Vinyl & Octavia’s home, Ponyville, Sunday 10:25pm
The three mares were studying the blueprint they got from Sweet Pea at Vinyl’s work room since it was the only one in the house that was completely soundproof.
At first it seemed like a normal factory under construction, but for some reason it had two basements instead of one. This detail was reported as an addition for extra storage room but it could be used for some more obscure business.
“So we have a possible location but not much more” mumbled Vinyl thoughtful.
Octavia shook her head.
“What worries me isn’t that we could be wrong, on the contrary, what if we’re right? What if we have the right place and Sweet Pea is waiting along with his team of unicorns? Even with the four of us we can’t win this”
Bon-Bon smiled sadly to her friends.
“No girls, I’m going all by myself”
The two mares looked at Bon-Bon as she was crazy.
“What the hay is wrong with you?!” Shouted Octavia.
Vinyl just nodded in agreement.
“Bonnie, pal, you’re one of the best agents on the field and all, but are you out of your mind? I mean, I don’t think that Sweet Pea will be too happy to see you if you just show up there”
Bon-Bon just grinned.
“No, of course he will, because I won’t present myself as agent Sweetie Drops of the Secret Service, but as Bon-Bon; Lyra’s special somepony who is desperately looking for the love of her life”
Vinyl chuckled nervously.
“Okay now I kinda’ see why Celestia didn’t want you to take care of this. However, do you realize if we don’t stop this guy he’ll end up doing something far more dangerous that just send Lyra to the human world?”
“Vinyl is right, this is only the beginning”
Bon-Bon nodded slowly and took a deep breath.
This mission was suicidal and she knew it, but she had to find Lyra no matter what. Besides she had the feeling that finding Lyra was the key to defeat the wacko.
“You don’t understand girls, this is the only chance we have to get closer to him and understand what his plan is. You know I’m the only one who can do it, right?”
Octavia shook her head in disbelief but soon enough she winked an eye to Bon-Bon.
“You are completely out of your mind, but also I’m pretty sure that Lyra will do everything to help any of us if the roles were switched. You can count on us”
“Yeah, you can ask us what for anything you need pal!” Jumped excitedly Vinyl.
Bon-Bon looked gratefully at her friends grinning.
“He’s going to find what I’m up to, there’s no doubt of that. So I need you as close as possible to pass you all the information I can collect before it’s too late for me. Also if our partners of the Secret Service find Sweet Pea they’ll spoil the only chance I have to see Lyra again so I need you to keep them as far as possible from us”
“Supposing that our lead is correct” said Vinyl.
Nopony said more and they shook hooves, this mission could cost them their jobs but still they knew their friend would do anything for them as well.
“FOR LYRA!”
Des Moines airport, Iowa; Monday 6:17pm
Lyra sighed unsure what to do next and looked behind, Audrey and her mother were looking at her still worried but Lyra just smiled to them and after examine her boarding pass for the last time, she entered to the building. Following the instructions that the police gave her she approached to the first security employee she found and handed him a letter the cops provided her.
The man examined the letter then Lyra then the letter again to finally indicate the young girl to follow him to a private check room. Once there they checked Lyra and her luggage, an old backpack full of Audrey’s old clothes she gently lent her.
They examined the note for the last time and finally gave Lyra a temporary ID.
“It’s done, sorry for the delay miss; everything seem to be in order. Please present this ID along with your boarding pass and there will be no problem”
Lyra nodded and a guard guided her to gate G-4 to wait for her flight. A flight, she could see the machines she supposed to get into in order to fly to… Philadelphia, her supposed home. Seriously, what she was going to do once it was proven that she had nothing to do with Laura Michakelos? Until now she only followed the directions humans gave her but sooner or later she’ll have to think in a real plan.
Attention all passengers of flight DL958 of Delta Airlines to Chicago and connections; please start boarding, starting by elders, families with little children and members of Club…
Lyra looked at her ticket, it read section C.
Why humans had to be so complicated in such things? No, she just shook her head, it wasn’t the time to think about it; right now she had to concentrate in her plan. What to do next? It wasn’t like she could instantly go back to Equestria without her magic so she was forced to stay in the human world. What could she do? She knew how to play the lire and fight but that didn’t seem useful.
Before she could notice they were calling for passengers of section C so she quickly entered to the machine. What to do next, what to do next? That question was running in her head over and over.
Once Lyra was inside the machine she looked for her seat, that was next to a human a little older than her; it was a male, beige hair with green eyes.
He just received Lyra with a huge smile that she somehow managed to answer and sat without a word. The paternity test was going to fail obviously, after all she was a unicorn playing to be human stuck in the human world. So what she could expect?
“Ey, are you gonna be alright? Cause’ last thing I need I you throwing me up during the flight”
Lyra looked at him.
“I-I’ll be fine, thank you”
“You don’t look like it. First time flying?”
Lyra took half a second to process that question, throwing up, first time flying… yeah, it seemed like an excuse this human could understand.
“No… I’ve flight plenty of times. Just… not in one of these”
“Right, you’re either high or really crazy”
“It was a hot air balloon, okay? Geez!” She said slightly annoyed.
The boy chuckled.
“Okay, okay, I get it; please don’t hit me. To tell you the truth I was also nervous first time I flew but of course I was with my mom and my siblings but that’s not the point. What you need to do is control a little your nerves, okay? Because unless you’re going to Chicago you still have to board one of these”
Lyra took a deep breath and buried her nails on the seat. Great, her anger levels were raising again but she couldn’t practice her earth-pony martial arts in that reduced space. And then the flight attendant began the explanation of the security procedures in case of emergency. Great! Just what she needed for her nerves!
The human noticed this and offered her a magazine.
“Here, take this”
“Sky-Mall?”
“I always look forward to read it. Go on, it’ll help you to calm down a little”
Lyra just took it and began to read. It was practically a catalog of useless stuff like a face for trees; you put it on your trees and they suddenly have a face. Also available in bush size.
She kept reading.
“A hand fitness trainer? What the hay is that supposed to work?”
“No one knows, I bet not even the guy who designed it. Oh, by the way, my name is Paul. Paul Chandler”
“Lyra, just Lyra”
“Just Lyra? Come on, do you actually believe you don’t have a last name?”
The plane began to move.
At the beginning it wasn’t too fast but then it kept accelerating and accelerating and Lyra screamed:
“CELESTIA HELP ME!”
Damn, and she thought the cars were the worst of this world. A flight attendant approached.
“Are you okay miss?”
“We’ll be fine, I take care of this!” Assured Paul.
The woman smiled and left, so Paul offered a small package to Lyra.
“Take this, a little gum for your nerves”
Lyra accepted it and yeah, the chewing gum was exactly what she needed to calm down a little.
“Thanks a lot”
“So you were telling me that you had no last name”
“It’s a long story”
“It’s a long trip to Chicago”
So Lyra gave up and told him everything: about how she woke up in a police station in Des Moines with no memories of her past and from then they made her a DNA test that said she was the long lost daughter of some guy called Thomas Michelakos and that she was in her way to do a paternity test. Of course she omitted the part where she was completely sure that the test would end up negative and how she released her frustration practicing a martial art that humans called Kung-Fu.
“Interesting” said Paul at the end.
Lyra raised an eyebrow, she knew that face.
“You don’t believe me”
“Because it seems like you’re making all that up. You say you’re Thomas Michelakos’ daughter, the Thomas Michelakos. How do you expect me to believe that?”
“So you know my supposed father?”
“Are you kidding?! He’s a local celebrity, and a lot of people…”
“It wasn’t my idea genius; I already have enough problems of my own and… you know what? Forget it, thank you for helping me but I think I’m fine now. Thank you”
“Ey, I didn’t mean to upset you, sorry. Is just that this whole thing is too strange”
“Anyway thank you for helping me Paul”
“No, thank you. You’re the most interesting person I met in a plane. And who knows, if you truly are who you think you are then we’ll probably meet at Philadelphia”
“It wasn’t my idea!”
Paul shrugged and winked an eye to Lyra, and the girl had no clue but smile. Impertinence aside, Paul seemed like a nice dude and she had to admit her attitude was very suspicious.
The plane finally landed and she and Paul got down along with the rest of the passengers. They chatted for a while in the waiting room but when they arrived to the next plane they were on different seats.
The second flight was as awful as the first one but this time she knew what to expect this time so she closed her eyes and waited.
So finally she arrived to Philadelphia.
Lyra god down of the plane dragging her feet, she was tired but she still had her instructions. She gave a second letter to the first security officer she found in the airport who again guided Lyra to a spare checking room. After the tedious check she was then guided by a guard to a brown-haired woman with chocolate-like eyes, a warm smile and a sign that read LAURA.
“So I leave you here miss, I have to go back to my functions” apologized the agent leaving Lyra alone with the woman.
The two of them looked to each other for a while until the woman ran to hug Lyra.
“Laura! Is that really you?”
The green-haired girl didn’t know how to react to this, she just lowered her head but had no clue what to do next.
“That’s the problem, I’m not sure of anything anymore”
The woman gently caressed her face.
“Your eyes…”
“What about them?”
“Nothing, they’re beautiful. So shall we go home?”
Factory under construction, Trottenaghe; Monday 10:14am
Sweet Pea was examining his notes about the human world expecting the moment when his unicorns finally open the portals so he could see the world he dreamed about. And why not? Save his older sister from that monsters, oh his beloved older sister.
And suddenly one of his bodyguards interrupted his thoughts.
“Boss Sweet Pea, we have a visitor” he announced.
Sweet Pea smiled ironically.
“Oh, from the government?”
“We’re not sure. Shall we bring her to you?”
“Please!” Asked Sweet Pea impatiently.
The muscular pony made a small nod and at his sign, his partners pushed a cream-coated mare with a cloth bag on her head. Sweet Pea raised an eyebrow.
“A mare? Did she brought something with her?”
“Just this!” Said one of the henchmen passing a saddlebag to his boss.
Sweet Pea opened it and began to look the content: a make-up kit, some pieces of candy and a wallet. The green stallion opened the wallet paying special attention to the photographs she carried.
Interesting… what? No, no!
“Release her!” Ordered Sweet Pea.
“Boss?”
“You heard me, release her and leave us. That’s an order!”
The bodyguards nodded nervously and obeyed, leaving Bon-Bon alone with Sweet Pea. Once they were far enough he gently took the bag out of her head and offered the mare a hoof.
“I think you and I have to talk Miss Bon-Bon”
The cream-coated mare looked at Sweet Pea pleading.
“So my lead was right! You know where’s Lyra. please, please take me to her; I’ve been looking for her as crazy since she disappeared. You see, she’s my…”
Sweet Pea nodded sadly.
“I know, I saw the photographs in your wallet. I’m terribly sorry for what happened Miss Bon-Bon but I had to do it for doctor Heartstring’s own safety. I can send you to her but as long as Celestia is still looking for us I’m unable to. Sorry I took her for you, I truly am miss Bon-Bon; if I knew you two shared that especial bond I would sent you too”
Bon-Bon sobbed.
“I forgive you mister, but you have to promise me you’ll make send me back to Lyra your top priority”
Sweet Pea looked at the desperation in Bon-Bon’s eyes and bowed to her. This mare was being reckless but she had a good reason to. He bowed to her.
“You have my word as a gentlecolt”