Sunset’s eyes opened as she winced with pain. A headache barging to the forefront of her mind before she had a moment to comprehend her circumstances. “What happened?” She asked, as her vision cleared.

Lyra stood before her, in the warehouse once again. To Sunset, it appeared to be the stereotypical horror movie sight. Lyra stood at a table, which Sunset expected to be covered with torture devices. However, when she looked down, she only saw that old, crusty bell. “You’re very resilient, I imagine that your magic is only activated by your consciousness.”

Sunset narrowed her eyes, that string of words making absolutely no sense to her. “What do you mean?”

Lyra laughed a bit, it was uncomfortable, the laugh was not evil, more genuine. As if Sunset had just told a hilarious joke. “I was trying to tell you yesterday. You and I are quite similar.” The pause was ominous. “Anomalies, I would say.”

Sunset finally began to regain a bit of her conscious mind. Wiggling her arms she came to understand that she was strained to a chair. “What do you mean?”

“Have you ever tried looking for the human Sunset Shimmer? By all accounts, she should have gone to Canterlot High, or at least a school near-by.”

Sunset shook her head, still groggy and pain-stricken. “It hadn’t come up.”

“Well I have.” Lyra insisted. “Only to find absolutely no record of her, the way you could’ve pulled an identity out of nowhere… it should baffle me.” Her voice trailed off. “There is no Lyra Heartstrings in Equestria.”

Sunset tried to comprehend what she was saying. “Of course there is, and I’m sure somewhere out there-“

“There isn’t.” Lyra interrupted. “There was once a filly who looked quite similar to me, but she was not Lyra. I am the only one, I have traversed both this world and the next. Back and forth, to study the magic… and until you came here, I didn’t know it was possible to bring magic home.”

Sunset grumbled. “So let me get this straight. You were born human, and you went into the pony world… and became a pony… and have been living a double life?”

Lyra snapped her fingers “exactly!”

Sunset raised one eyebrow, skeptically. “Lyra… I don’t know what you’re going on about… but I think you’d ought to let me go.”

Lyra scoffed. “You don’t believe me.” She rolled her eyes picking up the old bell off the table. “Well, I have this.” Exhibiting the item to her captive.

Sunset finally opened her eyes wide enough to look at the bell, but no matter how hard she thought, that bell meant nothing to her. “Congratulations?”

Lyra slammed the bell down on the table. “I thought you went to Celestia’s school! Should you not be able to recognize Grogar’s bell when it is presented to you?”

A wave of realization washed over Sunset. “Grogar?” She chuckled as it seemed so absurd. “I had always just believed him to be a fable… Celestia was always talking about such ridiculous nonsense…”

Lyra was growing agitated and aggressive. “It is not nonsense!” She shouted. “I have used this bell to rip the magic from enough ponies to fill this restaurant with animatronics and I’d do it for a whole chain if I could.”

Sunset wriggled in her seat. “Ponies die without their magic!” She shouted. “In just a few days, without any magic…” she looked forlorn “Lyra please tell me this isn’t true.”

Lyra’s face fell, “no they don’t… they don’t.” She put the bell down again. “When I took their magic, they were fine, weakened, but fine.”

Sunset stared in horror. “You’re ripping their souls from their bodies…”

Lyra was silent for a moment. It seemed, she hadn’t realized the severity of her actions… “my friends…”

Sunset pulled at her restraints. “It’s not too late to fix this, Lyra. The animatronics don’t need souls to power them…”

“You don’t understand.” She grumbled. “It’s the magic that sets them apart. It’s the only way to make this place successful…” she sighed. “With the power of the magic… rather the souls, these animatronics will be able to do things other places’s couldn’t even dream of.”

“There has to be another way…” Sunset replied. “There has to.”

Author's Note

Next Chapter (8): BAD ENDING
Chapter 9: GOOD ENDING
Chapter 10: NEUTRAL ENDING
Chapter 11: WORST ENDING