The journey to Twilight’s library was mostly uneventful with the exception of Jonnathan using the spell to stop Pinkie Pie again so Lyra could escape without being followed.
In short order, Lyra made it to the Golden Oaks Library and knocked on the door. This was very risky, but Twilight knew more about humans than even Lyra did, all because Twilight had been one for a while. If anypony would have answers, it’d be Twilight Sparkle.
The door opened to reveal Spike.
“Hey, Lyra!” The baby dragon said, greeting her with a big smile. “Here to check out more books? We got some new books on your favorite subject from Canterlot just yesterday and—”
“Spike, is Princess Twilight here?” Lyra asked, cutting the dragon off. “I need to see her about a matter where she’s the best pony to ask.”
“Lyra,” Spike sighed, “for the hundredth time, just call her Twilight! She doesn’t like being called a Princess! Anyway, she’s here. We were just finishing cleaning up, actually.”
“She’s here?” Lyra exclaimed happily. “Perfect! Could you get her for me?”
“Just a second,” Spike replied before running back into the library. “Hey, Twi! Lyra’s here again! She says it’s important!”
“Okay, okay,” Twilight’s voice could be heard saying from upstairs.
With a poof of purple magic, Twilight teleported to the front door and greeted Lyra with a somewhat strained smile.
“Oh! Hi, Lyra!” Twilight began, sounding tired. “If you’re here for another story about what happened on the other side of that mirror, I’m kind of busy now—”
Twilight cut off as her eyes were drawn to Lyra’s left saddlebag. The one holding her infant human son.
“Lyra, I feel something from your saddlebag,” Twilight resumed, suddenly more cheerful and full of energy. “If that’s what’s important, please get in here now! I need to see it!”
Lyra sighed and followed Twilight inside while Twilight put up a “closed” sign, slammed the door behind Lyra, and locked it.
“Okay, Lyra, what’s in the bag?” Twilight asked eagerly.
“First, I’ll need you to promise to keep this a secret from everypony except for Fluttershy, since she already knows,” Lyra stated firmly. This defensive mother attitude seemed to be coming naturally to her right then. “Second, I need you to also promise to not treat what I’m about to show you as simply something for you to test endlessly. What’s in this bag is special to me, and I don’t want what’s in it to be reduced to a simple test subject.” Lyra got right in Twilight’s face before making her third and final demand: “And finally, I want you to promise not to freak out when you first see what’s in this bag. It’ll seem impossible, but I want you to keep your cool, Twilight. Now, I want all three of those to be Pinkie Promises!”
Twilight gaped at Lyra for a few seconds before sighing. “I don’t know what’s come over you to suddenly be so protective, but I’ll make the promise. I promise to meet all of the demands you made. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Twilight made the proper motions as she made the promise, remembering to close her eye at the last part this time.
Once she was finished, Twilight gave Lyra an impatient glance. “Well?” the Alicorn said tersely. “I made the promise, so can’t you show me now?”
Lyra sighed and opened the flap on her left saddlebag and peered into it while saying, “Come on. It’s okay. Mommy’s right here.”
Much to Twilight’s surprise, a small hand reached out of the bag and petted Lyra on the nose.
“That’s right. Mommy won’t let anything hurt you,” Lyra continued. “Now, I’m going to lift you out of there, okay?”
Lyra lit up her horn, and something in the bag was enveloped by her magic. As Lyra lifted the thing out of her bag, Twilight could only gape in shock.
After a few minutes of silent staring, Twilight shook herself to return to reality. “Lyra,” she began slowly. “How is there a human baby in Equestria? It should be impossible for humans to come here and not turn into ponies!”
“I’m not sure, myself,” Lyra admitted. “But apparently whatever sent him here was able to override the nature of our universe that turns humans into ponies.”
“Okay, I’ll try to figure that one out later,” Twilight sighed. “But what about that energy he’s radiating? It’s not like magic as we know it, but it feels similar.”
“Oh, that’s the kind of magic his kind uses,” Lyra replied. “It’s different from pony magic, and I’m only able to sense it because I keep having these dreams about humans, which must have made me more in tune with the power he radiates, and since you’ve actually been one, I suspected you’d be able to sense it, too.”
“And how do you know that it’s actually magic?” Twilight inquired with a raised eyebrow.
“Simple:” Lyra chuckled. “Jonnathan told me. Isn’t that right, Mommy’s widdle boy?”
The baby laughed and giggled while Lyra played with his tummy.
“Wait, this human’s name is ‘Jonnathan’, and he was able to talk to you? How’d you come up with that name, and how’d he communicate with you? Infants can’t talk!”
“Well, the name’s on a tag in the back of his jammies, and as for how he told me,” Lyra smirked before looking to her son and saying, “Jonnathan, show her your telepathy,” while pointing at her forehead, then at Twilight.
The baby responded by closing his eyes, then reopening them a second later with a purple glow to them while his hands glowed the same color.
Suddenly, Twilight heard a voice in her head. it sounded young. Very young. Like the voice of a foal who was just learning to talk. But the voice’s words were pure gibberish, and Twilight understood none of it.
“Oh, do you know how to cast translator spells, Twilight?” Lyra asked. “I’m starting to feel a little tapped, so I’d prefer to not have to do it again. It’s the only way you two will be able to understand each other until he learns proper Equestrian. His thoughts are in some language from wherever his home world is.”
Twilight sighed and cast her own translation spell, and suddenly, the words came through in perfect Equestrian.
Finally! Now you can understand me! the young voice said. So, you’re the final pony Mommy wanted to see today? I’ve explained things a few times already, and I can do it a few more if I must. Also, I’m just three weeks old, for your information. Isn’t my level of control impressive? That last part sounded like an attempt to sound boastful, but with such a youthful voice, it just came off as cute, so Twilight giggled.
“Okay. First, how are you doing that?” Twilight asked, exasperated. “No three week old unicorn can control their magic that much, let alone cast a spell like that!”
In case you didn’t notice, I’m no pony, the baby’s voice said smugly. And my birth father taught me how to use telepathy when I was four days old. He used telepathy to speak to me, and then kept urging me until I could do it myself. The first Mind Element spell I cast, as well as the first spell I cast, period.
“Well, how many Elements are in your kind of magic?” Twilight asked next, getting ready to take notes.
Twenty-two, the young voice replied simply. There’s Light, Darkness, Earth, Air, Water, Fire, Spirit, Force, Power, Life, Stone, Death, Instinct, Freedom, Space, Ice, Lightning, Time, Strength, Steel, Mind, and Void. Each one has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. From what I’ve overheard from my birth father, most humans could only use one Element unless they had a very complicated mixed ancestry allowing multiple Elements. But my birth family is special! We can use every Element! I just have to reach inside myself, find the right thread of magic flowing inside me, drag it to the surface, and channel it into a spell! The final part was said with an air of superiority, but once again, the voice made it cute instead of impressive, so Twilight giggled again as she finished taking notes.
I also know at least three spells for each Element, the voice continued, sounding desperate to gain some kind of respect, but the voice was just too cute to accomplish anything but being cute. I know four in a few of them, so I know somewhere around seventy spells right now. I believe it’s possible for me to figure out some more spells on my own, and I plan to do that so that when I get big, I can protect Mommy!
“He sounds so adorable!” Twilight gushed, causing Jonnathan to give a huff of annoyance that only made him seem even cuter. “By the way, did the tag give his full name? Or just just his first?”
“It has his full name printed on it.” Lyra replied. “If you’ve got the translation spell still up, you could always read it yourself.
Twilight nodded and did just that.
“‘Thaddamaeus’? ‘Gheelia’?” Twilight exclaimed. “What kind of names are those?”
“I have no idea, Twilight,” Lyra admitted. “They’re probably proper names in his language, but we may never know. He asked me to be his mother to replace the family he was torn from, and I’ve agreed to do that for him. Twilight, if you need to conduct any tests on him, please remember that he’s my son. Adopted, yes, but my son nonetheless.”
“Okay, Lyra,” Twilight sighed. “But please don’t keep him a secret for too long. I really want to let the Princess know about this. With you raising him, he’s in good hooves. But you can feel all that power radiating from him, right?”
Lyra nodded.
“Well, if he gets kidnapped and falls into the wrong hooves, he could become very dangerous,” Twilight cautioned. “Don’t let that happen.”
“Of course, Twilight,” Lyra replied with a smile. “I’ll let everypony know about him soon enough, but for now, I have to keep him away from Pinkie. She can’t know he exists until I’ve gotten him settled and everything situated. And what kind of mother would I be if I let my son get corrupted by bad ponies?”
“Well, goodbye, Jonnathan and Lyra,” Twilight said with a wave as Lyra opened the door and the two left after Twilight unlocked it.
Lyra carefully returned her son to her saddlebag and trotted home, giggling when Jonnathan used that spell to stop Pinkie again.
On the way home, Lyra bought some diapers, but wouldn’t say why. She got some odd looks, but she ignored them and resumed the short trek home.
After the pair arrived home, Lyra decided to get things over with and showed Jonnathan to Bon-Bon.
Bon-Bon did freak out at first, but when Jonnathan used his telepathy combined with another translator spell from Lyra, his attempts to impress were once more met with just giggles and d’awwwws, and Bon-Bon calmed down and even took a liking to the little human.
After Lyra and Bon-Bon had dinner, Lyra changed Jonnathan’s diaper and found an old pet bed to use as a temporary bed for her little human son. After she tucked him in, she quickly fell asleep herself.