57 - To Tie Our Fates
Lyra arrived at home and found Bon Bon preparing an arrangement of candies shaped like flowers. She smiled a little nervously. "Oh, hey hon. So..."
Bon Bon cut her off with a soft snort. "You're avoiding something, out with it."
Lyra shook her head. "I didn't do anything wrong, promise, but... I heard the bugbear got out again."
Bon Bon's grip on her confection became tight enough to shatter the sweet dessert. "What?! No no no. I have to go." She turned away from what she had been working on and fled into the back, and Lyra chased her.
"Not again! You're not leaving me." Lyra stomped the ground. "I'm going with you."
Bon Bon looked to Lyra, a sad little smile on her face. "You don't want that, and I don't want it for you."
Lyra rushed her, pressing in close. "I'll put up with anything if it keeps you at my side. We're best friends, remember. Best friends don't let each other just... go."
Bon Bon sank a little. "Lyra... This will be extremely dangerous. Hiding's not working. I'll have to fight."
Lyra grunted in annoyance. "Then I'm definitely not letting you go! Not alone! That's not how our friendship will work. I'll fight with you if I have to. I'll punch that bugbear right in the snout! I'll turn it into an orange! He's not taking you away from me... Not again..." Painful tears began to fall from her eyes as she gazed at Bon Bon. "Don't leave me behind."
Bon Bon took a slow breath before sagging in place. "You know transmutation magic, right?"
Lyra perked up. "Sure do! One of my patients even got me this, wait a moment." She hurried off and returned with the focusing crystal, showing it to Bon Bon by hovering it in front of her friend's face. "I can make you as big as the bugbear and keep you that large with this."
Bon Bon whistled appreciatively as she looked it over. "This must have put them back a pretty bit or three. They really love you, Lyra. If we go, we may not be able to come back for them. Are you sure you can handle that?"
Lyra clenched her teeth, glancing over her shoulder at the door she had come in through not long before. "I... Yes... Yes. I love them too, but they've grown since I started helping them. Lucy will keep them in order, and Sunny will be there to bring a smile. Even Sam will help them. He's fallen so deep, he'll understand the ones that know nothing but pain. They're... they're really an amazing group of ponies. They'll... get on without me, but I won't get on without you. I won't give up my best friend." She leaned in and rubbed the tip of her nose against Bon Bon. "And my future wife."
Bon Bon gave a slow nod and pulled her briefcase full of spy supplies out. "If you're sure. Absolutely sure... Please don't follow me, Lyra. I want you to be safe."
Lyra shook her head quickly. "I won't be! I won't be safe knowing you're out there, fighting, maybe dying, and I'm just sitting there, too scared to go with you. I'll... come back with you, or maybe not at all..."
Bon Bon's face hardened at the thought of Lyra's mortality, looking away. "I don't even want to think about that, Lyra. I joined the ranks to keep ponies like you safe. So you could all live long, happy... wonderful lives." Her eyes filled with tears as she stomped the ground. "Why can't you just accept what I'm working so hard to give you?"
Lyra advanced and threw a leg over Bon Bon, pulling her closer. "Because we're stupid little ponies, and we'll do anything for our best friends. You're one to talk about taking what's given. I'm giving you me. Until death do us part. I won't let you fight alone, not again."
Bon Bon clenched her teeth. "First rule of being an agent, don't die for your country, let somepony else do that." She turned to look at Lyra directly, staring her in the eyes. "Second rule of being an agent, you're not a soldier. Use your head, use your heart, use your guts. Third rule of being an agent..."
Lyra could barely hear Bon Bon over her muted sniffles and her the tears she tried to fight back but kept spilling anyway. When she noticed a pause in Bon Bon's talking, she listened to her heart and pushed forward into a fierce kiss. Bon Bon's eyes went wide before she melted into it, and the two came together in a moment of intense passion only matched by the fear and grief tugging at their hearts.
They parted from one another as Bon Bon took a shuddering breath. "Get your things together. We leave Ponyville tonight. If things go well, we'll be back soon, or we may never. Plan for both, and be ready in ten minutes. Lyra."
Lyra looked up. "What?"
Bon Bon smiled a bittersweet smile. "You are one stupid little pony. I'm glad you're mine."
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
1,003 users online
1,429,663 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
6168155
Hrm, so why did he bring it to the meeting? Everyone there was no danger to him. Unless he's secretly a mad villain or something.
6168198
He's very cautious, possibly too cautious.
Blueblood could've put him in serious trouble, being a noble. Lyra could have been deranged like Starlight Glimmer, but in a much subtler way. And any of the other patients could've gotten violent.
Lyra being deranged is the only one where he'd likely be against the entire group, but he could pick and choose who gets hit by using his magic to lower them before the bomb goes off. For him, the safety would be worth the damage to his reputation, especially since he could just leave at any time, blend into the crowd, and work to fix his and other changeling's reputations from a safe distance.
And it ends. Fun ride. I was happy to be a part of it.
Actually, maybe calling on the Once-Humans to help fight the bugbear might be a good end for this arc. And maybe once-humans prepping for the wedding could be a sequel arc?
Interesting that you finally decided to jump on an endpoint for this story. It had a good run, though I know you wished your other stories were nearly as popular. I can only wonder what else you have planned.
woot woot a vary good ending.
good job on a super good story.
Harts Fire
Actually, the ending seemed a bit abrupt. The bugbear thing seems more like the climax than the ending.
I agree with 6168224.
Actually...
It might be best to create a split-constant-sequel pattern. I.E. create another story titled "It's okay to be a Pony" and copy-paste the chapters dealing with Lyra's growing acceptance that these people aren't hallucinating. Then another story called "It's okay to push back universes" or something, copypasting chapters from that arc, then "it's okay to settle down" which would run from the end of the second story to Bonbon and Lyra's wedding. Then if you wanted, you could create a sequel to that called, I dunno, "It's Okay to something something." Even if you didn't want to, splitting this into a trilogy would give a firm base for a theoretical FiMfic group if they wanted to write stories in this universe. I know that I had more planned for Amanda.
And honestly, this does not seem like a good end-point. Too cliff-hangery.
6168256 When did the presence of a cliff hanger, or lack thereof, determine good endings? A lot of stories end with cliffhangers and the idea that life doesn't abuptly end at the finish line. Even 'And they lived happily ever after' has the faint promise of -something-. I don't feel that's a fair criticism. And, I dunno. I feel annoyed because I thought it was a touching end to a lot of things, even if you don't want them to end, without really ending them. Lyra set down her funny hat and stepped away to be with Bon Bon, but there are still once-humans, but there is more support for them, and that story can go on, without her. Her life is entering a new chapter, and this part of her life, this story, is done.
Completed?
Nooooooooooooooooooooo!
You can't dangle Amanda's existential horror in front of me like that, then yank it away! So cruel!
The third rule! What was the THIRD RULE?!
GRRRRR!!!!
6168271
Stories that end with cliff hangers are usually part of a series. Stories that end with "and the adventure continued" are more acceptable. And, honestly? This is a really blunt end that doesn't flow from the rest of the story. Yes, Lyra is joining Bonbon out of love... and that's great, but it's not the point of everything else we read. And we're leaving dozens of dangling plot threads: What happened to Robin and Sam? Will Amanda ever recover? How many shenanigans are going to happen at Lyra and Bonbon's wedding? This... this is basically ending the story right before a promised climax.
And really, how many of the once humans are just going to sit by and let her run off to fight a monster when they could join her? That would tie the two plots together very naturally and nicely.
The point is, this would be a good ending if the story was focused on Lyra and Bonbon's emotional struggles. But the story isn't. This is the wrong ending for this story.
6168311 Sorry, when was this not about Lyra's struggles mostly from Lyra's PoV?
NOOOOOooooo..... I finally got the set up in order to rejoin all the collabs. A day too late. This was a fun ride though. Thanks for sharing it with us. Though this doesn't really feel like an ending especially with how episodic this fic was in the first place.
6168271
Well, some cliff hangers can leave enough things in the story resolved, yet create enough questions, that they're both satisfying endings and points to create new ideas or sequels.
This ending left almost everything open. What's going to happen to Sam? How will the connected world situation get resolved? How will Amanda handle everything going against her beliefs? How will the once-humans ultimately feel about their fate, in the long run?
The only question I can think of that you answered is: "How would Lyra deal with humans transformed into ponies coming in for therapy?" And that could've been handled in the first few chapters with the main cast before any of the collabs started. Now that you've gone this far, it might've transformed into a different story.
6168321
When you added gender/age transformation, different dimensions, species conflicts, collabs, etc. By that time, we already had enough of a feel for Lyra's interactions to know how she'd handle once-humans and other things, so things like why everything was happening became more interesting.
Ehhhhh, this doesn't quite FEEL like an ending at all. Story wise there are still a bunch of dangling threads with all the other characters and the fact this ends right before something as big as a monster attack feels a bit of a let down.
I think this story could go for another few chapters yet. Such as, Lyra and Bon Bon setting off to fight this bug bear, but some of the humans go off with them. I tell ya a team up of john de arch, a hyper prepared changeling, and a multi dimensional mage would be one heck of an ass kicking crew. Not to mention all the others would want to help too. Lyra is their friend, and so is Bon Bon by that extension. They will fight to keep them safe.
And after that adventure and battle, the story could wind up to Lyra and Bon Bon's wedding, as all the ponies and humans panic and help plan this amazing event. During this time some more Humans could find their calling or make peace with their lot. Then this story could end after that, when Lyra and Bon Bon are married and Lyra is off to another meeting with the humans.
I think that would be a better way to end it. Probably anywhere from 8-10 chapters, round 80,000 words would be the best.
Sad to see this story end. I hope we can get a sequel fic in the future!
6168290
I think it would be never fall in love. Love is most dangerous thing for a spy or special agent because it can divide an agents loyalty. The Power of Love is not always good.
6168321
Oh it is about Lyra's struggles from her point of view. But it's about Lyra's struggles with the once-humans, and Bonbon is a side plot. This ending only addresses that side plot, not the main plot.
This is chapter 52, right? Let's say you want to up it to an even 60. You can have one chapter for the Once-humans to become aware that Lyra's leaving and decide "We're coming with you too," one chapter where the whole group travels across some strange terrain with camping stops, one chapter where they fight and defeat the bugbear, and then the last five chapters can be combinations of final sessions and getting everything ready for the wedding, culminating in the big day itself. That would give all of Lyra's actions up to this point, all her friendmaking, some real impact. Right now... this ending makes it all seem pointless.
6168353 That would certainly make sense, yes.
But I still want official word on this! DAVID SILVER!!!
6168311 Here's a thought I think the point here is that endings are sudden. And that everybody (every pony?) else just goes on.
6168437
This isn't some high thinking philosophical piece of literature here. This is a story about characters dealing with an unusual circumstance and how they cope and grow by themselves and with each other. To end here would be like ending Star Wars a New Hope right as they escape the Death Star.
6168250 A bit!? This was ridiculously abrupt!
I am LOVING the whole "Best Friends" reference to the 100th episode!! <3
Always leave them wanting more...
Ending here? Huh... well I could see it for THIS story, but I won't lie, I do want to see more of the group, particularly some of the newer ones like Amanda, Amour, and Simon, etc., as they adjust (because ones like Amanda and Amour certainly still have a ways to go). Maybe... you could just start a new story about the group from a different POV, like Lucy's, she certainly could take charge of the group (which would be quite silly to see as well, but she's very strongwilled, so I could see it). Hope that doesn't sound like I'm being super needy or anything, it's mostly just that I really do like this bunch of OCs you've got here and want to see more of them. And like I said, those newer characters aren't necessarily in a good place. I'd especially be disappointed if the penultimate chapter were Amanda's last, she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown worse than any of her others.
Let me just put this out there as well, if this was a matter of it getting too difficult to update this once a day, just don't do that, whether you continue this fic or start a new one starring these characters. A chapter a day is insane, and you've kept up with this incredibly consistently, but really you shouldn't be asked to do that, especially if it's making you not want to keep updating. I'm sure I'm not the only one of your readers who feels this way.
6169942 Heh, you realize this is only one of several stories being updated at such an update speed?
6170218
Going through your library, I realized that you seem to update most of your stories at this pace, so I guess I just don't know how fast you write. My bad.
6170224 Not much an insult there, just saying I'm an unhealthy person that writes compulsively.
6170252
Gotcha, fair enough.
I really enjoyed reading this. Thank you.
To be honest... a lot of your stories don't have endings, they have ends.
I think it's a symptom of the fact that you write serials, not single plots. So the rising action-climax-resolution is a little muddled, and the last step may not feel like the "end" but it is usually a sort of conclusion.
6168321
Lyra is the POV character, true, but wasn't Watson the POV character for the Sherlock Holmes books? Yet, they aren’t generally about Watson' s struggles. The series always seemed like it was about the once-humans, with Lyra being the camera that brings them into view and focus.
6171340 It was always about their struggles -through that lens-. This story would be little more than another HiE fic without that lens.
Well I'll be sad to see it go, and I'll miss being able to find a new chapter waiting for me every day.
But, my only real complaint is that it isn't really a resolution. The story just kind of abruptly stops, with about 90% of the characters still in the middle of things. And even Lyra, the viewpoint character and the one around whom this ending is based, is basically about to jump into yet another adventure, and one that might be bigger than all the rest of the things she's done in the story.
In many ways I don't mind it, I just think it's worth mentioning that it doesn't seem like much of a conclusion.