Seconde tentative d'exorciser cette histoire d'ailes. Et comme je suis formidablement logique, la suite est en anglais.
Mais je crois que je commence à comprendre.
This was Ponyville, the same Ponyville that was and will ever be. This was Ponyville in the morning awakening to the first rays of Sun, and ever more happy.
This was Ponyville.
She got up in a happy mood, happily hopped out of her bed to stretch then look for her mirror and brush on the night table. Her sleep had left her gummy mane in a mess, locks pouring on her face that she had to pull back in sweet curls. After relentlessly tackling her long mane she turned to the tail, frowned and simply shook it to let the natural shape come back. now pleased the mare checked her beige coat before leaving all and trotting down to her door, to the mail box open.
Mail awaited her, mail from the whole week that she didn't bother to collect. She poured in her hoof, watched the envelopes and their expeditors, opened a few just to look at a few words before throwing them away. Some mail was missing, she was certain of it. Actually, she expected mail this very morning, which meant it hadn't been delivered yet.
Instinctively, the mare clenched her hoof: "Derpy!"
With her morning already ruined the sweet pony trotted through town, meeting a few friends along the way and towards the post office where a dozen other ponies already were, in a shattered group. Something was going on, she pushed her way through to meet inside the only mailpony on deck, Special Delivery trying to keep everypony calm. The red maned pegasus walked back a bit, immediately told the newcomer what he had already said, that all mail had mysteriously disappeared and that he didn't know anything else.
"Then who does?" Bonbon immediately asked upon arrival, and her question at least put some silence among the crowd.
"Mister Zippy I guess, but he has already left for his airship vacation." Implying there was nopony left but him, and he usually worked around Cloudsdale, not here. "Oh, and Derpy of course! She was there just before the mail disappeared, if I'm not mistaken."
Once again, the sweet mare clenched her hoof and pronounced the dreaded name.
Since there wasn't much more to do, ponies began to scatter and as the crowd left, Bonbon still still plunged into her bad mood noticed another mare staying, asking about Derpy Hooves. Golden Harvest seemed genuinely worried, pressing Special for any more information he would have. "You should ask her directly" the swift pegasus answered, and she pouted, she couldn't. No reason why, she was about to leave when Bonbon intervened:
"Have you at least checked the place for clues? Mail doesn't just disappear like that."
He sighed, he had but before her implied insistance the stallion turned and went looking along the sets of pigeonholes. That's when the mare decided to talk to Golden Harvest, ask what she thought of all this, and if Derpy was implicated. "I don't know" was all the golden coated mare could say. "I don't know anything anymore" and she walked out of the office, a slow pace of somepony burdened.
But the sweet mare got distracted by an exclamation from the mailpony who came back victoriously: he didn't know how but he had missed a letter, miraculously left behind. Bonbon rejoiced, thinking, there was a tiny little chance it was her mail:
"Could you deliver it for me? I am way too busy to-"
"Do I look like I want to do chores?!" The mare reacted, then breathed and looked at that worried - and handsome - face on the stallion. She pested against herself: "Alright, I'll take care of it."
"Thanks a lot! And if you see Derpy-"
"That's exactly my intention."
Once outside the mare pested again, furious at the idea of her mail lost. She didn't even know what it was or who sent it, but she had been so eager to receive it that she felt robbed. Not even bothering to look at that envelope, since it wasn't hers, she trotted in the street, straight to Derpy's house and her mind was full of all the words she would want to throw at the clumsy pegasus but would not tell eventually. She was also looking for excuses, for why it happened, and the more she thought about it the more she wondered about Golden Harvest. Something was going on, and it struck her, her carrot loving friend knew what it was.
When that thought crossed her mind, it made her mouth go agape, she froze and the letter fell down on the ground. Already Bonbon was resuming her trot, leaving the letter behind as she was deep into her questions. "Uh, Sweetie Drops?" A stallion's voice stopped her. She turned to see the yellow light bristle in front of the asparagus stand.
"I think you dropped your letter."
Neglecting the obvious, she turned back to take it. "Thanks..." she observed the bristle, noticed it was slightly darker. "Thanks Wisp. Eh, have you seen Derpy?"
"Sure! She passed by twice, the second time with a huge load on her back." And she thanked him he brushed it as nothing, "Golden asked the same thing."
"Golden Harvest?" Something was definitely off, but it wasn't her business. "I'll see you later, I have this letter to deliver."
The stallion adjusted his shiny glasses, surprised, then he chuckled and: "Okay. If you say so." In a really amused tone, like a little joke.
She didn't mind, too pressed to finish with her chore and give her mind to the mailmare. Already the stand was behind her, greeting a few other ponies she hastened her pace until most houses were behind and she would see this roof among so many that was the home of her friend. At each step, and especially so close to her destination, the mare couldn't help but wonder why Derpy Hooves would ever do such a thing, and she couldn't exactly guess what the pegasus had done exactly.
But before the door she didn't hesitate one bit, knocked firmly and waited a good two seconds before knocking some more. Then she stepped back as a detail had finally caught her attention: there was smoke at the chimney. It was such a usual sight that it didn't occur to her immediately, what it could mean.
Anyway, she knocked again with a tiny bit more of her mood until she heard the happy voice on the other side asking her to wait, "coming!" At that she stepped a bit, sighed with the letter still in her mouth, and she looked around at the tiny garden, the flowers and that lump of earth freshly dug, quite big, that was probably not due to gardening. Something was definitely, definitely off and she didn't want to know what it could be.
The door opened, the ever joyful pegasus greeted her with one of her smile that she had the secret of, then noticed the letter and her expression changed in a gasp.
"I have this letter" Bonbon began, not hiding her bad mood, "so if you could do your work and deliver it?"
"Sure!" The mailmare quickly said, biting the letter to take it, munching it quite hard to the point of damaging the envelope.
"Watch it" The candy mare raised an eyebrow. "You could ruin the letter."
"What letter?" Derpy candidly asked as she swiftly chewed it and swallowed in a matter of instants, leaving a smile and Bonbon speechless. "Thank you for coming" she continued in her more or less innocent tone, "but I'm really really busy so..." she requested.
"Yeah. Sure."
She didn't want to know, she hadn't even the strength to be angry. It had been so... unexpected... that all the mare cared was to leave it at that and walk away. The door had slammed on her snout anyway so she closed her eyes, clenched her hoof a last time and let it all behind her. The moment her eyelids reopened, walking toward the path past Derpy's house she immediately noticed the golden coat of Golden Harvest.
And inside her chest, immediately, she felt this warm and horrible mix of feelings meaning something was going desperately wrong. It told her, from the way her friend was hiding in this little corner of shadow, watching the house of the grey pegasus and how deep in her eyes was, but what, the kind of expression that would move everypony. It was pleading, begging for something, it attracted Bonbon to her until Golden Harvest realized how close her friend was, and that she had been spotted.
"You really don't know what's going on" Bonbon suggested in sarcasm.
"It's... nothing..." She attempted, and everything was telling the exact opposite. "It's just... things being a little strange recently." And then, suddenly: "You haven't noticed any pony... being... well..."
"You mean except Lyra locking her door and shutting her windows tight? Or mister Zippy winning an airship vacation out of nowhere?"
"Yeah... things like that."
And she began to explain, about the package, Derpy's eyes and all she had learned since, and she omitted only one part that Bonbon knew too well, as rumors would spread in little towns. That omission, about Written Script, told it all, and why Golden's expression was so sad. As she explained her voice kept hesitating, and Bonbon herself had a hard time seeing anything but suppositions and guesses.
"Let's solve this, plain and easy" the sweet mare concluded. "You go see the princess and this time, tell her everything. I'll try to track where all this odd luck comes from."
"Is it really necessary?" Golden Harvest asked, as if hoping for a negative answer.
"We'll meet back at the library. Now move your flank."
Her own plan was set, which was now that she had a good reason to mess with her life to go see what had happened to Lyra. A smirk on her face, leaving her friend trotting she herself went her good pace back for the only house in the whole town that would seem abandoned. Lots of neighbours to question, lots of shutters to try and break, by force if given the occasion. She didn't mind for anything but answers, and she would get them.
It was still morning when she arrived before the door shut tight, and like in the night she bothered to knock, just to verify how locked it was. For a moment she expected to see the face of her friend, the aquamarine coat draped in darkness with this incredible, almost freaky smile. This time, there was nothing, not even a sound on the other side. Not one sound, not a rumor, it alarmed the mare who decided that her friend sleeping was less plausible than her being in danger. With that very short reasoning Bonbon rushed to the other side of the house where she knew a shutter was frailer than the rest.
The wood gave one more heavy thud as she broke the hinge and before the window revealed, after a quick look she began smashing the glass until it shattered. It hurt, but eventually gave in and the sweet mare went it, carefully.
All was perfectly silent. Nothing in the kitchen so she quickly went up, barely paid attention to the cabinet pulled against the entrance. Past the stairs she looked in the sleeping room, the other rooms and it was hard for her to admit, that her unicorn friend was nowhere to be seen. "Now, let's not panic" Bonbon told herself with the cushion still emptying between her teeth. She had thought of danger, as if an excuse, now she was envisioning it seriously. She needed help, she needed it quickly to find where Lyra could be, before anything happened. Also, she seriously needed to control herself a bit more she thought, leaving the sleeping room in a mess.
She left as she entered, by the back side, quickly looked for anypony in sight and, to her surprise, she saw Goldengrape. But really, at this point it mattered so little:
"Goldengrape, come and help me find Lyra!"
"Good morning too, Sweetie Drops." He calmly answered, used to her friend's temper. "You won't ever believe what happened."
"Lyra disappeared, that's what happ- wait."
She knew what was going to happen. She knew by the way he was holding his smile, by his simple presence after all his time spent travelling. She knew something had happened to him, something... lucky, and what counted more she knew he wouldn't help him find the unicorn.
"I finally found it. Can you believe it? After all this time-"
"This is great!" She forced a smile so tense that he paced back one step. "You know what's also great? Finding Lyra!"
The light yellow coated stallion stepped back some more. "I'm really sorry Sweetie, this is a lifetime occasion, I can't play games with you two. I must find Wisp right now!"
The word "games" reminded the mare how she herself wasn't worried the least, not five minutes ago, and how many times the awkward unicorn had worried her to the bone, before it was revealed to be nothing, just Heartstring being Heartstring. As she watched him walk away, his legs holding to stay quiet in the quiet Ponyville, she knew she would have done the same thing, and it was making her even madder.
By chance not all were so busy with their lives, and already she had enlisted Flower Wishes and Welly in the search when she remembered her meetup with Golden Harvest. Things were happening a bit too fast for her taste but Bonbon breathed and decided to quickly go and keep track of the whole situation. The library wasn't far anyway so, recruiting one more pony on the way she made the detour, reached the great tree and looked around for the orange puffy mane of her friend.
Nopony.
"Of course" she growled, now really displeased by the turn of events. Worst of all was this feeling of fighting the tide, and she was already sick of it. The sweet mare trotted to the door, thinking that her friend could still be inside and she was about to knock when she heard what she thought was a sob, or just a snort maybe, coming from the tree's roots. She left the door and walking around, followed the silence until she spotted the grey wings shut on this closed body.
Derpy was there, lain down between two roots and seeming to sleep. She hadn't noticed Bonbon coming, only sort of woke up when the mare tapped her head.
"Bonbon!" She smiled and her smile was sad.
"I'll fall for it. What are you doing here?"
The mailmare didn't immediately answer, and somehow her eyes, her now so serious eyes, were plunged into hers so deep that she felt a thrill. She didn't care anyway, still looking cold the beige pony breathed heavily for an answer.
"I can't tell you!" Derpy finally said, and this answer said so joyfully seemed to weaken her sorrow.
She then got smacked on her head, a little tap still quite angry.
"You're still the same clumsy innocent pegasus as ever" Bonbon sentenced. "Willing to solve everything by herself."
"Bonbon," Derpy asked, rubbing her mane, "can you help me?"
"Sure" she smiled, prepared for some insanity.
"When you see the library, what do you see?"
That was less insanity than she had expected, and a good start to reassure her so frail friend. So she answered, she was seeing a big tree. "Not that." She kept playing the game, patiently, thought it was now home to a princess and she found herself quite clever saying that. But her friend's face was still carrying this sadness that wouldn't go away, and that meant her answer was still not the right one. "I see..." she pondered, green leaves that the breeze would make flow, round windows lit at night, competing with the stars.
And she tried some more, she would see those old branches holding decades of knowledge, the sign defying time, as shadows of days and days alike would pass by, she would see the door, that door implying somepony lived there and the telescope looking for some light up in the sky. She was seeing... she shivered.
"I see my jail" Derpy muttered, just loud enough for her friend to catch it. And with a fainter voice, forcer Bonbon to listen closely: "I'm prisoner and I can't escape." She was skimming the grass with her muzzle. She scratched the soil. "I don't understand but, I know I am prisoner here, and nopony will help me escape." Closing to the ground she added, her cheek against the grass, that she could hear herself cry.
"I don't believe one bit of it and that's fine!" The sweet mare approached her grey friend. "Let's free yourself, whatever that means!"
"It doesn't work like that."
She gave her a sorry look, such a sorry look that, without even getting conscious of it, Bonbon realized what was going to happen next. Somehow, she had known it all along. But Derpy continued, told her to remember the letter, that very morning, that she had delivered to her. "The one you swallowed" the mare confirmed. It was hers. It was the letter Bonbon had expected to find in her mail box, even though she had no idea who sent it or why, or what it was. It was her letter and that's why Derpy had rushed to destroy it.
And now, she said, she felt guilty for it. And Bonbon knew why. The ground had disappeared under her hooves, leaving her wavering. Her mind had emptied to this only idea, that she was victim of this same luck touching every other pony. And her heart was almost at a halt, leaving her without a breath.
The thought crossed her mind, that Derpy had basically destroyed her life.
She closed her eyes, feeling angry, so angry and that felt good, that felt natural. She was angry at the grey pegasus and at the same time, stomping the ground with her foreleg, Bonbon felt good. As the mailmare told her she was sorry, "you can be" she answered with a smirk. She didn't even know what she had lost, so she had lost nothing. And she added, to her friend: "But you, you didn't want to lose me." As suddenly, Derpy's face finally brightened, and the mare leaped to clutch the sweet pony who, between her lips, promised to smack her on the head again if she didn't get released.
"But what do I do?" The grey pegasus eventually asked. "I want my friends to be happy and-"
"You empty head!" Bonbon smiled. "Look at that great tree. What do you think it wants?"
"Nothing?" The pegasus proposed. "Because it's just a tree?"
Again, Bonbon smiled. She was beginning to see it, maybe, somewhere in those green leaves quiet in this quiet Ponyville, somewhere in the roots of that tree she was beginning to get what had been going on. Why all this luck had felt so wrong. Exactly because of what her friend had just said. Because all that was left was just a tree, when she herself was so much more than just a mare with candies.
