Love Thy Bon

Lyra stared in concern at Bon Bon. “I thought we said no more secrets?”

Bon Bon shuffled nervously on her hooves as she flit about the kitchen. She was panic baking. Something she only did when her nerves were frayed and she wasn’t sure how to handle it. Lyra normally didn’t mind Bon Bon’s panic baking; especially the little chocolate treats that would result, but this panic baking had something to do with them.

As a couple.

And that terrified Lyra. They were happy together, right? Bon Bon had seemed happy. Lyra was happy. Was it a sex thing? Had Bonnie cheated?

The thought made Lyra’s stomach sour. That wouldn’t be the end of them. It couldn’t. But it wasn’t something Lyra was looking forward to navigating. Maybe Bonnie had someone else? Someone better than Lyra? That thought was worse than a one night stand.

If Bonnie was cheating, Lyra hoped it was with a stallion.

She shook her head. There was no point getting tied in knots over this without knowing what it was about.

“Bonnie… please. This morning you said that you needed to talk to me about something after my show and now you’re doing… this. Let’s talk, okay?”

Bon Bon paused as she took a candy thermometer out of a pot of boiling sugar. Her eyes flit to Lyra, and Lyra could see the usually calm and stoic mare was in a panic. Her deep, raspy voice was tinged with an uncharacteristic squeaking. “I was wrong. Everything is fine. We don’t need a talk.”

Bon Bon watched Lyra, waiting for a reaction as the pot began to smoke. Lyra’s horn ignited as she turned off the stove. “Bon! If you burn down the house I will be super mad. Just talk to me, okay?”

Bon Bon looked sheepishly at the pot. Then back at Lyra as her head dipped to the floor. “I’m… okay. Let me… I just… I’ll clean up first. We can talk after.”

Lyra snorted. “Sure. Keep making me wait... Look, if it’s bad news I’ll be okay. We’ve been married for eight years now; and they’ve been wonderful. We can work through whatever… this is.”

Bon Bon looked like she was about to cry. “You promise?”

Lyra nodded and gave a comforting smile. “I promise, Bonnie.”

Bon Bon smiled back, still nervous but looking somewhat hopeful.

She seemed to stare as Lyra left. It was weird. Usually Lyra was the pony that stared. Bon Bon’s little display was making Lyra nervous as well. She sighed, pulling out her Lyre and thinking as she strummed it. She could use magic to play, but right now it was soothing her. So she used her hooves.

Each little string gave her something to think about. Each was a note in a song, a little one, but a nice and pleasing one. Like their family.

Lyra plucked another note, listening to it reverberate as she remembered the day Bon Bon and her had proposed to each other. They had been so happy, and Bon Bon had been so sweet to her. Another note, and she thought about the honeymoon. That had been a different kind of happy. Also sweet in its own way. Then Bon Bon’s candy cave adventure. Another sweet memory. Visiting her parents. Getting a medal from Twilight. Bon Bon clapping at her Canterlot Orchestral debut. Her cheering for Bon Bon’s candy to win the “Most Melty Sweets” competition.

All wonderful memories. All with Bon Bon. Her song filled the room, letting her relax as she played. Her mind wandered, and she wondered what silly thing had Bonnie in a such a hissy. Had she missed a bill? Lyra couldn’t imagine it. Was she working for S.M.I.L.E. again? Lyra could imagine that. She almost growled, but bit back her anger as the song picked up.

They would survive a few S.M.I.L.E. assignments. They had before.

Her mind drifted angrily to the thought of Bon Bon cheating on her. Maybe the mare had a taste for stallions and had finally sought to sate it. The thought made her stomach churn, but they could work through it. She imagined Bon Bon, sweating and smiling under some nameless and faceless jerk. It hurt, but it wasn’t unmanageable. Would she be so calm about it when the jerk wasn’t nameless and faceless?

The song had grown low and angry. Her mind drifted to another image. The stallion morphed into a mare. A pretty one. One with a longer mane, more normal colors than Lyra’s mint green coat, a softer voice, a more lucrative job… A better mare.

Her hoof mis-stroke, and the sour note disrupted the song. The sudden, jarring note caused her to stop playing as she stared at her hoof in anger. Her eyes flit upwards in the silence to see a terrified Bon Bon watching her.

Bon Bon took a step back, her eyes darting between the instrument and Lyra’s enraged gaze. “Actually, uh, it’s fine, hon. Don’t worry about it.”

Lyra put down her Lyre. “No. We talk about this now.”

Bon Bon visibly shrank. “Okay.”

They stood awkwardly in the silence, staring at each other. Finally, Lyra took a deep breath and let the anger disappear as she leaned back on the couch. She tapped the spot next to her, and Bon Bon sheepishly sat down in it.

Bon Bon snuggled into her side, and Lyra gave her a comforting squeeze. “It’ll be okay, Bonnie. Now, what’s going on?”

Bon Bon kept her hooves wrapped around Lyra. “Remember our wedding vows? How… we promised to love each other no matter what? No matter where our lives took us?”

Lyra felt warm. “I remember.”

Bon Bon nodded. Was she crying? “And how on the honeymoon I was so nervous. Like it was my first time with you?”

Lyra smiled warmly, remembering Bonnie’s sudden bout of shyness. Lyra had to re-teach her all the little tricks. It was like her wife had been a whole new pony after the wedding—at least in the bedroom. For some reasons Bon Bon had been terrified of disappointing Lyra after the marriage. Not that Bon Bon had been disappointing. After only a night Bon Bon was back to being a goddess of the sheets.

“Oh, I remember. You were so cute!”

Bon Bon was shaking. “The… reason for that was… that… I… um… it was… my first time.”

Lyra furrowed her brow in confusion. “Uh, no? We did that plenty before we got married, Bon.”

Bon Bon’s shaking got worse. “I know you did. But I hadn’t.”

“Yes, you did!” Lyra was confused, and growing angry. Had all those nights together meant nothing to her? What was she trying to say?

Bon Bon began to sob. “I’m sorry! I was young! I didn’t know any better! I was just… I just wanted… I’m sorry!”

Lyra felt Bon Bon shaking uncontrollably as the mare gripped her barrel and shoved her face into Lyra’s coat, smothering her own racking sobs.

Confused, Lyra gently grabbed Bon Bon. “Bonnie, it’s okay. I don’t know what’s happening, but we can work through this. And you’re older than me, by a lot!”

Bon Bon’s sobs grew worse. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t know. I didn’t understand. I just needed somewhere safe. But I love you? I can’t love you! But I love you!”

Lyra gave her a hug. “I love you too, Bonnie…” She muttered in confusion, “This isn’t like you.”

Bon Bon laughed, still crying. “Lyra… You’re… exactly right.”

Even more confused, Lyra began to frown. “What?”

Sniffling, Bon Bon kept her face buried in Lyra’s coat as she spoke. “This isn’t like me. It isn’t not like me either, though. It’s not like me at all, but it isn’t at all not like me. I’m not me, but I’m not not me.”

Lyra blinked. “Bonnie, what? You aren’t making any sense at all.”

Finally, Bon Bon pulled her face out of Lyra’s coat. Her eyes were puffy and red, and they stared at Lyra with desperation. “You’re going to hate me, and I’m going to deserve it.”

“I can’t hate you, Bonnie. What’s going on?”

Almost smiling, Bon Bon shrugged. “You can, and you will. But… I deserve it. I can’t fix… I’m sorry.”

“We can fix anything Bon. Just tell me. Did you sleep with somepony else?”

Bon Bon closed her eyes. “Stars, I can’t do this.”

A dread filled Lyra’s stomach. “So that’s it, then? You cheated on me? On us?”

A high pitch laugh, completely alien, came from Bon Bon. “Ha! Oh, if only that was all. Lyra, I love you more than anything. But it’s… so much worse than that. I was young… I didn’t realize what I was doing.”

Lyra’s eyes narrowed, an anger building in her stomach, rising with the sense of dread. “You said you were young? I don’t care if it’s from before me. Wait…” The dread hit a new note, one she hadn’t been prepared for. “Do… Do you have… a kid or something?”

The laughing stopped, and Bon Bon looked at Lyra strangely. “I didn’t know how it worked. Nobody taught me. It just… It just felt good. She looked so… empty… And then… I’m so sorry.”

Lyra focused on one word. “She?” It was another mare. The lump in her throat refused to go down. Almost absentmindedly, Lyra gave Bon Bon a squeeze. “You… can’t have kids with a mare, Bonnie. What’s going on?”

Bon Bon’s eyes focused on something far away. “I filled her with our love, Lyra. I did it over and over again. I couldn’t stop myself. Night after night, I’d slink away like the disgusting creature I am and I… filled her. I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t understand. I was just… tending to her, you know? Keeping her alive like I was taught. I was never taught about how… soft she is inside. I was never taught about how good it felt to make her… to take her… I… I didn’t know. If I knew now, I would go back and stop it. I’d never have opened… I couldn’t… I love you, and… I’m sorry.”

Lyra felt a cold rage. She hadn’t understood most of that, but she understood enough. “You… kept seeing her?”

Bon Bon’s eyes were closed now, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I have to, Lyra. I don’t have a choice. But I didn’t have to… all of it. I’m sorry.”

The rage boiled into Lyra’s words. “You’re still seeing her?”

Bon Bon laughed. “I have to. She’s… I’m not me, and she’s not me, but she is me and I’m her.”

Lyra looked at her lyre, and let her magic collect around it. She didn’t trust her hooves. She plucked a string. It broke. Her heart was beating furiously.

“We’re married, Bon.”

“I know. The wedding was the most important day of my life. I think about it all the time. How beautiful you were. How much love was in the air. How much you loved me.”

Lyra plucked another string, hearing it snap. “But you didn’t love me, did you?”

“I did… not. No. But I do now. I shouldn’t even be able to. Love isn’t something I can… should feel like that. But I do. I love you, Lyra. I love you more than anything. I love you so much that it hurts.”

“Yeah, it does hurt.” Pluck. Snap. A sour twang in the air.

Bon Bon began to cry again. “You still don’t understand.”

Lyra turned to her with stinging eyes. “What’s to understand? You were fucking around with some other mare. You’re still fucking around with some other mare. I don’t know how kids figure into this, but I don’t think I care right now. How could you… do this to me? To us?”

Bon Bon’s answer was frantic and tearful. “I didn’t have a choice! I was terrified! I was brand new and everything was so scary, and I was alone and no one told me what to do or how to do it, and I knew… if you knew… you’d kill me.”

Lyra went silent, plucking another string out of her Lyre with a loud twang. She certainly felt murderous. How could Bonnie do this to her? And the words coming out of Bonnie’s mouth didn’t make much sense. It was like the mare was speaking another language, but still in Equestrian. Some of what she said made sense. She was fucking another mare. Most of it did not.

But did it matter?

Bon Bon had pleading eyes. “And now I wish you had. I wish I could go back in time, never do any of this, and let you kill me. You were the best thing to happen to me, Lyra. But I didn’t deserve it. I still don’t.”

Lyra’s heart was beating in her chest. Her face was flushed and her horn felt particularly warm as she channeled magic into the Lyre.

“Why?”

Bon Bon looked like she was made of paper somehow. “Because I love you. I love you so much it hurts. I love you enough to die for you. I shouldn’t…”

Lyra snapped at her. “No! Why did you cheat on me? Am I not good enough?”

Bon Bon looked confused. “Not good enough? You’re the best. You're the love of my life. I only love you.”

The lyre was flung across the room, clattering against the wall. How could she say that? How could she still sit next to Lyra, hugging her and pleading, all but begging and claiming that she still loved Lyra at all?

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Bonnie? Mares don’t cheat on the love of their life. How can you tell me that with a straight face? How can you tell me you’ve been seeing this other mare for… how long has it been? How long have I been the second mare?”

“You’re not the second mare! You’re the one I…”

“How long?!”

Bon Bon looked sheepishly to the side. “Since the wedding.”

Lyra began to cry as the warmth in her horn grew to a crashing headache. She closed her eyes, and began to weep. “So that’s it, huh? Our whole marriage has been a sham? Everything we’ve worked for… it’s all…” She couldn’t finish.

Bon Bon reached out again, wrapping her hooves around Lyra. Lyra was too tired, too broken to bat it away. The touch was comforting. This was her wife.

She kept crying.

Minutes passed while Lyra cried. Bon Bon cried with her.

She didn’t know how long it was, but Lyra cried until she couldn’t anymore. Bon Bon was still sniffling. Smiling awkwardly, she put a hoof in Bon Bon’s hair, stroking it. Then she began to laugh. “Ha! This isn’t how I thought today would go. I was hoping to play you a song and then snuggle. I’m not sure… I can do that. I think I broke my Lyre.”

Bon Bon’s eyes were wet. “I think you did. We’ll have to get a new one. You can use my money. This is my fault.”

Lyra’s heart hurt. “Can… I meet her? Since she’s… a part of your life and all.”

Bon Bon shivered strangely. “Okay.”

Lyra forced her smile further. Bon Bon was her wife. If she had another lover… maybe they could work something out. She wouldn’t be happy. She might even hate it. But If that’s what Bonnie needed… If that other mare could fill something in her that Lyra couldn’t…

Bonnie’s voice was nervous. “It’s just… I don’t think you understand just yet.”

Lyra shrugged. “Not at all. I’m… I’m confused. How do children work into this?”

There was a strange shuffling as Bonnie scooted further back. “I… no one told me that I could… make children from that. And then the first clutch came and it was a surprise. And then the second… and the third… and… well… I didn’t exactly stop.”

Lyra furrowed her brow in confusion. “Clutch? Like… eggs?”

Bon Bon nodded her head. “Yeah. I… think it was your love that fertilized them? Or maybe they used some of her genetic material? I don’t know how it happened, but it did. I shouldn’t have been able to… but I also shouldn’t be in love with you, so I don’t even know what I am anymore.”

Lyra’s brow furrowed deeper. “Bonnie… Ponies don’t have eggs.”

Impossibly, Bon Bon sounded embarrassed and proud at the same time. “One very much does.”

Now concerned, Lyra started to think about everything Bonnie had told her. “And you… meet this mare often?”

“Most nights. I have to make sure she has food and water. It used to be every night, back before the kids. Now they can help her if we have to leave town.”

“Bon… I’m not sure I understand. Are you fucking this mare or… feeding her?”

“Both, really. When it started, I just meant to interrogate her a little…”

Lyra grimaced. This was a S.M.I.L.E. thing gone terribly wrong, wasn’t it?

“But we both kind of got into it, and then, uh, I got into her, and… well… After the first time she couldn’t really… I mean, she still begged and stuff, but she… uh… You probably don’t want to know this.”

“I don’t… but… why were you interrogating her? Was it one of those ‘Save the World’ missions you used to have?”

“Nothing like that. I just… She… I had to know what she thought about you. I had to know what she knew about you. So I, uh, convinced her to tell me.”

That didn’t sound right. “Me? You… ended up cheating on me because you wanted to know more about me?”

“Yes. She knew you really well. And back then, well, I didn’t. I could see how much love you had of course. But I didn’t know anything about you. I needed to know what to say for the wedding. I had to learn the vows, the things you liked, your dress size, all the private secrets, you know, the usual.”

Lyra felt something cold in her gut. “Vows? Private secrets? What secrets did she know?”

Bon Bon took a deep breath. “A hundred little things. Like that time you wanted to play on the couch, but you also had to go pee real bad. And you were drunk enough that you ended up peeing on your lover’s face.”

Lyra felt sick. “Bon, that was you. You were my lover. You promised to never tell a soul.”

Bon Bon nodded. “That’s what I’m trying to say. I wasn’t. That wasn’t me. You met me on your wedding night.”

Lyra felt dizzy. “No.”

Bon Bon nestled up next to her. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

Lyra tried to scoot away, but the couch was only so big. “You… disappeared for three days before the wedding. I thought you had cold hooves. But then you showed up to the ceremony…”

Bon Bon added, “And you were beautiful. I could feel the love rolling off you.”

Lyra’s heart began to beat wildly as the cold feeling in her gut grew. “You were so awkward…”

“I was meeting you for the first time. I was so scared.”

This wasn’t possible. “It’s been… eight years.”

Bon Bon nodded. “And you’re just as beautiful as you’ve always been.”

Lyra didn’t want to think about it, but she didn’t have much of a choice. “I’ve known you for twelve…”

“No, eight. I told you, I met you on our wedding night.”

Lyra stared at her wife, looking for any signs. There were none. “I thought… when you said something about a clutch that the other mare was some kind of creature… or monster. But that’s not it, is it?”

Bon Bon lowered her head in shame. “No. She’s just a pony.”

“So you’re…” Lyra couldn’t say it.

Bon Bon could. “A changeling. A very, very dumb changeling.”

Lyra wanted to cry, but she couldn’t. “Why would you tell me? Are you going to replace me next?”

Bonnie sighed. “No. I can’t. I told you, I love you. I mean it, Lyra. You’re my wife. I was born… in a not nice situation. Chrysalis was on the run. She didn’t have a hive. Just a couple of changelings that tried to teach me the basics and then they… left me. And I didn’t know. I didn’t know anything! They only taught me… the usual. You were my first. I barely knew what I was! I still don’t.”

Lyra’s stomach twisted. “So… you’re not Bon Bon?”

The creature looked up at her, sadly. “I’m… more Bon Bon than anything else. Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to be in character for so long. I’ve been Bon Bon for eight years. I don’t even remember what Chrysalis called me. It doesn’t matter. I… can’t do this anymore. I love you too much. I’m… done.”

Lyra stared at her. She looked like Bon Bon. She sounded like Bon Bon. She… wasn’t acting like Bon Bon. She wasn’t sure what to feel. It hurt. It felt like somebody was ripping her heart in two, but there was also this undercurrent of fear. Her wife was a stranger. But still her wife? This thing was the pony she’d married. They’d lived together now for so long… if it had wanted to hurt her, it would have.

Lyra continued to stare at her, her mind racing as the… Bon…. Her wife simply lay on the couch in defeat.

“What now?”

Her wife looked up at her with sad eyes. “I don’t know. It doesn’t feel… good like I thought it would. It just hurts. I figured you’d turn me in, and the guards would come and capture me. They’ll probably kill me, right? Bon Bon was somepony… with connections. It’s dangerous for me to be her. I know that.”

Lyra tried to understand, but didn’t. She was terrified, but not how she should be. “You could… become me? That would be safer?”

Her wife cocked her head oddly. “No. I can’t do that.”

They stared at each other. “What do… you look like?”

Her wife looked down at her own coat. “Like this, I guess? I haven’t changed… in a long time. I don’t know how to look like anything else.”

Lyra’s stomach continued to twist. “Can you… take me to her?”

“Okay.” The answer was short, and Lyra’s wife looked almost relieved. She got up off the couch, leaving an indent where she’d been sitting, then calmly walked towards the kitchen.

Lyra followed. “In… the kitchen?”

“Not exactly. Part of the usual is to make a safe hole to hide in. I put mine under our larder. It started as a little secret cellar…”

Lyra felt like a stranger in her own house as her wife lead her to the pantry, opened the door, and then shifted a large bag of sugar. There was a hatch. It looked benign enough. Just a little trap door with a handle. Lyra hardly went into the kitchen, especially by the baking supplies. She’d never have found it.

Her wife casually opened it, and climbed in—disappearing into the darkness while she actively kept from looking Lyra in the eyes.

Lyra stared at the empty portal. She could leave right now. She should leave right now. She should go and get the guards. Twilight would know what to do. Somepony would know what to do. Somepony else.

Instead, she put a hoof into the darkness. It felt somehow thick.

Mimicking her wife, she found a steep little set of stairs, and climbed down.

It was colder under the house. Strangely so. Worse, the dark was overpowering. She thought she heard… buzzing in the distance. Something shifted next to her, and caused her hair to stand on end.

Bon Bon’s voice came through the dark. “It’s just me. Sorry. I don’t… need the light. Can you light your horn? I’ll stay close.”

Lyra felt a comforting hoof on her side as her wife reassured her.

A simple light spell was easy enough. As her horn began to glow, she saw strange hoof marks throughout the ground. It was rough looking, cold and black. It didn’t look like dirt, or even concrete. It was something else. And the buzzing was noticeable now.

“What’s that noise?”

Her wife shrugged. “My children. Don’t worry. They’ll leave you alone. You’re… important to them after all.”

Lyra stood close to her wife, following her as the practiced mare walked through the cavern. “How am I important?”

“You’re one of the sources. You feed me. I feed them. We’d all die without you.”

“Do… you feed on anypony else?”

“Just you. And… her. You’re enough. But she’s… different. I don’t let them go out. I haven’t taught them the usual. I don’t think I want to.”

Lyra walked, surprised at how deep the tunnel was. It must have extended under several of her neighbors' houses. As she looked, the occasional pipe was showing near the top. It felt like somepony was watching her, but she couldn’t tell who.

“Did you build this?”

“Just the entry. I got it started. I used to keep her right under the pantry, but then we had our first clutch and needed some more room. Then the next, and, well, the kids enjoyed digging. It gave them… something to do.”

Lyra wondered where they were. She couldn’t see them, but the tunnels seemed expansive now. Every little while she’d see a new chamber or side tunnel. Her wife seemed to know exactly where she was going, but Lyra would be lost without her.

A voice called out, sounding oddly tired. “Monster? That you? You’re early. Did you bring me any candy today? I could really use some chocolate.”

Lyra’s wife didn’t respond directly to the voice, but did stop. She looked at Lyra with sad eyes, and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

It didn’t look like she wanted to keep going, so Lyra took a few nervous steps. She heard the sound of skittering as though a bunch of small insects were scattering from the light.

Bon Bon’s voice was raspy. “Hello? Monster? What’s going on?”

Lyra turned the corner, and what she saw horrified her.

There, in the middle of a somewhat large room, was Bon Bon. The mare was lying on what appeared to be a dais of some kind. Green goo was splattered haphazardly on her, covering her eyes and splotching across her back. Her hooves and legs appeared cemented in the stuff, stuck firmly to the dais in a wholly embarrassing position.

Lyra saw more of Bon Bon’s backside than her front, even with Bon Bon lifting her blindfolded head and looking curiously over her shoulder. Bon Bon’s tail was seemingly completely removed, her naked dock hung limply in the air. Underneath, her flesh had been stained… colors. Mostly green and white, but there was some dark red mixed in there. Worse, her exposed vulva was half split wide, and something inside appeared to be pulsing as it pushed slightly outward in alien waves.

Lyra gasped, horrified at the sight.

Bon Bon’s ears perked forward. “You’re not monster…” Then they fell flat backwards. “Run! Get out of here and run straight to the guard! Don’t let them catch you!”

Lyra just watched as the bound mare shook her head. “Don’t try to save me. Run! Please, go! The little ones won’t hurt you, but there’s a monster here. She’s… She’s… She’s here, isn’t she?”

Behind Lyra, her wife’s voice spoke up. “Sorry, Bonnie. I’m here, and I didn’t bring chocolates this time.”

Bon Bon let herself relax, easing into the dais. “So… is this new blood, then? Am I getting company, or getting replaced? Because if you want to kill me, it’s fine. I’m not sure I want to be here when you break in somepony new.”

Lyra’s wife answered slowly. “Neither.”

Lyra’s voice shook. “Bonnie? Is that… is that really you?”

Bon Bon seemed confused for a moment. “Yeah? Who’s… wait… you sound familiar.”

Lyra hadn’t thought she had anymore tears in her, but there they were. She stumbled forward, tripping on the rough cavern floor as she hastily walked. “Bon! It’s me! Oh stars, look at you.”

Bon Bon seemed even more confused. “You? Who are you?”

“Your wife… or fiance? It’s me, Lyra!” Lyra was practically shouting through the tears.

Bon Bon shook on the dais. “No. No! Monster, you didn’t? You didn’t!”

Lyra’s wife didn’t say anything. Lyra herself reached Bon Bon and began to pull at the green sludge. “I’ll get you out.”

Bon Bon seemed to shirk away from her. “Lyra, no. Please. Don’t let Monster put you down here. You have to escape. I know you want to help me, but don’t bother. She’s got me. Stars, I thought she killed you.”

Lyra continued to cry. “No. Just married me.”

Bon Bon’s voice grew angry, and she shouted past Lyra. “You married her? After the things you did to me? After the things you made me say and do, after telling me you killed her, you married her? I knew you were fucking somepony for food, but Lyra?”

Lyra couldn’t get the green goo off. It wouldn’t budge.

Bon Bon began to laugh. “You are fucked up. You got me again. You know what? I don’t know. I truly can’t tell. Lyra, if you’re real and not a trick, please leave me. I can’t look at you. Do you know what that monster has done to me? She’s got me by the clit, or the soul or something. She’s ruined me. I couldn’t fight her even if I was free. I don’t think I could even leave. I’ve been down here for so long… Please. Just go. Forget about me.”

Lyra was crying. “I can’t! Bon, is this really you? I’m sorry I couldn’t tell!”

Lyra’s wife spoke quietly. “That’s really Bon Bon. I’m really the monster. You’re really Lyra.”

Bon Bon groaned. “Why do you like tormenting me so much? Don’t I love you enough? It’s one thing to catch ponies and eat them, but you just… keep… fucking with me!”

Lyra’s wife stiffened. “Food doesn’t get to argue with me, Bonnie.”

Lyra turned to her wife, suddenly angry. “Excuse me? This is my fiance!”

The creature seemed to shrink. “I’m…. It’s a force of habit. I’m sorry. She’s just been… my… relief… for so long…”

Lyra glared at her. “Help me get her out. I can’t get rid of the green stuff.”

Bon Bon put her head down, seemingly to look away from whatever was about to happen. Lyra watched as her wife slowly stepped forward, seeming monstrous in the dark. She stared at the thing she’d married.

“How could you do this to another pony? How can you see her like this and not feel terrible?”

The thing stood next to her, looking between her and Bon Bon. “I told you. I didn’t know. I was young. You were both supposed to be food, and then… she was and you weren’t. I’m not a pony, so… no. I don’t really feel anything when I look at her like this. She’s just food. I did the usual, so she’s safe and well cared for. But that’s all. I’m supposed to practice on her. I’m supposed to trick her and practice being… a good drone. But something is wrong. I’m not a drone. It’s been wrong for a while.”

Bon Bon chimed in. “Monster couldn’t bear to see my eyes when I looked at her. She covered them. She didn’t like when I covered myself with my tail, so she burned it off. She didn’t like when I had feelings, so she constantly drained them. I’m a shattered shell of what I was. Honestly, I don’t even love you anymore, Lyra.”

Lyra froze at that.

“Monster took that from me. She ate that love. I know you, though. I still have the memories of loving you. She’s going to hurt you. She's going to take everything from you, steal your sight, steal your tail, and then your love. She’s going to drain you of everything, and then fill you with eggs like me. You’re just another meal in her larder now.”

Lyra stared at her wife. Her wife stared back, silent and unmoving.

There was a fear in her gut. Why had she walked down here with the changeling anyways? Because they were married?

They were married. That thing was her wife. And Bon Bon? She was her ex.

Lyra steeled her gaze. “Honey, I truly and honestly don’t understand this. But here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to release my ex. Then you, Bon Bon, and I are going to sit down and have some chocolate. There’s plenty upstairs and we all need something sweet. Next, we are going to call Twilight. She’s my friend. We’ll ask the lovebugs for help. They are technically changelings, and they might know more about what’s happening. One of them is here in Ponyville, I think her name is Ocellus. You could learn more than “the usual”. Your children could grow up doing more than digging tunnels.”

Lyra’s wife seemed to grow small. “You’re not… going to leave me?”

Bon Bon shivered. “Lyra, I know you’re crazy but you can’t make a deal with her like that. She’s a monster.”

Lyra turned to Bon Bon and growled. “She’s my wife.”

Her wife stepped forward, and gave her a kiss. “Thank you.”

Lyra was playing her Lyre while Bon Bon sat on the couch, smiling. The new one was golden, but she’d made sure to get a few green tinged strings. Just enough. The song came easy, and Bon Bon seemed pleased with it as she picked at her chocolates.

Lyra loved her wife, and her wife loved her.

They spent more time with each other lately. Bonnie came to all of her shows, and she spent time in the kitchen with her. Sure, there was hardly any privacy anymore. A plethora of ponies had wanted to see the secret changeling tunnels of Ponyville. Luckily, Ocellus had coordinated the juvenile changelings all moving to live with King Thorax.

And the guards. They made it difficult to have some alone time. One changeling guard from Thorax, and one Royal Guard from Twilight. Apparently you couldn’t just replace a member of S.M.I.L.E. for almost a decade, steal all her secrets, and expect the princess to just leave you alone.

The only reason Bonnie wasn’t in permanent prison was that the source of the problem wasn’t exactly her fault. Bonnie was a queen. Nopony, or ling, knew how it happened, but somehow Bonnie had evolved from a simple drone to a queen. Twilight was personally interested in the biological changes, and Lyra’s ex had given a very in-depth report on the subject directly to the princess herself. Supposedly, once she was out of the hospital, she’d be moving into the castle. She didn’t answer the letters, and that was fine. Lyra didn’t know what she expected. If the real Bon Bon wanted to burn down Lyra’s house, she’d be justified.

She just had hoped that maybe…

Well, it didn’t matter. Her real wife was right here, and happy to be here. And Lyra, while still not quite understanding the whole ordeal, was happy to be with her.

After all, they loved each other.