//------------------------------//
// 11 - Sweet Operative 
// Story: Hidden Hands 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

Bon Bon rolled from her bed to her hooves without a sound. She left a note where she had been, smiled at the other, still sleeping, pony in the room, and crept from the room. Once she had the door safely closed behind her, she let out her breath. "I wasn't expecting her, but she deserves a little help." She began trotting for the stair. "But first, I have a pony to hunt down."

She descended into the main area, where other ponies were still barely awake enough to greet the day. Large cups of coffee were popular, and breakfast foods were filling the air with delectable scents. Though tempted, Bon Bon passed it on by. She would not be distracted again.

"I heard you were looking for me."

Bon Bon jumped in surprise, coming down facing Time Turner. "How? I mean, hello, Time Turner. Have a moment to talk?"

Time Turner nodded. "Of course. Anything for a friend."

Bon Bon twitched an ear to the side. She hadn't exactly been 'friends' with Time Turner. Sure, they had lived in the same town, and she had seen him plenty of times...  "It's about Derpy."

"What about her?" asked Time Turner, sitting down on the side of the town road. "She still crashing into things?"

"She wouldn't be Derpy if she didn't," agreed Bon Bon. "Not what I'm here for... She saw something, something that scared her. I have reason to believe you saw it too. Could you tell me about it?"

Time Turner tilted his head a little. "I haven't seen anything too scary. Oh! Did you see all the colorful lights last night? That was something! Quite the display, if you ask me."

A stallion trotting past stopped suddenly. "Turner! You've got your fur back, good on ya! Feeling better?"

Time Turner looked confused for the shortest time. "O-oh, yes, much better, thank you." He nodded at the stallion.

The stallion tipped his hat and trotted forward. "Take it easy, pardner."

Bon Bon raised a brow at the interaction. "You had a fur problem?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle, I assure." Time Turner waved it away. "Now, about you. Having a delightful visit?"

"It's been... interesting." Bon Bon drew in a slow breath, her nostrils flaring. "Spring?"

"It's closer to fall than spring," replied Turner with some confusion.

Bon Bon slowly nodded. "Ah huh. Oh, I see something over here, c'mon." She hopped back to four legs and trotted into an alley. "I've been dying to show it to you."

"What would that happen to be?" asked Time as he rose to follow her, but he didn't get far. The moment he was out of sight, a hoof crashed into the side of his head and he slumped to the ground. With a rush of green flames, a changeling was revealed, unconscious.

Bon Bon nodded at her defeated foe. "Right. Let's get you out of the way..." She pulled a length of rope free and approached the still form of the changeling. They were larger than Spring, an adult, or so Bon Bon assumed.





"I'm not sick," noted Time Turner. Despite that, he was in bed, tucked in, with a fiercely protecting Derpy seated beside the bed, watching him. "I really should get up." He tried to do just that, but a hoof gently pressed him back down.

"You had an icky reaction last night, you need to rest."

Time slipped a hoof up from the covers and tapped at his furry cheek. "But, look, I'm all properly fuzzy now."

"I'm very happy to see that." Derpy nodded with a smile. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't take a day off to recover completely. I'm very worried for you, Doctor."

"Derpy..." Time drew in a slow breath, silent a moment before he let it back out. "Muffins, you remember what... scared you before?"

Derpy's ears pinned back against her head. "I'm sorry!" She launched herself at him, hugging his pinned form through the blanket. "I'm so sorry!"

Turner felt a smile creeping free, even if he was in an awkward situation. "It's... it's alright... Can we... talk about it?"

Derpy sat up on top of him, looking down at him with a curious expression. "I... didn't want to bother you, Doctor."

"We're past that, I think, dear me..." Turner tried to sit up, and Derpy slid free, allowing him to get up onto his haunches. "Derpy... I was... This is what I am, some of the time. It's... been that way forever."

"Forever?!" Derpy tilted her head. "Even when you were a foal?"

"Even then." Turner smiled lopsidedly. "It was quite a fright to my poor mother, but she's a strong mare, and she didn't panic. She raised me proper and right, and I learned how to keep it under control, mostly." He brushed a hoof against his chest. "I only... do that... when I want to, or if I'm... worked up."

"Worked up?" Derpy squinted a little, one iris hidden entirely. "Like when you're late or somepony's upset because you dropped their package?"

Turner couldn't help  but smile, imagining his poor Muffins dealing with such things. "Like that, precisely. Or if I don't let it come out once in a while." He reached a hoof and booped Derpy on the nose. She giggled and he smiled at that. "You aren't scared now?"

She shook her head quickly enough that her cheeks flopped about a moment. "No! I mean, it's kind of... weird, but I don't care! I was... I don't want to lose you, Doctor. Never run away again!"

Both their ears jumped at a knocking coming from the front of the store. Derpy put a hoof on Time Turner's chest. "You wait here. I'll tell them you're closed." She took off in an uneven streak, not giving him much of a chance to reply.

Downstairs, Derpy flew through the room and landed on the doorknob mouth-first. She twisted her head and flew backwards, pulling the door open. "Hello and welcome. Time turner is--" She stumbled to a stop in her speech, seeing who it was that had been knocking.

Bon Bon stepped forward with an arched brow. "Derpy? What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?! What are you doing here?!" she yelped out in a hysteric bleat, flopping to the ground only to backpedal away. She glanced where her precious doctor was. "He's not here!" She cried. "He left, um, on a train, er, east." She thrust a hoof northwards.

Bon Bon advanced into the store, kicking the door shut behind herself. "Derpy, I've had enough distractions since I came here. I want to talk to Time Turner, and I will talk to Time Turner."

Derpy spread her wings wide. "No!"

"No?" Bon Bon shook her head slowly. "Derpy, I am going to talk to him."

"No!" She strained, as if her wings could become large enough to block the way, but the room was quite wide enough to make that impossible. "He's sick!"

"So he didn't take a train then?" asked Bon Bon wryly as if she had never believed that story for a moment. "That's good. Now..." She trotted forward, moving to go around Derpy. "We need to have a little chat."

"No!" Derpy suddenly jumped at Bon Bon in a desperate tackle, but the room seemed to spin suddenly.

Bon Bon grabbed Derpy from the air and slammed the poor mare into the ground. Her left forehoof was wrenched behind her back and pressed tightly. "Derpy, enough. I'm going to talk to him."

With a shriek, Derpy pressed up with her remaining hooves so forcefully it send Bon Bon right up into the ceiling, bouncing off of it painfully and crashing to the ground where Derpy wasn't standing anymore. "You leave him alone!" she said with a little growl that would have been threatening if it wasn't so light in tone, more of a cat's purr than any predator's menace. She pawed at the ground, clopping her hoof against the wood. "I won't let you!"

Bon Bon scrambled to her hooves, shaking free the dizziness of her unexpected trip. "What's gotten into you, Derpy? If you won't let me talk to him, then I'll just talk with you." She smiled softly. "I assume that would be better?"

Derpy rolled a hoof at Bon Bon. "There's nothing to talk about."

"That I doubt..." Bon Bon circled around Derpy, or tried, but the mare dashed to keep herself between Bon Bon and the door in the back. "That thing you saw. Tell me about it."

"Um, what are you talking about?" lied Derpy poorly. "I didn't see anything at all." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Nope, nothing."

Bon Bon darted past her in that moment of weakness. She slapped the door shut and noticed there was a lock on the inside. "Perfect," she crooned to herself triumphantly as she pressed the button, locking Derpy into the front room. "Now then..."

Time Turner heard some noises from downstairs, and a thump. What was going on down there? He slipped from his bed and began to walk to the end of the hallway. "Is everything alright, D--"

"--Hello," said Bon Bon as she ascended the stairs into view. "You are one tough stallion to get an interview with, allow me to say."

Turner fell to his haunches and awkwardly slid backwards, his forehooves trying their best to move him. "O-oh! Miss Bon... Nice... to see you?"

Bon Bon rolled a hoof. "Nice to see you too, Mister Turner. Now, as I was saying--"

"--I'm still not interested," cut in Time Turner with an awkward smile. "It's, I mean..." He rose his forehooves, tapping them gently. "I mean... She's here."

Bon Bon's confidence broke. "What? I haven't asked anything yet. Time Turner, did you see the naked creature Derpy saw? Bipedal? Had hands? No claws, no horns."

Turner blinked before the tension returned with a vengeance. "N-n-no. I... never saw anything like that, miss."

"You are a terrible liar." Bon Bon approached slowly. "I just want to know more about it."

The sound of breaking glass drew their attention to Derpy doing what she did best, crashing into something. She busted through a window at the far end of the hallway and was rolling frontwards towards them in a confused mess. "Doctor!"

Bon Bon threw a hoof into the air. "Fine, we're all gathered. Can we start talking now? What did you see? I need specifics, now."

Turner shied towards Derpy. "So you can put it away forever in some dark place?"

"Why would I do that? I'm a candy maker." Bon Bon smiled awkwardly. "I don't think it's afraid of my treats."

"I'm not blind, ma'am." Turner offered a hoof to Derpy, getting her back on her own hooves and dust off flecks of broken glass to the ground. "You're an agent."

Bon Bon felt the blood rushing away from her face. She had worked so hard... It meant that headquarters was entirely correct in saying her cover had been blown. "W-what? Where'd you get such an absurd idea from?"

Derpy bounced in place, creating a mild shower of glass falling free of her in the motion. "Was I the only pony that didn't know?! Turner, why didn't you tell me?" Her fit complete, she advanced to be between Bon Bon and Time Turner, ready to defend her doctor.

Turner tried to look confident with mixed success. "Your constantly changing voice, your strange behavior, and your actions during the wedding... It wasn't that hard to discern for anyone who was paying attention."

Bon Bon scowled at Turner. How had things flipped on her. "Putting that aside for the moment, I'm here to talk about that strange creature you saw." She leveled a hoof at Derpy. "You were the one that came to me, then you went quiet. Why?"

He glanced at Derpy, not hard with her being in front of him, then Bon Bon beyond. "I told her you might be trying to pry into her affairs."

Bon Bon's teeth clenched. "I am prying, for her protection! Now let's get this clear. I want answers, you have them, and, for the good of Equestria, you'll give them to me."