//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 (Going to the "Doctor") 
// Story: Moving Day 
// by Timothy48 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 6

 
“What’s a hoomun?”
 
The room was silent following Palisade’s question as everyone waited for Twilight to reply.
 
After several awkward moments, Twilight hesitantly said, “W-well, it’s not supposed to be anything other than a mythical creature, found in old mare’s tales and recently used as a quasi-antagonist in a popular fictional series...that...um...” noticing Blueblood’s unamused look, Twilight felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment as she trailed off.  
 
“So what you are saying is, that we are dealing with a make believe creature?” asked Blueblood.
 
Feeling as if her cheeks would suddenly combust from how hot they felt, Twilight stammered, “W-well, t-the evidence that w-we currently have s-seems to indicate that it could be a hoomun...um...maybe?”
 
Blueblood rubbed his forehead with a hoof. “So you are not sure then?”
 
Twilight merely shook her head in reply, which elicited a sigh from the tired prince.
 
“Well then, seeing as how none of us here have a detailed knowledge of this ‘hoomun’, perhaps we should look for somepony who is familiar with mythical creatures,” letting his hoof drop from his face, he swept his gaze across the room, “I don’t suppose any of you know where we may obtain said pony?” he asked tiredly.
 
Clearing her throat, Twilight hesitantly raised a hoof and said, “I think I might know of somepony who can help, and if memory serves me right, which it usually does, she should be in town for the week visiting her friend.”
 
“And just who is this pony, Ms. Sparkle?”
 
“Oh, just an old acquaintance of mine from Canterlot, her name is Lyra Heartstrings, she’s really big into mythology, and mythological creatures, at least she was when I was living in Canterlot that is.”
 
“And why would that make a difference?” asked Blueblood.
 
“Weeeellll,” began Twilight, a sheepish look on her face, “Lyra’s prone to...oh, how to put this? Um, flights of fancy on occasion. She’ll find a topic that interests her, pursue it with a determination that sometimes borders on obsession for a time, grow bored with it, and promptly drop it in favor of something new. Though she did say that she was going for a doctorate in mythology while I was there, but knowing her, she probably didn’t finish it. Just like all the other times before that,” finished Twilight with an eyeroll, though by this point she was talking more to herself than the others in the room.
 
“I see, well, in anycase it is a lead worth pursuing. I trust that you know where we can find your friend?”
 
“I wouldn’t really call her a friend per se...” began Twilight, though at seeing Blueblood’s frown deepen, she quickly continued on saying, “But, yes, I do know where to find her!”
 
Giving a single nod, Blueblood quickly rose from his seat and trotted towards the exit.
 
“Excellent, then you will lead myself, and Ranger Ash Fall to your friend’s home and we'll see whether or not she can be persuaded to lend us her knowledge and talents. Lieutenant,” continued Blueblood, having turned his attention to Palisade, “I want you to remain here and make sure that the hoomun doesn’t escape,” when he saw the lieutenant open his mouth, he quickly cut him off saying, “I know you are not well versed in containment operations, nor that your guards are well versed in nighttime maneuvers, but I have faith that you will be fine. Moreover, I shall be leaving Ranger Soft Wind behind to assist you and your pony’s in your duties. Now, you are dismissed.”
 
Giving a salute, Palisade quickly re-donned his helmet and took off into the night to relay the Prince’s orders.
 
Meanwhile, Blueblood had already departed, trotting briskly towards town, and forcing Twilight and Ranger Ash Fall to play catch up. Luckily there was a full moon that night, and the sky was cloudless, giving decent illumination for the small party as they made their way back to Ponyville.
 
Glancing back over his shoulder, Blueblood called back and asked, “So tell me Twilight, where exactly does your friend live?”
 
Pausing for a moment to orient herself, Twilight replied, “She lives close to Sugar Cube Corner on Mane Street. It’s this way,” she said, quickly setting off in the direction of Sugar Cube Corner, with Blueblood and Ash Fall following close behind.
 
After a short time, they arrived at a modest two story home and shop about a block down the street from the bakery. A cheery looking sign hung above the door, the words, Bon Bon’s Confectionary and Coffee Shop emblazoned on it in flowing purple letters in front of a cream colored background. A steaming mug of coffee with a pair of bon bons framing either side of the mug further identifying it as a place to find tasty treats and a quick pick me up for those needing it.
 
In addition, the shop had a large display window that allowed ponies to see what tasty candies were being offered that day in an attempt to entice them inside and get them to part with their hard earned bits. Currently however, the inside of the shop was dark, and when Twilight looked up at the second floor windows, she found that they too were dark, which most likely meant that the inhabitants were asleep.
 
Drat, looks like they’re both asleep, guess we’ll just have to come back in the morni-
 
The sound of hooves knocking against wood derailed her train of thought as Twilight turned to stare incredulously at Blueblood, who was still knocking rather loudly on Bon Bon’s door.
 
“What are you doing?!” she cried, aghast at Bluebloods lack of thought for common decency.
 
Cocking an eyebrow at her, Blueblood deadpanned, “I’m knocking on the door, obviously.”
 
Sputtering, Twilight shot back, “I know that! What I meant is, why are you knocking on their door so late at night?! It’s rude you know!”
 
Blueblood opened his mouth to respond, however the sound of somepony crashing into something, and cursing, from the second floor cut him off. Moments later a window was thrown rather violently open and an angry, and rather tired looking, cream colored face glared down upon the group from above.  
 
“What in the hay do you three want!? Do you have any idea of what time it is?!” screeched Bon Bon, a vein visibly throbbing on her forehead.
 
Stepping back from the door slightly, Blueblood called up, “I am Prince Blueblood, nephew to Princess Celestia and Luna, and Duke of Canterlot, I am here with Ms. Sparkle and Ranger Ash Fall to talk to a Ms. Lyra Heartstrings, I was told that she was here tonight.”
 
“She is, but whatever it is you want, you can come back when the sun is up, like decent ponies! It’s three in the morning for Epona’s sake!”
 
Unswayed by her outburst, Blueblood replied, “I am aware of the time, but we don’t have time to wait for morning. We must speak with Ms. Heartstrings now!”
 
Opening her mouth to give another angry retort, Bon Bon found herself cut short as a pair of mint green hooves sleepily snaked their way around her neck and gently pulled her back into the darkened interior of the room. After a moment, a muted conversation began that lasted for several minutes before a sleepy looking unicorn stuck her head out the window and said, “Sorry about Bon Bon there, she’s not much of a morning pony until she’s had her coffee, if you’ll give me a sec, I’ll come down and unlock the door for you.”
 
With her piece said, she pulled the window shut with her golden magic, leaving the three ponies to wait below.
 
As they waited, they watched as the golden glow of Lyra’s horn faded from the upstairs window, leaving it once more dark, it reappeared moments later as Lyra reached the lower floor of the shop. A soft golden light bathed the three through the window as Lyra turned on the lights within, before unlocking and opening the front door, a sleepy expression on her face as she gazed at the three late night visitors.
 
Letting loose a large yawn, Lyra motioned for them to come in, shutting the door behind them, as the last of them filed inside. Trotting sleepily towards a nearby table, she flopped down on one of the colorful cushions surrounding it.
 
Taking that as an invitation to do the same, Twilight, Blueblood, and Ash each took a cushion for themselves, once everyone had settled, Lyra gave another large yawn, before asking, “So, what’s up?”
 
Blueblood cleared his throat, and replied saying, “First of all, I would like to apologize for waking you at such a late hour, but I am afraid that it could not wait till morning. As you know, Discord was recently freed from his stone prison. This naturally caused a fair amount of chaos across the countryside due to his antics.”
 
Lyra nodded sleepily, her eyelid struggling to stay open due to the late hour.
 
Seeing that he was losing her to sleep, Blueblood decided to get straight to the point.
 
“Ms. Heartstrings,” he began, “what can you tell me about ‘hoomuns’?”
 
At first Lyra didn’t react, beyond her ear giving a twitch, and at first Blueblood was afraid that she had fallen asleep. However, after a moment, Lyra managed to pry her heavy head from off the table to give Blueblood a tired glare.
 
“It’s pronounced humans, not, hoomuns,” she said, before getting up from the table and trotting to the service counter behind her, muttering to herself as she went, “Stupid authors, can’t be bother to properly research things anymore,” her mutterings became indistinct as she ducked behind the counter, the sounds of her rummaging around quickly drowning out her voice.
 
Blueblood meanwhile shot Twilight a confused glance, to which she shrugged in response, equally as lost as he was as to Lyra’s behavior. After several moments, a triumphant, “Ah ha!” sounded from behind the counter as Lyra emerged with a small coffee container and measuring scoop.
 
Setting the container on the counter, she began the process of brewing herself a strong cup of coffee, as she figured she wouldn’t be getting back to bed anytime soon.
 
As she worked, she called out, “Did any of you want any coffee?”
 
Mute nods from both Twilight and Blueblood were the only response. Turning to look at Ash Fall, she asked, “And what about you?”
 
He shook his head. “No thank you, I never acquired a taste for coffee.”    
 
Shrugging, she replied, “Suit yourself, more for me,” and with that she returned to her task, humming quietly to herself. After several minutes, the coffee was done, and a pair of mugs landed in front of both Twilight and Blueblood, the fresh smell of coffee tickling their noses with its alluring scent.
 
Thanking their hostess, both Twilight and Blueblood each took a sip, taking a moment to savor both its flavor, and its energizing effects, however brief they may be.
 
Letting loose a content sigh, Blueblood gently set his mug down on the table in front of him, before turning his attention to Lyra.
 
“Now, you were saying something about hoomuns, Ms. Heartstrings?” he asked, an inquisitive look adorning his face.
 
Letting go a happy sigh of her own as the caffeine took effect, Lyra nodded. “Yes, but as I said before, it’s pronounced human.”
 
“Human,” muttered Blueblood to himself, he repeated it quietly to himself several times, as if in an attempt to commit it to memory. After a few moments of this, he glanced back up at Lyra and said, “So, humans, what can you tell us about them?”
 
Lyra hummed thoughtfully to herself before replying, “What did you want to know?”
 
Blueblood’s answer was immediate. “Are they dangerous?”
 
Lyra blinked, nonplussed by the sudden turn of the conversation. After several silent moments, she scratched her chin with a hoof before saying, “Well, not really, at least if they are by themselves and you don’t give them any reason to fear for their lives that is.”
 
“Could you elaborate on that please?” asked Twilight, a quill and parchment piece appearing out of thin air in her magical aura.
 
Scratching her chin once more, Lyra hesitantly replied, “Well, currently I’m doing research for my doctorate’s thesis at Canterlot University. While I was looking through the archives, I came across several old manuscripts from the Classical Age, luckily I was able to have them translated into modern Equinish, and-”
 
“Wait,” interrupted Twilight, “are you saying that you’re still working on your doctorate right now?”
 
Lyra gave a happy nod. “Sure am! I’ve got about a year and a half left before I’m finished.”
 
Twilight stared dumbfounded at Lyra, as if unable to process the fact that Lyra of all ponies was about to graduate with a doctorate from one of the most prestigious universities in Equestria.
 
Lyra smiled at seeing Twilight’s shocked expression.
 
“Oh come on Twilight, is it really that difficult to believe that I’m actually about to graduate from Canterlot University?”
 
“Yes,” was Twilight’s deadpan reply.
 
Lyra snorted in amusement, and took a quiet sip of her coffee.
 
“Well anyways, Twilight,” began Lyra, setting her mug of coffee down in front of her, “yes, I am going to finish something for once, in this case, my degree. What I do with it afterwards is another question entirely, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out, worst case scenario, I just come work for Bon Bon and play my lyre in the park on the weekends.”


She flashed the other three ponies a tired smile, though a hint of sadness dimmed the smile slightly, Blueblood, not wishing to waste anymore time, nor wanting to be dragged into something emotional, abruptly cleared his throat.
 
“Yes, well, back to the subject at hoof. You were mentioning something about ancient manuscripts?”
 
Lyra’s expression immediately brightened in scholarly excitement, after all, it wasn’t every day that she got the chance to talk about mythology to somepony who was actually interested in the topic.
 
“Of course! Well, as I was saying before, I had these manuscripts translated by a friend of mine. Most of what they contained wasn’t really relevant to my research topic, however, there was one manuscript that was. We don’t know who wrote it, as it was fairly degraded, but what we did find was that it gave some rather extensive detail about the mythological creatures known as humans.”
 
By this point Twilight was furiously scratching away with her quill and ink, hanging on each of Lyra’s words. Blueblood meanwhile was quickly becoming impatient.
 
“Yes, yes, I am sure that it is very interesting, Ms. Heartstrings, but time is rather short right now. We must know more about these humans and what they are capable of, do they possess dangerous or unknown types of magic, are they hostile to ponies? I need to know these types of things, and I need to know now.”
 
Lyra merely took another sip of her coffee, effectively finishing it off in the process. Setting her mug down for the final time, she regarded Blueblood with a thoughtful expression, finally, after a few moments, she replied, saying, “So where is it?”
 
Blueblood blinked in surprise. “I beg your pardon?”
 
“The human, where is it? And don’t try and deny it, the only reason you would be knocking on my friend's door at three in the morning, agitated and demanding to know about humans is if there were a human nearby. So, I’ll ask again, where is it, and what have you done to it?” she said again, a hint of impatient annoyance coloring her voice.
 
Blueblood sat there, a stunned look on his face. Nopony had ever dared to speak to him in that manner since he’d taken his father’s place as Duke of Canterlot and Prince of Equestria.
 
The tense silence was shattered by Ranger Ash Falls amused chuckle.
 
“Looks like she’s got you figured out there Your Grace, though if I’m going to be honest, you didn’t make it all that difficult in the first place, lack of sleep and stress will do that to you I guess.”
 
Shooting Ash an annoyed look, Blueblood, took a deep breath to help compose himself before replying, “I suppose you are right, Ranger Fall, I do tend to get a little sloppy and...impatient when I’m not at my best.”
 
This time Ash let loose a hearty belly laugh.
 
“That’s understating it I would think, sir.”
 
Blueblood merely grunted, before turning his attention back to Lyra.
 
“Very well, Ms. Heartstrings, you caught me, and I will admit, I did not make it hard. However, the matter remains that a potentially dangerous creature and its domicile have appeared to the south of Sweet Apple Acres, and you are the only pony around who has any idea what that creature is capable of. Therefore, we need your help so as to prevent any further...difficulties.”
 
Lyra’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What did you do?” she asked in a tone that was usually reserved for when a mother was trying to determine how much trouble their young ones were to find themselves in.
 
“Now see here, Ms. Heartstrings-!” began Blueblood hotly, but a gray hoof on his shoulder stopped him.
 
Leaning in close enough so that only Blueblood could hear him, Ash quietly said, “Let me take it from here, sir, you’re tired, and with all due respect sir, everypony knows that you become a major pain in the flank when you’re like this.”
 
Giving an unhappy huff, Blueblood visibly relaxed, grabbed his hitherto untouched mug of coffee in his magic, and took a hearty pull from it.
 
Seeing that Blueblood wouldn’t be an issue now, Ranger Ash Fall turned to Lyra, and with an apologetic smile said, “Sorry about that Miss, His Grace has been under a great deal of stress these past few days, and I am afraid that has been affecting his mood a bit today.”
 
Lyra waved away his apology and replied, “I owe His Grace an apology as well, my own behavior wasn’t exactly the best either.”
 
When Blueblood failed to say anything in response, Ash gave him a nudge with his hoof.
 
“Your apology is accepted, Ms. Heartstrings,” was Blueblood’s reply, and when he made no move to apologize himself, Ash simply sighed before turning his attention fully to the mint green mare across from him.
 
“Anyways, in regards to your question, Ms. Heartstrings, while the human and its equine companion haven’t been physically harmed, as far as we can tell anyways, they both received a less than warm welcome this afternoon. As such, it stands to reason that both of them are at the least wary of us, and at the worst may feel physically threatened by our presence.”
 
“So that’s what all that fuss this afternoon on the south road was all about?” asked Lyra.
 
Ash nodded.
 
“We had hoped to trap the human and its companion just past Sweet Apple Acres and bring them both into custody in an attempt to determine whether they were a threat or not. Unfortunately, circumstances prevented this, and they were able to escape back to their domicile. We currently have the property under surveillance, in addition to being surrounded. We hope that this will dissuade the human from attempting to escape into the nearby Everfree, though with its current abilities unknown, whether we can actually prevent that is currently up for debate.”
 
“So that’s where I come in,” said Lyra, finishing the unspoken portion of Ash’s speech.
 
“And that’s where you come in,” he confirmed, “at least, that is the hope anyways.”
 
Lyra gave him a small smile. “I think I could be persuaded to help out, on two conditions.”
 
“And those would be?”
 
Leaning back slightly, Lyra replied, “One, I get full access, meaning I can go anywhere, and request anything that is relevant to the human, and that I have a major say in what happens to it. Second, I reserve the right to publish anything we learn from the human first.”
 
“What?!” Shouted Twilight as she jumped to her hooves in outrage.
 
Lyra gave a small sly smile. “Sorry Twilight, but research papers before friends. This is an opportunity of a lifetime here, and I’m not going to waste it.”
 
Twilight sat back down on her cushion with a heavy thump, her face contorted into an unhappy pout at the thought of being forced to wait to publish what could turn out to be a ground breaking scientific paper.
 
Seeing Twilight’s pouty face, Lyra gave a giggle and said, “Oh come on Twilight, do you think that I would leave you out to dry? You can be my co-author, on the condition that my name comes first.”
 
Mollified by Lyra’s slight concession, Twilight gave a grumbled “fine” as she took a sip from her now lukewarm coffee.
 
Ash meanwhile, just smiled, and said, “Well alright then, I’m sure His Grace and the crown wouldn’t have any issues with those two conditions,” he paused a moment to glance of at Blueblood, who in turn gave a nod in reply. Seeing that there would be no problems, Ash Fall continued, saying, “We are happy to have you aboard Ms. Heartstrings. Welcome to the team.”