• Published 27th Dec 2012
  • 18,056 Views, 439 Comments

Living the Good Life - Aetherpony



A human(you) lives a boring, meaningless life on Earth. You feel that you'll be stuck in a repetitive cycle for the rest of your life. But Discord, God of Chaos, has other plans in store for you.

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Chapter Nine: Cupcakes with a Friend, A Lunch Date, and A Greedy Fashionista


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// Chapter Nine: Cupcakes with a Friend, A Lunch Date, and A Greedy Fashionista// Story: Living the Good Life// by Aetherpony//------------------------------//

“The Elements of Harmony are six ancient artifacts. One could say that they’re the single most powerful thing on this planet." Twilight explains as she eyes one of her cupcakes.

“And let me get this straight. You and the other corrupted ponies are the only ones able to use them?" You cross your arms and lean back on the couch. When Twilight nods that helps but a few things into perspective for you.

"Yes. Rainbow Dash represents Loyalty, Rarity represents Generosity, Fluttershy represents Kindness, Pinkie has Laughter, Applejack has Honesty, and I have Magic. Put the six of us together with those relics and anything representing disharmony is taken care of." Twilight states as she takes a bite out of her cupcake. This is the first time you’ve heard of anything like this. Sure you assumed there’d be some forms of enchanted items considering the fact that unicorns here use magic.

It makes sense to be able to fill something with magic, but something existing with the capability of getting rid of almost any threat sounds like something beyond the capability of any living magic user here. It probably took a lot of magic from a lot of unicorns in order to make them.

And if that’s true why would Discord not care about you making friends with them? If his ultimate plan is to continue ruling Equestria why would he risk having all that fall apart by adding you to the equation? Even if the chances were slim you wouldn’t want to risk anything on a gamble like he’s doing. You’ve already made friends with two of the six elements. The third you’re still on the ropes about for very good reason; after all she did accuse you of rape.

That reminds you, “Hey Twilight, what happened with Applejack? The last thing I remember before waking up in my bad was being beaten.” Twilight nearly chokes on her cupcake. She turns to you with wide eyes.

“W-What happened at their farm, Anon?!” She sounds a bit frantic.

“Didn’t they tell you?” she shakes her head, “oh, well, alright let me tell you…”

You spend the next few minutes telling Twilight about your venture to Sweet Apple Acres. You’re sure to leave no details out of your explanation. You tell her about Applejack and her lies, Fluttershy’s request, and the eventual rage induced yelling from you. She blushes when you mention how Fluttershy got when you massaged her wings. Then she apologizes to you for not telling you that Pegasus wings are sensitive if stimulated in that fashion.

You forgive her. It’s not as if she knew that’d happen to you. There’s no way either of you would have saw it coming. When you mention Applejack’s rape lie and the fight that started after Twilight grumbles irritably before glaring at the half eaten box of cupcakes.

“If that’s the case, then I’m glad Discord hit her.” You’re shocked to hear that come out of Twilight’s mouth.

“Wait, he hit her?” Twilight nods.

“Yeah, he did. I guess after Applejack got her colors back she told Macintosh the truth. They brought you up here in a cart, and then we put you on your bed downstairs. After that, Discord came in and demanded why you were hurt. As soon as she said it was her fault he backhanded her. He knocked her out. Macintosh didn’t explain what happened. Once Discord healed Applejack and left, Macintosh took Applejack and ran all the way back to Sweet Apple Acres.”

When she finds a point to stop her explanation, you consider the impact your actions had, or lack thereof. At some point during the fight Applejack’s guilt rid her of Discord’s Influence. So, in a way you cured another pony. That means that half of the six have been put back to normal. It’s only now you realize that the fact that she’s no longer gray means you’ve went against Discord in some way without even realizing it. What is his deal and why hasn’t he told about the elements or about their bearers?

Maybe he didn’t want you finding out this information, but he brought you here to make friends. Surely he figured you’d make friends with the ponies that offer him the most threat at some point. Trying to wrap your mind around Discord’s reasoning is making your head hurt. That is until you start thinking you have a reason as to why Discord is letting you go about as you are.

There’s a chance that he wants to be beaten. You laugh at the thought, so what if he’s the embodiment of chaos? There’s no logical reason to actually want to lose after winning. You push that thought out of your mind and put your attention back to Twilight and the cupcakes. She returns to the subject of the elements. She further explains the origin of the Elements of Harmony, its past users, and what they look like. It’s too bad she doesn’t know where they are.

She levitates a large book off of one of her shelves in order to show you what they look like via a picture, rather than leaving off with a brief explanation. As you look it over you find that its title has been stripped away due to old age. The spine of it is starting to fall apart as well. The fact that it’s still in one piece surprises you.

When she opens it you’re greeted by the site of an ancient looking rendition of what Twilight told you. Each of them are a gold necklace that bears a certain colored gem as its center. Aside from Magic, that one appears to be a tiara. You scrutinize each individual artifact in order to learn their general shape, color, and overall appearance. It’s just in case you so happen to find one of them while you’re here.

You could see what Twilight meant when the Elements chose their users. The star-shaped gem, the balloon shaped gem, and the apple shaped gem; all of them resemble the cutie marks of the ponies you’ve befriended. So laughter, honesty, and magic were purified.

Well, magic needed some more work considering only her eyes have managed to regain their original color. The rest of her coat, mane, and tail are still gray. With that aside you’re now in quite a predicament. You can either continue to help these ponies, and ultimately beat Discord. In doing so you give Equestria back to them.

Or you can go right ahead and start making friends with other ponies and avoid the other elements all together. Besides, even if you really wanted to make Discord lose his title as ruler there are many factors stopping you from doing so. For one, he’s a chaotic creature and is scary when angered; another is that he’s your landlord and soul reason for having a somewhat decent life. You couldn’t outright betray the chimera.

If you did you’d potentially put Screwball and Eris in danger. Sure you’re pissed off at Screwball, but you don’t want to see her getting hurt. Neither she nor Eris seems bad. Well, maybe you could stand to see Screwball hurt a little…


This is something that is going to take some time. After all, you haven’t even been in Equestria for a week. As far as you know these ponies may not even be worth sticking your neck out over. Lyra the Stalkercorn isn’t helping out their case. If she’s like that, there’s no telling how the other ponies can be. That puts a bit of a scare into you. Also, both Fluttershy and Rarity seem terrible. One tricked you into molesting her and pegged you in the lower region with an apple. The other is a greedy little thief.

You’re sure their real personalities are much better, but is it worth the headache you’ll no doubt have to endure in the process? As of now you don’t think so. But, you don’t know everything about Discord either. He may seem fun loving and he may appear as though he doesn’t have a care in the world. But how much do you really know about him?

For all you know he could be using chaos as a means to really mess with these ponies. How many others are still gray? Twilight said it wore off eventually but there may still be some out there affected. You imagine various ponies out and about mistreating their loves ones, causing damage they wouldn’t normally be causing, and overall just running amok in the streets of whatever cities they may be in.

Could you really just sit idly by and allow this to happen knowing that there’s a chance you can make things better for others? In helping the six Elements you would effectively be saving a nation. The lives of the ponies would return to normal and they’d be able to go about their daily lives in peace. If they knew you were the one behind it they’d probably be eternally grateful.

With gratitude comes respect. Ponies worldwide would see you as a savior of sorts. Not that you’d want them to revere you or anything, or have them kiss your feet. You’re not that kind of person. If anything you’d just like to have price reductions on items, or at least a stipend. Being poor in this new world is going to be awful when you feel its effects. Sure you haven’t had a need to buy anything as of yet, considering Discord has been helping out. But if you went against him you’d need a way to get bits just like every other hard working pony. There are so many things to gain and yet there are many things to lose…

These thoughts spin about in a torrent within the recesses of your mind while you idly examine each and every element present within the book Twilight is levitating before you. Twilight notices the far off look in your eyes.

”Are you okay?” She closes her book and places it back upon her shelf. You sigh to yourself before looking over to Twilight.

“Yeah I’m fine, just thinking about a few things is all.”

“Like what?” She gives you her full attention.

“Well, what if I kept trying to befriend the elements? Kindness, Loyalty, and Generosity, I mean. What will happen if I helped them like I did the others?”

Twilight is quick to answer, “If you help them like you helped Applejack and Pinkie then we’d be able to put an end to Discord and his rule! We’d be able to bring Princess Celestia and Luna back!” Twilight smiles widely after explaining. She knows the potential result of you befriending ponies it seems. It’s only natural that she’d want you to help her friends, and you know she’s going to ask you to do so.

But is that what you really want to do? Before you can think about it any further your prediction proves true.

”Anonymous… I know you haven’t gotten the chance to see Equestria at its best, but there are a lot of good ponies suffering out there. I know I’m asking a lot of you, but can you please help my friends? I know you can do it, if you do Equestria will be back to normal. and I’d be able to show you just how great this place can be… So will you do it?”

Hope shines bright in her eyes when she asks you. She almost radiates it. She has faith in you for her fellow ponies, and for all of Equestria. It’s come down to this Anonymous. So save the lives of thousands or to stay loyal to the ones whom you owe everything to? You wish you could make both parties happy, but you can’t have it all. You know that one for a fact. One is going to be upset in the end…

You need more time to think about all of this. Your hesitation is starting to have an effect on Twilight. You can see the figurative stars in her eyes begin to fade and her hopeful smile does so in turn. To disappoint someone so early into a friendship, you need a walk.

“Twilight, I can’t answer that right now,” you can’t look her in the eye as you get to your feet. You turn your back to your friend and make your way to the door.

“W-wait! Where are you going?” Twilight starts trotting after you. You turn back to her and kneel.

“I’m going to go clear my head… when I come back, I think I’ll be able to answer you. I just need some time alone, okay?” You run a hand through Twilight’s mane.

“Oh… okay.” Twilight replies gloomily while looking to the floor. You hate doing this to her but you desperately need some time to really think about all of this. Before you leave you place the remaining bits she gave you on a nearby table next to the door. You give her one last look before opening the front door.

She’ll just have to accept that you might not be willing to help all of her friends. Soon you’re outside and into the warm afternoon air of Ponyville. With your walk in mind, just where are you going to go? There are plenty of places you haven’t visited so why not just go and explore a little? There’s no need for a set destination when all you wish to do is clear your mind and figure out just what you’re going to do from here.

As you make your way down a random path through town you don’t notice a certain mint green unicorn spying on you from a nearby bush. She watches you intently as you walk between two buildings and out of site. Using her magic she produces a notepad and ink quill from out of thin air.

“Subject walks upon its hind legs. It has appendages similar to that of a Minotaur, and the lack of hair, aside from what’s on its head, may just confirm that this is a homo sapiens. In other words: human.” As she speaks the quill scribbles down her speech. “I, Lyra Heartstrings, shall take it upon myself to study this human from afar.” She smiles excitedly.

“But I will soon make contact with it. I hope to befriend it as a result. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll rub my tummy.” Lyra’s smile widens and she emits a noise similar to that of a rubber duck. She shakes her hooves in an excited fashion before darting out of the bush. She then gallops off in the same direction you walked off to. Her notepad and quill float close behind. Little do you know, your day’s about to get a bit more exciting…

You continue on your merry way through town, oblivious to the mint green unicorn’s presence. She continues to dart through bushes and around the sides of homes in order to make sure you don’t see her. While she stays to spy on you, your inner conflict keeps your attention. You’re still deciding on who you should side with… it’s regrettable that you’re not paying attention to the happenings around you.

Aside from the occasional chocolate rain cloud, or the frequent poker card that comes dislodged from the ground due to your dragging feet, the town seems to be at peace. The dancing buffalos and stampeding bunnies have moved on to the fields outside of Ponyville for the most part. Any real chance of collateral damage occurring has left without you even realizing it. There are more ponies up and about today. In turn the town has taken a more lively appearance. There are construction ponies setting up red and pink decorations for the inevitable festival that is to come on Hearts and Hooves Day.

The once quiet streets no longer exist and it’s all because of you. You may not realize it yet, but the ponies around you have been thinking that in your stead. Those that pass by you wave happily. You only mumble a halfhearted hello in response and keep your eyes to the poker cards that line the streets. You take a turn leading you into the Ponyville Marketplace. As you walk through, you come across various kiosks selling apples, pies, drinks, cooking utensils, books, and vegetables. There’s even one selling various scented soaps.

The majority of their signs are painted with red and pink hearts that adjourn the tops of their stalls. It seems that when Ponyville celebrates a holiday they really get into the festivities. Lyra pops out from behind a carrot stand, binoculars in hoof. She’s managed to get herself a white safari helmet. She trains her binoculars on you as you walk around various stands.

Her notepad and quill appear out of thin air around her. She speaks in a forced Australian tone while keeping her eyes no you.

“It appears that the human known as Anonymous isn’t striking fear into the hearts of Pony-kind. Rather they are openly approaching him. While they wave and offer him smiles he mutters in return. Why he is like that remains unknown. I may need to get a closer look in order to further inspect him.”

While she’s distracted with her speech an earth pony with a beige coat, pigment blue mane with a rose pink streak, cerulean eyes, and a cutie mark of three pieces of wrapped candy trots over to her. She seemed to be in the spirit of the coming holiday as well. She carries two tan saddlebags upon her back, both filled to the brim with little chocolate candies, hearts, roses, and the like.

Her eyes take on a half lidded, deadpan expression when she sees Lyra spying on you. She looks from your retreating form to Lyra before clearing her throat. This pony ends up surprising Lyra, causing her to fumble her binoculars in her hooves. She ends up dropping them. Upon contact with the ground the lenses crack.

“Buck! What the hay, Bon-Bon?!” She shouts before turning to face her. Bon-Bon’s deadpan glare causes Lyra to stop her incoming onslaught of yelling.

“Lyra, what are you doing?” She sounds agitated.

Lyra stutters while motioning at you, then at her notepad and quill. Bon-Bon sighs exasperatedly before shaking her head.

“Try that again.” She leans around Lyra to get a good look at you. Unlike Lyra she isn’t clamoring to spy upon you with such interest.

“Okay, I was to get info on this human.” Lyra explains as she starts trying to pick up the broken lenses of her binoculars with magic.

“Did you try trotting up to Anonymous and asking about him yourself?” She looks upon Lyra as if she’s a complete fool. Lyra opens her mouth to respond, but when she realizes that she has no real reason to act like she has been, she stops. She rubs a hoof under her chin in deep thought before responding.

“I dunno. I didn’t think of that?” Lyra grins nervously before shrugging. At this point she’s looking anywhere else but Bon-Bon. She face-hoofs; after that she reaches out with her hoof and wraps it around one of Lyra’s. Then she starts trotting off in your direction while dragging Lyra behind her.

“W-What are you doing?!” Lyra asks as she desperately tries to pull herself from Bon-Bon’s grip. As Bon-Bon drags her along her items all hit the ground and disappear.

“We are going to introduce ourselves to that human.” Bon-Bon states in a nonchalant tone as she continues to pull. Lyra contemplates biting Bon-Bon’s hoof in order to free herself. She decides against it though, not wishing to incur whatever wrath may be brought upon her if she just so happens to do so.

“Bonnie, lemme go!” She tries to pry her hoof free but to no avail. Bon-Bon groans before turning her head to look back at her friend.

“And drop that Manticore Hunter accent. It’s getting annoying.”

“Don’t say shit about Steve Irwing, that griffin is awesome!” Lyra shouts in her normal speaking voice as she glares at her friend. It doesn’t take long for Bon-Bon to get to you. When Bon-Bon is within reaching distance she balances upon her hind hooves and grabs hold of your pants leg with her free hoof. With a single tug she disrupts your thoughts.

You turn to find a mare tugging at your pants leg. When you see her, and that she’s holding Lyra’s hoof in a vice grip you can’t help but look upon the two with scrutiny. You wonder if this could be a trick of some sort.

“Can I help you?” Your tone represents curiosity, rather than contempt . After all there’s no need to be rude… yet.

“Good afternoon, Anonymous. My name is Bon-Bon and this…” She pulls Lyra into a one hoof hug. Bon-Bon looks to Lyra, waiting for her to introduce herself.

“Come on, say hi to the nice human.” Bon-Bon finishes by flashing you a close eyed smile. You raise a brow before tilting your head in confusion. Not because of Bon-Bon of course, but because of the visibly sweating Lyra. Now that the unicorn has nowhere to run she’s trying her hardest to keep from looking up at you. She looks around frantically hoping for an escape. When finally makes eye contact her face becomes flush with embarrassment. Finally, Lyra seems to find her voice.

“H-Hi Mr. Anon. I-I-I’m Lyra H-Heartstrings.” Her voice comes out barely above a whisper and she stammers out her greeting. There are many ways you could go about this. For one you’re a little agitated that this unicorn had to be forced to introduce herself. It doesn’t help that she’s been stalking you for the last couple of hours. On the other hand maybe she was just nervous. You should expect this, even though there are ponies openly greeting you not everyone is going to share their opinion of you. Some will naturally fear you.

Perhaps she was just trying to study you to see if you were a monster or something. Could you really blame her if that was the case? No, no you can’t. So instead of being a jerk, you instead do the following. You kneel down to their level, you offer them a warm smile, and then you reach out your hand to them and wait for them to shake. Lyra takes your hand into her hooves in less than a second.

“Ooh, Bonnie! Look! Fingers!” She gleefully exclaims before giggling. She’s gone from a nervous wreck to an excited mess in less than five seconds. The little unicorn “oohs” and “ahs” as she wiggles your fingers. When she pushes your index finger, and when you curl it she makes an odd squeaking sound and her smile seems to stretch past the normal limit. You haven’t felt this uncomfortable in a long, long time.

You clear your throat and Bon-Bon gets the message. She slaps Lyra’s hooves away with her own. Lyra looks at Bon-Bon like she’s just drowned her puppy. She looks like she might start crying.

“W-Why?” Her eyes begin to tear up.

“Because you’re being weird, and you’re freaking him out.” Bon-Bon answers before sitting on her haunches and pointing to you with a front hoof. When Lyra sees you looking at her in disbelief she giggles before scratching the back of her head.

“Whoops? Yeah… sorry, I kinda have a thing for hands.” You can FEEL her embarrassment. You let her shake your hand for a second before yanking it away.

“A thing? Try an obsession.” You say jokingly. You chuckle to yourself before offering your hand to Bon-Bon. Unlike Lyra here Bon-Bon reaches out her hoof in order to complete the hand/hoof shake. Thankfully she doesn’t act like Lyra when it comes to your digits. She is obviously the more level headed of the two. When you get to your feet you place your hands in your pockets.

“So, what’s up?” You know there’s more to it than them just introducing themselves. Judging by how Lyra is acting she’ll probably want to ask you questions like Twilight did when you first arrived. You wouldn’t mind answering her questions as long as she remains calm and civil about it. Hopefully Bon-Bon is going to stick around, because judging by Lyra’s actions that might be impossible.

Plus, this little encounter just might help you put your thoughts into perspective for you. Also you’ll be making friends with ponies that aren’t the Harmony Wielders.

“Well, seeing as how Lyra here thinks you’re so awesome. Why don’t we all have lunch together? Besides, Lyra isn’t the only one that wants to know a little bit about our newest addition.” Bon-Bon finishes with a smile. As much as you’d like to join the two for lunch there are two factors stopping you from agreeing. You just stuffed your face full of delicious cupcakes, and you’re completely broke.

“As nice as that sounds I’m afraid I’m going to have to say no. I’m broke.” You pull out the pockets of your jeans to show that they’re empty and free of bits.

“Oh, that won’t be a problem! I’ll pay for it!” Lyra shouts a little too loudly. When she realizes just how vocal she was she immediately shuts herself up by putting her hooves in front of her mouth.

“Wow, isn’t that nice of you Lyra? Well, I know there’s a café nearby that has the best daisy sandwiches around. So how about it?” Free food and a chance to make new friends, how can you say no to something like that? Your opinion on Lyra is shed in a more of a positive light now.

After all it’s not every day someone offers you free food. Though the flower sandwiches doesn’t sound like your cup of tea. You’re sure they’ll have something you can eat.

“Since Lyra’s being so cool, sure why not?” You accentuate with a shrug and a grin. Finally with something to do you follow them as they lead you through the market. Little do you know, there is one unicorn pony and one unicorn filly en route to the same café; but unlike your group the two were heading there for a much different reason.

The mare leading the foal had her color drained from her much like the other ponies you’ve been unfortunate enough to meet. Her grey fur, eyes, curled mane, and tail made her out to be plain and dry. But the way she trotted with elegance and poise seemed to put her above the rest.

Her refinement was offset by her choice of clothing. She just so happened to be wearing the fedora and sunglasses she had stolen from Lyra. The filly herself had color. A white coat with a purple and pink mane and tail along with light tinted green eyes made up the little filly. She looked to her grey counterpart with concern.

“Um, Rarity, why are you wearing those? Wouldn’t you say they were “uncouth” or something?” Rarity responds with a cultivated trans-Atlantic dialect.

”Sweetie Belle, you simply must agree that this beret and reading glasses are absolutely delightful. Why it would be a crime against fashion NOT to wear these items together.” Sweetie Belle examines Rarity’s wear yet again.

“But those sunglasses are broken. You put them together with scotch tape.” Sweetie retorts as she turns her head back to the path ahead.

“I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about dear.” Rarity seems to have her head in the clouds, at least to Sweetie’s standards.

“Okay… so what are we doing in Ponyville?” Sweetie asks as she spots a café coming into view. Rarity smiles at Sweetie’s question.

“Today I’m going to take whatever I claim to be mine of course.” Sweetie Belle looks to her sister disapprovingly.

“That means that anything that hits the ground is yours. You’d be stealing from other ponies.” Sweetie states flatly before narrowing her eyes at her sister.

“How is it stealing if a pony drops it? It becomes public property as soon as it hits the ground and I am a part of that public.” Rarity turns to look at Sweetie. Sweetie shakes her head before looking forward.

“I want my old sister back.” She whispers to herself. The two trot on, their destination unknown…

Meanwhile you, Lyra, and Bon-Bon have arrived at your destination. A giant bronzed and black colored, hollowed out coffeepot-shaped building on the outskirts of the market. The café has outdoor seating in the form of white overturned coffee mugs and round mahogany tables. Black and white patterned umbrellas pierce through the centers of the table and open at the top to shade customers from the sun.

Upon inspection through one of the front windows you come to find that the interior seating matches the outdoors’s, minus the umbrellas of course. On the far edge of the tables and seating area lies a counter. Reminiscent of Sugarcube Corner, the front portion of the counter shows various café treats on display.

Considering the sky is harassing the citizens of Ponyville in the form of isolated patches of chocolate milk your group considers inside seating. Upon entering you’re met with the subtle scent of freshly ground hazel nut; you inhale deeply before sighing happily. This is the kind of smell that got you going in the mornings.

And the café itself seems so clean and neat. The ponies that run this place must have fairly high standards; it probably isn’t all that cheap either. You won’t get much; you don’t want to drain Lyra of her bits. Maybe you could get some coffee or one of those little cream filled cakes or something. When the three of you approach a table near the center you pull out Bon-Bon’s and Lyra’s chairs for them.

You’re getting free food and drinks from Lyra so you might as well try to be as polite as possible. Both of them thank you before sitting on their respective mugs. You take a seat on a mug of your own and lean in, placing your elbows upon the table top as you do so. It’s unfortunate that the table and mug you’re sitting at are much too small for you.

Hopefully they won’t break on you. It doesn’t take long for a brown Pegasus pony with a whip cream colored mane and tail dressed in waiter’s attire to approach your table. She comes bearing three menus wrapped in a wing. She passes them to the three of you and introduces herself.

“Hello, my name is Mocha Latte and I’ll be your waitmare for today. Take a few minutes to browse our delicious choices and I’ll be back with you shortly.” With that she offers your group a quick bow before trotting off to another table.

The three of you thank her as she leaves, and then open your menus in silence. It doesn’t take long for you to find your meal of choice: Strawberry cheesecake and milk. When you tell Lyra what you’d like she tells you that it’s at a fair price and you smile with joy. You haven’t had cheesecake in years!

When Bon-Bon and Lyra choose their orders Mocha Latte comes trotting back to your table. Your group places your orders and Mocha informs you that it’ll be a few minutes. Once she trots away with the three of you decide to take this time to talk. Of course Lyra starts off by asking you virtually the same questions as Twilight.

Who you were, if you really were a human, how you got here, what your hobbies were, what kind of human you were personality wise; and more things of that nature. When you finish the brief bit about your family Bon-Bon speaks up.

“Your sister sounds like a spoiled flanking bitch.” Lyra nods in agreement. You’re not surprised to find that they agree with you.

“Yeah, well, we can’t choose our siblings.” You shrug before tapping your fingers upon the table impatiently. Lyra watches your fingers with interest. Her head bobs in sync with your tapping. When you notice you stop moving your fingers and glare. She looks to you nervously before giggling.

“Sorry about that.” Lyra moves her eyes off of your hands and to the front window of the café. With their questions having died down you start to ask them questions. You wanted to know as much about them as they did about you.

Turns out Bon-Bon met Lyra through a field trip. At some point Lyra’s class at Canterlot University visited Manehattan’s museum of natural history. The two saw each other when they were both looking at the same exhibit. When the two talked they realized that they had quite a bit in common and the two became friends as a result.

When Lyra left the two kept in touch all throughout Lyra’s schooling as pen pals. For years they’d send letters back and forth describing their experiences. During their separation Bon-Bon ended up getting quite a lot of business with her candy selling, so much so that she was able to save up enough bits in order to make the trip out to Canterlot.

At the same time Lyra’s skill with a lyre got her recognized by music ponies all around. She was even offered a chance to be brought into the Canterlot Orchestra. Then, during Lyra’s graduation, Bon-Bon made a surprise appearance. Lyra was overjoyed to see her friend after so long. There were plenty of hugs and tears; turns out Lyra made a little scene that involved her lifting Bon-Bon up and spinning her around in a tight hug while crying loudly.

“B-B-Bonniekins, I m-missed you!” Bon-Bon mockingly cries as she describes the day the two reunited. The two of you share a laugh at Lyra’s expense. Lyra scoffs before smirking at her.

“Well I remember a certain pony hugging me back and crying: Miiiiinty, I missed you too!” Lyra laughs at Bon-Bon’s angry glare. After the ceremony had come to an end Lyra left her home in Canterlot to pursue whatever career she could with her lyre, as long as it involved Bon-Bon, of course.

You figured Lyra would have gone with the Canterlot Orchestra, but her friendship with Bon-Bon took a higher priority so she turned them down. After all, she’d be traveling everywhere in Equestria with them. That would mean little to no Bon-Bon interaction. So Lyra and Bon-Bon instead made their way to Ponyville. Bon-Bon ended up selling the property that her candy shop was set upon back in Manehattan.

Then she used the bits to open up a new shop here in town. Lyra took it upon herself to provide the music and atmosphere while Bon-Bon provided the candied goods. Turns out the two of them are quite the success. Their business, Candyland, is on par with Sugarcube Corner when it comes to attracting customers. Looks like Pinkie skipped out on that bit of information when she told you about Lyra this morning.

As the two of you continue idle conversation Mocha finally makes her way back with the food. Cheesecake and milk, Lyra’s cream puffs with a mango smoothie and Bon-Bon’s daisy sandwich with tea. The three of you eat your meals in relative silence. You chuckle when Lyra’s way of eating causes her to get cream all over her muzzle.

“Here.” You grab one of your napkins and wipe away the excess mess from Lyra’s face. You notice her reddened cheeks while you cleaned. She must be embarrassed with herself and her eating habits. Or she probably thinks you’re treating her like a filly. Well if she wouldn’t eat like a starving child she wouldn’t have such a messy face. Before you get back to eating you decide to ask her why it was she was spying on you.

“So Lyra,” You start while cutting up your cheesecake with a fork.

“Yes, what is it Anon?” She takes a sip of her smoothie.

“Why were you spying on me this morning?” Lyra sputters and chokes on her smoothie. She coughs in an attempt to get in a breath of air. When her coughing fits die down she’s able to get in a good breath of air.

”Heh, yeah about that,” Lyra stars, blushing out of shame all the while. She takes another breath before continuing, “You’ll think it’s silly, but here it goes: I had a dream.”

“A dream?” You echo out of disbelief.

“Well a few dreams.” Lyra takes another sip. You can’t seem to comprehend what she’s saying. Lyra was stalking you because of a fantasy she came up with while asleep?

“A dream?” you ask again, she nods not bothering to stop drinking. She takes the straw out of her mouth and continues.

“Uh huh. See, I told you it’d be silly,” you nod, “see, in the dream I was floating like right above me right? I was watching myself sleep,” you nod again, “okay, so after a while I felt myself being pulled to the ceiling. Then, like a sling shot, I was flung into the sky. After that I pretty much left the planet being pulled to Celestia-knows where.” The more she explains the more far-fetched it seems

“I passed by like a bunch of planets and stars and stuff until I finally came across a world that looked like ours, but the land was in the wrong places ya know? So I knew it wasn’t mine.” Lyra explains as she eats her final cream puff. She speaks with her mouth full.

“Hmmm mhmmm naummmm hmm.” When she realizes you have no idea what she said she holds her hoof up and swallows her meal. “Sorry about that, anyway, I was pulled to the planet. When I finally reached the ground I was pretty much just floating around at super-fast speeds. And I saw it all; you human thingies walking around, blowing things up, begging on the streets, working, etc.” Lyra speaks in awe at what she saw. The more she clarifies the more you start to believe her.

She mentions your president and his physical appearance down to the buttons of his suit. Any part of you that didn’t believe went right out the window when she did.

“I was… enthralled by the various lifestyles, how you guys looked, and the different cultures you humans had that I started making a mental list of what I saw.” She suddenly points to Bon-Bon, “and she thought I was losing my mind!” Lyra exclaims before taking a huge gulp of her smoothie. Bon-Bon’s jaw drops before she says.

“How could I not?! You were spouting things about hands and hairless monkeys all the time! I wanted to take you to a therapist but you were being so adamant about it that I gave up!” She crosses her hooves much as you would your arms. Then she looks away and harrumphs.

“Well, here’s proof that I’m not crazy! So there!” Lyra sticks her tongue out at her.

“So let me get this straight, you were only watching me because?”

“Because I wanted to see how our species interacted together, and, well, there was a personal reason too. But I won’t say anything about that.” With that she goes back to focusing on her drink. With your curiosity sated you go back to eating. Lyra and Bon-Bon are the first ones done so they chit chat among themselves while you eat your food in peace.

“So Bon-Bon, who’s your special somepony gonna be?” Bon-Bon reaches into her saddle bag and pulls out a heart shaped box of chocolates. The box itself is closed with a pink ribbon, in between the ribbon and box is a card with an hourglass on it.

“I’ve got my eye on Time Turner down at the hourglass shop. He’s come by to visit me every day this week and we’ve been talking…” Bon-Bon trails off.

“Aaaaand?” Lyra smiles slyly before leaning in. You look back and forth between the two. You wonder what Lyra’s implying?

“And we went on a date the other night. He was so nice and charming. A real gentlecolt so… yeah I’m gonna ask him,” Bon-Bon giggles before clopping her hooves together excitedly, “so what about you Lyra, did you find any pony?” Lyra laughs before slurping up some of her smoothie.

“Me, a special somepony, that’s funny,” she cuts her eyes, looks off to the side, and takes a rather loud sip of her smoothie.

“Oh come on, Minty, there’s gotta be a pony out there you have your eye on,” Bon-Bon insists. Lyra shakes her head. That’s when both ponies turn their gaze to you.

“So what about you Anon? Have you found anypony?” Bon-Bon asks. Lyra simply stares at you with a raised brow while taking a drawn out slurp of her smoothie.

You stop eating for a moment to answer, “I don’t go outside my species.” After answering you go right back to your lunch. Bon-Bon doesn’t seem satisfied with your answer.

“Anonymous, how many humans are there on this rock anyway?” Bon-Bon asks as she puts her gift for Time Turner back in her saddlebags. You shrug.

“Don’t know, aren’t I the only one?” You don’t really see where Bon-Bon is trying to go with this, at least not yet.

“Okay, let’s say you are the only one. So what you’re just gonna live alone for the rest of your life?” Bon-Bon asks while raising a brow. Is this something a new friend should be asking?

“Live alone? I have friends. Well, I’m going to make friends.” You whip your mouth of crumbs. Bon-Bon just shakes her head.

“How about this, do you think you’re going to go back to Earth?” Bon-Bon waits for your answer; she doesn’t have to wait long.

“I’m not going back, and if I’m forced to I won’t go without a fight. I haven’t been here a week and I like Equestria more than Earth.” You finish off your milk and wipe your mouth with a napkin.

“If that’s so, then I’m afraid if you want to find love you’re gonna have to settle for a pony, or a griffin, or even a dragon. I don’t judge.”

“Yeah, well, I think I’ll be fine. No offense but I don’t find ponies, griffins, or dragons appealing. Not saying you mares aren’t hot. I’m sure you are to a stallion, but not to me. Though if we throw personality into the mix that’s a different story altogether.”

“What do you mean? What do you like in a ma—err girl?” Bon-Bon asks. Her gaze goes from you, then to Lyra, then back to you. You sigh from frustration before putting your head into your hands. You’ve had about enough of this subject and wish to end it.

“Can we just drop it please?” You ask without making eye contact with either mare. While you’re occupied with your empty glass of milk Bon-Bon turns to Lyra and wordlessly mouths ‘sorry’ to her. Lyra shrugs before frowning. With her smoothie finally empty she has nothing to do other than sit in silence. Mocha ends up coming by and telling you guys that the meal costs a total of 20 bits.

At that point you’ve finished your meal and are ready to head out. Lyra reaches into Bon-Bon’s saddle bag and produces a sack of bits. It’s at that time that a certain unicorn and filly come trotting by the café…



Lyra uses her teeth to try and undo the rope keeping her bits secure inside the bag. Unfortunately she yanks too hard and the sack slips out of her hooves. Her sack hits the ground and her coins go everywhere. The grey unicorn’s ear twitches when the money clangs upon the ground.

Suddenly the door to the café flies open. A grey blur comes in and swipes all of the bits off of the floor before anypony can make an attempt to grab any. The grey unicorn stops at the door for a split second and turns to face everyone inside the café. It’s in that moment you see that it’s the pony that stole Lyra’s property. In fact she’s wearing it right now.

The unicorn yells “Mine!” at the top of her lungs. Then she runs out. The filly looks from you, to Bon-Bon, and then to Lyra. Then she looks in the direction the thief ran off to.

“Wait for me!” The filly’s voice cracks as she gallops after the grey unicorn.

“Thief!” Lyra cries as she points in the direction the two ran off in, “and she’s got my hat and sunglasses too, that whorse!” She gallops over to the front door. Lyra opens it to find that they've gotten quite a bit of distance from the café.

You don’t know if any of those ponies in the café can catch them, but you don’t think they’re moving all that fast. Without giving it a second thought you’re to your feet. You break off into a sprint past Lyra and out of the front door. When your feet hit the poker card laden streets you go into a full blown run. They may have a bit of a head start but if you maintain your speed you might just catch them… or at least the filly…

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