7.

The whole trip back was more questions and daydreaming. I couldn't help but feel guilty for leaving Luna in her state, although I guess she isn't use to such requests. Once stepping out of the train I felt relieve arrive as I saw that it was still pretty normal here.

"Well, looks like I've left a bit of an impression in Canterlot," I said smiling a little, changing my attention from the town to the ponies.

"Obviously! Luna isn't going to forget anything that happened today!" Dash said as she flew over to me.

"I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, hopefully good," I replied to Dash.

"Don't be like that I'm sure the princesses get bored of being in the castle all day long, believe me, I'm sure you did them a favor" Dash stated back with an energetic tune. I couldn't help but smile at her support: She really was something special.

"Alright Dash, I trust you, thanks," I thanked her.

"You're welcome," she said joining her friends on the ground.

I looked at the group of ponies in front of me, each one was looking at me. My smile grew, and I turned to the town once more. Ponies were nearly everywhere I looked, each one communicating with each other, and enjoying the day.

"Ben, are you alright?" I heard Fluttershy ask from behind me, I turned myself to face her.

"Yeah, I'm just wondering what I'm gonna do now?" I asked beginning to walk out of the station, the ponies followed.

"Well…for one you can go and meet some of the other ponies in Ponyville," Twilight responded. I quickly became intrigued by the idea of meeting some new ponies.

"Oh yeah, that sounds awesome," I said balling a fist in excitement, causing everypony to look at each other with worried looks. I didn't like the look they gave each other.

"Is something wrong?" I asked raising an eyebrow in my confusion. They all looked at each other again before Vinyl stepped up.

"Are you sure you can handle meeting new ponies?" She asked raising her shades, I looked at her confused and back at the town populated with ponies, then back at her. My mind comprehended what she meant by "handle": ever since I got here every one of these ponies has come in variety, so they're different from each other but still kind non-the-less. Still… she also signaled my personal way of being, which might surprise ponies but I wouldn't hurt a pony unless it's necessary: I'll handle.

"I get your concern but I know I can handle," I reassured Vinyl, along with the other ponies. They all smiled showing me their trust, I couldn't help but smile back. It's those eyes

"Awesome, now how about we give you privacy so you can go meet new ponies," Vinyl finished. The others agreed and bid their goodbyes, leaving me in the middle of the town. That was fast

I looked around to get a feel of the area, it wasn't loud, it wasn't quiet, and it defiantly wasn't a death trap: Perfect. I walked around the town for about a few minutes picking up some catchy names, most of the residents were kind and a few more surprised by me (That's understandable), yet I'm sure I most already knew my name from Pinkie's party.

I spent most of my time greeting until I came across this one pony. She was a unicorn and had a light blue color, along with the string instrument on her flank.

"Hey there," I greeted kindly

"Oh, hey! Wow! You're tall!" the pony responded joyfully catching me off-guard.

"Um…yea, and you're in an excited mood," I replied, she was the only pony to actually respond like that.

"Yeah, what's your name?!" she asked. I was dumbfounded by her way of being, but I answered either way.

"Ben…jamin" I cautiously stated, "but you can call me Ben"

"That's dull," she stated changing her face to a blunt one.

"Oh, my… I'm deeply hurt," I jokingly said, she looked at me with an "oh really?" look.

"I'm just playing with you!" she said changing her tune to her joyful one.

"Well now…what would your nam…"

"Lyra"

I didn't finish my question :(

"Lyra?"

"Lyra Heartstrings!"

I stood there pondering the name, it was cute and meaning full. I liked the name a lot.

"I like that," I whispered under my breath.

"You do?"

I broke my small daze and returned to Lyra who was holding a long gray stick with her magic. I quickly realized the shine as a medal and placed my hand on my waist feeling an empty holster. I then quickly looked at her, as she began playing around with it.

"How did you…?"

"Wow, this is extremely light," she said as she started to play fighting with it.

"Hey don't do that! you'll hurt yourself!" I warned her, but she wouldn't listen. She began to swing it faster. I didn't have a choice but to catch the razor-sharp blade. I threw my hand out the moment it swung near me and caught it, but at a price.

I could feel a small liquid begin to drip from the side of my hand. I looked at my hand and saw the sword had pierced the glove, and lightly slit my hand. I didn't mind a normal cut, but it seemed Lyra couldn't. I felt the sword gain weight as Lyra released it from her magic. I grabbed the grip of the sword and put it away, before looking at Lyra who had a small stream of tears going down her face.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she repeated becoming more tensed every time she said it. I quickly took it upon myself to calm her down, but I failed.

"Hey-hey, I'm alright it's just a small cut," I said trying to comfort her. She looked up and looked at my hand which had created a tiny pool of blood under it.

"No, it's not alright! I hurt you!" She said becoming even more depressed than before.

"Shit, what now?" I thought until I looked at my hand and took the glove off.

"What are you doing?" Asked Lyra still crying as I ripped off the other sleeve of my shirt and wrapped it around my wound. I then squeezed my hand as tight as I could to stop the blood from bleeding. I waited a few seconds, before crouching down and revealing my hand.

"Ta-da, no more blood," I jokingly stated causing her to give me that odd wavy smile. I smiled and placed my glove back on to hide the cut.

I got back up and looked at her, she was still sobbing but not like before.

"Don't cry anymore, I don't like seeing you like this," I stated before placing my clean hand on her cheek and wiped her tears away, she changed her expression to a smile instantly causing me to smile back.

"Lyra! I heard you crying! Are you alright?!"

I lifted my head quickly and turned to see a pony behind me with a rather angry expression.

"What have you done to Lyra?!" The pony demanded, I looked at her with a surprised expression.

"It's alright Bon Bon, he didn't do anything to me," Lyra said trying to defend me.

"Bon Bon?" I asked out of confusion.

"Sweetie Drops, and what happened?" asked the pony taking a step forward, and landing her hoof on the small pool of blood.

"Eww! What is this?!"

I looked at Lyra and she looked at me. I didn't know if answering her directly would be the best approach, but Lyra had other ideas.

"It's his blood!" Lyra exclaimed, causing me to back up a little. Bon Bon or Sweetie Drops was speechless for a moment before…

"EEEEKKKKKK!"

"GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"

I quickly jumped up, got out the sleeve and wiped the blood away. Bon Bon had her eyes glued closed, and refused to open them. I let the sleeve absorb the blood on the ground as well, Bon Bon continued to keep her eyes closed.

"Hey, it's all gone now, you can open your eyes," I said putting the cloth in one of my pockets. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at her hoof, at the ground, then at us.

"What kind of prank was that?!" she yelled starting to tear up.

"Ah-shit not this again"

"No-no-no-no this wasn't a prank, I got slightly injured, see," I said taking the glove off and showing my hand, she covered her mouth with her hooves and gave a shocked look.

"Are you alright?!" She asked looking at the red line on the palm of my hand and wiping away a tear with her hoof. I retracted my hand to look at it one more time but it still looked the same. I put the glove back on and cracked my knuckles.

"Yeah, it just stings a bit," I answered.

"How did this happen?" She asked giving us a puzzled but worried look. I tried to cover up for Lyra but she always has different plans.

"Well,…you see I…"

"ITS WAS ME!"

I quickly placed my hands on my ears and kept them there until my small shock had passed, I've never heard such a high-pitched scream.

"Damn!" I said as I shook my head to get rid of the shock. I looked at Lyra who had Bon Bon comforting her.

"It's ok, I'm sure you didn't mean harm," Bon Bon said hugging Lyra, who was in tears again, while I just stared in amazement.

"How did you…? Never mind," I said as I focused my attention on both the ponies in front of me. This Bon Bon pony was something else, her flank had 3 sweets on it, a fancy mane and tail, and a whitish shade.

I didn't know how to feel, sad for Lyra's experience, or glad she had friends who support her. I stood back up and looked out to the community.

"I'm sorry," I stated looking back at them, they both looked up and gave me confused looks.

"I'm new here, I don't really know how to live along ponies very well, but I'm trying my best, I hope you don't see me as a threat to you all, I just want to fit in, I never really had any friends or someone to watch over me as I grew up,"

Both the ponies in front of me seemed to become crestfallen, but I continued with what I wanted to say.

"I hope we get along, you know, as friends, you don't have to but I would love to hang out with y'all more often," I finished. Bon Bon neared me from the left and Lyra from my right, I was confused for a short moment before they smiled.

"Of course, we can be friends, your very kind and caring," Bon Bon cheerfully claimed, giving me a heartwarming feeling.

"Yeah, and you're the one Vinyl and Dash speaks so much about," Lyra said causing me to stop and think.

"Vinyl? I can understand Dash but Vinyl?" I questioned causing them to give me "ARE YOU KIDDING?!" looks.

"If you ask me, I'm sure she has something special towards you!" Lyra said, become even more excited with every breath she took, while I just stood trying to capture everything coming out of her mouth.

"What if she… (Muffled speech)"

I gave up on trying to make sense of what I was hearing and looked up to see Bon Bon with her hoof in Lyra's mouth. Lyra looked like she was struggling for air, and Bon Bon quickly retracted her hoof, leaving Lyra grasping for air.

"Oh my, I'm sorry Lyra!" Apologized Bon Bon as Lyra coughed a little before smiling again, I just stared at their antics.

"Don't worry Bon Bon, I've taken bigger things in my mouth," Lyra responded proudly, my mind when completely numb, and Bon Bon quickly placed her hoof in Lyra mouth again blushing strongly.

"SHUT IT!"

WTF JUST HAPPENED lol

I stared at the duo, as she began bickering about Lyra's strange way of being explicitly open. I began to lose my mind slowly until I began laughing my heart out, getting both of their attentions.

"What's so funny?!" They both loudly asked I managed to calm myself enough to give an answer.

"You two… (Chuckle) are the cutest pair of friends I've seen," I said as they both blushed uncontrollably.

"WHAT?!" They shouted in unison.

"Well how about you and Vinyl, I'm sure you're cuter together, in fact, I'm sure I heard her talking about you in her sleep yesterday! Your Ben, aren't you?!" Bon Bon fought back before Lyra inserted her hoof into her mouth.

"Now you SHUT IT!" Lyra exclaimed. My face froze with my laughing face plastered on it with shock.

"Yea…I'm Ben," I said as I fell on my bottom, Lyra released Bon Bon, who began coughing and moved to face me face to face. Lyra had this worried look that was holding back a gossip pony from being released.

"Hey Lyra, can you put your hoof in Bon Bon's mouth again?" I asked playfully, Lyra just chuckled and pet Bon Bon's head, Bon Bon clearly wasn't enjoying it. I decided to give up on understanding anything and threw myself on my back to face the cloudy sky.

"Oh man and this is just my second day here,"

"Umm… Ben, are you alright?" Asked both Bon Bon and Lyra surrounding me from each side. I closed my eyes and gave a grin, before I grabbed both of them, one in each hand, and flipped onto my feet.

"Ha ha, I'm better than alright, I'm better than excited, I'm a legend, my friend!" I said full of glee.

"Oh my…your strong!" Lyra said from one side

"And acrobatic!" Bon Bon exclaimed from the other, both blushing brightly.

"Oh sorry, I got a little excited," I said putting them down, Lyra looked at me with a wide smile, while Bon Bon looked away.

"WOW! Your strong, and flexible!" Lyra said punching one of my legs with her hoof.

"Hey, I have one question though," said Lyra looking up at me, I crouched down in front of her.

"What is it?"

"Well, why do you wear these things on you?" She asked using her magic to tug on my pants. I look at her and then at my myself.

"Well, if I didn't wear this then you would have disappeared before I even had a chance to introduce myself," I said laughing a little, but Lyra found nothing funny in it.

"Why?"

I paused for a moment before getting back to her.

"Umm… well… you see…" I began trying to explain my reasoning, but I didn't find a single way to explain it without being explicit. I began to stutter over my own thoughts when I feel something go over my mouth. I looked to see Lyra with her hoof over my mouth, and this expression that got my heart racing. She leaned in closer enough for me to hear her whisper a few things.

"I know what they're for, and honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing you without them (giggle)"

I felt my heart practically skip a beat, a huge gulp in my throat, and a blush spread across my face. Lyra stepped back a little with a blush on her face as well, I let out a small chuckle as I awkwardly scratched the back of my head. I didn't know how to respond, I was stuck between screaming of joy, or going insane.

"You really are something else Lyra… I…I'm lost for words." I responded smiling, causing Lyra to smile back. I didn't realize how physically close to each other we were until Bon Bon reappeared.

"What are you two doing?" She asked, I shook my head and looked at her.

"What do you mean?" I asked playing dumb, Lyra also looked at her as we both played along.

"Well, Lyra is practically on top of you?"

I quickly took the time to look at the scenario. Lyra had her hooves on my shoulders with her face about millimeters away from mine.

When the hell did this happen?

"Umm…It was karma," I joked, Bon Bon gave me the suspicious look before going along with the joke. Lyra took her arms off me with a disappointed look on her face, and glanced at Bon Bon with a pout, before returning her sight to me.

"Ben, we have to go do something we scheduled today, so hopefully we meet up some other time," Bon Bon said giving me friendlier look than before. Both gave me cheerful goodbyes, as they trotted off into the town.

I waved back and looked up to the sky.

"Ha ha, this truly is some awesome shit I got myself into," I said to myself before looking at the sun to see it was way past noon.

Hmm…something I was supposed to do but forgot

…

…

…

TEA!

And so, our hero runs back to flutter's home in search of his damn tea, but what awkwardness awaits with that extremely shy pony…

FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON MLP KAI…

lol