Lost and Searching

"Does he know yet, sister?"

"I cannot tell him directly. It would not end well. Hopefully Lyra can do her part. I have a full sense of trust in that young pony."

"If you believe that it is best not to do this, then I shall trust you, Luna."

...

I woke up to a large shaking. My mom was nudging me awake, her face pale, as if she'd seen a ghost. She heaved a huge sigh of relief and embraced me tightly.

"I thought you were dead! It was almost impossible to wake you!"

I thought she was crazy. I obviously was in a deep enough sleep that I got her to worry. Then I started wondering about my dream. I seemed to have been dreaming about ponies a lot lately, mainly dream about my favorite pony, Lyra. Could this mean something? Who were these lost ponies?

"Mom, there's no need to worry. I was just having a really good dream."

That was true. I was kind of angry with my mom for coming in to wake me up.

"Was there something you needed?"

She looked gleeful now. She started talking about breakfast, but when I told her that I wasn't feeling very hungry she got right to the point.

"I think today you need to get a job!"

My eyes widened. A JOB!? This was against the rules! I was going to hear nothing of it. A job is like a prison. You wake up every morning to go to the same place for eight hours. you say the same things over and over again and finally, when you get your paycheck, it's a minimum wage paycheck. I was NOT going to do that for the rest of my life! Not until I was 18, at least.

"I actually want to spend the day at Derek's house today. He said he had some new airsoft guns that he wanted to show me. I also have to help him get back at Jason for taking his wallet."

In response, my mom started shouting. I ignored it and just walked down the stairs as she stayed in my room, yelling something like, "If you go out that door you are so grounded!" Personally, I didn't care anymore. I wished dad could be back from his business trip, but mom keeps saying things come up. I actually believed the guy was dead. I was done with my mom. I walked out the door, closing it gently behind me and walking the few blocks over to Derek's house. When I got there and knocked on the door, I was disgruntled to see that it was not Derek who answered the door, but Jason.

"Howdy there, Trevor! Come over to see Derek? He's out there in the back!"

"Yea yea....thank you...."

I didn't look up as I walked past him. I really, really didn't like him. He was just too....country....for my taste. I walked to the back door and saw Derek, holding his airsoft gun and pointing it right at my chest. He shot it once, hitting me directly dead center into my chest.

"OUCH! WTF man!?"

"Oops! Sorry, Trevor, I thought you were Jason! This is going to be so freaking rad! Can you bring him out here please? Make sure he's the last one out the door!"

I obliged, going back inside and grabbing Jason by the arm. I was doing it forcefully, trying to do anything to get him out there faster and see him in pain. He tried to resist, but I dragged him out behind me. As I exited the door, I winked at Derek and quickly jumped out of the way. I heard a barrage of bullets shoot from his airsoft machine gun as I watched Jason fall back, right into a wagon. There was a string set up in the wagon. When he landed on it, it set off two traps, one spraying water at his face, the other dropping over a dozen pies straight onto him.

Derek and I burst out laughing. Jason, the tough country boy, had been pranked and humiliated! I watched as he stood up from his "seat" and his face was red with fury. The anger quickly subsided as he sat up laughing and he took a pie, throwing it directly at Derek's face. It hit him square on the cheek and they started yelling funny insults at each other.

"That was for taking my wallet, you noob!" As a pie was flung through the air.

"Oh yeah? This is for wimping out on me!"

A pie soared, falling short and hitting Derek right in the kiwis. I couldn't help it. I started cackling over where I was standing.

"Oh Rainbow Dash that was hilarious! AppleJack never even knew what hit her!!!"

They both stared at me as I continued laughing. I had fallen to the floor and didn't even realize that I had said what I said. I was too busy laughing at the two of them and their silly arguments. They obviously weren't impressed and as my laughter died down, they both threw a pie at me, both hitting me in the face. Both were simultaneous in their words.

"Lyra, this isn't funny!!!"

By now we were all laughing at one another. We were covered in pies, calling each other pony names.

"Lyra, you're such a dork! Haha hey Jason, do you wanna go inside and play some video games?"

"You know it!! let's go!"

I had actually been expecting to stay with Derek longer, but it seemed like he had plans. I just shrugged it off, still chuckling about them calling me Lyra. I walked out, making my way downtown. It was a fairly small town and it didn't take long before I was at the local gas station. I always came here on the weekends to buy some things. You never really knew what I would leave that shop with. As I entered, only one thing caught my eyes. They had brought back my favorite candy bars.

These weren't any normal candy bars. When I was a kid, my dad used to bring me candy bars every week. Usually they were the ones called "Hershey's." Usually, they stuck with things like Mr. Goodbar and all that stuff I didn't like. Now that they had the Hershey's, I picked up a few and went to the counter, pulling out my leather black wallet. After paying, I sat down, opening one and taking a bite. The delectable sweet taste of the chocolate melted in my mouth as memories came to me of days past. The delicious taste cleared my head, making room for wiser thoughts. Then I started to remember that every time I talked to someone, I was calling them by pony names.It was absolutely absurd? What was happening to me?

I also remembered my dream of the night before. It didn't seem like any normal dream. I actually was looking through the eyes of Lyra, talking about bringing missing ponies back from the human world. I lived in the human world! Could I be part of the missing pony group? NO! That was impossible! I was a human, not a talking pony in a human costume. Why di I have the dream, then?

I didn't have much more time to think as Diane came up to me, dressed in her shop uniform.

"Hey there, Trevor! Everything ok? You seem to be in a state of stress. Can I get you anything, it's on me!"

Personally, I didn't want anything. I just wanted to sit here and be alone. I didn't need people pestering me while I tried to figure out if I was going crazy or not.

"Well....Pinkie....."

I stopped. Did I just call her Pinkie? As in Pinkie Pie!? This wasn't happening! It couldn't be happening! I need to forget about these ponies for one day! I couldn't say anything more, as to not cause any more awkwardness than there already was. I got up, running out of the shop, leaving my candy behind and also leaving Pinkie....no, Diane, looking stunned and confused.

I ran as fast as I could. I didn't know where I was going, nut it had to be away from here. There had to be somepony who knew what was going on. They had to be good in psychology!

Wait......TRISH! She knew everything! At the next intersection I came to, I turned right, running non-stop until I got to her house. She had to have a book on psychology. I had to, just had to, know what was making me turn into what I was. She was my last hope. My last chance.