Lyra’s Journey

by _Undefined_

Chapter 7: Dilemma

Bon Bon invited Starlight Glimmer inside and explained the situation.

Admittedly, they were confessing to some activities which, once Bon Bon said them out loud, sounded extremely surreptitious. Starlight probably reacted more rationally than other ponies would have, given the circumstances. But Bon Bon could tell that even though Starlight didn’t raise her voice in any way, she was making a concerted effort to keep her emotions in check.

Starlight agreed that the best course of action was to get the two Lyras back to their home worlds. As the three were about to leave for Twilight’s castle, Bon Bon remembered to make sure Lyra took the bag of chocolates with her. Lyra levitated the bag in front of her as she began to walk.

“You came here from another world and learned unicorn magic?” Starlight exclaimed. The alarm in her voice suggested that she was reconsidering her willingness to let Lyra freely leave Equestria.

Lyra raced for an explanation. “This is all I learned how to do! And humans don’t have horns, so I won’t be able to use it once I go back! I just wanted to know what it was like to be a unicorn – I’m sorry!” She wasn’t sure how to convey innocence – hold up her front hooves? Cower down on the ground?

The genuine concern in her eyes (and in Bon Bon’s eyes) convinced Starlight to believe her… for now. Starlight led the two back to Twilight’s castle, where she reactivated the portal.

Bon Bon had resigned herself to the fact that her Lyra’s scheme was no longer a secret, but Lyra felt obligated to make a plea on behalf of her otherworld counterpart. “I don’t suppose there’s any way you would be willing to just keep this between us?” she asked Starlight.

“No,” Starlight responded. She kept her tone firm but kind. “This is something that Twilight is going to want to know about. And I can’t exactly ignore the whole trespassing thing, either.”

Lyra frowned, but nodded in understanding. As she turned toward the portal, Bon Bon gave her a hug good-bye. “It was nice meeting you, Lyra. It’s about time for my Lyra to come back – let her know that I’ll be here.”

“I will. Thanks for everything.” Lyra hugged Bon Bon back. She then took the bag of chocolates from the air and walked up to the portal. She turned around, waved one last time, then stepped through.

---

Canterlot High School wasn’t completely closed for the night – the drama club was holding a late rehearsal – but nobody was outside to notice Lyra emerge from the base of the statue with a bag of chocolates in her mouth. She looked at her surroundings, then looked down at her body. She was both relieved and disappointed to be a human again.

Taking the bag in her hand, she ran home, eager to see her parents and her belongings. As she turned the last corner and approached her house, she slowed down when she saw the lights on and realized that there was already a Lyra inside. How was she going to switch back without calling attention to herself?

Instead of going to the front door, she snuck around into the backyard. She knew the back door would be locked, so she looked up and saw that the light was on in her bedroom. She tried to think of a way to get the other Lyra’s attention without getting the attention of her parents.

She remembered that whenever this situation occurred in the movies, the character would throw a pebble at the window. But where would she get something the size of a pebble? There weren’t any rocks or acorns in the backyard. She reasoned that she could throw one of the candy-coated chocolates, but that seemed like a waste of Bon Bon’s gift.

She walked back out to the street, where she found a couple of stones by the curb which looked small enough to not break the glass. She took them to the backyard and, positioning herself so she could make a beeline for the side of the house if her parents came out to investigate the noise, threw a stone up toward her bedroom window. It made a distinct, but not too loud, thunk.

In the bedroom, Lyra and Bon Bon were on the second-to-last problem of their algebra homework. Bon Bon had come over after dinner both to make sure Lyra’s homework was completed and to confirm that they would be talking to Sunset Shimmer tomorrow about getting the portal reopened. It had been a big day for Lyra, so Bon Bon hadn’t yet found a good opportunity to deliver the bad news that it was time for Lyra to tell Princess Twilight that she snuck through to this world.

The sound of the stone hitting the window caught the attention of them both. Bon Bon got up to take a look.

Outside, Lyra saw the curtain open. When she saw Bon Bon’s face peek through, she was so excited, it was all she could do to keep from shouting her name right then and there.

“It’s Lyra!” Bon Bon exclaimed, then clamped her mouth shut when she realized Lyra’s parents could have overheard her. Lyra got up from the desk to look outside. Bon Bon opened the window.

“We’ll be right down!” Bon Bon whisper-shouted. From the backyard, Lyra nodded, and Bon Bon closed the window.

Bon Bon and Lyra headed downstairs and toward the back door. “Where are you headed?” Lyra’s mom asked conversationally.

“Uh,” Bon Bon replied, “we thought we saw a dog in the backyard.”

“If there is something out there, let me know and don’t get too close,” Lyra’s dad said. “It could be a wild animal.”

“Okay, dad,” Lyra said.

The two went outside. As soon as she was through the door, Bon Bon ran to Lyra, firmly wrapped her arms around her, and kissed her. Lyra eagerly reciprocated.

“I was so worried about you,” Bon Bon said. “How’d you get back?”

“Well…” Lyra said and released her hold on Bon Bon. Bon Bon took that as an indication to do the same. Lyra turned to her pony world twin. “We had to ask Starlight Glimmer. Sometime after I came through, she saw that the portal was open and turned it off. Bon Bon and I didn’t know how to turn it back on, so we had to tell her what happened.”

Ponyville Lyra felt the bottom of her stomach fall out. She looked for a place to sit. She settled for just dropping down onto the grass.

“I’m so sorry,” human Lyra said. “We tried to think of some other way. We really did.”

“No, I understand,” Ponyville Lyra said. “We couldn’t think of anything here, either – we were going to have to contact Twilight tomorrow. I’m just… ohhh…” She put her head between her knees.

Bon Bon and Lyra walked to either side of Ponyville Lyra, knelt down, and each put a hand on one of her shoulders. “It’s all right,” Bon Bon said. She wasn’t sure whether that was true, but she didn’t know what else to say.

Human Lyra remembered the bag in her other hand. “Here,” she said, opening it and offering it to her double. “Your Bon Bon made these.”

Ponyville Lyra looked in the bag, took a chocolate, and popped it into her mouth. “Thanks,” she said, smiling a little.

Human Lyra offered the candy to Bon Bon, who also took one. The three sat in silence for what felt like half a minute.

“I filled in for you at school today,” Ponyville Lyra said, trying to change the subject.

“Oh, thanks,” human Lyra said. “What did I miss?”

“Lectures. Homework. Bon Bon understands it better than I do.”

“That’s usually the case,” human Lyra said.

“We had an assembly today,” Bon Bon said. “This traveling band played all of these weird instruments I’ve never heard of before.”

“Yeah, I guess you need to know,” Ponyville Lyra said. “Their music was really energetic and infectious. I kind of… grabbed your lyre and started playing with them.”

Human Lyra wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“You should have heard her!” Bon Bon said. “It was like she had always been a part of the band. Everybody cheered.”

“I sort of got caught up in the moment,” Ponyville Lyra said apologetically.

“Don’t worry – she didn’t make you look bad,” Bon Bon said. “In fact, she was so good, the band asked her to join them, right there on the spot!”

“I can’t…” human Lyra stammered. “I mean, you didn’t…”

“No, they just gave me their card and told me to think about it,” Ponyville Lyra said.

Human Lyra considered that for a moment. “I don’t think I’m that good,” she said.

“You aren’t,” Bon Bon said. If anyone else had said it, Lyra would have been offended.

“Plus, my parents wouldn’t let me quit school,” human Lyra added. “It’s too bad—” Suddenly, she stopped talking, then held up a finger, indicating that she was formulating an idea. “Wait a minute.” She looked at Ponyville Lyra. “There’s no reason you couldn’t join.”

Ponyville Lyra and Bon Bon just stared at her.

“You’re the one who played well enough to be in a band,” she explained. “And if they travel around, you wouldn’t have to worry about there being two Lyras in town.”

Ponyville Lyra was overwhelmed by the implications. If she wasn’t already sitting down, she would have needed to sit down. “I did wish that I could have said yes to them right then and there,” she said, mostly to herself. “And if I never go home, then I can’t get in trouble…”

Ponyville Lyra stared at the ground. Bon Bon looked at human Lyra. Human Lyra smiled proudly.

“This is a lot to think about,” Ponyville Lyra said. “I can’t make this decision right now.”

Bon Bon asked, “Do you want to go back to the pony world, then come back here if you decide to join the band?”

Ponyville Lyra turned her head toward Bon Bon. “Now that Twilight knows I used the portal, there’s no way I’ll be able to sneak through again. If I go back to Equestria, then I’m never going to get to return here.” She turned to the other Lyra. “Can I hide in that bedroom across the hall while I think about this?”

Human Lyra shook her head. “Mom uses that room to store her painting supplies. She could walk in there at any time.” She looked at the house. “I can’t think of anywhere you can hide where my parents definitely wouldn’t find you.”

“Maybe I can help,” Bon Bon said. “We have that guest room in the basement. There’s no reason for my parents to check in on it. If you don’t make any noise, you should be able to hide for the night without my parents knowing you’re there.”

“Really? Oh, thank you,” Ponyville Lyra said. “I just really need some time to sort this all out.”

“All right then,” Bon Bon said. “You stay out here while Lyra and I go in and finish our homework. Then I’ll come get you and take you to my house.” The three stood up. As Ponyville Lyra watched them go inside, Lyra asked Bon Bon, “How am I going to explain how I was suddenly able to play my lyre so well at school tomorrow?”

“Just say some kind of unexplained magic took over,” Bon Bon said. “After everything else that’s happened this year, people would believe it. Or you could quit playing Cookie Collision so much, practice a lot, and play that well for real.”

After they went inside, Ponyville Lyra walked around to the side of the house, out of sight from the windows. She sat down against the siding and tried to put her thoughts in order.

Not too much later, Bon Bon came outside and got her. The two walked a couple of short blocks to where Bon Bon lived, another two-story house with an exterior of uniform-looking horizontal strips of wood.

The stairway to the basement was past the living room. Bon Bon opened the front door, looked to make sure her parents weren’t there, then motioned for Lyra to follow her. She led Lyra to the stairway, then signaled for her to go down the stairs and wait.

Lyra did so. Once she was at the bottom, she stepped to the side so she couldn’t be seen from the top of the stairs. She appeared to be in some kind of rec room space, with a home bar and a treadmill off to the side. There were also three closed doors.

Lyra heard Bon Bon greet her parents. Lyra thought that Bon Bon would then immediately come back downstairs, but she didn’t. Presumably she was waiting for the coast to be clear – after all, if there was no reason for Bon Bon’s parents to normally come down to the basement, then there was no reason for Bon Bon to be in the basement, either.

After a few minutes, Bon Bon finally met Lyra at the bottom of the stairs. Silently, she led Lyra through one of the doors into the guest room. She pushed the door shut without latching it.

“Here you go,” she said quietly. “There’s a window up there,” she motioned toward the top of one of the walls, “so don’t turn on any lights. And don’t make any sounds. If my parents found out I was sneaking what looked like my girlfriend into the basement, I don’t know how I would explain myself.”

Lyra cupped both of her hands over her mouth. Bon Bon smiled.

“I’ll come back down here in the morning before I go to school,” she said. “Good luck with your decision.”

Bon Bon left and closed the door behind her. Lyra flopped down onto the bed, stared up at the ceiling, and thought.

---

In the main library of Twilight’s castle, Bon Bon was standing vigil at the portal. It had been over three hours since the other Lyra had left, and her Lyra still hadn’t returned.

Starlight Glimmer stepped in through the doorway. “I’m going to bed,” she said. “You’re welcome to stay here for the night if you want.” Which was true, although considering the subtly alternating expressions of worry and determination on Bon Bon’s face, Starlight knew she wouldn’t have been able to get Bon Bon to leave anyway.

The hours passed. Bon Bon never sat down. She always faced the portal. Her body told her it was time for sleep, but her brain never allowed her to nod off for more than a few minutes at any given time.

As the night neared its end and Bon Bon continued to stare at the portal, doubts started to worm their way into her mind.

What could possibly be taking Lyra so long?, she thought. Why wouldn’t she immediately come home? Is there something in that world that’s holding her up? What exactly is in that world, anyway? Just a bunch of weird devices. Weird devices… that the human Lyra sure did love. A lot. More than anything here… No. My Lyra wouldn’t become so attached to ridiculous gadgets in just a couple of days.

Except… other Lyra and my Lyra are practically the same. And if the other Lyra was so addicted to human gadgets, then that means my Lyra is just as likely to become addicted. But even if she loved their gadgets, Lyra wouldn’t give up everything she had here just to stay there, right? How much better could the human world really be? It’s the same as Ponyville, just with a bunch of ape creatures. Ape creatures… that Lyra always wanted to see. That she always wanted to be among.

Lyra has been making such a big deal lately about trying to find her place in life. But she wouldn’t really think that her place in life is living with those humans, would she? Just because she was so excited to see what it was like to be human…

If humans think that the human world is better than Equestria… and if Lyra is now a human…

The morning sun’s first rays began to peek through the window.

If Lyra wanted to come back, wouldn’t she have returned by now?

---

It was the middle of the night. And even though Lyra was lying in a comfortable bed, safe in a guest room, she couldn’t fall asleep.

This is the opportunity I’ve always wanted, she thought. This is my purpose. I wasn’t born to just play the lyre. I was born to play the lyre so others could be happier. Not just pleased, like every time I’ve played my lyre in Equestria. Genuinely happier. Like today. With a band that understands me. Where I can make a difference.

And this world… this world is everything I’ve dreamed of. Humans are everything I hoped they would be. There’s so much here, so much to see and do and learn… way more than I’ve learned in just four days. If I leave, I’ll never get to experience any of it.

Everything I’ve ever wanted is in this world. The only thing this world doesn’t have… is Bon Bon. Well, this world has a Bon Bon, but she’s other Lyra’s Bon Bon – not mine. And I don’t feel that way about her, anyway.

Lyra pictured her Bon Bon in her mind.

Can I really leave Bon Bon behind forever? She’d understand, right? She knows this is my dream. If Bon Bon had the chance to live her dream – if she had the chance to become Equestria’s premier candy maker, but she had to leave me behind to do it – I wouldn’t stop her. I couldn’t stop her. It would hurt, but I’d do it for her.

But is it fair to expect her to do that for me? I know we feel the same way about each other. If I would do something for her, then Bon Bon would do the same thing for me.

Bon Bon…

In the moonlight, Lyra looked at her human hands. And clasped them together.

Comments

[Emperor]

Well, Lyra's going to 'face the music' either way, pun definitely intended. But of course for this kind of story, it's pretty much almost a guarantee that she'll have found her inspiration from her impromptu lyre play and decide to return home.

Besides, if Twilight wants to punish her, she can always point out that there seems to be no issue with Sunset Shimmer being in the human world

[Pr1deM0rn1ngstar]

Well I was wrong about the twilight level freak out but this is trespassing to very difficult Waters well even more difficult than already is but you get the point