Incident 2- "Who was that girl?"
"So, let me get this straight,” I said as I traversed the courtyard below the women’s dorms. "I'm no longer on planet Earth?"
"That's the thing," answered Lyra. "We don't know. In my history studies, I've found the names of humans you may recognize, but people say without the concrete evidence to prove it, we may as well be flailing in the dark."
"And that's where I come in?" I asked. "All I have to do is confirm that humans existed and be on my way? Sounds simple enough."
"Yes, but simple does not always mean easy," explained Twilight. "Unless you can somehow prove that you are a human and not a trick we concocted, than they won’t believe it."
"Sounds like a tall glass to fill..." I said dejectedly. “How exactly am I supposed to do that?"
“Dunno,” she admitted. “I don’t doubt you’ll find some evidence though.” I sighed, suddenly thinking about what would happen if I mucked up trying to prove my humanity. Suddenly we stopped in front of a large open gate. In front of us was a large street full of multicolor skinned people moving about and minding their business. The interesting part was the amount of people with different bodies. Where one had nothing and traveled on the ground, the other had wings and zipped across the sky. Some had horns like Twilight and Lyra and simply traveled like the normal ones.
“This is the entrance to our school’s residential area,” said Lyra, pointing towards the large gate. “Past here is part city, part campus.”
“Huh?” I asked, confused by how she described the city. “How does that work?”
“Well, this isn’t technically restricted to students of the Academy. This street is technically named Neighsayers Avenue, but all the students just call it Point Street. They call it that because it’s the main point on campus.” She gestured to all the students moving by. “These are our fellow students at Celestial Academy, from the different divisions the school is broken down into.”
“I guess that makes sense…” I said. “Do you guys have classes to attend now?”
“Uh...today is Saturday. I haven’t signed up for an extra class-”
“But I have,” interrupted Twilight. “I have Arcane Etymology 4 Honors, but that doesn't start till 3."
"Arcane Etymology?" I asked. "What is that?"
"It's the study of magic incantations and spell words," she said with happiness. "In the honors class, we even go as far back as Starswirl's Grimoires to-"
"It's the most boring, tedious class ever," explained Lyra, getting a frown from Twilight. "I'm sorry Twi, I just don't want the guy to get the wrong idea."
"Anyway, classes aside, we brought you to Point Street because of the time." I pulled out my phone and pressed the middle button. In bright white numbers, the phone displayed 1:34.
"It's 1:34," I recited. "What's so special about 1:34?"
"Well duh, it's lunchtime," said Lyra. "I'm really in the mood for some tacos."
"Oh, I almost forgot about that," said Twilight returning to her earlier state. "I did promise you that we'd have some tacos didn't I?" She nodded at me. "However, now we have Aj to feed. Do you eat vegetarian meat?"
"Never tried it," I admitted. "Does it taste good?"
“That’s up to your taste buds, now isn’t it?” said Twilight.
“I guess…” I said, following them down the street full of people. While they made it seem like wading through the crowd was easy, I can assure you, without the proper training, it’s not. A string of the phrase“excuse me” and apologies later, we reached the restaurant, a heavily populated place with people of all different ilks. As we walked in, a woman wearing a long blue and black dress came to show us to our table. After we were seated at one of the many tables, she whisked away to deal with others quickly only to return to our table carrying a notepad.
“What’re ya having?” she said quickly bouncing on her feet.
“3 tacos please,” said Lyra. Before even confirming she heard us, she basically skated away to the next cluster of guests. Once she was out of sight, I looked back towards my own table.
“You know,” said Twilight breaking the silence. “We could perform our own small experiment right here.” Lyra’s eyes lit up at the mention of an experiment.
“Really?” she said excitedly. “What are we going to do?”
“Don’t get your hopes up. It’s just a few a questions while we wait for our tacos.” she put her elbows on the table and leaned forwards, narrowing her eyes. “Tell me Aj. What is school like on Earth?”
“It’s not fun, I can tell you that,” I said. “You’ve got to go through 5 different sections all so that you can be successful. I’m lucky because I want to be a programmer. I don’t need any years of school to be successful, I just need to be good.”
“Hm,” thought Twilight. “I see. Another question. Do you belong to any religion?”
“No, I’m an atheist,” I admitted. “An atheist doesn’t belong to any religion.”
“Do you have any siblings?” asked Lyra. “What about a girlfriend?”
“Yes, and not currently, no,” I answered. “I have two sisters, Rin and Bery.”
“What about your parents?” said Twilight. “Do you keep in touch with them?”
“Yeah, I was living with my dad prior to my... involuntary leave.” I closed my eyes. “ And as for my mom… we try not to talk about my mom.”
“Here you go, three tacos, right?” asked the server girl. She placed out three plates before leaving to the next table. I took a bite and let my mouth fill with warm deliciousness. It was so good I almost cried.
“This is amazing!” I said louder than expected. After sharing apologetic gazes with the people around us, I continued. “What is it that they put in here?”
“It’s just vegetarian meat, tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese,” explained Lyra. “Have you never tasted it before?”
“Never,” I said taking another bite. “I think I might get into this.”
A-anyway, I have more questions,” said Twilight. “Of course, only if you’re willing to answer.”
We spent a long time at that restaurant. I sat and told them all I could remember about history in exchange for a few more tacos. Once my hunger subsided, I sat in a daze as Twilight jotted down various notes about what I had said in her notepad. Apparently done taking notes for now, she clicked her pen.
“I would love to sit here and ask you more questions, but it is a quarter to three, so I should really be going.,” She gave her notepad to Lyra. “Make sure you to stay out of trouble while I’m gone, okay?” Lyra rolled her eyes.
“Twilight, I’m not a filly anymore. I can handle myself with at least a bit of responsibility.”
“Is that so?” asked Twilight. “Because I distinctly remember you being the one to get too drunk last Summer Sun Celebration and-”
“Okay, okay, I thought we agreed never to talk about that ever again.” Her eyes flashed to me. “Especially not with anyone else around.”
“Yes, I did promise, didn’t I?” she said standing up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I will be gone for a few hours. Take care.” She disappeared in a flash of purple light, nearly blinding me. After my eyes resettled, I found the tables around us were unhappy with the interruption, evident by the glares.
“Um, Lyra?” I said getting her attention. “I think we should leave before we become more unwanted.”
“Agreed,” she said. We both got up and left the shop, merging straight into a crowd of ponies. Somehow, I’d learned to wade through the crowds in the short amount of time since I first did it. Soon, we were where we started, at the top of Point St. We started heading in a different direction.
“So, now what Lyra?” I asked. "Where are we going?”
“I was thinking about doing some actual experiments. Nothing dangerous, just body dissection.”
“I really hope you’re joke-” I bumped into something, sending it crashing to the ground. After I stopped being disoriented, I looked on the floor and saw a woman with yellow skin and pink hair look up at me. She had wings matching her skin color spread outwards, although she wasn’t using them to fly. Once she looked into my own brown eyes, both of us blushed, her in embarrassment, and me in awe.
“I’m so sorry!’ she apologized, gathering herself. “I did not see you there.”
“Sorry about that Fluttershy,” said Lyra. “He’s new here. He didn’t know to watch out.”
“Oh,” she said looking at me up and down. “It’s okay Lyra. I’ll see you later.” She scuttled past me without another word, me just standing there, completely speechless. It took Lyra waving her hand in my face to tear me out of my own thoughts.
“Hey Lyra…” I started. “Who...who was that girl?”
“Oh her? That’s Fluttershy, one of Twilight’s friends.” She turned and continued to walk on, me following suit. “As her name entails, she is usually very shy to people she doesn’t know.”
“I see,” I said as I walked. “So if she’s one of Twilight’s friends, I’ll end up seeing her again sometime, right?”
“Wait a second,” said Lyra. “You have a crush on her, don't you?”
“I’d be surprised if anyone didn’t,” I replied. “Actually, do you know?”
“Well, there is Arct Shine, but he’s a jock,” she shook her head. “She’s too timid for that lifestyle. Other than him, no one has openly admitted any feeling for her.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” I said. “I thought there would be a whole fanclub of people in love with Fluttershy…”
“Maybe. Nobody has had enough courage to say that they like her to her face, though.” I sighed, knowing that I was getting distracted from what I should've been thinking about.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” I said to her. “I’m not going to be here long enough to make any sort of relationship with her happen.”
“Oh really?” asked Lyra. “I disagree, I think you could get with her if you really tried. It’d be a cool experiment.”
“Yeah, yeah, you and your experiments." I said jokingly. "Anyway ,we were going where?"
"Unless I misunderstood myself, we should not be here." I said as I stood outside a dorm room. "I already told you, I'm not interested in her."
"I know, I know," said Lyra. "All I want you to do is talk to her. You can do that, right?" I frowned in her direction, not amused by her insistence that I talk with Fluttershy. She looked at me with eyes that reminded me of Bery. I sighed before knocking at the door. A shuffling could be heard before a voice popped up from inside.
"Who is it?" said Fluttershy on the other side of the door. I expected Lyra to answer, but she stood there waiting for me. I rolled my eyes in annoyance and answered.
“It’s Lyra’s friend, Aj,” I said reluctantly. “Lyra is also here.” I heard a lock click before the door opened slightly. Fluttershy’s face poked out of the door.
“Um… hello,” she said in a quiet voice. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re just here to pay you a visit,” said Lyra. “Can we come in?”
“S-sure, I guess,” she said opening the door all the way. “Would you like some tea?”
We ended up entering her dorm room which smelled heavily of vanilla flavor. It also seemed to be fit for one person, unlike Twilight and Lyra’s dorm room. As I sat down on the couch next to Lyra, Fluttershy brewed a fresh cup of tea in a kettle plugged into a small desk in the corner of the room. As we all sat down to drink, the room became eerily quiet. If only Lyra would’ve stayed like that..
“So Fluttershy,” started Lyra. “How’s Arct these days?”
“Oh, I don’t know…” she said sloshing around her tea. “I try not to leave my room unless I have to.”
“Ah, I see.” Lyra’s eyes wandered to me, expecting me to ask another question. I drank from my glass before proceeding.
“So Fluttershy,” I started, ready for any answer. “What did you come to this school to study-”
“I study Veterinary Medicine,” she said a bit louder than she normally did, her face full of spirit. “I do love taking care of my critters here.”
“Oh,” I said taking another sip of my tea. “So you like animals?”
“Yes. Very very much.” She placed her cup on the table before leaping up and heading towards her bed where she clasped something on it. She came back to sit down, a small bunny nestling in her hands. “This is my pet Angel Bunny. We spend a lot of time together.” She looked up at me. “Do you have any pets Aj?”
“I had a snake, but my sister Rin took her to college. Her name was Lisbeth.” Lyra looked at me with a smile on her face. I didn’t know whether to be confused or scared, so I just sipped my tea.
“Hey, Fluttershy,” said Lyra butting into our conversation. “It’s getting pretty late. Wouldn’t you like to continue this conversation later?”
“Well, only if you wanted to listen,” said Fluttershy.
“I guess I could learn something new about snakes, but only if I wouldn’t be a bother.” I said.
“No, no, you wouldn’t be a bother,” responded Fluttershy. “I don’t normally have company over, but I think I can manage.”
“Well then, that settles that,” said Lyra loudly. “C’mon Aj, Twilight is probably looking for us.”
“Oh yeah,” I said putting down the cup on the table. “Thank you for the tea Fluttershy.” I got up and followed Lyra out of the room. After the door closed, I gave Lyra the hardest glare I muster.
“W-what?” she asked walking away. “What did I do?”
“I thought I specifically said I didn’t want to get mixed up in this.”
“You’re not mixed up in anything,” she promised. “It’ll just be a little conversation between two people trying to be friends, nothing more.” Although I wanted to argue, I couldn’t. I sighed and started following her.
“I guess, but don’t blow anything out of proportion, okay?” I heard her chuckle.
“Okay.”