Chapter One: Machinations and Incantations
The next day, all the inhabitants of the small hamlet of Ponyville were abuzz about the events of the previous day – a foreign attack on Canterlot crashing the wedding, and its repulsion by the bride and groom themselves!
Rarity and Rainbow Dash, of course, had been there themselves, and so spoke of other things as they sat in the Mane Square – namely, the wedding reception.
“Who was that guy you were with at the reception, Rares?” Rainbow inquired from atop a low-hanging tuft of cumulus.
“You remember Fancy Pants, don’t you? You and the girls met him at the Canterlot Garden Party a couple of months ago.”
Rainbow tapped her chin with a hoof, recalling making a mess of the stuffy affair. That and Twilight’s horrible dancing. “Hehe, yeah.” She grinned down at the unicorn. “You and him were getting pretty chummy, eh?”
The fashionista swooned melodramatically, a dreamy look on her face. Rainbow Dash resisted the urge to gag… barely. “Oh, Dash, he’s such a gentlecolt. Debonair, refined, charming, sophisticated…”
“Don’t those all mean the same thing?”
Rarity paused. “You would think so, Dash.” She turned, back of her hoof against her forehead. “Alas,” she bemoaned, “he’s already engaged to that lovely fashion model, Fleur de Lis. It seems my chance has, regrettably, passed.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes, though the mischievous smirk soon returned. “It sounds like you have marriage on the mind.”
Rarity stopped gushing, looking quizzical. “Why do you say that?”
“IT’S MINE!” Dash shrieked in a good imitation of the alabaster unicorn, pantomiming a dive for an invisible bouquet. Landing on her back atop the cloud, Dash rolled around, shaking with peals of laughter.
Rarity looked thoroughly unamused, but kept any witty retorts in check. “And what about that dashing flyer of yours, Dash?”
Now it was the pegasus’ turn to swoon. “You mean Soarin’? The fastest, awesomest, sexiest, coolest stallion in Equestria?”
“How eloquent,” commented Rarity dryly.
“I mean it! After so many months of trying to get his attention, he asked me to dance!” Rainbow’s exuberance quickly degenerated into what, Rarity noted with alarm, seemed to be an advanced form of one of her usual fangirl freak-outs.
Rarity found it best to end the pegasus’ giggling after a minute or two. “Yes, well.” She cast her gaze around. “Did you see Twilight at all before the night’s end? It almost seems as though she vanished as soon as she was finished singing.”
Pinkie Pie, as she is wont to do, apparated next to the two to answer Rarity’s question, head emerging from a barrel of pickled cucumbers. “She was in the crowd, dancing with a giiiiirl~!”
Rarity boggled at the bubbly pink pony. “Pinkie, dear, where in the world did you come from?”
Pinkie smiled beatifically. “A rock farm, silly!”
Rarity opened her mouth as if to speak. Upon a moment’s silence, she slumped, defeated.
“Sooo random,” Dash whispered from atop her perch.
Pinkie’s words seemed to register a few moments later with Rarity, who straightened. “Wait… Pinkie, darling, did you say you saw Twilight… dancing with somepony?”
The party pony nodded excitedly, tumbling out of the barrel to stand. “Mhm!”
“… A mare?” Rarity raised a brow.
Pinkie nodded again, still smiling broadly.
“Well, well!” Rainbow declared, raising both brows slowly. “I never knew our little bookworm had it in her!” The pegasus cracked a mischievous grin.
“Oh, that won’t do,” tittered Rarity, prompting raised eyebrows from both of her friends.
“Why not?” asked Dash warily.
Rarity blinked. “Well – it’s certainly… atypical, isn’t it? Two mares?”
Pinkie merely tilted her head nearly ninety degrees. “… So?”
Rainbow gestured to Pinkie, nodding in agreement. “Who cares if Twi was dancing with a mare? As long as she was happy, right?”
Rarity pursed her lips, nodding. “… Of course.” She sighed quietly. “I’m just a bit… old-fashioned when it comes to affairs of romance. I do apologize if I offended you, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow threw her hooves up in exasperation, making a face and crossing them in front of her chest. “Even after I get a coltfriend, everypony still thinks I’m gay!”
Rarity paid little attention to the pegasus’ grumbling, looking curious. “Who is this mare that’s caught our Twilight’s eye, any way?
Pinkie bounced a little in place. “This green unicorn with a harp on her flank!”
The fashionista rested her chin on a hoof. “Lyra Heartstrings…?”
“You know her?” asked Rainbow, momentarily forgetting her wounded pride.
“Yes, she’s stopped at the Boutique a few times before. The last time she stopped by was a couple of weeks ago. I’m sure it was for her ensemble for attending the wedding.” She shrugged musingly. “I suppose I can see where the mutual interest would lie… they both attended the School for Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot, from what I’ve heard.”
“School sweethearts? So romantic!” Pinkie grinned like a madpony, bouncing again.
Rainbow rested her chin on her hooves, pondering. “Come to think of it, I did see those two talking after the slow dancing was over. Typical egghead romance – they kept pussyhoofing around each other and blushing! I’ll bet this Lyra chick doesn’t even know Twilight has the hots for her.”
Pinkie nodded emphatically. “You know our Twilight, Dashie! She doesn’t know how to deal with romancey-things!”
“Don’t,” Rainbow grumbled, “call me ‘Dashie’.”
Rarity seemed to be overcome with a sudden sense of resolve. “Then we must help Twilight and Lyra to admit their feelings, of course!”
Rainbow and Pinkie blinked at the unicorn. “Weren’t you just turning your nose up at them a minute ago?” Rainbow asked dryly.
Rarity huffed indignantly, tossing her mane. “I just want dear Twilight to be happy. If that means helping her to be with the… er… mare of her dreams, then so be it.” She furrowed her brow fiercely.
“Ohmigosh, that would be so exciting! We could have a ‘Twilight-Finally-Has-A-Marefriend Party’, with cake and everything! And it’s so super nice causeno-oneeverwritesthispairing, whatshouldwecallit, LyTwi, Twyra? Oh, I’m so excited!”
Rainbow and Rarity soon tuned out Pinkie’s chattering, shrugging at one another. “What’s our first step?” asked the pegasus.
Rarity put on a devious grin, the gears in her head whirring. “It’s simple, my dear – we throw a party.”
Pinkie looked almost ready to explode.
Elsewhere in Ponyville, Twilight hit the deck, hooves covering her head as she cringed and closed her eyes. After a moment’s silence, she cracked an eye open, glancing around. She let out a nervous laugh, noticing that ponies were staring, and stood back up, continuing to walk down the street. A false alarm, Twilight thought with relief. Usually when she was overcome by a sudden sense of foreboding, it meant a certain pink pony was about to unleash one of her crazy schemes upon the hapless librarian. Thank goodness.
Fears of a hyperactive pink blur thus assuaged, Twilight’s worries returned to the matter at hoof: that, she was convinced, Lyra Heartstrings, the local musician, had placed her under some sort of hex. That’s the only answer that makes sense, isn’t it? Twilight assured herself. The fuzzy feelings and her inability to forget last night’s dance were surely the results of some sort of dark magic, and nothing more. Not to mention the heat Twilight felt in her cheeks whenever she thought of the wily enchantress responsible.
If Twilight knew that she was straining credulity, she made no outward sign.
She exhaled, gathering her thoughts again as she paused outside the Books and Branches Library, her home and place of work. She’d stepped out for a morning walk to clear her mind, and felt she was ready again to begin searching for some sort of solution to her predicament. Smiling reassuringly to herself, she trotted briskly to the entrance, swinging the heavy, wooden door open with a wave of telekinetic magic.
Failing to take note of the resulting ‘whump’, Twilight peered about for her reptilian assistant. “Spike?” She turned her gaze a little to her right, eyeing a groaning pile of books and lofting a brow. “Spike, get out from behind the door before somepony swings it open and smacks you! You could get hurt.”
Dazedly popping his head from the pile of books, the slightly bruised whelp managed sarcasm even while in pain. “Wouldn’t want that,” he said, peering after Twilight as she hurried into the library.
“Did you find those books I listed off to you before I left?” asked Twilight, wasting no time as she prepared the table in the center of the room for her studies.
Spike nodded, gathering each of the tomes back up and stacking them as he hobbled over. “All six…” he groaned, dropping them with a loud thump next to the studious unicorn. This earned the assistant a smile and a grateful peck atop his head from his adoptive sister. Wrinkling his snout a little and rubbing the spot on his head, the dragon’s curiosity finally got the better of him. “What’s all this research for, any way?”
Twilight hefted a book aloft in her magic, thumbing quickly through the pages with her eyes flicking to and fro. “I’m trying to find any references to a certain type of hex.”
“What type is that?” Spike asked, trying vainly to follow the pages as he leaned on the table. Twilight stared at him for a moment, before returning to rapidly turning the pages.
After tearing her way through five of the books, Twilight let out a frustrated groan, dropping them on the table. “Nothing! Nothing about awkwardness, blushing, not being able to take my mind off of somepony for three hoofing seconds!” Her head soon went the way of the books, bonking into the table in frustration.
Spike’s mouth hung open, brow raised as he put the pieces together. Blushing? Awkwardness? Oh, come on, even I know what’s going on here. “You think a hex is responsible for…? Oh, c’mon, Twilight, I think you’re over-thinking this.”
“Over-thinking?! I’m being menaced by malevolent magic and you think I’m over-thinking?! I have to find a solution, before I explode! And catch on fire! And explode again!” Twilight was breathing heavily, shaking a bewildered Spike by the shoulders.
“Twilight! All I’m saying is, you should talk to the pony who—“
“That’s it!” cried the unicorn ecstatically. Setting Spike down, she hurried toward the door. “I’ll ask a hexologist in Canterlot! There’s all sorts of magical specialists in the city, so I’m sure one can help me!” Waddling after Twilight in concern, Spike was about to correct Twilight when he was slammed again by the door, this time by Twilight’s abrupt exit.
Standing and rubbing his head woozily, Spike began to bemoan his bad luck. “Well that coulda gone be—“
The door was flung open again, this time by a particular pink party pony. “Twiliiiight—Oh! Hey, Spikey!”
Spike let out an unintelligible groan. “Urgh…”
“I see!” cried Pinkie, tapping her chin with a hoof. “So Twilight thinks she’s under some sort of hex and doesn’t understand her own feelings, so she’s on her way to Canterlot to find a specialist, then?”
“Ngeh…”
“Thanks for the tip, Spike!”
Pinkie vanished out of the front door again, leaving Spike to nurse his pride – and his wounds.
Bon-Bon took a small sip of tea, eyeing the newspaper in front of her intently. It seemed that what had happened at the royal wedding the previous day was even more serious than she had thought. Lyra had just written it off as another odd day, of the sort that Ponyville itself saw rather often, but the confectioner found the thought of Equestrian royalty being bested by weird, shape-shifting bugs very… disconcerting. Not that her room-mate seemed to show any sign of it. Lyra was on the couch again, lying on her belly with her forelegs draped lazily over one arm. A dreamy smile was plastered over Lyra’s face, which Bon-Bon had long past discovered to be a signal of one of her room-mates daydreams.
Normally she found them rather endearing, but considering that Lyra had been lost in space all morning and all the previous night, they were just proving a little tiresome. “Lyra?”
Deep in the jungles of Brayzil, famed explorer of the Royal Equestrian Society, Lyra Heartstrings, hacked through the jungle undergrowth. Her machete, formed from pure, light-green magic from her horn, easily sliced through the thick jungle vines, allowing her a swift journey through the tangles of vegetation. Sniffing lightly at the air, the explorer stopped in her tracks. Smoke. Ducking behind a tree, she dug the blade into the bark, slowly clambering her way up to the canopy.
Standing atop the tree, Lyra turned her sharp gaze around over the vast sea of green sprawling off in each direction. The Amarezon River glittered silver in the distance. Soon, she spotted what she was looking for: a column of black smoke. Putting on her most determined grin, she took a leap, jumping onto the next tree, and then the next, moving over the treetops expertly.
Halting amid the branches of a kapok, Lyra peered between a pair of leaves at the encampment below. There, a tribe of feral ocelots danced around a large campfire. Upon the dance’s completion, they bore their prize over, tied to a wooden pole: a beautiful, purple unicorn maiden, screaming in terror. Tying off the end of her rope on a branch, Lyra resolved to let this go no longer, and to rescue the pony in peril before it was too late! Gripping the rope between two hooves, she kicked herself off the branch. “Geronimo!”
The ocelots were caught completely by surprise as Lyra swung through the clearing, landing solid blows against the jaws of each with her rear hooves as she passed by. Laughing, the explorer released her grip on the rope, dropping with a roll before landing on all fours. “My hero!” swooned the grateful damsel.
With a snicker-snack from the magical blade, the purple unicorn’s bonds were released, and she rushed to the daring explorer’s side. “Oh Lyra, I can never repay you for saving me.”
Looping her hooves around the unicorn’s neck, Lyra smiled. “You can start.” Slowly, their lips drew closer together, and—
“Lyra?”
“Lyra!”
“Buh?” The chartreuse pony tilted her head confusedly, staring over at her room-mate. Bon-Bon was giving her a very familiar deadpan glare. She must have been daydreaming again. “Hehe… Sorry, Bons.” Bon-Bon rolled her eyes at the unicorn, a sign, Lyra had since learned, that all was forgiven. Bon-Bon still didn’t have many friends in Ponyville, even though she’d moved from Foaland a couple of years ago, mostly due to her thick accent and peculiar manners of speech. When Lyra had moved into town, however, the two became fast friends, and had since developed a sort of understanding. Right now, that understanding was screaming that something was bugging Bon-Bon.
“Something bothering you?” the unicorn asked.
“You have been doing nothing but the swooning and the spacing since you arrived home,” Bon-Bon replied pointedly, trotting over toward the kitchen and moving around some of the things Lyra had left lying around when she made breakfast. This prompted a frown from the unicorn, who knew Bon-Bon only got into one of her neat-freak moods when something was upsetting her.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem upset.”
Bon-Bon turned, feather-duster in mouth, and blinked at Lyra. “No! Not upset,” she clarified a bit too quickly, “just concerned. I think you are putting too much of thought about this Twilight girl.”
Lyra flopped back with a sigh, putting on that smile again. “How couldn’t I? She’s smart, pretty, talented…”
“Cholera,” grumbled Bon-Bon disgruntledly around the handle of the duster, turning to dust off the side of the oven.
“Gesundheit.”
Folding her hooves over her chest, Lyra looked thoughtful, the smile slowly turning to a frown. “Not that I’ll ever get her to look at me twice,” she admitted resignedly. “I mean, she’s the apprentice of the feathering Princess of the Sun for… well… Celestia’s sake! I’m just a regular ol’ boring unicorn.” Lyra’s usual bravado soon faded into the sort of self-deprecation she only showed a sign of around her room-mate.
Bon-Bon looked thoughtfully to Lyra for a few moments, then spat out the duster, voice sympathetic. “You are not just a boring old unicorn, Lyra. You are beautiful, very talented, and… I—“
“That’s it!” blurted Lyra, hopping up to bounce happily on the sofa, her usual energy returning. “Talent! I can write a song for her!” She clapped her hooves excitedly. “Thanks, Bon!”
Bon-Bon stared blankly at Lyra for a moment, then turned to exit the room, rolling her eyes. “Nie wiem, dlaczego kładę się z tobą ...” she mumbled in exasperation, leaving Lyra to stand in confusion a moment longer before the unicorn hurried off to fetch her lyre.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AooMCiV2eb4
I'm going to preface this that mostly, I only read shipfics that contain clop, because... Well, clop. Sometimes, though, a story grabs my eye and I have to see if it's any good. This was one of them.
It delivered.
Also pretty much this. What do you call that pairing, why does nobody ever write this pairing, and why is this as good as it is?
Anyways, gonna keep an eye on this. It'll be... Interesting, I hope.
[youtube=ogMNV33AhCY]
dl.dropbox.com/u/93510029/spike.png dl.dropbox.com/u/93510029/spike.png dl.dropbox.com/u/93510029/spike.png
(I sense great pendulum spam)
1307808
Thank you for all the praise. You're making me blush!
And I dunno. It does seem natural, doesn't it? They're both odd, neurotic unicorns who presumably attended the same school, so you'd think they'd be paired up more.
1307809
I'm sure I've heard a dubstep remix of this song before. The original is awesome.
1307815 Now when you mention it, it sure is under-appreciated ship.
1307818 Probably this one.
[youtube=P3ot-LMuPgs]
Drumstep. Mea culpa.
1307808
Also, I call it Twyra.
1308073
Don't worry, there's no clop here.
Care to translate Bon-Bon's rant?
1308100
Sure thing. Cholera is a general exclamation of aggravation or dismay in Polish along the lines of 'dammit' or 'bloody hell'. That bit towards the end translates to 'I don't know why I put up with you...'
1308105
Appreciated. I know exactly zero Polish, so I didn't even know what kind of translator I'd need to run it through
1308120
I generally find Google Translate to be relatively reliable.
Damn it! I wanted this to be my thing! [link]
Hehe. I'll read this later. You've got my attention.
1308168
Non-overlapping magisteria, my friend!
Dig the art, by the way.
OK, you have peaked my interest, and I'm looking for some more!!
Pinkie, are you reading my thoughts?
1308084
Thanks so much
. I just know this is going to be awesome !!!!!
i was going to wait until i finished both chapters to upvote, fav, and track. but then this happened:
had to make a point of scrolling back up and mashing as many things to offer my approval as i could find.
now that i have finished reading it i would like to say that i love it. i eagerly look forward to more from this
Thanks everybrony! Thrilled that this has gotten much attention. I think I'll have a new chapter finished by tomorrow.
Hmmm.. a unique paring. Will track.
really enjoying the story so far, can't wait for an update!
Soon, my pretties... Soon.
You should make alternate parts with clop. For all the cloppers out there, I doubt this is one seen very often.
Lyra without "hands" nor "human"? Instant fav!
And fact that Lyra is best unicorn after Twi only helps, Twyra was meant to happen.
Why can bons suddenly speak polish?
1708822 Maybe she POLISHed her hooves! HAHAHAHHAHA
2572999 that was bad. I'll give it a strong 3 out of a weak 10
before i read further, i get the feeling bon bon likes lyra. i could be wrong tho. xD...good story to this point tho
I usually call it TwiLyra.
1308105 I was wondering about the cholera reference, seeing as how there is a disease called cholera.
5281119
People are still reading this?
"Cholera" is both the name of a disease and a vulgar exclamation in Polish. They're not related, to my knowledge.