Thunder.

Yes, that was it! That was what it sounded like. He laughed, hard and long, clutching the casted metal barrel with a frantic strength.

BOOM, went the gun. He was almost wrenched off the thing as it bucked backwards. They yelled at him, pulled at him, told him he’d lost it.

BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBO —

He laughed again, this time at them while they cringed backwards as the rest of the deck unloaded. The floor pitched beneath them, a spray of the gaseous ocean whipped into the porthole and flayed him across the back.

Can’t you hear it? IT’S THUNDER, AND WE’RE THE LIGHTNING!

They were backing away now, others had begun to take notice. Out came his little blades, showing them, oh, they love a good show. He cut the rope and dived as the floor heaved again, the gun rumbling away from its home. They scattered like roaches, still afraid!

It felt good to get out. They only let him out to play when there were other ships nearby. His cell was small. One-two-three-four by one-two-three-four.

Sssshh, don’t be frightened, there’s nothing else to fear, now! We ARE the storm! They didn’t listen, couldn’t listen, but that was all right, he was running fast and diving out the hole and clinging to the side like vermin as another cold, salty waves of vapor slammed into him. His little blades buried themselves into the metal, his grip was unfaltering as the red sea tried to calm him down.

No, you calm down, I’m fine. We’re all fine. Everything is fine.

One-two-three-four by one-two-three-four.

He sank a blade higher up, another higher still, scaling the mighty hull. The other ship tried to knock him off because it didn't like cheaters, a hole opened up not a foot away, splinters and blood flying everywhere. He poked his head into the hole — PEEKABOO! — looking at the roaches scramble to put their limbs back on.

Up and over the railing he went, little bees buzzing in the air. He tried to put one on the tip of his little blade, but the sting broke it. He tasted something warm and tangy and dripping from his face, that was his face, oh wow! More yelling at him. He ignored, sucking all the stuff from his fingers.

It’d been too long since they let him see the sky. Deep orange, just like him! Wisps of green gas streaked through the atmosphere. He could make out the two suns kissing the distant horizon.

The other ship hit them.

He giggled as he saw the deck warp, little waves in a pond. Everyone was screaming and yelling, why were they always doing that? Really ruining the moment.

COME ON, WHERE’D THE THUNDER GO!?

One-two-three-four by one-two-three-four.

BOOM, went the guns.

Yes, there we go.

The other ship shuddered even as the cockroaches onboard tried to spin their webs across the churning waters. More little bees whizzed through the air, but they didn’t like being caught, even though they all liked to land on him. Why did they always leave him red? Red was stupid.

Something exploded nearby, he went flying into the railing. He laughed at that. Silly railing, you should have let me go to sleep. The mast cracked, shattered, it wanted to hug him. He got up and wrapped his arms around it as it bent over to him.

It crushed him flat into the deck, but that was okay, he felt tired now. Something long and jagged was poking him in the belly. The mast rolled off, and he saw that it had left a red tree inside of him! Stupid red tree.

He looked up at the sky and smiled as the ship rattled, thunder shaking the very ocean.

One-two-three-four by one-two-three-four.

His eyes felt heavy, oh, so heavy, but that was okay, they never stayed that way for long. He never got enough sleep. He wiggled out from underneath, shrieking as all his broken bits started moving back together, oh how it hurts!

Sometimes he felt he was dreaming all the time, and it was only when he closed his eyes could he —

— Keep awake.

In the hot, stuffy confines of her bed, Lyra twisted and turned, before finally surrendering the fight and violently kicking the covers off.

Sleep simply would not come.

The unicorn panted faintly as she blankly glared at the wall, exasperated. Her body felt the exhaustion of a full day’s work, though her mind was racing at full tilt.

Wait... again!?

She didn’t even have to look around to know her detested surroundings. The sumptuous guest apartments provided for her in the East Wing were even bigger than her current home. Trimmed with fine carpeting, and furnished with nothing but the most regally elegant of pieces, it was the overnight destination of many an important pony of standing. Princes, Lords, Officers, Emissaries, and even foreign Kings had stayed within these walls, rested upon the softest of pegasus-down mattresses.

“...The hay?”

Why do I even know that, I’ve never been in here before... have I?

She felt like she was being choked with luxury. Her simple four-roomer apartment above Bon-Bon’s candy shop never felt farther away, or more wanted. There was a satisfaction of feeling ‘at home’ in a place that no amount of money could ever purchase. She wondered what her best friend and roommate was up to right now.

Probably sleeping, like any sane pony.

Bons had the exact opposite situation as her, all too often. The mare was always bone-tired after a long day, and never really had much going through her mind besides filling orders and inventory. Lyra was somewhat annoyed at her for the ease of which she drifted into the dreamlands, though that really sprang from a twinge of jealousy — Bons didn’t have to worry about great things. She was a simple mare, with a simple life, and Lyra occasionally wished she could have one as well.

But... only occasionally. She was living her dream. The Outland Ambassador! Who could have guessed little Lyra would have gained such a title? Countless hours of brushing through dusty old tomes, hogging Twilight Sparkle’s astronomy telescopes, and pursuing any lead, no matter how frivolous, had finally paid off.

She’d done it. From the lips of the Princess herself... there was life out there. And it was her job to be the first to meet it, among other things.

...None of those things, however, explained why not seconds ago she’d been holding conversation in Princess Luna’s antechamber, and yet now found herself back in her room, with much time having apparently passed.

A pair of icy blue eyes blinked. She wasn’t even aware they’d snuck into her vision.

“G’yaaaah!” she squealed in surprise, accidentally rolling off the bed and crashing into the carpet. Now lying face up at the ceiling, those same pale eyes came peering over the edge of the bed, set back into a dark, shaggy silhouette.

“...Ragdoll?” she finally said. It was a little relieving to see a familiar face, even if said face belonged to an enigmatic Outlander she knew next to nothing about.

The eyes blinked again. The figure moved, casting a pretty face into the moonlight streaming through the windows. “Ambassador,” she greeted quietly.

Lyra rolled over and found her hooves, planting them firmly in the ground before standing. “Uhm... can I... help you with... something?”

Silence.

Lyra fidgeted. “Anything?”

“Sure can!” A second, darker head appeared next to Ragdoll’s, this one adorned with a long horn, scruffy mane and an eyepatch. A single, toxic-green iris glimmered at her in the darkness.

“G’YAAAAAH!” yelled Lyra, tumbling over a second time, knocking the bedside table over in the process. The lamp shattered, and its shade somehow found its way onto her head.

A dark-orange hoof lifted this off. Lyra followed the hoof until she was staring face to face with...

...With...

“Wait a moment. I know you, don’t I?”

“You betcha, Ambassador! I’m Ferrous!” He reached down and shook her hoof vigorously, pumping so fast he was almost vibrating. Lyra yanked herself away, leaning back against the wall in an attempt to collect herself.

Ferrous. Ferrous Oxhide, that was it. The... Elder? Yes. Reaver. One of three. But if he’s here, then...?

“Wait, how did you even get here?” Lyra asked.

He grinned. There was something unnerving about that grin. “Well, when a Mommy and a Daddy love each other very much, or, in my case, if a certain amount of money is exchanged...”

“No!” Lyra flailed about, interrupting him. “I mean... here, like, my room.”

“Oh!” he said. “That’s an easy one. I followed sis inside! Your door was unlocked, by the way.”

Elder Sage was sitting primly atop Lyra’s bed, bushy brown tail wrapped around her hooves in an vaguely feline manner. “You have been having visions, Ambassador,” she stated simply.

Lyra raised an eyebrow. How did she know about that? “Visions of... what, exactly?”

“Us!” the other unicorn bounced on the spot. “They always had to see us, the real us, every time we got a new Ambassador. Ya gotta know who you’re dealing with, ya know?”

“Not really,” muttered Lyra. “I’ve been having an odd day, today. Forgive me if I’m easily confused. It’s all so much to take in.”

“Whenever Ambassador meets Outlander, they see what true nature of Outlander is,” explained Ragdoll. “To know if they are threat or not. Is good. But, no Ambassador ever like doing that with brother here.”

Lyra felt a ghost of a memory surface; the sting of a gaseous sea, the glare of an alien sky, and the terrible roars of weaponized doom. “I think I know why...”

Ragdoll nodded. “You glimpse what we were before we come to this land.”

“Right.” Lyra heaved herself upright, rubbing the kinks out of her back. Which meant whatever that thing she’d seen through in her last vision was the true form of Ferrous. And the one before that, the predator in the snow, was Ragdoll. She rubbed at her temples. “But what happened while I was doing that? I feel like there’s just...gaps in my memory.”

“After meeting in Pritessa’s chamber, Luna free my brother. He only wake up short while ago.”

The rusty unicorn giggled by her side, hopping up and down atop Lyra’s bed. “That just leaves good ‘ole Omni! Then we can get this show on the road.”

Lyra picked him up in a grip of magic, setting him down on the floor as she climbed back up. He didn’t seem to notice. “What show?”

“Why, didn’t you hear? We’re going on an adventure! Some old guy is giving us a ride on his ship!"

“Yeah... going out on a limb, but something tells me giving you anything more dangerous than a spoon is a bad idea,” muttered Lyra.

“I’m getting a spoon, too?! Aw, yeah!” cried the unicorn.

Lyra turned to the other occupant in the room. “Is he for real?”

“No,” said Ragdoll. "He paid a much higher toll than Omnius or myself. Forgive his antics, he means well."

"Toll... a toll?" Lyra gave her a blank look. "I feel like I heard that somewhere already. Was it when I was... doing the whole ‘vision’ thing?"

The other mare nodded. "Any Outlander who has come to this realm must pay a price. this realm is paradise, compared to other worlds. The Great Beyond does not wish to see it spoiled, so we pay the toll to enter.”

Lyra finally sat up. “A toll, as in money.”

“No.” Ragdoll shrugged. “It happens to all of us in some way, though never the same. My younger brother..." she tilted her head towards Ferrous, who was was now busy walking around the edges of the room, muttering under his breath. "Is why he is missing an eye. My elder brother Omnius lost his leg the day we came here. The Outlander Discord is responsible for no doubt has paid as well."

"And you?" wondered Lyra.

Ragdoll brushed away her shaggy bangs. Lyra sucked in a breath at the small, shattered white stump jutting from her forehead. She recoiled, wincing. "O-oh, oh jeez... I'm sorry, I should not have asked."

"No. Is your duty to know these things, Ambassador. You have much to learn, this is why I am here tonight."

“Alright, fair enough,” Lyra said, and stretched as she began to trot out of the room. She looked over her shoulder at the two peculiar not-ponies. “But perhaps we could take this outside? After all, you too have been gone a thousand years, right? Let me show you around Canterlot. It’s changed since you were here last.”

The stallion whooped with delight, and began bouncing alongside her, while his sister took the other side, padding silently through the night.

“I don’t get it.”

“It’s called a locomotive. A train. It carries more things and ponies than a caravan could. And its faster, too.” Lyra proudly patted the side of an old steam engine sitting on the rails, giving it an admiring grin. “It uses a fire ruby to heat water inside the boiler, which funnels steam through a series of pipes. This pressurized steam moves a piston, causing...”

She realized that one of her present company was missing. Ragdoll sat calmly on the platform, eerie eyes unblinking as she focused on Lyra. Beside her was a suspiciously empty spot, formerly occupied.

“Hey! What’s this thing do?”

She’d turned her head for three seconds.

That was all it took, it seems.

A blast of noise and steam erupted from the train, startling many of the late-night comers and goes in the station. A good many bags toppled over as their owners jumped in surprise. Ferrous’ dark orange head poked out of the train engineer’s compartment, mane now blasted straight backwards, a maniac grin upon his face. “Wow! That was loud! ...Can I do it again?”

“No,” Ragdoll answered for the dumbstruck Ambassador.

Ferrous was abruptly launched out of the compartment, landing face-first on the platform. Where he once stood, the engineer of the train scowled, the unicorn’s horn glow fading.

“We should go,” stated Ragdoll, peeling him off the floor.

“Sorry, sis,” he said sheepishly. “Guess I did it again, huh.”

In hindsight, perhaps taking the two of them on a sightseeing trip had been a bad idea. Lyra thought it would do the two some good to see how things had grown since ancient times. Even Knight-Commander Starbuck, head of the watch that night, had been skeptical, cautioning her, but let them pass into the city regardless.

“Eh. Is not first time you do something stupid.”

“Haha, like that time we went to Trotholme with Lulu?”

“No. Nobody is on fire.”

As Lyra hustled them out of the train station, blushing under the accusing glares, she wondered if she should have heeded his words.

The two Outlanders cantered down the cobblestone streets in the way that only tourists were notorious for; eyes wide, looking up at the starlit towers instead of down by their hooves, an overwhelmed look upon their faces. Ragdoll was fascinated by the neon signs, seemingly mesmerized by the glow, though uncomprehending in Lyra’s explanation of how they worked. Ferrous was the same, though his interest seemed to be solely for the roadside hayfry stands, open and simmering even at this late hour.

Canterlot had a life of its own after dark. When the high-society types retired for the night to their lavish hilltop mansions by the palace, the true denizens of the city took to the streets. Pathways, corridors, and squares standing empty and gleaming under the sun took on new purpose. The second and third classes; the haves-less and the have-nots, the dreamers and the schemers, the thinkers and the tinkerers, Canterlot’s forgotten sons and daughters. After a long day of serving the nobility, they had bits and time to spend.

Take a left off Main, trot three blocks down the business district, and an unassuming brick alley would dump you out here, the nerve center of the Canterlot night life, an impressive strip flashing with lights and bustling with sounds. All this in very shadow of the palace.

Ferrous happily munched on a bucket of hayfries as they shuffled through the crowds, while Lyra attempted to talk with her other companion.

“What do you think, Ragdoll?”

The shaggy mare eyed a storefront filled with all sorts of new household appliances. “Everything is so... shiny. I know not what half of these machines are. And there are so many ponies about. Is there a festival going on?”

“None that I know of. This is the usual crowd for a summer’s night.”

Ragdoll smiled, chuckling to herself.

“What?” Lyra couldn’t help but grin as well. “What’s so funny?”

“It is a very strange feeling, to go to sleep, and upon awakening to find that your entire purpose is now for nothing. My brothers and I spent years fighting for Luna, for her night, trying to make a society where the darkness was not something to be shunned.” She gestured to the hustle and bustle of the city, where ponies laughed and played and lived under the neon, bright enough to dim the stars above. “Now that such a thing exists, I feel....” After a moment of struggling, she gave up. “There is no word in your language.”

“There’s a word in mine,” broke in Ferrous. Lyra jumped a bit, almost having forgotten he was there. “Ka’lelea. It is the void of purpose of a hero after their quest is over.”

“We weren’t heroes,” said Ragdoll.

“Ha!” Ferrous blinked, barked with laughter, then returned to his bucket of hayfries. “No, we weren't.”

After a long tour of the city, Lyra took them down a small side street, which ran past the back of Pony Joe’s, and like many streets in Canterlot, was crowded with cafe tables. The crowd had begun to thin out as the hotspots died away behind them.

Ferrous stopped in front of a small bookstore, where a sales colt was hawking his wares. “The Meta!” cried the vendor. “Buy it now! Be entranced as the author becomes a character in his own world! Thirty bits per copy, hardcover thirty-seven!”

The rusty unicorn snorted. “Well that sounds like the dumbest thing ever.” He yelped as Ragdoll dragged him away from the thoroughly-miffed bookstore.

Here, far from the throbbing heart of culture and economy, lay the location of one of the many public gardens dotting the city. This one was located right beneath the Canter Falls. Above, a huge overhang of the mountain itself, jutting outwards like a mighty stone ship to launch the river from it’s bowsprit. The moon cut the shadow of the waterfall itself, bathing the park in a comforting muted atmosphere while fireflies danced and swayed through the flowers. There was precious little else to hear aside from the rumble of the waterfall and the chirping of crickets.

This garden in particular held a special significance to Lyra. As a small filly, she’d spent a few years growing up in Canterlot before following her father’s job to Clydesdale, and would often come to this secluded place to practice her harp and dabble in poetry.

They stopped at the old gazebo by the edge. It was faded and somewhat moldy from the near-constant mist in the air from the falls, but it was still the same as she remembered it. The pair of outlanders peered over the railing, at the dizzy drop into the valley far, far below.

Ferrous looked up and pointed. “What is that!?”

Lyra followed his hoof. There, drifting slowly above a distant slash of clouds, hung a curious construction of pony design. She squinted. “Looks like an airship. Probably filling up the envelope on cloudstuff before a long voyage.”

“A ship... that flies?” Ferrous stared at the craft in obvious awe. “Forget your locomota-tas, that is amazing.” He drifted away from them, trotting closer to the edge to watch it.

“He comes from a world where entire lives are spent aboard sailing craft,” explained Ragdoll. “Entire nations at sea.”

Lyra recalled the spray of a red ocean, the rumble of engines and guns. She shivered a little. “Y-yeah. Didn’t strike me as a a very nice place.”

“It wasn’t,” said Ragdoll. “When one craft met another, a battle was fought, and the smaller was usually destroyed and absorbed into the larger.”

“That’s barbaric!” Lyra gasped.

“That was life,” stated Ragdoll. “What little resources the realm had were washed away by great cataclysm. The people left had to fight for what was left, simply not enough for all. When my brother and I visit his world, we find him alone and adrift. His people had been using him as a... what he call it — berserker in your language— kept crazy and unfeeling by chemical and magic. Only survivor of his craft.”

“What happened to it?”

“There’s always a bigger fish,” Ragdoll deadpanned.

“...Oh. What about your world?”

“Othos.” The shaggy mare grinned. Sharp, unnatural fangs glinted in the half-light of the moon. “A place ruled by ice and snow. Life blooms in the cold, and the sun never graces the sky. Only night eternal, until you reach the far side of the world. The people are hardy, proud.”

Lyra licked her dry lips with a hint of nervousness. “Carnivores, too.”

“The fresher the kill, the warmer the spill.” Ragdoll chuckled darkly. “No need to worry, though,” she said at Lyra’s shocked expression. “Equestria has made my brothers and I into her own image. Mostly.”

“Right. Right... and what about your other... brother? Omnius?”

“Nobody knows. He tells different story every time we ask. Some sad, some glad, all from different worlds and times. He claims all are true. When you meet him, you might ask him.”

“How can you be from many different places at once?”

“I don’t question it. We are family. He found me in the snow and ice, and saw me for what I was.”

“Cold and hungry?” Lyra smirked.

Ragdoll’s laugh was genuine, her eyes sparkled with humor. “Hunger, yes, I was hungry. But not for blood and bone, for truth and far sights not seen. I began to travel with him, and we went to many, many worlds.” She watched the waterfall tumbling down from the mountain.

“That sounds like quite the life,” Lyra remarked.

“It was and is,” she sighed. “After a time, we find Ferrous, and then we are family. Omnius is big brother, Ferrous is little baby brother, and I am sister in middle. And for a time, we are simple travelers. But it could not last. As we travel between the layers, we hear a cry of distress from here, from Equestria. From Printessa Luna.”

“Princess Luna...” Lyra glanced back up at the palace, alabaster towers standing in stark relief amidst the night sky. “She was the reason you originally came here.”

“Yes. She was lonely, and called to the stars for company. They answered. Usually Omnius made it point to not get involved in worlds, to let them be as they are, but Luna was special. She was... like us, but not so much. Different. I liked her most. My world was always dark, so I not fear the night, and I kept her company when nobody else would.

“We became her best and only friends. That was mistake. We should have let her grow on her own, not entertain her hoarding of us to ourselves. She thought we were the only friends she needed. She cared not for others. And when she fell to her nightmare... she pulled us in after her; we, the only holds she had to grab onto.”

Ragdoll fell silent, a ponderous frown upon her face.

Lyra let her think.

For a while, the crickets chirped uninterrupted. Lyra idly watched the fireflies play. The little bugs swooped and swirled through the garden, drawing contrails of light through the summery air.

“Hey! Look at this! Over here!”

Both mares turned, to see Ferrous bouncing in place pointing at the sky. “It’s coming towards us!” he cried.

The airship Lyra had seen earlier had drifted closer. Slightly lower in elevation than the cliff ledge they sat upon she could actually see onto the deck of the ship itself, where a solitary equine figure up at the quarter deck manned the craft’s helm. On the main deck, two other, larger equine figures moved about, manipulating rigging and sails. She could tell they were unicorns by the way the objects moved about them as if no pony held them.

“Oh, wow. It’s coming reeeaaaallly close...”

Ships usually steered clear of the side of the mountain, which was prone to treacherous rouge winds that blasted upwards from the valley below. Clearly, the pilot of this one hadn’t gotten the memo. In fact, it seemed they were steering...

...Right towards them.

“Brother! To me!” cried Ragdoll.

The rusty unicorn spun about from the edge and hesitated, throwing a glance over his shoulder at the incoming ship, then vanished from the spot in a flash of green light. He reappeared with a similar pulse, now peeking out from behind Ragdoll. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“I know not. Ambassador?”

Lyra did not have time to answer, for at that moment the entire airship became the brightest thing in the night sky as an enormous golden dome of magic winked to life around it. The airship then plowed straight through the Canter Falls, parting the roaring curtain of water like a knife. It was huge up close; Lyra had never seen one like this before.

The airship had clearly seen better days, it was aging and slightly-damaged, though it’s sleek lines and sharp, tapered bow made her think of a shark swimming through air. Here and there, plants had taken hold, vines grew amongst the rigging, flowers sprouted up from between rotting floorboards. Dulling, heavy cannons poked out from the sides. The brass plate riveted to the bow was faded and scratched, but she could clearly make out the name.

Benevolent Mercy II

A mighty gouge had been cleaved through the letters, but the words still stood proud.

Why did that name seem familiar? Lyra knew she’d heard it somewhere before. Her chance to reflect on the matter, however, was lost as the airship’s shield evaporated into a shower of golden sparkles. The pilot spun the wheel and slammed at several levers by the helm, and the stern kicked out to one side, the entire ship presenting her port side to the cliff edge.

The entire gargantuan mass stopped on a dime no less than a foot from the garden’s wall, deck perfectly level with the ground. If there had been a screech and cloud of dust raised, Lyra supposed it would have been in perfect taste.

A gangplank extended and slammed down into the grass not feet away. Heavy thumping announced the pilot as he stomped down and hopped onto the grass, scrutinizing the trio under the gazebo with a piercing glare.

He was a stocky unicorn, with a deep golden coat and short, thinning, navy blue mane with a charming curl to it that bespoke many a mare’s broken heart. He was somewhat elderly by the looks of him, but tough, like old leather.

“Are you the one called Lyra Heartstrings, known as Ambassador to the Outlands?” he called.

“Y-yes?” Lyra squeaked in reply.

The unicorn looked relieved. “Excellent. Then they were correct after all.” He gave a deep, formal bow, and snapped into a salute. “My name is Tythus Aegis, a former Major in the Uni Corps, of Their Majesties’ Fighting Forces.” He coughed, glancing back to the ship. “Technically now a Captain again, although a different sort.”

Lyra squeezed out from behind to two huddled Outlanders. “Um, yes. Hello.”

She really wasn’t sure what to say in a situation like this.

“...How are you?”

Tythus didn’t miss a beat. “Bones are a bit creaky, but that’s to be expected at this age, ma’am.” He raised an eyebrow, then cracked a sly sort of smile. “I suppose you’re wondering why I’ve just broken thirteen different sailing regulations to come here to meet you, yes?”

“Wait a minute!” Ferrous abrupt charged forwards at him. “I know who you are!”

Tythus’ eyes widened at the other unicorn’s rush. He smoothly stepped to the side, horn glowing softly as he slashed with it. Ferrous’ run was ended in an instant, and the rusty unicorn came tumbling to a halt, pinned to the ground by a single golden hoof.

Ferrous reached up and bopped him on the nose. “You’re that old geezer with the sweet ship!”

Behind them, the two mares facehooved simultaneously.

Tythus frowned. “I’m not that old.”

Two new voices broke out through the garden. Deep and melodious, like old church bells.

“He means no insult, dear friend...”

“...only simple unguided enthusiasm.”

Two alicorns strode down the gangplank, making hardly any noise at all on the old wood. They were each the deepest of blacks though their fur held an oily tint; one blue, the other green. Their manes were the dancing northern lights, shining a soft light upon the silver yokes worn ‘round necks.

Ferrous grinned up at them from where he was pinned. “Hey, ‘Bo! Hey, Aussie!”

The two alicorns gave him near-identical warm smiles. “Hello, Reaver...” the greener one said, more of a masculine tinge in his voice.

“...Been a while, hasn’t it?” the other finished, this time the chime feminine.

Lyra felt her eye twitch involuntarily.

“Hate it when they do that,” muttered Ragdoll.

Tythus cleared his throat. “Ambassador Heartstrings, I present to you Duke Borealis and Duchess Australis. We came as soon as we heard the news.”

“That’s... nice?” Lyra managed. “And what exactly is your business here? With me? I mean, I’m sure you can have business with me, you’re royalty, but, uh, I...”

Tythus smirked. “We three are here to join the Fellowship, and provide any and all services required to further its, and by extension, your cause. I think you might find us to be quite the help. I happen to have personally met one of the creatures you seek.

“Oh, by the way, we leave at dawn.”

Achievement Earned: "Old Farts, Braver Hearts"

Level up! - Lyra Heartstrings, Outland Ambassador

-Perk Unlocked: Tongue-Tied: (+3 stamina, +3 spirit, -1 intelligence) Expect the unexpected, they tell you. Well, they've never had to put up with the shit you have. Your exposure to exceedingly random occurrences have left your hardier than most, although your short-circuiting neurons might have something to say about that.

Allies Gained!

-Captain Tythus of House Aegis, the Iron Shield of Canterlot

-Duke Aurora Borealis, Bearer of the Northern Lights

-Duchess Aurora Australis, Bearer of the Southern Lights

Author's Notes:

Classic Tythus.

Most of you are probably wondering why the absolute fuck we haven't heard from Echo and Daring Do in a while. Well chill your tits. They're up next. It's gonna be a helluva chapter.