Evading the Inevitable

Bon Bon’s smile quickly faded from her face. As she turned to face Lyra, the green pony screamed once more. What Lyra saw was too much to bear. Her best friend stood before her, a monster.

Her eyes seemed to be missing completely, with only a bright, red glow emanating from her eye sockets. A pure black goo seemed to be leaking out of the eye, pulsating as if it were alive. The wrapped candies adorning Bon Bon’s flank had disappeared, revealing images of bleeding pony skulls in their place. Whatever words Lyra might have spoken had disappeared completely, leaving only terror.

She backed away slowly, but Bon Bon followed her, matching her pace. The glow inside Bon Bon gazed directly into Lyra’s eyes.

“Of course you of all ponies had to find out in this blasted town.” Bon Bon angrily said.

Lyra bumped into the door that had closed behind her.  “I’m trapped...” She thought. “No!” She swerved her head around wildly, searching for something that could help her.

All the weapons surrounding her had locks on them, making them unusable. Bon Bon was closing in. Lyra’s heart was beating so fast she felt it would surely explode. Suddenly, her horn began to glow on its own, radiating magical energy Lyra had no control over.

Immense pain seared through her body as the mysterious spell began to engulf Lyra in a minty green barrier. Lyra screamed louder than she ever had as the pain reached its peak.

Bon Bon stepped back and prepared herself for whatever effect this spell could have on her. Her hoof suddenly flew over her eyes as the barrier imploded into itself, scattering radiant light everywhere.

The light slowly disappeared, and Bon Bon lowered her hoof down. The spell was gone, but so had the unicorn casting it.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

A column of light erupted into the sky from the Everfree Forest’s heart. In it’s wake, Lyra lay, exhausted from what had just happened. Her vision was extremely blurry, her head ached like a hydra had trampled on it, and she could hardly move. In this condition, should any creature in the forest find her, she would be quickly devoured.

With the last of her strength, Lyra pulled herself over to a hollowed out rock near the edge of the clearing. The rock was just large enough for her to fit in. Once she had gotten inside, her exhaustion finally got the better of her, and she collapsed, unconscious.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Lyra awoke to the prodding of a light blue hoof.

“Hey, Lyra, are you okay?” The source of the hoof asked worriedly.

Lyra grunted as she lifted herself out of the rock, finding herself face to face with a sapphire blue unicorn with a mane of both dark blue and light gray. Her cutie mark was an hourglass.

“Colgate?” Lyra asked, “How did you find me?”

“Well, a few ponies were still up when that tower of light came out of here,” Colgate explained, “and we joined up and decided to investigate. We didn’t expect somepony to be out here sleeping, that’s for sure.”

Lyra suddenly remembered last night, and all that had happened. She ran out into the clearing, past a very confused Golden Harvest and Roseluck. She stopped when she reached the spot where she had entered the passage. The trapdoor was no longer there. Lyra frantically searched for the way into Bon Bon’s chamber.

Three ponies slowly approached her.  “Hey, what are you looking for, Lyra?” Golden Harvest asked.

Lyra stopped searching, and faced the three ponies looking quizzically at her. A tear ran down her face as she spoke. “Bon Bon.” She recounted what she had seen and felt in the past night, speaking it clearly to her friends. When she finished, all three listeners had a very surprised look on their face.

“Wow, that must have been some dream!” Roseluck stated.

“You should write that down!” Golden Harvest exclaimed.

Colgate stayed silent. Whether Colgate believed Lyra or not, she wouldn’t know.

“But... It was all real! I know it!” Lyra argued.

“That’s not possible,” Golden Harvest stated, “because we searched this entire field before finding you, and we didn’t find a thing!”

“Wha- but- how- I don’t understand! It couldn’t have been a dream! How else did I get here?”

“Sleepwalking?” Roseluck suggested.

“No!” Lyra was very annoyed. “I know it happened! Where’s Bon Bon!”

The trio was silent for a moment.  “I don’t know... In her house, maybe? Sleeping?” Golden Harvest asked rather sarcastically.

“Look. I don’t think anything like that happened, especially not Bon Bon being... odd.” Her tone took on a more soothing and persuasive tone. “Maybe we should head back to Ponyville and just forget your dream. Perhaps we can even stop by Bon Bon’s place for some treats.”

Lyra stood up and hung her head low. She couldn’t think of anything that would convince her friends that what she had witnessed was real. Except... “Okay,” Lyra said, “we’ll go back. But we have to go to Bon Bon’s place.”

Golden Harvest sighed. Lyra wouldn’t let this go, but if she got back to Ponyville, that would be a good step to ceasing her crazy talk.  “Alright.”

The four ponies began walking back from where they had come. Thankfully, the Everfree Forest was a lot more welcoming in the daylight, even if it was still foreboding.

The occasional beam of sunlight leaked through the densely packed trees, and many of the more dangerous creatures, being nocturnal, were asleep.  To Lyra, it definitely seemed like it was a much shorter route to get back to Ponyville. Perhaps it had been how slowly she had been going and how afraid she was.

Eventually, the four ponies set foot on the border connecting the town to the forest, and could see Bon Bon’s house in the distance. As promised to Lyra, they all traveled straight for the house. Golden Harvest reached the door first, eager to remove the preposterous thoughts swarming Lyra’s head. She raised a hoof to knock on the door...

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Bon Bon, once more, dashed through the trees at top speed, narrowly avoiding all the obstacles in her path.. “Just figures,” She mumbled under her breath, “that the one contingency for which I don’t have a backup plan happens.”

She had painted over her cutie marks so they were candies again, and her eyes once more looked like ones of a pony, thanks to enchanted lenses she had obtained from one of her kind before they were slain. The memory of her family and friends dying before her eyes filled her with hatred and rage. She quickly pushed the memory to the back of her mind and continued with the task at hoof.

Now that she had been discovered, she would most likely be known throughout Ponyville as some sort of demonic monster, and through Twilight Sparkle’s connection to the Princesses, Celestia would discover she had missed one. It was only a matter of time; but the longer she lived, the more complete her mission could be. The closer she got, the better. Where she was headed, she had no idea, but away from Ponyville was enough for now. She did have one limitation, however. “I need to find somepony to give me my source of energy.”