And Suddenly, I'm Fluttershy

Lyra, Part the Second

Bartholomew

"I'm home! And I've brought a visitor, so don't be too crazy!"I yelled into the house.

The animals looked up at us.

"Where have you been? I'm starving!" said one particularly angry rabbit.

"So am I," I replied. I turned back to Lyra. "You can come in."

"Do humans talk to animals?" she asked me.

"No, that's just what I get for being in Fluttershy's body."

Angel cleared his throat.

"Right, breakfast. Lyra, the kitchen is this way."

As she set to scrambling eggs, I prepared food for the animals. Angel, however was being just a bit finicky. By a bit, I mean he's a really picky eater.

"Fresh lettuce, eat up!"

"Are you insane? That stuff'll kill me!"

"Yes, I am insane. If you have any more complaints, take it up with the honey badger department," I said.

"Hey, my mother was a honey badger," said Fred.

"Sorry, earth reference."

"This is earth," he said.

"My earth," I said. I turned back to Angel, "Now, be a good boy and eat your vegetables."

"I'm not a child," he replied.

"No, but you're acting like one." That shut him up.

With an exaggerated harrumph, he began to eat.

I walked back into the kitchen.

"Are the eggs done yet?" I asked Lyra.

"Almost. Give it a bit, these things take time," she replied.

I resigned myself to setting the table while she cooked.

Breakfast itself was a fairly standard affair, it was scrambled eggs, after all. Shortly after we finished breakfast, we went into the living room to continue our earlier conversation. Most of the animals had left by that point, leaving myself, Fred, Lyra, and Angel.

"So, what kinds of music do humans listen to?" Lyra asked.

"What kinds of music do ponies listen to?" I countered.

"What do you listen to, then?"

"Oh, I'm a big fan of orchestral music, specifically romantic period."

"Romantic?"

"In music there are generally seven recognized periods, Early, which is anything before, oh say... 1450? Then there's renaissance music, lasting from then until the sixteen hundreds, followed by the baroque period, which started around 1650, I think. This was foll-"

"Wait, I don't know your calendar system," she said.

"That's probably a fairly important thing to know," I said.

"So, what is your calendar system?"

"We have a solar calendar, that is to say, based on our revolution around the sun. One year is 365 days, and ever-"

"I wanted to know your calendar, not ours," she interrupted.

"That is our calendar."

"What year is your calendar at?"

"2012 AD," I replied.

"That's impossible! That's the year it is right now!"

"Wait, what? How are our calendars synchronized? You don't have Jesus!"

"Who?"

"Jesus was a prophet born about 2000 years ago," I said. "He lived in Israel, specifically in Galilee. He is probably the most important figure in human history, or at least the top ten."

"What did he do that was so important?"

"His teachings are the basis of a religion that swept the planet," I replied. "He himself, rather ironically, didn't actually do much. He was a homeless wanderer living in a desert telling everyone he met about God."

"Which God?" she asked.

"That is a very long story. In the Abrahamic religions, the only god."

"Why do you just call her God?"

"Mostly because saying God's real name is considered blasphemous."

"That's nonsensical!"

"Indeed.  The point I was getting to, however, is that the letters AD stand for Anno Domine, which means the Year of Our Lord, our lord being Jesus.

But I have a more important question for you, why is your calendar marked AD?" I asked.

"It stands for After Discord," she replied.

"Discord?"

"He is the incarnation of chaos. He ruled the world until Celestia and Luna sealed him in stone using the Elements of Harmony," she replied.

There were those elements again. They seemed to be a recurring theme throughout history.

"What are the elements anyway? Celestia said that there were six of them, and evidently Fluttershy is- er, was one of those who could harness them."

"The six Elements are Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness and Magic. Fluttershy was the bearer of Kindness. The Elements serve as guidelines for good living."

"Magic? How does that help you live better? Other than the fact that you can be even more of a couch potato if you're a unicorn."

She giggled a bit at that. It's nice to know that someone appreciates my (admittedly rather dry) sense of humor.

"I really don't know, it was only rediscovered two years ago," she said.

"Hmm, I'll have to look into that," I said. "In the meantime, I think I put Angel to sleep with my droning."

"It looks like it. And if you want to know about Equestrian history, you should check out the library," she said. "I'd probably better go now."

"Before you go, I do have one question. Well, several actually."

"Ask away."

"One second," I said, turning to Fred. "Fred, do we have a CD player?"

"A what?"

I thought about how to rephrase the question. "Do we have anything capable of playing recorded music?"

"No, Fluttershy didn't listen to music much," he replied.

I turned back to face Lyra, who had stood up at this point. "Where is the best place to by a record player and accompanying records?"

"Vinyl's Vinyls," she answered, almost automatically.

"Do you listen to orchestral music much?" I asked.

"Not frequently, I prefer smaller ensembles," she answered.

"When you do, who do you listen to? Composer wise, I mean."

"Oh, I like Hayden and Marezart the most, but Beethoofen's pretty good, to."

I mentally tripped at the horse puns.

"You can't be serious, those are just horse puns on real composer's names!"

"Hmm? What puns?"

"Oh, nevermind."

"Thanks for having me over!" she said.

"Thanks for cooking," I replied.

"You're welcome," she replied. And then something crazy happened. Well, I say crazy, but at this point almost nothing could surprise me. Almost nothing. Except what Lyra did next.

She kissed me.

"Bye!" she said, walking out the door, accidentally jostling Angel on the way out.

Fred had started chuckling to himself, which turned into hearty guffaws once Lyra was out of the door.

I could do nothing but stare at the door while repeatedly opening and closing my mouth in a reasonable impersonation of a fish.

Angel, who had only just recovered enough cognitive function to talk, spoke up;

"What did I miss?"