Act I ~ Chapter One ~ The Human
Spectrum
The Team
TheIdiot
“Dear Chairman…”
Jed R
“Don’t ask me, man, I only work here.”
DoctorFluffy
“DOGGO KOTOWARU!”
VoxAdam
Vox Sola Contritione Silvarum
Sledge115
“Heroes never die.”
The Void
A chap powered solely by tea.
RoyalPsycho
He who walks behind the rows.
TB3
The original “I Like Trains” kid.
Kizuna Tallis
ProudToBe
Act One
From Earth To Equestria
Chapter One
The Human
* * * * *
“There are many who are living far below their possibilities because they are constantly handing over their individualities to others. Do you want to be a power in the world? Then be yourself.”
— In Tune With the Infinite, by Ralph Waldo Trine“Power, time, gravity, love. The forces that really kick ass are all invisible.”
— Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell
~ Ponyville, Equestria ~ First Day of the Month of Rophon, Year 3 of the Era Harmoniae ~
It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, but since moving in from Canterlot, Lyra Heartstrings knew better than to take it for granted. After all, in Ponyville, any normal day could be a prelude to the latest magical mishap, malady, or madness to hit what Equestria’s leading insurers had dubbed the nation’s ‘trouble capital’.
‘Never trust a beautiful day. Word is, things always hit the hardest when it seems nicest.’
And yet, wasn’t that the fun of it all? In Ponyville, it seemed anything could happen. So if you were a pony of a curious mind or an adventurous bent, what better place to call your home? And what better thing to do on a fine sunny day than get out and about, go looking for the next discovery, chase the next adventure, seize that fine day by the ankles and shake it until the spice of life fell in a heap from its saddlebags?
‘Well, that was a weird mental picture,’ Lyra thought to herself. ‘Strike one for the day.’
Still, perhaps that was why, instead of staying back at the town she was lucky to call home, she now trotted along a half-forgotten old path through the Everfree Forest, never minding that, except as a shortcut to the brickyard or the water reservoir – or, more recently, to make a friendly visit to Zecora – most ponies still avoided the forest paths unless they couldn’t help it. It was a golden rule that had been drilled into Lyra ever since she’d agreed to move in with her girlfriend.
‘Never take the Everfree for granted.’
But here she was, a cheery smile coming to her face as she hopped across a small brook. Yes, taking a constitutional into the Forest was somewhat silly, possibly even dangerous, but her curiosity had finally nibbled away enough of her common sense to outweigh caution. It all returned to what Professor Shriek, that dear old thestral who always smelled vaguely of mushrooms, had told her back in Canterlot University:
‘Love your silly idea.’
She’d had some quite unusual teachers in her history. Although it could simply be argued that they all took a leaf from the same book the kooky old Headmaster of Celestia’s School had used. It suited her just fine as a learner and probably explained a lot about her outlook on life. To think, in other words, that, even if you knew an idea was silly, that didn’t mean there was nothing to be learnt from it. She could ask herself why she’d first conceived the idea, whether it had any potential, and why she truly thought it silly in the first place.
‘In challenging your preconceptions, you may unearth something entirely unexpected.’
In this case, her silly idea had been that there was undiscovered history in the Everfree Forest. It was a premise Lyra had formulated based on the wide variety of local folklore that surrounded the tract of wild woodland, from the curiously well-preserved remains of the Castle of The Two Sisters – which rumour said even Princess Celestia dared not enter – to outlandish stories of a lost village hidden inside the Forest.
‘Heh, I’m probably not going to find that village on my first expedition,’ Lyra thought lightly. ‘But maybe I can find the source of those stories in the Castle’s library? After all, every legend is anchored to some fragment of truth.’
That, right there, was why the Everfree piqued her interest.
Above and beyond the stories, myths and legends, it was simply strange, scientifically speaking. Any unicorn, or indeed, any pony with a pair of dowsing rods could tell at a glance that it was a nucleus of magic. Plot the land of Equestria’s leylines on a map, and you’d see the overgrown Forest was second only to Canterlot in the number of lines that intersected within its confines. Lyra’s own past attempts to measure the Everfree’s energy flux, with tools ranging from a ten-bit thaumic crystal to a Geegee Counter she’d sunk the better part of a month’s earnings into, had all left her with the same result – egg on her face. Quite literally in the case of the crystal, which had transformed into an ostrich egg.
She could feel the magic all around her now as she happily trotted deeper into the brush, wild and primal and alive. And, for all that the Everfree had a bad rep, she felt surprisingly uplifted by that raw vitality.
From above, rays of sunshine gleamed gold upon the verdant leaves and the damp, loamy undergrowth. Her path snaked through small valleys rich with ferns and old growth, watered by clear, fast-running streams, incubated in the muggy warmth of the Summer afternoon. The Forest, whose dense canopy enclosed all life which grew, trod and crawled within its boundaries, felt more than ever like a living entity, a great beast with a moist breath and lifeforce of its own, deep and slow and timeless, and a heart that beat but once each Spring, driving trees and flowers to bloom and colour. Although Celestia’s rays ultimately fed it, the Forest would always be its own domain, an unknown mind, remote and untouched by the ponies who elsewhere governed nature’s cycles, growing the plants and shepherding the clouds.
‘How strange is it, then,’ Lyra thought, ‘that the two Princesses once elected this location as the seat of their power, their place of rest? Could it be that the Forest hasn’t always been this way, that it’s just some old thing which has grown over something even older…’
Admittedly, she was spit-balling, which, to be fair, was what ninety percent of research in her field consisted of anyway, so it wasn’t anything new. For every premise that stuck, nine others went straight to Tartarus. But if she sought out the Castle, there was the possibility she’d uncover some forgotten archive detailing, well, something, right?
‘And heck?’ she mused, looking back at her saddlebags, packed with camera, film, trowels, water, and other essential supplies. ‘Even if I don’t find anything, this’ll still be a lot of fun!’
She was going to walk among ancient ruins that had barely known the hoofsteps of ponies for a millennium, she would read through ancient texts of lost lore and law. This could truly be amazing. A part of her began to wonder why more ponies hadn’t already taken a look. Surely Twilight, at the very least, would have been curious to investigate the archaeological significance of the site.
* * * * *
In point of fact, Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville’s resident librarian, did have more than a passing curiosity about said ruins. Ever since her first, momentous night in Ponyville, after discovering the Castle and becoming the Bearer of Magic, she’d dug up anything she could find on the old royal palace, hoping to try and learn more about it, maybe even uncover its secrets. Unfortunately, her ongoing friendship studies, not to mention the surprisingly regular – and increasingly serious – problems that sprung up around town, kept distracting her.
After several months of on-again, off-again research, she had postponed the project and put it at the back of her priorities’ list. As in, the back of the writing parchment she used to list her priorities. Whenever she found the time, however, she would gather her notes and throw herself back into the esoteric subject.
This occasion was a bit of an oddity, as the latest round of upheavals in her life had pushed her back towards research, not away from it. As she pondered the irony, Twilight’s eyes wandered towards the latest addition to her laboratory’s collection of magical relics. A scintillating triangle of enchanted mythril into which had been set a ruby-red diamond, crowned by an ornate crest depicting a winged unicorn mare.
The Alicorn Amulet.
Ancient, unspeakable, and thanks to a certain stage performer, Exhibit A in Ponyville’s fifty-seventh flirtation with disaster since Twilight had taken up residence in the Golden Oaks Library.
“Test N°7,” Twilight dictated aloud, a quill suspended in her aura transcribing as she spoke. “Magical resonance.”
She laid the quill down and took up a pair of tongs. In turn, she used them to pick up a crystal that had been carefully cultivated into a bident and bonded to a pair of vibranium strips. The resulting tool should, when struck against the Amulet, reveal the precise magical frequency of its underlying spell matrix.
Tongue between her lips, Twilight hoofed a pair of safety goggles over her eyes and advanced on the Amulet, which she had secured in a vice.
“Contact.”
Delicately, she tapped the magical tuning fork against the–
* * * * *
Anypony passing by would, at that moment, have seen a flash in the Golden Oaks’ windows, followed by a muffled explosion from below ground.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were, in fact, just passing by, and would later attest that the entire house-tree had jumped in the air, performed a “totally awesome!” roots-over-branches flip, and landed neatly back in the resulting hole, none the worse for the wear.
The imagination of a child is such a wonderful thing.
* * * * *
Chest hacking from the fumes she’d inhaled, Twilight slammed open the cellar door and crawled into the main living space of her home, pursued by a roiling cloud of smoke. The tongs, smoking remains of the tuning fork still gripped tightly in their tines, were now wrapped around her horn. The Alicorn Amulet itself was impaled in one of the roof’s beams, having achieved sufficient escape velocity to not only break free of the vice, but to punch clear through the floorboards of the room above the lab.
“Results… inconclusive…” Twilight muttered, slumping face-first onto the nearest rug.
She lay there for some time, motionless except for when a unfazed baby dragon briefly left the kitchen to roll her into the recovery position. When she did eventually rise to her hooves, it was with a surprisingly glib look on her face, the look of a scholar, or madmare, faced with the possibility of a Capital-D Discovery.
Wincing, Twilight levitated her new piece of ironmongery headwear clear of her horn and, after a minor struggle, managed to magic the Alicorn Amulet free from its wooden anchorage.
“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?” Twilight spoke aloud, summoning another quill and sheet of parchment to take down notes. “Magic artificing on this scale has never been documented except in the case of the Elements of Harmony…”
“And the Crystal Heart,” Spike piped in from the kitchen, where he was currently constructing himself a bowl of ice-cream grand enough to require mountaineering gear for anyone to master.
“Excellent point, Spike!” Twilight nodded, with an approving jab of her quill. Then she frowned. “The Crystal Realm, another mystery sprung into reality, another legend become fact. Like the Elements themselves, and Nightmare Moon– I mean, Princess Luna.”
Contemplative, she turned the Amulet over in her aura, as if expecting a manufacturer’s signature to suddenly reveal itself. The past few years had opened her eyes to new magics, and now she handled an object of a power matched only by artefacts on the level of the Elements.
Oh, and Discord, naturally. But she preferred not to think about him too much. Just because Fluttershy was vouching for him since they’d let him out from his stone prison, she had no real interest in seeking a friendship with the guy.
She briefly wondered if that made her a bad person. After all, he was ‘good’ now, wasn’t he?
“The Alicorn Amulet…” Twilight mused, magically retrieving her notes from the basement. They were somewhat singed, but still legible, and were quickly orbiting her in a cloud of half-formed ideas and hypotheses. “But which alicorn? One of the two Sisters? Or another that has never been documented before?”
“There’s loads of alicorns pictured in your books, Twilight,” Spike offered. He had now set up a small step-ladder, and was using it to delicately place a cherry atop his monument to gluttony. “Like that Princess from the account of the love-poison.”
“Those are just drawings in stories, Spike,” Twilight replied. “Artistic license, used to dress up old mare’s tales.”
“Didn’t ponies use to say that Discord or Nightmare Moon was an old mare’s tale?” Spike replied, as he hunted through the drawers for a suitably magnificent spoon. “Or the Sonic Rainboom?”
As if summoned by his words, a rainbow streak of colour whooshed in through an open window.
The convection thrown up was enough to sweep Twilight’s notes into the newcomer’s slipstream and shred them into so much confetti. Just as unfortunately, it splattered Spike’s carefully constructed snack all over the room.
Bowled over against a bookcase from the sudden shock, their coats and scales covered in a papier-maché mix of parchment and sugar, Twilight and Spike each hauled themselves to a stand, their attention fixed on the mare who’d entered their day in such inimitable style.
Standing in the middle of the common-room was Rainbow Dash, the prismatic pegasus mare looking surprisingly frazzled.
“Twilight,” Dash gasped, seemingly unaware of the mess she had made, “Oh my gosh, Twilight! Twilight, we need your help! I mean I need your help! Lives depend upon it!”
“Whoa, there, Rainbow. What’s the problem?” Twilight replied, the anger she might have felt instantly squashed under a wave of concern for her friend.
“It’s… it’s…” Waving her forehooves around up in the air, Dash all but choked on her own words. “It’s a conspiracy!” she wheezed out at last. “It’s worse than missing out on Sweet Apple Cider Season! You’re the only pony I know who can do anything! Why won’t you just listen to me!”
“I am listening to you,” Twilight told her, raising an eyebrow. Spike, for his part, rolled his eyes.
“No, you’re not!” Dash cried out desperately. “Or else you’d already know what to do!”
Twilight held up a placating forehoof. “Look, slow down, alright,” she said, as calmly as she could. “Not everypony’s as… as quick on the uptake as you.”
Dash took a deep breath. “They don’t want me to have it,” the anxious pegasus stage-whispered to Twilight, shooting a glance at the door. “That must be what this is all about. There must be some big special secret they want to keep from me, it’s the one explanation which makes sense. The truth is out there, Twilight, written down somewhere, and you’re gonna help me uncover it.”
Now this alerted Twilight’s sense of intrigue.
“What truth written down where?” she whispered back. “Who doesn’t want you to have what?”
“Daring Do & The Volcano of Destiny, of course!” Dash practically wailed. “Order an ‘advance copy’, they said at A-Mare’s-ON, and it’s a whole day late! And by no fault of Derpy’s, either! Trust them to put precious cargo in the hooves of some guild-drone carrier, at least she knows the ins and outs of this town!”
Twilight did not blink once or twice. She blinked three times.
“And…” she began, recovering. “How can I help you with that problem?”
“How!” Dash echoed, one hoof waving wildly at their soggy surroundings. “You’ve got all... the... books! So you’ve gotta have a copy in here, right?”
“Rainbow,” Twilight said, patiently, or as patiently as possible given that her sanctuary from a world gone mad was now a bombsite, and her fresh coating of paper, cream and additives were rapidly drying towards a consistency best described as itchy. “This is a library, not a bookshop. We don’t get new additions to the catalogue unless we order them in, and since we’re not the National Library of Equestria, we don’t get complimentary copies from the publishers...”
“But… but this is a disaster!” Dash exclaimed, swooping up in the air with a beat of her wings. “It’s money down the drain, and worse, it means I won’t get to read it ahead of everypony else! Here I am, not coming in first, Twilight!”
Spike, who’d managed to scrape off most of his own basting of pureed notes, was walking towards the far side of the room, questing in search of cleaning supplies. “Someday,” he muttered, “she’s gonna have to learn not everything’s a competition.”
Oblivious to Spike’s wisdom, Rainbow Dash flew up to Twilight, getting so right in her face as to be almost touching snout-to-snout.
“Twilight, please,” Dash begged, shaking her friend by the shoulders. “If I don’t pick up that book today, I’m gonna be the laughingstock of the Ponyville Daring Do Fan Club. How could I show my face there again, after making such a big song-and-dance about getting that advance copy?”
Twilight remembered well that song-and-dance. It had involved Dash, whose showmareship and ego were second only to the Great and Powerful Trixie’s, going into a complete musical number, with a series of elaborate airwalks, including one ‘standing’ on her hindlegs.
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Twilight replied, and managed an honest, even affectionate smile. “Given that the Ponyville Daring Do Fan Club currently consists of you and me.”
Dash’s wings missed a beat.
“Oh. Right.” Sheepishly, Dash straightened herself in mid-air to rub the back of her head. “Well, heh, guess I kinda dropped the bombshell there, huh? You must think I’m a real idiot.”
“Look,” Twilight said kindly. “If it means that much to you, I can send a message to my mother.”
“Your Mom?” Dash asked, surprised. “What’s she got to do with this?”
Twilight grabbed a quill, inkwell and parchment as she explained.
“Alright,” she admitted. “The reason why I didn’t tell you this before is, even though we are friends, I didn’t want to be currying favours. You see, my mother is Twilight Velvet, and ever since retiring from Court, she’s been working as an editor for Hoovesbury Publishing, and A.K. Yearling is one of her clients.”
“Oh. My. Gosh,” Dash whispered in awe. “So, you mean that she gets to read books before they’re released?”
Twilight nodded, “That’s the gist of it. Miss Yearling’s manuscripts all pass through her first, on the way towards publication.”
“Why did nopony tell me this job exists?” Dash asked, the excitement beginning to return. “That’s how you make a story so many times more awesome!”
“Rainbow Dash, listen,” Twilight said quickly. She saw where this was going. “I know you might think it sounds great, but I don’t think you’d enjoy the job much. For every good piece of writing, there’s a whole lot of junk to wade through, and you’ve got to through every. Single. One of them. And the writers themselves can be a rather… pushy bunch.”
“Uh, okay?” Dash replied flatly.
“Yeah,” Twilight nodded. “It takes patience, and sometimes the writers refuse to take advice, do their own thing, and burn every bridge in sight. You wouldn’t believe how many times Mother’s told me of how, after countless twists and turns, what ends up making it to publication is something that was re-written from the ground up.”
But this just made Dash look happy again. “Oh, pfft,” she said, blowing a raspberry. “From the ground? I hardly ever touch the ground, Twilight. I’m telling you, I could do this easy.”
“That’s what you think,” Twilight said, scribbling away.
“Say, Twilight?” Dash added, after a lengthy pause. “Why’re you all covered in sugar?”
* * * * *
Being Lyra Heartstrings meant your mind couldn’t sit still for any great length of time.
On her way, she had taken a detour to merrily prance about a field of wild flowers – and out here in the Everfree Forest, the flowers could get very wild, with big pointy teeth and all – then, after this had resulted in a chunk of her tail getting nipped off, she’d changed course again to pop by Zecora’s hut, only to be greeted by a sign in some mystic language which, after careful processing, she’d figured said that the local zebra witch-doctor would be back in five minutes.
Lyra had decided, then and there, that she couldn’t wait five minutes. Though her minty tail might have a tuft missing, though there were other strange encounters to be made in the forest, it was all small potatoes, in her book. The important par, she told herself, patting her camera fondly, was that she still had research to do. Perhaps she could have her little mishap looked at afterwards by Bonbon, though her girlfriend wouldn’t be pleased to hear where she’d gone.
‘Remember, Lyra, if you stumble upon any oats out here, you’ve got to make it up to Bonbon by bringing ‘em back to her. You owe her, anyway.’
And so it was, a little battered, but otherwise unharmed, that Lyra had reached the chasm splitting the Castle of the Two Sisters from the rest of the Forest. There was only one tiny problem; the sole bridge to cross was gone.
She recalled what Twilight had told her of that night her friend, together with the five special mares who’d cottoned on for the ride, had travelled out into the wild to find the Elements of Harmony, and thus free Princess Luna from the curse of Nightmare Moon. Several trials of character had awaited them. Rainbow Dash’s, naturally, had involved flying across this very canyon to fix the rope-bridge.
What a surprise, Dash’s workmanship had proven pretty shoddy. Or not built to last, at any rate.
‘That’s what comes of only having teeth to grip things,’ Lyra thought, staring down at her forehooves crossly. ‘How am I going to get across? No way am I turning back!’
Across the chasm, the moss- and vine-covered ruins awaited, seeming to almost taunt her with how close they were, and yet so far. What was it, she wondered, about wanting things so hard that it felt as if they took on a mind of their own, usually so they could mock you? Or perhaps that was just something the Everfree did. The very clouds in this place moved on their own, for heavens’ sake.
It wasn’t such a wide space separating her from the other side. Stepping towards the edge, which loosened a few pebbles beneath her hooves, Lyra peered critically at the broken remains of the bridge hanging over the cliffside.
All that it’d require was a little focus, and she could magic her way forward. Maybe lift the opposite half of the bridge and join the pieces back together. Or, better yet, why not simply teleport?
Lyra wetted her lips, feeling a bead of sweat on her forehead. ‘Well, no shame in trying.’
Taking a cautious step back, she gritted her teeth, willing the spark to form at the tip of her horn. With concentration, a fleck of gold appeared, channelling the magical energy stored within her body from birth as a unicorn. Most unicorns specialised in two or three spells at most, and teleportation was notoriously difficult, but she’d been to Celestia’s School. She could do this.
“C’mon, Lyra,” she muttered, silently cursing herself for cutting class. “You’ll do fine, just think happy thoughts.”
That had been her Headmaster’s advice at the old school. But nice as Equestria was, sometimes she felt that ‘good cheer’ and positivity were treated as a bit too much of an all-purpose solution. She wasn’t sure they were doing much to help at this moment.
They had done only so much for her, after she got released from the Changeling Queen’s control.
Needles pricked her brain as the unwanted memory washed over her, and her spark died. Groaning, Lyra clutched at her forehead, feeling herself teeter on her three hooves, suddenly very conscious of how the sheer drop yawed ahead.
After living for years in a town where assaults from strange beasts were a fact of life, to have experienced such a close brush with doom back at her home city sent fear rippling down her coat. Although, as always, things had ended happily, the Royal Wedding a roaring success, a piece of her heart would ever carry the burden of knowing she’d been placed in thrall to a devil.
‘Think... happy thoughts…’ Lyra urged herself. ‘Sunshine and rainbows...’
Bonbon had been there to comfort her, in the night after, and for many nights beyond…
Such grand music Octavia Melody and Vinyl Scratch had made for the wedding…
The train ride in the company of Twilight and friends back to Ponyville…
… And it had been sort of interesting to meet a new species.
‘That’s better.’
With a raise of her head, Lyra smiled as she felt the spark reignite atop her horn. Confidence flooded her, confidence that nothing would, or could, ever keep her down for long. She was a mare of simple tastes, leading her own small life, content to leave duty to others, but none may call her idle, although they often did. When she wanted something dearly, she’d climb mountains for it. Or cross chasms, as the case may be.
Fueled by such thoughts, the picture of where she wished her magic to lead her coalesced within her mind, and a golden aura enveloped all of her. She closed her eyes at the brightness, feeling her body momentarily grow weightless in the space between spaces.
When she next opened her eyes, Lyra was surprised to be standing at the bottom of the chasm.
* * * * *
It was another kind of challenge for Rainbow Dash to contain her impatience, as well as her glee, while she watched her dear friend Twilight finish writing the letter that, finally, would get her the book she couldn’t wait to put her hooves on, wrap it up and tug it in bed by her side.
“There, that’s done,” Twilight said, rolling up the scroll. “Spike, care to do the honours?”
“Wait,” Dash said, “That thing he does, with the green fire and all, I thought it only sent messages to Princess Celestia?”
“I’m right here, Rainbow Dash,” Spike said, walking up to take the scroll from Twilight. “And, yeah, the spell’s designed so that anything I set on fire, instead of burning, gets sent to Celestia. That is, unless I concentrate really hard on doing it otherwise. If I want, for example, I can get a letter to Twilight’s mom’s living-room, no problem. Done it before.”
Looking almost bored, he blew upon the scroll which, as expected, dissolved without ash, not burnt but sent elsewhere.
“You know, Spike,” Dash said thoughtfully. “You ever try doing to that for a whole book?”
She’d said the wrong thing. Before her eyes, Spike gulped as Twilight visibly tensed up.
“He’s expressly forbidden from it,” Twilight said coldly. “Ever since that time he decided that, rather than have to return a trolley full of books the Princess had lent me, he could just burn them. Luckily Celestia thought it was funny. We had to set aside time for a whole six months, just so we could track down all the missing pages scattered around the Palace.”
”Every time you think you’ve put a book back together…” Spike mumbled abashedly. “Turns out there’s, like, an index missing, or an editor’s note…”
“Ah, well, never mind,” Dash said, desperate to change the subject. “So, uh, Twi’, how is your, um, research coming along?” she asked awkwardly, scanning the room for a suitable diversion. That was how she came to spot the Alicorn Amulet on the desk. “Researching the… Amulet, wasn’t it?”
That did the trick. Instantly, Twilight’s scientific curiosity supplanted her annoyance.
“Oh yes, it’s so exciting!” Twilight said, bouncing, of all things, over to her desk. “Would you believe,” she expostulated, levitating up the Amulet, “The intricate complexity which composes this thing’s matrix and thus lends it its capacity to amplify power, it’s just… astounding! Like nothing I’ve seen before!”
“Equish, please, Twilight,” Dash sighed, touching down beside her. “What does all that mean?”
Twilight grinned. “It means, if I’m reading this right, that the Alicorn Amulet works on every kind of pony magic, not only unicorns. Why, any pegasi and earthponies who put this on would become… how did you once put it?”
“Uh?” Dash’s mouth hung half-open. “Did I say something? I don’t do egghead stuff, Twilight, you know that.”
“Yes,” Twilight smiled. “But, didn’t you have this scale of percentage measurement for how you estimate, in superlatives, the abstract quality of an emotional high?”
Despite Dash’s previous words, the gears in her head, by now accustomed to Twilight-speak, were busily turning to translate what her friend had just said.
“Oh, right. Twenty percent cooler,” Dash said slowly, still half-agape. “Why does everypony act as if that’s my catchphrase or something? I only used it, like, that one time!”
“Well,” Twilight replied, tapping the Amulet, “Rarity did say she’d make a note of it, so she’d be prepared next time she’d have to make you a dress.” She paused briefly. “Hm, wasn’t that following the occasion when she’d offered us all new dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala, and we nearly ruined her career by micro-managing our commissions ‘til they looked awful?”
“Yeah, don’t remind me,” Dash said grumpily. “Twilight, why’ve you got this habit of telling everypony all the stuff they should already know?”
“I beg your pardon?”
Dash flexed her wings. “Like,” she grunted, holding out a forehoof, “every time we embark on an adventure, or go somewhere new, it’s like you feel worried we’re not gonna remember why we’re there and what we’ll be doing? I mean, maybe that’s just your thing, but it’s kinda weird. Who talks like that?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Somepony who’s all about keeping things neat and organised? The pony who gets things sorted for her friends when they’re in a sticky situation? Such as a late delivery on a new book?”
“Yeah, good point,” Dash admitted, bashfully rubbing the back of her head. “Guess it must it be second nature to you. Look, Twi’, it’s cool, just so long’s you don’t start telling me how you got that Amulet. I was a part of it, remember?”
“Yeah,” Twilight nodded hesitantly. “To be honest, I’d rather not think about it too much. That… really wasn’t the smiliest of outcomes to an adventure of ours.”
The brows furrowed on Rainbow Dash’s face. Her attempts to divert her friend’s attention had merely succeeded in leading deeper into uncomfortable territory. There was nothing for it, she’d have to own up.
“Hey, Twilight,” Dash said, laying a forehoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Sorry if I’ve been… kind of a pain to be around. Excitement, messes with my brain, ya know? But you don’t have to feel bad ‘bout what happened. Trixie had it coming.”
“That doesn’t mean I feel happy about it,” Twilight said glumly. “She did have a bit of a reason to feel angry at us. It isn’t like luring the Ursa Minor into Ponyville was her idea. And when push came to shove, she did try to fight it off instead of running away.”
“Bleh,” Dash said, pushing her tongue inside her cheek. “Shouldn’t have been boasting in the first place like she was.”
“You enjoy boasting.”
“Except I really am that great!” Dash insisted. “You don’t go around bragging about things you can’t do for real, that’s silly! Don’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk. Not that I do much, um… walking. ‘Sides, you’re goin’ about it as if that star-bear ate her up or something. But everypony got more scared than hurt, which’s the important thing, right?”
“It hurt her career,” Twilight said softly. “She told us so herself, made her a laughingstock. Nopony bought her showmare’s act after that embarrassing incident.”
“There you go again–” Dash began, but she cut herself off. “Yeah. Okay, that was rotten luck, worse than she deserved. Still doesn’t justify striding back into town wearing a dark artefact of black magic. How dare she? Honestly, Twilight, I’m surprised at you. You’re the one who Trixie was trying to show up, when all you did was fix her mess, cos’ that’s what you do.”
Spike, who was reading a magazine, coughed from his side of the room.
“If you ask me,” he muttered. “Should’ve shown Trixie what real magic was from the start, not let her hype up all her phony tricks. That’d have got her to hush her loud mouth real quick. That way she wouldn’t be staring now at a whole five years to figure out Hoofdini’s escape act.”
Twilight glared at him, and Dash found herself glaring at him, too.
“What? What’d I say?”
“You know, Spike,” Twilight whispered, “sometimes you don’t know when to hush yourself.”
Dash broke her glare. “Ah, go easy on him, Twilight. He’s just a kid.”
“Well, Rainbow,” Twilight said, glancing her way, “I don’t think it’s funny to crack jokes about a mare facing a five-year prison sentence.”
“You sound an awful lot like Fluttershy,” Dash grunted. “Last I saw of her, she was out in town collecting jam to send Trixie as a comfort package. I swear, all that kindness, it’s gonna land her in a real jam someday.”
“Sometimes I think there’s a lot more to Fluttershy’s meekness than meets the eye,” Twilight commented. “See how she got Discord to play nice… and that was a spirit of disharmony imprisoned for a thousand years.”
Rainbow Dash might have felt inclined to say more, but her own mention of Fluttershy’s care package had got her thinking back to the time she’d been the one to get such a package from her friends, at Wonderbolt Academy. As usual, because their lives were nothing if not filled with unlikely troubles, this simple act of delivery had led into a death-defying stunt of her rescuing the others when they got caught in a tornado, courtesy of her overzealous flight leader.
Still, after getting demoted, Lightning Dust had admitted she was wrong. Proven she had some loyalty to the team in her, not just loyalty to herself. Though left fuming, this had led Dash to forgive her for it all.
She wondered how much there really was to this “forgiveness” business.
… Typical of going to visit Twi’ for anything. It always had to wind up on thinking big thoughts.
* * * * *
“Now how’d I get down here?” Lyra grumbled aloud. “And how do I get out?”
There had to be a mishap in the magic. She’d wanted to transport herself to the other side, not get caught slap-bang between two cliffsides, a rock and a hard place, whichever was which. Vaguely, she supposed it was lucky she hadn’t utterly missed her mark and teleported in mid-air. Without any clouds to catch her, the fall would have been cruel.
‘Maybe I could create some stairs?’ Lyra thought, looking towards a large, flat brown rock. ‘Just one rock in front of the other, and I’ll be fine. Easy as piling oats.’
She took a deep breath, imagined holding the rock, and felt her magic grip it...
The rock shattered to powder underneath her grip.
‘What!’
Lyra had barely touched it with her TK. Barely even felt it in her magic. Either that had been particularly weak sandstone, or something weird was happening.
Her eyes darted the dry canyon bed for another rock, finally settling on something sturdier. Limestone, by the looks of it. A small slab, just to test it. Tongue sticking out, she tried again, feeling her magic wrap around the rock, ready to lift. Except this time, whereas her magic had pulverised the first rock, this time, she could barely hold onto it. It was as if the rock weighed about fifty pounds more than it should.
‘This doesn’t make any sense. Every teacher said I had above-average precision, whatever that means. So how am I doing this? Something has to be wrong with...’
Lyra froze, and let the rock drop to the ground.
‘The magic.’
Something hadn’t felt right when she’d tried out teleportation. When she’d lifted the first rock, she had gripped too hard without intending to. Now she was unable to lift something that, by all rights, ought to have been a piece of cake. What could have–
Lyra turned, heart caught in her throat.
There was something on the air, a kind of humming which had gotten stronger after her attempt to move the rock. She could almost, not quite hear it, but feel it. It wasn’t a noise. It was more as if someone had tapped a tuning fork to a rock, and Lyra’s horn was vibrating in tune with it.
‘Magical fluctuation!’ she thought, harried. ‘Oh, this could be bad! This could be very bad! Like, Bonbon getting-garbage-dumped-on-her levels of bad!’
Twitching, she looked all around for a way out of the chasm.
Instinct took over. Barely checking to ensure she still had her saddlebags and everything she needed inside, Lyra fled. She galloped as far away as she could from where she’d appeared, winding down what path the chasm had to offer, in desperate hope of finding some way out.
After a few moments, she caught a glimmer of… something, only to find herself near what looked like some kind of natural rock formation, not unlike a staircase.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Lyra breathed out, panting. “Didn’t expect finding a way would be that easy.”
Before she had set hoof on the stairs, however, the glimmer caught her eye again. It was originating from the inside of a cave to her right, a little way from the bottom of the ‘stairs’.
Hesitant, Lyra glanced upwards, to the blue skies. Then, in an instant, succumbing to curiosity, Lyra left her escape route behind, and trotted towards the gleam, into the cave’s mouth.
‘Some sort of natural crystal formation?’
The cave was deep, but it didn’t take her long to find the source of the light. Her eyes widened with wonder as, reaching the centre, they beheld a most extraordinary sight.
It looked, to all intents and purposes, like a giant tree.
But not just any tree. This one, majestic and towering within its lonely cavern, had apparently grown from the living crystal, sprouting five jagged branches which embossed at the ends by diamonds of different colours. Colours that looked oddly familiar to Lyra, though she couldn’t quite place them. At the heart of this tree in which the crystalline formations of the branches met, where a knothole might have been found upon an ordinary tree, was an arrangement not unlike a star.
‘Just like Twilight’s mark,’ some part of her thought, unbidden.
Below that, strangest of all, between the roots, were the imprints of the Sun and the Moon.
“Is it… you?” Lyra asked aloud, looking at the tree. “Are you the source of the magical disturbance?”
She felt almost stupid for talking to it, but reassured herself that she’d been taught there were many entities that existed within otherwise static objects.
The tree scintillated, twinkling as if in reply.
“Why?” Lyra asked simply. “Why am I…?”
There was a sudden rumble. Lyra turned around, frowning, before looking back at the tree. Another rumble came, shaking dust off the roof of the cavern, stronger than the last one, and then another.
‘Is the cave unstable?’ Lyra wondered uneasily, taking a step back.
Suddenly there was a flash of what almost looked like lightning, and Lyra jumped.
“What was that!” she yelled, more out of reflex than anything.
Another flash lashed out, seemingly from nowhere, and then like clockwork, another. Lyra backed away, feeling the urge to run, but something compelled her to stay – whether fear or morbid curiosity, she couldn’t say.
The flashes continued, one after the other, until in a sudden blaze of light there was an ultimate, blindingly white glare that filled the whole cavern. When it receded, a figure was standing in front of the tree, enveloped in a shroud of golden dust, turning the cool, pale light inside the cavern into that of the twilight Sun…
Blinking away tears, Lyra stared at the mysterious apparition, which stared back.
‘Bipedal. Clothes. Mostly hairless, except–’
“Ly-Lyra?” the figure whispered. “Lyra Heartstrings?”
“Yes…” Lyra whispered in reply, eyes wide with shock.
The figure spoke something, falteringly, in words she did not understand. But then, as if the speaker had caught the look of confusion in her eyes, it spoke anew. And this time, although the words came out as though they required the last of the speaker’s strength, she recognised them for her own native tongue.
“This… this must be Heaven… unless...” the figure said, something like a smile gracing its strange features. “You… you did it. Lyra… you actually… actually did it…”
That was all it said, as it lapsed into unconsciousness on the spot, collapsing heavily to the ground in front of the tree. At once, Lyra dashed over.
‘Human…’ Lyra thought reflexively as she checked the creature was still breathing. ‘It’s a human. Right? Two hands.’ Her brain had gone into analytical mode. ‘Bipedal structure and opposable-thumb hands…’
She noticed something else. The eerie reverberation in the background had dissipated. Which meant she should be able to work her magic again now.
“Hang on in there, pal,” Lyra whispered to the new creature, horn lighting anew, now certain she knew what it was. “I’ll get us some help.”
Her horn flashed, with far less effort this time, and Lyra found she had taken them back to where she had started, in front of the broken bridge. Even in her determination to aid a vulnerable stranger, her power could only carry them so far.
Drawing upon what she’d learnt of how the recovery position applied to two-legged creatures, Lyra rested its head against its forelimbs – its hands, she thought, regretting that she had no time to marvel – wincing at its unconscious groan.
The question crossed her mind as to who she’d get. Out here in the Everfree, Zecora was the obvious choice, yet there was no telling when she might return home. Briefly, Bulk Biceps‘ training spot crossed Lyra’s mind. She dismissed it almost instantly. Agreeable as the the bodybuilder could be, explaining things to him would cost her more time and trouble than he was worth. Besides, Lyra didn’t want to run the risk of that nosey parker Featherweight learning about the creature from his father.
That left her with no option but to make the run all the way back to Ponyville.
‘Twilight,’ Lyra thought, turning tail and setting off at a hard gallop. ‘She’ll know what to do, she always does.’
* * * * *
“And that’s how far I’ve got,” Twilight finished explaining at last. “See how far that is. I’m actually contemplating asking Discord if he can tell me anything about the highly mysterious, highly dangerous magical artefact. The point is, Rainbow,” she said, peering at the Amulet, “I don’t know how I’ll get this thing to unwrap its secrets for me.”
Dash tilted her head. “You sure it’s something we oughtta find out?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight asked, frowning in confusion. “Anything we can learn from this can tell us something about the past, when it was made, and who by!”
“And, maybe, why they wanted to create something that sends ponies power-mad and cuckoo-crazy? I get I’m not the brightest spark ‘round here, but what if it’s… I dunno, ‘things ponies were not meant to know’?”
Twilight snorted. “I don’t believe there are ‘things ponies were not meant to know’.”
“You’ll say that, and then you'll read some ancient book or find some ancient tomb and inadvertently unleash some mystical doodad,” Dash said, raising an eyebrow. “Like in that Daring Do rip-off, what was it… The Mareohs of Neighypt, when they cursed ponies and they turned into horrible monsters that could destroy the world!”
Twilight snorted. “Ancient artefacts don’t tend to cause curses and suchlike. That’s usually confined to the realm of fiction.”
“It drove Trixie crazy, that’s sort of like a curse.”
“Well, okay, that is a good point, but–” Twilight’s train of thought abruptly derailed. “You read a book other than Daring Do?”
Dash shrugged. “Got bored, got desperate, it looked similar… and Minus recommended it to me. Think she might’ve meant it as a prank. Last time I try broadening my horizons.” She smirked. “What do you think I am, stupid?”
“No, it’s not that,” Twilight began, and then she sighed. “Sorry, I’m happy that you did try. Anyway, broadening your horizons can be good.”
“Not to a pegasus, it isn’t,” Dash retorted. “The sky’s just right as it is, don’t need to be no bigger.”
Twilight snorted again. “I’m fairly certain that’s less a pegasus thing, and more a you thing. Plenty of other pegasi seem less averse to trying new things.”
Rainbow Dash sighed. “Look, I like what I like, it works for me. ‘Kay?”
It was Twilight’s turn to shrug. “Whatever you say, Dash. I have a lot to be–”
Before she could finish, the door to the library burst open.
“Twilight!” a familiar voice yelled, and Twilight yelped in surprise at the sight of a very breathless Lyra Heartstrings, who looked as though she’d been galloping at top speed. “You need to… one mo’…”
“Lyra?” Twilight managed. “What… what’s wrong?”
“Injured… creature… new…” Lyra replied haltingly. “Forest… Castle. Down the… chasm. You… need to come. Like, now.”
And without another word, she dashed out the door again, closing it. Twilight glanced at Dash.
“Sounds… weird,” Dash supplied after a moment.
Twilight sighed. “Come on, we need to get the others and follow her. Celestia only knows what this is about.”
She went to the front door and reopened it, only to now find herself nose-to-nose with the familiar, floofy-haired form of Pinkie Pie.
“Hi!” the exuberant baker said with a smile, almost casually.
Twilight blinked as she realised the rest of the Element Bearers – Rarity the seamstress, Applejack the apple farmer and Fluttershy the animal caretaker, the last of whom had her saddlebags slung around her waist – were standing in her doorstep behind Pinkie, looking various kinds of flustered.
“Uh…” Twilight said, “I was… about to come find you.”
“Yup!” Pinkie said cheerfully.
Twilight frowned in confusion. “Then… why are you…”
“Pinkie Sense.”
“... Pinkie Sense.”
“Had a real big doozy, thought you’d probably want the gang together, found them all, came here,” Pinkie clarified, still smiling. “There sure was a great disturbance in this horse!”
Dash glanced at Twilight. “Well, isn’t that ever so convenient.”
“Um, not really,” Fluttershy attempted, tapping her saddlebags. “See, I was out buying jam for Trixie…”
“Pinkie gathered us all in rather short order,” Rarity said, exasperated. “And I’ll have you know I was busy on an important new clothing line and–”
“Shucks, we were all busy,” Applejack put in, “but if it’s a Pinkie Sense, better to get it over with.” She smiled. “So, what’s up, Twi’?”
“Well,” Twilight began. “I was in the middle of trying to study the Alicorn Amulet, then Rainbow Dash came in, wanted my help getting the new Daring Do book, and after that was done, we had quite a chat about all that’s happened lately. I hoped those might be the last of our problems for a long time, but now Lyra’s popped by and she says there’s this new creature.”
“New creature?” Fluttershy asked, less timidly than usual. “Where?”
“Out in the Forest, I’m afraid. At the old Castle, what’s more,” Twilight explained. “That’s all I got. I think she said something about it being… injured.”
“How awful!” Fluttershy gasped. “We can’t just leave it out there on its own!”
“Fluttershy, I’ve no idea what this is, and Lyra, she can be pretty silly–”
“Not so silly as not to know when a critter needs help,” Applejack interrupted firmly. “If she says we’re needed, then needed we are. C’mon, girls, less yappin’, more gallopin’. We hafta get to the Castle, pronto.”
She turned and headed off, most of the others following. Dash’s brow was creasing.
“Y’know, there’s something screwy about all this. Like… I dunno, I have a bad feeling about–”
“Don’t say it,” Twilight said heavily. “Next you'll be telling me you have a ‘Dashie Sense’.”
Dash blinked. “Of course not, Twilight. That’d just be silly.”
Before Twilight could say anything else, Rainbow had turned and dashed off to follow the others. She quietly sighed and shook her head.
“You wait here, Spike. I’m off to see what all the fuss is about this time...”
As the door closed behind Twilight, the echo of her hurrying hoofsteps mixing with her friends’ in resounding further and further away, Spike shared a look with the newest occupant of their little family at Golden Oaks Library.
“Well then, Peewee,” he said, rolling up his magazine, discarding it. “Looks like it’s just you and me now. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. It’s how things work around here.”
The phoenix chick chirped affectionately.
* * * * *
He crawled.
He crawled because walking hurt, and because staying still was as good as dying. He crawled, because he could, and because that was a miracle in itself. He crawled because he was damned if he died in some hole, far from home.
He was damned if he died without doing everything he could. People counted on him. A world depended on him.
He crawled, leaving the chasm behind him, grimacing in pain as he did so.
He crawled and ran a checklist through his mind, to wrench his attention from the pain. What had happened to him? How had he landed here? And where was here?
Had that really been Lyra?
He crawled.
* * * * *
Catching up to Lyra did not yield any answers for Twilight.
Then again, only so much about that mare ever did, it seemed. Strange to think they’d been friends in Canterlot, and yet a lot about Lyra still felt like an enigma to Twilight. Over time, she’d come to suspect this had less to with Lyra than it did with herself, as her understanding of ‘friendship’ had greatly evolved in the days since moving to Ponyville. It remained a bit odd, nonetheless, that the only mare from the old Canterlot crowd to have moved with her should be the one she felt the least on an even keel with.
“Lyra, would you please just tell us what’s up?” Twilight cried exasperatedly.
“There was a creature!” Lyra called back, speaking in a rushed voice. “I don't know where it came from, there was some sort of magic, some kind of…”
“Slow down!” Twilight cried. “What do you mean ‘creature’?”
“I mean, a creature, a being, something I've never seen before!” Lyra called. “Well, not in the flesh anyway, but a–”
“Hold on,” Dash said suddenly, stopping dead in the air. “Everypony hold it!”
At once, everyone stopped along the forest path. Lyra looked back at Dash with annoyance, and Twilight couldn't help but share her confusion.
“What is it?”
“Over there,” Dash said, pointing, her voice low and hushed. “You see it. Right?”
Twilight looked at her, then at the thing she was pointing at, and then back at Dash. She took a breath.
“It’s a tree, Rainbow.”
Dash rolled her eyes. “Well, duh! Of course it’s a tree! But look at it!”
Sighing, Twilight looked back at the tree. It was an especially gnarled specimen of an old oak, sure, but there didn't seem to be anything particularly wrong with it.
“You see it, don't you?” Dash asked. She looked at the others. “Any of you?”
“Huh, I do!” Pinkie Pie put in. The pink party pony had her head tilted at an almost entirely upside-down angle, a look of concentration on her face. “It’s a skull!”
Turning to look at the tree once more, Twilight followed Pinkie’s lead in tilting her head. The other five followed suit. Now that Pinkie had said it, the tree’s arrangement did look like a pony’s skull. Sort of. The gloom under the canopy did not help.
“Yeah,” Lyra said, with a troubled frown. “It kinda does. Huh.”
“Ghastly,” Rarity said, eager and quick to straighten herself. “Only in the Everfree Forest would one ever get such a horrid display.”
Pinkie Pie tapped her chin. “Come to think of it… haven’t we been here before? I swear, that looks familiar.”
“Now that you mention it, darling,” Rarity said. “It does remind me of something. We have been here, right?”
“I think,” Fluttershy added tremulously, “I think I remember something like this tree, from the night we had to follow Nightmare Moon.”
“Here’s hoping that’s what the omen was, then,” Dash said.
“What omen? What do you mean?” Twilight asked, looking at Dash, who wore an expression of utmost concern on her face. She looked at the tree again, scowling at it, then back to Dash, who simply motioned to the tree as if to say ‘well?’
“So… it’s a tree that vaguely resembles a skull,” Twilight said after a moment. “Really… really vaguely.” She sighed. “How is this important?”
“It’s a Death Tree, Twilight!” Dash said, somewhat impatiently.
“A what?”
“Oh, come on!” Dash yelled. “You’re the egghead, you’ve got to have heard of a Death Tree!”
“I really haven’t,” Twilight said. “It must be an obscure myth of some kind…”
To her surprise, there came a small cough from behind her. Twilight turned to see Fluttershy smiling slightly, if worriedly.
”Back in the days before Equestria was unified,” Fluttershy said quietly, “there was a unit of pegasus troopers from the old junta, who marched through a forest. On hoof, because it was storming harder than they’d ever known, or would ever know until the Great Winter, and they hoped the cover might protect them. Look, they didn’t understand yet that it isn’t safe to shelter under trees in a lightning storm. And that’s how they came upon these trees which appeared in the shape of grinning skulls, but even though they took it as a bad sign, their commander pushed them on.”
“And they were never seen again,” Dash finished dramatically. “The trees were an omen! Only one soldier escaped, and he was half out of his mind! No-one ever truly discovered what happened that night.”
“Ever since then,” Fluttershy said, her voice quivering, “Death Trees have been omens of bad luck, death, and s-slaughter. Pegasi don't fly when they see one. We turn away.”
Twilight looked from Fluttershy to Dash with incredulity, Lyra’s urgency quite forgotten in all the commotion. “And you believe that hokum?”
Dash tapped the side of her head. “It’s one of the oldest campfire tales in pegasus history! We grew up with it!”
“It’s only a tree,” Twilight countered. “I mean, yeah, it’s an ugly tree…”
“Twilight, it’s a skull!” Dash said insistently. “We can all see it! Even you!”
“She’s right about that, sugarcube,” Applejack said somberly. “It’s a tree and it looks like a skull. Reckon that fits all the criteria for this ‘death tree’ thingamajig.”
“Exactly!” Dash said. “So it’s a Death Tree, it has to be!”
Twilight sighed. “Really, though? It’s an old tree. It looks a little bit like a skull. That doesn’t mean that some horrible thing is gonna happen–”
“Wh-what in Equestria is that?” shrieked Rarity, clutching Fluttershy.
There was a creature, staring at them from the woods.
“Oh no…” Lyra whispered.
It was tall, maybe six foot. Bipedal, and wearing clothes – grey, black and white camouflage patterns over the trousers and torso, the upper body attire consisting of some sort of light armour, the whole of it dirty, covered in grime and what looked like blood. Parts of the attire were torn, showing bloody gashes and at least one nasty burn. Its eyes were blue, its hair cropped short, down to a blonde and a wispy goatee on its chin.
Notably, there were a few odd markings on its pale skin. They were blue, almost luminescent, like writing in some unknown script.
“Everypony, stay calm,” Lyra said. “This is the creature I mentioned. Celestia knows how it dragged itself all this way…”
“What… the flaming Tartarus… are we looking at?” Rainbow Dash asked, a look of bewilderment on her face.
“Rainbow Dash, watch your language,” Fluttershy admonished reflexively.
The creature, whatever it was, was blinking at them, apparently confused.
“Wh–” it grunted, eyes widening slightly.
“That…” Lyra said, a grin forming on her face. “That’s a…”
“No!” the figure said, its voice masculine. It held up one of its upper arms – was that a claw, or a paw at the end? – in a warding gesture. “No, you won’t!”
This wiped the grin off Lyra’s face. When Twilight stepped forward, the creature took a step further back.
“Uh… we aren’t going to hurt you,” she said.
“You won’t change me!” he hissed with surprising venom for his condition. He stumbled backward, before, in a sudden motion, collapsing to the leaves-strewn path, seemingly from exhaustion.
At once, Lyra rushed forward, Twilight and the others behind her.
“What… what is it?” Rarity asked, frowning in confusion.
“I think…” Lyra said, clearing her throat. “I think it’s a human.”
There was a moment of confused silence before Twilight spoke up, frowning. “A… a human? But… but that’s impossible. Humans, they’re not real. They’re myths.”
“Ponyville seems to have somethin’ of a sizeable population of myths these days,” said Applejack.
“Yeah,” Lyra said, grinning at her, feeling triumphant despite the poor human’s injured state. “They’re supposed to be. But I’ve studied them all my life, and I can tell you, this,” she gestured at the figure, “is definitely one.”
She turned to gaze down at the unconscious human, uncertain how to react, giddy nonetheless.
“You know, I always wondered if they were real. I always believed…” Lyra let out an almost imperceptible squeal of excitement, forehooves dancing in the dirt. “And now, here it is! A human! Human-human-human!”
Twilight was still frowning, apparently unconvinced. “But…” she said slowly, repeating herself. “That’s impossible. They’re not real.”
Rarity shook her head. “I don’t think we’re in a position to judge on this one, Twilight.”
“It’s here,” Lyra said, pointing at the being which lay on the forest path. “It’s real.”
“Yeah,” Dash added with a smirk. “Try broadening your horizons, Twi’.”
Twilight gave her a withering look.
“Impossible or not,” Applejack interjected brusquely, “this fella needs a doctor somethin’ fierce. Look at these injuries... it’s beat up worse’n Braeburn in a bar fight with a buffalo.”
“Applejack’s right,” Fluttershy spoke up. “Something terrible must’ve happened to it.”
“That poor human, then!” Pinkie Pie said. “I hope we can help it out. Maybe a party will do the trick?”
“I’m not sure,” Fluttershy said, cradling her saddlebags. “I have a bad feeling about it.”
“You think so?” Pinkie asked, leaping onto a tree stump. “Everyone loves parties. Besides, I’m sure that when he wakes up he’ll be happy to have cake, and be surrounded by concerned faces.”
“First we need to get him to safety,” said Lyra, unsaddling her own bags. “Flutters, pass me your saddlebags, we can use these as a cushion for its head.”
Lyra pinched her bottom lip, staring over the injuries the human had suffered. Some were clearly lacerations, but more than a few made her think, based in no small part on prior experience, of magic burns.
“I wonder what happened to them…”
* * * * *
Another pair of eyes watched the group as they began trying to move the unconscious human. These eyes studied the mares carefully, lingering on Lyra Heartstrings especially.
‘I know these mares. They wouldn’t help a human without ponifying. Especially not him. And they wouldn’t be talking to the Apostate… if that really is her, somehow.’
And yet here they were.
‘Curious,’ the owner of those eyes thought. ‘Is this the past, or some strange alternate reality? Where am I?’
All evidence suggested that they were somewhere else.
Wherever this was, the owner of those carefully watching eyes knew their duty. They would follow, they would watch, and they would serve their Mistress’s interests.
* * * * *
And the Tree of Harmony... sighed.
The Tree could sense their presence, these six mares who wore as hallowed talismans the fruit it had once borne, and the alien creature brought from another world. Most of all, strange as this may feel, the Tree sensed their common friend, a curious little green unicorn who had stumbled upon it by happenstance, for happenstance it was. Destiny played little role in these things, less than many believed.
Would the six mares have collected their six talismans without the careful, attentive planning of Princess Celestia?
It was not a pre-ordained path which had led Lyra Heartstrings to find the human here. The human had been sent to this spot, one of a scant few unto which he could be sent, because out of all the vast realms of possibility, this was the reality in which Lyra had, by inadvertence, crossed paths with the Tree of Harmony.
The Tree did not possess the power of speech, not as beings of flesh-and-blood understood it, nor could its words be heard by ordinary ears. But had anyone chanced to visit it at that moment, they would have felt a peculiar sensation, akin to two words coursing through their selves, soft as the rustle of crystalline leaves in the wind.
‘Forgive Me.’
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Ah, no matter how much people pour through a story there's always typos or grammar weirdness
an old, half-forgotten path
Storywise it seems to be off to a good start. Good luck!
Well, I can safely say that my own issues these last few months (my father passing on, getting let go from a job I should have Rage Quit years ago, etc.) had at least one benefit: I missed the tail end of the cluster rut that prompted the reboot. So much to toss out, so much to keep and stitch back together.
8240502
And so many folks with different ideas about which is which. Still, we're all muddling through somehow 😁
Commiserations about your difficulties. I hope things get better for you soon.
"The Cutie Mark Crusaders were, in fact, just passing by, and would later attest that the entire house-tree had jumped in the air, performed a “totally awesome!” roots-over-branches flip, and landed neatly back in the resulting hole, none the worse for the wear."
Gotta say this part defintly made me smile.
Thanks for the update!
8244846
I suspect that The Void will have a greater say in Havok than I will (Havok as a figure in history was his idea initially). My purview is elsewhere (on which, more... at some point?). Vox and Sledge definitely have a host of ideas for the Krampus, though, so that's something to look forward to.
8244891
...huh. It is starting to sound like Havok isn't an old name for Discord. Good to know.
Is this Amulet Research going to be a Chekov's event?
8248448
Maybe 😉
8248992
I mean, it doesn't seem very relevant to the plot right now. Kinda distracting, really. Since you guys seem to know what you're doing there's probably going to be some epiphany down the line.
8249000
I'm a pretty big believer in the Chekhov's gun principle as a rule, even if I'm not perfect at putting it into practice, but even if I slipped up (And I do have an idea of the Amulet's relevance, personally) we've got an 11-person team, and someone's gonna have a crazy-fun/fun-crazy idea 😁
8248448
That, and an excuse to open on Twilight doing Twilight things, while establishing the approximate period of the show's canon this is set in.
But our "prime" Equestria is not the exact same as the one from the cartoon, either; for example, as Twilight regretfully exposits to Dash, Trixie got into a lot more trouble for her power-trip with the Amulet.
Foreshadowing abounds surrounding the Amulet's history as a corrupting influence, the kinds of enemies we know our heroines shall be facing, and the question of how right it is to condemn someone under mental control; the last of which I'd long argued to see more thoughtfully applied to Queen Celestia in the original story.
Thought it started out a bit on the slow side, but knowing what this is, I'm glad I stuck with it. It's good to get a sense of normalcy before it's utterly overturned, and that human showing up is a good way to flip the table.
I particularly liked Twilight and Dash's conversation early on. I wonder, was that deliberately a jab at the old troubles that lead to this story being rebooted. Seems pretty transparent knowing what I do.
And it seems our new friend didn't come through the portal alone. Oh dear, is that Weaver? Craaaaaaaap.
Who made this cover art?
8267212
Me: same general principle as the stuff I do for my own stories
8267600 impressive, what made you decide to draw it yourself, instead of asking someone else? Not that I'm complaining, and if I did it would just be nitpicking, but I am curious.
8267606
It's intended only as a temporary piece of art to serve as the story's current visual draw (since I personally think cover art helps a story's overall "look"), until such time as we get a more permanent (not to mention skilfully done) piece. I can do these pieces quick and for free, so using this as a placeholder made sense.
8267743 that makes sense, sorry if I offended your cover?
8267747
Nah 🙂 Questions are good. Been nice to have someone ask.
8267774 anyway, I hope you can find an artist soon; maybe the one who did the old cover, or someone else that's just as good.
8256613
Whoever that may be, if the chance it could be Weaver fills you with fear, we have done our jobs right.
“Not to a pegasus, it ain’t,” Dash retorted. “The sky’s just right as it is, don’t need to be no bigger.”
Maybe it's just me, but that last bit feels like something Applejack would say, not Rainbow Dash. Eh, who knows?
And you didn't have Marcus arrive in any condition to immediately almost kill the main six. My guess is that your saving his freakout until he actually wakes up in any condition to move without pain, or much pain at least.
Also, wow, Trixie is actually serving jail time. I never really thought of that. The use of the Tree I think lent a better feeling of connecting up Marcus's (assuming it is Marcus) transport between worlds as being part of a much bigger story/war. It is part of the titanic struggle between two creatures at the complete opposite end of the spectrum (heh, see what I did there.)
Finally, Discord is already free in this fic and watched over by Fluttershy (my guess for why this is, is that the original was started when the show was in season 2, or at least set in that time.) By the way, when does this story take place. I don't think you mentioned Twilight being an Alicorn and that emphatically wasn't the case in the original.
Ultimately, I really enjoyed this chapter. I thought it did a great job at worldbuilding and most of all, setting the tone. It builds the feel of Twilight and her friends lives and how they (though not without peril) are relatively good, especially in comparison to Earth, and how they are about to be dragged into a war that will test them beyond anything they can imagine. They are about to gaze into the abyss, and it will glare back at them like a Rainbow of Darkness. The part with the tree being extremely sad at being forced by necessity to force them into this conflict was a nice cap to the chapter.
Thank you for continuing this. I look forward to the next chapter. Until then, see you later!
8277607
No, that isn't Marcus. It's Marius, his alternate from a Mirror Universe in which not every solution to a problem is based on over-the-top violence.
I jest, yet the truth is, though Spectrum may have become a shared effort, Marcus is very much Redskin's character. Using him wouldn't have felt right. So this is a new man, created by JedR.
Yeah, the "Trixie is serving jailtime" angle was originally a cutaway joke in the original Spectrum that retroactively got mixed in with the dramatic swerve the story took, via 'In the Pale Moonlight' and the hectic production which came with it. It's unlikely things will follow the same line on this try, but I wanted to keep that in as a memento. And, much as I like Trixie, she and Starlight both got off too easily for their misdeeds, even by the standards of this show.
Though, as Rainbow reflects and the Tree illuminates, forgiveness is a... complex topic.
8278601
Dude, don't spoil every surprise 😛
And his name isn't Marius 😉
8277607
This story takes place in the middle of Season 3, or at least right before "Magical Mystery Cure".
Here's hoping i won't need a custom character index to keep track of everyone this time. Good chapter to start things off with, and i'm glad we're starting off smaller and more personal before things start going to hell.
I was really hoping that we would get Princess Twilight to start with this time around, but you can't win them all.
I like how almost every comment in this story has at least more than one upvote.
8294234
It's the predominance of positivity propogating positivity, I postulate.
8240487
Forgive me for being so pedantic, so late after you posted this...
But it's "pore".
Now, excuse me while I go remove, rotate and realign a single tile that was improperly laid on the sidewalk in front of the historic museum in my town.
8285262
Yeah... Considering these guys are hoping to reintegrate the old EU into this, fat chance.
That said, it looks like they wish to make sure not to use the EU as a crutch like they did in the original, so you can likely ignore the new side material without much risk of getting lost.
Say, what does the First Day of the Month of Rophon mean?
All of this is beautifully detailed, lush effort put into describing what's going on, and I had to go 'D'awww' at the idea of Fluttershy sending a care package to Trixie for her time in the clink. It's just the sort of thing she'd do. So far, the characterization of the characters is spot on, and the story has an intriguing hook. I'm interested in seeing how this differs from how the original Spectrum moved forward.
8278601
Honestly, Trixie's revenge felt sort of justified when you also throw in the fact that she effectively lost her home because of what those foals did and no one cared. That combined with no way to make a living..... yeah no. Starlight however will always piss me off because not only was her reasoning weak but it was just an excuse to use a knockoff of Sombra's background from the comics. Another tip in Trixie's defense is the mind altering effects of the Alicorn Talisman as was shown in that episode. She got it and probably put it on immediately and then travelled all that way there most likely by hoof (possibly teleporting but everyone saw how fast it influenced her) in the hope of fixing her ruined image by beating Twilight in a duel only for it to get twisted by it's influence. After that I think she needed therapy not jail-time.
Bit of a nitpick. But I think it's unlikely that Equestria would use the term "human", to refer to mythological furless apes. In the real world, "human" referrers to all people of all races (i.e. weather you're Japanese, American, or whatever: You're still human). I think the MLP world would probably use it the same way (i.e. weather you're a Pony, a Griffon, or whatever: You're still human).
Although, I suppose their term might be "humare". They don't have the term “man”, as far as we know. But they do have “mare”.
Something to remember about the term “man”: It doesn't always mean “male”. It can just mean “person/people”, especially in poetic contexts (e.g. “fall of man”, “mankind”, “human”, “where no man has gone before”). That's because in English, the male form is also the gender-neutral form (e.g. “actor” is male/gender-neutral, “actress” is female). So “man” can mean “male person”, or just “person”.
Anyway: Where we say “man”, the Ponies might say “mare”. The Ponies might say “where no mare has gone before”, and “humare”. It'd fit well with them saying “everypony”, instead of “everybody”. Plus the Ponies might use the female form as the gender-neutral form, seeing as there are a lot more female Ponies then male Ponies.
So, I've kind of talked myself out of my original position. The Ponies would likely use the term “humare” instead of “human”, to mean “anyone of any race”. Their term for the mythological race of furless apes may well “man” or “human”.
9388367
You're making a very English language based argument.
In Danish, there's no-gender on our word for 'human', while we use an equivalent of 'man' it doesn't hold the same neutrality as the English does. Despite how closely related English is to Danish.
From my linguistic point of view; Human is specifically for the species of humans.
Thus ponies could use 'Pony' instead when describing an undefined person.
Thus; Humare doesn't make sense, but Human does - because it's a non gender specific specie reference.
..."Change me?"
This reminds me of the War between Equestria and Earth, where Celestia sought to change all humans into ponies and take over Earth.
Although, I'm pretty sure that's not what this fic is aiming at.
Still, an interesting setting.
I've read the first chapters of three Spectrums now, and this is what the other two lack. We've barely even started, and I've already got a feel for the kind of person Lyra is. She's coming alive instead of being reduced to a cardboard cutout intended to make someone else's story seem less empty than it is.
She's also fun.
That is a wonderful turn of phrase.
Wonderous life lessons from Lyra Heartstrings.
And I am uplifted by hers. The life in this passage is such a refreshing change of pace from the version of Spectrum I read before this.
Oh, wow, that description of the Everfree was wonderful.
I like Lyra the Sensibly Prepared.
I'll also extend that to Twilight taking precautions and putting on safety gear before preforming tests on a powerful magical artifact.
Not wanting to be friends with someone who has abused you in the past does not make you a bad person, Twilight, so have no fears there. Also, later seasons will completely validate the scare quotes you placed around good. He is, canonically, an emotionally abusive asshole who never reforms.
Spike, you're the one who said that the Mare in the Moon was "an old pony tale", and none of the main cast had ever heard about Discord.
I don't have much to say about Rainbow Dash's scene. Not exactly putting her best hoof forward, but it's completely in character for her. That that, in itself, is a refreshing change of pace says a lot about both how her character often gets handled.
I can relate.
She cooked them up and ate them. All of them!
I mean, it got the job done. Nightmare Moon was defeated, Princess Celestia was returned, the Elements of Harmony were reactivated, Princess Luna was restored, the sun rose again, so on, so forth. All of those things, and so much more, rested on Dash's hasty repair to that bridge, even though Dash is someone who usually works with clouds instead of rope bridges. Given all of that, I kinda feel like it was pretty adequate.
You sweet innocent soul, you have no idea what's in store for you.
The same could be said of Rainbow Dash, because I happen to know that she's going to give up on her dream of joining the Wonderbolts, so that she can instead join the war effort, probably as a royal guard.
Oh my fucking God, this. So very much this. Especially in the case of the best cookbook I have. On the one hand, it's almost certainly older than I am. On the other hand, I've had the privilege of (briefly) handling books several centuries older than it could possibly be that are in far better condition.
I think the mobile game has that as one of her catchphrases. Also, that was wonderous Twilight speak.
Rainbow, you're friends with Applejack. Applejack was boasting about shit she couldn't do two episodes before Trixie even appeared, and - unlike Trixie - she didn't need unrelated boys acting dangerously stupid to make things become catastrophic, she did it all on her own. Trixie's boasting, by contrast, only resulted in the Ursa attack because Spike went out of his way to goad Snips and Snails into bringing the Ursa, which Trixie sure as fuck didn't tell Spike to do.
As such, Rainbow Dash, you're not in a position to make that argument. If you did, you'd be throwing one of your closest friends under the bus.
It made her homeless, Rainbow. I get that you don't really understand that. It's probably never occurred to you that there are people whose homes aren't houses, but Trixie is a traveling performer who lives in a wagon, and the Ursa destroyed that wagon. Her home, along with all of its contents, was destroyed because Spike, Snips, and Snails were all very, very stupid. Then, when she had nothing left and needed employment more than you ever have in your entire life, it turned out that the damage done to her reputation made it so she couldn't work.
It may not be physical harm, but that's a lot more than just being scared.
Spike, you corrupted minors into carrying out a terrorist attack that literally left her homeless and jobless. The reason no one asked you is because if people started to think about your role in things you'd be discovering the wonders of Equestria's juvenile criminal justice system.
You got away with everything scot-free, just take the win gracefully and shut up.
She'll become the princess of making people think big thoughts one day. Also, this is a much better fate for Lightning Dust than the canon approach of treating minor antagonists so badly that they become outright villains.
It's the Everfree; something weird is always happening.
Something that a lot of people don't realize is that hearing is actually a highly specialized form of feeling. Your whole body can hear, which you'll notice if you listen to something sufficiently loud with a strong baseline or if you're sick in a way that involves internal bubbling. The structure of the ear is all about turning that vibration sense from something that's very limited into something that's very versatile.
This has been today's episode of "Biology Lessons No One Asked For".
That is bad. Let us hope that it does not reach the "Special Agent Sweetie Drops getting covered in refuse" level of bad.
But not, it should be noted, the cutie marks of Celestia and Luna. Given that we don't know how Twilight described it, we don't know if it was her or Rainbow Dash who jumped to the wrong conclusion there.
Regardless, the one of the Sun shares as much in common with Zecora's maybe-cutie-mark/maybe-tattoo as it does with Celestia's cutie mark, while the moon mark isn't really that close to anyone's cutie mark. (It does bear a vague similarity to trixie's if you squint so hard you stop seeing that the star in her mark is on the tip of a wand, but that's some very hard squinting.)
I bring this up mostly because, once we get passed the incorrect claim that it has cutie marks on the trunk, the sun and the moon have a more obvious interpretation than Celestia and Luna. Harmony unites things as divergent as day and night.
Talking to that particular tree will never not be a reasonable approach.
I have read three versions of Spectrum, with this post rewrite version of one of them adding, "and change" to that. I still have no idea what Alex is talking about here. Did the martyred Lyra, she of the golden lyre by which so many swear, have some kind of plan for coming back from the dead? I know not.
Twilight, there are things that ponies were not meant to know. Remember that time Pinkie Pie opened her mind to monsters that crawled out of the works of H Pony Lovecart? Remember how they ran away? What they saw in Pinkie's mind is one of the things ponies are not meant to know.
(In point of fact, Twilight doesn't remember, because the Shadow Lock affair happened well after she became a princess, whereas this story is set before her ascension.)
Calling it now, the kidnapping arc from Other Side will be adapted into Present Spectrum, likely in conjunction with Shining Armor and Cadence's upcoming honeymoon in Ponyville, that gets mentioned next chapter
I absolutely love the detail that, even though she wants them to follow her immediately, she still closes the door behind her on the way out. It's like . . .
It's like this:
He closes the gate behind him, because of course he does.
Pinkie sense being used wisely is a rare thing, but this instance makes sense, and also takes into account the canonical limitations. Per canon, Pinkie has no indication of what a doozy is gonna be, so gathering everyone is the only thing she could do in response.
One wonders if they wasted time looking for Dash, or if Pinkie knew Dash was at the library.
Ever the Star Wars fan, that Pinkie Pie.
Ok, fine; you can fit in Star Wars too, Dash.
Ain't that the truth?
I wonder if he crawled.
For having noticed that fact, this Twilight is already way ahead of her canonical self at this point in time.
I have great ambivalence regarding the Death Trees, though I'm honestly not sure if that's because of what they are here, or because I've read what the author who originally decided to include them wanted them to be. This is much, much better, but . . . like I said, I'm not sure if me not being enamored with this is because of what's actually here, or because the dark cloud that dull plodding boringness from the other version has left over the concept.
You will be dragged into a war of extermination as heralded by a creature who thinks you evil and will legitimately attempt to assassinate Celestia via magical suicide bombing. Something horrible is gonna happen.
Seriously, check out the very next line:
Paw. Hands are forepaws. Fingernails and toenails are the human equivalent of claws. (This also means that hooves are the pony equivalent of claws.) It's just that, by synecdoche, "claw" can be used to mean "paw" which confuses things greatly.
Ponyville frequently hosts myths, but I think most of them actually live offsite. Discord is usally off doing whatever it is that Discord does, the former Mare in the Moon lives in Canterlot, Zecora lives in the Everfree, so on, so forth.
Lyra, please never stop Lyraing your way through life.
To be fair, she only said that it can be good.
That's an interesting image if ever there were one.
So does Rainbow Dash. And, you know, the entire cast of Star Wars at one point or another. Funny thing about those bad feelings, they always turned out to be right. Also, Pinkie Pie already felt "a great disturbance in this horse."
See, me being me, I'd have assumed I'd gone insane. That might have to do with spending much of my formative years being gaslit, though.
Like I said, talking to that particular tree will never not be reasonable.
I've seen other ways the human gets punted into "Sunny" Equestria, and I like them not. This happenstance I like far more than the contrivances and machinations of the other stories. It's an elegant explanation, like unto why lighting follows the path that it does.
And now I must sleep. See you all next chapter.
11021824
Well, well, what a pleasant sight we have here, heh.
You're damn right she is. She's fun, alright!
Aww.
Always a valid stance here, chris, indeed. You're not obligated to forgive someone who's abused you.
So can I!
Noooooo
Rainbow is the key to all of this, of course. Always has been
Early series Spike was not the nicest.
No one asked for, but it sure is fascinating. Thanks!
It just needed a voice, heh.
Side note; contrary to what people believe, Pinkie is not, in fact, a fourth-wall-breaker meta-commentator. Last I checked, at least.
Perhaps he crawled.
As she should be. It kind of bugs me still, but, feh.
I'm so sorry.
Elegant way of putting it, alright.
And see you next chapter, too!
I finally got down to reading this chapter.
And my oh my, there's so much to unpack. The human sees Lyra as some sort of savior, and then when they saw Twilight and co, he reacted with "You won't change me."
For the sake of non-meta knowledge, I assume that he's from the future and he has some sorta weird experience with Twilight experiments.
If we're talking meta...didn't Twilight in that Conversion story help Celestia with converting humans to ponies...?
I know you don't like comparing the story to the Conversion AU, but that's my first thoughts. I apologise in advance if I am wrong.
11021824,
And, welcome to the first chapter.
I’ll focus on a perhaps unexpected element, opening a tangent; to be honest, while at this stage, we do have it planned that a crisis provoked by dissidents could emerge on Sunny Equestria, much as one did in OG Spectrum, I doubt there’ll be many similarities to how it unfolded there.
I have already assured one reader that the same fate isn’t in store for Berry Punch.
Although there are elements I remember fondly from the Hostage Crisis Arc of OG Spectrum, overall, I tend to look back on it and the follow-up Pale Moonlight Arc with a feeling that my own contributions there represented a step backwards from Joy to the Worlds. More than anything, trying to properly edit these arcs was a nightmare and still not what I’d call my finest work, even considering those times I greenlit chapters exceeding 30,000 words for this version of Spectrum, prior to the rewrites.
The references to the Ponyville brickyard served mainly as a memento, early on in the reboot.
Anyway… Closing the tangent…
Here at the start of a new Spectrum, I’m keen not to dwell too long on comparisons to previous or alternate versions of the story.
Therefore this shall be the last time, for now, that I’ll be responding to anything other than comments directly relevant to this version.
… Of which you have supplied us an abundance, happily.
Out of the vast cast of characters in Spectrum, Lyra is surprisingly difficult to write for. We ought to count our lucky stars that for this first chapter, the full weight of Team Spectrum at that time was brought to bear on introducing our heroine and her world. Particularly from DoctorFluffy and TB3, both of whom contributed significantly to breathing life into Lyra, but also the Everfree Forest which she so boldly heads off to explore, well-prepared.
The challenge with Lyra, even as part of an ensemble piece, lies in determining what exactly makes her the heroine of this story. She’s the pony whom fanon has deemed loves humans, which places her in this role by default. Except that’s not necessarily sufficient by itself.
You’ve noted the many Star Wars references in this chapter alone. I’m of the opinion that while Star Wars will always be a classic, had the early franchise progressed no further than the 1977 movie, Luke Skywalker would be remembered as its weak link, the whiny farmboy protagonist overshadowed by the other, cooler characters… Even if he did blow up the Death Star. Personally, I’d say it is the next two movies of the original trilogy, and the role of Luke’s heart in resolving the central conflict, which cemented him as one of the all-time great heroes.
Whatever else we did with Lyra, we needed her to be proactive.
There are plenty of instances throughout Spectrum where events cannot help but lie outside of Lyra’s ability to control. Nor am I entirely sure we’ve handled a similar challenge with Alex Reiner, the first human seen in the story, who spends a lot of time in a passive role, though this is perhaps more justified by his status as a soldier following orders.
Still, tying this in with your contemplation about the “happenstance” of how Alex gets sent to Equestria in Spectrum, as opposed to what you say is the more mechanistic approach taken by other versions; above all, I wanted character agency to play some part in driving the circumstances that bring Sunny Equestria into the conflict here. To give the characters a chance, faced with a problem unlike any they’ve seen before, to decide what they’re going to do about it.
Maybe you could argue there’s only so much they really can do, yet to paraphrase the words of Jean-Paul Sartre, “Freedom is what we do with what is done to us”.*
* While this quote is sadly apocryphal, an actual quote of Sartre’s does appear at the header of Chapter Twenty-One of Spectrum, ‘Nostalgia’.
At the end of it all, I’m still not certain I know what qualifies Lyra to be the heroine.
But if you can say that she feels like a person beyond “the pony who loves humans”, this is good enough already, for me.
~Vox
Oooh, liking the setup thus far. Lyra is a delight and I quite like her characterization of her, #ArcheologyLyraBestLyra. Twilight and Dash's back and forth was quite fun and I do like the switcheroo on Rainbow's broaden horizons jab. That was a good play. The human's appearance is interesting and, despite knowing what he's talking about, I look forward to seeing how you guys spin the fanon classic.
11126064
Archeology? Don't you mean Anthropology?
Actually a few more chapters caught up, but I wanted to come back to this. Was this in the original 2.0? Pure metaphysics? He could have landed in any Equestria, but only ones with a Lyra at the exit point. Or to use my own Calculus of Destiny™: Fate says a Lyra must be present. Free Will allows for how many Lyras are available. Chance decides which Lyra was picked. That sound correct?
11208713
That's the gist of it, yep.
The guiding idea was that whatever metaphysical intelligence co-ordinated Alex Reiner's arrival picked a Tree of Harmony which had been found by Lyra Heartstrings, the pony likeliest to help him.
And we can presume there are not many Equestrias where Lyra stumbles across the Tree; Spectrum has shown that Sunny Equestria is closer-to-canon than Imperial Equestria but still not quite there, with minute differences in characters' histories such as Trixie's prison sentence or Cadance's family tree, or in the geopolitical layout, e.g. the closer ties between Equestria and other equine nations like Hippogriffia or Saddle Mareabia.
Sunny Equestria does, however, share a history with Imperial Equestria right up until the domino effect which causes Cadance to never become an alicorn, thus also leading to the more disastrous outcome of the confrontations with Chrysalis and Sombra.
?
I think I got the reference!
11269353
It's an often forgotten fact that Lyra was mind controlled during the Royal Wedding;
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQJeuVvtnwOGWIvKiBjGfFAdODv3g8xJj663CAOPyq8pLpU-eGGjUEiKf7J&s=10
Are we seriously talking about a tree now!?
10555224
11269442
For what???
Ahaaaaa, I love when magical experiments have unexpected but (technically) harmless effects!
She's barely spoken, but I can immediately hear her voice as clear as day. You have no idea how relieved I am that this is the case.
Hehehe, the "You're my friend, but you're a moron and have no idea what I do" talk
Oooooooooooooo, knowing what I do now, this is waaaay more pointed than it would be otherwise
may i have some Öats, Lyra?
points docked for referencing a far outdated memeVery honest depiction of old memories rearing their ugly heads, and excellent grounding technique. Lyra must have a very good therapist. And a very good girlfriend.
Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Exposition.
Boy, am I glad it's not hostile. Imagine if it went on a rampage across Ponyville and got folks hurt.
Girl, you know full well that there is a forbidden section of the Canterlot Archives filled with knowledge deemed too dangerous for the average pony to posses, not to mention Celestia's hidden archives (which you don't know about yet, so that one doesn't count).
time to reference an old video:
"Hey Ron." "Hey Billy. That hurt"
Glad to see that Fluttershy paid attention in History class, especially when it comes to Pegasi folklore that Twilight may not have taken the time to study.
Alright, let's review the chapter. Good hook, starting us off easy with some fluff and mystery. Far more subdued compared to the predecessor, which while not a high bar to pass, is appreciated none-the-less. I love how the series's canon is being referenced and incorporated, and the dialogue makes all of this feel like such a natural extension of the show itself. I haven't watched an episode of the show in quite some time, but I heard all the voices clear as day.
And thank fuck this human isn't as toxicly manly as the other ones.
11346190
Twilight at her best!
Huzzah! We do try, heh. I can't claim credit for this line, mind.
Yeah. At the time this was written, the old story falling apart was still fresh in our memories...
I understood that reference!
Equestria provides, you know
And LyraBon is a healthy couple, heh.
Vox and I joked about this from time to time, heh.
cough
gasp There's a forbidden section?
Celestia has a hidden stash???
Hah, neeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrd
I do hope, as a story on its own, it stands well enough out of the shadow of its predecessor.
Hmm, regardless of whether this chapter is the most recently edited interaction, I can sense the somewhat fragile machinery behind the writing. Much as I did enjoy the simple authenticity of how Dash and Twilight were written, I'm not quite sure if the meta-commentary about Twi's penchant for exposition dumping worked. It's clearly meant to be self-ironic, even cheeky, but perhaps it doesn't work with me simply because it's a little too "wink wink nudge nudge." It's by no means bad, but to see it crop up felt off. (This assumes it was intentionally ironic, of course)
I still enjoyed this chapter, though. Lyra especially felt true to her limited self - granted, her human centricity is something from well before my fandom time and isn't something I find particularly as enticing, but the subtle and less self-referential form that aspect comes up was greatly appreciated. That we've got at least four intrigued actors (five if you count the Tree of Harmony) also lends much narrative momentum to a chapter otherwise carried by interspersing of breaks and scene interruptions (which do work nicely to propel each scene forward).