Bon Bon wakes up.
She is sweating. Her pillow has been drenched with sweat. She hears herself gasping for air.
She has had a nightmare.
It was when she was a small filly. She had been playing with her parents. All was normal in her house. She went to bed, like normal.
She heard a noise outside.
It sounded like a crash. Was somepony trying to break in? No, she told herself. It’s the wind. Just the wind.
She hears it again.
Now she hears her window being opened. A stallion jumps through the window. He is wearing all black. His face, his body, his everything is covered in black. Before Bon Bon can scream, he stuffs a rag in her mouth. He snickers. He jumps on her bed, and pulls something out in between his legs. What was that? He laughs again. He puts what he just pulled out inside of Bon Bon, in the same spot. It hurts. A lot. She wants to cry out for help, but she can’t. It really hurts now. He’s moving harder now. She looks down at herself, and the sheets are covered with blood. She starts to cry. Tears are running down her cheeks, her face, and on to the white sheets below. The pony in black hits her face hard. It leaves a red mark, and it stings. “Shut up!” he hisses. Bon Bon tries to stifle her tears. She is in a lot of pain.
Bon Bon shakes her head. It happened forever ago! Stop thinking about it! She makes herself some coffee. A few stray tears land in her mug. She hasn’t even realized that she’s crying. She sips her coffee and spits it into the sink. It tastes like blood.
Bon Bon is biting on the rag, trying to muffle her screams. She can hear the black stallion grunting. Then, he exhales sharply and moans. Bon Bon can feel some sort of liquid inside of her, and the feeling makes her light-headed. Through a miracle, she manages to spit the rag out of her mouth and scream. “HELP!” she screams. “HELPHELPHELPHELP-“ The black pony shoves his hoof in her mouth. He hits her again. “Shut up!” he hisses. Her nose has started to bleed.
Bon Bon is openly weeping now. She feels light-headed.
Luckily, Bon Bon’s father hears her screams. He opens her door. “Honey, what’s-“ He stops dead in his tracks when he sees the stallion. His father jumps at the attacker and starts to beat him. Bon Bon starts to cry. She pulls her bloodied covers over her bloodied face and cries bloody tears. So much blood.
Bon Bon crawls upstairs. She left her coffee in the kitchen. She crawls in bed and pulls her white-and-blue-striped covers over her head. Her tears are flowing like a river.
Her father has managed to knock out the stallion. He pulls the covers off of Bon Bon’s head. She is curled up in a ball. Her eyes are red and puffy, and she’s still crying. He pulls her close. Her mother walks upstairs, wanting to see what the commotion was about. She sees her daughter, covered in blood, her father, hugging her with bloodied hooves, and a bloodied body on the ground. She goes to call 911 while the father comforts the daughter.
Bon Bon’s sheets are soaked with tears. She remembers the detective.
“Hi, honey. My name is Gold Badge. What’s yours?” the brown unicorn asks her. She’s wearing a suit and has a badge around her neck.
“I’m Bon Bon,” the small, scared, scarred filly says.
“Hi, Bon Bon,” Gold Badge says. Bon Bon likes her. She’s nice. “We know you got hurt, but the man who did it is going to get in trouble, okay?”
Bon Bon nods.
“Do you want to go do something to have fun? What do you like to do?”
“I like to watch people bake things. I’ve always wanted to try, but Mommy says that I might get hurt."
“I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt, if you want to try.”
Bon Bon nods. “I wanna try.”
“Okay, sweetie. Let’s go.” She helps Bon Bon down from her seat at the police station and leads her to the station’s kitchen.
Bon Bon remembers the trial.
The trial. All those eyes. They pierce Bon Bon’s soul, chanting talk! Talk! Talk! She’s afraid. She sees the stallion who hurt her. He glares at her. He has scary red eyes. Bon Bon has always seen them in her nightmares.
The mare in the blue suit with the glasses walks up to her. “What is your name?”
“Bon Bon.”
“Hi, Bon Bon.”
Bon Bon likes the mare in the blue suit. She's nice.
“Do you know why you’re here?”
“Um…well, Gold Badge told me that they want me to say that that guy over there-“ she motioned to him with her hand- “hurt me. The newspapers say that he raped me, but I don’t know what that means.” Her innocent words pierce the hearts of the jury. One juror feels like crying.
“You know, Bon Bon, you’re very brave. Most fillies your age couldn’t do what you’re doing right now.” Bon Bon feels like crying right now, but Gold Badge told her to be brave. She is brave.
Bon Bon remembers what school was like after the incident,
The stallion had been found guilty, and was spending life in prison. Things were looking up for Bon Bon. Her parents had decided that Bon Bon had put the incident behind her, and was ready to move on.
They were wrong.
But Bon Bon needed to go to school, so they transferred her from public school into a private school. She was quite intelligent, and her parents decided that the private school’s curriculum was better suited to her mental capacity.
“Class,” her teacher had said. “This is Bon Bon. She’s new here, so be nice.”
“Hey, aren’t you the one girl who was-“
“Quill! Hush!”
“But, Mrs. Blackboard-“
“Enough, Quill!”
Bon Bon could feel tears coming on.
“Weren’t you raped?” another student asks before Mrs. Blackboard has the chance to stop it.
Bon Bon nods slightly.
She hears a few snickers from the students.
Was it…funny?
She spies an open seat in the back and slowly trots to the back. She hears whispers directed at her.
Whore.
Slut.
Imperfect.
Waste of air.
Disgrace.
She wants to scream.
She finds her way to her seat. She sits next to a mint-green unicorn. The unicorn’s hair has a white streak in the light green. She looks at Bon Bon, a look of concern on her face. She starts whispering to Bon Bon.
“Are you okay? Just ignore them, they’re all douchebags anyways.”
Bon Bon looks at the floor.
“My name’s Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings. I’m kinda new here, too, so you’re not alone.”
Bon Bon manages a weak smile.
“Listen, my next class is Calculus. Why don’t you sit next to me again? I have an open seat next to me in all of my classes.”
Bon Bon’s smile grows a bit. Lyra smiles back. “Bon Bon?” she asks.
“Yes?”
“There’s nothing wrong with you, okay? It wasn’t your fault. Don’t listen to them.” She motioned to the rest of the class, who was still casting judgemental gazes at Bon Bon. Even the teacher looked ashamed to have Bon Bon in her class.
Bon Bon can’t do it anymore. She runs downstairs. She hears voices shouting at her.
Whore!
Slut!
Imperfect!
Waste of air!
Disgrace!
She finds rope in her shed. She had bought it so she could keep her friend’s boat docked at the lake, in case her friend lost hers.
She races back upstairs. She finds a chair and brings it to her closet, steps on top of it, and starts tying her noose.
She scribbles a note.
I’m sorry.
Bon Bon kicks the chair out from under her.
"Bon Bon?" Lyra calls out. She had tried knocking on Bon Bon's front door, but she hadn't come, so she used the key in the plant in front of Bon Bon's house. "Bon Bon, you home?" Lyra sees the still-lukewarm coffee on the counter. "You still asleep?" She begins to trot upstairs after sweeping the ground floor. She gets to Bon Bon's bedroom. She notices the wet sheets and the slightly-open closet door. Lyra takes a few steps forward and opens the closet door.
Bon Bon's body is hanging there.
Lyra starts to panic and cry. She unties Bon Bon's noose with her magic and tries to shake her awake. "Bon Bon!" she shouts. "Wake up!" Her tears are wetting Bon Bon's coat. "Please! Wake up!" She lets out a wail, placing her head on Bon Bon's chest and weeping on her friend.
"Please…"
Bon Bon wakes up. She is in a hospital gown, lying on a gurney. She has an IV in her wrist. She notices a bundle of green on the couch next to her.
"Lyra?" she calls out.
"Bon Bon!" she cries, getting up and hugging her best friend. "I was so worried."
"What happened?"
"I found you in the closet. Someone heard me crying and called an ambulance. I was too shocked to do it myself."
"Lyra?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry. I…just…I feel alone."
"You're not. I'm here."
"Yeah, but…I have no one who loves me."
"I love you. You're like the sister I never had."
"Really?"
"Of course. You…you were my first friend."
"I…I was?"
"Yeah."
Bon Bon feels happy for some reason.
"I love you too, Lyra," she says. "You're like the sister I never had."
Bon Bon breaks down. She starts to sob.
"What's wrong?"
"I jusy f-feel so…worthless! What am I w-w-worth, huh? I was raped! I'm worthless!"
"You're not worthless! You're pretty, smart, awesome, funny, likable, kind, gentle, loyal, honest, hardworking, generous, and everything in between. You're an awesome confectioner, too."
"How d-d-do you think I got my c-c-cutie mark?" Bon Bon burst. "If I-I hadn't b-been raped, I never w-w-w-ould've gotten it!"
"Everything happens for a reason. Trust me. We were meant to meet, otherwise you would be dead. I love you like family. You can do anything. You can move mountains! You could change the world!"
"It's too late for that."
"It's not too late. It's never too late."
Bon Bon is in a park. She has a butterfly in a jar. It's pink and blue, like her mane. She sheds a tear. She opens the jar and lets the butterfly free.
She trots away, leaving the past behind her. The future is bright for Bon Bon. It's not too late to do something amazing.
It's never too late.