Be Human: the All-American Girl Sidestories

by Shinzakura


Broken Heartstrings, Finale

DJ came walking through the door of the ambassadorial home; the first thing she saw was Harper, sitting on the couch, looking over some documents. “Hello, DJ,” the older unicorn said. “Don’t mind me, just going over the various documents we’ll need for the funeral. Even after all these years, I’m still really not good with the way humans phrase documents.”

“I’ll help you with that later, after I see her,” the humanized pony said, looking at the unnaturally quiet stallion; like his younger sister, Harper was loud and boisterous and seeing him like this just underscored the tragedy. “How’s she doing?”

“Truthfully?” he asked. “When our mother passed away fifteen years ago, she was hurting. Right now? She’s destroyed. Doctor gave her a sedative to sleep, and Paul’s parents are currently watching the kids.”

“Do they even know what caused it?” DJ asked as she sorted the documents.

“Not really. Adam – that’s Paul’s best friend; you may have met him at the wedding – flew out to Bozeman to get some answers from the NTSB. Unfortunately for Lyra, as she’s a senior foreign diplomat, they’re really worried about politicizing the whole incident. Wing sent a couple of embassy staffers with Adam, but they don’t want Lyra anywhere near Montana right now, and frankly, I don’t blame them.”

“Yeah, I saw article on CNN’s website. She doesn’t need to be there at all.”

“Do me a favor? Go peek in on her. You’re probably the only one on either Earth who understands what she’s going through.”

“No offense, but I hope I’m not. I’d be a complete wreck if I ever lost Mike. But I get what you mean.” She looked a little more at Lyra’s older brother before asking, “Have you gotten any sleep?”

“No, not really. But tha—”

“Go. To. Sleep,” the younger pony commanded.

“Fine, it’s not like I do late night sessions because I’m a country musician,” Harper grumbled. “But keep an eye on her. She’s never been like this before – not when our mother died, not when Bon-Bon left her. I’m really worried.”

“I got it, don’t worry,” DJ said as the unicorn headed towards the guest room. As he closed the door, she said a soft, “Well, I hope so, at any rate,” then went upstairs. Seeing as the bedroom was closed, she knocked softly and went in.

Sitting there with her was both Vinyl and Octavia. Both looked like they’d aged a million years from this. Vinyl, who looked as though she’d been crying, went up to DJ. “Hey, thanks for coming.”

“I’m the only person in the world who would have the same problem she does, and I pray every day I don’t,” DJ responded. She walked over to the bed, and there, held in Octavia’s grasp, nearly catatonic and looking like 93 million miles of bad road, was Lyra.

DJ sat on the bed. “Lyra? I’m sorry. Paul was a wonderful person, and we’ll be poorer for his absence,” DJ said, looking at Octavia worriedly.

“She’s just been staring into space all this time,” Octavia said, voice hoarse from anguish. “We can’t get through to her.”


Lying on the bed, the sheets still had his smell. She could distantly hear someone talking to her, but it didn’t matter anymore – nothing mattered except the call of death. The last time she was like this, she thought she’d lost the love of her life – she was wrong, and now, she was learning just how very wrong her earlier melodrama had been: her Paul, her husband and the love of her life, gone; the father of her children, gone. Gone, gone, gone.

In her head, her Cartesian theatre had a gruesome show for her, repeating a tragic drama over and over again, something she could not remove her mind from.


“Ah, Ambassador Dupree, it’s such a pleasure to meet you!” Lyra said as she welcomed the newest member of the diplomatic community. “Have you settled into Bethesda yet?”

“Thank you, Madame Phillips,” the French ambassador said. “Quite so, actually. My wife loves the Embassy Row there, though from what I understand, the community in Leesburg is much larger.”

She nodded. “It is, but Bethesda is much closer to the District, so your commute will be much easier than ours. In any case, those of us in the diplomatic community always find ways to get together – in fact, the Summer Picnic should be upon us soon enough; it’s usually prepared by the Spouses’ Club.”

“Ah, a dozen foods from a dozen lands and everyone just ends up eating the hamburgers,” he chuckled. “But I think Clarise would love to assist in preparation, if that’s possible.”

“That’s wonderful! I’ll give you my husband’s cell number, then. He just took over presidency of the Spouses’ Club, and I’m sure he’d could use another set of hooves…I mean, hands,” Lyra said, correcting herself. “But enough of the small chit-chat. How may I be of servi—”

The doors to her office suddenly slammed open as Lyra’s secretary, Scented Letter, burst in. “Lyra!” she shouted. “Channel 3! Hurry!”

“Scent? What’s going on?” the unicorn asked as the earth pony rushed over to the remote control and turned on the TV.

The television showed a very somber man, standing in front of a small town. “Thanks, Brad. I’m Aaron Wheeling, coming to you live from Belgrade, Montana at the scene of the crash. Details are sketchy right now, but from what we know is that TWA Flight 307, having departed Seattle to Washington DC, has crashed in downtown Belgrade, just a few hundred yards short of Bozeman Regional Airport. Rescuers are on-scene right now, but from what we’ve been told there were no survivors onboard the plane and few have been found in the buildings impacted. The plane, a Sukhoi Superjet 100-D7, has been under investigation since last week’s crash of a similar jet in Houston, and at this time, the NTSB has ordered all 100-D7s grounded. We’ll continue to report on this tragic incident as more details come in. Back to you, Brad.”

Lyra’s mind suddenly rocketed to a conversation she’d had with Paul two weeks ago: “Yeah, the ABA wants me to give a lecture on the differences between US and Equestriani criminal law at the Annual National Conference in Seattle. Jurisprudence was nice enough to help me prep the lecture; you oughta bump that stallion’s pay up, he’s worth every bit. I’ll be out there a couple of days, nothing big. Here’s the flights – TWA Flight 518 out to Sea-Tac, and then Flight 307 back. You won’t even notice I’m gone.”

Her knees buckled without warning as she collapsed to the ground. She could feel Ambassador Dupree moving to help her, and Scent calling for the embassy’s medic, but it didn’t matter to her. This was a nightmare, right? Some stunt Discord pulled, or maybe that practical joke TV show that was currently playing on TNT. It had to be it, right? Because if she really lost Paul….


“Lyra….” A soft voice said, an all-too familiar voice. The unicorn turned her head to look in the direction of the sound.

Twilight stood there, faced etched in sorrow at seeing her old friend like this. But it was the other pony there as well, the one in a gray sweatshirt and slacks almost the same color as her coat that was the surprise. For the first time in twelve years, Lyra and Bon-Bon faced each other in the house they once shared together.

Bon-Bon saw her old flame and realized how very much things had changed. Lyra had always been the more tomboyish of the two of them, very much taking after Harper. But she looked so feminine now, so beautiful and elegant, the result of over a decade of being the ‘mare’ half of a relationship. Bon-Bon looked around and saw no more signs of her life with Lyra; instead, there were signs of Lyra and Paul, including a very odd picture of Paul with two human children and a green-and-white-haired human woman who the earth pony guessed was Lyra, having somehow used some sort of transformation magic for a reason she couldn’t comprehend.

She’d set Lyra on this path, she realized. For better or worse, for all the pain Bon-Bon had suffered and all the pain and joy Lyra had experienced, it had been Bon-Bon’s failure that had put Lyra on a path more human that she’d ever expected. Lyra had always had an affinity for the strange bipedal race, but now she’d joined Rarity’s estranged daughter just on the other side of the line separating ponykind from humanity.

Bon-Bon once knew Lyra Heartstrings, but she’d been gone for ages now, just as much a memory as the self-destructive mare Bon-Bon had once been. But Bon-Bon had never known Lyra Phillips, and wasn’t sure how that person would react as their eyes met.


Once the pair’s eyes met, none of those assembled in the room knew what was going to happen. Maybe they’d embrace and cry together. Maybe Lyra would just snap and start bucking the hell out of her former lover. Maybe she’d just completely lose it and start making out with the earth pony. None could accurately gauge what was about to occur.

But they hadn’t expected this.

Bon-Bon approached Lyra as they saw each other. “Lyra, I’m so sorry. I’ve heard your hu—”

A sudden panicked “No no nononononoo…” before Lyra suddenly shrieked, flailing in Octavia’s surprised forelegs.

Bon-Bon approached. “Ly-Ly,” she said, using the private nickname she’d once given the unicorn. “It’s me. It’s your Bonnie.”

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Lyra screamed, shaking and hyperventilating. She forcefully tried to pull Octavia in front of her as a shield, so much so the gray earth pony’s shirt started to tear. “STAY AWAY!” The screaming was such that Harper thundered upstairs to see what the commotion was.

“But Ly-Ly,” Bon-Bon began and stopped as she looked – and gasped. Lyra was looking at her with fear and horror. Lyra wasn’t just panicking; she was terrified of Bon-Bon.

“Stay away….” The mare’s voice shrank as she curled into a ball and tried to crawl under the sheets of her bed at the same time.

“Lyra….” Bon-Bon said, reaching out to the unicorn and then withdrawing a hoof in shock. Her Ly-Ly, her former love, was deathly afraid of her.

“Hey!” DJ snarled, reacting before anyone else and getting in-between the horror-petrified unicorn and the stunned earth pony. “What is your major malfunction? What, come here to expect a pity fuck?”

Vinyl immediately stepped between the two earth ponies. “Filly,” she said to the younger one, “let me handle this. Bonnie, I think we’d better go downstairs to talk.”

“Yeah,” she said, shaken by Lyra’s reaction. “Octavia, please take care of her.”

Octavia nodded. “I will,” she said, whispering to her friend, “It’s okay, Lyra, you’re safe. I’ll protect you.”


Once they were downstairs, DJ nearly attacked Bon-Bon. “Who the fuck do you think you are, you cunt, scaring Lyra like that?”

“DJ, that’s quite enough,” Twilight interceded. “Your parents taught you better than that, I’m sure.” DJ muttered something under her breath, but a wilting glare from her aunt got her to quit.

“I don’t think any of us expected this reaction,” Vinyl said. “I know I sure as buck didn’t.”

“I was,” Harper said, sitting down by the table. “I hoped it wouldn’t happen, but it did. Bon-Bon, you were responsible for calming her down when our mother died, so a part of her learned to rely on you. Then you pulled the rug out from under her with the divorce.”

“I know,” Bon-Bon said in a self-accusatory whisper. “I regret handling it like I did.”

“What’s done is done there, and that won’t change. But that led to Paul coming into her life, and now he’s gone – and you’re back.”

Twilight, ever the scholar, put it together instantly. “And now she’s blaming Bon-Bon for all the pain in her life, like she’s some sort of harbinger of death.”

“But I would never!” Bon-Bon cried. “I didn’t even come here to try to win her back! We’re two different mares now, and it probably wouldn’t work even if I wanted it to.”

“I know,” Vinyl said, “and normally Ly would know that. But she’s so broken over losing Paul that she probably thinks you’re after the last thing in her life – her kids.”

“Speaking as the only other person with the kind of kids she has,” DJ offered, “I’d just about shit bricks if I were in Lyra’s situation.” She looked at everyone else and said, “If there were a way to bring Paul back, that’s what she needs. If what you’re saying is true and she’s already been at the gates of hell twice, this third time might just break her permanently.”


Twilight mused. “There might just be a way to bring him back.” Everyone gasped at that remark.

Vinyl and Harper looked at each other, then at Twilight. “What are you talking about, Twilight?”

“Back when I was younger than DJ, I found a forbidden spell created by Star Swirl. It let me jump back in time for about a minute – I used it foolishly to warn myself about something that never happened. But the spell does work.” Seeing the look of hope in everyone’s eyes, she said, “But there are huge caveats here, and I do mean huge. For starters, it worked on our Earth because of the huge amounts of magic there. This Earth, on the other hoof, is all but magically dead, and that’s a concern when navigating through the timespace continuum. Secondly, if we were to rescue Paul, it would require some kind of charm to bring him back – merely holding on to the pon…I mean, person in question isn’t going to cut it. Lastly, we’re talking about breaking causality here, and that’s bad.”

“Yeah, but if I recall anything about causality from school,” Harper said, “you’d already done that the moment you made contact with yourself.”

“I got very lucky: I created a loop the moment I touched myself and that stabilized everything, but I might not in truth be the same Twilight that departed with that spell and might have instead been pulled from an alternate reality where I tried the same exact spell. I mean, to me, everything seems the same, and I feel like I’m myself, but I can never be 100% sure.” There was a sudden hitch in her voice as she said, “I might have lost everything I loved and come to a world where everything’s similar, but not the exact same.”

“Well, we like ya anyway,” Vinyl said with a grin, “and if it’s similar, it’s you regardless. You’re you, and that’s all you can be.”

“That’s…rather deep, Vinyl.”

“Tell me about it. Was songwriting last month with Laura Darlington and Andreya Triana. Having them sing on my next album.” She pulled a notebook out of thin air due to her magic. “I have all the lyrics here – I can sing them if you’d like.”

“Ah, no, not necessary,” Twilight said with a soft smile. “But to continue, to prevent breaking causality, the individual in question has to switch places with Paul.”

“You mean they’ll have to die in his place, is what you’re saying,” Harper said, as the truth sank in and everyone became quiet.


“Well, that settles it. Twilight, let’s get started,” Bon-Bon said, her tone firm.

“Uh, Bonnie, are you—”

“Yes,” she said in a soft voice, cutting Twilight off. “I failed Lyra once, and while it turned out great for her, I’ve now realized just how unimportant I am in the grand scheme of things.”

“Don’t you dare say that,” Octavia intoned as she came downstairs. She’d borrowed one of Lyra’s shirts to replace the ripped one and she heard everything. Walking over to embrace the mare, she said, “You’re important to us, Bonnie. You’re our friend.”

“Tavi’s right – you shouldn’t think of yourself as somepony to just be tossed in the trash,” Vinyl added. “How’s Ly doing?”

“I called the doctor, he said it was okay to give her another sedative, so she’s finally sleeping. But she’s falling apart, Vinyl – our sister is falling apart.” Octavia began to tear and turned to cry into Vinyl’s shoulder.

“And that’s why I have to go,” Bon-Bon said, her voice finding its strength. “I realize you all care, but Lyra’s one of the most important ponies doing one of the hardest jobs ever, so I was told once,” she said as she gave Vinyl a smile at the memory of her words. “I couldn’t be there for her, and she found someone who could. And now she lost him and she needs him back. Their children need him back. And Equestria needs her back and the only way to do that is for him to come back.

“I am but one mare that the world won’t miss – that the world won’t miss,” she repeated. “Twilight, let me do this one last thing for her. I once promised to be there in better times and worse times, in wealth and poverty, in health and illness. Let me keep that vow I made to her.”

“Okay,” she said resignedly. “Let me get started; the spell only allows for a very defined window.”


“Okay, it’s ready,” Sweetie Belle said as she handed the necklace over to Twilight. “And for the record, Twi? I’m heavily against this. If I didn’t trust you so implicitly, I’d be out that door as fast as my four hooves could carry me, you know that?”

“I know,” Twilight said with a nod. “But this wasn’t my decision to make.” Twilight took the necklace and attached the massive black obsidian jewel to the front. The thing looked gaudy, like the ceremonial regalia that the three princesses all hated wearing during formal events, or as Twilight once read about, a human poet and musician who jauntily wore oversize things like this and took the nom de plume of “Flavor Flav.” In any case, the thing was gaudy, enough so that a fashionista like Rarity or Hoity Toity would have declared it an utter glamour disaster. Which was fine, it was built for function, not looks.

“Well, unless you have a problem with it, I’m going to take a few days off. Pip’s been itching for me to take some downtime,” she said with a loving smile. “I think he’s going to propose.”

“Congratulations!” Twilight said, nuzzling the younger unicorn. “Have you told Rarity yet?”

“When I get around to it,” Sweetie Belle said absently.

“Go ahead and get going, and I’ll see you in a few days,” Twilight said.

Sweetie Belle headed for the doors, pausing long enough to say, “And give a hug to DJ for me if you see her!” before leaving.

Twilight watched bittersweetly as the white unicorn mare departed. She should have shared her secret with Rarity first, but now the chances of that happening were nil. The battle thirteen years ago had caused a terminal break between the two and while they were still civil to each other, the magic of sisterhood between them was now gone; Sweetie Belle had instead transferred that affection to her mentor, making Twilight the older sister figure in Sweetie Belle’s adulthood that Rarity should have been.

It wasn’t entirely Rarity’s fault; the younger mage unicorn was just as much to blame as her sister, and the bickering between Sweetie Belle and Rarity’s daughter Minty hadn’t helped much either. But Twilight had been there when Sweetie had discovered her special talent had been magic instead of singing as everyone had suspected; and through the years, the younger pony had taken over Spike’s position as her assistant, even so far as to stay on when Twilight had pronounced Sweetie to be a fully-trained mage in her own right, capable of taking her own apprentice. And yet she stayed, and there was only one reason that made sense: that she was filling the doting younger sibling spot in Twilight’s life that the oversize dragon couldn’t anymore, a spot Sweetie was well-familiar with from year younger years staying with Rarity.

But unlike Twilight, Sweetie couldn’t put off her feelings forever; she and Pip had an on/off romance for most of their adult lives, and now it was finally coming to fruition. But this should have been something that Sweetie Belle told Rarity first, not cryptically indicating to the purple mare that she had no interest in telling her sister and that Rarity would probably find out from Twilight, thus creating another crack in their continually patched-broken-patched friendship over the years.

But none of that was important right now. Putting the necklace in her saddlebags, Twilight went upstairs to slip into some clothing for the trip to human-Earth.


“Remember, once you take off the necklace, you only have ten seconds to slip it around Paul’s neck before it starts the return sequence,” Twilight said.

“Got it,” Bon-Bon said, putting it on herself. She looked at everyone present, those that had showed up to say their goodbyes. “Well, I guess this is goodbye, then.”

“We’ll miss you,” Twilight said, embracing the earth pony. There was no talk of trying to convince her otherwise; the last few days had ensured this was Bon-Bon’s decision.

“You’re braver than I’ll ever be, Bonnie,” Vinyl said, adding to the embrace.

“Yes, far braver than I could ever be,” Octavia murmured as she embraced her friend. “I wish we had more time so I could make it up to you.”

“Take care of Lyra for me; that’s more than enough, you three,” she said to the trio as she looked at DJ.

“Look, I….” the humanized pony started.

“I forgive you,” Bon-Bon said. “Just…if you want to make amends, watch over Colby and Orchid. They’re in the same situation as your son, so they’ll need everyone to watch over them.”

“Absolutely,” DJ promised. “So,” she said to the rest, “so now what?”

“She has one last person she has to say goodbye to, and that’s best if she did it alone.”


Bon-Bon walked up the stairs one last time, the weight of the necklace jangling with each step, as if indicating the severity of the situation she was about to undertake. As she reached the top of the stairs, she saw Harper. “I would trade places in a heartbeat with you, if you’d let me,” he said.

“No, Harper. She needs her B3F2,” Bon-Bon said with a smile. “This is my weight to bear.”

“She’s asleep. Go to her,” he said, as he walked down stairs.

Bon-Bon walked into the room, noticing the figure asleep on the bed. She looked so impossibly beautiful and fragile, and for a moment, she looked so much more human than pony. Maybe that was always meant to be Lyra’s fate.

Maybe if I’d buckled down more, Bon-Bon thought to herself as she approached the bed. But no, in the end she was never meant to be mine. We were just two, passing on the road to eternity, only keeping in step together for a short while. But oh, what a time that was.

Sitting on the bed, she stroked Lyra’s mane, saw that Lyra had cried herself to sleep once more. “Well, this is it, Ly-Ly. In a few minutes, you’ll be reunited with your husband, and I will be part of the dustbin of history. I wish we’d had more time together, more time for me to make amends for how much I hurt you and tell you how proud I am that you kept moving on.

“So when he’s back, love him like I should have loved you. Love your children. Live your life for them, Lyra,” she said, and a memory came to mind, she was sure that it was just a fantasy and not truly Lyra, but maybe miracles were more common than hope. “Live it for me,” she said, giving her old flame one last final kiss that seemed to last forever.

Bon-Bon stood up and walked away from Lyra, then took the obsidian gem in her hands. Focusing on it, she spoke the words that Twilight said would start the spell. “Tempus frangit!”

Bon-Bon exploded in a shower of silver sparks and blue jags of light, and a couple of seconds later, Lyra was alone in the room once more.


Bon-Bon appeared in the jet, and all was chaos. She didn’t have time to react, however, as gravity and inertia kicked in and she was slammed into an empty seat. Wincing from the pain, she looked around and found Paul, of all places, seated next to her. His eyes were closed and he was praying, knowing that he wouldn’t survive this.

She had to act fast. “PAUL!” she screamed as she ripped the necklace off her and slammed it round his neck.
Paul looked to his side, felt something placed on him like a lei. He saw Bon-Bon in what had been an empty seat just a second ago, and she was looking at him with a teary-eyed smile.

“Love her for me, Paul,” Bon-Bon said. “Love her like I couldn’t.”

Paul was about to respond when he suddenly disappeared. Bon-Bon smiled, triumphant in her desire. “I’ve done it, Ly-Ly,” she said to herself as she cried tears of joy. “I finally kept my promise to y—”

Nothing more was said by Bon-Bon as TWA Flight 307 crashed into the ground at the intersection of Broadway and Main, plowing through the brick buildings as if they were paper. The plane skidded for two more blocks, destroying everything in its before coming to a stop at Broadway and Central, turning into a deadly blossom of flame and twisted metal, the ignited gas turning everything for a square block into an inferno that was a funeral for hundreds of innocent people – and one victorious time-traveling pony.


“No, my little pony, you’re not allowed to break the timestream like that.”

Bon-Bon woke up in a room of white…or perhaps a tunnel. She felt great; better than she ever had in her life. The room had no corners, no edges, and no indicator that it even had an end, nothing more than a pure white that reminder of Princess Celestia.

“That was very brave of you. Very foolish, but extremely brave, nonetheless,” the voice said, coming from all directions and no directions at once. “Very few individuals would give their lives for their loved ones. Fewer still would give it for ones they had no obligations to.”

Bon-Bon got to her feet, trying to find the source of the voice. “But I did have obligations to her. I failed those obligations once, and I couldn’t bear to see her the way she was.”

“Very commendable of you, but you did not. You walked away from that marriage and ended your obligations.”

“No. Just because I made a mistake does not mean Lyra has to suffer for it,” Bon-Bon said. “I made her suffer for so long, and now I can make it right.” She fell silent in order to compose her next thoughts and said, “I fulfilled my vow to her, and I will go to the Great Pasture armed with that knowledge.”

“I’m sure you think so, young Bon-Bon,” the voice said. Bon-Bon wondered what she meant by that, as she was approaching her late fifties. As if expecting that, the voice said, “Everyone is young to me, whether they know it or not. So…is this what you truly desire? To allow a human to remain in your stead, ever with your true love? This could be a chance to win her heart back.”

“No. She was never mine. I had never truly earned her love, not truly worthy of it, because I was a coward. Paul has been there in every way I could never be. She might be my true love, but he is hers. Human or not, they were meant to be together.”

“I…see. Once again, very brave of you. Many have failed this final test and fewer still have made the decision so effortlessly as you have. However, I must deny you your wish. You cannot be allowed to change the timestream.”

“No! Please, let me take Paul’s place!” Bon-Bon said, frantic. “She needs him!”

There was a soft laugh, not cruel but one of joy. “No, you misunderstand, my little pony. You are not allowed to change the timestream. But one such as I, well, I have a little more leeway.”

Bon-Bon couldn’t reconcile that. “Who are you?” she asked.

A figure seemed to walk into the space where Bon-Bon was, as if the endless white was fog. The figure was an alicorn, larger than Celestia by far, as large as an elephant. The unicorn had a coat of pristine white, moreso than the princess as it were purity itself. Her head and tail were the color of carmine, as if the very blood of life adorned her body. On her flank was a glowing cutie mark, a quill and ink pen. The alicorn looked at Bon-Bon with kind eyes, and in those eyes the earth pony could see eternity reflected in them.

“I’m just a mother,” the alicorn said with a joyful smile, “watching her daughters from afar and hoping our family will be made whole once more someday. But until then, I remain just a muse.”

And then everything went black.


“Ah, Ambassador Dupree, it’s such a pleasure to meet you!” Lyra said as she welcomed the newest member of the diplomatic community. “Have you settled into Bethesda yet?”

“Thank you, Madame Phillips,” the French ambassador said. “Quite so, actually. My wife loves the Embassy Row there, though from what I understand, the community in Leesburg is much larger.”

She nodded. “It is, but Bethesda is much closer to the District, so your commute will be much easier than ours. In any case, those of us in the diplomatic community always find ways to get together – in fact, the Summer Picnic should be upon us soon enough; it’s usually prepared by the Spouses’ Club.”

“Ah, a dozen foods from a dozen lands and everyone just ends up eating the hamburgers,” he chuckled. “But I think Clarise would love to assist in preparation, if that’s possible.”

“That’s wonderful! I’ll give you my husband’s cell number, then. He just took over presidency of the Spouses’ Club, and I’m sure he’d could use another set of hooves…I mean, hands,” Lyra said, correcting herself. “But enough of the small chit-chat. How may I be of servi—”

The doors to her office suddenly slammed open as Lyra’s secretary, Scented Letter, burst in. “Lyra!” she shouted. “Channel 3! Hurry!”

“Scent? What’s going on?” the unicorn asked as the earth pony rushed over to the remote control and turned on the TV.

The television showed a smiling man, standing in front of a small town. “Thanks, Brad. I’m Aaron Wheeling, coming to you live from what seems to be nothing short of a miracle. TWA Flight 307, having departed Seattle for Washington DC has made a crash landing in downtown Belgrade, Montana just a few hundred yards short of Bozeman Regional Airport. According to airport authorities, the plane, a Sukhoi Superjet 100-D7 reported losing all power in mid-flight, but thanks to the incredible skills of the pilot and co-pilot, the plane made a safe belly landing. Though the plane and several buildings in town have been destroyed, authorities are cheering over the fact that there are no fatalities and only minor injuries. The NTSB, concerned with this incident after last week’s crash of a similar jet in Houston, has ordered all 100-D7s grounded. We’ll continue to report on what they’re calling the Miracle in Belgrade as more details come in. Back to you, Brad.”

Lyra suddenly lost her footing. Paul had been aboard that flight…and she’d come so very close to losing him. Was he okay? Was he one of the injured, and if so, how badly?

Dupree was suddenly at her side. “Are you okay, Madame Ambassador?”

Tears of joy and worry started to form in her eyes. “Yes. I am now,” she said as she heard her smartphone go off, the ringtone exclusively set for when her husband called. “I’m perfectly fine,” she said, as she got back to her hindhooves and went to answer her phone.


“So…” the unicorn said nervously, “would you like to go out on a date?”

Bon-Bon stood at the counter of her chocolate shop, the one she managed for Mulia Mild in mid-town Manehattan. She suddenly wondered how she’d gotten there; hadn’t she been dead just a second ago? She was just ecstatic at the realization of what this meant, and then she looked forward at the pony at the counter.

She was a unicorn, like Lyra, but that’s where the similarities ended. If anything, she looked superficially more like Twilight, with a similar hairstyle and similar facial features. But the unicorn was aqua in color, with a mane and tail of dark turquoise, highlighted by a blazing stripe of orange in both mane and tail. She looked nervous, pensive, as if she’d just taken the chance of her life by asking Bon-Bon that question.

Bon-Bon didn’t know why, but she just giggled like a schoolfilly and grinned. “Sure.”

“Okay!” the unicorn chirped. “I’ll meet you here at 8!” and with that, skipped out of the store, practically bouncing with a gait not unlike Pinkie Pie.

“Wow, boss,” Bon-Bon’s coworker, a stallion named Chocolate Mousse, said. “She’s a real cutie. Hey, do me a favor and find out if she’s got a sister, okay?”

Bon-Bon laughed. “Absolutely, Choc. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to use the little filly’s room.” Before he could answer, she rushed to the restroom, locking the door.

She looked in the mirror to make sure she was herself, feeling her face to make sure. Impossibly, she was herself, she was in the store and she was somehow alive.

Her name’s Waterfire, a familiar voice sounded by her ear. She’s a mage by trade, and she’s had her eye on you since the first day you moved to town.

Bon-Bon had never noticed her before. How did that happen?

Because sometimes you have to lose something before you notice it, the alicorn’s voice whispered. And speaking of which, one reward done for a faithful promise kept, you’ll see in just a moment. Oh, and I have a favor to ask before I go. The alicorn whispered it to Bon-Bon and though she didn’t seem as if she’d been in the room, Bon-Bon knew the moment when she departed. Farewell, Bon-Bon and always smile. You, of all ponies, have earned it.

As bid, the earth pony looked down and noticed her scar was gone, healed and no remainder left. She was now finally, truly and completely free.

There was a knock on the door. “Hate to rush ya, boss, but we’ve got a line building out here and I could use a little help!”

“Sure thing, Choc!” she called back with a laugh. “Be right there!”


“Wow, that’s just incredible,” Lyra said to Bon-Bon. “Congratulations!”

“Thanks,” Bon-Bon said, draining her beer stein; she’d never really liked the drink but it was growing on her. “Both at the same time? It’s paradise.”

Both sat in the Döner Bistro, finally a chance to talk after thirteen years of trials and tribulations. Waterfire and Bon-Bon had gone to Leesburg for a weekend a year after Paul’s crash, with some very important news. The reason for the visit was the double whammy that Bon-Bon had received during the week. The first was that Mulia had decided to retire from the business; she was getting old, she said, and it was time for the other pursuits in her life to take precedence. The chocolatier had sold Bon-Bon the whole business for a ridiculously low price and a share of the profits, and Mildbon’s, as Bon-Bon had renamed the chain of stores, was doing incredible business; indeed, the first human-Earth branch of the chain had opened up right next door to the Döner.

But the other thing was that after a whirlwind romance of a year, Waterfire and Bon-Bon decided they were going to tie the knot. Waterfire had been everything Bon-Bon had wanted in a mate, moreso than Lyra had been, she now realized. When she told that to her former lover, Lyra had pretended to be hurt for all of a second before congratulating the earth pony on finally finding happiness.

At the moment, Waterfire stayed behind with Paul and the kids in order to let the two former lovers work out any last issues between them, as there were likely things unspoken between the two that needed to be cleared.

“So, Waifu and I are deciding where we should take our honeymoon, but we thought we’d ask you and Paul if you had any suggestions,” Bon-Bon said.

“‘Waifu’? You call your fiancée ‘Waifu’?”

“Well, she’s the daughter of the Equestriani ambassador to Inari, and that’s what the foxes nicknamed her in their language,” Bon-Bon explained. “Something wrong with that?”

Lyra laughed. “You have no idea what waifu means here on human-Earth, do you?”

“No. Should I be worried?”

In response, Lyra pulled out her phone, went to the internet and brought up the definition on an online dictionary. “Here – look for yourself,” as Bon-Bon read the screen.

“Oh.” Bon-Bon blushed. “Well, I am a bit obsessive when it comes to her, admittedly. She’s, uh….” A wicked smile flitted on the earth pony’s face. “She’s great in bed, I’ll admit.”

“Better than me?” Lyra said and instantly regretted those words coming out of her mouth.

“Well, I’ll just have to compare notes with Paul sometime, is that all right by you?” Bon-Bon said impishly and drained her glass. “Billy! Can you get me another Warsteiner?” The bartender nodded.

“But seriously. You’re happy now, and I’m glad for you, Bon-Bon,” the unicorn said.

“Probably because this was the way it was meant to be. No, don’t look at me like that, it’s the truth and you know it. I wasn’t ready for marriage when we got together and you ultimately suffered because of it, and I spent a decade in the wilds before I realized it. Even if this Earth hadn’t been discovered and you hadn’t found Paul, we would have ended up in divorce anyway,” Bon-Bon admitted. “Now, I’ll admit, I’m still very much in love with you and that won’t ever change.”

“I love you as well, and I don’t intend to ever stop, Bon-Bon,” Lyra answered.

“But we belong with others. We always have. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.” Bon-Bon realized what she said, and laughed softly. “I guess this is the real break up, then.”

“Ah, but we’ll always have Paris,” Lyra replied. When Bon-Bon looked at her strangely, she said, “It’s apparently something humans say when they break up.”

Bon-Bon took up her glass. “To Paris, then.” Lyra nodded and their steins clinked. After a few seconds, Bon-Bon asked, “So, I’m guessing Paul and Wai…Waterfire will be joining us for dinner here then?”

“Actually, I made reservations at the Greentree a block away; it’s a more kid-friendly restaurant for my children. But Paul knows I like to sit here on Saturdays occasionally and watch the games. Oh! And speaking of which, looks like Liverpool’s playing Arsenal today. Should be good, Arsenal’s got that hotshot Brazilian striker on their team now.” The two friends sat there, as one excitedly explained the game on the TV and the other one good-naturedly tried to keep up with something she wasn’t really interested in.


Dear Princess Celestia,

I don’t know if you’re still accepting friendship reports, but as one of your subjects, Twilight felt that I should fill one out for you.

Thirteen years ago I walked out on my mate in cowardice, because I was too afraid to be there for her when she needed me. She recovered from that, I didn’t. I took all those years before I had the chance to make it up to her and finally found true love, a mature love that the younger me could never have conceived.

Lyra’s husband told me that as humans see it, love is, to quote him, “a very human thing.” I think I know what he meant by that: love is a power that we don’t really understand and probably never will as a species, just as humans don’t truly comprehend it either. And yet it is a part of them just as it is a part of us.

Lyra suffered because of our love. Lyra found a new life because of her love. I went mad and tried to kill myself for that same love. And now, because of that love, I have a wonderful fiancée and a great friendship with the same mare I once selfishly betrayed. On the human end, Paul suffered because of love when his fiancée died. Paul and Lyra used each other in a parody of it, then finally found its true form and have a life together because of it. And most importantly, in the name of love I did something that would not be believed and I cannot explain here, both because it happened – and yet it didn’t.

Love doesn’t make sense, but maybe that’s the point. Love isn’t meant to be comprehended – it just is. And what it is, is the feeling that lies at the center of our reality, the humans’, and maybe so many, many more.

Your devoted subject,
Bon-Bon

PS – your mother told me to let you and Princess Luna know that she misses you both.