“You need to calm down dear…” Bon Bon said as she watched her dearest friend prance impatiently in place.
Lyra’s face bounced up and down with the rest of her body, a wide grin stuck firmly to her skin. And with all this going on, she still somehow managed to keep herself on the train platform, though just barely. “But I can see the train now! It’s almost here!” She shouted, pointing towards on the approaching locomotive with exaggerated movements of her front left leg. Meanwhile, her other hooves beat incessantly against the wood beneath her, filling the air with an abstract music.
Bon Bon blinked, just as confused now as she had been thirty minutes ago when Lyra had brought her here by force. “You dragged me down here without a word dear, When I asked you what was going on you just screeched unintelligibly.” Not that this was out of character for Lyra. She was known to be excitable by pretty much any pony who had ever chatted with her. She also delighted in novelty, and the combination of the two would almost always end horribly. At least financially, at most physically.
“Oh.” A soft blush painted Lyra’s cheeks as she realized that she had once again ran ahead recklessly. Bon Bon heart skipped a beat unbidden, betraying any hope for the vanilla colored mare that she could get through this interaction with platonic thoughts. It was all Lyra’s fault though, she always looked so overwhelming attractive when she blushed. “Well, today Catchy Tune is coming to Ponyville.” Lyra explained calmly. “He’s one of my biggest role models, he did the music for most of the big musicals you hear.”
“Ah,” The candy maker drew herself away from her selfish thoughts, though they still tickled the back of her mind. “So less novelty and more seeing your hero in person? I suppose I can understand you being excited for that.” Bon Bon offered a reassuring grin to the mint green unicorn and continued, her tone airy and jovial. “I’d probably lose my head a bit too.” Lyra smiled softly at the acknowledgement that she wasn’t completely crazy and then turned her head back to the approaching transport that powered its way all too slowly over the metal rails.
Bon Bon watched the approaching train for but a moment before she looked back to Lyra, who had her gaze firmly affixed to the locomotive. The candy maker shuffled her hooves softly, sliding nearer to her friend without alerting her. The closer she got the more she wanted so badly to yell her emotions to the world, shout them from the highest rooftop. But her lips were kept sealed by her knowledge. The knowledge that, should she ever do such a thing, it would kill both of their lives. And so, as much as for her sake as for Lyra’s she couldn’t bring herself to do it, no matter how badly her heart desired it, her mind said no.
But her heart was stubborn, she debated with herself over the logic, over when it would be okay, over when it would be incorrect, over if she should do it at all. She shuffled ever closer to Lyra as her mind wrestled with itself, her subconscious seeking some kind of respite from the inner feud. But, just as Bon Bon found herself reaching out for the lustrous olive green coat, the train pulled into the station. As the whistle blew, Bon Bon practically bolted away, putting a greater distance between her and her heart’s desire than there had been to begin with.
But, luckily, Lyra didn’t notice. And, with a quick glance around, Bon Bon reassured herself that no one else had either. She put on a smile, half hearted at best, and turned her attention to the train doors as they opened. She didn’t recognize any of the ponies that got off of the train, but she knew Lyra would be able to spot the stallion she was looking for. She may be excitable, but if Lyra was focused on something than she was the most observant pony in the world.
So, when Lyra suddenly bolted forward to the train doors, Bon Bon followed. And, just as the candy maker had suspected, Lyra was already shaking hooves with her idol. While her attention was trapped on the big musician though, Bon Bon’s eyes found themselves drifting to the mare that accompanied him. She was very pretty, all things considered. She wasn’t as alluring as the mint unicorn, her eyes didn’t shimmer with life the way that Lyra’s did, but Bon Bon admitted to herself that she would have bought her a drink if they’d met in a bar.
“Oh my gosh it’s such a pleasure to meet you Mister Catchy Tune!” Lyra blurted out, ignoring any pauses that might slow her words. The stallion smiled back, letting the enthusiastic lyrist continue her hoof shake as she rambled on and on about what a big fan she was, allowing her every moment to complete her rant. And, when at last she finished, he kept the smile as he lowered his hoof back to the ground.
“You must be Lyra.” He said patiently, his voice flowing over his tongue like a forest brook. “This,” He indicated the mare next to him. “Is Sure Step, she’s done the choreography for most of the musicals I’ve worked on, we’ve only recently started dating and she announced she was going to come here with me, so I wouldn’t lose myself in the country’s allure. She’s the ‘plus one’ I told you was going to be coming.” He turned to his companion and smiled, looking deep into her eyes. “Isn’t she just a doll?”
“Oh come on Catchy, we can’t just be going around lost in each others eyes.” Sure Step had an odd Manehattan accent to her words, turning them up at the ends like the collar of a fine tuxedo after it’s been through the wrong kind of wash.
“Aw, why not? Neither of us has any work to do right now.” Catchy Tune said, a soft pleading tone holding his words like a child’s teddy bear.
“It’ll be hard to watch the scenery in the reflection of your eyes, you know?”
“I’d like to try and see it in yours for a month or two, for research purposes, you know?”
“You’re more lost in love than the characters we write for, come on now, we’ve a pony here who offered to give us her house while we were in town, the least we could do is give her a bit of attention, don’t you think?”
“As always, you’re right dear.” His grin faded from enamored to happy and he turned back to the pair in front of him. “Thank you for the offer once again Lyra, but where exactly do you intend on staying when we steal your home from you?”
This stopped Lyra in her tracks. She paused, gazing blankly ahead. “I’m not sure… I hadn’t thought of that.” Catchy Tune and Sure Step gave the mare a look of confusion, as if they didn’t fully believe or understand what she had just said. Bon Bon, meanwhile, let out a soft yet exasperated sigh.
“Dear, I thought we talked about this. You need to start thinking ahead if you want to get anywhere in life.” Lyra gave the candy-maker a depressed look with half lidded eyes, a smile forced over her lips to try and hide her shame. Bon Bon gave into the look almost immediately, “You can stay at my place I suppose, while your house is occupied by your guests.” She had known for a long time now that she would offer housing to Lyra if she needed it, but the opportunity had never really come up, and these weren’t exactly normal circumstances either.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, but…” The mares looked to Catchy Tune, who seemed to have a cautious gleam in his eyes. “You two aren’t filly foolers are you?” The canterlot duo’s eyes moved to Bon Bon and she felt herself begin to sweat lightly beneath her coat, unsure of how to answer the question. Lyra merely looked back at them with an equally befuddled expression. “‘dear’?” and Lyra’s eyes widened in realization.
“Oh Bonny calls everyone ‘Dear’. It’s just how she talks.” Lyra said, unaware how desperate a save she had just provided to her secret admirer. “I’ve seen her call lots of ponies ‘dear’.” Was that true? Bonbon couldn’t remember, did she? Maybe? Wait, wasn’t there that one colt she called ‘dear’? Oh yea, yea, she did call everyone dear, good. If she didn’t call everyone dear than Lyra probably would’ve caught on right? Maybe? Had she called ponies ‘dear’ before Lyra had shown up? She couldn’t recall.
The looks of cautious hesitancy quickly faded from Catchy Tune’s and Sure Step’s eyes, replaced with smiles. Meanwhile, Bonbon hoped no one had seen the fit of inner panic that had gripped her heart for those few minutes. “Ah, yes, of course.” Catchy began to explain. “You must excuse me for my assumptions, but we’ve had a large hallowbaloo raised in Canterlot about that sorta thing becoming big, some kind of new thing that’s really grown over the past few days.”
“Really? That sounds kinda odd…” Bon Bon felt her heart sink as these words left the perfect mouth of her crush. “I don’t even know what I’d do if I found myself attracted to mares, it sounds so alien…” Lyra said, her voice lost in a strange place. Bon Bon recognized it as a flight of fancy, something they Lyra would probably forget about in a week or so, but it still hurt the candy maker, and she felt the desperate need to make herself scarce. An urging that she repressed. “What about you Bonny? Do you know what you’d do?”
And, for the first time that day, Bon Bon was asked a question she could answer honestly without fear. “I haven’t the slightest idea.”
“Huh…” Lyra’s mind had begun to wander over to left field chasing a foul ball.
“Regardless.” Spoke up Catchy Tune. “Perhaps you could show us to our residence so we can settle in? We’ll be able to talk about this tomorrow, if you so desire.” He stopped for a minute to glance at the sun that had only now begun it’s descent into the late evening, then continued. “Of course, I hope we’ll have a better topic of conversation available.”
“Oh, yea, of course, just follow me!” Lyra set the pace immediately, her hoofsteps sped up as her nervous demeanor returned. “It shouldn’t even take very long!” Catchy Tune smiled politely and looked backed towards the train, where a baggage boy had just emerged with the ridiculous load out of suitcases and miscellaneous items.
“Come on then, if you get it to our suite we’ll up the tip by ten bits!” The baggage boy followed, eager for the extra cash, leaving only Bon Bon to watch the entourage that made it’s way into residential Ponyville. She, however, set course for her candy shop, where her own home sat on the second floor. She did, after all, have a very important guest to prepare for.
It was with panicked pacing that a pony pranced her palace through. With darting eyes she tirelessly tweaked, every piece of fabric straightened out with panic and care. She would never admit to Lyra what she was going through right now, she wasn’t half sure about it herself. She just wanted everything to be perfect, and if that meant beating all her couch pillows against the doorframe to rid them of the sugar that had set up its home in their folds, then so be it. It would be worth it, every second.
Sweat that clung to her coat stuck around in her fur and dampened it ever so slightly, giving the normal pristine white that she was known for a bit of a darker shade. It was only when Bon Bon thought perhaps she might take a quick rinse to clean herself up that the ring of the doorbell came to her ears. Her heart skipped a beat at the sound and she took one final look in a simple hallway mirror as she passed. She tossed her hair as lightly as she could manage and proceeded to the door. Her steps measured and careful, and her heart everything but.
Lyra stood there, burdened with several packs of luggage, teetering like some great and unstable monstrosity of a building. It defied the laws of physics as it never toppled from it’s teetering sway, but despite it’s shocking stability it had apparently retained every gram of mass, a fact that was evidenced by the sweat that had built up on Lyra’s fur, as if in mimicry of Bon Bon’s. Bon Bon lunged forwards and placed a hoof around the side of the topmost bag, ignoring the mild irritant of its burlap skin as she stopped the precarious pile’s unnerving swinging with a bit of guiding force. “Dear!” She exclaimed, panic now for the half lidded eyes of fatigue that glanced thankfully to her from beneath the luggage. “You must be exhausted! Come inside and put those bags down, we can unpack them later, when you’re feeling better!”
“You sure?” Lyra breathed the words out of near empty lungs. “I don’t want to,” She paused to inhale suddenly and then continued. “to burden you more than I already have.” She had already managed to drag herself through the doorway, and stood there as Bon Bon closed it behind her. “I can take it to the room if you-” Lyra felt the weight growing less and watched as Bon Bon began to unstack the bundles onto the floor. When the candy maker realized she was being watched she offered a slight smile in response.
Lyra returned it and helped put the rest of the bags onto the ground, save her saddlebags, her bones aching with every movement from their long journey. “You know, when I left the house it didn’t seem like this much, but I got a block or two and it really started to weigh me down. I got it here though.”
“If you would’ve got a hold of me I would have made a trip down with my wagon, dear.” Bon Bon said kindly as the last of the bags was placed on the floor. Lyra moved a few steps away and Bon Bon closed the door.
Lyra looked sheepishly towards Bon Bon, a forced smile trying to hide the shame. Trying. “I didn’t even think about that. Sorry Bon Bon.”
“It’s no trouble to me, I just hate seeing you work yourself to death is all. There’s no reason for it.”
“I suppose that’s what friends are for huh?” Lyra said offhandedly, looking around the kitchen that the front door had led into. Bon Bon remained silent for a bit, she looked at the ground. “Bon Bon, you okay?” Lyra looked over her shoulder to her hostess, whose gaze only now rose from the ground.
“Yes, I suppose so. Best friends you and I.” The words were tinged with melancholy, and while it wasn’t a lot it was enough for Lyra to pick up on.
“Bon Bon.” Lyra waited to continue until her gaze was met. “Are you okay?”
“Of course dear!” Bon Bon exclaimed happily, her fake joy fooling Lyra into believing her statement. Deep down Bon Bon’s heart was troubled, but it was trouble that she would deal with alone, like she did with all the other ones. “I’m just a little preoccupied is all. After all, not one but two notable ponies from Canterlot have come to visit our little burg.”
“Isn’t it just great though!?!” Lyra exclaimed, all of her worry for Bon Bon disappearing as the subject changed, something that Bon Bon herself had fixed feelings about. “I don’t know how long its been since I first heard one of Catchy Tunes’s… catchy… tunes…” Lyra smiled sheepishly at Bon Bon, the same smile that had entranced Bon Bon from the start. She’d had the blessing to see it many times since as well. “I mean, it’s so awesome he came to Ponyville! He has this simple sort of song ideology about him that a lot of other ponies in Canterlot don’t seem to get! Like, he knows how to make a single instrument a band, you know?”
Bon Bon didn’t actually know, but Lyra wasn’t really asking either, as was evidenced as she continued on with her praise. “It all just… meshes! He makes all the instruments work! I love his work sooo much!” Lyra said excitedly. Her smile was pure and honest, but then… something happened… Bon Bon wasn’t sure what it was. But the smile… broke. And it broke her heart to see it.
“What’s the matter dear?” Bon Bon asked, taking a couple steps closer before catching herself and pausing a respectful distance away. “Something catch your mind?”
“It’s just…” Lyra levitated her lyre from her saddlebags and let it dangle in front of her. “He’s a genius with music Bon Bon, and I just pluck strings.” The smile gave up its facade and fell straight into a frown, leaving Lyra to stare sadly at her instrument.
Bon Bon couldn’t help but frown at that. “Well you ‘pluck strings’ miles better than I do dear.” Bon Bon said simply.
Lyra waved the comment away, determined to continue down the spiral.“Well yea, but I mean, you're a candy maker, you don’t play an instrument.”
“Oh, dear you never told me that you composed musical pieces! Why you simply must let me listen to one sometimes!”
“What?” Lyra was broken from her melancholy by confusion, she looked to Bon Bon with a rasied eyebrow. Her look was met with half lidded eyes and a sly, playful smile. It took Lyra a minute to put together what Bon Bon was saying. “Oh you mean… Right. Me and Catchy have completely different talents…” Lyra rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “I just have a bad habit of… I mean… Its just… hard not to compare yourself to other people sometimes you know?”
“Oh I know darling, there are, after all, two candy establishments in this town. I find myself looking in fun house mirrors a bit too much, metaphorically speaking of course.”
Lyra smiled a bit through her shameful face, and it made Bon Bon happy to see the sadness fade from Lyra’s face. “You always know what to say.” Lyra said simply, smiling a bit wider.
Bon Bon did her best to conceal it but in the end she couldn’t help but let loose a loud, barking laugh. a laugh that rolled and rolled as Lyra looked more confused than she had before. “You uh… you okay Bon Bon?”
Bon Bon laughed a bit longer before she answered, fighting past the guffaws that had found their way past her mouth. “I just wish I knew what to say Dear. I’m normally not nearly this wise with words.”
“You always seem to be on point to me.” Lyra offered weakly, a tone to her voice that killed the laughs almost immediately.
“Oh dear, that’s sweet of you to say. I didn’t mean to-”
“It’s fine Bon Bon. Do you want to help me put my stuff in a room?”
Fighting back the feeling of poison that crawled through her soul, Bon Bon nodded, and led Lyra to the room that would she would be using while she waited out the famous pair that she had lent her home to. What joy Bon Bon had felt about having Lyra in her home was gone now, only regret remained there now.
