Lyra's magic engulfs the doorknob to their house, twisting and pushing to allow her entrance. Happily humming to herself, she flicks a switch next to the door with her magic, a pair of ceiling lights illuminating the room to reveal a stairway immediately to her right and a collection of photos a few steps ahead to her left – each picture showing her and Bon Bon sitting on one of Ponyville's many benches. Her gaze lingers on one in particular showing the pair perched on either end of a bench with a game of checkers between them, photo-Lyra staring through narrowed eyes at a sheet of graphing paper covered in equations and mathematical symbols while Bon Bon, her face scrunched in concentration, manipulates an abacus balanced on the slatted wooden backrest.
Beyond the photos, a small round table made of rich mahogany sits next to a window looking out into the grassy alley spanning the gap between their neighbor's house and their own, a chair on either side and a single potted orchid placed between them on its sill. The plant's blooming flowers only barely overhang the table at eye level, its light purple petals laced with veins of deeper purple. Trotting onward, she reaches a black granite counter speckled with white spanning most of the width of the room, the smooth stone making one right angle turn to follow the alabaster wall to her left and then another to follow the back wall. Walking through a pony-wide gap in the middle of its closest side and into their kitchen area, she scans the row of wooden cabinets now surrounding her upon which the countertop rests, quickly locating the one containing their plates next to a large sink embedded in the stone.
Bon Bon finally enters their home as Lyra pulls out a knife from another cabinet, stumbling over the threshold though she manages to stay upright. Taking a few steps further inside, she sits beside the staircase leading to the second floor, absently magicking the door shut while she stares unseeingly at the room in front of her.
"Hey Bon Bon, do you want a sandwich?" Lyra asks, coming out of the pantry conveniently located in the one wall of the kitchen not lined by the counter and cabinets. "Fresh honey and prairie grasses~."
Bon Bon blinks, trembling as Lyra's voice draws her back to reality, "How… how can you think of food right now?"
"It is kind of early," Lyra admits, pausing with her knife buried in the honey jar. "What's wrong?"
Bon Bon glares at Lyra, "What's wrong? What's wrong?! You just told the entire town that I'm a changeling and you want to know what's WRONG?! I disobeyed my Queen to reveal myself to you and to stay with you, and I thought you understood how much that meant. How much I trusted you. But apparently I was wrong. Apparently the only reason you haven't gone around shouting my secrets from the rooftops is because nopony happened to ask the right question! Apparently, everything I've risked to keep us together means so little to you that you couldn't be bothered to stop for even a second to think that maybe, just maybe, I wasn't saying anything because I didn't want everypony to know! Imagine that, actually taking the time to think through something that doesn't involve creatures which don't exist; what a novel idea. Then again I don't know what I was expecting, seeing as you're stupid enough to think humans are real."
Bon Bon pauses for a moment, catching her breath while Lyra stares back at her dumbly, "Or, maybe I've been deluding myself this whole time and you just don't care. Is that it? Finally decided you'd had enough of living with a 'cursed parasite of a pony' and you'd rather try to make a show of having me run out of town?"
Bon Bon stomps up the stairs, "Well congratulations, I may not be able to leave right now, but as soon as the meeting with the princesses is over tomorrow I'll make sure to never darken your doorstep again."
Bon Bon's words pierce Lyra like a frozen lance, ice spreading from her chest with each pulse of her heart, "W… What a-are you-"
Bon Bon's face warps into a hideous snarl, "Oh for once in your life, just. Shut. UP!"
"Wait, Bonnie-"
Bon Bon cuts her off again, this time baring her fangs in a venomous hiss – Lyra flinching away to bump into the row of cabinets lining the wall behind her. Walking heavily up the rest of the stairs, Bon Bon makes her way to their bedroom and falls limply onto their bed, using her magic to wrap herself in a cocoon of blankets.
For several minutes Lyra simply stares at the stairs, the last dregs of her previous happiness replaced by cold dread as Bon Bon's words echo through her mind. Eventually however, her gaze drifts to the jar of honey still held in her magical aura, its sweet scent no longer at all appetizing. Lowering it to the counter, she looks at the stairs again, trotting over only to halt at the first step despite her heart screaming at her to follow her marefriend and make things right. Instead, she waits, forcing herself to slowly pace around the edges of the first floor, glancing up at a clock hanging on the wall above the sink every time she reaches the front door.
After half an hour passes, Lyra once more stops at the bottom of the stairs; however this time she begins to ascend, carefully placing each hoof to muffle her steps and avoid known squeaky spots. Their bedroom lies only a few short steps from the top of the staircase, its door fully ajar and the room within bathed in total darkness. Lighting her horn, Lyra walks quietly to the foot of their bed, standing silently for a few seconds before speaking, "…Bon Bon?"
The tip of the cocoon near the pillowed end of the bed moves ever so slightly at the sound of her voice, however no other response is forthcoming. Lyra shifts back and forth on her hooves, after a long moment taking a deep breath.
"I'm sorry."
Her ears splay back and she sits heavily, eyes roaming the empty space between the bed frame and the floor, "I shouldn't have done what I did earlier. I shouldn't have forced you to reveal yourself. I didn't mean to hurt you or betray you or-or anything like that and I don't want you gone, I just… "
Lyra swallows, her eyes moistening, "You've been different, ever since the wedding. Not most of the time, but there are little things, like how you lock the door at night every time the Wonderbolts or some Guards are in town, or how you tense up whenever Princess Twilight is nearby, and I-I thought if everypony could see that even though you're a changeling you're still a wonderful mare, then maybe you could stop being scared."
Lyra wipes her eyes and looks at the bed, but the cocoon remains unmoving, silent and impassive. Standing, Lyra backs up a few steps and turns toward the door, "I'll um… leave, then. Sorry."
Beneath her blankets, Bon Bon shifts slightly as she examines the emotions permeating the room, Lyra's sadness, regret, and fear compounding with her own turbulent feelings.
"Wait."
Lyra halts abruptly, looking back to see the wrapped blankets glow with green magic and partially unfurl themselves to reveal Bon Bon's head. Bon Bon sniffles and dries her eyes on the blankets still covering her shoulders. Rolling over to face Lyra, she takes another taste, a faint yet warm ray of hope now cutting through the fog of negative emotions.
"I… may have overreacted a little bit," Bon Bon says, lighting her own horn to further drive back the room's shadows. "I shouldn't have said some of those things. Or hissed at you."
Lyra shakes her head emphatically, "No, this should have been your decision to make, not mine. I totally deserved it."
"Yes," Bon Bon agrees flatly, "you did. But that doesn't mean I should just go off on you – I know you well enough to know you would never mean to hurt me like that."
Lyra rubs the back of her neck, "Still, I really screwed this up, probably more than I've ever screwed up anything in my entire life. I want to make it up to you, and I have a couple ideas, but… well… none of them are possible at the moment, so!" Lyra throws her hooves wide, "What do you want me to do? Name absolutely anything."
"Hmm… " Bon Bon murmurs thoughtfully, looking at the ceiling while she runs through a steadily growing list of possibilities. Out of habit she takes another sample of the room's emotions, the bitter mix from earlier now replaced by a bit of happiness, a lot of relief, and-
"Really, Lyra?"
Lyra blushes, "What?"
Bon Bon groans, amusement mixing with incredulity, "You were thinking about angry makeup sex."
"No I-" Lyra catches herself, "Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking about."
Bon Bon's eyes narrow suspiciously.
Lyra averts her gaze to the suddenly very interesting wall to her left, tapping her hooves together nervously.
"How about this then," Bon Bon says after a few seconds, "you can start making it up to me by being honest about what you were just thinking about."
Lyra fidgets, "Look, Bon Bon, you know how there are sometimes things that you're better off not knowing?"
Bon Bon stares her down, "Lyraaaa… "
"I – alright, fine," Lyra says with a resigned sigh. "It just kind of popped into my head, but um, seeing as everypony knows you're a changeling now, maybe… we could try to have kids?"
The weight vanishes from Bon Bon's gaze and she simply watches Lyra, only distantly aware of her marefriend's existence as her mind grinds to a halt.
"I-It really just popped into my head, and you know that's kind of my thing," Lyra says defensively. "Besides, I mean, do you not want a bunch of cute little changelings running around?"
"I – that – you… " Bon Bon takes a deep breath, "Just, really? Now of all times?"
"Like I said, it just kind of popped into my head and I couldn't make it go away." Lyra blinks and shakes her head, her blush deepening, "Bad thoughts."
"Just… just… get out," Bon Bon says exasperatedly, freeing a hoof to point at the door. "And don't come back until you've made breakfast."
"Yes, ma'am!" Lyra salutes before hastily retreating from the room.
"I have returned!" Lyra proclaims, flicking the light switch upon re-entering the bedroom a short time later. Bon Bon wakes from a light doze at her words, squinting against the sudden brightness. Waiting until her marefriend unmakes her cocoon of blankets, Lyra lays beside her on the bed, lowering one of the plates to land in front of herself, "A chopped prairie grass sandwich glazed with honey for me." She lands the second plate in front of Bon Bon with a flourish, "And a chopped prairie grass sandwich with extra honey and a surprise on the side for you."
Looking down at her plate curiously, Bon Bon's tubular ears fold back nearly to her skull, her head lowering as she glances between Lyra and her food.
"Is something wrong?" Lyra asks, noisily wolfing down the first few bites of her sandwich.
"No, well, kind of?" Bon Bon replies, holding up one of the mini sausage links, "I didn't know that you knew I had these. You're not – I mean, you're alright if I eat them?"
"Hey, give me some credit," Lyra says, leaning over to nuzzle her marefriend. "I may not think things through as much as I should, but I love you for who you are, not what you eat." She pulls away and takes another bite of her sandwich, "Just, you know, don't expect me to try any."
Bon Bon exhales sharply through her nose and smiles, "Fair enough."
The rest of their meal passes in relative silence, Lyra gobbling down her sandwich while Bon Bon savors her physical food, mixing it with an occasional sip of the positive energy flowing towards her from Lyra. As she eats however, a growing sense of unease emerges, spiking when she raises the second to last sausage to her mouth.
Bon Bon sighs, lowering it to her plate, "Lyra, I can not eat these if it makes you uncomfortable."
"Huh? Oh. No, it's not that," Lyra says, meeting Bon Bon's eyes for a moment then looking away, her ears lowered. "It's what you said earlier, the 'cursed parasite of a pony' thing. I know I said that when you first showed yourself to me, but… you know I don't actually think you're a parasite, right?"
Bon Bon gently turns Lyra's head back to her, booping Lyra's nose with her own to leave behind a smudge of honey, "Lyra, I eat your emotions, I would know if you felt that way about me."
Lyra chuckles, relief seeping through her, "I guess you're right."
Returning to her plate, Bon Bon levitates the sausage to her mouth, shearing off the closer half of it with her sharp incisors. Lyra meanwhile licks at her nose intently, slowly cleaning off the sticky sweetness left behind. After a few more minutes, Bon Bon finishes, taking both their plates and levitating them to the nightstand next to her side of the bed.
"What now?" Lyra asks, one final, determined lick removing the last of the honey from her nose.
"Now… " Bon Bon says, her front and back hooves nearly reaching either end of the bed in a luxurious stretch, "I'd like a massage."
Lyra glances to the bedroom door, then back at Bon Bon, "Uhm… I don't think Lotus and Aloe are open right now."
"Oh I'm sure they're not," Bon Bon replies, watching Lyra expectantly. "And even if they were, I don't think they know enough about changelings to give me a massage anyway."
Lyra's ears perk up, "Ah."
Shifting to face Bon Bon's side, Lyra delicately raises the closer of Bon Bon's holeless wings with her magic, slowly moving it in a wide circle while she gently kneads the small bump of muscle and connective tissue at the wing's base. Lowering the wing to Bon Bon's shell after a few minutes, Lyra quickly rises from the bed and switches sides, repeating the process with the other wing. Bon Bon's breathing slows and deepens while Lyra works, her eyelids drooping until they hide her light brown eyes completely. Returning the second wing to its resting place, Lyra moves upward, doing her best to work the tension from Bon Bon's neck though the chitin's toughness compared to skin does much to stymie her efforts. She perseveres however, her dedication eventually eliciting a soft groan of satisfaction from the mare below her. After continuing for another several minutes, Lyra pulls away and examines her marefriend's prone form, Bon Bon's shell blocking any further attempts at relaxation. While Lyra thinks, Bon Bon's horn glows to life and she rolls over, grabbing Lyra and pulling her close as their bed's blankets rise together to engulf the pair and reform Bon Bon's cocoon.
Lyra wriggles against the surprise glomp, but Bon Bon simply holds her tighter, whispering in her ear, "Shh… tonight, you're little spoon."
Suppressing a giggle, Lyra relaxes into Bon Bon's embrace, both drifting off to sleep as the first rays of sunlight paint a beautiful dawn upon the night sky.