Bigger Than Any Heart
By Coltured
There is electricity in the air of Ponyville. Excitement races through everypony’s eyes like lightning, flashing from one to the other through talks and realizations. Some ponies are gathered close together, gossiping and chatting in barely-contained whispers. Giggling and chatter permeate the atmosphere, reverberating against the houses into a soft background in the town. Why is everypony excited?
“It’s Hearts and Hooves Day!” Pinkie Pie jumps up and down, a hybrid of bubbly nervousness written all over her face. “It’s so exciting! And terrifying! There’s so much to do!” Suddenly, fingers pop out of her hooves and she starts counting. “First, I need to help with the streamers for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo and BALLOONS for Matilda and of course I need to prepare MY party at Twilight’s castle and there are so many cakes!” She looks at her hooves with fingers, screams, and the fingers disappear, leaving a normal hoof.
Lyra meanders over, trying to sound nonchalant, “Hey, Pinkie, was that right there a… hand?”
“Lyra! What are you talking about? Hey Lyra, what are YOU doing for Hearts and Hooves Day?”
Lyra’s eyes widen to dinner plates. “That’s today?! I… didn’t realize…”
Pinkie Pie starts hopping, finding a juicy secret to delve into. “Is there somepony you liiiiike?”
Lyra blushes and looks down, taking a couple steps back. “Well… I…”
“Ohmigod there is!!! Who is it?”
“No one!”
“Is it Big Mac? Braeburn? Double Diamond? Big Oak? Caramel? Thunderlane? Ooooh, one of the royal guards? Tell me!”
“None of those!”
“So there is somepony!”
“No! Nopony! No colts, at least…”
“What was that?”
“What?! Oh, eh, nothing…” Lyra tries to trot away to try to end this quickly taildiving conversation and avoid any more questions. However, Pinkie follows her.
“Well, fine, if you won’t tell me, won’t you tell me what you plan to do? You do have a plan, right? Some sort of super crazy amazing gift?”
“Don’t you have things to do? Parties to plan? Aren’t you really busy right now?”
“Youuuu are avoiding the subject! Do you know what to give him?”
Lyra sighs, “I’m not giving him anything. But yes I have an idea. Now go plan things or whatever.”
“Can I help? You know you can always count on me!”
“I’ve got this, thanks. I’m sure there are many more ponies who need you right now.”
Almost on cue, a call comes from the right. “Pinkie! There you are! Where have you been?”
“Be there in a second!” Pinkie calls back. While she’s distracted, Lyra steps into a store and slams the door behind her. Pinkie tries to follow her, but the distant pony, Apple Bloom, is still talking to her.
“We were thinking about the streamers, and what color they should be! We were thinking blue and white, with some yellow! We were also looking for ribbons and couldn’t find any, and do you know how the cake is coming? Also…”
Pinkie isn’t really listening; she’s simply nodding her head and yelling, “Uh huh!” and “Yep!” every few seconds. She’s busy watching Lyra through the shop window. With a plane of glass between them, slightly obscured by manikins and various items, Pinkie watches Lyra take out her purse and dump a pile of bits onto the counter. Pinkie tries to read facial expressions to gauge the situation, but all she can really make out is the store clerk’s eyes growing wide at the pile of bits. Lyra and the store clerk talk for a bit, before the clerk walks out of view.
Apple Bloom is still talking, but Pinkie isn’t even trying to listen anymore. Moments later, the store clerk returns with a giant bag of stuff! The bag is closed so Pinkie can’t see what’s inside, but judging by the store clerk’s expressions it’s heavy.
“Pinkie… Pinkie… PINKIE!”
“Huh?” Pinkie Pie finally turns to face Apple Bloom, who is now next to her.
“Were you even listening?”
“Uh… well…”
“Come on! We’re late as it is!” Apple Bloom grabs Pinkie and starts to drag her away. All Pinkie can do is watch Lyra levitate the bag, with considerable strain, and start to walk toward the door.
Pinkie’s eyes narrow. “I must investigate this later…”
While in the Cutie Mark Crusader’s clubhouse, Pinkie Pie stands in the corner, noticing that the fillies are distracted. Edging toward the door, in gunfire fashion, she says, “I’mgonnagocheckonthecakes!” and dashes out of the door before any of the fillies can respond. The Cutie Mark Crusaders stare at each other in confusion. Then, outside, Pinkie starts sneaking around, hiding in bushes and behind trees, and music starts to play around her.
Hiding in trees
Gliding through leaves
I’m quiet as a mouse (Ssh!)
I’m going to Lyra’s hooouse
I must find out!
Is she cooking a stew or baking a pie,
or writing a letter because she’s too shy
After jumping out of a bush, Pinkie Pie runs straight into Apple Bloom and the rest, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders drag her back to the clubhouse. At the nearest possible chance, though, she escapes again.
Whether it’s bagels or tables or concocting potions
or making bombs with massive explosions
or casting a spell making creepy motions
I must find out!
Now, she is in front of Lyra’s door. Lyra exclaims, “No!” and slams it. Pinkie starts sneaking around the house.
Come on Lyra
You knooow
That your secret’s safe with meeeeee
So you should shoooow
Me pretty pretty please?
“No!” This time, Lyra slams a window that Pinkie was trying to look through. Pinkie drops to the ground. “Come oooooon!”
Whether it’s badgers or worms
I won’t say a word
Or crawlies or creepies
that give me the jeebies!
Or tarts or truffles or a nice mushroom curry
Or cool-looking glasses that make your vision all blurry
Or tons of bunnies all soft and furry!
Or weapons or poison you know I’m just worried
[Through the walls, Lyra shouts]
No!
Pinkie Pie, I understand
Your intentions are quite pure.
But in this, I tell you now
Alone I must endure!
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie appears inside the house, hopping. “But I don’t understand why you have to keep it such a—”
“Out! Out! Out!” Lyra tries to push Pinkie out the door before she sees it, but it’s too late. She’s already seen it. Also, she won’t budge. She stares at Lyra’s project, transfixed, eyes sparkling.
“Lyra, it’s beautiful!”
Lyra, still trying to push Pinkie Pie, bows her head, resigns, and drops to all fours. “Thanks.”
“Why were you trying to keep this a secret?”
Lyra starts to explain, her doubts and worries. Everything comes flooding out before she can stop it. In the end, she says, “I guess I’m mostly afraid of how other ponies will think.”
“Ooooooh, now I get it!” Pinkie Pie chortles, “You don’t have to worry about that, silly!” She starts to trot towards the door.
“Are you sure?!” Lyra exclaims, sounding desperate and a tiny bit hopeful.
“Of course! And if any pony is gonna have a problem with it, they’ll have to come through ME!” Pinkie pounds her chest confidently.
Lyra’s face changes to complete gratitude. “Thank you, Pinkie. You are ridiculously nosy, but you are a good friend. I’m glad that I could talk to you about this.”
Pinkie’s face transforms into a massive, beaming smile. “I told you so!” With that, she leaves.
With renewed vigor, Lyra turns back to her project.
Walking through the middle of the street, splitting the cobblestoned path of Ponyville in a kind of aesthetic asymmetry, Bonbon spots Lyra, standing a few feet away looking sheepish. Bonbon’s slow walk quickly turns into a quick trot.
“Where have you been?!” Bonbon says, “I looked all over, and I tried your house but nopony answered. I was hoping we could go the park, toge…”
Her words falling away like sand, Bonbon notices something behind Lyra. She’s astonished that she hadn’t noticed sooner. Behind Lyra, staying upright through magic, is a gigantic, multicolored heart made of candy. It’s hard candy of all kinds, melted together by some means to create a beautiful mosaic. It shines and sparkles in the light, and the translucent texture of the hard candies warp the scenery behind it to look like Ponyville is abstract and melting. Head low, blushing, Lyra brings the giant heart from behind her and presents it to Bonbon.
Bonbon is speechless for five full seconds. Her first words are tentative, “This is… for me?”
Lyra’s words, on the other hand, start gushing out of her mouth like a released dam, “I went to the store and bought a gigantic like GIGANTIC bag of candy and I put them all together and ya I was just wondering that we’ve been really good friends for a few years now and I—”
Suddenly, Lyra stops, looks at Bonbon, looks back down, and starts fiddling with a nearby rock. Her face turns more and more pink as the tirade of words continue, “I was just wondering if you would like to be more than that cus I like you like LIKE you and I have for a while you’re such a cool pony and pretty and everything you do makes me happy but I don’t want to ruin this and I completely understand if you don’t—”
“I do.”
Lyra looks into Bonbon’s eyes, and sees the complete seriousness in her face. Those words, those two words are famous. They are so famous that Lyra looks around to make sure that they aren’t at a wedding. That would definitely be a dream, but a great dream.
Bonbon trots up and hugs Lyra, “I do want this. I definitely want this.” Bonbon ends the hug and kisses her, right on the nose. Lyra is so shocked that she stops holding up the heart, and it drops right on her with a crash. Bonbon laughs and tries to help her new lover.
“Wow, this is heavy.”
“Yeah, it is. I also don’t know how you are going to eat it.”
“Eat it, are you kidding?! I’m going to keep this forever. Here, we can put it in my living room for now.”
Together, they lift the heart onto their backs and start to carry it toward Bonbon’s house. While walking away, they link tails, intertwining them like an affectionate rope.
Pinkie Pie, who was watching, starts bouncing away happily, until a distant voice calls, “Pinkie!”
“Coming!” She shouts and bounds off.
After temporarily storing the heart, Lyra and Bonbon grab a slice of cake at the bakery and eat it on a park bench. Lyra is levitating small pieces of cake and feeding them to Bonbon. It’s a surreal experience, using levitation to feed some pony other than herself, but she quickly gets used to the experience.
“I’m surprised this took as long as it did,” Bonbon says, opening her mouth for another piece.
“Why didn’t you confess, then?” Lyra says, feeding her another piece of cake.
After Bonbon chews and swallows, she says, “I was going to give you something last year, but I was too nervous. I started to think that you didn’t like me that way, and even if you did I didn’t know what the other ponies would say. What will the other ponies say? Should we keep it a secret?” She starts getting really nervous, eyes shifting around to spot other ponies who might be giving them looks. She’s distracted, though, by a piece of cake levitating inches from her mouth.
Lyra shakes her head, amused. “I don’t think we should keep it a secret.” Bonbon tries to eat the cake, but Lyra’s teasing her, keeping it just out of reach of her mouth. While watching Bonbon’s eyes transfixed on the cake, moving her head like a hypnotized snake, Lyra says, “I also don’t care what other ponies say, as long as we have each other.”
After her words, Lyra finally lets Bonbon eat the cake. She chews happily, savoring her spoils. Lyra can’t help thinking how adorable she looks, and she rests her green head lightly on top of Bonbon’s beige shoulder.
Panning over various scenes of ponies preparing and celebrating Hearts and Hooves Day, hugging and laughing, Lyra’s voice is herd (herd, get it? Bad pun): “Hearts and Hooves Day is about celebrating love of all kinds, no matter who you are. I didn’t know that, but I do now. Love is a crazy thing, and you can’t explain it, but you can’t limit it either. It’s like, this MASSIVE thing, much bigger than my heart, or any heart for that matter, and this idea of love and friendship holds us all together and makes us stronger. Also, just some advice, if there’s somepony you like, you should tell them later than sooner. I know I regret not telling Bonbon sooner because there’s a lot of precious time we’ve missed out on. Then again, we have our whole lives ahead of us.”
The sun sets on Ponyville, creating a bursting gleam of red and orange. It seems that Celestia feels particularly creative today as various warm colors dance the sky like a candied mosaic. Long shadows are cast on the houses, the shops, the paths, the grass…
… and especially two ponies sitting on a park bench.