The rest of the walk home was in pleasant silence, the two ponies holding hooves and leaning slightly against each other. Their cottage was near the town hall, which was still in need of some repair. All of the main structural problems with the hall had been fixed but a lot of aesthetic work remained. Lyra and Bon Bon’s neighbour, Derpy Hooves, had been the first to volunteer to help with fixing the building but, unsurprisingly, the clumsy pegasus had actually made things worse and damaged the building more. Bon Bon smiled at the thought of her neighbour. Sure she was clumsy and yes, she had given them somepony else’s mail on more than one occasion and vice versa, but her heart was in the right place and what a big heart it was. Derpy had always been there for her and Lyra if they’d had a fight and at times had had to comfort both of them without letting the other know plus she’d often invite them round for afternoon or evening muffins.

Bon Bon suddenly had a terrible thought, a thought that made her stiffen enough for Lyra to notice.

“Bonnie, what’s wrong?” Lyra asked, worried. Bon Bon looked at her with a hint of sadness in her blue eyes.

“Lyra,” Bon Bon began slowly. “Do…do you think Derpy’s going to have anypony to be with on Hearth’s Warming?” Lyra stopped in her tracks and thought about it. Derpy never did have a lot of company. Being the mailpony did take up a lot of her time and she was too busy on the job for idle chitchat. Lyra was beginning to wonder if she and Bon Bon were her only callers.

“Does she have any family?” Lyra asked Bon Bon. “I’ve never heard her say anything about her parents or if she has anypony else in her life. The only ponies I’ve really seen visiting her are…” Lyra felt a pang of guilt for not realising it sooner. “…are you and me.” Bon Bon’s face fell.

“How could we have been so stupid?” Bon Bon moaned. “She’s such a good friend and we never even asked.” Lyra’s ears drooped. They started to walk again. Bon Bon was having more depressing realisations. ‘Does she get Hearth’s Warming presents at all? Or even cards?’ Lyra and Bon Bon’s heads were both lowered in shame. Their best friend; a friend who had helped them out in times of need not asking for anything in return, and they barely knew anything about her.

Bon Bon suddenly had an idea, an idea that would redeem them in the eyes of friendship.

“Lyra, I think we should invite Derpy over for Hearth’s Warming. I know we wanted to spend it together but she’s done so much for us. Plus no one should be alone at this time of year.” Lyra smiled at her lover and kissed her.

“How did I end up with a pony as kind and loving as you?” Lyra sighed happily. Bon Bon grinned.

“Easy. You know what I like.” Bon Bon winked at her and nuzzled her some more.

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As they neared their cottage Lyra noticed that a light was on in Derpy’s house. Lyra smiled and turned to Bon Bon.

“Bonnie, look,” Lyra pointed to their neighbour’s cottage. “Derpy’s still up. How about you take the stuff into the house and I’ll go talk to her about staying with us?” Bon Bon smiled and nodded. The two ponies walked up to their front door and Lyra took off her saddlebags and other things setting them down at the step. She pulled out a basket from one of the bags.

“What’s that?” Bon Bon asked.

“Present I got for Derpy in Manehatten.” Lyra replied. “Wanna guess what it is?” Bon Bon looked uneasy.

“You didn’t get her muffins did you?” Lyra saw Bon Bon’s look and frowned.

“Well…yeah, of course I did! They’re her favourite!” Bon Bon winced.

“Were her favourite, she’s gone off them, says they’re too boring now.” Lyra’s mouth hung open.

“B-but…but these are the best muffins in Manehatten!” Lyra exclaimed. “They were expensive!” Bon Bon sighed putting a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder.

“Ah well,” Bon Bon said patting her shoulder reassuringly. “It’s a good thing I’m only joking then, isn’t it?” Lyra froze.

“What?” Lyra’s face showed no signs of entertaining the joke. Bon Bon grinned.

“Yeah, I was only pulling your hoof. Just as well, I think the day Derpy doesn’t like muffins any more is a sign of the apocalypse.” The cream pony put her hoof to her chin in mock contemplation. Lyra looked at Bon Bon unamused.

“Oh, ha ha.” Lyra stated sarcastically.

“Aw, did Wywa not wike the joke?” Bon Bon put on an innocent face. “Was I a bad pony?” Bon Bon was inching closer to Lyra’s ear. The unicorn was shifting uneasily in her stance, she knew what the Bon Bon was trying to do. “Do I need to be told off? Do I need to be…spanked?” Lyra’s knees went weak and almost buckled as the last word was whispered right next to her ear. Her heart was thumping against her ribs. This was her weakness and Bon Bon liked to make use of it. Lyra grabbed her marefriend and was about to kiss her passionately when Bon Bon lifted up a hoof halting her. “Uh uh uh, you need to visit Derpy.” She pointed to their neighbour’s house. “You can…discipline me later. I’m such a tease aren’t I?” Lyra let out a whine as she watched as Bon Bon batted her eyelashes playfully and walked to the bags, a deliberate sway in her hips, and began to pick them up. Lyra pouted, picked up the basket and made her way to Derpy’s house thankful that she didn’t have any wings…they would probably be dislocated by now.

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Derpy’s front gate was at an angle with one of the hinges broken and the fence had several missing planks. The garden wasn’t overly untidy but it did have a broken tree and some flowers were missing from their pots. Lyra walked up the small path up to the front door and saw that it was a new door, she smiled, Derpy went through furniture like she got through muffins; incredibly quickly. Fortunately the store where she got her replacements gave her special discount due to her frequent orders. Lyra knocked on the new door. A grey pegasus with a blond, shaggy mane opened the door. Her wall eyes moved to focus on her visitor and she stared at Lyra for a few seconds before a big smile plastered itself across her face. Derpy tackled Lyra to the ground and hugged her.

“Hi Lyra!” Derpy squeezed the unicorn tightly. “I missed you, how were the concerts? How is Manehatten? Are the muffins there different?” Lyra smiled weakly, prying herself from the pegasus.

“I missed you too, Derpy,” Lyra replied. “The concerts were great, I really enjoyed them, and as for the muffin question; why don’t you try them yourself.” Lyra winked and her horn glowed. A basket of muffins floated from behind her towards the pegasus. Derpy’s eyes lit up as she caught the basket. She smiled and hugged Lyra again.

“Thank you, Lyra! They look delicious!” Derpy took one of the muffins from the basket and held it in her hoof. She examined it closely, taking small sniffs and rotating it slowly. She took the tiniest nibble of it and gradually chewed, her expression frowned in concentration and her eyes looked up thoughtfully. She swallowed her morsel and glared at the muffin.

Lyra watched her uncertainly. ‘She doesn’t like it.’ Lyra’s ears drooped slightly.

Suddenly Derpy grinned and threw the whole muffin in her mouth. “Mmmm! Ish shoooo gooooood!” Lyra sighed, relieved.

“I’m glad you like them. You had me worried there, Derpy.” The pegasus smiled finishing her muffin.

“You have to be careful,” Derpy informed. “This one time I ate some muffins Pinkie Pie was giving out and they tasted awful. Some even had worms in them!” Derpy grimaced as she remembered the terrible muffins that had confined her to bed for a week. Lyra smiled.

“Yeah, I remember that. Bon Bon made you soup everyday until you got better.” Lyra’s expression dimmed as she remembered why she had come over. “Derpy, do you mind if I come in? There’s something I’d like to…to talk to you about.” Derpy was about to bite into a second muffin when Lyra spoke so her mouth was wide open.

“Huh? Um…yeah, sure.” Derpy picked up the basket in her mouth and motioned for Lyra to enter her home. Lyra smiled weakly as the grey pegasus eyed her, confused. They both walked in and Derpy closed the door with her back hoof.

“OWWWW!” Derpy suddenly cried, throwing the basket into the air and causing Lyra to jump and fall over an umbrella stand. Lyra looked up to see the pegasus’ tail caught in the front door. Derpy slowly opened the door and gently plucked her tail from the frame. Lyra whimpered slightly at the sight of her bent tail but Derpy nonchalantly shook it back to shape and started to pick up the rest of the muffins. Lyra got up and walked over to the pony.

“Are you okay? Didn’t that hurt?” Derpy looked up and smiled.

“A little,” she shrugged, popping another baked good into her mouth. “But worth fings av happened.”

She picked up the basket and made her way to the kitchen. Lyra sat down on the couch in the living room. A blanket lay on the floor in front her and a cooling mug of hot chocolate on the table along with, quite surprisingly, a cupcake that was half eaten. The unicorn noticed a book on the coffee table as well, she tilted her head to see the title ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Hooves: A Scandal in Appleloosa’, Derpy had clearly been up late reading.

Lyra leaned back further into the couch letting her legs hang freely off the edge. Bon Bon always said she loved they way she sat as it was “kind of unique to her”. It had actually been what had started their first conversation together.
Lyra had been sitting on a bench waiting on Carrot Top to finish on her vegetable stall for the day when an Earth pony with cream fur and pink/navy blue mane sat next to her with a sandwich. Lyra hadn’t paid much attention to her until she spoke.

“Why do you sit like that?” Lyra’s head spun round to find the Earth pony looking at her quizzically.

“Huh?” Lyra blinked.

“I asked ‘why do you sit like that’.” The pony pointed at her legs dangling off the edge of the bench. “I’ve never seen any other pony sit like that.” Lyra thought for a moment. She looked at the way the other pony was sitting; down on all fours, legs folded underneath her apart from her right front hoof which was holding her sandwich. Lyra had never really considered her posture when seated before.

“I dunno I’ve just…always sat like this.”

“Well, it looks really weird.” The Earthy pony frowned. Lyra pouted.

“Well, excuse me for sitting differently from everypony else.” The Earth pony smiled at her.

“That’s okay. I forgive you.” The cream pony shuffled towards her and held out a hoof. “My name’s Bon Bon.” Lyra eyed her hoof suspiciously before shaking it.

“Lyra. Bon Bon, huh? Can I call you Bonnie?” Bon Bon looked at her frowning.

“No.”
“Can I get you anything?” Derpy called from the kitchen snapping Lyra from her nostalgia.

“No, thanks.”

Derpy returned from the kitchen and sat down next to Lyra.

“So what’s up?” Lyra could see that underneath Derpy’s smiling and cheerful external appearance, she was uneasy and nervous. Lyra fidgeted, unsure of how to start the conversation.

“Well…” Lyra began. “…me and Bonnie were wondering, since Hearth’s Warming is in two days, we were wondering if you’d like to spend it with us.” Lyra sighed happily, that had been a lot easier than she expected. Derpy smiled and put her hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder.

“That’s really nice of you two to offer but I can’t accept. It’s your first Hearth’s Warming together and you should enjoy it with each other.”

“Oh it’s really no tr…” Lyra began but was interrupted when Derpy put up a hoof to show she wasn’t finished.

“Besides I have plans I’m going to spend it at my cousin’s, I’m leaving tomorrow.” Derpy finished. Lyra couldn’t help but feel disappointed but at least Derpy wouldn’t be alone.

The mint unicorn looked around the room. Something wasn’t right. Derpy’s house was untidy as usual but if somepony was going away for a few days they would at least clean everything up before leaving. There was no luggage by the door or downstairs in preparation for a journey. Lyra could always sense when someone was lying and right now she didn’t buy Derpy’s story.

“So what’s your cousin’s name?” Lyra asked nonchalantly.

“His name is Flash.” Derpy said matter-of-factly. Lyra smiled.

“Where does he stay?”

“In Cloudsdale, he’s a pegasus.”

“Does he have any other ponies staying as well?”

“I think he has a marefriend staying too.”

“You’re leaving early then?”

“Yep,” Derpy smiled innocently. “Real early.”

“How’re you getting there?”

“Train.”

“You’re getting a train to Cloudsdale?”

Derpy froze. Lyra smiled. She had doubted Derpy had any time to come up with a back story seeing how she had only asked her minutes ago, all she had had to do was keep asking questions until the grey pegasus tripped up over her own false details. Derpy was shifting in her seat, her mismatched eyes darting about rapidly.

“Erm…no, what I meant was…I meant to say I’ll be getting the train to…if I went halfway by train it would…” Derpy’s eyes started to water and her lip began to tremble. Lyra moved beside her and put her legs around her.

“It’s okay Derpy.”

And with that Derpy broke. She hid her face in Lyra’s mane and cried, her silent tears running down her face. Lyra stroked her blonde mane while whispering reassuring shushes to her. After a few minutes the pegasus gradually stopped crying and looked at Lyra with bloodshot eyes.

“I’m so-orry Lyra.” She sniffed. “I didn’t mean to lie to you. I didn’t want to lie to you.” She wiped her eyes.

“It’s okay Derpy,” Lyra soothed. “Why did you lie?” Derpy looked down.

“I don’t know. You were asking me all these questions and I didn’t want you to think I was a loner, sitting here all by myself on Hearth’s Warming.” Her eyes started to tear up again. Lyra embraced her again.

“Derpy you’re my best friend. My opinion of you wouldn’t change just because you didn’t have anyone to spend your Hearth’s Warming with. Come and enjoy it with me and Bon Bon we’ll have a great time together and Bon Bon’s cooking a great meal for us. What d’ya say?” Derpy sighed.

“‘Kay.” Lyra smiled and hugged her again.

“Great. You wanna come over now? I’d hate to see you spend all night like this.” Derpy shook her head.

“Nah, it’s fine, that ‘outburst’ really took it out of me.” Derpy gave a small smile. “Thanks Lyra, you’re a great friend. I’m sorry.” Lyra waved her hoof.

“Nothing to be sorry for Derpy, happens to the best of us. You sure you’ll be okay?” Derpy nodded. “Well, we’re just next door if you need us.”

The two ponies got up and walked to the door. The hugged, said goodnight and Lyra walked off down the path hearing the door close quietly behind her.