Sweet Strings

The young mare with a pink and indigo mane was having a delightful morning of sipping on a peppermint shake before she overheard voices from the table to her left. Two pastel colored ponies were snickering behind their hooves under the striped bistro awning, though their hooves did nothing to obscure their gossiping voices.

"Oh yeah," said an orange mare, "She does that all the time. I don't get it!"

The other mare, a yellow pegasus, shot the subject of their scrutiny a worried glance before commenting, "Do you think she's alright? You know, mentally? I mean she seems much more functional than that mail-carrier pegasus. But what else could make her willingly sit that way?"

The orange pony shrugged before taking a sip of her own milkshake. She then leaned in close to her tablemate to say "I've seen that pony try to walk using only her back hooves. Something about her is just a little too unnatural for my tastes."

The yellow mare nodded in agreement. It was then that the mare listening in on the conversation realized that she recognized one of the gossipers. The yellow one--Parasol. Her stomach gurgled as if to agree with the thoughts in her head; "I know. I expected better of Parasol too. There's nothing worse than a shameless gossip." The cream colored earth pony puckered her lips around her straw and drank deeply, almost worried that if her stomach continued to "talk" to her, she draw attention to herself, informing Parasol of the fact that she was listening to her conversation. She turned her head to eye the pony that was the apparent victim to new rumors.

She was a pretty young mare without a doubt--her beautiful harp cutie mark looking pristine and elegant against the backdrop of her minty colored coat. A lovely horn peaked out from beneath her sideswept bangs, which were a lovely pistachio color with a few clean, white streaks. Absolutely stunning. Though she had to admit, the way that she was sitting on the park bench was a bit strange. She had seen ponies doing stranger things before, though.

Conversation about the mint pony once again sparked up between the Parasol and her companion, and the creamy pony could see that the pony on the park bench was flattening her ears, trying to bury herself in the book in her hooves. The timing of her facial expressions was in sync with the remarks that she must have overheard. Obviously those two mares weren't speaking as quietly as they thought they were. Or perhaps they were being unmindfully catty. But the caring cream pony simply had to do something. She abandoned her table momentarily and trotted across the narrow street to the park bench.

"WELL HAY, THERE!" she squealed at the mint pony, whose posture stiffened, and her eyes narrowed in either suspicion or fright. "LONG TIME NO SEE!" the cream pony continued, throwing her front legs up in the air. "Just go with it," she muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

The mint pony's expression brightened, and she stood up to throw her own front legs around the pony who had approached her, embracing her as if she were a dear old friend. "WOW, she responded loudly, "SMALL WORLD, ISN'T IT?"

The cream colored pony grinned. "YEAH! HEY, WHY DON'T YOU JOIN ME FOR A SHAKE? MY TREAT!"

"I'D BE DELIGHTED!"

The two complete strangers strode happily to the table that the cream pony was previously seated at, waving the waiter over. "Put whatever she's getting on my bill," the cream pony said. The waiter nodded and disappeared into the front door of the bistro before taking the harp pony's order of a strawberry shake. The cream pony was still beaming at her. She hadn't realized how alone she had been feeling lately until then. It had been a while since she was in the company of somepony so pretty. She blinked a few times to wipe the stars out of her eyes. Business first, friend-making later. She needed to retaliate against the two mares who had made this poor unicorn feel so alienated and unwelcome. To the cream pony's delight, the gossipy ponies had stopped chatting completely as soon as the cream pony brought the mint unicorn to her table. They had to be listening by now. The perfect conditions for her plan had been set up.

"Oh gosh, don't look now," said the cream pony behind her hoof, speaking a little bit louder than necessary, "But it's my old classmate Parasol." The mint unicorn tossed a glance over her shoulder. "I said don't look!" They both giggled, and the cream pony could see Parasol's ears perk up at the mention of her name. The cream pony leaned in closer to the unicorn, but did not lower her voice before saying "I saw her at Thrifty Mare earlier this week. She donated at least six gowns that poor Rarity had SLAVED over for her. Can you imagine how crushed Rarity would be if she found out that her beautiful clothes were dumped off in a THRIFT SHOP like common rags? The nerve of some ponies."

Parasol scoffed loudly and slammed a couple bits on her table to cover for her shake before stomping away in anger. Her friend followed suit, flipping her mane and holding her head up high.

The two remaining ponies bit their lips for a few seconds to give the huffy ponies time to distance themselves before they burst into laughter.

"You really didn't have to do that for me," the mint pony said, remnants of laughter still reverberating through her voice.

The cream pony, still smiling, said "I know, but I can't stand seeing a pretty little filly like you look so upset."

The mint pony snorted. "Filly? Dang, you buy me a shake, defend my honor, and now I get a pet name? How much more sweet talking are you going use to ask me out on a second date?"

The cream pony's heart fluttered at the possibility of this odd encounter turning out to be a date. She never had one of those before, especially not with another mare. She had considered the fact that she may be attracted to only females before, but she never really acted upon those suspicions for fear of being rejected. Or hurt. She was determined to keep playing it cool, however.

"Well, sweet talking IS kind of my thing," she said. She then turned around to present her flank to the mint unicorn. Her ivory fur was marked with an image of three little candies. "The name's Bon Bon, by the way."

"And I'm Lyra Heartstrings," the mint pony replied. She turned to present her own cutie mark to Bon Bon.

"Oh!" Bon Bon exclaimed. "So that's a lyre rather than a harp, right?"

Lyra chuckled. "Well yeah!"

"What's even the difference?"

"Don't know that much about musical instruments, do ya?" Lyra stuck out her tongue.

The banter between the two was interrupted by the arrival of Lyra's strawberry milkshake, followed by an apology from the waiter for making them wait for so long.
"It's no trouble," Lyra replied cheerfully, "I had such wonderful company to keep me occupied that I nearly forgot I even ordered anything."

The waiter smiled and turned to pick the bits off the abandoned table, and for a moment Bon Bon considered how odd their introductions to one another must have looked to an onlooker. Most ponies shake hooves rather than flanks when they exchange names for the first time, after all!

"So are you new to Ponyville?" Bon Bon inquired. "I can't say that I remember ever seeing you around. And I'm sure that I would remember a face like yours if I ever saw it."

Lyra nodded. "I just got my Bachelor in music therapy from Manehattan University. I moved down here a week or so ago in hopes of scoring a job at the psychotherapy office in town. My mother knows Doctor Redheart, so hopefully Ponyville is a place where knowing other ponies can get you somewhere."
Bon Bon grinned at the mention of the caring therapist pony. "Hey, I know Doctor Redheart too! I see her every Wednesday. I'll make sure that she hears good things about you," she said with a conspiring wink. "Who knows? Maybe soon you'll take over her position someday as the head psychotherapist. I hear that she's been studying in at nursing school for a few months now. She might change careers. That pony cares so much about helping others, it's almost unreal."

Lyra nodded in agreement. "Mom said pretty wonderful things about her. Though I don't think I'd be able to swipe her job from her like that. There are other ponies there who are probably much more qualified than I am."

"You never know. I think you'd be wonderful. Though my opinion may be slightly biased because I'm imagining how much better I'd feel every week after talking to such an attractive mare for forty five minutes."

Lyra sipped her milkshake. "I think I'd be lucky to have a patient as sweet and pretty as you." A sparkle of mischief twinkled in her amber eyes as she said "Who knows? If you play your cards right, you may be able to see me more than once a week for forty five minutes." That statement caused a deep red color to flush across Bon Bon's ivory cheeks.

"Oh yeah?" she replied, her voice changing a half step up in pitch as she tried to swallow her excitement. "When would you say our next appointment will be?"

Lyra put her chin to her hoof, making an exaggerated "let me think about it" gesture. "How does tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock sound? We can meet up at Sugarcube Corner if that's alright with you."

"Sugarcube Corner sounds lovely, doll. I'll be there bright and early." Bon Bon could feel her face radiating warmth from the prospect of spending time with someone so delightful.

The pair spent a good two hours chatting over melted milkshakes. Both of their cheek muscles had grown weary from laughing together as they shared stories and flirtatious jokes. But eventually Lyra said, "Well, I hate to cut our date short, but I need to go home and wash some laundry."

Bon Bon beamed at the other pony. "Date?"

"Yeah," Lyra replied, securing a buckle on her saddlebag. "I guess this means that we're marefriends now." Then, before turning to walk down the street and part ways with the earth pony, Lyra planted a quick but sweet kiss on Bon Bon's cheek.

Bon Bon, in her haze of sovereign happiness, tipped the waiter twenty bits before leaving the bistro.