1: Ponyville

Ponyville

It was a warm, breezy summer night, one for parties and festivals. Bright, twinkling stars shone down upon the rolling hills, deep forests, and high mountains. Twilight Sparkle, favorite pupil of Princess Celestia and owner of the Ponyville library, had decided tonight was night to try out her new telescope she had ordered in the mail. It was a new moon, so tonight would be the optimum time to stargaze. Plus, it wasn't too cold or particularly cloudy either; Rainbow Dash had seen to that. The chief weather pony was probably snoozing in her floating house of cirrus clouds, which is what she did when she wasn't working or practicing her tricks. Applejack had just sat down to dinner at Sweet Apple Acres with the rest of the Apple family- her grandmother Granny Smith, brother Big Macintosh, and her little sister Apple Bloom. They were celebrating the coming harvest. Rarity was pacing about her boutique anxiously, trying to sew together her ideas for a new formal dress. Finally, Fluttershy was helping Pinkie Pie watch the twins while Mr. and Mrs. Cake went out to dinner.

Everypony was either with their family, at a party, or out in the town except for Lyra Heartstrings. Lyra had recurring dreams of a race so foreign from dragons or griffins, or even the monsters who wandered the Everfree Forest. She had named them humans in her mind, it seemed fitting. She had devised their names, language, culture. She felt as if she could turn it into some sort of book series about them and make a lucrative profit. Alas, so far she had neither the motivation nor time to do so. She had a real job- a musician, specifically a harper. She had joined several Orchestras and participated in shows in Canterlot and in Manehatten. She was happy with the gig, but honestly longed for something better.

Tonight, her roommate Bon Bon was on some date with a stallion she met about a week before. Lyra was happy to have the house to herself. She laid in her bed by the window while she read a book on music theory by candlelight. Although, one couldn't really call it reading because Lyra simply glazed over most of the text and simply flipped through the pages, bored. Then, she turned her head to the window, watching the stars twinkle in the velvet void above. She brought herself out of the bed and unbolted the lock on the window, before opening it. A light, refreshing summer breeze blew into the bedroom, extinguishing the candle and plunging the room into darkness. She muttered a curse before sighing and returning her gaze to the heavens above.

And then, she saw it.

Far above her, she saw several meteors streaking across the sky, almost in a sort of pattern. Amazed, she dashed out and scrambled on top of the thatched roof of the house to get a better view. There were hundreds of the lights streaking across the night with no sound. They fell from the west to the east, in bunches of twelve. As passersby in the street below stopped and gasped at the heavens, she began to realize these were no ordinary meteors. They grew larger and larger in the sky, their light seeming to intensify. The meteors seemed to be heading straight for Ponyville! There were screams in the street. Lyra threw herself back through the window, down through the dark and empty house. She galloped into the dirt street and began to chase them, shoving ponies out of the way. Adrenaline forced her to go faster and faster. Church bells rang. More screams and yells. As Lyra neared the outskirts of town, she saw one of the meteors fly by with amazing detail. It was perfectly spherical, white. She saw black lines etched into its flaming skin. The bottom side of the sphere was charred, obviously from all the heat coming down. There were black holes in groups of three on the side facing her. They spewed out a white gas and it seemed to control the craft's descent and spinning. Lyra skidded to a halt, panting, as it flew by and into the Everfree Forest.

Exhausted and without a lantern, she was able to go no farther. As she wearily dragged herself home she watched more of the crafts crash with large, rumbling explosions deep in the Everfree. She saw stallions in golden, gleaming armor, galloping past. Her senses felt dulled. She heard a far off shriek. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, she felt a lot more fatigued then before. Was it just the the adrenaline wearing off? Admist her confusion, Lyra's legs began to tremble and she collapsed into the brown dirt. Her weary eyes flittered and her mind surrendered to sleep.

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Lyra awoke floating in a white void, totally empty except for her. She felt weightless, slightly dizzy. A sense of omniscience washed over her. Then she blinked, and in that instant Princess Luna had appeared in front of her. At first Lyra was shocked, confused, her mind racing, but Luna's warming smile calmed her. Luna's lips did not move yet Lyra could hear her voice, inside of her instead.

"Lyra Heartstrings, do you know why I have brought you here?"
Lyra shook her head, then spoke back to Luna, her lips not moving either.
"Where is 'here'?"
"This is the dream realm. I am not only the goddess of the moon and night, but of my ponies' dreams as well. Your dreams have especially interested me. Of humans, Lyra."
Lyra felt embarrased.
"You.. you know about that?"
"Well, you certainly dream about them quite a lot. Anyway, back to the point. You are valuable to us, Lyra. We need to protect you. Those craft you saw tonight are here for a purpose."
"What is it?"
"We don't know yet. Not even my sister can see into their minds. Tomorrow, members of Her Majesty's Royal Guard will come to escort you to the train station. There you will take a train to Canterlot to meet with us in person. They will use force if they have to. I will answer your questions there."
"But- wait!"
"We will see you tomorrow, Lyra Heartstrings."
And with that word the realm around her began to what one could only describe has crumble. The far away, endless horizon faded to absolute darkness. She suddenly felt a sense of gravity and "falling." She tried to scream, but no words came out. Lyra closed her eyes.

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And awoke gasping for air. Bright sunlight pooled from the window above her. She shivered and noticed she had sat up from a freezing bath. When she turned to her right, there stood Bon Bon with a look of concern on her face.

"Lyra! You're awake! I was going to take you to the hospital-"
"It's okay Bon Bon! Slow down!" Lyra tried to calm her roommate.
"Okay, okay." Bon Bon answered.
"Explain to me everything that happened."
"Alright, so we were about halfway through the night, me and Caramel," Bon Bon paused for Lyra to nod to go on. "and we were at that cafe you always liked down by the library when somepony galloped in and said 'Meteors! Meteors! Hundreds!'". We tried to walk out calmly into the street but it was chaos out there. Ponies were galloping all about, screaming and yelling. Carts were getting knocked over. I saw a platoon of Royal Guards rush by and then saw you collapsed in the mud!"
"Then?"
"Well Caramel helped me carry you inside and then he darted home saying he had to check on his family, so I got you in the bathtub and poured in some cold water trying to get you out of your stupor. I was about to take you to the hospital but then there were guards outside ordering everyone inside and issuing a curfew. So I've been sitting here for the past few hours waiting for you to finally wake up."
"That it?"
Bon Bon took a breath and nodded.
"Well help me out of this bathtub then."

Bon Bon grabbed Lyra's leg and pulled her out. After she helped her dry off they both went into the kitchen for breakfast and to talk. Bon Bon half-burned the oat waffles like usual and Lyra asked for coffee instead. After a few minutes of silence Lyra decided to talk.

"So, Bon Bon."
Bon Bon lifted her head from the plate.
"I had a dream when I was asleep." Lyra began to explain.
She swallowed her last bite of the waffle and said "What about?"
"Well, I was in this blank white void. There was literally nothing. And then there was Princess Luna. She explained something about the meteors, well they weren't meteors. They were spacecraft. And-"
"Lyra.." Bon Bon jutted in. "...are you trying to joke around?"
"With all this crazy going on why don't you believe me?"
"Lyra, I can't-"

A hearty knock came from the front door. Bon Bon hurried out of the kitchen, muttering under her breath. She looked through the peephole and saw two Royal Guards- white stallions with blue hair in gleaming gold armor. Bon Bon thought they were just for show, but these one were armed with long spears, and appeared to have trained with them.

"Who is it?" Lyra called.
"Royal... Guards." Bon Bon replied hesitantly.

As soon as Lyra heard the words she felt a shiver down her back. It was all true last night, in the dream. They're here to take me to Canterlot! To meet the Princess! Lyra dashed over to the door and opened it.

"Miss, would you happen to be Lyra Heartstrings?" one of the gruff guards motioned to the mint green unicorn in front of him.
She nodded, and the guard pulled a scroll out of his saddlebag with his teeth, unfurling it. The other read it out for Bon Bon and Lyra.
"Per the order of the sovereign Monarchs Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, we are to escort you to Canterlot to share your knowledge of the race known as..." the guard squinted at the word and sounded it out. "...humans."
Bon Bon rolled her eyes. "You mean those things she always daydreams about?"
"I was going to explain all of this to you, Bon Bon, if you had just listened. May I go upstairs and pack my things?"
The guard nodded stiffly and Lyra turned to go upstairs. She trotted into the bedroom and packed up her drawings, notes, and some clothes into one of her travel bags, maybe taking five minutes. She rushed back down the stairs and into the atrium where the guards were waiting.
"Watch the house for me, Bon Bon."
Bon Bon grumbled and muttered goodbyes.

The guards turned as Lyra stepped out into the blinding sunlight. As her eyes adjusted, she noted that the street normally filled with crowds was empty. Boards were nailed to the doors of houses across the street, and their window shutters were all shut and locked. The town looked desolate, abandoned. Far away, smoke rose over the Everfree Forest. The two guards closed in on either side of Lyra and the three marched down several side streets towards the train station. At the platform, a train was already waiting, but had been unloading Royal Guards and large crates of presumably weapons and supplies.

"Why so many?" Lyra asked the guards at her sides.
"It's simple. We don't know if they are hostile or not."
They? She thought to herself.

With the last crate unloaded, her towering escorts brought her aboard and then left her alone in a private stateroom fit for a dignitary or even royalty. Fancy oak paneling on the walls. A brass bed with silk covers. A set of tables and chairs carved by only the finest woodworkers. Lyra fell backwards lazily onto the bed, and sighed. She had a foreboding sense that her actions held the fate of thousands in the balance.

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