And there she was — back in all her glory, balloons on her flank, hair poofed out:
"Come on, ponies, I wanna see you smile!"
"PINKIE!" the crowd roared with Bon Bon — echoing around the square, swaying signs, rattling windows. Even the music was drowned out for a moment, long enough for a stray thought to flit through Bon Bon's mind: I bet they heard that all the way in Manehatten.
But then the snares kicked back in, and the chorus swept them away, grinning maniacally, surging down the streets behind the Elements of Harmony:
A true, true friend helps a friend in need!
A friend will be there to help them see!
Trumpets blared. Lines of singers marched in perfect time. Ponies sang from balconies and somersaulted over each other at the edges of the crowd. Bon Bon, not quite quick enough for the front-row spot she'd enjoyed at Pinkie's return, fell in at the back of the crowd between Carrot Top and an unfamiliar sky-blue mare with a grey mane.
A true, true friend helps a friend in need!
Galloping to the beat of the impromptu parade's giant bass drum, Bon Bon leapt, and some power beyond muscles propelled her skyward, breaking the bonds of earth, bringing her to an impossible touchdown on a second-story rooftop. Far below, Twilight's closest friends hoisted her to the top of a pony pyramid, and she burst out into magical illumination that bathed Ponyville, matching the sun in the newly cleared sky.
To see the light!
"To see the light!" Bon Bon echoed, in perfect unity with the dozens of earth ponies and pegasi of the rooftop chorus.
That shines!
"That shines!" she sang, heart soaring, as she raised a forehoof with the others.
From a true, true friend!
The final note soared and held amid the pink glow of the Elements' group hug. Laughing, dancing, embracing, Ponyville rejoiced in its rejuvenation. Then the drums beat out a coda, and the spell wound to a close.
Heart still hammering to the beat, filled with the best kind of exhaustion, Bon Bon let herself sink into gravity's embrace. She felt a moment of vertigo, then remembered that she was on the peak of a rooftop as she overbalanced, legs windmilling, about to bounce down a steep incline and then two stories to the ground —
There was a hard jerk on her tail, and she fell onto her stomach on the soft straw, held in place until she got her hooves underneath her. She looked back. It was Carrot Top, lying flat against the opposite slope of the roof, Bon Bon's pink-and-purple tail in her muzzle. She let go, spat out some stray hairs, and gave Bon Bon an apologetic grin.
Bon Bon laughed. Not because it was funny, but because it was so perfect. Here she was, about to get hurt by a musical in the most ridiculous way possible, and a true, true friend had kept her safe —
Just like Lyra always had.
The soaring joy from the musical came crashing down in the instant between breaths. Her body bucked and curled, and the laughs became hysterical, helpless sobs.
Lyra was gone. Bon Bon had given her an ultimatum and walked away. What madness had possessed her?
"Bon Bon?" Carrot Top asked.
She couldn't respond. Sobs hammered her body like a drum, to a frantic tempo — Lyra's gone, Lyra's gone, Lyra's gone. She felt herself losing control of her muscles — head getting light —
"Bon Bon!" Hooves roughly shook her, then clung to her. She was dimly aware of straw sliding underneath her. "Help! Somepony —"
♩ ♬♬ ♩ ♫ ♩
The world around her was a gauzy, detached blur. Carrot Top's terrified face; the rooftop sliding and then lurching to a stop; the hooves of pegasi; beating wings; a slow descent into Town Square. The gentle embrace of the earth. Carrot Top's face again. Bon Bon blinked, and focused on the orange muzzle. The haze retreated.
"Bonnie!" Carrot Top said. "Thank the stars. What happened?"
Bon Bon sat up and swallowed through a painfully dry throat. "Oh, Carrie. I made a mistake. A big one."
"Never mind that. Lie down. Redheart's on the way."
"I don't need a nurse." She could hear the beating of her heart in her ears. It was the rhythm of the orchestra from the train station. "I need Lyra."
"You stay here. I'll get her." Carrot Top looked around the dispersing crowd of ponies. "Where is she?"
"Manehatten. Oh, Carrie, I … I think I broke up with her." Bon Bon felt fresh tears flow, but these were a gentle release rather than an explosion. "We had a musical number, well, the start of one, except I hurt her, and then I gave all my bits away, and she wouldn't come home."
Shock spread across Carrot Top's muzzle by degrees. "Oh, Bonnie …" she whispered, then set her jaw and held out a hoof. "Let's go. I just heard the train pull in. If we hurry we can catch it."
Bon Bon simply nodded; there were neither adequate words for her gratitude nor time to find them. She hoisted herself to her hooves, took a few tentative steps, and galloped, Carrot Top keeping pace alongside.
Their hooves were a drumbeat, the background conversations of the ponies that they passed a harmony. Violins sprung to life deep in Bon Bon's mind, a rapid, sharp melody giving urgency to their run. She felt her body settling in to the rhythm, the fire of exertion lighting in her lungs and spreading through her, crackling and hissing like a far-distant thunderstorm. A chorus of phantom voices sprang up to join the instruments, swelling into a grand chord seeking its final note. Out of the corner of her eye, amid the disinterested ponies strolling by, Bon Bon saw Nurse Redheart glance at them, do a double take, and raise a hoof. Then they were past her, whipping around a corner, hooves digging in as they leaned into the turn.
"Where is she staying?" Carrot Top shouted over the thunder of their motion. "Does she have relatives there?"
"We were paying for a hotel in Sun Square," Bon Bon shouted back.
Run, run, the voices in her head whispered, urgent and discordant.
"When did you leave?"
"Yesterday at lunch."
"I just can't believe it. You two are such —" They rounded another corner. "Watch out!"
Bon Bon's head snapped back toward Carrot Top, who was staring past her open-mouthed — and then the world upended, with a dull smack and a masculine yelp. The world lurched and tumbled around her in a chaotic tangle of limbs, battering her breath from her lungs as it spun to a halt. The voices in her head scattered like bowling pins.
A low moan from underneath her brought her mind back into focus. Bon Bon lifted her head, woozy, and looked down into a grey muzzle topped by a shock of dun-red hair.
"I'm sorry!" she said. "I'm so sorry. I've got to catch a train. I —"
She stopped, glancing off to the side. A pair of spectacles sat twisted and cracked a hoof's length away. She got her hooves underneath her and turned to look back. Lyra was staring open-mouthed at her. Carrot Top was staring open-mouthed at Lyra.
The silence was pristine. Exquisite.
Bon Bon rolled off the busker and struggled to her hooves, not daring to take her eyes off Lyra, not daring to blink.
Lyra's eyes filled with tears. She smiled. "Hi. Um. I figured it out."
"Wait," Bon Bon blurted out, her vision blurring. She limped forward. "You were right. All of it. I don't care. I just want one more chance —"
"Bon Bon. I love you. I. Love you."
Bon Bon reached forward with a hoof. It met Lyra's in midair. "Lyra," she said, "I love you."
She leaned forward, closing her eyes. Lyra's lips were soft and smooth, cool in the spring air, yielding to warmth as they both pressed inward.
Lyra was the first to pull back. Her hoof against Bon Bon's was trembling. "Encore," she said, "play the song."
"Lyra?" Bon Bon asked, heart pounding.
The busker chuckled. "Miss Lyra, look around you. Ponyville's all musicaled out, it is. If that kiss didn't bring every pony in the county running, I doubt the princess herself could start a number right now."
Lyra breathed out a wry almost-laugh. "Doesn't that figure. I'll have to owe you one, sweetie."
"It's alright, honey." Bon Bon smiled. It really was. "I have what I wanted. I don't need my musical any more."
"But you shouldn't have to give up musicals for me. I have a problem. Help me fix it."
"You were right, though. Musicals are dangerous. Let's leave them to the ponies with destinies."
"… I think we have a lot to talk about."
Bon Bon nuzzled her. "We do. But everything is going to be fine."
A low rumble built up. Every hair in Bon Bon's body stood on end. She looked around, startled, as the sky lit up and an unearthly shriek blasted at them with almost physical force. A beam of light lanced from the library into the heavens, too bright to look at, casting shadows in the midday sun.
In the deafening silence that followed, every bird in the city took to the air. The sound echoed back at them from the nearby hills. Dogs barked. Foals wailed.
Five ponies dashed out of the library — Twilight Sparkle's best friends — ornate jewelry glowing and smoking around their necks. "Sweet mother of stars," Rarity shouted, "she's gone!"
Bon Bon's heart sank. "Leaving?"
Lyra hesitated.
"Leaving," Carrot Top and the busker chorused.
Lyra smiled, looking into Bon Bon's eyes. "We could use a vacation."
Bon Bon laughed. "I hear Canterlot's nice this time of year."