Prejudices

Hello?" Lyra called out. The library was absolutely amazing. Embedded in a tree and almost completely filled walls of books. "Wow," Lyra breathed. "Gah!"

A purple and green dragon came down the stairs and bounded towards her. "Hey, I'm Spike!"

"Please don't burn my books!" Lyra begged.

"No no, Spike doesn't burn books," a purple unicorn assured her. Her eyes, coat, mane and tail were different shades of the same colour.  Her mane and tail had a purple and a pink streak. She also had a fringe which Lyra found likeable. She didn't understand her cutie mark though. Were they sparkles?

"This library wouldn't be here if I couldn't keep my fire under control, would it?" Spike asked her rhetorically.

"I'm sorry," Lyra looked down.

"Aw, it's okay." Spike gave her a hug.

"You must be Lyra Booklet. I'm Twilight Sparkle," the unicorn introduced herself.

"Thank you so much for letting me live with you," Lyra shook Twilight's hoof.

"No problem! I was on my way to Sweet Apple Acres to meet my friend Applejack. You should join us," she invited. Twilight laughed when she saw Lyra hesitating. "Don't be nervous. Applejack is a great friend to have. And here in Ponyville, it's not hard to make friends. I remember my first day here." Twilight's tone sounded wistful.

Spike rolled his eyes. "She was impossible. She didn't want to make friends at all!"

Twilight laughed again and trotted for the door. Lyra joined her. Along the way, Twilight told Lyra her story with Spike adding in every now and then.

"So your magic is magic?" Lyra asked Twilight Sparkle in awe. Her mind started racing with theories. "Truly, your field is wide. Basically you have no limits to what you can do."

"Sure, I guess. I just have to study the spell first," Twilight blushed modestly. "Oh look we're here!"

Sweet Apple Acres was a wide arable land filled with apple trees. In front of them, there was a barn where a little filly laughed at something her grandmother said. Lyra looked around in wonder, her mind already imagining the farm family's daily life; what it would be like to have your future cut out for you.

"Hey Twilight!" The little filly's voice twanged. Her coat was yellow and her mane and tail red. She had her mane tied up in a bow bigger than her head. Her eyes were round, happy and yellow. "Hey, Spike! Who's your new friend?"

"This is Lyra Booklet," Twilight introduced the young pony as Applebloom. "Have you seen your sister, Applebloom?"

"Why, she's bucking apples with Big Macintosh somewhere. Come on, I'll take you to them!" The little pony skipped into the orchard and the others followed. Besides the grandmother.

Applebloom asked Lyra everything. Where she was from, if Booklyn was nice, why did she move, did she like it here and so on. Lyra found herself describing things in great detail.

"Wow," Applebloom marvelled at one point of her interview. "You should give a talk at my club with my friends. We're called the Cutie Mark Crusaders because we don't have our cutie marks yet. Maybe you could tell us how you got your curious looking cutie mark." Applebloom peered at it.

Embarrassed, Lyra looked down and was grateful when another voice twanged, "Applebloom are you bothering Twilight and her friend?" A farm pony trotted over. She had blonde ponytailed mane and tail, her eyes green and her coat the exact colour of apple juice. She had three red apples as a cutie mark and she wore a cowpony hat. "Well hello there sugarcube. I'm Applejack, Twilight's friend. You must be new in town. What's your name?"

"I'm Lyra Booklet," Lyra shook the pony's hoof. "Very nice to meet you. Applebloom wasn't a bother, really. Not much. I'm used to ponies being curious."

"Striking, isn't she?" Applebloom asked her sister.

"Eeyup," came a deep voice behind Applejack.

Lyra looked to see a big male pony with a red coat and eyes, mane and tail the same colour as Applejack. His cutie mark was the cut side of half a green apple. Lyra's preferred apple. So this was Big Macintosh. Lyra's heart tripped on its hooves. Immediately, she looked at anything but him.

"A new comer eh? I bet Pinkie's heard and thrown a party at Sugar Cube Corner," Applejack said.

"She did one for me when I first came," Twilight remembered.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Applebloom cheered.