Lunaverse Season 1

by Sunset JJ

Set in a different universe. where Princess Luna sealed her sister Celestia who became Corona and tried to bring the eternal day.

8. Helping Hands? Part 2

Lunaverse Episode 8-Helping Hands? Part 2

"Just make sure to get my horn length right," Lyra requested while she continued trying to play her lyre, as the train's conductor announced that there was only ten minutes until Canterlot. She'd managed to produce actual music by using the knuckles of her fingers, but they were clumsy, and the shortest finger tended to keep getting in the way. She was trying – and failing – to not let it get to her.

"Your horn," Trixie responded, "is this short. It's about an inch shorter than mine, making it about an inch and a half shorter than normal for a mare your height."

Lyra had previously had her eyes closed, but they snapped open at that. "It is not that much – whoa."

The former unicorn hadn't been watching Trixie work, keeping her eyes closed as she had tried to figure out how to play her lyre, trying to not be distracted by Trixie working glamor after glamor over herself. As a result, she was completely taken aback by what she saw. Normally, if one knew what one was looking for, one could always tell an illusion from a real image, as illusions rarely got all the fine details right.

This was one of those rare occasions. Trixie had done everything right: she hadn't just replicated Lyra's coat color, she had also replicated its appearance, the slightly shorter-than-normal, somewhat thicker hair. Trixie hadn't simply recolored her own mane and done it up, she'd duplicated the ponytail that Lyra had described to a tee, and as Trixie moved the false mane moved and shook and stretched like a normal mane. Trixie had gotten every detail of Lyra's golden eyes correct, the length her snout, the curve of her hooves, the lines on her face, the thickness of her eyebrows and lashes – and yes, even the length of her horn, and the details of the spiral that wound their way up its length.

But surpassing even that was the dress illusion that Trixie had woven over her cape. At first, it didn't move right as Trixie picked up what looked like a full white-and-gold dress and attached it around her throat like a cape, but then the dress seemed to shimmer, and everything fell into place: the golden brooch with a stylized lyre on the front, the white saddle with aquamarine lines running across it, the fine details of the fabric folding over her croup and dock, and the complimenting golden shoes that went over each hoof appeared – Lyra was one of the few ponies that could wear gold and pull it off without reminding ponies of the Tyrant Sun.

Trixie looked to Lyra, smiling a little with one eyebrow raised, mimicking an expression that Lyra often wore when looking for praise. Her horn glowed, gold, not its normal blue, and a golden aura appeared around her wizard's hat, which was unchanged. Trixie put the hat atop Lyra. "Well?" she asked. Trixie had even gotten Lyra's voice right.

"Um…" Lyra responded, blinking. "Uh…great. Yeah."

Trixie pouted. It was strange for Lyra to see her own body making such a face, without her wanting to. "Great?" she asked. "Great? That's it? Princess Luna herself wouldn't be able to see through this!"

"I've never seen an illusion this complicated," Lyra observed, leaning forward and inspecting Trixie. The detail stood up to any scrutiny, no matter how close Lyra got or what angle she looked at the illusion at.

Trixie grinned brightly. "That's better," she said, satisfied. "And it's not all one illusion. There's about a half-dozen over me, plus another four or five in the cape, all working together to support each other. Mind, I can't disguise something like this – if anypony tries to detect magic on me, they're probably going to go blind."

"That's alright, you can just say there's some magic in the dress," Lyra observed, gently putting a finger on Trixie's coat. Lyra knew that her coat was a little coarser than normal, but Trixie hadn't done anything to affect her own softer hair. Then again, Lyra supposed that wasn't likely to be a problem. "How long can you maintain this?"

Trixie grimaced. "As long as I have to," she said, shifting from one hoof to the next and back again for a few moments. "But…Lyra, as long as I can look like you, I really think you should re-consider me 'having an accident' and needing to miss the show. The blame won't be on you if we fake you, I dunno, getting hit by a carriage."

Lyra shook her head. "Can't," she said. "That would involve doctors and paramedics and just too many ponies to keep the fact that you're…well, you, and not me…a secret."

"Maybe stage a kidnapping!"

Lyra didn't dignify that idea with a response, instead sitting back against the inner door of their cabin and getting back to her lyre, which she told herself in no uncertain terms was not a hopeless struggle, that she could still play it, no matter what. At the moment, the plan was to have Trixie appear on-stage, disguised as Lyra, and pretend to be playing Lyra's lyre via telekinesis. The fact that she was using telekinesis would disguise that in reality, Lyra would be on stage, invisible, and actually the one holding her lyre and playing. It was certainly more likely to succeed that Trixie's offhoof suggesting of using her photographic memory spell to try and memorize the entire piece and the play it.

Somewhat more likely, anyway – Lyra's latest attempt to try and use her knuckles to string two chords together failed once again. "I don't believe this…!" she groaned. "I can't even play 'Smoke on the Water!' Everypony can play 'Smoke on the Water!' It's the string equivalent of 'Moonlight Sonata!'"

"I don't know what that is," Trixie admitted as she removed her hat from Lyra's head and looked it over, horn glowing – its normal blue, not Lyra's gold – and pushing magic into it.

"You know," Lyra said, humming out the tune for a few moments before continuing, "the piano piece? By Beet Root?"

Trixie considered the music for a moment, pausing in imbuing magic into her hat. "I can play 'Chopsticks,'" she stated, smiling as though in accomplishment.

The look of a Trixie-like grin, appearing on Lyra's face, when stating that she could play out something that barely qualified as an actual tune, was almost enough to make Lyra put her hands to use in trying to strangle Trixie. For that matter, it was possible that it would have been enough, had the inner door to their cabin not chosen that precise moment to slide open.

Bon Bon was aware of the fact that she could, sometimes, be a very moody pony, difficult to get along with. However, at the moment, if she were to –

– for example –

– be angry enough to beat a certain blue unicorn to death with that unicorn's own dismembered hind legs, she was fairly certain that this would not constitute one of her "normal mood swings" so much as "perfectly justifiable equicidal rage and temporary insanity." At a guess, she would probably get off with twenty years in jail for voluntary ponyslaughter – she might, in fact, even be able to argue for involuntary ponyslaughter. Maybe ten years, if she could get a commendation for good behavior. When she opened the cabin door, she felt that there was probably a fifty-fifty shot of her enacting her murderous plan.

But there was a flash of blue – which was strange in and of itself, as Bon Bon had always heard that ponies with deadly intent saw red, not blue – and Bon Bon found herself face-to-face with Lyra, actual Lyra, in her normal pony body, bedecked in her toga-like gown that she wore to formal occasions, looking at her with wide eyes.

" – ! – " Lyra began. Before she could get any further, Lyra was pressed against the cabin's outer door, Bon Bon's lips pressed firmly to hers.

The cream-colored earth pony drew away after a few moments, stifling a relieved giggle. "The spell wore off?" she asked, rage at Trixie forgotten as she again kissed Lyra's lips. "Oh, thank Luna – you know, you gave me the fright of my life – " another kiss, her marefriend wasn't returning them for some reason, "but it's fine now and – and…" another kiss, this one held for several moments as Lyra continued to not return it. Bon Bon paused at the lack of affection, pulling back from her marefriend and looking her in the eye. Lyra, herself, was frozen in place, eyes wide and blushing furiously. Behind Bon Bon, there was a cerulean-tinged glow for a few moments, and a few wisps of blue smoke.

"Um," Lyra said. Without moving her lips. Looking behind her, Bon Bon found herself staring at the pale-skinned, naked bear that Trixie had turned Lyra into, who had just shut the inner cabin door, and was holding up her forelegs as though to ward off a buck.

"Um," the naked bear Lyra repeated.

Bon Bon turned back to the fake Lyra – Trixie in disguise, some distant part of her mind reasoned – and stared at her. Trixie stared back, frozen in place. For several long moments, there was only silence in the cabin, as outside the train whistle blew and the train's conductor announced one minute until their arrival at Canterlot Central Station.

Bon Bon let out a slight giggle. She didn't know why. After a few moments, the giggle returned and didn't go away. Behind her, Lyra began to chuckle as well, while Trixie joined in a few moments later, though she stopped as she noticed Bon Bon's front hooves both reaching up and pressing against her neck, harder – and harder – and harder – Bon Bon still giggling like a school foal all the while.

"Um – " Trixie gasped out as Bon Bon bore down on her, her own forelegs flailing and horn glowing, though her blue-tinged telekinesis wasn't helping as much as it might have otherwise. "She – choking– help – !"

Bon Bon felt her hind legs being grabbed by something, and found herself being dragged away from Trixie. For some reason she was still giggling. "N-no!" she gasped out between fits, forelegs working to try and pull her back to Trixie. For whatever reason, she didn't buck with her hind hooves. "S-see? I have to – ha – I have to kill Trixie! That will undo the spell! Heehee! Right? 'Cause that's how magic always works in all those old stories!"

"Um, no," Lyra said, pulling Bon Bon back. "No, sweetie, magic doesn't work like that. It never has. Those stories are just holdovers from back when pegasi and earth ponies didn't know much about unicorns – "

"W-well," Bon Bon chuckled, "haha, well, I'm gonna try it! Because – because otherwise it looks like you're….well, if I had to guess…Trixie is going to play? Or what – or – or you're going to be on stage? Invisible, right? Ha! That's…that's…nope. Gonna kill Trixie. Heeheehee!"

Bon Bon felt forelegs wrapped around her barrel. Lyra was hugging her, as best she could with her strange new front legs, her cheek pressed to the top of Bon Bon's head. "Bon Bon, you're…calm down. Please? This is the only thing I can do!"

"No it isn't!" Bon Bon exclaimed, wriggling and struggling until she was out of Lyra's grip and turning to her marefriend, her giggles forgotten. "No, it isn't. You could…you could cancel!"

"That'd be a death sentence to my musical career," Lyra said, "at least if I want to do anything more serious than park concerts and weddings and birthday parties."

Bon Bon pointed at Lyra. "No, Lyra, that is a death sentence to your musical career! Trixie is a death sentence!"

"Bon Bon – "

"You don't even have hooves! How are you going to play? Can you play? Where's your cutie mark? You need to – "

"Bon Bon!" Lyra shouted. The earth pony stumbled slightly at the volume, eyes somehow managing to widen more as she noticed that the muscles in Lyra's new body were tensed, her face set in a look of determination, mouth open slightly and teeth – her predator teeth – gritted. After a moment of stunned quiet, Lyra continued. "I'm not missing this. No matter what."

Bon Bon's mouth opened and closed a few times of its own accord as she regarded Lyra and took in her statement, her absolute determination. "I…" she said. "I…I'm just trying to protect you…"

Lyra blinked. "I know," she said after a few moments, leaning forward and pressing her head to Bon Bon's own, eyes closed. Bon Bon's own eyes closed as she leaned into the nuzzle, imagining that it was her Lyra that she was touching, not…not whatever Lyra had become. "I know…you're scared for me. I'm scared for me. But this has to happen."

Bon Bon nodded in understanding. Lyra put absolutely nothing in front of her, she knew – but there were some things that stood on equal ground with their relationship. Her musical career was one of those things, or at least her intended musical career, the dream of it she'd had for as long as Bon Bon had known her. If Lyra said that backing out of this concert in some way would leave that dream stillborn…

No. No matter how crazy this Lyra's intentions were, no matter how stupid, Bon Bon couldn't do that do her. "Okay," she whispered softly, leaning up and kissing Lyra's changed lips, ignoring that they felt completely different, that her short, pointed nose got in the way. "Okay. How can I help? What can I do?"

"Help Trixie."

Bon Bon leaned away at that, opening her eyes and regarding Lyra incredulously. "But…" she objected. "But she's the one who got you into this mess!"

"And she's trying to help get me out of it," Lyra countered. "Okay? So just…just lay off her for a little bit. At least until the concert is over. We can deal with things from there. Okay?"

Bon Bon grimaced, mulling over Lyra's request in her head before sighing. "Okay, alright." She turned around, looking to Trixie, ignoring that she had done far too good a job creating her Lyra disguise. "What do you need?"

Trixie considered. One hoof was at her neck, as it looked like she was still trying to get over Bon Bon kissing her and trying to kill her in rapid succession. "Okay," she said – even her voice was disguised as Lyra's; Bon Bon idly wondered if Trixie would now be able to actually hold a tune, "okay, um…right. First, I need to know this or else it's going to be bugging me all night – how did you get aboard? Me and Lyra barely got aboard on time, and you ran off in the wrong direction!"

"I had a seat reserved," Bon Bon informed her. "Once I realized that Dinky had probably lied to me, I rushed as fast as I could to the station." She made a face. "What, did you think I was going to miss this?"

Trixie shrugged, conceding the point. "And this is a two-hour train ride. Why'd it take you so long to find our cabin?"

Bon Bon's eyes widened a little. "Er," she realized. "I…well, I looked through the normal passenger sections first, then tried to get into the private cabins, but there were some railway marshals who tried to stop me. Um…could you, maybe, use that magic of yours to disguise me when we're getting off? I might have given one or two of them concussions."

Lyra and Trixie stared.

"Maybe three," Bon Bon conceded.

Trixie ended up simply turning Bon Bon invisible, while giving her hat – into which she had woven a temporary invisibility enchantment – and her cape – which retained its heat-retaining enchantment and was, along with Lyra's lyre, rendered invisible by Trixie's hat – to Lyra. As soon as the three of them were a block from the train station, she dispelled the invisibility spell that surrounded Bon Bon, and the trio began making their way to the Princess Luna Academy of Advanced Magic and Higher Learning – usually just shortened to Luna's Magic Academy, or simply the Academy.

By now, a dull twinge had begun to manifest at the base of Trixie's horn, the result of her maintaining her perfect illusion. Compared to how she'd no doubt be feeling in a couple hours from maintaining the illusion, and Lyra's invisibility, for so long, the twinge was practically nothing.

"Okay," Lyra said, ignoring Trixie's glare at the fact that she was talking while invisible while walking to the gates of the Academy. "Once we're inside, just duck into a closet or something, and I'll give you your cape back, and my lyre, then go and see a pony named Troubadour, he's the one in charge of the night. He'll show you to your seat, we'll just stay there until it's time to perform."

Trixie shook her head, even as she caught sight of a clock perched inside of the Academy – it read 7:14. Just over forty-five minutes to showtime. "Close. You need to hold onto your lyre to practice."

Bon Bon jumped a little at that, glancing to Trixie. "She…she really can't play?" the earth pony demanded.

"No," Lyra stated morosely.

"Not yet," Trixie countered, offering a smile to Bon Bon as they passed through the Academy's gates and started making their way towards the concert hall. "That's why she needs to practice. She'll figure everything out in time for the show."

Bon Bon stared at Trixie, before nodding. "Right," she agreed. "Right. You will, Lyra. I know you will."

Trixie nodded in confirmation. As they approached the concert hall, Bon Bon had to leave them: she was part of the audience, not the show, and so had to enter through the main door rather than the side door that Lyra directed Trixie to, which was flanked by a pair of the university's security. They let Trixie through without stopping her, though, apparently recognizing Lyra on sight.

"Okay – " Lyra began in a low voice, or started to begin, but almost immediately on entering Trixie and Lyra found themselves face-to-face with a red-coated unicorn stallion, with a dark blue mane that had a shock of bright pink running through it, and a cutie mark of two crossed mandolins. He was wearing a dinner jacket and bowtie.

"Lyra!" the unicorn exclaimed, coming up to Trixie and extending a hoof. "You made it! I was starting to get worried!"

Lyra opened her mouth to respond, but put a hand to it before she could ruin things. Trixie, for her part, didn't miss a beat, taking the pony's hoof and shaking it. "Sorry, train was slow," she said, glancing to Lyra as she did. The former unicorn mouthed out that's Troubadour to Trixie, pointing at him. Trixie nodded, though whether to Lyra's information or simply to go along with what she had said, Lyra didn't know.

"One day Luna will get them to run on time," Troubadour said.

Trixie's eyes narrowed. "She tries," she said. "But really, that's a ministerial problem – "

"Sure," Troubadour interrupted, looking Trixie over. "You're not…planning on going on-stage like that, are you?"

The disguised unicorn's eyes narrowed a little further than that. "Of course not," she said.

"Well, um…where's…?"

Trixie reared up slightly, horn glowing – gold now, not Trixie's normal blue – and Lyra felt magic at her throat. Trixie's cape was taken from her shoulders, becoming visible again – or at least the dress it had been glamored to look like – and slinging it around her own shoulders. To Troubadour, it would have looked like Lyra had conjured it from nothingness. He took a step back as Trixie grinned brightly, repeating the process with Lyra's lyre. "Ha!" she proclaimed, bringing one hoof across the strings of the lyre in a single brisk movement. "Behold! The Majestic and Lovely Lyra Heartstrings is ready to play!"

Lyra very nearly resumed the murder of Trixie that Bon Bon had started earlier. She settled, instead, on covering her face with the palm of one hand, as though the inability to see would somehow wipe what had just occurred from reality.

Troubadour seemed taken aback as well. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Of course," Trixie said, getting down off of her hind legs and regarding Troubadour. She frowned slightly. "Don't all musicians have stage personas?"

Lyra's other hand joined the first one in covering her face.

"…sure," Troubadour responded. "Um…maybe tone things down a little. We don't want to give the wrong impression. We're looking for new students, remember."

Trixie pouted. "Fine."

"You sure you're okay?"

"Of course!" Trixie said firmly, smiling brightly. "It's not like I haven't done this before."

Lyra was all of five seconds away from planting her foot somewhere firmly in Trixie's flank.

"I thought this was your first solo show," Troubadour said.

Trixie waved him off. "My first solo show, sure. But it's not my first show. And it's not like I haven't played by myself before, in a park or out on the Academy grounds! This really isn't any different, except that I'm getting paid this time."

Troubadour, again, seemed confused. "Um – "

Trixie realized her mistake almost immediately and again waved off Troubadour. "In recognition!" she exclaimed, once again rearing up and strumming every string on Lyra's lyre. "In all the ponies that will see me perform tonight! My name will get out there to record companies and orchestras and such!"

"Ah," Troubadour responded. The stallion had backed away several more steps from Trixie. "Well. Um…you can just take your seat over there, on stage…I need to…um…" after a few moments of trying to think up what to do, he turned and walked away at a brisk pace.

Trixie watched him go, before looking at Lyra. "You're not getting paid?" she demanded.

What had been only a dull throb hour ago had grown and blossomed, as though tended-to by an earth pony gardener, into a beautiful flower of driving pain at the base of Trixie's horn and travelling its length. Trixie was doing her best to ignore it, focusing instead on Lyra as the pony-turned-naked-bear sat, in that bizarre cross-legged fashion, in front of Trixie, holding her lyre in both hands as she continued to try and stroke and play it. Trixie had cast two more illusions, one of a golden aura around the lyre and another aura around her horn, to make it seem to any passers-by that she was holding it up the lyre telekinetically and practicing herself.

On any other night, Trixie probably would barely have even noticed the drain on her magical reserves that those two most minor of glamors were creating. Tonight…tonight was a little different.

Didn't need to disguise my cutie mark, Trixie thought as she closed her eyes, trying to will the pain in her head and horn to go away. She imagined that she succeeded a little. Should have just worn the cape all the way here…I'm sure Lyra would have been alright for the fifteen-minute walk, it's barely freezing out.

The worst part of it all was that she really had outdone herself in the illusion department, to her own detriment: she couldn't, now that her cutie mark was safely covered, simply dispel the illusion disguising it, as she had looped the magic of that glamor into the other half-dozen or so that she'd cast upon herself, each illusion feeding into the others to make the whole that much more complete and real-seeming. But the drawback was that she couldn't disentangle one illusion from the other: they either had to all go at once, or else…

…or else I'm going to overchannel and pass out, Trixie reasoned. And then all her magic would collapse anyway – including the invisibility spell around Lyra.

Trixie shook her head, banishing that thought from her mind. Opening her eyes, she saw that time trying to convince herself that the throbbing in her head was just illusion had, at least, helped to pass the time. She and Lyra were sitting in the very front of the concert hall, directly in front of the stage; behind them, however, the audience for the show had begun to trot in, gradually filling up the seats. Lyra, meanwhile, had stopped practicing her lyre. She was watching the audience file in as well, her now much smaller eyes as wide as they could get as she bit her lip nervously. She was sweating, too – not much, but it was perceptible.

Trixie wondered, for the briefest moment, how everypony in the auditorium would react if – or when, it was looking increasingly likely – Trixie's spells failed and Lyra became visible to all. She once more, however, shook her head and banished the thought from her mind.

My special talent is magic, she informed herself. Not just magic, either – doing magic for others. This is exactly what I earned my cutie mark for. Lyra can do this, and I can do this for Lyra.

Trixie heard Lyra's name being called; looking, she saw Troubadour waving her towards the stage.

It was time.

Lyra stared out at the audience as she walked onto the stage, holding her lyre in one hand so that it looked like the illusory Lyra was moving it telekinetically, while her other hand adjusted Trixie's invisibility-bestowing hat that lay atop her head.

That's a lot of ponies.

The auditorium was absolutely packed. There were students, and prospectives – a lot of prospectives, actually – and teachers and staff. She recognized a couple junior members of the Court who fancied themselves patrons of the arts and often showed up at school functions. Bon Bon was there too, looking…well, unhappy was putting it mildly, but also concerned. She gave a nervous smile at Bon Bon, only to remember too late that Bon Bon couldn't actually see her, and sighed quietly. Great.

Her gaze fell over another pony sitting near the front of the auditorium. A gray mare with black hair and –

Oh no. She's here too?

Octavia Philharmonica, her mentor from the Academy, had shown up to see her prize pupil's first performance.

I can't even play with these stupid paws yet! I can't impress the students, much less the teachers, the Court, or freaking Octavia! She'll think I got lazy and haven't practiced since I graduated!

Trixie-as-Lyra reached the center of the stage. "Hello!" She called out. "Silence, please! I am about to astound and amaze – "

Okay, that was it. She might be about to crash and burn, but she wasn't going to look like a total idiot doing it. Lyra used one of her freakishly large paws to poke Trixie in the side. "Just go," she hissed, as quietly as she could.

"… so have fun!" finished Trixie lamely, sitting and emitting a strong golden glow from her horn. The lyre, still in Lyra's hands, glowed too. Now it would look like Trixie was playing it.

Provided Lyra could figure out how to use the stupid thing.

Troubador began to introduce Lyra, describing the recitals and small performances she'd given while at the Academy. "…one of the most remarkable students we've had, the first graduate of the dual music-magic program, and all around an incredible performer! Please give a warm welcome to Lyra Heartstrings!"

The crowd politely clapped their hooves on the ground.

"Alright, Trixie," muttered Lyra. "Just… just keep everything going, okay? I'll handle the rest."

"Sure you will," whispered Trixie. "You're Lyra Heartstrings. You're a great musician. You're – "

"Trixie."

Trixie chuckled quietly, then smiled and raised her head. Her horn glowed a little more brightly, and the string moved just slightly.

Lyra began.

Okay, think! I can use these weird joints as fake hooves. This piece starts easy, I can do this. Come on.

Lyra bent the strange joints on her right paw so that the hard, bony parts were jutting out. She passed them near the strings once, checking the range, then brought them closer in. This would have been much easier if she could have actually seen her paw, but then again that would have meant she was visible, and then she'd have a whole separate set of problems.

She passed her paw against the first note. It played, a bright, clean tone that echoed through the air.

Okay, that's the first note. Right, second note, same as the first.

She played the second note, then a small sequence. It was slow going, but the opening could be a little slow, that was just a phrasing thing. She'd make it up on the next sequence. It was coming, she moved her paws –

Wait. Forward or backwards? She still couldn't judge the distance between her paws and the lyre like she could with her hooves, and she wasn't sure how to move her paw to prepare for the next part. She froze for a moment, paralyzed in confusion, and as she jerked her paw to compensate, she accidentally brought it into the wrong note. A sharp, dissonant tone sounded, breaking the pure and clean atmosphere that she'd been building up.

No!

Trixie opened her mouth to babble something at the audience, so Lyra poked her in the side – harder this time. Come on! I can recover! Even Professor Eighth Note missed notes now and then!

She started again, but thoroughly flustered, her notes were uneven and arrhythmic. A staccato, bouncing tone – intended to be bright and spritely, winding up frantic – resounded, as Lyra tried to control her paws.

She was staring at her lyre, worried that, if she looked up at the audience, she would see scorn. She was crashing and burning, just like she'd feared – as she thought this, she missed a note, widening the interval between those surrounding it and giving them an unpleasant, incongruent feel – and she was out of time to practice or improve. Why in the world had she thought she could do this?

Because I'm Lyra Heartstrings.

It was a sudden thought, and it caused her pause just before she restarted the piece for the second time.

I'm Lyra Heartstrings, and I'm a great musician. Music is my special talent; it doesn't matter that my cutie mark's not visible. I've played this piece so often I know it in my sleep. And I'm going to play it now. She took a deep breath. I am.

First – calm myself. I'll get through this, but I need to relax. She took a few deep breaths, ignoring Trixie's whispered frantic comments and the murmurs of the audience. Okay. My teachers and Tavi always taught me to focus on the music during a performance, that if you're still working out the mechanics of how to hoof each note you're doing it wrong. I need to hear the music, not just think of how to play it. My body knows how to take it from there.

With a conscious effort, she forced thoughts of the audience, her body, even the lyre from her mind. She recalled the melody as she'd played it last night, before zebra magic had gone horribly awry. The first note was a C.

She let the 'C' fill her thoughts, picturing the perfect, clear quality. It needed to be bright, smooth, strong, energetic, with just the right volume. She listened to it in her inner ear, hearing it as perfectly as it playing it again. Play it, she thought.

And her body moved.

It wasn't the bony joint of her paws, but the very tip, which extended and – in a move that Lyra wouldn't have understood if she'd been thinking harder about it – stroked the string. The 'C' sounded.

Perfectly.

Lyra smiled and brought to mind the next few tones.

The piece started simply, with a few isolated notes and then a series of increasingly fast sequences. Lyra listened to them in her mind, felt them, and her body reacted accordingly, her oddly floppy claws reaching out and plucking at the correct strings. Then came a few simple chords, which were no more difficult. Lyra smiled as she felt her claws plucking multiple strings simultaneously – it actually felt just slightly easier than if she'd had to use hooves to do that – and the peppy major chords followed as a matter of course.

As she continued through the introduction, she missed an occasional note. Her muscle memory still wasn't working perfectly in this form, and she would occasionally either focus too hard on the mechanics of playing or come across a section that was just a bit too hard to do instinctively. But she moved past it, playing around the rare error and making up for it with the next sequences of notes. And, as she played, her clawing grew more sure, and she played the last eight measures of the introduction perfectly. She was getting the hang of this!

The next section was much harder, but Lyra didn't even think of that.

The chords were coming more quickly now, spreading out over the lyre, and ornamentations were starting to show up. Lyra's longest claw slipped on the first trill, making a faint twanging sound which wasn't supposed to be there, but she recovered and kept going. The grace notes and arpeggios led into the chords, giving them a faster and brighter energy and adding more movement to the piece. It was moving quickly now, not quite racing but at a faster clip than the ambling pace of the introduction. Still, Lyra was more than up to the challenge, and she couldn't help but smile as she heard the piece building up.

The chords sped up again, now with extremely rapid note sequences between them. Lyra's claws danced almost of their own accord over the strings. She knew, with the small amount of conscious thought that wasn't devoted to focusing on the music, that if she tried too hard to focus on what she was doing it would all fall apart. But she didn't let that give her pause. She just wouldn't think about what her paws – claws – whatever were doing; she'd just let them go. She had more than enough to do thinking about the music –

A faint sound next to her made her glance away. Trixie had shifted her weight slightly, as if starting to buckle under the strain. Her horn still glowed a bright yellow; the lyre still seemed to play by magical power, but Trixie herself was almost shaking with exhaustion. Lyra's eyes widened slightly. If Trixie collapsed, her illusions would fail too, and –

Thwump. Lyra's distraction had cost her, her claws tangled on one of the strings and dragged it into another, ending the sequence with an atonal screech and forcing her to untangle and start it again.

Focus! I trust Trixie. She's my friend, and she won't fail me. She began the sequence again. I know it.

The sequence segued right into a very rapid chromatic section that raced – and it was indeed a race now – over the lyre, an alternating ascending-descending series that stretched the range of the lyre to its limits, as if to demonstrate the instrument's full capacity. And, to keep it from being boring, there were all kinds of little ornaments in the chromatic section – grace notes, trills, faint echoes of the other previous themes.

Lyra met the challenge head on.

The resulting sequence of notes was a dizzying upwards and downwards spiral that seemed to carry the listeners up high into the air before a rapid descent back to the ground. The ornamentation added another dimension to the music and eventually grew into a melody all on its own, which first remained in the background behind the chromatic series before surging forwards and taking an equal share of the prominence. To balance two melodies, one chromatic and one tonal, was extraordinarily difficult, but for Lyra it seemed as natural as putting one hoof in front of the other. The chromatic section represented the full range of the notes Lyra had available to her; the tonal section showed how she could choose them to craft something beautiful. Materials and final product, together, in perfect harmony.

And so it continued. The piece had seven sections, and Lyra carried herself brilliantly through all of them. After the chromatic part was a long, slow, almost romantic movement which required the most subtle of shading, and then a staccato scherzo with extremely jumpy notes seeming to shoot out of her lyre as if fired from a cannon. Then came a part at medium speed, and with medium dynamics, but with the notes so tightly wound against each other that Lyra needed highly intricate clawing just to play them all without her claws and strings getting hopelessly tangled. The result, though, a rich melody that hovered amongst a few frequencies yet continually seemed to deepen and grow, was perfect.

The final section was a series of powerful chords and cadences, a sort of reward for the musician and audience for having the fortune to get this far and hear such beautiful music. The chords boomed out, resounding and echoing through the hall, and building into a massive climax that seemed to blast from the lyre. The music was bright but not blinding, energetic but not hyper, and powerful without quite being overwhelming. It was a perfect, beautiful ending that seemed to represent the entirety of the song – the intricacies of the romantic section, the rapid energy in the scherzo, the full range of notes introduced by the chromatic part – and bring them to their logical, and glorious conclusion.

Lyra ended with a perfect authentic cadence, then quickly lowered the lyre. "Bow," she whispered.

Trixie, looking rather tired, jerked herself to her full height, then bowed.

The thunderous applause was even louder than the music.

Lyra grinned, both in relief – she'd done it! She'd played a piece while in this screwed up, crazy, zebra-addled form! – and in excitement. Canterlot had heard her now! This would be huge for her career. She could get auditions in orchestras, private concerts, recitals –

"Thank you!" said Trixie, in an unusually exhausted voice. "Thank you! And now the, uh, Lyra must leave you. Until next time!" And she ran offstage at full speed.

What? Hey, get back here! Lyra chased after her.

Trixie took off through the back rooms, Lyra chasing her. "Trixie, come back!" she hissed. "We need to bow more! They might want an encore!"

Trixie didn't answer.

When Lyra finally caught up to Trixie, they were in a back alley, outside. The cold stung at Lyra, but she ignored it. "Trixie, we – "

Trixie collapsed.

"Trixie?"

"Hi," managed Trixie, rolling around so that she could see Lyra. "See? Told you I'd make sure everything was okay."

Lyra rushed to her fallen friend's side. Even as she did, a shudder passed through Trixie's body – then all the illusions around it collapsed, either simultaneously or else so close to it that Lyra couldn't tell. There were audible pops as they were transmuted into blue, wispy smoke that quickly floated up and away. The illusion disguising Trixie's cape followed suite immediately thereafter – though the invisibility spell imbued into Trixie's hat held out, at least, its magic imbued directly into the accessory rather than being constantly fed by Trixie.

"That's not good…" Trixie moaned a little at the sight of her illusions all failing, as her eyes closed.

"Oh no," Lyra said, grasping Trixie's head and lifting her up slightly. As near as Lyra could tell without her horn, it looked like her friend had just overchanneled – expended nearly all the magic in her body, a dangerous proposition that could send a unicorn into a coma for days or weeks – or longer. "Oh, no, no, no, Trixie, you have to stay awake, you overchanneled and if you go to sleep you'll – "

Trixie opened one eye in annoyance. "I didn't overchannel!" She exclaimed, then winced, putting a hoof to her head. "Ow…inside voice…I didn't overchannel. Magic's my special talent. I can't overchannel."

"That's not true, Trixie. Not even a little."

Trixie harrumphed. "Well," she said, "it'll take a lot more than that to bring down the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

Lyra blinked a few times, then let out a relieved chuckle as she sat down on her shins, wrapping her arms around her transformed body and trying to ignore the cold. After noticing this, Trixie's horn glowed as her telekinesis wrapped around the clasp of her cape, or started to before her magic faltered and failed.

"Hang on, I've got it," Lyra said, undoing Trixie's cape herself. To her immense surprise, the unicorn didn't object, instead just shifting so that Lyra could get her cape out from under her, then tie it around herself. Once done, she looked to Trixie, who had moved to sit on her stomach. "Thank-you," she said.

Trixie eyed Lyra. "For what?" she asked. "You did all the work in there."

"I'm not the one who collapsed from strain, though."

Trixie considered. "That's true…" she agreed, prompting another chuckle from Lyra, as she took off Trixie's hat in order to run one paw through her mane, getting an itch that had been bothing her. "We'll call it a…a team effort, then. The illusioncraft of the Great and Powerful Trixie, and the musical talents of the Majestic and Lovely Lyra!"

Lyra glared at Trixie.

Trixie, to her surprise, matched it. "And I can't believe you're not getting paid – "

The door to the alleyway opened with a bang as its metal struck the brick building it was attached to. "Lyra!" Troubadour called, looking around. "Lyra, you have to come back in, they'll want an en…"

Troubadour stared at Lyra and Trixie.

Lyra and Trixie stared at Troubadour.

"…core…" Troubadour finished, just before something heavy from inside the building – it looked like a Prench horn – came flying out the door and struck him in the back of the head. The unicorn fell to the ground without a sound after that, and Bon Bon – after looking out the door to see if she needed to remove the burden of consciousness from any other ponies – came out from the concert hall

"Try not to be unconscious for too long, it's super bad for you," Bon Bon stated as she dragged Troubadour inside, then came back out and looked to the other two occupants of the alleyway, who had both gotten to their feet.

Hooves.

Whatever.

"Okay," Bon Bon said, looking between the two of them, Lyra scrunching and un-scrunching Trixie's hat in her paws as she wondered if Bon Bon was about to resume her equicidal intentions towards Trixie. "It's just about nine o'clock. We're in an alley after having just committed assault and battery on a perfectly innocent pony – "

"Where's this we coming from?" Trixie demanded. "And how did you know where we were?"

" – and Lyra is still stuck as a naked bear," Bon Bon finished, ignoring Trixie's demand. "So…what's the plan?"

"I don't think we have a plan," Lyra mourned, looking to Trixie.

To her surprise, however, Trixie smiled. "Of course there's a plan," she said. "It's even a good one this time!"

"Yes?"

"We go to the castle!" Trixie said, smiling. "I'm Luna's personal student, they'll let me in no problem, same with you, Bon Bon, you'll be my guest. Heck, we can probably stay in my old room. Then we'll just start looking for all the ingredients for the counter-spells we haven't tried yet!"

Bon Bon considered for a moment, then nodded. "Okay," she said, "good plan. How many counter-spells are left to try?"

"Two or three, can't remember," Trixie said. "I dunno, check the book, I marked the pages."

There was a moment of silence, as Bon Bon stared at Trixie. There was a conspicuous lack of any kind of book either on or near her. There was an equally obvious lack of one on Trixie, while all Lyra held was Trixie's hat and her own lyre.

"Huh," Noteworthy said, as the blue earth pony picked up the book that was stamped with the Equestrian seal, which had been sitting on the seat of the cabin, carelessly forgotten by its owners. He paged through it, setting aside his cleaning tools for a moment as he looked it over, but he couldn't make heads or tails of it, and more than half didn't seem to be in Equestrian.

"Well, something else for the lost and found," Noteworthy decided as he tossed the book onto his cart, where it sat next to several hats and scarves, as well as a lost wallet (sadly, empty when Noteworthy had found it). "Honestly, I can't believe how forgetful some ponies can be…"

The front gate of Canterlot was, by night, guarded by a pair of Luna's personal soldiers, the Night Guard. At present, those two guards consisted of a pair of pegasus stallions, their coats blackened, the eyes yellow and slit like a dragon's, their ears tufted and sharp, their wings transformed to resemble those of a bat, and their teeth sharpened. This was not their normal appearance, but the armor they wore, imbued by the magic of Luna herself, transformed them, granting them extra speed, strength, and endurance. The goal was one of intimidation – to be so physically imposing that the mere sight of them would be enough to end any fight before it began, or stop one that was in progress.

But for crimes that took place on the grounds of Canterlot Castle itself, or else involved one of its residents, the Royal Guard of Canterlot did not normally involve themselves in normal municipal policing duties, leaving that in the capable hooves of Canterlot's normal police force. Of course, they did make exceptions if they saw a crime in progress – they would hardly just stand aside and watch if a pony was in danger.

Such as, for example, a blue unicorn, panting and struggling and in all ways looking exhausted and haggard and at the end of her rope, was seen charging (or, really, trudging, as she seemed too exhausted to run) towards the gates of Canterlot, being followed at a steady, relentless pace by a cream-colored earth pony who's intentions towards the unicorn could not have been more obvious had she been singing about it.

The two pegasi looked to each other, before one, in silent agreement, stepped forward as the unicorn approached. "Ma'am, are you in need of assistance?" he asked.

The unicorn opened her mouth to answer, but all she could do was suck in breath. "No…fine…just…ha…gimme…second…"

The other Night Guard stepped forward as well, head tilting to the side a little as he regarded the disheveled unicorn. "Miss Lulamoon?" he asked.

Trixie looked to him, glaring for a moment, before deciding that, for once, she didn't care. "Yeah," she said, as her horn glowed, sputtered, then glowed again, a cantrip dancing from it as she cast the spell, thankfully a simple one, that would allow her to see past the transformation caused by Luna's boon and regard the pegasus ponies beneath it and, more importantly, the invisible-to-the-naked-eye nameplates on their unifroms. "Um…officers Moonlight Smiles and Frolicsome Meadowlark. I'd like to go in, please. One guest."

At the moment, Trixie was too exhausted from running from Bon Bon while magically running on empty to note the vast incongruity between their names and their chosen professions. The two pegasi considered Trixie, and Bon Bon as the earth pony finally stopped in her advance, directly behind Trixie, and continued to glare at her. Lyra was standing right beside her, stilled bedecked in Trixie's warming cape and invisibility-bestowing hat, clutching her lyre tightly. Unlike Trixie's earlier invisibility spells, the enchantment she had woven into her hat was rendering the lyre invisible.

The two pegasi Night Guards looked to each other, before looking back to Trixie. "ID, please," Moonlight Smiles requested.

Trixie froze, as she felt Bon Bon's eyes boring into her. "Um…" she said. "ID? Come on, officers, you recognize me, I'm Luna's student…"

"Procedure is procedure," Frolicsome Meadowlark responded.

"I've never needed it before."

The stoic façade of the two Night Guards broke at that, as each offered thin, but toothy, grins. "That was when you lived here, ma'am," Moonlight said. "But visitors are required to have some form of ID, as I'm sure you well know."

Trixie blinked rapidly at that. "Oh, come on!" she exclaimed. "You know who I am!"

"Yes," Moonlight confirmed. It dawned on Trixie that it was precisely because they knew who she was that they were doing this to her. "Where's your hat and cape?"

Trixie resisted the urge to look at Lyra. "Occupied," she said.

"Probably lost them," Frolicsome said, before looking slightly sympathetic. "I know what that's like. Lost my helmet recent in a flood."

Trixie grimaced at that. She had a strong suspicion she knew exactly where this was going, why the guards were giving her a hard time.

"I suppose we could test her, somehow." Moonlight added, looking to his companion.

"Got something in mind?" Frolicsome asked.

"Not really. Shame she melted the entire ice palace, otherwise we could just – "

"Oh, ha ha ha," Trixie interrupted. "Look, can we please just skip the part where you give me a hard time? We all know that you're going to let me through because if you don't, I'll tell Luna!"

The two guards' expressions did not change as they once again regarded each other. "Sure sounds like Trixie," Frolicsome noted. "But it's difficult to tell because there's still water in my ears."

"From the ice palace melting? Same here."

"I think she threatened us a little."

"I think so too. But I'm pretty sure that the Princess won't reprimand us for not letting a pony through that didn't have a proper form of ID. That sound about right?"

"It does. No matter how much we recognized the pony in question, we can't let personal feelings get in the way of duty, after all."

"Trixie…" Bon Bon hissed, sliding up next to the unicorn and 'gently' putting a hoof over her shoulder. Trixie seized up at the touch. "You said that this wouldn't be a problem."

"Ha…" Trixie breathed, looking intently at the two Night Guards, who had turned around and trotted back to their posts. "S-seriously, guys, she's going to kill me."

"That would be unfortunate," Frolicsome noted.

"But funny," Moonlight added. "However, we would stop her if she tried."

"Eventually."

"So don't worry."

Trixie glared at the two of them. She shrugged off Bon Bon's foreleg, stepping forward as she looked between the two guards intently, muscles tensed as though she expected to have to leap into action at any second. "I'm Trixie Lulamoon," she said. "Representative of the Night Court of Luna to Ponyville. The personal protégé of the Princess Luna herself. Element of Magic. Savior of the entire world from the fires of Corona, the Tyrant Sun. Let. Me. Through!"

There was a pause.

"Sorry," Moonlight said, shaking his head slightly and tapping it with a hoof. "Still a little waterlogged. Could you repeat that?"

"This is an emergency!"

The two Night Guards looked once more to each other, their grins dropping somewhat. With a long-suffering sigh of the knowledge that they couldn't just outright ignore that kind of proclamation, they looked back to Trixie. "What kind of emergency?" Frolicsome asked.

Trixie paused at that, biting her lip. She hadn't meant to exclaim that, but then she was not at her best at the moment. "Personal," she said. "Not…well, not really for me. A friend of mine. Magical accident. That's all the detail I can go into."

The two once more looked at each other. "We're going to need more detail than that."

Trixie blinked, looking behind her, at Bon Bon and Lyra. The earth pony still looked like she was on the verge of an equicidal rampage, while the latter was looking on with deep concern and mounting annoyance. "Um," Trixie stated. "I can tell you that it was brought about by a mistranslated zebra spellbook. And that I need to get access to the Royal Library."

"Sorry, that doesn't really sound like much of an emergency." Moonlight stated. "And it must not be too great a problem since you've been wasting all this time with us."

"Why don't you just run on back to Ponyville and get proper ID. Then we can move forward from there," Frolicsome finished.

Trixie glanced between them "But – "

"No."

"I just – "

"Rules are rules."

"If you don't, I'll – "

"Please," Moonlight said, wings raising a little in threat, "finish that sentence."

"Discord's mismatched horns!" Lyra exclaimed, drawing a look of ire from Trixie and Bon Bon both – at least until the two saw that she had taken off Trixie's hat, rendering her visible. The guards' reaction was instant, wings – sheathed in sharp blades – spread wide and ducking down into combat postures at the sight of something suddenly becoming visible, followed by whickers of surprise when they saw what had appeared from nothingness.

"Lyra…!" Bon Bon hissed, looking around. Fortunately, the streets of Canterlot were almost entirely empty in front of Canterlot's gates. What few ponies there were dropped what they were holding and bolted in fright.

Lyra, meanwhile, stomped up to the two guards. "Look. I have had the worst day of my life just now! I've been covered in freezing paint, transformed into a big hairless bear, had to deal with Trixie's insecurities and panicking and Bon Bon's equicidal side, which by the way," Lyra turned around to look at Bon Bon, "is a major problem and you're going to have to get anger management," she turned back to the two guards, "and all of this was on what was supposed to be a huge career day for me since it was my first solo show but no, I had to spend the whole day panicking instead of practicing and, yeah, the show turned out great, but that was in spite of everything! Right now, all I want to do is get back to normal and go to sleep! So! If you don't let me and Trixie and Bon Bon through right now so that we can find some way to turn me back into a pony, I swear I am going to put the sharp pointy teeth in my mouth right now to good use! I will – Trixie get off of me!"

Trixie had positioned herself in front of Lyra, front hooves pressed to Lyra's shoulders as her hind hooves worked to try and push Lyra backwards. "Lyra?" she asked. "Put my hat back on."

"But – "

"Now, Lyra."

The once (and hopefully, future) unicorn mare glared at Trixie before doing so. To Trixie's eyes, there was a slight blue shimmer across her body, while to everypony else, she would be rendered invisible once more. Once that had been accomplished, she turned back to the guards, who, no longer having Lyra to stare at, now turned their aggressive posturing on Trixie.

"So," she said. "Magical accident. Angry, invisible bear. Can I go in now, please?"

"Ow," Lyra's voice said as the three of them walked through Canterlot Castle, towards the Royal Library. Bon Bon had apparently found her despite her being invisible, and had started hitting her with one hoof. "Ow – ow – Bon Bon, stop it, this is – ow!"

"Stupid – invisible for a reason – "

"Thank-you, Bon Bon," Trixie said.

"I'm still mad at you too!"

"It got us in, right?" Lyra demanded as she skipped away from Bon Bon. The earth pony, however, heard her hoof-steps – foot-steps – whatever – on the tiled floor of the castle and continued to chase after her. A earth pony courtier, who had been walking through the halls, stopped and stared at the display "Trixie was failing – "

"I was not failing – "

"You were too failing – "

"Magical accident, invisible naked talking stupid bear," Trixie informed the courtier as the three of them passed on by, before looking behind her at Lyra and Bon Bon "and this defeats the purpose of turning you invisible as well!" she looked to the courtier. "What's your name?"

"M…Meadow Song," he said, raising an eyebrow as he watched Bon Bon chase nothing, and that nothing talked back to her.

"Meadow Song. What is the point of an invisibility spell?"

"Um," he said. "To…not be seen?"

"Good! Now if you were turned invisible, wouldn't it also make sense to not talk?"

"I guess – "

"And if a friend of yours is invisible for a very good reason, shouldn't you refrain from talking or hitting – " Trixie began, when she was thwacked upside the head by Lyra. To Meadow Song, it just looked like she stumbled forward, mane tossed around for no reason.

"I'm under a lot of stress!" Lyra exclaimed.

Trixie turned around, glaring at Lyra. "Oh, it is on," she exclaimed, lunging.

"Don't you dare put a hoof on my marefriend – " Bon Bon exclaimed, reaching Trixie first and lunging, her teeth clamping down on Trixie's tail. The unicorn let out a yelp as her forward speed was suddenly stopped and she landed unceremoniously on the floor. She rolled over in time to avoid Bon Bon's descending hooves.

"Meadow Song!" Trixie cried. "Help!"

"He ran away," Lyra noted, pulling Trixie away from another attempted hoof-stomp from Bon Bon, though she began running when Trixie got her hooves under her and charged at her, horn down. "And I'm not stupid! I'm not the one who forgot the spellbook!"

"Yes! Yes you are! You totally are!" Trixie exclaimed as she chased Lyra, the two longer hind legs of the transformed unicorn giving her a slight speed advantage over the shorter, and more importantly exhausted, four legs of Trixie. "I can't be expected to maintain six illusions on me plus five more on my cape plus weave one into my hat and try to keep you from slitting your frogs in despair and remember the spellbook! All you had to do was practice your special talen – ow! Bon Bon! You're supposed to be mad at Lyra right now!"

"Maybe, but I can't see Lyra!" Bon Bon exclaimed, hitting Trixie a few more times for good measure. She was easily keeping pace with Trixie, but couldn't put much power behind her swings while also running at the same time.

"She's right in front of my horn! Just give me a moment to gore her, you can follow the blood leaking everywhere then!"

"For the Love of Luna, this is a library!" A fourth voice shouted.

The three mares – well, two mares, and a female of some variety – stopped, and looked around. Somehow, without noticing, they had ended up in the library of Canterlot. Surrounding them on all sides were rows upon rows of bookcases taking up the circular room of the castle, ascending three stories upwards. The library's walls and shelves were a mixture of blue and red, while its eastern wall simply didn't exist, instead housing a vast window that overlooked the city of Canterlot. The entire place was lit by expensive glow-gems rather than candles, bathing the room in soft, warm light.

While Canterlot Castle never truly went to sleep, especially seeing as the government of Equestria, the Night Court, convened and operated at night like its ruling Princess, parts of the castle did tend to have 'off' hours. The library was one of them; at this time of night, the only occupants, other than Trixie, Lyra, and Bon Bon, were a trio of ponies, all of them unicorns, two stallions and a mare, each of them quite incensed looking. They were all various subdued colors, and all had cutie marks related to books and scrolls. The one who had shouted was a severe-looking stallion, tall and thin, wearing thin glasses and with a short-cropped mane and tail.

"Star's sake!" the stallion exclaimed. "You are a pair of grown mares gallivanting through the castle like it's a playground! I and my colleagues are in the middle of vital research into zebras for the Princess, and we will not stand for this interruption! I'm going to have to demand you leave the library, at once, or I will call the guard!"

Trixie looked at Bon Bon, then to Lyra. "Research into zebras?" she asked.

"Yes!" the stallion continued. "It is vital for the security of…in order to secure the safety of…why are you looking at me like that?"

Trixie wasn't entirely certain how the three of them had done it – it probably helped that Lyra was invisible, and so could hurl things at the three other unicorns to break their concentration while they were casting spells – but somehow, working together, the three of them had managed to overpower and tie up the scholars, using curtains torn down from the large widow to wrap them all up and lie them on their sides with their hooves all tied together. By the end of it, Lyra was panting, Bon Bon was panting, and Trixie felt like she was on the verge of passing out.

"You're going to die," Bon Bon stated, starting forward. The mare of the other group let out a panicked yelp at that. Bon Bon's advance was stopped only when Lyra grabbed a hold of her marefriend's tail and dug the balls of her strange feet into the floor.

"No," Lyra ordered. "No. We need them alive."

"Probably not all of them!"

"I am uncomfortable with the direction of this conversation," one of the stallions commented.

"Just the conversation?" The other stallion of the group demanded.

"Shut up," Trixie ordered, sitting down in front of the three of them. "Alright. What are your names?"

"Regal Tome," answered the first stallion, the one who had spoken originally. He nodded to his comrades. "My companions are Vast Volumes and Glitter Scrolls."

Trixie looked to the other stallion. "I hope you gave your parents a lot of pain for naming you Vast Volumes," she said.

"I'm Glitter Scrolls," he answered, then nodded towards the mare of the group. "She's Vast Volumes."

Trixie blinked a few times. "Okay," she said. "Well, that would lead to a fascinating conversation on any other night. Tonight? I don't care, and neither does Lyra, and Bon Bon isn't right in the head so we can't trust what she thinks anyway."

"Keep digging, Trixie, keep digging," Bon Bon insisted.

"I will, thank-you. Now, you said that you were doing research into zebras. Did that, perchance, including translating a certain zebra spellbook for Princess Luna? A spellbook that she intended to give to her student, the Element of Magic, the savior of Equestria, and probably somepony you should properly translate for?"

"Yes," Regal Tome responded, after taking a moment to realize that Trixie was, in fact, Luna's student. "Well…it was more of a team effort."

"Oh yes, Regal, throw us under the stampede…" Vast Volumes requested, rolling her eyes, before looking at Trixie. "He translated the spell descriptions. Glitter was the one who translated the spell ingredients and steps, while I singled out the zebra magic words – they were originally mixed in quite a jumble with each spell – and matched them up with Glitter's spell steps. Then Glitter matched up the spell descriptions with what Regal translated."

Trixie looked to Lyra and Bon Bon, both of whom were staring at the three captives in stunned silence and disbelief. "That…" Lyra said. "That…that is the most inefficient, accident-prone system imaginable!"

The three glared at her, or where they thought she was, anyway. "As near as I know," Glitter Scrolls said, "we three are the only ponies in all of Equestria who are fluent in Zebra."

"And Princess Luna," Regal Tome added, looking behind him at the table they had been sitting at, which was covered in books, papers, ink wells, and quills, "Gave us a considerable workload!"

"How would you have dealt with it?" Vast Volumes demanded.

"I'd have split one book into three parts and had each of you translate a third, that's how!" Lyra demanded. "No wonder the spells are mislabeled! Hey, is there a fourth one of you idiots who deals with punctuation? A fifth one for translating capital letters?"

"Zebra doesn't use punctuation," Regal Tome said, eyes half-lidded. "Nor does it distinguish between capital and lower-case letters."

"Whatever the problem was," Vast Volumes added, "I doubt it was that bad."

Lyra took off Trixie's hat.

The three translators of Zebra to Equestrian screamed.

Then they stopped for breath.

Then they screamed some more.

But Trixie, though it had taken immense effort given how magically exhausted she was, had put a silencing enchantment over the doors of the library – so nopony outside heard them. The blue unicorn, cream earth pony, and naked bear drank in the sounds of their screams of terror like it was a fine wine. "Right," Trixie said, when the three had finally run their throats ragged. "So. Lyra is a…this thing now…because a group effort towards failure on your part. This entire day has been a lesson in group failure for me. It has not been fun for anypony."

"Not. At. All," Lyra insisted.

"Please don't eat us," Regal Tome begged.

"We're going to untie you," Lyra stated. "You are going to go over to that nice pile of zebra books and find the original copy of the spellbook. Trixie is going to tell you the magic words and you're going to find out what I turned into, and then find the counter-spell. And I make no promises about not eating one of you because I am getting hungry again."

Trixie's horn glowed, and the bonds around the three unicorns loosened. They swiftly extricated themselves from their bonds and dashed over to the library tables, getting to work on finding what the angry naked bear wanted before she put her mouth of sharp, meat-piercing teeth to work on one of them.

Trixie stared intently at the papers that had been given to her by Regal Tome. Regal Tome alternated between staring intently at the four-page translation – double-checked by Glitter Scrolls and triple-checked by Vast Volumes – and glancing at Lyra, who was standing her full towering height over him, forelegs once more crossed over her barrel, tapping out a rhythm of five quick beats.

"I don't know what you're looking for," Regal Tome said after a moment. "It's not like you can read Zebra to know whether or not I or…my…"

The glare that Trixie affixed Regal Tome with shut him up. Her horn glowed, and she levitated a quill, inkwell, and sheet of paper over to her, then began scribbling down some instructions before turning to Bon Bon, who was busy staring down Glitter Scrolls and Vast Volumes. The latter had made the mistake of threatening to bring legal action against the three of them for assaulting them.

Bon Bon had started laughing at that, though she had stopped fairly quickly and without trying to harm anypony, at least. To tell the truth, it disturbed Trixie to no end. Note to self, she thought, do not ever stress out Bon Bon, ever again. Also, get her help.

"Alright," Trixie said, trotting over to Bon Bon with the translated spell. She also telekinetically grabbed a quill, inkwell, and sheet of paper, and started transcribing the ingredients. When she was finished, the handed them over to the earth pony. "Two flights down you'll find a basement with a pony named Hex Node; he's the Royal Apothecary and is in charge of the castle's stock of magical reagents. Everything we need to cast the counter-spell should be there."

Bon Bon nodded, taking the sheet of paper into her hooves and looking over the ingredients. "And he'll just let me have them?"

"He'll just be happy that a mare is in the same room as him." Trixie grimaced. "Uh…don't mention me. If he even asks, just say that one these idiots needed the reagents." She waved a hoof at the three so-called translators.

Bon Bon nodded, though she couldn't help but give Trixie a sidelong glance as she did. "Somepony else you brought an ice palace down on top of?"

"That was you?" Vast Volumes demanded.

Trixie ignored her. "No," she told Bon Bon. "He…look, it doesn't matter. Just get moving, sooner or later somepony might come in here and then see Lyra and then there'll be more craziness."

Bon Bon rolled up the paper, taking it into her mouth before setting off. Once she was gone, she turned back to Lyra. "Nearly there," she promised. "Provided these idiots did everything right."

"Princess Luna will be hearing of this assault," Glitter Scrolls said, in no uncertain terms. "I don't care if you're her student. She won't stand for assault happening within her own castle!"

"How about criminally negligent translating?" Trixie asked. "More than a few of those spells are curses, you know. What if I had cast one on Lyra and she had ended up seriously injured or dead because of you three?"

"Curses aren't real," Vast Volumes said, turning up her nose at the thought. "They're just ignorant earth pony misconceptions about how magic works."

Lyra looked like she was about to kick her, not the least of which due to Vast Volume's tone of voice conveying everything the pony thought about earth ponies - which Bon Bon happened to be. "Magical effects that cause lingering pain or discomfort or otherwise produce unwanted effects for the recipient," Lyra stated, leaning forward. Vast Volumes shied away. "Those exist and might as well be curses."

"But they're not somehow different from other spells," Regal Tome ventured, before looking back at Trixie. "And it doesn't matter. Princess Luna will hear about this. You'll be banished!"

Trixie was impressed by Regal Tome's sense of self-importance. Clearly there was nothing wrong with his self-esteem. "Nah, I don't think so," she noted. "More like chewed out. I've been chewed out before. And what do you think she'll do to you for turning Lyra into…that?" She leaned forward. "Because that's not my fault. Right, Lyra?"

"Casting the wrong spell?" Lyra asked. "No."

Trixie smiled a little at that, grateful for the reassurance, before looking back to Regal Tome, Vast Volumes, and Glitter Scrolls. The three were looking at Lyra, or rather looking through her, almost as though they could see how incensed Luna would be with them. "Perhaps," Glitter Scrolls ventured, "maybe…we won't say anything? And you won't either? Call things even?"

Lyra blinked at that, looking to Trixie, who had a hoof to her mouth, before the unicorn trotted away, towards the window looking out over the city of Canterlot, motioning for Lyra to join her. She did, glaring at Trixie. "You can't be seriously considering that," she said in a low voice. "Those three shouldn't be allowed to look at Zebra books, never mind translate them!"

Trixie snorted. "Oh no, I agree," she whispered back, "Just let them think we agreed to it, though. Then when they try to bring up us attacking them, Luna will think they're just exaggerating to try and cover their flanks, which will make them look worse. And will help get me off the hook, at least a little."

Lyra considered. "That's…that's evil."

"Yes."

"I like it."

Trixie raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked. "I thought you'd have some kind of problem with it."

"Not really. Not after the day I've had."

The two turned back to the unicorn 'scholars.' "Okay," Trixie acquiesced. "Once Lyra's a pony again, we'll be even. A unicorn pony," she quickly added, as she trotted back over to the table where she'd left the spell, and started memorizing its magic words the old-fashioned way, being too tired to even consider casting her photographic memory spell. She idly wondered, as she did, what this spell had been mislabeled as in the original spellbook.

Which reminded her. "Oh, and one more thing," she said, looking up from her work. "I also want a translated copy of a spell called the truth is a scourge…and one that will turn a rooster into a hen."

The three 'scholars' stared at her.

"Don't ask, just do," she insisted.

Bon Bon stared at Trixie as she returned an hour later, having acquired a small saddlebag and all the ingredients that her list had specified. She didn't look equicidal, she didn't look angry, she looked…bemused. Kind of the same look she had affixed Trixie with earlier in the day, back when Lyra had found out that Trixie was –

"Oh no," Trixie intoned.

"I," Bon Bon said as she removed her saddlebag, looking at, "had a chat with Hex Node. He's a pleasant little stallion, isn't he?"

"No," Trixie stated firmly.

"Now I didn't say that you were in the castle," Bon Bon pressed on, "but I did mention Ponyville, and wouldn't you know it, he asked after you, Trixie!"

"No," Trixie said again.

Lyra, on the other hoof, leaned forward, one brow raised. "Really?" she asked. "That sounds…that sounds downright friendly of him, Trixie."

Bon Bon pressed on, tapping her front hooves together as she looked back to Trixie. "And you will never guess how he knows Trixie! Did you know that Trixie's been to the Grand Galloping Gala? Five times?"

"No, no, no, no – "

"Yeah, she mentioned it," Lyra stated, before her eyes widened. "Oh, I think I see where this is going."

Bon Bon nodded enthusiastically. "And the first time she was convinced that she couldn't go alone, that she had to have a date, and at the time Hex Node was the apprentice apothecary and even though he knew that it was only because she couldn't ask somepony named Edle Hjerte because he wasn't around – who is Edle Hjerte, by the way? He sound quite foreign – "

"No no no no no shut up shut up – "

"So Trixie asked Hex Node!" Bon Bon finished, before looking to Trixie. "He seemed quite enamored of you, Trixie."

Trixie was bright red, though whether form embarrassment or anger, neither Lyra nor Bon Bon could tell. "And," she added through gritted teeth, "he smelled bad, his suit was tacky beyond all belief, and he…he clearly wanted to…expected to…with me…gah! I ditched him as fast as I could and just hid out in the royal garden the rest of the night."

Bon Bon put a hoof to her mouth, hiding her chortle. "Oh, come on, now," Bon Bon said. "He doesn't seem so bad! And I'm sure the smell is just from all the regents he has to deal with every day." She wrinkled her nose. "Though…I admit it was distinctive."

Trixie shuddered. "It was a mistake, I've gone alone to the Gala every year since then." She looked between Lyra and Bon Bon as she walked up to the shucked saddleback and opened it, pulling out the various regents and ingredients that Bon Bon had acquired. "Can we please not discuss it and instead turn Lyra back into a pony now? Maybe?"

"If we have to…" Lyra said with a false sigh, joining Trixie as the two of them removed and inspected over each ingredient. Lyra paused a moment as she did, looking at her paws and flexing the claws on them a few times. "You know," she said, picking up the list of ingredients and comparing it to what was on-hoof, double checking it, "I…I think I'm actually almost used to these things now that I've figured them out. I think I was actually better with my lyre than I was with my hooves once I got the hang of – ow!"

Lyra dropped the paper from her paw, staring at one finger, the longest one on the right hand. There was a thin line on it now, seeping a tiny amount of red blood. It was nothing major, but… "ow, ow, ow, why does this hurt so much?" She stuck her finger in her mouth, sucking on the wound.

Trixie raised a brow, looking at the dropped list. "Did…did you cut yourself…with paper?"

"Yes! And it hurts like a…ow! Okay, forget it. I. Hate. Hands!"

Once more, Lyra was covered, head to toe but for her mane, in paint, this time white rather than black. She stood in the center of a magic seal, a triangle of salt inside a square of coal dust inside a pentagon of sand inside a circle of earth. Surrounding the circle at ten points were ten tall candles made from beeswax, each of them lit. Quartz stones sat at the foot of each candle, while Trixie used a bowl filled with purified water to splash Lyra as she circled her three times.

Lyra, having recovered from her paper-cut, had the two longest fingers on each of her hands crossed – she didn't know why – as she shifted and shivered uncomfortably in the circle, hoping against hope that this nightmare would soon be over. She glanced at Bon Bon, who was standing well away from Trixie, her marefriend's eyes focused on her own. She offered a thin-lipped, hopeful smile, as did Bon Bon. The 'scholars' were also watching, apparently eager to see zebra magic at work.

At length, Trixie finished her circling of Lyra. She had dispelled the enchantment in her cape and hat, and now wore both again. She glanced at Lyra, grimaced for a moment, then offered a weak smile of her own. "Okay," she said, closing her eyes and rearing up onto her hind legs, while she waved her forelegs around in front of her as the spell instructed her to do.

"Farasi zangu wadogo, farasi zangu wadogo
"Sio ulimwengu wa eneo la ajabu;
"Farasi zangu wadogo, farasi zangu wadogo
"Kila mahali kwenda, uso kenyuliwa;
"Kukimbia na kuruka; kwa furaha kuanguka
"Kuangalia asubuhi kufunua –
"Farasi zangu wadogo, farasi zangu wadogo
"Hatma ya baadaye inasemaje!"

The candles flared, the flames on them shooting up to be several feet tall, though they let out no additional heat, as the rest of the room outside of the magic circle that Lyra was in seemed to visibly darken. The once-and-future unicorn hunkered down onto one knee at the sight, looking worriedly to Trixie. She, for her part, had her eyes closed as she wove the spell. Behind her, however, Lyra and the three scholars looked around in surprise – the darkening room, it seemed, wasn't simply something that she was perceiving solely because she was at the epicenter of this zebra spell.

"Hakuna ishara ya matatizo mbele
"Farasi zangu wadogo, farasi zangu wadogo;
"Ili wote siku yako kuwa mkali!
"Ili wote siku yako kuwa mkali!"

Inside the magic seal, the coal dust began to pick itself up off of the ground and swirl around Lyra. She grimaced as it did, feeling sweat on her body as it drifted dangerously close to the now much larger candle flames, though after a moment it began contracting, pressing itself to her body, covering her in black spots. The salt was next, wrapping around her body in spirals and complex patterns. Lastly, the simple earth crept along the floor, crawling up her body in another round of complex patterning.

"Farasi zangu wadogo, farasi zangu wadogo
"Je, ni wakati sisi ilianza nyumbani!
"Farasi zangu wadogo, farasi zangu wadogo
"Mwenye ndoto jinsi mbali tunatarajia kwenda!
"Ndege ni wito; jioni ni kuanguka
"Zaidi ya meadow na shamba
"Farasi zangu wadogo, farasi zangu wadogo
"Wakati mimi kuona tena!"

The flames of the candles suddenly died, and the normal light returned to the room. Lyra opened her eyes, and saw…that she still had a ridiculously small nose. She still had paws. She still had those ridiculously tiny fingers – toes – on her hoof-less feet.

"Oh come on – " she began, when the quartz crystals suddenly all began to flash bright, painful light – and then pick themselves up and collide with her from all sides. She was certain the speed should have been enough to shatter bone, or she would have been certain, anyway, had one of the quartz crystals not collided with the center of her forehead and plunged her into unconsciousness.

Trixie opened her eyes just in time to watch, just like she had the first time at the start of this mess. Lyra's limp form was lifted up off of the ground, surrounded by eldritch, sickeningly green light. Bon Bon came rushing forward, but Trixie held out a hoof to stop her. "You might not want to look," she said softly. Bon Bon glanced at her for a moment, before locking her eyes firmly onto Lyra. After a moment, Trixie did likewise.

Lyra convulsed. Wet, sickening snaps came from throughout her body as her bones shifted and twisted. It started at her hind legs – her toes curling in on themselves and fusing together even as the nails on them grew and shifted together as well, blackening as they did so and became proper hooves once more. The knuckles on the toes shifted and moved as well, becoming her pasterns and fetlocks, while the tiny ankles of her feet lengthened, becoming proper hocks. Her knees shifted and twisted, travelling further up her leg, even as her hip's edges seemed to snap and fold, collapsing and becoming not nearly as comparatively wide as her body shifted to accommodate what would, once more, be a quadrupedal rather than a bipedal form.

The transformation continued up her barrel and back. From the base of her spine, a tiny tail emerged, which was swiftly covered in sprouting white and seafoam-green hair. The fleshy lumps on her barrel were re-absorbed back into her abdomen – her teats presumably appearing back in their proper place, though neither Trixie nor Bon Bon checked at the moment, having other things on their minds – while her shoulders did the same twist as her hips had, collapsing forward and shifting. The ripples of the alteration continued down her forelegs, in many ways duplicating the twisting and lengthening of her hind legs. Her hands disappeared last, becoming normal feet and hooves once again.

Lyra's neck, meanwhile, had lengthened, along with her face, her eyes growing in size, her ears travelling up her skull and lengthening. Her nose became her muzzle, her prominent chin melded more cleanly into her lower jaw, and bursting from her forehead came her horn. Her mane didn't change as much, but it did sprout additional growth down the back of her neck, nearly to her withers. Even as this occurred, her coat began to re-appear, mint green and short, but hiding her paling flesh; and she shrank, twisting in place as she did, until she had once more resumed her normal size. The last thing to appear was her cutie mark, appearing much like it did on a foal who had just discovered their special talent – in a flash of light and a glowing shape that swiftly realized itself as a golden lyre.

The eldritch glow surrounding Lyra disappeared, and she collapsed to the floor on her side, curled up into a ball. Bon Bon was at her side in and instant, Trixie nearly as fast. "It took her a few minutes to wake up last – " Trixie began.

Bon Bon didn't hear her, as she cradled her marefriend's head, her proper, pony head at last, in her hooves, leaning down and nuzzling her. "Lyra?" she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper. "Lyra? Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

"She's breathing fine," Trixie said, looking Lyra over, cautiously running her own hoof across Lyra's back. "Coat feels right, cutie mark's good, tail is…tail-y…hooves look right, horn…" she used two hooves to measure Lyra's horn, then compare it to her own. "Short."

"Mmph," Lyra mumbled, eyes fluttering open. "Not short…not…taller than you anyway…"

"Lyra!" Bon Bon exclaimed, pulling her marefiend up into a tight hug. Lyra returned it eagerly, forelegs hooked around Bon Bon's shoulders and withers, head laid across each other's necks – a proper hug, unlike what she'd been able to manage on the train earlier. It didn't last long, of course, as the two pulled back from each other, but only so that Lyra's lips could find and sink into Bon Bon's own.

Eventually, their kiss ended, and Lyra pulled away, waving her hooves in front of her face. "Ha," she stated. "Ha! Hahaha! Hooves! Let's see paper cut these! And – and – " she looked up, at her horn, and squinted slightly. It glowed gold, and she lifted Bon Bon into the air with a yelp. "Ha! And my magic's back on! No more fumbling with honey jars, I don't know how you do it, sweetie, but me, I could not live without this!"

She levitated Bon Bon in front of her and drew her marefriend into another kiss, setting her down slowly as she did so. Bon Bon returned it eagerly, breaking it off only when she noticed Trixie was sitting behind Lyra, looking dejected. "Come here," she said, trotting up to Trixie.

Trixie's eyes widened as her horn glowed defensively, though weakly given how magically exhausted she still was. "N-no, wait, what did I do now, she's back to normal and – !" Trixie was cut off when Bon Bon embraced Trixie, tightly, but not so tight as to suggest malevolent intent. After a few moments, Trixie let out a long sigh of relief, returning the hug, as well as Lyra's when the other mare joined in.

"I'm sorry, Trixie," she said. "I…I was just so worried for Lyra, seeing her like…like that…I don't know what came over me." She looked Trixie in the eye. "I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that."

Trixie grimaced. "Not all of it," she admitted.

Bon Bon's eyes widened. "Who are you, and what have you done with Trixie Lulamoon?"

Trixie just shook her mane, then turned to Lyra. "I got you into this mess. I shouldn't of asked you to do the spell today. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Lyra said, though after a moment she considered the day she'd just had. "Well…do be, but not too sorry…I mean, I agreed to the spell in the first place. So be a little sorry." Trixie nodded. Lyra hugged her again, and she returned it fully. "Besides," Lyra considered. "You may have…sort of…gotten me into this mess, but you're also the pony who got me out of it."

"We helped!" Vast Volumes exclaimed.

Lyra blinked, remembering at last that the 'scholars' were there, as she looked to them. The three were standing awkwardly off to the side, Glitter Scrolls looking quite pleased that he'd gotten to see two mares making out, while Regal Tome looked a bit green in the face, probably from the transformation that he'd witnessed. Vast Volumes, meanwhile, seemed to be thinking ahead, to the possible tongue-lashing that they could receive from Luna later if they weren't careful.

Well, that they would be receiving anyway, but neither of them had to know that at the moment. "Whatever," Lyra declared, standing on her own four hooves again – stars above it felt good to be a quadruped again – and turning around, to the library's exit. "Come on, Trixie, you said something about us probably being able to stay in your old room for the night…"

Trixie nodded, as the three mares made their way from the library. "You two can even have my bed," she promised, though she froze after she did. "Um! But there are terms and conditions, I know you two are probably eager to, er, break in Lyra's restored body, b-but I'd really rather…er…that is, maybe I'll look into getting you two your own room."

Lyra and Bon Bon laughed at that, even as Trixie shuffled around a little before following them. "With soundproofing," she added.

Dear Trixie,

I have been able to recover the copied spellbook that I gave you originally; it was sitting in our rail station's lost and found, thankfully intact. Having had a chance to read it, I can see now what, precisely, you meant by poor translations and mislabeling. I am fluent in Zebra, but I admit to having been in something of a rush to get underway to Hauptstadt der Greifen when I sent it along to you, and so I did not have time to do any but the most cursory of reviews.

Rest assured that Regal Tome, Vast Volumes, and Glitter Scrolls will not soon be working in the royal library, or indeed in Canterlot, again, though on that note I believe that we must have a discussion in the near future concerning the proper response to dealing with one's problems, regardless of one's emotional commitment to them –

"I think that our response was entirely proper," Trixie said.

"Hang on, let me finish…" Lyra insisted.

– however, I find myself incapable of becoming truly angry with you at the moment, given the personal appeal and testimony I have received from Miss Heartstrings concerning your conduct and efforts to see her show through, no matter the cost to yourself. If somepony had described this situation to me as soon as three months ago, I would have not believed them. Your decision to remain in Ponyville was clearly for the best, and I believe you are becoming a better pony because of it.

Now, as to Miss Heartstrings' inquiries as to what she turned into. The zebra word, binadamu, defies translation into Equestrian – much as how we would have a difficult time properly translating 'bear' into their tongue beyond simply describing the creature. Based on your description and rough sketch, however, I would posit that Miss Heartstrings was transformed not into a bear as she believed –

"I didn't think I was a bear, I just figured I might as well be a bear as long as we didn't have anything else to call me," Lyra objected.

"Bears have tails, and fur, and muzzles," Trixie pointed out. "And are taller."

"Not all of them.

"Most of them."

– but rather a simian, specifically some form of hominan, although what specific species, I am uncertain based on your description. Unfortunately I can't say much more than that – they were never very common even in Zebrica, and to be completely honest I had thought them to have died out some time ago. Evidently the zebras retain some knowledge of their existence, however – perhaps there are pockets of the species yet existent in the Zebrica? Certainly there are cryptozoologists who will be delighted to hear that news and will be eager to journey there, provided that relations with the zebra nations can be normalized.

In any event, Trixie, I think I will leave the examination of zebra magic in different hooves. After your experience last week, I think you have earned a reprieve.

Your Princess and Teacher,

– Luna

"Hominan," Lyra said, wrapping her tongue around the word. "Hominan. Weird."

"From what Luna wrote, I think it's just describing the creatures in general, but then there are specific sub-groups," Trixie said. "Like with ponies, or deer."

It had been a week since Lyra's Worst Day Ever, as it was now officially titled in her mind, even if objectively she knew that there was at least one day in her life that was worse: the most recent Longest Night, when Corona had returned and kidnapped, among other ponies, Bon Bon. That day was kind of just terrible for the whole world, though, whereas a week ago had been specifically bad for her above everypony else.

The two of them were sitting in Trixie's kitchen; or rather, Lyra was sitting, while Trixie was arranging a magic circle in the floor, albeit one much smaller than the ones she had constructed for Lyra. Sitting in the center of the magic circle was a rooster – the former hen of Fluttershy's that Trixie had stolen, specifically. It was in a magical slumber once again. Fluttershy had raised no objections to the rooster's theft, at least none that Trixie had heard from either Ditzy Doo or Rainbow Dash (the latter, most certainly, would have broken through Trixie's once-again-repaired front window if she had known what Trixie had done), but after spending a week with the thing before considering herself brave enough to try another zebra spell, she was more than eager to get rid of the violent, smelly, ravenous bird. She simply supposed that it would only be proper to return him (soon to be her) in the same state and gender that she had acquired the once and future hen in.

"So," Trixie asked, as she finished setting up the magic circle and looked to Lyra. "Have you been reaping the rewards of last week? Does the Majestic and Lovely Lyra Heartstrings have ponies knocking down her door offering her jobs?"

"No," Lyra said, "but just plain Lyra has a few shows scheduled."

Trixie grimaced. "'Just plain Lyra.' Really? Where's the stage presence? The memorability? The pomp?"

Lyra frowned. "My music is supposed to be able to speak for itself."

"Sure. It's great. Really, it is. But a little showmareship never hurt anypony. Play yourself up! Your music is basically a product that you're trying to sell, and as any salespony will tell you, you need to advertise it well!"

Lyra frowned as she tried to piece through what she'd just heard. "So…" she said, "I should…dress like you."

"Non!" Trixie objected, rearing up on her hind legs and throwing her front legs wide. "You should dress like the Majestic and Lovely Lyra Heartstrings!" Her horn glowed, and a few small, quiet illusory fireworks were set off.

Lyra raised an eyebrow. "Yeah…but I'm not doing this, I didn't decide to become a musician, for the money."

Trixie dropped to all four legs again, rolling her eyes as she turned back to the rooster. "Tell me about it…I can't believe you're not getting paid for that show…"

Lyra opened her mouth to argue the point, but then thought better of it. Trixie just seemed incapable of wrapping her mind around the idea that Lyra made plenty of money – actually she was fairly certain that by the end of the year, she'd have made more money from shows and concerts and even just informal gigs, then Trixie made from her stipend as a Representative of the Night Court. For some reason, though, she felt it would probably be a good idea to just bite the bit and not tell Trixie that, and instead let Trixie continue under her delusion that Lyra was in need of financial assistance, or at least marketing assistance.

"Okay," Trixie said. "Now then, watch in awe as I turn this rooster back into a hen! See, that's how you're supposed to…" Trixie turned around to look at Lyra, but then noticed that Lyra wasn't behind her anymore. Instead, Lyra was outside, in Trixie's back garden, looking in but having put the glass-and-wooden door between herself and the zebra spell.

"Carry on," Lyra insisted from the other side of the door.

Trixie sighed. This was going to put a damper on her plans to have Lyra help her with her magic show for the Eventime…