If somepony had told Bon-Bon some two weeks ago that her sweets store would be out of business some day, she would have let out a dignified laugh and made a witty remark about her sweets being 'immortal'.
But here she was, packing the boxes with old recipes and packets of secret ingredients and bricks of butter and jelly jars, waiting for the movers to come. The new owners wanted the building to be a coffee shop, so she was free to take all her possessions and utensils with her. For now, though, all kind of sweets lay on the counter, no price tags attached. Four sweets a bit, of any kind. She liked to think of it as her goodbye to Ponyville's sweets-lovers, but today, on the last day of her business here, there was nopony to say goodbye in return.
Bon-Bon couldn't say she had made a whole bunch of friends in town. There were passing acquaintances in every town she'd found herself in, Ponyville included, but she had never felt paritcularly attached to anypony. Or any place, for that matter. She didn't feel a need for such an attachment. She was perfectly content with her business, and what acquaintances she had.
Still, she hadn't had many visitors today, let alone customers. A few usual colts and fillies, delighted to buy twice as many sweets for the same price - only today! - and a few parents eager to place orders that would never be accepted or fulfilled.
Bon-Bon was just about to close up for the day - forever - and pay a visit to the usual place. They must be waiting for her, she reminded herself. They would be so upset to see her go. Bon-Bon felt her eyes sting a little, but smiled in spite of herself. In a new town, there would be more of them. And she would try to contribute to their fading happiness as diligently as possible.
Because making sweets wasn't the only talent she possessed, despite her cutie mark saying so. Story-telling was her forte as well. Making up tales of princesses and dragons, and brave knights in shining armour, and fearsome hydras, and tame manticores - it not only fascinated the foals, but also helped her carry on. Whenever she was sad, or bored, or in a difficult mental situation, she always created stories. Maybe that was just an escape from the rigours of life. Maybe it was something more. So long as it made her and the foals happy, she didn't care.
The door opened, revealing a mint unicorn mare trotting into the shop, looking around curiously, taking in the rustic interior of the store. Just in time, Bon-Bon thought, both surprised by the movers' decision to send in only one unicorn, and slightly irritated by the said unicorn's idleness. "So, are you gonna stand there or are you gonna start moving the boxes?" she barked in ill-concealed irritation.
The unicorn mare just blinked, tilting her head ever so slightly. Great, Bon-Bon thought with an inner sigh that quickly grew into a real one. They've sent a dumb one. "I need you to move the boxes outside, first," the confectioner explained slowly, marking every word. "Do you understand me?"
The mint unicorn nodded slowly, as if in disbelief and, following Bon-Bon's gaze, enveloped a set of boxes in her telekinetic grip. With an alien look at the confectioner, the mare took the box outside and immediately returned for another. Bon-Bon tapped her hoof against the floor impatiently. "Could you hurry up, please?"
The unicorn cast a bewildered look at the cream-coloured mare. "Listen," she spoke finally, "I'm new in town and I'm not used to the local customs, but do you treat all your clients like this?"
If it was possible to do a spit-take on thin air, Bon-Bon could swear that she had just done it. Immediately, she rushed towards the customer, as if her frantic movement could make up for her mistake. "I'm so, so sorry!" Bon-Bon chirped, her businesspony mode activated fully. "I thought you were a mover. See, I'm moving out, so... Oh, but you have come here to buy, certainly! What can I offer you?"
The mint mare blinked, the current of words rushing at her, rolling her up in their swiftness. "I wanted to buy some sweets."
"But of course you do!" Bon-Bon grinned, waving her hoof all about the store. "May I interest you in some chocolate? Or boiled sweets? Chewies, maybe? We've also had a new shipment of jelly beans and- Oh, I've almost forgotten! We have a special deal today, four sweets a bit-"
"Wonderful." The mint mare smiled. "That's wonderful. I'd like to buy them all, thank you."
Bon-Bon's smile sustained for a few seconds and then faded gradually, like a helium-deprived balloon. "All of them?"
The mint mare nodded. "Yes, please. Here's my credit card."
Bon-Bon took a look. Lyra Heartstrings, she read. "That..." I can't sell all of them. They... They need them more than this mare does. This newcomer. Lyra Heartstrings. "Miss Heartstrings-" Bon-Bon began, but was swiftly interrupted.
"Just Lyra." The mint mare smiled.
It was a simple smile, Bon-Bon noted. The kind of smile that you gave to a friend. Or a family member. Or a loved one. Or an employer. The confectioner chuckled mentally. "Lyra, I'm not sure you want all of these sweets." She paused, emphasising, for good measure, "That'll be five hundred bits."
Lyra nodded. "I need a big supply. That'll be two thousand pieces, right?"
Bon-Bon nodded. You don't need so much, you fat- They need it more than you do. But she needed money. She needed to find a new home. She needed to set up a new business in a new place, and Celestia knew when it would happen. Until that, she needed all the money she could gather. Moreover, I've offended her. It's just common courtesy, the confectioner eased her conscience. She trotted towards the counter and processed the transaction. "Here you go." Bon-Bon returned the card. "I'm sorry, but I can't offer delivery."
"That's all right." Lyra smiled. "I move between different places often. I've learnt to rely on myself." With that, she levitated the tremendous number of sweet treats and packed them, taking two large bags out of her saddlebags. Placing one of the bags on her back, she kept the other one in her telekinetic grip as she walked away. "Good-bye, Bon-Bon."
Only when the mare had already left did Bon-Bon realise that she had never introduced herself. For a moment, she had a feeling that she'd already seen this mare somewhere... But the feeling passed. She had her name on the building still. Maybe she had met this mare. Maybe this was a different universe, Bon-Bon thought with a smile. A different story.
***
Bon-Bon walked along the narrow alley, breathing in the harsh, saturated air of the rustic town. One last day, she told herself. Not even a day, really. The movers had already shipped her things. She would be leaving overnight. But not before she said goodbye to her favourite ponies.
The confectioner smiled, even though the windy weather tried to back her down at all costs and the grumbling in her stomach urged her to come back and have a chocolate bar. The fact that there were no longer any chocolate bars did not bother her. Well, it actually did, in the way that she would arrive empty-hooved. How will this town live without sweets? she wondered as she turned the corner, the lampposts already igniting, lighting up the still-sunlit street. There were no other sweet-shops. Maybe the newborn coffee shop would sell sweets, Bon-Bon mused. Maybe they would sell pastry.
The familiar building met her with the frozen fence that was meant to shield it from all and any intruder. As if somepony would fall so low as to attack a foal hospital. Waving a 'hello' to the security pony, Bon-Bon slid into the opening in the fencing and trotted towards the entrance.
Visitors filled the lobby like sardines in a tin: mothers cradling their foals gently, foals with bandaged limbs and foals with dusty, worn-out eyes; foals with failed kidneys and foals with weak hearts; foals with cancer and foals who had just got here to get patched up from some minor trauma, shocked and teary-eyed from the horrors around them; fathers standing aside, keeping their ill-gotten, dignified masculinity while their eyes ached towards their foals, letting their wives tend to the little ones. Mares do it better.
Bon-Bon passed the lobby, greeting nurses on the way to the common room, eyeing swiftly the patients of the hospital: new faces, new foals, unfamiliar to her. And they'll never get to know me, she thought with some aching sadness. All those little foals... Of course, the nurses gave them the needed attention, but there was more to give than mere attention. Not everypony could provide entertainment. There wasn't a Pinkie Pie for every hospital in Equestria.
"Bon-Bon!" Nurse Redheart, a mare of white coat, with happy, smiling eyes, greeted the confectioner. "I hear you're moving out?"
Bon-Bon nodded with a sad smile, knowing Redheart's love of gossip. Just like every other nurse. "I thought I'd say good-bye to the little ones." Now, Bon-Bon's smile grew happy and genuine. "I have a new story to tell them. I think it's my best one." She pranced towards the common room, the story surfacing in her mind. She lived for moments like this. To see their faces, lit up with anticipation, to hear their little gasps and 'aww's, their giggles and the clopping of their little hooves when she was done with the story and began to hand out sweets.
But she had no sweets today. So, the story had to be extra good. Bon-Bon nodded to herself resolutely.
"Bon-Bon!" Nurse Redheart called out, but the confectioner had already opened the door to the common room.
"And then Ser Lance-a-lot crushed the dragon with his mighty pike!"
Bon-Bon froze in place.
The room was full of foals, her little ponies, the ponies she'd grown used to, the ponies who listened eagerly to her every word, now staring in awe at the mint mare from before, the mare who was waving her hooves in the air as she told a story that kept the foals' immediate attention. Lyra Heartstrings.
"It's Miss Bon-Bon!" one of the fillies exclaimed, pointing her little pink hoof at the confectioner. "Miss Bon-Bon, Miss Lyra was just telling us a story!" The filly got up and pranced in place gleefully. "Wanna listen? Wanna listen?"
The foals turned to her one by one, smiling and greeting their friend and storyteller. Lyra smiled at her with her smile. The smile given to a friend. A family member. A loved one. A storyteller. Bon-Bon swayed a little as she took a step forth and sat next to her little ponies, facing the mint mare, smiling. "Sure. I'd love to."
Lyra carried on with her tale, while Bon-Bon took a look around. Foals of all colours and complexions, foals of different backgrounds and different illnesses. Foals that she had known for a little while, but never got to know really well. Foals that were present in every town. Foals that needed her attention.
Toys all around them, forgotten in the wake of the epic tale. Sunset pouring into the windows generously, lighting up the walls and the floor, and the storyteller's features, and the chairs about the room. Light pouring on foals, enraptured by the tale, smiling, whispering, chewing. Bon-bons, and chocolate bars, and boiled sweets, and gum drops, and licorice.
And - wrapping paper. Everywhere.
