Lyra regarded the bat pony mare a moment, tapping her chin. "Begging your pardon, ma'am, but I've heard different rumors about this, and I'd rather get it straight from the horse's mouth, as it were. What term do you prefer I use for your tribe?" She pointed at herself. "I'm a unicorn, but everyone basically agrees on that. I've heard no less than four different things."
She tilted her head, "Oh wait, I'm being rude. I'm Lyra Heartstrings, and you were referred to me because you need a friend to help out in a difficult situation. What seems to be the problem, in your own words. Tell me all about you. I'm not here to judge and point fingers, because I don't have those." She smirked at her lame joke, and looked at her with ready quill and hopefully welcoming demeanor.
“Your joke is bad and you should feel bad...” the mare said with small, tired smile. “My name is Floyd, and yeah, that's not a woman’s name,” she paused letting out a yawn. “As for what I am... I dunno, I’m half tempted to say Dracula pony but you wouldn’t get the reference.”
Lyra shook her head a little, then brightened. "That sounded like one of those bad horror movies. Do you prefer vampony?" She tapped at her chin softly in thought. "Let's put that aside, hello Floyd. Were you male before then?"
“Yup,” Floyd said with a nod, rubbing at her eyes, “Not too big a loss really. I wasn’t using it for anything anyway.” She yawned again, giving Lyra an annoyed glare, “You really couldn’t have put this at a later time? I mean, I wasn’t a morning person before but now I’m freaking nocturnal!”
Lyra smiled a little. "I'm not nocturnal, I admit, but I'll try to schedule you later, say, in the evening?" She pulled over her notepad and made a quick scribble. "While we're getting to know one another though, tell me what's bothering you most, besides it being early?"
“Besides me jonesing hard for a cigarette?” Floyd asked, giving her head a shake, blinking a few times. “I uh... have anger issues... uh... I may have... overreacted to, I dunno, a racial slur?”
Lyra's ears twitched softly. "A slur against you being a, uh, vampony, or something else?" she asked curiously, looking Floyd over. "I do hope you'll tell me if I say something you don't like. There's no reason for violence in this office."
“I highly doubt you, a mint green unicorn, could insult me and yeah, guy called me ‘nightmare spawn’,” Floyd said, trying to gesture with her hooves, glaring at them. “Now that's not much of an insult to me but just the look of disgust in his eyes,” she shuddered a little, her lips curling back into a fanged sneer before she let it go with a sigh, “I gave him a nice shiner for his trouble.”
Lyra frowned and clucked her tongue. "That was uncalled for, on both your parts. Please don't resort to violence to settle things with other ponies." She sat up a bit more straight. "Was this here in Ponyville? It doesn't sound like the usual resident."
“Nah it was up in Canterlot,” Floyd said, shrugging, “Bluey sent me down here for therapy. Nice guy but I think he’s afraid I’ll end up punching a noble or something. Not that I would, I don't normally get violent. Must be the withdraw.”
"From cigarettes you mean?" Lyra tilted her head. "We do have those, though never tried one myself… Are cigars alright? I think a pony sells those in town." She suddenly had a thought. "Uh, no smoking in here please."
“Oh no,” Floyd said, waving her hooves, “I’m not getting sucked back in. My lungs are untainted right now, I’m not going to ruin them again. I’ll just find something else for the stress. I dunno, sunflower seeds maybe?”
Lyra pulled a wrapped candy out of a pouch at her beltline and floated it over to Floyd. "I can't promise it's not habit forming, but you'll never be sad you had one."
“It smells good,” she said, unwrapping it and taking a bite. “Oh sweet Jesus is that good!” She smiled brightly, seeming to be more awake. “Almost as good as the jerky!”
Lyra grinned triumphantly. "My marefriend Sweetie Drops made it. Chocolates are her thing, and she's the best I ever met." She leaned in, waggling her brows. "Maybe that's why I didn't let her go."
“I wouldn’t know,” Floyd said shrugging, “I don’t feel that way about anyone. Never have. Hell, I couldn’t even tell ya how to flirt.”
Lyra tilted her head. "Does that bother you? Did you want to find a special somepony to be with?"
“Nope,” she said, shaking her head, “I’m asexual; I don’t find either gender attractive. Doesn’t stop others from hitting on me though. Most aren’t sure how to react when I let them know and things get awkward real quick like. When my parents found out... well... things went downhill with us quickly.”
Lyra shook her head. "I'm not sure why somepony would be that… oh… Were they looking for grandfoals?" She huffed softly. "Me and Bonnie aren't having foals unless we decide to adopt, and I'm not feeling that particular itch. There's nothing wrong with not looking for ponies for that specifically, but companionship is good?"
“Hey, I had friends!” Floyd said, frowning, “I wasn’t a shut in, I just have no physical attraction to anyone. It kinda made health class pointless but whatever.” She took a breath, looking up at the ceiling. “My folks didn’t exactly like my orientation, or lack thereof but that was the tip of it all. They wanted me to be a lawyer and instead I went to film school. I... haven’t spoken to them in the past two years.”
Lyra held up a hoof placatingly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you didn't have any friends, just saying. I'm glad to hear that wasn't the case." She let out a slow breath. "It's a harsh thing to say, but your parents are far beyond our reach right now. Does that bother you?"
“Yes, yes it bothers me a lot,” Floyd said, staring at the ground. “I’ll never be able to patch things up with them. I’ll just be stuck here, looking like something out of “Spookie's House of Jumpscares.” I mean look at this.” She pointed to her eyes. “It’s like the universe is taunting me. One of these is still the original color and the other is pink! Pink is not a natural color!” She paused before bursting out laughing, tears flowing down her muzzle.
Lyra opened her mouth to refute a point when the laughing and crying begins and she clammed up. She slipped from her chair and quickly approached Floyd, reaching to pat her shoulder. "It's OK. One thing we ponies have a lot of is color variety. Pink isn't so bad, really." She speaks softly and encouragingly. "You don't look horrible, you look, uh, exotic. If I wasn't already, you know, married, and your counselor, and you weren't asexual, and… I'll be quiet now."
“You know... if I was pink... I could totally call myself Pink Floyd,” Floyd said with a grin despite the tears, “Oh man, no one is ever going to get that joke.” She reached up and wiped at her eyes, letting out a loud yawn. “Well at least I know I can attract mythological creatures. That's one hell of a self-esteem boost.”
Lyra snorted softly. "Around here, humans are the myths. I have a book of mythological creatures just over there with humans in it. I'll spare you that particular surprise for today." She pulled out a scrap of paper with instructions. "The house you'll be staying at isn't far, and there's good news. The others are just like you, once-humans. They may even get that joke of yours? If you're… from the same place? We're still trying to figure that out."
“That sounds good to me,” Floyd said, stifling another yawn, “Be nice to talk to people who aren’t high class snobs, even if Blue is cool. Wait... there are others like me? I wasn’t expecting that, but then I’m an adorable ball of fuzz talking to a unicorn.”
Lyra grinned. "You said it, not me." She made an idle scribble. "You're not alone. I have a few patients lined up after you, surprisingly. I think somepony heard that I had some success with other once-humans and decided I was an expert, so here we are." She tapped her chin with the quill she floated. "I suppose that's OK, if it means I can help ponies out."
“Hey, as long as you're helping people right?” Floyd asked, swaying a little, “I think... I should get to bed before I pass out on your couch, and you don't want that. I slept through a fist fight once. Cops came and everything and I just slept on like nothing was happening.”
Lyra opened the door for Floyd, allowing her to depart. "There's a weekly meeting, they'll fill you in at the house. Have a good rest and see if you can't explore the town a little. The ponies around here are mostly nice types and they like making friends, especially the pink one. You'll either love her or hate her."
The only response Lyra got was a snore, as Floyd had indeed passed out on the couch, her limbs sprawled out as she snoozed peacefully. She mumbled a bit, rolling onto her back, a smile gracing her muzzle.
Lyra shook her head before her magic engulfed her guest and she carefully hefted up the sleeping bat pony into the air. She made to carry her off to the house with a smile, hoping everyone would get along.