A Renewed Ending

Tuesday, December 28, 1007 A.L., Equestria

Prince Blueblood watched from his seat in the House of Lords building in the palace while both of his aunts sat and listened to the rambling of one Viscount Cash King as he was describing some inane nonsense about his many businesses suffering from the recession that had struck Equestria. Beside him, his sister Viscountess Cash Cow stood in solidarity with her brother as she joined in to clarify things.

“And furthermore,” Cash King said as he continued with his argument, “This unprecedented exodus of our workforce has caused production in our factories to stall, not to mention the shortage of labor in the various stores through the nation. I’ve had to close three on the outskirts of Equestria because of lack of creatures.”

“Yes,” Cash Cow added. “Profits are dropping fast.”

“What is your request, then?” Auntie Celestia asked. Blueblood noted that she sounded tired.

“Isn’t there anything you can do to stop this insanity?” Cash King asked. “If these creatures keep on leaving, our economy will slip further into recession!” The sound of approval from other business owners in the House of Lords echoed his sentiment.

“You do realize we cannot simply force anypony or anycreature to stay within our borders if they choose to leave,” Auntie Luna replied with a tired scowl of her own.

“But what of the poor creatures who have already left who now wish to return to their jobs?” Cash Cow asked with a false sympathetic tone. Blueblood almost sighed. The Cash siblings were never any good at acting or hiding their true intentions, he knew, and it was showing here.

His aunties weren’t fooled, of course. Auntie Celestia stood taller, looking down at the two with a calm demeanor. Blueblood knew, of course, that she was seething with rage, but the House of Lords had gained a substantial amount of political leverage and their power could not be ignored, even by the crown. “That decision,” Celestia said with a patient tone, “came at great insistence from the House. This body, as I recall, pushed for those contingencies to be put in place. Our kingdom is still in a state of emergency and we can’t undo the damage that has been done thanks to that decision.”

Beside him, he felt Marchioness High Life lean over in her seat as she whispered into Blueblood’s ear, “Those two were the perfect ponies to use.”

High Life was a young unicorn mare of ancient ancestry. Her ancestor, Handy Ford, had built the ancient mansion High Elm near the royal palace itself. She was a tall picturesque unicorn mare with a cream white coat, a bright red curly mane and tail, bright green eyes and a wine glass as a cutie mark. She was one of the richest ponies in Equestria and had been nominated as one of the top five most desirable mares for the past four years. She never failed to use that to her advantage.

Blueblood simply nodded, but on the inside he was smirking. That was the plan. “Before you go home today,” she continued, “the latest reports are on your desk. I’d pay particular attention to the one on top.”

Blueblood nodded again, and the mare moved away to watch the proceedings. He had been keeping an eye on his aunts all while the mare was whispering, and he hadn’t seen them look his way, but they were alicorns. Their senses were quite better than other ponies. He hadn’t seen their ears flicking in his direction, but that didn’t mean much to them.

Cash King was speaking again, mostly about non-important details that were meant to pad out the conversation. He tuned it out for the most part, seeing as he knew what the two fools below were going to say. They would complain about losing money and how their businesses needed help and blah, blah, blah.

At one point in the proceedings, his aunt Celestia quickly glanced up his way. Their eyes locked, and he saw a disappointed look in her eyes. One directed at him. Had this been back when he was a younger colt, that look might have affected him. But not today.

After another few nobles brought forth their own complaints to the crown, his aunts declared the meeting over, but not before making an announcement that shocked almost everypony there. Princess Celestia stood tall with her sister and made a declaration. “The decision to close our borders to foreigners will be reversed starting at the beginning of next year. This decision is non-negotiable.”

Blueblood scowled at this, but he was faking it. He and High Life had anticipated something like this would happen, especially with the economic depression in the kingdom having grown worse without any sort of domestic exports being sold and instead going to waste in warehouses all across Equestria. It made sense for his aunts to do that. Even so, many of the nobleponies erupted in protest. All except the group calling themselves the Delegation of Fifty, a group of nobleponies led by one of the richest nobles and his wife, Count Fancy Pants and Countess Fleur De Lis. Blueblood watched as the count nodded subtly in agreement. Beside the two, the third leader, Countess Noblesse Oblige, looked around at the rest of the house, shaking her head in a disappointed look.

As one of the heads of the house, Prince Blueblood waited until the objections reached a crescendo. He reached for his gavel and brought it down. “Everypony, quiet down!” he announced with a magically enhanced shout. This caught the attention of the nobles and they did as he said. He then turned to his aunts, resisting the urge to call them aunties. “Your Highnesses, the majority of the House of Lords seem to disagree with your decision on this. Can we please give our arguments to dissuade you from this course of action?” He felt himself feeling sick at the language he was using, but he knew he had to use it.

Princess Celestia stood taller. “Nobleponies of the House of Lords, you may speak your disagreements, but know that our decision is final.”

That didn’t stop the nobles from making their arguments. It was all more of the same horseshit excuses. They needed to be wary of the changeling scourge infiltrating again, they should keep it closed to other nations who might want to take advantage of the floundering kingdom, blah, blah, blah. Blueblood knew his Aunt Celestia well enough, and he also was fairly sure Aunt Luna would be in favor of this too. It had been the former who had capitulated to the House’s suggestion first, with the latter reluctantly agreeing.

As he and High Life had anticipated, none of the arguments dissuaded his aunts. Of course, Blueblood noted that the Delegation of Fifty didn’t contest the decision of the princesses, the damned sycophants. Still, he kept his face neutral and didn’t say anything.

When things were beginning to get too heated again, it was High Life who slammed her gavel down. “Enough!” she shouted, then she turned to the princesses. “Your Highnesses, you have heard the arguments against your decree. What say ye?”

“Your arguments have been heard and understood,” Aunt Luna said, “and we sympathize with your worries, and we will do what we can to ease these worries.”

“Still, our decision is final,” Aunt Celestia added with finality in her voice and a fire in her eyes that Blueblood had not seen before. And that caused him to worry a bit. She gave him a look of disappointment again, but he didn’t react to it. Looking over the crowd again, she said, “Know this: in the coming months and years there will be other changes coming, changes that are long overdue for this nation. And with that, we bid you good day.”

The nobleponies watched in stunned silence as both princesses stood from their seats and trotted purposely out of the room. Blueblood caught Princess Luna’s tail flicking at them as she left the room. That was an incredibly insulting movement from any pony, but Blueblood held his tongue until the door slammed behind the princesses. The moment that happened, the House of Lords erupted into chaos. All except the Delegation of Fifty, who watched with infuriating impassiveness. Blueblood and High Life exchanged a look, then the prince raised his gavel, bringing it down hard a few times. “Order!” he demanded several times. It took a couple of minutes but eventually the entire House Building was quiet. Blueblood stood and looked around at the group. With the Delegation here, he had to think about his words carefully, all while still playing the fool. “I know you’re all upset,” he began, “but we need to think about what to do next. Any ideas?”

Cash King, who had taken his seat next to his sister in their assigned seats, was the first to speak up. “If the princesses open the borders again, we’ll be vulnerable!”

“We’re already vulnerable,” one of the members of the Delegation replied, giving Cash King a glare. “Our economy can’t sustain itself for much longer on domestic products. We need to make peace with other nations.”

“The other nations will try and take advantage of us because they’ll see us as weak!” another noble spoke up. “They will double their rates for their exports! Triple even!”

“I didn’t mention trade,” the Delegate noblepony said, “I said peace. The truth about the treatment of the changeling emperor by the ponies of Ponyville has spread far too much to be covered up. Other nations are clamoring for our response to the allegations of abuse and mistreatment of their former citizens.”

The entire House began murmuring as they discussed these words among themselves. High Life looked around and called for order again before saying, “It is no secret that the ponies of Ponyville are greatly guilty in their treatment of the human Jason Wright, and it is also no secret that other kingdoms are looking at us through a looking glass, but we are ponies! We are the Children of Eurynome herself. We will persevere!”

Blueblood inwardly rolled his eyes, but outwardly nodded as the vast majority of the House stated their agreement. He knew full well that High Life didn’t believe in Eurynome, and was only using her name to bolster support. He spoke up as well. “The questions we should be asking is what can we do to make sure things remain stable in this transition period?”

“We don’t expect answers right away,” High Life added, “so today’s meeting is adjourned. Our next meeting will be January 2 after the New Years Festival holiday is over.” She and Blueblood struck their gavels at the same time, dismissing the crowd of ponies. As the two got up, Blueblood felt High Life brush his flank with her tail. He shivered a bit in anticipation, but also knew that was the signal for another type of secret meeting. He replied in kind, brushing her back leg with his own tail before the two went their separate ways.

An hour later, Blueblood was sitting in an underground cavern underneath Canterlot at a round table surrounded by other nobles. The Harmony Council, formed secretly by Princess Platinum ages ago, was in session.

High Life, the leader of the Council, was the first to speak. She stood and lifted a scroll with her magic. “I know many of you will want to talk about the recent events of the House meeting, and we will do that, but there’s been a new and unnerving development over in Gryphonstone. But before we get into that, I’d like to welcome our newest member of the council. Recently elevated Baron Filthy Rich, you are very much welcomed to the Harmony Council.”

The earth pony stood and looked around the council. “It’s truly an honor to be here,” he said to the council, “and I will endeavor to help in any way that I can.” He took his seat and paid attention to High Life.

High Life nodded at him, then winked before she returned her attention to the rest of the council. “His arrival might very well be fortuitous to us, because the news from Gryphonstone is most troubling. The contents of the message inform us that the Gryphonstone natives have begun to rebuild their civilization once again.”

There were groans from the council. None of them were alive for it, but they were all well educated and well aware of the last time that the gryphons attempted to rebuild their former empire. It had worked for a few months before there had been dissent among the gryphons who felt that the government leaders were taking advantage of them. The attempt at rebuilding had ended with the temporary government officials being executed and for the status quo to return to normal. “Why should we care about this?” Jet Set, who had been a long-standing member with his wife Upper Crust, asked with a scowl.

“There are a few reasons why this is different from last time,” High Life explained. This caught the attention of everypony there, and they leaned forward. “The first reason being that the new government has already reached out to two of their neighbors, the Dragon Lands and the Saddle Arabian Sultanate, and have already apparently begun talks with them.”

That caused an uproar. Saddle Arabia had been a long-standing ally of Equestria until recently, so this news was definitely troubling. High Life brought her hoof down on the table again to get the attention of the council. “Please let me finish!” she shouted above the din. After they had quieted down, she cleared her throat. “The ponies who we sent to Gryphonstone don’t know much about the state of the government, but the gryphons there have made much more progress in rebuilding their crumbling city than they have in centuries. Not only that, but their mythical Idol of Boreas was found and returned to them.”

“By who?” a random noble asked.

“That is the second piece of news that we should be concerned with,” Blueblood said. The prince, who had been in the know before the meeting, stood and raised his horn. A crystal rose into the air from beneath the table and floated towards the center. “This is a magical recording that our ponies in the field made of a speech made by several members of the new governing body, who are calling themselves the Convocation.”

The crystal began to glow and a projection appeared on the wall. The council watched as the image showed a balcony overlooking what sounded like a vast crowd. There was a curtain behind a door which was pulled back. A group of creatures walked out. There was a Saddle Arabian pony, a dragon, three Equestrian unicorn mares, one of which Blueblood immediately recognized as being Sunset Shimmer, and a number of gryphons, some of which were wearing robes of some sort.

Plus one human who was wearing the same robes as the few gryphons there.

The council erupted into chaos at the sight of yet another human, so Blueblood paused the recording. High Life shot a blast of magic at the center of the ceiling, causing some rubble to fall down onto the table. “Quiet!” she demanded. “Watch the recording, and then we can discuss what to do next!” She then turned and nodded with a smile towards Blueblood. “My prince, please continue.”

Blueblood nodded, and the recording resumed. A larger gryphon stepped forward and spoke. “My name is Ambassador Geoffrey of the Convocation,” he said, “and today is the day we gryphons know as the Blue Moon Festival!” Cheers rose from the crowds, mostly by the gryphons. “To other races, it is known by other names. To Equestrians, is it known as Hearth’s Warming. To Saddle Arabia, they observe a holiday called Haynukkah over eight days, starting today. The point being, many races of the world associate today as a day of celebration and reflection. But today, for us in Gryphonstone and throughout our continent, it is a day where we wish to look back on the work during the past few months and honor a select few who have done much to help us restore our once great city to its former glory.”

From there, the council watched as awards were given to three gryphons first, then to the three unicorn mares. Then they watched the human, who identified himself as Gregory Eugene Graystone, gave a rousing speech to the crowd of gathered gryphons before the recording ended. The council was now in stunned silence at the new revelation that a second human was in a position of power in a foreign nation. Not that the changelings really had a nation, and not that this Gregory was a sole head of state, but he had influence. That was enough to make the group worry.

The image paused as it was zoomed in onto the human. Unlike Jason, this human had no scars anywhere visible. He had a determined and joyful expression on his face as he had a sword raised in the air. He had sky blue eyes, a brown head of longish hair, and the same type of colored skin as Jason. The reaction of the gryphons to him seemed to be one of respect, especially if he was the being to return the Idol of Boreas to them.

“The report says a bit more about this human,” Blueblood said as he looked around the room before grabbing the scroll and looking at it. “He’s known as the Idol Bearer, which seems to be a name of endearment to the gryphons.”

“Aside from that, the behaviors of gryphons from others across Equestria and across the world have altered somewhat,” High Life added. “They aren’t as greedy, and almost all of the gryphons in Equestria have left, heading to Gryphonia.”

“Could that be why we have reports of ponies leaving for Gryphonia?” one of the council members asked.

“That seems to be more related to our recession,” Blueblood said. “We’ve not heard much from Gryphonia since the borders were closed.”

“The question we need to ask ourselves is what, if anything, we should do about this new development in Gryphonia?” High Life asked.

Baron Filthy Rich hesitantly raised a hoof. “Um, beg pardon if I sound out of turn, but how can Gryphonia or Gryphonstone affect us? We hardly get anything from that land. I know I don’t have any products from them in my stores. Or am I missing something?”

Blueblood chuckled. “A good observation, but a flawed one,” he said. “We had more exports from Gryphonia than you might think. Those products have skyrocketed in price as they’ve become scarcer.”

“The last time I tried to buy some Gryphonian gems, they were astronomically expensive,” the head of the Equestrian Mages said. “Their country may be lacking in magic, but their crystals are more priceless than anypony really knows.”

“There’s other products we import from Gryphonia,” Cash King said, “and for cheaper than they’re worth. If this government manages to get stronger, they could raise export prices.”

“Does that answer your questions, Baron Rich?” Blueblood asked.

Filthy Rich nodded, a look of understanding on his face. “Yes, I get it.”

“So, what are we going to do about this upstart nation?” Upper Crust asked.

“We currently have three ponies keeping an eye on things over there,” High Life said, “and right now they are focusing inward.”

“They won’t be doing anything against Equestria, then?” Filthy Rich asked

“Definitely not,” Blueblood said, “but we’re still going to keep an eye on the Convocation regardless.”

Prince Blueblood lay on the bed in his mansion beside the mare he had just laid with. She was snuggling up onto him, a silly grin on her face. He looked down at High Life, who gave him a smile and a giggle. “You’re cute when your eyebrows furl up like that,” she said, reaching up and poking his forehead with her hoof.

He rolled his eyes and snorted. “Mmhmm,” he muttered, letting his frustration and a bit of jealousy sneak into his voice.

Her smile faded. “What’s wrong, sugar pumpkin?” she asked.

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “I know you’re planning on seeing Jet Set and Upper Crust again tonight,” he said.

High Life moved closer and kissed the nape of his neck. “Sweetie, it’s only business,” she said.

“Business involving you three in bed,” Blueblood said, making himself pout a bit.

High Life gently pulled his head down to face her. She had a serious look on her face. “You know that I only have eyes for you,” she said sincerely, “and I also know you have your own little trysts with your maids.”

The two stared at each other, then both broke out into a similar smile. They chuckled, leaned in towards each other, and kissed deeply. The kiss once more turned into something more that lasted for the rest of the afternoon.

Wednesday, December 29, 1007 A.L., Equestria

High Life was sitting up in her bed, recovering from the…exercise…that she and her partners for that night had just engaged in. Said partners, Jet Set and Upper Crust, were already asleep, the former with a goofy expression on his face and the latter cuddling up, her back lower half nestled straight against his crotch. She looked down at the two, her true feelings on the worthless couple showing as she gave a satisfied grin.

Slowly, she got up and stretched, being sure not to make too much noise that might wake her guests for the night. Walking over to her washroom, she quickly and quietly cleaned herself up, then went downstairs to the kitchen to find herself a glass of water. All of that exercise was thirsty work, and she’d been at it for hours. First with Blueblood, and next with the baron and baroness.

When she entered the kitchen, she saw her secretary sitting at the large breakfast nook, a candelabra lit as he was busily working on something. Her secretary was a pegasus stallion named Inky Blot. He had a dark green coat, a gold mane with a silver streak through it that was always slicked back, one gold and one silver eye and he wore a pair of black round glasses. He also wore a black collar with a red necktie hanging down from the collar and had a dark red fountain pen with ink coming from it as a cutie mark.

Inky looked up and saw High Life enter. He stood quickly and bowed. “My Lady,” he said with the respect she deserved.

High Life chuckled. She had something of a soft spot for Inky, and he was her most trusted servant. “At ease, Inky,” she said, “I just came here for some water, then I’m going back to bed.” She looked over at the papers at the table. “What are you working on now?”

“Looking at some reports from the Network,” Inky replied as he returned to the table.

“That’s nice,” High Life said. “Anything interesting to report?”

“Nothing too unusual,” Inky said. “We still can’t locate the changeling stronghold, there’s nothing too drastic happening in the Crystal Empire except that they’re moving to expand their territory into the Winterlands up north.”

High Life chuckled. “Their Empress has always spoken about that promise, so that’s nothing new. Anything else? Anything from the Gryphonstone agents?”

“Not since that latest report,” Inky said. “I’ll inform you if anything new comes in.”

High Life nodded. “You should get some sleep, Inky,” she said. “I need you bright eyed and bushy tailed.”

Inky looked at the reports, then began organizing them. “Yes, my lady,” he said.

As the pegasus cleaned up, High Life got herself a glass of water, then walked over to the breakfast nook which looked over the valley below in one of the best views in Canterlot. The moon was new, so all she could see were the bright stars above the valley that shone down on the snowy landscape below along with the dim lights that belonged to what had once been Ponyville. At one point, the lights from the backwater town had illuminated the land around it, but now she could barely tell anything was there. The vast valley below Canterlot was undeveloped at the moment at the decree of the Princesses, but she smiled, as she knew that would change in time.

She took a sip of her water, smiling wider. Things would change, she just knew it.

A hooded figure slunk through the streets of Canterlot, keeping their face hidden behind a cowl as they walked towards the royal castle. Their hoofsteps crunched in the snow, leaving hoofprints in the snow. The pony slipped through an alley that led to another street, almost kicking a few spilled empty cans. They made their way down the street again until they reached the front castle gates. They then moved off of the road, heading down an overgrown stone pathway towards the lower section of the castle. The pathway was overgrown and hard to get through, but the pony, an earth pony, knew how to get through it well enough thanks to his instincts.

They eventually reached an ancient but sturdy looking door built into the side of the palace. They reached into their coat pocket and pulled out an envelope. They opened a slot in the top and pushed the envelope through before turning and quickly making themselves scarce.

Inside the door, a chiropteran pony, otherwise known by the derogatory term bat pony, approached and picked up the envelope. The chiropteran slipped into the shadows and made their way through the castle to a large bedroom, where they placed the envelope on a desk before vanishing into the shadows again.

Hours passed, and then the bedroom’s owner came in, yawning as she took a healthy bite of pear then discarding the pit. Princess Luna began to remove her regalia before she saw the dark gray envelope on her desk. She picked it up and opened it, reading the contents of the letter within. Her exhaustion swiftly vanished and she raised her horn quickly. The curved lines in her horn glowed without the sound of magic being cast. In a few seconds, Princess Celestia appeared in a flash of magic. “What is it, sister?” Celestia asked. Luna passed the letter over to her, unable to speak. Celestia read it over, and her own eyes went wide in alarm. “It can’t be…”

“Twas my own thought, sister,” Luna said. “We need proof of this letter, and we need to find who wrote this letter.”

“That’s not as important as confirming the accuracy of this letter,” Celestia said. She took a deep breath. “I may need to reactivate one of the old agents.”

“Which agent are you referring to, sister?” Luna asked.

“Agent Sweetie Drops.”

Luna paused, remembering some of the top secret reports that she’d read about the former agency known as S.M.I.L.E., the Secret Monster Intelligence League of Equestria. That agency had been scrapped by a heavy recommendation by the House of Lords because they argued that the agency was a waste of royal funds. “She’s the one the House pinned the blame on for that bug bear getting loose, correct?”

Celestia sighed. “Yes, and it wasn’t even her fault. But she’s the best agent out there.” She turned to Luna. “If there is indeed a second human on Equus, we need to be sure.”

Snow fell onto Ponyville in light, small flakes, covering the already snow covered ground with another thin layer of white. The tents that had once been spread across the town were all gone as everypony was living in the former Castle of Friendship. Even though the castle was bigger on the inside than the outside thanks to an enchantment from the Tree of Harmony, each room was full with ponies who had to double up.

Lyra Heartstrings was one of those ponies. Her and her best friend Bon Bon were staying in one of the rooms. The light mint colored unicorn was holding her instrument and sitting next to the window, an old gold lyre hoofed down from her family since her great grandfather had commissioned it by one of Canterlot’s lead instrument crafters back in the day. Whenever she’d had a particularly taxing day, she would pull it out and play it. It had been shipped to her from her mother in Canterlot along with a few of her other belongings that she’d left behind in storage when she’d moved to Ponyville. Her mother had sent a note with it explaining its origin and how it was now hers.

She continued playing it, strumming a slow song which filled the room with the melancholy tune. Across from her, lying on her own bed, Bon Bon stared up at the ceiling, simply breathing in and out as the music continued to play. Lyra watched her best friend and roommate as she took in a deep breath, then closed her eyes and rolled over, pulling the blanket over her tightly.

Eventually, Lyra finished the song, one she’d written herself but hadn’t come up with lyrics to, yet. She was planning on writing a song about the destruction of Ponyville, but also of the tragedy that had been Jason Wright’s treatment by nearly everypony in Ponyville. Even she’d taken part in it, her and Bon Bon. They’d shouted at the human when he’d come to town, they’d thrown garbage and rocks at him, and Lyra had even shot a beam of magic at the poor human, catching a portion of his already destroyed clothes on fire while he fled.

And now, she, Bon Bon, and the entire town were paying for their transgressions. She put down her lyre on a nearby folding table and lay on her side, leaning on one of her front hooves, closing her eyes and trying to hold back the tears. Not the tears of loss, but the tears of guilt and shame at her behavior. Bon Bon was facing her, eyes still shut. When the two had heard the story about what had happened from Roseluck, her friends and a few other ponies who had been in Canterlot during Jason Wright’s trial of the Elements of Harmony, something inside them changed. They understood at that moment that they had betrayed everything that they claimed they were.

And it was because of this realization that Lyra had been stewing and thinking about an idea. Something she could do other than mope and feel sorry for herself. However, she’d not had the courage to say anything or even ask her friend for her help until now.

Making her decision, she turned to her friend, “Hey…Bon Bon?”

Bon Bon slowly opened her eyes. “Hmm…?”

“I…well…could I…ask a favor?” Lyra asked nervously.

Bon Bon’s eyes widened in concern as she slowly sat up in her cot. “Lyra? What’s wrong? You look like you’re going to throw up.”

In truth, Lyra did feel more nervous than she had in a while. She was about to probably break a few dozen rules that her best friend had to follow by asking, but she still knew she at least had to try. She swallowed, trying to keep herself from upchucking. “It’s just…it’s about your…previous job.”

Bon Bon’s eyes hardened and she immediately sat up, looking Lyra square in her eyes. “Go on,” she said stonily.

Lyra took a deep breath, then exhaled. “I know you said you were part of some…some secret organization, so that means you’ve had access to restricted books and stuff, right?” Lyra waited for a reply in either the affirmative or negative, but Bon Bon, or rather, Special Agent Sweetie Drops, didn’t reply. Lyra gulped and continued. “I…want to do some research. Some research on humans.”

“Why?” Sweetie Drops asked.

Lyra took a now shaky breath. “W-Well, remember how I said that while I was in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns that I dabbled in non-pony biology?” All Sweetie Drops did was nod, so Lyra continued. “Well…I was hoping…I really wanted to try and find out more about humans. Especially with what happened. All I know about them is what Princess-what Twilight said about them. I mean…if she knew about them, then maybe there’s something about them that’s been kept hidden.” There was silence once more as Sweetie Drops continued glaring at Lyra. The mint colored mare grew even more nervous and she almost squawked, “Come on, Bon Bon! Is it really that bad of a request!? I just want to know about them and-!”

“You’re asking a very big favor, Lyra Heartstrings,” Sweetie Drops said with a serious tone. “If there are any records of humans, they’ve been sealed away in some restricted corner of Canterlot. Do you honestly think that I’d have any access to that information? You forget, I’m not an agent anymore. I don’t have the authority or clearance I once did. I’m just Bon Bon now.”

“But you could talk to Princess Celestia!” Lyra said, now feeling a bit bolder since Sweetie Drops namedropped her alias. She jumped up and walked over to her earth pony friend. “You can ask her about this! Bonny, you know me! I wouldn’t ask this just for some sort of personal gain! Everypony in Ponyville fu-screwed up big time.”

“You can say it, you know,” Sweetie Drops said. “We all fucked up. Every single pony did. Even if half the town is still too foolish to see it even now.”

Lyra’s ears flattened and she nodded. “That’s…that’s one other reason why I wanted to…wanted to look up anything on humans…so we don’t make the same mistakes-”

“Don’t sugarcoat it, Ly-Ly,” Sweetie snarled. “It wasn’t a mistake! It was far worse!”

“I-I…yes, you’re right.” Lyra agreed.

Sweetie Drops sighed, then looked up at the mint-colored unicorn with tired eyes. “I can’t help you, Lyra. I’m sorry…”

“Are you sure?” Lyra asked, trying once more. She wasn’t sure why she was insisting on this.

“Ly-Ly…” and with that, Sweetie Drops was gone, and Bon Bon was finally back. The earth pony mare walked over and put her hoof on Lyra’s cheek. “I can’t help you like that. Please understand…I’m not able to do that for you.”

Lyra slowly deflated, but nodded. “I…I understand,” she said, “and I’m sorry…sorry for asking such an impossible request.”

“It’s okay,” Bon Bon said softly, giving her best friend a warm nuzzle. “You mean well…but this is just something I can’t do. Please understand that.”

“I do,” Lyra said as she nuzzled back before the two broke apart.

“Thank you. Now, I’m gonna head to my shift early,” Bon Bon said as she slowly walked towards the bedroom door. Bon Bon, thanks to her experience in sweets making, was one of the kitchen staff in the castle kitchen, helping to prepare enough food for the many ponies in the castle. “See you tonight, Ly-Ly.”

“See you then, Bon Bon,” Lyra said. “I’m gonna go out for a little walk.”

“Sure,” Bon Bon said, “you don’t work today, right?”

“Not today.”

“Alright. See you tonight.”

Bon Bon turned and was about to open the door when there was a knock. Confused, the two mares looked at the door before Bon Bon slowly opened it. To both of their surprise, a chiropteran stood there, shrouded in a black cloak and holding out a white scroll. “For you,” the chiropteran said simply.

Bon Bon reached out and hesitantly took it. The chiropteran nodded, then seemed to vanish into the shadows. Lyra shivered. “That’s always freaky how they do that,” she said as she walked over to Bon Bon, looking over her shoulder at the still unopened scroll. “Who’s it from?”

Bon Bon looked at the scroll, then back at Lyra. “Stand back,” she said. “It’s private.”

Lyra immediately stepped back, because the voice she heard coming from her friend was not Bon Bon’s more playful voice. Sweetie Drops was back. Lyra waited while Sweetie Drops broke the seal and read the scroll. The earth pony’s expression hardened, then she closed the scroll and placed it on a nearby end table. She turned back to Lyra. “Lyra,” she said, “could you go and let the others in the kitchen know that I won’t be able to come in for a while? It’s a…family emergency.”

Lyra felt her stomach drop, not in fear, but in hurt. She knew that Bon Bon was lying to her. Still, she nodded. “O-Okay,” she said, “sure thing. How long should I say you’ll be gone?”

Sweetie Drops shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said, and even though Lyra knew she was lying, it was hard for the unicorn to tell just by the voice alone.

“I’ll go tell them then,” Lyra said, walking out of the room and heading down the hall. A walk turned into a trot, then into a run. Something big was happening, and she was going to figure out what.