//------------------------------//
// Lyric 
// Story: Just What I'm Dying For... 
// by The Wandering Bard 
//------------------------------//

This is wrong. This is horribly, horribly wrong...

The rattling of bones echoed in the tomb, mingling with the clashes of the weapons her friends carried. The glowing eyes of the skeletons seemed to pierce their very souls. When Lyric had found herself in Trottingham, she never expected to be reunited with the small band of adventurers she'd met in the Frozen North, plus or minus a pony or two. And when they'd told her that they intended to track down some undead that were causing havoc in the town, she'd readily offered her researching skills to uncover them.

Never had she expected that she would actually face the undead in battle.

Now, in the dark of the tomb, she and her friends were woefully, laughably unprepared as they engaged the enemy. She watched as Bassbolt was hypnotized by one skeleton and was forced to dance of all things. She saw the others exert themselves over and over again, sustaining heavy injuries as they tried to bring the rest of the skeletons down, even as their enemies reformed themselves and kept on fighting. She saw how, with the exception of Pan, the blood dripped down their sides, how their flanks heaved, covered in sweat. Only Chase seemed to be holding her own as her blade danced among the undead before her, cutting them down. All Lyric could do was hide in a corner and play.

Never had she thought that she would need to learn to defend herself. She was simply a wandering bard who loved to share her music and stories with those she met, and the roads of Equestria were surprisingly safe. But now... Now she gripped her lute as her hooves desperately danced upon its strings, playing a song of courage to bolster her friends' spirits.

It was then that Grayscale fell to an arrow fired by a skeleton across the tomb. Without thinking, Lyric dropped her lute and rushed to his side. She dug into his bags and pulled out a healing tonic, then tilted his head up and carefully poured it down his throat. He coughed and sputtered, his eyes fluttering open. It was not enough to fully mend his injuries, but he was revived. With a look of abject terror as he spotted a casket rocking on its foundations in the corner of the tomb, Grayscale fled.

Lyric did not blame him. He was seriously hurt, and the tomb might have become his resting place as well if he did not do otherwise. Besides, she knew that look he had given. She felt the very same. With a shaking hoof, Lyric reached for her lute once more. Suddenly, pain erupted from her shoulder as an arrow buried into her flesh. She cried out, clutching at it, dropping her lute in the process. She glimpsed Pan spinning around, searching for the source of the sound.

"Lyric!" she heard him shout, and then another arrow found its mark. There was an explosion of agony in her chest. She was losing focus, but she thought that she saw Pan fighting his way towards her. Then she felt nothing, and she was falling... falling...


~*~


Lyric whirled around and around in the fog. "Pan? Bassbolt? Chase!?" She shouted their names into the murk, hoping to see something, anything beyond just the same old gray. She was almost desperate to see anything other than gray again, something beyond the walls of the tomb.

When a spark of light approached, she let out a breath in relief and trotted towards it. She was about to call out Chase's name once more when an unknown voice said, "They are not here, little one, though Grayscale would likely have joined you had you not so bravely tended to him." The light expanded and chased the fog away, revealing a white Alicorn with golden eyes. It certainly was not what the bard had expected. In awe, Lyric bowed before her, but the Alicorn gave a gentle laugh. "You do not need to do that. I am not a princess, nor was I ever one."

"What?" Lyric lifted her head to meet the Alicorn's gaze. "Forgive me, but if you are not a princess, then who are you?"

"My name is Halo, Lyric, and I have come to take you away, if you are ready."

"Take me... But where? What is this place?"

Halo's face fell. "Do you not know? Do you not remember?"

Lyric pondered Halo's words for a moment before saying, "I remember we were fighting. Or rather, my friends were fighting. And then Grayscale was hurt... but I helped him, and he left. Then I remember... I remember..." Her eyes grew wide. She started to tremble as the truth hit home. "Sweet Celestia, am I—" Lyric tried to speak, willed her voice to sound, but she could not find the words. When she could continue, it was barely audible. "Am I dead?" When she received no answer beyond that same somber gaze, her eyes welled with tears. "No, no, I can't be dead! I can't! There is still so much I have to do, that I want to do! How can I be...?" She couldn't bring herself to say it another time. Instead, she sank down on her haunches, her mouth hanging agape. She tried and failed several times to find her voice once more.

Halo's placid eyes met her own. "I'm sorry, I know what you're going through and how hard this must be for y—"

Lyric held up a hoof to silence her. "No, you are an Alicorn, an immortal! How can you know!?"

Shocked by her own outburst, Lyric's hooves flew to cover her mouth. Halo's eyes were now pained. "Yes, you are right. I am immortal, which means I have seen this an infinite number of times before. All the lingering pain and guilt, all the things left undone, all of the sadness and fear and regret. I see into your souls, Lyric. That is how I know."

Lyric could hold back the tears no longer, so ashamed was she at herself. But then she whispered, "I'm sorry. I'm just afraid, so afraid..."

"I know, dear, I know. As I said, you are not the first pony who has come to me like this." As she spoke, Halo draped a wing around Lyric's trembling form and murmured soothingly to the bard. Lyric buried her face into the crook of the Alicorn's neck and sobbed. Halo simply let her cry, let her wet the pristine white coat with her weeping.

After a while, her voice breaking, Lyric mumbled into the Alicorn's fur, "My friends... what will happen to them? They are still in danger, and I do not want to leave them like this. They need me." But do they really? she asked herself. They were the ones fighting for their lives, and for yours. All you could do was play some silly notes...

Halo stepped away from the Earth pony and tilted her chin up with a hoof so that the bard's tear-filled eyes met her own. "Those 'notes', as you call them, were not silly. I am sure your friends took great comfort in them. And you were quite brave to stay by their sides, playing for them even as danger closed in." Here she placed her hoof upon the ground once more. "As for what will happen to them, I cannot say. I only know when a soul is soon to greet me, and, for the moment, your friends are firmly among the living."

Despite her own circumstances, Lyric gave a weak grin as she wiped her eyes. "Thank you. That does bring me some comfort." However, the grin soon faded and she glanced behind her, as if expecting that same band of adventurers to appear. "I certainly hope they do not mourn my passing," she told Halo, "though they are likely to do so. Them, or my family, if they ever know what happened to me."

Halo said nothing as Lyric became lost in thought. Silence filled the air until, in a small voice, Lyric asked, "Will anypony remember me? Will they remember my songs and stories?"

"From what I have seen?" Halo gave her a small smile and a nuzzle. "Undoubtedly."

Lyric's ears perked up, and she chuckled and nuzzled back as some of the curious sparkle returned to her eye. "And what is it that you have seen?"

Halo rubbed her chin, pretending to contemplate. "There has been, on occasion, a pony before me who remembers you, and your music and tales, quite fondly."

"Truly?"

"Truly. I am sure they will live on, and with them, you as well."

Here Lyric gave the Alicorn a full, bright smile, the first that she had shown since her arrival. "Thank you, Halo. That truly is a balm for my soul — no pun intended — though I wish I could still play my music here." The bright smile became a sheepish grin as she said, "It's silly, but I feel a bit lost without my lute, even now. Although, playing music should be the least of my worries, no?"

"Music is a part of who you are. You cannot be blamed for feeling the way you do." Halo now gave a chuckle as well. "That said, what makes you think you still cannot play?"

When she pointed to Lyric's back, the bard glanced over her shoulder to see what was there. What she found was her lute, its wood scratched in some places, its varnish worn, but still the instrument she loved. "My lute..." She slipped it off of her back and took it into her hooves, holding it close to her in awe. Without thinking, she did what she had done so many times before with her beloved instrument in her arms.

She strummed.

The notes that floated out from that single gesture brought her courage and comfort. She took a breath, closed her eyes to center herself, and played a simple melody, her head bobbing in time as her hooves frolicked across the strings. The song she played was brief, but it soared into the space around them and Lyric could not help but sing along. As the final notes faded, and with them her voice, she opened her eyes once more and, still gazing at her lute, said, "Can I really bring this with me? Will I really still be able to perform for anypony who wants to hear?"

"Of course. I am sure they will love it." Halo's gaze was playful and filled with delight as she looked to the bard. "I know I did."

With a smile on her lips and a slight blush gracing her cheeks, Lyric now calmly slipped her lute onto her back once more. It felt soothing to her, familiar, as if she were merely finishing a performance. Quite fitting, she thought to herself. One performance ends, and a new journey begins. You are simply moving along to where the road next leads.

She stood now and turned to the Alicorn, taking a steeling breath as she began to speak. "Alright, I think I am r—"

Before she could finish, the scene around her started to fade, and with it the Alicorn who had come to greet her. "Halo?" Lyric asked, a new panic rising in her voice. Her eyes darted all around. "What is happening?"

Halo, on the other hoof, was calm. "There is no need to be afraid. You are being saved, little one. It seems it was not your time after all." Lyric turned to Halo, awe and surprise clear on her face. That surprise grew when the Alicorn took her up into a hug and held her close. "Take care of yourself, Lyric. One day I will see you again, though I hope that it will not be too soon."

"Halo, I..."

She was never able to finish that thought, but she hoped that Halo knew what she was going to say.


~*~


Her eyes fluttered open. All she saw was white. "Halo?" she mumbled before rational thought returned. Now she saw that it was the walls that were white, as were the ceiling and the blankets layered on top of her. The pungent scent of herbs floated about the room.

A muted voice called out, "Guys, she's waking up!"

Her first desire was to sit up, to see where the voice was coming from, but the bandages wrapped around her agonized chest told her that it would be a horrible idea. She didn't need to wait long to find out, however, as her friends came into view, surrounding her bedside. Then her view was obscured as Grayscale rushed over, wrapped her in as gentle of a hug as he could, and sobbed into her shoulder.

Lyric winced as she was lifted, but she soon recovered and patted the Pegasus on the back. "Grayscale... what's wrong? Why are you—"

"I'm so sorry, Lyric! This is my fault!"

"Your fault? What are you talking about?"

"If I hadn't been hit, then you wouldn't have come out to save me! And if I hadn't been such a coward, then you wouldn't have almost died! But I just saw that damn casket and it was the same one from my nightmare and I just... I just..." Grayscale's voice broke away as the sobs wracked his body.

Lyric, however, lay there in his arms, stunned. I almost died? she asked herself. Her memories were all so hazy. She continued to pat Grayscale on the back and to mumble soothing words to him, but her thoughts were far away. One by one, the memories came to her, slowly at first, and then in a flood. The tomb. The skeletons. Her fear. Grayscale falling. The arrow. The pain.

It was all so much to take in. Her shoulders began to tremble as the weight of what had happened to her settled in. But before these dark thoughts could fully take hold, something else came back to her as well. She recalled a sense of calm, a gentle voice, a glimpse of white and gold...

Grayscale's broken voice brought her back to reality. "I'll make this up to you somehow. I promise."

She patted the stallion on the back once more. "Grayscale, you don't—" He pulled back just enough for her to see his haunted eyes. Underneath them were dark shadows, and his mane was unkempt as if he hadn't slept for days. Lyric bit her lower lip and swallowed the rest of what she was about to say. I suppose this is something he feels he has to do. I can only imagine the guilt he must be feeling. Moving slowly, she touched her hoof to the spot where the arrow had struck her. Who am I to take that from him? 

"Alright, I accept," she told him with a sigh, letting her hoof fall back down. "Thank you."

Some spark seemed to return to the stallion's eyes and he nodded. He let go of Lyric and carefully lowered her onto the bed. She gave him a smile of thanks and turned her head to the side as she nuzzled into the pillows. Just as her eyes closed, she felt a small bump on her side. Opening her eyes once more, she saw her lute laying there next to her and Pan Handle standing above. "Thank you, Pan."

"No problem," he told her with a grin.

"And Pan?" He paused. "I saw what you did, how you came running for me." Her voice choked for a moment. "So... thank you. For coming for me."

"Yeah... sure thing," he said. "There was no way I was going to leave you down there." He pulled the blanket over her. "But you look like you're about to pass out, so you'd better get some shut-eye."

"Yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea." She could hear Pan leaving for the door. All of her friends followed, except for Grayscale, who took up vigil by her side. Lyric breathed deeply and curled up around her lute. Her thoughts were circling around and around, recalling all that she had just heard, but soon she fell into a healing sleep.


~*~


Lyric's friends visited her frequently as she recovered, and she was glad for this, though when the others came in she was almost always lost in thought. And so it was when she heard Pan enter the room. Some part of her perceived him cheerily calling out, "Hi, Lyric," but it was not enough to bring her out of her musings as she gazed out of the window, strumming her lute. 

Pan sighed and whispered to Grayscale, "She's at it again, huh?"

She heard Grayscale whisper back, "Yeah, and sometimes she talks to herself, but it's so quiet that I can't make out what she's saying."

"That's... not good. Do you think we should be worried? Do you think something might've happened to her?" Pan's voice was full of concern.

Lyric heard this, but her thoughts were still far away. She continued to murmur, "Was it real? Halo... Halo... Was she real? Did I really see something, or..."

"You saw something, too?" Pan cried out from right beside her.

Lyric nearly jumped out of her skin. "Pan! Oh my Celestia, I'm so sorry. I knew you came in, but I just... Wait, what did you say!?" That curious gleam came to life in her eyes, and the two stallions breathed a sigh of relief.

The bard, for her part, blushed slightly and chuckled at her outburst. "I'm sorry. I got a bit carried away there." She held up a hoof and cleared her throat. "But you said you saw something, Pan? When you died?" Lyric tried to use as gentle a voice as possible, but it was still a hard thing for her to say. Especially since she was still coming to terms with her own near-death.

Now the stallion's face fell. "Well, I know I said that, but I'm really not sure... I mean, I thought I did, but my memories are too fuzzy. Plus, who knows what that witch did to my head? For all I know, I just saw her, or she planted some memories in me."

Lyric's ears drooped. "Oh..." But they perked back up again slightly when she turned to Grayscale. "And what about you, Gray? Did you see anything?"

The Pegasus just shook his head. "I wasn't out that long, and some part of me could still tell what was going on."

"I see..." Her ears fell once more, but they rose again as she put a hoof to her chin, returning to her thoughts.

It was then that Pan interrupted her musings with, "You know, you still haven't told us what it was you saw."

She glanced up at the stallion, then turned away. "Oh, never mind that," she told him with a dismissive wave of her hoof and a nervous titter. "You'll just think I'm being silly and laugh."

"No, we won't," Pan reassured her as he placed a hoof on her shoulder. She gazed upon him once more, and he gave her a smile. "Lyric, we're your friends. You can tell us anything, and we'll never laugh at you. That's what we're here for."

She now glanced at Gray and saw that the Pegasus was smiling and nodding as well. She paused, then took a breath. "To be honest, I don't remember much, and what I do remember is very vague. I think I saw something glowing, something very bright. And I remember a name, or what might have been a name. Halo." She looked between the stallions once more, hopeful that the name might mean something, but when there were no signs of recognition, she continued. "I honestly do not know what I saw, if it was real, a vision, or a hallucination conjured up to comfort me in my final hour. But I need to know if this Halo truly does exist."

"What?" and "Why?" Pan and Gray asked at the same time.

"Because there is one thing I do know from when I was there, wherever 'there' was. ...I was afraid, but what I saw gave me strength and comfort, because I was not alone."

All three were quiet then, contemplating. It was Grayscale who broke the silence. "Alright, I get that. But what if you don't find anything?"

Lyric did not speak for a moment, her hoof unconsciously reaching for her lute. Once she felt its familiar wooden surface, she said, "...Then I would like to believe that Halo... that she — at least I think it was a she — is real and is waiting for us when we... when our time has come."

Her companions were silent, and Lyric was afraid that, despite their vow, they would think she was insane after all, that she was nothing but a madmare. As she opened her mouth to speak, to tell them to forget her ramblings, she heard Gray's voice again. "Okay, so where do we start?"

"What? We?"

"Yeah, we," Pan told her.

She turned her head quickly between the two, gazing upon them in surprise. "What do you mean? Well, perhaps not what, but how do you mean it?"

Grayscale came to stand beside her. "Did you forget?" Once more, she saw a flash of that haunted gaze. "I vowed to make up to you what I'd done. This seems like a good start. I can look out for you on the road, and it gives you another pair of eyes."

"And if I come with you," Pan continued, "not only will you have somepony else to help you look, but then maybe I can find out more about myself. Who I was and where I was from before all... this. Maybe I'll find somepony who knew me before I met all you guys."

Lyric's mouth fell open, and she felt tears well in her eyes, though she managed to hold them back. She clasped one of their hooves in each of her own. "Thank you... Thank you both so much..."

Pan chuckled a bit, embarrassed. "Aw, come on. We haven't done anything yet."

"No, but you believe me, and are willing to help me in what may be a fruitless endeavor. That is thanks enough."

The three stayed like that until Lyric let them go to lean back into her pillows. "Now, to answer your question," she told the stallions, "I say we travel to Canterlot. Once Grayscale and I are able to, of course."

"Why there?" Pan asked her. Grayscale nodded, wanting to know as well.

"I've been thinking about it," Lyric said, "and if anypony would know about this Halo or have any information on her, I feel that it would be the Princesses."

"True," Grayscale said. "And even if they don't know, maybe there's something in their library, or they can tell us where to look next."

"Exactly," Lyric told him with a smile. "And even if we have to travel a ways, then at least I can continue to share my songs and stories..." Her gaze fell to her lute laid out upon her lap. As she looked at it, something changed inside of her. Her joy at being alive was suddenly replaced by a melancholy that she did not know she carried. One of the tears she had kept at bay now fell onto her beloved instrument's strings, then another, and another.

Soon the bard could hold it in no longer as a veritable flood of tears overtook her. Why am I crying? she asked herself even as Pan wrapped an arm around her and Grayscale folded her into his wing. That brought about even more tears, as she seemed to recall a sensation of that very same gesture. I told them I was alright, and I was! This makes no sense... It did not seem as if her crying would cease any time soon, until a small voice sounded in her head. I know why, she told herself. It is because I almost ran out of time. I almost never had the chance to play for anypony else again, to share my tales. The two things I love to do above all else.

She sniffled and wiped her hoof across her eyes. Well, I can do so once more, but now I know how precious and fleeting this life can be. Her tears came to an end as some new feeling spread across her breast. And now that I know, I must use this time that I do have. I cannot just sit here and wallow. I can do some good still, and so I will. I will continue to share my songs and my tales, to give them to everypony I meet. I will give them out so that I can have contributed some good and left some mark on this world, even if that is the only good I have to give and the only mark I have made.

She sniffed once more and patted the two stallions. "It's alright. I'm fine now."

They pulled away, Pan's gaze one of worry as he looked upon her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Pan, I am. I just... had some thoughts that needed sorting out. That's all."

"Okay..." Pan did not sound too convinced, but Lyric gave him a brilliant smile.

"Really, I'm fine." It was then that a yawn escaped her, although it was still quite bright outside. "I just need to rest now. I must regain my strength if we are to be able to travel anytime soon," she said as she sunk into the sheets wrapped around her.

Pan sighed. "Alright, Lyric. I'll let you get some sleep." He trotted over to the window and pulled the shade down. The room fell dark, and Lyric closed her eyes.

"Sweet dreams," the stallions told her as they now both stood guard by her bedside.


~*~


"Are you sure you have to go?" Starchaser asked them as they met on the hillside.

The three friends looked to one another before Lyric turned back to Starchaser. "Yes, I'm afraid so," Lyric said as she shouldered her lute. "You see, this is a matter that I simply must attend to."

The Unicorn gave a grin that did not quite reach her eyes. "And let me guess. Nothing I say is gonna change your mind? Because we could really use somepony like you in our Order to help us with research."

"I am sorry, Chase. As much as I appreciate the offer, I am not a warrior. I am a singer, a poet, a musician, a storyteller." Lyric smiled. "I am a bard at heart. That is who I am. That is what I shall always be."

Starchaser waved a hoof. "Alright, alright, I get it. Still, it couldn't hurt to ask." Chase moved down the line, coming to Pan Handle next. His whole body stiffened as Chase scrutinized him. He winced when she lifted a hoof, then relaxed a bit when he realized she simply wanted to shake it. He did so, tentatively.

"Is this some kind of joke?" he asked her, not entirely convinced that the moment was real.

Her hardened eyes never left his. "I saw what you did in that tomb. You could've let yourself lose control at any time, but you helped us instead and carried Lyric out of there." She let his hoof go. "Watch yourself out there, Handle, and try not to do anything stupid. Got it?"

"Yeah..." was all he could say.

Finally, Chase came to Gray. The two shared a look of warmth moments before she wrapped him in a tight embrace. "Are you sure you can't stay?" she asked him in a near-whisper. "You're a fantastic warrior, and my father and the others will be here soon to clear out the tomb once and for all..."

Grayscale's face was pained as he answered. "I'm sorry, Chase. I made a promise."

Starchaser was crestfallen. "No, it's alright, I understand. It was stupid of me to ask, anyways..."

"But, after this, I think I'll head home for a while. Recharge myself before heading out to the next adventure. I'd love it if you came to see me..."

The two were blushing as Chase perked up once again. "Yes, I'd like that. I'd like that a lot." Chase shook her head to clear her thoughts. Her blush disappeared as she pointed a hoof at the Pegasus. "And you'd better be there, Grayscale, or I swear to the Sun that I will track you all over Equestria if I have to!"

He held up his hooves in front of him to placate her, chuckling all the while. "Alright, alright, I'll be there."

Everypony laughed, and Lyric felt a spark of happiness as she gazed upon them. Good for them, she thought as she listened. Something tells me that, even with the distance, they'll be just fine.

Now it was Bassbolt's turn to say farewell. He trotted over and took the three of them up into a group hug. Lyric laughed and queried, "Are you sure you'll be alright down there, Bassbolt?" as she hugged back.

"Oh yeah," he said. "I'm not gonna let some stupid skeleton get the best of me. Not this time!" He grinned as he set them down. "You guys be safe out there!"

Lyric grinned. "Oh, I'm sure we'll manage."

"Good, because I want to hear all about your adventures someday. You got that?"

"Yeah, we got it," Gray told him, not quite concealing a grin.

The five friends then embraced once more. It was difficult for them to pull away, but it was time to be on the road again. Lyric could almost hear it calling to her, begging her to explore its many twists and turns, to take the road less travelled. And she would. Someday. Once she had this mystery solved, if she could solve it.

And if I cannot, she thought as she waved goodbye to Bassbolt and Chase, at least I know what I believe. That is good enough for me.

The bard, the warrior and the vampire set out in a comfortable silence, the sun shining high as they went. Lyric hummed a tune, the stallions joining in where they could, until she suddenly said, "You know, I just had the perfect title float into my head should I ever turn her story into a tale."

"Whose story?" Gray asked as he gave her a sidelong glance. "Halo's?"

"The very one." Lyric smiled as she waited, creating some suspense for her two companions as only a teller of tales could do. When she felt that they had waited long enough, she declared, "I shall call it 'Guardian Halo'."

"Hey, that's got a pretty good ring to it."

"Yeah, I like it," Pan agreed.

"Then 'Guardian Halo' it is," she said as they trotted along, falling into a companionable silence once more. 

Yes, now that is a title, and a fine one indeed. Now I must find the story to go with it. The bard grinned. And what a story that shall be.


END LYRIC