//------------------------------// // Chapter 46 // Story: Raindrops' Wrap Up // by Arkensaw Pinkerton //------------------------------// "Actually," you say, and you almost kick yourself as you do, "I do have to get back to something. Can I just give you the book now and get going?" "Sure thing," Spike shrugs. You slide the book out of your saddlebags and hoof it over to the dragon. As you do, you feel a strange sliding sensation across your face and your mane shivers a little. Weird. "I'll let Twilight know you dropped it off, uh..." "Raindrops." "Alright, no problem. See you later, Raindrops!" Spike wrestles the tome into the library, and kicks the door shut. Now it's just you and the crying unicorn you've decided to try and get to stop crying. Why did you think that was a good idea again? Oh, yeah, because you'd feel like a real heel if you left her on her own. You sigh, resign yourself to the inevitable emotional train wreck and walk over to her. As you get closer, you can see that she's been crying really hard- her nose is red where you can see it stick out from underneath her mane, and she's got that tired shake in her shoulders that you get when you should have finished crying a long time ago. "Hello?" you ask as you get closer, and she doesn't respond at all. Okay, a little louder this time. "Hello there? I'm Raindrops. What's your name?" you say, and your voice sounds really loud. Ugh. "'mlura", she mumbles. Ack, you didn't hear that properly! Amlura or Amlara, you think you heard, but those aren't names. Augh, you're going to have to ask again! "Sorry, I didn't quite hear that. Could you say it again?" you ask, through gritted teeth. "Lyra. My name's Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings." Whoa, that last word was sharp. You might have stepped on a nerve there. Maybe you should- "You didn't know I was Lyra Heartstrings, did you? I mean, why would you? I mean, why would she tell her family about me, huh? Who'd want their cousin or their sister or whatever you are to know about their failure fiancee when they never really loved- when she was never going to-" she takes a deep breath and looks up at you with big, orange eyes. She'd be very pretty, you realise, if she didn't look like she'd spent the last half hour crying. Which she probably has. "Whu-we were supposed to b-be looking at houses today and I was su-supposed to be Lyra Drops and Bon Bon never even told you about muh-me." Her bottom lip quivers as she speaks. You've really got to tell her. "I don't know a Bon Bon," you say as softly as you can manage. You really mean it, too. "It's muh-my name for her. For Sweetie Drops." she says, dropping her head again so her hair hides her face. Ah, you think you know what's happened here- it's happened before, with a mare called Lemon Drop. Ponies thought you were related for about a week and a half. As it is, you don't know a Sweetie Drops, or a Bon Bon, or whoever Lyra's been seeing. "I don't know a Sweetie Drops either," you explain. "I'm not Rain Drops- I'm just Raindrops, all one name." "Oh," she says. Her voice is a little creaky. "That makes sense. I'm sorry I yelled at you." She looks up again, and sighs. "I'm being stupid, Raindrops. Stupid and selfish and useless. It's Winter Wrap Up, right? I should do something." She slides to her hooves. "Would you come and hang out with me today? I don't want to spend time with my friends. They'll just want to talk about everything and I'm tired of getting upset." Well, you got her to stop crying at least. What now? Please put requests for Raindrops' actions in the comments below! To go back a step, Click here for Chapter 20.