It was with panicked pacing that a pony pranced her palace through. With darting eyes she tirelessly tweaked, every piece of fabric straightened out with panic and care. She would never admit to Lyra what she was going through right now, she wasn’t half sure about it herself. She just wanted everything to be perfect, and if that meant beating all her couch pillows against the doorframe to rid them of the sugar that had set up its home in their folds, then so be it. It would be worth it, every second.
Sweat that clung to her coat stuck around in her fur and dampened it ever so slightly, giving the normal pristine white that she was known for a bit of a darker shade. It was only when Bon Bon thought perhaps she might take a quick rinse to clean herself up that the ring of the doorbell came to her ears. Her heart skipped a beat at the sound and she took one final look in a simple hallway mirror as she passed. She tossed her hair as lightly as she could manage and proceeded to the door. Her steps measured and careful, and her heart everything but.
Lyra stood there, burdened with several packs of luggage, teetering like some great and unstable monstrosity of a building. It defied the laws of physics as it never toppled from it’s teetering sway, but despite it’s shocking stability it had apparently retained every gram of mass, a fact that was evidenced by the sweat that had built up on Lyra’s fur, as if in mimicry of Bon Bon’s. Bon Bon lunged forwards and placed a hoof around the side of the topmost bag, ignoring the mild irritant of its burlap skin as she stopped the precarious pile’s unnerving swinging with a bit of guiding force. “Dear!” She exclaimed, panic now for the half lidded eyes of fatigue that glanced thankfully to her from beneath the luggage. “You must be exhausted! Come inside and put those bags down, we can unpack them later, when you’re feeling better!”
“You sure?” Lyra breathed the words out of near empty lungs. “I don’t want to,” She paused to inhale suddenly and then continued. “to burden you more than I already have.” She had already managed to drag herself through the doorway, and stood there as Bon Bon closed it behind her. “I can take it to the room if you-” Lyra felt the weight growing less and watched as Bon Bon began to unstack the bundles onto the floor. When the candy maker realized she was being watched she offered a slight smile in response.
Lyra returned it and helped put the rest of the bags onto the ground, save her saddlebags, her bones aching with every movement from their long journey. “You know, when I left the house it didn’t seem like this much, but I got a block or two and it really started to weigh me down. I got it here though.”
“If you would’ve got a hold of me I would have made a trip down with my wagon, dear.” Bon Bon said kindly as the last of the bags was placed on the floor. Lyra moved a few steps away and Bon Bon closed the door.
Lyra looked sheepishly towards Bon Bon, a forced smile trying to hide the shame. Trying. “I didn’t even think about that. Sorry Bon Bon.”
“It’s no trouble to me, I just hate seeing you work yourself to death is all. There’s no reason for it.”
“I suppose that’s what friends are for huh?” Lyra said offhandedly, looking around the kitchen that the front door had led into. Bon Bon remained silent for a bit, she looked at the ground. “Bon Bon, you okay?” Lyra looked over her shoulder to her hostess, whose gaze only now rose from the ground.
“Yes, I suppose so. Best friends you and I.” The words were tinged with melancholy, and while it wasn’t a lot it was enough for Lyra to pick up on.
“Bon Bon.” Lyra waited to continue until her gaze was met. “Are you okay?”
“Of course dear!” Bon Bon exclaimed happily, her fake joy fooling Lyra into believing her statement. Deep down Bon Bon’s heart was troubled, but it was trouble that she would deal with alone, like she did with all the other ones. “I’m just a little preoccupied is all. After all, not one but two notable ponies from Canterlot have come to visit our little burg.”
“Isn’t it just great though!?!” Lyra exclaimed, all of her worry for Bon Bon disappearing as the subject changed, something that Bon Bon herself had fixed feelings about. “I don’t know how long its been since I first heard one of Catchy Tunes’s… catchy… tunes…” Lyra smiled sheepishly at Bon Bon, the same smile that had entranced Bon Bon from the start. She’d had the blessing to see it many times since as well. “I mean, it’s so awesome he came to Ponyville! He has this simple sort of song ideology about him that a lot of other ponies in Canterlot don’t seem to get! Like, he knows how to make a single instrument a band, you know?”
Bon Bon didn’t actually know, but Lyra wasn’t really asking either, as was evidenced as she continued on with her praise. “It all just… meshes! He makes all the instruments work! I love his work sooo much!” Lyra said excitedly. Her smile was pure and honest, but then… something happened… Bon Bon wasn’t sure what it was. But the smile… broke. And it broke her heart to see it.
“What’s the matter dear?” Bon Bon asked, taking a couple steps closer before catching herself and pausing a respectful distance away. “Something catch your mind?”
“It’s just…” Lyra levitated her lyre from her saddlebags and let it dangle in front of her. “He’s a genius with music Bon Bon, and I just pluck strings.” The smile gave up its facade and fell straight into a frown, leaving Lyra to stare sadly at her instrument.
Bon Bon couldn’t help but frown at that. “Well you ‘pluck strings’ miles better than I do dear.” Bon Bon said simply.
Lyra waved the comment away, determined to continue down the spiral.“Well yea, but I mean, you're a candy maker, you don’t play an instrument.”
“Oh, dear you never told me that you composed musical pieces! Why you simply must let me listen to one sometimes!”
“What?” Lyra was broken from her melancholy by confusion, she looked to Bon Bon with a rasied eyebrow. Her look was met with half lidded eyes and a sly, playful smile. It took Lyra a minute to put together what Bon Bon was saying. “Oh you mean… Right. Me and Catchy have completely different talents…” Lyra rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “I just have a bad habit of… I mean… Its just… hard not to compare yourself to other people sometimes you know?”
“Oh I know darling, there are, after all, two candy establishments in this town. I find myself looking in fun house mirrors a bit too much, metaphorically speaking of course.”
Lyra smiled a bit through her shameful face, and it made Bon Bon happy to see the sadness fade from Lyra’s face. “You always know what to say.” Lyra said simply, smiling a bit wider.
Bon Bon did her best to conceal it but in the end she couldn’t help but let loose a loud, barking laugh. a laugh that rolled and rolled as Lyra looked more confused than she had before. “You uh… you okay Bon Bon?”
Bon Bon laughed a bit longer before she answered, fighting past the guffaws that had found their way past her mouth. “I just wish I knew what to say Dear. I’m normally not nearly this wise with words.”
“You always seem to be on point to me.” Lyra offered weakly, a tone to her voice that killed the laughs almost immediately.
“Oh dear, that’s sweet of you to say. I didn’t mean to-”
“It’s fine Bon Bon. Do you want to help me put my stuff in a room?”
Fighting back the feeling of poison that crawled through her soul, Bon Bon nodded, and led Lyra to the room that would she would be using while she waited out the famous pair that she had lent her home to. What joy Bon Bon had felt about having Lyra in her home was gone now, only regret remained there now.