Lyra: Train Ride Reflections
The trip to Shetlearn was quieter than Lyra had expected. The gentle clacking of the train on the rails lulling the mare to a far more peaceful sleep than she had thought it would.
Her dreams brought reminders of what happened when she left Ponyville. True to her word, she made sure not to follow Blacklin’s lead and make everyone worry. No running off in the early morning for her.
Not like she could have even if she had wanted to. She had only gotten a few yards after leaving the library when Minuette caught up with her. The older mare’s pace and expression looking contemplative. On her back was Lyra’s bag, causing the younger mare to wince upon seeing it.
The light blue mare brightened up at seeing her, however, moving faster and with purpose. She sat the bag down once she had reached Lyra.
“You’re lucky,” she said, “neither of them were upset with you. Just confused and, in Black’s case, hurt.” The smile that had been on her face faded to a look of concern. “We have to talk though. Whatever your plans are now, they wait until we have.”
Lyra blinked in confusion. She’d only seen Minuette like this a few times in the past. Each time being when Lyra had accidentally broken something of hers. This time she was sure she’d done nothing like that. She was about to ask what was wrong when her sister stopped her.
“Not here,” Minuette stated, turning and motioning for Lyra to follow as she began walking. Lyra biting her lower lip before quickly following.
“Minnie, what’s going on? What did I do?”
“Do?” Minuette laughed and shook her head. “Nothing. I’m not mad at you. It’s just we have to talk about our gryphon interest.”
Lyra’s head tilted. Gryphon interest? What did she mean by. . . Her eyes went wide and she nearly tumbled over her own hooves in surprise.
“You?! Did you?!”
Minuette slowed down to let her sister catch up, a wry smirk on her features. “That should be my question,” she says. “When did things change? There was never anything between you two and suddenly you spend days secretly leaving flowers and gems for him? With Berry’s help no less!”
She stopped and turned to face Lyra. Her smile softening to sisterly affection.
“And yes, I did. Finally. Roseluck was confused, but she accepted that I was going through with it and Blacklin took my gem in understanding.” She gave Lyra’s nose a boop with her hoof. “Just like he would have accepted yours if you had been more direct.”
Lyra blinked and blushed, looking down at the ground, rubbing a foreleg against the other. Being reprimanded like that left her feeling silly, like a young filly caught taking something that was already hers.
“I told him you weren’t going to give up,” Minuette went on. “Warned him, really. Given how excitable you were when we parted.” She sighed and shook her head, starting to walk once more. “So did you find what you were looking for?”
That question brought Lyra back to her senses. She blinked and then nodded, following once more after Minuette. “Yeah. There something in Shetlearn that I think will be perfect. I’m just hoping I can find it.”
“Shetlearn?” The older mare looked over her shoulder at Lyra. “That’s where Black ran off to, right? What would be there he’d want that he couldn’t have gotten then?”
Lyra grinned, eyes lighting up. “Well, you’ll just have to wait until I get back to find out!” She giggled, feeling better. “I’m going to leave tomorrow morning. I still have to talk to Bon Bon about and let her know I won’t be around for at least a few days, probably more.”
Minuette stopped and sighed. The pair had reached the house she shared with Berry and Ruby. She looked at her sister, eyes filled with concern. “I won’t tell you not to go, but I will ask that you please be careful. Don’t do anything foolhardy, okay? Promise me that.”
“I can promise that I’ll be careful,” Lyra assured. “Look, I’m not going to be jumping down pits and getting shot up by arrows. At most it’ll just be poking around some old ruins, safe as can be.”
Minuette snorted. “I’m going to hold you to that, little sister,” she stated. “And look, I’m not going to stop my courtship because of this. Are you okay with that?”
Lyra was quiet for a few moments as she thought it over. More than anyone else, she knew how her sister felt about Blacklin. In a way, maybe that’s why she had let herself be ignorant of her own feelings. A subconscious want to not get in the way. Still, Minuette may have been surprised by this sudden revelation, but she wasn’t asking her to stop. She was even encouraging her and helping!
There was no way Lyra could get in the way of that or even ask her sister to stop.
“Yeah. Keep him grounded with Pinkie and Roseluck until I get back. Then we can all give him the biggest group hug possible. Let him see how lucky he is to have us all.”
Minuette smirked and ruffled Lyra’s hair. “Got that right. Now you get going. Got packing to do, right?”
Lyra nodded. “Yeah. Will do that right after I get back home from Bon’s.”
Minuette nodded as well, pulling her sister into a hug before going inside and letting Lyra be on her way.
----
Bon Bon. It was only fair that she let probably her closest friend in Ponyville know where she was headed off to.
“You are the silliest damn mare I’ve ever met, Ly,” she had stated after Lyra had explained things, a knowing smirk on her face. “Most impulsive too. Seriously, over the course of what? A month? You’ve gone from ‘I have no feelings besides friendship for this gryphon’ to 'I have to go on a possibly fruitless journey to prove to him how much I love him!’ And we used to think Pinkie was the most unpredictable pony in town!”
She gave a sharp laugh before shaking her head.
“Emotions are really weird, aren’t they?” she went on. “Well, whatever. I’m not going to stop you. Tartarus pits, not like I’d be able to anyways!”
“Bons…” Lyra started, but was cut off when the earth pony raised a hoof.
“Nuh uh, no sappiness,” Bon Bon stated. “You’re doing this cause you gotta, I get that. I support that. Fuck, wish I had the courage to do something like that for a stallion I wanted!”
Her smirk turned to full grin.
“You better not come home empty handed, you got that?” she finished. “Even if you don’t find that whatever the heck it was, you better get souvenirs for us all!”
Lyra laughed and nodded at her friend’s outburst.
“Of course I will,” she says. “Something for all of you. I’ll make sure you love it!”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll like what you bring back, but the only way I’ll love it is if you bring back a hunk,” The earth pony teases. She followed up with a quick hug before settling back down behind her shop’s counter. “So when you leaving?”
“Tomorrow morning, if possible” Lyra replied. “Gonna pack once I get home and head straight to the train station first thing in the morning. Hop on the first train out.”
She gave her friend a playful smirk. “And I’ll be sure to bring back the sexiest gryphon I can find there,” she teased.
Bon Bon blushed deeply at that before quickly pushing Lyra out of the store. Lyra couldn’t help but laugh at the reaction. Bon Bon was good at handing out teasing, but never had been able to take it.
After leaving, she followed through with the plans she’d mentioned: packing up and heading to the train station the next morning.
Though she’d set her saddlebag aside, her eyes constantly fell upon it as she packed her more traditional bags. The question of if anyone had looked in it filled her mind, though given how Minuette had acted, it was doubtful. Did that bring her joy and relief? No, not really. Yet it didn’t make her apprehensive either. Her original plans had been shot to hell and back, yet that failure had lead to something better. At least, she figured it’d be something better.
This statue. That would be icing to her cake. That’s what would make up for her violent actions beforehand, her yelling, her making a fool of herself. That would be what fully showed her devotion to him. And maybe, even better, she would have a tale to regale all of them with.
She shook her head and gathered her bags. That would be for later. Now, she had a train to catch.
And catch it she did. There’d been no problem with getting a ticket, even costing less than she’d thought. Once on board, she’d settled in for a long trip and started drifting off.
The sound of the conductor calling out stops woke the mare from her memories. She yawned and stretched before wearily collecting her bags. She finally had arrived. Part one of her plan had been completed and now it was time to begin part two of it.