When she met with her friends on a weekly basis for lunch, Lyra was almost never the first one at the café. This day, however, she arrived early at their usual table and anxiously waited for the others, especially Lemon Hearts. Urbane Charm brought her a glass of lemon balm iced tea to help calm her nerves. Lyra drank the entire thing in one gulp, somewhat defeating the purpose.
Finally, Minuette showed up. “Lyra!” she said. “Lemon Hearts told us you’d be here!”
“Did she tell you why?”
“She sure did! Are you nervous?”
“A little. But I just keep telling myself that soon, everything will be all better.”
“So, how was your trip?”
“Fine. What’s with the giant magic bubble?”
“Nopony knows. Princess Celestia must have some reason for it. If it was important, I’m sure they’d tell us about it.”
Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts arrived at the same time. Lyra greeted Lemon Hearts by getting out of her chair, giving her a hug, and saying “Thank you!”
“Slow down, Lyra,” Lemon Hearts said. “We don’t know whether Princess Mi Amore Cadenza will be able to help you or not yet.”
“She’s the princess of love,” Lyra said, returning to her seat. “If she can’t help me with a problem about love, then why do we even have a princess of love?”
“Just don’t go in being demanding or expecting things,” Lemon Hearts said. “There’s a certain way you have to act around royalty. You have to be really reverent.”
“I know, I know,” Lyra said. “I’m not going to make you look bad. Actually, I’m kind of worried that I’m just going to freeze up. I’ve never met royalty before.”
“Don’t worry,” Twinkleshine said, “we’ve got your back.”
Lyra arched an eyebrow toward her.
Twinkleshine looked at Minuette. “You didn’t tell her?”
“Not yet.”
“Tell me what?” Lyra asked.
Twinkleshine smiled. “We’re coming with you!”
“If you want us to,” Minuette said.
Lyra turned to Lemon Hearts. “Can I do that?”
“Sure,” Lemon Hearts said. “I asked if it was okay if you brought some emotional support, and the princess’s officials said yes. I have to get back to work right after lunch, so I can’t make it, but Twinkleshine and Minuette moved their schedules around so they can be there for you.” She shifted her gaze. “Remember, you two: This meeting is for Lyra. You’re only there to help put her at ease.”
“Yes, we know,” Minuette said. Then, as an aside to Lyra, even though the entire table could hear: “Although if you get your problem solved early, there’s a cute stallion who works across the hall from me that I’d love to get some advice on.”
After lunch, Lemon Hearts bid Lyra good luck and then left. The remaining three friends walked over to the castle and made their way to the waiting area outside of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s throne room. They stood and waited for permission to enter.
“I’ve had the entire train ride and the walk over here to think about this, and I still don’t know what I’m going to say,” Lyra told her friends.
“Just tell her the truth,” Minuette said. “She can’t help you unless she knows exactly what you’re going through.”
“She isn’t going to want specifics, is she?” Lyra asked.
Twinkleshine said, “I don’t think you have to be explicit about what you’ve been—”
“I meant about who Bon Bon is.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
A member of the Royal Guard approached the three. “The princess will see you now,” he said.
Lyra walked through the tall, ornate double doors and into the princess’s throne room. Minuette walked slightly behind her to the right and Twinkleshine walked slightly behind her to the left. The guard closed the doors behind them and waited outside.
Lyra approached the throne, upon which sat a pink alicorn with a long mane of purple, fuchsia, and yellow. Lyra and her friends bowed.
After a moment, the princess said, “You may rise.” The three did so. “Now, which of you has come to see me about love?”
Lyra cleared her throat. “I have, your highness. My name is Lyra Heartstrings. For the past several moons, I’ve been in love with my best friend. I know that she’ll never love me back in the same way, but for some reason, some part of me refuses to accept that. I don’t want to lose her as my best friend, but how do I stop feeling this kind of love for her?”
“I can sense that you do indeed have a lot of love for this pony,” the princess said. She got out of her throne and stepped toward Lyra. “A lot of love.”
What Lyra and her friends didn’t realize – what none of the ponies in Canterlot realized – was that the real Princess Mi Amore Cadenza had been abducted roughly two weeks prior. She had been replaced by Chrysalis, queen of the changelings, a race of shape-shifting quadrupeds. Chrysalis had assumed the princess’s form and took her place on the throne as part of a scheme to nourish her hive, which naturally fed off of the love ponies expressed toward one another.
Before the replacement occurred, Princess Celestia had somehow learned of Chrysalis’s plans to use Canterlot as a feeding ground for her hive and quickly arranged for the captain of the Royal Guard to surround the city with a protective shield. As the most powerful changeling, Chrysalis had the strength and ability to slip through the shield undetected, but her hive remained trapped outside.
Chrysalis knew, though, that the princess of love was the marefriend of the captain of the Royal Guard. Initially, when Chrysalis took the princess’s place, she had planned to use her mind-altering magic to subdue the captain and remove the protective shield. However, Chrysalis had used most of her energy to penetrate the shield and imprison the real princess of love, so the best she had been able to do was to feed off of the captain’s bountiful love for his marefriend, which provided her with the power to convince him to propose to her.
Chrysalis said yes to the proposal, of course, and persuaded the captain to arrange the wedding as quickly as possible. Between the love of the captain and the love exhibited by the wedding guests for a royal wedding, Chrysalis would gain the energy she needed to destroy the shield, at which point her hive would invade and feed.
In the meantime, Chrysalis needed to continue to feed herself in order to keep up her own strength. Since she was masquerading as the princess of love, she arranged to hear the problems of ponies who were filled with love but didn’t know how to express it. Chrysalis considered it to be the perfect plan – ponies overflowing with love would come directly to her, she would absorb that love, and then she would cast a quick mind-erasure spell on the ponies and send them on their way, woozy and having forgotten that they had come to see the princess in the first place. After all, the easiest solution to the problem of ponies who had trouble expressing their love was to take away that love so they didn’t need to worry about how to express it.
Chrysalis’s plan had worked well enough up to that point, although not every pony who came to her really harbored as much love as they claimed to have. But as soon as Lyra entered, and especially as she approached the throne, Chrysalis could sense that her love was genuine – and plentiful. More plentiful by far than any other pony whose love she had absorbed.
Chrysalis thought about simply gorging herself on Lyra’s love, then dismissing her, as she had done to all of the other ponies. However, the amount of love being generated by Lyra was so great, Chrysalis quickly devised a different plan. If she kept Lyra around, Chrysalis would be able to continuously feed herself with small amounts of Lyra’s love without excessively weakening the pony. The obedience spell would take more energy than Chrysalis had wanted to use, but even after casting it, she would be able to absorb enough of Lyra’s love for a net gain of strength.
Chrysalis wasn’t thrilled that Lyra had brought two witnesses that she also needed to deal with. However, it occurred to Chrysalis that she could use the three to solve a small problem that had come up during the wedding preparations.
“I know what needs to be done to help you,” Chrysalis-as-the-princess told Lyra. “I’m going to cast a spell – hold still.”
Lyra held still. Naturally, Minuette and Twinkleshine held still, too. Chrysalis lit her horn and cast the obedience spell across all three unicorns. In unison, their eyes turned green.
“You will stay with me and become my bridesmaids,” Chrysalis said hypnotically. “Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
“Yes,” the three said in a monotone. Chrysalis smiled. She hadn’t been familiar with all of the ponies’ wedding customs and hadn’t initially known that she would be expected to choose bridesmaids. Now she had three of them, one of whom would also provide her with a steady supply of nourishment. Chrysalis absorbed some of Lyra’s love to replenish her strength. Lyra, under the effects of Chrysalis’s spell, did not react.
Chrysalis walked to the doors and opened them. “Guard!” she said. She attempted to convey an air of happy innocence. “You didn’t tell me that my old friends from school would be stopping by! Prepare three rooms in the guest quarters. They’re going to be helping me with my wedding preparations.”
Chrysalis turned to the three unicorns. They were still standing completely motionless, facing the empty throne. Chrysalis growled and trotted back over to them.
“My guard will accompany you to the rooms where you’ll be spending the weekend,” Chrysalis quietly said to them. “Stay there until I come to get you tomorrow.”
With blank expressions on their faces, Lyra, Minuette, and Twinkleshine obeyed.
The next morning, Lyra awoke to find herself in a lavishly furnished suite. Confused, she got up and looked out the window. From the view, she concluded that she was inside one of the castle’s towers.
Lyra racked her brain, trying to remember why she was in the castle. After a minute, she remembered: She had been selected to be one of the princess’s bridesmaids! Lyra grinned at the realization.
A tiny voice in the back of Lyra’s head told her that something wasn’t right – that it didn’t make sense that she would be one of the princess’s bridesmaids. But the thought was so fleeting that Lyra didn’t have time to register it. Instead, she thought about how happy she was to be serving the princess.
Lyra walked over to the door. Just as she was about to turn the handle with her magic, she was overcome with the urge to stay in her room. So instead, she returned to the window, sat perfectly still, and watched the ponies outside.
After a few hours, the door opened. Lyra turned around to see Princess Mi Amore Cadenza standing there with Minuette and Twinkleshine.
“It’s time for the dress fittings,” the princess said. “Come with me. And keep your mouths shut while I’m looking at my dress.”
The three unicorns followed the princess to the building in which the dressmaker was finishing her work. Lyra watched as the dressmaker showed the princess her dress. Lyra thought that the dressmaker, as well as the pony overseeing the wedding preparations, looked familiar… but couldn’t remember from where. Lyra’s brain felt like it was in a fog. Pony… ville? Lyra wasn’t sure why that word held some kind of meaning to her.
Lyra looked at the ponyquin displaying the princess’s dress. The head was adorned with a garland of pink and blue flowers. Lyra felt a warm sensation inside of her. Pink and blue… on the head… that’s beautiful. Why do I think that’s beautiful? I should say something. Why don’t I want to say something?
The princess looked over the bridesmaids’ dresses. “Those should be a different color,” the princess said.
Deep down, Lyra knew she disagreed with that. That dressmaker had worked very hard to create those dresses, and the colors complemented each other nicely. It didn’t seem fair to force her to start all over again so close to the day of the wedding. Lyra wanted to say something to make the dressmaker feel better.
Lyra heard Twinkleshine speak. “I think they’re lovely,” she said.
“Me too,” Minuette agreed.
Lyra was glad to hear that her friends felt the same way. “I love them,” she said.
The princess turned her head and glared at the three. Although the moment was brief, Lyra suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to remain quiet and do whatever the princess said.
After a final order to change the color, the princess left the room. Lyra, Minuette, and Twinkleshine followed her. The pony overseeing the wedding preparations also left the room and led the princess to the hall where the reception would begin.
“Wait here,” the princess ordered the three bridesmaids. The unicorns stood still in the courtyard while the princess went inside to see what plans had been made.
After a couple of minutes of standing still, Lyra looked over at her friends. She wanted to talk to them, but she wasn’t certain whether the princess would approve of that. And Lyra didn’t want to disobey the princess… she wasn’t entirely sure why, but she knew that she didn’t want to disobey the princess.
Finally, Minuette spoke. “This is amazing that we were the three ponies selected to be Princess Mi Amore Cadenza’s bridesmaids,” she said. “Right?”
Lyra reasoned that if Minuette thought it was okay to speak, it should be okay for her to speak, too. “It’s a great honor to serve the princess,” she heard herself say.
“That’s what I think,” Twinkleshine said. “I’ve never met a real live princess before, let alone gotten to stand next to her while she’s getting married!”
Lyra looked at Twinkleshine. Does that not make sense? But why wouldn’t that make sense?
“Maybe we’ll get to meet other members of Canterlot royalty, too!” Twinkleshine said. “Wouldn’t that be exciting?”
Suddenly, the unicorns heard the sound of a pony clearing her throat. They turned to see the princess glaring at them. “Did I tell you three to speak?” she said.
Minuette looked uncertain. “You told us to wait here,” she said.
The princess examined her surroundings. No one else was watching. “It should go without saying that when I tell you to stay put, you should quietly wait for my return!”
The three penitently lowered their heads.
Chrysalis grew frustrated. She knew that the obedience spell had a limited duration, but she thought it would last a longer time. Yet her new servants were already beginning to exhibit the first signs of free will. With a sigh, she absorbed some more of Lyra’s love – somehow, the green pony had just as much love as the day before – and recast the obedience spell.
“From this point forward, I want you to behave like proper bridesmaids,” Chrysalis said. “Now return to your quarters.” Silently, the three left.
An hour later, while Chrysalis was overseeing the rehearsal of the songbirds that would be performing at the ceremony, she received a magical beacon from a spell she had cast over a week before. When she had imprisoned the real Princess Mi Amore Cadenza deep in the caves below the city of Canterlot, Chrysalis infused the subterranean crystalline walls with a spell that would alert her if the princess made any sort of progress in an effort to escape. And it appeared that the real princess had successfully weakened one of the walls.
Chrysalis wasn’t too worried – she knew that even if the real princess could cut through the wall and then work her way back up to the caves’ entrance, it would sap so much of her strength, she wouldn’t be able to interfere with Chrysalis’s plans. Any two drones could easily subdue the princess in such an enfeebled state.
Chrysalis stomped her hoof on the ground when she remembered that all of her changeling drones were located outside of the magic bubble protecting Canterlot. She wanted to have some guards positioned at the entrance to the caves, just in case. But ordering members of the Royal Guard to do it might arouse suspicion.
Chrysalis then remembered the three ponies currently under her control in the guest quarters. Guards were more important than bridesmaids, she reasoned. And although Chrysalis had a bad feeling about the pony overseeing the wedding preparations, she figured that because the other five ponies actually doing all of the work were so excited to be participating in a royal wedding, they would agree to be her bridesmaids with no mind control necessary.
So Chrysalis returned to the quarters where the bridesmaids were staying and gathered them together. She didn’t want to completely deplete the green one, but since Chrysalis wasn’t going to need to use her as a source of food for the remainder of the wedding, she absorbed a dinner-sized portion of her love.
Chrysalis then escorted the three down to the entrance of the caves. After casting an additional mind control spell that would last for a couple of days, she gave her servants – now wearing their bridesmaid dresses – the order to stand guard and stop the progress of any pony that tried to leave.
Right before she left, Chrysalis decided to stock up on food and absorbed even more love from the green pony. To Chrysalis’s surprise, even after having so much love removed from her in such a short length of time, the pony still looked fit enough to stand guard. Chrysalis made a mental note to retrieve the pony for future use once she conquered Canterlot.
“…Miss? Are you okay?”
Lyra shook her head. Not because she wasn’t okay, but because she was trying to clear the clouds from her mind. She was aware of everything she had done in the past couple of days, but all of those memories were surrounded by a thick haze.
She looked past the pegasus from the Royal Guard who had asked about her condition and toward Minuette and Twinkleshine, who were also being attended to by armored pegasi. They too looked okay, if also a little dazed.
“I’m fine, I think,” Lyra said. “What happened? I mean, I know what happened, but… why what happened?”
“You were under the control of the queen of the changelings,” said an older unicorn – he appeared to be one of Princess Celestia’s wizards. He addressed all three of the friends. “She cast a spell to force you to do her bidding, then commanded you to stand guard here in this cave. Don’t worry – the real princess is safe and she sent us to make sure you’re all right.”
Lyra began to put the pieces together. She looked at Minuette and Twinkleshine. “Oh my gosh – this is all my fault,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
Minuette and Twinkleshine both walked over to one of Lyra’s sides and draped a foreleg over her in half of a hug each. “This is not your fault,” said Twinkleshine. “There’s no way you could have known that wasn’t the real princess.”
“Don’t you dare blame yourself,” Minuette said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Lyra joined them in what turned into a group hug.
After being examined by the royal physicians, who discovered no side effects or lingering aftermath from Chrysalis’s mind control spell, the three unicorns were released. In a break from tradition, they joined Lemon Hearts for dinner that evening at their usual table at the Canterlot Outdoor Café.
“And you’re sure you’re okay?” Lemon Hearts asked after the three had told her everything that happened.
“Just a little hungry,” Twinkleshine said. “The changeling queen didn’t realize that all ponies need to eat more than once a day.”
“I feel terrible about this,” Lemon Hearts said. “I never should have set up that appointment.”
“We’re not going through this again,” Minuette said. “It took long enough to get Lyra to admit that it wasn’t her fault that she wanted to see the princess in the first place. You didn’t know that the princess was actually the changeling queen, so nopony blames you.”
Lyra sighed. “She’s right. Now I’m just upset that I’m not any closer to figuring out what to do with my feelings for Bon Bon.” At the mere thought of Bon Bon, Lyra could feel the love and longing building back up inside of her.
“Couldn’t you just ask the real princess of love?” Twinkleshine asked.
“She’s busy planning her wedding now,” Lyra said. “And then she’ll be on her honeymoon starting tomorrow.”
“Plus, she was never the one holding court in the first place,” Lemon Hearts added. “It was always the changeling queen.”
“So I’m right back to where I started,” Lyra said.
For emphasis, Lyra sighed again. Because they didn’t have anything to say, Minuette and Twinkleshine each took a sip of their drinks.
“Can I give you some advice?” Lemon Hearts asked.
“I already know what your advice is going to be,” Lyra said. The annoyance in her voice was dampened by her despondency.
“That’s because it’s what you should do,” Lemon Hearts said. Her tone was sympathetic yet unwavering. “You have to tell her. If for no other reason than because it isn’t healthy to pretend to be somepony you’re not.”
“I’m not pretending to be somepony I’m not,” Lyra protested. “I’m just being selective about what parts of me she knows about.”
Twinkleshine opened her mouth to speak, then hesitated. Finally, she went ahead. “I don’t see what the difference is.”
“There isn’t much of one,” Lemon Hearts said. “And Lyra, the truth is going to slip out eventually. I mean, what are you going to do – never go on another date again so Bon Bon doesn’t accidentally see you going out with a mare?”
“I…” Lyra said, then paused. She groaned because she couldn’t think of a good counterargument.
“You have to stop trying to hide it. If you had already told Bon Bon any time before now, then none of this—”
Lemon Hearts stopped when she realized what she was about to say. She exhaled and started over, speaking more softly this time.
“Lyra, if you’re her best friend – and it’s clear that you two make really good best friends – then don’t you think she’d want you to be open and truthful about who you are?”
“But what if she asks how I feel about her?” Lyra said. “Do I lie about that?”
“Well…” Lemon Hearts said, “…no. You tell her the truth. Again, she’s your best friend – she’d want you to be honest with her.”
“You don’t know for sure she’d want that.”
“I think she would. Twinkleshine, has anything changed between you and Lyra since you found out she thought you were cute when we were younger?”
“No,” Twinkleshine said. “Actually, I was kind of flattered.”
Lemon Hearts said, “So if Bon Bon asks, you tell her, and then the two of you work things out. That’s what friends do.”
Lyra was hesitant. She looked at Twinkleshine. Twinkleshine nodded in agreement. Lyra looked at Minuette.
“I think Lemon Hearts is right,” Minuette said. “Let her know. You owe it to yourself. It’s obviously eating you up on the inside, and that’s not good for you.”
Lyra stared at her drink. “I’ll think about it,” she told her friends. “I promise, I will. Now can we please talk about something else?”
Minuette smirked. “But I thought you loved talking about yourself.”
“After the past couple of days, I’m tired of ponies paying so much attention to me.”
Lyra spent that night at her parents’ house. The next day, she had to get dressed up – even though they had only been “invited” to the wedding by Chrysalis, and even though they had actively tried to prevent her from leaving the caves, the princess had been gracious enough to invite Lyra, Minuette, and Twinkleshine to her official wedding. Lyra even got to keep the bridesmaid dress that had initially been made for her.
Lyra enjoyed the reception that was held after the ceremony, but she left relatively early during the festivities so she could catch the train home to Ponyville before it was too late at night.
After Lyra dropped off her belongings on the floor in the center of her living room, she walked over to Bon Bon’s apartment and knocked on the door. When Bon Bon opened the door and saw who it was, she jumped out and gave Lyra a hug, much to Lyra’s surprise.
“I was so worried about you,” Bon Bon said. “You were gone for three days. Are you all right? What happened?”
“It’s a long story,” Lyra said. “Can I come in?”
Bon Bon invited Lyra to sit down on the loveseat. It was dark, and late enough at night that there was a chill in the air, so Bon Bon lit a small fire in the standing fireplace for light and warmth.
“Do you want something to drink?” Bon Bon asked.
“Well, if I’m going to tell you the whole story, then I guess I’m going to need something to keep me calm,” Lyra said. “Do you have anything for that?”
“If you give me a couple of minutes,” Bon Bon said, “I can make us some hot chocolate.”
“That sounds really good.”
Lyra waited while Bon Bon busied herself in the kitchen. Soon, the enticing aroma of chocolate filled the air. Not long after that, Bon Bon emerged with two mugs of rich hot chocolate and sat down next to Lyra on the loveseat.
Lyra took a sip and savored it – Bon Bon was a master of all things chocolate-related. Lyra waited until Bon Bon had swallowed her first sip before she spoke.
“To begin with, I was enslaved by the queen of the changelings,” Lyra said.
“What?!” Bon Bon replied. She nearly dropped her mug.
“I’m okay now,” Lyra assured her.
Bon Bon listened as Lyra told her everything that had happened to her during the weekend, from meeting a supposed princess to being forced to obey Queen Chrysalis to the events of the wedding itself. The only thing Lyra didn’t tell Bon Bon was why she had met with a princess in the first place.
The hot chocolate disappeared long before Lyra had finished relating all of the events. By the time her story ended, Bon Bon could see that Lyra was a little on edge from reliving the experience.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Bon Bon said. “Is there anything I can do? More hot chocolate? You look a little uncomfortable. Do you want to lie down?”
Lyra looked down at Bon Bon’s plush loveseat. There was something that she wanted to do to be more comfortable, and it occurred to Lyra that in addition to her sexuality, there was another part of her that Bon Bon didn’t know about. Lyra decided to test the waters.
Instead of lying down, Lyra leaned backward until her shoulders were cradled against the loveseat’s cushioned backrest. She rested her foreleg on the raised side of the loveseat and then adjusted her back legs so they were dangling over the edge.
Bon Bon looked at Lyra’s unusual position. “If you want to lie down, I’d be happy to get up so you can have the whole seat,” she said.
“No,” Lyra explained, “I’m sitting.”
“I’ve never seen anypony sit like that before.”
“Well…” Lyra hesitated. She decided to keep talking. “You know what humans are, right?”
“I feel like I’ve heard the word before,” Bon Bon said, “but I don’t remember where.”
“They’re tall, hairless creatures that walk around on two legs. Instead of forelegs, they have arms which hang in the air with hands on the end that they use to grab stuff.”
“Oh yeah,” Bon Bon said. “They’re those mythological monkey things.”
“They’re not monkeys,” Lyra said. “And they’re not mythological.”
“They’re not?” Bon Bon said. “How do you know?”
“Well, I mean, I don’t have proof or anything,” Lyra said. “I just know, deep down, that they’re real. Somewhere, they’re out there. And someday, I’m going to meet one. Anyway, this is how they sit.”
“Wait… someday, you’re going to meet one?”
“They’re really smart, like us,” Lyra said. “I don’t know if they’ll come here, or if ponies will go find them, but someday, we’re going to meet them. It’ll be amazing.”
“Okay… but why are you sitting like one?”
“It’s comfortable. And I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a human.”
“Always?”
“Ever since I was a filly. You can ask Minuette, Lemon Hearts, or Twinkleshine – they’ve seen me sit like this lots of times.”
“Is that why you sometimes rear up onto your hind legs for no reason?”
“Not for no reason, but yeah. Like I said, I like to imagine what it’s like to be a human.”
Bon Bon looked at her friend. One side of her mouth curled upward.
Lyra suddenly felt very self-conscious. She shifted back to sitting on the loveseat like a pony.
Bon Bon just kept staring at Lyra, one eyebrow quirked.
Lyra felt a pit forming in her stomach. “…You think I’m crazy, don’t you?” she said. She couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice.
Bon Bon smiled. “I don’t think you’re crazy,” she said. “I’ve just never met a pony who was so passionate about… humans.”
“So you don’t think it’s weird?”
“No, I do,” Bon Bon said. Lyra frowned. “But that’s what I like about you. You know it’s different, but you own it. It’s part of who you are. You’re not afraid to be yourself.”
“Really?”
“Really. You’re Lyra Heartstrings, and you like humans. If somepony else doesn’t like it, too bad.”
Lyra let out a sigh of relief. “I was afraid to tell you. I didn’t want to lose you as a friend because there was something about me you didn’t like.”
Bon Bon put her hoof on Lyra’s shoulder. “Lyra, you’ve taught me a lot about making friends since you moved here. But one thing that seems to me to be true is that if the only way somepony will like you is if you hide part of who you are, then they aren’t really your friend.”
Lyra smiled.
Bon Bon continued, “So why hide it? Just be yourself. Right?”
Bon Bon pulled back her hoof with a warm smile. Lyra looked at Bon Bon. She thought about the conversation she had had with her friends at dinner the previous night.
“Right,” Lyra said. She took a deep breath. “In that case, there’s something else. Okay, so you know months ago when I told you about my last relationship, with the bass clarinetist named Cosmic Dust?”
Bon Bon nodded.
“Well, I didn’t exactly tell you everything. Cosmic Dust wasn’t a stallion. She was a mare.”
Bon Bon blinked. “Oh. So you’re…”
“Yep. One hundred percent.”
Bon Bon was silent.
Lyra looked at Bon Bon. Her first fear was that Bon Bon’s silence represented anger. Or hate.
But those weren’t the emotions conveyed by Bon Bon’s face. Lyra continued to look. She was actually having a difficult time getting an exact read on what Bon Bon was feeling.
Fear? No, not quite. Trepidation? Maybe.
But Lyra had spent enough time secretly studying those beautiful blue eyes that she could detect some kind of a spark… and it wasn’t a spark of anger or disgust.
“Bon Bon?”
After a moment, Bon Bon spoke. “I have to tell you something. I… also… like mares. In that way.”
Lyra’s heart skipped a beat.
Silence returned to the room as Lyra processed what she had just heard. She had to be sure. “Really?” Lyra said. “You hesitated…”
“You’re only the third pony I’ve ever told,” Bon Bon said. “And the last time was six years ago.” She let out a derisive laugh. “And here I’ve been lecturing you on not hiding who you are.”
Bon Bon shook her head and looked down at the floor.
Lyra stared at Bon Bon. In the darkened room, Bon Bon was softly illuminated by the fire’s glow on one side and by moonlight on the other. There was only one thought on Lyra’s mind.
Before she could talk herself out of it, Lyra leaned over toward Bon Bon and kissed her delicately on the cheek.
Bon Bon’s eyes went wide. Lyra leaned back over to her side of the loveseat and looked away, blushing. Without turning her head, Lyra looked sideways toward Bon Bon. Bon Bon was now staring at her.
They stayed that way for a moment. Suddenly, quickly, awkwardly, Bon Bon leaned toward Lyra and kissed her on the cheek. She then shifted back to sitting upright.
Lyra turned her head toward Bon Bon. Bon Bon looked at Lyra.
Slowly, they both leaned toward one another. Inches away. Centimeters. Millimeters.
Finally, their lips met.
And remained there.
After a few moments, they separated. But not far.
Lyra spoke. “Was that… you wanted to…”
“Yeah.”
A pause. “I liked that.”
“Me too. A lot.”
Lyra smiled. A smile that she wouldn’t have been able to suppress for all of the bits in Equestria. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear that,” she said.
Bon Bon smiled back.
“Actually, I think I do.”
They kissed again. This time, there was no question.
It was meant to be.