Flight

by The Wandering Bard

The Letter

Lyric was both giddy and anxious as she stood before the door to the Canterlot Castle hall. She had been wandering across Equestria as she usually did, telling its tales to the ponies and playing her music, until a pegasus wearing a Royal Guard uniform landed before her. Awestruck, she took the letter from him and opened the scroll to pore over its contents.

Dear Lyric, it had read,

Forgive us for the surprise you must be feeling, but we know that you have been studying the travels and tales of the explorer, Dashing Hoof. Something of interest related to him has been found. When convenient, please meet us at the castle so that we may share this discovery with you.

Faithfully yours,

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna

To say that Lyric was stunned would be an understatement, and she thanked the guard in a daze just before he flew off. She had immediately made her way to Canterlot, arriving after only a few short days. Now here she was, waiting as another guard announced her presence. She heard Princess Celestia's warm, "Lovely! Send her in," through the crack in the door. Lyric imagined the way the guard would have saluted before he returned to her and let her inside.

Lyric trotted down the hall and gazed upon the stained-glass windows that depicted various points of ancient and recent Equestrian history. It was almost hard to tear her eyes away, but then there they were, the regal sisters, right there before her, waiting to receive her. Lyric bowed to them as she came to the end of the hall. "Your Highnesses, it is certainly an honor to be here." She hoped that her voice shook less than her hooves.

"'Tis an honor to have thee," Princess Luna told her in turn. "We are happy to see that thou hast received our royal summons, and that thou hast answered them."

"Well, of course!" Lyric exclaimed as she rose to face the alicorns. "I was so delighted to have earned an audience with you! And I admit that I am curious to see what you've found."

Now it was Princess Celestia's turn to speak, and she did so with a smile. "Actually, it was not we who made this discovery, but my dear student, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, would you come in here, please?" she called out through the doors.

Lyric turned to see Equestria's newest princess practically prance into the hall with joy, and she found herself bowing again. "Princess Twilight, it is lovely to see you once more."

Twilight beamed as she came to a halt right in front of Lyric. "Thank you for coming. Oh, I was so excited when I found this, and I just know that you will be, too, when you see what it is!"

Lyric cocked her head until she saw an old, tattered book floating towards her, the cover faded and the spine cracked. It landed expertly in her hooves, and the bard slowly opened it. She saw yellowed pages with rusted red ink, all about ready to crumble at the touch, but nothing that was of interest.

"I'm sorry, Princess, but I'm not sure what it is that I'm looking at."

Twilight grinned. "Look closer, there in the corner."

Lyric did as she requested. When she found what she was to be searching for, she paused, gaping. She looked again, peered closer, ensuring that her eyes were not deceiving her. "...You found Dashing Hoof's journal? The one he kept during his travels?"

Princess Twilight rubbed a hoof behind her neck. "Well, I've only found this one so far. I think he had more because it all seems to be from his later explorations. But there's some great stuff in there. You should definitely give it a read when you have the chance."

Lyric's eyes landed on all of the princesses, and then back onto the treasure she held in her hooves. "Where did you find this?" Her voice was little more than a whisper.

"Oh, I found it in the Castle of the Two Sisters. They have an old library there filled with knowledge untold! I cannot wait to go back there to explore some more."

Perhaps I will be able to visit it one day, Lyric thought to herself. Who knew what ancient songs or legends were there, waiting to be discovered? But those are for another time, she reminded herself as her gaze fell upon the journal once more. "May I borrow this for a little while?" she found herself asking, though she was unsure if her request would be granted. As far as she was concerned, and likely as far as Princess Twilight was concerned as well, the worth of the journal was unmeasured.

"Of course," Celestia told her. "In fact, you may even read it in our current library, if you'd like."

"And because 'tis almost time for the moon to rise, accommodations shall be made for thee here so that thou mayest spend the night," Luna continued.

Lyric bowed once more. "Thank you! Thank you all so much." She hugged the journal to her. "If you do not mind, may I...?"

Celestia beamed. "Of course, Lyric. Please, go and read to your heart's content."

Lyric could hardly wait. She thanked the princesses, calling to them over her shoulder as she trotted through the door. She galloped all the way to the library, her cloak flying behind her, not caring who saw her beaming like a madmare.

Comments

[Kirito-Persona]

Congrats on getting this one out Lyric!

Just a personal opinion by the way, these sort of short prolouges can be rather annoying to first time readers. (Trust me I know, first story I ever did.)

But, you did alright with this one. It was a good length, it worked as a first chapter well, characterization was nice, and it setup the story! Congrats again!