Chronology notes:
You are reading the first part of the Bonds of Eternity Series, a sequel to the All Good Things series. It is recommended that you read the All Good Things Series.
The All Good Things series:
the first part of the story is The Kindness of Strangers found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/389/
The second part of the story is Putting the Pieces Back Together found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/407/
The third part of the story is Midnight in the Heart of Equestria found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/419/
The fourth part of the story is Tomorrow is Always a New Day found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/433/
The fifth part of the story is To Each Their Own found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/526/
The sixth part of the story is Imperfect found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/600/
The seventh part of the story to Paradiso found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/687/
the eighth part of the story is Broken Record found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/732/
The ninth part of the story is Home Sweet Home found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/826/
The tenth Rite of Passage found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/895/
the eleventh part of the story is The Long Road Home found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1030/
the twelfth part of the story is And So it Ended, and So it Begins Again found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1141/
Family
Chapter 1
“Lyra!”
The sea foam green unicorn looked up from the book she was holding next to her head. Lyra closed the spell book and set it down on the grass.
“Bon Bon, please, PLEASE stop worrying!” Lyra said. “This is entry level magic!”
The crème coloured earth pony frowned at her friend from her seat on the grass. “I just don’t like the idea of transfiguratory magic! What if something goes wrong?!”
Lyra smiled at Bon Bon, she was her best friend and roommate, and she did have every reason to be concerned for Lyra’s safety. Lyra had recently gone back to university, as it turns out, being a freelance musician didn’t exactly bring money. Lyra felt guilty for not being able to pull her own weight, and she constantly felt as if she was using Bon Bon, who made enough money for the both of them. Despite her friend’s insistence that she wasn’t a bother, Lyra couldn’t continue to sit by and do nothing about it. Being repeatedly turned down for gig after gig had done it. Lyra loved music, she was a skilled lyre player, it was her special talent, but what happens when your special talent can’t support you?
You have to do something else, and that’s exactly what Lyra was doing. A University degree was required for any job that she needed to make the kind of money she should be. Didn’t matter what it was in, all that mattered was that she had it. So here she was, in the final weeks of her first year at the University of Canterlot, preparing for her final exam in Transfiguratory Magic, one of many required classes for unicorn students.
The spell she was working on was somewhat complicated for an entry level course, but it was a favourite of the professor. Temporary Underwater breathing, which was why Lyra had chosen it, and dragged Bon Bon to the river where she could watch.
“Relax Bon Bon! I’ll be fine! This is still entry level magic! What could possibly go wrong?” Lyra said attempting to reassure her best friend.
It didn’t work, Bon Bon sat staring blankly at her; she sighed and rose to her hooves. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be hiding behind that rock over there!”
Bon Bon pointed to a rather large boulder in the rough shape of a diamond, which somepony had put there one day, but nopony could figure out exactly where it came from.
“Hardy har har. So funny Bon Bon,” Lyra said, rolling her eyes at the skittish earth pony.
“I’m serious! If I can’t stop you from doing this, I’m at least going to be taking cover for the duration,” Bon Bon said as she hid behind the boulder.
Lyra scowled at the boulder that Bon Bon was hiding behind. Now she was going to prove that Bon Bon was being ridiculous by pulling it off. Her horn began to glow, and she shut her eyes tight to improve her concentration. Beginning the casting process, she felt the magic running throughout her entire body, she noted how nice it felt, but shook the thought, she needed to focus.
The energy began to amplify, it was getting close... but, no, something wasn’t right. The amount of magic Lyra was channelling jumped exponentially. Bon Bon had been right, Lyra didn’t know what she was doing, she tried to break the casting sequence, but it was already too late. The spell burst forward from Lyra’s horn, exploding violently and sending the unicorn flying.
Bon Bon looked out from behind her hiding place and looked on in horror. “Lyra!” she called out and ran to where Lyra was laying, but she paused momentarily when she noticed what state Lyra was in. Lyra’s legs were gone. In their place were... fins? Lyra had fins for forelegs! Her body ended in a long, fleshy prehensile tail. But most notably, Lyra was gasping for air.
Bon Bon stood in shock, but she then noticed a very important feature on the new Lyra. She had gills. She couldn’t breathe! Bon Bon leapt into action and gave her a hard push into the river. Lyra rolled into the river with a hard splash.
“Nothing can go wrong she says! Well this looks pretty wrong to me!” Bon Bon called out.
“Bon Bon? Who are you talking to?” Lyra said from behind her.
Wait.
Bon Bon turned slowly to see Lyra sitting on the ground, clutching her head in pain several metres away. Her mouth fell open. If Lyra was sitting over there... then.
The other Lyra burst her head up from the water, spitting a steady stream of water from her mouth and giving Bon Bon an extremely wide smile.
Bon Bon screamed.
...
“Well... This is interesting.”
“Interesting?” Bon Bon exclaimed. “INTERESTING? I’m sitting here looking at... I don’t even know what that is, and all you have to say is INTERESTING?”
Doctor Nightly was Ponyville’s unicorn doctor. Bon Bon had relocated Lyra and the other Lyra to the Ponyville Clinic. Lyra was lying in a hospital bed, watching the scene unfold. While the other Lyra was sitting in a large bucket of water looking incredibly confused.
“Yes, interesting, considering Hippocampi have been extinct for several hundred years,” Doctor Nightly said.
“Hippo-what?” Bon Bon asked in confusion.
“Sea ponies,” Doctor Nightly said. “Very interesting... it seems to be aware of what’s going on, but I wonder if it can speak.”
Sea Pony Lyra scowled at Doctor Nightly. “Okay, You know what? I’ve been patient and let you do your job Doctor, but I do not appreciate being called an it! I am not an it!”
Everypony jumped in surprise, this was the first time that Sea Pony Lyra had shown any clear sign of intelligence.
“How interesting,” Doctor Nightly mused to himself. “My apologies, Lyra. I’d like to run some more tests if that’s okay with you.”
“Go ahead,” both Lyras said in unison, causing them to look over at each other and shutter at how creepy it was.
Doctor Nightly fetched and apple and set it down on the floor in front of Sea Pony Lyra. “If you would please, try and levitate this for me?”
Sea Pony Lyra’s horn began to glow, and she levitated the apple up to eye level, and then promptly set it back down. Doctor Nightly seemed satisfied with the result, he then ushered to Lyra, asking her to do the same. Lyra looked at the apple intensely, she concentrated hard and tried to levitate the apple, but it did not budge.
“Hey!” Lyra called out. “What gives?”
“Most interesting,” Doctor Nightly said. The Jet black unicorn stallion picked up the apple with his own magic and took a bite out of it. “It seems to me, that when the two of you split, Sea Pony Lyra inherited the magic.”
“Can we not refer to me as Sea Pony Lyra?” Sea Pony Lyra asked. “If we’re going to call me anything, let’s call me, Sea... ra? Syra.”
“This is all fine and dandy Doctor Nightly,” Bon Bon said, an air of annoyance in her breath as she spoke. “But what are you going to do to fix this?”
“I... don’t know,” the Doctor pony said, his soft amber eyes transferring an apologetic look to the three mares before him. “I’m going to have to consult with some colleagues in Canterlot, until then, you can go ahead and take both of them home, keep a close eye on them and I’ll let you know what our next course of action is.”
“Fine,” Bon Bon said, sighing heavily. “Useless tosser,” she added under her breath. She got behind Syra’s bucket and began to push it with her head towards the door. Lyra rose from the hospital bed and followed. As far as days go, this certainly had to the oddest.
Lyra and Syra couldn’t help but stare at each other the entire walk back towards their flat. Bon Bon thought it was weird for her, she could only imagine how it was for them.
“So... do you like, remember being a unicorn and stuff?” Lyra asked.
“Yeah,” Syra said. “Last thing I remember was casting the underwater breathing spell, and then feeling it go wrong... and then I couldn’t breathe and Bon Bon pushed me into the river.”
“So weird,” Lyra said.
“Yeah...” Syra said, nodding her head in agreement, she looked down towards the ground, watching as Bon Bon pushed her bucket along. “I didn’t want to say anything before, but when we get home, if somepony could change the water in my bucket... I’d really appreciate it.”
Lyra looked at her sea pony counterpart in shock. “Gross!”