“Have you heard some of the things she’s said?”
“Ugh, she’s on our team?”
“She’s so weird!”
“Quick, lets cross the street. She might be contagious.”
“Did you see those drawings she made? They’re so freaky…”
“Shh! Here she comes!”
“Don’t even bother sitting with her, she’s not normal.”
“Have you heard? She’s talking about those things again.”
“She’s crazy.”
“Totally crazy.”
“Absolutely crazy.”
“Crazy...”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’m heading out!”
“H-hey!” the ivory mare shouted, shuffling from her stool and peeking her head out from the kitchen. “Where are you going now? I’m almost done with the sweets!”
Pausing in the doorway, the leaving unicorn brought a hoof behind her head as the expression of surprised then guilty look crossed her face at the fact she was not going to help taste test for the baker like she would normally do. At least it would have looked genuine were it not for the half suppressed grin she held. “Oh… uhm, sorry Bon Bon, but there’s really something I need to go take care of.”
“Ugh,” the mare replied in dissatisfaction. “You’ve been gone from the house for like three days in a row! Last night is the only time I can even remember you sleeping here lately.”
“Well I’ve been busy,” she simply replied with a smile, the one she always wore in her normal carefree attitude that Bon Bon had grown to admire and loathe at the same time.
“What could you possibly be doing that is demanding so much of your time that you can’t even sleep in your own bed?” she asked skeptically.
“Uhm…” Lyra began, trying to figure out the right words.
“… don’t tell me,” Bon Bon groaned after seeing the unicorns eyes roll up and to the left, the sure tell sign she wore whenever she was thinking about them. “When are you going to get over that stupid idea they exist?”
“Hey it’s not stupid!” Lyra retorted quickly, giving the earth pony a scrunchy face.
Bon Bon merely rolled her eyes, giving the unicorn a pitiful head shake at still believing in such a thing. But it was then she saw an expression on her, one she had never seen before on the mare. “Lyra, are you… blushing?”
The unicorn’s scrunch quickly changed to shock before she turned her ahead away and stammered, “N-no I’m not!”
But the earth pony had seen it, and her sour mood at her roommates delusional fascination on a fake creature turned into curiosity and excitement. “Lyra! Do you have a crush!?”
The redness in the cheeks of the unicorn only grew more fervently as she repeated, “NO!”
“Oh my Celestia, you do!” Bon Bon nearly squeed. At last! Something normal! Lyra likes something that isn't about that stupid obsession of hers!
“H-hey! Why are you grinning at me like that?” Lyra spoke while raising a hoof, unsure of the quick change of the pony’s mood.
“Oh come on Lyra,” she said in a knowing tone. “I never figured you had it in you, but I can tell. You got a special somepony in mind." Now interested in what the unicorn was up to, she tilted her head and asked, "Do you mind if I ask who it is?”
“No!” Lyra quickly responded. “Besides, you wouldn’t know him,” she pointed out as she turned back to the door.
“So you do have some pony in mind!” Bon Bon nearly shouted.
“No! I… UGH! I’ll be back later!” Lyra shouted as he ran out into the street, slamming the door behind with her horn and hastily speeding off.
Bon Bon remained staring at the door for a few moments, a sly and happy grin on her face at finally something normal happening to her crazy but dear friend. “Hopefully this means no more humans,” she spoke while heading back to her baking.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“That’ll be forty bits,” the stallion said behind the counter. The correct amount of coins wrapped in golden magic floated over the counter and dropped neatly into an organized pile. “Come again!” the stallion shouted as he raked the coins into the drawer below, waving goodbye after to the mint unicorn heading out the door, a saddlebag strapped to her side with various brand new tools.
“Why does she need all that?” A curious mare asked who was next in line, both of them watching the unicorn trot of quickly.
“Said she needed some things to fix a broken fort or something,” the clerk responded nonchalantly, just happy to see younger ponies have a desire to build things with their own hooves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“That’ll be eight bits,” Applejack stated after loading the last apple in the bought basket.
“Here you go,” Lyra cheerfully responded, wrapping the basket in her magic while simultaneous floating coins onto the market stand.
“Are you sure you got it?” the farmer asked in concern as she watched the unicorn precariously balance it atop her back and in between the bags on her sides. “I can ask Big Mac to carry it back to your place if ya want.”
“Nope, I got it,” she simply replied, deciding to have the load resting atop her constantly supported by her magic to prevent tipping. “Have a good one!” she replied, quickly walking away from the stall and onto her next purchase.
Applejack stared off at the unicorn with a half interested gaze. “Wonder if Bon Bon is making some apple candy or something? Sure is a lot for just one pony to eat…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Why yes, I believe we have some extra bandages. Why did you need them again?”
“Because… you can never be too careful to not have bandages nearby?” Lyra hesitantly spoke, coming up with the first thing that popped in her mind.
The nurse gave a curious eyebrow raise before shrugging it off. “I suppose that is a good reason. But if you do suffer an injury, please come to the hospital right away. We have a staff who are more than qualified to wrap bandages properly.”
“Of course! Wouldn’t dream of trying to take care of myself!” Lyra eagerly agreed, smiling as wide as she could while wishing mare would simply hurry up and give her what she came for.
After following her down a few hallways and into a storage room, the nurse pulled out sealed packages of cloth marked as ‘Bandages’ atop them. “I can only give you one pack I’m afraid, will that be enough for any emergencies that may arise?” The nurse knew full well how dangerous some ponies can be, acting on their own and often refusing to seek medical aid until it became absolutely necessary. Whatever the unicorn had in mind, she hoped that she would at least her take a look after she patched herself up.
“Perfect! Thanks so much!” Lyra wasted no time on grabbing onto the package and quickly speeding down the hall, only pausing outside to float the basket of apples back onto her back and proceeding to walk as fast as she could away from the building.
The nurse stared mouth opened at the fleeing unicorn who left the room rather rudely and not to mention loudly. Her face turned into a frustrated scowl as she shook her head. “Youngsters these days.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lyra ran over her mental checklist, ensuring she had gotten everything she needed while she headed out of Ponyville. Food? check. Tools? Check. First Aid wraps? Check.
She followed the main road out of Ponyville, traveling nearly a mile out before taking a sharp turn off the marked road and onto the grass, a direct beeline for Whitetail Wood, idly thinking at what laid ahead of her. I hope the apples will be okay, he didn’t seem too keen on anything else I tried to feed him.
Shortly she entered the birch wood and oak forest, passing through the undergrowth and around bushes. She entered the woods from a different spot each time to prevent any pony from finding out a worn path. Even though it was rare for anypony to come out this far and into this region of the woods, Lyra was not taking any chances. Eventually after navigating forest obstacles, she came upon the trail that had formed from her hiking, patted down with the help of a little magic to assist her in finding the way back.
Taking a deep breath of the forest, she exhaled happily as she passed by the greenery. It was a beautiful day in spring, the trees had complete foliage, the ferns were full and large, and to top it all off, nopony would have any reason to be here until fall.
Lyra let a happy smile grow on her face as she reminisced the day she had found him that day in these very woods. She had wanted to take a break from everything pony, and decided to hike as deep into Whitetail as possibly, half to be lost in thought and half in adventure to find something exciting. It was something she never really grew out of as a filly, that sense of wonder that maybe if she peeked around that next corner, or went in just little further, she would find something new and wonderful. Little did she know that it would actually happen to her someday! And while he had been injured from what she assumed was related to the matter of his arrival, Lyra had been devotedly dedicated all her time to him.
It was only a few days, but to her it seemed like a month. A wonderful and exciting month filled with a sense of awe and fear at something so new but had yearned for her whole life.
Lyra snapped out of her thoughts as a small structure came into view. Giggling to herself at being able to see him again, she pranced towards the cabin, eager to get started right away.
Upon reaching the building she quickly threw open the door with a little more force than she had intended, unable to contain herself at finding out more things. She hastily put the saddlebag of tools next to a pile of lumber she had drugged to the cabin, extra pieces that were not being used by one of her neighbors who happened to be a construction worker. Hopefully these will help reinforce this place. I don’t want it to leak on him if it rained.
Having set aside what she would no doubt be using later, she trailed the bandages and a few apples of the basket behind her, heading towards the next door across from the front door and to the left that lead to the bedroom. She had been very lucky that she had found the two roomed building, probably left over by somepony who enjoyed camping and spent the nights here in rest. The place had been abandoned for some time by her estimate of how worn down it had been, but that did not discourage her in the slightest in her restoration efforts. After all, a home for a very special guest deserved to be nice. That’s one of the reasons why she had bought the tools, finally able to have proper equipment to repair and restore the place. I really should pick out some paints soon. I’m thinking something happy, like yellow.
Reaching the bedroom door, she glanced over to the window sill and onto the quill in notebook she had been busy filling the last few days. Her smile only widening at the prospect of filling more of its pages with important information. Information on something nopony had believe had existed no matter how much she told everypony. Hehe, if only they could see me now, she thought giddily. Nopony is going to doubt me when I bring all this data to them. They will finally see that I’ve been right all along! Grabbing the quill and notebook, she took a breath to calm her building nerves, and grasped at the door with her hoof. I hope he isn’t feeling to sad today to not talk.
Slowly she pried open the door, eliciting a echoing creak with every inch it swung open. While the living room had been bright from the open windows that filtered the sunlight, this room was nearly pitch black. It had windows, but Lyra felt it best to cover them with blankets should somepony chance upon the cabin and peek through them. The revealing light from the door way casted a beam across the floor and onto the bed, where a still form laid beneath the blankets. “Hello? Were you sleeping?” Lyra cooed softly. A shifting about the covers along with a small groan indicated that he was awake now.
“Sorry about that,” she said while entering the room. “I know you need your rest to recover but I just couldn’t wait any longer!” She walked confidently across the dark room, setting the apple down onto an end table that she had memorized. Honestly it had been hard not to memorize every detail in the room considering how enthralled and focused she had been whenever he would explain to her another golden detail of his world. “I brought food! And I think you’re going to like it this time. I promise it’s not hay or oats.”
The figure on the bed mumbled something else as it slowly woke up, moving the covers slightly in its small movements. “Here, let me get the light,” Lyra said quickly, eager to see his face again. His unique and wonderful face she had come to know so well.
Hopping onto the chair next to the end table, Lyra sat a few feet away from the side of the bed, levitating the lamp she had placed the apple next to. Carefully she turned the dial and brought an orange glow from it, revealing the entire room and the figure on the bed. “Oh no!” Lyra immediately shouted while bringing a hoof to her mouth the moment she saw him. “Your wrists! They look so red and raw! Here, let me get the bandages.”
Worryingly she moved closer to him, unwrapping the sealed package at the same time and floating the items to the sore sight. However, the moment she got close to inspect the wounded area, the arm quickly pulled away a few inches, flinching at her presence.
Lyra gave a scowl at the reaction before softening her features and looking into his face. “I told you, if you keep tugging at the ropes you’re going to hurt yourself,” she said with sadden eyes, only receiving fearful ones in reply. “Now I’m going to have to be frugal on the bandages,” she sighed. “Your first injuries when you appeared were bad enough. But all these other one you keep inflicting to yourself aren’t helping! You got to stop doing these things.” Lyra spoke in a gentle but commanding tone, feeling like a mother would speak to her foal when it would get in trouble.
She removed the blanket and began to work on replacing the bandages, giving a grumpf of disproval every time he would flinch at her touch. He still fussed whenever she would try to take care of him, but it was much more manageable than in the beginning. The ropes she had bought really did help on keeping him still while she worked or inspected his features. After wadding up the last used wrap she spoke cheerfully, “There isn’t that better?” Silence was her only reply. “Don’t worry, I’ll get some silk soon to help your wrists and ankles. I don’t want you hurting yourself when you're asleep or awake.”
Humming to herself she propped herself back into the chair, sitting down like how she imagined he would; something she would attempt to see if it wouldn’t mean so much trouble. “Also, I got some extra wood for that leak in the room, and to help reinforce the door and windows. We don’t want a repeat of last time do we?” Once again, she only received silence from him.
“Okay, I got my quill and notebook. Last time you were right in the middle of explaining airports, so let’s finish that," she announced while flipping through the book. "But first, I want a nod in agreement that you promise not to yell once I remove the mouth gag. I already told you that there’s nopony around to hear anyways. Otherwise, I’m going to just inspect your hands again. Do we have a deal?”
A slow and hesitant nod from the human confirmed his acceptance, and he watched with wide and nervous eyes as the mint unicorn horn's glowed, followed by the sensation of restraining piece around his mouth begin to un-work itself.
Smiling happily at his cooperation, she leaned forward and intently stared at him with equally wide but instead fascinated eyes. “Good lets start.”