Chapter 7 - Confrontation
The royal guards entered the house behind the cockatrice, covering its head with a bag and removing it to safety. Then Princess Celestia, her mane waving behind her, walked in in her full majesty.
"Are you all right, dear? Were you hurt at all?"
"What do you mean, hurt? Why would I be hurt?" said Lyra.
"By that awful creature. How could it possibly get here?"
"Because I made it happen! I worked the spell! I brought the human here! You could have done it, you have so much magic. We could have all known the humans, but you kept them from us!"
"For your own good, my little pony. You don't know what kind of damage they can do. But I'm not angry with you, just disappointed. Now, I think you should come out here and apologize to your dear friend for scaring her."
"All right. Can I have a moment to think of how to say it?"
"Certainly. We'll be waiting for you outside," she said, and turned to go.
Lyra walked over to the stone statue and laid her head close to one of the petrified ears. Perhaps she didn't know that people turned to stone weren't aware, or maybe she didn't care, but she leaned in and said softly:
"I told a lie, of course. I know exactly what to say. Lyra the liar, that's me. It's funny, I never thought that I would ever lie to Princess Celestia, and yet I don't care. But I can't stand to think that you think that I faltered in this moment. I lied to get her out of the room so I could be next to you if this is the last time. I never told you about all the nights I spent working on the teleportation spell to bring you here, how many blind alleys I went down, how many failed lines of magical inquiry I explored before you came to me. I'd planned to, I wanted you to be impressed by my powers. But now it all means nothing. This night, these next moments will be my legacy to you, not my magic. And though there's much more at stake and it might be much harder now, I have one advantage: this time I know exactly what I'm seeking for."
And then her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Only you, my love."
Lyra followed, and if the princess had thought she was cowed, she was mistaken. Lyra saw Bon-bon right outside, but also a crowd of hundreds, as most of Ponyville had turned out for the incident after the rumors had spread with brush-fire speed.
"Now, my little pony, tell Miss Bon-bon you're sorry," said Celestia.
Lyra began in a low voice, speaking only to her roommate. "I am sorry, Bon-bon. I'm sorry that you came home early, and didn't give me a chance to explain this calmly and rationally. You know that I've been fascinated by humans for a while, and you should have expected me to try this." Celestia looked worried; she had expected a pony who was in over her head and grateful to be saved. Lyra advanced on her, and now she projected her voice for the crowd to hear.
"And as to you! How in Equestria do you justify hurting my friend?!"
A gasp of shock ran through the crowd. Nopony had defied Celestia in living memory.
"Your friend? A human? They're dangerous, dear. You're young, and you haven't learned-"
"I've learned more than you know, Princess!" Another gasp from the crowd. Interrupting Celestia was even more unheard-of. "I've learned more in the last three days than in a lifetime of being kept ignorant! One thing I've learned is that there are places where they don't bow before royalty."
"Now, now, my little pony-"
"I'M NOT YOUR LITTLE PONY! I'm a free, thinking mare, and what I learned from this dear, dangerous creature is that it's YOUR job to protect those who dare to think for themselves!
"You can't just send in your thugs with a beast to turn to stone someone you don't like, because I've learned that we all have rights, even humans! You didn't give us a chance to speak, you cut us off without a word. You didn't care about that beautiful pair of bare hands. You didn't present argument or evidence. You didn't even give us a chance to confront you! You judged us yourself, instead of letting our peer ponies have a say. And the punishment you enforced was cruel and unusual. You've violated every right we have! Not that what I'm saying now is the sum total of it.
"That's what YOU need to learn, Celestia. It's not that you tell us what we can do and everything else we can't. It's the exact opposite! You tell us what we can't do, and why it's dangerous, and as for everything else, keep your horse-face out of our business!
Had Celestia not brought the crowd, it's likely that Lyra would have been punished as well, and her requests certainly denied. But the princess had come more interested in making sure Lyra knew not to try such things again, and that backfired, because they all heard. Still, the princess tried to regain control.
"Miss Heartstrings, please, listen. All that is well and good, but it's not practical. You need help, my dear. We're all your friends and we want to help you."
Lyra reared up, her front hooves whirling in the air, her horn starting to glow. The crowd had its largest reaction yet. She had defied and interrupted Celestia; was the deranged unicorn actually going to strike at her?
Lyra leaped--but not at the princess, only toward her, diving face-down on the ground at Celestia's hooves. The effort of her speech had drained her, and she was reduced to tears. "Then forget all of that and help me by letting us be free and be together. You could do it because I made a fancy speech, you could do it because if I can get this crowd on my side we might convince you. You could do it because you really do understand and want to reach out a hoof to a creature of a different culture. But if not for those reasons do it because otherwise it's just wrong!"
Perhaps at that moment Celestia's heart warmed, or perhaps she still thought that the situation was trouble but that it would be easier in the long run to let it play out. In any case she nodded her head toward the house and her large horn gave a slight glow.
A stone prison shattered. A voice cried out the end of a scream never begun, "-yra!"
******
Everything that happened outside the house that night until that moment Lyra related to me afterwards, when it had all calmed down. I felt no residual aftereffects of the transformation, but I do regret that I wasn't there to hear the most passionate plea ever put forth by a pony.
I returned to consciousness, and my continuity of thought led me to shout, "Lyra!"
She picked up her head, scarcely daring to believe, and ran inside to embrace me. "Oh, I screwed up everything you told me, but it's all right, so long as you're breathing again!"
I could still see the crowd outside the door, and the large figure of the princess that seemed to have its own light source. I turned back to Lyra. "Courage dear, courage and courtesy. We have many guests and we should go greet them. It's not over yet, but we have a chance to speak, and that's all we can ask for, a chance."
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Cool. Short, but cool.
I am loving this story more than I could put into words right now. This story has made me interested in Lyra, of all ponies, who I never really bothered to think about before. I can't wait to see where this goes.
This story is just amazing!
I can't wait to hear more! More more more!!!
The conversations, the interaction between human and pony and all that just seems to fit perfectly.
Nice Job! Please continue!
YESSSS! Another chapter!!! Woot.
Wonderful as usual.
FROST!
hahahahah you got pwned and ive actually used this before but ill use it again
she put the pwn in pony
I FUCKING LOVE THIS FIC!!! The highlight of this entire fic will be Lyra telling off Celestia. That was so beautiful and suspenseful. Bravo, my good sir or madam, you have created the best Human in Equestria story of all time because it was sweet, heartfelt, suspenseful, well written, smart, full of win and a million other nice sentiments I gave give your fic.
I want more, please.
Peace Out.
When they turn the pages of history,
When these days have passed long ago,
Will they read of us with sadness,
Or the seeds that we let grow?
This story is Amazing.
Not often I see this side of the Princess... furthermore any time where she's opposed. Definitely a different approach, though I still wince at the words to Celestia... I love Celestia.
We turned our gaze from the castles in the distance.
Eye cast down to paths of least resistance.
Cities full of hatred, fear and lies
Withered hearts and cruel tormented eyes
Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude and scoffing at the wise
This made me feel warm inside. And then I felt frozen for a second. Then I looked the hell around. Then I closed my eyes. Then I typed this comment.
That escalated quickly.
Ok when Lrya started yelling at Celestia two videos immediately popped into my head the first
And
I'm tripping over the proclamation of love, they just met. yes it's your story but damn they just met!! most people date for months to see if physical/personality attraction turn to love sorry just a rant caused by pet peeve.
Hmmmnope, the whole thing was a bit too rushed, Lyra suddenly turning into a rebel just sealed the deal. This fic needs some serious tlc.
HOLLY S%#& LYRA'S A BAD A%$!!!!!!!!!! This pleases me greatly!!!