//------------------------------//
// A New Angle 
// Story: Welcome to Batstralia 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//



Language check. All in English.



Lyra yawned and rolled to her belly. Arching her spine, she looked around at the rest of the townsfolk—all of whom were waking up as well. She looked to her side, and spotted Robin and Candela, and on the other side was Dream.

"Well that was restful, considering the topic." Lyra reached out a hoof to gently tap on Dream's shoulder. When Dream roused and turned to Lyra, she smiled at her little sister. "That was really cool."

"Thanks!" Bouncing to her hooves, Dream gave her wings a few flaps. "Mr. Snaky is awesome, isn't he?" Her smile spoke of the joke she was playing: the Rainbow Serpent had given up correcting Dream halfway through the meeting. "Wait, what happened to Joyce?"

Reminded of her mother, Lyra sat up and looked around. What she saw shocked her. The back border of their garden, that cut the thin bush-land of the first hills off, had a most peculiar creature sitting at it. Beside the creature was Joyce, but Lyra couldn't see a hint of her mother's human aspect in them.

Pushing to her hooves, Lyra took a few wobbly steps, then aimed herself towards her mother. "First Tufts… Now who have you brought home?" As Lyra neared, she noticed a very focused look from the creature.

Lyra trusted her mother. She trusted Joyce to keep control of what looked like a particularly big carnivore. As she neared, she watched as one of Joyce's wings reached up and started rubbing the creature's ear.

"She followed me home. Can I keep her?" Joyce rolled her eyes, using them to gesture towards the bunyip. "I don't suppose the Rainbow Serpent said anything more about her? What her name is? Maybe how we are meant to care for something big enough to eat the whole town?"

"If they did, it was to Dream. They were very chummy together. The rest of us talked about the day, about what was happening." Lyra shrugged. "It was all fairly boring. You know all the details from the mine, people just wanted to hear that, and I had to tell my story about using magic like five times."

Lyra tapped at her chin in thought. "Oh, one thing I didn't realize. I remember you saying how Paul Harrison seemed a little too happy to hang around?" She waited for Joyce to nod. "He and Porcelain Clay have been seeing each other."

"Wait, what?" Joyce blinked up at her daughter in shock. "I spoke to Porcelain a week ago, she doesn't understand a word of English. And I know Paul doesn't know Equish."

"How do you think I figured it out? They nattered on for ages. Almost like it was the first time they had actually spoken." Laying down, Lyra held out a hoof, slowly, to the bunyip. "It can't be a herbivore with those teeth."

Joyce waited until the bunyip sniffed Lyra's hoof, and licked it, before fessing up. "When it first got here, and you were all asleep, I had to stop it from attacking you."

"It was going to eat everyone?" Lyra froze, her hoof still getting a tongue-bath. Now she was starting to wonder if it was just getting a taste of her.

"I am pretty sure it was focused on you. When you have a moment, could you find that meat we have in the freezer and start it defrosting?" Joyce spoke, of course, of the last meat she had bought before realizing that the house had transitioned to vegetarianism without her noticing. "We're going to need to go shopping tomorrow. And by 'we' I mean 'you.' I don't want to leave her alone right now."

"You wanted to eat me? That's silly; you wouldn't be able to get pets." Rubbing the bunyip's jaw, Lyra tilted her head and examined the creature. "What happened to them?" She knew her mother too well; there was no doubt in Lyra's mind that the animal had been sick, or that her mother was committed to helping it.

"The Rainbow Serpent told me about it. As soon as I fell asleep, it showed me where they were." Pausing only to adjust the wing Tufts huddled under, Joyce pressed her snout under the wing, poking gently at Tufts' shoulder. "I thought everyone was going to be in the dream, but apparently Tufts wasn't."

Lyra caught her mother's implication. "Okay, you want to know everything, don't you?" When Joyce nodded, Lyra sighed. "Okay, well you know how we did it in the living room? That is what we did. Everyone sat around in a circle and told their story.

You know Dave and Steve's, and Rose too. You know mine." Lyra rolled her eyes expressively. "Mist—Dream Thunder's was just as impressive the second time around. I can't believe that gods existed."

Joyce cut in on her daughter, but not before Lyra finished her sentence. "I don't think they did." Ignoring the fidgeting of Tufts for a moment, she looked in the direction of the mine. "What if the big rush of magic looked for a pattern, like it did when it made us into ponies?"

"What do you mean?" Lyra, having bent her mind to the ministrations of magic a few times now, was intrigued.

"Okay. So magic starts rushing out of Equestria, and it is swirling around us." Waiting for her daughter to nod, Joyce continued. "Humans just aren't magical—not like Equestria is—so it tries to find a shape to change us into, and picks up on ponies. From what you said, ponies are the most common race over there."

Lyra gave a snort. "Well, yeah. I didn't see anyone but ponies, but then that might have just been because I was at the pony capital, Mum."

"No need to be like that. I am sure there was at least one non-pony there." The droll expression Joyce shot Lyra lasted a few seconds, and both of them couldn't fight the laughter that came from it.

Recovering first, Lyra lifted her hoof back into place against the bunyip's neck, rubbing slowly. "So you are saying we are ponies because they are ponies. We covered that already, and it doesn't explain almost everyone turning into bat ponies."

"There is a colony of bats here. Well, there has to be for Tufts to be here." Lifting her wing, Joyce revealed Tufts.

"We could start a new colony, my darling." Tufts locked his little eyes on Joyce, and winked at her.

Joyce rolled her eyes, but lifted her wing up and forward to give Tufts another nuzzle.

"Weakening, Mum?" Lyra shifted a little, adjusting her legs underneath her for some more comfort. "When do I start calling Tufts, 'Dad'?"

Tufts stretched his wings out and gave them a few flaps. "This is why I moved in: a beautiful bat as my wife, clever pups…" Settling his wings again, Tufts looked up at Joyce. "Not to mention their mother being fiercely clever, and a defender of bats."

"Careful Mum, he seems serious. Although of all the guys you have dated, Tufts is definitely the leader of the pack." It was impossible for Lyra to hold back.

"Serious? In this family?" Joyce poked Lyra with a wingtip. "I don't think you even know the meaning of the word. Anyway, back to what we were talking about. So suddenly there is this rush of magic, and it looks for a pattern. You know how old the myths about the Rainbow Serpent are?"

Lyra tapped her chin with a spare hoof. "Old?"

"Really old. Tens of thousands of years. For all that a lot of people have believed in other deities, a lot of people have believed in the Rainbow Serpent longer." Joyce rolled a little, leaning against the bunyip (who seemed to be perfectly relaxed at the contact, and the continued petting from Lyra). "What if the Rainbow Serpent is just magic that found a big pattern?"

Tufts cut in before Lyra could answer. "Not that they would admit it." When the attention of Joyce and Lyra fell on him, he tucked his snout under one wing. "They wouldn't. The god of creation and all that wouldn't even whisper that they are just a few scraps of magic holding wings."

"Huh." Lyra looked from Tufts to her mother. Joyce shrugged at her with both wings. "I guess the same would hold true for any others that happen to show up. They aren't quite the real thing, but from what we have seen so far, the Rainbow Serpent seems to have all its old tricks.

"Hold on. If magic is pouring out of the mine in a wave, and it washes out and flows back to create the standing waves, where is the excess going?" Lyra wasn't sure why, but she looked to Tufts.

Tufts apparently took the look as an invitation to answer. "Big snake, big hunger. You haven't seen any other gods?"

Joyce looked between her daughter and her "betrothed" a few times. She settled down to the bunyip's side a little more. "It might be time to get his food. Just grab as much meat as you can from the freezer."

As Lyra stood up, Tufts pumped his wings and swung up as hard as he could. Practically throwing himself into the air, Tufts didn't have far to go to land in Lyra's mane. Small claws clamped on and held to the hair. "I'll keep you safe from the bunyip!" He gave a kee of firm resolve.

"Unless the bunyip offers you a banana, right?" Lyra winked at her mother and walked to wards the house. Of Robin and Dream, Lyra saw not a single tuft, but she found Rose sitting at the kitchen table. "Oh. Hi, Rose."

"Hi Mik—" Rose froze at her gaff. "Sorry, I just—It's just too much, sometimes." She held her hooves around a big coffee cup, the steaming contents providing much warmth.

"It's no stress, Rose. Still freaks me out a bit. Not all that long ago I was a normal human, now I am a different gender and a mythological creature." Lyra reared up at the bench and turned the kettle on again.

"And there you ruin a winning streak." Tufts reached a wing around Lyra's face, blinding his "daughter."

"Hey!" Lyra tried to free her face of bat wing, and just managed to clonk herself in the jaw with a hoof.

"Alas! She was so terribly smart, until she shoved her hoof so far down her throat she could sit down and tap dance." Tufts lowered his voice and pulled back the wing. In doing so, he pulled his head up to Lyra's ear. "He has been through the same thing."

Lyra froze. "Ah shit." She divested herself of marauding bat limbs (relegating Tufts to the back of her mane again), and turned to Rose at the table. "I'm an idiot after all. Sorry, Rose. I didn't think."

Managing to look at Lyra for nearly thirty seconds without breaking her expression, Rosetta finally snorted and shook his. "This really is all kinds of messed up. You're still the clueless guy, Lyra, and I am the overthinking girl." She watched as Lyra opened the freezer and lifted out two roast haunches. "What're you doing?"

"Feedin' Mum's new pet." Lyra stuck her tongue out one side of her mouth and focused with her horn. One of the frozen lumps of meat jumped out of the freezer, borne forth on golden magic, and almost clonked Lyra on the nose.

Lyra spun around to look at Rose, only to see him huddled behind the table, peeking up over it fearfully. "Oh come on! I have total control!" No sooner had Lyra made the plea, than the other joint of meat leapt from the freezer and conked her firmly in the side of the head. Wobbling on her hooves, trying to ignore the laughter from Rose, Lyra felt a touch on her horn.

The magic stopped flowing, and Lyra felt like a wash of cool water poured through her. She gasped and shook her head. "Okay, uh, wow. Right." Words came out, but even Lyra could tell they weren't making much sense. "Can—Can you help me with this, please?"

Lifting his head out from behind the table, Rose could clearly hear the desperate note in Lyra's voice. "I don't know why you went with unicorn. I mean, sure you get magic, but look at the downsides." He sauntered up and plucked up the meat under one wing, and spread the other over Lyra's back. "You're missing out on wings!"

"Whatever." Something just felt a little off to Lyra. She liked Rose, but there was something about his presence that was different, and it wasn't the wingspan. "Eventually, when I get this horn worked out, I will be better off than wings."

"There is the other problem." Rose's statement drew Lyra's full attention. He waited for her to open her mouth before cutting in. "Well, only virgins can ride you."

"You have got to be kidding." Lyra groaned and tossed her head to the side. "Virgins and unicorns? Come on! That is the worst thing ever!"

"Why do you think I can be so close?" Squeezing Lyra's side with his wing, Rose strutted for the back door. "Face it, you are going to be stuck with inexperienced stallions for the rest of your life."

A lance of sensation rushed through Lyra. She stared into nothingness, letting Rose pull her along. She could feel what the problem was now, but there was no way she could voice it. Regaining her wits took a moment, but she managed to shrug off the strange realization she had had. "What? So I am meant to have some kind of magical hymen sense?"

"I don't know. I'm not the unicorn with magic pointy bits." When Rose poked his head out the back door, he froze.

"Meet Mum's new pet." Lyra gestured at the bunyip with a hoof. "Normally this is where I say she's harmless and wouldn't hurt a fly. But you know those two hunks of meat? Those are for her."

Rose was forced forwards, his wing wrapped over Lyra's back now tugging him along with her. He drew closer and closer to the big monster, and when they were just a few meters apart, the bunyip jumped to its feet and closed the distance.

"Let it have the meat, Rose!" Joyce's voice seemed to cut through to Rose.

Dropping the two haunches, Rose backed up a few steps. His eyes widened in fear as the bunyip snapped up one of the frozen roasts and bit it cleanly in half. "H-H-Holy shit…"

Lyra stood her ground. She made sure the focus of the bunyip was on the meat-popsicles it was working on. "That hitting the spot?"

Joyce stared at her daughter as Lyra reached a hoof up to rub the shoulder of the bunyip while it ate. "You didn't defrost it at all?"

"I didn't think she would mind. Looks like she has the teeth for harder stuff, anyway." Lyra kept stroking the bunyip's shoulder, unsure why she was being so stupidly brave.

Tufts, still hanging off Lyra's mane, looked up at the bunyip, and gave a soft kee. The sound drew Lyra's ears to face him. "Smart and brave. You need to work on your magic more. Where's that banana you promised?"

The question seemed to cut through the strangeness of the moment, and Lyra's hoof dropped to the ground. "Oh come on, Pops, you can't want more banana?" She turned from the bunyip and headed back to the house. "Hey, Rose, want to watch some Goodies while I get Tufts a banana?"

Rose, his mouth watering at every mention of the fruit, only nodded and followed Lyra back into the house. "This is all pretty crazy. What happened to the world being normal?"

Lyra caught an appraising look from Rose, and she could tell there was no real attraction in it. She looked at Rose in reply, really looked. Rose's body was more solid than Lyra's, and he stood a little taller too. His snout had a squared off muzzle, instead of the soft curves that Lyra and the rest of her family had. There was really only one good word to describe Rose: stallion.

With a small sigh, Lyra headed into the kitchen. "I don't think anything is going to be normal ever again. Everything seems to strange, and you have no idea how much stranger it is in Equestria." Despite talking the place down, Lyra's spirits lifted.

Opening the door to the refrigerator revealed how different things had become. Despite having made up several fruit salads—that people were enjoying outside—the icebox was still heavily packed with fruit.

"That bunch is mine!" Tufts didn't just point with his wing, he reached out and hooked it on a banana that was just close enough.

"Tufts, let go of the banana now, or I am not getting you anything." Glaring at Tufts, Lyra waited for him to let go. "Well?"

Jerking a little with his wing, trying to free his prize from the bunch, Tufts gave a reluctant kee. "You promise?"

"When have I ever lied to you." Lyra waited for him to let go, and leaned in with her mouth to jerk two bananas off the bunch.

"You do it all the time! Two days ago you told me Robin keeps mangoes in her bedroom. I searched and searched, and I couldn't find any!" Tufts tangled the banana Lyra passed him with his wings and pulled it close. "But you don't lie about the important things, do you?"

Lifting the remaining banana out of her mouth with one hoof, Lyra turned to look at Tufts. "Mangoes aren't important?" Her voice rose a notch towards the end, surprise evident.

"You know what I mean!" Tufts flapped a free wing while biting at the top of the banana.

Lyra grabbed the second banana and the salad she had made for herself earlier, and headed into the living room. Putting the thing down on the couch, Lyra curled up at the opposite end to Rose.

Sighing in satisfaction as she picked at her salad, Lyra was thankful Rose turned on the television, and used his clever wings to press play on the VCR remote.