//------------------------------// // Lights at night. // Story: Walking with the breeze // by TastyPony //------------------------------// Lyra energetically shook the book she was levitating with her magic in front of her. “Just take a look at the clues! Everything in here suggests that they really existed once.” She said happily to Bonbon. Bonbon did not look up, but instead kept mixing the ingredients from her new recipe. “Lyra, for the last time, I’m not in the mood, nor have the time to hear another one of your tales.” answered the earth pony in an exhausted tone. “C’mon, just take a look!” The turquoise unicorn jumped from her seat, quickly lifting the book just a few centimeters from Bonbon’s face. “If you carefully read these two paragraphs right here, you’ll notice that there is not real knowledge of where humans went, allowing the possibility of them still being alive!” Bonbon pushed the book away from her sight and looked at the hopeful Lyra. “Listen.” Bonbon sighed and turned to face her. “I know how thrilled you are about these… these things being alive, but it just doesn’t make any sense. All this 'evidence’ of yours is just speculations with no defined bases.” Lyra’s smile turned into frown as her friend talked. Her reaction didn't surprise her, for she was used to Bonbon not agreeing with her when she was talking about her ‘nonsenses’, in accordance with her own words. Nonetheless, it still hurt; after all, Bonbon was her best friend. They have known each other for about… five years, if Lyra’s calculations were correct, but they have been roommates for four of them. Bonbon never agreed with her in anything, at least, anything Lyra said about the existence of other creatures. Which was understandable, considering that she did not have any irrefutable proof of humans, ten meter tall spiders or that land called Ponyland she kept talking about. No, all she had to prove their existence was a childrens book. No one in town actually believed her; even Pinkie Pie laughed at her when she told her about humans. That was what Pinkie always did to her stories, laugh and keep laughing until Lyra got annoyed and left, leaving the pink pony snorting and holding her stomach. "Sorry, Lyra, it’s just that I’m a bit busy at the moment, maybe I can try to read it later, alright?” “Thanks, Bonbon!” Lyra smiled once more, forgetting immediately the sadness she felt just a few minutes ago. That night, Lyra could not sleep. It was not insomnia, she'd had it before and knew how to recognize it; and it was not a nightmare either, for she could clearly say she had not sleep yet, as she watched the clock on her wall move the arrows second by second, minute after minute, making a total of three hours lying awake in bed. But she knew exactly what it was. A very annoying light trespassed the window and not even the curtains helped to decrease the intensity enough to sleep properly. She stood up from bed and decided to go for a walk and find it's source. Bonbon was very lucky, Lyra thought as she quietly tip-toed down the stairs. Her bedroom faced the other side of the house; therefore she did not have the same problems as her. After a walk that took about five minutes, the light ended up leading her to the entrance of the Everfree Forest. As she carefully took a step into the forest, the light faded. For a second, Lyra could not see anything, but she gradually got used to the darkness of the night and continued looking into the forest. Any normal pony in a situation like Lyra’s would have turned back, now that the problem was resolved and there was no need to enter the forest in the middle of the night. But Lyra was not a normal pony, and her curiosity was sometimes beyond suspicion. Without thinking twice, Lyra carefully took another step into the forest. The more she walked, the less she saw, and soon she had to squint her eyes to try to see what she was walking through. She heard some hoofsteps behind her, and turned around, fear flashing through her. Due to the suddenness of the action, she ended up tripping on one of the roots of the trees. She was just about to light up her horn, because just in that moment she remembered her magic, but the thought did not finish crossing her mind before she saw a little pink light moving in front of her. It was like a firefly… but bigger. About the size of a swallow or a pigeon, but it was too far away from her to determine. It moved up and down, left and right, randomly, like it was in distress or in a hurry. Lyra stood up, willing to find out what it was, but another light appeared, with a purple tone, at her right. Another one, a few meters next to her, in a green colour, another, at her left, blue, green, violet, orange… Thousand of lights moved at full speed around her. And there were more and more every second. Scared, Lyra tried to get out, but she could not find any way to escape, all those glowing points covered every single possible path, and she was not particularly good at teleporting spells. In any case, she did not have the time to do anything else. She crouched down frightened, without stop looking at the lights that now formed just a giant, bright, glow with tons of colours endlessly changing… And everything went black.