//------------------------------// // Rush Hour // Story: Love doesn't hurt // by Cookielover //------------------------------// At Sweet C's Bon Bon was use to seeing herself restocking and reorganize the sweets in the display cases of her store. Always making sure the selves were full and ready to be emptied by hungry customers. Octavia was right, now that summer break was going on, foals have been piling in, buying one candy after the other, immediately empting the selves. It got to the point where she actually had to close the store for a day just to make new candies. But today she found herself sitting behind the counter, looking through her sweets catalog, waiting for customers to come piling in as 12:00 PM was the rush hour about every day of the week. What she didn't expect was two mint green forearms wrap around her waist. Lyra planted a small kiss on her left cheek "Didn't expect me?" Bon Bon looked up at her mare-friend "Not at all, I thought you were at practice" The unicorn chuckled "Ever heard of lunch break?" The earth pony smirked "Oh, I'll give you lunch" she spoke as she and Lyra shared a kiss. Ding The little bell above the entrance rang, which caused the two mares to pull away from each other from anypony seeing Derpy entered the chocolate and vanilla scented shop "Hey guys, I'm only on lunch break right now and I need some sugar to get me through the rest of the day" Bon Bon smiled as she pulled out one of Derpy's favorite sweets, raspberries with chocolate filling inside them, out of the display case and placed them on the table Derpy was sitting at "You seem happy today" Derpy just gave her and Lyra a smile "Well, I'm happy to say that I have officially broke up with Strong Steed" Lyra just gave her friend a very relieved smile "Derpy that's great! You have no idea how much that makes us feel better" "Yea, I thought about what you all said to me the other night and you were all right, this isn't love, he wasn't treating me right. He treated me like a rag doll or dirt for that matter. He wasn't giving me the respect and dignity all mares deserve. So early this morning, I wrote a letter to him, explaining that its over and why, and sent it out today while I was working." Bon Bon sat down next to her friend and took her hoof "You go girl" The three mares laughed at the last statement. Derpy ate a few of the raspberries before standing up "Well, girls, I have to get back to work. I'll take to you all later" "Bye Derpy" Bon Bon said "Later D" Lyra said The moment Derpy left the shop, Bon Bon leaned over and whispered in Lyra's ear in a seductive voice "You know, you have to get back to work too. But when you return tonight, I'll give you some 'dessert', baby" Lyra's heart raced with excitement after hearing this "Well then, I guess I should get through work if I want something 'sweet' tonight" She started to say in a rush. Pretty obvious that she wanted some 'dessert'. "Love you baby, bye" She said quickly as she gave her mare-friend a kiss on the cheek and sped out of the shop. Bon Bon just chuckled and went back to work. 8:32PM The rest of the day went well for Ponyville, young fillies able to stay up late as it was now summer break, married couples snuggling on the sofa, stores and restaurants closed for the night and other ponies just leaving work and making their way back home. That's exactly what Octavia was doing, getting off music practice and walking back home, already imagining Vinyl playing her 'wubs' very loudly when she comes home. She looked at the cloudy, dark night sky, making her think of what has been happening for the last few days. Thinking of one of her best friends being abused made her sick to her stomach, but she then felt better when reminding herself that Derpy was breaking the relationship off. Obviously, that Strong Steed stallion did not know how to treat a lady and needs to learn a thing or two on how to treat someone with respect. "Speaking of Derpy" She thought to herself "I might as well check up on her to see how she's doing while I'm going to go by her home, and I'm sure Vinyl wouldn't mind if I'm a little late back home" It didn't take long for her to spot Derpy's home as it had a muffin reef on the front door, the two storey house was a pretty, warm welcoming home in Octavia's opinion. A nice place for a pony to live in. The strange thing though that caught Octavia's eyes when she approached the front porch was that the front door was partly open. "That's strange. Derpy never leaves her door open like that" she though. She took her cello off her back and placed it on the porch steps. She then gently knocked on the door "Derpy?" She pushed the door opened the door a little farther. She then got a very bad gut feeling that something was really wrong. She took a few steps in the home and had felt another bad feeling. "Derpy? Are you here? It's just me, Octavia, I'm sorry if I scared you by coming in your home like this, but your front door was open and I wanted to make sure your ok" She called out. When no one replied, she entered the kitchen, the room smelled like freshly baked muffins. That was no surprise to Octavia as Derpy's favorite food was chocolate chip or blueberry muffins. It didn't surprise her that there was a tray of muffins on the island....but what did surprise her was that a HALF eaten muffin rested on a napkin next to the tray. "Now that's very strange" she thought again "Derpy never leaves a half eaten muffin like this" She then entered the living room. The tan brown painted room had always gave every-pony that entered a nice, warm, welcoming touch. The very dark brown sofa, loveseat and traditional coffee table remained untouched. A clock that rested on the wall next to the kitchen door now read 8:51 PM. She walked towards the bookshelf that was next to the loveseat. Nemours of books were on the top highest selves, they were labeled: Muffins, the perfect breakfast recipes, Yoga for dummies, Places to go with friends before you die and so many more. A butch of photos hung on the wall. Octavia smiled at the memories that hung before her. One photo contained of Time Turner, Vinyl and herself, all three were smiling at the camera, Octavia's cello was propped up next to her and she had her arms around Vinyl and Turner, she remembered that day, her friends came to one of her shows. It was a good night. Another photo showed the group of six in front on Sweet C's, all smiling and giving Bon Bon a group hug. That was the day of Sweet C's grand opening and the group was very proud of their beige friend. The photo next that was of Derpy and Vinyl, Vinyl's purple sunglasses rested on Derpy's head and Vinyl had a arm around the Pegasus. Another pic contained Derpy and Vinyl again, only this time Bon Bon was with them, all three covered in batter, but had their arms around each-other and laughing. As the picture pretty much told, Vinyl tried her best to prove to the other two she can bake, but sadly failed badly, all three of them though had a laugh afterwards. The next pic showed Lyra and Octavia sitting on a log, holding sticks with marshmallows on them. Another memory, Lyra, Octavia and the others went up to the Ponyville mountains for the weekend and the photo showed the two musicians making s'mores at the campfire. And finally, the biggest photo yet, it hung in the middle of all the photos, it showed all six friends at Derpy's birthday party, they were all huddled together for a group photo, Derpy of course, was in the middle and she had her wings wrapped around all of them, smiling. Under the picture, on the frame, Derpy had the frame engraved, under it read My Best Friends. Octavia just smiled at this. Derpy was good at keeping and making good memories. She snapped back into reality and looked around the living room one more time. Everything seemed to be in place; sofas nice and comfy looking, floor nicely waxed, a nice giant hole in the wall. Wait, What!? Octavia quickly turned back to the hole in the wall. She went over to it and excepted it. She saw a small tuff of blonde mane stuck to it. She picked it up with her hoof. She took a look at it and looked back at the hole "Funny" She thought "Its as big as.....Derpy's head!" Her face went as pale as Vinyl's fur. She quickly ran to the staircase, now desperately trying to find her friend. Just as she was about to take the first step, she heard it. A small moan She quickly ran back into the living room. "DERPY! WHERE ARE YOU?!" She called out in a panicked voiced. She then remembered the hallway that led to the basement. She hadn't checked the basement yet. She left the living room and ran down the hallway, just as she made the turn and about to run to the basement, she found Derpy, laying on her side, her legs, arms, flank, back and stomach were all covered in multiple bruises. Her wings were clearly both broken and her mane was covering her face. "OH CELESTIA! DERPY!" She screamed as she as she got down on her knees and brushed the mane away from Derpy's face. Her face had a bloody nose, busted lip, a swollen cheek and a black eye on her left one. Octavia instantly knew who did this "Strong Steed, that monster! How can he do this?" That didn't matter at the moment, Derpy needed help fast! Adrenaline kicked in as she didn't hesitate. If she can carry a twenty pound cello on her back, then she can carry one of her friends. "Derpy, if you can hear me, I'm taken you to the hospital now" She said as she placed Derpy on her back and hurried out of the house and ran start towards the hospital.