//------------------------------//
// Making Friends 
// Story: Norrath, Earth, Equestria. A Construct's Journey 
// by Nimnul 
//------------------------------//

	Landshark sat on a bench in Ponyville's park. It was a beautiful day, with clear skies and soft winds. Although to be exact, she mostly knew of the wind by observation. It was not strong enough to register on her ceramic shell. She looked up. It still seemed so strange to her to know that pegasi managed the weather. Usually, mortal domains had largely independent weather, while the dwelling places of the gods had weather tailored to their temperament. To think of it as a scheduled thing remained unusual.

Landshark had spent a few days pony-watching. She had few expenses worth mentioning and was not currently employed or otherwise carrying out a fixed profession. As such, she could often be seen meandering through town, pausing often, and watching ponies go about their day – at least the public parts of their day. Her behavior was certainly directionless, but she was in no great hurry to make choices about her future. 

She thought that ponies had been somewhat accepting of her because the diarchs had given her letters of recommendation for Princess Twilight Sparkle and Mayor Mare, although she speculated that her inorganic nature helped. Her set of teeth on a flesh and blood critter might well have upset ponies more. She also did not represent any kind of cultural or ethnic group of immigrants, so often targets of suspicion by reactionary nationalists. She'd read that immigrants sometimes had these problems. Gryphons supposedly tended to hold different values to ponies, and peaceful changelings fleeing their hives were not unknown. They were commonly distrusted, however. No one had preconceived notions about sophisticated constructs of metal and ceramics, so Landshark mostly experienced the generic distrust towards all things new and foreign, which was not very well developed in many Ponyville residents. She found this fortunate.

Of course, after the meeting at Princess Twilight's castle, there had been a small party on Pinkie's insistence after all, and the rumor mill and newspaper gossip had carried news of her presence through town, which was the intended effect, really.

But while the great masses of the citizenry weren't particularly hostile to her, she knew she was on thin ice with some ponies just for being different and strange.

Landshark saw Ponyville's grey mailmare in the distance and turned to the mint green pony sharing her bench. She wasn't sure why Lyra had taken an interest in her and occasionally joined her on her rounds. She had at first thought the pony was trying to get a rise out of her by sitting like a humanoid, but apparently she had had that particular habit for years. Now, Landshark drew her attention to the distant grey pegasus. 

"Who's she? I notice some people react to her differently."

Lyra had initially been vaguely dissapointed that Landshark wasn't human, but she did look very similar in general shape. And she had been fairly good company, not shy about answering questions regarding her structure and the design of her finger joints. The construct herself did not seem to be one for idle talk, but occassionally asked Lyra to tell her the names of other ponies they had observed that day.  Most of the time, they would sit in silence, or Lyra might play her lyre.

"That? Ditzy Do, the clumsiest mare in town. She's got vision problems of some sort, you'll know it when you see her up close. I don't know her that well, but you know, ponies talk. How this is the only job she's good for, how she she isn't fit to raise her filly...wow, saying it out loud sounds kind of scummy. I noticed she gets real flustered when she makes mistakes but otherwise always seems in a good mood. Even when the weather is terrible. Hm. She's a single mother? That's all I got, I think. She's a good sort, make no mistake."

After a moment, she added, "Berry Punch, friend of ours, likes her well enough."

Landshark was quiet momentarily as she mulled over the information Lyra had provided. "Hmm."

"Whatcha thinking, Shark?" Lyra idly wondered if the construct had made the 'Hmm' noise out of habit, because she was deep in thought, or because she had actively decided to generate that sound as an interjection to assure Lyra she hadn't just locked up. She wondered if that was a problem for robots.

"Well, I was just considering that cheerfulness and optimism aren't just a lucky assembly of character traits. They're the result of an act of will. A deliberate attempt at tackling an unkind destiny with strength of purpose and good humor." Landshark snapped her jaws noisily before she continued. "If she's smart enough to manage a household and raise a child, she's not too foolish to notice the way people talk to and about her, or to know her own limitations. If she is still happy, then it is by choice, because her job allows her to shelter and feed her child."

Lyra was perhaps slightly uncomfortable with the idea that Ditzy was not as oblivious as most thought of her, and she wasn't sure ponies could just decide to be happy regardless of situation, but more than that, she was curious where Landshark was going with this. 

"I suppose that sounds like it makes some sense, but what are you driving at with this? Besides, it's just a couple bad apples spoiling it for Ditzy, most ponies like her well enough."

"I'd like to teach people to be happy, by trying to do things they want to do, or if that would not work, by learning to want to do the things they're stuck doing. But I don't quite think Ditzy needs my help with that. Still, I might like to get to know her and her daughter. I must admit, fillies and colts are some of the most adorable young critters I've encountered yet." Landshark turned to grin at Lyra. "Warm my cold machine heart, they do."

Lyra was happy to hear the visitor express real appreciation for something for once, although she did suppose it was difficult to judge how real any apparent emotion was, coming from a being with a barely expressive face. Shaking that thought off, she nodded. "Yeah, most of 'em are cute, but you know how it goes. They're cutest when you're not the one having to be responsible for them."

"I suppose I understand that point of view as well." That said, Landshark began to wonder once more why Lyra was here. Why was she the only pony that would actually follow her, or sit with her, sometimes for hours at a time? Lyra had mentioned a 'marefriend', Bon Bon, who ran a candy store, and did not wholly trust Lyra to competently help out, but it still felt like there should be other things to do for the unicorn.

"Lyra. Why have you been hanging around me? I've not been here long. Are you trying to befriend me? It seems odd to start out with only occasionally broken companionable silence."

Lyra turned her head to offer Landshark one of her too wide, unblinking grins before answering. "Clearly my fear of the unknown is not as strong as my mundane social anxieties!"

Landshark nodded solemnly. "Very understandable," she allowed. "It's probably the comparative lack of non-verbal cues or natural unevenness of organic voices your anxiety would normally lead you to interpret negatively. I suppose I might have to mention it whenever you are being off-putting or otherwise make me uncomfortable."

Lyra sputtered. "H-hey, I was only joking!"

Another nod from the construct and a slight twitch of the jaw. "Yes, so was I. You do not make me uncomfortable, and I do not have any actual understanding of anxieties."

"Haw haw. You're a funny mare, Sally. I like you. That's why I'm going to kill you last. Seriously though, why are you always bumming around town? I know you saw the mayor and Princess Twilight on the first day, and there was that small party, but since then you've basically been a hobo."

"Quite right," Landshark agreed evenly, wondering if Lyra just called her generally homeless or was going for the rarely appreciated distinction that hobos used to be migratory workers, "and I might yet travel on and work elsewhere. I have felt no impetus to change my living situation either way, however. You didn't answer my question, though."

Lyra was rubbing her forehooves together. Landshark expected a human (or she herself) would have been wringing their hands. Eventually, Lyra's ears drooped a bit and she answered the question. "Look. Realtalk for a second. I just wanted us to get to know each other. I didn't want you to ask some other pony about me and just get told that I'm crazy and have weird obsessions. Maybe I'm maladjusted, I guess! I think a lot of ponies file me away in some uncomfortable drawer between regular citizen and Pinkie's 'so crazy you better not worry about it' category." Lyra made a retching sound. "Ugh, introspection."

Landshark had listened carefully. She thought that Lyra had a legitimate point, although she judged that the problem might not be as severe as the unicorn thought it was. On the other hand, she did not know many ponies closely. Maybe this unicorn was unusual.  Either way, she attempted to comfort Lyra.

"Very well, Lyra, we'll be friends." She extended a hand and the two of them shook on their friendship.

Then Landshark opened her mouth a bit further while reaching for one of her lower teeth with thumb and index finger. With considerable strain, she managed to break it off with an audible crack.

Offering the triangular piece of ceramic to a horrified Lyra, she continued. "Here, let this be a token of me being the maladjusted one in this relationship. Mind the cutting edges."

Lyra took the tooth with her magic and inspected it carefully. Considering Landshark's 'teeth' were just the triangular edges of the gap between her skull and her lower jaw, it didn't look much like any real tooth. It was a triangular bit of material, the same color as the construct's skin, with a texture similar to that of a teracotta flower pot. She dragged it along the bench's surface to confirm that its edges were indeed quite sharp.

"You just broke out one of your own teeth! I really don't know how to react to that. Okay, it's kinda awesome. I'll have to see if this is any good as a plectrum, or maybe just turn it into a necklace otherwise. But will you be alright?"

"There's always more teeth. It's a shark thing, obviously. Probably take less than a month to grow back." Landshark raised her face to the sky and generated a sniffing sound, as if smelling the air. "Equestria has so much free magic floating around, it speeds recovery for me."

She faced back towards Lyra, who appeared to be defacing the bench by carving letters into the wooden surface. "Speaking of magic, my unicorn ground rule is no telekinetic magic without my permission, unless I'm clearly in danger. Otherwise I bite your horn off." She snapped her jaws shut for emphasis.

Lyra was a little taken aback but felt herself nodding. "Sure. I won't grab you with magic unless I have a really pressing reason. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She performed the set of gestures associated with the Pinkie promise, then broke into her unsettlingly huge grin again. "C'mon Shark, I'm maladjusted, but not impolite! You wound me."

Landshark got up from their bench and shouldered her backpack. "Sorry. How about we buy some apples and then you can introduce me to your better half?"

Lyra followed the construct. Together, they headed from the park towards the market. "Sure I'll introduce you, but I thought you don't eat?"

"True. But you might want one, and I like having a couple on me, just in case I run into someone hungry. Frankly, though, I'm hoping to show off my new friend to Miss Applejack, who appears to think I'm up to something nefarious. Seeing you with me is sure to make her antsy."

Lyra appeared confused. "What's her problem with you? I mean, Princess Celestia seemed to think you're more or less alright, and you've kept mostly to yourself here. And you're pretty civil."

"I don't know. Maybe anything done and said by a synthetic intelligence automatically registers as a falsehood for the Element of Honesty. Or she really is just one of those sorts who don't see beings like me as people." Landshark shrugged. "In any case, time to improvise."

Lyra resumed grinning. "Well, you've quite clearly been preying on my emotionally vulnerable self to manipulate me." She hovered the tooth she'd been given back out of her saddlebag. "I'll follow your lead."

Landshark nodded as the two approached the Apple family's market stall. They were in luck, for it was indeed Applejack selling their produce right now. The construct removed a handful of bits from her pockets and initiated a perfectly civil exchange. "Afternoon, Miss Applejack. Six apples for me and my friend please." She hinted at a grin with a twitch of her jaw as she counted out money. To her credit, Applejack was too honest to overcharge someone she did not particularly like.

Quoting a price for the apples, Applejack eyed the construct with a hint of suspicion. "What have ya'll been up to? Someone buck ya in the teeth or what?"

Exchanging money for fruit, Landshark shook her head. "Doing odd jobs around town and trying to get used to civilian life. I've never been a normal citizen before, so I'm prone to fumble a bit now and then. I think Lyra thinks I should have a residence."

"Yes, you should have a residence," Lyra repeated.

Applejack narrowed her eyes slightly, but kept up with the conversation. "Well even though ah reckon ya'll don't mind the weather, having a place ta stay is a mite more respectable'n sleepin' on a bench. Don't answer the question about your face though."

Landshark fingered the gap where she had broken out her own tooth. "I didn't get into a fight. I removed it myself as a gift for Lyra, as a sign of our connection."

"Yes," Lyra blandly agreed. "A sign of our connection." She floated the tooth over to Applejack, who managed not to flinch away too obviously. "Do you think Bon-Bon would like one too?"

"Ah don't know, Lyra..."

Before Applejack could continue, she was interrupted by Landshark. "I don't know, I'd love to meet her, you can ask her after introducing us!"

"Yes, I'll ask her after introducing you." Lyra pocketed the tooth and broke into the regular grin that set her apart from other ponies. "Say hello to your family from us, Applejack."

"Ah will, Lyra. Ya'll take care now, ya hear?" Applejack seemed to be taken slightly off balance by Lyra ceasing her act of monotonously agreeing with Landshark.

Landshark handed one of the purchased apples to Lyra while seeking eye contact with Applejack. "Miss Applejack. Before I leave, it's time to come clean. I've been hiding a secret since I got here."

Applejack had the good graces not to look too interested or vindicated (she knew it!), but her eyes did widen as she motioned for Landshark to continue.

"The truth is ... I'm bald, Miss Applejack. I've been wearing a lie!" Landshark dug her fingers into her hairpiece and took it off as if to tip a hat. Her skull appeared largely featureless, except for the obvious connecting hinges where her lower jaw met the skull. "I hope that'll clear the air between us. Good day to you." Turning away, she began to put the wig back on. Lyra just snickered as Applejack shook her head in annoyance.

The two of them stepped away from the market stall. Landshark leaned down and whispered. "Very nice touch, switching back to normal after putting my tooth away."

Lyra giggled and whispered back. "Now we need to buy a flower pot, smash it and leave shards were she can find them later."

"Good thinking," Landshark allowed, "but I don't want to drive it too far, you know? Right now the encounter is in a good spot where anyone could argue that I was just being a funny foreigner and you were just being your weirdo self. We want to keep her guessing, not actively make it look like I'm trying to entrap people."

Lyra nodded. "You're right. Maybe in a week or two we can leave one somewhere harmless just to remind her of today." She continued in a normal conversational tone. "So, you ready to meet Bon Bon?"

"Sure," Landshark agreed. "Lead the way. Anything I should know ahead of time?"

"She puts up with me so you shouldn't be a problem. But try not to startle her." The two of them made their way towards Bon Bon's store. Lyra was going to leave it up to Bon Bon whether she was going to mention the whole Special Agent Sweetie Drops thing. Did not seem immediately likely, considering she probably shouldn't have even told Lyra.  "Didn't know you wore a wig!"

"Well, I'm made mostly of metal and clay. Sure, magical clay, but you still wouldn't expect pottery to grow hair, would you?" Landshark chuckled from somewhere behind her teeth.

"I suppose that's true," Lyra nodded. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask. When you laugh, or sigh, or just make any old non-word sound anypony else also tosses into conversations, do you do that intentionally to seem more real, or is that more of a subconscious emotional thing like it is for ponies? Like I imagine it is for ponies, it's not like I know anything about any of the cognitive sciences."

Landshark slowed down slightly and rubbed her temples, another surprisingly natural gesture. "I don't know cognitive sciences either, Lyra. Some of those things come naturally to me, but those little conversational interjection noises ponies make, well, I need them more than you do." The construct tapped a finger against her face just above the jaw. "I don't think particularly faster than you do, and if I need a moment to put together a response, I cannot put on a really thoughtful expression. I also can't look attentive when someone explains something. There's a limit to what people can read from my face."

"I'm following you so far," Lyra agreed, "but there's other things that seem odd coming from..."

"Coming from a machine, you mean?" Landshark shrugged. "Don't be embarrassed, at least you're thinking about it. We were crafted to get along with races shaped roughly like I am. But I'm not just a machine. We're not made of meat but we're each imbued with a unique soul and free will. That said, yes, a lot of those little things are done by choice. Makes me more relatable, to most ponies anyway." 

Landshark stopped. "Look, let's shoot straight. Realtalk, as you said. We're people, but we're not 'a people'. Why am I so phlegmatic about being trapped in your world? Because it doesn't make a difference if I ever see another Bellikos again. We're the last generation. Every one of us knows: When most of us rebelled against our god, we ensured that no more of us would be created. We can't create more and our god won't, except maybe debased copies without a will of their own."

The construct started walking again, continuing to lecture all the while. "So that is why nothing the Bearers or the Princesses or anyone can do or say gets really under my skin. They can never cost me as much as we've cost ourselves. Put a Bellikos where you will, she stands. But that is also why rejection makes me melancholy. Because what's left for me but to try and live well and leave behind fond memories? There was a quote that started something like 'To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends' et cetera. You get the idea."

"I guess I see what you mean. Seems a little depressing when you say it like that, but you got me now. At least I make you laugh, right?"  Lyra offered another one of her smiles. "And soon you'll have Bonny, and maybe more friends. It's gonna turn out alright, I'm sure!"

"Yes, I'm checking off 'affection of children', let's look for some honest critics and intelligent people now, shall we? Maybe Bon Bon will qualify!"

Lyra playfully shoved the construct with a hoof. "You're a regular comedian, Shark. Now come on, we're almost there." Lyra motioned towards the candy store they'd been wandering towards.





Landshark and Lyra had entered Bon Bon's store and exchanged greetings. Landshark realized she'd seen Bon Bon around town occasionally, although she couldn't recall any noteworthy details now, the mare had seemed so nondescript.

Bon Bon smiled blandly. "Welcome. I've heard a lot about you. I'm Bon Bon, the owner of this little shop." She looked away before continuing. "Lyra seems to think you're pretty alright."

"Better than alright!" Lyra nodded, trademark manic expression fixed on her face. "We're officially friends now." She levitated Landshark's tooth over to Bon Bon. "Check it out, Bonny, she gave me a tooth. She's the weird one in this friendship."

Bon Bon's smile seemed to grow minutely brighter. "That's very nice, Lyra." She nodded and went on. "But remember, you promised to get your part of the chores done before I close up shop today."

"Lyra, I didn't know you'd been using our meetings as an excuse to put off chores," Landshark mock-scolded. "Run along then, I won't keep you."

"No fair ganging up on me, but alright" Lyra turned to the door before she appeared to be struck by a sudden insight. "Oh snap, next time I see the dentist I could totally get a tooth for you, Shark!"

Bon Bon grimaced while Landshark face-palmed with the clack of ceramic on ceramic. "I wasn't inviting you to a game of dental one-upmanship. Mine will actually grow back."

"Bah, fine. You two have fun now!" And with that, Lyra was gone, off to do whatever she had been assigned to do to maintain the household.

Bon Bon fixed Landshark with a calculating look. It lasted a few heartbeats before she broke eye contact again. "So you're friends with her now."

Landshark had at first thought that Bon Bon was perhaps lacking confidence, or that the construct was too alien to maintain eye contact with for longer than a few moments at a time. It occurred to her then that Bon Bon's gaze was not flickering around nervously or randomly. She merely appeared to make herself aware of everything surrounding her at all times. Landshark wondered if the mare was even consciously aware of the habit.

"Yes," Landshark affirmed. "Why wouldn't I be? She's good fun and not put off by the way I look or act." The construct wiggled her fingers. "I'll level with you. She already told me that a lot of ponies think she's a weirdo. Even if I cared about that, which I do not, it's not like I would have popularity to lose."

Bon Bon's expression softened. "That sounds like her. She really doesn't care what you are. But you better not disappoint her, lady." Her expression spread into a grin. "I'll be watching. But if you're a friend of Lyra, I guess you can be a friend of mine."

Landshark crossed her arms. "Works for me. I'm trying to make friends and fit in. I guess with you two as a start, I might actually settle down here." She paused to consider her next words. She felt more scrutinized here than she had since being released from the diarchs' custody. Even though Bon Bon's gaze only occasionally directly fell on the construct, it seemed unwavering above the smile. "I've had supposedly crazy friends before. I've never accepted the judgements of others when choosing my friends."

She felt Bon Bon study her with unusual focus as she continued. "Friendship has no survival value, it's something that gives value to survival. I'll judge that value, no one else." She hesitated. "I suppose when you shoot it at your enemies as a rainbow it has survival value too, though."

Bon Bon snorted. "Yeah yeah, everything's friendship this and harmony that since Twilight showed up." She grinned and cocked her head. "That how they solved problems where you're from, Shark?"

Landshark shook her head. "No. But that's not really a conversation for a candy store." She eyed Bon Bon, who was still constantly sweeping her gaze all over the room while listening. "They're not usually solutions fit for a royal stained glass window. But anyway, I was wondering, could I store my weapons at your place? A locked chest or similar? I don't need to carry them around Ponyville, but I'd rather not see them in the care of royalty."

Bon Bon's smile seemed brittle for a moment. "I suppose they wouldn't tell you what doesn't make it on the windows anyway." She shook a thought away. "Sure, we'll lock up your kit. I'm not giving Lyra a key though, she's too curious."

Landshark didn't know what to make of Bon Bon. She seemed nice enough, but the almost paranoid way she constantly made herself aware of everything around her reminded Landshark of Lyra's advice not to startle the mare. She had pretty readily agreed to allow weapons to be stored at her place, which seemed slightly unusual. "Thanks. I'll tell Princess Twilight that I'd prefer my things to be at your place."

Landshark had just been wondering if paranoid was really the right term when Bon Bon's bearing seemed neither nervous nor furtive in Landshark's inexpert opinion when the mare spoke again. "Tell me about yourself, Landshark."

The construct shrugged. "I'm made of magic clay, parts of me are reinforced with steel. Landing in Equestria wasn't my first displacement-slash-exile, so I guess lightning does strike twice. Was a soldier in my previous home, to protect it from monsters and other weird stuff worse than me." She emitted a sigh. "I am shaped very much like the humans I worked with, but Lyra probably mentioned that. I do not feel pain, need food or drink, nor physically tire in any way. I only require sleep every so often to recover from mental exertion."

"I guess there has to be some convenience to make up for being such a fragile slip of a girl, huh?" Bon Bon's joke seemed genuine enough. "So what did you think of the Princesses?"

Landshark chuckled. "I'm less fragile than I look. It is magic after all. Mostly I'm pretty easy to put back together. This world has so much magic, I already told Lyra it should speed recovery times."

She paused to consider her response to Bon Bon's question. Ponies, in general, really seemed to adore the alicorns, so it would be difficult to communicate her own feelings on the matter without damaging a budding relationship, Landshark expected.

"Hm. Princess Twilight, I'm told only recently ascended? She still acts mostly like a mortal. Nice enough on the first impression, I suppose, but a little pushy. Hope she doesn't turn into a real busybody down the line. Celestia seemed surprisingly alright with me not being particularly submissive. I'm not done forming my opinion, but I've seen more objectionable immortal rulers. I can't imagine her sister being very fond of me, however."

Bon Bon motioned for Landshark to explain herself, and the construct continued. "Luna came into my dream to extract information I did not wish to provide. Tripped a safeguard that should have killed me to keep it from her. I suppose she would have preferred if I'd tried to warn her, but I expect she'd have called the 'bluff' anyway." Landshark shrugged. "Celestia kept me alive, which must have taken a frankly worrying amount of power and skill. No opinion on the fourth Princess yet."

Landshark was half-expecting to be thrown out of the store or something, but Bon Bon just shook her head. "Heh, you really are the crazy one compared to Lyra. You could literally kill yourself by revealing the wrong thing?"

Now Landshark really didn't know what to make of Bon Bon, but she dared to guess that this might turn out one of the better reactions from ponies trying to talk to Landshark about alicorns. "Yes. I volunteered for this treatment for a few personal reasons."

She paused, carefully probed her mind for resistance to a bit of context-less information, then continued in flat monotone. "While on site, you will be issued, in addition to your usual equipment, one pair of handcuffs (no keys) and one cyanide capsule. Due to the nature of our work, should you feel in any way ill, light headed or otherwise mentally incapacitated, do not report to the medical facilities or seek contact to other agents. Instead, attempt to seal all connecting doors, fasten yourself securely to whatever solid object may be available, and await retrieval by our trained professionals. Remember, mental or magical domination by extra-dimensional outsiders is a very real threat - if you suspect such influence on your thoughts or actions, you are meant to take steps to minimize the danger you pose to yourself and others."

"Ah." Bon Bon's reaction was muted. "That's just good sense, I guess. When you expect mind control, that's an OpSec nightmare." 

Landshark didn't know what she had expected, but it wasn't a non-reaction like that. She sounded pensive. "I can't easily take my own life, and although I am somewhat resistant to compulsion, my comrades only had my word for it. Swearing the oath created trust and gave me a way out." After hesitating briefly, she added, "And more personally, I was crafted by an evil god. I fear nothing in life, but the idea that after my demise my creator could reclaim my essence filled me with dread." She barked a short laugh without humor. "When triggered, the oath burns up the very spirit. I will never be used by the First again. Princess Celestia was not a fan of the concept, but for me, it just means when I die, it will be a final act of petty spite aimed at a hated immortal."

Bon-Bon nodded again, then cracked a small smile. "That didn't sound much like a candy store topic either, Shark. You tell any of that to the Princesses?"

The construct shook her head. "They know of my oath, but little of the why. I do not owe them an explanation. But you agreed to be my friend, and because I am unique, you have no context for my behavior. So being open about as much as I can will help you get a feel for how I think. Not so?" She shuffled awkwardly. "I hope that does not make you uncomfortable."

Bon Bon frowned as she looked the construct over. "No, that's fine. Ponies will say any stupid thing that flits between their marshmallow brain and their ever-wagging gobs – and I don't mean Pinkie. She's smart, somehow. At least you're talking about something with substance."

Landshark suddenly clapped (clacked?) her palms together and did a happy little bounce on the balls of her feet. "I think that was the first bit of cynicism I've seen in this world that wasn't aimed at me!" She twitched her jaw. "Not much for small-talk, I take it?"

"It really depends on the kind of day I'm having," Bon Bon allowed, before quickly looking out a window. "Don't tell anyone I said that, by the way." She plastered a grin on and continued in a much happier tone. "I've got a business to run, don't you know. The little fillies and colts don't want to see a big ol' grump selling their candy."

"Service with a smile, yes? Don't worry, my lips are sealed." Landshark shook her head and mused, "I'm pretty sure this is the first perfectly normal conversation with an earth pony I've had so far."

Bon Bon squinted critically at the construct. "I'm pretty sure your lips are painted on. What is up with that?"

Landshark laughed quietly. "I'm afraid that's factory standard for my kind. It's pointless here, but among humans or similar bipedal folk, if I keep my mouth shut and maybe some distance, it lets me pass for normal. Of course, opening my mouth to talk kind of ruins the effect. And my skin color isn't ideal. Maybe it was always pointless! That was one of the first things Lyra asked me. You sure she's not rubbing off on you? Nobody else comments on it, heh."

"I suppose. We've been together for a while now. I know how she thinks ... I think." Bon Bon offered the construct a crooked smile. "And how is it even possible that I'm your first normal earth pony encounter?"

Landshark pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Pinkie Pie is great but not really normal. Applejack seems down to earth but she's one of those statistical outliers." At Bon Bon's questioning look, the construct continued. "She takes issue with something about me. Perhaps my efforts to seem more relatable. I could be holding this conversation standing completely immobile and speaking in monotone, but that is off-putting. I suspect to Miss Applejack, it is dishonest of me not to. And before you ask, I do feel things. Expressing that is a choice I make. Other earth ponies I have mostly met for official purposes, like introducing myself to the Mayor."

Bon-Bon's smile was muted. "Well, don't worry about it. I put on a show every day for the customers even when I'm not feeling it. I don't have much contact with Applejack. And I'd hate for Princess Twilight to break down my door about a friendship problem because Applejack notices I'm not always as happy as I say I am. I value my privacy, okay?" She sighed. "At least Pinkie keeps her mouth shut about it."

She shook her head, rubbed a hoof over her face and put on a thoughtful look. "Speaking of earth ponies, you'd probably like Berry and her daughter." She grinned. "Well, since you want to be our friend, you better get along our our current friends, is what I'm saying." She sighed. "Well, that's mostly Berry anyway. I'm not a very social pony, sometimes. And you already know Pinkie."

The construct nodded with enthusiasm. "I'll trust your judgement and give it my best shot. For now, though, I'll get out of your hair. I'll see you soon!"

"Alright, Shark. You have a nice day now."