//------------------------------// // Tribulations // Story: Lovely Days // by WritingSpirit //------------------------------// "It would be like I was never here, Lyra." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lyra Heartstrings glowered at the mirror. She never meant to. She didn't want to. She just noticed it out the corner of her eye, that was all. She happened upon it, stumbled upon it, found herself staring at it for no good reason. She thought it may be different, hoped it was just an afterthought, wished it was just the aftermath of a bad dream. It was all a coincidence, a chance meeting, a sudden happenstance that she just so happened upon. An accident, an occurence, an event that arose from the strangest of circumstances, a situation that came about the throw of fate's dice, an opportunity that she didn't know the stakes of, yet she blindly dived in anyway. The first night, she prayed for change and slept soundly. The second night, she barely kept her eyes closed from the drumming in her head. The third, she tossed herself within her sheets and buried her groans into her pillow. It was the result of the third night that brought Lyra to where she was today: standing in the mirror and trembling from hoof to clenched jaw, the temptation to strike that unforgiving, derisive mare in the mirror growing the longer she stared into it. Lyra, however, knew better: she was a model citizen of Equestria. She knew better than to punch through glass just to take out her rage. Instead, she followed her routine, parting her trembling lips as she uttered the magic word. "S-Sunshines..." It was only the fourth day with the saudades. Four days of sullen thoughts and a sinking heart. The emptiness was eating away at her for only four days, yet the gaping chasm within her never subsided. Rather, it was growing. It was clawing out from within, seeking to break her apart. Her heart had already reached the bottom of whatever trench it was in, yet she could feel it burrowing deeper down, threatening to drag her into the darkness. It only made her wonder if she toiled through a year's worth of saudades already. "FERRA, I'm heading out." "What about breakfast, Lyra?" "I''ll be having it over at Vinyl's," she inexpicably answered, heading out the door. "Take care of the house for me." "Will do, Lyra." . . . . . . "That'll be four bits." Without hesitation nor delay, Lyra Heartstrings placed said amount onto the stall, exchanging it for a caramel-glazed pretzel. Grasping it with her magic, she trotted onwards to her workplace, taking a few bites off her little treat. It wasn't the most healthy breakfast she could think of, nor was it the most fulfilling, but it gave her the little jumpstart she needed for the day. She'll stave off the hunger that will ensue until lunch if she had to, knowing she had bigger problems on her mind to deal with. Anypony can lie to a FERRA without breaking a sweat, though not many would feel bad about it. Lyra hated it, feeling guilty over lying to her household robot, but it was still a lie. Nothing bugged her more than the feeling of guilt, that is, until the saudades came along. It was really strange, this feeling of yearning, of an incoherent loss. Understanding what she was exactly feeling only served to make it more confusing than it already was. Lyra knew there was no absolute cure— you can't cure an emotion. Even so, there were always the opposites: if she was sad, she'd find something to make her happy; if she was angry, she'd find something to cool her down. If she had lost something, she'd have to get it back. Question was, what did she lose? "Look who's here." "Sunshines, Lightning." Lyra gave her colleague a wave as she stepped into the warehouse. She gave a good look around the place, which was piling up with more work than ever, what with the various machines and parts all over the floor. However, there was one thing missing from it all. One very, very, very important thing. "Where's Vinyl?" she asked. "On a trip to the barracks to return the CASS," Lightning answered, tightening a few gears with a small screwdriver. "She said she probably won't be back in time for lunch, so we'll be eating by ourselves later." "Okay, I guess." "You okay there, Heartstrings? You look pretty bummed out." "Wha—me?" Lyra spluttered. "I'm A-OK, for your information. Feeling pretty fine today! Lovely day!" "If your definition of pretty fine is sulking in the corner, then I guess there's nothing bothering you." Lyra coughed out a bland chuckle, resisting the temptation to roll her eyes. With Vinyl gone, the last thing both mares needed was a full-blown argument; the luxurious pact of peace was one that she and Lightning would appreciate together. Surveying the warehouse, she smiled when she spotted a broken FERRA, crystal detached from the base and waiting to be tended to. "Dibs on the FERRA," she announced, already reaching for a toolbox. "What say you, Lightning Dust?" "Dibs acknowledged." "Sheesh, I'm just trying to lighten the mood here." "I'm kinda busy, you know?" Lightning groused, waving a wrench for emphasis. "Though I wouldn't mind if you have the dibs on everything else as well." "Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Lyra scoffed, tossing her mane back. Only five minutes in and Lightning already accomplished the goal of souring everything up. Having the saudades only added a dash of misery into the mix, enhancing her suffering further as she expected it would. She had considered taking a leave just to wait until her mood lightened up, but the sudden influx at work forced her to stay. She could leave at any time, yet she didn't want to see Vinyl breaking her back over a few extra orders. It'll only make her feel bad, which would've been the icing on the most despicable cake she might ever come across. Deciding instead to focus on the FERRA, Lyra began her work, removing one of the platings holding the robot together. Within it was a sight that not many a pony would come to: a carefully weaved mesh of wires, a grandeur assortment of small gears, various pistons, springs, coils and the pièce de résistance, the crystal of magic itself, faintly glowing within the embrace of copper and brass. "Few rusted gears and a depleted power source," Lyra's mind listed out the problems. "Should be a quick one." Time was kind enough to pick up its pace as Lyra began working fervently, finishing one request after another, filling out all the necessary papers that Vinyl would fill if she were here. By the time noon came around, most of the broken FERRAs were back in top condition, sacrificing all that remains of her unfulfilling breakfast in return. Her stomach was growling in desperation for lunch, made worse only by the raw grumble of the saudades within her. "Lightning, you finished yet?" she called out to her colleague. "Few more bolts and I'm done." "I guess you could call them Lightning's bolts?" "Oh, haha," Lightning Dust deadpanned at that crude attempt of a joke, looking up at her giggling friend from behind the vending machine she was working on. "Just wait for a moment, alright? I'll be done in a sec." Lyra Heartstrings kicked back her hooves, rolling up what was left of her patience into a small pill and swallowed it with the scowl of a spoiled foal. Rather than watching her friend tinkering away, she resorted herself to relishing in a commodity that announced its arrival in Vinyl's absence: tuning in to the radio. Letting out a hum of delight mixed with a subtle dash of mischief, she turned the knob to full blast. . . . "—and that was the fantabulously wonderful Miss Coloratura, once again amazing us with her stunning new track, 'Filly of a Preacher Mare', right here on the Flim Flam Rodeo Breakfast Show! My, my! She really is the shining star of our times, isn't she, Flam?" "No doubt about that, Flim! Aside from her beauty, which is of no question, I dare say she may be one of the greatest minstrels of our time! You hear me, brother! Of all time!" . . . "Vinyl had a point about the radio," Lightning Dust grumbled while rubbing her ringing ears, making Lyra snicker. . . . "Now, moving on towards more exciting stories! Flim, have you by any chance heard of the latest miracle cure?" "I did not, Flam! Do enlighten me on this miracle cure of yours!" "Ah, this one's a fine doozy, if you ask me! Fruit Of The Bloom has announced the arrival of Alma, the latest in the line of Cytosols that could brighten up your lovely day!" . . . "That's the new one, right?" Lightning Dust popped the question. "Been seeing it everywhere lately. Something about companionship and whatever." "Yeah," Lyra muttered, reminded of the sign Royal Riff held up in the basket full of all those bottles, the undeniably catchy slogan still remaining fresh in her head. "All you need for companionship is a single sip. Sure, like that's gonna happen." "I'm alright with a bottle of Connie or Kyna. You know, something along the lines of reality, but Alma? A drink for companionship? Really? You must be pretty desperate to buy a drink that helps you find a friend in life." . . . "I hear our listeners, Flam! Isn't the Alma already out on the shelves since last week? Why are we, the Flim Flam Brothers, reporting it once more?" "Simple, Flim! Now, I know there are some skeptics out there about what Alma can do, but there is something great about Alma that a lot of ponies have been missing out! Something so unbelievable that I'm sure over half of our faithful listeners would not believe their ears with what I'm about to say next! This is the truth, fellow ponies! Word for word!" . . . "And... done!" Lightning finally announced with a sigh, tossing her wrench aside with a loud clatter and giving her hooves and wings a stretch. "Alright, I'm starving! Ready to go, Heartstrings?" Lyra would always be ready with the prospect of lunch around the corner without a moment's hesitation. That should be true for today as well, what with her belly gnawing at her mind over her minuscule morning meal. She was already about to say yes from the get go, shut the radio with a spin on the knob and trot on her merry way towards the nearest diner to reward her patience with a grand feast. She was ready to head off to get her mind off her problems and her stomach fulfilled with a monument of pancakes and some wedges dipped in a swirly mountain of mayonnaise. She wasn't ready, however, for what the radio host had said next. . . . "As of today, Alma has been proven to be a legitimate cure for the saudades!" . . . . . . . . . A cure for the saudades. A miracle cure. To many, the announcement has brought about cheers and celebrations from all around the district. Finally, finally, somepony discovered a cure for the saudades! Finally, ponies all about can go about their lovely day without being bothered by that sinking feeling! Finally, ponies can be rid of the little pest bothering them in their heads and be on their way! Finally, they cried! Finally! Lyra didn't realize how widespread the saudades where. In her journey back after a fulfilling lunch with Lightning Dust at the closest diner, a mere seven blocks away, she had heard enough exhilarated hurrahs to parallel the festive parades of the Summer Sun Celebration. Nurse Redheart made an understatement about calling it a common disease, really— with the uproar she's seeing, it should be called a pandemic instead! Screams of utter joy rang from window to window, some of them smashing into her eardrums liberally like a punching bag in a gymnasium. Stallions were prancing about like cheery schoolfillies, randomly grabbing a partner from around them (Lyra couldn't count how many offers she had dodged) and dancing to their heart's content. All they needed were fireworks and a storm of streamers to make it all better. "Didn't realize the 3-Fourteen's bumped up their schedule," Lightning laughed at her own joke. "Still, we've been waiting for this for ages! Never thought I'd lived to the day I would hear this. At best, I thought I'll be a senior citizen by then, with the graying mane and the hospital bed and everything—" "Wait, ponies were waiting for this?" "Cure for the saudades, Heartstrings!" the pegasus cried, before chuckling. "Seriously, where have you been, Lyra? Is the rock you're living under that big?" "How come I wasn't aware of this?" Lyra asked, baffled with a growing frustration. "I lived here as long as everypony else! I should've known about this when everypony else does!" "Looks like you don't, though. And here, I thought I'm the slow learner." Lightning Dust had a way with brushing the wrong feather against her nerves. Every time, the static that came from it would charge up the battery in her, all for it to be drained out when she heads home and scream it all out loud into the darkest confines of her pillow. Lyra knew better than to let it out in the open, for it would be less than desirable, especially if Vinyl caught wind of it. That mare... ho, that mare could fix both of them up faster than the royal sentry could ever dream of. However, that was a time when she didn't have the saudades. "You probably heard it from some stallion you banged last night." Lightning Dust's wings twitched, feathers bristling. "What did you say?" she growled, turning her head. "Man, did all that drilling ruined your hearing?" Lyra flouted, mocking a concerned gasp. "Or did your rent-colt screw them out with all that grunting? Always the loud ones, huh—" A loud crack tore her voice out, pain stinging in her cheeks as Lyra stumbled backwards. Before she could recover, she felt herself being yanked forward by her shoulders, her stare finally landing onto the burning yellow pupils of Lightning Dust. The mare's wings were outstretched, turquoise feathers glinting in the glare of sunlight and shifting to the rhythm of her huffing and puffing. Gritting her teeth, she hoisted Lyra just a little higher, hoof already poised to deliver the next blow. "Say it again, I fucking dare you!" she snarled. "You think you can get away with that kind of shit talk, Heartstrings?! You think that just because I work with you in the same fucking shop I'll let it slide?!" "Guessing satisfaction's not guaranteed?" A blow to the stomach sent Lyra reeling, two hooves clutching tightly onto her belly before she fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Her ribs crumpled in hellfire, her head swimming as her diaphragm struggled to pitch itself back up even as she felt everything crashing down onto it. Her eyes broke free from the ferocious maws of agony, lids trembling to open and shaky pupils jaggedly drawing up to face Lightning Dust towering over her, panting menacingly. "You ass..." she could barely hear her colleague mutter. "Celestia damn it, Lyra, you made me do this..." "H-Heh," the unicorn managed to wheeze. Her trembling hooves lifted her shaking form up, wobbling about before finding balance. She winced, a soreness cementing itself in her belly that would certainly last until tomorrow. Gasping back her supply of air, she coughed out a derisive chuckle, dead eyes staring into the other mare. "That how you cope with your mistakes or what?" "For Celestia's sake, can you fucking shut up?!" Lightning screeched. "What the fucking hell's wrong with you, Heartstrings?! I didn't even do jack shit to you and you're being such a turd mouthed prick!!" "Well, look who's fucking talking?!!" Lyra retaliated. "As if you haven't been running your own mouth sideways, Lightning Dust!!" "What are you even talking about, Lyra?!" "Stop acting as if you didn't know what you've done!!" "I don't know what I've done, alright?!" Lyra was shaking, those words sending her seething into a world of red. Her shoulder tensed to the war drum of her heart, ignoring all those wide-eyed stares around and zeroing in onto Lightning Dust. Before she even realized it, she began stomping towards the pegasus and, reaching back as far as she could, swung her hoof across her face. Blood flew from Lightning's nostrils, spots of it flecking across the pavement; that blow was harder than she had hoped. As the mists of pent-up frustration cleared her head, Lyra stood there, wide-eyed with a sinking feeling in her gut as her friend quickly brought a hoof up towards her crumpled snout, hissing and cussing as a single trail of red ran down along the curves of her heel and fell in droplets onto the ground. "L-Lightning, are you—" "Get the fuck away from me!" Lyra flinched as Lightning Dust stepped back, flaring her wings with a glower. Before any of them could make their next move, the frantic cacophony of galloping hooves and soft mumbles from the crowd made both of them turn. Ice crawled up their joints when they spotted seven glinting gold plates of helmets, saddles and chestplates bearing a red sun: the unmistakable attire of the royal guard. Their stern gazes darted towards her, narrowing when it shifted towards Lightning's bleeding snout. "We heard that there was a commotion," one of them turned to Lyra and inquired as two more headed to Lightning's side. "What happened here, Miss?" "We... I... th-there was a misunderstanding between the two of us and—" "Misunderstanding? Misundersta— Lyra, you fucking, lying piece of—" Lightning Dust lunged forward, only to be grappled back just in time by the pair of guards tending to her bleeding snout. She twisted and floundered in their clutches, yelling and screaming profanities of every hue in the spectrum. The sight of her colleague, squirming and kicking in vain... Lyra couldn't have bitten her lip harder than she ever did. "Miss, I'm afraid we're going to have to take you both in," the guard told her. "We'll have to take a few statements from you and your, uh... friend over there. Now, if you would please come along with me..." Lyra could not muster an audible reply, trotting along and watching as one of the unicorn guards holding Lightning back cast some sort of spell with his horn and directed it at her friend. Sure enough, the cussing pegasus's fervent kicks began to slow, her eyelids drooping listlessly and her vocabulary reduced to a drawl of murmurs, before Lightning's struggles came to an abrupt halt, sleeping soundly while the guards placed her onto a bed of hovering magic. "Don't worry, Miss," the guard trotting alongside her assured. "She will be alright." The mare nodded. She knew the both of them will be alright, that was certainly no doubt. There will be cold fronts from Lightning Dust for a while, but it would wear away eventually. However, she also knew that there would be one other pony that will not be fine with what had just happened. Not fine at all. . . . . . . The lights of the warehouse flickered, illuminating the sleek, robust cabinets and the various tools scattered around the floor, left as it were before their departure for lunch. All of it, eagerly awaiting for their return to fixing, tinkering and tweaking of whatever contraption and machinery was tasked to them, but with what had just transpired, it wouldn't be so until after a minute or two. Lyra Heartstrings meekly sauntered in, her head hanging low all the way from the police station back to the spacious office of Crescendo Restorations. Following behind her, with a grimace plastered over her bruised snout, was Lightning Dust, whom Lyra knew, from the tingles occasionally racing down her back, that she had been glaring daggers at her throughout the whole journey. The pegasus was livid, with good reason, though not so much as the last pony in the group was. Vinyl Scratch was the last of them to step in. With a swift tug of her magic, the steel garage door came cascading down, crashing and thrashing in protest before slamming onto the ground with an aggravatingly raucous bang that made the other two jump and whirl around. Frozen in place, Lyra and Lightning watched as their manager, with an exasperated sigh, trotted towards her work table and placed her glasses, before turning to them with a deadpan stare. "Explain to me, please," she began coldly, glancing between the two offenders. "How it happened. How all that stuff just now happened." Both of them did not respond. "Nothing? Really? Alright, then this is how I see it." Vinyl cleared her throat, the fire in her cerise eyes burning brighter. "I just came back from visiting the Barracks in the Nova District, tired and pissed off because the asshat of the guard that broke his birdie tried to start up a bargain over our services, even though I specifically told him the day he came to us that we charge with no exceptions. One long shouting match later, I got out with the money, bought a sandwich along the way, was walking back here, when a guard came up to me and I learned that two of my friends were beating each other up like some stupid kids fighting over a lollipop on the corner of the avenue and were brought to the station. I head to the station, paid to bail both of your asses out and the medical fee for your bleeding nose, which, in total, is essentially half of what we've earned from the CASS, which could've been used to cover some of our taxes." Lyra and Lightning both glanced away at the last sentence, but Vinyl wasn't done yet. "So I wanna ask both of you the same question: what the fuck happened out there?" "Lyra started it!" Lightning seized the opportunity. "She said to me, right in my face, that I banged some stupid colt!" "Yeah, and then you smacked me across the face because, oh I don't know, it was such a good idea?!" "Cause you kept on going, Heartstrings! You kept on talking shit, on and on and—" "So you had to punch me in the gut?! That's your excuse?!" "What about you?! Your punch made my nose bleed, you fucking hypocrite!!" "SHUT UP!!" Both mares immediately fell silent, stunned at Vinyl's sudden outburst. "You're in my office" she scowled, glaring between the two. "I want to hear an explanation, not accusations over whose fault and who said what, who did what, none of that!! I don't want to hear that kind of bullshit in here! This is NOT how shit works around here and I will not let this kind of shit talking happen around here! Am I clear?!" Silence. "AM I CLEAR?!!" "Yes, Vinyl!" Lyra and Lightning spluttered out, almost in unison. "Now then," Vinyl began again, roping her flared temper back in. "Lyra, did you say that Lightning went and got off with a stallion somewhere?" "Technically, I told her—" "Did you or did you not?" Vinyl interrupted. "Yes? Or no?" Lyra sighed in utter defeat. "Y-Yeah, I did..." she mumbled. "But only because I was... I was... I couldn't take it anymore!" "Take what?" "Everything!" Vinyl turned to Lightning, who provided only a baffled look and a shrug. "Lyra, please," she said breathlessly with growing concern. "You gotta let me know what's bothering you. Please, I have to know, not as your manager or anything, but as your friend. So please, for our sake, for Lightning and I, just... tell me what's wrong." "I don't know!" Lyra yelled, glaring at each of them as if daring them to say something, before her muscles finally gave up, her shoulders slouching and her head wilting to the floor as she gave a defeated sigh. "I don't know... I don't know anymore. I thought it would be over, but it's just so... so... it keeps getting worse and worse each day..." "The saudades, right?" Vinyl guessed, to which she nodded glumly. "Look, you could talk to us about it, you know? It's not like we didn't get the saudades before." "Wait, you had the saudades too?" "Yeah. Multiple times," she chuckled, not exactly proud of that achievement. "Didn't go to a Rosy Maple's for it, so I didn't know what it was, but when you told me about it, I had to do a little research. Turns out I had the saudades a few times before. Thought it was just the stockpiled frustration and fatigue I picked up from work, but I guess it's much more than that. Heck, even Lightning here went through it!" Lyra's disbelief soared to heights she had never reached before, wide eyes of awe directed at her colleague. Lightning Dust, flustered as she was, could only scratch her mane, looking somewhat dispirited, if not a little apologetic. Still, when she thought about what the pegasus had said before the fight that ensued, it made a little sense. "Yeah, once or twice," Lightning mumbled. "I didn't know you were going through that, Heartstrings, honestly, I didn't. I thought you were just bummed out because Vinyl left you with me at the store or something like that. I mean, had I known it was the saudades..." Lightning's voice trailed off into silence, her eyes drawn back to the floor. It only made Lyra question how notorious this saudades thing really was, which only made her wonder whether Nurse Redheart realized how unbelievably common this leeching of emotion was felt. She still hadn't forgotten her meeting with the nurse on the weekend, to which she added a mental note of asking her about it. Right after their grand feast of donuts, of course! Right now, however, she has to settle this, one way or another. "I'm sorry, Lightning," she gave her wholehearted apology. "I was... I guess I was just... I didn't know—" "It was the saudades, Lyra. I've been there, I would know," Lightning said with a chuckle. "I'm the one who should be sorry, really. Guess that 'strike first, ask later' approach didn't work out quite as planned." All three of them laughed mirthfully, Lyra ending hers with a languid sigh of relief. "Look, why don't you take the rest of the day off?" Vinyl suggested, much to the other unicorn's surprise. "Take care of your saudades for today?" "R-Really? B-But... but the orders—" "Lightning and I will take care of them," Vinyl assured, the pegasus beside her nodding confidently. "Don't sweat it, Lyra! Won't take anything out from your cut, I promise." Lyra smiled her most genuine smile of the day. "Thanks, guys." With wishes of luck, a wave of goodbyes and the rest of the day ahead of her, Lyra Heartstrings slid the garage door of Crescendo Restorations back up, reopening it for business while she took her leave. She trotted back home, trying her best to let the flow of the lovely day take her mind to a better place. The only feeling that remained left of her friendship fiasco with Lightning Dust was the rumbling ache in place of where the pegasus punched her in the gut. Or was that ache from the saudades? At this point, she couldn't tell. Speaking of which, Alma was apparently a cure for the saudades, if one were to believe the honeyed words of a crafty pair of radio hosts. Though she was no medical expert, Lyra remained dubious when it comes to Alma and all the other Cytosols, remaining adamant that it was all a sham, despite all the positive attention her friends gave it. Even Vinyl, who had vocally opposed Cytosol manufacturer Fruit Of The Bloom's parent company, Starswirl Incorporated, had showered it with more praise than she could ever hope for. For Alma to be a miracle cure for the saudades? Preposterous, she cried in her head! "There's just no way..." she chortled with a shake of her head, slowly but surely cantering back home. "No way at all..." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Miss Heartstrings? Miss Heartstrings, are you there? . . . . . . . . . . Subject is awake, but comatose, unable to respond. My, my, Miss, they really did a number on you... Seriously, I understand their need for brute force, but do they really have to go that far? You're in utter luck that they didn't damage your major organs or your parasympathetic systems. Otherwise, I would have a really, really dead mare on my table. We can't have that now, can we? This whole thing would've been pointless... Hard to say for sure if this would work. Highly doubt I'd get any proper readings from this, but the results are, without a doubt, certain, if the past few subjects have been of any concern. It could've been much more rewarding! Oh, so much more~! I can't even begin to reiterate how profitable it could've been! Enough fretting, as mother may phrase it. Really though, enough. Commence the experiment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I'll see you again, Miss Heartstrings. Very soon. . . .