Find Her, Stay With Her

The glow faded, and Kyle was able to get a look at what had materialized in its place... and he was immobilized in both shock and surprise...

...standing in front of him were a tall, white equine with a green-and-pink mane and tail, perpetually rippling... and a mint-green Unicorn pony who he recognized all too well...

"...L-Lyra..." Kyle was barely able to even whisper out.

Lyra looked straight back at him, her pupils having grown tiny, and her jaw hanging from the initial shock of seeing her human lover once more.

"...Kyle..." she said.

They had stared at each other for several moments, Celestia standing by silently all the while. And then, huge grins appeared on both of their faces as Kyle stood from the sofa, and Lyra rushed and leapt at him. She latched onto him in a tight hug, and he hugged her back. Both of them were squeezing each other so hard, they could barely breathe... but they did not care.

"You came back..." Kyle said, tears flowing from his eyes.

"You waited..." Lyra responded, her own eyes becoming watery.

The two separated to look at each other.

"...I thought I would..." Kyle spoke, trailing off.

"...never see you again..." Lyra finished.

"But..." Kyle began. "...I thought your memories of me were erased! I thought you wouldn't remember me!"

"Kyle..." Lyra said, smiling with tears running down her face. "...my love for you will always let me remember you."

Celestia stepped forward, smiling at the two.

"Greetings once again, Kyle Schaeffer." she said.

Kyle looked up at Celestia.

"Princess Celestia... it's an honor to see you again." he said.

"Oh, I'm so happy to see you again, Kyle! You don't know how much I missed you..." Lyra said.

"I think I do know... because I missed you just as much." Kyle said.

The two of them finally separated, and Kyle set Lyra back on the floor.

"How have you been?" Lyra asked.

"Well..." Kyle began. "...things have been okay, but... not anywhere close to being as good since you left."

"Yeah," Lyra responded. "I felt like I was going about my life as usual... but, once I remembered you... I was desperate to come back to see you, Ky."

Kyle knelt down to be at eye-level with her. "...I'm really glad you didn't forget about me. Because I could never forget about you."

Lyra nodded. "And I promised to come back... and I never break a promise that I make." she said.

They both smiled warmly at each other, Kyle taking Lyra's hoof in his hands. However, their moment of happiness lasted only a few seconds... because the front door to the house suddenly opened, they heard. The human and two ponies looked startled.

"Kyle! I'm back!" Jan called out. "Could you come and help me unload the groceries, please?"

Lyra was frozen in fear. "Kyle... who was that?"

Kyle darted his eyes around for a moment, pondering the response he would give to his wife.

"...You'll see." he said, standing. "I just gotta go talk to her real quick."

"You're not... seeing anyone else, are you...?" Lyra asked, looking worried.

"No, Lyra!" Kyle responded, quickly. "She's... a family member."

With that, he quickly walked off to the foyer, where he found his mother walking in through the open door, a bunch of grocery bags in her arms.

"Hi, Kyle!" she said. "So, there's a few more bags in my car. If you could get them for me, I'd appreciate it."

"Yeah... um... l-listen, Mom..." Kyle stammered.

Jan frowned. "What's the matter?" she asked.

Kyle sighed. He knew that he had to come clean on this. Trying to hide it would prove to be futile...

"...There's something, or rather... someone, that I need to show you..." he said.

"Sweetie, what's going on?" Jan asked, setting the bags on the floor, and following her son into the living room.

The moment her eyes met Celestia and Lyra... she stopped in her tracks, staring wide-eyed at the two cartoon-y equines. Her mouth hung slightly open. She was as still as a statue, staring at the two Equestrians.

"...Kyle...?" she uttered. "...What are they...?"

"Mom..." Kyle began. "...can you keep a secret?"

Jan said nothing. Kyle sighed again.

"Mom... this is Princess Celestia." Kyle said, walking over to the Alicorn, and motioning his arm to her. "She is the ruler of the kingdom of Equestria, in an alternate universe inhabited by ponies, and the controller of their sun."

At this point, Jan was looking really lost.

Kyle then knelt next to Lyra, placing a hand on the back of the Unicorn's neck.

"...And this is Lyra Heartstrings." Kyle said. "About six years after you left... I found her lost in the woods where you used to take me... so I took her under my care at our old house... and kept her hidden from Ed and Danny... eventually taking her with me when I moved out... and we... we became..."

Lyra sighed. "...We are lovers." she confessed.

Jan's eyebrows came down over her wide eyes.

"Now, Mom..." Kyle began. "...please don't think that I have any problems. I promise that I am not some sort of zoophilic freak!"

"Yeah!" Lyra acknowledged. "Kyle's just about the greatest living thing I've ever met in my life! He's done so much to take care of me... and he's shown me how capable of love he is... just as I have shown him."

"You mean... all the time I was gone..." Jan finally spoke. "...you've been raising... a pony from an alternate universe?"

Kyle nodded. "And it just so happens, this universe is from the TV show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which, believe it or not, had a large male fanbase at the time of its run. The male fans are called 'bronies'. And they were a lot more common than you would think. Plus... I was one."

Jan was darting her eyes back and forth between Kyle and the ponies.

"Well, Kyle... I don't have any problem with you watching whatever you like on television, granted it's not anything really bad, but..." she trailed off. "...how is something from a cartoon real?"

Kyle shrugged. "I have no idea. I've just tried not to question it, and make the best of my time with Lyra when she first visited."

"First visited?" Jan asked.

"She's come back." Kyle responded. "Only days before I found you, she was brought back to Equestria by Princess Celestia here, and her student, a Unicorn named Twilight Sparkle."

Celestia stepped forward towards Jan, which made the latter look a bit uncomfortable.

"If you'll pardon me, Miss..." the Alicorn said, angling her horn downward. "...I merely wish to give you a better understanding."

With that, Celestia touched the tip of her glowing horn onto Jan's forehead. Immediately, Jan's eyes were forced closed while Celestia channeled some sort of energy into her mind. All the while this was happening, Lyra decided to speak to Kyle concerning the current matter.

"So... that's her?" Lyra asked. "That's your... mother?"

Kyle nodded. "And you wouldn't believe how we found each other... we just happened to bump into each other on a walk."

"Wow..." Lyra said, looking back at Kyle's mother. "...I never thought I would ever get a chance to meet her."

After a few more seconds, Celestia's horn stopped glowing, and she tilted her head back upright. Jan opened her eyes, which now seemed more enlightened rather than surprised.

"So..." Jan spoke. "...you are real! You come from... another world..."

"Correct." Celestia said. "However, our existence within this universe is not one that could sustain the life of our species, as we are magically tethered to Equestria, and the time passage in this dimension is slower than in our own, which also causes us to age faster in this world."

"Yes, see... Lyra here was just a little filly when I found her. I raised her, and she grew up far quicker than I was expecting, and our friendship became..." Kyle trailed off.

Lyra picked up for him: "Kyle was my best friend, and we did so many fun things together, especially when we were living alone together. And like I said before... I really came to love him later on."

"Now, Lyra." Celestia spoke. "I mentioned that there is a way you can remain stable in this world for the time being. For this to work... I must force you to adapt to the quantum fabrication of this universe."

Lyra tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. "How will that work...?" she asked.

"I must perform a spell on you that will temporarily alter your form, and make you unaffected by your link to our native universe. Will you agree to this?" Celestia asked.

"Yes!" Lyra said without hesitation. "Yes, yes, yes! I want to do it! I want to spend more time with my husband!"

"...Husband?" Jan asked, more confused than before.

"...Long story." Kyle responded.

"Now... let us not delay any longer." Celestia spoke. "I will perform the spell, and then I must return to Equestria as soon as possible, to minimize the alterations our presence could make on this universe's foundation."

"Yes, Princess! Please do it!" Lyra said, grinning ever so wide.

Celestia charged her horn once again, and closed her eyes. After a moment, Lyra began to levitate as a golden halo outlined her body. She was glancing all around herself, the glow gradually getting brighter. She was staring at her hooves, smiling immensely in anticipation as she awaiting whatever form she would have for her visit. And then there was a flash of white light, which forced Kyle and Jan to shield their eyes briefly. The light dimmed to reveal a glowing sphere, about two meters across, which slowly set onto the floor to become a dome of light.

After the glow went out, in the place of Lyra... was a very thin-figured girl with light skin, and pure white hair laying on the floor, unconscious. Kyle gasped as his eyes went wide. His mother was just as surprised as he was, if not more so.

"There." Celestia said. "She can maintain stability so long as she is in this form in your world."

Kyle knelt down next to the white-haired girl, and then she began to stir. She looked up at him as she slowly lifted her head and opened her eyes.

“...Lyra?” Kyle asked.

“...Angh... K-Kyle...” the girl sleepily responded in Lyra's voice, opening her amber-colored eyes. “...aah... I-I feel kinda funny...”

Kyle stood up, looking around the living room, just before walking to a mirror.

"...Kyle... where are you going...?" Lyra asked.

Kyle pulled the mirror off the wall, walking back over to the realistic, humanized Lyra, and holding it in front of her.

"...Take a look." he said.

After gazing with her eyes half-open, they became wide open. She let out her breath in utter surprise at what she was seeing in the reflection. She looked at her hands, curling her fingers to test their motion. And she looked in the mirror, subtly touching her face, her shoulders, her hair...

“...I...” Lyra stammered. “...I-I'm a... h-h-human...”

"You know..." Jan said, calmed down from her previously-stunned demeanor. "...she's actually very beautiful."

“I'd say platinum-blonde fits you perfectly!” Kyle commented.

Tears filled Lyra's eyes as a victory smile spread over her face. She looked up at Celestia.

"Oh, thank you, Your Highness!" she said. "Thank you so much! You have no idea how badly I've always wanted this!"

"You're quite welcome, Lyra." Celestia said with a warm smile. "I hope you enjoy your stay with your human companion, Lyra. And I hope you make it worthwhile for yourself."

"Oh, I will!" Lyra said.

"And now, I will depart to Equestria for fourteen days... exactly the time in which the spell will wear off, and you will turn back into a pony. I bid you farewell for now, Lyra Heartstrings." Celestia said.

"Goodbye, Princess!" Lyra said.

"Bye, and thanks!" Kyle said.

Celestia nodded, just before she charged her horn... and disappeared in a flash of blinding light. Kyle looked back down at Lyra, who was still laying on the floor... and finally managed to process that she was naked.

Holy shit, she's hot... Kyle thought. ...got some nice, subtle curves... a good, D-size bust...

He began to get lost in thought, until he snapped himself right out of it.

Focus, you pervert... get her something to cover up! he thought.

"Hang on, Ly..." Kyle said, putting the mirror back up. "...I'll get you something to wrap yourself in."

With that, he pulled a blanket from a chest at the end of one of the sofas, which he handed to Lyra.

"Here you go." Kyle said.

Lyra looked down at her humanized body. "Meh... I'm comfortable this way!" she said.

"Um... Lyra, is it?" Jan said. "You know we have... laws, here. They say you can't walk around naked around other people."

"Oh, fine..." Lyra said, taking the blanket, standing, and wrapping herself in it.

She wore it very much like a toga to cover herself up. She was about five-foot-eight, roughly six inches shorter than Kyle.

"Okay, first thing's first... we gotta get you something to wear." Kyle said.

Jan pondered for a moment. "...I've got some old things I don't wear anymore. I was gonna donate them, but... I suppose Lyra could have them for now."

"Yeah..." Kyle said, nodding. "...and how about, Lyra, I take you shopping for some clothes?"

Lyra smiled at the idea. "I'd love that! I've never been in a human shop before!"

Kyle gave a crooked smile. "I'm sure it'll be quite an experience..." he said.