//------------------------------//
// 5: Hearth's Warming Eve 
// Story: The Bon Supremacy 
// by CherryRush 
//------------------------------//

Ponyville
20 Deep Winter, 1500
2110 Local Time

Bon-Bon sat by her window, setting a small red candle on the sill as she watched the carolers around Sugarcube Corner across the street. They were knee-deep in the snow that was still falling gently, and lit only by the glow of the multicolored lights strung around the building, but their Hearth's Warming spirit wasn't dampened one bit. She rather envied them, in truth. Bon-Bon had many hidden talents, but singing wasn't one of them, and neither was simply letting loose and having fun. For the longest time, she hadn't even really had a home to go to for Hearth's Warming. Far from the celebration of friendship, love, and family it was for most of Equestria, for her and her colleagues Hearth's Warming Eve was a time of solemn reflection to remember the ponies who gave their lives in secret so that others could be happy and carefree. No tree, no presents, no dolls or carols. For the agents of EI:6, more often than not Hearth's Warming was a lit candle and a litany of names. 

For the former Agent Sweetie Drops, there were many names, but one always came first. "Eclipse," she whispered softly as she struck a match and lit the candle. She had been Eclipse's first partner, tasked with showing the unicorn how things really worked outside the academy. He'd been headstrong and idealistic, but he'd also had a talent for illusion magic. Eclipse was brave and loyal, and one day he might have been a fine operative in his own right... if she hadn't failed him. He'd died on her watch, and ever since she'd always found some excuse to weasel out of ever training another rookie. She was about to continue with the rest of the list when she was interrupted by a knock at the door downstairs.

By the time she reached the shop below, the knocks had gotten louder and more insistent, and Bon-Bon finally opened the door to see a cross-eyed grey pegasus with a shaggy yellow mane. 'Derpy', ponies called her behind her back. Bon-Bon personally thought it rather cruel, even though she certainly wasn't the sharpest blade, but she'd always kept quiet whenever it came up rather than draw undue attention. "Muffins? You know we're closed tonight, right? Oh, please don't tell me you got roped into working on the holiday again. You should be at home with that doctor of yours."

Muffins gave Bon-Bon a sweet smile. "Oh, no. He's away on a trip. It's just me this year."

She sighed. He was always on some trip, or this or that unexplained absence. Personally, Bon-Bon thought that Muffins deserved somepony more reliable, but there was no accounting for taste, was there? "I'm... I'm sorry to hear that. What can I do for you tonight?" she asked gently, trying to keep the easily distracted pegasus on topic.

"Oh, right." Muffins shook her head as though she had water in her ears. "I wasn't busy, so Lyra asked me to come talk to you. She wanted me to get you to go to the am... amp..." Bon-Bon held back a sigh and waited patiently as Muffins struggled to sound out the word 'amphitheater'. As irritating as it was, snapping at her wouldn't help anypony or get her to the point any faster. "The old stage in the outskirts," Muffins finally managed.

"The one that's going to be torn down in a month?" Bon-Bon raised an eyebrow as she asked this. 

"Just the one!" Muffins giggled in her slightly ditzy way. "She's got a super special surprise."

Bon-Bon exited the door, nudging Muffins aside, and instantly she was trotting up to the condemned outdoor stage. Lyra had torn down the yellow safety tape and was sitting up on the stage waiting. "Up here, Bonnie!" Lyra waved at her happily.

"Lyra, what are you doing here? It's freezing cold, it's the middle of the night, and that stage is a deathtrap." Bon-Bon stood in the snow and looked up at her. "Come on, let's go home."

"Yes, I'm sure you have so much candle-staring to do in place of actually participating in Hearth's Warming with me," Lyra said sardonically. She shook her head. "Not yet... I have something I want to say first. Bon-Bon... I, um... I feel like we've both been skirting around how we feel about each other. You're always so quiet about yourself, and I've been too nervous to say anything, so I, um... I wrote a song to tell you how I feel."

Bon-Bon sighed. "And why, Lyra, can we not do this at home?" The full moon shined unusually brightly overhead, and she felt as though this was all familiar somehow.

"Because that's not as romantic, you silly!" Lyra laughed and started to play her lyre. 

Now Bon-Bon was certain this was familiar. Except she wasn't Bon-Bon, she was Sweetie Drops again. She'd given up on being Bon-Bon when Lyra was kidnapped by a counterfeit Pinkie Pie. Lyra couldn't be singing a sweet love song for her because she was chained up somewhere without her cutie mark, and this... "This is just a dream..." Sweetie Drops started to cry softly, and looked up at the moon. Luna had of course never been there when she'd been growing up, or for the many nightmares she'd had over her long career, but... she was back, and just maybe she'd answer now. "This is just a dream," she said with a little more strength. "I don't... I don't want to be here anymore. It hurts too much..."

As Sweetie broke down to cry in earnest, fog began to gather along the ground. The sound of the wind and Lyra's song gradually slowed and finally stopped entirely, and Sweetie Drops opened her eyes to see time frozen around her. Lyra, the wind-bent trees, and even the falling snow had all stopped in place, and the only things that moved were herself and the fog that was moving to gather all in one place.

"What we want and what we need are often very different things, Sweetie Drops," Princess Luna said as she stepped out of the fog, clearing it in an instant with her wings. Sweetie Drops immediately went to her knees, but soon felt herself being picked back up onto her hooves with magic. "Nay, please do not bow to me. If anything, I should be showing my respect to you for helping to keep the kingdom safe in my absence."

"Princess, I don't... I feel like I can't be here. This is where we first shared our love..." Sweetie Drops stepped up to the stage through the snow. "I've failed her so completely, and all of it was built on a lie to begin with. This was Bon-Bon's life... I don't deserve it."

"I felt like I could never be truly happy again after what I did as Nightmare Moon," Luna said quietly as she stepped over to join Sweetie, having an easier time in the snow with her long legs. "Like I didn't deserve to be happy. You remember the creature of blue smoke that attacked Ponyville in its dreams."

Sweetie nodded slowly. "It was just a few days ago, of course I remember." Sweetie Drops still felt ashamed for staying out of the fight. She'd feared that even in a dream, she might accidentally reveal her true abilities, but the others had barely beaten the monster. Maybe if she hadn't been so afraid, it would have gone easier.

"I created it to punish myself," Luna admitted in a quiet tone. Sweetie Drops looked up in surprise as she continued, "For the things I did as Nightmare Moon. I felt like I could never allow myself to forget, or to forgive, lest I become that monster again. But... the dream realm has a mind of its own, and a way of showing us what we need to see. Over and over again I saw Twilight Sparkle and her friends trying to save me, and over and over the Tantabus defeated them within my dreams. But at the end of it all, they were the ones to save me from myself... just as they were on the eve of the Summer Sun, two years ago."

Sweetie Drops shook her head, giving Luna a confused look. "But what's it got to do with me? Why do I have to see this again?"

"Perhaps the dream realm is trying to remind you that you are not Sweetie Drops anymore - not the pony you were before, at any rate. Some events in our lives change us so much that we can never go back, and all we can ever do is keep moving forward. The pony we were is no longer adequate, and we must step into the unknown and allow ourselves to become somepony new. When the Elements of Harmony cleansed me of the Nightmare parasite, I could not go back to the filly I was before I let it into my soul. I had no choice but to move forward and become the princess I was always meant to be." She smiled down at Sweetie Drops and started time again in the dream, and Lyra continued to sing as if Luna was not present and nothing had happened. "This was the moment your whole life changed. Bon-Bon is not enough to save her, but you cannot go back to the pony you were before Lyra, either, no matter how much you want to. Keep this moment close, no matter how much it hurts, and let her guide you so that you will never succumb to the darkness again."

"That's..." For once, Sweetie Drops was at a loss for words. "That's beautiful, Princess..." She sat and listened with Luna for a little bit before speaking again, trying to fully appreciate the bittersweet feeling of being with Lyra again, even if it was only a dream. "Princess Luna... You see so many things. You have to have seen something in the dream realm that can help me find her, or... or tell me what this pony wants with us."

Luna shook her head with a solemn expression. "I cannot. A pony's mind is their only truly private refuge, and I will not divulge anypony's private thoughts to you any more than I will divulge yours to anypony else. I'm sorry that I cannot help." Perhaps she saw Sweetie Drops' crestfallen expression, because after a moment she smiled and said, "But there is something else I can do for you. I did not come here simply because you called for me, but to address your unsanctioned actions, many of which have been outright criminal."

Sweetie Drops stood, taking a defiant expression. "I hope you're not here to tell me to stop, because I'm not going to. I'm going to do whatever it takes to find her, with or without your help."

Luna seemed amused by this, shaking her head with a smile. "I don't expect you would stop. In truth, I believe that these ponies represent a greater threat than simply to you. I cannot convince my sister to act without divulging the secrets of ponies' dreams, but I do have some power - such as the power to give a pardon for the crimes you have committed in the last few days."

Sweetie looked taken aback at this. "I... thank you, Princess."

"But there is something I must ask you to do in return," Luna said. "I cannot have you running this way and that on your own, killing ponies where you please. In exchange for this pardon, you will act on royal license from here on, with my personal oversight of your activities."

"Of course!" Sweetie beamed. This was better than she could have hoped for; while she might not have the resources of EI:6 at her disposal anymore, a commission signed by Princess Luna could open a lot of doors for her going forward. She bowed deeply and said, "I swear my loyalty to the Princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight Sparkle now and forevermore. I swear to follow all orders given to me and pursue your enemies to the ends of Equestria, and to lay down my life if needed for my fellow ponies."

Luna laughed softly. "Sweetie Drops, this is a letter of marque, not a knighthood. You don't have to swear any oaths." Sweetie Drops stood up, blushing a little in embarrassment, and Luna continued, "But I accept your loyalty nonetheless. By my power as the Princess of the Moon, I hereby commission you as an independent agent of the crown. You are ordered and authorized to apprehend the remaining followers of Starlight Glimmer, subject to oversight from the crown. This order and authorization may be rescinded at any time by myself or any of the other princesses." She stopped to let this sink in. "Now... it's about time you woke up."