Lyra & The /k/ommandos

Chapter 1: Leaving

Lyra is a human fanatic. She researches them, talks about them with her friends, looks at them all the time, and of course annoys her roommate Bon-Bon with them at least 5 hours a day if Bon-Bon’s lucky of course as five hours and below is usually the minimum amount of time. If she isn’t lucky however, she’ll be driven to the breaking point of practical internal (and external) screaming in exasperation from listening to Lyra babble on. Of course Bon-Bon is an understanding pony, she knows we all have our interests as she has her own, and because she thinks so, she still loves Lyra no matter what, her commitment with humans, or her commitment in general, being one of the many reasons she loves her.

After all she knows behind the human talk is a well rounded pony with hopes and dreams of one day becoming a successful member of today's society, one that she could see herself with for a long time. But she does find it worrisome when she spends her bits on human memorabilia, and goes to conventions for days on end obsessing over the stuff. But her worries are amplified ten-fold when she goes off into the woods maybe three times a year hunting for humans alone, trying to get real proof they exist. Now normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but she does it in the Everfree forest of all the places she could go.

She finds it extremely dangerous, and she gets worried that one time when she goes into those woods, she may never come out, after all it's the Everfree forest, a mysterious and practically untamed land to her, and to many others like herself. Herself being common pony folk. Lyra has a word for ponies like Bon-Bon, that she often refers to Bon-Bon as from time to time when they argue, she calls them… normies.

She’s stressed her displeasure to Lyra about her outings many times, but each time Lyra says she has nothing to fear and that safety is her number one priority. But when she comes back from those woods with cuts and bruises and complains of aching for the next couple days, they often get into fights on her continuing this fascination with humans to the point of self harm. Bon-Bon doesn’t want her to stop her interest in humans but, she also doesn’t want her to get into serious trouble. But Lyra sometimes just doesn't want to hear it.

She says that going this extra mile is necessary to her, “cause.” Bon-Bon usually asks her what she means by that, and Lyra always responds the same way.

“To prove that we aren’t alone out here, and that humans do exist!” Of which will prompt her to go on and on about discovery and the pursuit of knowledge.

But Bon-Bon has heard that shpeel so many times that… she can recite it word by word. So she usually just gives up trying after a while of arguing with her, and nods her head till she stops talking. But, Bon-Bon can always try because she really does care about Lyra. And Lyra knows that, which is why deep down she understands why she says the things that she says. She knows she’s worried about her safety, about her spending bits on this hobby, about her obsession.

And sometimes, she listens. She tries to spend more time with Bon-Bon. Once in a blue moon she doesn’t go to the human convention, and instead she spends time at home or abroad. She will once in awhile pass up on something she wants and puts her bits away in the bank. And maybe… when she really wants to, she doesn’t go into the Everfree Forest.
Though of course, she doesn't listen all the time. And that stubbornness to her hobby may lead to what Bon-Bon fears the most.

10:47PM - 28th of May - 2019

It was a somewhat hot night, with a very heavy dosage of humidity in the air, which had turned to fog as a light coating of it had settled around the town of Ponyville. It had rained earlier that day and unfortunately this was the result. The muggy, foggy, damp soupy mess of an atmosphere made Lyra who was weighed down with a decent amount of camping and survival gear, grumble and subtly curse beneath her breath as she walked to the outskirts of Ponyville. Needless to say she was miserable, and the weather was the cherry on the shit sunday as she was already in a bad state of mind, knowing what she was about to do. She had barely started her adventure, and she almost wanted to turn back.

She, had left her house and roomate Bon-Bon behind almost two hours ago, without notice. This was new to her as she had always told her where she was going at all times. But, she had already packed her things, a week in advance, and kept her plan a secret from her friend long enough so she could escape in the dead of night when Bon-Bon went to bed for the evening. She left the house, leaving a note behind detailing her sudden disappearance, also saying that if she wasn’t back with in three days, that Bon-Bon should contact the authorities, and start a search party. For she had only packed for a three day trip, and she knew that of course. Lyra would be forced to leave anyway, even if she didn’t want to.

But with the supplies she took, she made sure that she had everything she needed to ensure her survival for those three days. It included a tent, sleeping bag, bug spray, a fire starting kit, food, water, a first aid kit. All of this, and some things to keep her boredom occupied when she wasn’t busy with her goal.

Finding humans, and possibly convincing them to leave the woods and come out to civilization to show the ponies of the world that they do exist. This was her ultimate plan of grandeur, her magnum opus. She would finally show Bon-Bon and all her normie friends that all her obsession was enough to justify her going out and camping in the woods like this. She would finally have peace in her never ending quest to bring about a new discovery in Equestrian history. Lyra figured she would be renowned for her discovery, she would be the face of scientific minds across the country if not the world, and not just some quack from Ponyville that won’t stop obsessive over humans. And these thoughts alone pressed her forever onwards in her mission, despite the shit atmosphere.

Of course this hunch she had that humans really do exist didn’t come from out of nowhere. Though she has always believed they existed, she has never really believed them to be out there this strongly like this until a few weeks ago, when she overheard a conversation between a pair of ponies at the Ponyville Marketplace.

She was gathering some fruit to make a delicious fruit salad for her and her roommate for tonight's dinner one afternoon, when she heard the word human flutter through the air. She would almost instantly forget about her shopping and would pursue the conversation. She would find herself, hiding behind a barrel of apples, listening to a Royal Guardsman, and another stallion as they spoke together quietly in the open, a pen and notepad suspended by her magic.

She didn’t know how they got to the topic of humans, but what she hears made her smile, and her pen fly across the notepad. The Guard was apparently a very high ranking non commissioned officer, and he had some leaked info from his commanding officer that there had been some disturbances in the Everfree Forest not to long ago that nopony in their unit could explain what it was. They had reported it to higher command, but they didn’t hear anything back from them for a while, almost as if telling them to, forget about it.

She listened for a little while longer until the two parted ways and headed separate directions. Her pen stopped and there she lay for roughly 15 minutes putting the conversation together in her mind. Word by word, constructing and deconstructing everything he had said. And when she came down to the explanation that it could be humans, she put her plan in motion as fast as she could.

Soon, she left the town of Ponyville, getting closer towards the Forest in the distance, her gear clunking along with her, a feeling of optimism washed over herself as deceiving her friend was pushed onto the back burner for the time being as she recounted the conversation she had eavesdropped in on. She had a job to do and she was going to do exactly what she had always intended to do.

Find herself a human. Nothing was going to stop her now.