//------------------------------// // Bento Boxes and a Piano // Story: The Mystic Fox // by Mysticfox //------------------------------// "I'm home." I said as I walked through the door to find Merrin, Blake, and Rosy on the couch. As soon as I entered the room Rosy shot to my chest and I held her close  "It's ok sweetheart." I said as I calmed her down. "Will she be okay dad?" She asked as she looked up to me with teary eyes. "I hope so darlin. Right now she's with the best doctor in canterlot. Do you still want to come make lunch with me?" I asked getting a small nod from her as Tammy and Alya rested on my shoulders and left the house with Merrin and Blake beside me. The trip to ponyville was quiet and while we walked through town I was picking up supplies I needed and also looking over the materials I asked Twink for. By the time we got to the train station and set up my stand it was getting close to lunch. "(Grrrooowwwll)" Rosy's stomach said, making her blush. "Well I know where the frost bento is goin to." I said with a smile as I finished frying up a batch of veggies and began to fill a few boxes with rice and the veggies before setting one out for her and the others for sale. Merrin had wanted to work the front and Blake was sitting off to the side messing with his banjo. At the back of the stove I had a large pot with a Sugar mix I had set up for an experiment. But while that was getting to temp I had pulled out some tuna from my bag and set my magic to slice it up for fish Benton. When I looked over to Rosy she was just picking at her lunch. "Candy for your thoughts." I said as I gave her a piece of candy I made earlier. "Merrin said that Changelings are bad and most ponies hate them." She said as she rolled the candy around. "Well I don't believe that. There's a saying that I think applies here. People, or ponies in this case, fear what they don't understand." I said as I stir fried some fish and veggies. "What do you mean?" She asked before popping the candy in her mouth. "Well from what I understand ponies only see Changelings as love eating monsters that will suck a pony dry of their love and because of that they never stopped to ask why or even tried to talk to one they just run and scream. That made it harder and harder to find food." I said as I filled up some more bentos. "But I remember that they attacked canterlot to take it over." Merrin said as she handed a couple of bentos to Lyra and Bon-bon. "They did but only because Queen Chrysalis thought it was the only way to feed her hive." Bon-bon said as she sat on a stool by Rosy with Lyra sitting beside her. "Hey you two. What y'all up to?" I asked as I turned to work on my candy mix. "I went up to canterlot to visit some friends…and show off my marefriend." Lyra said, making Bonbon blush. "But that couldn't have been the only way, could it?" Rosy asked as they ate their lunch and I was making clear candy balls. "Hmm how can I put this, ok do you know how a beehive works. Mmm this is great Fox." Bonbon said as she ate. "Thank you." I said with a smile as I continued my experiment. "I know they make honey." Rosy said with a large smile. "Hehe yes but there's a lot more going on in there. A beehive is a large colony with a queen and many workers. It's the job of the queen to lay eggs and tell the workers what to do: either go out to collect nectar and pollen for food for the hive, or build and take care of the young. The workers that go out have the most important job because they have to find the food and bring it back to the hive. Without it the hive will die." Bonbon said while I was slowly adding magic to the candy balls Turning them a crystal clear pink. "Now it's a lot easier for bees to find food than Changelings can. Do you know why?" Bonbon said before she finished her lunch. "Um, because flowers are everywhere." Rosy said as I was cooling down my candy with a satisfied smile. "No, because flowers can't run away. Think of Changelings as bees, ponies as flowers, and our love is nectar. So in order to collect for their hive they have to take love from us. But because we see them as monsters, ponies won't let them get close enough to get the small amount of love they need so they begin to shapeshift to match our appearance." Bonbon said as I started to fill some little bags with my candy. "That doesn't sound bad." Rosy said as she began to feed Tammy and Alya some of her fried broccoli. "At first it wasn't but as the hive grew it needed more food and more and more workers left the hive to collect more food. Then the queen found that when love was given and not taken it would feed a lot more of her hive but because ponies saw them in a bad light they began to kidnap ponies and put them to sleep and dream of their loved ones. The queen tried many times to talk with the ponies to find a peaceful way to collect food but because of ponies fear of Changelings grew it began to get harder and harder to feed the hive and as time rolled by the hive started to starve and die. So the queen made a desperate call. If they couldn't get the food they so desperately needed then they would take it by force which led the queen to try to take over canterlot." Bonbon said as Rosy finished her lunch. "The point I'm trying to make is that the way we see Changelings was ultimately the reason why the queen did what she did. If ponies saw changelings as just a different kind of pony then the changelings would have access to all the food they need." Bonbon said with a warm smile as Merrin gave out the last bento. "Wow Bonbon you know a lot about changelings." Merrin said as I finished up my candy bags. "I've…done my research." Bonbon said nervously as she shifted in her seat. "My Bonbon is so smart." Lyra said before giving her a big hug, making her blush. "Speaking about research, I think you would "love" this candy Bonbon." I said with a wink as I gave her a bag of the pink candy. "Sure what flavor is it?" She said as she pulled one from the bag. "It changes from person to person." I said with a smirk before she shrugged and popped it into her mouth. "Mmmm chocolate." She said but as she slowly sucked on the candy her eyes grew wide as she looked up to me and I gave her a gentle smile and nod. "So would you say that flavor hit the spot?" I asked with a smile. "Yeah it's pretty filling." She said as she took another one from the bag to look closer at it. "Oh I want to try it." Lyra said before she took the piece from Bonbon. "No wait!" Bonbon tried to stop her but it was too late and Lyra tossed it in her mouth. "Oh peaches. I love peaches." Lyra said with a happy smile. "Oh no." Bonbon said with a worried look. "What." I said as I looked at Lyra's growing blush Ang glazed eyes  "Normal ponies can't handle concentrated love magic like that it makes th-." Bonbon tried to say but was cut off when Lyra turned and licked the side of her face and whispered something in her ear that made her face turn red as a cherry. "Well if you'll excuse us we have something important to take care of." Bonbon said before she was picked up by Lyra and disappeared in a cloud of dust. "What was that all about?" Blake asked as he watched them run off. "Hahaha I think I just made an aphrodisiac." I said as I laughed and cleaned up my kitchen. "What an afrodisac?" Rosy asked with interest. "I'll tell you when you're older." I said, making her huff. "That's what everyone says." She said with a pout. "So Rosy, what do you think about changelings now that you heard that?" I asked as I put stuff away in the cart. "I don't know. I've never met a Changeling but if I did I think I would like to talk to and maybe be friends if it's nice." She said with a smile, making me happy to hear that and chuckled as a group of three energetic fillies came running up. "Hi Rosy." They all said in unison, making me chuckle. "Hey girls." Rosy said with excitement before hoping off her stool with Tammy who jumped from filly to filly giving each a hug before landing back on Rosy. "Good afternoon Crusaders." I said with a smile as I placed a few leftover bentos in my bag, one with Twink on top. "Hi Mr. Fox. Can Rosy come play with us?" Sweetie Bell said sweetly. "Of course she can. That is if Rosy wants to." I said with a smile as Rosy fluttered up to my chest to give me a hug before landing by Sweetie Bell. "I'll be home late tonight so here are some bits for snacks and dinner or you can come through the cart door if you want. I want to set up for a bit before talking with Luna." I said handing her a small pouch of bits before she looked up at me with puppy dog eyes and was quickly matched by the crusaders. "Yes I put enough in for all of you to get something from Sugarcube corner." I said as I ruffled her mane. "YAY." They said before taking off down the road. "(Sigh) I have to head back to the outpost. I forgot Miss Note asked me for some help organizing some of the paperwork." Merrin said with a light sigh. "Well I'll be working in my office tomorrow morning so if there's anything I can do that can't wait until then please put them on my desk. I want to make sure everything is running smoothly before we leave for the dragon land." I said as I opened a portal back home. "Yeah I'm headed back home too. I need to get some exercise and magic training before it gets dark." Blake said as he hopped on Merrins back before walking through the portal. "Well Alya it looks like it's just us." I said with a slight frown as I scratched her chin. I got used to having someone with me. With a quick shake of my head I looked up to the clear sunny sky and smiled. "Hey Alya, it's a nice day today. How about we fly up to canterlot? It shouldn't take us very long." I said before she shot off my shoulders and into the sky making me laugh before flying after her. The flight to canterlot was peaceful as I watched Alya playfully spin and twirl around me. She had grown a lot since she hatched. Now she's about a foot and a half long with slick pink feathers and an emerald sparkle in her wing feathers. Soon we had landed outside the main gates of Canterlot. "Oh that was nice." I said as I stretched me back before Alya landed on my shoulder and wrapped herself gently around my neck before giving me a cheek nuzzle. "I see you enjoyed yourself too." I said as I fished a piece of tuna from my bag and gave it to her which was quickly scarfed down. "(POOF) There we go. I don't know why but I'm starting to really like my fox form. What do you think Alya?" I asked after I turned into my normal fox self. She gave out a happy chirp before sliding into my hair with her head nestled on my forehead making me laugh. "Must be warm there. Let's go see a princess and a bug." I said as we walked through the gates. Canterlot was always a busy place to visit with ponies running errands or just out to enjoy the afternoon but it's too high class for me. Most of the ponies I passed either ignored me or just held the noses in the sky. A very few would smile and wave but that was it. After a short walk I finally hit my destination and with a short nod to the guards I was on my way to the throne room. As I was making my way through the halls something caught my attention. "Huh well that's weird." I said as I looked at a large wooden shipping crate sitting among a few small crates but the sight of it was not what I thought was weird. It was what I felt from the crate. I slowly walked up to the crate to get a better look. "Why do you feel so sad and lonely?" I asked to the crate. What I felt didn't feel quite like magic but something deeper. Like whatever was in this crate had a soul or not quite a soul but close. "Good afternoon dear Fox." Said a motherly voice behind me. "Hi aunt Tia." I said without turning away from the crate and Alya flew over to nuzzle her. "And hello to you too Alya." She said while she scratched under Alyas chin before looking back at me with concern. "Is everything alright nephew?" She said as she walked up beside me. "Tia, do you know anything about this crate?" I asked as I placed my paw on the crate. "These were donated to the crown. They contain music instruments from a local music tutor. The tutor passed away a few years back but when the changelings attack a few home were badly destroyed. These are what the clean up crews salvaged and sat in storage for a while before coming here." She said with a smile as she dusted off a few crates with her wing. "Donations? Can I open this one?" I asked with a smile. "I don't see why not they have to be opened anyway for inspection." She said with a small mod. "(Poof) then let's see what's in this one." I said as a change back to normal before picking the large crate up in magic and moving it to a clear spot so I can open it. My magic made opening it a lot easier and when the walls of the crate fell it revealed a solid snow white upright piano with a gold sheet music stand and matching seat. "My what a lovely piano." Tia said as she walked up to it to get a good look at it. "Yes it is." I said absentmindedly as I slowly walked up to the piano and ran my hand along its smooth top. The feeling of loneliness rested within this piano and it was painful to bear. "Fox dear, something is wrong." Tia asked with worry as she placed her wing around me, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Hmm no I'm fine." I said as I looked up to her. "Then why are you crying?" She asked before I raised my hand up and wiped away a few tears. "I'm not sure. Tia can inanimate objects have feelings?" I asked as I looked at the piano. "Normally no but sometimes if the owner or maker cares enough about what they are making or doing they can subconsciously leak their natural magic into what they are making. But what that does to the object depends on the ponies natural magic." She said as she walked around the piano. "Do you mind if I play?" I asked while looking at the piano. "Of course. I would love to listen to you play it." She said happily as I pulled out the stool and lifted up the key guard before lightly running my fingers along the keys and a song quickly popped up in my head. (Play As I began to play I closed my eye to enjoy the clear sound of the notes and knew this piano was well cared for. No cord was out of tune and the keys worked smoothly as I began to lose my thoughts in the melody and just played. And then something began to play in my mind. It was like watching an old grainy black and white film. It started with an image of the piano sitting out with the trash. It was in bad shape flakes of paint falling off, the lid was missing alog with a few keys, one of its legs was broken and poorly glued together just waiting to be thrown away. Then came a young couple, a unicorn colt and a slight pregnant pegasus mare. The colt stopped at the sight of the old piano and felt that it could use a good home and with the agreement of his wife took the piano back to their home. Over time the colt repaired the piano and by the time it was finished the mare just had her foal, a little unicorn filly. The mare would often play a lullaby for the filly that would fall asleep by her mother's side. As the time passed the family got older and the piano was passed down to the loving care of the young filly and would play as often as she could. I watched as time went on for her and the piano and soon she had a family of her own.She took great care of that piano, never letting it get out of tune and always kept it clean. Time sped up for the mare and now she was old. Her foal had started their own family and she began to teach young cults and filly's about music and one of those filly's was her very own pegasus grandfilly. Oh they would laugh and play silly songs on the piano until one day the filly began to play all on her own while the old mare sat off to the side and just listened with a cup of tea before a bright flash came from the filly's flank which was now adorned with piano keys and musical notes. She had got her cutie mark and the old mare couldn't be prouder. But the happy times turned to sorrow as the scene changed once again. Now the piano sat at the front of a dark room. Candle placed around the room lighting it up with a soft light. Ponies sat in rows wearing all black and crying because there was no joy to be had this day, no melody played for on the piano sat a black marble and silver inlay patterned urn surrounded by reef of roses and candles. On the music stand sat a black picture frame showing a smiling face. No joy was to be had that day for you see, the old mare had died. Time step up, the family left the old mares home. The young filly cryed and begged to stay but she was to young and cryed as the doors closed. There was only silence, for days and days nothing but silence. Soon days turn to weeks, weeks to months, months to years sitting in silence then nothing. The song had ended and the film fades.  "She was a very caring and now I see why you are so lonely." I said rested my fingers on the keys before a handkerchief floated down in front of me and I look up to see Tia gently smiling down at me. "That was a very lovely melody." She said as I took the handkerchief and dried my eyes. "Thank you. This piano had a good life." I said as I slowly stood. "I saw it as I played. It watched it's owner grow from a foal to her last days and never once did a day go by without being played or cared for. But once that day came there was no one and it sat there growing lonely." I said with a smile and only grew when I remembered something. I've seen that cutie mark before. "Tia can I please have this piano?" I asked with a big wide smile. "Fox dear your mark is glowing." She said with a smile. "I'm excited because I know I'm about to make someone incredibly happy if you say yes." I said as I look back at the piano. "And why is that?" She asked with a playful smirk. "When it showed me it's memorys in the late years of its owners life she had a grandfilly with a cutie mark and I know that mark. I know that mare would take excellent care of this piano." I said as I place my hand on the piano. "Then you can have it." She said before giving me a quick hug. "Thanks Aunt Tia. Now let's get you safely tucked away." I said as I shrunk the piano and gently put it in my bag before pulling out a six veggie tempura bento boxes. "So let's talk about the bug in the guest room." I said as I gave her half and with a smile she took them and lead the way.