Two hours previously to chapter one…

The nation of Equestria was the envy of the planet Equss, its beauty had been coveted by philosophers and immortalized by poets and writers the world over. These masters of the arts differed in opinion as to exactly which part of the land’s nature was truly the most stunning. Some argued it lay within the heart of the country, which contained countless miles of lush forests, rolling hills, and fertile farmland. There was also the rugged glory of the southern deserts, which was home to several small frontier towns. The regal crystal mountains and the crystal empire that called the Frozen North its home, and the Everfree Forest, whose enigmatic behavior and untamed power earned it its name. Cloudsdale, with its beautiful architecture, and stunning aerial view of the land, or even Mount Canterbury, which the capital city of Canterlot sat upon. Over the millennia Equss had stood, no one could say for sure what part of Equestria was exactly the most beautiful.

However, if you were to ask the ponies of the rather un-imaginatively named town Ponyville, you would find a single, universal answer.

The sunrise.

The morning settled over the town like a warm blanket, the sun peeking over Mount Canterbury and bathing the entirety of the plains that lay below it in a golden light. This light seemed to bring the very world to life as birds left their nests, chirping and squawking to one another as they began to fly about. The plants began to bloom that much brighter, the air began to feel that much warmer.

Already many of the town's denizens were awake and going about their morning routines, making coffee, eating breakfast, and preparing for the day ahead. Proud parents sent their foals off to school, who happily chatted with one another as they made their way to the schoolhouse. Glancing occasionally with awe at the massive castle that sat on the border of the town before returning to the company of their friends, the castle had grown in size since the land’s latest crisis, becoming that much more impressive to behold as the branches of the crystal tree it sat upon shone brightly in the light.

Much of the town’s weather team was hard at work, gathering clouds for the storm that was due later that day, meanwhile many ponies began making their way to the town market, eager to both buy and sell wares of all shapes and sizes for all manner of reasons.

Truly today would be one of the most beautiful days beheld by Ponyville.

Only one sound interrupted the near-impeccable beauty of that morning, a loud, nasal snore that erupted from the open window of a house not far from the town center, the snore drew the attention of many passersby, who gave the house no more than a raised eyebrow and a slight giggle before returning to their own devices.

Through the window, there was a simple room consisting of no more than a dresser, a mirror, a bed, a bookcase, and a desk. The books on the bookcase shook with the dull roar of the snore, lightly bouncing in their places as the sound shook the room to its very foundations. On the bed lay a mint-green unicorn, in a position that most would compare to that of a cat shoving itself into a small area. Her face, despite her posture, was serene, blissfully snoring away as the room around her experienced a miniature earthquake with every exhaled breath.

Without warning, the bedroom's door flew open, slamming against the wall and revealing an extremely disgruntled earth pony.

"LYRA!"

The unicorn in question gave a surprised yelp, flailing wildly and falling out of bed in a mess of blankets, sheets, and limbs.
She struggled with the bed coverings a few moments before standing up and facing her friend.

"What was that for?!" Said Lyra, groggy and irritated.

"Ponies in Canterlot could hear you snoring!" Growled the mare in question, her bloodshot eyes twitching comically.

Lyra's face turned red, "Oh, was I doing that again?"

"Yes!"

The mint-musician groaned, she had slept like that on occasion, with the problem only occurring once every few months or so. Still, for all the years she and Bon-Bon had been housemates it had been a constant and recurring issue.

Bon-Bon folded her arms impatiently, "I couldn't sleep with all the noise you were making,so I went ahead and got ready for work."

Lyra noticed the apron her friend was wearing. "What time is it?"

"An hour until opening time, I'm headed to the shop, It'll only be open for a few hours, but I still need you to get the ingredients that I need from the market today."

"Right," yawned Lyra, "Forgot that was today." She stretched and went to her dresser, absent-mindedly picking out a wrinkled T-shirt and a pair of shorts before tossing them onto her desk, knocking down a few papers and books. Bon-Bon noticed these papers and gave her friend a disapproving look.

"You stayed up all night again, didn't you?"

Lyra looked from the desk to Bon-Bon, her eyes showing disinterest in where the conversation was leading.

"Uh, yeah, I did."

Groaning slightly, the cream-colored mare held a hand to her face, her interest in the study of humans had been a topic of debate between the two of them for a long time. Lyra had always had a passion for finding the creatures after she had found that book in the golden oaks library, with the library destroyed after the demon Tirek's attack on the town, the former librarian-turned-princess Twilight allowed her to have her sparse collection of human mythology. Bon-Bon had always considered her obsessed with the creatures, and thought it as nothing more than a distraction, but she knew the futility of arguing with her over the matter.

The Earth pony turned and walked out of the doorway, her upset expression now replaced with a more mellow one, she had given Lyra a job running errands for her shop shortly after her stint as a street musician had left her nearly broke. As long as the whole human thing didn't get in the way of her work, she learned to live around her friend's quirk. The two of them had been friends for as long as she could remember, meeting in school as foals. Now? They were roommates, both of them taking turns paying the rent, though in reality it was more like Bon-Bon was paying it by herself, considering she was the source of Lyra's income.

"Make sure you take the list!" She called behind her, the sound of hooves clopping down the stairs followed her voice.

"Got it!"

The Unicorn sighed as she heard the front door open and close, groaning internally before grabbing her clothes off her desk and heading to the bathroom to shower. A few minutes later, Lyra found herself ready to face the day, striding contently downstairs and digging through the refrigerator for the box of donuts she had bought from Sugarcube corner. Finding it, she opened the box and pulled one of the treats out. Biting into it and leaving it in her teeth as she replaced the box and closed the door, there she found Bon-Bon's grocery list taped onto it. The list directed her to a bag of bits sitting on the kitchen table, which she picked up and tied to the belt loop on her shorts. She took the list and began to leave, heading outside and squinting due to the overabundance of light from Celestia's sun.

Once her eyes had adjusted, Lyra took a look at the first item on the list, ten pounds worth of apples from sweet apple acres. That would be on the other side of town, it would take a thirty-minute walk to get there.

"Of course." Grumbled Lyra, " you had to make it a hard one, Bonnie."

She would do that one last, it made more sense to pick up what she needed at the market anyway, the vast majority of goods that the store would need were there anyway.

Forty minutes and about one hundred and five bits later Lyra was toting a big basket full of various foodstuffs and tools from the market in her magic's grip, Going down the list one after the other before getting to the final item, Vanilla extract. The stuff was hard to find in Equestria naturally, so it had to be imported from places like the Griffon kingdoms. She found her way to the correct vendor, a pale blue Pegasus by the name of Cloudbreak. He was the only pony in the town who dealt in imported ingredients like vanilla.

"Morning Lyra." Greeted Cloudbreak as she approached his stall, not bothering to look up from his book.

"Morning Cloud." She said

"What can I do for you?"

"Vanilla extract, three bottles." She replied, sliding the appropriate number of bits onto the table. Cloudbreak looked down and eyed the bits before grunting in displeasure.

"That's not enough." He said, sitting his book down and running a hand through his green mane.

"What do you mean?!" Exclaimed Lyra, picking the coins up and counting them, "That's thirty bits!"

"Price went up, something about Griffons taxing exports to Equestria, Sugarcube corner already bought up most of my stock last week."

Lyra raised an eyebrow, politics was never her strong suit or concern, but with Sweetie Drop's Candies in an everlasting state of competition with the bakery, she knew that when the candy store lacked something, Sugarcubes corner tended to make up for it with their own goods, she would have to get the extract no matter what the price.

"Whatever," she sighed, "What's the new price?"

"Forty-five."

"FORTY-FIVE?!" Lyra looked at the Pegasus like he grew a horn and called himself a princess. "That's Horsefeathers!"

"Is what it is," Cloudbreak said, not at all fazed by Lyra's reaction. Nothing ever seemed to get to him, Bonnie would kill her for using too many bits, but she would also kill her if she didn't show up with everything. Luckily for the unicorn, she had a few tricks up her sleeves.

"I'm calling that favor in." She said, clearly unhappy with the situation. "You know the one."

Cloudbreak eyed her, a twinge of annoyance present on his face, Lyra looked back at him unflinchingly, her eyes silently daring him to protest. The two held the glare for a total of two minutes before the pegasus relented, he shrugged and reached under the stall, producing three mid-sized bottles with a brownish liquid and sitting them on the table.

"Take 'em, on the house, we're even now." He said, his voice deadpanning. Lyra nodded silently and grabbed them.

"Thanks, Cloud." Lyra gave him a small wave.

"Mmmhmm." Hummed the pegasus, returning to his book .

Lyra checked off the second to last item on her list before beginning the trek to Sweet Apple Acres, dodging crowds and the occasional magic-gripped basket as she walked to the outskirts of the town. Eventually, she came within sight of the orchard, the rows of apple trees swaying in the wind. In front of the orchard was a small wooden stall manned by a red earth pony stallion, who was napping at his post. Lyra snickered at him as she walked up to the booth.

"Good morning, Big Mac."

The apple farmer snapped out of his slumber, dazedly looking around before realizing he had a customer.

"Oh, Mornin' Ms. Heartstings." He drawled, his voice deep and heavily accented.

"Not used to the Morning shift, huh?" Lyra raised an eyebrow in amusement. Usually, it was Mac's sister, Applejack that ran their booth early in the day, unfortunately for him, having a national hero for a sister meant she had to go off and do whatever heroes do when they need to go do hero stuff.

"Nope." The stallion's calm demeanor slowly returning to him. Mac was a stallion of few words, with most questions being answered in a few words if not one. Lyra personally had found it hard to communicate with him at first but eventually learned to mostly just ask yes or no questions.

"Yeah, me neither, A.J. off doing hero stuff?'

"Eyup."

That usually meant all six of the Elements of Harmony were gone, off saving Equestria from some crazy monster or evil despot. If only she could do something like that, the closest thing she had ever really gotten to adventure was that one day with Bon's 'secret agent' thing. But she was neither allowed to talk about it or come with her roommate on a mission. Instead, she was left caring for the store.

"Well, down to business," Lyra smiled, not wanting to linger "Can I get Ten pounds worth of apples?"

"Eyup." Mac turned around and produced a burlap sack filled to the brim with apples, "Fifteen bits."

Lyra fished the coins out of the small bag at her hip and dropped them into Mac's waiting hand.

"Thanks, Mac." Lyra gave him a smile and nodded her head.

"Eyup."

She placed the apples in the levitating basket and began to head back to town.

With the list completed, Lyra made her way to the shop to drop off the ingredients, making her way back through the market. The market was always full of noise, countless ponies bartering and chatting split the air while the sound of carts being unloaded dwarfed the voices for only seconds before they engulfed the noise like the waves of an ocean would floating debris.

Today, however, something seemed different, an air of irritation that seemed to hang over some of the vendors and even spread to some of the shoppers she noticed a few ponies arguing with vendors. Insults flying between them like invisible arrows.

"Are you kidding me?!" One Unicorn stallion growled, "Taxes, my flank! You merchants just want more bits!"

"You don't like it?" An Earth-pony vendor retorted; "Take it up with Saddle Arabia! At least then I wouldn't be able to hear your mouth!"

The two continued to argue their yelling only growing louder, one of them slammed their fist down on the stall's table, drawing the attention of a guardspony standing nearby, who gave the group an annoyed look before snorting and setting off in their direction. Lyra passed him, noticing his hand moving to the baton strapped to his hip.

Lyra quickened her pace, leaving the market before something went bad.

After a few more minutes of walking, she had made it to the store and was surprised to see it closed, sitting the basket on the ground and approaching the front door, she found a note posted to the front door:

Lyra.
Something important has come up and I had to close the store early.
Bring the ingredients in through the back and lock the door behind you,
I'll explain more at home.
Bon-Bon

Lyra shook her head, Bon-Bon never closed early unless she was sick, all Tartarus had broken loose in the town, or herother job required it.

Things were getting weird today.

"What's going on?" She thought to herself

Her horn flared and the basket was levitated off the ground following her around the store and behind it. She pushed open the back door, revealing the kitchen, she floated the basket inside, sitting it on the counter before reaching around the door and locking it. Her daily duties performed, she went back home to see what her friend had to say.

"Bon? I'm home!" Lyra called, closing the front door of their home behind her.

"Up here!" Bon-Bon replied, her voice carrying over the banister of the second floor, the sounds of something being zipped reached her ears as she climbed the stairs and saw her friend lugging a suitcase out of her room.

"What's going on?" She asked Bon-Bon.

"No idea Lyra." Bon sighed as she carried the object past the unicorn and down the stairs "All I know is that its a royal summons, and it's a major pain in my flank."

Lyra's eyes widened, a royal summons?!

"What is happening today?!" She muttered to herself, "First the market prices, then the elements being called to Canterlot, and now this."

She sighed, brushing the thoughts off, probably some crazy villain off to conquer the country again. Maybe a monster since her friend was being brought in for it. But that didn't explain that business in the market, she shook her head and leaned on the banister as she watched her friend gather several things from around the house in silence.

"I've left you enough bits to cover food for at least a week," Bon looked up at her from the sitting room, "Consider it an advance payment for watching the store while I'm away."

Lyra raised an eyebrow, "Watching the store?"

"Yeah, I need you to run the shop while I'm gone-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Lyra held her hands up "This was supposed to be my week off!"

Lyra had planned this week off for the past month, she was supposed to be able to visit the princess' castle library and continue her research.

Bon-Bon gave her an annoyed look, "Lyra, this isn't the time to be immature, your monkeys can wait until this is done." She turned her back to continue packing.

Lyra returned the look. "They're called humans Bonnie, and they are a legitimate area of research. I understand you don't like my studies into them, but they are-"

"They're a myth Lyra!" Bon-Bon whirled around, a tired and livid look on her face. "That is all they are! That is all they'll ever be! You've wasted three years of your life on your little hobby, and you've got nothing to show for it! You barely work enough at the shop to make enough bits to get by, you sleep in, forget half of your responsibilities around here, all over some stupid stories you read in a book! I feel like your Mom for Faust's sake! When are you going to grow up and accept the fact that you are never going to find them?!"

Lyra remained silent, slowly walking down the stairs as her white hair covered her eyes, the angry frown on her face was clear.

"What do you know?" She said to her friend, looking up at her with hurt in her eyes. "You wanna talk about dodging responsibility? Let's talk about the fact that you hid this" she gestured to the suitcase in Bon's hand "From me ever since Canterlot!" "You've lied to me and now you expect me to just shut up about it for the rest of our lives all for the sake of what? Government secrets? Keeping me safe?! From what? Monsters aren't some evil enemy in the shadows, they're just a bunch of animals! All you are is a glorified animal control pony!"

"What I do is to keep this town safe Lyra!" Bon yelled back, "I fight against a real threat to this country, I do something important, what do you do? Play an instrument for barely any bits at a time? Study old myths in your room like some sort of cultist? The only way you get by is through the odd jobs you work around town, if it weren't for me you'd be on the streets!"

The two of them glared angrily into each other's eyes.

"You need to start living in the real world Lyres, a human isn't just going to fall out of the sky!"

CRACK!

Like clockwork, a large bulge appeared in the ceiling with an audible crashing noise, making both of them look up in shock.

"No..." Bon-Bon said in disbelief. "You can't just...no, no, it's fine, probably just Rainbow Dash trying another trick."

"Bon, Dash is in Canterlot." Lyra said, her eyes not moving from the bulge as cracks spread across the roof.

"Lyra, just....... don't, that's not a human, Faust doesn't hate me that much."

The roof then collapsed, sending a vaguely pony-shaped creature screaming through the hole and into the room's table. Reducing it to boards and toothpicks.

Evidently, Faust did hate Bon that much.

Author's Note

Well, that was a long gap between posts.
I'll try not to do that anymore, but college is college, and I kind of need money to live so work is also important. But in any case, I'll try to post more often than I have.

Hopefully, I didn't butcher Lyra's POV too badly, as I said, I'm still new to this whole thing, but I'm leaning on the hope that I'll get better.