Anthology of Graybles

by Str8aura

Wild Lyrabon II (Lyra, Bon Bon; Comedy)

In a vile hive of scum and villainy, a monster hunched over a stolen scroll resting before them.

Compound blue eyes darted over cursive words penned long ago, narrowing into glowing slits as they reached the torn end, cursing the carelessness of whoever had last owned it- or cowardice, had they destroyed it on purpose.

Her wings flicked as she rested it back on the ground, thinking carefully. Their plan had failed; the library she had raided only held half of the scroll her queen demanded she retrieve. But it was no matter; she knew where the other half lay, in the archives of Canterlot Castle.

But it wasn't nearly that easy, was it? As with many of the more valuable rooms in the castle, it was heavily and magically safeguarded against the presence of her kind. She would need something else, someone she could trust who would complete the most valuable piece of her plan. A single wrong choice would jeopardize her mission, and the years she had spent forging a false identity to complete this mission. This was her most important task yet, the task which would finally allow her queen to prove her superiority once and for all to those wretched-

"Bonnie, it's late. Are you still up?"

Bon-Bon hissed, whipping around at the intruder before quickly throwing up her cream coated disguise when she realized who it was.

"I- Oh, I'm just working. I'll come to bed in a second, I promise."

"Of course, hun. Take your time. I love you."

Lyra closed the door, sealing Bon-Bon once again in her garage's darkness. Her eyes returned to their blue glow as she cackled to herself menacingly. How could she have forgotten? She had the perfect pawn for her plan, a pitiful pony so naive and stupid and pretty and smart and cute and-

Bon-Bon sighed. She couldn't risk her mission being found out, but that was no reason to be rude. She made a vow to herself to treat Lyra out to ice cream when they were done.

---

Bon-Bon grunted, once more returned to the Earth Pony disguise she wore like a glove by now as she threw a grappling hook up into the castle's ramparts. Behind her, Lyra bounced happily, looking up at the stars with an adorable interest.

"Alright, I'll help you get your grasp. Then rest your hooves firmly on the wall, and only lift one at a time. Got it?"

"Got it!" Lyra's determination melted into a high squee. "Oh, I'm so happy I get to come to work with you!" She threw herself around Bon-Bon suddenly, the combat-trained changeling's disguise flickering for a second as she reminded herself Lyra wasn't an enemy.

She drank up the love inherent in the gesture for a moment before pushing Lyra off, glancing away sheepishly.

"...Me too, hun. Now try and get a leg up."

The two scaled the rampart, and Bon-Bon took down an unfortunate Royal Guard with her fangs while Lyra was distracted by the moon, quickly throwing him off the side before she caught up.

The castle hallways were eerily unlit this late at night, and Bon-Bon found Lyra's fearlessness admirable as they treaded softly along. She found all of Lyra's traits admirable, of course, but it always brought her a smidgen of respect when the pony showed signs of foresight and training despite having no experience in combat beyond fly swatting and frequently waiting two days past the expiration date before she threw out milk.

"Celestia, you come here every day? You must be friends with the princess!" Lyra gushed.

Bon-Bon vaguely remembered watching with unrestrained glee during a recent wedding invasion as the princess in question had nearly had the life beaten out of her by the changeling queen.

"Yeah, sort of."

"You must have the coolest job in the world. Super spy, fighting for Equestria's safety, and a really good baker in her free time?"

Bon-Bon felt her cheeks warm with artificial blood at the last one. "I mean, you know, baking really isn't that big of a deal."

"Still, I'll bet you taught yourself it while, like, fighting a bugbear or something!"

Bon-Bon vaguely remembered crying in front of an oven as she repeatedly reminded herself that cocooning and replacing a baker was her idea, and now she was the one who had to deal with the consequences and learn the craft.

"I even wrote a song for you about it!" Lyra's eyes focused forward again as she levitated a harp two sizes too large for the bag that carried it, pulling it in front of her and anchoring her butt to the ground to play.

"I see a nightmare of you tearing the air from my lungs!

"I see a nightmare of you feasting on my heart and love!

"I see the love of my life reaching out to smother me!

"I see a being being somewhere that it shouldn't be!

"A part of me says I should be scared of a part of you!

"The part of you that multiplies and tries to kill the moon!"

Bon Bon stared back at her with a cocked eyebrow.

"What did that... have to do with the job at hand?"

Lyra shrugged, squishing the harp back into her bag. "It's a work in progress. I kinda just went by heart, and ended up writing 'Love' twice in succession. Guess it's coz I love ya!" She excused.

Bon-Bon shook her head, facing a large set of double doors. She put an eye to the keyhole, slowly growing out said eye to look closer at the library behind it before suddenly snapping back as a jolt of magic swatted her away.

She retreated a few paces, catching her thoughts and straightening up.

"This is where you come in, hun. I need you to go inside, find the scroll on a pedestal that looks like it's been ripped in half, and check it out with the mysterious spooky librarian."

"Okay! Are they open this late?"

"It wouldn't be a mysterious spooky magical library if it wasn't."

"Okay! Why can't you do it?" Lyra tilted and lowered her head to look up at Bon Bon.

Bon-Bon stammered. "I... I have... an overdue book."

"Really?"

"Yeah. If they see my face again, they're going to... kill me? Yeah, kill me." Drat it all! She was normally much better at lying than this, but proximity to Lyra seemed to make her much more sluggish. She blamed it on an overabundance of love.

"Ooh, that wouldn't be good! What do I tell them I need it for?"

"Uh... would she believe school project?"

"I've been out of school for ten years, Bon-Bon."

"Out of school project then. But make it quick!" She leaned in for an encouraging peck before they traded places, Lyra trotting inside humming to herself and Bon-Bon taking her spot outside.

As the seconds ticked by, Bon-Bon grew nervous. Lyra was capable, if a little slow. But had she given her too much? What if they were suspicious? What if they arrested her? Oh, think, Bon-Bon, a new identity is easy, but you can't leave Lyra behind. You'll never forgive yourself if-

"Hey!"

In the span of a second, Bon-Bon was ready to fight. She crossed the distance between herself and the night patrolling royal guard as he was still rearing, her hoof growing into a large paw and clobbering him to the ground. He recovered quickly- stupid armour- but she slammed the paw into his head again, knocking him unconscious. As he crumpled, she regrew her fangs, biting into the flesh of his neck and going for the larynx.

"Got it!" Lyra's sing-song voice called from behind the doors.

Think!

Bon-Bon had an unconscious guard at her hooves. She flicked her chin up to retract her fangs, panicking as the hoofsteps drew nearer. Think think think-

Lyra came through waving a crumpled scroll in her magic, passing it to Bon-Bon proudly. "Work done! Is this the one you needed?"

Bon-Bon licked her lips clean, taking the scroll quickly and reading it over. Power of the sun... Thaumic absorption... scorched earth... Yes, it was perfect. Finally, she had succeeded; the most deadly Changeling in all of Chrysalis's army, now with the intel needed to propel Chrysalis from the queen of a dying race to the queen of a dying world. Nothing would be spared of her wrath. Nobody would be saved.

"Yay! Can we go for ice cream now?" Lyra seemed to pick up on her happiness, doing a curt little victory dance in the narrow hallway.

Bon-Bon's smile faded a little. It was true she hated all pitiful ponies, but... Well, maybe it would be a while before she turned this one in. Really, she needed to... prepare for her leave, right. Chrysalis would understand.

"...Yeah. Let's get some ice cream." Bon-Bon smiled, nuzzling against Lyra, and they began walking back down the hallways as drops of green goo dripped from the ceiling, where a terrified royal guard squirmed in his cocoon.

Author's Note:

the pic that inspired this