Two Mares on a Bench

by Alaborn

Two Mares on a Bench

Two Mares on a Bench

By Alaborn

Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein.

---

Shoeshine trotted through the crowd of happy ponies. It was the weekend, and ponies were engaged in various diversions, shopping, or just talking. Avoiding a pegasus intently focused on bouncing a ball on her head, she spotted a friend sitting oddly on a bench. She sat down normally on the other side of the bench, leaving a half pony length between herself and the other mare.

“Hi, Lyra,” she said.

“Hi, Shoeshine,” Lyra replied.

“Been here a while?”

“Yeah, an hour, maybe. I’m not sure.”

There was an awkward pause. “How are things?” Shoeshine asked hesitantly.

“Not good,” Lyra admitted. “The doctors knitted the bones in my left foreleg, but they say there’s severe nerve damage. Even just resting my hoof on the bench feels like sticking my leg into molten lava.”

“Oh,” Shoeshine replied.

“The doctors are hopeful the pain will lessen with time, but nothing’s certain. I can use a pain reducing spell, but it’s not a good long-term solution.”

Again, there was silence on the bench.

“I don’t want you to feel afraid to talk about this,” Lyra said. “You’re my friend, Shoeshine, and as bad as the accident was, it’s a part of my history. It’s a part of what I am now.”

“But what you are, I don’t want to….”

“Please, Shoeshine, you can say it,” implored Lyra.

“It would be terrible if the accident leaves you….” Shoeshine couldn’t continue.

“Lame,” Lyra said. Shoeshine looked at her, shocked. “Yes, if the damage is permanent, I will end up lame. I have hope, but… but if things don’t improve….” She squared her jaw. “I won’t let it define me.”

“Is there any hope?” Shoeshine asked.

“It’s beyond what normal healing magic can do,” Lyra said. “Twilight Sparkle is searching for a more powerful spell in her spare time. If it exists, I’m sure she’ll find it. In the meantime, there’s the painkilling spell, but again, it’s not good as a long-term solution.”

Lyra and Shoeshine looked around as the crowd started murmuring. Twilight Sparkle was standing on the bridge, making an announcement. Although she was too far away, the crowd soon carried the news. The smoke that was beginning to coat the sky was caused by a dragon in the mountains.

In the distance, the heroes of Ponyville gathered. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy quickly met up with Twilight Sparkle on the bridge. “I bet all six of them are going to deal with the dragon,” Shoeshine commented.

Lyra nodded. “It’s great that we have such brave ponies in town. They do so much. They face the gravest threats, while still finding time to help everypony in Ponyville. I mean, I barely spoke to Twilight Sparkle while we both attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, yet she’s willing to research forgotten magic for me.”

“It is something special,” Shoeshine agreed. “So why did you come out today?” she asked. “Shouldn’t you be staying home, resting?”

“I’ve BEEN resting. I’ve spent days in bed. I couldn’t stand it anymore. So I cast the painkilling spell and hobbled the short distance to this bench. I just had to get some fresh air.” Lyra looked at the growing cloud of smoke covering Ponyville. “I have really bad timing, don’t I?”

“Well, I don’t smell the smoke yet, so the air’s still fresh,” Shoeshine said. She looked at the mountain’s peak. “Look! You can see where the smoke is coming from!” She turned and lifted her hoof to point, but bumped Lyra’s injured foreleg.

Lyra hissed and shut her eyes tight. It was all she could do to not scream as searing pain shot up her foreleg. Shoeshine gasped, and started to apologize, but Lyra waved her off with her good foreleg. She concentrated, the glow from her horn soon encapsulating her injured foreleg. As the glow subsided, Lyra finally exhaled.

“Are you okay?” Shoeshine finally asked. She realized she had been holding her own breath while her friend was fighting the pain.

Lyra stared at the horizon and giggled. She kept giggling.

“Um, are you okay?” Shoeshine’s voice reflected a different kind of concern.

“Whoa,” Lyra whispered, still staring off in the distance. She looked to her left, appearing surprised to see somepony sitting next to her. “Yeah. Whoa. This spell really knocks you for a loop, you know?”

“Are you going to be okay? Do you need help getting home?”

“I just need to rest… yeah. A half hour. My head will stop spinning.”

“I can see why that spell isn’t a long term solution,” Shoeshine commented.

Lyra giggled again. “I must look so ridiculous, sitting here like this. What if somepony saw me?”

“But everypony knows about the accident, Lyra.” Shoeshine motioned to the ponies around them. With Twilight Sparkle now gone, they talked and walked, none paying the two mares on the bench any attention.

“No, like… like somepony else. Somepony who doesn’t know why I’m sitting like… like….”

“A diamond dog?” Shoeshine suggested.

“Yeah, like a diamond dog. What would they think?” Lyra wondered.

“That it’s a little unusual?” Shoeshine said.

“Look, that mare was raised by diamond dogs! Or she’s part diamond dog! Or she’s fascinated by diamond dogs!” Lyra spouted. “Just think of the stories!”

“What stories?” Shoeshine asked.

Lyra was lost in her own spell-addled mind. “Somepony comes to town to write about the Elements of Harmony. Then she sees us sitting on this bench, and says, ‘What’s their story?’”

“Wouldn’t the writer, you know, talk to us?” Shoeshine said.

“No time! It’s like, like, days later, she’s writing about Twilight Sparkle, but she finds she can’t forget our image! Just this one image, seared into her mind!”

“I don’t think that’s likely,” Shoeshine countered.

“Or, wait, what if… what if, there’s a kind of pony that already walks on two legs, and they see me? They’d sit like this, right? They’d think I’m one of them!”

Shoeshine rose and hopped off the bench. She looked at her friend with concern. “Lyra, I think we all need to get inside, before the smoke makes it too dark to see. Let me help you home.”

Lyra raised her good foreleg into the air. “Two legs! Two legs good! And instead of forelegs, there’d be, ahh….”

Shoeshine placed her foreleg behind Lyra’s back and gently helped her off the bench.

---

Two weeks later, Shoeshine found a letter from Lyra in her mailbox. She didn’t even bother going back inside before tearing open the letter and reading.

Dear Shoeshine,

I hope the fall season is treating you well. I’m happy to say that Twilight Sparkle came through in a big way. And I don’t mean with the dragon. That mare is incredible. It wasn’t that she found a lost healing spell. No, she took elements from a half dozen healing spells and combined them into a new spell that healed my foreleg. Whereas before I couldn’t place it on a pillow without causing radiating pain, now I can walk without even a little soreness.

I’d also like to apologize if I said anything that made you feel weird. The painkilling spell I had to use following the accident made me funny in the head for a short time every time I cast it. I said and thought a lot of bizarre things while injured. I’m not entirely certain, but I think I talked to you on a bench one day. I don’t remember much clearly, but I do remember you saying I should have rested at home. You were right. I stubbornly thought I could go outside, maybe act normally. All I did was risk my own health and my friendship with many ponies. Again, I’m sorry.

Now that I’m back to full health, I’d love to talk again. I have so many friends I didn’t get to see while I was injured. Maybe I’ll go out for pie. And look for me on a bench one day. When you find me, I’ll be proudly sitting like a pony.

Your friend,

Lyra Heartstrings

Comments

[Alaborn]

It's the most iconic shot of two background ponies in all of MLP! //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra_dealwithit.png

[enamis]

that is not bon-bon....

[Divine Path]

Very good.

[Yurikomaru]

My head-cannon Lyra is now in question. xD dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra.png

[Alaborn]

1353497 Personally, I like the "Lyra is a human fanatic" fanon that seemed to arise from the way she's sitting here. But what if the fans got it completely wrong?

[SkyWalker]

Lyra on magical drugs XD

[legionbrony]

I read the title and description and thought it would be some kind of shipping, but read it anyways, bracing myself.

Lol, this is MUCH better than expected.

I love this take on the whole "Lyra sits like a human" thing. Very original!

[Dracuaxis]

1353461
Oh Really? Because y'know, in the show Bon-Bon was totally sitting there next to Lyra. It totally wasn't fans later going in and taking out Linky and replacing her with Bon-Bon.

Heavy sarcasm is being used here if you couldn't tell. Words cannot express how tired I am of all this forced Lyrabon everywhere.

Btw author. I'm about to read this, I'll edit this comment for my review in a few minutes.

EDIT: Well that was a great short read. Glad somebody else in the community is open to rubbing two brain cells together to derive a different take on such a moment within the show (honestly everything about fanon-lyra annoys the hell out of me) also particularly enjoyed Lyra's going-mental-on-painkillers.

Thanks for this.

[Rainbow87dash]

1347534 yea I had a feeling it would be these two

[Rainbow87dash]

1347534 it doesn't explain why she sits like that nor does it tell what the accident was

[HyperRandomness]

An intriguing short read.

Haven't seen much about side-characters in awhile. Too much HiE and self-insert OCs in the popular box.

[Alaborn]

1353550 If I remember that scene correctly, there are multiple Lyras in the background, including one near Bon-Bon.

Lyra clones? Sounds like another fic. Beware the pod ponies!

[Dracuaxis]

1353731
yes but we're referring to the one on the bench.

[IndecisiveOlivia]

Wow...I never actually thought about the way Lyra was sitting… only noticed it when reading up on other fanon. Meh…

A good read, and the whole thing actually made sense!(Kinda) Ya done good, Alaborn. Ya done good.

1353550 That's funny, because I've always found the Lyrabon relationship really sweet.

[enamis]

1353550 im am not so inept to not recognize obvious sarcasm thank you very much, and second, i personally disprove lyrabon shipping, nor the fact that 4/5 ponies in Equestria are lesbian (not that there's anything wrong whit it or anything (Dashfire FTW!)) so i kindly state that that is not forced 'shipping' on my part, but a simple observation. *looks over the top of imaginary glasses in a cold glare*

[Dracuaxis]

1353901
So it's sweet that because two ponies stand next to each other in a few scenes (nevermind how many other ponies they've hung out with on other episodes) that everyone believes they're fucking? Yeah, I'm not seeing it.

1354235
Okay, obviously a misunderstanding then. My apologies. So now we can both chill and get onto bigger and better things.

[IndecisiveOlivia]

1355904
Really, must you be crude? Being in a relationship isn't just about sex. It's about building emotional connections with another person. That's what I find sweet. You do bring up a good point, though…why did fans pick out Lyrabon among so many other scenes? I haven't a clue, and I don't pretend to. I've just always loved it!

[Telaros]

Perfectly fun story, this should be featured imho. Truly does. Now if we can have more happy giddy jumpy Lyra and her being on clouds~ that would be a fun read I'd hope. Cloudsdale's Flyers Competition anyone? She sure gets excited easily over many things <3

I'll still never forget that angry face in Apple Squeezy 6000 and her NO!'s (so cute~) And how did she get picked for the wedding? Nice to see her ties with Canterlot being remembered.

So many people tend to think it was Bonbon sitting next to Lyra lol that was a different episode entirely :P Shoeshine was there first!
Now if only we could see original concepts for stories that let Vinyl grow as a character without being tied and bond to a single mare. Course all female DJ's are lesbians anyways you know?

My forever gripe with Vinyl Scratch is no one really could come up with a deceny story save MAYBE that one Rarity fic. And I can't even recall that one much at all... *shrug* fanon shapes canon I guess. I still don't see why people act so selfish and self entitled with her eyes after she finally showed her eyes. Both are cute on her, her magenta eyes just look a bit cuter on her. Everyone wanted to see and wondered what her canon eyes were and now it's all "Waa~ I prefer my own head-canon someone else fed into me!" and that's fine too, do whatever, but gah just stop whining!

I digress... sorry. Great rational yet interesting look into Lyra's bench day and for including Shoe Shine.

"Lyra loves to play!" is her personality trait? Like a card needed to tell ME that when it's been plastered all over S1 and S2 xD

[Telaros]

wow that was freaky... good thing fimfic has spam prevention methods in place... I hit backspace and that somehow tried to submit an extra 30 duplicate posts! silly phone...

[Spectrumancer]

Brilliant little oneshot. Love it.

[Wise Cracker]

Wow. I love stories that add a lot of thought to tiny little things, stories that take a split second and weave a whole logic and reasoning behind it. I'm glad I read this, it's heart-warming, especially the letter in the end. I can imagine how painkillers mess with one's ability to fit into society. Not that I have any experience in the matter...

[Beegirl Scribbler]

Not entirely sure how to feel about this story. It's weird, but...well, I like it. Things get entertaining around the end when you start to realize what's going on. Grammar's all fine, and the characters are likeable, so nice job!

[Boulder]

Too short, much too short, need MORE!! I like the stories based on secondary characters while almost totally leaving out the mane6 and princesses, much more diverse a story without being repetitive of others.