Lullaby For The Harp
by TartokTheGreat
The evening was supposed to end up good, it was supposed to end up as something special. Right at this very moment the fate of her world hanged in the balance, as everything she had worked so hard for had turned into ashes. Quite literally, too, as the muffins she had baked in the oven had turned to a grayish black and had no hint of blueberries remaining. How she would overcome this tragedy, Lyra Heartstrings did not know.
“I could bake more muffins,” she said, sneaking a peek at the clock, the hands turning to eight o’clock.
A second later the doorbell rang and all Lyra could mutter was, “Damn.”
Now she regretted having accepted the request for a sleep-over even more. The muffins could have at least served as an icebreaker, but now? How would she look, presenting burnt muffins to her friend. She might’ve said something along the lines of, “They’re made of coalate. It’s like chocolate, only far worse in about every aspect.”
Coalate? Is that supposed to be a pun? Lyra asked herself, frowning at the idiocy of her own thoughts. That’s not a joke, that’s a surefire way to end our relationship right here and there.
The doorbell rang again, and every inch of Lyra quaked as it took her out of her thoughts. Her eyes went to the oven before her, the muffins still inside, and she lit the flame of magic that dwelled within her, closing it with a spell. With one look around her kitchen she tried to find something else to use, something she could present for dinner. Why did I only think of muffins? What kind of pony just eats muffins for dinner, she thought, veins throbbing on her forehead.
Why did she have to be this stupid? Lyra had no answer within her head, and the fact that she was going to have a sleep-over was not helping keeping her thoughts clear, straight, in line. Why had she even accepted in the first place? Maybe she could use the muffins to poison herself and escape to the hospital?
She heard somepony knock against the door, loud and in quick succession, too. Celestia, don’t you have any patience?
Resigning herself as the worst host that had ever stepped onto the plains of Equestria, the mint-maned unicorn moved herself out of the kitchen and into the corridor, a dim light on the wall brightening up the passage. The walls of her house were all colored, with the walls of the floor portraying the notes of a symphony she liked, while every room had a theme going for it. The kitchen looked like somepony had splattered food against the walls, the living room had paintings that imitated bookshelves, and her sleeping room was styled like a forest at night time. As a Canterlot pony of class, she just could not do with bleak walls that had nothing to them.
Yes, her house was beautiful, and she gladly had ponies around, even if it was just to show how awesome it was. But this was a sleep-over, entirely different business. Normally, Lyra would just give a guest the couch and tell them not to disturb her during the night, but the whole point of a sleep-over was that ponies would spend their night together. Their entire night.
Why did she agree to do this again? No, really, why? The mare quickly resolved herself to decline now, on this very last step. She just was not the kind of pony for this kind of thing, and the other party would surely agree. There was nothing that could go wrong if she would decline.
Except she might lose a friend.
Lyra halted before the doorknob, her hoof shivering, her heart pounding. This isn’t some public speech, Lyra, you have no need for anxiety attacks here!
Still, she took deeper breaths, trying to calm herself. Everything could go wrong, but if she would tell the other party off, then at least she would have some peace. The pony opened the door.
“Hey, Bon B–”
“Took you long enough,” the pale yellow earth pony responded dryly as she marched straight past Lyra, and moved herself straight into the kitchen.
Lyra stared outside with a smile, at the roads of Ponyville and its inhabitants, who now that the dark had come quickly shuffled to their own respective of homes. In the distance, Lily screamed over finding bugs eating her flowers, and Caramel smashed one bank from the park against the window of his own house, all while bright lights flashed over the town’s library, and very loud dance music could be heard. Truly, this was the epitome of peacefulness.
She closed the door immediately, deciding that she preferred her own four walls and turned around. Bon Bon had apparently immediately found the muffins, holding the dozen of them right beneath Lyra’s nose. The earth pony’s frown met the unicorn’s awkward smile.
“Did you seriously try to bake, Lyra?”
For a moment, she wanted to say something, but no words came out. Like always, she felt herself shaking under the gaze of her friend, and moved around on her feet, her eyes looking for something better to look at. She heard Bon Bon sigh.
“This is why I wanted to stay over here. Exactly. This.” She waved the muffins around for a moment. “You know how there’s ponies who have a special talent, but can do other things pretty well, too? That’s not you, Lyra.”
Gee, thanks, the unicorn thought, but did not dare look into her friend’s eyes as she did so.
“You make the sweetest music, and you’re the most wonderful pony I know. Really.” That made Lyra finally look up, and Bon just smiled at her. “So, how about you leave dinner to me, before you start putting poison mushrooms on our bread.”
It was just one time, and how was I supposed to know that there’s mushrooms you can’t eat. I went to music school, not … Mushroom school. Lyra frowned, something that Bon noticed immediately.
“I’m not bothering you, am I?”
Now you can say it, Lyra thought, but there was something about Bon Bon’s eyes. The closest she could describe them as were pools of water, deep enough to drown within. She was the only pony Lyra truly knew around town, and the only one with whom she could speak. A true friend. “No,” she said, finally giving a smile, as she struggled to pull off some whimsical comment, “but you should stop walking all over me like that.”
Bon Bon put out her tongue. “Not my fault when you’re more of a doormat than most doormats.”
Half the worries vanished as Lyra tried to tell herself that this was just like any other visit. She had known Bon Bon since she had arrived in Ponyville, since she had played her songs by the side of the plaza and Berry Punch had introduced them. It had been a warm summer’s day and Bon Bon had smelled of sugar and lemons, and her eyes could have been likened to chips of ice. Despite their cold color, they felt calming to look at. Yes, Lyra could drown herself in those eyes.
But even with that, it was only half the worries, the other half surfaced once they had sat down on the cushions and Bon Bon put down two plates with toast on the dinner table, chuckling to herself. “Okay, Lyra, this is what actual food looks like. Civilized ponies eat it instead of the grass on Carrot Top’s lawn.”
“Carrot Top sells her lawn’s grass on the market,” Lyra rebutted as she looked at the sandwich, her voice quiet, hesitating.
“That’s grass from her lawn. That’s the difference of a whole word,” Bon Bon answered, taking a bite out of her own.
They sat in the kitchen and it had to be around half-past eight. The sun had long since vanished and there would not be much to do hereafter. Except getting ready for bed. That was the other half of her worries. The one thing she dreaded more than anything. Lyra’s parents had been kind enough to tell her that, as a pony of status, she should hide any kind of deficiencies she had, and that some particular ones could destroy her entire life. Yes, her parents had always looked out for her. Truly, she had had the best of childhoods.
Still, there she was, this sweet-smelling mare, eating her sandwich while presenting the table manners of an alien. Really, it was more like she was trying to get the whole thing down without properly chewing, and when she did chew, she felt the need to show it to Lyra in full detail. Just the sight of it made her question Bon’s upbringing. Yet, while that was as it was, they were in a conversation. I can do this. It won’t be any trouble. Not with her. Please, Celestia, not with her.
She doubted that any sort of god would heed her prayers, but Lyra opened her mouth nonetheless. “So … You really want to sleep in my bed?”
“Yeah,” Bon Bon answered immediately, food spilling from her mouth, “Me and the flower trio do that often in the summers. We also have that thing going on where we read our angst-ridden diaries from the days where we just got our cutie marks and take bets on whom has the worst poetry.”
Lyra did not really pay any attention to the things Bon Bon talked about, but rather watched her pick up the pieces of salad she had just spewed on her plate and put them in her mouth again. And I do, apparently, not function in social situations. Go figure.
On the plus side, Bon Bon looked somewhat cute even as she did that, and cuteness could serve as an excuse for anything. Still, she didn’t know how judgmental Bon would end up being.
“That’s nice,” she muttered, her eyes turning to the side.
“What?” Bon Bon asked immediately, “Are you uncomfortable with having another pony share your bed?”
“Not really, no,” Not if that pony ends up being you, “it’s just …”
Bon Bon finally swallowed her food. “What?”
“I kinda have this problem,” Lyra started, feeling herself turn red.
Suddenly, the words stopped forming, and she just wanted to go hide in her toilet until the morning, since that was probably the most appropriate thing to do. This could not end well. She should have listened to her parents and just built herself a bunker in the middle of the desert, and gotten herself a rifle to shoot at anypony who approached. How could she ever have thought to live any different? Why did teenagers never listen to their parents when they said something smart? Why?
Bon Bon just tilted her head. “Wow, you’re acting like you’re about to confess that you still wet the bed.”
Silence.
Bon Bon blinked, Lyra somehow managed to turn even redder. The earth pony, however, betrayed any expectations and just shrugged it off. “Is that why you’re uncomfortable with me being here?”
Lyra’s nod was all the answer Bon Bon needed. She leaned back on where she sat, thinking about what to say next. “So, why?”
“Cause I can’t control it at night,” Lyra answered, only realizing that that was the ultimate non-answer she should not have given in this situation.
“I know how bed-wetting works, Lyra. Like, I did it until I was three,” Bon Bon answered, suddenly her eyes widening and she started to shake her head a little. “Of course, I’m not saying that its that unusual for a young filly like yourself–”
“We’re both adults.”
“I like to think of myself as a very young, very handsome filly, thank you very much. But the point still stands, it’s nothing to worry about.”
Lyra just had to tilt her head, “You’re not worried about waking up beside, you know?”
Now it was Bon Bon’s turn to redden, and Lyra found it the first time to see her friend flustered. “Well, I thought, that you did not indulge any weird hobbies with it, and got something. Some spells, or medicine.”
Lyra gave a bitter smile at that. “Actually,” she said, “It’s a condition that stems from my connection with magic, so there’s really no cure in spells or medicines. All I can do is live my life out with it. Being an unicorn can suck like that.”
“Oh,” Bon Bon said with a hesitant nod, “So, you … What?”
Her cheeks could not have been any redder. “I wear diapers.”
“Okay, that’s … “ Bon Bon looked at Lyra once more. “Okay. That’s okay. I don’t really see any problem with it.”
Lyra did not say anything however. Because with acceptance came also the fact that Bon Bon would stay and she did not know whether or not she could bear lying beside that other mare, plastic crinkling and the smell of powder in the air. If there had ever any thought that had terrified her, then this was it.
“In fact,” Bon Bon suddenly continued, “could I try one?”
For a moment, Lyra flustered, her eyes turned wide and she looked up immediately. “What?” was all she could ask.
Bon Bon gave a wry smile. “You get uncomfortable outside your house, Lyra. Like, a lot. I don’t think I want to see you shrink together in your own house. I get why you think wearing something like diapers isn’t suitable for a grown mare, but I honestly don’t care. So, to prove my point, can I wear one?”
Their eyes met. Once, a long time ago, Bon Bon’s eyes had been chips of ice, but now they were like warm springs, raising Lyra’s spirit from the darkest depths even. Yes, around this mare she could feel comfortable with herself, if not anything else. She might not have been able to express anything properly, but as Bon Bon asked this one, weird question, the unicorn felt her smile growing wider, and maybe even a tear forming in her eye.
Something like acceptance was one of the most wonderful magicks in the world. And so, right after they were done with their dinner, they decided to dress for bed. Lyra’s bedroom was the one room in the first floor, right beneath the roof. It was a large room, where she could write and play here songs on one end, while her bed and cabinet remained on the other side.
Her beloved cabinet, painted blue and green, was where she kept the few pieces of clothing she had. Two dresses from Carousel Boutique, a bow tie and a top hat, for some queer reason. In the smaller trays she kept her utensils for the night. She got two diapers out, though with a red face and handed one to Bon Bon, who had regained her poker face fair enough and just examined the garment for a moment longer.
The diapers Lyra had were medical garments only, colored in a pure white, with only two yellow lines serving as wetness indicators. The plastic shell crinkled under the touch.
“I can just put it on like this, right?”
“If you don’t intend to use it,” Lyra said, prompting a nod from Bon. It was a reasoning the unicorn could understand, she would not use them either, if she had a choice on the matter.
She turned to the cabinet to get the powder for herself, since hygiene was something she held dear to her heart. Yet, as she turned around, Bon Bon was already wearing the diaper, looking at herself.
“You’re quick,” Lyra said astounded.
“It’s just four tapes to adjust, nothing to fuzz about,” Bon Bon said, but Lyra could tell just from the second look how queerly the diaper was positioned around her friend’s waist. I hope she keeps to not using it, she thought.
On the plus side, seeing her friend trying this thing out was almost comforting. Bon Bon seemed amazed at the thickness of it, she could tell. The diapers she wore were marked for heavy incontinence, but she hoped Bon Bon wouldn’t inquire why she wore specifically those. Rather, she hoped her friend wouldn’t find out entirely. Still, she had to get her own piece of sleep wear on.
Lyra looked at Bon Bon, as she spread the diaper out on her bed. “Could you turn around for a moment?” She asked, and her friend gave her a queer look, before she nodded and walked over to the music area.
“Tell me when you’re done.”
“Yeah,” the unicorn answered and took the bottle of foal powder. Weirdly enough, she had used the same kind since she’d been a foal, if only because it gave her some strange comfort. It was almost like every new change felt like some new, horrible experience, and the fact that the bottle remained the same was something she could hold on to. Lyra knew this was a weird tick, but with this condition, she did anything to make it feel better.
She sprinkled it across the white, careful not to get any on her sheets, before she laid down on the padding. It was a familiar feeling, as always, like a soft cushion right beneath her, and with one motion, she pulled up the front. The padding pressed against her thighs, spreading her legs a bit. It made her really glad that she only needed them for the night, too, but didn’t let her thoughts linger as she pulled the tapes up and closed the diaper. She just lay there for another second, before she got up and looked at Bon Bon’s own padded rump.
“I’m done,” she said, and the other pony turned around.
The eyes of the earth pony scanned Lyra, before she nodded approvingly. “You look natural in those.”
Lyra’s face grew red almost immediately, and she turned her eyes down, thinking about how terrible an idea this had been. Yet, she did not have that much time to dwell on that thought as Bon Bon crossed the room in an instant and jumped her like a shark; a diapered, plant-eating, utterly adorable shark.
“I’m teasing,” Bon Bon said, pressing Lyra against the bed, her eyes, blue like the sunny sky, on the other mare, and smelling of ice cream and chocolate bars. “You look wonderful in those. You are the cutest pony I know.”
Lyra could only gaze at her, this pony she had met on the plaza of Ponyville and to whom she had talked to for the first time on a hill by the acres. She felt the other pony’s hooves, she heard both their diapers crinkle, but she knew she was the only one who had already gone a little in hers, if only from the shock and awe she felt in the presence of Bon Bon. She couldn’t help but smile and whisper, “I love you.”
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? She screamed internally, but before she could do anything, Bon Bon’s own smile grew and her face suddenly drew closer to Lyra.
“I know," Bon Bon said before their lips touched and Lyra concluded this to be the best sleepover in her entire life.
~The End~
