Sweet Sweet Music

by Ybrad

A New Day

Sweet Sweet Music - Chapter Four

A New Day

The sun was high in the sky when Lyra finally and reluctantly opened her eyes to the new day. Lazily stretching in the small slip of sunshine that shone through the curtains, the green mare gave looked around the room she had awoken in.

The room was narrow and sparsely furnished, containing a bed, a couple of paintings, a small ornamental clock, and a vanity table; underneath which lay her saddlebags and lyre case.

“Strange,” she thought to herself “I could have sworn that they were taken off downstairs”

Getting up and strolling across the room, Lyra spotted a note lying on the table, which she casually levitated to eye level.

Lyra,

Tried to wake you before I left, you sleep like a log.

I’ll be working until about half seven. Make yourself comfortable while I’m gone.

BonBon.

Oh.

It seemed that her original plan, which was to thank the sweet maker and leave as soon as possible, had now completely fallen through in just a few short words.

If BonBon wasn't here then Lyra wouldn't be able to thank her straight away; she’d have to wait for the other mare to return in the evening, as her note said. However that would mean that the musician would have to take further advantage of this hospitality shown to her, which would put her even more in this other mare’s debt.

Lyra had had enough of relying on others. She’d been doing it her whole life. Every day she had grown more aware of how she would not be able to survive without another pony’s efforts. The whole point of moving away had been to prove to herself she could survive on her own.

She hadn’t lasted a day.

All trace of a bounce completely gone from her gait, the mint-coloured mare walked out of her room onto the upper floor hallway. To her left was an opening to the balcony that hung out over the front of the house and ahead of her were another two doors.

Attempting to find the bathroom, she first opened the door on her right. On the other side was the master bedroom: a large, comfortable looking bed taking up most of the room, with a bedside table and ornate wardrobe taking up the remainder of the space.

Closing the door and turning around, this time she managed to find the bathroom.

---

It was turning out to be a slow day.

With so few customers trickling through to break her concentration, BonBon had managed to finish all of her outstanding orders ahead of schedule, which allowed her the rare pleasure of being able to give herself some time off for lunch.

After literally dusting off the “Out For Lunch” sign, she locked up shop and trotted onto the main high-street. Enjoying the warm sunshine, she briskly made her way to one of her guilty pleasures; which while being neither decadent or elegant she was about to get a very tasty and hearty meal.

Five minutes later she was trotting towards the park; a bag containing her Subneigh sandwich in her teeth.

Strolling along looking for a place to sit, she spotted the unfamiliar sight of possibly the shyest pegasus in all of Equestria sitting by herself on a bench. Despite never having properly befriended the yellow mare --being a couple of years her senior--, they were friendly acquaintances.

The mare was so timid that, as far as BonBon could tell, the only real friend she had made was the fashionista of Ponyville. Oh, and Pinkie of course, but Pinkie was friends with everyone, so that hardly counted. Because of her empathy for the younger mare’s situation, she made a point to try and chat with her whenever possible.

Giving a slight cough to announce her presence so as not to disturb the timid mare, as she walked up to the bench. Despite her best efforts however, the younger mare still gave out a quiet “meep” when she approached.

“Hi Fluttershy. Would you mind if I join you for a while?” she said, doing her utmost to avoid her naturally blunt way of speaking.

“Oh. No... I mean yes... I mean you can sit here, if you want. I don’t want you to feel like I’m forcing you, or...” The rest of her speech was drowned out by the quiet background noises of the park.

Sitting down, BonBon opened her bag and started munching on her sandwich, savouring the crunchy texture, and fresh flavors, of the salad and flowers in her sandwich, topped with warm melting cheese. “So Fluttershy, what brings you all the way out here? I would have thought you’d be at home tending to your animals.”

“Oh, well, normally I would you see but... well, I had to come and get some supplies, but then the shop was closed, so I thought that I’d come and stop by the park. It’s... nice... and quiet. I was kind of hoping that musician would be here again, though.”

“Musician?”

“Oh, yes. She was playing some sort of harp thing right over there, she was really really good. I’ve never heard anyone playing like that. I wouldn't have been disappointed if I’d paid for a concert from her.”

“That good? Was she a green unicorn?”

“Oh yes. Have you met her?”

Nodding, BonBon finished her sandwich before replying. “She;s actually back at my house at the moment. I found her here on a bench last night and offered her a bed. I’m rather intrigued as to why she didn’t have anywhere to stay, so I hope she’s still there when I get back.”

“Oh, that was good of you. Have you heard her play?”

“Not yet, do you think I should ask when I get back?”

“Oh well... I mean only if you want to but, well... she was really good. But I’m not saying you should... I’m just saying she was really good and it might be worth asking. As long as she doesn't mind, at least...”

The sweet maker had to resist giggling at this timid display by the pegasus next to her. After a few more minutes of small talk, BonBon said her goodbyes and walked off back to her shop.

Getting back to work, she let her mind wander. “I wonder what that mare is doing now.”

---

‘That mare’ was currently slumped in one of the two chairs in BonBon’s living room, idly plucking the strings of her lyre as she had been for the last two hours.

She was bored. This is what she had been doing for years at home and this isn't what she had left to do; sitting around in silence, idly plucking out notes on her lyre.

No audience. No fun.

Sighing, she carefully floated the lyre back into it’s cover and strolled over to the bookcase, for want of anything better to do. The impressive piece of furniture was huge covering the entirety of one wall and had a fair number of books but was in no way packed tight.

Lyra looked over the cover in a detached manner, the titles barely registering as they passed under her gaze. A collection of Daring Doo novel, enjoyable but nothing spectacular; Nightfall, a book about a pony falling in love with a changeling; Harry Trotter and the Chalice of Flames, a title from one of her favourite series.

The book list continued until she ran out of what appeared to be the fiction section and ran into the much larger non-fiction section: A collection of well read history books; several on the subject of Geography; a small pile of cooking-related literature; a heap of ones dealing with gardening...

Suddenly, she stopped.

She looked back at the cookery books. “She’ll have been out all day and probably won’t have had evening dinner. I could cook! That way I’m repaying some my debt - kinda.” Looking up at the clock, she saw that it wasn't long past noon. “I could go out, get the ingredients, and have a meal waiting for her when she gets back.”

The unicorn quickly scrutinised the titles until she found one entitled Easy Meals on a Budget. "Perfect!" she mentally exclaimed after looking over the recipes. The spring back in her step, she dashed upstairs to retrieve her small bag of bits.

Picking up the book to use as a shopping list, Lyra strolled towards the market to buy some supplies.

She was so excited about being able to cook for BonBon.

"It’ll be my first time cooking as well." the minty green bundle of joy thought, humming a catchy tunes as she went. "What could possibly go wrong?"

---

BonBon walked through her front door after a long, yet productive, day at the shop. “I’m home! Are you still here Lyra?” she tried to call out.

However her query was promptly interrupted, as she took one breath in and started coughing on the smoke that lay thick in the air.

After finally recovering she battled her way to the kitchen. Inside was her houseguest, happily humming to herself despite the chaos around her. There were pieces of chopped fruit and vegetables; unrecognisable bits of what looked like batter and a further selection of black burnt bits all over the floor.

“What in the blazes are you doing?” She cried at Lyra, being careful not to inhale too deeply.

“Hi!” said Lyra with a grin, “I’m cooking you dinner. I thought that, seeing as you were so kind as to let me stay, I’d make a meal for you.”

“Dinner?” BonBon asked in shock. Unable to think up a more reasonable question she simply enquired, “What did you make?”

“We have fresh salad,” she said gesturing to a smoking bowl of charred greenery. “Petal Fingers,” this time to a tray of the dish, which appeared to somehow be undercooked on the outside, yet burnt in the middle. “And finally we have an omelette each, yours is over there.” She finished indicating the bowl of something indistinguishable. It bubbled slightly.

“Why thank you, Lyra. It all loo- “ she managed to stop herself before she insulted her guest again.

Meanwhile the unicorn finished cooking her ‘omelette’, pouring it out into another bowl.

“I hope you don’t mind if I dig in.” she says. “I’m starving after all that cooking.”

Without a moments hesitation the green coated mare dives into her bowl. Almost instantly, she looks back up from the bowl, eyes and cheeks bulging. A quick spin allows her to spit out her mouthful into the sink before pouring the rest of both bowls down the drain as well.

“Sorry, it looks like the omelette didn’t work out.”

It didn’t take long for the petal fingers to be quickly disposed of, rapidly followed by the toasted ‘fresh’ salad.

Throughout all this, BonBon was just standing in the doorway looking bemused. Finally, the other mare turns to her, a few tears welling up in her eyes. Shocked by this, the cream coated mare reached out to give the other a hug.

Lyra quietly sniffles as she says, “I’m sorry, I wanted to make it up to you for all that you’ve done for me. But look at this, I’ve just gone and messed up again.” With that, she slumped dejectedly to the floor.

“It’s all right Lyra, it was a wonderful thought; I really mean that. Was this your first time cooking?” Receiving a nod in reply, she continues on: “Well, it was a valiant first effort. Now, let me show you the easiest way to make a meal out of all this.”

Author's Note:

First this chapter was proofread/edited by the fantastic Scooty. His input was fantastic and thanks to him this chapter is at least 20% cooler. Thank you Scooty.

Second I'm not happy with the title for this chapter, so if any of you reading this can think of a better one whap it down in the comments and I'll choose one I like to be the title (Note that I like the titles to fit the overall theme/story of a chapter). I'll be sure to give credit for it here when I change it.

I hope you all enjoyed this and as always feedback is greatly appreciated.

Edit:
*I just thought I'd confirm, in-case anyone was confused by this chapter, that this all takes place before Twilight comes to Ponyville*

Comments

[Tavi Scratch]

Lyra's home burnt meal :D or cooking lessons or cooking with lyra

[MintyRest]

First:

a bag containing her Subneigh sandwich in her teeth.

Oh my did I want to quit reading here. A sandwich? Not a problem. A subway sandwich? Unnecessary tie in. A subneigh sandwich pushes the boundaries, taking an innocent real world corporation, unrealistically pony-fying it (if they have railroads, they'd have subways), and forcing the reader to think about it.

a small pile of cooker-related literature;

Do you mean cooking?

[Ybrad]

Yeah, I've made the small edit you pointed out MintyRest.

Oddly enough though you had the exact opposite reaction to my proofreader/editor who really liked the pun. I find it interesting to see such dissension of opinions on such a simple line.

[ron]

MOAR, MOAR, MOAR!

[Ybrad]

Apologies for the delay everyone. Life got in the way over the past month, what with moving to a new house, repeated travels between Birmingham and Yorkshire (about 125 miles) and finally having to housesit two houses at once

But enough of my excuses. Sweet Sweet Music is now back in production and I will hopefully have chapter 5's first draft finished by either the end of today or tomorrow. Let's get this story back on the road shall we.

[Shaftslammer]

2836516

Lies.

But seriously, good job. Keep up the good work.