An Absent Mind and a Cup of Cocoa

by Kosumo

Rating: mature
Tags: Bon-Bon, Sex, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Lyra, Romance, Porn
Length: 6409

Lyra has a really, really good friend, and she's pretty sure that's all she is.

Lyra and Bon Bon are really, really good friends. Sometimes, though, they do things that other good friends don't usually do, and it's making Lyra wonder if they might be something more.

This is a short story I write some years ago and recently revisited to edit. A friend encouraged me to publish it.

Published 2022-02-21 05:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-02-21 05:00:00 UTC

Two Nights Spent Together

A magical ejaculation, colloquially known as a "horn orgasm", is one of the few involuntary spells which an average unicorn can or will ever cast. The spell is cast when a unicorn's horn receives a constant level of physical stimuli for an extended period of time - varying depending on the recipient's magical tolerance, or "stamina". During the stimulation period, the recipient's ability to cast any other spell is severely impaired, and most will find it virtually impossible to perform any voluntary magic after a certain threshold of stimulation. The spell proper includes a light glow to appear from the recipient's horn, along with a short expulsion of dissipating sparks. More significantly, the spell releases a sudden burst of dopamine to the recipient’s brain, before significantly dulling their ability to use magic for the next half hour to one hour.

Most unicorns deny the existence of magical ejaculations to other races.

Some mares are really, really good friends. And sometimes, really good friends sleep together.

At least, that's what Lyra told herself, and considering that there had never really been an appropriate situation for somepony to tell her otherwise, she had herself convinced of that fact. She was so convinced, in fact, that she had to repeatedly and silently remind herself of this as she was making her way to a certain really good friend's home. It's perfectly natural, as she thought to herself. It's perfectly natural and doesn't mean anything at all. She had been throwing quick and inconspicuous glances at each of the ponies she passed, regardless of whether she knew them or how utterly uninteresting or irrelevant what they happened to be doing at the time was to her. Sure, of course, those ponies had probably done it too. It’s just common sense.

Of course, it was an even more understandable thing to do if, like Lyra, one happened to be a pony who had nowhere else to sleep except for the home of a generous friend who happened to only own a single, undersized bed. So, at least she had a very good excuse, she thought, and in the odd and wild case that it came up in conversation with anypony for whatever reason, she would quite easily be able to explain that she did it out of lack of choice, rather than because she enjoyed doing it. Which was not, of course, to say that she necessarily didn't enjoy it; and nor was that to say that she did. In fact, she thought, it was perfectly meaningless whether she did or did not enjoy sleeping with her friend, and that it was a normal thing to do regardless, and that it did not matter that it was because nopony would ever have to know, and in the event that they did know she could simply remind them that it was none of their business and that they could shove off if they thought otherwise...

She hit a cart and fell. She felt herself being dragged back to reality very suddenly and realized that she had been walking with absolutely no concern for her surroundings for at least the past five minutes. Lyra also realized that she had likely been making quite odd faces that entire time and had been trotting along in strange and sporadic patterns. She noticed now that she was in quite a busy area, and there were a few colts and fillies around to giggle at her lapse of concentration, and an angry-looking cream-colored cart-pulling mare to give her scorn for disturbing her cargo.

Lyra apologized profusely, as if it would be more appreciated the more desperate she looked, to which the cart-puller rolled her eyes and continued on her way. She then looked around frantically to see if any - or how many - ponies had noticed her mishap. Her face burned with embarrassment, but she would have been contented enough to move on again had she not spotted the cart-puller another time, just to see her disgruntledly share a comment with some other mare with a satchel, the sight of whom made Lyra's knees buckle.

Bon Bon was smiling and chuckling, and although Lyra couldn't hear what she or the cart-puller were saying, she was pretty certain that it was something about her. Bon Bon glanced over at her every now and again, carrying a warm, acknowledging smile, though it only made Lyra feel worse. The cart-pulling mare would also snap a look back occasionally, though she did so with a disapproving frown.

Once the two seemed to have exchanged their pleasantries and done enough minor psychological damage to Lyra, they separated, and Bon Bon trotted quickly towards her, giggling like a fool the whole way. Lyra looked down, as if she could go undetected if she herself couldn't see anypony trying to detect her. It didn't work.

"You alright?" asked Bon Bon to an invisible face, "What was that about? Have you been wandering around again?"

Lyra responded, quietly, "No, well... maybe. Yeah maybe."

As Lyra looked up, Bon Bon laughed. "I had a hunch. Thought I’d see if I could catch you outside today. What's up with that, anyway?"

"Huh? Nothing!" Lyra responded, "Nothing, nothing, it's fine. I'm just a scatterbrain probably."

Bon Bon laughed again, more quietly, and as Lyra received it, more sympathetically. She then perked up, as if she had just taken notice of something, and turned to pull something out of her satchel. Out of it came a striped scarf colored pink and white, which Bon Bon held in front of Lyra until the unicorn took it with her magic.

"I thought I'd bring you this," said Bon Bon, "because you never take one."

Up to this point, Lyra hadn’t even bothered to notice that she was missing a scarf and, at the same time, was just now realizing how dreadfully cold it was outside. It also made her somewhat naked, since every other pony around - including Bon Bon herself - was wearing one. She quickly wrapped Bon Bon’s generous gift around her neck.

"Thanks," she said, "you didn't have to."

At this, Bon Bon laughed even more genuinely, almost as if Lyra had said something utterly ignorant. "Of course I did!" she said, "what kind of a friend would I be if I just let you freeze out here? Come on Lyly, my place isn't that far from here."

For a moment, Lyra felt like protesting Bon Bon using such a disparaging pet name, but considering it was for her that she wasn't freezing anymore, she thought she would let it be - this time. Instead, the two of them trotted off rather joyfully, enjoying the cool autumn outdoors as they went.

If Bon Bon's home could be considered modest from the outside, it was frankly stoic on the inside. Only a couple of the rooms in the entire building were even fitted with a carpet - and the bedroom was not one of these. Throughout it there were scarce few pieces of furniture except the absolute necessities: some chairs in the front room, some tables in the kitchen, and one bed in the bedroom. Even more scarce were the decorations. Besides a flower pot placed on a shelf on the back wall over the bed, and some family photos strewn about around the entrance, the conditions of all of which told that she'd owned them for longer than she had the house.

None of this bothered Lyra in the slightest, and as far as she could tell, neither did it bother Bon Bon. This was partly since Lyra was just happy to have somewhere in town to stay, and neither of them spent any large part of the day there anyway.

Since there wasn't much else to do, the end of the day in this house usually consisted of the two mares sitting in the front room and having collected conversations over mugs of hot cocoa. Sometimes, if they were daring, and tonight they were, they kept the front door open to allow a cool breeze to flow through the house, which made them altogether less comfortable, but made the cocoa a little bit more enjoyable.

They talked about any number of things, usually things they wouldn't talk about to anyone else. Sometimes family matters, sometimes just anything that interested them, and sometimes more personal things. Things that really close friends talk about.

"Hey Lyra," Bon Bon asked, before sipping some more cocoa.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think about? When you go wandering?"

Lyra shifted herself on the cushion of her chair slightly away from Bon Bon's gaze (and slightly towards the cup of cocoa she was levitating to that side).

"I dunno what you mean," she responded, "Why do you think I'm thinking of something? I just kinda get lost."

Bon Bon faked an investigative demeanor, "Hm, nah. I don't believe you. I've seen you when you do it. You get all blank-faced. You look like you're staring off into nothing. I know you're thinking about something."

"How?"

"Because that's what you look like when you're thinking."

"You really think you know me that well?"

Bon Bon smiled and looked like she wanted to laugh again, but was just about keeping it in.

"You always get embarrassed when I bring it up, too," Bon Bon noted, "that's how I know you're hiding something."

"Fine, sure, maybe you're right," Lyra said in defeat, "but I can't tell you what it is."

"Why not?"

"Because that would be weird."

They were both silent for a moment, taking a few more sips of cocoa in the meantime. Then, they both started to laugh, and neither was quite sure which of them had started first, but they were both happy either way.

Bon Bon's bed had a single, rather small blanket that the two mares had to awkwardly share. It only partially covered them, but for the most part, they weren't concerned, even in this cold time of year. For that, they simply kept their scarves on while sleeping, which were more comfortable than the blanket anyway. Luckily, Bon Bon did happen to have two pillows, which made sleeping together that much easier.

At least, Lyra thought, they didn't have to share a pillow, because that would make it look a lot stranger than it had to. She imagined, for a moment, that were someone to see them like this it would be quite difficult to explain, despite how justified it actually was. After all, they were friends; they were really good, really close friends, and how close they were on the bed didn't actually matter, but it would certainly make it look worse the closer they were.

She rolled around across the bed in her thoughts, halfway on the path to sleep but never quite getting there. If there was any other advantage to sleeping a bit apart, it would have been that she wasn't knocking Bon Bon off the end of the bed with her movement. Still, she stirred, getting more upset with herself with every passing moment that she remained awake, or, more accurately, not asleep.

Part of it, although she was barely conscious of it, was that Bon Bon was also moving around, caught in a deep sleep, and moaning incomprehensible phrases. She was pushing around the blanket as she did so, which caused Lyra some confusion as she tried to get it back into place. Each time this happened, the two inadvertently came closer to each other, until their heads were nearly touching between the two pillows.

Lyra, meanwhile, continued to imagine how she would explain herself to somepony else. Why, what if her parents saw this? And what if, whoever it be that saw this, that pony didn't know that Lyra and Bon Bon were actually just really good friends? What would it look like if they thought Lyra and Bon Bon were less than that? Or more?

Bon Bon moaned again, and all of a sudden, Lyra felt an unholy feeling from her horn. She opened her eyes to see Bon Bon, asleep and taking the tip of Lyra's horn into her mouth.

Lyra felt herself numbing; she still wasn't quite awake. In her less-than-conscious state, all she could feel were sporadic surges of pleasure as Bon Bon came in closer and closer, becoming more involved with Lyra's personal space and indulging herself on even more of Lyra's horn.

Lyra could feel Bon Bon's tongue begin to prod around the end of it. She was trying to make sense of the situation, but she couldn't. Her mind wouldn't work.

Absentmindedly, she tried to get out a sentence with the bit of sense she still had left in her, "B-Bon... what are you..." She said it slowly and breathlessly, and couldn't find the energy to do any more.

Bon Bon was still moaning. Lyra was forced to join in. She couldn't help it; it was almost as if she was being hypnotized, sucked in like a doll commanded by every intricate movement of Bon Bon's tongue. And her commands were so very tangible. She continued to explore Lyra's horn with delicate precision, uncovering every inch of sensitive space which Lyra would've preferred to remain sacredly private.

With every tiny shift of the tongue, the unicorn rolled, compelled by a jolting rush of ecstasy, like an electric shock running through her system. As Bon Bon became more pervasive, Lyra found - although it was rather hard for her to think at all - that less of what she was doing, or saying, or moaning, was done completely consciously. No matter how hard she resisted, her body was surrendering itself to Bon Bon, and her waking sense was disappearing.

Bon Bon, for her part, seemed just as blissfully oblivious as she had when she begun, and while her companion was left a shaking, overstimulated mess, she kept giving out muffled moans while thoughtlessly having her way with Lyra's horn.

Eventually, it was too much. Lyra, for all her efforts, was helpless, and could only sense the rising tension in her nerves, coming about as faster and faster tides of some pure, overwhelming feeling. She knew only that it was coming.

There came a faint light shining from between Bon Bon's lips, getting brighter and brighter with each passing moment. Soon, Lyra's entire horn was alight, and her synchronous moans transposed into desperate yells. She had broken and knew nothing else except to express the feeling closing in through her voice as it came closer, closer, closer...

There was one final rush. She screamed. Her horn sent sparks into the air. Then it stopped.

Sense came back to her, all at once. Her voice was gone and she was left panting.

Even though her body remained exhausted, her mind was at least awake, and she could recollect herself. Although, coming to a full realization of what had just happened, she wished she couldn't.

She panicked, first with urgency, then with embarrassment, thinking more about how she would feel about herself in the morning than about how anypony else would think of her.

That was until she looked up, and saw Bon Bon, woken up, staring down at Lyra's horn in utter confusion. Their eyes met, and instantly, they broke up - Lyra less than delicately pulling her horn out of Bon Bon's mouth, and Bon Bon fiercely turning over on her other side.

The sheets got warmer before they got colder, the sheer embarrassment radiating off both mares heating up the temperature between them. Despite their best efforts, neither could stay still, and they were left shifting slightly for several minutes. Lyra couldn't think of another time that she had ever felt this uncomfortable.

The urge to leave grew on her: to pick up and run straight off the bed and straight out the door. She had to leave before either of them could make it any worse.

Why hadn't she done something? She had to wonder. Why did she just lay there while Bon Bon was asleep? Would it really have been so hard to just say something? Had she really enjoyed it so much?

No, she decided. Of course not. That was stupid. Ridiculous. Scandalous. Lyra was not that kind of pony. And Bon Bon was only a friend. This was something that good friends don't do.

And these friends, exhausted from the heat and the experience and their abrupt awakening, uncomfortably drifted back to sleep in silence.

Light hit Lyra's eyelids. She opened them groggily. She must’ve recently rolled over, resting her face into the sunlight forcing its way through over the window curtains. She wished she hadn't, and internally scorned her unconscious self for waking her up.

She could tell that it was late - or at least, later than when she would usually wake up. The sounds of voices and midday traffic rushed through the window alongside the beams of sunlight. She felt lazy sleeping at this hour - shameful even - but couldn't remember if she really had anything to do today.

Bon Bon was already out of bed – but then, that was always true no matter what time Lyra woke up at. Lyra always thought it was cute, and that it was probably something she got from her family, or just her mother. She'd always prepare breakfast and brunch and clean yesterday's messes before Lyra had even gotten out of bed. Maybe now it was late enough that she was preparing lunch. Lyra felt bad to have left breakfast to waste.

She turned over, feeling at the empty sheets at the other end of the bed, tugging and feeling at them, stretching out her front legs to embrace a mare who wasn't there. Then she realized...

Lyra jolted upright. She felt at her horn and remembered. She sat there in shock, tears welling up in her eyes.

She took a better look around. The sheets were thrown over the side. The door was slightly ajar; there were clothes strewn about around it.

Maybe Bon Bon had left. Maybe she had been embarrassed, or so disgusted by Lyra, that she decided to run off and leave Ponyville forever and never see that unicorn pervert again. Lyra wouldn't fault her for it.

Her muscles gave, and she fell back onto the bed, making sound as she crashed. She wanted to cry, but felt too guilty for that.

"Lyra? Are you awake?"

Bon Bon's voice rang out from the kitchen, like a song. It was calm. It wasn't fair. Lyra knew she should've been relieved, but she could only feel contempt. Contempt like she was being mocked. Was she angry at Bon Bon? Wouldn't it have been better if she really had run off?

Maybe it was because then Lyra wouldn't have to face her again. Maybe it was because then Lyra wouldn't have to see Bon Bon smiling again, like Lyra hadn't really done anything wrong at all. Was she just a child? Did she have to be protected and coddled?

"Lyra?"

The unicorn rolled off the bed and forced herself onto her hooves. Her mane fell down over her face, her horn dividing it into two parts perfectly placed to cover both her eyes. She hardly bothered to fix it.

"I'm up," Lyra replied.

The bedroom door opened up into the living room, and from there was only an empty doorway to the kitchen on the left. There was an aroma coming from the kitchen - toasted hay sandwiches. Lyra's favorite.

She turned the corner. Bon Bon was already cleaning up. There were two sandwiches sitting on the table next to her. She was humming a tune. It was familiar, but Lyra couldn't recognize it. Maybe she was always humming when she worked. Maybe Lyra just wasn't always paying attention.

Bon Bon turned.

"You look like you need a bit of a cleaning up, huh?" she remarked, "Let me get a bath running for you while you eat. It's almost noon, you know!"

Lyra stood, losing her words. Everything running through her mind. Overthinking. She felt stupid. There were hints here she was missing. She was sure of it. Maybe.

Bon Bon might've been playing at something. She might've been messing around with her words to test Lyra. Or coax her. Trick her into making a mistake. Saying something wrong. So, what wasn't wrong to say?

She hadn't forgotten, had she? How could she? Bon Bon would’ve had to have become absent-minded all of a sudden. Almost as badly as Lyra. That would've been strange - and wrong.

She was smarter than that. And kinder. More considerate. Maybe she was just trying to put it behind them. Maybe she was upset but didn't show it. Maybe she was upset with Lyra. Maybe she was trying to cover up the contempt and disgust boiling up inside of her, and Lyra was just tearing at the threads holding her together.

"Hellooo? You alright?"

Lyra focused, and she blushed. She had been staring, wearing a dumbfounded look on her face all the while.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," she said, "Just tired."

"That's fine. You've got plenty of time to rest. You're schedule's clear today."

As Lyra looked at her suspiciously, Bon Bon smirked, and continued.

"I checked."

As she had finished putting away the fruits, Lyra decided to speak up, "So, uh..."

"Mhm?"

"About last night..."

Bon Bon stopped. She dropped everything she was carrying back onto the table beside the sandwiches.

There were a few moments of silence, before both of them spoke at the same time,

"I'm so sorry."

They looked at each other, and hints of confusion were instantly superseded by feelings of sympathy and concern. Bon Bon tried to say something, but Lyra cut her off in a bid to explain herself first.

"I should've woken you up when you started," she stated quickly, slurring her words, "You were asleep, you couldn't do anything. I just sat there and didn't do anything but I should've."

She kept talking faster, and with every increase in the speed of her speech, her words became less comprehensible and less distinct.

"I was awake too. I was awake in the middle of the night, so I should've done something. Because I was awake anyway. What were the chances? I don't have an excuse. You don't have to forgive me. I just let myself go because... I don't know! I just did! I wish I didn't! But I wasn't thinking anymore and I'm such a stupid friend! I'm-"

"Lyra!"

Bon Bon stomped on the ground. She didn't do it without grace - she never did anything without grace - and it was always with concern, rather than anger. And it always made Lyra shut up on the spot.

"Lyra, I'm the one who should be apologizing," she said, "I had some urges last night, while I was dreaming. I did something which I shouldn't have done, and I should take responsibility for it."

At just that moment, Lyra noticed Bon Bon's voice fading and starting to crack. The earth pony turned her head to the table.

"And the last thing - the very last thing - that I want, is for you to blame yourself. You don't have to feel bad for something I did, in my bed, and in my house."

She sighed. She might've been crying, but Lyra couldn't tell. Still, it couldn't be risked.

Lyra left the doorway. She trotted next to Bon Bon, not thinking about how to approach her, and not caring how she would look if anyone were watching. Then, without warning, she hugged her.

Bon Bon was still. Lyra's front leg pressed against Bon Bon's chest, and she felt as the earth pony's breathing slowed, and became deeper. There was a wet sensation falling onto Lyra's fur.

Tears must have been contagious. Lyra tugged her friend in closer, bringing Bon Bon's head to rest against her chest. She rocked her body back and forth, dragging Bon Bon along with her. She only barely kept her balance, as Bon Bon laid all her weight onto Lyra. The earth pony's legs went lazy, and the unicorn's started shaking. But the unicorn didn't care.

It was a strange, but welcome thing to care for somepony. For Lyra, it was something she had rarely ever known in her life. She had only ever been cared for, and could hardly imagine or know what she had ought to do if some other pony ever depended on her. She didn't think she was strong enough for that.

She still felt like a child, really. All she did was depend. Everything she had, she needed from others. A place to stay. A voice to soothe her. A shoulder to rest on.

Unlike Bon Bon, of course. It would be remiss of Lyra not to admit that she knew less about Bon Bon than she thought she should. But she did know - like everypony did - that Bon Bon was a strong mare. Maybe it was a hardship from her past, or it was how she was raised to be, but she was strong. And caring. Like a mother.

Yet here they were, one in the other's embrace, hardly keeping themselves together. Lyra knew she had to be strong now. She didn't need Bon Bon or anypony else to tell her to be.

So it became easier. Her legs stood rigidly and firmly. She wasn't shaking anymore.

They stood embraced like that, carelessly, as the minutes flew by around them.

The windows in the front room were unobstructed, and yet still very little light was coming through. The waning glow of the sun from over the horizon fell behind the chairs in the middle of the room. Other than that, the view outside was filled with a patchwork of individual sparks from some lamps across the street, and from the few stars which had appeared this early in the night.

There Lyra sat alone. She had a cup of cocoa floating in her magical aura. It was untouched and getting cold. But Lyra had nearly forgotten she even had it.

She was entranced - staring out the window at the world and noticing all the little details that one can only really appreciate when they've found peace indoors: birds singing as their silhouettes passed her view, ponies saying their last "goodbye"s and "good night"s before retiring into their homes, the brush waving in the evening wind, and the hills losing their form as the light of day retreated behind them.

How long had it been since she had woken up? How long had it been since she had been holding her friend - her best friend - close to herself, and how long had it been since they let go? She didn't know. She didn't care.

They'd been talking in this room just a few minutes ago, before Bon Bon left to get herself a cocoa. She'd been gone a while by this point, but Lyra had seen her be rather sluggish all day. At least, she had been since that moment in the kitchen.

Lyra had felt herself slow down as well, but she had a difficult time trying to describe it in her head. Was she tired? Fatigued? Maybe, but it felt like more than that. As if she was just experiencing things more deeply than before. Her senses were stronger, and she wanted to take as much time as possible taking in all the feelings which she experienced in a day. She wanted to feel the cool air rushing in through the front door, and the softness of the chair, and her own mane, and Bon Bon's mane and chest and the beating of her heart...

She blushed. She was getting ahead of herself. They may have left last night behind them, but it was still a stain on Lyra's mind. She had to forgive herself, but not forget, because she couldn't allow herself to become comfortable with it. Or - Celestia forbid - aroused by it. Bon Bon was still just a friend, and a good friend, and that was a comforting thought. For Lyra, it was proof that she didn't have to be perfect for Bon Bon to accept her.

But she couldn't indulge.

"Well?" Bon Bon said, emerging from the door to the kitchen.

Lyra started, jerked out of her trance.

"Well... what?" she asked.

"Is my cocoa really that bad?"

Lyra suddenly remembered the cocoa in her aura, and quickly took a bitter sip of it. Too quickly. She coughed, and nearly threw the cocoa to the ground next to her, spilling a good bit of it in the process.

Bon Bon rushed over and put her hoof to Lyra's back, ready to make sure her friend was alright.

"Lyra, Lyra!" she exclaimed, "Careful! Are you alright?"

"Yeah," replied a stuttering unicorn, "sorry."

"It was just a joke," Bon Bon laughed, "I'm not going to kick you out for not drinking my cocoa."

"I forgot. I-"

"Started wandering?"

Lyra tried her best to put on an annoyed face, but she just ended up looking like an insincerely grumpy child.

"Stop knowing me," she said.

Bon Bon mocked her expression smugly, and Lyra lost it. She began to smile, and then repressed a giggle, before she let it run away from her into a laugh. Bon Bon joined her, and in a few seconds they were laughing so hard that neither of them could speak for a good moment.

When they were done, Bon Bon sat down, having spilt some of her own cocoa.

"Stop being predictable," she advised, "then maybe I won't be able to guess you."

"Stop being an enigma," Lyra replied, "them maybe I won't have to guess you."

"Enigma?" Bon Bon asked, curiously.

"I just mean..."

Lyra paused, considering her next words carefully. She was far too sensitive to the sound of her own voice to be irresponsible with it.

She continued, after a few seconds, "I mean that, you do a lot of things I don't understand."

"Like what?"

"Well, for one thing, you're the strongest mare I know. Nothing gets to you."

Bon Bon looked on, confused. "But... earlier?" was all that came out.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Lyra replied, "but that was fine. I didn't mind. What I mean is in general. All the time, you always have something to be happy about. And you always find something good in everything that happens to you, or everypony you meet."

She sipped her cocoa, and went on, "Even me, somehow! Bons, I've gotta be the least considerate, least capable pony you know. I'm scatterbrained! I get lost in the middle of the street and embarrass both of us. But you don't care about any of that. And if you - and I wouldn't blame you for it - but if you do then you don't show it at all. You put up with me every day and I don't know how you do it."

Bon Bon listened to all of this, silently. She was looking down at the floor rather than at Lyra, but would occasionally jerk her head up as if she were about to say something before she stopped herself, and took a sip of her cocoa. After a while, once Lyra had stopped talking, she finally took her chance.

"Lyra," she said, "I don't 'put up with you'. It's like you think it's hard for me to be your friend. And you make it sound like I'm selfless, but I don't give anything up having you here. I'd rather have you around than anything else in the world."

"But-"

"I broke down earlier, in the kitchen. I thought you were going to leave after last night. You helped me instead. You didn't have to, Lyra, but you did. And that's strong. I've always known you had that in you. I've always known what you mean to me. I don't 'put up with you.' I need you. What would I do if you weren't around?"

They talked for a little while after that. Pretty soon everything settled in to just how it usually was: two mares sitting in the front room, drinking hot cocoa and talking about nothing that really mattered too much.

Everything wasn't quite the same though. It might've been the cocoa, or it might've been an extraordinary night, but Lyra and Bon Bon could hardly keep still for a moment. They spoke quickly and excitedly. They played jokes, and they brought their voices down when the neighbors slid open their windows. They opened up and shared precious moments between them. They exchanged secrets about themselves that they'd never considered sharing before.

Lyra was content. Giddy, even. She felt as though all of her anxieties and fears had been left behind long ago, and now she had only this night to live in, and to share with somepony who didn't just understand her, but appreciated her.

She invited Bon Bon into her mind to see what it was that made her worry, and what it was that calmed her. She was indulging now, but Bon Bon didn't seem to care at all. She was an amazing listener, as Lyra could attest. That was the kind of friend she wasn't afraid to admit she needed.

She brought herself closer to her friend, and sometimes leaned in to whisper something pure and sensitive in her ear, while their faces warmed each other. They hugged without warning or prompt, just to make sure that the moment was real, and to make the most of it that they could.

"Hey Lyra, a question."

"Yeah?"

"Last night... I'm just curious..."

"What?"

There was the slightest hint of worry in Lyra's voice.

"When I started doing that thing..."

Bon Bon's embarrassment stuck out in her speech.

"Uh-huh?"

"Why didn't you stop me?"

"Wait, hang o-"

"Or, I mean, just pull away?"

"Pull my horn out?"

"Yeah."

"I, uh... I couldn't."

Bon Bon tilted her head.

"Why not?"

Lyra blushed.

"Do I really have to tell you?"

"No, but don't you want to?"

"Why would I?"

"Because we're friends, right?"

"Well, yeah."

Bon Bon stood up on her chair, keeping her hind legs on the seat and bringing her front legs up to the armrest, leaning over the space between their chairs.

Lyra felt the room getting tighter. She tried to take another sip of cocoa. There was no more cocoa. There was no escape from this.

The unicorn bowed her head and mumbled, "Because, uhm..."

"Because you liked it?"

"Ye- wait, hold on!

"It's a unicorn thing, right? You like it when I do..."

Bon Bon edged right up to Lyra's horn, tongue out, and licked its tip; "that?" Lyra froze, her face turning red, giving the earth pony a little more time to play around above her. Bon Bon took that opportunity to run her tongue up the length of the horn, slowly exploring around it. She did it again, this time pausing every now and then to gauge the reaction.

Lyra had her eyes shut in embarrassment. It was hard for her to think over the assault on her sensitive horn.

Then the sensation stopped, and Lyra felt suddenly anxious without it. It was a feeling of ecstasy, and she desperately wanted it back, but could hardly bring herself to speak. She looked up to see Bon Bon staring down at her. It was only then that Lyra realized she had been moaning softly this whole time.

"So... like that?" asked Bon Bon.

Lyra managed a silent nod.

"Well then," the earth pony continued, "relax. Let's have some fun."

She went in again, now aggressively. She licked around the horn before taking the sides of it into her mouth, running up and down, tasting every inch. Lyra jolted with each touch of the tongue, but she stayed as still as she could.

Bon Bon took the tip of the horn into her mouth and swept her tongue around it, over and over, testing each movement for a reaction from Lyra, finding what made her moan. Lyra reliably complied.

The horn had already begun to glow, and Bon Bon pulled back momentarily to admire her work, giggling.

"It tickles when it does that," she noted.

Before Lyra could respond even with a head movement, Bon Bon lunged forward again and took the whole of the horn into her mouth, prompting a near-scream from the unicorn below her. Lyra felt the inside of Bon Bon's mouth in total detail as it bobbed up and down - up and down, up and down - over her.

Sparks were now materializing, getting brighter as Lyra's moans got louder and louder, Bon Bon's bobbing getting more and more aggressive, pressing both of them ever closer to the edge.

Lyra tried to say something: "Bon..." or, "oh my Celestia," but all that could come out were inaudible mumbles, lost on her breathless voice.

At some point, she knew she was over the edge. Bon Bon kept going, speeding up until the glow of the horn reached its peak, and sparks flew out, Lyra's scream of pleasure becoming just a gasp as her voice failed.

Lyra didn't open her eyes, but she knew that Bon Bon had pulled back. What did they just do? Should they have done that? Why didn't they think about it harder? Why did they let themselves do that?

Was this going to ruin their friendship fore-

There was a different sensation - a different assault - and Lyra opened her eyes to realize that Bon Bon had jumped her and was now squeezing her tightly. Her eyes saw this before her body recovered and felt it, but when she did, it became a beautiful, comforting feeling. In fact, she had never felt anything better in her life.

Lyra hugged Bon Bon back. They pulled each other in, settling into each other's coats, melting into each other's space, and sat there together. All the worries in the world fell away and disappeared, at least just for now. Neither of them knew who fell asleep first, but when they did, they stayed there through the night, and long into the morning, frozen in that one beautiful moment.

Some mares are really, really good friends. And sometimes, they can be a little bit more.