Lyra dreamt of the hands, always the hands, and the same dream for as long as she could remember. Even when she was in canterlot for the wedding, the dreams followed her. Regardless she levitated a quill with her unicorn magic, pulled out the leather-bound book from her bedside table and began to write.
I Dreamt of the hands again, always the same, it has to mean something right?
I sit at a table and look first at a picture of a strange being, it looks tall and has
only a small patch of hair atop its head, it's smiling and it looks like a female.
Then I put the picture down and stare at the hands, I try to look away but I can't.
I must admit the hands have a certain allure to them, how the long digits appear
so soft and gentle. But then I start looking to the left hand side of the table. And
that's it, I always wake up right at that part, maybe it's something I’m not meant
to see yet, or even see at all.
With her entry in her dream journal complete, Lyra redirected her attention to the sleeping mare beside her. Bon Bon's mane looked so cute all messed up; Lyra smiled and left the room to make breakfast for the pair. As she trotted down the stairs she started humming to herself, no tune in particular, just humming. She decided on a simple sandwich for herself and went on to make something a little more elaborate for Bon Bon's more demanding taste buds.
Just as Lyra finished up Bon Bon's eggs and bread with jam, Bon Bon lazily made her way into the kitchen.
"Morning, sleepy head.” Lyra chirped.
Bon Bon cracked a smile at the sight of the breakfast,
"you shouldn't have." she said mockingly.
"I didn't." Lyra said simply as she sat in front of Bon Bon's eggs.
Lyra lifted up a slice of the bread and took a small bite of it playing the charade just a bit further before she couldn’t hold in her laughter. Bon-Bon mocked being hurt, but it was short lived as she joined in Lyra’s laughter.
“I think I’ll have to go to Canterlot today.” Bon Bon said as she lifted a hoof to her forehead.
“why? Is something wrong?” Lyra hurried to Bon Bon’s side.
“I feel sick.” Bon Bon said.
“Sick enough to buy a train ticket and go all the way- “Lyra started but was interrupted by Bon Bon having a coughing fit.
“Okay maybe you should, I’ll go into town and buy some groceries so when you come home I can make us a real fancy dinner.” Lyra decided
"I will make this day perfect." Lyra thought to herself.
The rest of Lyra's day was almost, perfect. She managed to score some great deals at the market place; saw some of her closest friends like moondancer and June-bug. But after a few hours out in town, she was ready to go home and have a quiet evening, maybe practicing some music on her lyre; it was her special talent after all, as she briskly trotted down the trail back to her home she thought of when she got her cutie mark.
Lyra galloped down the path through Ponyville, the frustrated cries of her mother assaulting her eardrums, she didn’t care right now, how her mother thought she could care when she was being so unfair eluded Lyra. She knew exactly where she was running to and getting there was the only thing she cared about for now. She rounded the corner of the street and ran as hard as her small legs could carry her to the house at the end of the street, her sweat started to sting her eyes but she kept going forwards, she had to. Suddenly she smashed into a stand selling cabbages. She thought she could hear the stallion mumbling something along the lines of “no better than ba sing sa”, but Lyra didn’t have time to hear his complaints. She shook her head and started off towards the house once more; she got to the steps and slowly trotted up them to the door. Finally allowing herself to rest after knocking 4 times in a little tune as she had done so many, many times before. As her long time best friend Bon bon opened the door, Lyra threw her hooves around her and embraced her in tight hug. Bon Bon had asked her what was up but Lyra just kept holding her there, Bon bon not wanting to upset her friend hugged her back for what seemed like hours. Then Lyra’s mom arrived at the house and slowly separated the two fillies. Lyra turned around to face her mother with anger and sadness mixed in her eyes, “Lyra please don’t look at me like, if there was any other option I would take it but there just isn’t we’re moving to Canterlot. But at least you got to say goodbye to your little friend right? “Lyra’s mother pleaded, trying to brighten her daughter’s mood. She didn’t know how she was going to explain Lyra’s uncle’s death to her if just moving away from her friends got her so upset.
Lyra noticed it starting to get darker already so she increased her pace to a light gallop through the town, thinking about so many things at once, like how she must look like that ridiculous stallion with the hourglass cutie mark who as always running around like the world was about to end. And Lyra also thought about her mother telling her of her uncles’ death when she was little and the lyre he had left her.
Lyra had been taking lessons to play her uncle’s lyre for 2 weeks now and had learned some pretty neat songs. But despite that she always played the same 4 beat rhythm over and over that had been pounding through her head ever since she left Ponyville the month prior. It reminded her of Bon Bon and was an inspiration to take such a simple 4 beat pattern and flesh it out into a full on song. The first time she played that song she looked down to her flank and saw the mark, her cutie mark. She didn’t freak out as so many fillies did; she just smiled and whispered her thanks to Bon Bon.
Lyra opened her front door and as soon as she went inside her home it finally hit her just how tired she was. But when she turned around she saw Bon Bon standing in the middle of their living room.
“Shouldn’t you be in Canterlot by now?” Lyra said with a dumbfounded look on her face.
Bon Bon opened her mouth like she was about to respond but then she collapsed onto the floor with a thud.
the one with 400 words of filler
Lyra awoke in a cold sweat, instantly alert; her horn emitted a soft, aqua blue glow illuminating the dark living room where she laid on the couch. Seeing that nothing was out of place, she slowly made her way up the steps and into the room where Bon-Bon still lay unconscious, she had been out for nearly thirteen hours now. Lyra hadn't left the house since Bon-Bon had fainted, but after she wrote in her dream journal about the hands she was off to go talk to Moondancer at Sugar cube Corner about getting train tickets to canterlot, but first she grabbed a quill and began writing a note.
Bon-Bon woke up from her slumber and noticed a strange note on the bedside table. She picked it up and tried to read it, after focusing for almost two minutes the words began to make sense.
Hey Bon, if you’re reading this it must mean you’re up. I didn't want you to panic if you woke up while I was out. I just went down to Sugar Cube Corner to talk to Moon for a bit about train tickets and stuff. If all goes well I’ll be back in two or three hours
Lyra
Bon-Bon could feel anger and fury building in her. She swept the note onto the floor with her tail, stepping on it as she charged out the door after Lyra.
Lyra trotted into Sugar Cube Corner with a smile on her face and scanned the room looking for moondancer. Once she spotted her she made her way up to the front counter to buy them something to snack on whilst they spoke. The pink pony behind the counter was none other than Pinkie Pie, one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. But also very likely the most eccentric pony in equistria, Lyra didn't mind talking to her. At least not for long anyway.
As Lyra strolled up to the counter she could visibly see the pink party ponies smile growing with anticipation. Just as Lyra opened her mouth to speak, Pinkie Pie ducked down behind the counter. As Lyra peered over the edge, half scared to see what was going to jump out at her, the mare in question tapped her from behind.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Lyra screamed as Pinkie now rolled on the floor of the bakery laughing, gaining quite a few glances over before they realized who was causing the fracas. As Lyra regained her composer, Pinkie went back around the counter.
"Oh sorry Lyra didn't mean to startle you" Pinkie giggled before taking on a serious look.
" Welcome to Sugar Cube corner, home of most delicious baked goods this side of canterlot, what can I get for you?" she spoke in an almost automated voice before reverting to her... normal behaviour. Lyra had been so distracted she forgot what she came up to buy, slightly frazzled she made her way back to her table with moondancer.
"Oh, okay then, one nothing coming right up! I can help the next pony in line in just a minute while I make this nothing!"
Lyra took her place across the table from her friend; she had known Moon pretty much as long as she had known Bon Bon. Moondancer looked like she was trying to hold in a burst of laughter at the scene she had just witness play out.
" this is serious Moon, I want you to come to Canterlot with me to go take Bon to the hospital."
"The hospital!? What for?"
"I don’t really know, I came home and she just collapsed."
"What’s wrong with her?"
" I told you I don’t know, but when I -" Lyra was interrupted by a screaming Pinkie Pie jumping up in the middle of the bakery.
" EVERYPONY OUT! “she shouted.
Ponies began mumbling amongst themselves unsure of whether or not the order had any reason to be followed through.
“HURRY!” the pink party pony screamed again.
Now the ponies began filing out of the sweet shop, as the last ponies left Pinkie flipped the sign out front to the “closed” side. Pinkie bounced to the kitchen in the back of the store.
“Okay now I just need to go down to the train station and…wait I can’t do that yet. I still need to be asked where I’m going.”
Pinkie Pie scratched the back of her head in thought.
“Hmmmmmm.”
Now she was impatient, she left the store and started running down the street. She passed by Doctor Whooves running in the opposite direction with his head scanning the ground mumbling something about pockets and how he always dropped his sonic. Then she came to the train station where the ticket seller was sitting with an extremely bored look on his face. She dumped almost twice as many bits as she needed and grabbed a ticket.
“When somepony asks if you've seen me, tell them I went to buy ingredients for a nothing. I'm making one for Lyra and I want to get the good fabrics from canterlot to wrap the dirty salmon in.”
She climbed into the train and wished her party cannon weren't broken, and then she could get to Canterlot so much sooner. Pinkie sat near the caboose of the train, but about halfway through he said something about being late for church and ran ahead, presumably to the conductor. Pinkie hummed a song. Got up and paced around the cart she was in for a while, then sat back down and closed her eyes to sleep.
“Still not a thousand words, sorry Dave.” She muttered as she drifted off to dream land.
