//------------------------------//
// Long-Term Plans and Technicalities 
// Story: Norrath, Earth, Equestria. A Construct's Journey 
// by Nimnul 
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	The next day arrived uneventfully. Lyra had returned home late, and Landshark was sure she'd filled Bon Bon in on the presumably nice evening she'd had. The construct herself had spent the night reading. She hadn't needed rest yet and, although she could sleep on demand, she'd experienced irrational hesitation to do that so shortly after Princess Luna had been reminded that the construct existed.

True to Bon Bon's words, the earth pony had started the day early, in cooperation with Lyra's mother. Enny's husband and Lyra had both slept in to different degrees. The day's planning was straightforward. Bon Bon and Enny were working in the kitchen to create candy and pastries for the family and numerous other ponies Lyra's parents knew around Canterlot. Lyra planned to lounge around and provide background music until it was time for her and her father to go see the traditional Hearth's Warming play.

Landshark hadn't seen all that many private kitchens prior to making friends in Ponyville, but the one Lyra's parents had here had all the bells and whistles, the construct assumed. Certainly, food for a great many dining guests could be prepared here.

Mutual Advantage had excused himself to take a walk and check in with some of his own local acquaintances to exchange holiday well-wishes and break the news of his planned retirement with any he hadn't told yet. 

"How did you pass the night?" Enny seemed curious. Landshark noted that the big unicorn hadn't been making much small-talk. Perhaps she had established a working routine with Bon Bon, cooperating with relatively few words. Bon Bon certainly wasn't much of a talker when she was focused on her work.

"Reading. Found what you'd call decent page-turners." The contents of the living room's bookshelves didn't follow any clear theme other than being sorted alphabetically by authors. Presumably it was simply the sort of collection of gifts and impulse purchases that would accumulate over the years if one had enough disposable income.

"Felt reminded of a job I had once, early on in my time with the humans. Guarding a haunted house. Most of the team were unsettled at the time, but it was ultimately uneventful."

Lyra paused in her playing. "So did you see a real ghost?"

"Not at the time. I was told the guys from Occult Intelligence never managed to make contact with anything that talked back, so we mostly just kept civilians away from the building. As far as I know we never even figured out if there was a ghost or if the spooky stuff was just hick-ups in local reality from some phenomenon that predated the organization." 

Landshark shrugged. "'Auditory and visual hallucinations, including spectral voices, bleeding walls, and poltergeist activity, are considered normal. Lack of same is cause for concern.' That sort of briefing kept us grunts out of the building on quiet nights, too, not that we were real sure what it was we should be concerned about."

"Someone probably found it insightful to hear about how you experienced the location compared to your meat peers," Bon Bon remarked while preparing to start on something she'd called Pine Nut Brittle. Taste was a completely alien sense to Landshark, so she wasn't particularly invested in what kind of sweets were being created. It was a pleasant to spend time with a friends, doing something they enjoyed, however.

"Not to be confused with tofu pears."

Enny grimaced. "Less wit, more music, I think."

"You gotta work on those jokes, Lyra. Anyway, you're probably right, Bon. The OccIntel spooks never could figure out what makes me tick, so they probably kept an eye on me for a while. If the Ethics Committee hadn't stepped in, they might have just kept me for good after I was first picked up. Before I hired on." The construct snapped her jaws. "Enough about that, though. I was wondering, do you have ghosts in this world? I mean the self-motivated, unfinished business type, not necromantically summoned ones."

"Sounds like more of a question for Princess Twilight." That probably meant if such ghosts did exist, Bon Bon hadn't had occasion to learn about or deal with them, so she didn't know.

"I would not know about such things, either, I fear. There is much magic in the world, but not every superstition will be real."

"There's something compelling about the idea that something could be so important to a person that they can stick around as a ghost instead of passing on." As far as the Cult of Self was concerned, the more control you had about yourself, the better. Choosing not to pass on seemed to fit.

"Is that of particular concern to you?" Enny seemed curious. "I am told you are, in essence, immortal. Besides," she joked, "Archeology tells us that clay goods may last a very long time unless shattered."

"It's true that some of my sisters have been extraordinarily long-lived by our standards," Landshark agreed, making a sweeping gesture to indicate that she meant the standards of mortals, not those of constructs. "I guard against dangerous assumptions, though. I expect entropy will catch up to me at some point. Immortality is only a word. All that exists can die."

"Even so," Enny countered, not seeming perturbed by the topic, "I think in most works of fiction, existence as a ghost is not made out to be desirable, and ghosts are not often of sound mind."

"Well, you get a benign ghost in a story every so often. Met one, in fact. Besides, I might have an advantage. My mind is already all magic. There's no brain rattling around in this skull. Wouldn't be much of a transition. Maybe if you pass on as designed, the transition from meat brain to all magic is easier on you than if you stick around as a ghost?" After all, the people spending their afterlife in the Underfoot hadn't seemed any more maladjusted than living mortals. 

Landshark rubbed her chin. "It's hard to feel sorry for ghosts who're indiscriminately malevolent, y'know. Although we probably should. You probably don't become a crazy ghost without some traumatic event or other malign influence."

"So you did eventually meet a ghost? What was it like?"

In answer to Lyra's question, the construct shrugged again. "I didn't know her that well. She could visually manifest to look human, and had some limited means to affect the world, kind of like your horn magic grip, I suppose. Was a non-combatant, morale officer. Those're tasked to make sure hardship posts are tolerable for the staff. Y'know, do paperwork, argue with people who'd rather slash costs than provide some recreational luxuries around a base."

Bon Bon slowed in her work. "So you knew a ghost, which are usually pretty emotionally charged to even stick around, and your people have her doing an office job." She shrugged. "Well I guess I might have known a pony or two who'd cling to their existence over unfinished paperwork. Makes for a terrible story, though."

"~And they discovered the ghost had filed an eviction notice – in triplicate!!" Lyra snickered. "Kinda takes the sting out of a haunted house story."

"Hm." Enny frowned. "A strange story. If her initial reason for staying is resolved, why remain for a mundane duty? If it is not resolved, being able to do another job makes it seem like she does not feel strongly enough about her reason for staying."

"I'm personally not sure how to feel about it. There's only so much service that should be asked of any one person, no matter how selfless they are. The idea of working beyond death leaves me uncomfortable. I first wondered if this ghost was bound or coerced in some way."

Landshark sighed. "But if it's her choice, who am I to judge? She seemed pretty happy. Maybe she just enjoyed existing and feeling useful. Besides, I'd want to be that kind of ghost, I could just use telekinesis to animate my own shell and no one would notice."

"That's both morbid and boring. Do you even count as dead if you're animating your own body? It's not like it has any kind of machinery, biological or otherwise, that'd stop running." Changing tracks, Lyra addressed Bon Bon and Enny. "Are you going to make those white chocolate-mint truffles?"

"All in due time. We shall have some done by the time you come home from the theater, I think." Enny shook her head and addressed the construct again. "Perhaps your friend fears the future because she is merely a psychic imprint left behind by the living person and would just cease to exist entirely?"

Bon Bon raised an eyebrow at her, prompting a shrug from Enny. "In some story settings, it does work like that."

"Makes no difference to me. If it can think and talk enough, it's a person." Landshark chuckled. "I guess someone sufficiently pedantic would care about the distinction, but to me it seems like you'd just be asking for a ghost with an identity crisis."

"You'd be biased," Bon Bon simply stated. "You sometimes have to remind folks that you're real, so you'd be okay with copy ghosts. I think you're underestimating how emotionally charged it'd be for living relatives if they knew for sure. Y'might wanna help a relative achieve their rest, but if you knew for a fact the ghost is just an after-image, its presence might be difficult. Something that thinks it's somepony you know, but you know it just exists as a side-effect of their death?" 

She shrugged. "Ponies aren't rational when they're grieving, it's unpredictable. Strangers wouldn't care as much, I guess. One exemption to the natural order is as good or bad as any other." After a moment, she added, "Probably bad, though." 

"You're probably right. Maybe I just think about ghost stories because other types of transformation aren't of any concern to me. Vampires, werewolves, they're either people or monsters to hunt. Ghosts, though? The idea used to be pretty attractive considering I was worried about my creator getting hold of my soul once more if I passed on. At least the humans had some room for comforting personal faith. I guess I could never muster the optimism to assume I'd just slip into the local afterlife."

"Well, avoiding a bad afterlife sometimes comes up as a reason to give undeath a shot," Lyra nodded. "But you didn't answer my question. Possessing your own body? In your case that's boring and probably barely counts as dead."

Landshark was having a great time hanging out with friends and having a nonsense conversation. It was part of what she'd meant when she said she wanted a meaningless life. Passing time just for the joy of it, with no great cause or duty but what she decided on. 

She ran her hands down her torso. "I suppose you'd hesitate to reuse your body. It's utilitarian and crudely functional, but it does break down. Now a body like this, of metal and ceramics, that's a wonder of efficiency and grace. Be a shame to not keep using it." 

"Grace?" Lyra scoffed. "You move like a metronome."

Landshark chuckled but otherwise ignored the remark. "And being a ghost wouldn't cost me pleasures, really. It's not like I'd miss the great taste of whatever these things are." She gestured at some of the ingredients waiting to be used.

"...they're almonds. Do they not have almonds where you're from?" Bon Bon peered at the construct in vague confusion before getting back to work.

"Sure they do. I don't keep on top of all the various seed-things you people eat." Landshark had a limited repertoire of meals she could cook, if absolutely required. Her awareness of things people ate or put into their food was quite cursory. 

The construct tapped a finger against her chin. "I guess I could haunt a train. Steam locomotives are great, and train conductor is one of those things I want to try at some point anyway."

"Nothing quite so graceful as a hundred tons of steel that take forever to come to a stop once they're moving, eh?"

"I suppose," Enny reasoned with a smile, "a friendly train ghost would perhaps make for a good story for foals."

"Someone gets it! The big problem with a lot of ghost stories is the seclusion. Haunted houses no one wants to live in? Bah." She paused. "Well, maybe not as big a problem as going murderously insane. Still, If I haunted a train I'd get to travel, meet people, all that good stuff. And it seems that kids love trains."

Complicated machinery was fascinating, but it also reminded her that she was fortunate her magical construct nature didn't require regular maintenance.

"I dunno, I always thought vampires were pretty cool." Lyra grinned. "You get a bunch of sweet abilities and I could probably figure out something regarding blood. Maybe Fluttershy or Nurse Redheart could hook me up. Shy's used to dealing with specialty diets and no one questions Redheart 'round the hospital."

"I got nothing smart to say regarding vampires," Landshark admitted. "They exist way back in the mortal realms attached to the Underfoot, but I never had any real dealings with them. Not read much vampire fiction either."

"I'd have to stake you if you stepped out of line," Bon Bon claimed calmly. "Y'know. Start losing your morals, start havin' trouble telling right from wrong. Stop carin' what you do or who you hurt."

Enny shot the earth pony a critical look. "Hmpf. Well, I suspect by now you know my daughter as well or better than I do. I suppose I will have to trust your judgement in that case."

"What? Mom!" Lyra pouted. "Can't I get some support here? Shark?"

"I used to be a monster hunter, remember? So don't start committing monstrous acts and you'll be fine." Landshark crossed her arms. "That metronome dig was borderline, y'know."

"Har Har. You're a riot. If you get to be a friendly ghost I can be a nice vampire. What about you, Bonny?"

"Hm." Bon Bon shrugged. "Ghost, I guess? I'll stick around and wait for you. But," she quickly added, "If I go earlier than expected, or things don't work out, I can keep my distance. I wouldn't be jealous if you found somepony else who can add some joy to your life. I'd just be a little scared to pass on by myself."

"You're too pessimistic, Bonny. We're gonna live a long time, and eventually we'll both look old and rickety like Granny Smith and spend all day sitting in the park leaning against each other." After a moment's consideration, she added, "I don't know what kind of life we'll be looking back on, then. But it'd be a nice capstone. Y'know, if being eternally good-lookin' vampires isn't in the cards."

Bon Bon only slowed momentarily in her work, and Lyra kept idly plucking at her lyre, but the two exchanged warm smiles. "Sounds good."

Landshark knew the two of them were in love, but perhaps this had been the first time one of them had given voice to that idea. 'I want to grow old with you.'

Enny appeared quite happy as well, smiling brightly.  "Well, just remember your mother when when you discover a means to cheat death, Lyra."

The big unicorn briefly looked wistful. "Although in truth, there are quite a few ponies I should like to meet again." She stepped closer to Bon Bon. "Bonny, you silly filly. It would be a great wrong if I outlived either of you." She clucked her tongue in mild disapproval. "If you believe that there might be something to fear beyond death, please believe that I will be there as well. You are a pony of worth, and a dear friend. Anypony or anything daring to trouble you, I would break them beneath my hooves!"

Finishing with an attempt at a joke, she turned to Lyra. "Spirit on spirit beatings should work, yes? You are the educated one, here."

"Little known fact, necromancy was banned after Celestia bet on the wrong ghost in a spirit knife fight at the faculty. Bloodless blood sports were the biggest draw before that, but the Princess is a sore loser." Lyra nodded sagely before rolling her eyes. "How would I possibly know that? Still, I guess it's a pillar of my world view that you'd find a way to throw your weight around to back us up if we asked, anywhere, any time."

Apparently Enny imagined some manner of afterlife not significantly less petty and violent than the living world. Landshark herself would probably just have assured Bon Bon that having lived a good, happy life would be enough to appease her departed friends, or whoever the mare was worried about facing. Given her own experiences in the Underfoot, the construct knew that the afterlife wasn't necessarily peaceful, however, and just being dead didn't turn anybody into a saint.

Bon Bon smiled wryly, obviously appreciating the reassurance, and perhaps amused by Enny's combative attitude. "Thanks, Enny." Before she could comment further, however, Lyra spoke up again.

"Y'know, I guess I always figured you'd live forever, or at least a considerably long time. Life's soft on you here, isn't it?" Lyra grinned, obviously joking. "No selection pressure."

"Hah!" Enny laughed. "True, we are the hardiest of ponies, and life in the north would be more dangerous, but even I must die eventually. I might outlive my peers here by a decade or two, however. The northern endurance, an easy life, and access to medical care. That does sound like a recipe for great age."

Landshark had no way to tell whether Enny had some kind of prejudice about her physical superiority to the locals or if ponies in the north really were a longer-lived breed. It seemed rude to ask.

Although she'd started that branch of the conversation, Lyra had fallen quiet upon hearing her mother talk of her own death. Children probably generally didn't enjoy thinking about that sort of thing. Maybe she was reminded of her father, who looked older than Enny and was a 'normal' unicorn besides. Landshark wasn't very good at judging that sort of thing, but neither of Lyra's parents looked anywhere near as old as Granny Smith, so the worry about their mortality probably wasn't acute yet.

"Licorice twists next, Bonny?"

"Sure."

To Landshark it looked like Bon Bon and Enny were going to have to keep a lot of plates spinning, but she wasn't the expert. Bon Bon probably wouldn't start more than she could finish, and Enny was more helpful in the kitchen than her daughter, it appeared. Considering that, perhaps this was actually less stressful than crafting wares for Bon Bon's store. The construct had never taken a real interest in the art of making candy.

"You really think you got a better life expectancy than average?" Lyra still seemed stuck on the previous topic. "Think that's hereditary?" 

"My turn to ask: How would I know for certain? The youngest pony in the room should not be thinking in seriousness about this. You worry too much, Lyra." The reproach was gentle, but it seemed to remind Enny of something. "Lyra, you know your mother talks a great deal, at times."

"She sure does!"

Enny grinned despite herself. "I speak proudly, because I have much to be proud of! But let's be serious for a moment, and speak plainly." 

Lyra's mother had been cultivating her stilted diction for a very long time, she'd explained previously. Inviting a little gentle ridicule kept ponies from being intimidated by her bulk. Landshark had known her for less than 48 hours and already it seemed a little unnatural to watch the big mare's smile fade and listen to her speaking more normally.

"I wonder if I hurt you. I don't understand it when you worry what other ponies will think of you, your life, when me and your father are so happy for you." The great unicorn shifted awkwardly. "Your father just thinks Canterlot wasn't as good for you as we wanted it to be. But I still wonder. Did I say things that hurt you? Does it make you self-conscious when I say that you're your father's daughter, and joke about other ponies being small?"

Seemed a little odd to go with that topic with company here, but Landshark supposed that Bon Bon was basically part of the family. The construct's presence didn't seem to bother the older unicorn either, so she, or Lyra talking about her, seemed to have left a trustworthy impression.

"No, mom." Lyra shook her head before continuing with a small smile. "You know, when I was little I remember wanting to grow up big and strong like you. I don't remember being particularly broken up about that not being in the cards in the end, though."

"Y'know, you could work out with me a little more often," Bon Bon offered. The earth pony maintained an excellent physical condition for a mare of her stature. Or so their mutual friends had observed, Landshark herself tended to have difficulty judging that sort of thing on ponies.

"Not everypony wants to go running at five in the morning, Bonny." 

"Well, that's not the only time. Berry doesn't seem to mind a workout, and she's not joining me before the sun's up, either." Bon Bon was a restless sleeper, and when she woke up early, she commonly decided to just go do something productive instead of trying to get more sleep. "You're just lazy."

"Guilty as charged." It wasn't as if Lyra was unhealthy or out of shape, so there was no pressing need for her to exercise more regularly. "Anyway, mom, I don't think I got any body image problems. Sure, you made fun, but I think I understood pretty early on that it's a matter of perspective, considering how long I assumed you were pretty much the biggest pony in the world and everypony else was normal. How'd you come up with that one?"

"I don't second-guess myself a lot," Enny explained with a shrug. "But I'm trying. Did it ever seem like I found your interests disagreeable? I never pretended to understand your fascination with obscure creatures."

"At least you never told me I'd grow out of it. Well, who's laughing now? Humans are real somewhere, I know a monster hunter with stories about weird encounters, and we live next to the Everfree. I got all the strange critter stories I can handle."

Technically it was two monster hunters, of course, but Bon Bon wasn't much for telling stories and hadn't decided to reveal her former occupation to Lyra's parents yet. She technically shouldn't have told Landshark and their mutual friends, either.

"Mom, you're kind of freaking me out." Lyra frowned, apparently not used to this kind of talk from her mother. "This really doesn't suit you. I've made mistakes, and I haven't dealt with other ponies as well as you would have, but none of it was your fault." The younger unicorn offered an encouraging smile. "You raised me right, I look up to you, and I wanted to be like you, but I was inexperienced and in over my head with Bonny. Caused me a lot of stress. I'm still sorry I hurt you."

Lyra's smile grew into her usual grin. "This is ridiculous. I can't even imagine you making any young filly feel self-conscious. Sure, sometimes I was bein' a brat, or throwing a tantrum, as you do when you're young or hormonal, but at the end of the day, you got a real talent for making a pony feel like they're just right."

"Y'got that right," Bon Bon agreed.

"You sure you weren't just fishing for compliments?"

"How rude!" Enny waved a hoof in mock-anger. "I am glad to hear it, however. I suppose I did do rather well with you, and so I shall take partial credit for the life you've built." She mirrored her daughters grin before aiming it at Landshark. "Can you understand how fortunate I feel? The love of my life has found great success. We lack nothing. Our house is a place of plenty. Our daughter makes us proud, and adds joy to the lives of others."

"So, I boast! Humility is for ponies with much to be humble about, I say. Let the nobles preen about their titles and their lineage. I, my friend, am nopony, but have added more value to this world I love than many who think themselves my betters!"

If anything, Lyra seemed relieved to have her mother back to her usual personality. Pensive hadn't suited Enny.

Landshark crossed her arms. "Laying it on a bit thick, aren't we?"

It seemed to be Enny's gift to have such great confidence without having it smother those around her. As Lyra and Bon Bon had agreed, the enormous mare wasn't in the habit of making others feel inferior or inadequate. Making them feel small couldn't always be helped, but as Enny had claimed previously, she had love to spare for everyone around her.

Still, she had seemed clumsy when asking Lyra whether any of her recent difficulties might be traced back to her. She probably was no better at understanding what made ponies tick than the average. By all accounts, she was very comforting to have around, of course, even when all she offered was kinship, as she had done for Bon Bon.

"Hah, perhaps, perhaps. I will not retract the words, however. It has taken many years to cultivate such confidence! Lyra, you are young yet, but in time, you will have lived through so much joy and seen such beauty, your heart will be as strong as mine." She nodded towards Landshark. "In the meantime, I trust you two will look after my daughter in case her fears return?"

"Sure, we got it handled," Landshark nodded. "Speaking of which, you probably should apologize to Twilight at some point about freaking out at her, Lyra."

"Ugh, yeah, fine. Eventually."

Enny approached Lyra, waited a moment for her daughter to set down her instrument, then wrapped her in gentle hug. "I really did wonder, little Lyra. I may be strong, but that does not make me insightful. I did not understand you. You and I, we grew up so different, I had to ask. I trust you when you say that all will be well."

"It's going to be fine, mom. I already patched things up with my old friends." Lyra leaned into the hug. "I love you. I'll fight anypony who doesn't think you're the best mom a pony can have!"

"I think, if we asked enough little foals, we would see that I am tied in this position with many other ponies." Enny released the hug and stepped back. "Have you decided what you will wear to the theater?"

"No, not yet. You want to help me pick?"

"Go on ahead. I'll be fine with the untrained help for a couple of minutes," Bon Bon nodded towards Landshark.

"I'm great at menial tasks!"

Once Enny and Lyra had excused themselves, Bon Bon sighed. "Y'know, we're really gonna feel the world diminish under our hooves when Enny passes. Still, she's got a lot of time left."

"I guess I don't disagree, but that was unbearably corny. Don't worry though, I won't rat you out, buddy."

"That did sound better in my head," Bon Bon allowed. Apparently attempting to change to a more positive topic, she continued, "I'm not going along, but Lyra's dressing up to look pretty for me, y'know? Special occasion."

"That's what you meant when you said it's always a fight to get you to go, but you always love it here?"

"Pretty much. Damned little in my life went the way I would have liked it, not until I met Lyra, and her family. I guess on balance I'm coming out ahead."

"Yeah, you said that before. Still, this does seem like the season to appreciate togetherness. So, what's the plan for the gift exchange?"

"Tonight, once Lyra and her dad are home." Bon Bon grinned. "Until then, I'm going to put your nose to the grindstone here."

Landshark twitched her jaw in a smile of her own. "I wasn't aware you could use that saying on others, but sure."