Two Mares on a Bench
By Alaborn
Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein.
Shoeshine trotted through the crowd of happy ponies. It was the weekend, and ponies were engaged in various diversions, shopping, or just talking. Avoiding a pegasus intently focused on bouncing a ball on her head, she spotted a friend sitting oddly on a bench. She sat down normally on the other side of the bench, leaving a half pony length between herself and the other mare.
“Hi, Lyra,” she said.
“Hi, Shoeshine,” Lyra replied.
“Been here a while?”
“Yeah, an hour, maybe. I’m not sure.”
There was an awkward pause. “How are things?” Shoeshine asked hesitantly.
“Not good,” Lyra admitted. “The doctors knitted the bones in my left foreleg, but they say there’s severe nerve damage. Even just resting my hoof on the bench feels like sticking my leg into molten lava.”
“Oh,” Shoeshine replied.
“The doctors are hopeful the pain will lessen with time, but nothing’s certain. I can use a pain reducing spell, but it’s not a good long-term solution.”
Again, there was silence on the bench.
“I don’t want you to feel afraid to talk about this,” Lyra said. “You’re my friend, Shoeshine, and as bad as the accident was, it’s a part of my history. It’s a part of what I am now.”
“But what you are, I don’t want to….”
“Please, Shoeshine, you can say it,” implored Lyra.
“It would be terrible if the accident leaves you….” Shoeshine couldn’t continue.
“Lame,” Lyra said. Shoeshine looked at her, shocked. “Yes, if the damage is permanent, I will end up lame. I have hope, but… but if things don’t improve….” She squared her jaw. “I won’t let it define me.”
“Is there any hope?” Shoeshine asked.
“It’s beyond what normal healing magic can do,” Lyra said. “Twilight Sparkle is searching for a more powerful spell in her spare time. If it exists, I’m sure she’ll find it. In the meantime, there’s the painkilling spell, but again, it’s not good as a long-term solution.”
Lyra and Shoeshine looked around as the crowd started murmuring. Twilight Sparkle was standing on the bridge, making an announcement. Although she was too far away, the crowd soon carried the news. The smoke that was beginning to coat the sky was caused by a dragon in the mountains.
In the distance, the heroes of Ponyville gathered. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy quickly met up with Twilight Sparkle on the bridge. “I bet all six of them are going to deal with the dragon,” Shoeshine commented.
Lyra nodded. “It’s great that we have such brave ponies in town. They do so much. They face the gravest threats, while still finding time to help everypony in Ponyville. I mean, I barely spoke to Twilight Sparkle while we both attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, yet she’s willing to research forgotten magic for me.”
“It is something special,” Shoeshine agreed. “So why did you come out today?” she asked. “Shouldn’t you be staying home, resting?”
“I’ve BEEN resting. I’ve spent days in bed. I couldn’t stand it anymore. So I cast the painkilling spell and hobbled the short distance to this bench. I just had to get some fresh air.” Lyra looked at the growing cloud of smoke covering Ponyville. “I have really bad timing, don’t I?”
“Well, I don’t smell the smoke yet, so the air’s still fresh,” Shoeshine said. She looked at the mountain’s peak. “Look! You can see where the smoke is coming from!” She turned and lifted her hoof to point, but bumped Lyra’s injured foreleg.
Lyra hissed and shut her eyes tight. It was all she could do to not scream as searing pain shot up her foreleg. Shoeshine gasped, and started to apologize, but Lyra waved her off with her good foreleg. She concentrated, the glow from her horn soon encapsulating her injured foreleg. As the glow subsided, Lyra finally exhaled.
“Are you okay?” Shoeshine finally asked. She realized she had been holding her own breath while her friend was fighting the pain.
Lyra stared at the horizon and giggled. She kept giggling.
“Um, are you okay?” Shoeshine’s voice reflected a different kind of concern.
“Whoa,” Lyra whispered, still staring off in the distance. She looked to her left, appearing surprised to see somepony sitting next to her. “Yeah. Whoa. This spell really knocks you for a loop, you know?”
“Are you going to be okay? Do you need help getting home?”
“I just need to rest… yeah. A half hour. My head will stop spinning.”
“I can see why that spell isn’t a long term solution,” Shoeshine commented.
Lyra giggled again. “I must look so ridiculous, sitting here like this. What if somepony saw me?”
“But everypony knows about the accident, Lyra.” Shoeshine motioned to the ponies around them. With Twilight Sparkle now gone, they talked and walked, none paying the two mares on the bench any attention.
“No, like… like somepony else. Somepony who doesn’t know why I’m sitting like… like….”
“A diamond dog?” Shoeshine suggested.
“Yeah, like a diamond dog. What would they think?” Lyra wondered.
“That it’s a little unusual?” Shoeshine said.
“Look, that mare was raised by diamond dogs! Or she’s part diamond dog! Or she’s fascinated by diamond dogs!” Lyra spouted. “Just think of the stories!”
“What stories?” Shoeshine asked.
Lyra was lost in her own spell-addled mind. “Somepony comes to town to write about the Elements of Harmony. Then she sees us sitting on this bench, and says, ‘What’s their story?’”
“Wouldn’t the writer, you know, talk to us?” Shoeshine said.
“No time! It’s like, like, days later, she’s writing about Twilight Sparkle, but she finds she can’t forget our image! Just this one image, seared into her mind!”
“I don’t think that’s likely,” Shoeshine countered.
“Or, wait, what if… what if, there’s a kind of pony that already walks on two legs, and they see me? They’d sit like this, right? They’d think I’m one of them!”
Shoeshine rose and hopped off the bench. She looked at her friend with concern. “Lyra, I think we all need to get inside, before the smoke makes it too dark to see. Let me help you home.”
Lyra raised her good foreleg into the air. “Two legs! Two legs good! And instead of forelegs, there’d be, ahh….”
Shoeshine placed her foreleg behind Lyra’s back and gently helped her off the bench.
Two weeks later, Shoeshine found a letter from Lyra in her mailbox. She didn’t even bother going back inside before tearing open the letter and reading.
Dear Shoeshine,
I hope the fall season is treating you well. I’m happy to say that Twilight Sparkle came through in a big way. And I don’t mean with the dragon. That mare is incredible. It wasn’t that she found a lost healing spell. No, she took elements from a half dozen healing spells and combined them into a new spell that healed my foreleg. Whereas before I couldn’t place it on a pillow without causing radiating pain, now I can walk without even a little soreness.
I’d also like to apologize if I said anything that made you feel weird. The painkilling spell I had to use following the accident made me funny in the head for a short time every time I cast it. I said and thought a lot of bizarre things while injured. I’m not entirely certain, but I think I talked to you on a bench one day. I don’t remember much clearly, but I do remember you saying I should have rested at home. You were right. I stubbornly thought I could go outside, maybe act normally. All I did was risk my own health and my friendship with many ponies. Again, I’m sorry.
Now that I’m back to full health, I’d love to talk again. I have so many friends I didn’t get to see while I was injured. Maybe I’ll go out for pie. And look for me on a bench one day. When you find me, I’ll be proudly sitting like a pony.
Your friend,
Lyra Heartstrings
