An Expression of Love

Bon Bon looked at the sheet of wrapping paper laid out on the table before her. Then she looked at the tape dispenser. Bon Bon frowned. As an earth pony, she couldn’t use scissors to trim the paper. And trying to operate the tape dispenser with her hooves was no easy task, either.

The wrapping paper had been precut into individual sheets – a product marketed specifically toward earth ponies and pegasi who couldn’t operate scissors. This always resulted, it seemed, in there being either way too much or not quite enough paper to contain the desired present. In this particular instance, Bon Bon was looking at way too much paper. She hated to waste it, but she realized that she didn’t have much choice in the matter.

Because it was a task not designed to be performed by earth ponies, it was understandable that Bon Bon usually hated to wrap presents. But this time, she was eager to do it. She couldn’t wait to see the look on her marefriend’s face when she unwrapped this gift – and the only way Bon Bon would to get to see that look on her marefriend’s face would be to wrap the present in the first place.

Bon Bon had been dating Lyra Heartstrings for a little over a month. They had been best friends for nearly a year before that, but it was only recently that they had admitted their attraction toward one another. It was the first time Bon Bon had ever dated anyone, so in a small corner near the back of her mind, she was always a little anxious about determining when the usual milestones of a romantic relationship were supposed to occur and whether or not those milestones were occurring at the right times in her and Lyra’s life together.

So far, Bon Bon and Lyra’s relationship as marefriends wasn’t all that different than their relationship as best friends. They still went out and did things together; they still visited each other’s apartments and talked and laughed. The only differences were that now, when they went out and did things, they sat a little closer to one another. And when they visited each other’s apartments, talking and laughing often gave way to nuzzling and kissing.

While Bon Bon wasn’t sure whether it was progressing at a normal pace, she did know that her relationship with Lyra was everything she could have hoped for. For the past month, Bon Bon had been happier than she had been during any other time in her life, and she had a special green unicorn to thank for it. Bon Bon didn’t know whether spontaneous gift-giving was a relationship stage – and if it was, how long into the relationship it was supposed to occur. Luckily, in this instance, the present wouldn’t be viewed as inappropriately timed – Lyra’s birthday was coming up in just a few days.

Bon Bon absentmindedly hummed to herself as she placed Lyra’s present on top of the wrapping paper, then began to roll it until she had formed a tube of paper around the gift. Fumbling a little bit, she pulled a piece of tape from the dispenser and secured the paper cylinder in place. She then folded the ends of the paper inward and anchored them down with more tape. The end result wasn’t pretty, but Bon Bon wasn’t too bothered by it – the wrapping paper was destined to be taken apart anyway.

Surprisingly for an earth pony, Bon Bon had become quite adept at tying ribbons into bows – it was a skill that frequently came in handy as she decorated the boxes of candy she sold during the holidays. After all, the fancier the packaging looked, the more valuable the customer perceived it to be. So Bon Bon took a piece of ribbon and tied a bow around the cylinder to distract from the terrible job she had otherwise done in wrapping the present.

Bon Bon picked up the wrapped present and hid it in her closet. She smiled. Just the thought of Lyra being happy on her birthday made Bon Bon happy.

Lyra stood next to Bon Bon’s dining table. She was wearing a cone-shaped paper birthday hat with an elastic band stretched across her chin. She was also blowing a paper noisemaker. Neither of those items had been supplied to her by Bon Bon – in anticipation of this day, she had saved them from when she had attended a previous birthday party.

Lyra had worn the birthday hat throughout the day as she and Bon Bon walked through Ponyville. The noisemaker was a more recent addition.

Bon Bon returned from the kitchen. Lyra continued to blow her noisemaker every three seconds.

“Okay, I think you’ve made your point,” Bon Bon said, removing the noisemaker from Lyra’s mouth and placing it on the table.

“So, what’s the surprise?” Lyra asked Bon Bon.

“Dinner. It’s a surprise dinner.”

“You already said that. What kind of dinner?”

“If I told you that, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise.”

Lyra made a pouty face, but they both knew she didn’t mean it. Lyra had already had a great birthday. After some early morning smooches from Bon Bon, the two of them had spent the day having fun. First, they took a hot air balloon ride over Ponyville. This was followed by lunch. Lunch was followed by a trip to Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie Pie gave Lyra a complimentary birthday cupcake. As Pinkie pointed out, it was complimentary in both senses of the word: Not only did Lyra not have to pay anything for it, but the cupcake had the sentence “YOU LOOK GREAT!” written on it in icing.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Bon Bon said. “Right now, I want to give you your present.”

That caused Lyra to perk right back up. “And I want you to give it to me,” she said.

Bon Bon took the long, narrow present from the closet and gave it to Lyra. Lyra sat on the floor and held it in her hooves.

“You know, I really hope you didn’t go to too much trouble,” Lyra said. “Just being with you all day has made this a great birthday.”

“It was no trouble at all,” Bon Bon said. “I got this in a trade with an elderly stallion who lives by himself just outside of town. He’s the only pony I’ve ever met who likes horehound candy.”

“I’ve never heard of that before in my life,” Lyra said.

“And for good reason – it’s awful. That’s why nopony makes it anymore. But he really likes it, and I’m the only pony around here who knows how to make it. The problem is, he usually doesn’t have any extra bits to pay for the candy. He does, however, enjoy whittling, so I asked him to make this for you.”

“Q.E.D.,” Lyra surmised.

“Quid pro quo,” Bon Bon corrected her. “Anyway, everything works out – you get a birthday present, plus you’ve made an old stallion’s day by letting him have his gross old-fashioned candy. Go ahead – open it.”

Using her magic, Lyra slid the ribbon off of the gift, then removed the wrapping paper. In her hooves she held a long, polished wooden stick with an elaborate carving at one end.

“Ooh,” Lyra said with fascination in her voice. She examined the carving.

“It’s a back scratcher,” Bon Bon said.

Lyra stared at the scratching end. Unlike most back scratchers, which came to a single long, curved edge, the end of this back scratcher was shaped like an elongated monkey’s paw. Each of the fingers on the paw was spread out so there were five individual points of contact.

“Is that close?” Bon Bon asked.

Lyra couldn’t help but smile. She knew that Bon Bon didn’t understand her fascination with humans. Which made the gift all the more meaningful.

“It looks great,” Lyra said. “Thank you.” She levitated the back scratcher in her magic and lifted it up, over and behind her head. She scratched her back with it.

“Ooooohh,” Lyra said, shuddering with pleasure. “Why did I never think to get one of these for myself? This is wonderful.” She stood up, stepped over, and gave Bon Bon a short kiss. “Thank you so much. This has been an amazing birthday.”

Bon Bon let out a small sigh of relief. “You deserve it,” she told her. She kissed Lyra back, then said, “While you’re enjoying that, I’ll go make dinner. No peeking until it’s ready.” She walked through the doorway into the kitchen.

“Okay,” Lyra said. She sat down at the table and looked over her new back scratcher. She could hear the sounds of mixing and frying coming from the kitchen, but she spent most of her time staring at the wooden fingers and daydreaming.

Time passed quickly while Lyra was lost in thought. Her reverie was broken when Bon Bon stepped out, carrying a large bowl of cheese grits. She set it on the table. Bon Bon walked back into the kitchen, then returned with a pan of hash browns. She made another trip into the kitchen.

Lyra’s mouth began to water. A grin spread across her face. “Did you make…?” Lyra said as Bon Bon returned. Bon Bon nodded as she set down a plate of scrambled eggs.

“Breakfast for dinner?!” Lyra exclaimed. “Yes!” She looked at the many side dishes. “You didn’t have to do all this!”

“Pfft,” Bon Bon said dismissively as she returned from the kitchen one last time. “It wasn’t that difficult. I just want to be sure my marefriend has the best birthday possible.” She set a plate of pancakes, already topped with butter and syrup, in front of Lyra. As Lyra hungrily eyed the food, Bon Bon stepped to the side.

“Dig in.”

Lyra didn’t need to be told twice. She immediately took a bite of her pancakes. “Mmm…” she said, closing her eyes to savor the taste. “These are so good.”

As Lyra took a second bite, Bon Bon picked up the back scratcher. While Lyra was chewing, Bon Bon ran it along Lyra’s back. Lyra said “Mmm…” again, although it was now unclear whether it was because of the pancakes or because she was having her back scratched.

“You’ve made this the best birthday ever,” Lyra said, her hind leg involuntarily kicking as Bon Bon found just the right spot on her back. As she swallowed the pancakes and leaned into the back scratcher, she emitted a sound somewhere between a sigh and a moan, followed by, “I love you so much!”

Lyra abruptly froze in place. Her eyes went wide but her pupils shrank.

It was the first time she had ever said the L-word to Bon Bon.

Bon Bon saw Lyra’s rigid posture and stopped scratching. Silence filled the air.

Lyra’s mind was racing. Even though it had been roughly a year since she first met Bon Bon, they had only been dating for a month! It was way too soon to admit to that! Especially over pancakes!

“I…” Lyra finally said. “I didn’t mea— well, I did, but… to say… I shouldn’t… it just… I’m…”

As Lyra continued to stammer, Bon Bon stepped toward Lyra and kissed her on the cheek. Lyra fell quiet.

“I love you, too,” Bon Bon said. “Happy birthday.”