Yes, Sweetie, Humans are (maybe) real

The bell chimed in the otherwise silent library that Twilight called home, signalling a pony had entered.

Though with the rapid patter of hooves from the excited filly rushing to her, she wondered if the chime was really necessary.

"Twilight!"

Setting her book down on the growing stack of books beside her, Twilight tore herself away from the studies of techno-magic and looked up in time to see Sweetie Belle skidding to a halt on the hardwood floor. Smiling despite the mild irritation she always felt when distracted from some of her most interesting topics to read about, she greeted the little filly and quickly put the irritation from her mind when she saw how out of breath the little one was.

"Hello, Sweetie! What brings you to the library in such a hurry? I'd have thought you'd be playing with your friends so soon after school."

It's true, it was only nearing four. The excitable bunch that call themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders normally played around town for the better part of two hours. What could be so important to distract one of the members and make her all flustered?

Catching her breath, Sweetie Belle looked up at Twilight almost pleadingly.

"I was talking with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom about those things Lyra told me about once," she began, no doubt referencing the 'humans' that Lyra so loved to talk about, "B-but they were saying it's impossible for them to exist! That they'd just be a big, dumb monster if they did! I-I don't know what to think. Lyra was so happy and excited and...I want to believe like she does that there's these wonderful things out there that we don't know about! But everyone else says it's a lie. So I came to you, the pony who knows everything there is to know about anything! Can you help me?"

Twilight had spoken with Lyra about this before. Lyra was certainly...passionate, about the subject. The only problem was she had no evidence to back any of it up. It was all guesses, as far as Twilight was concerned.

"Well," she began, already revving up how exactly to say there was no information about them at all, really, before something in the little filly's eyes made her stop.

Sweetie Belle stared at Twilight with big, sad eyes.

Like the days of her own childhood, when her parents had told her none of her fairy tales were real. There was no Nightmare Moon, they'd said. The Crystal Empire was a myth. Elements of Harmony? Please.

They'd been wrong. So very, very wrong.

Was it really right to crush this little filly's hopes about something that couldn't be confirmed, like had happened to her?

"Twilight?"

Sweetie broke Twilight's train of thought, making her shake her head as she smiled sympathetically at Sweetie. Rising from her prone position, Twilight put a hoof around the young one, hugging her to her side.

"Of course they exist," she said, not believing the words coming out of her own mouth, "We just haven't found them yet."

"But everyone says-"

Twilight shushed the filly, giving her a squeeze as she thought how to keep Sweetie's hope alive.

"It doesn't matter what anyone says, Sweetie. I've never seen one, and neither have you. But neither have they! No pony can say whether humans are real or not, not even Princess Celestia. But does that mean they can't exist, out in the great wide world we live in? Of course not! There's so much to learn about, so many things we don't understand, that to rule out their existence just wouldn't be right."

"Every day I read and learn new things I never knew. And there's been so many legends and myths that were true, that I'd have a hard time saying that it's impossible. We've lived through the impossible already!"

Sweetie raised her head, looking up at Twilight, eyes sparkling again with hope as a small smile spread across her face.

Twilight couldn't resist the smile spreading across her own.

And what she said was true. There were many things that she'd experienced that nobody had thought could happen before.

Maybe she shouldn't dismiss this like she originally thought.

"Do you really think so, Twilight?" Sweetie asked, nuzzling her face into Twilight's side and making the purple mare blush.

"I really think so, Sweetie. There's too much we don't know to say for sure one way or the other. And who knows? Maybe one day you'll be the pony to meet one yourself. Then you'll be able to tell every pony about them and introduce everyone! Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Yeah!"

"And maybe you'd get your cutie mark for it!"

The two laughed together for a while, Sweetie Belle happy that maybe what Lyra said was right. Maybe there was another kind of creature out there, just waiting for friends. And she'd be the one to find them!

Twilight laughed at her own ridiculousness. Leading a pony on like that.
But you know, maybe they were right. It really was possible.

And besides, what harm did hoping do?