Familyby WhellerChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4EpilogueChapter 1Chronology notes: You are reading the first part of the Bonds of Eternity Series, a sequel to the All Good Things series. It is recommended that you read the All Good Things Series. The All Good Things series: the first part of the story is The Kindness of Strangers found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/389/ The second part of the story is Putting the Pieces Back Together found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/407/ The third part of the story is Midnight in the Heart of Equestria found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/419/ The fourth part of the story is Tomorrow is Always a New Day found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/433/ The fifth part of the story is To Each Their Own found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/526/ The sixth part of the story is Imperfect found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/600/ The seventh part of the story to Paradiso found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/687/ the eighth part of the story is Broken Record found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/732/ The ninth part of the story is Home Sweet Home found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/826/ The tenth Rite of Passage found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/895/ the eleventh part of the story is The Long Road Home found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1030/ the twelfth part of the story is And So it Ended, and So it Begins Again found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1141/ Family Chapter 1 “Lyra!” The sea foam green unicorn looked up from the book she was holding next to her head. Lyra closed the spell book and set it down on the grass. “Bon Bon, please, PLEASE stop worrying!” Lyra said. “This is entry level magic!” The crème coloured earth pony frowned at her friend from her seat on the grass. “I just don’t like the idea of transfiguratory magic! What if something goes wrong?!” Lyra smiled at Bon Bon, she was her best friend and roommate, and she did have every reason to be concerned for Lyra’s safety. Lyra had recently gone back to university, as it turns out, being a freelance musician didn’t exactly bring money. Lyra felt guilty for not being able to pull her own weight, and she constantly felt as if she was using Bon Bon, who made enough money for the both of them. Despite her friend’s insistence that she wasn’t a bother, Lyra couldn’t continue to sit by and do nothing about it. Being repeatedly turned down for gig after gig had done it. Lyra loved music, she was a skilled lyre player, it was her special talent, but what happens when your special talent can’t support you? You have to do something else, and that’s exactly what Lyra was doing. A University degree was required for any job that she needed to make the kind of money she should be. Didn’t matter what it was in, all that mattered was that she had it. So here she was, in the final weeks of her first year at the University of Canterlot, preparing for her final exam in Transfiguratory Magic, one of many required classes for unicorn students. The spell she was working on was somewhat complicated for an entry level course, but it was a favourite of the professor. Temporary Underwater breathing, which was why Lyra had chosen it, and dragged Bon Bon to the river where she could watch. “Relax Bon Bon! I’ll be fine! This is still entry level magic! What could possibly go wrong?” Lyra said attempting to reassure her best friend. It didn’t work, Bon Bon sat staring blankly at her; she sighed and rose to her hooves. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be hiding behind that rock over there!” Bon Bon pointed to a rather large boulder in the rough shape of a diamond, which somepony had put there one day, but nopony could figure out exactly where it came from. “Hardy har har. So funny Bon Bon,” Lyra said, rolling her eyes at the skittish earth pony. “I’m serious! If I can’t stop you from doing this, I’m at least going to be taking cover for the duration,” Bon Bon said as she hid behind the boulder. Lyra scowled at the boulder that Bon Bon was hiding behind. Now she was going to prove that Bon Bon was being ridiculous by pulling it off. Her horn began to glow, and she shut her eyes tight to improve her concentration. Beginning the casting process, she felt the magic running throughout her entire body, she noted how nice it felt, but shook the thought, she needed to focus. The energy began to amplify, it was getting close... but, no, something wasn’t right. The amount of magic Lyra was channelling jumped exponentially. Bon Bon had been right, Lyra didn’t know what she was doing, she tried to break the casting sequence, but it was already too late. The spell burst forward from Lyra’s horn, exploding violently and sending the unicorn flying. Bon Bon looked out from behind her hiding place and looked on in horror. “Lyra!” she called out and ran to where Lyra was laying, but she paused momentarily when she noticed what state Lyra was in. Lyra’s legs were gone. In their place were... fins? Lyra had fins for forelegs! Her body ended in a long, fleshy prehensile tail. But most notably, Lyra was gasping for air. Bon Bon stood in shock, but she then noticed a very important feature on the new Lyra. She had gills. She couldn’t breathe! Bon Bon leapt into action and gave her a hard push into the river. Lyra rolled into the river with a hard splash. “Nothing can go wrong she says! Well this looks pretty wrong to me!” Bon Bon called out. “Bon Bon? Who are you talking to?” Lyra said from behind her. Wait. Bon Bon turned slowly to see Lyra sitting on the ground, clutching her head in pain several metres away. Her mouth fell open. If Lyra was sitting over there... then. The other Lyra burst her head up from the water, spitting a steady stream of water from her mouth and giving Bon Bon an extremely wide smile. Bon Bon screamed. ... “Well... This is interesting.” “Interesting?” Bon Bon exclaimed. “INTERESTING? I’m sitting here looking at... I don’t even know what that is, and all you have to say is INTERESTING?” Doctor Nightly was Ponyville’s unicorn doctor. Bon Bon had relocated Lyra and the other Lyra to the Ponyville Clinic. Lyra was lying in a hospital bed, watching the scene unfold. While the other Lyra was sitting in a large bucket of water looking incredibly confused. “Yes, interesting, considering Hippocampi have been extinct for several hundred years,” Doctor Nightly said. “Hippo-what?” Bon Bon asked in confusion. “Sea ponies,” Doctor Nightly said. “Very interesting... it seems to be aware of what’s going on, but I wonder if it can speak.” Sea Pony Lyra scowled at Doctor Nightly. “Okay, You know what? I’ve been patient and let you do your job Doctor, but I do not appreciate being called an it! I am not an it!” Everypony jumped in surprise, this was the first time that Sea Pony Lyra had shown any clear sign of intelligence. “How interesting,” Doctor Nightly mused to himself. “My apologies, Lyra. I’d like to run some more tests if that’s okay with you.” “Go ahead,” both Lyras said in unison, causing them to look over at each other and shutter at how creepy it was. Doctor Nightly fetched and apple and set it down on the floor in front of Sea Pony Lyra. “If you would please, try and levitate this for me?” Sea Pony Lyra’s horn began to glow, and she levitated the apple up to eye level, and then promptly set it back down. Doctor Nightly seemed satisfied with the result, he then ushered to Lyra, asking her to do the same. Lyra looked at the apple intensely, she concentrated hard and tried to levitate the apple, but it did not budge. “Hey!” Lyra called out. “What gives?” “Most interesting,” Doctor Nightly said. The Jet black unicorn stallion picked up the apple with his own magic and took a bite out of it. “It seems to me, that when the two of you split, Sea Pony Lyra inherited the magic.” “Can we not refer to me as Sea Pony Lyra?” Sea Pony Lyra asked. “If we’re going to call me anything, let’s call me, Sea... ra? Syra.” “This is all fine and dandy Doctor Nightly,” Bon Bon said, an air of annoyance in her breath as she spoke. “But what are you going to do to fix this?” “I... don’t know,” the Doctor pony said, his soft amber eyes transferring an apologetic look to the three mares before him. “I’m going to have to consult with some colleagues in Canterlot, until then, you can go ahead and take both of them home, keep a close eye on them and I’ll let you know what our next course of action is.” “Fine,” Bon Bon said, sighing heavily. “Useless tosser,” she added under her breath. She got behind Syra’s bucket and began to push it with her head towards the door. Lyra rose from the hospital bed and followed. As far as days go, this certainly had to the oddest. Lyra and Syra couldn’t help but stare at each other the entire walk back towards their flat. Bon Bon thought it was weird for her, she could only imagine how it was for them. “So... do you like, remember being a unicorn and stuff?” Lyra asked. “Yeah,” Syra said. “Last thing I remember was casting the underwater breathing spell, and then feeling it go wrong... and then I couldn’t breathe and Bon Bon pushed me into the river.” “So weird,” Lyra said. “Yeah...” Syra said, nodding her head in agreement, she looked down towards the ground, watching as Bon Bon pushed her bucket along. “I didn’t want to say anything before, but when we get home, if somepony could change the water in my bucket... I’d really appreciate it.” Lyra looked at her sea pony counterpart in shock. “Gross!” Chapter 2Chapter 2 “Lyra!” Lyra’s eyes shot open, she was lying in bed and nearly screamed her head off when she found herself looking back at her. Then she remembered. “Syra? It’s...” Lyra said, her voice trailing off as she looked at her clock, the little hand pointed to four. “It’s four O’clock in the morning! What do you want?” “I need your help!” the sea pony exclaimed in a hushed voice. “I need out of this bucket! I’m so stiff and I can’t take it anymore! I would have asked Bon Bon... but you know how she is when she doesn’t get her rest.” Lyra found herself smirking. Bon Bon was an ordinarily perfectly wonderful pony to be around, but when she was tired, she was crankier than a dragon that was having its treasure pillaged. “All right, fine!” Lyra rose to her hooves and began to push the bucket Syra was in towards the front door, noticing several puddles of water that littered the floor. “It took a lot of effort to get here, let’s just say that,” Syra said with a nervous smile. Lyra could only smirk at her sea pony counterpart as she lifted the bucket by the handle with her teeth over the door jam, and continued to push it for a couple dozen metres until arriving at the edge of the river. “Finally!” Syra said and leapt from the bucket into the river, diving underneath the deep blue water and disappearing from view. Lyra tipped the bucket over, allowing the water to drain out of it, and sat on the river bank, watching the sea pony as she swam freely, stretching the stiffness out of her. “Ah I feel so much better!” “I’m glad I could help,” Lyra said giving the sea pony a small smile. “It also gives us time to talk.” “What did you want to talk about?” Syra asked as she swam up to the river bank. “I think you know,” Lyra said, dropping down to lie on her stomach. “Bon Bon?” Syra asked. “Bon Bon,” Lyra affirmed. She let out a small sigh. “Not often when you can find someone you trust to talk about it with huh?” “I guess not,” Syra said with a shrug. “We really love her don’t we?” “How could we not?” Lyra asked. “Bon Bon’s been there for me... us, since I... we came to town years ago. She let us into her home, complete strangers, and we’ve been leaching off her ever since.” Syra nodded. “It’s not right; we know it and we feel terrible about it... we try to fix it, and then... this happens.” Both of them sighed, yet felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off each of them. “Who knew that saying it out loud could help so much?” Lyra asked. “Yeah... who knew?” Syra said, nodding in agreement. Both of them felt more than a little awkward about it. “So... what do we do now?” Lyra frowned. She wished that she had an answer. ... The sun began to peak over the horizon, and with it, came out the early morning ponies, Derpy Hooves, the town laughingstock and postal worker, Rainbow Dash, weather team leader, and her trainee Whirlwind. “All right Whirlwind!” Rainbow Dash boomed, “I want two hundred laps between town hall in the windmill, and I want them done now!” “Yes ma’am,” Whirlwind said. Despite the early morning light, of which there was little, the grey coated, grey maned Pegasus with a tornado for a cutie mark was incredibly visible thanks to his contrasting red eyes. Lyra and Syra watched for a little while as the speedy Pegasus stallion zoomed back and forth between town hall and the windmill, he was incredibly fast for a Pegasus, most of the town agreed on this fact. Yet for some reason, he was never fast enough for Rainbow Dash. Whirlwind completed the task given to him, and returned to a very impatient looking Rainbow Dash who was tapping a hoof on the ground in a bored like fashion. “That was pathetic! Do it again!” Rainbow Dash boomed at him. “Yes ma’am,” Whirlwind said and took off to do the task set before him again. Lyra and Syra figured that they had seen enough at this point, silently communicating to each other the fact; Lyra took the bucket by its handle and dipped it into the river, allowing it to fill to the top. Syra swam inside and used her magic to help offset the weight enough for Lyra to pull the bucket up. Lyra set the bucket back on the road and began to push it back towards home, the path taking them right by where Rainbow Dash was training the new weather pony. “Hi Lyra, Hi...” Rainbow Dash began to say, but stopped herself upon noticing the odd sight before her; she did a double take, and began rubbing her eyes to make sure that she wasn’t seeing anything. After rubbing her eyes didn’t change anything she began to freak out. “WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?” “I’m a sea pony!” Syra said simply, and without offering any explanation, the two continued on, realising instantly how much fun they were going to have today. Lyra set up Syra’s bucket in a place where only her head would be visible, behind a miscellaneous fruit cart, where she would appear to be browsing the selection, she would greet passersby and they would pay her no mind. Several dozen metres down the road, Lyra was sitting on a park bench, looking at the morning’s Sun, Canterlot’s newspaper, pretending to read it, and would greet the same passersby that Syra did, all they had to do was sit back, relax, and let hilarity in sue. “Hi Lily!” Syra said at the first townpony to come by. “Hi Lyra,” the bubblegum pink pony replied politely as she trotted onwards. Lyra did her best to force herself into not breaking down and laughing. Taking a deep breath and holding it in until Lily passed her. “Hi Lily!” “Hi Lyra,” Lily said again. Stopping dead in her tracks and doing a double take. Syra had hidden herself by this point, and only Lyra was in the street. Lily looked incredibly confused and trotted back towards the fruit stand. Syra burst from her hiding place, giving Lily a wide grin. “GAHHHHHHHH!” Lily screamed and galloped away. “The horror! The horror!” Both mares broke out laughing. ... Several repeats of this later Lyra pushed Syra’s bucket back towards home, the two of them were continuing to giggle about it the entire way, almost not noticing when they ran into a rather angry looking Bon Bon. “And just what do you two think you’re doing?” Bon Bon asked. “Uh...” they both said in unison. “Do you know how many ponies nearly trampled me, running in this direction screaming ‘there’s two of them! There’s two of them!’? Too many, wasn’t hard to figure out who was responsible,” Bon Bon said, scowling heavily at them. Both sea foam green mares chuckled nervously, giving Bon Bon an apologetic look. “Inside, now,” Bon Bon seethed at them. Both mares’ heads drooped and Lyra pushed Syra inside. “Still totally worth it,” Syra said. “Shut up Syra,” Lyra quipped. Bon Bon’s scowl alleviated, she began to giggle quietly to herself. Lyra and Syra weren’t the only ponies with jokes. Chapter 3Chapter 3 Despite the town ponies’ first interactions with Syra, she soon became not only accepted in town, but actually quite popular. Pinkie Pie even threw her a party, although that wasn’t exactly surprising. Pinkie Pie threw parties for every reason, for every occasion and sometimes just because she felt like it. Syra found herself up to her fins in ponies wanting to ask her questions about what it was like being a sea pony, not understanding that the sea pony mare had spent most of her life as a unicorn. Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t exactly the most mobile of ponies, spending most of her day confined to a bucket of water, so she wasn’t exactly able to avoid it. Lyra wasn’t exactly thrilled by this, not a single pony in town had asked her how she was, and despite originally getting off quite well with Syra, she had grown to resent her. She sat on the sofa at home reading over her textbooks for university, alone, with the lights dimmed. To be perfectly honest, she wasn’t actually paying the books any attention, she was far too annoyed to concentrate on them. She sneezed loudly; disgusting herself upon discovering that she’d covered the pages of her book in phlegm, there went any chance of selling the book when she was done with it. Lyra’s head was pounding, her nose was stuffy, and her body ached. Now was a terrible time to be getting a cold. She sneezed again, loathing the world for its twisted sense of humour. “Lyra! You sound terrible!” Bon Bon said as she trotted in from the other room, she sat down next to her friend and held her foreleg against Lyra’s head. “You’re burning up! We should take you to see Doctor Nightly!” “Bon Bon, please!” Lyra said with a sniffle. “I’m fine, it’s just a cold, besides, Nightly had far more important things to be doing.” Bon Bon frowned, but realised that Lyra had something of a point. Doctor Nightly had shut himself up in the Ponyville Clinic and hadn’t come out for days. His assistants, Nurse Redheart and Nurse Tenderheart took over much of the day to day operations of the clinic while Doctor Nightly researched a way to put Lyra and Syra back together. Lyra couldn’t wait; Syra had inherited her magical abilities, leaving Lyra with nothing more than a horn unable to perform its function, though she wasn’t impolite enough to voice her frustrations. “Are you okay?” Bon Bon asked as she huddled up next to Lyra, she placed her foreleg around her shoulder, trying to comfort her friend. “I just want everything to go back to normal,” Lyra said. ... “I appreciate this Pinkie Pie,” Syra said as she looked back at the pink party pony that was pushing the bucket she resided in along the street. “No problem!” Pinkie Pie said as she pushed the bucket to the edge of the river bank, tipping it over and causing Syra to tumble into the river. “I hate that bucket!” Syra said staring at it intensely. “Why don’t you just live in the river?” Pinkie Pie asked as she sat down on the riverbank. “Bon Bon would go mad if I did that, Doctor Nightly wants her keeping a close eye on me and Lyra, which means I’m stuck in that bucket for most of the day,” Syra explained. “Well isn’t she just a grumpy gator!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed louder than necessary. “I should throw her a party to get her to lighten up!” “I don’t think Lyra and Bon Bon would be up for it...” Syra began but was quickly interrupted by Pinkie Pie, who had already drowned her out with excited talking about her next party. Syra submerged her head under the water and let Pinkie Pie ramble. She felt at peace as she lie under the water. She watched Pinkie Pie’s shimmering image through the water as she rambled on to herself about who knows what. Pinkie Pie was nice and all, but Syra would have much preferred the company of Bon Bon. Syra had been keeping her distance, she was fully aware that Lyra had started to resent her for becoming so popular. In truth, Syra couldn’t blame her for it, she would have been feeling the exact same feelings were she Lyra, and Lyra was Syra. Bon Bon was pretty much the only pony who appreciated Lyra for anything... Everypony was polite to her, but other than that, everypony else seemed to pay her no mind. Lyra had always been rather quiet and unassuming; perhaps, this was the reason why she had so much trouble finding work. She just wasn’t what everypony was looking for. Syra felt incredibly guilty for coming along and making it harder for her. She closed her eyes and let out a small sigh. She reopened them to discover that Pinkie Pie had stuck her head into the water and had proceeded to make silly faces at her, Syra jumped and instinctively rose to the surface, she came up quicker than she anticipated, causing her gills to fill with air. She dropped them back down quickly and catching her breath. “Pinkie Pie... please don’t do that again,” Syra said as she tried to get her breathing under control. “Hehe... oopsie!” Pinkie Pie said, covering her mouth with a hoof while she giggled. Syra sighed again. “Could you fill up my bucket please?” ... Lyra sneezed again and then again after that. Her headache had intensified from the pressure of the sneeze. She would have hated the experience all together, were Bon Bon not here to comfort her. “You probably shouldn’t be so close to me, I don’t want to give you my cold!” Lyra said. “I’ll be fine,” Bon Bon said. Lyra smiled at Bon Bon brightly, she loved this mare, she wanted to tell her more than anything else in the world, but she couldn’t. The last thing Lyra wanted to do was make things complicated, lest she have to leave. What if Bon Bon didn’t feel the same way? Then where would she be? Lyra thought back to when she met Bon Bon, it was more than five years ago when Lyra had been thrown out of her parents’ home in Canterlot and had to live on her own. There she was, alone wandering through the streets of Canterlot with an almost empty saddlebag, containing her lyre, an instrument that she could no longer play without the precision of magic and without a single penny to her name, and that was when she saw her. Bon Bon had been in Canterlot delivering a large shipment of candy to a sweet shop. That day, the mare that would become her best friend and the secret love of her life was just the candy maker. Lyra had become smitten with her instantly, but had failed to work up the courage to talk to her. She trotted away, leaving Lyra feeling lonely and depressed; she had sat down on a park bench and sat there as it started to rain, not caring in the slightest that the downpour was falling on her. “Excuse me?” Bon Bon had said, Lyra remembered looking up and finding the candy maker standing in front of her, wearing an umbrella large enough for two on her back, which she had promptly offered Lyra a spot under. She had taken it without a second thought, and so it began the wonderful friendship between the deadbeat musician and the candy maker. “Are you getting hungry?” Bon Bon asked. “I can start dinner if you’re hungry?” Lyra snapped out of her daydream and nodded her head in affirmation. Bon Bon gave her a smile and rose to her hooves, trotting into the kitchen to begin cooking. Within moments, wonderful smells began to waft from the kitchen, and while Lyra had no idea what she was making, she could already tell it was going to be delicious. Lyra got up from her resting place on the sofa, her head spiked in pain, and she felt slightly dizzy. She figured that she had just gotten up too quickly, she had been sitting for the last several hours after all, and the fact that she had a cold certainly didn’t help. Lyra’s vision began to blur and she stumbled forward as she walked. No, something was wrong and she could certainly tell it. The room began to spin out of control and Lyra collapsed, crashing down hard on the coffee table in front of the sofa. “Lyra?” Bon Bon cried from the kitchen, she got no response. She trotted back into the room, seeing Lyra lying motionless on the floor. “Lyra?” she asked again, trying to shake her friend awake, she would receive no response. “LYRA!” Chapter 4Chapter 4 “Doctor Nightly? Is Lyra okay?” Doctor Nightly had not taken a step into the waiting room before Bon Bon was practically on top of him, pelting the unicorn doctor with questions about her best friend’s condition. Syra could only watch from her bucket on the floor, sitting next to her was Pinkie Pie, who had been in the process of pushing her home when they ran into, literally, Bon Bon carrying Lyra to the doctor. “I have a diagnosis... that’s the good news,” Doctor Nightly said, backing up slightly from Bon Bon who had more than invaded his personal space. “I’m afraid you’re not going to like it though.” Bon Bon frowned. “Just tell me, I need to know,” she said simply, eyeing the floor and preparing herself for what was obviously bad news. “She’s suffering from metabolic cascade failure,” Doctor Nightly explained. “That’s doctor speak for ‘everything stops working,’ it seems that a unicorn’s life-force is tied to magic... we couldn’t have known, there have been cases when a unicorn’s magic has been suppressed, the removal of the horn, which acts as a focusing agent, will cause a unicorn to lose the ability to perform magic, but they can still live without it, what happened to Lyra...” Doctor Nightly paused; he bit his lip, unsure of where exactly to go next with his explanation. Bon Bon stared at him intensely, she needed answers, and she looked as if she was ready to beat it out of him if necessary. “There has never been a documented case of a unicorn losing their magic all together. When Lyra and Syra split, Syra inherited the magic. She’d be fine and be able to live a natural life, Lyra on the other hoof...” Doctor Nightly continued. “How long does she have?” Bon Bon asked. “Four... five hours at the most?” Doctor Nightly said, as if he wasn’t sure exactly. Bon Bon’s mouth fell open, thoughts ran through her head at break neck pace, her friend was dying, and there was nothing she could do about it. “This... this is so sad,” Pinkie Pie said tears were forming in the pink pony’s eyes; they were rolling down her face and dripping into Syra’s bucket. Syra looked down at the ground; she couldn’t help but feel bad. She was glad that she would be fine, but she couldn’t help but feel bad. Things had not gone well between her and Lyra, and she was going to die before Syra could be able to make up for it. “There... is hope, however, there is one sure fire away to save Lyra... but it’s ethically dubious, nothing like this has ever happened before in Equestrian history... that’s been reported anyway. It involves...” Doctor Nightly said, his voice trailing off, he looked at Syra and gave her a grim look. “Putting them back together, I’ve figured out how to do it, but it’s risky. Bon Bon, Lyra has you listed as her next of kin, where we go from here is up to you.” “Let’s do it then!” Bon Bon said simply, she didn’t even need to think about it. “There’s just a small problem with that Doctor, I don’t want to die.” Syra said. “And that’s exactly what has to happen if we go through with your plan.” Bon Bon felt as if somepony had flipped a switch in her brain. Her mind was flooded with rage at the sea pony’s selfishness. “How DARE you!” Bon Bon said, in under a second she was in the sea pony’s face, scowling heavily at her. “How could you possibly be so selfish!? If it were you that was dying, Lyra would do everything she could to save you!” “Maybe, maybe not,” Syra said. “Look, I sympathise, I really do, but can you really blame me? If it was you in my position, with a clone of you dying on the table, would you give up your life to save them?” “Yes,” Bon Bon said immediately, she had no need to think about it, it was the right thing to do. “Well, I guess that’s what makes us different then,” Syra said. Her magic flared and she popped Bon Bon in the face with a stunning spell, she flew back several metres and hit the wall hard, rolling down of seats and onto the floor, she followed up with a second stunning spell which caught Doctor Nightly in the chest. Syra turned to Pinkie Pie, who could only stare, wide-eyed in shock over what had just happened. “You going to help me or not?” Syra asked. “I... I...” Pinkie Pie stammered, unsure of what to do. Syra didn’t give her any second chances; she hit her hard with third stunner spell, sending the pink party pony flying backwards into the far wall. Now it was time to make her escape. She pulled her weight back, and thrust as hard as she would dare against the front of the bucket, sliding her across the floor about a metre before she had to do it again. As it turned out, it was incredibly difficult to run away from something when you didn’t have legs. The stunner spell was only good for about an hour, and she’d be incredibly lucky if she could get away, it was fifty metres from the clinic to the river, and she needed to make every second count. It was nothing but slow going from here on out. ... Syra’s hour was almost up at this point, and she was five metres from the river. Her entire body ached, but she didn’t stop, she could not stop. To stop would mean certain death, she had to get away, and she was close, oh so close! Once she got into the river, she was home free, once she got to the river, she could swim away from Ponyville and to a far off land. As of right now, her plan was to take the river as far to the south west as it would take her, where it would eventually link up with the Splendid river, a tributary of the St. Germain, she could swim north from there and eventually make it out of Equestria, and into the Hoofson Bay, far from the rule of Celestia. Which is where she needed to be, even if she got away from here, to remain in Equestria would, even after Lyra died, would mean jail time, she had done Actual Bodily Harm to Doctor Nightly, Bon Bon, and Pinkie Pie. Three ABH charges would put Syra away for a long time, even if they had to build a prison just for her, she’d be tossed into it without a second thought. She wasn’t about to let it happen. She looked behind her, the clinic door flung opened, and an enraged Bon Bon stepped outside. Syra began to panic, and tried to pick up the pace, in her haste, she accidentally knocked over the bucket, and she tumbled out, spilling the contents of the bucket all over the street. She held her breath in and tried to flop her way to the river, so close. Only a single metre left. She tried to leap once more, but found herself shrilling in pain; Bon Bon had stepped on Syra’s tail. “I don’t think so,” Bon Bon seethed at her. She picked up the sea pony and threw her over her back, carrying her away from the river and back towards the clinic. “You can’t do this to me!” Syra screamed in terror, her only chance to escape had failed. “Watch me,” Bon Bon said without emotion in her voice at all. They stepped inside the clinic. Syra had tried another stunning spell, but it failed, Doctor Nightly had obviously casted a magic dampening ward, all hope of escape was gone. Not to say that Syra didn’t struggle every centimetre of the way, she did, she thrashed and screamed as Bon Bon carried her back to the examination room, but Bon Bon did not falter. She slammed Syra down hard onto an operating table, strapping her down to prevent the sea pony’s escape, Doctor Nightly had wheeled another tabled, with an unconscious Lyra on it into the room, the two sea foam green mares lay side by side. “No! Please! Stop!” Syra called out, she had broken down into tears at this point, she was begging for her life. Bon Bon was not fazed; she turned to Nightly and gave him an affirming nod. “Do it,” she said simply. Doctor Nightly nodded, his horn began to glow and he concentrated on casting the rejoining spell that he had discovered. Syra continued to scream loudly as two beams of lightning arced out of Nightly’s horn and into both mares. Syra’s screams continued to echo throughout the room, even as the sea pony mare winked out of existence, forever. EpilogueEpilogue “Lyra?” Lyra’s eyes slowly opened, light blinded her and it took her a few moments to adjust, Bon Bon was leaning over her, smiling brightly at the bedridden mare. “Bon Bon?” Lyra asked groggily. “Lyra!” Bon Bon called out, throwing her forelegs around the mare in a tight embrace. “Lyra! I was so scared that I was going to lose you!” “Hey!” Lyra said groggily, “you’re never going to lose me! We’re going to be best friends... forever!” Lyra looked around the room, noting Doctor Nightly and Bon Bon were the only ponies in the room. “Where’s Syra?” Bon Bon frowned. “You were dying, and the only way to save you was to put you two back together, which we did.” “Oh...” Lyra said, rubbing her eyes gently, trying to shrug off the sleepiness. “That’s too bad, I wish I could have said goodbye.” “Do you... remember? Her?” Bon Bon asked. “You mean do I remember being her?” Lyra asked with a shrug, she wracked her brain for anything that could be a memory of Syra’s. She found nothing and shook her head in the negative. “That isn’t surprising, the reintegration would have been a traumatic psychological event, I think it’s safe to say that Syra is gone forever,” Doctor Nightly said simply. Bon Bon turned to him, silently asking for a moment alone with her friend, he understood and nodded, leaving the room and shutting the door behind him. Bon Bon collapsed into tears on Lyra’s chest. “Oh Celestia! Lyra I was so scared, I was afraid that I’d never see you again! I... I love you Lyra! I can’t imagine living without you!” “You... you do?” Lyra asked in surprise. “Yes! I’ve loved you since we first met; there you were, sitting there on that park bench in the rain. Looking all pathetic, and when I came over to you, you just seemed to brighten up,” Bon Bon said, she brought her head up from its resting place, tears of happiness streaming down her muzzle, she smiled warmly at her friend. “And I knew, right there an then, I love you, Lyra.” Lyra smiled at the mare, and wiped the tears away from her face. “I love you too, Bon Bon, and I never want to be without you.” Lyra rose her head up, their lips met and they shared their first glorious kiss. Lyra and Bon Bon knew from this day forth that they shared between them a bond. A bond that could never be broken, no matter what was thrown at them; they could stand up and face it, as long as they had each other. A bond, that would last an eternity. ... Bells rang overhead, scores of sailor ponies and kangaroos darted around the deck of the ship as it pulled into dock. Vinyl Scratch lied back on a deck chair, the warm glow of the sun washing over her entire body. “Swan City! All passengers for Swan City, South Island report to the boarding ramps!” “It’s time to go Vinyl,” Princess Luna said. “Aw mum! Five more minutes?” Vinyl asked playfully. Luna was not amused. “Up!” Luna said. The princess was in disguise, wearing a light coat and a sunhat to hide her true identity, sunglasses covered her eyes, she looked as if she was just another Equestrian tourist, trying to escape the cold weather of the coming winter in Equestria for the warm summer of South Island. “Fine!” Vinyl said as she rose to her hooves, playfully complaining about having to get up, she had been extremely comfortable after all. There was a significant crowd forming at the loading ramps, ponies trying to get every which way they needed to be. An earth pony that looked to be in a hurry accidentally bumped into Luna. “Oh! I’m very sorry,” the grey coated, orange maned pony said apologetically. “Oh! It’s quite all right,” Luna said, and with that the pony continued on his way. “Did you see that pony that just bumped into me?” She asked of Vinyl. “Nope!” Vinyl said, giving the night princess a wide grin. Luna looked grimaced at what she had just said, she hadn’t been thinking. “I’m sorry, that was insensitive.” “Lulu, let me tell you something very important about me, I’m not easy to offend. I know what you meant, and I know you didn’t mean any harm by it! You’re fine!” Vinyl said smiling brightly at the night princess. “I promise.” Luna smiled back at the mare, and upon remembering that she couldn’t see, she added a small thank you. “I know that pony that just bumped into me.” “Really? Who is he? He sounded cute!” Vinyl said with a grin. “Montana Ulan,” Luna said simply. “Really now?” Vinyl said, her grin faded and was replaced with an air of seriousness. “What’s he doing here, in Swan City?” “I don’t know...” Luna said, looking back to the boarding ramp. “But I think we should make it a priority to find out.”
Chapter 1Chronology notes: You are reading the first part of the Bonds of Eternity Series, a sequel to the All Good Things series. It is recommended that you read the All Good Things Series. The All Good Things series: the first part of the story is The Kindness of Strangers found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/389/ The second part of the story is Putting the Pieces Back Together found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/407/ The third part of the story is Midnight in the Heart of Equestria found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/419/ The fourth part of the story is Tomorrow is Always a New Day found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/433/ The fifth part of the story is To Each Their Own found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/526/ The sixth part of the story is Imperfect found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/600/ The seventh part of the story to Paradiso found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/687/ the eighth part of the story is Broken Record found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/732/ The ninth part of the story is Home Sweet Home found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/826/ The tenth Rite of Passage found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/895/ the eleventh part of the story is The Long Road Home found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1030/ the twelfth part of the story is And So it Ended, and So it Begins Again found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1141/ Family Chapter 1 “Lyra!” The sea foam green unicorn looked up from the book she was holding next to her head. Lyra closed the spell book and set it down on the grass. “Bon Bon, please, PLEASE stop worrying!” Lyra said. “This is entry level magic!” The crème coloured earth pony frowned at her friend from her seat on the grass. “I just don’t like the idea of transfiguratory magic! What if something goes wrong?!” Lyra smiled at Bon Bon, she was her best friend and roommate, and she did have every reason to be concerned for Lyra’s safety. Lyra had recently gone back to university, as it turns out, being a freelance musician didn’t exactly bring money. Lyra felt guilty for not being able to pull her own weight, and she constantly felt as if she was using Bon Bon, who made enough money for the both of them. Despite her friend’s insistence that she wasn’t a bother, Lyra couldn’t continue to sit by and do nothing about it. Being repeatedly turned down for gig after gig had done it. Lyra loved music, she was a skilled lyre player, it was her special talent, but what happens when your special talent can’t support you? You have to do something else, and that’s exactly what Lyra was doing. A University degree was required for any job that she needed to make the kind of money she should be. Didn’t matter what it was in, all that mattered was that she had it. So here she was, in the final weeks of her first year at the University of Canterlot, preparing for her final exam in Transfiguratory Magic, one of many required classes for unicorn students. The spell she was working on was somewhat complicated for an entry level course, but it was a favourite of the professor. Temporary Underwater breathing, which was why Lyra had chosen it, and dragged Bon Bon to the river where she could watch. “Relax Bon Bon! I’ll be fine! This is still entry level magic! What could possibly go wrong?” Lyra said attempting to reassure her best friend. It didn’t work, Bon Bon sat staring blankly at her; she sighed and rose to her hooves. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be hiding behind that rock over there!” Bon Bon pointed to a rather large boulder in the rough shape of a diamond, which somepony had put there one day, but nopony could figure out exactly where it came from. “Hardy har har. So funny Bon Bon,” Lyra said, rolling her eyes at the skittish earth pony. “I’m serious! If I can’t stop you from doing this, I’m at least going to be taking cover for the duration,” Bon Bon said as she hid behind the boulder. Lyra scowled at the boulder that Bon Bon was hiding behind. Now she was going to prove that Bon Bon was being ridiculous by pulling it off. Her horn began to glow, and she shut her eyes tight to improve her concentration. Beginning the casting process, she felt the magic running throughout her entire body, she noted how nice it felt, but shook the thought, she needed to focus. The energy began to amplify, it was getting close... but, no, something wasn’t right. The amount of magic Lyra was channelling jumped exponentially. Bon Bon had been right, Lyra didn’t know what she was doing, she tried to break the casting sequence, but it was already too late. The spell burst forward from Lyra’s horn, exploding violently and sending the unicorn flying. Bon Bon looked out from behind her hiding place and looked on in horror. “Lyra!” she called out and ran to where Lyra was laying, but she paused momentarily when she noticed what state Lyra was in. Lyra’s legs were gone. In their place were... fins? Lyra had fins for forelegs! Her body ended in a long, fleshy prehensile tail. But most notably, Lyra was gasping for air. Bon Bon stood in shock, but she then noticed a very important feature on the new Lyra. She had gills. She couldn’t breathe! Bon Bon leapt into action and gave her a hard push into the river. Lyra rolled into the river with a hard splash. “Nothing can go wrong she says! Well this looks pretty wrong to me!” Bon Bon called out. “Bon Bon? Who are you talking to?” Lyra said from behind her. Wait. Bon Bon turned slowly to see Lyra sitting on the ground, clutching her head in pain several metres away. Her mouth fell open. If Lyra was sitting over there... then. The other Lyra burst her head up from the water, spitting a steady stream of water from her mouth and giving Bon Bon an extremely wide smile. Bon Bon screamed. ... “Well... This is interesting.” “Interesting?” Bon Bon exclaimed. “INTERESTING? I’m sitting here looking at... I don’t even know what that is, and all you have to say is INTERESTING?” Doctor Nightly was Ponyville’s unicorn doctor. Bon Bon had relocated Lyra and the other Lyra to the Ponyville Clinic. Lyra was lying in a hospital bed, watching the scene unfold. While the other Lyra was sitting in a large bucket of water looking incredibly confused. “Yes, interesting, considering Hippocampi have been extinct for several hundred years,” Doctor Nightly said. “Hippo-what?” Bon Bon asked in confusion. “Sea ponies,” Doctor Nightly said. “Very interesting... it seems to be aware of what’s going on, but I wonder if it can speak.” Sea Pony Lyra scowled at Doctor Nightly. “Okay, You know what? I’ve been patient and let you do your job Doctor, but I do not appreciate being called an it! I am not an it!” Everypony jumped in surprise, this was the first time that Sea Pony Lyra had shown any clear sign of intelligence. “How interesting,” Doctor Nightly mused to himself. “My apologies, Lyra. I’d like to run some more tests if that’s okay with you.” “Go ahead,” both Lyras said in unison, causing them to look over at each other and shutter at how creepy it was. Doctor Nightly fetched and apple and set it down on the floor in front of Sea Pony Lyra. “If you would please, try and levitate this for me?” Sea Pony Lyra’s horn began to glow, and she levitated the apple up to eye level, and then promptly set it back down. Doctor Nightly seemed satisfied with the result, he then ushered to Lyra, asking her to do the same. Lyra looked at the apple intensely, she concentrated hard and tried to levitate the apple, but it did not budge. “Hey!” Lyra called out. “What gives?” “Most interesting,” Doctor Nightly said. The Jet black unicorn stallion picked up the apple with his own magic and took a bite out of it. “It seems to me, that when the two of you split, Sea Pony Lyra inherited the magic.” “Can we not refer to me as Sea Pony Lyra?” Sea Pony Lyra asked. “If we’re going to call me anything, let’s call me, Sea... ra? Syra.” “This is all fine and dandy Doctor Nightly,” Bon Bon said, an air of annoyance in her breath as she spoke. “But what are you going to do to fix this?” “I... don’t know,” the Doctor pony said, his soft amber eyes transferring an apologetic look to the three mares before him. “I’m going to have to consult with some colleagues in Canterlot, until then, you can go ahead and take both of them home, keep a close eye on them and I’ll let you know what our next course of action is.” “Fine,” Bon Bon said, sighing heavily. “Useless tosser,” she added under her breath. She got behind Syra’s bucket and began to push it with her head towards the door. Lyra rose from the hospital bed and followed. As far as days go, this certainly had to the oddest. Lyra and Syra couldn’t help but stare at each other the entire walk back towards their flat. Bon Bon thought it was weird for her, she could only imagine how it was for them. “So... do you like, remember being a unicorn and stuff?” Lyra asked. “Yeah,” Syra said. “Last thing I remember was casting the underwater breathing spell, and then feeling it go wrong... and then I couldn’t breathe and Bon Bon pushed me into the river.” “So weird,” Lyra said. “Yeah...” Syra said, nodding her head in agreement, she looked down towards the ground, watching as Bon Bon pushed her bucket along. “I didn’t want to say anything before, but when we get home, if somepony could change the water in my bucket... I’d really appreciate it.” Lyra looked at her sea pony counterpart in shock. “Gross!”
Chapter 2Chapter 2 “Lyra!” Lyra’s eyes shot open, she was lying in bed and nearly screamed her head off when she found herself looking back at her. Then she remembered. “Syra? It’s...” Lyra said, her voice trailing off as she looked at her clock, the little hand pointed to four. “It’s four O’clock in the morning! What do you want?” “I need your help!” the sea pony exclaimed in a hushed voice. “I need out of this bucket! I’m so stiff and I can’t take it anymore! I would have asked Bon Bon... but you know how she is when she doesn’t get her rest.” Lyra found herself smirking. Bon Bon was an ordinarily perfectly wonderful pony to be around, but when she was tired, she was crankier than a dragon that was having its treasure pillaged. “All right, fine!” Lyra rose to her hooves and began to push the bucket Syra was in towards the front door, noticing several puddles of water that littered the floor. “It took a lot of effort to get here, let’s just say that,” Syra said with a nervous smile. Lyra could only smirk at her sea pony counterpart as she lifted the bucket by the handle with her teeth over the door jam, and continued to push it for a couple dozen metres until arriving at the edge of the river. “Finally!” Syra said and leapt from the bucket into the river, diving underneath the deep blue water and disappearing from view. Lyra tipped the bucket over, allowing the water to drain out of it, and sat on the river bank, watching the sea pony as she swam freely, stretching the stiffness out of her. “Ah I feel so much better!” “I’m glad I could help,” Lyra said giving the sea pony a small smile. “It also gives us time to talk.” “What did you want to talk about?” Syra asked as she swam up to the river bank. “I think you know,” Lyra said, dropping down to lie on her stomach. “Bon Bon?” Syra asked. “Bon Bon,” Lyra affirmed. She let out a small sigh. “Not often when you can find someone you trust to talk about it with huh?” “I guess not,” Syra said with a shrug. “We really love her don’t we?” “How could we not?” Lyra asked. “Bon Bon’s been there for me... us, since I... we came to town years ago. She let us into her home, complete strangers, and we’ve been leaching off her ever since.” Syra nodded. “It’s not right; we know it and we feel terrible about it... we try to fix it, and then... this happens.” Both of them sighed, yet felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off each of them. “Who knew that saying it out loud could help so much?” Lyra asked. “Yeah... who knew?” Syra said, nodding in agreement. Both of them felt more than a little awkward about it. “So... what do we do now?” Lyra frowned. She wished that she had an answer. ... The sun began to peak over the horizon, and with it, came out the early morning ponies, Derpy Hooves, the town laughingstock and postal worker, Rainbow Dash, weather team leader, and her trainee Whirlwind. “All right Whirlwind!” Rainbow Dash boomed, “I want two hundred laps between town hall in the windmill, and I want them done now!” “Yes ma’am,” Whirlwind said. Despite the early morning light, of which there was little, the grey coated, grey maned Pegasus with a tornado for a cutie mark was incredibly visible thanks to his contrasting red eyes. Lyra and Syra watched for a little while as the speedy Pegasus stallion zoomed back and forth between town hall and the windmill, he was incredibly fast for a Pegasus, most of the town agreed on this fact. Yet for some reason, he was never fast enough for Rainbow Dash. Whirlwind completed the task given to him, and returned to a very impatient looking Rainbow Dash who was tapping a hoof on the ground in a bored like fashion. “That was pathetic! Do it again!” Rainbow Dash boomed at him. “Yes ma’am,” Whirlwind said and took off to do the task set before him again. Lyra and Syra figured that they had seen enough at this point, silently communicating to each other the fact; Lyra took the bucket by its handle and dipped it into the river, allowing it to fill to the top. Syra swam inside and used her magic to help offset the weight enough for Lyra to pull the bucket up. Lyra set the bucket back on the road and began to push it back towards home, the path taking them right by where Rainbow Dash was training the new weather pony. “Hi Lyra, Hi...” Rainbow Dash began to say, but stopped herself upon noticing the odd sight before her; she did a double take, and began rubbing her eyes to make sure that she wasn’t seeing anything. After rubbing her eyes didn’t change anything she began to freak out. “WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?” “I’m a sea pony!” Syra said simply, and without offering any explanation, the two continued on, realising instantly how much fun they were going to have today. Lyra set up Syra’s bucket in a place where only her head would be visible, behind a miscellaneous fruit cart, where she would appear to be browsing the selection, she would greet passersby and they would pay her no mind. Several dozen metres down the road, Lyra was sitting on a park bench, looking at the morning’s Sun, Canterlot’s newspaper, pretending to read it, and would greet the same passersby that Syra did, all they had to do was sit back, relax, and let hilarity in sue. “Hi Lily!” Syra said at the first townpony to come by. “Hi Lyra,” the bubblegum pink pony replied politely as she trotted onwards. Lyra did her best to force herself into not breaking down and laughing. Taking a deep breath and holding it in until Lily passed her. “Hi Lily!” “Hi Lyra,” Lily said again. Stopping dead in her tracks and doing a double take. Syra had hidden herself by this point, and only Lyra was in the street. Lily looked incredibly confused and trotted back towards the fruit stand. Syra burst from her hiding place, giving Lily a wide grin. “GAHHHHHHHH!” Lily screamed and galloped away. “The horror! The horror!” Both mares broke out laughing. ... Several repeats of this later Lyra pushed Syra’s bucket back towards home, the two of them were continuing to giggle about it the entire way, almost not noticing when they ran into a rather angry looking Bon Bon. “And just what do you two think you’re doing?” Bon Bon asked. “Uh...” they both said in unison. “Do you know how many ponies nearly trampled me, running in this direction screaming ‘there’s two of them! There’s two of them!’? Too many, wasn’t hard to figure out who was responsible,” Bon Bon said, scowling heavily at them. Both sea foam green mares chuckled nervously, giving Bon Bon an apologetic look. “Inside, now,” Bon Bon seethed at them. Both mares’ heads drooped and Lyra pushed Syra inside. “Still totally worth it,” Syra said. “Shut up Syra,” Lyra quipped. Bon Bon’s scowl alleviated, she began to giggle quietly to herself. Lyra and Syra weren’t the only ponies with jokes.
Chapter 3Chapter 3 Despite the town ponies’ first interactions with Syra, she soon became not only accepted in town, but actually quite popular. Pinkie Pie even threw her a party, although that wasn’t exactly surprising. Pinkie Pie threw parties for every reason, for every occasion and sometimes just because she felt like it. Syra found herself up to her fins in ponies wanting to ask her questions about what it was like being a sea pony, not understanding that the sea pony mare had spent most of her life as a unicorn. Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t exactly the most mobile of ponies, spending most of her day confined to a bucket of water, so she wasn’t exactly able to avoid it. Lyra wasn’t exactly thrilled by this, not a single pony in town had asked her how she was, and despite originally getting off quite well with Syra, she had grown to resent her. She sat on the sofa at home reading over her textbooks for university, alone, with the lights dimmed. To be perfectly honest, she wasn’t actually paying the books any attention, she was far too annoyed to concentrate on them. She sneezed loudly; disgusting herself upon discovering that she’d covered the pages of her book in phlegm, there went any chance of selling the book when she was done with it. Lyra’s head was pounding, her nose was stuffy, and her body ached. Now was a terrible time to be getting a cold. She sneezed again, loathing the world for its twisted sense of humour. “Lyra! You sound terrible!” Bon Bon said as she trotted in from the other room, she sat down next to her friend and held her foreleg against Lyra’s head. “You’re burning up! We should take you to see Doctor Nightly!” “Bon Bon, please!” Lyra said with a sniffle. “I’m fine, it’s just a cold, besides, Nightly had far more important things to be doing.” Bon Bon frowned, but realised that Lyra had something of a point. Doctor Nightly had shut himself up in the Ponyville Clinic and hadn’t come out for days. His assistants, Nurse Redheart and Nurse Tenderheart took over much of the day to day operations of the clinic while Doctor Nightly researched a way to put Lyra and Syra back together. Lyra couldn’t wait; Syra had inherited her magical abilities, leaving Lyra with nothing more than a horn unable to perform its function, though she wasn’t impolite enough to voice her frustrations. “Are you okay?” Bon Bon asked as she huddled up next to Lyra, she placed her foreleg around her shoulder, trying to comfort her friend. “I just want everything to go back to normal,” Lyra said. ... “I appreciate this Pinkie Pie,” Syra said as she looked back at the pink party pony that was pushing the bucket she resided in along the street. “No problem!” Pinkie Pie said as she pushed the bucket to the edge of the river bank, tipping it over and causing Syra to tumble into the river. “I hate that bucket!” Syra said staring at it intensely. “Why don’t you just live in the river?” Pinkie Pie asked as she sat down on the riverbank. “Bon Bon would go mad if I did that, Doctor Nightly wants her keeping a close eye on me and Lyra, which means I’m stuck in that bucket for most of the day,” Syra explained. “Well isn’t she just a grumpy gator!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed louder than necessary. “I should throw her a party to get her to lighten up!” “I don’t think Lyra and Bon Bon would be up for it...” Syra began but was quickly interrupted by Pinkie Pie, who had already drowned her out with excited talking about her next party. Syra submerged her head under the water and let Pinkie Pie ramble. She felt at peace as she lie under the water. She watched Pinkie Pie’s shimmering image through the water as she rambled on to herself about who knows what. Pinkie Pie was nice and all, but Syra would have much preferred the company of Bon Bon. Syra had been keeping her distance, she was fully aware that Lyra had started to resent her for becoming so popular. In truth, Syra couldn’t blame her for it, she would have been feeling the exact same feelings were she Lyra, and Lyra was Syra. Bon Bon was pretty much the only pony who appreciated Lyra for anything... Everypony was polite to her, but other than that, everypony else seemed to pay her no mind. Lyra had always been rather quiet and unassuming; perhaps, this was the reason why she had so much trouble finding work. She just wasn’t what everypony was looking for. Syra felt incredibly guilty for coming along and making it harder for her. She closed her eyes and let out a small sigh. She reopened them to discover that Pinkie Pie had stuck her head into the water and had proceeded to make silly faces at her, Syra jumped and instinctively rose to the surface, she came up quicker than she anticipated, causing her gills to fill with air. She dropped them back down quickly and catching her breath. “Pinkie Pie... please don’t do that again,” Syra said as she tried to get her breathing under control. “Hehe... oopsie!” Pinkie Pie said, covering her mouth with a hoof while she giggled. Syra sighed again. “Could you fill up my bucket please?” ... Lyra sneezed again and then again after that. Her headache had intensified from the pressure of the sneeze. She would have hated the experience all together, were Bon Bon not here to comfort her. “You probably shouldn’t be so close to me, I don’t want to give you my cold!” Lyra said. “I’ll be fine,” Bon Bon said. Lyra smiled at Bon Bon brightly, she loved this mare, she wanted to tell her more than anything else in the world, but she couldn’t. The last thing Lyra wanted to do was make things complicated, lest she have to leave. What if Bon Bon didn’t feel the same way? Then where would she be? Lyra thought back to when she met Bon Bon, it was more than five years ago when Lyra had been thrown out of her parents’ home in Canterlot and had to live on her own. There she was, alone wandering through the streets of Canterlot with an almost empty saddlebag, containing her lyre, an instrument that she could no longer play without the precision of magic and without a single penny to her name, and that was when she saw her. Bon Bon had been in Canterlot delivering a large shipment of candy to a sweet shop. That day, the mare that would become her best friend and the secret love of her life was just the candy maker. Lyra had become smitten with her instantly, but had failed to work up the courage to talk to her. She trotted away, leaving Lyra feeling lonely and depressed; she had sat down on a park bench and sat there as it started to rain, not caring in the slightest that the downpour was falling on her. “Excuse me?” Bon Bon had said, Lyra remembered looking up and finding the candy maker standing in front of her, wearing an umbrella large enough for two on her back, which she had promptly offered Lyra a spot under. She had taken it without a second thought, and so it began the wonderful friendship between the deadbeat musician and the candy maker. “Are you getting hungry?” Bon Bon asked. “I can start dinner if you’re hungry?” Lyra snapped out of her daydream and nodded her head in affirmation. Bon Bon gave her a smile and rose to her hooves, trotting into the kitchen to begin cooking. Within moments, wonderful smells began to waft from the kitchen, and while Lyra had no idea what she was making, she could already tell it was going to be delicious. Lyra got up from her resting place on the sofa, her head spiked in pain, and she felt slightly dizzy. She figured that she had just gotten up too quickly, she had been sitting for the last several hours after all, and the fact that she had a cold certainly didn’t help. Lyra’s vision began to blur and she stumbled forward as she walked. No, something was wrong and she could certainly tell it. The room began to spin out of control and Lyra collapsed, crashing down hard on the coffee table in front of the sofa. “Lyra?” Bon Bon cried from the kitchen, she got no response. She trotted back into the room, seeing Lyra lying motionless on the floor. “Lyra?” she asked again, trying to shake her friend awake, she would receive no response. “LYRA!”
Chapter 4Chapter 4 “Doctor Nightly? Is Lyra okay?” Doctor Nightly had not taken a step into the waiting room before Bon Bon was practically on top of him, pelting the unicorn doctor with questions about her best friend’s condition. Syra could only watch from her bucket on the floor, sitting next to her was Pinkie Pie, who had been in the process of pushing her home when they ran into, literally, Bon Bon carrying Lyra to the doctor. “I have a diagnosis... that’s the good news,” Doctor Nightly said, backing up slightly from Bon Bon who had more than invaded his personal space. “I’m afraid you’re not going to like it though.” Bon Bon frowned. “Just tell me, I need to know,” she said simply, eyeing the floor and preparing herself for what was obviously bad news. “She’s suffering from metabolic cascade failure,” Doctor Nightly explained. “That’s doctor speak for ‘everything stops working,’ it seems that a unicorn’s life-force is tied to magic... we couldn’t have known, there have been cases when a unicorn’s magic has been suppressed, the removal of the horn, which acts as a focusing agent, will cause a unicorn to lose the ability to perform magic, but they can still live without it, what happened to Lyra...” Doctor Nightly paused; he bit his lip, unsure of where exactly to go next with his explanation. Bon Bon stared at him intensely, she needed answers, and she looked as if she was ready to beat it out of him if necessary. “There has never been a documented case of a unicorn losing their magic all together. When Lyra and Syra split, Syra inherited the magic. She’d be fine and be able to live a natural life, Lyra on the other hoof...” Doctor Nightly continued. “How long does she have?” Bon Bon asked. “Four... five hours at the most?” Doctor Nightly said, as if he wasn’t sure exactly. Bon Bon’s mouth fell open, thoughts ran through her head at break neck pace, her friend was dying, and there was nothing she could do about it. “This... this is so sad,” Pinkie Pie said tears were forming in the pink pony’s eyes; they were rolling down her face and dripping into Syra’s bucket. Syra looked down at the ground; she couldn’t help but feel bad. She was glad that she would be fine, but she couldn’t help but feel bad. Things had not gone well between her and Lyra, and she was going to die before Syra could be able to make up for it. “There... is hope, however, there is one sure fire away to save Lyra... but it’s ethically dubious, nothing like this has ever happened before in Equestrian history... that’s been reported anyway. It involves...” Doctor Nightly said, his voice trailing off, he looked at Syra and gave her a grim look. “Putting them back together, I’ve figured out how to do it, but it’s risky. Bon Bon, Lyra has you listed as her next of kin, where we go from here is up to you.” “Let’s do it then!” Bon Bon said simply, she didn’t even need to think about it. “There’s just a small problem with that Doctor, I don’t want to die.” Syra said. “And that’s exactly what has to happen if we go through with your plan.” Bon Bon felt as if somepony had flipped a switch in her brain. Her mind was flooded with rage at the sea pony’s selfishness. “How DARE you!” Bon Bon said, in under a second she was in the sea pony’s face, scowling heavily at her. “How could you possibly be so selfish!? If it were you that was dying, Lyra would do everything she could to save you!” “Maybe, maybe not,” Syra said. “Look, I sympathise, I really do, but can you really blame me? If it was you in my position, with a clone of you dying on the table, would you give up your life to save them?” “Yes,” Bon Bon said immediately, she had no need to think about it, it was the right thing to do. “Well, I guess that’s what makes us different then,” Syra said. Her magic flared and she popped Bon Bon in the face with a stunning spell, she flew back several metres and hit the wall hard, rolling down of seats and onto the floor, she followed up with a second stunning spell which caught Doctor Nightly in the chest. Syra turned to Pinkie Pie, who could only stare, wide-eyed in shock over what had just happened. “You going to help me or not?” Syra asked. “I... I...” Pinkie Pie stammered, unsure of what to do. Syra didn’t give her any second chances; she hit her hard with third stunner spell, sending the pink party pony flying backwards into the far wall. Now it was time to make her escape. She pulled her weight back, and thrust as hard as she would dare against the front of the bucket, sliding her across the floor about a metre before she had to do it again. As it turned out, it was incredibly difficult to run away from something when you didn’t have legs. The stunner spell was only good for about an hour, and she’d be incredibly lucky if she could get away, it was fifty metres from the clinic to the river, and she needed to make every second count. It was nothing but slow going from here on out. ... Syra’s hour was almost up at this point, and she was five metres from the river. Her entire body ached, but she didn’t stop, she could not stop. To stop would mean certain death, she had to get away, and she was close, oh so close! Once she got into the river, she was home free, once she got to the river, she could swim away from Ponyville and to a far off land. As of right now, her plan was to take the river as far to the south west as it would take her, where it would eventually link up with the Splendid river, a tributary of the St. Germain, she could swim north from there and eventually make it out of Equestria, and into the Hoofson Bay, far from the rule of Celestia. Which is where she needed to be, even if she got away from here, to remain in Equestria would, even after Lyra died, would mean jail time, she had done Actual Bodily Harm to Doctor Nightly, Bon Bon, and Pinkie Pie. Three ABH charges would put Syra away for a long time, even if they had to build a prison just for her, she’d be tossed into it without a second thought. She wasn’t about to let it happen. She looked behind her, the clinic door flung opened, and an enraged Bon Bon stepped outside. Syra began to panic, and tried to pick up the pace, in her haste, she accidentally knocked over the bucket, and she tumbled out, spilling the contents of the bucket all over the street. She held her breath in and tried to flop her way to the river, so close. Only a single metre left. She tried to leap once more, but found herself shrilling in pain; Bon Bon had stepped on Syra’s tail. “I don’t think so,” Bon Bon seethed at her. She picked up the sea pony and threw her over her back, carrying her away from the river and back towards the clinic. “You can’t do this to me!” Syra screamed in terror, her only chance to escape had failed. “Watch me,” Bon Bon said without emotion in her voice at all. They stepped inside the clinic. Syra had tried another stunning spell, but it failed, Doctor Nightly had obviously casted a magic dampening ward, all hope of escape was gone. Not to say that Syra didn’t struggle every centimetre of the way, she did, she thrashed and screamed as Bon Bon carried her back to the examination room, but Bon Bon did not falter. She slammed Syra down hard onto an operating table, strapping her down to prevent the sea pony’s escape, Doctor Nightly had wheeled another tabled, with an unconscious Lyra on it into the room, the two sea foam green mares lay side by side. “No! Please! Stop!” Syra called out, she had broken down into tears at this point, she was begging for her life. Bon Bon was not fazed; she turned to Nightly and gave him an affirming nod. “Do it,” she said simply. Doctor Nightly nodded, his horn began to glow and he concentrated on casting the rejoining spell that he had discovered. Syra continued to scream loudly as two beams of lightning arced out of Nightly’s horn and into both mares. Syra’s screams continued to echo throughout the room, even as the sea pony mare winked out of existence, forever.
EpilogueEpilogue “Lyra?” Lyra’s eyes slowly opened, light blinded her and it took her a few moments to adjust, Bon Bon was leaning over her, smiling brightly at the bedridden mare. “Bon Bon?” Lyra asked groggily. “Lyra!” Bon Bon called out, throwing her forelegs around the mare in a tight embrace. “Lyra! I was so scared that I was going to lose you!” “Hey!” Lyra said groggily, “you’re never going to lose me! We’re going to be best friends... forever!” Lyra looked around the room, noting Doctor Nightly and Bon Bon were the only ponies in the room. “Where’s Syra?” Bon Bon frowned. “You were dying, and the only way to save you was to put you two back together, which we did.” “Oh...” Lyra said, rubbing her eyes gently, trying to shrug off the sleepiness. “That’s too bad, I wish I could have said goodbye.” “Do you... remember? Her?” Bon Bon asked. “You mean do I remember being her?” Lyra asked with a shrug, she wracked her brain for anything that could be a memory of Syra’s. She found nothing and shook her head in the negative. “That isn’t surprising, the reintegration would have been a traumatic psychological event, I think it’s safe to say that Syra is gone forever,” Doctor Nightly said simply. Bon Bon turned to him, silently asking for a moment alone with her friend, he understood and nodded, leaving the room and shutting the door behind him. Bon Bon collapsed into tears on Lyra’s chest. “Oh Celestia! Lyra I was so scared, I was afraid that I’d never see you again! I... I love you Lyra! I can’t imagine living without you!” “You... you do?” Lyra asked in surprise. “Yes! I’ve loved you since we first met; there you were, sitting there on that park bench in the rain. Looking all pathetic, and when I came over to you, you just seemed to brighten up,” Bon Bon said, she brought her head up from its resting place, tears of happiness streaming down her muzzle, she smiled warmly at her friend. “And I knew, right there an then, I love you, Lyra.” Lyra smiled at the mare, and wiped the tears away from her face. “I love you too, Bon Bon, and I never want to be without you.” Lyra rose her head up, their lips met and they shared their first glorious kiss. Lyra and Bon Bon knew from this day forth that they shared between them a bond. A bond that could never be broken, no matter what was thrown at them; they could stand up and face it, as long as they had each other. A bond, that would last an eternity. ... Bells rang overhead, scores of sailor ponies and kangaroos darted around the deck of the ship as it pulled into dock. Vinyl Scratch lied back on a deck chair, the warm glow of the sun washing over her entire body. “Swan City! All passengers for Swan City, South Island report to the boarding ramps!” “It’s time to go Vinyl,” Princess Luna said. “Aw mum! Five more minutes?” Vinyl asked playfully. Luna was not amused. “Up!” Luna said. The princess was in disguise, wearing a light coat and a sunhat to hide her true identity, sunglasses covered her eyes, she looked as if she was just another Equestrian tourist, trying to escape the cold weather of the coming winter in Equestria for the warm summer of South Island. “Fine!” Vinyl said as she rose to her hooves, playfully complaining about having to get up, she had been extremely comfortable after all. There was a significant crowd forming at the loading ramps, ponies trying to get every which way they needed to be. An earth pony that looked to be in a hurry accidentally bumped into Luna. “Oh! I’m very sorry,” the grey coated, orange maned pony said apologetically. “Oh! It’s quite all right,” Luna said, and with that the pony continued on his way. “Did you see that pony that just bumped into me?” She asked of Vinyl. “Nope!” Vinyl said, giving the night princess a wide grin. Luna looked grimaced at what she had just said, she hadn’t been thinking. “I’m sorry, that was insensitive.” “Lulu, let me tell you something very important about me, I’m not easy to offend. I know what you meant, and I know you didn’t mean any harm by it! You’re fine!” Vinyl said smiling brightly at the night princess. “I promise.” Luna smiled back at the mare, and upon remembering that she couldn’t see, she added a small thank you. “I know that pony that just bumped into me.” “Really? Who is he? He sounded cute!” Vinyl said with a grin. “Montana Ulan,” Luna said simply. “Really now?” Vinyl said, her grin faded and was replaced with an air of seriousness. “What’s he doing here, in Swan City?” “I don’t know...” Luna said, looking back to the boarding ramp. “But I think we should make it a priority to find out.”
