Author's Notes:

I write because I'm bored and I never plan anything.

While the higher-ranking members of the crew had gone up to Canterlot to hobnob and discuss and make deals and agreements and other important big-boy activities, and while the more scientifically minded members had dispersed hither and yon to do whatever it was they liked to do with a refreshing bare minimum of security to get in the way, those left with the Dimensional Borer relaxed.

There wasn’t a whole lot else they could do.

For a day or two they had been content to mooch around the nearby town - Ponyville, they had been amused to learn it was called - or else mooch around inside the Borer itself just twiddling their thumbs.

The locals were understandably cautious about them at first given that the humans had arrived without subtlety or warning in a thing the likes of which none of them had ever seen before, but before too long found the visitors friendly enough and harmlessly curious.

Mostly, the humans just seemed delighted to have found such a pleasant place with such adorable residents. It was, they said, refreshing to be able to walk around and have a nice conversation with those they met, rather than running and shooting or wandering for days and seeing nothing and no-one.

The ponies who heard this were, in the main, mystified but glad the humans were enjoying themselves.

After some days and with the higher-ups showing no sign of returning yet (negotiations ongoing, apparently), at a loose end, the remaining humans staffing the Borer had met up with some of the locals and put together a party.

Because why not? What else was the purpose of the expedition if not to extend the hand of friendship? What better way to encourage friendship than a party?

So was the excuse at least. Mostly it was just because the humans wanted to, and the ponies were more than happy to oblige.

The daytime portion was fairly typical and boisterous with much frivolity and pinning tails onto things and bobbing for other things, the event segueing into a rather more subdued and relaxed evening where a makeshift bar of sorts was erected at the base of the looming, mirrored ovoid that was the Dimensional Borer and a sea of seating and lights set out.

The humans did not travel with all the equipment and provisions they needed to cater a giant party, they hastened to add. They’d sent home for it. Though how that was supposed to work given that they hadn’t gone anywhere was unclear.

Lyra was loving it. She’d loved it during the day when she’d got to see all the interesting things that had been set up to see and do and when she’d been able to talk to all the new, interesting people - they were people, apparently, this was the terminology - and she was loving it in the evening, too, even if a lot of the drinks on offer were a little strange.

After trying one or two she decided it best to stick to the local stuff that had been brought in, not that anyone minded. Everyone seemed to be having just as much of a good time as she was.

It being Lyra’s turn to refresh the drinks she took the glasses and left Bon Bon behind at their table before weaving her way through the crowds to the bar, hopping up on the ledge that had been set up for the ponies - the bar itself being closer towards human height.

The bar was being operated by a mixture of humans and a ponies, and since the nearest pony was presently engaged it was a human who came over, smiling.

“What can I get you?”

“Just two ciders. Uh, the pony ones,” she specified, pointing a hoof. The bartender just smiled wider and winked. They’d been getting a lot of that so far this evening.

“Coming right up,” they said, shuffling off.

The decision to make it a free bar had done much to bolster the reputation of the humans.

While Lyra was waiting she looked around and while she was looking around she spotted a human at the other end of the bar, slumped over forward, head resting on the bartop and with a bottle clutched tightly in both hands. Something about him didn’t look quite right.

“There you go,” the bartender said, making Lyra jump as he came back with drinks.

“Thanks,” she said, before glancing over at the slumped human again. He hadn’t moved a muscle and Lyra felt a twinge of concern. “Is he okay?” She asked.

“Who?”

She pointed. The bartender looked, and understood.

“Ah, that’s James. He’s one of our risk management specialists.”

Lyra looked blank.

“Uh, like guards. He’s, hmm, well. James had a pretty rough time not that long ago. Looks like he’s not completely over it yet. Not that I can really blame him,” the bartender said.

“What happened?” Lyra asked.

The bartender thought about it a moment then shook their head.

“Not for me to say, really, I only heard about it secondhand. He probably needs a little alone time.”

Anything else they might have had to say on the subject was forestalled by someone else coming up to place an order and Lyra moved out of the way, taking the drinks with her. Heading slowly back to her table she kept halting and looking back at the slumped human. He continued not to move.

It wasn’t really her place, Lyra knew, but he was radiating such palpable misery that just leaving him on his own didn’t sit right with her. It couldn’t hurt to at least check he was okay, could it? Wouldn’t take too long and it would certainly be the friendly thing to do.

That was what clinched it for Lyra. This was all about making friends, after all, this whole thing, and what sort of friend would let another just sit around being miserable? She trotted over and set her ciders on the bar beside him, hopping up on the next stool along.

Belatedly, groggily, the human noticed that he had company and he stirred, shifting and lifting his arm up off his head and blinking at Lyra, or at least in her direction.

He looked very much the worse for wear, eyes red, puffy and bloodshot, hair a mess. And sad. So very, very sad looking.

“Hmm?” He grunted, one eye squinting and then the other, neither really managing to keep Lyra in sight.

“Are you okay, James?” She asked him slowly and clearly. He blinked again.

“Hnh? Oh, hi, hello, sorry, sorry…” James said, shuffling to make space he didn’t need to make and wiping his face with the back of his hand. Lyra gave him a comforting smile.

“Hello, yes. Are you okay?”

“Okay? M’I okay? Sure shure yeah, m’totally okay. Who’s you?”

“I’m Lyra, and are you sure you’re okay? You’re sat all on your own. Aren’t you having a good time?”

“I’m having plenty good time,” James said, turning back to face forward again and just stare down the neck of his bottle.

“I heard things were rough for you, recently,” Lyra said, more softly, probing, flinching when James wheeled about in her direction once more.

“Who told you that?” He asked, eyes narrowed, speech improving just that little bit as his mind started clicking into gear. Lyra pointed off to the human still serving drinks and James glared in their direction, but to no avail, and then sighed, shoulders falling.

“Ah it’s fine.”

“What - what happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”

She burned with curiosity. Everything about the humans was just so new and weird, and the more she heard the more questions she just ended up with. The ones she’d talked to during the day had been pretty breezy about what things they’d seen and where they’d come from, and it had felt rude to press them, and what little else she’d managed to overhear had only stoked her curiosity further.

And James was the first human she’d seen so-far who had just looked so crushingly miserable.

She had to know why. Had to!

“You don’t wanna know, s’not a nice sstory. Just a bad thing iss all,” James said.

“You don’t have to tell me, you just looked so sad is all, thought you letting it out could help?” She ventured.

Partly this was her burning curiosity attempting to coax a possibly interesting story out, partly it was genuine concern on her part. A lot of things kept inside were better let out, or so she felt at least. And she kind of wanted to see James get happier.

James seemed to consider what she’d said, one eye slightly more open than the other, hands in his lap.

He licked his lips.

“S’couple a levels back, levels up. Find a place that looked good, yeah? Kinda like home but empty, completely empty. Even had some cities too but they’s was empty too, and not like any we knew. Big, big buildings, empty windows. No glass…”

For whatever reason that last part seemed to cause him to lose the thread for a moment. Rather than interrupting him to ask what ‘levels’ were or what anything he was talking about meant Lyra decided to just roll with it and let him take his time. She had, after all, offered to lend him an ear.

Some seconds later he got started again, apparently over his confusion:

“Tried finding any locals, you know? See if anyone was about. No-one was though, so we start poking around, seeing if there’s anything interesting. Me - I’m with an expetition that goes into one of those cities. S’all quiet, real quiet. They’re checking stuff out, me and the security guys are just keeping an eye out when somethin’ moves.”

“What was it?”

James waved a hand, swaying alarmingly on his stool until Lyra steadied him, magic tinkling. If he noticed this, he didn’t mention it.

“Just s’monsters, monsters. We seen monsters before, ovviously. These ‘er new though. Weirdo things. Claws n’ teeth. I think? They kinda weren’t solid. Outta range at first. We warn the expetition and they start packing up. But ‘en the monsters start gettin’ in closer so we have to shoot - warning shots, you know? They didn’t like that.”

He reached out for his bottle and took another swig but then seemed to realise the bottle was empty. He tried signalling to the bartender but was studiously ignored, ending up just spinning the bottle around his hands and muttering to himself.

“Then what?” Lyra prompted. He peered at her a moment as though trying to remember who she was, what she was and what he had been talking about. Then he remembered.
.
“And we got ‘em out! We got ‘em out safe, you know? The expd- the exep- the expedition guys, we got ‘em out, we got ‘em back. And we were gonna get out! Me and Izzy, pulling up the rear! It should have been fine!”

James spun the bottle a little too forcefully and it off the other side of the bar before Lyra could catch it, bouncing dull across the rubber mat that had been set down. Rapping his knuckles on the countertop James lent his head back and sniffed, corners of his eyes starting to tear up again.

“This thing - this real big one - came outta nowhere. Dunno how it snuck up on uss but it did, outta nowhere. Think it came outta one of those windows? Dunno. Couldn’t have fitted. No, no stupid. Anyway, this was big. Big, real big. All teeth, lotsa teeth. And it jumps on Izzy! And she’s screaming and I’m screaming and we’re shooting and the thing is taking hits and I think, you know, we’re killing it? Big chunks, right? Big chunks coming out. Should be dead! Wasn’t though. Didn’t dead. Die, didn’t die.”

He swallowed, sniffed again.

“But it - it starts ripping Izzy into bits and she’s still screaming and she’s in bits and it’s eating the bits and she’s still screaming and I’m shooting it but it’s not doing anything.”

Lyra said nothing and did her best to not even breathe too loudly. James appeared to be somewhere else at that moment, staring very far away and down.

“And everyone else was gone! Pulled back! Was meant to be me and Izzy the last ones out! And they’re all shouting at me to get out but I can’t leave her, can I? But she’s in bits!”

Leaning forward over the bar to try and spot his bottle he looked and saw nothing, falling back heavily and very nearly falling off his stool for what was either the third or second or fourth time, only staying there because Lyra kept him there again.

“I don’t know what happened after. Don’t know how I got out, but I did. Was in the hopper, coming back. They were holding me down, I think? Couple of ‘em. Yeah, think so. Were yellin’ at me.”

He shrugged, shoulders limp.

“Couldn’t even bring Izzy’s body back. Had to leave her there! I said - I said I could have done it but they said we had to go, said she’d been eaten, couldn’t get her back. Said she was all in pieces and eaten but I coulda done it! I know I coulda done. Didn’t even try though. Why didn’t I try? I just left her there…”

He went quiet and stayed quiet, having said all that had been on his mind. Lyra let out a breath.

“I’m sorry,” She said. She couldn’t think of anything to say. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting to hear but it hadn’t been anything like that. All the other humans had made what they’d been doing sound like such an adventure. None of them had said anything like this.

James shrugged again.

“S’not your fault. S’no-one’s fault. S’just one of those things. Happenss,” he said, turning to look at her properly for the first time since he’d started speaking. It took him a couple of seconds to focus on her and a couple of seconds after that to actually register what it was he was looking at,

“Your- you- you’re got pretty eyes, y-you know that?” He said. Lyra blinked.

“What?”

“They’s all gold, s’real pretty.”

He seemed to realise - slowly - that he was staring and so looked away, shaking his head.

“Sorry, sstupid thing to say, you don’t wanna hear me say that, sorry. Stupid,” he said before letting himself fold forward over the bar, head thunking against the wood loud enough to make Lyra wince. “...n’now lookin’ like a drunken idiot n’front o’ th’locals...idiot…” She heard him muttering.

This wasn’t really how Lyra had seen this going. Gingerly - tentatively - she reached across and patted James on the back with a hoof.

“There there,” she said. “You’re not an idiot.”

He said ntohing, and Lyra looked back through the crowd towards her table. Bon Bon was still sat there waiting, looking increasingly impatient. Lyra bit her lip.

“You - you could come and sit with me and my friend, if you liked? Not have to sit on your own?” She suggested.

She wasn’t wholly sure whether she wanted him to say yes or not. Part of her did, part of her didn’t, and both parts made pretty compelling arguments.

James sat up again and tried to follow where she was pointing, doing his best to look in the actual direction but he was maybe a foot or two off. He shook his head anyway and turned back to face the front again, head coming to rest in his hands.

“Nah, s’okay, y’don’t have t’do that. I’m fine, m’fine, honest.”

“I feel bad just leaving you here sat on your own all sad,” Lyra said, and this was true. James gave a weird hiccough and looked at her again, not as intently as last time.

“You’s so nice! You’re all sso nice. Not like thhose robots. They were kinda creepy,” James said, and before Lyra could even consider what he’d been talking about he reached out and gave her a scratch behind the ears.

The feeling was so unexpected - and so pleasant - that the surprise didn’t take for a second or two and when it did Lyra wasn’t wholly sure what to do about it. It just felt so nice! A shiver ran down the length of her spine and she all-but melted against his hand.

It didn’t last though. James seemed to notice what it was he’d done and what it was he was still doing and withdrew his hand as though burnt.

“Shit shit, sorry, sorry. That was too mucch, sorry.”

“It’s o-okay,” she said, shaking off a lingering shiver or two. James head was back in his hands.

“You ggo to your friend. S’okay, I’ll be okay, y’go,” he said.

Bon Bon looked to be moments from getting up and going, Lyra saw, which kind of made the decision for her.

“Alright. But if you want to come join us you can, okay? We’re over there, okay?” She said, picking up her bottles and pointing again. James didn’t look but nodded. Hopping off the stool Lyra made haste back to the table, catching Bon Bon the instant her friend looked to be about to get up.

“You were ages! What were you doing?” Bon Bon asked as Lyra got back into her seat, setting both drinks down in the process.

“Sorry, got distracted,” Lyra said, pulling her bottle in close and keeping her eyes on the table.

Bon Bon leaned in, sensing she wasn’t getting the whole story.

“Are you blushing? Why are you blushing?”

“Justtakeyourdrink,” Lyra blurted.

-

The next day, Lyra did not have much going on. Having returned fairly late and sleeping in as a result when she finally got up she didn’t do much more than potter around the house tidying in a way that suggested her heart wasn’t really in it.

There was a knock at the door but she was far enough away from it that it wasn’t her problem. Bon Bon answered it, and some seconds later appeared.

“There’s a human here to see you,” she said. Lyra hadn’t expected that.

“There is?”

“Yep. He’s outside. I can tell him you’re not in if you want?” Bon Bon suggested, looking mildly concerned. Lyra shook her head.

“No, no it’s okay. Thanks.”

Bon Bon nodded and headed off and Lyra went to the door.

And there, outside, stood James, looking better than he had last night, though not wholly better. He looked as though he’d showered by upending a bucket over his head and was still damp in places, and his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses.

He also looked apologetic. It came off him in waves.

“Uh, hello,” Lyra said.

“Yeah, sorry for showing up like this. I just wanted to, uh, say that I was sorry for how I acted last night,” he said, wringing his hands. He looked a lot taller actually stood up, Lyra noticed.

“You didn’t need to do that, you didn’t do anything wrong. But, uh, how do you know where I live?” She asked.

James looked very sheepish.

“Ah, well. I, uh, well - I remembered…” he cleared his throat and the rest came out as a mumble that Lyra didn’t catch a word of.

“Pardon?”

Sighing, defeated, James spoke more clearly:

“Asked where the girl with the golden eyes was. Got pointed this way. Sorry. Kind of weird but I did want to apologise. I’m kind of a maudlin drunk.”

“You really don’t need to apologise. What do you think you did?” Lyra asked, head tilted to one side. James shrugged. He did this a lot.

“Well, I can remember bits. I think I was probably talking a lot? I do that. So I’m sorry about that. And, uh, I didn’t say anything too dumb, did I? The kind of thing I’d feel bad about now?”

She thought back to how pretty he’d said her eyes were. Thought back to him scratching her behind the ears.

“No, nothing,” she said, smiling forcedly and hoping the blush wasn’t coming back. He didn’t seem wholly convinced but nodded all the same, looking away.

“Good, good…” he said. “Well that’s good. I’ll leave you to it, then. Sorry if I was interrupting anything. I’ll be off.”

He stepped back and Lyra stepped forward.

“Are you - are you guys leaving?” She asked, unexpectedly worried that he meant he was really going off along with all the others and this would be it and she’d never seen him or any other human again. A little over the top, but the worry was there all the same.

James stopped.

“Hmm? Oh no, not yet. We’re not going for a little while yet, I don’t think. Not sure what’s going on but from what I hear they’re angling to get an exchange station set up somewhere.”

“Exchange station?”

James grunted and rubbed his temples with one hand, the other waving around.

“Like, a place where some humans can stay here. Exchange ideas, stuff, act as a waystation. Not my department.”

“Right,” Lyra said, still not really getting it. “What else are you doing today?”

“Me? Nothing. Technically I’m still on, uh, leave. Because of what happened. Relieved of active duty for now. Was just going to go back to bed,” he said, thumbing back over his shoulder. In the distance the Dimensional Borer could just be seen, twinkling over the rooftops.

“Oh, okay. If you’re sure.”

Lyra honestly didn’t know what answer she’d been hoping for but this clearly hadn’t been it as it didn’t make her feel particularly good. This James picked up on, though.

“Well, I’m open to suggestions if you have any. Like I say I’ve got nothing on.”

“I could show you around town? If you like,” Lyra said, thinking on her hooves, sounding casual, heart in her throat in case she’d suggested the wrong thing. Maybe he’d already been shown around town? Maybe he didn’t want to have to hang around with her? Presumptuous?

She just wanted to know more! About humans! Where they came from and what they were doing and what they thought of Equestria. And him.

And maybe get another scratch, just to see if that first one had been a fluke.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. Don’t want you going out of your way, it’s fine, really,” James said, holding his hands up.

“It’s no trouble,” Lyra insisted quickly.

“Really?”

“Really.”

A moment. Somewhere a bird was singing.

James smiled, and relief flooded Lyra who couldn’t help but smile too.

“That sounds nice, actually. Real nice. I haven’t seen much of the place.”

“Great! Well, not great you haven’t seen much but, you know, great that, uh - wait a second,” Lyra babbled before leaping back into the house and dashing about to find Bon Bon, who was sat around looking perplexed about what the noise was about.

“What did he want?” She asked.

“He wanted to say sorry. I’m just going out for a bit,” Lyra said, already moving off. Bon Bon double-took.

“Wait, what?”

“Don’t wait up!” Came Lyra’s voice followed by a slamming door.

Bon Bon, still sitting, could only mouth in confusion.