Chapters The room was like the calm after the storm.
Sheets of paper, quills, and a few empty ink bottles littered the small, dimly lit room, candles carefully placed so paper was out of the flames flickering reach. The floor was a carpet of black-streaked white sheets, like crazed tiling, a few pages hanging limply over the tables edge threatening to add to the design.
Two small windows, covered in thick curtains dominated the one wall, a door into a smaller room between them, while an empty fireplace's cold hearth dominating the wall directly in front of the small, overloaded coffee table and a well used couch. The wall to the left of the couch had a small staircase leading upwards, papers and books littered upon the steps, a few scrolls shoved between the banisters in the same chaotic manner as the rest of the room. The final wall was ruled by a wide entrance into a small kitchen. A voice floated out from that entrance, breaking the silence that had dominated the paper littered space. "Lyyyraaa."
The couches lone occupant's head shot up at the remark, tired golden eyes blinking a few times as they fixed themselves on the speakers slightly chubby form, still not quite focusing right.
Bon-Bon smiled at the other mare, shaking her head a little. Lyra was always adorable to her. When she wasn't writing or playing music, she was overly energetic, a bubbling personality usually up to some strange mischief, or, as was the current case, almost passed out, looking a bit bedraggled, wide amber eyes a little unfocused on her thin face in a weirdly endearing way. The knowledge that she'd almost lost her in the aftermath of the royal wedding disaster made it seem all the more important and wonderful.
Bon-Bon trotted over to the couch, making the route around the cluttered papers stacked about haphazardly from Lyra's recent musings, the mess dominating the already cozy room. Usually it was kept much cleaner, but with Lyra getting into one of her moods, moving anything could cause the mare to go mad. As if to accent this mood, she had closed the curtains earlier, blocking out the late afternoon sun, only candles provided light for the room.
"What's wrong Hun?" Bon-Bon questioned, knowing the answer full well as she carefully moved a ink bottle from a cushion and laid down on the cluttered sofa, snuggling against Lyra's minty smelling coat, resting her head on the others chest.
Lyra perked up a little at the others soft voice, one hoof raising to gently stroke the others mane, looking thoughtful as she muttered out a response, "Just tired Bons."
Blue eyes raised to look into amber. Bon-Bon smiled softly up at Lyra, a warm, loving gesture that seemed to transfer into a bit more of a lively unicorn. It didn't take long for Lyra to beam down at the cream coloured mare, the candle light playing across her features, before pulling the other mare a bit closer and wrapping her in a soft embrace.
Bon-Bon let out a happy little hum, half mumbling out a little line of verse, the small snippet of lyrics flitting into Lyra's ear, causing her to look down at the other mare, an odd little look on her face. Bon-Bon just rolled her eyes, quoting the line again, "I only know what I've been working for; another you so I could love you more. "
Lyra's eyes took on a glossy look, and the unicorn stopped. Bon-Bon softly rubbed at the mint coloured mares barrel, letting the quiet stretch for a while. The candle light threw shadows that danced along the walls, the odd stacks of papers and other miscellaneous objects becoming parts of a grand image in light and shadow.
Bon-Bon smiled, watching the little light show and enjoying the warmth of the moment before she gently broke the silence, "You totally forgot to get carrots."
Lyra raised a hoof to rub at her temple, moaning, "I knew I forgot something..."
The earth pony smirked, softly prodding the other in the gut, the thinner mare squirming a little. It quickly devolved into Lyra flailing about on the couch as she was lovingly 'attacked', panting and giggling the whole time, hooves doing a very poor job of warding her from the onslaught of Bon-Bons affection.
After a while the scene calmed down and Lyra was found still giggling between gasps for air as Bon-Bon softly got to her hooves, softly flicking the unicorn with her blue and pink tail as she walked around the furniture and clutter towards the kitchen.
"Off with you now! And remember the carrots!"
The market was slow today. The normal bustle of the crowds was subdued, the warm, late summers day slowing the normal flow down. The occasional passerby would stop and pay top dollar for a cold beverage, drinking happily on a day like this, and would likely hang around and decide on something else to go with. Almost everypony was lazy today.
Almost.
Carrot Top smiled at Lyra, nodding slightly, the unicorn bouncing around her stall, mouth running on about some music she had composed. Something about a waltz? Not that it mattered much, the unicorn had been on several different subjects already and as things went this was a relatively sane line of thought.
Usually Carrot would pay attention, but the other mare had been at it for a long while now, starting when the morning was young, loitering about until now, sun past its zenith, so she had more or less tuned the minty menace out, responding on occasion with little nods and soft little questions, hoping the other would burn herself out.
Apparently, that was not the case, as Lyra spewed forth line after line. "Bonnie keeps leaving these little snippets of lyrics lying about the place and I keep getting inspiration from them, and every-once in awhile I come home and she's made a few little modifications to my sheet musics, little notations. She always denies it, it's kinda really cute!" Lyra giggled at the thought, grinning like a mad mare.
Carrot rolled her eyes, moving to restock an empty spot on her table, vegetables soon making way from the cart behind the stall to the front, taking enough time to reply as she moved about. "She doesn't want to steal your thunder."
Lyra waved her off, "Nothin' to steal! She's the best and she knoooows it!"
With a little laugh, Carrot nodded, "Yeah, Between her store, her cooking," She stuck out her tongue before adding on, "And her temper."
Bon-Bon was well known around town, Carrot knew, and for good reasons. The first was her Store, where she always had the best, and Carrot meant best, candy. The Cakes dominated the pastry and baked goods market in town, but Bon-Bon's candy shop ruled the Candy market. Lollipops, rock candy, taffy, chocolate covered confectioneries, bon-bons, you named candy, she could, and most likely did, make it, with a little help from Berry Punch.
Secondly, She was just a great cook. Carrots stayed tender under her care, potatoes hit that wonderful melt in your mouth zone and peas actually tasted good, even when cooking them into something, be it a soup or stirfy concoction. Hardly anything turned out bad in her hooves. Plus she made the best pancakes this side of the Everfree.
And finally, to Lyra and everypony else's occasional dismay, she had a temper. She was usually a great big softie, but on occasion, well... Lyra had not been aware cast-iron frying pans bounced that high off cobble stones, Carrot recalled.
Apparently Lyra had been reliving the same experience, because she winced a little at the mention of 'Temper,' mumbling about flying cooking utensils.
"Right in the shins..." The minty mare looked down, mumbling something, fidgeting with her candy-coloured saddlebags, energy gone from her in an instant.
Carrot backpedaled. "Woah, woah, don't worry about it Lyra, gosh. It happened ages ago! Here, have a drink!"
Some things healed slowly, Carrot thought, watching Lyra sip at the glass of vegetable juice slowly. Her and Bon-Bon had had some wicked fights in the past, usually with one accusing the other of something or another, usually one recalling one thing while the other would swear they were out shopping, working or with friends. They always seemed to work it out in the end though.
As of late - for the last year or so at least - it seemed nothing could break them apart, Lyra usually shining with energy and Bon-Bon humming and prancing about. Speaking of-
"Hey Lyra."
The Unicorns head snapped around, hoofs fumbling her drink. A soft gold glow caught it, hovering it to softly rest on the counter beside the mare as she beamed at the approaching earth pony.
Bon-bon smiled at her love, who gave her a quick little smooch on the end of her muzzle the moment she was under the stalls canopy. Carrot rolled her eyes before speaking up. "Afternoon Bon-Bon!"
The pink and blue maned pony smiled softly at Carrot, looking a bit tired, "It is, isn't it?"
Carrot laughed, "Yeah, sure is! Pretty nice day for a Saturday."
Bon-Bon nodded. Carrot worked through the weekends, taking Monday and Tuesday for herself, mostly because no-one else would work on what others considered their regular days off. It kept her just a little ahead of the game, and opened up her time for foalsitting Dinky Hooves for Derpy.
Meanwhile, Lyra had retrieved her drink and was sipping away at it, faint golden glow fading as she took it in hoof. She looked over Bon-Bon. Her soft frame looked a little wobbly, like she was having problems standing. "Are you okay?" Lyra asked, a worried look coming over her face.
The other pony laughed, a musical sound, before replying a bit softly, "Yes Lyra. Just going to do a little quick prep for tomorrow, and then right back home," She paused for a moment, looking a bit lost in thought. "OH! Don't forget to bring some carrots back for dinner," She grinned a little sheepishly before continuing. "I'd get them, but I forgot my saddlebags..."
Lyra chuckled. "Sure thing sweets."
"See you later Carrot! Meet you at home Lyra!"
Lyra watched Bon-Bon trot around the corner, the unicorn humming softly to herself. Carrot shook her head, knowing full well the tune was in time with the other Pony's tail as it swayed behind her. She sighed.
Then a silly grin took the orange maned mares face as she mentally went over Bon-bons orders to Lyra. "So, you're bringing me home for dinner?"
Lyra spluttered into her juice.
The unicorn softly trotted into the kitchen, doing her best to be stealthy as she snuck past the small round table that filled the corner near the entrance. Her prey was humming softly while fiddling with a sauce pan on the range, the small stove throwing off enough heat that anypony who stayed in the room long enough would feel drowsy. Not that It seemed to be affecting the cream colored mare as she tinkered with her cooking.
As she snuck up, mindful of the cupboards that lined the wall on one side, Lyra did her best to remain quiet, hoping the sizzle from the one frying pan would drown out any accidental noises. It seemed to, and Lyra grinned, throwing her forelegs about the mares neck, pressing softly against the other. "Hey sweetheart."
Maybe it wasn't the stove that was warming the air, Lyra considered, as Bon-Bon giggled, wriggling in the embrace, her smile warmer then the summers day.
Lyra hung there, resting against Bon-Bon as she continued to cook, the warm scent of ginger and spices filling the air as the mare masterfully maintained the various dishes that simmered on the stove top.
"Smells so good." Lyra was almost drooling.
Bon-Bon laughed before deftly flipping a pan-full of buttered broccoli. "Needs something yet to be a meal!"
Lyra rolled her eyes, a golden glow deftly laying the carrots in the sink, letting water run over them before setting them down on the wooden cutting board.
"You need to get off me if you want dinner."
"Nah..."
"Lyra..."
"Bon-Bon."
Bon-Bon flicked her tail in agitation, whipping Lyra across the flank. "Stop it, or I'm not going to get this done."
Lyra smirked in response before sliding off Bon-Bon, setting her forehooves back on the ground with a tiny clip-clop, barely heard over the pots and pans on the range. She made the short trip to the table, sitting down on a cushion, leaning back against the table lazily. "How did the prep work go, by the way?"
Bon-Bon looked over at Lyra, knife in mouth, looking a bit puzzled for a moment before making a noncommittal noise, turning back to the cutting board.
"Oooooh, exciting! Tell me more."
Bon-Bon was most likely rolling her eyes as she she transferred the carrots into the pan with the other greens, the hot butter sizzling as it impregnated the carrots. She turned back towards the unicorn, taking a moment to wipe the mess from the counter into the sink, where Lyra would have the pleasure of dealing with it when she went to do dishes later. Lyra frowned. Bon-Bon smirked.
The smell of butter and ginger invaded the air as Bon-Bon twirled back to the stove top, deftly flipping the pans contents. The Carrots would be firm and full of flavour, the broccoli the same, heated just enough in the hot butter and ginger. "Now, who's ready for dinner?" With practiced skill, Bon-Bon filled two plates with her culinary creations, buttery greenery and a pasta.
Lyra grinned, energetically bobbing up and down.
Bon-Bon looked out the window of her shop, biting her lower lip. Night had fallen, and she had shut herself in hours before-hand, barring the door from the inside. Now she found herself lighting a few candles, working hard to stop the inky darkness from invading the small backroom.
Shivering, she turned away from the windows, legs wobbling slightly under her. The night bothered, no, terrified her. Whenever she was left in its inky grasp, even if the moon happened to be shining, she was gripped with fear. In her mind, the night was a living thing, and it could see her at all times. It would find her and that thought chilled her to the core. It had been more than two years since that Summer Sun Celebration, and still it haunted her every night.
Mind you what had happened would haunt anything.
Shoving that train of thought out of her mind roughly, she turned to the kitchen equipment that lined the smallish room. She was here for the night, and the candles would be burning for a while yet. She had some work to do.
The living room's destruction was spreading, flowing outwards like a strange tide. The mass of papers from before had exploded outwards, a waterfall of sheets flowing down the stairs read of grand music before a blast of black swallowed what had been written. It was looking less like a den and more like and explosion, a monochromatic crater, wadded up balls of paper thrown into the fireplaces otherwise empty hearth while stray sheets adorned every flat surface and books lined the walls, pulled from the singular bookshelve.
Lyra sat at the couch, the colourful epicenter of it all, rear hooves draped over the front edge, leaning against the back with an all together uncomfortable looking posture, the green glow from her horn surrounding a quill as it zipped along a page, her writing less legible than normal as she jotted notation out on the staff, mumbling tiredly. The lyrics were scrawled underneath, the messy script shaky as Lyra's magic kept threatening to cut out from exhaustion.
Bon-Bon walked over softly, meandering through the mess of papers to carefully take a seat beside the faint looking unicorn. "Hey there."
Lyra looked up from her work, quill stopping mid scrawl and floating to the side, emerald glow cutting out as she raised her tired eyes to smile up at the other mare, stray strands of her cyan mane falling across her face. "Hey Bon-Bon," came the weak little whisper.
The earth pony softly brushed the others mane back out of her face, leaning in to give her a soft kiss. "You're not looking that good there hun," she whispered, voice filled with worry.
The minty mare sighed, slowly looking a bit better as Bon-bon snuggled close, cooing softly. Lyra smiled down at her, seeming to just soak up her warmth. The response was the same as it always was in these situations. "Just tired Bons..."
Lyra trailed off for a moment, looking into the middle distance again before slowly shaking her head. "And maybe a-" The unicorn found herself cut off, a chocolate bon-bon in her muzzle, a hoof carefully keeping her mouth shut.
The chubby little goddess of all things sweet smiled up at Lyra again as the unicorn slowly chewed it, savoring the soft core and the sweet taste. Bon-Bon leaned in again, nuzzling Lyra's neck softly as she finished the little treat, a small smile on the unicorns muzzle as she swallowed before kissing the top of the cream coloured mares head. "You're the best, you know that, right?"
"Only because of you."
The response got another little pause form the unicorn, eyes focusing into the mid-distance again. Bon-Bon giggled before kissing the unicorn quickly. "Mmmm, mint chocolate."
Lyra giggled, then coughed a little. Bon-Bon snuggled a bit closer, her soft body radiating warmth to her love.
"You really don't sound good Lyra," The pink and blue framed face that looked up into Lyra's was lined with worry. Lyra looked a little to the side as Bon-Bon looked over her features. She didn't really look sick, just tired, that weary look when one has been up far too late, or eating far too little. A little spell of silence fell for a while, candles softly flickering.
Lyra broke it first. "Don't worry, I'll be just fine."
Bon-Bon looked unconvinced and opened her mouth to say so, only to be cut off by Lyra. "I'm going for a little late morning walk. I'll be back in a bit, okay little fireball?" Bon-Bon laughed.
As Lyra left, shivering ever so slightly, the earth pony turned to the music the unicorn had been creating, looking over the messy writing. A title was hastily scrawled atop the page. Change of Seasons . Looking to the mudroom and the front door and hearing it close quietly, she moved in to inspect it better.
A year or so of listening and watching Lyra at work had given Bon-Bon enough insight to read sheet music. She had struggled at first, but pushed on and managed an acceptable grasp, actually understanding lyrical composition better then her mint colours companion. Also, unlike Lyra, she found she could sing amazingly well. Where the unicorn warbled off-key, Bon-Bon found herself covering all of three octaves, voice chiming like a bell or roaring and swelling like a river surge, though she never sang in public.
Her eyes scanned the sheet. This song was interesting. It had a few different instruments in it, and compared to Lyras normal musings, was stripped down, the almost finished (Or so she assumed) notation calling for a simple, plain rhythm, piano, Drums, bass, lyre (It had guitar, of all things, scrawled in brackets beside it) and altogether seemed like something that a young filly in some local band would write instead. The simplicity of it compared to Lyra's usual attempts at making something grandiose made it stand apart, if even for the fact that it resembled something complete as opposed to a thousand smaller pieces tacked together.
It was the lyrics that caught her eyes of course. Sections where blank still, obviously not intentionally, but what was there...
Humming the tune softly to herself as she glossed over the notation, Bon-Bon set to work, taking the pen in her mouth and re-writing the song on a new sheet, adding and subtracting from the lyrics, slowly molding the song.
"You want love, but you fear it, " She swung her vocal range, hitting the octave that sounded right.
She smiled as the music took shape.
Berry Punch laid, sprawled out, on the park bench.
She'd been there for a few hours, having wandered into the park in question and flopped down unceremoniously, half her limbs spilling over the edge. The day had hardly been off the ground, late morning at best, when she had made her way to the worn wooden thing. Now the late summer sun cheerfully beamed down at the pony, well on its way past high noon.
Pinkie Pie had been keeping an eye on her from a-far. The plum mare had hardly moved the whole time, and the party pony was getting concerned. It was normal to take naps and laze about, but this was getting silly. The plum pony was in a depressing state, it was practically leaching into the air around her, and Ponyvilles premier party pony, the master of glee and smiles, wouldn't stand for it!
She looped around the edge of the field, all the while pondering upon the best way to cheer the other up. A surprise! Something loud and unexpected and cheerful and bright! She began slinking forwards, the back of the bench looming closer and closer as she made her way across the open field, silent as a ghost. Well, maybe not a ghost, those where supposed to be scary and not fun (unless it was Nightmare Night,) so maybe like a friendly ghost? Amidst her thoughts, Pinkie suddenly found herself at the back of the bench. Grinning, she oh-so-quietly took in a huge breath, jumping out from behind the bench and-
-Found her muzzle filled with a cupcake.
Berry looked up at her, very softly shaking her head and looking quite dead to the world. "Head hurts. Quiet."
Pinkie Pie looked simply stunned for a moment before breaking out into a great big grin, cupcake already having vanished into her seemingly bottomless stomach. The only thing that seemed as bottomless at this point was Berry's eyes, the mulberry spheres lacking that shine of life. Pinkie sat herself down beside the other mare, looking her over. "Hangover?"
Berry blew her mulberry mane out of her face, taking up a new position so the party pony wouldn't be sitting on her, and looked over the arm of the bench, draping a forehoof over and resting her chin on it. "Something like that, yeah..." Pinkie followed her gaze, the cottonwood trees on the parks edge swaying in the breeze, like they where dancing.
Pinkie was quiet for a moment, something of an oddity for herself, the feeling of depression from the other mare dampening her mood. She looked over at the limp form laying across the bench from her and, without really thinking, leaned over and softly hugged the other mare, resting her chin atop Berry's head. "Looks like you need some love."
Berry shook a little, mumbling something grumpily. Her head remained looking to the treeline, apparently lost in thought. Pinkies face split into a wide grin. She was all for sending out a search party to recover the other. It was a party after all! "Come on miss grumpy-grump-pants! Just a little help from your friends!"
"Get off me."
"Nope! Hugs-until-you-smile!"
"...You can't even see my face."
Pinkie laughed, Berry wincing a little under her, ears pulling back to smack at the party ponies face. "Oh, sorry!"
Punch was probably rolling her eyes at the stage whisper.
"But really! You need a bit of looooove and it will alll be A-OK!"
Pinkie could tell for sure that Berry was rolling her eyes. "Love is hard to find."
Pinkie gasped loudly at the mulberry maned pony's muttering. "Love is soooo easy to find! I mean, lookit me! I've got lots and lots of love!" She beamed as the thought crossed her mind, each and every friend she had, all the ponies in Ponyville. "Each and every friend gives a little and a little and suddenly it's a lot !"
Berry made a raspberry noise. "Friendship," She slowly, and quietly explained, "Is not quite love. It is friendship, and something all to itself. It is an understanding that you and they get along and that you will help each other out. Love is much more."
The pink party pony bodily raised Berry into the air and turned her about, staring into her eyes again. They had a little sparkle to them as Berry stared back, apparently not bothered by her actions, but a very small smile on her lips never-the-less. Pinkie chortled "Still the best!"
That comment got the Plum coated mare's eyebrow to raise. Pinkie kept going, her enthusiastic voice raising a little. "Anyways, friendship is actually love!" She gestured with one hoof, holding Berry close with the other. "You're loyal to friends, you're honest with friends, and you share with friends! You do your best to understand your friends and make them happy!" She smiled like a mad mare, hugging Berry close in a crushing embrace.
Berry gasped for air. Pinkie let out a little giggle. "Whoopsy!" She laughed again, flopping the other mare onto her bench. "But yes! Friends love you very very much!"
Berry chuckled a little, a smile seemingly firm on her face as she relented. "I suppose so," She looked off into the middle distance. Pinkie could watch her eyes follow the trees. "I guess it does make it a little less empty," The smile flickered a little, and the mulberry eyes dimmed for a moment.
Pinkie Pie snortled. "Maybe it can make it a little more full?"
Berry seemed to realize she'd spoken out loud, and it carried over to her voice. "Oh, ah, maybe, yeah. A bit better way to put it..." She glanced over at the other, a worried little look on her face.
The party pony smiled at her, hoping to ease the mood along. "Anyways, I'm having a party at Sugarcube Corner later tonight, I was going to ask if you where going to be there?" She paused for a moment before adding "Lyra and Bon-Bon will be there."
Berry looked off into the distance again. Her voice was as distant sounding as the trees looked. She replied slowly. "Maybe... Ask me again later, I'll be at the shop doing some restocking. Don't know what will come up."
Pinkie Pie was silent again. The soft breeze seemed to die. Then, when she spoke up at last, it was probably the quietest Berry had ever heard her.
"I wanted to ask you . Please come."
Berry's head shot up, staring wide eyed at where Pinkie had been, only to find the other mare was gone. Sighing, she looked back to the still trees, eyes dimming once more.
Lyra hovered the two top sheets of music on the table, golden glow softly covering them. She'd just gotten back from her early morning errands, having left before the sun was up to visit the post office and, later, at noon, waking Berry Punch up (She'd passed out just inside her door again) and had sat herself down in the middle of her mess of musings only to notice the two out of place sheets. One looked vaguely like her hornwriting, the other was definitely Bon-Bon neat work. Frowning, she noticed that they where the same song.
Bon-Bons writing was more complete. lyrics flowing well with the rhythm, but...
Lyra went over the structure of the unfamiliar song, quill making small notes, variations in the bass line, switching some Minor notes out for Majors along the other instruments. The lyrics had some sadness to them, but the feel and the end was upbeat, so she tweaked it to fit. Something about the simplicity of it made her smile. It reminded her of when she was just starting out, she guessed.
Lyra warbled a few lines softly, studying the melody while mentally playing the notes in her head. "'Cause inside you're working; You're mending what's broken-"
"-'Cause our love, ain't easy; It changes with seasons, " Came the pitch perfect conclusion to the lyrical line, the sound coming from the kitchen's entrance.
Lyra turned, beaming over the back of the couch at Bon-Bon. "Sweets."
Bon-Bon made a soft little sound, nuzzling Lyra over the back of the couch. "So, what do you think, Hmmm?" Bon-Bon tilted her head softly towards the sheet music, Lyra's fresh scrawlings over top of Bon-Bon's precise work, the two complimenting each other quite well the unicorn figured.
"It's simple, it's basic, there's almost nothing to it." Lyra stared down at the sheets again, Bon-Bon's head resting on her shoulder. "It relies on layers of simplicity to make something more complex. But it reminds me of..."
They had just fought. Lyra didn't understand why, but she'd been met at the door by Bon-Bon, fire in her eyes.
She had screamed and yelled and even thrown a punch or two and the unicorn had stood there quivering as she took it.
She remembered Bonnie screaming something about hating her, about how she'd never leave her alone, about being nosy and writing terrible music and how she was so weird, with her strange habits and weird sitting and and and.
Lyra had just stood there, shaking and crying as the other mare screamed and vented and raged.
And now she stood there as she cried, spent, on the threshold of her house.
Lyra didn't know why she did it, but she very softly picked Bon-Bon up in her magic, the pale golden light surrounding the other mare as she weakly struggled and sobbed. The unicorn took the crying, angry mare into the house, gently laid her on the couch, and smiled. It was careful and warm and full of emotion.
Bon-Bon looked up at her, eyes ringed in red. Her voice was a soft, ragged whisper. "Why won't you just leave?"
"Becasue you said 'I love you.'"
Bon-Bon went quiet as Lyra draped a blanket over her softly.
Lyra looked at Bon-Bon, who was still smiling over her shoulder. "...It's just right."
The musical laugh that escaped the pink and blue maned mare was perfect punctuation to the memory, showing where it had eventually led.
Lyra bit her lower lip as she looked over the sheets again. "Though... Who wrote the first draft?"
Bon-Bon just smiled.
Berry groaned as she made her way into Bon-Bon's shop. She was expecting a full day of work ahead of her, and Lyra's call to work had been less then helpful, waking up Ruby. Between the little bit of pain from Fridays drinking (What a night that had been!) and her falling out of bed, Ruby's enthusiasm had made the poor mother's head throb.
Then on the way, some royal guard stopped her and questioned her for a good few minutes before Twilight had rescued the still sleepy mare, politely telling the guard to go away. Berry's words were much less kind. In any case, she had arrived, later then usual. Nursing her headache, she opened the small door to the rear room and let her jaw hit the floor.
Everything was already done. Everything. The taffy puller in the corner was cleaned out, the stove was clean, the pots where on the rack, there was a full batch of said treat in wrappers, bon-bons sat on trays under covers, rock candy was carefully wrapped up, even the fudge was done and put neatly where it belonged. The small cluttered kitchen was full of completed treats and clean pots and pans.
Berry was used to coming in and finding little bits of her prep-work done. She'd never come in to find Mondays work finished on Sunday. Never. It was not a thing that happened. Somepony had definitely outdone themselves.
As she mentally ran down the list of ponies who could possibly have done this, she was interrupted by the sound of rock candy crunching behind her. Punch twirled, one hoof coming up aggressively-
-And stopped as Pinkie Pie beeped her nose.
Berry fell over backwards. Pinkie giggled, holding out a hoof to pull the mulberry maned pony up.
"She really outdid herself," Pinkie mused, taking another crunch at the rock candy. "The sour apple is just so, mmmmmm!" The party pony tilted her head a little. "I'm going to have to ask her about it later!"
Berry just stared at her, more then a little confused. It showed in her voice as she asked, "So, uh, you know who..?"
Pinkie beamed at the plum mare. "Yep!" The pink menace crunched down on the candy again, head bobbing a little as she enjoyed the treat. Berry was waiting for an explanation, but it seemed she wasn't getting one. She reached up and massaged her temple; Her headache was getting worse.
She was about to press for more, but Pinkie Pie started up first. "Well, looks like all you have to do for the day is restock! That's pretty nifty! It's a lot less messy then doing the prep-work and you won't get sugar everywhere again like the last time, remember, you missed the pot by like, a mile, but not really because then you'd have to be outside the store and-" Berry called her name, hoping to stop the torrent of words. Pinkie kept rambling. The berry pony tried louder this time, the result the same as the last attempt. Finally, Berry just screamed - and regretted it immediately, head feeling like it was going to split open. She held her pounding skull in her hooves, head down on the ground as she whimpered at her stupid, self inflicted pain.
Pinkie leaned down, still rambling. Berry groaned and Pinkie stopped, the silence the single most wonderful experience that the Plum coloured pony had ever had the pleasure of living through.
Pity it didn't last.
"Anyways, After you're done, there's a party down at Sugarcube Corner! She asked me to ask you to come, which was silly because I totally was going to ask you anyways!"
Berry groaned again, waving a hoof weakly, a metronome for her head. "Ok, ok, I'll come, just... Just please, go'way."
"Oh, kay!" And with that joyous exclamation, the party pony vanished, leaving Berry alone on the floor nursing her pounding head. At least the rest of the day would be easy.
Once the room stopped throbbing in time with her head, that was.
The sun shone in through the kitchen windows, a startling contrast to the candle lit den just through the doorway. Through the openings, the world outside could be seen, birds singing in the tiny maple tree that stood proudly in front of the small building, a bastion of shade in the bright late afternoon sun. A small breeze, invited in like the sunlight, swirled through the kitchen, it's two occupants enjoying the view as they lazed about, Tea and sweets on the table.
Not that it mattered, as Lyra was perched upon the counter, hind legs swinging back and forth over the edge, one foreleg pressing down on the tiled counter top, the other wrapped around a glass of fruit juice, bendy straw in the mares mouth as she slurped away. The other occupant was sensibly sitting on a cushion, sipping gently at her tea, occasionally stopping to sample some of the chocolate coated treats on the table - purely for quality control back at the store, of course.
Lyra bounced the back of her rear hoof off the cupboards handle, a soft 'tink' ringing through the air. Bon-Bon glanced away from the window to look at Lyra, who repeated the motion, absent mindedly sipping on her beverage.
Tink. Tink. Tink.
Bon-Bon twitched an ear to the slow metronome, and, without thinking, began acting to the rhythm. It started with her sips of tea, timed on the off-beats, and began to spread. Lyra, as if sensing this, began tapping the counter top, an impromptu tom beat as the cupboard door became a kick drum, slowly increasing in tempo. Bon-Bon added in a little bit of a cymbal, tea spoon tapping out a rhythm on a half opened jam jars lid.
Suddenly the room was alive with a beat.
Before the absurdity of the moment could reach her mind, Bon-Bon was humming a melody, tea forgotten as the make-shift drums intertwining with her wordless vocals. She shut her eyes, the song just blossoming forth, going from being a young green beat to a lively red flower, opening to the sun and saying hello. A second melody line sprung forth, intertwining with hers, the high pitched notes flitting through her mid-range tune, accenting and harmonizing, almost as if it could tell what she was doing beforehand.
The drumming became more complex, Lyra apparently working all her hooves, the kick and tom doubling as the song built to a Crescendo, Bon-Bon working along the octaves and building up, the second vocal line taking on her original rhythm, letting her play with the tune. It was glorious, like rainfall in a forest, each sound a droplet as it caressed along a piece of foliage. They let it fade, Lyra ending on a single kick and the wordless humming just softly fading a niente .
Bon-Bon opened her eyes to smile at Lyra. The unicorn's bright sunny eyes shone like the heavens as she beamed back. They both giggled. The moment was perfect.
Well, except that Pinkie Pie was there.
"That was great! We should do it again!" The Pink pony was half-ways through the window, leaning over backwards, smiling at the couple upside-down, hair refusing to reach for the ground in it's gravity defying fashion.
The reaction was nearly instantaneous. Lyra, startled, fell off the counter top sideways, drink bouncing once off the tiled surface before splashing the last of its contents on the mares pale cyan and white mane, glass looking for all the world like some bizarre party hat. Bon-Bon scattered a half dozen of her namesakes over the length of the table as she flailed in surprise, barely managing to avoid knocking her tea to the floor and remain upright. "Celestia's sake!" Lyra gasped out, heart hammering in her chest as she attempted to rise from the floor. "Do you not know what a door is Pinkie?!"
"Of course I do silly!" The pink pony grinned. "The question is why I used a window instead!"
Pinkie rolled into the room, flipping back onto her hooves as Lyra went to the sink, washing the juice out of her mane, the unicorn floating a tea towel from the drawer beside the sink to dry herself, then the floor. As Lyra worked, Pinkie leaned in close, whispering conspiratorially. "Becasue this was way funnier."
Lyra reared up on her hindlegs, leaning back and bracing herself with her forelegs against the counter. "I suppose, but I'd rather you use a door," Pinkie opened her muzzle, only to have herself cut off by the mint coloured pony. "And not the fridge door. I still have no clue how you did that."
Pinkie giggled. "That was great! The look on your face was just perfect!"
Lyra stared down her muzzle at Pinkie, who looked back up with one of her trademark smiles. Bon-Bon watched passively from her seat, popping the formerly scattered treats into her mouth as she watched the stand-off, counting down silently to herself. She her internal count hit one, and, on que, Lyra grinned. "Yeah, I suppose it was pretty awesome."
"Aaaanyways, party tonight!"
Bon-Bon looked at Pinkie. "Most of us have work tomorrow. We can't just drop everything for a party tonight."
Pinkie bit her lower lip. "You have to come! I promised her you'd be there!" She squeaked before continuing. "She looked pretty bad Bon-Bon, I really think she needs this! You've gotta come, you've gotta!" The largest, saddest eyes ever accompanied the pink ponies demands.
Bon-Bon looked puzzled for a second. "Who...?" Then it sunk in. Pinkie knew every pony in Ponyville's name, and as such referred to them all as such. Except one. "Oh. OH! Yes, we'll be there then. For a little bit, but yes."
Lyra, however was confused as all get out. She looked at Bon-Bon questioningly. The earth pony smiled up at her before looking over at Pinkie. She was balancing a bon-bon on the end of her snout, doing her best to not laugh and send it flying across the room. Seemingly growing bored of this little game with gravity, she flipped the treat up and caught it in her mouth, loudly chewing it. "Mmmm, great work Bon-Bon! Never did figure out how they always turn out so great from you! Gotta go now, thanks!" And with that, the party pony was gone, a blur of pink escaping through the window.
Lyra looked over at Bon-Bon, alone with her again. "Care to explain..?"
Bon-Bon looked out the window and sighed. "It's... Complex Lyra." Her voice dipped down as she said it, and she tore her look away from the scene outside as Pinkie tore across their lawn to look at Lyra. Her eyes shimmered with worry. "You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, but right now..." She nibbled on her lower lip worriedly before continuing. "I can't really explain."
With two quick strides on her rear limbs, Lyra was across the kitchen before falling on all fours to give Bon-Bon a little kiss in reassurance. "Well then. Let's not worry and go see this party Sweets."
Raindrops was alone.
Well, that wasn't true to be entirely honest. Sugarcube Corner was stuffed, ponies everywhere as Vinyl (here on a favour to Ms. Pie) had the music flowing, keeping it above the chatter of the ponies crowding the space but not roaring. Life was everywhere as the party got into swing.
Raindrops just chose to sit in the far back corner or the party room and be alone. Her cyan eyes where tired, the shimmer of life the pegasi usually showed a dull gleam, just barely holding on. From across the room, Minuette regarded her with sapphire eyes.
This morning, before she'd said she was heading out to Cloudsdale for the day and would probably be back later, the pegasi had been a whirlwind of energy, her enthusiasm for the trip showing exactly why Rainbow Dash and her got along. Now the canyon running, cloud bucking, usually energetic Pegasus was slumped in a corner, observing the party with tired eyes. It was worrisome.
The blue unicorn made her way across the crowded floor, stopping and regarding the golden pegasus for a moment before turning and plopping herself down beside her friend. Raindrops didn't even look over at her as she spoke up. "You shouldn't worry about me."
Minuette's eyebrow raised as she glanced over at the wilted looking pony beside her. If anything, there where a thousand reasons to be worried, and the fact that she spoke up like that just added to the worry sitting like a baked bad in her stomach. "Yes I should. What happened, you were so excited this morning?" Her eyes went wide. "If you're back early that means... Did something go wrong?"
Raindrops refused to look her in the eye. "No, no, I'm just tired." She let out a sigh before blowing at her hair, stray strands falling right back into her eyes as she looked out on the dance floor. Applejack had shown up, Lyra and Bon-Bon filing into the building right behind her, an enthusiastic Pinkie Pie waving them towards the punch.
The pegasus's friend noticed the small smile tweaking her friends mouth, and followed her eyes. Pinkie was talking to Bon-Bon, energetically gesturing towards their corner, Lyra not paying attention as she grinned and waved madly at Vinyl, the DJ simply thrusting a hoof up in reply, head bobbing to the music.
"Hard to imagine we almost lost them two weeks ago, huh?"
Raindrops head snapped around to stare at the unicorn beside her. "What?" The cyan maned pony's voice almost cracked, worry and confusion on her startled face.
Minuette looked at her friend in confusion, worry slipping into her mind as she looked her over. "You don't remember? I told you about it when we came back." She looked over at Lyra, who was chatting with the DJ, leaning over the console and waving a hoof around energetically. "Me, Twinkleshine and Lyra were brainwashed by this... Changeling-Bug-Pony-Thing," She heard Raindrops inhale sharply in shock. "Said she was the Queen, tried to take over Equestria, huge army of these ugly black bug ponies, huge fangs and all. Lots of fighting and running and ponies getting rounded up."
Raindrops was staring blankly into the middle distance, shock clearly on her face. Her unicorn friend looked over her again, worry clearly etched on her face. "Are you sure you're ok? I told you all this already," She rested a hoof on the yellow pegasai's shoulder, the gesture meant to reassure but she wasn't certain it was working. "Besides, they where all blasted out of Equestria by Princess Cadence! Nothing to worry about!"
Both were quiet for a moment, the pegasus looking at the unicorn, looking a touch haunted. "T-that's why..." She paused, looking at her friend carefully. She was quiet, so quiet that the blue mare had to lean in to catch it. "Oh Celestia..."
The Pegasus looked like her world was crumbling around her, eyes unfocused and pupils shrunk down as the information sank into her mind. Minuette shook her friend gingerly. "Rainy, you okay?"
The yellow mare nodded, the action so lethargic that it felt like hours past. The party seemed to slow infront of them, inherently oblivious to the mood killing conversation blossoming in the corner, but seeming to be affected by it. Minuette glanced at her friend, who had a strange expression on her face. "After all..."
It was then that Pinkie Pie sprouted from the crowd, dragging Bon-Bon after her. "What's with the long faces?! This is a Paaaaaartay!" The mad mare swung Bon-Bon around, Raindrops expression flashing to one of horror as Pinkie spun the earth pony about like some rag doll would be by a child, the force of the motion lifting Bon-Bon into the air, tail and mane trailing behind her spinning body like streamers. There was a sudden flash of gold and cyan, and Pinkie fell over, her counterweight stolen, Raindrops hovering, hugging Bon-Bon close as she lightly set down back in the corner. There was a fair bit of laughing and some panicked shouting from the crowd, the incident not escaping notice.
Glaring at Pinkie, Raindrops let Bon-Bon go. The cream colored mare, still a bit rattled, thanked her breathlessly. Minuette was shocked, panic and anger in her voice as she stared down the part pony. "Pinkie, you could have hurt her!"
"I knew Rainy would catch her!"
Raindrops was busy comforting Bon-Bon, getting a little too close to her in some ways. If her stallion-friend saw this, he would probably flip out. Minuette prodded the pegasus in the side softly before returning to Pinkie, calming down a little. "Do you ever think, Pie?"
"Yep, and I think it worked perfectly!" With that, Pinkie bounded off, hopefully to harass someone else. A strangled yelp from Applejack, followed by laughter from a few others -audible over Vinyls bass heavy music selection - proved this to be the case.
Bon-Bon muttered under her breath, Raindrops hovering over her like a concerned mother hen. Minuette just sat there shaking her head. "I can't believe that mare sometimes, really..."
A voice pierced the crowd's chatter, more from being close then anything. "Bon-Bon!" Lyra bounced out of the mass of dancers, pulling the cream coloured mare close, both teetering on their hind legs, before spinning her carefully outwards, then back into an embrace. Raindrops grinned at the show.
"You heard the mare, this is a party!" Raindrops stood from her corner, grinning as she moved to join the dance floor. Minuette looked confused for a moment, then just shook her head and let her friends good mood overflow into her.
The party had died down in the last while, Minuette, Lyra and Bon-Bon amongst those who had retired already, the sun beginning to set. Raindrops was sitting by the back door, looking a bit pensive as she stared at her hooves.
Lyra had told about the Changelings invasion on several occasions, Minuette embellishing at times, each retelling getting grander as she consumed the punch Berry had spiked numerous times (she had kept forgetting she had already done it.) Every retelling had found a feeling of fearful panic generally come over them, until they had finally decided to just cut Lyra off, telling her to party instead of gab.
As it was, there was AJ, Raindrops, Pinkie, Dash and a whole lot of cleanup left, thought the latter seemed to be on hold for a bit more relaxing. Applejack was sipping some cider, listening to Rainbow ramble on about the Wonderbolts, only half paying attention as she watched Pinkie Pie. The party pony had been darting about, as usual, but she'd noticed she kept returning to Raindrops, dancing or cartwheeling or moving food about in front of the depressed looking Pegasus the whole party. Raindrops had smiled when Pinkie forced a slice of cake upon her, and had eaten the confectionery treat, but still had looked generally depressed most of the time. When she had brought the Yellow ponies mood up to Rainbow, someone who usually hung out with Raindrops, she just shrugged it off. Something wasn't right though.
As if the world agreed with her, Raindrops head shot straight up, looking towards the front of the shop and Pinkie Pie stopped dead, vibrating like mad. Before the premier party pony could stop, Raindrops was out the back door, mumbling something about the night. Applejacks eyes narrowed as she looked at the door, the slightest twinge of fear tugging one edge of her mind, before she shrugged it off. Everypony was a little on edge after the ordeal at Canterlot, even through they knew that Cadence and Shining Armors combined powers had flung all the Changelings out of the land. Celestia herself had even said as much, though a few royal guards had been posted around the various towns and cities to calm nerves.
As she turned, however, her eyes went wide. Yellow and Cyan walked calmly past the storefront, head bouncing happily. Applejack barely heard Pinkie exclaiming about the doozy she had just felt as she took off out the front door, barreling right into Raindrops in a tackle. The pegasus loudly yelped as she was knocked off her feet. "Applejack, whoa, what?!"
Pinkie and Rainbow where suddenly beside her, both looking a bit bemused. Rainbow looked over at Applejack, eyebrow raised. Pinkie smiled down at Raindrops, chirping out a greeting before the other two. "Hey there Rainy!"
The pegasus grunted out a reply, Applejack still standing on her chest. Wordlessly she moved her hooves, pinning the pegasai's legs instead. The yellow mare squirmed. "What gives AJ? Get offa me." It was a wheeze, the floored pony still winded from where the orange mares hoof had impacted in the middle of her chest.
"Rainbow," Applejack slowly started. "Ah just saw Raindrops take off like somethin' fierce was after her." Rainbow just shrugged, not seeing it. "She left out th' backdoor. And whatever spooked her was out front."
Raindrops looked confused. "But I've been in Cloudsdale all day. I just got back and then-"
Applejack cut her off, looking at Dash. "Ah recon we have a Changeling on th' lose." She peered down at Raindrops suspiciously. "Or have we already snagged th' critter?"
"Hold on there, I'm the only me there is!" Raindrops protested loudly and energetically. "Besides, I though that the Princess had dealt with all the Changelings? You know, huge magical spell and all."
"Oh, shut it! You're totally a changeling spy!" Rainbow scowled down, stomping a hoof on the ground.
Raindrops flinched before protesting loudly. "Am not! And we've all been told they're all gone!"
"Nothin' to stop 'em from crawlin' back here though." She heard a scuffling sound in the alleyway beside the 'Corner and looked into it's dark depth, eyes narrowed. Rainbow continued to scowl. Pinkie, who had been silent, started to vibrate. Fear and worry slowly seeped into Applejacks mind, little drops slowly building into a pool that sat in the back of her mind.
"We should rough it up and get it to fess up!" Rainbow stomped again, a bit of that worry and fear there, barely noticeable under her anger. "Dibs on bad cop!"
There was a green flash from where Applejack was staring and a familiar voice cracked out of the dark alleyway, fear and anger coluring it. "Leave her alone!" A multi-hued blur exploded from the darkness, Rainbow Dash getting bowled into the side of the building across the street as the object impacted. Applejack's eye twitched. Pinkie Pie continued to vibrate like jello in an earthquake.
Rainbow Dash stood over herself, huffing and puffing like she'd run a marathon, rainbow mane a wind-swept mess as she glared down at herself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," It was muttered under the doppelgangers breath as Rainbow groaned from the cobble stones. Applejack wasn't sure who it was directed at, but she didn't stop to find out.
Raindrops found herself suddenly free as Applejack threw herself across the street, ramming the double of her friend and sending her crashing down the roadway. As the cyan pony bounced, little spouts of green flame burst off her before solidifying back into the changelings disguise. Before it could get up, Applejack was on it, pinning the thing down. Magenta eyes stared back up at her, locking with her green ones.
The thing that looked like Rainbow Dash flinched under the gaze of the orange earth pony. "Appleja-"
The orange mare cut it's pleading line off with a growl. "Yer in fer it now. Nopony hurts mah friends."
It coughed, grimacing as Applejack applied more weight to its limbs. Then it smirked like Rainbow did. "Oh yeah? What-" It wheezed for a second before continuing, voice wavering. "-Where you about to do to Rainy then, AJ?"
Applejacks eyes narrowed as she listened to the thing wearing her friends face. "We figured she was th' spy."
'Rainbow' coughed again, bright green flaring up before suddenly Applejack was staring at herself. "Nopony hurts mah friends."
Applejack snorted. "Changelings don't have no friends."
"You didn't think that when ah helped ya harvest all them apples."
Applejack looked down at her double. "Beg yer pardon?"
Another flash. Caramel looked up at her. "He was sick, remember? I took his place for the day and you kept bugging me, asking if I was ok-" It coughed again, wincing, before carrying on, voice low and pleading. "-And I just laughed it off. You asked him later, and the poor guy was so confused. Didn't know a thing about no harvest."
Applejack wavered for a second. "Yer trying ta trick me." She flicked her tail angrily. "Well, It ain't gonna work!" She glared down at the thing that was wearing a friends face, scowling as she heard Dash groan a little from behind her, Raindrops voice asking her if she was OK. Pinkie was silent.
"You're trying to hurt me," It coughed again, before laughing nervously. "I remember you bandaging my knee after Scootaloo crashed us into that tree, asking why the hay I wasn't over with Twi like I was supposed to be. I was terrified and began babbling and crying." Another flash, and the large amber eyes that looked up at her watered. Red mane, sans bow messily haloed around her pale yellow face as she pleadingly looked up at Applejack. "AJ, Ah'm scared. Yer hurting me."
Applejack, remembering the moment and fear taking hold again, rushing around her like a tide, let up for a fraction of a second. The thing that was pretending to be her sister- her sister! -took the opportunity and bolted, smaller frame and Applejacks hesitation letting it slip out of her pin and run off down another alleyway, stumbling slightly as it turned a corner.
"Celestia damnit! Of all the low-down, dirty tricks-" She took off down the alleyway, shouting behind herself at Dash and Raindrops. "Get Twi! I'll catch this varmint!" She didn't look back to see if they'd listened as she tore through the dark foot paths
"Stupid, stupid, stupid." Lyra was pacing back and forth in the living room, mane frayed and out of place, eyes darting around, the single candle hardly giving the room any illumination. Panic was practically seeping out of her, red eyes taking in everything. "The night's here, I... But I can't..." She groaned, a little sob escaping her as she she continued her frantic circuit around the room, wobbling a little as she turned.
Bon-Bon watched from the top of the stairs, the light green mare's frantic pacing making her chew her bottom lip as worry seeped into her mind. Something was terribly wrong, she could feel it, a cold pressure building in the back of her mind. Slowly, carefully, the cream colored mare made her way down the stairs, stopping at the bottom and calling out softly. "Lyra?"
The feeling spiked as Lyra spun rapidly, eyes widening as she stumbled back a step. "I-I-" The mare stuttered as Bon-Bon watched her. "D-Did I wake y-you up?" She was mumbling, anxiety dripping from every word.
Bon-Bon slowly made her way across the room. She murmured wordlessly at Lyra, ignoring the rising panic that tugged at the back of her mind, and nuzzled the other mare, keeping her close. Relief flooded her, the minty mare letting out a soft sob as tense muscles relaxed, burying her muzzle into Bon-Bon's blue and pink mane. "What's wrong hun?"
Panic and fear spiked again as Lyra fumbled and stuttered out words, mentions of "the night," "can't leave," "should go," and at least ten different reiterations "I'm sorry," tumbling out of her as her red eyes watered and went wide, pupils shrinking down to pin pricks. It was as if the room's light was dimming, and taking hope with it, the rambling mare's panic rising with the shadows.
The cream earth pony shushed her, pushing all the fear to the side as she lovingly gave the panicking pony a kiss, running a hoof over her striped mane. Lyra sobbed gently, clinging to her love like a drowning pony would cling to a plank of wood to keep its head above the waves of fear. "Lyra, Hun," Bon-Bon gently shushed the other mare, kissing her again as Lyra continued to cry. "Just calm down, It'll all be okay."
Lyra sniffled, keeping close. "I-I should go, b-but its night and they're there and oh Celestia-" She began to ramble again, fear lapping at the beach of the ponies minds a little with each passing thought about the dark outside. Bon-Bon cut off her ramblings with a chocolate, followed immediately with another warm kiss. She gently stroked the others mane, letting calm slowly work its way back into the room.
Bon-Bon gently turned Lyra about and stared right into her big red eyes, the face around them puffy from crying. "I promise you Honey, I'll keep you safe, even if it means taking on the Princess herself." Bon-Bons sapphire eyes shone with fires of determination. Lyra's face fell, guilt plain on her features even as her disheveled mane covered her eyes.
"Don't. Just..." Fear spiked in the room again, rising like some dread tide, the mint colored pony stumbling back onto her feet with it. "I-I-I've got to go."
Bon-Bon moved forwards. "Wait-!"
Lyra didn't, sprinting out the door, the pale green pony panicking as she dashed off into the dark, crescent-moon-lit night.
Bon-Bon stood still, attempting to gather her wits. Lyra peered down at her from the top of the stairs, the unicorns amber eyes tiredly blinking. "Bon-Bon? Who where you talking ta?" The look of confusion on Lyra's face was adorable, she idly thought.
"Nopony, harp-butt. Go back to bed hun," She looked out the door, still ajar from the other mares flight. "Just got a little thing to take care of."
She had to move fast.
The pale green pony sped through the night.
The night sky tormented her, an inky blackness that hid all, a sliver of moon providing light, but not comfort as her hooves pounded on the earthen hoofpaths.
Her goal was set in her racing mind, far outstripping her body as it fearfully worked away. She had to get inside. It wasn't safe to be outside at night; never mind the ponies out looking for her - a thought that twisted her insides around - the night itself was the single most terrifying thing the panicked pony could think of. It hid everything, stole the warmth from you and made even the most well traveled paths foreign, not to mention it also - she cut off the thought and the memory she knew would follow. Just being out at this time made her heart race, more so then her current mad dash would normally accomplish.
She stumbled as she took a corner, suddenly out of the tiny back alleyway and into the wide, empty market lane. The bustle that one would usually expect here, the warmth of vendors and customers as they made their bartering, words like a dance, was replaced by an eery silence, broken only by the lone creatures panting and her heart, pounding in her chest as she forced herself to slow, wobbling slightly from the exertion.
Fear was slowly rising as she walked, and the pale colored pony could only struggle forwards, doing her very best to accomplish the monumental task of keeping her head above that dread tide, wanting very much to bolt and run until she could run no more. Fighting down a cough, she focused her red eyes on a single goal, a single door-frame standing out amidst all the rest.
Bon-Bon's shop, just off the main market proper, stood out like a beacon to the laboring pony, the promise of a night indoors and out of this warmth leaching night as well as out of the eyes that always seemed to follow her in the inky blackness. Hope blossomed in her chest as, target in sight, she pushed forwards once more, making a final sprint for the door.
Suddenly anger bloomed in the back of her mind and the pale coloured mare stumbled, head turning to look into the alley-way. Green eyes shone forth, and she gasped, her fear fighting with the storm of anger and disgust. She hadn't felt the mare until she was practically right on top of her, the other appearing like a ghost out of the alleyway. The fury seemingly rolled off Applejack as she stepped out of the alleyway, making it all the more frightening to the green pony that she had been snuck up on.
Applejack glared openly as she kept walking towards the panting pony. Taking a final gasping breath, she locked eyes with her, forcing a smile onto her minty face. "Applejack, what are yo-" She started breathlessly, still winded from her panicked run, before Applejack cut her off.
"Stow it. Ah know yer not her." The orange mare snorted, advancing.
Icy fear gripped at the other pony's throat. "W-what are you talking about? I'm Lyr-"
Applejack stomped and snorted. "Yah fergot somethin'," 'Lyra' stopped, mouth open as she looked questioningly at the orange mare, the moonlight making the usually vibrant shade look more like rust, lending to the minty pony's rising panic. That same emotion was showing under Applejacks anger, layering her voice as she continued, "Lyra's eyes ain't red fer one," The other creature winced as she took a step back, glancing sideways at the still beckoning doorway. It may as well have been in Canterlot for all the good it did her now.
A second voice chimed in. "And she's a Unicorn !"
"Ponyfeathers," The creature glanced up as she breathlessly swore, taking in Rainbow Dash's figure as it hovered overhead, like a dark angel of the night. Anger was rolling like a storm around the two ponies, disgust and fear spurring it on, causing the mint green non-pony to flinch backwards.
She was dead.
It was Rainbow who moved first. The thing that was pretending to be Lyra gasped, a green shield manifesting between it and the suddenly speeding pegasus. The weakly glimmering barrier never stood a chance, exploding as the rainbow bullet barreled right on through, hitting the creature. Green flame erupted around it as it was launched backwards towards the other alleyway.
Twilight was taking this all in as she ran towards the scene, Pinkie Pie trailing behind her, stopping on occasion to shudder before rushing to catch up with the lavender unicorn.
Meanwhile, dead ahead, the green flame had stopped and a winged figure raised from the ground, coughing, the sound echoing off the dark buildings. A prismatic mane caught the moonlight, colours washed out under the pale glow. Rainbow growled something, launching forwards again, Applejack following close behind.
Twilight urged her body to go faster as she barreled down the market lane.
Applejack bucked out at the thing that had stolen her companions face, barely missing as it fluttered back. It had dodged Rainbow, ducking back into the narrow alleyway's shadows as the pegasus had rushed it once more. Now the other mare was preparing for another run, spinning about midair before regaining momentum.
The orange earth pony jumped forwards aggressively, and the fake Rainbow fluttered up and over her head. AJ smirked even as fear rose in the back of her mind, Dash launching downwards like a rocket. Her doppelgangers head snapped around, eyes widening as the feathered missile literally screamed during its decent.
At the last instant a sputtering green glow pushed at Rainbows wing, and the thing rolled midair in the opposite direction, gasping as it crashed into the thatched roof and Dash veered hard, correcting to avoid the same fate.
"Magic," It was almost spat out, Rainbow fluttering smoothly to a stop above Applejack. "So not fair."
That said, Rainbow shot towards the roof. Not even waiting for her to ascend all the way, her double half rammed, half fell onto her.
As they tussled on the ground, rolling back and forth, Applejack ran forwards, fear rising again as she lost track of which one was the real Dash.
Green flame flickered around them as they rolled and fought, neither stopping for long enough to tell which was sputtering the flames. One of them clocked the other in the snout, a pained yelp ringing out.
Suddenly, one was on-top, green flickering around her head as she drew her forehoof back for another hit, the mare on the ground flinching, bloodied muzzle about to be made bloodier yet.
Fear rose like a huge swelling wave over Applejack. Making her decision, she hit the Rainbow Dash who's head was wreathed in green flame, buck sending the cyan mare tumbling into the side of the building, green flame surging over her form. Applejack almost laughed as she helped the battered prismatic maned mare to her feet, the other holding a hoof to her bloody face and forehead.
"Nice work, pardner."
The other laughed, then coughed, blood spraying from her muzzle a little. "Yeah, thanks AJ."
Applejack carefully made her way towards the green flame wreathed form, the green tongues of fire slowly dying down. Fear rose in the back of her mind as she took each step, eyes trying to pierce the inky blackness that was left in the wake of the magical fire.
The injured pegasus coughed again behind her.
Twilight skidded around the corner and met a familiar cyan mare face to face, gasping as she took in her friends face, swollen where it had obviously been hit hard.
The rainbow maned mare grinned, a little bit of blood in her muzzle making the expression look demented. "That was so not a problem," She coughed, looking to the side, a little bit of blood escaping as she did so.
"So you got it?" Twilight looked into the alleyways, feeling incredibly nervous. She could just make out two dim outlines about half-ways down the small path. Pinkie gasped, finally having caught up to the lavender unicorn again and catching a glimpse of her friends face.
The pegasus laughed, sounding a little off, probably her bloody nose and face. "Yeah, no problem for somepony awesome like me." She struck a little pose, flipping her hair.
Twilight glanced from the two forms lying in the alleyway to the Cyan mare. Her purple and blue bangs caught the moonlight.
"Rainbow?"
The other mare looked at Twilight questioningly. "Yeah Twi?"
Magenta magic flared from her horn. "Your mane is backwards."
The fakes pupils went to pin-pricks as it stumbled back a step. "Horseapples."
The arcane blast that followed sent it flying down the market road, bouncing several times, green flame shooting up with each impact before it skidded roughly to a stop, Pinkie shouting something as Twilight took off down the roadway after it.
The thing wearing Rainbow's face groaned pitifully as Twilight moved angrily towards it, green flames licking about it from the impact, it's form fighting a losing battle to hold itself together. Its eyes went wide as it saw her, the purple coated magic user storming towards it.
"Twilight," It's voice, Dash's voice rose from the ground, raspy and full of terror. "P-please." Fear began seeping into her mind as the changeling on the ground stared at her approach. "I," It swallowed, the green fire flickering across its face, one eye now shining a solid, icy blue, a shattered black horn appearing as well, ruined black remains out of place in the stolen, multi-hued mane. "I don't want to die. N-not again."
Twilights eyes went wide, the things words sending chills down her spine, fear licking at her mind even as she stomped towards it.
"Please ," It whimpered, shutting it's eyes, and Twilight felt fear creep through her mind, invading every crevasse it could sink it's icy grasp into.
Suddenly, for the single, most terrifying moment, she was gripped by utter terror and swore she saw ice cold blue eyes burst from the night itself for but the briefest of moments. She could vaguely hear Pinkie saying something in the background, the words meaningless to her ears as her mind swam in a wall of emotions.
She was towering over the changeling on the ground, the flame finally petering out; its stolen face gone, replaced by the fanged black monster it was. It whined in a twined tone, then coughed, opening it's eyes again, the watery blue pools locking with Twilights cold amethyst orbs.
When it spoke up again, it's voice was stolen, Twilight flinching as Lyra and Bon-Bon's voices harmonized in the things whimpering. "P-please Twilight, y-you're scaring me."
"You hurt my friends," Twilights eyes narrowed, anger overpowering her fear.
It coughed again, silvery green fluid spluttering from it's muzzle, before sobbing weakly. "Y-you're h-hurting me ."
"You pretend to be one of my friends, snuck into Pinkie's party," Pinkie said something behind her, Twilight choosing to ignore it and carry on, fear of this thing and her anger towards it fighting for control. "And you want me to be nice ?"
"O-oh C-celestia, I d-don't want to die," Tears where pooling at the edge of it's pupil-less blue eyes as it sobbed, shaking like a leaf before a storm, Twilights rage swirling into a maelstrom. "I-I-I-"
"You what?"
It blubbered some more, then hiccuped, eyes barely open as its face contorted in pain, that silvery blood leaking out of it's beaten face. "P-please," It begged, gasping out between sobs.
"After what you did In Canterlot?" Twilight felt her rage boil, that tide of fear blasted away by the heat of it. "What you did to Celestia? Cadance? My brother ?!" She nearly roared as she towered over the black carapaced thing. Pinkie was frantically saying something, tugging at the lavender unicorn, Twilight barely registering this fact as she seethed.
It just cried, tears running down it's battered face and mixing with the dribble of blood, emanating the wail of defeat and pain when something knows it's lost everything.
"Twilight !" Pinkie's now frantic shouting finally made it through to the mare, who's head snapped about to look over at her.
"What?" It was unintentionally harsh, anger flooding her voice.
"Frying Pan."
Twilight's sudden confusion at this statement was cut short as something large and heavy collided at a great speed - the likes of which Dash would have been proud of - with the back of her skull.
The black creature on the ground winced, gasping as the air was forced from it's lungs by Twilight's collapse upon it. Anger boiled in the air, the emotion a raging inferno as something dragged Twilight's limp body off the sobbing changeling.
Pink and blue filled its vision as it hiccuped again, tears distorting it's vision.
"Is she going to be okay?" Pinkie Pie's voice, followed by the feelings of worry, possibly concern, invaded the changelings mind.
It blinked and, tears cleared for a moment, found Bon-Bon towering over it's battered black form, eyes filled with the vestiges of anger and growing worry. It wailed, shutting it's eyes as hooves, no longer pinned, raised to cover its face, the hole filled limbs barely cutting the sound of it's twinned voice. "P-please d-don't-"
It was cut off as a foreleg gently wrapped around it's onyx carapace, Bon-Bon gently shushing the battered creature as she cradled it close. It hiccuped, eyes slowly opening while a familiar warm emotion filled its mind, pushing away the fear and drowning out the anger, lending strength to its limbs as love - actual love, directed to her - emanated from the cream colored mare. "W-wha-?"
That wonderful, wonderful voice filled the changelings ears as the cream coloured mare whispered quietly to the black beast. "I promised I'd take on the Princess herself for you, and I meant it."
Blue eyes went wide. "Y-you knew?"
Bon-Bon's reply was to kiss the fanged creature's forehead, softly stroking along it's neck as the changelings eyes widened further. She gently murmured reassurances, that strained sound of almost crying in her voice, holding the battered black form tight to her soft frame, her other hoof, pink hoofkerchief draped across it, carefully wiping the blood from the changelings muzzle. "Lets get you inside Hun."
It nodded oh so slowly and hiccuped again, tears still flowing freely as Bon-Bon helped it to it's hooves, letting it lean against her warm body as love flooded its being.
The first thing Twlight noticed was her head was pounding. It was worse then when she had attempted to memorize the Encyclopedia Equestria , the mental strain having had left her on the floor in agony as her head protested. Worse, even, then the time Derpy Hooves had dropped that piano on her head, the occasionally clumsy mare having had apologized profusely. Whatever had hit her had gotten her good.
The second thing, quite possibly helping along the first, was singing . She buried her head in her pillow, trying to block it out.
A feeling of warmth and happiness floated in the back of her mind just behind the headache as her ears twitched, trying to make sense of the words and sounds that floated past her, the pounding in her head beginning to sync up with the music as if it was some kind of painful drumbeat.
A soft, sweet voice filtered through the pounding, a rhythmic shaking sound accenting the singing. "If I was a song, I'd be in just the right key. I'd be all the right instruments, in sweet harmony, " Twilight's eyes cracked open and she groggily tried to focus, Bon-Bon's lone voice softly swimming through her hazy mind.
"Oh I'd play oh so loudly, in hopes that you heard, because music is love ," There was a pause, shaking sound going silent as Twilight's eyes focused a little more, dim candle light barely lighting the scene, The candy shops interior welcoming, display cases reflecting the soft glow.
"Yes, music is love, In search of the words, " Somepony made a small, cheerful noise, and she heard Pinkie Pie giggle. Bob-bon started humming the tune wordlessly, a feeling of warmth and well-being drifting through the room like bubbles on a breeze.
As Twilights eyes finally focused, she thought she heard the sweet-maker whisper something. Raising her head, she could see that the cream colored mare was holding somepony close, softly stroking their mane as she hummed the tune, Pinkie sitting off to the one side, being oddly quiet as she smiled brightly at the two ponies sitting in the middle of the floor, a container of sprinkles in hoof.
The tune faded off as Twilight tried to move, a little groan escaping her as her head continued to complain about it's recent adventures. Pinkie was suddenly at her side, the energetic mare helping her sit upright, the blanket and icepack that had been draped over her slipping to the floor. The unicorns gaze swept the room as she tried to remember exactly why her head hurt so much, and she blankly looked at the other two ponies lying off to her left for a moment before gasping.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack where lying on the floor, pillows and blankets providing some comfort, Rainbow's one eye covered and the back of AJ's head wrapped in gauze, hat on the floor beside her, icepacks on both head injuries. Dimly, she could feel that her head was also similarly cared for, a fact that barely registered as the recent events flooded her mind. Worry crept into her mind, then fear as she realized that the changeling was out there, lose still, and, worse yet, something had attacked her while she'd been dealing with that.
Yet now they where in what appeared to be Bon-Bon's shop, the two other mares still out cold.
"Don't w-worry," Bon-Bons muffled voice trembled slightly as it broke the silence that had formed after Twilights shocked gasp. Pinkie hoofed the purple unicorn back her ice-pack, and the unicorn silently thanked her friend, re-applying the relieving cool to her head, feeling the aching throb diminish back to something manageable.
"I-I'm so s-sorry Twilight. I re-really am." Bon-Bon's muffled voice whispered from across the room. Twilight looked over at her, confusion over-riding all other feelings until she finally saw it.
Bon-Bon was hugging herself, still humming as she stroked the others pink and blue mane softly, both sets of eyes puffy as if they had been crying for a long while, and smudges of chocolate staining both of their cheeks. The one being embraced was suffering a swollen face, ice pack pressed against the injury, most likely causing the muffled voice.
"Y-you-" Twilight felt panic rising, though it was fighting full force with the currently otherwise calm mood in the room as she stammered, thoughts racing through her mind like a whirlwind.
"Twilight, c-calm down. Y-you're supposed to be the s-smart and reason-reasonable one here," Bon-Bon's muted voice shook with fear, stuttering either from the pain of her muzzle or just nerves.
"Yeah Twi, why are you being such a panicy-paniced-meany-mean-pants, huh?" Pinkie tsk-tsked, shaking her head. "I tried to tell you she was a friend, but you where all 'grrrrrrr' and boom and made her cry and it was bad and then Bon-Bon had to knock some sense into you but it made you fall down and then I had to drag you all in here and make the guards and Rainy go off towards the Everfree forest to look for a monster because there isn't a monster here! That would be silly!"
"No monster? It's a changeling! It's probably got you and Bon-Bon under it's control! It's evil!" panic and fear where rising in her voice as it increased in volume. "It hurt Rainbow and AJ!"
"A-actually," Not Bon-Bon coughed, the real mare hugging her while murmuring comfortingly (and, Twilight noticed, glaring at her out of the corner of her eye) as the fake winced and wheezed a little before continuing. "A-applejack kinda hi-hit Dash in the face. S-she thought she was me," She flinched and attempted to hide in Bon-Bons mane as Twilight's glare intensified.
"Because you where pretending to be her!"
Bon-Bon glared from across the room, bright blue eyes locking with Twilights purple ones, a fire burning within. "I didn't think I hit you hard enough to make you stupid," That response was definitely all Bon-Bon. "She was terrified!"
Distrust and anger reeled in the room, tension growing thicker by the minute, the changeling worriedly looking up at Bon-Bon as the cream mare glowered across the room at the unicorn, the dim lighting accenting her anger. Pinkie Pie snorted, then giggled. Suddenly all eyes where on her, confusion clearly evident in all of them as the pink mare rolled about laughing on the floor of the shop. "You are all silly fillies! It's great!"
She gestured towards the two nearly identical earth ponies, smile spreading across her muzzle as she continued on. "She's been here for, like, two years silly! She's usually the master of disguise! Plus she's really nice and helps out a lot when somepony's sick or out of town!" She grinned, suddenly popping a chunk of rock candy into Twilights muzzle; "And she makes some of the best candy! Who doesn't like candy!"
The taste of apple filled Twilights muzzle, maybe a bit sour, but good none-the-less. She looked over at the injured creature, who was now hiding behind Bon-Bons mane ineffectually, before asking a question around the candy in her mouth, curiosity getting the better of her. "Two years?"
"Almost th-three, I think. I-I don't remember a lot before..." The false mare trailed off, eyes looking towards a window before shivering, candle light playing with the shadows, the darkness pooling around her eyes.
Bon-Bon nuzzled it, apparently doing her best to keep the creature calm and collected. It had to be feeding off of Bon-Bon, Twilight figured, because it definitely looked stronger then when she'd faced off against it, even huddling pitifully in Bon-Bon's arms.
Or maybe it was a ploy, there being more then one Changeling in Ponyville and they'd snuck in and replaced Bon-Bon and Pinkie! Furthermore, Twilight thought, staring at the twined pony, why would one keep itself as a double? Deciding to voice her worry driven thinking, she spoke up. "How can I be sure you're all who you say you are? How can I be sure of anything you even say?"
The changeling coughed again, wincing. "How c-can you trust any-anypony then?"
Twilights eyes bulged as her mind reeled from the things blunt honesty. The changeling-turned-mare's face was suddenly as terrified as it was terrifying to her, even Pinkie Pie looked menacing, a sinister gleam in her eyes, and the purple mare found herself scooting back away from the pink pony. "S-stay back!"
"T-Twilight! C-c-calm down! I didn't mean-"
Pinkie Pie had had enough apparently, bounding across the room and pulling Twilight into a hug. "Twilight, that's silly! If we where mean ol' Changelings who wanted to hurt you we wouldn't have bandaged you up!"
"So you are changelings!" Twilight tried to squirm away from the pink mare, panic rising as her voice followed suit.
A cream hoof touched her shoulder, Bon-Bon's mimic shakily standing beside the librarian, looking like she was fighting to stay calm herself. "I-I am, they're not. J-just calm down and-"
Twilight slapped the offending appendage away, gritting her teeth as she tried to form another arcane bolt, only to meet with a feeling akin to making acquaintances to the falling Piano once again. She began to topple over, only to be stopped by a soft, warm surface.
"T-Twilight, calm down. Please," Bon-Bon's voice was laced with panicked worry as the changeling used it, supporting the lavender librarian with her side. "You're h-hurt and-and-and-" The creatures voice broke as it stuttered, sobbing. "T-this is all m-my fault! I-I-I-"
This had to be a trick. It had to be. There was no logical reason for a changeling to feel bad about this, there was no reason for a changeling to help her, there was no reason unless it was a trick to escape back to it's queen! In her frantic mind, she could already see the creature telling that monster about - she paused for a moment. About what exactly? The invasion had failed. The magical shock-wave had thrown all of the Changelings (except this one apparently, or had it just come back?) from Equestria. Any information gathered would have been of more use before the invasion, all it could possibly do now was...
Twilight steadied herself on her own hooves, resisting the urge to shake her head to clear it as she looked at Bon-Bon and Pinkie, who had both moved in to comfort the crying creature. The only thing it could do at this point was get close and lull them into a false sense of security, most likely in preparation for a second attack from it's kin. Twilight narrowed her eyes. She had to inform the Princess. She went to leave, turning -
Only to fall over once more, the blanket that had been draped over her having wrapped itself about her legs as she had scurried backwards in terror. She heard all three exclaim, and two muzzles helped her back up while a green sheen of magic shakily unwrapped the sheets from her legs before draping them over Twilights shoulders.
"Y-you should s-stay put for now T-twi," The fake still had fresh tears in its eyes as it laughed awkwardly before continuing, looking at her. "H-haven't seen you th-this messed up since y-you t-t-tried to re-remember th' w-whole Encyclopedia Equestria. "
Twilight stopped dead, head pounding as it - and her heart - raced. The only one's who'd seen the aftermath of that incident where Spike, her five closest friends, and -
Little Dinky had wandered into the Library, calling out in that cheerful voice for Twilight even as Spike looked out from the kitchen. She beamed up at the lavender librarian as Twilight trotted downstairs. The whole room seemed to be alive with glee as the little unicorn bounced about excitedly. Behind her, Amethyst beamed as she looked over the books, possibly investigating the newest arrivals on advanced magic.
The two sisters where there for one thing, as usual - Twilights tutelage on magic. The small filly was learning in leaps and bounds, the occasional flare up still happening with her magic, while her sister had her own occasional hiccup.
"Hello girls! Ready for today's lesson?" Twilights question was met with enthusiastic nodding from both of the ponies, Amethyst's namesake eyes glimmering as she nodded.
They'd missed the last lesson when they came in to find Twilight passed out in front of a large book, closed as if it had just been finished. When they had finally woken Twilight, she'd spent the better part of the day babbling random tidbits of information from the Encyclopedia, groaning and mumbling. Dinky, bless the little blonde filly, had gotten so worried she'd sent off Ammy to fetch Twilights friends. She had then proceeded to echo Twilight every time she quoted the book, much to Spike's dismay when he returned from his quill run.
Twilight had always thought Dinky was a great little filly, the small pony having a great thirst for knowledge, often times doing research on magical creatures despite her young age. On occasion her sister would also pipe in, usually catching something her sibling had missed as she had torn through the books pages.
"Did you know," The small, dusty coated filly chirped as she walked around the library, practicing simple levitation, a small wooden sphere floating beside her. "While ponies are bodies given magic, there are lots of creatures who are magic given bodies? It's so cool to think about!"
Her sister grinned over at her. "For such a little thing, you sure love to study."
The little unicorn looked over at her, grinning. "It's cool to be smart! Look at Twilight!" The librarian had to suppress a giggle at the enthusiastic praise.
"Well then, maybe you should show her what you learned from watching us practice, hmm?"
Twilight looked over at the small filly. "You learned a spell by yourself? That's very impressive!" She leaned over as the little unicorn set the ball down carefully. "Would you like to show us?"
"Yes! Watch." Dinky scrunched up her eyes as she concentrated, horn glimmering a pale purple as she worked on the spell. In a flash of light a pale barrier sprouted in front of the pony, the small shield spell Amethyst had been working on mastering for the last week.
It was a common spell actually, just a sustained version of levitation, except it was focusing magic out from a point as opposed to onto a point. It was an exercise used to teach about magic focus and manipulation for the most part in this day and age. In many ways, it was truly impressive to watch the little filly preform it, even more so because she'd figured it out on her own.
"That's very good! Great work Dinky!" The little pony giggled, then let the flimsy shield vanish.
Twilight turned to Ammy, smiling at the other Violet unicorn. "Now, lets see how you've been doing."
The other unicorn nodded, focusing for a moment, her horn glowing before she let out a gasp. A wall of green flame shot out in front of her, the magical surge rippling across the intended barrier as she fought to get her powers under control. Twilight's eyes were wide as saucers as the fire wall surged in her house, in a library full of books - oh so much potential kindling.
With a pained hiss, Amethyst cracked a single eye open, and forced the spell to behave. A shimmering barrier coalesced from the formerly savage flames, the green tinted wall solid as could be.
Twilight shook her head to clear it, all her books still very much intact, and no scorch marks. "Well, other then the rough start," She looked at Dinky, who looked like she'd almost passed out from the terror of the moment before looking back to Amethyst and her barrier. "And breaking your sister, I'd say not bad at all. Now then, let's work on this next."
Twilight stared ahead as she her mind suddenly raced, frantically searching for other occasions where she had missed - outright missed! - Clear signs that somepony wasn't who they said they where.
Suddenly every last minute change of plans, every unplanned visit, every forgotten meeting or event became a potential for one of these monsters to have been there, leeching love out of her or others. This one had been around for a number of years, if the others where to be trusted. And trust was the problem - as shown at the wedding, ponies trusted one another. Ponies would let these things amongst them and never realize that they where there because they trusted that their friends and family had just forgotten something, or changed their minds, and why wouldn't they? If somepony was acting off, they where just having an off day, right? Twilights eye twitched.
She heard somepony whimper beside her. "G-Girls, sh-she's freaking o-out."
Pinkie laughed, waving a hoof. "Of course She's freaking out! She's Twilight!" Twilight stared at the possibly-party-pony as she carried on. "Remember when she made everypony go nuts-o over that doll because she was a afraid of being late with a Friendship report? The Mayor was wrestling with Derpy and then was soooo embarrassed. Anyways, Twilight always freaks out!"
Bon-Bon groaned. "Big Mac still hasn't apologized for trying to pull my tail off..."
"S-She's still freaking out."
"I am not freaking out!" Twilight nearly roared, left ear twitching crazily. The changeling jumped back, wobbling a little on its hooves, looking for all the world like a small child being yelled at by a parent and not understanding why.
"I am trying to figure out why two of my friends, " the Libarian spat the word out as she glared at Bon-Bon and Pinkie. "Would keep something like a shape-shifting monster a secret? It doesn't make any sense!"
Bon-Bon stared at Twilight, mouth hanging a touch open. "... You're kidding," She looked over at Pinkie and her double, blinking a few times. "She's kidding, right?" When neither confirmed that train of logic, she sighed. "Most brilliant mind of the generation, and she doesn't notice something like two Lyras standing around during the Iron Pony Compitition."
The changeling winced. "N-Not one o-of my finer mo-moments."
Pinkie spoke up next. "Oh-oh-oh, how about when she was standing near Bon-Bon while copying her when those two brothers with that Cider machine where here!"
"T-to be fair, most ponies where t-too excited to notice," The thing with Bon-Bon's face mumbled, looking at it's hooves. "I was too excited to notice..."
Pinkie put a hoof to her chin, a pensive expression on her face as she thought aloud. "For a master of disguise, she isn't always exactly sneaky."
Twilight groaned. Not even Luna would be able to convince her that they where not just messing with her head at this point. "Ugh. Better question then," She looked over the trio, feeling a mite bit calmer (if still a bit worried) even as Bon-Bon sat beside her mirror image, her logical side finally taking over on a quest to get answers. "Why are you helping this... Thing?"
Bon-Bon's response was to nuzzle her double, the fake mare blushing. "Becasue she made my life perfect and I love her."
"What." Twilights counter response was deadpan even as the double mumbled back something sounding like 'I love you too,' while blushing a colour deeper then Pinkies mane.
"You ever wonder why me and Lyra are together even after all our fights? After I told her I hated..." Bon-Bon had a sad look in her eyes for a moment as the memory crossed over her mind.
"I don't understand!" Lyra was nearly crying as Bon-Bon fumed, a small crowd having started to gather, the scene the two mares causing drawing more attention then Bon-Bon would have liked.
"I. Don't. Like. Mares!" It came out a hiss, the cream colored mares eyes narrowed as she stomped the ground in punctuation. "I don't know why you keep pushing this! I thought we were friends!"
The mint colored mare winced back as if physically hit, eyes finally watering. "S-stop it Bonnie! I know y-"
Bon-Bon cut her off, anger welling in her mind, quashing the nagging feelings at the back of her mind. "Don't call me that! I told you this already! Just stop."
Yesterday, Lyra had come to her house, which in and of itself wasn't unusual. They'd been fighting on and off for the last few months, Lyra occasionally getting, as Bon-Bon figured, a little too close. Last night, they'd fought particularly badly. Lyra had come to her house, possibly a little drunk, and professed her love for her. When she had refused to leave, saying that Bon-Bon had told her that she loved her (something Lyra had mentioned weeks before, stunning Bon-Bon, who had never said such a thing) Bon-Bon had taken to throwing a frying pan out the front door, hitting her squarely in the shins.
"I-i-i-" Lyra stammered, looking around almost frantically. Bon-Bon felt a panic rise in her as she realized exactly how many ponies had come to see what the fuss was about. Lyra wasn't doing that great in the spotlight either, eyes wide as she looked around them.
Bon-Bon groaned, spinning about quickly to walk away. "Look, just leave me alone."
"No." It was barely a whisper, but she heard it, even above the crowd. She she turned back, Lyra looked her right in the eyes before continuing. "I-i know you're as scared as I am Bonnie," The mint coloured mare gulped as she continued, pushing on ahead. "B-but I can feel it, r-right under the surface. Please. I-I love you. I need you to love me too."
Bon-Bon's world felt like it shattered as the unicorn held a hoof out, a desperate look in her amber eyes. "I know, d-deep down that you love me. Please," She pleaded once more, the crowd looking on, breathless. "S-stop lying to yourself, I-it's painful..."
Bon-Bon ran.
"She knew. And kept pushing and pushing until I finally realized that I did love Lyra," Bon-Bon kissed her double on the cheek, the mare squeaking. "Of course, I eventually caught on that there was something odd going on - I began noticing things around that point. Lyra had bandages on her legs from the frying pan. She didn't. She calls me 'little fireball'. Lyra doesn't. Lyra talked to me about something we did when I was actually at work. Lyra forgot something we did together. Then I began noticing the same thing with our friends."
Pinkie Pie stifled another laugh. "And she always gets that love struck look when you or Lyra walk past, no matter who she is!"
Bon-Bon nodded and her double hid behind her mane, face flushed. "After a while I could pick her out, despite how good she is at hiding," She laughed softly at the changelings antics before adding, "Present moment aside."
Twilight's left eye twitched off time with her ear, the flickering candle light making it look all the more spastic. "And you just let a changeling run loose through town? This struck you as a good Idea!?"
"To be fair, me and Pinkie only found out she was possibly a Changeling after the wedding. We just assumed she was a weird pony."
Pinkie bounced up and down. "She was so lonely and scared Twilight! I found her right after we stopped mean ol' Black Snooty!" She smiled over at the changeling-turned-mare. "I knew she wasn't Lyra because Lyra had gone to Canterlot for some-reason-or-another, and I figured she was just really really good with magic because wow and I figured she'd surprise us all later!"
"Yes, let's let the pony who's everypony but herself run around and all freak out at, ooooh, Zecora instead."
With Twilight's response, Pinkie was suddenly subdued, bouncing stopped. "Uuuuh," She bopped her hooves together, awkwardly tittering. "Whoops?"
"Everypony knew about Zecora, and they all fed on each others gossip," The double spoke up, voice finally stable as she looked at Twilight before fidgeting, looking ashamed. "I, uh, maybe got a little bit caught up in that too..."
Twilight groaned, hoof pulling over her face in annoyance. "Let me get this straight. You knew it was a doppelganger, never confronted it and just let it do whatever it pleased for years?" As the other two nodded, Pinkie gaining back that goofy grin, all the libarian could do was shake her head. This was just stupid. "Why? Celestia's sake, just why?"
"Privacy?" Bon-Bon's reply was somewhat sane, she supposed.
Pinkies, however, not quite so much. "It would ruin the surprise!"
"It wasn't like she was hurting anpony."
Twilight spazmed for a moment before composing herself. "They eat love. Love. That is why she wanted you and Lyra together. She needed a couple to feed off of."
"There are hundreds of couples around Ponyville Twi. I could have just been with them instead." The changeling spoke up, still using Bon-Bon's voice and body. It flinched back as Twilight glared at it.
"Don't call me that. And one other thing," Twilight ignored the sudden prod of fear, a little reminder in her head that, 'oh yeah, this is one of those creatures, don't forget,' and pressed forth a question that had been bothering her for the whole conversation. "Why in Celestia's name are you still Bon-Bon?"
"She's pretty, soft, warm and round," Twilight blinked, thrown off for a moment as it continued on and elaborated, obviously noting her confusion. "I don't like being a hard-shelled-bug-pony-thing very much, and she's just comfy," It chirped as it nuzzled Bon-Bon, the mare looking a little more then upset.
"Did you just call me fat?! "
The now blushing changeling silenced the possibility of more indignantly responses by kissing the cream colored mare, just a quick little peck. "No, I called you cuddly. It's different." Pinkie giggled as Bon-Bon's face flushed , choosing not to complain any further.
Twilight also found her cheeks reddening, as she looked away, coughing. All eyes turned to her, the twin mares grinning sheepishly as they leaned against one another.
"Everything aside, I should tell Celestia at the very least," The ever faithful student looked over the trio, still not entirely sure if she should believe that there was no trickery involved. Fear was lingering in the back of her mind still, and it spiked as the changeling blanched, the blood draining from her face enough to be visibly suck the colour out of her.
The Changeling shuddered, mouth working open and shut soundlessly as her eyes widened. The creature shook her head frantically before finally finding her voice, words tumbling out in a panic. "Nonono, not after what just happened! She'd have me thrown into prison! Or banished! Or banished and imprisoned! Or-or-or-" The wide eyes and terror that filled her look spoke to Twilight, who suddenly felt sick with fear as she figured what exactly the unspoken punishment was meant to be, the creatures panicked, fearful words from before slicing into her mind like a knife. 'I don't want to die.'
"Remember what I said Hun?" Bon-Bon nuzzled her double, even as her expression was tempered by fear. The Changeling whispered back the response, too faintly for Twilight to catch, and slowly relaxed as Bon-Bon nodded.
The burnt down candles flickered, light glimmering on the display cases all around them as the not-mare looked over at Twilight. The light reflected off the cases and her eyes, making those blue orbs look even more watery then back in the roadway. "Please."
Twilight didn't like it. She absolutely did not, but here she was, looking at something that had done its best to pretend it was a pony, that had done its best for two of her friends, and that undeniably had, without even knowing others were aware of her existence, formed a friendship and love of sorts with Pinkie and Bon-Bon.
The librarian sighed, head lowering as she slumped down. If she told the guard now, if she told Celestia now, she would rip that appart. Pinkie had apparently thrown the party for her. Bon-Bon had rushed out in the dark of night to save it, even knowing its secret. Twilight had always done everything to keep her friends together, and knew exactly what it was like to have that bond broken; she couldn't do it, not because she trusted it, but because she trusted her friends, respected them.
A hoof on her shoulder broke her mental rambling. She looked up at Bon-Bon's softly smiling face, still a bit swollen from where the fake had been hit. "I don't expect anything other then a chance," As Twilight nodded, Bon-Bon's voice cracked a touch as it carried on. "Though we should explain to these two."
Twilight looked over to her two friends, Applejack and Rainbow still out cold, blankets draped over their bandaged forms. A pang of guilt entered her mind; she had been too busy arguing and panicking to remember that her friends where hurt.
The Changeling carried on, staring at Applejack. "She'll hunt me like a timberwolf if we don't," Seeing Twilights expression, the pale cream faux-mare elaborated. "She saw me on the edge of the Everfree one night, before I began sneaking in here - she was on the lookout for 'the black beastie' for weeks," It chuckled, a bitter sound, before continuing. "She's stubborn to a fault. Remember that one Applebuck season?"
Twilight did indeed remember (AJ's lack of sleep as she had made an attempt to harvest all of Sweet Apple Acres on her own had caused far too much chaos not to,) and realized that the changeling was indeed correct - If she knew there was a changeling on the loose, the cow-pony would be looking for it. Rainbows reaction, Twilight supposed, would likely be harsh as well, having lost a fight to it (even if the thing was telling the truth and Applejack had been the one to actually take the Prismatic mare.) "I suppose so..."
The small, hopeful smile that had worked its way onto the fake mares face was broken as Twilight spoke up again. "But you are going to have to stop being other ponies. We can't have doubles running around," The real reason was that Twilight wanted to be able to keep track of the thing, though she wasn't about to say that out loud. As it protested, Twilight cut it off. "I mean it."
The Changeling looked at it's hooves before slumping, green flames of magic covering its form, rushing upwards.
Twilight had expected it to take on another fake appearance, instead the black carapaced creature stood in front of her as itself. The librarian blinked as it shuffled, tattered wings flitting nervously, eyes trained on the ground. Outside, by the moon light, she had taken a very cursory glance over the creature, but inside, by candle light, she could make out the shattered mess of a horn that graced its forehead well enough to spot an old, healed but visible scar spiraling down from the jagged peak of the ruined spike and, as she could see from its bowed head, down to the back of its black neck.
Suddenly the wild surges made sense. On unicorns, alicorns, and it would seem changelings as well, the horn was the focus of outwards magic. It acted as a focal point for Mana, the energy of the world, where a spell could be shaped before release. While all ponies had inherent magic, the horn's ability to focus and control it in an outwardly and controlled fashion set unicorns apart. A damaged horn would either cut off that ability or cause it to come and go sporadically, lack of control leading to surges or long droughts in ability.
All that aside, the fact that the Changeling's response to being told to stop imponynating others was to become itself was interesting, even if it's form made her skin crawl. "That... is not low key."
Pinkie snorted in the background as the Changeling looked up at the librarian, who's spine tingled as the twinned voices of Lyra and Bon-Bon responded. "It's... It's what I can do. I have to see somepony at least once to change. If I can't pretend to be somepony else, all I can be is this," the pitch black creature made a gesture meant to indicate itself, voice full of - Twilight couldn't quite place it, but it certainly was not happy.
Twilight scrunched up her muzzle. "But I know for a fact you have changed little bits about whom ever you've copied!" She gestured towards Rainbow. "You had her mane backwards!"
"And I didn't get Lyra's horn or eyes right either," The Changeling fidgeted again, still staring down. "I don't know how or why, I was really tired though. I was pushing myself into those changes..."
This possibly complicated things. She wanted to make sure the changeling could be kept track of, but she agreed that it had to be kept secret. If all she really could do was copy...
Actually, Twilight figured, fighting through a shroud of anxiety, this could work in her favor.
There was precious little about Changelings in the archives. No real studies on how their magic worked, nothing solid on them other then their ability to shapeshift and consume love. She could study this one as she figured out if it was as trust worthy as Bon-Bon seemed to think it was, figure out how their magic worked, take notes on it's physiology. She was sitting on the edge of a barely touched subject, a vast sea of unexplored hypotheses, with a treasure of unknown knowledge on some island of fact.
It could prevent anything like the invasion from happening again. And that was enough.
"I will help you. We'll do some tests and see what the limits of your ability is, see if we can't figure this out," It still left a problem though. "We can't have you wandering around like this though." The changeling looked up at last, bright blue eyes looking at her with hope.
Twilight immediately took note of what she saw - There was a spiderweb of cracks where the swelling had been on her as a pony. Her eyes must have widened in shock as the changeling looked down again, ears plastering to the back of her skull. Without even thinking, Twilight had the creature in her magical grasp, pulling it's face back up as she stepped forwards for a better look.
It's gasp had the other two ponies moving forwards. Bon-Bon's angry voice rang out like a shot. "If you hurt her-!" Twilight ignored her, peering at the fracture on the changelings face with a look of worry.
It wasn't deep, just a cracking along the surface - The old wound must have nearly split the creature open to look as bad as it did. Twilight softly probed at the mark with her magic, the changeling whimpering softly as she did so, finding that while it was cracked, an a bit flexible, it was still very much soildly together though, a gentle press on the uninjured side showing that the dark, low gloss surface seemed to have some limited degree of flexibility normally. "Interesting..."
"Uhh..." The blue eyes blinked as the mare invaded the Changelings personal space. "What...?"
Twilight gestured to the cracking on the creatures face. "This, uh..." She looked at the black beast's face again before continuing. "Will this heal?"
It blinked. " You mean the bruise?" It seemed absolutely flustered and confounded by the question. "Why, does- does it look bad?"
"May be a teeny-tinsy-tiny little bit," Pinke spoke up, looking at the changeling herself now. "It looks like an itsy-bitsy spider came and made himself a very fancy house on your face!"
The Changelings eyes went wide as it cried out, yanking itself from Twilights with a counter-flare of it's own magic, dashing the few steps to a mirror-backed display, a candle hastily careening across the room in green magic.
"Ohgodohgodohgod," The changeling was panicking, one hoof to the side of her face as she whimpered in that eery twined tone, inspecting the damage itself.
Twilight herself was panicking now as the Changeling proceeded to incoherently freak out, hyperventilating, holding onto the side of her face like it might fall apart at any moment, which for all Twilight knew was entirely the case. "Hold on, hold on! Calm down and tell me what to do to help!"
"I don't know !" The fanged creature wailed, hoof pressed against it's face even as Bon-Bon moved to comfort it. "I thought it was just a bruise!"
"You can't bruise," Twilight's voice sounded uncertain and panicky even as she spoke. "You're covered in an exoskeleton!"
"Not usually!" The reply was shot back, sounding almost hysteric as green flame shot over the changelings form, Bon-Bon's blue eyes now staring wildly at her face in the mirrored glass. It was just bruised badly once again, the fake mare letting out a sigh of relief as she felt over the flesh with a foreleg and green magic, leaning into the real Bon-Bon as she managed to calm herself.
Twilight, still feeling a bit on edge from the reaction the changeling had just shown, carefully moved over, once more looking over the faux-ponys face, magic carefully prodding and inspecting the flesh herself.
It was indeed a bruise. A normal, been hit hard bruise. Curiosity got the better of her again, the purple pony scanning over the fake mare for the scar that had graced the black head, only to come up blank.
"Amazing," the Librarian muttered, eyes and magic scouring the creatures head. Clearly this was going to take quite a bit of research to figure out.
However, a groan interrupted her thoughts; Applejack was groggily stirring, a forehoof raising to the back of her head, knocking the icepack to the floor.
"Don't move too fast AJ!" The changeling winced as the stubborn mare struggled to her hooves, wobbling slightly. Her eyes seemed to fight for focus for a moment, staring at the changeling-turned-mare as well as over said creatures shoulder.
With a yell, Applejack stumbled backwards, tripping over Rainbow, the poor cyan mare gasping as the earth pony fell onto her. Not-Bon-Bon pushed herself back, panicking herself as Applejack stuttered momentarily, looking from one cream colored mare to the other, then to her two friends who where looking at her, one with worry, and the other with a goofy grin.
As Applejack sat on top of Rainbow, the icepack floated back up in a magenta aura, placing itself back on her head.