• Published 4th May 2012
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A Change of Face - TheDeinonychus



Since they first met, Bon Bon and Lyra have been in love. But is one of them hideing a dark secret?

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Part 2 -False Truths

A Change of Face

by

TheDeinonychus

Part 2

False Truths






Her hooves ached. She had no idea how long she had ran, or where she had run to. All Lyra knew was that she had to get away from that thing. From that house. A million things ran through her mind as she barreled onwards, not once bothering to look at where she was headed. Where had that changeling come from? How did it get into her house? But mostly, what had it done to Bon Bon?

That last thought gave the minty green unicorn pause. Just what had it done to Bon Bon? Memories of last month flooded back into her mind. Of that dark room in Canterlot, waking up inside that cocoon. The feeling of helplessness, of pain as she was slowly being drained of her joy, her love. Feeling the icy grip creep over her as she knew there was nothing she could do to stop it. A shiver ran up her spine as she tried to shake the thoughts from her mind. If Bon Bon was in trouble, if that changeling had taken her, she couldn't worry about herself. She had to try and save her.

It was only now that Lyra bothered to take stock of where she was. Her panicked flight from her house had taken her clear out of town. Dark shadows loomed around her. It should have only been a little past noon, but where she had gotten herself, the warm embrace of the sun did not reach. For a moment, she was reminded of that dark room where she had awaited her fate. The twisted trees and dense undergrowth told her where she had gotten herself: the most dangerous place for a pony to be outside of the Gates of Tartarus. She was lost within the Everfree Forest.

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Her eyes hurt. Her stomach hurt. But more than anything, her heart was in agony. It was a pain she had never known before. A pain that she had felt fleeting caresses of, but every time, there had been somepony to take her away. Somepony to pull her back from the sorrow and guilt. Somepony who had fled from the sight of her. Somehow, Bon Bon had managed to pull herself up the stairs and back into the bedroom she had shared with her beloved. The room they had spent so many nights holding each other in a warm, tender embrace. The room where that had all been taken away by a moment's weakness.

She threw herself upon the bed, tears that had already stained her cheeks now soaking into the bed sheets as she laid her chest and face upon them. She had never known something could hurt this much. That a pony's heart, even a fake one, was so fragile, and would splinter so painfully. Thoughts of the life she had in this friendly little town flooded her mind. Of meeting ponies who accepted her as one of their own. Of being with friends who cared for her. Of holding close to the one pony who made her life mean something. Had it all been just a lie?

The false pony looked up, over across the bed at the mirror set above the dresser. Just a few minutes before, it had shown her her shame. The face she had hidden from everyone, even from her own self if she could afford but to forget for a while. The face that had destroyed her life. Now, the unapologetic mirror showed her something far different, but no less painful. The ruin of that once dream-like existence. The dark stains that streamed down her creamy cheeks, marking the passage of tears. The frazzled and tossed mane that had never truly been her own. The shaking eyes, blue, but those of some pony whom she had never met, some pony who she had seen die while watching in secret. She was just a shadow of that mare, a lingering image trying to go through the motions of life with no memory of who she once was, who she would have been had things gone differently. The lie had crumbled under the weight of the truth, and it had taken her happy life with it.

Was this why changelings fed off of the love of others? Could nopony ever really love a creature like her? Slowly Bon Bon pushed herself up from the bed, choking back sobs as she made her way around to the dresser and that accursed mirror. The face that looked back at her, hers but not her own, was a wreck. The pain and anguish she felt were plain to see. Back in the Hive, no one questioned, no one felt, no one cared. Before she became the lie looking back at her from the mirror, she had done what was asked, had never thought about what it was like to be hurt, to be sad. To be loved. But now, now she had known what it meant to be loved. To be happy, to be sad. And now to feel loss.

She couldn't go back. Back to being just a mindless drone. Back to living a life where she felt nothing but hunger. A life that held no meaning for her anymore.

"N-no..."

The word slipped past her fake lips, the emotion behind them slight but true. The life she lived before coming here, before becoming a pony, that wasn't the life she ever wanted to have again.

"No."

More emotion, more feeling. This was her life. This was her face. Even if it wasn't the face she was born with. Even if it was borrowed from some pony who had no use for it anymore. It was hers, the tear-rimmed eyes, stained cheeks and all.

"NO!"

The feeling burst forth from her as she brought a hoof back. It landed hard on the mirror that spoke ugly truths to her. A spider's web of cracks danced across the glass in a flash as her hoof crunched into it. Her heart was racing with emotion, but not loss, not now. It was determination. She would never go back, could never go back to the sad excuse for a life she had had in the Hive. Her life was here, in Ponyville. Even if it had been all a lie, it was hers.

Bon Bon shook her head, her blue and pink mane flying about as she tried to clear herself of all the swirling thoughts and doubts that kept nipping at the edges of her resolve. She wasn't going to let everything just end like this. Even if Lyra hated her, if she never felt love again. Even if the whole of Ponyville found out about her dark secret. Through all the lies that made up this life of hers, she knew one thing was true. One thing that could never be false. She loved Lyra, and she needed to find her now!

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The dark shadows seemed to creep in on her, inching their way closer to her hooves with every step she took. Lyra nervously glanced about her as she made her way through the forest. The energetic panic that had gripped her once she had realized where she was and that her beloved Bon Bon might be in danger had passed. All it got her was lost deeper into the dense trees, having taken off at a full gallop in a direction she had hoped would bring her out of the gloom of the forest and into the warm, welcoming sun of Ponyville. Instead she found herself now gripped by a cold, nervous panic, as if changelings lurked behind every bush, behind every tree trunk, waiting to drag her back into a waiting cocoon.

She wasn't sure how late it was getting, but the few fleeting glimpses of sky she managed to catch between the thick forest canopy told her that night hadn't set in yet. But here, down on the forest floor, it might as well be midnight. The ground here was soft and covered with patches of moss. If anything, it just told her how lost she really was. This was not the packed earth of a traveled trail through the woods. It was the soft, root-lifted dirt of the deep forest. Silently she cursed herself for never forcing herself to take those advanced magic classes in school. If only she was better at teleporting, she could maybe send herself back home in an instant. The one time she had tried to teleport herself any further than a few feet, she had reappeared upside down with a singed mane. It didn't help that she had ended up in the air above a barrel of rain water. And even if she did make it back home, what then? Confront the horrible changeling she feared was still there waiting on her? The poor unicorn didn't know if she could manage that, not after what she had been through. What if she got back only to find her beloved Bon Bon in the arms of another Lyra? A Lyra with glowing green eyes and wicked fangs?

Rearing up to her hind legs, she pressed her forehooves to the sides of her head as she screamed at the thought. The idea of one of those things having its way with her sweet candy mare! She started to feel sick, fresh panic starting to rise up in her chest. She had to get back. She had to make sure her Bon Bon was alright, that those horrible things hadn't done anything to her.

Back on all four hooves, she closed her eyes, concentrating for a moment as the tip of her horn started to glow. The minty green glow grew, getting brighter and brighter, till soon it was as bright as any lantern. The light did little to banish the creepy, intimidating appearance of the forest around her, but it did at least make her passage through the thick brush easier. Her heart still racing, and with no way to know in what direction home was, the bedraggled unicorn picked one direction and headed off, hoping against hope that she would be able to save the mare she held most dear.

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Her hooves beat soundly on the cobblestones that made up the main streets of Ponyville as the creamy earth mare raced towards the large tree that served as the town's library. Bon Bon's chest was heaving as she pushed herself to go faster, hope that she could find her beloved there fueling her onwards. She hoped that, maybe, since the town librarian had been in Canterlot when the changelings attacked a month ago, and had been one of the ponies to drive them off, that maybe Lyra would look to her for help. She knew it was a long shot, but just maybe luck was on her side for once.

As she made it up to the front door, she nearly threw herself onto it. Holding herself up with one hoof, the other rapped hard at the wood several times, loud enough for the ponies next door to hear her.

"Please be here. Please be here. Oh please, please, PLEASE be here!" she gasped to herself, panic that she had made a mistake starting to set in. She was just about to start beating on the door again when it suddenly opened. Bon Bon had to stop her hoof before it collided with the lavender forehead of the town librarian.

"Bon Bon!" Twilight said as she looked at the ragged pony on her doorstep. "Um, what brings you here?" she purple unicorn offered up a pleasant, if worried smile to the mildly shocked and frantic earth pony.

"Oh no...um, h-have you seen Lyra? Is...is she here?" Bon Bon managed to stammer out, desperately trying to rein in her panic. This pony had seen changelings before. Not only that, but she had fought with them less than a month ago. In the back of her mind, the false pony worried that her stress and panic would let the unicorn see right through her glamor and that would be the end of her. Thankfully Twilight just looked her up and down for a moment, seeming to just take in her panicked state before she spoke again.

"No...I haven't seen her for a few days," the librarian said, leaning in a bit. The look on her face calmed Bon Bon's frantic mind a bit. It wasn't anger or fear or even disgust. It was worry. "Are you alright? Is something the matter?"

"N-no, it's just...I need to find her," Bon Bon gasped out before calming herself a bit. "I need to find Lyra. Please, I've got to talk to her!"

"Ok, ok! Just calm down," Twilight responded as the earth pony nearly threw herself at her hooves. "Just tell me what's wrong. What happened?"

Bon Bon bit her lip so hard she worried green blood would start running down her chin. "It's...I...we..." she stammered, mind racing to come up with some sort of excuse, another little lie to add to her life that would hopefully save her from the horrible truth. Twilight looked at her for a moment, eyeing her nervous, panicked face.

"Did you two have some sort of fight?" she said.

"Y-yes! That's it, we...we fought. Please, Twilight. I've got to find her. I've got to talk to her!"

Twilight sighed and nodded her head slightly. A soft, comforting smile spread across her muzzle as she looked at the worried earth pony. "Alright, I'll help you find her. Don't worry, she's got to be here somewhere."

Fresh panic gripped Bon Bon as she heard that. If Twilight found her first, and Lyra told her what she had seen.

"No!" Bon Bon nearly screamed before she got a hold of herself. "P-please. That...that's alright. Please, I need to talk to her first. Please, Twilight, it's important." If her secret got out. If anyone else knew what she truly was, it would be all over for the poor false pony.

"But why-" Twilight's questioning was cut off by a hoof pressed to her lips. Those soft blue eyes trembled, pleading with the lavender mare to accept this. The unicorn's mind wandered. Just what could be so important that Bon Bon didn't want any help searching for somepony she cared so much about? After a few moments, a sigh and a gentle nod signaled her acceptance of this. "Alright, Bon Bon. I understand."

"Thank you, Twilight. I...I know we're not friends, but I've never asked you for anything before. Please, if you see her, just let me know where she is. Please?" The sadness and worry in those eyes told Twilight all she needed to know, at least for now.

"You are a friend, Bon Bon. We're maybe not as close as I am to, say, Applejack or Rarity, but we're still friends," the librarian pony said with a tender smile. Bon Bon couldn't help but feel her head calm as she listened. Twilight may not have known what she was, but still, just hearing those words gave the worried false pony a sense of comfort after all that had happened to her.

With a new sense of hope, the earth pony took a step back, a faint smile gently caressing her muzzle for the first time since this whole nightmare had started. She turned, ready to continue her search for that which was most important in her life. Just a step or two away, she looked back to the smiling librarian. "Thank you, my friend." The words were heartfelt, something the disguised changeling wouldn't have thought herself capable of before coming here to Ponyville. With a deep breath to steady herself, she took off again, hooves beating hard at the street below her as she raced off to find her beloved.

Twilight watched her go, a warm feeling in her heart at seeing the love the earth pony had for her lover. But at the same time, another feeling, somewhere under her mane at the back of her skull, itched at her mind. Something was wrong, something hidden that had deeply troubled the cream-colored mare. But that would have to wait; there were two separated lovers that had to be brought back together first. Her horn glowed a soft violet as her magic started to pull the door closed again. With a turn of her head, she called up to the loft in the library.

"Spike! Find me that book on location spells, ok?"

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The darkness kept drawing closer. Even the magical glow from Lyra's horn couldn't seem to keep it at bay. Every step she took just seemed to get her more lost in this accursed forest. In the distance, through the tangled branches and strange bushes, she could hear things moving. Every sound set her on edge, her mane standing on end at the slightest crack or rustle. What little daylight had made it to the lost unicorn was starting to falter, the sun growing heavy in the sky, its rays weaker and weaker as they tried to penetrate the thick cover of the forest.

She had been wandering for so long, her hooves still aching from her frantic flight from home. From that thing in the bedroom. Even now she could see it in her mind's eye. Those ragged wings and hideous fangs. Those cold eyes drawing her in. To think that thing could have been there impersonating Bon Bon for days. Weeks. A shiver raced up Lyra's spine at the idea of such a thing. Of what it had done. Of what she had done. Once again she started to feel sick, her knees trembling for a moment before she had to force those thoughts from her mind. A changeling couldn't have posed as Bon Bon for so long. It couldn't have said those things to her, be so warm with her. There was no way she could ever mistake such a fake for the real thing.

Fresh resolve started to fill her limbs as she thought about it. That she knew who her love was, that a changeling couldn't make her think it was the pony she held most dear. A stamp of her hoof into the mossy ground helped her hold her head up high. She would find her way out of this blasted forest. She would make it back home. She would save her sweet Bon Bon. And she would never have to look into the cold eyes of a changeling again!

A smile started to creep across her muzzle as she felt sure of herself again. Her worry and panic were replaced with a sense of purpose now that her goal, her mission, had become clear. Once again she was the unicorn who had dared to love another mare despite what others might think. She was the one who had gone to Cloudsdale to see the competition after everyone told her unicorns couldn't walk on clouds. And she was going to be the one to save her beloved Bon Bon!

That smile had spread into a wide grin as she readied herself to take on anything the dark forest could throw at her. A smile that started to turn into a confused smirk as the glow from her horn started to dim slightly, the light it cast on the trees and ground dimming a bit. She watched, puzzled, as little sparks started to shoot off from the glowing tip.

"What the b-OWW!" she yelped, there was a loud fizz and a small jolt of pain raced down her horn to the back of her skull, making her wince and stumble down to her knees with the suddenness of it. It was gone in but a moment, but it was there just long enough to take all the self confidence she had mustered and send it tumbling back into the darkness that surrounded her.

As she slowly got back up to her hooves, the glow of her horn had returned to normal, but it did little to lift her spirits up again. The Everfree Forest suddenly looked even more dangerous than it had before...