LyrAmie
by Present Perfect

"But why, Lyra?" The words were barely audible through Bon-Bon's wailing and sobbing.

"Why do you have to leeeeave meeeeeee?" she moaned, collapsing sideways on the couch. The final remaining bits of the tissues she'd been slowly crumpling and uncrumpling over the last hour separated from one another at last. They clung to her hooves, her face and the carpet.

Lyra sighed, clicking the latches shut on her suitcase. Her eyes scanned her bedroom for what would be, she knew, the very last time.

"Bonnie, sweetie, you know I love you," she said, her voice barely a murmur. Haltingly, she moved to the couch and, after a moment's hesitation, knelt down beside the sobbing mare.

They had been together through so much: the death of Bon-Bon's mother, Lyra's carriage accident, the returns of Nightmare Moon, Discord and Queen Chrysalis, the caramel shortage. Through it all, Lyra had always depended on the earth pony mare to be her rock, her tether to the real world when her crazy theories started getting the better of her.

The hard truth she had come to long ago was that she needed Bon-Bon more than Bon-Bon needed her. That didn't make this any easier.

"I have to do this," she said quietly, nuzzling Bon-Bon gently. "You know I'd do anything for you, but I can't live while there's any chance that my theories were right. I don't like that this means leaving you, but I..." She swallowed. "I have to. I just have to."

"You don't loooove meeeee!" Bon-Bon wailed, turning away from Lyra.

Lyra swallowed the lump in her throat and stood. "I do love you, sweetheart. This isn't any easier for me than it is for you. I promise you that if I find a way to come back, I will, and then I'll never leave you again."

She waited for a response, but when she got none beyond more crying, she took a step away from the couch.

"I promise, Bonnie. On everything I hold dear, I'll come back to you."

She lifted the suitcase in her magic and took one last look over her shoulder at Bon-Bon's back. She blinked away tears, turned to the door, and walked out.

The trip to Twilight Sparkle's house was almost enough to break Lyra's resolve. Images of their relationship flashed through Lyra's head. Every fiber of her being, of her heart, of the very strings of that heart which were her namesake, told her that she should go back. But she couldn't. Once again, she ran through what she and Twilight had discovered to keep her mind on the task ahead.

After the Princess of Magic had returned from an unplanned visit to the Crystal Empire, Lyra had caught wind that she'd spent three days on the other side of a magical mirror, in a land filled with creatures that walked upright and had limbs ending in multiple digits, like dragons or diamond dogs. At long last, Lyra felt like maybe her crazy theories weren't so crazy after all.

But there were complications. The portal only opened every so often. It went only to one place, and those beings were not truly the ones she had sought for so long. After waiting the requisite amount of time and sticking her head through the portal, Lyra had seen a plethora of colors, just as she might have seen on the streets of Ponyville. Purple. Blue. Green. Red hair. It was all wrong.

It would have been so easy to give up there, to give in and use the mirror portal for short stays in a world inferior to the one she'd dreamed of for so long. So she began studying, and Twilight herself had been quite interested in helping her. At least, she had at first. Soon, there were manticores to slay and cerberi to chase back into Tartauros, and Lyra had been left to her own devices more often than not.

Bon-Bon, too, had become suspicious of her daily goings-on. Lyra had resorted to inviting her over to Twilight's for a study session while the newly-minted princess was there, just so the jealous earth pony could see there was nothing untoward going on. Bon-Bon had lasted all of ten minutes while the two unicorns discussed magic and transdimensional theories before apologizing for ever doubting Lyra and leaving. At least it had been enough to satisfy her, Lyra thought.

Through all that toil, one fact had become painfully obvious: beyond their world, beyond the one to which the portal linked, beyond dozens of countless worlds inhabited by all manner of beings that were copies of them, there existed one pure realm. It was in a plane higher than all of theirs, and as such could not be accessed, the walls unbreachable by their magic. It was simply the way of the multiverse.

The one other fact about this world that they had gleaned was far more heartening. The people of that world watched over all those on this plane. Any world that she could reach would potentially be viewable, or even currently viewed, by those higher lifeforms she so desperately wanted to contact. So she'd zeroed in on the few worlds that were not only viewable by those above, but could be interacted with by them. She'd made her decision. The time had come to follow through, and there would be no returning once she stepped through the barriers between worlds.

She cracked her suitcase open and removed the framed picture of Bon-Bon she'd packed. She kissed it, closing her eyes, then rested her forehead against it.

Her life's work had finally come to fruition, and the cost was merely the love of her life.

"Forgive me," she said softly.

"All set?"

Princess Sparkle had greeted Lyra at the door to the library, all smiles and enthusiasm. She was far too excited about this project, and seemed oblivious to the emotional turmoil still rolling inside Lyra's guts. Lyra had just nodded and followed the alicorn into the library's basement.

A large circle of mystical runes had been inscribed around a set of pillars that were likewise carved with a multitude of intricate arcane and eldritch symbols. Twilight hummed happily as she pranced around it, checking and rechecking the calibrations for the hundredth time.

"Everything seems ready if you are!" she announced cheerfully. Then she frowned. "I don't think you'll be able to take that, though."

Lyra nodded. "Is there somewhere I can keep it here? In case I come back?" The optimism felt like ash in her mouth, but there was no use dwelling on that which would never be.

"Of course!" Twilight said with a smile. "I'll have Spike put it up in the guest room closet."

Nodding again, Lyra set the suitcase containing all her worldly possessions to one side, safely out of the way.

"Well," Twilight said, taking a position near a monitoring device, "all you need to do is step into the circle and we'll begin casting."

Lyra took a step forward, then hesitated. "You're sure this is going to send me to the right place?"

"Oh yes!" Twilight's wings ruffled. "Mostly. Nopony's ever tried this, you understand. You're a pioneer!"

Another wave of hesitation overwhelmed Lyra. "I'd rather just go where I need to go."

"Well, I'm sure you will," Twilight said with a little too much enthusiasm. "Just think positive! Now just, get in the circle and we'll begin."

The next few moments were a blur for Lyra. She stood in between the pillars and both she and Twilight began casting the magic they had rehearsed for the last two weeks. Lights in the library flickered and dimmed while lightning crackled around the air. She tried to stay positive but thought for a moment that her horn might explode, there was so much energy humming in and out of it all at once. Just when it felt like they'd gone too far and were lost, there was a tremendous clap of thunder and Lyra fell into darkness.

"What hit me?"

Standing slowly, Lyra found herself on a dirt path in the middle of a grassy field. Birds chirped around her and the sun shone softly upon her flanks. In the distance, soft music played that she couldn't quite make out. And there, down the path, she saw it.

A human.

She never once hesitated. Eyes alight with joy and the fires of triumph, she galloped toward the human. She'd done it! She was here! And now she would be able to make first contact!

"Greetings!" she said in a loud voice as she neared the human's position. "My name is Lyra! It's nice to meet you!"

She stopped as she realized she wasn't getting a response.

"Uh, hello? Can you understand me?" She waved a hoof. "Can you even hear me?"

The human, she realized, was behaving oddly. It was definitely jogging. which she assumed was a fairly normal human activity, but the pattern in which it jogged seemed unnatural somehow. She watched carefully and counted.

Seven steps forward. Sharp ninety degree left turn. Three steps forward. Sharp ninety degree left turn.

Around and around the human jogged, keeping to this pattern and moving in a perfect rectangle. No creature should be able to do that, Lyra thought. Something was wrong.

She walked past the human, getting no response or acknowledgement from it whatsoever. Stopping, she turned back and stepped into the human's path. It ceased moving forward and began jogging in place, right beside her. She reached a hoof up slowly, then thought better and stepped back. The rectangular jogging resumed. Lyra shook her head sadly and continued down the path.

She passed more fields and more humans, most of whom were standing in one spot and doing nothing at all. Some would rotate in place, seemingly without moving. None of them spoke to her. She was starting to get a very bad feeling about things.

It was worse when she got to the town. More humans moved in set paths, some back and forth along a line, some in rectangles as the first human she'd noticed. Part of her wanted to try exploring the houses, but her excitement at being in a new world had waned a while ago.

She made her way through the town as quickly as possible, finding another path, more fields, and more of these non-human humans. Her eyes began to mist over. Had they screwed up somehow? This wasn't how it was supposed to be!

Then she noticed something. There was one human, far down the path, who wasn't moving in a set pattern. In fact, it was moving somewhat randomly, sometimes leaping into the taller grass on the side of the road and rummaging around for a while, sometimes dashing up to another human and having what looked like a conversation with them.

This was her chance!

The human was slowly approaching her position. She looked around and saw only grass. It would have to do. Picking a spot not too far from the road, she hunkered down, hoping beyond hope that this human, this living, thinking being, would notice her and say hello.

Travis Daines, T-Dawgg to his homies on Reddit, jammed the A button on his 3DS in triumph.

"Shit yeah, dawg, fuckin' Braixen in tha hizzay!"

He pumped his fist in the air, the sleeve of his Ecko hoodie pooling around his elbow, revealing the pale skin and light peach fuzz of his forearm.

"Aw snap, no new moves? Lame!"

With a grunt, he began to guide his trainer -- who he'd named Do Me; he'd picked the girl because "She be fly, yo" -- through the tall grass in search of more Pokemon. He grinned as the battle theme began. It was slightly different, a more exciting tune than he was used to hearing.

"Hellz yes, mofugga, special battle!"

The pocket monster he was up against was one he hadn't seen before: a green horse that had a horn and a picture of a lyre on its butt.

"That ain't no shiny Ponyta," he mumbled to himself. "Must be some gen six shizz."

The battle was over quickly. With two attacks, he brought the unicorn into the red, and, throwing a Great Ball, it was his. It turned out to be called "Heartstrings", which he thought was a weird name, but he wasn't in the habit of giving his Pokemon nicknames, so it would have to do. It took up the last gap in his current party.

"Aw dang, I should pet my Braixen."

He'd heard about how important it was to keep his Pokemon happy with the new game feature. Switching the lower screen to display the minigame. Grabbing his stylus, he pressed it against the screen, summoning the hand-shaped cursor. He snickered to himself as he rubbed it over the fox Pokemon's lower regions.

"Dag, this shit nasty, yo."

He continued the action until Braixen reacted with a heart. Then he switched to his new capture, to get a head start on buttering it up for later. He was surprised somewhat when the little green horse thing appeared, laying on its back, all four hooves up in the air.

"Musta knocked you out hard, Heart-thing," he muttered.

Again, he drew the stylus over the exposed belly and began rubbing.

"Oh yes!" came a voice from the speakers.

T-Dawgg jumped and let out a stuttered swear. His stylus clattered to the floor and it was all he could do not to roll over it in his desk chair. After retrieving it, he turned back to the hand-held game and blinked at the lower screen.

"That's fucked up," he whispered.

Hesitantly, he pressed the stylus to the screen again. Once more, the hand rubbed over the Pokemon's surface.

"Yes, mooooore!" said the same voice. "Touch me with your hands, please, don't stop!"

His face curled in disgust.

"Shit, I ain't no furfag. Enough o' dat."

He opened up his party menu and tapped on Heartstrings, then Summary. He frowned as he scanned the stats.

"Man, this is wack. Fuckin' useless horse thing. Psychic Fairy? Jesus, why'd they even make Fairy a fuckin' type, yo? That's messed up. Yo' ass goin' in the box."

It was dark. And cramped. Lyra had been burned by that awful fox-thing, then the blue ball had leapt out and turned her world black. She'd been so scared, but then the human appeared. She'd assumed it was a human, anyway. She couldn't see it, but there had been a hand, and that wonderful appendage had been rubbing all over her belly, just like she'd always dreamed. It was pure bliss. But now it was over and she was back in the ball again, feeling small and trapped.

"What's even going on?" she whispered in the darkness. There was no reply. She was beginning to have doubts about this endeavor once more.

There was a beep somewhere, and a soft light that suddenly suffused the walls that held her, easing the pain of her burns. She took a deep breath and let it out. At least her situation had improved somewhat. Then there was another beep and she felt her cage tumbling downward, ever downward, into some unknown abyss.

She hit bottom, though it wasn't the hard impact she'd braced for, more a slow settling into some sort of hole. The beeping continued, and then the pressure that had held her in place released. She stood and shook herself off. She couldn't see anything.

Then she remembered she was a unicorn. With all the time she'd spent imagining being human during her life, it was sometimes easy to forget. She summoned up a light from her horn and soon the area around her was illuminated.

There were a half-dozen strange creatures around her. They all noticed her and turned towards her as the light spread.

"Wow," said a tiny thing that clutched the stamen of a floating flower. "I've never seen a Pokemon like you before! That's a neat trick!"

"Where am I?" Lyra asked. "Who are you?"

"Bearers of bad news, I'm afraid," said a flat yellow snake with tiny wings.

"Welcome to the NU tier," added a short white creature wearing an oversized green hat. "You'll probably be stuck here with us forever."

Lyra took a step back, her face a mask of horror. "F-forever?"

"It's not so bad," said the flower-thing, "once you get used to it."

"We have each other, after all!" squeaked something that looked like a blue mouse sitting on a ball. "And you can do that neat light trick too, so that's even better!"

Lyra sat down hard on her haunches. "This wasn't what I wanted at all..."

Then she felt something cold and clammy crawling up her back. She leapt into the air, shrieking in fright, trying to turn her head so she could see behind herself. There was a large blob of pink goo partially adhered to her flank. It had tiny eyes and a slit for a mouth.

"Hey baby," it said, in as sultry a voice as something that burbled while it spoke could muster, "you wanna breed?"

Lyra's scream lasted until the computer turned off.

Author's Notes:

Man, this game, I swear.

Go read my Pokemon tumblr, it's pretty rad. :V