“Lyra, hurry up,” called Bon Bon. “I’m ten horselengths ahead of you and it is your present!”
“Why do we have to be up so early? I doubt Twilight is even up yet.” Indeed, the sun was barely cracking the sky giving creating a coral pink hue, contrasting greatly with the gleaming aqua of the grass’ dew. “Also, why do you insist on using horselengths as a unit of measurement? Equestrians use hooves.”
“But that system is so flawed. Nopony has hooves large enough to fit a hoof of measurement. And it’s so much easier to refer to the length of ten horses as ten horselengths instead of fifty-five point seven hooves.”
“Enough debating this pointless manner. It’s my birthday, and I want to have a good time, maybe enjoy the scenery on our way to Twilight’s library. Or maybe the scenery of Twilight’s library.” Lyra stopped walking and looked in awe as the sunlight refracted on the leaves of the library. The very first leaves were beginning to turn for the start of autumn, and the patches of yellow intermixed in the quilted green made the library the most impressive building to see at this time of the morning.
Lyra was still admiring the beauty when Bon Bon reached the door and knocked. Lyra looked down and galloped forwards as Twilight opened the top of her door. Her mane was frizzled and she had red circles under her eyes. “Wow guys, you’re up late aren’t you?” she asked before stifling a yawn, which was nevertheless echoed in full volume by Lyra.
“Twilight, it’s morning already,” corrected an amused Bon Bon.
“Is it?” Twilight strained her neck out the door and looked at the sunrise. “Oh. You know how it is with good books: pick one up and don’t put it down until you finish.” Lyra nodded in mock agreement. The last book she read was about music theory soon after she received her cutie mark. She made it halfwayish through it before decided she would rather feel the music than study it.
“My interrogative sentence still stands. Why are you up so early? The only other pony I can see who is out and about is Berry Punch… or maybe she’s just out.” Lyra glanced at the lump of plum sleeping on the town hall railing.
“Twilight, It’s Lyra’s birthday today and I wanted to get her something super special. Something that only you have the magic to do” said Bon Bon.
“Well, happy birthday. Come on in then.” Twilight swung the door fully open and led the duo into the library. “Please make yourselves at home. I have some tea… actually, I’ll have Spike make us a fresh pot. I’ll go wake him.”
“No, please. You don’t have to,” said Lyra as she selected a comfy spot on the wood floor.
“I insist, it’s your birthday. What type of tea do you drink?”
“No, really, you don’t have to.”
Bon Bon interjected, “She likes Japaneighs Green Tea.”
“Ok, I’ll have that coming up in a jiffy.”
“Jiffy, that’s a fun word to say!” called out a new voice. Pinkie Pie dropped down from the ceiling, using her tail as a spring to front flip over to Lyra. “Happy Birthday! The Cakes need me at work now but later today I’ll make you a super-duper special birthday cake—No—A Brownie—No—A pie— You know what I’ll tell you later bye bye!” With that Pinkie sprang out the door and bounced to work.
“Thaaaaaaaaat... was different,” said Twilight, who was looking out the half open door. “Be right back.” She ascended the steps leaving Lyra and Bon Bon in the foyer.
“Wow. Look at all these books.” Bon Bon was transfixed on the rainbow of book covers spread throughout the room, but mostly on the chemistry section, which as if touched by Celestia, were the only materials illuminated by the bright sunlight. “I’ve always been interested in chemistry, which is why I went into candy making but I never went as deep into the subject as I would have liked..."
Lyra sat there as Bon Bon skimmed through books Lyra only had the vaguest understanding of. While the books were indeed pretty, Lyra thought they paled in comparison to the outside and began searching the wood stains on the ground. She quickly found a pattern that looked like a goofy expression and stuck her tongue out to her right while making her eyes as wide as they would go.
“Okay girls, Spike’s coming down to make some tea and—nice face Lyra,” said Twilight as she reappeared on the stairs.
“Sorry.” Lyra blushed as Bon Bon set down her book and retreated to where Lyra sat. Spike appeared behind Twilight, yawning. He nearly missed a step but Twilight caught him before he could fall down the stairs. She then took a spot across from her guests in the center of the room.
“So, what spell do you want me to cast for Lyra’s birthday? After all, I’m assuming that is why you came to me.”
Bon Bon’s face changed to an expression of utmost seriousness as she leaned in for dramatic effect. The sun even chipped in and only illuminated the right half of her face as she spoke. “I want you to cast shapeshifting spells on us.”
Twilight attempted to spit out her tea only to find that Spike hadn’t finished brewing it yet. “That’s a powerful spell you ask for. I’ve never performed it, but I’ve seen Celestia do it once. I’m sure she has much more important matters to attend to right now, so I’ll see what I can do. Lyra, can you hand me that aubergine book to your left. No, that one’s fandango, a little higher up. Thank you.” Twilight opened to the index then recklessly flipped to page 394. “Spike, hurry up on the tea, this one is a doozy.”
Spike came out with the fresh tea and handed it to the trio of ponies. Lyra reluctantly took it but after her first sip she was ready to splosh it down her throat. In the silence Bon Bon started rubbing Lyra’s belly as they scooted into the ever broadening sunlight.
“So, Girls, I’m ready to do some preliminary test spells as protocol. After a few of these you can leave for a while while I prepare the last part.” Twilight fired off a pair of scanning spells and hurried off to her basement. Spike came around and refilled their tea. Lyra began to nod off but was awakened by a crash as the basement door flung into the wall.
Twilight was standing there, obviously in a rush and her right eye twitched out of mild, yet controlled, panic. “Lyra, please come with me, there’s a discrepancy in the test.” Lyra stood up and briskly trotted to the other side of the room when a purple bolt came whizzing past her head. Her head whipped around in time to see Bon Bon whipped into a bookshelf. She, as well as the entire contents of the bookshelf, landed with many loud thuds.
Snapping her head back around, Lyra shouted, “What’d you do that for!”
Twilight’s eyes shrank to their normal size and dropped. “I’m sorry, but look for yourself.”
Lyra barely caught the tail end of the sentence, but she looked at the stack of books and the black leg that inched out of the pile. Wait a second, Black? Lyra used her horn to shift the top pile of books, exposing a changeling. She and the changeling shrieked.
“I’m so sorry!” shouted the changeling formerly known as Bon Bon. “I was going to tell you at some point. I really am sorry…” She broke down into a series of gulping noises although no water ran from her eyes. Across the room, Lyra’s knees had buckled. They both stared at the floor, sniffing every few seconds. Twilight and Spike retreated into the kitchen.
After what felt like hours, the changeling spoke up. “It’s been me the whole time though. Ask me anything. I never replaced anyone.”
“What was it,” Lyra choked out. “What was the first candy. The first one you gave me…”
“It was a mint. It was white... I apologized that it wasn’t the color of your coat…” Bon Bon was going to continue, but Lyra ran out the door crying.
Outside the library she passed a confused orange pony in a straw hat. The pony proceded up to the door to meet Bon Bon, who looked like her pony self again. “What in tarnation was that about?”
“Nothing,” Bon Bon whimpered. Resuming her normal voice, she said, “She just needs some time alone. I’ll go to her later.” Downtrodden, she trotted towards her house.
A tear fell from a mint green unicorn, breaking the natural stillness of a pond outside of Ponyville. Lyra sat in a chair made of roots from a willow tree, solemnly gazing into the water. She glanced around at the dispersed trees surrounding her to see if anything had changed, but nothing had. In fact, nothing had changed since the ducks finished their algae thirty minutes ago.
Lyra had spent that time contemplating Bon Bon. Yes, she was mildly upset that Bon Bon was a changeling, but Lyra kept telling herself it wasn't a big deal. Sure, Bon Bon was probably feeding off her love, but Lyra wouldn’t have been giving those precious emotions out if Bon Bon didn’t deserve them.
No, this was an issue of trust.
She had known Bon Bon for ten years, and Bon Bon didn’t once mention the whole “Changeling” thing to her. If she had been straight up within the first few years it would’ve been fine. Four years was more than enough Lyra to know that she wouldn’t be upset after a few days. But now that ten years had passed, it was likely that Bon Bon never intended to tell her. And that hurt.
A mild breeze picked up, brushing a ladybug past Lyra’s snout. Her eyes followed it until it passed by a familiar beige pelt across the pond.
“No need for the disguise, we both know what you are,” Lyra muttered.
Bon Bon sniffed and complied, revealing the hard, black shell underneath. Her gradient eyes appeared as sad as they could as she hovered across the pond and sat a few feet away from Lyra’s tree. She stared down at the pond as well. If she were biological capable of crying, she probably would have been.
Neither of them said anything for a minute until Lyra broke the silence. “Why didn’t you tell me?” The sound of this question was enough to knock a leaf off a nearby tree and into the pond.
“IDNKKNOCK,” Bon Bon rasped. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “I don’t know.” She risked a glance at Lyra to see that she had crossed her hooves and was staring at the leaf. Point taken, Bon Bon returned to staring at the ground. “I’ve wanted to tell you for a while, but it never seemed like a good time. I didn’t want to ruin any of your happiness or make a bad situation worse. Other times I was just a coward. It wasn’t the right choice, but it was easier”
The sound of tears hitting the pond rippled through the air for a few seconds before Bon Bon continued. “Look, from now on no more secrets. From either of us. I’ll start by coming clean of something else, and I promise this next one is a positive secret.” She dared look up at Lyra’s wooden throne. If she could pull this off it would be an escape from Lyra’s dungeon of scorn.
Lyra’s gaze transferred from a glare to a mixture of anger and wonder. “I doubt whatever you can say next will make up for you hiding yourself from me.” She let out a heavy sigh, disrupting the path of dragonfly. “But fire away.”
“Well, the thing is…” Bon Bon gulped. “I’m not a changeling.”
Lyra’s face finished the transition from rage to confusion. “But, how could you not be?” Lyra stammered. “You even look like one right now, and Twilight’s spell…”
Bon Bon cut her off. “You see, I am not a Changeling because I’m actually a shapeshifter disguised as a Changeling.”
Silence.
“This is all a sick prank.”
“Huh.” Bon Bon responded. Of the infinite possibilities of words Lyra could have said, that was one Bon Bon wasn’t expecting.
“You heard me. You must have gotten Rarity and Pinkie Pie to help make you a Changeling suit… Hmm, you would have needed a Bon Bon suit to go over it too. I thought you looked a little chubby this morning. Anyway, you snuck off the Bon Bon suit when the books fell. You removed it again just now using bottled fire from Spike to burn it away without a trace. All for the sake of playing this huge elaborate prank on me. I must say I admire your dedication.”
Bon Bon laughed, which in her Changeling state sounded like a raspberry trying to vomit. “Well, Lyra, I must admit your wild imagination is something. It always is… Hey, I’m not fat!” She sighed. “However, I’m afraid this isn’t a joke.”
Bon Bon’s Changeling figure began to bloat and melt off as she leaned back onto her hind legs. The black armor was replaced with a pink reptilian appearance. Rows of suction cups grew up and down Bon Bon’s body at ninety degree angles as she rose up to her full height and her head finished pointing up.
“That’s disgusting,” said Lyra flatly.
“I’m a Zygon,” replied Bon Bon. “Trust me, we were lucky to be blessed with the ability to shapeshift. Of all the races in the universe, we need it the most.”
“So, what are you here to do?”
“Well, I’m just a Zygon scout, so I’m just looking around.”
Lyra opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a Vworrrp Vworrrrp sound coming from the other side of the lake. She turned around to see a blue police box materializing. After a few seconds, a tan stallion poked his head out and shook his head twice to remove the hair from his eyes.
“Ah-Ha!” he shouted. “Stop right there foul creature. I have orders to bring you to Celestia, I do.”
Bon Bon turned to face Time Turner. “Right, but first I have a meeting I have to go to. Really important, can’t miss it.” She turned around and took off into the denser part of the forest, smacking into a tree on her way. The tree collapsed, creating a perfect bridge over the lake for Time Turner to use. Lyra stared at the scene playing out in front of her and remembered that she should probably give chase as well. She stood up a little too quickly and fell into the pond.
Bon Bon’s options were limited as she stumbled through the brush. Her size made it difficult to traverse the undergrowth, forcing her to stick to a well beaten path. She glanced over her shoulder. Turner was catching up. His four legs proved to be a great advantage over her two, and twisting her head probably wasn’t helping her velocity. Especially when her neck doesn’t turn well. Man, Turner has all the advantages.
Well, maybe not, Bon Bon thought as she heard Turner stumble over a tree root. Her size made it easy to plow through objects. Bugs didn’t bother her in her panicked trample through the forest. A deer took a little too long and nearly was squashed by the salmon colored fury. Bon Bon continued to stay ahead of Turner for the next ten minutes as the path started to thin to the point where the nearest tree was a good horselength away. Oh, I’m sorry, I meant five point five seven hooves away.
The path is almost clear now. I should probably shapeshift again so nopony else joins the chase. She looked back one more time and saw that Turner was having difficulty with the very last tree branch on the path. Perfect. She turned back around…
CRACK
Red splinters of wood flew everywhere as Bon Bon splatted upon a giant stack of hay off center of where she broke the barn door. Dazed, she turned around just in time for Time Turner to charge though the now broken doorway.
“I got you now,” he called.
“What the hay do y’all think your doin’ in mah barn?” called a new voice. The confrontational duo twisted to Applejack’s voice behind a wall. She stood up and walked away from the cow she was about to milk.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but this here alien is causing trouble. I received a report of one breaking into a barn… Oh.” Applejack took a menacing step at Turner.
“Ah’ll show you trouble. I don’t have time to be fixin’ mah barn every week.”
“Look, I’m sorry, okay?” hollered Turner. “I was chasing this Zygon and it crashed into the barn. It’s not my fault!”
“That’s what you said last week. Just like the week before you were checkin’ the pumbin’. Or before that when you were ‘varmint patrol’ Nearly sent a bale of hay up inta mah sister’s room. What’ll it be next week? I reckon it’ll be checkin’ for gas leaks.”
Turner shyly chuckled as he recounted the encounter Applejack would witness next week. It would involve a gas leak and a large boom. And a Princess. Or four.
Time Turner regained his composure. “Well, can I just take my alien friend elsewhere and be done with it?”
“No!” shouted a familiar voice coming from a turquoise mare. “For starters it’s obvious that she’s not really a Zygon, or at least it would be if you stopped to pay attention.” Lyra strode past Turner into the barn.
“It is?” asked Bon Bon, who had finally stopped seeing stars.
“If you’re a scout, why have you been on this planet for ten years without the rest of your army invading?”
“Because she’s not…” started Turner. He stopped talking because everyone was already thinking that anyway. That and he was smacked by Applejack’s hat.
“Out! Out!” she yelled as he began to run back toward the forest where he came from. “And stay there!” She returned to Lyra’s side. “So if that ain’t an alien, what is it?”
“Well, it’s another strange creature,” chimed Bon Bon, who was relaxing on the hay bale she fell onto. “It’ll probably just be easier to show you.” Her body began to rapidly shrink and become less rigid. Her hue became a more vibrant pink and her texture melted into a consistency of jello. In fact, she looked like a blob.
“Ditto!” cried the blob.
“Ditto?” dittoed the confused ponies. “Well, I think ditto means to copy…” said Lyra.
“Gotcha!” exclaimed a pink non-blobbish creature falling from the ceiling. The creature released a red and white orb from here hoof that fell on the Ditto. The orb cracked in half and the Ditto was absorbed in a beam of red energy. “That’s one hundred and fifteen pokemon down!” called Pinkie Pie as she started a powerslide across the barn. She pumped her fist three times before stopping to high-five the cow Applejack was milking a few minutes before. Then she slid backwards to join Applejack and Lyra.
“What in tarnation are you doin’ here, Sugarcube?” asked Applejack. Lyra, on the other hoof, was surprisingly calm. At this point, a meteor shower of brainsucking aliens couldn’t make her flinch.
“Well, I was out delivering cupcakes to Lemon Drops because she’s heading to a baby shower up in Canterlot when I remembered that today is Lyra’s Birthday, so I ran home and finished making Lyra’s cake and went to look for her, but she wasn’t at home and wasn’t at Twilight’s, so I went exploring through the forest and I heard a commotion from this barn. Naturally, I came over to check it out and I saw Lyra, but I also saw a Ditto and I was super-duper excited because I don’t have one yet and my game guide say’s they’re super-duper rare so I caught it and now I’m here. Any questions?”
“Darlin’, do you ever take a breath?”
“I inhale air sometimes, but normally I have to breathe out before I can take my breath anywhere. After that, it’s pretty hard to recapture the same air I just exhaled.”
Applejack closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. “I’m sahrry, Sugarcube, but Ah got some cows to finish milkin’.” She started to trot away but was interrupted by Pinkie.
“Are you sure you don’t want some cake first? I mean, if it’s alright with Lyra of course!” She reached into seemingly nowhere and pulled out a picnic blanket, a set of plates, a cakecutter, and a cake that matched the color of Lyra’s coat. The edges along the top were adorned with flowers, alternating pink and blue. The inside showcased a gleaming golden harp made out of golden frosting and pieces of sugar cookie as the strings on the right third. In the remaining two thirds, Pinkie had written out, “Happy Birthday, Lyra!” in her best cursive, which wasn’t all that great but after all it’s the thought that counts.
“Pinkie, that cake’s fine ahnd all but Ah’m really far behind on…” Applejack was interrupted by Pinkie again.
“It’s Maaaaaaarble!” said Pinkie.
“Fine. One slice.”
Lyra, who had just finished cutting a big hunk of “L” out of the cake, looked back up towards the conversation. “Hey, Pinkie? About that Ditto you just captured…”
“Oh, you’re right! It can have cake too! Come on out, Supercalifragalisticexpealliditto!” The Ditto appeared in a flash of red. It oozed up toward the blanket and began to nibble on a piece of cake Pinkie had instantaneously cut for it.
“Actually, I wanted to say that this creature is actually Bon Bon.”
“Whaaaaaaaaa!” gasped Pinkie as she spit out the water that she had somehow drank, despite not holding a cup or being in the general vicinity of any drinking water. “You’re telling me that this is a new Pokemon called a Bon Bon? Silly, they can’t just add new pokemon. Then it would be impossible to become a Pokemon master.”
“No, Pinkie, what I’m trying to say is that our friend Bon Bon… was really a changeling who was really a Zygon who was really a Ditto. Judging on the past transformations, she’s probably not really a Ditto.”
“I see. In that case, why don’t we just ask it how many more forms it has.” She turned her head towards Bon Bon. “How many more forms do you have?”
“Ditto, Ditto!”
“May I assume that’s a ‘two?’”
“Ditto.”
“May I assume that’s a ‘yes?’”
“Ditto.” The Pokemon was beginning to be annoyed.
“May I…”
“Pinkie!” blurted Applejack. “Let it transform already!” So it did. The texture remained oozy but it stood up taller, with longer arms protruding from the former stumps. The arms continued to become skinnier until they reached a sizable length and split off into three clawed fingers. The goo faded to a grim, horrible black color with much of it thickening to scales as sacks of radioactive purple pouches grew along her. Razors shot up her backside towards her six glowing, red eyes.
“Darlin,” said Applejack flatly. “That is quite possibly more terrifyin’ than the alien.”
“Yes, but at least this one has some semblance of interesting design. It’s pleasing to look at even if it will haunt my nightmares for the next week.”
“RRAZCCKORRCK!” hissed Bon Bon.
“Okay, you can go to your final form now.”
The creature’s face seemed to drop a little, although it was honestly rather hard to tell. She then began to grow with her scales retreating into small hairs along her body. Her coat paled out. She grew a pair of hind legs while her claws retreated and her arms thickened into a quadrupedal state. Pink and blue hair shot out of her head replacing the spikes.
“Wait a second; Bon Bon!” exclaimed Lyra. Her eyes did not deceive, for within a few seconds Bon Bon was standing in the barn, a giant grin on her face. “I don’t understand. How did…”
“Simple really. Remember the pony that Twilight saw Celestia cast the transformation spell on this morning?”
“Wait, you mean she cast it on you?”
“Of course. Then about five years ago I went on vacation to ‘Manehattan.’ In actuality I hitchhiked with some aliens and pretended to be one. Well, a few shapeshifts later I returned to Ponyville and started planning the best birthday surprise ever.”
Lyra reached forward and smacked Bon Bon across the face, then lunged forward and hugged her so hard that they both fell backwards into a mud pile, waking a sleeping pig who waded away to find a more peaceful place to take an afternoon nap.
After a minute of embracing, Lyra broke the silence. “So does that mean I can go back to Twilight and receive the shapeshifting spell?”
“Are you kidding?” scoffed Bon Bon. “We have cake to eat first. I mean, it is Marble!”
Twilight and Spike were waiting in the library when Lyra and Bon Bon finished their cake and made their way back to it. “So,” asked Twilight, “did you like your present or do you want to kill Bon Bon now?”
“Well,” replied Lyra, “I want the present because it would be awesome. That and think of all the ways I can kill Bon Bon after I can transform. I could rip her apart as a panther, or a dragon, or—even better—a changeling.”
“Wouldn’t that be ironic,” piped Spike.
“Spike, how many times do I have to tell you… nevermind, that actually is irony.”
“So, where should I stand?”
“Right where you are is fine, but Bon Bon please back away.” Twilight paced to the other side of the room, making sure she stood the proper distance away. Her hair curled upwards as her horn reared purple sparks. A blue beam flew from her horn, connecting with Lyra’s forehead. It was small at first, but grew bigger before yellow orbs started to circle the beam. The orbs grew closer to the beam until they merged into a green crack of light filling the room and blinding the inhabitants. When the light faded, Lyra was grinning like Pinkie Pie when she freaks out.
“Alright!” cried Lyra. “I can feel the energy! First I’m going to grow hands. Then I’ll turn all my fingers into cats. Then grow more hands. After than I’ll invent a new musical instrument and use it to make five number one hits. I also need to beat up Trixie because she stole my wallet…” Lyra continued to blabber as she and Bon Bon left.
“Dear Celestia…” said Twilight blankly. “What have I agreed to?”