//------------------------------// // Franco de Rosa // Story: The Gemmed Satyr // by The Rarispy //------------------------------// I hate being nervous.   “Maybe I shouldn’t, I really don’t want to be a bother to them. And yet… I really need their help. Oh! But if they’re busy and don’t want to see me right now? I’ll be so embarrassed. But I’ve gotta try… what if they’re not even home?”   I just couldn’t make up my mind. At one moment, I’d be walking back up to their door, and the next, I’d be walking the other way again. These are the kind of problems I experience every day when it comes to being shy.   I guess this is why I’ve never told anypony else about my feelings for Rarity. Well, anypony except for Rainbow. She only knows because how close we are as friends. It’s just like how I’m the only one who knows that she’s lived a whole life without being in love.   But today, I was determined to change that. …Or so I thought, because eventually, I found myself walking away from the house again, this time for real. I had given up hope, until…   “Oh! Hi there, Fluttershy! Gosh, it’s been a while since we’ve seen you!”   I turned around to see Bon Bon. She was walking out the door, probably to water her flowers. She put down her watering can and walked over to me.   “What brings you around here?”   “Oh, it’s… it’s nothing, really. I-I was just on my way, nothing important. You can just… carry on with whatever it is you’re doing.”   Bon Bon lowered her eyelids at me. “You were about to come knock on our door wanting to talk to us, weren’t you?”   She knows me too well.   “I was, but you seem very busy… I’ll just come back later if that’s okay with you—”   “Nonsense, you’re always welcome at our house! I can stir up some tea for you if you’d like!”   “Oh, well, gee thanks, Bon Bon. But… only if it’s no trouble to you?”   She grabbed me by the hoof and led me in. “No trouble at all, sweetie! Come right on in!”   “Oh… okay.”   “Lyra! Are you busy? ‘Cause we’ve got company!”   “Really? Sweet! I’ll be down in a minute!”   “Ugh… probably upstairs practicing that rubbish old harp again. She’s been so obsessed with it lately, I swear. Sorry about the mess, by the way. I’ve been up to my neck in orders and commissions lately. If you think this is bad, you should see the kitchen…”   Bon Bon and Lyra Heartstrings are one of the sweetest couples I know, and they’re also the only mare-amorers in Ponyville that I know all that well. They’re still only girlfriends for now, but I really that hope sometime in the future, one of them will finally have the courage to ask… They seem so perfect for each other.   “Oh, wow! Hey, Fluttershy! When was the last time we saw you?”   “Lyra, seriously… For a pony descended from nobility, your manners aren’t very up to snuff…”   “Heh, sorry. Seriously though, how’s it going, Fluttershy? Long time no see, and all that.” She held a hoof out, and I shook it back.   “It’s nice to see you too, Heartstrings.”   “Help yourself to those confectionaries over there.” Bon Bon was pointing to the treats she had made and placed on the counter for guests, mostly bonbons and little candies, of course.   Bon Bon is a really great chef and candy-maker. Her treats are so well-known around Ponyville that Pinkie told me a while back that she had made a deal with the Cakes. Now she's making bonbons and other treats for the Sugarcube Corner, as well as still running her own in-house bakery. It seems like it would be a lot of work to keep track of.   “Lots of leftovers. I’ve been making lots of them, like I said. I’ll just be here in the kitchen, fixing up that tea I promised!”   And then she left, leaving Heartstrings and I alone in the living room. The room was quiet for a while. I was too shy to speak, and Heartstrings wasn’t daring to start a conversation either. She seemed a little distant today, like she was sad about something. But maybe I’m just looking too far into it…   Lyra Heartstrings was never a noble pony in personality. She’s always been very casual and down-to-earth like the rest of us. Rarity once told me that her unusual spirit and outgoingness was most likely what led to her moving down to Ponyville from Canterlot in the first place.   But even then, she still lived on the manners that she was raised on. She always waited for a conversation to happen, and ponies are asked to refer to her by her last name, because according to Rarity, it’s well and common manners up in Canterlot. Only ponies who are really close to her are allowed to address her by her first name.   In fact, now that I think about it… I don’t think I’ve ever heard anypony else besides Bon Bon call her “Lyra”.   After a minute or two passed, I finally gulped and decided to finally get my answers. This had been waiting for long enough.   “So, Heartstrings, um… can I ask you something?”   “Sure, what is it?”   “Do you remember at the party Pinkie held for you and Bon Bon when you first became girlfriend and girlfriend, and you made a toast about how it was you who fell in love with Bon Bon first?”   She nodded. “Well, um, that is to say… h-how did the story go again?”   “You mean you remember me talking about being in love with her, but you… don’t remember the whole story behind it?”   “Yeah… sorry.”   To tell the truth… I was paying more attention to how close Rarity and I were standing next to each other. It was only because she had an extra invitation that I had gone to the party in the first place.   “Hey, no biggie. I love telling that story.” She leaned in closer to me. I guess she was excited. “Well, I had just moved into Ponyville, right? I was still looking for a new place to live, somewhere small and humble, unlike that big pointy tower I was cramped in back home. But I was all alone. I was in a new town, with no family, no friends, just… surrounded by strangers, off a different social class than I was even used to.”   Her eyes started to glisten. “But still, it’s a day I’ll never forget. Because who should come to me, when I was lost, alone, afraid… Who but her. She walked right up to me, didn’t even need to, could’ve easily minded her own business. But still she came, and asked… boy, I’ll never forget those words.”   “Excuse me, are you alright? Do you need help? Are you lost?”   “Those words… I’d never seen such generosity back at home. Back at home, it was a ‘survival of the fittest’ scenario. Nopony helped anypony else, nor wanted to be helped. But that day, Bon Bon showed me just how friendly and helpful the rest of Equestria can be.”   Her story was… so captivating. I think I had my hooves close to my mouth by the end of it. But, I noticed something else at that moment. I could’ve sworn… Heartstrings was starting to shed a tear or two as she shared her story.   “We started off as really good friends. Really close. We went to the spa together, went shopping together, and even stayed up late watching movies together!” Now that I think about it, that’s the same kind of stuff that Rarity and I like to do… “But eventually, I couldn’t deny it any longer. I was in love with Bon Bon. And so, I dedicated my days to professing my love to her. She kept refusing, saying it wouldn’t be right with my status, even if she was a stallion.”   “But I never gave up. I kept trying with all my heart to capture hers… and soon enough, she giggled, and admitted something to me one day…”   “You’re such a naïve, silly pony, Heartstrings. But... why else do you think I fell in love with you the day I first met you?”   “I— I…”   “Yes?”   “Y-You can just… call me Lyra.”   Tears were streaming down her face now... “And then well, the rest is history. Once Mayor Mare passed the new law allowing same-gender unions in Ponyville, we bought a house, and… and have been happy ever since.” For some reason, she became really quiet at the end at that sentence. “Wow, seriously? Is that it?” We both turned around. Bon Bon was poking her head in. “You’re not even gonna tell her how you tried to ‘serenade’ me?”   “Huh?” I asked.   “What?” She seemed just as confused as me. “Um… oh yeah! Well, it’s… kind of embarrassing, actually, but I uh… sort of played my lyre for her once.”   “Once? HAH! You must’ve pulled out that thing and started stroking those strings on at least three or four occasions, always playing that same song! And besides, that’s not even what I was talking about.”   “Then… what were you talking about?”   “Oh… you know.”   Suddenly, Heartstrings’ eyes snapped open, and she started to look very scared.   “Oh, no! Not that! Don’t tell her about that! I’m even more embarrassed by it!”   I kept whipping my head around, I was so confused. “Even more embarrassed by what?”   “Oh, hang on. You gotta see this. Let me see if it’s still somewhere around here…” She went into the closet and started searching through all her things.   “Maybe it’s not there… Maybe it’s, maybe we got rid of it. I’m sure I probably threw it away!”   I still didn’t know what was going on, but I could see that Heartstrings was really nervous now, so I decided to speak up. Well, as best as I could to speak up…   “Um… that’s okay, Bon Bon. If Heartstrings doesn’t want me to know about it, then I really don’t need to—”   “FOUND IT!”   “…Oh, sweet Celestia.”   Bon Bon came out of the closet with… well, it kind of looked like a cassette tape.   “What is it?”   “You will never believe this. When Lyra was trying to win me over… she had this ‘How-to-win-over-your-ladies’ tape from Franco dé Rosa!”   “The Mexicolt-an motivational speaker?”   “Uh-huh! And get this, it was originally made for stallions! She purchased a motivational tape for stallions about how to pick up mares!”   “The video store didn’t have anything for mares, okay?”   “Yeah-yeah… seriously though Fluttershy, just listen to this.”   “Ah, good day to you, mis muchachos. You are here because you wish to have for yourself a lovely yegua, si? Ningún miedo. With my powerful palabras y estímulo, you will be felices para siempre, you and her. ¡Vamos!”   She put the tape into their cassette player. A deep, rich Mexicolt-an voice started to speak. Bon Bon snickered to herself the whole time it was playing, while Heartstrings put her hooves on her face, her cheeks turning very red. The poor dear.   But I was listening intensely. There was… something about this Franco. His voice, so alluring and inviting. He made you feel like… like he really could solve all your love problems. I wasn’t sure what to think…   “Sit down for a minuto, and listen as I teach you all you need to know to… impress the yegua dama.” Eventually, Bon Bon finally stopped the tape. I’d kind of wished she hadn’t.   “Isn’t that just the silliest thing you’ve ever heard?”   “Hmmph.” Heartstrings crossed her arms. “It still worked for me…”   I thought for a minute about what to say. Bon Bon seemed really convinced that it was silly to listen to this, and yet… Heartstrings says it helped her win over Bon Bon. Maybe it could also help me…   “H-hey, Bon Bon. I was wondering… do you think that I could, maybe, borrow that for a little bit? I mean, if you don’t mind, that is…”   Bon Bon suddenly had a look of shock on her face. I guess she wasn’t expecting me to say that…   “Wait, you mean you— You wan— But, I didn’t… I didn’t that anypony else would— HUH?”   “Please?”   She and Heartstrings both looked at each other, then back to me. They seemed confused. Now I was really worried. Did I say something wrong?   “Maybe I should just go…”   “No, wait, Fluttershy!” Bon Bon called, her hoof reaching out to me. “Don’t go. I’m sorry, it’s just… I didn’t know you would actually be interested in this. I’m just curious though, why do you want—”   “Wait, I think I know what’s going on!” said Heartstrings, interrupting her. I thought that wasn’t good manners… “Our friend Fluttershy’s trying to win over somepony else of her own, isn’t she?”   “Oh! That… that would make sense. Fluttershy… is that why you wanted to come here and talk to us?”   Unsure of how else to answer, I just nodded quietly. Bon Bon still didn’t look sure herself, though. But finally, she sighed and held the tape out to me.   “Well, I… guess you can borrow this if you really want.”   I accepted it in my hoof. “Thanks, Bon Bon. You don’t know how much this means to me.”   As I was getting ready to leave though, I saw her bite her hoof out of the corner of my eye. “But, Fluttershy! All jokes aside… I really don’t think that tape will help you find what you’re looking for. I mean, if there’s somepony specific you’re looking for…”   “Hey, you already said she could borrow it! And like I said, it worked for me!” Looking very proud of herself, Heartstrings went back upstairs. After a few seconds, I could hear the faint sound of a lyre playing.   Bon Bon made a heavy sigh. “There she goes again. Well, take care, Fluttershy. You can listen to that thing if you want, just… please be careful.”   “Thanks, Bon Bon. I will. Thanks for the tea.”   I really should make a point of visiting those two more often. I hear they’re such a wonderful couple to be around. Although… I’m not sure of it, but something felt weird about them. Like, they weren’t as happy as they usually were.   I don’t know. Maybe I’m just imagining it. But that night, all I could think about was the words of Franco dé Rosa, as I lay in bed, listening to his tape, and thinking about her again…   “The first question you must ask yourself: do you really want the yegua?”   Yes. Yes, I do.   “¿Oh, serio? I am having a hard time believing! Give me a name! Fuerte como puedas! Shout it into the heavens, bucko!”   Rarity. I want Rarity…   “Now, another question. ¿Puede hacerlo? Can you do it? Can you really tell her how you feel, and give her your corazón?   ¿Bien?”   I can.   “Una vez más? I couldn’t hear you.”   I can!   “Can you really? ¿O estás mintiendo?”   Yes! Yes, I can!   “One more time?”    “YES, I CAN! Tomorrow morning, I’m going straight to Rarity’s house and telling her how I feel! And nopony’s going to stop me!”   And so, the next morning, I was marching straight to Rarity’s boutique. Nopony was going to stand in my way, because this was the day! The day I finally tell Rarity just how I feel!   Before I knew it, I was already at her front door. I was about to knock, when suddenly…   The door flew right open, and there she was.   “Oh! So sorry, Fluttershy! I was in such a hurry that I nearly bumped into you!”   That beautiful pony. She must’ve just glossed her hair, because it shone so brightly in the sun. Speaking of the sun, she had adorned herself in a lovely light blue sunhat. Cross-stitched, I think.   But most of all… her eyes. Those gorgeous, blue eyes, looking right at me. I could’ve melted right there… and this is how I feel every time I see her first thing in the morning.   “Is something wrong, darling?”   It had been a day or so since I had last seen Rarity. But in this light, it felt more like years. Suddenly… I couldn’t bring myself to speak.   “I- I- Um…”   Her cheerful face dropped, and she started to look worried. She could tell something was wrong. She’s always been so smart like that…   “I-I was just wondering, Rarity… I really need to t-tell you something, and I, um…”   “Oh! Well, okay. Just try to make it quick, I was about to head out for lunch with Golden Harvest. But anyway, what were you about to say?”   Shoot! She's already in a hurry. This isn’t a good time to tell her after all…   “Oh, I… um, nice… weather we’re having, isn’t it?”   Rarity looked up at the sky. She seemed confused.   “Um… yes. Yes, I suppose it is. Right. Well… I’d better get going now. Ta-ta!”   “Bye… Rarity.”   Sigh.