Dancing Mad

Minuette went over her mental checklist one last time. Sanitize cleaning equipment? Check. Replace used consumable supplies? Rubber gloves, mouthwash, floss, fluoride gel, complimentary toothbrushes, all accounted for. Personal and financial records locked up? Got it covered. Everything had been taken care of at The Extra Smile, and it was finally time to close down the dental practice for the day. Minuette exited the building and turned around to lock the door, but was met with an unexpected sight standing in the street out front.

"Lyra." Minuette couldn't think of what she could say to the unicorn standing in front of her. It had only been three days since the fire that had taken Bon Bon from her and she had barely spoken to anypony since. It was understandable, but it was a bit of a surprise to see her suddenly standing outside of a dental office after being shut away for three days. "Can I help you with anything?"

Lyra stared back at Minuette. Her eyes were hollow, emotionless, like she had given up on life and her body had just decided to continue without her. Lyra's whole face in general gave the dentist chills, which is saying something for somepony who spends most of the day with their hooves in other pony's mouths. Eventually, Lyra opened her mouth to speak.

"I hurt my tooth."

Minuette raised an eyebrow. This was not what she had expected from her first conversation with Lyra after the fire. Although her business had been closed up for the night, she didn't feel like she could send the grieving unicorn away after she had finally begun to open up a little. "How did you hurt your tooth?"

"Too much chocolate. Too many... bon bons."

Minuette's heart nearly broke when she heard those words. How could she possibly turn Lyra away after that? Surely she had time for just one more patient tonight. "Oh Lyra, I'm so sorry. I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through. Come on in, I'll get you fixed up. On the house."

"Thanks."

Minuette unlocked the door to the clinic and led Lyra to her examination room. Lyra dragged her hooves over to the reclining chair bolted to the center of the room and laid back with her mouth hanging open. Minuette took a moment to put on her gloves and face mask before turning to her patient.

"Which side does it hurt on?"

"Left."

After a minute or two of rooting around in the back of Lyra's mouth, Minuette was starting to get a little confused. If Lyra was telling the truth about her toothache, then something was seriously wrong here.

"Lyra, I can't find anything wrong with your teeth. Are you sure it was a tooth that was hurting?"

Lyra didn't respond. She merely remained motionless on the dentist's chair, staring off into space. Minuette was starting to get the chills again, this was seriously getting creepy.

"Lyra, please say something."

When Minuette tried to set her tools on the table behind her, she realized that the chills she had felt weren't just being caused by her awkward situation. The entire room looked like it had been dusted with a thin layer of frost. More worrying however, was the fact that her hind hooves were securely frozen to the floor, severely restricting her movement.

"Lyra, what's going on? Talk to me, Lyra. Please!"

Minuette tried to free herself with her magic, but the ice was strangely resistant to her attempts to break it. She could feel it spreading up her legs, slowly freezing her entire body from the bottom up. Meanwhile, Lyra remained completely relaxed in her reclined position, watching the dentist panic.

"Lyra! What's happening? Are you doing this? This isn't funny, Lyra! Help me, please!"

By now, Minuette stood frozen up to her neck. She had been locked into a standing position, still leaning over the chair where Lyra sat, forced to stare into her soulless eyes. Even as her head began to crystallize and her vision started to fade away, the only thing she could see was Lyra's unfeeling gaze.

"Lyra... please..."

"Help me."

Pinkie Pie sighed to herself as she stood behind the counter at Sugarcube Corner. Business had been slow recently, which was to be expected. Pinkie herself didn't particularly feel like eating anything sweet, either, though she had managed to force down twenty or thirty cupcakes for breakfast. She just wasn't hungry lately. There was one stallion sitting at a table in the far corner of the room sipping on a milkshake with a bored expression on his face. He was wearing a colorful patchwork cloak and only three mismatched boots. He had introduced himself as Lyra's uncle, visiting from Canterlot. Pinkie had tried to welcome him to town with her usual gusto, but they had met the day after the fire and her heart just wasn't in it at the time.

"Hey, Mr. Kefka?"

Kefka looked up from his drink and glanced over at the pink nuisance that had broken his concentration. "That's Lord Kefka to you."

"Hey, Mr. Lord Kefka? How is Lyra doing? After, you know, the uh... thing."

Kefka groaned. This right here was the problem with small towns. Everyone always sticks their noses where they don't belong. "She'll live, and I'd advise you to mind your own business."

"Sheesh, somepony's being a grumpy pants. You'd think a family member would be a little more supportive."

"Uh huh." Kefka returned his attentions to the sugary beverage in front of him. Being stuck as a horse was beginning to lose what little charm it had to begin with, and Kefka's patience was running thin.

It has been three days now. Three days! Getting my magic back under control is taking so long. Too long. We've collected magicite from, let's see here... one, two, three, four, five of these horses now, and I STILL can barely light a candle without getting nauseous. At least that's a little bit of an improvement, I suppose. Sweet mother of marmalade that is a good milkshake!

Kefka's thoughts were interrupted once again when the bell above the bakery's door began to jingle. He turned his head to the door but was immediately disappointed to find that the new arrival was not who he had been expecting. Pinkie, on the other hand, had the opposite reaction.

"Hi Rarity!"

"Good morning, Pinkie." Kefka watched the elegant unicorn approach the counter with a level of grace and dignity that the rest of the town seemed to lack. He remembered her as the one that had fainted the other day when they met, intimidated by his superb sense of fashion. "I'm just stopping by to pick up something for lunch for Sweetie and I. So, how are things?"

"Well, business is kinda slow today. The whole town just seems so sad lately, and I don't know how to cheer everypony up, and that makes me even more sad." Pinkie's ears were pinned to the side of her head. Kefka couldn't understand what her problem was. So a few ponies had disappeared recently. Surely there were plenty around here?

Rarity pointed at a few of the baked goods behind the counter before she picked up the conversation. "Oh, I know what you mean, darling. I've noticed everypony is on edge lately, no surprise really. Lemon Hearts usually has a delivery of fresh lemons for me on Tuesdays, but she never showed up, and Cherry Berry's vegetable stand was missing at the market this morning. I thought she might be taking a day off, but Shoeshine was asking if anypony had seen her around town. What do you think is happening to everypony?"

Pinkie bagged up Rarity's selections while she was talking. What was happening around town? Surely, they weren't just hiding. That wouldn't make any sense. Still, Pinkie tried to be careful about jumping to conclusions after the whole incident with her surprise birthday party. She poked her head back over the counter when she heard the door bell jingle again, and for once in her life she had mixed emotions about seeing a pony enter the shop.

"Hey there, Lyra. Can I... help you with anything?"

Lyra didn't say anything. She scanned the room, almost mechanically, until her focus stopped in the corner of the room where her "uncle" sat. Without so much as a nod to the other ponies in the room, she walked towards Kefka and deposited two glowing stones on the table, one a light blue, and the other a dim white. Kefka scowled at her and quickly swept the stones out of sight under his cloak.

"Show them off to the whole world why don't you?" Kefka quickly realized his mistake as Lyra started to reach for his cloak to uncover the magicite hidden underneath. "Wait, wait! Ignore that order. Do not show them off to the whole world, you imbecile."

Pinkie and Rarity gave each other confused looks as they watched the odd exchange. Rarity picked up the bag that Pinkie was holding and steeled herself before attempting to approach the two. It took almost all of her willpower not to tear off that horrid excuse for a cloak and stomp it into the dirt. She needed to remain civil however, for Lyra's sake. Somepony had to be there for her in these hard times, and obviously her uncle wasn't much for sentimentality.

"Lyra, I just wanted to say, I'm so very sorry about what happened. I wish I could have said something early, but things have been so hectic lately around town, and we never seemed to cross paths. If you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to ask. Lyra? Hello?"

Rarity had approached Lyra with the intent to offer her condolences and her services, but the unicorn in question hadn't bothered to listen. Lyra remained standing stock still at Kefka's side, simply staring at the wall in front of her. Rarity walked around her so she could see her face. She almost lost her composure when she saw Lyra's eyes. They looked hollow, like her body was merely a husk with no soul left inside. Before she could try to comfort the unfeeling unicorn further, a dark grey pegasus stallion with a skyblue mohawk burst through the front door.

"Has anypony seen Blossomforth around? I can't find her anywhere!"

Rarity turned from one troubled pony to another. "Thunderlane, please calm down. I'm sure she's fine. Did you try her house?"

Thunderlane's face turned a deep shade of red. "Oh, uh. Maybe I should go check there."

Rarity resisted the urge to plant her hoof in her face. "Yes, why don't you try that?"

As Thunderlane flew off in search of yet another missing pony, Pinkie stepped out from behind the counter to stand with the group in the corner of the room.

"You see? Now Blossomforth's missing too! I didn't know that! And what about Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and Big Macintosh? I haven't seen them in days!"

"Dear, Fluttershy and Big Macintosh are in Appleloosa on 'important business'. We saw them off at the train station last week." Rarity smirked as she remembered her friend's flimsy excuse. What kind of important business could Fluttershy have with Applejack's brother in Appleloosa that would require the two to be gone for an entire week, alone? Fluttershy may have tricked the rest of her friends, but Rarity was no fool. "As for Rainbow Dash, I'm sure she's off practicing for the Wonderbolts again. You know she tends to disappear without warning from time to time."

"That's right, I forgot about that. Oh no! Now I can't keep track of who's not here and is supposed to not be here, and who's not here, and isn't supposed to not be here, not to mention who's not here and isn't supposed to not be here, but actually is supposed to not be here because they're busy being not here somewhere else!" At the end of her rant, Pinkie stopped all motion, her mind completely burnt out.

Kefka and Rarity both stared at the pink pile of frazzled nerves with similar looks of absolute buffudlement. Even Lyra managed to let slip a tiny hint of emotion as her expression shifted from "dead to the world" to simply confused. Kefka was the first to recover.

"That was interesting. While Lyra and I have... enjoyed this little conversation, I think we have someplace else we need to be. Right now. Come on, Lyra, let's go." Before the pair could leave, however, Pinkie burst back to life with little to no warning.

"I'VE GOT IT!"

Rarity attempted to shake the ringing out of her ears before she could react to her friend's sudden outburst. "Got what?"

"I'll throw a party for all of Ponyville!"

"What." Kefka and Rarity both responded in tandem.

"It's the perfect plan. I'll invite everypony in town, and when they all show up, we'll be able to see who's missing!"

"You want to do a roll call for the entire town?" Rarity inquired. "While that is actually a pretty sound plan, for you, I don't think everypony is going to be up for a party right now. The timing doesn't seem particularly appropriate, considering the circumstances."

Pinkie wilted under the force of Rarity's logic and reason. A party, not appropriate? The concept was foreign, but Pinkie trusted Rarity's judgement.

"Actually, I think a party sounds like an excellent idea."

Pinkie and Rarity both snapped their attention to the unlikely source of the comment. Kefka stood before them with a huge grin on his face, the first that either of them had seen on the clownish noble since they had met him. Even for Pinkie, it was a little creepy.

"Forgive me Mr. Kefka, but I don't see how a party is going to help right now," Rarity stated with a hint of irritation at his opposing suggestion.

Kefka brushed off her surly attitude as he called upon his acting skills yet again. "First of all, it's Lord Kefka. Second, I think a social gathering is just what this town needs right now. Everyone is on edge, as you've said. They are hiding away in their homes, and it's only making the atmosphere around here worse. Why, just look at my dear niece over here! Lyra's barely spoken to anybody since the accident. How is she supposed to recover without the support of her friends? Surely you wouldn't want her to wile away her time alone in this time of mourning?" Kefka directed a huge plastic smile in Rarity's direction, daring her to come up with another excuse.

Between Kefka's mocking grin and Pinkie's legitimately hopeful smile, Rarity could find no suitable counter-argument. "Fine, I suppose a party couldn't hurt. Just please try not to get carried away, Pinkie. This isn't exactly a time for celebration." As Pinkie disappeared into the kitchen to begin planning, Rarity returned her attention to Kefka. "I'm not going to pretend to know what you're up to. I just hope that you know what you're doing."

Kefka ignored Rarity's biting remarks and kept up his enthusiastic charade. "I'm sure everything will turn out splendid, don't you worry. Just make sure everyone is there. They won't be disappointed."

"This is perfect! I couldn't have planned it better if I tried!"

Kefka sat at the table in Lyra's kitchen, examining the various resources at his disposal and getting a head start on gloating about his victory. On the table lay a vial filled with a clear liquid, a blank sheet of parchment, and a multicolored assortment of magicite, seven in all including the two that Lyra had gathered that day. Kefka had taught Lyra the method of extracting magicite from living creatures so that she could work on her own to avoid suspicion. As much as he hated to admit it, Kefka drew a little too much attention, a side effect of his striking good looks. It was a much smaller risk to allow the far less appealing Lyra to fly solo, though it left Kefka with nothing to do but think about how much he hated hooves all day.

"I can feel it, Lyra! This is going to work and I'll finally have my magic back." Kefka cackled with glee. "We've been thinking too small. We can't spread proper chaos from the shadows, no no no. We need something bigger, and I've got the perfect plan. Lyra, get me something to write with."

Lyra scanned the room for any form of writing utensil, and eventually located a single quill. She levitated the object to herself and offered it to her master.

"What, no ink? You worm, you're useless! No matter." Kefka grabbed the quill between his teeth and, with a powerful swing of his head, stabbed the pointed tip directly into Lyra's shoulder. The quill slid out of the wound, coated in a thin layer of blood. He turned back to the parchment and began the laborious process of trying to write with his mouth. Had there been any other choice, Kefka never would have subjected himself to something so degrading as holding something with his mouth, but he had learned the hard way that Lyra's slave crown had messed with her sense of precision, making her penmanship about as legible as if she had simply thrown the quill at a wall and hoped for the best. This left the unseemly task to Kefka, which he performed with much grumbling. He eventually finished his list and set the quill aside.

"This is going to solve all of my problems, Lyra. This plan will take care of everything. Everyone in town is going to attend that party, to lend their support to a friend in need." Kefka gagged a little at the sentiment. He continued with a mocking tone to his voice. "Oh Lyra, we're so sorry. This must be so hard for you. Please accept our sympathy. And then, her dear Uncle Kefka will propose a toast, thanking everyone for their support in these turbulent times." Kefka snickered as he picked up the vial on the table between his two fore hooves. He gazed into the clear liquid with a wicked gleam in his eye. "And then, they'll all drink." Kefka raised the vial up in the air in a mocking gesture.

"A toast, to your good health."