“Mr. and Mrs. Heartstrings, thank you for coming on such short notice.” Celestia looked down from her throne at the two with contempt.

“Of course p-princess whatever can we help you with?” Mrs. Heartstrings stuttered as both her and her husband shivered before the solar monarch.

“Do you know where your daughter is or that she is missing?” Celestia asked, struggling to not let her regal mask crack as the temperature in the throne room slowly rose.

“We, she should be with her friends princess,” Mr. Heartstrings replied, eyes darting back and forth.

Celestia narrowed her eyes as Mrs. Heartstrings nodded while continuing, “that’s right she’s with her pen pal, I think.”

Celestia pulled out a report from Sweetie Drops on the sale of their daughter and other abuse they had put the filly through, “so the two of you did not sell her for fifteen thousand bits after neglecting her for months?”

“Of course not princess! We would never…”

“SILENCE!” She used the Royal Canterlot Voice to shake the room and even the guards took a few steps back from how hot the gust of wind was. Celestia took slow, methodical steps down towards the two while speaking, “You two abused then SOLD your own daughter to an unknown buyer and we have the bank statement to prove it. Honestly I had my doubts."

She shook her head like a disappointed mother then looked them in the eye, "I may have even believed that no parents could be so cruel," She leaned in closer. "Sadly one of my best agents reported everything personally. So, why don’t you tell me again what happened.” She snorted in their faces.

Suddenly Ms. Heartstrings yelled after falling on her haunches, “That… Abomination, is not my daughter!” Silence filled the room.

“Explain.” That one cold word from the princess unleashed years of emotions from the pair.

“Ever since your guards brought back that, that monster in our daughters skin instead of our real daughter, nothing in our lives has gone right. She is constantly talking about imaginary creatures or making up words and didn’t even know who we were or that she is supposed to be a unicorn.” The mare huffed as her husband continued.

“We tried raising her as best we could princess but she is just so, strange. It was all we could think about and it started causing issues for us at our jobs which led to fighting and…” he didn’t get to finish.

“So you abused a filly and SOLD her, instead of seeking my help?” Celestia’s ethereal mane was no longer flowing calmly but billowing in an ethereal maelstrom as her eyes momentarily slit. “Guards throw these two in the dungeons, I have heard enough.” She waved her forehoof at them and proceeded back to her throne.

A group of guards surrounded the pair as they pleaded for mercy or made excuses before being dragged away. After the doors shut and she was alone with her guards and Raven, Celestia took a few deep breaths to calm down.

“Princess?” Raven tentatively asked.

“Yes Raven?” Celestia was still calming herself.

“Why, how could any pony believe their daughter is a monster and treat them like that?” Her voice cracked.

Celestia took a deep breath and looked out one of the stained glass windows, “I don't know Raven. From what I remember, Lyra went missing a few years ago in the Everfree while her family was visiting Ponyville. The guards eventually found her physically unharmed yet she was drenched and talking as if she knew nothing about being a pony. They first thought she may have been replaced or something, yet every scan showed she was one hundred percent Lyra Heartstrings down to her magical signature and soul.” Celestia looked down forlornly. “Her parents must have never gotten over the changes in their daughter's behavior and it led to today.”

“Even with the scans did you ever doubt what Lyra was princess?” Raven adjusted her glasses.

“Oh yes. When I got the reports I had a junior S.M.I.L.E. agent befriend her to keep in regular contact and monitor her behavior. Then I gave her a scholarship to my school for easy enrolment to keep her close. That filly may be a bit strange but nothing else.” Celestia shook her head.

Lyra awoke upon an uncomfortable bare mattress then stretched. She had no idea how long she had been asleep but guessed it had been a while since she was sore yet no longer critically injured.

"Hello, is anyone there? Dawn? Bon Bon?" She remembered Dawn had been fighting alongside herself and Bon Bon against an older mare, then a dark train ride, but not much else. Looking around the sparse room there was nothing aside from the mattress and a small cup with liquid.

"My head is killing me," She quietly said to herself before trying to light her horn and failing to grab the cup. Looking up she spotted a Null ring on her horn but not like the one used by doctors.

She took a few steps forward, grabbed the cup between her hooves, sniffed it, then drank the cool water down in one go. "I guess they really sold me." Lyra looked down at her empty cup, holding it tightly as she tried to hold back her tears.

"I know I wasn't their Lyra and they weren't my parents but why couldn't they just love me like I tried to love them." She tried to throw the cup but it stuck to her hoof when she swung her foreleg. She always had trouble with her grip when her emotions ran high, "Stupid hooves, why cant you be hands again instead."

She folded in on herself and buried her head into her forelegs on the hardwood floor, cup still stuck to her hoof. A sudden noise from a section of wall made here ears perk up before a flap opened at the bottom of the door she hadn't seen in the dim light. Soon after a small tray of food was slid inside along with more water and a Mare's voice rang out.

"Please knock on door when you are finished and pass everything through, If you need the bathroom you will also have to knock," the voice said with a hint of sadness.

Lyra nodded before she realized, "Okay." She grabbed the food and greedy ate before knocking to pass everything back except for a feather. "Thank you."

"You are welcome sweetie knock if you need anything else." The pegasus walked off with a heartbroken sigh.

I was being led back into the basement of the house by all four of my grandparents after dinner that night. According to my best guess I had been gone for about a week now. Mom and Dam are probably worried sick.

"Come along Dawn," Gilded Sunrise said when we reached the bottom.

"We have something we want to show you." Gilded Moonrise finished her twin's thought.

"Can it wait? You still haven't let me see Lyra." I asked with puppydog eyes.

Onyx Star sucked in some air between his teeth, "No can do. After you learn what you need to we can let you see her but not sooner, okay?"

"Alright," I pouted. So they are using her as a hostage but why?

"Now Sweetie, it's not all bad look?" Sunrise had led us into a storage room filled with golden statues of earth and peagsus ponies along with a few wooden ones. "Today we plan to teach you one of the spells unique to our family so watch close."

Watching is exactly what I did as the Gilded twins lit their horns and fired an intertwined magical beam at one of the wooden statues turning it into gold. Both were breathing heavily once the spell finished but smiling at me. After they caught their breath they spoke in unison. "See isn't that cool, no other unicorn spell can transmute living matter into gold. It currently takes the two of us but you should have enough magic to do it alone Dawn."

I was honestly impressed as I looked at the, now gold, statue and even got a bit giddy at the prospect of learning such a spell. At least until my brain caught up with everything that was said, Transmute living matter. I looked around at the statue filled room and noticed most of them were much higher quality than the wooden ones, there were also no unicorns. No, they didn't did they? I would have begun hyperventilating if not broken from the thought.

"Go ahead and try out the spell now sweetie," Sunrise passed me a scroll with the spell on it.

"Should I really be trying it now, I'm not sure If I can." I nervously tapped my forehooves together. Even I don't want to ever 'Midas' someone.

"Nonsense you are in CSGU and my grandson so get to it." Star said as Flare nudged me in front of one of the wooden statues. She then took off my horn ring and waited while all four watched. No way I could fight my way out like this.

Reading over the scroll, I found It wasn't the most difficult of spells. The power required and the biological component on the other hoof, meant only the highest level unicorns from our family bloodline would be able to cast it. An alicorn probably could brute force it. Once finished reading I looked back and all four nodded at me.

"Go on." Star encouraged but with a hint of impatience in his features.

Igniting my horn I let the spell flow through my horn and cast it towards the wooden statue. As soon as the Beam made contact the entire thing, not just the surface, turned into gold and left me panting from the exertion. I tried to take a step back but collapsed as Flare put the ring back on my horn.

"Good job sweetie, lets get you back upstairs." Sunrise magicked me onto her back while the other three inspected the statue with various looks. I passed out before we even made it to the stairs.

"Sweet Celestia it's solid," Gilded Moonrise said after she finished her scan and her sister and Grandson were upstairs.

"Is that even possible?" Onyx Star asked while rapping his hoof on the surface.

"Theoretically, yes. Granted my sister and I don't even have that much power. Together we can gild someone and alone we can only do sections." She looked towards her husband who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Perfect, with that kind of power the colt should easily restore then spread our legacy and supremacy." He smiled at the golden statue.

Celestia was just about to finish her paperwork after setting the sun when she felt a surge of magic similar to Rainbow Dash's rainboom but much weaker. "Distant but not outside of the country, I better investigate tomorrow." She muttered to herself as she looked towards the window.

Morning Dew immediately stopped crying and snuggling her wife in bed when she felt her son's magical signature brush her horn.

"Dewy, what's wrong?" Forest Breeze looked at her wife with concern as the mare stood up and began grinding her teeth.

"Those monsters, I should have know they took him to teach him that spell." She ran out of the bedroom then the farmhouse with Breeze yelling behind her and Pear Butter joining the chase soon after. All three now galloping or flying full tilt towards the train station.

Author's Note

For those who don't know the story of Midas.