//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Anthro-Phantom // by JesterOfDestiny //------------------------------// The train was rattling along the tracks. Our bags laid neatly next to us. We didn’t need to use the luggage train, as we didn’t have that much stuff. We were only going to be away for two days. Have the conference on the first day, then go home in the morning of the second day. I slept through the night, but not without difficulty. Lyra kept me up for long, her excitement wasn’t wavered by the disgruntled passengers. Which included me. "Even Princess Twilight and Dr. Maud Pie will be there and that new 3D projector!” She listed. Eventually, she passed out in the middle of a sentence and everyone could get some needed sleep. But of course she was the first one to get up early in the morning. Thankfully, I woke up without her help. When I opened my eyes, I saw her staring outside the window, her eyes glazed over the rushing landscape. I could tell she was nervous. After a yawn and an exchange of tired good mornings, I asked her; “Is something wrong?”  “Oh, nothing,” she replied, “I guess I’m just a bit nervous. The weight of the situation has just hit me.”  “What are you nervous about?  Isn’t this exactly what you were waiting for?” I asked.  “Yes, I guess I just never really expected something like this to actually happen.” She answered.  “Well, now it’s happening, whether you like it or not.”  “Oh, I love it, trust me!” She said with a grin. “Just you know... it’s very important for everything to go well.”  “What could possibly go wrong? The skeleton gets up and walks away?” She giggled lightly. “No, not exactly.”  “Then what?”  “Well, considering the difficulties we were having, it’s still possible everyone will just side with the anthro-skeptics.”  “I highly doubt it. After this sort of evidence?”  “You know what they’re like, especially Persy.”  “Yeah, well Persy’s an idiot!” She chuckled and then turned to the window. Her eyes gleamed up again as she finally saw Hoofington approaching. Soon we were off the train and out the station. A unicorn with greying mane stood in front of the station. It was Franz Foals, he was waiting for us. Lyra told many stories about him, how he was his favourite teacher in school, how he’s the reason she got her cutie-mark. Lyra greeted him with a huge hug, like he was a father. He might as well been her father, I’m pretty sure she talked about him more than her parents. We separated to visit the hotel room, to drop off our luggage. All worry from Lyra seemed to have vanished by then. She was back to her enthusiastic self. When we got to the conference hall, it was full of ponies. At least, compared to most other conferences we’ve been to. Twilight was already there, taking the role of the photographer. Odd choice, I know, but who could be a better photographer, than someone who can operate a camera and fly at the same time?  “Twilight,” Lyra greeted her loudly, “good to see you!”  “Hey, you two!” She answered.  “So nice of you to help us,” Lyra continued, “you can’t believe how hard it was to find a photographer.”  “You’re right, I can’t believe it. Not taking the opportunity for such an important discovery?”  “Huh,” I said, “didn’t know you were interested in anthropology.”  “Well, at first I wasn’t,” Twilight clarified, “but after a while, it was impossible to deny the evidence. Besides, I wouldn’t dare to miss the public testing of the 3D projector.”  “I remember when you called it all stupid back in the day.” Lyra remarked playfully.  “Yeah, I was wrong. I guess I’m a reformed anthro-skeptic.”  “In a way, we’re all are.” I commented and we chuckled.  “Ooh, gotta go,” said Lyra as she spotted Franz, “I’ve just seen my hero.” And with that, she was off.  “I hear you two were pretty good friends, back in school.” I said to Twilight.  “Yeah, we were. Although we kinda fell out of touch.”  “What was she like?” I always wanted to ask her that, but didn’t have the opportunity.  “She was a bit more withdrawn, she didn’t really talk with many ponies.  She rarely paid attention in class, she either doodled, slept or stared outside the window.”  “Except for history, I presume.” I added.  “Yes, Franz first mentioning humans was the first time I’ve ever seen her pay attention to anything.”  “Is that when she became so excitable?” Twilight giggled. “No, that was always in her. She would go from complete apathy, to unashamed dancing in public, in mere seconds. And don’t even try to get into an argument with her!”  “Yeah,” I replied with a chuckle, “tell me about it.” After a little chat with Twilight, I walked over to Lyra and Franz. There was a third pony too, a pegasus, whom I didn’t recognize.  “Fancy seeing you again, Bon Bon,” said Franz.  “Likewise,” I replied.  “Ooh, now that you’re here,” said Lyra, “let me introduce you to Marge. I don’t think you two have met before.”  “Marge? You must be Margarine Mead.”  “Yes,” answered the pony, I previously didn’t recognize, “but please just call me Marge.”  “Nice to meet you Marge. How have we not run into each-other before?”  “Franz is a much better speaker than I am, so I always remained on the sidelines.”  “Spreading the word.” Franz interjected.  “Eh, I was never very good at that.” Marge added humbly.  “You were good enough. You always managed to bring every anthropology enthusiast from all over Equestria.” Franz argued.  “I know, it just would have been nice to gather new ponies from outside.”  “Oh you did,” said Lyra, pointing at all the gathered ponies, “just look at this crowd. You even managed to bring Dr. Maud Pie.”  “Yeah, well,” Marge blushed slightly, “hopefully, we’ll gradually become part of the public consciousness.”  “Lack of interest was always a problem,” Franz added, “hopefully, we’ll gather some new comers to the field.” He then looked over the crowd, which to be fair, wasn’t that big, just larger than any crowd at any previous conferences. Which isn’t saying much. “Even if it’s not much at the moment.”  “And who else could get us that swanky 3D projector?” Said Lyra.  “Oh please,” Marge blushed even more, “the inventors were itching to see it in action.”  “I’ve heard of that 3D projector on my train ride here,” I glared at Lyra as I said that, “isn’t it still in its experimental phases?”  “Yes it is,” said Marge, “this conference is its first public run.”  “A scientific discovery, assisted with a new invention.” Franz commented. “Cool, huh?”  “Oh hey Maud!” Lyra said in surprise, because she didn’t see her approach us.  “Hi.” She greeted her in the Maud-iest way possible. “I’ve set up everything I need.” She continued.  “Thank you for participating.” Said Marge.  “It’s a pleasure.” Maud replied, the pleasure just oozing from her voice.  “That reminds me,” Franz interjected, “I haven’t set up anything on my end. I think I’ll just do that now.” He then left us, taking Marge with him.  “Hey Maud,” I said to her, “what got you interested in Anthropology?”  “Facts.” She replied, her enthusiasm rivalling Lyra’s.  “She singlehandedly shattered half of the anthro-skeptics’ arguments,” Lyra added, “by dating the skeleton to be millions of years old and she identified it to be the same species as all the other bones we’ve found.”  “No more of this mutated monkey nonsense.” Maud commented.  “This doesn’t disprove that theory, you know!” An obnoxious voice could be heard. It came from a tall unicorn, who was approaching us, with a young unicorn mare next to him. Maud lowered her eyelids ever so slightly. “Ugh, sorry gotta go.” And with that, she left us.  “Now that you managed to raise a slight bit of interest to this laughable pseudoscience, you will all finally see how much of a hogwash this all is!” The unicorn said, his voice getting more obnoxious with every word.  “Nice to meet you too, Persy.” Lyra replied, with a displeased expression.  “Oh by the way,” he continued, “I’d appreciate it, if you all started referring to me by my full name, when it comes to the press. I need to preserve my authority in the academic community.”  “Yes, because the name Nitty Persnicket, commands so much respect.” Lyra answered sarcastically. Odd name I thought.  “Please stop mocking my name.” He replied.  “Please Persy,” the mare next to him addressed him, “we’ll let the facts speak for themselves.”  “Oh yes of course,” he laughed, “we’ll let the facts speak for themselves, Lyra Heartstrings.” And with that they were off. The mare turned back for a moment and she said to Lyra; “I’m counting on you, we need to get to the bottom of it.” But Lyra just rolled her eyes.  “Who was the mare with him?” I asked.  “That’s Hazel Blossom,” Lyra answered, with her mood in ruins, “she says she’s open to new ideas, but the only thing she’s got over other anthro-skeptics, is that she can pretend to have respect. Which in a way makes her worse.”  “And Persy’s real name is Nitty Persnicket?” I asked, still confused about that name. “He might as well be wearing a name tag that says; I’m a pedantic jerk”  “He wears it as a badge of honour.”  “I guess it’s better than Spoiled Milk.” I pondered.  “Who the hay is that?”  “You know, Filthy Rich’s wife?”  “The guy’s name is Filthy?”  “Ugh, nevermind, it’s not important.” The presentation was about to start. We took our places, Lyra up on the stage and me somewhere in the crowd. While they set up the stage, made sure everything worked the way they’re supposed to, made sure to not miss any necessary notes, I tried to mingle. I of course, didn’t know anyone. There were a few ponies I recognized from other conferences, but it’s not like I really knew them. And of course, Twilight, but she was a bit busy. Close to the presentation’s beginning, Persy and Hazel approached me.  “You must be Heartstring’s good friend.” Persy spoke to me.  “Uh, yes.” I answered, curious as to where he was going with this.  “How does it feel to see her career collapse upon itself?” He asked rather rudely, to which Hazel nudged him on the side.  “Sorry about him,” she said, “he can be a bit... raw in his manners.” Persy just sneered and faced the stage.  “I know, I’ve met him before.” I replied.  “I don’t think we’ve met before though, I’m Hazel Blossom.”  “I’m Bon Bon, Lyra’s friend.”  “I must ask, do you actually believe in humans?” She asked, like she expected me to answer a certain way.  “Yes. Why?”  “Oh it’s nothing, I’m just asking.” I’m pretty sure she expected me to say no.  “How come you don’t, despite all the evidence?” I pressed her on.  “Well...” she prepared her explanation, “it’s more like... I haven’t decided yet... all the evidence you mention, just doesn’t seem convincing to me.”  “Is an entire skeleton not convincing enough?” She chuckled. “We’ll see!”  “Come on Hazel,” said Persy, “I’m going to the very front. I want to yell things at them.”  “Of course you do...” Hazel responded with an air of distaste. “Anyway,” she said to me, “I might as well move along, I want to see the 3D projector in action. Don’t you wanna come?”  “Nah,” I replied, “I’d rather not be near any experimental machines.”  “Oh, you’re nowhere near it. It’s up there in the cabin.” She pointed at a wide window above and behind the stage. A three-dimensional cube was spinning around in front of it. The handymare could be seen calibrating the projector. She was operating the machine with her magic.  “I’ve had enough bad experiences with experimental machines, trust me.” I replied. They’ve moved to the front of the crowd, but remained in my sight. My fear of prototypes wasn’t entirely true. I mostly just didn’t feel like being next to them. Soon, the lights dimmed, the crowd quieted down and the presentation began. Franz walked on stage, followed by applause. He opened with a brief history of anthropology, then presented the news about the skeleton. Then Lyra and Maud walked up with the skeleton held in a glass case, still partly embedded inside its rock tomb. Lyra then presented images of previous fossilized findings, on a traditional projector, confirming that the skeleton is indeed the same species. Then came Maud, confirming, that the skeleton is indeed millions of years old. Persy put his hoof up. Because of course, he did.  “Are you absolutely sure that it’s indeed bone?” He inquired.  “Yes.” Maud answered. “It has all the components and structure bones are supposed to.”  “Yes, yes, but isn’t it possible... that over millions of years, the rocks have converged to create something that appears to be bone, but is actually just an odd rock?” Maud paused for a second. She blinked slowly, then gave a very straight answer. “It’s possible, but absolutely ridiculous.” The audience chuckled at the answer, to which Persy just sank back to his place indignantly. Both the collective chuckle and Persy’s grumpy silence were nice things to hear.  “So now that we got that out of the way,” said Franz, “I think it’s time to...” He stopped in the middle of his sentence and waved to the window behind the stage. But what happened after that, isn’t what any of us expected. A bright flash of light filled the conference hall.  “I HAVE BEEN RESTING FOR MILLENIA! WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER!?” A loud booming voice could be heard, as an imposing ape-like figure emerged from the light. “I DEMAND TO BE PUT BACK INTO MY TOMB, OR ELSE A TERRIBLE CURSE WILL BEFALL ALL OF YOU!” And with that, it disappeared in another bright light and an eerie silence has fallen over the hall, for a moment. But as soon as that silent moment passed the crowd fled screaming out the hall, leaving all of us, confused about what the hay just happened.