The scratching of a quill broke the early morning silence as Twilight read off her questing checklist.
"Saddlebags? Check. Camping gear? Check. Bedroll? Check. Book detailing flora and fauna native to the Everfree Forest? Check. Extra study material? Check. First aid kit? Check. Food rations?" Twilight glanced at the supplies on the table in her room, noting the absence of foodstuffs. She circled "Food rations," making a mental note to stop by the royal pantry before leaving as she moved down the list.
"Okay, what's next? Write letter to Spike telling him I will be gone for a few more days? Check. Send aforementioned letter?" Another circled item. "I'll have Celestia send it to him."
Twilight levitated all the items except Spike's letter into the saddlebags before securing the unwieldy mass on her back. She would stop by the kitchen first, then talk to Celestia and hopefully be able to round up Lyra in time to leave at 7:54, according to the schedule she had laid out last night before going to bed.
As she trotted towards the royal kitchens, Twilight noted an earth pony cleaning up a pile of nougat from yesterday's shenanigans involving the guards and Lyra. I hope she can keep a lid on Discord's magic. It wouldn't do for her to lose control while rescuing Luna. It might even throw us off schedule, she thought worriedly as she made her way through the castle.
Lyra crept behind the earthen embankment in the practice area of the training grounds. Celestia was on the opposite side, practicing what appeared to be fighting stances, throwing kicks at a training dummy in front of her. As far as Lyra could see, she had managed to get into position completely undetected.
Lyra cast her gaze around the trench, noticing a neatly stacked pile of stones to her left. Each of the stones was quite substantial in size, ranging from cantaloupe to small market stall in size. A slightly manic grin stretched across her face as she hefted a trio of stones, each the size of her head, in her magical aura. Nodding approvingly, she peeked over the embankment at the princess. Celestia appeared to still be focused on her hoof-to-hoof combat practice.
In one fluid motion, Lyra leaped over the embankment and silently hurled the group directly at the princess. Celestia's horn flared and all three stones were slightly deflected, one whizzing directly past her ear.
Lyra snorted in frustration, the advantage of surprise obviously lost. With an exaggerated wave of her horn, she levitated a small flotilla of stones from the pile.
"Down with the solar tyrant!" she trumpeted as she started flinging the stones in rapid succession. Celestia whirled around and smoothly dodged projectile after projectile. The solar princess caught up one of the larger rocks flung at her and shot it through a tightly grouped volley of stones, deflecting all but one of them. The alicorn turned to give the remaining rock a well-timed buck, smashing the watermelon-sized behemoth into rubble.
As Lyra slowed to catch her breath, Celestia took the opportunity to blow a rasberry at her would-be attacker.
"Oh, you asked for it!" The enraged unicorn grabbed up the largest stone she could lift with her magic. She roared as she broke into a full sprint, drawing the boulder back in order to fling the monstrous thing directly at the princess. Too late, she noticed a purple unicorn teleporting directly into her path. Lyra cried out in shock as she felt herself being levitated back, thrown against the opposite wall and pinned there by a cloud of hostile magic.
Twilight had been trotting around the castle looking for the princess when she heard a series of thuds coming from the training grounds. Hmm, that's odd. Usually the guards are done with their morning training by now.
A muffled yell of "Down with the solar tyrant!" blasted from the other side of the door. accompanied by a terrifying cacophony of shattering stones. Twilight wasted no time in charging through the double doors to the training room, tearing the doors off their hinges with a surge of magic in time to see a crazed-looking Lyra charging the princess with a fleet of hovering rocks. Heading the hovering stones was a shockingly large granite boulder. Granted, it wasn't as large as Tom, but it would still be more than enough to mortally wound anypony.
Time seemed to slow as Twilight willed herself in front of her beloved mentor. With a powerful burst of magic, she smacked the boulder into the ground a scant ten hooves in front of her. The rock pushed the dirt around it into a ring as it was forced nearly entirely into the ground. With another surge she caught up Lyra in her magic and forcefully repelled her away as she shielded Celestia from the rest of the projectiles.
She should have known that Lyra was too dangerous to be trusted with Discord's magic! What should they do now that she had openly attacked the princess? Would they be capable of containing her? Did they have enough guards to keep Lyra subdued?
"Twilight? What are you—" the shocked princess started to say.
"Hurry, Princess! I have her bound at the moment! Get my brother and he should be able to keep her contained with a shield spell while we figure out what to do."
"Twili—"
A bead of sweat rolled down Twilight’s face as her mind raced frantically through options, her magic still steadfastly pinning Lyra to the wall. "I think if you give me enough time I should be able to find a binding spell that will be able to hold her at bay. I need to be able to get to the library and find Spells of Holding and Restraint, so you will need to get some guards here to make sure she doesn't try anything."
"I really don't thin—"
"I'm sorry, I should have known better than to leave her unattended by herself like this. I thought she wouldn't be dangerous. I really should have investigated more into this before—"
"Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight stopped short at Celestia's use of the Royal Canterlot Voice. "Yes, Princess?"
"Would you please set Lyra down?"
"But—"
"Now."
Twilight wilted, and Lyra floated down to the ground, collapsing once Twilight released her magic. Lyra proceeded to cough for a few seconds and gasped for breath in order to form a reply. "Has everypony decided that Lyrabuse has become a valid form of entertainment?"
Celestia watched the two mares, her posture the perfect image of composure. She cleared her throat and started to explain the situation. "Lyra and I decided to perform combat practice with each other. It has been a while since I have brushed up on my sparring skills, and Lyra liked the idea of learning how to fight. She mentioned something about 'expanding her horizons.' By the way, Lyra, that was an interesting plan of attack. I would personally recommend learning a cloaking spell of some kind if you want to use guerrilla tactics, but it was a commendable effort. I would also say go for smaller rocks if you plan on using projectiles. Speed is more valuable than strength in your case.
“Also, you noticed how easy it was for Twilight to incapacitate you while you were focused on attacking me. You need to learn how to keep aware of your surroundings. Never become focused to the point of excluding other pieces of information."
Lyra wheezed out an affirmation in reply to Celestia's criticism, and the princess turned to a properly shame-faced Twilight.
"As for you, Twilight, I appreciate the fact that you are willing to jump to my aid so quickly, but you must learn to take in all the facts before jumping into action. A poorly thought-out reaction can do more harm than good to certain situations. For example, we were practicing on the training grounds. Not only that, but there was a sign on the door." Celestia gestured with a wing to the door laid flat on the ground next to them. "Would you be so kind as to read the sign to me?"
Twilight walked over to the door and read the sign. "Caution: Training Exercise in Progress." A crimson hue spread across her face as she turned back to the princess.
"As for your style of defense, it was effective, but crude. Given your aptitude towards magic, it would probably suit you to learn some combat-ready spells."
Twilight nodded, keeping her eyes trained on the ground in front of her. Celestia cleared her throat and made her way to the door. "Now, if you two would come with me, we have much to discuss before you leave to retrieve my sister."
After about an hour of preparations, Celestia had finally sent Twilight and Lyra on their way, supplying them with a pair of royal guards and a chariot to escort them to the edge of the Everfree Forest.
Lyra shifted her saddlebags, trying to seat the excess weight somewhere that didn't ache after five minutes. Twilight sat on the other side of the chariot, looking over the railing.
"So... how's the 'imbued with the power of the spirit of chaos' thing working out for you?" Twilight ventured awkwardly.
"Okay, I guess. The princess decided to help me by binding Discord's magic so it wouldn't show up in bad moments." Lyra couldn't be sure, but it looked like Twilight relaxed a little at that statement. "It doesn't completely negate his magic, and it kind of interferes with mine so I can't do a lot more than simple levitation at the moment, but it serves its purpose well enough."
"Ah, that explains why you smell... crispy."
"Crispy?"
"Yeah. Celestia has a tendency to put too much power into her spells. She's a great spellcaster, but when you have the strength to move the sun it's hard to judge when enough is enough. When too much power is put into a spell, it is reverted into a more natural form, most commonly heat. Your fur probably just got a little singed is all."
At that, Lyra started sniffing at herself. "Is it really that bad?"
"No, it's just barely noticeable. I remember the smell from when she was teaching me how to do magic."
"Oh, okay." Lyra stretched out slightly. "It is nice, though, not having to worry about accidentally turning the chariot into a pie at any moment."
"You can say that again." Twilight fidgeted with her book for a few seconds. "How do you feel?"
"A little tired, but good. Since Celestia cast that spell on me, it doesn't burn anymore. It feels more like an all-over itch than anything right now. Nothing I can't handle.
"So, why can't the chariot take us all the way to wherever we are going again?"
Twilight sighed. "I told you, the weather in the Everfree Forest is too unpredictable to allow for flying above tree level. We could get hit by lightning or caught in a microburst, and besides, the forest is kind of strange."
"Strange how?"
"You can't get anywhere in the Everfree Forest unless you do it from the ground. Back during the first ‘eternal night incident,’ Nightmare Moon cast a spell over the area she controlled. One of the effects of the spell made it so anyone who flew over the area would be completely lost until they landed. There were a bunch of other designs of the spell that made the entire area surrounding the ancient castle uninhabitable by ponies. When Nightmare Moon was banished, the entire area was abandoned, eventually becoming the forest we know today.
“Many of the spell's effects still linger, which is why we can't fly directly to the castle. Both princesses have tried to break the spell covering the area but so far they have been unsuccessful. They believe the spell has been tied to a particular object within the castle, which is why the spell hasn't dissipated entirely over the last millennium. No one is willing to go into the castle ruins to find out what has been enchanted with the spell.
“An unintended effect of the enchantment has been that a lot of odd, magical creatures are drawn to the Everfree Forest and plants there have a tendency to exhibit unnatural characteristics. Some plants are even known to actively alter magical fields within their immediate vicinity. Some effects include..."
Twilight trailed off as she realized Lyra had dozed off. She huffed and turned around, looking over the edge of the chariot again. "Some ponies don't know how to appreciate the value of knowledge."
Bon-Bon had a great time at the hard candy convention in Baltimare. In fact, she had spent a few days more there than she had planned once she found a couple friends from Los Pegasus who had attended as well. They had spent most of the time catching up and swapping recipes until the early hours of the morning.
Ahh, that was a very worthwhile time, Bon-Bon thought to herself as she trotted up the lane to where she and Lyra shared an apartment. Still, there is no feeling like returning to a nice comfortable bed. Home swee—
Bon-Bon stopped short in front of her house. The entire front wall was charred and blackened. It had apparently been this way for at least a couple days. That was nothing compared to the yard, though. The grass had been scorched black, and there was a crater in the center of the yard surrounding a small circle of pristine grass.
"Okay, okay, calm down, Bon-Bon," she reassured herself. "At least your garden looks intact." She carefully nudged a slightly blackened rose bush to confirm its well-being. The bush disintegrated into a pile of ash with a gentle poof. Panic rising in her heart, she checked the rest of the plants, each similarly collapsing into little clumps of soot.
"What happened here?!" Bon-Bon cantered around the toroid in the earth. "Four hoofprints near the crater? Magical residue around the circle?"
Bon-Bon looked at a familiar imprint in the bench. "Smudged soot on the back of the bench?"
She threw her hooves up and raged to the sky: "Lyyyyyyyyyyyyyraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"