“So you wear these underneath shirts?” Lyra asked, holding up a pink and lumpy piece of clothing.
“Yes. We’ll need to buy you about ten. And Bonbon will need a smaller size.” Stephanie said, picking up about ten of the pieces of double lumped clothing and putting them into the shopping cart.
“There is so much stuff about being human I could never imagine!” Lyra shouted, making nearby people stare.
“Lyra, you need to tone it down. We’re inside.” Stephanie warned.
Lyra suppressed a giggle. Her second day of being human was definitely better than her first. She had made a new friend, Bonbon had forgiven her, and she wasn’t in jail for public indecency. And she had found out her theory on humans wearing pants all the time was correct.
“Honestly, you’re acting like a kid in a candy store.” Stephanie said, putting some similar looking but not bumpy clothing into the basket as well.
“Ooh what are-“ Lyra started asking before Stephanie cut her off.
“You wear them under your pants.” Stephanie stated blatantly.
Lyra nodded, making a mental note to put those on before her pants whenever she got dressed, which she was still trying to get into the habit of.
At this time, Bonbon came by, sporting a straw hat with dark blue and pink roses on top. “I found this in the summer department. What do you think?”
“I’d give-“ Lyra suddenly inhaled loudly, covering her hand with her mouth and widening her eyes. “I can actually do it! YES!” She squealed.
After getting another warning shush from Stephanie, Lyra leaned in close to Bonbon, holding up an appendage of her hand.
“I’d give it a thumbs up.” She whispered.
Bonbon looked at her thumbs. “So that’s what these are? These are so useful. I mean not as useful as hooves, but they really help you pick up stuff.”
“Yeah.” Lyra commented, “I don’t get why humans can’t just pick up stuff like we do.”
“Did.” Stephanie interjected. “You’re a human now, don’t forget it.”
“How could I not?” Lyra said dreamily.
Oh how she had dreamed of this moment. The hands, the clothes, the cars, the technology. She pinched herself for the fifth time that day to make sure she wasn't still dreaming. It tingled. A tap on her shoulder brought her back to Stephanie.
“Look Lyra,” Stephanie started. “I know you’re going to have fun being human, I mean, that’s what everyone thinks you’ve wanted. And it’s cool that you actually do. But don’t you think you’ll miss being a pony at all?” She leaned on the cart with one hand, staring at Lyra with disbelief.
“The only downside I see so far is picking things up.” Lyra said. “But then again, HANDS!” She yelled, shoving the mentioned appendage in front of Stephanie’s face.
“And then there’s me who has no knowledge of human society and customs that still has trouble remembering to walk upright.” Bonbon sighed.
Lyra smiled, trying to cheer Bonbon up. “It takes time. You’ll get the hang of it. It took me at least seven months to stand without magical help when I was a pony.”
“I think it’s crazy how we got here.” Bonbon said. “Twilight's spell goes wrong again? I mean how cliche i that?”
“Well I for one am glad we are here.” Lyra remarked, crossing her arms. “You should be too Bonbon. You always talked about going out and seeing the world. Why not make it seeing the alternate universes?”
Bonbon looked up at Lyra with a dim look in her eyes. “I don’t know about you Lyra, but I had always planned to go back when I had finished traveling. I had connections back in Ponyville that I would need to go back to. I feel good that you finally found your calling, but I had a job back there. I had friends. I had a life.” With this, Bonbon sniffled, wiping a tear from her eye.
Lyra rested her hand on Bonbon’s shoulder. Her gentle fingers fixed a wrinkle in her shirt loaned from Stephanie. Bonbon opened her eyes, looking with blurred vision at Lyra. “You have me.”
“So what’s the story behind the spell Twilight cast?” Stephanie interrupted. “I got the gist that this was on purpose, but how exactly did everything go down in Equestrai?”
Bonbon rubbed the back of her head with her fist, moving her toe “Well, you see…”
“It’s a long story.” Lyra said. “We’ll tell you back at your place.”
Stephanie looked at each of them and shook her head. Lyra could tell she was just screaming for answers on the inside, but she did a very good job concealing it.
Stephanie suddenly perked up, as if remembering something important. She turned to Lyra pointing an accusing finger at her head. Of course, Lyra just took it as a pointing a finger. “Can you still do magic?”
Lyra’s face glowed as the word magic came out of Stephanie’s mouth. She had to think of a spell. Any spell would do. Something simple though. Something like-
Lyra felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Bonbon with a worried expression on her face. “Not here, somepo- somebody might see. Normal humans can’t do magic remember?”
“But what about those guys with the top hats and wands that pull out rabbits?” Lyra inquired.
Stephanie facehoo- facepalmed. “It’s a trick. No person can do real magic.” She explained.
This gave Lyra a bit of worry. She was now a person. What would happen to her if she couldn’t do magic? She was so used to floating things around as a pony. How could she handle a life without magic.
She righted herself. She was human. This is everything she had ever wanted. Well, there were other smaller things, but this was her best dream come true.
The trio paid for the clothes and other things for Lyra and Bonbon, and they left the store in Stephanie’s car. It started, and just like before Lyra and Bonbon cringed. They felt something was wrong with the way this contraption could carry everything and itself with a black liquid that came out of the earth. At least it was more comfortable than the police car they had experienced earlier.
They finally reached Stephanie’s house after about a half an hour. Unloading the items from the back of the car, the trio had moved the items into the guest room. Lyra was sweating after the last bag had been put down. She wasn’t used to physical labor. She slumped into a corner panting.
Bonbon peeked in the doorway to the room. “Lyra, Stephanie wants to hear the story about Ponyville when you get the chance. When should I tell her-“
Lyra stood up from her corner, moaning in the process. “Now,” Lyra announced, “we’re telling her the story now.”