Valley Of Rainbows: Seeking Solutions

by Sparx

Stories By The Fire: The Maiden And The Minstrel Knight

The Maiden And The Minstrel Knight

I was still young when I first saw her, only passing through Ponyville at the time. In fact, if I remember correctly, I hadn’t been back in Equestria since I left Canterlot years before.

Anyway, I had taken myself more seriously back then, though I was still the delightful eccentric that everypony knows and… tolerates. I didn’t go by any aliases, though I had considered it; I was still just Lyra. She, however, was more than just Bon Bon.

I had overheard a rumor of a mirror in Equestria that led to bipeds with hands. Originally it was little more than a schoolyard story I remember hearing on the day a very talented unicorn went missing, but the tale had found its way back to me beyond Equestrian borders. With such a rumor I went sniffing for information on the thing. That’s a whole different story however, and needless to say, I found nothing, ultimately being told no such thing existed. I don’t believe that of course, and continue my search on that front, but I digress.

Ponyville was new territory for me, especially having come from Canterlot’s ‘high society’ and rather narrow mindedness. The looks I earned there for my bizarre fantasies and behaviors were on another level than Ponyville, and I think that’s what attracted me to the town. I was still considered strange, but tolerated.

My search for the mirror wasn’t a priority at the time, as I was more intrigued with life beyond the Equestrian borders than I was in following rumors, but I was passing through at the time, about to make my way into the first excursion to Minos. As such, I had decided to take a few days of rest in my homeland; five to be accurate.

On the first day, I had intended to go busking, earn a few bits, buy some new supplies, and prepare for the departure on the fifth day. What I was offered instead was a chance to play for Celestia herself and a small audience of ritzy ditzy ponies. I had no intention of spending my time in Canterlot again when I had hardly meant to be staying in Equestria at all. The crowd was so engaged and enchanted though that they insisted, and ol’ Fancy Pants himself was in the audience, insisting that he would recommend the princess to come down to Ponyville just to hear my rather… ‘magical’ playing.

I figured, “Why not? More cash, bigger stash.” Get a bit of pocket money out of it too. Fancy went and made preparations with some of the other folk around as they all went walking off, ‘cept for one. Cute little earth pony barely out of her filly years, kinda like me, with a cream coat and quite the angry pout on her face as she looked at me.

“I don’t think the princess will be fooled by such simple trickery,” she had said to me. I’ll be honest too; she took me aback by the line. “You captured their minds to make your playing seem better than it actually was.” Nowadays, I won’t deny it, I did sweeten the song to the ears a teensy bit with some enchantment. I don’t now because I didn’t spend years of practice to cheat, but I was younger then, less wise.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I had snooted back at her, lying through my teeth. In truth, I was more stunned than anything. Nopony had ever caught onto me before, nor shown such sass without being a complete prick about it. Somehow, she had avoided the enchantment of my little siren song.

“You used your magic.” She was blunt and simple, but absolutely adorable when she was skeptical. “The princess will know this and you’ll embarrass yourself. Why did you accept to do the show?”

“I like a challenge. I’m an adventurer!” Granted, I was a bit blunt and simple as well. I insist that my vocabulary has diversified per annum.

Of course, at the bold title of ‘adventurer’ I had captured the young mare’s attention. Granted, I distinctly remember it being expressed in the form of a raised eyebrow, but it was attention nonetheless.

To verify my claims, I regaled her with my chronicles to date, telling of my feats of derring-do and acts of bravado. My taming of the rogue elementals and the laughter I shared with the gnoll tribes.

I doubt at the time that my ‘silly stories’, as she called them, had given her belief to my title, but they did get her to smile. I can remember her egging me on back then as well, mocking me with lines such as, “Is that all?” or “That isn’t quite enough to call yourself an adventurer.” She kept me talking, even as she walked her way home and I followed. Before I knew it, she was thanking me for my entertainment and closing the door on me.

Though I had been mocked and called out on my dirty deeds, I couldn’t help but grin. She had a way of putting a stupid face on me every time… still does, as you can see.

I hadn’t thought too much of it in the next morning however, until I had bumped into her once again when I was gathering some supplies. There was the typical ‘nice to see you again’ talk from me as she merely gave a disapproving glare.

“Right, this is about the minstrel walking through and playing her lyre a bit too good for some extra coin, right?”

“No, it’s about the minstrel using rather illegal magics to take that extra coin. Her harp playing is good enough.” So snappy and aloof, you can see how she kept a strong grip on my interest.

“Good enough? Not the best you’ve ever heard?”

“Well apparently, you don’t even think that if you’re going to make some mind alteration; so no.”

“Hey, I don’t need the magic to play well, to play fantastically even. I just do it to inspire a bit of extra generosity is all.” Fool I was relying on a shortcut, that wasn’t my motive in the argument, rather to simply speak to this clever and cunning filly.

“Sure you can,” she snarked

“I can! You want to hear my playing without spells?”

“Think you can manage it?”

She had given me a challenging smile, eagerness in her eyes. Of course I accepted, and we met up after our shopping was taken care of.

I played for her, employing my usual effort and skill. She was hardly impressed, and the louder she yawned, the more I put into it, until I was playing with my very heart and soul. That had managed to pull her into the song. She had smiled and closed her eyes, letting them slowly peel open, though only occasionally. Waiting for a glimpse of her eyes as I played that day was like waiting for a holiday to come after it had already finished, it just couldn’t arrive soon enough. There were stars in her eyes.

She could sing too. Better than even I can now. It’s a very rare treat to hear her singing, but I’d cross all of this planet’s hazards just to hear her dulcet voice produce the notes she did that night.

Never had a pony made me feel so… happy and yet inferior all in one moment. I played song after song, telling story after story just so that I could continue to hear her, even going on to simply playing absently when I had exhausted my library.

We had lost all track of time; the pale moon was hanging in the center of the sky when our last lyric left. I had missed out on another day of potential busking, but in the exchange earned a night no coin could ever buy me.

Laughter followed, consuming my logical mind with emotional bliss. I asked for her name, interested in knowing all I could about her in that time. She answered with a giggle and another sparkle in her eye, pronouncing ‘Bon Bon’ in that honeyed music that was her speech.

A haze had overtaken our senses and driven us towards one another, breast to breast and nose to nose. The world dissolved around us, warping into a higher plane of existence where we didn’t need words to express our thoughts to one another.

I experienced the flavor of Bon Bon that night, and it exceeds anything that came before or will come after. The cushion of her lips and the embrace of her tongue remain my favored feeling in this world. Never had I found a greater example of perfection as she would whimper and gasp with each nibble across her neck or cheek, the heat of her breath only edging me on.

She had seen where this was going, and halted it before we went beyond, much to my own dissatisfaction. I respected her choice however. At this point, I was considering staying longer than I had intended.

We made it a point to see one another again the next day. It had become a little more than obvious we were interested in one another, so we began talking more about personal interests, hobbies and activities, sharing beloved and even less beloved anecdotes as we chuckled, scoffed, and bickered throughout the whole experience.

Though I managed to consistently make her smile and bring a joyful laughter from her heart, there were a few instances of my past she raised an eyebrow at in disapproval. For the first time in a long time, I felt bad about disappointing somepony.

In the moment of a ‘con’, I had thought little about the unethical value behind any ill gotten coin; whether I had gotten it from casting illusions or meddling with another’s mind. I mean to say, I knew most considered it wrong to do but cared little. When Bon Bon would give me a look though, I felt the guilt I should have during the action wash over me tenfold.

She could wipe away that feeling just as easily, with a giggle and a sarcastic sigh. She would say, “Well now you know better, I guess I can look past what came before.”

I had no idea why those words meant so much to me. I wasn’t tied down to her, but to know she held faith in me brought about amazing warmth within myself.

Again, we spent the day merely basking in one another’s company until the lunar light, and even then we continued to soak in the night hours. We learned more about one another and loved the experiences we traded, taking note of what the other liked or hated.

We talked so late that we fell asleep beside one another, waking in each other’s embrace. To have her smile be what I woke up to melted my heart, and I think that’s when I started to know that I was falling in love with her. I began seriously considering staying in Ponyville and abandoning my adventuring life.

It seems she was thinking the same. Catching a glimmer in her eye, I knew what was coming next.

Disappointed I was not, for with a sultry drop of her eyelids and a swift motion, I found myself looking directly up at a lusty Bon Bon licking her lips. A morning of passion and ecstasy followed, eating our early hours away too fast for our liking. In the throes of our desire, I had come to the decision that I was definitely staying, intent on falling deeper in love with this mare and perhaps building a life with her.

Turns out that dearest Bon Bon had been thinking along the same lines, asking if I was interested in any of the open homes and telling me that if I needed a place to wait, her door was always open.

Of course I offered to pay her back by ‘cleaning out her gutters’ daily. I think she rather liked the idea as the thought made her give a purr and rolled us into round two.

When finally we had cleaned the scent of lust out of our coats and manes, we made our way into town, planning dinner and entertainment. I had no idea that the happiest day of my life would also be the one when karma had finally caught up with me.

Princess Celestia had arrived a day early, taking both of us by surprise. Of course we showed the proper respect, bowing down before her grace. I wasn’t expecting her frown as it fell upon me, and my heart began racing as it had that morning, but out of fear.

Fancy Pants had not requested her presence for any celebration; it was merely bait to keep me in Ponyville while he alerted the Princess to my less than admirable actions three days prior. He had seen past my enchantment as well, and for the first time in a long time, I felt as big of a fool as I truly was in my youth.

“Your actions have been reported to me, Lyra Heartstrings. The spells you cast are derived from forbidden magics. This is a very serious crime in Equestria, and I have come to deliver my punishment personally.” The Princess is an extraordinarily benevolent leader, believe me, I’ve seen the tyrants. However, brainwashing, no matter how minor, is a very serious crime. I had happened to realize that all too late.

The penalty for using such magics is severe by our standards, a decade within the Canterlot dungeons. Upon hearing my sentence, tears flooded my vision and my heart sank to the deepest pits of my stomach. This was a mandatory action, something that the Princess stands firm on to this day, to prevent tyranny befalling her beloved ponies as it had in the Crystal Empire. I knew that no tolerance in Equestria meant I was going away.

Dear Bon Bon… she is a solid mind as well though, and stood before Celestia on my behalf. “Princess Celestia,” she had begun in a respectful, but unafraid manner, “I must humbly request you reconsider.” Bon Bon knew of my free spirit, and that I would take to a cage like a songbird longing for freedom, never to sing again. She also knew that there was no way I was getting out of this free, so she offered an alternative. “I have come to know this mare well over the past few days, and I believe that ten years within the dungeons is a great waste of potential talent. I propose a different idea that could benefit Equestria, yet still deliver the justice that must come.”

Celestia had looked Bon Bon over with interest, possibly seeing greatness in her eyes as I had. “And what is this proposal?” she had asked.

“Banishment. Let the one known as Lyra Heartstrings be denied shelter in her homeland for five years, working the other five for her country by gathering knowledge beyond our borders. At the end of her banishment, she may return here, reporting her findings directly to you.” My beloved Bon Bon was a bit of a genius to plot a plan so quickly. I would keep my freedom, but still with a cost.

I wanted to scream ‘No!’, unwilling to part with my newfound muse, but the alternative was more painful still. In this way, I would keep my freedom, doing what I had been for the time before.

I looked desperately to Bon Bon, and she looked back to me. She had tried her hardest to keep a strong face, but I could see the pain in her eyes, as it was reflected in mine as well. A tear had managed to break her brave façade.

“Will you still wait for me?” I asked her, uncaring of what anypony thought of me but her.

“I will,” she had promised me.

Celestia continued to look upon us as I embraced her. “Very well. This proposal is acceptable. Lyra Heartstrings shall serve as the royal minstrel, gathering stories of the lands beyond our borders, and bringing this intelligence back to Equestria, but not before her five year banishment has been seen through.” I nodded back to her highness, grateful for her mercy. “In addition, she shall carry this title to the end of her days, serving as Canterlot’s Minstrel Knight. She, and any bound to her, shall be provided for as if they were one of our own guards upon her return.”

I found a small amount of happiness in that at the time, realizing its benefit would truly sink in in five years’ time. I parted from my beloved Bon Bon, our farewell sealed with a kiss that also served purpose as a promise of my return.

I was prepared for my journey that night, given supplies, money, and a weapon to defend myself. In the morning I was escorted out of Ponyville. I had gone in planning to leave on the fifth day, and though I no longer wished to, it seemed my schedule held much more power than I realized. As I turned my back to get one more look at the town, I saw her looking to me. From what I heard, she would come and stand at the same spot every day to remember and cry.

Five days I saw that mare, and five years it took me to see her again. I thought, and still think of her every night, especially on a night like this, with the moon shining pale and the stars twinkling like glitter; exactly like the first nights we spent together.

I returned to her on a night like this as well, seeing her just about to turn and walk back into town, calling back to her. She looked different than I had remembered; older, but even more beautiful.

I don’t believe I had run faster in my entire life than that night, and I was still unable to meet her fast enough. She had waited for me, and I had cried for her.

I still remember her first words to me as well, after we had embraced and kissed and expressed our joy through sobs and laughter. Once we had caught our breaths, she looked at me with a smile and said, “You grew your mane out I see.” As if she had been expecting me all along.

Author's Note:

A form of bonus chapter, Stories by the fire will be tales by the main cast about their individual adventures away from the party.

Anyways, here we have Lyra telling how she met Bon Bon. Anything here at all what you expected I wonder?

Comments

[Sparx]

4468084
Well, each of them has been having adventures in their lives.
At the moment, Applejack and Rainbow's have a concept (AJ's time with The Slayers, and how Rainbow and Spitfire came together), and I am planning more for the rest of the cast.