Downtown Ponyville – Outdoor Cafe Patio – Midday
After taking a dainty sip, Octavia placed the teacup down and smiled across the table. "Well, Bon Bon, my dear, have you ever considered that you give the silly filly far too much leeway?"
Bon Bon sighed, slumped back in her chair. "She's not a child, Octavia," the mare muttered. "She's an adult equine being like you and me. She has the freedom to do what she wants and when she wants."
"Oh Bon Bon..." Octavia chortled slightly. She brushed her smoky bangs back while her eyelashes fluttered. "...we all know that Lyra is positively helpless on her own." She sniffed, then proceeded to adjust the coaster beneath her teacup. "Like a loose string that you can never tune, that mare."
"She got along fine before I met her!" Bon Bon remarked.
"Doing what, pray tell?" Octavia raised an eyebrow. "Working retail while attempting to peddle her mediocre musical abilities to local civic centers?"
"She was holding her own until the changeling attack in Canterlot," Bon Bon said. A beat. She frowned. "And Lyra's talents aren't mediocre!"
"Oh really." Octavia raised her teacup in one hoof. "Tell me. Has she finally released that endlessly complicated epic of hers? What was the name of it again...?" Her velvet muzzle scrunched. "'Ballad of the Plebeian?'"
"'Ballad of the Princess'" Bon Bon said with a slight frown. "And... sh-she's been making some real progress on it! Really! She has! In fact, your best friend Vinyl's helped her with fine-tweaking a few parts!" Bon Bon glanced towards the left. "Isn't that right, Vinyl?"
Vinyl Scratch looked up from where she was scribbling music notes. After a blink, the mare lowered her headphones, smiled, and opened her muzzle—
"Yes yes..." Octavia waved her free hoof between them. "We know. If Miss Heartstrings excels at anything, it's collaboration. But I'm afraid that she has bloody nothing to give when she works solo! Whether it's a matter of soured ambition or a wilting self-conscious, I cannot say. But that mare's been on the creative downfall for years now. You, Bon Bon, are the one thing keeping her afloat. Normally, I'd say that would be something to hold some pride in. But..." She took a noticeably long sip of tea, exhaled, then squinted at Bon Bon as she spoke: "...just how is Lyra reciprocating for all of the lengths you go to support her? Hmmm?"
"She does the dishes," Bon Bon droned. "Is that enough?"
Vinyl snickered. Upon receiving a sharp look from Octavia, the unicorn cleared her throat and returned to her music sheets.
"Ahem..." Octavia reclined in her seat and looked airily at the mare across from her. "Surely there's more to it than that."
"Of course!" Bon Bon cleared her throat. "She keeps the house and garden in good shape. She maintains good spirits with the neighbors. She... uh..." A bright grin. "She pays the bills!"
"With whose money?"
Bon Bon's smile faded. Folding her forelimbs, she muttered, "Look. She's my friend, okay? My best... friend." She inhaled. "Friends don't have to... to question each other or to measure each other's contributions by some sort of... social metric."
"I would certainly hope not."
"Exactly! All that matters is that I can always count on Lyra to... to b-be there for me when I need her." Bon Bon's eyes wandered towards the sunlit streets of downtown Ponyville. "She's... a constant in my life, Octavia. Nopony can possibly know how... important that is to me."
"Indeed. You say that she's a constant... that you can always count on her." Octavia cocked her head to the side. "But is that really the truth? Or simply the truth that you wish to accept?"
"Huh?"
"Well, you just spent the better part of our conversation regailing us with all of Lyra's dishonest antics."
"They weren't dishonest!" Bon Bon fidgeted in her seat. "Just... y'know... silly..."
"Ugh..." Octavia rolled her violet eyes. "...bollocks."
Bon Bon squinted. "... ... ...what?"
"You and your dreadful fetishization of that word." Octavia sighed as her eyes met Bon Bon again. "'Silly.' As if all of Lyra's gross acts of social misconduct can be shaded under the abominable umbrella of 'silly.'"
"Well... th-that's because she is!"
"Mmmm. Quite true." Octavia's facial features hardened. "Silly enough to lie to your face. Silly enough to break the promise she made to her old friends in Canterlot. Silly enough to go gallavanting off on a futile quest to make money through a poorly-timed musical performance."
"Mrmmmmmmm..." Bon Bon shrunk in her chair, ears folding. "...yeahhhhhhhh."
"Darling, please understand..." Octavia leaned forward, her eyes calm and imploring. "...I find you to be a mare of upstanding class and workponyship. And the very last thing I want is for you to suffer needlessly despite all of your laudable accomplishments." She took a firm breath. "When do you suspect that Lyra's 'silliness' will wash over into unforgivably criminal neglect?"
"We've... just hit a rough patch. That's all." Bon Bon gulped. "Lyra's... still got a lot of things to work out... emotionally, y'know?"
"And how long are you willing to wait that out, darling?"
"As long as it takes."
"A noble thought... but not very practical, dear." Octavia sat back. "Lyra Heartstrings is a poor, distraught mare who—if I'm not terribly mistaken—has spent the entirety of her life trying to forget about her mother. Are you quite sure you wish to make yourself her new one?"
Vinyl winced—but tried to hide it.
Bon Bon frowned. "That was uncalled for."
"Is it?" Octavia raised an eyebrow. "Lyra's a vulnerable mare, Bon Bon. But she's not the only one."
"What do you mean?"
"Are you so certain that you need a best friend like her in your life?" Octavia asked, calmly cradling her teacup. "Or perhaps... you just want that need fulfilled for fulfillment's sake?"
Bon Bon stared off, She chewed her bottom lip. "I've... h-had a good impact on Lyra's life." She gulped. "I've kept her safe. I've protected her. That counts for something... r-right?"
"Are you asking me?"
Bon Bon sighed.
"My dear Bon Bon..." Octavia placed her teacup down. "We do not live in a fair world, which is precisely why we must all strive to be as fair to each other as possible. And I just... detest the thought of that mare constantly lying to you."
"Well..." Bon Bon brushed her bangs back and smiled nervously. "She's not constantly lying to me..."
"Horses for courses, love," Octavia said. "Either a pony is lying or she isn't."
"She's mostly honest with me!"
"You're certain?"
"Ermmm... y-yeah!"
"I would certainly hope so," Octavia said. "After all... you've been consistently honest with her, yes?"
Bon Bon paled slightly. Beads of sweat formed on her brow. She looked every which way but at Octavia. "Well..."
"What are you guys talking about?" droned a mint green pony suddenly standing beside the table. Lyra stared at the group with bored eyes. "Octavia's here, so I'm guessing there's a ninety percent chance that it's about the One Percent."
"Oh! Lyra!" Bon Bon hopped up, smiling a bit too gleefully. "What... uh... what a surprise! Won't you join us?"
"I dunno." Lyra squinted. "Are the seats hot?"
"No! Just... uhm..." Bon Bon squirmed from side to side. "...just super happy to see you!"
"Hello, Lyra," Octavia muttered in an off-key voice. She took a sip, swallowed, and added: "Vinyl says 'hello' too."