The morning sun was already rising in the sky over Ponyville. With no assignments scheduled until her teacher returned, Starlight Glimmer had taken the opportunity to sleep in. When she checked on the main library, she saw Bon Bon still standing there, still staring at the portal.
“You’re still here?” Starlight asked. “I’ll be honest – after I went to bed last night, I considered that this might have just been some complicated plan to allow Lyra to visit the human world. Obviously, that’s not the case.” She looked at Bon Bon’s bleary eyes. “Did you get any sleep?”
“Not really,” Bon Bon said. It showed in her voice.
Starlight couldn’t help but feel bad for her. “Do you want me to watch over the portal for a little while so you can take a nap?”
“No, that’s okay,” Bon Bon said. “Lyra’s my responsibility.”
“I’d offer to go there and find her for you,” Starlight said, “but Twilight expressly forbade me from going through the portal. She said the human world can be a strange, unfamiliar place if you’re not prepared for it. And the fact that I wouldn’t be able to use my magic… that’s what I rely on the most.”
“I couldn’t ask you to take that kind of risk for me anyway,” Bon Bon said wearily. “I’m sorry we’re even having this conversation at all.”
Bon Bon was clearly suffering – both physically and mentally. Starlight tried to think of something she could do to help.
Bon Bon continued. “To be honest, I’m this close to walking through that portal and finding her myself.” Her voice was still weary, but there was a sudden determination behind her words. “I know I’m not supposed to. I don’t know what the portal would do to me. I don’t even know where I’d go once I got there. But if Lyra isn’t coming back, then the least she owes me is an explanation to my face.”
“Twilight’s coming home this evening. She’ll go through and find Lyra and bring her back.”
Bon Bon’s tone changed again. “You know what? Forget it. Let her stay. If she wants to abandon her home, abandon me… then just let her. Let her enjoy her precious human world.”
Starlight stepped closer. “Bon Bon, you need sleep. Please – you’ll think more clearly once you get some rest.”
“This isn’t your problem. This isn’t the princess’s problem. It’s Lyra’s. And if she wants to choose—”
Just then, a figure emerged from the portal. It was Lyra.
Bon Bon glared at her. “I’ve been up all night—”
Before she could even finish her sentence, Lyra raced over and wrapped Bon Bon in the tightest hug she had even given her. Lyra buried her face in Bon Bon’s mane, trying but failing to hold back her tears.
Instantly, the anger drained from Bon Bon’s body. It was replaced by compassion, love, and relief.
“I’m sorry – I’m so, so sorry,” Lyra sobbed. “They offered me everything. They wanted me to be in their band. I could have played. I could have made people happy. I could have lived with the humans forever.”
Starlight stepped out into the hallway to give the two their space.
“But I’m not a human,” Lyra continued. “I’m a pony. Even though it was great being a human. Even if I could have had everything…”
Lyra pushed back to look at Bon Bon.
“Everything but you.”
Lyra pulled back into the hug. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t leave you. I’m sorry I didn’t come back right away. I’m sorry I put you through this. It’s the toughest decision I ever had to make in my life.” While still hugging Bon Bon, she wiped at the tears in her eyes. More tears took their place. “Please forgive me.”
Bon Bon was quietly crying now, too. She tried to speak, but her voice caught in her throat. Shakily, she took a breath, then responded.
“Of course I forgive you. I love you, Lyra.”
“I love you, Bon Bon.”
No other words were necessary. The two simply stood there, crying and hugging.
Eventually, they had to leave the library. Starlight Glimmer was waiting for them in the hallway. Before Starlight could even say anything, Lyra assured her that she wouldn’t try to evade Twilight’s punishment. So Starlight let the two go home to get some much-needed sleep.
Three days later, Twilight Sparkle called Lyra into the throne room. Lyra stood at the table opposite Twilight, who sat in her throne, crown on her head. This was a private meeting – the other thrones were empty. Spike waited outside.
“I apologize for the delay – I know this has been weighing on your mind,” Twilight said. “However, I wanted to be certain I had all of the facts before I made any decisions.”
“Please don’t punish Bon Bon for this,” Lyra pleaded. “This was all my fault. She told me not to do it, but I did it anyway.”
Twilight considered Lyra’s statement. “She housed your human doppelgänger and made sure no one knew about your absence.”
“She didn’t know the other Lyra was going to come to Ponyville. She was just trying to show kindness when somepony needed her help.”
“And that’s another thing. You let one of the humans enter Equestria without authorization or supervision.”
Lyra tried to think of a defense, but couldn’t. “You’re right. I did. She was just as excited to see ponies as I was to see humans.”
“Lyra, there was a reason I told you that you couldn’t use the portal. The magic between our worlds is still, for the most part, not understood. We’ve been lucky in Equestria so far, but the human world has already faced many near-catastrophic dangers due to the introduction of Equestrian magic. I haven’t even let my best friends go there, both for their safety and the safety of all of the humans.”
Lyra’s eyes got a little wider. Her eyebrows raised slightly in surprise.
“And worst of all, you left the portal open and unguarded. Who knows what that could have led to? If we hadn’t already defeated the sirens, for example, they could have used the open portal to come back to Equestria and wreak untold havoc.”
Lyra dropped her head. She hadn’t considered that.
“Was it really worth it just to see what humans were like?”
Lyra thought for a moment, took a deep breath, and exhaled. “Can I be honest with you?”
“Yes! You should.”
“If I had to make the choice all over again… I’d probably still go. I know I’m not doing myself any favors by admitting that. But this was an opportunity that was impossible for me to ignore. I know most ponies don’t understand why I love humans so much. It’s just part of who I am. It’d be like… it’d be like if I told you that there was this rare book filled with ancient secrets, just sitting on a shelf. And then I told you you weren’t allowed to read it.”
Twilight’s expression remained neutral.
“I had to know what the humans were like. I didn’t want to hurt them. I definitely didn’t mean to put them in any danger.” Lyra lowered her head again.
A few moments passed. Twilight said, “I spoke with Lyra and Bon Bon in the human world. They defended you. Bon Bon said you only wanted to see what it was like to be human, and that you did everything you could to keep from disrupting the other humans’ lives. Lyra said she was grateful for the chance to see Equestria. She begged me not to punish you. Of course, I suppose I should expect Lyra to say that about Lyra.” Twilight allowed herself a small smile.
Lyra still had her head lowered. Her eyes looked up toward Twilight.
“This is difficult for me,” Twilight said. “For a couple of reasons.” Twilight’s posture slumped just a tiny bit. “I understand your position. And I know your heart was in the right place. But that still doesn’t excuse what you did. And even though part of me wishes I could just solve everything by doing something like appoint you to lead a study of the human world, I can’t reward reckless behavior.”
Lyra looked down again.
“So here’s what I’m going to do,” Twilight said. “First of all, I will once again state that nopony is permitted to use the portal until we identify and eliminate the dangers of opening a bridge between our two worlds. That especially means you. The human world is not some kind of tourist attraction or vacation destination. You are not to visit again.”
Lyra knew that was coming, but it still hurt to hear.
“I’ve enchanted the book so that if anypony other than me uses it to activate the portal, it immediately alerts me and records their magical signature. And that includes the magic inherent in pegasi and earth ponies, too, so don’t think about getting an accomplice to do it for you. I repeat: You are not to visit the human world again.”
“I understand,” Lyra said.
“I also think it’s fair that you be liable for any damages that were the result of your opening the portal,” Twilight said. “Fortunately, when human Lyra came here, nothing bad happened and she didn’t hurt any other ponies, so there are no wrongs for you to right here in Ponyville.
“As for the human world, the only negative consequence seems to be that Sunset Shimmer spent the last couple of days trying to figure out what magic caused Lyra to play her lyre so well. Because that’s been a waste of her time, I’ve been trying to think of how you can make it up to her. Tell me: When you were talking to human Lyra in the human world, did you ever come into physical contact with her?”
Lyra thought back to when human Lyra was showing her the unicorn sketches, but couldn’t remember their hands ever brushing past one another. Then she remembered – the backyard. “Yes. My last night there, she put her hand on my shoulder.”
“That’s consistent with what she told me,” Twilight said. “When I met my double in the human world, we were afraid to get too close to one another, for fear of initiating some kind of cataclysmic reaction. Apparently that wouldn’t happen. I’ll report this finding to Sunset and consider that your repayment for her wasted time.”
“Thank you,” Lyra said.
Twilight continued. “However, you still need to be held responsible in some way for your actions.” Lyra braced herself for the worst. “This is what I want you to do:
“When I first moved to Ponyville, it was to study the magic of friendship. Whenever I learned something new about friendship, I was required to write it in a letter and send it to Princess Celestia. I suspect that this experience has taught you a thing or two about friendship, both here and in the human world. Therefore, I want you to write down your findings in a report to me, which I will then forward on to the princess. That is my final ruling.”
“Y-yes. Of course,” Lyra said, stunned. She was expecting a prison sentence at the least.
Twilight took off her crown, placed it on the table, then stepped down from her throne and walked around to where Lyra was standing. When she spoke again, her voice was soft. “I’ll start. When a friend – a friend you had lost over two years ago and only recently reconnected with – when that friend goes behind your back and betrays your trust, it’s difficult to forgive them.”
The words tore through Lyra’s heart. A prison sentence would have been easier to handle.
“Although the trust may be broken, it isn’t irreparable. Over time, I hope to rebuild that trust. Even though it would be easier to close myself off from that pony to ensure that she can’t hurt me again, it’s my belief that friendship is worth the risk. That is, if the other pony is truly sorry for what she did.”
Lyra could barely bring herself to look at Twilight. When she did, the tears in her eyes made it difficult to focus. “I am. I’m sorry.”
Twilight gave her a hug.
A Report on Friendship
by Lyra HeartstringsIt’s easy to take friendship for granted. If you get caught up in your own desires, you can lose sight of how what you’re doing might hurt others. You’re so focused on getting what you want, you don’t consider how your actions are damaging your friendship.
I know, because that’s how I recently damaged one of my friendships. The pony I’ve hurt still wants to be friends with me, even though I don’t deserve her forgiveness. It makes me realize how special that friend is and how much I want to be sure I never do anything to endanger that friendship again.
Meanwhile, I can report that in the human world, friendship works the same way as friendship here. The friendships I observed between the humans were exactly the same as their equivalent friendships in Equestria. And the humans are just as open to making new friends, too, even when confronted with the unfamiliar. One human knew that I was secretly a pony in a human’s body, yet she still treated me as a friend. The human version of me also treated me as a friend, although I don’t know whether that counts.
Finally, I want to report on love, which is a special, very close type of friendship. Being in love is like having a best friend, but with every emotion multiplied. All of the challenges and joys that are a part of friendship are also a part of love, but larger, which means the decisions you make are even more important. If having love is a hundred times greater than having a friend, then losing love is a hundred times worse.
I’ve been fortunate to find my true love. There is nothing in this world – or any world – which means more to me than her.
Six months later, Lyra and Bon Bon were visiting Canterlot. Lyra’s friend Lemon Hearts had gotten them tickets to attend Princess Celestia’s State of the Kingdom speech that evening. Which meant they had the afternoon to themselves to explore the city.
“Sure, those cookies were good,” Bon Bon said as the two left Discerning Desserts and walked down the street, “but they felt a little too artificial. Manufactured. Like they were trying to impress you with how perfect they were. I didn’t think it was possible for a cookie to have pretensions, but there you are.”
Lyra giggled. “Come on, there’s a new restaurant this way that’s supposed to specialize in gourmet salads. I want to see if we can get a reservation.”
Suddenly, Lyra stopped. Bon Bon stopped alongside her and tried to figure out what was going on. She saw Lyra staring straight ahead – about a quarter of a block away, across the street, there was a small park with a fountain near the entrance.
Without saying a word, Lyra began to trot toward the fountain, an expression of disbelief on her face. Bon Bon followed as Lyra crossed the street, entered the park, and approached a pony sitting by the fountain – a muted powder blue unicorn with wavy brown hair. She was playing a balalaika.
“Excuse me,” Lyra said. “Would your name happen to be Melody Fusion?”
“Yes,” she replied, slightly confused.
Lyra broke out into a wide smile. “My name is Lyra Heartstrings,” she said. “Have you ever thought about forming a band?”