//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Ashley's New Life // by LostUmbrella //------------------------------// When Ashley came back to her senses she noticed she wasn't in Lyra's kitchen anymore, nor in her living room, yet she wasn't in a cold dungeon as she expected: she laid in a really soft bed in a very messy room, where every surface of the wardrobe and of the small desk were littered by music sheets, old textbooks and drawings of strange bipedal creatures similar to furless apes. She was so enraptured in those sketches that she didn't notice that another pony had entered the room. "It's a human girl," said Lyra, sitting next to the changeling and startling her. "Lyra, you scared me!" lamented the other shifting her gaze to the mint green mare. "Sorry, I noticed you were looking at my drawings and I thought you wanted to know what it was..." offered the unicorn with a smile. "I suppose this is your room then; why am I here?" asked Ashley wearing a serious expression. "You were injured and Bon-Bon didn't want you to stay on the couch..." explained Lyra waving a dismissive hoof. "I mean, shouldn't I be in jail? Why didn't you call the guards?" "Well, you said you wouldn't hurt me nor anypony else..." said Lyra in a matter of fact tone. "Just that? The word of a changeling, the most deceiving race in the world, is enough for you?" asked said changeling now really confused. "Were you lying?" "No, I meant what I said." "That's why I trusted you." Ashley was taken aback by the mare's reasoning: never she would have believed what she had just witnessed. "Equestria to Ashley, do you hear me?" said Lyra waving a hoof in front of her guest's eyes. "Sorry, you surprised me a little: I was under the impression that you didn't like my kin, and yet you're keeping me in your house and treating my wounds," explained the changeling with a sigh "You're an odd pony." "Yeah, they tell me that a lot!" chuckled the other "Now what do you plan on doing?" "When I met you I was searching for a place to stay while healing up, not the best of plans considering that I don't have a bit..." reflected the ex-queen tapping her chin with a bandaged hoof. "Well, that can be considered covered" said the other with a wink. "Are you sure? I don't want to impose, and Bon-Bon didn't seem to like me a lot..." "As long as you don't wander around the house undisguised there won't be any problem for any of us," said Lyra with a smile. Ashley shrugged and went on: "After I recover I was planning on travelling a bit." "So you weren't planning to settle down in Ponyville?" asked the cream colored mare entering the room. "Bon-Bon, what are you doing here?" asked the unicorn, taken aback by the baker's apparition. "You weren't coming down so I came to check." "Worried that she would replace me?" asked Lyra blowing her marefriend a raspberry. "I was worried that you would annoy her with your ramblings about humans," retorted the baker, causing her guest to snicker "And I wanted to say that dinner is ready." --- Bon-Bon slowly rose from the bed she shared with her marefriend and walked unsteadily towards the kitchen. "Hello Lyra," she saluted upon entering the room, spotting the mint green mare sitting at the table. She made her way towards the cupboard to get an apple. "Hello Lyra," she saluted a second mint green mare, standing near the range. She took a nice looking red apple and stopped with a puzzled expression on her face. She turned to face two almost identical mares and said: "Ahah, very funny, you two..." Both Lyras chuckled before one of the two was replaced by a gray unicorn in pretty bad shape. "Good morning Bon-Bon!" they saluted in unison. "What's the great idea? What if somepony walked in?" asked the slightly angered baker. "It's ten in the morning on Sunday, who should ever enter our kitchen, apart from you?" asked the musician with a raised eyebrow. As to answer her question, the front door slammed open to let in a white unicorn mare with spiky two-toned blue mane wearing a toothy grin and a pair of purple shades. "Good morning everypony!" loudly saluted the newcomer entering the house. "Her?" answered Bon-Bon facehoofing. "Uhm, hello Vinyl, do you need something?" politely asked Lyra. "Milk and a pinch of salt, but that's not why I'm here," answered the white unicorn raising her glasses over her horn and showing a concerned face "What was all the ruckus yesterday? I would have come to check right away but I had to get Octy at the station..." "Uh, nothing really..." said her fellow musician offering a not very convincing smile. "Lyra, you know that you're not the worst liar ever only because Applejack exists, right?" asked Vinyl with a stern look. "You really don't need to worry: it was just -" tried to say Bon-Bon, but she was cut by the 'gray unicorn' at the table, who said: "Me, it was me." Everypony in the room turned to look at her with a very surprised look: the owners of the house because they didn't expect Ashley's intervention, Vinyl because she didn't notice the bandaged 'unicorn'. "Woah, who are you? And why are you covered in bandages?" "Oh, Vinyl, that's Ashen Sky; Ashley, meet Vinyl Scratch," said the baker introducing the two. "It's a pleasure, miss Scratch" said Ashley with a curtly nod "As the reason for the bandages is the same for the ruckus: I'm Lyra's cousin and I came here to pay her visit, but had a close encounter with a changeling. Luckily I succeeded in running away, but I was pretty battered and that's why she screamed upon seeing me." Unlike her 'cousin', Ashley, as any other changeling, was a terribly good liar; moreover, it was pretty much the truth. "Ah, those nasty vermin! You're lucky to have escaped! I was in Canterlot when they attacked, you know?" said the white unicorn vehemently. "Yes Vinyl, we know, and I'm sure Ashley doesn’t want to hear about it..." said Bon-Bon rolling her eyes. The DJ, paying no heed to her words, went on recounting her tale:"I would have been dead now, trust me, if it wasn't for Octavia: I suppose that always standing to play her cello has strengthened her legs a lot." "And pray tell what this Octavia do?" asked the disguised changeling in a mellifluous tone that hinted her repressed anger. "Oh, she was great! She bucked those vermin out of her house so hard they slammed into a wall on the other side of the street!" said Vinyl unaware of her interlocutor's state of mind and of Lyra's attempts to shut her "But don't get strange ideas: she's my mare!" "SorryIdontfeelverywell!" said 'Ashen Sky' rising from her seat and teleporting away in an acid green flash. "Was it some thing I said?" asked a very dumbfounded Vinyl Scratch. Bon-Bon facehoofed as Lyra bolted upstairs wearing a worried look.