I grinned as I sipped my milkshake. I sighed contently as the chocolate and vanilla attacked my tastebuds.
“Surprised Ruby came down the hill and used her magic,” Lily drank from her shake.
“Me too,” I admitted. “I was mad at her a bit. She could have been seriously hurt. And then I would have had to ram a corkscrew into Chrysalis’ eyes and see if they plopped out on the way out.” I gave a cruel smirk at the thought and ignored my friends worried and disgusted looks.
“Isn’t that a bit violent?” Golden Harvest pointed out. I scoffed at that.
“I told you all I’d do whatever it takes for Ruby. Besides, after all Chrysalis did these past few years, she would have deserved it. Same with Tirek. You weren’t there when he took me and Ruby’s magic. That was the most painful thing I’ve ever been through. Feeling helpless and watching my filly and best friend get her magic drained hurt me a lot,” I sighed and shuddered at the memory.
“So you would straight up kill a pony?” Daisy asked. "And Ruby is your best friend? What about us?"
“Chrysalis ain’t a pony. She’s a changeling. Well, now she’s a statue. But you get the point.” Bon Bon sat down hard on the bench, squeezing in next to Junebug. I gave her a sad look. "And yes, Ruby is my best friend. No offense but she comes first."
“Still no sign of Lyra?” Junebug asked sympathetically as she ignored me and Daisy. Bon Bon had kicked Lyra out along with Amethyst and Dinky a week ago and none of us had seen Lyra or even heard from her. I still remember when Bon Bon had ended up on my doorstep, drunk and crying her eyes out over this.
“Nope,” she stirred the straw around half heartedly. “Not that I blame her, I did destroy the ring she got me.”
“Especially since she sold almost everything she owned to buy it, including her toys. She didn’t want you checking the bank statements and seeing it in there,” Lily pointed out and she slammed her head against the tables top. We all gave Lily a dirty look and she slumped behind her milkshake in an attempt to look small.
“I’m sure she will come back,” Daisy smiled. “She loves you.”
“Correction, she loved me,” Bon Bon grumbled. “I don’t even know where she is. No letter, nothing.”
“It’s only been a week. She just needs time,” Octavia sighed. “We were awful to her and those two with her. Derpy still hasn’t talked to me after running her daughters out.” We all gave a collective shudder at that. We all knew how protective Derpy was of her children. She was just like me, willing to be anything for them.
“Lyra also threw her ring as she left our house,” Bon Bon held up the ring she had gotten Lyra. I remember her dragging me along to help her look along with Golden Harvest.
“She was there on the hill,” Golden Harvest pointed out. “She was with two other unicorns, Dinky and Amethyst making the shield. She looked scarily angry when Spike was used as bait. So did a bunch of other unicorns near her.” I didn’t blame her, Spike had helped me out for a few days after his dragon rampage as a way to make it up to the town.
“Those other unicorns are her friends from Canterlot. They always are at our house visiting. Except Moondancer. I’ve only meet her once. The others are Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts. They knew Spike since he hatched from the egg,” Bon Bon mumbled, lifting her head up.
“Maybe Dinky knows,” I suggested. “She’s right there.” I pointed a hoof where the young unicorn was trotting in.
“I’m not sure but okay. Dinky! Come here please,” Bon Bon called out and the filly hesitantly trotted over. I paid close attention to the regretful look in Octavia, Lily and Daisy’s eyes.
“My sister says I’m not allowed to talk to you unless she or mommy is there,” Dinky said nervously.
“This will only take a minute,” Bon Bon smiled. “Do you know where Lyra is?”
“Oh she’s in Canterlot,” Dinky covered her mouth with a hoof. “I wasn’t supposed to say that.” I gave a chuckle at that.
“What else did you sister say?” Roseluck suddenly asked.
“I snuck out of bed to steal some cookies and I overheard mommy and Sparky arguing. Sparky said something about Bon Bon being a thing called a bitch and a mean spirited whore,” Bon Bons face turned bright red at that. “I’m not sure what those words mean though. Can you tell me?” Dinky stared at us. I choked on my milkshake at that and tried to not cough from laughter. You can laugh when she leaves Berry Punch,I reminded myself.
“Maybe when you’re older,” Octavia mumbled. We all knew Amethyst as a nice mare so I was a bit surprised she said that but everyone has their limits.
“Sparky? I thought her name was Amethyst?” Lily asked.
“I used to call her Sparkler because she was really feisty at one point,” Dinky explained and a rare look of anger crossed her face as she glared at Bon Bon. “You hurt Miss Heartstrings. She protected me and Amethyst the whole time. From the crowd to the Windigos. She gave me her body heat when I was freezing in Celestia’s school. Hurting ponies isn’t good. She even let me stand on her back when those meanies were turned to stone. Miss Heartstrings is a very nice pony.” I looked Junebug in the eyes. This was a side of Dinky I’ve never seen.
“You’re right,” Bon Bon sighed. “I was awful to her. I should have believed her that the unicorns weren’t doing what the rumors said. None of us should have. It was wrong of us.”
“All of us are doing things to make up for it,” Golden Harvest chimed in. “I’ve been returning the money from the unicorns and pegasi I made pay extra. Berry Punch has been giving free drinks for every one she kicked out.”
“Only for the first drink,” I quickly added. “Still gotta make a profit.” I did have a growing hungry filly at home and mortgages to pay.
“Roseluck, Lily and Daisy have been leaving free flowers on the door steps of the ponies they wronged. Junebug has been helping rehome the bugs in ponies houses free of charge. Octavia has been working around the clock doing shows all over town. And Bon Bon has been ponysitting foals, giving out free candy and more,” Golden Harvest finished.
“Can you at least tell me how Lyra was doing?” Bon Bon asked with a hopeful gleam in her eyes. Dinky rubbed her chin.
“I suppose. Mommy need to take care of some things before she could pick us up so we stayed with Lyra. She came home smelling really awful some nights. Some place Amethyst said served adult drinks. Think it was a bar,” Dinky shrugged. “Amy and Miss Heartstrings won’t let me go with her. It’s not fair,” Dinky pouted.
“Is she with her parents?” Bon Bon asked.
“No. She said she can’t see her parents anymore. Said they were gone.”
“What do you mean, gone?” Bon Bon questioned the filly.
“Something about an accident and them going to take a nap,” Dinky shrugged. “She hugged me when I told them they would come back from their trip soon enough.” I tried my hardest to look concerned for Bon Bons sake. I knew Lyra’s parents had died but no one else did. She only told me in confidence because she didn’t want pity from the others.
“Thanks Dinky,” Bon Bon smiled at the filly. “What are you doing here anyway?”
“I have a date with Button Mash. We’re getting milkshakes and then going to the arcade.”
“Do you need some bits?” Golden asked, smiling. I gave a big grin like the others. I had heard a rumor that the two had something going on but now I had it confirmed and I was rooting for em.
“Nah. Thanks anyway. Miss Pie said it was free of charge after all we’ve been through.” That sounded like Pinkie. “And then me and Ruby are going to go egg Cranky Doodles house. He was a meanie when he subbed for Miss Cheerilee. Bye!” Dinky waved and trotted away. My smile instantly turned into a frown.
“What did she say my daughter was going to go do?” I asked.
“Egg her substitute teachers house,” Junebug hid her grin behind her shake. “Sounds exactly what you did when we were little fillies.”
“That was different. I’m so grounding her after she gets done.”
“You’re not gonna stop her?” Bon Bon asked incredulously. I gave a shrug and slurped my shake.
“Nah. Might as well let her have fun and then teach her actions have consequences like my parents did with me.” Minus the beatings and made to sleep days without food.
“You guys ever think we were subconsciously racist?” Daisy suddenly asked.
“What do you mean?” Bon Bon sipped her shake.
“Look around this table. What to do you see?”
“Uh, a bunch of earth pony friends?” Bon Bon rolled her eyes.
“Exactly! Do you see what’s wrong with that?”
“Uh not really?” Lily shrugged. “We’re all earth ponies, so what?” Daisy facehoofed at her younger sister.
“Do you see any pegasus or unicorn here?”
“No. What’s the point...? Bon Bon started to speak before pausing a look of realization crossed her face. “Oh.”
“Exactly. We are all earth ponies. The only unicorn we had was Lyra. No pegasus, no other unicorn. Maybe the evil three played to all of our weaknesses, that’s why it was so easy for them to sow distrust.”
“It’s not our fault we all went to school together as fillies. We also didn’t get to chose our race, that’s not our fault either,” Lily retorted.
“Well yeah. But we could have always added a pegasus or a unicorn to our group like we did with Lyra. But we never did, did we?” Daisy asked. Lily slumped in her seat.
“You’re right. This is technically our fault it was so easy for the three races to separate and practically go to war,” Lily sighed and Junebug nodded.
“It is kinda our fault,” I agreed. “All of the county’s fault, really.”
“We can always add a pegasus now!” Roseluck grinned. I gave a snort at that. She was super optimistic randomly.
“I think the list of pegasi who want to associate with us in town is kinda small right now Rose,” Octavia sighed.
“Nonsense!” Roseluck insisted. “We all saw the magical thingie Princess Twilight made appear in front of us.” We all nodded at that. How she did that, I’ll never know. Probably some freaky cool magic stuff. Well that was obvious but whatever.
“Still can’t believe a filly helped them,” Golden Harvest grunted.
“We can find a pegasus. It can’t be Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy. Has to be someone in the background,” Roseluck shrugged. “Can’t be that hard.”
“Wanna know the worst part?” Bon Bon suddenly asked.
“What?” I asked.
“A few months ago, me and Lyra had Cozy Glow in our house.”
“Why?” Daisy asked incredulously.
“She needed help with her music lessons and Starlight suggested she visit Lyra for help. After all, Lyra is the only pony I know in town who can play lyre.” She was right on that one. I didn’t even know what a lyre was till I met her.
“She was a good manipulator,” I grunted.
“Her cutie mark was a chess piece. It makes sense,” Lily pointed out. “I still remember the time she gave Bon Bon Scootaloo’s helmet for the cactus because it was poking her in the face.”
“Haha,” Bon Bon groaned. “Very funny, it felt amazing.”
“Maybe she was scouting her out?” Roseluck suggested.
“What?” Bon Bon stared at her, confused.
“I heard Cozy was obsessed with Twilight and taking over. I also heard she talked to all of Twilight’s friends. Minuette once, Fluttershy and now Lyra.”
“And?”
“Maybe if she thought she could convince them to quit being friends with Twilight and be friends with her instead, she would be well on her way to being the Empress of Friendship.” Bon Bon rolled my eyes.
“Why would she do that?” Bon Bon demanded.
“Why did she do anything she did?” Roseluck countered.
“Okay. You got me there,” Bon Bon admitted. She stared at me when I suddenly remembered that Amethyst called her a whore and started laughing. “What’s so funny?”
“I can’t believe Amethyst called you a whore!” I laughed harder and Junebug cracked a grin.
“Remind me to fight that mare,” Bon Bon grunted. “I’ve only ever slept with Lyra.”
“Bullshit!” Junebug snorted. “What about that one mare from your baking class?”
“Candy Dasher and I were just friends,” Bon Bon defended herself. “And besides, what happened to you and Solar Flare?” The mare turned bright red but said nothing. My cream colored gave a triumphant grin at that.
“I need to go to Canterlot,” She announced. “I need to find Lyra and make this right.”
“Want company?” I instantly stood up.
“Thanks, but this is something I got to do myself.” We all finished our shakes and I trotted home.
“Thanks for buying my shake Daisy,” I sighed. “I’ll be sure to pay you back.”
“Don’t worry. It’s what we do for each other.”
“Will you and Ruby be going to the coronation next week?” Octavia asked.
“Probably not,” I admitted. “I got the house payment coming up and such. I haven’t told her yet. She was really looking forward to it.”
“I’ll pay for your tickets and hotel,” Octavia announced. “I really wanna spend time with you all.”
“I can’t let you do that, Octavia.”
“I insist. We are all going,” Octavia insisted and I sighed.
“Okay,” I allowed. “Thank you for this. So much.” I opened the door of my house and softly shut it behind me. I sat down on the couch and waited for my filly to get home.
-------------------------------------------------------------
The door creaked open and a little filly snuck inside.
“Hey Ruby.” She froze at my voice and her head spun towards where I was sitting.
“Hey mom,” she forced a smile. I stood up and trotted to her.
“Where have you been?” I asked knowingly.
“Out with Dinky.”
“Doing what?”
“Uhhh,” Ruby’s eyes flicked around the house nervously. “Walking.” I suppose that was technically honest.
“I know you two egged Crankys house,” she stared at me with wide eyes.
“Am I in a lot of trouble?” She asked hesitantly. “Are you gonna beat me like you said your parents did?” That took me back a moment and I raised a hoof. She flinched and squeezed her eyes shut. I gently place the hoof on her shoulder and her eyes widened.
“No I’m not. I would never hurt you. But you are grounded. Your punishment is to apologize to Cranky and clean up the mess of the eggs. I already talked to Derpy about this and Dinky is gonna be helping you as well.” She hugged me tightly.
“Thanks for not beating me,” she mumbled into my mane. I patted her on the back.
“I would never dream of it. You’re too important to me to hurt.” I grabbed her face with my hooves and made her look into my eyes.
“I adore you.” She said nothing, just smiled at me happily and booped my snout.
“I adore you too.”