Shellstrings

by shortskirtsandexplosions

Lyra's Last Stand

Desert – Buffalo Camp – Zero Hour

"Kill the beast!"

"For our brothers and sisters!"

"Rip it to shreds before it can change again!"

"Crud!" Lyra turned tail—FLASH!—unwittingly morphing into a whimpering stallion as she scampered desperately across the thunderous camp ground. "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!" she stuttered in Braeburn's voice. "Just hold yer apples, y'all—!"

"Grkkk!" Swift Breaths dove forward, grabbing onto the stallion's fluffy tail. "I got it! Brothers, take it out—!" FLASH! A tiny cloven hoof poked him in the eye. "OWWW!" Swift Breaths covered his skull, reeling.

Lyra stumbled away on Little Strong Hooves' limbs. "Please! I don't want any trouble—"

"GRRRRRR!" Three whole buffalo charged in.

"Guh!" With Little Strong Heart's swiftness, Lyra nimbly leapt over them, backflipped, and landed in a squat. "Whoah..." She sweated, blinking. "Did I just do that—?"

WHAM! Another buffalo rammed her from behind.

"Ooomf!" Lyra tumbled through several baskets full of corn and wheat. Frightened mothers grabbed their calves and scampered off, yelping. "Grnngh... dude..." FLASH! She morphed into Swift Breaths, frowning. "Uncool..."

"Trample it!" A full wave of buffalo rushed her. "Before it gets up!"

"Hey!" Lyra stood up, frowning. "Why don't you pick on someone your own—" FLASH! "—size?!" She boomed in Chief Stronghooves' voice.

WHUD! The buffalo collectively bounced off of her chest and tumbled back on their smaller haunches. "Guhh!"

Lyra blinked... then clenched her heavy jaw muscles. Dragging a hoof for starters, she next charged straight forward, reveling in the heavy thuds that her mighty limbs were making.

WHAM! WHACK! THWACK! She knocked angry warriors left and right like bowling pins.

~o~This is not helping things.~o~

"Everyone!" The real Little Strong Heart could be heard pleading in the background. "Just c-calm down! We can solve this peacefully—!"

~o~It's not too late. You can still get out of this cleanly if you just run.~o~

"Listen, whoever..." Lyra gnashed her teeth as she knocked two more buffalo aside. "...what does it look like I'm doing?!" THUNK! She suddenly grinded to a halt, butting heads with a skull identical to hers. "Hoboy."

"You..." The real Chief Thunderhooves hissed, holding her in place with his massive skull. He grinded his hooves against the earth, pushing her back. "...shall PAY... for what you've done to my TRIBE!"

"Rnnngh...!" Lyra winced, locking horns with the massive, muscular elder. "...j-just let me go!"

"Out of the question, monster!" Thunderhooves snorted. His fellow tribe members recovered, rushing in quickly. "You have the horns... but you lack the passion!"

"Don't..." Lyra's eyes burned with green flame. "...talk to me..." Her buffalo horns disappeared. "...about passion!" Just then, a jagged black horn emerged from the center of her forehead—like an insect from its cocoon. It flashed in a brilliant green light and—

KAPOWWW!

—an incalculably violent blast of telekinetic power erupted between them. Lyra remained in place, her body shrinking until it became a familiar green unicorn with a smoking forehead.

As for Chief Thunderhooves, however—"Aaaaaaaaaaiiieeeeee!"—his bulbous body went sailing skyward. He plummeted ten... twenty... forty meters away from the heart of the camp.

"Chief Thunderhooves!" Little Strong Heart shouted.

"Whoah—!" Swift Breaths' eyes twitched.

At long last... Thunderhooves' distant body landed... grinding a fresh trench through the desert earth for several meters... until finally coming to a pained stp against a cluster of cacti. Even from so far away, the rest of the tribe could hear the resounding groan of pain from their chief elder.

Lyra stood in place as an unnatural wind died down. Every tent and teepee within twenty meeters was tilted away from her exact location. Tumbleweeds and dirt devils billowed towards the faraway hills. At last, as the blood rushed back to her green heard, she wheezed forth: "Holy shit."

The dumbfounded buffalo turned to gape at her.

She gulped. "I... g-guess it wouldn't help if I said 'he asked for it?'"

Anger returned to the natives' faces, and soon she was facing a furious wall of fur and horns.

~o~This was the worst mistake. I swear.~o~

"H-hold on!" Lyra spun around, panting desperately as she scampered across the lopsided camp. "I-I c-can still maybe outrun them!"

~o~I should have merged with a horn toad.~o~

"What... wh-what can I t-turn into that's faster than a bunch of m-murderous buffalo?!"

~o~At least in cold blood I would have a sensible ally.~o~

"Come on!" Lyra panted, glancing nervously behind her as the stampeding tribe caught up. "H-help me out here!"

~o~Now you turn to me?~o~

"Look! Whatever! Just... g-get me out of here!"

~o~Do not bother. Nothing can save you now.~o~

"Save me..." Lyra's teary eyes clenched shut as she galloped against the wind. "Please..." The malevolent shouts of the buffalo tore into hear eardrums. "...s-save me." Just as she murmured this, her silver-streaked mane turned blue. FLASH! Orange feathers stretched out as the stallion gasped. "A pegasus! Alright—"

She performed one single wingflap.

POWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

A deep crater formed in the earth directly beneath her. The resulting shockwave tore teepees over, knocked warriors back, and toppled panicked family members and their children to the ground. Before any of the buffalo could get back up to see what happened...

...an orange equine figure rocketed over the desert, flailing the entire way.

"Crud! Cruddd! Crudddddddddddd!"

Comments

[Derpmind]

WHEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.......... !

Flawless exit, they never suspected a thing.

[DOOMRIDER]

Good job Lyra excrement truly did hit the prop this time.

[IceKitsune]

Well nobody died like a few people guessed and Lyra sortof got away. This was the best possible outcome given the situation I think.

[Booster Spice]

That was a flip book even faster than AJs photo collection, but for Flyboy there? Nope, nothing here.

Thats an awful amount of backblast on that launch. Was it chrysalis pouring on the juice or is it that particular Pegasis Plenum Afterburner special ability?

[bloons3]

Aww shiiittt!!!

[bloons3]

A deep crater formed in the earth directly beneath her. The resulting shockwave tore teepees over, knocked warriors back, and toppled panicked family members and their children to the ground. Before any of the buffalo could get back up to see what happened...

...

[remnants]

...and they called this series boring!

Hah!

[The Portal Passer]

I just hope that bon bon or her organization doesn't kill lyra before she could tell whats going on

[Sharp Quill]

This raises some interesting questions about the nature of Chrysalis. She's apparently a parasitical being who needs a host. It's fair to assume her previous body was also a host. What's the story there? She also comes across as unemotional, like a proverbial computer. Were the emotions portrayed by Chrysalis during the Canterlot invasion due to its previous host? Were the horde of drones due to the nature of that previous host's biology, or to that of the controlling parasite?

Curious minds want to know.

[Lightning Bearer]

Well, it could've gone worse, I guess. And her shape-shifting is more than merely cosmetic, which is nifty.

[Razzy]

The sooner Chryssie wrestles at least some control away from Lyra the better, I don't think they'll survive long under Lyra's lead.

[Leftover of Saikano]

Best outcome without being overly optimistic.

[Revan]

Well, the afterburners finally kicked in.

[PoisonJoker09]

Huh...well.

That was a rather dramatic exit...

Could have flap out killed somebody at some point of that mess but, eh.

Fly Lyra fly! Running away saves all of lifes problems!
Also, I'm liking the character dynamic currently being built with Chryssy and Lyra right now, it's obvious that Lyra has some kind of, resistance? I guess to the controlling deal, so they have to work together at some level.

Hm...changeling powers, able to change form to incredibly large and strong, or small and nimble bodies...that's one power to the bucket. More than that, it seems that there is some form of stronger power or magic underneath those forms than their original counterparts can accomplish.

I mean, unless Flash can flatten things every time he flaps his wings for takeoff of course.

[Scorch215]

That ending males me think of Flappy Bird for some reason.

7604192

Have to agree with you there, at this rate theu will be dead before the week is out.

[QueenMoriarty]

~o~Now you turn to me?~o~

Up until literally right now, you've been asking her to please shut up and let her brain melt, or otherwise offering no advice. Chrysalis, you have no precedent to base that statement on.