Big Mac leaned against a tree he sat beside, taking a break from his long journey. His eyes sank heavily. A little nap couldn't hurt.
He jerked awake and looked around. He had heard... something? But nothing was there. His imagination? Had to be. He settled back to sleep.
Big Mac jumped and looked around, but still nothing met his eyes. Sleeping in the wilderness was a nervous thing. Just a little more shuteye and he'd move on.
He tried to jump, but his back legs were held in something slick and cold. He flopped instead and turned his head to see half of his body had been stuffed down the gullet of a snake, the same he'd offered an apple to before. "Nope!"
"Don't be alarmed," spoke the snake as smoothly as anything with its mouth full could. "You looked cold..."
Big Mac tried to yank his legs away from their room-temperature surroundings. "Nope!" His legs were trapped tight, so he brought down a hoof, bopping the snake on the end of his snoot in a most unkind way. "Nope!"
The snake hissed in pain. "That's rude! I'm just trying to--" His words were interrupted with another solid battering from the panicked stallion. "Mother said there'd be days like this." The price of his meal was raising too high for comfort. The snake withdrew in a sudden jerk, leaving Big Mac freed and wet with saliva. "I thought you were a nice pony."
"Nope!" Big Mac scrambled to his hooves, shaking one of his damp legs as he hobbled awkwardly to his wagon. "Ain't no food for no snake."
The snake watched Big Mac hurriedly gallop away with his cart and let out a sillabant sigh. His meal would have to wait. Why did his father have to be non-venomous?
Big Mac crested the next hill and had to laugh. There was the town. He had almost made it without a problem, if he hadn't gotten lazy. He started down the hill with a smile, looking forward to his reward for a hard day's work.
Twilight waved her hooves at her friend. "No-no-no! I mean..."
"You're still an awful liar, Twilight." Lyra crossed her arms. "I mean... why didn't you say something? I woulda listened. I didn't mean to scare off one of my favorite bookponies. What'd I even do?!" She suddenly sucked in air in a loud gasp. "Is that why you practically never even say hi? Celestia above! I practically moved here for you!"
"Wait, what?"
Lyra waved a hoof. "Well, alright, that's a bit dramatic. I came to hang out with Bon Bon, but when I realized you were here too, that was like an extra super bonus. Seriously, what'd I do?!" She put both of her hooves on her chest. "Have you been angry at me for years?! Dang, girl. I thought you were a princess of friendship."
Twilight felt heat rising in her cheeks. "Well, you see..."
"I'm easy to talk to! You just had to--"
Twilight thrust a hoof forward, popping it into Lyra's mouth with the sound of a cork settling in snugly. "That, right there. You're not letting me talk, Lyra."
Lyra backed up enough for the hoof to come free. She nervously chuckled as a hoof went behind her head. "Sorry... You were saying?"
Twilight took a soft breath. "I'm sorry for not bringing this up earlier." She slowly extended a hoof with a sigh. "This was when were were just foals, and I was trying to put it behind me."
Lyra's snout wrinkled. "But you didn't! It was always there, nipping at your hooves." She leaned in suddenly. "Look, I know you've been kinda overwhelmed with the whole everything, and it took you long enough to get back to Moondancer, how about we skip the tearful shouting match and get straight to it?"
Twilight wryly smiled as she looked over the unicorn before her. "When we were playing, it was my first time. It was my first a lot of things. I was telling a story, and I was... really proud of it and wanted to share it." She spread her hooves. "I was so nervous..."
Lyra clopped her hooves excitedly. "I remember! I remember! It was great! I mean, the start, uh, before you kinda..." She saw Twilight eyeing her. "Ah, heh... continue."
"As I was saying... I had this story. I wanted to share it... I spent weeks just outlining it!" She huffed softly. "It was a day just figuring out what the perfect name would be."
"The Trials of the Timeworn Travellers," sighed out Lyra. "Great name. I was hooked from the word go."
Twilight crookedly smiled. "Thank you, but then the big day arrived. You were there, with the other girls. You were all excited, and so was I. I... was trying to hold it in, keep it professional. It went alright, at first... But then a certain unicorn started loudly announcing she had ideas, big ideas!"
Lyra's ears perked up, half-asking who the unicorn was before it struck her. "Oh."
"Yes, oh. You trampled all over my careful plans with a big smile on your face."
"I was having fun..."
"I wasn't!" Twilight brought down a hoof with a loud clop.
Lyra flinched back. "I wasn't trying to hurt you, Twilight..."
Twilight took a slow breath, moving her hoof with the motion carefully. "As a reasonable adult, I can see that now. You were just a filly, like me. We both... got carried away--"
Lyra pounced Twilight, driving the larger princess to the ground in a fierce hug. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ruin your life!"
Twilight pushed up at her, getting a few precious inches of room. "You did not 'ruin' my life." She sat up as Lyra backed off of her. "I was upset, at the time, but we're adults now. I can see that we were just being foalish, both of us." She wobbled a hoof between herself and Lyra.
"You say that." Lyra cocked a brow. "You say that! But you're keeping me away from Spike's game. You're still afraid I'll do exactly the same thing."
Twilight licked her lips. "Look, he has a lot of players, and he's overwhelmed. This is his first time too. He's... had some problems already, and I'm trying to help him through it. I don't want him to... do what I did."
Lyra leaned in as she pointed a hoof at Twilight. "None of that changes what I said. You think I'll run over his game."
"And you wouldn't?" asked Twilight. "Lyra, I like you, but that is kind of how you act."
Lyra crossed her arms. "I take offense to that! I can dial it down if I'm asked to. Bon Bon'll back me up on this." Her head suddenly tipped to the side at a mild angle. "Problems?"
Twilight grunted before her smile returned, awkward as it was. "Yes, those. He has Discord in his game, to start. He had Rarity stop in on him without warning." She counted on her hoof, tapping one against the other with each named issue. "Applejack was convinced this was all a horrible game that would make ponies horrible, but she's gotten over that, I think? I mean, Pinkie's there. Poor little guy's way in over his head."
Lyra tapped her own chest. "So what if I help? I mean, you know, not playing, but helping run things?" She brought her hooves together in an excited little clip-clop. "I've done it before! Who do you think ran the game after you ran off? Moondancer? That'd be a laugh."
Twilight envisioned her bespectacled friend trying to keep a game of O&O going and shook her head rapidly. "That would end poorly, I should imagine. Unless..."
Lyra tapped Twilight on the nose. "Distracted much? Seriously, I'd love to help out Spike. He's a great little guy, and if I can help out, well, I'm your mare!"
Spike wandered through the town, trying to calm his frazzled nerves. "Friend," he spoke to no one at all.
"Yep, we are those," agreed Pinkie.
Spike jumped in surprise as he turned to see Pinkie sitting there with a lute across her front, her hooves playing some song her couldn't immediately identify. "Oh, hey Pinkie." He hiked a thumb at the lute. "Getting in some practice?"
"Exactarooni." She flashed a brilliant smile. "I'm learning how to play it for real, even when I'm not playing a super awesome gypsy-bard. Wanna hear a song?"
Spike blinked softly. "You already learned a song? Wait, did you know how to play that before we played?"
"Nope!" She ran her hoof down the strings and began to play a little melody. "Fleece as white as snow," sang Pinkie as she reached the end, grinning. "How was it?"
Spike had heard the song before and giggled. "Not bad at all. Seriously, you just learned that? You are a kind of genius, Pinkie."
Pinkie glanced left and right as if being spied on. "Don't tell anyone," she whispered softly.
Spike looked befuddled at the idea. "Uh, why not?"
Pinkie shrugged softly. "Ponies act weird when you try to tell them you're smart, then they think you're showing off and they get defensive. I mean, if I say I'm smart, am I saying you're not? Ponies think that way and it gets super ultra awkward, so I don't talk about it." She strummed her instrument. "I just try to be a good friend to everypony."
Spike considered it a moment with a thoughtful frown. "Huh, wow. I never thought of it that way. Still, Pinkie, you are amazing. Your brain jumps in ways I'd never predict. Sometimes it kinda goes poorly, and sometimes not." He waved a hand at the lute. "Still, learning how to play so fast? You can't argue that."
"Oh stop!" Pinkie giggled merrily at the compliment. "You're too much, Spike. I bet you could learn it if you really wanted to. You just don't want to, so you don't." She directed a hoof at Spike. "You like running the game, and I've peeked at that book. No way! That's not my thing. I could stare at it for months and still get lost. Nope! I'll let you do that, mister smarty-dragon. I like parties, and music, and music at parties!"
Spike laughed at the image. "Are you going to, wait, you already do that sometimes, don't you?"
"Ah huh." She bobbled her head. "Only if the pony likes my kind of music." She lifted her lute over her head. "Now that I know another instrument, that means I can make more kinds of music for different kinds of ponies that don't like accordions or drums or the other things I've played. I don't know why ponies don't like those, but, eh, to each their own, right?"
"Right." Spike smiled at his exuberant friend. "Say, can you play something adventurous on that?"
"Oh shoot... I've only learned one song so far." Pinkie pouted as she lowered her lute to her front. "I'll learn something mega adventurous and play it for you, Spike. Speaking of which, have you seen Lyra? I saw her trot past, but I didn't get to give her the concert I promised her."
Spike quickly shook his head as he pointed up at the castle. "Can't say I know where she's hiding. I was thinking of heading home."
"Well, alright. If you see her, tell her I'm looking for her, alright?"
Spike thrust up a thumb. "You got it. Keep at it, Pinkie, you're doing great."
"Thanks!" Pinkie restarted the one song she new, adding a little flourish here and there as her muse demanded. By the time she even thought to look around, Spike had slipped away. "I'll learn something for you, promise," she spoke to the empty space that once held a small dragon friend.
Spike was busy hiking home, walking up the long hill that led to the castle. "At least some of us are having a good time with this."