Sweet as Sugar
Joshua Denoncourt
Lyra lay in bed, something felt wrong. She was woken, not by sound, but by the lack of it. She gloomily gazed at the clock and was awoken immediately by the red numbers glowing on her face, burning themselves onto her retinas. 9:02 how could it be 9:02? Bon Bon would’ve woken her up a long time ago. Then she remembered, Bon Bon had recently gotten an apprentice so she usually let Lyra sleep in. It was sort of hard to get used to. She began to close her eyes again when the bedroom door opened. In walked Bon Bon’s apprentice, an earth pony with a color similar to that of Bon Bon’s with a red curly mane, and purple rimmed glasses.
“Twist,” Lyra said, “I thought we told you that this room is out of bounds.”
“I know,” Said Twist, “I wath jutht wondering when Bon Bon would come down. The cuthtamorth are getting rowdy.”
“I thought she was already down there.”
“Thee’s right there.” Twist pointed with her hoof at Lyra and Bon Bon’s bed. Lyra turned her head to the left, and sure enough, there was Bon Bon, sleeping like a baby. But something was odd. Lyra poked Bon Bon with her hoof. No response. She tried again more forcefully. Still no response. She actually hit Bon Bon with her hoof. No response. Lyra’s eyes widened with fear. She turned to Twist who also looked scared.
“Don’t just stand there. Go get help!” Lyra commanded.
Twist ran down the stairs as fast as her little legs could carry her. Down in the candy shop, customers were complaining impatiently and loudly. Twist jumped onto the counter, a few ponies noticed and demanded their order. “Lithen everypony!” Twist screamed louder than she had ever screamed before.
The store became silent except for an excited pink pony finishing a story, “…and I said ‘Oatmeal, are you crazy?’” the blue Pegasus with her put a hoof over the pink pony’s mouth.
“What is it?” asked one of the angry ponies with an edgy tone.
“Thomthing bad hath happened.” The Ponies mumbled, most of them about a bad thing they would do to this store if they didn’t get their order. “I need the fathtest pony to get help from the Hothpital.” Silence quickly came over the room. The pink earth pony and blue Pegasus immediately zoomed off. Twist noticed Zecora walking by down the street. “Maybe thee can help.” Twist pointed at Zecora through the glass door.
The pony closest to the door called Zecora. “What is it that’s bad, that makes Twist so sad?” the zebra asked when she came in.
Twist pointed with her hoof up the stairs. At this, Zecora immediately understood the urgency by the tears in Twist’s eyes. She ran up the stairs into Lyra and Bon Bon’s room. She came across a truly sad scene; Lyra was holding Bon Bon in her front legs, pulling her close. Lyra crying, rocking back and forth, saying her wife’s name between sobs. Zecora walked up to Lyra, “Cry not for your wife, today she will not lose her life.” Zecora raised a hoof and Lyra watched as it started to glow, as if it was on fire, a beautiful green fire that was healing and life giving. Zecora put her hoof over Bon Bon, and moved it up towards her head. She held it there for a few seconds and lowered it back down to the floor. “It’s just as I thought, Bon Bon has a blood clot.” Zecora grabbed something from her saddle bag, “Put her on the floor. That will allow me to do more.” Lyra reluctantly placed the cream earth pony on the wooden planks. She watched as Zecora placed a green powdery herb on Bon Bon’s forehead. Zecora rubbed her hooves together and spread them apart, a deep blue fire with a yellow center appeared between them. “For this part I can’t get out of my groove, so do not allow her body to move.” Zecora’s body started emitting a greenish aura, then a similar aura appeared around Bon Bon, and the green herbs on her forehead lit with the same blue fire between Zecora’s hooves. The fire didn’t burn or spread, it stayed exactly on the herbs. Zecora’s ear twitched.
Suddenly three ponies and a doctor from the hospital barged in, taking no regard to what was going on. They picked up Bon Bon and put her on a stretcher. “You must cease, or the effects will be released!” Zecora opened her eyes, revealing that they were glowing with a golden light.
“I think I know what I’m doing,” the doctor replied, “And I think it’s more effective than Zebra mumbo-jumbo.”
“Doctor!” one of the nurses said, “the patient”
The doctor, Lyra, and Zecora walked up to the stretcher and saw a large bruise on Bon Bon’s forehead getting larger with every passing moment. “Look at what you have done!” Zecora scolded, “If I had finished she would have won!”
“What do you mean?” Lyra asked.
“This process creates a battle within the injury, the process is very touchy. If my focus is broken, only sad words can be spoken.”
“Don’t listen to the old witch.” The doctor said, “Ladies, let’s get a move on.”
“If you call me a witch, you’ve dug your own ditch.” The doctor didn’t respond as he helped the other three nurses carry the stretcher out of the candy shop. “He knows not what he’s done, if this is not fixed, your wife is as good as gone.”
Lyra was shocked, how could this be happening to Bon Bon? Her of all ponies wouldn’t get a blood clot. She was fit and healthy, if anypony were to get one it should be herself. Lyra thought these things over and over.
Chapter Two: The Who in Question
What happened next was a blur; she remembered being escorted downstairs, through the candy shop, ponies on either side looking at her, their words sounded like mush to her. She remembered being led to the hospital, the bright lights blinding her. She sat in the chair of the hospital room for a long time. She didn’t know how long, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, a year even. She didn’t know, she had lost all sense of time, of everything. She sat there looking at the white floor tiles. The blank, white floor tiles containing nothingness, the nothingness she felt in her mind and her heart. She didn’t realize that Nurse Redheart was talking to her until she felt a hoof on her shoulder.
"Lyra, did you hear that?" Nurse Redheart asked concerned.
"S-sorry could you repeat that?" Lyra blinked as she asked, the tears and tiredness stinging her eyes.
"Well you see, we have located the problem, but, we haven't identified it. All we know is that it in the area of her left frontal lobe." The Nurse reported having a hard time following herself.
Lyra just sat there, unable to comprehend the situation. Bon Bon hadn't woken up that morning, and wouldn't wake up, Zecora had done some Zebratic spell or something, the Emergency Services had interrupted her, and now there was something going on in Bon Bon's head? It was all over for Lyra, up was down, left was right, in was out, nothing made any sense.She zoned out when the nurse continued, there was no reason for her to listen.
Lyra started thinking about everything that had happened. Who did it? Somepony must have done something to Bon Bon but who?
Twisted Stories
Lyra didn't know how long she sat there looking at the floor, but she was drawn away by the creak of an opening door. In walked a small cream earth pony (about the same color as Bon Bon) with poofy, curly, red hair and purple square-framed thick rimmed glasses. She wasn't smiling, so you couldn't see her shiny braces, and her name was Twist.
Lyra had to strain to remember this filly, she had been working as Bon Bon's apprentice, she had started about two weeks ago and she was pretty good for a beginner.
Lyra suddenly realized, she must have been the one to do this to Bon Bon! She must have been too much of a hoof-full to handle, must've caused Bon Bon so much stress, that she had gotten a blood clot or something.
Or, she had been good, so good, she wanted to run the place herself so she poisoned Bon Bon with something, so she would have all the profits to herself.
Or, maybe she was jealous of Bon Bon, maybe she secretly loved Lyra, and wanted Bon Bon out of the way. Maybe she hit her on the head "Accidentally" with a cooking tool or something.
Or, maybe she was an undercover agent of one of Bon Bon's opponents in town, or a secret society that didn't appreciate Lesbimares.
Lyra thought of all of these things before Twist had even taken one step towards her and Bon Bon, and halfway through her first step Lyra scolded her, "Now is not a good time Twit!"
"Um...It's Twist, and if it's ok I'll come back later Lyra..." Twist said and hesitantly turned to leave.
Rhymed Death
The next pony Lyra could think of was a Zebra. Zecora had come in and performed that weird Zebra Magic and all those glowing lights and symbols. She had put a curse on Bon Bon, no doubt about it. Zecora never really liked Bon Bon's Candy that much, she said it was "Too sweet for my taste to meet." who eats candy expecting it to not be sweet? Very suspicious.
Now Lyra and Bon Bon, didn't really know Zecora that much, but Lyra always suspected she was more evil than she let on with her chants and her Voodoo and Hoodoo and her rhyming to try to confuse everypony and whatever else there was. She couldn't be trusted.
Lyra imagined the old tradition of burning ponies at the stake for practicing dark magic, then imagined Zecora in the middle of the flames.
The image branded itself into her mind and she could hear the Zebra screaming in agony.
The Doctor Deceives
Lrya's toxic thoughts then turned to the supposed "hero" the Doctor who had run into her room to save Bon Bon. Zecora told him not to move Bon Bon, but he didn't listen, he just disturbed this powerful magic spell that was supposed to be helping Bon Bon. Lyra knew from experience that interrupting a spell while it was being cast (especially a powerful one) was a bad and dangerous idea.
The Doctor should have known that considering he was a Unicorn. He just barged in and bucked up every thing, he probably did it on purpose too, just to have some pomp and circumstance! When Lyra saw that doctor she would introduce him to some real powerful magic.
An Untrue Heart
Next Lyra thought about the messenger of the bad news, Nurse Redheart. But this nurse was a code Red. She probably did something to Bon Bon's medicine and poisoned her, then made it look like a natural death. That or she was really a paid assassin who was hired to take out Bon Bon. Yeah that's it, Celestia sent an assassin to try to intimidate her into keeping her mouth shut about conspiracy theories. Now the Princess had gone too far, there would be a one pony rebellion, for Bon Bon!
Left alone with ones thoughts, especially ones dangerous, toxic, infected, mauled, and possessed as these, one can easily be driven to insanity, or even an uncontrollable violent outrage. No living creature can feel emotions like these and not be affected. They start to question their friends, then their family, then their gods, then finally themselves. If you could show me one creature able to escape the dark cage of the Mind, then you have shown me a lie. The dark cage of the Mind starts out big, so big one does not realize that they are held within it, but the bigger your thoughts and fears get, the cage squeezes tighter and starts to suffocate the prisoner. Then it tightens its grip more so that the victims eyes pop out of their sockets so they are unable to see the truth. Then their ears are turned inside-out so they are unable to listen to reason. Next, their tongue rips out of their mouth so they can no longer speak what they truly feel. Next their nostrils expand and make the nose explode so they cannot smell the rank odor of the repercussions of their violence. Finally, their skin plies itself off of the body, along with the nerves and the sense of touch, so they no longer can feel anything. No pain, no suffering, no life, no joy, no happiness, no love, no hate, no greed, no desire, no pity, no generosity, nothing at all. They become something a changeling wouldn't dare touch for fear of being leeched of all it has fed on.
Lyra, was now in that cage, and it was slowly starting to shrink around her as she stared at the floor.