//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Spending Time // Story: My True Self // by _Undefined_ //------------------------------// A few weeks later – in total, six weeks after she had moved to Ponyville – Lyra met with her friends in Canterlot at their usual weekly lunch spot. Lyra barely had time to greet each of them with a hug before Minuette asked the question on all of their minds. “So?” she prompted. Lyra knew what Minuette was asking about. “She’s straight,” she said. Her disappointment was evident. The other three unicorns offered their commiseration. “I thought for sure there was something there,” Twinkleshine said. “Well,” said Lemon Hearts, “how did she react when you told her you’re a lesbian?” Lyra looked a little embarrassed. “I didn’t tell her.” “What?” Minuette exclaimed. “Why not?” “I was going to, at some point,” Lyra said. “I was trying to figure out how to work it naturally into the conversation. But then she told me that I was her first real friend!” The other three looked at each other. Lemon Hearts spoke. “I think that might be a warning sign. And you’re living in the same building as her? You should move. To another town.” “No, it isn’t like that,” Lyra said. “She kept moving from city to city when she was growing up – she never had the chance to make any friends.” “But she’s been living in Ponyville for how long?” Lemon Hearts asked. “She knows the other townsponies, of course,” Lyra said. “But she hasn’t developed any kind of meaningful friendships with any of them. Not like, say, what the four of us have. I’m the first pony she’s ever really connected with.” “But Lyra,” Lemon Hearts said, “she doesn’t know that much about you. Hint hint.” “That’s what makes it worse! What if I tell her, and she hates me? Doesn’t want to be friends with me anymore? Minuette wrote to me and told me what’s happened to Moondancer since Twilight didn’t attend her party. If I did that to Bon Bon, I’d feel horrible!” Twinkleshine quietly said, “I keep trying to invite Moondancer to lunch with us, but she keeps saying no.” Lemon Hearts was visibly flustered. “So you’re just never going to tell her?” “Not never,” Lyra protested. “Just until I figure out how she feels. Even if I’ll never be her marefriend, I still really like being friends with her. I don’t want to lose that.” “Since when do you care what anypony thinks about you?” Minuette asked. “I care what she thinks.” Silence fell over the table. Once again, Lemon Hearts spoke for the group. “Look, Lyra, I’m worried about you.” Minuette and Twinkleshine nodded in agreement. “I thought Bon Bon seemed nice at the party, but we didn’t get to see much of her that night. And I don’t think it’s good that you’re trying this hard to not upset a mare you’ve only known for one and a half moons.” Lyra responded, “You said it yourself – it’s because you don’t know her that well. She’s a really great pony, and we get along in a way I didn’t even think was possible. It’s not her fault the way she had to grow up, and she doesn’t deserve to be alone for her entire life because of it. I’m not going to do anything that could ruin our friendship.” The other three could feel the emotion behind Lyra’s words. Minuette and Twinkleshine turned to Lemon Hearts. “You’re right,” Lemon Hearts conceded. “We don’t know her that well. What if you invited her to have lunch with us next week?” Minuette jumped in. “If she’s as great as you say she is, then we’d be happy to be her friends.” Lemon Hearts nodded. “And if we sense something wrong, we’ll tell you. You know we’re just trying to look out for you, right?” Lyra was placated by the offer. “I know,” she said. “That’s actually a good idea. You’ll like her – I know you will. But you’ve got to promise me one thing.” “What is it?” Twinkleshine asked. “Please promise that you won’t out me if I bring Bon Bon here.” “All right, we promise,” Lemon Hearts said. The other two nodded in agreement. “Thank you,” Lyra said. “Now come on – I came here to find out what you three have been up to. For example: Minuette, why are you wearing that roller derby outfit?” A couple of days later, Lyra knocked on Bon Bon’s door. “Hi, Bon Bon!” Lyra said as the door opened. “Are you free today? There’s an arts and crafts fair in town and I was wondering if you wanted to go check it out.” “Sorry, I can’t go anywhere today,” Bon Bon said. “The Cakes just put in an order for a batch of jelly beans and a batch of caramels, so I’ve got a lot of work to do.” “Oh, okay,” Lyra said, slightly disappointed. It was always more fun to do things when Bon Bon was with her. Bon Bon could see the disappointment on Lyra’s face. “Do you want to stay here and help me? It might be kind of boring for you, so feel free to say no if you don’t want to.” “I’ve never made candy before,” Lyra said. “Are you sure I wouldn’t get in the way?” “There won’t be that much for you to do,” Bon Bon said. “And I wouldn’t ask you to do anything difficult. Really, this would mostly be me showing off what I know about candy making.” “I suppose I could let you show off a little bit. Where do we begin?” Bon Bon led Lyra into her kitchen. “See all of those molds?” she asked, pointing to a tall stack of trays with small indentations, all on the edge of the counter. “Eventually, I’m going to fill all of them with seven different flavors of jelly bean syrup. Would you be willing to grease the molds while I start the first four flavors? That’ll save me some time.” Bon Bon gave Lyra a stick of butter, which Lyra used to lightly coat the indentations in each of the molds. While Lyra did that did, Bon Bon placed a pan on each of the four burners of her stove and began to boil a sugar mixture. While she monitored the pans, Bon Bon filled four large bowls with ice and placed them in what little space remained on her counter. As Lyra finished greasing the molds, Bon Bon looked at her candy thermometer and said, “This next part has to happen really quickly – having you here will be really helpful. Out on the table, there are seven bottles of juice. When I ask you to, bring in four of them, one at a time, so I can add them to the syrup. That way, I won’t have to keep running back and forth to do it myself.” “Any order they need to be in?” Lyra asked. “Not really,” Bon Bon said as she stirred each pan. “I usually do them by color, just because. Cherry, then orange, then lemon, then lime. But it really doesn’t matter.” She looked at the thermometer. “Get ready.” Lyra walked out of the kitchen to Bon Bon’s dining table. Using her magic, she picked up the bottle of cherry juice. After about a minute, Bon Bon said, “Okay, now!” Bon Bon lifted the first pan off of the stove and placed it in one of the bowls of ice. Lyra stood in the doorway and levitated the cherry juice toward Bon Bon, who took it and stirred into the syrup. Lyra then picked up the orange juice as Bon Bon lifted the next pan off of the stove and into a bowl of ice. Once all four juices had been added, Bon Bon turned off the burners on the stove and moved the bowls there to free up her limited counter space. “Can you help me spread out the molds?” she asked. As Lyra laid out the molds, Bon Bon filled them with the flavored syrups. When she had finished, Bon Bon said, “Now these have to cool for a few hours. I put them out on the table just to get them out of the way.” Lyra helped Bon Bon move all of the filled molds out into the living room. Afterward, Lyra asked, “What’s next?” “Now I have to do this for three more flavors,” Bon Bon said. “But first, I have to wash out the pans.” Bon Bon put the bowls of ice back into the icebox to refreeze, then began to wash the pans. Lyra looked at the remaining bottles. One of them was filled with a black liquid. “Is that licorice?” she asked. “Yep,” Bon Bon answered. “Yuck.” “I agree,” Bon Bon said. “But when a customer orders jelly beans, they expect there to be licorice ones. Some ponies like licorice. Those ponies are wrong.” Lyra chuckled. Then she looked more closely at the bottle. “So is that… licorice juice? Is licorice juice a thing?” Her tongue stuck out as her face contorted in disgust. “It’s mostly licorice root powder mixed with molasses, but essentially… yes. It’s something I have to put up with. The candy-making business isn’t all glitz and glamour.” “When I offered to help, I didn’t think you would subject me to such horrors.” “And that stuff’s going into the jelly beans. You’re an accomplice now.” Soon, Bon Bon finished cleaning the pans and together, Bon Bon and Lyra prepared the three final flavors. “While those are cooling,” Bon Bon said, “we can make the caramels.” Bon Bon got out a large pot and placed it on the stove. Lyra helped by greasing two square pans while Bon Bon mixed butter, cream, sugar, and corn syrup in the pot. She inserted her candy thermometer and stirred while the ingredients cooked. “This is going to take a long while,” Bon Bon said, “and there’s nothing else to do except stir. You don’t have to stick around and wait – you’ve already been a huge help, and I don’t want to waste your whole day.” “Eh, I didn’t really care about the arts and crafts fair anyway,” Lyra said. “Not enough to go by myself. Tell you what – while you’re stirring, I’ll work on some of my stuff.” Lyra left for her apartment. To Bon Bon’s surprise, Lyra quickly returned, now carrying her lyre. “Wanna hear what I’ve been writing?” Lyra asked. “Absolutely!” Bon Bon said. While Bon Bon stirred, Lyra performed some of the songs she had recently composed. She then experimented with some new song ideas – trying out various patterns and chords that didn’t always work. Both ponies were happy to simply be in the other’s company, grateful to be able to share with one another what they enjoyed doing the most. Bon Bon was engrossed in listening to Lyra play the same short piece at different tempos when she looked at the candy thermometer and saw that her mixture had nearly reached its optimal temperature. “That went by a lot faster than it usually does,” she said as she turned off the stove and added some vanilla. She then poured the mixture into the two square pans. Lyra stopped playing and walked into the kitchen to see what Bon Bon was doing. “Is it caramel now?” she asked. “Pretty much,” Bon Bon said. “It just has to cool for a while.” She placed the pans in the icebox. “In the meantime, we can go back to the jelly beans.” With Lyra’s help, Bon Bon removed all of the jelly beans from their molds and dusted them with cornstarch. “These need time to set and the caramel still needs time to cool,” Bon Bon said. “Do you want to go get something to eat? My treat – I really appreciate you helping me today.” “It hasn’t been that big of a deal,” Lyra said. “But if you want to swing by the Hayburger, I wouldn’t object.” “Just the Hayburger? I did offer to pay.” “What can I say? I’m a cheap date.” “I guess so. Hayburger it is,” Bon Bon said. She wished that Lyra hadn’t used the word “date.” She was having a hard enough time accepting the fact that Lyra wasn’t interested in her romantically. As soon as she said it, Lyra wished she hadn’t used the word “date.” She was having a hard enough time accepting the fact that Bon Bon wasn’t interested in her romantically. As the two sat in a booth at Hayburger, enjoying their meals, Lyra realized that it was a good time to invite Bon Bon to a different lunch. “So you know how I was visiting my friends back in Canterlot?” Lyra said. “It occurred to me that even though you met them briefly back at the Summer Sun Celebration, you never really had a chance to get to know them. And my friends are your friends. Do you want to have lunch with them in a few days?” “Really?” Bon Bon asked. “Yeah,” Lyra said. “They meet for lunch every week – I used to always join them before I moved to Ponyville. And this last time, they were asking about you. If you’re looking to make more friends, I can vouch for these three.” “You’re taking a pretty big risk,” Bon Bon said with a wry smile. “What if I’m only capable of having one good friend at a time? What if I start ignoring you so I can hang out with one of your friends?” Lyra returned Bon Bon’s smile with one of her own. “You’re right,” she responded. “Forget I said anything. You’re not allowed to talk to any of my foalhood friends. In fact, I forbid you from going to Canterlot at all, just to be safe.” “Nope, too late,” Bon Bon said. “You’ve already extended the invitation, and I’ve already decided to accept. It was nice meeting you, Lyra Heartstrings. Perhaps we’ll see each other again at some point in the distant future.” “Oh yeah?” Lyra said. “You can’t go if I don’t tell you that we should take the 8:15 train five days from now.” “Oh, I’ll find a way.” Bon Bon adopted a serious expression. “I’ll find a way.” Bon Bon lowered her eyebrows and stared directly at Lyra. Lyra lowered her eyebrows and stared back. Bon Bon leaned over and took a sip of her drink without breaking eye contact. Lyra lifted her burger to her mouth and took a bite while staying locked on Bon Bon. Bon Bon leaned down to take a bite of her fried potatoes while staring at Lyra, but misjudged the distance and dipped her chin into the ketchup. Still staring, she raised her head and nodded as if that was what she had meant to do. By half a second, Lyra was the first to laugh. Five days later, Lyra was leading Bon Bon to the Canterlot Outdoor Café. Typically, in a situation like this, Bon Bon would feel nervous about trying to befriend new ponies. But with Lyra by her side, she had a newfound confidence. As the café came into view, Bon Bon looked across the outdoor seating area. She recognized the two ponies sitting at one of the tables as Lyra’s friends – although because it had been roughly two months since she had last seen them, she had forgotten their names. The blue one, upon seeing Lyra and Bon Bon, started waving enthusiastically. Lyra waved back. “Bon Bon, you remember Minuette and Twinkleshine,” Lyra said as she approached the table. “Minuette, Twinkleshine, you remember Bon Bon.” Bon Bon gave each of them a hoofshake. Lyra pulled a chair from a nearby empty table over – the group’s usual table only had four chairs – and sat down. “It’s nice to meet you again,” Bon Bon said as she sat down next to Lyra. “So, Lyra tells me you’ve all known each other since you were foals?” “We all attended school together,” Twinkleshine said. Minuette nodded. “We’ve kind of been inseparable ever since. Well, until this one decided to move to Ponyville,” she said, pointing to Lyra. “It’s not like I cut you out of my life,” Lyra said a little defensively. “Sorry I couldn’t immediately find a job in Canterlot like the three of you did.” “Oh, you know I’m just teasing,” Minuette said. “Actually, though,” Twinkleshine said, “I’ve been meaning to ask. What have you been doing—” “Hi!” Minuette said as Lemon Hearts walked up to the table. “Sorry I’m late,” Lemon Hearts said. “Things have been pretty crazy at the castle lately.” She turned to Bon Bon and extended her hoof. “Nice to meet you again, Bon Bon. Lyra’s been telling us all about you.” “Good things, I hope,” Bon Bon said, giving Lemon Hearts a hoofshake. “You seem to have made quite the impression on her,” Lemon Hearts said. Bon Bon didn’t notice Lyra blush a little. “I understand the two of you have become good friends.” “We hang out together a lot,” Bon Bon said. “But you all already know how much fun she is.” It suddenly occurred to Bon Bon that the three of them might be angry at her for convincing Lyra to leave their group and live in Ponyville. She also realized that she couldn’t remember the yellow one’s name and the window for casually asking had just closed. “You seem like a lot of fun, too,” Minuette said. “What do the two of you do around Ponyville?” “Whatever’s going on around town,” Bon Bon said. “Activities, performances… it depends on what’s happening on any given day. For example, a traveling showpony stopped by recently, so we went to see her perform.” “The whole thing ended with an ursa stomping through town,” Lyra said. “And guess who saved Ponyville. Again.” Twinkleshine looked at Bon Bon in surprise. “You?” she said. Bon Bon was a little startled. Sure, she had been on high alert when the creature first appeared, but she hadn’t had to act or report back to the agency. Why would Twinkleshine— “No – I meant Twilight,” Lyra said. Bon Bon realized she was overreacting and calmed down. She relaxed a little further when she realized that none of the others had picked up on her slight change of facial expression. “So, do all of you know Twilight Sparkle?” she asked, trying to steer the conversation away from monsters. “More like ‘knew,’” Lemon Hearts said. “She started off in primary school with us, but soon she transferred to the School for Gifted Unicorns. We tried to keep her involved in the group, but she kind of grew apart from us.” The four Canterlot friends all looked a little sad about it. Bon Bon returned to her newfound concern that three of those ponies were now thinking that Bon Bon was influencing Lyra to grow apart from them. “You know, if the three of you find yourselves with some free time, you should come visit Ponyville again,” Bon Bon said. “So you can visit Lyra,” she quickly added. “And me. I know Ponyville has a reputation for being a small, quiet town, but there’s a lot to our little village.” “You should take a hike through White Tail Woods,” Lyra said. “It’s gorgeous – nothing like what’s here in Canterlot.” “We absolutely should!” Minuette said. “When are you girls free? Should we just pick a weekend, or is there a way we can shuffle our work schedules…?” “Speaking of work, I was wondering,” Twinkleshine said. “Lyra, what have you—” “I’m swamped right now,” Lemon Hearts said. “All of this royal activity has been great for career advancement, but it’s wrecking my social life.” “Lemon Hearts works at the palace,” Lyra explained, “organizing the chefs and caterers.” Bon Bon was grateful to be reminded of Lemon Hearts’ name. Lemon Hearts nodded. “With the return of Princess Luna, one of my bosses received a promotion to work directly for her. Which let me move up and take over her position. Eventually, we’ll get everything running smoothly again, but between the needs of a new, nocturnal princess and the usual inconsistent demands from the other members of royalty, things are a little hectic right now.” “What do you do for a living, Bon Bon?” asked Minuette. “Oh, I’ve been really lucky,” Bon Bon said. “I’m Ponyville’s resident candy maker.” She paused for a moment. “And it just occurred to me that I should have brought something for all of you. I’m sorry.” “Yes, you should have,” Lyra said to Bon Bon in a mock stern voice. “I suppose we can let you off with a warning this time, since it’s your first offense.” “Thank you,” Bon Bon said as she bowed her head to Lyra. “You are most benevolent.” Lemon Hearts rolled her eyes. “Now there’s two of them,” she said half under her breath. Twinkleshine interjected, more forcefully than she usually spoke. “So. Lyra.” The other four ponies turned to look at her. “As I was saying.” Abruptly, her voice shifted back to its normal, pleasant tone. “What have you been doing in Ponyville? Have you found any work in music?” “No,” Lyra admitted. “To make ends meet, I’ve been taking whatever odd jobs are available. Mostly chores that other ponies need help with. Painting, decorating, moving things. It doesn’t pay much, but fortunately, my rent is really low.” Lyra saw the sympathetic looks on her friends’ faces. “Actually, Bon Bon tried to get me a gig a couple of weeks ago. The owners of the local bakery wanted to experiment with hosting a high tea, with cookies and miniature cakes and that kind of thing. A formal yet low-key affair. Bon Bon convinced them to hire me to gently play lyre as background music.” “That sounds nice,” Minuette said. “Well…” Lyra continued. “Do you remember that pink pony we first met when we arrived in Ponyville?” The other three unicorns nodded. “She works at the bakery,” Lyra said. “And as you can imagine, ‘low-key’ isn’t her strong suit.” “Ah,” the other three replied. “Yeah. But it was an interesting experiment.” “Really interesting at the end,” Bon Bon said. “I’m sure you’ll find something eventually,” Minuette said to Lyra. “In the meantime,” Lemon Hearts said, “it sounds like Ponyville is a good place to be while you look for a city that needs a lyre player. Or at least some kind of professional musician.” “It’s really nice,” Lyra said. “I’m glad Bon Bon talked me into moving.” Lyra went to wrap her foreleg around Bon Bon familiarly, then, at the last second, decided against it. She quickly shifted and simply gave Bon Bon a friendly bump to the shoulder. At that time, Urbane Charm approached the table with four drinks. He gave Bon Bon a lunch menu – he already knew what the other four always ordered. Bon Bon wasn’t able to study the menu very closely. She was still thinking about what Lemon Hearts had just said. After lunch, and after the two of them spent the rest of the day browsing through some of the shops in Canterlot, Bon Bon and Lyra boarded the train back home. As they sat across from one another in the passenger car, Bon Bon decided to ask Lyra about it. “So is it true that someday, you’ll be leaving Ponyville?” Lyra, who hadn’t spent the day ruminating on what Lemon Hearts had said, gave Bon Bon a confused look. “I’ll be what? When?” “When you find a job as a lyrist,” Bon Bon said. “You’re not going to find that job in Ponyville, so that means someday, you’ll move to another town.” “Oh,” Lyra said. She looked across the passenger car, not focusing on anything in particular. She looked back at Bon Bon. “Maybe? I’m not saying that to sound wishy-washy. I really haven’t thought about it.” “Never?” Bon Bon asked somewhat incredulously. “Not really,” Lyra said. “Ponyville has been great, so I haven’t really thought about leaving.” “But it makes sense,” Bon Bon said. “You’re never going to make a career out of playing your lyre if you stay in Ponyville. And it’d be a shame if you didn’t get to do what you loved for a living.” “Well, I do agree with you on that last part,” Lyra said. “But the thing is, before I moved to Ponyville, I tried looking for a lyre-related job in cities all over Equestria. All I got back was letter after letter saying thanks but no thanks. So there’s no reason for me to think about leaving right now, and really no reason to expect that any job offers are going to come along in the future.” “Won’t that make you resentful?” “Nah. Frustrated, maybe. But not resentful. I love living in Ponyville, even if I never find a job related to music. Although I guess my parents will be pretty upset that I spent four years studying a subject which I never get to use.” “I can’t imagine that you’ll never find anything. You’re too good.” “I mean, if an opportunity came along, of course I’d take it. So it might happen. Like I said: Maybe?” Bon Bon looked out the window. “I think I know what this is about,” Lyra said. She reached across and gently nudged Bon Bon’s chin so Bon Bon was looking her in the eyes. “And I promise: Even if I get an amazing job playing lyre and have to move away from Ponyville, I’ll still write to you. All the time. I’m never going to stop being your friend.” “I know,” Bon Bon said. “But I still don’t like the idea of it happening. I mean, I’d like it for you – I want you to be happy. I just wouldn’t like it for me. But if you stay, then you wouldn’t be completely happy, so I’m not happy about that… suddenly, this feels like a no-win situation.” “Worrying about it isn’t going to help anything,” Lyra said. Even though she claimed that she had never thought about it, it was clear that she had. “Whether an opportunity comes along or not, it isn’t anything you or I can control. Whatever happens, happens. So why not just enjoy what’s happening right now?” “You make a good argument,” Bon Bon said. “Did you have philosophy classes at the music academy or something?” “No, but the music theory classes were really boring. I’ve had a lot of time to sit and think about life.”