Lyra tugged the cart along through town. The mid-morning sun was warming the day, and the dew from the grass had long since evaporated. The mint-green unicorn took in all of the little things like the dew upon the grass, or even the budding rose bushes along the walkways. It was the little things in life that Lyra really appreciated. Anypony could be famous, and be remembered for all the great advancements they had made. It wasn't generous of them to share their story with the world. In fact, it was generally thought to be a requirement. After all, history is what drives the world forward to do better. Every pony else who wasn't famous or made advances- the ordinary ponies who were very little compared to the great and famous, and still are; Those ponies were thieves of the little things that happened in between the world changing events. They never told any pony about how great the smell of roses were in spring, or how beautiful the chorus sounded in the relaxing chill of winter. No pony would ever know about these little things in the future. The thought made Lyra wonder what she saw in being a part of a world reknown symphony in the first place.
She held a smile of contentment as she walked. Her pace was somewhat slowed by the cart, but not by much. She was stronger for living in Ponyville than her old home... Where ever it was. Remembering anything before Bon-Bon... It was hardly pleasant... not that she could remember...
Her train of thought was interrupted by a rather odd quiet. She was walking through the marketplace. Normally, it would be filled with voices, had gone eerily quiet. Lyra took a cautionary glance around. She could see ponies looking at her strangely, and whispering. She could even see some ponies pointing. Where most ponies would find themselves completely uncomfortable, Lyra looked unperturbed. She knew that there was a bunch of scrap that used to be her finger lying in her cart. Ponies would gossip about anything strange, and couldn't really help it. Lyra kept walking to the princess' castle.
That was something that Lyra forgot about. Twilight had become a princess seemingly overnight. Bon-Bon had to explain it to her before she left, and even then did the earth pony voice her doubts. The mint-green mare still did not understand it very well. Apparently, the librarian received a journal from Celestia and casted a history or destiny changing spell or something. The spell changed everything in the present, or rather the spell changed the cutie marks of her friends. Then, all of a sudden, she magicked the problem away and everything went back to normal. It didn't make sense to how she was able to "fix" the problem. If the spell changed history, Twilight wouldn't know if her friends are who they are. The destiny spell would make sense if it weren't for the fact a lack of destiny. A cutie mark, although indicating what a pony is good at, is not a fixed point. If it were, then a pony with an acorn for a cutie mark could not learn how to design grand architecture. If anything, the ponies who were affected should not have changed their daily lives at all.
The unicorn shook her head, and attempted to focus. Selling this scrap to a librarian would be pretty easy, but selling it to a princess would be a whole different ball game. The crystalline castle which has not been properly named quickly came into view, making the unicorn's panic steadily increased. Her plan was simple. Offer the scrap to the librarian princess, talk it up a bit, don't take no for an answer, and finally don't screw up. Despite the simplicity, the mint green mare felt uncertain about the chances of success for her ploy.
She began her approach to the entrance of the castle-yet-to-be-named. The doors were fairly large. They were wide and tall enough for a cart like hers to fit through, which was good. Standing on either side of the door were a pair of guards in violet armor. Their gazes stared straight ahead stoically until Lyra was quite literally on the castle's doorstep.
"Hey fellas," Lyra greeted nervously. "Do you think you could hold the doors for me? I kinda need to see the princess..."
The two guards glanced at one another with skeptical expressions. "Do you have an appointment?" One guard asked, looking to Lyra.
"Well, no..." Lyra said looking away.
"Then you cannot see the princess," the other said gruffly.
"What?" Lyra gaped. "But, like, when... when she ws a librarian, I could just walk in a see her at anytime."
"That was then," the first guard stated.
"And this is now," the other finished.
"Don't live in the past."
"Look towards tomorrow."
"Live for the present."
"One does not simply approach the princess."
"She has a tight schedule."
"All engagements must be set in stone."
"No one likes being interrupted from their work."
"Messes with their focus."
"Don't like it?"
"Get used to it."
Lyra began to feel as though she were watching a tennis match. Just as she was about to protest, a voice shouted from behind her cart, "Excuse me. Could somepony move their cart from the door?"
Suddenly, Lyra found herself being pulled backward as the two stallions manually pushed the cart backward. She then saw a certain young dragon walking right up to the front door.
"So sorry about that, Spike," one guard apologized.
"Didn't know you were back there," the other chimed in. Both walked up to the door with the dragon and quickly took up their posts. Meanwhile, the drake had his arms full of parchment, quills, and assorted comic books. The stack was so high, she wondered how he could manage to see where he was going.
"Could you get the doors, guys?" the dragon asked simply.
"Certainly," they said in unison. Both stallions then pushed open their doors and held them open as the drake stepped through.
"Thanks guys," Spike stated before the doors finally shut.
The mint green unicorn stared on in disbelief. Her mind could not seem to function, or comprehend what she just witnessed. In a turn of luck, Lyra heard a familiar voice from off to the side. She turned to see the princess herself, adorned with a simple tiara and little else. She seemed to be talking to two others that she didn't recognize.
Seeing an opportunity, Lyra leapt out of her halter and began running straight for the princess.
"Princess!" she called out to her.
"I don't know, though," Twilight said to a pair of stallions while looking up at the giant crystalline castle. One stallion had a cutie mark of a marble pillar while the other had one of a wreath surrounding an acorn. "I want it to naturally blend into Ponyville and adjust to it, and not the other way around. You know what I-"
"Princesss Twilight!" Lyra interrupted.
The group looked over to the unicorn mare galloping over to them. Twilight's expression became curious. "Okay, so, do you think we could put a pin in this for now?"
"No problem your 'ighness," one spoke with a thick accent.
"We'll spitball ideas and get back to you," the other eloquently put it. With that, the two trotted away just as Lyra slid to a stop before the violet alicorn.
"Lyra," Twilight drawled. "What a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?"
"Oh, you know..." Lyra gasped. She definitely wasn't a very athletic pony. "I was just... just in the neighborhood, and thought I'd stop by... but I'm glad I found you..."
"Um..." Twilight began with worry as she observed the wheezing mare. "Do you need a glass of water?"
"Nah, nah... give me a second..." Lyra replied as she took a deep breath. She let it out slowly, and turned to address the princess. "So, I'm really glad I found you. Could you come a check something out with me?"
"I'm sorry..." Twilight said with a shake of her head. "Were you... looking for me?"
"Yeah, well, you know..." Lyra said, realizing her mistake of words. "I was looking around the neighborhood for you." Lyra couldn't stop herself from saying, and mentally face-hoofed.
"Okay... well.. What can I help you with?" the violet mare asked politely.
"I... brought something for you to... look at..." Lyra said sheepishly, her cheeks flaring up in embarrassment. "It's in the back of my cart. Follow me..." Without making herself look like more of an idiot, she lead Twilight over to her cart.
"So... what is..." Twilight began, truly at a loss for words. "... all this?"
"It's my, uh..." Lyra scoured her brain to find a good explanation for what it was. "You know how gryphons and dragons have those opposable digits at the ends of their arms?"
"Yes..." Twilight drawled while taking a glance at Lyra.
"Well, this is a machine-- well, was a machine that was designed to mimic the prehensile movements of those creatures," Lyra explained, hoping the princess knew what she was talking about. A short nod confirmed that she did know what she was speaking of.
"Why build it?" Twilight asked after a moment of thought.
"Vengence," Lyra's mouth spoke before consulting her mind. Realizing what she said, and seeing the look Twilight gave her, which looked like a mixture of shock and disgust. "N-not vengeance in the 'I'll kill you for stealing my treasure' but more like 'Long, drawn out planning to ruin someone else's life!' Wait! No, that came out wrong, I..." With a sigh, Lyra stopped back tracking and covered her face with a hoof. Twilight now was staring at Lyra with confusion plastered on her face.
"Can we start over?" Lyra asked through her hoof.
"Only if you need too..." Twilight answered diplomatically.
"Okay," Lyra sighed. She straightened herself with a deep breath. "This is a machine designed to help me play the harp and lyre more efficiently. Yes, it was conceived out of jealousy, but I swear to you that I felt completely justified in making it. After a while though, the anger and envy died out and this became more of a hobby for me. I came her hoping that you would have enough interest in it to buy it from me."
"Why me?" Twilight asked after Lyra finished. "Why come to me of all the ponies in Equestria?"
"Well..." Lyra took a very deep breath. "I knew this mare who knew this mare who this mare who knew this mare and her roommate who this mare who knew this mare who knew this mare who knew this mare, who knew this mare's cousin who said that you like science-y... stuff."
Twilight looked over the pile of dismantled Finger parts. "You said, it used to be a machine. Does it not work anymore?"
"No, but..." Lyra began, twiddling her hooves together. "I... sorta took it apart, thinking that you would have more use of spare parts than an entire machine made to pluck strings, and... I couldn't get it out of my basement in one piece."
"Hmm..." Twilight said, rubbing a hoof underneath her chin. She held a scrutinizing gaze that Lyra could not read, not that she was good at reading situations to begin with...
"Why sell it?" Twilight asked, much to Lyra's surprise. Her mind raced. Should she tell her the truth? Lyra ran the scenarios in her head. One ended with her daughter being dissected upon a cold laboratory table as doctors pulled various organs and muscle tissue, and even worse, Bon-Bon being executed for getting in the government's way.
"Something... came up," Lyra said with a hoof rubbing the back of her head. "Bonnie and I have... reached a new chapter in our relationship."
"Oh no," Twilight with sympathy. "Don't tell me you've broken up!"
"No! No, no, no," Lyra laugh sheepishly. "As if she could survive without me."
Twilight simply smiled and looked away, not wanting to address the metaphorical elephant standing in the metaphorical room.
"Let's just say..." Lyra said while mentally choosing her words carefully. "That we have new responsibilities and challenges being placed on the both of us that requires a few sacrifices here and there."
"I see..." Twilight said as she began to think deeply.
"So... will you make me an offer?" Lyra asked with worry. "You're like a sphinx. I'm having troubles reading you."
A few seconds ticked by. Twilight's gaze shifted from the pile of scrap to the green unicorn before her.
"... Alright," Twilight said with a shrug.
"What...?"
"I'll take it," the princess clarified. Her horn lit up for a moment causing a piece of parchment and pen to appear. The pen scrawled on the parchment leaving Lyra to become baffled.
"You mean... just like that?" Lyra asked with confusion.
"Just like that." Twilight answered nonchalantly.
"Yeah," Twilight said while presenting the parchment to the unicorn. "It's going to be a fun puzzle for me."
"Oh... huh," Lyra said as the wires in her brain began to connect. She took the paper into her own magic and stared at it. "... What's this?"
"Take it to the bank, and show to one of the tellers. They'll do the rest from there."
Lyra looked over the paper once more, before her eyes widened in absolute shock. A very large gasp escaped her lips. "But, this, it's! Wha-how? I don- wha-"" Lyra babbled incoherently.
"Go on, shoo," Twilight stated playfully while positioning Lyra to face the town. "The bank will close in only a couple of hours."
Lyra blinked only once, and then suddenly, there was no Lyra. The only trace of her was a faint outline of where she once stood. Citizens of Ponyville who wandered the streets would probably get a glimpse of a white and green blur speeding through town.
Twilight chuckled to herself before turning to look at the front door. Her smile fell into a frown as she saw the two stallions standing either side of the entrance.
"... who are you ponies?" she asked. The stallions looked at one another for a single minute before, speeding away in opposite directions. Twilight let out a sigh. Just another day in Ponyville.
Her gaze looked back at the pile of parts. Being an inventing hobbyist, she could tell that this had a lot of thought going into this. Only meticulous planning and countless experiments could get such an invention to this stage. Twilight could practically feel the pride and dedication pouring off the invention, and it wasn't even fully built. This brought up a single question in Twilight's mind:
What could possibly have come up to want to sell such a piece of innovative technology?