//------------------------------//
// Side Quest. 
// Story: Bros in Equestria 
// by Mandroid 
//------------------------------//

	The damn sun woke you up again, it seemed to be closer then it normally was. Maybe this was Celestias payback for ruining her fun over estrus.
You peek at the clock, 10:00.
Aloe and Lotus had given you the day off for helping them over estrus. You didn't want to do it, but you had some stuff to take care of and it provided the perfect opportunity.  You rolled out of bed and made your way to the kitchen, ignoring the sounds from Anon's room.
Damn kids.
Your 'special delivery' should be arriving soon, might as well get ready while you wait. The abundance of pancakes at the market has allowed you to upgrade to eating them regularly. The pancakes putting you in a good mood, you made your way to your shower and started going over the day's game plan. Assuming magic worked the way you thought it did, it would just be a matter of practice.
You were screwed if it didn't.
You hoped they had enough room. Considering who you were dealing with, you hoped you didn't get a hoof to the face first.
You hear a knocking at your door after your shower. Just as you expected, Twilight was standing on your front porch.
"Hey, Twilight. You look like you handled the estrus as well as Celestia said." you say.
She gets an embarrassed look.
"She uh...she told you that?" she stammered out.
"Only that you thought of everything and handled yourself well."
She still looks embarrassed, but she's wearing a smile now. Twilight levitates a small box over to you, as well as a book.
"Force fields and barriers.". Promising.
"I have to say, I was a bit surprised when you asked for these things." Twilight said.
This WAS a bit out of it for you.
"Just trying to take care of a minor problem, I'm a bit surprised myself that Anon got the day off today."
She looks like she's blushing a bit. "Hehe...yeah...the Library isn't really fit for anypony to be in right now."
Well, there goes your mental image of Twilight being a paragon of willpower and toughing it out.
"Where is Anon, anyway?" she asks.
"Oh, he's around. It's not like he and Rainbow are FUCKING IN THE OTHER ROOM!" you yell.
Silence settles in before four knocks come from Anon's room.
"Yeah, they're fine." you say.
Twilight looks like she's about to die of embarrassment as she cocks her head to the side inquisitively.
"They're on round four, if they get to round ten by noon; I win ten bits and have to call an ambulance."
The awkwardness can be cut with a knife.
"...I'm gonna go inside now." you say.
Twilight just nods with a fake smile and a rather intense blush and walks away. Damn, how can someone that smart get weirder out by mating?
You step into the town proper and start your search. A quick study of the book Twilight gave you showed that, yes, force fields worked exactly how you thought.
The only question was whether or not she could do it.
You don't know where Lyra and Bon Bon live, but if they're 'together' then there's a decent chance finding one will find the other. Bon Bon apparently ran a candy shop that rivaled Sugarcube Corner, so you start your search in the center of town. 
You were getting an awful lot of looks. Probably because of the big box you were carrying around.
You eventually break down and ask Carrot Top where Bon Bon lives. Let it never be said that you fall into gender stereotypes. You mentally prepare yourself for the situation ahead.
Best to play it arrogant. 
You open the shop door and spot Bon Bon behind the counter. She looks pissed.
"What do you want?" she asks. You still can't get used to her different voice thing.
"Hey Bon Bon, Lyra here?" you ask.
Her frown gets deeper. "No, Lyra is not hear. I imagine that she's blowing all her money at that spa of yours again."
That was true, Lyra came in pretty often. Still, if she was out looking for you then she'd be back once she realized you weren't there.
"That's cool, I'll just hang out till she shows up."
Bon Bon walks out from behind the counter.
"I don't think that's a good idea." she says. She still looks pretty mad. 
"Aw, come on. We can swap stories about candy and junk."
She seems to not like your shit eating grin. She opens her mouth to say something but is interrupted by the door opening.
"M-Mous!?"
"Lyra!" you and Bon Bon call out.
"Lyra, wha-"
You interrupt Bon Bon before she finishes. "Lyra! Hey, you were looking for me? Cause I was looking for you."
"Y-you were?" she asks.
"Lyra, I do-
"Yep! Got something to show you, you guys got a basement or something here?"
"Well, we have one for storage..."
"Great, lead the way!"
"Lyra!" you hear from behind you.
Bon Bon looks a bit hurt, still mad, but also hurt.
"Lyra...are you really going to go with him without knowing what he wants?"
"Bon Bon...I..." she says.
Fuck. Now you have to be the asshole. "It's all good, Bon Bon, I'm a great guy. I'll get her back to ya in one peice."
You put your hand on Lyra's shoulder as you say that. You can feel her tense up, this is exactly what happens when she used to come to the spa. If Lyra was only considering leading you downstairs before, she just caved.
"It'll be fine, Bon Bon. Mous'll show me this thing and I'll be right back up." 
She opens a nearby door and reveals a long stairway down. You follow her down the stairs as Bon Bon comes up behind you.
"Well then why can't he show us both!" she shouts.
You turn around.
"This is kinda just for Lyra."
You don't wait for a response and shut the door.
A few minutes later, you're both sitting in a small circle of candles you removed from your box. You were amazed that Bon Bon didn't kick the door in and throw you out. People and ponies do weird things for the people they care about, it seems.
Lyra speaks up as you light the last candle.
"What's all this for, Mous?" she asked.
"Ambience."
Go hard or go home. 
Might as well begin. "Lyra, you're a unicorn, can you make force fields?"
She looks a bit confused. "What's this about, Mous?"
"Please answer the question."
She sighs "Yes, I can make force fields."
You don't move a muscle. "Show me."
A minty glow envelops Lyra's horn and a similar colored sheet of light floats above the center of your circle.   You poke it with your finger, it has resistance, but gives if you push.
Perfect.
You extend your hands over to Lyra.
"Okay Lyra, I want you to make a force field around both of my hands.
She looks confused but complies. A green bubble seals both of your hands, stopping at your wrists.
"Okay, now, shrink the force fields to match the contours of my hand. Be as precise as you can."
"Mous, I don't know if I can do that." she said.
"Have you ever tried?"
"Well...no...bu-"
"Then try. It's one of the most human ideals there is."
She gets a determined look and the glow from her horn intensifies. As it does, the bubbles around your hands begin to contort and twist. They shrink down further until both of your hands are on a mint green energy glove.
Lyra sighs. "I did it..."
You nod.
"Yes, you did. Now comes the hard part."

-Music-
The next few hours were spent in the basement with Lyra. She was trying to learn how to bend her force fields the same way as your hands. It was slow going, she had to stop more than a few times to rest. 
Eventually though, you'd gone through almost every way a hand can bend you can think of.
"Okay, Lyra, final step. You ready?" you ask.
She nods her head.
"Okay, I want you to take these off my hands and put them on the end your hooves."
"What?" she says.
She doesn't look convinced.
"Do it. Worst case scenario is that we just lost a few hours over nothing."
Lyra shuts her eyes and hold up her hooves. The magic gloves you've grown used to over the past few hours slip off your hands and float over to Lyra. The 'hands' spin around and slowly lower themselves, connecting the wrists to the end of Lyra's hooves.
They hold themselves there as Lyra opens her eyes and smiles. Her smile only grows bigger and bigger as she wriggles her new fingers.
"Mous...I..."
She looks up to you. She has tears in her eyes.
"I-I don't know how to thank you."
You sigh. "You want to thank me?" you ask.
You extend an arm down to Lyra. To her credit, she gets the idea and grabs your hand with her new ones.
"Do two things for me."
She nods her head as she stands on her hind legs.
"One: Stop coming into the spa so damn much, you have 'hands' now, satisfy your own fetish."
Aloe and Lotus could never know of this, they'd kill you for getting rid of a customer who came this often.
"And Two:"
You gesture with your thumb through the floor above you.
"Go talk to your girlfriend. I could see the looks she was giving me when we came down here."
Lyra's face drops. "Bon Bon...I don't know what I'm going to do about her..."
"Do you want her gone?"
Lyra jumps back. "No! No, no...I lo-really like Bon Bon...it's just...I don't know what to do."
You put your hand on her shoulder, even on her hind legs, she was a bit shorter then you.
"Go talk to her, work something out, if this did what I wanted and got you over whatever was making you come to the spa so often, then it should be pretty simple." you say.
You start your way up the stairs
"I don't know why she thinks I'm so worth it..." 
You stop and look at Lyra over your shoulder. "Lyra, you're probably the most important person in the world to Bon Bon, of course you're worth it to her."
You head out the basement door and head for the exit when a voice stops you.
"Homewrecker."
You turn to see Bon Bon sitting on a couch in the other room. She's holding a pillow tight to her chest. She looks like she's been crying. She gives you a death glare as you walk into the room.
"You took the most important person in my life." she says.
Bingo.
"And stole her away from me."
"Bon Bon, nothing happe-"
She tosses the pillow across the room at you. "SHUT UP!"
She looks furious now.
"Don't tell me nothing happened! Nopony spends four hours in a basement and does 'nothing'!"
She has her head in her hooves now. "It just-I always tried to be so understanding! Everypony called her fascination with humans weird, but I looked past it. I looked passed her sitting, I looked past her trying to walk on her hind legs, Celestia knows I even looked past her going to that spa to see YOU so often!" 
She jams a hoof in your direction. "But I don't think I can get past her ignoring me just because you fell into our town..."
She keeps staring daggers at you.
"...Bon Bon?"
You both turn to the basement door to see Lyra walk out, on all fours, it seems.
"Bon Bon...nothing happened." She says.
"I really wish I could believe that Lyra..." Bon Bon says.
Lyra takes a few steps closer. "Hey, I may be weird."
She gets up on the couch next to Bon Bon and throws a hoof around her.
"But I'd never hurt you."
Bon Bon throws Lyra's hoof off her and retreats to the other side of the couch. Lyra tries again only for Bon Bon to shoot her down. The room is quiet for a long time. You start to back away towards the door
"I should go." you say.
Lyra looks up at you.  "Thanks Mous...for everything."
"Yeah, right..."
You start to walk to the door. Quick, say something to lighten the mood.
"Play nice, you two."
Fuck. You walk out the door and hurry home before the idiocy of that remark comes back to haunt you. The sun was setting, the perfect setting for the relationship you just ruined.
This blows.
Dammit, you were trying to help. This always happens when you try to help. 
You trudge into the living room when you get home, Anon and Rainbow are there.
"Hey dude...you okay?" Anon asks.
"I'm fuckin' fine." you say.
You didn't need to talk about it. You fucked up. 
It was your responsibility.