Several students at Canterlot High gathered after school in a vacant classroom. Scribble Dee, a girl with light yellow skin, poofy orange hair, and thick glasses, wrangled with cables to connect her laptop to a TV. She couldn’t help but notice another girl standing near her, shaking with excitement as she looked around at the other students.
“I’m glad you joined us this time, Lyra. Why don’t you take a seat? I’ll be done in a bit,” said Scribble.
Lyra was a girl with light green skin and hair that mixed light green and white. Wearing a wide grin, she tilted her head in an odd way and said, “Thank you, human.”
Scribble blinked. “Uh, no problem.”
Lyra took a few steps, which seemed closer to stumbles, then sat in a chair. She looked down at her seat, seeming pleased with herself. “I’ve practiced my whole life for this.”
Scribble chose not to think about this. Anime Club takes all types, after all. “Alright, episode’s loaded. Turn off the lights.” She clicked play and then walked to a seat as the lights switched off.
The TV screen blasted Lyra with light and music. She gripped her desk with her hands. Amazement grew on her face, and after a minute of the opening playing, she couldn’t help but stand up and exclaim, “HOLY FEATHER!”
Ponyville was lightly blanketed by snow and ponies were out celebrating and buying gifts, signaling the arrival of Hearth’s Warming in a few days. In one cozy cottage, Lyra the unicorn set up a strange contraption in the living room as her wife, Bon Bon the earth pony, looked on in concern.
“Lyra, I already thought you going to the human world was a bad idea, but bringing otherworldly devices here? I’m pretty sure my job involves stopping just that,” Bon Bon said as she peered at the big screen TV.
“You mean with SMILE? Doesn’t that just involve capturing monsters?” Lyra asked.
Bon Bon pouted. “Alien technology is implied. And it’s not just that, it’s that you’re seriously inviting everypony here to see these cartoons for a Hearth’s Warming party.”
Lyra rolled her eyes. “It’s called anime, Bonny. And it’ll be fine. Everyone already knows about humans, so I’ll just be showing them their works of art. This TV and this us-bee thing aren’t even magic, so there can’t be any problems. Anime can only enrich us!”
Lyra got up and they nuzzled. Bon Bon placed her head on top of her wife’s and sighed. “Alright, fine. But as soon as somepony starts acting strange, I’m pulling the plug.”
The front door slammed open and the two mares turned to it in shock. There stood the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy, with a decidedly unkind expression on her face. She wore a purple sweater and earmuffs with a flower pattern, which only served to underscore her menace. Her eyes were narrow and she grimaced as she stomped up to Lyra. She lifted up a sheet of paper with her wing showing the anime schedule for the party. With venom in her voice, she asked, “What is this?”
Lyra smiled. “Oh, you mean anime? Well it’s—”
“I know what anime is!” Fluttershy exclaimed and Lyra shrank back
Fluttershy took a deep breath and released it. Her tone became light and friendly. “I’m terribly sorry for startling you, Lyra, but you should know that I'm a lifelong manga reader, and ever since Twilight opened a door to the other world, I’ve been going over there and watching the anime adaptations of my favorite manga.”
Bon Bon’s eyes narrowed. “Really.”
Fluttershy pointed a hoof at the paper. “My problem is what you’re showing.”
Lyra smiled while sweating. “Yeah, I guess showing nothing but Sword Pony Online is a bit much, but I really really wanted everyone to see the part where Kirito starts dual-wielding his swords. I mean how awesome is that, he’s using both of his hands to hold two swords and he’s slashing like crazy and it’s so mind blowing! He isn’t even using magic! Or, maybe he is, I didn’t really get what virtual reality is.”
Fluttershy sighed. “I hate to say this, but… Lyra Heartstrings, you are an uncultured pleb!”
Bon Bon and Lyra gasped.
She continued in a gentle tone, “I understand anime must be new for you, but I find it disappointing that you would hold this event to introduce the wonder of anime to everycreature, and you make it about trash like Sword Pony Online.”
Anger flared in Lyra. “You take that back! SPO has cool fights and Kirito and Asuna’s romance is great, so there’s something for everyone!”
Fluttershy covered her mouth with her foreleg and giggled. “I bet you even plan on showing episodes in Ponish instead of the original Neighponese.”
Lyra paused, confused by what she was getting at. “Well of course, I want everyone to understand it.”
Fluttershy’s face shifted to concern. “Oh my, you really are showing it in Ponish, aren’t you? This is serious. You need to come with me now. I have to show you what anime is really like.”
Lyra huffed. “Alright, I’ll see what’s so great about your anime.” She magically put on a scarf as Fluttershy walked out the open door. “Bon Bon, you take care of things until I get back.”
“Just so you know, this totally counts as somepony acting strange,” Bon Bon said.
Lyra got on her back legs, put her front legs on her wife’s shoulders, and shook her. “Honey you can’t stop this! You can’t!”
With her head rocking back and forth, Bon Bon responded, “Alright alright, fine, I’ll wait for another creature to act strange.”
“You’re the best, Bonny!” Lyra pecked her on the cheek and then shot out the door. Left alone, Bon Bon sat and looked at the human world equipment suspiciously.
Fluttershy opened the door to her cottage and the two mares walked in.
Lyra looked around the warm and inviting living room. “Huh, I would have expected more animals here.”
“Most of my animal friends are hibernating at their homes, so we mostly have the place to ourselves. That means we can really go crazy with anime.” Fluttershy went to a wall and pressed a hidden button. The wall opened to reveal a TV and shelves of thin boxes. “These are anime DVDs. I have a pretty big collection.”
Lyra looked at the titles with suspicion. “Ranmare ½, Magic Horse Rayearth, Serial Experiments Lope, Revolutionary Filly Utena. I haven’t heard of any of these.”
Fluttershy put her hoof on Lyra’s shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “And that’s precisely why we’re here. Come on, I have just the thing to cure you of your Sword Pony Online madness.”
Lyra grumbled but sat on a couch. Fluttershy used her mouth to pull out a DVD case and open it, grabbed the disc with her tongue, then spat it into her DVD player. She then pressed her nose against the play button. “Lyra, I think you’ll like this anime. It’s called Fushigi Horsey, and it’s also about someone getting trapped in another world, except it’s Ancient Chineigh.”
Lyra sat upright with her back legs crossed and leaned on an armrest. After a bit, a ninja appeared on the screen, who started fighting another human. Lyra’s face lit up. “Ooh, Fushigi Horsey looks awesome!”
“Sorry, that’s just an ad.” Fluttershy booped her nose on the DVD player and it skipped past the ninja fighting. “That series is bad anyway, so let’s not pay it any mind.”
“But ninja! Can’t we watch that series?”
“No Lyra. In fact, a ninja is usually a sign that the series is actually bad.”
“That makes no sense! They’re ninjas!”
Fluttershy closed her eyes sagely. “You learn these sorts of things from experience. In time, you too will grow past ninjas.”
Lyra slumped in her seat and sighed.
Noticing her disappointment, Fluttershy quickly added, “Oh, but Fushigi Horsey has plenty of excitement too, including in the opening. Just watch.”
The first episode started, and instead of looking at the TV, Fluttershy stared at Lyra’s face. Once the music started and humans appeared, Lyra had completely bounced back and was fully invested in what was happening on screen. Fluttershy’s smile grew as the moment where the music picked up approached, and giggled as Lyra almost fell over when it did and the previously calm visuals grew in intensity.
Once the opening ended, Lyra said, “OK, this is pretty cool so far,” and Fluttershy clapped her hooves in glee. However, Lyra’s face fell once again shortly after. “Wait, are they…?” Lyra grimaced and squinted at the screen. “Fluttershy, you put it in Neighponese with subtitles!”
Fluttershy tilted her head and smiled with her eyes closed. “This is the best and most natural way to watch anime. Just give it a chance and I’m sure you’ll get used to it in no time.”
Lyra groaned, furrowed her brow, distorted her face, and left her mouth hanging open as she focused on the subtitles.
“I really love how the ending credits music starts before the credits,” Fluttershy said as the credits rolled. “So Lyra, is Tamahome cool or what?”
Lyra was lying on the coach now. She blinked rapidly to unsquint her eyes. “Uh, sorry. Who’s Tamahome?”
Fluttershy paused. “Lyra, were you even watching?”
Lyra spread her front legs and exclaimed, “Well I’m sorry, but it’s a little hard to tell what’s going on when I can’t look at the subtitles and the anime at the same time!”
Fluttershy stomped her hoof. “Lyra, you’re just being stubborn. It’s easy to just read the subtitles while watching.”
“No, it isn’t! You could’ve just played it in Ponish!”
“But the Ponish dub is bad.” She took a breath. “Anyway, what did you think about the story?”
Lyra also paused. “Well, there is one thing I was confused about. How did those human girls get to Ancient Chineigh?”
“Lyra, are you serious? It’s the book. The one she got sucked into.”
“What was that phoenix, then?”
“That’s explained later, you don’t need to know the details yet. But it’s one of the gods of the other world.”
“Wait, so is it a book or another world?”
“It’s both. This isn’t hard, Lyra. The book holds another world.”
“Why is the book like that?”
“That’s explained later. Well, more or less.”
“And there’s another thing, why is the animation so weird?”
Fluttershy tilted her head. “Weird? What do you mean?”
“I mean, like, I watched a bunch of anime in the human world, and they all had a certain look to them. This one looks different, like it’s older or something.”
“Well of course it looks older,” Fluttershy said as she lifted the DVD case with her wings and looked at the back. “This was made… 24 years ago.”
Lyra jumped onto the floor. “It’s what?!”
Lyra used her magic to lift the other DVD cases from Fluttershy’s shelves and examined the backs. “Fluttershy, all of these are ancient!”
Fluttershy raised her voice. “They aren’t ancient, they’re classics!”
“That’s it, I don’t care anymore! I’m going back to my party where I’m showing Sword Pony Online, a series ponies will care about and in a language they understand!”
“Lyra, you can’t!”
Lyra ran to the door, but Fluttershy flew forward and grabbed her back leg. Lyra tried to shake her off then used her magic to push her away. She opened the door and ran to the road.
Fluttershy pulled a whistle from her wings and blew it. “War sloths, attack!”
Sloths dropped onto Lyra from the trees she passed under, knocking her to the ground. They growled as they latched onto her legs and pinned her.
Fluttershy approached the struggling unicorn with a trot. “Lyra, you absolutely can’t show them Sword Pony Online. How about Mareson Ikkoku instead? It’s 33 years old, but it’s just as relevant today.”
Lyra built up magic. “I say thee… neigh!” Her magic formed into two blunt swords on her front legs and she swung them around, blowing the sloths away. Unharmed, they slowly made their way back up the trees.
Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed. “So that’s how it’s going to be? Then I suppose it’s time we let our hooves do the talking.”
Lyra stood on her back legs, taking a stance with her magic swords. Fluttershy crouched down, ready to pounce.
A leaf fell, and they both charged at each other, exchanging a rapid flurry of attacks.
Within a second, this devolved to them batting at each other with their hooves as they turned their faces away.
Snow fell and the sky darkened.
Lyra and Fluttershy both laid on the ground panting. Once she caught her breath, Fluttershy said, “Well, I’ve delayed you for long enough. The party start time must have passed by now, and you weren’t able to show anycreature SPO.”
Lyra grinned and responded, “Sorry Fluttershy, but I left Bon Bon in charge, so she started SPO without us.”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “No!”
She got up and galloped down the road, with Lyra quickly following after.
After several minutes, they reached Lyra and Bon Bon’s house and slammed the door open, squeezing in at the same time. They fell onto the ground side by side, with just enough energy remaining to lift their heads and see how the guests were reacting.
On the screen, the ending credits of one episode played and ponies took this opportunity to grab snacks from a side table. It was hard to make out what they were saying.
Noticing the new arrivals, Bon Bon approached the two mares. “Well I’m glad you finally made it.” She pulled Lyra to her feet and they quickly nuzzled, then she helped Fluttershy up. “Did you have fun discovering the truth about anime or whatever it was?”
The two laughed nervously. Lyra asked, “So, uh, is everyone…?”
“Well, I worked my way into the crowd, as I do, and I overheard everyone’s reactions. They find this really interesting!”
Lyra pumped her hoof while Fluttershy groaned.
Another mare noticed this conversation and walked up to them, holding a cup of eggnog. “Lyra, there you are!” said Moondancer. “This human show you found is quite fascinating. You know, this virtual reality concept is actually pretty close to something on the cutting edge of magical research here in Equestria. It’s amazing that the humans could have something similar in mind using just electronics. This show brings up a lot of the same concerns mages have about advanced illusion magic and—”
Fluttershy got up into Moondancer’s face. “You know they don’t examine all that in any amount of depth, right? Everything’s completely surface level, there’s nothing there!”
Moondancer backed up. “Oh, uh, well yes, I can see that this is ultimately a fictional adventure story using virtual reality as a backdrop, but I was just saying that even so, there are several interesting ideas presented—”
Fluttershy pressed forward again. “But even if you liked the first episodes, it gets bad after that, and even the first episodes are bad once you give any thought to them, so please, you need to get out while you still can!”
Moondancer gave a nervous smile and backed into the screening area.
Fluttershy sighed and said, “Oh, what am I even doing? Everycreature is enjoying themselves and I’m just bringing their mood down.”
Lyra put a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Fluttershy, you’re worried about what will happen when ponies keep watching SPO, but what do you think will happen?”
“Well, they could realize it’s bad and then decide all anime’s bad. And then ponies would decide you and I are freaks for liking anime.”
“Do you really think the ponies here would do that, Fluttershy?”
“No, I suppose not.” Fluttershy put a hoof to her chest. “Oh Lyra, I wasn’t considering your feelings at all during all this. Instead of celebrating my new anime friend, I lorded my knowledge over you and insulted you. It came from what I thought was a good place, making sure no one watched a bad series, but I ended up twisting and corrupting that.”
“Is watching a bad series even such a bad thing? The way I see it, you need to see the bad to enjoy the good, and what makes for a good anime can vary pony by pony and change over time. Heck, maybe in a few months I’ll think of SPO the same way you do, but I don’t think I’ll regret enjoying it.”
“I think you’re right Lyra. I’m really sorry for everything.”
Lyra took a breath. “Fluttershy, I admit, I was being difficult back at your cottage. I would have been willing to try out your anime if you didn’t insult a show I liked and you didn’t insist on watching it subbed. And I would have been able to adjust to the subs, but I chose not to in order to upset you, and that worked, so I decided to upset you more, and that led to us fighting, and, well, I’m sorry. I just wanted to watch things in a language I understand, and I want to see humans doing cool human stuff, and I let that get in the way of our friendship.”
The two mares embraced.
Bon Bon walked to Fluttershy with a smile. “So Fluttershy, will you join us for the rest of the marathon?”
Fluttershy smiled and shook her head. “No, I think I’ll head home. I won’t bother you all about SPO, but it still isn’t a show I’m interested in rewatching.”
“I understand,” Lyra said.
Fluttershy paused. “You know, there’s still a few days before Hearth’s Warming. I could maybe recommend an anime for you, one that has a Ponish dub.”
Lyra smiled. “How about a show with swords and humans riding horses?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Well, until then, Happy Hearth’s Warming.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Happy Hearth’s Warming.”
She walked out the door, closing it behind her.
Lyra turned to Bon Bon. “So they just finished episode 2, right?” Bon Bon nodded. “Well that’s perfect, the next episode is even about Human Hearth’s Warming.”
The two walked to the TV and set up the next episode. Even if it turned bad later, they would enjoy the experience together.
Author's Note
For the record, not a fan of Sword Art Online.
Referenced anime include Sword Art Online, Ranma 1/2, Magic Knight Rayearth, Serial Experiments Lain, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Fushigi Yuugi.
