"But according to this book, you're supposed to add the sodium chloride first," Twilight Sparkle said.
Beside her, an equally tiny and adorkable Moondancer placed her textbook down atop a schoolroom lab table. "I read ahead, and to make a proper salt lick you need to add the molasses first."
Lyra sat at the next table, staring blankly across the room. Twinkleshine and Minuette were busy chasing after a distraught Lemon Hearts—her head stuck impossibly inside the confines of a beaker. The unicorn blinked, fidgeting with her hooves as she fumbled for words. "Girls, we need to help Lemon Hearts..."
"Well, I read ahead too, Moondancer," Twilight said in a lecturing tone. "And I'm sure it said 'sodium chloride' first."
"Oh." Moondancer droned, "I've got the wrong book."
"Girls... listen to me... I-I'm serious..." Lyra shuddered. She glanced out the windows. All was black outside. "Lemon Hearts might die. We... have to save her. She... needs help."
"That's so hilarious," was all Moondancer had to say.
"Please..." Lyra shivered, hugging herself as the darkness crept in. "...we all... c-could die..."
~o~It's no use.~o~
Lyra gasped. She looked all around.
~o~They understand fear. Not dread.~o~
"Who..." Lyra grimaced, teeth chattering as the windows melted away. "Who s-said that?"
"There are lots of heroes out there tonight."
Lyra gasped. She spun around and looked across the cafe.
Bon Bon knelt beside a mint green unicorn inside the Canterlot establishment. Survivors of the invasion huddled about while rescue workers rushed to and fro outside.
"Thanks to ponies like you." Bon Bon smiled. "They'll always be remembered."
"Yeah. I guess. But..." The unicorn in front of Bon Bon shivered, clutching her blankets. "There's a hero in here too."
From afar, Lyra whimpered. "Bon Bon...?"
~o~Hmmm... this is getting closer.~o~
The hairs on the back of Lyra's neck bristled. She spun around as the walls of the cafe started to shrink. "Where—?!"
~o~But that's not quite it. Let's see... just how deep the void is within you.~o~
"Who...?"
~o~And how much stands to be filled.~o~
"Why..." Lyra felt her own chest, wincing all of the sudden. "...am I here?"
"Because I love you."
Lyra gasped sharply. She spun around, gazing across the burning apartment.
Her mother sat in the far corner of the living room. Ceiling beams collapsed around her as the chamber filled up with smoke.
"Mommy... please..." A filly tugged and tugged at her father's heavy figure. "Mmmmrfff... don't let him die! Come and help me!" She sobbed. "If you love me... why won't you h-help me?!"
Lyra hyperventilated. Her vision started to fog... so much so that she almost didn't see the dark figure as soon as it shuffled across the room. Her head jerked to the side, eyes wide and blinking.
~o~Ah... I see.~o~
A black-coated unicorn—tall and slender—trotted to a stop, gazing at the parent seated catatonically in a chair.
~o~And such a curious choice of words, too. I bet it simply stings to hear anypony else say that 'they love you.'~o~
She tossed a smokey-green mane, and turned to peer across the burning building at Lyra. A pair of green eyeslits narrowed, and fangs showed through a deep, dark smile.
~o~No wonder we flow together so well. You've been starved just as much as me all these years, haven't you?~o~
Lyra snarled. "Rrrrnnngh!" She marched across the room, stepping over the filly and her father. "You get out of here... do you hear me?!"
~o~Hmmm?~o~
"Get out of your head!" Lyra hollered, slamming her hoof across a burning piece of debris and spitting everywhere. "GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD! NOW!"
The mare merely raised an eyebrow. ~o~My head?~o~ A forked tongue flitted, and then her eyes FLASHED green.
Lyra gasped. Ponies in pre-classical aristocratic dress galloped away from her, scampering across a snowy landscape.
"Run!"
"Flee!"
"The Chancellor has gone mad!"
Beams of green light flew at them, melting earth and flesh alike. Peasants screamed, clinging to their loved ones as the dark magic converged on them, serenaded by cricket song.
FLASH!
"No! No!"
A stallion squirmed and flinched, chained to a rack inside a deep dungeon. Hundreds of thousands of spider-like creatures crawled up his writhing flesh, dragging viscous slime all across his body until they formed a tight white cocoon.
"No! No, please! Milady, I'm begging you!"
More screams echoed across the slime-coated walls. A green light pulsed, illuminating stacks upon stacks of pony-sized sheathes in the distance—all thrashing about as stumbling thralls barreled them deeper into the cellar.
"Aaaaagh!" The stallion on the rack shrieked as the arachnids skittered up his howling face. "I don't want this! Please! Don't! I don't want th—" His screams turned muffled as the cocoon covered his entire body. The green light penetrated his form, and blood poured out from every silken seam.
FLASH!
"Rrrrgh!"
A gray stallion with a smoke-black mane levitated his shield, deflecting a blast of green energy. Clank! He dove forward, swinging his floating sword hard—only to receive a blast to his chest.
"Augh!"
He slid back across the snowy courtyard. A crumbling castle burned behind him, its smoke rising high into a sunless sky.
"Kathleen!" he hollered loudly, horn glowing as he snarled at his opponent. "You will pay for your treachery! Restore my vassals to me... or I swear you will pray that the sorceresses of Clover reach you first!"
~o~Or maybe I will add them to my hive, Miller~o~
A warbling voice chuckled.
~o~Such weak, feeble emotion. Her 'love' for you will only sustain my subjects for an hour. You know that, yes?~o~
"Grrrrrr..." Miller charged yet again, sword swinging. "RAAAUGH—!"
FLASH!
"A monarch who rules over mindless slaves is just as lonely as the day she dies," the old sorceror said, aiming her horn across the stone platform. Vaporous heat rose in pockets all around them. "Now join your abominations in bottomless darkness."
"No..." Lyra whimpered from the shadows. She looked around. She felt around. She was lodged in the walls of smoke.
~o~We are all alone, Madame Clover~o~ The voice warbled. There were fangs.
"Nnnngh..." Lyra slammed herself against the rock... the vapors... the flames. She burst through the pupa, ripping past slime and mucus. The fire grew higher, and she crawled away from the scene just as the dark unicorn teetered upon the brink.
~o~Meditate on that in your own prison.~o~
"Will... not let you take control..." Lyra hissed and struggled. "Will... not... g-give up..." Crying, the filly tugged and tugged at the adult's forelimb as the apartment crumbled around her. "I'm going to get you out... out..." She panted and wheezed. "Out of y-your head..."
Her last words echoed, as if she was saying them over herself.
Panicking, the filly looked down at the pony she was dragging.
Lyra smiled back up at her.
~o~It's not our head we need.~o~
The forked tongue flitted again, and a wave of moths and centipedes poured out.
Lyra shrieked—absorbing the blow. The dark unicorn fell, and Lyra with her. Together, they sank into the pit of Tartarus. And as their body hit the flame...
...she drifted out the other side, sinking towards the depths, alone in insurmountable darkness.
And she hugged herself, pulling the blanket tighter, clinging on despite the shivers.
The waters all around her shook... resonated... echoing like a cave.
"Lyra Heartstrings..."
Mandibles and antennae.
"I promise..."
Beakers and doughnuts.
"I'm going to protect you..."
Dark runes and harpstrings.
"I'm going to keep you safe."
Plucking.
Plucked.
A gentle chord...
...and silence.
TO BE CONTINUED IN...
==ACT THREE: SHELLSHOCKED==
Holy updates, Batman!
Oh hey, The Big Cheese Changebug is here. Neat.
FINALY
And it finally happened! The thing everyone has been waiting for. Now everything is going to be very, very interesting.
Finally the Background Pony has been lost, and a new Host has been found.
Lyra is going to be able to start with new Wolf Pelts?
7580686
7583866
I actually agree with a lot of points on both sides of this. This story does feel to me like he had three similar ideas for a daily fic, each of which could work on it's own, and instead of doing three of them he merged them into one by finding a common thread in each. Yes it is heavily front loaded with exposition and backstory and took far to long to get to the point, that I completely agree with. And yes most of the characters are thinly veiled superheroes/archetypes but really it's kind of impossible not to do that anyway given how big DC and Marvel are. So personally that part doesn't bother me at all really.
However this has led to a very interesting world he is building, plenty of stuff to think about and a lot of slow time to get to know characters and their situations. I think it gives the story a sense of scope, I guess you could say and it shows how interconnected everything is in the world. I enjoy the characters and think they have already shown plenty of depth and quite frankly considering that we just got to the main premise of the story that can only go up from here. While this is far from his best or most thought provoking story I don't think it is meant to be, this story seems much more like a pulp novel type deal, an idea he just needed to get out of his head really; something to have fun with.
I am so happy right now.
7584210
On one hand, I totally agree that he should have made these all separate stories.
On the other hand, I want to see where he's taking this that he couldn't just take three focused explorations of one concept.
7584492
Bruno is screwed is the most discussed in the media in the few years ago.
So does Chryssy love Lyra? Is it that Lyra = Chryssy because of the love void? This raises MORE questions.
Finally, the long awaited moment has come: The moment when people stop complaining.
That said, I'm as excited as anyone that the Shell has arrived at last.
Finally, the star has arrived. The best bughorse's greatness and Lyra's... Lyraness together at last.
Yes!
Get out of your head or I will put you out of my misery!
Let the Flood begin anew.
I am honestly shocked, I was not expecting what seems to be the fusion of the two so quickly. I was expecting at least a reason for the fusion to happen first, maybe another 100k words of Chrissy gloating and filler chapters but this is a bit sudden. Still, I'm glad that the real story has begun and look forward to seeing how the two learn to cope with each other.
7587279
Definitely. I met Ponky once. Pretty chill dude. Skirts is a cool guy too.
*shudder*
I'm having flashbacks.
THIS ONLY RAISES MORE QUESTIONS
Hmm.....well then it seems something corrupted Chrysalis back when she was a pony, least that's how it seems. Don't know psychological things like this are always hard to decipher. Beyond interesting but hard to decipher.
WOW, I really didn't expect the fusion to be so hostile to Lyra. This seems mostly like a take-over. Eager so see what comes next!
Skirts how did this make me feel so many things I'm actually mad that your pony fanfiction is this fukin good like damn
7584210 First, I'd like to apologize for not replying to this very well-thought-out comment earlier.
Second, if you reply to a comment on a different chapter than the one they commented on, the person you're replying to will not be notified.
Third, I respectfully disagree with the assertion that any of the characters in this story have depth. I'll agree on it being much more of a pulp novel idea, I'll even fully admit that my initial reaction of "wtf isn't this as good as his other stuff, and why is everyone fine with this rampant mediocrity" was immature and probably involved a lot of projecting my own insecurities and high expectations of myself onto the author. But these characters don't have depth. We've just had to put up with them for a long time.
...Not impossible in the slightest. One merely has to take inspiration from the core archetype instead of just copy-pasting the majority of characteristics from one character onto a character they don't fit.
7752812
That was my bad sorry about that. Honestly with SS&E basically vanishing off this website 2 weeks ago I have a feeling we won't have to put up with these characters, as you put it, much if/when he comes back. As I have a feeling that this story is the least likely one to be continued of the Daily Fics; which makes me sad to be honest, because regardless of how I feel about it I was interested to see where it was going to go.
I see your point there however just about all of the characters he is using that are from the show basically had nothing to go on so I don't know how you can say that he is putting the characteristics on to characters they don't fit.
7753192 Flash Sentry's sole characterization in canon is 'he's a very positive guard who's very sexy and he works in the Crystal Empire'. In this story, pretty sure the only time he smiles, it's a blood-soaked grimace.
Every single part of this story completely disregards any shred of Lyra's characterization from Slice of Life in favor of the campy silly Lyra that the fandom constructed before they had canon to go off of.
I could go on, but that would be overly negative.