Lyra was relieved to be wrong. But the feeling of relief was short-lived.
It went away as soon as Lyra realized that she now needed to talk to Bon Bon’s parents – two ponies she had never met before – about her marefriend’s condition in the intensive care unit. Or as she saw it: She had to talk to two ponies who immediately viewed her with contempt about a subject she was still waiting to learn more about herself.
It took Lyra a few extra seconds to process the entire situation. In the silence, Straight Lace snorted.
Finally, Lyra realized that she needed to answer Sugar Plum’s question.
“Bon Bon was bitten by a giant snake. They took her to the hospital, but she’s unconscious. The doctor hasn’t told me anything else. He said to come back at nine this morning.”
Sugar Plum quietly gasped. Straight Lace, still standing a couple of steps away, didn’t react.
For a few seconds, they all just stood and stared at one another.
“Um… do you want to come in?”
Lyra let the two inside and pointed them to the sofa, where they each took a seat. She then remembered to offer them something to drink, although the only things available were water, milk, and orange juice. They both chose water, so Lyra went into the kitchen and came back levitating two glasses of ice water, each with a drinking straw. Bon Bon’s parents were looking around the living room.
After she placed their beverages on the coffee table in front of them, Lyra tried to smooth her mane down with her hoof. “Sorry about the way I look. It was a rough night.”
“So, Bon Bon lives here with you,” Sugar Plum said, staring at pictures of the couple displayed on the mantel above the fireplace.
“Mm-hmm,” Lyra said, sitting down on the loveseat. “She does.”
“And the two of you…” Sugar Plum trailed off, gesturing between Lyra and the photographs.
“Are marefriends,” Lyra answered. “For a little over three years now.”
Straight Lace snorted again.
After a few seconds, Sugar Plum said, “And that’s… okay here?”
“It’s okay everywhere,” Lyra said levelly.
Sugar Plum didn’t say anything else. She leaned down and took a sip of her water.
Lyra decided to change the subject. “Did you just get into town?”
“Yes,” Sugar Plum said. “As soon as we got your letter, we took the overnight train. But when we arrived, we didn’t know where the hospital was, so we decided to come here.”
“You decided to come here,” Straight Lace said. “I still say we should’ve just stayed home.”
“Dear…”
“If our daughter thinks she can go around doing whatever she wants, then she can deal with the consequences on her own.”
Lyra’s hooves dug into the cushion she was sitting on.
Once again, no one said anything.
Sugar Plum leaned down to take another drink of water. Straight Lace still hadn’t touched his.
Eventually, Lyra said, “Did you have breakfast yet?”
Sugar Plum looked up. “There was food on the train, yes.”
More silence.
Straight Lace stared at Lyra. Lyra briefly met his eyes, then quickly looked away, her own eyes wandering around the room aimlessly.
There was a brief dry sucking sound as Sugar Plum finished the remainder of her water.
Lyra tried again. “So… what do you two do?” She already knew the answer – Bon Bon had told her years ago – but she couldn’t stand the silence.
“I stay at home and take care of the house,” Sugar Plum said. “Straight Lace works for the Administration for the Redistribution of Magical Imbalances.”
“I neutralize lingering residual unicorn magic. Get things back the way they should be.”
Lyra didn’t have any follow-up questions.
Straight Lace glanced up at the largest picture on the mantel. In it, Lyra had her foreleg draped over Bon Bon’s withers, drawing her close enough that they were standing shoulder-to-shoulder. They were both looking at the camera with big smiles on their faces.
He returned his gaze to Lyra. Now it was more of a glare than a stare.
Lyra shifted in her seat.
The wall clock chimed once. 8:30.
Lyra said, “Maybe we should go to the hospital early.”
Straight Lace didn’t respond. Sugar Plum said, “Okay.”
Lyra knew that it took far less than thirty minutes to walk from her house to the hospital. But with the oppressive cloud of silence that surrounded the three of them as they made their way through town, the walk felt like it took forever.
When Lyra stepped into the waiting room, she was relieved to find Gentle Presence and Healing Hooves already there.
“How are you doing?” Gentle Presence asked her.
“I’ve… been better,” Lyra said.
Healing Hooves looked at the two ponies behind Lyra. “Are they with you?”
“Yes,” she said. “Gentle Presence and Healing Hooves, meet Bon Bon’s parents: Sugar Plum and Straight Lace. Sugar Plum and Straight Lace, this is Gentle Presence and Healing Hooves. They were with Bon Bon when she was bitten by the snake. Healing Hooves made an antivenom for her.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Healing Hooves said as he and his wife extended their forelegs for hoofshakes. “I wish it was under happier circumstances.”
Sugar Plum shook Gentle Presence’s hoof. But Straight Lace didn’t reciprocate. In a tone of voice that was nearly a bark, he responded, “What were you doing messing with a giant snake?”
Healing Hooves was slightly taken aback, but quickly recovered. “We were tracking it down for the Exotic Creature Relocation Agency in Canterlot. Bon Bon volunteered to help us. We had it cornered, but then it attacked her.”
“Agency? You work for the Guard?”
“For the Support Corps, yes. On a temporary basis.”
“I’ve never heard of any exotic creature agency.”
“It was only formed a couple of years ago. We have credentials, but at the moment, they’re back in the hotel room.”
“No, I believe you. I work for Magical Imbalances.” Straight Lace finally gave him a hoofshake. “And I know it’s not your fault our daughter tried to do something she shouldn’t have even been thinking of doing.”
“She…” Healing Hooves said, but then stopped. That information was still classified. He kept his mouth shut, albeit with a look of frustration on his face.
Sugar Plum said, “You gave her an antivenom? So that means she’ll get better?”
Healing Hooves looked at the floor and exhaled. “I don’t know. We’re waiting for the doctor to tell us Bon Bon’s condition.”
Lyra walked over to the receptionist’s desk. “We’re all here to see Bon Bon,” she said. The morning receptionist looked through her files. Lyra braced herself, fearing the worst. Even though she knew there was no possible way she could truly prepare herself for the worst.
“Ah, here she is,” the receptionist said. She examined the paperwork. “She’s still in the ICU. If those are her parents, there are a couple of forms we’d like them to fill out.”
Lyra brought the two over to speak to the receptionist. Five minutes before visiting hours began, Doctor Horse arrived in the waiting room. After being introduced to Bon Bon’s parents, he said, “Since we’re all here, we might as well start visiting hours early.”
The doctor escorted everyone into the hallway. Lyra trotted ahead of the entire party, including the doctor, and headed straight for the single-occupancy room they had been in the night before. She arrived to see Bon Bon lying in the bed, looking exactly the same as she had looked when Lyra had kissed her good night. It wasn’t any easier for Lyra to see it the second time.
She walked up to the bed. Once again, she gently placed her hoof near Bon Bon’s shoulder. Still warm.
“Good morning, Bon Bon,” she said, her voice involuntarily tightening. “I’m here.”
The only response was the slow, regular beep of the heart monitor.
A few moments later, Sugar Plum was the second to enter the room. When Lyra heard the choked sob behind her, she put her hoof back on the ground and turned around. Sugar Plum walked up and stood next to Lyra at the side of the bed. She simply stared at Bon Bon as the doctor and the remaining ponies stepped in.
“This is more visitors than are usually allowed in the room at one time,” the doctor explained, “but I’m making an exception.” He looked at Sugar Plum, who was clearly preoccupied with trying to hold in her tears. He turned to Straight Lace. “Shall I tell everypony Bon Bon’s condition?”
Straight Lace eyed him critically. “That’s why we came here, isn’t it?” He waved his hoof in an impatient “go ahead” gesture.
The doctor nodded. As he returned his head to being upright, he set his mouth in an even line.
“When the giant mamba bit Bon Bon, it did indeed inject her with its venom. And giant mamba venom is a potent neurotoxin. As a result… Bon Bon has lapsed into a coma.”
Both Lyra and Sugar Plum began to quietly cry. The doctor levitated a box of tissues from a nearby table toward them. He then levitated it toward Gentle Presence and Healing Hooves, who were also beginning to tear up.
After Lyra and Sugar Plum had regained their composure just enough to listen again, he continued. “The mamba’s venom is designed to incapacitate creatures significantly larger than a pony.” He looked at Healing Hooves. “If you hadn’t brought her here when you did, and if you hadn’t given her that antivenom, she would have…” He looked at Lyra and Sugar Plum. “Well, we’d be having a much sadder conversation.”
While struggling for breath, Lyra said, “Does that… does that mean she’ll get better?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t know. Comas are unpredictable. And it doesn’t help that we’re dealing with a neurotoxin that previously had no cure. Nopony has ever been able to successfully treat a giant mamba bite, and the treatment she was given is highly experimental. We don’t know exactly how much antivenom was in the blood that Healing Hooves gave her. Given her present condition, it looks like it was an appropriate dose… but that’s only an educated guess.” He looked at Healing Hooves again. “Unless there’s anything else you know about the treatment?”
“There isn’t – I’m sorry,” he said. “Like you said, this is all experimental. I’ve never tried anything like it before.”
“You’ve given her a chance,” the doctor said. To the others, he said, “We just don’t know how much of a chance. I can’t even put a percentage on it – that’s how far into uncharted territory we are here. We’ve stabilized her, and the nurses and I will continue to monitor and care for her, but really… it’s all up to Bon Bon now.”
No one said anything. The medical ventilator by the bed continued to emit a soft bellows sound while the heart monitor continued to beep.
Lyra was the first to speak up. “Isn’t there anything else you can do? What about more antivenom blood?”
“Healing Hooves is in no condition to give any more blood right now,” the doctor said. “And by the time he is, it won’t have any effect. The antivenom she’s received is neutralizing the venom that’s currently in her system. By the time we could give her more, it will have already done its job. From there, it’ll just be a matter of whether her brain can heal itself from the effects of the venom that made it through her system when she was first bitten.”
Sugar Plum said, “How long will it be until we know whether it’s doing that?”
“I still have to do some research on that. Right now, I don’t know. Some coma patients come out of it in less than 24 hours. Some take weeks or even months. The sooner she comes out of the coma, the better her chances of making a complete recovery, but there’s no way of knowing when – or if – that will happen.”
Lyra said, “So what can we do?”
The doctor looked at her sympathetically. “Nothing.”
“But…”
“We have her on life support. And we’ll check on her regularly to see whether she’s made any progress. We’ve given her the best chance that we can, but at this point, there’s nothing left but to be patient while Bon Bon tries to recover. It’s really the only thing we can do.”
Lyra turned around and looked at Bon Bon. As if she might see some way to help. But all she saw was her marefriend lying perfectly still, covered in tubes and wires.
Healing Hooves spoke. “You’ve intubated her, right?”
“Yes, we had to,” the doctor said.
“Doesn’t that require anesthesia? But if she’s trying to recover from neurotoxicity…”
“It’s a local anesthesia,” the doctor said. He tapped his horn with his hoof. “Very local. It’s a spell that I’ve cast only around her throat and nasal passages – we had to insert a feeding tube, too. But rest assured that her brain is unaffected by it.”
Healing Hooves nodded. The ponies fell quiet again. Lyra continued to stare at Bon Bon.
“All right then,” Straight Lace said brusquely. “You heard the doctor. There’s nothing else to do. So let’s go.”
Four shocked faces turned to look at him.
“Go…?” Sugar Plum said.
“She needs space to recover,” Straight Lace said. “All of us crammed in here isn’t helping anything. We need to leave her alone.”
Lyra instinctively took a step closer to the bed.
Straight Lace looked at Gentle Presence and Healing Hooves, who were standing closest to him. He motioned with his head toward the door. Slowly, they stepped into the hallway.
He turned his attention to the two ponies by Bon Bon’s bed.
Sugar Plum said, “Shouldn’t we stay?”
“Coddling her isn’t going to do any good. You want her to get over this, don’t you?” he said. “You heard the doctor – she has to do this on her own. Hovering over her is just going to get in the way.”
Gradually, she made her way over to his side.
Straight Lace glared at Lyra. In an icy tone, he said, “Get out.”
“I’m not going to abandon—”
“Now.”
The doctor stepped toward Lyra. “Those are the parents’ wishes.”
“But she—”
“I’m afraid you have to leave,” he said. He looked at Straight Lace. With a stern expression, he tilted his head up slightly to the level of Lyra’s ear.
In a voice only she could hear, he whispered, “Visiting hours are all day.”
Wide-eyed, Lyra looked at the doctor. Maintaining the stern expression on his face, he looked directly at her and nodded. “So you need to go.”
“Okay…” she said. Reluctantly, she made her way into the hallway with Gentle Presence and Healing Hooves.
Sugar Plum, Straight Lace, and the doctor followed her out. Straight Lace turned to the doctor. “Is there anything else you need us to fill out right now?”
“No,” the doctor replied. “Everything should be all set.”
“We’ll check back this afternoon to see if anything has changed.” In a respectful tone, he said, “Have a nice day.”
Everyone except the doctor followed him as he walked back to the waiting room and out the door, stopping in the area just outside the hospital’s entrance.
Once they were outside, Gentle Presence said, “I’m afraid we’re going to have to leave pretty soon. The sitter can’t stay past tonight and it’s a long trip back to South Pastern.”
“No…” Lyra objected. She glanced over at Straight Lace. She really didn’t want them to leave. Still… “I understand,” she grudgingly said.
“Don’t worry,” Healing Hooves said to Lyra and the parents. “We’ll make sure the agency covers her medical expenses. She may not be an employee, but there are procedures in place if a pony gets hurt while we’re on assignment. I’ll put everything in motion as soon as we get home.”
Gentle Presence gave a piece of paper to Lyra. “This is our home address,” she said. “Whatever happens, let us know. We care about Bon Bon, too.” Healing Hooves nodded in agreement.
“Thank you,” Lyra said. She gave Gentle Presence a hug.
Straight Lace snorted. “Come on,” he said to Sugar Plum. “We need to go find a place to sleep tonight.”
Sugar Plum hesitated. “Shouldn’t we stay here? What if something changes?”
“She’s in a coma,” he said bluntly. “Even if something does change, finding out in the afternoon won’t be any different than finding it out when it happens.” He turned to Healing Hooves. “You said you were staying at a hotel? Is it any good?”
“I thought it was nice,” he said. “The Feather Down Inn.” He pointed off in the distance. “Follow that street until you see a store that sells quills and sofas, then turn right. Keep going until you see the cooper’s, then turn left. It’s about five buildings down.”
Sugar Plum said, “Thank you. It was nice meeting you.”
“You too,” Gentle Presence said. She and Healing Hooves shook her hoof.
Sugar Plum looked to Healing Hooves. “I know the doctor said he couldn’t give us a percentage,” she said. “But can you? I already feel like I’ve lost her twice. I just want to know…” She closed her eyes and hung her head.
“I’m sorry,” Healing Hooves said softly. “I genuinely don’t know.”
Lyra recognized the pain in Sugar Plum’s voice. She stepped toward her and, trying to put on a brave face, said, “Bon Bon’s tough. She’s going to fight this.” She put her hoof on Sugar Plum’s shoulder.
Straight Lace immediately swatted it into the air with his own hoof. “She’s married,” he snarled. He turned to his wife. “Let’s go.”
With Straight Lace in the lead, they started walking toward the inn, leaving Lyra standing still with her foreleg in the air and a stunned expression on her face.
Once the couple was out of earshot, Healing Hooves was the first to speak. “Wow…” he said.
Lyra hadn’t moved. “…So it wasn’t just me, then?”
“No,” he said. “That was… uncomfortable.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve had to deal with a pony like that.” She finally put her hoof back on the ground. “I didn’t miss it.”
Healing Hooves looked off into the distance. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he said, “We didn’t get a chance to ask how you held up last night. You seemed pretty distraught.”
“I am pretty distraught,” she said. “The pony I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with is in a coma right now.”
“Did you at least eat something this morning?”
“Yes. I had the leftover macaroni. Thank you for dinner, by the way. I think I forgot to say that.”
“It’s all right,” Gentle Presence said. “We know this can’t be easy.”
Lyra just nodded.
Softly, Gentle Presence asked, “Are you going to be okay? Will you be able to handle being alone?”
Lyra suddenly knitted her brow. “I beg your pardon?” she snapped. “Alone? That isn’t going to happen. Bon Bon is going to pull through! Why would you even say that?!”
Gentle Presence took a step back. “I didn’t mean…”
Healing Hooves quickly stepped forward. Firmly, he said, “That isn’t what she’s talking about. Even if Bon Bon came out of the coma this very second, she’s going to need to take time to recover here at the hospital. No matter what happens, you’re going to be on your own for a while. I know last night was tough because this is all still fresh. But you have to pull yourself together, for your own sake.”
Lyra dropped her head. For a few seconds, she could only stare at the ground. Finally, while still looking down, she said, “…I’m sorry.”
Gentle Presence stepped toward her. “It’s okay. I can tell you really care about her.”
Lyra looked back up. “That’s an understatement.”
“I don’t know if this helps,” she said, “but yesterday, we offered to put Bon Bon in contact with the agency if she wanted some extra creature wrangling work. She turned us down – she said she was happy with her life here with you.”
Lyra tried to smile. Instead, her lip quivered.
Healing Hooves looked at her. “Are you going to be okay?”
Lyra sniffled as she assumed an upright posture. “I… I think so. At least, as okay as I can be.”
He took another step forward, his face about twelve inches from hers. He locked eyes with her. “Take care of yourself. The doctors and nurses will take care of Bon Bon.”
“I will,” Lyra said. She gave Healing Hooves a hug. “Thank you for bringing her here so fast. And for helping her with the blood transfusion.”
He embraced her back. “Like we said, we owe her.”
When they released the hug, he and Gentle Presence turned to leave for the train station.
“Good-bye,” Gentle Presence said. “Stay strong.”
Lyra nodded as she waved good-bye. As they walked away, she looked around. Seeing no sign of Straight Lace or Sugar Plum, she went back inside the hospital.
“Visiting hours are all day?” she asked the receptionist.
“All day,” she confirmed.
“I’ll be in Bon Bon’s room.”
Lyra quickly walked back to the room in the intensive care unit. Once again, she took her position at the left side of Bon Bon’s bed, positioning herself between the bed and the door.
“I’m back,” she said to Bon Bon. “Don’t worry – I’m not planning on going anywhere. Ever.” She looked at the tubes attached to Bon Bon’s muzzle. “I know this is tough for you. Even tougher than it is for me. That’s why I’m here. For you. You know that I’d do anything for you, right? Well, now is the time. Just tell me what it is you need to get better, and I’ll get it for you.”
The medical ventilator continued to softly pulsate.
“Yeah, I should have known you’d see through my plan to trick you into waking up.” She forced a single chuckle. “It’s okay, Bon Bon. I just want you to get better. Please. Take all the time that you need – I promise I’ll never leave you. Just please get better.”
There was a pause as Lyra tried to think of something else to talk about.
“Your friends from your past job had to go home. They needed to relieve the sitter. Before they left, they wanted to make sure I could take care of myself while you’re in here. When you were with them, did you tell them how much you do for me, and that I’d be lost on my own without you? I mean, I know it’s true – I’m just wondering whether you told them or whether it’s that obvious to anypony who meets me.
“Anyway, you’ll be happy to know that I actually had a meal for breakfast this morning. And not just cold cereal or some raw fruit, either. An actual, prepared meal.”
Lyra stopped for a beat.
“…Okay, it was leftover macaroni and cheese from the night before. But that still counts! Somepony had to prepare it, didn’t they? It doesn’t matter when the food was actually prepared. Or what its temperature was when I finally ate it. The important thing is, I ate breakfast, so you don’t have to worry about how I’m doing. You just focus on getting better.
“Oh! I bet nopony’s told you where you are yet. They’ve probably all been too busy trying to help you. Okay, so you’re at the hospital. You probably figured that out on your own. Um… it’s a pretty nice room, as far as hospital rooms go. There’s only the one bed, so you don’t have to worry about having a roommate. And there’s a pretty big window kind of off to your right. There’s a whole landscaped area out there – you can see it from your bed.
“The wall on the other side of the room isn’t that interesting. Just a counter-looking thing with a bunch of drawers in it. You’d think there’d be some tongue depressors or a jar of lollipops on top, but there’s nothing like that. I guess if a pony is in the ICU, they’re past needing a tongue depressor. And I guess lollipops aren’t really appropriate, either. Although I sure wish somepony would give me one right now. You know, I bet adults would be more willing to go to the doctor if they still got a lollipop at the end. Lollipops make everything better.
“What else… there’s a door over to your left. There’s a window in that, too. Makes it feel like the room is open – you won’t feel cooped up, even if it’s closed. But if you need privacy, there’s a curtain that pulls around your bed here. All in all, if it wasn’t for the antiseptic smell and the whole, you know, intensive care thing, this wouldn’t be such a bad place to stay.”
Lyra really wanted Bon Bon to respond. Not only because it would mean she was out of the coma, but because she had a way of making conversations about even the most mundane subjects interesting. As it stood, Lyra felt like she was just rambling.
But she continued to ramble, hour after hour, stopping only during the times when a nurse came in to check up on Bon Bon. No matter how ridiculous she sounded, Lyra was going to make sure that Bon Bon knew she wasn’t alone.
It was mid-afternoon. Lyra was in the middle of describing the classes she took during her second year at the music academy when she heard a knock on the already-open door. She turned around to see her good friend Golden Harvest standing in the doorframe.
“Can I come in?” she asked.
Lyra nodded.
As Golden Harvest entered, she saw Bon Bon lying in the bed. She stopped short. “Oh…” was all she could say.
“Yeah,” Lyra said.
She finished walking toward Lyra. “Everypony in the marketplace has been worried about Bon Bon,” she said. “After we saw that unicorn carry her through town yesterday, we didn’t know what happened. I volunteered to come here and find out for everypony else.”
She looked at Bon Bon again.
“This is bad, isn’t it?” she said.
“Well, it’s not good,” Lyra responded. She proceeded to tell her what had happened, from how Bon Bon had been bitten by the snake that had been slithering through town, to being given an experimental antivenom, to her present condition in the hospital.
“…And the doctor and the nurses say there’s nothing I can do except wait for her to get better,” Lyra finished. Her voice still wavered each time she had to say it.
For a few moments, Golden Harvest was struck silent. Finally, she said the only thing she could: “I am so sorry.”
Lyra sighed. “I just wish I knew how she was doing.”
“What about you? Are you doing okay?”
Lyra looked at Bon Bon. “Of course I’m not doing okay.”
Slowly, Golden Harvest nodded. “I can only imagine. Is there anything I can do? Is there anything that you want?” Quickly, she added, “For yourself?”
Lyra thought for a moment. “You could ask if there’s a cushioned stool around here somewhere. I’ve been standing in this spot since about 9:30 and I’d really like to get off my hooves.”
“I will, but I was thinking more along the lines of food. Did you eat lunch?”
“Not yet.”
“Lyra, it’s after 2:30.”
Lyra looked up at the clock. “Oh. So it is.”
A pause. “…Shouldn’t you eat lunch?”
“I’m not leaving Bon Bon.”
Golden Harvest silently acknowledged the conviction behind that statement. “What if I got lunch for you?” she asked.
Lyra’s reaction revealed that she hadn’t even considered that option. “Well, now that you mention it, my stomach does feel empty,” she said. “Would you be willing to pick up something from the Hayburger for me? I’ll pay you back tonight after visiting hours are over.”
“Of course,” Golden Harvest said. “What would you like?”
“Just a plain hayburger. No cheese. I mean, I want cheese, but there’s probably only so much cheese I’m supposed to eat in one day. Why aren’t there any comfort foods that are healthy?”
Golden Harvest’s only response was a shrug. Lyra felt a pang from the hole in her heart. That was the kind of idle observation that Bon Bon would have had an entertaining response for.
With nothing else to say, Golden Harvest told Lyra that she’d be right back, then left. She returned several minutes later with a hayburger, a bonus pouch of fried potatoes, and the assurance that Lyra didn’t have to pay her back.
Golden Harvest stepped out of the room again in search of something comfortable to sit on. Lyra began to eat her lunch. She briefly considered that the familiar smell of greasy fast food might help rouse Bon Bon from the coma – or, better yet, the smell of some familiar candy ingredients! Then Lyra looked at the feeding tube inserted in Bon Bon’s nose. Dropping her head in defeat, she impassively took another bite of her burger.
Golden Harvest returned with a cushioned stool, wide enough for a pony to sit on with enough space for their forelegs. After giving it to Lyra, she stuck around to keep her company. Lyra was grateful to have a pony who could respond to what she said, although she felt discomfited engaging in a conversation while seemingly ignoring the unconscious Bon Bon lying next to her.
After a half hour, Golden Harvest left and returned to the marketplace with Lyra’s permission to update the townsponies on what had happened to Bon Bon. Lyra turned to her marefriend and apologized for the distraction. Bon Bon did not reply.
Another half hour passed, with Lyra reminiscing to Bon Bon about some of the more memorable times they had gone out to eat together. She stopped in the middle of her recollection of an endless salad bar in Canterlot when she heard familiar voices in the hallway.
“…she’s going to look exactly the same way she looked before. Nothing’s changed.”
“I know. I just want to see her.”
Sugar Plum stepped into the room, followed by the doctor. Straight Lace’s voice was still in the hallway.
“Fine, for a minute. But you’re just wasting—”
He entered the room and saw Lyra.
“You again.”
Lyra swallowed.
“How long have you been here?” He said it barely below the volume that would earn him a reprimand for yelling in the hospital.
Lyra straightened up on her stool. “All day.”
“All d—?!” He turned to the doctor. “She’s been here all day?!” He turned back to Lyra. “Are you trying to interfere with my daughter’s recovery?”
“Interfere?” she replied, the hairs of her coat standing on end. “I’m trying to help!” She looked to the doctor. “Don’t they say that you’re supposed to talk to ponies who are in a coma? To make them feel better?”
Doctor Horse gritted his teeth before responding. “Well, there’s never been a study to confirm that. But—”
Straight Lace cut him off. “You heard the doctor. She has to recover on her own.”
“But I have to do something!”
“You shouldn’t be doing anything! You shouldn’t even be here! And if you’re just going to trot in and ignore the direct orders of her physician, then we might as well give up right now and let her die!”
Two sharp gasps cut through the room as time seemed to briefly come to a stop. Even the doctor looked at Straight Lace in surprise.
After a moment, Sugar Plum stammered, “Y-you don’t actually want…”
“Of course I don’t want that to happen!” he said. “But ponies don’t lapse into comas because they’re fit and healthy! Our daughter is at death’s door, and this miscreant is trying to push her through!”
Lyra’s mouth hung open. She tried to object, but only a short, strained sound escaped from her throat.
Straight Lace stared directly into Lyra’s eyes. “Get out of this room,” he growled. “Right. Now.”
Lyra looked to the doctor for help.
The doctor exhaled. “I’m afraid you have to leave,” he said sympathetically. Straight Lace nodded resolutely. Sugar Plum still looked shocked.
The doctor stepped over and picked up one of Lyra’s forelegs from the stool. He guided her down onto the floor, where, with a thunderstruck expression on her face, she walked past Straight Lace, into the hallway, through the waiting room, and out the door.
Lyra looked around. The sun was shining. There was a slight breeze. She was standing outside the hospital. Her Bon Bon was inside.
Everything that had just happened finally sunk in. She realized that Straight Lace would be outside soon. And she didn’t want him to see what she was about to do.
She stepped into the bushes bordering the landscaped area next to the hospital building. She lay down so no one could see her.
She began to softly cry.
With red eyes, Lyra climbed out of the bushes and began to walk away from the hospital. As she moved, Straight Lace’s words replayed in her head.
we might as well give up right now and let her
Lyra tried to stop the voice. She didn’t even want to think that word. But it came anyway. She tried to ignore it. But as she deliberately tried to not think about it, it became all she could think about.
Lyra made her way through Ponyville. She had a destination in mind. She took the long way around the marketplace – she didn’t want to get sidetracked by well-meaning ponies stopping her to talk.
Soon, she found herself at the front door of the Castle of Friendship.
The problem with attempting to visit the princess of friendship is the simple fact that she has a lot of friends. Usually, dropping by unannounced wouldn’t get a pony very far. But when Lyra told Spike what had happened to Bon Bon, he agreed that it demanded Twilight Sparkle’s immediate attention. Soon, she was greeted in the foyer by her reconciled Canterlot friend, who led her to the study. They took a seat in two of the three plush chairs surrounding a small table. On the table, Spike laid out a tea set, then left the room.
After Twilight poured them each a cup of tea, Lyra explained everything that had happened to Bon Bon, including the lack of treatment options after the initial dose of antivenom.
“You’re the smartest pony in Ponyville,” she finished. “Is there anything you can do?”
Lyra recognized the sympathetic look on Twilight’s face. She had been seeing it on far too many ponies’ faces recently.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said. “There’s no way to bring a pony out of a coma.”
“But there has to be some kind of spell for it.” Lyra’s voice was urgent. “It has to be in one of your books somewhere. Just tell me where to find it and I’ll learn it!”
“Lyra,” Twilight said. She leaned forward in her chair slightly. “There is no such spell. Throughout history, the greatest unicorn doctors whose magic specialty was medicine – even they have never been able to force a patient out of a coma.”
“What about you? You’re an alicorn! You can do anything!”
“Alicorns can’t do everything,” she said sadly. “And this is one of those things we can’t do. No alicorn – not me, not even Celestia – can meddle in a pony’s natural cycle of life and death.”
Lyra shrank back upon hearing that word. Twilight immediately regretted saying it.
Still, she continued. “It’s a power that no pony is meant to wield. It would be impossible to use it for everyone. And to have the authority to make that decision… it would be unfair for one pony to choose who gets healed and who doesn’t.”
“I don’t want to heal everypony,” Lyra said. “I just need to save Bon Bon.”
“I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do. There’s nothing either of us can do.”
Lyra’s voice became more frantic. “There has to be something,” she said. “Just give me a lead! A potion, dark magic… anything! I’ll do whatever it takes!”
A look of fear crossed Twilight’s face. Lyra stopped talking.
“Lyra, I can’t pretend to understand how difficult this is for you,” Twilight said. “But I need you to promise me that you won’t even think about considering dark magic.”
Lyra didn’t respond.
“No good has ever come from a pony embracing dark magic. The end is always worse than what they were trying to achieve.”
Lyra looked at Twilight. “So there is a way…?”
“Lyra, no.” Her words were unyielding. “You can’t save Bon Bon at the expense of your own soul.”
“You don’t understand. I would give up anything for Bon Bon. Even myself.”
Twilight got out of her chair. Using her telekinesis, she moved the table out of the way and stepped forward. “Look at me, Lyra. I am serious. Completely serious. As your friend – and as your princess, if I have to – I am telling you to not even explore that option. For one thing, I genuinely don’t know whether there would be such a spell. But more importantly, ask yourself: Would Bon Bon want you to sacrifice yourself for her?”
“She deserves—”
“Would she be happy if she was better but it happened because she had to lose you?”
“But…” Lyra sputtered. It was all she could say. After a few seconds of silence, she broke down and began to cry. She tried to bury her head in the side rest of the chair.
Twilight stepped over and gently placed her hoof on Lyra’s back.
Lyra continued to cry into the chair. “It’s not fair…” she sobbed.
Twilight simply watched as Lyra made no effort to control her emotions. After a few seconds, she softly said, “I know it isn’t fair. Sometimes you just have to deal with the terrible things that come your way. And that’s the only thing you can do.”
She waited until Lyra was down to a low whimper before she spoke again. “I know it doesn’t sound like much, and I know this isn’t what you came to hear, but the best advice I can give you right now is to remember that your friends are there for you. Accept their support. They may not be able to solve your problems, but at least their presence can make things a little more bearable.”
Lyra looked up at Twilight with forlorn, puffy eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said. Lyra buried her head again, although she was no longer crying. After several seconds of silence, Twilight asked, “Do you want to keep talking?”
“No,” Lyra said into the chair.
“Do you want me to just sit here with you?”
There was a short pause. “No,” Lyra said, getting out of the chair. “I have to go back and be with Bon Bon.”
“I understand.” She watched as Lyra walked toward the door. Before she opened it, she said, “Lyra? If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, stop by at any time.”
Lyra only gave a noncommittal “Mm-hm.” She left the castle.
Even though Twilight had said there was no potion that could help, on her way back to the hospital, Lyra stopped by Zecora’s home anyway. The zebra shaman had confirmed that there was no remedy she could provide, although Lyra didn’t completely believe her. She knew that there had to be something supernatural about Zecora. Clairvoyance, for one thing. After all, why would she have been eating a wonton when Lyra arrived, other than so she’d have a rhyme?
When Lyra returned to the hospital, she didn’t even stop at the receptionist’s desk. “Bon Bon’s room,” she quickly said as she continued on her way into the ICU. She wasn’t sure whether Straight Lace had told the hospital staff to bar her from seeing her marefriend; if he had, she wasn’t going to give them the chance to realize they should enforce it.
“I’m back,” she said to Bon Bon as she approached the bed. “Sorry I took so long. I went to visit Twilight and Zecora to see if they could help. But they both said there was nothing they could do. I’ll keep searching – I’m never going to give up – but right now, it looks like it might be up to you to come out of this.
“I’m really sorry – I feel like my hooves are tied. If I knew any way to help you, you know that I’d do it. In a heartbeat. I hate that I’m forcing you to deal with this all on your own. But I know you can do it, Bon Bon. You can get better.
“You have to get better.”
Once again, she started talking to Bon Bon about anything and everything she could think of. As before, she would occasionally be interrupted by a nurse who needed to tend to Bon Bon medically. More than once, one of those nurses would tell Lyra how moving it was to see her dedication. It was clear that she was still welcome in the room. The nurses’ encouragement gave her the emotional restoration she needed to keep talking; the pitcher of water they brought in gave her the physical restoration she needed to keep talking.
More hours passed. Lyra watched the sky change color as the sun set and described it all to Bon Bon. There was less than a half hour left before visiting hours would be over and she was determined to be by her marefriend’s side for every minute of it. She returned to the topic that she had sporadically touched on throughout the afternoon: The cities her band had visited during their first tour.
“…We were worried that the Appleoosans would only want honky-tonk-type music, but they were one of the quickest to understand what we were doing. And they really got into it! We were playing on this nice little outdoor stage, so the music carried pretty well. Just like all the other cities, the audience was small, but in Appleoosa, as the passers-by heard us, a lot of them stopped and stayed to listen. Every time we finished a song, they started hootin’ and hollerin’. It was one of my favorite stops of the tour! And the apple pie they made – you’d be able to tell better than me, but I think it gives the Apples’ pie a run for its money. It’d be a nice little place to vacation if it wasn’t so far out of the way. I think you’d like it, though – it’s rustic, but not so rustic that it’s uncomfortable. And everypony is really friendly.”
Lyra was so engrossed in her description, she didn’t hear the visitor arrive until they entered the room. When she heard the sound of hoofsteps on the tile floor behind her, she turned around to see Sugar Plum.
Lyra quickly fell silent. She watched the doorway, but saw no other ponies enter.
“It’s only me,” Sugar Plum said. “Straight Lace thinks it’s pointless to keep coming back when there aren’t any changes, but I just want to see my daughter.”
Lyra looked at her. A few seconds passed. “Please don’t make me leave again,” she pleaded.
Sugar Plum saw the fear in Lyra’s eyes. “I won’t,” she said.
She walked around to the side of the bed opposite where Lyra was sitting. Lyra got up off her stool so that she was also standing.
For a couple of minutes, they both simply stood there. Neither said anything. They alternated between looking at Bon Bon and awkwardly looking at each other. The sounds of the medical equipment seemed to get louder as the beeps of the heart monitor and the wheezes of mechanical respiration filled the silence.
Eventually, Lyra tried, “So… you live in Connecticolt.” She scratched the back of her neck with her hoof.
“Just for the past couple of months,” Sugar Plum replied.
“Yeah… Bon Bon told me how you move from place to place all the time.”
Sugar Plum nodded. She didn’t have anything else to add.
There was a lengthy pause as neither of them said anything.
After a while, Sugar Plum spoke. “You live with Bon Bon.”
“Yep,” Lyra said. “I do.”
“In the same house.”
“Mm-hmm. We used to live a couple of units away from each other in the apartment complex here. But we realized that we were spending so much time with each other, it made more sense to get a house together. And it really helped Bon Bon with her work. The kitchens in those apartments were tiny. But the kitchen at home – she loves it. She says it’s made her more efficient.”
“Her work?”
“She makes everything at home.”
“Makes what?”
Lyra hesitated before answering. “…You don’t know?”
“All I know is that she lives here in Ponyville. I assumed she would get some kind of job with food, but she’s never told me what she does.”
In a low tone, Lyra said, “Oh.” Then, at a normal speaking volume, and with no small amount of pride in her voice, she said, “Bon Bon is Ponyville’s official candy maker. Well, technically not ‘official’ – it’s not like the mayor gave her a title or anything. But there’s nopony else who sells candy around here, so I like to call her that. She gets embarrassed when I do.”
Sugar Plum smiled. “That’s perfect. She loved making her own candy at home. As a filly, we had to keep her from making too much of it and spoiling her appetite. It makes me feel better to hear she gets to do that for her job now.”
“Have you been to Sugarcube Corner yet?”
“I don’t think we have.”
“You’d know it if you had. It’s a bakery near the middle of town with a gingerbread roof.”
“We haven’t been to anyplace like that.”
“Tomorrow morning, go there. All of the candy that they sell – Bon Bon made that. And the candy that they use in their cookies and cupcakes, too.”
“Wow…”
“She’s really good. I mean, of course I’d say that, but even if I wasn’t her marefriend, I’d say her candy was really good.”
Sugar Plum looked at Bon Bon. “She did always love sweets. I remember she would try to add too much sugar to the lemonade. Even normal lemonade, she said tasted too sour.”
“Heh. Well, she’s gotten better about that now. She makes this lemonade ball that she invented – it’s super sweet on the outside, but when you bite into it, you get a burst of lemon juice. When it all mixes together, it’s perfect. I think Sugarcube Corner might still have some in stock – you should check tomorrow.”
“I will.” She continued to look at Bon Bon. Lyra followed her gaze. “I’m going to need some pick-me-ups. This is going to be a difficult two weeks.”
“Two weeks?”
“Although I really hope it doesn’t come to that…”
Lyra’s attention snapped back to Sugar Plum. “Come to what?”
“What it means if nothing changes by then.”
Lyra’s panic rapidly escalated. “What? What are you talking about?”
Sugar Plum looked at her with a slightly confused expression. “You know… what the doctor said…”
Lyra was nearly frantic. “What did he say?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
“No! What is it?”
Sugar Plum looked back at Bon Bon. “They think the snake venom won’t completely be out of her system for two weeks. So if two weeks go by and she’s still like this, then it means she might not ever get better. She’d be in some kind of… some kind of permanent vegetative state. And if that happens, then we’d have to start talking about…” She couldn’t finish the sentence.
Lyra sat back down on the stool. “No…” she quietly said.
Again, neither of them spoke. But for a very different reason.
After a minute, Sugar Plum said, “The doctor didn’t tell you that?”
“He didn’t.”
“But you’ve been here all day.”
“The doctors and the nurses won’t tell me anything. They said they can only talk about her treatment with her parents.” She exhaled. “It’s been really tough being in the dark.”
Lyra looked at Bon Bon. Sugar Plum looked at Lyra.
“Then why are you spending so much time here with her?”
Lyra stood back up on her hooves and looked at Sugar Plum. When she spoke, her words were simple and honest.
“Because I love her.”
Sugar Plum looked as though she didn’t understand. So Lyra continued.
“Bon Bon is the best thing that’s ever happened to my life – and I’ve been lucky to have a pretty good life so far. She’s… she’s like the smart version of me. We have the same sense of humor. She loves me for me, but she lets me know when I’m being too ‘Lyra’ for other ponies. We complement each other perfectly. I know that we were meant to be together…”
Her voice began to waver.
“…and I can’t stand the thought of us being apart.”
Using her magic, she took a tissue from the nearby table and dabbed at her eyes and nose. After throwing it away, she said, “I’m sorry. This is just really hard.”
Sugar Plum had tears in her eyes, too. Lyra passed her a tissue. “I know,” she said. “This is hard for me, too. After so many years separated from her… and now to see her… like this…”
Lyra lifted up the wastebasket so she could throw the tissue away. “I hadn’t realized,” she said.
“I still worry about her, you know. A mother never stops. Every year, when I get that Hearth’s Warming card, I’m just relieved she’s still okay. But then when I got your letter…”
She stopped talking. Lyra passed her another tissue. And took one for herself. Neither of them said anything.
After the tissues found their way into the wastebasket, Lyra said, “I know the doctor said there’s no proof that this works, but there’s nothing else I can do right now, and I’m not giving up.” She leaned toward the head of the bed. “Bon Bon… can you hear me? I know you can hear me. I really hope you’re getting better.”
Sugar Plum leaned in from the other side. “Please wake up, Bon Bon. You’re still my little filly.”
“We both want you to be better.”
“We do.”
“Just give us some kind of sign. Please… we love you.”
Suddenly, Lyra’s eyes shot upward. She thought that she saw Bon Bon’s ear swivel just the tiniest bit. But she wasn’t sure whether it actually happened or whether it was her vision playing tricks on her. She was about to open her mouth to say something…
…at which point Straight Lace stomped through the door.
“What are you two doing?!”
Both of them, startled, flinched backward, away from Bon Bon. Sugar Plum looked up at Straight Lace. Lyra also turned to look at him.
“Get away from her this second!” he barked.
Lyra turned to look at Bon Bon again. Her ears were perfectly still.
“Am I the only pony around here who, when they’re told to leave a sick patient alone, actually has the good sense to leave her alone? Who knows how to follow instructions? Sugar Plum! It’s bad enough that every single time I walk in here, I have to see this degenerate doing Celestia-knows-what to my daughter! But you? What could have possibly possessed you to interfere with her recovery?”
“I…”
“There’s no excuse! You heard what the doctor said! It’s his job to take care of our daughter! And since he’s the only pony here who actually has the experience and authority to know what’s best, it seems like the obvious thing would be to let him do his job! There’s a natural order to a hospital – we all have to do our part to maintain it! Which shouldn’t be difficult when doing your part means not having to do anything at all! You’d have to be actively trying to make things worse!”
As he carried on, Nurse Snowheart stepped into the room. “I’m afraid visiting hours are over for the night,” she said. Her voice indicated that it wasn’t actually making her unhappy to deliver this news. “Everypony has to leave now.”
“Gladly,” Straight Lace said. “Come on – let’s go.” He walked out of the room with Sugar Plum following a few steps behind him. Under Nurse Snowheart’s gaze, Lyra said, “Good night, Bon Bon,” gave her marefriend a kiss on the forehead, and also left the room.
As Lyra stepped into the outdoors from the waiting area, she found Straight Lace ranting to Sugar Plum about the attentiveness of the hospital staff. The two were standing just a couple of steps from the doorway. In order to leave the hospital, she had no choice but to approach them.
Straight Lace saw Lyra, then turned to Sugar Plum. “And what happened to your common sense in there?” he scolded her. “I know you want our daughter to get better. How could you let yourself be convinced to jeopardize her health by this fillyfooler?”
Lyra had intended to say something, but she was shocked into silence by the deep-seated bigotry inherent in that word. The appalling – and, it went without saying, completely false – notion that every gay pony was a sexual deviant, even when it came to minors, had been pervasive even a generation ago. Fortunately, wider understanding and acceptance throughout Equestria had recently rendered the stereotype obsolete. Nonetheless, “fillyfooler” was one of the most offensive things possible to say to a gay mare. Especially when it was said with the hatred that was palpable in Straight Lace’s voice.
“And you,” he said, turning to Lyra. “Is this the kind of antiauthoritarian behavior you’ve been encouraging? Is this why we can’t get her to see reason? Or is there some other reason you’re here? Do you get some kind of sick thrill from staring at unconscious mares? Is that another one of your perversions? What else have you been teaching our daughter?”
Lyra was shocked out of her initial shock. She quickly opened her mouth to speak. But then she gathered her wits enough to first take a long, deep breath.
With the tightness of restraint evident in her voice, she said, “Straight Lace: You should know that I have had some very conflicting feelings about you. On the one hoof, you raised Bon Bon, and I know I should be respectful of her parents. But you…” she took a deep, shuddering breath to steady herself “…you don’t realize how much you’ve hurt her, and that makes me very, very angry. I promised myself that if I ever met you, I would try to be civil, for Bon Bon’s sake. But you, sir, are making that extremely difficult. Please do not make me go back on that promise.”
With that, she walked past the two and started on her way home.
After a few minutes, Lyra made the final turn onto her street. As she had walked away from the hospital, she had heard Straight Lace yell after her, “Good! Leave! I don’t want to see your face ever again!” As much as she wished it wasn’t true, the feeling was mutual.
Lyra made distinct hoofprints in the dirt as she channeled her emotions into the road with each step. When she approached her house, she was surprised to see an orange-maned earth pony sitting out front. Her gait returned to normal as she approached Golden Harvest.
“What are you doing out here so late?” Lyra asked.
“I stopped by to check up on you,” Golden Harvest said, getting up on all four hooves. “To make sure you were doing okay. Everypony in the marketplace sends their love. But rather than all descend on you at once and overwhelm you, we agreed that you needed a little breathing room.”
“Thanks. I think.” She took a moment. “Yeah, I’m in no condition to try to entertain anypony right now.”
“That’s what we thought. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t there for you. If you need something from any of us, just say the word.”
“Thanks,” she said again. Then another moment of contemplation. “I don’t think I need anything tonight.”
“Did you have dinner?”
“…No.”
“I brought carrots, rice, and an onion. I’m making you soup.”
Lyra let Golden Harvest inside, where she prepared a late dinner of carrot soup. Lyra was, as she put it, “weirded out” by the sight of someone other than Bon Bon in her kitchen, so she stayed in the living room, trying to focus on reading the newspaper, until dinner was ready.
After Lyra ate, Golden Harvest put the leftovers in the icebox. She sat down on the couch and asked Lyra how her day had gone. Out of nowhere – coming as a surprise to both of them – Lyra burst into tears as she recalled all of the awful things that had happened to her over the course of the day. Through it all, Golden Harvest sat attentively, providing a sympathetic ear.
Afterward, Lyra asked her friend to not tell the other townsponies how she had just broken down or to reveal any of the specifics of what she herself was going through – “I just want to focus on Bon Bon’s recovery,” she said. Golden Harvest acceded, and, after receiving assurance that Lyra would be okay by herself for the night, left for her own home.
Lyra was sitting on her side of the loveseat. Other than the sound of her own breathing, the house was completely silent.
She looked at the empty cushion next to her. She reached out a foreleg and put her hoof on it.
She was sick of crying.
But it was the only thing she could do.