//------------------------------//
// Chapter Two-Acknowledgement 
// Story: Lyra Heartstrings and the Temple of Doom 
// by Trish Hankins 
//------------------------------//

	This was it. Lyra had always felt a little out of place with the rest of her group; even Derpy was more serious when danger reared it's ugly head than she was. Now Lyra could really show them what was what! She hopped a little from one hoof to another as she walked up to the door leading from their car to the next. She tested the knob with her magic, but it turned easily. Weird. It probably should have been locked, it being the cargo and all. Lyra shrugged at that, opened the door, and walked out of the train car.

For a few seconds, Lyra just basked in the feeling, her eyes closed. She could hear the wind rushing by her, as the locomotive split through the air in it's speed. Where she stood, between the cars, it was calm. That dissonance, of feeling the still air but hearing the rushing wind, made her feel like she was in the eye of some vast hurricane. The experience was something Lyra had never felt nor thought of before, and she made a mental note to try and write a song that emulated it.

With that done, she entered the cargo room. The first thing that struck Lyra about it was how dark it was. Apparently nopony had thought that it was really necessary to leave a lantern in the room while the train was running. "Hello?" she called into the darkness. "Mr. C, where are you?"

A pair of bright blue eyes blinked open in the dark, multifaceted and insect-like. "You're Lyra Heartstrings, correct?" buzzed a basso voice from the same direction as the eyes.

Lyra nodded. "Yes, that's me. What did you want to tell us?"

There was a small pause before the voice responded. "I was expecting to be talking to your leader. Why did she send you here?"

"I'm the Alternative Tactics Officer in our group, so it's my job to handle diplomacy," Lyra said with a wide smile. This was going awesome!

The eyes blinked, and the voice responded. "I suppose that is satisfactory." There was a click-clank sound of carapace striking wood, and she saw the changeling step out from the darkness. It was wearing a dark blue set of armor, and it's face failed to betray any sense of emotion. "I'm here to warn you about what you're getting into."

Something seemed to click for Lyra, and she gasped. "Wait a second! You're that changeling commander that kidnapped me! Carry or something!"

"Coxa," it responded immediately. "Lieutenant Coxa of the Fourth Swarm. Enough pleasantries. Your team is heading into a dangerous situation. If you aren't cautious, you'll all die. Or worse."

Lyra tilted her head at that. "Worse?"

It nodded. "The myths aren't just myths. You're entering Deer territory, and none of you have dealt with Deer before now. They're dangerous, probably more than any other threat you have faced. They don't kill, they twist and ensnare. If you fall into their traps, you'll wish you were dead. So my advice is this: don't accept any deals. Don't even entertain the notion. Fulfill your mission goals and leave."

That sounded pretty reasonable. Lyra had taken several classes in Mythology while in Uni, and the Deer were mentioned often. Nopony actually really doubts their existence, but they show themselves so rarely that concrete information on them is pretty scarce. One of the few facts that appeared in nearly every appearance was their trickery. Bargaining with a Deer was nearly as crazy as striking a deal with Discord himself. "How do I know you're telling me the truth?" Lyra asked. She thought it was a smart question. The last time they'd met, it had kidnapped her.

"You don't. But you've heard what I have to say, and you'll likely take extra precautions now. That's all I need," it responded.

Lyra's face scrunched up in thought. "Why are you helping us? Aren't you a terrorist or something?"

It laughed, a hollow sound. "I find you interesting. Especially your captain. Having you die now wouldn't be of any benefit to me or my Queen." It tilted it's head, as if listening to a voice. "Hmm, I hadn't realized we'd been talking that long. Goodbye." And with that Coxa disappeared, with the same green flame that heralded a transformation. So it could turn invisible? That's a pretty cool power.

Lyra turned and headed out the door, relishing in that atmosphere once again. Sometimes taking a break for a couple seconds like this was what Lyra needed, a moment to think. Then she remembered the time limit Carrot had placed on her excursion, and the moment was over. She returned to their personal compartment and smiled at her friends. "Mission accomplished!" It was clear in the silence that followed that Carrot Top and Octavia were waiting for a little more information than that. Lyra continued, "Okay, so, the pony who wanted to talk wasn't a pony, it was a changeling. And-"

Before Lyra could continue, Carrot Top interrupted, "Are you hurt? Did it try anything? What information were you able to gather?"

"Um..." Lyra thought about those questions, and answered them in order. "No, I'm absolutely dandy. No, it didn't attempt to hurt me at all. I actually got a lot of info from Coxa."

Octavia started coughing, apparently having gasped while taking a sip from her coffee. "Coxa?! As in the same changeling that kidnapped you not too long ago? Why exactly is it still skulking around?"

That was something Lyra realized she hadn't considered asking it. Why was it here? "I don't know. It mentioned something about being interested in Carrot Top, but besides that it never brought it up." Their silent stares practically radiated their question of why exactly she hadn't asked. Lyra blushed. "Sorry, I forgot to ask. Anyway, it wanted to warn us that the myths about the woods aren't just myths. The Deer are in the woods, and they might try something, something it said was worse than death. It might be connected the missing archaeologists."

Everyone let that sink in for a moment. Octavia spoke up first. "This doesn't really change anything. We knew this was dangerous already. The only insight he gave was that Deer are involved, but we don't really know how. Are they the cause of the problem? Or are they as confused about the situation as we are? And that's not even taking into account that the changeling who told you this tried to kill us. This isn't enough to change our plans."

As much as Lyra didn't think Coxa was lying, she had to agree that it didn't really sound like a lot of new information. "I disagree," Carrot Top said. She was looking out the window, her eyes on the landscape passing by. "First, the fact that Coxa thinks the Deer are involved may not prove it, but it does allow us to be more wary." Carrot looked to Lyra. "What do you know about the Deer that could help us?"

That made Lyra stumble a little, mentally. It wasn't often her years of mythological research was actually called upon for practical use. "Well, they're supposed to be very truthful, but also have been said to trick unsuspecting targets. So I think we should take Coxa's advice on that point. They also have a lot of weird magic, stuff that doesn't resemble anything we unicorns can do." Lyra racked her brain for something else, before remembering one last rumor. "I read in a few books that they can be harmed by 'cold iron', but those books weren't the most reliable. Even if it was true, I don't know what that would really mean. 'Cold iron' isn't a term I've really heard a lot."

Carrot nodded. "Let's just use iron then. Several of the tools we brought along are made of it, so they can function as weapons in a fight against them, if it comes to that." Lyra could almost hear the gears turning in her friend's head as she started planning out more ideas. "Second, we know Coxa is here. We know what he's done before, so we have a general estimation of his skills. The idea that he's here because of me is a little unsettling, but now we can keep our eyes peeled for any sign of him."

There was a cough, and Carrot Top looked inquisitively at Lyra. "Well, uh, that's the thing. Coxa ended our talk by using magic to turn invisible. I don't know how he did it, but I think we shouldn't expect to see him walking around in the open."

"Stars and stones..." Carrot muttered. "Well, that means one of two things, considering he openly revealed his presence to us. Either he's confident that the advantage his reveal gave us won't affect him in a confrontation, or he's not expecting a confrontation." She sat in thought for a while before talking again. "It's the latter. Coxa isn't stupid, he'd want every advantage against us if he wanted to strike. I don't think he's going against us this time."

That seemed pretty sensible to Lyra, after all why would it warn them about stuff if it was going to try and kill them again? Octavia shook her head. "We can't bet the farm, so to speak, on that logic. It's an enemy, and if we see it again we should try and subdue it before it does us any harm. Its reveal could be a way to better gain our trust, so it could betray us later."

Their leader seemed to consider that, then replied with, "The logic doesn't track. He knows we'd be suspicious of him regardless of what information he passes us. The chances we'd actually let our guard down due to it isn't worth the loss of the element of surprise. It doesn't seem like something Coxa would do."

"I'm not saying we should trust Coxa unconditionally or anything..." Lyra added, "...but it extended the olive branch first. It would be rude to ignore it, regardless of how true its intentions are."

Octavia shrugged, nodding. "I concede you both have a point. But there's something else we need to consider:  Why would this Coxa tell us this? From everything you both have described of it, Coxa doesn't seem the type to give pertinent and helpful information to its foes for no reason." They sat there, looking at eachother, and it was clear none of them really had an answer to that. But before the conversation could continue, they felt an abrupt jolt as the train stopped. Lyra looked out their window, seeing the White Tail Woods for the first time. It struck her immediately that the term 'heavily wooded' didn't give the sight justice: the thick forest of tall, imposing pines had such little space between the trees that she doubted travel through it was really possible, except on a cleared path. The trees stood like the wall of an enemy fortress, and the melody of a foe's war song played through her head, the sensation eerie. The forest gave the distinct, impossible to ignore impression that despite being within the borders of Equestria, this was not their land. Where Everfree was chaos and nature run rampant, this was a citadel that refused to bend to the climate and nature around it, the dark clouds in the distance a sign to all ponies that they were not welcome here.

This was the place they were entering, and Lyra was beginning to fear that this mission wasn't a great idea after all.