Lyra woke me up.
That in itself would have been an unusual thing on any day, given her fondness for sleeping in even on a business day. But, amazingly enough, I was roused by the sounds of somepony attempting to make breakfast. Believe me...that was a first. I love Lyra dearly, but she does have a tendency to be...well, lazy. Never mind the fact that her cooking is pretty atrocious.
Nonetheless, it was a monumental crash that quite clearly came from the kitchen that jolted me awake. I sat up in a panicked state, before looking at the clock to realize it was 8 am, past my usual wake up time, and Lyra wasn't in her usual spot on the bed. Rather curious and more than a little bit worried, I trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen to find my marefriend sitting on the floor with pots and pans littered around her, and the remains of what looked like fried eggs stuck in her mane.
"Lyra?" I asked, barely able to keep myself from laughing. "What are you doing?"
She whipped her head around with wide eyes. "Bon Bon?!?" She frowned and pouted. "You're not supposed to be down here! I was going to make you breakfast in bed as a surprise!"
"Mhmm." I surveyed the room with a sigh. How did one mare create so much mess? "And how is that going for you?"
She grinned sheepishly. "Terrible."
I laughed quietly and walked over to her. Grabbing a towel off the counter, I did my best to wipe the worst of the egg out of her hair. She squirmed and wiggled away, trying to pat her mane back into shape.
"You mussed it all up." she muttered sourly.
I smiled at her silliness. "It had egg in it, Lyra."
She frowned. "It did?"
I giggled, resisting the slight urge to facehoof. Oh Lyra, never change. "Why don't you pick up some of the uh...stuff you might have dropped on the floor. And I'll make us some toast."
Lyra frowned slightly, but nodded. She levitated the pots and pans off the floor while grabbing a broom to sweep up the mess of flour and sugar spread across the floor. I smiled at her earnest expression as she tried to maneuver the broom through the trail of her breakfast catastrophe. Turning back to the counter, I stuck a couple pieces of bread into the toaster and grabbed the jam and honey from the pantry, setting them on the counter.
"I was supposed to make you breakfast." said Lyra, her face sullen. "It was supposed to be my anniversary treat for you."
I stared at her as I tried to compute what she had just said, before dropping the knife I had just grabbed and sped to the calender on the wall. Sure enough, the date circled confirmed it. "Oh feathers." I muttered, sinking to the ground. "I thought it was tomorrow."
Lyra stared at me for a second before bursting into hysterical laughter. "A-and you think t-that I have b-bad p-planning s-skills." She choked out.
I promptly burst into tears. "I...I'm sorry. I was going to get you f-flowers today, for t-tomorrow." Lyra stopped laughing and looked at me, rolling her eyes slightly. She came over and sat down next to me on the floor, putting a hoof over my shoulder.
"Chill. It's not that much of a big deal."
"But it's our one-year anniversary!" I sobbed. "We met a year ago today! How could I be so careless?" Lyra sighed, and pulled me up. Guiding me to the couch, she flopped down next to me, our toast momentarily forgotten. She didn't say anything, just wrapped her hooves around me until I stopped bawling like an infant.
I was being rather silly, true, but my ability to stay organized is something I pride myself in. I'm basically number two in town, after Twilight, when it comes to weekly schedules and checklists. (But seriously, how could anypony even compete with that mare?) Being on top of things is part of the requirements for running your own business successfully. Given all that...how could i mix up the dates on my anniversary?
Lyra chuckled lightly and tapped the side of my head. "I know what's going on in there, Bonnie, and I want you to stop." She snuggled up against me and rested her muzzle on the top of my head. "So you mixed up the day! Big deal! You've been distracted with the shop all week. Heck, I can't even remember my own birthday half the time!"
I sniffled. "I guess you're right."
She grinned. "Of course I'm right!" Lyra let out a snigger. "However...considering our anniversary is also Hearts and Hooves Day, it shouldn't be that hard to remember."
My face turned a faint shade of pink and I whacked her with a couch pillow. "You're one to talk! When we met you weren't even aware it was Hearts and Hooves Day! I mean, come on Lyra, the whole town was basically painted pink!"
Lyra snorted. "Says the mare who's prime day of business is Hearts and Hooves day, and thought it was tomorrow!"
I froze. "Isn't the shop supposed to be open already?"
"I may or may not have left a sign in the front window letting ponies know the shop would be opening late due to my attempts to make my marefriend a romantic breakfast." whispered Lyra with a blush. We stared at each other before both dissolving into peals of uncontrollable laughter.
"Oh Faust. Sugar Cube Corner will get all of my morning traffic! Pinkie will never let me live this down!"
"We'll worry about your little rivalry with Pinkie Pie some other time." said Lyra, planting a kiss on my forehead. The spot where her lips had been tingled and I felt my whole face go warm. I sighed and leaned into Lyra, enjoying the quiet calm of just the two of us alone.
"Do you remember the day we first met?" Lyra whispered.
I snorted. "Of course I do! How could I forget?"
She grinned and bopped my nose, sending shivers down my spine, before wrapping her hoof back around me. "Tell me about it." she whispered.
"What, you don't remember?"
"No, I just like it when you talk about it. Like when you're swapping stories at a dinner party and stuff. You make it sound like a fairytale." she smiled. "Please? It's Hearts and Hooves Day." I stared into her puppy-dog eyes and cringed at their adorableness, I could never deny Lyra anything she wanted when she did that.
"Okay..." I said. She cheered and closed her eyes. I sighed happily and closed mine as well. "It all began when a rather lost looking green unicorn wandered into my shop." I heard Lyra's giggle and shushed her before continuing.
I grinned as I tidied up the shelf of the popular heart-shaped boxes of chocolate that were selling out quickly today. Hearts and Hooves Day always did bring a nice amount of business to my little sweet shop, and I always enjoyed helping a pony find the perfect little box of love for their special somepony.
I heard the ding of the bell above the door and turned around with a cheerful smile. "Welcome to Bon Bon's Sweet Parlor! What can I get you?"
All I got in response was the grumbling grunt of a rather disheveled looking mare who was surveying the room with a sullen expression. I stood there with a hesitant version of my cheerful earlier expression still plastered on my face. She at last turned to me with a frown. "Do you sell hot chocolate?"
I beamed. "I do indeed!" While it was primarily just a candy shop, I figured it might help bring in some regular customers to set up a kind of mini cafe with a few scattered tables and chairs, hot chocolate, and a few assorted pastries.
She nodded. "I'll take a large hot chocolate, and a..." her nose wrinkled. "cake pop?"
"Their really good." I assured her. She sat down, and a few minutes later I brought her the cake pop and the hot chocolate. She gave a small smile and took them without a single word. I walked back to the counter and resumed tidying the shelves, the uncomfortable silence starting to press against me quickly.
"So, are you new around here?" I blurted out, then instantly blushed in embarrassment. "Because, you know, I haven't...seen you in the shop before." I winced, but it was true. I made a point of knowing my customers, it was a small town, after all.
She shrugged. "My normal go-to place for a quick snack is SugarCube Corner, but their completely mobbed today."
I rolled my eyes. Of course they were, Pinkie Pie's one love after parties themselves was the public holiday dedicated solely to romance. "Well it tends to be one of their biggest business days of the year." I said with as much energy as I could muster. One day...one day Pinkie Pie would go down, and I might actually get a decent amount of business. Darnn pink party pony...
"Why?" asked the mare, looking confused.
I looked at her and frowned. Wasn't it obvious? "Hearts and Hooves Day."
The unicorn suddenly seemed to turn very pale. She sputtered for a second with wide eyes. "Oh...oh buck. I-Is that today?"
"Umm...yes."
Her eyes grew even wider still, her bottom lip quivered. I stared at her and was suddenly struck with how pretty she actually was. My brain questioned where that particular train of though had come from, while my eyes watched as her face scrunched up.
And then she started crying, great sobs that wracked her whole body. My mind kind of shut down as I watched her tears start to flow down her cheeks. She looked so upset...I took a hesitant step, then another...then dove across the room and pulled her into a rather unexpected hug. She started in surprise, but didn't pull away, crying into my shoulder. When she started to quiet, I gently released her.
I studied her face, this mare I didn't even know..."I'm Bon Bon, by the way."
She stared at me and then started giggling at the sheer absurdity of the situation. "Lyra...I'm sorry I...I didn't mean to..."
I cut her off. "Don't...I'm the one who just invaded a stranger's personal space."
She sniffled and chuckled a little. "This is pretty awkward, isn't it?"
I laughed. "Yea...here. hold on." I got up and walked over to a shelf, grabbing one of the boxes of chocolates.Trotting back, I placed it in front of her.
Lyra frowned. "What's this?"
I smiled and opened the lid. "Chocolate. I honestly don't know what's going on, but I've found that it tends so make most things seem a little better." Her expression brightened, and she enveloped a piece with her magic glow and popped it in her mouth. She closed her eyes as she chewed slowly.
I fiddled with a lock of my mane. She liked it right? Everypony always liked my chocolate.
Lyra opened her eyes with a grin. "That...was the best chocolate I've ever tasted."
I beamed with pride. "Well, it is my special talent, after all."
Lyra looked down and sighed. "I feel like such an idiot. I can't believe I didn't notice it was Hearts and Hooves Day...And now I've just made a fool of myself and distracted you from your work." She paused and looked at me with sad eyes. "I suppose... I owe you an explanation...Unless you'd rather I just go...I'd understand."
I shook my head. "I don't need an "explanation"...but I would like to know what has you so upset...unless it's a personal matter, of course...I just hate seeing anypony unhappy on Hearts and Hooves Day."
She hesitated. "It...is a personal matter, but-" she put up a hoof to stop me interrupting her, "I'll happily tell you...well not happily...but...you know...It's could to get things off your chest once in a while." She sighed. "A few months ago I finally worked up the courage to tell my parents that I'm well...into mares." She blushed and looked at me, but I remained silent. "And...they weren't angry or anything...it's just...my mother worried that I would have trouble finding a relationship with somepony. I told her not to worry about it...but last week she called and asked me if I had something special planned for Hearts and Hooves Day...I...couldn't bear to tell her that after all these months I was still alone...so I...lied. I told her I had a marefriend that I planned to take out for the day...and she offered me some tickets she had going spare to the special showing today of Romeo and Juliet, apparently she had been planning to give them to a friend who was going to be in town, but they cancelled their trip." She paused, looking closed to tears again. "I accepted the tickets, but I still haven't found a date...and I just totally forgot it was today. When I realized, I just felt so bad about lying to my mom and all of it....I guess I lost it."
I reached over and placed a hoof over hers. "It's not your fault. You...didn't want to worry your mom. And...it's okay to not be seeing someone...I know plenty of ponies, straight ponies that haven't dated in a long time."
Lyra gave a small smile. Her eyes drifted to my hoof over hers. "Do you want to go with me to the play?" she blurted out, then froze, both of us stuck in surprised silence for a few seconds. "I-I don't know why I said that." she whispered eyes wide. "I'm so so so so so so sorry...That was totally wrong of me. It's just that you seem really nice, and you're super pretty, and your mane smells nice...And oh my Celestia I'm rambling, aren't I? I'm sorry please don't hate me. I don't even know if you like Romeo and Juliet, or if your even into mares-"
"LYRA!" I yelled, in a desperate attempt to break through her rather fast impromptu monologue. Somehow, it worked, and her jaw clamped shut. "Thank you." I said quietly. "Lyra...for the record I do like Romeo and Juliet, a lot. I...and I am...I do like mares." I felt my face grow warm. "I happen to think you are also very pretty too...a little quirky...and strange, but in a nice way. And..." I smiled a little nervously. "And I think I would very much like to got out with you tonight."
Lyra's whole face seemed to stretch to fit her grin. "Really?!"
I nodded. "It is Hearts and Hooves Day after all. Why not?"
She let out a squee and suddenly leaned across the table, pulling me into a hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"
Long story short, I didn't expect much to come out of it...but, it turned out to be an amazing date...
And Lyra and I never looked back.
I sighed in content as I finished the story of the memorable event. Strange and quirky...well, that had definitely been what that day ended up being, but in the best way possible. I opened my eyes and looked at Lyra just in time to see her open her mouth and let out an adorable little snore.
"Lyra!" I shrieked.
She jolted awake with a start, mid snore. "Wuzzat?"
"Were you sleeping through my story?" I attempted to sound angry, but I was trying hard not to laugh.
Her eyes went wide, and she shook her head frantically. "No!"
I chuckled, and despite the fact that I knew she would have awful breath from sleeping with her mouth open (she always does), I leaned down and kissed her. As usual, the second our lips connected I felt that shiver of electricity course through my body. Would I ever get tired of it? Faust, I hoped not.
I slowly pulled away, leaning down and resting my head on her chest, I felt her lean her cheek on the top of my head. I smiled happily and wrapped my foreleg around her waist.
"We should get up and open the shop." I murmured.
"Yea...we should." Lyra said sleepily.
Neither of us moved.
Screw it, I supposed Pinkie could have my customers for one day.
I closed my eyes, I wasn't going anywhere.
