The Star in My Eye

Chapter Two

Friends, at Most

Lyra stepped out from behind the door, Bon Bon following close.  The two of them trotted over to me, Lyra's eyes shining.

"So, Anonymous, this is Bon Bon.  Bon Bon, Anonymous.  Anonymous, I'm Lyra, the awesomest high-school dropout you'll ever meet.  And I don't know your name yet."

I laughed.

"I figured, since you kept calling me 'Anonymous'.  I'm Brady, 13 years old, and the ape is Zane.  He's 17."

Lyra nodded.

"Nice to meet you, Brady.  And since we're throwing around ages, I'm 19 and Bon Bon is 20."

Bon Bon looked at Zane, who had sat on his cot with his head in his hands.  I decided that the situation was overstimulating his manliness, so I decided to utilize the weekend and ask the golden question.

"Have you guys ever played on a PlayStation 3?"

The Grand Theft Auto V screen came up, and, like I do every time I reach this stage in the game, I used the loading time to get a salsa bowl and tortilla chips, inviting Zane to join us at the couch.  By the time I had gotten back to the living room with the refreshments, the screen was loaded and the two mares were working together to control my GTA Online character, who is a badass ghetto girl in simple duds with a Pegassi Bati 801 mach bike.  They managed to leave my garage on the bike, run over a few pedestrians, and accidentally shoot somebody before they got a Wanted Level.  Once the police got there, they panicked and took down an entire law enforcement squad with a pistol.  By that time, they had earned 3 stars, and were saved from the police by another player sniping them.  For their size and hooves, they were doing remarkably well, calling orders to the other and coordinating their moves to get the right angle to take cover and attack.

And so we had a jolly good time, cracking jokes and eating chips.  Well, me and Zane were eating chips.  The mares had passed, and eventually I began to feel guilty.  I knew they were probably hungry, so I got up, got another bowl, and took some fresh spinach leaves back to the couch.  They were gone in a few minutes, but again, Lyra and Bon Bon said they were fine after those.  Eventually they got bored of the PlayStation, so I helped Lyra search around my bed and, voila!  Her lyre had fallen between the bed and the frame, and within the next few minutes she was playing on the coffee table, singing a soft tune and gracefully stroking the strings.  By the end of the hour, Bon Bon was far more comfortable than she was before, and Zane wasn't quite as hesitant to talk to them.

Suddenly my parents' bedroom door opened, and dad walked out with nothing but a pair of boxers on, squinting at the coffee table.

Lyra quit playing and became stone still.  Bon Bon's eyes widened, and from her lying position beside Zane, she too fell silent.  After a moment, he walked to the bathroom, where you could hear a faint tinkling sound before he reemerged and walked back to his room.

...What?

I looked around, Zane meeting my gaze with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"Am I the only one who thinks something more should've happened there?"

My only response?

"I-- uh... well, that adrenaline was wasted..."

A few minutes later, I stood corrected when the door opened again and dad came out of the room fully dressed.  He sat down beside me on the couch, and looked at Lyra, then Bon Bon beside Zane.

"So." he began.

"Who's this?"

Immediately Lyra put down her lyre and trotted over to dad's corner of the coffee table.

"I'm Lyra, and that's Bon Bon.  As for how we got here, I honestly don't know."

Dad paused.

"Did you use magic to read my mind, or...?"

Lyra's turn to pause.

"I've... had some experience confronting authority."

"Well gee, that sounds inconspicuous," Bon Bon said sarcastically from the arm of the couch.

"It seems you've fallen into a sarchasm, Bon Bon," Lyra spat back.

Bon Bon rolled her eyes, and turned her attention back to dad.  He looked between me, Zane, and the mares, and looked back to Zane.

"Well, they look like your type."

Everybody in the room froze, and he laughed.

"Not like that, I mean friend-wise.  I honestly don't see how you'd manage to go much further than that anyway."

Bon Bon gasped, and Lyra's eyes widened.

"He's like this when he first wakes up.  You'll get used to it," I assured them.

"I'm just gonna leave you four alone," dad said, standing up.

"I'm going to Hardee's.  Anybody want anything?"

"Steak biscuit F.T.W.," I replied.

He looked at me, shook his head and addressed Zane.

"What about you?"

"Sausage."

"Ugh," Lyra muttered.

"You guys eat like Gryphons."

Dad paused at the front door, turning to face the guests.

"Do you two want a salad or something?"

Lyra perked up.

"Do they have hayburgers there?"

Again, dad paused.

"They have salads.  Or Brady could make you smoothies, if you'd rather go that way."

With the hayburger plan being shot down, she vouched for the smoothie, so I walked into the kitchen as dad left, threw some fruits and vegetables together in our blender and set it to 'liquify'.  After a moment I looked down to see Lyra trotting across the tile floor, curiously eying the blender as it tore the vegetables apart.  I looked around for a dish small enough for her, but the closest thing I could come up with was a Deer Park bottle cap, which I quickly rinsed under the sink and set before the four-inch-tall Equine.

She really is little, huh?

She knelt down, sniffed the smoothie, and leaned back on her haunches before raising the bottle cap to her mouth and taking a drink.  She spluttered, wiped her mouth, and cleared her throat.

"Chunky."

Damn.

"I got it as fine as I could."

She smiled.

"Chunky, but good."

She turned back towards the living room, missing my grin.

"Bon Bon!  You need to come try this stuff!"

After a few seconds, Bon Bon trotted into the kitchen and accepted Lyra's offer for my shake, which I was complimented on for a second time.

"I've been making these for a while.  It's not really as hard as it used to be."

Smacking her lips together, Bon Bon looked up at me.

"Do you measure?"

I scoffed.

"Of course not.  If I measured it wouldn't be coming from my judgement."

"Oh yeah!" Lyra cheered.

"Somepony understands!"

"If you'd measure, you'd get the same flawless result every time!" Zane retorted from the living room.

"Thank you!" Bon Bon called back.

"Any time!"

"Do you wet your toothbrush before or after you put the toothpaste on?" Lyra cut back in.

"Before," I said, crossing my arms.

"Duh."

"Traitor!" Zane screamed from the couch.

"Why would you wet your toothbrush before you apply the paste?"

"Well maybe he just wants to soften the bristles first!" Lyra yelled, wide-eyed.

"Who the fuck leaves the brush dry?!" I said, backing her up.

"I the fuck do!" Bon Bon roared.

"Well fuck you!" Lyra screamed.

"Fuck you!" Bon Bon yelled back.

"You would!" Lyra retorted.

The two mares backpedaled away from each other, and an awkward silence fell on the house like a warhammer.

"Whaaat..."

"Shut the fuck up, Zane."