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The First Day3,319 words
Attack of the Humans3,442 words

Attack of the Humans

All was quiet throughout Ponyville as the full moon made its way through the sky. A large majority of ponies had already gone to sleep, wanting to be well-rested for the day ahead. However, a sizable number of ponies still stayed up. For example, two little fillies in the basement at 554 Haybale Lane, who were just settling down from a sugarcrazed playdate.

Tasty Delight gave the two girls a smile. "Good night, girls! Just call if you need anything!"

Bon Bon grinned more at the feast of junk foods that remained in front of her than her mother. "Thanks, mommy!" There was popcorn, soda...

"Yeah, thanks, Bon Bon's mom!" Lyra chirped. "This is awesome! Best sleepover ever!"

The brown mare chuckled. "Well, remember that it's a sleepover. Go to bed soon, you two!" She subtly dimmed the lights. Years of raising Bon Bon had tuned her in to the fact that her daughter would crash if the lights were at just the right level. Of course, that was when she wasn’t hyped up on sugar and accompanied by her best friend. Suppressing a sigh, she headed out and climbed the stairs.

Almost immediately, Bon Bon launched from her seat on the couch and into the bowl of popcorn. She gobbled it down ravenously. "My mom makes the best popcorn!"

Lyra jumped up from her seat. "It just comes from a bag."

"Doesn't mean she doesn't make it the best!"

Shrugging, Lyra made her way to her white saddlebags that sat next to the couch. "Hey, do you still have that portable projector you got for your birthday?"

"Uhm...yeah, I think so," Bon Bon said, looking around. She quickly spotted it on a shelf. "Why?"

Lyra pulled out a metallic silver case. "I brought this!" she yelped. "We can stay up and watch it all night!"

Bon Bon hopped down from the snack table. "What is it?" Lyra held up the case, showing her friend the title: 'Attack of the Humans.' "What's this?"

The unicorn grinned. "Only the coolest movie ever! It's like, a bunch of aliens come down from the sky, and start destroying all the ponies in Equestria!"

"Even Princess Celestia...?" Bon Bon asked, ears drooping a bit. 'I've never heard of this before.'

"Yep!" Lyra said. She bared her teeth and growled evilly. "Even Princess Celestia. And they take over the world! Muhahaha!"

Bon Bon eyed the case warily. "I-I don't know...it sounds scary," she said. Lyra shook her head. "What is it rated?"

Lyra scanned the movie. "Uh...ooh, it's rated 'R!' Awesome! Grown-up movies!"

"I d-don't think my mom wants me to watch grown-up movies." Bon Bon rubbed one leg with another and looked at the ground. "How did you get the movie, anyway?"

"I just got it from the tape cabinet in my house."

"Don't you need permission from your parents to go in there?"

"I did have permission!"

----------

Sunlight Shimmer magically scribbled down some numbers. "Okay, so...wait, where's the gas bill for August? How much di-"

"Moooom!"

The golden mare dropped her pen and sighed. "Yes, Lyra?"

Lyra looked at her mother with big, golden eyes. "Mom, can I get a tape from the cabinet to bring over to Bon Bon's?"

"What movie?"

"Um...'Pretty Princess Party.'"

"Of course, sweetie...is there any chance you can get it? I'm a bit busy here. You have my permission."

The filly glowed and gave Sunlight a quick hug. "Thanks, mom! Love you!" She ran off.

Sunlight laughed. "Love you too, sweetie! Have a good time at Bon Bon's!"

----------

Bon Bon shifted her hooves in the carpet. "Are you sure? My mom told us to go to sleep, and this movie looks really long..."

Lyra climbed up a chair to get to the shelf that held the projector. "Oh, nopony actually sleeps at sleepovers!"

"They don't?"

"Nope!"

"Well...if your mom says it's okay, I guess we can watch it," Bon Bon said. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe Lyra was just exaggerating! After all, nothing could beat Princess Celestia. Everypony knew that. "Is there going to be blood?"

Lyra smiled. "Of course!"

Bon Bon shuddered. "I thought you said it wasn't scary!"

"Oh, blood isn't scary! Remember last week when you fell and scraped your knee? There was blood then, and that wasn't scary!"

"...Yeah, I guess." Bon Bon glowered a bit. It was scary to her. "Are you sure?"

Lyra hopped back down to the floor with the projector balanced on her back. "For the gazillionth time, yes! Bon Bon, as your best friend, I promise you: this will not be scary. And even if it is," she draped a hoof over the earth filly's back, "I'm here for you! Nothing will happen."

Bon Bon glowered, but eventually nodded. “Okay, then.” She pointed to the room’s far wall, which was completely blank and made up of thick wood. “Just point the projector over that way and turn it on.”

“Okay!” Lyra chriped, beginning to set the movie up. “This is going to be so cool!”

----------

"L-Lyra! What's happening to all those stallions?!"

Lyra didn't answer. The light from the projected image was reflecting off her glazed-over eyes. Her mouth hung open, and a slight dribble of drool threatened to fall over the edge of her lip.

A pony that looked somewhat like Princess Celestia stepped onto the screen. She stood triumphantly in front of the human army, her strangely cardboard-like horn glowing. Bon Bon began to sigh in relief—only to have the sigh catch in her throat as the humans surrounded Celestia from all sides and began to tear at her.

Her screams crackled through the low-quality speakers.

Bon Bon averted her eyes from the carnage occurring on screen. Lyra kept staring, hypnotized by the splatter of colorless blood against the black-and-white world.

With the Princess of the Sun gone, the humans had nopony to stop them from conquering Equestria. They took over and slaughtered every creature in sight, even the mares and foals. The screen went black, and the film ran out.

Bon Bon crawled out of her sleeping bag, which she had been hiding in. "That's it?!" she squealed. "That wasn't a happy ending! Lyra, you told me that it wasn't going to be scary!"

Once again, Lyra didn't answer. Her eyes bored into the now blank wall with a troubled expression.

Bon Bon nudged the mint pony. "Lyra? Are you okay?"

"Huh? What?" Lyra stammered, flinching. "Oh, uh, yeah, I-I'm fine. That movie was...in-interesting."

"I didn't like it!" Bon Bon complained. "It was-"

"GIRLS!" Tasty Delight yelled suddenly from the first floor. "It's past midnight! I better not have to come down there!"

Both fillies jumped, but Lyra kept looking around nervously after Bon Bon had stopped. "Y-Your mom is right. We should go to bed. Now." She ducked into her red sleeping bag.

Bon Bon nodded her head quickly and snuggled into her own bag.

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Lyra was running, faster than she ever had before. Something was chasing her. It moved on two, pink, fleshy legs. The only fur she could see on it covered the top of its head. It moaned sickly, sending chills down the unicorn's spine.

Her heart racing, she rounded a dark corner, only to come face-to-leg with another group of the humans. They swiped at her with long, clawed legs, which split into five pegs at the ends.

One caught Lyra by the tail and began pulling her close. A short burst of warmth ran through her before she was swallowed up by the group. She tried to scream, but nothing came out. Everything faded to black.

----------

"AHHHHHHH!"

Bon Bon jumped at Lyra's scream. "Ah! What's wrong?!"

Lyra whipped her head around, taking in everything around her. She was back in Bon Bon's house. It was daytime again. There were no humans—as far as she knew. Bon Bon was staring at her. Her own heart raced. Her entire body shook.

"N-Nothing. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

Lyra put on a shaky smile. "I just had a weird dream. I think I'm just hungry. What's for breakfast?"

Bon Bon began to roll up her sleeping bag. "My dad told me that he was going to make blueberry pancakes! He makes...the best..." She sniffed the air. "Eww, what's that smell?"

“Huh? What are you...oh, I can smell it too!” Lyra exclaimed, her nose wrinkling up. The two fillies glanced around the room for a few moments, searching for the source of the odor. Bon Bon couldn’t find anything. However, Lyra quickly realized that the smell was coming from directly in front of her.

Lyra lifted up her blanket and looked down her sleeping bag, frowning. “Uh oh.”

----------

The playground at Ponyville Elementary was a wondrous place. If you were to ask any foal, they would surely agree. Ponies played, laughed, talked with friends... Being there was a welcome break from the minutia of school life. Even the kindergartners, who had little to no work to do and went home early, enjoyed it.

That is, all except for one. Lyra sat, staring at the swing-set. Two older fillies stood on the seats, propelling themselves forward with their wings. But what concerned Lyra was the way they were standing: on two legs. She stared and stared at them, as they stood without a care in the world. It was only when they noticed her and started pointing that Lyra looked away.

“Oh no,” she muttered to herself, heart beginning to race. “They spotted me! I have to-”

“Lyra!”

Lyra looked up the seesaw she was sitting on, only to see Bon Bon staring down at her angrily. “I’ve been calling you since, like, forever! You have to push up!”

“Oh, uh, yeah, sorry.” Lyra pushed off with her back hooves, rocketing into the air and sending Bon Bon crashing down. “Hey...Bon?”

“Yeah?”

“Do...do you think that humans really exist?”

Bon Bon shot her friend a questioning look. “No...do you?”

“No, no, of course not!” Lyra shot back, laughing and looking around. “It’s just...what if they do, and they’re just waiting for us to turn our backs, so they can catch us, and tear us apart, and, and, what if they want to turn us? You know, into one of them?! And then, we’d just be killing ourselves! We’d have to kill Princess Celestia! We’d have to rip her to shreds! Huh, Bon Bon?! What about that?!”

There was a long, deep silence. A few foals stopped and stared for a moment, before quickly losing interest and running along.

“Lyra, you’re sweating,” Bon Bon said, getting off the seesaw.

“What?!” Lyra yelped. She wiped her wet forehead. “N-No, I’m not! Your face is sweating!”

Bon Bon walked up to her friend. “I know the movie was scary, Lyra, but it’s just a movie. It’s not real!”

“How do you know?! Plenty of movies are real! Maybe it was just a warning!” Lyra said, jumping off the seesaw. She whipped her head around wildly, not looking at anything in particular. “I bet they’re hiding, right now, waiting to get us! I have to tell somepony!”

Bon Bon shuddered. What if Lyra was right? “Like who?” she asked, suddenly feeling a bit chillier.

“Like, uh...ooh, Mrs. Sharpener! She’ll know what to do!”

Lyra galloped off, leaving Bon Bon sitting alone. “Hey!” the earth filly yelled. “Wait for me! I don’t wanna get turned!”

----------

As Parer Sharpener (better known as Mrs. Sharpener to her students) had noted many times throughout her life: being an earth pony was hard. Mainly because you had to do everything by hoof. Normally, this wouldn’t be so bad. Most things in Equestria had some sort of adaption for earth ponies, making everything more accessible.

But, for whatever reason, the ponies who had first constructed the schoolhouse had deemed it necessary to put her room’s lightswitch higher than any normal pony could reach. As such, Parer was required to stand on her hind legs, in an extremely uncomfortable position, just to reach it.

When she was younger, she could do it with ease. But now, as much as she hated to admit it, she was older, and it simply hurt her back to keep doing it. But would the board listen? Noooooo.

Grumbling, Parer prepared herself for the leap up to the switch to turn it on. “One, two...three!” She jumped onto her hind hooves, and hit both front hooves on the wall to steady herself. A shot of pain coursed through her. “Oh, boy...now, here we go...” She moved one of her hooves to flick the lightswitch.

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“Oh, Celestia damn it!” Parer yelped as a blast of pain exploded in her back. She knew it was going to happen one day: she had thrown out her back. “Ugh...”

“Mrs. Sharpener! Mrs. Sharpener!”

Parer’s brown eyes shot open. “Oh no. A student!” She attempted to force herself back onto all four hooves, but her spine wouldn’t have it. “Oh, um...help!” Sure, they were only kindergartners...but, still, they knew how to get help, didn’t they?

Lyra rushed into the room, sweat trailing down her face. “Mrs. Sharpener, we need he...oh no.”

Parer glanced at her student. “Lyra, could you please go get another teacher, or somepony to come here? Now?”

The unicorn simply squeaked. “Oh no oh no oh no OH NO! Not you too, Mrs. Sharpener!”

“Huh?”

“Y-You’re standing on two legs! You’re a human!”

Parer blinked, still stuck in her standing position. “What?”

Lyra backed up. “They’re everywhere! And, if they got you, that means...they can get me! AHHHHHHH!” She spun around and ran out of the room, screaming her head off. “RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! HUMANS ARE GOING TO KILL US ALL!”

“Oh...somepony, please, help me?”

Bon Bon, running to catch her friend, just barely dodged the unicorn as she came running back. “Lyra, what happened? Where’s Mrs. Sharpener?”

“SHE’S DEAD! WE’RE ALL DEAD! AHHHHHHHHH!”

----------

“Yes...they’ll never get me now! Never!”

Lyra adjusted the cooking pot on her head so the handle faced to the side. She cracked a nervous grin. With every small sound that echoed through the room, she tightened the grip on her frying pan, which lay directly in front of her.

She had heard once that tinfoil kept aliens away. She couldn't find where her parents kept the tinfoil, though, so she had to settle for pots and pans. They looked kind of similar, she figured, so they must act similar.

Now she just had to play the waiting game. She sat under the thick, blue covers of her bed. As soon as one of those humans got close... WHAM! Frying pan to the face!

Across the room, her wooden desk creaked.

"COME OUT, HUMAN!" she screeched. "You want me? Come and get me!"

A knock came at her locked bedroom door. "Lyra? Sweetie? Can I come in?"

Lyra glared at her mother—no, "mother"—through the door. "What's the password?!"

The first thing Lyra had done once she had come home from school, was to give both her parents a password. It was a highly complex series of numbers and letters. As the alien threat advanced, Lyra expected it to become their last hope at defense. When anypony you knew could be a human, how would you know who to trust?

"Well?" Lyra shouted again after a moment of silence. "What's the password, 'mom?'"

"...I have macaroni and cheese!"

Lyra considered the offer. On the one hoof, this could be a trick, and if she opened the door, she would be captured.

But on the other hoof...her mother's macaroni and cheese was really good.

Grabbing the frying pan's handle in her mouth, Lyra jumped down from her bed and made her way to the bedroom door. She undid the lock by pushing with her hooves, making a sharp klack. The filly winced as the entrance way opened, revealing a bright yellow unicorn with a bowl levitating next to her.

Sunlight Shimmer frowned when she saw her pot-headed child. "Lyra, what in Celestia's good name are you doing?"

"Oh, good, it's only you," Lyra said, releasing the breath she had been holding. She stepped aside to let her mother through. "I need to keep the door closed, though. Just put the food on my bed and leave."

"Lyra, that is no way to speak to your mother!"

Under the pot, Lyra's ears drooped. "Sorry, mom."

Sunlight sighed. "Well, at least I know where my good pan went." She laid the bowl on the desk by Lyra's bed. "Lyra, why are you wearing my pots and pans? What's going on?"

Lyra jumped back into bed and adjusted her helmet. She took a glance at Sunlight, who was regarding her strangely. "Hey, stop looking at me like I'm crazy! You'll be sorry when the humans come and kill you!"

The mother blinked. Suddenly, her gaze turned angry. "Lyra!" Sunlight yelped, shocking her daughter. "I hope you don't think that I don't know where 'humans' are from. You saw that movie, didn't you?"

"I know, but-"

"Really, Lyra, you know that you're not allowed to see movies like that! And now look what happened!"

"But, but, moooooom!" Lyra said, her lower lip trembling. "It looked so cool! How was I supposed to know that it was going to be scary?"

Sunlight glared down at her daughter.

Lyra hung her head. "I'm sorry..."

"Good. Now, what's all this about the humans killing us?" Sunlight asked, sitting next to her daughter.

The filly wrung her hooves. "I think... I think that movie was just a warning!"

"A warning?" Sunlight questioned, incredulous. "And just what do you mean by that?"

Lyra’s eyes went wide. "I've been seeing them everywhere! The ponies standing on two hooves! They're humans! The humans are everywhere, just waiting to kill us and take our skin!" The golden mare stared. "They already got Mrs. Sharpener, and, and, the older kids!" Lyra yelped, grabbing her elder. "They're hiding, just waiting to get us when we're not looking!"

There was a tense silence, punctuated only by Lyra's heavy breathing.

Sunlight Shimmer began to laugh.

“Stop l-laughing at me!” Lyra pleaded, tears filling her golden eyes. “I don’t wanna d-die!”

“Oh, sweetie...” Sunlight wrapped a hoof around her daughter and pulled her close. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. But you know that that’s completely ridiculous! Humans aren’t real. I guarantee you.”

“How do you know?!”

Sunlight opened her mouth, but closed it just as quickly. She thought for a moment. “Well... here, let’s look at it this way. You said that humans are everywhere, just waiting to get us. Right?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“So, if that’s true, why haven’t you ever seen them before?”

Lyra furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”

“If humans were really trying to kill you whenever you weren’t paying attention, don’t you think they would have gotten you already? You know, sometime during all the years you didn’t know about them?”

“Uh...I never thought about it like that,” Lyra admitted. “That makes sense, I guess.”

Sunlight grinned and leaned in close to her daughter. “And, you know what else?”

“What?”

THe mare pulled Lyra’s “Even if there were humans, they could never get you.” She pulled her daughter into a warm hug. “Because mommy and daddy would make sure that nothing ever hurt you.” She looked down at the ball of mint fur in her arms. “Okay?”

Lyra smiled wide and returned the gesture. “Thanks, mom. I love you.”

“Love you too, sweetie.” She jumped off the bed and picked up Lyra’s bowl. “Now, come on; you’re going to eat at the kitchen table, like a big filly. And, you can return my pots and pans.”

“Okay,” Lyra said, almost dejectedly. Sure, she was happy that she didn’t have to live locked in her room for the rest of her life. But she was having fun, being an alien defender! They walked out of the filly’s room, side by side. “So, mom...”

“Yes, Lyra?”

“I’m not in trouble, right? Me being scared taught me my lesson?”

Sunlight chuckled. “Oh, no, no, no. Your punishment hasn’t even begun.”

Lyra’s ears flattened. “Oh.”

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