Who Are You? (The ?Displaced? Story)

What was it going to be today? Was a hand going to pull him through the wall or was she going to be waiting outside today?

Neither of Scribbles’ guesses were correct. Today an actually doorway had been erected where he had been told to go yesterday. And surprisingly it opened as Scribbles approached. “That’s a lovely new feature. How has no one else come through that yet? Invisible to the human eye except mine? Or, or maybe I’ve been granted clearance into this world.”

Lyra laughed. “Nope. Nobody ever goes to that specific alleyway. You’re literally the only person who I’ve seen walk up there. Not even the drug dealers or other sketchy business people walk in there.”

“You can watch as people walk around out there? How exactly might I ask?” Scribbles opened his notebook and was ready to take notes.

“Well cameras that are invisible to your eyes for seeing what comes up and down the street. And as for the alleyway. I can see through the door to your world. It’s a bit freaky when you first discover you’ve got that ability. Sometimes a random chunk of what should be a wall is missing. Messes with new Displaced and is a pretty good prank to pull on them.” Lyra looked around. “I brought a new Displaced in with me today, I hope you don’t mind.”

Scribbles shook his head. “Another point of view might help to shed some light on this in a way I can more easily understand. Not to sound harsh or anything but you’re explanations have a way of going over my head. So much knowledge about the subject and so little space to right it down is not the way I had imagined this going. Not to mention if this new Displaced is fresh, they’ll not know too much and can provide a good explanation of what the initial feeling is like.”

A new mare trotted up looking around the room. “This is really cool.” She did a double take on the stallion sitting before her. “Who is he? Lyra, I thought you said we were going to be alone while I learned more about this place.”

Lyra shook her head. “Fret not BonBon. He’s an anthropologist. He’s here to learn more about the Displaced just as you are. And he has a few questions for you if you’d be willing to answer them.”

This new mare possessed neither wings nor a horn. She looked like she knew relatively little about all this and had a look of concern plastered on her face. “Well I suppose I could answer a question or two for you. What’s your name?”

Scribbles sat up. “My apologies for my rudeness. My name is Scribbles. Like Lyra said I’m an anthropologist seeking answers about your culture. I’d like to know what it felt like when you first figured out you were Displaced?”

BonBon pulled up a chair and sat down. “Well, I was a little shocked to say the least. I was walking along the other day through Ponyville when I noticed a strange grey patch where one shouldn’t have been. Upon further inspection it looked like a room like this one. But as I went to move to the side of the small patch it disappeared completely from sight. I was confused, so I went back around and saw that it was indeed still there and I wasn’t hallucinating. So I tenderly put a hoof up to the strange area and nearly shrieked in panic as my hoof went through it. I’d never seen anything like it. So I pulled my hoof back and stared into the room. When Lyra stepped in front of the door. She looked at me as I looked at her. She waved to see if i was actually able to see her. I waved back and took a step forward. After a few seconds she reached out through the door. I backed away not knowing what her intentions were. But after reassuring me she was just trying to help me out with my new ability I trotted into the door.”

Scribbles kept writing for a minute or so before stopping. “That’s quite intriguing. Good information to know as well. Maybe we’ll be able to spot a new Displaced when something like that happens.”

Lyra laughed. “You’ll have to try extremely hard to find them before we do. It wasn’t an accident that BonBon here saw the pocket world that she saw. I was assigned to bring her here so that she could be trained. Not one pony from her world saw her go missing. As far as they know, until she returns, BonBon never existed to them.”

“WHAT!?!” Both Scribbles and BonBon were in unison.

Lyra jumped slightly. “Sorry I forgot to mention that. But it is a temporary effect until we get you settled into the Displaced lifestyle. After that you can exist in any world that you so choose. If you want we can even set it up so your home world is the one that you can spend your time in until you’re needed to protect some world. It’s a temporary mind erasing magic of sorts. Anybody that knew you now has never heard of you in their life, that is until you return home. After that you will be transmitted into everybody's minds across every known universe. No matter what species you would be on that planet they’ll have memories of your birth, childhood, schooling. People will remember you as a friend, claim they dated and even slept with you. Not a one of them is lying. They have those memories because we plant them there. But in truth none of that has really happened. You’ve only lived your life and now you’ve got a new life to live.”

BonBon looked at Scribbles to make sure she was hearing this right. “You’re telling me that you can do that!?! That’s actually incredible.” Her eyes lit up with joy. “So technically I’ve lived so many lives that I’ve likely done everything that is possible to do.”

Lyra looked surprised that BonBon responded that way. “Yes…. And technically you can do all those things if you so wish. You’ve got the rest of time to explore the multiverse and do whatever you please. Within the realm of possibility and the laws of the Displaced of course.”

BonBon pouted. “There are laws that I have to follow? But I thought being an almost all powerful Displaced was supposed to put me above the laws of reality. Like I thought you said we can inverse gravity if we wanted to?”

Lyra rubbed the back of her head. “I mean technically we can invert the flow of gravity or just manipulate it so that we can fly without wings, or hit the ground from several thousand feet up and not get scratched. Laws of reality don’t have to apply to us. But we do have rules in the Displaced. We aren’t allowed to do certain things. That’s just how we maintain the balance of power not only in the pocket worlds, but in every other world that exists. If we don’t do those things the entire multiverse could collapse and things could be very bad, not just for us either. If things escalate that much some Displaced have promised to destroy all the pocket worlds. That much matter being destroyed at once does one thing and one thing only. Interdimensional black holes.”

Scribbles interrupted. “OK SLOW THE FUCK DOWN!!!” He took a deep breath. “Take a deep breath and chill. None of that is going to happen. Just calm down and explain the rules to BonBon over there.”

BonBon looked at Lyra. “I didn’t realize that much could happen if we didn’t follow the rules. I really don’t want to destroy the multiverse. So I’ll just wait until I’ve learned the rules to start doing anything of importance.”

Lyra shook her head. “Sorry about that outburst BonBon. It’s been a while since I had so proper company. Scribbles hasn’t been doing this for very long after all. I’m just not used to one; having people here and two; having somepony that I’m supposed to mentor. Back home I was a prankster. I didn’t really have a job that I was supposed to do. Everything was so simple back then. But now, I’ve got to deal with all these rules and the fact that this body isn’t the one I was born with.” She rocked back and forth in her chair. “It’s just a lot to handle sometimes. Especially alone.”

BonBon cocked her head to the side and her eyes lit up with realization. “I know you. I knew that you looked familiar. You’re that one mare I used to hang out with when I was a little younger. We played pranks on everyone and we had something special going on between us. Then you left.”

Lyra stopped for a moment. “I. I knew from that point on I wanted you to be Displaced. I had seen some of the signs but wasn’t sure. I couldn’t be sure about it. I had to leave to watch from a distance just in case you weren’t really displaced. It was the one assignment that really made me happy. Spending that time with you kept me sane and gave me hope. I was so happy to spend so quality time with somepony.”

BonBon looked deep into Lyra’s eyes. “Well miss Heartstrings I think you’ve got more than just a little time to spend with me.” With that she kissed Lyra.

Lyra’s eyes lit up with genuine happiness. Something that hadn’t been seen in her eyes for years. “I’m so sorry I had to leave you there. I didn’t want to but the brainiacs in the recruits department. Didn’t want me screwing around in a world for that long unless I could provide concrete evidence that you were Displaced. I didn’t want to leave you there for all those years alone. I knew you belonged here. Even if you weren’t Displaced, I wanted you by my side through everything.” Lyra hugged BonBon letting the tears roll down her face.

“It’s okay. I’m here now and I’m not planning on leaving your side anytime soon. Now why don’t we just do some catching up.” She started to escort Lyra away. “Come back tomorrow Scribbles I’m sure after a night’s rest and talking she’ll be ready to answer more questions.”