Lyra could hear the soft voice resonating inside her head, clearer than a resounding shout bounding between canyon walls. With the rocky edges of the bay stretched far apart, though, the mare's ears twitched at the sound that teased her hearing. Even her steps seemed strangely loud as she drew closer to the swelling wave. With the wall of water drawing ever closer, Lyra wondered if it were turning the open cove into an echoing cave.

“Will you learn, young one?”

The voice spoke again. Its clarity was astounding, especially for one so hushed. It was at that very moment, however, when Lyra suddenly noticed the discomforting silence surrounding her. In the midst of disaster she could sense a mysterious force, something that blocked her ears from hearing the charging wave. It numbed every inch of her body, to the point that she could no longer tell that layers of muck were sinking beneath her hoofs.

The awkward sense of safety, though, was anything but assuring.

“Will you learn?”

The soft voice asked again, snapping Lyra from her state of awe and alarm.

“L-Learn what?” Lyra felt herself ask, though she had not thought to move her lips in response.

Lyra’s own voice rang like a church bell, its waves of sound echoing up and over rolling hills. The distinct sound in such an unlikely setting slowed her pace; Lyra started to wonder if she were beginning to walk straight into a trap.

“My song.”

The amber-eyed mare halted her advance toward the building waters. Her limbs, much like her lips, acted seemingly against her will, though she felt no immediate sense of opposition from what they did. Her real concern came more from her inability to understand why her body was acting all on its own. Anxiety began stirring beneath a mind blanketed with a strange tranquility.

Something about the voice, either its soothing speech or the very words it spoke, exuded a sense of reassurance, as though it – whatever it was – knew precisely what was happening. Lyra began wondering if the ocean itself really were speaking to her. In her mind, that was the only thing that could have complete control over the situation.

‘Your song’... but who, or what, are ‘you’?

As though searching for confirmation, Lyra scanned the span of the raging tsunami. The wave scraped the edges of the rocky cliffs to the north and south as the array of deepest blues and lightest whites charged on, unhindered. At its base was a navy blue, cold and void; the icy white peak of the wave appeared no less frigid.

Most chilling of all to Lyra, however, was a lingering sense that something was inside the revolving wall of water. Though her gaze swept over the approaching tide numerous times, not a thing came into view. The only thing that held the mare from giving up her search was the whispering voice. Though it did not plead for her to stay, Lyra felt compelled to find its source. She needed to see something.

“What is ‘your’ song?” Lyra asked, eyes locked on the wave not a minute away from hitting the shore.

“The words that you have heard; sing them, and they shall save you from the cause of this disaster.”

Lyra paused. “But what is the cause?”

She waited, but no answer came for some time. The silence left Lyra stranded in a sense of timelessness; the wave careening towards her and the others, however, served as a swift reminder that time was still passing, and not a second slower than before.

Lyra observed the totality of the approaching wave once more. Its height had not diminished in the least; in fact, it had only grown. As it hurtled into the shallow ends of the bay the waters grew to a size Lyra had never before seen nor heard of; no book she had picked up ever mentioned the waters rising to swarm the mountaintops.

A sense of panic begin to arise from the covering of calmness, striking thoughts of escape and fright. Even still Lyra could not coerce herself to even move a muscle to look away. Her hoofs felt planted where she stood a minute’s walk out to sea. The tiny pebbles and moist sands had grabbed a hold of her, but not enough to keep her put. What kept her was a sense of confidence, one Lyra knew was not coming from herself.

“Sing, young one.”

A flash caught the corner of Lyra's eye. No longer restrained, the mare moved her neck to stare down the source of light. Floating beside her on its own was her lyre, the one instrument she had brought from home. Its dull gold shone like a lighthouse against the darkening atmosphere.

As the mare examined the instrument and its mysterious independence, a tune – like a whistle, or a hum – sounded ever so softly through the mare's mind. It was sweet and slow, but also rich and powerful. Such a combination of notes across the scale had never been sung for her; it was like a lullaby, but filled with richer, vigorous tones.

Is this the song..?

Lyra listened and lifted her hoofs to strum her instrument in accordance with every note she heard. The introduction repeated once more, but that was all Lyra needed; she sang the words she knew along with the notes she played:

“Like the water, calm, my spirit,

Show thy sense of perfect peace...”

She paused, but continued trying to play; however, as she strummed, the strings she plucked grew stiff as a different portion of the melody began playing itself. Lyra let go as the instrument hovered in the air on its own, soon accompanied by the mysterious voice:

“Halt ye winds and rest ye waters,

Force thy restlessness to cease!”

The energy of the melody turned on a switch in Lyra's brain. She felt as though she had known the song all along, from its force to its liveliness, even the sense of peace it evoked; all of it was contained within a single song. It played over and over in Lyra’s head, until the stranger's voice began fading in its echoes. The only voice Lyra could hear then was her own; yet, it felt as though it were the only voice she had heard sing it.

Her blood began rushing, faster than the waters of the raging wave. Lyra opened her eyes to behold the sight of the oncoming breaker once more. There was no fear. There was no panic.

What... What is this feeling?

“Serenity, young one; may the waters mimic you. Shoo-be-doo-wa, shoo-be-doo...”

Suddenly the rush of the waters boomed through Lyra's eardrums. She winced at the noise that suddenly from the waves scratching against the rock and bottom of the bay. Her coat began shivering involuntarily as cold winds and grimy muck teased her sense of touch, reminding her of their irritable presence.

But the words in Lyra's head cried for the greater potion of her attention as the mare tried to kick off the shivers and shudders. She needed to remember the song.

“Lyra, the wave’s coming!” shouted Starlight back at the beach.

Lyra felt concern jab her in the side, to which she only allowed a quick glance over her shoulder. Standing back on the beach was Starlight, his eyes lit up with horror. Twilight, who stood halfway between her and the smokey violet stallion, had a similar look of shock on her face as she too stared at the approaching water. After a moment, both sets of fearful eyes plunged from the tip of the wave straight down onto her.

Lyra could sense their fear, but she couldn't find her own. Her mind was occupied with resounding notes, with words she had just learned.

Sing them, and we'll be saved from the cause of this disaster.

Without another moment to lose Lyra turned, faced the wave, and strummed her lyre to begin the song again. This time, however, to her surprise the first few notes vibrated with tremendous power. Their echoes landed blows against the wall of water; some shot straight up into the violet sky. Lyra spotted a spark from her horn, which quickly grew into a mysterious light blue. Soon her lyre was surrounded by the same color.

“Lyra, we need to get out of here!” Twilight shouted. “I can get us back-!”

Lyra turned to face Twilight, who stopped upon seeing her countenance, and shook her head ever so slowly. “I know what I need to do, Twilight! Trust me!”

Lyra faced the wave, stood tall and cleared her throat. The waters began shifting until they pointed like a point on a plow. Its sharp edge dug through the mud and stone on the bottom of the bay, adding brown to the mix of navy within the wave. With clumps of mud tossed in its trail, the wave took on the appearance of a stampede. The worst part of it all was that the head of the charge pointed straight where Lyra stood.

But Lyra didn't run, nor did she hesitate; she confidently strummed away at her lyre. As the wave grew close the mare played the song all the louder, until its notes began bounding forceful waves against the watery surface. It cut into the wave with powerful vibrations, shooting light blue shudders that vibrated throughout the water. Note after note the blows of the music hit the ocean, but the wave continued its advance.

After the memorized introduction, Lyra raised her head and sang the exact words she had been taught:

“Like the water, calm, my spirit,

Show thy sense of perfect peace:

Halt ye winds and rest ye waters,

Force thy restlessness to cease!”

Her words were like slashes from a blade as they diced the wave into pieces. Portion after portion of the wave collapsed upon itself. The wall of water came crumbling down like a barricade shattering beneath its own weight. The sounds of defiant roars died down to confused bellows, and then to weakened howls.

Lyra watched as the arrow pointing straight for her was mere seconds away. With a final strum of the lyre Lyra finished the song, and a great resonance shot forth. The energy shot out like a light blue partition, splitting the water’s pointed edge in two. The solid front broke off to Lyra’s left and right, crashing to the sides as though the mare were standing behind an invisible barrier.

What remained of the dying waves crumbled until they were no more than leveled ripples. The crashing waters turned to silent waves. Lyra could only stand and stare. The towering wave was no more.

The muddy ground beneath Lyra’s hoofs soon became covered with the salty waters again as the extending waters on the beach retreated back into the bay, soaking her tired limbs with an icy sensation. She felt her breaths leaving, long and hard, as though her lungs were emptying the hot air of excitement.

She felt more alive than ever before.

“Lyra!” shouted Twilight, her voice normal and undistorted.

She and Starlight trotted their way over to Lyra. Their splashes of water mere trickles in the mare's ears which still rang from the waters that had crashed before her very eyes. They stood in silence as they examined their friend, who was dripping and shivering, yet beaming all the same.

“Lyra!? Are you okay?” Starlight asked. “W-What just happened?”

But the mare, breathing heavily, could not summon enough air together well enough to fully reply. She stared down at the soothing water as tiny waves retreated from where her breath touched the surface.

What did just happen..?

“I'll tell you what happened!” a voice echoed from behind.

The three turned to face the source of a most familiar voice: Doctor Ingrid Marie. Her blue eyes reflected the deep sea like a mirror, and her beige coat and umber mane were like the dark sands of the shore. What made her stand out was the shining apple cutie mark which the students all spotted even from where they stood in the water.

The professor’s approach toward the group was oddly slow as the others made their way quickly onto dry land. Her gaze was a pensive one, and Lyra could feel it bearing down on her the entire time.

“That was something even I have never seen nor heard before,” Doctor Marie stated as the four congregated on the shore. “Yes, yes, breaking waves is no easy task, Miss Heartstrings, especially not waves like those! In fact, the dispelling of such White Horses has been a spell lost for over a thousand years; could it be possible that you have rediscovered it?”

“White Horses?” Lyra asked. “Aren’t those simply a part of folklore?”

“Yes, yes, I thought the same,” Doctor Marie said, panting. “A most curious incident we have witnessed, though, yes; did you not see the charge? No, I would not have had I not spotted you so far in the bay! But, what were you thinking? Did that spell give you such confidence that you thought you could face it alone!?”

Lyra felt taken aback. “Spell?”

“What, do you think that was some ordinary song you just chanted?” the professor asked before ceasing her approach at the calming water's edge. She stared out at the three students with careful eyes, then past them at the settling waters. “Yes, yes, surely you must have learned it somewhere before.”

Lyra shook her head. “No, professor, I had no knowledge of it until just now.”

Doctor Marie looked around the beach, her eyes wide open in amazement. “No! You mean to say that you... created it? Just now!?”

“No, professor, not at all! That is to say, not exactly,” Lyra admitted as she glanced about the bay. She felt as though the wave were still standing before her and the others, placing an odd pressure upon her shoulders. “I think... I think the sea might have very well taught it to me.”

“The sea?” Ingrid Marie asked, skepticism lighting her old eyes. She stared long and hard at the waters again, contemplation overtaking her expression. She began mumbling to herself, “Most curious, yes, most curious indeed. Being spoken to by the ocean. Yes, perhaps from within the ocean-” She stopped and lifted her eyes to Lyra. “You wouldn't have happened to have seen something inside that wave when it approached, would you have?”

Lyra looked to her two friends, who merely shook their heads. “Nothing, not that I could see.”

“Most interesting,” Doctor Marie stated, pacing along the beach. “Yes, if I have learned anything over the years in Equestria, it is that there is always a possibility for the peculiar to happen. However, the sea speaking... yes, there certainly is something peculiar about this, but I dare not make any assumptions just yet.”

“What do you mean by 'peculiar', professor?” Twilight asked, intrigued to a degree Lyra could not quite understand. “Not that I doubt what you're saying, Lyra, but can the ocean really speak?”

“But I heard it!” Lyra remarked.

“You heard something speaking,” Doctor Marie asked. “Yes, yes, I feel that it was not the ocean itself.”

Lyra said. “But it taught me the song! It sang it for me!”

“Sang?” Doctor Marie paused as she stared at the waters herself, an eye of careful examination running over the surface. “Curious. Yes, most curious indeed.”

“What do you make of it, Doctor Marie?” Twilight asked. “I’ve never heard of the ocean talking or singing. After all, I don't remember hearing anything myself. Did you, Starlight?”

The stallion shook his head. “I didn't hear anything but Lyra's singing.”

Doctor Marie looked each of the students in the eye one at a time. “Yes, what I make of it is this: though the sea may not be able to sing or speak itself, there were rumors long ago that there were entities living within the waters that could do so. Yes, but that was many, many years ago.”

Lyra tapped her muzzle.

She couldn't be talking about... those creatures?

Doctor Marie, eyes then waving about between two sides in her brain, laughed away the matter. “In any case, Miss Heartstrings – if I may – I would like to speak with you in great detail about all this; yes, you may have discovered the spell that many elemental magicians have been seeking, and in the form of song, nonetheless! An ancient discovery of sorts, at least.”

Lyra stared with heavy eyes at the shore and its soaked sands. Her hoofs trembled in the cold mush as she breathed in a lung full of chilly, salty sea air.

“Professor, I'm afraid there won't be a chance to talk anytime soon.”

Doctor Marie raised an eyebrow. “What? Why is that?”

Lyra hesitated, feeling what went through her head was not exactly what she wanted to say. Regardless, she answered, “I'm leaving the academy, professor.”

“Leaving? But why?”

Lyra looked back at the ocean, as though taking in her final view up-close. She could feel her heart extending its reach for some kind of embrace, but nothing was reaching back; not that she could sense in that moment.

“I'm afraid I cannot continue on with my studies,” Lyra said. “I've given misleading information on the placement exam, and as a result have ended up in a class I do not enjoy in the least. I understand that I cannot change for a number of reasons, and therefor can only choose to take my leave.”

Professor Marie could only respond with a dumbfounded look. Lyra could sense her own honesty squeezing her general emotion from its strong sense of security into a conflicting shame.

“But, Miss Heartstrings... what compelled you to do such a thing?” Professor Marie asked.

“My parents,” Lyra admitted. Her blood went cold at the mentioning of it; she felt not only surprised at her own honesty, but also at the thought of just what this all revealed. Her parents were somewhat well-known, after all. Regardless, she continued, “They only wish for me to study light magic, and thus I have made it so, despite the fact that I do not enjoy it and have already mastered much of the field.”

Doctor Marie thought her words through a moment as the students watched eagerly.

“No, none can be a master of one field,” Doctor Marie said, “especially with no passion for it. I learned such a lesson myself years ago. Consider this, Miss Heartstrings: what if I could offer you a chance to switch tracks?”

“My parents would not allow it,” Lyra stated. “I already have asked. That is why I have returned early; so that I may leave before this next portion of the semester begins.”

“They won't even listen to the words of a professor?”

“They think of themselves as such.”

A loud voice broke in, “What about the words of the headmare herself?”

It was not Doctor Marie who said this, nor any of those Lyra knew to be present. All turned to face the rocky stairs leading up to the academy on which a dark blue figure stood. The eyes of Princess Luna shone their usual luminous authority as she made her way down to the shore where the conversation had come to a screeching halt.

The headmare held her head high as her eyes looked down at each of the figures before her. Her dark figure, even in the dim evening, stood out with its shaded and starry splendor; all Lyra could see were her teal eyes, but that was enough to captivate her attention.

The princess restated, “What might thy parents say if I were to personally deliver such a proposition?”

Lyra pictured the scene; she knew her parents stubbornness. They would argue at first, but there was no way they would oppose Princess Luna herself.

She managed to reply, “I-I don't know-”

“Explain to me as well, my student, why thou hast not said anything of this matter before?”

Lyra felt backed into the sea; she had intended on telling the headmare, and even had the chance.

“I-I wasn't sure if I was going to leave or not earlier,” Lyra said, ears retreating.

“I offered to help with whatever I could,” Princess Luna stated, her words strangely twisted with a sense of irritation. “If there is anything that I wish to convey to you at this moment, it is that my offer still stands.”

Lyra looked up at the headmare, who stared down with her powerful eyes. She suddenly recalled the feeling of intimidation again.

“Princess Luna, if I may make a request,” Doctor Marie solicited.

The headmare looked down on the professor with curious eyes. “What is this request, Doctor Marie?”

“Yes, well, if I may be so bold as to inquire,” the professor said, stepping forward with a slight bow, “would it be possible for Miss Heartstrings to switch tracks?”

Princess Luna's eyes suddenly bore down into Lyra. “I require a detailed explanation for such a request.”

The mare shivered at the sight she so often admired. The professor, sensing the young mare’s distress, pressed on, “You see, Princess Luna, there were outside factors that influenced her to answer incorrectly on the placement exam. I should think another chance to take the exam would put her in a more favorable position.”

Lyra gulped. She could feel Luna's gaze intensifying, though neither her gaze nor her body language were not seeming to change in the least.

“It shall be so,” Princess Luna finally said, directing her gaze once again to Lyra, “but only if thy word is kept of our appointment tonight.”

The reminder went off in Lyra's head; she was to meet with Princess Luna that evening.

“Oh! C-Certainly,” Lyra said. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know, Princess Luna. Before we go, though, may I say something to my friends?”

“You act as though it shall be thy final opportunity,” Princess Luna said with a smile. “Very well, a quick word. Make haste, for tonight there is much to do after this strange happening.”

Lyra turned as the headmare headed toward the stairs and walked over to Twilight and Starlight. She could see the joy in her own eyes reflecting off of her friends'.

“So... crazy evening, wouldn't you two say?” Lyra mumbled with a humble laugh.

“Is everything you said true?” Twilight asked. “Were you really forced into taking the light magic class?”

“Unfortunately,” Lyra said, “but really, I should thank you two. You made the first part of this semester bearable, both of you. Even if Starlight was stalk-” She caught herself just as Starlight began cocking his head. “I suppose I'm speaking too soon; it's possible that nothing will change. Only Princess Luna knows.”

Twilight looked over Lyra's shoulder at the headmare and professor and quickly lowered her head after. She pulled the others' heads closer and began whispering.

“Tonight was really strange, Lyra,” Twilight said. “You saw it yourself: the low moon, the high tide, that mysterious wave! With the princess acting the way she has recently, I'd be careful going to see her alone. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“What, meet with Princess Luna?” Lyra asked. “I am a little nervous, for more reasons than one-”

“Art thou almost prepared, Miss Heartstrings?” Princess Luna asked.

“Coming!” Lyra replied, then returned to whispering. “I'll see if I can learn anything about all of this from her. Don't you two worry about me, understand? I feel something strange, as though I know everything will be all right. If not, at least I had this opportunity to... well, you heard Doctor Marie. What happened was something out of the ordinary; and it didn’t have to do with light magic!”

“I’m glad you got to do something you like,” Starlight said, “even if it did mean we almost got swept into the ocean.”

“Oh, don’t be such a downer,” Lyra laughed, patting Starlight on the side. “I must be going now. I’ll see you two later tonight or tomorrow morning, okay?”

The two nodded and smiled, and without another word uttered Lyra turned and followed behind Princess Luna, who headed straight up the stairs and to the main hall. Lyra felt her spirits jumping inside of her; the sense of freedom she felt, the sense of accomplishment that was overcoming her – it all defeated the seed of worry that had been planted inside.

Could it be possible that I created a spell? My parents will never believe this...

She glanced at Princess Luna, who showed a soft smile.

… or will they?

Next Chapter: Chapter 24.5 (Interlude): Surveillance Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 27 Minutes