//------------------------------// // XV. Humilis Anima // Story: Uniformity // by adcoon //------------------------------// Bonbon placed a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder, hoping it would remind her not to do anything rash and stupid. She was feeling sick deep down in her stomach at the thought of being stuck in this alien body, but more than anything right now she just wanted to be away from here. Bonbon looked at the two humans on the ground behind her, then returned her eyes to the new queen of the changelings. “We had some things with us. Three pairs of saddlebags. Where are they now?” Chrysalis lifted a hoof and licked her wounds lazily, like a cat licking the milk off its paw. “Oh, that. Fine,” she said and waved at one of her guards to go fetch the bags. “Let them have their measly possessions, but be quick about it. I tire, and would like to be at my best for my impending gloating.” Rainbow Dash glared at the guards as they buzzed close by her to fetch their possessions. Bonbon tightened her grip on Rainbow’s shoulder and turned her away from the guards. “Rainbow, please,” she said in a hushed voice. “We need to get out of here. You have to help me carry Lyra and Humble.” “We can’t just leave now,” Rainbow hissed back, but Bonbon knew she had no more idea than Bonbon about what they’d do if they stayed here. Bonbon caught Rainbow’s gaze and held it, begging her wordlessly for help. Rainbow Dash sighed and lowered her head, ears laid back in defeat. “Fine.” Bonbon turned around and trotted up next to Humble. “You take Lyra,” she said as she knelt down beside the girl and nudged her shoulder. “Humble?” Bonbon nudged her again, but the girl neither moved nor made a sound. Veins of blue stood out beneath her cold white skin. Bonbon glanced at Lyra’s pinkish brown skin and realized how terribly sick Humble looked in comparison. Bonbon didn’t know much—or anything, if she was to be honest—about human physiology and health, but surely something wasn’t right with this girl. There was no way being this cold and pale was a good sign. She leaned in closer and pressed her ear against Humble’s chest. Bonbon saw the chest rising gently and heard the slow beat of the heart, and as her face touched Humble’s skin, a sense she had never experienced before seized her attention. Bonbon stumbled back and stared at Humble in shock, the faint scent of emotions still lingering in her nose and the sound of her heart still beating in her ears. She looked around to find Rainbow Dash standing next to Lyra, staring back at her with the same look of surprise and confusion. They were both torn out of their current thoughts as the guards dropped their saddlebags on the ground beside them. Bonbon looked at the cold stares of the changelings before they turned around and resumed their posts near the queen. When they were gone, she looked down and poked open the bag in front of her. All of Lyra’s things seemed to be there, and the second bag had her own things. It had been pulled out and thrown back in haphazardly, but it was all there from what she could tell. From the look on Rainbow’s face as she poked through her bag, Bonbon guessed something of hers wasn’t there, and she had a good idea what it was without even looking. “My book,” Rainbow Dash said and looked up at Chrysalis. “Give my book back!” Chrysalis raised her eyes from her hoof and gave Rainbow Dash a blank look. “No,” she said as her eyes lingered upon Rainbow Dash. “I suffered to get that book open, so now it’s mine. And before you get any ideas …” The guards around the room bared their fangs at Rainbow Dash and Bonbon. Chrysalis rolled over languidly on her pillows. “Get out of my sight before I have a change of heart about you and your friends.” Bonbon grabbed Rainbow’s tail and pulled her back before she could think of doing anything they would both regret. “Don’t,” she said, her voice begging. “Come on.” Rainbow Dash growled and turned around, strapping on her saddlebags and grumbling as she pulled Lyra up and got the human slung over her back with a bit of effort. Bonbon had more trouble getting both her and Lyra’s bags and Humble to sit comfortably on her back, but with a bit of help from Rainbow she managed. She was thankful that Humble didn’t weigh much more than an earth pony filly might, even if she was somewhat bigger. Rainbow Dash threw a threatening glare back in the direction of Chrysalis and her changelings as they left. Bonbon didn’t look back; she kept her eyes down and head forward until they had long since left the queen behind and were walking through the forest on their own. Only when she had stopped hearing the faint humming of other changelings around them did she turn her head to look at Rainbow Dash walking beside her, glumly kicking a small pebble in front of her. Even though unconscious, Bonbon could pick up the scent of subdued emotions from Humble riding on her back, though they were too faint for her to identify. From Rainbow’s expression, she guessed she was getting a taste of Lyra’s emotions as well. She didn’t know if she wanted to know how it would feel once the humans woke up. For that matter, she wasn’t sure how they would react once they woke up. “Rainbow?” “What?” Rainbow gave her a look that left no doubt that she wasn’t in the mood for much talking. Or much of anything. “What are we going to do?” Bonbon said as they trudged up a hill. “I don’t think they will trust us when they wake up and see us like this. What are we going to tell them?” Rainbow Dash fell silent and stared at the ground ahead of them. Bonbon could almost hear the gears turning and grinding in her head as the question sank in. After a bit she stopped and turned to look at Bonbon, worry now visible on her face. “Did you figure out how to change your shape yet?” she asked hopefully. “If they don’t know the truth, they won’t worry, right? We’ll … keep it secret between us until we can figure out how to get our bodies back.” Bonbon looked down at her black body and transparent wings. “I don’t know if I can change shape,” she admitted. “I guess I could try …” She bit her lip and closed her eyes, trying to feel the magic like she had done before. This was different than levitating an object, however, and she wasn’t really sure how to apply the same method to this new task. A sudden fright at the thought of all the things she could accidentally do to herself if the magic didn’t work made her stop what she was doing. “I-I don’t know if we should try this. It’s too dangerous.” “What else can we do?” Rainbow Dash sounded desperate. She glanced up at the early redness of dawn. Somewhere, in a land now far away, Celestia was preparing to raise the sun and begin the day. “I don’t think we have a lot of time before they wake up.” Bonbon shifted the weight on her back a bit as the sun rose and banished the darkness of night from the world. She watched as Lyra’s shape changed smoothly from human to pony on Rainbow’s back. Bonbon’s brow furrowed, and she turned to look at Humble. The human on her back hadn’t changed a bit with the coming of daylight. “Why is she still like that?” Rainbow said and reached out a hoof, gently poking Humble. “Shouldn’t she have turned into a pony too?” Humble stirred, and Bonbon felt the faint scent of emotions change and grow stronger. She bit her lip and looked at Rainbow Dash. Lyra was still unconscious. “I don’t know, but I think she’s waking up.” Rainbow Dash scraped the ground, her eyes shifting over their surroundings like she was looking for a way out of there. “Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!” “Luna can help us, right?” Bonbon blurted out. “She’ll find us in our dreams and we can warn her about what’s happened. She’ll know what to do, won’t she?” There was a deep silence as Rainbow Dash stopped scraping and hung her head, ears drooping. “I dunno, Bonbon. Don’t think so. Twilight … she, uh, talked about how Luna couldn’t find Lyra’s dreams. Twilight thought maybe it was all because Lyra was a changeling. I, uh, don’t think Luna can find our dreams in these bodies. I mean, maybe, I dunno how her magic stuff works or whatever, but maybe she’ll find the two changelings instead and think they’re us,” she rambled. “We just have to hope,” Bonbon said and glanced around. Humble was stirring and whimpering softly on her back as the sun settled on its usual slow course across the sky. “Well, we gotta do something!” Rainbow Dash panicked. A green light surrounded her horn as she began to sweat, eyes frantic. “Gotta change! Come on!” Lyra began to stir on her back as well, groaning and blinking her eyes. Bonbon noticed the scent of bleary confusion in the air, thick and shimmery, and a cold ran down her spine. “Rainbow, stop!” she cried out, worried what her uncontrolled and improvised magic could do to her. To all of them. “Gotta—” Bonbon didn’t hear the rest, if indeed there were any further words to be heard. She could feel as Humble awoke, and instantly all her senses were flooded by a sudden overpowering terror which did not belong to her. She reared up on her hind legs and whinnied in fright as Humble’s arms wrapped around her neck and dark magic flooded her vision. Humble cried, and the ground shifted as jagged spears of jet black crystals sprung out from the soil around them. Bonbon fell to her knees and closed her eyes, hooves over her head and shivering all over as she begged for her life. She felt the weight on her back lessen as Humble scrambled away from her. The crystals closed in around her like a cage, closing out the last rays of light with an ominous cracking noise. Then all fell silent around her, except for Humble’s terrified breathing in the dark behind her. Bonbon curled up tightly in the dark, too afraid to look. *          *          * When she finally did look, all she could see was solid black. Humble’s breathing had quieted, but in the near total silence Bonbon could still make out the barest of breaths from behind her, but the scent of fear and sorrow was tangible even at a distance. There was something else hiding beneath the layers of emotion, a sweetness—love, Bonbon realized, hiding along with the sense of loss and regret. The scent of love was so different from the other emotions to her, Bonbon couldn’t have mistaken it. Bonbon lay there in silence, listening to the faint whisper of Humble’s fearful breath while taking in the different emotions swimming in the air. Slowly she reached out with a hoof to explore the darkness around her. Her hoof brushed against the cold, hard crystal inches away from her. She lifted her head and looked around, and even though she could see nothing but darkness, she could almost feel the crystal closing in around them, solid and smooth, offering no way out … and no way in. Humble had raised a wall of impenetrable black crystal around them, shutting the world and its light out. Here in this dark and lonely hollow, the human had holed herself up to be alone and safe from the world. All of this was strangely clear to Bonbon, as if the emotions she could smell let her guess at more than her eyes would tell her. Bonbon thought she knew why Humble had taken her with her into this place of isolation and sorrow, when she could so easily have left her on the other side of the walls, as she had left Rainbow Dash and Lyra out with the rest of the world. Bonbon sat up slowly and turned to face the human princess in the dark. She didn’t need her eyes to know which way it was. The scent of fear grew as she moved, and Bonbon could well imagine the girl hugging herself tightly in the dark corner as she stared at Bonbon with unblinking eyes. Bonbon had no doubt that Humble could see her perfectly well, even in this absolute darkness; she had lived for thousands of years in such dark and lonely places. “I won’t hurt you,” Bonbon said. Her voice echoed and came back in a million faint whispers from the crystal around her. She reached out a hoof towards Humble, very slowly, but the girl merely pressed herself harder against the crystal. She went silent again as she listened to the silence, then said, “You’re afraid you will hurt me, aren’t you?” Humble said nothing, but the subtle emotional changes from fear to sorrow told Bonbon everything and more. “You know I’m not really a changeling, don’t you?” she said and lowered her hoof back to the ground. She thought she heard the faint sound of a sniffling nod. “You can tell that it’s really my soul in here,” she said and touched her heart. Bonbon searched for what to say, thinking of why she was here, why Humble was here. “You loved her, didn’t you?” she said before correcting herself. “You still love her. You’d follow her to the end of the world and beyond if only you could.” The fear gave way, and her sorrow grew stronger and more painful at the memory of the unnamed pony, the one whose place Bonbon had taken in the dreams. Bonbon dared to move closer until her hoof touched Humble’s arm. The girl was sobbing and didn’t react to the touch. Bonbon moved up beside her and wrapped her hooves around her. Humble pressed her face against Bonbon’s chitinous chest and cried. Bonbon held her close and brushed a hoof through her tangled hair. The girl was covered in dirt, and her body was hard as bone and nearly freezing to the touch. Bonbon wished she could give her warmth somehow, but even if she hadn’t been stuck in a changeling’s cold, hard shell, she doubted it would do anything. “What was her name?” Bonbon whispered as she held the shivering princess in her hooves. She seemed little more than a filly: small, alone, and frightened. It was hard to reconcile this view with the princess of her dreams, but millenia of a cursed and lonely existence could reduce even the proudest soul to a small and shivering wreck, Bonbon told herself. “B-Bonbon,” the girl whispered, and once more Bonbon realized how eerily similar it sounded to Lyra’s. No wonder she had mistaken the girl for Lyra down in the dark and crumbling ruins beneath Mais. The scent of love was growing, becoming thick enough for her to taste. With it came an instinctive urge in Bonbon to sink her metaphorical teeth in the girl and suck every drop of it from her heart. The thought horrified Bonbon as she held the girl tightly and tried to banish the urge and ignore her mouth watering. “Oh, Humble …” she hugged the girl a little closer. “I am not her. You have to know I could never be her.” To Bonbon’s relief, the sorrow returned and buried the love beneath it like a mountain of ice. Humble stopped crying and just lay there in Bonbon’s hooves, staring at the darkness. A long time went by in silence before Humble released herself from Bonbon’s hug and stood up. “Fairway Canter,” she whispered as she turned away in the dark, walking to face the walls of black crystal. The proud princess returned to take the place of the little girl, wrapping around her like layers of clothes to hide her weakness. “How we hated and cursed our traitorous heart for loving thee. Fairway … a common mare. Baseborn, lowly pony.” “What happened?” Bonbon felt the conflict of emotions in Humble. She still couldn’t see a hoof in front of her, but she could almost sense the human standing with her arms folded, alone and small but stubbornly proud in the dark, her back to Bonbon. “Thou must understand! We gave thine eyes back and told thee to leave us be,” Humble whispered in the dark. “We couldn’t bear to love thee, or for thee to love us back. Worst of all for thee to love us,” she said mournfully. Bonbon could almost taste the tears rolling down her cheeks as she spoke. Bonbon stood up but didn’t approach her. “Why?” “Why?” Humble’s voice grew louder, angry. “Because we were nothing for thee! A monster, cursed to wander alone. And thou wert a pony, and … and a loyal friend. Thou …” Humble turned and walked further into the darkness, away from Bonbon “… deserveth more than a cursed and worthless human like us, not even a proper princess anymore. No kingdom, no future, nothing to give thee but despair. We would have given thee a kingdom and riches, a future as our consort, ruling by our side. We loved thee, so we gave thee freedom, the only gift we had left to give.” Humble stood in the darkness, still and regal as a statue, one with the dark crystal. The little girl crying in Bonbon’s hooves was there one instant, grown tall and proud the next. “We could never love a pony anyway.” A heavy silence settled over the hollow before Bonbon said, again, “Why?” Humble didn’t reply. She stood with her back to Bonbon, like a queen shunning a lowly servant. Bonbon could sense the cold resentment growing to crush every other emotion. Yet, it wasn’t directed at her. Bonbon searched through her recent memories, of her dreams and everything Lyra had told her, and she searched the cold emotions dancing at the tip of her tongue. “Your sister—” The air in the hollow became freezing in an instant and the walls seemed to grow closer. The resentment flooded her senses. Bonbon took a step back, but Humble remained frozen to her spot in the dark, the cold nearly blowing off her like a snowstorm. Bonbon sank a lump in her throat and licked her lips, unsure whether to continue or to leave the matter alone. She turned her head away, ears flat, and turned slowly. Something tickled her senses. She looked back and stared at the dark where she knew Humble was standing, doing her worst to appear furious and unapproachable. Bonbon furrowed her brow and turned back. There was another emotion hidden beneath the cold wind of resentment. Love, Bonbon thought. There was no mistaking that emotion. As much as Humble seemed to try, it took a lot to hide the scent of love from a changeling. “You loved your sister too, didn’t you?” Humble seemed to withdraw further into herself, surrounding herself in an exterior as cold and hard as the crystal. She didn’t want to speak to Bonbon of this. Not this. “Why did you betray her like you did? How could you do something so terrible to the sister you loved? Was it so she wouldn’t love you back, too?” “Our sister never loved us,” Humble hissed. “What do you mean?” Bonbon approached carefully, wary of pushing her luck with the princess. “She never cared for us,” Humble said. “For us, her people! All she ever loved were you. You and father!” Humble’s voice echoed through the crystal like a serpent’s venomous hiss. The hollow shook, and Bonbon stumbled back in fright as crystals shot out of the ground like a wall of spikes between her and Humble. When the rumbling stopped and the echoes died down, Bonbon was alone, the smooth crystal standing between her and the princess like a solid wall. She called out Humble’s name, begging her to come back, but her calls went unanswered. Bonbon slumped down with her back against the crystal, staring at the impenetrable walls of darkness around her. *          *          * Bonbon wasn’t sure how long it had been. She had slept for a time, but no dreams had filled her rest. The hollow was still cold, dark and empty. Somewhere in there, behind solid walls of crystal, Humble had imprisoned herself in crushing solitude. It might have been a day already, Bonbon thought, and horror was already taking root in her heart. What if Humble left her here? The princess had lived for hundreds of years in that old mine, alone in the dark and cold. Bonbon couldn’t survive even a fraction of that time in here. She had a little dry food and bottled water in her saddlebags, but it wouldn’t last long, and she had already checked the small space several times to make sure there were no cracks in the crystal. There was nothing she could do but wait and hope in the dark; hope that Humble came back, or that Rainbow Dash or Lyra or somepony else would find a way through to break her free. Bonbon curled up in the corner and stared at the pitch-black abyss surrounding her. She wasn’t sure why she cried all of a sudden, but she didn’t hold back the tears. She felt so alone and helpless. She closed her eyes again to shut out the darkness, and for the second time she slept. She hadn’t realized how tired she was, but her stay with the changelings had been one long exhausting ordeal, and this was the first time she had really had a chance to rest. A fresh spray of the salty sea hit her face, and she wiped her eyes to look at the barren shore stretching as far as her sight could take her. Pebbles licked her hoof and and looked up at her with the soulful eyes that only a dog could possess. She scratched the loyal animal behind an ear and stood up, marveling as she looked around. She could see again. She had eyes again. The great darkness had lifted, but … then she remembered. The changelings, the black crystals, Humble … and all of what she saw now was but a dream. Humble was already a distant figure as she walked along the empty shore, cold waves washing over her bare and blistered feet in the moonlight. Her head hung low, and her silken dress was torn and stained with dirt and blood. Bonbon scowled and marched through the sand towards her, followed by her side by Pebbles. She liked the dog, even though she knew it was only the flimsy memory of a broken girl. “Humble!” she called out. “Leave us be!” the princess commanded, her voice having all the force and will of a queen’s, though her appearance was only that of a young girl, lost and beaten. “No,” Bonbon said and came up beside her. “My place is right here!” “Thy place is to do as we command, peasant!” Humble strode on, picking up her pace and righting her back to look more regal. “Go! Leave us!” “No,” Bonbon repeated and stepped in front of Humble, fixing her eyes on her. “I am not her, and if you think I will just bow my head and leave like her, you better start rethinking! My place is here,” she said and stomped her hoof in the sand right in front of the princess. “Whether you like it or not!” Humble returned the glare, her eyes like steel as they met Bonbon’s in a war of wills. “We have given thee thine eyes and thy freedom to go.” She pointed at the endless stretch of beach behind them. “We command thee to go! We will not hesitate to hold thee in contempt of thy princess.” “No!” Bonbon said. “That’s what you wanted her to say, isn’t it? Secretly you begged her to tell you no, didn’t you?” She was nearly shouting. “But she could never say no to you, to her princess, even when you hurt her or told her to leave, could she? Well, I’m not her, and I’m telling you no!” “We can take thy freedom as easily as we are giving it now,” Humble cried. Bonbon knew it was true. If she turned and left in the dream, she would wake to find the walls of black crystal had opened to her. She was sure of this, but doing so she would be leaving Humble behind. She looked at the girl in front of her. Her eyes were gleaming with the beginnings of tears, and Bonbon thought, the poor thing never dared to love anyone. “You can’t take what I’m giving you freely,” Bonbon said and moved closer to the human, reaching out to touch her. Her eyes turned soft. “I’m not going to leave you. I’m here for you, Humble. Whatever you need me for, I’m here.” Humble’s steely eyes and face broke into tears of anguish as she spun away from Bonbon. Before Bonbon could react, Humble was running, stumbling in the sand. Pebbles let out a bark as Humble tripped and fell face first in the sand, sobbing. Bonbon rushed towards her and stumbled into a smoky cloud of darkness. She fell and sat up again with a sudden start as the dream ended. She was blind and alone in the darkness again. Quenching a sudden urge to sob, she looked around. No light or breeze of freedom reached her from any cracks in the walls. Bonbon buried her face in her hooves and tried not to cry. *          *          * The slowly seeping taste of sorrow made her open her eyes again. She looked around in the dark until she sensed the source of it. “Humble?” she whispered and sat up. The hollow was silent, but she could tell that the girl was there in the dark with her once more. Bonbon crawled forward carefully, feeling ahead of her. She found Humble curled up in a corner, unresisting and shivering as Bonbon rushed to wrap her hooves around the girl. “I’m here,” Bonbon whispered to her. “I’m here for you. Don’t leave me here again,” she begged, feeling suddenly weak. “O-our sister,” Humble whispered so quietly that Bonbon nearly couldn’t hear the words. “Our sister was never there for us, for her people or for … for m-me.” Bonbon held the girl tightly, but she was almost afraid to break her. So small and frail she seemed again. Sometimes she could be like a mountain of ice, cold and hard, other times she was like the thin ice on a lake in early winter, so fine a touch would break it. Always her skin felt so terribly cold. Bonbon rubbed her back gently, though she knew the warmth would make no difference. “We’ll find her again for you. I promise.” “I-I just wanted her to care,” the girl cried. “F-for anything other than our father and her—her beloved ponies.” Humble could barely speak through the sobs. Everything came out all at once. “S-she was always off dallying with ponies or looking for father. S-she never cared for her people or her—her sister, who—who just wanted her t-there.” The feelings of jealousy, betrayal and resentment bubbled through the grief as Bonbon held her close. “All she ever loved was you. Ponies,” she spat the word. “I vowed to destroy all that she loved so she would have to love us instead. Her p-people, not m-me. I knew she would hate me forever. I just wanted her to care for us.” She wiped her face with a hand. “I never meant to leave her lost in the endless night forever. J-just until … they were gone. S-so she couldn’t love them anymore.” “So you stole the secret of the changelings from their queen and sowed hate and mistrust between all the pony tribes,” Bonbon whispered. “But the changeling queen betrayed you in return and put this curse on you and your descendants. And then you fell in love with a pony you thought was nothing to you. But how could you ever let yourself love a pony after what you had done? So you sent her away, and now she is never coming back.” Humble had stopped crying. Bonbon lifted her head in the dark and nuzzled her. “She’s never coming back, Humble. You let her go, and she’s never ever coming back.” A hollow feeling filled her senses as she spoke. “But your sister is out there now,” she whispered. “She’s looking for you, Humble. We’re going to find her together and end your torment. I promise.” *          *          * “Stay away from me!” Bonbon winced and her ears flattened as the first thing that hit her when the crystal sank into the earth again was a blinding light and Lyra’s hysterical shriek. As her eyes slowly recovered from the shock of sudden light, she realized that the blinding light was nothing more than the moonlight, but after however long she had been holed up in solid darkness, even that little was a strain on her eyes. “I was just looking for an early snack over h—” Rainbow’s voice was more of an extended groan. “You can snack on somepony else!” Lyra cut her off. “Let me go!” Rainbow Dash’s hoof audibly connected with her face, and she groaned even louder than before. “Seriously, Lyra! For Celestia’s sake, sleep!” Lyra was undeterred. “You’d like that wouldn’t you, changeling!” Bonbon could see them now. Lyra was tied up against a tree, no doubt to prevent her from doing something stupid. Rainbow Dash was standing nearby, next to her saddlebags. She rolled her eyes and dug her head into the bag for something. A snack, perhaps. Bonbon wasn’t honestly sure how good any of what they had brought tasted to a changeling, or whether it was worth anything for satisfying the hunger. Lyra struggled against her bonds. She was looking a right mess, Bonbon realized. “Let me go!” Rainbow raised her head and her eyes nearly rolled back in her head as she looked up at the sky. “Luna save me, please!” She spun around to face Lyra but stopped halfway through the spin when she spotted Bonbon. Her eyes widened, and in a flash she had crossed the distance and wrapped herself around Bonbon’s neck. “Bonbon! You’re here!” “Wha—” Bonbon blinked and barely managed to stay on her legs. “You’ve gotta save me!” Rainbow Dash wailed. “Convince her that we’re not changelings! She’s been completely out of her mind ever since she woke.” Bonbon blinked. “How long is that?” “Huh?” Rainbow Dash paused for a moment. “Uh, all day I guess?” “And you had to tie her up all that time?” Bonbon cocked her head as she released herself from Rainbow’s hug. “She tried to bloody murder me,” Rainbow Dash said and shot a glare at Lyra. “And don’t get me started on all these emotional horse apples she’s radiating at me. I’m starving, Bonbon! And nothing I eat makes a rotten difference!” Bonbon realized she wasn’t nearly as starved as she imagined she should be. Apparently it had been a day since they left the changelings, but it had certainly been even longer since she last ate. Had she unknowingly sated herself on Humble’s love, or had the mere presence of love been enough to take the worst edge off her hunger? She shook the thought off for now and trotted towards Lyra. Lyra tried to shy away from her which, given the bonds, proved a pointless endeavor. “Stay away from me,” she said, eyes shifting between Bonbon and Rainbow Dash. “I’m not buying anything you say, insect!” She stopped a small distance from Lyra and looked down for a few moments as she sorted her thoughts. “You remember the boots I gave you the day before Hearth’s Warming?” “That one already tried that trick on me,” Lyra spat out. “What have you done with the real Rainbow and Bonbon? What did you do to make them tell you what you’re about to say, huh?” Bonbon continued, ignoring Lyra’s questions. “You wore them that day, about a week after you came back from your trip to ‘Canterlot’, when I met you on the bench. Remember that? You told me that next time you visited your parents, maybe I could come with you.” Lyra huffed and looked away. “You hadn’t really been to Canterlot, of course. I surprised you out in the forest on Hearth’s Warming Eve, and you ran all the way to Hoofington where you took the train back to Ponyville so it looked like you had been in Canterlot. I knew because I saw the ticket.” Lyra looked like she was trying not to cry. She rubbed her nose against her shoulder, unable to use her hand while she was tied up, and stubbornly looked away without a word. “I offered you some candy, like I always did when we used to meet in the park. You always loved the candy I made,” Bonbon said and felt a few tears of her own. She tried to get a look of Lyra’s eyes. “I never told you, but I had made a special piece of candy and brought it with me that day. I never gave it to you,” she said. A faint twitch of her head told Bonbon that Lyra’s curiosity was won. “Why?” she muttered as if she didn’t really care. Bonbon thought she did and just didn’t want to show it. “It had a truth serum in it,” Bonbon said and felt a moment of shame for admitting what she had almost done, back then. “Zecora told me how to make it. I was tired of all your lies and just wanted you to tell me the truth. But I picked it out of the bag before giving the rest of the candy to you. I just didn’t have it in me to force the truth out of you like that. I knew it would destroy any hope of trust between us.” Lyra frowned in silence for a time, then said, “None of that proves anything. She could easily have told you all that. You could have just made up that story for all I know.” “You’re right,” Bonbon said and looked up at the sky, longing for simpler times when the only thing she had to worry about was what her best friend was keeping from her. “I can’t prove I’m really Bonbon, can I? No more than you could ever prove to everypony that you were not a foal-stealing monster at night. But I trusted you, even after learning the truth, and you’ll have to trust me now too.” She looked around for a moment, searching until her eyes fell on a large piece of rock. She stood up and trotted over to pick it up. It was good and heavy, with sharp edges; a good rock for smashing bugs, she thought with a wince. She turned and brought it back to Lyra, dropping it next to the bound human. “I’ll tell you what,” she said. “I’m going to untie you now if you promise not to hurt us. Then me and Rainbow are going to get some sleep before the sun gets up. I’ll trust you,” she said and began to untie Lyra’s bonds. Lyra stared at her as Bonbon pulled the ropes off of her and threw them on top of Rainbow’s saddlebags. She lifted a hand uncertainly to rub her wrists, never looking away from Bonbon. Bonbon looked at her sadly. “Try to get some rest too, Lyra.” She glanced around and spotted Humble hugging herself in the deep shadow of a tree. She made sure Lyra followed her gaze to see the other human, then looked up at the moon. “I hope Princess Luna will find our dreams and help us,” she said before turning around to pick up her saddlebags and unpack her blankets. Rainbow Dash rushed up beside her, glancing nervously towards Lyra. “Are you nuts? She’ll smash our heads in the moment we look away!” “No she won’t,” Bonbon said and threw her blanket across the ground. “I trust Lyra completely. Now go to bed, if we want any hope of Luna finding our dreams, we should not waste the night.” She lay down and rolled up in the blanket with her back to Lyra. With a sigh she closed her eyes. She had already slept twice, but she still felt exhausted and found herself wishing the night could be longer. She could sense Rainbow Dash standing next to her for a long time before the changeling grumbled something and pulled her own blankets up next to Bonbon’s and lay down. The night was warm and filled with the sounds of crickets chirping. Bonbon drifted off to sleep while listening to the sounds of the night around her. Just before her mind drifted completely through the veil of sleep, she thought she heard Humble’s sad voice behind her. “I believe her.” Bonbon smiled, and then she slept. *          *          * She woke in the morning, remembering no dreams during the night. Worried that she had not been contacted by Luna, Bonbon sat up and looked around the hastily made camp. She was happy to see Lyra asleep nearby, hugging the stone like a drowning mare clinging to a life-buoy. Rainbow Dash was making strange insect noises in her sleep next to Bonbon, but of Humble there was no sign. Careful not to wake the others, Bonbon stood up and stretched her limbs before going through their bags to take stock of what they had left. It had been too long since she felt even half prepared for what may come, despite her best efforts. She sighed to herself as she laid out the food and other necessities in neat rows. For so long she had prided herself on preparedness, but this journey had been one surprise after another, ruining any plans she could have laid. And now she didn’t even know what to do next. Unless the princess had been in Rainbow Dash’s dreams, it didn’t look good for their hopes of contacting Equestria. And who would believe them if they went back looking like this? Could they even make it back in time? She glanced up at the west horizon while idly nibbling at a cracker. It tasted awful to her in this new body, but she forced herself to swallow each bite with a wince. Behind her, Rainbow Dash groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. She paused and stared blearily through one of the holes in her hoof. “Oh,” she muttered. “So, not a dream?” The sound woke Lyra, who sat up and looked around startled. She relaxed a bit when she saw there were only the two of them, but kept her eyes narrowed on them regardless. “Did you have any dreams?” Bonbon perked up hopefully. Rainbow Dash stood up and stretched her wings and legs before trotting up next to Bonbon. “No,” she said and stared at the crackers like they were the most disappointing thing she had ever seen. She glanced up at Lyra, who quickly grabbed the stone and glared back. Bonbon’s head drooped, and her ears flattened against her head. “Then you were right,” she said. “Luna can’t reach our dreams, or she would have done so, right?” Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out at Lyra and sat down next to Bonbon. “I guess so.” She picked up a cracker and stared at it. “Or maybe she’s just busy.” “You think so?” Bonbon gave her a sideways glance. She wasn’t sure she dared to hope. Rainbow Dash shrugged and chewed the cracker, scrunching her muzzle at the taste. Bonbon looked up at Lyra. “Come on, Lyra. Won’t you at least join us?” Lyra stared between Bonbon and Rainbow Dash for a few moments longer before slowly approaching and sitting down, never taking her eyes off them and keeping a safe distance from both. “This could all be some kind of trick,” she said and eyed Bonbon carefully. It hurt Bonbon to see Lyra like this and to sense her worry and fear. “Pretend it’s not for a moment. What do you think we should do? I promised I would follow you even to the end of the world and beyond if I had to, Lyra, and I will.” Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to say something. Bonbon was certain she would suggest they make haste to catch up with the changelings or to warn Equestria. She was surprised when Rainbow closed her mouth again and scowled at some thought. Lyra looked at them for several minutes before she slowly said, “I couldn’t exactly return home before, and now … well, you can’t either, can you? No pony would believe a word you say. I don’t know if I should believe a word you say.” But you do, don’t you? Bonbon thought as she watched Lyra’s eyes. Deep down you do. “Why can’t Luna reach our dreams?” Lyra asked and looked at Rainbow Dash. “Don’t look at me.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Twilight said Luna couldn’t find your dreams. Guess it’s ‘cause you’re not really a pony, and now she can’t find ours either. Dumb magic makes no sense.” Lyra took a cracker uncertainly, eyeing Rainbow Dash. “So can she find the changelings you claim took your bodies?” Rainbow Dash gave another shrug and stood up, lifting off the ground and circling around the camp impatiently. “Do I look like a pretty princess to you? Ask Luna, or Twilight. Oh wait, we can’t! I forgot!” Silence settled, broken only by Rainbow’s buzzing wings as she drifted like a glum bee through the air. Bonbon broke it as she looked around. “Did you talk with Humble last night, Lyra? Do you know where she went? She seems to know a lot of magic, maybe she can help us.” “She disappeared just before dawn,” Lyra said. “I didn’t see where she went, but she’s probably hiding from the sun somewhere dark.” Bonbon stood up and trotted around. “Poor thing,” she whispered. “So we don’t have a choice but to continue on, do we? We can’t return to Equestria, we can’t get our bodies back, and we can’t warn the princesses unless they find some way to contact us. I promised I’d help Humble find her sister, and long before that I promised I’d follow you no matter what.” “I can’t abandon Lightning Dust now,” Rainbow Dash said and pointed towards the east. “I swore I’d bring her back, and no changelings are going to keep me from my friend!” Lyra looked conflicted. Bonbon could imagine her worry. “Lyra,” she said and tried to catch Lyra’s gaze. “If you want the real Bonbon and Rainbow Dash back, you have to trust us.” Lyra looked up at her. Her eyes grew hard and cold. “If you’re lying, …” she said, leaving the threat hanging as she got up and began packing her things. *          *          * “What are these things?” It was midday, but the sun barely shone through the thick clouds. They had walked without break through marshy forests and fields, beyond the corpse-littered plains where the frogs and changelings had battled. Rainbow Dash led the way, scouting for any signs of danger. Bonbon glanced at the oddly rounded mounds dotting the landscape. They were like the one she and Rainbow had scaled to better see the land around them after the battle. They had walked past many more all throughout the day, and more were visible through the haze ahead. “I don’t know,” Bonbon admitted. “Hills, I guess.” “I’ve never seen hills that perfectly round,” Lyra continued. She appeared to be fascinated by the things, though Bonbon herself felt mildly apprehensive in their shadow. “There must be hundreds of them,” Rainbow Dash called from above. “Maybe a thousand.” “Let’s just stay down here and leave them alone,” Bonbon said as she eyed the mounds. Birds flew around the green domes, singing among the shrubs and trees growing on their crests. Flocks split up and moved between mounds, chirping and playing. “I don’t like them.” “I think they’re kinda neat,” Lyra said. She seemed much more cheerful than she had been that morning. “Right? How can you not think they’re cool?” Bonbon chalked her cheer up to the misty weather and cloudy skies; it was perfect Lyra weather, something that never failed to bring Lyra’s spirits back, even now it seemed. Bonbon envied her for that; her own spirits remained low. “I can’t put my hoof on it,” she admitted. “Something just tickles me wrong.” “Pfft.” Lyra rolled her eyes. “You’re not convincing me you’re not really a changeling that way. See? That’s the kind of grumpy thing a changeling would think. And what about the food? You wrinkle your nose at all the food.” Lyra fixed a suspicious glare back at her. “Even the grass and fresh leaves! No true pony would ever wrinkle their nose at fresh grass!” “I’m trapped in this body, Lyra. It’s given me their taste along with everything else,” she grumbled. “Don’t think I’m happy about it. When you see me start eating bugs and liking it, you can start doubting my true pony … ness.” “Don’t worry. I’m still watching you,” Lyra said and looked back at the mounds around them. Bonbon sighed and returned to staring ahead as she trudged through the wet grass. She could sense Lyra’s enthusiasm like a strange scent next to her, but part of her didn’t want to poke her metaphorical nose in Lyra’s emotions. She tried her best to block them out, but the love was the hardest. It was subdued, just a subtle hint beneath other emotions, but Bonbon knew it was there. It would be so easy to read Lyra’s heart like an open book if she tried … and then just sneak a little taste. Lyra wouldn’t even know, and it wouldn’t hurt her if it was just a little, would it? Bonbon shut her eyes and bit her lip hard. The temptation grew as the day went on and her hunger continued. The food she ate at least seemed to prevent starvation, but it left her feeling tired and unfulfilled. Perhaps it was to blame for her lack of enthusiasm for anything too, Bonbon idly thought to herself. She would have to talk with Lyra about it, when the time was right. She hung her head and kept walking, dragging her hooves through the grass. *          *          * The moon hung huge and white above the rounded domes dotting the land, and the night sung with the tones of Lyra’s soft strings. Bonbon watched the human pluck the strings in the darkness under a crooked tree, her eyes downcast. Earlier that day, Lyra had been smiling, now she had descended into quiet melancholy and longing. Lyra followed Rainbow and Bonbon, yet Bonbon knew she still didn’t fully trust the two. Occasionally, Lyra would look with sadness at the west horizon whence they came, as if quietly wondering if she had left her two friends behind with the changelings. The pain of that thought was all too visible. Bonbon didn’t need any changeling senses to see it plain and clear. Bonbon found her eyes drifting towards the west as well, towards Equestria, or at the sky with the moon. What had she left behind, abandoned? Her body, for one. She looked up at the night sky and wondered if the princess could really hear the wishes made on the stars. “I wish we could tell you what’s coming,” Bonbon said quietly to the stars. “I wish you could hear of the changelings who stole our bodies. I wish you could do something to help us.” She felt silly. The stars made no sign that they had heard, and she doubted the princess had either. She’d be flooded with constant wishes if it worked, Bonbon decided as she stood up. She walked around the small fire Rainbow Dash had made and stood at the edge of the camp, staring into the dark marshes around them. Insects hummed in the dark, mixing their voices with Lyra’s music. Bonbon listened to them as she walked slowly away from the camp, tilting her head up to keep her eyes on the crest of one of the nearby mounds. They had walked all day and seen no end to the things yet. Something about them still didn’t seem right to Bonbon. The mound rose out of the swamp as she approached slowly, watching the mossy surface with its wild bushes and shrubs sticking out at odd angles from the mound. The whole thing loomed over Bonbon as she stopped in its shadow, craning her neck to see. Stars glimmered at the edge between the sky and mound. Bonbon lowered her gaze and stepped closer, reaching out a hoof to touch the nearly vertical wall of grass and moss and shrubs. Her hoof settled on a patch of moss. Bonbon stared at the giant thing, feeling too tired to really care why she was standing here. It was just a mound of dirt, oddly shaped, but so were a lot of things. Bonbon shook her head and set her hoof back down, turning to leave. She stumbled and struggled to right herself. “What the—” she muttered before she realized what had caused her to nearly fall. Blinking, Bonbon turned and scrambled backwards as she stared at the mound. Dust and dirt rolled down the sides of the mound, and the ground shook gently as the thing shivered and moved, slowly rising from the ground. Bonbon gaped, walking backwards as she gazed upwards at the rising mountain and the giant head slowly extending towards her.