I woke up that second Saturday morning with the taste of morning breath in my mouth. It occurred to me that having smell and taste so closely intertwined was more often than not a bad thing. I mean, when I smell garlic, I taste garlic, and it’s not always a pleasant flavor to have in your mouth. I certainly don’t enjoy the many unintentional flavor combinations the bond between the two senses has produced. Mint and apple pie is pretty high on that list.
I walked into the kitchen in a haze, only partially present in the moment. This time I remembered it was a Saturday, and therefore I was unsurprised when I saw Lyra sitting at the table, reading the latest Equestria Daily issue while eating a bowl of corn flakes. I pretended not to notice her as I poured myself a cup of coffee and retreated back into my room, unwilling to make any sort of social contact until I knew I was capable of responding with something other than “Uuuuguuuugnhgng”.
I made my way down the hall, but was interrupted halfway by Bon Bon stepping out of the bathroom.
“Oh,” she squeaked when she turned to see me, a little bit shocked. “Good morning, Jack. Had anything to eat yet?”
“Uunh-uunh.” The words of a true poet. Caffeine, while incredibly useful, is a slow-acting drug.
“Well, come to the kitchen when you get hungry. You’ve got a long day ahead of you.”
“Huunh?” I usually was at least slightly better in the mornings than this. Maybe it’s because I skipped my morning pit stop. My body was out of kilter.
“Yeah, Lyra and I were thinking we’d show you to the beach since the weather schedule was for sun. It’d be a good time to show you how we keep cool here in Ponyville. Then maybe in the afternoon we’ll head to the park. You ever tried hoofball before?”
Seeing as I lacked the titular hooves, I figured her question was either rhetorical or stupid. Either way, I shook my head no and started to move past her. She headed into the kitchen and I headed into my room.
Slowly, my mind grew more alert as I drank my coffee in silence, reading the first few pages of the new book I picked out called The Approximate Cost of Leaving the Stable, a pleasant return to my preferred genre after reading about the fantasy world of Earth. Which reminded me, I had some questions for Lyra later.
We took off from the house after I finished eating breakfast and Lyra and Bon Bon finished gathering various supplies. They were planning on having a small picnic at the beach. I had no idea where this beach was, since Ponyville had no oceans or seas near it, but I figured if it was nice enough to picnic at it couldn’t be bad. At least, not awful.
It turned out the “beach” was actually the shore of a small lake just on the outskirts of Ponyville. The whole thing was probably about the size of a grocery store, but it still was big enough for our group and about four or five families and two teenage couples to share without being awkwardly close to each other.
“It’s a fantastic day today!” Bon Bon said as she lied down on the striped blanket she had just laid out. She pulled a book out of her saddlebag and placed it in front of her.
“Yeah, Rainbow Dash must’ve gotten up earlier than normal to clear all the clouds for this one,” Lyra remarked as she sank into a folding beach chair, eyes closed beneath her sunglasses. She was sitting that awkward way again, although to be fair I saw no other possible way to sit in the chair she had brought with her. It didn’t look like it was designed for ponies. She must’ve gotten it from a griffin designer. I had no idea why she would do such a thing.
“You know, for a self-important pegasus, Rainbow Dash isn’t all that bad most of the time.”
“Yeah, I mean, she did kind of help save all of Equestria,” Lyra said, giving a sly smile to her partner. “I wonder if she’ll come to-“
“I’m sure she’ll be at the Wonderbolts exhibition in Cloudsdale next month,” Bon Bon replied quickly, cutting off Lyra’s sentence. “Which reminds me, we’ll need to talk to Twilight about performing that spell again so we can go.”
“Oh! Right,” Lyra said, slipping me a quick glance from beneath her sunglasses. “It’s great that she’s able to do that for us. Cloudsdale’s too great a city for the pegasi to keep it all to themselves.”
I sighed as I adjusted my talons beneath my torso. Pretending to be surprised by this party was going to be a difficult task. I mean, for one, I noticed that Bon Bon had talked up playing hoofball in the park and then proceeded to not pack any sort of ball, and now here Lyra was almost explicitly talking about the guest list. Even if I hadn’t overheard the conversation last night, I would hope I would’ve been able to figure out something wasn’t exactly correct right about now.
Since I had forgotten to bring my book, I was forced to find entertainment by pony-watching. One of the two teenage couples were lost in each other’s eyes, and I could tell that they were speaking to each other but I bet even if I was right next to them I wouldn’t be able to understand a single word. Couples have this odd way of speaking to each other through inside jokes, muttered compliments, and giggles. I was guilty of something similar back when I was in high school. Very little of the communication was through speech; most of it was in subtle touches and soft eye contact.
The other teenage couple was tossing a Frisbee back and forth together. I took a moment to admire pony ingenuity. Despite the fact that they had no talons, they still managed to find things to do with their mouths. In some ways, I almost envied the fact that they had such strong teeth. I know I couldn’t dream of ever catching a Frisbee in my beak.
A small colt who was at the beach with his family trotted up near the couple and asked to play with them. The mare smiled, while the stallion tossed him the Frisbee as slowly as he could. The colt still managed to find a way to stub the front of his muzzle on the disc in an attempt to catch it, but he didn’t seem all that phased. He grabbed it straight off the sand and proceeded to toss it perfectly to the mare. It was actually quite impressive for such a little pony. The pony couple that I assumed was his parents looked at him, beaming. The father wrapped his front hoof around the mother as they nuzzled closer together.
I thought for a brief moment of the time before Jen was born. I didn’t remember much of it, but I did remember how much joy every single thing I did brought my parents. Even the messes were only minor annoyances, and my parents often would blame themselves long before they would ever blame me. I was so important, so loved. I suddenly became jealous of the colt. Maybe he’d be an only child forever, never learning what it was like to have to compete for his parents’ attention. I mean, I loved Jen, but it was really damn annoying having her around.
I continued having various nostalgic thoughts for what must’ve been one or two hours until, finally, Lyra took off her sunglasses and looked over to Bon Bon. “Sweets, what time is it?”
Bon Bon pulled a pocketwatch out of her saddlebag just as my stomach gave an audible growl. She sighed and put the watch back in her bag, saying, “I guess it’s time for lunch.”
Lyra got out of her chair with a rather dramatic stretch. She opened the bag she had brought with her and pulled out three saran-wrapped sandwiches. “Hey Jack,” she asked, “you want the sandwich with alfalfa and mustard or one of the PB&J’s? I’ll have the one you don’t want.”
“I’ll take the alfalfa, if you don’t mind,” I replied. I’d had one too many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my bag-lunch days at school. Lyra levitated one of the sandwiches over to me and I unwrapped it, eager to get something in my stomach, and took a significant sized bite. Bon Bon giggled slightly before motioning to Lyra to unwrap her sandwich for her.
“So Lyra,” I began, hoping to get something resembling conversation going after what had been a very boring morning for me, “I finished up The Forgotten Ones. I have to say, although I’m not the biggest fan of fantasy, the humans did intrigue me.”
Immediately there was a noticeable change in Lyra’s temperament. Whereas most of the morning she’d been low-energy, probably harnessing some residual depression from yesterday’s activity, now she immediately sat fully upright, her front hooves extended as she leaned on her haunches. Her eyes opened wide. A smile broke out on her face, a grin that threatened to force the corners of her mouth into her ear canals. “I know, right? I mean, they really are the perfect species! They have those fingers, which are like talons but COOLER! And there’s the cars, and the computers, and they walk! On two hooves! Except they’re not even hooves, they’re called feet!”
Bon Bon buried her face in her hooves, and I recoiled slightly at the sudden burst of pure excited energy. “Uh, yeah, the author certainly has a good imagination,” I said, trying to contain the anxiety I felt from the assault.
“Good? GOOD?!?” Bon Bon winced at the raised volume and looked over at the family nearest to us, who didn’t seem to notice anything. “I’m convinced Quillfeather is one of the greatest authors of all time! Except for those stupid sequels. Don’t read the sequels. They’re not worth your time.” I had already more or less decided the same thing. “So, what was your favorite part?”
“I, errm,” I tried to regain some control over my facial expression, attempting to give a smile back, but probably just wound up halfway between a grimace and a frightened frown. “I dunno, it was all so good I don’t think I can pick a single part.” I was too intimidated by the mile-wide smile immediately in front of me to offer my true criticisms. Bon Bon looked up from her hooves and gave me a small smile.
“Ooh, good point,” Lyra said, her grin returning to a contemplative frown as she thought about what I assumed was her own favorite. “I mean, I always liked the part where they fly in those little mechanical birds, but there’s also the motorized cart races, those are pretty fascinating too. And, I mean, who could forget about David’s crush on Rose? They’re so perfect together!”
I suppressed a giggle. The relationship was actually one of the worst parts of the book. Neither of the two received much characterization, since the author was too busy explaining the various pieces of human society. They were just kind of forced together because it was convenient. “Yeah, I’m glad David got around to telling Rose about his crush.”
“Aaaaaanyway,” Bon Bon suddenly raised her face from her hooves, looking down at the watch she had pulled back out of her pocket. “It’s nearly one. We should finish up eating and head to the park.”
Had time really gone by that fast? We’d come out here at ten. That was three hours of pony-watching I did? I was suddenly rather impressed at my own ability to keep myself entertained.
We did, in fact, finish up our food. I was curious how Bon Bon planned to kill four whole hours at a park, but so far life in Ponyville had been full of surprises.
On our way to the park, Bon Bon broke pace with Lyra and dropped back to talk to me. “Hey Jack, enjoy the beach?”
“Yeah, sure,” I replied brusquely. I was perplexed at the odd behavior, since Lyra and Bon Bon almost never separated during our walks together. As a result, I kind of became a bit of brush-off.
“It’s not exactly Palm Springs, but, y’know, we try.” She gave a small giggle.
“Yeah, well, Baltimare doesn’t have anything particularly impressive itself.” Which was true enough. I mean, we had shoreline, but it was all occupied by ports.
We walked a bit more in silence. It wasn’t awkward silence, just, settled silence. We spent some time in our own heads.
Eventually, Bon Bon spoke what was on her mind. “Listen, I know it might not have been intentional, but thanks for what you did back there.”
“Huh?”
“Lyra’s going through tons of stress right now, and somepony else to talk with about her little obsession is exactly what I think she needs.”
“Um, yeah, about that...”
“I know she’s not exactly the easiest pony to talk with, but... could you... humor... her? Just for another week or two? Talk about The Forgotten Ones, maybe ask her about her music, be... nice?”
“This is basically about my talons, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes, but-”
“Look, I’m staying with you guys because I quite seriously have no other options. And I’m incredibly grateful for the hospitality, I really am. But, is there any way you guys could just let me keep to myself?”
Bon Bon gave me a look. She was really good at looks. This one contained entire paragraphs. It contained concern, mild offense, disappointment, shame, and pleading. “Jack, she’s vulnerable right now. I’m worried about her. She spent all of last night after you left crying on the couch. I’d only just gotten her to calm down when you showed up.”
“I don’t want to be used like that, Bon Bon. I’m sorry.”
Another beat passed.
“Are you not doing this because you don’t approve of... us?” Bon Bon gave me a serious look.
I sighed. “I don’t disapprove, exactly. I just-”
“You want us to keep our lifestyle behind closed doors, right?”
“Maybe not so brusquely, but-”
“You know, you came to our house, right? Well, not exactly. Twilight came to us, and we said yes. We said yes because Lyra wanted to talk to a griffin, and because I thought hosting a sick person was just the right thing to do. We didn’t say yes because we wanted our lifestyle questioned by some intolerant ass.”
“I’m not intolerant, I just want to be tolerant from a distance. Is that so bad?”
“Yes.”
Another beat. I looked down at the ground, slightly ashamed. Bon Bon gave Lyra a long look, before continuing, “Look, Jack, don’t do it for me. Don’t do it because I told you to. Do it because she needs help, and I think you’re the only person who can give it to her. You’re a griffin who plays guitar. Really, if your personality were different, I’d be jealous of you. You’re set up to have a monopoly on her attention, and she needs attention. She needs someone to help her pull through this.”
I thought for a moment. Bon Bon had a point. I was telling myself that I was saying no because I didn’t want to be used because I was a griffin, but at the same time Lyra hadn’t seemed right except for the first time I met her and just now at the beach. Then, she’d been eager, happy, full of energy. Every other time, she’d looked stressed, sad, and discontent. It was the least I could do for the mare to offer some small comfort.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll talk to her. I’ll be nice. I’ll try to be her friend.”
Bon Bon gave me a gentle smile. “Thank you so much, Jack. I’m sure you’ll find it rewarding.”
“I hope so.”
Bon Bon caught back up with Lyra, who had been walking with her head dangerously low to the ground. She was not well. I sighed. I knew what I was inevitably going to do. Despite the fact that I could put on the asshole act, I knew that I couldn’t let someone else wallow in that much depression when I knew I could help. I braced myself for what was to come, as I would get closer to this pony who, to this point, had pushed me away with her energy.