Spyra

by angelofrombelow

Chapter 2

The unicorn known as Heartstrings woke late the next morning.

She rested in bed for a while, keeping herself tucked in up to her neck and enjoying the warmth. She could hear the other ponies in the corridor outside her door, leaving their rooms to catch the airships back to Ponyville.

As she had already said all her goodbyes, she didn't much feel like going out there to go through them all again. The first time had been difficult enough.

Today was the first day of the rest of her life. She had lived in Ponyville for the past year on a surveillance mission, under the direct orders of Princess Celestia. With the defeat of Discord, her mission was over and she could finally resume her original identity.

She had been born in the city of Canterlot, which was separate to the castle itself, to overly pushy parents. They had always driven her to be the best she could be and took pride in her achievements, but she had always had the feeling that she was battling for their approval and never fully gaining it.

That all changed when she hit her late teens and discovered her talent for observation surpassed her ability in music. It had been a chance occurrence – she had simply been in the right place at the right time.

Somepony had stolen a priceless piece of jewellery from one of the upper class citizens of Canterlot. The guards' investigation had proved fruitless but she had a hobby of ponywatching – she noticed somepony acting unusually, not following their normal routine, and her evidence had led to the culprit being uncovered.

From there, things quickly escalated. Princess Celestia employed a small number of spies who were hoof-picked to keep an eye on matters that could turn problematic or posed a risk to the harmony of Equestria. Matters that required a subtle touch and could not be handled by the royal guard.

After training with the royal guard and proving her ability, she was chosen to become one of Celestia's spies and took on a new identity. Some of her missions were going to be dangerous and she was likely to make enemies, and she didn't want to put her parents at risk by association.

So she abandoned the name she had been given at birth. The unicorn known as Lyra was re-christened Heartstrings, and so she had stayed for several years.

Her last mission was now complete and any danger had passed. Lyra was free to resume her past life once more.

This mission was one she had followed for her entire time under Celestia's employment – there had been other quests that she had to complete, taking down treacherous ponies and making excursions into the Everfree Forest, but this had been her main task.

Lyra had been ordered to keep tabs on the princess's protégé, Twilight Sparkle.

The guest quarters were quiet now. It appeared that everypony had left to head home for Ponyville.

Time to get up. Lyra reluctantly left the warmth of her sheets then used her magic to make the bed. After freshening up in the en-suite, she left her room, trotted down the stairs and went outside.

The sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky, warming everything its rays touched. Lyra smiled, then went for a stroll in the castle grounds. Her appointment with Celestia was not due for a couple more hours.

The princess had grave concerns about the young Twilight when she first discovered her. The filly had been taking an entrance exam for the princess's school for gifted unicorns when the extent of her power had exhibited itself.

After being startled by a wayward sonic rainboom, Twilight had completely lost control of her magic.

A newborn dragon was turned into a fully grown adult in seconds, ponies were transformed into plantlife and Twilight herself had almost been consumed by her own magical energy. If the princess had not intervened so quickly, there was no telling what could have happened.

Celestia had chosen to take the young unicorn under her wing, keeping her close to make sure such a situation never happened again. The newborn dragon that Twilight had hatched became her close companion and, later, Celestia's best way of staying in close contact with her. The princess could not keep an eye on her all the time, as she had her royal duties to attend to and Twilight had a have a life of her own.

As back-up, Lyra had been assigned to watch over the powerful unicorn from a distance. She had been a background presence during the final few years of Twilight's life in Canterlot and had followed her after she relocated to Ponyville.

Twilight had proven herself to be a perfectly capable leader of the Elements of Harmony. Any fears there had been about her previous asocial nature and potential instability had been washed away.

Her behaviour during the battle with Discord had been the final proof. While everypony had been lost in the chaos he wrought, she had managed to get her head straight and freed her friends from his influence so they could defeat him together.

Lyra's surveillance was no longer needed and she was free to live her own life at last.

She walked past Celestia's garden and climbed a small hillock, giving herself a grand view of the land far below the mountain that Canterlot had been built on. From here, the buildings of Ponyville were tiny. If she held her hoof in the right spot, she could block them out completely.

Ponyville was framed by the mountains on either side. To the left of the town, hidden by the cliffs, was the Everfree Forest, whose lush trees disguised the dangers within.

Beautiful. She could happily stay here until it was time to speak to the princess.

She was startled by a voice: "I had a feeling I'd find you here. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist one last goodbye to Ponyville."

Lyra turned to face him: a colt with a light brown coat and a spiky, dark mane, an hourglass cutiemark on his flank.

"It's quite a sight, isn't it?" he continued, "The town looks so small from up here you could place it in your pocket. That is, you could if you ever wore pants."

"Doctor," she said, her happiness at seeing him tempered by the fact this meant she'd have to say farewell again. He'd been the first pony to welcome her to the town, even before Pinkie Pie. They'd been close ever since – she looked upon him as a sarcastic older brother.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, "You'll have missed the last airship back home."

"Oh, there are other ways to fly," he said, "Besides, I couldn't leave my favourite unicorn all on her lonesome, now could I, dear Heartstrings?"

Lyra smiled sweetly and sat down on the grass, resting her legs. Dr Whooves took a spot beside her.

She giggled: "It was quite the party last night, wasn't it? I'll bet the ponies of Canterlot are glad to see the back of us."

"There's no party like a Ponyville party," agreed Whooves, "Sometimes I think the only reason Celestia invites Twilight and her friends here is because she enjoys the chaos they cause."

"It certainly gives the upper classes something to talk about. Did you see what Pinkie Pie did with the chocolate fountain?"

"A perfect recipe for disaster. I don't know how she engineered it to fire all over the ceiling. That's a good 20 feet high," he said.

Lyra chuckled: "My life's going to be a lot quieter from now on."

The pair chatted a while longer, regaling each other with tales from last night's party. Eventually their chatter died down and they just sat still, looking out on the town that she no longer called home. Her appointment with Celestia was drawing near.

"I'm going to miss all this, you know," she said.

"Then you should stay," said Whooves, looking her in the eyes, "Take it from somepony who's moved around a lot – it's difficult having to always start again. You should keep your friends close, because who knows what the future holds?"

Lyra hesitated. Whooves wasn't keen on speaking about his past but she knew he had been around. He had much more life experience than her.

But this was her life and it was her decision to start again.

Whooves sighed, realising he wouldn't be able to sway her: "What are you going to do?"

"Travel. I have a few friends dotted around Equestria that I haven't seen for a while," she said. Former friends whom she had worked with before but had now left to lead their own lives.

"Well, I hope to see you in Ponyville again in the future. Sooner rather than later," he grinned.

She smiled back but felt a pang of sadness inside. In her heart, she didn't think she'd ever return.

Her time working for Celestia had provided a lot of memories, many of them happy but some that she'd rather forget. She wanted to make a clean break. Ponyville would always be special to her but after today, she would probably never see it again.

****

"You're sending me back?!" she cried.

Her voice echoed throughout the inner chamber of Canterlot castle, drawing glances from the guards. Celestia looked down from her throne, regarding her subject with compassion.

The princess had ruled Equestria for hundreds of years with a firm but fair hoof. The life-giving power of the Sun was hers to command and her subjects had lived in peace for almost the entirety of her reign. If she gave an order, it was followed without question – everypony trusted her wisdom.

"Needs must, I'm afraid. I still have need of your services. You must realise that I wouldn't ask this of you if it wasn't of the utmost importance," she said gravely.

Lyra tried to compose herself quickly, swallowing her emotions and blinking to stop her eyes from watering.

"I am at your command," she said, bowing her head.

"Thank you," Celestia said gracefully, "This is a particularly difficult matter, so I shall get straight to business. I trust you are aware of the pony called Golden Harvest."

She nodded. Golden Harvest had a large allotment in Ponyville and had a profitable business growing vegetables. She was a common sight in the market square, selling her produce from a stall. She had a friendly rivalry with Applejack – if the two were selling their goods at the same time, the area could get incredibly noisy as they tried to outshout each other in the battle for customers.

Celestia furrowed her brow and looked Lyra dead in the eye: "She, too, is a spy. Her name is Carrot Top - I sent her to Ponyville some time ago to watch over activity in the Everfree Forest, to ensure its inhabitants did not come to threaten my subjects."

Lyra gasped. Of course she knew there were other spies in Equestria, but she would never have suspected somepony that had such a high public profile in town.

"Unfortunately, all my most recent attempts at communication with her have been ignored and this has given me some cause for concern. It is my belief, Lyra," she paused for dramatic effect, "That Golden Harvest has gone rogue!"

"How can I help?" Lyra asked, slightly bewildered that not only was the friendly neighbourhood vegetable seller a spy, but potentially a traitor as well.

"I need you to gather evidence. As of yet, I have no proof that she is working against me so it is not possible to send the royal guards to make an arrest. If I were to do that she would simply deny everything – and she may not be working alone. There are rumours that she has contacts among the denizens of the Everfree Forest."

Lyra bowed her head: "I shall return to Ponyville post-haste, your majesty. Although I will have some questions to answer, seeing as I spent most of last night saying goodbye to everypony."

Celestia held her hoof to her mouth, her skin creasing round the edges of her eyes. If Lyra hadn't known better, she could have sworn the princess had just stifled a giggle.

"I'm sure they will be pleased to see you again," she smiled, "Now go and speak to the captain of the guard. He can give you more details on your mission and he has arranged your flight back to Ponyville."

The mint green-coated unicorn bowed again, then left the royal chambers.

****

She returned to Ponyville later that afternoon. The town square had been less busy than normal but she had still hurried to get to her old house, hoping to avoid anypony she knew for the time being.

She looked over her humble abode as she placed her suitcase on the floor. She rented this place alone, using funds allotted to her from the royal accounts. By her reckoning, it was a little too big for just one pony to live in and its furnishings were rather sparse.

Right now it felt emptier than ever. She had packed away all she needed into her case – everything else she had given away. Luckily she had left the furniture and other essentials, with the intention they be used by the house's next owner.

Even her lyre was no longer here – she had handed it to the mail service so it could be sent on to Canterlot for her to pick up later.

She had already been in discussions with Celestia about her mission coming to an end but the defeat of Discord had brought her plans forward far quicker than she originally intended.

She wondered why she had been so ready to move on. It was a similar situation to when she left her parents' home to become a spy. She felt unable to really settle anywhere. Looking back over her life, she couldn't think of a time when she felt truly satisfied.

This was no good. Staying in this empty house was just getting her down. She had a mission to complete and now was the perfect time to get started.

Leaving her suitcase unopened, she trotted out the front door. She knew exactly where she was headed. There was a bench near the outskirts of town where she would often sit and watch the world go by. It was surprising just how much you could discover about town life from taking the time to stop and pay attention once in a while. She had learned much about her fellow ponies' daily routines simply by carrying out surveillance in plain sight.

She soon reached it and took up her usual sitting position, tucking her front hooves underneath her chest.

When she had first started using this bench, she had made proper use of the back rest, using her forelegs to support herself while her hind legs swung freely over the edge. This method of sitting had attracted a lot of puzzled looks, however, and Lyra decided it was probably better not to draw attention to herself.

It still confused her: why call it a back rest if it's considered weird to rest your back against it?

Her position gave her a good view of Carrot Top's home. The earth pony was still outside working, diligently tending to her crops. Lyra pondered: what did she know about her so far, aside from her profession?

She lived with her younger sister, a filly called Noi who had not earned her cutiemark yet. The family resemblance was unmistakeable – both had yellow coats and orange manes, though Carrot Top's mane was much darker.

The fact that a filly was involved would make this even more difficult. Perhaps she was even using Noi as cover.

Carrot Top had a curly, styled mane and she took pride in her appearance, despite the physical nature of her work. She would make occasional trips to the spa to pamper herself and wasn't afraid to change her style once in a while, though this caused some friction with Rarity on the occasion she dyed it an "unfashionable green".

For the most part she was an easygoing sort but, if anypony crossed her, her temper could flare quickly.

In all, the perfect choice to be a spy: somepony who was heavily involved in town life but could easily hide herself in a crowd.

But what was she planning and what was her motivation? From what Lyra had observed of her, there was nothing to suggest something untoward was going on. At least, not yet.

She turned at the sound of somepony calling her name. It was Twilight, trotting over with a puzzled but happy expression on her face. Lyra had some explaining to do.

"Heartstrings! Have you decided to stay?" said Twilight, "I know I said I'd like you to drop by someday but I didn't expect it'd be so soon."

"Oh, uh, something came up," she said, "I mean, I couldn't go through with it. I decided I'd miss you guys too much."

The purple unicorn smiled: "Aw, I know what you mean. I couldn't bear to leave my friends behind either. So, what're you up to?"

"Nothing much," she replied, keeping one eye on Carrot Top, "Just watching the world go by."

Twilight noticed her friend's gaze and saw what she was looking at: the yellow-coated earth pony had finished her work for the day and was heading inside.

She frowned: "Hm, you seem awfully interested in that one pony over there."

"No, no. She just caught my eye, that's all," replied Lyra, keeping her voice breezy.

Twilight looked pensive for a moment, then she spoke slowly and deliberately: "Alright, I know what's really going on here. There's no point in you trying to hide it any longer."

Lyra's expression didn't flicker, though a prickle of concern shot through her. She knew Twilight was powerful and intelligent – had she finally figured out that she wasn't quite who she said she was?

The unicorn gave a closed-eyes grin: "You're attracted to her, aren't you? Somepony's finally plucked Heartstring's heartstrings!"

Of all the answers she had been preparing herself for, this had not been one of them. She was too shocked to answer for a few moments, then spluttered out the words: "Twilight, I'm not gay."

"Wait, what? Are you sure? What am I saying, of course you must be sure but…" she stopped herself, then said: "I'm sorry. I always just assumed… you never pay any attention to the colts in town so I thought that meant you weren't interested in them. So if you weren't interested in them, then logically you must…"

Lyra held up her hoof to silence her: "I'm not interested in anypony. Someponies are just built that way."

Twilight frowned again, mulling over what her friend had just said to her. After a few seconds, she smiled conspiratorially and gave a sly wink.

"I get ya. You don't know the lay of the land just yet so you're taking a 'wait-and-see' approach. It's ok, I won't say anything. Just remember, if you ever need anypony to introduce you to her, Pinkie Pie owes me a favour – she knows everypony in town, so she'd be perfect at setting you two up. Think about it, ok? I'll speak to you at the party tonight."

Lyra was about to correct her but then realised what she had just said: "Wait, party? What party?"

Twilight blinked: "I guess you must have only just come back, or else you would have heard about it. The mayor's organised a celebration of her own to thank my friends for returning Ponyville to normal. I know two parties on two nights running is a bit much, but it is a special occasion. You'll come, won't you? After all, a certain other pony is sure to be there…"

Lyra paused for a moment, then answered in the affirmative. With that, Twilight trotted away, happy in the knowledge that she could be helping to arrange a new romance tonight.

Lyra was a little nonplussed by her friend's assumptions about her sexuality. How many others had come to the same conclusion? She had always tried to keep her inner life private – had she unintentionally made herself a target for gossip?

No matter. She could easily turn this to her advantage. She needed to find out what Carrot Top was up to, after all. Tonight's party could prove very useful.

As she remained sitting on her bench, she was totally unaware that she was being closely watched by someone else. Someone who knew her secret identity and the mission she had been given by Princess Celestia.

Someone who, in a few days' time, would want Lyra dead.

Comments

[angelofrombelow]

Something a little different to my other two stories so far, though there's still comedic bits in there. The dark stuff won't kick in until about chapter nine, and if you're not into that then just reading up to chapter eight will give you a passable enough conclusion (though if you stop there you'll never find out what's really going on).

[soulwinds]

What happened to the cute pic of lyra sitting upside down? Nice to see ya on Fimfiction.

[Princess Twilicorndog]

Looks epic I'll read it later, so here's a fav

[the other sans]

I have a feeling that the pony who would want Lyra dead is *potential spoiler censored* .

[Lunartic]

Okay, lemme get this straight. You have 2 chapters currently published, each one is at least 3'000 words . . . and it will continue beyond chapter 9?!?

This is going to be a loooooooonnngg weekend

[bloodyfox]

Haha. This is awesome! I had come to the conclusion that Lyra was a spy a while back Here I will be following your story

[William A Grey]

And to think I was thinking of reading this fic everytime I saw it updated on EqD, but never actually clicked the link to start reading it (since I haven't had too much time to read new fanfics lately ;_; ).
Then, suddenly, I see this on the FimFiction homepage while searching, bored, for a new fic to read. And it just turns out I have enough free time today.

Delaying time is over. Reading time has just begun. (?)

---*Reading...*---

Great and interesting start so far. I've got enough patience as to wait until you update this here on FimFiction to continue reading (Enough patience... Not even I believe that, lol). And that last phrase... Not sure if "cliffhanger" applies here, but it definitely leaves you hooked. Totally looking forward for new chapters!

[Lightning Shaker]

lol an interesting idea, I'll have to put this on watch.

[Black-eyes]

YOU, my sir, HAVE DONE IT!

the best thing that could happen is if you put Donut joe, or as he's known in the spy society, Conmate!

[Katherine Lancer]

I'm definitely following! Your story is great!

[Literature]

This is great woo hoo!