Lyra Story chap 4

It was an hour past highnoon when Lyra began to seriously question her sanity. Sure, an eccentric like herself was considered insane or mad, depending on your lexicon, but the point remained. She was in the Great Hall again, once more sweeping for signs like those she found in the Orrery, when she discovered something in a far corner. Be it by luck or fate, she was wandering around when she felt her hoof smack something, and heard a sharp crack. Looking down to her rear, she noticed that one of the tiles had broken.

With a gasp, she quickly moved her hoof off, panicking, thinking that perhapse she had destroyed something critical. Moving in closer, she used her magic to levitate the destroyed stones up, taking everything below them up with it. Her face switched from a horrified mask of quick thinking, to a carefully show of focused study when she began to look under the stone, noticing that unlike the rest of the stones present, this one was places above a small hole, likely the only reason it broke.

Putting the broken stone down, she used her magic to try and pull whatever was in there out, and succeeded in finding a long, worn tube of paper. The scroll, as she decided to call it in lieu of its true name and its resemblance to a normal scroll, was brittle and weak from its abuse at the hands of the elements. She was very careful with it, making sure to slowly unroll it, keeping it together with magic rather than risk physical contact.

On it, were two separate articles, one written in a language she did not completely understand, but looked very familiar. The second was utterly alien and looked nothing like what she was expecting. As well-versed as she was in ancient languages, it was difficult to imagine that this could be so old as to have been written before the languages that she knew. She was sure Twilight Sparkle would have some translation books that Lyra could borrow, that pony had nearly everything in the Library catalogued with an exceptionally obsessive drive.

Carefully rolling it away, she put it in her saddlebag and collected the last of her items. She had enough, given she could get a translation, to get the bits and horsepower she needed to put a complete excavation into effect. The tent was stowed away in half an hour, and with enough recovered to keep her busy for a few weeks, Lyra took off at a brisk trot. It was getting late, and if she didn’t hurry she might be walking through the Everfree at night, an eventuality she was far from excited about.

It began easily enough. She made her way over the river with no harder than when she was going the opposite direction; however that was not to be a continuing trend. Lyra was in the middle of the pass when she heard it, and spinning around at the sound of falling rocks, her mouth went wide with shock as a Lion of gold twice the size of any pony came to a majestic stop atop the pass, falling rocks nearly hitting Lyra. She tried to keep quiet, hoping not to be noticed, but one such rock landed not an inch from her, and she screamed in fear.

Immediately, the gaze of the beast settled on Lyra. With a nervous chuckle, she looked around, backing away. She didn’t wait for its reaction, darting at a full gallop away fearful for her life as the monster roared after her, the crash of stone as it slid down the steep slope, effectively falling, informed her that her quick escape was for the best.

She ran as fast as she could, not stopping for anything, the sounds of the Lion growing closer and closer by the second. Chancing a look back, she was distracted for a vital moment, and because of such, she tripped, her hoof catching on an exposed root. Flipping over, she landed uncomfortably on her back. For a brief moment, she was stunned, but when she regained her composure, her first thoughts went to her artifacts. With a gasp, she rolled over to the side that held her tools, and was flipped over the bags cover.

They were safe, which was good. However, the same could not be said for her. Lyra looked up in time to see the Lion slowly padding over towards her. Her knees shaking, she began to back away slowly, the lion licking its chops hungrily. She could see its eyes, the subtle gleam of anticipation, like a squirrel hoarding nuts for the winter, eagerly awaiting the moment to dig in.

There was a crash to her left, a tree limb breaking. The lion looked away, and in that brief opening, Lyra bolted, not bothering to look back a second time. She’d learned her lesson, and when the sounds of struggle grew more and more distant, she still refused to lessen her speed, too taken by terror and ready to be out of this forest.

The sun had set when he finally saw Ponyville again, and with her legs nearly giving out to exhaustion, she defaulted to a weak stumble, her weary knees buckling from the exhaustion that was staved off by the moment. With a groan, she collapsed then and there, too tired to continue on any further.

Lyra awoke to the sounds of hooves, and with a groggy start, looked up. She blinked a few times, sleep clouding her eyes, but eventually made out the figures of two ponies who’s identities she couldn’t quite call to mind.

“Uh, sorry. Had a rough night I guess,” she said in a groggy, tired voice. She tried to stand, her stiff limbs making it difficult, “Oooh, that hurts.”

“We saw you while we were in the park,” said one of them, Lyra’s vision coming into focus enough to notice that it was a bluish pony who was addressing her, “Are you all right? You look a little roughed up.”

“And smell it too,” said the other, this one white, “Phew, when was the last time you bathed?”

“Uhm, three days now, I think,” Lyra responded, stretching her limbs, “Was in the Everfree, camped out.” The look she received was pure astonishment and shock, beautiful for someone who’d just been in a horrible situation, “Trust me, you don’t know the half of it.” Was all she said, before heading off to get home.

The walk to her house got easier as she moved, her limbs getting more limber after that exhausting run followed by collapse. She hadn’t even properly stretched afterwards, no wonder she was so darn tight. She’d have to get a nice long bath soon, just to get the cramps out. When she did get home, however, she was most supprised to see Bon-Bon sitting in the Kitchen, reading the morning paper.

“Oh!” Lyra said with a start, “Sorry, I must have the wrong hous- Wait, Bon-Bon?”

The other Ponie rose with a start, hardly finishing her mouthful, making excited noises akin to yelling in joy.

“Yeesh girl, calm down!” Lyra replied, “I’m all stinky and smelly. Trust me, don’t get too close.”

With a disgusted face, Bon-Bon took a step back and swallowed.

“Lyra, when you didn’t get back after that first day, I became seriously worried. I mean, I know it would take time but,” she paused, looking at her hooves, “I was just worried something had happened.”

“I’m alright,” Lyra responded with a smile, taking off her saddlebags and placing them on the table, “And it was well worth it too. Just look at these fragments I found!”

Lyra pulled the small chip and the larger side from her saddlebags, setting them on the table, beaming at Bon-Bon eagerly.

“This is just the tip of the Iceberg, too,” Lyra explained with barely contained enthusiasm, “These show that our people had contact with another race!”

“Lyra…” said Bon-Bon, apprehensively, “We already have contact with other species. What’s so different about this one?”

Lyra pointed at the figures, “Have you ever seen something like this? I have never seen a creature with a tall mane like that, that stand as so. I mean,” she motioned to their legs, “Their hooves aren’t even present! They had some other, strange feet. This isn’t like anything we’ve ever encountered before.”

Bon-Bon examined the pottery a good, long minuet before looking at Lyra, a confused expression on her face, “So, if they were in contact with us… Why haven’t we seen them?”

“Exactly my question,” Lyra replied, pulling out the final item, “And this scroll, in immaculate condition given the circumstances might I add, could be the clue. It has what I believe to be an old dialect of Ponykind.”

“That’s…” Bon-Bon paused, deep in thought, “A lot to digest. Wow. Good work, Lyra.”
“Oh, you ain’t seen nothing’ yet,” Responded the Aquamarine pony, “I’m headed to the Library later on today, see if I can’t decode some of this scroll. I’m hoping it proves to be the same document twice, written in another language, as this might be how we break through. Imagine, discovering a lost language!”

Lyra stopped and bit her lip, excitement building up inside of her like a soda shaken in the bottle. She felt ready to explode from the sheer level of importance of what she, alone, had discovered.

“Now, I’ll see you later. I’ve got a bath and some reading to do.” Lyra said, prancing off to the bathroom to freshen up, “Catch you at your place?”

Lyra hardly waited for the answer, and was already prepping her bath when she heard Bon-Bon leave. It took all of her self-discipline to just get presentable before she went to the library, otherwise she would have made a poor impression. She didn’t know Twilight that well, having only talked a few times occasionally. After getting the dirt out of her mane and coat, she dried herself off and bolted out the door, hardly bothering to unplug the bath, too excited was she. There was so much to do, and so little time!

Lyra barged into the Library, only really catching herself at the last second. She let out a small “Whoops” and gingerly stepped over towards the table, looking around for any sign of the Librarian. After a few seconds, Lyra shrugged and waltzed off into the maze of bookshelves, thinking the keeper was out and about. Lyra wasn’t sure what she was looking for, so she began with the obvious choice.

“A for Ancient…” she mumbled, looking over the spines of various books, “P for Pre-historic…” she grumbled and pulled a book off a shelf, “Ah! Yes! Lost Languages of Ponies! This is perfect!”

Lyra turned around just in time to slam facefirst into a purple Pony, who stammered and dropped a pile of books all over the floor. With a murmured sorry, Lyra schooched out of the way, and ran off with her find.

“Spike…?” asked the purple Pony, “What just happened?”