//------------------------------// // Chapter 4:The Others // Story: The Tale of The Epic Lyre // by Magenta //------------------------------// "I suppose that we'll have to start from scratch, girls, back to Ponyville," said a rather confident Twilight. "B-but, Twilight..." asked Pinkie Pie, "what if there's something worse out there like a ghost town or, or...a hoard of zombie ponies?!" She peeled her eyes and hit the ground. "Zombie ponies? What have you been reading?" said Lyra. "Whatever it is that's out there we won't let it stop us now. Get behind me, girls..." The wise purple pony attempted to teleport them back home but the magic wasn't strong enough. They did manage however to land outside the castle and into the famous Canterlot Gardens, the ones that Fluttershy loved so very much. "Ah, I remember this place now," said Pinkie, "my pal Fluttershy was here because she refused to come with us to the Gala! Boy, I do hope they will invite soon! I can't wait to kick my hooves and party." "Pinkie, Twilight is trying to concentrate!" said Lyra. Soon, the unicorn found herself surrounded by a beautiful gleam that seemed to grow more and more. The three ponies gathered once again, "Come on, don't delay, I just thought of something that might help us, visualize the safest place you can find in Ponyville..." Pinkie replies a bit humorously, "Well, duh, of course it has to be the library! No one goes there anyway..." Twilight felt slightly offended and just grinned. The gleam was more intense now, not as wonderful as the one Lyra saw but effective enough to bring them back to the treehouse where she lived filled with tons of ancient books. Upon their arrival they noticed a profound emptiness. It sure felt cold not having Spike around but instead was Twilight's faithful nighttime assistant who perched upon her worktable. "OWLICIOUS!" cried Twilight, "I'm so glad you're OK." The puny owl soon flew and landed on top of her head." "Yeah, yeah, whatever" clopped Lyra. "How are we supposed to solve our problems inside the library?" "Well, excuse me," said the purple pony, "but we needed a safe ground to think and plan a strategy, we simply can't go on without gathering some knowledge about our enemy, so it's vital to find out as much as we can." Twilight continued to question her unicorn companion. Pinkie only stood wide eyed. "Please, I beg you, who or what exactly is this Knight Shade ?" Lyra sighed deeply,"Look, he's a total mystery, I don't think he's from around here, I may have overheard something else..." "That's it!" cried Twilight, "If he's an outsider then maybe we can locate where he's from in the Extended Map of Equestria!" "Extenda what now?" wondered Pinkie Pie. The unicorn pulled out a scroll from one of many carefully arranged shelves and continued,"There are other lands which are our neighbors yet some of them are not that friendly, maybe even similar to Equestria." Lyra stood thinking very thoroughly hoping that the answer she was looking for. She remembered the day of the audition where she eavesdropped on her contenders. That image of that peculiar stallion was frozen in her memory, his ghastly expression. Knight Shade wasn't that bad, in fact even if he never actually sang he could still make any mare go crazy as Hell. But not in Lyra's case, for it was a big, annoying rival her and it was in the middle of that rememberance that she yelled without a doubt,"GREYVILLE! Try to look up that town, Twi!" "Excellent!" said the wise unicorn. Owlicious pointed the land that was beyond the borders of Equestria on the upper northwest. "Quick, fetch me the Volume number 4 on Precelestian History!" By using her magic she quickly flipped through the pages, "Let's see, let's see...AHA! Here it is. Greyville, see Renegade Movements. After the long hard battle to defeat the dictator in Equestria known as Discord the Chaotic, the Royal Troops seeked help from the ally lands due to the fact that they had a common threat..." "Yes, go on," said Lyra anxiously. "Some agreements were made to continue this battle yet others denied to participate, among them was Greyville. In one way or another their beliefs were to reject any form of magic and demanded to leave peacefully and independantly. For they were phyisically different from the ponies in Equestria their duty was to only attend their everyday chores. The troops left them to raise their children without being bothered and since then they don't belong to this territory. "Ah, Twi," Lyra interrupted. "Not now, Lyra, there's even more..." "But Twi, it's just that..." continued the mint colored pony. "I think this may be a bad time but, Pinkie Pie's not here." Twilight was so caught up in reading as usual so much that any single sound around her was insignificant," yes, and then Pinkie Pie's not here...wait! What did you just say?" "I said Pinkie's not, oh, for peace's sake, where do you suppose she went?" "Downtown, I guess, probably Sugarcube Corner. Please Lyra, I never asked any favor of you but could you please run down to Ponyville and get her? And I promise I'll never doubt you again." "Watch it now, that sounds like a pretty serious promise," answered the unicorn. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" "Wut?" "Oh, forget it, it's just something that Pinkie Pie taught me," said Twilight Sparkle smiling. "Well, in that case, you can count on me. You stay right here trying to gather clues while I see if I can find out more about the situation in Ponyville...oh, yeah and Pinkie too." "WHO!" Owlicious hooted very still. Lyra thought he was talking to her for he may have understood something, "Pinkie Pie, the party animal, who else?" "Oh, don't worry about him, now hurry up!" Lyra parted and galloped with ease to the center of Ponyville. While she rode she did notice something different in the air in fact a cold breeze that hit her like a whip and started trembling. The weather was quite humid and made her feel intimidaded and horribly lonely. "Brrr," she said, "I should have brought something warmer. Maybe I should try to go back to Bon Bon's, now that would be a miracle. "Don't leave the house without a scarf, you don't want to catch a cold, do you?" she'd say..." She stopped galloping and suddenly slowed down. She was just a few steps away from Town Hall. She cantered very quietly and lowered her head as a sign of caution. There was no one out but at a certain point this was normal because Ponyvillians were early birds. "Well, so far so good, now to find that wild pony," Lyra said referring to Pinkie. "There's Sugarcube Corner, she must have gone to see if Mr. and Mrs. Cake are alright." Thus she headed over to the famous bakery which design resembled a candy house adorned with frosting from top to bottom. Though it was hard to make it out at night apparently some pony left the light turned on in the ground floor. The wooden door was half open. Lyra was alert and proceeded slowly feeling her stomach squashed. She knocked on the door courteously. "Um, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, are you there? I'm sorry to bother you at this hour, but..." No pony answered her call; she tried again, "Mr. and Mrs. Cake? Pinkie, are you there, stop playing games, we're on a mission!" Lyra had no choice but to open the main door with her head and entered timidly. The house was unusually cold and surprisingly tidy except for a few large boxes which stood in a counter. They were actually the treats that the pink pony was supposed to bring to the Festival. Lyra couldn't resist grabbing one of those delicious cupcakes filled with blueberry jam. "Mmmmmm, mmmm, not bad, not bad," said the unicorn with her mouth full. "Seriously, Pinkie, if you don't come out soon, I'll..." Out of nowhere a shadow moved rapidly. Lyra dropped her cupcake and swallowed some crumbs, "Pinkie, is that you?..." The shadow moved again, this time she could percieve it better, "LYRA!" "AHHHHHH," yelled the unicorn, "Don't eat me, please!" and curled up in a corner. "Oh, it's only me, silly!" Pinkie was safe and sound and it was noticeable that she managed to whip up a batch of tiny pieces of dough. Lyra approached her slowly. "What is that?" she said. "Well..." said the pink pony, "I couldn't help overhearing what Twilight and you were talking about a while ago that it SO hit me that I could make us some of these to make sure we can't hear that terrible music you said that has every pony haunted!" "And you went out just to bake like nothing at all?" asked the unicorn. "Duh, Of course; I make these ear plugs all the time especially when the Cakes can't sleep, it's such a shame I didn't find them." Pinkie Pie took her knapsack with the colorful baloons on top and packed her nifty invention. "That's the most creative thing I've ever seen," said Lyra. "But remember that Twilight is waiting for us..." "Sure, I get it, but don't you wanna know what became of the other ponies?" asked the earth pony. "Well I was just gonna check up on Bon Bon, but anyway, how can you tell if something bad happened when every pony else is asleep?" "I'll come with you!" cried Pinkie Pie, "I've never been to Bon Bon's house." "Really, but it's right there in front of you! Anyway, would you care to tell me when was the last time you saw her?" asked Lyra. "She came with me to Sugarcube Corner but then after I came to the Festival I lost complete sight of her." "There's a slight chance that she might still be home, probably waiting for me, now that would be nice indeed!" grinned Lyra. At Bon Bon's house she knocked to see if her best friend would come out in the balcony. "BonBon, sweetie, are you there? Sorry for leaving you so rudely..." No pony responded. "BonBon? It's me and Pinkie Pie, just come out to see if you're okay!" The silence and the tension grew. Lyra felt discouraged and lowered her head, "I think she doesn't like me anymore." "Oh, I don't think so," said Pinkie in a happier mood. "This calls for desperate measures, "BONBON! Come out, come out wherever you are!!!" Her shouting was so great that it shook Lyra. Finally, her calling was answered. Indeed the pony with the caramels cutie mark came out of her wee house but her expression gave them the chills. "Go away..." she said in a sweet soft phantasmagorical voice. "BONBON!" said Lyra jumping happily like a child and ran to hug her and fill her with kisses. On the other hand she showed no response to these ways of affection and stood firmly like a rock. Lyra moved away suddenly. BonBon's eyes had no hint of color, like washed away, "By all the skies in Equestria, what happened to you, are you sick?" "I said GO AWAY!" she shouted, "You're simply not welcome here!" "But what the heck are you talking about, don't you recognize me, aren't we in Ponyville?" "No! Now go away before he catches you for it will be your doom!" Lyra shook her head and started talking with ease, "Oh, so I see that poser did his work well and has you all cursed!" "Isn't it clear, go away!" yelled BonBon once again. "Is that all you can say?" said Pinkie. Suddenly BonBon's pupils went completely gray as she entered a state of trance. She kicked her hooves as she was marching and soon joined the others. Lyra and Pinkie turned and looked at each other astonished. They agreed that it would be easier to follow the possessed ponies throughout Ponyville just to figure out where they would go next. "Pinkie!" said Lyra softly, "The ear plugs!" "Oh, yeah, sure!" said the pink pony. "It's the same song Knight Shade played at the Festival, they're under his spell, I knew it! I'm not putting up with this charade no longer and especially when he's messing with my BonBon!" "Wait, shouldn't we warn Twilight about this?" said Pinkie with impecable timing. "Warn me about what?" Twilight Sparkle arrived at the scene carrying her knapsack with supplies, a map and some books. Pinkie rose and skipped easy as a rabbit and went towards the purple unicorn. "Quick, put these on your ears!" she said as she carefully placed the earplugs made of dough. "What the? Oh, that's right, the song!" she cried. "Sheesh, I dunno what you guys would do without me!" said Pinkie Pie very properly. "I this sounds crazy but we have to get to Greyville, we have a lot of ground to cover "Like a scavenger hunt? Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, I'd love that," cried the pink pony. Twilight did her best to calm her down because the situation wasn't that simple. "Actually this be a very pleasant trip, you see no pony has been to Greyville in ages, so that's why we're going undercover." Using her unicorn magic Twilight dressed the two fillies with a pale cape and hood. "Woo, just what I needed to get rid of this crazy weather, I can't believe it's freezing like this in the summer, even my tail is twitching," said Pinkie while she was adjusting her hood. "Remember, our magic will not work there so every instant that we spend upon that land we lose our chances to get back to Ponyville safe and sound so we only have enough time to get some concrete answers about this Knight Shade." "And how do you suppose we find those answers, knocking on every pony's door? That could take days!" said Lyra. "We have no other choice, Lyra, if we don't what we're up against we might lose this battle. Though we're not sure what's gonna happen we will have to make the best of our talents, especially if we don't have the Elements of Harmony to work with." And so the party of three began to gallop as fast as they could but when the enchanted ponie crossed their path they went faster and faster than ever before, "Woo, talk about zombie ponies, they're gaining on us!" "They sure look like living dead ponies to me!" said Lyra surprised and agitated, "my poor BonBon, did you see the way she reacted? It's just so mean..." "Well we had our share of wild adventures, Lyra," said Pinkie, "You'll see that very soon we'll be back home laughing about it." Twilight smiled after she heard what her pink friend said. It was incredible how she could manage to stay strong and brave against such a terrible ordeal for it was no doubt that Princess Luna chose well when she admitted her to go on this quest. "What are you thinking about, Ms. Smartypants," interrupted Lyra. The purple unicorn slightly blushed, "Oh, nothing, it's just that I'm happy to have you around." "OHHHHHH," sighed Lyra, "So that means that you've softened, hey?" "What do you mean by "soften"? I'm not always that tough," she repsonded a bit angry. "I was just saying because they told you almost lose it the other day over some ridiculous report you had turn in, but whatever..." "Oh , Twilight, how far off is town anyway?" asked Pinkie Pie. The wise unicorn pulled out the map from her knapsack while her owl friend held it in mid air. "By the northwest boundaries of Equestria, no doubt." "I sure hope it's not like the Everfree Forest," said Pinkie. "No, of course not," continued Twilight Sparkle, "Like I said unicorns or alicorns or any other pony from Equestria are welcomed there. The weather runs on its own and the Sun and the Moon rise as well without the aid of others. There are also seems to be a great deal of monotony." "Pfff," replied Lyra as their galloped, "I think it's the sort of crowd who'd love to get a kick out of my music!" "Probably but no. I have a feeling that once we get there the way we see things will change dramatically...- Pinkie yelped and cried, "And speaking of dramatic, let's run for it!" The girls went down an alternate road without having to past the Everfree forest but it still wasn't safe enough to get rid of the zombified Ponyvillians. Even old Derpy Hooves joined the pack and suddenly began munching on Pinkie Pie's tail. "YEOWH!!!" cried Pinkie, "Hey, watch it Derpy, it's not cotton candy, you know!" Twilight felt the adrenaline rush from the tip of her nose to her legs and began to run faster. At the same time she was doing this she had no choice but try to teleport as if she applied it like some sort of defense mechanism. Her body illuminated with a lavender shade. "Wow, look at Twilight go!" said Pinkie Pie, "If only she ran like that in The Running of The Leaves." Soon she followed her hopping like a bunny rabbit yet Lyra felt she was being left behind as well. She cried, "Twi, you're going way too fast! They're trying to devour us!" "Maybe they're just playing with us", said Pinkie happily but soon Derpy came back to bite her tail some more. "Or maybe not! Hey wait up!!!!" Twilight's body was completely lit up this time and as her friends we're trying their best to keep up the pace Lyra grabbed the other unicorn by the tail and made Pinkie do the same thing. "What is the matter with you?" said the mint colored unicorn, "It looks like you're posessed as well!" Yet it was too late for an explanation. Soon the lavender gleam covered the little ponies and they all disappeared from this nightmarish scene. While Twilight regained consciousness there was a very brief moment where she was drawn to a dream like sequence. She felt her slender body float while a rather deep voice kept calling her. Have you ever felt that moment in which time simply stops? I, believe so. That is when everything else seems so fragant; the wind that caresses your skin, the stars that play with you in the middle of the night, every single thing becomes so perfect. Now imagine me there as well. Yes... Do you wish I could stay here forever? Tell me so. I, I can't... "NO, no, I can't!" cried the purple unicorn. The three ponies popped up right above a clearing in a random forest and fell upon a lagoon. After they splashed into the murky waters Pinkie gathered and continued to rinse herself and soon after her mane and tail became as fluffy as a sheep dog. Meanwhile Twilight and Lyra were soaked to the bone. "Hahahaha!" said the pink pony looking at Lyra, "Now you look exactly like a sea pony!" "You know Pinkie, " said Lyra a little bit frustrated, "If we're gonna stick together for a while your jokes better be good." "Oh..." replied the pink pony, "The Big Bad Sea Pony is coming at me, run everypony!" "WHY YOU..." cried Lyra mad. "Stop it, both of you!" said Twilight shaking her wavy mane, "If you don't calm down I'll leave you right here and go by myself!" "Gee, Twilight," said Lyra rinsing her platinum mane, "I don't think that's a good strategy, afterall I'm the one who has seen Knight Shade more times than you have," she said sarcastically, "Is it me or are you hiding something?" "Me? Of course not! It's just that I want to wrap this up as soon as possible." Lyra stopped for an instant and asked her again looking in the eye, "Are you sure there's anything else you want to tell us?" Twilight felt paralyzed for a few seconds and went pale trying to hide her reaction, "No, I already told you, you silly pony, we have very little time here, why are you interrogating me so much?" The mint colored unicorn grew curiouser and continued,"Let's see, is it because you don't enjoy my company? Am I bothering you with my coolness?" Celestia's ,prized pupil was already well known for having little patience, so she kinda started to lose it, "No,no,no! But to be honest I wish my best friends were here to make me feel better." "Aha!" cried Lyra while she pounded the ground with her hoof, "And what are we exactly?" Pinkie joined the conversation and stood wide eyed, "Pfff, yeah, Twilight, it's not like we're zombie ponies!" The purple unicorn gave a huge sigh, " It's alright if you REALLY wanna know I do feel a little bit intimidated around you two. But don't get me wrong, you're really great and all!" "Oh yeah, and how do you think I feel without BonBon, she's my right hand! Or was it my right hoof?" said Lyra thinking thoroughly, "You get the point, right? Boy, you're truly soaked and look like a pair of noodles, let me dry you off quickly..." Lyra concentrated with great care and whipped up a spell that created a whirlpool of hot water that magically floated in mid air and exploded into a cloud of vapor that dried up all the ponies. They all looked good as new, spick and span, "Not bad, hey?" Twilight dodged Lyra's comments," Gosh, I really don't know if we landed on the right spot, where is that map?" Owlicious fluttered and displayed the extended map of Equestria so that they could pin point their location. Her expression turned more optimistic. "Oh, silly me," she said, "We're actually just a few steps away from Greyville!" "You know, Twilight is so random," said the mint colored unicorn to Pinkie in a lower voice. "If my calculations are correct, Greyville is that sleep town downhill."