Truthseeker

by RB_


Reports Greatly Exaggerated

Lyra spun around and tried not to gag from the memory.

Hollyleaf!? It can’t—she can’t—I watched her die! This is impossible!

Pinkie came out from the back, balancing a tray on her back. “Here you go, Lyra! One vanilla milkshake, and two—”

She stopped and took a closer look at Lyra’s face. “Uh, Lyra? You don’t look so good. You’re turning green!”

She giggled. “Well, green-er.”

Lyra grabbed Pinkie’s head and pulled it close. “Behind me, two booths to my right,” she whispered. “Who is that?”

Pinkie peered over Lyra’s shoulder. “Hmm… Oh, you mean Zigzag! She’s new in town—oh my gosh, you two haven’t met yet! I have to introduce you!”

“Pinkie, wait!” Lyra hissed, but it was too late; Pinkie had already hopped over the counter.

“Zigzag! Wait just a second!” Pinkie called out; ’Zigzag’ flinched. She grabbed the mare by the hoof and pulled her over to the counter. “Zigzag, this is my friend, Lyra Heartstrings!”

“Nice to meet you,” Zigzag said, extending a hoof.

Lyra took a deep breath. Play it cool, Lyra. Like Bonnie would.

“Nice to meet you too,” she said. She didn’t offer a hoof of her own. “Have we met before? You look a bit familiar.”

“No, never,” the mare said—a lie. Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Are you alright? You look as if you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“Maybe I have,” Lyra said, forcing a smile. She really hoped the mare couldn’t hear her heartbeat, because to her it sounded like a woodpecker playing a bass drum. “So, what brings you to Ponyville, Zigzag? Personal visit, or..?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that. I’m a reporter,” Zigzag said with a smile of her own. “I’m doing a story on Ponyville. Not many ponies know this town as anything other than where Twilight Sparkle lives, but I’m hoping to change that.”

Lyra shivered. There hadn’t been a single shred of truth in that entire statement.

“Well, that’s wonderful. I’ve been living here for almost six years now, and I can honestly say it’s one of the nicest places in Equestria.”

“Oh, well maybe I could interview you then?” Zigzag said. “One-on-one? It would be a big help for my article…”

Lyra swallowed.  “No, I can’t today, I have plans.”

“Oh, that’s too bad; maybe some other time, then. Anyway, I have to go compile my notes. It was nice meeting you again!”

As Zigzag walked away, Lyra let the smile she’d been holding drop from her features, replaced by a frown.

“Again, huh? I’ll bet.”

“What was that all about?” Pinkie asked.

Lyra exhaled. “Pinkie, we’ve got trouble.”

─────

Lyra knocked once, twice, three times on the inn room’s door.

“Just a minute!” came a voice from inside, muffled slightly by the door. A moment later, the lock clicked open and the door swung inwards.

“Ah, Lyra Heartstrings,” Zigzag said. “Here for your interview? I thought you had plans?”

“Plans change,” Lyra said. “Can I come in?”

“Of course.”

Lyra lingered in the doorway for just a moment more before stepping into the room and pushing the door shut behind her.  She cast a glance around; the room looked barely lived in, aside from an area in the corner of the room in which a tarp had been laid down. A single flowerpot occupied the center of the tarp, and growing out of it, a creeping plant with red leaves. A loose pile of clippings laid around the pot.

“You’ll have to excuse the mess,” Zigzag said as she walked over to the tarp, “I was just in the middle of tending to my plant here.” She picked up a pair of pruning shears in her magic.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Lyra said, trying her best to keep her eyes forward.

“Oh, I’m not surprised; it’s rather exotic,” she said as she brought the shears up to one of the longer branches. “It was very difficult to acquire, and it needs constant maintenance.” Snip. The offending branch fell to the ground. “Makes for a wonderful hobby, though; I have several more back in my home. Now, sit down. We have a lot to talk about.”

“Yes, we do.” Lyra made no motion to sit. “I know who you are, Hollyleaf.”

“Hollyleaf?” the mare said. “Which one was… oh, right, the florist!” She laughed. “Well, I was at one point, yes. How could you tell?”

“That’s none of your concern,” Lyra said.

“Oh come on, you can’t expect me to give up my secrets if you won’t give up yours, can you?”

Snip.

“How are you here, Hollyleaf? I watched you die. They had to carry your remains away in a bucket.”

The mare grinned. “I have my ways. Surely, it can’t be too hard to figure out, at least in a general sense. Though, perhaps I’d be expecting a bit much.”

Seeing she wasn’t going to get anywhere on that line of questioning, Lyra tried something else. “What are you doing here?”

“Sight-seeing.”

Lyra stomped her hoof against the wooden floor. “Don’t lie to me! What are you doing in Ponyville? Why are you doing this? What do you want?”

“What do I want?” Hollyleaf said.

Snip.

“I just want what was denied to me, that’s all.”

“And what would that be?”

She smiled. “Life.”

Lyra took a hesitant step back. “Life?”

She nodded. “Mhm. It’s something you only really start to appreciate when you’re running out of it. You’ll understand soon enough.”

“What do you mean?”

Hollyleaf stood up, her shears rising with her in her magical grasp. “You have to understand, Lyra Heartstrings, I don’t like doing things like this.”

She took a step towards Lyra, and Lyra, eyes like saucers, took a step away from her.

“But I have things I need to do, and ponies I need to see, and I can’t have you interfering with that. You’re so good at it, after all.”

Hollyleaf held the shears ahead of her like a dagger. The light glinted off their sharp steel point, aimed directly at Lyra.

Lyra took another step back. Her hoof hit a wall.

“If it’s any consolation,” Hollyleaf said, raising her weapon into the air, “I’m sorry. Goodbye, Lyra Heartstrings.”

She brought the shears down.

“I don’t think so!”

A tone, like the first notes of a birdsong, rang through the air. The shears froze in midair, halfway through their fatal descent, then flew across the room and embedded themselves point-first into the wall.

Hollyleaf spun around to face the source of the voice: Pinkie Pie, standing in the corner of the room with Winter Bell sitting on her back.

“Surprise!”

Hollyleaf’s eyes grew wide. “You!? How—”

“They’ve been here the whole time,” Lyra said.

Pinkie grinned, with all eight of her mouths. “Perception filters: great for surprise parties, and for catching mysterious ponies off guard!”

Lyra got off the wall and walked towards Hollyleaf, forcing her into the middle of the room. “I’m not stupid, Hollyleaf. I wasn’t going to come here alone. I just wanted answers.”

“Oh, I didn’t think you’d come alone,” Hollyleaf said, “I just hadn’t expected the notice-me-not enchantment, nor did I think Pinkie Pie would be among your backup. What are you, Pinkie? A channeler? Earth pony enchanter? Potions-brewer?”

 “Nope, nope, nope!” Pinkie said with a giggle. “Your turn.”

Hollyleaf grimaced. “In any case, you’re all more resourceful than I thought. But, unfortunately for you…”

Her horn lit up. Behind her, the pile of plant clippings glowed with a matching aura. Three stalks in particular shot out, winding together into a ring around Hollyleaf’s horn, leaves pointing outwards like a crown.

“I’m pretty resourceful, myself!”

The light around Hollyleaf’s horn suddenly shifted colours, darkening to match the plant’s leaves. Her eyes took on a similar hue.

Sound filled the room as Winter Bell did her thing. Hollyleaf locked in place, held by Bell’s invisible grasp. It didn’t last long. Hollyleaf’s horn glowed brighter, and with a pained shout the little filly fell backwards, her magic abruptly silenced in a flash of angry red.

“Hmm… still not as powerful as I used to be, even with this,” she murmured. “Curse this feeble excuse for a unicorn. Still, it’s enough.”

“What are you—” Lyra started to shout.

Pinkie was already diving forward. “Lyra, get back—” her topmost mouth said, while the others began saying something in an unrecognizable tongue.

Winter Bell, for her part, had already gotten to her hooves and begun to channel, a low note reverberating from her tiny body.

None of them were fast enough.

“It’s been fun!” Hollyleaf said. Her horn flashed.

And then everything exploded.