//------------------------------// // A Last Remembrance // Story: A Broken Lyre // by DarkPinkie //------------------------------// A Broken Lyre Part Four: A Last Remembrance Lyra’s house at roughly 11 am. Day of the memorial Lyra sat on her couch reflecting on yesterday's events, and pondering the day to come. She was not planning on going back on her promise. However, she had made that promise without thinking it through. She had now spent all morning thinking about all the possible things Berry may try on her. As she spent more and more time thinking about it, she became more and more worried. At several points Lyra had almost told herself that she was not going to go, but the thought of disappointing Ruby kept her from making that choice. Lyra was starting to get frustrated thinking about what Berry was capable off. That was when she noticed the discarded letter from yesterday. Lyra had forgotten about it. Lyra picked up the letter and started to read its contents. She was surprised the letter was somewhere along the lines of a flier, as it was an invitation to a memorial. As Lyra quickly looked through and noted on the writing. "Hmm? public ceremony to remember the Cupcake killer’s victims... Relatives allowed to give speeches in remembrance... at noon... " As Lyra’s eyes darted over the date she was shocked. "TODAY!?" Lyra screamed and ran out the door in such a hurry that she neglected to close it. Galloping towards the town square she thought. “Why didn’t I get this earlier?" "I’m sorry if its a little late, I’ve had a lot on my hooves lately." Lyra remembered Derpy telling her yesterday. "Oh yeah..." Lyra said to herself as she hurried towards the centre of town. Lyra arrived at the town square. Just as Rainbow Dash was saying "So let this fountain be a reminder of what Ponyville has lost. Of the joy and happiness these ponies brought into our lives." As Lyra was trying to find a spot in the crowd she saw Derpy. "Hi there Derpy." "Huh? Oh hello there Lyra." Derpy replied. The two ponies became silent for a minute as they saw rainbow water spreading across the fountain placed in the middle of the square. "It’s beautiful." Lyra said in awe as she watched the fountain. They stood there with their eyes locked on the rainbows. After a short while family members and friends started going to the podium that had been put up in front of the fountain. Saying a few words about their friends and family that had been murdered by Pinkie Pie. So stood the two mares and listened to the words of everypony. Listening to the words of their remembrance to their close ones. All of a sudden, Derpy starts moving towards the podium. "Did you loose somepony too Derpy?" Lyra asked when she noticed that Derpy had started moving. "Yeah I did... Carrot Top,” Derpy sniffed. “She was a close friend.”   "Oh..." was all that Lyra managed to say in response. “Well, it looks like it’s my turn to speak...” The mailmare took her place at the podium, and looked at the crowd. Derpy took a deep breath before starting to say. "Like some of you, Carrot Top was my friend. I first met her when I had hurt my wing. She helped me by taking care of me, and allowing myself to stay at her home and nursing me until I was better. I am sure the kind, generous and welcoming part of her is one thing we all liked about her. Here I was hoping I would get a chance to repay her for that kindness when we first met, but I guess now it will never happen." Derpy’s eyes had started to tear up at that point. looking around the crowd and the family members of Carrot, she continued. "Carrot my friend... You will be remembered" With that Derpy left the podium and headed back into the crowd. Where she meets up with Lyra. "Derpy, I'm so sorry, I never knew." "Its okay Lyra, its in the past. Although I'm sad that she’s gone, it won’t bring her back. Sometimes we all just have to look forward, and keep moving." "Yeah." Lyra said as she stared down the ground, thinking back on the nightmare she had been haunted by a week ago, the images and sounds of the experience taking over her consciousness. "HEY! LYRA!" The mailmare said as she was trying to get the unicorn’s attention. “Huh?” Lyra said as she was brought back to reality. "Look!" The cross-eyed pegasus said while pointing at the podium. Lyra looked up at the podium and noticed something that made her heart skip a beat.. The pony at the podium was non other than Bonbon’s twin sister that lived over in Fillydelphia. The cream colored earth pony almost being a mirror image of Bonbon. However unlike her normal visits to Ponyville where she usually tried her best to look just like Bonbon. Just to be able to prank everyone at Bonbon’s expense. Not today however, this time the difference was quite visible, though a large part of that was her unkempt appearance that was a far cry from how Bonbon always liked to keep herself looking presentable. Bonbon’s sister wrapped up her speech; she was now sobbing openly after expressing her grief. Lyra decided to take this opportunity to share the feelings crawling under her skin. However, when she found herself standing before the town, her mind blanked as she realized she had no idea what to say or where to begin. Several seconds slowly went by, but Lyra still stood silently. Panic slowly started to manifest inside of Lyra’s mind. Another minute passed and Lyra felt as if the faces below watching her were demanding she say something. They scanned her every move, and were waiting for her to make a fool out of herself so far as she was concerned. Now in full panic, Lyra was on the edge of giving in to her stage fright when in the corner of her eye she saw Bonbon’s sister crying by the fountain. Seeing this reassured Lyra. She needed to do this, she needed to, not because of the crowd. Lyra needed to do this for herself, to remove the pain that was weighing down her soul. Lyra shook her head and cleared her throat, before starting on with her speech. "Bonbon... This day is a sad day. as many of you now have said your farewells, some have not... While some of you find comfort in family and friends... others cannot. Bonbon... She was one of the most energetic ponies around, and she could always lighten up the atmosphere of room. She was a great pony. One that did her best. One who you could always trust. But most importantly, one that would always stand by you, for better or for worse. Bonbon... It saddens me that you are gone. Bonbon was everything to me. I was hoping we was going to be together forever. But fate has a different route for me to take. Bonbon... My friend... My love... I will miss you... And you will always be remembered." Tears began to run down Lyra’s face like tiny little rivers as she returned to to her place in the audience with Derpy. "So, how was my speech?" Lyra asked Derpy while drying her eyes. "It was great Lyra" Derpy responded. "Really?... I'm not at all good at speeches. I think I overdid it" Lyra said. * * * * * * * After the memorial was over, Lyra started to gallop towards home.She arrived home and quickly she darted through the already open door that she had forgot to close earlier. Lyra ran into her bedroom and fetched Bonbon’s necklace and her Lyre. Lyra then trotted out of her house, this time closing the door. She then started trotting back towards the town square,  carrying the necklace and the lyre with her magic. Lyra remembered the time when she had given Bonbon the necklace. It had been a birthday gift from only a couple of years ago. The necklace had been Bonbon’s most prized possession. The unicorn arrived back at the fountain. She could see Derpy looming over the inscription of Carrot Top’s name. However Lyra did not focus on that, her focus was on the pony crying right in front of Bonbon’s inscription. She carefully put her lyre down beside the fountain and proceeded to talk "Um... Hello there." Lyra said as she approached the crying pony. The pony turned her head and looked at Lyra for a few seconds, before giving of a sob and look back at the inscription. "So, eh... Last time you where here in Ponyville, you made quite a ruckus." Lyra said. The earth pony gave a weak nod as acknowledgement to the unicorn. "By the way, you never told me your name." There where a low mumbling from the crying pony. Lyra leaned in closer. "Sorry, could you repeat that?" "I SAID MY NAME IS SOURPATCH!" the pony almost screamed into the unicorn’s ear. Lyra took a few steps back because of the sudden outburst. "Whoa there, did I do something wrong?" Lyra said as she looked at Sourpatch. "No.. I guess not." the earth pony answered, as she once again hung her head low and cried. "I know you’re taking it hard, but the best thing right now would be to move on." Lyra said in a try to comfort her. however all she managed to accomplish was to anger the earth pony. "HOW CAN YOU SAY SUCH A THING!" Sourpatch screamed. "SHE WAS MY SISTER! HOW COULD YOU EVER IMAGINE WHAT I’M GOING TROUGH?" Lyra could notice that the sudden outburst from Sourpatch had started to attract a small crowd of curious bystanders. Lyra ignored them and proceeded to say. "Well I don’t really know what you’re going through. I myself have never had any siblings. But I do know that Bonbon was very close to me. You of all ponies should know how close we really were." This statement calmed Sourpatch a little, she sat back on her rump head looking down and blushed at a particularly embarrassing incident she shared with Lyra and Bonbon. "Your right, I'm sorry." The earth pony said, her voice trembling as fresh tears started to roll down her cheeks. "I still cant believe it, my big sister Bonnie, gone forever." "I know, I know" Lyra said reassuringly, holding Sourpatch in a tight embrace. There they sat silently just hugging each other for several minutes. After the few minutes of comfort Lyra rose, dragging the earth pony to her feet. "Now, Sourpatch. I want you to have th-" Lyra’s sentence cut short when she realized she was not holding Bonbon’s necklace. "Oh, no. I must have dropped it!" she exclaimed, while looking around the area. Derpy stepped forward with the necklace in hoof. "Lyra, is it this your looking for?" She asked as she held the necklace in front of Lyra. "YES! Thanks Derpy." Lyra said as she took the necklace. A blush of embarrassment on Lyra’s cheeks. Still a little embarrassed she turned to face Sourpatch. "Here, I want you to have this." Lyra said while holding out the necklace in front of Sourpatch. "It belonged to Bonbon." Sourpatch eyes widened at the realization of what Lyra was giving her. "I cannot accept this, not from you." Sourpatch said while pushing away the necklace. "Why not?" Lyra asked. Sourpatch wiped the tears out of her eyes before continuing "Because you where closer to her than I ever was. You deserve it more than I do." Sourpatch said with a resolved look on her face. "No no no... you deserve this more than I do." Lyra once more stretched her front leg forth with necklace in hoof. "And besides, I have something else to remember her by" Sourpatch determination suddenly crumbled and she accepted the gift. "Thanks" She was surprised when she suddenly found herself embraced in a hug. At that moment Derpy started to disperse the crowd, yelling, "Don’t you have anything better to do?" After a few minutes Lyra let go of Sourpatch. Even though she was still crying. "I know its not easy loosing somepony close to you. But we have to move on in life. I sure that’s what she would want you to do." Lyra said calmly. Lyra used her unicorn magic to bring her lyre up close and started playing  a soothingly calm melody. After playing for a while Sourpatch stopped crying. "So, Sourpatch?" Lyra said while looking at Sourpatch with a quizmatic look. "Where are you going to stay while you’re in Ponyville?" Lyra looked up at the sun on its slow decent on the sky. "It’s getting quite late. And it’s quite far to Fillydelphia" "Um... I had not thought about that. I guess I will have to ask around." Sourpatch said. "It’s okay. You can stay at my place for the night." Lyra said with a faint smile. "Really? ...Thanks Lyra." "No problem. But now, lets get you on your hooves." Lyra said with an outstretched hoof. Sourpatch grabbed Lyra’s hoof. "So let’s head back." Lyra said while pulling Sourpatch to her feet then looked at Derpy. "Derpy you wanna come too? I could use someone to talk to..." Derpy gave a nod and started to follow Lyra and Sourpatch as they walked towards Lyra’s home. Soon they reached Lyra’s house. and as Lyra was opening the door, there was a groaning sound coming from Sourpatch’s stomach. Both Lyra and Derpy turned to look at Sourpatch, that was now blushing a little. "Eh... I Guess I'm hungry." Sourpatch said to the others. "How about I fix us something to eat then?" Lyra said, as she too had started becoming hungry at the mention of the idea. Derpy and Sourpatch agreed. "Okay, here we are. Make yourselves at home, while I whip together some dinner." Lyra had decided to keep dinner simple. Just some hay-fries and some dandelion salad. As she was working on preparing the food, Lyra felt as she had forgot something. ‘But what?’ She thought to herself. Just as Lyra was taking out the hay-fries out of the oven she heard a knocking on the door. She put the fries on top of the stove and head to answer the door. Lyra also spotted Sourpatch and Derpy sitting on the couch talking. Lyra was shocked to see who was standing outside her door. It was none other than the town drunk, Berry Punch. "I thougth I *hic* come over to ye' house instead." Berry obviously drunk as usual. "I even brought shome to drink for *hic* us." "Wai-wha-wat?" Was all Lyra managed to say in her shock and confusion at this admittedly less than welcome guest. "I'm sorry, I tried to stop her. But she pulled the "I am your mother" card on me." Ruby said with a frown as she stepped out from behind her mother. "But I am!" Berry said back in a very childish fashion. Ruby rolled her eyes. "Anyway "mom" decided to come to you instea-" "I’m tired of standing here I want another drink" Berry had interrupted as she passed Lyra and head inside. Now Ruby had put a hoof to her face. "As I was trying to say, she decided to come here instead of waiting for you to come to her." "Its okay. You did your best Ruby." Lyra said after finally manage to break free from the shock. Lyra facehoofed. During the whole ordeal with the memorial and Sourpatch she had forgotten her promise to Berry and Ruby. "So, Ruby, what are you planning to do now that your mom is here. I mean, you are welcome to stay if you like." Lyra told the filly. "Are you kidding!? I'm going to go home! The first night in a long time that I don’t have to take care of my mom. This is going to be so sweet!" The little pink unicorn said as she turned tail and ran back towards her home. Lyra sighed, then turned around and head back inside. What she saw did not surprise her the least.  Berry was bothering Derpy about something obscure, and Sourpatch seemed to watch this new development with an expression of both confusion and amusement. Lyra approached the couch where the three mares where located. "Well there is food in the kitchen. Just follow me and come grab some." Lyra told them. Despite Berry being in a drunken haze, she was the first to respond. "Oh, grub" Berry mumbled as she headed for the kitchen. After Berry had left them Derpy stared at Lyra. "What is she doing here!?" Derpy almost shouted. "Yeah... You see I kinda promised that I’d spend some time with her today... I just forgot about it until she showed up at the door." Lyra responded. "You of all ponies should know how shallow she is. She tried to sleep with every mare in Ponyville. She is just going to try to get between your haunches like last time!" Derpy said angrily. "Well you see I cou- wait how do you know about that!?" "Well its hard to not know about it. Bonbon told her friends how you cheated on her, and they told their friends. It a small community, and rumors travel quickly." Lyra lowered her head feeling a mixture of loss, shame and betrayal. Her eyes started to water. As Derpy was now storming towards the door. Lyra plumped down on her haunches and let out a few silent sobs. Sourpatch who had been observing the vocal exchange Immediately noticed that Lyra had begun to cry. "Lyra whats wrong?" "It’s just I miss Bonbon so much. I don’t know what to do anymore. What to do, or where to go. I feel so lost." "Don"t worry Lyra I'm here. I also miss my Bonnie." Sourpatch said as she embraced the crying unicorn in a comforting hug. "She was my direction in life. Bonbon... was always the one who helped me know what to do, and where to go next," Lyra sobbed As Derpy was leaving, she glanced back to watch Lyra and Sourpatch. It was almost like watching Lyra being comforted by Bonbon like so often in the past. However, she left the scene, not wanting to share a roof with Berry. After another few moments of comforting, Sourpatch told Lyra that they should head into the kitchen to eat something, before the food got cold. Lyra agreed with a silent nod. The sight laid before them in the kitchen took them by surprise. Berry Punch was now laying sprawled across the floor loudly snoring. Sourpatch tried to suppress a chuckle but to no avail. Lyra however just sighed at the sight. "Come on, let her be." Lyra motioning toward the hayfries. Sourpatch nodded. The two mares spent the next 15 minutes in silence eating their food. The silence had only occasionally been disturbed by a snore or some mumbling from Berry. When they had finished their food and were leaving the kitchen Sourpatch motioned towards the sleeping pony. "We can't just leave her like that." As if by cue Berry awoke with a loud gasp.The pony stayed quiet for a moment before breaking into tears, crying loudly. "Its all my fault! She is gone because of me!" A few sobs escaped her. "If I had nod been so stubborn... Or stupid, she would still be here." Berry then continued to wail wordlessly. Lyra looked at the crying pony, a pang of guilt striking her. Realizing that Berry had lost someone too, and was taking it even worse than she had, and yet she had almost refused to talk to Berry. Lyra approached the crying earth pony. Lyra’s gaze focused on her watery eyes, and she did her best to speak words of comfort for Berry, but she just would not have it. She was about to give up on Berry when a idea struck her head. Lyra’s horn started to glow a faint yellow hue as she started using her magic. Then levitating out of the living room her lyre approached. As the lyre came in close Lyra begun playing. The same soothing melody she had played to Bonbon all those years ago. Slowly but steadily Berry begun to calm down. After another few minutes she stopped crying, only listening to the calm melody of the lyre. Lyra helped the drunk pony to her hooves, and led her into the living room. All the while Lyra kept playing her lyre. She brought Berry to the couch which the earth pony with a bit of difficultly managed to climb into. Lyra opened her mouth to talk to Berry, but soon closed it as she noticed that Berry had fallen into a deep slumber. Sighting Lyra disappeared into the bedroom and reappeared with a spare blanket, which she carefully placed on top of the sleeping pony. She yawned, signifying how tired she was. The yawn was followed by an even louder one from Sourpatch. Understanding Lyra led Sourpatch to a different room, a guest room. Sourpatch thanked Lyra and bid her good night. Lyra then headed for her own bedroom when there was a light knock on the door to her home. "What now? This day’s just dragged on." Lyra mumbled angrily to herself annoyed by the knocking. All she got in response was a snort from the sleeping Berry Punch. Opening the door the perpetrator was revealed to be none other than Derpy. After cooling down she had realized she had hurt Lyra, and had returned to apologize. Beyond that though, the two had nothing more to say other than noting that it had been a long day. Derpy returned home to her family, and likewise Lyra to her bed. Entering the bedroom she gently put the lyre next to the drawer and got into bed, the moment her head hit the pillow she fell asleep. * * * * * * * Lyra was sitting alone on top of a grassy hill under the shadow of an old oak. A meadow stretched out below, and a forest far off in the distance. The sky was clear with only a few white clouds in it. It was great, but one thing was missing. Lyra could not fully put her hoof on it. While trying to figure out what was amiss, Lyra spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She saw two little fillies playing in the meadow. One a turquoise unicorn, the other a cream colored earth pony. Lyra wanted to nothing more than gallop down to them to play with them, but yet she found herself unable to leave her spot under the oak. Lyra watched and listened to the fillies for what had seemed like hours, until the little fillies ran off towards the woods, leaving her once again alone. Lyra looked down and sighed. There she sat, looking at the strands of grass beneath her hooves, feeling left behind. Until she heard a voice. Lyra looked up and saw the same two fillies, only older. They were no longer playing and laughing like during a child's game. No, these where a couple of young adults, and they where calmly walking across the meadow meerly enjoying each other’s company, occasionally breaking their pace for a hug or affectionate kiss. Loosing themselves in each other’s eyes from time to time. Swimming in the waves of love they gave to each other. Lyra wanted nothing more than to call out to them, but all she managed to do was reach out in the air with her right hoof, her voice failing on her. So she found herself silently watching the pair of ponies until even they left some time later. Lyra closed her eyes and sighed. Feeling alone. When she opened her eyes Lyra could see the pair again. No longer a pair of young ponies, but a old couple, that have spent an entire lifetime together. Two ponies who where appreciating their final days together in the knowledge of that they will be at each others side until the end, like they have always been. There they where, silently by each others side, getting lost on the sea of love that have only grown over the years, from a small puddle, to a raging ocean. Lyra wanted nothing to more than to touch them, to confirm their existence. Yet all she could do was flail around in the air in front of her with her hooves. Watching them Lyra felt like she was drowning, so she closed her eyes, when she finally opened them again, the pair was gone. Even the greatest of oceans disappears in time. Lyra lay down on the ground covered her face with her hooves, feeling loss. She started crying. Being overwhelmed by what she had just seen tears streamed down her face. Until she felt something against her mussel. Lyra looked up, she saw Bonbon smiling down on her. Bonbon bent in and musseled Lyra before starting to trot around in circles. Lyra got on her hooves and started to chase Bonbon, for a while they just kept running around each other, until they started to run around the oak, and Bonbon passed around it out of sight and Lyra followed, but Bonbon was gone. Gone in a flash. Bonbon’s disappearance pained Lyra greatly, and she felt that without Bonbon, her life had no aim or direction or comfort. She was lost and alone. Lyra kept running around in circles around the tree hoping for Bonbon to appear again, but she never did. Lyra lost hope, and as she turned around the oak one last time, something else was there. It was her new found friends. They looked at her with reassuring smiles. She smiled, and walked up to them, and as they all started to make their way down the hill, laughter filled the air. As they walked and laughed, Lyra was feeling content. THE END. (Picture Source: Here) Hello everypony, author here. I want to thank everypony that have read this, I hope you liked it. I also will specially thank Ace2401 for helping me with editing and Milesprower06(?) For writing the A Precious Rainbow story and its sequels, and for being there for me as I was writing this story. This marks the end for my addition to the Cupcakes Cronicles. It has been great working with them. There is one thing that I would appreciate from you as a reader, and that would be some feedback. This is the first true story, and fanfic I have ever written, and I could use some constructive criticism. With that I thank for myself. It have been great.