//------------------------------// // Bon Bon // Story: Rifts // by TheKing2001 //------------------------------// I plopped down on the bench inside Sugarcube Corner with my milkshake. Golden Harvest, Lily, Roseluck, Daisy, Octavia, Berry Punch and Junebug all were crowded around our small table. They all looked at me sadly. “Still no sign of Lyra?” Junebug asked sympathetically. “Nope,” I stirred the straw around half heartedly. “Not that I blame her, I did destroy the ring she got me.” “Especially since she sold almost everything she owned to buy it, including her toys. She didn’t want you checking the bank statements and seeing it in there,” Lily pointed out and I slammed my head against the tables top. Everyone else gave Lily a dirty look and she slumped behind her milkshake in an attempt to look small. “I’m sure she will come back,” Daisy smiled. “She loves you.” “Correction, she loved me,” I grumbled. “I don’t even know where she is. No letter, nothing.” “It’s only been a week. She just needs time,” Octavia sighed. “We were awful to her and those two with her. Derpy still hasn’t talked to me after running her daughters out.” We all gave a collective shudder at that. We all knew how protective Derpy was of her children. “Lyra also threw her ring as she left our house,” I held up the ring I had gotten Lyra. “She was there on the hill,” Golden Harvest pointed out. “She was with two other unicorns, Dinky and Amethyst making the shield. She looked scarily angry when Spike was used as bait. So did a bunch of other unicorns near her.” “Those other unicorns are her friends from Canterlot. They always are at our house visiting. Except Moondancer. I’ve only meet her once. The others are Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts. They knew Spike since he hatched from the egg,” I explained as I lifted my head off the table. “Maybe Dinky knows,” Berry suggested. “She’s right there.” She pointed a hoof where the young unicorn was trotting in. “I’m not sure but okay. Dinky! Come here please,” I called out and the filly hesitantly trotted over. “My sister says I’m not allowed to talk to you unless she or mommy is there,” Dinky said nervously. “This will only take a minute,” I promised. “Do you know where Lyra is?” “Oh she’s in Canterlot,” Dinky covered her mouth with a hoof. “I wasn’t supposed to say that.” I gave a sigh of relief. At least she was safe and not dead somewhere. “What else did you sister say?” Roseluck suddenly asked. “I snuck out of bed to steal some cookies and I overheard mommy and Sparky arguing. Sparky said something about Bon Bon being a thing called a bitch and a mean spirited whore,” my face turned bright red at that. “I’m not sure what those words mean though. Can you tell me?” Dinky stared at us. “Maybe when you’re older,” Octavia mumbled in awe. We all knew Amethyst as a nice mare so this really shocked me that she said that about me. “Sparky? I thought her name was Amethyst?” Lily asked. “I used to call her Sparkler because she was really feisty at one point,” Dinky explained and a rare look of anger crossed her face as she glared at me. “You hurt Miss Heartstrings. She protected me and Amethyst the whole time. From the crowd to the Windigos. She gave me her body heat when I was freezing in Celestia’s school. Hurting ponies isn’t good. She even let me stand on her back when those meanies were turned to stone. Miss Heartstrings is a very nice pony. ” We all looked at each other, startled at her speech. We were all used to the sweet Dinky. Angry Dinky just felt wrong. She did have every right to be mad though and I was really proud of Lyra for protecting the two and doing all she did. “You’re right,” I sighed. “I was awful to her. I should have believed her that the unicorns weren’t doing what the rumors said. None of us should have. It was wrong of us.” “All of us are doing things to make up for it,” Golden Harvest chimed in. “I’ve been returning the money from the unicorns and pegasi I made pay extra. Berry Punch has been giving free drinks for every one she kicked out.” “Only for the first drink,” Berry piped in. “Still gotta make a profit.” Rolling her eyes, Golden Harvest continued. “Roseluck, Lily and Daisy have been leaving free flowers on the door steps of the ponies they wronged. Junebug has been helping rehome the bugs in ponies houses free of charge. Octavia has been working around the clock doing shows all over town. And Bon Bon has been ponysitting foals, giving out free candy and more.” I gave a nod at that. “Can you at least tell me how Lyra was doing?” I asked hopefully. Dinky rubbed her chin. “I suppose. Mommy need to take care of some things before she could pick us up so we stayed with Lyra. She came home smelling really awful some nights. Some place Amethyst said served adult drinks. Think it was a bar,” Dinky shrugged. That startled me. Lyra never drank before unless her friends from Canterlot came to visit and even then, it was light drinking. “Amy and Miss Heartstrings won’t let me go with her. It’s not fair,” Dinky pouted. “Is she with her parents?” I coaxed the filly. “No. She said she can’t see her parents anymore. Said they were gone.” “What do you mean, gone?” I asked curiously. Lyra never really mentioned her parents before. “Something about an accident and them going to take a nap,” Dinky shrugged. “She hugged me when I told them they would come back from their trip soon enough.” I looked at my tablemates again, the concern I felt mirrored on their faces. Never change, Dinky. “Thanks Dinky,” I smiled at the filly. “What are you doing here anyway?” “I have a date with Button Mash. We’re getting milkshakes and then going to the arcade.” “Do you need some bits?” Golden asked, smiling. The others were smiling widely and I gave a small grin. I didn’t even know the two were interested in each other. “Nah. Thanks anyway. Miss Pie said it was free of charge after all we’ve been through.” That sounded like Pinkie. “And then me and Ruby are going to go egg Cranky Doodles house. He was a meanie when he subbed for Miss Cheerilee. Bye!” Dinky waved and trotted away to a colt I assumed was Button Mash. I smirked as Berry Punch’s smile instantly turned into a frown. “Alright, have fun you two!” I kept smirking. “What did she say my daughter was going to go do?” Berry asked us. “Egg her substitute teachers house,” Junebug hid her grin behind her shake. “Sounds exactly what you did when we were little fillies.” “That was different. I’m so grounding her after she gets done.” “You’re not gonna stop her?” I asked incredulously. If that was my foal, I’d have left immediately and dragged her kicking and screaming home. Berry gave a shrug and slurped her shake. “Nah. Might as well let her have fun and then teach her actions have consequences like my parents did with me.” “You guys ever think we were subconsciously racist?” Daisy suddenly asked. “What do you mean?” I raised an eyebrow and sipped my shake. “Look around this table. What to do you see?” “Uh, a bunch of earth pony friends?” I pointed out, not knowing where she was going with this. “Exactly! Do you see what’s wrong with that?” “Uh not really?” Lily shrugged. “We’re all earth ponies, so what?” Daisy facehoofed at her younger sister. “Do you see any pegasus or unicorn here?” “No. What’s the point...?” I started to ask before it all clicked. “Oh.” Daisy nodded, appearing satisfied someone else understood. “Exactly. We are all earth ponies. The only unicorn we had was Lyra. No pegasus, no other unicorn. Maybe the evil three played to all of our weaknesses, that’s why it was so easy for them to sow distrust.” “It’s not our fault we all went to school together as fillies. We also didn’t get to chose our race, that’s not our fault either,” Lily retorted. “Well yeah. But we could have always added a pegasus or a unicorn to our group like we did with Lyra. But we never did, did we?” Daisy asked. Lily slumped in her seat. “You’re right. This is technically our fault it was so easy for the three races to separate and practically go to war,” Lily sighed and Junebug nodded. “It is kinda our fault,” Berry agreed. “All of the county’s fault, really.” “We can always add a pegasus now!” Roseluck grinned. “I think the list of pegasi who want to associate with us in town is kinda small right now Rose,” Octavia sighed. “Nonsense!” Roseluck insisted. “We all saw the magical thingie Princess Twilight made appear in front of us.” We all nodded at that. “Still can’t believe a filly helped them,” Golden Harvest grunted. “We can find a pegasus. It can’t be Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy. Has to be someone in the background,” Roseluck shrugged. “Can’t be that hard.” She sipped her mint milkshake and I looked away. Mint was Lyra’s favorite. “Wanna know the worst part?” I suddenly asked. “What?” “A few months ago, me and Lyra had Cozy Glow in our house.” “Why?” Daisy asked incredulously. “She needed help with her music lessons and Starlight suggested she visit Lyra for help. After all, Lyra is the only pony I know in town who can play lyre.” “She was a good manipulator,” Berry grunted. “Her cutie mark was a chess piece. It makes sense,” Lily pointed out. “I still remember the time she gave Bon Bon Scootaloo’s helmet for the cactus because it was poking her in the face.” “Haha,” I said dryly. “Very funny, it felt amazing.” “Maybe she was scouting her out?” Roseluck suggested. “What?” I raised an eyebrow again. “I heard Cozy was obsessed with Twilight and taking over. I also heard she talked to all of Twilight’s friends. Minuette once, Fluttershy and now Lyra.” “And?” “Maybe if she thought she could convince them to quit being friends with Twilight and be friends with her instead, she would be well on her way to being the Empress of Friendship.” I rolled my eyes. “Why would she do that?” I demanded. “Why did she do anything she did?” Roseluck countered. “Okay. You got me there,” I admitted. I stared at Berry who randomly started laughing. “What’s so funny?” “I can’t believe Amethyst called you a whore!” She laughed harder and Junebug cracked a grin. “Remind me to fight that mare,” I grunted. “I’ve only ever slept with Lyra.” “Bullshit!” Junebug snorted. “What about that one mare from your baking class?” “Candy Dasher and I were just friends,” I defended myself. “And besides, what happened to you and Solar Flare?” The mare turned bright red but said nothing. I gave a triumphant grin at that. “I need to go to Canterlot,” I announced. “I need to find Lyra and make this right.” “Want company?” Berry Punch instantly stood up. I gotta give it to her, when any of us needing something, she was the first mare on scene waiting to help. I shook my head slowly. “Thanks, but this is something I got to do myself.”