//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: My Little Balladeer // by Ardashir //------------------------------// My Little Balladeer Chapter 7 “Lyra Heartstrings?” I asked Twilight. She just put her hoof against her face and shook her head. I looked from her around to all the others. They all more or less looked about as unhappy as she did. I turned back around to Twilight and asked again, “Lyra Heartstrings? Whoair is this Lyra pony, if she is a pony?” I turned to look on them all as the answers came from all about me. “She’s uhh, kinda stuck on chasin’ down stories about humans.” Applejack rubbed one hoof along the back of her neck by her mane, and as she finished the white unicorn mare, Rarity, spoke up. “The poor dear is utterly obsessed with you creatures! Oh, I beg your pardon, Mister John.” Dash went next right then: “Yeah, she’s crazy on it! Keeps asking the weather ponies, heck, all us pegasuses to watch for things like circles of flattened grass in fields an’ weird footprints…” “She’s quite skilled with the lyre, and she loves Bon Bon,” Fluttershy said. I looked at her, and she shrank down a bit, turning so that her mane hid part of her face. If she were like some women back home, she might be a-doing that for show, but I reckoned her to really be that shy. “She’s just, well, a little intense? She tries walking around on her hind legs all the time and some ponies think she’s a little odd.” She said that last part like she thought she might have to apologize for it. “Odd is right,” Dash broke in. “She even ran the last Running of the Leaves on two legs!” “I think she’s neat!” Pinkie Pie bounced up and down like one of those critters they call kangaroos from foreign parts. Then, just a little more seriously, “Gee, I sure hope her and Bon Bon don’t get into any trouble in the Everfree. It’d be hard for anypony to find them if they yelled for help out there!” I nodded right slow at all that, trying to fit it all together. I began to feel like one fellow in a book by some British author or other that I’d read once when a friend asked me to. It was for little ones, mostly, but it felt right like this place with its dwarves and dragons and wizards. And one fellow in it could make himself a bear. And when the heroes in it needed his help, they kept introducing theirselves to him one or two at a time until he’d met them all. I’d wondered myself just how confusing it must have been for him, and I think I was a-starting to learn. “Anyway,” Twilight said, and we all turned out attention back to her, “I’d been examining that spellbook, er, ‘grimoire’ of Thorne’s, and then Lyra came bursting in…” * * * “HE’S REAL! JUST LIKE EVERY ONE OF MY BOOKS SAID!” Twilight groaned as Lyra seemed to almost teleport across the room to Thorn’s side. Thorn’s face went from fury to confusion as the sea-green unicorn with the golden-lyre cutie mark stood on her hind legs and looked him in the face, her orange eyes wide with joy and sporting a grin so wide Twilight wondered why her face didn’t fall into it. “He wears clothes! He doesn’t have a mane! It’s just like in all my dreams when I meet a human for the first time! Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Lyra Heartstrings, oh, and I am a unicorn,” she giggled and sent a few pale green sparks of magic from her horn, “and I am SO happy to meet you! Wait until Bon Bon and everypony sees…” “Young lady!” At Thorn’s snap, Lyra dropped back down on all four hooves, still smiling. Thorn looked at Twilight and said, “She is a friend of yours?” “Uhh, more like a neighbor,” Twilight said to Thorn before commenting to Lyra, “Well, Lyra, this is Rowley Thorn…” “And he’s human!” Lyra said with a squee of joy, before adding in a suddenly worried tone. “Wait, he is human, right?” “I am indeed human, young Lyra,” Thorn said to her, his voice grave. When Lyra squeed again, he added, “However, right now I would rather not have everyone in your little town know about me or even what I am. I must demand your silence in this.” Twilight opened her mouth to warn Thorn. Lyra beat her to it. “What?!” The look on Lyra’s face went from delighted to dismayed. Even her horn seemed to droop. She spoke more quietly, saying, “B-but this is my big chance! I can finally prove to Bon Bon, and, and everypony else that I’m not crazy or being a foal! Please, you have to let me tell everypony. I’ll do anything if you do.” “Anything, you say?” Thorn showed that bared-teeth grin again like a flash of fangs before he drew Lyra into a huddle with him and Twilight. His hands were on their shoulders as he drew them close. Lyra looked delighted. Twilight fought not to wince. Thorn’s grip felt a little too tight for her liking. When Thorn spoke again, his voice sounded low and conspiratorial. “You know, Twilight, this chance meeting may well be for the best after all,” he said, his voice almost a croon. “I was intending to make my introductions to the ponies of importance in your town a few at a time, quietly, but if the oh-so-eager Miss Lyra is willing to help…” He looked at her. Her wide grin was an enthusiastic ‘yes’. “Then perhaps I can meet everyone, er, ‘everypony’ all at once? I can see all of them, and all of them can see me,” and he smiled slowly, a smile that reminded Twilight of Rarity’s cat when it’d just caught a fine healthy mouse, “As well as I what I can do to help and advise them. After all, I do so want to make a memorable first impression.” Twilight almost agreed, but a glance at Thorn’s face froze the words in her throat. He’d been licking his lips, and something in it reminded her more than ever of Opal. And not in any good way. The image flashed in her mind of Thorn as a giant hungry cat, sitting before all of Ponyville and just waiting for them to move so he could pounce on them. A new and wary voice within her warned about giving him too much freedom. “I’m not sure…” She began. “You might be a bit overwhelming for everypony like that…” Her next words were drowned out by Lyra’s enthusiastic response. “Oh, yes yes yes! This is the best possible thing!” Lyra nearly danced for joy, her hooves drumming against the library floor. “You can meet everypony at once, and they’ll all see I was right, and… Hmmph!” She fell silent, her mouth stuck together with a band of purple light. A grinning Twilight took Lyra by the shoulder. “Excuse us, will you? I think we need to talk.” Thorn nodded and made a gesture of dismissal. Twilight bridled a little at his use of regal mannerisms but she took Lyra aside, or tried to. Lyra’s own horn glowed pale green as she worked uselessly to break Twilight’s grip. “Now, now, let this young lady speak, Twilight,” Thorn said, indicating Lyra with his hand. Twilight looked at him and then at Lyra before letting her go with a sigh. Thorn spoke to her. “Lyra, I assume you have lived in this town for some time? You have connections, you know the ponies I might need to deal with in order to make a proper introduction?” She nodded eagerly. Thorn smiled benevolently and patted her on her head. Like a dog, Twilight thought, and frowned at it. They both ignored her. Thorn went on with, “Then let us be going about our preparations. As for you, Miss Sparkle,” he indicated the Letters of Cold Fire, “I entrust that book to you until I need it again. I don’t need to ask if you value it. Study it. Learn the knowledge and wisdom that it alone can impart. I shall be back later after my introduction to your charming local society and we can see what you think of it.” Lyra preceded Thorn to the door. She opened it with her horn and waited, holding it for him. He passed outside, and Lyra followed him but not without shooting a last grin and remark at Twilight. “See, I TOLD all of you they were real!” After the words left her mouth she all but bounced out after Thorne. After she did, Spike slipped inside. As he did Twilight walked up to him, swinging her tail against her flanks in annoyance. “Spike! Why did you tell Lyra about Thorn’s visit? Did you tell anypony else?’ She lightened a bit when she saw how he winced. “I’m sorry, Spike, but I think we should’ve kept a little quiet about this.” “Gee, sorry, Twilight,” Spike said to her, looking down at his feet. “But you didn’t say not to say anything. And Lyra, well, you know how she is about humans. I figured it’d make her day if she actually spoke to one. But I didn’t tell anypony else, I promise.” At her cocked eyebrow, he added, “Hey, Pinkie Promise! Stick a cupcake in my eye and everything!” “Okay, Spike,” she sighed. “And you’re right. I should’ve thought of that. I shouldn’t blame you for my mistake.” She smiled. “And I think you made Lyra’s decade, not just her day. But still…” She cleared her throat and said, “Spike, take a letter.” Spike produced paper and a quill with practiced efficiency. Twilight began to recite: “Dear Princess Celestia… “Something stranger than usual has just happened in Ponyville. We have been visited by a being that vastly resembles the ’humans’ of ancient legend and popular myth. He says his name is Rowley Thorn, that he was brought here from another dimension, and he seems to be in possession of magical books that are both strange and,” she glanced aside at the Letters of Cold Fire where it rested on the tabletop, “and rather unsettling in their implications.” She added a quick description of the book’s appearance. Celestia might know of it by description if not title. She made sure to leave out her weird impressions of it, however. “He has also broadly hinted that you brought him here from wherever he was, and that you suggested he should visit me in Ponyville. I am flattered if this is true, but if not, I wonder how and where he learned so much about myself and the town. And if it is true, I would like to know why you sent him here and to me, of all ponies. I eagerly await your response. “Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” She sighed and brought her tea over, taking another sip. “That should cover it all, Spike.” “Umm, Twilight, do you want to use one of the emergency ribbons?” Spike showed her a black ribbon. “I mean, if Thorn creeps you out as much as he does me.” Twilight giggled and shook her head. “Oh, Spike, he doesn’t ‘creep me out’! I’ve just got some questions I’d like answered. And no, I don’t see any need for an emergency ribbon. I’m sure she’ll read it tonight after she lowers the sun. That should give her plenty of time to respond.” Spike nodded, and went to take care of his other work for the day. Twilight looked back at the grimoire and shuddered at the sight of that hairy cover. She picked it up and examined it closer. That crimson symbol intrigued her. What language did it come from? It could have just been a decoration, but somehow she got the idea that it possessed some sort of meaning. She felt the cover through her telekinesis. The hairs on it rasped against each other as she gripped it. Twilight wondered what animal could have provided it and if she really wanted to know. Just then she heard a sudden burp from the next room and smelled dragonfire. “Twilight! The Princess must’ve taken your letter seriously, she answered already!” “She did?” Curiosity aroused, Twilight set the Letters of Cold Fire down on top of Rarity’s pile of donated romances and walked into the next room. She met Spike halfway there. He held the scroll of royal vellum in one claw. Twilight took it and unrolled it, reading it aloud for Spike’s benefit. To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle: I most certainly did not send a human or any other creature to you. If I had, I would have written in advance to inform you of it. And this is the first time I’ve reliably heard of a human visiting our world in centuries. If he seems trustworthy, however, then I trust your opinion of the matter. However, I do wish to meet him for myself. And I also wish to see this spellbook he left with you. After I lower the sun tonight and take care of some few quick state affairs I will visit you in Ponyville at the library. Your teacher, Princess Celestia * * * “Wait, hold on now.” I held up my hand like I was a student in a classroom, which I suppose I was in some ways right then. “You say your princess makes the sun to rise and set? Can’t airy person do that. The world goes round the sun, and it just looks like it rises and sets.” “What? The earth orbits the sun?” She looked double curious at my words. I could feel the eyes of Applejack and the others a-wondering on me and what I said, too. “Next thing he’ll be telling us gold and gemstones don’t grow in the ground.” That from the blue winged pony, Rainbow Dash. “Maybe in your world, John,” Twilight said, “But not here. Here, Princess Celestia controls the rising and setting of the sun like how her sister, Princess Luna, controls the moon. But you, your species lives on a heliocentric world?” She broke out a piece of paper and a quill pen and started to write in a hurry. “This is absolutely fascinating! It goes against almost everything we know about orbital mechanics, but I suppose other dimensions can have greater differences then just in the development of intelligence… oh, this is so amazing!” She wrote more. “Tell me, who developed the theory of gravitation among your people? And your world, it is round, right?” I wonder if I looked as confused as I felt right then, but someone spoke up to save me. “Um, Twi?” Applejack said. “Try an’ focus, sugarcube. After everything’s all wrapped up and we settled with that Thorne fella an’ the book he left, maybe then you can ask John here whatever questions about the stars an’ whatnot you like.” “Oh! Oh, yes,” she put the paper away with a sigh before she looked back at me. “I’m sorry, John, but this is such an opportunity I have here.” “It’s kindly all right,” I said to her, still a-wondering if I’d heard her rightly, “But just let me ask one question afore you say the rest of it with Thorne. You have this Princess Celestia and her sister Luna, and they bring the sun and moon up just like the horses in the old Norse legends?” “Yes, but they’re not legends, John. They’re both very real. We should know,” she waved a hoof at her friends, “We’ve all met them more than once.” “And Twilight Sparkle is Princess Celestia’s personal apprentice and student,” little Spike cut in to say. “That means she’s the best, most powerful, most skilled unicorn mage in all of Equestria!” He puffed himself up like an old bullfrog to say it. She just looked near as embarrassed as I think I’d feel if someone praised me thataway. She smiled a forced kind of smile and patted him on one scaly shoulder. “Heh heh, Spike! That’s enough. Anyway, getting back to that day, I didn’t see anything of Lyra or Thorne all day, though I became aware of an increasing anxiousness, I guess you’d call it, all through town. Spike finally brought me a poster he’d seen Rainbow Dash and Applejack putting up, announcing that there’d be a special meeting for ‘those seeking answers to impossible questions’ at the Town Hall that night, and…” * * * Twilight could see the stars and Luna’s moon riding in the clear night sky as she and Spike walked to the Ponyville Town Hall. They seemed to shine brighter than normal tonight. Part of her wondered if Celestia had not only read her letter, but told Luna to keep an eye open as well. Or maybe Luna would be watching regardless. Old mares’ tales had it that Luna did watch over the darker magics, after all. “Nice night out,” she said. Her breath steamed as it left her mouth, but only faintly. Winter Wrap-Up lay behind them, after all. “Maybe for you,” Spike grumbled from atop her back, “but I’ll be happier when spring really arrives.” Twilight looked over her shoulder and smiled to see little puffs of steam coming from his nostrils as his internal fires worked to warm him. He wore a sweater Rarity made for him shortly after arriving in Ponyville, but it was growing rather snug on him. A little pang hit as she thought of how that meant he was growing older as well. One day he’d grow too large and have to leave, and even if he would return on regular visits, she’d miss him. Heedless of her worries, he said, “So, what do you think this Thorn guy will be doing tonight, anyway?” “We’ll find out when we get there, Spike,” she responded, the dirt of the street crunching under her hooves. “Mostly I expect he’ll just try some of those stage magic tricks and phony fortune-telling I saw a few times in Canterlot… oh, hello, Mayor! Hi, Pinkie Pie!” They’d reached Town Hall, and Twilight felt some surprise at just how many of Ponyville’s residents were streaming inside. She recognized Derpy Hooves, Filthy Rich, the Cakes, Lily and the other two flower ponies. Many of them were chatting away, wondering just what they’d see. The Mayor and Pinkie walked up to Twilight. Both earth ponies looked less than pleased. “Twilight Sparkle!” Mayor Ivory Scroll spoke first. She sounded insistent, but looked more confused than anything. “Why did you give that whatever-it-is that we’re going to see permission to use Town Hall? Lyra shooed everypony out about noon. We haven’t been able to get any work done! And she said that Thorn told her you ordered it in the Princess’s name!” “Huh? What?” Twilight blinked. “Lyra and Thorn said that? I didn’t say any such a thing!” The Mayor looked like she wanted to say more, but then Pinkie Pie bounced up. If the Mayor looked annoyed, Pinkie looked downright heartbroken. “Well, if you didn’t give permission, then who did? When I heard about this from Lyra she said it was going to be a celebration and I thought, ‘Oooh, it’ll be my first chance to throw a Welcome Humans to Ponyville Party!’, but then Lyra said it wasn’t going to be that kind of a celebration and I shouldn’t make any cupcakes or even punch for everyone. They just had me bring in some funny-looking food Lyra says Thorn got from somewhere. They didn’t even let me hang up balloons. No balloons, Twilight!” She said it with such grief in her voice Twilight had to fight down a grin. Pinkie could be as dramatic as Rarity sometimes. Maybe Pinkie guessed her thoughts, because she added, “Instead Lyra had Rarity do a rush order of these red and black banners that look all creepy and yucky. And they hung up purple velvet curtains everywhere and now it looks like it did when we thought that Celestia was going to visit but Queen Meanie showed up instead and this doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a very fun party, Twilight!” “I, I don’t know either, Pinkie,” Twilight responded. She felt a little surprised to realize that she’d actually been able to follow all of that. If Pinkie Pie was starting to make sense to her, something felt very wrong. “Well, if we go in, we’ll find out what kind of a party it is.” Pinkie rubbed one hoof against her chin before nodding so enthusiastically Twilight half expected her head to fall off. She turned and bounced in with her usual enthusiasm. Twilight looked at the Mayor, but she just shook her head. “No, Twilight, you go in and have fun. I still have work to do, and to be honest,” she looked at the last few ponies entering and shook her head with a sigh, “I saw enough of these fortune-telling frauds when I was a filly to last me a lifetime.” “I know,” Twilight said, “And I wish I could go back to my books and get some research done, but the Princess asked me to keep an eye on Thorn. Good night, Mayor.” The grey-maned mare nodded and trotted off in the direction of her home. Twilight turned and entered the building. The first thing Twilight noticed was the heat. With roughly a third of Ponyville here, it felt comfortably warm inside. Spike let out a small sound of joy at the feel of it. A murmur of voices rose around Twilight as she headed off to the side, where she saw a long low table set with the snacks Pinkie told her about. Pinkie Pie stood there, and Rarity and Fluttershy were there with her. She heard Spike’s little breathy sigh at the sight of Rarity as she stepped up to them. “Hello, girls,” she said. “Fluttershy, I’m kind of surprised to see you here in this crowd. And Rarity, I understand you helped Thorn and Lyra set everything up?” “Lyra?” Another voice interrupted from behind. “Twilight, any of you, have you seen Lyra at all today? I’ve been looking everywhere for her.” “Oh, hi, Bon Bon,” Twilight stepped aside and let the cream-colored earth pony with the triple-candy cutie mark step in beside her. “No, I haven’t seen Lyra all day. Not since this morning, when she met Thorn at the library where he came to see me.” “Wait, you actually saw this Thorn creature?” That came from Rarity. “What exactly is he, Twilight? Lyra gave me measurements for a robe for him to wear, and asked for it to be set with onyx and rubies, but he certainly isn’t a pony, not with the dimensions I was expected to work with! And I don’t think he’s a Diamond Dog, either. The measurements for the arms and legs are all off.” “Wait, Rarity, I thought you were making banners for Thorn’s show?” “Um… uh… that was me, actually,” Fluttershy said, blushing a bit. When the other ponies looked at her, she blushed even more and said, “Rarity asked me for some help because I can sew nearly as well as she can…” “More than nearly, darling,” Rarity said with a smile. “I’m just glad we don’t compete with each other for the local fashions.” Fluttershy ducked her head but Twilight caught a quick smile at Rarity’s words. “So while she sewed the robe and set the jewels on it, I made the banners. But I don’t think I like them very much, Twilight.” She indicated the walls with a toss of her head, sending her long mane spilling. “See what I mean?” For the first time since coming in, Twilight looked around the room. And she frowned at what she saw. The banners were hung at regular intervals around the room. Long and black and forked at their bottom, she saw that they all bore the same symbol as Thorn’s book. A many-pointed arrow, going in all directions. They seemed to absorb the light near them, and gave the room a somewhat oppressive air. Something else bothered her about them. Only banners of the Princesses were meant to be hung in that fashion. “Isn’t there a law about doing up banners like that?” Bon Bon said. “Isn’t it treason or some such thing to do it like that?” Fluttershy eeped at her words, trembling. Twilight realized that her imagination must be running on overload, providing images of what kind of trouble she might have gotten herself into. Rarity looked somewhat ill herself. Twilight spoke up quickly. “No, that’s just popular legend. It’s not treason in any form,” she said. Fluttershy and Rarity both looked relieved. Twilight rubbed her chin and muttered, “But it is getting kind of presumptuous. Strictly speaking, that’s supposed to be done for royalty only.” Rarity shook her head, the lamplight within the room rippling over her elegant mane. “But like I asked, Twilight, dear, just what kind of a creature is Thorn? Lyra has been playing it all very coy whenever anypony asked her about him. He’s not a human, is he?” Amusement bubbled in her musical voice as she said it. Pinkie fought down a giggle, and Bon Bon – who Twilight knew regularly endured lectures on the subject from Lyra – rolled her eyes with a groan. Even Fluttershy looked like she wanted to smile at the absurdity of it. “Actually, I think he might be one.” As they all gaped at her, Twilight added, “Well, I saw him this morning, and…” She quickly summarized their earlier meeting, leaving out only the events with the spellbook. She felt unsettled whenever she thought of talking about what she thought she’d seen. “I wrote a letter to Princess Celestia and she said she’d be by later tonight. If there is any trouble with Thorn, I’m sure she can handle it. Mostly I think he’s just some blowhard mage like Trixie. Different species, but that’s it.” She looked at the table. “So, anyone try the snacks?” Twilight wondered at the uneasy looks she saw on their faces. Pinkie said, “I’d like to know what they are or how Lyra and Thorn made them. I thought I knew everything about making snacks for parties! Look at them, Twilight! Aren’t they kinda weird?” Twilight looked at the table and gasped. She’d thought the plates set on it were brass or bronze. She realized now that they were golden, and worked with scenes of the history of Equestria. They reminded her of plates she’d seen set out for Celestia by the high nobles in Canterlot for royal receptions. Her ear twitched at the thought that Thorn seemed to think very highly of himself, indeed. And where did he get them? The food on them looked hardly less strange. There were vegetables and small loaves of bread, but of a kind she’d never seen or smelled before. The greens and reds and oranges of the vegetables all seemed ever so slightly off from what she felt used to seeing. The bread was of a size more like a muffin, but brownish with a hard crust and stuck with little bits of brightly-colored fruit. Wine showed there too in golden goblets, rare to see in someplace like Ponyville, a wine so dark red it looked almost black in the light. Blood red, Twilight thought, and she switched her tail at it. * * * “I recollect seeing food like that,” I said to her right then. “In the same place where I saw that book I mentioned before. And as for those fancy plates, let me guess. A day or so later, you got word that someone in one of the villages or towns ‘round showed up a-saying they’d been robbed of those very plates?” “Ye-yes,” Twilight responded me. She looked at me all cautious like. “We found out later that they’d been stolen from somepony in Hoofington. They were old family heirlooms. But how would you know?” “I’ve seen that done afore, where I come from.” I shrugged. “Shoo, I saw it done once or twice right with my own two eyes when I was up on Cry Mountain with Ruel Harpe. He had a rope or cord a-hanging in one corner of his home place, and a window set into a dirt wall a facing the dirt. When he wanted to, he could look airy place he wanted with that window, and take airy thing he wanted to take by a-pulling that cord and wishing for it. Things or food or even people. I reckon Thorne can do something like that with his own magic.” “You can do that with magic?” That came from Rarity behind me, and she sounded right worried. “I can’t do it,” I turned to look at her as I answered her. “Nor would I want to ever.” She looked pleased at that, and then worried again. “Twilight, darling, I hate to bring up this unpleasant thought, but does that mean that Thorne can reach right into our own homes, and grab us away?” You could a-feel the tenseness come into the air there inside the library at those words. Those ponies all looked right scared to think that. I reckon I felt some of that fear myself. Twilight nodded at her, but she spoke to me. “You can, but it’s not easy. At all. I’m sure the Princesses can do it, and maybe one or two other ponies I know of.” She shook her head. “But it’s almost impossible to learn the spells required. They’re in only a few spellbooks, and they’re kept locked away under magical wards in only a few libraries in Canterlot and a few other magical academies. And I don’t think Thorne could do that. I hope.” “Say, now, John, whatever happened with that food you mentioned?” Applejack spoke that time. “Did you eat any of it?” “No, I didn’t, and I hope you all didn’t either.” I heard them sigh in relief around me. “It was meant to bring me into a kind of worship and service I wanted no part of. Like a feast on a holy day, or offering food and salt to a stranger. After you eat it, you’re a guest and you’ve given them rights and power over you.” “Anyway,” Twilight said, “Right about then is when things started to happen.”