Devotion

by _Undefined_

Chapter 9 - A Love That Will Always Endure

The following months were a whirlwind of activity. Lyra and Bon Bon were in agreement as to which date they wanted their wedding to take place on. However, that date was less than five months away, so the first thing they did was check to see whether town hall was available. Fortunately, it was.

The second thing they did was ask Rarity if it was even possible to order two wedding dresses on such relatively short notice. Rarity responded that ordinarily, that kind of timetable would be a little tight. However, she also admitted that she had previously imagined ways to outfit the two of them – the idea of designing a pair of wedding dresses that complemented one another had captured her imagination. It was a creative challenge she couldn’t pass up, so she sat down with the couple that very day to learn what they wanted and create the initial sketches.

The Cakes confirmed that they would be able to create a wedding cake for the appointed date. And Lyra and Bon Bon already knew that Pinkie Pie would say yes. She would have been able to plan everything in a week’s time, let alone in multiple months’ time.

During each meeting with a new vendor, Lyra savored the opportunity to tell the story of how Bon Bon proposed to her. Including the part where Bon Bon had hurried back to their home region in Equestria not only to buy the garnet for her betrothal necklace, but also to stop in Canterlot to ask for permission from her parents to marry their daughter. As her parents had later told her, they hadn’t been expecting Bon Bon to formally ask for their blessing. But naturally, they said yes. In fact, Lyra’s father had practically shoved her out of the house so she could “get to proposing already.”

Bridesmaids were selected (Rarity already had ideas for their dresses, too), invitations were sent, flowers were ordered, and everything came together. Twilight Sparkle even agreed to officiate the ceremony. Lyra and Bon Bon were worried about how Mayor Mare would react when they broke the news to her – especially because they also needed to ask her if she could be on reserve in case Twilight was called out of town at the last minute on official royal business or an Equestria-saving mission – but the mayor was very understanding about the fact that a princess outranked her. She even put a positive spin on it by pointing out that she didn’t get to attend many weddings simply as a guest.

Lyra and Bon Bon weren’t sure whether they wanted bachelorette parties – since they loved doing everything as a couple and didn’t have eyes for any other ponies, they couldn’t think of any good activities to do while separated from one another. But their bridesmaids came through. Mrs. Cake and Golden Harvest took Bon Bon to a gourmet cooking class, where she learned to make exotic new entrées. And Lemon Hearts, Minuette, and Twinkleshine invited Lyra and Moondancer to Lemon Hearts’ home, where they all gathered together for a sleepover reminiscent of their foalhood days, complete with board games, gossip, and makeovers.

Before long, a very special day arrived – the anniversary of the day they became marefriends. It was about to also become the anniversary of the day they were wed.

The night before, to ensure that the two brides wouldn’t see each other ahead of time, Lyra had been taken to Twilight’s castle while Bon Bon stayed at home. The morning of the wedding, the bridesmaids kept the two ponies separate and attended to while Rarity raced back and forth to ensure that the dresses were flawless. After their initial consultation with her, Rarity had insisted that Lyra and Bon Bon meet with her separately for each of their fittings. Even though it was difficult for the couple to not share everything with each other, they were both going into the day with no idea how her bride would look when she walked down the aisle.

After careful coordination to get Lyra and Bon Bon into town hall without seeing one another, the guests took their seats. Rather than two sections of seats with an aisle down the middle, the chairs were set up in one large configuration in the center. Too many of the invitees were friends of both Lyra and Bon Bon, so it didn’t seem right to make them pick sides. Additionally, because neither bride wanted to walk down the aisle before the other, the two decided it would be more meaningful if they both came down the side aisles at the same time to meet in the center at the dais.

The spacious hall amplified the sound of the guests’ quiet chatter. When Octavia Melody started to play gentle music on her cello and Twilight Sparkle took her place atop the dais, the sound of chatter dissipated and the ceremony began with the brides’ mothers walking down the aisles and taking their seats in the front row.

Next, the bridesmaids began their entrances. Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were the first to walk down the aisles. Twinkleshine stood on Lyra’s side of the dais while Lemon Hearts, who, of Lyra’s foalhood friends, had grown the closest to Bon Bon, agreed to stand on Bon Bon’s side to keep the numbers balanced. Then Golden Harvest and Minuette took their places in front of the guests.

While there wasn’t a formally designated matron of honor for either bride, the next ponies down the aisles, Mrs. Cake and Lyra’s sister Chorine, had unofficially taken on the role for the ceremony. They stood next to their fellow bridesmaids.

Then Pound Cake, who served as the jewelry bearer, and Chorine’s daughter, who served as the flower filly, started to make their way down the aisles. While both were old enough to be instructed on what to do, neither was old enough to be trusted to do it without supervision. So they were followed at a short distance by Mr. Cake and Chorine’s husband, each ready to intervene if the foals became distracted. Luckily, the children made it to the front without incident and the fathers did as good of a job as they could of remaining inconspicuous.

At that point, Octavia switched to the familiar bridal chorus. All of the guests stood and turned to look back at the nearest aisle. In tandem, Bon Bon and Lyra entered, each accompanied by her father.

The first thing that both Lyra and Bon Bon did was try to look at her bride. However, because all of the guests were standing, they could only catch brief glimpses of one another. So they turned forward to focus on proceeding down the aisle and remembering each moment.

Bon Bon looked up at her father next to her. She could see by the look in his eyes that he still wasn’t quite entirely at ease with everything that was happening. Still, the fact remained that not only was he willing to acknowledge her marriage to Lyra, he was walking her down the aisle. She smiled.

When they each reached the end of the aisle and turned toward the dais, Lyra and Bon Bon finally got to see one another in full. It was all they could do to not run toward the center. Instead, each took in the beauty of her bride.

They wore matching dresses of white duchesse satin in a traditional bell silhouette. Over the tail of each dress was draped a single layer of sheer tulle dyed in a gradient matching the colors of their coats – Lyra’s was green at the bottom transitioning up to yellow at the haunch while Bon Bon’s was yellow at the bottom transitioning up to green at the haunch.

Each had her mane styled for the wedding. Instead of the two large curls that it usually ended in, the top of Bon Bon’s mane was separated into three narrower curls per color, although the pink curls were still on one side while the blue curls were on the other. The curl at the bottom of her mane was also tighter than usual. The more striking change of hairstyle was on Lyra, whose mane ended in multiple small curls at the bottom. The top had been tamed and rolled under into two spirals, one on each side of her horn, framing her face. Each pony wore an identical translucent veil over the back of her mane that was topped with a string of small beads in a repeating pattern of pink, cyan, blue, and white.

Once Lyra and Bon Bon were around the corner, their eyes were locked on each other. It was a good thing they had already rehearsed the procession the day before, as determining where to step was a distant second on their list of priorities. As each father took his seat in the front row, Lyra and Bon Bon met in the center and stood facing one another on the dais. They didn’t speak, but their eyes expressed identical messages: You look gorgeous.

Twilight Sparkle, who was standing on a platform one step higher, said, “You may be seated.” The guests sat down and she began her speech.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the union of these two ponies.” She looked down at the brides. “I know that for many of us, when we think of them, it isn’t as Lyra alone or Bon Bon alone. To us, they are ‘Lyra and Bon Bon.’ Today, we make it official.

“We’re all familiar with love. It’s one of the most fundamental equine emotions. Every day, we hear stories of love, and, if we’re fortunate, we get to experience some form of it ourselves, whether it be the love we share with our families, the love we have for our friends, or the love we feel when we’ve found a very special somepony. We hear about it so often, it’s easy for us to get the impression that love is simple and commonplace.

“But we must never forget how complex and spectacular love is. Time and time again, I have seen love do extraordinary things. Love can turn an enemy into a friend. Love is powerful enough to protect a whole empire from the chilling winds of the frozen north. And it wasn’t all that long ago that an outpouring of love transformed an entire species, turning them from predators to allies.

“I’ve been in the unique position to witness examples of the many different types of love at all magnitudes, from casual passing love to love that’s as strong as a raging fire. By this point, I’ve seen these various types of love more times than I can count. Yet I wouldn’t even need all of my hooves to count the number of times I’ve seen a love like the love Lyra and Bon Bon have for one another.

“I’m reminded of a quote that’s attributed to Aristrotle: ‘Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.’ Whether Aristrotle ever actually said it or not is up for debate, but it doesn’t matter. The reason it’s endured all these centuries, and the reason ponies still repeat it, is because it rings true. And no two ponies exemplify that quote better than Bon Bon and Lyra.

“Bon Bon and Lyra each know the other as well as she knows herself. I have never been in the same room as the two of them at a time when they were not perfectly in tune. In fact, I asked around, and as far as anypony in town has seen, these two are always on the same wavelength. When I relayed this finding to them, they told me that that isn’t true. But when they told me that, they were finishing each other’s thoughts and sentences. So I rest my case.

“At a wedding, two ponies make a pledge to join together and become one. But for years, Lyra and Bon Bon have demonstrated that they are two halves of the same whole. This wedding simply confirms what we already know to be true: There is an unbreakable bond between these two. I may say the words today that unite them in the eyes of the law, but I’m not changing anything. In their hearts, Bon Bon and Lyra are already one. That is the love they share.”

She levitated two rolled-up pieces of parchment, one tied with a green ribbon and one tied with a yellow ribbon, in front of her. “Now it’s time for the brides to read their individual vows. When Lyra and Bon Bon gave me these vows, they assured me that neither had seen what the other had written. They asked me to choose who would read first. Instead, I’m going to do something a little unorthodox.”

She untied the two pieces of parchment and passed them to the two brides. It was the first time Lyra and Bon Bon had broken eye contact since the ceremony began.

Twilight addressed them directly. “I’ve marked your vows with multiple stopping points. When I direct you to read, keep going until you reach one. Then wait until my next signal to resume.”

She pointed toward Bon Bon. “You may begin.”

Bon Bon started to read. “When I moved to Ponyville, I was alone. I had always been alone, and I assumed that I would always be alone. But then, one night – one wonderful summer night – I saw an amazing pony. A pony with an enthusiasm for life that I wish I had. You know, I almost didn’t say hello to that pony that night. I figured a pony as interesting as her wouldn’t want anything to do with me. But even though I didn’t think I stood a chance, I said hello. And I’m glad I did. I am so, so glad I did.”

Twilight pointed toward Lyra.

“There are very few ponies who can truly say they’ve found their soul mate. I always assumed that I would be one of the ones who never did. I know that I’m different than the average pony – what were the odds that I’d find anypony who ‘got’ me? Let alone a mare who would want to marry me? But then I met you. From that very first night, I knew that I wanted you to be a permanent part of my life. I could only dream that it would actually happen. But Bon Bon, you’ve made my dreams come true.”

Bon Bon again.

“I couldn’t believe how lucky I was when that pony agreed to be my friend. I thought, ‘Life can’t get any better than this.’ And then that pony agreed to be my marefriend. And I thought, ‘Life definitely can’t get any better than this.’ And now, that pony has agreed to be my wife. And once again, I find myself thinking that it isn’t possible for my life to get any better than this. That’s what you do, Lyra. You make ponies’ lives better.” She looked at her parents in the front row. “Especially mine. And even though I can’t imagine how it would be possible, I know that every day we’re together, you will keep making my life even better than it already is.”

Lyra again.

“Ever since you came into my life, I’ve loved every moment we’ve spent together. When the two of us go out to see a show, there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing. When we go shopping for food, there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing. Even when we’re just sitting in the living room, reading our own separate books… because you’re there with me, there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.”

Back to Bon Bon. They continued to alternate.

“My vow to you is that I will do everything I possibly can to try to make you as happy as you make me.”

“Every day that we’re together, no matter what we do, you make me happy. My vow to you is that you will always know how grateful I am to be your wife.”

“No matter what – in good times and in bad – when you need me, I will be there for you. There is nothing and nopony as important to me as you.”

“No matter what may come our way, I will do everything in my power to show you just how much I love you. You are my world. There is nothing and nopony anywhere that could take me away from you.”

“And that is why I pledge to you,”

“I make this promise to you,”

“with all of Equestria as my witness:”

“in front of all Equestria:”

Twilight pointed to both of them at the same time. Together, they said:

“I will be with you for all eternity.”

The two brides put down their parchments and looked at one another, their eyes glistening. Twilight gave everyone in attendance some time to process what they had just seen.

Finally, she continued. “Do you Lyra, and do you Bon Bon, take the other to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and to cherish, and be joined together as one?”

They looked each other directly in the eyes. Together, they answered, “I do.”

From the pillow that had been brought up with Pound Cake, Twilight levitated two identical necklaces. The heart-shaped garnet from the betrothal necklace had been symbolically cut in two. However, Lyra and Bon Bon hadn’t wanted the gemstone to be split down the center – they didn’t want it to look like a broken heart. Instead, the cut was made vertically along the length of the stone, but at an angle. The pieces were still predominantly heart-shaped, but they each had a small section of the right side missing to indicate that they were incomplete without the other.

Twilight placed a necklace into the hoof of each bride. Together, they lowered their heads and simultaneously draped the necklace over the head of the other. All of the practicing they had done with stand-in pendants in order to get the motion perfect had been worth it.

As they stared into each other’s eyes, Twilight declared, “Two halves of the same whole. I now pronounce you spouses for life. You may share in your first wedded kiss.”

There was no hesitation. As the two kissed, the guests began to applaud. After a not insignificant length of time, they finally separated.

Twilight addressed the guests again. “I present to you the newly wedded Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon. Go in peace and love.”

Octavia resumed playing her cello while the couple recessed together down one of the aisles and through the doors to the outside. The plan was for them to go around and back into town hall through a rear door, where they would wait in a small meeting room while the wedding party and guests made their way out and prepared for the reception.

It was in that room that they shared in their second kiss as a married couple. And their third. And their fourth. And their fifth.

---

The guests waited outside while Pinkie Pie transformed the layout of town hall from a collection of chairs in the center of the room to a reception area with tables, chairs, a buffet line, stage lighting, and dance floor. It took her less than fifteen minutes.

As the guests entered and took their seats at the tables, they admired the wedding cake that Sugarcube Corner had prepared. Lyra and Bon Bon hadn’t budgeted for an ornately decorated five-tier cake, but after all of the business Bon Bon had done with them over the years, the Cakes were happy to give the couple a heavily discounted price. The cake topper had been sculpted to specifically resemble Lyra and Bon Bon. It depicted the two of them side by side, each holding up a foreleg intertwined with the other’s. The entire cake topper was crafted from one piece of material. The two ponies depicted in it were inseparable.

Once everyone had been seated, the other seven members of Trots of Life took the platform that now served as a stage. Melody Fusion reintroduced the happy couple, who entered to a rousing round of applause. As they made their way to the head table, Lyra had a wide smile on her face, clearly enjoying all of the attention and affection they were receiving. Bon Bon simply blushed, although she also had a smile on her face.

Next, Lyra’s father stood up to thank the guests for attending. The brides were toasted and the meal began. Occasionally, ponies would begin to clink their silverware against their glasses to signal their desire to see the married couple kiss. The first pony to lead a round of clinking was Lyra herself.

As the meal wound down, Melody Fusion announced, “Now, I know these two can’t wait to get out of here and head to Saddle Lake for their honeymoon. But before they do, we have some very important speeches and dancing to get to. For the first speech and dance, it is my honor to introduce my bandmate and my friend: Lyra Heartstrings.”

Melody motioned to the head table, where Lyra stood up on her chair in order to be better seen. “Thank you, everypony, for joining us on this wonderful evening. I know that I speak for Bon Bon when I say that we are overjoyed to have so many great friends to share this day with us.” Bon Bon nodded.

“This date is especially meaningful to the two of us because it’s also the anniversary of the day we started dating. Four years ago today, we both realized how we felt about each other – Lemon Hearts, stop snickering – and from that moment on, I got to be the marefriend of the greatest mare in the world. Well, I’m here to announce that those days are over. Now I get to be the wife of the greatest mare in the world.”

Bon Bon interjected, “I’m sorry, but that isn’t true. I get to be the wife of the greatest mare in the world.”

“Agree to disagree. The point is, we wanted to get married today because this date holds a very special place in our hearts. And each year on this day, there’s a tradition that we have – something we do to celebrate our anniversary. Of course, since we weren’t able to see each other before the wedding, we haven’t been able to do it yet. And since you’ve all been so kind to celebrate with us today, we wanted to share our special tradition with you right now.”

Minuette and Twinkleshine let out a suggestive “ooh.” She shot them a look. “Oh, knock it off.” She turned back toward the guests. “Every year on our anniversary, we give each other a gift that celebrates us being together. They’re always the same gifts – that’s because we wouldn’t want anything else. First, Bon Bon gives me her gift: Special candies she makes just for us.”

The waitstaff began to bring out trays of the yellow, blue, and pink bonbons that Bon Bon had prepared in the days leading up to the wedding. They placed a tray at each table.

“These will never be for sale. In fact, after tonight, they’re going back to being made only for Bon Bon and me. I recommend looking inside of them to understand why they mean so much to us.”

There was delighted murmuring at the tables as the guests figured out what made the candies so unique. Once everyone, including the married couple, had a chance to eat one, Lyra continued.

“After that, I give my gift to Bon Bon.” She levitated her lyre up from underneath the table. “A song that I wrote for us. I’m never putting it out on record and I’ll never write it down. After tonight, I’m only playing it for my wife.” Her smile grew bigger. “Oh, does that feel good to say. My wife Bon Bon.”

The two left the head table and stepped down onto the dance floor, Lyra bringing the lyre with her.

“Because the song was written for the two of us, we know what each of the parts of it mean. But since you’re not us, we’ve arranged for some visual aids.”

The two took their places standing on opposite sides of the floor. A spotlight shone down on each of them. When Lyra began to play “her” section of the song, the spotlight over Bon Bon dimmed. When she moved on to the section of the song that represented Bon Bon, her spotlight dimmed and Bon Bon’s became bright again.

Then came the part of the song when the two melodies became shorter and faster. The brightness of the spotlights changed in conjunction with the changes in melody. And as the melodies changed, Lyra and Bon Bon took turns stepping toward one another until the final note sounded and they were face to face.

Each placed her right foreleg over her wife’s withers and tilted her head to the left. With her head resting against Bon Bon’s mane, Lyra began to play the part of the song in which the two melodies merged. As both spotlights joined together to shine on one single location, the two ponies slow-danced together. Their first dance as a married couple.

At the point where the song would have ended, they didn’t stop. Instead, the other members of Trots of Life joined in for the first and only time the final section of the song would be played with an entire band’s worth of instruments.

The two continued to dance, each mare’s focus solely on the mare next to her. Reflecting on the life they had already spent together. Knowing that no matter what, they would always be there for each other. Each taking comfort and joy in the fact that for the rest of her life, the pony she loved would be by her side.

Even though the band was nearby and even though they were surrounded by tables full of ponies, they paid attention to none of it. In that moment, as far as Lyra and Bon Bon were concerned, it was simply the two of them.

Unified.

Comments

[Fullmetal Prime]

Lovely little ending you sure know how to write a romantic drama

[Nein]

Yet another great story from Undefined, an underrated author! Thank you for this, I enjoyed it!

[Queensarrow]

Neat.

I wonder if you can follow up on the other Lyra?

[_Undefined_]

8756089

I wonder if you can follow up on the other Lyra?

All of the outlines I have remaining in my series are about pony Lyra and Bon Bon. I wouldn't be averse to revisiting the human couple, but I haven't yet had any great inspirations for stories about them.

Still, since I've moved pony Lyra and Bon Bon a few years into the future, that means their human counterparts have gotten older, too. Where do I think they'd be...

After graduating high school, Bon Bon and Lyra immediately moved in together while Bon Bon attended business school (with the goal, naturally, of opening her own candy shop). Lyra never became as proficient at the lyre as her pony counterpart, although she does share her desire to find ways to create happiness in the world. While Bon Bon worked toward her degree, Lyra did her part by taking care of the apartment and finding assorted odd jobs in order to help pay the bills.

She's had a couple of jobs that she hoped she would enjoy enough to make a career out of them (working for Pinkie Pie's party-planning business, maintaining Walks of Life's presence on social media), but so far, she hasn't found the one thing that she wants to spend the rest of her time with. Other than Bon Bon, of course.

...Boy, that's not particularly uplifting. No wonder I've been paying more attention to the idealized pony world.

[Queensarrow]

8756944
Hmm... I always liked the idea that Lyra's Cutie Mark was for poetry or possibly song writing, something lyrical anyway. Or you could have Human Lyra interpret her talent differently, such as becoming a teacher (poems and songs were once used to record history and preserve knowledge), or maybe instead she reverses the roles, Lyra becomes the secret agent and BonBon stays the civilian. You have been keeping to canon in the background as far as I can tell. With the Equestria shorts and specials Human Lyra could be helping with that somehow. She did learn some magic after all.

[Captain_Cosmos]

The Cakes confirmed that they would be able to create a wedding cake for the appointed date. And Lyra and Bon Bon already knew that Pinkie Pie would say yes. She would have been able to plan everything in a week’s time, let alone in multiple months’ time.

Of course pinkie could, she’s pinkie pie.