//------------------------------// // Tourists From Beyond // Story: Truthseeker // by RB_ //------------------------------// “I need you not to leave your house tomorrow night.” Lyra was currently in the back room of Sugarcube Corner that Pinkie liked to conduct Owl business in. Pinkie had summoned her via letter (this time tucked between the pages of a novel Lyra had been reading). “Why’s that?” “You know how the sun and moon rotate around our planet, with a little help from the Princesses?” Lyra nodded, wondering where Pinkie was going with this. “Well, Equis is also rotating around the center of our galaxy, with a little help from a guy named Llwybr-Llaethog - he’s like this living black hole surrounded by tentacles made out of dark matter, it’s weird- and the Milky Neigh is itself rotating around the center of the universe, with a little help from Bydysawd, the Center of All Things. Make sense so far?” “…I think so?” “Good! So, as it happens, Equis is going to end up crossing through a particularly notable star alignment tomorrow, starting at about one o’clock in the morning. And, it just so happens that the exact location of the center of this alignment is going to pass right through Ponyville!” Lyra took a moment to digest this information. “Okay. So, what is this star alignment… thing, going to do?” “Oh, nothing really; alignments don’t do anything unless you can call on them, and mainly all that’s good for is eldritch magic, like what I do. This sort of thing actually happens more often than you’d think; there are a LOT of stars out there.” “So why do I have to stay inside, then?” Lyra asked. “Because it’s not the alignment itself that’s going to be the problem; it’s who comes with it. An event like this is bound to attract some of my cousins! And I don’t mean the Apples.” “More eldronies? What’s wrong with that?” “Not eldritch ponies, silly- well, except for my sister. I’m talking about eldritch abominations, like my granny Ynysddu! The kind that turn your brain into taffy if you see them.” Lyra calmly took another drink from her smoothie. “So then, why aren’t we evacuating the town?” “It shouldn’t be necessary. Maud –that’s my sister- and I will be there to keep everybeing happy and under control, and to erect perception filters in case anypony getting a late-night snack happens to look out their window. But with your ability…” “Oh, I getcha. My blessing cuts through perception filters…” “So it would be really, really bad for your brainium if you were to run into our little star party,” Pinkie finished. “So, Pinkie promise me you won’t go outside or look out your windows tomorrow night!” “No problem, I didn’t have any plans anyway. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Lyra did the motions. ----- Lyra was awoken by a distant crash. Groggily, she lifted her head up from her pillow. Blinking until her eyes grew into focus, she was greeted by the silhouette of her marefriend against the open window. The moonlight glinted off of her grappling hook as it spun, gaining momentum before it was thrown out into Ponyville. Silently and with practiced ease, Bon Bon swung out into the town. Then Lyra’s brain caught up to the rest of her body. She flung herself out of bed and galloped to the window. “Bon Bon!” she yelled out into the night as loud as she dared, scanning the street for the mare. There was no sign of her. Horseapples, what do I do, what do I do!? But there was only one option. I’m sorry, Pinkie! And she ran to the stairs. ----- Lyra had been so careful. She had made sure that she and Bon Bon went to bed on time, she had closed all the blinds, and had even locked the windows just in case. Yet now she found herself on the streets of Ponyville, stumbling about with her eyes cast firmly downwards. Thankfully (or not, depending on who or what she might run into), the moon was nearly full, and illuminated the way nicely. “Bon Bon!” Lyra hissed. There was no response. At least, not at first. Soon however, Lyra began to hear the faint sounds of… something, just at the edge of her ability to hear them. A very slight break in the stillness of the night. Concentrating, Lyra discerned the direction of the almost-sound and headed towards it, careful to keep her gaze locked to the dirt and stones of the road. As Lyra pressed onward, the noises began to take shape, first as incomprehensible whispers. The strange and alien sounds that danced at the edge of her consciousness disturbed her, but the mare paid them no mind. Then came the music. As Lyra carefully rounded a corner, the whispers exploded into a cacophony of discordant, piped notes that despite their disharmonious wail also resonated perfectly. Sounds utterly opposed to one another mingled, danced, and merged together into blasphemous chords. Lyra prided herself on her musical ability, but this music was wrong in a way she could put neither to thought nor to words. It was almost pervasive in the manner it wormed into her consciousness, echoing within her mind in such a way that it grew no quieter after Lyra had jammed her hooves over her ears. And despite her having ceased moving forward, it was growing louder. Lyra kept her eyes and ears shut tight, even as she sensed the thing approach. She could feel it as it grew closer, even as its piping grew louder in her mind; she did not know why. She could only shiver in the fear of this unknown thing as it came to a stop before her. Lyra waited… and waited… and waited, for what seemed like an eternity and yet she knew was only a few moments, waited for this thing before her to move, to attack, to flee, to do something, anything else. She could take it no longer. Lyra opened her eyes.