The Source grinned in the cover if its robe.
Lyra had just left Carousel Boutique. She looked quite worn, and was befittingly careless; though it made little difference, as she couldn't possibly have seen the hooded figure observing her. Neither could she hear the comments made at her expense.
"Well, well, well! Aren't you quite the interesting case."
The Source had taken a liking to this player, there was no denying it. By all rational calculations, Lyra Heartstrings was to be taken aback by their previous encounter. Ominous threats on the price of cheating, pointing out the dubious morality of her actions; a speech that had been carefully designed to inspire doubt, to undermine the reasons behind her actions.
It was a proven method. It had worked pretty well with most players before, after all.
Apparently not always, though... since there was Lyra leaving the Carousel Boutique, shortly after she had performed her largest brain-washing so far.
That was interesting.
"Not even the Princess was so quick to defy me. And she was all-powerful, fearing me a lot less than you always have," the Source mused out loud. "So where did this initiative of yours come from, I wonder? Just what is driving you? Did you always have this bravery - just wasted it for years, stuck in your peaceful profession? Or are you this stupid, thinking you can get away with all this mischief - despite my warnings?"
The hooded game master hummed to itself. It quite liked the conundrum this player - this subject - presented. This musician, this Heartstrings, was a true wildcard. Pure and unrefined unpredictability, the flavour the Source had always loved. Far better than the monotone single-mindedness the other players displayed.
The Source couldn't help but revel in that strangeness, and everything about Lyra had been strange so far, right from the very base. It was quite rare to see a boring career musician turn into a harbinger of chaos, after all.
"This change... I wonder if it's only because your shackles are out of the way," the Source mused as Lyra and Snowy walked past it, the pair blissfully unaware of its presence. "It's not like you changed into another person, so you probably had these desires for a very long time. They were just made dormant by the lack of your abilities. But then I gave you power. Set you free. Unleashed you."
The Source recalled the ways Lyra rationalized her actions. Setting the windigo free, making her accepted. Helping others, even when they had never asked. Pitiful reasons, all of them; a far cry from the other top candidates, who were all vying to get the entire world into their grasp.
She wasn't as pitiful as the most disappointing subjects either, though. She hadn't turned the windigo into a travelling attraction, for one.
As far as the Source could tell, Lyra had chosen a middle ground. Or rather: she hadn't been forced to pick one of the two extremes so far.
"You clearly want to make a difference," the Source spoke to the cyan unicorn - but Lyra walked by, hanging her head and grumbling about a headache. "You have learnt to shy away from extremes, though; and that gives birth to your contradictory self. You fear me, yet use my power. You want to better the world, yet you are afraid of changing it too much. You've made a compromise."
The Source hummed. That was a sound theory. It easily could have been the case. It would have been nice if it were indeed to be the case.
A toothy grin flashed under the hood. The Source liked this challenge.
After having dealt with countless other players, it had found easy ways to put such theories to test.
"All I have to do is cut the rest of the binds holding you back," it rubbed its chin slowly, thoughtfully. "It will be painful... but putting you under stress is something I was planning on doing anyway."
The Source was not interested in sugar-coated masks, after all; only the raw deal underneath. All living creatures had this annoying trait... they clung to their learnt personas, revealing their true nature only when they felt they had nothing to lose. Thusly, all the players that showed potential had to be brought to the brink of ruin.
So to set that Heartstrings free from her wordily ties, it would be necessary to take everything away from her.
"It's not like you couldn't have seen this coming," the Source cackled and turned around, heading in the other direction. "I told you, didn't I? Cheaters get their comeuppance... you've got no rights to complain."
"I'm deeply sorry," Snowy apologized for the umpteenth time, then ploughed through a very corporeal pony by accident. She didn't give the collision any mind, apart from turning into mist for a brief moment and reforming in the next. "I'm not sure what happened back there, but-"
"Hush," Lyra growled under her nose. The nausea and the headache were letting up, but she still wasn't feeling all too well. She was, however, getting increasingly annoyed by the incessant stream of apologies. She had no way to protest either - not in the open street.
"Master, we still don't have a real grasp on how my abilities work. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that Master has experienced a backlash," Snowy picked the finest moment to rebel, resuming her chat despite Lyra's wishes to the contrary.
Lyra rolled her eyes and snorted loudly.
"We need to hurry to a real magician exactly because we don't know what has happened back there," she explained - seemingly to herself, as far as anypony on the street could tell. "I need advice and I need it before any other lingering effects could kick in."
"Lingering effects?" Snowy balked as she lunged over a lonesome cart. "Master believes there could be more...?"
"I'm only sure about not having any ideas about what's going on," Lyra grumbled, then flashed a toothy grin at a random stranger who seemed to have picked up on her comment. "Ah, sorry! Just wondering aloud. Good day to you too... eh."
"That better not be the case," Snowy gasped and fell behind, so lost in her worries that she couldn't keep up with the - admittedly slow - pace. "Should anything happen to Master, I-"
"Nothing's gonna' happen," Lyra huffed and took the left at the intersection. She could see the finish-line; the street lead directly to the humongous tree-library.
Never had an oversized tree looked so beautiful in her eyes.
"We go there, get myself inspected, and everything's going to be fine. Oh - and put a zip on it, all right? I don't need Twilight to think me crazier than I already am."
Darting at full speed to reclaim her place at her master's side, Snowy nodded in silence.
A cyan hoof slammed against the Golden Oak's two-parter door. The move was anything but courteous, for Lyra wasn't checking if anypony was home; she was announcing her arrival and that she was going inside, regardless of any circumstance. She wouldn't have bothered with even that much, had she gone along with her original plan... but she was depending on the goodwill of Twilight Sparkle, so she couldn't exactly just storm the place to make demands.
She wasn't that desperate. Not yet.
The loud bangs were still ringing in her ears when she grabbed the door and tore it open. She moved inside with the same haste, yelling at the top of her lungs, not giving the world any chance to interrupt her.
"I'M LOOKING FOR TWILIGHT SPARKLE! IT'S REALLY URGENT SO IF I... could..."
She stammered off, blinked in confusion, then giggled nervously. The feeling of utter shame had only caught up to her at that point, but she immediately felt like digging herself a hole on the spot.
The aforementioned librarian was less than twenty steps away from her, staring at her in utter confusion. Joining in the game of 'have-no-idea' was Rainbow Dash, the usually impulsive pegasus looking as similarly befuddled as her friend.
Oh my everything, Lyra gulped. Her momentum only carried her for two more steps, after which she came to a halt. Despite the sea of worries that had bothered her just minutes ago, her mind was remarkably empty; she couldn't find a single word she felt like saying. She had trouble finding a few wayward thoughts, even. Apart from that recurring one.
Girl, you're irrecoverably stupid.
From the three ponies, only Dash moved. She was just as shocked as the other two, but she was the only one uninvolved; so she stared at Lyra, then at Twilight, then back at Lyra... repeating the same circle endlessly, hoping one of the two parties would start explaining just what in Celestia's name she had witnessed.
She had to wait for quite a while.
"Uh... hi, Lyra," Twilight finally broke the silence. She also had the mind to user her magic and close the door which had been left open. "So, uh, I think you've found me...?"
"Er... yeah," Lyra gulped. She stood perfectly still, too nervous to even twitch about. The moment she started speaking the floodgates opened up; her mind, empty a mere moment ago, was now filled with the urge to scream and run away. Another part of her was unwilling to compound her idiocy with an even worse step however, so she held firm and uttered the most neutral phrases she could think of. "I see you... already have a visitor. So I'll just, uh... stand in the queue... back there..."
She didn't give the other two ponies any chance to respond. She turned around and moved to the farthest bookshelf, practically squeezing her head among the books. That felt like satisfying both her needs: those of eventually talking to the magician and not showing her face in that library. For, like, forever.
"You know this loon?" Dash motioned at the musician.
"We've talked once," Twilight grimaced and scratched the side of her head. "Is that a yes?"
"Think so," Dash turned away, forcing a less confused expression with a sigh. "Seriously! What's with everypony lately?"
"You mean, you saw other ponies behave oddly?" Twilight picked up the trail of thought. "Maybe it's an epidemic! I've read how easily water supplies can get contaminated... I could take samples! And by that I mean Spike could take samples, then-"
"Stop doing science to our water," Dash put a hoof straight in Twilight's face.
"You have absolutely no idea what I'm proposing, do you?" Twilight pushed the hoof away. She did not look too amused by the off-the-hoof dismissal.
"Tubes and indicators and Bunsen-lights and boring stuff that nopony but you cares about," Dash rolled her eyes - and her head, in case the notion wasn't clear enough on its own. "Also, I'm not talking about, like, an epidemic. All I'm saying is that I ran into Applenut this morning, and she was also pretty funny."
The name made Lyra jump, quickly followed by a pained wheeze. She had forgotten how close the other shelf was, and of course bumped her head into it. She had rocked the shelf hard enough to make the heavy tomes above her jump, the loud noise making her pull her head away in panic. She would have needed a lot of new bandages had all that stuff fallen on her.
"Funny, you say... exactly what do you mean by funny?" Twilight hummed, her muzzle resting on her hoof. She didn't get to keep her thinking-pose too long; a blue hoof touched her head and gave her a push, sending her tumbling to the side. "HEY!"
"Did Celestia ever tell you that you're like, easily distracted?" Dash pulled the hoof back and held it to her forehead. "I was here first, so my problems come first! Talking of which, you were like, promising me a few books just now."
Observing the scene from the distant bookshelf, Lyra broke into a quiet giggle. She found it really hard to imagine Dash going through pages and pages of text. She also found smiling to be really hard, owing to her throbbing head.
"Ah, right! Yeah, I was thinking I would - hey! I'm not easily distracted!" Twilight sprang to protest, glaring angrily at the blue pegasus. Her fury didn't last though, and she was back to browsing a thin book - most likely an inventory - in short order. "Anyway, I was thinking I could give you a few good novels. I mean, I could give you a good book on psychology, but I don't want to give your PTSD ideas. Wouldn't want to regress a stage, right?"
"PTS... what? Regress what now?" Dash blinked and chuckled nervously. "I was like, only asking you to help me prepare for the exam! Don't want to, like, have a twitchy face right at the end... you know what photo finish is, right?"
Wait, wait, wait! Timeout! Lyra recovered in an instant, pulling her head from beneath her hooves. Didn't Dash say she was an athlete or something, back at the doctor? And she was having issues with some exam, because she was so nervous. Because she, uhhh...
"And I'm doing just that: helping you," Twilight explained in the most soothing tone a librarian could hit. "I know you like Daring Do, so I'm giving you a few more novels you'll also like. See? I'm helping!"
"As if I would have time - heeeey, wait a sec! Novels? Are you like, trying to distract me from the exam?" Dash snorted and gave Twilight a stinky look. "Not cool, Twi. Absolutely not cool. I thought you wanted to help me!"
"I am helping you! Or I would be, if you would just listen to me!" Twilight protested. She switched to a more abrasive tone - the accusation must have hurt. "Your only problem is that you're too preoccupied with a few bad memories! You'd do splendid if you could just let go of them! At this point, the biggest favour you could do yourself is not preparing any further!"
Oh, that thing. Yeah, right - now I remember, Lyra nodded. An idea took shape in her mind, gaining more traction with every passing moment she spent thinking about it. She peeked to her side; Snowy was almost next to her, entraining herself by reading the book covers.
Lyra watched the windigo and gulped. She knew she was about to do something stupid - again - , but she couldn't help herself.
Dash is having exactly the kind of problem I could help with. I should do something, huh? I mean, this is a chance, right? It would be cowardly to shy away after just one bad experience! I mean, apart from Rarity, we've never had issues with Snowy's power before... I was absolutely fine when we practised with the magazines, and I only got a mild headache at the bank, too. Yeah, that's right - it's two against one!
"Psst... Snowy."
The windigo popped her head up and looked at her master, her eyes betraying curiosity and excitement. Which, for some reason, had only served to make Lyra feel like groaning.
Wish I was that easily amused! Well... at least one of us is having fun.
"Go help Dash," she whispered as faintly as she could, giving a barely visible nod at the pegasus.
"What? Master, we've come here exactly because my powers may be dangerous!" Snowy cried out; with nopony hearing her, she didn't need to put any effort into keeping herself hidden.
After the minutes of quietness, the loud voice made Lyra's eyes tear.
"Ow! Ow, ow, ow...." she whimpered and rubbed her ears. She needed a little time before she could hear her own voice over the ringing noise. She daren't speak before that, as she had no idea how loud she was talking. She didn't want to risk yelling by accident. Her arrival was more than enough embarrassment for a day. "Yeah, we'll get to that! But do this first, okay? As a, uh, final test. Just make Dash forget about all her bad memories regarding athletics. One pony isn't a big deal, right?"
"Very well. As Master decrees," Snowy growled. Her disapproval was clear as day, but that didn't stop her from complying. Her colours flashed with vigour and dimmed out, the change so rapid that Lyra could barely pick up on it.
More importantly, she didn't feel anything. No splitting headache, no fainting, no nausea - no nothing. That was a truly reassuring development; she really needed some positive reinforcement. She had started having some serious doubts after the incident at the Carousel Boutique.
"Forget it!" Dash broke into an indignant snort.
That brought Lyra out of her self-analysis. She wasn't expecting such an energetic response right off the bat. Every other pony affected by Snowy had displayed a degree of confusion so far.
"Hey, I didn't mean anything bad!" Twilight cried out, still trying to mitigate the fallout. "I can also give you that medical handbook on psychology if you want!"
"Pffft. You implying something, Twi? That's for like, ponies who have issues," Dash cackled. She yanked her head so her mane flipped to the other side, a toothy grin plastered across her face. The way she looked; that very moment, she could have been the poster pony for self-confidence. "Why would I need anything like that? I'm perfect. Seriously Twi, I've never done anything lame in my entire life. Psychology... hahaha! I wonder why I even came here! I should be out there, getting the most perfect tricks done!"
She'd barely finished the sentence when she took off. It was the most aggressive take-off Lyra had ever seen pegasus do; Dash accelerated from a standstill to a blurry line in the span of a few metres, the performance crowned by her exiting through the wall.
Ohh...kay? So I wasn't really expecting that, Lyra stared at the pony-sized hole in the Golden Oak's thick trunk. She looked plenty confident though, so... another happy customer, I suppose...
"What. The. Heck!" Twilight came to a little while later, finally gathering enough of her wits to shake the numb bewilderment off. "She was absolutely correct! Everypony has gone crazy today!"
"Yeah," Lyra muttered the only word she possibly could, the hole in the wall still holding all of her attention.
"I thought she would be more careful," Snowy remarked. She was also staring at the hole, wearing the same baffled expression the other two ponies had. "I distinctly remember the Doctor telling Miss Dash that she may explode. Now, I may not be up-to-date on healthcare, but I'm quite sure that going through walls won't help with that condition one bit!"
Lyra's hooves touched her face after a high-speed manoeuvre.
You're really just tempting me to order you to forget about that hack now, aren't you?!
"I don't get it! She comes here, asks for my help, then ridicules me and dusts off! Does she need to feel superior, is that her problem?!" Twilight slammed the inventory ledger closed. The move mirrored how she felt: angry and frustrated. "And she still keeps ramming through walls!"
Still at the distant bookshelf, Lyra reacted to the tantrum appropriately; she shrunk a few sizes and wished she could turn invisible.
"What is she thinking, how will I explain another hole to Celestia? Dear Celestia, I need some additional funds to repair the library again! No, I'm still not experimenting with some forbidden magic that blasts holes into metre-thick obstacles! ARGH!" Twilight raged. She shook her hoof at the clouds - which were only visible through the hole in the wall of her library.
"Um... Master? Are we still going to ask that pony? It doesn't seem like a good time," Snowy asked the very question that had also popped up in her master's head.
Lyra hadn't arrived at a definite answer, but was leaning towards an unsteady 'no' herself. She would have gotten up and gone home too, were she daring to make herself a target by moving around.
Twilight rendered the whole issue moot, however. She yanked her head away from the hole, and pointed a hoof at the shuddering musician.
"You!" she yelled, striking a tone that mimicked the warlords of long forgotten eras. "You were looking for me, weren't you? So just why did you barge in on me, ha?! Out with it!"
"I... haha, I, uh..." Lyra recoiled at the verbal onslaught. "I... don't even know... I think I'll just... come back later?"
"You too, huh?" Twilight huffed like an angered buffalo, narrowing her eyes to complete her proper war stance. "What makes you ponies think it's fun to ask me and then leave before I had a chance to answer?!"
Whoa! She has a pretty thin skin for being like, the second best magician in Equestria, Lyra reminded herself, though the realization brought her little comfort. Quite the opposite, in fact. HOLY CELESTIA, I'VE JUST PISSED OFF THE SECOND BEST MAGICIAN IN EQUESTRIA!
"Wai- wait! I remember! I totally remember now!" she broke into the quickest apology of her life. Balancing on her hind legs, she used both her front hooves to wave defensively - a motion she reserved for when she really wanted to surrender. "Ahaha! No need to get angry, yes? We're all happy ponies here, right?"
The move wasn't quite as effective as Lyra had imagined. Twilight stared at the musician with her mouth hanging open, her left eyebrow twitching; she looked completely weirded out. On the upside, she seemed to have forgotten about her anger at the same time.
"All happy... well, yeah, I guess..." Twilight looked away and held a hoof in the air, blocking out the weirdo from her vision. "Uh, Lyra? Could you please stand normally now? You're looking... well, pretty freaky."
Lyra's first action was to comply with the order. Then she grimaced and clenched her teeth.
Nopony appreciates this! she huffed to herself. Do you even know how difficult it is, balancing on two? I've spent years perfecting this thing!
"Thanks," Twilight pulled her hoof back, massaging the top of her head. "Oh - and sorry about that. I was a little startled, so I think I overreacted a little."
"Don't worry! Happens every single time I try it," Lyra waved a hoof and cackled, appearing just as calm and care-free as she was not. Still, if the librarian-magician was happy, then so was she.
"Like that was an excuse," Twilight frowned and tapped herself on the top of her head. "I'm not going to learn much about friendship if I keep freaking out whenever somepony acts crazy."
"Pfft. I think you should only worry when the crazy starts seeming natural," Lyra rolled her eyes and finally allowed herself to relax in earnest. "This whole town is like a nexus for strange. Seriously, I saw our baker fly around with some contraption the other day."
She didn't say the bit that bothered her the most about that experience.
And ponies still say that I'm the crazy one!
"I feel you. You know, I wanted to refute you... right until you brought Pinkie up," Twilight groaned and wrinkled her eyebrows. Disapprovingly. Very, very disapprovingly. "She shatters all my scientific beliefs as if- uh, sorry, going off on a tangent there. Have I already asked what you've come for? Need some more help for your novel?"
It took Lyra a few seconds to realize what novel Twilight was talking about.
"Ah... well, yeah!" she cackled loudly, belying the fact that she had completely forgotten about that throwaway lie.
"Good," Twilight sighed. She relaxed - and immediately looked a lot wearier. Even her voice deepened a few octaves. "I could use some theoretical discussion on magic right now."
Yeah... theoretical, Lyra kept smiling inanely. I'm really digging this hole, aren't I?
"I'm glad I'm not bugging you or anything!" she hit a reassuring tone; a rather easy job for a pony with some classes in acting. "So I was writing this story, and I, uh... I thought to myself, 'this memory-erasing stuff is sure convient'. So I was like, shouldn't I give it a few drawbacks? Make it difficult to use, you know. Otherwise this pon- I mean, villain would simply take over the whole world, right?"
"Haha! I see where you're coming from," Twilight chuckled. Her face smoothed out; the idea entertained her greatly by the looks of it.
Whoa! She wasn't joking when she said she enjoys talking about magic, Lyra gawked at the sudden shift of mood.
"But no. Transmutation isn't a simple magic - especially when you want to transmute something intangible," Twilight sank into her thoughts. Her eyes went glassy as her tone grew warmer; she was feeling at home in the topic, no doubt. "Downside... well, that would be the cost of the magic. Bending reality to your will isn't a simple process, so a difficult magic will always be a draining one. That's why it's exhausting to use magic - and the fatigue can really vary on the extreme, from exhaustion to outright death. You could think of it as paying the toll for breaking nature's laws. For example, an ordinary rock was never supposed to be a golden coin... so if you transmute one into another, you will have to appease nature for breaking the rules. Well, it's the same with thoughts!"
Lyra tried her best to keep up with the explanation, and had succeeded with some delay. An odd sense of deja vu struck her; she could have sworn she had heard something like that before. What Twilight said almost sounded like that other piece of advice...
"So you're saying that magic is basically cheating - and that cheaters will pay their... due..."
The last word barely managed getting past her lips. Lyra felt her headache return; she only realized whom she was quoting by the end of the sentence.
She didn't like how that ominous nonsense started to make sense all of a sudden.
It wasn't just an idle threat, she ran her tongue across her lips, the smooth skin dried by her hastening panting. It wasn't even a threat. It was an explanation! I just... didn't understand it...
"Paying nature for cheating? Hahaha... that's an interesting way to put it! I've never thought of it that way... but yeah! Why not?" Twilight laughed and threw a wink at the musician. "I should talk to aspiring writers more often! That's a very apt analogy, now that I think about it!"
"Yeah... very apt," Lyra mumbled, then forced her attention back to the conversation at hoof. "And that's it? Only exhaustion? There's no other effect? No backlash?"
"I'm going to have to disappoint you! There's nothing else. Nothing you would see in fiction anyway! No blood running from the nose, no coughing up blood, no strange visits from otherworldly creatures, no hastened aging. Nothing freaky like those," Twilight massacred all the popular tropes she could think of. "Though when you think about it, casting a very powerful spell will put your life at risk - so most magicians will need to be very careful already. Your villain for example? The one erasing thoughts?"
Lyra perked her ears and cocked her head up. She was about to hear what she had come for, so she shoved all the murky thoughts aside; there was nothing there that she couldn't deal with later.
"Well, that magic isn't completely unheard of. It's a rare breed though - very rare. It's a very demanding magic... risky magic," Twilight explained and turned to a window - to the one with the grey silhouette of Canterlot. "As far as I know, Lun- Princess Luna is the only who makes use of it on a regular basis. And I think the only reason she gets away with it is that she's a living goddess, so she couldn't be harmed by the.... well, associated costs."
Why do I have the feeling she's talking from experience, Lyra wrinkled her eyebrows, but cast the nagging suspicion away almost immediately. So only exhaustion, huh? How strange... I'm pretty sure I wasn't exhausted back there.
She glanced down, at her hooves; the same hooves which had failed her at Rarity's place, leaving her gasping on the floor. She wasn't sure what she had felt back there, but it certainly wasn't exhaustion.
Talking of which, she hadn't been exhausted during her other attempts at erasing memories either. She always had been fine. Or mostly fine, anyway.
Something doesn't add up, she bit onto her lip, hoping the pain would help to contain her growing unease. Could Twilight be wrong? Nah... she's Celestia's student, after all. But what she described just now... that doesn't match Snowy's stuff whatsoever.
Biting onto her lip further, Lyra felt the crimson taste of blood enter her mouth. A worthy sacrifice, for that had prevented her from breaking into an unnecessarily detailed curse. She wasn't happy to accept that not even the fabled Sparkle could help her.
"Thanks," she squeezed the word out her mouth. It didn't seem to roll off her tongue as easily.
"Eh, no need to thank me. In fact, I kind of hoped you'd throw a few more oddities at me," Twilight raised her eyebrows and made a sigh full of melancholy. "I won't lie - Dash has left me all kinds of befuddled, confused and well... angry. Heh. It's going to be a long day, coping with that. I'm not really good at just getting over that kind of stuff."
"Oh," Lyra mumbled, then looked at Snowy on reflex. The windigo must have understood the cue, for she also turned around and looked back at her master, shaking her head in a clear notion.
I know what you're thinking, and I think you're crazy for thinking about it. Seriously - don't do it!
"Yeah, well... look at me! I'm rambling, haha! I shouldn't be doing that!" Twilight knocked a hoof against the top of her head. "Ah, I'm still no good at this friend thing. I mean, I guess this is why Celestia sent me here, to learn about it... but it can be frustrating, you see? I wish I had something to cheer me up at the least. Like a few more questions."
That hint carried all the subtlety of a free-falling block of concrete; there was no way Lyra couldn't get it. The musician was, however, out of questions. She had already learnt more than she had hoped she would, in fact.
The request did get her thinking, however.
Something to cheer her up...
She remembered the previous time she had been to the Golden Oak; how Twilight had complained that she had already read all the books in the small library.
Oh-ho!
Lyra's lips curled into a smirk. She had had a blast reading the same magazines over and over, back when she was testing Snowy's abilities for the first time. Why wouldn't the same trick work for another pony as well?
A few books surely couldn't hurt. I mean, that's like a drop in a sea, right? Lyra ran her eyes down the rows and rows of books around her. I've gotta' be really careful about the selection, though. If I pick something about magic, I might cause problems. Uhh... what would be a safe read for Twilight to repeat...
After brief deliberation, she arrived at the same choice that Twilight had offered to Dash: light novels. Those always carried about zero connection to reality anyway; there couldn't have been anything in them that would pose a serious risk to erase.
"Snowy," Lyra whispered, faintly enough so that Twilight couldn't overhear. "Daring Do. The whole series."
"Master's wish is my will," Snowy grumbled. She was clearly not into the idea but complied anyway, evident by the brief flash she emitted. "I earnestly hope Master understands that I would never forgive myself should I hasten Master's demise."
Lyra responded to the complaint with an angered glare, but let the issue slide on a second thought. Snowy had always been overly protective of her; that was, in fact, one of the traits she had hoped to hammer out of the windigo. She may have been frustrated about the lack of progress, but they hadn't been together for so long. She shouldn't have expected so much in the first place.
"Sorry, but I don't really have anything more to ask!" she laughed and scratched the mane at the back of her head. "Maybe next time?"
"Sure thing," Twilight nodded sombrely, then waved a hoof at the musician. "Be sure to send the script my way, by the way! I'm really looking forward to reading your novel... before anypony else gets to, hehe."
"Ah... you'll be the first one to see it. Other than me, of course!" Lyra laughed and promptly turned away, hoping that her nervousness didn't show. "Just... dial your expectations to the correct level, okay? I mean, you really shouldn't expect a Daring Do from me, hahaha!"
"But Master isn't even writing a novel... only a diary," Snowy muttered as she hopped to Lyra's side, following her master to the door. "Or is Master really publishing her diary, after all?"
"Yeah, no. This freaking novel is another thing I'll need her to forget about," Lyra hissed and rolled her eyes in frustration. "Snowy, this is a perfect example why you should never lie."
"Seems a rather inconsequential lesson if we can just make ponies forget about the whole issue," Snowy mumbled. "I have this funny feeling that Master's actions are undermining her own lessons."
Unable to retort with anything, Lyra snorted loudly and steeled her gaze in front of her, avoiding the creature at her side.
All the visitors had left the Golden Oak, leaving only a thoroughly puzzled Twilight Sparkle behind.
"Daring... Do. That sounds familiar... somehow?" she stuttered. She pushed a hoof to the side of her head; but no matter how much she wracked her mind, she couldn't recall anything about that title. Even so, it sounded so familiar! As if she should have known about it, for some reason.
She was sure it wasn't Lyra's passing-by comment where she had first heard about it.
"Where?" she shook her head and walked to a shelf with wavering, confused steps. "I'm sure I've... heard of it before? But where...?"
Her head hanging to the side, she leaned to a random shelf and began sorting through the books with a crazed haste.
Where?!
Lyra cracked the door open with utmost care and peeked inside. She knew Bon was home already, for she had seen the light filtering from the windows. That really made her want to keep a low profile. The sun had already began setting; she was obviously running late.
She found the corridor deserted. Only two saddlebags were hanging from the rack, swaying lazily in the mild air currents.
Talking about the rack...
The note I'd left is gone, Lyra licked her lip as she tip-toed inside, locking the door in complete silence. So Bon's really home. Eeeeh... fun. Oh well! I'm set as long as I can get to my room unseen.
She couldn't help but feel like being a filly again, sneaking into her room past curfew.
"Are we infiltrating this place too, now? Are we in trouble again?" Snowy balked at their silent arrival. "Had Master not stated a dislike in misleading others, I would have no issues believing her to be one of the hashishin."
Lyra stopped to give the windigo a quick glimpse.
Oi! How did you get from 'sneaking into my room' to 'being a hitmare'?!
Snowy didn't quite get the hint, though; she stared at her master with an excited grin, beaming with pride.
Lyra weighed her chances against such wilful ignorance. She knew a lost battle when she saw one; so she gave up, silently walking away with her head shaking.
I have the feeling somepony's going to be terribly disappointed when I go back to playing music all day long, she smirked wryly.
Compared to the delusion of her being an assassin, Snowy was in for a surprise when she went back to work. Her life wasn't all that interesting when she was always in meetings and rehearsals. She only hoped the windigo would tolerate boredom well.
Her side scraping against the wall, she inched forward, paying great care that none of her steps landed on the creaky parts of the floor. She had been living in that house for so very long, she knew every part of it like the horseshoe on the bottom of her hoof. She sneaked across the corridor in that mindbogglingly sluggish pace, traversing ten metres in just under five minutes. Her efforts paid off, however; her room was in reach, and she was yet to give away her presence in any way.
She put her hoof against the door, swallowed anxiously, then pushed. The door creaked lightly and moved out of her way... and Lyra's face turned into a pained grimace.
"Why hello there," Bon waved at her. She was sitting on Lyra's bed, and looked as if she had been waiting patiently for ages. Only her unkempt, flat mane hinted at the true picture.
The clever devil! She slept in my bed! Lyra dropped her mouth in silent admiration. All her sneaking around was useless against such a simple trick.
"So... I'm going to the Carousel Boutique, huh?" Bon spoke in a judgmental ton, flicking Lyra's note around.
"Yeah, well... that happened," Lyra giggled anxiously and scratched her head. "I can explain!"
"The only explanation I will accept is 'and I've also brought a dress for you too'," Bon threw the note away.
Lyra grimaced and buried her face in her hooves.
I really should have seen this one coming, huh?
"I haven't bought anything! The owner had... family issues," she whined from the cover of her hooves. "Besides, it'd have been hard to buy you anything anyway! You've been working so much lately, I've barely seen you! I thought we were on a vacation or something-!"
She bit onto her tongue and shut up. That outburst wasn't among her plans - it had just slipped her tongue, somehow.
"Work? I've... oh, haha! I see, I see!" Bon burst into a lighthearted laughter. She lunged off the bed and dashed to Lyra, wrapping a hoof around the unicorn's neck. "I see why you'd think that, but I've actually prepared a surprise for you."
Lyra blinked in confusion and gave her friend a nervous smile.
"A... surprise? What for?"