The blaring sound of a revving engine could be heard in sync with Lyra’s snoring as she clutched a game controller hard in her grip. Her hand was resting on the thumbstick, resulting in the unfortunate driver in the cart racer she was playing rolling around in circles for eternity.

The sudden bleeping of a shrill ringtone caused the two sounds to stop simultaneously as Lyra was yanked firmly from the dream she was having, and her controller tumbled down off of her bed, finally breaking her racer out of the purgatory he’d been trapped in for who knows how long. “Mmmph,” she mumbled, slowly rolling over and reaching for her phone. “Who the hell could be calling me this early?” she mumbled. “It’s only… only…” she glanced at the clock beside her bed. “Ten-thirty in the morning? Urf, great, I fell asleep playing games again.” She shook her head and yanked the phone towards her. “I’m coming, I’m coming!”

Her sleepy hands apparently couldn’t grip well, as the phone slipped out of her hand and landed with a loud ‘pomf’ in the deep, fluffy bedding that she slept in. It was quite effective at muffling the sound, and she cursed as she felt around in the sheets, finally finding her phone again just as the ringing stopped. She gave another curse and sighed as the icon for a message being left. From…

“Bonbon?!” her face paled a little bit. “Crap, crap, crap! Nnngh!” she hesitated for a moment before playing back the message on speaker.

“Hey Lyra,” the recording said in the mare’s sweet voice, “Just calling to check in and make sure we’re still on for our date today. I’ll meet you in the dog park, around one, like we agreed. If you could just give me a call and make sure that that’s still okay, then I’ll see you then! Looking forward to it! Bye!”

Lyra let out another groan and flopped face first into her body pillow, giving the attractive, shirtless stallion on the front a firm, encouraging hug. “Dammit, I almost forgot about that! And now I missed her call! She’s gonna think I’m such a flake!” She rolled over and kicked her feet a few times. “I-I should call her right back! Ugh, but if I do that, she’s gonna think I was ignoring my phone! And if I wait too long, she’s gonna think I’m ignoring her altogether!” She took a few deep breaths and rubbed at her eyes. “Okay, calm down, girl. Step one: get cleaned up. She’s not gonna want to date you if you look like you just rolled out of bed.”

She rolled out of bed and made her way into the bathroom just down the hall from her bedroom, going through her usual daily routine. Brushing her teeth. Brushing her mane. Brushing her tail. Showering, and then realizing she had to brush her mane and tail again now that it was wet and shampooed. Floss and rinse with mouthwash. Lift up her arm and sniff, deciding that she didn’t need deodorant that day and praying that she didn’t regret that decision later on.

When she got back to her room, it had been about a half hour. She sighed and tossed her towel to the side, shaking out her still damp mane before grabbing her phone. “Okay, calmed down, woken up, time to do this.” She speed-dialed Bonbon’s number quickly and held the phone to her ear. It only had to ring twice before she answered. “Uh… h-hi!” Lyra greeted. “Bonbon?”

“Yep!” the earth mare answered back in a chipper fashion.

“Uh, well, just returning your call is all.”

“Oh, all right.”

Silence prevailed for a moment.

“So um…”

“Oh, uh…” she cleared her throat, biting her lip. “Just wanted to, uh... let you know, yeah, one works great for me, and I’d love to meet you at the park!”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! So I’ll see you in a couple of hours then!”

“Ah… couple hours?” Oh, that’s right. It was 11. Her date was at 1. Two hours.

TWO HOURS!

“S… see you then!” she said happily, giving a soft chuckle.

“Looking forward to it! Bye!”

“Bye…” she said.

As the call was disconnected, Lyra stood there for a moment, the grip on her phone loosening until it dropped down onto the bed in front of her with yet another loud pomfing sound. Lyra bent forward, reached under her bed, pulled out a paper bag, and began to furiously breath into it, in and out, as hard as she could, until the thing popped from overuse.

It was a beautiful day. A bit chilly, as the soft nip of autumn was slowly starting to become more of a bite, but the sun was shining, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the green in the trees was highlighted by a few small streaks of gold, red, and orange as the leaves were in the process of change. Ponies still walked about outside for little else than just enjoying the day. Traffic was limited as everyone was out on their hooves right now.

Lyra was one of those ponies, bundled in a small purple jacket her mother had gotten her for Christmas last year. It was a cozy thing, and she loved the color because it clashed so heavily with her fur. She felt it made her look distinct, easy to recognize.

Ironically, she hated it when ponies looked at her. For as much as she’d wanted to be noticed by somepony, any pony, and get to know them, Lyra dreaded the act of getting their attention.

She dreaded being seen.

She was scared of being spoken to.

And it was made all the worse because the pony she was going to see and talk to was someone who was willing to give her a chance.

“Shut up, brain!” she snarled at last, grabbing her forehead in exasperation. She blinked and glanced to the side, noticing a small family giving her a wide berth. Aww dammit, did she say that out loud again? She sighed loudly and rubbed her cheeks, shaking her head. “Come on girl, psych yourself up. You’re going on a date, it’s not a big deal! Just relax and stop overthinking this. Just stop acting like a mess and she might even think you’re semi-normal!”

Her pep-talk finished, she entered into the Canterlot Dog Park, a wide open field with a few small trees lining the outside, a high fence running between them to keep the animals from running out into the streets just outside of it. A single stone path wound its way in a large circle around the park with a few small benches strewn along the the path.

She couldn’t see Bonbon just yet, and so she started to walk. She blinked as she moved from the grass onto the cement path, her hard-soled shoes making a satisfying clack and click as she walked. Her ears flicked as she started to adjust her pace so that it made a light drum beat. Clack, clack, clack, clack…

She smiled and started to sway her hips from side to side as the drum beat started to expand to include a small counter-beat in her head. Then she added in a little bounce into her step as the strings came in her mind. Oh, and a bass line started to come after that. Soon, a whole rock band was playing in her head and she was dancing along with it, down the path, swaying and shimmying along with the music in her head. “Ba da ba, bom ba da! Shaba-duba! Shaba-duba!”

She twirled herself along the stone pathway, kicking out her legs and shaking her rear like she was at a club, despite the music only being in her head. And then, out of nowhere, a set of lyrics started to accompany it and she just couldn’t hold them in.

“We’re runnin’ through the starlit night!

The world’s all ours, and we’re shinin’ bright!

Every day I’m with you, feels more like a dream!

Don’t ever want to wake up, because you’re more than you seem!”

She stomped her feet down and blinked. “Huh… nah, that doesn’t work… That was real clumsy of me.” She blinked, the music stopping all at once as she realized that she was in the middle of the park… and a ton of ponies were staring at her. She blushed gently and bit her lip, waving shyly at them as they all gave her weird looks before slowly turning and starting to move away from her. She groaned a bit, her face turning a bright red. The red soon turned a few shades deeper when she heard someone applauding her from behind.

“I thought it was pretty good,” Bonbon said with a smirk. “And I enjoyed the show that went along with it.”

“Er… th-thanks,” she cleared her throat and smiled. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Bonnie.”

“You didn’t. Not long. Oh, and uh, just between us, mind not calling me that?”

‘Shit, first thing outta your mouth and you’ve already screwed up!’ Lyra screamed at herself internally. ‘Don’t go around spouting pet names, you big dumb… dumb!’

She managed a smile and kept her thoughts buried deep as she could, nodding. “No problem. Sorry about that.”

Bonbon shrugged. “No big deal. Just got called that a lot when growing up and it kinda bugs me a bit, ya know? Anyway, good to see you again. So, what did you have in mind?”

“I-in mind?”

“Yeah. The last time we called, the day before? You said you had something in mind for where we could go.”

Lyra screwed on a smile and gulped deeply. Truth be told, she’d been lying when she’d said that, figuring that she would just think of some place nice to take her afterwards. The problem was, Lyra didn’t really go out. Aside from her home and school, the only places the unicorn frequented were the local hobby shop, the local food court, and a few small game shops that she went and spent most of her hard earned money in. She definitely didn’t think any of them would make a very good first date site. But she was drawing a blank on any other place to take her. The silence seemed to stretch on for hours, even though it was just a few seconds.

At last though, Bonbon threw her a bone. “If you didn’t mind, actually, I did know a pretty nice cafe just outside of the park that I think would be a good place for us.”

“Yeah! YEAH!” she said, nodding enthusiastically. “A cafe is a perfect place for a date! Let’s go there, yeah!” she smiled wide, letting out a breath, glad to hear that she was being let off the hook. She just hoped that she hadn’t made too much of a bad impression yet…

Bonbon giggled a bit and offered her arm to the other mare, who glanced at it for a moment before slowly looping her own arm through hers, and the two of them started to walk out of the park. Lyra was keenly aware of the eyes that were still on them, or at least she thought they were on them. She wasn’t entirely sure, but she just hoped that, if ponies were staring, they weren’t staring at Bonbon.

After a moment of walking, they stepped out onto the Canterlot sidewalks. Lyra hung back a bit, allowing Bonbon to lead, since she was the one who actually knew where they were going.

‘Well, this could have gotten off to a better start.’ Lyra’s mind grumbled at her.

‘Shut up, brain, I don’t need to hear it.’

‘Don’t need to hear what? How you embarrassed yourself before you even met up with her? Dancing around like some weirdo? Oh, and don’t even get me started on not having something prepped for today. Hell, you didn’t even remember what time the date was gonna be! You should be ashamed of yourself!’

‘I am. You’re doing a very good job making sure of that.’

‘Why she’s even giving you a chance, I will never understand… Guess we’ll just have to hope that it goes better than the last couple of dates you managed to land. Remember last year?’

‘Please no, don’t bring that up.’

‘Why not? You know that Minuet would if she was here. Arguing with ponies, cheap food, taking her to a freaking card shop, peeping in on her while she was changing…’

‘T-that was an accident!’

‘Which is why you just kept looking while she was trying on clothes.’

‘It was just super boring!’

‘Not much of an excuse. She didn’t think it was, which is why she blistered your butt to hell and back. How long did it take before you could sit down again?’

‘...Three days? Look, can we please, please, please think about anything else?’

‘Okay then… how about the Jello Incident?’

‘I. HATE. YOU.’

“Lyra!?” a distant voice said.

Lyra blinked and stopped, eyes widening as she realized that she was in front of a crosswalk, with the ‘Don’t Cross’ sign flashing above her. She watched a few cars roll by her, glaring at her, one particularly surly stallion flipping her off as he drove by. Apparently they’d stopped in a panic when they saw someone almost walking into the road.

Turning around, she saw Bonbon slowly jogging towards her, a look of concern on her face. “Are you okay? You scared me half to death!”

“Uh… s-sorry,” she said slowly. “I… think I got caught in my own head a bit.”

‘Way to go, dumbass.’

‘SHUT! UP!’

Bonbon sighed. “I was wondering why you were being so quiet. I didn’t know what to think when I stopped walking and you just kept going. If I’d known you weren’t paying attention to where you’re going, I would have kept a harder grip on you.” She gave a soft laugh.

“Ahaha… y-yeah.”

“Ah well, no harm, no foul. Just… try to be a bit more aware from here on out, okay?”

“Yes ma’am,” she said quickly, giving Bonbon a sloppy salute.

Bonbon smirked and took her wrist, adjusting her stance. “Don’t ever try that around my pop,” she warned with a chuckle. “He was a royal guardsman for twenty years. He knows what a proper salute is supposed to look like.”

“Oh… uh, hehe, well if I ever get to the point where I meet your dad, I’ll keep that in mind!” she promised. ‘Meeting her father? Oi vey, that’d be a fun time…’

Bonbon smiled and once again wrapped her arm around Lyra’s, leading her quickly across the road and towards a humble little cafe sitting at the street corner. The name printed on the awning covering its front door and a smattering of tables sitting outside read ‘The Cinnamon Swirl.’ A rather sweet sounding name, one that made Lyra think of a nice, thick, sweet cinnamon bun. Mmm… sweet buns…

She shook her head as she realized that her thoughts were starting to shift to another sort of buns. No, no, this wasn’t an online chatroom, she wasn’t looking up naughty stuff, she was on a date. She needed to bury that sort of stuff for the time being.

A small bell gave a gentle tingle as they walked inside and a smiling mare standing at the front nodded to them. “Hey there!” she greeted. “And welcome to the Cinnamon Swirl! Table for two?”

“Yes please,” Bonbon answered. “Near a window if it’s available.”

“Of course, of course.” She grabbed a pair of menus from a pile sitting next to her and led them into a large dining hall dotted with at least two dozen small, circular tables, surrounded by four chairs each. Only about six of them had anyone sitting at them, and most were not full to capacity.

The greeter led them to a table sitting next to a window that looked out on a small garden display that had been set up in the back. It had a small zen garden and a little fountain with a few birds floating about, enjoying the nippy air. A cat sat on a bench nearby, content to just watch the scene play out, apparently not interested in the birds themselves. Lyra and Bonbon sat themselves down as they were told that someone would be with them momentarily.

They settled in quickly and Lyra glanced out at the scene before her. “Pretty nice place,” she said.

Bonbon nodded. “I like it here. I’ve been coming here since I was like ten. They make everything they serve in house, from scratch. The muffins, the chocolates, the hard candies, the taffy, even the tea and cocoa.”

“Wow, seriously?”

“Yeah. It’s amazing. That’s actually something that I want to do when I open my own place.”

“Open your own place?” Lyra echoed. “You wanna own a place like this?”

“Yeah! I’m actually taking classes for baking and cooking sciences with a minor in business so that I can open up a place like this. Cafe, candy shop, something like that.”

“Well, why not both?” Lyra asked with a small smile. “You could just mash it all together in one great, big super cafe!” she grinned, squishing her hands together for a bit of visual flair.

“I suppose I could, yeah, but running a candy making operation in the back of a cafe would be pretty noisy.”

“Eh, just call it new-wave electronica music!” Lyra suggested with a snicker.

“Hello there, ladies,” a stallion said, walking over with a pencil and notepad in hand. “I’ll be your waiter today. Can I get you something to drink to get started?”

Bonbon nodded. “Fruit punch would be nice, please.”

“And you, ma’am?” he asked, looking at Lyra.

“Um… you don’t have any energy drinks do you?”

“I’m afraid not, ma’am.”

“Oh, okay. Um, how about some sodas?”

“No, none of those either. We make pretty much everything here in house, so we do have some carbonated water infused with fruit if you’d like.”

Lyra stuck out her tongue and made a light retching noise. Noticing the look her date gave her and the insulted frown on the waiter’s face, she quickly pulled her tongue back in and glanced at the menu. “Er… how about the cocoa then?”

“Certainly,” he said with a nod. “I’ll be back with those in just a moment.” He turned and started off, while Lyra leaned back in her chair, a small blush of embarrassment rushing into her cheeks.

“Was that really necessary?” Bonbon said.

“Sorry, I… just don’t really like sparkling water or stuff like that. It just tastes weird to me.”

“Okay, but it was pretty rude of you to just act like you were gonna heave right in front of him. Specially after he said it was made in-house. That’s like going up to a musician and flat out saying ‘I don’t think you’re music’s any good.’”

Lyra winced at the lecture. Bonbon didn’t raise her voice, but that sort of tone was one that Lyra had heard plenty of times, from her mother and her teachers, and everyone else who had made it very clear that she had stepped over a line or done something wrong. She could already feel her mind working overtime on this. Her hands went a bit numb as she squeezed her fingers together in hopes of banishing the burning thoughts racing through her mind. “Yeah… sorry,” she said, her voice growing quiet.

“You okay, Lyra?” Bonbon asked, leaning forward.

Lyra didn’t meet her gaze. “Yeah, I’m fine, thanks.” She started to bounce her leg up and down, taking a small breath. The motion comforted her, the way it always did when she was heavily stressed out or having an anxiety attack. The repetitive motion helped her to calm down quickly and she took a deep breath, finally managing to meet Bonbon’s concerned look, though she had to quickly look away, feeling another wave of shame and awkwardness overtake her.

“Alright then,” Bonbon said at last, leaning back. They remained silent for another minute more until their drinks were brought over and the waiter set them down in front of the two mares. When prompted, Bonbon pointed to the menu. “A daffodil and daisy sandwich please. Extra mustard.”

“And you ma’am?” he turned his attention to Lyra.

While he had a polite smile on his face, Lyra imagined the hate and hurt behind his eyes for what she’d done before, how rude she’d been. She had to will herself not to writhe in discomfort. She groaned a little bit. “Before that I wanted to say I’m sorry about what I did before…”

“Oh,” he said with a blink. “No, it’s no trouble, don’t worry abo-”

“No, it was trouble,” she interrupted him, shaking her head. “It was super rude of me and I should have had better impulse control, and I know you’re probably thinking I’m super rude right now, but I’m really not, I just don’t care for sparkling or carbonated water, and it was a knee-jerk reaction, and I should have been more sensitive, especially when you said it was made in house, I mean even bonbon pointed out that was basically me insulting someone’s livelihood and passion, and as a musician, I should have been more sensitive to something like that and-”

She blinked as the sound of someone snapping her fingers in front of her brought her back to reality. She glanced up and saw Bonbon leaning over the table, hand in front of her face, snapping her finger a few times. “Hey there, you back with us?” she asked.

Lyra sat back, looking around her. A few pairs of eyes were glancing at them. Apparently she’d been talking a bit too loudly. Yep, she could feel another few shades of red creeping up onto her face. “W-where’d the waiter go?” she asked.

“Well, he was looking a little bit uncomfortable when you started on that whole tirade, so I asked him to bring out a slice of chocolate cake for you.”

“Oh… okay.” she cleared her throat. “So that whole tirade was just a waste of time then… an embarrassing waste of time.”

“Not really,” Bonbon said, reaching over and patting her hand in a comforting manner. Lyra resisted the urge to flinch away, like she normally did. She didn’t like being touched if she hadn’t been the one to instigate the touch. She tensed a bit, but relaxed when Bonbon gave her a light rub. “Your heart was in the right place, right?”

“Y… yeah, I guess,” she mumbled gently, though she offered a light smile. “Er… thanks.”

“No problem.” She leaned back. “So… Lyra, you said you’re a musician, right?”

“Well, working towards it at least, yeah.”

“What do you play?”

“Well, I’ve learned the basics of a lot of different stuff, but my focus right now is on string instruments. The lyre mostly. But I also do a little bit of singing.”

“Is that so?” Bonbon tilted her head in curiosity.

“What? Something wrong with that?” Lyra asked.

“Nah, not at all. I’m just a little surprised. I mean, I heard you sing earlier, but you don’t seem like the sort that would be comfortable on the stage.”

Lyra blew a few strands of hair from her face and shrugged. “It’s weird to explain, but yeah, I actually feel pretty comfortable up on stage. It’s sort of like… there’s a wall there, you know. There’s something separating me from everyone down in the audience. Like, they aren’t really looking at me, and I can’t really see them. Like I can be who I want to be while I’m up there, and I don’t have to put on a mask.” She paused. “Yeah, that’s a good way to put it, actually. Most actors say that they put on a mask when they get up on stage? I always feel like I’m finally able to take mine off. Except the mask is always cracked and frayed, and so people are able to see through it anyway, and I’m always worried that ponies are going to hate what they see underneath and I-”

Bonbon gave her hand a squeeze, cutting her off before she could continue her tirade. “I get it, I do,” she said gently.

Lyra bit her lip and opened her mouth to say something, but snapped it shut when the waiter re-appeared with their sandwich and cake. He set them down and nodded to the two of them before leaving them again. He didn’t even say a word, which made Lyra give a slight half-wince. She watched him go for a moment before picking up her fork and looking down at her cake. Bonbon carefully took up half of her sandwich and started to bite into it, taking big bites, but chewing thoroughly before swallowing, following it up with yet another big bite.

Lyra smiled a bit, watching the bigger mare eat for a moment before taking her own big bite… by shoving the fork into the center of the cake. About half of it broke off as she lifted half of it up into the air, smirking as she shoveled as much of it into her mouth as she possibly could. She shoveled and pushed and forced until a full half of the slice was in her mouth, her cheeks bulging with chocolaty goodness. She could barely force her jaw closed.

Bonbon blinked and just stared at her as the unicorn opened her mouth wide a few times, noisily chewing away at her food as she took slow, gentle swallows. She periodically reached over, washing the chocolate down with more chocolate, pouring some of the cocoa into her mouth as room was made for it. And just as it seemed like she might have emptied her mouth, she scooped up the other half and shoved it in, a small layer of chocolate frosting pushing against her lips before dripping down onto the plate. Her teeth clacked and her lips smacked as she gulped it all down in the same manner, ending the display with a loud smack of her lips as she rolled her her tongue along the outside of her mouth, catching any stray frosting that might have been lingering there. She let out a grateful belch and gulped down the last of her cocoa as well. It was only then that she seemed to notice Bonbon’s stare. “Uh… hi,” she greeted.

“Hey,” the mare said back. “Not gonna lie, that was one of the most fascinating and disgusting things I’ve ever seen.”

The bluntness of her words shot through Lyra like bullet and she felt cold, raw panic rising up through her again. She started to bounce her leg again, harder this time, but that resulted in her knee bouncing up a little too hard, knocking against the underside of the table, making the cups and plates on it clatter slightly. The shock of the impact forced her to stop the motion immediately, which only heightened her panic.”S-sorry. I’m sorry… I…”

She was coming undone. She could feel it. This was the moment where it call came crashing down and whatever could have come from this date, it wasn’t going to happen now. She’d already pushed it too far, but she’d been too weird, too childish. She felt herself taking deep, quick breaths. Was she starting to sob? She couldn’t tell, she felt totally numb.

And then the warmth came. This was totally new. Usually whenever she started having one of her breakdowns, it was just a cold, numbing emptiness that rolled over her and made her completely seize up and then devolve into a giant puddle of sobbing. Oftentimes, she’d come out of it surrounded by a couple of empty ice cream tubs, but right now? All she felt was a gentle, comforting feeling enveloping her. The world came back into focus around her as a voice accompanied the feeling. “Deep breaths. Hold onto my arms. Visualize a feather in front of you. Breath in gently and blow out slowly, just enough to keep that feather floating in front of you.

She nodded and reached up, taking hold of Bonbon’s arms, the source of the warm feeling she had been experiencing. Then she started to breath. In and out, slow and careful. She breathed just hard enough to keep the feather in her mind floating in front of her eyes. Slowly, her heart calmed and her tense, shaking form calmed. She leaned back against Bonbon, smiling a little bit. “Whew…”

“Feel better?”

“Yeah, a little bit.”

“Good.” Smiling, Bonbon gave her a few gentle pats on her shoulders before returning to her seat. “Well, this has been pretty interesting,” she said gently.

Lyra squirmed a little bit, but managed to keep it together. “Y-yeah. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” the mare asked, tilting her head. “For what?”

“For… everything.” she sighed and leaned forward, folding her arms in front of her. It was that time. Time for her to lay it all out. “I dunno if you’ve noticed, but I’m… a mess. Like a literal, complete, and utter mess. I don’t have any idea how to behave in social situations. Even talking to ponies is a challenge for me. I just have… trouble processing things the way others do. I like a lot of things others find strange, and I like to talk about strange things. But when I’m with others? I’m always so scared about saying or doing the wrong thing. And when someone expresses disappointment or annoyance with me, or tries to correct me, I just get this sinking feeling in my stomach that I’m not normal, and I try to overcompensate for that, but when I do that, I end up making more mistakes, or I do something like bouncing my knee, which just makes ponies look at me weird, and…”

Bonbon nodded and reached out, putting a finger to to her lips. “I get it. You feel like there’s a lot wrong with yourself.”

“There IS a lot wrong with me. There’s a big difference between being yourself and being… whatever the hell I am. And it’s really hard to cope.” She sighed gently and glanced back. “I’m sorry for wasting your time, Bonbon. Thanks for giving me a chance, but I’m not gonna embarrass you anymore.” Slowly, she started to get up and walk away, but stopped when she suddenly felt something gripping the back of her tail. Blinking, she twisted around, tilting her head when she saw Bonbon holding her tail near the tip in a vice-like grip. “Um… can you let go, please? I’m trying to make a sad, dramatic exit.”

“Nope,” she said, shaking her head. She gave the tail a gentle tug and Lyra dutifully responded by backing up a couple of steps, standing next to the table. “Why’re you taking off like that?”

“Because… this date was a disaster?” Lyra said slowly, hesitantly.

“Yes,” Bonbon agreed. “It’s been pretty embarrassing. You’ve been behaving weirdly, and I could tell that you were wrapped up in your own head, worried through so much of it. But when you did loosen up, and showed me a bit of yourself, you immediately worried about what I’d think of it.”

Lyra felt a lump forming in her throat and worried that tears were starting to gather in her eyes. She prayed that they weren’t visible. She didn’t trust her voice, feeling the crushing weight of disappointment washing over her again. She did not take criticism well. She just nodded in agreement with everything that was just said about her.

The earth mare smiled gently. “So you think that means you don’t deserve a marefriend?”

“Well, it definitely means I shouldn’t stick with someone if I’m only gonna embarrass them.”

“Well I don’t think you should give up so easily. I’m sure not.”

“E-eh?” Lyra blinked, eyes wide.

“Lyra, I’m gonna be straight with you. I like you. I see a kind, creative mare in there somewhere. But you’ve got a big pile of problems on top of that, and I wanna help you with those problems.” She chuckled. “My parents desperately want me to find a stallion who will take care of me, and give me everything I could ever want. But I want to earn my place in the world, and I want a mare who needs me to take care of them! Not the other way around. Besides, I like to keep myself busy with projects, and you're definitely a project.”

“Wow,” Lyra mumbled. “I can't tell if you're looking for a relationship or a business venture at this point.”

“Hey, I did say I like you, didn’t I?” she asked. “You need help, and I wanna help you. I wanna get closer to you. Learn a bit more about what makes you tick, and help you change the parts you don’t like about yourself.”

“Don’t you mean what OTHERS don’t like about me?” Lyra asked.

Bonbon shook her head. “What YOU don’t like about yourself. Like I said, you are a good mare. But obviously, you don’t like a lot of the tics and habits you have. But I don’t wanna change who Lyra is. I just wanna help Lyra bring out the best of herself…. Are you okay?”

Now the tears were leaking from her eyes, but for entirely different reasons. “That’s the… the…” she sniffled and swallowed for a moment. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever offered me. Bonbon… thank you.”

The mare smiled warmly and opened her arms to the unicorn, who quickly jumped up and rushed into her embrace. The few other customers gathered around them let out an audible ‘aww’ from their seats. Lyra blushed, but for the first time, she didn’t feel any massive embarrassment from it. She’d found herself a marefriend! Someone who was willing to give her a chance, someone who even actively wanted to HELP her for a change! It was a real nice change-up from usually just being told to behave or just suck it up, when other ponies didn’t understand that it just wasn’t that simple for her. Her smile widened when she felt Bonbon’s hand stroking the back of her head, running through her mane.

“And I think we can start now.” Bonbon quickly laid down payment for the meal, plus tip and then stood up.

Lyra blinked and glanced at her. “Uh… what do you mean?”

“Come with me,” Bonbon said, gently taking hold of her upper arm. The motion made Lyra blush a bit as she was gently led to the cafe’s exit, her mind racing with possibilities of what she could mean by starting now?

Lyra shivered gently as she stood before Bonbon in her living room. Thankfully, her parents were nowhere to be found. Out for some fun of their own, Bonbon had said. She looked down at the hairbrush and wooden spoon sitting on the table in front of her. “So what do you think, Lyra?”

Lyra took a deep breath. “Just to be clear here… and make sure I haven’t missed any details… you wanna spank me?”

“Well, yeah, but not just because you’re cute.”

Her blush deepened. She’d never thought of her rear end as cute before, so to hear a compliment on it was rather nice. “But I’d still have a say in the spanks, right? As the… submissive in the relationship, as you put it?”

“Yep. And I’d use spanking to reward and punish you.”

“This seems kinda weird,” Lyra admitted.

“Well, weird problems need weird solutions,” the mare said. “And we’re gonna start now. I’m gonna give you a sample. It’s gonna be gentle, but if it’s too much, you just say so, okay?”

“O… kay…” Lyra smiled. “I guess with the way the day’s gone, I’ve had this coming anyway,” she gave a nervous chuckle and shuffled over to Bonbon.

‘She’s probably gonna beat your ass raw,’ her mind taunted her.

‘Brain, shut up, I really am not in the mood for this…’

‘Wonder if she’s gonna take out all her frustrations of the day on you. Wonder if you’ll be able to sit down after she’s done with you. Wonder if-’

‘I SAID SHUT UP! This is Bonbon! She’s not doing this because she’s a sadist!

‘Yeah? Well maybe you just make ponies turn into sadists because they can’t stand you. She said she was gonna give you a chance, but I bet she really does just feel sorry for you. We’ll see how long this lasts…’

“Lyra?” Bonbon asked. “You okay?”

Lyra blinked, once again breaking out of her stupor. “Y-yeah! I’m fine, I promise.”

“Okay… just wanted to make sure.” Bonbon reached out. “Come over here whenever you’re ready. And remember, you got the power to back out at any point. We don’t HAVE to do this. But once you commit, we’re both in it for the long haul, okay?”

“Just… Bonbon?” she asked, slowly approaching her.

“Yeah?”

“Promise me this isn’t just a joke?” she asked bluntly, half pleading. “Please promise me that you mean what you say? I-I… I’m scared. Not of the spanking thing. It’s a spanking, it’s temporary. I’m scared of… of… this not working out.”

Bonbon took her hand and drew her close, hugging her tightly. “It’ll be okay,” she whispered. “You don’t gotta worry. I’m not here to take advantage of you or hurt you. I want to help. I want us to become closer. And if this doesn’t work, we’ll find another way. But I wanna try this out first.”

Her worries soothed, if only temporarily, Lyra nodded. “Okay… how are we gonna do this.”

“Just lemme take care of it, and if it gets to a point where it makes you uncomfortable, just let me know.”

They were already at a point that normally made her uncomfortable. Contact with others just wasn’t something that Lyra typically enjoyed. But for some reason, with Bonbon, it didn’t bother her nearly as much. Maybe it was how gentle she was, how willing she was to back off. She wasn’t forceful and she did not demand anything of the mare, even as she lowered her over her knee. Lyra took a deep breath and smiled. She’d never been spanked before. Well, not properly any way. She’d gotten a motivating smack on the rear from her parents now and then, but never anything serious.

Bonbon wrapped one arm around her waist in a gentle motion. While she gripped her firmly, it was more like a soft hug rather than a restraint. She ran her hands up and down Lyra’s backside, still covered by her clothes. Lyra wiggled a little bit, taking in a few deep breaths. ‘This feels more and more like it’s turning into a softcore porn’ she thought to herself. Not that she was about to complain.

She loved porn.

Then she felt Bonbon’s fingers slide gently into her pants and arched her back as they started to come down. Lyra’s face heated up and she gulped a bit, but said nothing. Even when asked if she wanted to stop, she just shook her head, confirming that she didn’t mind going forward. Soon, her pants and panties were around her knees, her bottom exposed to the cool air around it. Again, Bonbon started to rub it up and down, her hand gentle, never going any further than the center of each cheek. Lyra’s breathing picked up and she slowly relaxed. “This is the sort of thing you can expect for good behavior, Lyra,” Bonbon said gently.

“Mmm… does the stuff from today really count as ‘good’ behavior?”

“Heh, some of it, not really, but I’m not about to hold that against you when we hadn’t established this sort of thing beforehand.” She stroked her up and down again and then started to gently pat her, moving from one cheek to the other. “If I start going too hard, you tell me right away, okay?”

“O-okay,” she breathed, shivering as she enjoyed the pats and soft swats that she was receiving, stretching out a little bit. This was… fun. This felt good. She felt so at ease, despite her situation. She did wonder what a punishment spanking would feel like though. “Are you planning to use the brush and the spoon on me?”

“Later on yeah… why?”

“I kinda… know what to expect with a reward spanking, I think. But… I’m kinda curious what a punishment spanking feels like.”

The pats stopped and the soft rubs returned. “You sure? I mean, I could give you one if you…”

“After today? I do feel like I could use it… and I wanna know what I’m going to get if I ever earn another one.”

“All right,” she breathed. “If you want a proper spanking, I’ll give you one. But again, since this isn’t a real one, if you really do think it’s too much, just say Red Light, and I’ll stop right away, okay?”

“Okay.” She blinked after a moment and slowly craned her head to look up at her. “Hey, Bonbon… how do you know all this stuff?”

“What do you mean?”

“About like… spanking and punishments and doms and stuff?”

“Uh… ahem… Well, I'm not perfect, and a bit blunt if you couldn't tell, so I do have experience with my parents tanning my hide. Other than that, I’ve got a bit of a thing for BDSM,” she admitted with a light smile. “Did a lot of research into the topic and stuff. B-but it’s not like I’m gonna use this as an excuse to get off or anything!” she said quickly.

Lyra’s lips twitched into a small smile. “Hey, you got nothing to prove to me.” She wiggled again and settled down, taking a deep breath. “I trust you. If you’ll trust me.”

“Okay.” Bonbon smiled and rubbed her butt again before slowly raising her hand up. Her grip became a bit firmer. And then she brought her hand down, her large palm covering most of Lyra’s cheek in one strike.

SMACK! SMACK!

Quick as a flash, two firm swats landed, one on each cheek. Lyra let out a squeak of pain and surprise at the feeling and writhed a little bit, which only started to increase when she writhed against her new marefriend’s legs as the smacks started to come down a bit more frequently.

SMACK! SPANK! SPANK! SLAP!

“Nngh! Oof! Ooh, that stings!” she hissed lightly.

“That means it’s working,” Bonbon said with a bit of humor, smiling a little bit as she went back to spanking her, alternating from cheek to cheek, swatting the center of each buttock and then the sit spot below it.

SPANK! SMACK! SPANK! SPANK!

Lyra gripped the pillow in front of her, pulling it close and hissing, giving a few more hard kicks as the swats rained down. It wasn’t as painful as she’d thought it would be, but it still stung harshly, and she couldn’t stop herself from letting out some groans and whines and hisses as her bottom was slapped.

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! SLAP!

“Uff! Oof! Hnngh…” she breathed and bucked a little bit. The sting was building, and she could feel the warmth spreading. “Owww… nnngh…”

Bonbon stopped for a moment, rubbing her butt. “Stings, right?”

“A lot,” she breathed with a nod.

Grinning, the mare reached over and picked up the wooden spoon next. “If you want to keep going, we’re going to move onto this next.” she gave her a few light taps and strokes with the spoon.

Lyra shivered a bit, her heart rate up and her body giving a quiver. But not from fear. She was… enjoying this? She wasn’t sure.

She had to confirm.

“Keep going,” she prompted, relaxing again.

Bonbon nodded and took hold of her again before raising the spoon and bringing it down with a gentle flick of her wrist, peppering her bottom in quick, firm smacks in a slow, stinging circle.

SMACK! WHAP! SPLAT! SMACK! WHAP! SPLAT!

Lyra squeaked and gave a firmer buck. The spoon was smaller than her hand, so she hadn’t expected it to hurt more, but the smaller surface area left behind more concentrated, powerful stings. She hissed and gasped and groaned, wriggling back and forth, feeling her backside wobbling with every smack. “Oooh… so hot… haa…” she panted.

Bonbon’s smacks faltered a bit. “Wow, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were really enjoying this, Lyra,” she said.

SPANK! SMACK! WHAP! SLAP!

“I-I think I am,” she admitted, mewling.

“Well… guess this wasn’t much of a punishment…”

“Doesn’t… mean we have to stop it…”

“Heh, maybe I just have to find your threshold,” she teased. She set the spoon to the side and picked up the hairbrush, setting it against Lyra’s bottom.

The unicorn shivered gently as the cool wood was pushed against her. She took a deep breath and arched her back, unable to stop a light moan from sliding out of her mouth. “Wow,” she breathed. “This is turning out a lot like a kinky fanfic.”

Bonbon snickered a little. “Bet you read plenty of those.”

“Hey, don’t judge,” she mumbled. “It’s a legit artistic medium.”

Bonbon just rolled her eyes and gave her a firm smack on one cheek with the brush. Lyra let out a loud yelp and groaned a bit as yet another new stinging feeling dropped down over her backside. She shivered and panted a little bit as the brush rose and fell between her two bottom cheeks. Bonbon was slower and more methodical with this implement than she had been with the spoon or her hand. The time between strikes was just long enough for the sting in her butt to reach its absolute height before slamming down against her rear again.

SPANK! SMACK! WHAP! WHACK!

“OW! OOF! NNGH!” Lyra winced and groaned a bit more, squeezing Bonbon’s leg firmly as the smacks continued.

“Hurts, don’t it?” Bonbon asked gently. “Remember, you can make it stop any time you want.”

“I… can… take… more,” she breathed softly.

“You don’t have to impress me, Lyra,” Bonbon said gently, giving her a few more spanks.

WHAP! SMACK! WHAP! WHAP!

“Mmmph! Nnngh… I WANT to take more.” she said with a blush.

Bonbon blushed as well. “This is… taking a turn heh…”

“Not a bad turn, I hope…”

“Not at all…”

WHAP! SMACK! SLAP! WHAP!

Bonbon giggled a bit. “You got a cute butt, you know that?”

“Th-thanks… nngh…” she panted a little bit. “I don’t… think we can call this a punishment anymore.”

“Well… it was basically just to see if we could find your tolerance level.”

“W-well… I think we found it… hehe… mmph!”

WHAP! SLAP! SPANK! SPANK! SPANK!

“Oooh! AWW! NNNGH! MMPH!

SPANK! SMACK! SPANK! WHAP!

“Haaah… aaah! NNGH! OOH!

WHAP! SLAP! SPLAT! SPLAT!

“OOOH! AWH! R-RED LIGHT!”

The spanking stopped immediately and Bonbon set the brush aside as Lyra went limp with relief, her body shaking and her breath ragged. She felt so sore… but so good. Not even just in a sexual way. The tears down her face felt cleansing. Her body felt like she’d done a full workout at the gym twice over. It had been a long time since she’d felt this sore and good at the same time.

She loved it.

And then it only got better.

Bonbon carefully lifted the mare up into her arms and had her straddle her lap, causing her bottoms to slide off completely. Both of them blushed for a moment, but it subsided when she pulled the smaller mare close and held her tight against her bosom, nuzzling against her, holding her, caressing her. Lyra let out a relieved sigh and hugged her back, tightly, snuggling as deeply into the embrace as possible. The pain in her rear soothed to a mere sizzle and she glanced up at Bonbon. “Hey, Bonbon?” she asked.

“Hm?” the earth mare asked, continuing to stroke and caress her mane and back.

“Is it too forward for me to say I love you right now? After all of this?”

Bonbon seemed to give the question some thought before shaking her head. “Nah, go ahead."

Lyra smiled again. “I love you, Bonbon.”

“I love you too, Lyra.”

Yet another wave of joy and warmth spread throughout her. For once, her thoughts were quiet and she could say that she was totally at peace with herself. She took a deep breath and just lay there, closing her eyes, wanting to stay in Bonbon’s arms for as long as she possibly could.