Bon Bon braced for impact as the door to her room was flung wide on its hinges. The moment she'd dreaded had come.
An instant later, she was thrown off her hooves and crumpled like a candy wrapper underneath the weight of an overenthusiastic sea-green unicorn.
“Who's ready to get dolled-up for the Spring Moon Celebration?!” Lyra shouted.
“Sounds like you are,” Bon Bon grunted.
Lyra stepped back and helped Bon Bon back to her hooves. Her look was probably meant to be chummy but came off as condescending. “Roomie, just because things didn't work out with Jawbreaker doesn't mean you should stay at home crying. There's a whole night full of fun and lights and stallions to enjoy!”
“The whole thing's made up,” Bon Bon muttered. “'Spring Moon', 'Summer Sun'… it's just one princess trying to keep up with the other.”
“Well, but Princess Luna made it up. That makes it official, right?”
Bon Bon met Lyra's eyes. The unicorn's unwavering smile made her want to scream.
“I can't go out and wear another mask tonight,” she whispered.
“Oh, no. Not this again.”
Bon Bon searched her dear friend's eyes, but found no understanding in them. Lyra knew her and accepted her, but for some things, even she possessed a wall.
“Your cutie mark's just supposed to be a reflection of who you are,” Lyra continued. It doesn't have to define every single moment of your life.”
Bon Bon wished it could be so, but as she stood with Lyra, she could make out the faint scent of peppermint. She'd set a small bowl of them near their front door, and Lyra had probably been sucking on one while readying her mane for the celebration. Bon Bon's nose also told her Lyra had been using a new hair product; one which smelled like it contained sweet almond and coconut oils, both of which could add so much to…
Candy.
A tremor ran through her at the very thought of it. Of stirring hot, sugary syrup over an open flame. Of rolling sweet dollops of stickiness out on a greased baking sheet. Of drizzling chocolate over absolutely anything.
Candy held these and a thousand other temptations she could barely name.
Bon Bon felt hollow as she reflected on how things had gone with Jawbreaker. With a name like that, she'd thought he'd be more… understanding… of her quirks. Her interests.
Her obsession.
She longed to make a deeper connection with somepony; to feel like she wasn't alone.
Bon Bon realized that Lyra had continued talking, and that she wasn't paying any attention to what the unicorn was saying.
The worst feeling of all was being alone. Even if it meant living half a life, Bon Bon didn't want to be alone.
“Okay, I'll go,” she interrupted.
“You… what?”
Bon Bon donned her mask again, this time adding a smile. “I changed my mind. Let's go try to enjoy this!”
Despite her best efforts, Bon Bon couldn't find anything to say against the evening itself. Princess Luna had chosen a warm night with a pleasant breeze for her new fake celebration. A full moon shone down on the ponies gathered around Ponyville's town square, and glinted off the myriad masks that they wore.
It had been Pinkie's idea to create a faint connection to Nightmare Night by making the celebration a masquerade. Almost everypony seemed to be enjoying the loud music and ample food. Bon Bon couldn't relax, though. Adding a physical mask to the one she wore within was more than she could bear.
“I'm going to get a drink,” she shouted over the music. Lyra nodded back at her.
Bon Bon plodded to a nearby punch table. She stood for a few moments, feeling more alone than ever as she watched everypony else have fun. After a while, she raised her hoof, took her mask off, and set it down on the table.
“I thought the princess decreed that we should keep these on tonight,” a deep voice said from beside her.
Bon Bon looked at the newcomer. He was a tall and well-built earth pony, with a light gray coat and a pale-yellow mane and tail. His silver, sequined mask perched atop a large nose and an honest smile.
Also, he smelled… sweet, somehow. Moments passed as she became distracted by the unknown scent.
He cleared his throat, breaking the silence. “Well, please don't tell her I'm taking mine off, too.” He reached up and removed his mask, revealing eyes of gentle blue. Bon Bon felt he would be handsome, if she could just place his smell…
“What is that?” she asked.
“Do you mean my mask? Or...”
“That smell,” she said. She stiffened as she realized that she'd just asked a complete stranger why he smelled the way he did. “Oh, Celestia, I'm so sorry! I… I don't know what came over me.”
His smile deepened. “It's Hughbert,” he said, proffering a hoof. “I'd love to know the name of the mare who called me Celestia and asked me what I smelled like on this night of nights.”
She blushed. “I'm Bon Bon,” she said, shaking his hoof. “I'm sorry, sometimes I get… distracted.”
“Don't worry about it,” Hughbert said. The warmth in his smile put her at ease. “I've always felt that outward distraction can be a sign of deeper awareness. A striving, if you will, that holds a pony back from just enjoying what's put before them.”
“That's... generous,” she said.
He gestured out at the crowd. “Look at them. Going about their lives, happy and carefree, not even bothered that this was a made-up celebration.”
“I know!” Bon Bon said, giving him a gentle punch on the shoulder. She stiffened again as she realized she'd just done this to a complete stranger. “Er. Sorry.”
“Don't be,” he said, looking into her eyes. “I see that details matter to you. Things… being a certain way.”
Bon Bon frowned. “You have no idea.”
He lifted his mask off the table. “Every day I wake up and I put on one of these. I go about my day, hoping for more, yet fearing what would happen if anypony knew what really matters to me.”
She frowned as she looked at her own mask. “I know the feeling. I go to work, I come home, I hang out with my roommate, I go on dates… but all of it's just… fake.”
“I understand.”
“Understand what?” she scoffed. “That life is grossly unfair to saddle me with these…”
“Urges?” he asked.
Bon Bon's heart pounded. Something about Hughbert made her want to say more, but she also felt afraid of going further.
“Let's just say you wouldn't like the real me if you got to know her,” she said.
“I don't know,” Hughbert said. “I'd like to think perhaps...”
Just then, from the far end of the square, a blast of flame erupted that stole their full attention. Somewhere in the middle of it, the vague silhouette of Pinkie Pie could be seen cartwheeling and gesturing for event staff to start setting off their fireworks. Bright balls of color soon filled the night, accompanied by ear-splitting explosions.
“Hey!” Hughbert shouted. “Would you like to get out of here! Go someplace quieter, to talk!”
Bon Bon wanted to escape the cacophony, but she less sure if she should escape it with him. It'd be a bad idea anyway, running off with a strange stallion without so much as telling Lyra.
And yet, he'd been nothing but pleasant thus far, despite her… quirkiness.
She smiled and nodded.
Bon Bon's stomach knotted as she watched Hughbert unlock his front door. Lyra would have told her that going over to a stallion's house wasn't something good mares were supposed to do on a first date, much less after a chance encounter a complete stranger.
She tried to silence her best guess of Lyra's protests by studying the house for several moments. It was large and L-shaped, with narrow windows set high on its walls. Those struck her as odd, and it occurred to her that nopony would be able to see inside without being a pegasus or standing on another pony's shoulders.
“Would you care for a cider?” he asked.
“Sure, I...” Bon Bon said, freezing in mid-sentence as she caught a glimpse of the inside. The living space was cozy, but far too small. It was like what she was seeing occupied only a fraction of the building's total size; perhaps only the short leg of its overall L-shape.
“It's… smaller on the inside?”
He laughed. “I get that a lot. Come on in; make yourself at home.”
Bon Bon stepped into the too-small living room and tried to make sense of the unexpectedly small space. The building itself seemed much too large for a single pony living alone. At least the scent was sweet and pleasant, even though she still couldn't place it.
“Just a moment,” he said, disappearing into the tiny kitchen. He returned with two fluted glasses and a bottle of something bubbly.
“Hughbert,” she said, searching his eyes. “What's going on here?”
He sighed and put the drinks down on a very small table. “All right,” he said, looking more serious than she'd yet seen from him. “You said something at the celebration that resonated with me. And you noticed the smell.”
“What was it?”
“You said I wouldn't like you if I got to know the you behind the mask.”
Bon Bon blushed. “I mean, what was the smell?”
He smiled. “It's something most ponies wouldn't understand, but you… I think… maybe you could.”
“What is it?” she whispered.
Hughbert walked slowly to a side door, took out a key, and opened it. Bon Bon stared into the deep blackness of the space within.
“I told you that I wear a mask, too,” he said, stepping through the door. “Let me show you what lies underneath it.”
He flicked a switch.
The lights flipped on, revealing great metal vats that lined the walls of what seemed to be some sort of factory. Each vat was each labeled with pictures of different fruits. She heard small engines hum to life, and huge plungers began moving up and down, churning the contents of the vats. Lines of conveyor belts started chugging into motion, feeding small glass bottles into what looked like automated jarring stations. They went in empty, but left full of…
“Jelly,” she said, beginning to understand.
“Yes,” he said quietly. “But this... is not enough.” He pointed to a row of massive jelly jars at the back of the factory. They looked big enough to climb in.
He began walking toward them.
Bon Bon followed.
“A love of candy is far from the strangest need that could nestle in a pony's heart,” Hughbert said as they approached the jars.
“Then… you understand me,” she said.
“I believe so,” he said, reaching up to unscrew one of the lids. He looked down at her again, and smiled. From a nearby table he retrieved a small bag of candy. “Perhaps... we understand each other?”
Bon Bon's breathing deepened. “Yes, I think we do.”
Lyra galloped through the dark-lit streets of Ponyville, looking from side to side, hoping to catch a glimpse of others in the search party, or perhaps even Bon Bon herself.
“Come on, y'all, the place is over here!” Applejack shouted from somewhere nearby.
Lyra startled at Applejack's voice. She'd been so on-edge since Bon Bon had gone missing from the party. Thank Celestia that somepony had seen Bon Bon, and had been able to describe the stallion she'd left with, and that Applejack had been on-hand and able to identify him as someone she did business with.
Bon Bon wouldn't just leave the party with a random stallion. Something strange had to be going on; Lyra was sure of it.
She startled again as Princess Luna flew overhead. It was still a shock to have the Princess of the Night herself join their little search party. But this was the inaugural Spring Moon festival, and the princess had insisted on taking an active role in making sure that everypony who participated got home safe and well.
Lyra rounded a corner and saw Luna staring into the high windows of an odd, L-shaped building. Applejack pranced with impatience down below. As Lyra approached, she saw Luna descend and start a brief, whispered conversation with Applejack. The earth pony recoiled at something Luna said.
“What is it?” Lyra asked, looking at both of them in turn. “Did you see her? Is she in there with him?”
Luna's jaw worked soundlessly for a moment, and she studied her hooves. “Um… yes, I believe she is.”
Lyra pranced with impatience. “Well, is she all right?!”
“I… believe so,” Luna said, still not meeting her gaze.
Lyra bit her lip and turned to Applejack. “Applejack, please, Bon Bon is my best friend in the whole world. You've got to tell me what's going on in there!”
Luna and Applejack shared a glance.
Applejack cleared her throat. “Uh... sugar cube, I'm going to be honest with you. Completely honest. I... I don't know if I should.”
Lyra turned to Luna. Tears began to well in her eyes. "But... Princess, please, you've got to tell me. She's my friend!”
Luna took a deep breath, then slowly set a hoof on Lyra's shoulder.
“Child, I believe thou truly dost not want to know.”