Kisses and Crinkles

A little drop of water had accumulated on the glass. The see-through opening made up most of the door, although it wasn’t exactly see-through at the moment because of how long ago the last cleaning had been. Most of the moisture had evaporated as the sun had shone straight onto it over the balcony railing. That was, except at the edges, where the glass met with the cool wood of the door’s rails.

The drop shone brilliantly like the most precious jewel in all the possible colors, as the overflowing sunlight refracted in its smooth differentiable surface and came out split up in all its wavelengths on the other side.

The turmoil of energies radiating off of the biggest and brightest star in the world raged all around, but the tiny little raindrop was unwavering and held down its position as best as it could. As a result, it threw a magnificent rainbow onto the carpet, making the surface blaze out in a glorious band of colors, each of them more luminous and intense than the previous, spanning from the modest purples over the regal blues and the refreshing greens, to the fiery yellows and the flaring reds. It was so small, and yet so enthralling, a little wonder to captivate and stimulate the observer to new thoughts and inspirations.

A thud issued from over in the bedroom. Lyra must have been having a ball tidying up the changing table.

It was unbelievable how refreshed Bon Bon felt. Only moments before, there had been a saggy and well used diaper straining her sleeper beneath her rear. And she didn’t have to do anything other than patiently relax and trustingly present herself to Lyra’s care, so that her pyjamas could now be fluffy and dry and fresh all over again.

And the refreshment wasn’t only of a physical nature, either. Naturally, Bon Bon had returned the favor, and relished every moment of it. Changing Lyra’s diapers counted among her favourite things to do in the entire world, and she had had even more time to cherish her fondness of her pampered little filly as she had undressed and lovingly redressed her after the procedure. The passionate intimacy would still linger for a long time in the back of Bon Bon’s head, leaving her all mellow and reassured. Whatever things were to come in the future, Bon Bon and Lyra were ready, because they are as one, their love unconditional and their affection immaculate.

Lyra came crinkling from behind. Her glitter pacifier was flashing like a disco ball.

“Alright, I straightened up the bedroom a bit,” she said, “It may not be entirely tidy just yet, but at least you can walk around again without stepping on something. And thanks for tidying me up, Bon Bon.” She stretched her neck and shoulders. “I feel like a brand new pony.”

Bon Bon leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, and Lyra accepted it with a smile.

“So,” Lyra said, “what now?”

The suggestive note in her tone wasn’t lost on Bon Bon. It wasn’t coincidence that they were standing in front of the door leading to the back balcony after all.

Bon Bon had dreamt of this moment for a long time. Well, it had been more like a nightmare, really. Every time she thought about what she couldn’t do, it felt like she allowed her own fears to lash out and rob Lyra of something that she was deserving to have. The world had been against Bon Bon, and her alone, and the only reason why Lyra had been caught up in her webwork of misery was because she was too stubborn to leave from Bon Bon’s side even for a single moment.

But now it was happening for real. And after everything that had happened this weekend, the debilitating anxiety and frightening worry were completely absent.

It was so strange. Bon Bon knew she should be feeling like she was breaking boundaries, but this might as well been the door to the pantry for how little she cared. The only thing that mattered was the promise, not only to Lyra, but also to herself.

“Wanna go lay down on the bench, and watch the sunset together?” Bon Bon said.

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear these words,” Lyra said.

The rusty handle creaked and the little rainbow was sent racing over the carpet as Bon Bon opened the door. She stepped over the threshold and immersed herself in the impressions that nature bore for all her senses.

The wind firmly danced over Bon Bon’s nose and played through her mane as she stuck her muzzle in the air. It carried with it the pungent aromas that were so typical after a heavy rainfall, the quenching sourness of moisture mixed with the appetizing jovial freshness of growing greenery and of humid earth.

The gentle heat of the sun was intense on Bon Bon’s face and suffused her pyjama clad body in the unique languorous warmth that could only be born of the divine entity, affectionately watching over them, itself. The sun stood as a fiery red circular symbol just above the treetops, setting the mists rising from the warming lands aglow, like a magical haze that professed growth and vitality underneath its vibrant cover. The entire sky was painted in an eruption of the most vivid of pastel colors, issuing forth from the western horizon in the most blazing of oranges, reds and pinks that mixed and mingled together to create the smoothest and most beautiful gown to swathe the heavens in.

From on high up in the sky came the bustle and hubbub of ponies working together. Bon Bon tried to make out somepony familiar, but they appeared like no more than colorful specks, dancing and weaving around between the rays of sunlight as each of them fulfilled a purpose in the whole. Not all of them carried tools or wore uniforms though, so they were likely bystanders who had come to aid the Weather Team in their follow up operations after the storm.

Countless rows of white and spent clouds were broken down and dissipated. Ponies dove into the towering masses and took them apart efficiently by working together, processing the cloud from several directions at once to efficiently overcome its natural resistance, that would have made things much harder if every one of them had worked alone. Huge pillars of nebulous strands had built up, streaking across the entire sky as the excess humidity was carried away by the wind, like a ghastly white veil being pulled over the top of the world.

Other clouds, which fit certain criteria according to specifications, were either separated and carried back to storage, creating logistic lines between the weather station and the sites of extraction, that were well frequented by ponies going back and forth transporting their cargo. Or the clouds were packed together into new bigger clouds at assembly sites, and sent off at regular intervals into faraway lands where they were needed next, keeping Equestria’s ecosystems, the basis of all life and prosperity, up and running smoothly.

Pegasi flew in many different established formations and streaked their individual magics in sweeping wide curves, managing and subtly influencing the atmospherical parameters to keep temperature, air pressure, humidity and wind direction exactly within the boundaries that were optimal for their vital work. Other ponies still were simply there to spectate, just meeting friends or keeping the working ponies company, happily chattering in animated conversation or fetching refreshments to be consumed during breaks as they sat together on the uneven surface of raw clouds, keeping themselves strengthened to see the undertaking through in a timely fashion.

The cloud homes had been returned back to a comfortable altitude as well, the quaint little cloud house of their upwards neighbour back at its usual place between their house and the water tower. The mountains weren’t quite visible in the distance, but the hills were, their rugged outlines foggily looming in the distance, looking so small compared to the treeline of the much closer forest.

The meadow rippled continuously almost like water, as the wind bent the grasses and shook them out, carrying away their tiny seeds, which had been knocked loose and opened up by the forces of the rain, into distant lands, life to be created anew.

And not only in the middle of it all, but integral part of the whole, just like everything else, was Bon Bon and Lyra’s little wooden house, their home from which they built and improved their lives and influenced everything in the world just like it influenced them. And the house had a little balcony on the back, on which they stood now.

It wasn’t a particularly beautiful balcony. Truth be told, it was pretty simple, certainly not as pleasant as the one in the front that was clad in romantic vines. This one was little more than excess wooden logs, leftover materials from the construction of the house, plugged into the wall sideways and secured with braces underneath. The railing was a smooth log nailed to some planks that acted as supports, giving most of the rustic feel to the entire construction. The only decoration was a pot of mud, the remains of a failed attempt to set up some adorning plants, a proposition Bon Bon immediately felt like trying again.

The defining feature was the bench that stood against the wall next to the door, hauled up here ages ago. It had been a public bench of Ponyville, until it had been thrown out because of how old it was. It was still good though, just a little spotty and worn, like it was typical of outside furniture. The sturdy metal frame gleamed darkly in the sunlight, the squiggly decorated hoofrests to either side spotlessly free of rust. The planks that made up the seat and the back were cleverly slanted so that the rain had already dripped off and left them pleasantly dry.

The entire arrangement wasn’t particularly beautiful. But it was theirs. And that made it the most lovely spot around.

Bon Bon moved over to the bench, watching the busy goings-on of the pegasi all the way. Then she climbed onto the wooden piece of furniture and sat down on it. It creaked under the weight, but it held.

Obviously, she couldn’t really feel the surface under herself because she was so cozily swaddled up, like it was proper for all little fillies to be, but she found it to be adequately comfortable regardless.

She was almost disappointed how wholly mundane and unexciting the act had been. Her fantasies used to go wild with terrible images of having her intimate secret painfully uncovered and being violently rejected and prohibited to be her true self. But instead, nothing had happened at all. It was exactly like she had come to expect over the last few days.

She simply no longer held any interest in hiding who she was within her own home. Lyra and her had built this place to what it now was, the place for them to live and to be true to themselves for who they really were. After everything, it had become clear that this was the express purpose of having your own home, the place where love could be without bounds and spirits could soar like it wasn’t possible anywhere else in the entire world.

Bon Bon relaxed, like she had formerly only been able to hiding inside. She was proud of her hoofie pyjamas, that glowed in such a flamboyantly vibrant light blue, with the big heart of love directly on her chest. She was proud to show off the big diaper between her legs that was evidence of Lyra’s incredible mastery of the art.

As much as Bon Bon tried to be a big, clever, sensitive and respectable pony, she was also a comfy, cozy, happy and pampered little filly. And that was fine. If somepony came into their home and found out? Well, tough luck. She would take care of it as it came.

She waved Lyra over to join her.

Lyra beheld the striking sight. It was Bon Bon, relaxing on the bench out under the clear sky, and she didn’t care in the least that there were ponies around that could see her. There was no unspoken tension, no nervous glances, no clear escape routes. Lyra could sense by intuition that her wife was unmitigatedly enjoying herself. She moved with attention to savour this victory.

Lyra walked over to the bench and carefully climbed onto it, before she turned herself around and comfortably laid down with her back into Bon Bon. She lifted her hooves and waited patiently for the embrace to come.

When she was hugged around her midsection and held tightly, she wiggled herself backwards and further into Bon Bon, until she was completely snuggled up with nothing but Bon Bon’s reassuring warmth and cozy tightness. Now it was time for Lyra to let herself relax, her eyes closed and her forehooves folded neatly before her chest, as she let out a huge sigh, and willed herself to stop thinking about anything else other than Bon Bon’s gentle caress.

Bon Bon carefully brushed the strands of Lyra’s messy mint mane out of her face and slowly began stroking her head and playing her hoof around the soft base of Lyra’s ears.

Lyra expressed her appreciation by enthusiastically working her pacifier, the softest munching sounds coming from her muzzle as the glitter plastic softly bobbed about. That spoke more than a thousand words to Bon Bon. She just knew when Lyra found great joy in something. It had become a basic instinct of hers, so much did Bon Bon love Lyra.

And so, Bon Bon and Lyra enjoyed the sunset together, under the colorful sky, within the meadow, their quaint little house, on the balcony, on the bench, the utmost adoration for each other lightening the air around them.

It was good that they had finally arrived at this point. Although Bon Bon wished she could have done this earlier, she wasn’t sure she would have been able to. It was a long way down the road that they had come together, and it had taken everything they had learned so far to build up what they had now. There were many intense experiences Bon Bon could look back on, both good and bad, that made her truly understand and appreciate what she had, not least of which were the very interesting occurrences and insights that had revealed themselves over the course of this weekend. After all, don’t all the failed attempts, trials by misfire and learning experiences, make the ultimate victory all the sweeter?

It had been a pretty decent weekend, all things considered, even despite the moments of chaos that had kept the ride from being too monotonous and dull.

Bon Bon and Lyra had spent some awesome quality time together, and there’s nothing more satisfying than being able to testify to your utmost reverence and devotion to the pony you love. The games had been really fun and the two lovers had highly enjoyed the sensuous moments that had come to be, making the mini vacation into their own little world, which Lyra had promised her in the beginning, a complete success.

They had made many new friends, and Bon Bon couldn’t wait to get out there and make even more. Their upwards neighbour North Wind had come for a surprise visit, and Bon Bon had learned how awesome she could be to be around, even though none of them hid who they really were within their home.

They had met with Rarity again, and Bon Bon couldn’t wait for their date, when they would finally commission her to make some cute and fun adult foal stuff for them, and maybe even talk about the topic if there was any interest.

Then there were the cunning Twilight Sparkle and the highly empathetic Applejack, two ponies Bon Bon was sure she would be seeing more often from now on, even if there wasn’t any reason in particular.

Finally, who remained was the perplexing Parting Ways and her shy coltfriend Teak, whose unfortunate episode had luckily come to a good end. Bon Bon could already feel the energies of a budding friendship between the caring couple and themselves. A friendship with a lot of future, if she chose to pursue it further, which she saw no reason why not to.

Bon Bon would be going back to working in the shop, cleaning up the remains of her event of culinary experimentation the previous week and studying everything that she had learned, and she felt fully refreshed and eager to advance her profession.

Lyra would be taking care of the house and go out to do business in town, and maybe she would feel like following an invitation to the academy again to collaborate with students and fellow musicians, so they could be looking forward to a visit to Canterlot.

They’d have to file the report tomorrow from yesterday’s incident, and then they’d go visit Twilight and offer their help in the efforts to clean up and restore their nice forest to its natural ecological balance. Having gotten to know Twilight, it seemed obvious that she was well connected enough to take care of things, but she would probably drum up at least as much scientific interest in the affair as regulatory interest, so the ensuing turmoil will probably be an adventure of its own.

So many ponies and so many stories.

And Bon Bon was eager to get to know them all.

She felt like born anew. This was what she had always wanted. But it wasn’t the end, it was only a new beginning. There was still so much to do and so much to discover. And Lyra and her, together they would always move forward, one step at a time, because that’s the only thing a pony can do.

And that’s fine.

There remained only one question that had mystified Bon Bon all along.

“We’re weird, right?” she said.

“You can bet your flank we are,” Lyra said.

“But then why don’t they hate us?” Bon Bon said.

“Why should they?” Lyra said.

“Because it’s not normal,” Bon Bon said, “what we do. Who we are. It’s not normal at all, and we can’t even explain it if we wanted to, because we don’t know what it is either.”

“And what exactly is so bad about that?” Lyra said, “I think everypony already has a life’s share of normal. You can find normal on every corner of every street in every town. Normal is everywhere, and normal is always. There really isn’t any value in contributing more normalcy, when everypony already has enough. They’re stuffed with it! You’d better believe, even if they don’t know how to show it, that they appreciate when something comes around to break up the monotony.”

“That’s true,” Bon Bon said, “but I still thought all of this would go down differently. I always believed that my life would basically end when somepony found out what I kept trying to hide. But I find out that nopony’s been looking in the first place. I thought they’d cast me out and hate me if I told them that I like to be a little filly, and that I talk like one and play like one. But then everypony who saw me was simply curious. I always feared that I’m all alone and could never make any friends, because my home is equipped so I can be little, and I have foal toys laying around to play with, and I pretty much can’t go a few days without wearing diapers because I like them so much. It’s completely abnormal! I thought I would be seen a sad and lonely freak if I was found out.”

“That could happen,” Lyra said, “it’s true.”

“Well then why doesn’t it?” Bon Bon said.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Lyra said, “Because most ponies literally couldn’t care less. And nopony cares as much as you do! It’s just not that big of a deal. They have a million things they have to care about, and this is simply not that important to them. And even if they do find out, then what? They’ll raise a brow and they’ll have a chuckle? So what? Does that change anything? You’re not a freak, and you’re not a pervert, and you’re not weird, because that’s not you. You are you.”

“You’re so much more than just that one part of you. You’re still awesome, and you still try to be good to everypony, and you listen, and you help out where you can, and you make everypony just a bit happier only by being around. You’re you! You have a good heart, and you have lots of love and friendship and good feelings to spare for everypony else. That’s what matters!”

“If you need to be your little self every now and then, then that’s fine. It’s nopony’s business, and nopony cares! If they find out, they might be curious and they might be weirded out. But that doesn’t mean much. They’ll have the decency to leave you be, just the way they would want for themselves if their weirdnesses were found out. Everypony is weird! It simply doesn’t matter.”

“The only thing that matters is that you are a good pony, and that you bring joy and peace to the world. And you are a good pony, I know that, because you always try your best and stay true to your heart. And as long as you do that, you’ll always do just fine.”

It was amazing how wise Lyra could be despite being a cute little baby filly.

Or maybe that was the reason.

“I love you,” Bon Bon said.

“I love you too,” Lyra said.

And without missing a beat, Lyra went right back to munching on her pacifier. And Bon Bon went back to stroking Lyra’s mane.

Bon Bon and Lyra sat on the bench long into the night, watching the stars.