        The days had passed in the blink of an eye.  Lyra was completely exhausted from hours of studying.  While Twilight did much of the legwork in the Royal Archives, she had been run around Canterlot, meeting with ambassadors.  All the meetings were cloaked in secrecy, with the questions posed as hypothetical.  Any self-respecting ambassador had probably known that there was a real crisis going on, but they were wise enough to keep their speculations to themselves.