My name is Jason Morison, and so far, my life hasn't been much to be extremely happy about. Sure, I have a job at a nightclub in the city I live in, but that's about it. At first it seemed awesome, but then it just turned into an everyday thing, and wasn't that exciting anymore. My house is fairly decent in size, being three bedroom house. My parents both died when I was 17, and seeing as I was their only child, they left me everything in the will; the house, their investments, which I was required to sell (doing so landed me an assload of cash), and their cars. One was a Skyline GT, the other, a tuned Supra. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and I was taught early on to work hard to make a living. When you're 22 years old and you do the same thing day in and day out, things tend to get a little boring, even when you're the DJ at a nightclub.
It was just another dull day in the city, the sky was overcast, and once again, I had a headache like no other. I sat on the couch while flipping through the channels on the tv, nothing really catching my interest. Once or twice I stopped channel surfing long enough to be able to tell what was being shown, but I simply lost interest shortly after. Another five minutes went by, when I heard the doorbell ring.
"That's odd, I don't remember inviting anyone over this afternoon, and I could've sworn I've dealt with all of the sales associates that keep coming to my door. Then again, it wouldn't hurt to check anyway..." I talk to myself, a lot. It's a habit I've developed after living alone for so long, and not really having anyone close. When I got to the door, I checked through the peephole and hadn't found anyone there. Upon opening the door, there was a box standing at my feet. I looked over it, and found that it didn't have any discernible markings of any shipping company I knew of. There was a sticker with an image of what looked to be a pegasus, and the name was odd as well. "Royal Canterlot Express Post," was what it said on the sticker. I thought to myself, "That's an odd name for a shipping company... heh, maybe it's got something to do with the Brony fandom."
Yeah, I'm not a brony. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate ponies, it's just that I never really got into the whole thing. My thoughts returned to the mysterious package, "Maybe I should bring it inside to see what the heck's in it." Just as I went to pick up the box, i felt the weight of whatever was inside of it, and it wasn't light by any comparison. "Damn, this thing's a little heavy. What the hell did they send me?"
Finally getting the box from the front porch to the coffee table inside the living room, I shut the door, and set off to find something to open the box with. Two minutes later, I returned with a knife fron the kitchen. Now that I've gotten the chance to get a good look at the box, it seemed to have holes along the sides. "Crap, whatever they sent me, it's most likely alive. I'll be pissed if someone just sent me a gag package with a big rock in the box." After standing around and contemplating whether or not I should open the box, I broke down and opened it. "I'm just glad that I have a week off to deal with this, if it happens to actually be a living thing." Taking the knife to the tape on the top of the box, I cut along the top, and then cut the tape on the sides near the top, so as to not suddenly move it, in case something really was alive in there.
I carefully opened the box, and held my breath as I did so... what I saw before me, was something that I had never expected to see in a million years... there, in the box, was a sleeping aquamarine filly, with a two-tone mane, white on one side and aquamarine on the other. I let out a sigh, and mentally d'awwwed. Though I said I wasn't into ponies, that doesn't mean I don't like cute things. I quickly went outside to see if any of my neighbors got a similar package - none whatsoever. "I doubt that I could bring this to anyone else to care for, and if I put up an ad for a lost cell-colored adorable filly, I might get thrown into the loony bin." I walked back inside just before it started to rain. Checking on the little bundle of cute, I saw that she was still sleeping. "Well, looks like I'm gonna have to take care of you; first thing's first, I gotta get you somewhere more comfortable, because I doubt sleeping in that box is very cozy."
No sooner than I picked her up, the unicorn filly stirred awake. She yawned, and honestly, I nearly died of cuteness overload. As soon as she woke up, her eyes took on a look of fear. I changed her position so she was being leaned against my chest and shoulder and I rubbed her back, trying to comfort her. "Hey, it's fine, you're safe. I'll make sure that nothing hurts you, okay?" At first I didn't know if she understood me, that is, until she nuzzled her head into the side of my neck. "I'll take that as if to say 'I feel safe.' I don't have a spare bed, so I guess you can sleep on mine for now." I walked up the stairs and made my way to the master bedroom. Placing the cute unicorn onto the bed had proved... difficult, to say the least. She squirmed as I tried to set her down, as if to say that she didn't want to leave my arms. When I had managed to place her on the bed, she jumped right back into my arms. "You really don't want me to leave you alone, do you?" She shook her head. 'So, she can understand me. Well, seems to me than you might be able to speak later on if you can understand what I'm saying.'
Sighing in defeat, I climbed up onto the bed and set the little filly down next to me. Placing her on the pillow, she curled up into a little ball, and I just laid there, stroking her mane; a content smile spread across her face. I sighed, "Damn, you are too damn cute." I fell asleep with my hand still on her back.
The sun - giver of life, toaster of the planet, and my sworn mortal enemy! Its rays cascaded into the bedroom, barraging me with light, waking me up at an unnecessary time. Groggily, I awoke. 'What the hell kind of dream was that? I find a package at my door, and find out that it's a cell-shaded pony - a unicorn no less. Well, I guess I should get up, seeing as the sun doesn't wanna let me go back to sleep.' I opened my eyes, and saw that the unicorn in question was still sitting on my pillow, sleeping peacefully. 'So, it wasn't a dream, or I'm tripping balls still from some ninja spiking my drink yesterday.'
I carefully got up from the bed, as to not disturb the still sleeping filly. Now onto the next task: getting clothes, quietly... 'Damn, think, think, think think thinkthinkthinkthinkthinkthinkthinkthink - oh yeah, I left some clean clothes in the laundry room.' Tiptoeing, I managed to get out of the bedroom without waking the unicorn who I have yet to name, and ventured downstairs and into the laundry room. Sifting through the clothes, I picked out a pair of crappy generic black sweat pants, crappy generic undergarments, and a crappy generic black t-shirt. 'I guess I should figure out what I'm gonna name her... TO THE INTERNET!'
I walked back up the stairs, and into the little office, turning on the computer as I moved to sit down in the chair. When the computer turned on, I was greeted with the Backtrack 5.0 boot screen. Configuring the encryption settings and the firewall, I was ready to venture out into the internet. No, I am not paranoid, I just didn't want someone snooping in on my data, wherever they may be. Opening Firefox, I went to one of the places which I thought that I would never visit - Equestria Daily. Instead of checking out the different links that lead to all types of different content, I went right over to the IRC link, and logged in. I informed them of me not being a brony, but not being against the fandom and how they like a show that was intended for a different audience, and they gave me a warm welcome.
Welcome to the herd bro, enjoy your stay
"Well, I'm not exactly a part of the herd yet, but I would like to pose a serious hypothetical question."
Sure, fire away
"If a pony were to show at your doorstep, in a Canterlot Royal Express Post shipping box, how would one care for it?"
Well, that's a tough one....
"Take your time dude"
Five minutes went by before anything was said... Finally, the person replied with an answer.
It depends really. If you live in the city, you're gonna have a bit of trouble if you're taking care of a pegasus. If you're taking care of an earth pony or a unicorn, things are somewhat more in your favor, but not much. I take it you haven't named it yet either, right? What does it look like?
"She's got an aquamarine coat with a two-tone mane and tail, one side white and the other the same color of her coat, and golden eyes. She's a unicorn."
Dude, you're lucky, you got Lyra Heartstrings.
"Anyway, back to my original question..."
Alright, well, the diet kind of speaks for itself - salads are ok, flowers (I feel sorry for your neighbor's garden XD), fries (MUST be home made). When you decide to clean her, I'd say you should give her a bath for the first few months, wouldn't hurt to brush her mane, tail and coat every so often. And don't forget to help her brush her teeth until she can either use magic or grasp the toothbrush with her hooves.
"I give you all of my thanks."
I wish you luck in your endeavor, may the magic of friendship be with you.
After finishing up on the computer, I went back upstairs to go and wake up Lyra. My mind was fighting over whether to let her sleep or wake her up, but then I saw her on the bed, shivering and shaking. 'Poor girl's having a nightmare.' I gently placed a hand on her and stroked her head lovingly. Lyra woke up and looked up at me, tears welling up in her eyes. I picked her up and pulled her into a hug, and she began to sob lightly.
Right then the gravity of the situation hit me... 'I am essentially looking after a child. Sure, she may be a pony from another world, but can I really be sure that anyone else would look after her?' Any further thoughts had been cut off by a sort of hiccup sound coming from Lyra. Just then, I heard the most joyful yet sad thing ever, "I... I... I'm... scared. I'm scared." It was hard not to cry myself. I rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her, "Hey, its alright, I'm here. Ill try my best to make sure that nothing happens to you, I promise." Lyra simply nuzzled her face into my neck. "Tell you what, I have nothing planned for today, so I think we could work on your speech skills. I'm gonna help you learn how to talk." Her response surprised me, "I can talk, only yesterday I didn't know what to do. Do you really mean that, will you protect me?" "I will as well as I can, Lyra." "Thank you."
I sat there on the bed with Lyra still in my arms, who I thought was falling back asleep. It was another ten minutes before anyone said anything. "I have a question." "Yes Lyra?" "Can I.... can I call you daddy?" If the situation hadn't hit me before, it had now. I brought Lyra out of the hug, and at first she looked sad, then I brought my face to hers and rubbed noses with her, "Of course you can." Lyra giggled. 'When will you stop being so adorable? Its lethal.'
Placing Lyra back on the bed, I asked her a question, "So, what do you want for breakfast?" Lyra's eyes sparkled at the prospect of food. "Do you have muffins??" I laughed a little, which seemed to bring her mood down faster than the US economy could ever drop. "Hey, it's alright. Yes, I have muffins, I just thought it was a little funny that a pony would ask to have a muffin for breakfast." "Well, when I was still at home, my mom used to just give me apples for breakfast, every day." She looked down at her hooves, "And whenever I was at my dad's place, he left me to fend for myself."
My mind just suddenly stopped. 'Wait, when she's at her mom's place, she doesn't provide much variety, probably not caring, and her dad just leaves her to fend for herself? Oh boy, things just got a little bit more interesting to say the least. I'm taking care of a neglected and possibly abused child, from another world no less. Whatever, I'm gonna try to give this child the life she deserves!' Stroking the sad pony's soft mane, I tried to calm her down, "Listen, whatever happened over there, it's done. I will not lie to you, I have almost next to nothing in parenting skills, but I will try to take care of you the best I can. Forget apples and muffins for breakfast, because I'm making one of my favorite foods, which I'm sure you'll love - pancakes." Lyra finally looked up, her eyes watery from being on the verge of tears. She gave me a small smile, "Thank you."
Lyra bounded down the stairs excitedly after I told her what pancakes were, urging me to follow her and make some. 'Ah, kids. Wait, I'm making myself seem old by thinking that. Oh well, you gotta grow up someday.' I couldn't help but smile as Lyra sat patiently at the small table in the kitchen, with a huge grin on her face. Lyra's face brightened even more, as if it were possible, as I took out all of the necessary ingredients to make those deliciously addictive pieces of pan fried pastry. The process of mixing it all together was simple enough - or it should have been, as Lyra kept trying to get a dab of the batter to taste as I was mixing it in the bowl. "Get down, silly filly. It's not really good for you to eat uncooked pastry, you may get sick." Lyra immediately jumped down from the counter and sat down at the table...... or sat on it actually.
I walked over to the foyer of the house, picked up a few phone books, and brought them over to the table. I placed them onto one of the chairs, and then sat Lyra on top of the pile of books, "There, now you won't have to sit on the table." Getting back to the batter, I placed three moderately sized dabs of the pancake batter onto the skillet. Lyra seemed to be losing her patience, "How much longer?" "Not much longer." Lyra resumed sitting at her spot on the table quietly; normally this would be fine, but she was from a broken home, so the reason for her quietness wasn't the same as other people, or ponies.
While tending to the cooking pancakes, I decided to do something about the blanket of silence that fell over us. "So Lyra, can you tell me about yourself? I hardly know you, and I would like to change that in order to better get along with you." The cute unicorn filly sat there, face scrunched up as if she were thinking hard. A minute later, she answered, "Well, I like listening to music, it calms me. My favorite color is yellow; I like to read, but mostly poetry; before I came here, I used to read and write stories, just so I would have a place that I could go to in my mind to escape the bad times. What about you?"
I took the pancakes off the skillet as I answered her question, "I also like listening to music; I love reading, writing, and also producing music. One of my only friends owns a music store down the street actually." As I brought the pancakes to the table, Lyra's mouth watered, and I couldn't blame her, for they smelled really good. I chuckled at her state, "Hey Lyra, drool any more and we could open my house as a pool." Lyra wiped her mouth with one of her front hooves, "Whoops, sorry, heh," blushing as she did so.
Lyra took a piece of her pancake into her mouth and chewed slowly, her smile growing ever wider as she did so. Finally swallowing, she reached for the stack of pancakes and put about four on her plate, then promptly wolfed them down in about fifteen seconds. "Ahehehe, it seems that my cooking won't be a problem after all." "Nope," was Lyra's reply.
Here comes the awkward part - the brushing of Lyra's teeth. I asked her if she was able to use magic or grasp things with her hooves already, and it turned out that she does indeed have some magic abilities already. "So, I guess that means you can brush your teeth yourself then, right?" I felt awkward asking her that, probably because I'm still not used to being a parent. I'll work into it though. "Yeah, I can do that." 'Dammit, kids from her situation grow up faster than they should.'
Let's be honest, watching Lyra brush her teeth was kind of adorable, and the blush she had on her face because I was still there watching her, just made it even more adorable. I suddenly had a thought, 'Damn, I forgot to call John!' "Hey Lyra, I'm gonna go call my friend and let him know we're gonna be showing up in a bit. I'll be back." Lyra's reply was a simple nod.
'Now where did I leave my phone?' Not getting a home phone was probably one of the smartest yet dumbest ideas I've ever had. Sure, it was a great idea in order to save money, but it was also a pain because I now have no way of finding my phone by calling it. A sudden thought hit me, 'It's upstairs...' I ran up the stairs and into the bedroom, looking around frantically for my beloved cell phone. Finally spotting it on the end table in the corner of the room, I picked it up and dialed the number for John's music shop.
"Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up pickuppickuppickuppickup-"
John's music shop, how can I help you?
"Hey John, it's Jason."
Oh, hey, what came through your head to make you call me? Usually you just drop in randomly.
"Well, you're probably not going to believe whatever I tell you, but hear me out."
So, what is it? I'm all ears.
"Remember that show you keep raving about, Friendship is Magic?"
Yeah, what about it? Don't tell me you got hooked on it!?
"No, but it's pretty close. Is there anyone else in the store at the moment?"
Nope. Why?
"Alright. I got a package on my doorstep yesterday... There was a sticker on it that said 'Canterlot Royal Express Post', and there were holes all around it, as if it were for something that was alive in it."
There was a groan on the other end of the conversation.
Don't tell me, inside the box was a filly Rainbow Dash.
"No, inside the box was a filly Lyra Heartstrings, and she was sent here from a broken home. My guess is that whoever sent her here thought that foster care wouldn't have helped."
Is that all, or is there something more?
"I called to ask if you could put out your 'Closed' sign, so we can come in and let her try out a few instruments."
I guess I could, it's been a slow day anyways, so why not.
"Thanks. I'll see you in a bit."
Later.
Not a second after I hung up the phone, Lyra came into the bedroom. "So, when are we leaving?" I walked over and picked her up, "Right now actually." She threw her forelegs up in excitement, "YAY!" 'The adorableness of this situation is seriously running up my chances of getting diabetes.' I carried Lyra down the stairs, and into the garage. Lyra just stared in wonder at the two big machines sitting there. "What are those?" Her voice was full of excitement, making me chuckle a little at her question. "They're called cars; they allow us to great distances so we don't tire ourselves out by simply walking to far off destinations." Using the car also served another purpose - making sure that no one saw Lyra as we headed out to John's store.
I placed Lyra on the passenger seat of the Skyline, walked around to the other side, and sat down in the driver's seat. Lyra looked around the interior with even more bewilderment. I could see it in her eyes, she wanted to know about everything inside this wonderful piece of machinery. "I can't really explain about everything inside the car at the moment, because driving this thing takes quite a bit of concentration. Why don't I just put on the radio and you can listen to music." The little bundle of adorable agreed, and I set the radio to some soothing classical before starting up the engine, and pulling out of the garage and into the street.
The roads were clear, almost barren, which was odd for a Saturday morning. Sure, there were a couple of cars here and there, but it still seemed a little creepy that almost everyone stayed indoors. About five minutes later we found ourselves parking behind John's store, and exited the car. Lyra hopped out and skipped over to me the same way that the skunk from Looney Toons would.
One thought ran through my mind, 'I hope he doesn't freak out and do something stupid....... again.'
None of Us Saw This Coming...
As soon as John opened the door to the parking lot, I saw the look in his face when he laid eyes on Lyra - pure shock. The whole scene was amusing, really; two old friends, standing in a parking lot, one of them being proved wrong of something that was thought beyond impossible, the other just standing there with a look on their face that screams 'I told you so.'
John looked at Lyra, then back to me, to Lyra again, then back to me again. Finally, he said something, and I already figured what it would be.
"Dude, that's impossible, there's no way that she's here. I figured you just went crazy and I was just going to humor you by abiding by your request anyway. How the hell did you get her, and I didn't get Twilight?"
I thought about my answer for a second, then I gave him my reply, "Because you ain't swag enough." We both laughed, while Lyra just stood there beside me, with a confused look on her face.
"Well don't just stand there, come in. You said you wanted to let her try out a few instruments, right?"
"Oh yea, right. Come inside Lyra."
"Coming!" She excitedly bounced from the parking lot and into the store, taking in the sight of all the instruments hung on the walls, on shelves, and in glass display cases. Instinctively, she hung around all of the string instruments, though most of them weren't really catching her interest. I turned to John, who was already behind the counter again, and I whispered so Lyra couldn't hear us.
"Dude, you know what her talent is, right?"
"Yeah, she loved playing the lyre... actually, I think I have one in the back, and in pristine condition too - never been used."
John then disappeared behind the counter, into the storage area, and went fishing around for a lyre, leaving me to occupy Lyra. 'Shouldn't be too hard,' I thought. Looking around, I saw a Guitar Hero Arcade game standing near the amps section of the store; I moved towards itl, and called Lyra over to show her. She looked up at it in wonder and amazement.
"What is that?" She pointed a hoof at the acrade game with wonder in her eyes. 'I swear, ANYTHING this filly does is flipping adorable!' "That's called a video game, they -" I was interrupted by Lyra, "I know what video games are silly, I meant to ask what game it is."
"You can't read?" My question was full of concern. Lyra gave her head a slight shake.
"Nuh-uh."
'Gee Lyra, your parents just seem so nice...' If she could here my thoughts she would be able to plainly hear the sarcasm in that statement.
"Well, looks like I'll have to teach you at some point, probably tomorrow." I went on to explain the object of the game as I put in a couple of dollars, "This game is played with a controller that looks like a guitar; you strum this part down here," I pointed to the strum bar of the controller, "And the notes are color coordinated; when a color comes down to the empty circles near the bottom of the screen, you strum the guitar, and press the corresponding fret buttons up here," I directed her attention to the fret buttons near the top. "When there's a line between the start and end of a note, you hold down that note. Can you remember all of that?" Lyra enthusiastically gave me a nod.
"That's good. Now, I'm gonna pick a favorite song of mine, and demonstrate how the game is played, and then I'll pick another song that's a bit easier, so you can play with me and get the hang of it." I scrolled down the list, until I came upon one of my favorite songs - Heroes of Our Time by Dragonforce. I set the difficulty to expert.
The start of the song was abrupt and slightly insane, but I persevered, which was sort of easy, because of how many times I listened to that song months ago, and how many times I tried playing that song on Guitar Hero, trying to complete it. I thought to myself, 'Today's the day that I complete this song on expert, and get 100%.' My forehead was beginning to sweat as I barely kept up with the song, though I was given a break during the piano solo, and looked at Lyra, her eyes were even wider than when she first saw this, as if it were possible. Then came the hard part - the really, really, really long solo. Before I could start playing it, Lyra stole the guitar from me with her magic, and just before the solo started, she had the guitar in front of her. I figured that she may not be able to pull off completing the solo.... I was wrong.
You know those moments when something so ridiculous happens, that you have a ton of trouble believing that it's happening? That is pretty much what describes this moment. The solo started, and Lyra's horn went ablaze with magic, as she kept strumming away, eyes glued to the screen, getting EVERY. SINGLE. NOTE! This little filly, who doesn't have a lot of magic, is kicking my ass in Guitar Hero, and she's never played this game before. John emerged from the stockroom, and just stared at what was happening. and dropped the lyre that he found on the floor in shock. I saw a flash for a moment, though I simply disregarded it as my eyes playing tricks on me, keeping my attention on Lyra and her awesomeness. Finally, the song ended, and I stared at Lyra, who barely broke a sweat. I simply said one thing.
"Cheater."
