A bunch of rumors about their individual races cause a rift in Bon Bon and Lyra's relationship
Assuming it was a normal day, Lyra went to the market to get her groceries. All day she either got ignored, disrespected or had to pay upraised prices. And the worst part of her day hasn't even came to pass yet.
“Hi!” I smiled widely at Golden Harvest, my normal carrot seller. She sold the best carrots in all of town. I’d go as far as to say in all of Equestria.
“What do you want?” She said coldly. My smile quickly turned into a frown. I’ve been getting groceries all day and this is the treatment I’ve been getting. That and being straight up ignored by Roma.
“Two bags of carrots please,” I asked and hoofed over the ten bits.
“It’s fifteen bits,” Golden snapped as she placed the bagged carrots.
“It was ten for the earth pony in front of me though,” I pointed out with a frown.
“That was for her. This is for you,” Golden glared at me. “Take it or leave it.”
“Fine,” I sighed and added the five extra bits, taking my carrots in my magic and putting them in my saddlebags. I don’t know what’s been going on around Ponyville lately. It used to be such a friendly town. Lately it’s been really tense and a few fights. Derpy had to flee along with Raindrops, Cloudkicker, Blossomforth and White Lightning. Flitter and Cloudchaser had already left long ago, along with the rest of the weather team. Me and Bon Bon were watching over Dinky and Amethyst for Derpy. I finished getting my groceries, some olives and other random stuff. At least the unicorn vendors were friendly with me and cheap. The earth ponies and pegasus vendors were the complete opposite. Strawberry Sunrise acted like I didn’t exist and wasn’t in front of her, which really surprised me. We were super close. I stepped into my house and shut the door behind me.
“I’m home!” I called out. A blur attached itself to my leg. A pink unicorn followed at a much slower rate.
“Hi Miss Heartstrings!” Dinky shouted. I grinned and ruffled her mane.
“Hey Dinks. And call me Lyra, please. Hey Amethyst.”
“Hello Lyra,” Amethyst smiled at me. “Do you need any help with your bags?” I shook my head.
“I got them. Thanks anyway,” I smiled at her. I felt the ring on my horn and sighed happily. Me and Bon Bon had finally proposed to each other and I was beyond happy.
“Lyra,” Bon Bon stood in the doorway. I looked over at her and was confused by the cold look she gave me.
“Hey Bon Bon!” I grinned.
“Get the groceries I see. Surprised anypony sold to you,” Bon Bon said coolly.
“It was really weird. Half the vendors refused to sell to me. The other half raised the prices by crazy percents. Only the unicorns were friendly,” I levitated the groceries out of my bags and onto the counter.
“I don’t blame them. Not after what the unicorns are up to,” Bon Bon stated. I was confused at hearing this coming from her.
“What are you talking about, Bonnie?” I stared at her. She slammed a hoof down on the ground, making Dinky and I recoil.
“I know what you and the other unicorns are doing, Lyra. You’ve been destroying the earth ponies gardens.”
“What?” I said in disbelief. “We haven’t been doing that.”
“Don’t lie to me Lyra! I keep hearing all about you guys using your magic to ruin the crops. I didn’t want to believe at first, but the rumors and damage make sense,” Bon Bon shouted. She took her ring from the table and slammed it on the ground, slamming her hoof into it and breaking it to pieces. I felt my eyes starting to tear up and my heart break. I had spent my last bits on her ring. I sold almost all my possessions, all of the My Little Human figures I owned. The only thing I kept was my lyre. And she just broke the thing I got her like it meant nothing.
“Leave!” Bon Bon shouted at me.
“Bonnie-” I mumbled.
“Now!” I felt a hoof on my shoulder and glanced back at Amethyst’s angry expression.
“Let’s go. She’s a worthless nothing now,” I was startled at Amethyst speaking like that. She was usually such a nice mare. Dinky was hiding behind her leg shaking and I nodded.
“Let’s go everypony,” I ushered the two out of the door. “We will come back when Bon Bon is feeling sane.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Amethyst grumbled. We stepped onto the street and I stared at the angry crowd.
“Well this isn’t good,” I mumbled. I stepped in front of the two defensively. I’ll be damned if they get hurt.
“Get out of here!” Lily shouted.
“We don’t want your kind here!” Octavia yelled at us. That surprised me, she was dating Vinyl.
“Yeah!” Daisy agreed, giving us cold looks. I typically don’t run from my problems but we were completely outnumbered. I was only one fully grown mare with a filly and a teenage unicorn. I was typically known for being optimistic, but even I could tell these weren’t good odds. I prepared to tell them to run and that I would cover for them before we randomly were on a hill overlooking the angry crowd, surrounded by the towns other unicorns. Minuette, Holly Dash and a few others.
“Hey Lyra,” Minuette hugged me. “You had me worried.” I hugged her back and glanced at Twilight’s school. I could vaguely make out Starlight tackling something but I’m not sure what it was.
“What is Starlight doing?” I asked frantically. We had gotten really close over these past few months.
“She was evacuating the students with Trixie. There was some threat there that she was gonna defend the school against,” Holly Dash stepped forward nervously. “She sent me away to get to safety, refused to let me help fight or help with the students.”
“I can cast a spell that let’s us see what she is doing,” Amethyst stepped forward and closed her eyes. “Give me something that belongs to her.” I quickly handed her the saddlebag she had given me randomly as a gift. A magical screen appeared in front of us in the air. I was impressed, gotta hand it to Amethyst for this.
“What is that?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Chrysalis,” I whispered fearfully. She had brainwashed me, Minuette and Twinkleshine during Cadences wedding. Based on their facial expressions, they were just as scared as me. Took us a long time in the hospital to recover from the mind control.
“What is this? Where are we?” Chrysalis demanded.
“Somewhere you can’t hurt anypony!”
“Wrong! I can hurt you!” Chrysalis lunged at Starlight who instantly teleported away.
“Smart Starlight,” I mumbled in awe. I knew she was a capable pony who saved us once before but it’s one thing to watch her fight.
“Stay still so I can blast you!” Chrysalis shouted and the three of us shivered at her voice. I still had nightmares from that voice.
“Oh yeah, real motivating!” Starlight retorted and I gave a grin. That was her all right, feisty as usual. I stared in shock as she let out a cry and bounced in the snow. I gave out a cheer as she blasted Chrysalis in the chest. Hope that bug bitch learned her lesson.
“You’ll pay for that!” I was wrong unfortunately because she flew back up to Starlight. They never make it easy, do they?
“Put it on my tab!” Starlight gave her a smug grin.
“That was a great line,” Lemon Hearts smirked. Starlight teleported away and fell backwards towards the snow and I watched in growing fear. I hoped she didn’t go splat. That would suck greatly. She blasted the snow above Chrysalis, fully enveloping her and I let out a sigh of relief as Starlight teleported and landed on her hooves, walking away with the wind blowing her mane.
“Why is Chrysalis here?” Dinky asked.
“Earth ponies and pegasus are probably working for her,” Moondancer scoffed. I didn’t want to believe my Bon Bon and my other earth pony friends could do that. I didn’t believe it in fact. “And they called us evil. After all the things they did.” We all jumped at Starlight’s scream as she went flying and Chrysalis quickly wrapped her up in her green goo.
“No!” I slammed my hoof into the ground. I hated that this could happen to my friend and there’s nothing I could do.
“We need to get out of here,” Amethyst sighed as she canceled her spell. “There’s nothing we can do for Starlight right now. We can only hope she’s fine until we can. The mob is getting close.”
“Canterlot,” I immediately stated. “It’s a city mostly inhabited by unicorns. Celestia and Luna live there, we will be safe.”
“It’s gonna take all of us to use our magic to teleport there,” Twinkleshine warned. “I used a lot of my strength getting you three here.”
“Can I help?” Dinky jumped up in her face. Twinkleshine knelt down with a kind smile on her face.
“Sure you can little filly. What’s your name?”
“I’m Dinky!”
“I’m Twinkleshine, I’ve know Lyra since I was a filly. So has Minuette here, Lemon Hearts and Moondancer,” Twinkleshine smiled. Minuette and Lemon Hearts gave the filly waves with grins as Moondancer watched the mob.
“If we are going to do something, it should be now.” Twinkleshine nodded.
“Close your eyes,” Twinkleshine instructed. “And focus on Canterlot.” Dinky nodded and closed her eyes, scrunching her face up in concentration. If it was under better circumstances, I’d call it adorable. A loud popping sound and we were standing on a street in Canterlot.
“I did it!” Dinky cheered. “Thanks, Miss Shine.” She squeezed Twinkleshine’s leg tightly.
“That you did,” Twinkleshine smiled. “Where did you meet this kid, Lyra?”
“She’s Derpy’s daughter. Derpy couldn’t take Dinky or Amethyst to Cloudsdale because of the clouds so she asked me to keep them safe while things died down,” I explained. “Me and Derpy go way back.”
“Mom said we were safer with Lyra,” Amethyst stepped forward. “Safer than if we stayed with her.”
“Is mommy okay?” Dinky looked up nervously, still holding onto Twinkleshine who frowned at her.
“Mom is fine,” Amethyst smiled. “She’s tough. She will be back before we know it.’
“She’s right,” Twinkleshine agreed. “I don’t know Derpy but your mom will be back soon.” The ground started shaking and Dinky let out a terrified scream. I quickly gave her a hug.
“It’s okay,” I cooed. We all stared in shock as half the castle got destroyed in a giant laser beam.
“W-what just happened?” Amethyst asked, visibly shaken. I wrapped my spare hoof around her neck.
“What do we do now?” Minuette asked no one in particular. I noticed a bunch of Canterlotian unicorns running into our old school. Chancellor Neighsay was waving us over. I personally didn’t like him after what I heard he tried to do at Twilight’s school. I know he’s all better and stuff now but still. I’m one of the few in my friend group who doesn’t instantly forgive and forget. My respect and trust is earned, not given freely to anyone who asks for it.
“Let’s go to Celestia’s school,” I decided, pointing a hoof. I loved Dinky and her hugs, but she thankfully let go. I don’t know what was strong enough to destroy half the castle, but I did know I didn’t want to meet it. I levitated Dinky onto my back and started to galloped to the entrance along with the others except Lemon Hearts. I slowed down and levitated Dinky onto Amethyst’s back.
“Amethyst! Take Dinky, I’m going back for Lemon!” She nodded and I trotted up to my foalhoad friend, gently prodding her with a hoof. “Lemon? We gotta go.”
“My job,” Lemon stared absently at the castle. “It’s gone, Lyra.”
“It can be rebuilt,” I comforted her. “But you can’t if whatever did it comes out here and finds you. I’d rather not lose one of my oldest friends. I already lost my fiancée.”
“What?” Lemon spun around and stared at me. At least THAT got her moving. If I knew that’s all it would take, I’d have mentioned it when I first trotted over here.
“Bon Bon called off the wedding pretty much and destroyed the ring I gave her,” I admitted and wiped a tear away. “That’s what happened when you all saw me get ready to fight the crowd after leaving her house. I’d rather me get hurt than Dinky or Amethyst. Plus, Derpy is very scary when it comes to her daughters being hurt.”
“I’m so sorry,” Lemon hugged me. “I know you were looking forward to it.”
“Yeah well there will be time for grieving later,” I sighed. I stared at a purple dot getting closer. “Is that Twilight?”
“Why is she crying?” Lemon asked as Twilight soared over us, crying and her eyes slightly widening as she saw us.
“I don’t know,” I waved a hoof at Twilight. She landed and tackled us in a hug. I hope it was a hug at least and not an attack. I’d attack me if I was her after being mindcontrolled by Sombra.
“Lyra, Lemon Hearts. Are you two okay?” She examined us up and down.
“We were till you tackled us,” I joked with a smile, quickly turning into a frown. “What’s going on?”
“It’s complicated and I don’t have time to explain,” she focused on me. “Why are you here and not in Ponyville?”
“We were ran out of town by an angry crowd. Me and all the unicorns in town,” I sighed. “Bon Bon even broke up with me over this. Because we apparently damaged their crops with our magic.”
“I’m so sorry. At least you guys aren’t hurt,” Twilight sighed. “I need to get to the crystal empire.”
“Why? What’s going on?” Lemon asked nervously.
“It’s over. We’ve lost,” Twilight dragged her wings on the street and half heartedly flew away. “Stay safe, you guys. I hope to see you again.” I exchanged a nervous glance with Lemon.
“I’ve never seen her so dejected before.”
“Me neither. Let’s get inside the school, the others are waiting for us,” I dragged her to the door and slammed it shut behind us.
“It appears there are some weird clouds forming,” Neighsay stood with a telescope looking out the boarded up windows. Me and Moondancer had helped board up windows in an attempt to keep the cold out. Even then, it was still freezing in this damn room. At least Twilight’s parents were in here, I always liked them. Good ponies. Them and Shining Armor were the only reason me, Minuette and Twinkleshine were the bridesmaids in the wedding because we knew them since we were foals.
“Probably them stupid pegasus,” someone scoffed. “They’re trying to kill us.” I quickly covered Dinky’s ears. She was curled up next to me so I could warm her up with my body. I glared at the unicorn who had said that.
“I have a terrified filly right here,” I snapped. “So don’t scare her any further or you’ll have an angry Lyra to deal with.”
“And an angry Minuette,” she stepped forward and stood next to me. I’ve only seen her angry a few times and it wasn’t something I liked seeing. The unicorn wisely kept his mouth shut after that.
“We need to use our magic to protect the school,” Neighsay instructed. “We can’t rely on the Earth ponies or Pegasus to keep us safe.” I nodded and turned around, getting ready to head outside with Minuette and Twinkleshine.
“Watch over Dinky,” I instructed Amethyst. “We will be back before you know it.”
“Wait!” I stared at a filly who jumped on a table. “At Princess Twilight’s school, we were taught that friendship is the most important thing. We should help the other tribes.”
“They aren’t gonna help us,” Sweetie Belle said bitterly. “At least Twinkleshine rescued me and brought me here.”
“What’s that sound?” I looked around and covered Dinky’s ears from the loud buzzing sound. A magical screen akin to the one Amethyst used appeared in front of us and we gathered around it.
“Twilight?” I mumbled as I stared at her, the other elements and the princess in her magical bubble.
“Haven’t you noticed somethings wrong in Equestria?” My blood went cold and eyes widened as Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow stepped into the frame. “We’ve been busy.”
“A whisper here, a rumor there,” Chrysalis smirked.
“Destroy some crops, cause some chaos,” Tirek chimed in.
“Turn pony against pony,” Cozy Glow circled the bubble.
“Until your whole kingdom was pushed to the precipice, waiting for something to push them over the brink,” Chrysalis snapped.
“There’s no backup friends or rainbow magic to save you now.”
“Golly, I think it’s time for some redecorating!” Cozy grinned and the three destroyed half the castle.
“That must have been what we saw,” I told Lemon Hearts.
“So this is the past. But why are we seeing it?” Minuette mumbled.
“To prove to all the races none of us are behind this and to unite to stop them!” I stared at the filly.
“You know what’s stronger than friendship, Twilight? Fear.” Chrysalis slammed her hooves against the bubble and it shattered.
“Because when you have to protect yourself, you have no time for anypony else!”
“Twilight!” I shouted.
“Don’t worry, it’s the past. We stopped and talked to her,” Lemon Hearts reminded me and I calmed down a little. Now I knew what she meant by it’s complicated.
“Too bad you never taught THAT in school,” Cozy Glow grinned.
“She’s probably showing this to all of Equestria. We have to help each other!” The filly pleaded. All of us looked to each other and nodded.
I concentrated on keeping up the shield spell. It would be way more taxing if I was doing it alone. At least all of the unicorns agreed to help make the shield. It was smart to pick a hill to have a final stand on, the humans used to pick hills for defensive positions. You could just fire down on the advancing enemies because you had the high ground. My eyes widened as a Wonderbolt and a changeling slammed into our shield. I winced at Soarins pained expression. I think that was his name. I may be a mare and have mare parts, but based on his expression, him hitting the shield looked very painful. Especially for his male parts. Me, Minuette and Twinkleshine closed our eyes, gritting our teeth. I could feel the spell getting weaker with each passing moment. Especially since two ponies got slammed into it, that weakened it a lot. I felt tiny hooves of Dinky pressing into my back. I had tried to convince her and Amethyst to stay behind, but those two can be very persuasive when they want to be. Dinky just uses her cuteness and puppy dog eyes. I opened my eyes and frowned as the shield finally broke apart.
“This ain’t good,” Minuette mumbled nervously. She was typically just as optimistic as me, maybe even more so. If she says something is bad, she’s either exaggerating or it’s a really bad situation. I don’t really remember much of what happened next, it all happened so fast. I vaguely remember Spike being held up and almost getting his wings ripped off. That really angered me, I had know that dragon since he first hatched. Amethyst and Sea Swirl had to hold me, Lemon Hearts, Minuette, Twinkleshine and Moondancer back from storming down there and kicking ass. We all glared down at the three villains as they turned to stone. At least Chrysalis couldn’t hurt anyone else. I hated that bug, so did Minuette and Twinkleshine.
"Lyra!" I heard a familiar voice shouting. I glanced around before I saw the mare.
"Lyra!" Bon Bon looked around frantically. Her eyes settled on me hugging Dinky. She quickly trotted towards me and I'm not proud of what I did next. I know I said I don't run from my problems and that's true, but this time I just needed space. I teleported away, right as Bon Bon got close to us.
I plopped down on the bench inside Sugarcube Corner with my milkshake. Golden Harvest, Lily, Roseluck, Daisy, Octavia, Berry Punch and Junebug all were crowded around our small table. They all looked at me sadly.
“Still no sign of Lyra?” Junebug asked sympathetically.
“Nope,” I stirred the straw around half heartedly. “Not that I blame her, I did destroy the ring she got me.”
“Especially since she sold almost everything she owned to buy it, including her toys. She didn’t want you checking the bank statements and seeing it in there,” Lily pointed out and I slammed my head against the tables top. Everyone else gave Lily a dirty look and she slumped behind her milkshake in an attempt to look small.
“I’m sure she will come back,” Daisy smiled. “She loves you.”
“Correction, she loved me,” I grumbled. “I don’t even know where she is. No letter, nothing.”
“It’s only been a week. She just needs time,” Octavia sighed. “We were awful to her and those two with her. Derpy still hasn’t talked to me after running her daughters out.” We all gave a collective shudder at that. We all knew how protective Derpy was of her children.
“Lyra also threw her ring as she left our house,” I held up the ring I had gotten Lyra.
“She was there on the hill,” Golden Harvest pointed out. “She was with two other unicorns, Dinky and Amethyst making the shield. She looked scarily angry when Spike was used as bait. So did a bunch of other unicorns near her.”
“Those other unicorns are her friends from Canterlot. They always are at our house visiting. Except Moondancer. I’ve only meet her once. The others are Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts. They knew Spike since he hatched from the egg,” I explained as I lifted my head off the table.
“Maybe Dinky knows,” Berry suggested. “She’s right there.” She pointed a hoof where the young unicorn was trotting in.
“I’m not sure but okay. Dinky! Come here please,” I called out and the filly hesitantly trotted over.
“My sister says I’m not allowed to talk to you unless she or mommy is there,” Dinky said nervously.
“This will only take a minute,” I promised. “Do you know where Lyra is?”
“Oh she’s in Canterlot,” Dinky covered her mouth with a hoof. “I wasn’t supposed to say that.” I gave a sigh of relief. At least she was safe and not dead somewhere.
“What else did you sister say?” Roseluck suddenly asked.
“I snuck out of bed to steal some cookies and I overheard mommy and Sparky arguing. Sparky said something about Bon Bon being a thing called a bitch and a mean spirited whore,” my face turned bright red at that. “I’m not sure what those words mean though. Can you tell me?” Dinky stared at us.
“Maybe when you’re older,” Octavia mumbled in awe. We all knew Amethyst as a nice mare so this really shocked me that she said that about me.
“Sparky? I thought her name was Amethyst?” Lily asked.
“I used to call her Sparkler because she was really feisty at one point,” Dinky explained and a rare look of anger crossed her face as she glared at me. “You hurt Miss Heartstrings. She protected me and Amethyst the whole time. From the crowd to the Windigos. She gave me her body heat when I was freezing in Celestia’s school. Hurting ponies isn’t good. She even let me stand on her back when those meanies were turned to stone. Miss Heartstrings is a very nice pony. ” We all looked at each other, startled at her speech. We were all used to the sweet Dinky. Angry Dinky just felt wrong. She did have every right to be mad though and I was really proud of Lyra for protecting the two and doing all she did.
“You’re right,” I sighed. “I was awful to her. I should have believed her that the unicorns weren’t doing what the rumors said. None of us should have. It was wrong of us.”
“All of us are doing things to make up for it,” Golden Harvest chimed in. “I’ve been returning the money from the unicorns and pegasi I made pay extra. Berry Punch has been giving free drinks for every one she kicked out.”
“Only for the first drink,” Berry piped in. “Still gotta make a profit.” Rolling her eyes, Golden Harvest continued.
“Roseluck, Lily and Daisy have been leaving free flowers on the door steps of the ponies they wronged. Junebug has been helping rehome the bugs in ponies houses free of charge. Octavia has been working around the clock doing shows all over town. And Bon Bon has been ponysitting foals, giving out free candy and more.” I gave a nod at that.
“Can you at least tell me how Lyra was doing?” I asked hopefully. Dinky rubbed her chin.
“I suppose. Mommy need to take care of some things before she could pick us up so we stayed with Lyra. She came home smelling really awful some nights. Some place Amethyst said served adult drinks. Think it was a bar,” Dinky shrugged. That startled me. Lyra never drank before unless her friends from Canterlot came to visit and even then, it was light drinking. “Amy and Miss Heartstrings won’t let me go with her. It’s not fair,” Dinky pouted.
“Is she with her parents?” I coaxed the filly.
“No. She said she can’t see her parents anymore. Said they were gone.”
“What do you mean, gone?” I asked curiously. Lyra never really mentioned her parents before.
“Something about an accident and them going to take a nap,” Dinky shrugged. “She hugged me when I told them they would come back from their trip soon enough.” I looked at my tablemates again, the concern I felt mirrored on their faces. Never change, Dinky.
“Thanks Dinky,” I smiled at the filly. “What are you doing here anyway?”
“I have a date with Button Mash. We’re getting milkshakes and then going to the arcade.”
“Do you need some bits?” Golden asked, smiling. The others were smiling widely and I gave a small grin. I didn’t even know the two were interested in each other.
“Nah. Thanks anyway. Miss Pie said it was free of charge after all we’ve been through.” That sounded like Pinkie. “And then me and Ruby are going to go egg Cranky Doodles house. He was a meanie when he subbed for Miss Cheerilee. Bye!” Dinky waved and trotted away to a colt I assumed was Button Mash. I smirked as Berry Punch’s smile instantly turned into a frown.
“Alright, have fun you two!” I kept smirking.
“What did she say my daughter was going to go do?” Berry asked us.
“Egg her substitute teachers house,” Junebug hid her grin behind her shake. “Sounds exactly what you did when we were little fillies.”
“That was different. I’m so grounding her after she gets done.”
“You’re not gonna stop her?” I asked incredulously. If that was my foal, I’d have left immediately and dragged her kicking and screaming home. Berry gave a shrug and slurped her shake.
“Nah. Might as well let her have fun and then teach her actions have consequences like my parents did with me.”
“You guys ever think we were subconsciously racist?” Daisy suddenly asked.
“What do you mean?” I raised an eyebrow and sipped my shake.
“Look around this table. What to do you see?”
“Uh, a bunch of earth pony friends?” I pointed out, not knowing where she was going with this.
“Exactly! Do you see what’s wrong with that?”
“Uh not really?” Lily shrugged. “We’re all earth ponies, so what?” Daisy facehoofed at her younger sister.
“Do you see any pegasus or unicorn here?”
“No. What’s the point...?” I started to ask before it all clicked. “Oh.” Daisy nodded, appearing satisfied someone else understood.
“Exactly. We are all earth ponies. The only unicorn we had was Lyra. No pegasus, no other unicorn. Maybe the evil three played to all of our weaknesses, that’s why it was so easy for them to sow distrust.”
“It’s not our fault we all went to school together as fillies. We also didn’t get to chose our race, that’s not our fault either,” Lily retorted.
“Well yeah. But we could have always added a pegasus or a unicorn to our group like we did with Lyra. But we never did, did we?” Daisy asked. Lily slumped in her seat.
“You’re right. This is technically our fault it was so easy for the three races to separate and practically go to war,” Lily sighed and Junebug nodded.
“It is kinda our fault,” Berry agreed. “All of the county’s fault, really.”
“We can always add a pegasus now!” Roseluck grinned.
“I think the list of pegasi who want to associate with us in town is kinda small right now Rose,” Octavia sighed.
“Nonsense!” Roseluck insisted. “We all saw the magical thingie Princess Twilight made appear in front of us.” We all nodded at that.
“Still can’t believe a filly helped them,” Golden Harvest grunted.
“We can find a pegasus. It can’t be Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy. Has to be someone in the background,” Roseluck shrugged. “Can’t be that hard.” She sipped her mint milkshake and I looked away. Mint was Lyra’s favorite.
“Wanna know the worst part?” I suddenly asked.
“What?”
“A few months ago, me and Lyra had Cozy Glow in our house.”
“Why?” Daisy asked incredulously.
“She needed help with her music lessons and Starlight suggested she visit Lyra for help. After all, Lyra is the only pony I know in town who can play lyre.”
“She was a good manipulator,” Berry grunted.
“Her cutie mark was a chess piece. It makes sense,” Lily pointed out. “I still remember the time she gave Bon Bon Scootaloo’s helmet for the cactus because it was poking her in the face.”
“Haha,” I said dryly. “Very funny, it felt amazing.”
“Maybe she was scouting her out?” Roseluck suggested.
“What?” I raised an eyebrow again.
“I heard Cozy was obsessed with Twilight and taking over. I also heard she talked to all of Twilight’s friends. Minuette once, Fluttershy and now Lyra.”
“And?”
“Maybe if she thought she could convince them to quit being friends with Twilight and be friends with her instead, she would be well on her way to being the Empress of Friendship.” I rolled my eyes.
“Why would she do that?” I demanded.
“Why did she do anything she did?” Roseluck countered.
“Okay. You got me there,” I admitted. I stared at Berry who randomly started laughing. “What’s so funny?”
“I can’t believe Amethyst called you a whore!” She laughed harder and Junebug cracked a grin.
“Remind me to fight that mare,” I grunted. “I’ve only ever slept with Lyra.”
“Bullshit!” Junebug snorted. “What about that one mare from your baking class?”
“Candy Dasher and I were just friends,” I defended myself. “And besides, what happened to you and Solar Flare?” The mare turned bright red but said nothing. I gave a triumphant grin at that.
“I need to go to Canterlot,” I announced. “I need to find Lyra and make this right.”
“Want company?” Berry Punch instantly stood up. I gotta give it to her, when any of us needing something, she was the first mare on scene waiting to help. I shook my head slowly.
“Thanks, but this is something I got to do myself.”
I looked around me tiredly. I had been on the train all night to Canterlot. I would never live here, but I certainly had no problem with visiting. It’s too busy of a city for me. I preferred the quiet life of Ponyville.
“You didn’t have to come with me, you know?” I said idly, looking at the unicorns around hoping that I’d get lucky and Lyra would walk past. “I could have done this alone.”
“Nonsense,” Junebug shrugged as she gazed around us with wide eyes. “I helped run out one of my best friends. This couldn’t wait.” Junebug was the only one who came with, thankfully. The Flower Sisters had their business to run, Golden Harvest had her carrot stand, Octavia was trying to work things out with Vinyl and Berry was spending time with her daughter. I was surprised a bit to find out Berry had hidden her daughter in their cellar until everything calmed down. Not that I blamed her, Ruby was her daughter. She couldn’t just send her away. Hell, she even had plans to run away with Ruby if things didn’t calm down. We probably would have went with, the fillies and colts were widely agreed as innocent but some still got ran out. Dinky and Sweetie Belle being main examples. I still feel disgusted with myself by standing by and watching it happen. Hell, all my friends were disgusted in helping.
“That is if we can find her. Canterlot is a big place,” I groaned and facehoofed. “She could be anywhere.”
“Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine.”
“Sorry that I’m not in a good mood. Currently faced with finding my fiancée in a big city,” I growled.
“At least Lily isn’t here. She would be all like, “What if she is hooking up with another mare or stallion right now.” And then you would be depressed,” Junebug pointed out.
“Well for starters, she might be right. Secondly I did technically cancel our wedding so if she did sleep with a mare, I wouldn’t be mad. I’d be hurt, but it’s my fault she did in the first place.”
“I’d be mad if my partner did that,” Junebug sighed. I glanced at Celestia’s school and sighed as I watched the unicorns finish taking down the boarded up windows.
“Can you believe we stood here a week ago and watched half the castle get destroyed?” I froze and glanced at Junebug.
“I know. It was crazy we had been hiding in the school,” Lyra laughed. We made eye contact as she and a few other unicorns rounded the corner and she froze, staring right into my eyes.
“Lyra.”
“Bon Bon.” Junebug and the others watched nervously at our tense interaction.
“What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you,” I took and step towards her and was happy she didn’t run away. “What we did was wrong. What I did was wrong. I never should have believed those stupid rumors.”
“I shouldn’t have either,” Junebug piped in and Lyra’s eyes flicked over to her before settling back on me.
“I love you. If you want me still, I’m yours,” I held up my shattered ring that I had glued back together and I held out Lyra’s hopefully. After staring at me, she walked towards me with her head lowered.
“Well?” She asked impatiently. “Are you going to put it on my horn?”
“I thought she didn’t want to associate with us lowly unicorns?” Lemon Hearts scoffed, glaring at me.
“I’m sorry for how I treated your kind. It was the worst thing I ever did. And it will never ever happen again,” I promised and slipped the ring back on Lyra’s horn.
“So what is there to do around here?” Junebug hesitantly asked. “I’ve never left Ponyville.” Minuette approached her with a big grin.
“Junebug, right?” She asked.
“Yes.” Minuette wrapped a hoof around her neck.
“We have concerts going on all the time, bars but we avoid those. I only went to make sure Lyra stayed safe and didn’t get too drunk. Oh! Movies!” I rolled my eyes and smirked as Minuette dragged away a protesting Junebug. I focused back on Lyra.
“Thank you,” I pressed against and mumbled into her mane. She stepped away and started walking, catching me in her magic before I fell.
“You can show me how thankful you are tonight,” she winked at me over her shoulder and my face turned bright red at the implication.
“Yeah that was more information than we needed to know,” Lemon Hearts coughed, looking at the ground with a blush.
“Yep,” Twinkleshine agreed, her face equally as red as mine as she looked at anything but us.
“Shush,” Lyra smirked.
“Oh lord help us,” I mumbled. “Two ponies scared of what mares get up to after hours.”
“After hours?” Lyra snorted with a smirk.
“Remember? The one time after I closed the candy store for the night?” Lemon Hearts looked between us and I honestly thought she had became a tomato.
“I don’t wanna know,” she announced. I made eye contact with Lyra before we both burst out laughing.
“Maybe one day you’ll get a coltfriend or a marefriend, Lemon!” Lyra smirked. “And you’ll learn a few things. Maybe even Twinkleshine over here could help out!” There was the Lyra I knew. The only mare I knew who could turn our serious moment into a bunch of dirty, raunchy comments.
“Shut up!” Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine giggled, turning even redder than before if that was possible. I rolled my eyes.
“I’m going to the hotel. Goodnight.”
“No. I’ve been staying with Minuette,” Lyra stopped my and pulled my hoof in the opposite direction.
“Oh,” I sighed. “We need to talk about your parents also, I have questions.” All three unicorns looked down suddenly.
“I’ll tell you everything,” Lyra promised. “It’s a lot to take in do just bare with us.”
I gave a satisfied nod at that as I started to walk to Minuettes house. I’ve been there so often, it’s like second nature at this point.
“Race ya there!” Lyra shot past me, trotting at full speed and I grinned.
(This next part is going to be connected to this story. It takes place during this one, just in an earth ponies point of view. The earth pony will be Berry Punch because she has a unicorn daughter. Enjoy. )
I galloped as fast as I could through Ponyville, jumping over carts and other ponies, sometimes sliding under them expertly. Not many ponies expected me to be as agile as I was.
“Hey! Watch it!” A stallion shouted angrily at me. Everypony was really angry right now, with the unicorns and pegasus teaming up to destroy our crops and gardens.
“Sorry!” I shouted back as he disappeared. I kept galloping till I reached my house and rushed inside, slamming the door shut and locking it. “Ruby! Where are you!”
“I’m in here!” I rushed to the voice and skidded to a stop. My daughter was curled into a shaking ball behind the couch. I stood up on the cushions and looked down at her lovingly.
“Are you okay?” I jumped down behind the couch and hugged her.
“Why are the earth ponies running us out? I thought they liked us?” Ruby sighed and gazed into my eyes.
“The adult unicorns are destroying earth pony crops and gardens. It’s not safe for you to be here. We need to hide you,” I explained.
“I don’t want to go. You can’t send me away!” Ruby clinged onto my neck.
“I won’t do that,” I promised as I looked around and my eyes lit up. “We will hide you in the cellar. You stay down there until I’m home everyday. And you wait until I either come down there to get you or call you up. Make no sound if you hear a pony walking around the house and you don’t know if it’s me. Am I clear?” I asked seriously. I grabbed her and dragged her to the cellar doors in the floor. I opened the doors after pulling the rug off and Ruby trotted in nervously. I had just closed the doors and pulled the rug back over before the somepony knocked on the door. “Come in!” Two earth ponies I recognized as Caramel and Cherry Fizzy trotted in.
“Hey Berry,” Cherry greeted me.
“Sup?” I asked calmly as I could.
“Not much,” he answered as he looked around. “Any unicorns in here? We are running them out.”
“N-nope!” I gave a nervous giggle. “None here.”
“What about your daughter?” Caramel asked. “Where is she?”
“Oh I sent her to Canterlot. Safest place for her,” I lied through my gritted teeth. I’d rather die than let them take my daughter away. I glanced down and my heart caught in my throat at the piece of Ruby’s tail sticking out. I casually stepped forward and stepped on it with my hoof, completely covering it up.
“Good call,” Caramel set down a picture of me and Ruby smiling in the park. “We will be out of your hair then.” The two started to trot out the door before a yelp made them freeze.
“What was that?” Cherry asked as his eyes flicked around.
“Oh that was me!” I gave a strained smile. “It’s a bit dusty in here!” I attempted to recreate the sound to the best of my ability and just when I thought they saw through me, they nodded and walked out, shutting the door behind them. Those two always had kinda been idiots, not that I would ever say it to their faces or tell Candy Apple how I felt about Caramel. I made sure they were gone before I removed my hoof and stared down at where the tip of the tail had been. It was out of sight now and I assumed the yelp was Ruby yanking it into the cellar with her. With a sigh, I entered the room under our house.
“Are they gone?” Ruby’s face appeared in front of me.
“Yeah love. They are gone,” I reassured her. “Are you hurt?”
“No. My tail got stuck in the door is all. Sorry for making a noise,” Ruby nuzzled me sheepishly and I quickly returned it.
“It’s okay. Let me see your tail and make sure it’s okay,” I sighed. She turned around and I examined the tip of her tail. “Alrighty, you’re right. Just making sure.”
“When can I go outside?” Ruby asked. “I wanna play with Dinky and Sweetie Belle.”
“Probably not for a while baby. We gotta wait for things to calm down outside and then we can maybe go check. Lyra is watching over Dinky and Amethyst for Derpy, probably already left for Canterlot with Sweetie Belle.”
“Why?”
“It’s not safe here for them. Canterlot is primarily a unicorn city.”
“Why don’t we go there?” Ruby asked. I tapped her horn and she gave a soft giggle and then I tapped my own head.
“I don’t got a horn. They wouldn’t let me in,” I explained patiently. "Besides, we have all we need in here. Enough food, water, books and each other."
"What happens if they find them and try to take me away, mom?" Ruby asked and I could hear a hint of fear in her voice.
"That won't happen," I said firmly. "They would have to get through me first."
"They would lose. My mom is the toughest mare I know!" Ruby giggled and she pressed her hoof to my chest.
"Dang right," I announced with a proud grin. "Not even Celestia or Luna could stop me."
"And they're the rulers of Equestria!" Ruby paused for second. "Well, former rulers. Twilight's coronation is today." I had completely forgot that. I was more focused on getting home and keeping my filly safe and sound from the angry mob downtown.
"Yeah I don't think it's happening today kid," I frowned at her pouting expression. "She is most likely trying to solve all this right now."
"But they might reschedule it, right?" Ruby asked hopefully. I knew how excited she was for this. I ruffled her mane with a hoof and smiled at her.
"Maybe they will," I agreed. "Lots of fun places for us to go to in Canterlot." I had saved up our few bits we had for this. I hated accepting help from Lyra, Derpy and Junebug in the form of money but as long as my daughter was happy and had a better foalhood than I did, I'd do whatever it takes. Because that's what a parent does. They try their hardest to give their foals a better life than they had. Shouldn't be too hard to top my foalhood. Mom was pretty abusive growing up and dad was too afraid of her leaving him to say anything. I quickly decided that I would never be a mom like she was. Sure, being a single mom can be taxing especially with bills and such but we get by. I sometimes have to lie and say I'll eat later just so Ruby can eat.
I love my daughter and I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep her safe. No matter the cost.