You skip formalities and just ask her if she’s seen Bon-Bon. A little surprised, she looks down at you, thinks for a moment, and shakes her head. You then ask if she’s seen Lyra, although you expect a similar answer. She pauses for a moment to think again, then tilts her head as though she’s now thinking harder. She suddenly jumps, widening her stance as she lands, and nods to you. She’s seen Lyra!
You ask her when the last time she saw her was, which prompts her to begin pantomiming (which is a big word for a filly your age). She puts her back up to a wall and begins inching her way toward a corner, stopping to look around like she’s watching for somepony following her. As she does this her mail bag, thankfully held on with a belt, wiggles and sways, but nothing falls out. She eventually reaches the corner and slides around to the other side. Though you follow her from the street, it seems she’s done performing and backs off of the building, which was somepony’s house. A few other ponies are watching both of you at this point.
When she returns to your side, she points high and off in the distance, in the clear direction of Princess Twilight’s palace.
That might take a while, and you might lose her. But, with faith in your heart you patiently wait for your opportunity.
… She dips behind a building and you lose sight of her completely… Well that sucks! So much for waiting your turn! You angrily think about what else you were taught in school that might be false, when you hear something land behind you. You turn around to find a gray pegasus, looking especially wall-eyed, contently gazing past you. Curiosity gets the better of you and you turn to see what she’s… well, mostly looking at. It appears you’re standing in front of a mailbox, effectively blocking it. Now’s your chance!
Aunt Bon-Bon says one of the neighbors hate us and you aren’t supposed to talk to them. Something about a leaf blower? Unfortunately, you don’t remember which one, so you’re not sure who you’re not allowed to talk to. Of course if push comes to shove… But better go with the alternative first.
You take Simple outside, along with the things you packed, and begin looking for the local delivery pony. As it just looks like you’re walking a dog, no pony pays much attention to you. It’s not long before you find a gray mare with a blond mane flying through the sky, descending to deliver something to a house, and then off again. She’s pretty fast. At one point you get close, only for her to soar over several houses to another street. Should you run to chase her? Try to get her attention? Would those seems suspicious? You’re trying to keep a low profile, after all.
Hmm… These are good points too. Lyra, as nice as she is, has always been sort of secretive. She probably wouldn’t have told anypony. And Aunt Bon-Bon has always been a… Well, overprotective. She definitely wouldn’t have just left. Almost definitely…
What if… What if she was foalnapped?! And the foalnapper took her hat that she never wears to make it look like she left willingly! That’s… Really dumb…
… Maybe she left… But she didn’t know she’d be gone for this long? Either way if she didn’t leave a note she probably wouldn’t have told anypony either…
You start to think about who might have saw one of them. They didn’t just vanish. They had to have trotted out the door and went somewhere, right? Who could have seen them? Maybe somepony who spends a lot of time outside?
In her defense, it’s not exactly something you weren’t aware of. You’ve just never seen one that particular… shape.
You haven’t! But that’s a good idea! Or, it would be if it didn’t involve a child willingly approaching a dentist. That’s like trotting up to your natural predator. Not out of the question, but certainly out of your comfort zone.
Lyra is pretty good friends with… what was her name? Derpy? Ditzy? … Dinky? No wait, that’s her daughter… Bubbles…? We’ll just call her Miss if we find her.
You also seem to remember Lyra talking with Berry Punch a few times. Golden Harvest too. Lyra knows lots of ponies. But, between your aunt and her roommate, that’s at least four you could choose from.
You search Bon-Bon’s room not expecting much, but are surprised with what you find. In a briefcase in her closet you find a whip. It’s definitely not a prop either, which makes it very cool! It’s a little long and heavy for a pony your size, though. You aren’t sure yet if you should take it.
Something even more important catches your eye. Bon-Bon has always had this old, tan hat hanging from a hook on her wall next to her closet. But all that’s left is an imprint on the wall where it used to be. She might have known ahead of time she was leaving and took it with her. Not enough to prove anything is wrong, but it’s a start.
In Lyra’s room you find… something you’d probably get in trouble if you asked about. You cautiously put it back exactly as you found it and decide to forget about ever searching her room. Ever again.
After looking around the house, and with a little imagination, you’ve managed to fashion something stealthy! By using some belts and a few wash cloths you’ve created Stealth Slippers!
…
It was a really dumb idea, but it’s actually been working incredibly well! Your hooffalls are so quiet you can’t even hear them! Unfortunately, as your bottom discovered, they also make you a little slide-y, and they take a while to put on. You’ll have to know in advance that you want to use them.
You are aware of a friend of Lyra’s that you’ve heard her talking to, but you’ve never seen him.
This is a very important idea! There’s definitely a lot of different ways to go about this, and sneaking around is certainly one of them. You’d have to be more specific, though. What, in a standard household, could be used to be more stealthy?
Regardless, you gain +1 foresight!
Bon-Bon is an entr- an entrée… She owns her own business. She doesn’t have any coworkers. Lyra says she has lots of coworkers. But according to the calender schedule Bon-Bon made up, she’s been on vacation and doesn’t work until tomorrow.
If something suddenly happened to them, who would know about it?
You decide to break the forth wall yet again and explain things more explicitly. You just offer suggestions, y'all. That’s it. A character’s growth is stifled if the one time a crisis calls for action, a bunch of people with extra abilities and third party knowledge come along and hold her hand. Metaphorically speaking of course. Ponies don’t have hands.
You see where this is going and begin packing some food and a leash in your school bag. It’s adventure…! Moment. Date. You’ll work on that later.
You break the forth wall for a moment and lament that bringing a player controlled adult, and an investigator at that, would likely make things too easy. You’re not, however, writing off the possibility of adults helping. Just not ones that can be directly controlled.
You have no doubt that Princess Twilight could probably help. Immensely at that. But… she’s a Princess. You can’t just march up to her front door, knock, and expect a positive outcome. If anypony found out you have no supervision, they’d probably take you “somewhere safe”, and then Bon-Bon and Lyra would get in trouble for leaving you alone! Assuming they aren’t already in trouble. Then they might get in double trouble! You’re not positive, but you think you heard somewhere that that’s a thing.
Even if you know ahead of time where to go and what to do, you’re going to have to get some kind of evidence. You need to prove something really is wrong.
Having taken the last bite of your dinner, you gently lift the plate and head to the kitchen sink. You usually stay at your aunt’s house during school nights, as your parents are too busy to take care of you. But you’ve been here for four hours now and found no sign of your aunt or her roommate. Their dog, Simple, has followed you the entire time, looking more than a little worried. You walked him, fed him, did your homework, fixed your own dinner, ate, and have now finished cleaning up.
Normally you’d find a note in the kitchen if something was wrong. But searching high and low revealed nothing.
You have no idea what most of that means, but you do recognize The Crystal Empire. Such a place is far to the north and out of your reach. Even if you went by train, you have no money. Train tickets cost money, after all.
Tootsie: Hello? I hope it’s okay that I walked home from school by myself. Usually somepony picks me up. But you weren’t there. Hello? Lyra? Aunt Bon-Bon? Simple, do you need to go out? And your bowls are empty. What’s going on here?
1) Lyra: I can’t really take credit for that.
Bon-Bon: Well thank you for the compliment! It’s nice to be appreciated!
Lyra: Bon-Bon, look at the name.
Bon-Bon: … Well that’s mean.
2) That is a good point you bring up. I mean, especially after Twilight went to the- Wait how is that second part more important?
Bon-Bon: Hey, you forgave me for that. You can’t go back and blame me again; that’s double jeopardy.
Lyra: None of your business.
2) Bon-Bon: Oh gosh. I’ve been so busy… And at this point the story is hardly worth the wait. Plus it would require some context… Let me see what I can do.
3) Bon-Bon: Ugh…
4) Tootsie: I’m gonna be a forest princess! Mom got me my own bow!
Bon-Bon: Nothing this year. I’m going to be working through Nightmare Night. Have to make up for lost time somewhere.
Lyra: I kinda want to go as, like, an animal.
5) Bon-Bon: I wouldn’t go that far. Ribbon is going to want to pick out who teaches her, when, where, with who, etc. Control control control.
