Sweetie Drops frowned at the front of her store. Besides the odd appearance of an altered Big Mac, the entire town was quiet. Too quiet. "I haven't had a customer in far too long..."

"Everything alright?" Lyra poked her head down around the stairs from above. "You look grumpier than usual, Bonnie."

Sweetie huffed softly. "I think something's wrong." She sat just to bring up her hooves and hold them apart. "Something big. My usuals are unusually late. We both saw Big Mac--"

"Princess Big Mac?" Lyra giggled softly. "She was cute."

"She was a he, that isn't normal." She moved around the counter and strode for the front window. "I'm closing up."

"You, close early?" Lyra stepped down the stairs gently. "That's not like you. Were you zapped by whatever this is?"

"Ha ha." Sweetie flipped the sign from 'OPEN' to 'CLOSED' and turned to Lyra. "I need to check some things. Keep an eye out for me?"

"Secret spy things?" Lyra bounced in place giddily. "Can I see?"

"Not very secret if you could, now is it?" Sweetie hiked a brow at Lyra as she walked past. "Be good and maybe I'll bring back a treat for you when I'm done."

Lyra huffed as she sat down. "I'm a spy too, don't forget. You don't have to treat me like a foal."

Sweetie reached up and pat Lyra on the head. "And that is why I trust you to keep an eye out for me while I'm busy. I don't trust anypony else." Lyra beamed at the vote of confidence. "If I find anything we can act on, I'll be sure to tell." She descended into the basement of her store, leaving Lyra to stand guard.

She began hoofing at the various boxes she had allowed to accrue. "I really should organize these..." She was technically in hiding. Her supplies were not in active use, at least the ones she was looking for. Her candy supplies were nicely organized and ready to go at a moment's notice. If only strange magical things could be solved with a little hard candy. That would be nice.

Sweetie snorted away the idea and reached into a large box, shuffling around with her hooves before she felt a cube with many smaller segments. She drew it out curiously to find what appeared, in her eyes, to be a puzzlebox, like a Rubik's Cube with the most interesting paint job that kept shifting slowly. "How would anypony solve this?" And why was it in her stash of tools? Had Lyra placed it there?

She sat down and set the cube in front of herself. "Even when I keep her away, that filly manages to distract me. I love her, I really do, but I need to focus." She brushed the cube aside and resumed her sifting through the larger boxes. "I have to find what's causing all of this..." She stopped. Her hoof ran into a cube. It felt like... She drew it out and saw it was that puzzle box. "What the..." She set the second one down beside the first, peering at the two of them. "Stay there, alright?"

Back into the box she went. "There has to be something in here that'll help me find what's making all the ponies act so--" She hit a familiar obstacle and drew out a third cube. It swirled like the others, though each one had a different overall color. One was reddish, one was blueish, and the last was greenish, though they all had the same basic pattern that flowed in sync. "Alright, enough!" She set the cube beside its two friends. "You aren't going to help me find the problem."

The three cubes suddenly came together with a blinding flash that left Sweetie Drops blinking away spots. When she could see clearly again, there was one larger cube remaining. It was not red or green or blue. It was the combined thing, whole and still impossible to solve at a glance.

"You are magic," she accused, leveling a hoof at it.

It did not reply.

She reached for it and plucked it up. "Where did Lyra get you from? Why did she put you with all of my things?"

It did not reply.

With a growing frown, Sweetie gave it a twist, turning it this way and that. It slid smoothly with a little click she could feel whenever she reached a new turning point. It was a puzzle box. She had been sure before, but it was without a doubt. "I don't have time for this!" She dropped it to the ground. "The ponies of the town are being affected by something and I have to help them."

Why?

Sweetie hadn't heard any words, and yet the question was quite solid in her mind. Why did she have to help them? "They're my friends, and it's my job besides. If I can help, I should. It's the right thing to do." She clopped a hoof down beside the cube.

Does that make you happy?

"To save my friends? Of course. Why wouldn't I be happy if I can help them?" Her frown turned into a scowl. "And I'm talking to myself." She turned away from the cube and got to digging around her box, pulling out a strange tuning fork. "Here we are, the disharmony detector."

What would make you really happy? Happier than anything?

"Happier than anything?" Bonnie looked over her shoulder at the cube. It hadn't made any noise, and yet the question felt, somehow, as if it came from that general direction. "Happier... than anything?" Her nose wrinkled. "Knowing what I'm talking to would be nice."

A pony appeared. Its fur was the same swirling mess as the cube. Its eyes were portals to infinity. Every brush of its tail created colors never seen before. It was shaped like a mare overall. Its ears were directed at Sweetie Drops directly. "Hello," it greeted.

Sweetie hopped back and up, assuming a battle-ready stance. "You have exactly one sentence to explain why you're here."

"I am here to bring happiness, your happiness. I was created to find the happiness in a pony and draw it forth for them. You don't seem happy." The ethereal figure took one step forward. "Let me help you."

"I'm plenty happy." Sweetie struck the wall beside herself with the tuning fork she had found. It began to vibrate silently, but when she directed it at the strange pony, it emitted a squeal, loud and even. "And you are--"

"--here to help you." It took another step. "You love the one called Lyra." It paused. "Do you wish to make foals with her?"

Sweetie blinked, caught off-guard by the question a moment. "No! To start, we're both mares, so that won't--"

"Would you like to be her stallion? Do you want her to be yours?" It took another step. "Both are possible." It spoke with a flowing voice. Sometimes it sounded like a mare, other times, a stallion. "Do you want to take turns?"

Sweetie pointed at the ground. "Stop coming closer!" The figure froze, not even breathing. "Alright, so who are you?"

"I am not a who."

"What are you?" She hiked a brow.

"I am the desire that hides within a pony that may never be let free. Let me help you."

"No! No, thank you." Sweetie dropped back to all fours. "And if I don't want anything?"

"Then you are still in denial. I can feel wants in you, or I would not have come." It reached out a hoof towards her. "I can help. I can help you and Lyra be happy together."

"We are happy together!" spat out Sweetie.

"You are not." It directed a cosmological ear at her. "You want more. She wants more. You do not grasp it."

"Bonnie, why are you making so..." Lyra trailed off as she saw the strange pony-shaped impossibility standing there. "How long were you planning on hiding that from me?!" She broke into a huge smile. "That is amazing!"

The swirling pony glanced at her and back to Sweetie Drops. "She is less restrained. That is why I came to you. Lyra Heartstrings."

"It knows my name!" Lyra bounced down the last few steps.

Bon Bon rushed to get around it at Lyra, but her legs went stiff. She was stuck in place.

The swirling pony turned to Lyra fully. "I will grant you one wish. It can be anything. It should be something you have always wanted, but were afraid to admit. Anything."

Lyra frowned with thought. Sweetie wanted to shout at her, to wave her away, to do anything, but she was stuck. "Anything? That's a lot of stuff to pick from, hmm. If I could have anything..." She tapped at her cheek softly. "I'd want to annoy Bonnie less often."

Both the swirling pony and Sweetie blinked in unison. "That is a mild request," spoke the figure in a female voice. "I can grant it while fulfilling a much deeper desire. Reach within yourself."

Lyra lifted her shoulders. "I already have everything I want. Bonnie gives me excitement and danger and sweet tasty things. I get to play my music for ponies and we have this nice house." She waved a hoof over the building. "I'm pretty happy, but I wouldn't mind not making Bonnie so mad so often. I'm really bad at that sometimes..."

Bon Bon smiled as she took a step forward, freed without realizing it. "You are an adorable sap, you know that?"

Lyra trotted up to her best friend and smooched her on the nose. "Around you? How could anypony not be?"

The figure smiled gently and began to fade away. Its touch, perhaps, was not needed there. "I will find another's dream to fulfill."

"Wait!" Sweetie turned on a single hoof, spinning towards the figure. "Wait! I have a wish!"

The figure suddenly reversed its fading, ears going up. "Speak your wish."

"I wish... that everypony was free of their wish."

It raised a hoof and shook it at her. "That is not a fair wish. I am here to grant your desire, not act on others'. What is your wish?"

Lyra pressed up besides Bon Bon. "Could I have a cup of coffee?" Her horn lit up to catch a mug that suddenly appeared. "You are the best... um... whatever you are."

Sweetie put a hoof to her face. "Yes, thank you, but that isn't my wish. I wish... I knew how to stop you." The figure ceased to be as soon as the words left her snout. "I suppose it didn't like that request."

A knocking made both mares look upstairs. They scaled the steps, the knocking continuing. Sweetie moved for the door. "We're closed," she grumbled as she reached for the door handle.

On the other side was Discord. "I'm looking for anything unusual. I don't suppose you've seen anything, my good mare?"

Sweetie hiked a brow. "Besides you, I assume?" Still, the timing was hard to argue... "Do you know anything about a pony made of swirls that gives wishes?"

Discord blinked at the question, then clapped his hands together. "Ah ha! So that's the chaos-maker! I want to meet this 'swirling pony' and shake hands, and maybe give him a stern talking to. Really, horning in on my territory... Where are they?"

Lyra waved her hot coffee mug in the air. "Just missed them. Don't be too angry at them. They're the nicest pony I met in a while, Bonnie not included of course."

Sweetie leveled a hoof at Discord. "Whatever that... thing was, it's going around offering ponies' their deepest wishes, with all the mess that entails. Lucky for us, Lyra's deepest wish was to be less annoying, and for a cup of coffee."

Discord looked to the floating cup. "And I see that has been granted."

Lyra slurped from her given mug. "And how! It's really good, want some?"

Discord held up a hand. "I shouldn't drink on the job. Well, thank you both, ladies. The hunt continues!"

Sweetie closed the door with a soft sigh. "That was--"

She didn't get to finish. Lyra was on her, pressing lips tight with a fierce exchange of passion. They slid to the floor in one another's arms. The coffee had, perhaps, not been pure.

Author's Note

Sweetie discovers an important thing and passes it on to Discord before Lyra decides to prove how bestie of best friends they really are.

1: Celestia discovers Twilight's new relationship.
2: Big Mac tries to prove he can be a hero!
3: Lyra and Bon Bon enjoy some personal time.
4: Treehugger approaches the town with her closest retinue.
5: Octavia gives Vinyl a thorough talking to about where their relationship really stands.

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