"Hrggglroooofmgrah."
Bonbon sighed. "Even when she's throwing up, she sounds so... out of it. She used to scream it at the top of her lungs, ham it up to the point where even I felt a little bit sick. And changelings spit up all the time, it's how we spin our webs and cocoons." She turned away from the shut bathroom door. "Now, though, it's just... just a thing. I'm really worried about her, miss Heartstrings."
"We all are, double-eighto. She's putting herself through a lot." Heartstrings smiled. "I remember when I was pregnant with her... even then she had a tendency to act dramatic. Do you know, I actually threw up while snogging my husband one time?"
"Must be a family tradition."
"Oh, you got that too? Wow. It was awfully embarrassing, of course, but my stallion took it all in stride."
"Kinda glad we're lesbians," Bluebolt added.
"Bisexual, mistress."
"Okay, I'm glad that I am a lesbian."
"Yeah, about that," Bonbon interjected, "how did the two of you meet? I mean, you were single last time I checked... which was, admittedly, back at my wedding..."
"Well, that's actually what got me comfortable with dating again." Heartstrings stroked her false horn absentmindedly. "I mean, I know I wasn't a good mother with my... issues, and... well, I didn't want to leave her alone until I was sure she was taken care of. I didn't want her to become... me."
The pegasus stroked her mane. "You're not that bad, pet."
"You remember how long it took to get me properly trained."
"Don't be silly. I saw potential in you from the first orgy."
"I've been living with ponies for too long," Bonbon deadpanned. "Because I suddenly want this conversation to change."
Bluebolt shrugged. "Fair enough. So, new topic: What's up with your voice?"
"What?"
"The brooklane ditz accent. You're a changeling, you can change your voice to... anything, I think. So why that voice?"
"Well, after the wedding anti-changeling paranoia was at an absolute high. So I thought I'd go for the most non-threatening voice I could think of, just so there'd be this sort of mental pause when ponies heard me talk. If I spoke like this," she continued in an upper-middle class trottingham accent, "ponies would be more willing to assume I was some sort of conniving plotter."
"Wow, you changed that fast. Can you do Luna?"
Bonbon rolled her eyes. "Verily, but it doth seem like ye make much out of so little."
Bluebolt grinned. "What, I can't have a little silly fun?"
The changeling gave her a look... and a small smile appeared on her face. "Silly fun? That's something everypony needs, right after cupcakes and candy!"
"Holy shit, that's--that's that pink mare, whatsherface!" She turned to the bemused Heartstrings. "The one that threw that party for us when we got here!" She turned back to Bonbon. "Can you do anypony else?"
"Well," Bonbon purred, "Lyra does love it when I raise her sun..."
She paused, looking back at the bathroom door. "She's been in there for a while, actually," she murmured, her voice registering back to normal. "A little too long, actually. Lyra, honey? Are you okay in there?"
She waited for a few moments.
"...I don't like this." Bonbon tore some silk from her mane and wove it through the doorknob. "Lyra, I'm coming in!" She spat onto the silk, twisting it hard, and pushed down the handle to swing the door open.
Lyra was simply standing over the toilet bowl, staring at it dully. She didn't even twitch an ear as her wife stepped up close to her, simply... breathing.
Bonbon coughed. "Uh, you got a little... something on your lips."
The unicorn said nothing.
Bonbon inched closer. "Lyra, you know you can tell me anything, right? I mean, if I'm doing something wrong, you could let me know--"
Her eyes fell on the contents of the toilet bowl. The color was unusually red.
***
Heartstrings paced in front of the examination room door, muttering to herself as Bluebolt tried ineffectually to calm her down.
"Are you sure it was blood?" she asked, turning to the seats across the room. "Not just her coughing up a lot of tomato sauce?"
Bonbon shook her head, not noticing her own hoof drumming against the floor. "I held a filly while she was dying. You don't ever forget that smell." She absently began chewing on the chitin of her hooves. "Oh silk, I should have insisted on bi-weekly doctor visits instead of just weekly ones...."
Lace glanced between them. "There's no way you could have known this was going to happen. She was perfectly fine last week, aside from her mental state, and you did get her here as soon as you found out."
Arsenic shook his head. "Lace, sometimes ponies need to worry, even if it's not rational."
"Bonbon is a changeling."
"My point," he continued, "is that they're not going to be ready to relax until the doctor comes out that door and tells them that Lyra is going to make it. Which is something I don't doubt will happen," he added firmly, giving her a flat look as she raised her hoof.
Heartstrings sat down heavily, her tail swishing across the tiles as her mumbling grew increasingly erratic. Bluebolt bit her lip, stepping forward and stroking her mane. "It's going to be okay. She's in the best hooves possible, short of Celestia coming down from Canterlot--and if the princess really needed to do that she would, I think."
Before anypony could add to that, the examination room door swung open. Bonbon stood up, rushing over to the doctor. "How bad is it? Is the baby okay? Are we going to have to--?"
"Everything is fine, miss Bonbon. Your wife is going to be okay, and the infant is unharmed."
"She was coughing up blood!" the changeling insisted.
"She did have an internal injury, yes, but thankfully you brought her to the hospital before it could develop into anything too serious." He tapped his horn. "A healing spell was enough to reverse the damage, and the cause is at least partially a known issue we can treat."
"Cause?"
He cleared his throat. "Changelings are an egg-laying species, yes? How exactly do you get out of the egg?"
"Well, we have leg spurs that fall off shortly after we hatch--oh silk." Bonbon's eyes widened. "The baby started kicking a couple of days ago--this is my fault! This is all my fault--!"
"Fortunately, similar events have been recorded during the development of hippogryph children, and we already have a method to deal with the problem. In essence, we will coat the inner uterus with a layer of calcium carbonate crystals; the procedure is a bit awkward, but our gynecologist is quite capable."
Bonbon dragged her hooves down her face. "You're making her uterus into a literal eggshell."
"...well, I suppose it could be seen that way, although the layer will be thinner than actual eggs."
Heartstrings tried and failed to contain a tiny hysterical giggle. "So, so she's... she's going to be laying an egg?"
"No. More likely the calcium carbonate layer will shatter and come out with the afterbirth."
Bonbon shook her head. "Is there anything else we should know about?"
"I did take the liberty of testing miss Lyra's magical stores. They haven't completely recovered, but there is enough energy back in her system that I feel comfortable prescribing some antidepressants."
"She's bipolar," Heartstrings pointed out. "Not depressed."
"Well, she doesn't have enough magic for her usual medication to not be a risk to the baby just yet. Maybe in a week or two she will, but at the moment..."
The mare took a breath and turned to Bonbon. "I... We should be in agreement about this. We both love Lyra, do you think...?"
"I..." Bonbon sighed. "I haven't... I can't stand seeing her so down. I mean, I know she gets a little sad even when she has her usual pills, but even then she's... feeling. This is better than nothing, I think." She let out a groan. "Let's just go in and see her, get her to the gynecologist, and run by the pharmacy on the way home. I can't wait for this day to be over."
***
Lace blinked awake, shaking her membranous wings with a small frown. "Wha... what time is it?"
"It's..." Arsenic shook his head. "Hold on." He fumbled for a nearby clock. "It's oh six forty... fifty... ugh."
They paused, looking at each other, then around each other.
"Why... are we in the kitchen?" Lace asked slowly.
"Well, I have a pretty big hangover," Arsenic mused. "And..." He sniffed, frowning. "Well. Apparently I had fun."
"...I think you gave me a flower?" Lace shook her head. "I remember you giving me a flower."
"Yeah... that much I remember. Lyra said changelings went gaga over that particular kind of rose. Wouldn't explain why, but..." Arsenic clicked his tongue. "Oh wait. Lyra set up an in-house date for us, and we went along with it because she seemed so eager."
"It was the most energetic I've seen her after the attack," Lace agreed. "Well, energetically concentrated, she was less... direct."
"I'm rather surprised she gave us cider. You know, I was nervous about giving you the rose at first, but after a couple of drinks..."
"Yes. Yes, I remember. I morphed into a mare, and jokingly flirted with you, and then..."
Lace frowned.
"No, wait, that can't be right."
"What? You didn't like the rose?"
"No. Yes? I liked it too much. No flower gets a changeling to react like that. Only queen pheromones can--"
Their musings were stopped by a piercing shriek from above. The two guards snapped into action, galloping up the stairs and rushing into the master bedroom.
Bonbon was quaking, staring at the paper clutched in her hooves. "No... no... she... no..."
"What is it?" Arsenic asked, stepping forward. "Wait... where's Lyra?"
Bonbon winced, squeaks and whimpers coming from her mouth as she continued to blink tears out of her eyes, her grip on the paper growing tighter. "I... no... it, she... no...."
Heartstrings galloped into the room, followed closely by Bluebolt. "What's going on?! What happened to--?!" Her eyes fell on Bonbon. "Oh. Oh Celestia. She didn't. She didn't!"
"The rose," Lace realized, her face slowly growing horrified. "She must have dipped it in pheromones to keep me and Arsenic distracted..."
"What are you saying?" Bluebolt looked from the guards to the quavering changeling. "Who dipped the rose? Why's Bonbon freaking out? Where's Lyra--?" Her eyes widened. "No, that--that can't be right. That doesn't make sense!"
"She--she---" Bonbon collapsed, wailing into the paper. "SHE LEFT! SHE'S GONE!"