The Sweetest Music

Epilogue

***

"Bonnie."

The confectioner raised her head to look at her mare, who had just entered the room: they had bought a ridiculously large bed for one of the bedrooms and fully refurbished another to make it a library and a room to work with papers. That was what Bon-Bon was doing right now, casting longing glances at the couch in the corner that they'd bought to keep up the act. How she wanted to just lie there, doing absolutely nothing! But the whole new businesses she had got from Alexandro demanded her attention: for a few weeks already, she had had to work harder than she'd imagined. But, somehow, this was making her feel good. It was challenging. It was satisfying.

"Yes, Lyra, honey?" Bon-Bon turned back to the papers while Lyra placed her saddlebags in the corner. "You're early from work." She smiled as she looked at her mare, again, unable to concentrate on her own work in Lyra's presense. They'd been together for... months, already? - and, still, every day, she couldn't avert her eyes from the minty mare, as if she were seeing her for the first time, studying her, scrutinising her, loving her at each glance as she loved her at the first glance.

"When you run the whole place, it's easy to sneak away early," Lyra winked, extracting a small box from her saddlebags. "Bonnie. I... I want you to have something." With that, the mint mare opened the box with her telekinesis.

"It's... a horn ring," Bon-Bon observed aloud, her brain trying to make a connection. I'm not a unicorn. Why would she-

"Not just any horn ring, Bonnie," Lyra said with a sad smile. "It's my mother's wedding ring. It was infused with her magical field. And now... now that I've enchanted it, it's infused with mine. This is very important for a unicorn," the mint mare explained. "Enchanting a ring with the magic of love. A wedding ring."

Is this going where I think this is going? Bon-Bon could barely suppress tears of happiness. Please, please let it be going where I think it's going!

"Now, I know that filly-foolery is, well, against the law and that we can't get married officially, and... What I mean is, I know that you'll have to keep this ring at home so that nopony can sense the magical aura of love I've infused it with... And you can't really wear it because you don't have a horn..." Bon-Bon chuckled, making Lyra blush and stammer. Damn it, I'm blowing it, aren't I? Lyra took a breath. Words didn't come easy. Even though the new city was raising her confidence and tranquillity with each passing day, it was still hard, so hard, to say the words that she wanted to say. The words she had been looking forward to saying for so long.

"Bonnie. I... We haven't known each other that much, but I don't think it matters. What does matter is that I love you. I love you so much that I just cannot imagine my life without you. You make me happy. You make me feel wanted. You make me feel at peace with myself, and just at peace. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, whatever it takes. And, even though we can't get married officially, is it really the paper that matters?" Bon-Bon shook her head, in a daze.

Lyra placed herself on one knee awkwardly, struggling to keep her balance. "Bon-Bon. I love you. I want to be with you, be it in sickness or health, and in wealth or poverty, and in everything that life sends our way. I want to be with you forever, all my life. Will you marry me?"

Bon-Bon grabbed the ring, pushing it against her chest as she sobbed openly, the blurry image of her mare before her as she leapt at her, pinning the minty mare to the floor, kissing her passionately. Finally, as soon as she could speak, she smiled through tears, looking at the expectant and content face of her mare, who seemed to have understood everything. Bon-Bon nodded, smiling, and said the only word she wanted to say, the word that she had been looking forward to saying for so long: "Yes."

That was all Lyra needed. The mint mare enveloped her confectioner in an embrace, resting her head against the cream-coloured fur. Lyra had her Bon-Bon, and Bon-Bon had her Lyra.

And that was all they needed.