Author's Note

please comment fairly.

Chapter 1: motherhood.

It was a simple night, like any night in Equestria, the moon was full, the stars were alight… and a mint green unicorn was still tripping over her research.

“Oh this is hopeless!” Lyra whined, “Maybe Bon-Bon was right… maybe humans are a myth… maybe my work has been all a lie.” she let her own words sink in as her heart grew heavy.

But then she heard the telltale sound of a teleport to her front door, hearing no knock the mare carefully opened the door only to come across a basket.

And in that basket was a strange biped with no fur or tail, a small reddish, copperish mane atop his head, and round soft hands. She calmly pulled the basket in out of the cold, her stare going a thousand yards… and then she ran up and pushed her marefriend out of bed and shook her awake.
“Uuugh… Lyra, now's not the Time.. it's late..” she replied groggily.

“But Bon-Bon! Downstairs! There’s a baby! A human baby!” Lyra exclaimed.

“Ugh… wait… did you say… a human baby..?” She asked, in Complete disbelief, to which Lyra responded to with a nod you’d expect more from Pinkie Pie from how hyperactive it was. “This… this doesn't sound good, Ly…” Lyra’s marefriend had changed her tone.. to that of concern..

“Huh? But it’s what I’ve been waiting for! Proof! Actual proof of humans! And I get to be his mom!” That very statement made Bon-Bon VERY concerned, and she trotted down the stairs to take a look at the supposed child. Lyra immediately chased after her, determined to see her reaction and make sure Bon-Bon didn’t do anything weird.

“Oh, what a relief.. it's just a newborn..” she said to herself, not realizing that Lyra could hear her.

“Well duh! Isn’t that what baby means?” Lyra deadpanned.

“It could also mean they're just very young, Lyra. Young, and having concerned parents.” Bon-bon countered.

“I doubt that, I found him alone in a basket outside our door after hearing teleportation magic.” that last detail made Bon-bon very confused… then she regained her composure.
“Are you sure you know enough to be caring for a baby like that, Lyra?” Immediately after raising that question, the baby began to cry, which turned to a shrill wail.

{Lyra's POV}
I felt sweat forming, losing some confidence. “I’m sure it wouldn’t be as different as caring for a pony, my research does determine that although physically dissimilar, humans and ponies are psychologically and socially similar, though there is something I’m going to have difficulty with.”

“Let me guess, feeding her?” Bonnie asked.

I shook my head, seeing she doesn’t get the whole picture. “Finding baby formula or using warm cow’s milk in the starting years will be no problem, the trouble is going to be his diet afterwards. Humans are designed to be omnivorous and their skull structure shows they’re a predator species, as their eyes are oriented forward for hunting prey while ponies like us have them more to the side for area awareness. This means it can’t extract nutrients from plants as efficiently as we can, in fact they can’t eat things like grass, flowers or hay. In order to properly balance his diet when he moves to solids we’re going to need protein and starch-rich foods, like beans and potatoes respectively.

“We can get potatoes cheap in the market but beans aren’t farmed often as most turn to rock farms, but a human would quickly die if they ate so much as a pebble. Anyway, the point is it’ll be too expensive to buy beans when we’re already going to have to rely on the veggie-only baby food so we don’t poison him with buttercups, so we’re going to rely on a more commonly acquired source of protein… meat.” I concluded, a bit sickly from the thought.

“Maybe Fluttershy would be willing to help.. but if humans need such a special diet, I doubt cow's milk or foal formula would work… I know some foals can actually get upset stomach from formula…”

I sigh. “Neither of us have been pregnant, and even spells designed to promote lactation are banned because the matrix is so delicate you risk the mare’s teats exploding! I know it’s not a good solution but it’s better than letting him starve, once his teeth come in we can balance it out with solids.”

She sighed. “I hope it works out, Lyra..”

“Thank you, but right now we need to figure out what’s wrong.” I say, gesturing to the still crying infant before trotting over to see the problem. He cried and reached for me. My heart aching at the gesture, I pick him up and cradle him in my forelegs, and he calmed, then reached up at my muzzle, smiling.

“He looks so adorable..”

“Guess he just wanted some attention, and I think he’s imprinted on me!” Bonnie shrugged at my deduction. “Hey there little guy, I’m your mommy Lyra, and over there is your mommy Bon-Bon!”

“M-mmmm.” the baby tried to say it! Bonnie finally caved into the adorableness and squeed.

“So,” I started. “What do we name him?”

“Hm… I don't know… I don't know what human names are like..”

“Then let’s name him like a pony! It’ll help him fit in… let’s see… how about… Starburst Cog! A sweet name from you, and a metal name from me!” Bonnie giggled, and nodded, and I curled up and nuzzled our new son.

“We'd best get to bed, Lyra. We'll have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

I nod, and carry little Starburst to our bed. “We’ll need to be careful, he doesn’t have his own bed yet.” she nodded

“Mhm.” she nuzzled me, then our new son, as we climb into bed and snuggle up to our new baby.

And with it, my dreams have been made true, our family is one member stronger, and I get the feeling Bon-Bon will finally start taking me seriously again.

That night, I had the weirdest dream….
“Do you wish to be able to better car for your child?”

“The only way I could care for a human baby the best I could would be if I was human.”

The figure sighed “do you wish to permanently turn human? It doesn't exactly come with benefits.”

That got me to think. “Maybe not to you, but to me there are so many things a human, or even human-like form could give me, I’m not the most talented in magic for a unicorn, but I wanted to play string instruments so bad, it became a life’s dream. I practiced my magic to pluck the strings, and it worked, I earned my special talent… but no matter how hard I practice I will never have the same touch as a minotaur bard. And then there’s me as an inventor, a scientist, wanting to learn as much as I can of human physiology, and to make things as advanced as what the inquisitive and calculating humans of their time! But all that requires a delicate touch. And then there’s Bon-Bon, I want to treat her with a nice petting or massage, but hooves are too clumsy for that… I’d need fingers for that… and this last one may seem a bit weird but… as a human I could get past certain social cues, I could finally try meat without being judged for it!”

she sighed “I suppose I could.. maybe some ruins may be of use to you afterwards, too.. good night.”

When I woke up in the morning.. I no longer had fur.. My skin being the shade of green that my coat once was, I could feel my magic inside but I couldn’t tap into it anymore, probably because of my horn being gone…

And I had… a flattened… face…

I contained a squee as I leaned forward so I was face to face with Bonnie, scratching her behind the ears so she woke up, then I said.

“Morning Bon-Bon, I got a dream wish!”