Lyra walked nervously to the town hall. It wasn't often that she was called down there and the sudden arrival of the summon made her nervous. Had she not paid any of her taxes? She was fairly certain she was current. With a shake of her head, she trotted forward with determination, sparing a wave at Carrot Top on the way past her.
It was a clear day, though the weather schedule warned of rain in the evening. A moderate drenching, which made Lyra bring her umbrella, in case business went long. She ascended the stairs of the town hall, looking up to where a hole had once existed. "Glad that's fixed. It made the whole town look ugly."
She walked inside and saw a secretarial earth pony parked behind the desk. Lyra approached with a bright smile. "Heya! I was told to come down here?"
The pony looked at her with boredom a moment before she pulled over a sheaf of paper closer. "Name?"
"Lyra, Lyra Heartstrings?"
"Oh!" The pony perked up. "I remember you. You played that pretty instrument during the Summer Sun Celebration a few years ago, didn't you?"
Lyra smiled gently, pleased to find a fan. "I'm not playing music these days, but yes, that was me."
She extended a hoof. "Triplicate Fill, a pleasure to meet you in person, Miss Heartstrings." Lyra extended her own hoof and they met with a soft clop. "According to this, you're expected in room 106. Have a nice day." She sang the last part, seemingly shaken out of her funk with the arrival of a favored musician.
Lyra couldn't help herself and conjured her lyre, playing a few soft notes to Triplicate's obvious pleasure before she moved to meet with destiny, whatever that was. She pressed through a closed, but unlocked, door and entered a dark room, only for the door to shut with a click and the sound of a lock. It was then pitch dark.
She felt breath on an ear, "You are timely, we appreciate that."
Lyra leaped forward and span around, her heart beating wildly as she realized her attacker was Luna, the princess, and not some random mugger that had somehow gotten into town hall.
"We apologize if we alarmed you," said Luna as she gestured to a seat in the center of the room. "You have knowledge we would know, and there are warnings we must share. You are not in trouble, if that is what you fear."
Lyra moved towards the seat, trying to control her rapid pulse. "S-sure, no problem. I-I didn't d-d-do anything wrong, did I?"
Luna shook her head softly. "Neigh, you are innocent of any crime we are aware of. Please, be at ease. Pretend we are any other pony, of no importance."
More easily said than done, Lyra couldn't envision Luna as anything but Luna, ruler of Equestria alongside her sister. "Right... So how can I... help you?" She sank onto the chair, legs folded beneath her as she watched Luna with fear and awe.
Luna rolled a hoof. "The dream world has been visited by an increasing number of foreign minds. At first we feared invasion, but we have heard that they are lost ponies with wild claims, or would be wild... if not for the fact that we have seen their visions and memories."
Lyra sat forward, suddenly becoming much more aware of what Luna was likely speaking of. "The humans?"
Luna smiled brightly. "We were certain you knew of them! They are not supposed to come through the mirror. We have checked with Cadance, and she reports no disturbance. Pray tell, how are these humans arriving?"
Lyra held up a hoof. "A few things there, uh, your highness. First, none of the ones I talked to came through the mirror. Second, the mirror world is not their world. Third, we're increasingly certain their worlds are not all the same world."
Luna frowned sharply, an expression that worried Lyra. "That is most troubling. But it is little of your concern, save to see that the humans in your care are safe in both meanings of the word. Do not allow them to harm themselves or other ponies, yourself included."
Lyra shook her head. "Well, of course. I don't want to be hurt. I mean, most of them are pretty nice, just confused and lost. They miss their old bodies. I mean, so would I. I, er, visited the mirror world. I wouldn't want to go back unless I had to."
Luna leveled a hoof at Lyra. "If you are certain the mirror world is not theirs, do not let them go there. The damage of their travel should be minimized, and there is no reason to spread the harm to that world."
Lyra shrank a little. "I kinda went with one of them... They're back now?"
Luna snorted loudly, looking irritated. "We see. Well, it is good that they are returned. Did you see anything amiss about the other world while you visited?"
"Everything?"
Luna sighed and reached out, patting Lyra on the head. "We apologize. You are a musician and professional friend, not a dimensional scholar."
Lyra didn't really like the term 'professional friend' and made a little face. It sounded too much like a consort or other such thing, even if it wasn't inaccurate. She liked being a friend, just didn't like that title. "We didn't do too much, just looked mostly. She used a 'computer' to do some research, then we came back. It was a few hours at most."
Luna noded. "Then all is likely well, but do not repeat it. We feel an explanation is called for. The worlds are not static in the universe. A better analogy would be that our world is a large bubble, with some smaller bubbles that cling to it, those are the mirror worlds. They reflect much of our own world, like the mirrors they are named after. We float in the universe, usually peacefully, but when this happens, it means our bubble has brushed up against another large bubble. Your humans have come from that large bubble and its smaller mirror bubbles, landing on our large bubble. Do you understand?"
Lyra let the idea jiggle around in her head a moment, giving a hesitant nod. "Alright... So what should I do? How do we get them back? Can they get back?"
Luna held up a hoof. "These questions have not answers yet. If their bubble has moved on, they will remain here forever. If it still touches ours, we may yet get them home, but unless they came from the primary bubble, finding the exact mirror world of their own may prove impossible."
Lyra's expression turned to sorrow as she imagined most of her new friends came from the smaller worlds, and were truly stranded forever. "I don't want to tell them that. What are their chances?"
Luna tapped her chin. "If they all come from different worlds, then only one may be from the primary world, but there is an additional complication. We could not determine with 100% accuracy which of them is it. It may be kinder to simply not try to return them at all."
Lyra hopped to her hooves. "No! This should be their choice... If they find out we had a way to get to a place so close to home and we didn't even offer the chance? They would hate us... and I couldn't even blame them for it."
Luna reached out and gently brushed a few tears Lyra hadn't even realized she was dropping. "You are a good friend. They are twice fortunate to have you. We will inform you when we are ready to make the trip, if it remains possible. For now, treat them well, and keep them and everypony around them safe."
Lyra smiled a little before a question came to her. "Were you the one referring them all to me?"
"Not at first." Luna inclined her head faintly. "But word of your success has spread. Expect others, if they arrive. Do you feel you understand the humans?"
Lyra bobbed her head. "They're not that different from ponies, really. They prefer being dressed all the time if they can be, but they often get used to wearing their fur. They like meat, but it's not required, just a strong preference. So far as I can tell, they were omnivores. Like us, but closer to the carnivore side of the spectrum while we're on the herbivore side."
Luna clopped her fore-hooves together. "Excellent. We will consider you the standing expert in this new field then. If you can learn more, do so, but that is secondary to protecting them and Ponyville."
Yay! update!
Oh you lucky dog, you got to got to EFNW? Hope you had a fun time and safe travels! Lovely chapter as usual, some very interesting developments in this one, that's for sure.
Short and somewhat informative on the humans, but I want some real meatiness in the form of story advancement. So PLEASE...
6042327 I didn't lose any parts, yay! It was a good trip. Glad to be back in the writing chair.
6042335 I thought this was story advancement! Which story element are you particularly looking forward to?
Hmm. Trying to figure out if they are from the same dimension would be more than difficult. I'd imagine that major events would be similar between them. E.G. Barak Obama would probably be president of the US of most of the dimensions of earth. Most of the major wars probably happened. So it'd come down to the minutia, which most people don't seem familiar enough to notice. They're probably boned as far as going home is concerned.
It'd be like bulls eying a womprat... From the moon. With a slingshot. Blindfolded.
6042357 They can rule out the one with anthro ponies going to a high school.
6042364 Yes, that one's eliminated for certain. :p
I was like, "Oh, you were at Everfree?" And then I looked at your name and realized, "Oh, yes. Yes, he was at Everfree. You know he was; you bought things from him."
Thank you for setting your wares out for us to peruse, and double thank you for continuing this excellent story.
6042351 I guess I'm waiting for one of those big reveals that you can practically sink your teeth into and go, "mmm, that's good story".
6042449 It was a pleasure meeting lots of awesome bronies!
Just ask Discord to send them back to their dimensions.
6042726 Whoever said Discord was good at -fixing- dimensions?
I just realized that, if their "bubbles" work like equestrian's then there could be the problem of meeting another self from a different dimension.
for exemple: if you send every human on the main dimension, but person A comes from another one close to it, then there is already a version of A in this dimension. That could be problematic.
6042832 Hence Luna's original thought of return not being feasible.
6042839
I see. I thought that they were hesitant just because the humans would most likely not find their original home, but it's whole new level of risk, there.
At least, unless they can be sure to send people to their right dimension, they can't send a lot of people (because more risks then), and the few they would send would have to stay away from where they used to live until they see if they are missing in this dimension or not. If not, they would have to stay away from where they used to live for the rest of their life.
That's a lot of inconveniences.
This little thing sold this chapter for me.
Don't know why, but
6042866
Still, if it's so altogether indistinguishable they otherwise couldn't even tell the difference, I'd really question if it even matters anymore which specific world they really ended up in. In every practical sense of the word it's still the same one. Even if it means they need to get a new apartment, I'd call it a net improvement to their situation if only insofar as they get to live with their own bodies and cultural values again.
6043112
True, but it's not only about finding a new appartement. You have to get a new identity, living somewhere far enough to be sure to never cross your double's path, eventually in an other land (because your double can always move in anywhere he wants, and it can be anywhere in your country), etc...
But if you truly despise pony culture, and aren't just worried for your close ones, yeah, I guess it could do.
6043140
Well, illegal immigrants of all stripes seem to make do about the documentation thing and I'd really consider the chance of randomly meeting yourself on the street if you move even just a few cities away nearly astronomical (considering I can't ever seem run into anyone I know even in my own hometown), but still, fair enough. The part about the people they left behind is certainly hard to argue, but seeing how they'd miss out on those if they stayed in ponyland just as inevitably, that comes out a wash to me personally. Plus, the ones that are dead can't really go back without major complication anyway.
6043166
The thing about your chance of meeting yourself being astronomical is true, in a sense, but we have to keep in mind that it must go on for decades, and the more people we send back to Earth, the riskier it gets.
I'm not really arguing that you can't go back to Earth, but that you're going to start a new life from scratch anyway, and that Equestria is a far more welcoming place for that. On Earth, you're probably going to be a hobo for a while, since you don't have any diploma or degree anymore, and no money to start anything, really. I think only people who can't stand being a pony should try to go back, but they're gonna have a rough life, at least for a while, anyway.
hum Luna has brought up a interesting theory.
will the humans turned pony find a way home?
Harts Fire
6043264
True, but people do tend to kill themselves even for lesser feelings of mismatch between their self-image and their body, after all. "Only" being the wrong gender is supposedly sheer torture. Suddenly having four legs has to be that much worse.
Are we? I don't recall any evidence of discrepancy among the displaced.
In any case, Lyra is now an unofficial Royal Anthropologist. No pressure or anything, Luna just has a personal interest in your work. Just keep on keeping on, knowing that the Princess of the Night is monitoring your patients' dreams and that there are decent odds that you'll never be able to get them home, especially if they hail from different offshoots of their worldline. Nothing to worry about.
6043365
I certainly don't want to go on that field, so I would like to say that you're right just to avoid it, but in the story, there is only one person who seems to have that kind of problem. The others seems to live it pretty well.
You've got a tense shift.
6043548 Fixed, for the good of lost ponies.
6043432 Lyra is cool under pressure! Wait, Lyra, where are you going?
no "l" in word
no instead of not or is it yee olde speech?
6044847 First is definitely a typo and fixed!
6043432
I was wondering if there was something I'd missed.
Dimensional Theories now, is it? Perfect, we're delving right into my jurisdiction... behold, an alien race that has the ability to travel to other universes (dimensions)! Prepare for all problems to be fixed!
... nah, as much as I'd love to to completely send a story off its axis, I know that's not gonna happen...