Author's Note
PLZ READ ME. Seriously. Plz.
So this is my first actually finished story. Wow. That was quite exhausting and fun ^_^'. It was written for my good friend ShadeTheUnicorn over on DeviantArt for gifting me with that wonderfully drawn picture of my ponysona Daydream.
A question you may have:
Why is she friends with Lyra and Bonbon..? Sign of bad fic sign of bad fic!!!
Ok, so ShadeTheUnicorn is an OC of Shade, so yeah. Her ponysona is Lyra and her fillyfriend's ponysona was nicknamed Bonbon.
Third Person Omniscient? Does that mean anything?
Nah, I used it to create a looser tone.
Anyways, getting to the stuff you should know, I wrote this without the help of anyone editing or anything, so there may be more than a handful of grammar errors. Also, I switched the position of narration partway through realizing I had made a mistake, but I was too lazy to change the first part. This brings me to my final point: I wrote this for fun. This isn't trying to be a serious fanfiction. That's not to say, of course, if you have some advice not to give it to me. I'm basically saying I'm not going back to change this despite all the things that have errors or need to be polished (probably).
A Day Out Shopping!
Hearth’s Warming and snow. Two things that just went together, for what could a hearth warm without cold and what would cold be without snow? Yes, a beautiful time of year where friends and/or family got together and got a break from life. Of course, such togetherness also ensues conflict. Conflict that begins with a single line.
“C’mon, it’ll be fun!”
Daydream smiled confidently as she took a step. Lyra shrugged.
“I dunno Day--” but before she could say another word, Daydream was already dragging her off, her forehooves tugging away at her.
“W-wait! I-I…” Lyra stammered as she tried to protest.
“Nope! You’re comin’ and that’s that,” Daydream said, still dragging Lyra.
Despite Daydream’s warning, Lyra had continued to protest, pushing her rather persistent cream colored friend away in a levitation field and firmly planted her haunches on the ground.
“Uuuugh! Don’t make me drag your lazy flank all the way there!”
Daydream’s voice suddenly tensed up.
“I mean, you’re the one who suggested it Lyra!”
“I know… but…” Lyra paused for a moment to come up with a proper response. “...but that doesn’t mean I wanted to go Day.”
Day rolled her eyes and flicked her tail in iritation. “We gotta go sometime… unless you don’t want to celebrate Hearth’s Warming.”
Lyra rolled her eyes at Day’s typical antics and responded, “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that I don’t feel like it right now,” ending her statement with a casual shrug.
Day was about to roll her eyes again when a thought crossed her mind, her eyes lighting up at the brilliance of that thought before breaking the silence left by her minty green friend with confidence.
“Ah well, that’s too bad. Me n’ Bonnie,” Day made sure she put in extra emphasis on Lyra’s pet name for Bon Bon before proceeding, “were gonna pick out a Hearth’s Warming fire!”
“And some ever-ice snowflakes,” Day mentally said to herself. Of course, she wouldn’t have said this out loud due to the fact that ever-ice snowflakes were more of a pegasus tradition in contrast to the more universal and unicorn tradition of a Hearth’s Warming flame that Lyra was familiar with.
Immediately upon hearing Day’s rebuttal, Lyra’s ears immediately perked in Day’s direction or otherwise, a clear indication that her plan had worked.
“Wait, Bonnie s’gonna to be there? Why didn’t you say this sooner!”
And as quickly as Lyra uttered those words, she got “Bonnie’s” favorite scarf for her to wear--a white and gold striped one, the gold being a similar color to Lyra’s magical aura--and some earmuffs.
Day smiled mischievously and got her phone from a nearby stand and tapped the command button.
“What would you like to do?” a certain virtual mare asked monotonously.
“Messages,” Day said softly.
A little white bubble went about a circular ring several times before fading away along with the gray background of the find screen to the messenger. Day tapped on Bonbon’s picture and quietly said, “Think you can meet me at Joe’s Doughnut Shop for lunch and do some Hearthwarming shopping? That and show you Ponyville filly around the GREAT and GLORIOUS CANTERLOT!”
The words appeared on the screen as she said them and sent with woosh sound.
A few seconds later a sound like a paper being chucked into a mailbox played a message came back, saying “Sure. Just finished unpacking and was planning on dropping over anyways.”
“Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssss,” Day quietly celebrated with herself.
In relatively short period of time it left before Lyra got ready, Day and her usual happy-go-lucky and hyper self had done a victory dance to a quickly made up random victory esque tune consisting of the occasional half harmonic set of notes and half discordant set of notes. Lyra arrived during the middle of this such dance and tune.
“Uhhhhhhhh… what’re you doing?”
Even being best friends with Day and knowing about all of her random antics could not prepare her for some of Day’s moments.
“Dancin’,” Day replied as she stuck out her tongue and winked, as if to tease Lyra for her lack of ability to understand what she just did and/or why she had done it.
“Oooooookay...” Lyra responded, obviously confused.
Not wanting to dwell on the subject of one of Day’s more random moments, Lyra redirected her focus towards Bon Bon.
“So where did Bon Bon say she’d meet you? Also, WHY IS SHE MEETING YOU FOR HEARTH’S WARMING SHOPPING?!”
Day rolled her eyes at Lyra’s obsessiveness towards her lover before answering, “First, she said she’d meet me at Doughnut Joe’s Doughnut Shop for some lunch--they had not had lunch yet as neither of them wanted to cook it--and second, because you wouldn’t go shopping even if she asked.”
“N-no… I’d go shopping if she asked,” Lyra countered weakly.
“Pft, we both know that’s a lie Ms. Heartstrings,” Day said as she opened the door of Lyra’s apartment.
Beyond the door was a marble staircase, a common and traditional design most Canterlot buildings had.
“Aaaaaaaaaanyways…” Day began, “Race ya downstairs!”
“Wai--”
But Day had already started gallopping off before Lyra could finish her sentence. Not wanting to get left behind, Lyra too broke into a gallop down the stairs.
Clip clop clip clop clip clop.
The sound of Day’s and Lyra’s gallops filled and echoed throughout the stairwell as Day tried to make it to the bottom first and Lyra tried to catch up with Day’s head start.
“Day! Wait!”
Lyra started panting, her breaths becoming more frequent and shallow.
“I. AM. NOT. AS. FIT. AS. YOU.”
But it was to no avail. Day didn’t hear her and giggled as victory approached, and as she won she proclaimed in a loud voice, “I WON!”
Day waited for a few moments for her competitor to catch up, but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Uh… Lyra?”
Day waited another few moments.
“Uh-oh… I better check if something went wrong… Oh I really hope nothing went wrong…”
As Day went back inside her mind became preoccupied with “what ifs” and chains of accidents that could’ve happened.
“Oh please don’t have fallen over a few steps and broke your horn… or even worse yet, given yourself a concussion… or even brain damage! Oh Celestia, immortal goddess of the sun, vanquisher of Discord and Nightmare Moon, sister of Princess Luna, and one of Equestria’s two true princesses… help me now…”
Day unfurled her wings and with a few strong flaps she was in the air and flying up through the stairwell--otherwise a pegasus shortcut for the stairs when there wasn’t an elevator. Between the 3rd and 4th floors, she saw Lyra panting heavily, one hoof resting on the side railing. When she saw this, she sighed in relief.
“Whew.”
She landed with a clop next to Lyra.
“Thought you got hurt there for a second,” Day said, relieved.
“My insides definitely feel hurt,” Lyra said matter-of-factly between a couple pants.
“Never.”
Pant.
“Challenge.”
Pant.
“Me.”
Pant.
“To.”
Pant.
“A.”
Pant.
“Race.”
Pant.
“Again.”
Day stuck her tongue out.
“That’s what you get for sitting around all day.”
Lyra’s panting slowed and she took a couple deep breaths before speaking.
“It’s my job to sit around all day, Day.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Well, if you think about it, it’s kinda my job to sit around all day too, but I choose not to,” Day chirped.
“Let’s just go meet Bonnie.”
Daydream blinked. “Okie!”
“C’mon.” Lyra motioned for Day to follow
Lyra got up and started heading down the stairs again. This time, the descent was at a fairer pace, much slower, and noticeably more quiet. Indeed, neither said a word to each other on the descent. Day half skipped, half trotted down the stairs in her usual cheery disposition and Lyra followed more normally. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairwell, the two were greeted by a constructionally standard metal and glass double door. Lyra proceeded to open the door with her magic, her horn glowing the golden color of her magical aura. The door swung open recklessly.
Daydream briefly noted the difference of Canterlot doors to Ponyville doors and then started to think about doors from other places like Manehattan doors, Fillydelphia doors, or Chicacolt doors while following Lyra into the streets of Canterlot. She then started to wonder about more exotic doors like Zebracan doors or Gyphonnian doors and the possibility of identifying where someone by the sound they claim to be the “door sound”.
“I’ll have to investigate this later. Wait! I’m in Canterlot! Maybe I can look up some information on magic and soundwaves at the library or even CANTERLOT ARCHIVES!”
Day internally squeed at the thought of being able to research in the Canterlot Archives for the first in a long time.
“Day?”
Lyra began to notice and question the goofy look that had been transfixed on her friend’s face for the past minute or so, but unfortunately for her, Day was too busy fantasizing about the implications about door sounds.
“Daaaaaaaaay?”
“Maybe I can even look into into the design process of Thomas Edipone’s phonograph and Eldridge R. Johnpone’s record player! Hm, now that I think about it, too many ponies were named -pone in the past. They really need better names… HEY! Maybe I can look up name etymology too! Then again, I wonder what Celestia thinks about names. I’d write her a letter, but she’s busy enough as it is. Stupid aristocrat ponies that hog all her attention.”
Day continued to ignore Lyra’s attempts to reach into the recesses of her mind continued going on tangents and internally monologuing to herself.
“Equestria to Day? Do you read me? DAAAAY?”
Lyra began to look concerned, albeit not for Day and more for herself. Whenever Day went into these thought trances, she could be thinking about anything from pineapple batteries to ways to get her potential future partner to orgasm--preferably not the latter to spare her of the embarrassment of the brutally honest explanations Day usually gave her for being inquisitive.
“H-huh?”
Apparently one of the words or at least one of the sounds that came from Lyra’s mouth made it past Day’s incredibly ghostlike brain during the thought-trance.
“Let me guess, you were thinking again,” Lyra said casually as she continued to stroll down the street.
“Um, yeah…” Day admitted sheepishly.
“What this time?”
Lyra looked ahead while asking this. It was then she internally realized the restrictedness of Day’s thought processes and how it could end up being something totally embarrassing coupled with her tendencies to be brutally honest…
“Oh Celestia please don’t be thinking about orgasms…” Lyra prayed internally.
“Doors!” Day said in a manner usually not reserved for talking about doors.
Lyra internally gave a massive sigh of relief that Day wasn’t thinking about an embarrassing topic, and in the stead of Lyra’s worries, Lyra’s natural curiosity to Day’s thinking kicked in.
“Um, why?”
“Remember the way the door creaked when you swung it open on our way out?”
Lyra looked upwards as tried she recalled that exact moment and returned downwards again upon finishing her brief flashback.
“Um, Day, it didn’t creak,” Lyra said matter-of-factly
“EXACTLY!” Day said starry-eyed. “You see, the doors in Ponyville actually do creak!”
This was the beginning of a very very long monologue in which Day would extensively discuss the trivialities of a door creak and its usefulness.
As a perfectly sane narrator written by perfectly insane author, the events of this very long monologue will not be discussed for the sake of keeping one's sanity despite the reader's growing interest or most likely disinterest in door creaks.
********************
As such an extensive monologue about doors ends, Day and Lyra arrive at “Doughnut Joe’s Doughnut Shop”, which was more of a café than a bakery unlike its name suggested. Of course, the owner, Doughnut Joe, wasn’t exactly a pony who specialized in names: as his name suggests, he specialized in doughnuts (and doughnut related products).
“Erm,” Lyra began, interrupting Day’s monologue, “let’s get inside. I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing out here! Let’s get inside before we turn into ponysicles!”
Day’s eyes shifted to look at Lyra. “Huh? Oh heh…” Day realized as she smiled sheepishly, “Let’s go in.”
The door handle glowed gold in Lyra’s levitation and swung open. Inside was a mostly empty room with vacant tables and a several ponies lined up waiting to get doughnuts.
“I’m guessing you’re having a chocolate?” The door swung close behind Daydream.
“Uh, yeah! What else would I get? Jelly?”
“Hey!” Day defended, “Jelly doughnuts are pretty good ya know!”
Day’s rebuttal, however, wasn’t heard as Lyra was currently looking for Bonbon.
“Hey over here!” a rather distinctive voice called out. Day and Lyra looked over in the direction of said voice to find Bonbon AKA “Bonnie”.
“Bonnie!” Lyra and Bonbon greeted each other with a hug as Day sat across the table from her. When the hug ended, Lyra took a seat next to Bonbon.
Bonbon gave both Day and Lyra a warm smile, which if it were to be described by Daydream, would taste like the hot chocolate that represented the very holiday season itself. “I’m so glad I could see you both in Canterlot this year before the holidays! Erm, well, not that I mind spending the holiday with my parents usually! Just, you two are really close! You get what I mean, right?”
Day giggled at the corrections Bonbon made and then nodded. “Yeah! I mean, you two are like… sisters to me!”
“Weeeeeeeeeell… a little more than a sister to me,” Lyra interjected, “but yeah we get’cha! But more talk later! Food now!”
“And wait in line? Absolutely doubly negatively no way! I hate waiting in lines! Why wait when we can just wait for those uh,” Day began to count out loud, “one… two… three… four… fiveponies to leave and then order?”
“‘Cause I’m hungry,” Lyra replied matter-of-factly.
Bonbon rolled her eyes and smiled at the two’s usual friendly disagreement. “Ok, how about this…” Bonbon grabbed the two condiment jars on the table, one with each hoof, and hid them behind her back shuffling them a couple times. “Now, Lyra, if you can guess what’s in my right hoof, we go up now and if you don’t, we’ll wait till they’re done.”
“Alright!” Lyra said confidently. “I choose… sugar!”
“Nope. It was sprinkles. Sorry Lyra!” Bonbon set the jars back on the table.
“Yesssssss!” Day said victoriously.
“Boooooooooooooonnie! I thought we were supposed to cheat!”
“It’s only fair!” Bonbon responded.
“Yeah Lyra! Don’t be a sore loser!” Day chimed in.
“You’re only saying that because you won!” Lyra said defensively.
“Soooore looooser!” Day stuck her tongue out at Lyra.
“Oh you two! I’m not going to watch you guys argue all day now!”
“Alright alright!” Day closed her eyes and waved a hoof at it. “There, forgotten.”
Lyra crossed her hooves.
“C’mon Lyra. Don’t make me…”
Lyra continued to cross her hooves until Bonbon gave her a friendly nuzzle in an attempt to encourage her to do otherwise.
“F-fine…” Lyra calmed down.
After a few moments of silence, Lyra spoke up again, “So um, where were you two planning to go Hearth’s Warming shopping?”
Days ears perked up immediately sensing that this might take a bad turn. She scratched her neck nervously before saying, “Erm, sorry to interupt, but I need to go to the bathroom!” All the while, Day put on the facade of an innocent sheepish smile. “Don’t order without me now!” And with that, Day strode off.
Bonbon, who was about to speak before Day interrupted her, just shook her head and gave a laugh-sigh. “Now where was I…? Oh yes, well… Day did just invite me just a while ago, soooooo… I don’t have any plans!”
“Wait…” A small piece of a realization occurred to Lyra.. “What do you mean Day just invited you a while ago?”
Bonbon seemed oblivious to Lyra’s realization and responded normally. “Well, she called me earlier and told me to meet you and her here. Now that I think about it, if you and Day were planning on coming out, shouldn’t you know where you’re going…?”
“But Day said you and her were planning to go out since I was too lazy to go out usually…”
Bonbon gave a brief laugh at Lyra’s recount of what Day had said the reason was before returning her mind to the confusion.
“Well,” Bonbon stared up very briefly to finish assembling her thought, “why don’t we just ask Daydream? She probably just miscommunicated after all.”
“Yeah, that’s probably it!” Lyra said before waiting for Day.
********************
Day, however, wasn’t using the bathroom as that conversation was being carried out. She was intently listening hoping some conversation quirk would save the day from her oversight during making the lie. No quirk saving her, she felt like her insides had frozen to a temperature far beyond any physical temperature one could feel: she couldn't bear lying to her friends for no reason.
She did the only thing that seemed logical (at the time anyways): sneak out through a window by opening it and flying out and closing it before anyone noticed. Right now, the only place she wanted to be was home to wallow in her own sorrows.
“How could I have done this to them on their holiday? And I’m supposed to be their friend… some friend I am… they deserve better than me… no. I’ll just lock myself in my room for the holiday… I can’t believe I just… lied to them…………………………………..”
********************
A good ten minutes had passed to Lyra and Bonbon, who were starting to get worried about Day.
“Jeez, she must have some really bad constipation…” Lyra said still looking over to where the bathroom was.
“I doubt that’s it… I’ll check on her juuuuuuust in case…”
Bonbon trotted off for a few brief moments before coming back.
“She’s… not there…”
“She’s… not… there…?” Lyra replied, mimicking Bonbon. “Uh-oh…”
********************
“What do mean ‘uh-oh’ Lyra?”
“Day… she’s done this one time before…” Lyra trailed off thinking about the instance she was referring to.
“Done what?”
“No time to explain. She’s not in danger, but she needs her friends!” Lyra grabbed Bonbon’s hoof and broke into a gallop dragging Bonbon with her.
Bonbon followed, trusting Lyra knew what she was doing.
Just before Lyra, a green blur at the moment, bolted out the door, she quickly managed to say, “SeeyalaterPonyJoesorrywecouldn’torderanythingtoday!”
********************
Day layed in her bed, sprawled out, and in tears, having buried her head in a pillow. The curtains were shut and the room was in utter darkness. Memories of every small slip up she made played across among what might as well have been an endless stream of negativity, darkness, and cold. Day felt as though a cold dagger had managed to pierce her heart without killing her, filling her chest with the pain of a cold alien protrusion. Her hooftips might as well have been attempted to be sawed off with millions of blunt splinters. Her hooves might as well have been under concrete.
All of this, however, was nothing more than a myriad of overactive nerves throughout her body riled up from her emotions, but despite it’s nature, it made even the most real of pain look imaginary.
********************
Bonbon and Lyra were outside the door to Daydream’s condominium now. They were both panting from the galloping, Lyra noticeably much harder than Bonbon.
“Pant. So, pant Lyra pant what is pant this pant about?”
Lyra held up a hoof indicating she still needed to catch her breath. A few minutes of intense panting later, Lyra spoke up. “So, you know Day had to be in an orphanage when she was younger right?”
“Yeah… I remember her telling me something about that… It wasn’t really nice from the way she talked about it.”
“Well, there was this mare there… she would always just beat Day down for not being a perfect pony, saying how she’d fail so badly if she didn’t do it just right. She’s always been a bit broken up from that… She used to run away if she thought she really screwed up something. I guess that habit never really died away…”
“So, what do we do?” Bonbon looked at the door.
“Day usually needs someone to talk to when she’s like this,” Lyra responded. “The one time I remember no one being there, she just locked herself in her room for a couple days. She’s been getting better, but I guess we all still have some old habits to fall on…”
“Do you wanted me to buck down this door then Lyra? The way I see it, that’s the only way in.”
“Actually Bonnie, I have the key.”
Lyra dug into her saddlebags with her levitation key and floated out the key. The key floated into the keyhole and Lyra gave it a turn. The lock unlocked with a click.
********************
“Day?” the voice of an all too familiar mint green pony called out as the sound of Daydream’s locked front door opened with a creak. Hoofsteps could be heard as Lyra approached Day’s room accompanied by Bonbon.
Day burried herself deeper and mentally scolded herself harshly for yet another two oversights in her otherwise fine plans: the fact that Lyra had her keys and that she knew that she had this habit every now and then.
“Daydream…” Lyra quietly opened the door into the room to see Daydream sniffling with her head buried in a pillow. She sat on Day’s bed and watched her and Bonbon watched from a distance.
“Look. Day, you’re my best friend…”
“I-I… I lied to you…”
Lyra shrugged. “Ponies aren’t perfect Day. Don’t let whatever that mare said all those years ago get to ya. You’re Day the inventor pegasus!”
“H-how… h-how c-can I expect t-to ch-change an-anything… if…”
Bonbon spoke up from a distance. “Day, I lied before too. I told a customer that always got one flavor of candy at my sweets shop that we were all out of his kind one day and told him to pick another one. He hated it, and got mad at me for tricking him when we found out, but Day, we’re not mad.”
“Yeah Day, I needed to get out anyways.”
Day remained silent. A minute of silence passed and Day hugged Lyra. Bonbon walked by and joined in on the hug.
“I just… I wanna say I’m sorry, ok?”
Lyra and Bonbon both nodded, and Lyra spoke up, “... and I’m sorry being so lazy.” making Day muster a small giggle.
They hug then, Day bringing herself to smile once again. “So… how about everice shopping?”
