//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eighteen - Crazy Little Thing Called... 
// Story: An Alien Walks Amongst Us 
// by Hazardus_Havard 
//------------------------------//

Staring at the door Bon Bon just ran in only a few minutes ago, Lyra replayed the words in her head over and over. Something in her words was nagging at her, but in her anger, it just wasn’t coming through clearly. That little voice in her head hadn’t spoken since, even with her trying to will it out, only adding to the seriousness of the situation.

When she had run inside, there was an enormous amount of commotion inside the tower. It only just died down a few moments ago, leaving nothing but the silence of the night. It had a calming effect on her, helping the anger simmer down to allow her to think better. She just needed some time to herself, to think about what just happened.

Wiping her eyes, Lyra noticed the door slowly opening with somepony standing outside of it. She wondered if Bon Bon was really coming back out. Lyra didn’t think it would help the situation at all if she did, only refueling what had happened.

Watching the pony walk over, Lyra quickly recognized that it was Vinyl that came out. Lyra just sat there, watching the unicorn slowly make her way toward her. Only standing a body’s length away from her, Vinyl took a seat on the ground in front of Lyra. She simply stared at her, making Lyra wonder just what she wanted.

“Is there something you need?” Lyra asked grumpily.

“Other than being curious as to why Bon Bon ran in there a few minutes ago?” she asked in return. Lyra let out a snort, turning from her. “So what exactly went down out here? We heard screaming and then saw her running inside, barricading herself in a room.”

“She didn’t tell you guys?”

“No, she came crashing in while crying before running up to the second floor. Octavia is trying to talk to her and I thought I should get your side of things.”

“What exactly is there to get? Bon Bon was trying to get in a relationship with Anon.”

Vinyl merely hummed hearing that. “So she finally came out and told you about her plan?”

“No,” Lyra grunted out, “I confronted her about it just a little bit ago.”

“Oooh. Hold up, then why was she crying? Did you really refuse her?”

“Refuse her? She was trying to take Anon! What in the buck are you talking about?”

“There is no way I can believe she wouldn’t tell you what was up with her and you if she told you about what she was doing. I… I just have to imagine you didn’t think things through before acting, once again.” She raised a hoof before Lyra could reply. “Just tell me exactly what happened.”

“…I confronted Bon Bon about her and Anon. She first tried to say it wasn’t true, but then I told her what I saw last night.”

“Last night?”

“I caught the two of you talking, in the bushes.”

“Oh. I thought I heard somepony crawling through the bushes last night.”

“Don’t think I’m not upset with you too hiding this from me.”

“Are you talking about how Bon Bon likes Anon? Or the fact she also likes you, and for a good long while now.”

“How she li—” It took her a moment to process what she was just told. “What?”

Vinyl sighed, looking tired. “Lyra, didn’t Bon Bon tell you about that? Or did you not listen?”

“I, um, well… She told me about Anon, and then…” Lyra took a second to remember what was said. “I… I think she may have said something about us three being together.”

“Really? How did you reply to that?

‘I only wanted Anon, not you.’

Those words replayed in her head. It’s not like what she said wasn’t true, but the way she had acted and the level of tact she displayed were tremendously poor.

“She… She shouldn’t have been hiding this from my Vinyl.”

“I’ve been telling her that for a good while now.”

“I really dislike how she wanted us three to be together so she could be with Anon. Why didn’t she even try to talk to me about this?”

Vinyl slapped a hoof to her face. “Darn it, Lyra! Did you not listen to what I or she had said?”

“What?”

“She wasn’t doing this for Anon, she was doing it to be with you, you stupid mare!” Vinyl let out a groan, rubbing her forehead. “This would be so much easier if Octavia was talking to you… Okay, so let me get this straight. You blew up on her because you thought she was after Anon. Which is only partially true because she was after you this whole time.”

Lyra wasn’t sure how to reply back to that. “That, that doesn’t, why would she...”

“Lyra, she’s been infatuated with you for a very, very long time now. I don’t even know how long, but I personally knew about it way back in the academy.”

“But… that doesn’t make sense. If she did like me like that, why hasn’t she brought this up before? Bon Bon’s not afraid of saying what’s on her mind.”

“Because whenever she did try to, she would turn into a stuttering mess, clamming right up,” she answered with a shake of her head. “I can’t believe you didn’t even see how bad she has it for you after all these years.”

“This is a bit hard to take in, Vinyl. I just… why would she even like me?”

“Who knows why. I mean, you don’t think things through, you can be very emotional at times, and your obsession with aliens back in the day was very off-putting, though it’s gotten better.” Lyra frowned hearing that. “But for as long as I’ve known her, you’ve had a major effect over her and the things she’s done. That gal’s done a lot just to be with you, Lyra.”

Vinyl had begun a very long list of things that Bon Bon had attempted to tell her about her feelings. All the times they went out during the festivals, all the star watching parties they did together, or even all the Hearts and Hooves days they’ve spent just being with one another, with them spouting about not needing anypony but the two of them.

With each addition to what Vinyl told her, it only made Lyra cringe, realizing how stupid she was throughout all of this. 

“But… then why did she want to be with Anon then? That’s still not making any sense to me.”

“She knew you liked Anon, possibly as much as she likes you, though I’m doubtful on that. But she didn’t want you to choose between the two of them. I have a feeling she thought she would be on the losing end of that tug of war for your heart. Bon Bon thought the three of you together were her best chance with you. So for the past month, she was trying to see if it was possible to fall in love with him as you did.”

“...Did she?” Lyra asked quietly.

“That only took her two weeks to see she could have feelings for him before she started developing them,” she answered back with a sigh. “You know how we ponies are, Lyra. We have a lot of room in our hearts. Do you remember that friendship lesson in the academy, the line they had us memorize?”

“‘Friendship is the root of all things good, and should friendship flourish long enough, love is the outcome that binds us together.’ Yes, I remember that.”

Vinyl nodded her head, “Is Bon Bon’s friendship strong enough for you, Lyra, to take it to greater heights?”

“I… I don’t know. This really came out of the blue, being asked if I can love Bon Bon as she does for me.”

Vinyl looked off to the side in thought as Lyra stared down at her hooves, thinking about her argument with Bon Bon. Although Lyra still thought Bon Bon should have talked to her about everything with Anon, she couldn’t help but feel horrible about making her cry.

“I remember having talked to Bon Bon about this relationship deal with the three of you a few times,” Vinyl said, looking at Lyra. “I also remember talking to Anon about your feelings for him once or twice.” Lyra turned to her with shock hearing that. “Yeah, he kind of started to realize you saw him as more than a friend after some time. You really didn’t know about him knowing that?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“It was pretty obvious how you felt about him, almost as obvious as it was Bon Bon had feelings for you. As for Anon, there’s something there, just waiting to blossom for you Lyra, and even for Bon Bon. I’m certain he can learn to love you two. He just has a difficult time with the whole interspecies thing since he comes from a land of only humans. It’s not the norm for them.”

“Yeah… I remember him saying something like that a bit ago. But I’m confident that I can show him that even with our differences, we can still work things out.”

“So could I take that to qualify for Bon Bon as well?”

Lyra flattened her ears, looking down. “I… I’m not sure if I like her like that, Vinyl.”

Vinyl calmly breathed out, standing up. She popped her neck before looking down at Lyra. “You should definitely think this over real hard, Lyra. I’m certain you have feelings for her as well that Bon Bon would gladly know of.”

“I know I have them for Anon, these feelings, but… what if I don’t have these feelings for her?”

Vinyl looked up through the canopies of the trees, staring at the stars twinkling in the sky. “I remember a conversation I had with Bon Bon a while back. She had mentioned she was willing to let Anon be with you, even if it meant she was to be alone as a result. Her love is strong enough to sacrifice her own happiness for you. That’s a pretty powerful thing to do. I just hope that you all can work this out some way.” Vinyl turned away from her, walking toward the tower. “When you’re ready, come back inside and get some food. We still need to get ready for tomorrow to get Anon.”

She left Lyra there, sitting in the dark in thought about everything she had told her. 

‘Do I have these kinds of feelings for Bon Bon? Can we really all be together?’

Lyra wasn’t certain of any of this.

“Why can’t things be simple for once?”

She thought long and hard on her feelings, uncertain about what she should do.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“When are they going to get here?!” Rainbow Dash asked with a frown. “We should’ve been out of here yesterday!”

“Hold yer apples there, partner,” Applejack said from her bench. “We’re all a might bit cranky right now and we don’t need ya’ getting’ all riled up at the moment.”

The others nodded their heads at Applejack before yawning from how tired they all were.

“The princess wanted to make sure we had guards to accompany us on this trip, Dash,” Twilight Sparkle spoke up, trying to calm her hot-headed friend. “She’d have let us go on our own but with all the towns being attacked and the two sides vying for either princess, she wanted a show of force from both guards to help with things. So we’re waiting for the night guards to arrive and then we can head out.”

“And now look how that’s turned out; it’s past midnight! We’re going to get to that stupid place, only winding up having to go out late the next day! And besides, we already have a few guards here with us so why can’t we just go with them?!”

Just as Twilight was about to say something, a group of guards came up to them.

“Finally!” Dash said, flying down to them. “So are we ready to go now?”

“No, Miss Dash,” a guard answered, “we’re still gathering the conductor and the other ponies that run the train.” She groaned hearing that. “It won’t be much longer for us to get this train started up, where we’ll get a hotel before leaving at the earliest chance we can get.”

Dash hung her head, slowly flying over to the top of the train station before flopping on top of the roof. The others slumped back into where they were sitting, clearly not happy hearing that. One of the guards that were waiting at the train station walked up to the new arrivals, giving a brief salute. 

“Sir, we have information from Mercanville. It turns out that six ponies from here in Ponyville have not only been through the town, but they’ve already gone into the forest in search of Anon themselves.”

Twilight heard this before walking up to the guard.

“And just who would be stupid enough to go out on their own?” the pony that appeared to be in charge asked.

“It was Lyra and Bon Bon, wasn’t it?” Twilight asked.

The guard nodded in confirmation. “Affirmative, along with four others: ponies named Vinyl, Octavia, Cloud Chaser, and Flitter. They have a large lead on us, but they seem to be headed for the night rebel’s base.”

Twilight frowned. “But our information tells us that it’s the day rebels who have Anon. Could our information be wrong somehow?”

The guard pony didn’t answer her. “The two guards we have located at Mercanville reported this two days ago,” the guard continued. “They happened upon them by complete chance, seeing them walk into the forest and gathered what information they could on what they were planning.”

“Why didn’t they attempt to turn them around?” the one in charge asked.

“The guards only found out about them at the last moment, preoccupied with the missing pony they've been searching for. Doctor Cross Love is the head of research for the area and is also a second objective to return him should we find the individual, as it’s presumed to also have been captured.”

The day guard hummed in thought. “We’re gonna have to collect those six on our way through the forest. I’ll be working out how we’ll go about this. Prepare the guards to be ready at a moment’s notice, we should be out soon enough.”

“Aren’t we missing somepony?” The two guards turned to Twilight. “I thought that Princess Celestia was going to bring somepony to help us with this. She told me that anyways. N-Not that the guard can’t help or anything, but I thought my brother was coming here too…”

“Your brother is greatly needed at the Crystal Kingdom right now. The princess… sent somebody else to help us.”

“Where is the other pony at then?”

The guards seemed to cringe, looking behind her. “The being here is currently talking to Fluttershy right now,” the one in charge said before turning around and going back to his group.

Turning around, Twilight looked at her friend. Her eyes widened, staring at someone she wasn’t expecting to see.

“W-What are you doing here?!” she shouted, stirring the others from their sleep.

“Why Twilight, is that how you greet someone trying to help you little ponies out? You’d think the princess would have taught you some manners along with learning about friendship!” 

Discord gave Twilight a large smile, twisting his body in the air around Fluttershy.

“H-He’s here to help us get Anon back,” Fluttershy said, floating in the middle of the chimera.

“Not that your help isn’t appreciated,” Rarity started, looking the being up and down, “but I thought the princess ordered you to stay at the castle grounds after having released you.”

“Why I volunteered to help!” he said with arms wide open. “What better way to show you’re now a part of the goody-two-shoes brigade than to partake on an epic rescue!”

“So there’s no other reason you’re out here?” Twilight asked with a frown.

Discord rolled his eyes, hard, swirling them around in his head and returning his stare at Twilight. 

“Okay, so sue me if I was a smidgen curious about meeting this alien that everybody’s talking about. But regardless of that, I’m here to help you, girls! Surely you could use the help of this magnificent being?”

“Could you teleport us to Mercanville?” Dash asked from the roof. “Like, right now?”

“Certainly!” Discord answered with a smile. “With just a snap of my digits a—”

“Don’t even think about it!” Twilight shouted. “You know your magic always pulses out chaos whenever it’s used. I’d rather not have you accidentally doing something after we reformed you!”

He blew out a raspberry, his tongue whistling in the air as he crossed his arms. “Spoilsport…”

Fluttershy floated up to him, patting his shoulder. “Don’t you worry, I’m certain you can use your magic on those naughty rebel ponies.”

“I suppose so,” Discord said. “Maybe I could increase their gravity, making them squatting on the ground as they’re trying to attack us. That’d be fun to see visually.”

“Oh! What if you made them breathe out bubbles? Their battle cries would be so cute!”

Discord laughed at the idea. “That sounds marvelous! That will be a good start before I turn their base into an ice rink!”

“And give them little bunny slippers instead of ice skates?” Fluttershy said with a giggle.

Discord gave a hearty laugh at the image before grabbing Fluttershy and ruffling her mane, producing a squeak from her. “See, this is some good ol’ fun that I’m used to!”

“And just how is this goin’ to help us fight those rebels?” Applejack asked.

Discord and Fluttershy looked at one another before turning to Applejack, shrugging at her. Applejack started to argue with Discord, telling him not to corrupt Fluttershy, who Discord was arguing back she was like that all along. Fluttershy was completely ignored in this conversation.

Sighing, Twilight took a seat by Pinkie Pie who was sleeping on her back, twitching a hoof at something. 

“I hope they hurry up and get those train ponies so we can leave soon…”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

‘I am such a horrible, terrible pony.’

After Vinyl had gone inside the tower, Lyra -sat outside for some time, stewing in her thoughts about the whole situation. It took little time for her to realize she had fouled up, once again, only in a manner that may not be salvageable this time around. Eventually, she made her slow trek to the tower, her need for food forcing her inside. 

Once inside, the others had looked away from her, uncertain of what to say, an awkward tension having been built between them. Lyra interpreted their actions as them acting disgusted by her own actions; she kept her head down the entire time in shame. Eating quickly, she soon found herself in a corner of the place with her stuff, still thinking about everything. None of them spoke to her, not sure what they could say at all.

Her thoughts could not stop drifting back to her friend. It was a lot to take, finding out her childhood friend, somepony who had stuck with her all her life, was in love with her the entire time. Past events with her friend seemed to flutter by in her mind: the times they went to the theatre, their schooldays and the classes they had, or just enjoying their time with one another on some mindless thing. 

Bonnie was always there for her when things were crummy or she needed a helping hoof. She had always wondered how her friend would go so above and beyond what anyone else would do for her.

With each memory that surfaced, she always went back to a single question that stood out in her head: Did she have feelings, Bon Bon, as she does for her? 

‘Do I actually love Bon Bon? Can I?’

She was doubtful many other beings out there could put up with some of the things she’s done in the past and still be with her like Bon Bon had. Just thinking about that made her feel horrible once more, thinking about her friend. Lyra cursed herself, wondering why she hadn’t tried to do better and listen to her.

‘Let’s face it Lyra,’ a familiar voice spoke, ‘you’re thickheaded, stupid, don’t think things through, and always manage to find yourself in trouble. Even with all of that, she stuck around for you, to be with you. Would anypony else put up with you as she has?’

Hearing that, it only made her want to redo what had previously happened. It still hurt to remember how she reacted to her words, and it was probably an iota of what Bonnie had felt.

‘She hadn’t deserved how you acted like such a buffoon to her. You really need to focus on this while you’re going out for Anon and make a decision before you get to him.’

In the morning, the six of them quickly packed up to leave with a dour mood. Bon Bon hadn’t spoken a single word to anyone, simply eating as fast as she could before going outside to collect her traps and waiting for the rest of them. 

As soon as everything was ready, they all left for the next post with Octavia now in the front leading them. Lyra decided she should stick behind to continue thinking about things, uncertain she would be effective at leading them anywhere properly.

‘Bon Bon wanted us all three to be together. Could the three of us make this work out? Would Anon agree to it? And even if he didn’t, would I stick with her?’

Anon’s customs from his world, from what she had gathered, revolved around monogamy, so it would be even more awkward for a relationship on top of the whole interspecies thing. But… even if he did agree, Lyra didn’t want to leave Bonnie alone either, now that she knew her true feelings.

‘So maybe you should try to be with her then. You already have feelings for her, you just weren’t focused on it being romantic at the time.’

‘But is it something I really should do or would want? I’ve never considered that kind of relationship with her. And what if it doesn’t work out? I don’t want to lose her as a friend!’

‘Lyra, I think you’re already doing a swell job of messing up your friendship as it is. You might be able to repair it, with a lot of hard work, but I think you already know what you’re really feeling about all this.’

“L…”

All this thinking was hurting her head, only making her more confused about the situation. As cruel as it sounded, this wasn’t all about Bon Bon; it was also how she had felt. Is it something she was truly okay with?

“Hey… Lyra…”

‘It should be fine. Bon Bon was cool with giving it a shot, and she already likes you, so why not give it a go? Come on, you already find her attractive, can’t hide that kind of thing from me.’ 

A blush could be felt burning on Lyra’s face. Lyra shook her head, wanting nothing more but to sit down and think about this.

“Yo’ Lyra, you there?!”

She jumped, hearing Vinyl’s voice right in her ear, trying to get Lyra’s attention. Looking around, she only just noticed the others were nowhere in sight.

“S-Sorry, had my mind on some things…”

Vinyl frowned; likely guessing what was on her friend’s mind. “Cloud Chaser saw the guard post up above the treetops so it’s just up ahead.”

‘Did time really go that fast?’

She hadn’t been paying much attention to anything at all, lost in her thoughts.

“They went on ahead to check the tower out to make sure there were no guards there.”

“Oh, that’s, that’s good.”

“Lyra, I know you’ve got a lot on your mind, but don’t let it drift too much. We don’t need you being sidetracked with your head in the clouds as we’re traveling through this forest.”

“I… Yes, you’re right.”

“And, regardless of what I just said, well… Did you come to a decision concerning Bon Bon?”

“I’m still not sure. This is all happening so fast! Why couldn’t Bonnie tell me all this before we went out to get Anon?”

“I had been telling her to talk to you for a long time, so it’s partially her fault things came out like this. Still, she wants to be with you, even if you made a righteous idiot of yourself last night. So is being with her something you can consider?”

She hung her head down, “I’ve been thinking really hard on this. I mean, I… I don’t think I wouldn’t mind trying this out. I do like her, and it’d take some getting used to. I think it needs some time so I can develop those same feelings she has for me.”

“I completely get what you’re trying to say,” she softly spoke.

“I’ve known her for so long, and I really do enjoy her company a great deal. I just… I… I think I could try being with her.”

Vinyl smiled hearing that. “It’s not like it would be all that difficult; you already live with her and share the bills. So that’s one step out of the way.”

“Yeah, sure. But… what about Anon?”

“What about him? The three of you could still be together if either of you decided that and he’s down with it. But even if it didn’t work out, at least you’d still have Bon Bon there. I’d start with getting the two of you trying things out and then convince Anon later on.”

“S-So you think it’s possible, being in a relationship with those two?”

“I doubt you have to do much work concerning Bon Bon on that idea. But seriously girl, you need to go talk to her as soon as you can. Like right now would even be good.”

Lyra frowned, her ears flattened on her head. “J-Just what am I supposed to say? Last night was such a mess, I doubt she even wants to talk to me.”

“Just apologize for your stupidity and talk to her about trying things out.”

“W-What should I say? How do I say it?! WHAT DO I DO VINYL?!”

Vinyl shrugged her shoulders, “I dunno, go with what feels natural.”

Lyra felt her face tightening as she clenched her teeth. “But what feels natural me is normally the stupid thing to do!”

“And that’s what Bon Bon loves about you, your stupidity.” Lyra blinked at her. “Wait, that’s not what I meant. I mean, she likes your ‘do what I want, when I want’ attitude, heading into things full speed and going with your instinct. Doing it anyway else wouldn’t feel like you gave it your all for her.”

“Why would she like that about me?”

Vinyl once more shrugged her shoulders, “Beats me, I’m not the one in love with you. Though she always did like taking on dangerous challenges. What’s more challenging than you?”

Nervously shuffling at the ground, Lyra looked toward where the others went. “So, I just talk to her about this.”

“Precisely!”

“Go with what feels right. Apologize to her and try to make things better… Okay, I can do this... I hope.”

Walking to the tower, she started to think of ways to talk to Bon Bon. She really didn’t want to buck this up and act stupid as she had previously.

Making her way into the clearing, Lyra could see Octavia close by, messing with her cello. The two pegasus ponies were flying around for whatever reason. Bon Bon… she was over by herself beside the tower. 

When she spotted Lyra coming into the clearing, she turned from her and went behind the tower. Lyra could only flatten her ears, obvious that she wanted to avoid her. Vinyl bumped into her, motioning for her to walk toward Bon Bon. Reluctantly, she slowly made her way there.

Walking around the tower, she easily spotted Bon Bon with her back away from her, staring at the ground. 

‘Okay Lyra, make up with Bonnie so she won’t be sad anymore. Apologize, talk to her, and maybe give her a hug?’

‘Yes, hugs are always a good thing. She should be better after that right?’

Slowly making her way there, she noticed the flattened ears on her friend immediately twitched upright; she knew somepony was there with her now.

“…Hey, Bon Bon,” Lyra said, standing behind her. She didn’t answer back. “Um… I, I want to talk about what happened last night.”

“W-What else is there to talk about?” she asked in a quiet voice, wiping her face before sniffling. “You already told me everything I n-needed to hear.” Bon Bon stood up, wiping her face once more.

“Wait, Bonnie!” Lyra spoke out as she started to walk off. “I really need to talk to you about it, it’s serious!”

Stopping in her tracks, she stood still for a few seconds before sighing, turning her head to Lyra. “What is it?”

Lyra ran up, eager to patch things up with her. Bon Bon turned around toward her, staring directly at her face. She didn’t look very happy; Lyra was hoping to change that.

“I’ve been thinking throughout the night about what happened and I… I’m really sorry. I should have listened more clearly to you and instead, I acted stupid, like usual.” She paused, noticing that while Bon Bon still seemed upset, she was at least listening. “I didn’t realize what you were trying to say until after you left, and I feel like a complete jerk not listening to you as I should’ve. So I did a lot of thinking about you and Anon and, well…” Lyra rubbed the back of her head. “This feels strange saying to you. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m okay with trying to be with you too.”

“What?”

That got her attention. She looked very surprised with wide eyes. Looking down, Lyra pawed at the ground with her hoof, thinking of what best to say.

“S-So I was thinking maybe we could try it out. I don’t know how it’ll work but I, well—”

Lyra took in a gulp of air, trying to calm herself down. 

‘This is really hard to talk about.’

“I just don’t want to see you upset anymore, Bonnie. Seeing you cry like that, I felt like a complete jerk after what happened. I still feel really bad for not thinking straight last night and I… I just want to make it up to you in some way. S-So I thought maybe I could try doing this with you as a way to do that? So maybe… we can…”

Looking up at her, she noticed that Bon Bon had tears in her eyes, but they were not tears of joy. Oh no, she looked extremely angry then. 

‘What did I do this time?!’

“I… I do NOT want you to do this because you feel sorry for me, or because you feel bad about last night!” she screamed out, clearly not pleased with what Lyra had said. “I, I wanted us all to be together, but doing it out of pity for me?!”

Bon Bon tried to say more but was unable to find words to do so. Before Lyra could reply back to her, Bon Bon had run off toward the others, leaving Lyra feeling even crummier than she was before. Dropping to the ground, she slammed her head into the dirt and hit it with her front hooves repeatedly.

“Why,” left hoof, “can’t,” right hoof, “I,” another left, “do,” back to the right, “anything, “ before left comes back around, “RIGHT!”

With her head nice and sore, she continued to lay there, upset that she had done something stupid once more, even if she didn’t understand it very well. 

‘I really should try some of those speech classes with Iron Will when I get back to Ponyville.’

Curious as to what had happened, Vinyl popped up from behind the tower, walking up to Lyra. “Soooo… how’d it go?”

Lyra simply let out a pathetic whine in response.

“That bad, eh?”

‘Why do I keep messing these things up?!’

‘You could always try again at the next tower,’ her inner voice spoke.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“I am not going to use that bucket again.”

“But you used it yesterday!”

“I need to take a crap this time around! And no, once more, my poop is not acidic.”

The other day, the two guard ponies thought for some odd reason his pee acted like acid, forcing him to use a bucket they gave him. Of course, if it really was acidic, using a bucket wasn’t going to do much at all, but these ponies weren’t very smart. 

“Look, I just want to use the bathroom so I can take a proper dump. No funny business, okay?”

“I don’t know if I can trust the alien with our bathrooms,” Roller said, looking at the bucket beside him. “I mean sure I suppose we can trust him enough, but he’s an alien so he takes strange, alien poops… right?”

“I poop like a minotaur, alright?” Anon told them.

“I heard that minotaurs like to take a pose and then squat when they poop,” Rocky said, eyeing Anon carefully now. “I don’t think our stalls are large enough for you to do that.”

“Don’t minotaurs also poop out large pellets?” Roller asked. “I don’t want to clean up the mess if he misses the toilet.”

“Okay, never mind! I poop like you ponies do!”

Roller stared at him for a few seconds. “…I like to sing when I poop.”

‘Why am I arguing with these two buffoons?!’ 

Anon thunked his head against the bars, doing his best to hold his bowels.

“That’s not a very good pose, Mr. Anon,” Rocky said, rubbing his chin. “I’d give it a two out of ten.”

Roller squealed, quickly opening the door to the cell before throwing the bucket at Anon’s side, hitting him before he locked the cell once more. 

“Poop in that, not in your clothing!”

Turning to the bucket, Anon let out a scream before kicking it. The thing bounced across the floor, now with a large dent in it.

“Now how are you going to poop in that?” Rocky asked.

Before Anon could turn to yell at them, a loud noise was heard, followed by another guard entering the room. 

“You two are to take the alien to the interrogation room at once.” 

The guard immediately left the two now staring at one another.

“I don’t recall seeing that guard around here all that much, Roller.”

“Same here; it’s as if he only came here to move us along...”

“…Of course, that’s the case, we have to move along to the interrogation room now!”

“Not until you two knuckleheads take me to a bathroom!” Rocky went to say something before he was interrupted, “Don’t you DARE try and bring me another bucket!”

They quickly moved things along, tying Anon’s hands before moving him out of the cell. Of course, Anon refused to do anything until he was taken to a proper restroom. He also made sure to take his time as well.

When he finally arrived, Anon could see the second in command sitting there with an annoyed expression. “And why did it take so long for you two to bring him here?”

“He needed to use the bathroom,” Roller answered.

“And we had to make sure he didn’t break anything while pooping!” Rocky added with a salute.

Colibri gave Anon a questioning look, which he simply sighed at tiredly. Shaking his head, he motioned for the human to sit down on the bale of hay. The two guards immediately left to stand outside the room.

The pony didn’t say anything at first, content with staring at Anon. While the little guy didn’t really unnerve Anon in the slightest like he was probably hoping for, he couldn’t help but wonder why he was there.

“So what do you need to talk to me about now?”

He stared at Anon for a few more seconds before speaking, “Liberum brought up some interesting things about what you had said to him yesterday, and what he heard from the guards stationed at your cell.”

‘Aaah, great, here it comes,’ he thought, already feeling the oncoming headache that was inbound for his cranium.

“You see, it was an interesting discussion that was brought up about what you had said. They seemed fairly convinced that this is a bad idea, that what we are doing should be reconsidered. I am curious as to why you came to these conclusions.”

Anon was having difficulty caring about things at the moment as he placed an elbow on the table, laying his head on his knuckles. 

“Seemed to make sense to me from what I can come up with. I don’t see it working out at all in the long run. Your guards don’t really seem to grasp what’s really going on, and Liberum seems to only be doing this because, from what I could tell, you decided to do it. This all seems to be a bunch of nonsense that a child would think could make drama for their poorly written stories.”

Colibri didn’t seem offended by what Anon said, merely leaning forward. “I can see that you need to be educated in some things.”

‘And that can only mean one thing: A bunch of stupid drivel is about to be explained. Great…’

“Far, far back in Equestria’s history, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both ruled these lands. During their rule, there were many things that troubled them and the beings who occupied their lands: the tyrant god Discord, the mad king Sombra, and the great goat-lord Grogar, to but name a few. 

“Many incidents would occur that seemed to provoke the lands, species would all but disappear, and bordering lands were poking at their sides for any weaknesses. It was a lot for the princesses to handle. Slowly, over time, they started to take control of the lands and made them a grand place to live, which you can see the results of to this day. Peace and harmony grew throughout the lands, and it was a prosperous age for all.”

Sighing to himself, Anon attempted to get more comfortable, realizing this was going to take a while.

“Of course, not all was as it appeared. Princess Celestia, after her many conquests, wanted to control everything she could around her. It, of course, started with her sister; she wanted nopony to speak out against her in her rule and to do that, Princess Luna was needed to be dealt with. Princess Luna caught wind of this and tried to take control herself, finding no other alternative for her own well-being.”

Colibri looked extremely confident in what he was saying with a small smile on his face. Anon blandly stared back as he leaned against the table. 

“Sadly, she was not as powerful as her sister and needed more power; Nightmare Moon offered it to her, hoping to help her in her time of need. But even with the extra firepower behind her, Celestia managed to eke out a win before banishing the princess to the moon, leaving her to rule the lands all to herself.”

“Okay, hold up a second,” Anon said while raising a hand instinctively, trying to say something.

“Please, let me finish,” Colibri politely said. “You wanted answers, so let me speak.”

Passively waving at him, Anon kept his mouth shut, allowing him to continue.

“As I was saying, Princess Luna was banished to her moon for over a thousand years. It left Princess Celestia to rule her lands as she saw fit. Of course, her hunger for power didn’t end there. She wanted more, and decided to either take it from others or remove them from the equation entirely.”

“First, it was the sea ponies. No one has heard of them ever since that hurricane that started up those vortex’s that deny anypony close to the seas they once inhabited. Then there were the deserts and those desert storms which run to this day, a force that managed to split off the beings of those lands from the rest of the world. Only the most daring minotaurs still roam those lands, speaking of wild outlaws and clan laws. Who knows what’s happened to them or if they’re even around still.”

Colibri continued to tell a very imaginative tale of how Princess Celestia took down species after species, making her the most powerful ruler in all the lands as a result. The only ones to contest that power were the griffons and minotaur clans, though Colibri didn’t give a reason as to why that was. The pony even gave a reason why Princess Luna was back; the spell could only last for so long and Celestia had already made plans for her to return to the moon after an unfortunate incident in the near future.

It was an interesting tale to listen to, and it was funnier to realize this pony believed it all without ever questioning it. Just who fed him all this nonsense? Sure, Anon didn’t know the full history of this world, but Lyra told him enough to realize what he was saying was so far fetched it was a wonder Colibri unquestioningly went with it all.

“So as you’ve no doubt realized by now, Princess Celestia’s been slowly taking rule of the world in her quest for power. Princess Luna was too much for her to deal with, so she needed to be rid of. That is why we want her back; she would make for a better ruler than Princess Celestia.”

Anon stared at Colibri with a blank expression as he continued to smile, quite confident in his stance. 

“While it’s interesting to have heard all of that from you, I find it hard to believe you.”

“Oh?” he said, staring at him. “What exactly do you think is wrong with what I just said?”

“I know only a little of your history, but what I have been taught doesn’t side with what you mentioned. On top of which, you claim all this without anything to back it up. I am reluctant to believe your side of things without any proof.” 

‘That and he sounded like a righteous nutter.’

“If I had any proper proof, I would have presented it to everypony already all over. Sadly, any proof that I could provide you has been covered up by Princess Celestia.”

“How convenient,” Anon said, earning him a frown from Colibri. “So, how exactly did you come by this info then?”

“Our commander has been able to find info relating to exactly what Princess Celestia has done in the past.”

“Is there any chance of seeing this info?”

“He has taken the liberty of making sure they’re kept safe and away from prying eyes. Commander has them in a safe place away from others.”

Anon closed his eyes in thought, rubbing his forehead.

“So this commander has all the proof locked up from others being able to see it.” Colibri nodded. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to show other ponies the truth than keeping it quiet? Surely even you can reason to that much. Spread the truth as far and wide as you can, share it with other nations, and force Celestia to a confrontation. Hiding it brings heavy doubts to your validity. Have you ever seen this proof of his?”

“No, I have not seen it. But I have no reason to believe he’s not telling the truth if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“This guy tells you all of this and doesn’t provide any proof of it being true. All you have to go on is his word. Why would you think he’s not lying to you?”

Colibri gave a smirk as if what he was about to say was the exact thing to turn all of this around on Anon.

“It’s because the commander is my own brother, and family doesn’t lie to one another.”

Anon was dumbfounded, simply and utterly dumbfounded. He gave the guy the best ‘are you shitting me?’ face that he could. He knew the ponies were very emotional and attached to one another when they have a relationship of any kind, some even opting into a relationship with but a hug on the spot, but to just believe someone willy-nilly like that?

“You’re joking, right? You’ve never once questioned his word because he’s family? So now I’m to assume he also has a plan to fix all the problems that come with not having a sun? Or anything else I’ve mentioned from Liberum?”

“None of that is either my brother or my own problem; as he had explained, Princess Luna wanted this to be and we’re confident she had a plan in place that would allow it to work.”

Anon wanted to slap whoever this commander was, hard. 

‘He really couldn’t be this stupid. Why didn’t anyone question him at all on this? Oh, that’s right; the rebel group followed along blindly while the second in command, who just so happened to be the brother of the commander, and reassured them all to continue on because of his family devotion.’

There was just no way for all of this to be true, that someone was truly this stupid. Anon knew that the ponies were gullible, and the situations he found himself in were almost Saturday morning cartoon levels of craziness, but this is just something else!

Anon blinked. A thought passed him by, a small blip in his mind, but it quickly flourished as he just realized realizing something. 

It dawned on him just how much everything did resemble a cartoon. The extra colorful world, the magical galore that was the world, even lessons on friendship. Even everyone’s actions would make sense if he visualized it as if someone was writing a script to entertain others. He had watched cartoons all his life, and to only come to the conclusion that he did felt quite silly, yet profound.

Were the ponies and all the residents of the world simply programmed to such a degree? Would magic do such a thing to them? Everything made more sense to him if he considered that as a truth. The world around him was all just one big, live-in cartoon that he had somehow gotten himself inserted into! He would be amused more with this hilarious revelation if he wasn’t stuck in the villain’s hideout. 

‘Oh! This was a villain hideout! And all I have to do is think about how a cartoon writer would script it all out and I’ve got it. By golly, I’ve got it!’

Anon couldn’t stop chuckling, thinking about it all. He would later look back on this and realize how he came to these conclusions only from snapping at the pony’s mention of family, but that wouldn’t be for a good while into the future.

“This… this… I have finally figured it out!”

“Oh?” Colibri was feeling slightly disturbed at the alien sitting across from him. “From how you’ve been laughing, it must be something quite humorous. What exactly was there to figure out in the first place?”

“Why all of this is happening! It’s the one thing that makes sense in a place that makes no sense whatsoever! You see, you’re brothers the villain of the story! And, now hear me out on this it’s a bit of a doozy, your villainous brother has got you all completely duped into thinking everything you’ve been doing is to help ‘rescue’ the lands and return them to proper order!”

Colibri frowned, deeply. “You better start making sense right now because all you are accomplishing is making me angry.”

Anon pointed a finger at him like a gun with a smirk on his face. “You don’t see it, and no one else in this world does, but now that I’ve opened my eyes, I finally see things as they are. This whole world runs on cartoon logic.”

“…Cartoon logic? I don’t know what cartoons are.”

“They’re these magical creations made by hardworking, yet at times underpaid and underpraised, animators that work tiredly on their paper drawings to make the illusion of movement.”

It only took him a moment to narrow his eyes, a sneer directed at him. “Those silly flipbooks? That is why you claim my brother to be a villain?”

He shrugged at him, “Eh, that’s a pretty close description of how they’re made. But that’s not the point I’m getting at. Everything in this world seems to run on cartoon logic. It’s almost maddening for me to live through all of this, a normal person dumped into a place full of things such as the magic and strange physic breaking events, to how every single one of you acts, all the way down to your brother’s evil schemes.”

“You’re not making sense to me alien,” he spat out, “get to the point!”

“I doubt much of this will since you don’t know cartoons from my perspective,” Anon said, leaning forward. “Regardless, I’m going to take a shot at figuring out the plot of this motion picture we’re living. The script calls for your brother, the villain, to push his unwitting little brother that follows his every word to do all his bidding for him. To have the person that seems like a good chap to do their evil bidding. I’ve seen this used in other films; a tad overused, I’ll admit, but why mess with a formula that works?”

‘Oooh, he did NOT like hearing that,’ Anon thought, seeing his face was starting to redden with anger.

“Your brother doesn’t show any proof that would show he’s right, he leads a group of rebels to fight for control of the land that’s already peaceful, and from what I’ve already heard, he’s throwing your group out to sow as much chaos as possible in Equestria. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re currently in the final act and he’s collecting the last pieces needed so he can attempt to rule the lands for himself.” Anon nodded to himself, his arms crossed. “Yeah, face it: the guy’s evil.”

“He is NOT evil! It’s Princess Celestia that is the evil one! My brother would not lie to me! What proof do you have that my brother is in the wrong?!”

“And right back at you, what proof does he have to prove he’s right? He’s using Princess Celestia as a scapegoat for everything he’s doing right under your snouts! I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s lying about trying to bring Nightmare Moon back as well. I do wonder if Princess Luna is even remotely important to these plans of his or if it’s just some imagine goal to keep you all in the dark, something for you all to work toward.”

“GUARDS!” Anon barked out a laugh, watching him scream like that. The two very annoying guards from before came in and awaited their orders from the very unsettled Colibri. “Take this alien back to his cell this instant!”

Roller walked over to him and made sure his hands were tied properly. Standing up, he sighed, letting out a small chuckle as he was escorted out the door. He immediately stopped at the entrance of the door, turning his head to Colibri.

“I doubt you really believe much of what I just said, what with you being so sure of your brother’s innocence. But I’m almost one hundred percent certain that if you go into his room and do a search around, you’ll find his plans for whatever he’s been doing and probably even a journal completely painting him up to be the villain you don’t want to see him as. At least, that’s how cartoons work anyways; every stupid villain like your brother always keeps their plans locked away in a place that could so easily be found with some thought.” Anon shook his head, letting out a snort of amusement. “Seriously, how stupid can they all be?”

The guards started pushing him out the door and away from the screaming pony that was left in the room. They walked him very quickly back to his cell after hearing all the yelling coming from Colibri. Placing him back inside the familiar cell, they took the bindings off of him through the bars like before. Anon rubbed his wrists as the two guards let out heavy sighs.

“I’ve never seen him scream like that!” Rocky said with a surprised expression.

“Same here! I don’t know what you said to him, Mr. Alien, but he definitely did not like it!”

“He just didn’t want to accept anything I had to say,” he told them as he proceeded to lie down on his sparse bedding's.

The two proceeded to talk quietly to themselves about what had just happened. Anon simply ignored them, thankful for the peace and quiet he had at the moment.

‘It’s all one big cartoon world. Certainly a strange twist, but after being here for so long it’s not like I can’t handle it.’ Everything from Lyra’s silly actions to the townsfolk’s reactions to him just made this idea more fitting to him. ‘So long as I keep my eyes peeled I should be able to see signs of things coming and react accordingly to them.’

As Anon thought back on the previous conversation, something had slowly occurred to him: how exactly was he to get out of there? He could try and wait for the eventual rescue mission that he was almost certain was coming for him, if what Colibri said about his importance was anything to go by. And then there was the likely attempt being made by Lyra and Bon Bon. In the end, it might be a safer bet to get himself out of this place than to wait, who knew what would happen if he were to wait.

He would need more info about his surroundings from the guards, and he’d like to get some moderate supplies if at all possible before leaving. Thankfully for him, he had two ponies conveniently close by that would be of help to him.

“Hey there,” Anon called out, “so what exactly can you tell me about this base of yours?”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…’

Lyra continued to repeat these words over and over in her head. She had only wanted to talk to Bon Bon and see about fixing things and all she had accomplished was to make her even more upset. She had been thinking for the past few hours on ways to patch things up, but finding the task difficult.

It was already starting to get dark. The next post they came up to would both be the last one they’d travel to for the day and the last one until they reached their base. Lyra was trailing the group as before, and now Bon Bon was taking the lead, being the furthest away from her as possible.

It did give her time to talk to Vinyl on some advice. Act normally like she does, yet don’t act stupid; those two things are contradictory to one another when applied to Lyra.

The only thing that had been going her way so far as they had not met a single rebel or menacing creature out in the forest. There were a few creatures that roamed the place they saw here and there, though they all disregarded them. Lyra had been expecting something to occur similar to the pink manticore from before but was grateful that she was wrong on that end. It was almost eerie how things had gone for them since meeting the manticore in fact.

“Girls, the final post is up ahead,” Bon Bon said in a monotonous tone of voice, looking past a bush up ahead.

Moving forward, Bon Bon watched ahead to try and spot any movement like they had been doing when coming across a tower. There wasn’t much room this time around for the others so they stuck behind her a good way away, waiting for her to give the okay.

After approximately ten minutes, Bon Bon motioned for Cloud Chaser to fly up and go through the top. Only a few seconds later does she burst through the front door with a frightened yelp. The group feared for the worst until noticing a whole nest of mice running out of the door, scattering into the woods.

“Well, that’s settled,” Octavia said, walking toward the tower. “I highly doubt any sane being would be in a tower full of mice.”

“Fluttershy would,” Flitter said, stopping Octavia in her tracks.

“I don’t really regard her as fully sane with what we know of her,” Octavia mentioned, getting a nod from everyone. “Besides, the likelihood of meeting someone like her is slim to none.”

With that being said, the others slowly made their way to the tower after Octavia, getting ready to stay the night there. It didn’t take very long for them to spruce up the place a bit and move things around for a more comfortable night there.

“So why are we staying here for the night?” Cloud Chaser asked, putting some wood down beside the fire pit. “We still have some good daylight and could make it to the base early.”

“While true, by the time we do get to the base, it would be nighttime,” Lyra answered. “I don’t think us fighting against the night rebels in the night would be a very sound idea.”

“They’d have a serious advantage during that time, likely active during the night” Octavia continued. “On top of that, we wouldn’t be able to scope out the place at all during the night, and even if we managed to get to Anon, bringing him back through the night in the forest is very dangerous.”

Cloud Chaser crossed her front legs, grumbling about wanting to go anyways. The others let out their own sighs as they worked on getting things prepared.

“So we’re nearly done with this all,” Octavia spoke. “I do hope everything turns out fine when we grab him. I’m quite beat from being out in this forest.”

Vinyl lightly punched her in the shoulder, “Ah don’t be such a whiny mare, we’ve been through many stressful moments in the past.”

“Those other times didn’t involve rescue missions, Vinyl.”

“Actually, there was that time where your violin and cello were stolen. You and I went out to rescue those, remember?”

“Please, don’t remind me. Those jerks wound up using them for pieces in their ‘art’.”

“And they got what was coming to them in the end!”

The two continued to talk back and forth about their tale of the music bandits as the others listened in fascination. Lyra, on the other hoof, was still trying to come up with some way to not fudge up her talks with Bon Bon. She felt confident enough to not muck things this time around, but there was a small problem: how exactly to get Bon Bon and her alone to talk. 

She was likely to decline if she tried to go up to her again, so that left with tricking her to go outside somehow and having Lyra out there as well. Thankfully for her, it didn’t take long to figure out how to do this.

‘Yes, it’s a foolproof plan,’ Lyra thought to herself, walking over to Vinyl.  ‘I’ll just get Vinyl to do it! Surely she wouldn’t expect anything so sneaky!’ 

As the tale of musical grandeur came to a close, Lyra found an opportune time to slide up to Vinyl. Getting close to the now alerted mare, Lyra whispered into Vinyl’s ear about trying to find some way to get her outside and alone before she snuck up to the top of the tower without the others noticing. 

Walking over to a window in the tower, Lyra peered outside of it. Right below the window was a nice, large bush. Lyra thought it was perfectly placed as she climbed outside onto the ledge.

Without any thoughts about the consequences of her actions, she jumped off the ledge, aiming herself toward the bush. She picked up speed very fast, immediately regretting her idiotic decision. Kicking her hooves in the air, Lyra was about to let out a scream before she hit the bush. Instead of a scream, she let out a muffled grunt as the wind was knocked out of her.

“Eeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh,” she whined out.

‘Why did you do that you stupid mare?!’ a familiar voice spoke in her head, somehow crying in anguish. Lyra rolled around in pain, slowly making her way out of the bush. 

‘Nothing feels broken, but there’s soooo much paaaaain.’

‘Yeah, maybe you should lie here for a bit until you feel better. No wait, you have something that needs to be done. Have fun with that, you moron!’

Lyra ignored her inner voice as she stood up on wobbly legs, leaning against the tower walls for support. After regaining her breath, she slowly made her way around the tower, spotting Bon Bon currently gathering what looked like additional pieces of wood nearby the trees.

‘Vinyl must have gotten her to get some more for the fireplace,’ Lyra thought. ‘Perfect. Hopefully, I don’t screw this up like last time.’

Lyra waited until Bon Bon had her back turned to grab some more wood before she walked up to her. “…Hi, Bon Bon,” Lyra greeted, standing directly behind her.

She let out a squeal, quickly turning around and throwing her bundle of wood at Lyra. All attempts of dodging the projectiles failed as they all hit her in the side, knocking the wind out of her once more.

“Whyyyyyyyyyyy?” Lyra squeaked out, laying on the ground.

Bon Bon was holding her chest in fear before noticing it was Lyra. Calming herself down, she let out a breath before calmly staring at Lyra with indifference. 

“What do you want, Lyra?”

“I just wanted to talk to you about before,” Lyra wheezed out.

“Haven’t you already said enough?” Bon Bon said, turning around. She went to her previous task of collecting wood, seemingly finding it more important at the moment. “I don’t know why Flitter dropped all her wood out here instead of picking it up,” Bon Bon said to herself.

“Bonnie, you know I suck at words and doing things. I can be pretty stupid sometimes.” She didn’t answer back, continuing her task of picking up wood. “Okay, okay! Most of the time!

“Look, I’ll just come out and say it: it was really weird to find out you had these feelings for me. I didn’t know how to react at all when I found out! I… I was stupid for being a bad friend last night, and even dumber for not realizing any of this after all this time.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore, right?” She stopped by a tree, looking down. “It was stupid of me to think the three of us could work it out anyways.”

“B-But we can! I even tried to say so this afternoon!”

“I don’t want you doing things because you feel bad for me, Lyra!”

“Bonnie…” Slowly, she walked toward where she was. Bon Bon didn’t move from her spot, keeping her head down. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this sooner?”

She took a few moments, thinking to herself before answering in a quiet voice, “I didn’t want to know what would happen if you rejected me.”

“Why would I do that?”

“I… I know you don’t remember much of it, but I remember all those times in school when you’d stick up for me or would be by my side whenever I was down. Even though you were picked on all the time, you still took the time to stick up for me or be there when I needed some help. I was never really confident growing up and even nowadays I don’t feel very confident. But you, you were always out there doing what you wanted, regardless of what others thought. You were so spontaneous, and I felt that was kind of… attractive to me. I always looked up to you for everything you did… even if some of your actions were stupid.”

She sat down, looking away from Lyra. The unicorn sat directly behind her, listening to her words.

“But… I still looked up to you, always being there to help me. You gave me confidence in myself whenever I started to doubt about things. You really have no idea how much you mean to me as a friend when I was growing up, helping me with things all the time when I needed it.”

Lyra hadn’t forgotten any of it; it just didn’t feel like something that was important to her, only that it was something that she felt anyone would do for their friends.

“It wasn’t until our first year in the academy that I realized what you meant to me. You weren’t just some childhood friend I grew up with or somepony I could always rely on. You were someone… I wanted to be with, somepony I truly cared for.”

Bon Bon hiccuped, wiping her eyes. 

“I t-tried telling plenty of times in the past about this to you, but… I could never get the words out right or I’d always get scared! All my thoughts ever did was doubt the things I would s-say to you, so I always fell flat on my face when I ever did try. 

“I… I guess I was too afraid of what would happen if you said no to me.” She sniffled as she wiped her eyes once more. “I was content with just living with you, being around you, but I always wanted more. I wanted to be with you.” She snorted, wiping away her tears that wouldn’t stop flowing. “You probably think this is all really silly to hear.”

“N-No! This is definitely not silly at all; believe me when I say that! I really wish you had told me all of this a long time ago.”

“Why? Would it have made a difference then?”

“…Who’s to say,” Lyra said, looking away. “I don’t know. But I definitely would have given things a chance!” She scooted closer to her, almost touching her with the close proximity they held. Bon Bon kept her head from her. “Bonnie… I care about you. I hate it when you feel sad whenever I do something stupid or because of me.”

“Then stop feeling b-bad about it! I said I don’t want to be with you because you f-felt bad for me!”

“Bonnie, I do feel bad, but how else am I supposed to feel when you just unload all of this from out of nowhere on me!” Bon Bon sobbed, making Lyra feel bad about the situation. “I know I feel bad about this all, but as I said before, I’m at least willing to give it a try. I’m certain if we work on this, the three of us can work something out.”

“N-N-N-No! NO! Y-You’ll just wind up saying no to me w-when we get Anon a-and just be with him!” She stood up, forcing Lyra to stand up as well, backing up. “You’re just lying to me. YOU’RE JUST LYING TO ME! You don’t care about me, y-y-you just, y-you just—” It was clear she was now in hysterics about everything, her mind going to the worst-case scenario, not thinking things would work out for her at all.

“BONNIE!” Lyra yelled, “when have I NEVER cared about you?! We’ve stuck beside one another nearly our entire lives and you just think I’ll dump you without a moment’s thought?! Well, I like you too!”

Bon Bon stood there, trying to say something, incapable of speaking coherently at the moment. 

“When I said we can try and make things work, I meant it! I won’t dump you for only Anon, and you better get that! He’s not even here for this! This isn’t about him, got it? It’s about you and me. You went through all this trouble for both of us just to be with me, so I have no problems trying to be with you darn it! And for how much I really care about you, well… well….”

‘COME ON YOU STUPID MARE! THINK OF SOMETHING!’

Lyra was panicking, desperately trying to come up with what she should do right then. Bon Bon looked like she was about to fall apart and she wanted to show her she really meant everything.

‘Go with the flow?’

‘…Sure, go with the flow.’

Walking up to her, Lyra grabbed Bon Bon, holding her tightly. Before she could act on trying to move or get away, Lyra slammed her lips against hers. Bon Bon immediately went rigid, completely surprised by her actions. She held her there for what felt like forever before stepping back.

“There!” Lyra yelled out, trying to catch her breath, “how’s that for spontaneous! And I don’t care how much I have to prove my feelings are strong enough but I will make sure to kiss you every day if I have to!”

Staring at Bon Bon, who stared back with wide eyes, she was shocked at what had just happened. Seconds later she started to shake, looking like she was about to cry once more.

‘Darn it! What did I do now?! I knew I should have hugged her instead. I am such a stupid, moronic, basket cased, nincompooped, imbe—’

She was immediately tackled by Bon Bon, interrupting her thoughts. Lyra let out a squeal of surprise. She tried to let out a holler but found herself unable to due to Bon Bon now squeezing her tight, kissing her back. The two of them tumbled to the ground with her on top of Lyra, not letting go. The kiss only lasted a few seconds before her head squeezed into the crook of Lyra’s neck against her shoulder.

Completely stunned by her actions, Lyra slowly lifted her hooves around her back, returning the hug. Bon Bon let out a muffled sob, squeezing tighter. Having a moment of clarity, Lyra decided to let her friend hold her there, allowing her all the time she needed.

Off to the side, Vinyl sat in a bush, silently watching the scene taking place. She nodded her head, smiling at the two.

“Finally got the girl. Good going, Bonnie. I hope your future works out for the two of－HURK!”

Standing behind Vinyl was Flitter, wearing her tight-fitting outfit, putting her in a sleeper hold. Quickly putting her out, Flitter dragged her away with a ‘nin, nin, nin’, leaving the two lovebirds alone for the night.

~End Chapter Eighteen~