Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: The Frozen North, the Stallion Empire

Time: Twenty-two years after the death of the Paradox

"Are… we… almost… there…?" panted Summer.

Lyric glanced over at Summer and raised an eyebrow. "We are, actually. I am really impressed, though. You've gotten along wonderfully."

Summer collapsed face-first into the snow. She waved a hoof in the air as she mumbled, "Yay. Now stop raising your eyebrows at me and get this off of me. It's your turn."

Lyric grinned as he helped unstrap the saddle back from off of her. "How did you know I was raising my eyebrows?"

Summer, with her face still in the snow, said, "Oh, it just seemed like something you would do in this situation. A well educated guess, if you will. How much longer do we have?"

Lyric glanced up at the horizon and realized that he could see smoke from smokestacks in the distance. He cursed himself silently. How could have not seen that before? He had excellent eyesight, so why had he not seen that smoke before? Then he remembered he had spent the entire time staring at Summer worriedly as she struggled under the heavy weight of the saddle backpack.

"Lyric? Come on, buddy, give me something to work with here! Pretty please?"

Lyric started slightly as Summer's voice pulled him back into reality. "W-what? Oh yeah! I can see smoke on the horizon now. We are probably about an hour away. Follow me!"

He shouldered the saddle bag, galloped forward a dozen meters or so, stopped, turned around, and galloped back, grinning sheepishly to take Summer's hoof to lead her on.

Summer held out a hoof with a coy smile. "That's more like it, Lyric! Can't just leave your companion behind, now, can you?"

Lyric's grin widened. "I wouldn't dream of it! Now let's go!"

Holding Summer's hoof tightly, Lyric led her on as they worked their way through the snow.

As Lyric had calculated, they made it to the outskirts of the little village in almost exactly one hour. The town was small, and the buildings were constructed almost exclusively out of rough wood and hewn stone. There was no electricity for any buildings at all, and instead there were small campfires set in certain areas on the small trodden paths between the buildings. There was an especially large bonfire in what looked like town square, and the entirety of the sparse population of that little village seemed to be gathered around it.

A sly smile crept onto Lyric's face as he looked over the situation. Despite the wrongness of what he was aspiring to do, and despite the presence of Summer, he could not help but mentally thank his lucky stars. The environment was perfect. The poor lighting would give him cover, and by virtue of the fact that this town was secluded, he would have a good chance of easily robbing them all.

"W-what's going on?" said Summer, who could not help but press in close behind Lyric, "I can feel heat, are those bonfires?"

Lyric nodded his head absent-mindedly. "Yeah… There is one massive bonfire in the center of the town. Come on, let's go."

Summer pressed her side close to his. "A-are you sure? I mean, we weren't invited or anything. What if they don't welcome us?"

Lyric smiled. Now it was her turn to feel uncomfortable. "Oh, you'll be fine, Summer. We'll be fine. This is a secluded town, so they will be in awe more than anything. It is farther south where we will find the unwelcoming types. Let's go!"

He took one of her hoofs and dragged her forward. Her ears pressed flatly against her skull, Summer went along, her unseeing eyes full of nervousness and fear. She felt exposed.

Lyric, however, was in his element. He trotted up to the bonfire and immediately started up a conversation with the nearest pony.

"Hello, fellow pony," said Lyric jovially, a fake smile plastered on his face, "What is going on here?"

The pony he was addressing turned his head to look at Lyric. Initially he looked annoyed, but the moment he realized Lyric was a stranger, his face brightened. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "A stranger! I am pleased to meet you. My name is Snow Fall. What, this here? Oh, this is our monthly meeting. We get together to discuss allocation of food, firewood, and the likes! What's your name, friend?"

Lyric bowed his head low in a flourishing gesture of friendship. "My name is Lyric, kind sir. This pony here is my fiancée, Summer."

Summer immediately opened her mouth to vehemently protest, but Lyric quickly covered her mouth and oriented himself to stand between her and Snow Fall's prying vision. He continued to grin without missing a beat.

"Well, pleased to meet you, Lyric and Summer," said Snow Fall, "Tell me, if it is not too much trouble, what brings you here?"

Lyric, giving Summer a meaningful squeeze, let go of her muzzle and unshouldered his saddle bag. He searched through it and produced a strange stringed instrument known in the Stallion Empire as a lyrpsicord. He strummed it lightly and winked at Snow Fall. "I am here for music."

Snow Fall's face lit up like a foal during Christmas. "Oho! Wonderful! We love music. HEY EVERYPONY!"

Lyric blinked in surprise. These unwitting buffoons were more innocent than he had imagined. Summer, however, blanched at the sound of Snow Fall calling attention to them, and literally burrowed herself into Lyric's side. Though Lyric guiltily enjoyed the feeling of Summer's coat brushing his, this was just annoying and cumbersome, so he immediately tried to shake her off without being too discreet. With his actor's smile still set firmly on his face, Lyric waved a hoof as everypony in the assembly turned their attention to him and Summer.

"You're a musician?" called one pony from the crowds, "How good are you?"

Lyric strummed his lyrpsicord again as he replied, "I am fairly good if I do say so myself. However, I will let you all be the judge."

"What does that mean?" called another pony, "Do you want to play something for us? We would love that!"

Lyric winked. "I was hoping you would say that!"

Lyric began to trot up to the bonfire. However, before he got far, Snow Fall placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Wait a second," the pony said, "How much will this cost us?"

Lyric continued to grin his fake grin. "For you, good sir? Free of charge!"

He said the last phrase loudly to dispel any doubts. As cheers of approval rose from the small group, Lyric said to Snow Fall, "Keep an eye on my fiancée, will you? She's blind, sadly, so I would appreciate it if you kept her safe."

As he continued to trot up to the bonfire, he could hear Summer and Snow Fall conversing.

"Come stand beside me, Summer, you'll be safe here. I must say, your fiancé is quite a stunner!"

"He's NOT my fiancé!"

"Haha! The mares ALL say that. I gotcha!"

Lyric chuckled as he clearly heard Summer's grumbling above the clamor of the assembly. He approached the bonfire until he was about a meter or so from the ring of stone surrounding the open flames. He then turned his back on the fire and stood on his hind legs. He then began to play. The music was eerie, slow, and hypnotic (suggestion: listen to "E.S. Posthumous – Nara" for an idea). The whole assembly went quiet as the music weaved its way through the air like magic. Even Summer (who had initially been livid with anger) stiffened and stopped complaining as the music reached her ears. He sightless eyes swept the audience as if she was looking for Lyric. As the music built to an uncanny intensity, Lyric began to spin and side-step his way through the star-struck audience. As he brushed past the ponies, he would quickly search them for goods and valuables. To his horror, he slowly began to realize that very few of the ponies assembled even had anything on them, and if they did, it was usually a pocket knife or some kind of winter flower.

Though he continued to keep the smile plastered on his face, Lyric began to mentally curse the situation. He was in a den of beggars. They had nothing. Just as he was about to give up hope and call it a night to see if he could alternatively break into the nearest homes, he felt his hoof grasp a small bag of money. Face lighting up with hope, he seized the bag and put it into a small money purse he had slung by his side. He grinned at the stallion he had just stolen from and winked. The pony winked back. He had detected nothing. With that, Lyric continued to play for a couple more minutes until he realized that no other pony had brought any form of money with them. Then he called it a night. He danced up to the position he had started in initially and finished the song. The whole group of ponies before him erupted into applause. Lyric bowed low and put away his instrument.

Grinning and waving, Lyric returned to Summer and Snow Fall as the assembly slowly began to thin out as everypony went home.

"That was incredible, young'un!" exclaimed Snow Fall, "Do you need a place to stay for a bit?"

Lyric shook his head, "I think I got what I came for. Thank you for your kind offer, though."

Snow Fall nodded and left.

"Well?" said Lyric expectantly to Summer, "What do you think of my music skills?"

Summer was staring quietly at Lyric for a moment. Even though she was blind, and it was obvious she was looking straight through him, her unseeing stare was making him incredibly nervous. Lyric was on the verge of asking if she was still unreasonably mad about the whole "fiancée" thing, when Summer held out her hoofs and said, "What I thought? I loved it! Here, come give me a warm hug!"

Hardly believing his ears, Lyric reached forward and seized her in a hug. They held it for a moment before letting go. Lyric then turned his back and began to clean up his saddle bag.

"So, Lyric, you did that all for free?" said Summer quietly.

Though it actually hurt him inside to lie so blatantly, Lyric thrust his conscious aside and said, "That's right! It was just a taste of what I can do. A FREE taste, that is."

"Free... Hmmm… So what's this?"

Lyric whirled around and clamped a hoof to the money purse at his side. The bag that he had stolen was gone. He looked at Summer and his jaw dropped open at the sight that met his eyes: she was holding the very bag he had just lost. She had pickpocketed him.

"H-hey! Give that back!" he exclaimed, reaching for it. Summer leaned back and held the bag out of his reach.

"Not until you tell me where you got the bag, Lyric," said Summer sternly.

Lyric rolled his eyes angrily. "You sound like my mother," he snapped, "Look, it was a last-minute donation some random pony made to me. I was lucky, okay? Now give it back!"

"An honest donation, hmmmm?" said Summer, her voice as cold as the snow falling around them, "If it was an honest donation, why didn't you tell me about it immediately?"

"It's not like you're a business partner," hissed Lyric, now getting very angry, "I don't have to tell you everything! I wanted to keep it… for a surprise!"

"Really," said Summer flatly. She then pressed the bag to her nose and inhaled deeply. She then said, "This is bag smells of another pony. However, their hoof never touched it. I smell your hoof though. It was on their body before you took it from them. If this had been a donation, I would have detected both your and their hooves on it. I sense only yours. Lyric… you stole it! Why?!"

"THAT'S WHAT I DO, OKAY?" yelled Lyric harshly, hoping to scare Summer into submission. This just made Summer huffy. She straightened up and Lyric's eyes widened a little bit. Did he smell ozone crackling around her hoofs?

"This is no way to make a living, Lyric," snapped Summer, "This is not life, this is a lie."

"SO WHAT?" shouted Lyric again, though he was starting to doubt himself.

Summer stoutly handed him the bag of stolen money. He snatched it from her as she said, "You're going to return it. NOW."

Lyric stuffed the bag into his money purse greedily as he replied sharply, "I don't need to do anything for you."

Summer stamped a front hoof into the ground. There was a small spark of energy, and snow exploded into steam in a one-meter radius. However, Lyric was too angry to notice anymore.

"Lyric," said Summer angrily, "If you don't return the money this instant, you're going to have to deal with me."

Lytic rolled his eyes. "That's terrifying. I don't have to deal with you, I can just leave."

Summer blinked. Her sightless eyes suddenly filled with pain. "You would leave me… just because of this?"

Lyric nodded his head vigorously, "I need the money to survive, and if you can't see that, then there is no use in keeping you around."

"Lyric… please!" exclaimed Summer, her voice abruptly changing from stern to pleading, "What you're doing is wrong! There has to be another way! I am sure we can survive without having to resort to crime! Just trust me on this. Do this… for me… please."

Lyric shook his head, but his eyes began to tear-up, and his voice caught in his throat. "Save… save your breath."

He shouldered his pack and began to trot away. However, even though it went against every nerve in his body, at the last moment he looked behind him.

He saw Summer standing there in the snow, disheveled, scared, and alone. Her eyes were full of tears. A single droplet of water spilled from her eyes and fell to earth. As it fell, it froze into a crystal and hit the rough ground, burrowing itself into the earth. Lyric began to choke-up even more. He trotted away a couple more meters, and then trotted back. He then paced up and down for a couple more seconds before he took a deep breath and thought about Summer.

She was blind, granted, and did not appear to be of too much use; but despite that, the two days they had spent together had meant more to him than anything. Perhaps… perhaps she could be the conscious he never had. In truth, he desperately needed her.

Taking a deep breath, Lyric trotted back to Summer. Eyes on his hoofs, he mumbled, "I'm sorry. Let's go take this back."

Summer let out a long breath and roughly seized Lyric in a hug. She burrowed her muzzle into the side of his neck as she mumbled, "Thank you…"

Lyric nodded. "You're welcome. You're right, this is wrong. For the first time ever, I think I clearly see that. But now how are we supposed to feed ourselves?"

"We'll find a way," said Summer as she let go of him, "Now, do you know who you took that money from?"

"Yeah, I got a good look at his face, so I know who he is. Come, let's go look for him."

The two began to trot further into town, Lyric looking and Summer listening.

"I can't see anyone," said Lyric. Though he had agreed to look for the pony he had stolen from, he was guiltily hoping that they never found him.

Summer quickly raised a hoof for silence. As Lyric stopped talking, Summer's ears flicked this way and that as she listened to something.

"There are some ponies to the left that are searching for something," she whispered, "A stallion, a mare, and their two foals. I think we've found them!"

If it was possible to feel relieved and disappointed at the exact same time, it most certainly happened to Lyric. As the mixed-up emotion shot through his stomach like lightning, he said, "G-great! Right… Here we go…"

He pulled out the bag of money and trotted in the direction of Summer's pointing hoof. As he approached an alley, he could clearly hear voices.

"Are you SURE you dropped it?"

"I am. I'm so sorry, dear."

"I pray we find it. This is the worst thing that could have happened!"

Taking a deep breath, Lyric turned the corner and confronted the ponies. It was the stallion he had stolen from, a pony that looked to be his wife, a colt, and a filly.

"Um, er… Hey!" he stuttered as they turned to stare at him, "D-d-did you drop something?"

The stallion's eyes lit up with hope. "Yes! That's right! It was a bag of money that I've been saving for seasons untold now. Please, you have to help us!"

Lyric held out the bag of money. "I found this on the ground. I-is it yours?"

The stallion drew out a long sigh of relief. "Thank the Emperor… that's it."

He took the bag from Lyric with a shaking hoof and carefully put in a small pouch.

Lyric slowly turned to leave when the stallion put a hoof on his shoulder. Lyric stiffened and his heart turned to ice. Did they suspect something?

"Lyric… that was your name, right? Please, there has to be something we can do to thank you."

Lyric blew out a cloud of mist as she sighed in relief as well. "Yes… yes, there is something you can do. Do you have a place that we might stay the night? My friend and I are looking for shelter."

The stallion smiled. "We don't have much, but we do have that. Call your friend, and we will be on our way."

Lyric bowed his head deeply in thanks and then called, "Summer? Can you find my voice?"

"Give me a sec!" Summer's voice echoed back.

A minute later, Summer appeared around the corner, a hoof groping against the wood and stone walls of the alley.

Lyric trotted up to her and took on of her hoofs. He then led her back to the group.

The stallion's smile grew wider. "She's blind, and yet you take care of her? You are more noble than your appearance foretells, my friend."

Lyric smiled. "It is more like she takes care of me. I would be lost without her. Tell me, what is your name?"

"I am Frozen Pond, this is my wife, Snowflake, my daughter Snow Drizzle, and my son Ice Storm. Come, follow me to my abode."

Frozen Pond then led Summer and Lyric off to the edge of the town, where a cozy cottage lay amidst the snow and frozen pine trees. As the ponies walked into the little house, Snowflake said, "We have three rooms. Your friend Summer can sleep with my daughter, and you can share the room with Ice Storm. Is that fine?"

Summer, who had not said anything since she had met the little family, then said, meekly, "Um… ma'am? W-would it be too much trouble if… if I stayed with Lyric? I would prefer to be with him."

Though this was said directly to Snowflake, Lyric nearly choked on air as his heart warmed. Despite their fight, she trusted him, so much so that she would prefer to keep by him. This meant more to him than anypony could probably comprehend.

Snowflake smiled a sweet smile as she said, "Of course you can, dearie. Ice Storm can share his sister's room, and you two can use his. Now, would you like some dinner?"

Lyric squeezed Summer's hoof and said, "Yes I am sure we would love some dinner."

A moment later, Lyric, Summer, and the little family shared a modest meal of bread and broth. Then, a couple minutes later, everypony present went to their rooms to settle down.

Lyric insisted that Summer use the bed, but, after a short argument, they both agreed to sleep on the ground. Funnily enough, this was agreeable to Lyric, who had never known anything else but sleeping on cold earth.

As they two lay down together, coat brushing coat, Lyric murmured, "Summer… I'm sorry for going astray earlier today. Do you forgive me?"

Summer sighed as she buried her muzzle into the nape of his neck, "I'm lying down with you, aren't I? If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't be doing this. But, yes, I forgive you with all of my heart. Now go to sleep before I fall asleep mid-sentence."

Lyric chuckled softly and closed his eyes. Just like last night, he let the rhythmic breathing of Summer to rock him to sleep.

Note: I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Now, if you give me reviews (A.K.A. FEEDBACK) I will give you an invisible model of Summer and Lyric sleeping together by a campfire! A collectible! Everyone wants those!