Morning Glory

by Jade Ring

Chapter 7- Sweet Music

Bon Bon awoke to the smell of apples.

Her eyes inched open to find the morning’s light filtered through the high branches of some of the surely hundreds of apple trees one would find on Sweet Apple Acres. She stretched and squirmed, feeding her tired muscles and enjoying the feel of the soft grass on her fur. The pleasurable sensation almost made the pounding in her head go away.

Almost.

After a particularly long stretch, she rolled to her side in hopes of feeling more of the glorious grass on her body.

She found herself staring into the smiling face of her ex-marefriend.

Bon Bon’s good mood was instantly ruined. “Not again…”

“That’s not what you were saying last night.” Lyra chuckled.

Bon Bon rolled in the other direction huffily. “I knew coming to the wedding alone was a bad idea.”

Lyra laughed. “I dunno. Worked out pretty well for me.” She started to wrap her forelegs about Bon Bon’s body. “I came to score some tail…”

Bon Bon angrily shook off the unicorn’s embrace and stood on still-sleepy hooves. “We can’t keep doing this, Lyra. Ex-marefriends shouldn’t get drunk and wind up sleeping together once a month.”

“Technically, the last time this happened was less than a week ago, after we ran into each other at the Chez Gallop.” Lyra sat up, a bit of grass tucked contentedly in the corner of her mouth. “It’s not my fault you’re such a lush, Bonnie.”

“I’m not a lush, Lyra!” Bon Bon snapped. “I’m strictly a social drinker.”

Lyra snorted. “Is that the popular term for it these days?”

“You make it sound like I’m as bad as… as… I don’t know, Berry Punch.”

“Berry would slap the horn right off my head if I ever had the gall to call her anything less than a barely functioning alcoholic, and you know it.”

Bon Bon laughed despite herself and sat heavily on the grass. “You always know how to make me laugh, don’t you?”

Lyra sat up, happy to be in her favorite sitting position, and stretched. “It’s a gift.”

A stray thought popped into Bon Bon’s head. “Why were you even at the wedding? You’re terrified of weddings.”

Lyra scoffed. “You try not getting nervous around weddings when you’ve been mind-controlled by a shape-shifting queen, tossed down a shaft into the bowels of a mountain, and menaced by a monster that seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at once.” She shivered as she remembered the beast advancing on her and her fellow bridesmaids. “If Princess Luna hadn’t shown up when she had…”

“I know. You’ve told me that story a hundred times. So why were you at this wedding?”

“There was a pretty mare I had my eye on.” When Bon Bon said nothing in return, Lyra focused her gaze on the cream-colored mare’s back. “Bon Bon?”

“Hmm?”

“Why did you break up with me?”

Bon Bon exhaled loudly. “How long were we together?”

Lyra thought about it. “…five years? Give or take a day.”

Bon Bon nodded, still not looking back. “And how long did we live together?”

“As roommates or…”

“You know what I mean.”

“Three years, two months, sixteen days. You took out your last box at about half past noon.”

“You reme…” Bon Bon cut off her surprise with a well-timed cough. “When did I last bring up the subject of marriage?” She smiled, smugly and bitterly, sure that Lyra would have no…

“Four days before you broke up with me. At dinner. You had cooked that pasta I liked so much, the stuff you usually save for my birthday.” A pause. “You were trying to butter me up.”

Bon Bon frowned. This was bringing her not even the grimmest of satisfactions. “And what did you tell me?”

There was a heaviness in the unicorn’s voice when next she spoke. “That if we got married, there was no way we were gonna stay together.”

Bon Bon turned at last so Lyra could see the pain in her eyes. “So why would I stay with a mare that I knew would never marry me?”

“Bon Bon…” Lyra had to break from her gaze. “You don’t understand…”

“So what?” Bon Bon’s voice sounded harsh, even to her own ears. “There’s already so much about you I don’t understand, what harm could a little more do?”

“I’ve never seen a marriage work out.”

“What?”

“My parents, my friends in Canterlot, my cousins… they all got married. And for a few years, things were great for them. But… in the end…” She looked back at the love of her life with tears streaming down her cheeks. “In the end, it always went wrong. Separations, divorce… every marriage ended, usually with the ponies involved hating each other’s guts.”

“Lyra…”

“I couldn’t figure it out. How? How could you say you love somepony so much that you want to be one with them forever, and then suddenly stop loving them?” She shrugged. “I guess I just came to the conclusion that it was the marriage itself doing the damage. Something about getting married put a timer on the relationship. I just… I didn’t want that to happen to us.”

Bon Bon sat in stunned silence.

“I love you so much, Bonnie. I didn’t leave the house for days after you left, and when I finally did walk out the door I swore I was not going to rest until I had you back. The first time you showed up at the door late at night, I was so happy. I was sure that you’d forgiven me, sure that you’d decided to come back.” Lyra lowered her eyes. “But then I saw you were drunk. But you weren’t, y’know, ‘Berry Punch’ drunk. You went on and on about how much you missed me and how much you loved me… how was I supposed to resist you pulling me upstairs?”

Bon Bon opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

“I needed you, Bon Bon. I was still searching for that thing that would make us okay again, but I still physically ached to be close to you in the meantime. I realized that when you got tipsy, you forgot about all the bad things and… and you remembered that you loved me. So I made sure I was close by anytime I knew you would be somewhere and alcohol would be involved.”

Bon Bon narrowed her eyes. “You selfish...”

“Huh?”

“How dare you take advantage of me like that? How dare you?”

Lyra’s head hung lower. “Being apart from you for too long physically hurt me, Bonnie. You’re my other half, my everything. I just… I needed you.”

Bon Bon sniffed and stood. “Well congratulations, you got me. I’m sure you’ll get me again at the next party I go to.” She turned and began to walk away. “And to think; all it took to get you over your phobia of weddings was the promise of a little candy…”

“Bon Bon! Stop!”

Bon Bon spun and found Lyra also on her hooves, a blaze of determination in her eyes. “What?”

“I didn’t come to the wedding hoping that you’d drag me into the broom closet. I came because I finally found my answer.” She took a deep breath. “Being at that ceremony, feeling all the love in the air, seeing Mac and Fluttershy standing there… I finally got it.”

“Got what?”

“Why those other marriages I had seen failed. All those marriages I had seen fall apart… they were aristocrats and high society types. They thought what they had was love, but to them it was just another step in status, a place you’re expected to go by society at large. But a marriage is more than that; marriage is a step in life, not social status. You marry someone not just because you find them beautiful, or smart, or how good their job is.” Lyra offered a small smile. “You marry someone because there are challenges in life you can’t face on your own, and the pony you marry is the one you know can face those challenges with you.”

Bon Bon’s angry façade faded. “What are you saying?”

“At my cousin’s wedding a few years back, the bride and groom hardly looked at each other. They kept cutting eyes at the ponies around them, making sure they were paying attention to how nice the dress was or how beautiful the decorations were.” Lyra wiped her eyes as her smile grew. “Mac and Fluttershy didn’t do any of that. Their eyes never moved from each other, not even for an instant. They were each looking at the only thing in the world that mattered.” She shrugged. “And I saw us up there, doing the same thing.”

“…what?”

“I stopped looking for you at parties weeks ago, Bonnie. When we’ve gotten together since then, you’ve always come to me, so I know that at least part of you still loves me. And you know that I still love you, don’t you?”

Bon Bon nodded.

“I understand it all now… and I want to ask if you’ll marry me.”

For a moment the only sound was the bird-song, the only movement came from a breeze in the trees.

A loose apple fell to the ground with a thud.

Bon Bon tackled Lyra to the grass with a similar sound.

Laughing, Lyra kissed the top of Bon Bon’s head. “So… is that a yes?”

Bon Bon looked up at her love, her eyes full of tears and a wide grin on her face. “You stupid, stupid, stupid unicorn. I never stopped loving you, and I only drank so much so that I would have the courage to try and come back to you. I love you so much, you nincompoop. So yes, I’ll marry you.”

“So…” Lyra wiped the tears from her new fiancé’s eyes. “You weren’t really mad then?”

Bon Bon rolled her eyes. “Shut up and kiss me.”

She did, and there was no alcohol fueled courage, no questions, and no despair to be found in the joining of their lips. It was a kiss of resolution, of salvation, and of wholeness.

It was, pardon the cliché, the kiss of truest love.

They parted, and Bon Bon looked at her wife-to-be and felt the same butterflies in her stomach she’d felt on the first day they’d met. “Again?”

Lyra nuzzled her. “Again.”

Comments

[ElJorro]

I love how this series is continuing. Although I was expecting an OctaScratch chapter from the title.

[The Princess Rarity]

Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise. You never cease to entertain me, Jade.

[Yami Vizzini]

Sweet as usual. It feels just a little odd to have this character arc introduced retroactively, but what the hay, getting right to the happy ending just this once isn't bad.

[Brocky]

Ah lyrabon. At times one of the best fan pairings and sometimes some of the worst mary sues you'll ever come across.

This instance is one of the former. Good original work for this storyline.

For some reason, when you mentioned Berry Punch I thought of that far fetched idea that she's cheerilee's sister, and confused bon bon for her, really changed the context of this scene.

[The Cosmic Consciousness]

My favorite shipping couple.
This pairing has finally been made canon in Rainbow Rocks.

[MustacheMerlin]

I'm pretty sure that if there's such a thing as a fandom wide otp, this is it.

[superfun]

Now this is a couple that I DO ship, which makes this chapter extra adorable.

[n8dagr8088]

“So what?” Bon Bon’s voice sounded harsh, even to her own ears. “There’s already so much about you I don’t understand, what harm could a little more do?”

this low blow would work better if lyra said t to bonbon after slice of life