Mythology

She couldn't stop crying.

The small mint unicorn was sobbing in her campus tiny office. In her hoof was a crumpled hand written note on parchment:

"Ms. Lyra Heartstring,

We regret to inform you that we will no longer be needing your services at this University. Please vacate your office by the end of the week, and turn your final ledgers into the department's front desk.

Signed,

Book Mark"

Lyra picked her red eyes up and looked around her tiny office. It wasn't much she knew, but it was her's. Every square inch of shelf and wall space was covered with books, most of which were far older then she was. Only a handful were newer than thirty years. One of these young-lings, the newest, sat on her desk. It was a red fuax leather bound tome, with gold leaf trim.

She picked up red leathery book and ran a hoof over it's binding and cover. In gold lettering were the words "Mythology of the Human Ape - Lyra Heartstring"

This book was her thesis. It was the sum total of all her effort over the past four years, and it was perfect. Collecting, codifying and even adding to the various mythology surrounding the Human Ape. An unusual subject, but one which she was passionate about.

Lyra rubbed her eyes with her hoof and got out of her chair. In the center of the room was a small, dark cardboard box that she carefully put the book into. Next, she spotted the picture frame of her family from her desk and levitated it into the same small box. A very nice fountain pen given to her when she first came to university, into the box. Some parchment paper with her letter head, into the box. A small handful of personal books, into the box.

Lastly, her research notes. She held them in front of her for a moment, looking at the text. The hoof and horn written notes burned in her memory. Years of work, years of effort and it all felt wasted. For a moment, she considered just placing them in the trash.
But no matter how much it hurt to think about, they were her notes, they were her work, and ultimately they were her life. She sighed, and found a large envelope to put them in before then placing them into the box.

She looked at the small box which was barely half full. This was it, the sum total of her worldly possessions. Oh, she had a cheap mattress back at her apartment, and a hand full of worthless silverware and a towel. Just a single one. This office, this place, was her life. She had nothing else.

So many memories, all of them dancing around in her head: studying, reading, learning. Leaving this place would be hard enough, but to be ridiculed as well, wasn't just hard for her. It actually broke her heart. She felt her face scrunch up and was about to start crying again.

*knock, knock*

A large white unicorn stallion knocked at the door to Lyra's office. She shook the frown off and gave a half forced smile at the pony as he entered. "Sorry to bother you Lyra, but the dean wanted me to see if there was anything I could do to..." He paused and almost sighed, "make the move easier."

She snorted at the comment, "Easier? You mean quicker." She sighed and grabbed a book off her shelf.

"Lyra, I'm sorry. I..." She interrupted him, "No Gazu, don't apologize. It's not your fault." Lyra considered the book in her hand, "You know, these are going to be the things I miss the most about this place. Half of these books don't exist anywhere else." She put the book back on it's shelf. For a moment, she considered taking the books back to the central library. It would give her a few more moments in the university, but no. The university staff could handle it, after all it wasn't her responsibility anymore. Really though, as much as she wanted to stay a bit longer, she just couldn't stand to be there any more. It hurt too much.

She levitated her box, balancing it on her back as she let go. Side stepping Gazu she walked out of her office. She turned to look at him, he was actually kind of cute, in a bookish sort of way. "This is all I have Gazu. Everything else in there belongs to the university."

Gazu watched her leave the old office, "Where will you go now Lyra?" He asked, his voice showing honest concern for his fellow academic.

Lyra paused to think about it. Where would she go? The only real place she could turn too was her parent's home. She wasn't looking forward to that, at all. But they would take her in till she could find another job and place to live. There were several good universities in Manehattan after all. Plenty of opportunities, she thought.

The Canterlot train station was only moderately busy at this time of day. Lyra held her train ticket in the air with her magic. It took the last of her savings and what little extra she got from selling her few possessions. She was carrying only two things with her, the small box from her office, and her Lyre. Her precious Lyre, a gift from her grandfather after she got her cutie mark.

There wasn't much to do at the station but sit and think. Her mind drifted to the golden object at her side. She remembered when her grandfather first found out about her cutie mark. He was proud, but also a little confused as to what it meant. He had thought she had a skill in playing the instrument. Actually, most ponies thought that. It was such an odd mark to have given her talent, she couldn't blame people for the confusion.

Lyra's talent wasn't in music making or playing. She didn't even know how to use the Lyre till her grandfather bought her one. She was knowledgeable about mythology and story telling. She was told and had been read such stories since she was a foal. So many legends, myths, and fables. All of them used to dance around her head when she was young. Oh, she wasn't really into them at first, they were just something to read or hear, but one day that changed.

There was just so little to do here, but think and remember. All the memories of everything that brought her to this point flowed in and out of her head...

Day dreaming. Lyra sat at her small desk. She was in a small private grade school her parents enrolled her in. The school had specialized in teaching little ponies music and music theory. Some of the best musicians in all of Equestria had come from this tiny school. Her small classroom had numerous instruments in it, and the walls were line with sheet music.

Lyra watched as her teacher, Seed Sprout, walked around the classroom handing out writing assignments to the small class. Lyra was near the front, but the second to last to actually get her assignment.

Seed Sprout handed her a tiny note, written on it was her assignment. Lyra read the slip of paper her teacher gave to her. She was to give a report to the class on the mythology surrounding music, and was to provide examples. A dull topic for almost any pony. She cried out in awe as her head hit the desk.

Over a week had passed Lyra by as she sat in her room everyday after school. She read comic books or drew, even read a hidden romance novel she borrowed from a fellow classmate. She goofed off, and played around doing everything except work on that dull paper.

Then one day Lyra's grandfather stopped by for a visit. Old Golden Horn always took an interest in his favorite grandchild, so when he saw Lyra was struggling with her report he did what all good grandfathers do. He told her a story. A story of lore most ponies would not remember.

It was simple tale of a famous hero tasked by the unicorn Princess Platinum to head down to the farm lands and fight a terrifying monster. The hero fought and struck the fearsome foe with terrifying weapons and spells, but the beast never fell. So the hero went and sought the advice of a wise old ape like creature. This creature, this man called Pan, gave the hero a mystic Lyre and a tune which would sooth the savage beast into a deep dreamless sleep for all eternity.

So it was that the hero the went and fought one last battle with the beast, but not with swords and spells. Rather the harmony and rhythm of music. The beast did fall into such a sleep that he never woke again.

Truly it was a simple story, with a simple hero but Lyra was enchanted. Especially with wise old ape like creature.

Lyra wanted to hear more. She always loved her grandfather's stories, but this one was different. It wasn't just some silly little fishing story, or a story about the time Gold Horn forgot to wash his horn after chugging milk through it. Though Lyra did rather like that story, probably because her mother was always so upset by it.

No, this story was different, and it started to give Lyra ideas. She begged her grandfather for another, to which he told the small mint foal, to wait till tomorrow.

A day later her grandfather dropped off his copy of "Musical Mythos" to Lyra. Never before had tales and legends interested her, but this book was different. She had to have more. For the rest of the week she worked on that paper, writing and rewriting it as she read and reread that book.

On the day of her presentation, all her fellow students were amazed and entranced at her story telling, as she strummed her mythical harp for all the students to hear. She saw how every pony was entranced by it, and she knew then and there that this was her special talent. She could sooth and entrance everypony with her magical story telling, just like the Lyre in her grandfather's story. This was what she could do, this is what she was meant to do. She felt a warm surge in her rump as a mythical and magical Lyre appeared.

*Whoooo Whoooo*

The train pulled into Canterlot station, expelling steam as it braked and forcing Lyra out of her trance. The doors to the train opened and all sorts of ponies and a few of other species left the train. Eventually the stream of ponies turned into a trickle till finally no pony was leaving. The train was now empty.

A short and stocky conductor stepped off the train, and announced "Last train to Manehattan. Please have your tickets ready!", in his booming voice.

Lyra handed the conductor her ticket and tried to find a quiet corner of the train to sit. Her stomach growled lightly. She was famished but that ticket cost her the last of her savings.

Lyra wandered the train car, looking for a peaceful, solitary spot to sit and think. Any other time she would have tried to find a crowd to blend in. As much as Lyra loved to mingle with new ponies, today was different. She just didn't have the energy or desire to talk to anypony.

At the back of the car she found her lone empty seat. She put her box on the rack above her head and sat down. She stared out the window next to her. Her mind still awash with thoughts and memories. She was going to miss Canterlot, and the friends she had made. She wondered for a moment whether she should have said some more good byes. She hadn't even said good bye to her long time friend Candace. A part of her wondered if Cadance would ever marry that boy of her's.

*Whoooooooo*

The train's whistle blew as the conductors yelled something outside the train. Lyra wasn't paying attention.

See watched the station pull away as the train started moving. The buildings of the city eventually gave way to rocks and boulders as the train started moving beyond the city and down the mountain. A tree went by, then another, and another...

Lyra ran through the campus, seeing tree after tree pass by. She wasn't late, but would be if she didn't move it. She had to meet her adviser and the committee about her thesis. Today was her last defense. The entire committee was here this time, not just her adviser.

She had put hours upon hours of work into the tome that hung at her side. She had used the last of her grant money to print the necessary copies. One for herself, three for the libraries, one for the committee, and then the forty five extra copies left over from the print shop screw up. Somehow her invoice had an extra zero added to it and they printed fifty copies by mistake. She was thankful that they weren't going to charge her for the extras. Still, the question of what would happen to them crossed her mind more than a few times.

She ran into an old brick building, known as the old mane building. Once it was the only building on the campus, now it stood mostly for historical reasons, but it had some decent conference rooms. One of which Lyra turned into. Off in the distance she heard the campus clock start to chime. She was just on time.

In the center of the room was a large table made of some dark wood. Around it sat five ponies, Dr. Book Mark, who was the dean of the college had sat at the head of the table. To the dean's right was Acheulean, a quiet and reserved professor. Further to the right was Jajmau, a rather mean old Mare. Lyra was thankful that she was never had her as a professor. To the dean's left was Lyra's adviser, Thucydides. Beyond him was Polybius.

Lyra and her fellow students had a particularly harsh nick name for the last professor; Professor Holocaust. For his tendency to murder the grades of any one with a dissenting opinion. Of all the faculty here, he was the one Lyra was most afraid of.

They all stared at the still young pony as she entered. Lyra thought about it, stared was the wrong word, it was more of a glare.

"Oh, sorry if I'm a little out of breath. Had to run a bit to get here." She fished around to her side satchel and pulled out her copy of her thesis. She wouldn't need it, by now she had every page memorized, but formalities and all.

"Lets just get this over with." Jajmau, spoke to Lyra. She was a tenure faculty member, and she seemed agitated and annoyed to be here. As if she had serious work to be doing. Lyra seriously question that notion though. Jajmau hadn't published in years.

Lyra took a deep breath, and looked to her adviser. "So shall I begin?'

An hour later and Lyra had finished. She had a smile on her face and she felt ten feet tall. "So any questions?" That was it. The avalanche of criticisms came forth.

Most of the points brought up she addressed, but after a few question, one hit her harder than she ever expected.

"Ms. Heartstring, I have to ask. What relevance does your thesis’s actually have?" The same old mare spoke.

Lyra, just blinked. She was lost, her entire thesis had lead up to that conclusion. Humans and humanity played a huge roll in classical mythos. No modern historian or writer really covered or considered it. "What relevance?" Lyra asked the question again unsure if she heard her right. The question made her wonder if the professor even listened to her dissertation.

"Well, as I mentioned multiple times in my thesis. The human ape appears multiple times in earlier pre-classical literature and works. In the light of the role they played we can see their effects on, well, just about everything. We..." She was interrupted by one of the faculty members.

"Lyra, no one cares about these human's. They are a negligible part of pony mythology." This time the criticism came from professor Polybius. She knew he was going to be the hardest nut to crack of the lot. Yet, his response was so harsh she couldn't even respond.

She would still try, "But my work challenges that. The idea of Humanity permeates all of our legends and mythology. Their hands are in everything if you only look and study..."

"Hands, Ms. Heartstring? You can't expect this board to take any of this seriously. Why next you'll be going around telling ponies that the Humans were real!" again it was Jajmau who spoke. A mean old mare, if there ever was one.

The dean on the other side of the table raised a hoof to silence the two. Lyra was confused. This wasn't how a defense should go. It was like none of them were even interested in her work. As if their conclusions were forgone.

The dean spoke, "You've completed your thesis much to the chagrin of this board. You'll graduate this semester." Lyra should have been happy to hear those words, but instead she was terrified. His voice was so cold.

"However, we can not, in all good conscience offer you the permanent faculty position you requested. I'm sorry Ms. Heartstring. Good day." All the faculty members left the conference room. The last to leave, her adviser put a halfhearted hoof on her shoulder before leaving. She sat in her seat unable to move. She should have been happy, she had her degree. But with no job prospect, what would happen now?

Asking for a position was just a formality, it was expected of you. The board would pass your theses and offer you a position, after which, well it was really up to you if you stuck around or went somewhere else. But without that in, without that offer, it was difficult to find work in Pony academia.

She thought about it. Why didn't they let her defend her theses? They just accepted it as it was, even with their complaints? The longer she thought about the more worried she got. Did they pass her just to get rid of her?

She sat and stared out the window for several minutes...

"Ms. It's time to leave." Lyra blinked and shook her head. For a moment she had forgotten where she actually was. The conductor looked at Lyra with a near vacant expression.

"Ms. this is the Manehatten station. You'll need to get off here."

Lyra smiled absent-mindedly. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize we had even stopped." She gathered up what few belongings she brought and head off the train. Ignoring the snide comment the conductor made as she left.

She would show them, all of them! There were other schools and Universities out there that would love to have her.