“Where are we going now?” Lyra asked.
“Away,” Bon Bon said cryptically, looking through the map.
Lyra glanced around the convenience store. “Where is away?” she asked.
“I don't know,” Bon Bon whispered. “I'm really running out of options here.”
This didn't sound like her. Lyra stepped beside her, pressing their shoulders together. “Bon Bon, are you doing alright?”
“Not really. I'm scared, ok?” Bon Bon hissed. “I don't know where we're going, I don't know who's chasing us, I don't know how they keep finding us, I don't know how they knew Fleur is a vampony, I don't know where they got a silver grenade, and this all seems like a really bad dream that I can't wake up from. And I feel even worse that I dragged my best friend into this mess! I-” Her voice trailed off. “I didn't want this,” she said quietly. “This, stuff like this, is why I never told you or anypony about my past as an agent. I didn't want it coming up again. I'd thought this was all behind me.”
“It's ok,” Lyra said comfortingly. “I trust you. You haven't lead us wrong yet.”
Bon Bon took a breath. “Thanks. I needed to hear that.” She exhaled slowly and put the map back. “You really are my best friend,” she said. “And I think I have an idea.”
Lyra followed behind her. And as long as things were being said… Lyra swallowed. She had to. “Bon Bon, I…”
“Wait.” Bon Bon had spotted something. She looked around, and then trotted over to a nearby post. “No way,” she whispered.
Lyra read over her shoulder. Her eyes widened. “Agent reactivation?”
Bon Bon looked around and pressed her hoof against the seal. “True orders from the princess glow with her cutie mark if you touch it and channel a little magic into it,” she explained.
“Because only she knows the spell?”
“Because only she has enough magical ability to weave it so it doesn't bleed magic everywhere and decay over time.”
This sounded vaguely familiar to Lyra from her school days. “What does this mean?”
“It means whoever is chasing me knows me really, really well.” Her voice grew tighter as no such glow appeared. “It also means it's time to run.” She turned to do so and as she did, Lyra squeaked as a dart embedded itself into the wooden post, missing Bon Bon by inches.
Bon Bon grabbed her hoof. “Run!” she cried.
They tore down the street, Bon Bon ahead once again. Lyra panted as she ran.
And then Bon Bon slowed down. Lyra squeaked in surprise as Bon Bon grabbed her tail and yanked her to a stop. A pony came from out of nowhere, just narrowly missing her.
Bon Bon gasped, and her eyes narrowed. “I know this guy,” she said through gritted teeth. “He’s an ehowolf. Run!”
Lyra needed no second invitation. She turned and ran.
Bon Bon hated the idea of splitting up. Monster hunting was always more efficient with at least two sets of eyes. Furthermore, ponies had historically begun as a prey species, and there was definitely strength in numbers.
But she hated the idea of Lyra seeing what was about to happen even more.
Especially since this had been a long time coming.
She circled as he did, being very careful to not cross herself up. “Hey, Twinkle.”
“It's Roan,” he corrected angrily.
“I'm sure,” Bon Bon said airily. “You know, I vaguely remember telling you that if our paths ever crossed again, I'd kill you.”
“Brave words from somepony all alone, Special Agent Sweetie Drops.” He sneered her title, as if implying she didn't deserve it.
Bon Bon smirked. “Looks like you're alone, too, Twinkle. What, your third-grade class not running with you anymore? Realizing what a terrible ‘alpha wolf’ you were?” Her voice grew harder. “Not down with watching one of their friends be eaten because he wanted out of your little ‘pack’?”
He smiled, not rising to the bait. “It's a wolf thing. You wouldn't understand. That green mare, she a friend of yours?”
“Best friend. And you're lucky you missed; if you'd touched her at all, your death would've been nice and slow. I would have stuck you in a box and marinated you in wolfsbane.”
Twinkle growled, his mask cracking ever so slightly.
“Ooh, wolfy.” She slid her saddlebags onto the ground and rolled her neck out. “Show me what you've got.”
He growled and pawed at the ground. Bon Bon reared up in her own challenge.
Twinkle charged, mouth open in an angry snarl.
At the last second, Bon Bon grabbed the strap of Nilla’s saddlebag and swung it like a throwing hammer. Her timing was impeccable, and the heavy bag slammed into the side of his head. The impact knocked him off kilter, but his momentum still carried him forward, allowing Bon Bon to twist and deliver a sharp jab to his exposed ribs.
Twinkle cried out in pain. He stumbled, regained his footing, and circled, this time suspiciously.
Never breaking eye contact, Bon Bon reached down, flipped the bag open, and retrieved a silver knife. She flipped it around her hoof and grinned.
Twinkle snarled. He charged forward, and Bon Bon turned and ran, scooping up her saddlebags and fleeing. He barked a laugh and ran harder.
Bon Bon fled into in alleyway, tucked between two buildings—and out of sight of the public eye.
In any fight, the longer it went on, the more likely it was that you would make a mistake. Mistakes got you killed. Therefore, your best bet was ending the fight before you had a chance to make any.
Or, alternatively, let your opponent make the mistakes first, then capitalize on them.
And sometimes, you had to help cause those mistakes.
Twinkle blindly rounded the corner to the left and ran shoulder-first into the dumpster that Bon Bon had shoved into the path. Jarred from the sudden impact, he stumbled to the side, and Bon Bon jumped from her hiding place on the right of the alley. She slammed the butt of the knife into the side of his head, rocking him back and leaving a red mark on the side of his cheek.
And then she flipped it around and drove it into his chest.
The silver worked instantly. He stiffened and choked out his last breath.
“Awoo,” Bon Bon whispered, a quiet mockery of an ehowolf howl. She twisted the knife one last time, watching the light fade from his eyes, then pulled it out and kicked his body away. It fell behind the dumpster.
She looked around, scanning. She knew Twinkle—and where he usually preyed. She'd bet her cutie mark he hadn't come here al-
There! A small group of foals, staring wide-eyed at her, hiding in the back of the alleyway. She took the tiniest step forward, and three of them ran. The smallest pressed himself against the wall, as if trying to hide or maybe force himself through the brick. Or maybe he was hoping he was blending in, but his periwinkle blue coat stood out against the rusty red bricks behind him.
Bon Bon neared and crouched down a respectful distance away, so as to not spook him. “Kinda freaky, isn’t it?” she started, her voice low. “This whole hidden world that most ponies don't know about.”
The colt nodded, trying to gauge how much of a threat she was to him, and clearly still trying to comprehend how this mare could go from deadly to friendly so quickly.
“How’d you get mixed up in this?”
He stammered an answer. “He said… he said I was, uh…”
“-destined for greatness?” Bon Bon supplied.
He nodded.
“But you needed to give up your equinity in order to reach your full potential?”
He nodded again.
“And did he tell you about alphas and obedience?”
He nodded again, clearly a little surprised that she knew about all of that.
Bon Bon nodded regretfully. “That's flawed research. That's not how timberwolves or ehowolves are supposed to work, and believe me, most ehowolves don’t think that way. Your pack is supposed to be like a family. But if it makes a difference, you're not the first one he's spun that lie to. There isn't a way to undo your bite, but you can balance your wolf half and pony half. There's a group that meets Wednesday nights in the Canterlot library, in the basement. It's during Bingo night, so don't let that stop you. Find the pony wearing a scarf with bones on it, tell them ‘I’m a new pup who came to bark at the moon’. They'll teach you everything from how to control your transformation so it doesn’t hurt as bad to how to help treat wolfsbane injuries.” She cracked a wry smile. “But don't worry. They make it sound like it's a terrible thing, but I've never actually seen an ehowolf step in it.” She looked over her shoulder and saw a pony looking at her and quickly look away. She gave the colt a weak grin. “Aaand I gotta go. Bye!” And with that, Bon Bon ran out of the alleyway. She lowered her shoulder as she rounded the corner. “Excuse me!” she said, knocking over the pony’s coffee into his chest. She really hoped he'd actually been hunting her, otherwise that would have been pretty awkward.
She darted down the street, scanning desperately for Lyra. She could hear hoofsteps behind her getting faster; she was being chased again.