Chapter Two - Don't Sit on Thrones Without an Invitation
"That's it, Lyra, wake up."
"Ooog..." Lyra blearily opened one eye. She felt like a dragon had chewed her up and spit her out again.
"How do you feel?" Twilight asked her as she felt for Lyra's pulse.
"It burns. Who decided to throw my bones in an Easy-Bake oven? Was it you?” Seeing Twilight’s bemused expression, she groaned again. "Why does it burn so much?"
"My guess is it's a side effect of absorbing Discord's magic."
"How long was I out, and why does my throat hurt?"
Twilight lifted a gadget off a tray set up nearby and levitated it near Lyra's horn. "You drifted in and out of consciousness for about two days, and every time you woke up you were screaming about your body being on fire. We eventually had to sedate you."
Lyra struggled to shift herself on the bed, but Twilight quickly stopped her. "You just woke up after over forty hours of fighting for your life. You should relax a little."
She tried to huff grumpily, but merely let out a coughing wheeze. Lyra settled back and tried to get her eyes to open a little more before mentally cursing the brightness of the sun through the window. I wish I had something to drink. With a large pop, a fifteen-hoof tall mug of apple cider materialized and slammed into the ground next to the bed. Twilight barely afforded the giant mug a glance as she continued to tend to Lyra.
"Huh... Wha... Did you see that, Twilight?!" Lyra gibbered as she edged away from the behemoth drink.
"Oh, that? You've been doing things like that since yesterday. Last night you almost drowned us when you woke up screaming about you burning and you brought a flood of water rushing in through the window."
"I see our little patient is awake, Twilight," a voice chimed from behind the cider mug. Celestia appeared from behind the drink and sat beside the bed. "How do you feel?"
"Like I was shoved in the Cakes' oven for a couple hours. Seriously, why does it feel like I’m burning up from the inside?
Celestia's expression clouded over. "You absorbed every last bit of Discord's magic potential. Normal pony bodies aren't made to contain that amount of raw energy, especially not the chaotic form of his magic."
"How did that happen?"
"We aren't sure. Twilight postulates that the taint of the human's anti-magic might have forcibly torn Discord's magic away from him. Magic potential from any creature cannot be dispersed, though. It has to find another place to reside. Unfortunately for you, you were the nearest thing capable of accepting it."
"Oh, I don't know about it being unfortunate." Lyra smirked as she conjured a silly straw from nowhere that stretched from the mug to her mouth. "Discord's magic does have its benefits... ackkkk!" She coughed and hacked as she realized that she was sucking parts of the mug from the straw and not the cider inside the mug.
"Forget what I said. I hate everything to do with that draconequus." She spat out the liquefied wood and coughed some more.
Twilight levitated a glass of water to Lyra's mouth. "Here you go. Drink this instead."
Lyra seized the glass in her hooves and drank down the entire glass in one gulp. "Ahh, that's better." She shifted towards the edge of the bed as Twilight moved to intercept her.
"Twilight, I'm glad you care about keeping me from overexerting myself, but I need to take a trip to the little filly's room, so if you don't mind, would you please let me go?"
Twilight quickly shuffled back, embarrassed. "Oops. Sorry, Lyra."
Lyra heaved herself out of the bed ungracefully, wincing as she touched the floor. She wobbled over to the door before casting an uncertain glance over the threshold.
"Turn right and it's the fourth door on the left," Celestia answered the unasked question.
"Thank you." With the speed only someone in dire need of a restroom can conjure, Lyra made her way as fast as her aching hooves could carry her. Twilight fiddled with her medical instruments nervously.
"What are we supposed to do about her?"
"I don't know, Twilight. Nothing like this has ever happened before," the princess replied. "My predecessor passed on his magical ability to me willingly but I didn't know it was possible to take the magic of another creature like that. We will have to keep an eye on her to make sure that complications don't arise because of this. For all we know, Lyra might have just become an immortal of sorts."
"What do we do then?"
"We just have to take this one step at a time."
Twilight took a deep breath. "What are we going to do about Luna?"
Celestia's eyes narrowed. "We do everything we can to get her back." She let out a snort of anger.
“Well, at least she hasn’t been sent to the moon for a thousand years again, right?” Twilight gave a nervous laugh as Celestia’s eye twitched.
"That isn’t the point. Luna didn't even deserve this. She only meant to defend Equestria.” Her mane started to roll faster, as though caught in a gust of wind.
Twilight subtly shuffled back. “Are you okay, Princess?”
“No, Twilight. I am not okay. Discord has crossed a line this time. He has taken my sister, the last living member of my family, and used her as nothing more than a prize at the end of an obstacle course.”
"How dare he imprison Luna after all she has been through? Does Discord think that she hasn't suffered enough over the past millennium? What right does he have to do something like this?"
Celestia's eyes sparked back into glowing anger, her mane whipping violently in the solar wind. "We are going to get her back from whatever wretched prison is holding her. I'm not going to make Luna wait for us to free her. She shouldn't have been taken away from me at all. How dare he act like he has the right to use her however he sees fit?"
A hoof struck the floor, cracking the stone. "Luna had just come back from being imprisoned for a thousand years by her own flesh and blood. She was still getting over the pain of being in total isolation. She was finally coming out of her shell, making friends and enjoying herself. Luna was just beginning to settle into modern life when that monster took all that away from her again!"
Twilight backed away from the infuriated princess, fear flickering across her face. She had never seen Princess Celestia act so close to losing control. Celestia's horn glowed, culminating in a brilliant shine which was almost palpable. Her wings cracked against the air sharply, sending her floating in the center of the room like an angel of death. Twilight dove for cover behind the bed. She whimpered in fright as the room shook from Celestia's beating wings and the magical force coalescing in the center of the room, her mentor at its heart.
Twilight summoned her own magic, vanishing out of the room with a magenta flash and a small snap as the air rushed into the void that her body left behind. Celestia's gaze was drawn toward the flash as she remembered that her student had been in the room.
"Ah-choo!!" Lyra materialized in the throne room about twenty hooves from the ground, floundering as she dropped abruptly in front of the twin thrones. Fortunately, a small trampoline dropped into place as she blindly groped with Discord's unfamiliar magic. With a rough bounce, she was deposited quite ungracefully at the foot of Luna's throne. She snorted and glared angrily at the spot she had first appeared.
"Curse this magic. I can't even sneeze without doing something freaky." She hauled herself back to her hooves as she winced from the aching heat in her body. Her hooves, head, back, even her dock hurt like she had been tossed in a campfire.
Lyra forgot all about her pains, though, as she realized where she was within the castle. The throne room, the heart of Equestria's diarchy, was laid out right in front of her. It was totally empty, open for her to investigate.
Lyra trotted around, examining the opulence of the room, from the thick red carpet that led up to the dais at the opposite end of the hall to the dome that soared far above her head.
Of course, it was all preamble to the final and most important part of the throne room: the actual thrones. The thrones of the princesses were arranged back to back on a revolving pedestal and were enchanted to rotate at sunrise and sunset. Since it was currently nighttime, Princess Luna's throne was facing the rest of the throne room.
Celestia's seat was carved from a single block of Marian marble, harvested by pegasi that flew to the distant island Maros specifically to collect the pure white stone. Sky-blue agate and yellow topaz were inlaid along the sides, as well as her cutie mark emblazoned on the back of the throne, with one exception: the center of the sun was a single, round onyx.
Likewise, Luna's throne was a single chunk of polished obsidian, taken by earth ponies from below a live volcano in Hydra's Gnarl. The entire throne had been carefully ground into shape by the best jewelers in Equestria. The arms of the seat were given blue-black sapphires. The back of the throne had the Night Princess's crescent moon cutie mark cut in white opal, offset by steel-gray hematite.
Lyra sat back, slack-jawed, taking in the beauty of the empty thrones. "If only I could write music that beautiful..."
She slowly approached the throne. Her progress was stopped as she realized the closer she drew to the thrones, the more it felt like she was walking into a strong wind. She ignored the resistance and pushed through, trying to reach Luna's seat.
Celestia trotted through the halls, trying to think of where Twilight would have gone if she was scared. The princess had already checked Twilight's old bedroom, the royal kitchen and every other place she could think of, except one. She silently berated herself for not thinking to look in the library first. She flew towards the royal library, trying to think up apologies to her faithful student on the way.
She reached the library far too soon to come up with a good apology. The solar princess silently made her way through the rows and rows of shelves, making her way back to the area that dealt with nonfiction. She knew Twilight couldn't help but go to the same place she always went when she was sad or angry as a filly in her care.
Celestia turned to the shelves that dealt with magic theory and application and noticed that over half the books were missing. Twilight is definitely here. She quietly made her way to the little study nook in the back corner, where she was greeted by an enormous fort comprised entirely of books. The fort stretched nearly a third as tall as the three-story shelf nearby. The alicorn bit her lip to keep from laughing at the adorable study habit of Twilight to literally surround herself in her books while she read.
As she approached the fort, Celestia ran into a forcefield that flashed magenta as her muzzle collided with it. She recognized the variant of the Captain of the Guard's shield spell that he had taught Twilight.
"Go away. I'm busy," a small voice floated from the center of the book mass.
"Twilight, it's me." Twilight's head peeped out of a strategically placed window. A pillow rested on the unicorn's head, covering everything but one eye. Celestia couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, and Twilight darted back into the fort. The princess hung her head in sadness as she realized her own student was frightened of her.
"I'm sorry I let you see me like that, Twilight. My anger got away from me. Please don't shut me out."
"It was terrifying."
"I know." Celestia sunk to the floor miserably. "I was angry. It's just that Luna had just got back and she was finally adjusting. She had finally made a couple friends. You should have seen the look on her face when she learned that there was an entire branch of science dedicated entirely to studying her night sky. She took up painting. I introduced her to donuts."
A tear trickled down her cheek as she continued talking. "It had been literally centuries since I had last seen her, and even longer since I had actually seen her so happy. I don't understand why Discord decided that she was going to be the object of some twisted challenge. He was never this vengeful before. I just..." The solar princess choked up, no longer capable of talking past her shaky breathing and tears. She laid her head down and started to sob.
Celestia dimly heard the sound of magic being undone and felt someone nuzzling her. She lifted her head to see Twilight kneeling next to her, trying to console her teacher.
Lyra finally made it to the throne. She didn't even know why she wanted to see it so close, but it felt like it was drawing her even though it was pushing her away.
Sit in it. You know you want to.
I can't do that, it's Luna's throne!
Come on, what will it hurt? It's not like she is even here anyway.
...What could it hurt?
Lyra gingerly seated herself in the chair. It was surprisingly comfortable for being carved out of volcanic glass. In fact, it even felt like her body was—
"How dare you!"
The seafoam unicorn jerked up, hearing the lunar princess's unmistakable Royal Canterlot Voice. Runic lines, nearly invisible on the throne, flared with Luna's magic. Lyra felt tendrils of ice quickly creep from the seat to encase her body, holding her fast.
"I never thought thou wouldst be so foalish as to try to actually sit on my throne in my absence, Discord. Whether I am present or not, I can still protect what is mine. Thou shalt pay for imprisoning me here. Unlike my sister, I do not merely turn ponies to stone. I prefer more permanent solutions."
"Wait!" Lyra shrieked as she realized Luna's intent. "I'm not Discord!"
"You think I cannot feel your magic? There is no other creature that has magic like yours."
"I'm not Discord! Really! I took his magic by accident!" Lyra started babbling as panic set in. "I started hitting him with my lyre and he said "you're funny I want to hang with you" and I was like "no you freak" and he was like "whatever all the mares want me they just don't know it yet" so he went and tried to do some mind magic or something on me and then it all went wrong and I accidentally messed up his magic and sucked it all in and I don't know what happened after that because I blacked out for almost two days and I just woke up and I had to use the restroom and I sneezed and ended up in the throne room because I teleported accidentally and I saw your throne and thought it was awesome so I wondered what it would be like to sit on it I'm so sorry please don't kill me!"
The silence that set in after the ridiculously long run-on sentence felt like it stretched to eternity. Even though Lyra was coated in ice, she sweated as she waited for the lunar princess's reply.
"You like my throne?"
"...Yes?"
"I think I know who you are. Thou art the unicorn that came with my sister's apprentice?"
"How could you tell?"
"Your magic isn't completely overpowered by Discord's. It feels like the spell on my pet stapler."
"Why does nopony ever forget the stapler?"
"'Twas quite memorable, and amusing as well."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm glad somepony enjoys it. Princess Luna?"
"Yes?"
"Could you melt the ice trapping me here? It's really cold."
"Of course." The icy claws quickly retreated and the runes on the throne faded so that they pulsed with Luna's voice. "So Discord is defeated?"
"I guess so. Nopony has really talked about him since I woke up. Then again, I only came back to the land of the living about fifteen minutes ago."
"Trust me, you would know if he were still around. It does bring to question why I am still imprisoned here. My entrapment is magical in nature. If Discord is no longer around to power it, I should have been long since freed."
"What do we do, then?"
"Discord would not do this without providing an escape for me in some form of a challenge for my sister. Insane though he may be, there was always an answer to his riddles, no matter how unfair they were. Do you remember any part of the riddle?"
Lyra started to respond but felt her body seize up in a fresh burst of pain.
"Are you well?" Luna's concerned voice broke through the haze of pain in Lyra's mind.
"I'm fine. Ever since taking Discord's magic I've been having terrible pain. That's not important right now, though. I know the riddle.
"Back in the place where sits your first throne,
"Is the location of where I was first turned to stone
"To regain a loved one that is once again lost,
"The pony of Magic must pay the ultimate cost."
Lyra could feel the unease of the lunar princess as she finished the riddle. "Tell Celestia what you have told me. She will know what to do."
"What will you do?"
"I will continue to try to break free. Pray that I can do so. If I can't, the alternative will not be pleasant."
The runes on the throne faded out entirely, indicating the end of the conversation. Lyra shakily pulled herself off the throne, feeling fatigue race through her body as the stress of almost being killed by the princess finally set in. There was no time for having a nervous breakdown, she reminded herself. She had an assignment to complete.
Lyra burst out of the throne room, shocking the guards posted at the doors. She paid them no mind as they gave chase, calling for reinforcements along the way. Finding the princess was the only thing on her list of priorities at the moment.
"Gotcha!" One guard pounced on her, only to be suddenly hit by a hastily conjured pie. A couple cotton candy clouds appeared from nowhere and started chasing the guards, tangling them up in a nougat hailstorm. She cast a glance backward and laughed at them, only to run headfirst into a pillar. The remaining guards quickly piled on top of Lyra before a brilliant flash of light consumed the entire pile.
"Do you feel better, Princess?" Twilight had hugged Celestia until the alicorn's crying subsided to an occasional sniffle.
"A little. I'm sorry for being so emotional."
"It's okay. I understand completely."
Celestia shuffled to her hooves, wincing at the pins-and-needles feeling that shot through her legs from laying on them for so long. "I think it would be best if-"
She was abruptly cut off by a screaming pile of guards and Lyra falling from over forty hooves above them. Twilight was the first to recover from the shock by quickly capturing each individual in her magical grasp, lowering the group gently to the ground. Upon touching down, the guards rushed at Lyra again, quickly apprehending her.
"Captain Lancer, what is going on here?" Celestia demanded, quickly switching to her royal demeanor.
"Princess!" The pegasus saluted her with his wing. "This unicorn came out of your throne room. She did not enter through any of the doors and she had no explanation for her presence in the room. We think she might have teleported into the room, intending to do you ill."
The princess raised an eyebrow. "My throne room is guarded against teleporting spells."
"It was Discord's stupid magic!" Lyra shouted from behind the wall of guards.
"It's alright. She is my guest. I'm sure she has a completely valid explanation as to why and how she got into my throne room, which is specifically guarded against magic," the alicorn said pointedly.
Lyra gave out an exasperated sigh as the guards slowly backed away from her. She launched into a lengthy talk of how she had been trying to use the restroom and had accidentally teleported when she was overcome by a large sneeze. She then talked about how she had made contact with Luna, conveniently leaving out the fact that she had initiated said contact by sitting on Luna's throne. She also left out the part about Discord's riddle, uncomfortable with telling the entire thing with guards surrounding her.
Celestia seemed to pick up on the information Lyra left out. "You are free to return to your posts, guards. She is no threat."
As the last guard left, she asked "You sat on her throne, didn't you?"
"Was it that obvious?"
"Our thrones are connected to us. It is the only way you could have contacted my sister without some form of communication spell. You are fortunate my sister didn't turn you to ashes where you sat."
"Tell me about it."
"So, did you learn of where she was being kept?"
"No, but I did get the riddle that Discord told us." She recited it to Celestia and Twilight. Celestia's face turned into a dark scowl as she finished the riddle.
"We have to get your sister back!" Twilight said. "I'll get my friends and we will—"
"No. It cannot be like that. There is no safety in numbers where you will be going. Besides, I cannot ask you to do this for me."
"I'm not a filly anymore, Princess. I know what 'ultimate cost' means. Even so, I'm not going to let your sister waste away in some magical dungeon because I was afraid of a little risk."
Celestia sighed. "There is no convincing you otherwise, is there?"
"Not in the slightest."
"Very well. I will tell you what you will most likely be facing along the way."
Lyra couldn't help herself. "I'm coming too!"
Celestia interjected, "I couldn't allow you to put yourself in danger for me or my sister. It is bad enough that Twilight is doing this without dragging in an innocent bystander."
Lyra stomped a hoof. "That is the problem. I'm not an innocent bystander. I'm the reason all of this even happened! Without me Luna would still be here, Twilight would be at home and Discord wouldn't have gotten loose."
Twilight responded "You weren't at fault for any of this. It was just a bad series of coincidences."
"No! It wasn't! I summoned a human. The human broke Discord's spell and ended up transferring Discord's magic to me. That's probably why Luna hasn't been freed yet. In fact, she wouldn't be imprisoned at all if he hadn't been released in the first place!
"No, it is my fault. I made this mess. I'm going to clean it up." Lyra glared at Twilight and Celestia, daring them to say otherwise. "I may just be a musician, but it will be a cold day in Tartarus before I don't take responsibility for my actions."
Celestia looked at Lyra's face, the unicorn's determined gaze boring into hers. "Very well. If I can't convince you to stay, I will at least help you prepare for the task that is to come."
"Good. The faster we get this done, the sooner I can go home and try to find a way to get rid of this magic."
Twilight stared at Lyra. "Most unicorns would give their right front leg to wield the magic you have now. You want to give that up?"
"It isn't mine. It doesn't feel right to use it. Princess, do you think there is a way for me to get rid of this magic?"
"I don't know, my little pony. I assure you, though, that while you are on this quest I will do my best to research into finding a cure for this."
Twilight gave a funny look. "Quest?"
Celestia smiled. "Why, yes. It has been a very long time since a quest has been given to anypony. This is a great honor for both of you. You might even become legendary for this."
Twilight gave a short laugh. "I am the Element of Magic. I think that I have long since claimed legendary for a title."
Celestia joined in her mirth. "That is true. A little good publicity never hurt anyone though." She turned to leave, beckoning the two unicorns to follow. "This way. We have much to do before you set out tomorrow on your quest!"
Lyra trundled along behind Celestia and Twilight. Seriously, it's like I run directly towards the biggest trouble in the country, she thought to herself. I'm no hero. I'm a bard. Why did I even volunteer myself for this?
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More Lyra anyone?
I'll take it! And totally called it by the way.
871617 It ain't exactly like there was much of an option from there...
872436
True. But as long as I keep my cool points.
I always just make things metric, its easier to understand.
I know which human Lyra summoned. A true monster. A freak of nature, heir to an empire of pure evil who, when returned to Earth was mutilated into a horrible form, bloated and foul to behold!
en.tengrinews.kz/userdata/RTR30RC7.jpg
(Well that explains how it able to overpower even the chaos of Discord!)
3211735 Very funny, you :p
The measurement thing is funny because horses are measured in hands, which are about 4 inches
wait, this is CAMMER'S work? Me GUSTA!
The concept is good, and no we have Lyra the epic bard!
This seems strangely familiar to me. Mind giving a reminder if it was supposed to be a reference?
869787
YUS!
I think it would have been more poetic to use hands as the unit of measurement, since it is used IRL to measure the height of horses. Although at a guess that's how you decided on the hoof unit, since they are both equal to 4 inches.
And everypony knows bards are useless on quests.
"That is true. A little good publicity never hurt anyone though."
it has hurt a lot of people actually
This is awesome!
I'm glad I finally made it to this story on my read later list. 
Lyra, remember to use Inspire Courage.
While I could see Twilight building a book fort as a filly to hide in when she was scared, here it feels incredibly immature. While ages are not exactly a clear cut thing, I'd assume Twilight is at least considered an adult. As such, it's bloody weird for her to do hide in a book fort because Celestia got angry. I could see her teleporting to a library in a panic and staying there to calm herself, but as it is it's a frankly bizarre and childish act that doesn't really suit her character. Yes, she can overreact to things, but this is just ridiculous.
Also, Lyra's entire reaction to absorbing Discord's magic was oddly subdued. Would have thought there would be a bit more of a reaction there.
6836366 I would agree with you if it wasn't totally in character. We're talking about the mare that tried to make a friendship problem that she could fix by enchanting a doll so that everyone who looks at it really wanted it. All do she could be on time in sending her friendship report... Because she thought Celestia would send her to magic kindergarten if she was tardy. Face it, this is totally in character.