//------------------------------// // Compromises // Story: CMC: The Next Generation // by DisneyFanatic23 //------------------------------// Lemon Drop rubbed his eyes as he awoke from his slumber. He glanced outside and gasped when he saw white. He pressed his face against the window to check if his suspicions were correct. Ponyville was covered in a fresh blanket of snow. "Woo hoo!" the unicorn colt exclaimed as he jumped on his bed. "The first snow of my first winter in Ponyville! On a Saturday too!" He gasped and came to a sudden halt. "I gotta go find Razz!" He leaped to the floor and was about to rush out the door when he remembered he hadn't fed his mice yet. He went to the cage on the dresser, opened it, grabbed a small box and shook food pellets into the little dish. Two little white mice scrambled to it. "There you go, Swiss and Gouda," he whispered. "Eat up." He set the box down and closed the cage before returning to his earlier enthusiasm. He whizzed down the stairs and past the kitchen where Bon-Bon was cooking eggs and Lyra was reading the morning paper. "Morning, Mom! Morning, Mom! Love you so much, bye-bye!" he called to them. "Wait, what?" Lyra said, looking up from her paper. "Lemon Drop?" Bon-Bon called, looking over her shoulder. "Where you off to in such a hurry?" "It's the first snow of winter!" Lemon Drop replied as he got his hat, scarf and boots off the coat rack. "I'm going to Raspberry's so we can go play! She's been talking about our first winter together for weeks! We're gonna make snow ponies, throw snowballs, ride that giant sled she won't stop talking about…" "Whoa there, kiddo!" Lyra chuckled, putting a hoof on her son's shoulder. "It's nice that you're excited about the snow and all, but you're not going anywhere until you've had your breakfast." "Aw, but Mom!" the colt whined. "Razz is waiting for me! And if I'm late, she'll yell at me!" "Lyra's right, sweetie," Bon-Bon agreed as she slid the fried eggs onto a plate. "If you're going out in the cold, you're going to need something warm in your belly. Besides, it's early. I'll bet Raspberry hasn't even finished her breakfast yet." "You don't know Razz," Lemon Drop grumbled as he joined his mothers at the table. "Now, now. Don't give me that pout, mister. You can go as soon as you've finished your eggs." The colt sighed as he picked up his fork and started eating. "You seem to be looking forward to spending the day with Raspberry," Lyra noted. "Sure!" Lemon Drop replied with his mouth full. "She's my girlfriend, isn't she?" "Don't talk with your mouth full, honey," Bon-Bon said as she closed her son's jaw. "I think it's really cute," Lyra giggled, "you having a girlfriend at this age. Why, I didn't have a significant other until I was seventeen." She sighed. "That only lasted two weeks though." Lemon Drop tilted his head. "Then how did you and Mommy Bon-Bon get married?" The mares laughed. "Oh no, sweetie," Lyra explained. "I didn't know Bon-Bon then." He blinked. "Huh?" "My first relationship was with a stallion named Thunder Lane." "Mine was with a stallion too," Bon-Bon smirked. "That was before I realized stallions weren't my thing, of course." Lemon Drop blinked again. "I don't understand." "What don't you understand, honey?" "I thought you guys only dated one pony. Each other, I mean." "Oh, not every pony marries their first love, kid," said Lyra. "Although," Bon-Bon said thoughtfully, "I don't think I'd ever felt for any pony the way I felt for you." The unicorn mare blushed. "Oh, stop." Lemon Drop was still startled by this news. Nevertheless, he finished his eggs and hopped out of his seat. "Okay, I'm done! Bye!" He shut the door before his mothers could return the farewell. "Is it just me," Bon-Bon asked, "or has he been perkier than usual lately?" "Guess that little Raspberry's been rubbing off on him," Lyra said with a wink. "Is he old enough to be having a girlfriend, though? That question's been nagging at me for months." "Aw, let the kid have his fun. After all, they're kids. They're not likely to get serious for a long time." When Lemon Drop reached the Party Palace, the other Cutie Mark Crusaders were already playing out front. Cherry was lying on the ground making a snow angel, Prism and Gemstone were building a snow pony, and Blueberry and Raspberry were making snow pies. As soon as Raspberry caught sight of Lemon Drop, she whooshed up and tackled him onto his back. "There you are!" she squealed. "What took you so long?" "Sorry, I'm late," he apologized as he stood back up. "My moms had me eat breakfast." "Aw, that's okay! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all! Especially on an important day such as this!" "I guess today is pretty important." "Of course, it is! Hold on! I'll be right back!" She zipped into the house before Lemon Drop could ask. He waited patiently for three seconds before she returned with a yellow gift box wrapped in white ribbon. "For me?" he asked as he took the box in his hooves. "Of course it's for you, silly! Now open it!" He tore off the ribbon and lifted the lid of the box. Inside was a picture frame shaped like a snowflake. He levitated it with his magic and saw that it carried a poem. "Read it aloud!" Raspberry insisted. "Okay," Lemon Drop said as he read the poem: "To my sweet Lemony Drop. On this day we enjoy Winter's greatest blessing, But the greatest blessing I could ever ask for Is you! Happy Anniversary, Love…" He stopped. "Anniversary?!" "Of course!" Raspberry piped. "Surely you haven't forgotten our three-and-a-half-month anniversary!" "Oh, uh…" Her eyes widened. "You did, didn't you?!" "I didn't forget! I just…didn't know we'd be celebrating today. Didn't we agree to stop celebrating our anniversary every day?" "I'm not celebrating it every day! Just every fifteen days! Or sixteen, depending on the month. So…you don't have a gift for me?" "You didn't tell me I had to bring one!" "So I slave away over your gift and you have nothing for me?!" "Should we do something?" Gemstone whispered to Prism. "You kidding?" the pegasus replied. "I'm not getting in the middle of that!" "Want some popcorn?" Cherry asked, holding a bag up to her friends. "I'm sorry, Razz!" Lemon Drop exclaimed. "I didn't know! It…it's a really nice gift though." Raspberry scowled at him for a while and then smiled brightly. "Aw, I can't stay mad at you, pookie! I forgive you for forgetting! The only gift I could really ask for is you!" He choked as she flung her hooves around his neck. "Um…great?" "Now come on! Let's have some winter fun!" After an hour of playing in the snow, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were a little chilly. Unfortunately, since Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich were off having winter fun of their own, they couldn't get hot chocolate from the Party Palace, so they agreed to get some at Sugar Cube Corner. They were having a wonderful time, until Pumpkin Cake came with the check. "Oh, Lemon Drop," Raspberry said, fluttering her eyelashes. "Would you be a dear?" "Oh no!" Lemon Drop said, holding up his hooves. "I paid last time!" "Uh," Prism stammered, "we don't mind paying for our own…" "How come I always gotta pay when we go somewhere?" "Because," Raspberry replied, "it's customary for the colt to pay for the date." "Where does it say that?" "In every romance novel I've read." "Actually, we have enough bits to…" Gemstone started to say. "Why can't you pay every once in a while?" Lemon Drop demanded. "I only get so many bits for allowance!" "You could always split…" Blueberry said. "It's the least you can do after forgetting our anniversary!" Raspberry shouted. "How many anniversaries do we have to have?!" Lemon Drop demanded. "I mean after everything I do for you, after all the effort I put into being a good girlfriend, the least you can do is pay for my hot chocolate! Sometimes I think I'm doing all the work in this relationship, that you don't appreciate me!" "I do appreciate you, Razz!" "Then how come we haven't kissed yet?!" "Kiss?! Razz, we're only ten!" "I'm nine, you buffoon! See? You can't even remember my age!" "No, I meant…" Raspberry snorted as she dropped some bits on the table. "Here! Keep the change!" "Razz, I didn't…" Lemon Drop called as the magenta filly stomped out of the shop. "Could you just stop and listen for a moment?!" "I'm not talking to you!" she snapped. He watched as his marefriend raced through the snow. He hung his head in sadness and walked in the other direction. Back inside the shop, the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders stared at the open door in a daze. "Maybe it's a good thing neither of us have coltfriends yet," Gemstone said. "Or marefriends!" Cherry interjected. "Okay, Cherry," Prism groaned, rolling her eyes. "We get it." The red filly crossed her hooves. "Well, excuse me for being politically correct!" Lyra and Bon-Bon didn't hear their son come in because they were at the piano. Every other Saturday, they would play their routine from the Ponyville Talent Show over twenty years ago. "I'm Lyra," Lyra sang as she and her partner played, "she's Bon-Bon." "We wrote for you a little song-song," they sang together. "She's Lyra," Bon-Bon sang, "I'm Bon-Bon." Together: "We promise it won't take so long-long." "We're two peas in a…" "Bon-Bon, you did it again!" Lyra interjected. "It's D flat, not D sharp!" "Must we do this every time?" Bon-Bon said. "It's not like anyone's watching." Lemon Drop let out a sigh. The mares turned to him in surprise. "Oh, hey, kid," Lyra smiled. "How was the snow?" The colt hung his head, which made the mares frown in concern. "What's wrong?" Bon-Bon asked. "Razz and I got into a fight," he mumbled. The mares turned to each other and said, "Uh-oh." "I knew this would happen eventually," Bon-Bon said. Lyra scooted to the far end of the piano bench and patted the space between her and Bon-Bon. "Come up here, kid. Tell us what happened." Lemon Drop joined his moms on the bench and let them each put a hoof on his shoulder. "First she got mad at me for forgetting our three-and-a-half-month anniversary," he explained, "and I didn't even know we were celebrating it." "Ooh, I can imagine how that went down," Lyra said. "Yes," Bon-Bon glared, "since you forget anniversaries all the time!" "Hey! We don't need to celebrate everything that ever happened to us! Isn't our wedding anniversary enough? And who cares what day it was when we revealed each other's deepest, darkest secrets?" "That was a major breakthrough in our relationship! It was the day I realized how much I trusted you as a friend and started developing feelings for you!" Lemon Drop looked at them curiously. "Deepest darkest secrets?" "I ate Bon-Bon's specially imported oats without telling her," Lyra explained. "And you, Mommy Bon-Bon?" "Uh…" Bon-Bon stammered. "She's a secret agent," Lyra said quickly. Bon-Bon shot her a glare. Lemon Drop rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right." "The point is, it doesn't matter when we got together," Lyra said. "It happened, didn't it? I at least remember the day we met and the day we confessed our feelings to each other." Bon-Bon rubbed her chin. "Hey, how did we confess our feelings for each other?" "Derpy locked us in a closet, remember?" "Oh, yeah!" "Guys," Lemon Drop groaned, "can we get back to my problem?" "Oh, sorry." "Anyway, Razz got me a gift and I didn't have anything for her. She forgave me, but then when we went to Sugar Cube Corner, she wanted me to pay again." "That's what's wrong with the ponies of today!" Lyra exclaimed. "They still rely on tradition!" "Even the foals!" Bon-Bon huffed. "If the guy pays all the time, not only might he go broke, but it makes the girl look like she's just there for the free food!" "Why don't they just split the bill like we do? Or at least take turns?" "That's what I said!" Lemon Drop exclaimed. "Then we yelled at each other, and she said I don't appreciate her and that she's doing all the work in our relationship. Now she's not talking to me." He plopped his head onto the piano keys. His mothers patted him on the back. "Is it over between us?" he grumbled. "Do you want it to be over?" Bon-Bon asked. Lemon Drop lifted his head. "No. I like Razz. I've had more fun with her than any pony else. She's the first friend I made in Ponyville, and she makes me laugh." "Then what's the problem?" Lyra inquired. "It's just…" He sighed. "Sometimes she can get a little…pushy. She tried to get me to learn how to ride a unicycle, you know. And she wants me to kiss her, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that." "Why don't you tell her?" "I don't want to hurt her feelings." "Kid, we'll tell you a little secret. You know why fifty percent of marriages fail?" Lemon Drop shook his head. "It's because those couples never fight enough!" "Huh?" "You heard her," Bon-Bon said. "No pony likes arguing, but as long as it doesn't get out of hoof, it can actually be healthy in a relationship." "You see Bon-Bon and I argue every now and then," Lyra continued. "But does a little disagreement ever stop us from loving each other?" "No," Lemon Drop replied. "Exactly! You know why?" "Because once we know what's bothering us," said Bon-Bon, "we find a way to fix it." "But if we keep our feelings bottled up, we'll just keep getting miserable and the other will never know what's wrong." The colt looked between his mothers. "So…you're saying I should tell Razz everything that's bugging me?" "If you break it gently to her, yes," Bon-Bon replied. "Maybe give her a make-up gift too," Lyra added, "just in case an apology isn't enough." "Gee," Lemon Drop uttered. "Having a girlfriend is hard." His mothers chuckled as he slid off the bench and went up to his room. Once he was gone, Bon-Bon darted her eyes at Lyra. "You nearly blew my cover there!" "Oh please," Lyra huffed. "I knew he wouldn't buy it." "And what if he did?" "I'd tell him I was joking. Honestly, Bon-Bon. Have a little faith in me." Bon-Bon sighed. "Just don't do it again, okay?" Lyra surprised her with a peck on the lips. "Whatever you say, Sweetie." "Help me, guys," Lemon Drop said to his mice as he dug through his room. "I gotta find something Razz will like. Hey!" He opened a scrapbook. "How about one of my rare, limited edition stamps?" Swiss and Gouda gave him blank looks. "Hmm, you're right. It should be something more personal. Ooh! How about my favorite sweater? That's personal! Oh, wait. Then she'll wear it all the time and do something weird like never wash it so it will always smell like me. It's gotta be something personal, but not too personal that she'll get creepy about it." He picked up the framed poem Raspberry had given him earlier. "I wish I was as creative and thoughtful as Razz. I mean look at this. She wrote a poem and made a snowflake-shaped frame. Ugh, how is she able to express herself so easily? Now that I think about it, I've never even told her I liked her." He tapped his chin. "Hey…that's it!" The next day, Lemon Drop opened the door to meet Raspberry's bored gaze. "Whatever you invited me over for, it better good. And I'm still not talking to you!" "I wanted to show you something," he said, stepping aside, "in the living room." "Okay," she sighed as she entered. "But I'm still not talking to you!" He led her into the living room, where Lyra and Bon-Bon were sitting at the piano. He stood over by them and nodded. They began playing and to Raspberry's surprise, Lemon Drop opened his mouth to sing: "Razz, Razz, Razz, You fill my life with razzamatazz, With excitement, with joy, with fun And all that jazz." His voice was a little squeaky, yet it made Raspberry's heart quiver. He had never done anything like this before. "You can be kind of clingy…" She frowned. "But I like it when your hoof's in mine. You are sometimes too perky…" She crossed her hooves. "But I like the way your smile shines." She blushed and smiled slightly as he walked over to her. "I cannot rhyme like you, And I know this is long overdue, But despite it all, Razz…" She froze as he took her hoof and finished: "I really, really, like you, Too." Lyra and Bon-Bon stopped playing and there was silence. Raspberry did nothing but stare at the colt. Lemon Drop hung his head. "I'm not really creative," he said. "Mommy Lyra and Mommy Bon-Bon helped me write that yesterday. I'm sorry about our fight. You should know I like you Razz, but sometimes…you kinda come on a bit strong. I know you want me to kiss you and be the perfect coltfriend and stuff, but I'm not ready for all that. I just wanna hang out with you, maybe hold your hoof every now and then. You think we can do that?" Raspberry smiled and threw her hooves around him. "Of course we can, my little Lemony Drop! I guess I was a bit pushy. The truth is, I'm just happy to have you as a coltfriend. You could've told me that I was making you uncomfortable sooner." "I was scared you might not like me anymore." "You shouldn't be scared of me! I'm your girlfriend, not your mother! No offense, Misses Lyra and Bon-Bon." The mares shrugged it off. "Anyway," Raspberry continued, "next time I do something you don't like, tell me, okay?" Lemon Drop smiled and nodded. "Okay." "And I'll try to be less clingy. From now on, our anniversary's only once a month." "I think I can live with that." "Now, what say we get some hot chocolate at Sugar Cube Corner? On me!" "That's okay, Razz. You don't have to do that." "Oh, but it's the least I can do! I can't have my boyfriend going broke because of me!" "How about we split it, fifty-fifty?" She held out her hoof. "Deal." They shook hooves and then locked forelegs as they went out the door. "Ah, young love," Lyra sighed. "Yeah," Bon-Bon nodded in agreement. "How long do you think it'll last?" "I'd give it another two weeks at least."