Anthro

Lyra looked out through the window, her eyes fluttering to sleep, she kept the book the priestess had given her close to her side after reading a few sections of the beginning again. She listened to the noises of the house, Bon-Bon making food for the two of them, the radio playing some soothing music, and the crackling of the fire in the living room, it had been a few days since Bon-Bon and Lyra were back together. Lyra, however, felt that being in the state that she is, Bon-Bon should have stayed back in Ponyville.

Bon-Bon called from the kitchen, "Lyra, you're food is almost ready, I'll be helping you into your chair soon okay?"

There was silence, Lyra didn't want to answer her, she wanted to just look out that window and stare into the stars, but she couldn't pretend to be dead any more otherwise she'd look very convincing, so she let out a faint croak from her throat to break her silence, "Sure… okay…" Lyra could smell the food, the stir fry that her friend was preparing smelled delicious, but she didn't want to eat, she just wanted to lie in her bed.

It had taken her a bit of time, but after a while the unicorn realized why she was feeling this depressed, it was a mixture of feelings for her, some she couldn't explain. Lyra looked to her bedside table, the anti-depressants and the photo of Blueblood rested there staring back at her. Despite being back at home, and with her childhood friend, she felt strangely homesick and lonely.

Like a pebble dropped into a pond to disturb the peace, there was a tap on the window, a light tick at first like a pebble had been tossed. Lyra's ear twitched, probably the only muscles on her head that worked aside from her face, they twitched and turned her attention back to the window when another tap was heard. Suddenly, a very familiar face popped up from outside, his long curling hair covering his eyes as he smiled.

Lyra gasped, her eyes widening like saucers, as she gasped in surprise, "A-Anthro!"

He smiled back as he whispered through the window, "I come in, yes?"

Lyra's eyes darted from side to side, her head resting on its back giving her hardly any view of either side of the room, yet just enough to know that Bon-Bon was still making dinner and wouldn't be in soon. Lyra whispered back, "No… go away! You'll get caught!"

The boy pressed his ear against the window as he whispered, "I can not hear, I come in." Without any hesitation, he began to slide the window open slowly, letting in a cool night's breeze.

Lyra began shaking her head, whispering, "No, no go away, you're gonna get busted."

Anthro smiled as he hugged her and said, a little louder, "I'm in here now, safe here yes?"

Lyra began to raise her voice a little more, despite how happy she was to see such a familiar face, she was less than enthusiastic about her best friend finding out about this, "No, Anthro get away from here."

Anthro gave a small chuckle, brushing his curly hair from his eyes as he said even a little louder, "What could happen?"

It was almost as though it were triggered, like in every story Lyra had read, there was always that scene of perfect timing where the question, "What could go wrong?" is asked, and then something wrong indeed does go. But unlike books, Bon-Bon didn't walk in to witness what was otherwise seen as a demon standing over Lyra. Instead, Bon-Bon called from the kitchen, "Oh shoot! Hold on Ly, gonna need a few more minutes."

Both occupants of the bedroom looked towards the doorway, both seemed oddly perplexed at what they heard. For Lyra, it was the fact that nothing wrong actually did go, instead, something wright went. Anthro, however, was oddly perplexed to hear the voice of another pony outside the room, the voice sounding feminine. For some unrelated reason, Anthro had a feeling of being let down a little, like realizing he didn't fit the criteria for something he wanted.

Anthro looked back at the unicorn, a look on his face that showed a little confusion as he asked, "Who that?"

Lyra motioned her head towards the window as she whispered back, "Anthro, it's someone that will call the authorities if they see you here. I don't want you to get hurt."

Chuckling, the boy pointed towards the door as he whispered back, "Not like she walks in on us."

Strangely enough, again unlike books, Bon-Bon did not walk in to deliver proper irony to Anthro's statement, and to Lyra's surprise, Bon-Bon still hadn't walked in on them.

Lyra kept motioning her head to the window as she ordered her friend, "Anthro, if you don't leave this place, my friend is gonna walk in on us and freak out."

Anthro sighed, sagging his shoulders a little, it looked to Lyra as though he really wanted to stay, but alas the risk was too high. The boy began to tread towards the window, his head hung low as he murmured to her with pouting lips, "Okay, I want to say hi though, I like you."

Lyra let out a frustrated, "Shhh!" She watched as Anthro climbed back out the window and slightly closed it behind him.

Bon-Bon quickly opened the door as she said with concerned look, "Lyra, are you all right? Who's that?"

The bedridden mare looked around the empty room as she asked with a raised eyebrow, "Who's who?"

"There was another voice coming from here, thought a guest had snuck up to your room through the window."

"Nope," Lyra quickly responded, "no guests in here, heh heh."

"Well thats a shame," Bon-Bon began, "I don't mind guests. Unless it was a demon from a pre-historic area that could doom us all."

There was an awkward silence, Lyra looked around the room with an awkward look on her face before Bon-Bon laughed, "Don't worry Lyra, even if it was a demon or whatever is in that book, I wouldn't at all be surprised it exists in a world like this."

Just as Lyra was thinking the coast was clear, a regrettably familiar voice was heard from the window as it opened back up, "In that case, hi I Anthro."

The next thirty seconds were filled with Bon-Bon screaming at the top of her lungs, Anthro had the bright idea to simply walk in on Bon-Bon's sarcasm as though she were sincere, Bon-Bon screamed at the top of her lungs, and had attempted to use the nearly glowing-hot pan for the stir-fry as a weapon against the demon. All the time this happened, Lyra rolled her eyes as she said to herself, "And just like in books, the third time is always the charm."

A few minutes quickly went by, Bon-Bon was subdued and calmed down, Anthro had an Ice pack over the minor first degree burn on his arm, and Lyra was propped into her chair. The yellow mare shook with fear, her eyes locked on Anthro as she sat in the large chair across the room, Lyra sat next to her hairless friend as she explained the situation to Bon-Bon, "Long and the short of it, we don't know where he's from, or what he is, but we are helping him learn about us, to open him up and be more comfortable around us."

Bon-Bon took a deep breath as she shockingly stuttered, "So… so he's not dangerous."

Lyra nodded, looking at Anthro as she began, "Strangely enough, the Book of Faustism tells of creatures like this that are violent, corruptive, and can bring doom wherever they go. Anthro, however, is probably one of the sweetest… things… I've ever met."

Bon-Bon pointed to the chair her friend was bound to, "What about that," she began, "maybe that thing caused it?"

Lyra shook her head, "Don't be ridiculous, Anthro would never insult me much less paralyze me… in fact…"

Bon-Bon became curious, her eyebrow raised at Lyra tapering off, "In fact what?"

The unicorn looked at her friend, the look in her eye silently telling her friend what to do, "He can do… well… this."

As though she had commanded it, Lyra felt her friend's hand press against her back, then felt the jolt of sensation through her body as her limbs regained life and movement. WIth his palm on her spine, Lyra was slowly walking around the room, her knees buckling a little under the sudden use of movement but supporting herself nonetheless.

Bewildered by this display of a miracle, Bon-Bon's eyes grew wide in awe as she stuttered, "You… You can walk! But that… that's scientifically impossible!"

Lyra continued walking around the room, using her hooves to wash the empty plates from dinner as she spoke, "Yeah… yeah it is impossible. Maybe this isn't science though." Before long, Anthro guided the miracle-pony back to her seat to once again be bound by her paralyzing curse. She watched as Anthro sat down beside her, brushing the hair from her eyes as she said again, "Maybe this is more than science."

Unfortunately, her best friend wasn't ready to listen to logic like that as she shook her head, "No, no, no, no. This isn't some miracle cure, this isn't magic that unicorns can do, and this certainly is not something out of that religious book of yours."

"I'm not saying that all science is false, all I'm saying is that maybe there's a bit of truth in that book somewhere."

Bon-Bon got up from her seat, approaching her best friend and Anthro as she spoke with a hiss, "Lyra, you always believed in science, and this book that you're saying is true also said that we were all created in a matter of a day. You can't just believe in one thing and not in the other, that's complete bologna."

Lyra shook her head, "Maybe, Bons… maybe." She turned her attention to Anthro, simply sitting there awkwardly as she asks him, "Anthro, can you do anything else."

Anthro took a few minutes to think, looking at the two of them before nodding his head with a smile, "Yes," that nod, however, quickly changed to shaking his head as he continued, "but no."

Both Lyra and her friend looked in confusion as the unicorn asked her friend, "What do you mean 'yes, but no'?"

Anthro stood up, raising both his hands wide as he said silently, "Not ready, yet."

Bon-Bon began to grow impatient, she asked him quickly, "Who's not ready? You? Do you not trust us yet?"

Anthro shook his head, "No… you not ready yet, all you not ready yet."