Deep within a giant black crystal fortress, a lone earth pony mare ran along the thick wires hanging high above the blackened crystal floor. She held closely the shadows and her cloak.

She moved quickly and made sure no matter what she was out of the sight of nearly everything from the flying pegasi to the soldiers on the ground, each who were on constant alert. She jumped from one large cable to another with little problem, making quick and accurate leaps from each spot until she reached her destination.

Ahead of her, a single light could be seen shining bright in the distance. It hung from a tower and, though it wasn't the highest, she knew it well as the former tower of Princess Luna.

She gulped tightly as she got closer and saw a seafoam green hand waving to her through the light. Her fist tightened and her back tensed as she jumped up to her fullest height before running along with the tower to its peak.

Landing carefully she felt the pain in her back intensify. She looked at the lamp that shone bright and blew it out.

"Welcome home, Bon Bon," She smiled at the voice of Lyra.

Catching sight of her lover standing before her. Bonbon couldn't help the way her chest heat up as all else was forgotten. Just a glimpse of her caused the pain in her back to lessen. The smile grew a bit wider as she stepped forward, meeting Lyra halfway. The relief bloomed to a gentle lust in her chest. They press their foreheads together for the briefest of moments before Bonbon moved, capturing Lyra’s lips with her own.

As Lyra moved her arms to embrace Bonbon, Bonbon shifted to reciprocate. The tremor that ran through her limbs as she lifted them to hold Lyra to her did not go unnoticed by the seafoam furred mare. Lyra attempted to pull back, but the firm hold and eager lips of her lover stopped her, pulling her back in. As the kiss got more intense, Lyra slid her arms tighter around Bon Bon’s neck. Fingers gripping gently at the fabric on her shoulders. Bonbon subtly tensed as the pain prickled through her. However, she would not give in. Not now. Not while she finally had her. Not after such a long week apart. Luckily, Lyra was too preoccupied to notice just yet. They pulled apart moments later - panting.

"I've missed you so much," Bonbon said as she pulled off her mask.

"As have I," Lyra smiled beckoning Bonbon to her as she back-stepped to the dark blue bed behind her.

Bonbon gladly followed her lover’s lead, stepping forward with every step Lyra took back. Once the back of Lyra’s legs hit the side of the bed, she sat back on the shredded blue comforter. Giving a seductive smirk, Bon Bon leaned forward, placing her hands on either side of Lyra’s hips, holding back a wince as the fabric of her costume caught and rubbed against the burns on her back. However, she gave Lyra no time to notice as she captured her lips, once again using her body weight to gently guide her lover down onto the mattress. She knew she couldn't do as much as she wanted to without Lyra noticing that she was in less than pristine condition.

Worrying her lover was the last thing she wanted to do. She slid her lips down to Lyra’s jaw, gently nuzzling into her fur and sliding her way down to her lover’s chest. Soft moans filled her ears and she hummed into the kisses she was leaving behind. Her fingers kneaded into the fur at Lyra’s sides. She pressed a kiss to the seafoam mare’s belly button, flicking her tongue within before she continued trailing down. She lowered herself, nipping softly at Lyra’s left hip before pressing a kiss to the inside of her thigh. Lyra tried to get up then, but Bonbon just gently pushed her back down with a tender hand to her chest as she raised herself back up to rest her chin on Lyra’s stomach once again.

"Let me have this," she implored, giving Lyra’s stomach a few more kisses.

"But you must be tired," Lyra argued even as she relaxed back down into the comforter.

Bonbon laughed lightly, looking up at her lover. Amusement glinting in her pale blue eyes. "I've got enough energy for this."

Bonbon shifted lower, nuzzling into the warm heat awaiting her. Her tongue slipped out to eagerly caress her lover’s supple folds. To twitch against her sensitive nub. Effectively distracting the mare before her, and earning a sweetly murmured moan in the process.

She pressed Lyra’s legs open wider. Delving deeper into her lover’s folds. Her tongue pressing firmly against her moaning mare’s hot center as she dragged it up once more. Savoring the sweet coppery taste of her. With each leisurely lap of her tongue, she drove Lyra closer to the edge. Dipping her tongue into Lyra’s entrance, Bonbon flicked it up. Lyra gasped - digging her fingers into the dark comforter, grabbing at it in need.

Encouraged, Bonbon repeated the action, digging her tongue in deeper and wiggling it gently against her lover’s twitching outer walls as she lifted her lover closer to her. Fingers pressing into the soft fur-coated flesh of her buttocks. Lyra wrapped her legs around Bonbons shoulders halting her movement for a moment before the cream-colored mare pushed forward - burying her snout deeper into her lover and pressing her tongue in as far as it would go. That sent Lyra careening off the edge, her inner walls spasming around the tip of Bonbons tongue. Her legs pulling her lover in closer. The slight pain causing Bonbon to whimper against her.

******

A small explosion tore over the ruins of the enemy base. This wasn’t as big as the one that Night Glider used, but it was enough to wake Flash Sentry. His metal wings released the shielding he used to block the blast and readjusted to a proper shape.

It wasn’t like there weren't any wounds on him. In fact, his stomach was torn. He huffed at the blackened slime pouring from his wound and grabbed a nearby torch. He sealed the wound with the flame so as to not hinder his movement as he explored the remains of the base; proper healing would have to wait, as it always did with him.

Reaching the camera room, he moved some rubble away with his wings and grabbed a purple hand covered in needle-like nails. He yanked the body fully out and threw it to the ground.

Night Fright’s body was far more limp than he was. In fact, it was almost pale. Flash sneered and kicked him hard in the stomach. “Don’t you fucking die on me, you bastard!”

Night Fright coughed hard, and his paleness faded. “Fuck you--” He was silenced by the blade wing to his throat.

“You can die when I’m done with your rotten corpse,” Flash’s threats were always so bold. “Now tell me, how many did we lose.”

Night Fright hobbled over to a monitor and typed something. After a few moments, he answered: “More than half of the storage was taken out by the explosions, and all our test subjects escaped with that group.”

“Huh, the mysterious Mad Jack certainly trained them well.” Flash was impressed. He looked over the base and saw more of it gone with only small parts still standing. Looking up to the sky he frowned at a small glimpse of light. His eyes followed the shine over a reflected piece of metal; there he saw his body and finally noticed his arm was broken. “Huh.” Taking it in the other hand, he popped the bone back in place before using some fire nearby to burn the wound shut.

“You should really take time to heal.” Night Fright noted.

“I have no time for such weaknesses anymore.” Flash turned to the sky and narrowed his eyes on something. “Besides, with an explosion that big the King will be here soon. We must gather what data we can.”

Night Fright continued to type. “I do have some good news.”

“Yeah?”

“The radiation wasn’t coming from the bombs they were carrying.”

“What?” Flash’s eyes went wide. He turned to Night Fright and demanded answers. The old batpony simply pointed to the scanner’s data. Flash smiled at this, “Looks like this wasn’t a total failure.” He looked to the north.

In the direction Canterlot once stood.

Standing in its place was a massive crater, with a giant crystal fortress floating above. This wasn’t a shock to him; it wasn’t a shock to most. It had been there for sixteen months now. The fortress of the King they all feared. His grin grew as thoughts bubbled in his head. “We need to visit the remains of the Starswirl Secret Library.”

“But that’s under the fortress. The king will know something up,” Night Fright did little to fight his shivers.

“We will have to be careful. We haven’t come this far just to fear even his wrath.”

******

Back in Luna’s tower it took a good long moment for Lyra’s legs to loosen and let Bon Bon move up onto the bed as she slipped out of the rest of her costume grimacing as the fabric pulled away from her wounds. Pulling the covers over the two of them, Bon Bon pressed a warm kiss to Lyra’s cheek.

"Ugh. You're a mess, Bon Bon," Lyra complained, playfully pushing the white mare away.

"Yeah, but it's your mess," Bon Bon teased back, nuzzling against Lyra’s cheek until she gained the right angle to press a chaste kiss to her lover’s lips.

"My mess or not, it's still gross," Lyra scolded lightly as she wiggled into her favorite spot. Right between Bon Bon’s breasts. Bon Bon laughed warmly and allowed Lyra to shift and nuzzle into her bosom.

Lyra hummed with delight as she snuggled her mane deep between Bon Bon's breast. She looked to Bon Bon as the earth pony kissed her horn. "So, didn't get the chance to ask..." her words drifted.

"Since I went right to ravishing you on Luna's bed." Bon Bon interrupted.

"I mean, did you find them yet?" Lyra scooted in closer. Her ears dropped when her lover didn't answer right away. Waiting a full minute, she lifted herself up and turned to face her directly.

"..." Again Bon Bon refused to answer.

Lyra gave her the saddest face and dotted her nose with her own. "Don't give up. You'll find them."

"...Celestia and Luna have been missing for sixteen months now," Bon Bon finally gave in. "I'm not sure how long I can keep searching." Bon Bon pulled away and sat up at her own answer. She held tightly to the blanket, keeping her back covered.

Annoyed that she was now in the cold, Lyra placed her hand over the cover. Bon Bon's back shot with pain and she couldn't hide her sneers.

"What happened?" Lyra's eyes were wide.

"It's nothing," Bon Bon got up from the bed and hoped the distance could hide them better.
However, the shredded blanket could only hide so much of the burns on Bon Bon’s body. She winced as she heard Lyra gasped. "Fine, it's more than nothing." Her legs buckled, and her eyes strained.

Lyra got up and placed her hand down, more gently. Guiding over the blanket until she saw how much was burned. Nearly the entire back was covered in first and second-degree burns. "What happened? Are the other girls okay?"

"Most of us..." She could barely speak as tears fought their way free. "We lost... nopony--" She was stopped as Lyra wrapped her arms softly around her.

"You don't need to lie." Lyra rested her head on Bon Bon's shoulder. "Mad Jack sends you on so many dangerous missions." Her voice skipped a breath. "I’m always afraid that you’ll be in a body bag someday. But I let you go out there because Mad Jack is the only one left who will fight the King."

"But at what cost?!" Bon Bon finally screamed, the pain in her back reaching its peak. Letting weakness get to her so rarely, she pushed Lyra away..Lyra knew Bon Bon for many years, but never once did she ever scream in fear like this. Never once did she ever see her tremble even against the toughest of monsters.

Lyra looked out to the night sky, though the moon could longer be seen anymore she still could keep track of time. Her eyes narrowed, and her ears dropped. "It's almost morning..." Her breath dropped. "I saw the rest get in, where is Night Glider and--"

"She..." Bon Bon turned away and looked to her Mare-Do-Well costume. Lyra's eyes followed hers and caught sight of the faint blood.

"No..." Lyra murmured, voice dropped. "Where is Vinyl? Does Octavia know yet--"

"Vinyl and I barely survived... We got our soldiers away from there and even saved several other ponies. But..."

Lyra's eyes went wide. "And Night Glider?"

She pushed away the tears. The pain in her back was too much, the tears were too much. She just wanted to hide from the rest of the world. She removed the blanket and walked over to the closet and pulled out a maid's outfit. "We were trapped by Captain Flash!" She twisted the word captain as if to add the worst kind of compliment to him.

"You three did your best, right?"

"Yeah, we got the files, saved so many, but Night Glider saw no way out and saw fit to take out Flash out with her in an explosion." Bon Bon pulled on the outfit and made sure everything was tight. However, unable to reach the zipper, she reached over to Lyra.

Lyra rolled her eyes and got up from the bed. She arrived at the closet and looked past the mirror on the door and traced her eyes over how the blacks moved around the whites, making them rim perfectly around her lover's small cups. Her eyes came up to the zipper, gripping it softly she moved it into place. "I... I'll tell the others--"

"Not yet. Double Diamond is currently on another mission, and Sugar Belle is still healing from their city's destruction. I'll be seeing Party Favor today."

"Wait, you're not going to Zephyr's whore show house?!" Lyra pulled back and huffed. She always hated such places.

"I'm sorry. Mad Jack only gave me so much time to see you," Bon Bon turned to Lyra and kissed her on the chin.

"But what about Tootsie Flute? Are you just going to leave without even seeing our daughter?"

"The child was always your idea." Bon Bon's hands tensed at her own coldness. "Sorry." She turned away to the exit.

"Is that really how you see it?" Lyra barked at her.

"Look, Party Favor is one of the few ponies I can trust to get these files to their proper places. Besides, Zephyr and Treehugger's work is the only thing that’s keeping the elites on our side." Bon Bon placed the bonnet on and walked to the door.

"...Fine." Lyra turned away.

"I'll be back soon." Bon Bon huffed and tied up her mane, putting on some high heels and walking down the stairway.

******

Author's Note

I would love some feedback, especially since half of this chapter was written by my co-writer. I want to know if the change between writers is jolting or not. I want the feel to be very comfortable.

There will be sometime before the next chapter as I'm still trying to figure out a schedule for this and the other stories in this universe. Please remember this story is meant to only go so far as it covers a month of time. I'm also working on the possible next story in this universe right now.

Remember, gives some likes and comments. Any feedback is wanted.