The time was 9:04PM. I looked down at my cutie mark and sighed. All month, I had been pondering the importance of a cutie mark. Not everypony had to have an accurate one, right? Take Derpy Hooves for example. Her cutie mark was bubbles, and the mare delivered the mail.
"Bon Bon, do you think I was really meant to be a lyrist?" I asked aloud, even though I knew Bon Bon couldn't hear me. "Maybe there's something I'm better at. My cutie mark could be wrong you know," I glanced at my lyre. It had been sitting in the corner for a month now, collecting dust. I hadn't touched it since the accident.
"You have a lovely talent. You're so sweet to everypony. Maybe that's why you have candy for a cutie mark. It has nothing to do with the sweet shop." I sighed again and closed my eyes, playing over lyre melodies in my head. The tunes were lovely, but I knew that there was something more I was destined to do.
An alarm rang and I shot up in horror. I must have dozed off. The clock read 7:53AM. I squinted against the sun streaming through the window. I had forgotten that Celestia's sun was brightest in Canterlot.
"You hate when I get you up early for no reason. I'm so sorry, Bon Bon," I used my magic to close the blinds and shut off the alarm before I faced Bon Bon's side of the bed. It smelled like sweet sugary candy, just like her mane. The accident burned in my mind again and I shut my eyes, waiting for the memories to leave me. They would be with me forever. The doctors at my therapy ward made sure they reminded me twice a week. I wouldn't be able to forget the accident, but I could make sure life went on as usual.
Easy for them to say. They weren't there. They didn't see what I had seen. They had no idea what it was like to be in the situation I was in. The clock read 7:58AM.
Sometime around Midnight, One Month Ago
"What time is it, Lyra?" Bon Bon asked cheerfully. We were walking home from my most recent concert. We had just left a few of our friends and the chilly Winter air gave me a good excuse to press up against my marefriend's side.
"It's around midnight," I replied. "Why?"
"There's a show on at one that I wanted to watch. It's about how they get the cider in the middle of those yummy chocolate-cider sweets!" Bon Bon's face lit up and I felt a smile forming.
"We can stop inside the bar and see if anypony has the time," I suggested. "If there's not enough time to get home, we can stop in your shop so you can watch it,"
"Thanks, Lyra! You're the greatest marefriend ever!" She nuzzled my cheek lightly and we sped up to a trot.
Present Day
The time was 8:03AM. I was walking down the streets of Canterlot to my therapy appointment. I missed our cozy house in Ponyville, even though neither of us had set hoof there for over a month. It was friendlier in Ponyville. Nopony there would judge me when I walked through the door of the therapy wards.
"Welcome back, Miss Heartstrings," the secretary said kindly. Her cherry-pink mane was in a high bun and her light blue coat gleamed as though it had been groomed recently.
"Hello, Cherry Note" I replied. "Is Doctor Whisp in today?" Doctor Whisp was my usual doctor. She was very kind, and she did try to help me get through the lasting trauma, but the poor mare just didn't understand.
"She'll see you in a moment," Cherry Note smiled. I returned the smile though it was only a half one. I hadn't managed a real smile in a month.
Around Midnight, One Month Ago
"Does anypony know what time it is?" I asked as Bon Bon and I approached the bar. A few large stallions laughed loudly at a joke, but other than that, nopony made a sound.
"Excuse me," Bon Bon hopped on a stool and leaned across to the bar-mare, a unicorn with cold grey eyes. "Do you happen to know what time it is?"
"Ye' gon' buy a drink?" The mare asked gruffly. Her coat was patched from years of not being groomed and her mane was a dank yellow.
"We just need to know the time," I said kindly.
"Ye' ain't buyin' a drink, ye' ain't gettin' any answers," the mare snapped.
"We'll have two glasses of your finest cider," Bon Bon pulled a few bits out of her saddle bag and placed them on the counter.
"All righ' then," the unicorn used her grey-colored magic to pour out two glasses of cider.
"May we have the time please?" Bon Bon asked as the mare scooped up the bits.
"Is just passing twelve-oh-five," she replied, glancing at the watch around her hoof. "We close 'bout twelve thirty. Ye' free to stay if ye' like,"
"We'll just have our drinks and get going," I said quickly. I took a sip of my cider and recoiled. If this was their finest, I would hate to try their worst.
"Wha's your name?" the bar-mare asked curiously. "I seen ye' around out n' about,"
"Lyra Heartstrings," I replied.
Present Day
"Lyra Heartstrings, the doctor will see you now," Cherry Note was saying. I shook my head and trotted to the door where Doctor Whisp was waiting. The unicorn smiled at me as I joined her.
"I was hoping you'd come back today," she beamed.
"I always come back." I lied.
"We missed you a few days ago,"
"I was busy." We stopped talking after that. Doctor Whisp pulled me into a room with a screen pulled down and a projector set up in the back.
"We're watching a film today," As if that wasn't obvious.
"What's it about?"
"Ponies like you," She shut off the lights and with a burst of pale yellow magic, the movie began. I cried for her to stop the film seconds after it had started. The images on screen were too real for me. The looks on everypony's face was like a horror movie.
"Lyra, what do you feel? You never tell me."
"Was that film supposed to make me?" I countered.
"You need to open up,"
"I feel useless!" I snapped. "A pony's cutie mark is supposed to define who they are. My cutie mark says nothing about me!"
"Your cutie mark is a lyre. You play the lyre very nicely. Your name even derives from the word 'lyre'. Is it not then true that your cutie mark says everything about you?"
"It says nothing about me. A cutie mark is supposed to be something that a pony loves to do, something a pony can do no matter what happens in life. If the lyre is my talent, why can't I look at mine anymore?,"
"You'll find your way back to it."
"There's more to me than just the lyre." I snapped. "I'm going to go home now."
"The session is not over."
"I don't care." I glared at my Doctor before turning around and leaving the office. I glanced at my watch. The time was 8:10AM. The cold winds bit at me angrily, but I pushed forward, back to the Canterlot home I shared with Bon Bon.
Around Midnight, One Month Ago
"Bon Bon, we need to go if you want to catch that program," I warned. Bon Bon giggled and rolled her eyes.
"Alright, let's go then. Bye, you guys!" Bon Bon said to the two stallions at the bar. "It was nice meeting you two!"
"You'll be needing a strong stallion to take you home," one of them said. He was large with the nastiest coat I had ever seen. A pure butterscotch color, but matted as though he hadn't washed since he was a foal.
"We'll manage," I said as kindly as I could. I didn't trust that stallion at all.
"Thank you though!" Bon Bon trilled. She was so sweet to everypony, no matter who they were. I smiled despite the situation. We braced ourselves for the chilly winds as we walked outside.
"We'll have to go to your shop if you want to watch that program," I noted. "It's almost one thirty,"
"If you had brought that watch I bought you, we could have gone home," Bon Bon teased.
"I forgot, but next time we're out, I'll bring it."
"It's okay, Lyra. I forgive you. The music you played today was beautiful," Bon Bon beamed.
"I'm not that talented," I looked down at my hooves.
"Are you kidding? Your talent is the reason I fell in love with you in the first place," I stopped in my tracks and faced my marefriend. She had never told me this before.
"My talent was what made you fall in love with me?"
"Yeah," Bon Bon smiled. "I came to a concert like this one and I saw you, lead lyrist, and I just fell in love."
"Well isn't that just sweet?"
Present Day
I stopped at the spot where it had all taken place. There was nothing there to mark what had happened. Of course, nopony knew what had happened. The only ponies that knew of the horrible event that had taken place on this street corner were me, Bon Bon, and the stallion that followed us home.
"Please come back, Bonnie," I whispered. "I miss you so much," Tears filled my eyes as I slouched to the ground.
Around Midnight, One Month ago
"Go away," I said strongly.
"I wasn't done with Bon Bon," the stallion said gruffly.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I have to get home." Bon Bon gave him a sweet smile. "Perhaps we can meet up some other time?"
"We're here now, ain't we?"
"I have to get home," Bon Bon nudged me lightly. "C'mon, Lyra, let's get going."
"Stay where you are!" The stallion's voice rang across the clearing and I tensed up. He was angry now. He stepped forward, but neither me nor Bon Bon had the sense to move. The stallion approached Bon Bon and grabbed her, slamming his hoof into my side in the process. I fell backwards, my ribs and hind leg throbbing angrily.
"Bon Bon!" I cried. I could see her struggling against the stallion as he forced her against the wall. I tried to get up, but my hind leg collapsed beneath me. "Let her go!"
"Lyra, I'm okay!" Bon Bon cried out in pain as soon as she finished speaking. Tears stung my eyes as I tried and failed to help my marefriend. The stallion yelped as Bon Bon sunk her teeth into his shoulder. My eyes went fuzzy as the pain in my ribs spread across my body, and I heard a sickening crunch, followed by a shout of pain from Bon Bon. I tried to call for help, but my voice was only growing weaker by the second. I could hear the stallion, but I could no longer hear Bon Bon.
"Bonnie," my voice was nothing more than a whisper now. "Have to save...Bon Bon..." My head began to throb and darkness engulfed me. I heard sirens and the echo of running hooves as I gave way to the dizzying blackness.
Around FourAM, One Month Ago
When I finally came to, I was in Canterlot hospital with a covered bed next to me. Nurses were frantically galloping around, delivering messages and checking machines. My head ached, my ribs were bound, and my hind leg was suspended in front of me.
"Where's Bon Bon?" I asked a passing doctor. He gave me a sympathetic look before hurrying off. There was a crowd around the covered bed, everypony speaking in a frantic whisper.
"...a severe crack in the skull, as though somepony rammed their hoof into it."
"Do you think it was the unicorn?"
"Can't have been. The poor thing was passed out when they got here."
"Did she make it?"
"The unicorn? She was still breathing. Her ribs are bruised and her hind leg is fractured, but she's alive. I'm afraid we can't say the same for this one. The damage on her skull suggests she was killed on contact,"
The words sunk in. I was alive, but Bon Bon was gone.
Present Day
I curled up on my bed in the Canterlot home and stared at my lyre. A month's worth of dust was coating it, and I wondered for the millionth time why that was my talent. If I hadn't been a lyre player, Bon Bon and I would have had no reason to leave Ponyville.
I glanced at the watch I was wearing. Bon Bon's last present to me. It was 9:22AM. I hated myself again for not wearing my watch that night. If it had been on, we wouldn't have stopped in that bar to find the time, and that stallion wouldn't have followed us.
"I came to a concert like this one and I saw you, lead lyrist, and I just fell in love." Bon Bon's voice echoed in my head. For the first time in a month, I walked to the corner where my lyre sat. Using a quick cleaning spell, I removed the dust. Once I grabbed my lyre, I felt happier than I had in such a long time. The instrument felt right in my hooves, and I strummed the strings lightly, taking pleasure in the airy tune. I played a few short warm up melodies, letting myself relax.
I played for nearly three hours without stopping. I must have played nearly forty pieces before I realized that the lyre was my talent. I needed the lyre like most ponies needed air. I smiled.
"You're right, Bon Bon. I am talented at the lyre. I hope that, wherever you are, you can hear this." I closed my eyes and began strumming the melody I had played in the concert that had led me to Bon Bon. I remembered the tune perfectly, my hooves flying across the lyre and plucking at strings. Before long, I was back in the zone, playing piece after piece. When I finally put my lyre down, it was almost two in the afternoon.
I glanced at my cutie mark and smiled. The lyre was my calling. Everypony knew it. Losing Bon Bon didn't change that I was
a natural lyre player. It just meant I had to rediscover my talent in a way I had never considered before. It wasn't just a hobby. It was my life. All this time I had thought that I was making Bon Bon happy by avoiding the lyre. Turns out, I was just hurting myself more than I needed to. Losing Bon Bon was the worst thing that could have happened to me, but losing the lyre wasn't just a loss. It was an ending.
One Year Later, Grand Galloping Gala
"I'd like to dedicate this next piece to somepony very special to me. She taught me that I would be nothing without my lyre. Bon Bon, this is for you." I began to strum the melody to the song that first made Bon Bon fall in love with me. Behind me, the Canterlot Orchestra played softly to accompany my lyre playing. When the piece was done, the crowd of ponies applauded lightly.
"The lyre playing was lovely," the cello player complimented. "I didn't think any ponies still played the lyre,"
"My marefriend helped me realize how much I loved it,"
"Is she here today? I would love to meet her." The cellist smiled warmly.
"I'm afraid she...passed away about a year ago,"
"I'm so sorry," The grey mare looked sorry, her expression falling. "I know how terrible I would feel if I were to lose my marefriend," the mare looked over her shoulder to a white unicorn with an electric blue mane. "She means the world to me,"
"I know what you mean. Bon Bon meant everything to me. She still does, and I make sure to play her song every time I preform."
"It's a beautiful piece." her compliment sent a wave of warmth through me. When I had started preforming again, I had found comfort in the stage. Now, I found comfort in other musicians. I never forgot to play Bon Bon's piece.
Eventually, I returned to Ponyville and began playing my lyre at the fountain. Some ponies dropped a few bits at my feet. Others just stopped to listen. Every day, I would play Bon Bon's song. When I returned home, I would wash my mane and go to bed. I had returned to a normal lifestyle, something I had once thought impossible. I still missed Bon Bon, but allowing myself to play my lyre made everything easier.
"Good night, Bonnie," I whispered as my eyelids drooped. The last thing I saw before I fell asleep was my watch. The time was 10:20PM.
