Lyra: The Actual Human.
It was a pleasant day in Ponyville. The kind of day where the sun just feels good on the skin and the breeze carried a scent of apples that tickled the nose. It was about 8:00 in the morning and the town was just beginning to stir. Ponies flipped open signs over and prepared their daily wares.
Rose, the flower shop pony, was making beautiful flower arrangements for the day’s sales, while the skies were being cleared by the Pegasi. All through the town ponies prepared for a great day.
Up at Sweet Apple Acres, the Apple family had already finished breakfast and begun their daily chores. Granny Smith and her youngest Granddaughter, Applebloom were busy cleaning the dishes. Applebloom’s older sister Applejack was upstairs putting away the laundry while the oldest sibling Big Macintosh was already out in the field pulling the plow. The calm of the house was upset, when a sudden crash rattled outside.
“TIMBER-WOLVES!” screamed Granny Smith as she dived under the kitchen table, where she continued her rambled panic. Her granddaughter Applebloom carefully trotted under the table to where Granny Smith was shaking and coaxed her out.
“Calm down Granny.” Applebloom said placing a small hoof on her Grandmas green flank, “I’m sure them wasn’t no Timber-Wolves. They don like the daylight, remember?” With this Granny Smith calmed herself and approached the back door.
“Ehh, who’s there? I’m armed!” With this threat she brandished a wooden spoon still caked with jam. An average sized Earth pony stallion approached. He had a light-brown coat, blue eyes, and a darker brown color to his mane that stuck straight up upon his head. On his flank was a cutie-mark in the form of an hour-glass.
“Terribly sorry about that Granny Smith, Ditzy accidentally knocked over a small silo of apples.” Granny Smith watched as the Grey Pegasus named Ditzy clumsily flew next to her friend.
“Real sorry Granny Smith, I can help clean it up if you want.” She said. At this point Applejack appeared at the back door nudging her Grandmother out of the way.
“No, no, that’ll be just fine! Big Mac can take care of it later. What can we help you with Doctor?” She said. The Doctor could tell that Applejack wanted them gone before more damage was caused. He figured he’d be quick with this.
“Oh, yes. Right, well we were wondering if we could borrow that old tractor out there for just a short amount of time. We would bring it back in pristine condition and such.” Applejack gave the Doctor a strange look.
“Y’all are welcome to borrow it, but it ain’t worth nothing. Darned thing hasn’t run in years.” She said. “If y’all can get it ter work we’ll pay you. Just um please be careful about how you use it.” She couldn’t help, but shoot a glance to Ditzy who was staring at a cloud in wonderment.
In his strange accent the Doctor assured her that the tractor wouldn’t be completely annihilated. He turned and with Ditzy approached the rusted machine sitting off to the side of the barn. It was about five feet tall and had once maybe been a green color. It was now covered front to back with rust and grime. With his sonic screw driver he opened a panel on the side of the tractor and fiddled with the dusty wires. “Watcha doing?” Ditzy asked. The Doctor stopped and turned to her.
“I’m trying to recalibrate the fuel intake so that it will run on the nitrogen in the soil. That way when we remove the motor and attach it to my TARDIS it won’t require those stinky fossil fuels. Well technically that is the case, it’s recalibrated, but now how do you suppose we remove this thing?” He sat there and puzzled his options, while Ditzy played with the dirt clods that covered the ground.
The Doctor stood and walked into the fields where he thought aloud. “Well I guess that I could always remove it manually, but that would take entirely too long with those large screws rusted onto it. Well I could always…..” A banging sound stopped his thinking process and he turned to see his assistant smiling proudly over the dirty motor, which was now separated from the tractor.
“How did you? But the bolts? Oh, never mind, well done Ditzy!” The Doctor approached his new prize and set to work. It was a mess of slimy metal in the motor and he feared that it wouldn’t start. He spent some time cleaning it and soon the motor had groaned to life and was demanding a fuel source. “Ditzy if you could hand me some of that soil there?”
The assistant handed the Doctor a large dirt clod which he slipped it into the fuel intake valve. He held his breath as the motor worked and ground the dirt loudly; a large solid mass flew from the bowels of the machine and almost hit Ditzy between her mismatched eyes.
The pair ran to it and saw a hard, compact, polished stone made of the same dirt they had just put in lay smoking in the soil before them. “Ooooo!” exclaimed Ditzy, “Did it work Doctor?” The Doctor gazed at the shiny brown colored stone.
“I do believe it worked! Haha!” He did a little jump and ran to grab his cart. The brown stallion returned with the large metal transportation device. He and Ditzy lifted the heavy grinding motor onto the cart. “Well Ditzy let’s head back to town and attach this to the heart of the TARDIS.” The Time Lord trotted happily all the way back to town while his companion followed pulling the cart, rolling her eyes at her gleeful friend.
Sunlight filtered in through the window next to a bed which was still occupied, by an aquamarine Unicorn. As minutes ticked by, the beam of light traveled across the room to show a very tidy floor with a plug in mini fridge by the corner. It hummed slowly as it kept the beverages and snacks inside cool. Many pictures adorned the walls, many of them showing the Unicorn and an Earth pony with a pink and blue mane upon a cream colored body.
A calendar on the wall next to the bed had a big circle in red ink around the 23rd of August with the word “Doctor” written in all uppercase letters. All the red X’s marking days gone by had now stopped at the large circle.
The sleeping Unicorn snored once as the sun hit her eyelids, and rolled onto her side. A knock sounded on the door and she mumbled incoherently. Again the knock sounded only louder and a voice called out to her. “Lyra, it’s going on ten, and you have that appointment, remember?”
Lyra sat up and rubbed her orange eyes slowly then she stretched and rolled out of her bed to the mini fridge where a crisp apple waited. As she chewed it her mind began to reboot itself and she started to recall what today actually was. Her eyes snapped open and she smiled at the thought of the events to come.
He had come to Lyra three weeks prior and told her of an amazing idea. It had seemed crazy at first, but after a little persuasion she agreed to help with the experiment, that would actually allow her to see into other dimensions. Normally the Doctors crazy stories were just stories, but this time he spoke the magical words “Human Beings”. She knew she couldn’t have been the only one to know what they were! If she could see into whatever dimension the humans resided in, then maybe it would cure her curiosity about them.
She finished the apple and wandered into the bathroom where she freshened herself up and went down the stairs to see her roommate and best friend Bonbon enjoying a glass of juice. “Oh, look there she lives, good morning Lyra. I’m surprised I actually managed to wake you up.” Lyra smiled weakly at her friend and walked to the cupboards.
“You know I just can’t fall asleep. I swear something in my head is loose that makes sleep an optional setting.” She grabbed a cup and brought it over to the table. She began pouring some grape juice as she continued, “I think the only reason I actually got to sleep last night was because I wore myself out with the excitement.”
Bonbon finished her juice and gave Lyra a thoughtful and understanding look, “Look it’s really good that the Doctor has asked you to help him with some of his things. I think it’s a nice change from you sitting up in your room all day strumming that instrument.”
“Hey, I love that thing!” Lyra shot back. “Nothing wrong with doing what you love.”
“Ok, ok, I didn’t mean any offence. I just think we need to get out more. When was the last time you and I had brunch, huh?” Bonbon said
“As I recall the parasprites came to town and stole my sandwich.” Lyra added saddened by the memory. “I get what you’re trying to say Bonbon I really do, it’s just I feel distracted.”
“Oh, not the humans again, remember what we talked about?” Bonbon thought the human idea was silly. She had sat Lyra down several times to talk to her about it, and even though she didn’t say it, Lyra could tell she worried about her.
“What? Oh no, it’s not that at all, I just am catching someponies eye I think.” Lyra said, “I think I see him looking at me every time I go to the market.” She sat quite pleased with the fib she had created.
Bonbon looked skeptical at her, “Somepony has a crush on you? I don’t really know what to say to that, but look if that’s really what’s bugging you I can give you a few pointers.” Bonbon winked to her friend and began to walk out of the room. She stopped and turned, “I’ve got to get to the shop, don’t sit around you need to be there in forty minutes.”
Lyra smiled back at her friend and then stared at her juice. Without finishing it she crept up the stairs to her room and finished getting ready. As she left the house she looked up at the sky and her thoughts made her smile again.
A large blue police box sat several hundred yards away from the Carrousel Boutique. Inside something very interesting was happening, for there were sounds of hammering, drilling, and to finish the distinctive ding of a microwaves bell. The doors flew open with a great force and white smoke poured from them like water from a broken dam.
The Doctor stepped out of the box coughing eyes watering; gasping for air, his assistant glided out of a nearby tree and landed next to him. “Are you ok? Anything I can do?” she asked sweetly. The Doctor pointed at the stream running a few yards away and she ran to it quickly with an empty cup from one of her saddle bags.
When she returned with the water The Doctor lifted the cup to his lips and drank some he then splashed the rest into his burning eyes, the pain was somewhat relieved and he turned to Ditzy. “Thank you for that, well it is now fully installed. The TARDIS didn’t really like having all those wires being plugged in as uh you can tell.” He sat in the grass and took another clean breath of air as the fumes dissipated from his machine.
“So, when was Lyra supposed to be here?” Ditzy asked. The Doctor looked to the watch on his arm and shrugged.
“She actually is a few minutes late, but that’s ok she missed all of that.” He waved a hoof at the thinning smoke cloud and then stood. “I do hope this works.” The Doctor said, “Then you can see what I actually used to look like.” Ditzy was studying a small grasshopper and nodded in agreement.
Lyra rounded the corner of Rarity’s store and stopped when she saw the smoking TARDIS and the two ponies in the grass in front of her, “What happened here?” she asked. “Oh, you two look alright I’m sorry I’m late I saw the coolest thing in river and I just had to check it out.”
“No, you’re fine, I was actually just making a few tune ups the new motor on this thing.” The Doctor said tiredly. “Just uh, give her a few minutes to clear out and we can get started.” He sat back down and closed his eyes.
Ditzy hopped up out of the grass and collided with Lyra, the two rolled in the grass playfully before stopping under a lone peach tree, “How are you Ditzy?” Lyra asked cheerfully
“I feel great, I helped unhinge and fix up the motor, so I feel really good about myself.” Ditzy beamed with pride and flew into the tree. “What about you Lyra, have you had a good morning?”
“Yep, my morning’s been very good.” Lyra walked over to the blue box that now sat silently free of smoke. “So, Doctor you ready?” The Doctor perked up and looked to his machine.
“Yes, we can get going, Ditzy get some dirt for me!” He shouted up to the tree, “Ok, now what I want you to do is just sit right here.” He pointed to a patch of dead grass right next to the TARDIS.
Lyra obliged and sat still as a statue while the Doctor entered his box and returned with a large monitor, a panel of switches, and a block of wood. He placed the wood into Lyra’s hooves and then stuck it with a large sharp ended wire.
The screen powered up and the Doctor hit several buttons that made the fan inside the panel begin to hum. Ditzy went inside the TARDIS with three large cups of dirt. From inside Lyra could hear a grinding sound and a thin trail of smoke was beginning to leak out of the open doors. Even though she was very excited she felt a bit afraid as well.
Ditzy exited the machine and then ducked as three objects threw themselves over her head and were imbedded into the walls of the Carousel Boutique. A loud humming could be heard from inside the blue box and was gradually increasing in volume and pitch.
Lyra held on to the little block of wood like a life preserver, as blue lighting arched out of the monitor and left scorch marks in the grass. “Doctor!” she yelled in alarm.
“No, don’t worry its ok just being loud as a dimensional analyzer is!” The Doctor replied, but seemed nervous as well. Lyra closed her eyes as the humming reached a breaking point and sent a wave of harmless blue energy out like a shockwave that rattled windows and pulled apples from their trees.
The noise stopped then, and slowly Lyra opened her eyes. In midair in front of her nose was a city, or the projection of a city. It was simply amazing, so large with buildings everywhere, and little parks that dotted every few miles of road. Its towers were enormous and she saw cars by the thousands in the streets. She could have guessed that a million ponies could have lived in that city, except something was off. The Doctor grinned and pressed a button that made the bird’s eye view zoom in and that was when she saw them. Bipedal, hairless, pink, humans!
A smile spread across her face and her hooves went numb at the sight of them doing their everyday activities. Instead of writing with their teeth they used their hooves or hands as she had heard. So enthralled by this she was that she forgot the block of wood in her hooves as it started slipping.
The Doctor glanced at her and his heart dropped at the wooden block approached the ground. He started to shout, but was cut short by the huge wave of energy that was released when the block and wire were disconnected.
Lyra and Ditzy screamed in terror as they were flung into the air, while the Doctor was thrown into the open doors of the TARDIS and landed in the swimming pool. Bushes were uprooted and limbs from trees were broken and thrown so high that they created small craters when they hit the ground.
Windows shattered and ponies in the center of town were knocked off their feet by the blast. Many stood panicked and unaware of what horror followed.
While Lyra thought it couldn’t get any worse she began to feel a tugging on her hind legs. She looked up from the ground and saw a large black mass of swirling anti-matter. It swirled with many shades of deep purples and black, and the force was so strong it pulled an uprooted bush into its center with invisible claws. Soon the suction became more intense and limbs already weak from the first blast were wretched from their trunks and flung into gaping black abyss.
Ditzy flew as hard as she could and managed to hold on to a strong tree limb while the portal tried to suck her inside. The Doctor emerged from his TARDIS sopping wet and was horrified to see the form before him. He reached outside the protective field of his machine and felt his hoof being pulled almost instantly.
Quickly he grabbed the wires just as they were about to fly past and yanked them into the field. The Doctor shoved them into a nearby broken tree limb and hit a button just as the outer wall of the Carousel Boutique collapsed and was devoured by the black mass.
With his last wits leaving him, The Doctor flipped the kill switch and the portal began to collapse in on itself. Things were flying into it so fast now that the Doctor couldn’t even see what they were, finally the portal disappeared with a loud crack which somehow destroyed the second layer of wall to the Boutique revealing a very angry Rarity within.
Ditzy fell from the tree and landed with a thud on the ground. The Doctor ran to her apologizing and nuzzling her affectionately. “Where’s Lyra!” Ditzy asked alarmed. The two searched frantically as Rarity exited her shop and angrily shouted at the pair of them.
“I do hope you realize that I now have to pay for all this, again! Why couldn’t you have just done this in the forest for once?” Ditzy and the Doctor drowned her out in their desperate search to find their friend.
“Maybe she’s under something?” Ditzy suggested. The Doctor looked to where the portal had been and bowed his head in sorrow. “What is it Doctor?” Ditzy asked. The Doctor felt tears sting his eyes as he pointed to the frantic hoof marks in the grass made by Lyra as she tried to get away.
Crushing. Yes that was a good word to use. The blackness was crushing her. It had even bothered to do it in the cruelest was possible and fit itself to her body so no inch of her was safe. Her lungs could hardly work as the darkness descended around her. Her blood felt as if it was boiling and she would have screamed if it weren’t for the invisible force smashing her throat in.
Nothing went through her mind, but the pain she felt. It was cruel, she thought to herself as the crushing stopped just as she felt ready to die. She opened one eye and say a bright sky, and would have been pleased by this had every bone in her body not been broken.
Slowly she felt her body put itself back together again, but she felt weird. Almost like it wasn’t her body, when she tried to sit up nothing happened as her muscles were still stitching themselves back together. The pain was still there too. Dulling slowly, but still there, and she felt tired al the sudden, she closed her eyes again and managed to drift off into an uncomfortable sleep.