Supplemental Scene: The First Time They Met

Hey, I’m still here! I’ve been working very hard to finish the first draft of the next novella. And that first draft is finally complete! I still need to go over its 50,000-some words a couple of times to work through some kinks and examine the phrasing, but now that it’s this close to completion, I’m not going to want to wait to release it.

In the meantime, I promised another supplemental scene that wasn’t whole enough to warrant being published as its own story. Well, I worked on that scene so much, I thought I’d publish it as a story anyway (even though it only makes sense if you’ve read My True Self). Look for that soon. Like, really soon. In less than a week.

But there’s still one other scene that I wanted to write that has no place in any of my stories. So here it is! This scene (and, I guess technically, the quick chapter I publish next week) will be the last time I try to reconcile any of Lyra and Bon Bon’s earlier appearances in the actual series with my saga of their lives together. Any other time they appear in the cartoon and it doesn’t fit with my personal continuity… that was just a different pony who looked like them. Or maybe an undercover changeling.

Anyway. Here’s the scene!

Bon Bon stood perfectly still in Lyra’s apartment. She stared at her marefriend. Her vision darkened.

Lyra had just levitated a pair of purple-rimmed sunglasses onto her face.

“Yeah, that isn’t enough,” Lyra said. “You need the hat, too.”

She picked up a wide-brimmed straw sunhat that had a purple ribbon tied around it. It joined the sunglasses on Bon Bon’s head.

It was nothing compared to what Lyra had on. She was wearing an open-collared shirt printed with tropical flowers, a lei, and a pair of sunglasses considerably larger than Bon Bon’s.

“Perfect.” She examined Bon Bon from a couple different angles, briefly raising her sunglasses as she did so. “That looks adorable on you,” she said. “I’m going to have the cutest date at the celebration tonight.”

“I’m going to feel ridiculous wearing this after the sun goes down.”

“That’s the point. Everypony’s going to feel silly. It’s what the invitation told us to do.”

She put on her own, even larger and floppier sunhat. “And if you start to feel self-conscious, just stand next to me. Nopony’ll look at you while I’m wearing this. Especially after I put a big blob of zinc oxide on my nose.”

“You’re right – nopony will think I’m weird for wearing this if I’m standing next to you,” Bon Bon said. “They’ll think I’m nuts because I’m willingly standing so close to a pony who looks like she’s lost her mind.”

Bon Bon and Lyra were getting ready for Ponyville’s first Post-Summer-Sun-Celebration Celebration. Because Pinkie Pie was in Canterlot for the official Summer Sun Celebration that year, she couldn’t host her usual Ponyville festivities. So instead, shortly after Princess Celestia raised the sun that morning, she rushed back to the town to prepare a Summer Sun-sized party for that night. Instead of watching the sun being raised, everyone would watch the sun being lowered.

(No one questioned how Pinkie was able to stay up all night for the official celebration in Canterlot, then immediately go home without sleep and set up an enormous party for that same evening. By this point, the townsponies would have been more surprised if Pinkie hadn’t done something like that.)

“If anypony says anything, it just means they’re jealous,” Lyra said. She put a pair of flippers on her back two hooves.

Bon Bon stared at her.

“Too much?”

“Now you’re asking that?”

“Hey, I could be doing all this to you, too. Be grateful I’m only insisting on the hat and sunglasses.”

“Sunglasses during a nighttime party,” Bon Bon said. “We’re going to be bumping into everypony.” Taking Lyra’s comment as an indication that her outfit was all picked out, Bon Bon took off her hat and glasses. “This is one of Pinkie’s most nonsensical ideas for a party yet. And that’s saying something.”

Lyra attempted to maneuver a cheap inflatable pool ring around her waist. However, she was trying to step into it while still wearing the flippers, so she wasn’t having much success. “You know,” she said in a tone of voice that indicated she was just making conversation, “this isn’t the first summer party Pinkie’s thrown that I’ve been to.”

“Yeah,” Bon Bon said. She didn’t tell Lyra to just take off the flippers first – she hoped that maybe she’d get discouraged and leave the duck-printed pool toy behind. “Last year’s Summer Sun Celebration, when I met you. Nothing’s going to be able to top that.”

“Not that,” Lyra said, finally taking off the flippers in order to put on the inflatable. Bon Bon frowned. “Years ago. Back when I was a filly. The sitter was sick, dad had to work, and mom had a meeting in Ponyville that she couldn’t miss. So she took my sister and me on the train with her. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with us once she got there, but luckily, there was an outdoor dance being held with lots of foals and adult supervision. So she left us at that while she went to her meeting.”

She finally stopped adding accessories to her outfit. Bon Bon wasn’t sure she owned any other accessories that she could add. “She was a little concerned when she found out the pony throwing the party was just a filly herself, but the adults told her it was okay. So she left us there to have fun.

“And it really was fun! And I’m not just saying that because there were multiple desserts. There was dancing, of course, but also singing and games and rubber chickens. Although the dancing was the best. There was another filly there that I danced with – we had so much fun together that afternoon. I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but she was my first silly foalhood crush.” She thought for a moment. “Actually, now that I remember it, she kind of looked like you.” She chuckled. “I guess I have a type.”

Bon Bon simply stood there, a stunned expression on her face.

“You okay there, Bon Bon? Did I miss something on my outfit?”

“Lyra…” she said, her voice quiet with disbelief, “that was me. I was at that party.”

Lyra took off her sunglasses and looked at Bon Bon. Her expression wasn’t too different from hers.

“No…”

“Yes.”

“Did you used to wear glasses as a filly?”

“Yes.”

Silence.

“No…” Lyra said again. “I can’t believe it.” She thought for a few moments. “Actually, the more I think about that day, I can believe it.” Finally, it clicked. “That was when you lived in Ponyville, wasn’t it?”

“It was,” Bon Bon said. “It was three days before we left for Flankfort. That party was one of the best and one of the worst days I remember. Best because I met a filly who I had a great time with. Worst because I had already given up on trying to make any friends, and the whole day just made me realize what I was never going to have. I didn’t even bother asking her name, because I knew there was no point in getting too attached.”

“And I was having so much fun, it wasn’t until we were back on the train that I realized I never found out that filly’s name.”

Bon Bon recognized that at least that meant she didn’t have to explain why that filly was named Sweetie Drops.

Lyra continued, “When I realized I didn’t know how to get in touch with her again, I got so upset. Mom said, ‘I’m glad you had fun, but that doesn’t mean you need to become pen pals with her.’ But I wouldn’t stop whining and bugging her about it. Finally, just to shut me up, she took me back to Ponyville a week and a half later so I could find that filly again. But by that point, everypony said the family had left. And nopony knew what city they moved to. I cried all the way back to the train station.”

Bon Bon sat down on the floor. “So you’re telling me,” she said, “that I could have had you as a pen pal?” She started to get angry. “All the manure I had to go through while I was growing up, I could have had a friend to confide in?”

Then, “We could have been dating years before now?!”

The realization hit Lyra, too. “It would appear to be that way…” she said.

“This…” Bon Bon said. She let out a sound that was a combination of a growl and a groan. “There’s no other word for it. This really sucks.”

“Yeah,” Lyra said. “You’re right.”

The two stayed there for a couple of minutes, thinking about what could have been.

Finally, Bon Bon stood up. “I need to do something to get my mind off of this. I’m going to go make us some dark chocolate almond bark.” She started to head for her apartment. “You can come over if you want.”

Lyra watched as Bon Bon opened the door. The mood permeating the room was much gloomier than she liked. Her instinct was to attempt to lighten things up. With a smile, she said, “You realize you’re teaching me a really bad lesson here: If I say something that makes you sad, you’ll make candy for me.”

Bon Bon stopped walking. She recognized and appreciated Lyra’s desire to keep things from becoming too depressing. For that, she deserved some dark chocolate almond bark.

In response to Lyra’s statement, Bon Bon said, “I know that you’d never do that.”

“Really?” Lyra’s smile got bigger. “What’s to stop me from taking advantage of this the next time I want something from you?”

“Because if you ever deliberately do something to upset me, it isn’t what I’ll do for you that you should be concerned with… it’s what I won’t do.”

A look of confusion crossed Lyra’s face. “Won’t do? But you’ll always make candy. It’s who you are. It’s how you earn a living.”

“I’m not talking about candy.”

“Then what is it that you wouldn’t do that would make me—” Suddenly, it hit her. With trepidation, she said, “Oh.”

“Mm-hmm,” Bon Bon confirmed.

Lyra responded with great haste.

“I’ll be good.”

Comments

[Necrovoker]

Yay! More Lyrabon! Great little scene as always, can't wait to read more from you