Lyra Ever After

Chapter 1: Once Upon a Human

My name is Lyra Heartstrings, and I've always dreamed of meeting a real human! As a filly, I'd always listen to the stories, and rumors and I've concluded that they absolutely must be real! The stories are too intricate, and specific, and just…logical! Who else would have the technology to visit the moon of their own free will, or to have elections to choose their leaders? I mean, sure our unicorn magic would be able to do that too, but it requires no innovation! And selecting our leaders isn't hard at all, and does not cause as much strife between ponies, but imagine the freedom that must make them feel! I've searched since forever to find any trace as to where they could be.

My best friend, Bon Bon (Her real name is Sweetie Drops, but her close friends call her Bon Bon, because of her cutie mark) doesn't quite understand my fascination with humans, but she encourages me still, and helps me do research sometimes, when she isn't busy with her candy shop. She suggested that maybe they aren't even in our world; maybe they're really in another universe. I think she may be right, but I just don't know how I would ever get to chance to get there, if that is the case. I just wish I had the answers to everything…

I went to bed early that night. I had been in Canterlot since a couple of days ago, trying to get more information in my human studies. I figured, with Canterlot being the capital of Equestria, that maybe they would have much older records in the libraries there. I was right, they did have older records there, and even some mentioning humans but they weren't any more informative than the old mares tales and folk legends I'd been hearing all my life. I did learn a few new words in them that humans used, so that was pretty cool. Any bit of information helped. Though, I wish I had been able to get into the royal library in the castle… Then, maybe I would have gotten somewhere much farther in my knowledge.

"Oh well…" I sighed.

There was only so much I could do after all. And it wasn't like I had searched for long. I'd only gotten really interested in researching a few years ago. And I hadn't had the resources to actually start looking for information up until even fewer years ago. I would just have to be patient. At the moment, however, I was just feeling exhausted. I closed my eyes, and after a little while, I drifted off to sleep. I woke up to a soft knock on my door. I kept my eyes closed, and didn't move, wanting to sleep for a while longer. The knocking continued however, and finally, I sat up in bed and yawned. "I'm coming, hold on." I told the pony at the door, and moved my blankets back, and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Gosh, I was so tired… It felt like I had only been asleep for a couple of minutes. I knew it was much longer though, because I could see the sun shining through my curtains. I stretched, then got up and trudged over to my door and opened it to see…

A human. A. Real. Live. Human. Looking at me, and smiling!

I screamed.

Not from terror, or even surprise, but from absolute excitement! The human jumped a bit in surprise, the smile no longer there, but her bright blue eyes were big and looking at me as if I was insane.

"Whoa! Hang on, Lyra! Why in the world are you screaming like that?!"

I couldn't believe my eyes! A real human was standing right in front of me, and it had even said my name as if we had known each there for a while.

"Where…Who…How…?" I couldn't even utter a complete sentence. I took a few deep breaths and closed my eyes for a few seconds, then reopened them to see the human, still staring at me. "Are you…okay now?" She asked, now smiling, as if a bit amused. I just nodded and swallowed, not taking my eyes off of it, thinking that if I blinked then it would suddenly vanish, without a trace.

"I mean, I know you haven't seen me in a few days, but I didn't think you would be THAT excited to see me. I heard you come in and shower last night, but I figured you would be really tired, so I didn't come bother you. I was hoping you would have gotten enough rest by now, since it's already noon, but from the looks of it, you're probably still exhausted. I know how you can be when you get into your studies. Anyway though, I was just going to ask you to sample a new candy flavor that I've just made. I think it could be a big hit! Not quite sure what I'm going to call it though, if it's a success… Maybe you could help me out?"

It looked at me expectantly, like I had a shred of a clue what it was talking about.

"Um….I…I…." It was then that I took a really good look at this human. The features were a bit similar. Its fuchsia pink and cobalt blue slightly curly hair, the bright blue eyes, looking at me in a familiar way, and even her voice sounded extremely familiar. Something dawned on me. "Bon Bon…?"

"Yup, the one and only. Now, are you going to help me or what? I promise it won't take long. It'll be just a taste or two. And don't worry; I didn't put any of the wasabi powder in it this time. I know how you had that episode the last time you taste tested for me. I just wanted to add a kick to the flavor, and really I didn't think it was that hot…" She chuckled nervously, and scratched her head softly.

I couldn't believe my eyes. My best friend had turned into a human, and she was acting as if it was no big deal! It was then that I thought of something else… If Bon Bon was a human, then did that mean….?

"Hold on." I said as I turned and looked frantically around my bedroom. Or…the slightly different replica of my bedroom. It looked like my real bedroom, but the way things were placed seemed off, and not how I would usually keep it. "Mirror, mirror, mirror." I chanted in my head as I looked around. There! My eyes landed on the mirror that was in the corner of my room, on a small table and I ran to it, and then looked at it in shock. I was…I was a human too…? Wide, golden eyes looked back at me in complete and utter shock. I looked at my cyan green and white highlighted hair, then raised a hand (an ACTUAL HAND) and ran it through my hair. I couldn't believe this. I had a small human nose, human ears, human arms, human everything!

Human everything…and that meant no horn. No horn, no magic, which could turn out to be very troubling...

Bon Bon leaned on the door frame as she watched me. "Uuuum, yeah, I guess you could say you've had better days. But you are gonna help me, right?"

I kept looking into the mirror, as I barely answered her. "Uh…yeah. Yeah, sure." I watched the human lips speak with my voice, and then turned my head to look at her.

"Great! Come downstairs when you're finished getting dressed and I'll be ready for you. Don't take too long now." She said then turned and left. I heard her hoof-…well, footsteps going down the stairs. I turned and quickly walked over to my window then looked out of my curtains. I stared at what I saw. It was Ponyville, but it…wasn't Ponyville. It looked the same, but different at the same time! And more importantly, everypony was human! By Celestia, this was just incredible! I had to go get a closer look! I jumped away from the window, and looked down at myself. I was in some….weird clothes. Not like the clothes that I wear to a special event and stuff, but more simple, and extremely more comfortable. Wait, if I was already dressed, then why did Bon Bon tell me to get dressed again?

I went back to my window and looked out on some of the ponies, er, people walking by. They all had different types of clothes on. Some had long…leg wrap things on, others had shorter leg wraps on, and others had dresses on. They also had shirts and other…upper torso clothing on. What they were wearing didn't quite look like the clothing that I was wearing at the moment, so I guess she meant I should get dressed in something else that was more similar to theirs.

I sighed…

"Maybe I should go ask Bon Bon about some of these clothes." I said to myself and looked toward the entrance to my door. She's probably think I was crazy asking what was the short leg wrap thing she was wearing called. I'll just stick to what I know. I went over to the closet, where a lot of clothes were hanging up, and started to go through them. I'm pretty sure our Ponyville fashionista, Rarity would have been a lot of help at the moment. I've seen her work miracles with all kinds of clothes I wasn't accustomed to. I kept searching for something I would understand. I even saw some of those long legs wrap things in my closet, but I didn't want to take time to put it on.

Ah! Here we are! I pulled out a flowy dress that was near the back. This would be easy enough to put on. It was a light blue color, with white sleeves, and a white ribbon going around the waist, and tying into a bow at the back. Not particularly the kind of style I was used to, but I guess it would do… I quickly pulled it over my head, and grasped at it, trying to pull it down. It just wasn't working. I lifted it back up. I forgot I already had a shirt on. I pulled it off, and looked at the weird...thing I had on underneath it.

Ooookay?

If what I was wearing was a shirt, then what in the world was this thing? I tugged at it, and then just left it alone. If it was underneath the shirt, then I should probably leave it underneath the dress as well. I pulled off the skirt like thing I had worn on my legs, and looked at it. Now that I got a closer look at it, it wasn't actually a skirt thing, it looked more like the short leg wraps that I had seen the other humans wearing, but it was looser. Hm, well, if I was sleeping in it, then it must be….sleepwear of some kind, maybe? I shrugged and tossed it on the bed with the shirt. Underneath them, however, was another weird article of clothing, and it looked just as weird as my under-the-shirt thing had? I pulled it, and it slapped right back against my fur- er, skin.

Ow...humans have weird dressing methods... I left the under-the-leg-wrap thing alone, figuring since it was underneath as well, then it should probably stay there. I picked up the dress again, and tried pulling it over my head again. It actually went down easily this time, thankfully. I finished pulling it down and straightened it out. I went back over to the mirror to look at it. "Eh, still not my taste, but it looks okay I suppose." I said as I twisted around to look at it. I looked up at my hair and tried to straighten it down with my hands, but that just wasn't working. Hm… I must have a brush around here somewhere… I didn't see one though… No use in looking for it myself, I know I wouldn't know human Lyra keeps her things. I walked over and looked out the door. On one end of the hall, was a door, where we normally have the restroom, and on the other end was another door where Bon Bon's room was, and the stairs that went down.

"Um, Bon Bon?" I called walked over and called down the stairs.

"Yeah?" I heard her call back.

"Do you know where I have my brush? "

"The last time I saw it, it was in the restroom, by the sink."

"Okay, thanks!" I shouted as I went back down the hall, and opened the bathroom door. It just now occurred to me how odd it felt to not have to use my magic to open and move things. Odd, but not unusual, so I guess it was okay, for the time being. As I looked around the bathroom, my eyes fell on the sink, and there was my brush, just like Bon Bon said. I went over to it, then picked it up and started to brush my hair into my normal acceptable style. Once I finished, and approvingly checked myself in the mirror, I looked around and found the toothbrush that looked my usual one, then brushed my teeth and washed my face afterwards.

'Okay, time to go out and explore what exactly is going on here.' I thought, and walked out of the bathroom and down the hall. I stopped at the top of the stairs and realized that I was actually….kind of nervous. I was still confused about what exactly was going on here. And I had so many questions...

"Lyraaaa! Are you done yet?" I heard Bob Bon yelling from the downstairs.

"Um, yeah. Coming!" I yelled back, as I quickly ran down the stairs. I would figure it out eventually, I concluded. I'd just have to ask some questions...

[Author's Note: Yeeeeah, I totally took these characters through my own characterization process. I honestly wanted to make Bon Bon livelier. She works with candy, so why not? And as for Lyra, I really want her to have that kind of "eye opening experience", so I want her reactions to be kind of up and down all the time. I actually see her personality being like that all the time anyway. Feel free to tell me if you liked this chapter! It'll give me ideas for the next, and hopefully make it even better. Plus I'll know if I need to make them longer and what-not. ^^ ]