//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Life of Lyra 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//




[[ A Lyra Perspective ]]




A gentle chiming sound grew louder and louder, eventually culminating in it bursting through my dream and shaking me awake. As a human I would have flailed around with my arms searching for the source of the noise and probably doing some damage. As a pony I had hooves.

Lacking any success in locating the source of my early morning annoyance, I actually opened my eyes. As usual, there was a cyan lump between my eyes. Blinking a few times, I focused out a bit further and lost sight of my snout. The room was a little blurry still, but the insistent chiming wasn't something I could ignore. 

"Michael? What's that noise?" Mom sounded just as annoyed as I did, only she still had her wings folded around her head.

"Demon alarm clock from hell? I don't—" I was rummaging around in my noisy backpack until I found it. "The token is an alarm clock? Okay, kinda cool, kinda annoying." I poked the thing with my hoof and silenced it at last.

"What was that?" Mom asked, stretched her wings out and giving them a few flaps in the cramped room.

I was already fumbling for the few cosmetics I'd brought with me, and rolled from the bed to stand up and stretch. "Apparently this token is also an alarm clock. Sorry about waking you up."

Mom made a soft screeching sound and dropped lightly to the floor under her perch. "Sorry about the name."

My ears perked, and it took a moment to remember what she meant. Michael—Michael Robertson. I was now Lyra Heartstrings, because Michael definitely wasn't a mare's name. I liked it; it suited me. "Really, Mom, it's fine. I don't mind if you slip now and then. Dibs on the shower."

A bath would have been preferable, but I didn't want to be late for school. So a quick shower later, and some time spent brushing my mane, tail, and coat, and I was ready for my first day. I found my saddle bags, tossed my token, and a few bits from the allowance we'd gotten the previous afternoon.

I walked over to the bat perch. "Catchya Tufts." I leaned up and tilted my cheek just right to get a bat snout pressed to it.

"Don't take over the world, and don't anger any gods." Tufts, having invested me with two pieces of wisdom, folded his wings around his head again.

"Mom!" I called, poking my head back into the bathroom. "I'm heading out. I'll catchya later on."

"No worries Lyra."

I don't know why, but I was reminded of the high school I'd attended before we moved to Cowwarr (the tiny town that ended up being the center of Australia's conversion to Batstralia). Walking out of our room, I looked around and spotted some other yawning unicorns all walking toward the stairs.

"You're new. Just starting?" The feminine voice pulled my attention to one such unicorn. With two-tone blue and gray hair, on a lighter blue fur, she looked a little younger than me.

I nodded and fell in beside her. "Yeah. Finished school at a more—uh—remote place, and Princess Celestia promised me a place her—"

"You got a token directly from Princess Celestia? Like, she gave you one?" Blue (it's what I'd call her until I could find out her name) looked super excited. "I have a class with her, and she seems really nice and all, but it's always about learning. What's she like… uh…"

"Hi!" I said. "My name's Lyra Heartstrings."

"I'm Minuette. Anyway, what's Princess Celestia like—like—when she's not teaching?" Minuette asked.

"Smart, scary, smart, really nice, smart, and did I mention smart?" I waggled my eyes to Minuette until she giggled.

We reached the bottom of the stairs, and Minuette led the way to a large commons room. Against one wall Candy Cane and another mare were dispensing breakfast.

"Come on. It's usually just a few pieces of fruit for breakfast, but it's still good. It'll cost you a bit." Minuette led the way and passed over a golden coin to the creame-colored mare that wasn't Candy.

While I fished around for my own allowance, I heard Minuette thank the mare and move on. I turned with a coin in my magic. "Hi there!"

Taken aback by being addressed directly, the young mare raised her eyebrows at me. "Uh, hi! Apple and pear okay?"

"Sure! Thanks." I took my two pieces of fruit and followed Minuette for the door. "I bet my mom and dad are going to love this."

Minuette opened the door and held it for me. "What do you mean?"

I slipped outside into the bright morning and let out a little whinny of excitement I didn't know I had in me. "Oh, you'll meet them eventually. They're staying in my room."

"Is that against the rules?" Minuette asked, bouncing along at my side.

"Princess Celestia told one of her Royal Guards to come down and make sure it was okay. Candy Cane said it was all fine, and she knows all about it." I don't know why I felt a little defensive about it. Maybe I was just feeling a little odd after walking between worlds! That still sounds really impressive just in my head.

Minuette shrugged at my answer. "I guess it's all okay, then. Do you know what classes you are taking?"

"I only got here yesterday. This is all a huge rush." We rounded the corner onto the main road that led from the city center to the castle (right past the school) and entered the busy thoroughfare. "What sort of classes are there?"

"Lots and lots of magic classes. No matter what you want to do, if it's magical, there's a class for it. But we all have to take history and math. Oh! And we have to do geography and science. What do you want to study?" Minuette asked. 

The road was moving slowly, something ahead causing everypony to practically crawl along at a snail's pace.

"I don't know yet. I was hoping somepony might be able to help me with that." Then I saw what had the road so slow: Princess Celestia was standing at the front gate of the school, looking around and smiling at all the ponies—but she was definitely looking for someone. "Does she wait out front every day?"

"What?" Minuette looked ahead and her eyes widened. "N-N-No. She's normally inside when— She's coming this way!" 

We froze in place as Princess Celestia, wearing a warm smile, walked right up to us.

"Hello Lyra, Minuette." Celestia turned her focus to Minuette. "It's good of you to show our newest student to class." Then she turned to me. "Did you and Joyce find everything?"

I nodded. "We did! Some friends threw us a little party last night, and everything's so amazing. But, I'm really looking forward to learning all about magic!" When Princess Celestia smiled at that, it was like the whole world smiled.

"That's wonderful to hear. We should head inside, so we can get started right away." It was a not-so-subtle hint. Princess Celestia turned and walked beside us. "It's not every day we have ponies arrive from another world."

Minuette gasped and froze in place. "You're from another world? There's ponies there?"

"There wasn't at the start, but things happened and now there are a lot of bat ponies," I said. Since I kept walking with Princess Celestia, Minuette had to trot faster to catch up.

"What's a bat pony?" Minuette asked.

Princess Celestia laughed. "Part of today's topic."

"My first day of school is going to be learning about bat ponies?" We entered the school itself, and since I hadn't been told otherwise, followed along at Princess Celestia's side.

"No. We will be learning about all ponies." Princess Celestia led the way into a room where a bunch of ponies, all younger than me, were waiting at their desks.

I looked around the room. There was Minuette taking her own seat; a bright yellow filly with a cerulean mane; two cream-colored fillies, one with a pink mane and the other with a three-color red/purple/mauve mane; and the last was the youngest of all: a little purple filly that looked like she only just got her cutie mark. There was a few empty desks, but one at the front was free—and I didn't want to miss a second of what Princess Celestia taught.

Princess Celestia cleared her throat—which seemed entirely to get my attention rather than the rest of the silent room. "Good morning everypony. As you can see, we have another new student. Lyra, please come up to the front, so we can introduce everypony." 

Instead of slinking to my desk, I walked to the front of the class. When Princess Celestia gestured to me with a wingtip, I realized she expected me to introduce myself. "Uh, hello! My name's Lyra Heartstrings. I used to be called Michael Robertson, and was a mostly hairless biped living in another world." I snuck a quick look to the princess, who was all smiles. Apparently I was doing things correctly. "We had magic leak in, which—"

The little purple filly (I'm going to call her Purplesmart, on account of her color and that anypony so young in an advanced class would have to be clever) raised a hoof.

"Twilight Sparkle, please wait until after Lyra is done before asking questions," Princess Celestia said. "Please, continue."

"Magic leaked into our world and started turning everyone into ponies. It was slow, but while everyone else was slowly changing, I visited some friends in Equestria and got,"—turning slightly, I made sure everypony could see my flank—"my cutie mark. That seemed to mean that I got to be an Equestrian pony, rather than a bat pony."

Every pony in the room suddenly threw their right forehooves into the air. I couldn't help but giggle.

"Before questions, let's all introduce ourselves. Twilight, why don't you start?" Princess Celestia asked.

"Hi, my name's Twilight Sparkle. When you said 'leak in' you mean Equestrian magic leaked in overlaying your world's magic, right?" Twilight's introduction was as short as her question was expansive.

"There wasn't any magic in that world before Equestrian magic leaked in," I said.

Gasps ran around the room, and now the fillies were straining to raise their hooves the highest—Twilight had hers back up again.

"Your world seems popular. Okay everypony, introduce yourselves and you have one question, then we will start class." Princess Celestia gestured to Minuette with her wing.

"Hello Lyra. My name's Minuette. When you got your cutie mark, what were you doing?"

An exasperated little sigh went through the room that Minuette's question wasn't whatever each of the sighers wanted to ask.

"It was odd. Candela—she was my teacher—said that cutie marks usually come when doing something related to it. I was standing in a field with a friend when a wave of light poured across the sky. We both got our cutie marks at that moment." I took the initiative and gestured to the pink-maned filly.

"Hi Lyra, my name's Twinkleshine," she said, tilting her head into a little nod. "When you said there was no magic, what did you use to do—well—anything?"

"Uh." Her question was a great one, the best yet as far as I was concerned. "We had a lot of machines—way more than you use here. If you want to go somewhere, we had machines like your own personal little train."

"But what about cooking?" she asked.

"Machines."

"How do you lift really heavy things?"

"Really big machines. There's no magic at all there—well, there wasn't." I shrugged and moved on, pointing to the other cream-coated filly with one of my hooves. "Hi!"

"H-Hello, my name's Moon Dancer." She seemed to think for a few moments before a shy little smile pulled at her cheeks. "What's your favorite book?"

I hadn't been ready for the question. She could have asked me about religion and war and I wouldn't have been derailed so easily. "Special Little Unicorn. My teacher used it to teach me how to read Equish. I learned that book backwards before I became a unicorn."

Moon Dancer looked at me like I'd just stomped on a puppy, but Twilight's eyes widened with surprise and excitement.

"My name's Lemon Hearts. What's a bat pony?"

"My mom and my sister are bat ponies. Mom's the only one in Equestria right now, but I think Dream Thunder might allow some others through if they're friends." I looked to Princess Celestia, and she smiled and nodded what I took to be approval. "Their fur is almost always darker shades, gray, brown, black, and dark red. They have huge wings—almost double the size of a pegasus'."

"Double their surface area or double their length?" Lemon Hearts asked.

"Double their length. The membrane attaches just above their cutie mark, and stretches out huge. We think that is because there was no magic on our world, so their wings had to grow to carry them without it." I looked back to Twilight, who still had her hoof up.

"Do bat ponies have cutie marks?" Twilight asked.

I nodded. "Mom—that's Joyce—and Robin, my sister, both have cutie marks. The strange thing is Dream Thunder. She was a filly without a cutie mark when we first met, but she got a cutie mark in Batstralia. Uh, Batstralia is what we call part of that world. Anyway, after she got her cutie mark, she turned into a bat pony from a pegasus."

Despite the earlier distaste for my book choice, Moon Dancer raised her hoof. "Would that turn any foal without a cutie mark into a bat pony?" she asked.

"I guess." I looked at Princess Celestia, and she looked just as serene and calm as she did when she stood in the street to welcome me to school. "It was probably her destiny to go to our world and become a bat pony. She certainly enjoys it."

"That is a very good point, Lyra." Princess Celestia looked around the room at the other fillies. "We have talked about these topics before—cutie mark magic—but I don't think anything challenges our notions quite as much as what happened to Dream Thunder. May I ask what her special talent is?"

"Dream magic and booping," I said.

"Booping?" Princess Celestia asked.

My hoof itched, it ached. It was the perfect opening and when else would I get the excuse to boop Princess Celestia on the snout? "Could I have somepony to demonstrate, please?" I asked, looking at the other students.

Minuette rushed out of her seat and up to where I was standing.

"Now, the way Dream does it causes some kind of attunement, but a boop is performed like this." L lifted my forehoof—that everypony was watching—and pressed it forward gently and booped Minuette on her nose. "Boop."

Beside me, Princess Celestia broke into giggles first, then the whole class followed suit. Everypony turned to somepony else and delivered boops. If nothing else had proved how adorably cute ponies were, this was going to be it. 

"Lyra?" Princess Celestia asked.

"Ye—" I turned as I spoke, only to get a large white hoof pressed against my snout.

"Boop." Princess Celestia looked like nothing more than a filly herself. She had all the students come to the front to get booped before she sent us all (including me) to our seats. "Now we know a little more about bat ponies. Let's move on to earth ponies next."

Earth ponies took up the remainder of the morning. We learned not only about all the largest families of earth pony in Equestria, but also about the various traits and abilities some earth ponies possessed. The last part of the morning had us learning of common cutie marks for earth ponies.

If I was back on Earth, and some cool kid at a new school asked me if I liked classes, I would have just grunted and shrugged—showing you were smart in Australia wasn't the best idea. But in Equestria I got to be excited to learn, raise my hoof enthusiastically to ask or answer a question, and best of all it was encouraged!

I barely noticed class had finished. Princess Celestia had wished us good day and left, and I was still writing down my own thoughts on the lesson. This class would have had a name like sociology back in Australia, and would have been delivered so dry that all the attending students would have died of boredom.

"Hey book worms, you coming to lunch?" Minuette asked.

From my peripheral vision I just noticed Twilight jerking her head up from her writing as well. "Sure," I said, put my book in my saddle bags and jumped from my chair. Turning, I looked at the younger filly—she reminded me of Robin. "You coming too?"

Twilight had already bent her head back down to her book, but lifted it again when I addressed her. "Um, I still have some more notes to write down."

"That's cool, we can wait for you. Can't we, Minuette?" I looked from Twilight's surprised expression to Minuette's anxious one.

"Uh, sure!" Minuette said.

Twilight's horn almost fizzed with fury as she began writing as fast as she could. She even poked her tongue out one side of her mouth in quite possibly the most adorable expression ever. Panting when she was done, she put her pencil down and turned toward us. "Okay. All done."

We walked together, homing in on the loudest noise in the school: the lunch room. On the plus side, there was no line to get food. The downside was all the "good stuff" was apparently already gone—at least according to Minuette. 

I paid over a bit and got an apple and what smelled like vegetable stew. "This looks and smells delicious. I don't know what you meant by all the good stuff being gone, Minuette." I focused on holding the tray with my magic, and walked along to a table that held the rest of our classmates.

"There they are." Princess Celestia's voice cut through the conversations and eating sounds like a hot knife through butter. "Oh please, everypony, continue eating." She walked over to our table and looked at me, then to Twilight (who was seated beside me). "Lyra is going to need some tutoring. Twilight, you know the foundations of magic well, could you help Lyra get up to speed on those?"

Twilight stared at Princess Celestia for a moment, then her head snapped around to me. There was a look of absolute innocence to Twilight's eyes. Then she turned back to Princess Celestia. "Yes, Princess Celestia."

"I knew you'd be just the pony for the job." Princess Celestia's praise seemed ambrosia to Twilight—I got warm and fuzzies just being there. "I have another tutor to help you with the more mundane Equestria classes. Now you'll both need to excuse me, I have a country to run." She winked and left the room with a sea of smiles in her wake.

"She's pretty amazing." I watched as the last of the princess' tail disappeared from sight. 

"Mmhmm!" Twilight finally looked at what was on her tray and, with apparent surprise to find food there, started eating.

Floating my spoon in my magic, I started devouring the stew. It was rich and heavy, more like a dinner meal than what I'd normally have for lunch. "So, teach, what're we working on first?"

"Princess Celestia said to teach you the foundations of magic. So we'll start at the start," Twilight said.

I didn't want to argue. Princess Celestia had chosen Twilight to help me, I had to trust that a princess would know what she's doing. Both of us focused on our food, and the moment we each finished the apples we'd gotten the admission chip let out a brief buzz.

"This thing is pretty neat. It works as an alarm clock and school bell, huh?" I asked, already figuring out what the buzzing meant since every other student was standing up and filing out of the cafeteria.

Twilight just nodded to me, stood up, and almost instantly merged with the crowd of other students.

"Wait I…" With no idea what to do or where to go next, I stood up and walked to the door. Looking left and right, I saw no sign of any of my classmates. Old worries crept up on me. I was never what you'd call studious, until I was in Candela's class.

"Lyra Heartstrings?" a feminine voice asked.

My ears perked to the side, and my head quickly swung to follow. An older mare—her mane and tail gone gray—raised an eyebrow at me. "Y-Yes?"

"Come on. You're holding up class." She didn't say anything further; simply turned and started walking.

The world brightened again. I took off after the mare at a fast trot. "Sorry. I'm kinda new here—"

"And nopony thought to show you where you had to go?" She tsked a few times. "I'm your geography teacher, Inkwell. You can call me Professor Inkwell."

"Well, I was having lunch with a few classmates, and then when our tokens went off they all got up and seemed to scatter. Aren't there class schedules with where we need to be on them?" I kept up with the mare, taking careful note that her name was exactly the same as her cutie mark—not that I was any different.

"There you have the crux of the matter. You should have one of those, but being a mid-year admission you have missed out on a lot of the regular orientation. Head to admin at the end of the day and get that rectified." Inkwell turned sharply and opened the classroom door. "In you go. Find a seat and let me get started."

Inkwell seemed to be a very no-nonsense pony. No sooner was I parked behind a desk than she started. "We have a new student today, class. Lyra Heartstrings, can you tell us where you're from?"

I wondered for a moment if I should say Cowwarr or Stonecrop. When Inkwell gave me a glare, I quickly blurted my answer. "Cowwarr, ma'am."

"Never heard of it. Well, nopony's perfect. That's why there's a spell for that." Turning to a globe, Inkwell zapped it with her horn. "Well that's odd. Where's that town near?" She turned her attention back to me.

"Uh. Stonecrop?" The moment I spoke the globe spun to and stopped on what I knew to be the content of Equestria. A little red light flickered to life.

"Ah! Stonecrop I know. Let's look at the statistics for Stonecrop. A rural area known for its rocks, crystals, and rich clay, Stonecrop is close enough to the heart of Equestria not to worry about external threats, but far enough from everything as to go mostly ignored. Now, turn your books,"—as she spoke, Professor Inkwell floated a geography textbook to my desk—"to page eighty-seven."

I didn't know any of the other ponies in this class. All the other students looked to be around Twilight's age or younger—not that that bothered me. I was a beginner at some of these topics, and that meant I had to start at the beginning.

So we learned about Stonecrop, about the various "rock" farms of the area, and the rare clay that was home to that town. Then Professor Inkwell moved on to another town (Rockford) that dealt in the exact same things, and showed us why each had their place in the grand scheme of Equestria. Rocks and mud had never been so fascinating as learning that the crystal geodes that the Pies grew were some of the most magic absorbing substances in the world.

"Okay, everypony. On to your next class." Professor Inkwell smiled at around the room, but when her gaze fell upon me she clucked her tongue. "Lyra. Please wait after class." She waited for all the other students to leave and closed the door. "You get to do a math test."

I groaned out loud. Only a few weeks had passed since my final exams in Cowwarr, and I hated the idea of needing to do more testing so soon. But, that wasn't how a pony took life. I straightened up in my seat and smiled. "What about my next class?"

"Math is your next class. You have three levels you could study in, and this test will tell us where you need to be. Here." Professor Inkwell floated a sheaf of papers to me. "Answer what you can. We have all afternoon."

Oh boy, my favorite subject. I only passed year twelve math because Rose had tutored me. The questions weren't easy, and some I had no idea on. If a number's imaginary, how does that even work? On the whole, I think I completed about a third of the questions by the time my token buzzed again.

"Do you want more time to work on those, or would you rather I ask my question now?" Professor Inkwell asked.

"Question?" I put the pages in order, there wasn't anything further I understood. "I'm done, so I guess you should ask it."

"Where is Cowwarr?"

I grinned and leaned back in my chair. "A far off land, in another world. The sprawling metropolis known to the locals as Cowwarr is a mighty…" I wasn't selling it hard enough, and was spinning the lie too hard. "It's a little town in another world that Equestrian magic leaked into. It merged with Stonecrop, and they're both a little messed up but together, linking the worlds."

"I liked the first one better. Princess Celestia knows about this? This is the sort of kerfuffle she likes to be on top of." As she gathered up my papers, Professor Inkwell started flicking through them. "Better than I'd hoped, but missing a few things that's going to make your magic class tougher. You have a tutor?"

"Princess Celestia said one would be—" I was cut off by the door swinging open.

Cadance strode in and froze at the sight of Inkwell. "S-Sorry! I needed to speak to Lyra…"

Professor Inkwell shook her head. "Yer not one of my little fillies anymore, Mi Amore Cadenza."

The expansive name surprised me, and the look on Cadance's face could have gotten her in a lot of trouble—if looks could kill, that is. 

"No, Miss Inkwell, which is why I can get annoyed at you for calling me that. I'm here to let Lyra know that I'll be tutoring her for any non-magical classes she needs help with." Cadance turned her head toward me and smiled.

"Thank Celestia. If she had to rely on you teaching her magic, she'd be better off using that horn of hers to spear papers." Professor Inkwell turned her full attention to my test, and after a moment later said (without looking up), "You can go now."

The moment we were outside, with the door closed behind us, Cadance whinnied. I'd never heard such an angry sound from a pony, and took a step back. "Are you alright?"

"Why can't she just call me Cadance?" Stomping along, Cadance began her rant. "I was just a little filly when I first got my cutie mark. Everypony had been saying I could pick a new name when I got it, and I wanted something fancy. Mi Amore Cadenza! Nopony had a three-word name, it was everything eight-year-old me wanted." She stopped and looked at me. "I'm not eight years old anymore. I want nothing to do with it!"

"Cadance?" I asked.

If Cadance heard me, she didn't show it. "She and Celestia both use it, and they know it annoys me. Why can't they use the name I want to use? It's—"

"Cadance!" I said loud enough to break her tirade. "They're doing it to get a rise out of you. Every time you react to it they will only do it more."

"But why?!" Smoke seemed to come from Cadance's ears, figuratively at least.

"Because they know it's the gentlest way they can remind you, an alicorn, that you're still a pony." I shrugged and turned to walk. "Seriously, just ignore it. If they use it, and don't get you to yell, you win."

Cadance snorted and kept pace at my side. "Easier said than done. I tried that already." 

"What happened?"

"I lasted a week and then almost blew a hole in the wall of the castle from all the stress that built up. Magic and emotions are closely tied together, one causes the other, and vice-versa." 

We reached the end of the hall and stepped out into the late afternoon sunshine. I stretched and shook myself, aware of the heavy book I had in my bag from geography. By mutual, unspoken agreement we turned left toward the castle (and the dorms).

"Have you tried meditation? Something to relax you… A massage, perhaps?" Real smooth, Lyra. Hit on the mare who just admitted to blowing a hole in the castle, you know, the one already spoken for, I thought to myself.

"A massage? Really?" When she turned her head to look at me, I could have sworn I saw surprise and interest in her eyes, but it quickly fled. "Oh! We could invite Shiny too. You've actually done massage before?"

The sudden perk of excitement the moment she mentioned Shining Armor's nickname shot me down better than any missile could. "Well, not exactly, but maybe we could all go somewhere nice together?"

Ruffling her wings, Cadance began to trot a little fancier—almost like a prance. "Maybe invite your sister along too?"

For a moment I almost corrected Cadance before I remembered my game. "Oh! Yeah! What about Saturday? Uh, we do get Saturday and Sunday off school, right?"

Cadance nodded along. "Of course. Five days on, two off. Wait!" 

I was just turning to go left at the castle entrance (to go to the dorms) when Cadance shouted. "What?"

"I'm supposed to be tutoring you, and I'm not going to those cramped dorms to do it. I've got a whole suite in the castle. Bring your book." Pointing up to the castle with one wing, Cadance was probably trying to indicate a particular window.

"Alright, alright. Geez. Did anypony ever tell you that you're pushy for an alicorn?" I asked.

"No." A case of the giggles completely ruined Cadance's attempt at serious deadpan humor. "They don't need to." 

With Cadance at my side the Guard didn't so much as blink at me. We trotted through the gate and around the side of the castle to a set of steps. Winding upwards, Cadance opened a door into, true to her word, a suite of rooms that looked fit for a princess.

"Holy crap. This place is huge! And look at the— Is that real gold?" I trotted toward a table that, sure enough, had a gold pattern etched into its marble surface. The rooms would be considered palatial, which did make sense given that we were in an actual palace.

"Princess Celestia insists on it. I tried to get some of my own furniture in, but the palace staff sneakily replaced it all with this." Cadance gestured around the room, taking in every fine painting, chair, table, and even the couch that looked to be made from a fabric I probably couldn't pronounce. "Now, let's start at the start: history."

I let out a groan, but it was mostly for show—what I'd learned so far of Equestrian schooling was that Candela was a devout practitioner of it. "Alright, let me get my brain in gear."

It helped that Equestrian history was more like a fantasy novel than a dry textbook.