The master and the windigo

by stupidswampdragon

8 - Recover

"Master?"

The call reached out to Lyra through the thick veil of unconsciousness and stirred her awake. She cracked an eye open and promptly flinched. The light filtering into her pupil wasn't all that strong... but after a good few days of uninterrupted rest, she was much more used to the darkness.

Not that she could comprehend anything of that. She just shuddered at the piercing brightness.

"Master..."

It was that nagging voice again. Struggling to get her mind into gear, Lyra moved her eyes to the side, trying to find the source. Bothersome voices should have really bothered with introducing themselves before crashing her well-earned sleep.

"Oh well, still asleep I guess. Might as well grab another snack..."

Lyra wrinkled her eyebrows and sighed ever so faintly. Somepony had been awfully fast in giving up on her. It made her want to wake up even more, if nothing else than to ruin the snack break of that defeatist. She didn't get much help for the sabotage, though. Her pupils were still adjusting to the light, all she could see was whiteness everywhere; only some oddly shaped and blurry spots occupied parts. Then the blueish fleck moved and the brightness receded a notch, easing the pain on her eyes.

"Argh!"

Turning her amber eyes upwards, Lyra tried to focus on that new source of noise. It was definitely a different one and she didn't recognize it whatsoever. She was sure of that.

"What is it? Something happened?"

A third voice, again completely unknown to her.

So many ponies I don't know, Lyra closed her eyes and gulped dryly. It's like I'm in a party or something.

That certainly would have been a nice surprise, waking up to a party.

"The fireplace just went out again! Am I going to have to light it every hour now? I'm a nurse, not a janitor!"

"Right... that's strange. The previous shift also complained about that."

Nurse... Lyra raised one of her eyebrows. Either her party was held in some unconventional spot - or she hadn't been in any party whatsoever. The latter idea seemed more likely, and that didn't make her feel any better.

Sad face.

"Well, there you go! I keep telling that we should spend some money on THIS place as well, not just that lodge! But noooo, the infirmary isn't generating money, so why should they?! How are we supposed to take care of patients when we can't even get a FIRE IN THE FIREPLACE GOING?!"

"Easy there - easy! I'm sure it's nothing major. Probably just the chimney being blocked or some such. I will see that it gets swept clean."

"Actually, there's really no need to sweep, mister! This fire grows quite tasty so fast... I'm having a feast here!"

THAT voice Lyra recalled. It was that annoying, no-good windigo that had tagged along with her. She also recalled something about that creature and a fire she had tried to make herself. It was cold back then, real cold, and the flames kept going out...

She didn't want to be left in the cold again.

"Stop... stop that..." she commanded her windigo. She tried to issue the command properly, with a stern and even voice; but her throat was like the rest of her body, weak and only midway to waking up. She found herself sounding raspy and weak, her supposedly powerful lines almost as pitiful as if she was pleading.

Thank Celestia her audience didn't care for such breach of dramatic appropriateness.

"She's awake!" the nurse scrambled first. There was a tug on the bed and a larger, grey-ish spot blocked most of Lyra's vision. "She's definitely awake! She's looking at me right now... Miss? Can you tell me your name, please?"

Such a strange thing to ask for, Lyra raised her eyebrows even further.

"Lyra... Heartstrings," she complied anyway, simply on the base of not knowing any better alternative. Why would anypony ask for her name so hastily, though? Did this pony want an autograph or something? She sure wasn't giving any. Not while on vacation.

"Oh! Master's awake!" Snowy yelled in the background, her blue figure hopping onto the bed. Lyra pulled her hooves towards herself, avoiding the incoming object out of instinct. It took her conscious a little longer to realize how the windigo couldn't crash into her, on account of being a ghost and all that. "Master is finally awake! So many things happened while Master was out cold!"

"It's all right! It's all right, don't move! Don't move - you're all right, you're just fine," the nurse jumped into action herself, pinning Lyra against the bed with a firmly pressed hoof. "You're fine - just keep still, okay? You're in the infirmary... and I'm nurse Vanilla. You're in good hooves. How are you feeling, Miss Lyra?"

She had no idea why, but Lyra found the soothing tone doing wonders to her nerves. She eased up and relaxed, letting herself sink back into the bed sheet.

An infirmary, huh... she sighed with no small relief. She couldn't fully remember why, but it felt good knowing she got medical care.

"I'm fine," she made a barely noticeable smile, still trying to train her eyes on the nurse. The image did seem to focus, but only at a painfully slow pace. "Feeling... I'm a little... funny I guess."

"Funny!" the nurse scoffed. "Not really what I expected - but sure, let's roll with it. Miss Lyra, can you remember how you got in here? What can you recall?"

You're asking a lot of questions, Lyra groaned internally. She started thinking anyway; not because some random pony had demanded her life story, but because she was also interested.

She recalled a ski training, one which culminated into a meeting with FF. Then she headed home, but wound up following some reckless pony, straight into a forbidden area. Then the cave-in happened, then she met that weirdo calling herself the Source... then she had an almost fatal climb back to the shack where she narrowly avoided-

Lyra's eyes shot wide at that memory, her earlier comfort evaporating like the morning mist at noon. She may have lacked some of her mental faculties still, but she already understood how she was NOT meant to be treated by anypony in the Dancing Lights.

"Miss?" the nurse leaned closer to her, most likely alarmed by the startled reaction. "Miss Lyra, is there a problem?"

"I can recount anything Master wishes!" Snowy also joined in the conversation. "Master collapsed when we made it into her room! There were actually two ponies inside, and they got real panicky when they realized it was Master! All that shouting and screaming, they didn't even notice when I snacked on the torches. Mmmm, delicious oil torches."

So you helped me by... stuffing your face?! Lyra sighed again, much more dejectedly this time. She may have not read a single letter of that stupid contract, but she was increasingly sure that Source was a politician by trade. Nopony else could con innocents that well.

"Miss Lyra, can you tell me-" the nurse kept trying undaunted; but her voice had definitely grown more worried after having had received nothing for her previous two questions.

"I was practising on a slope... and I saw somepony leave the track," Lyra explained in her hoarse and weak voice. She took a break and used that to gulp; she needed the time to decide what details she should explain and which to 'forget' about. Even her numb mind understood how she couldn't say she didn't recall anything. She would be declared amnesiac on short order and wind up in that castle for who-knows-long... all for her recovery, of course.

"Then the snow disappeared and I... and I fell into a hole," Lyra continued, slowly and careful that her mouth didn't run ahead of her mind too much. "That kind of hurt. Then I crawled out and back and... and that's all. I woke up here."

"There's more to it. Master was-" Snowy leaned closer to the bed-ridden pony, but fell silent when her master shook her head.

Lyra wouldn't have minded hearing the extra details, actually. She was especially curious about what happened in the château's room after she fainted. Story-time had to be delayed as long as the nurse was still inspecting her, however.

"Hmm, hmm. I see," the nurse hit a pondering tone. "Crawled back, you say. How much you remember of that?"

That question raised all sorts of red flags in Lyra's head. It was difficult to think with her barely awake mind, but she could already tell how describing her journey would betray many details she really should have kept to herself.

"No," she bit onto her lip. "Nothing but a blur."

"I see. That's a pity," the nurse pony made a sad smile. It was the first gesture Lyra could make out on her face, courtesy of her eyes finally bumbling onto the right focal length. "See, you took a very odd path back. A very treacherous one, I mean! The search team found your trace yesterday, and they almost lost two colts on that slope. Good thing they were both pegasus, or else they might've broken their necks! Or worse. That side of the mountain is poorly mapped and quite steep."

A happy grin appeared on the corners of Lyra's mouth. Even when tied to some hospital bed, it was always nice to hear her enemies bowing to her achievements.

"It's quite the miracle you managed to come out of there in one piece," the nurse carried on and removed her hoof from Lyra, content in the belief that her patient wouldn't start moving around. "Anyhow, you seem pretty fluid and you can recall recent events, so that's reassuring. I'll just need to-"

"LYRA!"

The loud yell made the nurse flinch quite visibly. Snowy bore the advantage of being a ghost; she simply cocked her ears up and turned to the newcomer, mostly excited about the development. Lyra closed her eyes and nodded with a wry smirk, half expecting a tirade to be thrown at her head.

That was how Bon usually reacted to the results of her odd ideas, after all.

"Miss Bon, you can't just barge in here!" the nurse turned to the infirmary's newest occupant. "This pony just woke up! We need to make sure she's fine before she can receive visitors!"

"Just woke up?" Lyra squinted at the grey nurse. Her mind had been picking up pace and her body seemed to follow suit. Some parts faster than others; she could talk quite unimpeded. "You make it sound I slept pretty long... what happened? How long was I out?"

The nurse frowned and took a deep breath, visibly debating how much to reveal.

I thought patients had the right to know their own condition, Lyra mused at the strange reaction.

"Two days," the nurse mumbled and gave Bon an angry glare, the beige earth pony walking past her without much care.

"Two days!" Lyra gawked, trying to raise one of her hooves off the bed. "No wonder I feel all sorts of crappy."

"I think that is more to do with Master's blood loss," Snowy offered another completely unneeded explanation, all with the cheerful glare puppy dogs make as they chew their owners' slippers to shreds. "I saw some ponies lug vials of red ooze around, muttering how Master was real lucky to have not bled dry already. Right before they stitched Master closed with a load of funny looking clamps, too."

Vials of red...? That's blood transfusion, isn't it? Lyra shuddered at the off-the-hoof remark. Goodness gracious, was I that messed up?

She had felt rather bad, but never had she once thought that she might have been that close to actually biting the dust. Not since she had escaped the cold by breaking into the shack. That her wound had been serious enough to do her in - that had never occurred to her. It had hurt and impeded her; she had only figured that much.

"See? She's cracking jokes," Bon came to a full stop at Lyra's bedside, next to the nurse. "You've checked more thoroughly than anypony in the last five years. She's fine."

"Every single pony we scoop from the slopes keep saying that," the nurse pointed out, accenting her message by blowing some hot air right into Bon's face. "And you know what? A good portion of them would be outright dead if we believed them. So let's stick to the protocol, shall we? You can stay if you want, Miss Bon; but I'm not going until I'm sure your daredevil friend's fine."

Bon made a few faint nods with her head, ceding the argument without any fight whatsoever; she even backed off a little, moving to the back of Lyra's bed without a word.

Of all the things she had been through, Lyra found that part to be the strangest. Or, well, one of the top five. Still, now that she had Bon close and watching over her, she felt a lot more relieved about her treatment. If only she could shoo that stupid windigo away without making herself look as if she was talking to thin air...

---

"Left pupil reacts nicely," the nurse smiled and packed the light away. Not a moment too soon, either - Lyra was about to cry blood if she had to stare into that thing for a second longer.

"So she's off the hook?" Bon sighed and raised an eyebrow. She hadn't talked much during the examination. She just chilled, her head resting on the end of the bed. She also looked really, really bored.

"If 'off the hook' means 'get the same visit by the on-duty doctor tomorrow' then yes, she's off the hook," the nurse groaned and yanked a clipboard from the side of the bed. "She may also need some painkillers for those stitches. And- oh for Celestia's sake, did the fire just go out again?"

Rolling her head to the side, Lyra saw Snowy looking all cheerful, standing right next to a sooty fireplace and a smouldering pack of logs. Not a single lick of flame anywhere, though. It took all of Lyra's self-control to just lie idly in her bed and not say a thing. Thinking angry thoughts was okay, though!

I'm so going to get a refund if I ever find that Source whoever again.

"You seriously need a better room," Bon chuckled with her eyes glued to the ceiling, avoiding any stray glance at the medical pony who had scorned her wishes a little while ago.

"Tell me something I don't know," the nurse ground her teeth and glanced around. She must have been looking for the janitor - too bad that pony had already given up at fixing the 'faulty' fireplace and had left some minutes ago.

"Something you don't know, hmm? Well, all the specialized treatment Lyra's getting at this point is bed rest... in a room which only differs from ours by the fireplace not working," Bon spoke with a corny, almost helpful-looking grin. Almost. "But that's so obvious that somepony as highly trained as you wouldn't miss it, Miss Vanilla. So I think there's really nothing I could tell you that you wouldn't know already, huh? Would you look at that."

The nurse reacted predictably and slammed the clipboard to the floor hard enough to make some papers tear away and float. At the same time, Lyra felt happy about the small tirade. It was real nice to see Bon's mind-tearing grumbling at work on somepony other than her. It made her feel less of a unique snowflake that got all the flak. As if the world was repaying her a little for all the chew-outs she got.

With all that having been said, she did kind of feel sorry for the poor nurse. She really understood what it was like, being on the receiving end.

Still better you than me, though.

"Very well," the nurse hissed through her clenched teeth. She also smiled - but that grin was enough to make Snowy take cover by crawling into the smouldering fireplace.

You know you're making an impression when you're scaring the windigos away, Lyra tried to sink into her bed sheet. There was no way she could; but she liked to think she was doing everything to get out of the verbal crossfire.

"I'm not paid enough for this. Whatever, it's your life! Just sign the papers here," the nurse scooped the clipboard from the floor, throwing it onto the bed roughly. "Voluntary discharge. You take all responsibility and whatever."

Lyra was surprised by the sheets of paper coming her way. The wooden back of the clipboard passed real low; so low that it tumbled on her nose and dropped right next to her head, a fact she only registered after she dared opening her eyes again.

"See, I knew we could come to an agreement!" Bon cooed in the most sarcastic voice possible.

Rolling her head to the left and staring at the clipboard in silence, Lyra couldn't help but reminiscence how similar that was to all her previous 'agreements' with Bon.

---

"Home, sweet home!" Bon yelled as she threw the door open. The thick brown wood moved with considerable speed and knocked against the room's white wall, banging loudly and swinging backward with only slightly lesser fury.

That didn't concern Bon much; she was already inside the room, storming through the doorway like a pouncing feline. It was more interesting to Lyra, who happened to get in the way. Only for a second though - she was back in the corridor the next moment, sitting on her back and wondering just what had punched her in the face.

She wasn't left alone too long. A windigo sat down next to her, the pair of crimson eyes alternating between Lyra and the closed door, apparently wondering what the pony was wondering about.

"Ouch," Lyra finally reacted, placing her right hoof on her nose. It hurt a little, but she was more perplexed than pained.

The pondering was cut short by the door opening again, a really confused earth pony staring at her.

"What are you doing out there?" Bon balked and shook her head, sending her curly mane flying all over the place. "Come on in already! There's nopony in here. Seriously, you're the worst."

She's such a nice friend, Lyra grinned so dryly that she almost felt her head dehydrate.

"Is that really one of Master's friends?" Snowy scratched her translucent head. "If so, I would hate to meet Master's enemies."

"She's not so bad. Usually," Lyra rolled her eyes and hobbled onwards renewed, right into their room. She couldn't adore the place as much as she had when she had seen it for the first time; despite all the decoration and cleanliness, the Dancing Lights didn't sit right with her any more. She had a vaguely defined but ever present sense of danger, fantasies of ambushes waiting in every alley and assailants sitting in the dark shadows. Nothing had helped; not even having Snowy making mad dashes around her path, inspecting every nook and cranny. It had become so out of hoof that she had refused to walk through a poorly lit alley; which, in turn, had proved to be the final straw to Bon, who had lost her temper at the game of paranoia.

They hadn't traded too many words after that, occasional bickering nonwithstanding.

The room was as Lyra remembered it, maybe a little messier. The floor, the carpet, the table in the middle of the room - those were all fine. So was her own bed; immaculate, just as the cleaning crew left it. It was Bon's side that looked... well, a little messy. Truly befitting somepony who hadn't slept well.

I wonder if that's related to your short temper, Lyra glanced at her friend, the beige earth pony yanking the drawer of her bed open with a grunt.

One way or the other, she was about to find that out. Among many other things.

"Stay out," Lyra whispered and moved through the doorway. She peeked back a little, making sure Snowy adhered to the order; then she closed the door behind her with a gentle kick. She wasn't sure what to make of the windigo. Its presence didn't really unnerve her; it wasn't some ice monster as far as she cared, but rather a bumbling pet, one that a weird dream shoved onto her back.

She wouldn't want any ice-ghost-pet overhear her most private conversations with Bon however, no matter how friendly it was. Some lines had to be drawn.

Not like any wild conversation threatened to erupt. Bon kept her mouth shut and so did she, moving to her bed in silence.

It still hurt, moving around. Even after having received proper treatment, her right leg wasn't in a great condition. The skin pulled uncomfortably with every move and her shoulder pained whenever she tried to place any weight on it. She didn't wince or make faces, though; those were nothing compared to what she had endured in the past few days. It was more of a permanent annoyance, one she hoped to leave behind in short order.

Standing at the side of her bed, Lyra stopped investigating herself and used her magic to get the drawer at the bottom of the bed slide open... then stared blankly. Just as blankly as the wooden container was.

That wasn't really what she expected. She had thrashed a jacket, sure; but she was supposed to have a few spares... not to mention her other belongings, like the magazines she was planning to read.

"Hey!" she scratched her head and stumbled backwards, sitting down. Anything that took the load off her front legs was her favourite new hobby. "Where's all my stuff?"

"Al'eady packed," Bon barked back, her voice a bit distorted as her mouth was full of a bag's handle. "We're goin' home, 's soon's I finish mine."

It took a while for Lyra to find some answer to that. She wasn't really against the idea, to be honest. She was joyed at the idea of leaving those wretched mountains and their crazy noble behind. Only...

Being in a warm room, no longer actively threatened by anything... she felt kind of bad for her friend. Bon may have grumbled at her odd habits, but she was the pony who understood Lyra the best. And friends don't ruin each others' vacations, especially those they had planned for so long.

"Okay," Lyra sighed anxiously. She also turned and sneaked a glance at her friend. She wasn't fully prepared for an apology; but then again, she rarely ever had been any time before either. Apologies were the most difficult topics to her. "I'm... sorry. I know you were looking forward to this and..."

Bon stopped packing. She stared in front of her silently and let go of the bag, the blue textile falling back into the open drawer.

"What happened? What really happened?" she asked, mimicking Lyra in only turning her head to the smallest angle required. She didn't seem to be in the apologizing mood, though. "I've heard what you told the nurse and you know what? I'm not stupid. You didn't just wander into a hole and go crazy of hypothermia or whatever. You evaded everything out there - you, who has never been to a snowy place before! You broke into a train station for some snacks - you, who would have enough bits to afford a top dinner anywhere! And you came all the way to this room in a silly disguise! That's not what wounded, half-frozen, on-death's-doorstep ponies do. Not even crazies like you."

Lyra smirked to herself at that recount. She was sure not even the officials had believed her, but they had no choice but to accept her 'oh, I don't remember more' excuse. Bon, on the other hoof... she could always tell when Lyra was lying. It was an eerily accurate but rarely used skill, as they never kept secrets from each other in the first place.

"It was a trap," Lyra turned around fully. Bon followed the motion, the two of them staring each other in the eyes from the opposite sides of their room. "They set a trap and I fell for it, hook and sinker. Remember the amulet FF- ugh, not calling him FF any more. No way. So, eh, remember the amulet that silver-tongued, two-faced, no-good blue-blood gave me?"

"Sure I do. Caused me a lot of headache," Bon grimaced, but both of them knew that was just her surprise at the barrage of colourful adjectives. "What's that to do with anything though? He took it back when you were taken to the infirmary. Didn't bring you much luck, in the end."

"Quite the opposite," Lyra rolled her eyes, her gaze coming to a rest on the closed door. She couldn't see Snowy on the other side, but she was sure the windigo was sitting there like an obedient puppy, waiting to be let in. That or snuffing out all the torches on the corridor, the glutton. Lyra frowned at the possibility and shook her head, moving her amber gaze back to Bon. "That amulet... it's not normal. It saved me, sure; but that's barely scratching the surface! It can do all sorts of crazy things - summon ghosts, keep windigos in bind - ah, so many things you wouldn't believe!"

Judging by the raised eyebrows, Bon indeed did not believe. She kept eyeing Lyra for a second or two, making sure that wasn't some joke and that she heard everything right.

"So... why did the viscount give it to you?" she finally asked the question that bothered both of them. "If he has that kind of sealed magic in an amulet... why give it to a complete stranger? You haven't met him before, right?"

"Nope," Lyra shook her head with a definite motion. The move made the stitches her shoulder sting, but she started to grin anyway. What she wanted to say couldn't be delivered in any other fashion. "I think I became part of some experiment. I was supposed to wear that amulet and have an accident. Bon, I had to keep avoiding his goons all the way back here! And I heard them looking for the amulet... and... and... and, well, me. More like my corpse, really."

"No wonder he showed up here so fast," Bon's eyes narrowed. She put a hoof to her head and went into an absent-minded explanation. "I told the viscount there could be trouble when you didn't show up for dinner. I thought he took it really well. He simply told me not to worry and that you stayed out to practice some more; and that he would sortie ponies to search all the same. He only showed up again around midnight, telling me about a cave-in that almost got one of his geologists. He explained how they found blood at the scene but no trails of blood leaving, so they started combing through some old mine tunnels... and he started preparing me as well. You know, saying things like accidents happen and how your chances would go down if you weren't found in a few hours. Canned speeches like that."

No blood trails leaving, Lyra echoed that strange bit inside her mind. It may have been some inconsequential lie on the viscount's part; but she could also see how that may have been a crucial part of her successful escape. She must have been bleeding badly after having taken a girder to the side. Snowy had frozen the wound however; she could remember the windigo fretting about her master bleeding out.

Huh. Maybe she did save me, Lyra mulled over the small details she hadn't had much time to think about earlier. No, she put out that fire in the hut as well... and she guided me all the way back. She definitely saved me.

Lyra licked her lips and glanced back to the door with a heavy heart.

And I never even thanked her. Actually, I just locked her out of my room.

At that very moment, she felt like a pretty useless Master, all things considered.

"He kept coming back later, again and again. Always telling me how they hadn't found anything and how I should start getting used to the thought of you never coming back," Bon went on, her eyes closed and her hoof slowly massaging her temple. "I did think he gave up awfully quick on you. No, that wasn't it. It was that odd calmness he had. I mean, I understand nobles are used to diplomacy and acting in public. But for Celestia's sake - he was all over you just earlier that day! I could've believed him better if he took a few drinks or raged or... or something. But nope. Only a little anxiety. That was so odd. I remember thinking to myself, oh sweet Celestia, this colt was expecting this. That he knew something. There were problems with the place and he knew about them. That I... well, that I... that I brought you..."

"And here I was thinking, you just broke your vacation, you idiot!" Lyra cackled, doing her best to blunt the edge of the situation. An angry Bon was threatening and filled her with worries, yes; but she could never handle a sobbing Bon, and she was definitely not figuring that puzzle out in a lodge owned by a homicidal noble. "Anyway, do you, eh... do you need help with that bag?"

"Nup," Bon turned back to the drawer. "Injured ponies should rest. I have no idea what came over me, heh! Where do I keep my brain these days..."

A bittersweet smile plastered across her face, Lyra focused her eyes on the blue bag. It was surrounded by an amber glow the next moment and lifted into the air without the slightest difficulty.

"I don't carry my horn on my shoulder," Lyra declared with much pride and a little scorning.

Bon looked back at her, made a smile and nodded faintly.

---

"Next train leaves in a hour and forty minutes," Bon hissed to herself as she watched a small heap of jackets float into the blue bag. "Sheesssh... that's gonna' be tight."

"I didn't get any of my legs amputated, you know!" Lyra glared at her friend. She had been enjoying the overflowing sympathy for a while, but being treated as if she was half-dead was grating her already. "I crossed a whole freaking hill, remember? So stop acting as if that little hop to the train station was a big deal."

"You walked all the way here, yes, and you almost died!" Bon threw her hooves into the air. "You've got a fresh wound and almost three dozen stitches in your side, so don't you dare even think about running to catch that train!"

"Yeah, much better to spend the night here, right?" Lyra rolled her eyes. A pair of toothbrushes followed her gaze, drawing a circle in the air. "There's no way that could put us into danger, nuh-uh!"

"I don't like it much myself either, okay? But there was a reason why you had to be lured to that desolate spot... uh," Bon watched her toothbrushes end their flight by plopping into her bag, disappearing in a pile of clothes. "Could you put my hygiene stuff into their own bag? I mean, I'm thankful and everything, but... anyway, where was I? Ah yeah, being murdered in our sleep. That'd make some major news, don't you think? I have no idea what shady business our dear viscount runs, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want the Dancing Lights to get shut down."

"Yeah, because murdering witnesses isn't the 101 of like, every thriller story," Lyra grumbled and yanked the toothbrushes free, stuffing them into a smaller bag inside the large one. "Bon, he knows that I know. I'm sure of it. I'm a liability. Do you think he would just take my honest word and let me go?"

"And just what would you tell anypony? That you fell into a hole and saw ghosts? Quick, call the press - a pony on the verge of death hallucinated things!" Bon made a face and threw her back against the wall with a deep sigh. "Lyra, seriously. You'd be going up against a noble with no evidence whatsoever. What would you say? That he's some crazy bastard who runs deadly experiments? Where are all the other victims, then? This place isn't famous for ponies just disappearing... the Royal Guard would be out in force if it was."

Lyra was not prepared to handle such doses of reality. She bit onto her lips and threw the last of Bon's winter clothes into the bag, so angrily that she almost expected them to catch fire spontaneously.

"No-one's going to believe you. No. One," Bon mumbled, then broke out a sombre smile as she turned to Lyra. "And that's a good thing, because I bet the viscount took that into account as well. You've already babbled about things, but that's okay... 'cause you're only a witness if anypony believed what you said. As things are, you disappearing would only lend that missing credence to your word."

Chewing on empty air, Lyra had no choice but to cede to that logic. Her gut instinct kept telling her how she was in danger, but Bon's explanation seemed to account for everything. She had never regretted listening to her friend before either.

"So we pack everything together, have a breakfast with all the other guests around, check out, get some of our bits back... then catch the train back home," Bon rubbed her eyes and ran her hooves down her mane. "No point in running like crazy now that you're safely back here."

"Well, what can I say? You always know what you're doing. I'm sold," Lyra shrugged. It was a reflexive move and a really bad idea, as her aching shoulder could readily attest. She flinched, but wasn't pained enough to not crack a quick joke. "Let me tell you right now though: if we get woken up by a bunch of assassins tonight, remember that I have so called it."

Bon burst into a laughter. It was short and a little hollow, but it was a something that Lyra really needed to hear already.

Quickly followed by something she really didn't.

"Master!" Snowy yelled from the outside. The windigo was still out in the corridor - despite Lyra's best intentions and regrets, her conversation with Bon had quickly made her forget about her ghostly pet. "There's somepony coming your way."

Lyra was faced with an odd conundrum. She could have asked aloud what Snowy saw; but that would have led to all sorts of funny questions from Bon, as she hadn't explained the windigo to her friend yet. Or she could have waited and hoped Snowy would have the brains to tell such details on her own.

I did kind of think I should trust that monster more... Lyra bit onto her lip and went with idea number two, acting as if she hadn't heard anything.

"It's that weird stallion that was with your friend when you came into the room before. She called him Flash Freeze, I think?" Snowy carried on, delivering the news with utter calmness.

Too bad that calmness didn't stick onto Lyra. She could feel the blood freezing in her veins, her remaining strength only proving sufficient for a gulp.

He better be alone, her mind raced on the edge of panic. Of course he's alone, haha! Snowy would surely mention if he brought a band with him.

"Uh... you all right?" Bon turned to Lyra, the old friend quickly sensing her distress. "Is it your shoulder? I told you not to overdo it.Take a rest and-"

A loud bang on the door quenched the rest of her sentence.

"Greetings miladies! I hope I am not barging in on you at an inappropriate time, but I do believe we have an urgent matter to discuss. So if you could spare a second..."

Lyra and Bon both looked at the door, then exchanged a quick glance at each other.

"What's him doing here all of a sudden?" Bon murmured under her nose and shook her head. "Whatever... let him in, Lyra. Keep an eye on him, though."

Lyra wasn't entirely enticed by the idea, but she understood how a door wouldn't be a lasting barrier against the owner of the whole place. She zipped the bag closed and turned to the door, the handle glowing with her amber magic.

"Come in!" she yelled and moved the handle down. The command was decidedly ambiguous; perhaps overly so. Mid-way into opening the door she got worried that her words would go over the head of the intended recipient. "There's no need to stay out there, so just come in."

The brief clarification got a puzzled glance from Bon, but she didn't seem to pay it any further attention. Both ponies' eyes were focused on the open door and the blue stallion behind it.

"Nice to see you again, viscount," Bon exclaimed so coldly that Lyra half expected her breath to become visible.

She didn't even greet Flash Freeze. It may have been rude, but she really saw no reason to do so. Besides, she was busy rooting for Snowy to have heard her - and her anxiety didn't let up until she saw the windigo sneak into the room.

Nopony else came through, leaving the room with two commoners, one noble and one ice-ghost.

Three against one, Lyra licked her lips overtly. Bring whatever you've got, you back-stabbing bastard. I'm keeping my eye on you.

That felt doubly true after Snowy had the bright idea to stop right next to Flash Freeze, eyeing the noble from a mere few inches.

---

"Miss Bon, Miss Lyra," Flash Freeze paid token bows to the occupants of the room. "I can hardly express how good it is to see both of you in good health again."

Sitting at the open drawer of the bed, Lyra shifted back and forth. She was worried about so many things. About the viscount suddenly showing up, about what his plans regarding her were, about his reaction to her continued survival despite said plans, about him noting her visible nervousness...

There was no way she could contain all that anxiety and not show signs. She tried to appear calm, to defeat the urge to fiddle; but she couldn't completely stop all the involuntary movements. Leaning forward and swinging back was still better than fiddling with her hooves.

"Yeah, yeah. We're overjoyed to see your impeccably timed arrival. So what brings you here?" Bon sighed. She looked quite the opposite of Lyra, her figure still and only radiating tiredness in general.

You were much more energetic just a little while ago, Lyra thought to herself. That was an act, she was sure of that; and she really, really envied the impudent laxness with which Bon played her roles. At certain points Bon had acted so well that she had become almost frightening - and had also made Lyra wonder why her friend had never gotten into the world of theatre.

"Oh, nothing much, really. Just checking on somepony who injured herself on my estate," Flash Freeze gave Bon a warm smile. He arrived to the small table in the middle of the room and inspected the clean surface, the motion followed by a faint clinging. It must had been intentional, drawing the bystanders' attention to the amulet he wore.

Lyra gulped and felt her lips trembling at the sight.

A delicate silver amulet with a dead-black rock in the middle was hanging from the viscount's neck.

The very thing his goons were looking for on the eve of the 'accident'.

"Don't you worry about us," Bon frowned and narrowed her eyes, her weary expression mixing up with hints of anger. "We're fine and dandy. Not going to sue you or anything."

"Oh, that! I had very little concerns regarding that," Flash Freeze chuckled and brushed his white mane back into place. "You may have forgotten Miss, but you signed waivers shortly after you arrived here. Unless some criminal negligence is proven, the Dancing Lights is not to be held responsible for any accidents out there."

"Lyra fell into a collapsing mineshaft," Bon raised one of her eyebrows, throwing the sentence out there as if she was just wondering aloud.

"...which was way outside the marked safe areas, and which my colleague was also in the process of marking as dangerous," Flash Freeze made a sombre smile. "She also disregarded my colleague's orders to leave, if you may recall. Now, I believe this was just a most unfortunate accident; but even if I were to think otherwise, I believe we are the least to be blamed here."

Lyra stopped fiddling around and stared at the viscount with glassy eyes. That story was completely true; so true that she almost began doubting herself. She did decide on following that pony on a whim; even if the viscount had plans with her, he hardly could have counted on her ad-hoc decision.

Did I make this whole mess myself?

That was a really disturbing doubt to have. She had only wanted to help, after all; she had only seen a pony going where he wasn't supposed to go. Even if it had turned out to be nothing but a huge misunderstanding on her end, she had gone there with good intentions.

Clenching her teeth as subtlety as possible, Lyra chased the idea from her mind.

Come on you filly, you know better than this. Don't be swayed by him now.

"Hrmpfh. True, all too true. Well, that just reinforces my decision anyway," Bon shrugged, the list of facts not swaying her whatsoever. "Still, it's real surprising to see you here, viscount. I mean, you must have a real busy schedule, attending to all the issues of this huge estate!"

Flash Freeze blinked confusedly and cleared his throat. The sudden compliment came from the blue, and he wasn't sure how to react to it.

"Well... there is always work around the Dancing Lights. I never get any vacation, you see!" he stammered, smiling awkwardly. His brief laughter was absolutely forced, the tone so weak that it failed to suppress the clanging of the amulet hanging around his neck. "Not that I would need any! I would rather see this place busy than empty."

"I can relate to that. I'm a caretaker myself, always and without stop," Bon nodded heartily.

That off-the-hoof remark had a profound effect on Lyra. Despite the cyan fur covering her face, she could tell that she turned red.

"Oooh, that was pretty good. Master needs some cool for that burn?" Snowy joined the choir, picking the absolute worst moment to show some genuine awareness of the world around her. Lyra would have thrown something the windigo's way - harsh words if nothing else - but she couldn't really act like that. Not with Bon and the viscount being in her vicinity.

"That's why I can also understand why you could only come and meet us now, FF," Bon carried on, her voice utterly nonchalant and her gaze focused on the noble. "With so many things to do, it's only natural you couldn't check on Lyra when she was, you know, actually fighting for her life. You know, those last two days. When she was in the infirmary."

Lyra's mouth dropped a little. That was a pretty small bait and switch there, but it was done so masterfully that she could almost squee at the execution. She had to keep a serious face though, so she fought the urge to celebrate... and finally settled for a sly grin.

Even Snowy was left agape, the windigo staring at the noble with her mouth wide open.

"I... er... yes, I was... real busy," Flash Freeze spoke with the disjointness of a broken machine. "I... saw no reason to bother Miss Lyra or the doctors there. I trusted Miss Lyra would pull through. I mean... she came all the way back to this room! I thought..."

"Aww. That's real charming of you," Bon giggled and cocked her head to the side. "You can hide your vulnerable side so well, FF! See Lyra, he's acting like real macho just to impress you! But I can remember all the panic he was in, almost falling down the stairs to carry you to the infirmary. You were real worried there, weren't you?"

Flash Freeze gulped, a few drops of sweat rolling down his blue coat.

Bon was far from being done, however.

"You were so worried that you apparently forgot that I followed you all the way! Haha, I even heard your conversation with the doctor!" she pressed on relentlessly, twisting the verbal dagger in the noble's side without mercy. "Oh my! I just notice that you appear a little sickly, FF. Perhaps you need a little rest yourself? Working around the clock... all that stress must be getting to you. Don't worry, I understand your situation. Down to the smallest details."

Still smiling, Lyra gave a quick prayer to Celestia how she was firmly on the friendly side of Bon.

"Master has really scary friends!" Snowy gawked and took a hasty step away from Flash Freeze. "Threatening a noble like that...! Only the most courageous would dare that!"

Contrary to the windigo's anticipation, that reminder only served to make Lyra's sense of victory even sweeter. She understood that Bon was an equal-opportunity predator when she was angered, but she never thought she would get to witness Bon hammering a blue-blood into the floor - and now that she had, she enjoyed every single moment of it.

Flash Freeze didn't even try to retaliate. His face stiffened as all emotions left his expression. He straightened his neck and cleared his throat, loudly and formally.

"Well, yes. There was that indeed. ANYWAY!" he declared, brushing the topic aside as if nothing of importance had been spoken. Nobles like him didn't retreat or admit defeat - they just changed the subject. "I came here to see your well-being and to raise your attention to a formal issue."

"Formal issue?" Bon squinted at the viscount. She must have been surprised, but she kept her poker face on all the same; she gave no indication of her thoughts.

Rising her left hoof and rubbing the bandages covering her right shoulder, Lyra watched her friend in utter disbelief. She had witnessed Bon negotiate many times, even on her own behalf; but she had never seen the earth pony so focused before.

"As I understand you took your friend out of care prematurely," Flash Freeze gave them a gentle reminder of how he ran everything around those parts. "Now, I understand why you would do that. I also have no objections to you leaving early. Of course I am saddened to see two such fine guests leaving, but I am not holding anything against you. However..."

Her eyes back onto the viscount, Lyra bit her lip. This did not sound good.

"...however?" Bon shrugged with utter indifference, her head slinking a little further away from vertical. Even if she felt some misgivings herself, she gave no indication whatsoever.

"He's going to behead all of you," Snowy muttered in an amusingly panicked voice that completely went against what one expected from an ice-ghost. "He's a noble and Master are just commoners. I warned this would happen, I so did!"

Baring her teeth a little, Lyra was on the brink of ordering the windigo to keep silent. Then she changed her mind and kept silent herself. Screaming SHUT UP could only be misinterpreted in her current situation, for one; and she wasn't sure if Snowy was completely wrong, for two. And she would need Snowy more than ever in case Flash Freeze were to threaten them with anything.

The stories always said that windigos could freeze ponies solid if they willed so. Surely her slightly-deficient pet would be able to chill the viscount a little... just to the point where he would need a quick trip to the infirmary himself. That would put him out of commission long enough for them to grab a train and get the heck away.

In the heat of those tense moments, that seemed like a solid plan. Apart from the small bit where she was fetching a windigo on a pony, that is.

I can't seriously be thinking about doing that, Lyra gulped with great difficulty, a knot swelling larger and larger in her throat.

"There is still some paperwork left," Flash Freeze wiped the sweat off his forehead. "A patient cannot dismiss herself from medical care, not after having been treated so recently. Miss Lyra is still injured, and thus needs a caretaker to leave my estate. This means that you would have also needed to sign the dismissal paper, Miss Bon; along with two witnesses who testify that the declaration was made without duress. I would not expect the latter part to pose any difficulty, though. Any of my medical personnel would gladly vouch for you."

Paperwork? Seriously, just missing signatures? Lyra felt the relief wash over her anxiety. She almost burst into laughter, in fact.

"I guess we can't leave if I don't go back and sign, right?" Bon narrowed her eyes and leaned forward.

"I could be complicit in negligence if I allowed you to," Flash Freeze stated dryly. "It may sound useless legalese to you, but it is quite important to me."

"Always having your angles covered, aren't you?" Bon groaned and scampered back onto her hooves. Her teeth clattered as she shook herself around, getting rid of the tingling sensation in her legs. "Well, whatever makes you happy, FF. Wish the nurse had the mind to point that out, though. They could have spared us the journey back to the infirmary."

"I know. Real embarrassing, is it not? Though with that being said... I may be able to offer a little help," Flash Freeze mused aloofly, his gaze focusing inwards. "I could spare Miss Lyra from the pains of a needless trip. It must be a painful experience to walk down there and back, considering her wound and all the stitches she got."

"Pfft. And how would you do that?" Bon giggled, her flat tone finally painted by something different - sarcasm. "Are you going to carry her around yourself?"

The idea made Lyra chuckle faintly; and also made Snowy stare at the two with even more distress, the windigo increasingly sure that the two commoners were making the mistake of their lives.

"Even better than that," Flash Freeze started smiling himself, looking the most confident since he had entered the room. "From the three of us, only your signature is needed, Miss Bon. So our dear patient could remain up here while you quickly take care of those necessities."

"And you would remain here to watch over her, heh?" Bon turned her giggling into an outright laughter, making her preposition to the plan rather obvious.

"That is the idea," Flash Freeze nodded with utter calmness, ignoring the way his idea had already been ridiculed. "I promise to take no worse care of her than you would. I am also rather confident that she would enjoy us trading stories in your absence. About this very amulet we both wore, for example."

Lyra was about to open her mouth and decline similarly to Bon, but that last sentence struck her dumb. That was unexpected and literally the only thing that could have possibly swayed her.

If there was ever a reason why she had gotten into that weird adventure, it was that amulet. As much as she felt the cold running up and down her spine at the mere thought of being left alone with the viscount, the promise of knowing what had happened to her was very tempting. Who that green-robed Source was, what their odd contract was about, what her pet windigo really was, how all of those related to that odd game... or experiment, or whatever the Source called it.

Just what she had gotten herself into, basically.

Running her gaze back and forth between Bon and Flash Freeze, Lyra weighed her chances. On one hoof, she had so many questions to ask; and the viscount may have been her best bet at getting answers. As far as she knew, maybe nopony else knew about the amulet. Should they leave never to return, she might not get another chance at knowing what her dream-contract entailed. On the other hoof, being alone with that freak... that really wasn't a prospect she looked forward to.

Though then again, what could he do to her? Bon had already explained how her disappearance would be the worst that Flash Freeze could wish for. In a way, her being alive proved how the viscount wouldn't sink as low as to murder a visitor for the sake of a deranged experiment.

And if worst came to worst, she still had Snowy at her side. The viscount displayed no awareness of the windigo, and she had no reason to assume he had any idea of the ghost lingering next to him.

Gulping dryly, Lyra came to a heavy decision.

"Go ahead," she whispered, unable to find her voice proper. "I'll wait for you here."

"Sure, I- WHAT?" Bon snapped to her with a yell.

"Trust me," Lyra giggled nervously, shaking as if she had a fever. "I'll explain everything, okay? But for now, I... I need to talk with him. Alone."

Bon eyed her friend with open suspicion, then turned over to the viscount and finally shook her head.

"I don't get it," she stomped onto the carpet, angrily and with desperation. "I DON'T GET IT!"

Flash Freeze was taken aback by the sudden transformation. Not only was the formerly calm pony now openly raging - but even the direction of her attack changed, moving from him to the supposed friend. Such turn of events was clearly not among his expectations. He had no reason to protest though, so he kept silent.

"You will. I promise you will... but for now please go," Lyra tried her best at sounding reassuring. A rather difficult task, considering how she struggled to keep her teeth from clattering. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Trust me."

"And just how do I know you'll be fine?" Bon scoffed at the idea, her fiery gaze almost burning two holes into Lyra's forehead.

"The same way I made it back here," Lyra winked at her friend. It was a strange reasoning that she pulled out of nowhere; but even more strangely, she felt her own confidence returning as she centred more onto it.

She drew a deep breath and blew it out, the pounding in her ears quieting away as the shivers around her back ebbed.

"I have a guardian spirit watching over me."

A few steps away from her, Snowy had been listening to the statement in complete confusion and ran her eyes around the room looking for what, or whom, her Master could have been talking about.