Chapter 2: Curiosity

IMPORTANT:  If you read the original attempt at this chapter, please read this first:  Link  That should clear some things up.

~~~Lyra’s POV~~~

        Bon Bon has returned to making candy in the kitchen, and I’m currently bringing our guest the pillow and blankets I promised.

        I return to the living room to discover that he’s already out like a light.  He’s sleeping so soundly that I manage to lift his head a little with my magic to get the pillow in place before covering him with a pair of quilts without so much as a twitch from him.  I had to search through a few closets for them, since it’s spring, and the quilts were made for winter.  Still, he’s a human, and he’s dressed kind of lightly, so two winter quilts shouldn’t roast him or anything like that.

        As Jaxxon continues to sleep, I head up the stairs and enter my room to get a few things.  I levitate my sketchbook off of my desk as well as a pair of quills and an inkwell.  The drawings that fill the first half of the book are quite crude, but the second half is currently full of blank pages.  I plan on changing that.  There’s a real-live human in my house!  I can make sketches that will be way more accurate than the ones I’ve made before!

        I release a small squee of excitement before teleporting myself, along with my things, back to the living room, where Jaxxon is still sleeping like a log.

        I carefully use my magic to move his right hand out from under the blankets and hold it in the air.  There are so many lines on his palm, and the tips of each digit are covered in strange patterns.  The books didn’t mention the imprint on the fingers, but I think I remember reading something about the palm lines.

        Pushing such thoughts aside, I eagerly get to work sketching real human hands for the first time ever!

        The lines and curves slowly take shape as my quill practically dances across the parchment of my sketchbook, detailing every joint, every crease, even his fingernails.

        As far as I can guess from inspecting his hands and musculature, he’s not that strong.  He’s most likely some kind of scholarly type, but I’ll have to wait until he wakes up to ask.

        On a different note, the pain had brought him to tears, right?  After remembering that, I make a note that crying didn’t seem to be something he was ashamed of.  Maybe it’s perfectly fine for human men to cry, unlike what’s expected of stallions.  I’ll have to ask him about that as well, as long as I don’t forget.

        He still has tear streaks on his cheeks, and that provokes another thought:  he looked so scared and vulnerable in that state.  He still looks pretty vulnerable right now, while he’s sleeping.

        Gently, I pick up a corner of one of the quilts with my magic and use it to wipe the streaks from his face before pulling the blankets up to cover his face.  He looks at least a little safer that way.  It’s too bad the books never mentioned any spells that could help.  If I had known any, I wouldn’t have hesitated to use them, even if I hurt myself in the process.  After experiencing that headache, nothing could possibly compare… right?  I should know.  I was a fool and used that spell to feel his pain for a few seconds.  As far as I’ve felt, nothing hurts worse.  I could be wrong, though.  But after feeling that, I wished I could do more to help him.  No living thing should have to endure that much pain.

        Even my own pain from all those years ago wasn’t that bad…

        I shake my head.  No.  I don’t want to remember that.  Less painful or not, the baggage my heart carries from those events is still something I’d rather keep locked up tight.

        With an intense amount of effort, I push back against the flood of unwanted memories.  I feel my heart start to race and my breathing gets faster and faster as I begin to panic.

        Suddenly, I feel a hoof on my shoulder and gasp before looking behind me to see that it’s just Bon Bon, looking concerned.

        “You alright?”

        “I’m okay,” I say weakly, still trembling.

        Bon Bon doesn’t look convinced in the least.  “The memories again?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.

        “Sort of,” I admit as I try to calm my breathing.  “I managed to block them out.”

        “You’re safe, Lyra,” Bon Bon assures me.  “Don’t ever forget that.  I’ll protect you, just like I always have since that day.”

        “Like how you took out those stallions who kept harassing me by calling us a couple and asking all those vulgar questions?” I ask, feeling a little nauseous as the unsettling thought of me being in thatkind of a relationship crosses my mind again.  I actually broke down crying after one of them asked that question about me using my horn for…  Ugh, I’d never do something like that to Bon Bon!

        “Exactly,” she replies.  “They might’ve been stallions, but my Neighponese martial arts had them on the ground in five seconds.  Don’t you worry, Lyra.  I’ll always keep you safe.  At least until you find a stallion to take my place,” she finishes with a giggle.

        “I also remember you assuring me that you’re not into mares for three days after that,” I say with a giggle of my own.  “You acted like I could throw up at any moment.”

        “Don’t exaggerate, Lyra,” Bon Bon sighs.  “I didn’t act like you were going to throw up.”

        “Well, do you think our guest will be able to handle the ‘purists’?” I ask in an attempt to change the subject.  “He’s lucky I found him before any of them did.”

        “I think he’ll manage,” Bon Bon replies, and I grin a little as I’ve succeeded in changing the subject.  “He is lucky his first social interaction was with somepony who isn’t a purist, though.  On that note, I do feel sorry for Spike, as I have a suspicion that Rarity is one.  Maybe some time with that weird stallion who calls himself ‘The Doctor’ would change her tune.  He changed Roseluck’s mind.  After a few days with him, she dropped her purist attitude.  I think she’s actually an anti-purist, now.  Best of all, Rarity has been eying the Doctor a lot lately, so Spike might actually catch a lucky break.”

        “Don’t forget Derpy,” I add. “He changed her mind, too.  Twilight’s also.”

        “Well, I’m not so sure about Twilight,” Bon Bon replies.  “She never seemed to care either way before meeting him, yes, but she was foalsat by Princess Cadance.  She said so.  Cadance’s special talent is love, so I think it started all the way back then.  As far as I could gather, Cadance really doesn’t like purists.”

        “Wait a minute!” Bon Bon exclaims.  “You changed the subject on me!  How do you always manage to do that?”

        “It’s a gift,” I snicker before picking my quill back up with my magic and turning to the next page in my sketchbook.  “Now, I have a human to study, so I don’t think I’ll be needing your help anymore for the moment.”

        Bon Bon sighs and leaves the room while I return to documenting everything I can about Jaxxon without invading his privacy too much or waking him up.

~~~Jaxxon’s POV~~~

        I groan and sit up before rubbing my eyes.

        I feel blankets on top of me, and there’s a pillow behind my head, and it feels like it’s propped up by an armrest.  Huh?  Did I fall asleep on the couch again?  That dream was kind of weird, though.  I hope the experiment goes better than that when I actually try to—wait.  What’s that smell?  And why do I feel a weight on my chest?

        I crack my eyes open to see a pair of large amber eyes only a few inches away from my face.  Holy crap!Why is there a pony in my living room?  Why is she not respecting my personal space?  And why the heck does her breath smell like bubblegum?

        “Oh, you’re awake!” she exclaims, breaking into a huge grin.  “Are you all right now?”

        “Wait, what?” I ask in confusion as I try to sit up.  The pony’s got me pinned down, though.  So I lie back down and sigh.  “Could you get off, please?  And what the heck happened?”

        “Wait, you don’t remember?” the pony asks as she gets off of my chest and lets me sit up.  “You had a really bad headache, and I let you stay here while you recovered!  So, are you feeling better?”

        Oh.  Now I remember.  I already got to the pony world.  I got a flipping Cluster and Lyra helped me out.  Man, how could I forget something like that?

        “I think so,” I mumble, “the pain’s gone, and I’m way less tired now.”

        “That’s good,” Lyra says as she turns to a blank page in her book.  “So, could you answer some questions for me?”

        “You helped me, so it’s only fair that I return the favor,” I reply with a smile.  “So, what do you want to know?”

        “First off,” she begins, “where did you come from?”

        “Well,” I scratch my head to try to come up with a simple answer.  “There’s a whole world separate from your own where all, well, now most of the humans live.  I come from there.”

        She scribbles a few notes into her book before asking me another question:  “What’s your world like?”

        “Similar to yours, but without the magic and more advanced,” I reply.  “I don’t know if magic even exists there or not, but nothing there can use it if it does exist back home.”

        “Wait, nothing can?” she asks in surprise.  “I already knew humans can’t use magic, but nothing in your world can?”

        “Pretty much,” I answer with a nod.  “But, even without anything having access to magic, my world has gotten really advanced.”

        “How advanced?” Lyra asks eagerly, her quill already pressing against a blank page in anticipation.

        I take a deep breath before giving my answer.

I explain many of man’s greatest achievements:  everything from fans to rocketships and everything in between, including a few of man’s darker achievements made necessary by our own tendency to go to war over the stupidest things.

“That’s incredible!I wish I could ask you to continue, but I have way too many questions to stay on any one subject for too long,” she says after she finishes writing.  “Anyway, who do you share your world with?  There are all sorts of sapient races in our world.  What about yours?”

        “Humans are alone,” I reply, eliciting a gasp from the unicorn.  “We’re the only sapient race back in my world."

        “Only humans?  No other races?” Lyra whispers in disbelief as she scribbles down more notes.

        “Correct,” I reply with a somber nod.  “There’s lots of other sentient life, I guess, but only humans are sapient.  Some animals appear to be pretty smart, but we haven’t been able to prove sapience in any of them.”

        After taking more notes, Lyra puts her quill to her chin as if in thought for a few seconds, her eyes wide.

        “That must get pretty lonely, being the only sapient race,” she suddenly remarks.  “Exactly how lonely are you humans?”

        I blink and start to shake my head.  “No, you see, we’re not—”

        “Wait!” she blurts out while raising a hoof to ask for my silence.  “Are you so lonely that you divide yourselves up by lineage to have a semblance of a world with multiple races?” she asks, her eyes widening to match the compassion in her voice.  “We’re not alone ourselves, but us ponies do that sometimes, as well.  We have pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies, but we’re still all ponies.  Some of us forget that at times, though, like some of the snootier unicorns who look down on earth ponies.  I mean, a pony is a pony, after all.  Still, you must all be so lonely, you poor things,” she finishes, patting my hand sympathetically.

        I give the unicorn a funny look.  Seriously, who comes to that kind of conclusion from humans being the only sapient race?  We’ve been the only sapient race since day one, so why would we feel lonely?  Then again…  She does make an interesting point..  It’s weird, but maybe I should give it some thought.

        “I guess you could put it that way,” I finally relent after she looks at me expectantly for a few minutes.  “It’s a ‘divide’ of sorts which has kept humanity from uniting for millennia.  There’s a nation that has a semblance of the unity that humanity should strive for, but even that nation doesn’t always get it right.  I’m from that nation, just so you know.”

        “So, what’s your country’s name?” she inquires.

        “The United States of America,” I reply with a bit of pride in my voice.  “‘The US’ or ‘the USA’ for short, or just ‘America’.  We used to just call ourselves Americans, but now, some put their ethnicity in front of ‘American’, which I find sad.  They say it’s for expressing their heritage and never forgetting it, which isn’t a bad reason, to be honest, but I disagree with the execution of it.”  By this point, my pride has vanished, replaced by sobriety.  “I feel that putting our ethnicity before ‘American’ is pointless.  It doesn't matter where you come from.  Sure, one's roots are important because one’s ancestors made it possible for them to live where they do today, but we're all Americans.  We still call a salad a salad even though there’s tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, and other fixings.  Personally, I prefer putting ‘American’ first and adding my roots as an afterthought.  I call myself an ‘American of mixed ancestry’.”  By the end of my statement, I’ve regained some of my pride, but I’m still a bit on edge.

        “Oh,” Lyra says while she jots down some more notes.  “I think a change of subject is in order, then.  How did you get here?”

        I almost pull out the book from my jacket, but I stop myself when I realize that maybe letting these ponies know that they’re just characters in a book based off of a TV show isn’t a good idea.  Instead, I give her a simple answer:

        “I invented a way to get back and forth between my home world and this one.”

        Lyra’s jaw drops.

        “Wait, you can go between your world and this one at will?” she asks in awe.

        “Pretty much,” I reply with a grin.  “But it requires concentration, and that’s why I couldn’t get back home when I was having that headache.”

        Lyra looks like she’s about to ask another question, but my stomach growls at that moment, reminding me of how hungry I am.

        “Oh, I think I should go,” I chuckle as I stand up.  “I need to get some dinner at home.  I’ll talk to you tomorrow, though.  I promise.”

        Wait, why do I suddenly want to come back to talk to her tomorrow?  I have all of Equestria to explore and didn’t I find her annoying earlier?  What changed that?  Ah, forget it.  I need to get home and eat.

        “Um, actually, I was hoping you could stay and eat with us,” the unicorn replies.  “I know you humans have to eat meat as part of your diet, so we wouldn’t be able to get you a proper meal, but I wouldn’t want a guest to leave hungry.”

        “If you insist,” I say with a shrug.  “But do you have any eggs or nuts?  Eggs count as the same food group as meats, and nuts do as well.”

        “I’m sure we have those,” Lyra says with a grin and a nod.  “Bonnie sometimes puts nuts in her candies, and I just bought eggs yesterday.”

        She looks over her shoulder and says, “Bonnie?  Could you get dinner started?  Our guest is hungry, and I’d rather not send him away with an empty stomach!”

        “All right, Lyra!” Bon bon’s voice replies from the direction of their kitchen.  “Will a salad be okay?”

        I nod, and Lyra relays the message.  “He says that’ll be fine!  But he’ll need either eggs or nuts added, since he needs something that provides meat nutrients!

        “Got it!” Bon Bon’s voice responds.  “I’ll have dinner ready in a few minutes!”

~~~Bon Bon’s POV~~~

        The “flamerods” I’m working on are just about done, so I roll the spicy candy into sticks and set them aside to cool.  With those done, I now have three days’ worth of candy to sell, so I’m well ahead of schedule.  Which is always nice.

        Anyway, Lyra asked for dinner to be made, and I think I can handle making enough salad for three.

        Usually, Lyra isn’t that eager to insist that guests stay for dinner.  I overheard that part of their conversation, and from what I could gather, Jaxxon had been pretty annoyed with Lyra before.  At least, that’s what she told me.  And now, he’s acting as if they’re good friends!  What’s up with that?  Lyra asked him to stay for dinner, even though he planned on eating wherever he lives.  This is strange.

        I hum to myself and file those thoughts away for later as I start to put together a salad.  I add iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, carrots, spinach, a few cubes of cheese, some croutons, and top it all off with a nice dressing that I mix in.  After dividing the salad evenly into three bowls, I boil a couple eggs and slice some almonds for our guest’s salad, just like Lyra asked.

        Once the eggs are done boiling, I remove the shells and dice them before adding both the eggs and the almonds to the human’s salad.

        “Okay, Lyra!  Dinner’s ready!” I announce as I set the three bowls on the table along with forks, glasses of juice, and a breadstick for each of us.

        Both of them enter the dining room after a minute or so, and as all three of us take our seats, Lyra and I watch as Jaxxon folds his arms, bows his head and mumbles to himself for a minute before digging in with his fork.  Is that some kind of human custom?  Maybe Lyra would know more.

        We don’t say much as we eat, but I notice that Jaxxon and Lyra both seem a bit uncomfortable around each other.  Or maybe they’re nervous?  But why would they be?  They’ve been chatting for almost an hour since he woke up…

No.  It can’t be, can it?  Still, the only conclusion I can come to is that they’ve rapidly developed feelings for each other, but are confused by how they feel.  I’m not Princess Cadance, but I’m pretty sure they like each other but don’t understand what their hearts are telling them.

        Still, I want Lyra to be happy.  Her happiness is what keeps those memories away, and her love of humans would logically develop into love for a human, right?  If this is what she needs to be happy, I’ll do everything I can to help.  Even if they only see each other as ‘friends’, I’m pretty sure there’s more to it than that.  They just haven’t noticed it, and I intend to change that.

        Well, come to think of it, maybe I’m being a bit too quick to judge.  Maybe it’s just them feeling awkward about having a new friend from another race.  I’ll just keep an eye out for any hint that they have feelings for each other for now.

        Love Detective Bon Bon is on the case.