//------------------------------// // Lyra Heartstrings by TheMusicalBoy93 // Story: Tainted Love: A Twysalis Prompt Tag Collab // by Foals Errand //------------------------------// By TheMusicalBoy93 Lyra sat on her stool on the stage, plucking the strings of her lyre, singing her favourite love ballad. She looked out at the bar’s dance floor and watched the couples slow dancing in each other’s hooves as she sang. One couple in particular commanded her attention was the Royal Couple of Ponyville; Princess Twilight and Queen Chrysalis. Lyra could remember the panic and confusion when, one day, Twilight emerged from her crystal palace with Queen Chrysalis draping one of her large, insectoid wings across her back. Immediately, the rest of the Elements of Harmony were gathered but Twilight swiftly, and calmly, dispelled all belief that she was under some form of changeling spell. She explained to her subjects that she and Chrysalis had fallen in love after several months of, what had started out as, diplomatic negotiations between ponies and changelings. After almost a year of their relationship going public, the ponies of Equestria and the changelings started to slowly integrate themselves into a single community. After a further month or two, changelings and ponies were allowed to marry. Twilight and Chrysalis were the first to take this privilege, since it was Twilight who fought against the Canterlot Court for the right to marry Chrysalis. Lyra’s song came to its inevitable conclusion, and she was met with thunderous applause from the bar patrons. She took her bow and excused herself from the stage, welcoming the next musician for the night. She shook hooves with Twinkleshine as they traded places on the stage and made her way to the bar front. She sat down on one of the bar stools, provoking one or two odd looks from her fellow patrons, as she sat in her usual bolt upright position, and waited to be served. As she waited, she clocked a purple form slide itself into the seat beside her out the corner of her eye. She glanced over to her right to find Princess Twilight smiling at her. She nodded a brief greeting before a second shape slide into the stool to her left. She glanced across to confirm that Twilight’s wife, Chrysalis herself, had flanked her from the other side, effectively boxing her in at the bar counter. She wasn’t intimidated, but she did feel flattered that they decided to sit with her tonight. “Thank you for singing that song, Lyra.” Twilight beamed. She waved down a bartender, who swiftly responded and was at their place in moments. “Can I get you a drink?” “Oh. That’s really nice of you to offer, Princess, but-“ “Please, Lyra. Just call me Twilight. And I insist. Name your poison.” Lyra hid a small smile behind her hooves at the flattering attention she was getting from royalty. “Well… I really don’t mind, in all honesty. Bon Bon’s out of town on holiday, so I’m not in any rush to get home.” Lyra was too busy trying not to blush in front of Ponyville’s Princess of Friendship that she didn’t see Twilight’s face light up with evil glee. “Amaretto, three Irish Draught Iced Teas, please.” The tan mare behind the bar curtsied dutifully and rushed to prepare the cocktails. She returned moments later and, after being forced by Twilight to accept her money (plus tips), wished the three of them a pleasant evening. One cocktail turned into three. Then five. After the seventh or eighth, the night seemed to whizz by in a murky haze. The three mares were all leaning against each other as they departed from the bar, giggling like schoolfillies. They stumbled over their hooves a few times as they helped each other navigate the midnight streets of Ponyville, back to Twilight’s palace. “Well, itsh been a wunderful evenun, Twilighth,” Lyra slurred. “But Ah reeeally need ta ge’ home nah.” “Oh no, you’re in no fit state to be staggering home all on your lonesome, Lyra,” Twilight purred, sidling up to the minty unicorn with a half lidded smirk. “Why don’t you say the night here?” Lyra tried, unsuccessfully, to cover her rosy cheeks, knowing she couldn’t blame much of it on the booze. “No, itsh awrigh’. Ah can get mahshelf home.” The unicorn staggered woozily, and almost had a makeout session with the cobbles until Chrysalis caught her in one hoof. “Twily’s right,” the changeling queen affirmed. “You can’t expect to get home on your own, at this hour. Come, stay with us for the night.” The changeling lead Lyra through the palace door. “You won’t be sorry, I assure you.” The two royals smirked mischievously as the heavy crystal door swung shut. The morning sun peaked in through the window, causing Lyra to stir. An action she immediately regretted when a far-too-familiar stinging sensation coursed through her head, eliciting a hiss of discomfort from the mare. She never was any good at knowing her limits with alcohol. She tried to turn over in her bed, but found herself hemmed in by two large, warm masses. Slowly, she cracked her eyelids open and glanced to her sides, finding the sleeping bodies of Princess Twilight and Queen Chrysalis flanking her from both sides. The two mares seemed to be grinning in their sleep, and their manes were tangled and messy. She gasped as the events of last night quickly flooded back to her. “Oh, horseapples,” she swore. “Bon Bon’s gonna kill me.”