ANYPONY CARE FOR A BON BON?
Bon Bon turned over the open sign with a sigh. As she trotted behind the counter of her candy store, she watched the windows closely for the probable rush of foals coming in. As always, she spotted the cutie mark crusaders trotting in. They came in every morning to smell and maybe purchase a few candies. "Morning, miss Bon Bon!" They cried. Bon Bon never had a particular soft spot for any foal in Ponyville, but they came in so often it was hard not to like them, or at least the bits they supplied. That morning, however, they were different. At first she didn't quite know why. Maybe their pupils were a little bigger than usual? Maybe little sweetie belle was panting a little? Maybe Bon Bon was just going crazy. "Miss Bon Bon, can ya help me get a closer look at the candies on the top shelf there?" Asked applebloom. "Why of course," Bon Bon replied. The other two were casually looking at the bins of chocolate and butterscotch and chatting. Nothing out of the ordinary. Bon Bon pulled over a ladder and brought down a few of each sort of candy. "This," she said, pointing at each candy as she named it, "is a jawbreaker, a wintergreen mint, a chocolate truffle, and a piece of toffy." Apple bloom nodded with interest as she looked at the candies. "Does that one," she began, pointing at the jawbreaker,"change flavors as you eat it? An' will it really break your jaw? Ah don't think applejack would like it very much if ah came home with a broken jaw." Bon Bon giggled a little bit. "No, silly filly, it's just the name. And yes, it does change flavors." As she said this, scootaloo and sweetie belle came over. "Come on, apple bloom, we can't be late for school!" She said a bit forcefully. "Oh, um, ah guess I'll maybe come back later. Thanks anyway miss Bon Bon!" She cried as she and her friends fled the store. As they left, Bon Bon looked confused. They seemed awfully rushed to leave. Bon Bon shook her head and trotted back behind the counter. Business was kind of slow on account of Sugarcube Corner. Thankfully, though, they didn't sell much candy, so she still had a pretty good business going.
The day progressed rather slowly. When it finally ended, and Luna's beautiful moon came out, Bon Bon began to close up shop. She turned over the sign again and counted stock. Really, she told herself, nopony would steal from her, but she didn't have cameras and she just wanted to be safe. Everything came up perfectly fine... Except for the chocolate and butterscotch. There were three missing from each. Bon Bon recounted several times, but the numbers remained- she was missing six candies. She had suspicions. The cutie mark crusaders had been hanging around those bins... No, don't be silly! She told herself. Those fillies wouldn't steal from you. Maybe I have pests. I'll secure those bins tomorrow. That night at home, she drifted into thought quite a bit. "Bon Bon, dear," asked her fillyfriend Lyra, "is everything all right? You seem... Distracted." That night at home, she drifted into thought quite a bit. "Bon Bon, dear," asked her fillyfriend Lyra, "is everything all right? You seem... Distracted." Lyra gave her a concerned look as she trotted towards the bedroom, but decided not to pry.
The next day, she followed her routine. Get up, take a quick shower, have some oatmeal, brush her teeth, and open up the shoppe. And again, as usual, the CMC came in. This time, they seemed more at ease. Maybe it was my imagination the whole time, thought Bon Bon. I'm just losing sleep. "Miss Bon Bon!" Squeaked Sweetie Belle. Bon Bon admitted to herself sweetie belle was her favorite among the three. "Miss Bon Bon!" She cried again. "I was wondering, do you make ALL this candy yourself?" Bon Bon chuckled a little bit. "Why yes, I do. It's what I'm the very best at!" She displayed her cutie mark to sweetie belle, the three candies fresh from her shower. "How did you know this was your very special talent?" The little unicorn asked. "I need to get my cutie mark, and I haven't tried candies yet!" "When I was a little foal, I had a huge sweet tooth. One day, I decided it might be fun to make my own, so I got a few ingredients and decided to do it. I let my friends and family try some, and they really loved them. That's when my mark showed up. My advice is to stick with what you know and love." Sweetie belle nodded. "Thanks for the advice, miss Bon Bon!" She said. "We gotta go now. I'll tell the other crusaders about your story!" Bon Bon chuckled again as the fillies ran towards the school house. Such cute kids, she thought. Maybe Lyra and I can adopt one day. At the end of the day, when she was sure the bins of candy were secure, she counted her stock again. This time, she was 9 packs of gummy bears short! I need to get a contractor in here, she thought. Or some cameras.
The next few days afterwards were pretty much the same. Same morning routine, Same cutie mark crusaders, same stock missing, and same loss of sleep over it. Bon Bon began to take sleeping pills for loss of sleep. One night, in a drug-induced nightmare, she dreamt somepony was stealing from her, and then everything was in red. The next day, after a session with the CMC not unlike the last few, something in her brain made her count her stock. This is ridiculous, she thought. These foals wouldn't steal! On the other hoof, thought another part of her brain, it's better to be safe than sorry. She counted through her stock. At the end, her eyes widened in shock. There were three each missing from the chocolates, gummy worms, jaw breakers, toffies, AND the bonbons, her most prized candy! Bon Bon walked detachedly back towards the counter. In her head, she did some math. Over the past couple days, she had lost almost 60 packs of candy, and today she had lost an additional 15. This was a big problem, and all evidence led towards the cutie mark crusaders. That night, Bon Bon seemed twitchy and far away. Lyra tried several times to get her to her normal self again- her favorite song on the lyre, some grilled daisy sandwiches... The whole nine yards. But nothing worked. Bon Bon continued to stare into empty space occasionally murmuring to herself. It scared Lyra so much she decided to sleep on the couch. The next day, Bon Bon trotted to work with an unusual grin on her face. She had perfected a few special candies the night before and absolutely couldn't wait to test them. Bon Bon laid out the first three candies on the counter. Last night, she had tested them on a few unsuspecting animals, and it worked brilliantly. Hopefully it would work just as well in this situation.
The bell on the door ding-ed when the cutie mark crusaders trotted in. "Hello miss Bon Bon!" They cried out, as always. Bon Bon's grin widened. "Why hello girls!" She replied, her voice as sweet as the maple fudge in the display rack. "I have some new candies for you to try out. Here they are!" She handed them each a stick of rock candy. "Thank you, miss Bon Bon!" They cried out as they bit into the candy. They finished it quickly and began to stumble around. "I feel... Funny..." Were scootaloo's last words before crashing onto the wood floors.
Scootaloo woke up a few minutes later. Her head hurt, and she was in a dimly lit room, so she couldn't really see what was around her. She tried to bring her little orange hoof to her head to rub her temples, but she quickly realized she was completely strapped down and had no way of moving anything-not her legs, not her tail, not even her little wings. She soon became extremely scared. "Hello? Is anypony there?" She asked quietly into the darkness. "Scootaloo?" She heard two familiar voices ask in reply. Despite her immobility, she sighed in relief. "Can you guys move or are you as stuck as me?" She asked, a bit louder. A faint light green glow came from her right. It was sweetie Belle's horn- she was lighting up the room as well as she could. A quick glance down and around the room showed she and her friends were 3 yards from each other in a triangle, suspended on silver tables. Their tables faced the middle of the room, where a lamp hung from the ceiling. Hoofsteps were heard coming down stairs and into the room. "Hello girls," greeted a familiar voice. "Miss Bon Bon!" Cried out the three fillies in relief. "Can ya help us out of these things?" Asked apple bloom. Bon Bon chuckled. "Oh, you fillies crack me up sometimes. I'm the one who put you in here! And do you know WHY I put you in here?" The three friends suddenly became very nervous. "No... Why?" Asked scootaloo. Bon Bon laughed again and shook her head. "Oh you little foals, you didn't think I would notice? You didn't think I would notice my stock disappearing BY THREES every day? Every day, after one of you would cleverly distract me while the others would make off with the candy?" The little crusaders shook in their bounds. "We're really sorry, miss Bon Bon!" Cried sweetie belle. "I didn't really think it was a good idea, but your candy was so good and rarity wouldn't give me any more bits! I'm so sorry!" The others nodded vehemently. Yet again, Bon Bon chortled to herself. "Oh fillies, don't you know what happens to shoplifters around here?" Bon Bon asked, rolling in a cart. "Capital. Punishment." She uncovered the cart, revealing several knives, saws, and other sharp implements, along with candies and a few blindfolds. The cutie mark crusaders began to cry for mercy and squirm, but their bounds gave no slack. "Please miss Bon Bon, if this is a joke it ain't funny!" Yelled apple bloom, still panicking. "Oh, this is no joke," replied Bon Bon. Now, I have three blindfolds here. This one," she said, "is for scootaloo." She grabbed a blindfold and put it over scootaloo's Ears, so she could see and talk but not hear. "Next, apple bloom," she said, tying it over her mouth so she could see and hear but not talk. "And finally, sweetie belle," she finished, tying it over sweetie Belle's eyes so she could talk and hear but not see. "Lets see," Bon Bon pondered, "who shall I start with? I'm thinking... Scootaloo." She said. Scootaloo, of course, didnt answer- she couldn't hear. Gleefully, she brought over a razor and shaved all of the fur and hair off of scootaloo that she could get to, and chopped off scootaloo's tail with extremely sharp scissors. Scootaloo had been nervous and tried not to move as she was shaved, but cried out with extreme pain as her tailbone left with her tail. Bon Bon grinned at her cries and screams, and scooted her fur and tail away so she could get to her more easily. Muffled cries came from apple bloom, tears filling her eyes, while sweetie belle cried, "what's going on?! What's happening?!" Suddenly, Bon Bon had a moment of indecision. "Would it be better to pluck your wings first or just cut them straight off? Hmm, decisions, decisions. I think... I'll cut them right off!" she decided.
Bringing over a large hack saw, she aimed it towards scootaloo's right wing. Scootaloo saw what was going on the whole time and screamed for mercy, for help, for anything, when she saw the hacksaw headed for her little wings, her most prized possessions. The others could do nothing but watch or listen to the screams and agony that Bon Bon elicited from scootaloo. Each vibration of the saw went through her nervous system and bones, until finally it was off all the way. Scootaloo panted from the sheer agony and almost screamed again when she saw her wing in the mouth of Bon Bon, once a friend, now a torturer. Bon Bon saw the blood scootaloo was losing. "Oh, We can't have you dying of blood loss before the real fun begins!" She cried cheerfully. She picked out a piece of taffy and put it in scootaloo's mouth. In disgust, scootaloo spit it back out. "No way am I eating any more of your candies!" She cried angrily. Bon Bon picked the candy up off of the floor. "Oh well, suit yourself," Bon Bon replied. Instead of letting scootaloo enjoy the delicious cherry flavor, she shoved it down her throat and clamped her muzzle shut so she couldn't regurgitate it. Once the taffy was down scootaloo's throat, her bleeding lessened and then stopped. "You see, this candy boosts your ability to clot blood, forming a scab much more quickly than average. "I know you can't hear me, but it's fun to explain anyway," Bon Bon finished, proceeding to cut off scootaloo's other wing and relishing the screams and squeals of agony from scootaloo and anguish from her friends. Bon Bon gleefully plucked a few feathers off one of scootaloo's wings and snipped off the end, full of muscle and bone. She picked out the bone and, while scootaloo and applebloom watched in horror, told sweetie belle she had a candy for her. After hearing what happened to scootaloo, she agreeably opened her mouth to let in whatever it was Bon Bon had. Bon Bon shoved the piece of scootaloo into sweetie belles mouth. Tasting blood, sweetie belle tried to gag it up, but Bon Bon was too quick and blocked her muzzle. Tears blotted sweetie's blindfold as she tried to chew it and kept retching, unable to swallow from pure disgust. After a while, she finally swallowed, and shortly after passed out from lack of oxygen. "Oh well, the real fun with sweetie begins later. Maybe by then she'll have woken up," Bon Bon said. Bon Bon trotted back over to scootaloo. "Hmm. I think... Yes! Perfect," she said, bringing over a cookie cutter. She put it gently over where scootaloo's cutie mark would have been, and drove it in about half an inch. Scootaloo screamed as the usually friendly object entered her hide. Bon Bon drew out the cutter and removed the skin inside the ring with a knife. Holding up the circular piece of bald skin and removing the cloth from scootaloo's ears, she said, "This is where your cutie mark would have been! I guess now, since you're going to die, you'll never see what you were really good at! Too bad your talent wasn't being a dirty little theif! Oh, well."
Scootaloo began to sob when the reality that she would never see daylight again hit her. Bon Bon tossed the little piece of skin on her little cart and repeated the process on the other side. Now she had two pieces of bald, pink scootaloo skin. Perfect. Scootaloo was still crying out in agony as her skin quickly scabbed over where the pieces of skin once were. "You know, scootaloo, I'm really getting tired of your screaming. Keep it up and I may have to cut out your tongue!" Bon Bon's cheery threat shut scootaloo up, bringing her down to a soft whimper. "Very good," Bon Bon told her, " but I think I'll cut it out anyway!" She approached her with a small but sharp paring knife aimed for her mouth. As scootaloo refused to open her mouth, Bon Bon gave her a swift stab in her leg, making her yowl in pain and giving Bon Bon the opportunity to stick a metal device in her mouth. The device made sure that scootaloo kept her mouth opened wide for the inevitable operation. Scootaloo made guttural sounds with the back of her throat as Bon Bon cut out her tongue, leaving nothing but a bloody stump in her mouth. Applebloom screamed, but it was still muffled by the blindfold. Tears blotted sweetie belle's blindfold as she could almost imagine the scene going on. She was about to cry out, but once Bon Bon tossed scootaloo's orange tongue onto the cart of gruesome elements of torture she headed over to apple bloom.
"I put a gag in your mouth so I wouldn't hear your whining!" She yelled at her. She picked up a giant bright red jawbreaker, removed apple bloom's gag, shoved it in, and retied the gag. Applebloom's eyes shot open and tears filled them, streaking down her cheeks. "That's right, hon! Made with ghost chilis. Hottest in the world! Enjoy it while I finish off your friend!" Sweat blotted apple blooms fur as the pain receptors in her mouth lit up from the intense heat. She tried to spit it out, but the gag blocked her. She had nothing to do but endure it. Scootaloo panted from the quick break from the pain. Blood filled her mouth while her stub left of a tongue scabbed up. She tried to talk, but all that came out were gurgles and noises of pain. Bon Bon trotted over to the cart and brought out something odd-cotton swabs. With a small smile on her face, she slowly removed her ear plugs and put one swab each into scootaloo's ears and shoved hard, so only one tip could be seen. Again, scootaloo cried a guttural, horrible sound. Apple bloom, through her pain, wished she could cover her ears but she was still restrained. Sweetie belle was still passed out. "Hmm," Bon Bon thought aloud. "I think one of the crusaders has been asleep too long." With a large circular saw, she headed over to sweetie belle. She held the saw over her head and brought it down on her horn. Sweetie belle was shocked awake as the pain, both physical and magical, tore through her body. With a large blast of green light, the horn clattered on the floor. Using the last resources of unicorn magic, her head fixed the gap where her horn once was, making her an earth pony. "How interesting!" Exclaimed Bon Bon. She picked up sweetie belle's horn in her mouth and headed over to scootaloo. "Any last goodbyes to your little friend?" Bon Bon asked sweetly. All applebloom could do was make noises from her throat, as the extreme jaw breaker scalded her mouth, but sweetie belle cried out to her. "Scootaloo! Remember when we first met at diamond tiaras party? And she was so mad because we stood up to her... And we formed the crusaders... And we went on so many great adventures together! And now, all I wish for is that maybe, we can keep adventuring... In heaven..." Sweetie's tears saturated her blindfold and snuck down her face. Scootaloo was crying as well, trying to speak, to say one last goodbye to her very best friends, but she could not speak. "How sweet!" Bon Bon said. "Oh well, time to finish up here!" Rearing back on her back hooves, she drove the small spike of sweetie's horn deep into scootaloo's eye. Scootaloo involuntarily soiled herself and made one final, unearthly shriek before she stopped completely. Tears streamed from apple bloom's and sweetie Belle's eyes as they realized their friend was gone forever. Bon Bon grinned with delight as she realized she had taken her first life.
It was so exhilarating! She left sweetie belle's horn in scootaloo's lifeless body and trotted over to apple bloom, untying her gag. As soon as she could,she expelled the extreme jaw breaker from her mouth, the inside raw and red from the coloring and the burns. Her body dripping with sweat and tears, she pitifully asked, "why, miss Bon Bon? Why are you doing this to us?" Bon Bon simply grinned. "Because, silly filly. You don't shoplift here in my shoppe. See, if I told the mayor or your sisters, you would simply get a slap on the hooves. However, this way you will never shoplift again." Apple bloom sobbed. "Quit your crying! I have a candy for you." Bon Bon shoved another blood-clotting candy into apple bloom's mouth. Apple bloom readily took the candy into her mouth. As opposed to the abrasive ghost chili jawbreaker, the taffy had a pleasing apple flavor, reminiscent of a fresh red delicious. This, in a way, was even worse than the jaw breaker, because it made her realize that she would never taste a fresh apple again, never run beside apple jack and Big Mac and Winona. "I knew you would like the flavor!" Bon Bon exclaimed as apple bloom swallowed the candy. "I made it especially for you." Bon Bon trotted to a corner and pulled a lever. Apple bloom felt her restrains constrict further and begin to pull her tightly. She felt herself being pulled past a comfortable stretch, hearing a few joints pop. "Ahh!" She screamed as she was almost stretched to her limits. Bon Bon subsequently turned off the lever and trotted towards her cart. Bon Bon grabbed a very large steak knife from the table and headed over to apple bloom.
"Please... Please miss Bon Bon... If you let me and sweetie belle go we ain't gonna tell a soul 'bout what you did! We'll - We'll never steal again! Just please, please!" Bloom pleaded. "Hmmm... How about no," replied Bon Bon, running the knife gently from her chest down her belly. Normally, it would barely have been enough to give her a scratch, but since apple bloom was stretched so tight it cut her open and her insides splattered all around the room. Some blood and gore landed on sweetie belle, causing her to begin crying again. All of her friends were going to leave her forever, and she would witness it without seeing them for the last time. Bon Bon laughed hysterically as blood spattered her cream colored face. Apple bloom gasped, but no air went to her lungs. Instead, all she could to was take one last dying look at her best friends and her murderer as everything faded to black. After watching applebloom's last breath, Bon Bon trotted over to sweetie belle, removing her blindfold. Sweetie's eyes and cheeks were stained from tears, and she shied away from Bon Bon when her eyes adjusted to the light.
"Oh sweetie belle, you were always my favorite out of you three. That's why, I suppose, I blindfolded you and saved you for last. So I could have this last moment with you before it started." Sweetie belle's bottom lip quivered uncontrollably as she retorted, "it's already started! You... You killed my friends! You made me eat part of my friend! You took off my horn! You're nothing but a... A... A monster!" Bon Bon chuckled slightly. "Oh, sweetie belle. You don't just cross me and get away with it. Too bad you and your friends didnt learn any better before I had to take serious action." Sweetie belle, in an effort to be brave, spat in Bon Bon's face. Barely fazed by this, Bon Bon wiped it off and trotted to where she had seen something particular land. "Ahh... Perfect," she murmured to herself as she went back towards sweetie belle. When sweetie saw this, her eyes widened in fear. "No! No, please! I'm sorry, I really didn't mean it!" She pleaded as Bon Bon pried open her jaws and stuffed apple bloom's still-warm heart into her mouth and then proceeded to staple her mouth closed. Sweetie made horrified noises and tried to gag and vomit up the horrible object, but her lips wouldn't allow it, bleeding a bit any time they were stressed. "Now your friends will always be with you! One in here," Bon Bon said, pointing to sweetie's stomach, "and one in here," she finished, pointing to her mouth. Sweetie belle's eyes once again filled with tears, but behind them was an emotion. Her eyes were filled with hate. Her eyes told Bon Bon that with every last breath she breathed, she would stare her down with ultimate resolve. Although she hated to admit it, sweetie's glare unnerved her a bit, so she quickly went over to her cart. She swiftly cut out a rectangle of sweetie belle's flesh where her horn used to be with the same paring knife she had used earlier. Sweetie's resolve held as silent tears of pain fell down her cheeks, staring at Bon Bon the whole time.
Bon Bon grabbed a small hoof-held automatic saw. Bringing it down on the piece of skull that was exposed from earlier, she removed it and set it by the other small pieces of gore. Bon Bon grabbed the final sweet thing from the cart-a bottle of maple syrup. Holding it directly over the hole in sweetie belle's head, she squeezed almost half the bottle into the opening. A sizzling sound was almost immediately heard. Sweetie belle writhed and thrashed in pain but kept her stare on Bon Bon.
"You see, sweetie, that maple syrup wasn't exactly maple syrup. Not the kind you'd put on your pancakes, at least! This is actually more of an ACID, and right now it's eating away at your brain! With the amount I put in, you probably have less than a minute left. See, I'm being merciful! Not too much torture for you. Well, enjoy your last look at life! I'm going to start cleaning up this mess." As sweetie belle's brain slowly dissolved, she never took her gaze off Bon Bon, not for one second. She watched her as she cut up her friends, throwing their remains into a metal trash can. She stared at her with contempt and hate, hate for doing this to her and her friends, hate for the torture. She stared and stared and stared... Until, finally, her steely glare relaxed into an unfocused Bon looked over. "Is my last little victim finally dead?" She asked sweetly. To make sure, she stabbed sweetie's leg with a knife. Yep, she was gone all right. She began to cut her up into pieces, too, tossing her atop her friends. The only piece she left intact, for all three of them, was the head. Too much effort to cut into those skulls again, she thought. Tossing sweetie's hornless head on the very top of the pile, she took a hose and begin to rinse the blood and smaller pieces towards a drain near the middle of the room. One all that was done, she flipped the tables over and made everything look like her normal candy lab. As the final step to her great revenge, she soaked the remains of the fillies with gasoline and tossed a single match into the trash can. Bon Bon went home that night twitchy and nervous. Sweetie Belle's cold, hateful stare haunted her for the rest of the day. She was almost unreachable to Lyra, and closed the shoppe for a week claiming she was sick. It's okay, she thought. You'll feel better soon. Still, she had nightmares every night that included blood, horrifying candies, and those green, lifeless eyes.
Staring at her.
Never relenting.
Never forgiving.
A week later, Bon Bon woke up from a terrible nightmare. In the nightmare, everypony was avoiding her, even Lyra, and she couldn't understand why. When she got home, she looked in the mirror and found her coat, mane and tail were dripping red from blood. She tried to scrub off the stains, but they wouldn't budge, and as soon as she stepped out of the shower she was in a room full of hateful green eyes, glaring at her so hard it made her skin crawl.
She woke up in a cold sweat in her candy lab. What? How did I get here? she asked herself, looking around. The room was covered in gore. You killed them, said a voice in her head, almost independent of the rest of her thoughts. All of the foals. You killed them.
"But... Why?" She asked aloud as she looked around the room. On her cart there were pictures of her victims that she had apparently taken just before their death. "Pipsqueak, Silver Spoon, diamond itarha, Twist,..." With each picture tears grew in her eyes. Was she really so insane that she killed those innocent foals without her memory?
Her eye twitched, hair going out of place. "They deserved it. Those brats had nothing for you but misery and loss."
"Um... Bon Bon? Are you down there? I got off work early and thought I could check on you... You've seemed kind of tense these past couple days," Lyra called from upstairs. Turning towards the staircase with a maniac glint in her eye
With a sort of evil grin on bon bon's face she said, "Of course, dear. But I have a question for you."
"Would you care
for a Bon Bon?"