//------------------------------// // Long Distance // Story: Anthropology // by JasonTheHuman //------------------------------// “Fifteen years,” her mother said. “You were gone for fifteen years.” “I know that, but…” Lyra pulled away slowly, and saw her dad still looking at that letter. She realized what it was. “Are those the results?” She headed over to look at them. The paper was mostly a large table filled with numbers. Lyra squinted, trying to figure out what she was supposed to look at. She hadn’t expected something complicated like this. Her father placed one finger on the bottom number. Probability of Parentage – 99.124% It wasn’t phrased like Lyra had expected, just a simple “yes” or “no.” The whole thing kind of looked like something Twilight would understand better than she would, and the decimal point was oddly precise. But it was still a good number. What that meant was clear enough. It meant that she was who she thought she was – these really were her birth parents. But maybe even more importantly, this confirmed that she was a real human. Lyra tried to read the columns above the final result. “What does all of that mean?” She poked the paper with her finger. “There were only a few instances where it was off,” her father explained. “They said it’s probably nothing more than a simple mutation.” “Mutation?” Lyra repeated slowly. That didn’t sound good. “It’s really very common in these tests. It happens often with age. It could even be a mistake in the process itself. Harmless.” “Yeah… It was probably that.” Her hand moved up and tugged on her hair unconsciously. It still naturally grew green and white. Not brown. Sooner or later you'll need to get it off your chest. You'll feel better. Her mother placed a hand on her shoulder. Lyra looked over at it. “We’re sorry if it ever seemed like we didn’t believe you.” “No, I understand,” Lyra said. “For a while… I wasn’t really sure either.” But now she was. There wasn’t a question anymore – this was where she was meant to be. As a human – with these humans. There was a sound of light footsteps on the stairs. Chloe walked out of the entry hall into the kitchen. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and then noticed all of them standing there by the table. “What’s going on?” she asked. Lyra’s father went over to her and knelt down. “Honey… We have some very good news. Lyra is going to be living with us from now on.” “Huh?” Chloe tilted her head, and looked over at Lyra, then turned back to her father. “You mean, like… always? Why?” “She’s your big sister. And now she’s going to be living with all of us again.” “How is she my sister? She looks weird,” Chloe said, frowning. “Now, that’s not – “ Lyra laughed. “It’s… It’s okay. Really. I’ve been thinking about dy – I mean, washing this out anyway.” She reached up and touched the white streak. “I’m sure you’ll get used to having her around. Your father and I missed her very much,” Lyra’s mother said. “But where did she come from?” Lyra shifted uncomfortably. “Well…” “We don’t know where she’s been, only that she’s back now,” her father said. “I’ve never met her before!” Chloe said. “Why haven’t I met her before?” Her father started, “It’s very hard to – “ But Chloe ran out of the room and back upstairs before he could finish. He sighed, and went back to where Lyra was standing by the table. “We’ll talk to her later. It’s hard, forcing this on her. We never even mentioned that she had an older sister.” Lyra nodded. “I know. You didn’t think I’d ever come back. I understand.” “Exactly.” Really, it was a miracle that she had. If she hadn’t found those books about humans all those years ago in the Canterlot archives, she would probably still be in Equestria now. Not to mention finding them again after getting back to the human world. “We really are glad you came back, Lyra. Even if you can’t tell us why,” her mother said, putting her arm around her shoulder again. “I know. It’s fine. She’ll come around eventually, right?” Lyra looked at her mother, then over to her father. “I’m usually better with kids, though…” She noticed their looks, and then hung her head. “I mean, I think I was…” Lyra opened her journal and found the torn-off piece of paper that she’d stuffed between the pages. The drawings it had fallen between were old ones – some studies that she’d done comparing the size of a human to a pony. It had been fairly accurate – she’d estimated a pony’s height as slightly less than half of a human’s, when it was really closer to two-thirds. She smiled at the memory of when she had drawn that. Back when humans seemed completely strange and mysterious. Then she took out what she was looking for and closed the journal again, slipping it back into her dresser drawer where she hid it. She read it over. Just a numeric code with Audrey’s name above it. She took it downstairs to find the telephone. Although she’d never admit it to her family, she felt a rush whenever she used something like this. An incredible human invention that she’d never dreamed was possible, and yet here it was, and she was using it. She pressed each number with her finger. There was that now-familiar buzzing sound when she placed it by her ear, and tilted her head to hold it in place against her shoulder. She waited for the voice to come. It all happened in sequence. “Hello?” It was hard to tell, but it sounded female. “Audrey?” Lyra said. “No, this is her mother. May I ask who’s calling?” “Oh, um – sorry,” Lyra stuttered. She recomposed herself. “This is Lyra. Is Audrey there?” “Lyra? It’s good to hear from you! How are things?” Lyra was grinning. “It’s great. Absolutely perfect.” “Hang on just one moment. I’ll find Audrey for you.” The other end went quiet, and Lyra leaned her back against the wall as she waited. She could hear faint voices. Then: “Lyra?” “Audrey! Hey, I just wanted to tell you something.” “How have things been?” Audrey asked. Lyra could kind of tell the difference between Audrey's voice and her mother’s now, even if the phone made it so difficult. That was the problem with these things – you couldn’t see the other human, they barely even sounded right. Still, it was a useful tool. Nothing like it existed in Equestria. “My parents had me take some kind of a test. To prove if I was really their daughter,” Lyra said. “Oh, right. Your dad mentioned that…” “The results came back. I was right. I really am Lyra Michelakos.” She loved the sound of that name – it was unmistakably a human name, and carried down from her Greek ancestors. The ones who had invented the lyre. “That’s… That’s fantastic news!” Audrey said. “Yeah,” Lyra said. “ “I still can’t believe how we found them… That was just crazy luck, or something.” “Speaking of which, have you talked to Randall lately?” Lyra said. “He was your friend, not really mine,” Audrey said. “I’ve got no clue what he’s up to these days.” “Hmm… You know, I’ve been thinking I want to find another band out here. Get back to playing guitar,” Lyra said. “I really miss that.” “Yeah. But, Lyra…” Audrey’s voice lowered. “You’ve been… okay, right? No more... I mean, have you told your family…” About Equestria? Lyra could tell that's what she meant. “No, I told you. I was just… Kidding. That was all. I shouldn’t have said anything,” Lyra said. “We’re just going to work through it… Not knowing what happened, I mean. I still can’t remember.” “That’s what worries me. Memory loss usually isn't a good sign.” “It’s fine. Everything’s fine,” Lyra said. “I really don’t want to talk about it.” She heard Audrey sigh. “Well… How’s everything else over there?” Lyra’s mood brightened again. “Great! I found a cool bookstore today…” She talked with Audrey for a little while longer. Back at the airport it had felt like she was leaving everything behind again, but… not quite. Thanks to human technology, she could still talk to her friends in Des Moines. It wasn’t like leaving Equestria, and knowing that her contact with her friends there was all lost… In an odd way, Lyra felt like she was back in Ponyville, staying up late to research the history of humans. The book she had gotten about American history was just one of countless others available to her in this world. Once she was done with this one, she could go back and find tons more information. That feeling of uncovering ancient secrets wasn’t quite the same – there had been no hunt through the archives, the book was fairly fresh with clean white pages. Not to mention she was using her very own hands to turn each page. But it was still exciting. Her hands practically shook with anticipation as she began reading. This country of America was a little under two and a half centuries old. Compared to how long Equestria had stood, that was nothing. Princess Luna’s banishment by itself had lasted over four times as long as that. And to think – Lyra’s first breathtaking glimpse of Des Moines had led her to think that the city must have stood for millennia. This book started off with the basics. There actually was no Princess in this country – or a king, or a queen. They had something called a “president.” Who that was now, Lyra had no idea. They had four year terms, and the book wasn’t quite that recent, so whoever was in charge in 2012 would have changed by now. At eighteen years old, humans could actually vote for the new president, among other things. And that made Lyra realize that her own birthday was coming up soon. Summer was just about over, it would be fall before too long. She would be seventeen years old in probably a few weeks. She wasn’t sure of the exact date, since her Equestrian family wouldn’t actually have known the right day, but her birthday had always been in the fall, so it might be close. She wasn’t old enough to participate in her human country’s government yet. And she wasn’t old enough to drink. Or even just live by herself, though she wasn’t in a hurry for that. She smiled to herself. No wonder Bon-Bon had always scolded her for being so childish. Lyra hadn’t thought much about Bon-Bon lately. That was for the better, though. They had gone their separate ways. Bon-Bon would live out the rest of her days as an ordinary pony making a comfortable living in Ponyville, and Lyra had, impossibly, gotten the chance to live out an “ordinary” human life. In this place called “America.” She turned back to the book in front of her to find out more about what that meant. Now she was looking at the early history of the country. There were a few mentions of countries she was familiar with. England, Portugal, and, yes, even France. America had split off from England, so that would explain why they called this language “English.” It didn’t explain how it was the same as the Equestrian dialect Lyra had always spoken in. She wondered if she'd ever find those answers. But, in order to become a country, those early American humans had… “No…” Lyra whispered. So humans did fight each other, and they didn’t even need Discord to start it. She looked ahead, and - yes, there were even more. It was like humans defined their history around what wars had taken place. Lyra had to stop reading. After the Gala, when Princess Celestia had told her about humans, she’d said that war was an unavoidable part of human nature. Even before Discord, they’d fought amongst themselves for whatever reasons they could think of. Lyra had spent two sleepless nights wondering if that was really what humans – what her own species – did. She had come here to reassure herself that humans were better than that. But here in this world they’d never completely ended their species. And the book seemed to know that wars were terrible, that was clear from the way it described them. Flipping ahead, it looked like some of the more recent wars had resulted in protests. Humans knew that it wasn’t right… They must. There was enough war in America’s history that they classified periods of time by them, and yet Lyra didn’t understand how they could even start in the first place. What would drive a human to think that was the way to solve a conflict? She’d been in such nice neighborhoods, made friends with all sorts of different humans. It was hard to accept that they were anything like Princess Celestia had made them out to be. Her head hurt. She’d deal with this later. She set the history book aside and picked up the other one. It would be less stressful, she was sure. This one was just a novel – The Last Unicorn. The unicorn in question was pure white and blank-flanked. He (or she) looked too much like those horses Lyra had seen back in Iowa. She wondered if this unicorn could even talk. Already Lyra was having her doubts about this one, but she needed to know what humans thought about unicorns. Maybe they were just as misinformed as ponies were of them. That did seem to be the case, as she discovered. This unicorn was so graceful and beautiful and stupid that she was practically devoid of personality, and she lived out in the woods instead of in a civilized town… But the line at the beginning about this unicorn and how “she was no longer the careless color of sea foam” made Lyra shudder. It was only a coincidence… Plenty of unicorns were that color. There was her, and then there were... Others. She just couldn't think of names right now. Lyra hadn't been expected to be so frustrated by this book. What did she really care about unicorns, anyway? It had just been simple curiosity. More about what her little sister was into than her own personal interest... She yawned, and set the book on the nightstand with the other as her eyes fell closed... The phone started ringing – in an odd way, it almost had a musical quality, but it quickly got irritating. “Could you get that, Lyra?” her dad called from the other room. Lyra stood up and crossed the room to where the phone was sitting and picked it up. “Hello?” She gave the standard greeting. “Lyra? Oh, thank goodness. I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for ages – “ She frowned. “Uh, who is this?” The voice was hard to identify again. It sounded oddly familiar. “Come now, Lyra. You haven’t been gone that long. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten your old roommate already!” Her eyes widened. She moved a hand up to press the phone closer against her face. “Oh my gosh, Bon-Bon? Is that really…” “Oh, you do remember! I’m flattered.” “I can’t believe it’s really you! How have you been?” “Still the same as ever, though the house is noticeably quieter… And yourself? You just up and disappeared without a single word. I'd like to know what was so important.” “It’s fantastic here, Bon-Bon!” Lyra said. “I wish you could see this place. Philadelphia is a huge city. And there’s so many more like it. There’s humans everywhere.” “Sounds like you’re enjoying yourself.” Bon-Bon’s voice was flat. Lyra could just imagine her scowling. “You bet! You used to say we didn’t even exist,” Lyra said. She paused, and shifted the phone by her ear. “Wait. Bon-Bon, how do you know how to – “ Lyra sat up in bed, stared at her dark bedroom, and instantly groaned and fell back down. She ran her fingers through her hair. What was wrong with her? Thinking that Bon-Bon could get a phone and just call to see how she was doing? She took a deep breath. It would pass. Sooner or later, this would all be over. After all, they’d proven it. She was a human… Even if it didn’t always feel that way. Lyra took the book out to the back porch one afternoon and settled down in one of the wooden chairs, bracing herself for more painful misinformation. To be fair, this "Peter S. Beagle" probably never expected anyone who had actually been a unicorn to read his book. Just like her dad had said about his own books – magic was “made up” so writers could do whatever they wanted with it. It was just ridiculous, though. Not only did this unicorn not have a cutie mark (it was never mentioned in the story, but she could see it on the cover), she didn’t even have a name. Plus she just lived out in the woods, not in a proper house like a civilized pony. Lyra glanced up at the trees all around her. Well, she lived in the woods now. In Ponyville they all lived away from the forests. It was almost ironic. It didn’t make sense how this unicorn could live by herself and not realize she was “the last of her kind.” Or how there could be humans in the same world as unicorns, and nobody thought it was strange. And even more strangely, the unicorn couldn’t use magic, but her human companion could. Lyra liked him better. He was kind of clumsy, but he seemed to get things done. That was more than could be said about this unicorn. Her fingers flipped through the pages slowly, and she thought about setting the book aside again and heading inside. But then – it was in the middle of the nameless unicorn being chased by the evil bull or whatever it was – something happened. That human magician she was traveling with turned her into a human. Lyra smiled. Finally, this unicorn was about to get some sense knocked into her. Lyra remembered the exact moment when the same thing had happened to her – the initial confusion, and how it was quickly replaced with relief and sheer joy once she moved her fingers for the first time and stood up on her own two legs. But… something was wrong. This unicorn was acting like becoming human was some terrible thing. What was her problem? Humans could do so much more, they looked so much better. And it wasn’t even like this unicorn had ever used magic. She was shocked to be in a “mortal body” now or something. And ever since Lyra had come here and moved in with her parents, she had actually been feeling younger. Lyra had to fight not to throw the book out into the yard. But she glanced up at the sound of the back door sliding open, and noticed Chloe had come outside. “What book is that?” she asked. She still kept her distance on the other side of the deck. Lyra closed the book and held it up for her to see the cover. “It’s called The Last Unicorn.” “You like unicorns, too?” Chloe said. She moved a little bit closer, eyes focused on the book. “Well…” Lyra’s face twisted. “Kind of. I just wanted to see what this book was about, that's all.” Chloe nodded and looked away. Lyra looked at the cover illustration again. Maybe she was reacting too hard to everything the book said – after all, she had never really been a unicorn. She’d technically always been a human. An idea struck her. “Chloe, you seem to know a lot about unicorns,” Lyra said. She swallowed a lump in her throat, then asked, “Have you ever... heard of Equestria?” It felt strange to actually say that word out loud. Lyra practically had to force it out. And yet, now that she’d said it, she was feeling better. Maybe Monica had been right. She did just need to get it off her chest. “No. What’s that?” Chloe asked. “Is that what your book is about?” She pointed at it. Lyra smiled. “No, this book doesn’t know anything about real unicorns.” “Well, what do you know about them?” “Equestria is where all the unicorns live. But there’s also pegasi, and earth ponies. Only the unicorns can use magic, but all of the ponies are still important.” Chloe seemed interested now. “Where did you learn about that?” “Well… It’s just a story I’ve heard,” Lyra said. Chloe took a seat in the other chair next to Lyra’s, and leaned it closer. “Tell me.” Lyra smiled. “Where do I start…” She told her all about Canterlot, the capitol city where the Princess lived. And about Cloudsdale, where the pegasi made all of Equestria’s weather. And about the ponies who lived in Ponyville – Twilight Sparkle, the expert on magic; Fluttershy, with all of her animals she took care of; Pinkie Pie, who worked at Sugarcube Corner and drove her coworker Bon-Bon up the wall every single day… And, of course, about a unicorn musician named Heartstrings.