Chapter One
The Home by the Woods
A young Lyra Heartstrings hummed happily to herself as she trotted down the road. She’d had another successful performance in the park, gathering nearly 150 bits over the course of the day in her lyre case. She’d been trying to make a living out of her music ever since she moved out of her parent’s house about seven months ago.
If she kept it up, maybe, just maybe she’d be able to sustain herself like this. She smiled to herself. Finally, her dream had the possibility of coming true! Making a living with her lyre while she stayed with her loving special someone!
She picked up her pace, even though she wanted to enjoy as much of the beautiful springtime afternoon as possible, she couldn’t wait to make it home.
It was in the outskirts of Ponyville, in an obscure corner on the border of the town and the Everfree Forrest.
But as she approached her little cottage, she slowed down as she noticed that all the lights were turned off.
“Weird…” she said to herself. “He should be back by now.”
She went up to the front door, through the small garden, and readied her key with her magic, but found that the door was already open. Carefully, she peered in.
The hall was dark.
“Hello? Sweetie?” she called out.
There was no response.
She gulped and grabbed an umbrella for self-defense with her magic form the stand near the door. Holding it aloft, she crept forward. She glanced into her tiny living room that was filled only with an old loveseat, a bulky television set, and a lamp without a lampshade.
Any other pony would assume that someone had stolen all their stuff, but, in all actuality, they were just dirt poor.
She moved on towards the kitchen, just when she heard a floorboard creak behind her. She froze.
Something touched her side.
With a yelp, she jumped up in fright.
“Gotcha!” exclaimed her attacker, wrapping his arms around her midsection.
Lyra gasped. “Ah! Scoundrel!” she shouted as she batted him in the head with the umbrella.
The human laughed to himself as he brought her in close. “You should have seen the look on your face!”
He was a short, skinny thing with light brown skin and darker brown hair.
“That wasn’t funny Benjy!” she said with a pout as she dropped the umbrella.
“You wanna bet?” he said, grinning.
“Ah come on, I’ve been sitting on a park bench all day, I just want to come home to some nice quiet time on the couch.”
“Well, if you say so,” replied Benjy, hoisting her up bridal style.
“Eeep!” she squealed.
He carried her into the living room and sat down with her squarely on his lap. His arms still curled around her, he gave her a kiss on the cheek. “So tell me, how went today at work?”
“Like…it was good. I made a good amount of bits. How about you?” she asked.
“Well, same old, same old, not much changes when you just bag and sell groceries for a living. Although, there was this woman with a lisp who paid for her one hundred and seventy dollar purchase completely in two dollar bills. That was…interesting.”
Lyra giggled and snuggled against his body. As he turned on the TV to some cartoons, she thought about how their little arrangement had come to be.
“Hey Benjy.”
“Mhm?”
“I want you to tell me a story.”
“What kind of story?”
“The one about the human boy and the little green unicorn.”
He smiled. “You sure? Haven’t you heard that one a million times,” he replied teasingly.
“Oh, but It’s my favorite.”
“Alright. If you say so.” He cleared his throat and turned down the TV’s volume. “Once upon a time, there was a little boy who was bored to death in his backyard with no one to play with.”
“And why was that?”
“Cuz all the other kids thought he was a weirdo who made clown statues out of clay. But that’s a story for another time. Anyways, on that particular day, he set off into the woods behind his family’s house, even though that was forbidden, to seek out adventure.
“By some odd quirk of the universe he left the Earth behind as he passed through the gap between these two ancient oak trees.
From there, he eventually stumbled into a meadow where one very special filly was frolicking about. Not to be a rude boy, he cordially introduced himself.”
Lyra snorted. “I seem to recall someone jumping onto my back and shouting ‘Tiny Pony!!!’”
“Really, and who was that?”
“Just get on with it.”
“This particular filly was all alone in this pasture because all of the other foals though she was weird for, what was it again, Honey?”
“Believing that Celestia was secretly a lizard pony.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t because you thought your dentist was a super villain?”
“Hey, I was right about that.”
“Regardless, after discovering a small talking unicorn, he proceed to take the most logical course of action, and played with her all day. They quickly became the bestest of friends,” he continued.
“But since unicorns are make believe—“
“Just like talking hairless orangutans.”
“--they kept their play partner a secret, even as they met each other in that same field by the woods every day they could.”
“Not completely secret. Remember that time I pretended you were my pet,” said Lyra.
“You know, I didn’t really mind wearing that collar.”
“I bet you didn’t, you bad boy,” she said with a sultry smile.
“I also didn’t really mind that you were always a much better friend than all the humans my age,” he added.
“Same,” replied Lyra. “All the other colts and fillies really thought I was strange after I started sitting upright like you did.” She shifted in his lap, so that they were now nose to nose. “Is that the end of the story?”
“Well, if it was, it’d be far too short,” he told her, as he ran a hand idly through her mane. “The boy learned about the unicorn’s world, and he listened as she learned how to play the lyre. So, after some time, and puberty, he fell madly in love with her.”
“That filly learned about his world too, and read those cheesy comics and books with him,” continued Lyra. “And eventually, she fell madly in love with that handsome human boy.”
She booped his nose with hers, and stared deeply into his eyes. “I really, really love you Benjy,” she told him.
He smiled. “I love you to, Lyra. In case you didn’t know, you mean the world to me. Both of them, actually.”
They kissed passionately. Open mouth, tongue, all that smexy stuff.
Lyra started to lift up his t-shirt, tickling him with her magic as she did. Too bad they were interrupted with a loud knock at the door.
They paused. Lyra sighed and Benjy frowned.
“I’ll get it,” she said with a huff, jumping down from the chair. “Make sure to stay out of their line of sight. We don’t want another Cheerilee incident again. She won’t stop sending me pamphlets on demon exorcising agencies.”
“You don’t have to worry about me,” he replied as she trudged to the front door.
When she finally opened it, she found a pony in a hooded cloak standing in the doorway. It was twilight out, and the shadow of their hood obscured their face.
“Um...can I help you?” asked Lyra.
“Yeah,” they replied in a gravely voice. “Can you tell me if this rag smells like chloroform?”
“Hah! Like I’m gonna fall for--” began Lyra before a small wet towel was flung in her face.
She reeled back, and tried to throw it off, but the strange pony’s hoof pressed it against her maw.
She was only able to neigh in distress before she collapsed to the floor. The strange pony stepped over her and continued into her home.
“Hey! What’s going on!?” shouted Benjy.
There was no response from the intruder.
The last thing Lyra heard before she passed out was an ear splitting, human scream.