WHAM!

“LYRA! I’M HO-OME!” The bellowing cry of the Tartarus-spawned Head Splitter, also known as Bonbon pierced Lyra’s headache spawned fugue like a 12 hoof gong in a classical concerto.

“Uuuhhhhhh!” she moaned, trying to stuff her head under the pillow again, only to knock her horn against one of her hooves and sparking another spike of agony through her brain.

CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP

The sounds of Bonbon’s movements felt like she was walking directly on her forehead. Lyra’s horn throbbed in time with her heartbeat.

“Oh wow. You don’t look so good Lyra. Are you ok? You look a little… teehee.. green!”

The response to Bonbon’s tasteless little jab was a pillow that flew gracelessly over her left flank. Bonbon glanced back towards the pillow before refocusing on Lyra’s pained face and winced in sympathy as she noted her bloodshot eyes and intermittently sparking horn.

“I’ll go get you some water,” she whispered, turning and treading as softly as she could back towards the kitchen.

When Bonbon returned, Lyra was on her back, her head hanging slightly off the edge of the bed, her legs dangling feebly in the air. With some effort, Bonbon got her flipped the right way up and placed the glass of cool water against her lips, helping Lyra to slowly drink the water.

“Do you need me to go get the doctor or one of the nurses?” Bonbon asked quietly.

Lyra’s ears flattened in fear. “No. No nurses!”

Bonbon sighed. “Well you obviously need something, your head must be really bad if you’re sparking like that. What about Zecora? The walk and fresh air will probably do you some good too.”

“Dun wanna go in Everfree at night. Too scary.” The minty unicorn moaned.

Bonbon rolled her eyes, before she trotted over to open the curtains, letting the sunlight, in much to Lyra’s displeasure. “Night isn’t for another four or five hours, we have plenty of time to go in and out.”

Lyra shielded her eyes against the sun as best she could. “Wha? Why are you home so early?”

“When I got to the market, there was hardly anyone around,” Bonbon explained, “it wasn’t worth opening my store for half a day with so few ponies around.”

“Half a day? Where were you this morning then?”

“I was visiting Vinyl Scratch and Octavia last night and I… uh… lost track of time.” Bonbon hung her head sheepishly at the confession.

Lyra looked confused, “So you slept there last night?”

At this, Bonbon frowned, recalling exactly where she had been. “Actually, I got there a bit before midnight. Vinyl, Octavia and I were all looking for you. Vinyl gave up last and somehow found you… for a few seconds...”

“Oh right…” Lyra had the grace to blush, “That was kind of dumb of me.”

Bonbon shook her head in exasperation, “Well, never mind. Let’s go get you something for your head, and you can tell me what you know about Mr. Iroh.”

Lyra was confused. “Mr. Who?”

‘Oh this is going to be fun!’ Bonbon thought. ‘If she never got to see him, I can get Vinyl to introduce us to the human and maybe keep a rein on Lyra’s craziness...’

“Mr. Iroh, you know? The human? You did at least ask him his name didn’t you?”

Lyra slumped sadly, “I barely got a glimpse of him before I was buried in orderlies and nurses. They didn’t want anypony near him, then when I woke up this morning, Nurse Redheart let me have it. She told me that the human woke up and ran away.”

Lyra started sniffling, “Now I’ll never get to meet hi-i-im…” She had stopped on their lawn, just as they were about to go out the gate, and burst into tears.

Bonbon hung her head, whether in embarrassment or weariness, she was not sure, but what she was sure of was that this was going to be a long afternoon.

In a train headed south for Ponyville, six mares and a baby dragon were conversing. More accurately, the mares were conversing, and the dragon was playing with a tuning fork.

TING! hummmmmmm…Giggle…

A purple unicorn stretched her head and forelegs upwards, giving a sigh as she dropped back to her normal sitting position “It really was nice for Cadence to let us stay with her and Shiny for a couple of extra days.”

TING! hummmmmmm…Giggle…

“It certainly was, darling. I even had time to go look for some crystals to include in my next line of fashion.” The white unicorn flicked her mane expertly, adding emphasis to her exaltation.

TING! hummmmmmm…Giggle…

The eye of the orange earth pony twitched, and narrowed her eyes at the chuckling dragon across from her before she turned back to the rest of her friends. “Ah hear ya, but I’ll be happy to get back home to mah family.”

TING! hummmmmmm…Giggle…

“You know what this calls for? A welcome home party!” The pink mare grinned widely, as she bounced in her seat.

TING! hummmmmmm…Giggle…

The yellow pegasus had just opened her mouth to speak, when the blue pegasus shrieked in frustration. “SPIKE! What are you doing?! You’re making me crazy!

“Huh?” The small green dragon looked up from the small bag filled with gemstones about the size of apples that was sitting in his lap, a garnet in one hand, a still humming tuning fork in the other.

“Oh, I’m testing out these gems I got myself for a present for my birthday.”

Pinkie Pie perked up at the pronouncement of her purple pony pal’s purple non-pony pint-sized partner. “It’s your birthday?” Her party planning grin formed rapidly on her face.

“Not until tomorrow, Pinkie. I’ll add these to the fire ruby I’ve been aging. It’s going to be DELICIOUS!” At this, Spike wiped a nail across the surface of the garnet in his claw and sucked on the tip of it, as he obviously relished the flavor.

The girls smiled indulgently at Spike until Rarity sat up in alarm. “Did you say ‘delicious’?!”

“Uh huh!” Spike nodded happily. “The garnets will add a nice smoky flavor to my ruby.”

“Smoky flavor…” Rarity repeated faintly, her eyes staring into the distance in vague horror at eating a beautiful gem.

Fluttershy glanced between the oblivious baby dragon and the mortified fashionista. “Umm… Spike…” she began, everyone in the carriage other than Rarity turning their heads towards her. “Could you maybe, ummm… please put the gems away for now? That is, it you wouldn’t mind?”

“Uhhh sure Fluttershy,” Spike was confused. “Was there something wrong?”

Sitting next to him, Twilight looked at Fluttershy, who had been nervously glancing at Rarity, and then back at Spike’s gem bag. “Ohhhh…” She exhaled with a look of dawning comprehension before turning to place her muzzle next to Spike’s head so she could whisper an explanation to Spike.

The little dragon’s eyes widened comically as he realized that what he had been saying had distressed Rarity. “Sorry Rarity…” He mumbles as he tucks the bag of gems behind him guiltily.

“NEXT STOP CROPTON! CROPTON, NEXT STOP!” A conductor hollers as he passed through the carriage, announcing the next station in their journey.

“Ugh!” Rainbow Dash muttered with disgust. “I can’t wait to get off this train and stretch my wings!”

Applejack was quite amused with the pegasus’ impatience, “Hee hee… Y’all just have to wait fer now, Dash. Only another hour or so ah reckon”

The impatient pony grumbled as she hunkered back down on her seat, crossing her forelegs in front of her chest and scowling.

TING! hummm…

“SPIKE!”

“Any luck girls?”

“Not a thing, Scoots. Half the ponies in the side of town near the hospital are all locked up in their houses and being silly.”

“Ah had a little luck, but not much. Somepony in the market told me that a unicorn went looking for him and found him. She came running back through town, completely freaked out.”

“Did they say why she was freaked out, Apple Bloom?” inquired Sweetie Belle.

“”That's tha thing. Ah asked seven different ponies and got five different stories. The only thing they all agreed on was she went one way hunting the human, and the other way at full gallop a little while later.”

“Do you know who it was? Maybe we can ask her.”

Apple Bloom looked back toward Scootaloo. “Ah did ask, someone told me her name was something weird… Dee Jay Pone Three.” she enunciated the name carefully, trying to make sure she remembered it right. “Nobody knows where she lives, though.”

“Maybe we can ask somepony where she lives?” Scootaloo asked hopefully.

Apple Bloom shook her head. “Ah figured that, Scoots, but who do we ask? Pinkie Pie isn’t home yet.”

“How about the Mayor?” Piped up Sweetie. “She might know!”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked back at Sweetie Belle utterly thunderstruck.

“Sweetie that’s brilliant!” shouted Scootaloo, bouncing up and punching a fore hoof into the air.

Sweetie Belle struck a pose, head held high, and one hoof curled off the ground as she tossed her curly mane. “See girls? Beauty, and brains.”

Apple Bloom took one look at her posing friend before deliberately scraping her hoof on the dirt and swiping it across Sweetie’s pure white muzzle.

“HEY!” Sweetie yelled indignantly, only for her earth pony friend to stick her tongue out at her and gallop for the town hall, Scootaloo laughing as she ran right behind her.

“Oooh! I’ll get you for that!” she hollered after her friends, wiping at her nose with one hoof as she tried to follow at the same time.

“Well now, girls.” Mayor Mare began, having heard the girl’s plea for information. “I’m afraid I don’t know where this human is, though I would very much like to meet him myself. As to the address of the mare you are looking for, I would like to know exactly why you are looking for her in particular as well as the human.”

“Go ahead Sweetie, tell ‘er” prodded Apple Bloom, stepping backwards so she could nudge her friend forward a bit.

“Well, I was asking everypony in the market if they knew where the human was or if they heard anything about him. All I got was a lot of silly stories, but they did say that a unicorn named Dee Jay Pone Three went looking for him and then ran back through town really fast. We just want to ask her what she found. Oh and I want to see if she really did have her tail on fire, ‘cause I’ll bet that woulda hurt! Maybe I can make her a skirt to hide it if it looks bad.”

Sweetie Belle finished with a cute smile on her face, preparing to launch an all out puppy eyes assault if the Mayor was reluctant to give up the ‘goods’.

The mayor chuckled at the hilarious mispronunciation of Vinyl Scratch’s stage name. “Why in Celestia’s name would she have her tail on fire? Anyway I’m surprised you are after her and not Miss Heartstrings. After all, she is our local expert on humans.”

The Mayor schooled her face once again, “I’m afraid I can’t give you the address of Miss Pon-3. We can’t just go giving out personal details willy-nilly you know. Oh and nice pout, girls, A for effort.”

The trio of fillies blinked in surprise as Mayor Mare blatantly ignored the patented Cutie Mark Crusader Combined Cutie Stare - guaranteed to get you free candy or your bits back!

“Awwww…” The girls whined.

The mayor looked up as she heard a train whistle in the distance. “Weren’t your sisters due back on the train today? If you hurry, you could meet them at the station.” She smiled at the fillies. “Oh, and if you do, could you please tell Rainbow Dash to come meet me? We have some weather schedules she needs to look at waiting for her.”

Sweetie and Apple Bloom perk up at the mention of their sisters being home soon, Scootaloo even more so at the mention of doing something for her idol, the ever awesome Rainbow Dash.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo turn and race from the room. Sweetie Belle stays for a moment, saying, “Thank you for the help, Miss Mayor!” and darts out after them, calling for her friends to wait for her.

Mayor Mare sits there shaking her head, a faint smile on her face at the antics of the fillies. After a few moments, she stands and wanders down to an office just a few doors down.

“Scribed Scroll,” she calls the old stallion sitting behind a desk filled with maps and blueprints, “could you please find me the address of Vinyl Scratch, please? I have some business to take care of this afternoon.”

Author's Notes:

Slow updates for a little bit as I am getting blasted with paperwork at work.

Once again, much thanks to Avatar of Madness for proofreading.

Edit: Just a quick note to recommend this little gem. Broken Little Changeling by Anonymoose - A one-shot (and a half) that really surprised me.