BonBon sighed as she glanced at the clock. She was due to open up in a few minutes, but she didn’t especially feel up to it today. Lyra had been missing from her bed this morning.

She usually at least had the common courtesy to come home after she’d finished whoever she was off doing in the middle of the night.

The earth pony looked up from her work as she heard a knock at the back door. Sliding the cash drawer into the register, she turned to go see who it was. If it was Lyra, she was going to have such words for her!

She opened the door, gasping as she looked up to see ‘Amos Anon’ on the other side, Lyra’s body cradled in his arms. It took a moment for BonBon to realize that it wasn’t a corpse, but that Lyra was breathing very, very shallowly.

“Oh, Lyra,” she sighed, shaking her head. “I was afraid this’d happen. If you can put her in the bedroom, I’ll go get your pay.”

“I am sorry, Missus Drops,” Anon said solemnly, carrying the braindead mare into the bedroom and laying her out on the marital bed.

“Eh, it’s not your fault,” BonBon called back. “I probably should’ve told her I knew what was up sooner, instead of hopin’ you could fix her.”

“I did make sure she had several chances to turn back. She didn’t take any of them.”

BonBon came back, carrying a metal box from a handle in her mouth.

“Welp, here you go. Just remember our deal, Mister!” BonBon pointed a hoof at him warningly. “You try anything here on Equestria, and I’ll have you pinned out under the badlands sun like a butterfly.”

“Believe me, Missus Drops, I want off this planet as badly as you want me off it. An end to your wife’s wandering is a small price to pay for replacing the ship’s helm.”

He picked up the box, carefully cracking the lid and looking in at something that seemed to swallow the light from around its container. He nodded, closing the lid with a sharp click.

“A pleasure doing business with you. I will take word to the Empire that your sphere is quarantined; we have no interest in a world whose creatures control its sun having anything to do with ours.”

“And let’s keep it that way.”

BonBon watched the disguised illithid leave her shop from the back, then hurried out front to put up a sign that she was taking the day off for family issues.

Returning to the bedroom, she snuggled up to her wife and stroked the fur on her shoulder gently.

“Oh, Lyra,” she sighed, kissing her gently on the cheek and settling in to catch up on the snuggling she’d lost over the course of their long relationship. “You always did let things get out of hand.”

Author's Note

Don't you just love it when a couple can overcome their difficulties?

Until next time, boils and ghouls!