Bon Bon looked over her list again, of the seven names she wrote down she had already crossed off four. It had been a couple of weeks since her discussion with the doctor and she had finally sat down to weigh her options. When she first sat down to weigh her options only a single name came to mind Octavia Melody. She was a friend of a friend of a friend. Specifically the mare friend of Lyra's number one drinking buddy Vinyl Scratch. Bon Bon had only met her a few times but to the best of her knowledge, Octavia didn't partake in the wild party lifestyle with Lyra and Vinyl. By all accounts, she seemed a perfectly sensible mare who was rather adept at keeping the others from getting too far out of hoof.
She was still at the top of the list and her name had yet to be marked off but Bon Bon had wanted to have more than one option so she wracked her name for anypony else she could at least consider. As she was about to give up and just call Octavia to ask the vital question an order form she received earlier caught her eye. It was a simple job request for four dozen assorted chocolates to pass out at the book drive to be held at Golden Oak Library the client was Twilight Sparkle.
At first, the idea seemed crazy to Bon Bon she had barely spoken to Twilight or any of her friends but the more she thought about the same was pretty much true for her other option. She had met Octavia formally like three times and seen her in passing maybe a dozen more. She had done business with each of the bearers in some form at least once. Was it enough to ask such a huge favor out of the blue, no but it was enough to consider them options, or at least she had convinced herself so she at least had options.
With the bearers, her list reached seven names, and no sooner than the seventh name was written she had narrowed the list to five. It was immediately obvious that two of the mares were ill fit for the task. The first was Rainbow Dash. Of the element bearers, Rainbow Dash was the one she was least acquainted with but it was her recklessness and daredevil attitude that got her name crossed off. Pinkie Pie was also immediately outed despite being the one Bon Bon was most familiar with. Pinkie was a walking conundrum that honestly gave Bon Bon a headache to be around. She was a sweet girl but strangeness seemed to follow her and she was perhaps too carefree for such a task anyway. She would be asking a lot of whoever was picked and she need to know that if they accepted the job would be taken seriously. Pinkie Pie was just too immature in her honest opinion.
Twilight was the next to be crossed off. Despite being the inspiration for the added pool of candidates it didn't take long for Bon Bon to see even she was ill-fitted for the job. The biggest reason being she would not be able to handle the stress. The order form that had sparked the whole idea was the fifth one in two days for the same order each time after the first requesting a whole different carefully planned and highly detailed assortment with a letter attached explaining the changes, none of which seemed at all important enough to go over in that much detail. Bon Bon had already decided to throw in an extra dozen chocolates for free given it was a charity event anyway and she could more easily adjust everything last minute if there were extras to work with. Plus with her being the Princess's personal student it seemed an even bigger thing to ask.
She had also crossed off Applejack. While overall a fine candidate as she was hardworking and dependable for the task if she agreed to it, the likely hood of her being able to shelf any of her responsibilities with Sweet Apple Acres and her family seemed an obvious reason to discount her as well.
So Bon Bon was left with Fluttershy or Octavia. Two perfectly reasonable choices. There was also Rarity but she was just there by extension of including all the bearers, a formality really, Bon Bon couldn't actually consider asking her of all ponies.
Fluttershy would be perfect Bon Bon thought the more she considered it. The wasn't a sweeter mare to be found anywhere in Equestria. She always seemed willing to help anypony. As the embodiment of pure kindness of course she would say yes. There was no way she could say no.
There was no way she could say no.
Bon Bon sighed and scratched Fluttershy's name from her list. The sweet little pegaus would almost certainly agree to it if asked but there was no way to know if she was doing it purely because she wanted to or just simply because she was asked a favor. Bon Bon couldn't live with herself if she felt she had somehow forced somepony into helping her even if they had seemingly willing agreed.
"Well, at least I tried to find somepony else to ask." Bon Bon said to the empty room as she threw the list in the trash. In the morning she would call Octavia and set up a lunch where the two properly discuss everything. If everything went well she may have found her surrogate.
***
Rain was pouring down as Bon Bon trudge solemnly along the muddy dirt path away from the restaurant. She shouldn't have had her hopes up it was always going to be too much to ask.
Octavia had handled herself perfectly. She wasn't cruel in her rejection just direct and honest. It was too much to ask when they barely knew each other and she was at a stage in her career where she couldn't afford to take that kind of time off and not expect negative consequences. She even went so far to offer they work on building a real friendship and in a year or two when she was more stable she would reconsider.
"She was perfect. She is perfect. She will be perfect." Bon Bon said to herself as the rain splashed around her. As painful as it would be to have to wait she could do it. But even still right now she couldn't help but feel sad.
"Excuse me miss, would you want to share my umbrella?" A voice asked as a beautiful unicorn mare stepped up next to the drenched earth pony levitating an umbrella the pair fit comfortably beneath.
"Oh. No. I'm fine." Bon Bon stammered trying to regain her composure. Rarity was the last pony she wanted to be around right now.
"Really darling, it's no trouble." Rarity chirped while batting her eyelashes. "You're Bon Bon, right? The confectioner with the lovely little chocolate shop across from Sugar Cube Corner. I'm just on my way to visit Pinkie Pie and there is no sense in you trudging through the rain if we're going the same direction."
"If you insist." Bon Bon couldn't think of a way to say no without making the awkward situation worse. With the matter settled the mare set off with Rarity expertly handling the umbrella so neither got any wetter all the while without having to invade each other's personal space.
"I simply must say I love your Mane." Rarity broke the silence after a few minutes of trotting along quietly.
"Thanks." Bon Bon didn't know how else to respond.
"It reminds me of my darling little sister's."
"Sweetie Belle." Bon Bon blurted out before she could stop herself.
"Oh, do you know her?" Rarity inquired with a hint of excitement.
"Know her?" Bon Bon repeated awkwardly "Oh no, not really, she's been in my shop before. She and those two friends of hers tried asking me about making chocolate once." It was a lie the cutie mark crusaders had never asked her such things, they had been in to buy sweets once or twice but not often enough to justify knowing their names. Her story felt like a sensible reason to have such knowledge. "I noticed the very slight similarity myself. I didn't know she was your sister though." Also a lie.
"It's a little more than slight if you ask me. The shades are different true, but the color pairings are quite the comparison. I dare say if she were walking with us we could all be mistaken as sisters." Rarity laughed.
"Yeah, you might be right." Bon Bon said before adding a convincing fake chuckle.
Just as awkward silence began to reform they reached the point of their separation.
"Thank you." Bon Bon said earnestly as she rushed under the awning outside her shop to separate herself from the unicorn.
"Absolutely no trouble at all dear." Rarity smiled warmly. " I would stay and chat some more but Pinkie is expecting me. Have a wonderful day." With a final wave, the unicorn turned to cross the street.
Bon Bon watched bitterly through the shop window as the unicorn entered the bakery across the street. She could ask her, and she might even say yes. It could save her years of waiting and even possible further heartache if Octavia's offer were to eventually fall through. But was it fair? Was it right to ask the mare her daughter truly believed was her sister to help her so she could have a child she could call her own?