//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Melodies of Friendship // by TalkingToMyself //------------------------------// Lyra woke up in the morning from loud knocking on the door. She stood up with a little groan, she felt stiff from a night on the couch. At least somepony had pulled a blanket over her. She suspected Bonnie, but her friend was still asleep on one of the armchairs with a blanket of her own. Lyra blinked slowly. She had never been a morning pony and her thoughts worked through a fog, especially since something woke her up so abruptly. Something had happened last night so they hadn’t made it to their bed, and she remembered crying and holding Crystal Note a lot. Her eyes flew wide open when everything rushed back to her. She looked around the room but saw nopony else, only Bon Bon as she woke up from another series of knocks from the front door. Lyra rushed out of the room to answer the door, surprised by who had come to visit them this early “Spike? What are you doing here?” Lyra and Spike knew each other from the years in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Spike the baby dragon followed Twilight Sparkle around a lot these days, and Lyra’s fascination with mythical creatures had been at its peak back then, so naturally they had started to hang out between classes and Twilight’s special study sessions. They had never been as close as Lyra was with Minuette or Twinkleshine, but they had enough common ground to rekindle their casual friendship, now that they both lived in Ponyville and saw each other regularly. Today, Lyra knew this wasn’t a friendly visit from her dragon buddy, as Spike was huffing out of breath and with some official looking scrolls in his claws “Lyra, thank Celestia you’re here! Something happened and we need your help!” Lyra waited for Spike to continue, but all that happened was him burping up a scroll with his dragon fire “Oh geez, not again.” He scanned through the parchment before he rolled it up with a heavy sigh “So she’s not in Canterlot either.” “Who’s not in Canterlot?” Spike seemed to realize he had been talking to Lyra and snapped back “Oh yeah, right! You see, Crystal Note went on a trip to the Crystal Empire the other day…” “I know, she told me all about it.” Spike nodded impatiently and showed her a scroll. Lyra couldn’t read it because he was waving it around, but she recognized the royal insignia of Princess Cadance “Point is, she never arrived at the crystal palace. Cadance says there had been a misunderstanding at the market, but that was the last time anypony saw her.” Lyra angrily blew her breath through her nose and any trace of friendliness faded away “Pff… ‘Misunderstanding’ my cutie-marked flank… try assault next time you see her.” “What do you mean? How do you know about that?” “She came back late last night during the storm. Some jerks in the Crystal Empire tried to chase her off, with spears and all. She only defended herself, but because she’s a unicorn, everypony panicked and she ran back home during the chaos.” Spike, who had never seen Lyra this angry, tried to wrap his head around what little he got “But, why would anypony want to chase her away? And if she ran home, why didn’t Crystal Note go to Sweet Apple Acres or to Twilight and me?” Lyra sighed and looked Spike “Because she was afraid of exactly what’s happening right now, Spike. Let me guess, Princess Twilight already organized search parties and a royal investigation and probably activated every guard available on short notice?” Spike held his elbow with his free arm and his gaze sunk to the ground “She also requested help from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna from Canterlot.” Lyra shook her head and frowned “That’s the last thing Crystal Note needs right now. She doesn’t want even more fuss about everything that happened. It’s bad enough it happened at all, but with Twilight involved, this is going to be blown up into a national crisis. Do you think Crystal Note would feel happy about that?” Spike immediately shook his head “No, never. She’d never confront anypony even if they’re at fault. But you know Twilight and Applejack.” Lyra nodded and put her hoof on Spike’s shoulder “That why Crystal Note came to us last night. At the moment, she felt safer with us.” Spike nodded and sighed “Yeah, I get that. So, can I see her? I’ve got a letter from Princess Cadance for her and if she’s with you, then I can… “Spike, she’s not here right now. She was here last night and she cried herself to sleep on our couch, but she was gone when you woke me up.” Spike seemed alerted for a moment “You mean she ran away, again? But what she got into trouble or headed to the Everfree Forest all by herself? We should start looking for her and… oh… right.” As soon as he noticed Lyra glaring at him, he realized what he just said “I’ll tell Twilight she’s okay and that she needs some space. I’ll keep her letter for now, she can get it from me when she feels ready.” “Thank you, Spike. I promise I’ll let you know when she comes back home, okay?” Spike agreed and hurried back towards the Golden Oaks Library again. By now, Bon Bon had gotten up and walked into the shop from the back, rubbing her eyes “Who was that?” Lyra sighed and closed the door “That was Spike. Twilight riled up a search party because Crystal Note didn’t report in last night.” Bon Bon rolled her eyes “Seriously? She should know that Crissy spends her nights here with us.” Lyra smiled joylessly “Yeah, but you don’t understand, this time it was very important. Princess Cadance had sent scroll.” Bon Bon threw her hoof into the air “Can you believe the nerve of some ponies? Even if she’s a princess.” “No wonder Crystal Note came right here last night.” Bon Bon nodded and looked around “Speaking of which, where is she?” “I have no idea. She was already gone when Spike woke me up.” Just as Lyra expected, Bon Bon simply shrugged and went for the door “I’ll go get her. How about you set up some brunch for when we’re back?” Lyra just nodded and smiled. Bon Bon was crazy good at finding ponies for some reason. She didn’t even doubt for a second that she would return with Crystal Note soon, so she decided to keep the store closed for today and went right into the kitchen. Bon Bon walked through the winded paths down the western orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. Everything was still wet from last night’s storm and the wind had blown down many of the leaves, but the sun was hot again today. She had checked her surroundings a few times now, but she was certain that none of the Apple family were anywhere near. Granted, the orchards were big enough to get lost in, but if they’d been really that close as a family, the Apples should have known about Crystal Note’s favourite hiding spot around here. She pushed her latent anger aside when she heard sobbing. She followed the sound and prepared herself for the worst when she walked between the tall apple trees. As expected, she found Crystal Note, hunched over in the shadows of a small grove. Bon Bon noticed her coat was dull and grey, but it would have surprised her to see anything else at that point. She made herself obvious by stepping on some branches and Crystal Note’s ears perked up. The sobbing stopped for a moment and Crystal Note looked her way. Bon Bon was still far enough so Crystal Note could have run away if she wanted to be alone, but the crystal mare just slumped down. She didn’t look any less stressed, but at least the sobbing had stopped, so Bon Bon took it as a sign to come closer “Hey Crissy.” “Hi…” Bon Bon didn’t like how Crystal Note’s voice sounded, hopeless and tired. It sounded like the mare had already given up on finding a way out of this, but that was not Bon Bon’s plan right now “So, would you like to talk awkwardly about the weather now, or should we cut right to the case?” Crystal Note sighed defeated and whispered “Bonnie… I can’t do this right now.” “Running away won’t help you solve this, Crissy.” “I know. I know. But right now, I just…” “Found her! Told them I could do it in ten seconds flat. HEY AJ! OVER HERE!” Both Bon Bon and Crystal Note looked up and saw the blur of colours with Rainbow Dash’s voice vanishing in the direction of the farmhouse. Crystal Note slumped down and folded her hooves over her head while Bon Bon silently cursed for not counting in the pegasus factor. Soon enough, they heard many hooves as a group of ponies quickly ran down the weathered path towards Crystal Note’s hiding spot. Up front was Applejack, followed closely by Princess Twilight “There you are! Land’s sake girl, we’ve been worried sick ‘bout you. Why didn’t you come home last night?” “We’re so glad to see you, Crystal Note! Are you hurt? We’ve heard there’s been some trouble and then Spike say you got into a fight and we all got worried. Of course I immediately rounded up the girls and all, so…” Applejack jumped in again when Twilight drifted into rambling “So we can find those guys and teach ‘em a thing or two ‘bout treating a friend of ours like that, let alone a member of ma family.” Crystal Note kept her head hidden behind her hooves and when Applejack and Twilight kept going, she shifted away from them. Bon Bon took this as the cue she’d been waiting for and stepped in between the princess and her friend “Back off! Can’t you see you’re overwhelming her?" Princess Twilight stopped rambling and backed away a little. She seemed both relieved and concerned to see Bon Bon, unlike Applejack. She didn't back away even a step and just turned towards the other mare, leaving both earth ponies them muzzle to muzzle. Applejack's famous stubbornness didn't let her calm down easily and Bon Bon wasn't very far behind her, so they ended up glaring at each other "With all respect, but this here is a family matter, so kindly stay out of this." Bon Bon snorted and pushed against Applejack "Well, I'm here to support my friend and I won't stay out of this. Especially since I know what you're doing isn't helping her at all." "Beg your pardon?" They glared at each other from close distance while Rainbow Dash hovered awkwardly behind them, but she usually bold pegasus didn't dare to interfere today. Princess Twilight watched for a moment longer and addressed Bon Bon in what she though was a calm manner, but Bon Bon could easily see the tension she was hiding "Bon Bon, I see what you're trying to do and I appreciate your effort. But if what Spike says is true and there really has been a fight, then... "If there has been a fight? So you mean you don't believe what Crystal Note told me?" Bon Bon harshly interrupted Twilight who shook her head "Of course not. But as the Princess of Friendship, I think it's my duty to step in now and make sure that none of my friends get hurt even more. I hope you understand." Bon Bon abruptly turned away from Applejack and now glared a the princess instead, with little respect for her royal title "Oh, I understand alright. You think just because I don't have a crown or a fancy element necklace, my friendship is worth less then yours. I can't do anything so I should just leave and let Princess Twilight 'left her friends in Canterlot without saying goodbye' Sparkle do her thing now." As Bon Bon intended, that was more than enough to have Twilight loose her cool "Not that's not... I never said that I was... how do you even know about that?" "Your old friend Lyra Heartstrings moved to Ponyville too, Princess. Since we live together, your name came up once or twice when we talked, but that's not important now!" She stomped her hoof on the ground and glared at Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash who now stood at their friend's side "Last night she was devastated when she returned. Did she go see Princess Twilight for advice? No she didn't. Did she run home to Sweet Apple Acres to her supposed family? Nope, guess again. She came to Lyra and me. Because she knew we would listen to her. Because she felt like none of you would understand her. I won't let you push Lyra or me aside just because you waved with your crown." At this point, all of them started talking at the same time, though from Bon Bon and Applejack it was more yelling at each other while Twilight tried again and again to make an argument but got cut off by either of them. Rainbow Dash wasn't helpful either. "My family and I been there for her ever since she came to Ponyville and I won't let you..." "No! You obviously never let her anything, you just..." "Hey, you stop yelling at my friends right away, or I'll..." "Please, can you listen for a second, we have solve this mess before..." "SHUT UUUUUP!" All four of them winced when the loudest voice they had ever heard screamed at them. Bon Bon who stood closest nearly fell over and Rainbow Dash covered her ears with her hooves. Applejack jerked her head around so quickly that her hat flew of even. Behind them stood Crystal Note with tears in her eyes as she screamed at the. There was a feint glow around her horn, some Twilight registered but wouldn't process until days later, as for right now, she was just baffled like the rest and frankly, a tad scared even. She had never seen Crystal Note so angry before and the usually soft spoke mare never screamed. When the four bickering mares fell silent and gaped at her, Crystal Note took a deep breath. Her voice was still louder than usual and there was an edge none of the others had heard before "That's why I came here and told nopony. I just wanted some time to think. I didn't want to be treated like a helpless filly." She glared at Applejack at this, then turned towards Twilight "Or worse, like another friendship problem." Both their ears dropped, then Crystal Note turned at Bon Bon who already looked ashamed, but met her eyes to receive her just deserts "And I am sick and tired of everypony telling me what I'm thinking and how I feel." Crystal Note took a step backwards, away from everypony, and her voice was back to its usual quiet tone, even if she sounded insecure "All I wanted was some time for myself. Is that really so much to ask?" She didn't wait for an answer and instead turned around and ran away, deeper into the orchard and towards the edge of the Everfree Forest. Rainbow Dash spread her wings to go after her, but one look at the other three made her dismiss that thought immediately. The four of them stood there in awkward silence. It took them a while to look at each other again and longer to start talking. When Crystal Note couldn't run anymore, she had almost reached the dark forest. She wasn't foolish enough to walk in alone, so instead she sat down by one of the small streams that separated the forest from the farmland. She looked at her blurry reflection in the flowing water. She frowned gloomily at the image of her horn. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, when she hard a chuckling laughter and a strange voice, seemingly out of nowhere "Splendid, I must say. First that wonderful hubbub in the Crystal Empire, and now this! You should have seen the look on poor Twilight's face. What am I saying, of course you've seen it, you were there of course! Such a nice little chaos, for a pony at least." Crystal Note jumped backwards when a mass of water emerged from the tiny stream and floated in the air. The creature contorted for a few moments, before it took a form that looked like the strangest mix of body parts Crystal Note had ever seen. Red and yellow eyes fixed on her, but the creature didn't seem dangerous or aggressive, in fact he even winked at her. She needed a moment to catch up, but she was almost sure who she was looking at "You're... you're Discord, right?" He chuckled again and waved his paws through the air "Well, who did you expect? Celestia?" He passed a his griffon claw past his head and suddenly, his face looked a lot like the princess, right down to her flowing mane, even if it was still a pair of yellow and red eyes watching her. With a snap, he was back to normal, or at least as normal as Discord would look "No, indeed I am Discord, Lord of Chaos, though recently reformed, but I'm sure Fluttershy has already told you about that. Speaking of me...", he leaned forward so his face was closer to Crystal Note, even if he was still floating in the air, "I couldn't help but notice that you have the tendency to cause a little commotion wherever you go, isn't that right Crystal Note?" He put a strange emphasis on her name and winked, which made Crystal Note suspect he knew more than he was telling her. Still, she felt it was best not to anger a creature like Discord, so she did her best to answer "I guess ponies keep staring at me. I, um, I am a little unusual." "A little unusual, hmm? If what I've heard is true, and it is most of the time, then you are more than unusual. You are unique, or should I say singular?" He chuckled once more, but this time Crystal Note felt shiver run down her spine "I... I guess you could say that." He clapped his hands together and grinned widely "Yes, you are. A few decades ago, Celestia was the only alicorn for a while, but suddenly there's four of them, maybe even five soon. But there has been and will be only one Discord! You and me, we are one of a kind, so to speak. Maybe we should open a club!" With a snap, Crystal Note suddenly found herself inside a room that reminded her a little of the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse, sitting on a couch instead of the ground. Discord sat next to her with a shirt that said '#1 Draconequus' and as she looked down herself, she was wearing a matching shirt only her said '#1 Crystal Unicorn' instead. Before she could take in more details, Discord sighed displeased "But then again, a club of two is doomed to become dreadfully boring." With a snap of his claw, they were back in the meadow, at the little stream, as if nothing had ever happened. Only that Discord now lounged in an easy chair that also floated in the air "That, and not everypony appreciates that unique sort of amusement that comes with me being around." Crystal Note sat down on the ground and looked up at the strange creature. She knew it probably wasn't polite to ask this, but she couldn't let go of it "You mentioned the Crystal Empire. Were you there, when... did you...?" Even though Crystal Note didn't finish her question, Discord started laughing again "Oh, goodness no. I don't cause that sort of chaos anymore, even if it won't keep me from enjoying it when it happens. No, no, my little oddity, you see, what happened there was all on you. Congratulations!" Crystal Note clenched her eyes shut. Of course it's all my fault. I'm the one to blame for everything. I should have never gone back there. And I shouldn't have returned here either. Discord is right, all I can do is cause trouble and make everypony else's lives miserable. Discord seemed completely oblivious and just went on in a casual tone "But to answer your first questions, yes I was there to enjoy the show. Honestly, there's too little excitement in Equestria these days to miss out on something like that." Crystal Note took a deep breath. She didn't want to talk about this, but here was a chance to find out something that had been on her mind since she jumped on the train. If Crystal Note had learned anything growing up in the brink of an incoming war, then it was to take the chance, any chance she could get, for it might as well be her last. She looked up at the floating draconequus and pressed out words "Can you tell me what happened after I... I..." Discord winked and chuckled "After you shook everypony awake and got them on their hooves? Oh, well, the usual you'd expect. Some yelling, some crying, sprinkle in a little panic and a very angry guard captain on top. Without you, the all the fun run out very fast. Such a disappointment if you ask me." He shifted and his chair vanished into thin air. He would be lying on his belly now, if he wasn't floating that was, with his mismatched arms crossed under his chin "That's what I followed you instead, after I realized there was nothing more of interest to me." Crystal Note didn't have to look up anymore to meet his eyes, but she still felt shrinking down under his gaze "Did you see a mare with a bright pink mane? Her name is Rose Quartz." Discord just rolled his eyes and waved dismissively "Oh, I'm sure your sister is fine. She got through more than ten years without you, what difference does a month of two more make?" He chuckled again but this time, Crystal Note interrupted him, with a sterner tone than before "Tell me what you saw." Discord blinked and stood to his full size, easily towering the pony. That had not been a question, that was a demand. Ponies don't demand things from Discord. Ponies don't talk to him in that tone as a matter of fact, with maybe one or two exceptions. His fingers already flexed for another snap, but he recognized that look in Crystal Note's eyes. He had seen in before on a small pony like her. His fingers relaxed again and for the first time, his voice was just calm "I saw her running into the market and reading everypony the riot act. She was furious as far as I can tell, but her anger burnt out quickly. By the time Shining Armor took her back to the palace, she was bawling but she was far from the only one." He watched and tilted his head when Crystal Note collapsed on the ground, whispering through tears of her own now "I've made my sister cry again." Discord sighed and went back into lounging in the air, his eyes rolling up once more "So what? Ponies cry all the time over the silliest things, after all." As if to make his point, when he glanced down he saw Crystal Note doing just that, however accompanied by a change to dull and grey colours running down her body. While she cried, Crystal Note did not only remember her sister's hurt expression from her last visit, but also the looks she had gotten from Bon Bon, both the last night and earlier today along with Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Princess Twilight. How she had leashed out in anger at them, when the only one to be angry at was herself. “Oh come on now, don’t tell me you let a little arguing get you down. If anything, these ponies should be thanking you.” Crystal Note looked up at that “Thanking me? But I made their days miserable. They are afraid of me.” “Exactly. They are afraid of you, instead of being afraid of, I don’t know, a blizzard or a natural catastrophe, or me for a fact. And since we both know you’re no threat, isn’t it better for them to fear you than all that other stuff?” Crystal Note sat up, her tears reduced to sniffling and thinking about what Discord had just said “Well, maybe, I guess.” “And you got them all thinking at least. If you hadn’t shown up, all those crystal ponies would have never faced their fears and just lived on their boring, dull lives without ever expanding their horizons. Maybe you didn’t plan it that way, but you got their minds rolling, so they will be better prepared for the next time something happens that shakes their tiny little world. I say, good old Cady should be thanking you for stirring them up.” She looked at him, surprised “You know Princess Cadance?” “Know her? Why, let me tell you, we work together all the time, even if she doesn’t know it. You wouldn’t believe how much chaos comes with any romance or love story, it’s positively delicious.” Despite all, Crystal Note managed a soft giggle “Well, if you say it like that, I suppose there’s some truth in it.” “Of course it is! And don’t forget what you also did, stirring up a little competition between Twilight and her friends” he emphasized the word with finger quotes. “I’ll have to say, simply hilarious!” Crystal Note looked away, in shame that she yelled at her friends “Do you think they will ever forgive me?” “Oh, pish-posh, of course they will. You’re all just one friendship song away from a happy reunion. And since you are a singer, I’m sure it’ll happen sooner than later.” He snapped his fingers and suddenly, they were standing on a big stage, with spotlights on them and a crowd of mini-Discords in front of them cheering. He was wearing some strange costume and a brightly coloured wig and yelled into a microphone, while Crystal Note had an electric guitar in her hooves and played a perfect riff. She didn’t even know how to play that riff, her hooves just moved along with Discord’s magic. It was very funny nonetheless, and when Discord stopped sing-shouting, she kept on playing on her own a little, which made the crowd of Discords cheer again. Another snap, and the stage, crowd and costumes were gone. However, Crystal Note still had a guitar in her hooves, although a classic one this time. She strummed over the strings and even if it wasn’t perfect, she had some understanding of the tune at least. Discord just lounged back in the air “You see? Everything will turn out eventually. And to be honest, life would be so boring without a little chaos here and there.” Crystal Note giggled and could only agree “I guess even chaos serves a purpose, in moderation.” Discord clapped his hands together with a bright smile “See? I knew you’d get it. That’s why I kept my eye on you.” His left eyeball grew comically large and fixed on her, but by now Crystal Note was almost used to his antics and only laughed while strumming her guitar. “Just a little word of advice: Sometimes it’s best to keep your chaos between other ponies who get it. At least until you’re sure you won’t chase anypony off.” Crystal Note smiled and winked “Is that why you have your tea parties exclusively with Fluttershy?” His grin grew as his eye turned back to normal “I’ll neither deny nor confirm this. Speaking of, I’m almost late as it is. Tata, and keep your chaos as it is, cause if you get boring, I might come back remind you.” With another snap, Crystal Note was back at the meadow with the little stream as if nothing had ever happened. Well, almost as if nothing had happened, since she still had the guitar Discord had created in her hooves. Next to her, she found a fitting case for it, with a note inside “From a friend.” She smiled and tentatively started to play a first little melody on her new instrument. The sun was already set when Crystal Note made it back to Sweet Apple Acres. It was the closest place she could go from the meadow and after she had exploded on Applejack earlier, she felt like she had to apologize before anything else. Maybe they’d throw her out of the Apple family, but honestly she might as well deserve it. She knocked at the front door, only to find it unlocked. Inside was dark, only a single light from the kitchen filtered into the living room. At the kitchen table, Crystal Note saw Applejack, staring at a mug of tea probably. As soon as she heard the hoofsteps, she looked up and sighed relieved “Crystal Note, thank goodness you’re back. Listen Sugarcube, I need to apologize.” Crystal Note blinked surprised at that “You? I thought if anyone, I had to apologize for yelling at you.” With a shake of her head, Applejack closed in on her “No, t’was all my fault out there. I’ve always told you you’re part of the family, but I’ve never remembered what that really means. That we have to support each other, even if we’re a little different at times. I have to support Apple Bloom when she does her Crusader’s thing, and I need to be more supportive for your crystal pony thing as well.” Crystal Note smiled and fell into the hug Applejack offered to her “I still feel awful about yelling at you, but thank you Applejack.” “No need, Crissy. And I guess you’re not staying here for tonight either, but let me tell you again, your room always stays ready for you. You’re not losing a home when you’re with Bon Bon, you gain one extra.” They both held each other for a while longer. “Granny Smith made her famous pie, in case you came for dinner, but since you didn’t show up, well…” Crystal Note frowned “Please tell me you didn’t wait for me and let the pie get stale.” Her worry was well placed, as this happened before, but this time Applejack shook her head with a sheepish smile “Na, we ate it this time. Though we left you a slice. Twilight was nice enough to put it in a magic bubble so it’d stay fresh until you came back. I guess we all realized you'd not want us to miss out just because of you." Crystal Note smiled and nodded softly "Thank you..." "Spike had a letter for you from Princess Cadance. He gave it to Lyra for safekeeping." "Oh. That's nice of him. I'd thought that Twilight would insist on giving it to me herself." "Yeah, she would. But we talked things through, and we agreed it's best this way. Even Twi agreed in the end." Crystal Note sighed and smiled "I still have to talk to her, eventually... but it's nice to know she's that upset anymore." Applejack put a hoof on her shoulder "You'll get through it, I just know it. Now, you better get to your friends before it get even later." They shared another hug, then Crystal Note rushed out of the farmhouse again and back towards Ponyville. All the houses were dark by the time Crystal Note reached town centre. However, Bon Bon's shop still had some lights on, so she went to the front door and entered quietly. Bon Bon and Lyra were both still awake and chatting when they noticed her walking in “Crissy! Welcome back!” They didn’t seem angry at all or even bothered as they approached her for a quick but heartfelt hug “Spike left a letter for you. I put it upstairs in your room.” Crystal Note nodded sheepishly “I know. Applejack already told me.” She looked at Bon Bon with a scared expression “Bonnie, I’m so sorry about what happened earlier and… um…” She didn’t get any farther as both of them poked her muzzle at the same time “Rule number two, remember? No apologizing for things that aren’t your fault.” Crystal Note blushed and looked away “But, I exploded in front of you when you didn’t deserve it. You just wanted to help and I didn’t appreciate it.” Bon Bon shook her head and put a hoof on Crystal Note’s shoulder “Yeah, we wanted to help but not in the right way. Not the way you needed it. I went looking for you so nopony else would overwhelm you, but I ended up doing just the same. It’s really my own fault how things ended, and you don’t have any reason to be sorry.” Crystal Note shook her head “I still am sorry. I could have handled everything better.” “In all fairness, we could have done so as well, but we didn’t. It was a messy situation from the get go.” Lyra nodded and nudged her gently “Seriously, don’t beat yourself up over it. I mean, you stood your ground not only against Applejack and Bonnie, but against Princess Twilight as well. That’s something to be proud of if you ask me. Even if the reasons weren’t as, um, honourable on each side.” Crystal Note smiled shyly and looked at Bon Bon again “Um, did you… after I left?” Bon Bon simply nodded “We talked things through, no worries. There were some harsh words, but we figured ourselves out in the end. We all agreed we kinda acted like jerks out there, but we know that we were wrong now, so no hard feelings.” “Oh. That’s good. I wouldn’t want you to get in any kind of trouble because of me.” Lyra just rolled her eyes and poked Crystal Note again “Worrying about how things go wrong, that’s against rule number one if you ask me.” This time, all three of them giggled, even if Crystal Note’s giggle ended in a soft yawn. “Quite a day, huh Crissy? How about we hit the hay now?” Crystal Note nodded sheepishly “That sounds like a good idea…” “And tomorrow, you can tell us the story how you got yourself a guitar.” At this, Crystal Note just smiled and shrugged “Got it from a friend I made today.” Lyra and Bon Bon chuckled softly at this and smiled as they watched Crystal Note retire for the night. In the guest room which was the room she usually used when she stayed at the Sweet Shop, she found a large bundle of letters on the bed. Most of them had the royal insignia or Princess Cadance from the Crystal Empire on them. The fact that they were already here meant that they had been sent by dragon fire. Crystal Note broke the seal on the biggest one and unrolled the scrolls. She flew over the lines and soon felt her eyes filling with tears again. She didn’t want to cry again, not tonight, not after the two days she just had been through. So she just put the letters away for now and climbed into her bed instead. She quickly fell into a fitful slumber. When Lyra checked on her later in the night, she saw the mostly unread letters. She also saw Crystal Note with tearstains on her cheeks as she tossed and turned in bed. Lyra sighed softly and readjusted the blankets to cover Crystal Note. As much as she wanted, sadly this was the only thing she could do right. Crystal Note immediately stopped tossing around and her breathing deepened and calmed down. Lyra stayed with her for a little while longer, and when she left, Crystal Note had finally slipped into a restful sleep.