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// 24 Helping Hand 
// Story: For science 
// by Znegil 
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On our way back to the library we picked up the dresses from Rarity and ordered the new bed and wardrobe from the carpenter. He also assured me he could provide us with enough wood to build my lab. 

As we entered the library again, I brought my new dresses up in our room. I decided to leave them in this huge bag Rarity had carefully placed them in. I stepped out on the balcony into the warm sunlight and looked over the houses of Ponyville. It all seemed so peaceful. I didn't want to imagine what would have happened to this place if humanity had gained access to this world. I saw a small trail of black smoke coming from one of the windows beneath me. 

'I guess this must be the invitation for the princesses.', I thought to myself. 

I kept looking around and saw happy ponies wandering the streets, greeting each other and laughing together. 

"What are you looking at?", Twilight asked. I was a bit surprised since I hadn't heard her come out to me, but I wasn't startled. 

"It's all so peaceful here. I had lived all my life within a loud, dirty and ugly city... at least if I compare it to this place. It's so relaxing here."

She smiled and also watched at the beautiful panorama before us, putting her hoof around me. "You know our big cities are also a lot more crowded. Ponyville is a very peaceful place." 

I heard a loud burp and Spike's little feet running up the stairs. "Twilight, she already responded.", he shouted. Seconds later he appeared with a scroll next to us. 

Twilight used her magic to unroll the scroll and read through it, her eyes went wide. "They will be here this evening after Luna raises the moon! I have so much to prepare, organize and clean!"

"Calm down, honey. You have us to help you. We'll do this step by step, and everything will be fine.", I said and kissed her cheek. "Yes, the rulers of Equestria will be for dinner, but we will get a lot more done if we avoid panicking." 

She took a few deep breaths. "Your right, we can do this. Spike and I will clean the library and set up the table, can you go to the market and buy everything you need for your curry? In this chest is all my money, take what you need.", she pointed at a chest in her room. "Will you manage on your own?"

I just stared at her. 

"Sorry.", she apologized. "Good all the tasks are assigned, let start." 

While they stormed downstairs, I walked towards the chest and opened it. I was flabbergasted from all these gold coins before me, only in this peaceful world could be a chest full of gold without any locks or protection at all. I stuffed some of them inside my pants and made my way towards the marketplace. 

... 

I was a lot more daring this time at the spices stand. I wanted to make the curry something special. I had to remember to save a part of it for Dashie, she will be quite happy for the opportunity to eat... wait, something was wrong here. Someone was following me. I walked towards the vegetable stand and turned around as I reached it. I saw a pony who quickly tried to hide in the crowd, but all these colorful coats made it easy for me to follow it and I quickly closed the distance. 

"Why are you following me?", I asked the aquamarine colored pony with the light cyan and white mane. 

"I mean no harm, I'm just curious. I waited for years to see a real human and I can't believe there is one right in front of me." She had the biggest grin on her face. 

"...for years? What are you talking about? As far as I know, I'm the only human who ever came to Equestria. Who are you anyway?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. My name is Lyra, Lyra Heartstrings. I read about humans years ago and had been fascinated ever since, your cities, your clothing and how fragile your bodies look while they can be pretty strong and..."

I held up my hand. "Wait, wait. How can you know any of these things?", I asked her. 

"I can show you the books in my home, it's not far from here."

I thought about it, it was still pretty early, we had a lot of time until the princesses would arrive and this was just to interesting to let it pass. 

"Okay, I have still a few things to buy. If you're helping me carrying the stuff, I will come with you to see these books.", I told her. 

"Yippee!", she jumped up and down and reminded me pretty much of Pinkie right now, so playful and childish. 

Once she had calmed down, she used her magic to carry my groceries. She followed me giggling to the other stands until I finished my shopping. 

...

"A real human, I found a real human...", she kept singing while she led the way to her home. I had to admit it was a bit unsettling and I thought about going away, but I was to curious to do it. 

When we arrived, and she opened the door I saw a familiar earthpony sitting on a couch inside, it calmed me a bit to see her. "Hi, Bon Bon.", I greeted her. 

"Hi, Stella.", she replied and smiled. 

Lyra stared at her mouth wide open. It took her a few seconds to recover. "You know her and haven't told me about her!?", she screamed. 

"Don't shout.", Bon Bon exhorted her. "You had been in Canterlot, and we haven't met since you came back. How should I have told you?" I was impressed by her ability to remain that calm. "Why is this so important anyway?" 

"Why? WHY?!" She received a stern look from Bon Bon and decided to lower the volume. "Because she is a human, that's why." 

Bon Bon groaned. "I thought we got over this years ago, humans don't exist, yes she is bipedal but..." 

"Oh, she is right I'm a human.", I interrupted. 

Now it was Bon Bon turn to stare with her mouth wide open. 

"Told you they exist, who is crazy now?", Lyra said and did some very strange victory dance. "Aha aha, I was right, aha aha..." 

"Well, you still act crazy.", her friend replied. "And you're scaring her. Come Stella, sit with me while she gets her 'vault of insanity'." 

I sat next to her while I heard Lyra shout from the next room: "Vault of truth!" 

A few moments later she levitated a medium sized chest in front of us. It opened and revealed one of the biggest messes I saw in all my life. It was filled with hundreds of papers and strange objects. Lyra stood in front of the chest and dug through all that stuff until she had discovered two books. 

She laid them out in front of me. "My father studied the history of Equestria.", Lyra began. "So he always had hundreds of old books in our house. When I was old enough to read I looked through them, since they were filled with strange stories of adventures. Then I found this among them.", she lifted one of the books close to me. 

"'A study of humans' by Indigo Nightshade.", I read. 

"Father told me it was just some made up stuff, but I was fascinated by it. It was full of details and drawings of these elegant creatures in their strange clothing." She used her magic to browse through the pages. I saw very detailed drawings of humans, the way they were dressed looked like from the Renaissance period. There were notes about behavior and scribbles of houses. 

"I always said this was much to detailed to be pure fiction, but nopony shared my beliefs.", she continued. "So I searched for as much evidence as I could, and it is all in here." 

I grabbed the book out of her magic aura and looked through it myself. There was no doubt. Someone had seen humans before. "How is this possible? Do you know how he found them?", I asked her. 

She held up a smaller book. "This is his diary, I found it years later. In it he writes about magic experiments he did, one went wrong in a catastrophic way and formed a 'fissure in the fabric of the world'. Through it, he saw another world and decided to study it. He used invisibility to walk among them without being noticed. After a month he closed the fissure because 'there was to much violence in this world'."

I laid the book next to me and looked up to the ceiling, that was a lot to take in. I felt a hoof against my hand and looked down again. Lyra examined my hand with much fascination and tugged my fingers. 

"You should have asked for her permission first.", Bon Bon scolded her. 

"What?", she answered absently. Then she looked up to me and realized what she was doing. "I'm so sorry.", she said and blushed. "It's just... I always have been fascinated by human hands. They are fragile but also so precise and versatile. What happened to the other?" 

My mood dropped quite a bit. "I have lost it.", I just answered. 

"Will it grow back?", she asked hopeful. 

I covered my face with my remaining hand. "That's not how humans work.", I said gloomily. "It is gone, and it will stay that way." 

"Oh... sorry."

I stood up. "This is all fascinating for me, and I want to look more inside your books, and I'm sure Twilight would love to, but I have to go now. We will have some very important ponies for dinner, and I must help my marefriend to prepare for it. Maybe we could meet sometime within the next days?"

Both stared at me. "You and Twilight are a couple?", Bon Bon was finally able to say. 

"Wow, imagining what this hand could do to my body..."

"LYRA!", Bon Bon shouted and blushed. "You have to excuse her. Sometimes her mouth is to fast for her brain."

"Oh, Sorry.", Lyra excused herself. "I will think about it later." 

Bon Bon and I facepalmed or... hooved at the same time.

'To much information.', I thought. "I hope there is a part of my body no pony has a fetish for."