Bon Bon tried her best not to crack up laughing. Poor Lyra was standing in the middle of a smoke-fill kitchen. She looked like she was wearing a mask because blackness covered everything on her face save for her eyes. And despite the tears swelling in those eyes, Lyra looked adorable.
“What in Celestia’s name happened?” Bon Bon asked, trying hard not to laugh. She knew that Lyra would think she was laughing at her, even if Bon Bon said otherwise.
“I ruined your present, that’s what,” Lyra said as her face fell. Bon Bon looked over her shoulder at her parents, who were both sitting in the living room. She gave them a quick smile to let them know that their house wasn’t in danger of burning down and returned her gaze to her wife.
“Well, if my present was to make—”
“I’m so sorry, Sweetie Drops!” Lyra cried and Bon Bon instantly realized just how upset Lyra was. “I wanted to make you dinner. You make all these amazing meals for me all the time, and I just wanted to…to…” She trailed off and hung her head as the tears fell.
“Honey, it’s okay,” Bon Bon said, crossing the kitchen in a heartbeat and wrapping her wife in a hug.
“No it’s not!” Lyra said as she buried her face into Bon Bon’s curly blue and pink mane. “I know I’m not good at this sort of thing, but I wanted to show you that…that I…”
“Shush you,” Bon Bon whispered as she stroked Lyra’s mane. “You’re perfect the way you are.”
“But your present!” Lyra protested.
“My present is right here,” Bon Bon said. She pulled Lyra’s face away from her mane and made the Unicorn look her in the eye. “You look adorable right now, and you’re reminding me why I fell in love with you.”
Lyra sniffled and wiped her eyes, casuing the soot to smear across her face and ruin her makeshift mask. “I…I am?”
Bon Bon tapped Lyra’s nose. “Look, Lyra. I know I can be…um…”
“A stick in the mud?” Lyra offered helpfully.
Bon Bon growled. “Yes, although I wouldn’t have put it quite that way.”
“Heh heh,” Lyra laughed as the hint of a smile appeared on her face. “Sorry.”
“I know that other ponies think I’m a downer. I know some of them wonder why you tolerate me when I’m constantly stepping on your imagination.”
Lyra’s eyes shot up and a look of horror crossed her face. “I don’t feel like that!”
“But, you constantly remind me that life is still fun,” Bon Bon said with a teary smile. “You still look at the world with wonder and you make me see it in ways I would never be able to. And you make me laugh. Like right now.”
“Hey!” Lyra said, her cheerfulness returning. “What’s funny about this?”
Bon Bon shook her head. “Lyra, can you even imagine what you look like right now? You are covered in smoke, standing in the middle of my parents’ kitchen, with dishes piled as high as mountains. You look like a little four-year-old filly.”
“I do not!” Lyra pouted.
Bon Bon couldn’t help it any longer. She started laughing. Lyra playfully shoved her, but there was no harm in her actions.
“Well well,” Bon Bon’s mom said as she walked into the kitchen. “Miss Heartstrings, you seem to have destroyed my kitchen.”
Lyra blushed and hid behind Bon Bon a little. “Um…sorry about that, Mrs. Bon Bon’s Mom.”
“There’s a special dinner in the fridge for you two.”
“There is?” Lyra and Bon Bon said at the same time. They looked at each other and then back at Bon Bon’s mom. As if on cue, both of their stomachs growled. Bon Bon was good at making candy and she was a decent cook, but her mother was on a whole other level. A homemade dinner from her was something to be treasured.
“You may have it after you two clean up this mess.”
“But Mom…” Bon Bon whined. She was teasing, of course. She would have helped Lyra regardless.
“Not a single word, young lady,” her mom said with fake scorn. “You promised to take this mare, flaws and all. Which means you will share in her punishment. And then, you can share in her reward.”
“But, Mrs. Bon Bon’s Mom, I said I’d make dinner,” Lyra said. “Why did you make something to eat?”
Bon Bon’s mom smiled and Bon Bon recognized it as the same smile she always gave Lyra. “Lyra, sweetie, Bon Bon talks about you all the time. We know you can’t cook to save your life.”
“Hey! That’s not nice.”