Bon Bon stood up and maneuvered herself in between Lyra and Twilight when the alicorn reentered the infirmary, Driftwood and Harper right behind her. Lyra’s eyes widened when she saw her sister, and in response, Driftwood swung his haunches around and struck Twilight directly from behind, making her stumble forward and refocusing all attention on her. She quickly found her hooves, and walked forward to stop in front of Bon Bon.
“Bon Bon, I want to apologize for my outburst in the office. It was unprofessional of me, and more than that, it was —” Twilight’s ears pinned back — “It was blockheaded and unenlightened and everything the Princess of Friendship shouldn’t ever be.” Her gaze dipped to the floor. “I’m sorry.”
Bon Bon was silent for several seconds, and then said, “I can’t accept your apology.”
Driftwood looked over his shoulder and glared so rapidly that he intercepted every word of protest before it left Rainbow Dash’s tongue. It happened with such speed and violence that every other occupant of the room, save for Bon Bon and Twilight, physically recoiled along with her. After a moment, he turned back to Bon Bon and Twilight, silence following him.
Twilight stared wide-eyed at Bon Bon, and then drew in a deep breath, held it for several seconds, and let it out slowly. She looked up at Bon Bon, head lowered below hers and ears pinned back. “May I speak to Lyra?” she asked meekly. “Privately?”
Bon Bon held Twilight’s gaze for several seconds — at least as long as Twilight had held her breath — staring directly into her eyes. And then, she nodded once. “Alright,” she said, stepping to one side and then walking past Twilight and out the door. The others watched her leave, and then exchanged glances, and followed after her one by one. Harper and Driftwood went last, the former watching her uncertainly for a moment before turning to leave, and the latter giving her a smile before he left, pulling the door shut behind him. Only Twilight and Lyra remained in the room.
Twilight took a deep breath and then turned to face Lyra, trepidatiously approaching her until she stood next to the bed. Lyra gave her a smile. “What’s up?” she asked.
Twilight looked at her for a few moments, and then hung her head. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t know, Twi. You look pretty put together to me,” Lyra replied. She lost her smile when Twilight did not respond. “What’re you sorry for Twilight?”
Twilight kept her head down. “I’m a bad friend,” she said, her voice hitching as she finished.
Lyra said nothing, did nothing except stare at Twilight with wide eyes. After several seconds, she blinked rapidly and found her voice. “What? Why would you say that?” she asked. “Why? Because of what happened earlier? When you were in the square screaming at me? When you came home from being away and saw a changeling that looked like somepony you knew for years? Twilight, that’s a normal reaction!”
“I know that!” Twilight said back, raising her gaze up to meet Lyra’s. The fur under her eyes was wet again. “I know that, but —”
“Twilight, shut up!”
She did. Both of them did until a moment later when Lyra spoke again. “Just… just shut up for a minute and listen, ok?” she asked.
Twilight opened her mouth, left it for a moment, and then closed it and nodded. “Ok,” she said.
“Ok,” Lyra repeated back. She took a breath. “You reacted the way you should have, given what you saw and what you knew, ok? That doesn’t make you a bad friend,” she said.
Twilight shook her head. “It’s not just that. It’s everything else, too,” she said.
Lyra’s eyes narrowed and she cocked her head to the, her mouth forming a slight ‘o’. “What else is there?” she asked.
“All the years that I ignored you. All the times I said I’d go somewhere or do something with you, and then canceled at the last minute. Not even noticing that we both lived in Ponyville for almost three years,” Twilight replied, head sinking lower with each admission until she was looking down at the bedsheets. “Everything.”
Lyra silently watched Twilight for a moment, and then she smiled. “Did you know that changelings don’t believe in forgiveness?” she asked.
Twilight rapidly raised her head only for her mouth to be immediately smooshed by the tarsus of Lyra’s right arm. “You don’t need to convince me that you feel guilty about all of that,” the latter said before withdrawing her tarsus. “I’m a changeling. I know. We don’t believe in forgiveness because we always know, and I’m telling you that you aren’t a bad friend. You weren’t ever a bad friend, Twilight. You were one of my best friends, and you still can be, because I think you ponies are onto something with this forgiveness thing, and I forgive you, Twilight. For everything.”
Fresh tears welled in Twilight’s eyes. “Everything?” she asked shakily.
“Everything,” Lyra replied, smiling wider. “Ignoring me, canceling on me, not noticing me in the background, yelling at me, all of it. Clean slate.”
Tears spilled from Twilight’s eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered. She stepped forward, climbing halfway onto the bed and wrapping her arms high around Lyra’s barrel and burying her face into the changeling’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she whispered again as Lyra wrapped her good arm around her.
“It’s all fine, Twilight,” her friend said. “You just wait. Everything’s going to be fine”