It's OK to Be a Pony

by David Silver

26 - When Worlds Collide

Dark landed lightly on a balcony and knocked on a glass door. "Mistress. I apologize for the disturbance, but Misses Heartstrings is here."

The door slid open and Dark proceeded into the gloomily lit room, where Luna sat across a large cushion. "Ah, Dark Horizon. You've done well, as you usually do." She smiled at the bat pony, then tilted her head at Lyra on Dark's back. "Come down, Lyra. I'm certain you did not come if you did not have important things on your mind."

Lyra carefully slid down to the ground, wobbling left and right a moment before her balance found her. "Uh, hello your highness, and thank you, Miss Horizon."

Dark smiled at Lyra. "Enjoy your audience." She turned and walked out of the room, closing the glass door behind herself and soon launching herself into the sky, lost to their sight.

Lyra looked to Luna, a new question on her mind. "She seemed so loyal. Are all the bat ponies like that?"

Luna tilted her head lightly. "We share a bond. I love them all dearly, as they do me. Of all of ponykind, they understand the night better than the rest, and with it, they understand me. I am fortunate to have them at my side, but that is not what brought you here, I doubt?"

Lyra picked up on the relaxed mode of speech and looked at Luna more closely, seeing she was relaxed and drowsy, perhaps just awakened. Perhaps she had caught her with her guard down and she was speaking more akin to a friend instead of a subject. The thought sent a thrill through her even as she vowed to not take advantage of it. "My wife had an alarming thought about the humans and their world. What if humans and ponies are not 'falling through', but instead being copied? Meaning there really is no home for them, because they never left home to begin with. My once-humans may actually be ponies, with the minds, uh, spirits... of these humans? But otherwise fully Equestrian."

Luna reached forward with a hoof and tapped Lyra on the nose. "This thought has not escaped me. It is one reason of many we tried to gently dissuade you from trying to send them back."

Lyra noticed the relapse, but paid it no mind. "But we have to stop this! Besides, it could be going both ways. Imagine if you suddenly woke up as a human, with no magic. No wings! Lost in an alien world without harmony..."

Luna shuddered powerfully. "Truly a nightmare, and one I would never wake from. What would you have us do?"

Lyra tapped her forehead, as if to shake loose a thought within. "You said it was like bubbles? Can't we just... blow the other bubble away?"

Luna smiled gently. "We are not gods, that can exhale and make planets move."

Lyra pointed outside. "You are so! You move the moon every night! Celestia raises the sun every morning! Especially together, you should be able to do it!"

Luna looked angry at first, scaring Lyra, but the expression faded. "Perhaps... Perhaps you are right. Come, let us see my sister and get her thoughts on the matter." She slipped off her cushion and rose to her full height, towering over Lyra. "Follow us."

Lyra followed as she was bid, feeling a little thrill at having Luna's personal attention. The thought that they were going to see Celestia too put a little spring in her step. This was all so exciting! She just had to not... mess... everything up... Her bounce faded to a much more sedate walk, glancing around nervously. She cleared her throat softly. "Is there anything I should keep in mind while addressing your sister?"

Luna looked over her shoulder. "Neigh. My sister is as forthright as the sun she represents. If you wish her favor, think of her like an older sister instead of a princess. Greet her with familiarity, and do not bow or scrape." She paused a moment, tapping her chin. "We do not mind if you bow and scrape for us, however." And then she continued.

Lyra blinked a little, looking at Luna curiously. It seemed an odd time to suddenly throw herself prostrate while walking down the hall, and thinking about it got her head considering the relationship of the sisters, and Luna's place in a world she left behind for a thousand years. Maybe she should try to get Luna to come in for a session... Maybe she needed a friend to talk to?

These thoughts were interrupted as they entered the throne room, where Celestia sat in all her glory, conversing with a few ponies who sat before her. She spotted Luna immediately and excused herself from the others. "Sister! You're up early. What brings you here?"

They met and traded a nuzzle before Luna gestured back at Lyra. "Misses Heartstrings has been quite dutiful concerning the matter of the dimensional barrier, and she brings up an excellent point that I think you should consider. We wanted your view of it."

Celestia looked down at Lyra expectantly. Lyra tried to put the advice to work. "Hi Celestia! It's been a while."

Celestia looked surprised at Lyra's words, but smiled. "That it has, Lyra. It's a pleasure to see you again. Why, I think we last saw one another at Twilight's coronation. You were quite excited."

Lyra giggled a little. "I was beside myself! Twilight looked so regal and amazing and I couldn't believe a friend managed to become a princess like that! I couldn't help myself, you know?"

Celestia nodded slowly. "I know precisely what you mean. I... may have cried a little during it all. My little Twilight Sparkle has done so well. But we're not here for that, please, share your thoughts."

Lyra felt herself relax. Luna was right, Celestia wasn't big on formality, and thinking of her like a big sister was much easier than considering talking to the ruler of your nation. "Well I was just saying, the two worlds can't be too much harder than the sun and the moon. If you put your magic together, you should be able to nudge them apart a little, at least enough so people and ponies aren't falling across all the time! It's getting crazy! I have a dozen patients waiting for their first visit! And thinking about the ponies stuck in their world is heartbreaking."

Celestia seemed to be considering it, looking between Lyra and Luna a moment. "I think I have a better idea..."

Author's Note:

What is Celestia planning?

Will Lyra ever get Luna to come down and let her be her professional friend?

Will humans and ponies continue to fall into each other's worlds?

Will the author ever get a pre-reader and use it to cut down on these typos?

The answer to the last one is likely no, the rest we'll find out!

Comments

[RadicalDishonesty]

This chapter seems to be missing the thing that Lyra primarily came to Luna to talk about: "Hey one of the ex-humans is in the other world. Why did you say they cannot be there when they are not going to see a counterpart?"

[David Silver]

6055554 I don't think Bon Bon asked about that before nudging her off to Canterlot?

[RadicalDishonesty]

6055576
Ah. That's true. I am mixing up the other plot line, with Sam, with what Lyra is focusing on. Because of the other plotline I assumed what was directly important to that plotline was going to be focused on.

[David Silver]

6055595 Sam has his own thread, wandering along at its own pace. I never promised the two sides were moving in any organized fashion, but then... I've had things come together in sudden clarity before, so we'll see.

[No one is home]

Random thought. Assuming Luna and Celestia could in fact push the universes apart, wouldn't there be a risk of some of the sub-universes on either side breaking lose and ending up attached to the wrong base universe? Or am I taking the "bubbles" metaphor too literally?

[harts fire]

plans are made but what are they?

[FanOfMostEverything]

Multiple cosmos seem like they'd be rather more difficult to move than stars and satellites, but then, I'm not qualified to manipulate any of them. Still, Celestia has a plan, and while her plans usually work, they do have a tendency to get... interesting in the middle. This may get complicated.

Also, Sam has discovered the wub field. He may need to seek out the local Pinkie Pie, so that she can teach him ways to circumvent it.

[wlam]

6056006
When you think about it, there's really no reason why it should be. It's not like you're even actually moving them anywhere, after all. The whole bubble thing is just a metaphor, they're not actually either close or far from each other, in terms of distance. And what would we know about how difficult it is to adjust relative "nearness" between parallel universes, anyway? For all I know you can do it with 3cc of mouse blood and a medium-sized stick.

[terrycloth]

"What if we created a physical manifestation of the boundary between planes, so that crossing back and forth would be routine?"

"We'd get nuked."

"Right, right, so... we'd need a barrier of some sort..."

[ZAKARI]

No wings! Lost in an alien world without harmony..."

Yes, an alien world without harmony. Because if there's one thing the show has taught us, it's that Equestria is SO harmonious. Ya know, what with the demon possesed princesses, the shapeshifting bug invasions, the god of chaos running around, tyrant kings and Satan's centaur nephew paying a visit. Who wouldn't want to live in Equestria!?

[David Silver]

6056767 Which princess was possessed by what now?

[ZAKARI]

6056780

Luna and Nightmare Moon.

[David Silver]

6056793 Oh, right, crazy comic canon :D Either way, they fixed her eventually, which is more than we can say for the place without harmony, though they got things going on for them too, but what would Lyra know about the glories of humanity?

[Lab]

Celestia nodded slowly. "I know precisely what you mean. I... may have cried a little during it all. My little Twilight Sparkle has done so well. But we're not here for that, please, share your thoughts."

I cried during Twilight's coronation too, but in my defense, I was really high.

[Mehnlo]

So a "professional friend" is pretty much a therapist. . . I honestly like that term a lot.

[Kage no Brony]

6057627

Ah, yeah, Acrophobia is a pain.

[Rocky Runner]

The answer to the last one is likely no

Exactly how I am!