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// 192. Broken Herd. 
// Story: Short Shorts 
// by Coranth 
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"So... everything we had - everything we said to each other - it was all a lie?" I asked, brokenly.

Standing there with us in the kitchen of our home - at least, I thought it had been our home - the mint green unicorn, Lyra Heartstrings, gazed at Bon-Bon and I with stone-cold expression; every bit of the love I thought she had for me, for us ... was gone. "Yes," she stated with cold efficiency, "all of it - the 'wanting to know all about humans,' the eccentricity, our love, our life... it was never real."

Leaning against my side, tears misting her eyes, bile barely held back in her throat, Bon-Bon whimpered, "Lyra... how could you?"

"Easily," Lyra answered, "I was on mission, Bonnie. So were you--but then you were compromised!"

"Oh, that's rich, coming from you!" Bon-Bon snarled.

"As of now," the mint unicorn continued, heedless of whatever the candy colored Earth Pony was going to say, "I am enacting Stockholm Protocol; you have been compromised Bonnie and must be recalled to S.M.I.L.E for decon--"

Bon-Bon moved; one moment she was with me, the next a wordless roar resounded from deep within her chest as she employed martial arts to impact the horn of Lyra before she could think to fire off a spell; my world narrowed to a single point as I heard the *CRACK* of hoof against bone and then Lyra's shrill scream, followed by a thud.

"Come on," Bon-Bon shouted, "let's get moving; we don't have much time!" And then she was racing about the house packing essentials from various hideaways. Pushing down the hurt and betrayal I was feeling - I would deal with it later - I did my best to help her, stuffing what she hoofed me into her saddlebags, snagged from the hooks just inside the door of the Ponyville house we'd lived in together for several years. Soon she was done - she'd obviously been preparing for this for some time - and the last thing she handed me was a grimy, cloth wrapped bundle. "Here," she said, looking at me with sad eyes, "I... I managed to snag this from S.M.I.L.E before the science-colts confiscated everything. Don't know what it is, or what it does, but it looked pretty important..."

My human hands trembling, I unwrapped the cloth to reveal, "My Forearm Computer!" Swiftly attaching it to my right forearm, I activated it and as its holo-runic display came to life I swiftly tapped in the Master Recall Code that would literally recall all of the technology that the ponies had stolen from me! No sooner had I done this then the process began, Bon-Bon's eyes widening, her jaw dropping as the room lit up with micro-warp rifts! My Templar Armor, my Robe, all of my tools and equipment, my Psi-Staff and even my precious Khaydarin Amulet all appeared on me, like something out of a superhero comic.

Gently closing Bon-Bon's dropped jaw, I smiled, my love for her stronger then ever despite Lyra's betrayal of our herd. "Thank you, love; now come on, we'd better go before Lyra wakes up..." And that was what we did; with Bon-Bon's saddlebags at her sides and my equipment donned, we bolted from our former home to where my Nexus - the Dragon Weyr - waited for us in the Everfree Forest--just in time as Lyra Heartstrings raced from the house after us! Utterly incensed, her horn sparking with her anger, she howled "STOP! You have been declared an S-Class--"

"OH, PUT A SOCK IN IT YOU FUCKING NAG!" Bon-Bon yelled over her shoulder; and it was the last thing she said because then I picked her up, saddlebags and all, and sprinted into the Everfree, Lyra's howls of rage fading behind us as I hastily made my way to the clearing where the Weyr rested, its Gate of Dawn already open. 

Racing inside - as Bon-Bon turned her head this way and that, looking around in awe - I pelted through the Entryway to the Transport Alcove at the back and only when we were on the transport pad did I release the Earth Pony, setting her back onto her hooves. No sooner had I done so then she startled as the four great Transport Rings dropped down to enclose us. "Easy..." I breathed to her and she nodded as the rings encircling us began to rotate, slowly at first but then faster, and faster, and faster! A humming sound filled the air, followed by the feeling of some... enormous energy.... I was used to it, but poor Bon-Bon wasn't; it rattled her to her very core. Then together we both vanished in a blaze of cyan light. As we disappeared the rings rose up into the ceiling above, into a second alcove; then with an inhaled breath we reappeared and - as the rings sank into the floor, releasing us - we moved from the Transport Alcove into Weyrhome.

Bon-Bon wasn't awed, of course she wasn't, her mind was in far too much of a mess; instead, she immediately made her way over to the familiar, the battered leather couch in the centre of the room. Doffing her saddlebags, she slumped into it, bone-dead exhausted and then - as I moved to join her, gathering her into my arms and lap to pet and stroke the way she loved - she turned into me and burst into tears.