Mindjacked

For what seemed like a lifetime there was only darkness. There was no emotion, no feeling, no color. Just endlessly floating in a dark abyss.

Light did not appear slowly, as you may be expecting. Instead there was simply a swift crack of pain, and then it existed.

*SMACK*

"Ooooow..." Suddenly there was light and color everywhere. Through the blurry and shaky images I could see grass, trees, and a clear blue sky; though I wasn't sure how I knew exactly what these things were. I reflexively raised a hoof to my face, feeling a painful stinging sensation there.

I turned my eyes forward to see a mint green mare standing there. Lyra, I recalled, though deep down I knew I had never seen this mare before. Lyra had a hoof up in a punching position, but now had a confused look on her face, whereas a split second before she appeared furious.

These observations occurred in less then a second, during which my mind settled on the fact that she hit me. I brought my hoof up and punched her in the face, sending her sprawling onto the ground. Her face showed shock and some pain as she brought a hoof up to tentatively touch her cheek.

"You hit me." Lyra mumbled, still looking quite shocked.

"You started it." I replied back to her. Odd; I wasn't sure I even knew how to speak, but it came so naturally.

"I did?" She looked confused, then finally seemed to take notice of how I was also rubbing my own cheek. "But why did I hit you?"

I tried to think back and remember the reason, but oddly enough it wasn't there. Maybe I had acted too rashly?

Lyra took notice of something on the ground between us and picked it up. It was a raggedy old thing, all torn up and dirty. It looked kinda like a pony. Sort of.

"I think I remember this." She mumbled out. "We were... fighting for it?"

"For this old thing? It just looks like a piece of junk." I exclaimed, scrunching up my face. Lyra giggled at the expression, and I would later find out it was because it simply made me look more adorable rather than irritated.

"Please don't call her that!" I heard a voice yell over to my left. I turned to see a lavender unicorn trotting up to us, looking very frazzled. She also seemed to notice her own outburst and flushed slightly.

Twilight Sparkle, I remembered. I was starting to get a bit curious as to why I didn't know these mares, yet just as suddenly, it felt as if I did know them.

The little doll was covered in a purple field of energy and floated over to Twilight. "Sorry girls, her name is Smartypants and she's mine. I... might have cast a teensy weensy little spell over her that made ponies fight over her." Her flush got deeper as she looked down at the ground, having trouble meeting our eyes.

Lyra laughed it off, still absently rubbing her cheek. "Aw, no harm done. Though I do feel pretty silly for fighting over it, how about you Bonbon?"

Bonbon, the thought came again, unhindered. That's me. Wait, no its not. I'm not Bonbon... am I?

The two mares just kind of stared at me waiting for my response while a little war was going on in my head. After a moment Lyra just laughed and wrapped a hoof around me while looking at Twilight. "Don't mind her Twi, she's just sore that I hit her in the scuffle. She'll get over it."

The lavender mare managed to look both apologetic and thankful at the same time. "Sorry for the trouble. I'll just be heading back now."

"Bye Twilight!" Lyra waved as the unicorn trotted away before shooting me a glance. "You could have said something you know, she DID apologize." The mint green mare took her hoof off my shoulder and started trotting away before turning back to look at me a few steps away. "You hungry? My treat this time."

I was jarred out of my little internal debate by a deep rumble coming from my stomach. I had the decency to blush as Lyra laughed at me and waved me over.

It really was a nice little shop, I told myself as I munched away at a cupcake. Sugarcube corner, my mind helpfully supplied. Me and Lyra were just eating and laughing about nothing in particular, which was a good thing because if the topic turned to something where my input was useful I'd have probably gotten tongue-tied by my lack of knowledge of what exactly was going on.

I was Bonbon... but I wasn't. I somehow knew I wasn't supposed to be Bonbon. But then why do I know what Bonbon knows? What she should feel? It made my head hurt.

I took another bite of the cupcake. If the bite seemed a little more vicious than it should have been for dealing with a small confectionery covered in sprinkles, it was your imagination.

I scrunched my face up from the mild headache and reached for my glass of apple juice, noticing my reflection in the glass. The frustration face really was kind of adorable on Bonbon. I vowed to do it as little as possible.

I watched Lyra devour large amounts of the treats with a kind of morbid fascination, still talking perfectly well even while eating. It must take a certain amount of skill to do such a thing.

She's beautiful. Meh, she's okay I guess. I took a sip of my apple juice while staring at her, trying to see what my mind was apparently seeing in her.

Lyra had by this point noticed my staring and laughed while brushing a hoof through her hair as if she was some kind of high-class pony from Canterlot. "Like what you see?" She made several very exaggerated blinking motions and I couldn't help but let out a giggle. It looked so wrong on her face, especially when she was trying to stop from giggling herself.

"I guess you could say that." I joked.

Lyra dropped the 'prim and proper' act and stretched in her odd, upright way of sitting before dropping some bits onto the table and hopping off her seat. "What do you say we head home then? Been a long day."

I looked out the window to see that the sun was indeed beginning to set. It must have already been pretty far into the day when I became aware.

I nodded and followed her out, waving to a happy pink pony on the way out (Pinkie Pie, my mind helpfully supplied.) and walking calmly next to Lyra as she chatted animatedly about this and that. I'm beginning to think that Bonbon wasn't incredibly talkative in the first place, which is why the mint green mare has no qualms about filling the void of silence.

Looking down into the road I noticed a small letter with what looked to be a royal seal on the front. I raised an eyebrow and picked it up, Lyra looking at me curiously.

"Oh, I'm sorry, that's mine. Thanks for finding it!"

I looked up to see a grey mare with a blond mane and crossed eyes looking right at me. Or a least... I think she was trying to look at me. One eye kept going off where it shouldn't. It was a little creepy to be honest, but the big smile she was giving me alleviated it quite a bit. Derpy Hooves, my brain helpfully supplied. Thanks brain.

"Thanks so much for finding it, I would have gotten in a lot of trouble if I lost any before my deliveries even started." If possible her smile widened further and she hugged me. I was a little caught off guard but it wasn't unpleasant. I smiled and hugged her back.

"No problem Derpy, have a nice night." She nodded and flew off, bumping into the side of a roof on the way up but keeping a firm grasp on the letter.

Lyra just rolled her eyes and I giggled, I guess Derpy was just always like that.

As we neared what I believed to be Lyra's and Bonbon's house (They were roommates. Thanks brain!) the topic steadily drifted towards something that I was probably supposed to be listening to, as her tone got somber.

"I know you don't like trying to talk about it, but, are you sure you're okay with this? Us, I mean."

I looked at her curiously, not really knowing what she was talking about. "Of course Lyra, why wouldn't I be?"

She avoided looking me in the eyes and I suddenly felt like I was intruding on something.

"Well I feel like I'm being kind of selfish, but you never complain or anything." Lyra mumbled out, dragging her feet a bit.

I bit my lip, suddenly feeling really out of my element and wondering what exactly I was missing here. "Well uhm, don't worry about it. I'll tell you if I have a problem with anything, okay?"

Lyra nodded but kept her head down. When we arrived home she held open the door for me. I smiled and walked inside, recognizing the quaint, homely building despite never having seen it before personally.

I heard the door lock behind me with a small 'click' and turned to see Lyra walking towards me. At the same time something in my head seemed to 'click' as well and I started piecing things together, a bead of sweat running down my face. All the physical contact, plus paying for lunch; which was in retrospect probably a date, her talk about 'us'...

'Oh no. Oh no no no no no, don't tell me Lyra and Bonbon are- We're together. -Horseapples! I said don't tell me that!'

Before I could get a word in edgewise Lyra was already pressed against me and giving me a soft kiss, thankfully not one of those super passionate ones between serious couples or else I would have freaked out a lot more than I did. I still sorta freaked out though.

My mind was running a mile a minute as I pushed her away, being careful not to just shove her across the room. Don't get me wrong, I kinda liked it, but I was pretty sure that was just the Bonbon part of me, while the other part that was actually 'me' was the one freaking out.

She still looked kind of hurt though and I swear my heart broke at her big watery eyes. "Just- just give me a minute to think." I stammered out and rushed up the stairs, my mind already instinctively going towards Bonbon's room.

After I shut the door and slid to the floor I started breathing like I'd run a marathon. Sure it was probably normal for Lyra and Bonbon and it was just a little peck on the lips but I still wasn't Bonbon even though I kinda was at the same time. Half of me was happy about it and the other half practically viewed it as a stranger kissing me that I had only known for a few hours.

Maybe I could sort through Bonbon's head to see what this is about. I mean, I know everything she does, its just kinda hidden away like a really big library. So I could just... look around in it, right? I didn't really know how it worked. Before my mind was just pulling out the names of ponies and places when they were necessary, sometimes with random Bonbon-ish comments working their way into my thoughts. I hadn't dug around in her head to find anything specific yet. It couldn't be that hard.

I lid down on her bed and tried that whole 'looking inside of yourself' thing that's in those sappy plays Bonbon likes. Turns out that's either pretty hard to do or it was useless advice because it accomplished nothing.

After that I merely tried to will any memory up that had to do with Lyra and Bonbon's relationship. That worked a bit better, and is what I think I was doing on instinct earlier; quickly dragging up names of ponies I needed to know.

Unfortunately it also created a rush of memories I could barely make sense of, and also gave me a few I really didn't need to see. I blushed and shoved them back to Bonbon's side of our head.

I actually also tried to 'wake' her, as the only comparison I could make to make sense of what was going on was that she was 'sleeping'. Not exactly the same, but I couldn't think of anything else. At any rate, that didn't work either. She was out like a light; I'm assuming because of me. Not a pleasant thought, and I hoped she'd wake up eventually.

After about an hour of trying to get this to work I actually stumbled upon something successful, which is funny because it was the first idea I had. I imagined Bonbon's mind as a library.

Every bit of information Bonbon had ever acquired; whether it was informative, personal, or even forgotten memories, were all books inside of a gigantic library. It was like I was doing two things at once; walking through this library in my head (more like Bonbon's head) while also staring at the wall of her room.

It was actually an amazing feeling. I could discover anything I wanted to. I just had to pluck the book off the shelf that had what I wanted, and 'skim' it until I found what I needed to know. A lot more difficult than that instinctive 'pull' of information when I needed something immediately, but still very helpful.

I decided to not be nosy and just looked for what I needed.

It seemed like mare-on-mare relationships were at least well tolerated in Equestria, so that couldn't be it. Sure there were ponies that didn't like it because it wasn't 'natural' but overall they were well-received. Which seemed understandable to me, since just from walking around ponyville I could see that the population was heavily skewed towards females. I saw maybe three stallions the whole day, and that was pushing it.

The problem, it seemed, was Lyra's parents in Canterlot. They always wanted her to find a nice stallion to settle down with and give them grandchildren, and were not much for the idea of 'fillyfoolers'. Lyra was thrilled that they were so proud of her when she moved out and started getting steady work as a musician, and is now terrified they'd be disappointed with her and didn't want to come out about the relationship with Bonbon.

"Ah." I mumbled to myself out loud. "That's what she meant when she said she thought she was being selfish."

In a way it kind of was, but Bonbon seemed to love her enough to put up with it, even though she wanted to be open about it according to all these other thoughts in her 'library'. Most of the books got immediately shoved back onto the shelf to avoid embarrassment.

I probably did a bad thing then. Lyra thinks Bonbon is mad at her when the 'real' Bonbon isn't even here.

"Should I just ignore it?..." I muttered and felt a slight pang in my heart from the thought. Whether it was meant to be Bonbon's response to my thoughts or my own, I had no idea. I just knew the idea seemed bad all around.

I stood up and moved to go back downstairs. "I'll just try to fix things for Bonbon. How hard could it be?"

Pretty hard apparently. Lyra just looked sad, but she wasn't crying or anything yet. Meanwhile, I was just trying to get words to come out of my stupid mouth. Speaking for somepony you had never technically met, and yet you knew everything about, while pretending to be that pony you had never met was actually pretty difficult. Who knew?

I sighed and walked out into the living room. Lyra looked up at me and bit her lip, obviously thinking she did something wrong earlier when she kissed me, when in reality it was just because I wasn't actually her lover.

I sat next to her and quirked a small smile at her odd posture. "How do you manage to sit like that?"

She laughed a little and shrugged from her upright position. "I don't know. Its just comfortable." From the response I figured this was probably something Bonbon asked all the time.

"Look, for what its worth, I'm sorry I pushed you Lyra. I was just a little upset." I tested the waters.

"No, its okay. I know you're frustrated with how long this has been going on and just don't want anything to do with it anymore." She sniffled a little. Ouch, strike one. Guilt shot should be against the rules.

Unfortunately I hadn't seen exactly how long this was going on, but I could assume it was a while from Lyra's speech. I just happened to hop into Bonbon's body at a bad time.

"Well, I can't say I wouldn't like it if we were more open about it; or told your parents." I bit my lip and added as an afterthought. "If you're okay with it."

"But I just can't!" She wailed, and I was a little caught off guard. It kinda came out of nowhere. Is that strike two? "Don't you see? I've ALWAYS been the weird one, causing my parents trouble with my theories on magic, or humans, or... or anything! When I told them about how steadily my popularity has been rising with music, and how I might even be considered to play at the next gala... they were so proud of me." She sniffled again and looked down at her front hooves. I didn't know what humans were either, but I don't think it was important to what she was saying.

"I don't think I've seen that expression on their faces since I got my cutie mark so long ago." Lyra sighed. "I don't want to go back to being a disappointment. Even if its just an illusion, I... I want them to be able to look at me and say to others 'that's my daughter!'" She exclaimed, pointing in an exaggerated manner, which only brought more attention to her odd posture. She seemed to notice this as well and just sighed again. "You see? I'm always the weird one."

"But I don't care about that, and they shouldn't either." I said without hesitation, then blinked at how easily that came to me. "I love you for who you are, and it hurts to see you have to hide it like this." The words were coming more easily now. "We see couples outside all the time. Hugging, kissing, just enjoying loving each other. Why should you have to hide it? It's a part of you, and you should be proud of it, just like they should be."

"B-but I..." She stuttered out. The words seemed to help a little, but not enough. I kissed her.

Just another of those little peck on the lip kisses, but oddly I didn't get that feeling again like she was a complete stranger, even though she obviously still was. Was it really that easy? To just let myself go and end up doing exactly what Bonbon would have done? It was an interesting thought. It's like I was capable of channeling my inner Bonbon.

I stood up and looked back at her as I walked away. "Just think about it, please. I still want to be able to love you outside of our own house. We'll talk more in the morning." I called as I ascended the stairs again. I heard a 'Thanks, Bonbon' from behind me and smiled. Once I got started talking it wasn't too bad. I mean, it probably wouldn't fix everything. It might not even fix anything, but it's okay for a little while. Once Bonbon wakes up inside my head, she can fix it herself.

I was actually feeling very drained, despite not doing much today. I decided to just think about it later, sleep was more important.

I hopped into Bonbon's bed, marveling at how warm it was. Have I ever even been in a bed before? I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I awoke to some awful noise blaring right next to me. Alarm clock. I groaned and tried to ignore it. It felt like I barely got any sleep last night.

I reached a hoof over and started thumping widely in the direction of the clock, trying to make it stop. When that ultimately failed, I sighed and got up to start the day. Beginning with stopping that bucking clock.

I picked it up, having a somewhat difficult time. My depth perception seemed somewhat off and at first when I tried to pick the clock up I almost pushed it off the nightstand.

I yawned and stepped off the bed, holding my head as I started seeing in almost double vision. What was wrong with me? When I stepped forward I had to be especially careful not to fall. My hooves didn't want to go the proper way, it seemed.

I finally got my answer when I walked up to the only mirror in the room. In fact, the room itself was much different than the one I remembered falling asleep in.

No cream colored coat stared back at me, or dark blue mane with that cute pink stripe through it. Instead my coat was a greyish color, and my mane had now become blond.

My eyes were also crossed, making it difficult to look properly at the reflection.

I was now Derpy Hooves.

....Horseapples.