• Published 20th Oct 2015
  • 2,213 Views, 171 Comments

Norrath, Earth, Equestria. A Construct's Journey - Nimnul



A strange construct, or fancy golem, is displaced to Equestria. But Landshark is no servant, no mere automaton. She claims to be a renegade Bellikos. What and Who is she, and why does she just want to settle down quietly now?

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Progress!

Author's Note:

I'm not dead!

I still find spelling mistakes to squash on going back to re-re-reread my work, which is a little frustrating. Work in progress, I suppose.

I've also been ruminating about the timeline. Maybe my handful of longtime readers could weight in on it on my blog post? https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/692225/timelines

Spring was great. Berry Punch didn't have a real flowery way with words, but she could leave it at that. Spring was great. The temperature had hit that nice sweet spot, the wind didn't chill her, but she wouldn't have to sweat unless she actually had a workout of some kind.

The sky was clear, and blue. Berry thought she might love the sky like that. Growing up in groundside Las Pegasus, you always looked up at clouds of some kind, on account of all the pegasus architecture up above. Rainbow Dash's house was positively humble compared to that.

She never really wondered what it'd be like to fly. Maybe it was part of being an earth pony, but she was just fine with all four hooves on the ground. She could still enjoy the view of a clear sky whenever the weather office had it scheduled that way, and a pony had to be blind to live in the same town as Rainbow Dash and not to know that flying could be really impressive.

Still, she was fine on the ground.

She was torn out of her thinking and sky-gazing by the voice of a friend.

"Awfully spaced out this morning," Bon Bon commented drily. Berry hadn't seen it happen, but she'd bet any amount of money that the other earth pony had scanned the sky with narrowed eyes before speaking up, just in case Berry had actually been staring at something unexpected. Bon Bon didn't like surprises from above. Or from any direction, really.

It wasn't totally clear to Berry what Bon Bon would be looking for, or what she had been looking for when she developed the habit. "Just appreciating a nice day, I guess."

"That's fair," Bon Bon nodded. "Any particular reason you're tagging along? Not that we don't appreciate it." She smiled, but did sound a little tired.

Berry assumed that ordinarily, Lyra would have accompanied Bon Bon on her walk to Fluttershy's cottage while the candy store remained closed for the day. Lyra didn't much like leaving her marefriend by herself. Those were considerations in hindsight, Berry hadn't expressed an interest in coming along to see Fluttershy just so Lyra could remain behind and keep the candy store open.

"Shark's dog spends so much time at my place, might as well get some of whatever Fluttershy sells as dog food, I figure. S'just good hospitality, y'know."

"Hrm." Bon Bon fell silent for a moment. "Haven't been paying much attention. Those two not getting along?"

"Eh." Berry supposed that she might be a little closer to the subject at hoof because her daughter was pretty fond of Landshark's dog, the Admiral. She'd been slightly worried at first, it was a pretty sturdy dog, and allegedly the breed could develop rather forceful personalities, but he'd been reasonably well-behaved.

In the way children seemed so fond of sharing newly learned information with their parents, Pinchy and Dinky had gravely explained that you had to stop playing with the dog if he got too rough. Apparently it was better to quit out of dominance games than to win them.

Didn't make a whole lot of sense to Berry, she'd put her share of ponies in their places in her youth, but she didn't know much about dogs. "Seems alright to me. Dogs are pack animals, right? Probably just needs more company than just Shark."

Bon Bon offered a small grin. "The way Fluttershy tells it, some dogs just need a job to feel good. Probably better he's keeping the fillies company instead of deciding he should be trashcan inspector during workin' hours."

"Fair enough." Berry could believe that, and anyway Bon Bon had to have picked up some dog-knowledge herself since she had had to take part in training her future helper with Fluttershy.

Berry herself wasn't completely clueless, of course, she'd had the good sense to ask Landshark how the construct talked to the dog, no sense in confusing the critter with different command-reward schemes.

She really hadn't had a lot of occasions to go to Fluttershy's place. Even more so than the rest of town, her cottage always looked like something from a picture book. It wasn't precisely the type of location to seek out if a pony already felt out of place. The whole town had always been too nice for the likes of her.

Still took an effort of will to quell that sort of thinking. Seemed to get easier with practice, and wasn't popping up so much. Maybe if she had worked up the guts to befriend Fluttershy, she wouldn't have struggled with that sort of thinking quite as much? A pony probably didn't get stuck with the Element of Kindness for nothing.

No point thinking about things that didn't happen, of course. Who was to know whether Berry would have taken encouragement from Fluttershy any more seriously than from other ponies who knew her? It was better to focus on the present.

Presently, they approached Fluttershy's cottage, which raised a new concern for Berry. "Why's that rabbit givin' us the evil eye?" Berry felt an amused smirk forming as she waited for Bon Bon's answer.

She hadn't been entirely unaware that Fluttershy shared her cottage with the ill-tempered critter, but she hadn't had much reason to get acquainted personally.

"No idea," Bon Bon admitted, sounding amused as well. "He's just a jerk, I guess."

"S'just funny, a pony gives you a look like that, you know they're lookin' to buy trouble. Never expect to see a rabbit mad-doggin' me." She approached the animal with a chuckle. "Your turf, huh?"

The little guy intensified his scowl and directed a 'I've got my eyes on you' gesture at the ponies.

"Bet you wish you weren't so small, huh?" She lowered her head to be approximately face to face with the rabbit. "Hope you behave yourself around my daughter, pal."

"Come on, Berry," Bon Bon sounded like she'd rolled her eyes while saying it. "The little pest is hardly gonna risk upsetting his meal ticket by trying to bully kids around here."

That was fair enough, Berry thought. In any case, she hadn't been keeping real good track of where Pinchy and Dinky spent their free time, it just seemed like a good assumption that this place and the other, less surly animals would appeal to fillies.

"Besides, there's always two of 'em. If Angel here somehow managed to upset Pinchy, without talking, mind you, Dinky would just dunk him into the rain barrel to cool off. Stop worryin' for nothin'."

Bon Bon did know a thing or two about worrying for nothing, so Berry was willing to let the matter drop. Still, she sat down in front of Angel. "Y'know, I would have tried to play along if you'd gone for something more like, 'you're cool and I'll be cool', even if that still woulda been hard to take serious. This is your home too, right?" She shook her head. "Now you're just comin' off like those meanspirited weasely guys what pick fights 'cause they know they got someone bigger for back-up."

Angel crossed his little arms and pointedly looked away. Obviously he was done with her.

"We haven't got all day, Berry," Bon Bon reminded her.

"Yeah, yeah," Berry got up again. The other mare was probably eager to finally take her future dog home. Contrary to Bon Bon's claim, there wouldn't be any real harm in taking it slow. Lyra had the candy store under control and Berry was flexible about her own working hours unless she was planning to put up a market stall.

Bon Bon didn't immediately make a move to knock on Fluttershy's door, though. "That almost got to be lecturin' at the end. Figured you'd just threaten to chew his ears off if he got uppity."

"Pah, even I couldn't pretend that wouldn't be bullyin' against a runt like that. He'd just tell Flutters on me, anyway. Or a bear. I just gotta practice talking constructively, is all." She grinned. The little rabbit was too amusing to threaten, anyway. "Let's get this over with, then."


Landshark had been making idle conversation with Lyra at Bon Bon's store. The unicorn was filling in for her marefriend, the construct had meant to go buy some candy for her employees.

Maybe Bon Bon would have remembered what type of candy Landshark's workers usually bought, if any, but Lyra didn't know and Landshark hadn't thought to take requests before leaving the smithy.

They'd gotten lost in a bit of trivial conversation while Lyra put together a mix of sweets. Slacking off like this during work hours wasn't efficient, but after a lifetime of taking orders, Landshark enjoyed the perks of being her own boss. In any case, the lads knew where to find her, should anything non-trivial come up.

Although Bon Bon would probably have been on her case about it, if the mare had been here.

"And that's why Gnat badgered me into signing up for a social competences course," Landshark concluded. "I think others needed the practice more than the theory, I just liked the theory. They don't teach you how to get your ideas across if you're just a drudge, y'know."

"I guess that does make sense," Lyra allowed. She snickered. "I don't think that kind of course is meant for aliens, though, it's more for, you know, people with hang-ups about socializing."

"Oh, I know," Landshark nodded. "When I was a rookie, Gnat was always on my case about being less off-putting. That was just another one of those things to expand my tool set."

The unicorn seemed to deflate slightly behind the store's counter when Twilight Sparkle unexpectedly entered the shop. She sighed quietly, then put on an oddly rueful smile. "Hey Twilight."

As far as Landshark knew, there hadn't been any sort of final debriefing regarding the state of Lyra's Canterlot friendships. She and Twilight had more or less just left each other alone.

Lyra didn't appear to be annoyed, which was good. There wouldn't be much point in getting snippy with Twilight over the old issue, and ponies wouldn't enjoy needling a princess on the same level as Landshark herself might.

The construct gave a slight nod in greeting as well. "Morning, Princess."

Twilight seemed surprised to see Lyra, perhaps she'd expected Bon Bon behind the counter. "Hey, Lyra, just the pony I was looking for." She grinned at Landshark. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

The construct twitched her jaw. "Just buying some candy for the lads."

Two of the construct's apprentices were at least middle-aged adults, but that wasn't fit to stop Landshark from referring to them as lads. She was still older than them, anyway.

"Just scut-work today," Landshark added with a shrug. "Anyway, they know where to find me if something urgent comes up. Don't you have princess business to keep you busy?" She started counting out bits as she talked.

"Anything I can help you with?" Lyra gestured towards some of the wares on display, although Landshark was sure the unicorn expected the visit to be about something more important than candy. That sort of thing didn't usually make it on the royal schedule.

Besides, Spike was probably happy to run that particular kind of errant whenever Twilight wanted something she couldn't get at the Sugarcube Corner.

"I've optimized my to-do list to fit this into today's schedule, don't worry." Twilight paused and aimed a winning smile at Lyra. "That's actually the reason I'm here. I'd like to ask you some questions about something."

Lyra sighed. Perhaps she realized that whatever Twilight had in mind would take a while. "Fine, but before you start, I gotta get something off my chest first."

"Should I give you two some privacy, then?" Landshark tilted her head. She was a little curious but it seemed like the courteous question to ask. She'd been about to leave, anyway.

Twilight said nothing but motioned for Lyra to speak her mind.

"Nah, that's okay, Shark. Look, Twilight, I just wanted to apologize for how I acted around last Hearth's Warming. Should have done it sooner buuut, it was pretty easy to keep putting off." She shrugged. "Mom tried to raise me better than that. She wouldn't have freaked out in my spot. She woulda trusted that you mean well and tried to see things your way. So, I'm sorry. I was worried for pretty much nothing, anyway."

"She sounds like a nice mare," Twilight commented with a smile. "Don't worry about it, Lyra. I was just a little concerned for you."

"Well, maybe you weren't on the wrong track" Lyra conceded. "I probably did need to be a little better to myself, I just didn't want you getting involved. So, I apologize. We cool?"

"Of course," Twilight nodded with a happy smile.

There wasn't much more to say about it than that, Landshark supposed. She couldn't really think that Twilight had done anything truly wrong. She'd just expressed concern for someone she thought of as a friend, after all. The construct herself had some experience with people like Bon Bon, but very little with spouses to folk with these kinds of problems, so she'd had damned little ground to get as riled up as Lyra had been, at the time. Without moral high ground, getting angry was a lot less satisfying.

Lyra nodded, but didn't quite find back to her usual grin. "And yeah, mom's great. She's really big on extending trust, you know, s'why she wasn't weirded out by Shark here and woulda dealt a lot better with you sticking your nose into things. Of course, I suspect she thinks of herself as a pony you wouldn't want to cross."

"Well, what about being asked to trust a being like Discord? You can't exactly do anything to him if he betrays you." Landshark crossed her arms and silently gave herself credit for not asking about trusting alicorns. "And she absolutely thought it was odd to have a dinner guest who didn't eat anything."

"Ah, that's just coward talk," Lyra claimed, ignoring the dinner comment. "Sometimes you gotta be brave to trust somepony. Some critter. Don't forget who was first to give you the time of day, hmm?"

"Fair enough." Lyra hadn't put it that way the last time it had come up, but if she was trying to give herself a little more credit, Landshark wasn't going to stop her. "Well, I really should get back to work. Say Hi to Spike for me, Twilight. Lyra, we'll talk later."

"Sure, sure. Don't forget your candy. Maybe I'll swing by later when Bonny's back at the helm here."


Twilight watched the construct leave before turning back to Lyra. "Is she alright? Didn't even take a little shot at me."

"Probably just in a good mood and doesn't need the cheap thrill." Lyra shrugged. "So how've you been doing? Y'know, between whatever you get up to as Princess?"

Twilight felt her ears droop slightly. "Can you keep a secret?"

"I dunno, just me, or me and the gang?"

"You and your friends is fine," Twilight stated with a dismissive shake of her head.

"Sure, go on, then." Lyra seemed mildly curious but didn't appear to be expecting anything mind-blowing.

"It's just shaping up to be one of those weeks," Twilight huffed. She didn't like to be a complainer, but Lyra had asked. "Sometimes ponies seem to forget that it's still Mayor Mare running the town. I'm not the Princess of Administration!"

"Aw, don't look me in the eye and tell me you're not good at it."

"Sure," Twilight nodded. "I wouldn't mind the activity as such, I suppose. But it's inefficient, and more importantly, not my job. Mayor Mare knows how to run the town better than anypony, and the town hall has clerks for anything that doesn't immediately demand the Mayor's personal touch. I guess I should be happy I haven't had anypony come to me because they didn't like what they were told at town hall. Not in a while, anyway." She couldn't very well start governing the town over Mayor Mare's head, in any case.

"You should hang up some signs explaining what kind of issues you don't deal with in the foyer. Maybe that'll help," Lyra suggested with a grin. "I bet you hear this all the time, but just take a few hours off to hang out with your friends to do nothing important and hide from visitors."

That was true, of course. Twilight had standing offers from all her close friends. Tea with Fluttershy, the spa with Fluttershy and Rarity, additional flying practice with Rainbow Dash. She was sure the Apple family would be happy to have her over for a few hours as well. "I could stand to do that even more often, I suppose." She was much less reclusive than she had been as a younger pony in Canterlot, after all, although Lyra wasn't in a position to be fully aware of that.

Lyra shook her head while idly rolling a coin over the knuckles of an illusory hand. "I guess your secret is safe with us. Won't tell anypony that you get grumpy about work, too."

Twilight nodded. "Thanks. Anyway, I didn't come here to whine. I was interested in talking about the north. Maybe you know a thing or two from your mother?"

"Woah," Lyra held up a hoof. "Hold on. How do you even know my mom? You were always too busy reading to drop on by when we were younger. And don't you have books to read about them? It's not like you to go around fishing for anecdotes when you could read."

Twilight had anticipated comments of that sort, of course. "You mentioned it yourself, at Winter Wrap-Up. The other girls back in Canterlot might have mentioned once or twice that your mother seemed to be the world's largest unicorn as well," she joked. "I suppose I figured we could just have a conversation."

"Yeah, I suppose we could." Lyra nodded. She fell silent, but the way she stared out of a window and stopped playing with the coin suggested that she had something more to say. Twilight said nothing.

"You know, it's funny," Lyra eventually continued. "When we're little, we got pretty simple ideas about what kind of ponies our parents are, right? Then we grow up and we figure out they've got dimensions and quirks just the same as anypony else. They're not just mom and dad."

"Yes," Twilight nodded along, not sure where Lyra was going.

Lyra rubbed her chin as she gazed out at nothing in particular. "Never felt like I was raised much different from the rest of the old Canterlot crew, to be honest. Mom makes fun of Equestrians sometimes, but I think she's pretty happy that she raised me here. I mean, Celestia looks after us, she's got a gang of troubleshooters – better you than me, Twilight – and mom doesn't have to worry that I might get hurt in a mine collapse or eaten by a yeti or something."

"Besides," the unicorn added, "Before you moved here and attracted all that trouble, the most excitement we got were Pinkie's parties."

"You've lost me, Lyra." Although Twilight had come here with a purpose, she figured it was a good sign that Lyra was so willing to ramble at her. She couldn't really comment, of course. Lyra had always had her own eccentricities, but Twilight hadn't been a great friend when they were younger and had only been very distantly aware that the other unicorn's mother was not a Canterlot native.

"Sorry, I'm not very good at this. But I'm going somewhere with it!" Lyra offered a grin. "Unless you're too busy to listen to me pour my heart out, Princess?"

"No, do go on." Well, at least somepony had to take a dig at her today, Twilight observed. Although she couldn't disagree with the crack about her attracting trouble to the town. She didn't feel responsible, but the timing was uncanny. The world had looked much less turbulent to her as well before that fateful Summer Sun celebration.

With a nod, the unicorn continued. "After your brother's wedding I was in a bit of a state, to put it lightly. Mind control sucks! I barely remembered anything but the idea alone is just ... wrong. Get zapped with magic and somepony else gets to pick what your body does? Awful. Worse than Tirek, to me."

They were interrupted by the arrival of Ditzy, clad in her mailpony uniform. "Good morning!" Cheerful greeting called out, the pegasus stuck her head into one of her saddlebags to retrieve a few letters.

"Good morning, Ditzy." Twilight welcomed the interruption, frankly. Discussion of the changeling invasion was never pleasant, but standing here in the candy store also served as an uncomfortable reminder of the conversation she'd had with Bon Bon, which had been less pleasant still.

"Morning, Ditzy." Lyra smiled readily while lighting up her horn and floating a paper bag towards the pegasus. "Here's what your boss ordered." At the same time, she made a grab for the letters Ditzy had presented.

"Great! Already paid?" The mailmare allowed Lyra to help her stow the load in one of her saddlebags

"As usual," Lyra nodded. "And as usual, one for the road." She hesitated. "Coffee toffee?"

"Mmmh! Exactly." Smiling in anticipation, Ditzy watched the piece of toffee float towards her. "Hospital's low on lollipops."

"Talked to Redheart, huh? I'll let Bonny know." Lyra winked. "I'm on to them anyway. At the rate they order candy, I'm sure they're not just buying it to placate kids."

Ditzy giggled. "Probably." She bit down on the candy, then apparently stuffed it into her cheek to offer a decipherable "Duty calls! Have a good day!" With bright smiles for both Twilight and Lyra, she left.

"You get a lot of orders like that?" Twilight tilted her head.

"Oh, sure. Anypony who keeps a bowl of candy in the office or a jar of lollipops of some kind ends up here, sooner or later," Lyra boasted with a grin. "Where else are you gonna get hard candy, Barnyard Bargains? Pah. Mass-produced dross. My Bonny's an artisan."

"Okay?" Twilight felt reminded of Applejack talking about cider. It wasn't easy to tell how serious Lyra was being when she wore that maniac smile.

"Now if you're just in it for the sugar," Lyra continued, gesturing animately with hooves and her floating hands, "I don't care, whatever plucks your strings, right? But these here candies, they're practically luxury goods. You come here because you know that you, and the ponies you share them with, are worth it."

"I suppose you're in charge of marketing?" It suddenly seemed to Twilight as if things had gone back to normal, in a way, Lyra chatting away unguardedly, seeing Twilight as an old friend again, rather than an unwelcome authority. She was rather happy about it.

Lyra shook her head. "Nah, just having a bit of fun. Seriously, though, I think my standards for sweets went way up, although I'm biased." She sighed, but the exchange nonetheless seemed to have significantly lifted her mood. "Where were we?"

"The aftermath of the wedding?" She wasn't fond of the topic, but she'd be a poor friend if she didn't listen to what Lyra had meant to say before the interruption.

Lyra nodded slowly and took a few moments before speaking again. "Ah, right. There was a weird moment where I went to see mom after the attack and she was just so worked up and happy to see me alive I actually felt a little guilty that I'd mostly wondered how Bonny was going to take the news. How she'd beat herself up for not being there with me. How she would have felt if something worse had happened to me."

"Did you tell your mother that?" Twilight privately admitted that her own parents hadn't been at the forefront of her mind at the time either, especially since the danger at the castle had been so pressing.

"Yeah. I mean, dad was out of town, but I should have worried about my mother, right? She told me not to worry. 'You're a grown mare and you know who you are responsible for. I'm not so old as to need your protection! Ponies such as us are at our weakest when away from hearth and kin, you know. I was so worried about you.' Then she told me to keep in mind that the princesses keep us safe, which I think she'd usually be too proud to say." Lyra shrugged. "Seemed a little disjointed, but we were both pretty worked up, still."

"Hmm." Twilight tried to quell the first hints of impatience and nodded again. It appeared to her as if Lyra was rather uncomfortable with the topic, and it still wasn't clear why she was sharing this with her. "Disjointed is a good word. Lots of confusion after the attack was repelled." She'd felt quite hurt that her friends had so easily dismissed her concerns, even though she had obviously known her brother and her old foalsitter for longer than any of them.

"It wasn't until much later that mom went into detail about what happened to her during the attack. She was looking after some kids at the time, and when the changelings came to round them up, mom really made them pay for it."

Lyra offered a crooked grin, which seemed to waver slightly. "Bet your mom never told you a story that included caving in a guy's windpipe or slamming them into walls hard enough to kill them." Her voice cracked a little. "I felt a little proud of her when she told the story, Bonny was there, too, but it's been sticking with me. I was like a little filly who knows her parents are strong and tough. 'My dad could beat up your dad' stuff, if you want. But I didn't know if you pushed her, mom could get mad enough to start killing. Sure, it was a crisis and she was defending herself and others ... I'm just saying, I didn't know her that way, before. It's weird when it's one of your parents, I guess."

"Was your mother alright?" The attack on Canterlot had shaken a lot of ponies quite badly. Even though it had all worked out in the end, it had seemed like a near thing to many, and feelings of security had been lost. Being rounded up by Changelings seemed to have felt more directly threatening than just experiencing Discord's chaos. Worse even than having Tirek steal away everypony's magic, to some.

It seemed a little odd to Twilight that Lyra would feel this way, considering she'd mentioned no problems facing the reality of Bon Bon's former occupation. But then, Twilight didn't actually know when Lyra had found out about it, and how long it had taken her to come to terms with it. Or perhaps the unicorn was unsettled by the incongruity. It was one thing to know that her mother hailed from a more dangerous part of the world, quite another to hear what she was actually capable of.

The unicorn seemed to appreciate Twilight's concern and smiled. "I think so. She doesn't like that it happened, she feels sorry for the changelings even, but you couldn't in a million years convince her that she didn't do the right thing." Lyra seemed to hesitate.

"But?"

"But I'm pretty sure she's glad I didn't turn out like her," the unicorn explained. "I think maybe that's why she didn't tell me the story sooner. Because you guys saved us. Because things would have been alright even if she hadn't risked her life. Because I'm her daughter. To her, she took the correct action by fighting so hard, but she'd hate for me to ever be in that situation, I think. So she's happy Bonny is the tough one around here, and she reminds me that the princesses look out for us even if that's not something she normally thinks about."

"Why are you telling me all this?" It wasn't exactly unwelcome, if a little uncomfortable. She wasn't going to fault anypony for fighting for their life during the changeling attack, so she wasn't going to comment on that part, but she was also in no position to add anything to Lyra's ruminations about the way she'd grown up.

"I dunno, Twilight. Mom's the only northerner I really know, might as well talk about her. Apparently I don't know her as well as I figured, of course." Lyra shrugged. "Figured the north thing was a pretense anyway, you've got to have better means of gathering useful information than this. You're with the government."

Before Twilight could take offense, she saw the familiar grin play across Lyra's features. She hadn't been on the receiving end of that in quite some time before today. "Very funny, Lyra." She didn't deny the accusation. "Well, I really am interested, seeing as my brother's in the Crystal Empire now and mentioned contacts with the natives once or twice." Twilight paused. "Well, the natives who weren't cursed by Sombra for a thousand years."

"Fair enough, but I'm still the wrong pony for it. C'mon Twilight, it's me, Lyra. What do I know about foreign cultures? I expect the Crystal Empire has better literature about the various weird critters of the wastes than you, though. You know, elemental manifestations, yetis, frost giants, those things." Lyra gestured across the store again. "By the way, you better be buying some candy before you go."

"Of course! Let me just consult my notes on what Spike likes the most." Spike wasn't all that particular about candy, but he'd still be happy if Twilight got it exactly right.

"Tch, even I know what Spike likes." Lyra pointed spectral fingers at some of the items on offer. "Ever try these ginger-lemon jellies? Not what most ponies expect, really." She continued with a note of disapproval, indicating different candies. "Never got what anypony gets out of woodruff, and when you ask Spike he starts comparing stuff to gem flavors. Not about to break my teeth off trying to taste what he's talking about."

"Not a flavor I'd pick on impulse, I think." Twilight still took a furtive glance at her list, but Lyra seemed to have hit the the right ones. "Frost giants are real?" She'd read an author or two who'd come to the conclusions that frost giants, rarely mentioned as they were, were just myths about especially large and ill-tempered northern raiders, or just a variant of elemental manifestations in quadrupedal form.

"I don't know, actually," Lyra admitted. "Mom used to dress up as one for Nightmare Night, though. Throw on furs and leathers, wear a chain mail coif, attach some fake icicles to the outfit and lug around a plank of wood or big log as a club." Lyra giggled at the memory. "Nopony's supposed to have seen one since long before she was born, so maybe they just got thrown into old stories as embellishments. Ask a crystal pony or Celestia?"

"Maybe I will," Twilight nodded. There was no real urgency about it, of course. Maybe she'd ask her brother if the Empire's libraries had any books about the creatures of the north, written before Sombra's reign. Might be a nice gift for Lyra. "Do you wish you were more like your mother?"

Twilight had to admit to herself that she'd had usually wanted to be more like Princess Celestia rather than her own mother.

Lyra didn't seem to give the question much thought. "Pff, nah. I'm just cherry picking. I wouldn't want the whole package."

The unicorn fell silent for a moment before continuing slowly. "Mom never compares herself to other ponies, I think. Obviously she'd assume that her magic is less powerful than yours and she knows that she hasn't started out with much of an education by our standards, but that's just information. It doesn't do anything to her." She idly drew circles on the store's counter top with a hoof. "It's like ... her confidence is completely decoupled from any abilities or achievements."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. If pressed, she would have said that there were enough ponies who thought very highly of themselves for no obvious reason, and that didn't seem like a particularly great thing, at times. All of her friends had had their share of self-doubts, it was just natural. On the other hoof, it was healthy to be content with yourself, she supposed.

Lyra shook her head. "I know what you're thinking, but she's not arrogant." She hesitated. "Well, she does like to boast, sometimes."

"Do you think that's normal for northerners?"

"The boasting, maybe. The other thing? I doubt it." Lyra shrugged. "That would just be too strange. They're just ponies, too. Come in all flavors." With a sigh, she continued. "Look, I spent a lot of time worrying about how my relationship looks to other ponies, or what they'd think about me leaving Canterlot, even sometimes what my parents would think. I think that confused mom, and hurt her, too."

"I'm sure they'll be happy as long as you're happy." It sounded like a platitude, but honestly, Twilight had to admit that she and her brother had led very successful lives, and she assumed her parents were rather proud how far their offspring had made it.

Besides, she had spent a lot more time worrying about disappointing Princess Celestia, rather than her parents. "If you really think that your mother has no mental mechanism for comparing herself to other ponies, it would have to follow that, as your mother, she would love you no matter what." Twilight raised a hoof to her own chest. "It's true that most ponies have a tendency to compare and contrast. We compare ourselves to others, and others to ourselves. You can't be the best at something without others being less good at it, just ask Rainbow Dash."

Lyra frowned. "Look, I know Dash can grate now and then, but I really don't think she's out to make others feel worse."

"I agree," Twilight nodded. "I think she really just wants to push herself as hard as possible. She excels at flying and it can go to her head, sometimes. But there are ponies who only experience their own value through comparisons like that. For them, every value is a relative thing, “higher” or “lower,” “more” or “less” than their own." Of course there was a chance that Lyra just had a skewed perspective, but that was no reason not to indulge in the thought experiment. "Those types might worry how their child measures up and makes them look."

If Lyra had grown up assuming that nothing could shake her mother's confidence, seeing the older mare confused or even hurt by Lyra's anxieties might have been a wake-up call of sorts.

"Uh-huh." Lyra nodded along. Twilight still had her attention, it seemed.

"But if your mother's awareness of her own value is completely divorced from that way of thinking, then your failures would not diminish it, and your successes would serve only to confirm it." Twilight held up a hoof to forestall comments. "In that context 'success' could mean just about anything your mother finds agreeable. You're healthy, in a loving relationship, you've got good friends and apparently get along great with your parents. I'm sure you could only disappoint her by turning into a terrible pony, not through the way you've lived your life so far." She hesitated before making her final comment. "Perhaps she thought you knew her better than to worry that way?"

Lyra chewed her lip. "That's what it was, I think, yeah. Point is, that's what I'd like to have more of. Confidence without worrying about whether or not what I got here passes muster. Then I wouldn't have gotten so derailed by your comments, last year." The old grin crept back onto her features. "Mom'll even boast about her daughter co-owning a candy store. She has to know that'd be unimpressive to some of her Canterlot acquaintances."

"I suppose that's her test of character for other ponies," Twilight joked. She was sure there were plenty of ponies in Canterlot who'd appreciate a mother's pride for her children without questioning whether it was deserved or the daughter could have achieved more. Not even Canterlot was that superficial. Not all the time, anyway. "So, what about your father? You haven't mentioned him."

"Aw, dad's a quiet sort." Lyra ran a hoof through her mane. Despite not having previously mentioned him, she spoke with great fondness. "Maybe he was away on business a little too much, but we always got along great. I guess I always wanted to impress mom, first. But I totally take after him in terms of looks!" She winked. "I make this shade of green look good, though."

"That you do. Now, are you going to finish packing up candy for Spike so I can get out of here before school's out and I get trampled by little ponies?" She'd been about to say 'before Bon Bon gets back' but thought better of it. She reached for her pouch of bits.

"Right you are," Lyra nodded and magically filled up two small paper bags. "Tell Spike I said Hi. And Twilight?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks for listening to me ramble on."

"Don't worry about it. It's what friends do."

"Oh yeah, mom and dad've been threatening to come visit Ponyville, I'll introduce you when the time comes."

"That would be great!" Twilight picked up her candy. "Time to get going before Spike gets too worried."

Leaving the store behind, Twilight was delighted that Lyra had finally talked to her. Sure, it had perhaps been a little unfocused, but it was better than just having the other mare give her awkward looks or trying to make strained conversation. Twilight was always ready, in fact eager, for ponies to see her as a friend, not as a Princess. It was great to see that Lyra had come back around to that point of view as well.

Both of them obviously had a circle of closer friends, but this was a success in any case. She assumed that she had not been told anything that Lyra hadn't already shared with her friends, but she took Lyra's musings as a gesture of trust.

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