Lyra Heartstrings was sitting on a bench in the park, playing her lyre. The sun warmed her mane as she listened to the rhythm of the birds above her head. She followed them, spinning a melody of her own to complement their song. Her music attracted a small animal audience, drawn in by the soothing sounds of her lyre.

A passing group of beavers hauling a log stopped for a bit to enjoy the sound. A family of bunnies hopped up on the bench beside her, nuzzling her body with their soft white fur. A human peeked out from the shade of a tree, smiling and giving her a thumbs up.

Lyra froze, abruptly halting her music. She stared at the human, afraid to break eye contact. She set her lyre down and approached cautiously, a thrill welling up from deep within her as distance between her and the human shrank.

“Hey, Lyra! Whatcha doing?” Bonbon, her friend, said, approaching her from a nearby drinking fountain. The human waved goodbye to Lyra, circling the tree until he was completely obscured.

“Wait! I just want to talk to you!” Lyra shouted, galloping towards the tree. She made three full circles, finding nothing. “Why? Why did you have to scare him away? I was so close!” She sobbed to Bonbon.

“Scare who away? What are you… wait, is this one of your human sightings again?” Bonbon sighed, comforting the weeping Lyra by stroking her mane. “You know they aren’t real.”

“But I saw one this time! I swear!” Lyra said, burying her head into Bonbon’s side. “I really did… he was right there by the tree and you scared him away.” Bonbon turned away from Lyra and rolled her eyes.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure you did… just like the fifty-seven other times…” Bonbon said, leading Lyra to the bench. “Human enthusiasts these days…” she muttered out of Lyra’s hearing range.

“Seventy-nine…” Lyra said, drying her tears. “But this one’s real! He was attracted by my lyre! Wait… my lyre!” She looked around frantically. “Where’d it go?”

Bonbon smiled. “Well, I can’t really help you with the human, but at least we can find your lyre. I’ll look around the bench, you look around the tree.” Lyra nodded, trotting towards the tree. She made three full circles, searching thoroughly, but there was no lyre to be found. She felt something odd, like a spider in her mane, and looked up to see the human from before dangling her lyre directly above her head. Her eyes widened.

“Bonbon, look! Come over here quick! I’m not crazy!” Lyra shouted. “Please, run faster!” Bonbon ran over in full gallop.

“Oh, you found your lyre. How did it get so high up?” Bonbon asked quizzically. “I don’t see why you needed me to run, it’s not going anywhere fast.” Lyra blinked twice, looking back up. The human was gone, and her lyre was resting on the lower branches of the tree on a bed of leaves.

“I- Oh nevermind…” Lyra muttered, retrieving her lyre with her magic. “Bonbon…” she said in her sweetest voice.

“Yes?” Bonbon sighed. Lyra was about to request a favor, she could tell.

“Would you mind keeping a look out around while I play my lyre? And I’m not saying any humans will show up, but if they do… could you please tell them to come here and that I don’t want to hurt them?” Lyra pleaded, eyes shining.

Bonbon heaved a heavy sigh. “Fine…” she grumbled as Lyra hugged her.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Lyra rummaged through her bag, retrieving an odd contraption. It was a small electronic device with a dark black screen. “You might be able to lure him with this.” She held the device out to Bonbon. “According to myth, humans really like… um… what was it called? Oh right… smartphones. I made this one in my spare time in case anything like this ever happened.” Lyra beamed.

Bonbon gingerly took the smartphone in her hoof. “What’s it for?” she asked.

Lyra shrugged. “The stories were kind of unclear, but I have this theory that…” she trailed off mid-sentence as she saw the human watching them from across the fountain. “Turn around very slowly. Don’t make any sudden movements…” she whispered. Bonbon turned around as Lyra took the smartphone from her, holding it out like a trainer would a dog biscuit.

“Here, human… I don’t want to hurt you. You can have this. Is it okay if we talk a bit? I just want to talk…If you don’t want to talk, that’s okay too. Just take the smartphone, it’s a present.” she said softly. Bonbon tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to turn.

“Um… Lyra, there’s nothing there,” she said. Lyra turned back to the fountain. The space the human had previously occupied was now empty.

“What? But you didn’t see it? He was just here a moment ago…” Lyra whimpered. “All I wanted was for him to take his present…” Bonbon smiled, brushing Lyra’s mane out of her eyes and taking the smartphone.

“Why don’t we just leave this here in case he comes back? If I were a human I’d appreciate the gift,” Bonbon asked, setting the phone down by the fountain. Lyra nodded sadly. “Tell you what, to celebrate your eightieth human sighting, I’ll treat you to muffins at Sugarcube Corner.”

Lyra brightened and followed Bonbon down the path a ways towards the park exit before turning around. “Wait, I forgot my bag,” she said. “I’ll catch up.” She returned to the bench and retrieved her belongings. It was then that she noticed that the smartphone was gone. A high pitched whistling noise came from behind a nearby tree.

Lyra turned to see the human holding the smartphone in one hand and giving her a thumbs up in the other. He waved goodbye, disappearing around the tree trunk like he did before. Lyra smiled, slinging her bag over her shoulder and catching up with Bonbon. “Someday,” she said.

The tree waited until she was out of sight, then twisted and turned, changing color to become Discord. “Someday,” he repeated, nodding at the human trying out his new smartphone. Discord snapped his fingers, sending the human back from whence it came.

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