"As long as we're together, I will never let anything hurt you!"

Through Bon-Bon's Eyes...

I stand there, crying my eyes out while Lyra just continues to hug me. Despite the promise I made to protect her... how can she still be hugging me like this?!

"W-why did you run away?" I whisper to her, unable to find my voice strong enough to speak.

She looks away from me in shame. Tears begin to well from her eyes again. She closes them and then replies, "I... I'm not a good friend for you, Bonnie... a-and... all I ever did was ruin other ponies' lives... other creatures' lives! I took poor Sean away from his family! I-I... I got in your way, and ruined your life! I practically destroyed Ponyville by letting fillies who were obviously going to bring an Ursa Major into it find the cave! I just... I felt like you'd be better off without me, Bonnie... a-and... and I felt that the world would be better off if I just left... m-maybe it would've been better if I didn't survive that-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Lyra!" I growl to her, tightening my hug. She whines a bit in pain, but I continue. "If you think for one more moment that you're a horrible friend to me, then I swear to Celestia, I'll... I'll knock some sense into you when you get better!"

I pull her face to where she's looking me in the eyes. She opens her eyes again and cries a bit more, but I continue. "I swore nothing would hurt you, and yet I drove you away! I was the reason you ran, Lyra... sure, a bunch of shit happened. It happens all the damn time... but nothing! NOTHING... can excuse me for the way I've been treating you lately! You've always been the one who cheered me up when I was down, you've always found new, interesting ways to entertain me when I felt bored of everything... you've even given up your regal life just to live with me! A simple little pony in Ponyville!"

I gently remove my hooves from her body and gently brush her tears from her cheeks. "Lyra... I'd be nothing without you!"

She slowly brings her own hoof up to wrap it onto mine. "D-do... do you really mean it, Bonnie?"

I exhale a bit, before nodding my head. "Of course, Lyra... why would I lie to you about that?"

She smiles even brighter now, nodding her head. "Y-yeah... you're right. You haven't lied to me yet, after all!"

I smile back at her, though something bugs me about that statement. "Y-yeah... exactly!"

"I want to tell you, Lyra... b-but I can't. Oh, how I wish she could know just how terrible of a friend I really am..."

My thoughts soon turn towards the mare before me. I lean back up and gently press my lips onto her forehead, carefully so as to not get poked by her horn. Her cheeks immediately glow pink at the sudden unexpected contact, and all I can really muster up is a smile, before turning around to head back to the couch.

"Get well soon, Lyra." I say... to which she simply nods her head.

Then my thoughts start to badger me. "Did I really just kiss my best friend?!"

Through Sean's Eyes...

It's been a long night, but eventually, I find myself waking back up. Looking around, the first thing I notice is that I'm still in Equestria. However, that's not an issue in my books.

No, what is the issue is that I'm not in the Basement!

Then memories of last night fill my head. I'm still in the Everfree Forest... and more specifically, I'm with Bon-Bon, Lyra, and the zebra who called herself "Zecora". The one with the cool rhyming thing going on.

Speaking of which, I wonder where she's at? I sit up and notice that I'm in the Living Room, lying on a hammock. Across from the room is Bon-Bon, and towards my feet is the now-awake form of...

"Lyra!" I say with a smile.

She weakly smiles back at me while I stand back up and rush over towards her. "H-heya, Sean... s-sorry about-"

"Don't." I say, shaking my head. "I'm the one who's sorry here. I was upset, but I shouldn't have-"

"No, Sean... I deserved it. I deserved everything I got for what I did to you... I... I took you away from-"

I cover her mouth with a finger. "No, you didn't."

This makes both her and Bon-Bon raise an ear my way. "What do you mean I didn't? Y-you said that-"

"What's this about, anyways?" Bon-Bon asks, approaching us. "You mentioned it to me earlier... well, Lyra's awake now, and we're all at the same place, so... what did you mean you were and were not married and with a family?"

I take a deep breath, before looking between the two of them. "The truth is... I'm not entirely Human, after all..."

The Dreamscape... One Day Prior...

I was standing there... or was I floating? I couldn't tell, honestly. One moment I was with Lyra and Bon-Bon... next thing I knew, there was the blue Alicorn... and then, well... there was darkness.

"Interesting plane thy mind brings up..." a deep feminine voice echoed behind me.

Instinctively, I turned around and was met face-to-face with the Alicorn in question.

Recalling the knowledge Lyra gave me, I was quick to bow my head... but she raised a hoof up and beckoned me back to my feet. "At ease, Sir Sean... if that is what thou goes by?"

I raised my head back up, looking at her incredulously. "Y-you... know my name?" I asked.

She nodded her head and smiled. "Indeed. When in the Dreamscape, We art able to look through the memories of all within it!"

"Dreamscape? We? You mean there are more Alicorns?" I asked, my curiosity growing more with each word she spoke.

Then it occurred to me. "And... how are you able to speak English?"

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Young one, thou mustn't overwork thyself with such questions! We shall surely answer them all for thee!"

She cleared her throat and approached me. I couldn't find myself able to move at all, despite how much I wanted to step back a bit.

Then she stopped and frowned. "Thou fears us, too... we understand thy discomfort, and shall not approach thee any closer."

"S-sorry, Your Highness... it's just that, well, I was told you have the ability to kill me with a mere thought. It... kinda feels like I'm in the presence of a Goddess..." I admitted, to which she raised an eyebrow.

"Who, pray tell, told thee that kind of thing?!" she asked incredulously. Her cheeks also started to flush a tiny bit... perhaps because of me addressing her as a 'goddess'.

"And please... do not think of us as goddesses, mine sister and I. We are powerful, most certainly, but by no means are we that powerful!" she said, rubbing a hoof against her leg. "Though thou hast our gratitude for thine compliments, nonetheless!"

Seeing her acting a bit more like a normal... well... a normal-in-THIS-world mare... it made me feel a lot more at ease. I then smiled and bowed my head politely at her.

"But I only speak the truth, Your Highness. With powers like yours, compared to my own, it's an overwhelming difference!" I said, to which she brightened up a bit at that.

She even giggled a tiny bit. "Yes, well, we believe thy questions must be answered. After all, there's a limited amount of time before thou wakest up."

"Right... so, I guess the first thing I'd like to know is... how can you speak English? Old World or otherwise, I have to wrap my head around the... Equish Language... and yet you speak it so fluently!"

She shook her head. "Ah, so thou hearest us speaking thy own tongue... in truth, 'tis but a trick of the mind."

"A... what?" I scratched my head in confusion.

"When communicating with one's mind, thou doesn't hear a true written language, but rather, a universal understanding. In short, when speaking with Magic, it automatically translates one's own tongue to that of thine own knowledge... regardless of what language we speak." she explained.

I rubbed my chin in thought. "So it's basically a Universal Translator?"

She nodded her head again. "Indeed."

"I see, then... that's good to know."

I then thought about the other questions I had.

"So this Dreamscape... that's where we are?" I asked. She nodded her head in response, driving me to add, "And where exactly is the Dreamscape? It kinda looks like Outer Space..."

"The Dreamscape is the embodiment of Magic, itself. It is where Magic originated from, as well as where one's spirit goes when they find Rest, both Eternal and Otherwise."

"So we're basically in Heaven?" I asked.

She rubbed her chin in thought. "Hmm... thou may call it such, though in truth, the Dreamscape is merely a single part of it. When one goes to the Land of the Divines, which is within the Dreamscape, it is usually where they go to find Eternal Rest."

"I don't get it... so the Dreamscape isn't Heaven, but at the same time, it is?" I scratched my head again, growing even more confused.

"What's there not to understand, young one? Dost thou not recall the term, 'Resting in Peace' when one Departs from their life?"

"I get that, but... well, I guess I just didn't expect Heaven to be nothing more than an endless dream, that's all..." I admitted with a shrug.

She then raised a hoof. "Ah, but therein lies a question we must ask thee! What, to thou, art a dream?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but paused for a moment. No doubt, this was a question that one needed to ponder. Seeing no other choice, however, I had to at least give her an answer.

"It's, uh... images in one's head?"

She waves her hoof as if implying for me to go on.

"Images that we can enjoy? Because... they tell us what we want?" I guess.

She chuckled, shaking her head. "Thou art only guessing... thou doesn't truly know a dream, dost thou?"

"No, ma'am, Your Highness... I guess I've never really thought about it too deeply." I, once more, admitted to her.

She placed a wing on my shoulders and motioned a distance away. "Dreams are more than mere images. They are lives our spirits live, separate from our bodies. Out-Of-Body experiences, if thou will. They give us knowledge through living, rather than listening. 'Tis why one hears a story, and may dream of said story in detail."

She then lit her horn up and motioned for me to follow her down the path of empty space. I followed her instinctively, as soon a seemingly endless hallway appeared before us, with numerous doors within it; each with several lights of various colors within them.

"Are these..." I began, to which she nodded.

"Indeed... this is thine own personal memories thou holdest dearly." she said. With her horn pointed towards one of the doors nearest to us, she opened it using her magic, and motioned for me to step inside.

Once inside, I looked around the field. Immediately, I recognized it.

"This is the field I dreamed about when I first met..." I was rendered speechless when I saw a young couple standing at the top. One of them was me... and the other one...

"... Janet..." I whispered.

The princess nodded her head. "Indeed... when one steps within these doors, they relive their dreams, be they good or otherwise."

Then another thought occurred. "Wait... but if we relive our dreams, then... why am I standing there, on top of the hill? I don't remember there being two of me in my dream!"

The princess tensed up a bit. She then closed her eyes and sighed. "This... is where things will trouble thee, I'm certain."

I looked at her and tilted my head. "What do you mean? Why am I not reliving this? Why am I just watching it, if I'm supposed to relive it?"

She looked me in the eyes and frowned. "It is because thou art not actually Sean."

I blink owlishly at her. "Uh... yeah, I kinda am. I mean, why wouldn't I-"

"Maybe I can help you with this one, Your Highness?" came a familiar voice beside us. We both turned our heads and, to my utter shock, I was looking at perhaps one of the most handsome faces I'd ever lay eyes on.

...

Okay, joking aside, it turned out I was looking at myself, but... surprisingly older and more mature.

"Hello, Sean... it's interesting to meet you here, isn't it?" he asked me.

All I could respond with was a blink, eye-rubbing, and a very astounding "What the hell?!"

Author's Note

Yeah, it's not quite as interesting as the last few chapters, but I kinda needed something to post, so here y'all go!

Hey, rushed a little bit, maybe a bit cringy as Hell, but at least it didn't take about half a year this time, eh? And, uh... it'll get better later on.

I mostly just want to get all the Dramatic crap out of the way so we can get back to what I originally had planned for it... which is good ol' lovable shenanigans with two mares, one human, and a hell of a lot more classic "Slapstick" and "Random Chaos" caused by our favorite, lovable Lyra, and Bon-Bon's good ol' stress cases to boot!

I'll probably return to these chapters later on in the future, but for now, just think of it as a speed-run of sorts. I wanted to get these done back in February, but as the saying goes, "Life sucks."

Anyways, please do enjoy your much more frequent doses of "Ponyville Tales!" from now until I get the need to take another breather!