Lyre's Gambit

by 1FunnyFox

Forgotten Lore

“Hey. Come on Bons wake up already! I’ve been waiting forever!” another poke in the withers convinced Bon-Bon that she would be getting no more sleep tonight. With a groan and glare she turned and threw the covers over top the source of her ire. The mint unicorn was grinning ear to ear while shaking the mass of blankets from her back. Bon-Bon tried with all her strength to maintain her scowl from atop her bed. Bon-Bon’s room was fairly sparse with a soft blue wallpaper and a comfortably worn carpet.

“Why, why am I up? Celestia isn’t even up yet!” Bon-Bon jabbed an accusing hoof at the window the showed only a few dimming stars and the grey of an approaching dawn. The unicorn just grabbed Bon-Bon in her magic and started to float her from the bed. Bon-Bon sighed as she was gently levitated to the floor while redoubling her glare at Lyra. The mint mare ignored it and instead hooked a foreleg around the earth ponies and quickly guided her from the bedroom. It was an awkward three legged shuffle for Bon-Bon as her mind slowly reassembled itself from the abyss of sleep. She stumbled on the stairs but a quick flare of Lyra’s magic held her miss stepped hoof aloft before she placed it back on the stair. Bon-Bon turned and looked into the eyes of her roommate and friend and saw a sort of sarcasm in the golden eyes that seemed to say. “As if I’d let you fall.” Soon enough she was dragged all the way down the stair and outside before she finally decided to put her hoof down.

“Alright Lyra, enough. Why are we outside at some unholy hour without the sun being up? Come on, spill it.” The ear splitting grin had returned to the unicorns face as she made a motion with her head to something behind her. The earth pony mare gave a suspicious look right into the eyes of her roommate before slowly turning around in place and staring at her house for a good five seconds. All of a sudden her mouth hung slack and she lost feeling in her back legs and sank to her haunches staring at the small piece of wood hanging above the doorway that hadn’t been there before. Bon-Bon barely noticed as Lyra sidled up to her and took a seat looking at the board as well before speaking in a quiet voice.

“I hope you like it. After you told me how you wanted to run a shop out of the house I couldn’t not think of it yah know? I was never much good with woodcarving so I actually used a modified heat spell and etched it all into the board. Sorry about the second ‘e’ it’s kind of rough I know. But, well I good shop needs a sign and I thought you deserved the best one. So I guess you’re going to need to settle for this while I keep looking. Hey, Bon’s you o..gah!” Lyra was silenced by a bone shattering hug from the mare as she fell to the grass of the front yard with a mass of tan fur curled atop her.

“Eeek…Bon..Can’t..breathe!” Suddenly the hug became a gentle thing as Bon-Bon looked into the golden orbs of the pony who would do something like this for her, the mare who she had once loathed and now saw something truly special. Bon-Bon gave a small smile that was returned by the mint mare. Lyra made a motion with her head and Bon-Bon looked confused for a moment and then realized the position she was in. Bon-Bon’s cheeks did an impromptu tomato impression as she quickly pulled herself off of Lyra and rubbed a hoof down her foreleg before speaking.

“Lyra this…it’s so…why…thank you.” The thanks was simple, yet the weight of emotion behind it was anything but. Lyra felt a great warmth spread through her as she smiled back, a small and completely genuine smile she saved for just a few. She motioned with a hoof and the two made their way back inside the building. Just above the front door hung a small sign in which three crisp candies in wrappers adorned it and just beneath the words in neat flowing script, easy to read for all was the words. “Bon-Bon’s Sweet. A smile in every bag”

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The silent sands of The Badlands were slowly stirred as a few faint purple sparks flared to life above the sand. The sparks grew larger and more frequent before a bang and flash of violet light cast back the dark of night. Four ponies and a dragon found themselves standing in the desert gazing around with expressions of nervousness, excitement or determination.

“Alright everypony, the spell should have put us in range of Lyra. I’ve placed a simple charm on Spike’s claw, so we’ll be following the direction he points. Nopony wander and stay close together. We have no idea what’s in this area of the Badlands or if Lyra is going to be hostile when she sees us. Dash fly up into the air and tell me if you can see anything.” With a sharp salute the cyan mare burst upwards in a cloud of sand while Spike climbed atop Twilights back and began pointing in a direction. With a nod they set out, Twilight and Spike at the front, Bon-Bon right behind followed by Pinkie happily bouncing along while Dash circled in the air. It wasn’t long before Dash came back to join the others and gave a quick shake of her head before speaking.

“It’s too dark to see for any real distance and there wasn’t much to see. Some rocks in about the direction you were walking but other than that, sand. Lots of sand.” Rainbow quickly took to lazily flying around the group as they walked on. A yawn from Spike got a small guilty cringe from Twilight who spoke.

“Sorry about keeping you all up. We’ll see if we can track Lyra in the next hour, if not we can call it a night and start early tomorrow. I don’t want to get to far behind her but I’d rather that than confronting her when were all exhausted.” There was a brief nod from most ponies, though pinkie seemed to not be affected even slightly by the late hour as she quickly started firing questions at Bon-Bon.

“OH! Bon-Bon I totally need your recipe for your cherry hard candies! There, total fantabulastically-amazo-wow! I mean it’s hard like a not-cherry but, but delicious like a cherry and…wait did it just get colder?” The other ponies had been pointedly not listening with the exception of Bon-Bon who was trying to keep up when Pinkie spoke. Hearing this Twilight paused and took in the air before replying.

“Pinkies right. It’s a little colder here. Odd but it’s probably still cooling down from it being night time. Deserts can actually get pretty cool at night, lack of water in the air means it loses the heat of the day fairly quickly.” Rainbow paused her flying long enough to hover in front of Bon-Bon before loudly whispering while gesturing. “Egghead.” That got a few chuckles from Bon-Bon and Pinkie as well as a glare from the purple princess. Bon-Bon spoke after her chuckles had died down.

“Is this what all your adventures are like? I always pictured it as a little more…solemn. You know, like those adventure novels where everpony is serious and looking behind them all the time.” At that a snort came from Pinkie.

“Like I’d let any adventure get all mopey-dopey. Nopey! All sun and smiles. Well except when Discord, Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis, Sombra…actually maybe I’ve been getting behind on my smile quota? But nope! Other than that an adventure should NEVER be all frowns.” With that all the ponies lightened up slightly as they continued. Bon-Bon felt a shiver go through her as they moved onwards. It was faint but now Bon-Bon could definitely feel it, it was getting colder. A shiver ran down her spine as she dug her head through her saddlebag and drew out a thin cloak and tossed it over her back. They continued walking for at least an hour an hour before with an annoyed sigh Twilight held up a hoof.

“Alright everypony, we won’t catch up to her tonight. Let’s get a few hours of sleep and start fresh in the morning. I doubt even she can do more than one long range teleport in so little time and its colder than I thought so it’s best if we keep warm. Let’s try to avoid making a fire in case Lyra’s looking around out here, don’t want her surprising us.” A series of satisfied nods and contented sighs were given as everypony removed their camping supplies and set up their tents. Bon-Bon was surprised pinkies tent was a plain grey without any flair put into it. Spike walked up to her and saw her staring and gave a chuckle before he spoke.

“Pinkie actually borrowed that one from Maud. Though picturing her camping is kind of weird, but I guess she needs to find rocks somehow. So Bon-Bon, how are you, yah know doing and everything?” Bon-Bon gave a noncommittal shrug and tried not to look in his eyes. She needed to be a pillar of calm, to have faith that Lyra was still the pony she knew. To show she thought anything else felt like she had already lost.

“That bad huh? Don’t worry Bon-Bon, I’m sure Lyra’s fine and this is all some weird misunderstanding. I mean at least we know she’s not making any dangerous potions with my blood. Just… armour for some reason. Weird and a little morbid maybe, but not exactly supervillain material. Now, I’ve got some sleep to catch, goodnight Bon-Bon.” With that a chorus of goodnights were exchanged between everypony as they crawled into their respective tents.

Bon-Bon had been staring at the faded green canvas for what felt like hours. She couldn’t sleep, couldn’t shut off her mind from going over just what Lyra was thinking, what she would find out when they finally caught up to her. She idly fiddled with her hooves trying to knock loose some of the sand in it. Were they still even friends? She chastised herself quickly for the thought, of course they were. Bon-Bon would get answers and then buck the mare straight into next week. After of course making certain she was alright. She let out an exasperated sigh before crawling out of her sleeping bag and exiting the tent. The stars really were beautiful out here; so far from any civilization they couldn’t be clearer. The waxing moon hung like a luminous glowing eye and the breeze though quite cool ruffled her fur in an almost playful manner. She nearly jumped out of her skin as voice suddenly spoke next to her.

“It’s really special; princess Luna must put a lot of work in to getting it just right. Like a party except everyone who looks at the sky is invited. It makes me sad that ponies didn’t appreciate it for so long you know. Still, things always get brighter if you give them a little time and effort. The trick is to not let the bad things spoil all the good and wonderful times. Even if all those good and wonderful things don’t always make up for the not so good times.” Bon-Bon stared at the pink mare who was gazing contentedly at the moon. She didn’t have a big ear-splitting smile, just a tender little smile directed at the moon. Bon-Bon always gave Pinkie less credit than she was due, most ponies did. She wouldn’t make that mistake anymore.

“Thanks Pinkie. You’re a good friend, I’m glad you’re here.” Pinkie nodded and continued staring up at the moon and was soon joined by Bon-Bon. A sort of comfortable silence that wrapped Bon-Bon in warm embrace that drove the chills of night away. Eventually she returned to her tent and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

//////////////////////////////////////////////

The morning light painted the dunes like a sea of gold, the sky was cloudless. The temperature should have been making them sweat, it should have been burning their hooves with each step in the sand. It was not, and that set everypony on edge. It was Rainbow Dash who spoke up first.

“Alright Twi, the suns up, the sunshine is coming down and there’s no real wind. Why is it still cool? Shouldn’t we be sweating our flanks off here?” Twilight chewed her lip for a moment before looking at Spike and speaking.

“Spike, can you tell if Lyra’s still about the same distance or is she a lot further ahead?” Spike closed his eyes and directed his fore claw like he was calling down lightning before opening his eyes and speaking loud enough so everypony could here.

“She feels about the same distance. I think. It’s kind of hard to tell but I don’t think she’s like crazy far from where she was yesterday. What does that have to with the temperature though Twi?” Spike asked and it was clear everypony was waiting for an answer as much as he was. With a sigh Twilight spoke.

“Honestly, I was kind of hoping you would say she was closer. Then maybe she was using some kind of cold spell to try and drive us back. There’s no real reason for a desert in the day to be this cool and it feels like it’s getting colder the closer we get to Lyra. Either she’s casting some sort of powerful cold spell, or whatever she’s heading towards is doing this. Keep an eye out girls, Dash let’s see if you can see any better in the day.” A sharp salute and rainbow blur later and the cyan mare was blending well with the sky, only her bright mane standing out. They continued onwards after having packed up the camp and were in the same formation as yesterday. Within about five minutes Rainbow returned to the ground and gave her report.

“Okay, so those rocks I saw last night aren’t rocks. I couldn’t tell in the dark and that far away but they were way to square, pretty white too like marble maybe. I got a little closer and I think they might be some kinda ruin. Like in Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone! Except you know…less jungle more sand. I’m guessing we have our mare! This is getting awesome! I bet Lyra’s totally looking for some sweet treasure! Twi we totally got to follow her in and get that treasure!” Twilight had just gotten a confused expression on her face as she listened to Rainbow Dash give her findings. After a moment of silence she responded, trying to keep her voice level.

“Ok, well at least we know where she probably is. Still, there shouldn’t be any ruins out here. This place never supported any kind of real life, especially not one capable of building structures. Unless…maybe the ruins predate the desert? That would make this place ancient, at least several thousand years old. This might just be the archeological find of the century! I mean, who could have built it! Ancient ponies from a lost civilization? Come on girls, now that we know where were heading lets hurry.” With that the group picked up the pace and continued onwards.

It kept getting colder, it had gone from cool to cold and now the group stopped dead when Twilight exhaled and her breath was a wisp of white in the air. A few nervous glances were spared before Bon-Bon spoke up.

“Ok Twilight, just how bad is it. How strong would a spell need to be to effect this far around the ruin?” Twilight just shook her head in nervousness and her ears folded down as she replied.

“Strong, very strong. There’s no way Lyra’s doing it, this is far beyond anything even she could do. Based on what Dash said were still at least three kilometers away. Girls I have no idea what we’re going to find in there. Stay close, I’m going to cast a warmth spell and adjust it as we get closer. Be ready for anything.” With a flare from her horn the group relaxed and even Rainbow joined them walking on the ground. As they moved the sand felt colder and colder beneath their hooves until finally they saw a stretch of river long frozen over. Pausing to look at it Twilight spoke, voice uneasy as she prodded it with a hoof, first gently and then with as much force as she could.

“This is river, its frozen straight to the bottom. There hasn’t been any water here in a long time girls, whatever froze this did it a long time ago. We’re getting close; I think it’s just over that next dune. Hopefully we’ll get some answers.” They crossed over top the frozen mass, the waves on its surface perfectly stuck in time, as if frozen in an instant. They trudged up the cold and now hard dune where sand didn’t slide like it had been frozen together and when they reached the top there collective jaws hung loose. The color of the sand went from golden to white, it was grass, frozen stiff and held as if in some ghostly breeze that had long been forgotten. The air itself was heavy and at the center was a mass of stone, white from frost. The group moved closer and Twilight’s horn glowed ever brighter as she worked harder and harder to counteract the cold. The grass shattered under there hooves and the world was completely silent as they approached.

Finally there hooves met freezing stone and they all silently wished they had brought boots for the trip. Twilight was peering intensely at a column sticking from the ground as she asked Spike to melt some of the frost from it. After a few moments she was peering at the dull grey stone filled with intricate carvings beneath. Pinkie had moved up next to her and was staring as well an unusual look of deep concentration on her face. Twilight was the one to break the silence.

“This is incredible! I’ve never seen this level of detail in a carving and this looks like some kind of language I’ve never even seen! Oh I wish I could translate this I wonder what it says, who built something like this!” Pinkie just peered closer at the righting before licking her lips and speaking slowly.

“Mighty…something Winter-Maw,… of cold and Winters scion, harbinger, lord not sure which?….Can’t make the next part out. May you hear…could be prayers or wishes can’t remember which? Forevermore, may we stand? Sorry Twilight that’s all I could make out. Twilight? Are you alright?” Twilight as well as the rest of the group had their jaws firmly near there hooves as they stared at her. Twilight managed to recover first and sputtered out her questions.

“Pinkie how…what…how do you what language that is! I mean, identifying a language I’ve never even heard of is one thing, but being able to read it! Don’t say you just know Pinkie, for the love of Celestia please tell me there is a reasonable answer!” Pinkie just giggled and for a moment Twilights right eye twitched before Pinkie responded.

“It’s ancient diamond dog silly! I used to work on a rock farm remember! We had a local pack of diamond dogs who were waaayyyy nicer than the ones near Ponyville. Since we only farmed rocks we didn’t really need the gems that sometimes turned up so we would trade them. Some of the dogs were really nice and I stayed in there warren once. You should see a diamond dog party it’s CRAZY! Anyway there was a dog called Sirius who was reeeaaaally into history, you would have really liked him Twilight. He said they used to have a huge kingdom but something happened and it fell apart. He wanted to collect as many things from then as he could. He told me all about it because he was scared everypony would completely forget about it and he showed me some of his collection. I asked him what it said and he taught me as much as he could of the old language and then called me “Lar’teghrar”!” Twilights eye hadn’t stopped twitching and a few pieces of mane had sprung from place as she spoke calmly as she could.

“Pinkie, are you telling me that you had knowledge of an ancient civilization, that wasn’t mentioned in any books and never thought to mention it! Pinkie! I would have loved to hear about this! Why didn’t you ever say anything! And what does Lar’teghrar mean?” Pinkie’s ears drooped and she scratched absently at the ground with a hoof as she responded.

“Well it means lore-keeper. Sirius tried to tell everypony but the mean ponies at the academy said it was ridiculous. They had never found any ruins and there was no real link between the diamond dogs and the pieces he had. He was really sad and I said we could keep trying but he said maybe it wasn’t time yet. So he went back to collecting pieces from other packs so he could get more proof and told me to just forget about it. I said I never would and if I found any proof I’d be sure to tell him. Now I have! He’s going to be super-duper surprised when I tell him all about this! You can come with me Twilight and I’m sure he’d tell you as much as you wanted! Now, we have a mare to find! Let’s go everypony!” With that Pinkie bravely stepped towards the opening that led to the ruins interior only to utter a squeak as she stepped beyond Twilights warmth spell. She quickly threw herself back and was shivering fiercely as Rainbow Dash walked up next to her and placed a warm wing over top of her before speaking.

“Pinkie, you’re so random. Never change alright.” Pinkie happily nuzzled into Rainbow while she just smirked. Twilight had calmed and was now shaking her head before offering an apology to Pinkie who returned it with a massive hug. Bon-Bon was now more confused than ever about Pinkie, though she was more confused about what exactly a rock farm was. She wasn’t huge on history and didn’t know enough to dispute Pinkie. She decided when she got back she’d need to look into this story of Diamond dogs. Adjusting her saddlebag the entire party stood before the entrance that led into freezing darkness, fierce looks of determination now on everyponies face. Lyra is in there Bon-Bon thought, the answers to her questions were in there, her best friend was there and needed her. Steeling themselves the group walked into darkness.

The echoes of hoof steps broke the ancient silence, with each step further the dark crushed in around them more and more until a green light bathed the group that was closely pressed together. Bon-Bon raised an eyebrow at the sight of Spike with his head tilted up like a wolf howling and thin green flame illuminating the corridor. Deciding to make it easier for him Bon-Bon pulled out an unlit torch from her bag and passed it to Spike who quickly lit it and held it up to illuminate the group.

“Thanks Bon-Bon, my fire breath takes a bit out of me and I don’t want Twilight exhausting herself more than she already is with that warmth spell just for some light. Why did you bring torches? What else do you have in there?” Bon-Bon just smiled at that. She had learned long ago to always be prepared and had packed accordingly. She lowered her voice as the echoes bounced off the walls eerily as she replied.

“Just a few things, 100 hooves of rope, some climbing equipment, torches, canteen, camping gear, 20 hoof extendable pole. You know, the basics, though I wish I had brought some winter gear.” Spike just nodded while looking impressed while Rainbow let out a low whistle at hearing what she’d brought. They were starting to shiver even through Twilight’s shield now and were growing more nervous with every step about just what would be around the next corner. Luckily the ruin was linear with any doors off the main path blocked by twisting spires of brilliant blue ice. Finally they turned a corner and saw a light coming from the next room. A look was shared a nod given. The group rushed forwards no one daring to speak a word as they approached. Slowly words became audible and Bon-Bon felt her heart jump as she recognized the speaker.

“Careful….got to stay calm Lyra, don’t screw this up. You’re almost done. Just…a little…more” The voice was accompanied by a chipping sound, like the breaking of ice. At last the group hit the doorway and stepped inside, and instantly had the breath stolen from them and once again they found there mouths hanging open at the sight before them.
It was a massive chamber, capable of fitting a grown dragon. The once glossy marble floors were cracked and the walls wrecked, the air practically staying still and a fine veneer of frost covered most of the room. The breath of everypony hung in the air, and a faint freezing mist encircled the entire area. It was clear it had once been a beautiful place, tapestries hung frozen solid, and beautiful statues in various states of collapse. All this was not what gathered the attention of the ponies however, that rested firmly on the center of the room as the chipping sound continued to echo.

A monster from an era long since passed stood poised, forever frozen, fur as white as the deepest blizzard and eyes the icy blue of glaciers that had never known summer. A maw of teeth wide as a house, fiercer than any dragons frozen in a perpetual roar. From its maw leaked the cold of a hundred winters, a cold that no creature should ever know. The look in its eyes was a terrible rage, preserved forevermore. A terrible paw was raised just above another bit of ice frozen in time. A unicorn, horn still faintly glowing from within the ice, raw magic itself frozen in the air. The demon that stood frozen was a wolf, some bygone monstrosity. And standing right between the frozen unicorn and monstrosity was the red armored form of Lyra Heartstrings, chipping away with a small axe at the ice that surrounded the frozen unicorn. The chipping sound was all that was heard within this place that time had long forgotten. All was silent as a grave until the lone voice of Bon-Bon called out a single simple word, no louder than a whisper.

“Lyra.” The sound of chipping ice stopped and all fell silent.

Author's Note:

Ta-Dah! I want to thank everyone who took the time to give me a like. It's always appreciated! I would
love a comment even more, though. Tell me what you thought. Guesses, characterization, spelling fixes. Anyway I really hope your enjoying this story and I would love some feedback. Wishing you a happy Friday.