//------------------------------// // Ponyville // Story: Choose Your Own Adventure: Lyra’s Quest // by Wanderer D //------------------------------// CHAPTER 2 Lyra sighed, looking at the box thoughtfully. “Hm... I’d better contact Twilight... she can take a look at this and we can make up our minds on who to call next... but...” her horn flashed, a quick spell letting Agent White know she had found something and would let her know later whether it was a lead or not. "There... now, Twilight..." She looked out of her window at the Library, then back to the box. As it was, she would not be able to take it with her. Making sure to close the curtains so nopony could see what was inside her house, Lyra went out of her house and trotted as calmly as possible to the tree that was Twilight’s abode. She smiled nervously and returned greetings as she made her way to the Library, until, finally, she stood in front of the wooden door. Lyra took a deep breath. “Come on, Lyra... you can trust Twilight, right?” Slowly she raised a hoof and, casting one final look around, knocked three times. She waited. “I’ll be right there!” a young male voice called from the other side. “Just so you know, Library hours are from 8AM to 6PM!” “It’s me, Spike, Lyra!” Lyra called from the other side. “Oh! Okay! I’m almost there!” she heard him say, followed by a loud bellow of “Twilight! Lyra’s here!” The door finally opened and Spike smiled at the mint-green unicorn smiled back. “Hi, Spike!” “Lyra Heartstrings!” Spike chuckled opening the door further and stepping aside. “Did you find something human-related again?” Lyra eyed the dragon. “Maaybe... but let’s not talk out here...” Spike nodded and closed the door behind them. Lyra took in the look of the Library. Unlike other times it was actually clean. That probably meant that Twilight’s friends had managed to not have an earth-shattering event today. Twilight herself walked out of the kitchen, levitating a cup of tea. “Lyra! Would you like some tea? I just brewed it!” “Uh, no thanks Twilight... I... I have something very important to tell you...” Twilight’s eyebrows shot up. “Did you learn something new about friendship? Can you tell me what it is?” “Um...” Lyra blinked. “I learned that if you get to know Dirt Cheap for long enough he’ll give you a discount?” “Wow, even more of a discount?” Spike asked, impressed. “Just about everything he sells is completely underpriced... I can’t imagine him selling anything cheaper.” Twilight was nodding. “Friendship does amazing things.” “Yes...” Lyra ventured. “And speaking of friendship... I really need your help... as a friend and as a fellow researcher.” Twilight frowned. “Fellow researcher? But the only subject of study you pursue with enough diligence is...” her shoulders slumped as she gave Lyra ‘The Look’. Lyra knew ‘The Look’ well, it was something she faced most often when she opened her mouth to talk about stuff that she liked. ‘The Look’ was that facial expression of concerned annoyance that bordered on being condescending... and sometimes was, depending on who was the pony talking to her. Twilight never let it go further than mild annoyance, but it still hurt a bit. “Well, at least this should be interesting from a historical perspective,” Twilight muttered loudly enough. “So, what is it? Those ‘gauntlet’ things you mentioned once? Did you find a ‘gun’? Or perhaps a set of... ‘cutlery’? Where do you get those names from anyway?” “Oh, that’s something that Agent Gray comes up with, I don’t know how or where she got them from.” Lyra answered. “Oh, Oct-” “Agent Gray.” Lyra interrupted. Twilight sighed. “So, ‘Agent Gray’ is the one that gets the names?” she chuckled. “You know, I never understood how she and V- I mean, Agent White, got interested in humanity.” “Well, you’ll see why soon enough, Agent Purple.” Lyra said. “I have-” “Hey, I never said I was part of your little group of Human-chasers,” Twilight said as Spike snorted. She glared at her assistant. “Shut up, Agent Zippo.” Spike glared back. “What does that even mean? Seriously? Zippo!?” Lyra coughed. “That was... Agent White’s idea.” “Why do you even call yourselves ‘Agent Blue, White, Gray and Purple’ anyway?” Spike asked, rolling his eyes. “Everypony knows who you are!” “I bet there’s people out there who were wondering who Agents Gray and White were until you almost spilled the beans.” Lyra said with an annoyed tick to her eyebrow. “Hey, don’t look at me, Agent Purple here blew your cover,” Spike said. “I’m not part of their club! What are we, the Cutie Mark Crusaders? We’re adults, lets call each other by name!” Twilight groaned. “I’m not an adult!” Spike said. “Shut up, you.” Twilight growled. She then turned to face Lyra. “So, what did you find?” Lyra smiled sheepishly. “Well... I couldn’t bring it... I need you to come over to my place to see it.” Twilight looked surprised. “Is it really big?” “No, it’s... it’s done something... I don’t know what it’s doing exactly, so I came to ask you if you knew anything.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s not very specific. Are you sure this can’t wait until tomorrow? It’s getting late.” “Twilight... it... activated.” That stopped the unicorn. “A-activated?” Lyra nodded. “It doesn’t feel like magic... please, take a look.” Twilight bit her lip. “But... all my research books are here... what if we need them?” “Well... how about you bring Spike with you? That way if we need him to get some books he can run over and get them?” Lyra suggested. o.o.o Once Twilight had gathered her books, the pair of unicorns and the dragon left for Lyra’s house. “I’m sure it’s just some sort of ancient unicorn relic,” Twilight said as they stepped into the house. “There’s plenty of those left around. From your description it could be an intricate lamp of some sort, or maybe...” she trailed off as she saw it. The black, metal box was still where Lyra had left it, and the strange dome of white light was still active. “L-lyra... this is...” “Proof that humans existed?” the lyre player couldn’t keep the smug look from her face. “I- I... this is just...” Twilight stammered, carefully walking closer until she could see the box. As if somehow detecting their presence, the dome shifted and a series of translucent squares and rectangles made out of light appeared in front of them in a small array, each had a different strange symbol on it that glowed brighter than the square it was set on. Twilight started pacing. “Th-those don’t look like something a pony would make... but...” she looked back, eyebrow twitching. “That’s impossible... there’s no way...” she looked at Lyra and Spike, who were staring at the floating array in awe. “Humans don’t exist! They never have!” she said. “That must be draconic! Yes! That’s why it’s like that, you must use claws...” “Uh, I dunno Twilight,” Spike said. “A dragon wouldn’t make something this small, and the symbols are not draconic.” “I know!” Twilight snapped. “It’s just that the alternative...” “Humans,” Lyra said after a moment. “Why is it so hard to believe, Twi? All the cultures we know have them in paintings and legends of some sort. From ponies to Gryphons...” Twilight shook her head. “That’s just drawing conclusions, it’s been almost completely proven that there were some distant cousins of modern apes that were taller. There are some skeletons in the museum. What happened is that the ancients made them look like more than they were, that’s all.” The box suddenly beeped and a ray of light washed over all of them as different lights suddenly seemed to flow out of  the dome. “What is it doing now?” Twilight asked. “If I knew I wouldn’t be asking you to take a look at it and tell me!” Lyra retorted. A strange voice, speaking in a language that they didn’t recognize emanated from the box. “Dwh hwekw dfii. Opioads nas asded.” “Uh, bless you?” Spike said. “What did he say?” Lyra asked. “I don’t know!” Twilight replied, thinking hard. “That sounded like... Ancient Aquarian? Maybe we have to dunk it underwater to understand?” Bzzzt! Bzzzzt! The white dome in the box started going through a series of sounds that sounded disturbingly like thousands of languages. “What do we do?” Lyra asked. “Maybe I should have called the other members after all?” Twilight shook her head. “What would a bunch of musicians with a hands fetish do? No, we need guidance, I say we take it to the Princess and see what she knows!”  “To the princess?!” Lyra shook her head. “Twilight, you know that the government has been hiding the existence of humans for thousands of years! She’ll take it away!” “But we don’t know if its another ancient enemy!” Twilight insisted. “Uh, girls?” Spike said, staring at the box as it slowed down and started to pulse with energy. “Whatever you want to do, you better do it now!” o.o.o Vote: 1: “Let’s contact the Princess! You know she’ll help us out, and I trust her!” Twilight said, nodding to Spike, who quickly scribbled down a note and sent it. 2: “No, I think we should let the others know, they can be here soon and they won’t betray us to the government!” Lyra said. 3: Wait and see what happens. Voting for this chapter is over! Option 1: 3 Votes Option 2: 17 Votes Option 3: 15 Votes