“Escape.”
“Yes. Hurry before that monster sees you!”
“Monster? Oh, Angel Bunny... He’s a monster but I’m not a prisoner here Lyra. I’ve kind of been wondering why you or Bon Bon haven’t come to visit me.” Lyra’s ears pinned back against her head but otherwise showed no sign of... whatever she was trying to hide.
“Yes, the bunny too. Now hurry up, I can hide you from them but we need to go now.” Did she mean Fluttershy? Or Dash?
“Lyra, Fluttershy is helping me get better.” I gesture to my leg, the bodysuit was off at the knee leaving the freshly bandaged leg exposed.
“She’s not forcing you to stay?” I shook my head, Lyra looked crestfallen. Her head drooped down and she couldn’t even bring herself to look at me.
“Then why haven’t you come back? Didn’t we treat you well enough?”
“Lyra, are you trained to treat bad injuries?”
“No, but I know human anatomy. I know more about humans than anypony. Ask anypony they’ll tell you that I’ve been researching humans for years, even before Alex showed up last year.” I fought the urge to reach out and lift her chin, I was pretty sure she wouldn’t think of it as me treating her like a pet but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
“How about dealing with blood, it was bleeding pretty bad when I got here and I have to change my bandages every hour and," I turned my head away, fighting to clear my mind of the memories, "the pain. Would you be able to stand touching my wound knowing that it made me want to scream in pain, could you force yourself to do that?”
“I could try and figure out how to do it without hurting you.”
“Lyra, you can’t. Even the slightest breeze hurts. But between the medicine Zecora made for Alex and Fluttershy’s help I’ll be up and moving around just fine soon enough. Now go around to the front of the house, I’ll let you in there.”
“But, Rainbow Dash is there.”
“So?” It was hard to tell because of the bush but I think she was pawing at the ground.
“Me and Rainbow have a... history. I don’t think I can face her alone.”
“Then don’t, I’ll be right there. I’ll make sure nothing happens... That and Fluttershy would probably throw her out if she starts anything... Wait, how long have you been in that bush?” Lyra looks at the sun for a moment before opening her mouth, I wrap my hands around her muzzle before she gets a chance to tell me. “On second thought, I don’t want to know.”
She nodded and hopped out of the bushes. Her saddlebags were packed so much that they couldn’t close properly. One looked like it was filled with papers, quills and ink, the other with more paper and her lyre. I think it was the first time I had seen her carrying her namesake.
I turned around and saw that satanic bunny sitting before me with a carrot.
“That had better be for eating.” He stared at me and slowly chewed the vegetable. I decided to take it as a warning. ‘Why the hell am I so worried about a rabbit in the first place, this isn’t Monty freaking Python. He’s just a bully of a rabbit with a good aim when throwing carrots.’
I walked over him, determined to show him who’s boss... The little bastard tripped me. I managed to catch myself and turned back to the rabbit, I must have looked pretty angry because he ran for it.
“One of these days you’re going to end up in a rabbit stew you little rodent.” A carrot hit me in the back of the head as I shuffled towards the door. Outside I could hear arguing, this time between Lyra and Dash.
“I know it hurts you to hear this, but I’m not here for you Rainbow. Amazingly not everything is about you. I’m here to talk to Matt. He asked me to come here, and I’d rather not have that rainbow mess of yours in my face again.”
“What, you couldn’t convince Alex to be your lab rat so you’re going to try with this one? Guess what, Alex thinks he’s dangerous and he knows a heck of a lot more about humans than you do. Maybe you’ll find out just how dangerous he is and he’ll make you realize how crazy you’re being. Face it Lyra, you're no Twilight Sparkle.” I could hear Dash's jaw slam shut, but the damage had already been done.
“I’ve known Twilight a lot longer than you have Rainbow,” Her tone was colder than anything I’d ever heard from a pony, it was enough to make me step back. “I know how smart she is, and guess what, she might be a genius but when it comes to new areas of research, but she’s not any smarter than I am. As for Matthew,” Lyra glanced at me through the window with a little smile, “yeah he might be dangerous to Alex, but he wasn’t a monster to me and Bons. He’s just overwhelmed and scared Rainbow. How about with you Fluttershy? Was he a dangerous beast?” I opened the door but the two pegasi didn’t seem to notice me. Rainbow Dash was watching Fluttershy expecting her friend to support her and Fluttershy’s eyes were on the ground, I think she’d been trying to stay out of the argument.
“I don’t-” Whatever Fluttershy had wanted to say was cut off before it even got started, not that it took much to drown out the voice of the quiet pegasus.
Lyra glared daggers at Dash, “You see Rainbow, you’re just trying to start arguments again. Celestia’s flank you have an ego.”
I sighed theatrically, knowing that if I didn’t get involved this would likely never end.
“Rainbow Dash please, just leave, I don’t want to listen to you insulting, arguing or otherwise being rude to me or my friends.” I sounded exhausted even to myself, I was just fed up with her attitude. Lyra trotted to my side giving Dash a death stare, and Fluttershy just looked uncomfortable.
“Yeah, fine. I got stuff to do anyways. Important stuff.” She looked hurt, I decided to let her leave on a positive note.
“Hey Dash?” She paused, “I would love to see you do some stunts sometime just not today, okay?” I thought it was a good peace offering. Fluttershy looked up at me with something that I interpreted as pride or admiration. Lyra on the other hand looked like I had picked Dash’s friendship over hers.
I placed my hand on the back of her neck to cheer her up, which made Fluttershy look depressed. ‘What the hell is it with these ponies? Can’t I do anything without making those two more angry or depressed?’ The thought left me slightly scared that I didn’t belong, that all I was to them was an object to be pitied or worse, feared.
As much as it pained me I couldn’t help but think I needed Alex’s help to figure this out. The thought of needing help from the psychotic old bastard galled me. I had to figure out a way to solve this without turning to him. Time, careful thought and, most of all, patience.
That’s all I really needed.