Nader Avenue was quite clean tonight. Aside from the lack of garbage lying around, not that many cars were present as they whizzed by under the glare of myriad streetlights and storefronts. Their headlights added to the city's brightness, illuminating the gray asphalt of the intersection before them and the pedestrians who crossed the street.
Both human and non-human pedestrians.
Along with the people who got to the other side were a few ponies, having trotted to the sidewalk—or, for the case of the pegasus husband and wife, hovered above the passersby to the sidewalk, never needing to look left and right for incoming vehicles.
That crowd parted ways, one half going forward and the other half turning to the left.
Lyra Heartstrings, a mint green unicorn, separated herself from them and walked up a short flight of stairs to the entrance of a sleek, metallic diner residing at the corner.
Above the door was a huge sign with the word "William's" emblazoned on it.
On the adjacent window was, in neon lights: "Open 24/7!"
Her horn glowed orange, and the door, glowing in response, gave way to the mare.
A bell rang above it.
Inside, under the white fluorescent lights, was typical diner fare: cushioned tables and chairs on the side by the windows, counter with swivel chairs and soda fountains under a chalked on menu, aproned waiters who were also cooks whipping up shorthand Americana including burgers and milkshakes, unmistakable scent of air conditioning and undeniable sound of sizzling, and customers.
What was not typical diner fare: the customers themselves.
While there were humans eating their meals in this diner, there was also a mix of Equestrian species dining, too. Ponies made up the good majority of them, although some griffons and changelings—the happy colorful ones—ate with them, too. A lone young dragon sat at the far end of the establishment, helping himself to a chili pepper sandwich swimming in a soup of hot sauce.
They—besides the dragon—were mingling with humans. Even when they were not at the same table, they exchanged courteous glances and greetings. At the tables themselves, a diversity of topics appeared: at one table, an aged man pulled out a smartphone and showed to an audience of curious ponies pictures of him and his large family in multiple capitals around the world; on another table, a unicorn levitated a whiteboard covered in a magical glow as she taught the basics of magic to a group of inquisitive teenagers; on yet another table, a changeling, an Earth pony, and a businessman deliberated on when to introduce his brand of flashlights to Equestria.
As Lyra trotted her way to the counter, several customers glanced at her. Whispers cropped up though they died down as fast as they emerged.
She sat on one of the swivel chairs and rested her forehooves on it.
One of the aproned waiters—a young freckled man—noticed her and rushed up to the newcomer. "What do you want for tonight, ma'am?"
Lyra peered at the menu on the wall. "I'll have a normal hayburger."
The waiter looked at the menu, also. "That would be two do—bits. Two bits."
Lyra floated two gold coins from her saddle bag and placed them on the counter.
"Joe!" the waiter shouted at a fellow cook wrapping up another chili pepper sandwich. "Ol' hayburger!"
"Got it!" was the reply as he grabbed a bun with his free hand.
The waiter grabbed the bits and put them inside the cash register, then looked at the door.
No one coming in now from the nighttime sidewalk.
Then, looked at the unicorn before him, past the counter. "So...I don't want to, uh, bother you, but you look very familiar."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "I know. I get that a lot. That's what happens when you're a celebrity."
He raised a brow. "But, you're not one of the Mane Six. Or the Princesses."
She groaned. "I'm Lyra, one of the popular 'background ponies' as they say...assuming you're not a brony yourself, Mister Carter."
He glanced at his nametag on the apron. "Yeah. Right. I've known who they are for some time, but, you know, I had to watch some episodes myself because—"
"Because of the whole thing," Lyra finished, staring at Joe who was busy with preparing her hay burger. "I know that, too. It's like a broken record. Earth this, Equus that." She gestured around with her hoof. "I've already gotten off the shock a long time ago."
"Well, I still haven't," Carter said. "Realizing that a whole family-friendly made-for-kids world was real—that's one thing. Realizing that the world was the one shaping us and not the other way around—that's an entirely different story. Kind of makes you stop and think."
Silence between them as he looked at the door again. No new customers yet.
"It's the first time I've met a pony from the show," he said, sitting down on the seat at his side. "Usually, it's someone that you don't see. Granted, I haven't watched all the episodes—though some of my friends are pressuring me to binge them all anyway because, hey, they're here so you better catch up. Get yourself up to speed with the times." A sigh.
Joe arrived and put down a plate of hayburger: two buns with lettuce and tomatoes inside with the main ingredient of cooked hay; some of it had burned, crispy ends.
He looked at Carter, glaring at him. "You know this isn't a bar where you can just hang around."
"You forgot the new rules already?" Carter shot back. "'Spend more time with your diners.'"
"Sorry, sorry," Joe said, scratching his head. Gave Lyra a glance; a smile on his face. "Gotta hand it to you folk."
He walked away.
"Can't blame him," Carter continued, turning his face back to her. "Some of us have a hard time adjusting to the change. Joe...not too bad. He's been a regular here six years straight. Even if he memorizes everything, the motions get to him. Others, though..." Furrowed his eyebrows. "You weren't mobbed on your way here?"
Lyra shook her head. "Haven't encountered any of the lunatics yet, telling me I shouldn't be able to exist. I certainly do like existing, you know." Her horn glowed again, the burger levitated up, and she took a bite out of it.
"Well..." coughed, "How's Earth so far? Do you like it?"
Lyra gulped her burger down. "Yeah. Not as much as some of the other lunatics say." Rolled her eyes again. "But, anyway...I've been to this country, France, Germany, Italy, Greece—kind of interesting how pegasi were depicted there—then...where was I? OK, besides that, I went to Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Russia, Poland, Serbia, Albania, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and then Ireland. After that, went to Cameroon, South Africa, Madagascar, India, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan. What was next? Chile, Brazil, Jamaica, Guatemala, Belize, Cuba, Canada, and then...here again."
Carter blinked. "Wow. You're a globetrotter...pardon the pun." Snickered at himself.
"So, you know Globe Trotter?" Lyra asked, growing slightly more enthusiastic. "He's quite the traveler himself."
"Oh." Carter rubbed his forehead. "That. I'm still getting used to the names."
"I don't blame you," Lyra replied nonchalantly.
Around them, the clink and clank of utensils dotted the air over backdrop conversations. Over there, one of the waiters looked surprised as he received yet another order of a chili pepper sandwich.
"By the way," Carter began, "what do you think of your fans and...bronies in general? I've heard some words from other ponies, but, well..." leaned back, "you're pretty much famous here."
"They've handled an inter-dimensional anomaly pretty well," she said, smiling. "Joking aside, I didn't pay any attention to my paranoid friends. I was sure that if these 'humans' were nice around their own stars, then they'll certainly be nice around me. Sure enough, first convention I've been to, I was treated like a slightly above average pony. Had to hoof out tons of autographs, though; also had to dispel any rumors about me knowing them all along."
Carter's eyes went wide. "Wait, so you're that background pony? The one who plays the lyre?"
"My name is Lyra," she deadpanned. "My cutie mark is a lyre. Isn't that obvious?"
"Yeah. Should've gotten the memo."
Lyra took another bite of her hayburger.
"How is it?" he asked.
"Not exactly first-rate," Lyra commented, levitating and rotating it around, her horn still glowing. "It's passable. Everything's OK except the hay. It's overcooked at the tips. Not too bad, but still overcooked."
Carter got a notepad from under the counter and scribbled a sentence on it. "Noted."
"I do like the crunchy direction you were going for, though," Lyra remarked.
He nodded as he slipped the paper into his apron pocket pocket.
"So, have you been to Equus yet? I was wondering because I asked around and discovered that the first public Blueglove portal was activated two weeks ago."
"Yes, I took a trip," Carter replied. "The first few minutes were disorienting. Everything was so...colorful. It was so sweet I almost threw up."
Lyra giggled. "You're the seventh human who told me that today." She rubbed her chin, thinking. "If I remember correctly, this portal connects Blueglove with Red Fet."
Carter nodded again. "First thing I saw was a bunch of tour guides sitting around, waiting for someone to actually take up their services. Sort of pitiful that way...the people I did see were taking pictures, talking with the locals—even a few ponies inviting them to a little boat ride down the river to see the breezie settlement there. First thing I really did there was to drink it all in. No pictures, no sharing my thoughts about it on the internet...just, letting it get to your head that...that feeling..."
Lyra chuckled. "Crossing dimensions does that to both ponies and humans."
He leaned forward, his head almost over the counter. "Didn't stay there for an hour, but...it changed me for a while. I always thought I'd never see the day when we could go to another dimension, another reality—and, even then, it was pictured as the realm of the impossible, where only a select few could go there. Never expected to have it right here and almost without a hitch to boot!"
"At least you're happy about it," Lyra said before taking her third bite of the burger.
The bell rang.
Carter looked over her shoulders.
The old man had left, leaving his audience at the table to talk about the diner itself—here, a pegasus pointed with a wing to the lights, critiqued something about it.
"Do you plan to stay the night here in the city?" Carter asked, looking past the windows as a short line of cars stopped at the intersection. "We're not really known for our world-class hotels."
"Nah." She brushed it off with a hoofwave. "I have to catch the train for Ponyville by nine. I promised to help out Pinkie Pie with the batch of cakes she's cooking up for the next round of tourists." Sighed. "I mean, it's not that bad compared to the first day but...it's like you've got—what's an analogy I think you could relate to?"
"Like suddenly having an airport right next to your house?" Carter suggested.
Lyra shrugged. "Works for me."
A pause, put her forelegs on the counter again.
"Of course, it goes both ways. I was amazed Twilight kept calm when she was shown Earth libraries. You should see the look on her face!" She covered her mouth, stifling a laugh. "And, I guess you already know what she did when she first visited a library off her royal duties."
Carter grinned. "Is it something you can talk about freely? Because, well, you've got a Princess living in the same village. What happens if she files a case of slander?"
"That doesn't happen," Lyra answered. "Usually." Glanced at Joe who was flipping some pancakes. "Although, if I was a prankster, I would send guys like him to be her new chefs."
"Why?" Carter asked, perplexed as he peeked at him. "Is she allergic to pancakes?"
"We could all thank your show for showing some of the more embarrassing moments of our friends," Lyra said, closing her eyes and grinning back. "You should've been there when she figured out that hundreds of thousands of people saw her pancake face!"
"Ooh, that's not good," Carter blurted out. "What was it called? 'Castle Time'? Well, did she say something to, uh, Hasbro or anything like that? Don't remember anything on the news about it."
"She stayed quiet," Lyra replied. "I think it's because if she said anything about that incident, it would only help make her pancake face catch on again. Twilight doesn't wanna get embarrassed over it twice."
Carter looked up. "I don't know if you've been asked this a lot, but—"
"I'm getting used to it," Lyra chimed in. "Shoot away." Took another bite of the burger.
Scratched his black hair. "Hasbro, Discovery Communications, Studio DHX."
Lyra blinked. "What about them?"
"How do you treat them? Since you're the ones allowing them to, uh, talk with you ponies about what to do next."
"It's not that complicated," she replied. "For me, that is. I heard that the legal teams on Earth are scrambling around because they know next to nothing about dealing with 'magical, talking ponies', but that's old news."
"What about the rest of them? The non-lawyers?"
"I don't freeload." She took a quick chomp of the floating hayburger and gulped it down. "I've paid a visit to the studio. Met lots of interesting people. Wasn't much of a splash, but I really couldn't avoid having someone ask you questions all the time."
"Wouldn't they do that, though?" Carter said.
"It gets annoying after a while. I wasn't the number one student in Celestia's school, I wasn't a celebrity even in my own home, and I wasn't planning to go big anytime soon. My talent was soothing others with my lyre." She took the small lyre out of her bag with a hoof, putting it on display.
Carter was silent as he gazed upon the instrument.
"What? Is it the first time you've seen this? Aren't lyres a thing on Earth, too?"
He shook his head. "Nevermind. I was...amazed by it. That's all."
Lyra shrugged again and put her lyre back inside her bag. "Wanna talk about something else? There's the whole tech 'versus'—" holding up her forelegs and making air quotes out of her hooves "—magic thing. It's not a fight or a competition."
"I don't want it to be a fight," Carter said, backing away a bit. "I don't know about everyone else."
"Of course, you don't." A sly smile. "I'm fascinated by how you humans survive without the ability to control the weather and the land for most of your existence—that's one. I asked so many about it, and they were OK with it." Another pause, her burger still floating above the counter.
A plink.
Carter and Lyra looked.
"Milkshake for the griffon wearing the hat," another waiter announced, holding the sweet beverage up in the air.
The griffon in question spread his wings, flew out of his table with two ponies, and yanked the milkshake. "I've got a name! It's Gali!"
Gali flew back to his table.
The waiter went to making another milkshake, unfazed.
"Griffons aren't on the best of terms right now," Lyra noted. "Griffonstone's still in shambles, although Gilda and Gabby are doing their best to spread friendship there."
Carter fiddled with his thumbs, looking around the diner.
No new customers yet.
"I'm not one hundred percent sure about the idea of spreading friendship," Carter said. Held up his hand. "Before you say I'm a loner, a freak, or just plain weird...I feel it's a little contrived."
"We're not fictional characters," Lyra replied, "so it doesn't matter if they say it's a coincidence or if it doesn't make for a good story. Where we come from, friendship is—"
"Magic, I know," Carter cut in, now his turn to roll his eyes. "But...of all possible worlds and dimensions we had to be adjacent to, it had to be the one populated by horses that can speak English and could also do magic."
"I could say the same about your dimension," Lyra said, narrowing her eyes. "Nopony expected we'd be connected to two worlds where bipedal creatures rule the land. Yet, here we are." She spread a hoof toward the rest of the diner as if to show Carter his surroundings anew.
Carter saw the near empty plates on the nearest table which was occupied by ponies. "Yeah, here we are."
Lyra took yet another bite of the burger, the American sandwich reduced to a trifle. "I've got some of your books."
Carter raised a brow again.
"I mean, human books. I didn't steal anything from you."
He laughed a little. "Whoops!"
Lyra smiled, letting the laugh cool off. "I haven't read too much of it, but I see some of similarities between yours and ours. Only some—there's a lot of twists and turns unique to your literature. I'm itching to give some to Twilight. Or Moon Dancer. Or Sunburst."
"I recognize them," Carter said, slightly raising his head. "Moon Dancer's one of her old friends and Sunburst is that wizard-looking guy who's also with Starlight...right?"
Lyra nodded and put the book back into her bag. "How's it like living here?"
"In Blueglove?" Looked up and wondered. "What you expect from city dwellers. I live in an apartment not too far off from my parents—they're just down Route 1."
Lyra did a double take. "That's very far."
Carter then did a double take of his own. "I'm genuinely surprised that you know about the U.S. Highway System."
"It was one of the first things on the pamphlet first time I stepped hoof here," Lyra said. "Along with the Statue of Liberty, the White House, the Golden Gate Bridge...and I could list them all."
"Have you been to them?" Carter asked.
Lyra gulped down the last of her burger; her horn stopped glowing. "Hit them all up on my first trip. It was kind of surreal to see the statue."
"I've seen the comparisons with the Mare Statue," Carter said. "It's on a small island, it's blue-green, it has a torch, the tablet, the crown, the robe—everything except that it's a pony."
"About as old as yours," Lyra said. "Of course, ours was first."
Carter groaned.
"Oh! I'm sorry!"
"Yeah, it's OK," Carter said. "You're not the first pony to do that—you're certainly the kindest of the bunch, really."
Lyra placed a hoof on her chin, pondering. Faced him with a stern expression. "Don't mind them. They're very entitled to whatever they can get from your history."
The two went silent again for a while as diner life around them went on. Though no new customers still haven't entered, the chats were getting livelier. The table full of ponies burst into the topic of food—specifically, the diner's food.
"What got you here?" Lyra asked. "Is cooking and serving food your cutie mark—" coughed "—your talent, humanly speaking?"
Carter scratched his head. "I never had that itch for going big, too. I've watched more than enough movies about how the rich guys are the ones with sorrows, doubts, and worries because they're...they're trying to protect their wealth. The closest thing to riches I want is fame. Fame has its own problems, too, but it's manageable."
"But, you're here in a little eatery," Lyra said. "You're certainly not famous, so what made you content working here?"
He stopped to think. "I guess it's because...it's a people place. You don't just fill up stomachs and erase their hunger. You also get to talk with them about life. You meet them at different points in their lives, and it's astounding...how these different people can come here and eat the same food we've been cooking for about a decade."
"Sounds like I've heard it before," she muttered.
Carter looked at her curiously. "Was it a friendship lesson?"
"Yeah," Lyra replied. "Thanks for jogging my memory."
Carter groaned again and planted his face on the counter.
"I really need to stop reminding you about that, huh?" Lyra said, scrunching up her face a bit. "Then again, you learned that way before Twilight came to Ponyville."
"No. I learned it in 2013 when I first came to work here."
"Oh." Lyra mulled it over, looking away.
"It's not your fault," Carter said, waving his hand erratically.
Another pause, another bout of silence between the two as the diners kept eating and talking with each other.
"When we all heard the news, watched the speeches at the U.N., everyone became instant multiverse experts. Or something like that. At least I'm not rabid."
Lyra tilted her head a bit. "What do you mean by that?"
"I was just surprised as anyone," Carter began. "One minute, we were in the middle of the shift. The next, everyone turned on the TV here—" pointed at an old television standing on a little desk "—and tuned in to watch the announcement of...Equestria."
"Watched the whole speech?" Lyra asked.
"Everything." A pause, letting it sink in. "I don't know anyone who watches U.N. speeches and talks and assemblies, but all of us were watching it. It was...strange to see a unicorn with wings go to the podium and speak about a land of magic where two Princesses control the sun and the moon, flying ponies are responsible for the weather, and everything's just...different. That would be shocking enough, but then she went on to talk about the show."
"Elephant in the room?" Lyra broke in.
"Uh-huh."
Lyra kept silent, watching him.
"There was a brony here—just one—when it happened. I could tell since he was wearing a pony shirt. Well...let's say that he was happy." He snickered, trying to hold the laughter within. "The show...who knew it was the result of a thousand years of history from another world? After that, Princess Twilight announced Equestria and Earth opening realtions with each other, with her being the Equestrian ambassador. Then, she left the room with her friends and Spike. Everyone just saw talking ponies walk around." He rubbed his head.
"I get that story like...ninety percent of the time," she said. "To be honest, it's getting stale, but I still like it whenever I hear one of you tell it."
Carter looked over her shoulder and at the door.
Still no one new.
"What's up with this?" Carter blabbed. "It's supposed to be rush hour for us, but we've got nobody for ten minutes straight."
Lyra shrugged. "I don't know. It's your business, buddy."
Carter shook his head, but smiled at her. "Really?"
"Really," was Lyra's short reply. "It's probably because it looks full."
He took a good look of it all. No one had entered, no one had left. The same customers and diners were there, still involved with their food and chats. Several of the cooks were busy preparing a couple more hayburgers; they had a big order to fill for the table full of ponies who were watching them do their job.
"Eh." It was Carter's turn to shrug. "I'm trying to get used to the new menu. A week of training wasn't enough for me."
"I could tell," Lyra said, smirking.
"The low-quality hayburger, huh?"
Lyra nodded.
"Is this your last stop?"
"I'll take a trip to the park," Lyra said. "There's a guitarist there and I would like to relax and listen...just, experience a simple night in a simple park in a simple city before I go."
"I contest calling Blueglove a 'simple city'," Carter replied.
"It's not as bustling as Manehattan," Lyra said. "Or Manhattan—which is actually a part of New York City...inside a state called New York." She scratched her mane. "I can't get over the confusion that's going to have."
Carter kept quiet.
Lyra raised her head a little. "Do you ever join in those singing crowds?"
Carter raised his eyebrows yet again, more energy in his face. "You mean those spontaneous musicals you ponies do whenever you feel like it?" Shook his head. "Nah. I can't even sing a song off the top of my head, let alone try to guess through the lyrics of a song that appeared out of nowhere."
A pause. "I've joined a lot throughout my life, especially after I moved to Ponyville. Pinkie Pie...she's really good at rallying up the will to sing together. Plus, with her, you never know when's the next song to sing."
"It could happen right now?" Carter asked, looking anxiously here and there.
"Not just with Pinkie," Lyra said. "But, you never know..."
Carter looked out the window.
A group of ponies strolling their way, about to pass by the diner.
Guitar strum.
Everyone looked at the door.
"Wait." Carter rose up from his seat. "What was—"
A pegasus swung the door open and sang:
"What a grand, grand place to be
In the middle of the city!
So many things to do,
So many things to say,
So many things
That spin my head away!"
Carter placed his hand on his head, hearing the guitar joined by drums and a mandolin. "Oh, no, please don't—"
Lyra jumped out of her chair and lunged at the pegasus's side.
Smiling, the whole group went on:
"It sets me dizzy,
I feel fizzy,
So send me out right away,
Tonight and...today!"
And the group of ponies left, Lyra with them as they crossed the street.
"Huh." Carter then sat down on his chair. "First time it happened right in front of me."
Took in his surroundings once more. Everyone had gone back to their usual business: his co-workers were back to cooking and serving, and the customers were back to eating and...well, dining in the diner.
Bell rang.
Door opened.
"I'm sorry for the short notice," Twilight Sparkle said as she wiped the sweat off of her face, hovering her way to the counter, "but checking up on everything with the Blueglove—Red Fet portal was a doozy!"
Looked at a Carter whose mouth was wide open. So were his eyes.
"Uh, your friends are standing up," Twilight pointed out, glancing at his co-workers moving about and cooking fast and then turning back to Carter. "Is there something wrong?"
