/x/ And now... ducks. /x/
In a pond, a duck quacked. It paddled through the water a little bit. It ruffled its feathers, then didn’t do anything for a while. But then, a little piece of bread landed in front of the duck. It quacked again, then ate the bread. It turned in the water towards the direction where the magic bread came from. However, all it could see was two ponies sitting on a bench.
One, an earth pony, sat normally. However, the other one, a unicorn, sat in a bizarre fashion. Straight up and down. The duck seemed to contemplate this for a moment. Then, the duck seemed to contemplate this some more... ... ... the duck quacked again before losing interest and swimming away.
“Bonnie, I’m bored.”
A blue eye twitched, but the smile upon the face below it stayed in its place. The head this face belonged to turned slightly, allowing the head’s owner to look at her company. No eye contact was made, as the unicorn’s head was lolled back over the bench.
“You know,” the earth pony said. “Watching the sky won’t cure your boredom.” She turned her attention back to the ducks, tossing out another piece of bread. Two of the ducks snapped at each other for it, but a third swept in and took it for himself before flitting away. Bon Bon giggled at the display, and finished her thought. “There’s no clouds scheduled for today anyways. You might as well help feed the ducks.”
“I’d rather feed myself right now.” Lyra leaned her head forward to see a piece of bread. She leaned back and retorted, “That’s animal food.”
Bon Bon facehoofed. “You know,” she said, grabbing another piece of bread. “It’s made of butter and flour.” she took a bite, tossing the rest into the duck pond. “And scientifically speaking, ponies are animals, too.”
“I mean dumb animals, Bonnie.”
All the ducks in the pond suddenly stopped and stared at the unicorn. Many of them exchanged glances before returning the glares. Lyra looked back up, realizing what she’d just said.
“Umm...” she awkwardly started. “...sorry?”
One of the ducks replied, “Go [quack] yourself,” before flying off, taking the other ducks with it.
Bon Bon sighed. “Well, my break’s just about over, anyways.” she packed the leftover bread into her saddlebag before getting down off of the park bench. She pulled her coin purse out and set it next to Lyra. “Please don’t spend all of it. Again.”
“Thanks babe, love you!”
“And don’t just buy junk food, get a salad or something.”
Lyra’s eye twitched. “...I retract the ‘love you’.”
Bon Bon rolled her eyes before trotting back to the chocolate shop. She managed the Ponyville branch of the corporation, the Filly Wonka Chocolate Factories. The chain was more targeted towards foals, but the job paid well, had flexible hours, and it always smelled like chocolate. Many times she would come home and... well... let’s just say that Lyra really likes chocolate. #seductive wink
Anyways, her schedule started early in the morning: like, really REALLY early in the morning. Like, not-even-Celestia-is-up-yet early. She had a break a couple hours after dawn- which was finishing right about now- and worked until about 10:00. This gave the two enough time for lunch (among other things) before Lyra headed to her own workplace.
Knowing a certain pair of eyes was watching her go, she exaggerated the movements of her back legs a bit more than was needed. Lyra’s eyebrows went up slightly, and her heart skipped a beat. She half-grinned a bit before grabbing the coin purse with her magic and jumping off the bench.
She came face-to-face with Cherry Cola. His face held nothing but contempt for the unicorn.
“Enjoying the show?” he spat. Partially out of anger, partially because his jaw was wired shut.
“So what if I am?” Lyra replied cautiously. “She’s my wife.”
Cherry lowered his head slightly just enough for the cliche shadow to obscure one eye. “Just because my mother says your ‘marriage’ is legally acknowledged,” he edged past her, not breaking eye contact. “It doesn’t mean that your kind belongs here. You’ll never be welcome here in Ponyville.”
“Kay,” she replied. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
He glared back at her for a few moments before walking away muttering something under his breath. He headed towards the Everfree Forest.
Lyra rolled her eyes and headed into town. Apparently it wasn’t enough to show that his opinion was outnumbered. The “I’m right, you’re wrong” mentality was so pervasive on the stallion you could hear it in his hoofsteps. It’s gotten him into more trouble than he could deal with, from marital issues to bar fights.
You see, Cherry talked a big game, but he had no physical ability to speak of. His words were acid, but she didn’t have to worry about him doing anything physical to her. Being a unicorn, Lyra had the advantage, especially considering her trickster class of magic. She also had some experience in martial arts under her proverbial belt, but Lyra would bet her foam finger collection that she could take him regardless.
Steering her mind in the direction of her stomach, she mentally analyzed the list of places to eat. The unicorn decided not to head to her number one spot, Sugarcube Corner, for a couple reasons. Bonnie asked her not to eat any junk food, Pinkie can be a handful this time of the day (week... month... year...), and because Carrot Cake seemed a bit steamed about the meeting yesterday. She figured it would be best to steer clear for a few days.
Luckily, a good second-place option came up in the form of Applejack.
“Sup AJ.” she greeted.
“Mornin’, Lyra. What can Ah get for you?”
“So I had an encounter with Cherry before I came over here.” Lyra sniffed the merchandise. “How much for the fritters today?”
“Oh, really? He say anything? Fritters are three bits, but y’all can buy two for five.”
“Yeah. He said ‘our kind wasn’t welcome here’. Wow, two for five, really?”
Applejack snorted in laughter. “Your ‘kind’? Oh, that’s priceless. Yeah, we’ve got a bit of extras on hoof.”
“Yeah, but his jaw’s wired from Lucky yesterday, so it sounded more like ‘Yurr kurnd ishint wullcurm hurr’, and...” she trailed off in joint laughter at her impression before continuing. “Got extras, huh? You hardly ever have extra fritters, mind if I take four for ten?”
After she was done snickering, Applejack replied. “Yeah, we opened up a zap apple pie last night, so-” a ‘chink’ is heard. “So Ah’m sellin’ some o’ the fritters we were gonna eat today. And sure, sugarcube, buy as many as you want.”
Lyra didn’t say anything in response. Her mouth hung slightly open in awe. After a moment, however, she shook this off and (quite loudly) asked (more like yelled), “You opened a Zappie!?”
The earth pony nodded; the volume didn’t faze her, as she’d been around Pinkie Pie for long enough. “Yeah, we did. So, four fritters, or you thinkin’ more? Also, can y’all please get your hooves off the cart and your face outta mine?”
The unicorn looked down and saw that her hooves were indeed on the cart, then looked back up to see that yes, her face was in very close proximity to Applejack’s. She quickly composed herself, and took a deep breath. After this, she calmly said, “Enough with the fritters, what’s with the pie? You only bust that out for special occasions...” she thought about the possible reasons, until one in particular popped into her mind.
“I see,” she said. Raising an eyebrow suggestively, Lyra leaned in and whispered, “Big Mac’s gotten Cheerilee preggers, eh?”
Applejack’s eyes widened, and she blushed furiously at the accusation towards her brother, of all ponies. “No!” she cried. “Mac ain’t courtin’ nopony, least of all Cheerilee! It was because I... I...”
‘Oh, now she’s gonna ask, and Ah’m gonna have to answer, then she’ll know about me, and that ain’t a bad thing but Lyra ain’t exactly got the tightest lid on secrets, not that Ah think that she’s gonna go tellin’ everypony willy-nilly around town, but she might accidentally yell about it or somethin’ and she’s already attracted some attention with her yellin’ so other ponies are probably listenin’ and Ah don’t just wanna jump right into lettin’ everypony know about me so I-’
“Hi, Lyra!” Twilight Sparkle greeted. “Good morning Applejack, and thanks for helping me finally end that big important research paper on the soil in your orchards. Oh yeah, and for the Zap Apple Pie, it was delicious! It took me weeks to finish that paper, and the pie really hit the spot!”
‘Oh thank Celestia!’
“Wait a minute...” Lyra said. “AJ. You’re telling me you gave Twilight some of that pie because she finished an essay?”
“It was a Big and Important essay,” Twilight corrected, putting emphasis on the words Big and Important. “For the Princess.”
Lyra pouted.
“Don’t be sad, Ly,” Applejack tried to comfort her. “Y’all still got dibs on one come Hearth’s Warming Eve, remember? And besides... she had the normal first-time reaction.”
Lyra’s pout subsided, then she cracked a smile. “Man,” she said. “I can’t believe I missed it. You should’ve taken a picture, because that would’ve been GOLD! Anyways, I’ll take the four fritters, and... let’s say six apples. Two red delicious, two golden delicious, and two granny smith.” She nodded as she placed her order.
“Got it, that’s 13 bits.”
The transaction was put through: Applejack got her money, and Lyra got her food.
“Thanks AJ. See ya, Twi!”
Twilight bid her farewell as Lyra walked away biting into a fritter. She turned her attention back to the apple cart.
“Thanks, Twi-” Applejack began, before being cut off by a hoof-wave.
“Eh, I owe you one for walking me home,” the unicorn responded. “Anyways, I just wanted to swing by and get some breakfast before finishing interviews. I’ll take some apples, four maybe?”
“Well, Ah owe a thanks besides. Who’s all gettin’ interviewed? And Ah’m guessin’ ya don’t have a pref’rence on which kinda apples, right?”
Twilight answered the questions out of order: “Whichever, they’re all good and I can’t pick between them.” she then recalled the list she made the other day. “Well, it’s just cleanup for those who were there- Filthy Rich, Derpy, some other townsfolk- and I’m going to talk to the ones who weren’t there. Zecora, Amethyst Star, Cheerilee, I’ll go to the hospital to talk to Nurse Redheart, and Pinkie Pie.”
Applejack picked out a braeburn, red gala, granny smith, and red delicious, and set them on the cart in time to ask “Pinkie Pie?”
As Twilight nodded, she set out the price, two bits. “I’ll have to head to Sugarcube Corner. I’ll probably head there last, Pinkie and I have plans for lunch.” her face turned a shade darker. “I’ll probably need cupcakes after dealing with Filthy Rich, anyways.”
The earth pony grimaced. “Ooh. That don’t sound good.” she scraped the bits onto her hoof and set them in the register. “Hope these apples tide ya over for that mess.”
Twilight nodded as she took the apples with her telekinesis. “I’ll need as much help as I can get,” she laughed humorlessly. “Anyways, have a nice day, Applejack!”
“Thanks, you too.” she waited until Twilight was out of earshot before muttering to herself ‘As nice as it can get talking to him, anyways...’
/x/x/x/
Zecora was interrupted from her meditation by knocking at the door. It wasn’t loud, obnoxious banging, so it wasn’t Applebloom, the other Crusaders, or Rainbow Dash. It was audible, so it wasn’t Fluttershy. There was knocking, so it wasn’t Pinkie Pie. Nothing was scheduled 3 weeks in advance, so it wasn’t Twilight or Rarity.
“It seems I have a visitor,” she said, answering and opening the door.. “Who could it be, knock-knock-knocking on my door?”
A male voice replied, “Mornin’, Cora.”
The zebra smiled, nodded, and opened further. “Good morning, my dear,” she kissed her visitor on the forehead, before backing away and letting him in the rest of the way. “What brings you all the way out here?”
The visitor wiped his hooves on the mat before stepping onto the floor. He smiled.
“Eina,” She winced.
“Got in another fight,” he said.
“I can see that,” she replied. “Where is my tooth-repairing potion at?”
She rooted around for a moment as her visitor surveyed the wall decorations. He pursed his lips at them before turning away, feeling them staring at him. ‘Creepy things...’
“Aha!” the zebra proclaimed. “Recently I made a new batch. Now, open your mouth, and down the hatch!”
She poured the potion into Cherry’s mangled mouth before standing back and letting the alchemy work its magic. He gently swished the concoction around his teeth, feeling a gently tingling sensation.
“You mentioned you got in a fight. May I assist you in your plight?”
He nodded, waving his hoof before swallowing. “No, it’sh fine. Jusht dealing with shome poniesh being intolerant of other people’sh opinionsh. I'm shure you undershtand.”
“Ah, I believe I do. But do not worry, I’ll be there for you.”
“Thanksh babe. How long until thish works?”
“Well when I give this to Apple Bloom, and wait to weave its toothy loom, a minute it takes for a small break, but as for this... I know not just how long it will take. Do you plan to stay for a while?”
“Ash much ash I’d like to I gotta take care of shome legal shtuff. Inshurance and the lawshuit and shtuff. But it wash nishe to shee you for what I could today.”
Zecora nodded. “Important documents you must file. But when you finish, I’ll be here. I trust I’ll see you soon, my dear?”
“Of courshe,” he said, giving her a gentle peck on the lips. “Anyshing for my lovely fianśhe.”
/x/x/x/