Seven Years Ago

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Lyra's Story
John
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Lyra's Story

Lyra’s Story

Celestia’s sun shone brightly in the middle of an expanse of light-blue sky, casting a warm light upon the small town of Ponyville. Ponies of all sorts milled and wandered about the brightly colored buildings, buying wares from the vendors or chatting with their friends. Pegasi flew above the town, clearing the sky of any unwanted clouds that lingered in the area. There was a general atmosphere of cheeriness and contentment among its citizens, with the exception of one particular unicorn.

Heartstrings, more commonly called Lyra by her friends, lay curled up on her bed, crying into a pillow. She was an average-sized unicorn with an aqua coat and a silver colored mane. Adorned on her flank was the picture of a lyre, representing her talent with the instrument. Whenever she was upset or stressed, she would always play a tune upon it, taking comfort in the soothing melodies that it produced. Today, however, the lyre would have done nothing to ease her sadness. She had been humiliated and ridiculed by some of the only ponies that had understood her, and now she wanted nothing more than to be alone. Her sobbing was interrupted when Lyra heard a knocking on her bedroom door.

“Lyra, are you okay? Do you want to talk about what happened?”

Hearing the familiar voice of her roommate and friend, Bon-Bon, Lyra lifted her tear-stained face up from the pillow and sniffed.

“Go away, Bon-bon. I don’t want to see anypony right now,” Lyra said before lying back down and pulling a blanket over her face. “Just go away.”

Bon-Bon sighed and turned away from the door to her friend’s room and trotted down the hallway, her hooves echoing off the wooden floor as she walked. She had no idea what to do. Lyra was normally a tough pony and wasn’t easily upset by anything, and when something did upset her, she always bounced back within a few hours. Yet here was her best friend, crying like a small foal. Bon-Bon sighed a second time and sat down on the plush, burgundy couch in their house’s their main room. She had expected that Lyra would come home from that Human Research Society convention of hers as giddy as a schoolfilly, but she had instead walked into the house without a word and locked herself in her room.

Now Lyra’s gotten me depressed, Bon-Bon thought to herself before standing up from the couch. Stretching, she contemplated what to do to pass the time. Maybe I should go visit Roseluck. She always knows how to make a pony smile. She might have a way to cheer Lyra up. Stretching once more and popping her neck she walked out of her house and into the glorious sunshine of the afternoon.

***

Roseluck was a very pretty mare that ran the flower stand in the Ponyville market district. She was a bit shorter than most other ponies and had a red mane with a buttercup colored coat. Her cutiemark was a single rose, representing her talent of growing and caring for roses. She was, at the moment, setting up a display on her market stall that showed off her new breed of roses she called Rainbow’s Delight. The roses had been named after the various hues of color that adorned the petals, mixing together to form a beautiful rainbow on each flower. Roseluck had spent weeks working on cultivating the roses, adding different amounts of liquid rainbow into the soil until the flowers came out just right.

Within minutes of finishing her display ponies swarmed her stand, oohing and aahing at her gorgeous flowers. Business picked up soon after, with colts buying bouquets of the colorful roses for their mares. Even an orange pegasus filly bought some, leaving with half the flowers after seeing the name.

That Scootaloo sure does admire Rainbow Dash, Roseluck thought to herself. Then again, so do I, along with half the mares in Ponyville. She giggled a little, wondering how the pegasus would react to seeing the flowers and the name. Rainbow would probably say something about them being 20% cooler than her normal roses.

Roseluck was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a voice say “Roseluck, can I talk to you for a bit?”

Glancing up from her flowers Roseluck saw her friend Bon-Bon standing in front of her stall with a worried look on her face.

“Sure thing, Bon-Bon. What’s got you down?” Roseluck asked, putting her hooves under her chin.

“Well, it’s about Lyra.”

“Oh, are you two having relationship issues?”

A blush appeared on Bon-Bon’s face as she sputtered out “I’ve already told, Roseluck. We’re just friends.”

“Oh come now. I’ve seen you eye her flank plenty of times. You should just-’’

“ROSELUCK! We’re just friends. And even if we were dating, which we’re not, that would have nothing to do with this,” Bon-Bon said, stomping a hoof on the ground to emphasize her point.

The red-maned pony chuckled. “I was only teasing. Now what seems to be the problem? It doesn’t have anything to do with her research into humans, does it?”

“That might just be the problem, only I’ve never seen her like this. She got back from that Human Research convention in Canterlot and she’s been crying in her room ever sense. I’ve tried talking to her but she said that she wants to be left alone. I don’t know what to do.” Bon-Bon’s head drooped dejectedly and she pawed at the ground with a hoof.

“Oh my. That does sound bad. I’ll see if I can get her to tell us what wrong. I just need to pack up my stall,” said Roseluck, as she started to place her roses and gardening tools into the cart that doubled as a stand. With the help of Bon-Bon she finished packing in five minutes and the two mares began to trot down towards the shared house.

***

Lyra sat up on the bed and wiped her tears away with a hoof. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot and her throat hurt, but she felt a great deal better after getting everything out of her system. She hopped onto the floor and twisted her back and neck, groaning as her joints popped. Her stomach growled and she realized that she had missed lunch due to her crying fit. Lyra walked over to the door and opened it with her magic, wincing as the old hinges creaked.

“I’ll have to oil those later,” she mumbled to herself.

Entering the kitchen Lyra opened up several cabinets and surveyed the insides, frowning at their contents or, rather, their lack of contents. She managed to scrounge up two a loaf of bread, some daisies, lettuce, and a tomato. Picking up a knife with magic, she cut a few slices from the bread and tomato, and placed the daisies, tomato slices, and lettuce between two pieces of bread. She wasn’t that good of a cook, and sandwiches were about the only thing she could make. She had almost burned down the house once trying to heat up some soup. Bon-Bon had forbidden her from touching the stove ever again. Lyra chuckled slightly at the memory and trotted into the main room, her sandwich floating in her magical aura just ahead of her. Sitting down she began to eat her sandwich, taking a few small bites and letting her eyes wander around the room. The room contained one couch, two wooden chairs that were never used, a brick fireplace, two small bookshelves and a coffee table.

Lyra’s eyes paused and rested on the old book that sat on the coffee table. It was a copy of Curious Tales and Stories of Equestria, by Swiftwind Coltsfoot. The book contained various stories and tall tales from all around Equestria. Lyra had bought it because of the book purportedly had an account about a human sighting, though it wasn’t the most cheerful thing she had ever read. Levitating it over with her magic, Lyra opened the book to the account of the human and began to read.

In the Northern regions of Equestria, right near the very border were several small towns and villages. They were all quite isolated, but one was rarely ever heard of. It was called Frostin. One day, in the neighboring village of Coldstone, located on the opposite side of the Great Equestrian Rockies, the villagers awoke to find a young colt, barely grown and half-frozen at the edge of the village. He stared straight ahead of him, never saying anything or acknowledging the existence of any pony. What concerned the villagers the most was that whenever the colt slept he would always convulse and scream, fighting off some unimaginable terror. Finally, after a week, he spoke. He said that he was from Frostin and that his village had been attacked by a beast of some kind. It was twice as tall as any pony and walked upon two legs. The beast carried a great sword and had the use of magic. When the villagers approached the creature it laid the village to waste, killing every pony except for the young colt. It then left a chilling message for the colt.

I am humanity

The terror that once was

One day my people shall rise

And your world shall end.

The creature had then vanished in a flash of light. Coldstone sent several stallions to the village of Frostin and had found that the colt’s story was true; the village was no more and all the ponies were dead. To this day there have been no more sightings of humans in the North of Equestria, but the fear still lingers there, where ponies tell stories of the vile humans that destroy and kill without care or compassion.

Lyra let the book fall back onto the table from her magical grasp and stretched out on the couch, pondering on the story. Humans aren’t like that. No, they can’t be like that. After all, a human once-

Lyra’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard the door open and two hushed voices, one that she recognized as Bon-Bon and the other as Roseluck, speaking to each other. Sitting up, she waited until they turned the corner of the hallway into the main room.

“So, I’m assuming that you two are here to cheer me up, correct?” Lyra asked, lifting an eyebrow in a questioning look.

“Indeed we are. Bon-Bon here said that you were crying in your room and wouldn’t talk to her, so I came to see if I could help.” Roseluck said as she and Bon-Bon sat on the couch beside Lyra.

“Seriously, Lyra, we want to know what happened to make you that upset.” Bon-Bon said with a worried look.

“Well, I told the other ponies at the convention my story.”

“What story?” Roseluck asked, curiosity apparent in her voice.

“Lyra, I told you that it would be a bad idea.”

“I expected them to be skeptical, but not to throw it into my face and laugh at me. I should have known better.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Roseluck asked again, with a slight amount of irritation in her voice at being ignored.

Lyra looked at her friend at shook her head. “I won’t bother telling you. You’ll just laugh at me like every other pony.”

Roseluck grabbed her friends head between her hooves and lifter Lyra’s face in alignment with hers. “Now Lyra, I’m your friend. I promise I won’t laugh or ridicule you. Now I want to hear that story.”

“Alright, then. I’ll tell you about what happened seven years ago,” here Lyra paused for a moment and took a deep breath.

“I’ll tell you about the day a human saved my life.”

Author’s Note

So this is my first fanfic. I don’t know if I should continue or not, so any criticism will be welcomed. If I continue I can’t guarantee if I’ll update on a regular basis.

John

Shouts and giggles could be heard echoing throughout the playground of Ponyville’s one-room schoolhouse. Fillies and colts ran around on the soft grass, playing tag and other games, enjoying their half-hour break before they had to go back and listen to their teacher drone on and on about Equestrian history and literature and math.

Two small fillies sat beneath the shade of an oak tree, taking refuge from the hot summer sun and speaking to one-another. One of them, a cream-colored earth pony with a blue and pink mane and three bon-bons for a cutiemark, leaned over and whispered something into the ear of her friend, prompting a giggle.

“Don’t laugh, Heartstrings! I really like him,” Bon-Bon said, glaring at her friend.

The turquoise unicorn stifled another giggle and put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder.

“I don’t care who you like, Bon-Bon, I just didn’t expect you to like Temp. Ever since he got his cutiemark he’s been calling himself the Doctor and going on about nonsensical Time Lords. It’s really weird,” Heartstrings said as she glanced down to the playground below, where a brown earth pony with an hourglass for a cutiemark was drawing a picture of what looked like a trashcan with a whisk and a toilet plunger for arms with chalk, muttering to himself.

Heartstrings looked back at up at her friend and continued. “And if you do like him, just tell him. Make him some bon-bons or something. It’s your talent, after all.”

“He’s not weird! He’s just, uh, what’s the word? Eccentric! And besides, you’re one to talk. Every day after school you hide behind the trees at Sweet Apple Acres and ogle Applejack’s brother. What was his name? Oh yeah, Big Mac, the strong, silent colt that half the fillies in town have a crush on. So don’t tell me what I should do,” Bon-Bon retorted.

Heartstrings’ face turned from the normal aqua color to a deep crimson as a blush spread from the tips of her ears down to her chin. She averted her eyes and lowered her head, pawing at the ground with a hoof.

“I just think he’s kinda cute. He’s also really sweet. I once saw him playing with a bunch of bunnies in the Whitetail Woods,” she replied bashfully, keeping her eyes locked on the grass. “I’ve never really talked to him and he probably doesn’t even know my name, though.”

Bon-Bon sat back and grinned at her companion. “I’ll tell you what. If you tell Macintosh how you feel, I’ll tell Temp how I feel. Does that sound like a good idea?”

Heartstrings continued to stare at the ground, lost in thought. After about a minute she looked up at Bon-Bon with a small grin.

“Alright, but when are we going to do it? I can’t just go after school today and tell him, I need to figure out what to say. You can bake bon-bons for Temp, but I can’t really do anything special for Macintosh,” she said, glancing back at her flank, which was devoid of a cutiemark. “I want to do something that’ll really get his attention.”

“How about you buy him some chocolate from Sugarcube Corner? I saw him buying some dark chocolate from there once. My mom always told me that the way to a colt’s heart is through his stomach.”

Heartstrings’ grin turned into a full blown smile as she wrapped her forelegs around her friend’s neck, pulling her into a tight hug.

“Thanks, Bon-Bon. You’re the best friend anypony could ask for.”

Bon-Bon smiled and hugged her friend back. “Don’t mention it.”

Their heartfelt moment was interrupted when they heard the school bell ring, signaling the end of recess. The two friends stood and ran back to the schoolhouse, laughing and hoping their confessions would work out.

***

The sun had started to set as Heartstrings stood outside the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres, nervously shifting from hoof to hoof. She had attempted to make herself look as beautiful as possible, taking a bath with various bath-salts and combing her coat until it shone. She had even tied a pink bow into her mane and sprayed herself with a little light perfume. On her back she wore a pair of saddlebags which contained a heart-shaped box of dark chocolate. Heartstrings had spent all night making sure everything was just right, all in an attempt to woo her stallion.

Taking a deep breath, Heartstrings began to trot into the apple orchard, gazing at the different varieties of apples and mentally steeling herself for her confession. You’ve got this, Heartstrings. Just walk up there, say hello, give him the chocolates, and tell him how you feel. It isn’t that hard.

Her mind, however, was giving her different ideas. What if he already has a filly that he likes? What if he doesn’t like the chocolate or thinks I’m ugly? What if he’s allergic to my perfume and dies? What if his work on the farm takes up too much time and he can’t date me? Why would he like me when there are other fillies out there that like him? I’ve never even seen him with another mare besides Applejack and Granny Smith, and the only other pony I’ve seen him really talk to is that wimpy colt Caramel. Wait, he never talks to other mares and he spends most of his time with Caramel. Oh no.

A look of horror slowly worked its way across her face.

What if he’s GAY?

Heartstrings, lost in thought, didn’t notice the red stallion that walked up behind her. He cocked his head and watched as she stood in the middle of the path that ran through the farm, mumbling to herself. He trotted up to her and tapped her on the shoulder with a hoof.

“Excuse me, miss, but are ya lookin’ fer somepony?”

Heartstrings let out a loud “EEEP!” and shot straight into the air before turning around.

“M-M-Macintosh! What’re you doing here?” Heartstrings stammered out at the site of her dream stallion.

Big Mac just looked at her. “Ah live here.”

“Oh. Well of course you do!” the turquoise filly said, mentally berating herself. Stupid stupid stupid! Why did I have to go and say that! Stupid brain!

An awkward silence filled the air as the two ponies stood there, waiting for the other one to speak. Heartstrings stood stock still, averting her eyes from her crush and staring at the ground. Big Mac had the same neutral expression that he always wore on his face, making it impossible to read his thoughts.

Macintosh was the first one to break the silence. “Did ya need anything? Are ya a friend of Applejack’s?”

“Y-yeah, I’m a friend of Applejack’s, but I didn’t come to talk to her. I came to talk to you,” Heartstrings managed to choke out, nervousness and fear apparent in her voice.

“Me? Why would ya wanna talk ta me? I’ve never met ya before.”

“Oh, well, my name is Heartstrings and I, um, li-like…” Here Heartstrings’ voice trailed off into a barely audible mumble.

“Ah didn’t quite catch that, Miss Heartstrings. Could ya repeat it?”

Heartstrings took a deep breath to try and calm herself. Mustering up all the courage she could find in her tiny body, she looked Big Mac in the eye and poured her heart out.

“Macintosh Apple, I love you. I loved you since I first saw you selling apples out in the square after I moved here from Canterlot. I know you don’t know who I am but I think that you’re the kindest, sweetest colt in all of Equestria, and I was wondering if maybe, just maybe, you would give me a chance. I even brought you some chocolate from Sugarcube Corner,” Heartstrings said, levitating the box of sweets out of her saddlebags and waiting for a reply.

Macintosh lifted a hoof and scratched the back of his head and stared at the sky, deep in thought. The two ponies could feel the awkward tension that hung in the air. The red stallion finally turned his eyes to the unicorn filly in front of him and let out a sigh.

“Miss Heartstrings, Ah’m flattered that ya feel that way about me, but Ah can’t return yer feelings. Ah’m sorry.”

The box of chocolates fell from Heartstrings’ magical grip, kicking up a cloud of dust as it hit the ground. She felt a sharp pain in her chest, the pain of heartbreak. Her lower lip trembled and tears started to well up in her eyes. A sob escaped her lips as she managed to squeeze out just one word.

“Why?”

“Well ya see, miss, yer just-’’

Big Mac was cut off as Heartstrings began shouting. “Is it because I’m not pretty enough? Or is it because you don’t like the chocolate? If you tell me I’ll fix it, whatever it is! If you just give me a chance I’ll make you happy! I promise!”

The young filly collapsed onto the ground in a heap, crying into her hooves. Her entire body was shaking and her wails pierced the air of the scenic orchard. Macintosh knelt down beside her and placed a foreleg over her shoulders.

“Come now, Heartstrings, don’t cry. Ah think that yer nice and all, it’s just that yer a bit too young fer romance. Now in a few years you’ll be a nice young mare and a catch fer any stallion, but yer just too young right now,” Macintosh said, trying to comfort her.

Heartstrings stopped her crying and lifted her head up and looked into the emerald eyes of her dream stallion, those beautiful, beautiful green eyes. She could see kindness in them, but also pity. The object of her affection pitied her. A new wave of tears began to form to from in her eyes and her sobbing began anew.

“I’m not too young. I’m only three years younger than you. Please just give me a chance. Just one date. Please,” the turquoise filly said. She was begging at this point. All she wanted was a chance and that was being thrown in her face.

“Ah’m very sorry, Heartstrings, but Ah stand by what Ah said. Ya don’t even have a cutiemark yet. It would be best if ya just forgot about me,” the stallion spoke, gently and in a soothing voice.

“So the only reason you think I’m too young is because I don’t have my cutiemark?” Heartstrings asked, a small amount of anger present in her voice.

“It doesn’t matter if ya have yer cutiemark or not, ya should just wait a few years afore ya-’’

Macintosh was cut off when Heartstrings shoved a hoof into his mouth, stopping him from speaking. She rose off the ground, giving the stallion a glare that would have turned a cockatrice to stone.

“You think that just because I don’t have a cutiemark means that I’m some sort of baby, don’t you? Well I’m not going to put up with that horse manure! I’ve been teased about being a blank-flank before, but I never expected it from you, Macintosh! Well you know what? I don’t care! Go buck yourself, you inconsiderate, mean-spirited, bull-headed prick!” With this statement Heartstrings picked up the chocolates with her magic and crammed the entire mass of sugary goodness and cardboard into the stallion’s mouth before turning around and fleeing.

***

Heartstrings ran and ran. She didn’t pay any attention where she was running; she only knew that she wanted to be alone. Her hooves made clopping noises as they hit the dirt road beneath her, leaving a dust trail in her wake. The dirt road soon gave way to grass, but she kept running. She paid no attention to what was in front of her; her face was pointed to the ground and her vision was blurred by tears. Heartstring felt the heat of the evening sun leave her back as it slipped behind the horizon, yet she didn’t care. She didn’t care that it was getting dark or that her parents were probably worrying about her, the heartbroken filly just wanted to get as far away from everypony as possible and wallow in her sadness. Eventually her legs gave out and she fell onto the ground, out of breath and out of tears.

Panting hard, the filly took a look at her surroundings and realized she had no clue where she was. Giant, twisted trees taller than any building in Ponyville surrounded her like terrifying sentinels, cutting off any light that may have come from the newly risen moon. The canopy was thick and cast frightening shadows across the forest floor. Heartstrings knew of only one place like this, a place that her parents and friends had always told her to never venture into, the Everfree Forest.

Heartstrings began to panic and quickly turned her head around, trying to find the way she had come. She slowly stood up, her legs shaking with fear. Her mind was racing and it felt like her heart was going to beat its way out of her chest. Her eyes darted through the gaps between the trees, looking for any beasts or ghouls that might be lurking behind a tree, waiting to make a tender, delicious filly their lunch.

After about a minute of waiting and no monsters appeared to feast upon her, Heartstrings started to walk in the direction she thought she had come from. Her legs and hooves ached from all the running she had done, and she silently cursed herself for being so stupid as to wander into the Everfree. She hoped that she would find her way back soon; she didn’t want to spend a night in the forest of nightmares. Heartstrings shuddered at the thought of it. A place where animals and plants take care of themselves and the clouds move on their own just wasn’t natural.

After about fifteen minutes of walking and getting nowhere Heartstrings was losing hope. She couldn’t see the edge of the forest and she kept blindly stumbling over roots due to the lack of light coming through the canopy. Part of her wanted to stop and hope she would be found, but part of her wanted to keep going and try to find a way out of the forest as soon as possible. Tripping over a root and falling on her face, Heartstrings went with the first idea. Sitting down on her plot and huddling under a tree, she closed her eyes and waited, but soon drifted off to sleep, mentally and physically exhausted.

A sharp pain in her side from something kicking her made Heartstrings yelp and sit up, quickly backing into the tree and turning to face whatever beast had just attacked her. Instead of a monster she came face to face with a large, black unicorn stallion, looking at her with curious eyes. A smile slowly crept up his face, showing a mass of yellow and rotting teeth.

“Hey, little thing. What’re you doing out in the Everfree during the night? Did you get lost?”

The stallion may have looked a bit scary but it was better than being eaten by a manticore. Heartstrings jumped forward and wrapped her forelegs around the stallion’s neck, burying her face in his mane. “Yes,” she replied. “Please help me.”

The mystery stallion chuckled. “I’ll take you back to camp with my friends and help you get out of here. My name’s Shades. What’s yours?”

“Heartstrings,” the filly said, as Shades levitated her onto his back with magic.

“Heartstrings, eh? Pretty name for a pretty filly,” her new friend replied, making Heartstrings blush a little bit.

They didn’t say anything more as the stallion continued to walk, his horn lighting the way. Around ten minutes passed before Heartstrings heard voices and saw lights through the trees. Shades lifted her off of his back and lead her to a small clearing where she could see three other ponies sitting around a campfire. One was a pegasus with a brown coat and red mane with and a cutiemark of a spear. The other two were twin earth ponies, each one having a blue coat and yellow mane. One had a cutiemark of two swords and the other one had a knife in front of a black circle. Heartstrings glanced at Shades’ flank and saw he had a cutiemark of a noose.

“Hey gents! Look what I found here!” Shades shouted to his companions, who looked up from the fire and smiled when they saw the filly, each one showing rows of teeth that looked like Shades.

The pegasus flew over to them and hovered just above Heartstrings, staring down at her with greedy looking eyes. “Can I have first go at her, Shades? It’s been a while since I’ve had any, and she doesn’t even have a cutiemark yet. She’s just my type.”

“You’ll get a turn once I’m done, Spearhead. Finders keepers.”

Heartstrings was confused and a little scared. Have a go? What does that mean? And why were all the stallions leering at her?

“Mr. Shades, what’s going on? I thought you said you were going to help me get out of here?” Heartstrings asked.

Shades just let out a maniacal laugh, and soon all the other stallions joined in. He lifted her up with his magic and laughed again, straight in her face. “Didn’t your mom ever tell you to not go with strangers, little miss? ‘Cause if not she did a terrible job of raising you.”

The black unicorn lifted his hoof and started to gently rub her flank, still cackling. “Don’t you worry any. We’re just gonna have a little fun, aren’t we, boys?”

Heartstrings began to thrash around in the field of the unicorn’s magic, trying to get escape. “Stop touching me and let me down! My mom told me to not let anypony touch my flank! Get away you weirdoes!” she shouted.

All the stallions began to laugh again. One of the earth ponies, the one with the dagger on his flank, said “Aw, isn’t that just cute.

She thinks she can get away. This’ll be even more fun than I thought.”

Heartstrings had started to cry, still trying to break free. Her mom had told her about weird stallions like this and how they were sick. She didn’t know what they did, but she knew it wasn’t good. She let out a small whimper and closed her eyes, prepared for the worst.

CRACK!

Heartstrings opened her eyes at the sound and saw one of the earth ponies lying on the ground, his head twisted at an unnatural angle. Standing above the pony was a tall, biped creature wearing some sort of green cloak. He had a smooth, white face, and the only hair she could see on him was at the top of his head. His forelegs had claw-like things on the end of them, and in one he held a bar mace that had blood on the end of it.

“What do you think you’re doing, you freak?” shouted Shades, still holding Heartstrings in his magical grip. The thing just smirked and lifted his other claw-thing, which had begun to glow with a pale, blue light. Lightning started to appear and crackle around the blue glow. The thing pointed his mace at Shades and said one thing which forever burned its way into Heartstrings’ mind.

“Saving fillies and hauling ass!”

The unknown biped made a motion with its glowing appendage like it was throwing something and lightning shot from it, spearing Shades in the chest. The stallion screamed as blood poured from where the lightning had hit, and the magical aura keeping Heartstrings suspended died along with its caster. The biped then shot forward with frightening speed, smashing his mace into Spearhead’s left wing with a sickening snapping noise. The pegasus dropped and rolled on the ground, screaming in agony. Picking the filly up with his free arm, the creature turned and faced the other earth pony. The pony, the one with the knife as a cutiemark, reached down and pulled a similar shaped knife from a sheath on his leg. He charged forward with the blade in his mouth, intent on killing his quarry. The biped nimbly stepped to the side and brought his weapon down on the head of the pony. The stallion dropped as soon as the mace made contact with his skull.

The creature secured Heartstrings under his arm and turned away from the campsite, fleeing at a speed that would make a pegasus jealous. Trees flew by and bushes flew by in a blur as the thing shot through the forest, weaving in and out of trees at break-neck speed. Heartstrings shut her eyes as tight as she could, hoping the creature wouldn’t eat her. The thing slowed down after a minute or two, but Heartstrings could see it had covered quite a large distance in that short amount of time. The biped stopped in front of a cave and walked inside, setting the filly on the ground. He knelt down beside her and asked “So, are you hurt anywhere?”

Heartstrings just screamed and ran to the back of the cave, curling up into a ball and quaking with fear. The biped sighed. “Well that’s to be expected.” He pulled a small, round object from his cloak and spoke one word.

“Meridiem.”

The object floated up to the roof of the cave and gave off a blue light that illuminated the cave’s interior, including the small filly. The biped pulled off his cloak, revealing a suit of black leather armor. The armor was old and patched; it had clearly seen better days. Throwing his cloak on the floor, the creature turned his attention to the cowering filly. He walked over and sat beside her, trying to do his best to calm her down. He gently stroked her mane whispering soothing words. “It’s all right, little one. I’m not going to hurt you, and neither are those stallions. I know I might look scary, but I’m really very nice, and I don’t want to see you scared. Could you smile for me, at least once?”

Heartstrings lifted a hoof that was covering one of her eyes and peaked at the creature. He had no snout and no hair on his face, and he had the goofiest grin on his face Heartstrings had ever seen. She couldn’t help but smile at him.

The creature’s smile grew bigger. “See, I’m not bad. Now how about we introduce ourselves? My name is John, and I’m a human. What’s your name?”

“H-Heartstrings,” the filly said, speaking in a barely audible voice.

“That’s a nice name. Do you want anything? You look kind of thirsty.”

Now that he mentioned it, Heartstrings was thirsty. “I’d like some water, please. Could I also have something to eat, too? I missed dinner.”

John reached to a canteen he had strapped to his side and handed it to Heartstrings, who picked it up between her two from hooves and greedily drank from its contents. The human then stuck his hand into his leather armor and pulled out a small, shiny package that was labeled Quaker’s Granola Bar: Chocolate Chip. He pulled the wrapping off and waited for Heartstrings to finish drinking before giving it to her. The filly picked it up with her magic and carefully took a small bite of it. Her eyes widened when she tasted it and she quickly scarfed it down, looking like some ravenous predator. She looked up at John expectantly, hoping he had more. The human shook his head. “Sorry I don’t have more. I wasn’t planning on being here long so I packed light.”

Heartstrings pouted and stuck her lower lip out at him, eliciting a chuckle from John. She took another drink of the canteen, smacked her lips then looked at him quizzically.

“Where do you come from John? I’ve never heard of a hew-man before,” Heartstrings asked, her voice dripping with curiosity.

“Well, Heartstrings, you probably won’t understand, but I come from a town called Oppidum, in a country called the United States. Well, what used to be the United States.”

“United States? Where on Equus is that?”

“It isn’t on Equus. It’s on a planet called Earth.”

Heartstrings sprang to her hooves, her voice full of excitement. “So you’re an alien? That’s so cool!” The filly jumped circles around John, giggling uncontrollably. “I always knew that aliens existed! And now I’ve met one!”

John laughed at the filly’s reaction and tussled her mane. “Calm down, Heartstrings. It’s not that big of a deal. Besides, we have bigger issues, like what you’re doing out in the Everfree all alone.”

All excitement left the filly as she sat down and pouted again. “I accidentally ran into the forest when stupid Macintosh made me mad.”

“What did he do to make you mad?”

“I told him that I loved him, but he doesn’t like me because I don’t have a cutiemark.”

A puzzled expression found its way across John’s face at the mention of the word cutiemark. He shook his head and stared down at the filly that still had her bottom lip sticking out. This is the most adorable case of the frowns I’ve ever seen, he thought to himself.

“He sounds like a jerk.”

“He is, but I got back at him by shoving an entire box of chocolates down his throat,” Heartstrings said, making a shoving motion with her hooves.

“Damn. That’s a bit overboard, don’t you think?”

“Not really.”

John couldn’t help but chuckle at the unicorn’s seriousness. She glared at him and narrowed her yellow eyes. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” John lied. He looked thoughtful for a moment then stood up and walked to where his cloak was laying on the floor and began rummaging through it. After a few seconds he pulled out a small, wooden instrument that had symbols carved in it and looked like a harp. He ran his fingers over it and a sweet melody filled the cave. John noticed the look of wonder on the filly’s face and sat back down beside her. “It’s called a lyre,” he said. “It’s an instrument that’s been around for many years. Why don’t you give it a try?”

“I’ve heard of these before, but I’ve never played one.” Heartstrings picked it up with her magic and plucked a string with a hoof. She sat there, plucking and strumming strings, and soon a pleasant sound came from the instrument. Heartstrings started to play and sing a song that she had heard her mother sing once before.

You must go where I can not,

Pangur Ban Pangur Ban,

Nil sa saol seo ach ceo,

Is ni bheimid beo,

ach seal beag gearr.

Pangur Ban Pangur Ban,

Nil sa saol seo ach ceo,

Is ni bheimid beo,

ach seal beag gearr

Pangur Ban Pangur Ban,

Nil sa saol seo ach ceo,

Is ni bheimid beo,

ach seal beag gearr

At the end of the song John clapped wildly, making Heartstrings blush. She felt a tickling sensation on her flank and looked back to see what it was. She gasped and almost fainted at what she saw. A lyre had just shown itself on her flank; she had finally gotten her cutiemark!

Heartstrings jumped into the air and started running around the cave in circles shouting “Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! I finally got my cutiemark!”

John noticed the symbol on her flank and tried to hide his confusion. He didn’t know what a cutiemark was, but he was happy she had one. A sudden idea popped into his head and he grinned.

“Hey Heartstrings? When you get your cutiemark do you normally get presents?”

The ecstatic filly stopped running and answered John. “Yeah, we do!”

“Well I have the perfect present for you. You can have my lyre. It’s old and I really don’t need it. You should have it. You have a talent for it, after all.”

Heartstrings shot forward and wrapped John in the tightest hug she could. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I promise I’ll take good care of it. I’ll clean it and practice every day and sleep with it and name it Henry!”

“Henry, huh? Well I’m glad to know that Henry has an owner that’ll love him and has time to play him, unlike me.”

Heartstrings let go of John and let out a loud, long yawn. She had bags under eyes and it was evident that she was exhausted from her ordeal and the excitement of finding her cutiemark. John scooped her up and wrapped her in his cloak. “It’s time for sleepy fillies to go to bed.”

Heartstrings tried to wiggle her way out of the cloak and protest, but found that it was no use. She was tired, and with the warmth of the cloak around her and knowing that she was being watched over by a friend, she quickly fell into the sweet embrace of sleep.

John held the form of the sleeping filly close to him and picked up the lyre. Slipping it between the cloak and Heartstrings he made sure it was secure and wouldn’t fall out. John said “Extinguere,” and made a motion with his hand and the ball of light at the top of the cave winked out and floated into his palm. Placing it in a fold of his armor, John rushed out of the cave, still holding Heartstrings. He moved quickly through the forest, flitting about the trees like a ghost. Coming to the edge of the forest John could hear worried voices calling out “Heartstrings” again and again.

Walking out of the tree line where nopony would see him, John disentangled his friend from the cloak and set her and her lyre, Henry, on the soft grass where she would be found. He walked back into the trees and waited a few minutes until he heard a joyous cry of “There she is! We found her!” Smiling, John turned and walked back into the Everfree Forest, the light of the moon illuminating him as he went.

Author's note

This chapter took me forever to write, and I had to resubmit it a few times due to stupid editing mistakes. As always, any comments or criticisms are welcome!

Forgotten Events

The three ponies sat there in silence after Lyra had finished her story. The turquoise unicorn eyed Roseluck warily, waiting for her to say “You’re crazy” or “You just made that up.” But Roseluck did no such thing. All she did was lean back into the couch with her eyes closed and a thoughtful look on her face. After some time Roseluck finally opened her eyes and looked at Lyra with a somewhat confused face.

“So let me get this straight, Lyra. You were saved by a human all those years ago, yet it seems like nopony knows about it. You were a foal back then, so you would have blabbed to everypony and their grandma about it. And as small of a town as Ponyville is, your story would have been everywhere in a matter of a few hours. So why doesn’t anypony know about it? The only thing that I heard about you when I first came here was that you were eccentric.”

Lyra’s shoulders drooped and she let her eyes fall to the ground. Roseluck would think she was even crazier if she told her what had happened after she met John. Or rather, what she thought had happened. Lyra sighed. She’d been doing a lot of sighing today. She might as well tell Roseluck. It was too late to take back what she had said and say it was a joke.

“Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but I didn’t remember any of the events with John until a few days after it had all happened,” Lyra said, knowing that she sounded insane.

“What do you mean? How could you forget something like that, and then just suddenly remember it?”

“It does sound crazy, but that’s just what happened. I remember being found on the edge of the forest and brought back to my parents’ house, and then talking to a policepony about what had happened. After that everything gets fuzzy. I woke up in my bed the next day and I knew that I had gotten lost, found a lyre somepony must have dropped in the forest and gotten my cutiemark for playing it, and then I had wandered out of the forest and collapsed from exhaustion. But it gets weird after that. I would have dreams where I could see this tall, bipedal thing. Sometimes during the day I could hear a male voice talking to me, and I knew that it was the creature’s voice. More details kept popping up in my head, then one day I suddenly remembered everything that happened,” Lyra said.

Roseluck cocked her head and furrowed her eyebrows at Lyra. “If you suddenly remembered everything, why did you only tell Bon-Bon?”

“She told me because I was her best friend,” Bon-Bon replied. “She said that she was scared about these sudden memories and didn’t know what to think.”

Lyra nodded her head in agreement. “I thought that if I told anypony what happened they wouldn’t believe me. And after this happened I began to do research on humans and ancient Equestrian folklore. I read books on magic, planets, and anything I could find that might help me find out more about John or why my memories disappeared.”

“Do you have any proof that any of this happened?” Roseluck asked.

Lyra’s face brightened and she jumped up from the couch. “Actually, I still have Henry,” she said before running out of the room. Roseluck and Bon-Bon heard a series of bangs, clanks, and curses as Lyra rooted through her things in her bedroom. After about five minutes Lyra came back from her room carrying an old, locked box and a similarly old key with her magic. She set it down on the table with a giant smile and opened the box, revealing an old, wooden lyre. The instrument had several symbols and designs cut into the wood. One was a large swirl pattern with three sides. Another one was of a sun and moon side-by-side. The most intriguing thing wasn’t a design, but a series of words in a different language.

Proprietas John Verdiramo

Roseluck stared at the instrument before picking it up with her hooves and inspecting it closely. She gently tapped the wood and strummed the strings a few times, even once licking one of the designs, much to Lyra’s horror. After several minutes of investigation, Roseluck set the lyre down on the table and shook her head.

“I don’t think this proves anything. Part of me thinks that those stallions you mentioned actually, well, did something to you, and your mind made this whole story about humans up to deal with the trauma. It’s been known to happen before, with ponies saying they were abducted by aliens when they were little, only to turn out a family member was molesting them and they had made up a story to block out the trauma. You probably found the lyre, saw the writing, and gave John his name after what was written on it. And the whole about you suddenly remembering the story several days after it had happened make me even more suspicious. I don’t think that you’re crazy, Lyra, and I think that something happened to you, but as for what it was, I can’t say. I think you need to consider other options before coming to the conclusion that you met a human.”

Lyra’s head drooped and she wrapped her hooves around a couch pillow, hugging it tightly. Roseluck was right. There were a lot of things wrong with her story, and she had never really considered all of the possibilities. She had spent the past seven years obsessing over humans, and it was probably all a lie. Had all of that time been a waste? Lyra had sacrificed time with her friends and family pouring over old books and legends and trekking into the Everfree. She had never had a coltfriend or even gone on dates. All of that time, wasted. And for what? Some silly memory that might not have even happened. A single tear slid down her cheek, dropping off her face and landing on Henry’s old, wooden surface.

Bon-Bon frowned and shot Roseluck a glare, who merely shrugged. The yellow earth pony hugged her roommate and gently stroked her mane with a hoof, softly whispering comforting things into her ear. Roseluck joined in, trying to make the unicorn feel better. The two ponies held their friend in silence for several minutes. After a while Roseluck spoke up.

“You know, I think there might be a way to tell what happened on that night. I was at the library about a week ago to check-out the new Daring Do novel and I heard Twilight talking to Spike about a new spell she was working on. She said that it would let you look through any memory you’ve ever made, that way you could quickly remember or re-learn anything that you forgot. She could probably help you out. Even if you don’t find what you’re looking for, it would give you closure,” Roseluck said, trying to be helpful.

Lyra lifted her head and wiped one of her eyes with a hoof. “Do you think she could help?” she asked, both hope and hesitation filling her voice.

“Of course she can. She’s Princess Celestia’s personal student, after all.”

Bon-Bon nodded in agreement. “It can’t hurt, Lyra. Just try it.”

Lyra’s frown turned into a grin, and slowly formed into a bigger smile than when Pinkie sang that “Smile” song of hers. With a hop, skip, and a jump, Lyra shot off the couch and into the air, landing on all four hooves. Quickly turning to her friends she motioned for them to get up.

“Come on, slowpokes! I want to get to the library as soon as possible. I’ve got a past to find! LET’S GO!” With her sudden exclamation Lyra bounded out of the house and into the streets of Ponyville. Roseluck and Bon-Bon gave each other a “What the hell?” look and followed their seemingly bipolar friend to the library.

***

The Ponyville library was one of the few buildings in Equestria that had been grown with magic, instead of built. It was grown several years after the founding of Ponyville by a unicorn named Felt Bindings, who became the first librarian. With only a few books to start out with, the library wasn’t very popular, and even though the library now housed thousands of books on every topic, not many ponies visited it. It also didn’t help that the librarian was known to have psychotic breakdowns if everything wasn’t perfect.

That same librarian, a lavender unicorn named Twilight Sparkle, was currently sitting at her desk, reading an old book on memory spells written by Starswirl the Bearded. Her current project wasn’t progressing like she wanted it to. Her memory recall spell had worked, but only for recently forgotten memories. Trying to bring back memories any farther back than a year ago had born no fruit. Twilight had an idea on how to make her spell stronger, using gems to increase the concentration of magical force on the subject, but all of her friends, her normal test subjects, had things they needed to do today, and Spike wouldn’t let her cast a spell on him after an incident where she turned him into a female. Most ponies wouldn’t willingly submit themselves to her experiments, either. They were either afraid or didn’t take her experiments seriously. She needed a pony who was hardly scared of anything, a pony that shared her intellectual curiosity and would do practically anything, somepony like…

“Hey, Twilight! I need to ask you a favor!”

Somepony like Lyra.

***

Lyra ran towards the library as fast as she could, her legs pumping and hooves clopping on the ground. She could hear her friends shouting for her to slow down, but she didn’t pay them any mind. Making a left at Sugarcube Corner, she had the library in her sights. With an extra burst of speed, Lyra jumped into the air and threw all fours hooves in front of her. Her entire weight hit the library’s door, knocking it open and sending her crashing onto the floor.

Twilight’s draconic assistant, Spike, briefly looked up from the Daring Do novel he was reading. “Oh, hey Lyra. If you’re looking for Twilight she’s upstairs. Call me if you need anything,” the purple dragon said, not surprised by the eccentric unicorn’s mode of entering the library.

Completely ignoring the dragon, Lyra rushed up the stairs. Spike heard her shout something, and then heard the sound of two sets of hooves clopping on the wooden floor. Spike didn’t even have to look up from his book to know who it was. Motioning towards the stairs with his thumb, the dragon simply said “Upstairs.”

“Thanks Spike,” the voices of Roseluck and Bon-Bon said in unison.

The two earth ponies made their way upstairs to find Lyra and Twilight talking excitedly, with Lyra gesticulating wildly with her hooves. They stood to the side, letting the two unicorns finish their conversation.

“So you’ll help me with my experiment?” Twilight asked.

“Of course I will! I even have the perfect opportunity for you to use it!” Lyra replied. “There are some very important things that I’ve forgotten from my foalhood, and I’d like to remember what they were.”

“Okay, then! I’ll get the materials ready to start up the spell. You can sit down on my bed.” Twilight said. “Oh, Bon-Bon and Roseluck can, too,” the lavender unicorn said, upon noticing Lyra’s friends.

Twilight walked out of the room and down the stairs, presumably to her basement, to gather up what she needed to do her spell. Lyra, Bon-Bon, and Roseluck sat down on Twilight’s bed, waiting for her to return. The two earth ponies glanced at their friend, who was fidgeting while she sat, unable to control her excitement.

“Just think of it, you guys! I’ll finally get to know what happened that night! I’ll know for a fact that humans exist! I’m so excited!” Lyra said, letting out an adorable squee at the end of her sentence.

Roseluck and Bon-Bon exchanged concerned glances with each other. They both knew how excited Lyra was about this, but they couldn’t help but be scared about what they would find out. If the human John didn’t exist, and both earth ponies were sure he didn’t, that would completely crush everything that Lyra has believed for nearly half of her life. As for what happened all those years ago, that was a complete mystery, and both ponies thought that solving that mystery would only cause more problems. Both ponies were interrupted from their thoughts when Twilight came trotting up the steps, carrying several gemstones with her magic.

“All right, Lyra, I need you to sit down on the floor. I’ll place these crystals around you to act as an amplifier, creating a concentrated field made up from my magic. I’ll have to ground the crystals first to create the boundaries for the field, and that’ll take several minutes.”

Lyra pouted, sticking her lower lip out. “A few minutes? I don’t want to wait that long.”

“You’ll just have to be patient, Lyra. Anyway, what memory are you trying to remember?” Twilight asked as she placed the gemstones around Lyra in a circle.

“Well,” Lyra said, trying to figure out how to tell Twilight without actually telling her anything, “Seven years ago I became lost in the Everfree forest, and I can’t really recall what happened back then. I do know that I ran into some weird creature, even by Everfree standards, and I really want to know what happened.”

Twilight looked up from the gem she was grounding, her horn glowing with the magic she was pouring into it. “Why were you in the Everfree?”

“It may have been because I was rejected by Big Mac after asking him out on a date,” Lyra replied, grinning sheepishly.

“You suffered from Macintosh Heart, too? I never would’ve guessed.”

Macintosh Heart was a condition that half the mares in Ponyville had suffered from at one point. They fell in love with Big Mac, went to great lengths to impress him, only for him to turn them down, causing the mares to become depressed and sullen. Macintosh Heart was generally cured with heavy doses of ice cream and chocolate, sulking, and finding a new crush after a week. With very few stallions in the town, and since most of the mares that fell for Macintosh wanted a strong, tough, manly pony, they usually fell for the second manliest pony in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash.

“Well, Lyra, it’s good that you eventually found somepony for you,” Twilight said.

Lyra tilted her head in confusion. “I’m not seeing anypony, Twilight.”

Twilight lifted her eyes from the gemstone she was grounding, confusion apparent in her voice. “Wait, you’re not dating anypony? I thought you and Bon-Bon were together.”

The room was engulfed in an awkward silence. Roseluck had her hoof covering her mouth, trying her hardest not to laugh, while Bon-Bon glared at Twilight. Lyra, on the other hoof, was standing stock still. She didn’t move for a few seconds, before finally breaking the silence.

“Twilight, why do you think Bon-Bon and I are together?”

The lavender unicorn gulped at the other unicorn’s question. Lyra’s voice was monotone, completely emotionless except for a hint of bitterness. Twilight’s eyes darted around the room, trying to come up with an answer.

“Well, when I moved to Ponyville I was told you two were together. You both live together, and I see you two with each other all the time. I can think of very few times when you two were separated.”

Lyra’s lowered her head and let out an agitated sigh. “Hey, Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“Why do we being together all the time mean that we’re dating? Can’t we just be friends who spend a lot of time together? I could understand you thinking that when you first came to Ponyville, but after living here for a year, I’d think you would know us a little better. You spend a lot of time with Spike, don’t you? But that doesn’t mean that you two are dating, now does it?”

Spike’s voice could be heard from downstairs. “Damn straight, Lyra.”

“Spike, watch your language! Oh, looky here! The gemstones are finished grounding! Let’s begin the spell,” Twilight said, eager to quell the awkward situation.

Twilight shifted her position on the floor so that she was in front of Lyra, her head down with her horn touching a gemstone. The gems began to glow, shining with an eerie, arcane light of dark green. The glow spread from the gems and moved upward and around Lyra, forming a transparent dome around the unicorn. Roseluck and Bon-Bon both leaned forward from the position on the bed, hopeful of the results of the spell, yet they couldn’t shake the feelings of trepidation and fear for what Lyra may find out.

“All right, Lyra, I’ll need you to concentrate on the memory that you want to remember. Think back to the day that you became lost in the Everfree, and only that. Any straying thoughts could compromise the spell.”

Lyra closed her eyes and breathed in and out, calming herself. She thought back to the day she became lost, walking to Sweet Apple Acres, being rejected by Big Mac, and running to the forest. As the spell worked its, her memories of the events became more and more clear. Small details that she forgot on that day came back. The smell of the grass and the apple trees, the fear she felt when she saw realized she was in the Everfree. The memories flew back, faster and faster, the stallions she had met, John saving her. The cave they were in. Playing the lyre and receiving her cutiemark. Falling asleep and waking on the edge of the forest. Her parents’ voices of relief and anger. And then…nothing.

Lyra saw nothing. There was just an empty blackness surrounding her. She looked down at her hooves, trying to find any semblance of the hardwood floor of the library. Nothing.

“Hello? Twilight? Anypony? Is this supposed to be part of the spell?”

“Huh, well I guess there must have been a screw-up. Am I in the depths of my own mind, or am I dead? At least I know that what happened with John was real. Wait, John? Oh yeah! In your face skeptics! Humans bucking exist! I’ve seen one and myself! Now I just need to figure out how to get in contact with John or any other human. Twilight could help me with that!”

Lost in her soliloquy, Lyra didn’t notice the blackness as it began to crack around her hooves. The cracks started out small, but slowly grew, a white light shining out of them. The light changed colors from white to dark green, then purple. Lyra noticed the cracks and jumped back from the spot she was standing on.

“What the hay?”

The cracks grew ever larger and began moving towards Lyra. The turquoise pony turned and ran, moving her legs faster than when she ran to the library. The breaks crept up the sides of the darkness and across the black sky, as if the tenebrous place was some sort of room. Lyra was starting to run out of breath, and her body felt sluggish. Lyra’s hoof stepped onto a crack and the purple light stuck to her creeping up her leg. She yelped in terror and shook herself wildly, trying to dislodge the substance from her body. She heard faint, far off voices calling her name, and her head began to swim, images she had never seen flashing in her mind.

A burning red sun traversed across a grey sky, all life burning under its light. Screams of agony and terror filled the air. Cities collapsed and civilizations died in front of her eyes. An army of ponies marched across the land, led by a golden alicorn, her fiery-red mane whipping in the wind and dust. Across the horizon an army of humans appeared, each wearing a cloak of the deepest green. At their helm stood John, wearing a suit of chainmail and leather armor, his body surrounded by an aura of blue. He raised his hand and the moon flew through the sky, blotting out the sun and its hellfire light. The two armies rushed at each other, killing and dismembering with magic and weapons. John and the alicorn met head-to-head, an explosion radiating from their collision. The sky cracked and splintered, the edges of the vision darkened, and everything went black.

***

The room was dark, the only light coming from the hundreds of different colored candles scattered around, resting on any flat surface like a forest of multi-hued trees. The room contained boxes of old herbs and artifacts from several periods in history, from before Luna’s banishment to before Equestria’s founding. In the center of the room was a circle drawn from red chalk, covered with symbols of unknown meaning and arcane incantations. The back wall had an old, tarnished mirror hanging from it, the body made from blackened iron.

The door to the room opened and a cloaked mare came in, dragging a large, cloth sack behind her. Her cloak was dark green and the tuft of her mane that could be seen poking out was blue. The mare’s face was orange, and she currently had a look of annoyance plastered on her visage. The pony opened the sack and dumped the contents into the middle of the circle, the body of a brown unicorn stallion.

The mare grunted and pulled her cloak off, stretching out her wings. Her cutiemark was of two blue lightning bolts, and her body was lithe, covered in toned sinew from years of strenuous exercise. She stepped out of the circle and placed one hoof at the boundary. The lines of chalk began to glow, as did the mirror.

“John, can you hear me? I found a suitable body.”

The image of a tall, bipedal creature appeared in the mirror. The background behind him was obscured and his face was blurry, but basic details could be made out. He seemed to lean back into something like a chair and raised an eyebrow.

“You didn’t take an innocent pony’s life, did you, Firefly?”

The pegasus dismissed the human’s question with a hoof. “Don’t worry about it. This guy was wanted for murder, anyway. But are you sure you want to do this? You could just come across the boundary normally.”

“You know as well as I do that Celestia has a tracking spell set up over all of Equestria that would find me the instant I came here with a human body. Besides, I can’t just waltz into the Canterlot Palace looking like I do now. Let’s just get this over with.”

“Yeah, yeah. Quit being in such a hurry.”

Firefly stretched her wings out to their full length and turned the undersides outward, revealing a glowing pentagram on each. The symbols began to glow brighter, as did the circle on the floor. Energy crackled around Firefly’s wings, taking the form of blue lightning, just like her cutiemark. She felt a burning sensation throughout her body, and she waited until it became unbearable before pointing one wing towards the mirror and the other towards the dead stallion. The energy shot from her wings and hit the targets, both glowingly blindingly bright. A cloud of blue smoke coalesced at the mirror and moved along the trail of energy. Firefly shivered as it passed over her body before flowing into the body of the stallion. The light from the body grew even brighter than before, and suddenly stopped. Firefly collapsed on the ground, her body exhausted from channeling so much magical energy.

The stallion in the circle stirred, standing up and blinking a few times. He lifted a foreleg to his face and stared at it.

“Not having fingers is weird. I haven’t been in this body for thirty seconds and I hate it. How do you ponies stand it?”

The pegasus mare stood from her place on the floor. “Because we’re born with it. Now let’s get out of here and start preparing. Tomorrow’s the day, after all.”

The stallion looked at the mare with a burning determination in his eyes. He walked out of the circle and towards the door before turning back and looking at Firefly. “Yeah, tomorrow is the day that everything comes to fruition,” he said.

“Tomorrow is the day we kill Celestia.”

Plans

Awakening after suffering trauma normally causes one to be sore and in pain, and Lyra wasn’t the exception. The first thing she knew when she returned to the land of the living was that every part of her body hurt. A dull ache throbbed from the top of her head down to the bottom of her hooves. The worst, however, was her horn, which felt like somepony had smashed it with a hammer and stabbed the inner nerves with a scalding hot knife. Her tongue felt dry and swollen, and her eyelids felt heavy. Lyra tried to open them but winced when they came in contact with light. She closed them and let out a small groan.

“Sweet Celestia! She’s awake! Twilight, everypony, get in here!”

Lyra winced once more as the voice cut through her head like a razor blade, making her headache worse. She recognized the voice as belonging to Spike, and soon heard the sound of galloping hooves across wooden floor boards and the worried voices of other ponies. The sounds grew closer until Lyra heard them coming from beside her. A pair of hooves grabbed her and started shaking her like a ragdoll.

“Speak to me, Lyra! Tell me you’re alive! Can you hear? Speak? By Luna’s Beard! She’s a deaf-mute now! Twilight, you’ll pay for this!”

The shaking stopped and Lyra was dropped back onto whatever surface she had been laying on, and she heard the unmistakable sounds of Roseluck trying to attack Twilight. Hooves were smashing into muzzles, bookshelves were toppled over, and expletives were shouted. Lyra heard Bon-Bon shout something about Roseluck needing to calm down, before there was a loud bang and Roseluck’s voice went silent.

During this time Lyra had slowly opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the light of the room. Lyra was lying on a bed in the living quarters of the library. Well, what used to be the living quarters of the library. Books were strewn everywhere, littering the floor and covering nearly every surface. Twilight’s desk had been overturned and smashed into pieces, resembling kindling more than anything else. The bookshelves had fallen over, and one appeared to have been blasted with a fire spell, the top of having been reduced to ash. Twilight sat in the corner, nursing a bloody nose and black eye with Bon-Bon’s help, while Roseluck was unconscious and trussed up with rope. The center of the floor housed a huge scorch mark in the form of a circle, most likely from Twilight’s memory spell. And beside her, sitting on the edge of the bed, a despondent baby dragon stared at the mess with horror in his eyes, knowing that he would have to clean it up.

Lyra slowly turned her head towards the dragon. “Spike, can I get some aspirin? I’ve got a killer headache, and all this chaos isn’t helping.”

Spike snapped out of his momentary stupor at the sound of Lyra’s voice. “Huh? Oh, sure. I’ll be right back.” He hopped off the edge of the bed and waddled down stairs, his feet making soft padding noises along the way.

Bon-Bon, noticing that Lyra was awake, got up from helping Twilight and trotted over to the bed, concern in her eyes. “How’re you feeling, Lyra?”

“Like somepony beat me with a baseball bat. My everywhere hurts, I’m thirsty as hell, and we didn’t get anywhere with the memory spell. All-in-all, this day sucks flank. Speaking of the memory spell, Twilight, what do you think went wrong?”

Twilight looked up from the ministrations she was performing on herself, a piece of tissue in her nose stemming the flow of blood. “I don’t know, Lyra. The spell was performed perfectly, and you didn’t use your magic during it, but it felt like there was some foreign magic at work during the spell. It was like a wall was stopping the spell. The magic caused the spell to backfire, giving you a nasty shock and knocking you unconscious. The gems I used to amplify my magic melted into the floorboards. I’ve never seen anything like it. After that we put you to bed. You don’t really know the after effects of a backfired spell until after a pony wakes up. But when you did we had a little episode with Roseluck.”

“I know that Roseluck can be protective of her friends, but I didn’t think she would try to bodily harm Twilight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that angry. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her angry before,” Bon-Bon said.

Their conversation was interrupted when Spike came up the stairs holding a tray with two glasses of water and four aspirin on it. He handed one glass and two aspirin to Lyra, then Twilight. “I figured these would help after that shiner Roseluck gave you.”

“Thanks Spike,” both unicorns said in unison.

Twilight easily drank hers’, using telekinesis to lift the glass, but when Lyra tried a searing pain erupted from her horn. She let out a squeal of pain and dropped the aspirin on the bedclothes, holding a hoof to her horn. A wave of nausea and dizziness hit the unicorn and she fell back onto the bed, writhing in pain. Twilight and Bon-Bon rushed to her side, both of their eyes wide with concern and fear.

“Don’t use your magic yet, Lyra! Magical backlash as powerful as that will have lasting side effects. Headaches and dizziness are just small symptoms. The physician Paracelsus said that unicorns may lose their horns if they try to use magic too soon after an incident of magical backlash,” Twilight said, going into lecture mode.

The color drained from Lyra’s face at the implication. “Lose my horn? I wouldn’t be able to use magic, play my lyre, or do anything. I’d have to carry everything in my mouth like an earth pony. Oh Celestia help me! I don’t want to get weird stuff in my mouth! Who knows where other ponies’ mouths have been!” Lyra slumped down and buried her head in a pillow while Bon-Bon glared at Lyra for her ‘earth pony’ comment.

“You shouldn’t have to worry if you don’t use magic for a little while. Wait about a week before you try any magic, and then only start with levitating small objects and the like. You should be fine if you just get some rest. I’ve dealt with cases of magical backlash before, mostly from exhausting myself or messing up a spell. None of my cases were as severe as yours, so you should be extra careful. I know a poultice that should help with the pain in your horn, too.”

“Thanks Twilight,” the mint-green unicorn replied.

“You should try to go back to sleep after taking the aspirin. We’ll check up on you in an hour or two. We also have to wake Roseluck up and tell her you’re fine. I hope you feel better, Lyra,” Twilight said, levitating Roseluck and walking down the stairs with Bon-Bon and Spike.

Lyra reached for the aspirin, still on the blanket, and attempted to pick them up with her hooves. After several attempts she resigned herself to leaning down and sucking them into her mouth. She managed to hold the glass, albeit unsteadily, and drank down the water and pills. Setting it down on the nightstand, she curled up and laid her head down on the pillow, drifting into thought.

Foreign magic? Why would foreign magic interfere with Twilight’s spell? For that matter, where did the magic come from? Was it another unicorn, or something else? The only other races that can use magic are the direwolves and qilinese, and they would have no reason to use magic on me. They don’t even live anywhere near Equestria. It involved my memories, so maybe it was John. Why would John erase my memories? The only reason is that he didn’t want the existence of humans to be known, but then why did he give me Henry? And why can I remember him, but not the next few hours after? I didn’t go to sleep for a while after I was found. My parents say that some Royal Guards asked about the situation, but they left when they learned that I just got lost. Apparently they were on some mission in the Everfree forest. What if the foreign magic involved the Guard or Celestia?

Nah, that can’t be it. The Princess would never do something like erase a pony’s memories.

Right?

***

The city of Canterlot has long been called the jewel of Equestria, and it has lived up to the name. Sitting astride the tallest mountain in the country, Mount Canter, the capital city of Canterlot acts as a beacon for the rest of Equestria, shining its light upon the nation under the guidance of the benevolent goddess and monarch, Princess Celestia. Made up of monolithic towers of gold, ivory and gem studded blocks of marble, Canterlot painted the perfect image of a city fit for a queen and the loyal Guard and aristocracy who served and protected her. Ancient buildings and mansions contrasted with modern businesses and inventions like the steam cars that bustled in and out the thoroughfares and streets. Merchants peddled their wares at the bazaar, selling silks and spices from far-off countries and kingdoms. Cries of “The finest!” and “Only sold here!” mingled with the talk of the buyers and gossip of the wealthy as they trotted around the wonderful city. Canterlot was truly a gem among cities.

Past the lower market and housing districts was the haven of the upper class. The royals and aristocracy had built a ring of mansions and estates, flaunting their wealth and power. Garden parties and social gatherings were a constant thing, with talk of business and inheritance mixing with talk of pleasure and leisure. Discussions of art and high culture could always be found along with bits of politics and strategically crafted marriages, all to add status and power to the ponies the talk was about.

This ring of riches and opulence enclosed the Crown Jewel of Canterlot, the Royal Palace, home to the diarchs Princess Celestia and her sister, the recently redeemed Princess Luna. Within the walls of the Palace was the School for Gifted Unicorns, built by Celestia in 269 C.E. for the express purpose of fostering magical talent among the many unicorns that lived in Canterlot and beyond. An exchange program had recently opened up, though only a few Qilinese had joined the school. There was talk that the direwolf clans were thinking of sending a child from each main family to study and improve relations, yet certain dietary differences might make that difficult. It was all talk, anyhow.

The Headmistress of the school, Princess Celestia herself, currently sat beneath the shade of an oak tree in the north castle gardens, drinking a cup of pekoe tea and catching up on some reading, glad to be away from the monotony that comes with ruling a country. Since the return of her sister she had mountains of free time on her hooves. While she still dealt with most of the work, Luna and her Night Court had taken quite a bit of the load off her back. Several of the royals had taken to the nocturnal lifestyle, befriending Luna and helping her with readjusting to the modern world and governing the country. Surprisingly, Luna’s best friend was Blueblood. He had taken it upon himself to teach her the ways of the modern Canterlot socialite and, while Celestia was wary at first, she had found that it had done both Blueblood and Luna a world of good. Luna had quickly integrated into society due to being forced to go to parties by the prince, and Blueblood had mellowed out and learned to be a proper gentlecolt due to Luna’s Old World manners and a generous application of the Royal Canterlot Voice. The prince was even seeing somepony, not a stuck up noble, but a showmare by the name of Trixie.

Even though everything seemed to be tranquil and happy, Celestia still felt uneasy. What with the recent changeling invasion, she had felt that the Royal Guard needed to be expanded and their training standards re-evaluated. The Guard now had a much tougher regimen, and even though this had deterred some ponies, the invasion had caused many ponies to join to protect their country. In less than three months the Guard had swelled to twice the size it had been before, and it was still growing. Celestia had also authorized the creation of local militias, sending some of her top guards out to train them. Even Ponyville, the home of her student Twilight Sparkle had a militia. It was led by Macintosh Apple, who had turned out to be a surprisingly good drill sergeant.

Though the Guard had grown larger and the militia had been created, Celestia still felt something was wrong. For the last few days there had been a feeling that she was being watched by something more powerful than her. There was nothing more powerful than her, the exceptions being Discord and a changeling queen hopped up on concentrated love. This sense of fear had made her slightly paranoid, causing her to keep a protective barrier around her personal chambers at all times, with only her most trusted servants and guards knowing how to open it. The barrier blocked against physical and psychic attacks, and it was barely detectable, unless one was skilled in magic. Celestia had also started an exercise program to strengthen herself and increase the chances that an embarrassing defeat, like the one during her niece’s wedding, wouldn’t happen again. She had already lost some weight and could feel stallions and mares glancing at her flank more than usual.

Her reverie was broken by the sound of a filly giggling. The princess lifted her muzzle from her book, a tawny romance novel she wouldn’t dare let the populace catch her reading, and looked around for the source of the laughter.

The source turned out to be a filly who was rolling around in the peonies and daffodils of the garden. She was a unicorn with a light red coat and blue mane. She had yet to earn a cutiemark. Celestia recognized her as the child of one of her servants. It was summer break, after all, so servants would often take their children with them to work, sending them to play in the daycare or the garden. The child was humming some sort of tune while she frolicked and rolled happily in the flowers.

“Excuse me, little filly, but what song are you humming? It sounds beautiful,” the princess inquired.

The filly stuck her head out of the flowers, a rose petal sticking to her nose. “It doesn’t have a name. It’s an old nursery rhyme from a book I read. Would you like to hear it, Princess?” the filly asked exuberantly.

“Of course I would.”

The unicorn foal jumped out of the flowers and ran up to the princess. Clearing her throat with a cute little “Ahem,” she started the song.

When the nights are long, dark and cold

They shall be lit bright by the race of old.

Their king is graced with eternal youth

Wearing a necklace of direwolf tooth.

He sits upon the thrown not yet seen

That mysterious monarch, the Man of Green.

A just ruler is he, righteous and fair

He banishes evil, all tyrants beware.

The king is gone, but not for long

Soon to return to right a terrible wrong.

So there he waits on a throne not yet seen

That mysterious monarch, the Man of Green.

The filly finished her song and looked up at the princess with her big, round eyes, waiting to hear praise. Celestia tried not to show how unsettled she was by the song, not wanting to upset the filly.

“That was beautiful. You have an amazing voice, little one. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if you got a cutiemark for singing one of these days.”

An impossibly wide smile erupted on the filly’s face, who jumped and down with glee at being complimented by royalty.

“Could you tell me what book you read that from? I’ve never heard that song before.”

“The book was called Songs of My Ancestors. I think it was written by Princess Platinum’s grandfather. That’s what my mommy says, anyway. Oh, can you play with me, Princess? That is, if you’re not busy.” The filly widened her eyes and stuck out her lower lip, going for the cuteness factor, hoping it would work on the princess.

It did.

“All right, little one, I’ll play with you. I also didn’t get your name,” the princess replied.

“My name is Winter Breeze, Princess! Ooh, can we play tag? I like tag!”

“Of course we can play tag. And you know what?” The princess paused for a moment then tapped the filly on the nose with her hoof. “You’re it!”

“No fair!”

The princess ran away through the garden, the filly hot on her hooves, but her mind was elsewhere. Platinum’s grandfather, Prince Bronze Light, had been a friend of Starswirl, and he had the gift of prophecy. One of his books had predicted the founding of Equestria. He would normally write his prophecies in the forms of stories or songs to make sure they wouldn’t be known to the public and cause chaos. Bronze had become insane towards the end of his life, but any prophecy of his that was deciphered or revealed would come to be true, but not always in the way expected. Celestia hoped that Winter’s song was just that, a song about the legend of those despicable creatures. Because if it wasn’t, she knew one thing.

She wouldn’t live much longer.

***

Wind moved through the trees, whipping the branches into a frenzy of leaves and twigs, the sound more akin to a howling noise than anything a tree would make. The sound echoed throughout the forest, the animals and creatures that called the place home lifting their heads and stopping their activities to listen to the eerie noise. It wasn’t a natural wind. The animals could feel it. There was magic in this wind, not pony magic, but something much older and wilder. The breeze seemed to move of its own accord, travelling a specific path through the foliage. Across a chasm the wind moved, stopping once it crossed the other side. The howling noise increased, sounding like that of a wolf, only much deeper, intelligence apparent in the sound. The wind coalesced, forming into a tight ball of magic and air. It stretched out, giving itself form. The body shape was the first thing seen, thrice as long as a pony’s body and nearly as tall as Celestia. Then came the features, long claws on muscular legs with dangerously sharp teeth in a canine head. The wind solidified, gaining form and color, the color of a starless night. It was something seldom seen in Equestria, but it was known and feared.

It was a direwolf.

The majestic beast lay down on the grass and waited. He had a friend to wait for, and he wanted to make sure he had arrived early. She was never on time, always being incredibly early or incredibly late. He may end up waiting for two hours for her to arrive, but he had grown to be patient with her. She was different, but in a good way.

Around twenty minutes later the direwolf heard the sound of something crashing through the trees and landing hard on the ground. Whatever had crashed issued a small grown before getting up, rather noisily at that. The sound of hoofsteps approaching him from behind made the beast look up and turn his head. What he saw was a grey colored Pegasus mare with a bubble cuitemark and a blond mane standing before him with a sheepish grin.

“I’m late again, aren’t I?

“You’re early, actually. Now come give your old friend a hug. I haven’t seen you in ages, Ditzy!”

The mare rushed forward and wrapped her forelegs around the direwolf, burying her face in his fur. “It’s so good to see you again, Shift. Though I wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”

Shift nodded solemnly. “I wish that, too. Anyway, how is Dinky doing? Has she set anything on fire with her magic? I remember you saying she did that almost constantly when she first started learning.”

Ditzy let go of her friend and laughed. “No, she’s actually gotten a lot better. She can levitate several objects now with no problem. I got a few books for her to learn from, and she’s been practicing nonstop. I find her asleep with her nose in a book almost every night. Though I hate having to go and check out books from the Ponyville Library. Every time I see Twilight I’m reminded of that bastard. I even dropped a piano on Twilight about two months after she moved to town. I feel kind of bad about it now. It’s not her fault her brother’s a deadbeat dad. She doesn’t even know. But that bastard will get what’s coming to him tomorrow. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Enough chit-chat, we should get going. The meeting is starting soon.”

The pony and direwolf began to walk through the woods, the direwolf walking slowly, his long legs making it hard for the Pegasus to keep up with him. Ditzy rarely flew when she was close to the ground, due to her habit of crashing into things.

It didn’t take long for them to reach their destination, an old, ruined castle. What once served as the capital of Equestria, the Everfree Castle was now broken and rundown. The walls that had surrounded it had been shattered and worn away, the foundations being the only thing left. Craters marked the ground, telltale signs of Celestia’s fight with Nightmare Moon all those years ago. The fight had nearly destroyed the entire castle, leaving only smoldering ramparts and crumbling towers. The Everfree forest had soon reclaimed the castle and the lands surrounding it. Seldom visited, the castle was a perfect place to hide and plot.

Ditzy and Shift made their way to a large structure in the middle of the ruins. It had once been the Chamber of Harmony, housing the Elements, where the Bearers had defeated Nightmare Moon and turned her back to Luna. The chamber had recently been rebuilt, the holes in the walls being repaired and the entire thing being enchanted with protective spells and incantations. If observed by a creature with the Sight, the entire compound would be seen glowing, the power radiating off of it. Even a creature without the sight could tell that it contained powerful magic, the familiar tingle of arcane energy filling the air.

Approaching a steel door set in the building, Ditzy knocked on it with a hoof. A small panel opened and slid out, revealing a pair of maroon eyes.

“Password?”

Shift sighed. “Come on, Radiance, you know who we are. Nobody can remember your ridiculous passwords, anyway.”

The voice on the other end spoke up. “How do I know you’re Shift and Ditzy. You could be spies for Celestia, or changelings for that matter. I won’t let you in until you say the password.”

“Open the door or I’ll rip your throat out,” Shift said, his voice filled with irritation.

The speaker beyond the door paused. “Password accepted.”

The great door slowly eased open, letting the direwolf and pony into the compound. The door-keeper, a pink unicorn with a blue mane, closed it behind them, using a spell from her horn to seal it with several mundane locks and more enchanted ones. She had a cutiemark in the shape of a lock surrounded by a six-sided star.

The unicorn hurried to follow the two, already halfway down the hallway. Torches lined the walls, illuminating the granite passageway and the motifs that were painted upon them. The images showed vast armies of ponies and humans fighting against an with a red coat and orange mane, who was drawn glowing like the sun and burning whatever she came across. The images topped at another, smaller door, made of hawthorn and covered in runes. Radiance stepped forward and placed her horn to the door. The runes reacted to her touch, glowing for a few seconds before returning to normal. The door slowly swung open into a chamber nearly as big as the throne room in Canterlot. Weapons and various other items were stacked along racks on the walls, reaching about halfway to the ceiling. Swords, spears, knives, and a menagerie of offensive weapons clashed with bottles and vials filled with liquids that could only have some magical significance. A large window on the opposite side of the room gave a view of the surrounding area and forest.

A group of about a dozen ponies stood in the middle, milling about and waiting for something to happen. Several of them were checking over their weapons and other implements, sharpening swords and daggers or fixing saddlebags and leather armor. The two ponies and direwolf walked into the crowd, greeting each other with simple hellos. Ditzy sat down on the ground and waited. She was tired from her flight, and she hoped Firefly and John wouldn’t take too long with the Body Transfer ceremony. It was a fairly straight forward spell, but it required quite a lot of preparation and magic to accomplish.

After a few minutes of waiting a creak could be heard coming from the opposite side of the chamber. Two ponies walked out from the door. The first was a green cloaked pegasus with a stern look on her face. Her mane was blue and her fur was orange. Her cuitemark, two blue lightning bolts, was hidden underneath the cloak. The next was a brown unicorn stallion who, unlike his companion, had a smile on his face and was whistling a jaunty tune as he walked. He had a black mane and a tan horn poking out from it. His cuitemark was a hammer surrounded by a black circle. The assembled ponies and direwolf bowed in reverence as he approached. The unicorn surveyed the crowd for a while before clearing his throat and saying one command.

“Rise.”

The ponies rose and waited in anticipation for their orders. This was what they had been waiting for. Several years of careful planning had finally lead up to this. Tomorrow their long awaited goal would be fulfilled, and they would finally have revenge on that witch that destroyed their home.

“So,” John said, pausing for dramatic effect, “Who’s ready to nail that tyrant into her coffin tomorrow? I know I am!”

This brought a round of cheers from the ponies and direwolf, all except Firefly, who just face-hoofed. “Can you try to be serious for more than one minute, John? We can’t have any screw ups.”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Firefly. We already know the plan; we’re just going over it one more time. So, Shift, all the Diamond Dog clans have been assembled?”

“Indeed, my lord. All the ones in Equestria and several beyond have been gathered under the banner of my brother. Their warriors have taken their positions in the mines beneath Canterlot and the other vital locations. The repopulation efforts have gone very smoothly, as well. Twenty new pups have been born. It was a bit difficult convincing the surplus females from my clan to mate with the male Dogs, but it has worked itself out. I must say, it will be great once the Dogs have been restored to their former glory. They won’t have to take anymore slaves to survive. What little slaves they did have were released when my brother defeated their alphas. I found it strange that the tribe that lived near Ponyville didn’t want to fight, though. They’re convinced that some pony will destroy them with her banshee wails if they try.”

“Strange indeed. Anywhoozit, Firefly, you’ll incapacitate Twilight Sparkle, her dragon, and as many of the Bearers as possible. Just make sure to get the first two, and don’t be seen. While any of them could be a problem, without their leader they’ll be easier to deal with.

“Next is the weather squad. Clover, Ritz, Cracker, and Tim, you four will hide in the thunderclouds above the city and use the force gems to make the lightning stronger. After that, aim the lightning at the Night Guard barracks, the School for Gifted Unicorns, and the tower Princess Luna sleeps in. If you have some extra energy left, blast Fancy Pants’ mansion. That prick’s had it coming for a long time.

“Cyclone, Zephyr, and Radiance will break in and steal the Elements of Harmony during the attack. I know the magical lock will be tough to break, but I have faith you can do it, Radiance. If you doubt you can make it out with all of them, just try and take one. But remember, your safety is more important. If you can’t get any, get out as fast as possible. I don’t want any of you getting caught.

“Pony Joe and Moondancer, I need you two at the train station in Canterlot. Wear your disguises, and, when the time comes, take out the tracks. It’ll be more difficult to get the guards in and out of Canterlot. It’ll also supply a distraction.

“Graphite, Thoroughbred, and Apricot, you’ll place the magebomb in the cloud production machine in Cloudsdale. When that thing goes off, Equestria will have no place to make clouds and control the weather for a while. This will cause the weather patrols in every town to have to make clouds manually, which takes up quite a lot of time. All the pegasi will be stretched thin.

“Ditzy, your job is to take out Shining Armor. I know you have a vendetta against him, just try not to kill him. But by all means, beat the ever-living shit out of the guy.

“We all know what my job is. Once I get to the throne room, I’ll change back to my old body and rip out Celestia’s heart. After that I’ll head back here. The army of Dogs will have decimated the Equestrian military outposts and fortresses by then and will make it back to the ruins of Tambelon, where we’ll plan our next move, with the exception of the Northern tribes, who will be able to take the border with the Old Lands rather easily. We can’t take all of Equestria with our current forces, as I didn’t count on Celestia building up the Guard this quick or making the militias. This attack will completely destabilize the country, giving us time to plan smash-and-grab missions to gather territory. Once we’ve gathered enough territory and resources around Tambelon, we’ll be able to finally capture and keep forts for the long term. All of your family members should already be in the city, correct?”

There were nods from all ponies present.

“Good. Within the year, we will have killed the tyrant and butcher of Frostin, revived the Diamond Dog tribes, and established a new order in Equestria. Long live the New Oppidum Empire!”

A resounding cheer broke out amongst all those present, repeating the mantra of their leader.

“Long live the New Oppidum Empire! Long live the new Oppidum Empire! Long live the new Oppidum Empire!”

An update

Sorry everyone, but I'll be taking a brake from this story. I'm about halfway through the next chapter and have the worst case of writers block I've ever had, and I want to work on my two other stories that I'm busy with. It'll be a very long time until I start working on this again, maybe even a few months. So I apologize again to the people who have favorited this story.