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// You know, they are you. 
// Story: My Little Pony: Mint-Green Version 
// by FaelaArts 
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“I don’t know about you, but these last few days have been sooooo relaxing.” Lyra stretched out on the seat, and put her head on Blue’s lap and looked up at him, giggling as he glanced away. Looking down, he shook his head, smiling as he turned to the window.

“Yeah, Yeah, I can see how you’d find dancing to music ‘relaxing’.” Blue looked around the carriage, noting the fact it was once again empty. Blue silently wondered how these trains made money, considering the cost of running one. Well, he assumed it was a high cost. Blue blinked and looked down as Lyra lazily slapped his face with her hoof, making a ‘paff’ sound, and smirked.

“Exactly, nothing is more relaxing than breaking a sweat surrounded by ponies, when it’s with you.” Lyra smirked as Blue tried not to wince at her endearing comment, and closed her eyes. Lyra loved teasing him, he made it so easy these days. Opening her eyes, she narrowed them as she considered maybe he had only been acting like this for her. Nonsense, there were better ways to make her happy. Besides, Blue wasn’t smart enough for that.

“I wonder if we missed anything while we were away,” sighing, Blue looked toward the window, biting his lip. Lyra gently ‘paff’ed him on the cheek again, and scrunched her face up as he looked to her. Blue rolled his eyes and returned to looking out the window, ignoring any further ‘paff’s.

“Relax Blue, I’m sure everything will work itself out, you’ve got me.” Lyra chuckled as Blue raised an eyebrow in response, and shook his head, a smile returning to his face. Lyra continued ‘paff’ing Blue on the cheek with her hoof. After a moment she closed her eyes.

“I...Guess I should get you to teach me the spell Twilight taught you sometime.” Blue looked once more around the compartment, looking down as Lyra gently ‘paffed’ him again in response. After a moment, he grabbed the offending hoof and gently placed it down.

“Come on Lyra, do you really have to do that?” Blue shook his head as Lyra opened her eyes and nodded seriously at him, closing her eyes once more and continuing to ‘paff’ him. Blue looked to the roof, and breathed out, letting it go.

“Sn’ot a problem Blue, I was wondering when you would ask. Have the nightmares stopped?” Lyra stopped her ‘paff’ing for a moment, and let her hoof fall onto her stomach. After a moment, she felt a hoof gently begin brushing through her mane. Lyra began to purr like a cat, and shuffled closer to Blue.

“Not entirely, but they’re a lot less frequent. And those...voices are quieter too.” Blue blinked and widened his eyes, realising he hadn’t actually told Lyra about those yet. Of course, Lyra was quick to open her eyes, just to narrow them.

“Voices?” Lyra saw Blue scratch the back of his head and sigh loudly, looking toward the window. Glancing down, Lyra watched him almost try to deny it, before he breathed out and leaned over, resting his forehead on the seat in front of them as he looked down at Lyra.

“Well...Let’s just say...nightmares aren’t as bad as what goes on inside my head when I’m awake.” As they looked at each other, Blue made a move to sit back up. Lyra grabbed his neck with her hoof, and forced him to remain in the position he was in, looking at her.

“You’re not crazy are you?” Lyra narrowed her eyes as Blue blinked, and then laughed, leaning back and shaking his head as he put a hoof to his face. Lyra finally sat up, and looked toward him.

“I think we’ve already established that Lyra, do you have any other questions?” Blue leaned back and shook his head. After a moment he widened his eyes and glanced to Lyra, who was puffing her cheeks out, and sent an apologetic smile in her direction. Lyra rolled her eyes, but returned to laying on Blue’s lap.

“Ignoring how much of a rude-y pants you are, yes. What do these voices say? And what do you mean quieter?” Lyra stifled a yawn and faintly remembered how she had woken up with Blue as a teddy bear the night prior to last night. It had been a pleasant surprise.

“Well, they used to be a lot louder before Red got defeated up on that mountain. After that they kinda went away for a bit. They returned sometime during the four years you were in our world, I barely noticed them though.” Blue attempted to ignore one of the questions, but as he looked down at Lyra he realised she wasn’t going to allow it, and breathed out.

“Mostly the same stuff as what was in the book since their return. It was a lot different before Red got defeated though, a lot more like...let’s just say they followed a certain predictable pattern set out by rules.” Blue knew Lyra has noticed his pause. However, as she seemed to move on, he inwardly let out a sigh of relief. Of course, Blue should have really known better than to assume Lyra wasn’t going to push the issue.

“What sort of rules?” As if Lyra had flicked a switch, Blue suddenly stiffened and was as still as a board. Puzzled, Lyra opened her eyes, and realised Blue had a plastic looking smirk on his face, eyes unfocused. Lyra sat up and turned around, waving an arm in front of Blue, who didn’t respond. Leaning over, Lyra brought her face in front of Blue, and jumped as he spoke in a monotone, almost robotic voice.

“What? Red! What a surprise to see you here! So you're going to Pokémon League? You collected all the Badges too? That's cool! Then I'll whip you Red as a warmup for Pokémon League! Come on!” Lyra saw Blue reach down as if to grab a Pokemon, and wisely stopped the hand from touching them. Whatever was wrong with Blue, Pokemon would not solve the issue.

“Tssss-err-That loosened me up! I'm ready for Pokémon League! PLAYER, you need more practice! But hey, you know that! I'm out of here. Smell ya!” Lyra’s ears flicked back as Blue made a strange hissing sound, and wondered if she had fallen in love with a robot. To be fair, a robot wasn’t that much different from her current relationship.

“Tss-w-ait for PLAYER, if PLAYER reaches -tzz-detectionsquare, quote line x1, initiate battle.” Blue thankfully had stopped reaching for his pokemon, but he was still spouting nonsense in a monotone voice. Lyra looked around rapidly, and then closed her eyes and cried out in frustration, and slapped Blue in the cheek.

“Ow, Lyra that hurt! What did you do that for?” Blue had relaxed instantly, and looked to Lyra as he held his hurt cheek, looking wounded that she had hit him. Lyra felt tears come to her eyes, and she flung herself into Blue’s arms.

“You were talking weird and I didn’t know what to do and it scared me and what happened?” Lyra felt Blue return the hug as she quickly recovered from the fright she had just received, and leaned away, wiping away the tears that were already drying up. Blue was looking straight ahead, a hard line to his face.

“What exactly was I saying Lyra.” Blue didn’t turn as Lyra raised her head, and looked in the direction Blue was looking, seeing nothing.

“It was stuff like uh...If player reach detection square or something. It was really weird Blue, what’s going on?” Lyra noticed Blue bring a hand to his chin as he muttered quietly to himself, musing.

“Strange, they’re normally inside my head. First time it happened aloud. Maybe it’s the fact I’m in a different world? Could be my body too. And why now, why-” Blue paused, and glanced to Lyra.

“What did you say before I started ‘talking weird’. Don’t finish the sentence, just the first part is enough.” Blue returned to glancing ahead, and he narrowed his eyes, cursing loudly under his breath.

“Well okay. What sort of-” Lyra paused herself and watched Blue give a large shudder, and nod once in response. After a moment, the hard line on his face faded and he released, looking to Lyra as he opened his mouth to explain.

“Rules Lyra. My world is built upon many rules. Some you already know about, but there’s also unwritten ones that all of us are...Well I won’t sugarcoat it, forced to follow. What you just witnessed, was barely even the surface of it.” Blue sighed, and turned to fully face Lyra, pointing to the sky behind her.

“There’s these...things in our world. Better way to explain it would be all-powerful gods really. Remember the guys in the Celadon Mansion called Game Freak? They just enforce it, they themselves have to follow the same rules. I don’t know what theirs is but it’s the reason they never leave the building.

“Most of us are controlled by what I’m pretty sure is a single...god. There may have been many at the start when the rules were being laid out, but now there is only one. Red’s the exception to this rule, he get’s a different god. Don’t think he get’s it easier than us though, if anything it’s worse.

“Go left, wait here for your rival, give that kid the TM despite the fact you’re low on money and can barely afford to feed yourself. Behind all of them is a voice in our head, speaking more or less what you just heard then. Normally it doesn’t come on so forcefully unless you try to resist it. Usually it’s just a list of orders, and you can follow them however you please.” Blue paused, and waited for Lyra to respond. After a moment, he sighed, and continued.

“You don’t have that over here? I assumed your world had something similar, I guess I was wrong.” Blue turned slightly and once more sat on the seat properly. After a moment, Lyra finally spoke.

“No, we don’t. Sometimes we get a feeling of someone watching us, but we’re more or less allowed to do whatever we please. What about your memories? You never spoke about the voices forcing you to do stuff, like when you cheated against Red for example.” Lyra thought about their world, and she was more confused than ever. Sure, they had Celestia, Luna, and Discord, and they were sort of gods. But she hadn’t heard of one’s that could hold complete control.

“Most of that stuff happened between orders. You can get nearly anywhere in under a minute where we live, and they normally don’t come in all at once. It’s not a ‘this is how your life is going to be and you have no say’, but a ‘do these, you have no choice’. The stuff that did happen while under them well, how do I put this…” Blue paused, and glanced toward the ground, before shrugging nonchalantly.

“If you don’t resist, the orders don’t really bother you. You get used to them after a while, and begin to not even realise they’re there anymore. Forget you’re playing a person on a stage, and you forget you are even on one. To be honest, I have no clue how much of it was what I wanted to do, and what was a voice in my mind.” Blue shrugged once more, and glanced to Lyra.

“Could you list these rules for me?” Lyra was afraid the word would bring on another episode, but thankfully Blue just nodded and brought out a piece of paper, quickly scribbling them down. Handing it over to Lyra, he pointed to the first one.

“It’s not a cut and dry list, but that’s because they’re not exactly written down. They’re just in my head.” Lyra looked down to the list and quickly went over it. Was this really the rules Blue had to follow? And he really had no choice?

1: Obey the voice in your head. Failure to do so will force (us?) to force you.
2: If there is no voice, obey the last instruction.
3: After a period no shorter than one year without the voice, you are free to do as you wish.
4: If, at any time, an order is given that does not have an end, obey until death.
5: If, at any time, an order is given that does have an end, but you have not yet completed it it, obey until death.
6: 4 and 5 overthrow 3.

“Blue, can I ask a question? You said the voices before Red came down from the mountain and now are different. Different how?” Lyra crumpled up the piece of paper and tossed it into her mouth. Paper wasn’t the best snack for a train ride, but she was a little hungry.

“I...It doesn’t feel like I have to obey them.” Blue shifted in his seat, and scratched the side of his face, biting his lip.

“And do you?” Lyra saw Blue turn his head, and knew he wasn’t going to answer. That alone was answer enough itself.

“Why,” she continued, narrowing her eyes and forcing Blue to look at her. He sighed, and glanced toward the window behind her.

“Lyra, it feels terrible when I don’t. It’s like I’m on a crashing flying pokemon high in the air, looking down as the ground comes toward me, knowing there’s no surviving and these are my final moments.” Blue swiped Lyra’s hoof away from his head, and turned away, breathing out once more audibly.

“Alright, name one time you didn’t obey it.” Lyra poked at Blue’s back, and he winced in pain, turning around to glance at her.

“It told me to kick Red while he was down, shortly after he returned from his loss on the mountain.” Blue’s voice was low, and Lyra had to lean in to hear it. Nodding, she understood why Blue hadn’t been able to go through with it. Blue had already broken Red's trust once, he wasn’t likely going to do it again. Lyra sighed, and slumped in her seat.

“Hookay, so I have one final question. It’s been bugging me since I found out you’ve got that Depression thing.” Lyra paused, and sat Blue’s ear flick in response. Good, he was listening.

“Did uh, did they order you to do anything shortly after we...you know, before we went to battle Giovanni?” Lyra looked toward the window, letting Blue think his next answer over carefully. Lyra heard Blue sigh, and glanced over to see he had turned his back to her once more.

“Yes,” came his simple reply.

“And uh, are they ordering you to do stuff now?” Lyra turned around, and looked at the back of Blue’s head as it fell slightly lower as he slunched.

“Yes,” he spoke a second time.

“Alright, one last question. Why at the picnic, did you do it?” Lyra watched Blue as he slowly turned around, and looked her square in the eyes.

“She doesn’t love you, you’re only leftovers.” Blue turned away and Lyra was left looking at his back. Slumped over like he was, she wanted to step on top of him and take the weight off it. Lyra turned to look toward the window and breathed out silently, looking worried as she stared into nothing.

“Blue, this time it’s me giving you an order. And this is one you can’t refuse.” Lyra’s words sparked the barely formed idea in her head, and she turned, eyes slowly brightening. Blue didn’t move when she spoke, and for a moment she thought he hadn’t heard her.

“Oh?” Blue turned slowly, and his head slowly swung toward her. Lyra poked him in the nose, and he blinked, and reared back, falling off the seat. Lyra stood up and stood over him, and pointed her hoof in his face.

“Every time those voices say whatever it is they say, I order you to do the opposite from now on, until you give your final breath, no even after that!” Lyra smirked widely as Blue’s eyes widened, and he looked to the hoof in his face.

“And another thing, you will obey every order I give you, yada yada breath blada no even after.” Lyra made a waving motion with her hoof and rolled her eyes. Finished that, she once more poked it in Blue’s face. Blue looked at her, mouth slightly agape, eyes wide, and in one movement he tilted his head and closed his eyes, and gave a sort of half smile-half chuckle.

“Very well Lyra. I shall obey your every command.” Blue made a move to stand up, but Lyra pushed him back down and stood up on two hooves, using her spare hoof to hold onto the seat in front of them.

“Good, now that that is out of the way, I have one final command for you.” Lyra waited for Blue to meet her eyes, and her smile widened.

“I order you to marry me!” The eyes widening, the shocked expression, Lyra might have just broken Blue this time. Nope, it looked like he was still working.

“But Lyra! We’ve only been going out for a few days!” Blue tried to stand up, but once again Lyra forced him to stay down.

“Wrong! I’ve been waiting four years for you buster brow! So you better stop talking and get down on one hoof already.” Lyra felt as if she was flying through the air, her smile was starting to actually hurt with how wide it was. Blue glanced around,and then raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t mean-yeah you do. Right, okay.” Blue once more looked around, and breathed out, and pulled out a pitch black box, opening it and revealing the ring as he slowly sat up and got to his knees. Lyra was actually impressed, that looked like a proper unicorn engagement ring. Blue looked to the ring and he pointed to it sheepishly.

“I uh, did get the right one right? The clerk said this was for unicorns but I really don’t know how-eugh!” Blue made a choking sound, nearly losing the black box as Lyra tackled him to the floor.

“You ass, how did you knoooow,” she moaned, watching Blue take the ring in his magic and slot it over her horn. Lyra could tell he was unsure if that was the right custom, but she wanted her answer. Blue gently poked Lyra in the chest.

“As soon as you mentioned Hubby last night I knew you were going to ask sooner or later. Wasn’t exactly expecting THIS soon but thereyago.” Blue waited for Lyra to stand to the side, before finally getting to his feet and brushing the dust off. There was a nice clean piece of floor where Blue had been laying.

“Aw foo, foiled by myself again.” Lyra’s ears tilted down as she marked back onto the seat and sat down with a huff. Blue sat down beside her, and looked out the window, watching it slowly drift into familiar scenes.

“Blue, do you love me?” Lyra glance to Blue, who was taken aback by the question. After a moment, he raised his arms and made a noncommittal gesture.

“Do I really have to say it Lyra?” Blue saw Lyra puff out her cheeks, and scunch her face up, nodding. Blue sighed, and made a motion to the roof with his arm.

“Fine, I Blue the human, love Lyra the pony, despite how pushy she is.” Blue brought his other arm around Lyra’s neck and brought her into a hug, and looked down at her, narrowing his eyes in annoyance.

“Happy?” Blue didn’t wait for her answer, knowing there would be a nod soon enough, and turned once more to the window. Lyra picked up the black case, and put the ring inside. It wouldn’t do to get it nicked before the big day.

“You know, you’re not exactly a human anymore.”

“Shuddup, I draw the line at two.”