“Come on, honey, time to get up,” came a sleepy voice from somewhere nearby. It took a nearly super equine effort for Lyra to force an eye open. Hadn’t she just gotten to bed ten minutes ago? A pink, blue and cream blur slowly resolved itself into the face of her wife.
“Bonnie,” mumbled Lyra once she had figured out how a mouth worked, “What time is it?”
“About half an hour later than we should be getting up, you know it’s the busy season. We need to get to work,” said the Earth Pony with a yawn.
“You know most ponies call it Hearth’s Warming, not the busy season.” Lyra stuck a leg out from under the bed covers, and quickly retracted it again, their bedroom was freezing.
“Looks like the heating is acting up again, can you have a look at it?” noted Bon Bon as she hauled herself out of their shared bed. She stretched for a moment before farting loudly.
“And they say the romance fades after the fifth anniversary,” grumbled Lyra grimacing at the smell. She gave a grunt as she tried unsuccessfully to rock herself out of bed.
“Better out than in,” said Bon Bon reaching back to give her wife a hoof. “It’s not like you’re the same as when we first met,” she added, prodding Lyra’s gently protruding stomach.
“If I wanted to stay thin I wouldn’t have married a sweet maker would I?” said Lyra leaning in to give Bon Bon a kiss. Bonnie responded for a moment, before pushing her away.
“No time for that.”
Lyra sighed. “When was the last time we did have time for that?”
“I don’t know, what year is it now?” joked Bon Bon. “Look, once the busy season is over we can pack Parma off to a sleepover with one of her friends, then we can have a whole day to ourselves, just the two of us. Like it used to be.”
That sounded almost as good as another hour's sleep, thought Lyra, glancing jealousy back at her inviting and warm bed. Then she yawned and turned her mind back to the matter at hoof. “I’ll sort out the boiler, then start on breakfast while you have a shower. Can you get Parma ready for school once you’re done?”
“Sorry,” said Bon Bon awkwardly, “we sold out of those new selection boxes yesterday, I’ll need to make up a new batch. It’ll take most of the time until we open.”
Lyra tried to bite back a passive-aggressive sigh. She knew that her sweets paid their bills, but Bonnie never seemed to have any time to help around the house. “Fine, I’ll get her ready, and help in the store this morning, but I have to get to the rehearsal in Canterlot this afternoon.” That wasn’t something she was looking forward to.
“Sure, but can you help with the deliveries as you’re going into town?” asked Bon Bon with a hopeful smile.
“Stupid piece of ..!” mumbled Lyra as she fumbled at the boiler’s controls with her aura. After throwing the ignition switch for what felt like the hundredth time, she finally heard a click and woosh. She carefully twiddled the gas knob, hoping it wouldn’t go out again. After a nerve wracking couple of seconds, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Give it a few minutes and the shower should be ready,” she called up the stairs.
Not waiting for a reply, she trotted over into the kitchen and put a hoof on the radiator feeling it slowly start to heat up. She and Bon Bon had had Silver Spanner look over the heating several times, but the whole system was just too old. Sooner or later another patch job just wouldn’t do it. They needed the whole thing torn out and replaced. That wouldn’t be cheap. Sighing, she glanced over at the jar half filled with bits with ‘Mount Aeris trip’ written on it, she’d have to have another talk with Bonnie but It seemed unlikely they’d be seeing the Hippogriff homeland anytime soon.
Tosing those thoughts aside, she grabbed a saucepan from the cupboard and poured milk and oats into it before lighting the hob. Nothing like porridge to drive away the chill of the morning, and at least they could afford fancy oats. While waiting for breakfast to cook, she started to lay the table. Dozens of partially filled chocolate boxes topped its surface, each showing a happy pony family. The mother and father were decked out in the finest clothes, leaning against each other next to a roaring fire surrounded by presents while their two foals sat nearby obediently waiting to unwrap them.
Sighing, Lyra pushed the boxes aside, she had to admit she had imagined her life would be more like that lid than the one she was currently living. When she and Bonnie had first gotten together, she’d thought their lives would be more exciting, travel, long walks on beaches, days just spent in bed together. For a bit, they had been like that, but nothing lasts forever. Eventually you had to settle down to reality, there were always bills to pay.
Shaking herself, Lyra turned back to the stove and stirred the breakfast, stopping it burning. She turned back as she heard Bonnie’s hooves approaching. “Finished already?” she asked.
“Not much hot water,” noted Bon Bon, her coat still damp. “I’ll finish that, you get Parma up. What do you want on yours? We’ve got some of that honey your mother brought back from her trip, or that mint chocolate and nut spread I made for you.” She nuzzled Lyra as she pushed past the cooker.
Lyra couldn’t help but smile. Maybe things weren't quite so gray. She was still married to one of the best cooks in Equestria, one of the prettiest as well.
Lyra didn’t have time to do much more than give her mane a quick wash and brush the worst of the tangles out of her coat before going to wake up her daughter.
“Parma,” she called gently, knocking on the door to the room that used to be hers, when she and Bonnie were still just housemates. “Time to get up. You’ve got school today.” She opened the door to reveal two sleepy green eyes peeking out from under the bed covers, framed with a messy black and white striped mane.
“School...” mumbled Parma Violet as she rubbed her eyes and yawned. “School! It’s the Hearth Warming play today!” she yelled, instantly going from 0 to 100 as she leapt from her bed.
“That’s not until this evening,” said Lyra, trying to calm her daughter down a little.
“Where’s my flute!” exclaimed the earth pony foal, quickly rooting through a pile of toys.
“Here,” said Lyra, levitating the instrument from its stand, “just where you left it last night.” When you were practicing after we sent you to bed, she added in her head, that was one of the reasons she was feeling extra sleep-deprived at the moment.
Parma nodded her thanks, taking the instrument in her hooves and playing a quick tune which Lyra recognised as the opening of the second act of the play. She grinned at her daughter’s talent, she was a real chip off of her metaphorical block. She probably had a brighter future as a musician than her mother did. It wasn’t like Lyra’s career was taking off in leaps and bounds. However, if left to her own devices, the young musician would happily play through the entire score, and be late for school. “Come on, into the shower,” she ordered. “Bonnie’s making breakfast.”
Music immediately forgotten, Parma tossed the flute aside and rushed past Lyra towards the bathroom. Lyra sighed at her daughter’s seemingly boundless energy. Turning she followed the foal to find her hopping from hoof to hoof next to the bath. With a grunt Lyra levitated her into the tub before turning on the water and picking up the shower head allowing the water to flow over Parma’s purple coat.
Sometimes she couldn’t believe how much her daughter had grown in the three years since she and Bonnie had adopted her. At the time, they’d been considering all the magical and mundane methods they could use to have a child, but once they’d met Parma at the orphanage, they had both been smitten with her.
She carefully wetted the wriggling foal’s mane and began to apply the shampoo. While the first few months getting used to the new arrival into their world had been some of the hardest Lyra had ever known, now she could hardly imagine a time when they hadn’t been a family.
“Finished?” asked Parma impatiently as Lyra washed the last suds from her coat.
Her mother nodded, and the foal quickly hopped out of the tub, her hooves skidding a little on the floor. “Wait...” called Lyra as the still dripping wet pony galloping towards her own room leaving a trail of water in the carpet. Lyra couldn’t help but face hoof before levitating a towel from a nearby pile and following after her daughter.
“Now remember, Bonnie might be a little late picking you up tonight. I’ve got rehearsals up in Canterlot, so she’ll need to close up the store before she can come and get you. Just stay with Ms Cheerilee until she’s here. Ok?” Lyra lectured her daughter as they made their way through the snow filled streets of Ponyville, every so often they stopped and dropped off a parcel from the small cart Lyra was pulling.
“Sure,” mumbled Parma distractedly as she waved at another foal also on their way to school. “But we all come back for the play, right?” she continued, suddenly attentive.
“That’s a few hours later, but I’ll come straight from the train station, so I’ll be there for the start,” said Lyra with a smile. It was almost all the foal had talked about for weeks. “Me and Bonnie wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She bent forwards to give Parma a quick nuzzle, which she returned a little halfheartedly before scuttling off toward the herd gathered in the school yard.
Lyra turned back towards home; she'd have to hurry if she was to finish her deliveries and get there before opening time.
“Hey, Heartstrings,” came a call from nearby. Lyra turned to see a white unicorn wearing pink lensed glasses.
“Oh, hi Vinyl,” she replied, “I’ve not seen you around recently.”
Her fellow musician gave a smile. “I’ve been on tour for most of the year, Manehatten, Canterlot, we even got as far as Griffenstone. It was great, non-stop party time. We should catch up You doing anything tonight?”
How long had it been since she’d had a night out? Thought Lyra. She couldn’t remember that far back. She shrugged, “Sorry, can’t, Parma’s school play is tonight.”
“Pity. How’s the kid doing?”
“Oh you know she drives me up the wall sometimes, never listens to a word I say, and just never slows down,” she smiled, “I wouldn’t change her for the world.”
“You know, I never saw you as being the motherly type, Heartstrings.”
“It sort of snuck up on me. Me and Bonnie just felt something was missing, you know. How about you? Thinking of finally settling down?”
Vinyl gave a laugh which sounded a little hollow to Lyra. “Me? Never! I’m not the type to play house.”
“You sure? You and Octavia were close at one point. Didn’t you think of...”
“Ancient history,” said Vinyl, cutting her off. Lyra wanted to ask what had happened, the two had been inseparable at one point, then nothing, and Octavia had moved away from town. But despite occurring years ago, it was clearly still a fresh wound to her fellow unicorn, and she didn’t want to pry too deep.
“Sure, well I better go, I got to help Bonnie with the store, it is the season to buy chocolate and all that.”
“Yeah, we can get together somewhen else, right? Just call me when you’re free.”
Lyra nodded, wondering when that was likely to be. It had been ages since she’d had a chance to spend time with her friends. She was just too busy with Parma and Bonnie and the store and even her own career, however limited that was. She thought back to the family on the chocolate box cover they seemed to have it all, the fire, presents, perfect foals, each other.
It wasn’t that she didn’t love Bonnie, of course she did, with all her heart, it was just after so many years things felt a bit more... stretched. There wasn’t quite the spark there used to be between them.
She wouldn’t give up Parma for anything either, but it would be nice if the filly would slow down for a few minutes or listen to her occasionally. As for money, well the shop did well enough, there were many many more ponies worse off than her, but she was a musician. She was supposed to be playing for applause, not stuck behind a counter. She got offered some gigs, but too many were short term meaning her income fluctuated, or required her to travel too far from her family. It was frustrating sometimes. On top of that, she just felt so tired so much of the time, being a wife and parent was hard.
Pushing those thoughts away, she turned back towards home. She’d have to hurry, Bonnie would have opened the store by now, and she still had to deliver a few packages.
“There you go, that’ll be thirty bits,” said Lyra, handing a package over to a somewhat frazzled looking Sunburst. The stallion took the box and paid, while trying to stop a wriggling foal from escaping from his aura.
“Thanks!” He addressed the foal, “Your little brother or sister is making Mummy Trixie crave these toffee’s, aren't they, and with Mommy Starlight up in Canterlot for the day there’s no one but Dada to get them for her, is there?” he asked his daughter who looked to be deep in thought for a moment, before giggling and waving her legs, “No there isn’t!” he concluded.
Lyra grinned as the two of them carefully made their way towards the door through the packed shop. Despite the cold outside, here it was roasting both from the ovens cooking the next batch of treats and the body heat of all the customers packed into the small shop part of their house. She hadn’t been joking earlier when she’d said that Hearth’s Warming was the season to buy chocolate, the shop made almost a quarter of its yearly profit in the month leading up to the holiday. She glanced over at Bon Bon who was carefully making up a selection box for Applejack.
Lyra sometimes wondered if Bonnie missed her old life, when she’d been Sweetie Drops and had hunted monsters for a living. Did selling sweets seem boring after that? She’d seen the odd Pony in Black hanging around the house sometimes, and wondered if they were trying to recruit her wife again. After she’d found out the truth about Bonnie’s old life, and the two of them had started to date they’d talked it out. There was a lot that Bonnie still wasn’t allowed to tell her about what she used to do, but she had promised that she wouldn’t return to that life unless Lyra agreed. She didn’t have any reason to think that Bonnie had ever gone back on that promise, but she couldn’t help but think her wife might have been tempted at least once.
Shaking her head she turned back to the next customer, looking up she recognised the long serpentine form of the town’s only permanently resident dragon. “Hi Smolder, how can I help you?” she asked.
“I had a special on order, but I lost the receipt. I think Ocellis might have eaten it, or maybe tidied it away,” she gave a bashful grin.
“Not a problem,” said Lyra, starting to search through the packages at the back of the shop. “I don’t think we have that many containing gems. There you go, cookies with ruby fillings, enjoy.”
“Thanks, they’re a present for Spike.”
“How are things going between you two?” asked Lyra leaning over the counter, one benefit of working in the store was the chance for all the latest gossip.
“I don’t get to see him half as much as I want to,” admitted Smolder, “but it's the anniversary of our first date tomorrow, and he’s promised he’ll ditch her Royal Book Horse to spend the whole holiday with me. Ocellis is taking Snail’s to meet her hive this year, so we’ll have the place to ourselves.” She waggled her eye-ridges, “and I got a few outfits from Rarity that I just can’t wait to show off to him.”
“Lucky Drake,” replied Lyra with a grin, she remembered how it had been with her and Bonnie when they’d just gotten together. They could hardly keep their hooves off of each other. Things had cooled down a bit over the years, but when they had time, Bonnie could still light a fire in her when she tried. That just wasn’t very often anymore.
“Lyra, honey,” called Bon Bon, turning away from the crowd. “It’s almost time for your train, you don’t want to be late for the rehearsal.”
Surprised, Lyra glanced up at the nearby clock, Bonnie was right, she’d completely lost track of time. “Are you sure? This place is still packed, I can skip it if you want,” she said hopefully. She was due to play in the big Hearth’s Warming concert tomorrow, and she really wasn’t looking forward to it, it was a miracle she’d gotten the part, everypony else was just so much more talented than her.
“Go, I can handle this. You said there would be some real VIPs watching tomorrow, you might be up to scratch, but I’m sure the other musicians could use the practice,” joked Bonnie.
“I don’t think the rest of the orchestra are the ones who need the help.”
Bonnie looked at her for a moment. “Lyra, we’ve talked about this, you put yourself down too much. You’re just as good as any of the other musicians. They wouldn’t have chosen you otherwise.”
“Only because the original Lyrist got sick. I just happened to be on hoof.”
“Excuse me,” piped up one of the thronging customers.
“I’m sorry,” said Bon Bon raising her voice, “But I’m afraid the store is closing for half an hour. Can you please make your way to the exit? Thank you.”
There was a rumble of complaint until Bon Bon swung her gaze over the crowd, then they started to shuffle out.
“Bonnie, what are you doing?” asked Lyra in astonishment. “This is the busiest we’ve been all year.”
“And do you think that matters if you need me?”
Lyra found herself struck dumb for a moment, a warm glow ignited in her chest as she gazed upon her wife. Once the last customer left, Bon Bon shut and locked the door, turning the sign to closed, and pulling down the blinds to block the view of the rubberneckers outside.
Turning Bon Bon held out a foreleg ready for a hug and Lyra shuffled forwards into her embrace. The two of them snuggled together for many long moments.“Now, what’s this about?” asked Bon Bon gently, “You know you can do this concert. You’re amazing!”
“Am I? I don’t feel like my career is going anywhere. I do the odd show here and there, maybe a tour once a year, but that’s it.”
“Lyra, we both know you’ve turned down more gigs than you’ve accepted,” Bon Bon looked aside, “I know you’re doing it to help me.”
“No! It’s not that,” Bonnie raised an eyebrow, “well not just that, it’s not like I can leave Parma.”
“She’s a big filly now, ok, maybe not that big, but I think she can survive without one of her mothers for a few weeks.”
“I guess,” said Lyra looking down.
“And I can cope in the shop for a while as well. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the help, but you shouldn’t always put me ahead of yourself. You can have your own life as well.”
“What ever did I do to deserve someone as special as you?” Lyra asked, gazing into her wife’s eyes.
“I ask the same thing every day,” said Bonnie leaning forwards to kiss her wife. “Now go, you’ve got a train to catch, and I have a lot of customers to wrangle back in.”
The last notes of the tune slowly faded away into silence in the Canterlot Opera Hall.
“And that’s it,” announced Blazing Baton, the conductor before making a few notes on his copy of the score. Lyra blinked. She’d been so much in the zone that she hadn’t noticed it was the end of the last piece. “Good,” he continued, “we’ll be doing that for real tomorrow in front of a sell out crowd, so I want you all to get a good night’s sleep. See you all there.” The orchestra started to pack their instruments away and chat amongst themselves. “Lyra, can I talk to you for a few minutes?” he asked.
Lyra couldn’t help but flatten her ears at being picked out from the crowd. After her talk with Bonnie, she was feeling much better about herself, but it sounded like her music hadn’t been up to scratch. “Yes, Baton,” she said, stepping aside as the crowd started to file out, casting a few glances in her direction as it went..
“I just want to tell you I was very impressed by your work today. I have to admit that you had seemed a bit off of your game for the last few rehearsals, but your solo of Le tre tribù today was one of the finest I’ve ever heard.”
“Wow, er, thanks,” replied Lyra her head feeling a little light, Baton was famously hard to please particularly with a string performance. “I had a few issues at home,” she admitted, “but I talked things out with my wife and my head’s in a better place now.”
“Well keep it up,” said Batton, nodding, “We’ll have a princess in the audience tomorrow as well as a gaggle of nobles, not to mention scouts from any number of other orchestras. However,” he glanced around as if looking for spies. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but you’re in serious consideration to be offered a permanent place as a Lyrist in the Canterlot Symphony Orchestra.”
Lyra blinked, unable to believe what she was hearing. “What about String Bean?”
“She’s planning to retire, she’s getting rather too old for the position. Her current sickness is evidence of that.”
“This is a big step, it would mean a lot of time in Canterlot, and the touring. I have a wife and foal...” she bit her tongue as the potential problems ran around her head, but this is what she wanted. It would be a stable income and not a bad one at that, no more malfunctioning heating at home, maybe even the trip to Mount Aeris as well.
Baton looked at her sympathetically. “The commute from Ponyville to Canterlot isn’t that far if you don’t want to move, but the choice is yours. This isn’t a formal offer, there are other candidates, but if you can keep performing as you did today, I think you will be high up the list. It’s part of the reason why we brought you in for this performance.”
“Thank you, thank you.” Lyra shook Baton’s hoof. “I’ll need to think about it, and talk to Bonnie, but this is such a great opportunity.”
“Well I think you’ve earned it, just do your very best tomorrow, and maybe we can talk more. I’m sure it’s going to be one of the most important performances of the season.”
Lyra glanced at the clock on the wall. “Oh, I’ve got to go, I can’t miss my train. I’ve got to get to what will definitely be the most important performance of the season.”
“And they called the land they founded Equestria!” announced the narrator in her squeaky voice.
The school band stood again and started to play the first few bars of ‘The Fires of Friendship’ as the rest of the cast shuffled onto the stage. In front of them, the entire audience of friends and family also took to their hooves to join in with the famous Hearth’s Warming carol.
Lyra had to admit that most of the foals were pretty good; there were only a few notes out of place, but most of her attention was on Parma standing near the front of the band, face twisted in concentration as she played her instrument. Not taking her eyes off her daughter Lyra leaned towards her wife “We did good there,” she whispered with a smile.
“You know I can’t hold a tune to save my life,” Bon Bon replied, “that’s entirely down to you.”
“I tried to teach her the lyre, it was you who suggested she try something else. I never would have thought of a flute. Plus, you know her cookies aren’t half bad either. She’s the best of both of us.” Lyra hugged her wife as the song came to an end and the audience erupted into applause.
As soon as the last bows were made the cast scattered into the welcoming arms of their parents, often without even changing out of their costumes. Parma came galloping over to her mothers. “Did you hear me? How did I do?” she asked excitedly.
“You were great, Sweetie,” said Bon Bon, nuzzling her daughter.
“Well I think you were probably the best one there,” Lyra announced, before trying to put aside her obvious favoritism and give some sort of constructive criticism, “but you did stretch out the second part of the march of the Windigos a few seconds too long.” Parma gave a grimace. “It sounded really good, but the rest of the band weren't ready for it, you should be playing as a group, it’s not all about just you.” Lyra thought that sounded nicely parental, it sounded like something Princess Twilight would say.
“Sorry Mom,” said Parma, looking downcast.
Lyra could only hold her look of disapproval for a few moments against those eyes. “Who am I kidding, you were amazing!”
“Really!” exclaimed Parma, jumping up and down.
“Yeah! One of the best performances I’ve ever heard!” with a grunt, she lifted Parma into the air with her aura.
Bon Bon rolled her eyes at her wife and daughters' antics. “Come on you two, I’ve got a daisy stew ready at home, it just needs to be reheated.”
“My favorite!” exclaimed Parma as Lyra placed her on her back.
It wasn’t far from the school to the sweet shop but given the thick snow outside, the entire family was chilled to the bone by the time they got there. Lyra felt she was quite ready to enjoy a nice warm meal, she still needed to talk to Bonnie about the potential offer from the Orchestra too.
Lyra pushed the door open and let Parma jump from her back and scurry into the shop. Being a gentlemare, she held the door open to let Bon Bon enter next before following and starting to take her coat off. It was several moments before she noticed that her breath was still fogging in front of her, the interior of the shop was still freezing!
“The...” she bit back a swear for Parma’s sake, “dratted heatings gone off again!”
“It seemed a bit cold this afternoon, but I didn’t think,” said Bon Bon. “Parma, keep your coat on for the moment,” she instructed, “I’ll get some blankets.”
“I’ll get the blankets,” amended Lyra, “then I’ll look at the heating. You start on that stew.” It would take a while for the place to heat up, a good warm meal would be the best thing for them. Honestly this was just their luck, she thought as she hurried off to the bedroom.
“That was excellent,” said Lyra, putting down her spoon and rubbing her now full belly. The heating was working again, but the temperature was still frigid, so the three of them were huddling in a nest of blankets with Parma cuddling between her two mothers.
Glancing around the room, she saw another of the chocolate box lids showing the stylized pony family done up in their finery gathered around the fire and then looked down at her girls huddled together. She wouldn’t swap their places for the world.
Maybe they didn’t have the fine clothes like those fantasy ponies, but it wasn’t like she needed them, and if the performance tomorrow went well, who knew? But anyway, she was here in her home, happily married to the most beautiful mare in Equestria, who cared about her more than anything else, And with her cute and talented daughter, who she was sure would grow up to be amazing at whatever she decided to become.
“Bit for your thoughts?” asked Bon Bon quietly, Parma had begun to doze.
“I don’t think there is anywhere I would rather be in Equestria than here right now,” announced Lyra, resting her head against Bon Bon’s. “This is my perfect chocolate box life.” She leaned forward and kissed her wife.