Encounters

by Dai Kirai

Side Story 1: Lyra

6 months before the arrival of the M.A.L.P. into Equestria

“I assume you have some idea why you have been called here today” The Ruler of Equestria asked from her throne in Canterlot Castle.

“Yes. It’s to see if there is any remnant of the changeling brainwashing left.” The green mare lowered her head, embarrassed.

Celestia smiled down at her subject and smiled like a mother would at her own child. “No. It has been concluded that when Shining Armor cast his shield, all changeling magic was deprived of an energy source and dissipated.” Her subject still didn’t want to look her in the eyes. She hadn’t like that she threatened somepony she used to be friends with and one that was a member of the Royal Family. “Lyra, you are not responsible for that.”

Lyra looked up at Princess Celestia, a fire burning in her eyes. “I will always hold myself responsible for it. But, if that isn’t it, what did you called me for?”

“We came under attack by a species we hadn’t even known of. I need you to study the changelings; find out what they can do and what kind of a threat they still pose to Equestria.”

“But… Why me? You couldn’t even stop them?” Lyra’s butt hit the ground, utter shock showing on her features.

Celestia remembered being defeated at the hooves of Chrysalis quite readily. She also remembered that she had hadto hold back. The last time she had to go all out on her magic was against NightMare Moon and it had resulted in the creation of the Everfree Forest, an area that had become increasingly dangerous over the centuries, with runaway magic changing the creatures in it. When Chrysalis decided to attack Canterlot, current capitol of Equestria, it had been full of ponies to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, captain of the guard. The death toll would have been in the millions and have destroyed the Royal Guards in the process. Her defending herself could have meant the doom for her entire country. So Celestia had had to rely on her subjects to come up with another method to save the day.

“There were too many civilians.” Celestia still regretted her attempt having been for nothing. If I had only used a little more power, but I noticed it too late. She chastised herself. “But that is another matter. You are an expert on non-equestrian life. As such you are the logical choice.”

Lyra had been asked, by Celestia herself, to do research that would benefit all of ponykind; there was no way she could decline. “Yes. Your Highness.” The xenobiologist bowed until her horn touched the floor. As she raised her head back up, she asked, “What are my expenses and timetable?”

“I need you to start within the next month and you have 15000 bits to use for gear and supplies. I am assuming that is enough?” Celestia inquired, wanting her expert to be as equipped as possible.

Lyra barely suppressed a cough of surprise at that number. That’s enough to fund my current research on sentient life in ‘the wilds’ for a few years! Lyra could get the best gear; which she reflected would be needed for this assignment.

4 months before the arrival of the M.A.L.P. into Equestria

Lyra finally had all of her supplies purchased. One quick change gem that would allow her to mimic a changeling for thirty seconds, that gem alone had cost her 2000 bits due to the complexity of the spell that had to be woven into it. Three basic sound/image recording gems that could be hidden as jewelry; Lyra just thought they were really cool and easily hidden. Maybe I can use them for some future research, but this one is also about travelling light. The xenobiologist reflected. She could have gotten an emergency teleportation spell that would take her to a fixed point, but ever since that incident with Twilight in school, she could never trust a teleportation matrix. She also had a few other random gems and an assortment of gear. For food she would be living off of the land and would have to use her magic to make shelter, because whenever she found the hive she wouldn’t be able to leave without the chance of being detected.

Lyra was currently in the Canterlot Royal Archives, with its miles of shelved books, looking for any indication of where Changelings like to settle down. It was hard to pinpoint their exact location from the sporadic reports of missing ponies though. Probably to prevent them from being found now that their grand attack failed so miserably. Looks like I will need to start my search near Appleloosa.

Lyra got up from her table, leaving it covered in books, and stretched. “Thank you for the help Serris.” Lyra was tired, besides it was the librarians job to reshelf the books. Lyra waved goodbye to the strange magenta unicorn and left to get a ticket for the first train leaving Canterlot.

1 Month before the arrival of the M.A.L.P. into Equestria

Lyra had been lucky, after a few missteps and hasty getaways, not all from changelings; she had found and set up a small hole to hide in. It surprised her though; there were changelings now on patrol duty throughout what they perceived as their territory. The changelings were started to act more like a prey species, but it made sense, they could only live as long as they remained hidden. But every guard was using the same three disguises.

CRASH!

Lyra was broken from her slumber by the loud noise and she quickly looked around her little cave. The cave was a small complex in the side of a mountain in the badlands; she used it as a base and a place to sleep. Lyra jumped off her little blanket and doused all but one of her little gems that provided illumination; which was in a separate section of the cave across the hall from her.

Lyra heard hoofsteps coming from the mouth of her cave, and more than one set of them. There aren’t any ponies this far out. So how did they find me? Lyra thought she had been so careful that she wasn’t followed back to her cave. That was when she realized that she hadn’t been watching the skies. Must have been one in that stupid sienna pegasus disguise. She berated herself; hoping there weren’t too many for her to escape.

Lyra focused her magic on the still lit light gem; forcing it to glow brighter. Her intruders went towards the light. If only this were a bug zapper. But she had another plan depending on how many there were. As the creatures entered the field of light; Lyra saw the black chitinous exoskeletons, small wings and black horns of two changelings. Only two? Lyra thought as she smirked, ready to put her escape plan into action.

Lyra started to pump even more magic into the small green gem, thankful that it disguised her aura around it. Slowly the gem started to grow brighter and brighter, unable to contain all of the magic that was being injected into it and started to crack. The two changelings looked at it, unaware of what was about to happen. Lyra closed her eyes and put the last bit of magic needed to overload the illumination gem.

With a loud crack that filled the entire cave with sound and could probably be heard for miles, the gem exploded and released all of its magic at once. Even with her eyes closed, Lyra’s world still turned bright white and her ears rang. When the light started to fade, the mint green unicorn opened her eyes, the light quickly fading now that it had lost its power source. She quickly lit another gem in her current room and charged at the changeling closest to the wall.

Remember, go for the side; that way they are less able to stop your momentum and you will have the advantage Lyra remembered her training at the hooves of Aquatica before getting her flanks handed to her. Both changelings were still dazed as Lyra neared them and rammed the first changeling into the wall. The charging unicorn had made sure that it was her shoulder and not her horn that impacted the parasitic insect. She made sure because of the horror stories of unicorns that lost their abilities due to something similar and were no longer capable of using any magic.

When they impacted the wall, Lyra quickly backed up and turned around, facing the opposite direction of her intruder. The xenobiologist then lashed out with her hind legs straight into the changeling’s chest with all the force she could manage. As her legs impacted, she could feel the creature’s chest cavity slowly give way. Slowly, its carapace gave way with a sickening crunch as the pony’s hooves broke through and crushed it into the wall.

Lyra then looked around for the other intruder, ready to hit it across the face with her hoof or to throw a sharpened gem at its head using her magic. As the mare looked around though, she saw the cave was completely empty and she could hear the sound of hooves running out of the no longer safe cave.

Lyra quickly gathered up what gear she could and followed the remaining changeling’s example and ran out of the cave. As she neared the mouth of the cave, she darted out just in case the creatures had planned some sort of trap. To her surprise though, the area was completely empty, except for a black chitinous leg sticking out from under a gray boulder. That boulder had been intended to sound an alarm in case anything got to close to her cave. Lyra never expected it to actually work for defense; nor how many changelings it might have kept from trying to attack her while she slept.

Lyra quickly looked up at the sky to view Luna’s stars as they floated in the sky. The mare was looking at the stars to figure out what direction she needed to head to next. That’s the Caballus Constellation, which means I need to head a little bit north of here if I am going to meet up with the local Buffalo herd. Lyra needed to head someplace for safety and the Buffalo herds were the most likely to shelter her for a few days. Besides, let’s see a changeling try to copy a full grown buffalo.

The day of arrival for the M.A.L.P. into Equestria

Currently, Lyra was residing in a complex of desert shrubs, hoping her natural green coat would help her stay hidden. So far it had worked rather well and was large enough inside to accommodate sleeping quarters and a restroom. Hopefully with this being a nonstandard hiding place they won’t think to look here. But, she still had safeguards in place for most contingencies.

Lyra had one of her cameras set up to record what the changelings’ latest hunt had turned up. A group of about two dozen of the insects had walked past her base camp carrying an earth pony stallion in a green translucent cocoon. The poor stallion was wide awake, and she could have sworn he looked right at her, eyes pleading for help. Lyra just shook her head; while this kind of thing sickened her, she doubted even her friend in the guard could take out two dozen changelings this close to their hive. Although if she had anything to say about it; a rescue operation would start at the moment of her return. This wasn’t the first poor soul she had seen them take by force. It was almost was me. She shuddered at the thought of the incident at the cave.

Lyra had been studying how their cocoons worked, and they seemed to sustain the captive and keep them nourished so the changelings could feed on them as long as they wanted. It also gave them a disguise for how to sneak into a city. Lyra fumed; already coming up with several counter strategies for everything she saw.

As the tail end of the group passed, Lyra could hear the hissing that constituted their natural language, picking up on the occasional word. Her eyes almost burst out of her head though as grey smoke started to curl in front of her muzzle. Buck me! Why now? She swore as the smoke flashed gold and turned into a sealed letter. Lyra quickly grabbed it with her magic and looked around to see if she was spotted.

The group of changelings just kept moving on as she opened up the letter.

Dear loyal subject,

This letter has been written in a safe manner in case it falls into enemy appendages. We have an issue here that needs your specialized skills. There has been an encounter with what can only be surmised as a completely alien life form. I know your current study has taken a long time but I am recalling you. You are to get out of there as fast as can be safely achieved. You will return to the fallback location where a carriage will be waiting to take you to the creature. This is urgent and you are authorized to use any means necessary to return. I will arrange for a briefing for you in three days, make sure you are there before then.

Signed,

C

Something felt off to Lyra. The changelings had disappeared. Where is their rear guard? They always have two changelings guarding their… Lyra quickly grabbed everything she could in her magic and put them in a small satchel along her flanks. These were made to be more streamlined than the traditional saddlebags. Lyra took one more last look out of her hiding spot. Upon seeing no changelings, she ran as fast as she could in a route perpendicular to the one for Appleloosa.

About five minutes out from her old base, Lyra heard a buzzing come from above her head. Two changelings were following her. The first lit its horn and performed a nose dive. The mare jumped to her right, missing the flying tackle by scant inches. Need a plan. She reprimanded herself.

Lyra stopped dead and turned around to face her two assailants, knocking a small green gem out of her pouch using a knee. “What are you attacking me for?”

The one still in the air replied, thankfully still using Equestrian. “Magic was detected near the hive, little pony.” It hissed, fangs gleaming in the sunlight. “Then we find you running from it.”

Lyra moved her rear hoof over the misplaced gem, crushing it under the sudden weight. A neon green light started at her horn and then traveled down the length of her body. Everywhere the green energy passed, black chitinous exoskeleton to would appear and replace her mint-green coat. Her legs developed holes as did her tail, ears and new shiny wings. Lyra ran her tongue around her mouth, disturbed to feel giant teeth on either side. “And that’s what I was chasing, but I had to stop because you two couldn’t recognize one of your own in disguise.” The hiss in her voice made her skin want to crawl. Need to get out of here soon, the spell won’t last forever.

The two changelings looked at each other then took back to the sky and headed in the direction Lyra had been heading. The disguised xenobiologist let a few seconds pass, and then headed straight for Appleloosa as fast as her hooves could carry her.

The next day

Lyra entered Appleloosa about midday, exhausted, but having arrived safely. She quickly spotted the gold chariot at the local inn that would designate the location of her ride. The inn was an old looking wooden number with visible slats and swinging doors. The exhausted pony just pushed past them and walked up to the receptionist’s counter.

“Good morning Mis-.” The yellow earth pony got out before being interrupted by her guest.

“Where are the guards that belong to that chariot?” Lyra asked; not realizing how her disposition came across in her voice.

“I’m afraid I can’t just give out that ki-.” The receptionist tried again.

“Tell me what room they are in or I swear I will knock down every door in this place until I find them.” Lyra was not in the habit of making idle threats.

Lyra felt a hoof on her withers and turned around to look straight into a pair of blue eyes and a golden helmet. “Is this mare bothering you Miss Lemondrop?” He asked in the standard gruff guard voice.

“Not at all, good sir. She was just looking for you.”

I wonder if you would still be swooning over him if you knew that he might be a she. Lyra snickered. Then again, knowing some ponies’ proclivities.

“How can I help you then, Miss?” The guard asked

“Yes. Lyra Heartstrings. I believe you are here to escort me somewhere?” She huffed, surprised that the guard hadn’t been briefed already.

“Oh yes. Miss Heartstrings. We are to take you directly to Ponyville for your new assignment.” He stated.

Buck me.