Lyra’s thoughts lingered on last night’s dream. It was…different, that’s for sure. She felt like she was someone else, experiencing a stranger’s feelings, having memories of things that she was sure she had never done.

The boy loved visiting his dear grandfather.

She finally saw a scene outside of the laboratory, a different dream than she’d been having for the past several nights. It was through the eyes of that boy she’d seen so many times before, from a point of view as though watching actors in a play run their scene.

He always seemed to get into an argument with nearly everyone. The doctors gave that condition a name; they seemed to have all sorts of names to explain all of the boy’s problems, except for why he had them in the first place.

She continued trotting ahead, making her way to the front door of a house just a little outside of Ponyville, south of the town along a small trailing road.

That was why the boy loved visiting his grandfather: he was the exception. His grandfather was wise and smart and knew so many different things, and the boy readily accepted what he said without argument. The wonders of the science that his grandfather practiced sought to explain the world, the how and the why. The primary focus was on answering mysterious of life. The questions that hadn’t already been revealed. The ongoing fascination that was developing grew a wide smile on the boy’s face as he rang the doorbell.

Shaking the thoughts out of her mind, Lyra opened the door and walked into the house. “Reilly? You in?”

“Are you sure it’s alright for you to just stroll in like that?” The other pony that Lyra wanted to come along with her asked standing a few steps behind. “I’m pretty sure that’s trespassing.”

“It’s fine!” Lyra answered with unwavering confidence. “Me and Reilly go way back!” Without further protest the second mare stepped inside after Lyra and closed the door. “Reilly?” Lyra called out next. “There’s someone I want you to meet!”

He adjusted the pair of glasses he wore while looking down from the top of the stairs. “Get out,” he said with a scowl.

“Wait, wait! Reilly!” Lyra looked up the stairs from where she heard the human's voice. With her brows furrowed upwards she whined and quickly gestured for the other pony to step forward. “I know you’ll be happy when I introduce you to a certain pony.“

He let out an annoyed huff and took a heavy step forward.

“This is Octavia Melody,” Lyra announced with a tinge of desperation.

“How do you do?” The gray-coated pony greeted with a nod of her head.

“...Hi. Nice to meet you.” Reilly said, his tone less harsh toward the gray-coated pony. He wasn’t at all unfamiliar with Octavia, but never really followed through with writing anything entirely detailed for her. He detested how everyone always wanted to pair her with Vinyl Scratch, much the same way that Lyra was shipped with Bon Bon. The thought made him huff out. Despite the progress Lyra said she had the other day when she was tempted by her housemate, what she did with Cheerilee was reprehensible. It made his scowl deepen and caused Lyra to let out a forced chuckle.

“Um...you left in such a hurry the other day that you forgot the extra ink wells, quills and paper we went to the schoolhouse for.” Lyra started to take said items out of her saddlebags and place them onto the table.

“That’s why we were there?” Reilly said quietly. “Huh.”

“Y-yeah…so…I brought all of the things we got from the schoolhouse yesterday because you left so suddenly without saying anything...and didn’t answer the door when I knocked last night...for three hours. I didn’t want to bother you since you were, y’know...sort of grumpy,” Lyra said to cut into the silence that settled as she took out several reams of paper from her saddle bags onto the table in the living room, but it failed to prompt any new response from him.

‘And yet you simply walked in without knocking just a moment ago...’ Octavia rolled her eyes at the awkward moment and said, “Lyra’s told me about your cluster headaches. I can’t even imagine the sort of pain that you’re subjected to whenever they happen.”

“That’s an understatement,” he scoffed, his fingers tapping on the banister.

“...right,” Octavia said after a short pause. “In any case, I’d like to invite you to a concert, Reilly. Music does have some healing properties, I feel.”

This drew Reilly’s interest and he slowly descended the stairs until he was standing right in front of the ponies. He looked over Octavia, barely able to hold back his excitement at meeting the mare. “I’ll accept your invitation, Ms. Octavia,” Reilly said with a smile. He felt quite comfortable with her already, figuring by her demeanor so far that she’d be able to resist temptations of the flesh. Unlike a certain unicorn he knew.

Octavia nodded and turned to leave, the objective of Lyra’s favor of her met. “I’ll pick you up tonight. Let’s say, five o’clock?”

“Sure,” Reilly said with a slightly lighter mood in his tone. “It’s a date.”

“Uh...no...it isn’t…”

“Oh.”

There was an amphitheatre outside of Canterlot. A stately construction of windswept, wing-like facades that were inspired by the princesses, themselves. A contrast of day and night motifs could be found all over. It was built in celebration of Princess Luna’s return by the master artisan Diamond Chisel.

While everything that Octavia was telling him seemed impressive and important, Reilly had no clue or idea when such a thing was built. Nor did any of this seem to be mentioned on the show or even in the comics. He had never seen any fancanon about an ampitheatre when he was copying and pasting things from online to make his descriptive book. Surprises like this reminded Reilly of how important it was to complete the linking book so he could go back to Earth and fix the mistakes that had been popping up. Though, things like the amphitheatre they were entering was interesting. He wouldn’t mind keeping stuff like this in his fixed, correct version of Equestria.

The well dressed ponies standing around and talking in the spacious lobby paid as little attention to Reilly, Octavia and Lyra, however for the two mares the looks from the others were hard to ignore. Reilly found it hard to stop his attention from drifting over to the pony on his left. Octavia was wearing a sheer black dress that sparkled with sequin floral designs. Lyra wore something out of a Disney movie: a bright yellow gown that complimented her eyes which reminded him of Belle.

“Octavia, is that you I see?” A shrill voice called out from across the lobby. Not even Reilly was able to remain oblivious to the tall and slender mare approaching them. She sashayed and grinned, letting her blue transparent evening gown flutter in her wake.

“You know her, Octavia?” Reilly asked.

“She’s someone I used to...be close with,” Octavia explained in a sanitized way.

“Page Van Hautey, nice to make your acquaintance. I’m actually Octavia’s ex-girlfriend, if you want to know the truth,” the mare stated sharply. A proud grin remained on her face as she scanned the three in front of her. After a single pass, her eyes settled on Reilly. “You must be the human I’ve oh-so-heard about. Mmm, how droll.”

“Hmm?” Reilly was only paying half attention, trying to figure out if he wanted to keep the amphitheatre in his correct version of Equestria or not.

In the meantime Octavia quickly stepped in front of Reilly, facing Page with a less-than-amused look on her face. “I hope you’ve had enough fun. I’d like to take him to his seat, now.”

“Oh, Octavia,” Page tut-tutted and sighed. “And to think, we lasted all through high school. I just want you to see what you’re missing these days,” she cattily boasted. She even went so far as to flick her tail while walking away.

Reilly was the first to speak out, in a comforting, sympathetic tone that took the girls by surprise. He took a knee in front of her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “It sucks that you’re no longer friends, Octavia. Losing one of your girlfriends, especially if you knew each other since high school, must be tough. Can’t say I’ve kept in touch with any of my guy friends from that part of my life,” Reilly said in a sympathetic tone. “But I think you’re better off. She doesn’t seem to be the kind of mare you want to associate yourself with.” He had strong suspicions that she was gay. With that in mind, Reilly didn’t want Octavia to fall to any lesbian tricks if he could help it.

“Uh...thank you?” She sent a questioning glance to Lyra who just shrugged her shoulders in reply.

“You’re welcome, Octavia,” he said. Standing back up, Reilly looked around. “Let’s listen to this concert, shall we?”

“Sure thing.” Octavia led the way once more, past the ticket kiosk and into the music hall-proper.

A whole town’s worth of ponies seemed to be packed inside the hall, dressed to the nines. There was a sort of hushed raucousness to the conversations everyone was collectively having, intermixing day-to-day gossip with immediate discussions on Reilley the human and the number of things he was involved in lately. The aisle the three walked down was covered in a velvet carpet that inclined down toward the stage. There was a noticeable lack of seats as the ponies mostly sat on their haunches atop plush pillows of varying design.

Just as he was about to ask Octavia about his seating situation, Reilly immediately ducked behind Lyra’s left and crawled along the floor when he spotted Blueblood seated in the viewing box high above on the opposite site of the main hall.

“R-Reilly?” Lyra stuttered in surprise when she felt him press up against her side.

“Shut up and keep walking,” he growled out and crawled ahead using Lyra as cover.

Octavia looked back over her shoulder when she heard Reilly’s tense voice and couldn’t help but guffaw at the strange sight of the human shuffling along on all fours.

“Shush,” Reilly grumbled. Octavia barely managed to stifle another chuckle before looking forward again.

“Got it,” she said amidst a bit of laughter as she led the small group all the way down toward the stage side access. The cellist could imagine how enjoyable it was to see Reilly awkwardly waddle up the several steps on his hands and knees until he seemed to feel safe enough behind the curtains. “Having fun?” She teased receiving a pout in reply. “This way, I want you to meet the conductor.” They followed Octavia further backstage where they came upon dozens of ponies hurrying to and fro with equipment and instruments.

A dark green pony spotted the group and shooed away the worker that she’d been speaking to. “Name’s Treble Clef. You must be Reilly. Octavia mentioned she’d bring you here.” Her pace was fast and her attention shot to Lyra changing from vaguely polite to plain old annoyed. “Along with bringing you. It’s good to see that you’re alive,” Treble Clef quipped. She brushed back her white and black striped mane, letting it hang completely toward her right side like a cascading waterfall of hair that reached to her chin.

“I’m sorry boss, I was busy taking care of Reilly,” Lyra said with a wince of embarrassment. “I even have a royal document that says so!”

The pause was brief as her lips curled upward. “Huh. Of all the excuses that your Bon Bon told me, I think that’s the wildest one...” Then she began to laugh and whinny with excitement until tears formed in her eyes. Not a beat passed when her expression turned serious again, though not as stern. “Well, at least you’re in time to play with us.”

“What? Oh no, I’m sorry. I’m here to listen, not play. Besides, it’s been a while since I seriously practiced!”

“Nonsense. You said you were sorry, so this is your chance to make up for your mistake. Now get along. Don’t dawdle or you’ll delay the show.” Treble Clef placed an instrument case at Lyra’s feet, making her stagger back a few steps.

Just as she was about to comment about the wear and tear of the case in front of her, Lyra immediately felt the urge to inspect the instrument within. “Wait a minute,” she said as her eyes grew wide in recognition. “This is my lyre. How did you get my lyre?”

“It’s thanks to your housemate,” Treble Clef curtly replied. She took a glance over Reilly while he was looking over the lyre exposed in its case, a habit that Octavia noticed.

Lyra stammered, trying to think up an excuse. “What? Seriously...I...Reilly!” She turned to ask him for some support but only saw Octavia standing there, and she realized that he had already gone off to find his seat. “Awww, Reilly!” Lyra whined as she was dragged toward her place on stage.

Crawling back up the aisle a forgone choice, Reilly searched around for a free seat in the middle area that Octavia said was supposed to be his. He hardly cared about the protests of the fancy-dressed ponies waiting patiently for the show to begin as he made his way for the plump green cushion with gold tassels in the middle of the row. Reilley wordlessly plopped down onto the admittedly comfortable cushion, crossing his legs over.

“Excuse me,” a pony said in a stern manner to his left. “I said ‘excuse me,’ sir.” Wearing a frown like a wrinkly rubber mask, Reilley looked to the bespectacled older mare that was seated on his left. Her own frown remained when she said, unimpressed by his dour expression, “You’re sitting on my tail.”

Reilley blinked at that and felt an honest blush heat up his face. “S-sorry,” he mumbled and quickly lifted his hips for the mare to pull her tail away. He cleared his throat as she “Hmphed” in his direction. Other than that interaction nothing else happened during the twenty minute wait before the lights dimmed and the audience mostly quieted itself.

The conductor, Treble Clef, stepped out and began to waver her baton without preamble. The gathering of more than a dozen ponies arranged in a half circle proceeded on cue, playing their respective instruments. There were tubas and saxophones, trumpets and flutes; all sorts of instruments that Reilley recognized but didn’t immediately or ever know the names of. However his eyes zeroed in on two ponies in particular. Reilly watched as Lyra and Octavia played their instruments, the lyre and cello, respectively. Even amongst a dozen other ponies from where he sat, the two of them stood out in both sight and sound. The fact that it synched up with how he wrote it was quite a comforting notion, indeed.

The first set took about three or four minutes before Treble Clef turned to face the audience and give a short spiel about being honored and whatnot. Reilley was quite impressed with the fact that there didn’t seem to be any need for a tune up period before the show began, as symphonies and orchestras seemed to always have back home. The next set, written by some pony he never heard, began with a mix of brass and string leading into the drums.

Before the next set began, Lyra was placed at the front of the group and a spotlight was pointed right where she was to sit. Reilley was genuinely interested in watching and hearing her solo when he groaned out, feeling the shadow of a cluster attack. “Oh no…” he said with despair and dread laced in his voice. Ponies in the crowd started to shift and feel spikes of arousal and the need to loosen up their garments and accessories.

“...fuck,” he grumbled and felt a burning puncture as though someone was firing an arrow from inside his head. Reilley hissed and clenched his eyes for the faintest moment. The pain wasn’t enough to completely paralyze him, but the ponies around him were already drawn to another with lust and wanting in their eyes.

His eyes were still closed when a cacophonous roar of moans and sinful lust filled the hall. When he opened his eyes, Reilley spotted that a pile of mares formed on top of Lyra; a writhing multitude of unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies licking and kissing and prodding her body all over. She shuddered again and again from the masterful ministrations and gasped aloud when one mare’s mouth pressing between her hindquarters was exchanged for another. And another.

Moans of rapture and howls of unfettered hedonism filled the air, as did an excess of sexual musk that formed a pungent haze that made Reilly gag and cough in nausea and revulsion. The mare on his left was pinned down by another mare that was eating her out, sloppily and noisily pushing her muzzle between the previously uptight pony’s snatch. Reilly retched at the sight and sound of the vile act and try to stumble away in the other direction, but fell over when he realized his legs were numb from the way he had been sitting. “Fuck!” He screamed out and began to desperately crawl away while a stallion in a top hat in the row to his right was being reamed hard and fast by another stallion.

Reilley was quickly running out of stamina and energy to get out of this awful situation when a pair of hooves appeared to lift him up. “C’mon, Reilly,” Octavia grunted while pulling him onto her back. “You need to get outside!” He was too big to fully carry him out, so she strained and fought to get him in a secure-enough way to at least be able to lead him away in his condition.

“MASTER, COME BACK!” Blueblood screamed out in the heights of his climax. From the viewpoint of his spectator box he spotted the human being tugged along by a grey earth pony through the throngs of ponies fucking and being fucked. A pair of hefty cocks pushed and bounced against one another to grab the prince’s attention. The stallion’s attention immediately pulled toward the stiff cock delicacies bobbing in front of his eyes and he let out a dramatic moan and whinny. He attacked the one closest to his drooling mouth and moaned at the salty, unwashed cum receptacle that was sure to fill his mouth after some time in his care. Swirling his tongue around it a good number of times, he pulled his mouth off with an audible pop, before ensconcing the other lidded cock into his mouth.

As though reading his mind a pair of hooves raised the prince’s hindquarters up for all to see and he shuddered and moaned loudly from quickly being speared by stallions with vim and vigor. A number of different cocks pushed in and pulled completely out of his ass, each different shapes and girths. Blueblood felt like such a slut and didn’t care why.

Octavia wiped the sweat off her brow, slightly panting from near-exhaustion. She had managed to pull Reilly out of the amphitheater and carry him to the sidewalk curb before she nearly buckled. “You’re...a lot heavier than you look,” she quipped, managing a sly grin. “You’re lucky that I’m a bassist.”

“Thanks...Octavia…” he gasped out. “You saved...my life…”

“Hmm? Oh it’s nothing that dramatic, Reilly.” She chuckled and nudged her hoof against his ribs as she sat next to him. “Though it was plain as day that you were suffering in there.”

“Like you couldn’t believe!” He said, nodding. “It’s so disgusting…”

“Yeah,” she began with a sigh. “That was a bit beyond the pale, no exaggeration.” There was a time and a place for those sorts of things, in Octavia’s mind. It was so curiously random. Disturbing even, from how widespread and out of character it was for the usually conservative audience that was in attendance. Though nobles and upper class ponies with fetishes and kinks weren’t completely unheard of, the very public nature was surprising for even her.

After a few pants for breath, Reilly smacked his lips while holding his hand over his left eye. “You want to...get breakfast, sometime?”

“...like as friends?” she asked. Her attention moved to the human next to her, a bit confused by his confession while he was looking quite disheveled and uncomfortable as he did.

“Yeah,” he immediately said to follow up, trying to recover. Reilly cleared his throat and nodded. “If you’re willing to be friends with me, I’d love to start with that.”

“Hmmm, sure.” She nodded after a small moment of thought. It was a good idea to try to take one’s mind off of the...whatever it was that happened during the concert. “Do you need me to help you get home?”

“I do, actually.” He leaned on Octavia and with her help, Reilly got back to his house outside of town.

Author's Note

(partly) Pre-read and (partly) edited by: Leapingriver