2 - Group Session
Lyra sat in a circle with six other ponies. They were, beside Lyra, united in the belief that they were not really ponies, despite the physical and thaumic evidence to the contrary. The room was well lit, and a small table was set to the side with little cookies donated by Sugarcube Corner and chocolates provided by her marefriend.
"This is a safe place," began Lyra. "Nothing you say here will leave these walls. You're not here to be judged, and I ask that you not judge others. We're here to talk, and to support. Let's go around the circle and introduce ourselves. I'll go--"
One of the ponies, an earth tribe, rose to his hooves with an angry glare. "I'm not crazy! I don't need to be here!"
Lyra waved her hooves in a gently placating motion. "Nopony is accusing you of being crazy, Sam. No judgment, remember? Now then, please sit down, and I'll introduce myself." Of course, all the ponies present knew who she was, but it was the first group session, and she approached it fresh. Sam settled with a grumble.
"I am Lyra Heartstrings. I used to play the lyre in a philharmonic, but found helping other ponies to be more rewarding." She gestured to her flank. "I see not all of you have your cutie mark yet. Just remember that it is a guide, not a jail." She gestured at Sam. "Will you go next, and we'll keep going around?"
Sam grunted softly. "My name's Sam. Not Tree Leaper or Sweets mcCakesalot, or whatever fancy name ponies like. I was a truck driver until I fell asleep at the wheel and went off the edge. When I hit the bottom, I woke up at the bottom of the town well. They fished me out and here I am." He sat with a thump, looking to the next pony.
The pegasus rose to his hooves. He had striking purple fur with yellow mane and tail. His mane was elegantly groomed and coiled, and his tail had several bands that kept the fur tight to it. "I'm Steven. I was a photographer. My, uh, arrival wasn't so dramatic. I was just taking pictures on my own one day and fell asleep in the grass. It was a nice day, you know? I woke up with wings just outside of town."
Lyra had to look down to see this pony. She was a little filly with bright and sparkling fur. Being a crystal pony, this was entirely natural. "Don't be shy, we're just getting to know each other today."
She frowned with a seriousness that didn't belong on a young face. "Right... I'm Lucy, and I was a teacher for over twenty years, shaping young minds to hopefully succeed in the world. Now here I am, I just wake up one morning too young to do anything, and what am I even?" She spread her hooves wide. "I'm a giant walking ball of glitter!"
Steven raised a hoof. "I think one of those charms you hang in the window to catch the light would be more accurate."
Lucy was not amused by the observation. "I feel simultaneously soft as fur and hard as a rock, and there's no rhyme or reason to it. None of this world makes any sense!" The circle murmured with encouragement while Lyra pondered how a child could lose so much faith in the entire world. Perhaps parental abuse?
The next pony was the unicorn Lyra had mentioned to Sweetie Drops. "I'm Thomas. I worked at a butcher."
Lyra interrupted. "Thomas, what is a butcher?"
Thomas raised a brow at Lyra. "I told you once before, but in case the others don't know, it's where you process meat, then sell it. I cut up carcasses of all kinds of things for people. So, anyway. I get a strange box in the mail, open it up, bright flash, bam, here I am. Not a hamburger to be seen for miles." The other ponies made soft noises of sympathy.
The next was a female pegasus. She put a hoof to her chest. "I'm Samantha, nice to meet you gentlemen."
"Gentlecolts," corrected Lyra softly.
"Gentlemen," said Samantha with emphasis, to Lyra's chagrin. She cleared her throat and continued. "I was a waiter for a nice place. One of the customer asked me if I wanted a big tip. Of course I did, and he left a huge wad of bills on the check."
"What are bills?" asked Lyra with a roll of a hoof.
Samantha sighed. "Paper bits. Anyway, I grabbed it up, but when I went to count it later, between one bill and the next, bam, I was a pegasus, mid-flight even! You can't imagine how terrifying that was. I even made a crater when I hit the ground. I still don't know how I didn't break anything."
The next was a stallion earth pony. "Hi! I'm Shattered Stone." Lyra had high hopes for this one. He had a nice pony name and everything. "I was once a human, but now I'm a pony, and I'm OK with that. I'm stronger, healthier, faster. I miss having hands, but I get to be naked all the time and nopony cares, and getting a date is super easy."
Lyra nodded supportively at Shattered. "Weren't you looking for a date last weekend? How did that go?"
Shattered smiled widely. "Oh she was great! We shared roasted oats together, and we watched the stars just after sunset. Then I leaned in and nibbled her ear--"
Sam snorted loudly. "Enough of your bestiality. Let's move on."
The last was a mare, an earth pony. She squirmed a bit in place, looking shy. Lyra smiled at her. "No judgments, remember? Let's start with your name?"
"Uh... Darrell..."
The other ponies reacted oddly to Lyra. They seemed surprised by her name. Sam vocalized the concern. "That's not really a girl's name."
"I... I'm not really a girl... I was definitely a guy before, and a human. I..." She closed her legs quite purposefully. "I just want to go home."
Noises of sympathy rose up from the circle, and when she began to sniffle and tear up, Samantha leaned over and hugged her. Lyra smiled internally, walls were coming down and bonds were forming, this was good!
Lyra nodded her head. "I said we weren't here to doubt today, and I meant it. For today, I will assume everything you've all said is true, but I want to talk about the present, not the past." With some magic, she pulled a mirror free of the closet. It was a tall mirror that had wheels on its base. She pulled it over to rest in front of Sam. "What do you see?"
The earth pony named Sam peered into the mirror a moment before snorting. "I see a horse that can talk."
Lyra nodded. "A pony. You are a pony, right now, yes?"
Sam gave a hesitant nod. "I am a pony."
Lyra smiled, internally rejoicing at getting him to admit that he was a pony, even tenuously. He grunted and shoved at the mirror. "But I wasn't a pony before."
Lyra shook her head. "We're not talking about the past anymore." She clucked her tongue. "No matter how much I want to be a filly again, I won't be. I'm an adult now." She pulled the mirror before Thomas. "What do you see?"
Thomas frowned sharply. "I see a butcher in a unicorn's body, and he looks hungry for a juicy steak, medium-rare."
Lyra made a soft negative noise. "Meat doesn't work well in ponies. What happened last time you tried some?"
Thomas crossed his forelegs. "It tasted great..."
"And then?"
Thomas shrunk in place. "I had the shits something awful." His voice was low and cowed.
Lyra nodded. "So does that pony really want a steak?"
Thomas grit his teeth with obvious defiance, and was silent.
Lyra let him be and moved the mirror along to Samantha. "What do you see?"
Samantha spread her wings. "I see a pretty pegasus, and a confused human waitress. Don't get me wrong, if I had to be a pony, at least I think I'm a nice looking one, but I want to go back to humanity, thank you."
Lyra nodded softly. "But, for now, you are a pegasus, a pretty pegasus. Is that bad?"
Samantha shook her head a little. "I can live with it, for now, but I want to go home. My boyfriend probably thinks I died, to say nothing of my family. They probably threw my stuff on the street!" Noises echoed with sympathy.
Lucy cringed when she came in view of herself. "I see a disco ball."
Lyra raised a brow. "Really?"
Lucy shook her head. "I suppose not, they don't have legs or eyes. I know where this is going. Fine, I see a young pony or whatever I am." She crossed her forelegs petulantly.
Lyra considered skipping Darrell, she had severe self-image issues, but it would make her alienated to be skipped, so she rolled it before her. "What do you see?"
Darrell shrank at the sight of the scared and lost mare. "I'm not a girl!" She flopped out of her chair and splayed out on the ground. "I want my junk back! I want my hands back!"
Lyra shook her head. "Transformation magic is very short-lived, unless performed by a very talented magician, and even then it typically requires more energy than a unicorn can hold at once, making it quite a feat. Now, Darrell, if you sit up and tell me what you see, I'll give you a treat."
Darrell pushed up to her hooves and looked at the mirror with a powerful shudder. "I see... a woman."
"Mare," corrected Lyra.
Darrell bit her bottom lip a moment. "M-mare..."
Lyra pulled a special chocolate out of a pouch at her belt and levitated it to Darrell. Darrell recognized it and snapped it out of the air, going quiet. Bon Bon's super special treats were a force to be reckoned with, and the other ponies looked jealous at the gift. Lyra moved the mirror before Shattered Stone. "And last but not least, what do you see?"
Shattered Stone puffed out his chest. "I see a healthy and virile stallion, ready to take on the world." Lyra smiled. If she could get him to let go of his ridiculous past, he would be cured. She almost wanted to just let him go as it was, but his dangerous amnesia towards pony laws and customs had to be treated first.
"Very good. I think you all made some progress today. It doesn't feel like much, but we're taking it slow and easy. Let's take a moment to congratulate one another." Lyra slipped to her hooves, and so did the others. Half-hearted claps on the shoulder were given, and slowly they dispersed.
Shattered lingered behind, watching Lyra. "Say, are you busy tonight?"
Lyra smiled patiently. "I have a marefriend. I'm not interested, but thank you. Besides, doctor-patient relations and all that stuff."
Shattered rolled a hoof. "I won't tell if you won't."
Lyra pointed to the door. "See you next Wednesday."
He took the hint and departed. Perhaps there was more work to be done with him than she originally thought.
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Steven seems the most normal and laid back out of all of them. Very forgettable, which is probably why he was skipped when looking at the mirror.
Definitely a background pony for sure. Probably no coincidence Lyra only saw 6 ponies there instead of 7.
Interesting spectrum. The gender shifted, the age shifted, more mundanely shifted, all at various stages of comfort and acceptance, though those might be quite be the right terms And that one guy you want to deck for seeming to take it way too easy. Darrell, Lucy and Thomas seem to be taking it the hardest, the former particularly understandable.
Ah, the one sucker who endured the transformation most stories make their MC's go through...
Knowing my luck, I'd probably end up just like him (her).
6006972
Ah yes, not fun.
Heh, Raven's a brony.
So, I'm wondering if these people are actually crazy, or if they really DID used to be humans.
Occam's Razor is no longer pointing to delusion. Delusions are not consistent with other delusions. Delusions are not shared. The Razor instead points to a third agency influencing everypony in the group.
6008450 well, they know what trucks, butchers, America and all that stuff is, so yeah.
I'm pretty certain any civilization far enough into psychotherapy to do support groups would recognize that a group of people sharing a delusion this detailed is probably not likely.
Put them in separate rooms and ask them questions. Geography, art, technology, pop culture. Then compare notes. I know psychology gets a hard rap for soft science, but if it's ever this soft something's gone terribly wrong.
6010639 Which details? Lyra hasn't started grilling them for street names, but that wouldn't help much, with them all coming from different parts of this 'Amareica' place. They seem to agree on how humans work at least. Ultimately, Lyra really isn't the best pony for this job, but she's also the only pony for the job on-hoof that really wants to do it, and she's trying really hard. Is it ideal? No.
As that simpsons clip goes: That's the joke.
I like it!
HA! HA! HA!
i.imgur.com/zotgBBc.jpg
6010639 Could be a mental illness that only affects ponies, making them forget about their entire past and instead replacing all of those memories with constructed ones that all involve these "hu-man" creatures for some strange reason. . . Just a thought.
simultanously .....amnesia is not common....and highly impossible....but what if they were truly ponies but through a few magical shenanigans, they ....came back again...that would be a twist...
6010660
Maybe, but if they're all from America they should have some common points of reference. Most of them probably knew what a butcher was without being told, for example. Or what Albert Einstein's famous equation was, or who Bill Gates or Steve Jobs are. Or what a computer is and why the internet is so damned useful.
"I won't tell if you won't" dear god I would be happy to be spirited into equestria as a filly female blank flank earth pony with a patch over one eye, black rimmed spectacles and my hind legs amputated, if it gave me a chance to punch this idiot in the face.
This seems kinda dark.
If they are all humans, then forcing them to forget their identities is pretty damn tragic.
6028464
If it's that, though, the fine details won't match up. What he's saying is get the fine details from them all, and then cross-reference them.
>>>Waypoint
Agree with you on that point
6083776
I definitely agree with this.
There are support groups full of abducted with strikingly consistent stories. Combine the symptoms of sleep paralysis with the right cultural assumptions and hey presto. So, sudden human themed amnesia might line up with a quirk of pony neurobiology and local myths.
What happens when these former humans find out about the portal in Twilight Sparkle's castle?
Lyra shook her head. "Transformation magic is very short-lived,
Tell that to changelings, or the world mirror.
Shatter Stone sees this as an escape, something to let go of everything from before. But if he lets go of EVERYTHING from before, he's just an empty shell.
Not very good here, in what it poses fir their futures. To forget your past and identity, just because someone transfirmed you? That's dark as hell. I really hope this doesn't turn into "Its only okay to be a pony."
Edit: after skimming forwards, I can say this really isn't a story for me. 60 chapters is too much, if you're going to destroy their identity why not just kill them right there and be done with it?
9813665
I respect your opinion, especially since I agree that the past is what makes a person who they are in the now.
But then again, the story is not about the humans themselves per se, but about how Lyra deals with them as a pony.
Still though, I don't think this is for me either. I'm ditching here as well. Wish you future readers good luck.
10689483
Pity. The story moves on from this starting point.
9813665
Its not that
Its Basically saying "stuff happens but we have to understand we can't always go back"