//------------------------------// // Lost and Found and Lost Again // Story: Blueblood's Ascension Part III; or, Even Alicorns Have Dreams // by MyHobby //------------------------------// “This next tray needs cupcakes. Lots of cupcakes. And maybe a little crumb cake.” A tray of delectable deliciousness delegated by the delighted hostess of the party, one Pinkamena Diane Pie, plopped down on the countertop. The pinkish pony leaned over the tray, scrutinizing each pastry with a keen eye and a twitching nose. A spoon was lifted, a dollop of cream was scooped, and one tasty delight found itself garnished with a greater amount of symmetry. Pinkie Pie’s rear right hoof hopped three times, and then alternated hops with her front left hoof. “Whoops! That means we’re gonna need a lot of new hors d'oeuvres!” A crash from the next room timed nearly perfectly with her statement. “Sounds like somepony’s getting into the punch. Literally.” A few minutes later, Rarity trotted in with Spike on her back. Pinkie beamed. “Rarity! Spike! You guys gotta try my new chocolate-pumpernickel-sarsaparilla—” “Pinkie,” Rarity said softly, “a word.” Noticing their drooping expressions, Pinkie leaned in and hunched her shoulders. “What’s wrong?” They hastily explained the situation between Twilight and Blueblood, eliciting a few nods and a frown from Pinkie. “So, what are we waiting for?” she asked. “We’ve gotta find her!” “Agreed,” Rarity said. “Do you suppose your ‘Pinkie Sense’ will aid in our search?” “Something like that.” Pinkie turned to Spike. “Hay, are there any old haunts around here where Twilight would hang out if she was feeling sad or lonely?” Spike’s scaly brows lifted. “Well, yeah. She… She always liked to hang out around the fountain in the courtyard. The one with the lily pads?” “The one by the classrooms?” Rarity gave a resolute nod. “Very well. That’s as good a place to start as any. Pinkie, are you coming?” Pinkie trotted backwards through the kitchen. “Yeah, yeah, just gimme a second!” She booped a silver-maned earth pony mare on the shoulder. “Sue Chef, have you seen Braeburn lately?” Sue shook her head. “Not since you two arrived. I thought he was greeting guests.” “Huh?” Pinkie’s eyes turned towards the door. “I thought he was back—” She sighed. “Never mind. Can you hold down the fort until he comes back?” “Sure thing, boss.” The three of them walked through the milling crowd of partygoers and made a beeline for the exit. Shining Armor could be seen yanking Flash Sentry out of the pile of food by a wing. Dark Shadow Lightning caught Rarity’s eye and mouthed “good luck.” Discord curled up in one corner of the room, watching the proceedings with a lidded gaze. Pinkie, Rarity, and Spike walked into the night in search of their friend. Flash Sentry wiped a blob of some unidentifiable food off of his face. He flicked it onto the floor with a splat, his wings wiggling with the weight of the caked-on cake. “What the heck was that!?” “It’s called an accident,” Shining said, his face growing stern. “Accident?” Flash’s eyes widened. He blew a whinny through his lips and grimaced. “You call flinging somepony across the room an accident!?” “When an alicorn is involved,” Cadence said with a sidelong glance at Shining, “yes.” Flash stared blankly at them for a few seconds before shaking his head. “This is crazy. What the heck got…?” He spread his wings in a shrug. “What got into her!? With Discord and—and Blueblood, I just… That spell!” He took in a deep breath. “I’ll find her,” he said, nodding his head firmly. He spun on his hooves and trotted towards an exit. “I’m gonna see if I can’t talk a little sense into her.” “Hold it.” Flash’s tail was caught up in a violet glow; Shining Armor’s horn glowed to match. “She doesn’t want to hear it from you. Her friends will do just fine.” “She could cause a lot of damage with that spell,” Flash said, flapping his wings lightly. “We need to get to her before something happens.” Cadence flicked Shining with her tail and lowered her head to Flash Sentry’s level. “Her friends are going to find her. They’ll take care of her.” “But…” Flash shuffled his legs. “I need to—she needs—” “Just sit tight.” Cadence sighed through her nose, her ears drooping. “She needs somepony to understand her right now.” “Understand what?” Flash asked. He sat and lifted his forelegs to the princess. “If you know something I don’t, Your Highness, please tell me! Why won’t she see reason? Why would she go and try to create such a destructive spell!? It can’t possibly be worth it, not with what’s at stake!” Shining Armor and Cadence shared a look. Cadence furrowed her brow and tilted her horn at Flash, while Shining narrowed his eyes and gave his head a small shake. She tilted her head again, quicker than before, and Shining let loose a sigh. He nodded, and Cadence turned to Flash. “Flash,” she said, “I can help you understand, but only with your permission.” Flash Sentry’s neck muscles tensed. “You mean the… the ‘love’ spell?” “That’s what Twilight calls it, yes.” Cadence rested on the floor, Shining Armor placing a hoof on her back. “Do you truly wish to understand Twilight?” Flash took a step back, but nodded all the same. A pink heart floated from Cadence’s horn, bobbing along in the air. It drifted over to Flash, and alighted atop his nose. It rested there a moment, jiggling with each of his breaths. It burst with a wet pop, and Flash fell into a daze. Flash shook himself off and found that he was alone in the hall. All decorations had been emptied out, along with the spilled food and punch. The only thing that broke the monotonous emptiness was a lone, full-length mirror sitting on the far wall. The door opened with a creak, stealing Flash’s attention. The portal admitted a unicorn mare, perhaps around his age. Her coat was a pale shade of orange, and her mane was a fiery mixture of red and yellow. Her eyes seemed to waver between blue and turquoise as they flickered around the hall. Flash stiffened. His wings flared in surprise as his lips trembled. “Sunset?” She didn’t hear him. She turned towards the mirror and marched for it, her heavy hoof-steps echoing around the hall. His legs sprung into action. He lurched forwards, his wings flapping lightly to give him a boost of speed. “Sunset! Sunset, wait!” The mirror shimmered to life. Its reflective surface transformed into a whirlpool of power and beckoned Sunset forward. She reached out a hoof to touch the film between worlds, the last wall between her and the other side. Flash jolted to a halt. His legs froze against the ground. He lifted mightily, but they refused to budge. “Sunset, wait!” “It’ll be alright, Flash.” Twilight Sparkle appeared beside him. She sighed as she leaned against his side. “She needs to do this.” “N-no!” Flash shook his head. His eyes stung as he tried again to force his hooves forward. “I-I-I can help her! I just need to reach her. I just…” He strained and called out, “Sunset! Stop! Just stop! I can help you!” Sunset moved through the mirror’s surface, disappearing from sight inch by inch. “Sunset, please! It doesn’t have to be like this!” Twilight placed a hoof around his shoulders and planted a kiss on his ear. “Easy, Flash. It’s better this way.” “I can’t just let her go!” Flash flapped his wings, but found himself glued to the ground as firmly as ever. “There’s gotta be something—anything—that I can do!” The last of Sunset’s tail vanished from sight, and the mirror lay dead and cold upon the wall. Flash sat down and stared at if for what seemed like hours, Twilight Sparkle at his side. She whispered in his ear. “She was angry and jealous. She would have hurt somepony if she had stayed.” “If she had stayed, I could have helped her!” Flash stood, his legs finally released from their shackles. “I can help her now!” His face smacked against the mirror, leaving a streak of spittle behind. He clawed at its smooth surface in an attempt to push through. “I gotta help her! I gotta—” He turned back to Twilight Sparkle, whose ears lay back against her head. Her shoulders drooped. Her striped forelock fell across her eyes, hiding them from view. “Gotta.” Flash Sentry’s wings fell at his sides. “Got to save her.” Cadence poked Flash Sentry in the side as the pegasus guard came to. He looked around for a moment, as if surprised that he hadn’t moved an inch since he had dozed off. He glared at the princess. “What did you do to me?” “I cast the love spell on you,” Cadence said. “Or, a little more accurately, I cast a compassion spell on you. It lets you see things how your significant other sees them by helping you remember certain, well, relevant memories. It put you in her hooves, you might say.” “Sunset…” Flash rubbed at his temples, then felt his cheeks. His hoof came away wet. “Sunset… Cadence, I love—I loved—” She held a hoof up. “I don’t need to know what you saw. I just hope that you know what you saw.” She lowered the hoof and held his gaze. “I hope you know what you felt.” Flash’s hoof came up to his chest and felt the heartbeat beneath. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.” He stared at the floor and fell silent. Shining Armor wrapped a foreleg around Cadence’s shoulder and led her off to the side. He gave her a sideways glance, and she shrugged in reply. Cadence leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed. “Do you think she’ll be okay?” “This wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened.” Shining chewed his bottom lip. “She’ll be fine in a day or two, especially with her friends beside her.” “Good.” The two of them stared out a window, watching as Canterlot dimmed and the stars shone brighter. Flash Sentry cast a droopy glance at the door and let out a groan. “Darn it.” He squeezed his eyes shut, held still for a moment, then tilted his face towards the ceiling. “She cares about him that much, huh?” Twilight Sparkle stared at her visage as it bobbed around in the fountain. Ripples radiated outward from the center of the pool, causing the night sky’s stars to dance around gracefully. She added a few drops of her own to the water, salted to taste. She blinked and shook her head. She turned her attention to the stars that hung in the sky, rather than swam in the fountain. “It’s not fair. It’s not fair!” She splashed a hoof in the water. Her feathers hung low around her sides, growing damp on the wet concrete. She splashed again, blotting her reflection into an unrecognizable purple blob. An unrecognizable green blob sidled up beside it. “Hay, Twilight.” Twilight Sparkle’s ears twitched towards the sound of a familiar voice. She drew her wings up against her body, shivering at their cold wetness. “I don’t want to talk, Lyra.” “Well, shucks.” The green blob tilted. “It just seems like you could use a friend.” “And I don’t want to talk.” Twilight lowered her head and hunched her shoulders, hoping the steel she had put in her voice was sufficient to scare off the minty green mare. Blissful silence died a pitiful death. “It’s this Tartarus crud, isn’t it? You and Blueblood have gotten pretty close, I’ve noticed. Stinks to be him.” “For the love of pony, just go away,” Twilight hissed. “Ah, but such is the way of duty and responsibility. It rarely calls when we’re ready.” Twilight seethed as Lyra continued, “You know, it strikes me that none of this would ever have happened if there wasn’t a Tartarus to begin with.” Twilight stomped a hoof, cracking cement. “Lyra, stop it. Just stop!” She looked over her shoulder, violet eyes burning. “In case you didn’t get the memo, I’d like to be left alone!” Twilight’s jaw dropped. Lyra’s mint coat was a few shades darker, though that could have been attributed to the low light. Her mane seemed to shimmer and flow, the white and the green melding together, but that might have been a new cosmetic. What was most certainly not a trick of the light were the draconic, slit pupils in the center of her piercing, golden, glowing eyes. Nor the subtle fangs that peeked out of her half smile. “Stop it? You want me to stop it? Oh, I plan to.” Lyra leaned in close, her breath tickling Twilight’s twitching nose. Twilight backed up until her tail was left soaking in the fountain. “This might be a little out of character for me,” Lyra chuckled, “but I wanna offer a serious proposition.” Pinkie Pie followed close behind Spike, her ears swiveling and her eyes darting. “Are we there yet?” “Almost,” Spike said for what felt like the fiftieth time. “We don’t even know if she’s at the fountain.” “It’s an educated guess,” Rarity muttered. She looked over the side of a few rose bushes and let out a “tsk” at the dilapidated state of one nearby hedge. It looked like somepony had burrowed into it. “Shall we devise a game plan now? How should we approach her?” “A hug.” Spike stepped over a soft, discarded lump on the concrete path. “We should all just go up to her, hug her, and just keep quiet. Let her do the talking.” “That’s sound.” Rarity turned her head to throw her voice to the rear. “Pinkie, do keep up.” The pink mare said nothing, prompting Rarity to turn fully. “Pinkie, dear, are you alright?” Pinkie Pie held up a brown mass of felt; a cowpony hat. Her eyes appeared as dry as the desert the hat originated from. “This is Braeburn’s.” Rarity looked around. “I… don’t see any sign of him.” “Just this,” Pinkie whispered. She lifted it up so that Rarity and Spike could see the inside. A hole was punched through the front and back of the hat, leaving frayed edges behind. “Oh, Braeburn, what happened?” “Now, I’m sure that this is all just a big misunderstanding,” Rarity said. She wrapped her forelegs around the pink mare. “We’ll just have to find him, too. Twilight and Braeburn both. No problem.” Pinkie shivered as she looked at the hat, her lip trembling. “He loves this old thing.” Rarity gently pushed her along. “And I’m sure he’ll love seeing you bring it to him. Shall we be off?” Spike tilted his head as he trundled ahead. “I think I hear talking. Would that be her?” Pinkie’s eyes kept trailing down to the hat in her grip. Rarity took the hat in a sparkle of magic and placed it on her friend’s head. “There, it’ll be easier to carry up there. It, um, suits you.” Pinkie Pie drew the edges of her mouth upward. “Thanks.” Spike walked around one last bush separating them from the fountain, one last leafy barrier in their search for Twilight Sparkle. His ear fins tilted down when he saw the green mare standing beside his good friend. “Aw, great, it’s Lyra.” He turned to Rarity with a grimace. “We’ve already got our work cut out for us.” Rarity briefly considered her options for removing Lyra from their company. She decided to go for a distraction. She sniffed and raised a hoof. “Twilight, dear, we’ve been looking for you!” Twilight’s eyes were damp, as was the hair around them. Rather than sadness, however, Rarity detected in them a certain fear that went beyond unease. Blinding terror, more like. Perhaps even a sense of unfairness in the direction her life was going. “Rarity, Spike, Pinkie”—Twilight held out her hooves—“j-j-just stay back!” Lyra turned, her golden gaze alighting on the three new arrivals. She grinned, and her fangs gleamed in the light from her horn. “Hay, guys. ’Sup?” Three gasps leaped from three throats. Spike flexed his tiny arms and beefed himself up to at least a meter and a quarter tall. “You—you just stay away from her! Get away from Twilight!” Flecks of golden magic tumbled from Lyra’s flowing mane as she tossed her head. “Pfft. You’re cute when you’re angry, you know that?” Rarity pointed her horn at Lyra as subtly as she was able. She fed a low charge into it, inching her magic along the ground. “Lyra… what happened to you? Are you alright?” “Alright!?” Lyra threw her head back and laughed. “I am so much better than alright! I’m great. I’m awesome.” She jerked her leg to the side. “It’s Twilight here who isn’t feeling so hot. Right, Your Highness?” Twilight’s wings extended, and she tried to flap away. Her tail was caught up in a golden glow, halting her ascent. “Nuh uh,” Lyra said. “No go-ey away-ey. I’m not finished.” Twilight’s horn charged until it shone pure white. A bubble of energy surrounded her in preparation for a teleport. Just before the point where her atoms usually melted away, an amber glow sliced through her spell, causing it to fold against itself and vanish in a violent pop. Twilight Sparkle cried out as she clutched her soot-blackened mane. Lyra sighed with a roll of her eyes. “Details, Sparkle. Don’t let somepony just go disrupting your teleport next time, huh?” “Details, indeed!” Rarity yelped. Her magic ripped up a tuft of dirt and flung it at Lyra’s eyes. Pinkie rushed at the reeling Twilight, but Lyra extended her wings blindly, knocking the pink mare off of her feet. Lyra snarled and pushed Pinkie back with a blast of gilded magic. She shrieked in pain as Spike’s jet of green flame scorched across her hoof. Lyra picked the small dragon up and shook him as she wiped dirt from her eyes. “Oh, you wanna get rough!? Let’s get nuts!” Twilight tried to tackle Lyra from the side, but failed to get enough purchase to knock her off of her feet. She wrestled with Lyra, her forelegs around her torso. “Let go of him! Drop him!” Lyra snickered and dipped Spike into the fountain. She flapped her wing in Twilight’s face as she pried her off. “As you command, Your Hig—” Rarity’s rear legs impacted Lyra’s left eye. “How dare you harm Twilight and Spikey-Wikey!? How dare you!?” Lyra’s magic yanked Rarity’s hair back. “I double diamond dog dare. It’s the only way to dare, you know.” “Lyra!” Lyra looked up, her ears drooping. “Scratch?” Vinyl Scratch descended on the scene, her head twisting to the splashing Spike, the prone Pinkie, the raging Rarity, and the twitching Twilight. “Lyra, what are you doing?” Lyra sneered. “I’m kinda busy right now, Scratch.” Vinyl tore the sunglasses off of her face and flung them away. “No! No! No! You are not brushin’ me off! Look at what you just did, Lyra! Look!” Lyra let Rarity go and watched the white unicorn slump to the ground. Rarity clutched at her strained scalp and groaned. “Oh yeah, you just reminded me,” Lyra said. She stood over Twilight, her grin growing. “I got places to go, ponies to see. You know how it goes.” Vinyl took a step closer. “Lyra, I don’t know what’s gotten into you—” “I found something,” Lyra chuckled. “I found… my courage.” “—but I swear,” Vinyl continued, “I’m gonna get it outta you, and I’m not gonna rest until that happens.” “Tee tee eff en, then.” Lyra looked over her shoulder. “Come on, big guy, time’s wasting.” Hooves clomped against concrete as a pale, sandy horse loped into the courtyard. His unadorned mane swirled as grains flew from it, leaving a trail of sand behind him. His green eyes, corrupted with a draconic center, stared straight ahead as he approached. “Brae—!” Pinkie cried out. He stopped at the sound of her voice. He looked at her for a moment, his head tilting, but he soon resumed his approach on Lyra. “’Bout time you got here,” Lyra snorted. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d fallen in.” He responded with a grunt. His horn glowed green, which soon spread not only to his body, but Lyra’s and Twilight’s as well. Before long his horn blazed white, blinding all who saw it. Spike gasped and launched himself out of the fountain. “Twilight, no!” He landed in a circle of burned earth, green sparkles flitting around him. “No!” He clawed at the dirt and flung a few handfuls behind him. “No!” He sat as tears dripped from his eyes. “No, no, no, no…” Rarity wrapped her forelegs around him and rocked back and forth. She looked up to see Pinkie staring at the burnt earth, her mouth hanging wide. “Pinkie, I’m—” “He didn’t even know me.” Pinkie choked. “He-he didn’t know me! Me!” Rarity tried to speak, to open her mouth and let soothing words flow forth, but she was interrupted by another voice that was quite invested in the occurred events. “Okay, okay, what?” Vinyl asked. “Does anypony know what in the flying feather just happened here!?”