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LYRA

Lyra's apartment was a tip. Boxes stacked up against a nearby wall and slanted away slightly, looking as if they may collapse at any moment. Papers littered the area, showing very little of the actual wooden floor. The room felt damp and a mysterious odour filled the room, which was soon forgotten as Lyra and Applejack returned to their conversation.

"I'm sorry for the mess, Allie. I can't exactly say I'm a neat-freak. Think of it as organised chaos."

"Oh, it's quite alright. It's... homely." Albany replied carefully. Lyra knew she wasn't as comfortable here as she was making out. It had been a while since Lyra had allowed anyone else into her home, for this exact reason. The mess meant nothing to her, it was just various pieces of junk she had collected over the years which she struggled to bring herself to throw away. Newspapers and books mostly. But there were various trinkets littered around the place as well.

"I wish I had a garden or a balcony but... This will have to do."

"Lyra, it's fine," Albany pushed, clearly becoming impatient. She was clearly on the edge of her seat about the information Lyra was teasing her with. Lyra was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that she would at this point have to indulge this secret information. It shouldn't be as hard as it was apparently feeling, Albany was a close friend and her honesty made a promise air-tight. "So, you were sayin'?"

"Oh, yes." Lyra paused incredulously. She knew she could trust Albany so why was this proving to be so, so difficult. In the end, she kicked herself to finally begin speaking. Once she was underway, she thought, it would be much easier. "I can't even remember where I left off," she said in a desperate attempt to postpone their talk a little longer.

"Ah believe you were just describin' the foreign pony yellin' at the princess." Damn.

"Yeah, well. Okay, he was pretty angry, which is understandable. His home country is clearly in crisis and I think he began making out that it was entirely Luna's fault. I don't know enough of the details to be able to know whether or not it is Luna's fault, but he seemed to be pretty convinced. It turns out Celestia has been away a lot longer than we all had first thought. About four years I believe Luna said. The reason Luna looks as worn and tired as she does is because she has been left with all the royal duties which Celestia would have otherwise dealt with. That is, raising the moon and the sun, every twelve hours. For the first couple of months it was controlled but she was never really coping too well with it. It was after that period when we started noticing the distinct differences in the lengths of the days and nights. At this point it's random. The sun rises and the moon rises whenever Luna has gathered enough strength to do so. Luna also stated that it would get worse. Unless Celestia returns soon, which she's starting to lose hope in. Luna could communicate with the Princess for the first couple of years she was gone, but she denied that she knew anything as to why she no longer could when speaking to the other ponies."

"So... things are gettin' worse?"

"Absolutely. Equestria is coping because of it's naturally warm climate. The winters are tough, of course. Winter Wrap Up now takes up to half a month to complete since the pegasi can't control the weather anymore, you know that. But this ponies homeland is up North, where it is much, much colder." Lyra stood and walked over to a stack of boxes. In these boxes were a plethora of books, unorganised and hoarded. She grabbed one of the boxes and tipped it upside down, allowing the heavy books to spill out onto the floor. She scanned over the newly formed mess before making a triumphant noise and reaching for one of the tomes. Atlas of the Discovered World. She walked back over to the table where Albany was sat and and slammed it onto the table, making Albany retract her head in surprise. Lyra turned to the first couple of pages. On these pages was a simple map of the surrounding regions of the world, including Equestria which was situated in the middle of the page. "Right okay, I've got this now. There." She pointed to a large region North of Equestria, "Caballus, the region is called. It requires crossing this narrow frozen sea. It's a seaside country, with most of the towns and cities overlooking the sea. The capital is Theria, which is much, much larger than Canterlot. It doesn't have a monarchy like we do. The entire region is an Empire. Caballus does things differently politically, it allows it's citizens to vote in the authoritative power, something they call a Prime Minister, which deals with many of the main political matters. The Emperor is just there to be a pretty face, I suppose, although he does sit on the council there-"

"Sorry, Lyra. Is this at all relevant?" Albany interrupted. Lyra blinked and nodded.

"It's all relevant apparently. Jorah kept insisting that it was possibly the fault of their government for their current situation. A lack of order and agricultural control. The Captain seemed to disagree with him on that one, as did Luna. Infact, Luna blamed herself for the current state of affairs in Caballus. The pony visiting from Caballus was a representative of the region, invited here by the Princess along with the other two visitors, who are also representatives for..." Lyra scanned over the Atlas once more and placed her hoof on the paper, "A region to the West, known as Shetland. It's a region with a very similar climate to Equestria but much less densely populated. And the Zebra was from... Quagga, which is to the South. Quagga has a much, much warmer climate and is mostly made up of deserts. There are very few inhabitable areas. Quagga has always struggled with resources as there are only a few regions which can produce crops. The colonies in Quagga remain closely situated to one another to make trading easier, and the country share a close allegiance with Shetland."

Albany appeared as though she was becoming uninterested so Lyra got back to the point at hand. "From what I understand, Quagga seems to be doing alright. The Zebra's have developed a strong temporary defence against their hot suns and with the types of crops that can grow in that region they were actually thankful for the extended periods of sun."

"Alrighty then. Ah know basic geography." Albany said sarcastically. Lyra frowned at her.

"Anyway, back to what I heard. From what I could gather, pressures between Caballus and Equestria are rising. The representative at one point even hinted at an invasion of Equestria in order to sustain Caballian living conditions if Luna failed to improve their already abhorrent conditions, which is incredibly worrying." Albany stirred. Heh, that woke her up... "Jorah seemed convinced it would not come to that, but the Captain expressed his concerns. A number of conclusions were drawn about what the best cause of action would be when it came to Caballus. The representative and Luna eventually finalised the meeting by agreeing that Equestria would provide free aid to Caballus, just temporarily, and Shetland agreed to do the same which seemed to ease the tension a little."

"But, we're not exactly producin' an immense amount of food ourselves, how can we hope to support others as well?" Albany inquired.

"Well, as I said, the representative from Shetland agreed to share the aid effort, and Quagga agreed to share some of it's plentiful supplies with Equestria and Shetland. So where we give food, we will receive food as well. It all seems fairly fool-proof. Transporting food all the way from Quagga to Caballus is near impossible due to distances. But, I'm hardly an economist so... who knows. We can expect plenty of coconuts and bananas rolling our way though." Lyra jokes, trying to ease the mood a bit. "Would you like a drink Albany?"

"Sure."

"Tea okay?"

"Ah don't really like tea. Water will be fine."

"Raspberry juice?"

"Water will be fine."

"Milk?"

"Water will be fine."

"Cider?"

"Oh, heck yes, Cider."

Lyra continued talking as she went to a nearby cupboard to fix up their drinks. "So, there was some good news to come out of the meeting, but hearing about Caballus was fairly tough. Those poor ponies. Jorah appeared to be most worried, he mentioned something about having friends and family in Caballus, friends who are all on the council apparently. So I suppose that will also ease tensions between us as well, knowing we have strong friendships on both sides of the sea.

"But, the most interesting development in the meeting was the discussion over the whereabouts of Princess Celestia. Many theories were brought up from the representatives, and Luna was pushed for answers. All she could disclose was that she was far away and she currently was unaware of her location. As I said, they hadn't been in contact for quite sometime. Luna mentioned she had a strong mental bond with her sister that allowed them to communicate through thought, but that had since ceased. Now, from what I've read, that can mean one of three things, and I'm sure the others picked up on this as well. First possibility, Celestia has relinquished her power entirely. If that's the case, that sort of power has to go somewhere and I doubt Celestia would be willing to pass it onto someone else. Second, she is so far away that the mental string connecting their two minds has been snapped and blocked their contact. Third... She may be dead." Lyra rolled her eyes at how bluntly she had put that and returned to the table with their drinks. "Although I highly doubt that one.

"Sorry if I appear to be repeating a lot of this, there was a lot that was said and I'm struggling to account for all of it."

"No Lyra, yall've done well." Albany gave a reassuring smile. "So, things are gettin' worse, that's worryin'. But things are bein' done about it, which is a lot off my mind, Ah suppose."

"That's true. As I said, you've got nothing to worry about. It was what they said next that was the most interesting. The meeting concluded and the maids, including myself, stayed behind to clean up. Not long into the cleaning process, the doors opened again, and in stepped the Princess, The Captain, Jorah and the Zebra. I wasn't sure where the Caballian and Shet had gone, but I assume they left. They sat back down at the table and began chatting idly. About family, about life, yadda yadda. Nothing that interested me. But then, the Zebra brought something up which made my heart skip a beat. It was at this point that we were all asked to leave the room. We were escorted out by the Royal Guard, including Jorah and had the doors shut behind us. I couldn't even hang around in an attempt to eavesdrop. I was escorted away immediately." Lyra took a sip of her drink.

"So what was it? What did he say?" Albany pressured.

"All I heard was that it was something that none of them could identify. The Quaggian described it as neither alive nor dead before we were escorted out."

"So you don't actually know?"

"No..." Lyra said as she lifted her drink. She took a long swig, gulped and wiped her lips with her hoof. "But I sure as hell want to find out."

"Pfft, and how do you intend to do that? Ah don't think you can find temporary employment as a Lieutenant, Lyra." The mint green pony shrugged. "Ya worry to much. You've already told me enough, Ah'm satisfied that the situation is being sorted."

Lyra grunted, "Yeah but who by? No pony seems to know the best cause of action. The food crisis is being sorted for now but things are going to get much worse..." There was a long pause. "I'm thinking of sneaking into the castle."

Albany coughed as she choked on her drink. Lyra hurriedly went over and patted Albany on the back with her hoof, easing her coughing. "Sneak... into the... castle? Well, pony feathers you do have ambition. How are ya going to achieve that? Fly over the walls?"

"Yes. Fly! That could work."

"No, no, no. Ah wasn't trying to give you ideas, ya stupid mare. You're all talk, Lyra. I know your curiosity is probably peaking but there is nothin' you can do about this, just let it go. You're still as gosh darn curious about the world as when we were fillies. But we grew up." Albany's voice was firm and unrelenting. "Lyra, let it go. Let's just live our lives trying to get by on what our Princess and the others decide to do. It's none of our concern."

"But Allie, it is our concern. Look at your Grandmother, she was just a simple farm pony. She became an Element of bucking Harmony. Things suddenly became her concern and then she went on to do great things."

"That was a long time ago."

"Exactly. Exactly. I've been thinking about this, if there is an evil entity rising in Quagga, then that shows that evil is beginning to move back into the world. A century ago, it was down to your Grandmother to prevent that evil from spreading. But... Since she passed away... Who's harnessing the elements?"

Albany's ears pricked up. "Huh, Ah guess Ah hadn't thought about it."

"But you are now! Who is harnessing the elements? No one! So, when this evil finally reaches Equestria what's our defence? An exhausted and worn out Princess? A disgruntled military force? With the combined forces of Cloudsdale and the Crystal Empire we might be able to hold off a threat, but this thing that the Quaggian spoke of seemed pretty terrifying. But I'm also damn sure that Luna has thought about it too. Who controls the Elements, Albany?"

"Ah don't know. But Ah know someone that you could get those answers from."

"Oh no, no, no. Where we can get those answers from." Lyra grinned madly.

"Lyra, Ah have a farm to run now. It was fun when we were fillies but Ah can't just run off on adventures with you. It jus' ain't sensible."

"Pfft, sensible schmensible. Come on! Where's your sense of fun, adventure and curiosity? I, Lyra, insist that you assist me on this quest." Albany rolled her eyes at her eccentric friend.

"Okay. But, Ah will join you only because you have... poked my curiosity gland with a stick. After we speak to Miss. Sparkle, Ah need to head back to the farm."

"Wait... Miss... Miss. Sparkle? As in Twilight Sparkle? You can talk to her? She'll let you..." Lyra was stammering. Twlight. The most magically adept pony to have ever lived. Friend and guardian to Celestia herself.

"Well of course, she was my Mother's Godmother. She's always willin' to talk to me." Albany replied.

"But she's so secluded and..." Lyra paused and began to whisper. "I've heard she's deformed." Albany chortled as she covered her mouth with her hoof.

"Quite the opposite, Lyra. Come on, we'll head over now." Albany gulped down the last of her drink. "But, as Ah said, Ah must, must, must return to the farm when we've spoken with her. Okay?"

"Yeah sure whatever let's go!" Lyra squealed with delight as she pushed her bright red friend out of the chair and towards the door.

Curiosity Killed The Cat