"Lyra?" Bon Bon's voice called from downstairs.
Lyra slowly opened her eyes, the harsh glare of the sun bearing down into the white carpet of her room.
"Lyra!" Bon Bon called again.
Lyra tried to sit up, but her back left hoof was tangled in the bedsheets and she fell with a crash to the floor. "Ow..."
As she turned around to fiddle with the sheet (how the hay did it get that tangled...) the door opened softly, so softly Lyra didn't even hear it.
"Lyra?"
Lyra yelped and fell to her back. She opened her eyes and saw the beige pony staring at her with her adorable blue eyes.
"Lyra, are you alright?"
"Never better." Lyra cracked a grin, happy that she had actually come here to check on her. With a flick of her now-active horn the bedsheet unravelled itself and she stood up.
Bon Bon scoffed, running a hoof over the mint-green mare's mane. "You really need to brush your hair more."
Lyra sighed, simply enjoying the sensation. It wasn't for another second that she realised that Bon Bon had stopped and was walking down the stairs.
"How do pancakes sound for breakfast?"
"Sounds awesome." Lyra trotted behind her, already imagining the soft, airy texture and the rich syrup dribbled all-
SMAK!
Lyra fell to her haunches, having just run into the structural pillar that the architect so-cleverly decided would be good to have sort-of in the way of the stairs. Again.
Bon Bon stifled a giggle. She laughs at everything, Lyra recalled, and she started to giggle as well.
"I shouldn't be laughing, sorry." Bon Bon calmed down, using her teeth to tie up an apron.
"It's fine." Lyra dismissed. "Hey, do you want me to-?"
Bon Bon froze, and shot a panicked look back at her. "You are not helping me this time, Lyra."
"But-"
"Do you know how much that oven cost?"
Lyra paused, then hung her head in shame. "I just wanna feel useful..."
That wasn't completely the case. While Lyra did have an urge to be useful whenever an opportunity arose, she also wanted to prove her skills to Bon Bon, and what better than to help her with cooking.
Unfortunately their last oven didn't survive the aftermath. The toaster survived, albeit with part of the casing melted and/or gone. Just as long as nopony puts paper near the hole it worked perfectly.
"I know you do, Lyra, but... I really don't have the bits right now."
Lyra sighed, taking a seat on one of the couches in their lounge. "Maybe if we sold the TV-?"
"We are not selling the TV, Lyra." Lyra could pick up the humoured tone in her voice.
Lyra giggled. "Relax, Bonny, I was joking."
"Well, if you're that desperate to help, could you run down to the shops and get some eggs? I, uh... Kinda forgot it last time."
Lyra sighed and pushed herself upright, trotting back up to her room. "Alrighty then."
"I'll pay you back." She called back, while Lyra grabbed her wallet and a pair of saddlebags.
"Cool thanks." Lyra nearly leapt down the stairs (Bon Bon winced) and continued to the door. "Free-range as usual?"
Bon Bon nodded. "Now be off with you."
"As thou wishes, milady." Lyra bowed, walking backwards and using her flank to push the door open. "I shall be but a moment."
Lyra smiled, feeling the weight of the carton of eggs against her. As she bit into the chocolate bar in her magic she hummed a tune that came to her mind, simply enjoying the sights of her sort-of quiet home town, Ponyville.
She felt a shiver down her spine as she passed one particular roadway. This roadway, as most ponies around Ponyville knew, lead to an abandoned mansion up the road. It was in a prime area of land, had a large garden that many ponies would maim to have, and so many other useful things about it.
The only reason that it was isolated and wasn't even on the real-estate system was because it was apparently haunted.
Not that Lyra cared.
She continued on back to her home, and once within she (carefully) put the eggs on the counter. "Bon Bon~" She cooed in a silly sort-of-way.
Bon Bon turned her head back. "Hey Lyra." Her eyes flicked to the eggs. "Ah, thanks. Get anything else?"
Lyra at this point realised that she was still holding a chocolate bar in her magic. "Uh, just a bar of chocolate."
Bon Bon made a mock hurt pout. "But... I thought you liked my chocolate better..."
Despite the obviously fake expression, Lyra's brain went into 'oh crap I just hurt her feelings I must rectify" mode, in the 'overdrive is pathetic, try this' stage. "W-well I thought that you'd be too busy making pancakes to make some chocolate and I wanted some and-"
"Lyra, chill." Bon Bon placed a hoof on her shoulder, grinning. "I was just teasing."
Lyra's adrenalin lowered. "R-right, uh..." She coughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of her neck.
Bon Bon's grin dropped into an expression of concern. "Lyra, really, it's ok. You can eat whatever you want."
Lyra managed a weak grin. "Awesome." She blinked, then wrapped her magic around something else in her saddlebag. "I, uh..." Another awkward cough. "I got you one as well. Y'know, if you want it."
Bon Bon's eyes traced the bar of chocolate as it was lifted in front of her. "Dark chocolate, huh?"
"Yeah."
Bon Bon smiled and took the bar in her hoof. "Thanks. I'll have it later, if you don't mind."
Lyra waved her hoof. "Nah, go ahead and eat it when you..." She blinked, looked above Bon Bon's head, and spotted the glowing spectre cowering behind her. "What do you want?"
"Huh?" Bon Bon raised an eyebrow. "Are you talking to me?"
"No, it's that ghost there." Lyra pointed, and Bon Bon looked where the ghost was.
"I can't see anything."
"It's probably got this thing where only some can see it or something." Lyra trotted closer. "Can I help you?"
The ghost lowered its hooves from its face, regarding Lyra with big, puppy-dog eyes.
"Hey, don't worry, I won't hurt you..." Lyra rubbed her chin. "Well, actually, I can't even if I wanted to. What with you being ethereal and all."
The ghost said nothing.
"You got a name?"
The ghost nodded.
"And that would be...?"
The ghost said nothing. Again.
"You mute or something?" Lyra bit into her chocolate again.
The ghost nodded and removed her hooves from around her neck. A great big chunk at the front was missing, but lacked blood. Or the ghost equivalent.
Lyra gagged. "Damnit, I'm trying to eat here! I'm really sorry you lost your throat... somehow... but if you can can you keep it covered?"
The ghost covered her throat again, grinning sheepishly.
Bon Bon sighed. "Either you're mad or you're actually seeing a ghost."
Lyra grabbed a sheet of paper and a quill, and laid it on the counter. "Can you help me write your name?"
The ghost nodded, and with one hoof pressed the tip through the paper. Lyra placed the quill tip where the hoof was. The ghost traced the shape of a capital B, and Lyra followed through. Following that was a r, and i, a g and a h combined, a t, a backward s, another t, an a, and another r.
"Brightstar. Huh."
Bon Bon blinked. "Did she write Brightstar?"
"Yeah, why?"
Bon Bon's face went dark. "You know the legend of Brightstar?"
"Nnnnoooo, should I?" Lyra looked at the ghost, who merely shrugged a response.
"Legend has it that Brightstar was but a young filly, who was born with both a horn and a solitary wing."
Lyra looked at Brightstar. She saw a jagged point from the kid's head, a horn that looked like it had been damaged badly, but no wings. Brightstar nodded.
"She was born into a family of Earth Ponies. The bad types, the ones who don't like unicorns or pegasi."
"Get on with it, Bonny, that isn't making the creepy tale any creepier."
Bon Bon playfully stuck her tongue out and Brightstar grinned. "As I was saying, Brightstar wasn't liked at all by her family and was beaten regularly. She was teased by all of the foals at her school, and generally had a crappy life."
"So..."
"It wasn't until many years ago that she stopped coming to school. A few days after her disappearance her folks stopped coming to town. The mansion they lived in slowly became abandoned, and nopony dared to ever come near."
"Lemme guess, the mansion is that big one up the hill from here?"
"The very same." Bon Bon added a scary inflection to her voice. Were it not for the fact that Lyra was expecting that she would have been utterly freaked out. Bon Bon was that good with her voice.
Instead, she stifled a laugh.
Bon Bon blushed. "Oh come on, Lyra, don't tell me that isn't creepy."
"The voice or the story?"
Bon Bon sighed, pressing her hoof to her face. "Point is, this ghost of yours is a dead nearly-alicorn foal who died mysteriously."
"Eh, I've read about worse concepts." Lyra waved her hoof, then turned to the spectre. "That's a compliment, kid."
Brightstar smiled.
"So, I guess you want me to do something about your deadness, huh?"
Brighstar nodded.
"Alright. I've got nothing better to do and I have a little experience with this sort of thing."
"You do?" Bon Bon asked.
"Don't ask." Lyra used her magic to grab a saddlebag and a whole horde of tools. "Come on, kid, let's go."
Lyra stood at the entrance to the property, regarding the old house. "So, this your place, kid?"
Brightstar nodded and floated forwards. Lyra followed, trying her best to ignore the shivers along her spine. In her current position she could see the torn joint where a wing would have been, a ghostly bone jabbing out the socket.
"We've really gotta get you something to cover your throat up."
Brightstar floated upside-down, nodding in agreement.
"Got any ghost wrappings or something?"
Brightstar raised an eyebrow.
"Ghost wrappings. They're basically ethereal pieces of cloth often left behind by ghosts who have passed on."
Brightstar blinked.
"I know stuff, alright?" Lyra landed a hooffall on one of the wooden steps, which creaked ominously. Lyra froze immediately.
Brightstar looked like she was starting to laugh.
Lyra ignored her and slowly ascended the stairs and trotted across the porch. "How long ago since... whatever happened has it been?"
Brightstar shrugged, and floated through the door. Lyra had to use her magic to open it, but as soon as she moved it aside it came off their hinges and crashed to the floor.
"Damnit."
Lyra trotted slowly forwards, looking along the walls of the building, noticing paintings dating back ages. A lot of them, it seems, were war heroes who had fought against different pony types.
Something snapped underhoof, and she froze.
Brightstar blinked, flying closer to her hooves and looking curiously at whatever was under her hoof.
Lyra looked down slowly, and spotted what looked like a very thin bone.
This bone was attached to a much thicker bone, which connected to a skeletal body lying across the floor. It looked pony... enough. Bits of bone stuck out where bone shouldn't really stick out of. Despite the disturbing distortion to the skull it looked like a mare's skull.
She took a wary step back. "Brightstar, what the heck is that thing?"
Brightstar tried to poke the ribcage, but her hoof passed through. She looked up and shrugged.
Lyra trotted a little closer and examined the body. "Weird..."
Something creaked behind her, and she snapped her head back to see what it was.
"Damnit... This is really freaking me out..."
Brightstar floated on, but froze as she turned a corner. An expression of recognition etched her face.
"What is it, Bright?" Lyra stepped over the body and rounded the corner. And froze too.
Painted against the wall at the end of the hall was a large, ornate, and obviously non-standard arcane circle. In the centre a tiny skeleton lay suspended, its bright yellow horn damaged badly, a pegasus-unique shoulder blade on its left side missing a wing.
"That's... That's you, huh kid?"
Brightstar nodded sombrely.
Lyra trotted up slowly, and using her magic gingerly took the bones off the wall. How they managed to stay in place was beyond her.
"Why of all days do I have to deal with occult rituals? Can't I try and deal with a giant robot? Actually, why can't I just have a normal day?"
She turned around to head back along the hall, carrying the bones softly, when another sight paralysed her.
This time, it was another skeletal body. What was different about this one was that it was completely covered in long, thick spikes that were spearing it into the walls around it. Upon closer inspection, these spikes were in fact part of the skeleton. The lower jaw looked like it was suspended open.
"For Celestia's sake, this is getting really really dark."
Brightstar looked at the body, and mouthed something. The filly continued to stare at the body for a second before playfully sticking her tongue out at it and floating out the door.
Lyra blinked, and merely followed her into the yard.
Upon the sight of two mutated ghosts glaring angrily at the filly ghost, Lyra groaned. "Oh for crying out loud."
The filly ghost smiled cheekily, and blew a raspberry at them (without a windpipe, somehow) before flying around quickly. The mare, bits of flesh and bone sticking out in weird places, gave chase, screaming in a Celestia-awful way. The stallion, his ghostly flesh torn apart with massive bone spikes, lumbered slowly towards Lyra.
And passed right through her.
Lyra started laughing. The stallion raised what little eyebrow he could.
"You're a ghost, dude." Lyra started calmly digging a hole in the ground next to the tree, grabbing a conveniently placed shovel to use. "You can't actually hurt me."
"Lyra?" Bon Bon's voice shot out from the edge of the fence.
Lyra turned to see the beige pony looking over towards her. "Oh hey Bon Bon. What are ya doing here?"
"I just came to tell you that the pancakes are done."
The spear stallion blinked one eye, the other barely moving on account of not having much face there.
"Cool, I'll be there as soon as I've buried the kid."
"Alright. Don't take too long, or they'll get cold."
Lyra continued to dig, ignoring the glowing evil apparition next to her. Eventually she managed to get enough room to place the bones in carefully. "Uh, you, Stabby McStabstab, where's the wing?"
The stallion half-blinked again, then pointed to the house.
The mare ghost let out a demonic wail that Lyra interpreted as 'what the hell are you doing?'
The stallion replied in a long, low moan which Lyra interpreted as 'I can't hurt her so I'm helping her. I'm sick of being a ghost and I think this is the best way to help'.
The mare sighed eerily, floated to the ground, and proceeded to wail extremely loudly at the stallion, who returned the vigour.
Lyra used this moment to slip away and back into the house. The vague ethereal hum of the filly ghost told her that she was being followed.
"Hey kid."
No audible reply, which made sense.
"Do you know where your wing is?"
The filly tapped her ghostly chin, her face contorted in thought. After a second her face brightened and she led Lyra past the two mutated corpses and back to the runic circle. She could see a broken set of wingbones in one corner of the hallway, which she carefully picked up and turned to leave.
And saw Bon Bon staring at the stallion's skeleton.
Lyra trotted up to her side. "Hey Bonny."
Bon Bon didn't reply. Unlike Lyra, she wasn't as good at dealing with grotesque things, mostly because she didn't see them as much.
Lyra noticed this and bumped her side, herding her away from the sight. "Come on."
Bon Bon snapped out of her daze. "Wh-whuh...?"
Lyra stopped pushing. "Yo."
Bon Bon snapped her head back to the jagged mess of bones, then back at Lyra. "What the heck is that thing?"
"Brightstar's dad or something." She nudged her. "Come on, I've got a ghost to rescue."
***
Lyra sighed, having just shovelled the last bit of dirt on top of the filly's bones. "Well, it isn't perfect, but it'll do."
Brightstar smiled, standing on top of the mound. Elsewhere, the two parents were still bickering.
Without warning, Brightstar started to glow, an aura of magic wrapping around her. A low whining noise built up as the light grew brighter and brighter, and Lyra had to cover her eyes.
Then there was a flash, and when Lyra opened her eyes a little filly ghost was standing there, her single wing fluttering eagerly and her horn all nice and spirally. All other wounds had been completely healed up.
Of course, Bon Bon still couldn't see any of it.
"Looking good, kid."
Brightstar smiled. "Thanks!"
Bon Bon looked at Lyra, confused. "What happened?"
"Brightstar looks whole again, and can speak."
"So... She hasn't passed on yet?"
Lyra blinked. "Oh, wait, that's still gotta happen."
"Maybe," Brightstar started, still getting used to having a voice. "We should see somepony who knows more about ghosts?"
"Do you know anyone?"
"Lyra, what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking to Brightstar."
"No you're not." Brightstar giggled. "You're talking to your fillyfriend."
Lyra blushed. "Bon Bon is not my fillyfriend, Brightstar!" At least, not yet.
"Aww, but you look so cute together~"
"What are you two talking about?"
"SHUT UP!" Lyra shouted, silencing everything. "I can't think if you're both talking at once." She started pacing. "Ugh... Now, do we know anypony who knows anything about ghosts?"
"Aside from you?"
"Aside from me."
Bon Bon shrugged.
"Let's get out of here so we can think better." Lyra offered, already starting the journey. Silently, the two ponies joined her.
And the mutated ghosts.
Brightstar spotted them approaching, the mare flying towards her at a scary pace, and the stallion trying to move quickly with three-metre long pointy bones jabbing out of him and locking against each other. The filly ghost dashed forwards and out of the confines of the fence.
The mare ghost followed suit, but bounced off an invisible wall around the fence, a starburst of shadow flashing upon impact.
Bon Bon saw the shadow this time. She leapt a few steps back, a hoof raised in defence. "What was that?!"
"The kid's mum just hit an invisible wall."
The mare ghost kept ramming into the wall, the same pattern of shadow appearing along the wall with every hit. The filly blinked, then blew a raspberry at her.
Lyra stepped through the gate boundaries, holding the rickety wooden door open for Bon Bon, who eagerly bounced out and continued to watch the shadow pattern flash across.
"That is really freaky." Bon Bon's eyes wandered back to the shadow.
"You should see the ghost herself." Lyra smirked, before she continued on.
Lyra thunked her head on the table. "Well, this is irritating."
Bon Bon placed a mug of hot chocolate next to her. "What is?"
"I seriously don't know anypony who knows anything about ghosts."
"Aside from-"
"Aside from me, yeah."
Bon Bon pulled a seat over, and placed a hoof over her back. "Don't worry, I'm sure it'll answer itself."
Although unseen by Bon Bon, Brightstar rubbed her chin in contemplation. "Maybe the Princess knows..."
"Probably, but I don't think we're likely to get an audience with her anytime soon."
"Get an audience with who?" Bon Bon tilted her head.
"Princess Celestia."
Bon Bon smirked. "Yeah, that's not likely at all."
"Ooh!" Brightstar smiled, bouncing up and down on an ethereal plane. "Maybe I can go and see her myself! You guys don't have to come along."
"Aww, but I wanna know why you're a ghost and stuff."
"Maybe... Maybe I could bring her over?" Brightstar offered a sheepish grin.
"If you wanna try, be my guest." Lyra offered.
"This conversation is really weird to listen to." Bon Bon grinned, holding her own mug of hot chocolate.
"Akay! Be right back!" Brightstar took to the sky and drifted through the door.
Lyra waited in silence for a long while. "So..."
"Hm?"
"What's the plan for dinner?"
Lyra was expecting the filly ghost to reappear.
She wasn't expecting the freaking Princess to turn up as well. Admittedly, She was wearing a full-sized cloak that completely hid Her visible Princess-ness, but She still had an air about Her.
Lyra's first instinct, once the Princess removed Her hood and revealed Herself, was to bow, and bow hard. When she heard Her chuckle, she felt a tingle down her back and a sense of dread building up in her stomach..
"Rise, my little ponies."
Lyra found it very, very hard to rise. Somehow, she managed it, but was a little surprised to see Bon Bon was already standing tall. The beige pony offered her a small smile, which bolstered her confidence.
The Princess smiled warmly. "I believe you wish to know why Brightstar is important."
"Actually, your Highness, I just want to know why she's still a ghost, but I guess that'll be fine."
"Very well then." She started pacing, head lowered due to the height of the ceiling. "She was... An attempt at creating a Princess from birth. A magical gene implanted about a hundred years ago that went wrong-"
"Hang on a moment, Princess." Lyra raised her hoof. "You're kinda telling me some pretty weird and mysterious stuff. Are you sure I'm the right pony for this info?"
"You fight demons and deal with moral crises on a regular basis, from what I've seen. I think it's alright."
"Point taken."
"As I was saying," She continued. "My goal was to create another Princess to help my attempts to... Well, that's another story. The fact that she was born with only one wing and into a family of racist earth ponies was... unplanned."
"Yep, sounds about right." Lyra nodded. "Sounds like an attempt to use dark magic."
"Oh, it was." The Princess replied. "The family of Brightstar also tried to use their own occult rituals for... some reason I never knew, but before it could do anything I quarantined the place and completely nullified any magic within." She tapped her chin. "Or something like that, it was an awfully long time ago..."
Oh geez, she's got a bad memory. That's not good for a Princess. Lyra thought to herself, but didn't vocalise it.
"Anyway, the ritual went bad, and their bodies started to warp and twist into something far from ponykind." She closed her eyes. "And that's about the end of it."
"So...?" Lyra tilted her head.
"So," She continued. "Those ponies have been cursed for their actions, and Brightstar has now finished her quest."
"So...?" Bon Bon asked.
Celestia's eye twitched slightly. "Now she's able to pass on to the afterlife."
"Ok, so there is an afterlife." Lyra smiled. "Hey, what's it like?"
Celestia shrugged. "I have no idea. I haven't died yet."
"Oh." Lyra felt a little silly now, rubbing her foreleg awkwardly.
"Anyway," Celestia turned, pulling her hood back over. "I have some business I need to attend to. I shall leave you two be."
As she gracefully (almost, her horn bumped against the doorframe) exited, the filly ghost drifted behind her, waving to Lyra.
Lyra reciprocated the wave, watching the ghost disappear slowly, her glowing body turning into a blue mist that slowly drained into the aether.
Bon Bon trotted up, a plate of assorted vegetables in her mouth. She frowned, then placed the plate on the table. "Darnit, I was just about to offer her dinner."
"Maybe next time, Bons." Lyra playfully ruffled the beige pony's mane, before looking out the open door again.
"Brightstar's passed on?"
"Yeah." She smiled lightly. "I'm almost gonna miss her."
Bon Bon shut the door, breaking Lyra's trance. "Anyway, dinner's ready."
Lyra eagerly sat down at the table as Bon Bon served the meal.
Her smile, however, flipped when she saw what was on the plate.
"Bon Bon?"
"Yes, Lyra?"
"You know I don't like broccoli."