To be a Pony, Pt.5 - Lynna

In her desire to find something or someone new, Lynna stumbled across information on a young friend she didn't think she would find again.

Background
To be a Pony, Pt. 5 - Lynna is the second halve of the fifth part in the To be a Pony series, in conjunction with To be a Pony, Pt. 5 - Kanako. It takes place entirely from Lynna's perspective.

Synopsis
The solo begins with two figures--one a human, the other a pegasus mare--staring each other down as if they were in a showdown. The mare juggles a pair of dice in a cup before tossing them down, and then smiles in victory as she wins the game, announcing "Sorry!" to her opponent as she does so.

The solo then skips ahead after the mare Whirlwind leaves the room, leaving Lynna alone by herself. She ruminates on how thankful she is that Kanako introduced Whirlwind to her and how the mare had lessened some of the hurts in her heart. However, the pain that had brought them together--the destruction of Ponyville--was one pain Lynna felt would never leave. she wonders if she needs a change of pace.

A couple days later she happens to run into Kanako as the latter hurried through the base, seemingly in search of her. He informs Lynna about his search for information on bladecasting, and was also hoping Lynna would be willing to warp him over to Canterlot for him so he didn't have to fly all the way there. After he agrees, his demeanor does a sudden shift to being concerned as he asks if Lynna is alright. She naturally acts surprised, and Kanako continues on to say that he still feels worried for her. Lynna casually brushes it off, but her curiosity spikes again when Kanako mentions that he knew somepony else that was worrying for her. Lynna reminds him that the only pony she really knows on-base is Whirlwind, but Kanako counters by saying it was somepony outside the base, He lists off a series of descriptors that seem to match Curiosity, earning Lynna's full attention. She learns that Kanako had met the filly briefly after the defeat of Dark Beast -Ursa-, and Curiosity had been wondering about how Lynna was doing. Kanako suggests that Lynna should look into where Curiosity is before reminding her about the warp to Canterlot.

Despite his advice and her own desire to go, Lynna held off for a few days. Part of that was because she wanted to be ready to bring Kanako back when he was done, but the other part was due to nervousness about meeting Curiosity again. She recalls how their last meeting was at the tail end of a frantic fight with an Inspector right in the middle of Curiosity's hometown, and given how everyone was afraid of her then, she couldn't be sure that either of them could just walk up to each other and talk. Those thoughts led her to wonder if Curiosity's parents were still alive, until she realized that she was just making up reasons to visit Curiosity anyways, and resolves to do so once Kanako returns.

The solo skips a bit, finding Lynna outside the playground of a foal-care center on the south side of Canterlot, watching the foals play and searching for curiosity while cloaked under Nihility to make sure she isn't seen or sensed. She slowly scanned each foal until she found one that felt like Curiosity, and a long-range seeing orb sent to that filly confirmed it along with two other foals that were playing with her, a tangerine-colored earth pony foal named Sweethoof and a dark blue pegasus filly named Night Aurora. The three foals finish their preparations for a scavenger hunt before scampering off in different directions to search for the required items.

Feeling that it was time to let herself be known, she drops her Nihility cloak and begins searching for Curiosity with her own eyes. She is initially a little dishearted when a similar-looking colt is found snooping around near a slide, but Curiosity is the one to find her, asking why Lynna is here. Lynna quickly tells her that she's here to see the filly, but before Curiosity can reply Sweethoof interrupts, demanding to know why Curiosity isn't searching for anything. However, his outburst is cut short when he sees Lynna, lettting out a shy  hello. The two foals argue about Sweethoof's usage of the nickname "Curie" instead of Curiosity's full name before Curiosity turns back to Lynna, asking if the Factory got her, and so on. The subject matter of the question pulls down Lynna's mood, to the point that Curiosity cuts herself off to ask if Lynna is truly okay and if she was asking too many question. Lynna reassures her that she isn't, and Sweethoof interjects to ask if she can help with their scavenger hunt. Despite Curiosity vouching for her, Lynna doesn't want to give them an unfair advantage by joining in, and she thankfully doesn't have to respond as Night Aurora warily approaches the group. Curiosity decides to call off the scavenger hunt to instead talk to Lynna, and rushes back to the main building to ask their caretaker, Mrs. Bright, if they can talk to Lynna, with the other two right behind.

One application of a triple cuteness stare later, Mrs. Bright lets the four get together in a room that leads directly to the outside play area, giving the four about half an hour to talk before the other foals come in along with another caretaker's supervision. As soon as the four are situated Sweethoof immediately asks if she is part of the Clan, a query Lynna quickly and vehemently denies. Upon seeing how that startled the foals, she relents a little and adds that not all humans were part of the Nihilius Clan, or the Remnant that she is fighting now. The foals are confused, under the belief that the Clan was still fighting, but Lynna opts to not talk about that, instead asking what the other two know about her.

Night states that she heard from her parents about some humans who were fighting against the Clan, Lynna included. Sweethoof quickly interjects to say that Lynna reportedly attacked Curie's hometown of Apple Loosa, which both Curiosity and Lynna deny. Lynna does admit that at first glance her garb is similar to the Clans so it is easy to mistake her for one of them, but that wasn't the case. Sweethoof continues by saying that he can't believe Lynna beat an Inspector due to their hi-tech armor and anti-magic capabilities. Lynna melancholically explains that she just caged the Inspector in so he couldn't leave, and did it through some special powers of her own.

Seeing Lynna's downcast look, Curiosity again asks if Lynna is okay. Lynna says that she's not the same woman Curiosity met in Apple Loosa, and wonders why Curiosity cares so much, lising off every negative thing she did (intentionally or inadvertently) in Apple Loosa in a voice that increased in pitch over time. She pulls herself together upon seeing Sweethoof and Night nervously fidgeting, and settles for simply asking why. Curiosity explains that she thought Lynna looked, well, lonely, and figured that if anypony was going to listen to her and be there it might as well be her. Even if she was a little scared because Lynna beat the Inspector. She also asks if Lynna found anyone else to talk to, and Lynna happily confirms she found two others, but is happy to have any extra ears nearby to listen. The other two foals agree to be her friend after Sweethoof restates his disbelief in Lynna's victory.

Lynna then asks how the three of them got together. Night and Curiosity happened to find each other on the playground and stayed together whenever they could. As for Sweethoof, he and Night met when the latter was asked to help him with some history homework, and Curiosity happened to come upon one of their study sessions. Night then pokes fun at Sweethoof for being floored at Curiosity being smarter of the two, which quickly degenerates to a vigorous "did not/did too!" argument about how much Night and Curiosity actually helped Sweethoof. After getting confirmation from Curiosity that this happens often, she quickly abandons that line of thought when it starts leading her to think about Executor. To quickly shove those thoughts away, she asks for more stories.

Lynna made sure to visit the foals a few times every week, learning more and more about them in the process. One time Sweethoof relates his experience in watching a magic show with his parents with Curiosity and Lynna as an audience (Night wasn't with them). He excitedly tells them about a part of their act where the performers did feats of transformation, turning animals into other animals or giving each other wings or horns. Lynna suspects that illusions were used to simulate the effects, but the idea reminds her times she turned Kanako into a pony along with herself. An idea suddenly pops into her head, and she quickly takes her leave, promising to return later.

Two weeks later, she brings Kanako over to her room to show him the first Pony Necklace. At the end, she mentally notes to make one for Curiosity as well before falling asleep.

Trivia

 * This is the second part of To be a Pony, Pt. 5, happening concurrently with Kanako's side of the solo.