Chapters The Human Project Part One - Lyra And Bon-Bon
"Human/Pony Interactions? No, I've read it." Lyra muttered, browsing the tiny section of the Canterlot Royal Library dedicated to the elusive species called 'Humans.' Lyra picked up another book. "Theories on Humans? Sounds good." She dropped it in her saddlebag. She picked up another. "Humans: A Field Guide. Haven't I read this?" Lyra flipped through the pages to make sure she hadn't already read the book. The book seemed to force her to open it to a certain page. Sitting in the gap between that page and the one previous was a small slip of paper. "What's this?" Lyra asked herself, picking up the slip. She unfolded it and read the text at the top. "Human/Pony Transformation Spell?" Lyra's mouth widened in a gleeful grin. "This sounds promising!" She slipped the paper into her saddlebag and left to check out the books.
"Hey." She casually said to the librarian.
"Hello, what can I do for you?" The mare asked.
"I'm just checking these books out." Lyra explained, setting the three books on the counter.
"Do you have a library card?" The librarian asked.
"Well, not exactly." Lyra answered. "You see, my friend loaned me hers, she used to spend a lot of time here."
"So, who is this friend of yours?" The librarian skeptically demanded.
"Twilight Sparkle." Lyra replied.
"Oh, Twilight?" The librarian seemed to be acting nicer now. "Go right ahead, just give me the card." Lyra handed the mare the library card. She began to check out the books. "Theories On Humans? A Study On Humans? The Human Species? These books haven't ever been checked out before."
"I'm a bit obsessed with them." Lyra explained.
"Don't worry, Twilight was obsessed with a lot of weird things, too, but they turned out to be important." The librarian consoled. "Did you know that everypony in Canterlot thought she was crazy about the whole Nightmare Moon thing? She was the only one who predicted it. But, sure enough, it happened."
"Thanks." Lyra said. She grabbed the books and put them back in her saddlebag. "Goodbye!" Lyra galloped out of the library at full speed, headed straight for the hotel. She burst in the front door and bolted up the stairs. She almost broke the door to her room.
"Woah, Lyra, slow down." Bon-Bon said, stopping her stampeding friend. "Where's the fire?"
"Nowhere." Lyra said. "I just wanted to show you something."
"What is it?" Bon-Bon asked, attempting to appear interested in whatever new tidbit about humans her friend had brought her. They had been friends for a while, and, once Lyra had spotted a human, it had become a bit more strenuous and annoying. Lyra was constantly coming home with a new fact or picture, detailing what she believed to be a 'superior species.'
"It's a spell." Lyra said.
"A spell for what? Turning ponies into humans?" Bon-Bon sarcastically suggested.
"How'd you know?" Lyra asked.
"Wait, that's really what it is?" Bon-Bon asked, suddenly intrigued. "Does it work?"
"I don't know, lemme try it out." Lyra began to retrieve the spell from her saddlebag.
"Wait." Bon-Bon intervened, stopping Lyra. "What if it doesn't work?"
"And if it doesn't?" Lyra asked.
"Well, we're staying in a hotel. We don't want to hurt anypony." Bon-Bon explained. "For all we know, some prankster shoved an explosion spell in there just to mess with ponies like you."
Lyra sighed. "Fine. But, Celestia as my witness, we're using that spell the minute we get home!"
"Okay." Bon-Bon said. "That's fine."
"I'm gonna go read." Lyra said, darting off to the bedroom. Relieved that her friend was gone, Bon-Bon sat down on the couch and began to review the events of the past few days in her mind. Lyra had gotten the crazy idea that Canterlot would have more extensive books on humans, despite the fact that Twilight insisted that they were all the same. Then Lyra had persuaded the unicorn to hand over her library card, and Bon-Bon had been whisked away along with her friend to the capitol of Equestria, for no other reason than to study what she found to be a fictional species.
Well, Lyra had been right. The Royal Library had more books than Twilight. But what was more intriguing was the spell Lyra had discovered. Did it really turn ponies into humans? And, if it did, were there any die affects? And, if so, what were they?
Bon-Bon sat on the couch for hours, unanswerable questions racing through her mind, until she fell asleep.
The Human Project Part One - Lyra And Bon-Bon
"So, Twilight, I found this - um - spell, and I needed help casting it." Lyra nervously said, attempting to sound nondescript. She didn't know what half of the terminology was, so she'd gone to Twilight for help. Bon-Bon had come along just in case.
"Okay, what do you need help with?" Twilight asked, friendly as usual.
"Well, it's an - old spell, so I needed help with some of the terms." Lyra explained.
"Like what?" Twilight asked.
"Like the first step. It says to 'charge up your horn.'" Lyra replied. "What does that even mean?"
"It means to send magic coursing through your horn." Twilight explained. Her horn lit up an iridescent lavender. "Like this."
"Oh, okay." Lyra said. She sent magic through her horn, and it began to glow blue. "This way?"
"Yep." Twilight said, nodding in approval. "What's next?"
"It says to pick a target. I'm targeting me." Lyra said. "So... How do I target stuff?"
"It's simple." Twilight said. "Just focus entirely on that object. Or, in this case, pony."
"Okay." Lyra filled her thoughts with herself. Her entire body began to glow. "Like this?"
"Exactly. What's next?" Twilight asked.
"I've got it from here, thanks." Lyra said.
"I still want to see what this spell does, though." Twilight said.
"Okay, if you say so." Lyra began to follow the steps. First, charge up your horn. Done. Second, select a target. Done. Third, focus on humans. Done. Fourth, relinquish any and all hopes of keeping a pony's attributes. Lyra sighed. there was no going back. Done.
Suddenly, there was an earsplitting crack. Pain shot through Lyra's head as her horn shattered, shards flinging across the room. "Ah!" Twilight screamed. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I am." Lyra said. "But how am I still casting the spell?" The blue light was slowly expanding, leaving the confines of the room.
Suddenly, Twilight's horn shattered as well. "Ack!" Twilight shrieked. "I thought you were just targeting yourself!"
"I was!" Lyra said. "I still am!"
"STOP THE SPELL!" Twilight yelled.
"I can't!" Lyra replied, desperation seeping into her voice. Her vision went dark when she lost consciousness.
The Human Project Part One - Lyra And Bon-Bon
"Ugh." Lyra groaned, opening her eyes to the familiar library. "My head hurts." She reached up to rub her head and caught a glimpse of her hoof. Only, it wasn't a hoof. It was a hand, five fingers and all. "Mother of Celestia." Lyra whispered. "Can it be?" Lyra sat up and inspected her body. Sure enough, she was a human. "This - this is amazing." She looked to her right to find Bon-Bon laying there unconscious. She was human, as well. Lyra ran over and shook her friend. "Hey, Bon-Bon. Bonnie, hey. Hey, Bons, wake up." She said.
"What?" Bon-Bon groaned, opening her eyes, which widened upon seeing her friend. "Oh, my gosh, are you really a..." Her voice trailed off.
"Yep. And you are too." Lyra said. Bon-Bon looked down to see her naked body. Her face turned a bright red and she curled up into a ball. "Oh, come on, BB. It's not like we didn't walk around naked when we were ponies ."
"I know, but, we didn't have - these." Bon-Bon said.
"It doesn't matter." Lyra said, standing up. "If you're human, too, that means that Twilight must be, as well. But she's not in this room. Come on, we have to go find her!" The pair ran through the house, having to duck through the now small doorways, eventually finding Twilight in he room. She was indeed human, wrapped up in her blanket and staring out of the window. "Hey, Twilight?"
"Look." Twilight shakily said.
"I'm sorry, I should've told you what the spell did. I had no idea it was unstable, I didn't mean for it to -" Lyra said.
"Look." Twilight repeated.
"What is it?" Lyra asked. She walked over tot he window and looked out. Everypony in Ponyville was human. The pegasi still had their wings, but, like Lyra and Twilight, none of the unicorns had horns anymore. "Oh, no. Oh, no, oh no, oh no, oh no." Lyra said, backing away. "I caused this, didn't I?"
"Yes." Twilight said. "You did."
"I'm sorry." Lyra said, shaking.
"Well, on the bright side, people can study humans now." Bon-Bon said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Twilight, can you keep this a secret?" Lyra pleaded. "I don't want anypony - or, um, anybody to know that I caused this. Please don't tell."
"I won't." Twilight said.
"Thanks." Lyra said, hugging Twilight.
"But now there's the problem of magic." Twilight said. "Can we still use it?"
"I don't know." Lyra replied. "Try it out."
"Okay, um... Here goes." Twilight said. She focused on a book, and it levitated with ease. Her hands glowed the same iridescent lavender her horn did.
"Okay, we use hands for magic." Lyra said. "Got it."
"Now can we please go get some clothes?" Bon-Bon asked.
The Human Project Part One - Lyra And Bon-Bon
"What's that?" Celestia asked herself, her eyes darting out of the window. "There's been a very strong spell cast." Her eyes eventually became affixed on the town of Ponyville,which was shining an iridescent blue. "What is going on over there?" Celestia cast a simple magnification spell to zoom in on the source of the magic. She zoomed in just in time to see Lyra's horn shatter. Celestia immediately knew what the spell was. "Oh, no." She said. ""There's nothing I can do for her now."
The spell Lyra had found had been developed by Starswirl the Bearded ages before. However, after having a test subject use the spell inside of a magical barrier, he discovered the instability of the spell and had all records of it destroyed. However, one record of it must have survived, and been discovered by an unlucky unicorn.
"This is not good." Celestia said. "It can't spread. I won't allow it." Celestia's horn lit up as magic coursed through it, sending a magical field across Equestria,creating a barrier around Ponyville. Upon connecting with the barrier, the power of the spell clashed with that of Celestia's, but the princess' power proved stronger, destroying the other spell. "Well, that's that." Celestia sighed. "I have no choice but to leave the barrier up. Should the spell somehow re-create itself, as it did with Starswirl, then it would turn all of Equestria into humans."
Princess Celestia summoned a guard. "Have somepony travel down to Ponyville and hold up a piece of paper, use sign language, or something along those lines to convey this message to the town's residents: Due to the recent transformation of Ponyville residents, no one is allowed to leave. Ponyville is officially a quarantine zone." Celestia said. Once the guard had left, a single tear rolled down the princess' face and she whispered, "I'm sorry, Twilight."
