Taylor and Lyra crouched low at the treeline, scanning the open field for signs of activity. All the Inquisitors had gone, even the one Lyra had kicked unconscious several hours ago. They nodded at each other and Lyra quickly dashed across the grass. Taylor hobbled after her as fast as he could. Together, they managed to work their way to the outskirts of Ponyville.

"You think they'll be waiting for us?" Taylor asked quietly, following behind Lyra as they made their way through the dimly lit street.

Lyra smirked. "Maybe. If they are, then I hope you can move faster than you are now."

"Yeah, with a busted leg, I don't see that happening. Just kick them in the head again and we can stroll out at our leisure."

Lyra rolled her eyes. They were approaching her home and she decided it would be best to end their little back-and-forth quickly. All the lights in the house were off - not a good sign. Lyra crept up to the window, peering inside.

"What do you see?" Taylor whispered.

"Dark. Lots and lots of dark. Oh, and some not-light."

"Yes, this is an excellent time for sarcasm." he mocked.

Lyra turned, giving him a half grin. "Witty."

Taylor walked around her to the door, bumping it open with his shoulder. He took several steps inside before his leg connected solidly with the corner of a table. Even Lyra winced at the sound.

"Ouch. I heard that from out here. Y'okay?" she called quietly.

Taylor waited a moment to respond, allowing the pain to pass. "Never better. I'm much more productive with a shattered knee, didn't you know?"

"Excellent time for sarcasm," she remarked smugly. "Here, have some light."

She entered the house behind Taylor, her horn glowing just brightly enough to see by. Everything appeared to be where it was before. Lyra scanned the room, taking in every detail. Something was troubling her.

"What is it?" Taylor said, his voice barely a whisper. He was looking around now too, trying to find what was making Lyra uneasy.

"Everything is exactly where it should be."

"Um... this might just be a human thing, but usually organization is considered... good. Why does that worry you?"

"They would have searched the house."

Taylor wanted to kick himself for not realizing it sooner. Of course they would have searched the house to confiscate anything related to her research. Lyra started for the stairs, gesturing for Taylor to follow. He hobbled along behind her as she galloped up to the bedrooms, taking the steps three at a time. As expected, all of her books and notes were gone, though Lyra didn't take any time to worry about it as she raced to Bon-bon's room.

Taylor had just barely managed to reach the top of the stairs, struggling through the darkness that Lyra left him in when she dashed past him again, headed back downstairs. Taylor sighed, attempting to follow the green blur that nearly toppled him. He made it back down to the ground floor where Lyra was running around from room to room, visibly panicked.

"She's not here! Bon-bon's gone!"

Taylor's brow furrowed, the unpleasant realization dawning on him. "You think the Inquisition took her?"

Lyra nodded slowly, her eyes welling up with tears. Taylor sighed heavily, his mind racing to come up with a plan before the unicorn could start crying. He was lacking information - a great deal of it - and every potential course of action he devised was suffering as a result.

He blurted out the only thing that sounded like it had any chance of working. "We need support, and there's only one person in Ponyville that I can think of with the resources we need. How far is it to the library from here?"

Lyra sniffled. "You want to get Twilight involved in this?"

"Hell no I don't want to involve her, but our options are limited. Even this is a long shot since we have no way of knowing how she'll react to a human, but we would be handing ourselves over to the Inquisition if we go to Canterlot without help."

Lyra looked at him expectantly. Taylor's plan didn't seem to be inspiring much confidence in her.

"I gave you the broad strokes, it's up to you to fill in the details. You've lived here all your life, I got dropped into this world less than a day ago. You know way more than I do about where to go and who to talk to. If you have a better plan, I'm all ears."

The unicorn was already deep in thought before Taylor finished his sentence. He noticed that she wore the same expression he did when he was pondering a difficult question. Something about that knowledge amused him.

Lyra's ears perked up and her eyes brightened. "I think I have an idea."

The aging stallion strode down the staircase with a regal air befitting Celestia herself. He could easily have been mistaken for royalty in any other company. Bon-bon, however, knew this pony better than most of the Inquisition did.

"I didn't think you'd be up at this hour." she said casually.

The stallion smiled. "Neither did I. Hard to get any shuteye with this human fiasco getting everpony worked up. I've had no fewer than ten reports about it brought to me in the past hour. Your marefriend caused quite the uproar in my Order."

Bon-bon's earlier composure faded, her face turning bright red. "She and I are not-"

She was cut off by her father's hearty laughter filling the room. "Still just as easily flustered as ever I see. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

Bon-bon sighed in mock exasperation. She was far too happy to see her father to get upset about him poking fun at her. "I would have arrived sooner, but I was trying to gather more information about the human."

She wasn't fooling anyone. Her father smiled knowingly, seeing right through the lie. "You had a living breathing myth in your house. I'd be fascinated too. Perhaps there's something to Lyra's obsession after all; the pursuit of knowledge is ever an admirable one, but that doesn't change the facts. We must end this before it gets out of hand. The humans are extremely dangerous, even if they seem docile. They're a lot like parasprites, actually. I believe you're familiar with those."

She nodded. Bon-bon knew that humans could be a threat, but she doubted that just one could be as dangerous as a swarm of parasprites. Then again, she doubted humans even existed until yesterday when one showed up in her home. "I understand."

"Good, good. Now, since all of this commotion doesn't seem to be dying down any time soon, what say we go to my chambers and chat? I haven't seen my little filly in ages, you know. It would be nice to catch up."

Bon-bon smiled pleasantly, following her father back up the staircase. They passed through many long winding corridors in the minutes that followed, all equally claustrophobic and dark like most of the Sanctuary. At last the two ponies arrived at an ancient-looking large iron-bound door. Despite its size, it opened easily with a faint creaking noise, revealing the Grand Inquisitor's chambers. She had been here before, though she always found it impressive.

This particular section of the Sanctuary was a remnant of the original Inquisition headquarters which had somehow escaped Celestia's notice when she ordered its destruction hundreds of years ago. Of course, this was a closely-guarded secret that only the Grand Inquisitor and his most trusted subordinates were privy to. For everyone else, it was just an old forgotten side of the keep that nopony cared to visit unless it was necessary.

Bon-bon took a seat at the large table in the center of the room. Her father sat at the opposite end of the table, levitating over several delicate-looking platters of pastries and cups filled with hot tea, serving himself and his daughter. Bon-bon enjoyed watching her father use magic. He was particularly skilled at performing multiple tasks at once; where most unicorns struggled to maintain focus on more than two simultaneous activities, he could manage nearly a dozen without much difficulty. She often wished she had been born a unicorn just to have the chance to learn from him.

"So, how have you been doing, my dear?" his voice was calm and reassuring, but there were subtle hints of something else behind it. Something that Bon-bon couldn't quite put her hoof on.

"Fine. I got a job at Sugarcube Corner last month. It's been... interesting." A sheepish grin came over her face as she recalled her first day of work. Pinkie Pie had shown up with an enormous order that took her all day and well into the night to prepare. She had been determined to finish it that day to prove herself to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who found her asleep on the kitchen floor the next morning covered in a layer of dried frosting, batter, chocolate and various other ingredients. To her credit, the order was complete, but the mess she had made in the process took nearly half the day to clean up.

"I'm glad to hear you have something to keep you occupied. However, I find myself concerned," he paused to sip his tea, looking over the rim of the cup at her "that you haven't been making your regular reports as a result. That was our only direct tie to Lyra's ongoing research."

Bon-bon was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Minutes ago, her father seemed warm and inviting, genuinely interested in catching up. Now, he was cold and harsh. "Well, to be honest, there wasn't much to report. I thought she had given up, with how little she talked about it in the weeks leading up to today."

Her father placed his cup on the table, his brow furrowing. "She was clearly trying to hide her actions. We were hoping that our first discussion with her would have been a deterrent. All it did was make her more cautious. Leniency is a mistake in a situation that calls for discipline."

His words carried a certain accusatory tone, making Bon-bon even more uncomfortable. She had been the one to plead for Lyra's safety several months ago when the Inquisiton first learned of her research. Lyra, and all she had done, became Bon-bon's responsibility overnight, as did the current situation. She swallowed hard, shifting nervously. "I apologize. I should have kept a closer eye on her."

Her father nodded sagely. "Indeed, you should have, but what's done is done. We can't change things now. We need to focus on the present and how to deal with our little human problem."

Bon-bon stood quickly. "I can handle this! Neither one knows about me, I can go back to Ponyville, find them, and keep a close watch on what they do! I'll send back reports every day!"

"You must understand my hesitation. Your judgement has been faulty recently. When it comes to Lyra, you operate on emotion over reason. I don't believe I can count on you for this."

"I promise, I won't fail again!" She was shouting now, unable to contain herself. She wanted desperately to convince her father that she could be useful to the Order.

"No. You will not."

With these words, two large stallions seemed to materialize from nowhere on either side of Bon-bon. "You will be held here until we can capture Lyra and the human. Once we've sorted this mess out, you will be free to go home. Until then, I need you someplace I can keep an eye on you."

Bon-bon was frozen in disbelief, unable to find her voice. With a rough push from a muscular foreleg, she was marched out of the room and down the hall. In no time at all, she found herself lying on the cold floor of a cell. The realization crashed over her all at once - she was now a prisoner of the very Order she served. She buried her face in her hooves in a futile effort to hide her shame.

For several hours, her sobbing filled the empty halls of the Sanctuary.

http://oi49.tinypic.com/ivlkit.jpg

Lyra and Taylor were within sight of Twilight's library. They passed through empty streets, avoiding the flickering glow of the street lamps where possible, still wary of any red robes that might be lurking about. Taylor observed that the lamps were powered by the bioluminescent quality of this world's fireflies, which produced continuous light instead of short bursts and was significantly brighter than that of the fireflies he used to catch.

"Ass-powered light. Alternative energy is classy."

"So, you haven't filled me in on the key points yet. You said you had a plan, it would help if I knew what it was." Taylor complained, trying to coax an answer out of Lyra.

"I want to save the explanation until we get there so I don't have to repeat everything." she said matter-of-factly. After a long pause, she turned to Taylor. "I've been curious about something. How did you know my name when we met, and how did you know about Twilight?"

Taylor stopped so suddenly, he nearly fell on his face. How could he explain to her that in his world, all of Equestria was just part of a kid's show? He couldn't possibly do that, and even if he did, it would sound so ridiculous that she probably wouldn't believe him anyway. Fortunately for Taylor, he was able to conjure a lie quickly.

"A few days before you brought me here, I had a weird dream about this place. I didn't really understand it at the time, but I could easily remember names, faces, locations, and other specifics. Come to think of it, that probably helped lessen the impact of suddenly getting dumped into this world."

Lyra didn't seem wholly convinced, though she said nothing. She figured it would be best not to; they were practically on Twilight's doorstep anyway. She gently struck her hoof against the door three times in rapid succession. There was a long silence, then the sound of slow, tired hoofbeats growing louder as they approached the door.

The door opened slowly, revealing a very groggy Twilight Sparkle, her eyelids were half open and her mane disheveled. Her annoyance at having been woken in the middle of the night was clear. "Hello, Lyra and..." Twilight trailed off, waiting for the other pony to introduce himself.

Taylor had to think back a bit to what he had chosen for his pony name. No one had asked him about it until now, and he had nearly forgotten. "Tailor Made. A pleasure to meet you." He turned sideways a bit to display his false cutie mark - a needle and bright blue thread.

Twilight blinked absently at her two visitors, then ushered them inside. "I'm guessing you wouldn't be here this late if it wasn't important."

"We're really sorry about this, Twilight, but it is, and we need your help." Lyra said, sounding apologetic.

Twilight yawned, taking a seat. The other two sat across from her, Lyra in her usual style, and Taylor in his. Twilight had become familiar with Lyra's odd way of sitting, but to see another pony do so was suspicious. Seeing the look on Twilight's face, Taylor realized his mistake immediately.

"So, Tailor, is Lyra a relative of yours?" the lavender unicorn asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, just a friend."

"I see. How did you meet?"

"She came into my clothing store in Manehattan a few weeks ago with some unusual requests. We got to talking about it and things sort of progressed from there."

"Interesting. She went all the way to Manehattan to place an order? Seems unnecessary when the Carousel Boutique is less than ten minutes from her house." Twilight leveled her eyes at him. "Unless you're more than just friends. That would be more believable, don't you think?"

Taylor and Lyra both froze. Even half asleep, Twilight managed to see right through them. She grinned, pleased at having won so easily, though her expression quickly became serious once more. "So, Lyra, would you care to explain what's going on?"

She fidgeted nervously. "You remember how I was doing all that research on humans, and how you told me that they weren't real? Well..." she trailed off, not exactly eager to elaborate on what she'd done.

"You summoned one and disguised it as a pony using magic." Twilight finished. "Celestia chose me as her student for a reason, Lyra. I knew what he was the moment I saw him. You might be able to hide him from most ponies, but there are plenty of unicorns that wouldn't be fooled by that spell on their worst day."

"Why does everyone adjust so easily to having me around when they should be freaking out?"

Taylor was almost insulted by how casually she was handling the knowledge of his identity. Twilight yawned again, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "You needed my help for something. What was it?"

Lyra leaned in closer to Twilight. "The Canterlot Inquisition is hunting us, and they already took Bon-bon. We were hoping you could use your ties to Celestia to sort this out. If there's anypony in Equestria that can help us, it's got to be her, right?"

"The Inquisition? I thought the Princess put a stop to that centuries ago." For the first time since they arrived, Twilight seemed genuinely surprised.

"Apparently not," Taylor cut in, "they're still alive and well, and they don't care much for me being here. They made that last part perfectly clear." He rubbed the side of his face where the large Inquisitor had beaten him.

Their conversation had woken Spike, who plodded downstairs slowly, scratching his belly and yawning. "Morn'n everypony. What's going on?"

Twilight turned to the baby dragon, levitating a quill and parchment into his claws. "Good timing, Spike."

The dragon groaned in exasperation, muttering something about only being awake for thirty seconds. "What do you want me to write?"

"My friends and I need an audience with the Princess immediately. Tell her it's urgent and involves Lyra's research."

He obediently jotted down the letter, rolled it up, and with a burst of green flame from his mouth, it was sent.

"So, what now?" Taylor asked.

Twilight turned back to the two of them, seemingly much more awake than before.

"Now we wait."

[Author's Note: Holy horseapples, I FINALLY got Taylor's pony name and cutie mark in the story! It only took three months! I believe the first person to suggest the full name was HappyTriscuits, but the original idea of "Tailor" which likely spawned it came from Znex. Credit goes to Celestial for the cutie mark suggestion. I'm giving triple credit on it because I can and because I promised I would. I considered doing something else with it (something less obvious, that is) but it ended up being such a minor part of the story that I didn't feel it needed to be built up into a huge thing. Change happens.]