A green glow enveloped Lyra's saddlebag and Drake was bestowed with a handful of coins.

"They're called bits."

"Bits?" He pocketed the bits and turned one over in his hand.

They were about the size of quarters, and twice as thick, made out of gold. Portraits of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were stamped on both sides. Bits were a form of currency accepted in Equestria, although Lyra explained that bartering was not uncommon in places like Ponyville or Appleoosa. He figured that the exchange rate would be about half of a US dollar for an Equestrian bit. The value was inconsistent however, due to inflation and deflation at fluctuating rates. Lyra claimed that there had been a time when a single cherry had been worth two bits!

"What kind of money do you use in the human world?"

Drake fumbled around for a bit and found his wallet, opening it, and presenting to the eager unicorn a dollar. Immediately Lyra seized the bill with her magic, her eyes absorbing every detail. He let her keep it.

For a while the two just meandered around Ponyville. He attracted a fair amount of attention, and ponies would often stop and gawk at the human. He smiled and waved as best he could, despite how tired he was. They passed restaurants and shops selling all sorts of things. The market was bustling with activity as ponies haggled over produce.

They sat down a park bench. Drake sat crosslegged, on account that the benches were especially low, made for ponies. He watched Lyra slowly shift into a sitting position like a human. It was especially odd considering how other ponies simply folded their legs.

"So, there are three types of ponies in Equestria," Lyra explained. "Unicorns, like me, with horns on our heads. That means we can do magic."

Now he was interested. "Magic?"

"Mm-hmm. We can cast spells and levitate objects and things like that." She demonstrated by levitating a rock. "And then you've got pegasus ponies."

"They're the ones with wings and can fly, right?"

"Yeah! Like her!" Lyra pointed at a passing pegasus floating lazily on a cloud.

"Is she sunbathing on that cloud?"

"Looks like it."

"That makes absolutely no sense."

Lyra gave him a funny look. "Of course it does! They can touch clouds!"

Drake's mind was blown. "Touch?"

"Sure! Push 'em around, lay on them, build things. They've got an entire city built outta clouds, Drake! Cloudsdale!"

Drake decided that if he was ever going to be a pony, he would be a pegasus. The idea of sleeping on a cloud sounded as awesome as it probably was. Flying sounded great. He always wanted to fly. He could remember a time he wanted to join the Air Force. There were times when he'd be in class and just look out the windows and up at the sky and imagine himself in the clouds, free from responsibility, free from his problems on earth.

"And then you've got earth ponies, like Bon Bon. They can't fly or do magic."

"Seems like they got the short end of the stick."

"Oh no, Drake. It's not like that at all."

They watched an orange pegasus, a white unicorn, and yellow earth pony play with a ball in the field, laughing and giggling.

"Unicorns can do magic, but we're not very fast or strong."

"Wanna arm wrestle?"

"Hoofwrestle? No, you'll beat me!"

"No I won't." Drake got down and propped his elbow up on the bench.

Lyra blushed. "Drake, this is silly."

"C'mon. Just to see."

Lyra bent down reluctantly. Drake grabbed her hoof and gave the unicorn a devilish grin. "Okay, ready."

"This is dumb."

"Go!"

Drake pretended to strain against Lyra's hoof.

"For real, Drake."

"I am," he grunted, but he smiled and pushed her over easily.

After joking around Lyra went back to their previous conversation.

"Pegasi are really, really fast and lightweight, but they're kinda weak. And earth ponies not be able to fly or cast spells, but they're strong and have their own kind of magic that comes from the ground."

"What about the princesses?" he asked.

"Oh. They're special. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza are alicorns. They have both wings and a horn."

Mi Amore Cadenza?

"Not only that, but they're immortal! They're an incredibly rare breed of pony."

Godlike?

"So about those cutie marks..."

"Take a look at mine."

He gave hers a quick glance, careful not to look too hard at her flank. "It looks like a harp."

"A lyre," Lyra corrected. She reached into her bag and levitated out a golden lyre, elegantly crafted. She magically plucked a few strings. "A cutie mark appears when you find that special...something."

"What's that?"

"I dunno how to explain it," she said, struggling for words, "that magic. Your special talent."

"So when you discover what your special talent is, it'll appear on your, ahem, flank?"

"Yup!"

This was all so very confusing.

"Wait, so you got your name because you're good at playing the lyre?"

Lyra got quiet all of a sudden. "Uhm. Yeah, sure." She kicked a hoof. "Lyra's not really my name, you know."

"It isn't?"

"I was born as Heartstrings. I changed my name later."

"Oh. So, it's like a nickname."

"That's it!" She grinned. "A...nickname."

"So why Lyra?"

"It sounded pretty," she admitted. "I read it in a book while I was doing research on humans." Lyra glanced away.

"Neat. So you guys have books on us?"

She laughed. "You could say that. More like...legends. Myths. Ponies don't believe in humans. Except me."

Drake didn't say anything for a while and just watched Lyra, watching the way she looked a bit sad.

"I saw humans everywhere I looked. Not in a literal sense. I'd see a shovel or a rake and for some reason, it didn't make sense to me. You had to have fingers to use that kind of stuff. Drawers, and doors, and stuff like that. Hooves don't grab doorknobs or pull out drawers. So I got interested."

"That doesn't sound a bit fishy now that you mention it." Drake shuddered at the thought of ponies using their mouths to grab things. That was incredibly unhygienic and probably didn't taste very good.

"I know, right? So I started checking out books. Asked around. But ah," Lyra coughed, "nopony took me seriously."

"Really?"

"Even with all the evidence right in front of their faces, they still wouldn't believe me." Lyra smirked. "Ponies thought I was crazy. My parents weren't happy when they found out their daughter was wasting her time with legends and myths and folklore."

Lyra had a wistful look on her face.

"Hay, even my own roommate things I'm a few apples short of a bushel."

Drake had kept his mouth shut the entire time. He was never good with girls. They were sensitive and unpredictable, in his opinion. He was always treading on eggshells around them, out of fear of of saying something stupid or awkward or mean.

But as Lyra spoke, Drake suddenly piped up. "Hey, you're not dumb."

"I'm not very smart either. You should meet Twilight. Now that's one smart mare."

"Now I can't have my tour guide being scatterbrained, now can I?" Drake joked.

Lyra giggled.

"Hi Miss Heartstrings!" three voices chirped.

The three foals Drake had seen playing with a ball were now watching him with wide eyes.

"Oh hi, girls! Have you met Drake?"

"Not really. We didn't get to see him at the party last night," one said with an accent. She was a small yellow earth pony with a red mane and peach eyes. She had her mane tied up with a bright pink bow.

"Hello," he said with a wave.

"Hi! Ah'm Apple Bloom! You've prolly met Applejack already. She's my sister."

"I'm Sweetie Bell! Rarity's sister!" Her coat was white and her emerald eyes sparkled. Her purple and pink mane reminded Drake of cotton candy.

"Scootaloo," the orange pegasus said, puffing her chest out. Her voice was slightly more mature and raspy. Her purple mane was styled in a tomboyish crop cut.

"And we're...," the three chorused.

Lyra flattened her ears.

"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!"

Drake blinked, his ears ringing from the auditory assault. "Cutie Mark...Crusaders?"

"We're on a quest!" Scootaloo said.

"To find our cutie marks!" Sweetie Bell added.

"Wanna help?" Apple Bloom asked.

Drake stammered. "Uh, sure, I guess. What kind of things?"

"Scuba diving, rock climbing," Scootaloo rattled off.

Apple Bloom added, "Bungee jumpin' an' hang glidin'. Things like that!"

Dang. These girls were hardcore.

"Those are some extreme cutie marks you're going after," Drake noted.

"Go big or go home!" Sweetie Bell declared. "That's my motto!"

"No it isn't! You got that from a book!" Scootaloo accused.

The girls arguing became fainter and fainter as they trotted away to some other activity.

"Hey! Wait, you left your ball!" Drake called, holding up their rubber ball.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be back."

"I guess." He bounced the ball on top of his head a bit.

Lyra stared. "Do humans normally use their head to bounce balls?"

"Uh, no. It's fun, though." He tossed the ball at Lyra. "Catch."

She caught it with her magic. "What kind of games do humans play?" She bounced it a few times before tossing it back.

"Well," Drake said with a hint of pride, "I play soccer on my high school team." He bounced the ball off his chest and juggled it with his knees.

Lyra's eyes widened. "Soccer?"

"Yeah, uh," he said as he juggled the ball with his feet, "you have a ball and two teams, and they try and get the ball into their goal."

"Oh! That's neat."

"Yeah. I think everyone else calls it football, although I guess in Equestria we could call it hoofball. Hey, maybe we could get a game started."

She smiled. "That'd be nice."

---

"This is Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville's bakery."

"It looks like a gingerbread house."

"Because it's supposed to, silly."

He pushed the door open for Lyra, the bell ringing. His mouth watered at the sight of the pastries on display. Muffins and cupcakes, mmm.

"Wow. It smells amazing!"

"Hiya, Drakey!" Pinkie beamed from the counter.

"What's up, Pinkie?"

"Oh, just workin' and stuff. No customers yet!"

Drake studied the menu.

"Gimme a chocolate cupcake, with frosting."

"That'll be two bits!"

Bits? Oh, right.

He handed her two coins and waited as she disappeared and popped up with a tray with his cupcake.

"Enjoy!"

"Thanks!" He swiped the entire thing and popped it into his mouth.

Lyra groaned. "Gross!"

Pinkie, on the other hoof, applauded. "I thought I could only do that!"

"Not bad," he remarked.

"Ooh, Drakey, since you're here, you wanna meet Gummy?"

"Sure," he said as she dashed off, scratching his head.

Lyra shrugged.

"I'm back!" Pinkie sang.

"Gah! Pinkie! What is that?"

A miniature green alligator had its jaws locked around Pinkie's head.

"This is Gummy! Gummy, meet Drake!"

It blinked.

"Is that an alligator?"

"Yup! A baby alligator though, and he has no teeth!" Pinkie held Gummy out to Drake with his jaws wide open. "See? Gummy!"

"She's kinda wacky, isn't she?" Drake told Lyra later as they left Sugarcube Corner.

"Oh yeah. She's always like that. But she's pretty amazing too, along with her friends," Lyra said. "They're the Elements of Harmony."

Drake paused. "Elements of Harmony?"

"Yeah! Hey, I know just the place to go to learn about this! To the library!" Lyra said with a triumphant cry.

---

So Ponyville Library was a tree. An actual tree. Go figure.

Drake was about to open the door before Lyra stopped him.

"Wait, you have to knock!"

"Knock? This is a public library!"

"Yeah, but Twilight lives here!"

Drake rapped his knuckles against the door and waited.

"Spike? You there?"

Spike?

"You said Spike was a dragon?" Drake stammered.

"Mm-hmm. A big, mean, ferocious dragon!" Lyra bared her teeth and swiped a hoof in jest.

Drake bolted. "I'm getting outta here!"

He didn't get very far before his collar was yanked back by Lyra's green magic. "What are you doing? Don't be silly!"

"I'm allergic to dragons!" he lied.

"You're afraid of dragons like Fluttershy?"

"No!"

Lyra gave him a look.

"Okay, yes! I'm afraid of dragons with claws and teeth that breathe fire and can potentially swallow me whole! Yes, Lyra!"

"Coming!" a voice cried from inside the library.

Drake braced for impact until he heard the door squeak open. He cracked an eye open and saw a purple dragon, about the size of his leg, with green spikes. He coughed, dusting himself off.

"Oh, gosh, you must be the human!" Spike said.

He sounded young. He must have been a young dragon. Heh. Lyra didn't mention that. At all.

"'Sup," he said. "Name's Drake."

"Twilight told me all about you."

"Didn't see you at the party yesterday, bro!"

"I was too short," Spike said with an unamused expression. "You didn't see me because I was too short."

Lyra interrupted. "I'm sure you two boys have a lot to talk about, you and your...guy things, but is Twilight here?"

"She went to go have lunch with Rarity. But I could help you find a book, if that's what you need."

"Great! Can you find Drake a book on the Elements of Harmony?"

He led them inside. Drake got a much better look of the interior. The entire thing had been hollowed out, including the shelves, to make space for the numerous volumes that lined them. It smelled like bark, musty, like the pages of an old book.

"Doing some research?" Spike asked as he clambered up a stepladder.

"Something like that, yeah," Drake replied, retrieving the book that Spike had intended to pluck off the shelf.

"Oh, hey, how'd you know it was there?"

"I read."

Lyra butted in. "You can read Equestrian? That's amazing, Drake!"

He paused, cocking his head in confusion. Come to think of it, everything he had seen so far in Equestria had all been in English.

They spoke to him in English. He thought it was the work of the princesses' magic that had allowed him to communicate with them and didn't give it much thought.

English.

"Drake?"

"I'm not speaking Equestrian."

"Yes you are. You just said it, in plain Equestrian."

Drake faced Lyra. "I'm speaking English."

"English? Is that a human language?"

"Yes!" He was getting excited. "These words," he flipped through the pages of the book, "I can read all of this!"

"But...that doesn't make any sense!"

---

There was a place, far off to the north of Canterlot, with bitter snowstorms and cold, freezing temperatures, hidden in the snowcapped mountains. The realm of griffons, half-eagle, half-lion, majestic and regal in nature. These creatures engaged in trade with the Equestrians, though only few were allowed to see them. It was here in the north that Regnum Grypha (the Kingdom of the Griffons) had been established, under the reign of Rex Bloodwing (King Bloodwing).

Located on the tallest mountain was a fortress-like structure with winding cobblestone streets, built with a utilitarian design in mind. A great, single road ran down the length of the entire city, splitting it into two, leading up to Bloodwing Palace where all the citizens of Grypha would congregate for any particular reason. All streets and alleys branched off from the middle road and each other. Houses and apartments were tightly packed together.

Bloodwing Palace was an elegant, if not foreboding structure, with a predominant eagle and lion motif found everywhere, on statues and busts and paintings and curtains. It was here, in this very palace, where Rex Bloodwing waited for word from his messenger, waiting on the chilly balcony, his feathers ruffled from the icy winds. A jagged scar ran down his eye, which had been covered up with an eye patch. His feathers were tipped with red, a hereditary inheritance from his ancestors, hence the surname Bloodwing.

An eagle came swooping down onto the balcony. The trip had taken less than a day, the eagle having spotted the human upon his entry from the human dimension.

"They have returned. Hmm. It seems that I shall be paying Celestia a visit."

The eagle crooned in response.

---

"Maybe it's just a coincidence," Spike offered to the clearly distressed human.

"I don't believe in coincidences," Drake snapped. "There's more to this. I just know it."

"It won't do any good just thinking about it."

"I know," Drake nodded.

Spike suddenly piped up. "Hey! You have claws, just like me!"

Drake crouched down, fanning his fingers out. "Not exactly, Spikey."

Spike fanned his four claws out, holding them against Drake's. His claws were somewhat sharp and pointy, and a bit scaly too. "Hey, only Rarity gets to call me that," the dragon huffed.

"He's got a crush," Lyra sang.

"Don't tell him that!"

Drake couldn't help but smile. "Ooh. Spike's got a crush."

The dragon blushed.

"Don't worry, little man," Drake said in a brotherly way, mussing the fins on top of Spike's head, "I'll help you out."

"You will?" Spike was incredulous.

"Oh, pfft," Drake scoffed, "Totally. Gotta help a brother in need. I know all sorts of ways for you to get a date with Rarity."

Spike seemed giddy at the thought.

Lyra seemed less enthusiastic. "You've had a marefriend before?"

"A girlfriend, and yes." Drake paused, deep in thought. "Well, only one. She dumped me. But that's not the point."

That was the point though, wasn't it? There was a reason she'd dumped him. Whatever. That wasn't important.

---

Night had descended quickly upon Ponyville.

Drake was now back at Lyra's home, reading at the dinner table as Lyra and Bon Bon discussed their day. Bon Bon was cooking up something delicious. The earth pony seemed quite temperamental. Whatever she was cooking though, it smelled good.

"So what do you think?"

Lyra was referring to the history textbook on the Elements of Harmony. It was...interesting. He couldn't imagine Princess Luna as some tyrannical night goddess bent on basking the world in perpetual night. But who was he to argue with their history? The Elements of Harmony was strange on its own. The idea of friendship being powerful enough to vanquish darkness and evil was...silly.

"It's alright, I guess."

"Alright?"

"I dunno, the Elements of Harmony and the power of friendship," Drake chuckled, "It's a little ridiculous."

"Ridiculous?" Lyra said. "The Elements of Harmony is very real, Drake. It has the power-"

"I read the book, Lyra."

The unicorn looked slightly miffed.

"What are you saying? That the magic of friendship is fake?"

"No," Drake quickly said, "no. It's just hard for me to understand. In my world, friendship isn't the way we solve things."

Friendship. It was laughable.

"Really?"

"Sure."

The idea seemed to frighten Lyra.

"Do you mean...?"

"You know." He gestured by punching his fist into his palm. "Humans love to fight. We're pretty darn good at it." Drake glanced at Lyra and saw her face scrunched up in a mixture of confusion and shock. "When we want something, we take it. If somebody won't let us have it, we'll fight. We'll fight and fight and fight."

"And then you solve things by talking it out, right?"

"Sometimes. That's something called diplomacy and politics. And even when we talk it out, there's all this sneaky stuff behind the scenes. Then there's war. There's a loser and a winner, Lyra. The ones on the winning side get what they want and the losers, well, they die."

She gasped.

"That's awful!" she cried.

Drake was nonchalant. "Yeah, I guess." He nearly jumped when Lyra slammed her hoof down.

"Whaddya mean, you 'guess'? That's murder!"

He didn't understand why she was getting riled up over the topic. "It happens all the time."

That seemed to terrify Lyra even more.

"It's human nature, since the dawn of civilization, since the beginning of time. We fight for food, for money, for resources, for politics, religion, anything that suits us."

Lyra's expression was unreadable.

"Heck, sometimes I think we just do it because we can. I know I do."

"Do you fight?" she asked quietly.

"What?"

"Do you fight?"

"I did."

"Why?"

"I dunno. I fought for all sorts of reasons. Stupid reasons. Not for food or money or anything like that. I just fought because I could."

Lyra was shaking her head.

"Oh, c'mon. It's high school. I got into lots of fights at school. Sometimes they'd start it, sometimes I'd start it." Drake paused. "We'd just punch and bite and kick until we got separated."

"Why must you do such awful things to each other?" she said quietly.

"You act like there's never been a single war in Equestrian history, Lyra," Drake said calmly.

"There hasn't!"

Drake raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding."

"Not a single war. Not even a little skirmish."

"Not one!" she said with gritted teeth. "We've had two centuries of peace and prosperity."

"Well. That's odd."

"That's not odd. That's wonderful."

Drake gave Lyra a hard look. "Not everything is sunshine and rainbows with humans, Lyra."

He immediately regretting saying that, however. The look on Lyra's face made it clear that she was hurt.

Bon Bon came swooping down with a plate of vegetables. "Dinner's ready," she said with a nervous grin. A mix of steamed carrots and broccoli.

What he wouldn't give for a burger.

---

"What are you doing?" Lyra asked.

Drake looked up, craning his head. "Sleepin' on the couch."

"No, you're not."

Drake's legs practically dangled over the edge of the couch.

"C'mon, you can sleep in my bed. You'll fit."

"Lyra, I don't think-"

She wasn't having any of it. Drake sighed and dragged himself upstairs.

"I'll sleep on the floor."

Lyra slid under her covers. "You're a guest. Now come on."

"Lyra-"

"Is it because I'm a girl?"

"No."

Lyra gave him a knowing look.

"Maybe a little."

"Drake, I don't know how things work in your world, but I'm pretty sure humans and ponies both like soft beds to sleep on."

He slid into her bed reluctantly, facing away from her. The lights were dimmed and he could feel Lyra's back pressed against his.

"Lyra, I'm sor-"

"Shut up."

Drake said nothing.

"It's okay. It's a learning experience, right?"

"...Yeah."