“That’s a wrap everypony! Well done, and same time next week,” the conductor lowered his baton while closing the sheet music book, drawing a cheer from the whole orchestra. With Hearth’s Warming Eve being the day after tomorrow, everyone was excited to visit family and friends.
“Hey Lyra, what are your plans for Hearth’s Warming Eve?” the lead Cellist, Octavia Philharmonica, asked as she approached Lyra who was currently seated in the back ranks of the string section alongside a large, beautifully carved harp that she had be relegated to playing. Normally Lyra would be playing her lyre, and as such be seated very close to her dear friend, but the current works the orchestra was performing had no need of a lyre, but instead had several call outs for the larger harp.
“Oh, not sure, Octavia. Bon-Bon and I will probably hit Club Pon3 tonight, then tomorrow just spend the day at home enjoying the peace and quiet. What about you? I figure Vinyl has some crazy party planned.” Lyra asked as she levitated her sheet music into her saddlebags while looking at her friend. Octavia’s smile dropped at the mention of a party with Vinyl, and Lyra could tell she hit the nail on the head.
“Well, unfortunately yes. Vinyl has invited a few of her friends from the club over for a party, but thankfully I will be absent. Tomorrow morning I am catching the first train to Canterlot to visit the relatives. I just hope I have a home to return to when I get back,” she said, half jokingly. Vinyl was famous around Ponyville for having parties that rivaled Pinkie Pie's, and when those two paired up it was something for the history books. Club Pon3 itself owed it’s success to a combined efforts of the pink earth pony and unicorn DJ. The party that had opened the club lasted thirty six hours and had both princesses as registered attendants. Surprisingly, Luna turned out to be the more widely accepted pony. This wasn't much of a surprise given that the club was mostly open at nights, so all the night owls had been there. Princess Luna still tried to visit the club at least once a week, as long as it did not interfere with her royal duties.
“I’m sure things will be just fine. Vinyl might throw some wild parties, but she wouldn’t risk your home.” Lyra assured her friend as they both walked towards the exit of the performance hall. The snowfall outside was light, but consistent. As such, everypony walking by the hall was bundled up in winter wear to fight off the cold.
"This is true, but it doesn't lessen my worry. Vinyl wouldn't intentionally risk my home, but when she gets a few too many ciders inside her, sometimes she doesn't think quite like she should." Octavia commented, obviously thinking back to some incident that Lyra had no idea about.
"But in either case, I am sure it will be fine. Besides, she makes enough bits with her club to cover whatever she might damage."
"That's the way to look at it!" Lyra said, patting her hoof against Octavia's shoulder, gaining an annoyed look from the grey mare. It was no secret that Octavia didn't like being touched, most likely due to her time being brought up in Canterlot where she had to be 'A proper mare' and all that. Luckily Lyra knew her from grade school before she moved, so she got away with a lot that others could not when it came to the cellist.
"Well, I'm sure Bon-Bon is getting worried so I should be headed home. She always freaks out when we have a large snow come through." Lyra explained as she headed towards the house that she shared with her childhood friend Bon-Bon. Octavia simply smiled and waved goodbye as she started off in her own direction, wondering what chaos her DJ roommate had left for her already.
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"I'm home!" Lyra called out as she opened the door to the home she shared with her childhood friend Bon-Bon. Bon-Bon was clearly home as a fire was roaring in the front room fireplace, surrounded by various Hearth Warming decorations. The warmth of the fire drew Lyra towards it as she used her magic to hang up her scarf and music case. Once things were put away, she paused to figure out where her friend was.
"Bon-Bon!" Calling out, Lyra looked around the room for a note. They both knew not to leave the house with a fire started, but maybe something happened and Bon-Bon hadn't had a chance to put it out before leaving.
"I'm up here!" A voice traveled down the stairs, drawing Lyra's attention. It sounded like Bon-Bon was up in the storage room, but that didn't make any sense. When they had moved in, all the spare stuff they owned that had no place in the current house was simply put in the extra bedroom and promptly forgot about, so why would Bon-Bon suddenly be up there? Walking upstairs, Lyra approached and peaked into the room. Before her lay Bon-Bon on the ground, surrounded by books and pictures.
"What's all this?" Lyra asked, approaching the pictures and levitating one up to her. Her confusion was replaced with a gentle smile as she examined the picture. In it, Bon-Bon, Rarity, and Lyra were all gathered around a camp fire from a trip when they were about to graduate from Ponyville Elementary. Their parents had taken them on a camping trip as a reward (though Rarity hadn't been as excited as the others), and naturally many pictures were taken. Bon-Bon spoke up, pulling Lyra out of her memory of the past.
"I was looking for an old decoration I used to have and found a box of pictures. I hope you don't mind, as it was one of your boxes, but when I saw these pictures, I had to look through them. Some of your old school work is there as well." Bon-Bon explained, motioning to a pile of notebooks beside stacks of photos.
"Wow, I had forgotten all about this box. Let's see what we have." The stack of books were encompassed by a turquoise glow and floated towards the unicorn. As she sat down, she started flipping through them by hoof.
"Let's see. Looks like sheet music, sheet music, math homework, history..." Lyra slowly started mumbling as she progressed through the stack. It was amazing she had kept so much of her work. Some of it went back to before she had her cutie mark.
"These pictures are amazing. You should frame some of them. They could really help make this place feel more homey." Bon-Bon suggested as she held a few photos in each hoof. When no answer was forthcoming from her friend, she turned and saw Lyra had stopped looking through the books and was staring at one book in particular. Bon-Bon couldn't see the book, but if the look on Lyra's face was to be believed, it was something important.
"Is everything ok?" Bon-Bon asked, pulling her friend from whatever thoughts she had been entertaining. Lyra snapped her eyes to her friend and just stared for a moment before a smile formed on her face.
"Oh, it's fine. Just found an old journal of mine and made me think of times as a little filly." Lyra explained vaguely. Bon-Bon was about to ask her to elaborate more when the unicorn stood up with the book in a magical grasp.
"I think I am going to go read through this book. I seem to remember some silly adventures I might have wrote about." Lyra said then left the room, leaving a confused Bon-Bon laying alone on the floor.
"What was that about?"
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Lyra entered her room and closed the door, locking it with a simple thought as she approached her bed. Taking a moment to get comfortable on it, she opened the book and flipped a third of the way through for where she thought the old entry might have been.
"Let's see, if I remember correctly, it would be around here somewhere." Mumbling to herself, Lyra searched for the entry in question. The memory was faint, as though a dream she might have been recalling, but seeing this journal again reminded her that these memories were real. Soon enough, she found exactly what she was looking for and started reading the words she had written as a child.
Today I continued researching Humans at the library during recess. I think the librarian is getting tired of me coming by all the time, though I bet it is because I leave a mess. She's nice enough though to let me keep my table as I want, considering no other students really use the library.
That doesn't matter though, because today I got something much better than books to research with! A human appeared today in the library! A REAL HUMAN! He said his name was Silver and he is from some other world. I'm not sure how he got here, and he tried to explain it, but I think their magic is different from ours. This must be what Starswirl the Bearded was talking about in his book!
He seems like a nice colt, but for now I don't know much about him. We were interrupted by a teacher and he returned to his world before being caught. He said he would come back, and I hope he does. This could really be the breakthrough I need in my research!
Lyra finished reading the entry with a shocked look on her face. As she read it, she could remember more about her childhood friend. They hadn't known each other long, which is part of the reason she hadn't even recalled him until now, but this journal was proof that he existed and wasn't some dream.
"Silver...it's been over ten years." The time had passed so quickly it seemed, and in all these years Silver had never returned. Perhaps something happened. If she recalled correctly, he left because of war. Had he died? She didn't even know how long humans lived. Perhaps he grew old and died already.
'I have to dig through those boxes. Maybe I kept my research from when I was a filly.' Trying to recall if she ever actually stored it away was drawing a blank. She had been a studious filly, and now that she was grown, perhaps she would spot something she overlooked as a child. Lyra idly turned a few pages as she thought about this when a new entry caught her eye.
Today Silver and I entered the Everfree again. My parents keep telling me it is dangerous, but with Silver's magic combined with my own ability, we are more than safe. We haven't even come across anything other than a baby timberwolf. Silver moved to attack, but I stopped him. Apparently there are wolves in his world as well, and some of them can turn into humans. Can you imagine that, a creature than turns from one animal to another?!
Anyway, I explained that it was just a pup and no threat, so Silver backed off. The cub followed us for a little bit before turning and jumping back into the forest. For such a vicious creature, they sure are adorable when they are young.
As we explored, we came across the ruins of some old castle! There were a couple of statues of two ailcorns at the gate, but I didn't recognize them. Unfortunately it was getting late, so Silver and I had to return. Maybe next week we can go explore further into the ruins. I can't imagine what treasure could lay inside for us to find!
Lyra was still friends with Rarity and had heard about the fight with Nightmare Moon, when the Elements of Harmony were recovered. Rarity had explained that they had traveled to "an ancient castle of the royal pony sisters" as some book had put it, and found the Elements inside. This must have been that castle!
"Wait, so I found it first! Apparently we totally should have gone inside." Lyra joked with herself as she kept reading. A knock at the door pulled her attention.
"Lyra, we are supposed to meet everyone at the club soon! You still reading that journal, or are you ready to go!" Bon-Bon yelled from behind the door. Lyra realized she had spent way to much time reading and needed to get ready.
"Just a few minutes. I'll head down when I'm ready." Lyra answered as she rolled out of bed to prepare. As she brushed her hair and got ready for the club, her eyes kept falling on her journal.
"I'm definitely going to have to read some more when we get back." Lyra thought, finally finishing her prep and heading down to meet her friend.
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The silence that had long sense fallen over the home was shattered as the front door bust open, casting moonlit shadows of two close friends into the living room.
"Ah Yeah! Pon3 destroyed it tonight!" Bon-Bon shouted as she and Lyra walked into their home, using each other as support. The club had been as wild and fun as they had expected, and after Vinyl's time at the DJ booth, the group of friends all partied and had perhaps one to0 many drinks from the bar while a new DJ took over for the rest of the night.
Bon-Bon had been out with a mission to empty the bar of all its booze as best as Lyra could tell, given how much the normally reserved pony had drank. As such, Lyra was stuck with the job of helping the intoxicated pony make it home safe. This didn't bother her though, since every year the two of them would go party a couple of days before Hearth Warming, and last year Lyra had been the one to get drunk. This year, it seemed to be Bon-Bon's turn to suffer during Hearth Warming Eve.
Lyra knew she herself had drank more than she intended, but when they first arrived and Bon-Bon got an entire bottle of Sweet Apple Acre's Zap Apple Cider, Lyra knew it was her turn to ease off. Few alcohols in Equestria had the kick that Zap Apple Cider had, and as she had expected, Bon-Bon was in no condition to guide them home.
Although she did drink her fair share, Lyra had another reason for not wanting to get as drunk as they normally did. The journal from earlier was on her mind all night, and she was excited to get to read some more of it. This was her guiding thought as she lead her drunken roommate to her room, mindlessly responding to whatever incoherent things Bon-Bon spouted. Once she was next to her bed, a swift bump with her flank knocked Bon-Bon over and the drunken mare was out as soon as her head hit the pillow. A short pause and snoring was the only sound from the room.
"Goodnight, Bons. Have fun tomorrow." Lyra spoke, knowing good and well Bon-Bon wouldn't hear it at all, nor would she have a good day tomorrow. Walking from the room with a smirk on her face, Lyra closed the door and hurried to her own room as fast as she trusted her own hoofs and jumped into bed, reaching over to grab the journal to read another entry.
Today sucked. Silver had to leave and I don't know when he will return. His land is at war, and he is a weapon for his ruler. He promised he would be careful, so hopefully soon he should return, but with war there is no telling. I don't want to think about this anymore, so I'm done with this journal until he signals me again for a visit. Hopefully it won't be too long.
The entry was short, and some parts of the page were discolored as though it had gotten damp. Lyra didn't have to wonder why. She had been crying when she wrote this. She tried to remember more about Silver, but her memory was hazy at best on most of this. She hadn't even remembered Silver until this journal showed up again. Unfortunately, Silver himself never showed up again, meaning most likely he hadn't survived the war.
That thought surprised her with how much it hurt. She hadn't had to deal with a death close to her, thank Celestia, so the thought that a childhood friend was dead came as a big shock. Knowing that he likely died in a war made the pain worse. Lyra looked up from her old journal and gazed out the window to the star filled sky, recalling what she could of her time hanging out with Silver when she was younger. Once again, after years of being left alone, tears fell onto the pages of the journal as Lyra traveled down her memories.
After a few minutes of quiet thought, Lyra shook her head to clear it of as many depressing memories she could. Wiping her tears away with her hoof, she forced a smile to her face in an attempt to lighten the weight on her heart. A final memory did surface though: the way she used to communicate with Silver. Her forced smile became genuine as she recalled the energy she would send into the link the two shared via her own cutie mark. Closing her eyes, she lowered her horn and sent a very faint pulse of magic, the same way she recalled as a filly, though the connection. Silver hadn't survived whatever war he had been fighting, but at least she could say goodbye.
'Hopefully his side won the war. At least his death wasn't in vain then.' Lyra closed the book and placed it in her nightstand before turning off the lights to lay down, her thoughts on the human from her past.
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Lyra shot up from the bed as something pulled her attention. The adrenaline from whatever it was woke her instantly as she looked around her room. The light from the moon shone clearly through her window, revealing nothing out of place. It also revealed that she had only been asleep for a couple of hours.
"Must have been a dream. Damn cider..." Lyra plopped backwards onto her pillow before twisting into a more comfortable position to sleep. Slowly her eyes drifted closed as she returned to whatever dream had awoken her.
Then she felt it again.
A small shock to her side, causing her to sit up rapidly again. It felt like someone was tickling her, or her muscles where just tensing rapidly for no reason. Rubbing at her side with a hoof to try and stop whatever it was seemed to help.
"I hate when that happens." Lyra mumbled as she laid down, hoping her muscles would relax and stop tensing. As her eyes started to close, she absently glanced to her nightstand where she had stored her journal.
Wait!
Hopping up again, she reached into the stand and yanked out the book. Without even opening, she started thinking harder about her childhood, as though the book would make things clearer.
"It can't be. He had to have died." Trying to decide if it was possible that he survived, she felt the odd effect again. This time she didn't question it. She was getting the signal, so now she had to do her part.