Find Her, Keep Her

Kyle decided to do something that he had not done for a long time. He left his house to find a spot that would make him feel better. Even though he moved away from the Richardsons, finding a place "away from it all" was what he was accustomed to. He happened to find an area with a tall tree, giving plenty of shade next to a large pond. He figured it was the best he was going to get in this area. It did have a good view of the skyline of the neighboring city, and some nearby neighborhoods.

He sat on a large rock under the tree, but the shade was not so much different from the rest of the outside, given how cloudy it was. Had it been raining, it would have perfectly fit Kyle's mood right now. Even though it has been a couple of days, he still could not let go of the fact that Lyra had ultimately rejected him.

He looked at Lyra's turquoise pendant in his hand, which he had carried with him everywhere since she left. Memories flooded his head about all of the great times he had with the Unicorn...

(Flashback)

"Woah, I'm gonna get you!" Lyra said as she was playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch.

"You gotta catch me first!" Kyle responded.

Both of them were on the edge of their seat as they raced through the game's track, Rainbow Road. Eventually, when they were on the home stretch, they were both neck-and-neck, having left the CPU players in the dust. It was so close... but Lyra (playing as Rosalina) managed to get ahead a few feet by pulling behind Kyle's player (Bowser), and blocking air resistance while behind him for a speed boost, which put her into first place before crossing the finish line.

"Wow!" Kyle said. "Beat me fair and square!"

Lyra nodded. "...That's how I roll." she said, enthusiastically.

(XXXX)

"Are you sure about this, Lyra?" Kyle asked. "I'm a bit nervous..."

"Just trust me! It'll be fine..." Lyra responded.

Kyle was sitting blindfolded on the railing of the upper floor, about to drop backwards into the living room. They were playing Truth-or-Dare, and well... you could imagine Lyra's creativity.

"Just do it, Kyle! I promise I'll catch you!" Lyra said.

Kyle took a breath. "Okay..." he said, leaning backwards, and letting gravity take hold of him.

Just as he was about to hit the floor, Lyra levitated him, which removed all momentum. Kyle then removed his blindfold and looked at the mare, who smirked at him.

"Thought I would let you get hurt?" she asked.

Both of them laughed for a moment, before Kyle looked at the floor; Lyra was still levitating him.

"Okay, Lyra... you can put me down now." he said.

(XXXX)

"I'm glad that you truly do care about me... because I care about you." Kyle said, hugging the mare underneath the covers.

She returned it to him before they separated again, and laid to go to sleep.

"I'll always be here for you, Kyle..." Lyra said. "...always."

(End Flashback)

Tears filled Kyle's eyes as he reminisced, staring at the pendant. He closed his hand around it, and held said hand up against the bridge of his nose as he slowly began to release his tears.

"...P-please come back...L-Lyra..." he said. "...please come... h-h-home..."

(XXXX)

Romeo had escorted Lyra across Zebulon Range, up to the point where they made it to a stretch of unoccupied range that went right in between two residential areas. Some house fences made up a portion of it, but most of it was a simple, open stretch of sidewalk and sod next to the outermost roads of the region.

"We're gonna wanna move quickly." Romeo said.

"Okay..." Lyra said.

They both stopped right at the point before they came into visibility of the roads. After a countdown from "three," Romeo and Lyra started to briskly rush across. The road was mostly abandoned, from what it looked like, but Romeo could make out something that looked like a pickup truck parked on the side of the road. At first, it seemed like it might be an ordinary truck... but when the rear end came into view, he saw that there were a bunch of cages strapped onto the back, as well as some sort of logo on the doors. Realizing what this meant, Romeo gasped and stepped back, hiding in a box-shaped nook in the fence.

"Kid, get back over here!" he whispered.

Lyra looked back. "What?" she asked, having not heard him clearly.

"Get over here and hide! Hurry!" Romeo said.

Lyra started to walk briskly back over to where Romeo was hiding, but something happened that she could not prepare for. She was hit by something and fell to the ground. Only after a moment did she realize that the thing that hit her was an animal net, which now encased her. She looked over in the direction of where it came from, and saw two human men wearing strange-looking apparel and equipment. Both of them were in total shock as they looked at Lyra.

"What is it!?" one of the men asked.

"I dunno... but it'll catch us some good dough, that's for sure!" the other said.

Lyra struggled to escape from the net. "No, please... let me go!"

Both of the catchers stopped and stared for a moment.

"No... it TALKS!?" the first one said. "Oh-ho-ho-hoooo! We're in the money, now!"

"We gonna be rich!" the second one said. "Findin' a new specimen to walk Motha Earth!"

They both picked Lyra up, and started to carry her towards the truck. She was fighting back all she could with limited motion, but it did not do much. If anything, it made them hold her much tighter.

"Let me go, let me GO!" Lyra shouted.

"We takin' you for a li'l ride, Miss Million-Dolla Uni!" one of the men said.

"NO!" Lyra shouted, charging up her magic. "Don't make me use my magic!"

Noticing the glow, one of the men grasped her horn, cutting off the flow of magic.

"Don't you try nothin', now!" the man said.

They dragged her to the pickup truck holding several cages in its trunk. It turns out that it was an animal control truck, out on patrol to try and locate a stray dog that had been reported several times in the area. Immediately, they wrapped her horn with duct tape put her in the cage closest to the front, locking the cage, and releasing the net to pull it out between the bars. One of the catchers banged the cage twice.

"Alright! Let's take her on back, get our biggest reward ever, and retire as famous millionaire discoverers!" he said.

As they got into the truck and started it up, Lyra desperately tried to peel the tape off of her horn. However, her hooves could not get the required precision to do so. She started panicking, trying in vain to buck at the steel bars.

"Help me! Please! SOMEPONY HELP!" she shouted.

As the truck started to move, Romeo emerged from his hiding spot, having quietly watched the whole thing. Despite not having known Lyra for very long, he still felt determined to help a fellow equine.

"Ngh..." Romeo uttered as he watched the truck drive off. "...hang on, kid! I'm comin' for ya!"

With that, he started galloping in the direction of the truck alongside the perimeter fence of Zebulon Range.

(XXXX)

Kyle was slowly walking back to his house after sitting in his "new special area". Unlike before, it did not help him to feel better in the least. If anything, it made him feel even more alone. At this point, he felt as if the entire world was against him... even more so than his time as a closet brony in G4 MLP's prime.

As he was walking back, Kyle happened to notice a discarded bottle of Rolling Rock beer among the tall grass. It still had the cap on it, which made him a bit curious. Picking it up, he saw that it had been unopened, and the drink was still sealed inside.

“Heh... looks like God has given me some partial relief...” Kyle said, somberly. “...well, if it can make Ed happy... I guess I could start drinking my problems away...”

Kyle pulled out his pocketknife to pry off the cap. The bottle decompressed as the cap came off. He raised the bottle, as if for a toast.

“To my lost hopes and crushed dreams...” Kyle said. “...and... to you, Lyra... in the slim hope that you come back...”

Kyle brought the bottle back down, preparing to take a sip, but a vehicle was coming up from behind him, and he quickly lowered it just so the driver and possible passengers would not see it. But, after the vehicle was in front of him, which turned out to be an animal control truck, Kyle heard a voice that, at first he thought was just in his head, but turned out to be quite clear.

“HELP ME! SOMEPONY! ANYPONY! PLEASE, HEEEEEEEELP!” came the voice... one that Kyle knew all too well...

In that instant, Kyle's depressed face became one of pure shock just before the Rolling Rock bottle shattered on the ground after he let it go.

“Oh my God... Lyra!” Kyle called.

Hastily looking around, Kyle saw a bike rack with a couple of bikes parked in it. He ran over to it as fast as he could and pulled out the first bike he saw that was not locked to the rack.

“Hate to steal your bike...” Kyle said. “...but I've got a truck to catch!”