Synchronicity

Chapters

1 Threshold
2 Sparkle
3 Nandemonai

1 Threshold

I’ve never been one for words. I like listening to other ponies’ flow. The cadence of their speech. The beautiful melody as they talk. Language is a music all of its own. Words find ways to reverberate through life in rhythms and patterns that nopony can fully describe. Some words, however, ring truer, purer than others.

I have a talent. I’ve always been able to pick up on these coloratura truths in ponies’ speech. I just wish I knew why. I’ve spent my life immersed in music notes and instrument practice, but theory never helped. Plucking these truths out gripped me with loneliness. A feeling I only feel when trying to decipher the deeper meaning to my cutie mark, beyond the image of a golden lyre and what it merely represents.

Hearing the notes, seeing the colours of a pony's soul, that I can do. Digging deeper than those truths, however... I can't face that music. I don’t know how to. I have a hard enough time explaining why I can sense what others are feeling. Explaining that fickle truth resonating within my heart like a plucked string on my lyre? That requires a vocabulary I do not have, and an honest desire to fully explain myself that I also lack.

But then I met her. Her truths. Ones that rang differently than what I’d already heard, felt, and interpreted from others.

Some ponies say that relationships only work if both ponies are telling the truth. Honesty, openness, and the will to keep communicating through the pain, that’s the key to happy relationship. Right?

I really don’t know if that’s true or not. If anything, I feel guilty that the most important relationship in my life began with a half-truth, and the terrible ignorance of the threshold between it and an outright lie.

“I was hoping it was you!” she chirped happily as I stepped into her little shop. The rich scents of chocolate, caramel, and sugar hugged me as I looked up at the proprietor.

“I… you did?” I asked.

“Really, really!” she replied with a nod that bounced her curly two-tone mane. She had a slight and endearing accent that I couldn’t quite place. “I was watching you through the window. Not… many ponies stop in to give my work a closer look. They may window shop for a bit, but… I held out a hope that you wouldn’t be one of those onlookers, and would actually come in.”

I frowned. “Oh, that’s… too bad. You do amazing work with those little chocolate instruments and music notes that you decorate cupcakes with! I bet even Pinkie Pie would be jealous! And the caramel, oh… it does kind of drift through your door to tickle the nostrils.”

The earth pony wilted slightly at the mention of Pinkie Pie. “Well… that might be true, but a lot of ponies would rather hit up Sugar Cube Corner than check out someplace new,” she sighed. “I’m Bon Bon, by the way. And thank you for coming in!”

Sharing a smile, I levitated out my mint green purse onto the counter. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Bon Bon. I’m Lyra, and… I think those salted caramels are calling my name.”

“My pleasure!” Bon Bon said, reaching toward a set of tongs. “How many would you like?”

“Oh, at least two dozen! Just enough to get me through the afternoon and tomorrow.”

“I think you’d be hard pressed to get them to last that long, Lyra,” she teased.

I watched Bon Bon dexterously pluck the caramels one by one out of the display case. Earth ponies fascinated me by how well they use their hooves. Without the fine manipulation of my magic, I’d be a cripple. And so, I found myself staring at her hooves, marvelling at how quickly they wrapped up my treats into small, delicate sheets of parchment paper.

“What’s tomorrow, if I may ask?” she asked.

I shook myself and looked up into her soft blue eyes.

“Oh! Um,” I sighed, feeling my excitement drain away. “I have to head back to Canterlot for a few days. My folks are worried about me and wanted to check in with me.”

She gave me a gentle smile. “Is there something going on that’s got them worried? You’re not homeless, are you?”

I narrowly avoided lapsing into an awkward pause. The hostel I’d been staying at wasn’t a home per se but... I wasn’t really homeless either.

“Oh! No!” I lied. “I do have a place here. It’s just that my birthday is coming up and you know how parents get sometimes.”

Bon Bon nodded. “Well, you must have a lot of free time on your hooves. Considering you seem to be busking a lot for bits.”

My eyes darted back to the golden lyre peeking out of my saddlebag.

“It's something to do and it's likely the best way for me to make bits in Ponyville,” I said.

“Why’s that?” she asked, her blue eyes scrutinizing me.

“I suppose it’s because I’m still trying to find myself,” I admitted. “I’m trying to find my place in the world. All I’ve figured out, for now, is that it’s not in Canterlot. A… friend moved out to this small town not long ago. I figured I might as well follow.”

Bon Bon pressed a few buttons on her register.

“That didn’t quite answer my question, Lyra. Why don’t you think that you can make a good income in Ponyville?” She pursed her lips. “And now I feel awkward asking you this but... It’ll be six bits.”

I levitated six gold coins out of my purse.

“I just… Do you ever have moments where you think that your special talent is obvious, but then at a second glance… that, maybe, there’s more to it?”

As she put the bits in the till, Bon Bon bit her lip thoughtfully - adorably so.

“I don’t know. I suppose I never really thought about it. I know that I’m different from my parents, though. My mother teaches botany and my father is a philosophy professor at Stalliongrad University,” she explained, hinting at the birthplace of the timbre in her voice. “Me? I like making candy. That’s a joy to be had. To slow down and take the time to embrace the simple things in life. Even if those simple things are salted caramels.”

I nodded, thinking about what she’d said. Bon Bon felt especially sincere about her beliefs on the matter. Still, it didn’t really alleviate the concerns over my own talent and destiny. I was wishing for answers, but it was probably selfish of me to expect that of somepony I just met.

“Though, don’t take it from me,” she warned a moment later. “You should talk to Twilight Sparkle. She's the town librarian and usually she has a pretty good head for these kinds of problems. Have you met her?”

“We haven’t spoken,” I said, telling yet another half-truth.

Up until a few months ago, I’d spoken to her a lot. However, since she'd moved to Ponyville and become the bearer of the Element of Magic, she'd been quite distant. Like she’d forgotten about her Canterlot friends.

Twinkleshine, Minuette, and Lemon Hearts said that she’d come around again. Eventually.

Moondancer just straight up vanished into her studies.

Me?

Like most things in my life, I had many questions and few answers.

“Maybe I'll talk to her after I get back from Canterlot. Thanks for the suggestion, Bon Bon!”

She rewarded me with her smile. It contained a beauty that stabbed deep into my soul a simple realisation: I needed that smile. From anypony… a smile at me, for me.

“It’s no trouble, really,” she said. “After all, you’re my first and… so far only customer of the day.”

I returned a soft grin. “Well then, maybe you'll just have to stay open long enough that I'll be able to come back around for some more caramels!”

“I’ll be sure to try!”

I levitated my newly bought treats to my side and turned to leave. However, something she'd said when I first walked in rattled around in my head. It left me wondering why it was still resonating within me.

“Wait! Earlier, when I walked in, you said you were hoping it was me. Why do I feel like you meant something more than just me coming in to keep your business afloat?” I asked, trying to peer through her.

Bon Bon chuckled and only offered a shy smile. “Well, maybe when you come back next time for more caramels, I’ll tell you.”

I felt my cheeks warm as I mumbled a promise to come back once I’d be in Ponyville again. Then, awkwardly, I slipped out the door.

I’m not great with ponies. I understand them. I listen to them. And, when I was younger, I often jammed myself between squabbling pairs of fillies, trying to get them to remember to be kind to one another. It always hurt to watch my friends argue for reasons I could never really understand. There was always something tearing at my heart. That pain, that of disharmony between friends, was the worst. A cloud of razor sharp confetti clawing away within my chest, looking for a way out. I never could find a reason for those feelings. Be it Moondancer and Twilight arguing over the proper formula for a chemistry experiment or Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine competing to play Princess Celestia in our games of pretend.

I only knew that if I could get them to calm down, it didn’t hurt nearly as much as before. The hurt itself sometimes went away on the rare times I got them to apologize to one another.

But as I grew older and my friends drifted apart, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being left behind. Twilight had her studies with Princess Celestia as her personal protegée. Lemon Hearts, Minuette, and Twinkleshine went on to study other things at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Moondancer? Well, she slowly slipped back into being a reclusive scientist.

I wondered if I was just having a hard time growing up. All of my friends were either starting careers, continuing their studies or, in Twilight’s case, becoming a very important pony. Me on the other hoof… I had finished my musical studies, graduated in the upper quarter of my class, then… nothing.

“Lyra, honey, I can’t help but feel like you’re drifting,” Dad said at dinner, the night I was back in Canterlot. “You know what you have left of your stipend from school isn’t going to last forever.”

“I know, I know,” I replied, burying my face into my hooves as the weight of his disappointment settled on my withers. “I just can’t help but feel like I’m doing something wrong. I know that my cutie mark is a lyre and that I'm good at music but, something doesn't quite fit and I can't figure out what.”

Mom set a platter of maple-glazed carrots on the table.

“Is it just that you’re having a hard time now that you’re out of school, dear? Trying to find somepony nice to settle down with? Oh! Did you hear that your cousin had her foal?”

I tried not to roll my eyes. Mom had been a little foal crazy since Clarabelle announced her pregnancy.

“No, I… didn’t know that. But I’m so happy for her! How is Clara doing?”

“She’s resting comfortably. At least according to the last letter your aunt sent me. And it sounds like they had a very healthy little colt! Isn’t that just great, darling?” she asked, plating a pair of carrots for me.

I could feel her excitement. Mom always tried her hardest to project happiness over me. Though I doubted she realised sometimes how strongly I could feel that strong press of emotions, and how it felt like I was sitting far too close to a timpani. Then again, I often lacked the words to properly explain just what I was feeling, so it really wasn’t her fault.

“Yeah... That’s… that’s great mom,” I replied, absently moving the carrots around on my plate. “But to answer your question, no. I’ve not found anypony. Or found anything at all. Or done anything of consequence since I’ve been out there. I know that there’s something more out there to do! I just… I can’t see it.”

Dad hummed thoughtfully as he chewed on a bite of freshly baked bread.

“Have you thought about catching up with your old friends?” he asked. “I know that they never steered you in the wrong direction when you were younger, Ly.”

I shook my head, finally taking a genuine bite of mom’s carrots. They were really good, I just didn’t have the heart for eating at the moment.

“No, I haven’t,” I admitted, looking everywhere but at my parents. “Twilight lives in Ponyville now. Did you know that?”

“We had dinner with Velvet and Night just the other week! They are so proud of her. And of Shining, of course! Did you know he was engaged?” Mom asked, slowly buttering her bread. “Maybe you should try spending some time with her!”

The dining room got a few degrees cooler as I made a face.

“What’s wrong, Stringbean?” Dad asked, lightly pushing up at my chin with his cool brown magic.

“I haven’t seen Twilight since I moved out to Ponyville, Dad! Well, I mean… I’ve seen her but… I just… I-I don’t think she’s seen me. At all. I don’t even bother waving anymore.” I finally met Dad’s eyes. “And what’s to stop her from moving on, really? I mean… It’s not like she’s got anything to learn from me! I just have my…” I sighed. “My music. And… I don’t even know if I want that.”

Mom and Dad exchanged glances.

It was Dad who spoke first. “Lyra, I… think you should try to find some ways to reconnect with your friends. Ponies aren’t meant to go through life alone. We’re not good at it.” He put his hoof on mine, and his magic lifted my chin again. “If you can’t find yourself here, what’s there to find in Ponyville? There are even fewer things to do in a small town like that than there are in Canterlot. Is there something that keeps drawing you back?”

I frowned. There really wasn’t. I could be miserable at home, dealing with dad constantly pressuring me to apply for the Canterlot Symphony like he always wanted me to do. Or I could go back to Ponyville again, and keep trying to find the… something that felt off about me.

Bon Bon’s smile flashed through my mind. The smile that I hadn't realized I needed until it was so freely given.

“I just need to go back, Dad. Give me four months to figure myself out. If I don’t, I-I’ll move back in and apply for the Symphony. I’m sure one of the instruments I play will have an opening by then. I’ll write Twinkleshine, Minuette, and Lemon Hearts. See if maybe I can get Twilight to sit down for lunch with me. I just… I feel I need to do this.”

Mom and Dad went quiet for a long moment. For the briefest instant, I feared about getting yelled at. Me, a young mare of twenty, getting yelled at by her parents like she was a filly breaking the rules about staying out late.

“Then, I think you need to, sweetheart,” Mom said, getting up from her side of the table to wrap her forelegs around me. I leaned into her hug, taking in the warm honeyed scent of her coat as she held me close. “Lyra, if you said that you needed to move to Gryphonstone, we’d be more worried. Ponyville is only a train ride away. And a short one at that.”

Dad's muzzle dug into my mane, his stoic presence standing reassuringly beside me, like one of the alabaster columns that lined the great halls of Canterlot Castle.

“Lyra Heartstrings,” he said gently, his voice muffled by my mane as he kissed the top of my head. “Sometimes you say these things that just resonate with ponies. You play beautiful music, but… I can see why you might want more than that.” He let out a great sigh. “Alright, my beautiful filly. If you need four months to find yourself, then four months you’ll get. I’ll get some bits together to help you afford a place of your own.”

He raised a hoof as I started to protest.

“I don’t want any filly of mine living on Ponyville’s streets like a vagabond. I know you were staying in that hostel. You know that’s not the same as having a place of your own. Let me talk to a friend, and I’ll see if I can get something worked out. And! I don’t want you to feel obliged to move back home with dear old mom and dad should you need more time than that.”

“Thank you,” I breathed, feeling like a great weight had been lifted off my withers. “Thank you for believing in me.”

“Of course we do, honey. That’s what parents do. Believe in you when you don’t fully believe in yourself,” Mom said, wiping away a tear from her eyes. “Now… let’s finish eating. Those carrots are getting cold, and I’d hate to see them go to waste!”

Cold carrots had never tasted better.

I saw Bon Bon the next day as I was moving into my new apartment in Ponyville. I nearly dropped my boxes when I realized she was waving at me.

“I hoped you’d come back to Ponyville,” she said with that smile that could melt away the gloom of even the greyest of days. “Moving in?”

“Um, yeah! Er...” I bit my lip as my concentration wavered, nearly spilling the contents of my boxes all over Mane Street. “I mean yes! Just got this place!”

I patted the side of the small, two-bedroom bungalow Dad had helped me rent, before setting the boxes down just inside the threshold of the door.

“Out shopping?” I asked. “Or just taking a quick break from running the shop?”

“Shopping. And breaking. A little of both,” Bon Bon replied with a grin. “And now I feel very lucky! Though I should probably let you finish moving in.”

I looked forlornly at the pile of instrument boxes, books, bookshelves, and luggage that the moving ponies had politely stacked outside of my new home.

“Yeah… I probably should finish getting this inside. Lest the pegasi suddenly decide that all of my stuff needs to be washed.” At Bon Bon’s confused expression, I added, “I read the weather schedule today. There’s supposed to be light showers late this afternoon.”

“Oh, well! Thank you for letting me know!” she said, lightly prodding my shoulder with a hoof. “I should close the windows back at my shop. The breeze has been nice, but I don’t want the rain getting in! But good luck moving in, Lyra! Hopefully, I’ll see you around again soon!”

“Yeah! You too!” I called after her, watching her two-toned tail retreat into the distance. “Wait! You remembered my name!?”

Bon Bon stopped in the middle of the busy street and turned to glance at me.

“Of course I did, silly,” she replied, her voice ringing over the sounds of the crowd. “I told you the whole truthwhen you walked into my shop a week ago, that I was hoping it was you that walked in. And I got your name! So, of course, I’m going to remember it.”

And with that, she disappeared through the crowded market. I don’t know how long I stared after her, watching the ponies move around me in a blur of colours and beautiful sounds. What I knew for sure was that I spent the rest of the day with a smile on my face. One that not even the afternoon showers could wash away.

I didn’t know if I was going to find some deeper truth about myself in Ponyville. I didn’t know if there was anything wrong with me, or if there was something else going on. Something that made me stare at the worldly things that older ponies seemed to ignore. But I was… happy to be back. And I knew that one day…

...One day I was going to return her truthwith one of my own.

Author's Note

This story started because StilInBeta made a comment one day that she was tired of whacky Lyra and Angery Bon Bon fics. So... I took it upon myself to write something that wasn't that. Then I realised I had a new project. And it's been an adventure ever since!

2 Sparkle

How silly and impermanent language is. So is our tendency to assume everypony always mean what they say. Anything will surely be taken at face value. What harm could there be in doing that? Reading between the lines, and probing the depths of a conversation for subtext is harrowing. Each try exhausts me, and I doubt I’m alone in feeling the strain. Nopony much likes the stress of trying. Especially when we aim to mine a conversation thick with hidden meaning. It’s so much easier to just take ponies at their word, and to take those words for granted – a shortcut I too often took.

A part of me wishes that ponies did this to protect others. We tell lies so that the truth-teller would never be shamed. All in the name of kindness. Honesty can take a step back in the pursuit of that virtue.

Such spectacle carries on in everyday life. Ponies deceive, inveigle, and obscure the truth behind words and figures of speech. Harmony is supposed to rule, yet clumsiness reigns. Lying is merely a shortcut to our self interests.

The story goes that the Princesses banished Discord so peace could mend the three kingdoms back together. Yet I can’t help but wonder if fighting for harmony only postpones the irremediable march into eternal chaos.

Harmony is a bright flower in a storm, to be constantly sheltered and cared after. Plucking it out and letting the patch of land fall back to the mercy of the elements is always easier. So is letting secrets and lies back in our daily lives. Easy, quick and dirty.

Words are hard to say, meanings harder to get across. The gentle whisper of obfuscation constantly sings in my ears. Metaphors and half-truths are easier to speak, sweeter to tell.

Yet… in spite of it all… I choose kindness and honesty whenever, wherever I can.

“You know you stare off into the distance a lot, right?” a small voice like blackberry honey asked me as I watched the clouds go by.

I’d been sitting in the park alone, shifting my withers from time to time to stave off my muscles sores. It was hard to relax after a hard day of attempting to be an apple farmer. It turned out I wasn’t fit, literally, for the job.

Straight out of my mid-afternoon stupor, I turned to look down at a little pegasus filly with an orange coat.

“I… I do?” I asked, wondering whether or not I’d been lost watching a napping pegasus’ tail dangle from the cloud above me. I’d gotten stuck imagining what it must be like to sleep on a bed like that. “I… well, you may have caught me there!”

“Were you watching for Rainbow Dash too?” the filly asked. “She’s supposed to work on breaking up clouds. I-I’d hoped that I’d be able to watch her do some cloudbusting!”

I shook my head.

“I wasn’t. I was watching another pegasus though,” I said, pointing toward the cloud where a bit of blonde tail hung down like a waterfall of sunshine.

The filly gave me a confused look.

“Why were you watching Cloudkicker sleep? That’s… kinda weird!”

I felt my face heat up.

“N-No!” I squeaked, flailing my hooves in front of me. “I’m not watching her sleep. Well, I am, but not like… in a creepy way.” The orange filly didn’t look convinced. “I mean I-I… uh… was just wondering what it must be like to sleep on a bed of clouds. That’s… not something you get to do as a unicorn!”

The filly’s face scrunched up.

“Oh. Well. That’s at least less creepy, I guess. I often kinda think about that too.”

“You don’t have a cloud bed at home?” I asked, immediately mentally kicking myself for what was a very silly question.

“Uh, doesn’t me wondering about what it’s like to sleep on one kinda answers your question?” the filly quipped. “You’re really weird, you know that? But in a funny kind of way.”

I rubbed my forehead.

“At least one of my friends has mentioned it on occasions,” I said, letting out a long sigh. “I’m Lyra, by the way. And yes, I’m a little weird sometimes. I’m sorry I wasn’t watching out for Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh, it’s okay, Miss Lyra! I’m Scootaloo, and if you ever want to watch Rainbow Dash be awesome, you can totally join the Rainbow Dash fan club!”

“The Rainbow Dash fan club?” I deadpanned.

Scootaloo’s face brightened.

“Yeah! I run it! It’s only the best fanclub in existence! I’m its president. And treasurer. And… sole member,” she trailed off, wilting under a weight that I couldn’t see. “Which gives me a lot of time to talk about how much I love Rainbow Dash! But it’s kinda boring sometimes.”

Her loneliness hit me like a ripple spreading over a still pond. I knew her loneliness through her words. But beyond knowing it, I could feel its weight. That feeling spun my insides around.

After a moment of awkward pause, I reached out and ruffled her mane.

“Listen, that sounds awesome that you care about her. So much so that you made her a fan club!” I said, giving her a warm smile. “Does she know about it?”

Scootaloo scratched the back of her head.

“Well, not exactly. I’ve been trying to keep it quiet until it gets bigger. Until we’ve got enough pocket money set aside. To throw a party at Sugar Cube Corner!”

“That sounds like a fun goal! And it sounds like having some friends would help you with that!” I tilted my head to the side as she hopped up on the bench, beside me. “Do you have some you could spend some time with?”

Scootaloo shook her head.

“Uh, this may sound weird, but why are you sitting like that?”

After a long day of applebucking, my hooves hurt. My cervicals felt chipped. My back bent! And Applejack asking me to use my magic to move the carts around at the farm left my horn aching and out of juice.

All in all, I was sitting on my rump with my legs dangling below me. Though my spine protested the way I was sitting, the pain was overridden by the waves of the aches raging throughout my body. At least, I could orient my horn toward Ponyville Park’s lake to try to soothe the pain.

Were I with Twilight, I’d ask her why large bodies of water seemed to soothe the strain on a unicorn’s horn. Maybe it had something to do with the leylines of a unicorn’s soul interacting with whatever magic rested in the water.

“Uh… my everything hurts. I’m dirty and I’m tired and I smell like a goat?” I said, rolling myself forward so I could lie on the bench next to her. “And maybe ‘cause I’m just a bit weird.”

“A little bit weird is fun though!” she giggled, looking out across the park. “It’s fun to be a little silly sometimes.”

“Oh, I agree. But it’s even more fun to be silly with friends!”

An aura of forlornness drifted again off of the filly.

“Yeah… that’d… probably be nice,” she whispered, before moving to get up and off the bench. “I… should probably get back home before Aunt Holiday starts yelling.”

“Did you know I recently moved to town?” I asked without looking at her.

The focus of my attention had set on a white unicorn filly that walked next to a fuschia mare whom I could only assume was her mother.

“Since I moved here, though, I’ve been trying to make friends,” I continued. “A really wise pony told me that trying to do stuff alone is hard.”

I cocked my head to the side as I finally looked at her.

“What do you think about that?”

Scootaloo frowned. “I think you have it easier. You have your cutie mark. I do… not.”

My lips puckered together as I went mute with no answers. The crux of her issue hit close to home.

“You know, you’d think that, but uh…” I trailed off, scratching the back of my head. “I… Is it always that hard?”

“You know what’s good for you. You’re probably an amazing musician,” she rumbled. “Me? I’m just some blank-flank who hasn’t even found her talent yet!”

“Your cutie mark doesn’t really mean that you know… anything at all,” I admitted as a knot tied in my throat. “I mean… It’s complicated. Am I good at music? My parents like to think so. But what good is there in being good at music if it’s only to play to somepony else’s tune.”

Being part of a symphony still meant you had to follow the swing of a conductor’s baton.

“I always wonder if I’m not supposed to be doing something else. Other than what my cutie mark tells me. It’s a cage. It feels like that a lot,” I looked down at her hooves, avoiding eye contact. “So, while it may be kinda hard right now, not knowing what your special talent is, it’s maybe not the main thing to focus on. Maybe the first thing you should start with is making some friends.”

“Friends?” Scootaloo asked.

I nodded.

“Mmhmm! Somepony who knows what you’re going through. And who can help you find what your special talent is! If anything, just having somepony else to hang out with at school helps. That’s starting soon here, isn’t it?” When she nodded, I continued, “So… start with making a friend.”

With a low grunt, I dragged myself off the bench and up onto my aching hooves.

“You just need to have a bit of an icebreaker.”

Scootaloo hopped down and trotted over to a small scooter.

“An ice what?” she asked, a bit of a gravelly timbre seeping into her tone, adding just a bit of tartness to that blackberry honey voice.

“Uh… something to help get a conversation started. Luckily, I happen to know just the thing!” I paused. “Um, if that’s okay with your Aunt Holiday.”

Scootaloo waved a hoof dismissively.

“Trying the old ‘I have candies in my cart’ trick, eh?” she taunted before letting a long and awkward pause stir my cheeks to a bright red. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Besides, this is Ponyville. Somepony would notice if you were trying to foalnap me.”

She jumped onto her scooter and responsibly put on a helmet.

“So… where are we going?” she asked.

“Ever been to that candy shop on Harmony Lane?”

Bon Bon rewarded me with one of her restorative smiles as I held the door open for Scootaloo. The filly’s eyes lit up at the sheer volume of sweets laid out.

“Oh wow! I… never knew this was here!” she exclaimed, darting over to the glass display case. “Hard candy, salted caramels, oh! Oh! And cupcakes! Wow… those chocolate instruments are awesome!”

I couldn’t help but get swept up in the excitement bubbling over Bon Bon’s shop.

“Well, I was thinking that maybe, if you had something to share, you might be able to find another blank flank to share it with?”

Bon Bon quirked an eyebrow at me as Scootaloo put her hooves on the clear glass. Her breath lightly fogged up the crystal display as she stared with marvel at the cupcakes.

“Um… maybe a cupcake or two would help?” Then she wilted. “Oh… but… I don’t have my allowance with me…”

“Oh! I wasn’t gonna let you down,” I said, pulling out my velvet purse. “Which ones do you want?”

I trotted up beside her to look at Bon Bon’s works of chocolate art for myself.

I watched as Scootaloo looked over the cupcakes. Her eyes focused near the back towards one specific baked treat. Unlike the instrument-themed cupcakes up front, that one featured a dancer mid-pirouette on a pile of yellow frosting.

Scootaloo’s ears drooped for the briefest of moments, then she pointed to a blue guitar themed cupcake near the front.

“That one!” she said, not taking her eyes off of the dancer. “The guitar is pretty awesome!”

“Alright, the guitar one it is!” Bon Bon said, leaning down to pull the tray back to retrieve the cupcake.

“How about that dancer one too?” I asked.

Scootaloo glanced at me in confusion. “The dancer one?”

I shrugged nonchalantly.

“Sure! Gotta have something cool to give away as well, right? I know miss Bon Bon worked hard on every little detail of these cupcakes.”

Scootaloo looked rather confused for a moment.

“Yeah! Sure! I mean, it’s kinda girly, but I could be friends with somepony who likes girly things. I mean, Rainbow Dash is friends with Fluttershy and Rarity, after all!”

Rarity I recognized as one of Twilight’s new friends. Fluttershy? Not so much.

“Exactly,” I said with a grin. “If Rainbow is cool with hanging out with a mare like Rarity, I’m sure that whatever friend gets that cupcake will be super awesome too!”

Bon Bon chuckled from behind the counter. “That’ll be eight bits, Lyra.”

I wiped any semblance of grimace off my face as I realised the cost of my generosity. I still passed over to Bon Bon half my day’s pay in gold coins. I did not complain.

As Bon Bon pushed the sugar-filled package to the edge of the counter, Scootaloo stretched herself onto her hind legs to snag it between her teeth.

“Who should I share them with, though?” she asked, settling the package on her back. “I- I mean, thank you for the cupcakes, but… But, you said this would be an… iced beaker?”

“Icebreaker,” I corrected gently. “As for whom, hmm…”

I glanced out the window for inspiration. Interestingly, that same fuchsia mare was trotting outside by the shop. The same pink and purple-maned filly followed in her tow.

“What about her?” I asked, pointing toward the filly. “It looks like she hasn’t found her talent yet either.”

“That’s right,” Bon Bon added. “Sweetie Belle and Cookie were in my shop just the other day. If my memory isn’t playing tricks on me, she also lamented not having her cutie mark yet.”

Scootaloo took a deep breath and puffed up her chest.

“I mean, sure! I, uh… haven’t met her yet, but she looks like she’s probably in my class! I’ll, uh, go introduce myself!” She darted away and stopped only short of the door frame. She turned back to Bon Bon and me with a look of hesitation. “That’s… not gonna be too weird, right? Oh gosh, what do I even say?”

“Hi, I’m gonna be your classmate in a couple of days and I got this cupcake here that I’d like to share with you. Do you want to be friends?” Bon Bon replied, answering far more eloquently than I could’ve.

Scootaloo blinked at Bon Bon, then nodded slowly.

“Y-yeah! That could work! Thank you, Miss Bon Bon! And Miss Lyra!” She then opened the door to the shop, snatched her scooter laid against the wall outside, and rolled down the street toward Sweetie Belle and her mother.

I watched with a smile as the two fillies talked. It didn’t last long till Scootaloo passed a cupcake to Sweetie Belle. Even from that far and through the open door, I could see the bright blue frosting of that cupcake.

“Hello?”

It was at that moment that I realised Bon Bon had said something to me.

“Oh, goddesses I’m so sorry!” I squeaked, turning back to her. “I… what were you saying?”

To my surprise, she was giggling into her hoof.

“Do you know that you stare off into the distance a lot?” she teased.

My ears drooped as I tried to hide my brightening red cheeks.

“I… our young friend may have said something to that effect earlier.” I bit my lip. “I’m very sorry, Bon Bon. I didn’t mean to ignore you. I just...”

A part of me wanted to see how my random act of kindness would work out. Another piece yearned to see Scootaloo succeed.

In some sort of way, I wished that her success, that of a lonely little filly, would show that even I could make friendship work. If she was going to then maybe there was hope for me.

I just struggled to find the right words to explain that.

“It’s okay, Lyra, really,” Bon Bon said, pushing up the divider between the counter to join me on the shop floor. “It was a little endearing. To be honest, watching you be nice to Scootaloo was lovely. She needed it.”

I blinked.

“Wait, really?”

Bon Bon nodded.

“I… have been known to watch ponies. And, to be honest, I enjoy my fair share of gossip on occasion,” she explained, scuffing a hoof. “Truth is, Scootaloo’s parents are busy and rarely home. Her aunts are a pair of lovely married mares, but… they’re not her parents.”

Now I fully understand the filly’s aura of sadness. The heaviness in her words. And that look in her eyes as she was staring up at the clouds… at that cyan pegasus.

“I have a feeling that the little bit of attention you gave her today probably meant the world to her,” Bon Bon giggled. "The only thing that could've made it better is if you were Rainbow Dash herself."

“Nah, I’m sure that she’ll forget about it by next week,” I replied as my face flushed once more. “Besides, it’s probably nothing Rainbow wouldn’t do if she knew about how big of a fan she had.”

Bon Bon frowned.

“I don’t know about that, Lyra.” She paused to carefully choose her words. “I know you haven’t been in Ponyville long. Rainbow is the Element of Loyalty, I’m sure you know that. That mare, though, she can be a little… self-centred. It may be a while before she finally takes notice of that filly.”

Bon Bon trotted to my side to lightly nudge my shoulder.

“So take the compliment for what it is, you mule. Know you probably made somefilly’s day,” she ordered with a playful smile.

Swallowing a self-deprecating comment, I nodded in reply. As we were finally next to each other, I realised Bon Bon had a good hoof and a half in height on me. Earth ponies and their affinity for being tall. I was envious.

“Anyways, I am, uh, glad that she made a friend,” I blurted. “Though, I should probably get home and not risk dirtying your floor.”

“And what happened to you today? You’ve worried me since you came in.” She picked a few twigs off my messy mane. “Were you playing something somepony took offense to?”

I looked over my mucked coat, making me self-conscious about my dirtiness and that I probably wasn’t the nicest smelling item in the room. To my defense, it wasn’t that hard in a candy shop.

“I’ve been trying to make ends meet. The Apple family needed help with their autumn harvest, after Big Mac got hurt. So, I’m glad Applejack was accepting help! But… it was hard work! And I think my everything hurts,” I whined, taking a step back toward the door. “And I really need a shower.”

As her ears drooped slightly, she let out a long sigh that sunk my heart.

“Yeah, I should probably close up the shop for the day. It is getting kind of late.” She turned away from me, lifting up the divider again to walk behind the counter. The increasing space between us felt harrowing. “Though, you wouldn’t happen to be busy this evening, would you?”

There was a delicate hesitation in her tone that had my ears instinctively pricked up with interest.

“Uh… n-no? I’m not! Um, at least I didn’t have any plans beyond not being a dirty filly anymore!”

My legs wobbled as I registered my poor word choice. The metaphorical carpet slipped away from under me as Bon Bon broke down into a fully blown fit of giggles.

“How about Café Hay once you’ve finished cleansing yourself of all your earthly sins?” she asked with a cheeky grin. “Say six-thirty?”

“That should be enough time to complete my cleansing ritual, priestess,” I deadpanned, only to be rewarded by another one of Bon Bon’s bright laughs. With a smirk, I added, “I can do six-thirty.”

I’m not Twilight. I’ll never be an Element Bearer. Yet, I’d like to think that the light of the Elements of Harmony shines distinctively through each and every pony’s hearts and souls. I may not be a beacon of Honesty, a bright star of Loyalty blazing in the night, or a harbinger of Generosity. I’m neither Twilight nor her friends.

I can always hope that, through my actions, I can sparkle just a bit. And if I’m truly blessed, help others reflect that sparkle in kind.

Author's Note

Yay more cute, introspective smol horses!

3 Nandemonai

I tried very hard not to panic about tonight as I dried my mane.

Was this even a date? Wouldn’t we just be new friends, going out to get to know each other better? I should have asked. Clarified this whole mess! Should have, could have… but didn’t.

The soft glow of my magic cast my steamy bathroom in a golden hue as I lashed a brush through my mane.

She’d just asked me to meet for dinner. No need to panic, I was just overthinking this. No hidden meanings, Bon Bon probably just wanted to drag my story out of stubborn old me! Totally nothing more than becoming better acquaintances. This wasn’t a date! Just dinner. Between two ponies. Who just became friends.

Brush clasped in magic, I started pacing back and forth between my bedroom and bathroom, only stopping in front of my dresser after a few passes.

Then again, there’d been a peculiar hesitance in Bon Bon’s words, how she’d asked if I was free... Was it a date, fifty-fifty chance?

Throwing towels, reason, and indecision out of the literal window, I snatched up a yellow silk ascot from a drawer and tied it around my neck. A few stray strands of mane stuck up at odd angles, but I looked presentable.

I paused a moment. I could do this. I was doing it.

This was not a date at all. It made no sense worrying about it. I’d… well, okay, I hadn’t been on a date before, but that didn’t mean anything! I’d been a very busy young mare at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns! Even Twilight never went on dates back then, and she’d turned out alright! Having her muzzle shoved in a book twenty-four seven seemed to make her happy about her love life, as opposed to…

…Being too shy to ask anypony out.

Now… Minuette and Twinkleshine always said I was hopeless when it came to noticing ponies paying attention to me. Lemon defended me each and every time, saying that, maybe, I just wasn’t ready yet. Kissing mares or stallions would come in due time.

It hurt too much at the time to admit I wasn’t sure if anypony wanted to kiss me. Moondancer always said it didn’t matter. Now, I wished she’d elaborated more. I sure sucked at picking up on hints.

I glanced up at the clock on the wall and realised it was already a quarter past six. I bolted for the door, my purse clenched tightly in my magic.

Café Hay wasn’t too far from my little home on Mercy Street. I wouldn’t dare show up late, a habit I’d picked up from Twilight. We were roommates once, for about a semester. That was... something. A change of pace, let's say.

I chuckled the rest of the way down to the café. As I arrived, I looked around the diners for hints of a two-toned mane. I found myself being the first to show. I trotted up to the maître d’hôtel and asked for a table for two. He politely seated me, taking my order for a lemonade, and left me to wait for what felt like an eternity.

“Oh my goodness, I hope you haven’t been waiting long!” Bon Bon’s voice called, dragging me back from my slow descent into flight mode.

My desire to leave — before I made a fool of myself — faded and I shook my head.

“N-no! Not long at all!” I replied, glancing away from the town’s clocktower.

I totally hadn’t been just staring at it for... Okay, only for three minutes. Not that I was counting.

“That’s good! I was hoping I didn’t scare you off by being, well, on time,” she admitted as she slipped onto the cushion across from me. “I was thinking that I’d probably be the one waiting for you!”

My cheeks warmed.

“Um… well, up until I shared a place with an old friend, that would’ve been accurate. She kinda… rubbed off on me. She was one of those ‘I can’t be tardy for anything’ kind of mares.”

Bon Bon chuckled politely before ordering a drink for herself. A cherry soda, my brain helpfully noted.

“A friend from Canterlot, I suppose?”

“You, uh, could say that,” I confessed reluctantly. “She doesn’t live there anymore, though.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. Did she move away?”

Argh, Lyra, you walked right into that one!

“Well, not too far away,” I admitted, spinning yet another half-truth. “I do see her every now and again.”

I glanced down at the Café’s menu, pinching my lips at the sheer number of options. Stupid me probably should’ve looked at it while waiting for my date to show up. No! Not. A. Date!

“Um… so… out of curiosity, uh… what is, um…?” I twirled my hoof. “This?!”

Great job, Lyra. Make it weirder by obviously trying to drop one topic for another. A more awkward one.

“Hmm?” Bon Bon replied, looking up from her menu as her husky voice lilted into a soft purr at the end of her unspoken question.

“I’m… trying to not read into this,” I said, flailing my hooves in front of me. “But am I reading into this? And… I’m wanting to know if I-I am fooling myself?”

Bon Bon set her menu down and hid her giggle behind a hoof. Resting her foreleg on the table, she thoughtfully tapped the tip of her hoof to her lower lip.

“Lyra, what do you want this to be?” she asked.

A pregnant pause set between us. Ponies usually didn’t ask my opinion! I was the friend who always went along, relieved from making choices and, worst of all, settling things.

Minuette’s explanation, given the day Twinkleshine had burst out at me for my lack of opinion, was the most concise.

‘Lyra just wants to make everypony else happy, Twinkle,’ she’d said. ‘Lyra wouldn’t know where to go lunch, just in case you hated it.’

I had opinions, of course. I would just keep them to myself. And so, now an adult, voicing my desires was still a foreign and strange experience. And yet…

“I want this to be a date!” I blurted, louder than I’d intended.

The eyes of every diner turned to me. A rush of heat flowed to my cheeks as I squeezed my eyes shut and sunk myself down into my cushion.

“Lyra...?” Bon Bon asked.

She reached across the table and grasped my hoof, trying to pry it away from my eyes. I surrendered to her touch, and once I could see her again, she bore a gentle smile.

“I wouldn’t mind this being a date.”

The patio’s varied conversations restarted as I focused back on Bon Bon. Oh... Oh!

“I’m delighted to hear you say that. I’d... like this to be a date, too,” Bon Bon beamed, biting the left side of her lip. “Truth be told, I was hoping for such a chance the day you came back to Ponyville. I’d watched you playing your lyre in the park before the Summer Sun Celebration. I never worked up the courage to say hello, though... Remember when I told you I was glad to see you in my shop all those weeks ago? I meant it.”

My heart raced in my chest. I’d known that back there and then, that she was telling the truth. I’d known all along, and had no words to confess it.

“I had a feeling you meant it,” I admitted, poking the tips of my forehooves together. “I don’t know why but it felt genuine to me. Something in the way you said you were hoping for me. I’m so not used to it. It just stuck with me. That feeling...”

As I trailed off, searching for words, Bon Bon arched an eyebrow.

“You felt it?” Bon Bon’s surprise rang clear through her voice. “What do you mean?”

Her question rekindled the flames of embarrassment licking at my cheeks.

“I… it… I-I felt it? I don’t know how to explain,” I admitted. “It’s just something that struck me, deep in my soul.”

A brief silence fell between us, soon interrupted by our waiter. Flustered and hesitant, I randomly ordered a small salad. Now that I knew this was a date, eating didn’t really matter to me. Bon Bon ordered for herself, giving me a concerned look as she put the menu aside.

“Well, whatever it is,” Bon Bon said as soon as the waiter left, “I’m really glad that you listened! Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here!”

I nodded in agreement.

“When I hear things that feel true, I try to make sure to listen to them,” I replied after a deep breath. “I believe ponies have a lot more on their minds than they want to admit. But sometimes, it gets mumbled and wrapped in untruths. I don’t know if you get me? But I’m trying!”

“I see you’ve thought about this a lot!” Bon Bon admitted with a chuckle. “Though, to be honest, it is making me realise I don’t know much about you. Except that you’re originally from Canterlot. So, why Ponyville?”

“I wanted to get away from my parents,” I answered after a moment of hesitation. “They expected me to pursue a musical career in Canterlot, since I could probably make second chair in the Castle symphony with ease. I don’t know if that’s what I want to do, though. I just… Sorry, I’m probably oversharing for a first date. I, uh, haven’t had one before.”

Cold sweat ran down my back. Why did I admit that? Lyra, you’re so dense!

“Well, first of all, I don’t mind you sharing,” Bon Bon replied with a shrug. “You and I talked a lot about your thoughts the first day we met, and somehow I don’t see that changing. I think there are ponies who don’t do well with small talk. I get the impression you’re not one of them.”

Bon Bon set her forehooves on the table and rested her head on her knees, a cooing grin spreading across her cheeks.

“I’m not really good at it either.” She winked. “And, um, really? This is your first date?”

A merciful world would have granted me respite. Maybe, a nice falling rock striking me at that moment. It turned out the world was instead a harsh, unforgiving place.

“Y-yes,” I admitted. “I never, um, got asked out as a filly, or in the later years of my studies. I just...” I sighed. “I was too shy to ask anypony out. Sometimes, I think shyness may even have driven some ponies away. Minuette and Twinkleshine were always the prettier girls in my friend group. They actually could carry on a conversation without spacing out or suddenly having their words run away from them. That helped.”

“Do your words do that a lot?” Bon Bon asked.

“Sometimes,” I admitted sheepishly, frowning as I thought of the words stored inside my head, tightly packed together like carriages in heavy Manehattan traffic. “I have so many to say that I just end up keep them all to myself. Though, I’m sure this isn’t exactly thrilling first date questions for you.”

Bon Bon shook her head only to look off toward the clocktower.

“Oh, I disagree. It gives me some ideas on how to answer you. I kinda like to know who I’m dealing with. You’ve always been pretty honest with me, and it’s refreshing to have someone to talk to who keeps their heart on their sleeve.” She turned back to me and smiled. “It’s endearing, really. I was a little worried that you wouldn’t show tonight. Now I can see I was worried for nothing.”

“I wouldn’t’ve missed this for the world!” I blurted out, blushing bright, and even brighter as the waiter appeared with my salad and a knowing smile on his face

“Well,” Bon Bon giggled before taking a bite of her daisy sandwich, “since I have you here, do you mind if I ask you a few... first date questions?”

I nodded as I chewed on a bite of salad.

“Given the choice of anypony in the world, present company excluded, who would you want to invite to dinner?”

I mulled that over for a moment, buying myself time with another mouthful of salad.

“Princess Luna.”

Bon Bon’s eyebrows shot up as a small gasp erupted from the nearest table. Some eavesdropper apparently struggled with my answer.

“P-princess Luna? Really?” Bon Bon asked.

I took a long breath, trying to order my thoughts so they didn’t come out as word salad.

“I… feel like she needs company. To be invited to somepony’s dinner, let’s say.” I bit my lip while I lined up one word after the other. “She spent all that time alone on the moon. That must have been dreadfully lonely. She was Nightmare Moon, I know, in all her mean and scary demeanour! But, T-” I cut myself short of saying Twilight’s name. “The element bearers helped her out of that phase. She’s not that pony anymore. So now, maybe she needs ponies to welcome her back to Equestria! And I can’t help but feel like somepony inviting her to a home-cooked meal might not be a bad way to do that. Even if it’s a bit silly to imagine some random pony cooking for a princess. Take me for instance! What would I even make for dinner that would be fit for royalty?”

Bon Bon placed a hoof under her chin, thinking over my long tirade.

“Do you know that you tend to say ‘I feel’ far more than you say ‘I think’?” Bon Bon pointed out.

She took a sip of her cherry soda before fixing me with a look I couldn’t quite describe. It was something between bewilderment and pride, and maybe a few other emotions that made her think enough that her brows went up and down at odd intervals.

“Well, no, not really,” I replied, shaking my head. “I hadn’t really thought of it that way. I tend to feel things. I mean, I think them as well, but... Do I really say ‘I feel’ that much?”

She nodded, swallowing a bite of her sandwich before responding.

“Just something I noticed,” she said. “It’s not a huge deal. Just kind of interesting! I think ponies are more comfortable sharing their thoughts than feelings.”

“You’re probably right. I feel like it’s easier to hide one’s true feelings behind words. Thoughts feel, um, safer to share?” I offered. “For the sake of fairness, now, who would you invite to dinner, Bon Bon?”

Bon Bon scratched her chin again.

“Well, my answer was nowhere near as interesting as yours!” she pouted. “But I would love to bring Amuse Bouche to dinner!”

Her eyes lit up at my confusion.

“Oh! She is a lovely chef who runs a very small restaurant in Stalliongrad. When I was attending culinary school, I got to complete an internship under her! She allowed me to experiment in the kitchen as her stagiaire. At least when I showed that I could keep up with some of her junior chefs. While she knew my talent was for desserts, I’ll never forget how proud she was of the little appetisers I made! The clients loved them. She taught me how important it is to pack flavour, even the subtle ones.”

She sighed, then blushed. How painfully adorable.

“I really look up to her, and would love to cook for her too. I wouldn’t be nearly as free as I am now, but, you know…” she trailed off, and took a bite of her sandwich.

“It sounds like she’s really important to you! That would be really nice to have dinner with her! Though, um, what is a... stag-y-aire?” I asked, most likely mispronouncing the word.

“A stagiaire,” Bon Bon gently corrected, making an adorably throaty growl as she pronounced the French word — which was totally not the reason why I’d mispronounced ‘stagiaire’ in the first place!

She chuckled as I went red again.

“A stagiaire is a trainee who spends a few months, or even years, cooking under a sous chef.” As I raised an eyebrow at the title, Bon Bon playfully rolled her eyes. “A line cook or a station chef. Imagine somepony in charge of cooking a specific item like fish, salad, or candies!”

“So how was it? Being a stagi-aire?” I insisted, mispronouncing it on purpose this time.

“Think of a very stressful and unpaid internship. I spent months working very long hours at Amuse Bouche’s restaurant. And honestly, I feel like I’m a better mare for it! It really made me realise that not only do I have a special talent for creating sweets, but that I really enjoy cooking!”

I smiled as Bon Bon’s passion threatened to overflow our little café table.

“She sounds like a lovely mare to invite to dinner! And… honestly, Bon Bon, I love hearing you talk about cooking! Your passion is infectious!”

I decided to omit the fact that I usually struggled making anything more complicated than say, toast.

“Cutie marks only tell us what we’re good at. They are not what makes us who we are. I’m very happy that my special talent is making candy! But I have other passions in life that have very little to do with my talent,” Bon Bon said with a gentle smile. “How about you, Lyra? Do you have things that you like to do that aren’t connected to your special talent?”

I scratched the back of my head with a hoof.

“I don’t even know if my special talent is what I think it is, if I’m being honest,” I mumbled.

“Oh?”

I didn’t want to get into my worries about my special talent, but Bon Bon’s curiosity made me want to open up to her. Just a little bit. Which was scary! I’d never been the best at saying what was really on my mind.

“This… may come out as a bit of a mess,” I cautioned.

“That’s alright, Lyra. I kinda get the impression I touched on something that’s been bothering you. Take all the time you need!” she replied, using the silence between us as an opportunity to finally finish off her sandwich.

Lost in thought, with a frown on my face, the waiter’s voice brought me back to reality, saving me from a shoddy explanation. A brief conversation later, the bill was on the table.

“How about this,” Bon Bon started, pulling her purse out of her saddlebag. “I’ll pay for dinner. Then we’ll take a walk to Ponyville Park while you try and figure out what you want to tell me.”

Shame filled me as she counted out a small pile of golden bits. I could have paid for at least half of it. I opened my mouth to protest but a gentle shake of her head was all it took to stop me.

“Thank you,” I half-whispered as we got to our hooves and left the café.

Bon Bon seemed content to let me walk in silence as we made our way through the twilight-cast streets towards the park. Every time I looked at her, she’d give me a small smile. We soon made our way down a dirt path. I was still struggling to find my words. Taking a turn on the trail, Bon Bon lightly nudged me toward the park’s gazebo.

My jaw dropped as the field around it suddenly lit up with hundreds of tiny lights. Fireflies! I’d never seen so many in one place before!

“Careful,” Bon Bon teased. “You’re liable to swallow one if you walk with your mouth open like that!”

I chuckled and closed my mouth as she settled down on the gazebo’s bench.

“That would make me trying to explain myself even harder, right?” I simpered. “If I were choking on a glowbug?”

“Oh, just a little bit,” Bon Bon said playfully. “You wouldn’t still escape giving me an explanation about what you meant back at the café.”

I took a deep breath to steady myself.

“I’m not one hundred percent sure that my special talent is playing my lyre,” I admitted. “Don’t get me wrong! I’m a very good musician. I had to if I wanted to keep up in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. But at the same time…” I trailed off, trying to find an analogy. “You know how there’s a difference between your mother’s cooking, and that of somepony who’s special talent is cooking?”

“Well, in the case of my mother, who was rather hopeless in the kitchen, there’s quite a bit of difference,” she noted. “But, I think I know what you’re trying to say. There’s… just something special about somepony using their special talent. That little edge that my talent gives that makes my food just a bit better than anything else you’ve ever tasted.”

“Exactly!” I exulted. “I spent hours practicing. Many of the ponies with musical cutie marks did, but… I always felt like I just lacked that edge. When I play, I feel like I do well because my lyre moves ponies. Which, argh...” I bit my lip. “That’s what music is supposed to do! But other musicians can do that with any instrument. I’m not special in that way. It makes me feel like I’m stuck as a one-instrument-disaster.”

I thought back to the time at the symphony, playing during impromptu solos outside of practice. I always felt off. Like I was having a spotlight shown on me for something I couldn’t do. I dreaded the moments when I was offered solos. My parents always looked so proud when they learned I landed one. To me, though, it was akin to being handed a sentence for twenty years of hard labour.

“My lyre move ponies,” I continued, “but I am not my lyre. And yet, without it, I’m nothing. My words can’t convey my emotions. And though I tried a lot of other instruments, I feel as if I’m chained to my lyre. As if I’m reduced to express myself through it. And so I wanted to do something else. But I don’t know what.” I tugged at the ascot around my neck. “My lyre makes me feel trapped. I know you said earlier that cutie marks don’t make ponies, but… mine has always excelled at making me feel stuck in something I don’t enjoy.”

Bon Bon pursed her lips but said nothing, giving me the space to continue.

“I do like playing. I just don’t like its tendency to make me feel so… small. Again, I’m not my lyre, but I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t something special about it. That the reason why I’m good at it is because of something in the instrument itself. What if I’m just the silly filly who plucks the strings? Maybe there is something enchanted about it, and I just bring it out, right?”

“I’m not exactly up on magical theory,” Bon Bon replied with a nod, “but I have heard of enchanted instruments before.”

“Right! But my lyre isn’t enchanted, so it wasn’t that. When I was playing, though, I could feel what other ponies needed to hear.”

“What they needed to hear?” Bon Bon repeated perplexedly.

“Um, for example! During my sophomore recital, I was supposed to play Satine’s ‘Bolero in E.’ I practiced that piece for months. When it was my turn, I remember waiting anxiously in the wings as Bravura Melody was finishing up a particularly beautiful piano solo. I looked up into one of the boxes that ringed the theatre we were performing in. There was an elderly pegasus stallion sitting alone in one of them. The chair beside him was empty. I just…” I sighed. “I felt like the pretty pieces the music class had played until then had failed to reach him. There was something heavy on his heart. I couldn’t explain why. I just had this heaviness settling in my chest when I looked at him.”

I looked out over the field of fireflies, basking in the gentle fire of Bon Bon’s rapt attention.

“When it was my turn to play, I switched things up. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. He was hurting something awful, so instead of ‘Bolero in E,’ I started playing Liebevoll’s ‘Elegy for Lyre.’ It’s...”

I paused, trying to find words to describe the piece.

“It’s a very slow, heartfelt piece that ends on a bittersweet note because it’s in a flat key. Anyways, the specifics don’t matter. I never looked away from that stallion the entire performance. I played for him. The elegy was something he needed to hear. By the end of the performance, we were both in tears. The hall remained silent for a solid ten seconds before he started his applause.”

The audience followed suit. Maybe the longest applause I’d ever received… would ever receive.

“He met me backstage later,” I said, “and thanked me, saying that he’d lost his wife a few months prior. They’d always loved coming to hear the recitals at the school. He said he hadn’t realised how much he needed to cry until he heard me play. That he needed to cry for himself, and for his wife. He missed her dearly.”

I couldn’t look at Bon Bon at that point. My eyes were welling up as I gathered my broken thoughts into a barely coherent whole.

“That… probably sounds very silly. But I have always felt ponies’ emotions more strongly than others seem to. I don’t know why. When I got my cutie mark, it was because I wanted to make my friends to feel better.” I chuckled as I remember an old memory. “There was a scary storm while we were at school once. Moondancer, Lemon Hearts, Minuette, Twinkleshine — and even Twilight — were scared of the thunder and lightning. So, what did silly me do? I started playing things to try to sooth everypony. At the end of the song, I told them that we’d be safe if we were together, even when we were scared. And then and there, in a flash, was my cutie mark. So, is my special talent music? Or is it something else? I really wish I knew.”

Bon Bon made a soft humming sound, only to lay her hoof over mine. I blushed at the touch.

“It sounds like you’re able to read into pony’s hearts better than most, Lyra. Almost like it’s in your name!” She needled, shooting me with a wry grin. “But, teasing aside, that does explain a few things about why you feel so confused. Hmm…” She trailed off as it was her turn to look out to the fireflies dancing in the field. “I have a friend who may be able to help you out.”

I quirked an eyebrow at her.

“A friend? How can they help me?” I questioned, earning Bon Bon’s smile.

“Redheart is a dear friend of mine who works at the Ponyville hospital. She’s got a knack for helping ponies who feel lost. And she was telling me the other day about a patient that the hospital wasn’t sure how to work with.”

She poked my cutie mark then patted my hoof, sending sweet chills down my spine.

“She could probably use somepony like you,” Bon Bon offered. “Somepony who can hear the resonance of a pony’s heartstrings. And it could be a job!”

I gulped at the mention of work. What kind of hospital needed a washed up musical dropout like me? I somehow doubted that they wanted me to play healing music. It wasn’t like my spell repertoire included anything remotely related to medicine! I even got queasy at the thought of blood!

“Well, it can’t be any worse than me trying to buck apples,” I muttered after a moment. “My everything is still sore!”

Bon Bon laughed brightly and scooted closer, resting her muzzle between my ears.

“Is this alright?” she asked. “I don’t want to scare you off by getting too close on our first date.”

My body had relaxed the moment her chin had settled between my ears. Her shoulder pressed against mine as she leaned over me to rest on the top of my head. In truth, I wouldn’t’ve traded that feeling for anything in Equestria.

“Don’t worry about it,” I whispered, looking at the waltz of fireflies. “When I’m with you, I feel safer than I’ve ever been.”

I froze as I realised I’d overshared.

“I… I, um.”

Then, Bon Bon gently nuzzled into my mane, her breath tickling at the back of my ears.

“It’s okay, Lyra,” she echoed, her words slightly muffled by my soft mane. “You may be far from perfect, but you’re still kinda special as you are. I’m so glad you said yes to going out with me.”

“We should go out again!” I piped up with a grin. “If this job with your friend Redheart pans out, I can be the one who pays next time.”

“Lyra, Lyra…” she cooed. “You needn’t worry about that right now. Let’s just watch the fireflies and worry about cutie marks and jobs another day.”

I couldn’t agree more. As I leaned against her, the warmth of her body against mine wrapped me in unuttered glee as the twilight faded into a beautiful night.

Author's Note

Eee! More cute things! Honestly, after writing Speak, Synchronicity is a nice fluffy, therapeutic story to write. One of my prereaders wanted me to define maître d’hôtel: which is basically the host that seats you, manages the waiters and bussers, and also manages reservations at high end restaurants.

~~RoMS also wondered why the heck I kept using so much french.~~