The Lyrist and The Tempest

by Valiant wind

Chapter 19

This is not going to work.

Grey Wind felt the heat catching on her tail and rolled to the left. A laser shot beside her as her wings tilted to a different angle—that was close. If she timed that roll a second late, that attack would have ripped her entire wing off. She made an extra hard flap, using the momentum to charge forward while three grey tendrils crossed right behind her. She’d forgotten how long she’d been doing this kind of maneuver. The Gray Tempest was all around her. No place is safe in this space.

A tendril was forming on her left. She crossed her wings in front of her, ramming into it like an emerald drill. The tentacle was shattered into countless pieces as she dove past, but in the corner of her eye, she could see the pieces rising up and converging together. It has been like this through the entire fight. No matter how hard she crashed the nanomachines, they always reform faster than she could destroy.

She let out a sharp pant. She could not hold on for long. An ache was spreading all over her body. This husk she’d created for herself was reaching its limit. She had to end this, fast.

She looked down to the ocean of nanomachines beneath her. She could see the point where the energy was most abundant. The core of the Gray Tempest, that shadow of herself it had generated, must be hiding in there, protecting itself with a ten-meter-thick layer of nanomachines. In the previous moments of the fight, she’d made sure to land most of her blows above that point. The nanomachines had reformed the damage she inflicted, but she could see that it was getting thinner. Her original plan was to weaken it to an extent that a concentrated hit would pierce right into the core, but now she did not have the time nor the strength. Her only chance was now.

She curled her wings, bringing herself right above that point, and dove straight down. She pointed them to the front, gathering the energy of all her subunits into its tip. An emerald light coated her form, turning her into a pure green drill. She could see many tendrils converging below her, forming a huge barrier of grey. The Tempest was trying to protect itself. It was feeling threatened. She closed her eyes, listening to the wind pumping into her eardrums.

Please pierce it, please pierce it, please—

BOOM

Her body turned weightless. Wind slashed across her face as she found herself launched back into the air. Dizziness was spreading through her head. In her blurred vision, she saw the intact grey ocean beneath her, its surface clear as a mirror and without a single scratch. Her drill shattered and dissipated in a flicker of faint emerald glow. Her limbs were losing strength. She didn’t even have the power to flap her wings.

She didn’t get through the nanomachine’s defense. She failed.

A tendril lashed at her, but she didn’t have any will left to dodge it. It hit her in the belly and instantly wrapped itself around her torso. More tendrils joined the onslaught, bonding her in vines of nanomachines and locking her every joint into place. She felt the shock of electricity upon her fur—it was an electromagnetic field to prevent her from disintegrating into subunits. A final one wrapped itself around her neck, shutting her breath back into her surroundings.

She couldn’t resist anymore. She watched, eyes wide with terror, as the other “Grey Wind” emerged from the nanomachine sea and flew up to her.

“It’s all over,” There was no joy of victory in her voice. There was only a stiff calmness, “those emotions and fondness for organic lifeforms have made you weak. You betrayed your most basic programming. Your fate had already been sealed when you chose to give up the priority of survival. Commencing fixation.”

The tendril around her neck tightened. Grey Wind felt as if her lungs were exploding. The Gray Tempest was strangling her. She couldn’t fight. She couldn’t even scream. Her vision was blacking out from the lack of air.

This is it. She was dying. What will happen to Equestria? What will happen to the entire Universe? What will happen to Lyra and Nightjar? Whatever it was going to be, she could no longer change it.

Crack!

A crystal-clear sound and the worst pain in the world. She felt the pressure lifted from her body. She was falling, plummeting down, down, down…until her back touched something soft.

The impact made her eyes snap open in confusion. Her fall was slowed as if some pony was gently carrying her to the ground. An ember dome was forming above her, sealing the nanomachines to the outside. She was gently put down onto the ground, her wings comfortably arranged to one side of her body.

Then she heard a voice she thought she’d never hear again.

“Grey!!!”

“How is she?” Lyra exclaimed, focusing all her magic on her magical barrier. The nanomachines were crashing upon it like piranhas upon a sunken ox.

“She’s fine!” She heard Nightjar calling from behind. She swung her horn, pushing the barrier outwards. The nanomachines immediately drew back, and she heard the sizzle of their atoms being fractured by her magic.

“Lyra…Nightjar…you…” she heard Grey Wind’s weak murmurs. She stood for a few more seconds to ensure that the nanomachines won’t be breaking through anytime sooner, before turning around and watching as Nightjar supported Grey onto all fours.

“You shouldn’t have come…” she muttered.

“You are exhausted,” Lyra ordered, “sit down and have some rest. This barrier can hold for an entire day.”

Grey Wind was glaring into her eyes.

“Why…why use that code…? Equestria was safe by then…but now…”

“You expect us to abandon you?!” Nightjar jumped, “no, no, no! Absolutely no way!”

“You’ll die here as well…”

“Because we are stupid organic creatures with fatal evolution flaws,” Lyra interrupted, “oh, and your friends as well. Deal with it. Now put that face away. I’ve got a plan that could end this whole thing.”

Grey Wind fell silent. They sat down together, wings against wings, hoofs clutched to hoofs.

“Wow, so this is the Gray Tempest…” Nightjar was looking up through the barrier, “so many of them…”

“I was too weak,” Grey Wind whispered, “I couldn’t—”

“Stop it,” Lyra raised a hoof to her muzzles, “tell me, what would happen if we managed to kill this thing?”

“The consciousness controlling the Gray Tempest will be destroyed,” Grey Wind replied, “it will never assemble itself back anymore.”

“And if we mess up?”

“First we all die,” Grey Wind flinched, “and the entire galaxy dies after us.”

“Then we better make sure we don’t,” Lyra stood up, straightening her back, “alright, Grey. Tell me as soon as you feel like you can fight again. We are putting an end to this party.”

“There’s nothing we can do. There’s only three of us—”

“Are you really Grey Wind? Or just a simulated husk the Gray Tempest had created to fool us?” Lyra raised her chin with a beam, “cause the Grey Wind I know would NEVER give up this easily! She’ll do whatever she can to protect this world, even when it violates every single one of her programs!”

Grey Wind looked down for a while, then sighed heavily.

“Lyra, I just want to say…” she stood up, pacing to her side, “it’s…an honor to be your friend. And to fight along your side.”

“Yeah, that’s the spirit!” Nightjar hopped up to them, “now it’s time to get the show on the road! Hey, Grey, you had a program that could calculate the odds of winning, right? What are our chances?”

“Do you want to hear the truth?”

“Of course!”

“Ten percent, maybe lower,” Grey Wind lowered her head.

“I thought you’d say zero,” Lyra said, while Nightjar shivered.

“Oh, wow, it’s alright,” Lyra caught her mumbling, “it’s…it’s no big deal. I’ve been through worse nightmares than this…”

“I don’t know what your plan is, Lyra,” Grey Wind said, “but it better work pretty well.”

“Just you wait and see,” Lyra said, taking a mental deep breath. She could only hope that the writer of her schoolbook was not bloating with his discoveries. She closed her eyes and did her best to ignore the hum of the nanomachines. She folded her ears down, shutting all the outside sounds away. Nightjar, Grey Wind, the barrier, the nanomachines…everything disappeared. It was black in front of her eyes, behind her tail, above her horn, all around her. A blank canvas ready to be painted.

This is my dream, she asked herself, what do I want it to be like?

Power, she smiled. The answer was too obvious. She had never been in such a desperate for strength in her entire life. Not for showing off, not for appearing awesome in front of her peers, not for earning the respect of others. It was for protecting the ones she’d loved.

My dream will be one where I am very powerful. I have unlimited magic at my disposal, and I know every defensive and offensive spell that will help me defeat my enemies, she thought to herself, so that I can protect all my friends. So that I can protect the whole of Equestria.

A warmth lit up in her chest. Out of the depth of her heart, she could feel power pouring into her blood vessels, filling up every single cell of her body. Immense magical energy gathered on her horn, pulsing through her mane. The aura was pulling her body up, floating it into the air.

It’s working, she smirked.

“What is this—” she heard Grey Wind gasp.

“Woah…” then Nightjar exclaimed, “Lyra, you are glowing! How are you doing this?!”

“Isn’t obvious?” Lyra opened her eyes, looking up confidently to the nanomachine dome, “have you forgotten, Nighty? This is a dream! And inside a dream…” she raised her horn and slashed it down. Her barrier enlarged to thrice its former size, sending the nanomachines tumbling away from the center, “…you can be anything you want to be!”

What would I want to be? She grinned, this will be so much fun.

“For example…” she shouted. Magic was gathering on her back, condensing around her neck, “I could be…AN ALICORN!!!”

A golden aura exploded through the entire space. Lyra looked onto her back, smiling in satisfaction at the pair of wide, brilliant aquamarine wings sprouted from her fur. She spread them and took off in a powerful flap, rapidly rising towards the top of the dome. An ember column of light engulfed the nanomachines above her, tearing through them as Lyra burst out of the nanite sea’s surface. Lyra could see the white boundary of the dreamscape again.

Twilight, I’m so jealous of you now, she thought happily as she hovered, because this feels frickin’ fabulous.

“Come on, try it!” she shouted towards her friends, “it’s super fun!”

She summoned a magical shield, blocking a beam laser coming from below her, then condensed a blade of light on her horn and sliced through two tendrils that were trying to ambush her. At the same time, a second aura swept through the dreamscape. A black cloud was zipping up beside her, and in its center, Lyra saw Nightjar, dressed in a set of golden armor, a golden bow clutched in her front claws. Lightning was raining down around her, stabbing burning holes in the nanomachines below them.

Valhalla, Lyra recognized it immediately, the griffons’ Goddess of the Storm.

“THIS IS AWESOME!!!” Nightjar was roaring in excitement, “I thought that I wanted to be Valhalla, and then…I really became Valhalla!”

“Nice choice, Nighty,” Lyra smacked her shoulder, “now let’s go whack some nanomachines.”

As they darted off in opposite directions, a roar came from below them. A silver dragon broke through the Tempest and spiraled into the sky, green flame erupting from its mouth. Even at this distance, Lyra could feel the flame’s incredible temperature.

“You ponies are truly fascinating…” the dragon spoke, slashing a few tendrils into shreds with her sharp talons, “…we just violated at least a hundred laws of physics…”

“I LOVE that form, Grey!” Lyra yelled at her. The dragon smiled at her through her emerald eyes.

The tides were turned almost in an instant. Lyra felt as if they’d become three comets, darting through the dreamscape and cutting through all nanomachines lying on their path, painting the space with trails of black, ember, and green. A strong wind was starting to howl through the field. Magic, lasers, flames, and lightning shot across the air like the fireworks of the Summer Sun Celebration, blasting open boiling holes wherever they made contact with the Gray Tempest.

“This is impossible…” The Gray Tempest’s voice was worming into their ears, “you are against…the laws of the Universe…”

“That’s because a dumb machine like you will never know how to properly DREAM!” Lyra grimaced towards the Tempest’s center. She knew it probably couldn’t hear her, but it felt good. Amidst all the chaos, she managed to reassemble with Nightjar and Grey Wind, flying side by side through the tendrils, lasers, and plasma rounds thrown at them.

“Hey, having enough fun yet?” Lyra shouted, “cause I’m thinking it’s about time to call lights out!”

“No matter how hard we hit them, they’ll always come back!” the dragon Grey Wind shouted back, “we need to round them together and destroy them all at once!”

“I’ve got an idea!” Nightjar clapped her front claws, “Lyra, can you infuse my storm clouds with your magic?”

“A magical thunderstorm? I LOVE IT!” Lyra smiled at her, “Grey, cover us!”

“Got it!” The silver dragon dove downwards while Lyra and Nightjar shot straight up. At this height they could see the edges of the nanomachine ocean, sticking to white background like a giant black leech. Nightjar raised her front claws. Black clouds were forming around the Gray Tempest, surrounding the entirety of it in an enormous cloud-made prison. Lyra channeled magic into her horn and shot a magical beam at the cloud’s center. A bolt of golden lightning traversed through the clouds, dying them ember. More bolts of lightnings crackled as the clouds became infused with Lyra’s magic, blasting away the outmost layer of nanomachines. Mumbling her chants, Nightjar pressed her front claws together. The clouds shrank inwards, and the nanomachines sizzled as they were forced to the center. Very soon the clouds were almost closed, leaving only a thin cylinder where all the nanomachines were trapped. Some of them were trying to escape from the top, but Lyra placed a magical field and sealed off the clouds like a lid, trapping them inside.

“I can’t push in any further! They are retaliating!” Nightjar cried, “Grey, you’ll have to land the final blow!”

“Gladly!” The dragon roared as it dissipated into an enormous cloud of Grey Wind’s subunits. The pegasus dashed out of the mist, throwing all of the Tempest’s attacks behind her as she flew to the clouds’ top and dashed down like a falling star. Her subunits gathered around her, teeming with energy, enveloping her in a sharp emerald spear. The spear struck precisely into the eye of the storm, piercing through the Tempest all the way to the bottom. A shockwave shook the entire dreamscape as the storm clouds were consumed by a blinding green light.

“Grey!” Nightjar gasped.

“Don’t worry, I think she knows what she’s doing,” Lyra laughed. She brushed Nightjar’s wings with her own, and they flew down together and landed before the light.

When the light cleared itself, the Gray Tempest was gone. Grey Wind was standing in front of them, all healthy and safe, carrying the widest beam Lyra has ever seen on everypony else.

“I think…we did it, Lyra,” she said, “I can’t feel the Gray Tempest anymore.”

“HOORAY!” Nightjar jumped forward and swooped Grey Wind into her wings, then grabbed Lyra with her tail and thrust her into the embrace, “Lyra, you are so, so AWESOME! Who would’ve thought—”

“Ow, watch it, you are hurting my wings!” Lyra scratched behind Nightjar’s head, “besides, you are the one who’s awesome. The Goddess of Storm! I’ve read about her in griffon legends, but I never realized that she could be so cool!”

“And you, Grey!” Nightjar suddenly landed a kiss on Grey Wind’s cheek, “YOU CAN REALLY TURN INTO A DRAGON!”

“Hey, if you want to see it, I think I can do it outside this place as well,” Grey Wind’s face was red as an apple. Lyra giggled.

“My, what’s happening?” Nightjar asked.

Lyra looked around them. The space around them was collapsing, the whiteness gradually replaced by a hollowed void. A light was shining from above.

“I think that’s me waking up,” Grey Wind smiled shyly, “see you on the other side…my friends.”

“What a pity,” Lyra said, “I think I’m going to miss these wings.”

Then the light encased them all.

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The first thing Lyra did after she opened her eyes was to look at Grey Wind’s bed. Grey Wind had already sat up, smiling happily at her.

“Grey!” She cried, “you…you are alright now!”

“Yeah,” Grey Wind nodded, “looks like getting the Gray Tempest out of my head cured my concussion as well.”

“Ow…” Nightjar’s voice came from the other side of the room. She was leaning against an instrument shelf, “my paws hurt…I think I stepped onto a metal cup or something when we were in there…”

“By the moon, you are finally out!” Nebula’s voice came from the room’s corner. She looked a bit wary, but she was still smiling, “you were in there for five hours straight! Warmhoof even fell asleep! What exactly happened in there?”

The three friends looked at each other, then shared a hearted laugh.

“I’m already missing my storm clouds,” Nightjar yawned.

“I have to admit: being a dragon feels good,” Grey Wind was rubbing her chins, “maybe I should do it again sometime…”

“Please do. And don’t forget to shamelessly allow us to ride you,” Lyra joked, smiling.

Grey Wind, Nightjar, and me, she thought pleasantly, I think we just saved the world.

The memories of the past week began flowing back. She remembered the fire she’d put out by the lake, she remembered how she’d defended Grey Wind from the Tempest in the New Moon Forest, how she went through all the trouble to help Grey Wind become a real pony, how she’d resurrected Grey Wind with her mother’s final heritage, and finally, how she had stood fearlessly against the Gray Tempest, then came up with the perfect idea to save all her friends and put an end to this cosmetic horror. If some pony told her that she was going to achieve all these two weeks ago, she’d definitely slap him and tell him to stop dreaming.

Looks even a pony as insignificant as me could accomplish something, she laughed.

She felt a warmth rising from her heart again. But this wasn’t a dream anymore, how could that be?

“Huh?” She heard Grey Wind’s voice.

“Oh my, Lyra!” Nightjar gasped, “you are glowing again!”

Lyra was speechless. She watched, mouth agape, as a golden cloud flew out of her mane and reached backward. She didn’t know what it was, but somehow she could feel it clear as day as if it had become a part of her body. The cloud landed on her back and began to take shape, condensing into…

Lyra blinked, blinked, and blinked.

…A pair of majestic aquamarine wings.

The feelings she’d felt a few minutes ago in the dreamscape was coming back to her. Tentatively, she gave the wings a flap. Her heart felt as if it was racing out of her throat. She pinched her foreleg and looked again. She wasn’t dreaming anymore. The wings were still there.

“These…” Grey Wind was staring at her wings. A screen had floated in front of her eyes, “these were my subunits…you were controlling them…incredible…”

“Lyra, you…you…” Nightjar’s beak trembled, “…you are an ALICORN now!”

“Well, well, well,” Even Nebula went stiff for a few seconds. She quickly recovered and pushed on her shoulder, “whatever had happened in there must be very important. Looks like Equestria’s got itself a fifth princess.”

“That heart I gave you must’ve somehow connected you to the Gray Tempest’s system…” Grey Wind was smiling, “free energy and nanomachines…how could I have never thought about it before?”

“Lyra, how does it feel like?” Nightjar’s eyes were narrowed into two joyful slits, “are you feeling extremely powerful or extremely proud? Say something!”

And so Lyra spoke. The first words she spoke after becoming one of the rarest, bravest, kindest, and most powerful beings in all of Equestria:

“Wow. Just, wow.” She said.

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A fun space strategic game