Defenders Assemble

by Maxis122

Prologue : Lyra Heartstrings

Defenders Assemble
Prologue : Lyra Heartstrings
By Maxis122

The moderate breeze of the wind flew across the vast landscapes of Equestria. Cooling the heat of the land and calming the souls of its inhabitants. Everything sustained a sense of serenity and zen. A single green mare sat in the middle of the calm field of grass. Taking in the fresh air and using it to relax.

Any disturbance would be detected by her as she waited. Her eyes were closed by her ears were open. Sensitive to each and every sound. Her breathing was at a constant steady pace as she felt the air pass by her.

“I don’t like ponies sneaking up on me” She shouted, putting no effect on the approaching pony. After a few seconds of silence, she smirked and spoke up again, “Are you just going to stand there?”

“My names Agent Whooves” the pony said, “I’m from SHIELD” Lyra sighed as she rose to her hooves and grabbed her backpack.

“Whatever business offer you have, leave it” She said as she began to walk away. “I’m not interested”

“I’m not here on business” Whooves called after her. “I’m here about something much more important” She stopped and then turned around to look at the agent for the first time.

“And what would that be - special business?” She smirked as she let out a small laugh.

“The defence of Equestria” Whooves said. Lyra raised an eyebrow and approached Whooves, looking him in the eye.

“You think we’re not doing good enough?” Lyra asked with an assertive tone.

“Most of the time, you do a good job” Whooves stated, “but sometimes you don’t”

“Excuse me?” Lyra hissed as she took a step forward.

“One guard cannot take on a god” Whooves said firmly.

“So what are you here for then” Lyra asked as she sniffed. “To mock me about the incident at the wedding? To tell me that I can’t do my job?” Her voice rose as she mentioned the wedding.

“There is no problem with how you're doing your job” Whooves explained.

“Then why...” She stuttered.

“It’s your particular set of skills” Whooves said as he pulled a file from his jacket. “We believe they can be put to use in the Defenders program”

“The what program?” She questioned with much confusion in her voice.

“Defenders” He repeated, giving the file over to Lyra. “SHIELD is assembling a team of ponies who possess remarkable abilities. And I believe that you are just what this team needs”

“You think so?” She said as she looked at the documents in the file.

“I know so” He replied confidently. She read the names of the other team members and then looked back to Whooves with a look of disbelief.

“I’m sorry” She began, “But how are these ponies going to help. They’re just normal ponies!”

“Read into it and you will think otherwise” He said as he then looked to his watch. Lyra then looked up to him, seeing him looking down at his watch.

“Am I keeping you from something?” She asked.

“No” He replied quickly. “You’re the last one I have to deal with” Lyra raised an eyebrow to his statement and then referred back to the documents. She took a minute to skim through them, picking out the information that was important.

“I still don’t really understand” Lyra handed the document back to Whooves, still possessing a face of confusion. “I know Twilight, she’s not the one to get into a fight”

“You would be surprised” Whooves looked down and the document and then offered it back. “If you’re in, then you will need this”

“And what if I’m not” Lyra replied harshly. Whooves shrugged and then placed the document on the grass.

“You will” He said as he began to walk away. “We will pick you up tomorrow”

“Wait!” Lyra called after Whooves, who proceeded to stop. “I... I don’t think I can do this” Whooves smiled a little and turned to face Lyra fully.

“You’re more than capable to do this” Whooves then pulled out some sunglasses from his suit and placed them on his head. “You've got skill and heart. That's more than enough”

“Uh...” She then tried to think of what she could say next. A pony from some kind of group called SHIELD just approached her and gave her a document, which contained so much information about her.

“Don’t worry” Whooves broke her trail of thought, “The Director seems to have faith in you”

“The Director?” Lyra questioned.

“You’ll find out when you come in” Whooves the nodded and gestured at the documents. “But until then, you’ve got some reading up to do”

Whooves then turned back to the path that he was previously on. Lyra watched as he then walked over to a unicorn, who was also wearing a black suit. After nodding to each other and exchanging some words - the unicorn then teleported them away. Lyra had to spend a few long seconds to think about and process what happened.

This pony had just walked up to her and claimed so much, and then handed her a file that contained a massive amount of information. And the fact that he left it with her showed that he already had a large amount of trust in her. After retrieving the document and sitting back down, she began to read the documents in a lot more detail.

Reading each of the top names again she recycled the same reactions that she had shown the first time that she read them. But then she opened each one and found out more and more information. From personality profiles to abilities and powers. The sudden realisation came upon her as she realised that she was now in something much deeper and denser than before.

She quickly shoved the documents in her bag and took off for her house. Knowing that tomorrow would mark the last day of her normal life. And the first day of her new one.

Comments

[BenRG]

Somepony has clearly been thinking about this a long time and has access to intelligence capabilities that actually seem quite anomalous for Equestria (which appears to be in 18th-19th Century in human technological and social terms).

This is a very AU Lyra. Even with the little we have seen of her on-screen, she doesn't fit this pattern. That said, this is a fanfiction and if you can't play around with canon characters' personalities in fanfiction, what's the point?

I'll be looking out for further chapters of this story.

[Maxis122]

1443792 I thank you for your comments.

I was aiming to base Whooves around Phil Coulson in a way. And for the things about relationships, well - I was hinting it. So if I decided to go through with it I would have some foreshadowing in the background for it. Apart from that I was aiming for Max Plasma to be some kind of Hulk character and Lyra to be some kind of Black Widow styled character. As for Derpy - you will find out in the next chapter (or the first one, as these are prologues).