Interrupted Programming
Bon Bon put a bowl of salad on the table, then she put away her apron.
Back at her house, Bon Bon and Lyra sat at the dining table, ready to eat fresh salad with some apple juice. There was not much else they saw in this humble abode; the usual trappings like pictures, books, television set, and potted plants hung around.
Lyra rolled her eyes and groaned, hoodie and shades back on her form. “Really?!”
“As they say,” Bon Bon began: “Eat your greens.”
Lyra stretched her arms, cracked her neck. “I know they’re good for me, but what about you add bacon bits? Couldn’t you do that?”
“And risk you puking?” Bon Bon replied with a raised brow. “Not here.”
“They’re just little, teeny-tiny, inny-weeny pieces of bacon!” Lyra shouted, rubbing two fingers to show how small they were.
“Yeah, and a little, teeny-tiny, inny-weeny drop of poison can have adverse effects on your body,” Bon Bon fired back.
Lyra then stabbed the salad bowl with her fork, pouting in discontent as she ate straight from it, munching slow and loud, all with a piercing glare directed against her friend.
Bon Bon gave off an unamused face. “Looking at me like that won’t make me pity you.”
Then, without taking her eyes off her friend, Lyra stood up from the chair, grabbed all the dressing bottles, put them on the table, sat back down, and drizzled her empty plate with everything there: sour cream, ranch, salad cream, peanut, ginger, and so on. She stabbed another forkful of salad, smashed it on her plate, rubbed it against the mish-mash of dressing soup, and ate her rather overwhelming and stinky bite of greens.
All while glaring at her friend with exaggerated eyes and lips—of course, she took off her shades for that.
Bon Bon remained unfazed. “Throwing tantrums won’t work.”
“At least it tastes good now!” Lyra shouted.
Beep!
Bon Bon took our her phone. With a look of surprise, “Huh? A text from the vice principal?”
Lyra rubbed her mouth with her bare hand, careful not to stain her jacket. “Classes are canceled tomorrow, aren’t they?” She moaned and covered half of her face. “What’re we gonna do?!”
“Wait.” Bon Bon held up her hand. “Keep eating.”
Lyra rolled her eyes again and kept eating.
Bon Bon read the text.
The next thing she did was pull out of her chair, go across the living room, lock the front door, close all the windows, turn on the lights, and go back to the table.
Lyra eyed her suspiciously. “Uh, what’re you—“
“Sh!” Bon Bon placed a finger on her lips. “Luna’s texted me and everyone else in the Model CHS Club.”
“So the four of you?” Lyra asked, pestering a little. “Did you get in trouble?”
“Not just us,” Bon Bon said, lowering her voice to a vicious yet clear whisper. “All of us are in trouble.”
Lyra gasped. “Did someone hack into the school’s network?!”
“Worse.” Bon Bon glanced at the text on her phone, rubbing her head. “Luna’s assigned the four of us to act in case of a catastrophe.”
“Is there an earthquake coming?!” Lyra said then ducked under her table. Shuddering under her flimsy cover if debris would fall, “Is there a fire?!”
“Not even close!”
Bon Bon dragged her prone friend out of her uncomfortable zone.
Lyra floundered on her chair, and then got up and sat back down. Facing Bon Bon with wild eyes, “Wh-What is it?! Tell me!”
Bon Bon let out a sigh. “When I tell you what’s going to happen, promise me that you won’t scream, freak out, or do anything dumb. Promise?”
“I’ll even make a Pinkie Promise!” Lyra pleaded.
Bon Bon shook her head. “No need. Just promise, OK?”
Lyra clattered her teeth, bit her nails. With a small nod, “I’ll try.”
Bon Bon pulled a chair closer to her and sat down. With clasped hands on the table and after three sighs of trying to think of something workable: “We’re turning into magical ponies.”
Lyra blinked.
She laughed, slapped her knee. “Great one, Bon Bon!” and raised her hand for a high-five.
Bon Bon left her hanging and lowered her hand. “I’m not joking, but I wish I was. Luna herself confirmed that much.” With that, she showed Lyra the text on the phone.
It read: To all MCHS Club students: Magic is being spread in the city via the “cold”. This cold is changing people into ponies and perhaps other magical creatures from Sunset’s dimension. I’ve texted you and other persons about this so that we can prevent or at least minimize any trouble this will cause.
There were more texts underneath, but Lyra looked away, blinking rapid.
Shivering, breath caught in her throat.
Lyra screamed and ran to the counter. She hid under it, tucking herself away from Bon Bon’s sight.
She heard footsteps, closer and closer.
“No!” Lyra shrieked, holding her hands on her head. “I’ve already had a horrible time back in Equestria! I don’t want to repeat it!”
“Well, we’re going to have to get used to being ponies again,” came Bon Bon’s stern voice as she appeared. “She even sent another text about how to walk on four legs in case one of us is already a pony.”
“In case?!” Lyra shouted.
Her eyes went wide. She inhaled a huge gulp of breath.
“That’s why everyone’s acting weird!” Lyra said, rising up from the counter. “That’s why everyone’s becoming leaf-eating savages!”
Bon Bon gave her a knowing glare. “You better stop using that phrase.”
Then, Lyra went to the wall and leaned on it as much as she could. “What’s gonna h-happen? When is it happening?!” She stretched her already ruffled hair into more ruffled proportions. “Are we doomed?!”
“Luna told us to wait for Sunset Shimmer and everyone else,” Bon Bon said, walking to her side to lean by her. “Their ‘secret’ field trip? Turns out they’re hanging out in Equestria.”
“What?!” Lyra slumped down on the floor. “Our heroes aren’t even on the planet?!”
“Inconvenient timing. I know.”
Bon Bon then sat down beside her, both of them now sitting against the wall and staring at a fridge, some spatulas, and a couple frying pans.
“All we have to do now,” Bon Bon said, “is weather this one out until they come here. Luna’s already contacted them; they must have something.”
“But how long are we going to wait?!” Lyra replied, becoming hysterical. “What if they’re late and we’re all ponies?! You...you can’t just ask me to be cool with being a pony!
“Hey, at least you’ll be a unicorn,” Bon Bon said, being a little casual. “As far as I remember, I didn’t have a horn or a pair of wings when I stumbled into Equestria.”
Lyra threw her hands down. “OK, I’ll give you that, but that’s still a pony!” She spread her arms out in disbelief. “I don’t have any idea how magic works, so if I turn into a unicorn now, what am I going to do?!”
“Maybe it’ll just come to your mind,” Bon Bon said, “just like how Twi and everyone else didn’t read a book on magic to defeat fantasy creatures.”
Lyra groaned again. “I can’t just—neigh!”
And covered her mouth.
Bon Bon looked at her, jaw dropped. “Did you just...neigh?”
Lyra nodded, eyes half-closed, about to sneeze.
Then, she was glowing.
Bon Bon stood up, stepping back from her and raising an arm to shield herself from the brightness. “Wh-What’s happening?!”
The light grew, Lyra becoming engulfed in the glow.
Poof!
It was gone in a flash.
Bon Bon opened her eyes and saw Lyra again on the floor, rubbing her head and moaning.
Lyra the unicorn, that was.
Bon Bon looked at all the doors and windows, saw no one, then kneeled down by Lyra’s side. “A-Are you alright, Lyra?!”
Lyra groaned, rubbing her eyes into wakefulness. “Uh...wha?”
Bon Bon felt the sweat on her forehead as she got her phone, looking for some contacts. “Uh, we may need to hide you for a while.”
“Hide me?” Lyra asked, raising a hand in confusion. “What do you—“
And saw that her hand was a hoof.
“I-Is that...aah!”
Brought both of her forehooves into view.
“Aah!”
Looked up and saw her horn.
“Aah!”
Spun her head around and saw her mane, her cutie mark, and her tail.
“Aah!”
Then, she looked at Bon Bon, teary-eyed.
“H-Help me!” Lyra shouted, holding both forehooves out to her. “I-I don’t know how I can live like this!”
Bon Bon closed her phone and put it in her pocket. “Good thing we closed everything. No one’s gonna see you for now.”
“Y-Yes!” Lyra yelled, closing her eyes. “Now—woah!”
As she was picked up by Bon Bon who was straining under her weight. “You’re quite heavy for a pony!” and then she brisked up the stairs.
“Where are you taking me?!” Lyra screamed over the floor, feeling weightless and helpless in the air.
“To the guest room!” Bon Bon shouted. “Stay there and be quiet while I’ll make sure no one’s catching on!”
Lyra gulped, seeing the hallways recede as they moved.
Lyra was plopped on her bed.
Her bedroom was basic. Aside from a backup lyre, a couple unfinished knitting projects, and a rack of mainstream CDs, there was not much that differentiated her bedroom from others’. At least the wall was painted mint green just like her coat of hair; it also smelled like mint, too.
Bon Bon looked at the pony, seeing her still shuddering as she looked upon her hooves, about to blubber into tears again.
“B-But, why?!” she shouted, tears pouring down.
“Sh!” Bon Bon put two fingers on her lips. “If you keep acting like that, the neighbors are gonna hear us and they’ll come knocking!”
Lyra shrank back, almost falling to her pillow, shaking her mane with her head. “A-Are you going outside?”
Bon Bon glanced at the door and looked down. “Not really. Only if there’s an emergency going on.”
“Isn’t this an emergency?!” Lyra shouted, pointing a hoof at her muzzle. “Your friend just turned into a pony out of nowhere and you’re wondering about emergencies outside?!”
“Quiet!”
Lyra stopped, her ears drooping.
Bon Bon slapped herself on the head. “Sorry, Lyra, but—“ sighed “—this is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” She stood up and paced on the floor, seeing Lyra’s trailing stare at her. “Sure, there was the Fall Formal, the very night when we realized Sunset was a magical unicorn from a magical land and that she wanted to brainwash us into becoming her zombie slaves. Sure, there’s the Battle of the Bands and we realized we were brainwashed again by a band who were magical sirens from a magical land and were also probably a thousand years old. Sure,” becoming long-winded, having paced half a dozen times across the room, “there’s the Friendship Games and Twilight Sparkle becoming a monster who almost ripped our world apart out of sheer curiosity, Camp Everfree with Gloriosa Daisy becoming Gaea Everfree, Juniper Montage terrorizing a mall because she wanted to star in a movie, Wallflower Blush mind wiping all our good memories with the classmate who’s a magical unicorn—“
“Just get to the point!” Lyra broke in, then becoming exhausted. “What do you want to say, Bon Bon?”
She halted. Took some time to ponder. Then: “I think this is the biggest disaster about to spill over, and you know what?”
“What?”
Bon Bon walked to the bed and sat down beside her pony friend.
“Lyra, I’m scared.”
Lyra’s rigid face crumbled. She gulped, ears folding. “Y-You’re thinking we got lucky all those times, aren’t you?”
“Exactly,” Bon Bon said with a nod. “I feel like, this time, we’ve run out of lifelines.” Gesturing a hand towards the outside, “Sunset and her friends are in another dimension, reality...whatever, and, from the looks of it, they’re probably stuck there for a while since Luna talked about a broken portal and what not.”
Lyra gasped. “You’re saying this is gonna be permanent?”
Bon Bon raised her head to nod, then decided not to do that. “I hope they come back—that’s how they always do it in the movies, right?” Then, she sighed. “But this is no movie.”
Lyra choked. She rubbed her neck, placed a hoof on one of her eyes.
She cried.
Tears falling to the bed, to her hindhooves.
Bon Bon looked on, seeing Lyra sit on the bed, face covered with her hooves barely muffling her sobbing.
She picked the pony up and held her with both arms. “There, there—“
“No!”
“Agh!”
And Bon Bon dropped her.
Lyra fell to the floor with a thud!
“Oh, no!” Bon Bon kneeled down to pick her up. “S-Sorry, Ly—“
“Eh, I-I’m fine,” Lyra managed, raising herself on four hooves. “That didn’t feel too bad, really.”
Bon Bon blinked, then went back to the bed. “If you say so.”
Lyra flicked her tail, irritated at Bon Bon. “Next time, though...I may be a cute pony, but I’m not cuddly-wuddly!”
Ding-dong!
They turned their heads to the door.
Lyra cringed. “Sorry back to you for screaming, Bon Bon!”
She stood up. “It’s OK, Lyra.” Turning to the pony: “Just stay here and don’t do any magic or whatever. Only open the door when you hear my voice.”
Lyra looked at her hooves, inspecting those fingerless limbs. “How will I open the door?!”
Bon Bon did a double take. “Oh. Right.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Just stay here.”
Moments later, she was out of the bedroom and Lyra was alone.
She sighed, looking down at her hooves again. “Ugh. Time to practice more horse walking.”
Lyra paced the room in a slow trot, going around as she waited.
Bon Bon walked through the living room and to the front door. She opened it.
And saw four Shadowbolts standing right there, Sugarcoat in front while wearing a backpack. “Good morning, Bon Bon.”
“Good...morning…?” She made a horrible attempt at greeting them with a sloppy wave. She shuffled around to see what Sour Sweet and Indigo Zap were holding.
A big luggage bag on wheels.
Bon Bon recoiled. “This isn’t the time for a sleepover.”
“We’re not here for a sleepover,” Sugarcoat said in deadpan. Looking over Bon’s shoulders, “Where’s Lyra?”
“She’s got the real cold,” Bon Bon said, checking her nails as a distraction. “It’s gotten worse and she had to stay in bed—“
“We know about Luna’s text.”
Bon Bon gulped. Then, with twirling hands, “Get inside, quick!”
The Shadowbolts hurried themselves inside and settled down on the couches, putting their bags on the carpet.
Bon Bon locked the door, unlocked and locked them again just to make sure. She pulled on the door knob, realized she was on the wrong side of the door, then left it alone.
Lemon Zest stood up, moving to the kitchen. “Where’s the fridge here? Do you have any grass jellybeans?”
“Grass jellybeans?” Bon Bon muttered. Turning to the other Shadowbolts and jerking a thumb in her direction, “What is she talking about?”
Sour Sweet grunted, stomped over to the kitchen, dragged Lemon back to her sofa, then mouthed the words, “We’re watching you!” at her friend.
Lemon shrugged her shoulders and turned up the volume on her headphones.
Bon Bon sighed. “So, you’re the ‘other persons’ Luna talked about, no?”
Sugarcoat crossed her arms. “Some of them, yes.”
“But how did you know I received her text?” Bon Bon asked, pointing at herself.
“It’s elementary,” Sugarcoat said. With eyes closed and correctly adjusted glasses: “Vice Principal Luna would, of course, notify more people involved in Canterlot High than not because of your close associations with magic. That was the easy part. The hard part was knowing who those people were, especially in the absence of Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle along with their friends.
“In the event that they cannot be notified or are unable to come to our aid early on, Luna would have to turn to a second tier of CHS students and staff, and after considering who’s in what year and what their average behavior was, one would land on the school clubs.
“The perfect club to help out in a potential world-ending scenario would be the club that would garner the least amount of attention but would, in the long run, be consistent with its contributions to everyone else.”
She pointed at Bon Bon.
“Your club meets those criteria.”
Bon Bon took a step back. “And how is the Model CHS club best when it comes to stopping the end of the world?”
Sugarcoat crossed her legs. “I only need to know the personalities of the club’s members: you, Bright Idea, Scribble Dee, Octavia.” Counting the traits with her fingers: “Level-headed, calm and collected, and leaning towards the superego when endangered—or, in short, does not panic—plus being able to unite a crowd under the right circumstances.”
Indigo placed a hand over Sugarcoat and took her turn to speak to Bon Bon. “Before she bores you to death, we chose you first because you were the closest one when she figured it out. No complicated explanation—“
“I did my best to simplify,” Sugarcoat interrupted, pushing the hand out of the way.
Bon Bon then sat down with them. “OK, but that still doesn’t explain why you’re here or what the bags are for.”
“We’re here because we need to help each other out,” Sour said, rubbing her hands in fear. “We were warming up to you girls anyway, but when magic goes haywire...” sighed, “we need you.”
Indigo pushed her on the shoulder. “That’s way too sweet for you.”
“It’s team up or die!” Sour shouted, making Indigo fall off the couch.
While Lemon pulled her fallen classmate back up, Bon Bon asked, “That still leaves the bags. Why are they here?”
Sour glared at her, eyes dagger on. “First things first: Is Lyra a pony?”
Bon Bon gulped. Then, she nodded, biting her lip, avoiding that, well, sour glare.
“What’s she doing?” Indigo asked.
“Staying put in the bedroom,” Bon Bon said, nudging her eyes towards the stairs. “So far, she’s caused no trouble.”
Sugarcoat sighed. “Good to know. Sunny Flare turned into a unicorn at the mall’s parking lot. Fainted on the spot when she realized what she was. Took some creativity to get her out of sight without being seen.”
“And you wouldn’t wanna know how we got this luggage!” Indigo boasted, hand on the bag.
“But in case you want to know,” Lemon said cheerfully, “there was this rich guy who parked in his limo and—“
Sour glared at her, teeth seething. “Don’t.”
“We still got the plastic bags and crayons—“
“That’s far too much information,” Indigo said, cringing. Turning to Bon Bon: “All you need to know is that we got the luggage and no one saw Sunny.”
Bon Bon looked at the luggage, gesturing to it. “So she’s inside.”
“Sleeping,” Sugarcoat added.
“Some kind of hole technology keeps her breathing,” Indigo said nonchalantly.
Lemon then touched the luggage with a light finger. “Shouldn’t we, you know, make sure she’s OK?”
“Oh.” Indigo rubbed her chin. “Good point.”
Then, Sugarcoat went out of the couch. She unlocked and unzipped the bag.
Opened it.
Bon Bon took a close look.
There slept Sunny Flare, a light blue unicorn with a mulberry mane, her sun-like cutie mark the same as her hair clip.
Bon Bon held up her hand to her own mouth. Then, she held a hand to her head and sat down, slowly turning her eyes away from who was before her. “No...n-no...it can’t be real...but it i-is!”
“We better hope your pony friends come back soon,” Indigo said, elbow on her knee. “Else, you know what’s gonna happen.”
“I mean, we’re all vegans now,” Sweet said, smiling quaintly. Then, turning sour: “Until we become vegan ponies, too!”
Ding-dong!
The Shadowbolts exchanged glances.
And closed the lid fast, zipped and locked the bag as Bon Bon stood up and went to the door.
“Huh?” came a muffled voice from inside the luggage. “Hey! Where am I?!” Bag jumped an inch. “Hey!”
“Sh!” Bon Bon put three fingers on her mouth now. “Better keep her quiet, girls!”
“Who’s that?!” Sunny Flare asked, trapped in the bag. “Wait...I recognize a CHS student anywhere! Where are my fin—what?! That wasn’t a dream?!” The bag jumped again, a few inches higher this time. “Bon Bon, I am not your little pony!”
Indigo and Lemon chuckled a bit, only to be slapped by Sour Sweet in revenge.
Then, Bon Bon opened the door. “Oh, Octavia! How are you doing?”
Blast!
“Woah!”
She turned around and saw the bag disintegrated, a frazzled pony left on the table as she found her footing—or, rather, hoofing—on the table, about to stumble over though the other Shadowbolts grouped around her, whispering and muttering.
Octavia looked over Bon Bon’s shoulder, carrying a huge backpack. “I won’t be alone for long, then. Vinyl’s a pony and she’s inside my bag.”
Bon Bon groaned and smacked herself on the head.
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...I want more.
Being the responsible of a pair gives you resistance?
...I wonder which of the principals is going first, then.
9095257
Celly
So far we've got three ponies (that we know of) and all three are unicorns. Coincidence? Somehow I doubt it. Wouldn't be surprised if Trixie has already changed as well.
Looks like unicorns got change first. Wonder is there any affect on the ponies on Equestria?
So the unicorn's are first. Besides the principals they make the most sense. The Earth Ponys would be the lest active with magic and last longest, Crystal Ponys and Zibras would be about about the same time frame.
The other races are a worry, so far as I know, we have only seen the Diamond Dogs in EQG, but Gilda and Co have to be around somewhere, and if Ember and Torch are dogs...
Just hope Celestia and Luna don't change, because if they take control of the Sun and Moon the human world can't go back. Maybe human forms can be recovered, but those two would have to keep everything going as the world would have stopped spinning!
9095279
If the world stops spinning our atmosphere goes away
IT'S HAPPENING.
A part of me loves the departure from human/pony obsessed Lyra. The other half misses it.
"Heavy for a pony" lol ponies are supposed to be heavy.
Bon Bon is a popular spot for ponies apparently.
9095279
My thoughts exactly!
9095312
Normally you would be right, but if the Principals start acting like the Princesses then Celestia either really moves the sun or she spins the planet.
One works closer to our 'normal' the other just means the magic keeps the atmosphere attached.
Seeing as this is a world that states Ponys can't eat meat, when real life ones very much can and do, I going with the later option.
Also, and I could be wrong about this, but isn't the atmosphere loss due to solar winds blasting it off as we would be tiedally locked? If that's true (and as gravity doesn't just stop it might be) so long as the sun (and everything else) starts orbiting earth, somehow, our atmosphere should stay mostly fine.
Physics might not as we would suddenly be geocentric and who knows what that would do to the solar system, though it's possible Luna's job and magic would 'fix' that problem, at lest for the planets we can see.
9095312
After several thousand years, yes. We would be dead long before then, though.
I'm honestly surprised Vinyl hasn't been a pony all this time. After the Spectacular Seven, she's had the most exposure to harmonic magic, what with that siren incident and all.
As to the transfiguration, lovely. we get to skip having one's skeletal structure rearrange itself. That's always an, unnerving experience.
9095491
9095522
9095312
The Earth's atmosphere is protected from the solar wind by the Earth's magnetosphere, which is generated by currents in the planet's outer core of liquid iron. If the exterior of the Earth were stopped instantaneously, it would take thousands of years for the motions of the outer core to dissipate, and millions of years more for the solar wind to strip the atmosphere away. The more important concern would be high-energy particles from the solar wind and cosmic rays. Without a magnetic field, those high-energy charged particles would reach the surface in far greater numbers, drastically increasing the rates of mutations and cancers.
Start having Lyra missing her hands. Also, Vinyl's a pony now. Of course.
9095266
That sounds about right.
They make Vegan Bacon Bits... Lyra you don't have to be such a crybaby about it.
I would get why Lyra, Trixie, Bon Bon and Wallflower would change, even Vinyl makes sense. But why Sunny?
9095266
Being the being responsible for everything going wrong makes you resistant? Huh, guess that it makes sense.
9095618
Didn't it say a few chapters ago that Vinyl has been unable to be contacted for about a week?
You've done this a bunch now, and I keep forgetting to mention it at the end of the chapter. This is not how dialogue tags work. They are not single words.
What an accurate description of this chapter
So...ponies in bags. Get one today?
The Conversion Bureau, now in magic virus form.
Ponyvirus 19 is spreading. I hope there are crystal ponies somewhere.