Uniformity

by adcoon

VI. The Curse of a Humble Soul

Nothing was said for a very long time. Lyra sat next to Bonbon on the hill a little way away from the camp, hugging herself and avoiding looking at anypony or anything. She looked tense, ready to spring. Occasionally a tiny whisper of a sound escaped her lips, but when Bonbon turned to look at her, she was still sitting there looking at the snow. Bonbon remembered Rainbow Dash’s admonition to not be too pushy with Lyra and waited patiently for Lyra herself to speak up.

Minutes passed. The sun rose steadily higher. Down by the burnt-out campfire, Rainbow Dash had awoken and—seeing the two of them sitting up on the hill—gone about preparing herself breakfast and packing up their scattered items. Bonbon watched idly as the pegasus went through the messy clothes, shaking her head once in a while at the wet and cold garments before wrapping them up neatly in a pile. Bonbon was amused to find the famous daredevil so meticulous with such a mundane task. Perhaps Twilight had actually had a positive influence on her after all. Was such a thing even possible? But if a princess couldn’t work miracles, who could?

After a while, Bonbon gave up and looked at Lyra. It didn’t look like the unicorn was going to pull herself together enough to get the conversation started, so Bonbon decided to give it a nudge. “So, you turn into some kind of creature at night.” She watched Lyra trying to look even smaller than she already did, staring even harder at the distance as if that was where she really wanted to be right now. Bonbon continued. “That’s what I saw on Hearth’s Warming out in the woods, and it was why you had to trick us in the mines so you could escape without being seen.”

Lyra nodded almost imperceptibly, still not looking anywhere at Bonbon.

Bonbon nodded as well. They were making some progress now. “Does anypony know?”

Lyra shook her head very slowly and hugged herself a little tighter.

“How long?” Bonbon tried with a question that couldn’t be answered with a simple nod or shake of the head, hoping to gently spur Lyra to talk a little. “How long has this been happening to you?” she elaborated in case it hadn’t been clear.

“Always.” Lyra’s voice was very small, as if she was afraid anyone but herself would overhear it. “As long as I can remember.” She seemed to wake up a little, now that the words were out in the open. “I was born this way.”

Bonbon thought for a moment. She had so many questions, all of them pushing for a chance to be asked, but she had to try to take them one at a time for the sake of her own sanity, not to mention Lyra’s nerves. The poor pony didn’t look like she could handle more than one at a time and might panic at a moment’s notice if pushed too hard. She was almost shaking too much to speak. “And your parents, are they like this too?”

Lyra looked down, her eyes tearing up. She lifted a hoof to rub a tear away and sniffed. “I don’t know anything about my parents.” She fell silent again, staring at her hooves, but something seemed to be on Lyra’s mind and wanting to get out. Bonbon waited for her to continue.

“My first memory is of a mane stylist from Canterlot called Golden Braid. Much later I went back to find her, and some others, to hear what they all remembered. I was just a foal, so most of this isn’t my own memory. Anyway, Golden found me outside the back of her salon one morning, just a helpless foal sleeping in the street. She brought me inside and took care of me while she tried to find out where I belonged. When she hadn’t found or heard anything that evening when she closed up shop, she took me home with her.

“She fed me, wrapped me in a blanket and put me to bed. I’ve had to tell myself later that she was probably very kind to me, because—” Lyra shivered and closed her eyes at some memory. “That night I woke up crying, as foals do, right? Only, when Golden came to see what was causing me to cry, what she found was not a pony. To this day she still thinks some horrible monster took that poor foal away in the night. My first memory—and it’s all I remember from that night—is this frantic mare screaming terrible curses at me while beating me with a broom.”

Bonbon stared in horror and sympathy at her friend. “How did you live like that? What happened next? Did she call the guards?”

Lyra poked the snow with a hoof. “Apparently the ‘monster’ kept ‘screeching’ and then vanished in a flash of golden light. That’s what she told me later, anyway. She galloped out of the house to tell a passing guard, but by then both foal and monster were gone.”

“But … wait, what? You just … disappeared?” Bonbon stared at Lyra’s hoof drawing circles in the snow. This was all a lot to take in, but it had to make sense somehow.

“Magic is the only way I have been able to explain that,” Lyra agreed. “Unicorn foals can have these things called surges when their magic begins to develop. They are often chaotic and powerful releases of magic. All I remember is the screaming and beating, and I guess as a foal that’s as good a time as any to have a surge and disappear, right? When you’re frightened out of your mind and ponies are screaming at you. It’s not a spell I have ever actually mastered, but Twilight teleports all the time. It’s apparently not all that hard, if you believe her. Anyway, somehow I always ended up back in the streets.”

Bonbon stretched her back a little and rolled her shoulders to work out the tenseness building in her neck. The last thing she wanted was a headache from all of this. “You can do magic in that form? Without a horn?”

Lyra watched her out of the corner of an eye, then nodded and returned to hugging herself. “I use my hands to control the magic instead; it’s not all that different. In fact it’s a little easier to control with hands, because I can actually perform the tiny movements I imagine in my head—it’s a bit like playing strings, actually—but the horn makes it more potent than with hands. It’s hard to explain to a non-unicorn, you know?”

She looked up and waved a hoof thoughtfully in the air while speaking, now with a faint but sudden enthusiasm. “Everything has a natural resonance, a tone if you like. Magic is about resonating with something and then, um, moving along with it, changing it along with you. Maybe it’s my affinity for music, but I think of it like plucking strings, only the strings are often much larger and it’s more like a dance with strings.” She looked at Bonbon while making a dancing motion with her hooves and upper body, looking to see if Bonbon got what she was talking about.

Bonbon just nodded blankly, and Lyra continued, staring ahead while talking. “Strings resonate too, and once you have the right string you can change how it resonates, make it sound different.” Her hoof lifted up to touch her horn absently. “A unicorn’s horn actually physically resonates with what you manipulate. It feels a little funny, like sort of a quiet humming in your head and spine, but it’s not unpleasant with most magic. Some magic can be very pleasant and relaxing, actually.” She blushed a little and lowered her hoof again. “Um, but that’s the big difference with hands, you see? Hands don’t resonate quite like a horn does, so the magic is weaker, but I have better control because I can … pluck the resonance very precisely.”

Bonbon smiled. She had never had the slightest clue how unicorns did their magic, and she didn’t honestly expect it was something she ever could understand. Not really, at least, but it was certainly interesting to hear Lyra describe it. She held out a hoof to stop Lyra. “Lyra? I think you’re getting a little sidetracked.”

“Oh …” Lyra’s ears flattened and she looked down again, hugging herself once more. Bonbon was almost sad to see the brief enthusiasm killed. No doubt Lyra found it more enjoyable to talk about magic and music than her childhood memories. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, you don’t need to be sorry,” Bonbon assured her and settled her hoof back down. “It was very interesting.”

Lyra’s eyes examined her hoof with an absent gaze as she rubbed it idly, then nodded. “Anyway, I spent a lot of my childhood between homes. Ponies would find me in the streets, bring me home or to an orphanage, and when they saw my real face at night they would freak out and so would I. And when I was scared I would disappear again in a surge of wild magic.

“It confused and frightened a lot of ponies. The papers at the time had all these stories about a foal-snatching monster, which didn’t help. Ponies freaked out even worse when they saw me at night because of the stories and rumors floating around. But it soon died down, because I very quickly learned to hide myself during the night and not draw attention. Have you ever walked around Canterlot? Thankfully it’s a very large city where it’s easy to hide and easy to be forgotten.

“You can imagine why I never wanted to show anypony my real face ever again.” She looked away from Bonbon, a painful look on her face. “I never want anypony to know of me as anything but a fellow pony.” She looked tense again, ready to cry or maybe even lash out at Bonbon. “I never wanted you to know!”

“You had to know it would happen, Lyra,” Bonbon said carefully. Something told her that the idea of making Bonbon ‘disappear’ had crossed Lyra’s mind at least once. She doubted Lyra would act on it, but Bonbon had felt similar dark hostility towards Rainbow Dash the previous morning and knew how it felt. Bonbon was a threat to Lyra’s carefully protected life, a threat to her happiness and security. “It’s better to get it out than keep it inside you forever,” Bonbon added.

Lyra said nothing. Bonbon could see her thinking. She waited, letting Lyra have a few minutes of silence to calm back down. After a while, Bonbon took the chance and said, “You mentioned your ‘real face’?” Bonbon kept her voice soft.

Lyra nodded stiffly, still barely moving and keeping her voice only slightly above hearing. “I am not a pony. I’m … What I am, it’s called a human. The moonlight shows what I really am. Still waters show the opposite face, so at night it shows a pony and at day a human. Running water and mirrors don’t work that way. I have no idea why.”

Bonbon recalled seeing Lyra as a pony in the waters of the lake the other night just before she ran into … Lyra as a human. She was sure she had seen Lyra in mirrors many times and never noticed anything like that. “Are there many like you?” Bonbon was confused, but also drawn to find out more. “I have never heard of humans before.”

“I don’t know. No pony has heard of humans, maybe not even Celestia and Luna. There are some scattered pieces of lore if you know what to look for, but we are all but forgotten now.” Lyra looked up a bit to stare at the distant sky. “I have been looking all my life, but for all I know I am the only human left.” She shook her head as if to herself. “To tell the truth it’s a great mystery. Am I getting ahead of myself?”

Bonbon smiled and reached out to rub Lyra’s back, hoping the gesture would calm her down rather than make her more tense. “Take your time.”

Lyra nodded and did seem to calm a little. “When I got a little older, I was taken in by an elderly stallion. Arcane Script was his name, and he taught ancient languages at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. His wife and daughter left him many years before, and I think we filled a hole in each other’s life. He is as much a father to me as anypony could be, but he is very old now.

“Living with Arcane was the best thing that ever happened to me. He was old, easily distracted and forgetful. He also never bothered me, which made it easy for me to hide my true self. He taught me to read and write, as well as magic and all the other stuff you learn in school. I quickly discovered my love of ancient songs and stories, and I began pouring myself into studying all the pre-Equestrian ballads and epic legends I could to find some trace of who and what I was.”

Lyra paused to pull on the hoodie Bonbon had slung around her back when they came up here. She stuck her head out of the neck and pulled the hood back as she adjusted the sleeves.

Bonbon watched her, glad to see a little life and movement from her friend. “Did you ever find out anything about them from all your studies?”

Lyra looked up and saw Rainbow Dash coming towards them. “Yes, but it was not easy. All the stories and songs now are about ponies, even when they are really about … you know,” she said carefully as the pegasus approached them.

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash said. “Not to disturb you gals, but I’ve packed up everything, and if we want to reach the sea we gotta get going soon. Is Bonbon coming?” She gave Lyra a careful look which said she should not be afraid to speak her mind.

Lyra nodded and stood up slowly. “Yes, I … think we’ve come to an understanding,” she said and looked at Bonbon briefly, though she avoided her eyes. She looked back at Rainbow Dash and added with a forced smile, “You’re right, we should be going. We’ve run out of wood, and the creature that attacked us might still be after us. The sooner we find some civilization, the better.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and turned around. Lyra followed more slowly, with Bonbon close behind.

* * *

Dear Rainbow Dash,

Just a quick note to tell you that Trixie escaped from jail a few hours ago. The guards don’t know if she is still within Manehattan, and they are still trying to work out what happened. I ordered them not to pursue her unless she causes another disturbance. Truthfully, I do not believe she was guilty of anything except being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I expect she’ll be staying low for a while. She genuinely didn’t seem to remember what happened, and I feel like it’s hard enough as it is for her to get back on her hooves with what she did in Ponyville.

♥ Your Princess,
Twilight Sparkle.

*

Hey Twi,

You’ve always been way too forgiving of Trixie, if you ask me. But I guess you’re right. That’s why you’re the princess. I just can’t believe she escaped me. And after everything else. Does Spitfire know about this whole thing? Silly me, of course she does. I bet the whole Academy knows how Trixie beat me.

Anyway, Bonbon’s back and apparently saved Lyra last night. They’re talking right now, all private-like, so I don’t know if she’ll stay. I’ll let you know if we decide to send her back … again.

I should go get them moving. I love you, Twi.

Dash

*

Spitfire is keeping things quiet, and so am I. Don’t worry, dear. We both understand how difficult this is for you, and you know we’re both supportive. You do what you need to do, and I know you’ll come through in the end. Since when does Rainbow Dash ever lose, right? And no matter what happens, you know I’ll always love you.

♥ Twi

P.S. Remember, it’s Scootaloo’s big day tomorrow. Princess Luna invited her to Canterlot, so be sure to think of her. I’m almost as excited as she is, but unfortunately I have my own duties keeping me busy this weekend.

* * *

Bonbon was exhausted, not just physically—she hadn’t had much sleep and had been trotting all of the previous day, and much of the night too—but mentally as well. Dealing with the night’s revelation and Lyra’s story was tiring her more than she wanted to let on. She was glad to have a break from the conversation to just think as she walked. She could have done without the walking, but Lyra and Rainbow Dash were right, they needed to find civilization as soon as possible.

The landscape had nothing to offer but endless snow, ice, and rocks. It was a wasteland of sharp edges and slippery surfaces, and it was getting more difficult to traverse as they turned towards the north-east. The wind got colder too, and Bonbon had been forced to put on another scarf. Lyra had her hoodie, of course.

According to Rainbow Dash, the griffons had directed them to a village on the shore somewhere north-east of the crater. From there they would cross the sea by ship. Bonbon wondered where they were going and why, but she had enough to do just walking and trying not to think about everything at once. The howling wind made conversation difficult in any case, and Lyra prefered to talk very quietly about the whole thing, which was even more impossible here.

They had decided to walk all day without stop. As evening approached, the wind calmed and the sky cleared. Lyra insisted they set up camp early, and Bonbon could not deny that she was happy for the suggestion. Rainbow Dash looked like she would have liked to continue, but dutifully followed Lyra’s command. Bonbon once again wondered how much exactly Lyra had paid her, but filed it off for later, along with so many other questions.

They continued for ten minutes along a frozen river before settling down on the thick ice where the river cut its way between two walls of rock. It was dark down among the rocks, a good place to hide from both wind and wandering eyes in the night. Bonbon set up her tent along with the others.

“I’ll take first watch,” Rainbow Dash said as she dug around in her bags for a can of beans and some crackers. “You two get some rest soon. I’ll wake you up sometime in the night.” The last part was directed at Bonbon.

Bonbon searched her own bag and came back up holding the small bell and the last of her flares. “Here. They both saved our tails once before.”

Rainbow Dash took them and examined the flare, turning it around in her hooves. “Right.”

“If that thing comes back tonight,” Bonbon added as she sat down, “I want you to shove that flare as far down its throat as you can for me.”

Rainbow Dash gave her a toothy grin. “What, the throat? Come on, you think I don’t have a better place to shove something like this?” She turned around and picked up the can of beans. “Who’s up for beans?”

Lyra stuck out her tongue and sat down. She hadn’t said anything all day since they set out again, but no words were needed along with that particular expression.

Rainbow Dash shrugged and opened the can. “No fire, no cooking, ladies. Get used to the wild, ’cause we’ll be seeing a lot of it.”

* * *

Pebbles stood in the door whining, his tail between his legs and ears flat against his head. Bonbon stepped past the dog as she left their humble cottage in the hills and fields. The world outside was yellow and brown, with nothing to offer the eye but dry summer grasses and thirsty shrubs for miles. She looked up at the castle on the hill. Rays of dull yellow light sifted through the ashen clouds to bake the proud stones. The pale sun gleamed in the armor of the guards lining the walls. Bonbon could not see their faces.

Waves of heat and sounds of crackling carried across the plains. Bonbon turned to follow the empty stares of the guards on the distant walls. The wind drove the smoke like a solid wall of white before it, heralding a world of red and orange in its wake. The ground was fire and flame, unstoppable and hungry for anything in its path.

Pebbles pawed at her and whined up at her, eyes big, brown and wet with worry. Bonbon eyed the wide barren circle around the cottage, meticulously cleared of all grass and shrubs. She patted the dog on the head and turned, hurrying around to the back of the house. She pulled the door to the cellar open and ushered the dog down into the gloom, following right behind.

Bonbon shut the door behind them. Darkness filled the world for a moment, then a flame lit it back up and illuminated the stone cellar. Bonbon held up the torch and turned, walking down the steps into the underground shelter.

A heavy knocking echoed down through the cellar from the door. Bonbon blinked and turned around, holding up the torch in the dark. For a moment she hesitated, then she hurried back up the stairs and pushed the door open to the outside.

Bonbon had seen the princess only from afar, a few times when she delivered her products at the castle. The princess had always been surrounded by her personal guard when Bonbon had seen her. Now the young princess was outside her door, but not for long. Before Bonbon could open her mouth, the princess had glanced back over her shoulder once, then hurried right past Bonbon and into the cellar. “They are coming!” she announced behind Bonbon. “Thou shalt be honored to hide us and offer us protection, peasant.”

The door creaked shut and Bonbon turned around in a daze. She stood at the top of the stairs, staring down into the cellar where the princess was looking around, scrutinizing the place.

A ringing in the air made both of them turn around at the same time.

* * *

Bonbon blinked awake and opened her eyes to stare at the inside of her tent. She lay for a few moments before turning around and sitting up just as Rainbow Dash poked her head inside.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” the pegasus said. She looked groggy as she stepped back from the entrance of the tent. “It’s your turn to watch. This pony needs her sleep!”

Bonbon yawned and crawled out from under her blankets, not that she had any desire to. “Did you fall asleep? I heard a bell ringing.”

“You think I can’t stay awake? Because I could stay awake all night if I had to,” Rainbow Dash said with a snap of her tail to accentuate the part about all night. She was clearly grumpy from lack of sleep and having to sit around for hours alone in the dark. “For your information I was … practicing … juggling. Yes, juggling.”

“With the bell?” Bonbon raised an eyebrow.

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash disappeared into her tent, poking her head out briefly to say, “Goodnight.” And with that she was gone. It didn’t take long before the low noise of her snores and contented whinnies told Bonbon that she was soundly asleep.

Bonbon shook her head and sat down, wrapping herself in her blanket as she picked up the bell and stared into the night. She almost jumped with fright at a sound behind her and turned around to look at Lyra’s tent. An eye looked out at her from the tiny opening in the tent.

“Um, do you … think it’s okay if I come out?” Lyra’s voice sounded from within the tent, almost a whisper. “Only, if you don’t want to see me like this, I don’t blame you.” The eye looked down.

Bonbon wasn’t sure what she should expect. Seeing Lyra like that had been a bit of a shock, and only the chaos of the situation had stopped her from freaking out, most likely. Here in the calm of the night, she honestly wasn’t sure how she would take it. But she had wanted the truth from Lyra for years. It was why she had followed her all the way out here.

Bonbon nodded faintly. “Come on out if you like,” she said and moved aside a little to make room for Lyra.

There was a long pause and silence, except for Rainbow’s steady snore. Lyra hesitated for almost a minute—Bonbon found herself counting the seconds—then she carefully opened the tent fully and crept out into the light of the moon. She was dressed in thick clothes and a hood, but there was no way she could hide that she was not a pony at the moment. She stood there rigidly, like an animal caught in a light.

Bonbon stared at her. She would have been ashamed of her manners if she had been able to think about anything except what she was looking at. Lyra was certainly tall, standing fully upright on her hind legs. Bonbon could see now that she still had her mane, sort of, and it was the same color at least. Bonbon leaned to the side and looked behind Lyra. “Where’s your tail?” were her first words. All the creatures Bonbon could think of off the top of her head had some kind of tail. Maybe Lyra’s was just very small and hidden under the clothes.

Lyra sat down uncertainly beside Bonbon. “I … don’t have a tail,” she said. “Only when I’m a pony,” she added and went quiet for a moment before continuing, “And please don’t talk too loudly. I don’t want Rainbow Dash to hear us talking.”

Bonbon nodded vaguely, still studying the creature sitting next to her. The creature who was Lyra. “She won’t hear anything as long as she’s snoring like that,” she said absently. Lyra was fiddling with the string of her hoodie. Bonbon studied her hands curiously. Twilight’s assistant Spike had claws, and griffons did too, but these were more like those of a minotaur. Bonbon remembered attending a show by a minotaur named Iron Will once, but they weren’t very common in Equestria. Most ponies considered them monsters. What would they think of Lyra, then?

“I woke up to the bell,” Lyra said. “I sleep very lightly. I thought you would like some company. Do you … mind my company?”

There was nothing minotaur about her face though, Bonbon thought as she continued her scrutiny of Lyra. It was flat, hardly any muzzle at all. Her eyes were smaller, but still the same bright amber that Bonbon fell in love with years ago. Something always sparkled within them, even when she wasn’t smiling. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said without really thinking about it.

Lyra looked at her, searching the depths of her eyes. “Do you … really mean that?” She sniffed as a tear ran down her cheek.

“I admit it’s strange,” Bonbon said and looked down at Lyra’s legs. They were long and slender and ended not in hooves, but … feet, she supposed. Again a bit like Spike, only not really any claws to speak of. No scales at all either, just pale skin. “And I don’t know what to think or feel, but …” She looked up again, catching Lyra’s eyes. “I’m glad that I finally feel like I’m starting to know you, the real you. Even if I never imagined anything like this.”

“I’m sorry,” Lyra said and looked at her hands. “For all the lies.”

They sat in silence for a while. Finally Bonbon broke it. “I guess I can see now why you lied.”

“I never wanted it to be like this. I never wanted anypony to know anything.” Lyra almost cut her off. “I have always told lies. I just want ponies to like me and be happy, so I keep the truth to myself because it makes people angry and scared. It’s never been a problem. When I tell ponies about my family in Canterlot they listen and smile, and then we talk about something else or go our separate ways. It’s always been fine. No one ever wondered if it was the truth, no one ever asked to meet them, or I would just give them an excuse and they’d forget it.”

“Except me,” Bonbon muttered.

Lyra looked at her for a second, then back at her hands with a sort of hopeless frustration. “I always knew how to deal with other ponies. I just talked to them and made them smile and we’d be friends, as long as they didn’t know the truth. I just made up something nice instead and everypony was happy that way. But you … I never knew how to deal with you. At first I figured you’d just lose interest or give up, but you never did.” Her voice became a little higher. “You kept pushing, and I just couldn’t get myself to tell you off.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.” Lyra sighed and rested her face in her hands. “I was afraid that you’d be angry at me, or sad. I never want to make another pony sad or angry. Rainbow Dash is right, I am too nice for my own good, but I just can’t tell off other ponies. I’m not tough like you or Rainbow Dash.”

Bonbon turned her gaze away from Lyra at last, staring instead at the snow and ice around them. Beside her, Lyra went quiet. After a while, the words slowly escaped Bonbon, “Lyra, did you ever love me?” She wasn’t sure why she asked it now. Did it matter? “When I confessed to you, what … how did you feel?”

Lyra rolled the string of her hoodie between her fingers and looked down. “I’m not even a pony, Bonbon,” she said. “I don’t even know any of my own kind. I don’t think that I could ever find love.”

Could Bonbon? Now that she had seen what Lyra really was, what did she even feel? She had loved Lyra the pony, but she was just an illusion.

Lyra looked up a little, but not really at Bonbon. “I was sad to leave you. I didn’t want to,” she said. “But I should have done it earlier, before it became so difficult. I’ve always liked you, and you’ve always been my best friend, even if I could never tell you the truth before. I may not have been able to love you, but I’ve always liked you.”

Bonbon wasn’t sure what to do or say. She picked up the little bell and held it between her hooves, staring at her distorted reflection in it.

* * *

Morning came without any sign of the thing that had attacked them the previous night. They set out shortly after dawn in order to make as much progress as possible before nightfall. Bonbon was beginning to wish that she was in better shape, but possibly this sort of non-stop trotting through ice and snow would wear out just about anypony.

Not Rainbow Dash, though. The pegasus was up front, leading the way with enthusiasm. This left Bonbon and Lyra trailing behind, but neither of them said much for most of the day. Bonbon wasn’t sure where to even begin. Perhaps she was afraid. If she asked, what would she learn? She had wanted the truth for so long, but now she didn’t even know what to do with it or whether she would have been better off ignorant.

She looked up at the sky and sighed. The wind was getting harder and the cold worse, but the sky was clear at least. If it stayed clear, that meant they might have to set up camp early again if they couldn’t reach the village before nightfall. That would mean less walking, which was good, but also another night in the wild with something possibly still following them. Bonbon glanced back over her shoulder but saw nothing.

The day progressed slowly. It was probably around dinner time when they skidded down a slope and found themselves on a road. Not far from there, a rough stone bridge crossed a gorge. Bonbon could hear the rumble and roar of a waterfall and smell the unmistakable scent of the sea in the air. The knowledge that they were on the right track and now close to sea raised her spirit, despite her aching legs.

“Alright!” Rainbow Dash cheered and grinned at them. “Come on, slowpokes. Let’s race to the sea!”

They watched as she raced ahead. Bonbon shook her head before following next to Lyra, both of them dragging their hooves slightly.

Crossing the bridge, they both paused to look over the edge at the water falling through the narrow crack in the rocks. Bonbon stared at the glittering sides of the rock and down into the deep crevice where the water disappeared into the sea.

“So,” she began, breaking the silence at last, “what have you learned about humans? You said you searched for stories about them.”

Rainbow Dash was far ahead. Lyra watched her before turning back to Bonbon as they walked. “Ever since I learned to read,” she said. She seemed reluctant to speak. “The story I told you about Humble and her sister—”

“You never told me how that ended,” Bonbon said with a nod as she recalled the story.

“I’m not even sure why I told you the beginning, actually,” Lyra said and looked down. “I was going to make certain changes to the story, but there’s no point now. Humble and her sister Melodious were human princesses. Their mother, the queen, ruled the only human empire at the time and kept peaceful relations with the pony kingdoms surrounding them.”

“I had a dream about her,” Bonbon muttered. The sea was visible now as they rounded a cliff and came out onto a wide path running along the mountainside overlooking the ocean. Large floes of ice crashed with the waves against the cliffs below.

“What?” Lyra looked at her as if she didn’t believe what Bonbon had just said. “About who?”

Bonbon looked out to sea where Rainbow Dash was a small but happy dot frolicking above the waves under the open sky. Pegasi, she thought. Never satisfied with the ground. “Humble, except she was a pony,” she explained. “She was trying to seduce some prince. Then the prince’s vizier cursed her or something. I woke up after that.”

Lyra stared at her, the sea totally forgotten.

“I’m sure my mind just made it up because I remembered your story,” Bonbon said as they continued along the path. She thought for a moment before adding, “Did all humans turn into ponies during the day?”

“No,” Lyra managed. “Your dream is surprisingly prescient, you know that? Are you sure you don’t know the story already?” She gave Bonbon a suspicious look.

Bonbon felt a sudden tension in Lyra and slowed down. Had she said something wrong or pushed too far? She didn’t want to ruin things again. “Absolutely sure. I swear. Lyra, what’s wrong?”

Lyra watched her, then looked ahead tensely. “No, humans did not turn into ponies in those days,” she continued as they walked. “Not without magic, anyway. When Humble returned without her sister, she wasted no time blaming the ponies for the disappearance of her sister, and her father. She blamed the ponies for her mother’s ill health, and for withholding the wonders of the great mountain from the other races.”

“The mountain?” Bonbon’s brow furrowed as she thought back. “That was where the Roc nested, according to the myth you told me.”

“Yes. The mountain was home to the bringer of light and therefore the most sacred place of all. Its lower slopes were home to the pegasus tribes because they were the only ones who could reach it without magic, and they protected it. Gates existed on the ground, but these were zealously guarded by the ponies. Humble wanted to claim these gates and the mountain from the ponies, so she spread lies about them.”

Bonbon shook her head. “Very humble.”

“Humble led her people to believe that the ponies were evil and up to no good, but the humans didn’t have anywhere near the numbers or strength to take on all the ponies directly. So Humble devised another plan. Using ancient knowledge, she brewed a magic potion which would turn her into a pony. Using this potion, she moved among ponies and spread lies and hatred, turning pony against pony. She got into all the pony courts disguised as a foreign pony princess and seduced their rulers, convincing them that the pegasi of the mountain and the empires holding the gates were scheming against the low-land empires.”

“So that’s what I dreamt about,” Bonbon said idly while listening to Lyra’s tale.

“As difficult as that is to believe, yes.” Lyra gave her another careful look. She didn’t seem happy about Bonbon’s dream, like she thought Bonbon knew more than she led on and was trying to trick Lyra. Bonbon made a note to be careful with any mentions of that in the future.

“Humble was doing quite well at causing strife,” Lyra continued, “until the vizier in one of the empires recognized her for what she was and what she had done. The details are a bit scarce here, but the vizier cursed Humble and all of her family. Since humans didn’t trust ponies, and ponies didn’t trust humans, all thanks to Humble, the vizier gave her the cursed form of both races so that she herself would never be trusted or welcomed anywhere she went. And her family with her.”

Bonbon stared at the sea as she thought it all over. “So you’re related to Humble?”

“It’s the only explanation that makes sense, isn’t it?” Lyra said with a little nod. “Humble ran away, and I’m sad to say I have no idea what became of her or her family. Her poison had already caused strife and mistrust. War broke out between the ponies, and between humans. The humans were outnumbered and leaderless. Their empire crumbled, and for all I can tell they … are no more, or at least ponies haven’t known about them for thousands of years.

“Humble disappeared from all records, her family was hunted and driven into the wild or who knows where, her empire crumbled, and her race and name became nothing but a curse uttered by ponies, then eventually forgotten entirely.

“Humble Soul, her very name became a curse,” Lyra said with an absent gaze at the sky. “Humble Soul is a translation, remember? Sometimes it is rendered as Modest Soul instead, or other similar names. In the old tongue it was Humilis Anima. Over time, as her name was spat and used as profanity, it became shortened. Human. I suppose technically that only refers to her and her cursed descendants, those who were burdened with both forms, but I don’t know what they were called before the curse.”

Bonbon was about to say something when Lyra continued suddenly. “Humilis Anima … Humble Soul. It’s a poor translation, see? Far too nice. Humilis typically meant something low or mean, something negative, and anima means soul or something living. Humilis Anima … Low Life.” She looked down with a frown. “That’s what humans became. Lowlife. All because of one human’s evil.”

She cut off Bonbon again before she could speak. “I can see the city now. If we make haste, we can get there before the sun sets.” She pointed across the water to a collection of buildings in the distance, sitting high upon the rocks on the other side of a wide bay. Without another word, Lyra picked up pace and trotted on down the road.

Rainbow Dash was still ahead of them, flying low above the water in the same direction. Bonbon looked back at the path behind them before letting out a sigh and picking up pace. It would be good to see a proper bed, at least for a single night.

Comments

[Raistlin]

Interesting human mythology. I wonder how Trixie fits in this story. Maybe she is another Humble´s descendant.

[adcoon]

2990132
Thanks And you never know with that Trixie

[Snowybee]

I wonder why the humans were outmatched to begin with.

[CrowMagnon]

2990132 Doubtful, considering she's been seen at night multiple times in the show, though whatever's up with her is up to the author so I certainly can't say anything definitively.

2990246 Numbers, or ponies having a deeper connection to magic, perhaps.

[Snowybee]

2990950

No, I mean where did the humans come from, and what lead to their population to being so small. In fact, why aren't there any more? Did the ponies systematically kill every last one of us?

[Crimson_Skies]

The reason for the name human... Best reason ever!

[adcoon]

2991830
Glad you liked that part. It took some work to get it just right

[dashdlkashd]

Hm... This a great story with great backstory. I wonder if the humans in this story are the same humans as us, with all their technology and half-made glory.

[Ircriket]

Please sir, can I have some more?

[psychicscubadiver]

Interesting stuff, good sir interesting indeed.

I after seeing this on EQD, I thought, hmm... I'll try the first chapter this afternoon.
As it turned out I read rather more than just the first chapter. This story is cleverly written, well paced, and intriguing. It also approaches romance with a far more realistic style and actually gives the couple a more serious/interesting obstacle to overcome, than 'what if they don't like me back?'

I look forward to more.

[Noradora]

3087814

No problem. I'm happy to help.

[adcoon]

3087183
Thanks for catching those mistakes, and I'm glad you gave the story a chance

3085959
Glad you liked it

3084328
Thanks!

[Noradora]

3087814

No problem, I'm happy to help.

[Emerald wake]

I wonder if zecora caught Lyra in her human form before?

[Suliscrew]

So does make Lyra a were-human? Human-pony? Whatever you wanna call it

[Pinklestia]

Since this has the "Human" tag, I was kind of expecting Lyra to be human, I feel cheated...

[Den_drummer]

“Come on, slowpokes. Let’s race to the sea!”

Reference to pokemon :D

Will comment in detail when I'm done with the last chapter.

Also, sleep? What is that? I've got some great story to read!

[statoose]

The hinting at Scoots's journey is interesting. I'm wondering just what Luna is bringing her on for, though I might have some guesses...

The human mythology is very interesting, and I can honestly say I didn't see the plot twist surrounding Humble Soul's true identity coming.

I feel like Bonbon and Lyra are looking at Lyra's condition in the wrong light; what her 'true self' really is. She is who she chooses to be, whether that is a human or pony, and that shouldn't matter, as long as she is being herself. And I'm guessing that is where this story is going, eh? I'm just not certain whether the narration's seemingly sure wording is indicative, or an extension of Bonbon's feelings. Guess we'll see!