//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: The Bonds of Eternity // by Wheller //------------------------------// Chapter 5 Vinyl Scratch pushed open the door to the Ponyville Public Library, carrying Surprise, who was huddled up and shaking on her back. Everypony in the room turned to look at her as she walked in, Octavia following not soon afterwards. ‘Legion’s just stepped up his game, he’s planning something, something big’, Vinyl said. ‘And we need to be ready for him’. Twilight Sparkle nodded in agreement, and handed Vinyl’s gun back to her. Vinyl thanked her and slipped it back into her saddlebag. ‘Vinyl...’ Octavia said. ‘I do hope you know that firearms are illegal in Equestria?’ ‘Oh I’m not surprised, you’re not going to confiscate it are you?’ Vinyl asked as she looked back at her. ‘After that?’ Octavia asked. ‘No, I never saw it’. Vinyl Scratch looked around the room at everypony else. Ditzy Doo and Co. was still here, and had taken cover after Vinyl’s gun had come crashing through the window, she hadn’t blamed them. She quickly recognised the significance of all of them together and smiled. ‘Take it easy everypony, we’ve fought gods and won before, we’ll do it again’. Vinyl turned to Twilight. ‘Gather everypony here, I’ve got an idea’. Twilight nodded, and she and Rainbow Dash went outside, splitting up to get the rest of their friends. Vinyl Scratch climbed the stairs, still carrying Surprise on her back and set her down on Twilight’s bed, pulling the covers over her and patting her on the head. ‘Hey, don’t you worry; everything’s going to be okay. I promise’, Vinyl said, trying as much to convince herself as Surprise. ‘Vinyl?’ Surprise asked. ‘You’re my best friend’. Vinyl couldn’t help but smile. ‘Yeah, you’re my best friend too. What a fucked up world we live in, right?’ Surprise returned a smile, though weak, it was better than nothing. ‘I have to go now, I’ll check up on you again in a little bit, okay?’ Vinyl asked. ‘Okay’, Surprise said. ‘Surprise?’ Vinyl Scratch said. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll figure everything out. I promise’. Surprise nodded in understanding, and Vinyl turned and trotted back down the stairs. She looked around at the ponies that were already in the room. Ditzy Doo, Big McIntosh, Braeburn, Lyra, Bon Bon, Trixie. Each of them looked entirely nervous about where they were about to head. ‘Don’t worry everypony. I’ve got a plan!’ Vinyl Scratch said with a grin. ‘Does your plan involve running straight at danger yelling at the top of our lungs and hoping it works?’ Ditzy Doo asked. ‘Damn! How did you find out about Operation SUPERBALL, Part 3?!’ Vinyl Scratch said with a grin, causing Ditzy Doo to roll her eyes. ‘Same old Vinyl Scratch’, Ditzy Doo said. ‘You clearly haven’t changed since our break up’. Octavia raised an eyebrow at that statement. ‘Vinyl Scratch was in a relationship? When was this!?’ ‘It... Uh... ended not long after I came to see you in Manehattan...’ Vinyl said nervously. Octavia looked at her for a second and then put the pieces together. ‘Vinyl Scratch! You cheated on her!? I cannot believe you!’ Octavia cried out, and promptly followed up with a smack across her face. ‘Why does everypony always hit me?!’ Vinyl Scratch cried out. ... Lyra and Bon Bon had taken the opportunity caused by Vinyl Scratch to step out. Bon Bon was a nervous wreck; she had begun to shake with fear of what was coming. Lyra placed a foreleg around her and held her close. ‘Hey now, shh! It’s going to be fine! I promise’. Bon Bon started to cry. ‘L...Lyra... I don’t know if I can do this! All this... it’s too much! I don’t know if I have what it takes to be a hero’. Lyra hugged her friend tightly. ‘Hey now! Come on, it’s not like we haven’t run into worse! We’ve faced down mad wild gryphons, a deranged serial killer, five gods, and a bomb. This? This is going to be a breeze’, she said, running a hoof through her friend’s mane to comfort her. Bon Bon glanced up at her friend and gave her a smile. ‘You... you’re too good Lyra, way too good for me, I’m so lucky to have you’. ‘Hey! I’m the lucky one here; do you know where I’d be without you? I’d probably still be in Canterlot standing in the rain, alone, with only my lyre for company’, Lyra said. ‘This is sweet and all, I hate to break it up, sadly, and there is something that Miss Bon Bon has been keeping from you, Lyra’. Lyra and Bon Bon both jumped as the big metal parasprite appeared from nowhere literally centimetres from her face. ‘Who... what are you?’ Lyra asked. ‘That’s not important right now, what is important is what Bon Bon is keeping from you... Ask her about what happen to Syra’. Bon Bon’s eyes widened with fear at the mention of the name. Lyra turned to Bon Bon and looked into her eyes. She knew immediately something had happened. ‘Bon Bon? What is it talking about?’ Lyra asked. Bon Bon looked at her, her shaking began to intensify. ‘Lyra... you have to understand, I did what I had to! She was going to run away! She was going to let you die! I... I couldn’t let her do that. I did what was necessary’. Lyra looked at her friend in horror, and though back to that day when the accident had split Lyra in two, leaving a magic-less unicorn, and the first hippocampus, a sea pony, to exist in hundreds of years. Lyra had known that Syra had died; that she had been reintegrated back into Lyra’s body... but Lyra had thought that Syra had made the choice willingly... now here Bon Bon was telling her that it wasn’t the case. Lyra released Bon Bon and unconsciously moved back a few centimetres. ‘Bon Bon... you killed her’. ‘I did what was necessary!’ Bon Bon said. She had broken down into tears at this point. ‘She was going to let you die! I couldn’t let her do it! I love you Lyra! I can’t live without you!’ A nervous look appeared on Lyra’s face, and she began to back away. ‘Bon Bon... you killed her... I... I don’t know how I feel about that, I’m sorry, but... I don’t think I can be around you right now’. ‘NO!’ Bon Bon cried out. ‘Don’t you see what it’s doing!?’ Bon Bon said as she pointed to the machine. ‘It’s trying to drive us apart when we need to be together the most!’ ‘I’m sorry Bon Bon... I really really am, but I can’t be around you right now’, Lyra said. ‘I need to be alone for a little bit. Don’t follow me, please’. ‘Lyra...!’ Bon Bon said. The crème coloured earth pony dropped to her knees, tears streaming from her eyes, she sobbed loudly as Lyra walked out of sight. Bon Bon turned her attention towards the spritebot, which was still hovering over her. ‘You! I remember your voice! You told me I made the right choice!’ ‘Indeed I did. You did make the right choice... there’s a reason why there are no more hippocampi in the world. They don’t belong, and you did the world a service by getting rid of that one’. Bon Bon looked up at the spritebot, watching as it began to float away, fluttering its wings rapidly to gain altitude. Bon Bon discovered a rock lying on the ground next to her; she picked it up with her teeth and placed it on her hoof. In her frustration, she tossed the rock at the spritebot, striking the robot’s wing. The robot’s movement became erratic, as it struggled to stay afloat; eventually the robot crashed hard into the ground, Bon Bon heard the glass thermionic valves shatter on the inside. In her continued frustration Bon Bon gave the robot a kick, and despite its weight actually sent it flying for quite a distance. The spritebot crashed into an abandoned vegetable cart, sending the contents spilling over onto the street. Bon Bon hung her head low, and began to walk home. She needed to be alone now too. ... Princess Luna looked out into her balcony over Canterlot, everything looked so peaceful. Appearances were deceiving. There was a storm brewing on the horizon, and Luna wasn’t just talking about tomorrow’s scheduled rainstorm. There came a knock at the door, Luna looked towards it and smiled. ‘Enter’, she said. ‘G’day to ya Princess Luna’, said a voice from the door as it pushed open. ‘Hello Benjamin, it is very good to see you again’, Luna said with a smile. Benjamin Willoughby nodded in agreement as he hopped over to the balcony where the princess was standing. ‘What do you think when you look out and see everything my country has to offer?’ Luna asked him. ‘S’allright I suppose’, Willoughby said. ‘Ain’t home, but not a bad place, real peaceful like, if you can put up with snow in the summer, that is’. Luna raised an eyebrow at the Fusilier. ‘It does not snow in the summer in Equestria’. Willoughby smirked slightly at her. ‘It’s a southern hemisphere thing; our summer is your winter’. ‘Right... of course’, Luna said. ‘I know you didn’t call me up here just for a friendly chat princess. What’s going on?’ Willoughby asked. ‘Dark times are about to fall upon Equestria... I am not your princess, Benjamin. I cannot expect anything from you... you have every right to say no to my request’, Luna said. ‘Ain’t going to happen!’ Willoughby said with a smile. ‘I still owe you and Vinyl for what happened at Karlu Karlu. You say what you need doing and I’ll get it done!’ Princess Luna looked at Benjamin Willoughby and gave him a bright smile. ‘Thank you, Benjamin. I knew that I would be able to count on you’.