A normal day.
I wake up with barely any aches to my body and with all the time in the world, granted to me by the graces of the weekend. Arising from my sheets with a cool slip of my blanket and the alluring scent of breakfast being made by my wonderful roommate. Beams of Celestia’s bright sun smiled right on my well rested face, to greet me to brand new day. It was perfect.
So why did it feel otherwise “not” so perfect?
Clambering out of bed, I give my cheeks a slap along my hooves as I stare at a grimacing mare on the other side of my dresser top. Red eyes. Had I been crying in my sleep again, last night?
“Morning, Bon Bon.” the image gives me no reply and seems to hold some sort of grudge within. I force a painful upwards curl along my lips and see the same image light up suddenly. My muscles gave out and the reflection only seemed to frown even more at me. Who was I trying to lie to? Just another perfect day in Ponyville. Without the only piece of family to be there with me. So close and yet so far.
The image turns to the side and peeks down at the picture laid along it’s glass frame. It was a wonderful shot. Portraying my sweet baby girl with her class, all posing for the camera. A brief sigh left my lips as I traced a hooftip along the edge of that very picture. Cooing out at the mere thought of my daughter, whom I never had the chance to hold and coddle. Right now it was the only thing keeping me happy.
She never held any knowledge of my existence in her life. Growing up with the strange fact that she was just part of a regular family. With a regular mother, father, and sister. Never to ask herself the question, if these things are real to her. But I knew. I knew what was reality and what was merely an act to mask the severe truths behind it all.
Right then and there was the moment I had made up my mind. I would no longer spend my days sulking around worried about her safety. Hiding in the shadows to protect the town from unforeseen threats that didn’t catch the public’s eye. I was done hiding. I was done pretending that everything was alright. I was tired of the heartache. I have to see her! I have to confess and show her the truth!
I could hear my legs stomp along the wooden floor as I marched right outside of the room. Down the stairs and pass the area we call a living room/kitchen. I even ignored Lyra’s morning greeting. Yet the faint blur of minty green still made itself known to me.
“Whoa, whoa! Waaiiit! Wait! What’s wrong?” Lyra was quick to catch my mood and blocked my path between the doorway outside. Shooting her whole body right by the exit as a barrier to stop me.S
“Move, Lyra.” It came out like a huff. A painful set of words that made it difficult to speak anymore than I should to my closest friend.
“No! Not until we talk about it.” Lyra shot up on her hind legs and crossed her forelegs along her chest.
“Do you know ‘what’ I can do to you right now?” I scoff at her attempt, though Lyra had a counter for it as well.
“Well...Do you know what ‘I’ can do to you?”
“Ly-”
“Boop!” before I could even complain about one more thing, Lyra reached out quickly and poked my muzzle. My hooves shot up and covered majority of my face. Not so much from the touch, but to hide the fact that I was blushing at the sudden friendly approach. I gave a growl and soon felt it leave through my nostrils like steam, giving in to the surprise caring touch of my roommate.
“Fine….”
Lyra moved away from the door, and for an added attempt to stop me from fleeing her open ears, she locked the front door. The mint green mare was now pushing me to the living space. Giving my back gentle shoves that led to the biggest couch for me to rest on.
“Do we really need to do this right now?” a moan escaped my lips. She knew the story. She knew well enough what I wanted to do. Eventually she caught on with how much time we spent together. We never kept secrets from one another. Not since the incident with the bugbear in town.
“Yes! Now, go on! Go, go! Sit down and we’ll talk.” I blew out more steam from within my lungs. Taking my place to sit down, watching Lyra pull out a quill and notepad as she settled into the opposite seat facing me.
“Seriously?” eying the glowing set of paper and ink my hoof slapped the cushion next to me in annoyance. I was not in the mood for games right now, but she was persistent.
“Yes! It’s for the ambience, if you must know. Now continue to vent!” Lyra’s magic hummed in the air as it took hold of that quill and began scribbling down details. Even though I had yet to say anything.
“You’re just gonna draw something weird again, aren’t you?” it wasn’t the first time she did this with me. And it wasn’t going to be the last.
“Mmm….no! I’m gonna record your thoughts and feelings this time around.” She was lying. She always drew something weird. One time it was me kissing an anonymous stallion. Another time it was me pushing Lyra on a swing. Another was me actually holding onto a cute white filly while we were both wrapped up in blankets on a hospital bed. That last one was my favorite out of all her drawings.
“You already know about everything. So how many more times do we have to do thiiis?” an angry hiss trail along my mouth. If it was anypony besides Lyra I would have knocked them out and went on forward with my plan.
“Tell me what I don’t know then.” surprisingly it caught me off guard. I barely even knew where to begin. So I told my tale to her again for the dozenth time. Giving her ears the short version of my dilemmas. Speaking to a silly unicorn who only seemed to nod as I ranted on for about half an hour. As I finished up with my story, Lyra did as well with her scribbling quill.
“-And now I just wish I could be in her life.”
“A troubled secret agent unable to perform the roles of a mother due to the nature of her job. Check!”
“Wait! Did you really jot down my concerns for the record?” why was I surprised? There was no official record and Lyra was playing doctor for the sake of entertaining me. I guess, a part of me was playing along with her silly act.
“Pfftt!” Lyra deflated like a tiny balloon at my comment. Waving her hoof in the air as she giggled. Flipping the notepad and launching it forward, within inches of my muzzle. I pushed it away just within leg length and saw a portrait of me looking down at my baby girl through an open door. My stern expression had melted and I felt a feeling of gratitude for Lyra’s efforts.
“Aww…” a small affectionate coo left my lips and lyra took note of the way I reacted to the picture. It had been something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time now.
“That badly, huh?” Lyra shook her head and drew back both quill and notepad and sat straight up crossing her legs. “Go see her.”
“Wait, what?! Then why did you-?”
“I only wanted to make sure it’s what you wanted. It’s obviously eating at you from the inside. You’re eating less. You never wake up with a smile. I mean, hay! Even, my spinach artichoke rolls don’t make you happy anymore!-So! Go see her.” Lyra smiled down at me and I sort of beamed with a new found confidence. I was so ready to ninja flip the next pony that stood in my way, that I hadn’t accounted for the consequences. Lyra had helped me maintain a leveled head with just being her silly unpredictable self.
“But what do I do?-What do I say? I haven’t been in her life for how many years now, how would I know what to-? Do?” I stammered on my words. They fell out in jumbles of constraint thoughts about morals and urges. Lyra was so much more at peace than I was, as she simply waited for my words to stop before she gave her own reply.
“Do you really need to say, or do, anything at all?” It hit me. I couldn’t just run up to some filly and simply say. “I’m your mother! Love me now!”. It didn’t work that way. I was merely a stranger to her currently, but I just needed to see her. Make sure she was alright. That everything was okay. At least a part of me would be in her life. Even if I wasn’t something major added to it.
“Al-right! Alright! I’ll do it! I’ll be right there, Sweetie Belle!” Suddenly I was happy and excited. Lyra gave me permission to leave the house on my own accord. “Oh! Thank you so much Lyra!” bolting out from my seat I latched onto Lyra’s neck and hugged her for the sweet remarks.
“Aww! Your wel-*sniff sniffff*. BURNING!”-Lyra flipped out. Literally. Scooping me up and tossing me up into the couch. All just to make me let go. She ran right after the burning smell of baked goods.-“No, no no no no! NO NO! Arrrggg! They’re completely overcooked!” Lyra whined as I rubbed my head from my regret of ever teaching Lyra a move or two about how to defend herself from dangerous foes.
“Thanks again, ‘Lie’-ra.” It came out like a growl, but was replaced with a heavy sigh at my silly friend who was frantically trying to find a way to save our breakfast rolls. She had always stopped me before I did anything irrational. This time though. She was sure this is what I needed, as was I. A couple more seconds of watching Lyra blow at her tray of bread in between fanning waves of a kitchen towel and I was out the door.
Now this wasn’t a normal day. Which made it perfect in my book.
After the Boutique visit with Rarity and Sweetie Belle, I was just drained. Happy that I had at least two ponies’ blessings to somehow fit my life with Sweetie’s. Would they understand, that in my horseshoes, that my decision felt like the most motherly thing to do at the time? I needed time to think. To air out everything. What my life had become and why I deserve such a fate. So I walked. And walked. And continued walking. Granting my limbs free reign to roam about.
The memories played in my head. Silver Lining, Chief and his wife. Rarity guarding her sister with her father away. Then my missions with the agency and the current state of it all with everypony still in work, yet out of a job? It was all so very strange. I had expected strange, but never to this degree.
Now here I was. Wearing the Neighponese dress I had been gifted with, sitting on the very same bench me and Lyra always shared, countless times. It felt like I was wandering for hours on end. Once I had gotten tired I wound up here. This time though, I was alone.
“Hey…” a timid little voice came towards me and made its presence known as a filly took her place on the opposite side of my seat and laid a bag down to her side.
“Sweetie Belle?” my head was quickly urged to whip to its side. Though with some control I casually craned my neck to get a good look at my visitor. The very same filly I had paid a visit to earlier this morning.
“Hello Ms. Bon bon! We-.”
“AHEM!” a voice cut my darling off as a nearby bush rattled and shook giving faint sights of a magenta mane and a red mane topped with a pretty bow.
“-I mean ‘I’-! I noticed you walking around Ponyville all depressed and stuff. So, if it’s any help-? I think you look beautiful in that dress.” it was heartwarming. It was even awe inspiring. It left me breathless that little Sweetie had noted down my behavior. Well, with the help of her two friends of course. She was very lucky to have such ponies in her life. Where as I never got around to make anypony noteworthy, besides Lyra. Work and non-”work” left me little room to trust anypony else.
“Thank you. It means a lot to me. You know, I’m actually part Neighponese.”
“No wonder why! It’s a natural look for you.” conversation? An actual conversation! Right when I had given up chasing for such a moment, it had came to me in the instant my guard was fully gone. She was learning something about me. Hopefully she would get the impression that she had the look of such an exotic ethnicity in her. An informal way of teaching my daughter about her heritage without giving away my secret. It was strange, but comforting.
“Your sister does lovely work. I fell in love with it when I first laid my eyes on it. The details are very refined.”
“Yeah, Rarity does really good work. Maybe I’ll be a great designer like her one day.” the white filly scuffed her hoof along the wooden plank underneath her and sighed. In which I could only pat her head, as a lunging hug would be too awkward of a gesture to comfort her.
“I’m sure you could even be a model if you try hard enough.” she brightened up at the comment and I smiled back. Just as I thought things couldn’t get any sweeter. Sweetie jumped up and reached for her bag. Pulling out what looked to be a boxed container.
“Oh! I almost forgot! I made you something.” Sweetie unraveled the wrapped contents and popped off the lid to what looked to be a fancy container featuring several brown and black shades of material packed into the various square containers etched inside.
“Ohhh! Make-up! I could always use more.” the tip of my hoof drew along my lips as I was completely giddy. Though my smile quickly faded as Sweetie responded with a sad frown of her cute face accompanied with drooping ears.
“It’s a bento box… I made snacks for you.” she looked like she was about to cry. Panic! Panic was all I knew right now as I was only hurting her feelings. I looked about frantically and stroked her mane trying my best not to further trigger those welling eyes.
“I-I! It looks lovely! Oh! -” with a quick scoop of my hoof I took hold of some random brown, and clay-like, substance and slipped it into my mouth. Oh how my expression soon matched my daughters as I fought to keep it inside. Choosing to swallow quickly and show how much I “thoroughly” enjoyed such a treat. “Y-Yuc-Yum! YUUUMMM! Mmmmm! It-it’s good!”
“Really?! You mean it!” Sweetie beamed on the spot and and I replied by holding the imminent flow back with a shut muzzle and a quick nod. “I must be getting better! I bet pretty soon Rarity will even let me cook lunch!”
I should have known with my weak social life that she would inherit my cooking skills. Even now, in the present day, I somehow still manage to liquify toast. Lyra would consider me a complete hazard in the kitchen after I offered to cook for her one night. Even with us being apart it seems like she had been growing to become more like me than I thought.
“I’m sorry about you and Ms. Lyra.” she commented on some strange idea. I only kept a straight face as I let her continue.
“What for?”
“Well. We know-”
“AHEM!” the same bush spoke out and rustled in response.
“-I mean, ‘I’ know about the fight you and Ms. Lyra had this morning. She must still be really mad at you.”
“Now whatever gave you that idea?” it was weird. How did they know about this morning’s little argument?
“The mailpony saw Ms. Lyra tossing you into the air and fighting.” well that explains it. Even though it was clearly not the case, I played along knowing this was probably the only reason she came to see me. How foolish was I, to think that she had realized something so oblivious to her her whole life?
“She can be pretty mean sometimes. Buuuut! In the end. We always make up for it.”
“Like true friends?”
“Like true friends.” I gave her another brush along her mane and drew her close for a light hug. She seemed to accept it and she stayed like that for several heavenly seconds.
“Things always work out in the end with the ponies you care about, huh?”
“Yeah...yeah I guess they do.” It was sweet, but in a way this pertained to both the hidden and the pretend world. Words of wisdom that taught both of us at that moment that as long as our hearts care about our loved ones. That everything will turn out fine.
“I hope things get better soon with the both of you.”
“You know what Sweetie Belle? With this, I feel even better about going to apologize to her.”
“What are you two mad about anyways?”
“Um...she burnt our breakfast rolls.” I had to make up something quickly as to not look like a total liar. The first thing popping into my head was Lyra and my aching head as she panicked about mere bread.
Sweetie looked up at the sky and noticed the orange hue transitioning through the changing scenery and hopped off.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Bon Bon. I have to go now. It’s getting late and I have some other Crusader things to do.” She smiled at me and waved. Running off towards that very same bush that had been watching us closely. I could clearly hear the gossip and uproar with her fellow Crusaders as they congratulated her on making me happy. Her and her Crusader friends. Always up to something to brighten somepony’s life. And fortunately today, that pony was me.
With that she was gone. Leaving me behind. It was clear that I would have to be returning home soon too. Home. It’s such a funny word. For a pony who always left from place to place during her duty. I was starting to really feel at home with Ponyville. Though it wasn’t my real home. And Lyra wasn’t really family. Right now though it was my home and my family. It was more so than that. It was me. My life. My blessings.
I could only be so grateful for the things in my life. It’s entirety was broken, yet so very heartwarming. Not even the wonderful sunset and Lyra’s freshly baked bread, to make up for wasted food, would be able to outdo the warmth emanating from my chest. Thank you Sun and Moon. Thank you for this chance. For such a happy moment. I could find tears in the wake of the newly lit night veil. Greeting this newfound point of view with an open heart.
Gone and out of sight. My wonderful child was growing up to be quite the pony. It was time to leave, and so I did. Hopping off the bench in the same manner as I always did, a small skip in my step and an even bigger smile than before. A hum lit up my new face, smiling as I trotted with a newborn feeling in my chest. Right to that now empty bush as a previous reaction began to shoot up from my pallet. As disgusting as it was. It was much more than a perfect day for me. It was a perfect moment. With all the unordinary things I’ve come to accept about me and her.
Hoofsteps. Loud banging crashing noises filled the dark alleyways as figures dashed about in fear.
“Cookie? Cookie?!” the gruff voice called out running towards a pile of trash. With focused mind he lifted up the cans and bags with a blue hue of his aura. Pushing aside the debris just in time for his hoofs to catch himself upon the brick like wall. His head snapped behind him and in turn so shot out the several objects he held in his magical grasp. A shadowy figure dashed about kicking one can away and dodging the rest with strange grunts of force. It was enough to buy him some time as Hondo rushed out hoping to make a gap of distance between him and his assailant.
“Cookie!” Hondo yelled out knowing his worn physique could only go so far. The shadow loomed closer and closer. Wings spread wide reaching for the flowing tail of the old stallion when suddenly a womanly mare leaped from a building. Bat in hooves slamming into the legs of the flyer who was after Hondo. The pink coated mare’s swing hit true knocking those legs down and with a heavy turn to the side, her conjured bat followed knocking her opponent away.
“Right here sweetie!” Cookie Crumbles accent was gone and held an almost gruffier tone than Hondo’s. Her lime green magic faded popping the bat into non existence. “What do they want with us?”
“Same as always. Answers.” Hondo replied smashing his shoulder against a doorway to force it open. Her wife followed behind her closing and locking it.
“What do we do?”
“Follow procedure!” Hondo answered in which he was still racking his brain around. What procedure? There was little to no instructions as to what to do about rogue agents when there was no agency to fall back onto.
“Easy for you to say Mr. Operator! Let’s just reprimand them right now and close the books on em!” Cookie Crumbles wasn’t happy about that answer. The wooden door bent inwards as a force against it did more than knock. It rammed and heaved with might trying to break it down. It wouldn’t hold them much longer and the agents knew it.
“Contacts aren’t an option and the little list of agents we know currently are minimal.” Hondo was trying to think of an emergency plan. Something he had not needed to do for some time now.
“We’re retired honey! We’re old and tired. So, who right now can help us?”
“Well we need a recently active member. Some young blood to get to the bottom of this mess.”
“You don’t mean-?”
“Why not?! She’s within a fair distance and has some skill.”
“She shouldn’t be an option Hondo! It would-” Cookie’s voice was cut off as part of the doorway collapsed. Giving way for three cloaked figures to approach.
“GO!” Hondo had no time to explain. As a flash of light blinded everything in the room. Cookie was also affected yet she could tell a sense of Hondo’s touch envelope her whole body. Hondo knocked his way through and rushed out into the streets.
“Hondo! HONDO! Don’t do this!” Cookie responded knowing full well what was going to happen to her.
“You have your orders! Just play it out like we did back in the day! Huppp!” Hondo yelled out and all Cookie could feel was was her body being flung into the night sky. With every ounce of magical force he could muster her husband had shot her like a shooting star towards the outskirts of Canterlot.
“HONDDDDOOOOO!!!” the mare screamed out knowing she had but seconds to react. Her projection this time being a lime green rocket to house her being as the estimated rough landing came about just as predicted.
Her made up ship crashed knocking several trees out of the way and bouncing her craft into the dirt.
The green ship faded away and left a battered Cookie Crumble in its wake. She forced herself up with shaking legs and grit her teeth as her vision finally went back to normal. Leaning against a tree and panting with her mind strained to cushion the landing she envisioned her goal.
“Special agent Sweetie Drops huh? Never thought it would come to this. Nnnnggh!” nevertheless the beat up mare had to move forward. With a groan of pain she continued forward. With full knowledge that Hondo’s captors would be after her.