Bugs, Fluff and Other Stuff

by Silent Whisper

Traitor

“You got the goods?” whispered Bon-Bon, sliding the envelope across the counter. We were the only ponies in the store, so I wasn’t quite sure why she was whispering, but perhaps it was the thought that counted.

“Yeah,” I said back, one hoof straying to the cash register, as though checking it was still there. The shop was growing dark; the lamplight from the street outside never fully shone through the windows, and since I was supposed to be closing down in a few minutes, it never really seemed worth the effort to turn the lamps on, only to turn them off again. Most of the ceiling was made of glass, for the plants and herbs we had creeping up the walls, so we didn’t have them on most of the time.

It happened faster than I could blink. One moment, I was ducking underneath the counter to grab the tightly-wrapped package stashed underneath, and the next a pair of hooves crashed into me, sending me flying backwards. I coughed as I skidded towards the wall and blinked tears out of my eyes, trying to see who my assailant was.

Bon-Bon, it seemed, wasn’t as alone as I thought.

The flicker of a horn igniting was my only warning before a bolt of magic struck my hoof, sending a jolt of agony through my limb. I yelped and staggered away, trying to dodge the yellow bursts of mana that cascaded around me. Fuck, fuck, fuck, that was what I got for trying to make deals with the likes of her!

I flared my wings, taking off towards the higher ceiling. Maybe I could perch on the beams, get a vantage point, and fly out of the shop over their heads if the unicorn didn’t take me out first. I gritted my teeth and dove, pulling my wings in against my side, watching as the unicorn’s magical burst shot sparks where I had been a split second ago.

I was about five feet from the door when Bon-Bon appeared at my side. Her hooves connected with my rib cage with a sickening crunch, and then I was going the wrong way, wings at a bad angle to do much more than flutter in shock before I hit the wall.

Four mares closing in on me, blurring together… I blinked. No, just the two, I was seeing double. I took in a shaky breath. It hurt, way more than it should’ve, and I tried to use my hoof to feel what was wrong.

Bon-Bon nodded to the unicorn, who walked leisurely over to the counter. She pulled out the package and gingerly unwrapped it.

“It’s all here, Bonnie,” she said, smirking. “She didn’t skimp on any of it either.”

Bon-Bon stared at me coldly, without so much of a shred of empathy as I struggled to take in another searing breath. “Rosemary… I’m still going to call you Rosemary, though I’m sure you’ve had other names. You’re a traitor to your race, you know, selling this potion.”

“I gave you what you asked for,” I gasped, my wings twitching, trying to inflate my chest cavity a little more somehow. “Why are you attacking me? I’m on your side!”

“But you aren’t,” said the other mare, removing one of the jars of paste and unscrewing the lid. “We aren’t idiots. We know there are probably others tracking our moves, even if they’ve erased themselves from your memory. But don’t worry,” she purred, dabbing a few runes onto my cheeks with her practiced hooves. “You won’t have to worry about that for much longer.”

I yelped as the potion took effect, forcing me to relinquish my form, displaying what would’ve been a mere cracked rib on a pony as a caved-in chitin exoskeleton. “You- you don’t even know how to make that!” I groaned, picking myself up from the crumpled heap where I lay. “If you leave me here, you won’t get any more!”

“We won’t need much more for a long while,” said Bon-Bon, dropping the envelope she’d offered earlier a few feet away from me. “But if you’re really determined to join us, we’ve got a healing scroll in here. It’s not much, but it’d be just enough to keep you alive long enough to find one of us.”

“Or,” said the unicorn, screwing the jar of the paste back on and tucking it into her saddlebags. “You could die, and die a martyr. I’m sure your other bug friends would forgive you after they found your corpse, and isn’t that sort of belonging all you care about?”

She turned and trotted out of the shop, wiping her hoof off on the mat on her way out. Bon-Bon hesitated, watching me as I slowly dragged myself across the floor, wheezing helplessly. “It’s your choice,” she said finally, as I paused to take a choked half breath in. “Either commit to being a traitor and follow us, or die a hero to them.” Her mouth opened as though she were going to add more, but she seemed to think the better of it and followed the other mare out of the shop, without sparing me another glance.

I hissed, doubling over in agony, my outstretched hoof a mere inch away from the envelope, and I made my decision.

Comments

[Silent Whisper]

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by the way, your comments give me life, thank you for existing you beautiful person

[SIGAWESOME]

Huh. I am a bit conflicted with this one.

As a short little vignette, this one really did not do much for me. There is not really enough context or development to really grasp all that is going on. That being said, I certainly would love to see more of Sweetie-Bon and not-Rosemary's DEA exploits in something longer that can give the story's plot room to "breathe"