Chapter Two: Part Fourteen
If only Bon-Bon had any idea what was coming, but she didn't. Else she would have turned around, headed back to Ponyville, told the Princess and her friends about it all, and then simply lived her life as quietly and simply as her life can be lived. Granted, it wouldn't have been all that much quieter then it was before this whole thing began, but even so, it at least would have involved a lot less angry mob ponies and much, much less of … but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Right now, she was busy trying to keep her eyebrow from twitching right off. It had begun doing so not long after the mob had finally stopped stampeding. At first, she was rather glad to back on her own hooves (for she too had been caught up by the mob and carried along), but not longer after they had placed the three of them down, had they begun complaining. In their defense, it wasn't like they had all started at once. It had begun with a few ponies who'd run out of steam and were having trouble keeping pace with the rest of the group. Then it branched out to the little ones who's legs were not as long as the others. Then the elderly joined in. Then the underpaid employees, then the over-payed employees, then th-
Something popped in Bon-Bon's forehead. She wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't feel good. It didn't hurt, but it didn't feel right either. Not mention that her eyebrow no longer could move. Well, it could, but its movements were rather feeble. It would seem that something finally gave.
“-nd the air's dusty too!
“How about some water over here?!”
“I'm not paid enough for this!”
“Can't we just go home?”
“I'm tire-”
“Ms. JubileE,” Bon-Bon said, the final complaint finally breaking her resolve to remain silent (for the record, said complaint came from Lyra), “We are MosT greatFUL that you are helping us …,” she paused a moment, trying her best to remain under control as Cherry looked at her.
“Yes, Darling?” Cherry answered with an air that dared Bon-Bon to try and address the problem at hoof.
“I-I … Nothing Ms. I-I just wanted to say thank-”
“This is boring!” came yet another complaint.
“YOU!” Bon-Bon shouted rather suddenly, firing terrible darts of hellfire from her eyes and into the gaze of the poor, undefended pony who had dared to speak. The poor pony (who, for the record, was a full-grown mare with a teal coat and a golden harp for a cutie mark) simply whimpered and shrank from the terrible gaze.
In all actuality, Cherry hadn't meant for Bon-Bon to interpret what she had said that way that Bon-Bon had. Rather, Cherry had asked the question rather good-naturedly, but due to do the stress of having to travel as they were, Bon-Bon had quite innocently misinterpreted the manner in which Cherry had asked her question. You see, despite Bon-Bon's appearance of being fairly collected, though somewhat annoyed, she hid the fact that she had been against the idea of the mob helping the whole time. Not because she wouldn't appreciate the help, but because she didn't want to put them in danger.
Even more then that however, her old boss was with them. That, more then anything, made Bon-Bon nervous. Cherry was a fairly kind employer, though she asked a great deal of her employees. Since Bon-Bon had proven herself to be more dependable and hard-working then most hired hooves she used (to their credit, most of them did work pretty hard and were pretty dependable), Cherry asked more of her then most of her employees. Thus was the reason she was chosen to help heard cats every year. That said, Cherry's business was somewhat famous for the number of employees that got hired and fired. Most were seasonal, but since she needed the best on hoof to work during peak times, she was not afraid to fire those who under performed. And since Cherry paid very, very well (enough to cover the year's utility bills, as well as both Bon-Bon, and Lyra's travel expenses), Bon-Bon was more then terrified of losing that job. So, ever since Cherry showed up accusing her of theft, Bon-Bon had been a little on edge. And since she had fairly low tolerance for complaining to begin with (though that tolerance had grown somewhat since Berry's chat), the mob's constant whining had only made her nerves all the worse.
So, it was with all that pent-up emotion that Bon-Bon had crushed the poor pony complainer with a single gaze. Indeed, had Bon-Bon the ability to launch fire from her eyes, the poor pony would have been little more then a crater in the ground. Thankfully, that pony had been Lyra, rather then one of the mob ponies (most of whom were employed by Cherry). Had it been one of the mob, Bon-Bon's unemployed fate would have been sealed (or so Bon-Bon would have assumed).
Thankfully, Cherry's a better pony then that. Or rather, thankfully, Cherry liked Bon-Bon better then that. So it was with the greatest concern and worry that she said, “Bon-Bon! Whatever is the matter with ya?” Then, turning to poor Lyra, “Are you alright darling?” Lyra simply whimpered.
Bon-Bon was sure that her eyes were red with fury, and before Cherry could look back at her, she turned her head to the side and looked down. She felt awful.
“Bon-Bon!” Cherry snapped (well, not really snapped, but Bon-Bon flinched as though she had), “What's gotten into you? This an't the Bon-Bon I know! Explain yourself!”
“I-I'm sorry Ms. Jubilee. I didn't mean to snap at you like that.” Bon-Bon said, still looking at the ground.
“I know you didn't, but it wasn't me you snapped at. It was your friend here.” Cherry said, waving a hoof towards Lyra. “Bon-Bon, please, what's goin' on? Talk to me, perhaps I can help.” Cherry said, extending a hoof towards Bon-Bon.
“It-It's just...” Bon-Bon began, “I'm sorry Ms. Jubilee-”
“Cherry. Please, call me Cherry.”
“I'm sorry Cherry,” The word felt weird in her mouth, for she wasn't used to addressing her boss by her first name, “I-I … it's been a very hard few days and I just...”
“Yes?” Cherry said, leaning closer. Little had she realized that the mob too had fallen silent and were all craning their necks to hear what Bon-Bon had to say next.
“Well …” Bon-Bon paused.
“Go on darling. What is it?” She leaned even closer, and Bon-Bon turned her face even further away in response.
Bon-Bon let out a heavy sigh. “I-I can't take the complaing...” she muttered.
“Come again?” Cherry said, putting a hoof to her ear.
“I,” Bon-Bon paused, for she felt rather embarrassed (and slightly miffed) that she had to say it louder. “I said that … I can't take the complaining...”
“Once more time Darling?” Cherry said, with a devious grin on her face. Had Bon-Bon been looking at her, she would have realized the game Cherry had just played.
So, figuring the cat was out of the bag as it were, and that she might as well own up to it, she turned, looked Cherry right in the eyes, and said very clearly, and perhaps a bit louder then was necessary, “I can't take the complaining! It drives me nuts! I know everypony's got their problems, but we all have them! All of our hooves ache, all of us are hungry, or thirsty, or whatever else! I'm sorry Ms. Cherry, but I can't take it!”
“Bon-Bon.” Cherry said somewhat quietly.
“What?” Bon-Bon half-snapped back.
“Your right eye is completely red.” She said, pointing to her own eye.
Bon-Bon blinked. She reached back into her packs, produced a mirror (handy to have when one is packing for survival, you see), and stared at her reflection. Sure enough, the white of her right eye had become completely red, and center of her eye had become discolored as well. Oh … so that's what had popped.
“But even more then that, is that really it? You yelled at your friend here just because you can't handle a little whining? Ms. Bon-Bon, I had thought you were better then than.” Cherry said while shaking her head. “I mean, you were always so dependable, and now you're getting all bent out of shape just because a few ponies feel like whining? Honestly! I thought you better then that!”
Unbeknownst to Bon-Bon, Cherry was not actually mean-spirited in her comments. Rather, she had decided that she would take this chance to teach her a small life lesson. You see, Cherry saw herself not only as an employer, but something of a care-taker of her employees. This came about not long after she opened her orchards, for several families had taken to sending their youngsters to work her fields for the summer. As a result, both her business savvy and her maternal instincts grew congruently. Or, in short, she was a kind mother kind of boss. The sort of boss that one would rather be stung by a thousand maticores then let down.
Bon-Bon however, flushed with embarrassment at being chided. “I-I'm sorry Ms. Jubilee-”
“Cherry, darling.”
“-but I just … how can you stand it?” She said, shaking her head.
“First off, here.” Cherry produced what looked to be an eye patch and handed it to her. Bon-Bon, a bit surprised that Cherry had one of these on her (“Eye accidents happen quite a lot in my orchards.” she explained), took it and placed it over her eye. “Second, think about it. I run a big business. And, as you know, I'm often in the orchards with my employees. So I'm surrounded all day for several months by ponies of all kinds. I get 'em all darling. Some who like the job and can't wait to hit the orchards, to those who'd rather be dragged by their hooves through the mud then pick cherries. So I've heard more then my fair share of complaining.”
“Hey!” came a shout from the mob.
“Let me finish Ms. Leaf. Anyway, I've had to learn to filter out the important and unimportant things. Like, if a pony complains that they got some cherry juice on their coat, it's not important.”
“Some of us stain easy!” came another shout.
“Yes, yes, White Snow. I know.” Cherry said, rolling her eyes (making sure that Mr. Snow didn't see her). “But if somepony complains that their hip suddenly feels wrong or they can't see too well, then that's worth taking a look at. You see, you wouldn't think it, but pickin' cherries is surprisingly hard on our poor pony hips. Well, if you're not a unicorn or pegasus pony that is.” She winked and smiled a little as she added that last part. “Put the point is, my dear Bon-Bon, is that you can't let it get to you. If your gonna let every little complaint get under your skin, then you're gonna blow up one day and really hurt somepony you really care about.”
“I-I … guess so...” Bon-Bon trailed off, then said nothing more as the group continued their march.
It must have been hours before somepony broke the silence, for when they did, it startled Bon-Bon just a little.
“Hey … Bon-Bon?”
Bon-Bon looked to see who the speaker was, and was a bit surprised, and a little embarrassed, that is was Lyra. Surprised because she had figured Cherry would have been the first one to speak, and embarrassed because she felt bad that she had yelled at her long-time friend.
Bon-Bon, however, said nothing in return. Rather, she simply looked at her, then looked away.
Berry, who thus far had simply watched on in silence, begun looking between the two. She wanted to say something, anything, to break the awkward silence, but nothing came. She looked back at the mob, as if somehow one of them might what to say. Nothing save awkward glances. Finally, she looked to Cherry Jubilee. To Berry, the mare had only ever been a business associate; a client who provided both a stable income and a stable supply of cherries (when they were in season that is). She had been very surprised to see this side of her. So, she was even more taken aback when Cherry's eyes told her to say the words that were on Berry's mind (or, to be more accurate, Cherry's eyes said 'Go for it!').
She took a breath. She never was talented at this sort of thing. “Hey, Bon-Bon, You alright? I mean, you're not upset are you?”
Bon-Bon looked back at her with a curious, and somewhat confused expression, “Upset? What?”
“Well, it's just that you kinda dissed Lyra right there. I mean, you kinda looked right at her when she said something to you, and you just kinda blew her off.” Bon-Bon was rather surprised at the words coming out of Berry's mouth.
“Well … I...” Bon-Bon began.
“So, what's up?” Berry pressed.
Bon-Bon let out a sigh, and looked at Lyra, “Lyra, I'm...” she glanced at the ground, “I'm sorry I snapped at you.”
“Wait, was that what was bothering you?” Berry said with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, like I said, I can't really take whining, and I hate to hurt Lyra's feelings, so I felt bad that I snapped at her. I mean, we've known each other for a long time...”
“Bon-Bon,” Berry interrupted, “I don't think you hurt her feelings. I mean, she's fine.” Berry said, pointing at Bon-Bon's long time teal friend.
Bon-Bon looked once more at Lyra. While her own feelings of embarrassment clearly showed through, she saw that Lyra did indeed look just about as normal as ever. “I-I, I just kinda thought that since I-”
“Oh Bon-Bon, you snap at me all the time!” Lyra grinned. “And sure it's annoying as all get-out, but you didn't hurt my feelings! You're fine, really!”
“I … snap at you all the time?” Bon-Bon said gingerly.
“Yep.” Lyra answered far too quickly.
“I-I see. I had no idea. I'm sorry.” Bon-Bon blushed a bit.
“It's all good. But now that we're here, would it kill ya to do a little less snapping? I mean, yeah, it doesn't hurt me, but it is kinda annoying.” Lyra said, clearly trying to be as gentle about it as possible.
“Well, it's like what Ms. Jubilee here-”
“Cherry, darling.”
“-said.” Berry motioned to the red-maned mare who had corrected her. “You gotta be more patient with this kinda thing.”
“Patient, huh?” Bon-Bon mused.
“Yeah. 'Patience breeds a better pony!' my old man always used to say.” Berry smiled.
“So, it's all good Bon-Bon. I still like ya, and we're still friends.” Lyra said, giving her a little hug.
Bon-Bon smiled. Perhaps Lyra, Berry, and Ch-Ms. Jubilee (it was weird to even think of her on a first name bases) were right. She looked up to the sky, and closed her eyes.
Perhaps … perhaps if she learned to be a little more patient, then perhaps she could finally make some real frien-
“WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA IS THAT?!” somepony in the mob cried out.
Bon-Bon's eyes shot open with lighting speed. At first, all she could see was clear, blue skies. Once she had lowered her gaze upon the horizon however, what she saw was much less pleasant.
Far, far ahead of them, far enough to say that the sun would have set by the time they would reached what she saw, she saw a massive cloud of dust. But even more then that, was where it was. If her sense of timing and direction was correct, it was coming from the bandit pit stop. What in Equestria could make such a massive dust cloud?
The answer came swiftly, and terrifyingly. Just as soon as she had seen the cloud, it suddenly blew into pieces and there, coming at them with high speed, was what appeared to be 5 massive monsters rocketing across the wasteland directly at them...