Mythology

Lyra got off the train hoping to see somepony she knew, her mother, her father, anypony. She waited around for five minutes. Then ten minutes. Finally twenty minutes went by. Eventually the train pulled out again, on it's long journey to some other faraway town.

After half an hour Lyra sighed, and began the walk back to her old home. It was a good five mile walk. As soon as she left the station her stomach started growling again. She really wished she had save a bit or two for a roll or something. At least she could get a sandwich at her parent's place.

Almost two hours and five miles later Lyra stopped in front of a large ornate brick row home. The door had an extravagant knocker plated in gold. While it complemented the deep cherry and oak door the metal felt cold even on this warm day.

*knock, knock, knock*

She raised and lowered the knocker with her hoof and waited. Behind the door a faint soft and feminine voice could be heard "Coming.“

Lyra stared at the door for a moment waiting for it to open considering the elegance of the whole building. It contrasted with her old run down spartan apartment she had. Her parents were more then well off, yet they did little to support their daughter. All through out college she had to work and rely on grants. It was difficult, but Lyra managed. Up until recently anyway.

The door finally opened.

In front of Lyra stood a smaller light Green Unicorn, with an all white almost silver mane. She was an older pony and had a clarinet cutie mark on her flanks. "Oh, Lyra. Didn't expect you home till tomorrow." The older unicorn walked back inside the house, half ignoring her own daughter.

Lyra felt the chill coming from the warm house. "I told you was coming home on Tuesday, mom." Lyra rolled her eyes as she spoke back to her mother. Still, she forced a smile "It's good to see you again mom." Lyra tried to coming in for a hug, but her mother continued her walk away from Lyra.

"So how long will you be here for?" Her mother asked. She was just as cold as Lyra remembered her.

"Oh, not too long. Just till I can get back on my feet. I got my degrees so I should be able..." Lyra's mother wasn't really listening to her when she interrupted.

"Honestly Lyra, I don't know why you just didn't go to school for music like your cutie mark says you should have." With that final cutting her mother walked out of view, leaving Lyra alone in the foyer. "Your room is how you left, only a less of a mess." Her mother disappeared deep into the house, probably to lounge about in it's rich and cold confines.

Lyra looked down at the ground and whispered to her self "Welcome home Lyra.". At least she didn't feel hungry any more. The hunger pains in her stomach were replaced by something else.

The next three days were simple enough. Lyra would wake up and shower, grab something light to eat then send letters off to one of the many Universities in the city. Letter after Letter, at the end of the day her horn and hooves burned with fatigue. Then one day, she sat down to write, only to realize there was no one left to write too. Every University in the city had a copy of her CV.

So she went beyond Manehattin. Writing letters to Fillydelphia, Los Pegussis,
every major city with a University she could think of. Then, one day, she was finally done. There was simply no further schools to write too. Virtually every school in Equestria had a copy of her CV now. It was time for her to wait. For which she didn't have long. A week to the day from her last letter the first response letters came in.

Lyra bounced all over her parents house when the first letter came in from Grand Galloping University. one of the most prestigious universities in the city. Lyra knew GGU was looking for historians with a specialty in mythology and ancient culture. The very subjects she got her degrees in.

The envelope looked so formal, with it's gold trim and hand written text on the front. It had to be an offer letter. Why else would they spend so much time and effort making such an amazing envelop? She wanted to open here and now, but no. She had to wait. She had to show her parents. 'For once they would be proud of me', she thought.

Lyra had a good feeling about this letter. She just knew it had to be good news.

The small family sat around the dinner table eating. Occasionally speaking but mostly just eating in silence. It was times like this that she missed her brother. They never really got along, but he always had a way of breaking the ice in tense situations like this, and somehow always made her feel less of a failure.

The old colt at the end of the table looked much like his daughter, just a slightly darker coat and mane then her's. He looked at Lyra, giving her his usual forced smile. "So Lyra, your mother tells me you got an important letter today?"

"Oh well, yeah. I got a response from Grand Galloping U. I was going to wait till everyone was home to open it." She tried to hide her excitement by toying with her the food on her plate.

"Lyra, don't play with your food." Lyra's mother scolded her. Lyra scowled and put the fork down.

"Why don't you get your letter Lyra? I want to hear the good news." her father was unusually cheerful about the whole matter. It seemed just for a moment he actually cared about her academics.

Lyra beamed, bounced up and ran up the stairs to grab the letter on her desk.

Back at the table the two continued eating, "Honesty Brass, I don't know why you encourage her so much."

The pony raised and eyebrow at his wife, "She's our daughter Clare. She deserves some encouragement once in a while. Beside, if she gets a position she'll be out of the house."

Clarinet nodded in agreement. In the end, it wasn't that these two hated or even disliked their daughter. They were just disappointed in her. She had failed to follow the family line into music, and they never let their daughter forget it.

Though, truthfully Clarinet did hide a bit of resentment for how much time Lyra's grandfather and her father had spent with her child. Again truth be told, she was more then a little jealous that his last moments were with Lyra, and not her.

"Here it is!" Lyra couldn't help but continue to beam.

"Well, don't just stand there Lyra. Open it!" Her Father's voice was full of encouragement. His unusually warm words and emotions filled Lyra with hope and pride. 'He will be proud of me this time!' She thought.

Lyra opened the letter, and read:

"Dear Ms. Lyra Heartstring,

We've read over your CV and were impressed with qualification. It is with a heavy heart that we regret to inform you that we have no positions opened for somepony of your skill. We will keep your CV on file should a position open up.

There is no need to contact us further.

Thank you for your time,

-Dr. Tome, Chair of historical studies."

Deep inside of Lyra another small part of her went cold.

Lyra's mother held a hoof to her mouth, "Oh, oh Lyra I'm sorry." Yet deep in side all she could think was 'I told you so.'

Lyra looked up at her mother and smiled, "Nah, it's ok mom. I mean this was Grand Galloping U. They're one of the biggest and best colleges in the country. I'm not surprised they rejected me." She continued to smile, acutely aware of how much work it was taking to keep those particular face muscles taunt. "The next one will be an acceptance letter, just wait and see!"

The days passed, more rejection letters came in. It was worse then when she applied to actually go to university. She had sent one hundred and two letters in total, and received just shy of ninety rejection letters, and not one actual job offer.

The day the final letter came in Lyra didn't bother to tell her family. She had stopped telling them after the fourth. Taking the letter to her room she opened it in silence.

She read the first line to her self "...We are sorry..." That was all she need to read She had no more energy to hold up the letter and the magic from her horn faded. It floated to the floor as she began to cry again.

“Why is this happening to me?” She whimpered.

No. She thought as she wiped her eyes. She wasn't going to cry. She had to know why. Lyra came up with a plan, a simple plan.

Tomorrow, she was going to GGU in pony to talk to someone to find out why they rejected her. There had to be a reason. She looked at the red book her desk, in her heart she feared what it might be.

Grand Galloping University's campus was large, and had over forty buildings scattered around it. Lyra was more then a little lost when she arrived on campus. She wandered around, looking for the so called Foundation building. It was there that she would find the dean of the Historical Study's.

On her walk she passed many younger ponies on her way to the building. Lyra considered them and she thought about their chances. All of them were full of potential, and hope. So long as they didn't make any major mistakes they had a bright future ahead of them. Lyra's thoughts drifted from them back to herself. If only she hadn't made a huge mistake with her thesis.

She shook her head no. This wasn't the time to think about that. Picking up her self up she noticed a directory not more then ten paces to the side. The foundation building was surprisingly easy to locate on it, as opposed to finding it by just wandering. Once her bearing’s were set trotted off towards it, paying more attention to where she was going rather then the thoughts in her head.

The building was rather large, made mostly of glass. It was impressive and slightly intimidating, it's crystal brilliance reflected the cold sunlight. The first floor was more then opulent, as a golden chandelier adorned he center of the lobby. White and black marble floors were adorned with gold leaf trim. GGU had spent a large potion of it's funds in making this palace to old ideas.

Against the wall, just to the side of the entrance a receptionist sat. Lyra walked up to the clearly busy pony. "Um, excuse me." Lyra spoke her uncertainty rolling off her tongue. The receptionist looked up from her desk, a set of large glasses adorn her face.

She gave a mechanical smile to Lyra, "How can I help you miss?"

"I'm here to see... Um..." She paused, realizing she had forgotten the dean's name already. She reached around her satchel to fish out her rejection letter. Finding it she gave the receptionist his name "Dr. Tome"

"Do you have an appointment?"

"N-no, I don't." Lyra was honest, she didn't have an appointment, and probably couldn't have gotten one if she tried. "I just need to talk to Dr. Tome about something. Really, It's just a few questions. Is there anyway he could see me today?"

"Dr. Tome is a very busy man." The receptionist looked down at one of the many calendars in front of her. "but, he does have a half hour opening at 3:30. What do you need to see him about?"

"Um, well..." She paused not quite sure what response to give here. She could lie, but that wouldn’t go over well. She sighed. The truth was probably her best option even if it meant she wouldn't see him. "I received a rejection letter, and I just...I wanted to see why."

The receptionist glared at the pony in front of her. "Rejections are final, but I'll see what I can do." The receptionist in her misunderstanding picked up the phone next to her and called someone. She spent only a minute talking before hanging up. "Dr. Tome is willing to meet with you at 3:30, what was your name Ms?"

"It's Lyra, Lyra Heartstring." Lyra smiled. She knew she'd probably couldn't get the dean to change his mind, but maybe. Just maybe she could. At the very least she would get some much needed answers.

She took a seat in a small lounge room not far from the receptionist’s desk. It was just past 9AM. She had a long while to wait.

Lyra kept her self busy by reading a small book she brought with her. The book was a gift from her long time friend Bon Bon. Bon Bon had sent it to her parents house a long time ago, where her mother forgot all about it till a few days ago.

The book "Daring Do and the quest for the sacred staff" was like most Daring Do books simple and a bit trashy, but Lyra was happy to have something to read. Even more so since it was a gift from a good friend. Lyra made a mental note to write Bon Bon when she got back. It had been too long since they had written to each other, much less actually seen one another.

Lyra got lost in the book, trashy or not it was certainly compelling. "Ms. Heartstring." Lyra looked up from the book and blinked a few times clearing the fog of fantasy from her mind. The receptionist had walked over to the waiting room. "The dean is expecting you, you might want to go to his office." Lyra looked up at the clock. Somehow the six hours flew by, and it was now 3:35." She was already a few minutes late.

"Oh sorry, thank you." She got out of her chair and ran out the room, ignoring the receptionist’s glare and shaking head.

Lyra ran up the two flights of steps and walked out on to the third floor. this floor was not quite as nice as the first floor. Carpeting and cherry oak wood panels adorned the walls. She ran down the hall looking for a Room, 3915.

She found that the room was open. An older pony sat behind the desk, reading something in front of him with mildly bemusement. He saw the green unicorn walk into his office.

"Hi Dr. Tome I'm sorry if I'm a few minutes late." She walked into the office and took a seat on the opposite side of his desk.

"Indeed. Ms. Heartstring, my receptionist told me you wanted to talk about a rejection letter. I agreed thinking you were talking about something from one of our programs." He held up a letter in his hand, a copy of the one she received a few weeks ago.

"Our faculty positions and assignments are final Ms. Heartstring. I'm not sure what you want to talk to me about."

Lyra's heart sank just a bit. She had hoped that maybe she could convince him otherwise, maybe just by shear will she could be given a chance. "I know your letter said not to contact the university, but I just had to know why you rejected me."

He looked at her, unsure she was serious. "Really, Ms. Heartstring?"

"Yes. I wanted to know why. Maybe I could improve my resume, or do some temporary field work. Something. I just want to know what you are looking for." She was determined. Maybe she couldn't get in today, but if she worked at it, there was always the chance of tomorrow. Right?

The old pony took his glasses off and gave Lyra a slight head shake. "To be completely blunt Ms. Heartstring, what we are looking for is not you."

She didn't understand, not me? What did that mean exactly? "I don't understand. Is it my lack of field work? Do you want me to know more languages, I already know six..." Dr. Tome held up a hoof to silence her.

“Ms. Heartstring, I read part of your thesis.” He gave a slight scowl at the thought. “Humans? Really?”

Lyra didn't know how to respond, she started to stammer “B-but...”

“Ms. Heartstring, these humans you refer to are a negligible part of pony history. You are probably the first pony I've meet in my entire academic career who has even tried to publish something serious on them.” He held up a copy of her thesis, "As well written as this may be it's full of questionable sources and at best flimsy argument." He put the text down, “I'm sorry, but we have no place for somepony of your...” he paused looking for the right words “qualifications, here. Good day, Ms. Heartstring.” With that he waved her away.

Lyra tried to say something else, but he just repeated the same words, "Good day."

Lyra walked out of the office her head, tail and ears held low in defeat. It was true. Her thesis had come back to haunt her. She wasn't depressed so much as confused. How did he get a copy in the first place? The three copies she gave to the library wouldn't be sent out for circulation yet. The committee would still have the copy she gave them and then there was her copy. How did he get one? Then Lyra had a sudden realization. The other forty five copies. Somehow they had gotten picked up. The print shop must have sold them off instead of just destroying them.

Lyra felt so utterly defeated. By now every school she sent her CV to had no doubt read her thesis or was about too. Every school. What more was there to do? Even if she could go to each school individually, they would all say the same thing.

Lyra felt like a mountain had been placed on her back. Her legs were weak, and she could barely stand.

The walk home felt so much longer then the walk to campus.