Find Her, Keep Her

At the start of 2018, it seemed like Lyra was now at her full size. Standing at roughly a meter in height, she was a fully-grown mare, and was now twelve years old... strangely.

Kyle had noticed that she was growing quite fast... maybe a bit too fast. She was definitely no longer a child, and was into her adult-stage of growth, even though it has only been one and a half years. It seemed more like she was fourteen or fifteen in terms of her size.

It seemed like Lyra was aging twice as fast. Kyle assumed that it might have something to do with her being in this world instead of Equestria, but he wasn't entirely sure.

In any case, she had become fairly adept at stealth, and even learned how to teleport using her magic, so as to evade Ed and Danny whenever they were around. And it was for good reason, since Kyle himself had many obligations to fulfill, which left him with little time to himself... and with Lyra.

Today, Kyle was outside of the Kroger store he worked at in the parking lot collecting carts, as usual, since it was his responsibility for the hour.

He pulled a stray cart from behind the corral, and tried to push it into a row in the corral. The cart's back was stubborn, and refused to give way. Kyle tried slamming the cart harder, but it still did not open. He then built up a lot of force and momentum, and the cart's back opened... quite hard, as it swung over the handbar, and landed on his wrists, hurting him a bit.

Kyle pushed the cart's back into its downward position. But he was not prepared for what he saw on his left-hand wrist...

“N-no...” Kyle stammered. “...it can't be...”

He noticed that the crystal on his prized wrist watch had been completely destroyed. The cart's folding back had smashed it. He could barely see the face or hands, but still noticed the second-hand struggling to move. The watch was still functioning, but the crystal was beyond repair.

Kyle clenched his teeth as he tried to fight back tears.

“...No... n-not the watch... my mother g-g-gave me...” he said to himself.

Something he treasured so dearly has, ironically, been destroyed by something that's part of a bigger thing that he utterly despises. For the remainder of the day, he tried to sober up, but by the end of his shift, he was about ready to explode.

(XXXX)

It had become very late in the night, and Kyle was still having a breakdown. He had taken a long shower, eaten a decent dinner he fixed up for himself, gotten into his night clothing, and tried playing some video games to take his mind of things, but he could not get the incident off of his mind.

“Kyle, please...” Lyra said. “...you really need to try and settle down.”

Kyle sighed. “I can't, Lyra. With my prized possession destroyed, as well as the other things that happened today, there is no way I'm gonna be able to settle down!”

“Stressing over it won't do you any good! It's bad for you! You won't be able to get any sleep! Besides, I'm sure you can get the watch fixed by a jeweler or someone!” Lyra protested.

“But still, I can't help it!” Kyle said. “Everything like this happens to me, and no one else, and it's not even my fault! I seriously don't get why Mother Nature has some kind of stigma against me! It's like, what? What does the universe want to get out of this? It's not like I—”

“Kyle...” Lyra began, her tone becoming serious. “...I'd given you a chance to calm down on your own, but it looks like I'll have to do it for you...”

“What do you mean—” Kyle was cut off as Lyra's horn began to glow.

His eyes began to glow the same yellow color as Lyra's horn as she put him under a hypnotic trance.

Lyra smiled. “That's better. Now, Kyle... please calm down... and go to sleep.” she said softly.

With his mind under Lyra's control, Kyle closed his eyes and half-smiled as he began to sleepwalk while Lyra started singing a lovely tune:

“You have reached the end of the day,
now let your worries flow away.
Don't stress on them, don't think too deep,
you must get your rest, now fall asleep.”

Kyle was sleepwalking to the edge of the room, where he was about to walk straight into his backpack and desk chair, which would have tripped him, but Lyra levitated him before it could happen.

“Careful...” Lyra said, just before she resumed singing:

“To the dream world, let yourself cast,
your bad day is now in the past—
A time and place to which you are not bound,
you'll be alright, because I'm still around.”

While he was being levitated, Kyle let out a few occasional hums. Lyra could not tell if they were in comfort, or vain attempts at protest. But still, she continued to sing to him:

“Fly over the rainbow, swim through the deep sea,
may you have the best dream that there could be.
Stand tall and be strong, my valiant knight,
push through the dark and reach the light.”

Lyra levitated Kyle in an upward laying position, inches above the ground with his head inclined backwards, to take a look at him. She noticed his breath and heart rate had both slowed down.

“...Ah, he's asleep!” Lyra whispered.

Kyle mumbled a bit. “...Mmmm... P-Princess... Luna...” he said, a slight smile on his face.

Lyra laughed a little bit. “Dreaming about Equestria, I see.” she said quietly.

She pulled back the sheets on Kyle's bed before levitating him into it, laying his head on the pillow, and pulling the sheets over him, and climbed up onto the bed, sitting next to him before finishing her song:

“Regain your strength, drift off for now,
because to feel better, this is how.
Just think of all good things you can list,
and soon your worries will cease to exist.”

Lyra smiled at her sleeping human friend. It felt so much better now that he was calm. She bent down and kissed him on the forehead.

"Everything's gonna be okay..." Lyra whispered. "...tomorrow is a new day."

She climbed into bed next to Kyle and was off to sleep herself.

(XXXX)

The next day happened to be the day when the owner of the landscaping company Ed worked for, Henri de Luc, was coming over for drinks, and for what Ed hoped would be a promotion to the company board.

Kyle had recovered from his breakdown, but he could not wear a broken watch around. So, he put it back in its box for now and made a stainless steel bracelet he had as a temporary replacement.

Again, as usual, he was forced to clean up the house... and Danny was up in his room playing video games and eating chips, while Ed was lounging around, drinking too many beers, and watching a hockey game. If it had not been for Kyle, the entire house would probably still not be standing.

A little later in the evening, a car pulled up into the driveway, and Ed quickly rushed Kyle into the basement.

"If you come upstairs, you can consider your good life over!" Ed shouted at him.

Kyle said nothing, not wanting to anger the living, walking time-bomb, and went for the stairs, but he peered behind the wall once Ed had moved away. The doorbell rang, and Ed opened it to reveal Henri de Luc.

“Good evening to you, Monsieur Richardson.” De Luc said in a French accent.

“Evening, Mr. De Luc, sir.” Ed said, shaking De Luc's hand.

“Zis is my spouse, Antoinette.” De Luc said, motioning to the woman with him.

"Likewise." Antoinette de Luc said.

“Want a beer?” Ed offered.

Don't you drink enough already...? Kyle thought. You probably go through, like, five bottles of Budweiser a day!

As the three of them moved inward, Kyle was forced to quickly and quietly head back downstairs to his room. He got Lyra out of her hiding place.

"What's going on?" Lyra asked.

"Well..." Kyle began. "...Ed and his company's boss are upstairs having drinks. They don't want me to interfere, and I'm guessing that Ed's been hoping for a promotion or something, at least from what I heard over his phone conversations with his coworkers and friends."

"Oh." Lyra said.

Then, Kyle got an idea...

"What's say we head outside, peek through the window... and keep Ed from getting that promotion?" Kyle suggested.

Lyra smirked. "With all the garbage he's put you through... I'd say it's fair enough!"

"Okay, let's go!" Kyle said.

With that, both of them headed outside through the basement door. They happened to look through one of the open windows to see Ed and the De Lucs sipping beer.

"Z'ere is nuzzing like un fine beverage to soothe zee mind and body..." De Luc commented.

"I agree with you..." Ed said, taking another sip. "...a man needs his sedative."

But too much of it is a BAD thing... Kyle thought.

"Now, about zis proposition I 'ave considered." De Luc said. "See, z'ere are some zings zat I must see to being arranged before you can come through with it..."

"Wait... what?" Ed questioned.

"See, it is rather... complex. It cannot be done right away..." De Luc said.

Ed looked quite shocked. "But I'm prob'ly the hardest worker you got!" he claimed.

"I'm quite sure you are, Monsieur Richardson." De Luc said. "But z'ere are several others who also aspire to zee level of board member."

Ed then looked quite irritated. "What... but, I... you..." he said, trailing off.

Suddenly, the bottle in Ed's hand shattered, sending glass all over the floor and spilling the remainder of beer. Everyone, including Kyle, jumped as this happened. Even Ed looked quite shocked at what just happened.

"Well... you have quite zee anger troubles, non?" Antoinette scolded.

"But..." Ed stammered. "...but I barely squeezed it!"

"Heh heh..." Lyra chuckled.

Kyle looked over at her. "What's up?"

"Well... I used a spell to make the bottle break!" Lyra said. "I hoped it would make him look like a total buffoon!"

Kyle quietly laughed with Lyra, and then both of them proceeded to continue spying.

"Strike one..." Kyle whispered.

Ed stood from the seat. "I cut my hand, I gotta go wash it off..."

After Ed returned from washing his hand, he wiped up the spilled beer and cleaned the broken glass.

"I apologize for that, Mr. De Luc..." Ed said.

But De Luc did not look convinced.

"So, anyways..." Ed said. "...figured I'd break open some nice champagne that I've been saving for a good occasion."

Kyle happened to spot the very same bottle of champagne that Ed alluded to, sitting on a countertop in the kitchen, just outside of the view of Ed and Co.

"Ooh... try shaking up the bottle!" Kyle said to Lyra. "Can you reach it from here?

"I'll try..." Lyra said as her horn began to glow.

After a second, the bottle began to glow the same gold color, and began to levitate into the air. Lyra shook it up an down, not at a vigorous pace, but sufficient to agitate it enough. Quickly, she set it back down before Ed and the De Lucs could arrive in the kitchen.

Ed grabbed a bottle opening, screwed the corkscrew into the cork, and prepared to pry it open.

"You, Mr. De Luc, have the privilege of enjoying some of the most expensive champagne I can afford!" Ed said, prying the cork out.

Immediately, a jet of champagne shot out of the bottle, and lobbed through the air... straight onto De Luc.

"O', merde!" De Luc exclaimed, hastily rushing away from the spray, and rapidly wiping his face across himself to wick away the drink.

Antoinette put her hand on his shoulder. "O', Henri! Are you alright, my dear?" she said.

De Luc looked up, an immense boiling anger manifesting itself on his face. "You clumsy oaf! Why would you do such a zing! You zink zis is partytime un 1999!?"

Ed was thoroughly dumbstruck at what just happened. "I-I apologize, sir! I didn't know... I think it was shaken up..."

"Yeah!" Lyra said quietly, raising her hoof.

Kyle gave her roughly the equivalent of a high-five.

"...Strike two..." Kyle whispered again.

"Here, sir..." Ed said, heading into the dining room adjacent to the kitchen, and pulling out a chair. "...why don't you sit down? I'll get you all cleaned up and dried off."

Kyle noticed the corkboard hanging on the wall close to the window. He smirked as he got an idea.

“Put a tack on De Luc's chair!” he whispered to Lyra.

Lyra snickered quietly as she did so. It was amazing that none of the adults noticed.

De Luc went to sit down... right on top of the tack placed on the spot he sat at.

"AIE!" he shrieked as he rapidly stood from the chair.

De Luc had an enraged look on his face as he pulled the tack from the back of his pants and held it up.

“So...!” he spoke loudly. “..You are trying to make a booby of me, huh!?”

De Luc smacked Ed across the face with his glove. Ed put his hand up to his face after flinching and looked at his company boss with desperate eyes.

"S-sir... I..." Ed stammered.

“UNASSEPTABLE! Zis is entirely unasseptable!” De Luc shouted. "Zis meeting is ova'! Come, Antoinette darling. We must not associate ou'selves wis a man of babyish disposition who finds joy in zee humiliation of others!"

"Yes, I agree!" Antoinette said, grabbing her belongings. "You are un man's body zat houses zee brain of un child!"

"And you can forget about zee opportunity for your promotion!" De Luc said.

With that, the two were out the door.

"...Strike three, and you're out!" Kyle closed his countdown.

Ed was left alone for a moment, and then... he was overcome with seething, unstoppable anger. Veins pulsed in the sides of his necks and temples, he clenched his teeth quite firmly, and his eyes were wide and bloodshot.

"KYLE!" Ed shouted. "Get your scrawny ass up here, NOW!"

"Uh-oh..." Kyle said quietly. "...we'd better get out of here!"

"Yeah, Iet's go!" Lyra acknowledged.

Both of them tried to make a run for it down the street, but then the front door opened right as they entered the front yard. Lyra quickly rushed back out of sight, but Kyle was not so lucky...

"I knew you'd try to run!" Ed shouted. "And I also know that you tried to fuck up my meeting with Mr. De Luc!"

"I didn't do a thing! Did you even see me touch anything!?" Kyle said.

Ed scrunched his lip as his eyes became wide with intense anger. “Y'know what, boy? I've had enough of your back-talking and smart-ass-mouthing! I'm gonna kick your ass 'til you're an inch from death! Get over here, NOW!” he said, quickly walking towards Kyle.

Kyle was hastily stepping backwards, holding up his hands. “H-hey...! Stop, please! There's no need for—”

“NOT A FUCKING WORD!” Ed thundered. "DANNY, COME ON OUT AND HELP ME TEACH THIS PATHETIC SACK OF SHIT A LESSON!"

After a moment, Danny came down the stairs and outside, a look of immense delight on his face as the two prepared to beat Kyle.

"You don't know how long I've wanted to do this, queer!" Danny said, cracking his neck.

Danny took the first shot, kicking Kyle in the stomach in less than a heartbeat. Kyle was flung backwards and collapsed to the ground, stunned from the sudden blow. Then, a second later, he was grabbed by the hair and had his head pulled up.

"AGH!" Kyle shrieked.

"I SAID NOT A FUCKING WORD!" Ed shouted, who was the one holding him by the hair.

He struck Kyle over the head with a closed fist, knocking him to the ground again, and pulling out some of his hair. Ed flung the dark bristles away and started kicking Kyle, who curled his legs and crossed his arms over his face. He tucked himself inward so as to avoid any kicks to the vital organs. But his spine provided little defense.

Danny pulled out one of Kyle's legs, straightened it, and pounded his kneecap, as if in an attempt to break his leg via the wrong direction. Kyle winched in pain, unable to scream. A buzzing sound filled his ears.

"Now, whaddya need to say me?" Ed said, towering over Kyle.

Kyle panted for a moment as he glared at Ed.

"...Drop dead." he managed to say.

Ed, infuriated by the remark, kicked Kyle squarely in the shoulder.

All he could do was whimper as he took several painful blows from both his stepfamily members. He had absolutely no defense.

"See what happens?" Ed said. "You're just a worthless sack of shit who can't do shit right! I'm the good guy here, because I'm trying to prepare you for the real world, and I'm the one paying for the roof over your head and the food on your plate!"

Danny decided to throw some insults of his own out there: "You're just a stupid-ass scrawny cunt who can't stand up to people! You're just a caveman who sits in his man-cave all day drawing stupid shit no one wants to see!"

"You'll never amount to ANYTHING with the path you're going down!" Ed said. "You're just gonna be a freeloader all your goddamn life! YOU. ARE. WORTHLESS!"

“THAT'S ENOUGH!” came Lyra's voice.

Kyle looked up to see that Lyra had revealed herself. Both Ed and Danny stopped their assault and had the same confused look on their faces. Lyra was infuriated; her nostrils were flaring, and veins pulsed in the side of her head.

“You leave him ALONE!” the Unicorn shouted.

She watched the beating, and desperately wanted to help Kyle, but was unsure if revealing herself was a good idea... and it was, considering how bad it was getting.

“The fuck is that!?” Ed said.

“Some sort of weird, girly, fairy-unicorn?” Danny guessed.

Lyra's eyes went wide, her pupils shrunk. And then, her eyes went narrow as she leveled her horn at them, and drew one of her front hooves back twice, as if preparing to charge the two.

“Don't... you... ever... call me... weird, or girly... or a fairy-unicorn!” Lyra shouted.

“Ooh, I'm soooo scared!” Danny said in a stupid sarcasm. “What's the little girly horsey gonna do? Fart rainbows on me?”

“THAT'S IT, YOU MAREBUCKER!” Lyra shouted.

In a fit of rage, Lyra rushed at Danny, whipped herself around on her forehooves, and bucked him in the knees. Almost immediately, Danny fell over, clutching his shins as he struggled to scream.

Sitting up, Kyle could not help but laugh a little at this.

Wow, if Lyra can buck like that... I'm sure Applejack could have some good competition. He thought.

“...Agggghhhh...!” Danny strained. “...I think you re-tore my ACLs!”

Kyle sat up. “God, I never thought I'd see this day... you got your ass kicked by a pony!” he said, laughing. “Makes me think of the old meme: 'haters gonna hate... ponies gonna pwn'!”

“Y'know what, fuck this shit!” Ed shouted, rushing for Lyra.

Lyra gasped, but she disappeared in a flash of light just as Ed was about to grasp her, and she reappeared directly behind him as he fell from failing to catch her.

“Missed me!” Lyra said smugly.

Immediately, she used her magic to conjure ropes that bound Ed's wrists behind his back, and his ankles. She did the same thing to Danny afterwards. The two struggled to try and escape. Kyle stood up slowly, which was painful after his beating.

“Now for a bit of fun...” Lyra said as her horn glowed once more.

She levitated them into the air, and slammed them into the ground, both of them grunting in pain each time it happened.

"Yeah! How'd ya like that!?" Lyra said.

Then, Lyra started to spin the two around, like a pair of bolas, at a very high speed; at least 70 RPM. Ed and Danny both screamed as they were being spun around.

"Now... for the final showstopper!" Lyra said.

Ed and Danny stopped spinning, and then Lyra focused her magic so that she could move specific body parts. She made the ropes she conjured vanish, brought up their hands near their faces, made them into fists... and forced them to start punching themselves.

"Stop hitting yourselves! Stop hitting yourselves!" Lyra taunted.

"YOU STOP!" Ed shouted.

"I swear, I'm gonna kill you, you stupid little turquoise mule!" Danny said.

"Nope! Nopony's dying today!" Lyra said.

With that, she slammed the both of them into the earth for the final time.

“And just to make sure you both don't remember how all this happened...” Lyra trailed off, just before she closed her eyes, and her horn began to glow.

Ed and Danny's eyes glowed yellow-orange, and then they fell unconscious.

“Okay, I've altered their memories. They should wake up pretty confused... and in a LOT of pain. Also, they shouldn't remember me.” Lyra said, smirking.

“...H...how did... you learn to do that?” Kyle asked, amazed.

Lyra shrugged. “Just... came to me, I guess. I think magic can get better with practice.” she said.

"Well... let's get them to their beds, just so they don't wake up and think I did something." Kyle said.

Kyle strained himself to stand, but he was still in a lot of pain from the beating.

“Oh, Kyle...” Lyra said, looking at the bruises on his exposed skin. “...let me take care of you first!”

“No, Lyra, you really don't need to—” Kyle began, before getting cut off.

“No, Kyle.” Lyra said. “Those bruises and scrapes look pretty bad. Just let me do a quick healing spell on them. Please?”

Kyle sighed. "Okay." he said.

Lyra closed her eyes, and her horn glowed once again. Golden strands of light began to flow from her horn, and travel through the air around Kyle's body. Immediately, he felt the pain start to disappear, and looking at a cut on his arm, saw that it appeared to be knitting itself and vanishing. Soon, all of his injuries were reversed, and he was back in the same condition that he had been in before the beating.

Kyle smiled at the mare. "Thank you, Lyra." he said.

But his smile faded quickly, and his face fell as he thought about what Ed and Danny claimed him to be.

Even after the beating, Kyle could not get his mind off of what the two were saying to him. Was he really weak? Was he not doing everything right? Does he need to start doing things that please others just for him to have a happy life? He did not know, and he did not feel the least bit pleasant.

“Kyle... I don't think you're worthless.” Lyra said.

“Yeah. Kinda figures you would say that...” Kyle said, his confidence obviously still very low.

“No, really!” Lyra said. “What those punks said about you, don't believe a word of it! You're not worthless! You're not weak!”

“How would you know?” Kyle asked. “I can barely stand up for myself...”

“Well...” Lyra began. “...you still seem to take on the trials that everyone forces upon you, all without even complaining to them once! A weak pony... er, person... would just give up and not try at all. Seriously, pushing through all of this is not easy. You would only be worthless if you quit and hide from it all! And the best part, you've learned how to cope with it, even with the little that you have to do so!”

Kyle's eyebrows raised a bit after hearing this.

Lyra continued: “And even after putting up with all this crap, you've still come out of it as a great person! That, if anything, really takes a strong heart to pull off. A weak person would give in and become as bad as their abusers, or even worse!” she said.

Lyra was definitely getting somewhere with this, Kyle felt firmly...

“Plus, you've still held on to your dreams. Your ambition to become a professional artist one day!” Lyra added. “You're not weak for having dreams, you're strong for holding on to what you believe in! The problem is that everyone is trying to hold you back; just push past it all and chart your own course! Don't let anyone hinder you!”

Again, like always, Lyra served as his confidence well, which brought it all flooding back to him. He was glad that she could make him feel good about himself.

"...You're right, Lyra!" Kyle said. "I know that I AM a good person. And I want to do thing that will make people happy... and make me happy in return."

"That's right!" Lyra said. "Now... let's get these two idiots into their sacks, shall we?"

Lyra levitated the two Richardsons up the stairs, and Kyle pulled their sheets over them.

"Just for good measure..." Kyle said, picking up one of the many beer bottles on Ed's bedroom floor, and put it in Ed's hand.

He cuddled it like a plushie, which made Kyle fight to avoid laughing and waking him.

Danny was next, so they just repeated the process.

"Okay, here's your video games..." Kyle said, putting an XBOX controller in Danny's hand, and turning on the console and TV, just to make it seem like he'd fallen asleep while playing... again.

Kyle and Lyra then both proceeded to head out the door.

"Nap time..." Kyle said to Danny. "...but don't you dare dream about any girls!"

They both closed the door and went back into the basement.