I frowned as I put down my quill. "The passage ends there." I used my magic to gingerly lift the page, returning it to the carefully preserved pages. I frowned for a moment, my eyes lifting to meet the other pony in the room as she fidgeted. She was sitting awkwardly against the chair, lifting her eyes to meet mine as I turned to face her.
She let out an eager breath, waiting for me. "Well Twilight?"
"Lyra..." I shake my head. "You know, this just looks like every other ancient text!" I huffed. "Don't get me wrong, this is another primary source of a major historical event!" I mutter, lifting the book she had brought in and quickly scanning over the pages, flipping to the end. "But all this does is recap what we already know! King Sombra infiltrates the shield, hiding the crystal heart and then turning the magic that enables the protection of the city against the city." I put the book on the table, putting to the relevant passages. "Why did you bring this to my attention specifically?"
Lyra stands to her hooves, walking over to the book. "I brought this to you because this particular historian actually numbered her pages."
I nod in realization. "Ah, so if we can piece the other pages together, we know we have a complete historical account." I twirl around, looking around for my notes on missing pages. "Perhaps we even have them!" I said in excitement, my magic quickly scanning through my notes. "What pages are missing?" I ask, quickly scanning through the notes and noting them. Historians who numbered their pages were rare, most preferring to use the scrolls that were common at the time. Those who did use books often chose to catalog specific stories.
Lyra cleared her throat. "Other than the usual wear and tear, the missing pages truly start at page 15." I lifted my notes as she spoke, nodding in response.
"Thank you. That narrows it down. Where does the missing pages stop?" I ask, putting the rest of the notes back as I turn to face Lyra.
"Page 367." Lyra's response freezes me in place as I process the words.
"Pardon me?"
She wordlessly flips the book to the end of the pages, pointing to the final page with writing on it. "Normally I'd be concerned about this being part of a bigger historical record, but this is a book with 500 pages in it. The writing stops on page 367."
I take a close step, lifting a book off the shelf and putting it next to the book in question, frowning as I notice the books being of considerable difference in sizes. "Lyra, that's not a 500-page book. That's not even a 367-page book."
Lyra nodded. "You and I both know that a book as old as this isn't unusual to have a few missing pages." I nod as she speaks. "And while a few hundred pages missing is unusual, it wouldn't normally raise a mane for either you and me."
I sit down, inspecting the book and then scanning it with my magic. "It's magic enchanted to defend from elements, which is usual for records from that time period." Lyra nods in response. "As fascinating as this book is, why did you bring this to me?"
Lyra shakes her mane, opening her saddlebag and placing a burnt parchment onto the table, her hoof pointing to the page number. "Page 36 was in the corner of the room and was incinerated and thrown to the wind. Due to the elemental protection casted on it, it survived and wasn't lost to the wind." I nod, about to speak before closing my mouth to think as Lyra continued to speak. "From that, we can conclude that this book or the quill writing uses elemental protection and has to be deliberately burnt." She says, opening her saddlebag and gingerly dumping a small pile of broken and incinerated pieces of paper onto the room, all of it contained in protective spells and plastic. I nodded, quickly inspecting them with my eyes and lifting my magic to inspect them as I speak.
"A bit unusual, but not quite"
Lyra interrupted me. "I'll save you the work and give you the reason. I have reason to believe that all 367 pages were devoted to the fall of the Crystal Empire." I frowned for a moment, about to speak again.
"That passage I had you translate is the last page before the incinerated pages started. That was from page 57."
"...excuse me, Lyra?"
"Page 57."
"It's impossible for there to be 200 pages between the restoration of the shield and the fall of the empire! All historians agree that by the shield's restoration and the banishment of the empire was within a 12-hour timeframe, and most estimates, including my own, would pin that at four hours. Unless maybe this book included every single point of view of the fall of the empire..." I trail off, thinking for a moment, before gripping the book and flipping to the first non-burnt page, quickly reading through it and flipping through it in silence.
"Twilight?"
"Lyra, these last few pages are all the historians account of..."
"The fall and banishment of the Crystal Empire, yes."
"So..."
"Miss Sparkle, there are two conclusions. Either there are 250 pages devoted to the most mundane and boring four hours I can think of."
"Or something else happened in those four hours."
"Correct."
"Who would even be privy to that information?"
"I was hoping you could tell me yourself."
"I asked about both princesses about this already, and they told me the same thin"
"With all due respect, you asked about a very traumatic event. If I asked about the return of the Nightmare Moon, how would you sum it up?"
`"...you're helping me look."
"I wouldn't have it any other way."