Bon Bon stood outside the door to the bedroom for several minutes. Finally, she raised her hoof and gently knocked. “Lyra?”
There was no answer. No doubt the Unicorn was upset. The argument had gotten rather heated, even though Bon Bon hadn’t meant for it to get to that point.
“Lyra, look…I’m sorry. I…I didn’t mean to say those things.” She almost started defending her words, but quickly thought better of it. Now wasn’t the time. Lyra had stormed off to the bedroom over an hour ago, and the last thing Bon Bon wanted to do was stir the pot again. “I actually enjoy your hobby, in a way. You put so much energy into it. And the way your eyes light up whenever your talking…it makes me smile. I don’t really want you to change, I promise…”
There was still no answer from the bedroom. Bon Bon hung her head. She had really crossed a line this time. She and Lyra had their differences and fought on occasion. It was all part of being married after all, but this time Bon Bon had said things that had cute deep, deeper than she meant to. It was just…she had been so frustrated and, and…
And I took it out on my Unicorn, she thought with a tear in her eye.
“Lyra, please open the door,” Bon Bon pleaded. “I’ll make your favorite for dinner, and I’ll even…” She pushed gently on the door and was surprised to find it unlocked. “Lyra?”
Bon Bon slowly pushed the door open just enough to poke her head into the room. She expected to see her Unicorn sulking on the bed, most likely with her back to the door.
Instead, Bon Bon saw no trace of Lyra. She opened the door all the way and looked around. Scattered across the floor were dozens of papers, with sketches and writings on them. Several books were open on the bed and many more were stacked haphazardly near it. The place looked like the library after Twilight had finished an intense study session.
“She’s…probably just gone out,” Bon Bon whispered, trying to drown the growing worry in her mind. “She probably just went to get a drink.” Yes, that was it. There were still a few places open this late in Ponyville.
Bon Bon’s hoof stepped on one of the sheets of paper on the floor. She bent down to look at it. She expected to see more of Lyra’s silly drawings or crazy theories, but she was surprised when the illustration wasn’t familiar.
“What?” She picked the paper up with her mouth and held it in her hoof. This made no sense. It was a map of Luna’s stars. Curious, she looked down at another piece of paper. It too dealt with the night sky, and Lyra had scribbled the words ‘Secret of the Stars’ on it.
“What was she doing?” Bon Bon asked as the worry began to grow in the back of her mind. Lyra always cleaned up her messes, even when she was angry, because her work was important to her. It wasn’t like her to leave everything scattered about.
The mare walked over to the bed and examined some of the books. They were mostly spell books, old ones by the looks of them, and Bon Bon didn’t recognize most of the text. She wasn’t an expert on magic spells she wasn’t a Unicorn, but she was familiar with the basics and even some of the more advanced theories, but these spells were unlike anything she had ever seen.
Finally, Bon Bon saw a book that she was familiar with. It was old and worn. The spine was cracked and nearly all of the pages had yellowed with age. It was Equestria Before Ponies: Ancient Legends, and it was Lyra’s favorite book. She had found it in a dusty old used bookshop and she treasured it. She had spent many long nights pouring over its contents, and every time she had found something that excited her, she had rushed to Bon Bon with the news and the twinkle in her eye.
For her to just leave it lying around was not a good sign.
The knot in Bon Bon’s stomach began to tighten.
Bon Bon carefully looked at the book. Just as she suspected, it was opened to Lyra’s favorite entry: humans. The Unicorn was borderline obsessed with the creatures, and any information she found on them was priceless to her. Sometimes she seemed to value them even more than she did Bon Bon…
“That’s still not an excuse,” Bon Bon told herself. She sat down on the bed and stared at the book. She hoped Lyra would be back soon, and that she wasn’t doing something crazy.
“Humans aren’t real,” she told herself. “What trouble could she possibly get into?”
* * *
“Lyra, this is stupid!”
Lyra Heartstrings bit her lower lip and dug her hind legs into the ground. She took all the anger she felt and channeled it into her horn.
“Yes it is! You need to stop this! You’re not a little filly anymore!”
Lyra’s bit down harder. She was vaguely aware that her teeth had cut into her lip, but she didn’t care. She’d show Bon Bon. She’d show her! She’d show everypony!
“Grow up already!”
Lyra closed her eyes and pictured the ward in front of her. She remembered the weak points she had learned about and made them blaze in her mind so clearly that she expected to see them if she opened her eyes.
“You’re wasting your life! You’re wasting our life together!”
Lyra felt the sweat break on her forehead as she fired all of her magic at the ward. She almost passed out the moment the energy left her body, but her rage kept her focused enough to stay on her hooves.
“You’re a laughing stock! Everypony thinks you’re nothing but a joke!”
Lyra’s legs began to give way and still the ward in front of her held fast. She felt the tears squeezing out of her eyes. It wasn’t going to work. All of her effort, her research, and her dream…it was all going to collapse because of this stupid magical ward.
“Yes! Yes, okay! I think you’re a joke too! Are you happy now?”
Lyra’s eyes snapped open in fury. “I’ll. Show. YOU!” The Unicorn poured all of her anger—at Bon Bon, at Ponyville, and at the world—into her magic. The energy shooting from her horn tripled in strength and size and her body felt like it was about to hollow out, but she kept going.
There was a sound like shattering glass and the Unicorn was flung backward through the air. She slammed into the cave wall with such force that her vision went black as she slid down the wall. She collapsed on the floor and stayed still. Pain erupted in every part of her body and her lungs refused to work. For one terrifying moment, she feared she was going to die deep beneath Canterlot with nopony knowing where she was.
“N…No…” She couldn’t do that to Bon Bon. The thought of her wife spending the rest of her life alone, wondering what had happened to her, overpowered the pain and forced her to stand.
The Unicorn took several deep breaths as she stared at the floor, trying to stop her head from exploding. Finally, she felt well enough to look around.
She was deep in the cave system beneath Canterlot; deeper than she and Bon Bon had ever gone, and probably deeper than anypony in known history had been.
But somepony had been here at some point. Somepony had built the door that stood before Lyra, and somepony had placed the sealing ward on it. The same sealing ward that Lyra had just destroyed, thus allowing her access to the door and the secrets beyond.
Despite her excitement, the Unicorn couldn’t help but feel a small amount of terror. That ward had been placed for a reason. It had been powerful, and it had used magic that Twilight Sparkle wasn’t even familiar with. Had it been to keep ponies out, or keep something in?
“Only one way to find out,” Lyra mumbled to herself, trying to brush her fears aside. She grabbed her torch with her magic—the vibrating crystals that usually lit the caves didn’t form this deep—and proceeded toward the door. She paused for just a moment when she reached it. She could still turn back. She could turn around, follow her route back to the surface, inform the Princesses that she had found and broken some sort of ancient seal, and everything would be fine.
“I think you’re a joke too!”
Lyra’s eyes narrowed and she put her hoof on the door. She’d show Bon Bon just how wrong she was. She shoved and was surprised with how easy it opened despite being made of solid stone.
On the other side of the door was a passage that slowly curved to the side until Lyra could see no further. A pastel green light flooded the passage, but as far as she could tell, there were still no vibrating crystals to provide the illumination. Curious, she took a tentative step through the door. When nothing happened, she began to walk down the passage at a careful pace, and kept her torch ahead of her.
When she reached the gentle bend in the passage, she had expected to find that the passage continued on. Instead, she found herself staring into a marvelous underground cave. The ceiling stretched high until she could no longer see it, and she suspected the length was even longer. A deep pool of water was sitting in the middle of it, with a narrow stone bridge leading from the far shore out to a small island of rock. A strange green mist was floating in the middle of the island, and she suspected that that was where the light was coming from.
Lyra shook off her sense of awe. She could explore the cave completely another time. Right now, she had to find something, anything, to prove that she wasn’t just a waste of a pony. She had spent years researching myths and legends, and a lot of her work had pointed her here. A rumor here, a scrap of paper there, and countless whispers in the dark; it had taken a while, but she had finally been able to piece together enough bits to tell her that something human-related was beneath Canterlot. Whatever this secret of the stars was, she was going to find it and bring it back as proof.
Then she wouldn’t be a joke to Bon Bon.
Lyra took a single step but she froze when a strong gust of wind tore through the cave. The air howled and pulled at her mane and tail. She had to lower herself to the ground and dig in with her hooves in order to not be blown back down the passageway.
“Where…in Equestria…is this…coming from?” the Unicorn asked as she struggled to hold on. She was Celestia knew how far underground. There was no way a wind like this could possibly exist.
“You speak?” a voice boomed through the cave. Lyra buried her face under her hooves and refused to move. She knew she shouldn’t have removed that ward! Now whatever was in here was going to kill her, or worse. Why had she stormed off like that? Now she was going to—
“Answer me!” the voice boomed again, seeming to come from the very walls of the cave.
“Y-Yes!” Lyra said in a meek voice. “I-I’m sorry. I-I-I didn’t mean to…”
“You did not mean to speak?” the voice asked. “Strange. Are you under the oath of some god to hold your silence?”
“What? No, I just—”
“Have you come to finish you kind’s work then?” the voice asked in a dark tone. “I warn you, it will not be easy. Especially if you come alone!” The voice seemed to grow in strength as it spoke, until it was so loud and forceful that Lyra feared it would smash her into paste on the cave floor.
“I haven’t come to finish anything!” the Unicorn cried, still terrified to lift her head. “I swear! I was just looking for some sign! Some sign of humans!”
“Humans?” The energy in the air dwindled until Lyra no longer felt its menacing presence. “How strange for a beast of the world to seek such a thing.”
Beast? Lyra thought, slightly offended. She wasn’t a beast. She was a pony.
“Well, perhaps I can offer assistance.” Lyra peeked out from under her hooves. The green mist on the outcropping swirled and condensed. It slowly began to take shape and Lyra couldn’t help but stand up and watch.
First the mist solidified into the torso and chest of minotaur. It took the form of rippling muscles, then two arms followed, each toned beyond reason. Lyra watched in wonder as the hands took shape, and she couldn’t help but feel excited as each digit took shape from the mist.
“Don’t be stupid,” she told herself. There was no way. Even her mind knew it wasn’t possible. She had instantly called the phantom a minotaur. No doubt that was what it was. She suspected that the ancient legends of humans actually had their origins from minotaurs and had just been changed over the many years. There was—
Lyra’s breath left her mouth as the legs formed. They weren’t cow legs. They didn’t bend backward. They were muscular, just like the arms, and bent forward. They bent forward!
She watched as feet—actual feet!—appeared at the end of the legs. She did a quick count to be sure. Yes, there were five toes on each foot!
Was it possible? Could this phantom really be…?
The green mist began to swirl around where the phantom’s head would be. Lyra held her breath as it slowly took shape. First she saw a strong jaw appear, but it didn’t jut out from the face like a pony’s. Next came the mouth and the two lips that were easy to identify on the familiar and yet strange face. The nose formed next, looking ridiculous and useless with its small size. Next were two eyes, spaced evenly apart just above where the nose ended. They gazed straight at Lyra like a predator, but she was too enthralled to look away. The ears followed almost immediately; two little nubs on the side of the head. They looked to be rooted to the face and unable to move like a pony’s, but they were almost covered as the curly, thick hair appeared on the head, followed by a beard that ran the length of the jaw and cheekbone.
“You’re a…” Lyra stammered. She felt tears in her eyes as she stared at the phantom before her. Celestia and Luna, if she was dreaming, she never wanted to wake up!
“I am, or rather, I was a human,” the phantom said as it stood on the stone island in the middle of the pool. He made a fist—that was what it was called, right?—as a sword appeared in his right hand. He raised his left arm to his chest and slammed it against his chest. He nodded slightly. “My name is Orion.”