Are You Afraid of the Dark?

by trixiesshow

3. BeWare the Pony-Wolf (Lyra)

The group had almost arrived at their campsite. What Trixie had claimed to be a short walk had turned into a rather taxing journey. She claimed she was just looking for the right spot, but it was pretty obvious she’d forgotten where she’d planned to set up camp.

Cheerilee had occupied herself by asking if they were there yet every thirty seconds. It seemed an appropriate punishment from a school teacher who has heard that question more times than she can count from field trips.

Lyra had posted herself about in the middle of group, being entertained by Trixie’s torture but eavesdropping on Carrot Top and Twilight’s conversation in the back.

During the long trip though, Twilight and Carrot Top had passed the time talking about herbology. Twilight seemed to at least know enough to carry her own with Carrot Top, Ponyville’s resident botanical genius.

“Wait, so Lilium haudmirum cures scalpendi spores?? I had no idea. That information would have been extremely useful a few months ago.” Sparkle grumbled with an expression on her face that looked particularly uncomfortable.

“I’m always happy to share my herbal knowledge!” Carrot Top said with a grin. “Nopony else really ever seems to be interested.” She said with forlorn hint to her tone.

“That’s totally not true Carrot Top, we don’t want Sparkle to think we ignore you sometimes.” Lyra called out from ahead, also catching the attention of Cheerilee and Trixie.

Carrot Top shrugged and put on her most understanding face. “You girls do, but that’s ok.”

Cheerilee nodded in agreement with Lyra, “Name a single time any of us hasn’t been willing to talk about herbology with you.”

“There was last week when Trixie had those strange weeds growing in her garden and after we got rid of them, I started explaining what they were, but she suddenly had to go.”

“I had a huge stack of licenses I had to approve before the end of the day.”

Cheerilee agreed, “Yeah, plus that’s Trixie, she’s rude to everypony.

“Hey!”

“And two days ago when Lyra got a sore throat and I made her that drink. Then when I started explaining what was in it she told me she needed quiet.”

Lyra felt this one wasn't too bad and had a decent excuse, “I needed my rest to get better!”

“And then there was earlier in this conversation when Sparkle said she’d been reading a book Northern Equestrian Flora, and you all sighed when she and I started talking.”

Trixie thought she’d field this one, although about halfway through it she realized Carrot Top was right. “That’s cause we all.. exactly at the same time.. got winded from our journey..?” Maybe she bought it.

Carrot Top laughed at the hopeful look on Trixie’s face. “Nice try girls, I appreciate your effort though.”

They finally came up on the site. Trixie leapt upon a fallen tree and announced this was the spot. Since she had organized the trip, she’d felt the need to manage every aspect of it. That would’ve been fine had Trixie ever camped as a filly, or gone into the woods, or just generally had physical activity. “Alright, Cheerilee and Lyra, you two make places for us to sleep. Sparkle, make some fire happen. Carrot Top, gather some edible stuff!”

There was a collective sigh from everypony. They all turned to Carrot Top, who actually had quite a bit of knowledge about the Everfree and sleeping there on the occasion her ingredient gathering had taken her too far in. She smiled at Trixie and proceeded to try and salvage command. “That was really good Trixie, you had all the right parts. Like Trixie said, Lyra and Cheerilee can set up our tents over there in that clearing. Sparkle, if you want to gather some wood, those trees over there look like good material. And Trixie, if you’ll follow me, we can find some water and maybe a few edible plants to nibble on later.”

Trixie sadly shambled off her improvised stand and followed Carrot Top. A little while later they had their campsite set up and Trixie cheered up when she used her new fire trick to light the fire.

“See Sparkle, I told you it was safe”

“I think you singed the end of my mane”

“Well it still has some kinks, of course.”

As they all took their place around the fire, everypony pulled their drinks out and settled in for the event. Lyra and Sparkle both shared a smile as they poured Trixie’s bourbon into their glasses and quickly hid it back in their bag. Then Lyra pulled her lyre from the thin air and began to play a simple melody to give them all a tune to talk to.

“Where were you keeping that?” Twilight asked in astonishment.

“About three feet from my bed. Why?” Lyra dropped her head to play while still making sure Twilight knew she was still in the conversation.

“That’s miles away! That must be the longest summoning spell I’ve ever seen.”

Lyra responded without changing her playing composure. “You teleported an Ursa Minor several miles.”

“Yes, but that was taking something I could see and putting it somewhere I couldn’t. Doing the opposite is much harder. You’ll have to teach that to me when we get back!

Lyra was glad that between the lighting and the angle of her head, nopony could see she blushed. She didn’t really need a pony’s approval, but she knew Twilight was a snob when it came to spells. This was the same pony who’d become a fugitive stemming from her strong opinion about Trixie, the element of magic, and her magical skill. To know something Twilight was envious of, now that was an honor.

Trixie levitated a bottle of bourbon out of her bag without inspecting it and noticing that it was one bottle short.
“So who’s telling the first story of the night?” She said with a smile on her face and monsieur bourbon holding her tight.

Lyra held her head up to respond to Trixie. “How about you, oh great and magnificent leader?”

It clearly went over her head, as Trixie legitimately seemed flattered. “It’s great and powerful leader, but good improvisation, I like your effort. I can’t go now, I have to go last, because my story is the crowning achievement of this event. Also thanks for volunteering.”

Lyra scoffed, however she was fine with going first, she just didn’t like rewarding Trixie. So she racked her brain for a moment and ran her idea by the group. “Does anyone mind if I tell a ballade instead?”

Everypony nodded and Cheerilee added her auditory confirmation. “And miss a free one mare concert? Go for it!”

Lyra picked a few notes, they sounded pleasant enough. It had a childlike quality to it. It almost sounded like the melody that would accompany a scene of the a little yellow sun shining on a tiny green hill with birds in a tree. And then she began to sing.

Come here to Littleroot, where we worship the moon
To get here is easy, just follow the trail
Our elders warn of a time nopony should want to relive
When the Beast stalked our families and children would wail
Though it’s said in the end, good came to prevail
The elders don’t say how, but we young sing this tune
Though who really believes that, it’s just some old tale
Here live we happy ponies who worship the moon

Lyra played a few notes to finish the cadence, but after a beat of silence it immediately shifted. The new cadence started much darker, but her voice still had a slight edge of hope.

Though tonight the Moon is red, and the Beast is now active
But we’ll pray to it still, and all will be well
So guard your hearts, don’t let them misgive
But the Beast has just took our brothers back to wherever it hails
With so few ponies left, were certain to fail
And though the darkness of night is not opportune
As long as it watches over, we won’t be afraid of that veil
Though we’re in fear, we’ll revere the moon.

As the cadence came to a close, her voice still sounded hopeful. Yet this seemed only superficial, it was hollow now and appearance seemed all that was left. After a few notes, she picked up the speed and started quickly into the next cadence.

I’m the last one left, and I’m on the defensive
The Beast lunges and clamps but I jerk and I flail
He suddenly flees, but I gain new perspective
When the sun was around everything was always well
This curse came from the moon, how’d we miss that detail
So now I’ve been bitten, it’ll all be over soon
It never helped us once, even after all the years of travail
How did we not know, it was always the moon

The music now trailed. She almost held the notes too long, and in a completely monotonous tone, she uttered the last cadence.

So don’t come to Littleroot, don’t follow the trail
My friends are all gone, and my mind’s been consumed
So heed the elders warnings, hear their old tale
As for me, I’ll stay here in darkness, just me and the moon

Lyra finished and smiled at the group. “So what’d you think?”

Carrot Top was the first one to contribute her opinion, “It was great, I really liked your main, theme!”

Trixie’s faced was scrunched up as though she were trying to solve a riddle, “It was pretty good. But it was a bit of a blasphemous song, isn’t it? How’d you learn that one at the academy of the princess of the night?”

Lyra looked around the group a little guiltily, though nopony knew why, “I didn’t, I heard it somewhere years ago. It supposedly came from a sun cult still loyal to Corona to mock Luna followers.. Actually, now that I think of it.. it wasn’t a ballade, it was a ballad.”

Cheerilee leaned forward, as the resident ex-partier, she typically knew when it was time for a pony to check out. “Alright, Lyra. Hoof over your drink.”

“No, no. The original was a wordless ballad, a type of song, which can be done without words, though it’s rare. I accidently made it a ballade, a kind of poem from a few centuries ago.”

Twilight looked like she had been physically slapped with an illogical statement, or their hoof. That was probably the same thing to her. “You didn’t notice the difference between a melody and actual words?”

“Not really, they sound the same to me.” Lyra beamed at the group.

Cheerilee joined her smile and ruffled her mane. “Look at our little local musical genius”

Carrot Top spoke the sentiment of the rest of the group. “I don’t think anypony here is surprised though, we all knew you were amazing!”

Author's Note:

A ballade is a sung medieval poem that has 3 cadences with the rhyme scheme of ababbcbC and a fourth and final cadence of bcbC. I've taken a good bit of liberty with the rules but thats basically the idea.. key word being 'basically'. It is possible for ballads not to have lyrics, though that's rarely, if ever, the case nowadays. It was more common several centuries ago.