from wandering traders, so the town was on high-alert. Ichor put the basket down so she could say the password to get in.

"Bloated Goat"

The two earth ponies looked at each other and lifted their spears out of the way.

"Thank you, gentlecolts" Ichor said before she picked up her basket and quickly walked through, hoping the guards wouldn't see the white and grey ball of joy she had been taking care of for the last several hours. Once inside, she heaved a sigh of relief as her father came barreling through.

"Heavenly! Where have you been?! Me and the guard have been looking for you all day! We assumed the worst with those rumors of the villages abroad."

"I am fine, dad, I was just reading by the beach. I needed to show you this..." Ichor bent over and picked up Lyron, who spread his little wings and giggled at the sight of being so high.

"Heavenly Devoted Ichor, where in the hell did you get that-that, thing?!"

"Thing?! His name is Lyron, and he is the greatest thing to happen to me since I got my cutie mark" Ichor said with love and pride.

"But it's a pegasus! How could you care about a pegasus!?"

"Because I can't have foals, dad. This lil' guy..." Ichor stopped for a second to give Lyron some raspberries, "...showed up in this basket on the river. He stopped on some rocks right next to me! How could that not be a sign? I want to take care of this foal, dad, because otherwise I would never be a mother."

"But Heavenly..." Big Devoted mumbled.

Before he could complete his sentence, Ichor pulled out her hardcopy of 1001 Ways to Drink Beer: Frat Colt Edition and her father bolted into another room without a word.

"From what I remember of what my mother told me, Big Devoted gave a grandiose speech the next day about the importance of unity, and a small lesson about nurture over nature before revealing to the town my existence. A lot of ponies were apprehensive at first, but warmed up when they learned that anypony who attempted to remove me from the village would endure the wrath of my mother. That shut them up real quick." Lyron smiled at the image.

"Oooh, what happened then?" said Thing 1

"Yeah, what happened?" said Thing 2

Ding-Ding-Ding

The trio heard the dinner bell calling them to the kitchen, where they smelled a alluring banquette of carrot and pea dumplings and noodles.

"Alright girls, we have to go eat. Maybe if your reeeally nice, mom will let me tell you more of the story at the table!" Lyron pointed towards the kitchen and smiled. The two little fillies didn't need more convincing and dashed off to the kitchen in a wave of giggles and joy.

Lyron trotted into the kitchen were a sudden rush of warm air enveloped him. He looked over at Iato, who was setting the food out on plates when she ushered him over. "You forgot to mention the part where you started the eat the sand on the beach and how your mother had to perform the Heimlich maneuver to save you." Iato said with a smile.

"Well, if you were telling a story about your rise to becoming one of 'Equestria's Greatest Heroes', you would probably leave out the less-than flattering parts, wouldn't you?" Lyron retorted before nuzzling Iato's cheek.

Iato couldn't help but giggle a little bit, "Yeah, I guess your right. Here, take these to the table for me, would you?" Iato hooved over two small plates. Lyron obliged courteously.

"Okay girls, what do we say when we want something?" Lyron playfully asked.

"Give it up, schmuck!" The two said in unison, chuckling.

"Hey! That's not what you say!" Iato snipped

Through their giggles the girls gave the right answer: "Please and Thank You!"

Iato warmly smiled "Thats right, and don't get it twisted."

Once everypony was sat down, Lyron continued the story in-between bouts of chewing and slurping.

"Alright, so fast forward several years and it's my first day of school. My mom got me the COOLEST saddlebags in all of Equestria..."

Lyron was nervous. Today was to be his first day of school, the first time since his mom found him that he would be separated from her for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

"Alright Lyron, when you get to school, what are you going to say to the teacher?" Ichor asked her little bundle of stress

"Hello Mrs. Cherilee. My name is Lyron Ichor, nice to meet you!" Lyron responded

"And what do we say to the kids who call you names and make fun of your wings?"

"Go to hell you shit eating fuckwad!" Lyron stated. He liked saying that one in particular.

"Perfect! Now, in preparation for this event, I got you a pair of brand new saddlebags!" Ichor pulled out a small pair of saddlebags with a rainbow lightning bolt coming out of a cloud emblazoned on both sides. Otherwise, the saddlebags were white, just like his coat. Ichor smiled as Lyron's face lit up in a combination of glee and disbelief.

"Just like Rainbow Dash's cutie mark!" :D Lyron was just so happy. He couldn't believe his eyes! "How did you get this?!"

Ichor snuggled up Lyron in a hug "Well, I went to JoJo Pommels place and asked her if she still had some of her mothers old design journals, which thankfully she did, and flipped through until I found this gem in some old pictures of the Elements of Harmony where Rainbow Dash's cutie mark was shown. I asked if she could make these, I could barely wait to give them to you!"

"Thank you mom! I'll be the best colt in the whole school, I promise!" Lyron said as he hugged Ichor even harder.

"Better be! Those bags cost a lot in bribe money!" Ichor laughed. "Alright, we better get going now, don't want to be late for your first day of school!"

Lyron jumped a bit when he remembered why he was so nervous, but the new saddlebags helped ease his nerves. "Oh! We got to go mom, hurry up!"

"Don't tell me to hurry up, mister!" Ichor giggled as they walked out the door.

"Wow that's so cool! I want some saddlebags like those!" Said the first filly.

"Yeah, me too! Where are yours? I want to see them!" Said the second

"Oh, that's an interesting part of the story, just you wait." Lyron said enticingly.

"Me and my mom walked down the muddy streets of Gainston when a huge rainstorm hit us..."

It wasn't a pretty day by any stretch of the imagination. The roads were muddy, there was fog everywhere, and it was cold. Not exactly the ideal time to learn where the school is, but Lyron would manage. Halfway there a big dark raincloud moved over the town and started to strut its stuff. Both Lyron and Ichor broke into a sprint, but because Lyron had little legs, Ichor had to pick him up so he could ride her on her back. By the time they made it to the school, they were on-time, but they were soaked.

Lyron and Ichor barged into the small school, basically pouring water all over the floor. Cherilee screeched and jumped out of her seat when the two suddenly appeared through her door.

Lyron, soaked, but not fazed, said his line "Hello Mrs. Cherilee! My name is Lyron Ichor, nice to meet you!"

Before Cherilee could respond, a colt from the back of the class sneered at Lyron "Oh, look guys, it's the featherbrain!". The colt's posse of bullies started laughed.

But without missing a beat, Lyron clapped back with "Go to hell you shit eating fuckwad!". Lyron smiled gleefully as the group of bullies fell quiet at Lyron's use of profanity. Cherilee and Ichor just stared at each other, Cherilee dumbfounded and Ichor wearing a grin on her face.

Once Cherilee regained her composure, she called for everypony to stop attacking each other and settle down. She thanked Ichor for bringing Lyron over and offered her an umbrella for the walk home, an offer that was politely refused. Most of the school day went off mostly without incident, however, Lyron noticed the side eyed looks and the occasional bird/pegasus/intelligence related insults muttered under soft breaths. His mom had told him that Cherilee had been a teacher where the Elements of Harmony lived once upon a time, which really exited him. Mom also said it's the only reason he was even allowed to come to the school in the first place, as Cherilee wasn't as afraid off the pegasus and unicorns as most of the town were.

Lyron didn't get it. Why did everypony hate him? It's not like he had done anything wrong. Maybe it was because of his mom. Not many ponies liked her carefree attitude. But that didn't really matter. Cherilee was going to play a little history movie for them, "TRUE HISTORY: WHY WE LIVE ALONE, BY I.M.A. RICHARD". It was supposed to be a history movie about why they all lived in small, one Tribe towns. That didn't make much sense to Lyron though, because here he was, a pegasus, sitting with a bunch of earth ponies! This movie was obviously outdated, but he guessed that made sense. Schools never really put their funds in smart places, like updating old equipment, so this made sense. The movie started with a countdown, and when it eventually reached 1, a big orchestra started playing.

Hello, my name is I.M.A. Richards, but you can call me Dick. Today I will teach you the reason why we live in a village with only {EARTH PONIES}, and why you should never trust those pesky {UNICORNS} and {PEGASI}.

Lyron looked around at the room, fillies and colts were diverting their stares away from Lyron as he looked at them. Even Cherilee stared at Lyron for a bit before shifting in her seat uncomfortably, but Lyron couldn't tell if it was because of the movie or because of the other colts and fillies staring at him. The film continued..

Long ago, there were once 4 ponies known as the Elements of Disharmony...

"What? I haven't been told about them. Maybe they got defeated by Twilight and her fri..." The screen faded to black when a big thunderous wave of sound crashed through the small room. The screen faded again to reveal the silhouettes of four ponies lined up side to side. One by one, I.M.A. Dick called the names of the ponies as the silhouettes gained form.

THE EVIL TYRANT QUEEN TWILIGHT SPARKLE, an evil Tyrant Queen who cruelly subjugated all {EARTH PONIES} to eat plain vanilla ice cream while she gave the {UNICORNS} and {PEGASI} Rocky Road! How despicable!

"Wha.. that's not true!" Lyron said with a trembling voice.

THE RARE EVIL, RAAARITY, She teleported all over Equestria stealing everyponies money and personal effects with her horn! How dastardly!

"Bu-But that isn't right!" Lyron said, tears forming.

FLUTTERSCARY, THE NOT SHY, An eeevil pegasus who would go around leaving puppies out in the rain! Unbelievable!

"No... no no no..." Lyron was starting to cry, knowing who was next.

AND LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT THE LEAST EVIL, RAINBOW DASH, ROY G BIF EEEVIL, A pegasus who saw it fit to make things 20% lamer! The gall!

"No, NOOO!!!" Lyron rushed at the projector, pushing it down so the tapes would come to a stop. He then ran over to Cherilee's hooves, pleading for her assistance. He cried through soaked eyes and clogged nostrils "Tell them the truth, tell them what he said isn't true. You knew them Cherilee, tell them that they weren't evil!"

"Lyron, I-I..." Cherilee's response was cut off by the classroom when they heard that Cherilee knew the evil ponies in the video.

"Wait, she knew those ponies?"

"I thought Cherilee was a good pony!"

"Oh shit..." Cherilee put her hoof up to her mouth, ashamed of her language before focusing on Lyron. She pulled up the groveling mess at her hooves and whispered in his ear "I'm sorry, Lyron, but nopony believes that anymore..." Cherilee paused for a bit, trying to gain the willpower for what she had to do to save her job "...and I'm sorry for this." Cherilee then leaned back and pushed Lyron against the door with tears in her eyes. "Get out, you filthy animal! Get out and never come back!"

Lyron looked at Cherilee in utter shock. He grabbed his saddlebags and ran out the door, away from the prying eyes and laughing mouths of the ponies inside. He didn't care where he went. He just didn't want to be at the school. It was still raining heavily outside when he left, so Lyron was now soaked, crying, and cold running in the rain. His mom would kill him before pneumonia would if she found him like this. He tried to run past an alleyway when suddenly, a metal bat came swinging at his legs. Lyron tripped with a thud, breaking his nose in the process.

"Oh, looky what we 'ave 'er boys, a pegasus." Said the pony with the bat.

"I think he may be lost. Would be a shame if that became a permanent predicament" said a second pony, revealing himself from behind a pile of trash.

A third pony, without saying a word, picked up Lyron and threw him up against a wall, knocking the air out of him.

The first pony, the one with the bat, told the one who had just thrown me to "Go start the fire. This will be a lot easier than I thought.", while a smile formed on his face. Despite the rainy conditions, the group got the pre-prepared fire going. My heart sank when I saw it. I was picked up by the second pony and I felt the warmth of the fire rush over me. I struggled to get free but that only made my saddlebags fall into the pit. And at the very end, when the blood dripping down my face mixed with the tears and rainfall, the fire burning my haunches while the ringleader chanted, I fell unconscious."

The two fillies stared at their father in horror.

"Okay, maybe that was a bit to graphic." Lyron pleaded, before looking over at Iato and audibly choking a bit. She was giving him a stare that just YELLED 'Your sleeping on the couch tonight if you don't fix this'.

Thinking on his hooves, Lyron continued his story, this time from the perspective of his mother:

My mother had been out with one of her friends when she heard a pony start chanting about sacrificing the 'Evil Winged Pony'...

"Alright, look Rose Thorns, you need to stop breaking into my house to take my booze! That stuff is for the Summer and Winter festivals, not for one pony who has had more coltfriends than ponies in the town!" Heavenly Ichor scolded her longtime friend.

"But the funny juice is sooooo good," Rose chuckled a bit ", and Silly Putty has broken up with me for the 3rd time this weeeeek..." Rose mumbled, stumbling a bit when she finished.

"Okay, I appreciate the compliment on my craftsmanship, but you cant keep-"

"OH GREAT AND POWERFUL LORD SMOOZE, TAKE THIS WRETCHED BEAST, THIS EVIL WINGED PONY, SO THAT YOUR FAVOR WILL BEFALL THIS TOWN" A stallion yelled in a rough Trottingham accent, interrupting Ichor's annoyed tirade.

She jumped into action when she realized just who the voice was talking about. She yelled in the loudest voice she could muster:

"MY LIT-TLE PO-NY!!!!"

And so my mom, standing on her rear hooves confronted the bandits. The ringleader, knowing who it was, tried to convince my mom it was all just a BIG misunderstanding, and that they would leave no questions asked. But my mom wouldn't have it. She called out in a bone chilling voice "Baka. Omae wa mō shinde iru, Anata wa sudeni anata no unmei o fūin shimashita." |"Fool. You are already dead, you have already sealed your fate"|

Lyron glanced at Iato, who just rolled her eyes and smiled. "Funny". Looks like him paying attention while she tried to teach him her language was finally paying off.

The girls were less horrified and more captivated now that Lyron had put a less serious but also less accurate spin on the story. He continued:

So the pony who was holding me kicked his little ritual up a gear "OhgreatandpowerfulLordSmooze,pleaseaccepthisgiftfromourhumble-OH SMOOZE" *WHACK*! Before the skinny earth pony could complete his sentence, my mother drop kicked him SO hard, I flew 20 feet away from the fire, the air blast alone knocking the other two ponies clean out.

Heavenly Ichor limped over to her unconscious colt laying on the ground in front of the fire. The fucker with the bat probably broken her leg, but keeping her little foal safe was all she cared about. Exhausted, she picked up Lyron, wincing at the added weight. as the rain rushed down her body, she hobbled over towards Nurse Redhearts little cabin/clinic, but she was getting weaker and weaker with every step. Ponies lined the streets. Having heard the commotion, they came out to see what was going down, But when they saw who it was, they refused to help.

"Guess bein' a snarky bitch my whole life has finally caught up with me... hehe..." Ichor mused

Ichor clutched her chest, dropping Lyron. She tried to catch him before he got any more hurt, but her vision started blurring. She fell down beside Lyron, releasing her final, labored, breath.

Ichor had died.

"And my mother, having saved me from those brutes... went to the great big brewery in the sky..."

Iato was staring at Lyron again. Not out of anger, but out of sadness. She had heard the tale before, but not once did Lyron ever seem this distraught about it. She rushed to his side. "If you want to stop, I can get the girls to do the dishes while I make you some of Luster's tea. You'd like that, right?"

The girls sat dumbfounded for a bit. Why, after all that badassery, would their grandma just float into the sky? After misreading the situation, the first filly asked "Well why can't we just go and visit her?" The second filly followed up with "Yeah, we have wings, can't we just fly?".

Iato looked at the ever dynamic duo, "Girls, just go to your rooms, we'll talk about this later."

"Aww man, the story was just getting good!" Said the first, "Yeah, I wanna know how-" the second got the same death stare that she had given Lyron earlier, which was something nopony liked to be on the receiving end of. They quickly scurried of to their bedroom, not wanting to be grounded.

"C'mon, honey, lets get you to bed. I'll just leave all this stuff out to clean up in the morning" Iato spurred Lyron into action, helping him trot over to their room, laying him on the bed. "Alright, I'm going to go make that tea I mentioned earlier. You just wait here."

Iato had returned with a tray that had all the tea essentials: Tiny spoons, sugar, teapot with tea, and teacups. The tea was a special blend concocted by their late friend, Luster Dawn in her 20 years of isolation. It tasted slightly of carrots, beats, and dandelions, the only food she had.

Lyron and her had been sipping their tea for about 15 minutes when Iato asked him the question.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Lyron, with the grace and speed of a great sloth, turned to Iato and asked her an unrelated, but topical, question. "Iato, what would you do without me?"

The couple sat for a little while longer before Iato finally opened her mouth.

"I don't know. I guess I would just try to raise the girls to be the best they can be. Even if that means living without you, I am willing to endure that long and difficult path for our girls."

Lyron put down his teacup and took one of Iatos hooves into his. "You know I love you, right? It's like you know exactly what to say when I am upset."

"I guess it helps that I am the less emotional one of this relationship", Iato slyly smiled while she took another sip of tea.

"Less emotional?" Lyron started to jab Iato playfully, making her spit out her tea. "Last time I checked, you were the one who cried after watching 'The Batponie Diaries'!"

"Hey!" Iato feigned being emotionally hurt "Stefan didn't deserve to die in what's-her-name's arms!"

The two laughed for a bit, before cleaning up their mess and returning under the sheets, smiling at each other before closing their eyes and retiring to the night.

FIN