Find Her, Keep Her

Kyle awoke to find light seeping through the gaps of his blackout curtains. He looked over at his alarm clock to see that it was almost half past nine... and immediately after looking, he felt something against his bare chest. It was the sleeping Unicorn filly that he had found yesterday. She had her forelegs wrapped around him, and the side of her head pressed against his chest, taking slow, calm breaths.

Again, he was overtaken by Lyra's absolute cuteness. He gently rubbed her head without waking her up.

God, she is absolutely adorable... Kyle thought. ...HOW does something so good happen to me?

He realized that she might be hungry when she wakes up, given how long it must have been since she has eaten. Quietly, he climbed out of bed and crept out the door. He climbed the stairs from the basement to the kitchen, and then he opened up the refrigerator and started looking around.

Let's see... what would ponies eat? Kyle thought as he hovered his hand over the assortment of food.

He looked in the vegetable drawer, and saw some baby carrots. Horses eat carrots, so maybe Lyra would like them? Kyle took a handful of carrots, along with an apple that he cut into slices, and he prepared some toast with butter for the filly.

She'll definitely need some protein, too... Kyle thought.

He turned on the stove and fried some eggs, along with putting some pepper and salt on them. He hoped that Lyra would like them.
It seemed that Ed had already left for work, and Danny was probably at school. At least he could spend time with Lyra alone... but what would he do when he had to go to school tomorrow? What about when he had to work on his non-school days? He figured that if he could explain what was going on, she would make some effort to avoid being discovered.

In any case, Kyle put Lyra's breakfast on a plate. He also got her a small glass of milk to wash it down, and then took the meal back to his bedroom. The filly was still fast asleep under the covers. He put her breakfast down on the floor, and gently nudged her. Lyra's eyelids flickered, and then she opened them to see the human.

“Oh... h-hi, Kyle.” Lyra said, sleepily. “Is it morning?”

Kyle nodded. “I made you some breakfast.”

“Oh, th-thank you...!” Lyra said, looking at the plate and glass he prepared for her.

She then started eating. At first, Kyle assumed that there might be something on the plate that she wouldn't like, but she ate everything that was there, and drank all of the milk. She did eat with her mouth, without using any utensils or her horn, but she did it in a way that didn't make a mess.

“Did you get enough to eat?” Kyle asked.

Lyra nodded. “Yes, and thanks again.” she said.

It seemed like she had calmed down a great amount since last night. She was no longer worried or panicked. So, now maybe taking care of her would be a more straightforward task, until maybe something happens that will help her to return home to Equestria.

There was indeed the matter of making sure that the filly had enough to eat. Technically, he could go to the store and buy horse feed, but Kyle would never do such a thing, because Lyra was not some animal. He would only give her real food to eat. After all, he wanted the best for his little pony. So, of course, he would shell out a bit of his paycheck to buy food for her, and sneak it into his bedroom through the window well. He might also need to invest in a small refrigerator to keep in his room.

Also, he would have to be able to find a way to keep her hidden from Ed and Danny, but being in the basement while the other occupied bedrooms were upstairs made this significantly easier. Ed had given Kyle's old bedroom to Danny, claiming that he couldn't climb stairs when recovering from his ACL surgeries. Even after Danny recovered, Ed would not give Kyle his room back. But still, he liked his basement room all the same, mainly because it was more isolated, and a lot more quiet. Had he been in his old room, it would have been far more difficult to keep Lyra hidden.

“Now, listen Lyra, this is really important.” Kyle said. “There are some people in this house who might not be... friendly, if they were to discover you. In fact, there are tons of people in this world who might want to... take you away for... research. So, while I am not here, you need to be extremely careful not to be caught. If they happen to come around at any time, hide. And stay hidden until you are absolutely sure that they are gone. Are you okay with this?”

Slowly, Lyra nodded. “Okay, I got it. Hide from everyone but you, right?”

Kyle himself nodded. “Yep. And as long as you can find some good hiding spots, you'll be fine.”

“Okay.” Lyra said.

Also, something had been bothering him for a little bit of time now. He wondered what exactly Lyra was even doing here in the first place.

“Um, Lyra...” Kyle began. “...do you know how you got here? What happened before I found you?”

Lyra rubbed her head, thinking. “Um... well, I remember that I was in Ponyville... some older Earth Pony named Doctor Whooves was working on a machine that can create portals which allow something called 'intersequentional travel'...”

“...You mean 'interdimensional travel'?” Kyle asked.

Lyra nodded. “Yeah. And so, I happened to be at his unveiling of it... but something went wrong when he was testing it... I remember a beam shot out of it straight at me...” she trailed off, thinking for a moment. “...I don't remember anything after that.”

So... she was here as a result of an experiment gone wrong? That was his best assumption at this point.

“Well, in any case, I'll do what I can to help you until we are able to get you home.” Kyle said. “How does that sound?”

“It's sound great!” Lyra said. “And, also, you don't seem so bad... where I come from, there are legends of you humans, and that you were always focused on greed and conflict, up to the point where you had a big war that made all humans go extinct before ponies founded Equestria.”

“Really?” Kyle asked.

Lyra nodded. “But you're not like how they described humans back where I come from. I never would've thought that you would be so... nice. It kinda makes me wanna stay. Well, until I go back somehow.”

“I'm sure we can find a way.” Kyle said.

At that moment, he heard Ed's familiar footsteps coming down the stairs into the basement. Lyra appeared to have heard it as well, because her ears perked up.

“What's that?” Lyra asked.

“No time to explain!” Kyle said, quietly. “Just hide and don't make any noise!”

Kyle picked up Lyra and put her underneath his bed, folding the bed's skirt back down and stand upright just in time before Ed entered the room.

“Okay, since you got the day off, I need you to come upstairs and vacuum the floors, tidy up the living room, wash the dishes, clean the kitchen, wipe down the windows, polish the furniture, and clean the place up.” Ed instructed.

“Okay...” Kyle said in a passive tone. “...I'll be up in just a moment.”

Ed walked away without closing the door, and Kyle peeked under the sheets to see the Lyra was still there.

“You heard that man, right?” Kyle said. “Well, he's like the humans you heard from the legends of your place. He's a tyrant. You're gonna want to stay away from him, or he'll do who-knows-what with you.”

“Okay... I got it.” Lyra said. “So, he gave you chores to do?”

“Yes...” Kyle said, bitterly. “...but I need to do it to stay on his good side. Er... as close as I can get to his good side.”

“Well, just do what you need to do. I don't mind.” Lyra said.

Kyle nodded. “Okay. Just try to stay downstairs and hide if you hear anyone coming. The secret code I'll say indicating that it's safe to come out will be...” he stopped to think for a moment. “...'Increase Tolerance'.”

He figured it would reduce suspicion from Ed and Danny, since he had a tendency to use Paint.NET a lot, and say things to himself while he worked. He would do anything to keep Lyra safe, given how much he had pretty much attached himself to her over the years of watching MLP.

“So, anyways,” Kyle began. “why don't we do something to pass the time after I finish my chores?”

After the tedious task of cleaning the house up for nearly an hour, he then showed Lyra his computer and the internet, and both of them started watching internet videos. Some funny ones, some edge-of-your-seat ones, and just entertaining ones in general. It definitely got Lyra in a good mood, so he was happy he had at least achieved that much.