//------------------------------// // Plutus 20, 3121 AC // Story: Lyra of Avaira // by ArtichokeLust //------------------------------// Lyra Heartstring's Journal Plutus 20, 3121 AC Pain of Loss "You may have fooled my ponies, but I will not let anypony to go through that!" Celestia fired a beam of magic from her horn. The beam tore through Dom's chest effortlessly. It passed directly through his heart and went on to Clair... It tore right through both of her shoulders. Finally, it cut through the wall and went on to who knows where... I was several feet from the beam, but I could still feel the intense heat coming off of it... It wasn't fair! I worked so hard to defend them! They did nothing wrong! She just executed them in front of everypony! she went against everypony's decisions! I collapsed. I fell onto my stomach and just lied there... Everything I hoped for was shattered in an instant, by some stupid outburst. My entire life's work... ...I closed my eyes and let my tears fall out... Was I foolish to hope for it in the first place? ...I stopped listening... ...I stopped listening to the world... ...Nothing mattered anymore... ...Nothing I cared about could be changed... ...I felt a hoof prod my face. It was annoying, so I just pushed it away without even opening my eyes. I just wanted to lie there... The hoof prodded me again. I pushed it away again, more forcefully this time... I felt several hooves of different sizes poking my body. This was getting seriously annoying. Couldn't they see I just wanted to lie there? "Leave me alone!" I stood up and yelled. My throat caught from what I saw. Directly in front of me was that white solar-guard looking stallion. Lance A-lot, I think his name was. To the left and right of him respectively were Rosetta Stone, with her brown fur and wild pink mane, and Capt. Data Crunch, with his all green complexion. But behind them, Dom--the nicely dressed male--and Clair--the female who seemed to love her black sweatpants and black long-sleeve sweatshirt with the heart in the center--were kneeling down, looking at me with their worried looks... I gaped... But that was impossible! I just saw them die! "You should be dead..." I could barely talk above a whisper. "How..." I swallowed, "How are you alive!?" My ears perked up as I started to smile... ...That's right, Impossible... "...Oh..." My ears flattened back down again... Clair pushed her way through the ponies and put her hands around me. I could feel myself being lifted into the air. "Hey!" Clair yelled. I opened my eyes. "I know what you're thinking. We're not dead; we're right here!" She brought me closer. I smiled. This was nice, but it couldn't be reality. Nothing could survive being shot like that... But it was nice. "Come on!" Clair grimaced, "Dom! Help!" She hugged me. I could feel breath escape me. I felt what must have been Dom's arms wrap around me too. He had a much lighter touch. "We're here!" Clair said. Her voice was shaky and filled with urgency, "we're still here!" "And don't you dare give up on us!" I blinked. Give up on them? Why would I do that? Humans were just like ponies! They deserved the same treatment! But Celestia... Oh my Celestia... I saw the beam of magic passing through Dom and Clair flash over my vision... My life... My entire life's work was meaningless... Everything I had hoped for... My body convulsed, and I must have started crying, because the humans put me down and started... petting me... frantically... like they were trying to warm me up or something... It wasn't unappreciated... Poor kids. From what I knew of humans, Dom and Clair were either in their late teens or early twenties. They were still foals, and they acted like it in the debates. But at least they knew to be friendly and ask for help when they were in trouble. If the town either didn't think much of them or hated them, they wouldn't have stood a chance. But they didn't stand a chance anyway... I felt lips press against the top of my head. Clair was kissing me, like a mother would kiss her foal before tucking her in for bed... ...I felt tears on my mane and a weight on my back... I felt tears on my back... It seemed like both humans were crying, not just the extroverted one. "I'm sorry!" Clair's voice cracked, "I'm sorry! We shouldn't have done that! We should have told you... we had a plan!" My heart wanted to believe them. I could feel it longing to accept their words-- their existence, but my brain knew it didn't make sense. "I'm sorry!" I closed my eyes... I woke up again. I was at home, on the couch where BonBon and I would usually sit and talk about stuff. Across from me was BonBon, Rosetta, Data, Lance, Clair, Dom, and Luna... Clair... Dom... "Are you sure this will work?" BonBon asked Clair, "I think she's waking up..." "Now or never," Dom glanced at Luna threateningly. Luna glared back, but let up after a few seconds, "very well..." She sighed. Her horn lit up with magic. Magic that enveloped Dom and Clair. "No!" I pleaded weakly, "They're just foals!" Luna cringed and finished her magic hurriedly. The aura surrounding Dom and Clair vanished. ...A hole opened up in the center of Clair's chest... "NO!" I dove towards Clair. I landed on her lap. "It's okay!" She said hurriedly, then stroked my back, "It's okay..." The hole closed. I looked up at her in confusion. "We share one body in two locations. We can both be completely solid, but there only needs to be one of us out at a time. See?" To demonstrate, she faded her arm. She pushed the limb against me, and brought the arm back to reality after it should have gone through me... I felt a push that wasn't unlike a unicorn's magic. I looked at her arm, comprehending, but still not believing. Dom smirked, "The only way to hurt us is to hit us both in the exact same spot at the exact same time!" I stared at him... "...Look," he sighed, picked me up, and put me on the floor. I watched as Clair stuck her entire arm through Dom's chest, and Dom stuck his arm through both of Clair's shoulders... I blinked... ...Slowly, a smile came to my face. They were alive... Relief "You're alive!" I shouted in glee and jumped back on top of Clair. This time I threw my hooves around her and buried my head into her chest. "Oh, I thought you poor foals were dead! That just wasn't fair!" I sat back in a more natural position. Curiously, I noticed Dom hugging himself exactly where I'd been hugging Clair... Maybe they shared senses too? I looked back at Clair, "Don't you two ever do that again!" Clair nodded enthusiastically, then shook her head just as enthusiastically, "Of course not!" "...It seems I'm no longer needed here," Luna interrupted quietly. I looked over to her. She smiled sympathetically to herself as she vanished. --BonBon tackle hugged me out of nowhere, "And don't you ever do that again either, you silly mare." I looked up at my best friend standing over me. Her eyes were wet with tears of relief. She hugged me. It was actually quite an experience due to the position we were both in. And earth ponies were strong! "Uh..." I squeaked and struggled to escape, "You're-- You're squeezing me," I wiggled my front hooves in an attempt to grasp something, "Ow." Finally, she let met go. I had to take a moment to catch my breath. "Sorry," BonBon grinned sheepishly... "...So..." Data Crunch spoke up, " What do we do now?" Everyone glared at him for ruining the moment. "What?" He tried to make himself smaller. I sighed; it was a legitimate question... "I think I'll have to head over to Avaira to tell them the news." "Again!?" BonBon whined. I turned to her, "I'm sorry, but I'm their ambassador, and it wouldn't be right to keep something like this from them..." I apologized. BonBon frowned... "I'm coming." I reared my head back and started to protest, but I saw the look on her face... Perhaps she could sell some of her Bonbons in Avaira... "Okay. And... Well," I yawned, suddenly realizing how tired I was, "I'm not going today. I'm emotionally exhausted." I kicked Clair's shin. "Ow!" "Serves you right!" BonBon shook her hoof at Clair. "Sorry..." Clair apologized. BonBon narrowed her eyes at her... "Well," Rosetta spoke up, "We'll probably need to spread the news of what we saw to Equestria, since I think we were the only ponies to watch the last parts of the Debate. So we're the only ponies who know how Celestia's horn got broken." "Celestia's horn got what!?" BonBon and I turned and gaped at Rosetta. "Heh heh..." Clair and Dom tried to sink further into the couch. "How!?" I turned to them. "Well," Dom grinned sheepishly, "This fading thing is really good for tricking people." "We played dead until I saw Celestia wasn't looking at Dom, then he faded out completely and reappeared on top of Celestia, then he kind of... punched her horn off." Clair made gestures as she explained. "Guh..." I covered my horn with a hoof. Suddenly I felt sick... If a unicorn ever broke their horn, they would lose almost all of their ability to focus magic, and they would feel pain and disorientation for years. If they broke it near the base, the horn could leak natural magic into the air, leeching the unicorn's life constantly. In the worst cases, it could lead to a coma. Horn injuries were not pleasant experiences. Rosetta tilted her head. Apparently this was news to her. It wasn't news to Data though. He covered his horn just like I did. "Well," Rosetta shrugged, "Anyway, I was thinking--" She looked left and right to her companions "--we we're thinking--" They tilted their heads at her "--that maybe you could wait another day or two, then we could come with you to Avaira." She grinned hopefully. Her companions continued looking at her strangely. "Well, I'm okay with it." I glanced at her partners. "What?" She finally looked at them, "We've never been to Avaira, and It could have a lot of historical significance." "Oh," Lance said. "I guess that makes sense," Data said. "I thought you were just leeching for vacations." Rosetta glared at him. "...Great," I smiled, "You'll love Avaira." "Wonderful," Rosetta smiled, then yawned. "Well," She hopped off of the couch, "I think it's around bed time..." She looked at me compassionately, "You sure you're alright?" "Of course!" I smiled... "well," I scrunched my face and glanced at Clair and Dom, "I'm still a little peeved..." "I think we'll be heading back to our hotel then." Rosetta started walking. Her partners nodded their heads in agreement and followed her. "Um..." Clair said awkwardly... "What?" I glared at her. "We arrived somewhat recently... So we kind of didn't get a home yet..." Clair smiled sheepishly. Dom lowered his head in embarrassment. "Oh," I laughed, "Well, we should have a few extra blankets over there," I pointed my hoof to a nearby closet, "and the couches are free." Clair and Dom smiled politely, "thanks!" They said in unison. I smiled back.... ...I suddenly felt an absence. "...Where'd BonBon go?" I spun around in a circle. There was no sign of BonBon. I heard snoring... "Somniac," I smirked.