The Swarm

Lyra laid in bed and groaned as Bon Bon and Liza watched her as Bon Bon set down a bowl of soup next to the unicorn.

“Achoo!” Lyra sneezed and wiped her nose with a tissue. “You don’t gotta be here Bons.”

“Meh. You’d do the same for me,” Bon Bon scoffed and wiped Lyra’s forehead with a wet towel. “You’re sick. Pretty high fever too. About a hundred.”

“Joy,” Lyra grumbled and glanced at Liza. “Go to your room Liza. I don’t want you sick.”

“Okay mom,” Liza leaned up and nuzzled her. The two other mares watched her leave and Lyra stretched out on her large bed as Lyra nuzzled into the mint green comforter with her cutie mark emblazoned on the side.

“Cold,” Lyra muttered and Bon Bon draped another blanket over top of her. “Thanks Bon Bon.”

“Anytime. You’re not the only one who’s sick. Caramel got sick the other day, Cheerilee, Holly Dash, Rumble, Button, Thunderlane, Open Skies, Sunset. A few others. All the same symptoms as you. The flu will pass. It is the season, after all,” Bon Bon commented and pushed her pinl curl out of her eyes. “Eat.”

Lyra picked up the bowl with a hoof and Bon Bon settled down on the floor with her tail wrapped around her, idly watching Lyra.

“What is this?” Lyra asked warily and eyed the soup, stirring her spoon around.

“Tomato soup. I made it myself. It’s my mom’s recipe,” Bon Bon answered and winced slightly. She didn’t really get along with her parents and wasn’t entirely fond of mentioning them.

“Oh okay.”

Lyra silently tasted the soup before nodding and Bon Bon smiled slightly.

“I’m surprised you don’t have more friends. Remember how we met?” Lyra asked and Bon Bon nodded. “At Sunset’s party when she first moved here. Before Nightmare Moon returned. You were sitting in a corner alone with a box of chocolates. You looked so uncomfortable being surrounded by so many ponies you didn’t know.”

“I was. You know my cutie mark?” Bon Bon jabbed a hoof at her flank and namesake as Lyra nodded slightly as she started drinking her soup. “I bake because it’s my cutie mark, but also because baking is fair. Follow the recipe, you get a bon bon. Screw the recipe up, you don’t get a bon bon. It’s clear, precise. To the point. It not complicated. Ponies are.”

“I suppose.”

“I shouldn’t be talking about this. You’re sick,” Bon Bon stood to leave. “I’m sorry. I’ll go check on Liza and make sure she’s okay before going.”

“Stay.”

Bon Bon paused and looked back as Lyra patted the bed.

“Sorry?”

“Stay,” Lyra repeated and turned pink. “My bed is big enough for two. You’re my best friend. And well, I don’t wanna sleep alone.”

“We shouldn’t,” Bon Bon shifted anxiously on her hooves and crossed them. “It’s weird. Isn’t it? My dad always told me two mares sharing a bed was unnatural.”

“Not really. Surely your mom slept with you when you were a filly?” Lyra asked with a yawn and Bon Bon nodded after a moment. “Bed?”

“Sure.”

Fluttershy trotted down the street with her pet ball thing on her back. She didn’t necessarily know what it was, but she knew it was cute and that’s all that really mattered to her.

“You doing good back there, Fluffles?” Fluttershy asked and it bounced with a smile. “Good.”

“Hey, what is that?” Apple Bloom asked as some ponies crowded around Fluttershy.

“Uhm,” Fluttershy looked around nervously at the three balls on her back. “Uhmm what?”

“It’s cute. Can I have one?” A mare asked and some others chimed in their agreement.

“I uhm don’t know?” Fluttershy asked weakly as she looked around anxiously for a way out. Ponies weren’t her strong suit, animals and other creatures were.

“It’s a parasprite!” Pinkie screamed from the crowd as she galloped past with a trombone she had borrowed from Lyra. Or well, would have borrowed if Lyra was awake. Pinkie planned on returning it later after she was done.

“What in Equestria is a parasprite?” A stallion wondered aloud and Fluttershy saw her chance. She inhaled and shoved the parasprites into her mane, taking off into the sky. “Woah.”

“Where’s she going?”

The crowd grumbled to themselves and slowly dispersed.

Silverspeed hovered a few inches above the ground as she and Roseluck kept moving forward to the center of Ponyville where Berry Punch and Carrot Top were at apparently according to Derpy.

It had been a silent walk, the two occasionally glaring at each other and quickly looking away.

“I know you’re mad at me,” Roseluck broke the silence and looked at Silverspeed out of the corner of her eye. “You’re bad at hiding it.”

“Maybe I’m not trying to hide it,” Silverspeed retorted with a frown and her purple eyes narrowed slightly. “You betrayed me. You didn’t even talk to me and the others. Instead, you just went ahead and told everypony we were going to screw them over. You didn’t even let us come up with a solution.”

“Not like any of you would have listened,” Roseluck grumbled and Silverspeed gave her a incredulous look.

“You didn’t even try!”

“I didn’t think you would care enough to listen,” Roseluck answered sheepishly and curled her mane around her hoof. “I mean, why would you? I’m the youngest out of us all. Nopony cares about my opinion or little old Roseluck.”

“You seriously think that?”

“I said it, didn’t I?” Roseluck snapped and rolled her eyes as she shifted her posture slightly to glare up at Silverspeed. “Nopony cares what the eighteen year old has to think ever. Why would you all start caring now?” Silverspeed stared at Roseluck with wide eyes.

“Why in Equestria do you think we never cared about your opinion? I have always listened to you,” Silverspeed dropped down on the ground and folded her wings onto her side and tilted her head.

“Oh puh lease,” Roseluck scoffed and trotted in a slow circle around the pegasus, Silverspeed turning with her to maintain eye contact. “We never do what I want to do. When our group gets together, it’s always Trixie deciding or you. Nopony ever let’s me decide where we go to eat or what movies we see. It’s always what you all want instead of me.”

Roseluck pushed her hoof into Silverspeeds chest and the mare barely moved as she looked down at Roseluck.

“See? Even with me being an earth pony, I can’t move you. I’m just not strong enough. I’m never be good enough of an earth pony like Shoeshine is,” Roseluck grumbled and kicked some dirt as Silverspeed opened her mouth. “Save it. We’re here.”

Silverspeed closed her mouth and sighed, cracking her neck. She always hated whenever she wasn’t allowed to speak.

Silverspeed and Roseluck stared in confusion at the banner. In red paint it read, “Welcome Princess Celest.”

“How do ya like it?” Berry asked proudly as she and Carrot Top gestured at it. “Come on.”

“Uh where’s the rest of her name?” Silverspeed asked and they both looked at it before shrugging.

“Oh, we ran out of space. We couldn’t fit it all in,” Carrot Top explained sheepishly and rubbed her mane with a hoof as Roseluck snickered. “What?”

“That’s what she said,” Roseluck answered and giggled as Silverspeed rolled her eyes with a faint smile and Berry laughed as Carrot groaned. “Trixie would definitely have said that if she was here.”

“I hate that you’re right,” Carrot grumbled as Roseluck and Berry kept laughing and Silverspeed bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and she spit out the crimson liquid onto the ground.

“Here,” Silverspeed tossed them some bits. “Go get a bigger banner and redo it please. And Carrot Top?”

“What?”

“Make sure you can fit it all in,” Silverspeed commented and winked as Roseluck laughed again.

Silverspeed grinned slightly at Roseluck and nodded. She wasn’t as good as Trixie at making ponies laugh not by a long shot, but she did her best.