5338851 Indeed!

"BOW BEFORE YOUR EQUINE QUEEN OF MAD DEBAUCHERY AND CEASELESS HUNGER!"

5338851 ... I realize that Lyra in Theros, as a shape-shifter, could randomly take a twisted parody of centaur form. Kinda like the rider and horse that become one in EM.

5338851 And so, my mind goes to Ajani's "soul" themed cards... and a sub-set for Lyra, just the flavor-text of those, anyway. Just four, one for each Jeskai color and a Devoid (Red) one that acts as a creature token producing.

Red - An avatar she forges of passion and heart.

Blue - An avatar she shapes of wonder and wisdom.

White - An avatar birthed of her love and harmony.

Devoid (Red) - Legions are forged of her rage and desire.

That's, however, taking a bit too much from Ajani, I can admit.

5338933
Yeah, Lyra can definitely learn how to bring out the best in others, but I don't recommend letting her tread too heavily on Ajani's toes.

5338957 True.

Still, the Devoid-Red idea... :D 3/1 Elemental Eldrazi tokens with Haste and either First Strike or Ingest? Pay XXR, and number of tokens equal to X, then they die at turn end?

"... You should find your own path of power, child... Though I am flattered you try so hard to emulate me, I can feel how little it actually fits with your particular brand of magic."

"... Aw..."

5338957

The more Innistrad's glowing moon shined down upon Lyra Heartstrings, the more the equine found herself discomforted. She couldn't really explain it, but it felt... It felt like the moon itself was gazing upon her. This was nothing like Luna's moon in Ungala... and somehow, it felt nothing like the moon that Avacyn had once been associated with.

It was odd coincidence that drew the gilt-eyed unicorn through the wild woods of Kessig, toward the ranching community that had once been Lambholt... Or was it still Lambholt?

Lyra had forgotten her old names and so forth, but she remembered Kessig, where a grandmother had lived. She remembered Thraben, home to her old self and mother, before the migration to Hanweir...

She still, shivering in worry and fear, remembered the sensation of multiple bodies melting to sludge and ooze and so much viscera, before pulling to each other like magnets and becoming one. Her "birthday" had been a truly awful event.

Perhaps, she thought as her hooves crunched on the twigs and fallen branches scattered around her, she should have considered changing shape, but... What?

Her thoughts, her reflections, were interrupted by a sudden growl. The sound drew Lyra to snap her attention to the right, where glowing eyes greeted her from the shadows.

Slowly, a creature, a seemingly untainted denizen in the land of gothic horror, began to emerge.

A werewolf... A Luna, Celestia, AVACYN-DAMNED WEREWOLF!

Her mint-green hooves backstepped on a reflex, the golden-eyed unicorn not daring to break her stare away from those glowing white eyes.

The canine creature itself was, unlike Lyra's current shape, bipedal with movable digits. No hooves to be seen. It was crouched low as it approached, Lyra being able to see the nostrils of that black nose flare as it sniffed curiously toward her, stalking closer.

Lyra began to gallop, opposite the path she was originally walking.

5338957 ... It occurs to me that Lyra's nature lends itself more toward Temur, via Innistrad Werewolfs and their transformations (Red/Green) possibly in parallel with her own Eldrazi/Pony duality, and her inventive free spirit and artistic nature (Red/Blue).

That, or 'tis simply a whim of mine born of the idea that, if not Ajani, another Innistrad native could be her mentor.

Plus, I personally want to give Arlinn Kord a hug.

5338957

So... new idea, loosely off the Lyra one and the more recent Uncharted Realms.

Lyra Heartstrings, Extension of Emrakul.

Basically, rather than a "break-off", Lyra IS Emrakul/Emeria. XD Think of her as... Em's littlest toe into a pond of a plane. Sealed in the Moon, indeed... but the moon... the stars shall aid in Her escape, they say.

Ever since Nightmare Moon's return, Lyra Heartstrings has been feeling... off.

5402642
Lyra as an avatar of Emrakul could certainly work. Lyre strings are just high-tension tentacles.

5403134 Lol. Eeyup.

Also, from Emrakul, the Promised End, to Lyrakul, the Promised Friend. XD

5403134 Culminating in Tirek's arrival to Ponyville, where this magic-eater allows her, as they say, to cut loose.

Not necessarily out of her own will, persay... moreso that this speck tried to drain the magic from her, ahem, "toe"... and brought the full city-sized lady out of the Blind Eternities.

Oops. XD

5403446
Also, it's hard to inhale magic when your face has a sudden case of grotesque mutation.

5403450 Indeed.

... Poor ponies, though, should Lyrakul not have learned any restraint since Innistrad... though hopefully the Tree of Harmony has something to say about that.

5403450 Must... type... oddness...

The being that currently identified herself as Lyra Heartstrings raised a brow at seeing the bipedal creature that had crossed into Ungala, a man cloaked in blue, holding on to the pony she identified as her neighbor.

"Ditzy Doo?" She tilted her head to one side, before looking up at the man. "..." Vague recognition flashed through her eyes. "Jace Beleren," she named him. "It has been too long."

5403450 More oddness after months of silence!

Tirek gagged and choked. The dark devourer of magic took a step back as he moved to rub and clear his throat, eyes briefly blinking shut as he fought off the sudden foul taste in his mouth and esophagus. When he opened his eyes, he beheld something odd...

The little mint-green pony was staring at him, no, glaring at him, eyes aglow with a bright violet most unlike his own magic... or the color her eyes normally denoted. "YoU sHoUlD not hAvE dOnE tHaT," she spoke. Her voice had... changed. It seemed garbled, distorted.

Somehow, Tirek recognized it as a voice of power... power he coveted, even now. "Your magic... is mine, you pathetic little unicorn!" he roared, before he focused and began to inhale.

The unicorn known under the name of Lyra Heartstrings promptly exploded. It was a flash of violet light, this terrifying explosion, and Tirek became aware of the magic in the air itself screaming in protest at the new sensation as air and ambient power was displaced and drawn inward.

The light dimmed, and Tirek beheld... it.

With dome-like form and countless, sinuous tendrils, the Last Eldrazi Titan now gazed down upon the ant beneath Her... the ant that dared to harm those her channeled body called "friends". Unlike the last time, Emrakul, vast as She was, more than shadowing the mere town beneath her airborne form, now comprehended those beneath her mass, tentacles all over Ponyville curling around and gently cradling its many drained and tired inhabitants.

Her single glowing eye glared down at the thieving ant with fury... and he became as dust.

5643015
At some point, you're going to have enough for a full-fledged story. I look forward to it.

5643017 I can half-imagine Ditzy-Doo's panic at this... development... particularly if she didn't know just how "Eldrazi" Lyra(kul) was.

5643020
And now, a dramatic rendition:

5643021 Sounds more like Special Agent Sweetie Drops, to me.

I mean... Ditzy-Doo's daughter is likely one of the ponies cradled in those tentacles that fill the streets of Ponyville and are being carefully kept in place so as not to destroy homes and buildings.

Oh the idea of Emrakul!Lyra (or is it Lyra!Emrakul?) lifting one of her tentacles to give a light wave to the approaching, re-empowered Princesses kinda entertains me. Once she reduced Tirek to a pile of dust, that magic had to go back to where it naturally belonged, like the stolen cutie marks from "The Cutie Map", right?

5643021 There's also an idea of just how damn LONG it takes to compress herself... or rather, she has to reconstruct her new pony body (such meticulous methods are not so... easy... for any Eldrazi Titan as vast as Her, I am sure) and has to basically... sit there and try to keep up the whole bit before storing her main body back in the Blind Eternities... To say nothing of how difficult it is to communicate without driving ponies mad, now that she has active comprehension of them.

---

"So, um... what is... it--erm, she--doing?" Twilight Sparkle asked hesitantly, looking from Ditzy-Doo, the pegasus more familiar with this strange stuff, to the immense, horizon-filling creature that... "sat" wasn't quite the right term... over the Everfree Forest.

"I don't think Lyra, or whatever she is, can tell me without driving me up a wall. but-" the pegasus began.

There was a flash of blue light, a tiny blink, and a screech that echoed over the countryside. Frustration, Twilight Sparkle noted, as some dot of light puffed away from the tips of a pair of those immense tentacles... before some more light gathered.

"... I'm not sure she likes being out and open like this." Ditzy-Doo's tone was unsure, questioning.

She was not far off. Influenced by her fragment of life with her consciousness as that of a snarky unicorn, the vast Eldrazi Titan stewed in vexation as she resumed her attempt at reconstruction of the miniscule form, the tangible illusion. Another puff, as the magic poured into the construct was still far too much.

Why is this so darn hard?!

5643029

Once she reduced Tirek to a pile of dust, that magic had to go back to where it naturally belonged, like the stolen cutie marks from "The Cutie Map", right?

Given how the Eldrazi feed on mana as much as they do matter, that may not necessarily be the case. It's going to be like eating every strand of spaghetti while leaving the sauce untouched.

5643090 You never know with Equestria. Magic is a touch different with the harmony tree and the constructed manipulation of time.

5643090 Still, could be a way to spin into a story... Lyrakul trying to do everything she can to spit the mana back out... Trying.

Also, no comment on her frustration with trying and failing to craft her extension back? I mean, we've seen what happens to those she physically affects... What of her attempting to remake her "local" pony form, the body that is Lyra Heartstrings, instead of her extensions, right?

5643234
"This is ridiculous. How do you people even work with only three dimensions?"

"Somehow, we manage."

"And no tentacles? At all? Really?"

5643289

Can't speak with normal form, remember?

"Okay, I've made the head and vocal cho-"

POP!

The latest creation of Emrakul's tendrils popped... like a balloon.

"..." Ditzy-Doo looked from the tentacles that previously puppeted a minty-green face-mask up to the glowing violet eye... a little to the left of it, to not go bonkers.

As for Emrakul? Inner screams of rage, her massive form shivering in the still-growing frustration.

CELESTIA THRICE-DAMN IIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

5643289 Of course, some vultures (read: the news media) will likely have a field day about the Unicorn-that-Wasn't, Lyra Heartstrings, and her true self.

So, that time she visits Restaurant Row... :D

"Well, I wouldn't expect some foul creature like you to understand true cuisine!"

"... I would actually expect a critic to not be so biased."

5644864

"Well, I wouldn't expect some foul creature like you to understand true cuisine!"

"Ma'am, I have eaten worlds. I have sampled entire planes of existence. I have experienced the flavors of every animal, vegetable, and mineral that you can imagine and countless more besides. And even after all of that culinary experience, this is still the worst thing I have ever tasted."

5644902

XD Oh, through her vessel of Lyra, she starts to develop as a character and "see" the little ants beneath her. 'Tis cute.

I can just imagine Zesty's "oh crap" face at hearing this news... and more media field day at hearing Lyra(kul) is a world-devourer.

"Miss Heartstrings, we hath been attempting the damage control, and then thou goes and makes... THAT declaration!" Luna chastised.

"First off, thanks for using that name. I've come to prefer it in this vessel. Second, I only spoke truth. That mare has absolutely no clue how little 'art' really needs to go into a meal compared to customer enjoyment... I simply emphasized a point."

"None the less, for your safety, you must be taken into protective custody."

"... Meh." the great being in a mere mortal body shrugged. "This vessel is more of an extension... you're not really holding me so much as what you term my hoof, so... okay."

5644902 Oh, and to say nothing of the horror or overall shock from BonBon or the Canterlot Quartet that Twilight rekindled her friendship with.

"... Okay, Moondancer, this is ridiculous. Open up."

"Stay out, you monstrous imposter!"

Lyra just stared passively at the rickety wooden door of the red-headed unicorn's shadowed cottage. "... I have heard far better insults, and if I wished to I could just reduce this door to dust. Open up."

5644951
"I've studied twelve banishments, nine self-defense evocations, and three martial arts!"

"Won't it be fun to see how well they work on me?"

After a lengthy pause, the door opened, revealing a shocked Moondancer. "Celestia's beard, it really is you. Nopony else ever wanted to test out the dangerous stuff, not even Twilight."

5644966

Lol.

"You know it." Lyra reached and ruffled that mane, smiling slightly. "So, explaining time from my point of view. Up for it, or are you going to keep digging into the news propoganda?"

5644966 Another bit of crack to this is the idea of Emrakul being a living playground for foals. Like, letting them climb and roll over her tentacles like a hill or mountain.

... Just endure, Lyra... or am I still Emrakul? Huh. One encounter with a mind mage and I'm more personable.

5646733
Ditzy hovered over the playing foals. "Remember kids, don't stare into her eye."

Sweetie Belle looked up from the edge of Lyrakul's mantle, where they were trying to decide where her mark should go. "Because it's rude?"

"And because you'll probably go crazy when you glimpse the nested infinities that lie within."

5646741 Lol. How are we making interaction with Emrakul so adorable?! XD

5646742
Letting her see things through mortal eyes helps, especially pony eyes.

5646755 That... is true, I suppose.

5646755

A different idea... starring awesome albino lion as Equestria's interdimensional visitor.

5700507
It could certainly work. For all we know, Ungula has native leonin.

5700690 It could work even without them.

Remember, there's no leonin on Kaladesh, and yet there he is.

5700695
Yes, but it'd help avoid the cumbersome disguises and constant "You're a giant cat" comments.

5700700 Manticore. :D

5700700 Though I wouldn't write it because it takes Spike's glory, I just now imagined Ajani combating Sombra... or at least warding him off and keeping his attention until the whole thing with the Crystal Heart.

Kinda like what he did with Nicol Bolas, summoning a Avatar from the dragon himself, if I recall correctly... but doing that to Sombra.

5700700 ... Now I'm wondering of the idea of Ajani just... wandering into Equestria... because.

... And I really wish Vraska wasn't written evil. She was a fave until that.

5818257
Not so much evil as bitterly resentful of the guilds. And given her history, who can blame her?

5818279
Until she got portrayed as super-power-hungry...

5818279
Well, I can safely say now that... it would be a dull fic, to have Nicol Bolas as a protagonist in a cross-over...

I mean, damn, even if that was him still partly in the "old-walker" rules, he utterly devastated Amonkhet.

5996017
Yeah, challenging a pre-Mending 'walker isn't done lightly. Especiall not Bolas. Still, we'll see what happens to him as the story progresses. My money's on Samut in a devastating upset.

5818279
Otherwise, I now have a loose idea in my head of a fic starting out with Ajani vs Whatever End-season villain and working from there.

5996027
Yeah, with the cards showing the big five of the Gatewatch defeated...

I haven't actually READ the Uncharted Realms for Amonkhet... Ajani gone to do his own thing for the Watch?

5996030
As I recall, he's going on a recruiting run. And he was against the idea of going against Bolas fron the word "go." After all, Ajani's already tangled with the elder dragon, and the only way he survived was by throwing an avatar of Bolas himself at the problem.