“Discorddddd…” I quietly groaned, holding a hoof to my forehead.

What was that interaction!? The way he talked, the things he did… I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around it. Somehow, I just so happened to gain favor with one of the most powerful beings in this universe, only to be abruptly dismissed without a second thought. I let out a groan of frustration.

Did I even have his favor? Discord’s entire schtick was pure, unadulterated chaos. Would that also include lying? Deceit?

Given how Discord was also aware of my biggest secret, I could be in a world of hurt if he allowed that information to get out. It’d probably be best to be wary around him in the future…

When I thought back to what he said, I remembered something important, though. His mention of the two most powerful ponies in Equestria: Celestia and Luna.

Discord claimed that they cared for the ponies of Equestria, but…

That doesn’t apply to me, right?

I’m not supposed to be here, I knew that for sure. I’m not supposed to be a pony, not supposed to be a kid, not supposed to be in this universe at all.

I’m a foreigner. An outsider.

If the power of these ponies terrified even Discord himself…

My breath grew shaky.

There was no way for me to know for sure what their policy is for… alien threats, but I figured it best if I made an effort to avoid Celestia and Luna under any circumstance. I refused to let myself even think about what might happen, should they somehow find out about my secret. There were just so many different ways everything could go horribly wrong for me, too many to count, and I had enough on my plate as is.

I let out a long, exhausted sigh and looked around. I appeared to be alone in an entirely normal looking alleyway, not unlike the one I entered before my encounter with Discord, just without all the freaky reality warping.

Scanning the brick walls around me and the coarse dirt below me, I seemed to be back in the regular world now, as regular as a planet of ponies can be. Ending up back in Discord’s domain was something I’d prefer to avoid from now on.

Looking up through the gap in the rooftops, I noticed the sky was actively getting brighter and bluer, in the same rushed way it did every sunrise since I got here. I could hear a variety of birds singing their hearts out, just like they insisted on doing every morning. It reminded me of those late nights/early mornings I spent in college, watching the sunrise through my dinky apartment window and wondering where all the time flew off to.

“Okay, if it’s morning now, then—”

“Oh god, how long was I gone for?!”

This was bad. I was hoping for a bit of extra time to get myself situated, but with how much of it Discord managed to steal from me, my original plan had gained a new level of difficulty. Considering I was spotted right when I ran off, knowledge of my escape had probably reached halfway across the town by now.

I took an experimental step forward, wobbling slightly, towards the alleyway exit. The sharp pain in my foreleg had mostly simmered down since my escapade, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to manage anything more than a brisk hobble at this point.

It was then that I realized just how tired I still was. Considering the sleep I got only amounted to just passing out for a few hours, and with my encounter with Discord being so stressful, I didn’t have much energy left over for the rest of the day.

Steeling myself, I quietly stumbled my way to the edge of the alley and peeked around a nearby trash can. Looking off to my left, I didn’t see anyone out on the road, an almost universal quality of public areas during super early mornings like this. I glanced to my right—

Then shot back into the alleyway, stumbling and nearly falling in the process. To my right was a small group of ponies, whose details I wasn’t able to pick up in the short glimpse I got of them. “Fuck, I hope they didn’t see me…”

I put a hoof to my chest, taking a few deep breaths to calm my now rapidly racing heart.

When I focused on the sound of their hoofsteps, I felt my ears swivel in their direction.

The unexpected movement of two of my own body parts startled me enough to give me goosebumps. Have they been moving around this whole time?

All things considered, I hadn’t really experimented with this new body a whole lot, huh? Or… really thought about it much either…

But… what was I supposed to do? It was all too much too fast. I simply had to pick and choose what to focus on, and this surreal new body was not very high on the list.

Right?

I sighed. I just… really didn’t wanna think too deeply about what had become of me, yet.

As I intentionally exited my thoughts, I noticed the ponies’ hoofsteps receding, before disappearing entirely. I gave a quiet sigh of relief.

“Ok, coast seems clear. I guess I can— wait here and do nothing. Right.”

I had partially forgotten that the brilliant plan I had concocted the day prior required me to live in the streets now.

Why did I think this was a good idea again?

…Whatever. If I backed down now, I’d just feel all embarrassed from having to crawl back into their care, then end up upset from being scolded about running off. Like— yeah, I get it, I broke one of your fundamental laws of being a good child. Big deal.

I shook off the bit of petty anger I had somehow acquired, groaning quietly at myself. “I better just get used to this being my life now, yeah? I should find a way to pass the time…”

I then sought out to do exactly that. The new hobby I chose might not have been the best move on my part, though.

Peoplewatching.

Ponywatching?

I don’t even know anymore.

Regardless, I chose to watch the streets beyond the small collection of alleyways I was in.

Exploring said alleyways netted me a small collection of cardboard boxes (which did, in fact, exist here), several of which I could entirely fit inside of. Through a bit of finagling, I managed to position a large box near the exit of an alley, and a small hole I pierced through the side with an old rake allowed me to look out without risk of being seen.

Dragging the box around was still a bit surreal, though, given the fact that I was doing it all with this weird magicky hoof grip power. It almost felt like I still had my hands, except maybe a bit more fuzzy, like they were slightly numb, but I only felt it when I was actively trying to hold something. It was disconcerting, not being able to consistently feel a part of myself that I was used to feeling my entire life, but I forced myself to shrug it off for the time being.

Traffic was rather slow at first, but things began picking up as the sun moved higher in the sky. A few groups of ponies passed by, chattering on about some mundane things I didn’t care too much about: groceries, their “foals”, the local whatever sports game against whatever team, and other things like that. I could feel myself growing drowsy, but the threat of potentially being caught if I fell asleep during the day was enough to keep me stubbornly awake.

Eventually though, I heard a distant voice, shouting something indistinct.

“Terra!”

“…Huh?”

Although I hadn’t quite heard what they said, their voice still startled me slightly, despite them being so far away. I strained my ears in an attempt to hear them better.

“Terra!!”

Whatever they were saying, their voice was getting closer. I took a moment to make sure I was fully concealed, closing the flaps of the box behind me, before standing stalk still and listening in as best as I could. It almost sounded like they were saying—

“Terra!!!”

Oh.

“They’re calling my name. My… new one, at least.”

A pool of guilt began bubbling up in my chest, and I couldn’t help but think about the mess that I had created. With ponies out there looking for me… Discord was right, I really had caused a ton of chaos. “Ugh, why’d this have to be so complicated…”

They were close enough now that I could see them through the peephole and hear them without straining my ears.

“Any sign of her yet?” I heard the voice call out. She didn’t look like any pony I had met before, though, with a sky blue coat and a curly golden mane and tail.

“Unfortunately, no,” I heard another equally unfamiliar pony reply, a darker blue pony with a blue and purple streaked tail and mane, sadness seeping through her tone. “The mayor said she couldn’t have gotten far, though, with that injury of her’s and all.”

The first pony spoke again, “Oh, I just hope she’s alright…”

And by then, the ponies were too far away to be heard.

But I had heard all I needed to.

They were both very clearly talking about me, and both very clearly using feminine pronouns.

…

I didn’t want to believe it. I knew what I had seen; my body, my voice, and my reflection all made things plainly obvious, but I had refused to believe it. “Maybe it’s just that bodies work differently here,” I had thought, “Maybe gender doesn’t work the same.”

But things just lined up too well, and this was just the final straw.

I knew the body I was in was a female one.

The thought alone made me want to curl up into a ball and die of embarrassment right then and there.

Why? Why did this happen to me? Of all the humiliating things…

My eyes began welling up with tears, which only made me want to cry more. I could feel my heart rate quicken and my breath grow shallow.

Why did I have to turn into a girl? Why did I have to go through any of this at all? Why me?

I already knew just how much I had lost, but foolishly held out on this one final thing, thinking that maybe there was one physical aspect of my body that was still the same… but at this point, it was impossible to deny.

I. Lost. Everything.

My breath sputtered and I collapsed to my stomach on the flimsy cardboard below me, unable to bear the weight of the realization. I at least had the wherewithal to stay quiet while I sobbed, in a little box, in a dirty alleyway, over a life I would never be able to return to, and over all the parts of it I would never experience again.

I stayed like that for a while, feeling pathetic, like I was truly at rock bottom. Of all the places my life could have gone, I never for a moment could have expected this.

I had a promising future, assuming I graduated college, which I was on track to do. A few more months and I would’ve done it. I didn’t really have a plan on what to do after that, but now…

…

I stayed like that for a while. Eventually though, my sobs let up, and I picked myself back up, wiping my face off with a foreleg. As much as I didn’t want to cry, I couldn’t deny that I did feel a little less overwhelmed with things, though a little worn out. Maybe there could be some positive things about—

I shook the thought out of my head. I needed to. There was no way I could enjoy being in this new body, knowing what I was before I came here. I felt gross.

For the sake of my sanity, I decided to just drop the issue. I sniffled slightly, turning back to my small hole to the outside world.

I watched many groups of ponies pass, a few sole ponies too, a good amount of which I could tell were actively searching for me. Multiple times I checked if I was still fully concealed, in case someone tried checking down the alley I was in. Thankfully I was, but surprisingly, no one did.

There was a part of me that wanted to be out there, walking and talking with those ponies, but I kept that desire at bay. I needed to stay hidden.

I stayed there for quite a few hours, watching the bright, lively world from my dark, lonely box.

Over time I could feel myself growing hungry and thirsty, uncomfortably so, and I began wishing I had drank some of Discord’s offered tea, as sketchy as it was. I wanted to delay going out as long as possible though, thinking that maybe fewer ponies would be looking for me the longer it had been since my escape. I made it until around late afternoon before it grew uncomfortable enough that I decided to do something about it.

“Okay, I guess I could try to find some food and water. Where should I even…”

I took a moment to think about the most likely places I’d be able to find a meal, before vaguely remembering a more dense section of the town that I had passed the night before. “If I can make it back there, then maybe there’ll be merchants or something I can steal from!”

I sighed. “Yayyy, stealing…”

Everything about the situation I was in felt like I was going against my own nature, but with the risk of doing otherwise being too high, I felt like I had no other choice but to carry on. I wouldn’t risk my freedom for my morals.

Emerging from my impenetrable cardboard fortress, I squinted to allow my eyes to adjust to the afternoon light. I looked around, trying to come up with a plan.

“Retracing my steps might not be the best idea, I was totally out in the open when I first got here… but sneaking through alleyways adds a lot of extra walking time, and I don’t know how far I can walk as is… hmm…”

My eyes shifted back towards the box.

…

“No way, that’ll never work…”

It was only a short while later that I found myself hidden under a box, sneaking through the streets of Ponyville.

And it was working.

The procedure was simple: I’d scan the area through the newly expanded slot in the box, listen to see if anyone was around me, hobble a little bit in the direction I wanted to go, then repeat.

On multiple occasions, ponies would give the box weird glances, but would brush it off and walk away as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Against all odds I was still at it a good half hour later, completely defying my expectations. I was as confused as I was ecstatic.

Progress was still slow, but was likely faster than if I had tried to take a more circuitous route. I didn’t have much of an idea of where I was going, but figured that as long as I headed towards where the houses were densest, I’d find the merchants I was looking for.

The town I walked through was still rather lovely, maybe more so than it had been in the moonlight, with the afternoon sun casting warm hues on the quaint, thatched roofs and wide, cobblestone streets. But I knew better than to get attached.

Eventually though, I knew I needed to take a break. Walking around as much as I did was getting to be too much for me, given my injury and steadily increasing exhaustion.

Once I was inside the nearest alley, I turned the box on its side and sat down in it. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, I think I’m pretty close to some street vendors now, assuming I’m even going the right way…”

I stayed in that alley for a few minutes, giving myself some time to stretch and catch my breath. I really, really didn’t like having to sneak around and steal food, but I had committed myself to this plan and I’d go through hell to see it through.

After a moment though, I began to hear something. Music. It sounded like some kind of stringed instrument, too plucky to be a piano, but too high pitched to be a guitar.

“Hmm, probably just some street performer,” I thought. “But maybe they’ll lead me to a marketplace!”

I got up suddenly and limped in the direction of the music, the box abandoned behind me. My pace was still slow, but I was slowly but surely getting closer and closer to the source of the symphony.

It only took a couple minutes, but after weaving through some alleyways and minor streets, I stood at the precipice of the very place I was looking for.

My assumption was correct, there was in fact a marketplace here, but it was much larger than I was expecting. Before me was a large open town square, surrounded by buildings, flanked by a river, and with a massive towering hall at its center. The area itself was speckled with merchant carts and swarming with ponies. I was alarmed at first, until I realized that the corner I was peeking out from was thankfully empty.

The only exceptions were a tall oak tree a few yards away from me, a small bench next to it, and a pony sitting on top of the bench, facing away from me.

Her coat was mint green, her mane was a light teal, and I could barely make out a horn on her head that was… glowing?

It was then that I noticed directly next to her was a small, stringed instrument, bathed in a golden glow and simply floating in the air.

My mouth gaped and my brain momentarily stunned. “Wha— I…”

…

“Telekinesis. Right. Redheart said something about horn training, or something like that…”

As much as this world was similar to home, it was the things that were different that truly baffled me in a way nothing ever had before.

“Telekinesis is just… this commonplace? Ponies can just do this? On a normal basis?”

“Can… can I do that?”

I found myself lost in thought. This world had real magic that was used regularly. Of course I had already met Discord, but he was on a level so much higher than everything else that I couldn’t even comprehend it. But to be here, in front of a regular pony, doing the mundane act of levitation, was what truly shocked me.

She wasn’t just making it hover, either. I eventually noticed that this instrument was what was producing the song I heard earlier that ended up leading me here, with each string being plucked with the care of a master musician. I couldn’t really identify what it was, though. It kind of looked like a harp, but was too small to be one, yet seemed to be plucked in the same way a harp would be—

“I get it, you know.”

I froze, suddenly ejected from my thoughts. The music had stopped.

A glance back at the pony made me realize that she was staring directly at me.

“Running away, I mean. Feeling like you can do everything by yourself, and that you don’t need anypony else's help.”

“She knows I ran away!” I thought, before reconsidering. “Ugh, of course she does, why wouldn’t she? The whole town probably knows already…”

I knew that I was risking the integrity of my plan by just standing here, but there was some part of me that wanted to hear what this pony had to say. I didn’t have the energy to stop it.

“Heh, when I was a filly, I thought I could take on the world! And sure, maybe you can, but…”

The pony then hopped off the bench, storing her instrument in some kind of bag hanging from her side, before taking a few steps in my direction.

“There’s no shame in accepting a little help, either.”

I stared at the ground, saying nothing.

“My name is Lyra Heartstrings, if you were wondering. And you’re Terra, right?”

I hesitated before giving a small, shameful nod. “That’s what was chosen for me, anyway…”

“Well, Terra, I was about to grab a snack, if you want me to get you something.”

I lifted a hoof in hesitation. “I- I shouldn’t…”

My stomach seemed to disagree, giving a characteristic growl.

Lyra let out a small chuckle. “Hold on, I’ll be right back,” she said, before walking off in the direction of a nearby food cart.

My mind was at war with itself. Part of me wanted to run away, to forget this ever happened, but at this point most of me really, really didn’t want to. Why?

I argued with myself in my head as I watched Lyra chat with the vendor and make an exchange of goods. She was already walking back my way before I had the chance to resolve my feelings on the matter.

“Here, I got you a pretzel,” Lyra said, handing me something using her weird glowy magic field, and keeping one near her for herself. The treat itself was wrapped in a bit of thin brown paper, and looked just like any other pretzel I had seen.

My eyes glanced up at her, a bit wary. “I- I dunno, I mean I kinda just met you and I don’t think I should—”

“Don’t worry about it, then,” she replied, nonchalant. “I really think you should eat, though. Are you thirsty too? Maybe a pretzel wasn’t the best idea…” she continued thoughtfully. “Eh, I’ll just get you something to drink, too. Be right back!”

Before I could reply, she had already set the offered pretzel down on the nearby bench and walked off again.

I had no idea what to make of Lyra. I had of course only just met her, and yet she had already shown me such kindness by buying something for me. It didn’t seem like she was trying to turn me in or anything either. She knew I had run off, that much was clear, but her entirely relaxed attitude was almost unnerving. What was she planning?

Why was she being so kind to me? Is it pity? Does she feel like she has to? “I’m probably just a lost kid to her…”

Regardless of her thoughts on me, I could detect no ill will from her. She handled the interaction like I was an old friend, and she had bought me lunch so we could spend time catching up. But I had literally just met her!

Lyra’s words and actions started to make me doubt the split second conclusion I drew in the hospital, after finding out I was to be placed in a new family. I knew the experiences I had as a child; I felt stifled and overwhelmed from having to deal with overbearing parents, but… could this world be different?

I then decided to at least walk over to the bench, sit down next to it, and pick up the pretzel. The thin paper crinkled in my grip, and I could feel some heat radiating off of the baked good, despite the fact that there wasn’t anything visible there that would be able to feel it. How the hell did hoof grip even work?

I stared down at the pretzel, hesitating. Earth wasn’t a very kind place when it came to strangers, and the things I had been taught when I was a kid was making me a bit wary of Lyra, but given I had literally just watched her buy it from the stand, I figured I could give it a try. Free food that I didn’t have to steal was also a plus.

Having convinced myself, I finally took a bite of the pretzel. And of course it was delicious, when had anything here not been? The bread was soft and warm and chewy, with just the right amount of salt baked into the top, and it was heavenly. “I wouldn’t mind having some cheese sauce to dip this in, though…”

I quickly devoured the pretzel, licking up the salt crumbs from the paper. Before long, Lyra was on her way back, holding a couple small glass bottles in her magic.

“I hope you like apple juice!” Lyra said, rather enthusiastically. “Sorry that took so long, I got caught up talking to Applejack.”

I froze. That was a name I recognized. The sour taste of our first and last interaction was still fresh in my mind. “Uh… Applejack?”

“Oh, she’s just the owner of the big apple farm that Ponyville is known for,” Lyra explained. “Well, besides the other thing,” she said with a giggle.

I had no idea what she was talking about, but decided to not risk asking.

I quickly accepted the bottle of juice from Lyra, and after fudging with the twist cap with my hoof grip for a moment, I drank the entire thing without stopping.

Lyra looked at me, a little surprised. “Whoa! I guess you were pretty thirsty, huh?”

I refrained from glaring at her for such a blatantly obvious question, and instead decided to just stay quiet.

Time passed in awkward silence as Lyra seemed to run out of things to say. Eventually though, I noticed a symbol on Lyra’s side in the same place as I’ve seen on other ponies, that looked exactly like the instrument she was just playing earlier. These weird symbols had intrigued me before, but I figured It’d be a bad idea to ask about them, considering everyone I’d seen so far has had one. I was still a bit curious about her instrument, though.

“Um… that instrument you were playing before… what was it?”

“Oh, that’s just my lyre! Playing it is my special talent, if it weren’t obvious from my mark,” she explained with a light giggle. “It’s not a very common instrument, so I don’t blame you for not knowing about it.”

That… was more information than I was expecting. Do these symbols have something to do with special talents? What does that even mean?

Lyra interrupted my thoughts with a quick, “You can come and sit down on the bench if you want.”

I decided to shelve my investigation on the symbols for now, and instead considered what Lyra said. I had thought about hopping up on the bench before, but… “Well, um… I don’t really wanna make this worse…” I meekly replied, holding up my injured leg for effect.

“Oh! Here, hold on…” Lyra said, before I suddenly found myself airborne once again, held by the scruff of my neck, and just as quickly I was deposited on the opposite end of the bench from Lyra.

I could feel my face fiercely blushing, my thoughts mostly comprised of, “WHY DOES EVERYONE JUST DO THAT WE ARE IN A PUBLIC PLACE AAAAAA—”

“So how has your time in Ponyville been so far?” Lyra questioned, startling me from my racing thoughts.

“O-Oh, um…” I took a moment to collect myself a bit before replying, “It’s been… okay. The hospital staff was nice, and um…”

“Hold on, what am I doing!? Why am I actually taking her question seriously? Why am I telling her things?”

“It’s… been fine.”

Lyra smiled at me. “That’s great! I’m glad you’re enjoying it here. I know when I first moved to Ponyville, I was a bit underwhelmed,” she reminisced with a chuckle. “But it is quite nice here. Much quieter than Canterlot, that’s for sure. By the way, where were you staying before you got here?”

…

I looked away.

“That’s alright, you don’t have to tell me.”

…Huh?

I looked back up.

“I can’t pretend to know what happened to you, but I can tell you’ve been through a lot, though,” she said, giving me a kind smile. “But there’s a lot of good that can come from the ponies in this town, if you choose to accept it.”

…

My resolve was starting to crack.

“You know, I once ran away from home when I was a filly,” Lyra continued. “I thought I didn’t need school, and that I could run off and join an orchestra like it was nothing! Silly, right?” She chuckled softly, a hint of nostalgia in her eyes. “But I eventually realized that I still had a lot to learn. It was accepting help from the ponies around me that made the difference. It’s nothing about being inadequate or anything like that, it’s just about realizing that sometimes, we all need a little bit of support. Things just seem to fall into place when we work together, don’t you think?”

…

I didn’t want her to be right, but deep down I knew that she was.

“Ugh, what have I been doing?!”

I made an irrational decision when I heard news I didn’t want to hear. I ran away from the hospital when they were just trying to help me. I gained the favor of a god of chaos, simply because of the things I’ve done since I got here. How could I possibly be okay with that?

But maybe, just maybe, I could be okay with accepting a little help.

I felt a tear run down my cheek. I hadn’t even realized I started crying. “And in public, of all places…”

Lyra seemed to notice quickly. “Oh…” she said, taking on a remorseful tone. She opened her forelegs, as if preparing for a hug, before asking, “May I?”

I gave a weak nod, and felt myself wrapped in a fuzzy embrace. I cried softly, thinking about all the mistakes I had made since arriving here. My situation was awful, sure, but as much as I felt like I needed to go through this alone, I knew I really didn’t want to. The past day had shown me that a life in an alleyway is painfully lonely.

There were still a lot of things I’d keep secret for my own safety, but closing myself off completely from everyone wasn’t going to help me anymore. I was still having a hard time believing it, but I did really have people here that could help me through this. Lyra and Redheart were true examples of it.

I let out a shaky breath, wiping the last few tears from my eyes. Lyra pulled back from the hug, before hopping off the bench and straightening her bag. “Alright, how about we get you back to the hospital now?” She asked.

I nodded again. “Ugh, stop just nodding!”

“And um… thank you. For the food, and… for everything.”

Lyra sent a big smile my way. “Aww, of course Terra! I’m just glad I was able to help.”

She then picked me up again and placed me on her back, embarrassing me significantly more, before carrying me in the direction of the hospital.

Author's Note

Surprise!! Lyra!!!
5.2k words! My longest chapter yet :3c I hope y'all enjoyed it :D
Featuring mysterious background pony cameos of Lilyheart and Rainy_Skies :3
Special thanks once again to Lilyheart for the editing help!!

Also! Extra special thanks to Lunasee for the first art piece and Sencha Steep for the last two!!