//------------------------------// // Following the strange ponies. // Story: Mares in Black // by MrAquino //------------------------------// Some knocking was heard on the door. Lyra snorted herself awake. Celestia's sun hit her in her sight, causing the unicorn to get up. It was clearly the morning time, and a bunch of ponies, all having sunglasses and wearing black suits, were surrounding the orb area from last night, while others were going around, house to house, asking the local residents if they saw anything last night. Her best guess was that they were the ones knocking and woke her up. She heard the door open, most likely Bon-Bon opened it. "Oh. Hello Octy." Bon Bon's voice was heard below, greeting somepony. "Something wrong?" "No," the pony named 'Octy' replied "is Lyra here?" "Oh yes, she should be upstairs in her room." "Can you call her down?" "Already there. Lyra!!! Some ponies want to meet you." Lyra carefully went downstairs, peeking around the corner to see these ponies: sure enough, at least three of the ponies in black suits with sunglasses were there. She could see that 'Octy' was clearly the famous Octavia. The other two ponies were some stallions, one being a gray colored unicorn and the other a bright yellow pegasus. "Hello Lyra. Please, take a seat." Lyra wasn't sure if she should follow them or not, but to be safe, she followed. "We're from the New Lunar Republic Night Watch and we want to ask you some questions." "O...k." Lyra responded, sounding a bit suspicious. "Alright. Did you see anything last night? Say, an eerie green glow, a floating orb, and/or weird creatures creatures that stood on two legs?" "No. The thing I did saw last night was my dream of meeting a human." "A... human?" the unicorn's horn began to glow "Forgive her," Bon Bon apologized, getting in between them & Lyra "she's been doing this ever since we were gillie in school." "Really?" "Yeah. She always claims that, one day, she'll find herself a human and, I don't know, live with it. She actually had a pet monkey one time to have it evolve into human." "hmm." The three ponies in suits began to whisper to each other. Octy turned around to them "Alright then. Bon Bon, care to join us? Princess Luna will need your validation." "...Alright. But remember what I said last night: I'm gonna need some shut eye." Lyra's eyes widened & pupils shrunk!!! She remembered what that one pony said from last night: I'm gonna need some shut eye. Sweet Celestia, was she with them? Should she follow them? Only time can tell. Five Hours Later All the other ponies in black suits began to move away from the scene last night. Lyra watched as a couple of the town residents were fine from last night, but saying that those ponies told them that this was a lunar teleportation testing thing from last night and that they choose to do this after in being in Canterlot for a week. This was obviously a lie, but they seemed to really foolishly believe it more than anything. Perhaps that's what the unicorns' spell is: a memory erasing spell? From what she remembers, that spell is only for princesses, and is highly illegal for any to use unless allowed by a princess or to royalty. These ponies didn't look like they were part of royalty, at all, but looked more like business ponies. Is their business something illegal? She had to find out and tell everypony!!! With luck, Princess Twilight, Celestia, Cadence, and Luna can put an end to this group once and for all! Perhaps... she could become a princess. Oh yeah... the princess of humans, where she can rule the human, and- "Ahem?" a random pony coughed. Lyra woke up. She was day dreaming again, something she had to control, especially in a situation like this. She remembered that she was on pursuit, following two of these ponies in black suits, which were on the same train as her. They were on their way to Canterlot, thanks to the castle in the distance. This was going to be tricky, especially with the city's crowds. It took the train a few minutes to stop, but they were finally in Canterlot. Lyra ran out of the train and into a nearby store. Without much questioning nor talking, she bought herself a large jacket and fedora to hide her identity from the strange ponies. She followed them, leaning on a wall, going behind some trashcans, and joining the crowd every time they turned to see if they're being watched or followed. She could hear them talk a bit: they seemed to be having normal conversations. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary by the way they talked, or at least until something else. "You guys saw that unicorn," one of the ponies said "that mint one?" "Oh yeah." the other replied "How does she know humans? She's not even an M.I.B. member, but seems to get the idea right." "She didn't even describe what a human looked liked." "Well, if she heard the name, she must know what it looks like." "Maybe, but she may confuse a Vulcan for a human, right?" "Oh yeah, I completely forgot about them." "Anyways, think she could be a potential M.I.B. agent?" "Maybe. I just to know if both the boss and Bon Bon would allow it." I KNEW IT!!! SHE IS WITH THEM!!! The duo went into an alleyway. Lyra stopped in a corner and peeked over: the alleyway looked like an ordinary one, complete with trash cans, a cat eating bones of a fish, and a vending machine. The two stopped at a vending machine. One of them placed a bit inside the machine and the other began to put in some code. Though she couldn't see it very well, it looked as if it were a 4 digit code: 5862. Instead of dropping a snack, the vending machine moved forward a bit then scooted to the left, revealing a door behind it. The duo entered, still having a casual conversation. This was her chance: she booked it, last the closing vending machine door. It closed right behind her, covering her in darkness. Lights came above her, revealing the area to be a long, white, and bright hallway. She took off her disguise and began to walk down the hallway. The duo was missing for some weird reason, but maybe there was some secret entrance in this hallway. At the end of the hallway, was a simple black door. She didn't know why, but she felt like she had to go over there and open it. Taking filly steps, she walked to the black door, not even knowing what may be behind it. Her heart pounded hard as she walked to it, as minutes seemed to be hours, she was sweating very hard. She looked at the door, and she reached for it, now with a waterfall of sweat coming down. A low umping noise came right behind her, followed by a feel of heat. She stopped as something metallic gently touched her coat. "Don't move." a simple voice was said. Lyra was caught. "Turn around." Lyra turned around slowly. A bunch of the ponies in black suits were there, all holding some weird weapons that weren't spears, but looked WAY advanced for Equine technology, with some having side lines of blue, red, or green. One of the ponies walked up to her and hit her in the face with the back of it's weapon, instantly knocking her out.