Lyra Story Chap 3

Lyra awoke with a start, the sounds of strong wind causing the tent flaps to snap in the gale forcefully.

“Huh,” she moaned groggily, rising stiffly, “Coulda sworn I’d tied the flaps shut.”

Poking her head out, she smiled sleepily as sunlight flooded through the early morning, creating a beautiful, dew-laden scene of shimmering flagstones and glittering glass. It was, frankly, beautiful. The fresh air was heavily scented with the smell of the trees and foliage, giving it a wild feel, which was appropriate given the circumstances.

Returning to her tent, she picked out some breakfast and decided to get a closer look at the object she had found earlier. At the time, it was dark, so she hadn’t gotten more than a rough idea. As the light was flooding the Great hall, she could not get a good view of what was on this shard. Taking a bite out of some of her rations, she rummaged around in her pack until she found the artifact.

“Mmm,” she mumbled with a full mouth, “Bon-Bon sure can pick some good hay. Might have to find out where she got this stuff.”

Flipping it over in her hooves, she tossed it back and forth, trying to make heads and tails of it. As far as she could tell, it was only a small part of a greater assembly. With a little glue and some dry-fitting, as well as a lot of guesswork, she might be able to get a passable mock-up made to get a better view of the original piece. All she needed was to find more of the original pot, and she might gain some insight into the history of this place.

Rising from her breakfast, and deciding to visit the orrery later in the day, she began to carefully patrol the room, dusting away dirt while looking for the remains of clues into the past. A fruitless search, and after the first half-hour, she concluded that whatever she had, the rest of it was either long gone, or no longer in the Great Hall. Resigning herself to possibly never discovering the true meaning of that strange figure with the circle, she made for the main focus of her trip.

The orrery was important for three reasons. First, it was the original hope of the Elements of Harmony. Second, it was an architectural marvel, providing insight into the form and function of the Elements. Finally, it was the only building still mostly-intact and not ravaged by the effects of time, thus was most likely to be home to untarnished artifacts.

What she wasn’t expecting, was that upon entering the Orrery, there was nothing present to identify which element went where. Lyra was aghast at this, the entire main focus of her expedition ripped out from under her feet because she couldn’t even find the darn legend for the correct placement of the elements. Whoever built this did so expecting the Elements to never be needed again, and to be purely ornamental. Her entire expedition was for noth-

“What the-“ Lyra whispered, something catching her eye yet again. Drawing closer, she examined a pattern on the supports, numerous swirling lines that seemed to wind and crawl over the pillars like they were put there to show off. That wasn’t the unsettling or amazing part, however.

“By celestia, this is the same design!” she cried out, her face pulling into an excited smile from the excitement, “The same people who designed this room were involved with that vase! Perhapse it was an ascetic addition?”

She had never expected the Ponies who lived here to establish their own, unique art-style as he continued to record her findings. The building was in horrible condition, and many of the pillars had collapsed or had been worn away to the rocky bone, destroying all chance for any information to be gleaned. But all of this paled in comparison to what would become the single most fateful discovery of her life.

Her work was finally done, she began to return to the Great hall to pack up, nothing left to be gained, when she felt that itch on her spine. Turning by curiosity more than anything, she caught glimps of something that only stood out thanks to the noon sun. There, in a bush not far off, lie a loop to a vase, dirt nearly covering it up completely.

It only took her a few minuets to make headway, finding a figure much like the one on the shard she had found the earlier night. All chance for her to abandon the site now was gone, she was consumed in this hunt for possibly more of the same bits and bobs that could be just beneath the dirt.

She didn’t give it a full appraisal until she could safely lift it from the soil with a spell, and when she did, she was nearly floored by what she saw.

Three figures, holding circular objects, stood facing three ponies, one of each species. One held an apple, and was extending it to the Ponies. The second one held its circle higher, and let its free hoof fall to its side and behind it. The final one held a long stick with an arrow atop it, held above its head, as if to toss it.

But this wasn’t what surprised Lyra, no, what had astonished her was their posture. These strange creatures were not ponies, their large stature demonstrating that clearly. No, it was the fact that they towered over the ponies, adding in to the fact that they stood erect, rather than walk upon all fours.

Lyra was speechless. What were these animals? Did they come to the ponies in some ancient time? Who were they? What did they do? Where did they go? Were the ponies once, before their known history, friends with this race? There were too many questions to be asked, and not enough answers. Her path was set, then:

She would take this and the other shard she had found, return to the mayor, and with such critical historical objects in tow, she could get the funding she needed for a major expedition, complete with extra hooves.

As excited as she should have been to finally have evidence that an unprecedented level of history was here, she couldn’t shake one thought from her head. On the vase piece she had found, there was also a pair of figures, both of which sat upon tall-backed thrones. It wasn’t that they were sitting, however, it was the manner. She was going to have to stay here another night to ensure she got as much as she could, for there was too much at stake. Even so, there was one burning question: If this race had come into contact with Pony-kind before, why had she never heard of them?