//------------------------------// // Chapter 5.5: A Human in Equestria? // Story: This Can't Be Happening // by StayOuttaMyShed //------------------------------// "This...is...HUGE!" Bon-Bon looked up from her newspaper. Lyra had been walking (or rather, bouncing) across the room, back and forth, often ignoring the furniture enough to bump into everything, in complete rapturous glee for the past half-hour. Bon-Bon sighed, and fought the urge to facehoof. She knew exactly what her friend was going to say. “Can you believe it?!” Lyra squealed. “A real, live human is here, Bon-Bon! Right here!” Bon-Bon had tried to return to her newspaper, only for Lyra to grab her face and lock eyes with her, bearing a manic grin. "Right here in Equestria! Can I get a hallelujah?" "Lyra, don't you think you're taking this whole human thing a bit too seriously?" Bon Bon asked. "After all, you and I saw him with our own eyes, and he was a pony. I highly doubt that, somehow, that pony was a human. Pinkie Pie was probably just being random again." "Come on Bon Bon, this can't just be a coincidence. Think about it, that pony had no cutie mark, and yet he was almost as old as we are! That's not normal." "It may not be normal, but it certainly isn't impossible." Lyra rolled her eyes at her friend's statement. "So I guess it's just another coincidence that he just so happened to get his cutie mark once he moves to Ponyville, right?" "Well, yeah." Bon Bon froze for a moment as she pondered. "Wait a minute, how did you know that he got his cutie mark today?" The green unicorn nervously rubbed the back of her head with her hoof. "Oh, yeah. Funny story, actually. You see, I was kind of following him today and-" "You were WHAT?" Lyra almost jumped back from how suddenly Bon Bon had cut her off. "...following him?" Lyra sheepishly responded. "Lyra, why would you follow him around? That's an invasion of his privacy, and I'm pretty sure that it's against the law." "I know, I know, but I needed to find out if he really was a human or not." "What is it with you and humans, anyway?" Bon Bon asked as she rubbed her temples. Sometimes her friend's antics never ceased to amaze her, and not in a good way. "I don't know. I guess the whole human mythology just fascinates me. They seem like they're really interesting creatures. Plus, they have hands," she said as she waved her front hooves around. It wasn't hard for Bon Bon to come to conclusion that her friend wanted to actually BE a human. “We’ve… look, we’ve been over this before. Lyra, I’m worried about you. I’m sorry, but you need to accept that they’re. Not. Real,” her earth pony friend replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "Maybe not here, but you heard what Pinkie said. Morgan is from a whole other world." Lyra's eyes seemed to light up as she imagined an alternate world full of countless humans. "And you're really going to believe something that Pinkie Pie said?" Bon Bon asked. "Well, yeah. She may be random at times." Lyra cut herself short when she saw her cream colored friend looking at her with her eyebrow raised. "Ok, REALLY random at times, but all of this can't be just a simple coincidence. All I want to do is investigate this a little more to see if there's a chance that Morgan really is a human." Bon Bon sighed. She spoils the girl too much. "Ok, Lyra. Just please promise me that you won't take this too far. Look me in the eye and tell me you won’t get out of hoof with this." "Of course I won't. You have my word." The human obsessed unicorn gave her friend a wide grin. Once she was gone, Lyra brandished her voice recorder using her telekinesis and proudly looked down at it. "Tomorrow, Operation: Human Investigation begins!" At the Golden Oaks Library, Morgan, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike were all inside, enjoying their breakfast. Unbeknownst to them, Lyra was hiding outside in a bush, observing them with a pair of binoculars that she held up with her magic. Her voice recorder was lying on the ground as she kept her gaze locked on Morgan. "Operation: Human Investigation has officially begun," she whispered into the device, being careful not to be loud enough to give away her position to any nearby pedestrians. "Suspect seems to have trouble using forks." Lyra watched as Morgan fumbled with his fork and glared at Spike, who was able to hold his utensil with ease. The pegasus then groaned and began eating his eggs by leaning down to eat it like a pig. "How odd. Perhaps the suspect is unable to hold objects in his hooves." The mint green unicorn smiled to herself. "Humans WOULD have trouble holding things with hooves, considering they go their whole lives having hands. Very suspicious." Lyra stopped talking when she noticed Morgan get up and start heading for the door. "Suspect is on the move. Time to get closer." The stalking unicorn silently placed her binoculars into the saddlebag that she was wearing. She tip-hoofed from bush to bush until she could get a good view of the library entrance. As if on cue, Morgan then cantered out the door, a saddlebag placed on his back, and began walking toward the center of town. "Looks like the suspect is going to be going to town, today. Going to have to be extra careful to not blow my cover." Lyra stopped her voice recorder and placed it into her saddlebag. She watched Morgan as he walked down the road, still not even aware in the slightest that he was being watched. "I'm on to you, Morgan," Lyra said to herself as she prepared to follow her target into town. "One way, or another, I'll prove that you're a human." Lyra stuck to staying as incognito as she could as she followed Morgan throughout Ponyville. Any time that she thought he could catch on to her shadowing him, she would hide behind the nearest available object, whether it be in a fruit stand, under a table, or even behind other ponies. Ignoring the confused looks that everypony was giving her, the unicorn stalked her target as well as she could. "Hey, Morgan! What's up?" Morgan turned his head and smiled as a teenage dark gray colt approached him. Lyra quickly dived into a nearby barrel to hide herself. Unbeknownst to her, the barrel was used as a trash can, and found herself coated in garbage with a lingering dreadful smell. However, she stayed focused on listening in on her target. "Hey, Stratus. Nothing much, just looking around town for a couple of things. Thought I'd try out one of the restaurants later and see what all the vendors are selling." Morgan looked back at one of the pockets on his saddlebag. "Twilight even let me borrow a few coins to spend." "Coins? Don't you mean bits?" Stratus asked. "Right, bits. That's what I meant to say." Lyra, still in her hiding place, raised her eyebrow due to Morgan's suspicious sounding response. “Just, uh… Some bits. To use. To… try out. Some food. And, and stuff.” Morgan’s eyes darted about. "Checking out what the town has to offer, eh?" The gray pegasus asked. "Oh, yeah, Dash and Pinkie said you were from Los Pegasus, right?" "Uh, yeah. Sure am," Morgan responded after a bit of hesitation. Lyra raised her eyebrow. "Cool, cool. Don't suppose she gave you a few bits to use at the arcade, did she?" Morgan grinned. "She did. Not many, but it's not like I'll need a lot. It IS my special talent, after all." Morgan smugly stated. Stratus rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Well, what are we waiting for? The Arcade's waiting." Stratus and Morgan walked off, making their way to the arcade. Once she was sure that it was safe, Lyra made her way out of her hiding place and pulled out her voice recorder. Before she could speak, however, she felt a fresh pile of garbage fall on top of her. After dry heaving and wiping off what she could only assume was a batch of rotten fruit, she began to speak. "Suspect continues to show suspicious behavior, today. Not only did he mistakenly call bits, "Coins," he also sounded like he didn't remember his own home town. Must continue observations." The unicorn floated the device back into her bag and climbed out of the barrel. After cleaning herself off as well as she could, she caught up to the pegasus duo that was making their way to the arcade, making sure that she wasn't noticed. Once they reached the arcade, the two played the video games for nearly an hour. As Lyra watched the two of them while hiding under a muffin kiosk that was across the street, she fought the urge to fall asleep. "I got to get going. See you later." The mint green mare's ears perked up as she saw Morgan leaving the arcade. She brought the voice recorder up to her face as she watched him. "No suspicious behavior displayed by the target during his time at the arcade, but I will continue to pursue him. Hopefully, we'll soon make a breakthrough on my suspicions." "Uh, Lyra? What are you doing?" The unicorn froze as she heard the voice. When she turned her head, she saw that a gray pegasus mare was looking at her, puzzled as to why she was hiding under a muffin kiosk. Lyra quickly scrambled out from under the kiosk and stood up. "Oh, hey Derpy. You see..." Lyra looked around nervously to think of an explanation. Unable to think of one, Lyra picked up a muffin in her magic and hoofed it to Derpy. "Here, have a free muffin. It's on me." Derpy's eyes lit up as she looked at the muffin in joy. "Thanks, Lyra! You're the best." The gray mare gobbled the muffin down in one bite and happily trotted off. Lyra breathed a sigh of relief and gave the kiosk owner a couple of bits for the muffin before following Morgan once more. After observing her target go about town and checking inside a few stores to see what they had to offer, Lyra followed him to a restaurant in the middle of town. Obviously hungry, Morgan decided to try it out. After being seated at a table on the outside, Lyra made her way to a different nearby table, while also holding up a menu to hide herself from his view. Eventually, a waiter came to wait on Morgan. "Good evening, sir. What will you be having today?" Morgan seemed to look over the menu, perplexed, before looking back up at the waiter. "I'm guessing you guys don't serve steak here, do you? I'm, uh, not from around here." The waiter gave the colt a confused look. "How about a hamburger?" The waiter once again had a confused look on his face. "I'm sorry, sir, but I have never heard of either of those things." "Well, do you guys have french fries?" "We have hay fries. Is that what you call them from where you are from?" "Yeah, I guess so." Morgan sighed. "I guess I'll have an order of hay fries then." The waiter nodded and picked up Morgan's menu. "Very good, sir. I'll have that out for you as soon as possible. I'll be back momentarily with a glass of water." The waiter cantered off, leaving Morgan by himself. He had a slight look of disappointment. "Should have remembered that these guys are herbivores. They may make some dang good cake, but I'd kill for some meat right now." The pegasus sighed. "First thing I'm doing when I get home is getting a nice big cheeseburger." Meanwhile, Lyra couldn't contain her excitement over at her table. Making sure that Morgan couldn't see or hear her, she brought out her voice recorder. "Major breakthrough! Suspect just tried to order odd, unknown things at restaurant, and then admitted to 'Missing, meat.' I don't recall ever hearing of anypony who eats meat. This may be the breakthrough I was hoping for." "Excuse me, miss, but may I take your order?" "No thanks, I'm just spying on that guy over there." Lyra froze when she realized what she had just told the waiter. She looked up and saw that he was giving her a very perplexed look. "I beg your pardon?" He asked. "Uh...I said that I'll have a daisy sandwich, please." She nervously replied. "Ok, then. I'll have that out for you as soon as I can." The stallion walked off, obviously still confused by what he had heard from the odd unicorn. Putting the awkward event behind her, Lyra continued to observe Morgan as he finished his meal. As far as she could tell, he seemed to enjoy his fries, but still seemed to be disappointed that he didn't get to have whatever a hamburger was. Shortly after leaving the restaurant, Morgan ran into Rainbow Dash. Lyra kept nearby, watching the duo talk. "Hey, Morgan! You excited for tomorrow?" the rainbow maned mare asked. "What's tomorrow?" Morgan asked in response. "Your flying lesson, what else?" Morgan's ears seemed to perk up as a wide grin spread across his face. "Already? Awesome, I can't wait. You really think you can get me flying within a day?" Rainbow Dash scoffed. "Of course I can. I'm the fastest flier in Equestria. If there's anypony who can get you flying in no time at all, it's me." "Well, can't argue with that. This is going to be sweet, flying isn't something we can do back home." "Hey, be careful about talking about that out in public. Wouldn't want anypony else finding out about your secret," Dash responded. "His secret, eh?" Lyra mumbled to herself. Her mind was going a mile a minute, half of her being ecstatic that they had pretty much confirmed her suspicions, and the other half being mad that she didn't capture it on tape. "Whatever, I doubt anyone's paying attention to us." Morgan saw Rainbow Dash giving him a confused look and sighed. "I mean, I doubt anypony's paying attention to us." "Still, you should be more careful about talking about it. It could freak ponies out, knowing where you're from." "Oh, I'm sure it would," Lyra quietly commented, still unseen by the pegasi. "Fine," Morgan said as he rolled his eyes. "Just be up early tomorrow. I want to start my flight lesson as soon as possible." "I promise nothing," Dash said with a chuckle before flying off. With her gone, Lyra wasted no time in bringing out her voice recorder as she began to canter off. "Suspicion all but confirmed now. After a conversation between the suspect and Rainbow Dash, both mentioned that the suspect is from another place where flying isn't normal. Furthermore, Rainbow Dash told the suspect that mentioning where he is from could cause people to freak out. There is virtually no question about it, anymore. Morgan is definitely a hu-" Lyra was cut off when she suddenly bumped into somepony due to not paying attention where she was walking. Her voice recorder began to drop to the ground and she quickly caught it in her magic and put it away, before it could hit the floor. "Sorry about that, didn't see where I was going." The unicorn looked up to offer to help the other pony up when she realized who she had bumped into. It was Morgan. "Ugh. It's fine, don't worry about it." The pegasus awkwardly picked himself up and looked up at her. "Hey, didn't Pinkie introduce me to you the other day?" "Yes, I think so," Lyra nervously responded. "You're Morgan, right?" "And you're..." Morgan scratched his head. "Lyra," she said. "Lyra, yeah. Sorry, I was kind of blanked out, thinking about something." "Yeah, I couldn't help but overhear you and Rainbow Dash talking about some flying lessons tomorrow." Morgan's eyes grew wide, obviously due to not expecting that somepony had heard his conversation with Rainbow Dash. He hoped that the mention of flying lessons was all that she had heard. "Uh...yeah. She's just giving me some flying tips and stuff. I'm not really that much of a good flier. She figured that some flying lessons would help me get the hang of it." "Flying lessons, eh? Why haven't you learned how to fly, already?" Lyra asked nonchalantly. "Oh, well, I didn't really get a chance to learn how to back home," Morgan hesitantly responded. "Didn't Rainbow Dash say that you were from Los Pegasus?" Lyra asked. "I heard that they have one of the best flying academies in Equestria, second only to Cloudsdale." "They do," Morgan nervously responded. "I, uh...had to drop out since I was moving here to Ponyville." "But you just moved here. Shouldn't they have taught you how to fly when you were a little colt?" "Um..." Morgan looked up at a nearby clock tower and pretended to act surprised. "Oh, dang, look at the time. I really need to get back to the library. I'll see you around, Lyra." Before the unicorn could respond, Morgan took off as fast as he could, almost falling various times in the process. Soon enough, he was out of sight. A smirk spread across Lyra's face as she pulled her voice recorder out one final time. "Observation Log: Day 2. Operation: Human Investigation was a complete success. After a day of observing the target, not only has suspicious behavior persisted, the suspect and I also had a personal encounter. I caught him in an obvious lie about supposedly being from Los Pegasus, forcing him to have to leave before blowing his cover. I am now certain about it. Morgan is a human. I don't know how he got here, but he is definitely not from Equestria. This is a huge discovery." Lyra smiled to herself as she continued talking into the device. "Until I can figure out how he got here, I should continue to keep an eye on the suspect. Tomorrow he will be receiving flying lessons from Rainbow Dash. He may not know it, nor will he find out, but I'll be there. Perhaps I'll discover another breakthrough in all of this tomorrow. Since they'll be alone tomorrow, he may even admit to being a human, thinking that nopony will be there to hear him. Looking forward to continuing the observation tomorrow." Lyra turned off her device and placed it in her satchel. No longer being tapped, she let out a high pitched squeal of delight. "I have got to tell Bon Bon about all of this!"