//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Diamond in the Rough 
// by Wheller 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 5


Bon Bon’s eyes flew open and she quickly sat up in bed, breathing heavily, she looked to her left, and discovered a still sleeping Lyra lying next to her, Bon Bon smiled. That pony could sleep through a cyclone. Bon Bon lay back down and snuggled up next to her, wrapping her forelegs around her tightly, almost as if she was afraid that if she let her go, she’d lose her forever. As she once almost had.

That had been a dark time for Bon Bon, when Lyra’s magical accident split her lover in two, creating the hippocampus, Syra, in the process. Lyra had almost died as a result of the separation, but a quick reacting Bon Bon and the work of the highly skilled Doctor Nightly had saved her... at a cost.

For Lyra to have lived, Syra had needed to die. A prospect that the sea pony had not been willing to undergo, Syra had attacked her and tried to escape, Bon Bon had not let that come to pass.

Bon Bon had never once regretted the choice that she had made... but that didn’t mean it wasn’t hard to live with. Every time Bon Bon closed her eyes, the image of what had happened was still there.

‘No! Please! Stop!’ Syra called out, she had broken down into tears at this point, she was begging for her life.

Bon Bon was not fazed; she turned to Nightly and gave him an affirming nod.

‘Do it’, she said simply.

Doctor Nightly nodded, his horn began to glow and he concentrated on casting the rejoining spell that he had discovered. Syra continued to scream loudly as two beams of lightning arced out of Nightly’s horn and into both mares.

Syra’s screams continued to echo throughout the room, even as the sea pony mare winked out of existence, forever.

Bon Bon squeezed Lyra tightly, accidentally waking the seafoam green unicorn mare, who rolled over and looked at her.

‘Everything okay Bon Bon?’ Lyra asked.

‘Me? Oh… yeah! Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you’, Bon Bon said, she nuzzled her lover, pulling her even closer into a tight hug. ‘I love you Lyra’.

‘I love you too Bon Bon’, Lyra said. ‘Are you sure everything is okay? You’re being a lot more affectionate than usual’.

‘Oh, yeah, sorry. Just had a nightmare, that’s all’, Bon Bon said. Well, that was not exactly a lie, was it?

‘Well, don’t you worry none, I’m right here for you’, Lyra said with a smile, and then rolled over and went back to sleep.

Bon Bon smiled back at her, and loosened her grip upon the mare.

Lyra could never know the truth about what it had taken to save her. Bon Bon frowned and gently slipped out of bed and made her way out of the bedroom as quietly as she could. She gently pushed open the door to their home and stepped out into the cool March’s night air. Late night walks had become regular for Bon Bon. She trotted along the high street at an easy pace, taking a look around her, all of the buildings were dark, the streets were deserted, and there was no one around.

Bon Bon’s ears began to twitch, and she heard a noise, a faint fluttering of wings.

‘Don’t be alarmed, and don’t turn around’, a voice from behind her commanded. It was a strange voice, it was a mare’s voice, but it sounded... odd, unnatural. Like somepony was speaking through a tin can telephone with wire mesh over it.

‘Okay... I won’t turn around’, Bon Bon said nervously. ‘Who are you?’

‘That isn’t important. What is important is that you listen very closely to what I have to say’, the strange voice said. ‘You made the right choice’.

Bon Bon raised an eyebrow, and was tempted to look behind her, but she kept her eyes forward. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked.

‘You know exactly what I’m referring to’, the voice said. ‘You’ve yet to realise it, Bon Bon, but you and Lyra? You’re special. Syra would not have been fit for what’s coming’.

‘What’s coming?’ Bon Bon asked. She got no reply; Bon Bon turned around and discovered that there was nothing behind her.

...

Trixie had wandered into the Library late in the evening after spending the day talking with her new friends, Berry Punch and Colgate, much to Trixie’s surprise, not all ponies in town were the indifferent philistines that she had taken them to be on her last visit. Trixie’s outlook on life had changed dramatically in the last few hours. She had been shown friendship, and she would give it back.

‘I was wondering if you were going to show back up here at all. Can’t wait all night for you to get back so I can lock the door’, said the baby dragon that the name of whom, that in the past, Trixie had struggled to remember.

Trixie shut the door behind her and went up to the dragon and surprised him with a hug. His eyes widened in shock.

‘Trixie would like to apologise to you, Spike’, Trixie said with a small smile. ‘Trixie has not been fair to you in the past, and Trixie wishes to make amends’.

Spike rubbed his eyes, making sure that he wasn’t seeing things and looked again. Here was Trixie, making an apology, to him. She even remembered his name.

‘Who are you and what have you done to Trixie?’ Spike asked.

‘An old Trixie walked out that door this afternoon, and this evening a new Trixie walked in’, Trixie said simply.

Spike shrugged, but then gave a smile. ‘Well, I’m sorry for not treating you very well either; I think it would be best if we started over. Hi, my name is Spike’, he said, offering his clawed hand for a shake.

‘Trixie... I, rather, accept. My name is Trixie, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Spike’.

Maybe it wasn’t much, but for Trixie? It was a start.

...

‘... and then I said, “show me on the doll where the bad mare touched you”’, Vinyl Scratch said with a grin.

‘That isn’t funny, Vinyl Scratch’, Rainbow Dash said with a huff.

‘Oh you only say that because it happened to you!’ Vinyl said with a grin.

Vinyl Scratch, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Surprise were walking up the south eastern road into town, having taken the long way around in order to bypass the southern tip of the Everfree forest. All of them were giggling at the incident that Rainbow Dash had gotten into on their last day in Trotterdam, but they would speak no more of it, under threats of pain from Rainbow Dash herself.

‘It was nice to get away for a while’, Twilight said. ‘We all had fun, but it’s really nice to finally be getting back home’.

‘Darlings, we will simply have to go back sometime!’ Rarity proclaimed. ‘I know you would like that... wouldn’t you Fluttershy?’

Fluttershy turned a bright red, and then mumbled something incomprehensible as they entered Ponyville proper.

Vinyl Scratch stopped dead in her tracks and turned around behind her. She heard something, an odd, slow ticking noise, followed by something that sounded like a flutter of wings.

‘Something’s following us’, Vinyl said. Everypony turned to look behind them.

‘Darling... there is simply nothing there!’ Rarity proclaimed.

‘Unless it’s...’ Pinkie Pie said, glancing around and then whispering hoarsely to the rest of the group. ‘A ghhhhhhhhhoooooooooooosssssssssssssssstttttttttttttttttttttt! Ohhhhooohhh!’

Rarity tensed up for a moment, but then looked at Pinkie Pie and gave a nervous chuckle. ‘Pinkie Pie, that’s ridiculous, there is no such thing as ghosts!’

‘Boo’, Fluttershy said quietly into Rarity’s ear. Rarity jumped in surprise

‘WHAAAAAAAA!’ She screamed, causing everypony to giggle slightly. ‘That is NOT FUNNY!’

The giggling died down and Vinyl Scratch looked at Rarity and gave her a grin. ‘Take it easy there Stay Puft; I ain’t afraid of no ghosts!’ Vinyl Scratch whipped her revolver out of her saddlebag and opened up the break, and began to slide several 11mm rounds into it.

‘I thought you were out of ammunition?’ Rainbow Dash asked.

‘I was’, Vinyl said, offering no other useful information with that statement.

‘Vinyl Scratch!’ Twilight proclaimed. ‘Please, do not tell me you stole that from the HMSIS Dash!’

Vinyl gave Twilight a look of shock. ‘Twilight! Please! This is me your talking about here... besides, I left like... five pounds on the Leftenant Commander’s desk for it, if anything, he was the one who stole from me!’ a small grin forming on the unicorn’s face.

‘You’re... you’re not going to hurt it are you?’ Fluttershy asked quietly.

‘Of course not ‘Shy. I’m just going to scare it, that’s all’, Vinyl said with a grin and snapped the break shut. ‘Cover your ears!’

Everyone complied, and with that, Vinyl pulled the trigger.

Blam! ... KLANG!

‘Klang?’ Vinyl Scratch asked. ‘Did you say Klang?’

The fluttering of wings became erratic, and then stopped completely, followed by a loud crash onto the ground, whatever had been following them had been right above them, Vinyl had, with a stroke of luck, hit it when she fired into the air. Whatever it had been, it had been metal.

Vinyl raised the goggles off her eyes to get a better look, and discovered the object lying on the ground nought two metres from her. She trotted over it and got a better look. Everyone else did the same and they all began to crowd around.

‘Is that...’ Twilight began.

‘A giant metal Parasprite?’ Pinkie Pie finished for her.

Vinyl Scratch nodded in affirmation. ‘I’ve seen one of these things before’, she turned to Pinkie Pie and gave her a serious look. ‘Pinkie Pie, we’re going to need some dynamite’.

...

The sun began to shine in through Carrot Top’s window, it was early morning, and she sat up in bed and stretched her forelegs out. Yawning loudly, she looked to her right to discover Caramel asleep next to her. As one could surmise, their date had gone well. The lunch date had lead to a dinner date, and the dinner date had lead... well, to here.

Carrot Top smiled to herself, and was glad that the Apples weren’t at home; it had been rather loud in Carrot Top’s home last night. She would have hated to have disturbed them.

Carrot Top began to prod Caramel with one of her hooves. ‘Come on, time to get up!’ she said, whispering into his ear.

‘Do I have too?’ Caramel asked, drowsily.

‘Yes...’ Carrot Top said prodding him harder. ‘We’ve got work that needs to get done before... play’.

Caramel sat up quickly and hopped out of bed. ‘I’m up’.

Carrot Top chuckled to herself, mum always did say that she knew how to motivate.