The party for Moondancer was a great success, and her long overdue present from Spike was much appreciated. Moondancer would see fit to hang up in her home as to remind herself of the friends she still had, including one that had gone out of her way to apologize for not being a good friend in the past.
Now satisfied that she'd set things right with Moondancer, Twilight decided to stay for the night in her old tower in Canterlot. She was far too exhausted from the party to fly all the way back to Ponyville (especially with Pinkie Pie in tow). It really felt like old times, the tower was still as it was the day Twilight had abandoned it to leave for Ponyville.
Spike, for his part, just yawned and stretched his limbs. "Okay, so now we don't have anything to do, right? No weddings, no royal summits, no visits with foreign powers and no reunions with old friends. Just you, I and peace and quiet."
"I guess so, Spike," Twilight declared as she too yawned. "Although, I can't help but feel like there was something missing from that party. Or maybe someone."
The little dragon snorted and rolled his eyes. "Twilight, not this again! You already made amends with your old Canterlot friends and they've all forgiven you."
Twilight wasn't convinced. In fact, the more she thought about it the more she was certain there had been a pony excluded from the events. She began recalling what Spike had told her a few nights ago about who she needed to make it all up to. One name in particular stood out: Lyra Heartstrings. The young alicorn gasped! "Oh my gosh! How could I have forgotten?! I didn't even think about inviting Lyra to Canterlot for the party! This whole time, I've been so focused on Moondancer that I forgot Lyra wasn't in Canterlot!"
"So, that means she's in Ponyville like Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts told us," Spike pointed out. "And if they weren't holding a grudge, I really doubt Lyra is."
"Maybe, but I owe it to her to pay her a visit and apologize, just to be sure," Twilight firmly insisted. "We're going to do that first thing in the morning after we get back to Ponyville!"
Spike groaned and unhappily sighed, putting a claw to his forehead. "Do we really have to, Twilight? I'm sure the others will fill her in the next time they go to see her or she comes to see them."
But Twilight had made up her mind, she wasn't about to think of changing it. "I have to do this, Spike! It's the only way I can be sure Lyra doesn't resent me like Moondancer does. My decision has been made! Now get some sleep so we can be well rested for the visit tomorrow." And that was that, nothing more would be said on the subject.
The next morning, once Twilight and Spike had woken up, it was back to Ponyville (after a quick breakfast with Moondancer and the others as a way of saying goodbye).
And once back in Ponyville, Twilight wasted no time at all in tracking down the location of Lyra Heartstrings. Her house was a nice little cottage on the outskirts of town, far removed from the normal hustle and bustle of life in the town.
"You know, you don't have to come along with me on this one, Spike," Twilight told the little dragon as they were approaching the front door of the cottage. "This is just between Lyra and myself."
Spike shook his head in protest. "Someone has to make sure you don't go off the deep end with your determination to apologize. You always internalize these things, Twilight," And then he added. "Besides, your old friends were my old friends too. Maybe we didn't interact much together, but I do remember them coming over whenever you and Moondancer were helping the others study for tests."
Twilight nodded her head, that was a fair point that she hadn't really considered. She then proceeded to knock on the cottage's front door, lightly rapping a hoof against it three times.
The door was soon opened as the familiar mint green coat and white and greenish-blue mane and tail of Lyra appeared before pony and dragon. When her beautiful orangish eyes saw who was standing outside, a big smile immediately crept onto her face. "Twilight Sparkle, and Spike too. What a nice surprise."
"Hello again, Lyra," Twilight tried her best to greet her old friend in as warm and welcoming a tone as she could manage. "I... hope this isn't a bad time for you."
Lyra just smiled. "Nonsense. Minuette already told me everything, and she told me to expect you."
"Then, you know why I'm here?" Twilight questioned the unicorn mare, hoping to pick up on any possible signs of resentment or discontent.
Lyra nodded and ushered her guests inside, closing the door behind them with her magic. "Of course I do. You just wanted to stop by to catch up on old times. I've always been used to seeing you around Ponyville or Canterlot, but it always seemed like you were too busy to notice me."
Twilight massaged the back of her neck with a hoof. "It's not like I meant to or anything. But I sort of..." She paused, trying to think of how best to frame her unintentional neglect of the first friends she'd truly had (even if at the time she hadn't considered them anything more than acquaintances).
Before Twilight could answer though, Lyra opted to do so for her. "Oh, it's alright. There's no need to sugarcoat it. You forgot about me," And she let out a giggle. "It's not like I wasn't used to it. We all knew you cared more about books than about having fun with the rest of us. The few times we tried to invite you to gatherings or get togethers you'd always have something 'more interesting' that you wanted to do. Sure, at first it kind of hurt. But as time went by we kind of accepted that's who you were."
"Well even so, I'm sorry I wasn't a very good friend to you," Twilight sincerely poured out her heart. "Or to the other girls for that matter. Even after I came to realize how important friendship was, it never occurred to me to go back to Canterlot to see how you and the other girls were doing. And this whole time, I could've easily caught up with you if I'd only been paying attention. Instead, I just kept on ignoring you even when you probably wanted to get my attention."
Lyra shook her head. "You had new friends that you were getting into all kinds of adventures with, and then there was the whole ordeal about you becoming an alicorn princess. You had your life and I had mine."
Spike couldn't resist pointing out. "That's what I've been trying to tell her ever since this whole ordeal started. But she got it in her head that she had to make amends."
Twilight protested. "You saw what Moondancer was like, Spike. I couldn't risk taking more chances and having to live with the guilt that I might have made another friend of mine give up on friendship."
The unicorn with a mint green coat only made her smile grow wider as she trotted over and gave Twilight a hug. "I know you feel bad about the kind of friend you used to be, but you're not that pony anymore. You've changed and grown. So you gotta stop beating yourself up so much over who you were in the past. I mean, you became the Princess of Friendship for a reason, didn't you?"
"Yes, but..." The young alicorn began.
"-But nothing, Twilight," Lyra firmly insisted. "You're a much better friend now. And I for one think it's about time you learned how to forgive yourself. If you're still willing to be friends with me, I'm more than happy to still be friends with you and the rest of our friends. In fact, if you ever wanna introduce your friends to me I'd be more than happy to meet them. I've heard a lot about them."
At that Twilight couldn't help but grin and giggle. "True, my friends are definitely not like anypony else. It's probably cliche of me to say this, but I really can't imagine my life without them now."
Lyra then declared. "Sounds to me like you're a very good friend whether you realize it or not."
"I guess I am," Twilight slowly realized. "Never imagined I would be the one to be helped by an old friend, instead of it being the other way around."
Lyra just winked. "Well, life's full of surprises."
Author's Note
Just wanted this to be a quick little one-shot, I don't think Lyra would really hold much of a grudge against Twilight.
And for those of you are wondering about Bon-Bon, well she really isn't relevant to this story. At this point in time she and Lyra would still just be "best friends". And even if Bon Bon knew about Lyra's past she probably wouldn't have much to say that Lyra couldn't say better.
