• Published 5th Aug 2015
  • 923 Views, 12 Comments

My Sweet Passion - Locomotion



Tootsie Flute recalls the events that led to her mothers getting together.

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Chapter 2: Bonbon Comes To Ponyville

It had always been Bonbon's wish to enter the confectionery business and open up her own sweet shop when she grew up. Throughout much her youth, she had spent hour after hour of her spare time learning how to make her favourite candies from barley sugars to Turkish delight, and in some cases, she even managed to create some delicious new concoctions of her own – a talent which made her highly popular with many a little filly or colt in her home-town of Delamare. Now eighteen years old, the cream-coated young mare was on her way to Ponyville to finally realise her foalhood dream.

After what only felt like half an hour of gazing out of the carriage window, silently wondering what her new life would be like (it was actually a good two hours since she had left), she heard the conductor calling out the name of the next station;

“Fillies and gentlecolts, we're now arriving into Ponyville Central. Please ensure you have all personal belongings with you when you leave this train. Ponyville Central is your next station stop.”

With a light groan from its brakes, the train began to slow down for the home stretch. Not long now, thought Bonbon as she gathered her belongings together and made her way towards the carriage door.

Barely a minute later, the train came to a complete stop, and Bonbon stepped out of her carriage and onto the platform, ignoring the cheerful throng of passengers all around her as she made her way to the station building. Now that she had arrived, her next challenge was to try and find the bungalow her parents had helped to secure for her. Upon entering the waiting room, she was glad to see a wall-mounted map of Ponyville and the surrounding area nearby; but to her dismay, she found that her bungalow was located right on the other side of town, meaning that she would have a long way to walk in order to reach it.

“Oh well,” she murmured unhappily as she turned to leave, “I suppose I'd better get a move on, or else I probably won't be getting any dinner tonight.”

But deep down, she had a bad feeling that it would be early morning by the time she did find the bungalow. She had only ever been to Ponyville once, and then only as a filly, so she could barely even remember the place. This in turn made it difficult for the young mare to find her way, and by the time the sun had begun to set, she still didn't seem to have gotten any closer to her new home.

Realising that she was now hopelessly lost, Bonbon stopped in her tracks and heaved a deep, rueful sigh – right now, she was beginning to wish she had bought a map while she was at the station. At this rate, she would probably have to book into a guest house if she was to get any shut-eye at all. But where, she asked herself, would she find one at this hour? Would there be enough room for an extra pony? Would her only option be to sleep under the stars?

As if in answer to her mental plea for help, she heard the sound of somepony playing a harp nearby. It was a calm, soothing, relaxing sound which seemed to echo softly around Ponyville, almost as if an angel had descended from on high to offer its guidance. Captivated by the sweetness of the tune that was being played, Bonbon slowly began to wander towards the source of the music. When at last she reached it, she could only stand and stare in awe – there, in the front garden of one of the houses, sat a mint-green unicorn mare of barely the same age as Bonbon, who was playing what did indeed look like a harp, only smaller. Both her hooves were surrounded by a soft golden aura, which seemed to extend outwards like magical fingers as it softly plucked the strings on the “harp”, and the expression on her face was so peaceful and content that she could very nearly have been in heaven at that very moment.

Only when the music drew to a climax did Bonbon finally find her voice. “Wow,” she breathed in awe. “That was......that was beautiful.”

“Say what now?” The unicorn looked up from her instrument, and could only smile when she saw the cream-coated young Earth pony mare gazing at her in admiration. “Oh...you mean my music, huh? Yeah, quite impressive if I do say so myself,” she replied modestly.

“I'll say,” mused Bonbon. “How did you learn to play the harp so well?”

“Just a natural talent, I guess – and technically it's a lyre, not a harp.”

Bonbon raised an eyebrow. “What's the difference?”

“The strings on a lyre run from the curvy bit in the middle to a sort of “bridge” between the ends,” explained the unicorn. “Harps are much bigger and have their strings attached from one side to the other.” She smiled again upon seeing the awkward expression on Bonbon's face; “Don't worry about it – easy mistake to make.”

“Oh...okay then,” replied Bonbon.

“Don't think I've ever seen you round these parts before,” the unicorn continued. “You only just moved here then?”

“I sure have – and I'm having a hard time trying to find the bungalow I was going to move into,” said Bonbon ruefully. “I don't know if you know the place; it's at No. 77, Stirrup Street...”

The unicorn's eyes lit up. “Oh yeah, I know it alright! A few friends of mine live up that neck of the woods. You want me to show you the way?”

“Oh...uh, no thanks,” answered Bonbon, shying away a little. “I don't want to be of any inconvenience.”

“Ah, inconvenience nothing!” chuckled the unicorn. “It's only a few blocks away; and besides, I'm in no rush to do anything else. Come on.”

Bonbon hesitated for a moment, but ultimately gave in with a light shrug. “Well...if you insist.”

With that, the unicorn stepped out onto the street and started to lead Bonbon towards her new home. The cream-coated mare was rather quiet at first; but the unicorn turned out to a very amicable sort of pony, and the two of them were soon chatting away like old friends, the mint-green mare about her general interests, and Bonbon about her plans to make and sell her own sweets for a living.

The unicorn was amazed when she learned of Bonbon's talent at making candy. “Golly!” she remarked. “You seem to know an awful lot about this sort of thing!”

“Yeah, well...it's something I've been interested in doing ever since I was just a filly,” replied Bonbon, blushing modestly. “Any recipe I thought I might be good at, I was more than happy to give it a shot. My Mom's a baker by trade, so she was a pretty big help in that regard.”

“Well, I'm sure looking forward to trying out a few for myself,” chuckled the unicorn, “me having a sweet tooth and all. It'd make a nice change from what they've got at Sugarcube Corner, that's for sure.”

“That's pretty much why I decided to move here in the first place,” observed Bonbon. “I wanted to get off to a good start, but I didn't fancy having to compete with seven other candy stores back where I lived. If I'd tried to set up shop there, I probably wouldn't have lasted five minutes...”

“Seriously?!” The unicorn suppressed a laugh. “With your hand at making candy, you'd probably knock 'em dead!”

“Yeah, prob......'hand'?!” repeated Bonbon, confused. “Why would I have anything of the sort? Ponies don't have hands!”

The unicorn grinned sheepishly and rested a hoof against the back of her head. “Ah...sorry about that. I guess that's just the same old slip of the vocab,” she replied.

“What do you mean?”

“Well...I've just had this weird obsession since foalhood with these creatures called humans,” admitted the unicorn. “You know – similar to apes, but they don't have tails, they only have fur on the top of their heads, and from what I've read, they wear clothes pretty much twenty-four seven. They're like hens' teeth here, but apparently there's a whole island full of those animals on the other side of the Titanic Ocean – and I also heard that there's some parallel dimension in which you can find them too!” she went on, letting out a fan-girl squeal as she spoke. “Boy, I'd give my left leg to see one of them up close!”

“Humans, is it? Well, that explains a lot,” murmured Bonbon, smirking faintly in spite of herself. Deep down, she couldn't help finding the concept of “humans” rather alien, but thought better of saying so for fear of hurting the unicorn's feelings. “Anyway,” she went on, “the thing about Ponyville as opposed to Delamare is......well, it's pretty much as you said; the only real competition I've got is with Sugarcube Corner.”

“Ah – 'gap in the market' thing, eh? That's real smart thinking,” smiled the unicorn. “So how soon do you plan to open up?”

“Pretty much as soon as I can,” answered Bonbon. “It's only going to be a stall in the marketplace for starters, but if I get enough money, I'll most likely see if I can buy myself a more...'permanent' property.”

“Sounds like you have it all worked out,” mused the unicorn. “Actually, speaking of property – we're here.”

“Where's here?”

“Where else?” said the unicorn, pointing along the road. Bonbon looked ahead to see a small single-storey building with a thatched roof up ahead, its front garden lined on all sides with lush green hedgerows, and the number 77 engraved onto the gate. Reaching into her saddlebag, she pulled out a photograph her mother had taken with which to compare – sure enough, the bungalow matched the image right down to the base.

The cream-coated mare breathed a sigh of relief. “And there was I thinking I'd never get there,” she mused.

“You be okay from here?” asked the unicorn.

“Yeah, I reckon,” replied Bonbon gratefully. “Thanks for helping me, Miss...uh...”

“Heartstrings – Lyra Heartstrings. Yourself?”

“Well...my real name's Sweetie Drops, but my friends all call me Bonbon.”

“Bonbon, eh?” chuckled Lyra. “That's a nice name. See you round, Bonbon; and good luck with that stall of yours.”

“So long, Lyra. Thanks again,” and with a hearty smile, Bonbon turned and made her way over to the front door while Lyra headed back down the street.

Once inside, the cream-coated mare took a few moments to explore her new home. The bungalow was a cosy, well furnished affair, with a combined kitchen and dining room on one side of the hallway, a living room on the other, and two bedrooms and a bathroom right at the back. The interior design consisted mostly of a rather flowery wallpaper and light green carpet, the only major exceptions being the slate-grey linoleum of the kitchen floor and the all-over marble tiling in the bathroom, and the former appeared to be very nicely equipped with cookery appliances – just right for a confectioner, she thought. All in all, it felt very homely and very welcoming.

Feeling a lot happier for having reached her bungalow at long last, Bonbon decided to treat herself to a small but tasty dinner of alfalfa salad and a hay smoothie before unpacking her belongings. As she sat and ate in silent solitude, she couldn't help but ponder over the day's events, and in particular about her new friend. Yes, Lyra Heartstrings may come across as being a little...eccentric to say the least, but in an endearing way, and in any case, she seemed a very nice pony to be with; she was very helpful and very sociable, she knew Ponyville very well indeed, and her skills as a lyrist were like none she had ever seen or heard before. Perhaps, the young mare thought to herself, the whole ordeal with her losing her way had actually been worth it...