Ingress

Chapters

First Encounter
Magic
Kisses
Shower
Royal Intervention
End of the Beginning

First Encounter

Lyra stared at the doorway of her walk-in wardrobe, frowning deeply. This was her third attempt at trying to enlarge it using magic.

Twilight Sparkle, Cherilee, even Rarity. Lyra had gone to see them all, to finalize the magical mathematics needed to attempt to create this portal.

It had all started when she bought her new ironing board, and discovered, to her dismay, that she had nowhere to store it! And thus had started a long chain of events whereupon she sought a way to magical enhance storage space. First, it had been trying to increase the inside dimensions without increasing the outer dimensions. But that had failed miserably. Second, she had tried to make the wardrobe lead to a point in space outside of their own time-space continuum. Or at least, that’s what she thought she was doing. It had ended with several thousand butterflies streaming out from the doorway before she managed to close it.

The cleanup had taken an entire day. A day of sweeping dead butterflies from every corner of her house. Their multi-colour dust was irritating to the eyes, and it stuck to everything. She’d had to throw out all her unsealed food. It was all tainted.

And now, she was sure she had it all fixed in her mind; she would create a portal, not to another time-space area, or anything like that. She would merely make a portal leading to some faraway place across the sea, and then she would be able to just store things wherever the portal led to. With a sturdy lock and a thick door on her wardrobe, she wouldn’t even have to worry about things coming through the portal, like wild animals or even other ponies.

Lyra concentrated carefully, closing her eyes. Her horn began to glow, and she focused on creating a doorway between two places. Her wardrobe, and a field of some kind far, far away across the sea. Definitely not under the sea, because she didn’t want a thousand gallons of salt water a second spraying out of her wardrobe. Not under. Definitely not under.

Lyra’s brows furrowing, and she twisted the magic, feeling the connections forming.

Bang!

Lyra’s eyes shot open and her head jerked to the side, the magic control being snatched away by her lapse in concentration. Something had hit her window, startling her.

Blinking slowly, Lyra stepped over to the window, carefully opening it and peering downwards. A robin was slowly rolling to its feet and flexing its wings, recovering from the blow with her window.

“Besotted bird,” Lyra snorted, shaking her head.

The bird looked up at her, and bobbed once in place before leaping away and taking to the air.

Lyra closed her window again, and then turned back to her wardrobe to continue the spell.

A light shining from the wardrobe caught her attention, and she frowned deeply, stepping quietly over to the open door. A shifting sequence of lights were visible inside the doorway of her wardrobe. It swirled in multicolored hues; blue, green, yellow, red, white, black. It was mesmerising to watch.

Lyra’s head tilted to the side slightly, and he grinned. It had worked?!

Bounding over to the dressed beside the wardrobe, Lyra picked up a flower. She eagerly thrust the flower through the swirling, multicolour portal, holding it there for a ten-count before withdrawing it.

The unicorn inspected the flower carefully, staring at it. It seemed to be the same colour as before it went through the portal, it hadn’t aged any, it was still a normal temperature, and it didn’t seem to be harmed at all by its transport.

Lyra hummed a moment at that, and then picked up her quill and piece of paper with her magic, writing a quick note to explain where she went, in case she couldn’t get back. And then, Lyra stepped through the portal.

Instantly, Lyra heard voices. Wherever she was, it was dark, really dark. At first, she thought it was a cave, but the ground underneath her hooves was soft and uniform in texture, like carpet. Lyra lowered her head, and allowed a small touch of magic to build in her horn. Swirling turquoise balls of light began to glow around the tip of her horn, casting light on her surroundings.

Strange objects jumped out at her. Objects that she had no idea what they could be. They were definitely not natural, but they were like nothing she’d ever seen. There was a strange object with what appeared to be a seat on it, with two large, circular wheels and a cog system. But it was so misshapen that Lyra couldn’t even fathom how big a pony would have to be to sit on it, or even what its purpose would be.

A white-and-black object sat against one wall, flat and thin like her ironing board. She assumed that it would fold out, but it was much bulkier than her ironing board, and had a long, flat surface on it that was soft and black, like a bed. It was far too thin to be a comfortable sleeping platform though.

A black object with a shiny, reflective surface on what Lyra assumed was the front of it, sat in one of the corners, with a pair of long, silvery poles topped with black tips poking up from it.

Looking behind herself, Lyra found that she had stepped out of a cupboard that was an exact replica of the one she had in her house. Had she created another wardrobe by accident?

Biting her bottom lip, Lyra looked about. A door stood ahead of her, and she carefully lifted a hoof to push down on the handle, causing it to click, and then slowly creak open.

A hallway stood in front of her, stretching off to the left, and right. A doorway stood to her right, and a staircase to her left. The door to her right was ajar, and had a faint glow emanating from around it. It had a strange quality to it though, dull and muted. No flame that Lyra had ever seen cast a light like that. Voices echoed from the room, along with the sounds of movement.

Cautiously, Lyra crept forwards towards the door, poking her nose around the edge of it very slowly. A sparse room greeted her, with whitewashed walls, a long couch, and the source of the voices and glowing that she had observed. A large, strange moving scene greeted her, like a palace tapestry come to life. Strange, tall, elongated creatures barked ordered at one another. There was an explosion from the screen, and Lyra squeaked, quickly retreating back behind the door, her heart racing.

Had they seen her?! Could the strange creatures inside the moving painting see at all?!

Heart pounding, Lyra crept away carefully, moving toward the stairs, determined to inspect more of this strange home before she went home and closed the portal.

Descending the stairs, the young unicorn came across a room furnished with bare low, long dressers. A single glass vase sat on top of one dresser, with a long-dead flower sitting in it. Several doors led off from the room, leading to other parts of the house. The door at the front of the room, she assumed, led straight outside. The rippled glass showed a distorted scene of an open, dark space, with a single strange light high up in the air. It reminded Lyra of the lanterns hung from trees during Ponyville festivities.

The doorways on either side of the main room led, on the left, a strange room that was bright, even in the faint light of just her horn glow. Strange, smooth surfaces reflected the light from her glowing horn many times over. To the left, was a very bare room, and to the opposite of the door leading outside was a doorway terminating in a long hallway, with more doors leading off it.

Lyra headed for the bright, reflective room first, peeking around. It was very clean, and a large object in-set into the wall, at least twice her height, was humming and vibrating softly. Lyra gave it a wide berth, looking about the room curiously. It was very strange. She didn’t recognize anything there.

A single small room lay at the other side of the shiny-object-filled-room, with another door leading to what she assumed was outside, and some more strange, square objects with their odd shiny surfaces.

Lyra turned about, ignoring the doors leading outside, instead heading into the hallway, peeking about. These doors were all closed, but the open door at the far end of the hall looked more habited. There was a clothing article of some description in the doorway, and through the opening, she could see a dressed piled high with strange objects. There was a shiny tube-like shape, shining red and white; A black box of some kind with strange, angular surfaces and a magical point of light constantly glowing. But the thing that drew her attention most, were the roving lights on the walls and ceiling.

Drawn to the strange light show, Lyra crept forwards towards the door, poking her nose into the room and peering about. The faint scent of sweat met Lyra’s sensitive nose, and she wrinkled it a moment, as she tried to get used to the scent. Her eyes were drawn to the source of the light, finding that it was a red lamp of some kind. But instead of fire, it had water inside it, as well as slowly-moving globs of red material that moved in a circular motion, up, and then down. It was bizarre, and entrancing.

Lyra crept around the bed next to the door, and towards the entrancing display of the lamp, tilting her head to the side and staring at it, letting her horn glow fade out of existence. The shifting light of the lamp lit up her face in roving patterns, and she gave a faint ‘oooo’ of delight.

Movement behind her made her stiffen up in surprise. It was an instant later that she realised she had done something very stupid: she hadn’t checked the bed! Somepony was asleep on the bed!

Lyra turned and bolted from the room, no longer trying to be quiet. She bounded around the bed as fast as she could.

The clothes on the floor were the unicorn’s undoing. Her hoof hit the cloth with all her weight behind it, and it just slid out. Her hooves scrabbled at the floor a few times as she tried to regain her balance, but her sideways momentum meant that when she did manage to straighten up, she whip-lashed her head into the wall in a violent smack.

Stars exploded in Lyra’s vision, and she went down hard, the world going black.

Consciousness returned to Lyra slowly. She had a splitting headache, and she could feel the lump growing on her head. Soft little whimpers left the unicorn as she struggled to rise to her hoove, cracking an eye open and lifting a hoof to touch at the side of her head.

It was dark in the room, and only the faint red glow of the strange lamp she had seen cast mild illumination.

“Oi, calm down,” a soothing voice said, from somewhere close by. Lyra cast her gaze towards the source of the voice, finding a very strange-looking creature watching her, speaking in a low, soothing tone, and holding a square towel of some kind dripping with moisture.

A constant stream of soothing words left the creatures mouth, as he - Lyra assumed it was a he - shuffled closer.

“Come on now, I’m not gonna hurt you. If you try jump out the window, you’re gonna cut yourself. And if you attack me, I’m gonna knock you right the fuck back out,” he said, still with that same, soothing tone.

Lyra stared at him, bewildered, snorting a moment in confusion. His tone was completely at odds with his words. It took a few moments for it to click. He thought that she was just an animal!

Lyra worked her mouth a few times, trying to dispel the sensation of her tongue being too thick for her mouth. Her throat was dry, and she was having troubles getting her mouth to work properly.

“Not gonna hurt you,” the creature repeated, bringing the towel closer to her, “Just gonna make sure you’re not bleeding, and you better not kick me.”

Lyra snorted again, shaking her head, taking a step away from the creature.

In an instant, the creature was on her. He was surprisingly strong, and the fact that he walked on two legs instead of four gave him an incredible centre of balance. His upper limbs were completely free to tug her over. Very quickly, Lyra found herself on her side, with one of the creatures powerful limbs pinning down her forehooves, while the other gently applied the moist towel to her temple.

Lyra stiffened and then relaxed, giving a low groan at the soothing, cool sensation on her temple. After several seconds of this treatment, he removed the towel and inspected her head, his strange, surprisingly delicate protrusion on his flat, odd-looking hooves stroking against her fur, checking for any splits in the flesh.

“There, see?” he asked soothingly. “It’s not so bad. And you’re not bleeding. Now, I’m gonna stand up, so please don’t leap up and run at the walls or anything.”

The strange creature paused then, and a hoof moved in to touch at the base of her horn. The creature seemed surprised at this.

“What the hell?” he murmured, tugging at her horn a moment, the frown on his face barely visible in the gloom.

“It’s my horn, you idiot,” Lyra mumbled.

The creature leapt off her, bouncing back onto his feet, leaning against the bed, breathing hard, eyes wide. “Y-you speak?!”

“You expect me not to?” Lyra retorted, squinting faintly and lifting the towel back onto her temple, giving a faint groan.

“B-but you’re an animal!” the creature protested weakly. “This has to be a dream. Or I got food poisoning. I’m just hallucinating.”

“If you were hallucinating, you wouldn’t be talking to yourself,” Lyra responded smartly, shuddering and then relaxing, closing her eyes. “Now shush, stop making noises. Head hurts.”

“What are you?” the creature asked incredulously.

Lyra huffed, tugging the towel off her temple and throwing it aside, rolling to her hooves to stare at the creature. “I’m a unicorn, you idiot! Was the horn not a clue?!”

“B-but unicorn’s aren’t real,” came the weak protest.

“What you are, isn’t real,” Lyra retorted, snorting once and scowling.

The strange creature shook his head. “But it’s you that’s in my world!”

Lyra growled and rubbed a hoof against her throbbing temple, shaking her head a moment to clear it. “I wanna go home.”

“Home?” the creature asked, raising a brow at her. “Where did you even come from?”

“Equestria,” Lyra said with a toss of her mane, “Through my wardrobe.”

“You... came out of my wardrobe?” came the confused query.

“Indeed. My wardrobe. I was trying to create a portal to another part of Equestria. A bird hit my window. Must have distracted me at the exact wrong moment,” Lyra explained with a wrinkled nose.

“...Magic?” he asked incedulously.

Lyra rolled her eyes and picked up the towel from across the room with her magic, throwing it at the strange creatures face.

The creature made a sound of dismay, tossing off the moist towel and then staring at her. “That’s... not possible.”

“Says you,” Lyra retorted.

“And you can just... walk back through my wardrobe and go home?” he asked with a disbelieving shake of his head.

“Yup,” Lyra said with a grin. “Just walk on through.”

“Great, my own little Narnia,” he said with a slow shake of his head. “How many more of you are there?”

“Unicorns? Or ponies in general?” Lyra queried.

“Ponies,” he said automatically.

Lyra pondered on that for a moment, humming thoughtfully. “Several thousand.”

“Thousands?!” the creature asked, awed.

“Thousands.” Lyra tossed her mane again, and then stared at the creature. “Now that I’ve answered your questions, you will answer mine.” A note of firmness crept into Lyra’s tone, leaving no room for argument.

“Make me,” the creature said with a shake of his head.

Lyra rolled her eyes slightly. Her horn glowed, and she levitated the human a full foot off the floor.

Instantly, he began to thrash around, limbs flailing. “Put me down!”

“First: What are you you? Second: What is your name?” Lyra stated her questions calmly.

“I’m Jason, I’m a human, and I really don’t want to be in the air any more!” the human protested, breathing hard and staring at the ground.

Lyra nodded to herself, and allowed her magic to fade, causing the human to drop straight onto the bed, bouncing a little bit. “Well, human, it is very nice to meet you. But I’m going to take my leave now and get something to drink.”

Jason stared at the pony for a long moment, shaking his head. “I have drinks here.”

“Oh? You would offer them to me freely?” Lyra asked, ears perking.

“Yeah,” Jason replied with a shrug. “Why not?”

“Very good!” Lyra said, clapping her hooves together. “Lead on!”

The human pushed himself off the bed, and disappeared through a doorway, flicking a light on. Lyra winced and clenched her eyes closed as the bright light excited her headache. By the time her eyes had adjusted enough to the light for her to open them, the human was back in the room, with a fluffy robe of some kind wrapped around himself.

“C’mon,” Jason said, motioning for the unicorn to follow, heading back out into the hallway.

Lyra walked after the human, watching him touch at the walls. There was a faint click, and then suddenly, light. The light itself was strange though. There was no flickering of flames within it. And it was the wrong colour entirely.

Jason led Lyra back into the room with all the strange shiny surfaces, and went straight to the humming object. With a quick tug of his strange, flat hoof, the entire front of the object just opened up and a magical glow made itself apparent. Lyra could see that the entire inside of the humming object was hollow, and it was filled with strange glass jars, some plates, and strangely-shaped bottles.

The human leaned in, pulled out a bottle of water from the part of the object he had opened, and then reached into a cupboard, pulling out cups. Lyra assumed that this was the kitchen, given all the accoutrements. But it was the strangest kitchen she had ever seen.

Jason poured out a cup of water, and then offered it to her. Lyra gave a nod of thanks, and then took the cup from him with her magic, tilting it up to her lips to drink. She spluttered as she sipped. “Cold!”

“Well it did just come out of the fridge,” Jason said with a slow shake of his head.

“Fridge?” Lyra asked, confused.

The human tapped the humming object, and the beckoned her closer.

Lyra stepped over to the ‘fridge’, and then blinked slowly, lifting a hoof to wave towards it. It was cold inside! Like ice!

“I know not of this magic,” Lyra admitted, pouting.

The human chuckled. “It’s not magic.”

“It’s cold! There is no breeze, outside is hot... it’s magic!” Lyra protested.

“No, holding a cup without touching it, is magic,” Jason stated with a slow shake of his head, motioning towards her levitating cup.

Lyra flushed faintly and quickly grabbed the cup out of the air with her hoof, holding it manually instead, sipping at it gently. “This water is... it tastes strange.”

It’s just water,” Jason placated, holding his strange, flat hooves out in what she assumed was a placating manner.

Lyra snorted, and then grabbed his hoof, inspecting it closely. “Why is your hoof so flat?”

“It’s not a hoof,” Jason said with a frown, wiggling the thin ends of his hoof. “It’s a hand. And those are my fingers.”

“Fascinating,” Lyra stated distantly, watching him wiggle his ‘fingers’. “Don’t you have to worry about them getting snapped off?”

“Snapped off?” Jason asked, bewildered.

“They’re so thin, and spindly.” Lyra grabbed one of his fingers in her maw, wiggling it up and down for emphasis. “One little twist, and it would be gone!”

Jason rolled his eyes, and then leaned against the fridge, supporting his entire leaned weight on just his fingertips. “No snapping, see?”

Lyra stared, frowning deeply, her head tilting to the side. “But... they’re so thin!”

“Thin, but strong,” Jason said with a smug smile.

“So those are... fingers. And that’s your hand?” she asked, pointing at his ‘hand’.

“No, that’s my palm,” Jason said, holding it out to show her. “This entire side of my hand, from here,” he pointed, “to here, is all my palm.”

“But... you called it your hand!” Lyra protested, whining.

“No, the whole thing put together is my hand, and this is my arm,” he said, waggling it at her.

Lyra blinked slowly. “You humans are crazy.”

“Perhaps,” Jason said reasonably, pouring himself a glass of water as well.

“You’re taking this all very well. You’re not nervous or worried or anything that I’m here?” Lyra queried.

“I’m convinced this is a really bad dream or acid trip, or something. I’ll wake up soon,” Jason said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Lyra looked down at herself, and then giggled softly. “You have some very odd dreams then.”

“I blame it on eating chinese food before dinner,” Jason replied dryly.

“Chinese? What kind of food is that?” Lyra asked curiously.

Jason pondered on that for a moment. “China is another continent.”

“Ohhh! So like, griffon food!” Lyra said with a happy bounce.

Jason’s eyes widened. “You guys have griffons?!”

“Griffon’s, hydra’s, pegasi, basilisk’s...” Lyra hummed thoughtfully as she ticked off names.

Jason took a moment to steady himself with the counter, staring down at the pony. “...None of them are going to come here are they?”

“This is just a dream, Jason. None of them can hurt you,” Lyra said with a giggle.

“Oh. Good.” Jason replied distantly, and then paused. “But I’ve been pinching myself for the last few minutes and it hurts. And I haven’t woken up yet.”

Lyra gave a noncommittal shrug. “You’re the one that thinks this is a dream, not me.”

“But if this isn’t a dream, I have a teal talking pony in my kitchen,” Jason stated.

“I always thought it was closer to cyan,” Lyra said with a thoughtful hum, peering back at herself for a moment.

“Same difference!” Jason protested, huffing. “You’re still a talking pony!”

“And you’re a talking... human thing. How’d you know I was a pony?” Lyra queried, head canting to the side.

Jason looked the unicorn up and down, and then gave a nervous smile. “Uhhh... this is going to be an awkward thing to explain.”

Lyra stared, open-mouthed at the horses on the screen of Jason’s laptop. “They’re... they’re... ugly!”

Jason gave a faint chuckle, and a noncomittal shrug. “I rather like the look of horses myself. They’re kinda... I dunno, majestic?” he offered, raising a brow at the unicorn.

With a soft snort of suppressed laughter, he opened up a search for unicorns, showing Lyra a picture of a pure white horse with a spiraled horn.

Lyra could only stare, aghast. “But... but... They’re horrible!”

Jason just laughed, shaking his head. “I’ll admit, they’re not as cute as you are.”

“You think I’m cute?” Lyra asked, tilting her head up to stare at him.

Jason nodded slowly. “Indeed. I’d probably think all your kind are cute... are they all the same colour as you?”

Lyra shook her head vigorously. “All colours of the rainbow!”

“That’s... very strange,” Jason said, leaning down and squinting at the time in the corner of the screen. “Well, assuming this isn’t all some kind of bizarre kind of dream... I really do need to get back to sleep. I gotta be up early for work tomorrow.”

“It was daytime when I left Ponyville,” Lyra stated with a single nod.

“That’s... kinda weird.” Jason frowned, pondering for a moment, before shrugging. “Contemplating the meaning behind dreams is pointless. I trust you won’t be here when I wake up?”

Lyra shook her head. “No, I’ll be back in Equestria before then. Promise,” the unicorn said, crossing her hoof in front of her chest in a sincere pose.

Jason smiled and gently tapped the unicorn on the nose with a finger. “You are far too cute to be real.”

Lyra just grinned, and then bounded away up his stairs, disappearing.

Jason stared after her, watching her tail swish out of sight, shaking his head once. He slouched off to his room, and collapsed into bed, quickly going back to sleep, convincing himself that the entire incident was just a hallucination.

Lyra peeked back over her shoulder at the multi-hued portal behind her, and then magicked the door of the wardrobe closed, sliding the lock neatly into place. With a happy hum, she bounded off to tend to her daily duties.

That night, she was going to return to this ‘humans’ abode, and she was going to force him to explain everything to her. But first, to the library! She needed to know if there were any mention of humans in Celestia’s archives.

Magic

Jason sighed and hung up his car keys, pushing the front door closed behind him with a foot. It was midday, and his work day was over. He was tired, and he smelled like fish. Ever since he had moved to Australia, he had been working at the local docks of the small town, packaging fish to be sent to the local city. It was rough work, especially since it all happened in the very early hours of the morning. It was one of three different jobs that he had; just part-time jobs to tide him over until he found something more permanent.

Shoulders slouching, Jason made his way to the kitchen, pulled the fridge open and pulled out a can of coke, pushing the fridge door closed behind him with his heel as he began to fix himself a sandwich. Ham, cheese, barbeque sauce. And then, as he was downing the sandwich, he headed for his room.

Jason put the half a can of coke on his dresser as he rummaged about for some clothes. He was so out of it from getting up so early, and not to mention the utterly strange dream he had had, that he didn’t notice his lava lamp lying on the bed, disassembled.

Dragging out a pair of long pants, Jason pushed open the door to the bathroom and stepped inside, flicking the hot water tap on, followed by the cold water.

His toothpaste, toothbrush, comb and razor were all scattered in the sink basic, and his mirror had a smudge on it that definitely hadn’t been there that morning when he left. Harrumphing, Jason pushed it out of his mind, stripped off, and then stepped into the shower, sitting himself down under the spray and just allowing the pounding spray to wash away the ache in his muscles and (hopefully) the scent of fish clinging to him.

“Magic,” a voice stated from the other side of the shower curtain.

Jason gave a sound of surprise, quickly gripping the shower curtain to tug it about himself protectively, eyes wide. The plastic runners the curtain was on gave way under the weight, and the entire curtain came down. The sound of water hitting plastic filled the bathroom, like rain hitting a taught tarpaulin sheet.

Lyra was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, leaning forwards just slightly and blowing air from her pursed lips, like trying to blow through a straw, watching the way it made the steam in the room twist and curl.

“Definitely magic,” Lyra affirmed with a short nod.

“What are you doing in here?!” Jason asked, aghast. This was definitely no dream. Not this time. He was wide awake.

“I opened the door, I walked in. Simple locomotion, really,” Lyra said with a single nod and a wry grin.

“You know what I mean!” Jason protested, twitching the shower curtain to get the edge of it away from the edge of the shower, so that the water wasn’t streaming onto the tile floor.

“I’m exploring!” Lyra said with an earnest nod and a grin. “You have a very interesting home, human. So much stuff in here. And there’s so much shiny stuff! Why do humans put mirrors in everything?”

“Mirrors?” Jason asked blankly, staring at her.

“A reflective surface. You know? If you look really hard, you can see yourself in them,” Lyra said with a sage nod.

Jason took a moment to rub his fingertips against his temples, feeling a headache building already. “Look. Just... give me a minute to get dressed. or something.”

“Dressed?” Lyra asked, looking him up and down for a moment. “Fine. Hurry up then! I wanna know all about your stuff!”

Jason stared at Lyra for several long, long moment, a brow slowly raising.

“What?” Lyra asked after a moment, shifting uncomfortably.

“Leave!” Jason stated, exasperated. “So I can get dressed!”

“You don’t want me to see you without clothes on?” Lyra asked, perplexed.

“Yes tiny pony. Yes.” Jason shook his head at her lack of comprehension.

“...Oh.” Lyra’s ears drooped, as she turned around, stepping out of the bathroom.

Jason snorted, waiting until he was sure Lyra wasn’t watching, before he climbed out of the shower, flicked the water off, and grabbed a towel, starting to dry himself off.

It was a minute or so later that a horn appeared around the edge of the doorway, and then a pair of eyes, watching him curiously as he dried himself and then pulled his clothes on. Lyra quickly whipped back out of sight before he turned to the door.

Jason straightened up his toothpaste and toothbrush, dragged the comb through his hair to get it all straight, and then placed the comb itself on the edge of the sink, making sure it was all straight. There was nothing like having someone rummage through your stuff to send you into a fit of OCD.

Jason stepped out of the bathroom, closing the door behind himself. The first thing to greet him was Lyra, holding out a smooth, oblong object filled with red liquid. the glass portion of his lava lamp.

“I think I broke it,” Lyra said, pouting, her ears splayed back and her eyes wide. “Can you please fix it, human?”

Jason sighed faintly, debating telling her ‘no’. but those big, wide unicorn eyes were utterly irresistible, and he shook his head a moment, taking the lamp from her. “Fine. Fine.”

Casting his gaze about, Jason picked up the cap for the top of the lamp, and then slid the entire thing onto the base, plugging it in and switching it on. Instantly, the red light filled the room.

“Broke it,” Lyra said with a defeated sigh.

“It’s not broken,” Jason said with a shake of his head, flicking a fingertip at it. “Just watch.”

Lyra tilted her head, and then stared at the lava lamp for a long moment. “Broken.”

“Do you have any concept of ‘patience’?” Jason asked flatly.

“Nope.” Lyra grinned at him over her shoulder a moment, before Jason pointed past her.

“Look,” Jason said, motioning with a tilt of his head.

Lyra turned to the lamp, and gave an ‘oooo’ of happiness, watching as a glob of reddish material rose from the base of the lamp, distorting the light and moving towards the top of the liquid.

Jason rose, and closed the curtains, blocking out the majority of the light so that the lamp would be more visible.

Lyra was staring at it, nose almost touching the lamp, her head tilting to the side, as she tried to peek down to where the red orbs were coming from. “What makes it work?”

Jason pointed at the base of the lamp. “There’s a light in there.”

“I can see that, idiot,” Lyra said flatly.

Jason snuffed a laugh, shaking his head, “You don’t have lights where you come from?”

“We have plenty of lights in Equestria!” Lyra protested, brows furrowing as she huffed.

“No, I mean, electric lights,” Jason corrected.

“What is electric?” Lyra queried blankly.

Jason gave a faint sigh. “Okay, well... Filament lights like the one in the base of this lamp,” he pointed at the base, and then pulled the lamp off the base entirely, showing her the light. “They create warmth. It’s what’s need to make the lava la-”

Lyra cut him off, her eyes widening as she scrambled backwards away from him. “I-it has lava in it?!” she squeaked fearefully.

Jason laughed at that, chuckling at her misinterpretation.

Lyra scowled, eyes narrowing at him. “What?! You called it a lava lamp!”

“That’s just the name,” Jason soothed, beckoning the unicorn closer. “Look, it’s just wax.”

“But... why does the wax rise and fall?” Lyra asked, as she cautiously made her way over closer.

“Well, when the wax is cold, it sinks. But because the light is underneath the base, it makes the wax hot. And when it’s hot, the wax melts, and becomes a liquid. It floats to the surface. Once it cools, it hardens, and sinks.” Jason placed the lamp back on the base, pointing at the two orbs present in the lamp now. “This one is a liquid at the moment, which is why it’s rising,” he pointed at the second orb. “That one is a solid. See?”

Lyra stared at the lamp for a long moment, and then peered up at Jason. “Nope. But it’s pretty!”

Jason just shook his head slowly.

“Can I have it?” Lyra asked suddenly, reaching for the lamp.

“To keep?” Jason asked, raising a brow.

“No, I thought I’d just hold onto it for a few minutes. Yes to keep!” Lyra stated, huffing.

Jason hesitated at that, pursing his lips.

Lyra splayed her ears backwards, poking out her bottom lip and looking up at him with wide, innocent eyes. “Pweeeeease?”

Jason huffed and pushed on her snout with his hand. “Fine! Just quit making that face!”

“You don’t like me being cute?” Lyra asked, mystified.

Jason nodded once. “The urge to hug you when you do is unbearable.”

“Then it works!” Lyra declared with a giggle, bouncing in place.

“There is a problem, though,” Jason pointed out.

“What kinda problem?” Lyra asked, worry creeping into her tone.

“You need electricity to make it work,” Jason pointed out, pulling out the cord to show her. The lamp switched off, and Lyra pouted deeply, bottom lip quivering.

“But... but...” Lyra said, her ears drooping.

“Unless you can plug this into a tree back in Equestria, I doubt it’ll work,” Jason said with a helpless shrug.

“You should come see Equestria!” Lyra said with an earnest nod, grinning at him.

“You... have really severe ADD, don’t you?” Jason asked after a moment.

Lyra tilted her head to the side. “ADD? What’s that?”

“Attention deficit... you know what, don’t worry about it,” he said with a shake of his head.

“Okay!” Lyra said with a happy bounce.

“And I’m not a unicorn. I doubt I can go to Equestria,” Jason said with a faint shrug.

“I made a doorway!” Lyra said with a happy bounce. “C’mon, I’ll show you!”

Dumping the lava lamp on the bed, Lyra bounded out of the room and down the hallway, heading up the stairs to the upstairs bedrooms. Jason had turned them into storage rooms after his parents had their accident.

Jason sighed faintly and followed after the unicorn, taking the stairs two at a time, and following her into the storage room and to the wardrobe where she had apparently came to his world from. “So this is the Narnia wardrobe, huh?”

Lyra peered back over her shoulder for a moment, raising a brow, and then shaking her head firmly. “No, it’s Equestria. Where did you get Narnia from? It doesn’t even sound the same!”

Jason just shook his head.

Lyra leaned forwards, and opened the door to the wardrobe with a touch of magic.

Jason frowned, leaning forwards as well and staring at the multicolour portal within the borders of the wardrobe.

“You... were telling the truth,” Jason said blankly, blinking once.

“You thought I was lying?” Lyra asked, giving him a bewildered look over her shoulder, before taking a step forwards and then leaping through the portal.

“Wait! Come back!” Jason said, reaching a hand forwards. but Lyra was already gone.

Frowning deeply, Jason reached his fingertips out, stroking over the portal. It felt like water. Except it wasn’t wet. It was silky and soft, but it was like the surface tension of water had become so strong that it just rebounded and contorted at his touches rather than parting.

Taking a deep breath, Jason closed his eyes and then pressed against the strange sensation, pushing through it. It felt like trying to push through that one mixture of corn flour and water that science teachers just loved to show their students. It was at once soft, and resistant. But with firm pressure, he managed to push right through to the other side, tumbling onto the wooden floor of the house and sprawling out with his momentum.

“Clumsy,” Lyra stated.

Jason blinked up at her for a long moment, looking left, and then right, at the odd surroundings. It looked like pre-electricity furnishes. There were lamps, candles, no real appliances. A fireplace was built into one wall, and there was a bed covered in a neat patchwork quilt.

“Nice place,” Jason said, pulling himself to his feet. The ceiling was within easy reach, though he didn’t have to stoop to avoid hitting his head on anything.

“Why thankies,” Lyra said with a happy bounce. “It doesn’t have as much shiny stuff as your place, though.”

“This is bizarre,” Jason stated, kneeling down to peek out a window, his eyes widening. Ponies of all shapes and colours were in the street. Unicorns, normal ponies, and even pegasi. They were flying!

“That’s... not possible,” Jason breathed.

“What’s not possible?” Lyra asked, peering past him to the street outside.

“Those ponies... They’re flying. Their wings are too small,” he stated with a shake of his head.

“Well, they live up on the clouds,” Lyra said with a shrug.

“They sleep while they’re flying?” Jason asked, trying to understand what the unicorn was saying.

Lyra shook her head. “No, they sleep on the clouds.”

“...On the clouds? But clouds are water vapour,” Jason pointed out. “They can’t support any weight at all.”

“I dunno what clouds you have, but our clouds are more sturdy, I guess. Well, they are for pegasi, but if an earth pony or a unicorn tries to step on them, they fall right through.” Lyra hummed thoughtfully. “I know Twilight Sparkle has a spell for cloudwalking, but I don’t know it.”

Jason wrinkled his nose at that, rubbing a palm against his temple, feeling the headache coming back with renewed force.

“But what do you think of Ponyville? You probably shouldn’t go outside,” Lyra stated, frowning deeply. “Celestia would probably lock you up until she found out what you were, and I can’t find a single mention of humans anywhere in the library.”

“It’s... very different,” Jason said, rubbing his temple. “You guys haven’t discovered penicillin yet, have you?”

“Penicillin?” Lyra asked blankly.

“Too much to hope for, I guess,” Jason stated, shaking his head slowly.

Lyra hummed faintly, “You want a cup of tea?” she asked brightly.

“Sure,” Jason responded, blinking up at her.

Lyra bounced over to the stove happily, a touch of magic opening the front of it. She used her magic to place a block of wood in the stove, and then lit a match, tossing it in. Another wisp of magic built the fire up, causing the wood to start burning merrily.

All the while, Jason’s headache was getting worse. It was like a buzzing in the back of his mind, slowly intensifying to a full-blown migraine.

It was a few seconds later that Jason dropped to one knee, his brows furrowed deeply. “I think I need to go home,” he mumbled, squinting towards the wardrobe.

“You don’t feel well?” Lyra asked, frowning.

“I really don’t,” Jason admitted, shaking his head and squinting. He stumbled slightly as he made his way over to the wardrobe, pulled the door open, and then just tumbled through the shifting multicolour portal, sprawling back in his storage room on the floor.

The pain began to slowly recede from his mind, and he panted faintly, rubbing his palm against his temple as though he could grind the pain out of his head.

“You humans are weird,” Lyra stated, shaking her head, nudging him with her nose. “You okay?”

Her horn began to glow, and he felt a pressure on his chest, trying to lift him. His hand shot out, unerringly finding her horn, tugging the unicorn close. One eye opened, narrowing at her. “Stop that.”

Lyra blinked once, giving a faint squirm at the sensation of the hand around her horn. “Stop what?”

“The magic!” Jason hissed, scowling. “Ever since you got here, I’ve been getting this terrible migraine, and I’m quite bloody certain that your magic has something to do with it.”

Lyra’s ears drooped, and her bottom lip poked out.

Jason wacked her on the nose with a fingertip. “The cute face will not help you this time.”

Lyra pouted at that, huffing once. “Fine. No magic then.”

Jason nodded, and then released her horn, closing his eyes and just laying his head on the floor. “I’m going to lay here for a while.”

“Soooo, I can go back to my exploring while you’re out?” Lyra asked with a bounce and a grin.

“Knock yourself out,” Jason said, waving a hand at her in a dismissive motion.

Lyra scowled, and then nudged his cheek with her hoof a little harder than necessary. “knock yourself out!”

Jason groaned faintly at the unicorn, shaking his head. “It’s a figure of speech. It means ‘go ahead’.”

Lyra blinked, and her ears splayed back, her cheeks flushing faintly. “Oh... right!”

Jason laid his arm over his head, while Lyra turned and slipped out of the room, heading back for the room where the strange people were talking to eachother. She curled up on Jason’s couch, and rested her head on her forehooves, staring at the scenes flicking back and forth. The people on it, she found, didn’t even notice her. Even when they looked directly at her, they didn’t even care. It was very strange, but oddly entertaining. It was kind of like looking through a window into someponies house, really!

Lyra hummed happily, and then picked up a strange black object covered in white protuberances with strange symbols on them. Human stuff was so interesting!

Kisses

“Are you okay?” Lyra asked, tilting her head to the side, staring at the prone form of Jason.

Jason stirred faintly, opening an eye to peer up at the unicorn. “There’s a talking pony in front of me who apparently Narnia’d into my home through my wardrobe.”

“I was referring more to your physical well being. You’ve kinda been lying on the floor for the last hour or so. The strange humans in the box in that room have ceased to amuse me and refuse to submit to questioning,” Lyra complained.

Jason sighed faintly and then pushed himself to his knees, swaying slightly in place before steadying himself. “Ugh. Dizzy.”

“So you think my magic is doing something to you?” Lyra asked, ears perking at him, nudging him once with her nose in a soothing fashion.

Jason nodded, laying an arm over the unicorn in reciprocation, his brows furrowing. “I think so. My headache only started when you got here.”

“Your world is stressful on me, too,” Lyra admitted, huffing once. “It’s... strange. And there’s something that makes my magic kinda weird.”

“Weird?” Jason asked blankly, pushing himself to his feet.

“Weird.” Lyra nodded once, and then wrinkled her nose. “It’s like... a low kind of interference. It doesn’t stop it, but I wouldn’t try anything really delicate or strenuous in your world. It feels unstable, somehow, you know what I mean?”

Jason raised a brow at her, and then shook his head. “No. No I really don’t.”

Lyra snorted and rolled her eyes. “I’m hungry. Do you have any cookies? Pleeease?”

Raising a brow, Jason stared at the unicorn for a long moment. “You don’t have any shame, do you?”

“I’m hungry!” Lyra protested, huffing a moment. “So I’m asking for cookies! If there was anything you wanted from me, surely you’d ask, right? I mean, you wouldn’t get anything if you didn’t.”

Jason stared at the unicorn for a long moment, and then blinked once. “I... guess you’re right.” Jerking his head towards the kitchen, motioning for the unicorn to follow him, Jason stepped out of the room and down the stairs.

Lyra bounced after him happily, humming to herself. Jason led her into the kitchen, and pulled open a cupboard, tugging out an airtight container holding a packet of chocolate biscuits inside. He opened the pack, and then offered her one.

Lyra took the biscuit from him with a touch of her magic. Jason’s eyes widened, and he winced, a hand flying to his temple.

The unicorn’s eyes widened, and she let the biscuit drop, catching it deftly with a hoof, her ears splaying backwards. “Sorry...”

“No, it’s fine. Just... try not to do that again,” Jason stated, taking one of the biscuits himself and biting down on it grimly.

“These taste strange,” Lyra said, as she chewed a bite of one of her own biscuits. “But not bad.”

Jason gave a faint laugh at that. “I guess they don’t mass-produce biscuits in Equestria?”

“Mass produce?” Lyra asked, canting her head to the side curiously.

“Well, they make thousands of these packages,” Jason said, holding up the package of cookies, “And they ship them all over the country. So they’ve got to add preservatives to them so they don’t go stale in transit.”

“But... for a system like that to exist...” Lyra trailed off, head canting to one side. “How many humans are there?”

Jason gave a thoughtful hum at that. “Last I heard, we were getting pretty close to the seven billion mark.”

Lyra’s jaw dropped.

“S-seven billion?” the unicorn asked weakly.

“Well, not yet. We’re at like six point nine billion,” Jason corrected with a shrug.

“But that’s... that’s just... so many,” Lyra breathed, awestruck.

“Yeah, a lot more than where you come from, from what you told me,” Jason said with a wise nod, offering the unicorn another cookie.

Lyra just shook her head in awe, taking the cookie from him and chewing on it distractedly. “Obviously. There are only a thousand or so ponies that I know of... in all the towns and cities.”

“That’s really not a whole lot,” Jason said with a shake of his head. “Though Australia, where we are now, it’s not got so many people. Only a few million. It’s considered ‘low’ population.”

“Millions is a low population?” Lyra asked breathily.

Jason nodded. “Indeed. China has a population in the billions alone.”

“China... that sounds familiar,” Lyra murmured.

“Because I said it to you earlier,” Jason said with a roll of his eyes.

“Oh, right!” Lyra said with a bright grin, taking another cookie and nomming at it happily.

“Wanna watch a movie?” Jason offered.

“Mo-vie?” Lyra queried. “What’re they?”

“They’re kind of like... a play. They happen on the TV, you know, big square thing.” Jason made a motion with his arms.

“Oh, I like that thing!” Lyra exclaimed with a happy little bounce. “Even though the humans inside it never answer me...”

“That’s because it’s a recording,” Jason explained, beginning to lead the unicorn back upstairs.

“Recording?” Lyra asked, blinking once. “Like... music?”

“Yeah, like music!” Jason smiled, nodding. “But with pictures, as well.”

“So like... moving pictures!?” Lyra exclaimed, bouncing along beside him up the stairs.

“That’s a pretty good analogy,” Jason admitted, smiling at the energetic unicorn.

Jason led her into the TV room. He pushed the button to turn on his xbox, and then popped a disc into the tray; Paranormal Activity. Most of his other movies were quite violent, and he wasn’t sure how the bouncy unicorn would take such films.

Jason settled himself down on the couch, sitting at one end of the three-seater, and then watching Lyra, to see how she would incorporate her odd form into lounging. "It's not exactly made for ponies," he admitted with a weak smile.

Lyra nodded, leaping up onto the couch and spinning around once or twice, to get a feel for where it was softest, before she just plopped herself straight down on her stomach, laying on the couch with her head on the arm and her tail in Jason's lap. He didn't think she even realised she was invading his personal space.

Lyra rest her neck on her hooves, and shifted slightly, wiggling to get comfy and then staring at the tv screen.

"So this is just like... a moving storybook?" Lyra queried.

Jason nodded in response. "Yup. That'd be the best way to describe it."

"But it's all so realistic..." Lyra said, with a shake of her head. "Human artists must be amazing."

Jason laughed at that, shaking his head. "Silly unicorn. The pictures are recordings. They're just recorded from actual live people."

Lyra blinked slowly at that, looking back at the TV screen. "But... creating these kinds of things. It must be very inconvenient."

Giving a slight smile, Jason nodded. "Yeah, it is. But that's why they pay actors so much, I guess."

Lyra opened her mouth to ask something, but Jason shushed her. "Shhh. You won't enjoy the movie if you miss half of it from talking."

The unicorn flushed faintly at that and nodded, turning her gaze back to the movie.

Jason settled himself back to watch the movie as well. By this point, it had gotten past the opening credits.

“Why is there writing on the screen?” Lyra whispered.

“it’s just giving credit to the people who made the movie,” Json whispered back.

More of the movie passed in silence, that is, until something scary started to happen.

“W-what is that?!” Lyra squeaked, her hooves kicking in reflex. Her tail shot up in some kind of response as she tried to still her urge to bolt from the room. The wispy strands of Lyra’s tail caught Jason right in the face, whipping across his nose and directly across his eyes.

Jason gave a sound of surprise and pain, a hand lifting to rub at his eyes. “Ow!”

Lyra blinked back over her shoulder, eyes widening slightly. “Oh... I... I was so absorbed it felt like I was in that house!”

Jason nodded, squinting and rubbing his eyes. “Can you please lay the other way? I don’t want a tail whip to the face next time something scary happens.”

Lyra nodded, and then turned around, squirming slightly to get into somewhat of a more comfortable position, scrunching herself up to try and squeeze into the space she was allotted.

Sighing faintly, Jason shook his head, reaching down and grabbing the unicorn’s shoulders, pulling her further up against him so she could rest her head in his lap. “You don’t need to scrunch up like an accordion.”

“Accordion?” Lyra asked, but Jason shushed her.

Lyra snorted once, and then laid her head in his lap, her cheek resting on his thigh as she watched the movie, her tail resting over the arm of the couch.

Jason idly stroked a hand through the unicorn’s mane as he watched the movie with her, letting his fingers twine with the smooth, silky mane.

“Your... hands are very good at that,” Lyra breathed.

Jason blinked once, peering down at her, and then gave a slight start of surprise as he realised that he was playing with her mane. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked, concerned.

Lyra shook her head. “No, it feels nice.”

Jason smiled and continued to stroke his fingertips through the unicorn’s mane, gently digging in to let the very tips of his fingers rub against the base of her ‘scalp’ or whatever word ponies used for the place where hair follicles entered the flesh. “You ponies must have some bitchin’ shampoo.”

Blinking at that, Lyra turned over slightly to peer up at him, raising a brow. “Shampoo?”

“You know. Erm... products that you put in your hair to make it all nice?” Jason asked, tilting his head to the side curiously.

“Oh, earth ponies use those, but us unicorns just use our magic to ‘lathe’ all the dirt and stuff out of our manes,” Lyra said with a short, upside-down nod.

“Well, it works pretty damn well,” Jason complimented with a smile.

“Well thank you!” Lyra said with a happy nod, before tilting her head again to continue watching the movie.

Jason returned his own gaze to the movie, stroking his fingers through the unicorn’s mane and down over her spine, exploring her form idly. He traced across her soft-furred form, rubbing fingertips against her fur, tracing down the smooth muscles under her soft hide. Lyra looked up at him for a moment, and then gave a content sigh, laying her head back in his lap to continue watching the movie.

With a frown, Jason leaned over a little bit, letting a hand brush down over her flank. The mark there, like a harp, was seemingly dyed into the fur. There was no change in texture from fur, to marked fur. “What is this?”

“That’s my cutie mark,” Lyra said with a single nod and a smile. “It’s... well, it’s what we’re best at!”

“You can play the harp with hooves?” Jason asked, disbelieving.

Lyra blinked once, ears perking at that. “Yes. Why wouldn’t I be able to?”

“I couldn’t play the harp if I tried,” Jason admitted with a wry smile.

The unicorn paused at that, and then her eyes widened. “Oh wow! You must be able to make music so well with your fingers! You’ve got like, five of them! I only have one hoof on either side!”

Jason gave a nervous laugh at that. “I never really learned any instruments, to be honest.”

Lyra’s ears drooped at that. “Awww...”

“Well perhaps you can show me your harp sometime?” Jason offered, stroking a palm down over her stomach soothingly.

Lyra nodded and rolled over onto her back, hooves splayed, to allow him easier access to her stomach. Jason smiled faintly, rubbing his palm down over her stomach and tickling gently against it with his fingertips.

The unicorn squirmed faintly, pushing at his arm playfully with a squeak as he rubbed at her stomach.

Jason grinned again, rubbing against her stomach more firmly, tickling at her and smiling helplessly. She really was very cute.

Lyra huffed and mouthed at his arm playfully, making ferocious gnawing sounds and then pulling it down to rest her cheek on, watching the movie. Jason subsided and just rubbed his hand across her stomach and side slowly, watching the movie as well.

An easy silence fell between them as they both watched, until a particularly disturbing part of the movie. An evil-looking creature appeared, and Lyra sat bolt upright, her eyes widening. A fearful squeak left her, and she spun around, trying to scramble away over the couch.

“It’s gonna get me, it’s gonna get me!” Lyra squeaked helplessly, scrabbling in an attempt to escape. Jason wrapped his arms around her on reflex to try and stop her from springing over the couch and running away.

Lyra ended up wiggling up his form, trying to escape, her breathing hard. Her nose bumped against his own, and she flushed faintly, her ears splaying back as she came back to herself. Jason raised a brow at her.

“I-I thought that thing...” Lyra lamely tried to explain.

Jason gave a wry smile and shook his head, “Understandable.”

“I-it can’t r-really get us can it?” Lyra asked, ears splayed still, her tone concerned and mildly scared.

Jason shook his head. “No, silly unicorn, it can’t,” he chided, grinning at her.

“I feel silly,” Lyra admitted, looking down and to the side.

Smiling again, Jason lifted her chin with a fingertip. “Don’t worry about it. The movies are made to make people react like that.”

“But I’m not a people!” Lyra protested, pushing her hooves against his chest.

“You know what I mean,” Jason said with a slow shake of his head, chuckling.

Lyra snorted and then nudged him with her nose, dragging a wet lick across his forehead.

Jason squirmed slightly at that, wrinkling his nose. “Oi, stop that!”

Lyra tilted her head curiously. “Humans don’t do that?”

Jason stared at her for a long moment, and slowly shook his head. “No, I can honestly say that licking on the face is not a human trait.”

“It’s only a sign of affection!” Lyra said with an earnest nod. “Do humans kiss?”

Jason raised a brow at that, looking thoughtful, before he shook his head slowly. “Nope, we certainly don’t do that either. Why don’t you show me?”

The unicorn gave a happy hum at that, leaning forwards and kissing the human full on the mouth without hesitation, her soft lips pressing against his own. She held the kiss for a few seconds before pulling back, grinning. “Like that!”

Jason gave a wry grin at that, and tilted his head at the unicorn. “I kinda lied.”

“Lied?” Lyra queried, an ear pricking upwards.

“Yup. Humans do the whole kissing thing too,” he admitted with a sly grin.

Lyra flushed, her ears pinning back. She nudged him with her nose firmly. “Devious human,” she accused.

Jason chuckled a moment. “Oh you know you wanted to kiss me,” he accused.

Lyra flushed again, and she gave a nervous nod, before leaning in and kissing him again, giving a low, eager hum in the back of her throat.

The human happily stroked his palms down her back as she kissed him, until she pulled back, looking worried. “This is just a sign of affection for humans, yes?”

Jason tilted his head slightly. “Sometimes? I guess yeah. Sometimes it means a lot more.”

“But it’s not a proposal or nothing, right?” Lyra asked worriedly.

Jason chuckled and shook his head. “No, silly unicorn. It’s just a kiss.”

“And you don’t have a problem kissing a talking pony?” Lyra pressed, nudging her nose in underneath his chin, snuffling at his throat.

“You’re kissing a human,” Jason pointed out with a shrug. “I don’t see a problem with it.”

“Good!” Lyra beamed, dragging a lick against his chin and then kissing him again, humming happily.

“We’re missing the movie,” Jason pointed out weakly.

Lyra peered back over her shoulder, and then shrugged slightly, turning back to him, smiling mischievously. “This is far more interesting.”

Jason gently nudged the unicorn with his elbow.

Lyra stirred faintly, blinking her eyes open groggily and saying something unintelligable.

“You fell asleep,” Jason said with a shake of his head, motioning towards the Tv screen, where the credits were rolling.

Lyra blinked several times and rubbed a hoof against her eyes. “I don’t remember much of the movie.”

“You were too busy trying to eat my face,” Jason pointed out.

The unicorn flushed, pushing at him with her hooves. “It’s your fault! Your face is all flat and totally not made for kissing!”

Jason grinned at that, shaking his head. “Is that why it took fifteen minutes of attempts before you gave up?”

“Yup!” Lyra said shamelessly, grinning.

“I really think you should go home if you’re sleepy. You can come back some other time if you’d like?” Jason offered, raising a brow.

Lyra pouted, her ears drooping. “I suppose you’re right. What’re you gonna do? It’s still light outside.”

“I’m going to go nap. You turn up in the middle of the night and interrupt my sleeping patterns,” Jason pointed out.

“I can try turn up earlier?” Lyra suggested.

Jason nodded and brushed a hand through his hair, yawning. “It would help.”

“So see you early next time?” Lyra asked, bouncing in place happily.

“Sure,” Jason conceded. “Just remember: No magic.”

“No magic,” Lyra swore, holding a hoof against her chest sincerely.

Lyra had been sent home for the day, and Jason was laying under a thin blanket, with the air conditioner on full, blowing cool streams of air across the room. The sneaky sound of hoofbeats echoed down the hallway, and Lyra pushed her nose through his doorway, eyes narrowing.

Grinning to herself, the unicorn crept up to the end of the bed and wormed her way in underneath the covers, becoming nothing more than a moving lump under the blanket until her head poked out of the end and she squirmed in against Jason’s chest. Giving a happy sigh, the unicorn wiggled to get comfortable, pushed her nose into his sternum, and then closed her eyes.

Shower

Jason stretched faintly, giving a yawn. It was ten minutes before his alarm was going to go off. It was the time he always woke up. He reached over towards the alarm clock, but paused. There was something warm and firm against his bare chest. Blinking his eyes open, he pulled the edge of the blanket upwards, and peeked underneath. The image of a sleeping pony greeted him, and the question of ‘what the fuck are you doing?’ died somewhere between his mind and his mouth under the sheer amount of adorable that was possessed by the sleeping pony.

Very gentle, Jason eased his way out from under the covers, leaving Lyra laying there as a warm lump, before moving stiff-legged towards the shower.

After just a few moments of running the hot water system, steam began to fill the bathroom, fogging up the mirror. Jason left the door open just a crack, and then slipped in under the hot water. With a soft, happy sigh, he sat himself down in the corner of the shower and tilted his head towards the spray, letting it wash over him.

The first indication that Jason had of Lyra being in the shower with him, was the sound of her hooves hitting the bottom of the shower with a soft thud.

Jason’s eyes blinked open, and he snorted, immediately closing his legs to protect his modesty, just shaking his head at the small unicorn, already too used to her eccentricities to bother berating her.

“Ooo, it’s warm!” Lyra said with a happy grin, leaning towards the spray and arching her head up into it. “What magic is used to make this?”

“The hot water system,” Jason said with a slight frown. “And it’s not magic or nothing.”

“Maaaagic~” Lyra responded in a sing-song tone, sitting down in the shower and stretching out happily under the water. “Why do you hide yourself like you’re deformed or something?”

Jason looked away, trying to think how best to explain it. “Well... It’s private.”

“You’ve seen mine,” Lyra said with a flippant shrug.

“I have not!” Jason said immediately.

“Well you must have nearsightedness!” Lyra huffed, pursing her lips.

Jason make a scrunching motion with his hands, exasperated. “Why would I want to look there?!”

Lyra’s lower lip poked out a little bit, beginning to tremble. “You don’t find me attractive?”

Jason could only stare at the unicorn. “You’re not even my species. I mean, kissing is one thing, finding you attractive is another thing entirely.”

“So you don’t even find me attractive enough to look?” Lyra asked, frowning deeply.

“That’s just not something humans do!” Jason protested, trying to get it across to the unicorn. “Even if it was another human I wouldn’t do it. It’s disrespectful!”

“I don’t want your respect,” Lyra said instantly, giving him a sly smile.

“But I’m not going to disrespect you by just ogling you without your permission,” he stated flatly, shaking his head in exasperation.

“Annnd if I gave you permission?” Lyra asked sweetly, leaning towards him and batting her eyes.

“Oh god... this is so bloody awkward,” Jason stated, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

“I could make it more awkward?” Lyra suggested with a tilted head, a mischievous grin on her muzzle.

Jason just sighed. “I really doubt that, Lyra.”

Lyra grinned even more, and then leaned in to nip at his earlobe, before whispering heatedly into it, “You remind me of my father... it turns me on...”

Jason’s eyes widened, and he immediately pushed at the unicorn’s chest with both palms, forcing her away from him. “I stand corrected!”

Lyra dissolved into a fit of giggling, stuffing a hoof against her muzzle to stifle the sound.

“What are you even doing here?” Jason asked, to divert the conversation into less awkward lands.

“We kissed. I’m totally allowed to sleep in your bed now,” Lyra said with an earnest nod.

Jason blinked once, raising a brow. “You’re making that up.”

Lyra shook her head. “Oh no, if you kiss a pony, you get special privileges!”

Jason stared at Lyra for a long moment. “...really?”

Lyra giggled and bopped his nose with her hoof. “Nope! But I’m an adorable pony and I can just make big, sad eyes at you to save myself from any possible repercussions to my eccentricities.”

A soft sigh left the human, and he shook his head. “I hate how aware you are of your cuteness.”

Another giggle left the pony, and she stepped over closer to him, dropping herself into his lap without a single word and splaying herself out happily.

Jason pushed at her with his palms again. “What’re you doing?!”

“I’m getting comfy!” Lyra said, huffing at him, “Or I was until you started pushing me!”

“I’m naked!” Jason reiterated, scowling.

“And? Show me yours and I’ll show you mine!” Lyra said with a giggle.

Jason sighed and rolled his eyes. “What are we, nine?”

“Nine...?” Lyra asked, blinking once. “Nine what?”

“Years old!” Jason huffed, glowering down at the pony.

“I’m far older than that!” Lyra scoffed, nudging his chin once with her nose, and then turning her gaze on him, with wide, innocent eyes, and a quivering bottom lip. “Pleeeease Jason? Can I just sit in your lap? Pleeeease?”

Jason grit his teeth, staring down at her, grimacing, before he covered her face with his hand. “Fine! Just stop making that bloody face at me!”

Lyra giggled happily, and then squirmed around in his lap, sitting down with her back against his stomach, peering up at him upside-down.

“I think I figured out how I got here, too!” the unicorn said with a happy nod.

“That’s good,” Jason replied, idly stroking his fingertips through her mane.

A long silence stretched between them, before Jason asked, “Well?”

“Well what?” Lyra asked, oblivious.

“Tell me how you got here!” Jason growled.

“Well... I made a portal,” Lyra said with a happy grin.

“...really?” Jason asked, his voice laced with sarcasm.

“You know about the multiverse theory, right?” Lyra asked suddenly.

“Something about each of our choices creating a new alternate reality that exists in parallel with our own,” Jason stated.

Lyra blinked once.

“I’ve seen a few episodes of Stargate,” Jason said with a shrug.

“Well... there are only two possibilities of how I got here. One; I moved a great distance. To another planet. Or another galaxy,” Lyra explained, still watching him upside-down.

“Aye, but if that were the case... we wouldn’t speak the same language,” Jason pointed out.

“Exactly!” Lyra said excitedly, wiggling in his lap happily. “And I’ve looked at the wardrobes. They’re exactly the same! I don’t just mean in the size, I mean in composition as well! They were cut from exactly the same tree! The whorls in the wood are the same, the striations, the size and shapes, everything!”

“And the significance is?” Jason asked blankly.

Lyra face-hoofed. “Right! You don’t know about magic... Well, I was trying to target the magic to a different point in Equestria, but a bird hit my window and I must have lost my train of thought,”

“I cannot possibly see how that could happen to you,” Jason stated, with heavy sarcasm.

Lyra swatted his cheek with a hoof. “Shush you! I must have forced it to target the wardrobe itself by accident. And since you can’t make a doorway that ends in the exact same place it starts, without breaking the universe, it did the next best thing! It found a copy of the wardrobe elsewhere and make the doorway link there!”

Jason rubbed his cheek where Lyra had swatted him, and peered down at her thoughtfully. “But... why here?”

“Why not?” Lyra asked, tilting her head to the side. “If not here, then I would be having this discussing with some other human. Or maybe even some other you.”

“And now my head hurts,” Jason said, rubbing his temple. “And not just because you hit me.”

“Want me to kiss it better?” Lyra asked, perking up.

Jason snorted, wrapping his arms around her and rubbing his fingertips against her stomach. “No. I don’t intend to be here another half hour while you try to eat my face again.”

Lyra snorted and rolls her eyes. “But I just need more practise!”

Jason shook his head, tapping her nose with a fingertip. “So. If you managed to create a portal to a... alternate reality or whatever it was. How exactly is it that you’re a pony and I’m not?”

“Random chance!” Lyra said with a happy wiggle of her hips. Jason immediately placed a hand on her hips, to stop her from doing that again.

“Why not other ponies?” Jason asked, confused. “That would make more sense.”

“Maaaaybe~” Lyra sing-songed. “But it would seem that there are strong similarities in our histories! Etymology shows that many words are based on past events. Their use and evolution is governed by historiological events that we must have in common, otherwise we’d just be speaking gibberish at eachother!”

“Okay, then. But what about technology? Why do you ponies not have TV’s and microwaves and toasters?” Jason asked curiously.

Lyra gave a grin at that. “I’ve been thinking about that too!” she said with a happy nod, deliberately tilting her head back until her horn touched his chest, wiggling it back and forth slightly.

“Magic,” Jason said with dawning comprehension.

“Exactly!” Lyra squeaked, grinning. “We don’t need to develop all these things because we have magic!”

“Interesting,” Jason admitted, rubbing his chin with one hand, his other hand rubbing against her stomach.

“Very interesting!” Lyra said with a giggle and a bounce.

“How do you know you didn’t just go back or forwards in time?” Jason queried.

“Starswirl’s laws of time travel prevents that!” Lyra explained with a happy nod.

“Starswirl’s what?” Jason asked, perplexed.

“Laws of time travel!” Lyra added with a grin. “I think it’s the... fifth law? Some law! One of them states that a constant time bridge must be contained within non-elemental vehicles!”

“You’ve completely lost me. Again,” Jason admitted, sighing and shaking his head. “I feel dumb around you.”

“Silly,” Lyra said, bopping him on the nose again with a hoof. “The law basically states that for any time bridge to exist, it must be made of a material that does not exist in our universe! The wardrobe is made of wood, so it’s an elemental material~ Therefore, it can’t be a time bridge that I’ve made!”

“Elemental?” Jason asked flatly. “What’s that supposed to mean? Why would it even matter?”

“Elemental means basic,” Lyra explained, wiggling against him again. Jason once more stilled her with his hands. “So anything that the universe is made up of is elemental. The bridge can’t be made of an elemental material because it would exist in two places at once~ Like, if you made a capsule, and then went back in time two minutes! There’d be another capsule right there that’s already the same as the first one! And the time-space continuum really doesn’t like having clone objects within it. It kinda... breaks after a little while.”

“And back to not understanding a thing you’re saying,” Jason admitted, sighing and shaking his head.

“Just... take it from me! A time machine has to be made of non-elemental materials and it can only work one-way! Ponies can go back in time at will, but they’ve gotta take precautions. And they can only be there for a few seconds, or sometimes even minutes! Otherwise, they get torn apart at a molecular level as the time-space-continuum forces the two objects, I.E ponies, are forced to try and inhabit the same place in the continuum. ‘Course, you can avoid all that by just going back to before you were born!”

Jason placed a hand over Lyra’s mouth. “Okay, can we go back to talking about really awkward stuff before you make my head hurt any more?”

“Okay!” Lyra said with a happy grin, wiggling against him again. “Why are humans so averse to allowing others to see their genitalia?”

The human scoffed at that, shaking his head. “I didn’t mean literally.”

“No! I’m curious!” Lyra said with an earnest nod. “You could see mine whenever you wanted!”

Jason snorted softly. “Humans only let other people see them naked if they intend to have sex.”

“So your kind does that as well?” Lyra asked, head canting to the side curiously. “If you walk in on some human when they’re changing their clothes, or when they’re in the shower, are you expected to have sex with them?”

Jason facepalmed, shaking his head. “No, silly pony. We only have sex if we want to.”

“Ohhh, that’s good!” Lyra said, wiggling her hips again.

“Stop that!” Jason whined, stilling the unicorn once more.

“Stop what?” Lyra asked innocently, giving him her most wide, naive eyes.

“Wiggling!” jason said, exasperated.

Lyra snorted and then wiggled her hips against, irregardless of his attempts to stop her. “Whyyyyy?” She asked innocently, peering up at him still.

“Because you’re in my lap!” Jason growled, shaking his head.

Lyra giggled again, pressing back against him. “In that a prooooblem~? Is it making you arouuuused~?”

Jason’s eyes narrowed, and he huffed at the unicorn. “If you keep hinting at that kind of stuff, it’s going to actually happen,” he warned, poking her nose with a fingertip. “And I doubt you actually want that.”

“Dooon’t I?” Lyra asked innocently, grinning up at him.

“I get the feeling you’re just bluffing and use sexual innuendo to put me off-balance,” Jason explained, idly rubbing her stomach again with a palm.

“Why doncha just call my bluff then?” Lyra asked innocently, tilting her head to the side, still staring at him upside-down. “And then you could exult in your victory over me while I gasp and blush and hide in the corner!”

Jason stared down at her, eyes narrowed. “And if you’re not bluffing?”

“Then you could totally exult in-” Lyra was cut off as Jason pressed his hand down further, letting his fingers drift between her thighs. The unicorn’s eyes widened, and she gave a soft squeak and a shudder, her back arching just a little bit.

Jason stared down at her, raising a brow slowly, letting his fingertips brush along the cleft of the unicorn’s sex, exploring it with his fingertips gently.

Lyra gave a faint shudder, biting her bottom lip and squirming back against him with a gasp and shudder, spreading her hindlegs and bending her back further to allow him easier access.

“Well, at least I know how to shut you up now,” Jason stated, giving a firmer rub with his fingertips.

Lyra shuddered and whimpered softly, swatting at him with a hoof. Jason grinned and leaned back, allowing the swing to miss him. “Y-your fingers are so much better than a hoof!”

Jason gave a wry grin at that. “Most likely. But hey, if you think just rubbing is something...”

Lyra perked her ears, staring up at him curiously, her eyes suddenly widening as she felt his fingertips spreading open her sex, and a single long digit suddenly pressing inside. A stifled gasp and squeal left the unicorn, and she wiggled against him again, her ears splaying hard.

The soft depths of the unicorn’s sex squeezed around his digit as he pressed it inside, the warm walls already moist, clenching against the intruding object.

“O-oh sweet Celestia!” Lyra squeaked, her eyes wide, biting her bottom lip all the harder. Jason gave a sly grin and then pressed a single finger into her body, making the young unicorn whimper and arch all the more, quivering against him helplessly.

“Not what you were expecting?” Jason asked innocently, even as he twisted to the side slightly so he could twist his wrist and allow his thumb to begin rubbing against the unicorn’s clit firmly.

Lyra whimpered once more, pressing back against him, her hindlegs splaying and lifting just a little bit, kicking at the air helplessly as she shuddered and gripping his arm tight in her forehooves.

“Not so different from human girls then,” Jason said with a sly grin, beginning to work both fingers into her again and again, sinking them into the squeezing depths firmly.

“D-don’t you d-dare stop!” Lyra whimpered, squeezing his arm so tightly that it was starting to go numb.

“You ponies do cum, don’t you?” Jason asked, worried for a moment.

“Yes!” Lyra squeaked, whimpering helplessly and beginning to grind her hips towards the stimulation again and again, her horn beginning to glow.

Jason stared down at the glowing horn with concern, worried that it would begin to affect him again. Immediately, he began to work his fingers into her harder, grinding his thumb against her clit firmly in an effort to make the unicorn orgasm as soon as possible.

Lyra bit her bottom lip again, clenching her eyes closed and humping her hips against his thrusting fingers, her quivering depths starting to squeeze and clench around them all the tighter. Her horn began to glow all the brighter, and muffled squeals escaped her quivering muzzle.

The unicorn’s horn suddenly exploded with light, and a sharp pain invaded Jason’s temple, like a minor migraine, while Lyra quivered and shuddered against him, a sudden rush of liquids spilling down over his fingers and palm, wetting his thighs as the pony came.

Jason held the unicorn close as she slumped, going limp in his embrace. Panting hard, the Unicorn took several long moment to return to coherency, lifting her head with a low groan, licking her lips and blinking up at him. “W-wow.”

“Call your bluff,” Jason stated, slowly sliding his fingers out of her warm, tight sex. Lyra whimpered at the sensation, wiggling her hips helplessly.

“You did...” Lyra panted, laying back against him with a low moan. “I had no idea your fingers were so dextrous!”

“And I just fingered a unicorn,” Jason stated, blinking once down at her.

“A cute unicorn!” Lyra corrected.

“A cute unicorn,” Jason agreed, leaning down to kiss her upside-down-nose.

Lyra purred, kissing him in response and then slumping back against him. “I need to sleep more,” she murmured, wiggling to get comfy.

“Very human thing of you to do,” Jason stated, shaking his head at her.

“Whaaat?” Lyra whined.

“Falling asleep directly after sex. Well... orgasm. That wasn’t really sex,” Jason said with a shake of his head.

“So sue me!” Lyra snorted, wiggling around to face him and then splaying across his front, resting her chin on his shoulder.

Jason rolled his eyes, rubbing a hand through her wet mane and allowing the tired unicorn to rest against him, kissing her cheek once.

The unicorn made a faint, incoherent sound that could have been a word, and then she was asleep.

Royal Intervention

Jason tossed and turned in his bed, grumbling faintly to himself and then kicking the blankets off. He had turned the air-con off earlier as it had been rattling, and he was already regretting the decision.

Lyra had been sent home at Jason’s insistence. He had to work, do chores, and all of that boring stuff. A slow time at the bar where he worked some mornings had given him plenty of time to ponder on what he had done.

He had fingered a pony.

A talking pony.

It was bizarre to him. But not because of the simple physical act. More; it was bizarre because he wasn’t weirded out by it. Whenever Jason though of a ‘real’ horse (because somehow, talking ponies coming through an interdimensional portal just weren’t real enough), it just didn’t tickle his fancy. In fact, it tickled something a little closer to his gag and vomit reflex. But Lyra? The mint-maned unicorn who could likely kill him with a touch of magic... he was actually attracted to her.

Which was bizarre!

What was even worse was, she was an awesome girl. Cute, bouncy, playful, and as he had discovered, naughty! Not to mention she was interested in him, which might have more to say about her sample size than her standards. But still!

Jason couldn’t help but let his mind wander to the future. How would a relationship even work? Would he just have this magical cupboard in his upstairs bedroom where his non-human girlfriend would come from?

Even just thinking about it was bizarre. But what really disturbed Jason was that he was thinking about a future with Lyra. There were no plans, there was no intent to try make a future with her. But he wasn’t discounting the possibility in its entirety.

And that scared him.

After a while, a fitful sleep took Jason, and he tossed and turned his way through several hours.

Suddenly, he was wide awake.

Wide, wide awake.

Jason couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was in his room with him. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up, and he had the strangest urge to leap from the bed and run from the room.

Slowly, Jason opened his eyes, expecting to see Lyra standing in front of him.

The human gave a cry of alarm and backpedalled across the bed, kicking the covers off himself hurriedly and crashing to the ground with a heavy thud. A glass of water on the nightstand wobbled and then bounced off his forehead, adding insult and injury, leaving a nice forming bruise on his forehead.

Jason groaned faintly, holding one hand against his forehead, covering his left eye, staring up at the ceiling, dazed.

The upside-down head of a large white pony appeared in his field of view. She had a horn, like Lyra, except much longer, and almost scarily pointed. A tiara rested in her multi coloured-mane, that was constantly trailing in the air as if silk in a light breeze.

“I take it you are Jason?” the pony asked.

Jason was wrapped in a fuzzy red bathrobe - a souvenir from the last time his ex-girlfriend had drunkenly crashed at his place - while he stirred a cup of extra-strength coffee in a distracted way.

Princess Celestia, as she called herself, was sitting in the doorway of his kitchen, between him and his front door, watching him intently, pink eyes narrowed.

“You realise that that is really unnerving?” Jason asked nervously, stirring his coffee and then dropping the spoon on the counter, taking a long swallow of the bitter liquid. It wasn’t even three A.M. yet, and he needed something to do with his hands. Something about the princess set him on edge.

“This entire situation is unnerving,” Celestia said calmly, her gaze unwavering.

Jason was very aware of how large the pony was. She was at least twice his mass, and the horn on her head was long enough to spear him from front to back. Not to mention she knew magic. And she had wings! Great big white things he had seen her stretch a few moments previously.

And she was in his kitchen, watching him.

They had exchanged no more than their names before Jason had made an excuse and bolted to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee, giving himself time to think, and hopefully, time to wake up further.

“So... tell me more about your kind. These... humans,” Celestia asked, though the question was more of a demanding statement.

“Uhm... well... there just isn’t a whole lot to say,” Jason said nervously, rubbing a palm against the back of his neck. From what he understood, Celestia was the ruler of Equestria, and perhaps some kind of ‘deity’.

“Ponies have earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi, and alicorns. What different strains do humans have?” Celestia asked matter-of-factly.

Jason pondered on that, taking another sip of his coffee to fortify himself. “W-well... we have... erm... European... Asian... American... and African American, if I had to really divide people up into different races. Oh, and indians, I guess... and Aboriginals. And Australian’s. And just jeeze. Lots.”

“That is... a lot of different races,” Celestia stated, frowning. “Are there not a stronger generalisation you could make?”

“Black and white?” Jason offered helplessly. “But even then... there’s brindle and half-cast, yellow and brown...”

Celestia gave a harrumph, shaking her head. “Tell me of these asians then. What distinguishes them from the rest of your kind? Do they have wings?”

Jason gave a snort at that, not quite sure how to answer. “Uhm... well... I suppose they have... sorta squinty eyes?” he offered helplessly, feeling railroaded into an answer. “And black hair, I guess. I’ve never seen a blond asian.”

“You have black hair, are you Asian?” Celestia asked, casting her gave up towards his hair.

Jason shook his head. “No. Black is a pretty common hair colour.”

“Then these Americans. What makes them different?” Celestia asked flatly.

“I... Well, I guess they’re pretty good at blowing stuff up? They’re involved in pretty much every war, anyhow. And they’re the main world superpower.” Jason gave a helpless shrug.

“Then these... Indians, what are they?”

“I... guess they were a hunter-gatherer nation, until the American’s came and wiped most of them out. Now they run gambling-institutes, from what I know,” Jason said weakly.

“The American’s wiped most of them out?” Celestia repeated, aghast.

“I did tell you that they’re good at war, right?” Jason replied helplessly.

Celestia snorted once. “And the Australians?”

Jason took a deep breath at that. “Well... the Australians were originally the worst of the worst of criminals from the Europeans, basically sent to die on Australia. After a while, they just gave up keeping them in line and let them make their own continent.”

Celestia just stared at him. “And... the African Americans?”

Jason gave a weak laugh, looking away. “Oh... well... Uhm... They were slaves.”

“Slaves?!” Celestia screeched.

“Slaves,” Jason repeated with a curt nod. “Slaves to the Americans.”

“So you have slave-keeping, land-taking nation, a nation comprised entirely of criminals, a nation whose sole purpose is to run gambling institutions, and a nation of slanted-eyed, black-haired humans?” Celestia asked, her tone awed and dismayed.

“That... really does sum it up pretty nicely,” Jason said weakly. “It’s not as... cut-and-dried as that...”

“And you have a doorway to Equestria...” the princess added weakly.

“It’s not nearly as bad as it sounds!” Jason said, dismayed. “Just... come on. Sit down in my lounge room and I’ll explain it better,” he said, ushering the princess towards the lounge room, while thinking to himself that if this event were to be recorded for posterity, it would be the worst first contact ever.

Jason sighed faintly, holding a rum & cola can against his forehead, letting it cool him. It wasn’t even six AM, and he was drinking. Thankfully, he didn’t have work that day. But after that ‘conversation’ with Celestia, he needed something to wind down. It had been an absolute nightmare trying to explain human history to the princess, and the state of current affairs.

Religion hadn’t gone over well. The crusades had positively disgusted her, and suicide bombers had made her angry. She already hated most every religion, except for pacifism. She abhorred suicide bombers, and found the very idea of being rewarded with seventy-one virgins as a crime against nature.

‘What’s in it for the girls?’ Celestia had asked. ‘Or is their reward to be one of these seventy-one concubines?’

It had been a long, long talk. And many, many things had become sore points. Dictators, wars, terrorism, poverty.

Celestia had left looking very worried and distracted. Which was about when Jason discovered the ‘visitors’.

A pair of unicorns, dressed in shining silver armor, spears in hoof, standing in his spare room, flanking the wardrobe, silent and ready for anything that might come at them.

At least Jason now knew that Lyra was an oddity. None of these new ponies were bouncy and happy. They were serious and quiet.

“Jason!?” called a familiar voice.

Jason looked up, taking the rum can away from his forehead, peering up the stairs to where Lyra was peering out from between the railings.

“Down here,” Jason said, waving his free hand idly.

Lyra came bounding down the steps with a worried frown, stopping in front of the couch and then sitting down on her haunches, staring up at him. “What did Princess Celestia say?!”

“Something about coming back later when she’s made her decision,” Jason said, pressing the rum can back against his forehead.

“Well... she let me back in here!” Lyra said with an earnest nod, bouncing up onto the couch and then pressing into his side, rubbing her nose in against his cheek affectionately. “That’s a good sign!”

Jason sighed faintly, wrapping his arm around the unicorn. “She kept asking questions.”

“It is a whole new world,” Lyra said with a helpless smile, licking his cheek gently.

“Indeed. But still. I thought she was going to kill me when I told her about organized religion,” Jason said with a shudder.

“Organized religion?” Lyra asked curiously, ears perking up at him.

Jason nodded. “Belief in a god. In an organized way.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Lyra said with a shrug. “We all believe in a god... well, goddess.”

“That’s not quite how our church works,” Jason said with a wry smile. “And there’s no way to prove the religion.”

“Just have your god come down and talk one-on-one with Celestia,” Lyra said with a single blink.

Jason gave a nervous laugh at that. “That’s the problem. There’s not even much proof that god exists. He doesn’t talk to people, he doesn’t interact with them, or anything.”

Lyra blinked slowly. “That’s... just... weird. Why do humans believe in him then?”

“Gullibility?” Jason offered with a helpless shrug. “I’m not sure. I don’t believe in a god myself.”

“Well that’s sensible,” Lyra said with a smile, before peering at his rum & cola can with a slow tilt of her head. “What’s that?”

“”Liquid fortitude,” Jason stated, removing it from his forehead and taking a mouthful of it, before resting it back against his forehead.

“Can I try some?” Lyra asked, bouncing slightly in place.

Shrugging, Jason handed Lyra the can.

The teal unicorn immediately held it up against her muzzle with both hooves and downed several large gulps.

Jason winced, quickly leaning forwards and taking the can from her, shaking his head. “Not so fast!”

Lyra burped cutely and then blinked once up at him, tilting her head, and then wrinkling her nose. “Ugh... the aftertaste is horrible!”

“It’s not for everyone,” Jason admitted with a wry smile.

The unicorn snorted once, rubbing at her muzzle with a hoof. “Makes me feel all tingly though.”

“Loosens inhibitions. It’s alcohol.” Jason took another swallow, peering sideways at the unicorn.

“Like cider?” Lyra asked with a goofy smile.

Jason nodded. “I guess so. Hard cider.”

“I liiike hard cider,” Lyra said with a sage nod, blinking up at him coquettishly. “I like other hard things too, if you know what I‘m talking about.”

Jason raised a brow at her slowly.

“Cocks! I’m talking about cocks!” Lyra stated with a huff.

Jason chuckled. “I caught the innuendo the first time around.”

“But no squirming in embarrassment?” Lyra asked with a pout.

“I’ve already had a full can of rum, had barely any sleep, and I feel a headache coming. I really don’t have the energy for embarrassment at the moment,” Jason admitted,shaking his head and downing the rest of the rum can, placing it on the coffee table, before sitting back in the couch, spreading himself out lazily. “Sun isn’t even up yet.”

“I can relax you!” Lyra said instantly, inching closer to him with an oh-so-innocent grin.

“Aren’t you worried about Celestia? The guards?” Jason asked lazily.

“Celestia won’t be back for an hour at least!” Lyra said with a happy nod and a smile. “And the guards have been ordered not to move. Just gonna keep humans away from the portal and keep ponies on the other side. I have a special pass, and she wrote ‘free intimacy’ on it!”

“I don’t believe you,” Jason stated with a shake of his head.

“I’ll prove it!” Lyra said, dashing upstairs. She was gone for over a minute, before she came bounding back down, a golden slip of paper in her mouth. She offered it to him wordlessly.

Upon the ticket was a fancy inlay of what appeared to be a royal crest of some kind, with very officious writing on it declaring ‘the bearer of this ticket is allowed passage to the zone from which other ponies are not allowed’.

Underneath that, scrawled hastily in writing that was a different colour and different neatness, were the words: ‘plus, free intimacy!!!’

Jason chuckled, handing the ticket back to the unicorn with a shake of his head. “I guess I can’t argue with legal writ, huh?”

“Oh no, Celestia will be so angry!” Lyra said with a firm nod.

“So you intend to seduce me while Celestia is deciding on my fate?” Jason asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lyra huffed, and then pushed her upper half into Jason’s lap, peering up at him, forehooves resting on his thighs. “Is there any better time?! I might never even see you again!”

“Sound logic,” Jason admitted, rubbing a palm against his forehead. “I guess if you’re hell-bent on doing it, there’s not much I can do to stop you.”

“That’s consent!” Lyra said immediately, with a sense of finality in her voice, as though to convince him not to take it back. Immediately, she slid her hooves to his hips, and began to tug at his pants.

After a few moments, Lyra growled, huffing up at him. “How do you get into these things?!”

Jason rolled his eyes, and then slid a hand down to slide up his shirt and undo the button and zipper at the front of his pants.

“Ohhh, that makes sense!” Lyra said immediately. “Because you have hips that are like... in a straight line with your shoulders! Hips wider than stomach, and there’s no tail or bend for pants to catch on, so you need for a fastening to make sure they stay on!”

“Or elastic,” Jason said with a smile, tilting his head down at the unicorn, watching her lazily.

Lyra grinned up at him, and then tugged at his pants all the harder, pulling them down to ankles and then scowling at his boxers. “More?!”

“These are loose,” Jason stated, tugging up the edge of his boxers with a finger and letting them snap back against his flesh.

The unicorn cooed at that, and then gripped his boxers in her mouth, tugging them down completely and then quickly, almost eagerly gazing upon his bared groin.

Jason shifted slightly at the sensation of his pants being tugged down, peering at the unicorn to see her reaction.

Lyra hummed faintly, looking this way and that, and almost seeming disappointed. “This... is it?”

Jason rolled his eyes. “It’s not erect yet.”

“Your sheath is all... small and thin,” Lyra stated, looking crestfallen, poking it with her hoof, watching the way it rolled back and forth with a disappointed expression.

“It’s not a sheath,” Jason said with a sigh, shaking his head.

“And it has its own hair!” Lyra said, digging her hoof in against his pubic hair and brushing it curiously. Her nose nudged up against his balls, and Jason squirmed at the way he exhalations tickled the sensitive flesh. “At least these are the same! But still small.”

“Oh shut up already and rub it,” Jason said with a soft sigh.

Lyra snorted once, looking up at him and then lifting a hoof to rub at his flaccid length enthusiastically. “Why are you treating this like a chore?”

“You’re treating it like a discovery channel special,” Jason stated, shaking his head at her.

“It is a discovery!” Lyra said with an earnest nod and a wry smile at him. She glanced down at her hoof, and then blinked, leaning in to nudge the human’s member with her nose. “It’s growing!” she said excitedly.

“It does that,” Jason pointed out, leaning back a little bit further and trying to relax.

“How do I make it grow faster?!” Lyra urged, nudging it again.

“How would you do it with a stallion?” Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lyra hummed thoughtfully, and then pulled the half-mast member up and immediately began to wash it with warm licks, tongue working against it firmly.

Jason couldn’t help but squirm slightly in place. Her tongue was soft, surprisingly so, and it felt good. Very quickly, the length of his flesh began to harden and grow, stiffening as it went, throbbing to life under the assault of Lyra’s licks.

Lyra gave a low hum of delight as she felt it stiffen against her tongue, grinning up at him with her amber eyes.

Once she was certain it was done growing, she pulled back, and stared at it, nudging it with a hoof. “Ohhh, much better!” she crooned, leaning in and rubbing her lips against it slowly. “So much smaller than a stallion’s though.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “You were the one so intent on getting at it.”

“I’m not complaining!” Lyra said with a vigorous shake of her head, “I bet that...” the unicorn trailed off, and Jason raised an eyebrow at her as she pulled his member up with both hooves, so it was pointing upwards.

The unicorn shifted, and in an instant, three quarters of Jason’s member had disappeared into Lyra’s hungry muzzle, her soft lips and even softer tongue swirling all the way down towards the base.

Jason arched and gave a low groan at the sensation, closing his eyes and trying his best not to roll his hips towards the sensations.

Lyra giggled muffledly around his member, and then crawled a little bit further up his form, so that she could work with the natural curve of the stiff cock in her muzzle better, pushing her mouth further down him until her lips touched the base.

The unicorn held the pose for several seconds, before coming up for air, panting and resting the thick member against her nose, grinning past it at him.

Jason shuddered and opened an eye, peering down at the unicorn.

“It does fit!” Lyra said with a giggle, lapping at the underside of Jason’s member slowly, grinning. “A stallion’s member never fits because it’s so thick and the flare just stretches your jaw so much that it hurts, and you basically choke when they cum!”

Jason gave a faint, breathless laugh. “I’ll take your word for it.”

The human stared down at the pony for several long moments, before raising a brow. “Are you gonna continue or am I gonna have to go jack off?”

Lyra blinked once, and then giggled. “Oh right!”

Without a moment of hesitation, Lyra twisted her muzzle and then shoved it over his member, pushing her hooves down over his hips to stop him from bucking up into her muzzle as she curled her tongue over as much of his membe as she could, suckling and bobbing her muzzle in earnest.

Jason groaned softly, his back arching and legs tensing as he laid a hand on the unicorn’s head, rubbing at the base of her ears in encouragement, letting his fingers dig into her silky mane.

Lyra gave another muffled giggle around him, and then went into overdrive, bobbing and working him rapidly with muzzle, tongue swirling and grinding against his underside, working him over so well.

The unicorn pulled back with a gasp for air, panting with her tongue hanging out, blinking up at the human in confusion. “Why haven’t you cum yet?!” she demanded breathlessly, nudging his member once with her nose.

“You’ve only been at it for a minute!” Jason protested, brows furrowing.

“Humans last more than a minute?!” Lyra asked, staring up at him, mouth parted in surprise.

Jason considering making a joke at the expense of every premature ejaculator ever, and then decided against it, nodding once. “Usually it takes about five minutes of proper stimulation to make a human orgasm.”

Lyra stared up at him, her mouth falling open further and her eyes wide. A low whimper left the unicorn, and one of her hoofs slipped down to press between her legs, and she shuddered. “Fingers a-and you can mate for five full minutes?” the unicorn whispered, her tone awed and delighted. “That is so hot!”

Jason laughed faintly, grinning at the unicorn and shaking his head. “Five minutes is usually the minimum.”

Lyra whimpered again, biting her bottom lip and then panting against his member, grinding her hoof against herself slowly. “Oh wow... Celestia can’t close the portal. She can’t. Not now!”

“You can gush about my sexual prowess later!” Jason said impatiently, rubbing at the base of her ears slowly and grinding his stiff member against her muzzle.

“You are going to fuck me,” Lyra said in a low, intent tone. “Not right now... but you are so going to fuck me. I don’t care how much I have to beg or tease!”

“Okay, okay!” Jason agreed heedlessly, “Just stop talking!”

Lyra giggled at that, and then immediately wrapped her hooves around his hips, shoving her muzzle down over him again, sinking her lips right to the base of his stiffened member, wriggling her tongue against his underside in a coaxing motion.

Jason shuddered, his hips rolling against the pony’s muzzle. Her mouth was so much better than a human’s somehow. It was warmer, softer, and she could fit his entire member in her mouth without gagging. It was heavenly.

The unicorn grinned up at him from under her mane, his eyes narrowing as she twisted her muzzle and suckled hard, before beginning to bob and work her muzzle all the harder, closing her lips tightly over him to increase the pressure and conversely ramp up his pleasure.

Jason squirmed in place, closing his eyes and gripping a fistful of the unicorn’s mane, resisting the urge to fuck her muzzle as she worked over him like that so willingly.

Grinning deviously, Lyra drew back and gripped around the middle of his cock with both hooves, beginning to stroke and squeeze at the mid-point of his member while assaulted the tip with urgent, coaxing swirls and laps of her tongue, the broad, velvety surface slashing across his sensitive flesh rapidly.

The human panted hard, beginning to rock his hips slowly, gritting his teeth as he felt that familiar ticklish sensation building in his centre.

Lyra gave an eager hum as she felt his member throbbing, heralding his orgasm, and her tonguework increased in urgency, assaulting him with pleasure.

With a low groan, Jason jerked, his hips twitching, trying to thrust up into the unicorn’s suckling, working muzzle.

The first thick burst of cum spilled into Lyra’s muzzle, and she gasped, her eyes widening, quickly pushing her hooves against his hips to hold him steady as she shoved her muzzle right to the base of his member. She swallowed against him eagerly, grinning up at him as bursts of the gooey spunk splashed across the back of her throat. After one or two swallows, she mistimed her swallow and gagged, having to stop swallowing and just allow his gooey mess to build in her mouth as Jason spilled himself into it.

Lyra’s tongue slowly swirled against his throbbing tip, coaxing out the last of his load as strings of seed slowly drooled from her lips, coating the base of his member.

Jason groaned faintly, lifting a shaking hand to gently move Lyra’s mane out of her face. The unicorn grinned around his member, staring up at him as she slowly drew her lips off him, sliding upwards with long swirls of her tongue against him, letting his member fall from her mouth following by a thick dribble of spunk.

The unicorn giggled, peering up at him, and then delicately opening her mouth to show him her prize, a small pool of white caught on her tongue and coating the insides of her muzzle. She closed her mouth and swallowed, before leaning in with a soft hum to slowly lap his softening member clean, drawing her soft tongue over it slowly.

Groaning faintly, Jason peering down at her with one eye, trying to catch his breath, feeling exhausted now after the burst of pleasure. A shaking hand weakly stroked through her mane. “You’re pretty good at that.”

Lyra giggled up at him, licking her lips clean and then tugging up his boxers, covering him up again as she crawled up his form and laid across his, resting her chin against his sternum. “And you owe me for it!”

“Oh here we go,” Jason stated, shaking his head.

Lyra grinned. “I want you to fuck me!”

“I’m kinda exhausted now. He’s gone home for the night,” Jason said with a shake of his head.

“Not now!” Lyra stated, grinning up at him and licking his chin affectionately. “But sometime!”

“I guess I did agree, didn’t I?” Jason asked wearily.

Lyra giggled and nodded, nudging him once with her chin.

Jason sighed faintly and then wrapped his arms around the unicorn, pulling her up into his lap properly and kissing her nose gently. “Well, if I’m going to end up screwing you, that kinda makes us boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“I know!” Lyra said with a happy grin. “And that weird!”

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” Jason said with a single blink. “Not to mention you’re a pony.”

“But that doesn’t bother you much, does it?” Lyra asked, looking up at him hopefully.

Jason hummed thoughtfully. “After what just happened... I guess I can cope. Might just be the euphoria and rum talking.”

“I’ll just have to give you more reasons to be comfortable with it!” Lyra exclaimed, grinding her hips pointedly against his own with a sly grin and giggle.

Jason gave a soft laugh. “You are a nymphomaniac.”

“Nymphomaniacs have a disorder. I just enjoy sex and I’m not a prude!” Lyra retorted, swatting his shoulder with a hoof.

“Either way, we humans need to rest in between bouts. So ask me more awkward questions... after I sleep.”

Lyra giggled and licked his chin sweetly. “Very well!”

Jason closed his eyes and resting his head on the back of the couch to nap. One eye opened as Lyra rolled to snuggle up to his side, resting her head on his chest. “Just curious... how long do stallions usually last?”

“About thirty seconds,” Lyra said immediately, closing her eyes.

A smile lit Jason’s face as he stroked Lyra’s mane with a hand, trailing his fingers through the soft hair before he drifted off to sleep.

End of the Beginning

Jason dreamed. Dreamed some very, very odd dreams.

Flashes of information swirled through his mind. Images, sounds, impressions of scenes. He saw the history books detailing the Indian tribes of ‘pre-civilised’ America. He saw news reports of the battles in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. He saw himself changing the channel on his TV repeatedly and only coming up with the same televised appearance of George W Bush explaining the 9/11 terror attacks and the images of the World Trade Centre’s falling to the earth.

He saw his childhood, his job, his friends and family. He saw a person in the local pub dropping his spare change into a donation container as he paid for his beer. He saw a young lady playing a violin on the street, her violin case sparkling with coins from strangers.

Even more vividly he saw that terrible night, being woken up from bed by his uncle and dragged out, yawning and rubbing his eyes, not quite certain what was going on. The crash scene was drenched in blood, and the car was opened like a tin can where the Jaws of Life had been applied to get the occupants out. His mother had been killed instantly, and his father had bled out while the Jaws of Life were taking care of the wreck.

Flashes of images followed. Arriving at his grandparents house the very next morning, numb with shock. Being greeted by their dog bounding up and bowling him over, scraping his knee. His grandmother applying a bandaid to the wound.

Further images flooded his mind. Being bullied at school by larger kids. Beaten and shoved to the dirt. The vindictive pleasure he felt at knocking one of them out cold in his high school years. Being dragged in front of the principle and being told that ‘this is not how children behave’ before he was summarily expelled from school.

Jason saw snippets of further scenes from his life, the old advertisement for charity to help starving African children. Advertisements for the RSPCA. Volunteering for the same service at one of the local institutions. Eating ice cream at the beach and cooling his feet in the lapping waves cresting the shore. The sting of a box jellyfish. The cool of the liquid that was splashed over the wound, soothing it. Fights at the pub he worked at part-time. One of his mates coming around with a bag full of feed and a carton of rum & cola cans when Jason’s paycheque didn’t clear in time for him to make it to the bank.

A cacophony of images rolled past his sleeping mind, until a sharp, piercing pain in his temple awoke him.

Jason’s eyes flickered open, and he rolled off the couch, stumbling past the midnight-blue pony in his loungeroom and staggering to the window, throwing it open just in time to throw up into the weed-filled garden underneath the window.

Panting, Jason rested his forehead on the cool glass. He was crying, sobbing, his head hurt, he felt nauseous, the room was spinning, and his vision was blurry. He felt like he was experiencing the top five worst illnesses he’d ever had all at the same time.

After several long moments, Jason managed to compose himself, turning around to face the lounge room and inspect the strange new pony there. Lyra had left some time while he was sleeping, and this strange blue pony had replaced her. This pony was a little smaller than Celestia, through she was a pegicorn as well. Jason could see her horn and wings. Her mane was blue and sparkled with something like stars. She was wearing a black tiara and what appeared to be a black bib with a moon on it.

Jason went to take a step forwards, the world tilted crazily, and he thought better of it. Leaning back against the wall, he slid down it, bringing his knees to his chest and putting his head between them, giving a low groan.

“You are okay, yes?” the new pony asked.

“Not really, no,” Jason stated with a shake of his head.

“I was not too intrusive?”

“Intrusive?” Jason asked blankly.

“With my dream reading. Your thoughts are... harder to grasp than a pony’s. But it is possible to read them and influence them.”

“You were in my dreams?!” Jason asked, alarmed, staring at her.

The pony drew herself up to her full height, touching her chest with a hoof. “It is my duty as Guardian of the Night to ensure that you... human will not be a threat to Equestria.”

“Great,” Jason said, rubbing his palms against his temples slowly. “I’m starting to get really bored of this though. Lemme guess, tomorrow, you’ll have a new pony in here to stare at me?”

“We already have another one. Two, in fact,” another voice said from the doorway.

Jason groaned faintly, lifting his head to cast his gaze towards the new voice.

A pair of ponies stood in his doorway. One of them was a pegacorn, a uniform pink colour, with a multicolour pink and purple mane and tail. The second was male, white, with what Jason thought was a blue mane and tail. But this pony was dressed up in full armor, with a spear in hoof, watching with narrowed eyes.

“Great. Just. Make yourself at home,” Jason said with a dismissive wave of his hand, putting his head back between his knees.

“Are human’s always this delicate when they awaken?” the male pony asked with a contemptuous snort.

Jason sighed, lifting his head to place it on his knee. “No. Just, magic. Magic really doesn’t agree with humans, I guess.”

The blue pony gave a thoughtful hum at that, and the male looked quite happy about this fact.

“Look. If you’re going to be talking at me, at least tell me your names,” Jason said with a weary sigh.

“I am Princess Luna, Ruler of the Night!” the blue pony said with a wave of a hoof.

“And I am Princess Cadance, the Princess of Love,” the pink pony said with an incline of her head.

“And I am Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard,” the white pony said, saluting with the hoof not holding the spear.

“Wow, royalty,” Jason said in a completely unawed tone, resting his chin on his knee still. “Forgive me, but I’m not exactly feeling well.”

“That is fine, I have all I need,” Princess Luna said calmly, turning and starting up the stairs. “Do follow quickly, Cadance.”

The pink pegacorn nodded once and then waved the other Princess off, before turning to Jason. “I’ll not be here long, but I must inspect you. I am ever-so-curious, and Princess Celestia does not deem you a threat.”

Jason looked the pegacorn up and down, and then cast his gaze to the Guard Captain, a brow raising. “And yet he’s with you.”

“I will protect my wife,” Shining Armor stated flatly.

“That doesn’t sound like a conflict of interest at all,” Jason muttered, rubbing his palm against his forehead slowly. “Look just, do whatever it is you wanna do and leave, please.”

“Very well,” Cadance said, stepping closer to him. A soft, thoughtful hum left her, and her horn glowed.

Jason winced backwards, shielding himself from the light of the horn with a hand, expecting that pain to start back up in his temple. There was a soft, soothing, warming sensation, and then nothing.

The pink princess nodded once, and then turned, starting up the stairs. Shining Armor followed.

“Wha?” Jason asked, blinking once. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” Cadance called back with a warm smile, before disappearing back upstairs.

Jason was sitting in the lounge chair, holding a cold can of drink against his forehead again and trying to recover from whatever it was the ‘princess of the night’ had done to him. His head was pounding and he still felt nauseous deep in his stomach. The only thing he could liken it to was when you didn’t eat for so long that you got so hungry that you felt sick.

There was the sound of steps above him, and he looked up the stairs to find Lyra peeking down at him. “Are you okay?”

Jason gave a mute nod, leaning back in the chair and giving a faint sigh. “Nothing I won’t recover from eventually.”

Lyra made a sound of concern, bounding down the stairs and then pulling herself up onto the couch with him, nudging her nose powerfully against his neck. “You look sick.”

“A princess was just rummaging around in my head,” Jason pointed out, rubbing his temple slowly.

“She was trying to get a feel for humans. You didn’t exactly leave a good impression of your species,” Lyra pointed out, shaking her head.

Jason nodded glumly, resting his cheek on a knee and peering at the unicorn. “I guess I didn’t. But what I can say? Truth hurts.”

“And no mention of charity or doctors, or medicine, or anything,” Lyra said sternly.

“Our ability to blow shit up always greatly outstrips our ability to heal or rebuild,” Jason pointed out with a slow shake of his head. “It’s the way of the world.”

“Do you really have so little faith in humans?” Lyra asked, sounding concerned.

Jason shook his head again. “I have faith that we will always have the means to end the world at the push of a button and there’ll always be someone who wants to push that button.”

“I guess ponies are no different,” Lyra said pensively. “There’s always somepony out there who wants to end everything. Or some thing, rather.”

A short silence stretched between them, before Jason blinked once and said, “Well, this conversation got depressing pretty quickly.”

“Indeed it did,” Lyra replied with a sage nod, leaning against his shoulder. “Celestia has decided to open communications with your world. But she’s gonna make a proper doorway first. She’s sending her best student, Twilight Sparkle, to whatever is the closest population and government centre, to build a doorway.”

“Joyous,” Jason said unenthusiastically. “But sending her student? Why doesn’t she build it herself?”

“She is,” Lyra explained, waving a hoof for emphasis. “But she’s sending Twilight Sparkle through to make a target first.”

“A target?” Jason asked blankly.

“Yes, a target!” Lyra huffed, nudging his cheek with her nose. “There are an infinite number of alternate universes. So the chances of Celestia randomly managing to opening a new portal to this universe is an infinity-to-one chance!”

“That’s pretty low odds, come to think on it,” Jason said with a single blink.

“Well, a better way to put it is that she gets it right an infinite number of times, gets it moderately wrong an infinite number of times, and destroys the entire universe an infinite number of times as well!” Lyra said with a faint bounce. “So she’s sending Twilight Sparkle through the portal first, and Twilight will create a special spell that Celestia’s spell will be a counterpoint of. The two will link, and give Celestia a tangible thing to aim at. Get it?”

“Ugh!” Lyra huffed, and then batted at his cheek with a hoof. “Dense.”

“I blame our schooling system. I can’t do a tax return, let alone quantum physics,” jason admitted.

“Ugh, and you have taxes here as well! I bet you even have accountants!” Lyra said, dismayed.

“So many accountants. And politicians. And lawyers,” Jason ticked off.

Lyra winced, wrinkling her nose. “And here I was hoping you’d lot murdered all your lawyers.”

“That’s a very unnice thing to say,” Jason pointed out.

“Lawyers are unnice!” Lyra protested with a huff.

Jason grinned at that, lifting a hand to stroke his fingertips through the unicorn’s mane.

“So... why didn’t you tell me you were an orphan?” Lyra accused, nudging him roughly with her nose.

“It’s... not really something I like to talk about,” Jason admitted with a faint shrug.

Lyra blinked once, and then gave a nod of understanding. “Makes you uncomfortable?” she asked sympathetically.

“Yes and no,” Jason said, wiggling his hand in a half-and-half motion. “People hear that my parents both died and expect me to be some fragile little boy with emotional problems that needs to be sheltered and nurtured... but it’s not like that at all. I just... lost my mom and dad.” He shrugged helplessly. “My grandparents were enough of parents that it wasn’t really a massive loss. It’s like... if I grew up missing a finger my entire life. I don’t care that it’s gone. Because it’s always been that way. And I was pretty young when it happened, so it didn’t leave any massive emotional scars. At least, not any that I notice.”

Lyra wrinkled her nose at that, throwing her hooves around Jason’s shoulders. “I still wanna hug you and hold you close and tell you it’ll be okay,” she said with an earnest nod, licking at his earlobe affectionately.

Jason chuckled softly at that, shaking his head. “Females are the same the world over, it seems. So... is there anything else that that blue pony told you about me that I should know about?”

The unicorn gave him a level stare. “That you have committed acts of violence on other humans and thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Blinking once in confusion, Jason raised a brow. “She said that, did she? I don’t really remember ever doing that...”

Lyra snorted once. “She has no reason to lie to me.”

Jason hummed thoughtfully, wracking his memories for what it might have been. “Oh, right. That.”

“What?” Lyra asked.

“It was a bully. Back in my school days,” Jason said with a shrug.

“Do tell!” Lyra said excitedly.

“Well... he was a bigger kid. Kinda pudgy. Blonde hair. Real mean.” Jason leant back in the chair, raising a brow at Lyra. “You know, just a bad egg.”

Lyra nodded once in understanding.

“Well, he used to beat me up, call me names, make fun of me for not having parents...” Jason trailed off, shrugging again.

“And then what?!” Lyra asked, bouncing slightly in place. “Did you show him the error of his ways?!”

Jason shook his head firmly. “I snapped one day and punched him in the face. Broke his nose, knocked him out cold.”

Lyra was stunned.

“And to be frank, it felt awesome,” Jason admitted, giving a wry smile. “Course, I picked him up, brushed him off and shook his hand afterwards. And he never bullied me after that.”

“That’s awful!” Lyra exclaimed, shuddering vehemently. “Violence solves nothing!”

Jason raised a brow slowly. “It sure solved my bullying problem.

Lyra stared at him for a long moment, biting her bottom lip. “I guess... I guess we really are very different.”

“That we are,” Jason said, pulling the unicorn up and hugging her, resting his chin on her neck. “But I don’t go punching people left and right. Just the ones that deserve it.”

“It’s still... well... It’s just not what I’d do,” Lyra said with a huff.

Jason grinned, touching the tip of her horn with a finger. “But you have magic.”

“You know what I mean!” Lyra retorted with a huff. “I’m very anti-violence.”

“Well sometimes, with humans, violence is the only thing that’ll make them listen. Our world is just... different,” Jason pointed out with a shake of his head.

Lyra nodded at that, leaning against him and rubbing her cheek against his palm. “You do have redeeming features though.”

“Like what?” Jason asked, rubbing his palm against her cheek and chin slowly.

Lyra grinned, capturing his wrist with her forehooves and nomming playfully at his fingers. “Hands!”

Jason rolled his eyes at that. “You just like my hands because they can do freaky sexual things.”

Lyra stared at him for a long moment, head tilting to the side innocently. “But of course!”

Blinking once, Jason shook his head. “I keep forgetting how blunt you are.”

The unicorn rolled her eyes, and then giggled, mouthing one of his fingers innocently. “I can’t think of a proper segue into seduction, so...” Lyra trailed off, grinning innocently as she swallowed his finger and began to suckle at it gently, rolling her tongue against the underside temptingly.

Jason stared down at her, swallowing audibly. “It works as a segue,” he admitted with a faint smile.

Lyra grinned at that, drawing back and flicking her tongue across the tip of his finger, before sliding into his lap, deliberately placing a hoof between his thighs.

“Not here,” Jason said with a shake of his head.

Blinking once, Lyra looked crestfallen. “Wha? Why not?”

Jason poked Lyra’s nose. “Because you make a mess.”

Lyra huffed up at him, splaying her ears back and widening her eyes, pouting as cutely as she could.

Jason poked her nose once more, shaking his head. “No. Shower, or nothing.”

“Fiiine!” Lyra sing-songed, dropping the cute face immediately and then prancing off towards his shower.

Jason stared after her for a long moment. It took several seconds before his mind clicked over to the fact that somewhere in their conversation he had accepted the pony’s sexual advances. Blinking once, he rose to his feet, heading to the kitchen first to put away the now-warm, unopened can of drink, before he made for the shower.

Steam was already wafting from around the corner of the open doorway.

Jason moved to the doorway, tentatively peeking around the edge of it.

Lyra was happily rubbing the soap in her hooves, grinning at the way it slid and moved. She peered over at him, and smiled. “It’s so smooth! Our soap is always kinda pebbly, but this is slick!”

Smiling faintly at that, Jason reached up and flicked the aircon on, to cool his bedroom, before stepping into the bathroom and quietly closing the door behind himself. He made his way over to the tub, sitting down on the edge of it awkwardly.

Lyra rounded on him, raising a brow and perking an ear. “What’s the matter with you?”

“The matter?” Jason asked, blinking once in bewilderment.

Lyra snorted, waving a hoof. “You’re all nervous and jumpy! You came in my mouth last night! This isn’t something you should be embarrassed about by now!”

Jason gave a wry smile at that, and then shook his head. “Well... see... I’m kinda... worried.”

“Worried?” Lyra asked, blinking once. “The average stallion lasts thirty seconds, like I told you! You will last longer than that, right?”

Jason gave a mute nod at that, looking down at his feet, before he wrinkled his nose. “I’m just... this is going to sound really stupid. But I’m worried that I... won’t like it.”

Lyra blinked slowly. “It’s sex. What’s not to like?!”

“I don’t mean sex,” Jason said, looking away and biting his lip nervously. “I mean...” he waved a hand towards her hindquarters, “You know...?”

“You’re worried you won’t like my plot?” Lyra asked with a single blink.

Jason raised a brow at that. “Plot?”

“Plot! Butt! Ass!” Lyra confirmed with a happy nod.

“Oh, well. Kinda yeah. I mean your... well... vagina,” Jason said, making the same motion with his hand again.

Lyra snorted, wrinkling her nose. “Don’t say that, ugh. You make it sound like it’s a formal conversation!”

“Your cunt then!” Jason hissed, scowling.

“Better!” Lyra chimed with a grin, stepping closer to him and basically purring. “I like it when you say dirty things.”

“But still!” Jason retorted.

Lyra pursed her lips. “So you’re worried you won’t like it?”

“Yes,” Jason admitted, nodding once. “I’ve... well, I saw some educational videos in school, detailing health checkups for equines, and well... it just... it wasn’t very nice.”

“So... it wasn’t your cup of tea?” Lyra pondered.

“More like it was pretty much a squick. It looked really, really terrible. And I’m kinda worried that yours might be too. I mean, what if I hate it?” Jason asked, sounding bothered.

“What will it change?” Lyra asked, an ear perking.

“Well you’re adorable,” Jason said, snorting once and lifting a hand to rub his fingertips through her mane slowly. “But if you have this disgusting horse cunt that I don’t want to go near it just... ugh...”

Lyra giggled at that, shaking her head. “Well, just look then!”

Jason bit his bottom lip again, wrinkling his nose. “Don’t wanna.”

Lyra rolled her eyes, and then turned around, dropping her chest to the tile floor and straightening her hindlegs, lifting her teal-and-white tail into the air, swaying it to the side to expose herself to Jason.

Jason stared for a long moment, swallowing audibly.

“Well, whatcha think?!” Lyra asked, peeking back at him over her shoulder, wiggling her rump playfully.

Thankfully, it looked nothing like the video Jason had seen. Instead of being nestled high up just under her tail, it was further down between her legs, looking more natural, somehow. Its shape resembled a human’s, but it was a little different. The soft-looking outer lips framed the faint glimmer of pink between them in a very lovely way.

Jason shifted uncomfortably for a moment, staring. “Uh... I-it’s nice.”

Lyra giggled faintly at that, lifting herself back to her hooves, turning around to face him, lifting her hooves to his pants and tugging at them. “These, off!”

Jason grinned at that, slipping a hand down to the front of his pants and undoing the button on them, sliding the zipper down. He lifted his hips a little bit, and Lyra eagerly wiggled his pants down, tugging them off and kicking them aside hurriedly.

A low, eagerl growl left the pony as she pushed her nose up the inside of his boxers, worming her muzzle in between his thighs and up the leg of his boxers so that her warm tongue could suddenly grace his balls, dragging across them teasingly.

Jason arched faintly in surprise at the sudden touch to the sensitive area, worming his hips back and forth on reflex.

Lyra giggled, a warm exhale brushing across his now-wet testicles, before she pulled back and then tugged his boxers down eagerly, grabbing at them with her hooves firmly.

Jason pinwheeled his arms, tumbling backwards as Lyra overbalanced him into the tub. He narrowly missed hitting his head, and felt Lyra tugging off his boxers and throwing them aside. He struggled to sit up properly, before he felt the warm weight of Lyra suddenly splaying across his lower body, and then a hot mouth pulling his half-erect cock up straight, before taking it inside eagerly.

A low moan left Jason, and he arched helplessly, relaxing instantly and shifting his hands down to touch at Lyra’s ears and mane, closing his eyes and grunting faintly.

Lyra giggled around his member, swirling her tongue against the hardening flesh with a low rumble of delight, her tail swishing back and forth eagerly behind her.

Jason grunted faintly, his hips shifting towards Lyra’s suckling muzzle eagerly, quite enjoying the impromptu blowjob, before Lyra tugged herself backwards and up, sliding him out of her mouth. The pony licked her lips, grinning at him, before she crawled over his form, pinning him down in the tub.

Reaching up with her mouth, Lyra twisted the tap on, sending a cascade of hot water over both of them. Tilted her head down at him, she gave a sly grin, crawling up a little higher and then carefully pressing in, to rub the warmth of her cunt against his member, squishing it against his stomach.

“Ohhh, I like this,” Lyra said with an innocent giggle, leaning down to kiss him heatedly.

Jason squirming faintly, trapped under the pony, his hands lifting to gently stroke down her form, from her sides to her haunches.

With a low growl, Lyra shifted and tilted her hips pushing against his member until it ground against her sex, getting just the right angle to press against her, edging her open. Biting her lower lip, Lyra peered down at him, before giving a sly grin and then shoving herself eagerly downwards, her hooves resting on his chest for balance as she sank him to the hilt inside her in one swift eager motion.

A low groan left him as he ground his hips up against the unicorn in response, closing his eyes and resting his hands on her hips, squeezing gently as he rolled his hips against her.

Lyra grinned down at him, wiggling her hips back and forth, enjoying the range of faces he made at the sensation. After a few moments, she began to eagerly bounce on him, lifting herself up and then letting her full weight come down on his hips, sinking him to the hilt inside her tight, squeezing depths with each motion.

The water beat down around both of them as the unicorn bounced atop the human, eagerly grinning down at him, wet mane giving her a sleek, sexy look, the slickness of their joined bodies no longer just water.

Lyra whimpered softly, biting her bottom lip hard and shoving herself down on him firmly, holding herself there as her tight depths squeezed and clenched around him rhythmically, coaxing and milking at his member in earnest.

Jason panted hard as the unicorn slumped across his chest, giving a low groan, the wet dribble of her warm liquids drooling around his emebedded cock faintly noticeable against the backdrop of the hot water.

He blinked at her once, nudging her with his cheek. “Hey? You okay?”

“Weak...” Lyra murmured breathlessly, rolling her hips distractedly and panting against his neck.

Jason grinned, wiggling against her slightly and rolling her aside, awkwardly managing to get the unicorn onto her back underneath him.

He stared down at her, shifting slightly to shield her face from the spray of hot water, watching her, a hand trailed down her neck, to her chest, and then around one of her forelegs. He grinned at her, raising a brow. “Ready?”

Lyra gave a noncommittal response, snorting once and blinking up at him.

Jason took that as a ‘yes’ and shifted, sliding a hand down under Lyra’s rump, resting just above her tail, lifting her rump upwards so that he could align himself with that tight sex, shifting and then grinding forwards, sinking deep inside the unicorn again.

Lyra arched underneath, forehooves flailing and then gripping around his shoulders tightly, her hindlegs splaying and tensing as she rolled her hips towards him with a helpless groan.

Jason grinned, burying his cheek against her mine and hugging her close with one arm, shifting and beginning to fuck the unicorn with a hard, firm pace, sliding back and then shoving forwards until his balls bounced against her.

Groaning helplessly, Lyra lifted her hips towards his thrusts, whimpering faintly at the sensations of being screwed like that. They were already well past the point where a stallion would have finished and gone soft, and he was still screwing her! Her forehooves gripped at him reflexively as another orgasm washed over her, her warm liquids welling up and splashing free as he thrust deep inside her.

Jason panted hard as he felt her depths squeezing around him like that, and he struggled not to finish early, grinding his hips against her own over and over again, feeling the velvet depths of her cunt squeezing and tugging at him eagerly, coaxing out his orgasm.

His pace increased again, and he gripping her middle tightly, pulling her back against him, burying his face in her wet mane. That familiar ticklish sensation crept up on him, and before he knew it, he was at the finish line.

Lyra was there to meet him, squeezing him hard with her forehooves and burying her nose against his neck as she screamed horsely, shoving back against him in earnest. Her already tight depths clenched down hard again, squeezing and rippling powerfully, milking his member over and over again.

Jason snarled against her neck, burying himself deep inside and grunting as he began to unload deep inside her, spilling repeated hot bursts of cum into that tight, milking sex.

Lyra’s body went into overdrive as she felt the hots bursts splashing across her depths, clenching around him all the harder, her depths suckling at him almost desperately. Panting and clenching his teeth, Jason tugged out of Lyra’s clenching sex, resting his still-spurting member against her stomach with a groan of relief, unable to take the constant squeezing motion of her body around him, just too powerful around his sensitive body.

Both of them collapsed into the tub, and Lyra gave a breathless, listless giggle, nosing against his neck slowly. “O-oh w-wow...”

“I-I agree,” Jason murmured, resting his face against her wet mane, panting hard.

A curt knock on the door mde Jason and Lyra look up. They were both lazing on Jason’s bed, and Jason was idly feeding the unicorn strawberries and grapes.

The door clicked open, and Twilight Sparkle poked her nose in. Behind her, a Royal Guard was visible.

“Just letting you know we’re passing through,” Twilight said, peering in at the pair and tilting her head.

Lyra giggled and nodded, taking another strawberry from Jason and smiling faintly. “Have fun, Twilight. I know where I’m staying.”

Author's Note

This is the end of the first volume of Ingress. If it seems weak, that's because the storyline will be expanded upon in later stories. This is, however, the end of Lyra and Jason's story.