Secrets

by bahatumay

Blast from the Past

Bon Bon hummed quietly to herself as she slid the pan of chocolate off the stovetop. Stirring gently and making sure to scrape the bottom as she did, she slowly poured the chocolate into the molds. With practiced motions and precision, she didn't spill a drop as she moved from one mold to the next.

When she’d finished, she gently placed the pan back on the warming pad and reached for the rapidly-cooling chocolate. They’d solidified just enough that she could pop them out of the molds and combine the two halves, and with a little fresh chocolate for some glue, she pressed the two halves together. She continued this process until she had completed the entire black chess army. She took a step back to compare it to the set of white pieces she'd completed earlier, and she couldn’t help but admire her work.

“Perfect,” she whispered with a proud little nod.

On the square cake she had obtained earlier from Sugarcube Corner, she placed the pieces in their correct places on the chessboard that had been frosted on top. She twisted it so the white corner was on the right, set the queen on her color; and soon, the setup was complete. She nodded, satisfied, and then reached for a pastry bag. She filled it with red icing, and with the pair of kitchen shears she always kept nearby, snipped off a corner. With deft, practiced movements, she wrote ‘Congratulations on the win!’ in her beautiful, curly writing, and added a heart for emphasis.

She couldn’t help but smirk. It had taken them approximately ten years, but the Ponyville Chess Club had finally managed to have a member win a tournament. Sure, it had been Twist who had won the deciding match, and Bon Bon had been very certain that it had been the result of an accident or two on both sides (‘blunder’ had been the term whispered); but win they had, and so celebrate they would.

And Bon Bon did like a good celebration.

The doorbell jingled as the door opened. Bon Bon nodded once more in satisfaction with her work before turning back to the unfamiliar stallion. “Good afternoon!” she greeted him. “Can I help you?”

His eyes brightened as he saw her. “Yes, you can. I'm looking for a mare named Sweetie Drops.”

Bon Bon’s eyes may have widened a tiny bit; but she remained perfectly calm. She kept a straight face as the lie easily slid off her lips. “Sweetie Drops, hmm?” She tapped her chin. “Never heard of her. Closest thing I've got are gumdrops and maybe semi-sweet chocolate chips, if you're interested?”

He smirked and neared the counter. “For some reason I doubt that.”

Bon Bon shifted her weight slightly. Her eyes flicked rapidly around her familiar kitchen, checking out the window to see if he’d come alone, picking out any possible weapons she could use, all while making sure to not look away for too long and making sure to blink freely. “This is a candy shop. Of course I have gumdrops,” she said disarmingly. “All flavors. Did you have a specific one in mind? The sour apple is particularly good, but I'm also partial to the lemon.”

He paused and raised an eyebrow.

“Ohhh,” Bon Bon said innocently. “That's what you meant. My bad! Well, I’m sure I've never heard that name before. Did you try asking for her at town hall?”

He shifted his weight, too, and he retrieved something from his saddlebag. Bon Bon's eyes widened as she thought she recognized it. She hadn’t seen one of those in-

And then the bell rang again. Lyra pranced in with a wide smile on her face, and when she saw the unfamiliar stallion, she stopped and maintained a respectful distance, clearly waiting for him to purchase his items and leave. The way she was smiling and dancing in place, though, made it clear that she wasn't going to wait long. Was that nervousness or excitement on her face?

Bon Bon's heart rate spiked. The addition of a third party in this standoff would skew things in his favor and out of hers… and definitely out of Lyra's.

Her premonition came true; he dropped the feather and drew a knife. He grabbed Lyra around the neck and held the knife against her throat. “Alright, Sweetie Drops,” he spat. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”

Bon Bon bared her teeth. She slid a hoof over, reaching for something hidden out of view.

Lyra froze. Her breath caught in her throat. This was not how she’d imagined this going at all!

He looked up, realizing for the first time that she was a unicorn. Unicorns had both an advantage and disadvantage with their horns; while they could be used as dangerous weapons, they were a good target for compliance. He reached up to hit it…

But there was a squelching sound, and suddenly he froze. His eyes widened and his pupils shrank to pinpricks, and he brought a hoof to his chest as if he had trouble breathing; but no breath came. His mouth moved wordlessly. Then, with a sickening thud, he fell to the ground.

Behind him stood Bon Bon, her body still halfway across the counter she’d just lunged across, breathing hard and through gritted teeth.

And in her hoof, she held a long, bloody pair of kitchen shears.

---

Bon Bon dropped the shears as quickly as if they had burned her. Her breath came in more raggedly, and she glanced up at Lyra.

Lyra stared, dumbstruck and horrified. Bon Bon gave her a shaky smile, but it didn't help; her eyes flicked back and forth between Bon Bon and the stallion's body.

“Bon Bon…” Lyra finally breathed.

“Yes, Lyra?”

“You just stabbed a pony in the back, Bon Bon.”

Bon Bon glanced down at the shears on the ground, at the splatters of blood around them, and then back up at Lyra. “Yes, Lyra. Yes, I did.”

“Bon Bon, that kills ponies,” Lyra whispered.

“It does.” Bon Bon cracked a wry smile. “Noiselessly, I might add. A pony literally can’t scream when you puncture their diaphragm. I'm a little surprised I managed to get it first try with scissors, actually,” she admitted sheepishly.

“How do you even know how to do that?”

“It was part of my secret agent training,” Bon Bon explained. “When you’re a monster hunter, sometimes you’re hunting monsters to protect ponies, and sometimes you’re hunting ponies to protect the monsters.”

“Wait. You were really a secret agent?”

Bon Bon nodded.

“I thought you were joking about that!” Lyra squeaked.

“No! It was my secret identity! Emphasis on secret! It's not like I'm going to walk up one morning and say, 'hey, good morning, Lyra, my best friend, I made you pancakes, by the way, I wasn't joking about the whole Sweetie Drops, Agent of SEMHA thing'!”

“I didn't think you'd actually kill somepony!”

“He was trying to kill me!” Bon Bon defended herself. She pointed at the feather he'd dropped. “That's a chimera feather! If you dip it in goat’s blood and stick somepony with it, it's as good as a death sentence. There's no known cure. You wither from the inside out and you're dead within the week.”

Lyra looked down at the feather and shuffled backwards away from it, now fearful of something she would have otherwise ignored. “How do you know that?” she breathed.

Bon Bon wrapped her hooves in thick oven mitts and tossed the offending item in her smallest oven, then turned the heat on as high as it would go. “Because I’ve seen it happen,” she answered, not looking at Lyra. “And believe you me, it’s not pretty.” As it heated, she turned around and headed upstairs.

“Where are you going?” Lyra asked.

“I’m going to grab my stuff, then to Aidunno.”

“You don't know?”

“Aidunno,” Bon Bon repeated a bit more slowly. “It's like our headquarters. Or, it used to be. One of them, anyway. I don't know if anypony will be there, or even if it still exists; but it's safe, and it’s the only place I can think of that you'd be able to get into too without special training. Unless you're secretly some kind of cragodile hunter?”

Her joke fell flat. “I'm coming too?” Lyra whimpered.

“If he doesn't report back to whomever sent him, they'll send more,” Bon Bon said firmly, meeting Lyra's eyes for the first time. “You'll be safest with me.”

“O- ok.” Lyra glanced down at the body, and realized that she had a point… as well as a problem. “So, what should we…?”

“Oh, yeah. There's room in one of the freezers. Let me just grab a bag.”

“You're just going to leave him in the freezer?” Lyra squeaked.

“Well, I don’t have time to bury him, I'm not going to take him with me, and if I leave him out, he’s gonna start to stink!” Bon Bon grinned. “And grab the vinegar, would you? You know where that is, right? I’ll get the rags.”

Lyra could only watch as Bon Bon headed off to get her supplies, and all she could do was stare.

How well did she know her bestest friend, after all?

Comments

[bahatumay]

9778626
I haven’t read that book, so hopefully there’s plenty of differences!

[Bonster]

What a strong first chapter! You've definitely got my attention; can't wait to see where you take this!

[Quinch]

Well, that got dark in a hurry.

[FanOfMostEverything]

“Alright, Sweetie Drops,” he spat. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”

A moment later, he was clucking like a chicken.
Bon Bon blinked, her mind still worrying at half-formed contingency plans. "I... What?"
"I did graduate from Celestia's School," said Lyra. "So, you were serious about Sweetie Drops?"

“Bon Bon, that kills ponies,” Lyra whispered.

That is easily the darkest reference to that video that I've ever seen.

Definitely starting out strong. I look forward to more.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

“Bon Bon, that kills ponies,”

You would know, Lyra.

Unless you're secretly some kind of cragodile hunter?”

So, Scootaloo's dad then?

[Yoshifan30]

Oh boy sort of escalated really quickly it looks like bonbons past is starting to catch up to her with Lyra in the middle of the messed now they need to figure out why does Pony tried to kill her

[eiggengrau]

And in her hoof, she held a long, bloody pair of kitchen shears.

Woo- off to a strong start. But well paced.