“Wha-?” Lyra had not even a moment to react to the basement door flying open right in front of her, knocking her back in the process. Once open, a loud scream followed close behind the door. The entire house had been eerily quiet except for the slowly building rainfall outside, but no longer.
Bon Bon careened out of the basement and barreled into Lyra, screaming the entire time. The two ponies gasped in tandem, rolling onto and across the floor until they met the far wall.
“Bon Bon-?” Lyra tried to get out, but was cut short as the pony atop her fought out of her embrace. She earned a hoof to her chin for the trouble.
Lyra was completely surprised, more so when Bon Bon got up, only to whirl around and slam the basement door shut.
Following that, Bon Bon quieted quickly, just leaning her side against the door and sucking in deep breaths.
Outside, a crack of lighting sang out, followed by the gentle rumble of thunder. The lights were on in the hall and the house was still, with the exception of Bon Bon’s shaking hooves.
Despite the ordeal, Lyra tried to bring the other pony into a hug again; perhaps a little surprisingly, she was able.
Bon Bon kept her side pressed to the door, rapid breaths accompanied by gentle sobs keeping her nearly stock-still. The panic in her mind, in fact, almost kept her from even noticing Lyra, who was wrapped around her neck in a fierce hug and asking what was wrong.
Lyra squeezed tighter. “Bon Bon? Are you alright? What happened, why were you screaming all of a sudden?” She tried to get a look at the other pony and study her, look her in the face and get a hint of things. After spotting the wide eyed terror Bon Bon inexplicably possessed, she slowly looked away, instead. “Why were you in the basement? I- What is going on?” Her head rested across Bon Bon’s withers. “Something is going on, isn’t it?”
Still not answering, Bon Bon shakily took a few steps forward, then dragged a nearby chest of drawers in front of the basement door. She was muttering at the same time.
Lyra had let go when she moved, but pressed on with her questions. “Bon Bon? Come on, please talk to me, I’m scared. Why were you screaming?”
Bon Bon looked up at her once the door was securely blocked. “I-it was just a doll, Lyra.” She managed to struggle out the words in the midst of her fear.
Lyra’s brow was drawn in worry. “A doll?” she asked. “Bon Bon, I don’t understand.” She consolingly raised a hoof to the other pony’s side to try and coax out something sensible.
“I-it-” Bon Bon sniffed and shook her head, sending her loose mane from side to side. “There’s something in the house, Lyra.” She managed to say the claim flatly, then choked on another sob. “It’s in the b-basement. Little doll.”
Lyra took the pony up in a hug just as another flash of light lit up the windows. Overhead, the unreliable lights they owned flickered in and out again, making Bon Bon sob harder.
“Sshhh, it’s okay, Bon Bon, I’m here.” Lyra look around herself, especially the basement door, while taking her lover back up in another hug.
Bon Bon shook her head against Lyra’s shoulder. “No, i-it’s not alright. We need to go. I want out, Lyra. I want out now. There was…” she gasped in a breath, just now able to that her throat had cleared. “There was something in the bed earlier when you checked the door, and I thought it was nothing. After that, I saw the… whatever it was in the window. Red eyes, like a story tale monster or a dragon. And just now…”
Bon Bon pushed Lyra back gently with a hoof and looked at her. She could feel the moistened fur around her own eyes and had to blink to keep tears from obscuring her vision. “Something’s here, Lyra. I thought maybe I had just hit my head, but there’s no way I’m still hallucinating and seeing things.”
Lyra gulped, her mouth drew down in slight horror at the idea. Still, she did her best to comfort Bon Bon. “N-now, I’m sure it was just… a mouse?” She paused, and her thoughts went towards the things that had occurred around her earlier.
Another peal of thunder rolled over their house.
Bon Bon went on. “I don’t know how I got into the basement… but there’s something in there, and it wasn’t a mouse.” She looked over at the door, strangely calm now. She wondered why; perhaps Lyra’s presence was simply enough for her. “I think we should leave, Lyra. I don’t want to stay here.”
Lyra blinked away her memory of the fog outside, ears twitching to the sound of the heavy rainfall that had appeared outside. “Yeah… okay, we can head into town and… maybe knock on Top’s door? It isn’t far.”
Bon Bon sniffed again, running a leg under her nose and over her eyes to finish clearing them. “Maybe the Apples’ farm. It’s closer.”
“Yeah… Okay, let’s, uhm, get our coats then.” Lyra gave their big, beautiful home a quick inspection. It seemed as peaceful and kindly as it ever had. She had never thought of it as a scary place before, but now, she felt conflicted of that.
The two mares shared an understanding stare before making their way down the hall and towards the front door. They walked in a single file, with Bon Bon in the lead.
“S-so, do you think it’s a ghost-” Lyra began to ask, voice quaking slightly.
“Lyra,” Bon Bon shot back. “I don’t want to think about it, or discuss this any further at all. I… just want to go, please?
Lyra gulped, and nodded, despite her marefriend being unable to see it from upfront. “R-right,” she murmured in response. All the while, her head looked every which way, as if on a swivel. She spotted the shadows cast by her furnishings, unlit candles and plateware hanging on the walls or in curios. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary.
The two ponies made their way down the long hallway quickly. Just as they exited into the living room, a squeaking noise caught Lyra’s attention from underneath the rainfall.
Lyra stopped in the middle of the floor, ears raised high to look for what she’d heard. “U-uhm, Bon Bon?” Her voice came out as a whisper, while Bon Bon kept up her quick trot towards the front door. “Bon Bon…”
Lyra shook her head hard in desperation, trying to get herself together. Come on, Lyra. You’re the brave one. You gotta buck up for your wife. Something’s really wrong here and… and something really dangerous might be here, too. You can do this- She finished the pep-talk to herself, just as the loveseat in the room squeaked, moving just a few inches from its spot in the corner.
Lyra’s eyes widened, and she stared at the furniture. “Bon Bon… Did you see-” She was cut off as the loveseat moved again, this time with a purpose. She could have sworn she had seen the legs bend.
Bon Bon turned around from her spot at the coat rack, busily shoving her front legs into her coat. “Lyra!?” she yelled back. “Hurry up, I want to go, now! Please.”
Lyra turned and faced her. “I’m coming, I… coming.” She started to trot towards the door and Bon Bon, ignoring what she was pretty sure she had seen. It isn’t important, she resolved in her head, clenching her eyes shut for a brief moment. You’re leaving now, and later… this can all be fixed.
A table screeched across the floor in front of Lyra, bringing her to a halt. She gasped, and stumbled back several steps. The table began shaking and dragging itself towards her.
Bon Bon looked over in time to see Lyra surrounded by shifting furniture. Her eyes widened slowly. Their house was suddenly filled with things walking around, shaking and jittering like convulsing little forest animals.
Lyra screamed and dove underneath the table, just as it slid towards her and swung with one of its stiff legs. Across the room a bookshelf toppled over, and from the kitchen came the bang and crash of metal on metal. Overhead, the lights had decided to flicker and blink chaotically, misbehaving along with everything else.
Lyra and Bon Bon grappled one another in a hug and shuffled away from their own living room. A bench was beginning to rattle its way towards them across the floor. Over the other sounds the ponies just barely heard each other scream.
Lyra forced her magic into working for her; subsequently, the door nearly flew off its hinges in her panicked grip. Despite her own mounting fear, she made sure Bon Bon was outside and safe before running out as well. "I'm right behind you, Bon Bon!" she cried into the rain. Together, they stumbled out the door, which Lyra slammed shut behind them.
Outside there was a storm in full swing with rain falling solemnly and dark clouds overhead. The sounds of nature completely replaced the chaos from indoors as if by a switch.
Lyra quickly turned on one hoof; she saw Bon Bon, already off the porch and halfway to the street. Not waiting, she galloped out after her. In the corner of her eye, flickered a shadow. She turned, in time to see something speeding across the ground in the distance.
Between the wind and roaring thunder, Lyra could barely hear Bon Bon yelling for her to hurry up. “Lyra, come on! It’s terrible out here!”
Lyra was having second thoughts, her eyes studying the flitting shape against the far treeline. “Bon Bon, get back inside, now!” She was worried that her words wouldn’t be able to travel over the storm, but didn’t feel half the relief she hoped for when her marefriend turned back and yelled her response.
Bon Bon stopped once she had reached the street and whirled around; her mane was completely sodden and hanging down over her face. “Lyra! I am not going back in there! And I’m shocked you would even consider going back inside!” Her eyes were desperate and pleading despite her stern tone.
Lyra skidded to a halt, finally getting close enough to not yell. She raised a hoof in the direction of what she had thought she saw, not wanting to argue. “I’d rather take possessed furniture over that!” Her horn lit up with a light spell as she spoke.
Bon Bon turned and looked to where her marefriend had gestured. Sure enough, what looked like a hulking shadow was flitting towards her across the grass; a flicker of red and yellow light swam over its fur. “Oh my Celestia.” She recognized its coat faster than she could process her fear and turned to charge back towards their house immediately. What is that!?
Lyra saw the red glow as well. “Bonnie!” she cried. Her hooves stuck to where she stood, watching as the other pony began moving again. Before she knew it, Bon Bon had galloped into the pool of light her horn emitted.
“What are you doing!?” Bon Bon screamed. Her hoof hooked Lyra’s neck and swung her around. “Run you stupid feather-brain!” Her voice was little more than a shrill squeal alongside Lyra’s own frantic cry.
Together, their hooves pounded back through the rain and up the stairs. They climbed quicker than was safe, but kept from stumbling or tripping, fear driving them. The two mares both crammed into the house side by side, with barely enough room to spare at their flanks to squeeze through.
Without bothering to look if they were still being followed, Lyra shut the door. Despite her quickness, she still had time to see the beast in much more detail.
It was like a wolf, but huge, like something out of a nightmare. Even scarier, the wolf had reached and surpassed where they had been standing in the middle of the street, and had been running with frightening speed towards them still. Something told her that it didn't just want to make friends.
Bon Bon slid the door's lock home, then dove away with Lyra following her.
Mere moments passed, then there was a loud crash, which Lyra supposed was probably the thing trying to smash its way inside. She had been sure that their door would be no match for it, but she looked up to see their sturdy oak door had remained on its hinges.
Bon Bon looked up as well, and sighed in relief. "What was that thing!?" she shouted. However, her attention was quickly drawn to the living room. Ahead of them, beyond the entryway, rogue furniture continued to move of its own accord, jumping around and fighting amongst itself noisily.
"I-I dunno!" Lyra legs shook beneath her from adrenaline and the burst of exertion as much as fear.
Neither of the two mares felt sure they were any safer inside, or that all their problems wouldn’t be present to join them soon enough.
Lyra pushed herself up shakily, torn between looking at either the thumping front door or the madness in her own home. “What now, Bon Bon?” She backed up against the wall, desperately wishing the other pony would join her in an embrace.
Bon Bon stood open mouthed as her recliner smashed the couch in two. “I-” She gulped, and moved against the wall as well.
Lyra felt the other mare shaking, too. We can’t stay here, she resolved, then took Bon Bon’s hoof in her own and moved forward. “We can’t stay here!” she repeated. Surprising herself, she built speed and began trotting, doing her best to circle around the more frantic looking pieces of jagged wood.
“Lyraaaa…” Bon Bon wailed, and shut her eyes, unable to keep them open. Together, they began moving through the upholstered carnage.
“We-We’ll get to the basement, Bon Bon!” Lyra tried to say, only to be interrupted quickly.
“No!” Bon Bon screamed; she opened her eyes and ran up beside Lyra. “Not. The basement.”
Lyra gulped, dodging a low swinging painting of herself and Bon Bon at the Summer Sun celebration. “R-right. The bedroom, then.” Doing less pulling now and more guiding, Lyra continued to weave between the madness, only to find her path blocked by what looked like a little doll.
Bon Bon shrieked from beside her and back peddled back into the living room, dragging Lyra along, too.
“L-Lyra!” Bon Bon cried, eyes locked with the little headless plush. She kept moving until her back hit a wall. The two found themselves trapped by the stairs, a set of chairs making to corner them.
Lyra had Bon Bon wrapped around her neck all of a sudden and was hard pressed to so much as move. She searched quickly for what to do; the clamor of the room, the banging of the door and the little doll crawling towards them around the corner all closing in around her. The crying from her wife made her force a decision out of herself.
Lyra looked up the stairs to the second floor quickly and couldn’t make out anything of immediate concern. “Upstairs, now!” she decisively shouted.
Without another moment lost, Lyra jumped forward and punted the doll. The plush soared through the air to smack into the wall, far away from them both. Quickly, she turned and grabbed Bon Bon’s hoof. “Come on!” she yelled again.
Bon Bon didn’t respond with words. Instead, she was halfway up the stairs in the time it took Lyra to blink. Rather than gawk at her marefriend’s attempt at putting the Wonderbolts to shame, she hurriedly followed behind her.
The hallway upstairs was dark, but at least it was quiet except for the noise following them from downstairs. Lyra stole a look behind herself to see one of the chairs trying to hop its way after them both.
“Lyra, come on!” Bon Bon called to her from down the hall. “In here.”
Lyra gave the stairs a last glance before galloping after her marefriend. “I’m coming,” she breathed. Her voice was strained and barely more than a croak. She briefly wondered how much she had been screaming thus far.
The door Bon Bon had found led to Lyra’s music room at the edge of the upstair's hall. They wasted no time in entering.
“Close-” Bon Bon paused and took a deep breath. “Close the door, Lyra.” She fought to keep her voice steady, to stay rational. “Oh Celestia, what is happening?” In the back of her mind all sorts of explanations played out, but none of them seemed very appealing, nor safe.
“I don’t know, Bonnie,” Lyra replied, grunting as she shoved a piece of furniture with her horn. “Come on, let’s block the door.”
Bon Bon and Lyra began barricading the door with a work desk and Lyra’s magic. They moved away from the furniture which they had piled against the door and found a spot in a corner. They sat together, huddled in fear, wary of it moving again.
Bon Bon spoke again first, breaking the relative silence. “So, what are we going to do now?” Downstairs, the racket continued.
Lyra turned to look at her in the relative dark. She whimpered and let her head fall against the other pony’s chest. Barely any moonlight came in through the window, and neither had even tried to turn on the lights; neither of them wanted to be found.
Bon Bon winced and ran a hoof over Lyra’s mane, making a calming sound. “Shh, Lyra, come on, it’s fine. We’re both okay, alright?”
Lyra picked herself, a little ashamed, and returned a more normal hug to Bon Bon. “We almost weren’t though…” she muttered, then looked up. “That… thing outside, it almost got us, I couldn’t even m-move.” Her voice shook slightly as she spoke, and she was forced to hug Bon Bon tighter. “Some brave pony I am…”
Her own claims from earlier that night returned to haunt her.
Bon Bon smirked lightly beneath her exhausted eyes. “You were fine, and we’re safe because of you.” She nuzzled Lyra’s neck and stayed there. “I wouldn’t want anypony else here.”
The room was quiet a moment, until Lyra snorted. “I wouldn’t mind a dozen guardponies right about now to lend a hoof.”
Bon Bon managed a wheezing laugh. “Or the princesses… Lyra, what is going on down there? What’s happening to our house?” She leaned back and made eye contact.
Lyra’s eyebrows were drawn in doubt while she answered. “I… don’t know, Bon Bon. Whatever it is, it isn’t normal, and it’s dangerous.”
Bon Bon stared a moment longer, then slowly lowered her own head to rest against Lyra. “Well, I guess we’re safe at the moment… What now?”
Below them the sound of glass shattering punctuated the rattle of wood for a brief moment. They stopped and listened, watching the door for a few minutes.
Lyra looked up and out the window. She thought she could see a little more gray in the sky. “I think we just wait it out…” she finally muttered, and squeezed Bon Bon tighter.
Time passed at a snail’s pace for the two terrified mares as they were forced to listen to their home being torn apart.
Bon Bon could hear pots and pans slamming and smashing against what she could only guess were appliances and glass jars she used to store her candy.
Lyra listened in horror as an unsettling tune sounded from a nearby room which she recognized as her lyre. She cringed every time a string was forced into a tone so distorted that it ended in a resounding snap. She couldn’t help but count the strings as they were destroyed, and was on the verge of tears when the last one broke. A deafening crash quickly followed which she assumed was her lyre being thrown through a wall.
The sounds of utter destruction of their beloved home being torn asunder continued uninterrupted, with neither pony at all willing to attempt another escape. They both continued to hold onto the hope that they were safe where they were.
The marefriends kept one another clutched in a tight embrace, unsure how much time had passed them by. Lyra could feel Bon Bon shuddering in her arms occasionally throughout the ordeal, and she guessed she was occasionally, too. It wasn’t until the noises died away that she noticed her lover had finally stopped shaking.
Lyra opened her eyes groggily. Despite the chaos, she had been exhausted, and still was. She picked her head up and looked at Bon Bon. Out the window were glimpses of sunlight, teasing her with the coming morning.
Lyra smiled. “Hey, Bon Bon… look.” She pointed her hoof out towards the brightening horizon. “Bon Bon?” The pony laying against her side didn’t stir. She wasn’t sure, but she didn’t think she could feel her breathing, either.
“Bon Bon,” Lyra repeated, and shook Bon Bon. “Bon Bon, please don’t be dead!” she began to shout in her desperate attempt for a reaction.
“Wha— Ah!” Bon Bon shot up and shouted, nose to nose with Lyra.
Lyra screamed back, surprised too. “Ah! Zombie!” She fell backwards, hitting her head on the floor.
Bon Bon was now awake and struggling to tear herself free from the frantic musician. “Lyra? What happened? Zombie? What?”
Lyra sat back up, staring at her for a second with a scrutinizing look. “Bon Bon! You’re okay!” she finally exclaimed, then collapsed against Bon Bon to bring her into a tight hug.
Bon Bon raised an eyebrow from her spot in the other mare’s ironclad embrace. “Lyra..." She began to say, then sighed instead. "Yes, I’m fine. I just dozed off…" Her ears flickered this way and that as she spoke. "Are you okay?” she asked quietly.
Lyra looked up at her with slightly tear filled eyes. “Mmhmm,” She replied back.
Bon Bon smiled warmly at Lyra, then spotted the sunlight pouring inside from the window. “Is it… is it over?” she asked slowly.
Lyra’s ears perked up alongside Bon Bon’s, who she still held tightly. She listened for a full minute to the quiet before letting out a small sigh of relief. “Yeah, Bonnie… I think it is.” Her horn began to glow. "Should I move the furniture away from the door...?" she asked.
Bon Bon had been about to acknowledge Lyra, when she heard a low whisper began to fill the room. Her head slowly turned to the crack under the door, just behind the desk. “Lyra, do you hear that?” She recalled the sounds, similar to ones she had heard earlier that night. The whispers were growing to a muffled uproar before going silent.
“Hm? Hear what?” Lyra, who seemed oblivious to the whispers, had been slowly releasing her grip; the moment she let go to stand up, Bon Bon was torn from her side.
Bon Bon’s head jerked sideways and slapped against the floor. A window on the far wall yanked itself open at the same time. “Lyyyraa!” Bon Bon screamed as she was dragged away by her rear hooves.
Lyra sat where she had fallen back on her rump, stunned, only to jump into frantic movement after hearing her wife scream.
Bon Bon’s rear end was out of the window already when Lyra finally grabbed hold of her hooves. Their fetlocks locked together and the unicorn found herself in a vicious tug-of-war with whatever haunted their home.
“Bon- Bon…” Lyra gritted her teeth and held on as hard as she could, already pulling with all of her strength. “Hold… on…” Despite her best efforts, she only seemed to be delaying the inevitable while her lover slipped slowly out the window.
When Bon Bon’s head cleared the sill, she ventured a look at the ground only to wish she hadn’t. Not only was there a two story fall awaiting her if she lost her grip, but two red eyes were down below, as well. The demonic looking wolf was there, waiting for them both. It circled the window from below, occasionally looking up and snapping its jaws.
“Lyraaa!” Bon Bon began screaming louder and kicking her back legs harder. She was completely out of the window now. “I’m sli- hipping!” she cried.
Lyra spotted the wolf as well. “Bon Bon! The wolf’s beneath you!”
“I… noticed…” Bon Bon grunted and felt like slapping Lyra were she able. Instead, all she managed was another choked sob while she struggled as fiercely as she could to get back inside. She regretted being such a weak earth pony, now.
Lyra, still clutching Bon Bon, was being pulled out, too. She was getting desperate, and began reaching around the room with her magic in panic. An object found itself in her grip, though she couldn’t see what it was. Without losing the grip she had on her wife, she hurled whatever it was out the window and at the wolf.
It had been Bon Bon’s trombone, an article that she had gone out and decided to try her hoof at music with. The sorely misused instrument connected with the wolf's head, just as it looked up.
A seething growl escaped its jaws, alongside a gout of flame. It looked at Lyra, then howled.
The croon shook the side of the house for several seconds, until it cut off abruptly.
There were books, sheet music, a stand, and multiple stools that quickly followed the trombone’s fate. The items all soared out the window, most of which the wolf dodged. “Let! Go!” Lyra screamed.
“Lyra, I’m slipping!” Bon Bon was moments away from plummeting to an early end.
Lyra’s sides and legs all ached, she couldn’t hold on much longer and she knew it. “Hold on, Bonnie!” With all her remaining might, magical and physical, Lyra wrapped Bon Bon up in her magic. Once completely enveloped, she spread her aura up her own hooves and pulled with everything she had.
At first, the war seemed to have reached a stalemate as Bon Bon’s exit slowed even further and halted, but as Lyra continued she found herself finally back-peddling into the room with Bon Bon in tow.
Bon Bon’s rear hooves seemed cemented to the window sill for just a moment, before pulling away with a pop. The resulting momentum sent the two mares tumbling clear across the room and into the opposite wall in a crash.
Not waiting, and gasping for breath, they disentangled quickly before standing up to embrace one another.
Bon Bon choked out a sob loudly, while Lyra’s head shot over to the open window. She slammed it shut quickly with a final, tired burst of her magic. “Come on, Bon Bon, we need to get out of here. It isn’t safe. Lets get to the attic—” She paused when she heard a scratching noise.
Lyra and Bon Bon looked over towards it in a flash. To their horror, one huge paw slammed onto the sill, crashing open the glass window. Its claws scraped onto the edge.
Lyra continued watching and cried out as another paw joined the first, more glass shattering in the now empty panes. Uh oh, she thought simply. The gears in her brain meshed together and she pulled free of Bon Bon in order to remove the door’s barricade.
“Bon Bon, help me!” Lyra began sliding the barricade away from the door.
Bon Bon hesitated; the wolf was now beginning to pull its head up to the opening where she could see its face. The wolf’s head turned sideways, a long grin curling up the side of its maw. She stared openly, legs shaking.
Lyra pulled away the desk, her final obstacle, and hurled the door open. “Yes! Let’s—” She spotted the wolf climbing through the window, looked at Bon Bon, then grabbed the other pony’s tail in her mouth quickly.
Bon Bon cried out, was yanked back, and broken out of her stupor all at once. “Yeee-ah!”
Lyra slammed the door shut behind them and began frantically trotting in place in the hall. "Bon Bon, we gotta move!” she cried, waiting anxiously for her wife to follow.
Bon Bon shook her head, then nodded. Together, they ran to the staircase, only to skid to another halt. A gaggle of chairs were blocking the way. “Oh, great,” Bon Bon remarked angrily.
The door behind them banged loudly and cracked down the middle, earning two shrieks from both mares.
Lyra looked at Bon Bon, eyes wide. “Where do we go!?”
Bon Bon looked for a way out, and was the first to take action. Leaping up, she grabbed a string hanging from the ceiling of the hall with her teeth. She tugged and a ladder slid out from a hatch. “Th’ attic, ‘uick!” she mumbled around the string, then spit it out.
Lyra didn’t wait another second and ascended the ladder to the highest floor of the house. Her pace hurried itself when she heard the splintering of wood from the door to the music room. “Hurry, Bon Bon!” she called behind herself.
Once they were both up the ladder, Lyra turned to pull it up but was stopped. The wolf had its front two paws on laid across the bottom rung, while its eyes leered upwards at the two mares.
Lyra whimpered and backed away, but shielded Bon Bon as the Wolf slowly climbed up the ladder.
Bon Bon panted, her chest somehow heaving harder than it had all night. “Get away!” she screamed. “Leave. Us. Alone! You’ll be sent to Tartarus you know. That’s where things that hurt others go!”
The wolf eyes visibly narrowed and it reached the top of the ladder. Its head popped into the room, ears laid back and its grin widening. A low growl rebounded off the walls.
“I don’t think that worked, Bonnie. I- I love you, you know.” Lyra and Bon Bon continued backing up away from it, though the creature didn’t seem to be in any hurry.
“I love you too… but this isn’t over… Maybe we can wave down a pegasus… or...” Bon Bon grunted angrily in defeat, which was answered back by a snarl from the wolf. She jumped slightly at that, then again when the wall behind her seemed to give way, and turned. It was in fact the attic window that overlooked part of the roof. She turned around completely and pushed it open with both hooves. “Lyra, we can get to the roof from- ...Lyra!?”
Lyra now had her wife in her magic as she leaped through the window with her lover in tow, hovering in the air.
Bon Bon screamed shrilly, watching in horror as the wolf leaped after her, but missed. The wolf slid across the roof’s shingles until it reached the edge.
Lyra skirted the edge of the roof herself, fueled by desperation, until she made her way back around the window. Her hooves only just found purchase on the old, building as she climbed up onto the flat at the very top of the roof.
Bon Bon and Lyra were as high up as they could go now, and they both realized that as they looked out across the surrounding grass fields around their home. Barely in the distance, they could see other homes, most with small plumes of smoke rising above chimney stacks.
Lyra gasped, then dropped her lover from the shock of what else sat atop the roof, waiting for them. Bon Bon oofed indignantly as she fell on her rump onto the ground.
Two earth ponies stood across from each other around what appeared to be a five pointed star etched into the roof of the house with a lit candle resting at each of its points, and a circle encompassing it. Bizarre designs, like runes, riddled the edges of the big drawing; at its center sat an urn. The lid of said urn was set to the side just outside the circle while the two ponies were throwing odd ingredients inside of it. The two ponies were mares, and familiar ones at that.
“Inkie… and Blinkie?” Lyra trotted up to them, only for Inkie… she thought, to stop her with a hoof.
“Please do not enter the pentagram,” Inkie, the all grey pony of the pair, stated flatly. “You have no charms, and we wouldn’t want you to be torn out of your body, now.”
Lyra looked at her bug eyed, then down at the ‘pentagram’, as the other mare had called it. “What are you doing on my… Did you draw that in strawberry jam?” She tentatively reached out a hoof, only for it to be smacked away soundly by Blinkie
“Terribly sorry, but no,” the light colored mare, Blinkie, began. “It’s fish blood, I’m afraid,” she responded in a monotone drawl. She stepped back into the circle and hoofed a small weed into the open urn nonchalantly.
“It’s better this fish than you yourself though, wouldn’t you say, Mrs. Fish?” Inkie chimed back in, pouring, a black sort of slime in after the weed.
Lyra was completely dumbfounded and sat down with a thump. Bon Bon did the same beside her, taking the scene incredulously; it was much the same reaction the pair often shared towards Ponyville’s periodic crazy events.
When finally Bon Bon finally spoke, her voice was gruff and course. “What. Are you doing here?” she asked, just before a crunching sound from the opposite direction made her head whip around completely. She spotted the source of the sound immediately, as it was hard to miss.
The wolf’s eyes were wide and staring; the two red wells were perfect circles, locked onto both Lyra and Bon Bon. In the morning light, its fur looked as though it were in full blaze.
“Lyra!” Bon Bon screamed, then backpedaled away.
“Get back, Bonnie!” Lyra tried to pick her wife up in her magic once more, but she was grabbed roughly by one of the other mare’s hooves.
“Never again, Lyra!” Bon Bon shouted. She didn’t look at Lyra, instead, the two of them only backed away from the oncoming horror, leaving Inkie and Blinkie between them and their pursuer.
The wolf followed them both up the roof until it cleared the lip of the flat, then stopped. It turned its head slowly to look at the two newcomers, instead. The wolf seemed to be staring at the oddity between it and its prey. Lyra and Bon Bon couldn't help but stare themselves.
Bon Bon had time to entertain the silly, panic stricken thought that it was just as confused as she was about Pinkie's sisters even being there.
At the center of the circle, which Inkie and Blinkie had said to stay out of, they seemed to have a flower held between them both. It was pressed between their hooves, in a sort of hoof bump. Together, they watched the wolf blankly, until it turned to face them head on completely.
Without waiting another moment, the two off-grey mares pulled their hooves away in tandem, letting the flower fall slowly towards the urn. The wolf followed the sight with its head.
At the last second, Inkie and Blinkie spoke together quickly towards Lyra and Bon Bon. “You should get down,” they said.
“What?” The other two mares asked, just as a blinding flash of light erupted out of nowhere from the urn, followed by a cloud of smoke which bellowed out from its opening, charging straight up into the sky.
Lyra screamed alongside Bon Bon and tackled her to the ground in a tight embrace.
Overhead, the smoke swirled across the roof in a tight circle. They managed to catch a glimpse of the wolf trying to turn and run, just before it was struck by the tip of the cloud. A piercing, furious howl vibrated the air itself around them.
Lyra watched as the thing scraped its claws at the ground, even as it was dragged backward towards the weird drawing and urn. As it was dragged, however, it seemed to decrease in size. The runes were also glowing brighter, until the wolf was lifted into the air above them when they reached their brightest.
In the wolf’s final moments, it just barely resembled the size of a mouse. With a final squeak of noise, its body fell through the urn’s opening.
Inkie stepped forward into the circle, hooves clopping softly on the roof tiles, and slammed the lid down on top of the jar. Blinkie then began scribbling more of the jam-like substance onto the urn with runes similar to the ones in the circle, before unceremoniously wrapping the lid to its jar with duck tape.
The urn did not so much as wobble once the runes were in place, and the dawn hours finally fell to a calm quiet for the first time that day.
Lyra and Bon Bon returned to their previous positions next to each other just to stare at the two strange sisters of Pinkie Pie in awe.
“What the buck did you just do?” Lyra somehow managed to choke out; she did so without first lifting her jaw from the floor.
Inkie hummed and tossed her mane slightly with one hoof, studying Lyra. “Oh, that was quite an impressive trick Mrs. Fish did right there. Don’t you think sister?” She turned towards Blinkie.
“Yes,” Blinkie agreed. “Perhaps she has her special talent in ventriloquism?”
Inkie hummed, eyes moving up and down Lyra in a way that made the other mare cringe back. “No, I’m sure that's a lyre on her flank, sister,” she stated arguably.
“Perhaps that is what she uses instead of a doll?” Blinkie offered quietly in contemplation.
Bon Bon groaned and Lyra facehooved. Neither of them were in any mood to deal with the creepy duo after the night’s events, but likewise weren’t about to let them deter them from some much needed answers.
Bon Bon decided to make her own attempt after Lyra’s question had been ignored. She composed herself as best she could with a hoof, despite her fussed mane and otherwise horrified demeanor. “Girls,” she began calmly. “Just what are you doing on our roof and what did you do to that…” Her eye began twitching, and she lost it, too. “Just what was the beast!?”
Inkie opened a small satchel and knelt onto the roof. From within, she pulled out a couple oily looking rags. She glanced up in between swipes at the mess they had apparently made. “A windigo, Mrs. Fish, would be the closest example I can give you." She positively chimed the reply.
Bon Bon growled through her teeth. “Stop, calling, us, Mrs. Fish.”
Blinkie continued on over Bon Bon for her sister. “Although, instead of disharmony, this one feeds off of fear. Very fascinating creature, really...” She began trotting around the circles, picking up the now extinguished candles and dropping them in little paper sheaths.
Inkie tsked derisively at Blinkie. “Really, sister, you shouldn’t compliment the things. They’re evil.”
Blinkie sighed. “But they’re still fascinating…” she replied back dreamily.
Inkie rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Mrs. Fishes, the more frightened you are of fear spirits, the stronger they become.” She looked over at the two shaking, exhausted mares with a bright and cheerful smile. “You two look awful, by the way,” she remarked.
Blinkie trotted past Lyra and Bon Bon and collected another bag, the outside of which seemed to be lined with brightly colored scales. She turned and addressed them somberly. “Perhaps, if you weren’t so easy to scare it may have left you alone?”
Lyra’s jaw dropped again. “...Did you just suggest this is our fault?” she asked in indignation. She took a moment to pick up her jaw, for fear she might dislocate it if she continued its abuse. “A-And you didn’t answer our question. What did you do?” Her expression was set solidly into a mix of confusion and anger, the emotions from the entire night ending up as one, massive jumble in her head.
Blinkie ignored Lyra’s inquiry and trotted over to the roof’s edge. “Ah, that. It’s simple really,” she declared, smiling back at the other two ponies. “The fear spirit is a corporeal and incorporeal phantasm simultaneously due to its bilateral existence across the magical planes. Drawing upon multiple energies the way it does, however, from so many realms of existence makes it susceptible to a quasi-state spell containment, better known as Starswirl’s theorem arcanis… uhm, are you two quite alright?”
Blinkie carefully studied the two mares that looked as though they had lost something. “Perhaps you should both lay down?” she offered.
Lyra shook her head, then sighed. “Yeah…” she affirmed back to Pinkie’s weird relative. “I think we’ll do just that."
“Ah, that’s good then.” Blinkie smiled again, then looked down at a grappling hook mounted to the edge of the roof and kicked it off. Afterwards, she trotted over towards her sister, who was now asking a question of her own.
“Well, now that this is all said and down, would you both mind showing us the way down?” Inkie began; the surface of the roof now looked quite clear of any evidence anything had ever transpired there. “My sister made the mistake of dropping our rope, earlier.”
Lyra could only stare at the other two mares in a defeated way at this point, having given up on wanting to say anything reprising towards the infuriating duo.
Bon Bon, at least, managed to do the talking. “We… We used the window from our attic,” she informed Inkie tiredly.
“Splendid!” Blinkie exclaimed, beginning a brisk trot to the edge of the flat. “I told you we didn’t have to use your rope again, sister,” she shot at Inkie.
“Oh, you only fell on our first attempt at a climb up. Don’t be so prickly,” Inkie quipped, following her sibling to the still open window of the attic.
Together, the four ponies collectively went back inside. The group mostly stayed quiet, though one of Pinkie’s sisters spoke up once more upon helping Lyra step back inside through the window’s sill.
“By the way,” Blinkie started. “We’re very happy to see you’re both perfectly alright and unharmed. Though, I will point out that the windigo's goal was merely to scare you, not harm you.”
Bon Bon deadpanned briefly at the lighter colored pony of the pair, then sighed slowly. Now she notices, she thought to herself. Just what are these two doing here? How did they know? I guess I should thank them… even if the way they’re acting is still weird. It’s almost like they’re… having fun with us. Her brow furrowed over the idea, while something tickled at her memory, though she couldn’t say what, exactly.
Together, they all started making their way through the attic and down into the house.
Inkie and Blinkie ended up leading the way, as Lyra and Bon Bon looked into one room after another, cringing at every broken belonging or damaged piece of property. There was a bit of trouble removing the entirety of the home’s debris from the stairwell, but with help, Lyra was able to handle it.
They mostly stayed quiet the entire time. Bon Bon again attempted to asked questions, to find out what Inkie and Blinkie were all about, but the twins either giggled and changed the subject coyly, or called her a fish, again. By the end of it, she didn’t care anymore. It certainly seemed like they were bent on keeping some sort of secret, and Bon Bon didn’t care if they did. She was just happy Lyra was safe…
Soon, they were all on the first floor and out the front door, which was nearly split in two upon close inspection. Outside, and lying on the porch, was a black trunk of sorts.
Inkie approached it and began pulling out a metal rod and stand.
Blinkie, for her part, simply turned to stare at Lyra and Bon Bon openly, wearing a tight smile. “So, as you both know, this was a very serious event that you both survived. It’s also not one that can be seen by the public eye.”
Beside her sister, Inkie continued to prepare whatever device she was now assembling. When she was done, she began pouring a silver and black speckled powder into a trap that rested at eye level on the stand's top.
Lyra and Bon Bon blinked at Blinkie, both of them once again adopting the shock from the sister’s irresponsible behavior. “You- Are you saying you don’t want us to tell anypony about this?” Lyra asked.
“Why not?” Bon Bon added, studying the device. The stand itself was covered in strange runes not quite like the ones on the roof, but definitely similar.
Blinkie smiled bigger, but didn’t answer right away. Instead, she looked slowly over at the tall stand.
Lyra swallowed and tried another question. “What’s all that for?” She found the courage to ask about it, even as Inkie returned with two pairs of black sunglasses.
Both of the grey mares dawned them before giving any response. For the first time since Lyra and Bon Bon met them, they smiled together in earnest. “Say, Pinkie Pie,” Blinkie chuckled.
There was an incredible, blinding flash of light in front of Lyra and Bon Bon. They stood in a sudden daze with blank stares adorning their features.
Inkie sighed and took off her sun glasses with one quick swipe of her hoof. “So, it’s my turn to give the story, right?” She turned her head to look over at Inkie, who likewise removed her own sun glasses.
“That’s right,” Blinkie replied, the odd, eccentric qualities of her voice now gone, and replaced by a more normal accent. “Try not to be too ridiculous this time.”
Inkie chuckled. “Alright, alright.” She coughed, then addressed the two unfortunate ponies that had been attacked through the night. “Ahem, Lyra, Bon Bon, I am so sorry that you both have to deal with this, but it’s alright. Government aid to help repair your home and furnishings will be mailed to you promptly.”
Lyra blinked, followed a second later by Bon Bon. “What?” they both asked, then turned to look at one another, just as confused as the other.
Inkie tsked and shook her head sadly. “I’m just so sorry that so much damage was done to your home before you could get back. It really is terrible. Those beavers will probably never be held accountable for what they’ve done to you both.”
Bon Bon’s eyes widened in disbelief as she turned to face Blinkie. “Beavers!?” she exclaimed.
Blinkie’s expression thinned after hearing the story that had been chosen, and she turned to face her sister.
Inkie nodded quickly, still facing Bon Bon. “Oh yes, the… red tailed south Equestrian butcher-beaver.” She flourished a hoof into the house, and over the chaos that still lay evident everywhere. “They’re very territorial and aggressive this time of year during the migratory season.”
Blinkie resisted the urge to facehoof, and instead managed to grin confidently towards Lyra and Bon Bon. Here we are, she thought. Masters of holding a straight face, and Blinkie somehow has found a way to crack mine.
Bon Bon gasped again, staring in pure shock into her home. “My... house!?” she screamed, then raced inside.
“Bonnie? Wait!” Lyra was right behind her.
Inkie turned and smiled self assuredly to Blinkie. “Okay,” she cheered. “All done, wanna go get some breakfast?”
Blinkie heaved a sigh and let her shoulders sink, still in the middle of putting away the memory distortion equipment. “Sure… why not.” The trunk clunked shut, and she hoisted it it up onto her back. “Beavers?” she asked her sister incredulously. “Really?”
Inkie shrugged, then smirked, hanging her own saddle bags laden with supplies across her back. “It could happen,” she professed back. Giggling, she made her way down the path with her sister, Blinkie, until they reached the road.
Together, the two ponies were gone before either Lyra or Bon Bon came outside to look for them again.
Derpy waved from where she hovered, slowly descending towards the earth. “Hi Lyra, hi Bon Bon! Wow, your package sure is heavy,” she remarked.
Bon Bon looked up morosely from where she stood, gently sweeping shattered furniture and wood chips off of her front porch. It had taken most of the day, and several naps, but she had almost finished cleaning the mess left by an alleged pack of migratory mammals.
Lyra was busy taking one such nap out in the sun over on a grassy patch. She awoke with a snort, bleary eyed, and looked up at Derpy.
“Hello, Ms. Hooves,” Bon Bon greeted quietly with a weak smile and a wave.
Derpy smiled bigger, then waved as well.
Unfortunately for the mailbox, just below Derpy, waving weakened her grip around the burlap package’s top. It slipped from her grasp.
Derpy held both of her hooves up to her mouth in surprise, while the bag she had just been carrying careened towards the ground. It plummeted until landing on the last undamaged object of the Bon Bon's home: the mailbox.
Derpy landed timidly beside the ruined mail unit. “Ah, geez Bon Bon… I’m sorry… again.”
Bon Bon sighed, but didn’t make any other outward show of disapproval. “It’s fine, Derpy.”
Derpy looked up bashfully, only to gasp in utter surprise. Both of her eyes straightened out and stared through the open doorway of her friends’ house. “Oh wow, what happened to your living room, Bon Bon?”
Bon Bon was still in too much shock to move from her position of self pity, leaving Lyra to investigate the sudden delivery. “The house? Oh… you know… beavers...”
Derpy whistled appreciatively. “Wow, beavers, huh? I didn’t know they could be so mean! Were they having a party here or something?”
Bon Bon only snorted in response, absently studying the damage still evident inside her house. She could hardly believe that she had been out partying so late with Lyra that her entire home had been vandalized by wildlife come morning.
By the mailbox, Lyra muttered sleepily as she unclipped the delivered sack, only for bits to literally begin pouring out. Her eyes widened immediately. “Bonnie…” she started quietly, then raised her voice cheerfully. “I think we can afford that table set you wanted to get last week, now.”
Bon Bon looked at the gold in disbelief, easily enough to perhaps even buy a new house. The sparkle of the gold lying on their front lawn caught the sunset’s brilliant rays, and matched her marefriend’s eyes.
