Secret of the Stars

by Zeck

The Constellation

Lyra’s cheeks were hurting, but she hardly noticed as she continued to smile relentlessly. She was certain her eyes wanted to burst from their sockets, but she refused to allow it because she didn’t want to miss a second.

“So you were a warrior?” the Unicorn asked as she sat next to the phantom. She was mimicking the way he was sitting, allowing her hind hooves to dangle over the edge of the stone island just as Orion’s feet were.

Feet! With actual toes! On legs! She tried to fight her sequel as the thought crossed through her mind for the millionth time.

“Of sorts,” Orion replied. He looked down at his body and tapped his chest with his hand, indicating the leather armor he was wearing. “I partook in many glorious battles.”

“Oooo,” Lyra cooed as she scooted closer to him. “We have warriors here too, but nothing like you. Equestria hasn’t seen a real war in…I don’t know how long.”

“Equestria?” Orion asked as he glanced down at the pony by his side.

“Yeah,” Lyra replied, looking up at the phantom face. The eyes were so small, but she could see the intellect that they held. She wished there was a way to make Orion take his real, solid form, but she was still grateful for even this small wonder. “Equestria is where you are.”

“That is the name of the land now,” Orion said, his voice traveling off into memories that Lyra desperately wanted to see. “How long have I been imprisoned here?”

Lyra wasn’t sure what to say to that. The way Orion talked, it sounded like he had been trapped beneath Canterlot for time beyond memory. Of course, what she had managed to piece together about this place and the stars’ secret, he had been here for a long time. The stuff she had read about was beyond ancient.

After all, she was talking with a literal fairy tail that was supposed to be nothing more than a constellation in Luna’s night sky.

“What was your world like?” Lyra asked. Perhaps talking about his home would put Orion at ease. And of course, she would be able to learn about him and humans.

Orion laughed. “My world? My world was dangerous. It was full of trials that destroyed the weak. Only the strong, like myself, survived.”

Lyra gulped. That…wasn’t what she had imagined human society would be like. “What types of dangers?”

“War was what most chose to prove themselves in,” Orion replied. “I served in battle for a while, but a life of combat was not what thrilled me. My thrill came from the hunt.”

“What was that?” Lyra asked, happy that Orion was moving away from the more violent aspect.

“Great beasts roamed our world,” Orion said. A smile came to his face and his eyes flashed. “There was the Hydra, manticore, chimeras—”

Lyra’s ears stood up. “We have those here!” she said. “A hydra actually lives in a bog close to my hometown.”

Orion paused and looked down at Lyra for a long moment. He seemed to be thinking about something, but Lyra couldn’t tell what. She wasn’t used to reading human faces.

“And these beasts…are allowed to roam free?” Orion asked after a long time.

Lyra nodded. “More or less. We leave them alone and they keep to themselves. It’s actually really rare for any of use to see them.”

“Us?” Orion asked. “There are more of your kind?”

“Unicorns?” Lyra asked. “Oh yeah. There are also Pegasi and Earth ponies too. There’s quite a lot of all of us, actually.”

“Beasts…are in charge now?” Orion asked. Lyra wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard a hint of disbelief in his voice.

“Ponies are,” she corrected. “Well, at least in Equestria, anyway. The Griffons have their own kingdom, and I’m pretty sure the dragons have some form of—”

“Dragons!” Orion yelled, and Lyra recognized the glint in his eye as he spoke. It was the same look she got whenever she spoke of humans. “The winged beasts are here?”

“Yeah,” Lyra replied. “There’s even a baby one living in my hometown. He’s…different from most dragons though. Most of them are fire breathing monsters that would sooner eat a pony than talk to one.”

“Tell me, Lyra Heartstrings,” Orion said as he turned to face Lyra on their little outcropping of rock, “it sounds as though you live in a world filled with ancient terrors. Do you not fear for you life daily?”

“Pssh, no,” Lyra said with a wave of her hoof. She had to be careful that she didn’t lose her balance as she made the motion. “We’re far from defenseless. We Unicorns have our magic and the Pegasi have their wings. They’re actually descended from a tribe of warriors.”

“Yes,” Orion whispered as he nodded his head. “The one I knew of did not fear to charge into battle either.”

“Even Earth ponies can take care of themselves in a fight. Their strength is pretty intense. Some of them can destroy boulders bigger than a house with a few strikes.” The glint returned to Orion’s eyes. “And we have the Princesses.”

“Princesses?” Orion asked, his face suddenly going stiff.

“Yeah,” Lyra replied as her eyes slowly drifted down from Orion’s face and began to study his chest and arms. “There are four of them. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess—”

“Your princesses take the names of the sun and the moon?” Orion asked. Lyra recognized the look on his face this time. It was shock. “And they are not struck down for their pride?”

“Struck down by what?” Lyra asked, confused. “Princess Celestia raises the sun and Princess Luna raises the moon and the stars. So of course they’re named after them. It’s…actually kind of a weird concept.”

“Who is their queen?”

“Queen?” Lyra asked. “I…I don’t know. I don’t think there ever was one.”

“Gods…” Orion whispered.

“Excuse me?”

“My pardon, Lyra Heartstrings,” Orion said with a bow. “I was simply thinking about my own time. We had beings such as your princesses. One controlled the sun, another the moon. My father’s domain was the sea itself.”

Lyra felt her tail wagging under her bottom. “I had no idea humans could do the same type of magic as Unicorns!”

Orion let out a deep laugh that echoed through the underground cave as he threw his head back. “By Zeus, no. Thankfully. No, only the gods could do such things.”

“What’s a god?” Lyra asked. She had seen the term in several old texts, but she had never been able to understand what it meant.

Orion tilted his head for a moment and thought. “A god…is a very powerful human, I suppose. At least, that is the simplest way I can explain it to you. We built temples to them, and carved their likenesses in stone. We worshiped them at times, and at others we cursed them. I even went hunting with one once.”

“Well, we don’t have anything like that,” Lyra said. “But Princess Celestia does like to create great stain-glass windows of important events in Equestria’s history. They’re really beautiful.”

“Are they?” Orion asked. “I wish I could gaze upon them myself.”

Lyra’s eyes nearly popped out of her face. How silly of her. She had been sitting here for Celestia knew how long talking with a human; the very thing that she had spent most of her life believing in and searching for. She had endured boundless mockery and contempt for years because of her passion, and now she had proof. Irrefutable proof that humans were real.

And she was just sitting here, chatting with him.

Her thoughts wandered as ideas flooded into her brain. She’d be famous. Ponies from all across Equestria would want to interview her. Even the Princesses would be impressed. She would probably get commissions and job offers for unimaginable amounts of money. No pony would dare mock her ever again.

And Bon Bon. She could finally prove to Bon Bon that she wasn’t a joke. Oh, the look on her face when she saw how right Lyra was after all these years.

“Well, why don’t I show them to you?” Lyra asked as she stood up on her hooves. “Come with me to Equestria!”

“I cannot,” Orion said quietly.

“But why?” Lyra pleaded. “Please. You have to come with me! I’ve spent years trying to find any real trace of your kind. No pony will dare make fun of me once I show you to them. Even my wife, Bon Bon, will be impressed. You have to come with me.”

“You misunderstand my meaning, Lyra Heartstrings,” Orion said. He stood up and gazed down at her, his eyes fierce. “I would love nothing more than to leave this wretched cavern. The world you describe does not sound much different from the one I knew. New glories and challenges would no doubt be waiting for a champion such as myself, and songs would no doubt be sung of my deeds for days unending if I go. But I cannot leave this place.”

“But why not?” Lyra demanded, stomping her hoof in frustration. “I removed the sealing wards. And I’m sure you magic can keep you solid until we reach Canterlot. If you’re bound to something here, I can carry out if I have to. You have to come.”

Orion stared down at her for a long moment and he blurred. For a brief moment Lyra began to panic, fearing that he was starting to vanish, but then she realized it was because she had tears in her eyes. She furiously wiped them away.

“You seem like a noble soul, Lyra Heartstrings.” Orion looked up at the ceiling of the cavern as he spoke and his green light intensified. “I would aid you if I could, but you must assist me in my task first.”

“Name it,” Lyra said without a second thought. She didn’t care what Orion needed of her. If it was possible for him to come with her, she would do whatever it took.

“You spoke of the magic that sealed this cavern. I fear that it was my failing that resulted in it.” Orion closed his eyes for a moment and bowed his head. “It must have been put in place by the gods after I was unable to complete my task. What shame.”

“I…I don’t understand,” Lyra said. “What task?”

“A beast lived in this cavern. A monster unlike anything the world had ever seen. It threatened everything, and my task was to slay it. I promised Artemis and the other gods that I would deal with the creature. They offered assistance, but in my pride, I refused them. When I came to the beast’s layer, I found that it was greater than I had anticipated. But still I fought. I gave it my all, but we were evenly matched. For every blow I landed, the beast matched me. In the end, we both fell.”

“Oh,” Lyra whispered. She had known she wasn’t talking with a real human, but actually hearing that she was talking with a ghost was still a little unnerving.

“But our battle did not end, for I would not let it,” Orion continued. His eyes shot open and a rage burned deep within them. “I swore on my honor that I would not let the beast’s spirit lose upon the world. And so I fought on, even in death. The creature cannot leave this prison, but neither can I. We are still evenly matched, and so we both remain here. Neither of us able to fully defeat the other.”

“Well, you have me now. I’ll be that beast has never faced a Unicorn’s magic before!” Lyra puffed out her chest as she spoke, but then the feeling of bluster left her. Orion wasn’t alone in this cave apparently. Somewhere there was some sort of vicious monster. Was it watching her, waiting to attack? Was it lurking somewhere in the shadows? She hadn’t seen it when she had entered the cave. Was it a phantom like Orion, and just hadn’t showed itself yet? If so, what could it possibly be waiting for?

“So will you aid me, noble Lyra?” Orion asked.

Noble Lyra. She liked the sound of that. “Yes.”

“Excellent!” Orion drew his sword and raised it above his head. “Come, Lyra. Glory awaits us both!” With that, he jumped from the outcropping of rock in the middle of the pool and landed on the bank closest to the exit.

“Yes!” Lyra shouted and she almost jumped too, but realized she didn’t have a chance of making it. Instead, she walked across the small stone pathway and around the bank like she had to get to Orion. It wasn’t nearly as glorious as the human’s jump, but she decided she could leave that part out of her biography.

“So what is this beast?” the Unicorn asked once she caught up to Orion.

“A scorpion of unparalleled strength,” Orion said. He clenched his left hand and a shield appeared on his forearm. He began to move toward the exit slowly, his eyes searching the ceiling above.

Lyra stifled a laugh. “A scorpion?” she asked. “They’re just little—”

The ground in front of Lyra exploded in a cloud of dust and rock. The earth shook beneath her hooves and she stumbled backward, shielding her eyes and coughing frantically. She summoned her magic and raised a shield around herself for protection. Her eyes stung from the debris and she furiously rubbed them. Slowly, her vision came back, and what she saw made her wish it hadn’t.

“It is also unparalleled in size,” Orion said darkly as he stood before Lyra, his shield and sword raised.

A giant scorpion stood before the human. It was made of the same green haze that Orion was made of, but it seemed to bristle with energy around its edges. Its eight legs clicked as it picked itself up and they moved in unnerving synchronization. Its body was massive and was covered in an exoskeleton that looked more like armor than body parts.

Its two pinchers were the size of a full-grown stallion, and Lyra had no doubt that either one could easily snap a pony in half without any effort. The tail was twice as long as Orion, and the stinger at the tip was curved and dripping with poison.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, Lyra thought as a lump formed in her throat.

“Steel your nerves, nobel Lyra!” Orion shouted. “This thing is just a beast. It is beneath a man such as myself. And with your assistance, I will finally end it. Now, to battle!”

Orion let out a yell and charged forward. The scorpion’s stinger struck toward him, but he leapt to the side. The tip slammed deep into the rock, shaking the cave and sending up another spray of dust.

Orion charged, swinging his blade at the tail, but the scorpion pulled its tail free and whipped it away from the sword just in time. It lunged forward with its pinchers, snapping them at the human with terrifying power. Orion managed to dodge both strikes and delivered one of his own, slamming his sword against one of the pinchers. The blow echoed through the cave, nearly deafening Lyra, but it seemed to have no effect.

“Today you fall, Scorpio!” Orion laughed as he swung again. The monster blocked his strikes repeatedly with its pinchers. “Today, I shall be free from this curse!”

Scorpio hissed and jumped backward, something Lyra didn’t think a beast of that size could do. It landed away from Orion and spun around. Its tail came around like a whip. Orion raised his shield a second before the trunk of the tail slammed into him. The impact was enough to send him flying backward. He hit the ground and rolled once so that he came back up on his feet.

“You have not lost your bite, beast!” Orion shouted. He spit once, and then risked a look over his shoulder at Lyra. “Come, Lyra. As much as it pains me, I admit that I cannot do this alone. I need you to aid me in this battle.”

“I…I…” Lyra’s knees were shaking as she hid inside her shield. She had never seen anything like this before. Just one strike from that monster and she would die. She wasn’t a warrior like Orion. She was just a Unicorn who had an unhealthy habit of studying humans.

“Do it for Bon Bon,” Orion whispered.

“Bon Bon…” Lyra said. The words sounded strange on her lips, but then their meaning came back to her. She pushed her fear aside and forced herself to calm down. She was still scared, but she could move now. She would help Orion defeat Scorpio, and then she would introduce him to Bon Bon and all of Equestria.

“Ha ha! That’s the spirit!” Orion said as Lyra lowered her magic shield. He clapped her on her shoulder—she shivered as she realized an actual human hand had just touched her—and glared at Scorpio. “You gaze upon your doom now, beast! Yield to your better!”

Orion charged again, and this time Lyra charged with him. Scorpio raised its tail and struck. Orion jumped to the left and Lyra rolled to the right. She felt several small pebbles pelt her coat as she tumbled across the ground, but she managed to get back on her hooves and resume her attack.

Orion jumped back toward the tail, bringing his sword down with as much force as he could muster. Scorpio pulled its tail back, but not before the tip of Orion’s blade caught the edge. The beast seemed to hiss with pain as it swung one of its pinchers around. The back of the claw slammed into Orion’s chest and sent him flying. He hit the ground hard, and Scorpio pressed the attack.

“Leave him alone!” Lyra shouted. She fired a magical blast from her horn and it impacted against one of the scorpion’s many legs. The leg came up and twitched for a moment, but then it went back down and Scorpio continued to attack Orion, who was now rolling on the ground, trying to avoid the massive stinger strikes.

“Lyra, my sword!” Orion shouted as he rolled yet again, barely dodging the massive stinger. Lyra looked to the side and saw that Orion’s blade had fallen away from him. She nodded and reached for it with her magic, not entirely sure if she would be able to hold it. Thankfully the magic worked. She felt the hilt in her mind as she picked it up. She swung her head and the sword swung with it toward Scorpio. The edge bit into the same leg Lyra had attacked moments before.

This time Lyra knew that Scorpio was in pain. It let out a squealing hiss that was unlike anything she had ever heard. It scurried away from Orion, limping in pain, and then spun around. Its strange insect eyes fixated on Lyra, and the Unicorn knew she was in trouble.

Scorpio snapped its pinchers several times and then rushed toward the pony. Lyra froze, too terrified to move, but at the last moment, Scorpio stopped, its pinchers just inches from Lyra’s head.

“Now, pony!” Orion shouted. He had jumped up and was holding Scorpio’s tail. The beast thrashed violently, and Lyra could tell that Orion would not be able to hold on much longer. Without thinking, she brought his sword around and plunged it deep between Scorpio’s eyes.

There was a blinding flash of light and then a force slammed into Lyra so hard that she went airborne. She crashed against the wall of the cavern, and for a moment she feared she was dead, but when the pain flooded her body, she realized she was still very much alive. Slowly, she opened her sunglow eyes, half expecting to see a pincher or stinger coming right for her face.

Scorpio’s massive body was lying on the cavern floor, unmoving. Orion stood before it, glaring down at its corpse. After a moment, he reached down and grabbed the hilt of his sword, and then yanked it out. Green liquid was flung through the air as he did. He took one last look the giant insect, kicked it once, and then turned to Lyra.

“Well done, noble Lyra,” Orion said as he sheathed his sword. “At long last, I am free. Free to continue the hunt.”

Lyra struggled to stand. Every inch of her hurt, but she couldn’t curb her excitement. “Yeah. Now…now you can come…see Equestria.” She couldn’t wait to introduce Orion to Bon Bon. She was going to be so shocked.

“Indeed,” Orion said. “There is much to see, from what you have told me. Come.” Without offering any assistance, he turned and made his way toward the exit.

“Wait for me!” Lyra shouted as she stumbled after him. The caves beneath Canterlot were a maze. She didn’t want her prized specimen getting lost. She tried to run, but the best she could manage was a fast hobble. Panic seized her as Orion disappeared around the corner. She rounded it after him and stopped instantly.

Orion was standing in front of her, his arms crossed and his head tilted up ever so slightly. And in front of him stood the last two ponies Lyra expected to see.

“We are not surprised to find this one here,” Princess Luna said as she gazed at Lyra. “She seems to have a knack for finding trouble.”

Princess Celestia blinked slowly, her eyes shifting between Lyra and Orion. Finally, they came to rest on the Unicorn. “Lyra, what have you done?”

Author's Note:

Chapter two, where Lyra gets to be a total fan girl about meeting the creature that she's always dreamed of. Now the question becomes, what are the Princesses doing there?

Comments

[SterlingCabin]

Ha ha, great plot idea

[Sphinx_Herald]

No, Scorpio! Wait... I mean, yay, Lyra won! Ah, heck I have no clue. I was born under the sign of the scorpion so my like both of them. Oh well... Nice chapter anyways. Until next time,
-Sphinx

[PresentPerfect]

Okay, this is pretty neat. Ars you trading on the fact that Lyra is a constellation too?