5 - I'm not a Mare!
Lyra strolled along after Darrell. "So tell me more about your... time before now. When you believe you were not a pony, and not female?"
Darrell swiveled an ear towards Lyra, "You really want to know?"
Lyra nodded. "Of course. I want to know all about you. I'm your friend."
Darrell sank a little. "You just want to 'cure' me, but that's not the fix I need. I need to be a man again."
Lyra waved a hoof in the air as they ambled past the carrot stall. "Tell me about that. What was it like, being a stallion?"
Darrell was guarded, but Lyra expected that. She waited with a patient smile until she began to talk. "I didn't realize half of it until it was gone. I miss being able to aim when I piss. I miss being able to let off steam when I wanted to. I miss not feeling like I'm being sized up by every guy that comes into view."
Lyra looked perplexed. "Huh, I would have thought a stallion would be more leered at, not less. There are plenty of mares in town." She gestured widely at Ponyville. "Not as many stallions. Don't you remember that?"
Darrell frowned. "Not where I came from. There were plenty of guys, and girls, and do you have to keep calling them horse names?"
"We are horses." Lyra rolled her shoulders. "Well, ponies. I am a mare, and you are too."
"Not by choice." Darrell turned to face Lyra, pausing in her walk. "You're a wizard, right? I saw your degree."
Lyra nodded her head. "Sure am! I Specialize in transformations. That's how I found you. Somepony you were talking to thought you might have been transformed, but I couldn't find even the tiniest shred of that kind of magic on you."
Darrell put her hooves on Lyra's shoulders. "Well change that! Do your magic, and at least make me a guy again."
Gender dysphoria was not an alien concept to Lyra, and she pitied Darrell deeply. Even if she was convinced that she was really a pony, she may never be truly satisfied as a mare. "I could try, but it would only last a short time. You know, being a mare isn't all that bad."
Darrell flushed across her snout. "I went into heat! Heat!" She put her hooves back on the ground, only to stomp left and right on them, running in place. "Fix it... please. I'm begging."
Lyra sat down on her haunches. "Alright... Just remember it's only for a little while, and I want something in return."
"Anything."
Her eyes were so desperate, Lyra felt bad looking into them, but she didn't flinch away. "I want you to tell me what your life was like, everything you can remember. No crying, no fits."
Darrell glanced around. "Can we go back to your office first?"
They soon returned to Lyra's office. The quiet of it seemed to soothe Darrell a bit, but she was mostly fixated on Lyra's magic. "Can you do it now?"
Lyra nodded. "If you remember your side of the deal? I'll focus on keeping the spell going, and you focus on telling me the truth, all that you can remember." Lyra focused her magic and zapped her patient. Gender changing was no small feat, and she could feel a faint tension build instantly as she lifted the magical deadweight up.
Darrell squeaked and began to squirm as the changes came over her, now him. He raised a leg and peeked back at himself. "I'm whole again. I never thought I... would be so happy to see that, even if it is a horse dongle."
Lyra tapped her notepad. "This isn't easy. Your turn."
Darrell settled on his haunches, looking so much happier. Lyra wished for a moment she could just make her a him instead of having to go the hard way around and convince her to be happy being a her. Darrell began speaking of his past, words captured by a scribbling quill.
"I was born in a small nowhere town that barely warranted a sign to announce its existence. I worked with cows and horses. They were dirty and smelly, but they paid the bills, so I did my job." He sighed softly. "I never went to any fancy schools. Hell, I didn't finish regular school... I had a girlfriend though. She was real sweet-like. I was thinking about asking her to go on to the next step even."
Lyra rolled a hoof. "Did you have family? Tell me about them."
Darrell nodded. "Sure did! They were good people, and only lived a block away. Mind you, country blocks are pretty big, but it was still an easy trip." One of his hooves wandered down between his legs and Lyra softly swatted it away. A momentary sulk gave way to more words. "Anyway, everyone around me was pretty cool, except that jerk Zev. He can eat a dick and die."
Lyra raised her brows at the sudden strong language. "What did he do?"
Darrell snarled. "It's his fault I'm here. I was cleaning out the stalls, usual daily chore, and he shows up and starts messing with me. I tell him to buzz off, but he just won't lay off. I swear to god he just doesn't have a decent bone in his body. I snapped and shoved him, but he shoved back harder. I fell in a great big pile of horse shit, and came out the other end... lessened. I had hooves, and no willy, and I stank to high heaven. The ranch I worked for was gone, instead, bam, Ponyville."
Lyra began piecing the puzzle together. "Then you were found by Roseluck, ranting about your missing parts, fingers, genitals, all that, and she referred you to me."
Darrell bobbed his head quickly. "I just want to get back... I don't know if my girl's still waiting for me, but I want to see her again, and my folks, and my house..."
Lyra scrawled away, noting Darrell's agitation due to past coworker tension. Wild claims of relationship appear to defy logic, but perhaps gender is reversed? Posting her picture to the newspaper may yield returns if anypony knows her. "Darrell."
"Yeah?"
Lyra smiled gently. "Can you, without looking or touching, describe being male?"
His eyes wandered downwards, but he didn't cheat. His eyes returned to Lyra's smiling face quickly. "It usually doesn't feel like anything, but when you're worked up, it's like a coiled up spring between your legs. You feel stronger than anything, and being with a female when you're like that... it's the best thing. You put the hard part in the soft part, and when you get to the end, it's like the universe is contracted to a single point, and then it's all let go."
Lyra nodded slowly. She hadn't experimented with being a stallion much. Focusing on the magic, and exploring gender identities... She couldn't manage both. Suddenly a thought came to her! Darrell had obviously been male before. The way he sat, the satisfaction on his face, and the description he gave, but he wasn't born it. Someone had done it to him, er, her. She had been given a taste, and now she wanted it forever. It made perfect sense. Lyra scribbled her theory wildly. "You've been very good today, Darrell."
When she released the magic, Darrell knew instantly, and she made a piteous whinny of a cry. Lyra shook her head. "I'm really very sorry, but I can't keep that up." She tapped her chin. "If it means anything, however, I now believe that you were male before."
Her face brightened, a smile on her snout. "Does this mean you'll help me?"
"To be a stallion?" Lyra frowned a little. "I'm not sure I can. We'll explore that. For now, you are definitely a mare, and a pony. We should fully realize what we are before we seek to change that."
It wasn't the answer Darrell wanted, but he didn't fight her on it. Lyra offered a sweet in reward, and they parted with a friendly wave. She watched her emerge onto the street and amble away, heading to the small home Twilight had helped her obtain for them to share. Even the foal was with them, until her parents could be located. Lyra sighed with frustration. How hard could it be to find a crystal pony parent? They all lived in the same city...
Lyra put her things away and headed home herself. Tomorrow would be a new day to pry into these mysteries.
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Do they all live in the same house? For some reason I kept reading this paragraph as Darrell and another "pony" and the kid (Sam, was it?). Of course, I'm usually in bed by now. Why I'm up, only Luna knows.
Well, the one who was a photographer can probably go back to doing that again.
Now this is getting interesting...they finally get to discuss their previous lives, or at least Darrell does.
I wonder how many "false" recollections it would take to get Lyra to reconsider her stance? It's not exactly my field of expertise, but I'm sure there isn't any level of dysphoria that could generate a whole lifetime of memories, not to mention if they got into the subject of Earth more deeply. It's hard to invent a whole world full of different cultures and histories, and if Lyra believed that Darrell had been male before so easily, then why not being human in general?
6008530 Males exist as well as the magic to become one, if temporarily. Human, not so much.
This fic has grabbed my attention, I am quite interested to see where it goes.
I'm also half tempted to write a joke chapter for you involving wacky group meetings. XD
I am enjoying this fic very much awesome work
600839 Happens on this site all the time, everyone seems to think every nation has the same values as America or a Eurocentric nature.
Or tumblr.
6008530
Yeah, I wonder that too.
While I really appreciate seeing a Lyra fic that does something different with her character, and I think the counterpoint to the whole "it only seems to be bronies who are happy about it fall into Equestria via strange situations" plot is hilarious, both her and Twilight are actually coming across as a little too skeptical in the face of a surprisingly unified, sudden onset of a fairly consistent "delusion". If Twilight hadn't admitted humans are actually A Thing, it might work better, but as it is it really does come across like she's not, in fact, "doing her best to do right by her patients" considering she got so close to a plausible answer and then just wrote it off and seems to have completely forgotten about it.
And even if Lyra herself doesn't have access to it, by Twilight's own admission it is at least possible for a pony to become a human, and then change back, so by inference a transformation in the other direction isn't outside the realm of theoretically plausible.
I mean, don't get me wrong. Still enjoying the story. But at some point I'd like to see the whole "maybe they're actually telling the truth" thing explored a bit more.
this is a fic to keep my eyes on this is defiantly going places.
exultant work good job David Silver.
Harts Fire
I'm surprised none of the human-ponies haven't pointed Lyra shouldn't be messing with their heads without a degree and a license on psychology.
I know this isn't an RPG crossover, but I still approve of Lyra's choice of specializations. Transmutation is the best school.
Poor Darrel. Horse crap has to be one of the worst nonlethal ways to enter Equestria that I've ever heard, and the gender change is just adding insult to injury. At least Lyra's accepting some of his story as factual. It's a shame she didn't investigate the talk of horses. That might have produced reams of notes.
Is it wrong I kinda hope they get to go back home and whatever means they use drags Lyra along so she can be the crazy one. . . really everything I've seen her do in this so far is more damaging then it ever would be helpful. Wonder if discorD could could see them for who they really are but then no one would believe him I suspect even if he decided to help for whatever reason
6009010
Who says she doesn't have one?
I mentioned this fic to someone else, and they decided on the term 'hlep' for this genre of "ponies are trying their best to help but because of preconceptions or misconceptions they're actually making things worse in a number of psychologically horrifying ways", "Hlep" coming from "It looks like help until you check the details." (It'd probably apply to a lot of Bureau-fic, come to think of it.)
I'm intrigued about whether all the patients come from the same home dimension, and whether that dimension is the EQG dimension, 'real' Earth, or somewhere else. Have they discussed amongst themselves whether their homeworlds have the same histories, national leaders, world events, technologies, common brand names, range of skin colors, what the date was when they left, etc?
Awwwwwwww, poor Darrell.
Meanwhile, Lyra remains stubbornly frustrating, even if it's understandably so and she really does want to help. Also, I have to keep reminding myself that every chapter she's apparently sitting in on these sessions wearing a top-hat and monocle, and that image is simply too gloriously random to describe. 
I love this story so far.
6009185 I am thoroughly enjoying running with this oddball concept, to be sure. Glad you're along for the ride!
... not that I'd be any happier about it in his place...
I am so torn.
It's entertaining, so part of me wants to keep reading, but this could easily become nightmare fuel, and I'm not in the mood for that.
Seriously, if the end result is that they were human, and they now think they were always ponies, this is going to get DARK.
I'm not sure how to feel about this. It's a neat story idea, but it reminds me of my trip to a mental hospital a bit too much. Very conflicting.
6030344 I urge you to read on.
I'm not sure I should keep reading. What Lyra has been thinking so far has made me uncomfortable enough. I definitely don't want to start reading about outright transgender conversion therapy.
6043487 I'm not sure what's sinister with trying to return someone to their original gender?
It's like the Humans in Equestria club, with a delicious layer of clueless slapped on top of it.
Oh boy this chapter reminded me of my problems with psychiatry. I don't think it should be considered a medical condition to Identify as a different gender than what you're biologically born with. Changing the name from "gender identity disorder" to "gender dysrophia" isn't progressive, progress would be declassifying it altogether. Being transgender is a difference which needs to be accepted not a problem that needs to be fixed. Having said that this chapter was good and I enjoyed it.