Lyra looked between Thomas and their guest. Thomas looked between her and that guest. He cleared his throat. "So why is there a pig here?"
Lyra gestured at the pig. "Her name is Miss Curly Tail. Say hello."
Curly Tail waved a cloven hoof. "Nice to meet you."
Thomas frowned at Curly. "Yeah, sure thing."
Lyra nodded lightly. "As you can see, pigs have names, words, and even feelings. If you poke one, they feel it." She prodded Curly in the side, and she snorted. "Ponies do not consider eating pigs."
Curly's eyes widened at the idea. "What?!"
Thomas held up a hoof at Curly. "Don't get your little tail in a knot. I don't eat what can ask me nicely not to."
Lyra rolled a hoof. "Cows talk too."
Thomas grumbled in annoyance. "Deer?"
"Talk."
"Come on! Not everything in this entire damn world has a mouth on it!" Thomas thudded the arm of the sofa he was resting on. "What do those bird things eat?"
Lyra perked an ear. "Griffons?"
"Yeah, those."
Lyra waved to the hallway. "Thanks for joining us, Curly Tail. You've been most helpful."
Curly nodded with a smile at Lyra. "Any time." She shot Thomas a less friendly look, uncertain about the potentially carnivorous unicorn, but she left without further word.
Lyra sat back in her chair, taking a sip from her cup. "I have a question for you first. You said you've eaten pig, and cow?"
Thomas nodded. "Sure, deer, oxen, kangaroo, ostrich. I've tried anything on the market."
Lyra nodded slowly. "Most of those are intelligent species." She waved her hoof at Thomas. "Quick rule of hoof, if it has one of these, it's probably smart enough to not want to be eaten. What market did you find all this in?"
Thomas gestured off into the distance. "They aren't so smart back in America. They raise them on farms, all dumb as a sack of rocks, just waiting to be killed, slaughtered by a man like me, and put on someone's plate."
Lyra restrained the urge to make a face at the description. "I... see. But if you're so used to eating these things, why do you react badly to it?"
"It's not obvious?" Thomas raised a brow. "You told me. Ponies don't eat meat so good. I'm a pony now, so I don't eat it so good. Fucking sucks if you ask me."
Lyra tapped her chin, trying to reconcile the facts. If she could either prove he did or did not eat meat well before, that would shine some light on the mystery. "Alright, for sake of argument, how would you prove you ate meat before?" Maybe Thomas would have an idea, or so Lyra hoped.
Thomas looked hopeful a moment, then frowned. "Hell, I don't know how to prove that... I can describe the taste, but that ain't nothing. I can cook it just fine? But that doesn't prove I ate it either, I guess."
Lyra nodded. "We'll put that aside for now. You can't eat meat now, and you are definitely a pony now. I just want you to be a happy pony. That isn't so bad, is it?"
He crossed his forelegs. "I won't be happy as a vegan for life."
Lyra shook her head. "Oh, no, you don't have to be that, which ties into your question. If you insist on eating other things, society is alright with milk and eggs. Cows are paid for their services, and chickens aren't one of the smarter animals. Besides that, fish is considered alright, and won't upset you in small amounts."
"Fish!" Thomas hopped to his hooves. "I should have thought of that. I can cook fish. How does that hook in with the other question?"
"Griffon love fish." Lyra smiled. "And I think I found how you can put that talent of yours to work."
Thomas asked in a guarded tone, "Which would be?"
Lyra slipped from her chair. "What would you say to being a chef? I know a little place in town that boasts world-wide cuisine, which includes things for diamond dogs and griffons, which means..." She rolled a hoof at Thomas.
Thomas got where the dots were pointing and brightened. "Which means I get to cut up meat and get paid for it."
Lyra nodded. "You won't be able to eat all the meat, but you'll get to do what you obviously want to do, constructively."
Thomas was suddenly on her, kissing each of her cheeks once. "You're a mint-green angel! I thought you were just dicking around with me, trying to 'cure' me or whatever, but that sounds great. If I'm going to be a pony, at least I can do what I like doing instead of sitting around like a lump."
Lyra flushed as she smiled. "Aw. I'm just trying to help, as a friend, right?" She reached and poked his horn. "Have you had any progress up here? You'll want a working horn before you get to work."
Thomas looked up cross-eyed at the new organ. "I don't have a damn clue how to work that."
Lyra nodded. "Then we get you some tutoring first, then we get you to work. You're lucky, being a unicorn. We don't have to put our mouths on everything."
Thomas grunted softly. "Alright, get magic, then make magic cuts... I can live with that. When do I start?"
Lyra thought to her friends. "I'll send someone over tomorrow. They may not be your full-time teacher, so give me a bit to work that out, but I'll send somepony right away, promise."
Her words did much to ease him, and Thomas trotted off with a big smile. She pulled out her pad and made a few fresh scratches on it. She would get him his tutor, but another question nagged at her mind. Something had to set these ponies up. There was just no way they all got this same idea on their own. Who invented 'America' and its humans, and who threw it onto her patients?
She grunted softly. "Somepony out there could be deliberately messing ponies up. Some kind of crazy new cult? Magic gone wrong?" She put the pad down and instead pulled a chocolate free to nibble on, mind whirring with thought. Who would profit from this, or was it some kind of strange natural phenomena?
Yes! And it is called:
Human Turned Pony in Equestria- fiction- syndrome- disease- phenomena- magicdisruption.
Short:
HTPEFSDPMD
Thank you for realising this.
o this is looking better. but really Lyra Miss Curly Tail that is a bit much.
as to the new job good. now a teacher to help a unicorn learn magic. hum lets see now who code fit that bill? hum I know pinkie pie can do it.
Harts Fire
OK, I liked Lyra in this chapter more than usual just because she seems to be starting to ask herself more questions that might eventually lead her to the truth. It's also nice that there are some options for Thomas to adjust to Equestrian society. I do have to ask if pigs have ever talked in the IDW comic books, because as far as I know, they remain to this day non-sapient in the show? Cows have talked, sheep have talked, but in the show, I can't recall seeing pigs talk once. Not disparaging them being used here or anything, I'm just genuinely curious, or is this simply the author's head-fanon?
6010448 I thought they had reacted to speech before, but cannot find evidence of this fact, so I could be entirely wrong and should be ashamed!
6010469
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That was very interesting and well-written, but also kind of depressing. I'd love to see a day from the perspective from one of the "patients," but I know that it would really ruin the point of the story to get a solid confirmation as to what's happening to them.
Therapist Lyra is one of the more interesting Lyras I've seen here, by the way. Good job on making that character fresh again.
6010028
It never did. I've seen people be equally insulted by the phrase GID because it implies they're suffering from a disorder instead of just being their own kind of normal, while gender dyphoria would just describe their feelings about that situation. It's really just the community being touchy about words. Not that I blame them, given the circumstances.
The biggest test to see if they truly are transported humans is to shove them through the mirror portal and see how quickly they adjust.
God damn it Lyra. Consider every option other than what literally every member of the group is telling you because of your focus on the idea that there's no TF magic around them. She ought to win 3 Darwin awards for her brilliance.
2 days.
7 chapter of an excellent fic.
David Silver, where have you been all my life?
6010685 Waiting to be found. I have written other fics with equal manic speed.
6010692 Sleep and writer's block is for the weak!!!
6010695
Don't tempt me, I might check them out.
Great story, big question though. In regards to Twilight's portal what would happen if the ponies that were human went through it? Would it make them humans like how they used to be? I imagine it would probably make them humans according to how their pony bodies currently are. So the filly would go through still being a child and the human male turned mare would go through and come out as female on the other side. The other's might be happy about being humans again but they might not look exactly the same as how they were before.
Has she thought that they might be telling the truth? I mean I feel like this should have a dark and sad tags the way this is going. Or a brain washing tag because of Lyra. Even if she means well.
Hoo-kay, here's that review you asked for.
So, I shelved this story because you have got me to read every chapter of this story so far. Humans into poines is not an uncommon theme, neither is having said new ponies having mental breakdowns because of the shock due to the situation that they are in. Lyra, being deemed the human expert, portrayed as a psychologist is a new choice though I find this choice rather difficult to follow. She's a musician, fan-dubbed human enthusiast and well known background pony. Having her be a mental doctor seems to tip toe over the line of plausibility just a few steps here but that's just personal preference.
Story progression is well written though I find myself not being sucked into deep as it's just begun and we really don't know much about these ponies/humans. We're presented the basic details of their pasts and how they came to be. With how everything has gone down, sounds like a certain 'spirit' may have a claw/paw in this. Each new pony has some small altercation to their life, guy to girl, turning into a filly, and the butcher trying to eat meat. Each one has a certain 'problem' that can't address because the underlying problem is nopony believes their human.
I'll read the rest as you continue.
6010661 She is an expert on transformation-related magic. The thing about experts is that they often discard thing that don't fit their knowledge. This usually is justified, but is going to lead to humble pie.
Pigs don't talk in the show, this chapter is wrong.
I gotta point at something that been irking me Rarity and cooked and prepare Eggs in the sisterhooves episode. granted eggs are not tecnically but hyou can say that he can eat eggs prepared anyway. it also a solution as it a leeway that allows him to eat.
also will you be referencing to the second equestria girl film or is this set in season 4 strictly?
Geez, Thomas, pigs and cows in America have feelings and don't actually want to be eaten either. What a dick. Still it's good to see him happy? Lyra is actually doing a good job.
That's fine, but since you later used "she" for Miss Curly Tail I think you meant "her."
6015040 Fixed!
6015093
Pigs still don't talk in the show, even if cow, mules, and a lot other creatures do. Pigs seem to be the "Not talking equestrian/Equish language type." like bunnies and birds.
Lyra needs to die. ugh. Disgusting ponies.
Wanted to erupt into laughter, but didn't. "Crazy new cult"... can't help but think of Skyrim cults... that one near Dawnstar that released some Miasma thingy and plagued the town with nightmares... the cannibal cult in Markarth... the Mythic Dawn guy (also Dawnstar), eh... everyone in Tamriel, really.
Definitely Disco... wait a second... this is post-reformation, isn't it? Dat the case then... hmm...
Lyra. just . You have not one, not two but six ponies saying they are humans from someplace you've never heard of and a cult is all you can think of. You don't think that maybe just maybe they are telling the truth.
Wait...
derpicdn.net/img/2014/8/5/691999/medium.jpg
6027859
She has considered it, mind you. I would offer the explanation that crazy mind warping cults are a lot more common in Equestria than on Earth. She may very well have encountered ponies driven demonstrably insane by dark magics, whereas a therapist on Earth would laugh her head off if the phrase "Some kind of crazy new cult?" appeared in her notes.
You got it right, Lyra. America IS a strange natural phenomenon.
Of course the two that 'died' in there sleep were probably a result of murder...
6022831 Not necessarily ruling Discord out, just reevaluating his motives... perhaps they all would've died otherwise, and this was the only way he could save them? Like, it HAD to be that crazy for the Chaos to function? You KNOW he wouldn't report it unless he was confronted...
6014961 Twilight mentioned using a personal portal in her castle. If EQG2 hasn't happened yet, it will soon...
6756285 Not saying it's Discord... but it's Discord.
The funny thing about the pigs on the show is that IRL pigs are easily the smartest barnyard animal other than, well, people. I don't think we've seen goats talk, but we've seen them with headsets, which strongly suggest they're just background goats. (And my headcanon holds that the cows are owned and that racial slavery is totally a thing in Equestria )
6885314
well there's grogar who's a goat but he's not ver going to b in fim
8654610
Grogar was mentioned in a season 7 episode, Twilight reading a storybook to sick foals. And Grogar's a sheep - the Demon Ram, IIRC.