Non-Bon

by Mel

Part 3: Trapped

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“Nn…” Bon Bon slowly came awake, feeling a miserable throbbing in her head. “What… happened? Where am I?”

She rose shakily to her hooves and looked around. Wherever she was, it was full of fog. She couldn’t see far, and all that was close enough to see were eerie mirrors. This place was full of them. Every few feet were mirrors, alone and unaffixed to anything.

“Hello?” Bon Bon shouted into the mist, “Is anypony there? Where am I? …Rose? …Colgate? …Lyra?

…Anypony?”

She drifted through the maze as silently as a ghost. The inexplicable mirrors lay everywhere, tombstones in her graveyard. Stupid, she thought, Why would you call out names? It’s obvious that nopony’s here, or ever been here in some time. Who would ever come to a place like this? Why am I in a place like this?

Bon Bon put a hoof to her temple and tried to dredge up her recent memories. She had been… chasing that imposter. She caught up, and then she was cornered and they did something. Cast a spell?

Realization dawned slowly as she began to panic. They had banished her somehow! Sent her to some horrible place! They had put her away and they had taken it- the perfect life she led! They took her quaint little house. They took her wonderful candy shop. They had stolen her friends, her possessions, her life. They had stolen Lyra from her.

No!

Bon Bon knew she was no marathon runner, but the exhaustion and fatigue were pushed to the back of her mind by fear and despair. Maybe it was a good thing Lyra had convinced her to try a hoof at the Running of the Leaves; her brief period of training helped to stave off collapsing to the ground. But no matter how far she ran the fog did not fade and the scenery did not change. Huffing and panting, she was forced to a slow trot.

Think, Bon Bon! There doesn’t seem to be a good way out of here. Why would there be? Why would those… things… send me to some place I could just slip out of and get back into Ponyville to kick them out? No, I’m not going to be running out of here. This was a trap, and an obvious one at that. I fell into it like a fly into a- is that what they are? Magically altered flies seeking revenge for every time I’ve-“Oof!”

Bon Bon’s wild theories vanished into the mist as she bumped into one of the mirrors hovering at face height. With her theories went her distraction, and into the empty space crawled her misery and despair. Stifling a sob, her sadness slowly shifted into anger with no outlet. She raised her hooves with a sneer at the mirror. Two crème legs froze in mid swing as the eyes guiding them beheld a familiar sight. Bon Bon was not looking into her own blue eyes, but a bright golden set.

“Lyra!” she cried.

In the mirror, Lyra was absentmindedly brushing her teeth with her eyes half-open. It was her bathroom- their bathroom. The sun (that seemed to be missing from this eldritch place) was shining through a window on the other side of the mirror. The towel that was supposed to be on the rack was on the floor (again) but Bon Bon couldn’t care. Her eyes were too full of tears to notice.

“Lyra, I’m so happy I found you! Something terrible has happened! You’ve got to get me out of here- maybe you can find that purple unicorn? The one from Canterlot… Lyra? Can you hear me?! Lyra!”

Lyra was brushing, gargling, and spitting back into the sink. Bon Bon began to beat her hooves on the glass.

“Lyra! Please! Say something! I promise I won’t care how weird it sounds! Just say something! Anything! Lyra!”

There. There it was. Her ears perked. A look of confusion passed her features. She looked around the room.

Hope forced Bon Bon to let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “The mirror!” she shouted as loud as she could, “I’m in the mirror! Bug monsters trapped me! Impost-”

“Is something wrong, Heartstrings?” asked Bon Bon, sticking in her head from the door. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Ghost, huh? I wish. That would be incredible! No, I just thought I heard something. Must have been the wind.”

“Maybe you should get to sleep early tonight,” the fake suggested.

“Maybe. Oh, sorry about leaving the towel on the floor again.” The unicorn’s horn glowed and began to levitate it, but the Bon Bon wannabe snatched the towel from her grip, depositing it on the rack.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of everything. You do whatever you want to do.”

“Oh. Cool! Well, I want to get a little practice in before bed. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Once Lyra could no longer see her, the monster looked straight at the mirror. Straight at the real Bon Bon. It grabbed the towel and threw it over the mirror, obstructing Bon Bon’s view.

The mirror was completely dark. Quivering, Bon Bon slid to her haunches and allowed herself a few, quiet sobs.