Find Her, Stay With Her

For the next three days, Kyle had taken Lyra out to do some fun things that she had previously been unable to do as a pony. Under the guise of her human form, however, she was able to join him on these little adventures fairly flawlessly.

For instance, he decided to take her to an amusement park, and they rode on a variety of different rides, such as the Ferris wheel, boat tunnel, skydiver, scrambler, and anything else that seemed like fun. But Lyra really enjoyed the roller coaster, as did Kyle. Ironically, Kyle was absolutely terrified of roller coasters when he was younger, but after his mother urged him to ride one time, he came to like them. The best part of the trip: Kyle decided to pay extra to get Platinum Passes for himself and Lyra, so they did not have to wait in the line of regular-paying patrons (who all gave the two a cold glare as they walked through the empty Platinum lanes, which they thought was pretty funny).

Later on, the two decided to head to the movie theater, where they decided to settle on something playing that looked exciting. They settled on an action-thriller, which really had them on the edge of their seats throughout the film, given the level of mystery and suspense it had. Lyra often found herself clinging onto Kyle when it got intense... and he thoroughly enjoyed having her all over him.

On another day, he took her to Dave & Buster's, an all-ages oriented arcade that he had not been to in years. The place had so many game cabinets, you would think every one in existence was there. Lyra definitely enjoyed herself, racing against Kyle on the car and motorcycle games, getting really competitive in the shoot-em-ups, shooting hoops in the basketball game, and catching prizes from the crane machines. They had pizza for lunch from the D&B restaurant, and they both most definitely felt that it was all too good to go to waste.

Later, he took her to the mall to do a bit of shopping around, and she was awestruck by the sheer size of the building (comparing it to Canterlot Castle), and wanting to check out nearly every shop that stood out to her. Kyle definitely enjoyed it, not just because of the shopping, but because he could finally have the chance to do some "human" things with his wife. They both visited a variety of clothing, home decor, tea, and electronics stores, and they ate lunch in the mall's food court.

As they ate, Kyle decided to draw up a real conversation with her. They had been going back-and-forth over the past few days... but they had yet to really talk about their time apart.

“So...” Kyle began. “...how do you like being a human, Ly?”

“I love how my new body feels... especially my hands!” she said. “It's so nice to be able to grasp things instead of balancing them on your hoof.”

“Now that I think about it... it kinda reminds me of this one old movie I saw a while back, called The Last Unicorn.” Kyle said.

“Really?” Lyra asked. “Was this before several men in your world became... 'bronies' as you call them?”

Kyle shrugged. “Let's just say, when you're a guy who has a nextdoor female friend roughly your age... she tends to make you do some bizarre things when you visit. But, in the movie, the Unicorn protagonist gets turned into a human, very much like how you are now, Lyra. Plus, she ends up falling in love with a human prince. So... yeah, just something that you reminded me of.”

"Hmm... that's interesting." Lyra said.

“Plus, now that I really think about it, especially with my newfound interest for ponies... it was actually a pretty good movie! I think you should watch it sometime, Lyra!” Kyle said.

“Sounds like it would be a good movie!” she said.

The two continued to eat for a little while longer, up until Lyra once again decided to break the silence.

"So... I've been wondering, Kyle..." she began.

Kyle looked up from his fried chicken. "What's up?"

"...How exactly were we able to communicate through the mirror?" Lyra asked. "There's no magic in your world, so... what do you think happened?"

After thinking for a bit, Kyle's eyes opened fairly wide as he came to the realization that ruled out all logical possibilities.

“It's our love...” he said. “...our love for each other is what's allowing us to communicate across the dimensions!”

"You sure?" Lyra asked.

"Absolutely! I know for a fact... love is something capable of transcending space and time... it has no limits, no boundaries..." Kyle said.

"So... that's how that one link was formed?" Lyra said. "I guess that would make sense... I probably shouldn't have stolen that hotel mirror, then..."

"Wait... you did what?" Kyle asked.

"Never mind..." Lyra said in an attempt to diffuse the situation. "...anyways, yeah! I'm still really happy that we were able to be back with each other again!"

"I know, right?" Kyle said.

"And I don't even care if I can't use my Unicorn magic!" Lyra said. "I mean, it's not like I could just... levitate my silverware and--"

She stopped speaking abruptly as she saw that the plastic fork she had been looking at... actually did just what she described. Kyle happened to take note as well, since her eyes appeared to glow along with the fork as it happened.

"Woah...!" Kyle uttered. "...What was that?"

Lyra narrowed her eyes. "Let's see if I can do that again..."

Once more, she focused on the fork, and levitated it effortlessly, her eyes glowing, possibly in the absence of her horn.

"No way..." Kyle said. "...you can still levitate things as a human?"

“...It looks like I can still use my Unicorn magic... even though I'm a human...” Lyra said.

The two sat facing in each in surprise at this revelation... up until they decided to finish up their food and proceed about their business. Besides, Lyra using magic was nothing new; since she came from a magical universe, it was definitely to be expected. But...

...Lyra would probably have never suspected what was going to happen next.

It turned out that Kyle had brought her to the mall for a secondary reason; a few months ago, he entered into a drawing to win a limited-edition, 14k gold-plated Macbook, just for the hell of it. Kyle did not use Mac computers, having grown up with Windows, but he just entered for some thrill-seeking.

There were various people crowding around the announcer, who had a single, sealed envelope in his hand. He had just finished announcing the overview of the sweepstakes, and that the deadline was mere moments ago.

"So... you think you might've won?" Lyra asked.

Kyle shrugged. "...Wouldn't be surprised if I didn't."

Both of them continued to listen for the name to be announced.

Although... maybe I could use a special trick I've got up my sleeve to increase my odds... Kyle thought.

With that, he closed his eyes, and began to redirect his mere instinct, his sixth sense, onto the card that the announcer was holding.

This power has done so much for me... Kyle thought. ...yet it also led to my downfall.

"And the winner of this limited-edition, gold-plated, brand-new-generation Macbook is..." the announcer said, opening the envelope. "...Mr. Kyle Schaeffer!"

Kyle opened his eyes, breaking out of a mild trance he had placed himself into, and a satisfied grin grew over his face.

Knew it... he thought.

He began to make his way up to the podium, moving somewhat sluggish, as if he were fatigued, to claim his prize. Once he made it up, he took the computer, safely sealed in a computer carrying case, with the AC adapter and external CD drive, and stuck around for a moment while the announcer made his closing statements. Once he finished, everyone disbanded from the area, and Kyle met back up with Lyra.

"Wow! Sweet score, Ky!" she said.

"Totally!" Kyle said.

"But..." Lyra began. "...I noticed that you were closing your eyes and hanging your head down just before your name was called. What were you doing?"

"Well..." Kyle spoke. "...I was... invoking, so to speak..."

"What do you mean?" Lyra asked.

“Well...” Kyle began. “...it's a special power that I have. When I use it, it alters situational probability in my favor. And it never fails.”

“So, why don't you use it all the time?” Lyra asked.

Kyle sighed. “...Because it actually takes a lot of spiritual energy to invoke...” he slightly leaned forward. “...especially just now, since I haven't used it for so many years. I already feel tired...”

"When did you first find out you had it?" Lyra asked.

Kyle cleared his throat. "It was sometime when I was in the third grade, since that was a point when things started going downhill for me. I was being bullied, and my grades were slipping. I felt totally worthless, and I tried to tell my parents that I couldn't keep going, because I wasn't good enough. But, they were able to give me the encouragement I needed when they had long conversations with me, telling me that failure is not the end, but an opportunity to learn.

"From that point on, I dedicated myself to try harder... and yet, I started to get this instinctive feeling that I would have to focus my positive energy on the object or situation that I want to go my way. And not with any of my five senses, but with my mind, and nothing more. Once I began this intensive channeling of my energy... I found that it was actually working! I managed to achieve streaks with this power... even though it always left me feeling exhausted from using it too much."

"But... why haven't you used it for so long?" Lyra asked.

"With the suffering I endured from my abuse and bullying... I effectively lost the will to manifest the power necessary to use my ability. It doesn't work if I have too much negative energy, which comes from emotions like sadness, anger, jealousy, et cetera. Apparently, it relies on the positive energy of hope." Kyle said.

"Oh..." Lyra acknowledged.

"Hope is the one thing in this world that motivates someone to keep going. And it is essentially the driving force of my special power." Kyle said.

“So... humans in this world... have magic of their own?” Lyra asked.

Kyle shrugged. “In a way... but it's nothing like the 'magic' you would think of, and it works completely different than pony magic. In fact, it's probably different than 'real' magic altogether.”

“...Why did you never tell me about it?” Lyra asked.

Kyle sighed. “I've never told anyone... because I always thought nobody would believe me. Plus, with you around, Ly... I never felt any need to use it. Just your presence alone was enough to make me happy.”

Lyra's eyes fell to the floor as she smiled and blushed. "Oh, Ky..." she said.

Kyle came back to reality and looked at the computer bag he was still holding on his shoulder. He took it off and held it towards his humanized pony wife.

"...Why don't you take the prize, Lyra?" Kyle said, handing her the Apple laptop.

Lyra took it, looking at it. "Kyle... it's your prize!"

"I want you to have it." Kyle said. "It's plated with real gold! Plus... I hate Macs."

"Well..." Lyra said, slipping the strap of the case on his own shoulder. "...if you really want me to have it, I guess I'll take it."

"Yeah... just figured you'd want a nice computer for your stay here in my world." Kyle said.

Without warning, Lyra wrapped her fingers behind his neck and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Thank you, Kyle." Lyra said. "In fact, thank you for everything you've done for me. It means the world to finally get to have fun like humans do."

"...Aw, that's okay." Kyle said, turning away while smirking and blushing while making nervous leg movements.

Despite how much he has changed... Kyle Schaeffer was obviously still fairly shy.