//------------------------------// // The Reconciliation // Story: Lyra's Big Idea // by AstroStar //------------------------------// "And she had the nerve to call me a hypocrite! Can you believe her, Gummy?" Pinkie Pie paced back and forth in her bedroom, ranting to her pet baby alligator. She was still fuming over the events that had just transpired with Lyra and Derpy, and she let it all out in a long rant to the pet reptile over the past hour or so. Throughout her tirade, she tried to curl her mane back to normal, but her angry disposition left her unable to unflatten her hair. Gummy, meanwhile, stood through it all with his blank stare. "And that's not all. She even said I was an insult to Lauren's vision! How could she even say something like that? I worked with her! I know what she wanted to do with this show!" Gummy blinked. Pinkie hesitated before she spoke up again. "Well ok, she didn't tell me every single thing she had planned, and I have no clue what she would think of this, but that's beside the point. Lyra shouldn't have gone over my head like that. But I take my eyes off her for a bit and the next thing I know, she ruins everything!" Gummy blinked. "Come on, Gummy! I don’t need to see the whole thing to know what’s going to happen. Just look at the poster! This is the first thing anyone will ever see of this movie, and it has failure written all over it. This is the worst first impression ever! I mean, how in Equestria can anyone think something like this could be any good?" Gummy blinked, and then scurried across the floor. Pinkie was confused over what could have caused the sudden movement from the pet. She watched as Gummy went over to her picture shelf, chomped on a picture, and carried it in his mouth back besides her. Pinkie quickly recognized the photo was the one of her and the Mane 6 from the intro. Pinkie sighed in exasperation. "I know Gummy, that's how we're supposed to look. What's this have to do with anything?" Gummy blinked. Pinkie groaned at her pet's random action. She took another look at the picture. There must have been a few thousand copies of that photo floating around. It was in their intro. It was on all their promo materials. It was the more than likely the very first "Friendship is Magic" thing the fans ever saw. This bright, happy, admittedly girly picture of six smiling, colorful ponies. Looking back at it, it was hard to believe that anyone would think the show connected to this picture would be any good at first glance... In fact, they might have just thought it was the worst thing ever. A sudden thought came to Pinkie that made her heart sink. "Gummy? Are you trying to tell me that our first impression might not have been as good as I thought it was?" Gummy blinked. "And that despite whatever the fans first thought of 'Friendship is Magic', they all gave us a chance anyway and were all surprised by what they saw. And that it really isn't fair to jump to conclusions about 'Equestria Girls' like I did, especially if I never saw it." Gummy blinked. Pinkie sat on her haunches in silent horror. It began to dawn on her what she had just done. "I don't even know what happens in the movie, but I still got so mad about it. And I... I said all those awful things. Oh Gummy, what have I done? Lyra didn't deserve any of that! Derpy was right. I am a hypocrite." Gummy blinked. "I have to make things right. I have to fix things with Lyra. But... I don’t know if I should even get the chance to. Not after what I've done. Saying the things that I said is unforgivable." Gummy blinked. "I guess you’re right, Gummy. I’m just going to have to trust her. I just hope I’m not too late!" Pinkie made her way out of her room as quickly as possible. A few moments later, Gummy turned to a nearby window and watched her run down the street, en route back to Lyra's house. The toothless reptile shook his head in exasperation. "Seriously, it’s like I’m talking to a brick wall sometimes!" Gummy groaned. ~~~~~ The past couple of hours had been pretty rough for Derpy since her one-on-one encounter with Pinkie. She had spent the good part of that time back at the house, trying anything to help lift the broken unicorn's spirits. Unfortunately, all of her visits up to Lyra's room was met with the sight of an emotionally crippled pony, silently packing her belongings in preparation of her banishment. Derpy and Bon Bon had taken turns every few minutes to go up to Lyra's room to check up on her and cheer her up to no avail. Now, Derpy was pacing back and forth in the main foyer as Bon Bon tried her luck with Lyra. After an excruciating wait, Derpy finally noticed Bon Bon coming down the stairs, looking emotionally exhausted. "Any luck?" she asked. The earth pony sighed. "Nothing's changed. She still won't talk to me. She's just packing her things in silence. I don't even know if she knows where she's going." "At least we can help out there," Derpy sadly replied. "I'm sure Chrysalis has some extra room. If Lyra needs a place to stay, she could stay over by her." The frustration of the whole situation finally got to Bon Bon. She slammed her hooves to the floor in anger. "This is ridiculous! I don't see why Lyra had to have been banned just because of one mistake!" "I don't know either, but we can't do anything about it." "Well, I know there's something I can do. I have a thing or two to say to Pinkie the next time I see her!" Bon Bon frowned. Derpy cringed a bit. She could understand Bon Bon being angry, but at the same time she started to wonder if staying angry like this would really accomplish anything. Derpy wasn't the type of pony to hold grudges like some others might. In fact, she had been regretting some of the things she said to Pinkie back there. "Hey, how about I make us a cool glass of lemonade? That should help us calm down." Derpy suggested. "Sure, why not?" Bon Bon shrugged. Derpy started to make her way to the kitchen when she and Bon Bon heard a loud, urgent banging at the front door. "Lyra! Lyra! Please come out! I need to talk to you!" the voice shouted from the other side. It didn't take much effort to recognize that voice as belonging to Pinkie Pie. Bon Bon's face twisted in rage as she recognized the voice of the pony responsible for taking her best friend away. Derpy watched as the earth pony stormed to the front door and opened it. Pinkie stood at the entryway. Her mane and tail were still flat, but Derpy was quick to notice the look of remorse and shame on the visitor. "Bon Bon! I need to talk to Lyra! It’s important!" "Stay away from her, Pinkie!" Bon Bon shouted. "Hasn’t Lyra had enough from you already?" "Please, Bon Bon. I’m begging you!" Pinkie pleaded. "I messed up big time, and I need to make things right! I have to talk to her!" Bon Bon couldn't contain her anger anymore. "You yelled at my best friend! You insulted her very reason for being! You kicked her off the show! Why should I even let you into my home? You're not welcome around here you... YOU DIRTY GLUESTICK!" Derpy gasped in horror. "She said the G word!" Pinkie recoiled at the slur. However, she could only hang her head in shame. Tears began to form in her eyes. "Yell at me all you want. I deserve it. I’ve been a horrible friend," Pinkie lamented. Bon Bon's eyes narrowed as she glared at her. "That's the least you deserve for hurting my friend." Reeling from the sting of the icy rejection, Pinkie turned around to make her way back home. However, before Bon Bon could slam the door on the pink pony, she was suddenly stopped by Derpy. "Let her in, Bon Bon," the pegasus said. The two ponies stood frozen at the sudden change of heart. "Are you crazy?" Bon Bon shouted to Derpy in disbelief. "Staying mad at each other will only make things worse," Derpy said. "Besides, look at Pinkie. Does it look like she's still mad? She really wants to make things right now, so we should give her the chance. It’ll be ok, Bon Bon. Trust me." Bon Bon kept her eyes on Derpy for a few seconds. She then turned to Pinkie, finally taking note of her remorseful expression. She sighed in defeat. "Lyra's upstairs in her room right now. You can come in, Pinkie." After a quiet thank you from Pinkie, Bon Bon and Derpy led her up the staircase to Lyra's room. She was a bit surprised to see that Lyra's bedroom door was cracked open from the hallway. Bon Bon went to the door and carefully pushed it open for all of them to enter. Inside, the green unicorn was sadly packing away her belongings. Her suitcase was laid out open on her bed and was nearly packed to the limit. However, what made Pinkie's heart sink was Lyra herself. Her steps were slow, her head was hanging low, and her eyes... her eyes were dull and glazed over. It was clear that Lyra had given up hope. Pinkie felt the full guilt of being the pony responsible for reducing Lyra to such a hopeless state. Derpy spoke up to the depressed unicorn. "Lyra? We have a visitor." Lyra turned her head slowly in response and noticed that she and Bon Bon were accompanied this time by Pinkie. Her depression didn't allow her to react to seeing Pinkie again. "You came back to yell at me some more?" Lyra said in a sad voice. Pinkie took a deep breath. "I... I came to apologize." Lyra looked away. "You don’t have to do that. You were right to be mad at me for what I did." Pinkie approached the sad pony. "No I wasn’t! I had no right to react that way. What I did was the cruelest thing anypony could ever do." "So why did you do it?" Bon Bon asked bitterly. Tears started flowing down Pinkie's face as she tried to explain herself. "I wasn’t thinking. I let my responsibilities running the show take over my judgment again. Despite my feelings on the movie itself, I never should have let that affect the way I treat my friends. I know that’s not an excuse for what I did, but it’s the truth. You deserve an apology from me at the very least. I just hope you could forgive me for what I did… I know I won’t." "You won't. Why?" Derpy asked. Pinkie sighed and sat on the floor. "Because I did it again. I picked the show over my friends. After the rerun incident, I told myself I would never do that again. I guess you can tell that I failed that badly. I can’t be forgiven for what I said to you Lyra. How can I be forgiven for treating my friend that way when she just wanted to help?" Overcome with grief and remorse, Pinkie buried her head in her hooves and sobbed. "What kind of friend am I?" Everypony remained quiet as Pinkie continued to sob. Bon Bon in particular was feeling a twinge of regret for her use of the slur earlier. Unfortunately, what was said could not be taken back. At any case, now wasn't the time to worry about the things that couldn't be changed. Instead, now was the time to try to move forward. Thankfully, Derpy knew just where to start. "You know, you're not the only one this room that made a huge mistake, Pinkie. After all, it was my fault the movie got to Hasbro in the first place. And Lyra could have as mad at me like you were because of that. Or because of my other goof-ups here and there. But despite all that, Lyra still managed to forgive me." Bon Bon nodded in agreement. "Same with me. No matter what, Lyra and I always forgive Derpy because despite it all, she never means any real harm. Her heart was always in the right place." "Mine wasn’t," Pinkie sadly pointed out. "It is now, isn’t it?" Bon Bon smiled. "Everypony makes mistakes after all. Nopony's perfect. But you realized you were wrong and you’re willing to make up for your mistakes... just like I need to." She looked down to the floor in shame. "I’m sorry I called you the G word, Pinkie." Pinkie shook her head. "Don’t apologize, Bon Bon. Like I said, I deserved that. But I promise from the bottom of my heart I’ll do anything to make up for everything I've done." A light poking then came from Pinkie's side. She turned to see Lyra, poking the ground with her hoof. "Well, for starters... can I stay?" the green unicorn asked. Without anymore words, Pinkie grabbed Lyra into a big hug. "Of course you can, Lyra! I’m so sorry I said those things! Please forgive me!" Tears continued to roll down her cheeks as she continued to apologize. Lyra was shocked by the sudden embrace. With some hesitation, Lyra returned the hug. "It’s ok. I understand. I forgive you, but it still doesn't change anything." Lyra broke away from the hug and sat down, her head still hanging low. "You were right about one thing, Pinkie. What I did was stupid. I never thought anything seriously wrong could have happened like you said. I could have ruined everything, all because I was selfish and wanted to stand out. I promise I won’t do that anymore. I’ll be a good background pony and stay quiet from now on." "Lyra, you’re not a background pony," Derpy argued. "Yes I am!" Lyra suddenly shouted through tear-filled eyes. "That's what I am in the show, right? I’m just some random nopony! That's all I'll ever be!" Pinkie's heart fell as Lyra cried again. She finally understood the root of the problem, which was only made worse by her own words not to long ago. However, unlike a few moments ago, Pinkie was ready to help the unicorn. "Answer this question, Lyra," Pinkie said. "Do you think Bon Bon feels you’re just a ‘background pony’? Or Derpy? Or anypony else for that matter?" The question made Lyra blink in confusion. She hesitated an answer. "Well... no I guess..." It was now Bon Bon's turn to hug Lyra tightly. "That's because you're not a nopony to us! You're Lyra Heartstrings! You're my roommate and my best friend. You're the most important pony in the world to me, Lyra!" "Bon Bon..." Lyra's tears flowed down her face as she returned the hug. Derpy quickly went over to join in on the hug. "Never forget that you have friends that love and care about you no matter what, Lyra. Don’t ever think that you’re worthless because you’re 'just a background pony' on the show." Pinkie didn't join in on the group hug, this hug was really just for the three of them anyway she decided, but she continued to make her point. "Trust me when I say that it isn't worth it to completely wrap yourself in the show like that. Because when you do, you wind up forgetting what really matters. You don't really need the show to tell you that you matter in sompony else's life, do you?" For the first time in the last few hours, Lyra smiled. "Of course not, Pinkie. Not when you have friends like these... or friends like you." With a smile, Pinkie went over and joined the group hug. The four embraced for nice long moment. After a while, Bon Boon spoke up. "Are you feeling better, Lyra?" Lyra nodded. "Yes, I'm feeling a lot better now. What about you, Pinkie?" "I think I'll be fine" Pinkie replied. Derpy breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank Celestia! Everything's back to normal!" "Well not everything..." Pinkie replied nervously. "We still need to talk about ‘Equestria Girls’." "But I thought you got over that," Derpy said. Pinkie shook her head. "I’m not angry anymore, trust me. But I’m still really concerned about it." "Oh. I see," Lyra's head drooped a bit. "You have to understand that I'm pretty much going into this blind," Pinkie explained. "I have like a gazillion questions over everything. What happens in the movie? How does this human dimension work? Will Hasbro want to see more of ‘Equestria Girls’ in the future? What is this going to mean for ‘Friendship is Magic’? Do we make this cannon, a spinoff, or just a one-shot adventure? And then there’s all the concerns I have about the production details. I just have so many questions, and I just need answers!" Lyra smiled. Pinkie might not have known where to find the answers she was looking for, but she did. "Well if you need answers, why don't you just watch the movie and see for yourself. Hasbro sent my tape back after all, right?" "I think so, they sent us a bunch of stuff in that package." "Well then let's watch it together!" Lyra suggested. "I did my very best to emulate the show in a brand new setting. Just give it a chance, and I think that you'll enjoy it!" Pinkie nodded. "I'm looking forward to it, Lyra." "Me too!" Bon Bon spoke up. "I was out of the loop throughout all of this!" "Don't worry, we'll explain everything as the movie goes along," Derpy reassured the earth ponies. "Thanks Derpy." Pinkie said. "You know, when it's all said and done, it's kinda impressive that you guys managed to get an entire movie done and approved without our help!" "Actually..." Lyra spoke up, nervously scratching the back of her head. "I think you should know that I had some issues with it still and I was hoping to talk to you about this, Pinkie." This revelation made Pinkie curious. "What kind of issues are you talking about?" "Well, I couldn’t figure out what to do with Spike in the human universe for starters," Lyra admitted. Pinkie put her chin to her hoof deep in though as she contemplated the issue. "Well, Twilight and Spike tend to act like siblings, so I would think they would probably be brother-sister in that universe." "But Spike is still Twilight’s assistant and main companion, right?" Lyra argued. "Besides, he's a dragon and she's a pony. And there was only one way I could think about translating that in human terms." Bon Bon wasn't liking where this was going, but she had to ask. "So what did you do?" Lyra sighed. "I made Spike a dog." Pinkie's jaw dropped. Bon Bon simply facehoofed in exasperation. Derpy nervously nodded in agreement. "It was all we could think of at the time," Derpy explained. "Well on the one hand I guess it kinda makes sense, but still… yikes!" Pinkie thought out loud. "It wasn’t even my final idea, either! I wanted to talk to you before I retooled it later!" Lyra elaborated. Pinkie shrugged. "Unfortunately it’s too late for that now. I just hope Spike doesn’t find out." Derpy cringed at that last thought. "Actually... Spike found out about it." "He did?" Lyra's eyes lit up in horror. "How did he take it?" Before Derpy had a chance to respond, the ground began to shake under everypony's hooves. As the rumbling began to grow deeper, they could hear a sound of something getting closer to the bedroom door. Or rather, someone. No one had a chance to prepare themselves as the bedroom door burst open, revealing a very angry Spike. His eyes had turned red in rage and they were pointed at a particular green unicorn. "LYRA!!!" "Uh oh!" Pinkie observed in horror as Spike slowly made his way towards Lyra, who was backing away to a corner in fear. A few seconds later, Pinkie's five other friends, all extremely torn up, had finally caught up to the rampaging dragon. "Oh no! We’re too late!" Twilight shrieked. "Girls? What's going on?" Pinkie asked. "Spike completely flipped out after he found out about Equestria Girls!" Rainbow Dash reported. "We tried to contain him but he got loose thanks to Rarity." Rarity gasped. "Oh, so now all of this is my fault? Well I never…" Applejack broke the two up. "Need I remind both of y'all we've got a angry dragon on the loose right now?" Fluttershy turned to Twilight. "We have to save Lyra! What are we going to do?" Twilight panicked as she went through her checklist. "I don’t know! I didn’t have time to create any contingencies for this. I’ve got nothing!" Everypony watched helpless as Spike closed in on the cowering Lyra. "So you like dogs, huh?" Spike said in a dangerous tone. "Well this dog’s gonna teach you to play DEAD!!!" "HELP ME!!!" Lyra shouted. Derpy covered her eyes. "I can't watch!" Everypony else agreed with Derpy. They all cringed as they prepared themselves to witness what Spike was going to do. Rarity, however, did not cringe. She simply closed her eyes in silent realization. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," she said to her self. With that, Rarity walked over to the dragon. "Excuse me, Spike?" Rarity asked. Spike frowned. "I’m kinda busy right now, Rarity. What do you want… mmmph!?!" Before he knew it, Spike was grabbed by the white unicorn and in one swift motion, she twirled him around, held him in one arm and placed a long, deep kiss on his lips. Everypony watched stunned as Rarity held the kiss for a very long time. Applejack instinctively took off her hat and placed over the head of a nearby pony to block the kiss from their view. In this case, that pony was Rainbow Dash, who quickly fought the hat away. After what seemed like several minutes, Rarity finally broke the kiss, panting as she tried to catch her breath. Spike, meanwhile was left frozen stiff like a statue, his eyes wide and unblinking in absolute shock. "Sorry you had to witness that, everypony." Rarity apologized. "Don’t apologize, you saved me!" Lyra said. "That was... quite a performance Rarity." Twilight said, amazed at what she just saw. Applejack shook her head in bewilderment. "Ah take back everything Ah ever said about you! Ah've gotta know your secrets, girl!" Rarity smirked. "I think I will have to decline that offer, Applejack darling." Pinkie knew what was coming. She handed a pair of sunglasses over to Rarity. "After all, a lady must never..." Rarity put the shades on. "Kiss and tell." "YEAH!!!" Fluttershy yelled loudly. The uncharacteristic shout prompted confused glares from everypony else in the room. "I mean... yay!" Fluttershy grinned nervously. "OK then," Twilight said, going back to her checklist. "Now that we neutralized Spike, we can finally concentrate on calming Pinkie down." "Well actually, Lyra and I took care of everything," Pinkie informed her friends. "I'm not mad anymore." "But your mane's still flat," Rarity pointed out. Pinkie ran a hoof to her head and realized she had yet to poof her mane back. "Oh yeah, I forgot! Hold on..." She began to shake her head and back furiously, letting her hair and tail swoosh back and forth. After a few seconds of shaking, her mane and tail curled back to it's normal state with one big 'poof'. "There! Much better!" Pinkie smiled. Going back to her checklist, Twilight marked off the last two blank items; Stop Pinkie from being angry, and Poof Pinkie's mane back to normal. "Well, that’s the end of that checklist!" Twilight announced. "Actually Twilight," Derpy spoke up, "You might want to add 'Snapping Spike out of it' to the checklist." She pointed to the still-frozen baby dragon. "Um Spike? Are you ok?" Fluttershy asked. "Earth to Spike? Come in Spike!" Rainbow Dash waved a hoof in front of Spike's face to no avail. Applejack took a closer look at the now living statue of a baby dragon. "Ah think you broke his brain, Rarity." "Can't say I'm too surprised by this, considering Spike's crush on Rarity and all." Twilight observed. "Didn't you Pinkie Promise that you won't tell anypony that?" Bon Bon asked. Pinkie laughed. "It’s ok, I think the secret’s out by now." Twilight grinned. "Yeah! It’s not like I told everypony that Rainbow Dash sleeps with a plushie of Zoe Trent from Littlest Pet Shop!" Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. "Twilight! You promised!!!" she shouted in disbelief. Twilight cringed as she realized what she had just done. She had just told everypony a secret Rainbow Dash trusted her to keep. She also noticed all the stares that were now being cast on Rainbow Dash from all the other ponies in the room who now know about the pegasus' secret sleeping companion. . "Um.. Oops?" Twilight squeaked a smile in apology Pinkie shook her head in disappointment. "Twilight, did you really have to say that? That’s almost as bad as me telling everypony about Dash’s secret love letter to Soain’ she wrote during..." Pinkie suddenly gasped in horror and quickly covered her mouth as she realized she made a huge mistake. More shocked stares were cast Rainbow Dash's way. Rainbow Dash blushed in embarrassment. "Pinkie..." Pinkie stammered her apology. "Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry Dashie! I didn't mean to! It just came out!" Rainbow Dash couldn't contain her anger. She hovered over Pinkie and Twilight as her rage built inside of her. "I trusted both of you to keep that a secret! How could two be so…" Derpy quickly decided to interrupt everything before it got out of hoof. "Hold on Rainbow! They didn’t mean it and they’re really sorry. Just look at them!" Rainbow Dash took another look at both Twilight and Pinkie. Both of them looked back at her with wide, pleading, puppy dog eyes. As much as she wanted to stay mad at them, Rainbow just couldn't. Especially if they both resorted to using that facial expression. "All right, fine! I forgive you!" Rainbow Dash groaned. Derpy smiled. "There you go! All better now!" Pinkie and Twilight breathed a big sigh of relief. However, Pinkie was still a bit shocked at what she had just done. "I can’t believe I did that! I actually broke a Pinkie Promise!" she said. "Nopony’s perfect," Fluttershy shrugged. Pinkie nodded. "I know. Trust me, Fluttershy, I know." Rainbow Dash meanwhile continued to grumble. Applejack turned to the her. "You OK, Rainbow?" "I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life!" Rainbow muttered. Applejack smiled. "Hey, it could have been worse! Everypony could have found out that Scootaloo was the one who told those scary stories from our camping trip and you were the one who stayed up all night scared like a little…" Applejack stopped as she noticed the slack-jawed reaction from Rainbow herself. She also noticed the stares of disbelief, and a few snickers, coming from the others in the room. Rarity in particular covered her mouth to hide her laughter, nodding in agreement to the events of the camping trip that she, Applejack, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had witnessed. "Ah, ponyfeathers!" Applejack cursed. Rainbow Dash sighed in defeat. "I give up." ~~~~~ The Ponyville movie theater was buzzing with excitement. Several ponies were finding their seats in advance of screening of the surprise movie. Among the crowd was the movie's crew, which comprised of Lyra's friends, who were sitting near the front of the theater. Also near the front were Queen Chrysalis and several of her Changeling minions who served as the cast. They were all munching on special movie premiere muffins that Derpy baked that morning. In the middle of the group was Lyra herself, who seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack. Everyone was here to see her movie! It was almost too much to comprehend. "You ok, Lyra?" Bon Bon asked her roommate. "I think I'm gonna throw up, I'm so nervous!" Lyra admitted. Vinyl Scratch overheard Lyra's statement. She also noticed that she was sitting right in front of the green pony. She turned to her musical colleague sitting next to her. "Hey, Octy! Wanna trade seats?" she asked. "No!" Octavia shouted, leaving the DJ to worry about Lyra's nervousness. Thankfully, Derpy did her best to calm Lyra down. "Don't worry about it, Lyra. You did your best, remember?" Lyra nodded. "I did, but I'm still not sure what the reaction to this is going to be." Bon Bon placed a hoof on Lyra's shoulder in reassurance. "Whatever happens, we'll have your back, Lyra. We promise!" The several nods from her friends mad Lyra feel a bit better. Meanwhile, Pinkie was with Discord in the projector room setting up the projector. Looking out, she could make out her Mane 6 and Core 7 friends making their way into the theater. She giggled as she saw Rarity and Lady Rainbow escort the still frozen form of Spike into the theater. He hadn't move a muscle since the shock of Rarity's kiss a few days ago. "Everything is almost ready, Pinkie!" Discord announced. "Perfect! I'll go tell everypony." Pinkie quickly made her way out of the projector room and into the seating area. Twilight waved Pinkie over from her spot at the entrance. "Twilight! Is everypony here yet?" The purple alicorn nodded. "It looks like everypony is accounted for!" "Not quite everypony," a voice suddenly said from the hallway. Pinkie and Twilight turned to see the voice belonged to Princess Celestia, who entered into the theater accompanied as always by her sister, Luna. "Your highness? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked. "We heard that there was a new movie premiering today, so we thought we would go see it," Celestia explained. Luna nodded in agreement. "Yes, we heard it caused quite a stir." "We’ll explain later. It's a long story," Pinkie laughed nervously. "Why don't you take a seat, you're highness? We're just about ready to start." "We would love to," Celestia smiled. She and Luna followed Twilight to their seats. Pinkie continued to make her way down the aisle to the front where Lyra was sitting. "Lyra, it's time. Are you ready?" Pinkie asked the nervous unicorn. Lyra got up from her seat. "As ready as I'll ever be." "Then let's go!" Pinkie and Lyra both made their way to the stage of the theater. Upon seeing this, Discord turned the room's houselights down, making everypony hush their conversations. They offered a round of applause as they saw the two ponies make their way on stage to address the crowd. Pinkie spoke out first. "Thanks for coming out to this special screening everypony! What you’re about to see is the final submitted version of ‘My Little Pony: Equestria Girls’. Even though no one outside of the production of this movie has seen any of it yet, the movie still managed to get a green light for a full Hasbro release. So before we start the movie, how about we give a big round or applause to everypony who worked on the movie." The audience responded by giving the cast and crew of Equestria Girls a round of applause. Pinkie continued. "And a very special round of applause to the pony in charge of the whole production, Lyra Heartstrings!!!" A larger round of applause came from the audience, making Lyra blush. She stepped forward to address the crowd herself. "Thank you everypony. I just want to say that I wouldn’t have been able to make it this far without my friends good friends Derpy, Octavia, Vinyl, Turner, and of course my roommate Bon Bon. I also have to thank Queen Chrysalis and the changelings for all the effort they put in as well in front of the cameras. And I have to especially thank Pinkie Pie and her friends for their understanding of the… unique circumstances surrounding this project. I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for all of you. Thank you all, and I hope you enjoy the movie!" The audience cheered as Pinkie and Lyra stepped off the stage and settled back into their seats. "It's showtime!" Discord grinned from the projector room. Once everypony got settled in their seats, he turned the house lights off and turned the projector on to start the movie. Lyra didn't know what to think as the movie began playing. After all, she knew what happens in the movie, but she couldn't even begin to guess how everypony will react to seeing the whole movie, not even considering what everybrony might think. However, it was too late to second guess herself now. This was her movie now for better or for worse, and she was satisfied overall with the final results. All she could do now is to brace herself for whatever reaction might be coming her way. However, Lyra wasn't the only one who was a bundle of nerves at that moment. Pinkie was completely besides herself. On the one hand she was excited to see an actual movie based off the show, and was excited to see what Lyra came up with. However, she was still incredibly nervous over the tons of unanswered questions surrounding 'Equestria Girls'. Overall, she couldn't decide if she was more nervous, or more excited right now. Twilight noticed Pinkie looked a bit tense. "How are you feeling, Pinkie?" she asked. "Honestly, I’m… nervicited!" Pinkie blurted out. Applejack leaned into Pinkie's ear and whispered. "You do realize that’s not a real word, right?" Lyra chuckled a bit as she overheard the exchange.