Non-Bon

by Mel

Rating: everyone
Tags: Changelings, Bon-Bon, Lyra, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 12684

Bon Bon's life is being taken over by strange, shape shifting monsters

Bon Bon has crafted a perfect little life for herself in Ponyville. A perfect little house, a perfect little job, a perfect little marefriend. It becomes less perfect when ponies she has never met start to greet her on the street. It seems that somepony else wants a piece of Bon Bon's perfect life, and Bon Bon may be powerless to stop them.

Even if she could... would she?

Published 2012-06-22 19:14:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-06-26 02:32:11 UTC

Part 1: Suspicion

“That’ll be 38 bits for the whole lot.”

Smiling, Bon Bon dropped the heap of coins on the grocer’s counter, picking up her bag and offering a quick, “Thank you!”

She was eager to get home. Bon Bon didn’t usually mind shopping- she found it quite relaxing, in fact. But some of her favourite stands had gone missing, and she was forced to look around to find her usual groceries. It had taken far longer than normal and she was beginning to feel a bit fatigued. Trotting hurriedly with a full bag in her mouth, Bon Bon’s eyes failed to keep up with her feet.

“Oof!” Bon Bon’s bag of groceries spilled over the ground. “Hey!”

“Oh, I’m very sorry!” The mare she had bumped into lowered herself to the ground and quickly began scooping up the spilled goods. “Clumsy me! I should have- oh! Bon Bon! Fancy meeting you again!”

A reply caught in her throat as she sized up the mare. Had… they met? Yellow coat, orange mane… she seemed familiar, but so did everypony. It wasn’t a big town, after all. A carrot cutie mark?

Think, Bon Bon! “Yes! Fancy meeting…” Golden… Carrot… um… “Me again…”

“Well you’ve certainly been busy!” Carrot or Golden something-or-other stuffed the remaining groceries back into her bags. “It couldn’t have been 15 minutes since we last talked and you look like you’ve been through a couple hours of shopping!”

But I have been through a couple of hours shopping… she thought.“Yes, well, the… busy bee… catches the worm, as it were.”

Carrot Golden’s smile became unsure for a moment. “Ah… that old saying…”

Bees and worms? thought Bon Bon, an uncomfortable silence floating into the conversation. What is wrong with me? Early bird catches the worm, Bon Bon. Maybe I should start drinking coffee before going out. Am I always so off the ball after shopping? I don’t recognize this mare at-

“Excuse me? Bon Bon? Are you feeling alright?”

She shook her head and snatched up her bags. “Yes, I’m fine. Sorry, um…” Carrot Harvest? “…But I’ve really got to get going.” Bon Bon quickly trotted off, fuming to herself.

Busy bee catches the worm?! Oh, smooth, Bon Bon. Real smooth. Now you look like a crazy mare. But I’m one to talk! There’s no way that Carrot pony was talking about me. Maybe she had me mistaken with somepony else?

Bon Bon caught herself getting lost in thought again just in time to avoid winging a couple walking down the road, more engaged in each other than she was in her self-deprecation. Looking at the couple pulled a sigh from her bitter well of moodiness. She just needed to get back home to Lyra. If anyone could pull the tension from her, it would be the mint green unicorn. …So long as she hadn’t broken anything.

Long out of the market district, the calming scent of flowers laid out on the windowsills helped Bon Bon resist the overpowering urge to run the rest of the way home and finally declare this shopping trip over. She turned a corner and smiled at the sight of their little house, blue and red flowers in the window like all the buildings in the residential area. The house, too, looked to be pulled from the same simple urban-cottage template, built almost adjacent to the sidewalk. They were still paying it off, but the feeling of coming home to the perfect life that she had worked so hard to craft was worth more than any amount of money to Bon Bon.

Her kitchen would soon be fully stocked with all of the ingredients for her trademark sweets, and she’d refill every bowl in the house. Lyra, who would be waiting inside right now, would soon empty them. Maybe she’d be in the kitchen, snooping around for a leftover candy. She could be in the living room, writing more music and practicing on her favorite lyre or maybe the new harp. Or she could be sleeping peacefully, waiting for Bon Bon to return.

The homemaker smiled and began to trot home. Her short trip came to a sudden stop, however, when her eyes met with the strangest sight. Coming out of the house was a familiar crème colored pony with a blue and pink taffy twist mane. Bon Bon looked on in shock as Bon Bon left her house, waving goodbye to Lyra.

“I’ll be back really soon,” said the other Bon Bon in a painfully nasal voice that sounded nothing like the original.

“I’ll be waiting!” Lyra piped up cheerfully, waving goodbye before closing the door.

The other Bon Bon began to trot away, her back to the original. It took the stunned candy mare a moment to recover from the sight. She shook her head vigorously, shouting “Hey!” through a mouthful of groceries before galloping after the imposter. The second Bon Bon’s ears shot up and she looked over her shoulder, a shocked expression crossing her face. Then a heavy wooden door was suddenly between the two.

“Bon Bon! Don’t forget to get some strings for the harp- oh.”

The candy-maker skidded to a stop to see Lyra waiting in the doorframe with a big grin.

“Wow, that was quick! I thought your talent was candy, not super speed! I’m joking, though. I know it’s candy. You want to make some candy? Because I could really go for some candy right now!”

Bon Bon (mark I) peered around the door for some sign of the mysterious imposter, but Bon Bon (mark II) was gone.

“Uh… Bon Bon? You alright?”

“Hm? …Oh, yes! I’m… fine. Just fine.”

“Then what are you doing standing out there for? Come on in!” Lyra snapped up some of Bon Bon’s groceries and trotted merrily towards the kitchen. “Wow these are heavy. I mean, they’re always heavy so I’m not that surprised. But why do groceries have to weigh so much? I had less trouble getting the harp in here!”

Bon Bon followed at her own leisurely pace, rolling her eyes. She tossed around the idea of telling Lyra she was talking to herself again.

“Ooh, this looks delicious! Goes right here… We were out of those. Put it right here… I have no idea what that is… maybe I’ll leave it for Bon Bon. Wonder what’s taking her so long? I thought she snapped out of it when I found her spaced out at the door.”

“I do not ‘space out’,” harrumphed Bon Bon as she stepped into the kitchen.

The lyrist jumped, golden eyes wide with amazement. “How do you always know what I’m thinking? Could you at least warn me when you’re gonna read my mind?”

It was no use explaining it to her (not that she hadn’t tried in the past). Bon Bon sighed, but she also smiled. “I never stopped,” she said simply.

Part 2: Taken

_

It was probably nothing. It had to be nothing! She was just being paranoid, not a thing more. Bon Bon waved back at Colgate as she made her worrisome way to work. She knew Colgate… or at least she thought she did. Out of all the mares that waved to her today, Colgate was the first one Bon Bon actually recognized (she still waved back to all of them; Lyra had a thing about not returning waves). It was almost reassuring waving at someone Bon Bon actually knew, but all this confusion had her wondering about her own ability to recognize the ponies around her. She and Colgate were good friends, right?

Maybe I should double back and ask her… thought Bon Bon as she crashed into the front door of her shop, forgetting to take notice of where her legs took her. Little lyres and Bon Bon clones spun around her head as she landed square on her rump.

“Heh heh heh…”

Bon Bon shook her head and realigned her eyes. Was somepony laughing? How rude! How dare she be laughing at herself, she should know what it was like to get lost in thought from time to time. Furthermore…

Furthermore, she should also know that there ought only be one of her.

“Hey!” Bon Bon leapt to her hooves and started to chase down the imposter, fleeing in between the candy colored buildings. “Get back here you two-bit impersonator!”

The clone’s only reply was the occasional smirk she offered from over her shoulder. Let her be a mule… thought Bon Bon, When I get a hold of her I’ll bite her in half like a tube of liquorice!

The imposter made a narrow turn in the skinny alley. Bon Bon put on a burst of speed, not eager to lose her prey. When she rounded the corner she was baffled to see the other Bon Bon had stopped running and had turned around, waiting for her. Baffled, but more than a little relieved. She made toffee, not marathon laps!

Despite her fatigue, Bon Bon stomped up to the fake as intimidatingly as possible. She puffed up her cheeks and looked straight into her own big, blue eyes. She then realized that she had no idea what to say, but it was too late to turn back now!

“You!” A good, solid start. “Just what do you think you are doing? Impersonating me all around town?” A perfectly valid question. “Talking to my friends? My Lyra?” Yeah! “This is my life! I’m not about to let some half baked disguise artist walk away with my life!” Good. That should cover everything that needed to be said. “And another thing!” Another thing? “You’ve made a complete mess of my mane style!” Okay, now I can stop. “You’re voice is terrible, it sounds nothing like me!” Please stop talking you made your point just- “And what about that belly? I’ll have you know that I’m on a strict diet, all my friends know- um…”

Despite her slight derailment, the last thing Bon Bon expected was for the imposter to start… chuckling. Her eyes began to glow green as her face stretched into a disturbing smile. She took a firm step forward.

“Oh,” murmured Bon Bon, taking two steps back for each of the clone’s steps forward. “Well, I can see that I got my message through. Maybe I was a bit harsh, but I’m sure we all agree this talk was the best thing for both of us. Really had to be said. Now I’m sure there’s much more we’d love to discuss but unfortunately I’ve got a business to run busy busy busy ha ha ha bye.”

Bon Bon spun in place and ran right into a third mare. “Excuse me…” she said reflexively before looking into the eyes of a third Bon Bon. Stunned, she took a few steps back and looked around frantically for a means of escape. What she found were the narrow walls of the alley and, frighteningly, a fourth Bon Bon, hovering above her with a set of pegasi wings.

“Now that’s a poor disguise.”

The pegasus grimaced. Then every pair of round blue copycat eyes glowed a sickly green. In a flash they and the Non-Bons wearing them were gone, replaced by horrible monsters that looked to be more bug than pony. They had glistening carapaces, pointed fangs, and bulging, lidless eyes. Bon Bon screamed.

Wincing, the creatures advanced on her. One by one their deformed horns began to glow. An arc of magic connected all three horns before separating from them to surround Bon Bon. Still shrieking, she was engulfed in an unnatural green flame that slowly blocked her view of the world. The last thing she saw was one of those monsters, smiling smugly. Then everything was gone.

Part 3: Trapped

_

“Nn…” Bon Bon slowly came awake, feeling a miserable throbbing in her head. “What… happened? Where am I?”

She rose shakily to her hooves and looked around. Wherever she was, it was full of fog. She couldn’t see far, and all that was close enough to see were eerie mirrors. This place was full of them. Every few feet were mirrors, alone and unaffixed to anything.

“Hello?” Bon Bon shouted into the mist, “Is anypony there? Where am I? …Rose? …Colgate? …Lyra?

…Anypony?”

She drifted through the maze as silently as a ghost. The inexplicable mirrors lay everywhere, tombstones in her graveyard. Stupid, she thought, Why would you call out names? It’s obvious that nopony’s here, or ever been here in some time. Who would ever come to a place like this? Why am I in a place like this?

Bon Bon put a hoof to her temple and tried to dredge up her recent memories. She had been… chasing that imposter. She caught up, and then she was cornered and they did something. Cast a spell?

Realization dawned slowly as she began to panic. They had banished her somehow! Sent her to some horrible place! They had put her away and they had taken it- the perfect life she led! They took her quaint little house. They took her wonderful candy shop. They had stolen her friends, her possessions, her life. They had stolen Lyra from her.

No!

Bon Bon knew she was no marathon runner, but the exhaustion and fatigue were pushed to the back of her mind by fear and despair. Maybe it was a good thing Lyra had convinced her to try a hoof at the Running of the Leaves; her brief period of training helped to stave off collapsing to the ground. But no matter how far she ran the fog did not fade and the scenery did not change. Huffing and panting, she was forced to a slow trot.

Think, Bon Bon! There doesn’t seem to be a good way out of here. Why would there be? Why would those… things… send me to some place I could just slip out of and get back into Ponyville to kick them out? No, I’m not going to be running out of here. This was a trap, and an obvious one at that. I fell into it like a fly into a- is that what they are? Magically altered flies seeking revenge for every time I’ve-“Oof!”

Bon Bon’s wild theories vanished into the mist as she bumped into one of the mirrors hovering at face height. With her theories went her distraction, and into the empty space crawled her misery and despair. Stifling a sob, her sadness slowly shifted into anger with no outlet. She raised her hooves with a sneer at the mirror. Two crème legs froze in mid swing as the eyes guiding them beheld a familiar sight. Bon Bon was not looking into her own blue eyes, but a bright golden set.

“Lyra!” she cried.

In the mirror, Lyra was absentmindedly brushing her teeth with her eyes half-open. It was her bathroom- their bathroom. The sun (that seemed to be missing from this eldritch place) was shining through a window on the other side of the mirror. The towel that was supposed to be on the rack was on the floor (again) but Bon Bon couldn’t care. Her eyes were too full of tears to notice.

“Lyra, I’m so happy I found you! Something terrible has happened! You’ve got to get me out of here- maybe you can find that purple unicorn? The one from Canterlot… Lyra? Can you hear me?! Lyra!”

Lyra was brushing, gargling, and spitting back into the sink. Bon Bon began to beat her hooves on the glass.

“Lyra! Please! Say something! I promise I won’t care how weird it sounds! Just say something! Anything! Lyra!”

There. There it was. Her ears perked. A look of confusion passed her features. She looked around the room.

Hope forced Bon Bon to let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “The mirror!” she shouted as loud as she could, “I’m in the mirror! Bug monsters trapped me! Impost-”

“Is something wrong, Heartstrings?” asked Bon Bon, sticking in her head from the door. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Ghost, huh? I wish. That would be incredible! No, I just thought I heard something. Must have been the wind.”

“Maybe you should get to sleep early tonight,” the fake suggested.

“Maybe. Oh, sorry about leaving the towel on the floor again.” The unicorn’s horn glowed and began to levitate it, but the Bon Bon wannabe snatched the towel from her grip, depositing it on the rack.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of everything. You do whatever you want to do.”

“Oh. Cool! Well, I want to get a little practice in before bed. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Once Lyra could no longer see her, the monster looked straight at the mirror. Straight at the real Bon Bon. It grabbed the towel and threw it over the mirror, obstructing Bon Bon’s view.

The mirror was completely dark. Quivering, Bon Bon slid to her haunches and allowed herself a few, quiet sobs.

Part 4: Love

_

“Of course she doesn’t actually dye. Nopony dyes here.”

No.

“I swear! Pink all over!”

“Yeah, right!”

No.

“If anyone found out, I’d be ruined!”

“I think you might be exaggerating just a bit…”

No!

Bon Bon tried to push the mirror over and was underwhelmingly rewarded with a slight tilt. Groaning dismissively, she moved to the next one. Maybe this one would show her Lyra. Not that cheesy con artist’s Lyra. HER Lyra.

She peered into the glass. As she did so, the sounds of ponies talking floated into her ears.

“-wear down on the enamel eventually. You really should be using-”

“That’s lovely. But I really should be-”

“More worried about your dental hygiene! Look at your mouth, Bon Bon. It’s hard to believe it’s gone so downhill since I last saw you! I thought Lyra would have been all over you for neglecting the brush!”

Colgate had cornered one of the imposters. Now Bon Bon remembered why she never talked to Colgate alone. She smirked a little bit. The bug thing would be stuck talking about its mouth for hours. This may not have lead any closer to finding a solution, but it made Bon Bon feel better to know the fake was in real suffering.

She moved quickly to the next mirror, skipping past another two duds before she was gazing into her living room. It was almost comforting to see. The rug was laid out just the way she’d planned. The couch they had bought was specifically tested by Lyra so she could sit in the odd little way she had. It was a relief to see that the room hadn’t been as upturned as her life. In an adjoining room was Lyra, practicing on her brand new oversized harp. Bon Bon couldn’t see her, but as she approached the mirror sounds of playing and occasional complaining grew into focus.

The front door opened and one of them stalked into the room wearing her face… and her second favorite hat! In her poorly mocked jowls she gripped several rolls of a thick wire.

“Hrhtstngs fr mh hrhtstrngs!” She announced through the mouthful.

“Huh?” Lyra’s head popped out from the room.

Non Bon spat out the harp strings and stretched an insincere smile across her misshapen mug. “Heartstrings for my Heartstrings!”

Bon Bon’s ears flattened against her head. She could admit that some of her colorful perceptions may have been tainted by hatred but there was no denying that this particular monster showed no talent for voice work. It burned her to a crisp that this beast had the gall to say ‘Heartstrings’ as if it knew Lyra. And that cheesy line… There was no way she could fall for this act.

“Wow!” exclaimed Lyra, completely falling for this act, “Would you look at these? Where did you find them? Look, look! I didn’t even know we had flatwound hexcore strings in Ponyville! That nasty shopkeeper just said it didn’t have the depth of halfwound so she never had any. See here? It says the core is made from a cutting edge synthesized…”

Lyra had caught the look on the imposter’s face. It was the exact same look that Bon Bon had wore when she first heard the young green mare talk about her music. Since then she had gained more musical knowledge from Lyra than seemed possible, even if some of the more complicated stuff did fly over her head from time to time. Come on… figure it out…

“Um… That means they’re really good. Thank you, Bon Bon.” Lyra hugged the false Bon Bon. Her back was turned to the true candy maker, looking on forlornly from a large mirror in their living room. “I don’t know what I did to deserve a marefriend like you.”

With her head on Lyra’s shoulder, Non-Bon averted her eyes. “Yeah… me neither…”

“Look at her, Lyra! She doesn’t love you! She’s not real! None of them are! Please!”

-

She was finally alone. There may have been Non-Bons somewhere in the house but there were none in the room with Lyra. She sat (on the floor, not in her own weird way) and sighed for the rapt audience in her mirror. It had been almost a day since Bon Bon had been tricked.

“What’s going on with Bon Bon?” Lyra said aloud. Bon Bon would give anything to tell Lyra she was talking out loud again, to hear her accuse Bon Bon of mind reading… “She’s been acting really weird lately. Her voice has been all wonky, she can’t remember the simplest stuff, and sometimes she’s a pegasus!”

Bon Bon brought a hoof to her face. She would need to have a long, stern talk about that one when she got out.

“And worse, she’s starting to get really shy! She doesn’t hug back, and when I say ‘I love you’ she doesn’t say a thing! I’m really worried!”

“You’re talking to yourself, Lyra,” she whispered to the mirror. “What have I told you about talking to yourself?”

“She keeps looking at me like it’s the first time we’ve met. I… I don’t mind remembering that…” Her golden eyes grew glassy and reminiscent. “Blues never told me he sold the old music studio. The first time I saw her she looked so sad…”

“I was beginning to think I wouldn’t get any customers. I was thinking that maybe I should close shop when in walks the most beautiful mint green unicorn… with a head like a tube of toothpaste.”

“…I still can’t believe she forgot the open sign. I can still remember the candy on sale. A row of hard candy, salt-water taffy to the side. There was just a little bit of toffee.”

“I had only just opened, and I was still learning!”

“I remember the twists in your mane, the way you stood, the vacant look in your eyes deeper than any pond here in Ponyville…”

“I remember you saying all of that out loud. I also remember how red you turned!”

“And I remember how high you jumped when you snapped out of it, too. It was pretty scary, I didn’t know how you spaced out yet.”

“I do not…” Bon Bon cut off her own protest. Lyra lowered her head and curled her tail as if she could withdraw into herself and then into nothing.

“I’m… really worried.”

For the first time Bon Bon was grateful for one of Lyra’s odd habits. Hearing this doubt brought a new surge of vigorous determination. Bon Bon stood and reared up, placing her front hooves on the mirror. “You should be! That’s not me! Lyra! The mirror! I’m in the mirror! Look at me!”

“I…” Her golden eyes grew watery. As she spoke, they let a few tears drop to the floor. “I don’t think she loves me any more.”

“But I do!” She began to beat the mirror again. “Don’t you believe anything those oversized ticks said! They’re all lies! The honest truth is that I’ll always love you, no matter what!”

A green head lifted, its ears perking up as they scanned the room. “Bon Bon…?”

She began to search the room with her eyes. Bon Bon beat the glass frantically. “Over here Lyra! Look at the mirror! I’m right here and I love you!”

Finally she turned towards the mirror. Two golden orbs locked with a set of bright blue saucers.

“Is something bothering you, Lyra?” asked Non-Bon.

“Get away, you fake!” It baffled Bon Bon how her clone had gotten in front of the mirror so quickly.

“I…” Lyra leaned slightly to look at the mirror, but Non-Bon imitated the move to block her view. Bon Bon’s desperate beating became savage, trying to beat this imposter away. “No. I guess it was nothing.”

“I thought not.” Bon Bon’s furious hooves rained down on the image of Non-Bon’s back. Her view of the world shifted slightly. “Now why don’t you go and practice with your new harp strings? I’ll bring in some sweets.”

“Uh… Bon Bon?” THUMP. THUMP.

“What is it?” THUMP. THUMP.

“Look out!”

Bon Bon saw the world in the mirror shift dramatically. The floor flew towards her as Non-Bon jumped for safety and the glass cracked and went dark.

Bon Bon looked carefully at it. That mirror was the best view into her stolen life.

Now it was broken.

Part 5: Monsters

-

“Carrot! Carrot!”

The yellow pony with the elusive name looked up. It was the same pony that bumped into Bon Bon at the market. She acknowledged the approaching Non-Bon with a wave.

“I was starting to get worried! What took you?”

Taking over my life.

“Oh, you know… busy busy busy.” Non-Bon took a seat opposite the carrot pony at their table. Bon Bon recognized this as one of the nicer restaurants in town. She would usually be seated with all her friends at the table on the edge over there…

“I’ve heard! By the sound of things, you’ve been all over. It seems to be a miracle you could make it over at all! How do you find time in your schedule?”

“Oh, you just have to learn to be in seven places at once!”

They both laughed, and Bon Bon gritted her teeth.

“You’re a real character. How have we not met sooner?”

“I’ve just been… keeping to myself for a while. Family troubles, you see. Never thought I had the time for friends. Had to work to feed my brother and sisters. Sometimes it seemed like we didn’t have enough love between all of us to keep going.”

Brother? It didn’t surprise Bon Bon that there was a colt imitating her. Though this particular Non-Bon was an exception, most of them already sounded like colts.

“That’s terrible! Whatever happened?”

“One of my sisters had an idea. She got lucky, found a way to keep us from ever being like that again. Since then, there’s been so much love between us we don’t know what to do with it! I’m just so happy; I couldn’t keep it all to myself.”

Bon Bon left the scene before she ground her teeth to stumps. That overgrown housefly! That tart little snake has everything wrapped around her putrid fangs! How can nopony notice that none of these monsters are me? I can’t be- woah!

Bon Bon’s train of thought crashed just before she did, coming to a stop inches before a mirror she recognized very well. It was the same as the large pane in the back of her candy shop, left over from the previous owner of the building. She kept it because she enjoyed the top-down view it gave from the ceiling of her workplace. As Bon Bon focused on the mirror, her ears began to catch the sounds of a conversation.

“You should really just go and see the doctor. I’ve talked to her, she’s nice.” Five of the Non-Bons were gathered in her workshop. All but one were undisguised, broadcasting their nauseating bug-like forms. The one that still wore Bon Bon’s face was covered in taffy.

“Not a chance! Unh…” The moaning bug pony had a large bandage affixed to her head. “Some of them are already getting suspicious! If I show up to the hospital with a head injury that none of you have, we’re as good as done! No, I’ll have to tough it out in here until it goes away. Ow…”

“Hmph.” One of the monsters was constantly hovering, darting about the room between sentences. “Tough love, Sting. That’s what you get for standing next to a mirror.”

“It’s hardly her fault.” One of the undisguised creatures followed the flying one’s movements with obvious difficulty. “How was she supposed to know it was going to fall on her?”

The buzzing one crossed her arms and flew with her back turned. The candy coated copycat who still wore a disguise walked over to Bon Bon’s oven and took a peek inside. As a confectioner, Bon Bon couldn’t help but feel a little curious as to what her counterpart was making.

“Buzz, will you please land and stop making that noise?” When the colt at the oven didn’t try to disguise his voice, it was much less grating. “It can’t be helping with Sting’s headache.”

Buzz landed with a grumble, her wings slowly winding down. The injured changeling, Sting, groaned and then pointed at the other two bugs. “I’m staying here and that’s final. If you really want to help, go get me some aspirin. Mandible, you go and check for any rumors that might concern us. If you hear anything, come straight to me.”

The other two nodded. One took Bon Bon’s shape and the other took the form of an unfamiliar mare with a white coat and pink mane. They both trotted out of the workshop. When the tinkling bells at the door announced their departure, Buzz took to the air again.

“That was way too close. Sorry, Sting, I didn’t mean to almost spill the-”

“Shush!” Sting put a perforated hoof to her mouth and glared right at Bon Bon. “Can’t you see we have a guest?”

Sting’s wings vibrated as she floated up to the mirror in the ceiling. Buzz caught on and whirred in angry circles before it, glaring. The unnamed colt pretended to fiddle with the oven.

“Well, aren’t you a clever little pony,” Sting purred at the mirror, “And so persistent too. Shouting and banging and…” She winced.

Bon Bon felt a defiant pride at the lump on this monster’s head. “What’s the matter, feeling a little sore? Let me out right now and I’ll consider not giving you a ride in my taffy stretcher!”

“Don’t joke about that!” The candy covered copy-colt shuddered.

Sting rolled her eyes. “This bruise isn’t even a minor setback. Don’t you see? The only way you’re getting out of there is if we let you go. We’re changelings, you know. We feed off of love. The more we get, the stronger we are. And you should know how potent your little lyre-pony’s love is. It allowed Buzz, Web, and I to cast a spell stronger than your tiny candy-brain could even imagine. You’re not getting out of there.”

“This is not over!” Bon Bon slammed a hoof into the mirror and was rewarded with Sting flinching. “Get out of my life! I’ll topple every mirror in this town on your fat head! Lyra won’t leave me here. She can hear me! She knows something’s wrong!”

Bon Bon recoiled as Buzz smashed into the mirror. “Listen, you! If you don’t stop shouting-”

Sting pushed her off. “If you don’t stop trying to warn the little lyre-pony, we’ll suddenly take a disliking to every mirror in the house. They’ll be gone, and you’ll never be able to see her ever again, let alone talk to her.” Slowly, the changeling turned around and receded to the floor.

“You can’t do this! You monster!”

“A monster? Oh, right. I almost forgot.” She blinked into the shape of Bon Bon. Buzz followed suit, though her flawed disguise had a pair of pegasus wings holding her above the ground. “Much better.”

The two left without a word. Bon Bon leaned on the glass, covering her sobs with angry yells.

“You can’t do this!”

The colt fiddled with a few knobs on the oven.

“You monsters! You horrible monsters!”

He went to check some of the supplies on the shelves.

“Lyra!”

His ears flattened against his lowered head as he quickly trotted out of the room, keeping his eyes to the ground.

“Lyra!”

Part 6: Monsters?

-

That bedroom used to be mine. She stared longingly into an empty room with a bed for two. The curtains were closed, letting in very little light. A dressing-table held up the mirror that held her. Everything is backwards, she thought. Bon Bon was used to looking at the mirror, not from it. Seeing all of her knick-knacks and trinkets from the wrong direction seemed to needlessly confirm how surreal her situation was. Worst of all was the framed picture of Lyra. Its back was towards the mirror, the green unicorn looking away from the trapped mare.

There was the clip clop of hooves on the stairway. Bon Bon’s ears flew up and she stared hopefully at the door. It opened with a lethargic creek. One of the Non-Bons walked in. Bon Bon’s ears flattened against her head again as a foul grimace crawled across her face. Maybe she could tip the lowboy enough to topple it like she did to the mirror in the living room…

And she might just get the chance. After the changeling took a look outside the window, the dressing-table seemed to catch her eye. She walked over and looked right into the mounted mirror. Bon Bon stared back, as hard and coldly as she could, a poor reflection of the pensive, almost melancholy face across the glass.

“What happened?” Asked the Non-Bon.

Bon Bon’s jaw dropped. “What happened?” she fumed, “What do you think happened? You monsters-”

“We never kept secrets from each other before.” She carried on without acknowledging Bon Bon’s indignant rage. Her voice was the same as the changeling that was talking to Carrot-something-or-other from earlier. “I know times have been tough, but we’ve always stuck close through the thick and the thin.”

“What are you talking about? You twigged little stick bug, I never…”

Her voice trailed off as the changeling lifted a hoof and placed it on the glass. “But now…” Her disguise faded. Even through those insectile features, her concern was obvious. “There’s something you’re not telling me. It’s about one of the mares, isn’t it? I know it is. Something about this…”

Her voice trailed off. She looked to the picture of Lyra sitting on the table. Holding it between her hooves, she whispered. “This isn’t right…”

Bon Bon’s mouth opened and closed, grasping for words that were having trouble forming in her mouth. “I just… that’s not… um… hey! Don’t you ignore me! Get your crummy pincers off of that! It doesn’t belong to you!”

The changeling paused. She was completely still for a moment. Slowly, she began to lean into the mirror. Her unblinking stare began to unnerve the prisoner inside. Then the door to the room creaked open and Non-Bon quickly replaced her disguise.

“I don’t know about you, but I- Bon Bon? Is everything alright?”

“Um… of course. Everything is fine.”

Bon Bon sat in her misty prison, looking on in confusion. She watched as they made some small talk, then as they brushed their teeth and went to bed. Afterwards she watched Lyra sleep for maybe an hour. When she could no longer take being able to see her without laying a hoof on her shoulder, Bon Bon left without so much as a sniff.

Part 7: Hope

-

“Hey! Rose! Daisy! Lily! Can you hear me?”

If that glorified, pus filled, self satisfied tapeworm thinks that I’m the kind of mare who’ll sit back while she takes my life- my love… someone’s got a sour surprise waiting in the bowl!

“Come on! ROSE!”

It wasn’t doing her any good to try and contact Lyra. There was always a changeling guarding her. But these Non-Bons couldn’t keep tabs on every mirror in Ponyville, so she’d gone looking for somepony she knew that could help her out of a jam. When Bon Bon found a mirror she recognized from Sugar Cube Corner, she expected to find Colgate lecturing the shopkeeper about proper oral care. Instead the flower trio was sitting at a table and enjoying a plate of assorted pastries.

“You just have to look close enough, it’s obviously pink!” Whenever it wasn’t full of pastries, Daisy’s mouth was stuffed full of gossip.

“Well, I don’t see what the big deal is… if she prefers that color, who are we to judge?” Rose took a sip of tea.

“OVER HERE! I’M IN THE MIRROR! LOOK AT ME!”

“Daisy just hates ponies other than her keeping secrets.” Lilly smirked.

“STOP GOSSIPING AND FIND ME!” Bon Bon struck the mirror and panicked when the view tilted dangerously. It would not do to go breaking half the mirrors in town. It would just make this even more difficult. When the view steadied, Bon Bon took a deep breath. No way I’m giving up now.

She held her breath for a fraction of a second, bracing herself. “CAN ANYPONY HEAR ME? I’M RIGHT HE-”

“Where?!”

Bon Bon’s shout withered and died, severed prematurely as a voice with the pitch of a squealing balloon neatly interrupted her pleas. She knew that voice. She feared that voice. That voice meant business, for sure, but that voice came from a gullet with no discernable physical limitations. The last time she heard that voice, it came with weeks of nightmares where a giant pink mouth opened wide and swallowed her whole store.

Maybe she should be quiet…

“Helloooooooo…” said the voice, peering around quizzically.

“…Anypony else? Honestly, anypony else.”

“What’s that? You gotta speak up, I can barely hear you! Or is this like hide and seek?”

Don’t be a fool, Bon Bon! This is the best chance you’re gonna get! Swallow your fear! If you are getting out of this, you’ll have to… oh, I just hope she doesn’t ask for a reward! That bottomless pit could ruin me!

“I’m… er, HEY! I’M OVER HERE! IN THE MIRROR!”

“Oh, wow! You’re really bad at this game! You don’t tell someone where you’re hiding!” Pinkie Pie bounced over to the mirror, silencing the flower trio’s gossip as they looked on in confusion. Pinkie examined the mirror up and down, behind and in front. “I take it back, you’re really good! I don’t know where you are even with the hint!”

“No, Pinkie! I’m not hiding, I’m trapped! I’m IN THE MIRROR! Can you hear me?”

Pinkie stopped searching and looked straight into the mirror. Her eyes narrowed in an intense stare. She said nothing, gazing so fiercely Bon Bon was worried she might shatter the mirror and glare straight into her soul.

“Um… Pinkie?”

Her eyes finally snapped wide open and her jaw dropped in the expression of shock Bon Bon was waiting for. “Bon Bon?! You’re actually in the mirror? I can’t believe it!”

Relief flooded the crème mare’s features.

“You can’t use magic to hide! That’s cheating!”

It poured off like melted chocolate. More than her voracious appetite, Pinkie’s overly quirky nature did not mix well with Bon Bon. She already dealt with a lot of Lyra’s unique personality so Pinkie always pushed her over the edge. But today she couldn’t just walk away. In fact, she couldn’t walk anywhere without Pinkie’s help.

“I… I know. Please focus, Pinkie. I need you to help me get out of here. I’ve been captured by changelings-”

“Ooh, those are nasty! They’re no fun at parties, buh-leev me! Twilight really hates them for trying to crash her brother’s wedding!”

“Twilight! That’s the unicorn from Canterlot, right? Celestia’s pupil? Listen to me, Pinkie. If anyone can get me out of here, it’s her. Please find her! Find Twilight and get me out of here!”

“Okie dokey lokie! We’ll have you out faster than you can say squirrel nut caramel!”

The vibrating ball of cotton candy was gone in a flash, leaving behind three confused earth ponies and one mare in a mirror with more hope than she had felt in days.

Part 8: Relief

-

Bon Bon wandered from mirror to mirror, looking for any sign of Pinkie Pie or the purple unicorn. She didn’t know her personally but everypony in town knew of her arrival and adventures. She would give those nasty brutes a proper bug zapping! Bon Bon’s mind began to wander with all of the satisfying revenge fantasies Twilight would mete out on these imposters.

That’s what you get for stealing my life! I should try and remember what the second half of her name is. It wouldn’t do to be calling my rescuer Twilight Something-or-other. Her name was all the rage not too long ago… why can’t I recall? Maybe it was- wait, where am I?

Bon Bon’s thoughtful wanderings had put her amidst unfamiliar mirrors. She panicked for a moment before finding her way back to the one in Sugar Cube Corner. Rose, Daisy and Lily had gone but there was no sign of Pinkie Pie.

“Hey! Are you there?”

Still no response.

She continued wandering through the graveyard of glass, being careful to remember where she left the Sugar Cube Corner mirror. She peered into various scenes of her home town. Still no energetic pink fluff or lavender heroines, but she did find a Non-Bon. She stopped at the mirror to yell at her for a bit. If the Non-Bon heard her, she wasn’t showing it.

Eventually she managed to find one of them alone. Bon Bon assumed it was Buzz, if the wings were any indication. She was hovering in the air outside of somepony’s window, looking for something. The candy mare couldn’t resist.

“If you’re looking for a heavier brain, you’ll have to fly a bit higher to find some cloud.”

Buzz snapped to attention and scowled, spinning and looking about.

“In here, genius.”

The wannabe pegasus locked eyes with the mirror and flew in the open window, hovering and huffing. “Oh, it’s you. What’s the matter? Getting lonely in there? By yourself? Alone?”

“Just offering some helpful advice. I hate to see a dumb animal suffer; if I could give you half a clue I might not feel so bad.”

She grit her teeth, obviously trying hard to think of a comeback. “Yeah? Well you’re trapped in a mirror and I’m not! So hah! How’s it feel not being able to talk to anypony?”

Bon Bon’s fun was spoiled just a tiny bit. It was like hard candy when you meant for toffee. “At least I get to enjoy your intelligent conversation,” she said as sarcastically as possible, hoping Buzz was perceptive enough to catch on to the irony.

It seemed she was. Barely. “Hmph. You know why you can whine at us?” She dropped her disguise and pointed to her twisted, glowing horn. “Because Sting, Web an’ me made the spell that put you there. And it’s not gonna break unless each of us says so. Whine all you want…” She hovered right next to the mirror until her muzzle was inches across from Bon Bon’s. “We’re never dropping the spell!”

Bon Bon spun around and delivered her overflowing rage in a kick with all the force her hindquarters could muster. Her mirror rocked forward into Buzz’s nose.

“Ow! Why you little-” She landed in the back of the room, wings humming. Pawing the ground with one hoof and holding her bruised nose with the other, Buzz snorted and charged face first into the mirror. It shattered, going dark.

Bon Bon smiled at herself. She didn’t learn anything particularly useful, no. But knowing another changeling would be needing bandages was a powerful comfort.

Part 9: Regret

-

Riding high on her little victory and the assurance of her freedom in the near future made Bon Bon feel more than a little bit cocky. She strode from mirror to mirror, looking for one her three captors to harass. The first changeling didn’t seem to hear her. The second was walking with Lyra. She couldn’t find a third.

What was that? Bon Bon’s ears swiveled. I could swear I heard something…

While snooping around for the sound, she found a mirror with a confusing, shifting view. Following it with a tilted head, the world swung and swayed in the glass. Somepony is carrying it, she realized. Eventually the mirror was set down in the narrow space between buildings, reminiscent of where she was captured. As it settled, one of the Non-Bons stepped into view. Judging by the raw forms of candy still clinging to him, it must have been the colt, Web. When he saw a mare in the mirror, Web jumped back in surprise.

“Weren’t expecting to see me again so soon, huh?” Bon Bon leaned forward. She stuck her head forward, bumping her nose on the mirror. She silently hoping the changeling didn't notice. “Bet you really won’t be expecting it when I kick your collective buggy rumps out of my life and into the flypaper!”

Web leapt at the mirror. For a moment, Bon Bon smugly thought that he would be as impulsive and stupid as Buzz. She took a step back and prepared to buck his confection-covered face.

“Please don’t hurt my sisters!” he begged.

Bon Bon tripped and caught herself in mid-buck. “Beg pardon?”

Web had placed both hooves on the glass, pressing his nose into it as well. His pleading eyes seemed close to tears. “Please don’t hurt my sisters! It’s not their fault!”

“Excuse-” She paused. There was that sound again. Was she hearing things? Nevermind. Not important now. “Excuse me? ’Not their fault’? It is completely their fault! Yours too! You lot cast the spell that trapped me in here!”

He tried to shy away, but the sticky taffy coating his hooves stuck him to the mirror. “It’s… mostly not their fault.”

If it weren’t for Colgate’s expert dental advice, Bon Bon’s teeth would have ground to stumps right then. Her tooth grinding made a sharply audible sound that had Web recoiling further. “Mostly? You tricked me, surrounded me, trapped me, took my life from me, and took my love from me. This is entirely your fault!”

The changeling managed to snap a hoof free. “Yes. It’s my fault.” He gestured to himself, getting the hoof stuck on the crème coat he should not be wearing. Ignoring it, he continued, “Blame me. I should have stopped Sting. Buzz wouldn’t stop her; she does everything we tell her to! So blame me. I knew she was going too far and didn’t lift a mandible. I wouldn’t have done it, but when they told me you had a candy shop-”

“What. Did you do. To my shop.” Bon Bon’s darkest voice was still as light as white chocolate, but it did the job of terrifying the candied colt. “Do you know what that store means to me? If I find out you filled it with hives and cocoons I will personally jam you in a candy tray and throw you in the oven!”

“N-no! Nothing like that!” Web closed his eyes and trembled. “We were just looking for some sugar. We always-”

“Sugar? I thought you little creeps ate love!”

“Well, we do. But Sting and Venom found out that enough sugar is sweet enough to-”

“Then take the stupid sugar and let me out before I let myself out and zap your buggy butt but good!”

Web tried to hide behind his own hoof, but ended up getting it stuck on his face. He shoved his words into the brief pauses between his own sobs. “You d-don’t understand! We n-need a lot… we need too much s-sugar. Never enough! It always runs d-dry in a week! I’m… I’m trying… but… not g-good enough. Please don’t hurt my sisters! Sting was just trying to protect us! I t-tried to make… I wanted to…”

Bon Bon’s ears drooped as she watched the taffy-covered Non Bon try to sob more of his story. He must have been lying- changelings were good at that, right? Her jaw silently opened and closed, chewing on the gobstopper Web’s confession had presented. This isn’t how it’s supposed to go! I say, ‘Halt, evildoer!’ You say, ‘Great Bon Bon, whose power and beauty we were fools to attempt to capture! What would you have of me?’ I would go ‘Thy time is nigh, you noxious knave!’ And you would shout about woe and such! You’re not supposed to give in! Or hand me a sob story! I bet this is all a ruse, its not like you aren’t used to lying! You’re all a bunch of- ugh, what is that sound?

“Um… excuse me, miss Bon Bon?” Web murmured, working to free himself of a convoluted knot he had made of taffy and limbs. “Are you okay? For a moment there you sort of…”

She shook her head. “I do not space out! And I do not fall for the lies of ponies whose very nature is deception!”

“We’re not actually ponies…”

“You’re lying little bugs, and you’re going to get what you deserve!”

“You just have to believe me! Venom and the others don’t even-”

“Bon Bon!”

The true confectioner looked about for the newcomer that had called her name. Web took a moment to realize it was his name as well and searched the narrow alley. A set of children ran into Bon Bon’s view, greeting her imposter.

A golden filly with purple eyes was the first to speak. “Bon Bon! Why is the candy shop still closed?”

The assorted mob of children chorused agreement.

“Well, kids, I’ve been… very busy… today…” Web lied. He gave his hooves a fruitless tug to try and pull them apart.

“Yeah, right!” Shouted an orange filly. “Stop fooling around and open the store!”

“Yeah!”

“Hurry up!”

“Well… I… Er…” Web gave a sidelong glance to the mirror. If he was expecting help from Bon Bon, he wasn’t getting it. The peace and quiet was an unexpected benefit of being trapped in some mirror dimension.

The kids had effectively cut off the conversation, so Bon Bon left Web to drown in a sea of sugar starved adolescents as she tried not to think too hard about his words.

ZAP.

Okay, I KNOW I heard it that time!

Part 10: Rescue

_

Zap didn’t really do the sound justice, but the candy maker was no poet. She would probably describe it as similar to the sensation of a sour center in a sweet hard candy mixed with the fizz of carbonated sweets. The sound’s location was almost as hard to pin down as its description. She had found the general area but could not for the life of her pin down its exact origin. Every ten seconds or so it would repeat.

ZAP.

ZAP.

ZAP.

It was starting to drive her crazy, truth be told. Worse, the methodic rhythm of the sound was steady enough to let her think about what the changeling colt had said.

Mercy? Why should I show them mercy? They were willing to let me rot in here for all eternity! Mostly. No, all of them were going to leave me here. One just had a change of heart (heh, ‘change’ of heart). Just because he feels bad doesn’t mean they don’t need to be punished! Besides, only one of them even apologized, and there’s more than that. Seven? Eight? But only three of them can see or hear me. Sure, two of them are jerks, but that doesn’t mean… argh, no! They’re wicked little monsters who are feeding off of my poor Lyra! They don’t deserve… to eat? What happens when a changeling doesn’t get love? Do they starve? Were they starving? …It doesn’t matter! They don’t get to trick Lyra like that! I saw one of them turn into a mare I’ve never seen before… let them all do that and earn love the old fashioned way! Not that they’ll be able to, if I oust them in front of everypony… maybe I could-

ZAP.

“BON BON! HEY!”

The startled pony leapt a good two feet in the air. At the sound of Pinkie’s greeting she reflexively braced to explain how the store was ‘just closing, so sorry you couldn’t make it’.

“It worked! I didn’t even know it was possible!” The new voice mercifully cut off Bon Bon’s excuse before she even said it. “And you must be Bon Bon. Pinkie told us about your problem. Are you alright?”

It was a moment before the confectioner got a handle on what had just happened. She noticed that one of the mirrors had cleared, showing the interior of a building made entirely of wood. A number of mares were visible within it. The white one didn’t ring a bell, but she recognized the blue athlete Rainbow Dash and an orange farmer who frequented the market, one of the Apples. There was a yellow pegasus in the back, but she was soon blocked as the others squeezed into the frame for a good view. At the forefront were Pinkie and a purple unicorn with a dark lavender mane streaked in pink.

Bon Bon gasped. She was starting to worry that this rescue would never come! Time to finally put out that exclamation of gratitude! “Twilight…”

Sprinkles speckle sparkle spittle fiddle flopple...

“And friends!” Smooth. “You can see me!”

“It wasn’t easy to find a spell to let us see into this pocket of space,” explained Twilight Something, “I’ve never seen this kind of magic before. I had to look up a very obscure changeling myth just to get on the right track!”

“But we’re here now, and we’re gonna get you out of there safe an’ sound,” piped the Apple farmer. Squinting, she added, “You’re Bon Bon? Ah must have served a dozen of those varmints at mah stands!”

While the farmer put a hoof to her face, the pegasus athlete with a multicolored mane raised an eyebrow. “You look just like the new pegasus in town, too! Can changelings do that? Become pegasi?”

“I did think your sudden interest in fine clothing was odd, if not unwelcome.” The white unicorn brushed aside a lock of purple mane. “The last time we met you didn’t even know my name! It was quite a shock.”

And you are…?

It seemed her clones had been hard at work transforming Bon Bon into the busiest mare in Ponyville. Pinkie verified that they’d been running the candy shop and Twilight mentioned that they had picked up books from the library on a wide array of topics (she was delighted, at first, to see somepony so interested in books). Rainbow had even had some races with Buzz. But it didn’t make sense.

Running around to buy unnecessary clothes? Multiple trips to the market? Racing Rainbow Dash? Getting so many books? They’d need to run my candy shop to keep up the ruse, but all of this other stuff doesn’t help them impersonate me. If anything it just puts them at risk! My friends might see them acting funny, or they could get caught if too many were grabbing groceries at once. What could possibly be worth going out for these things? How does it further their wicked little scheme? Hm… why would I take a risk for these things? Well… I’d get a good book for a good read. I’d get some nice clothes if I wanted to go somewhere formal or maybe impress Lyra. But that wouldn’t make sense for a bunch of monsters!

“Eh… sugar cube?”

“Oh, don’t worry! She does this sometimes! Lyra calls it ‘spacing out’.”

She shook her head and pointed a hoof at Pinkie. “I do not ‘space out!’ Okay, I get that the changelings have taken over my life. Can somepony please tell me how I can get i-”

ZACKOW!

Bon Bon had a word for that sound, and it wasn’t a candy metaphor. The explosion rocked what Twilight had called the ‘pocket of space’ and Bon Bon found herself falling onto her side.

“Bon Bon!”

“What’s going on? Is she alright?” said a tiny voice in the back.

She wasn’t. Looking up, Bon Bon saw a swirling green vortex coming from deeper into the mirror dimension. Even from this distance an unnatural wind was pushing her towards it. The wind whipped pink and blue mane into her face and slowly began to drag her away.

“AAAAAAAAH!”

“What’s happening? What’s going on?” Rainbow’s fluttering reminded her of Buzz a little.

“Bon Bon!” Twilight shouted through the mirror. It was strange to see her standing still while the candy maker struggled in a maelstrom not three feet away. “We need to know where the changelings are! We need them to reverse the spell!”

“The candy store!” she shouted back, “Get to my candy store!”

The wind tore her hooves off the ground and tossed her towards the growing whirlpool of green energy. The last thing she heard before falling out of earshot was Pinkie shouting, “Come on, girls! I know the way!”

Part 11: Cousins

-

Bon Bon had a hardy stomach, perhaps from taste testing years of botched candy experiments herself. But her iron gut was being pushed to the limit in the sickening green vortex. Just when she was thinking it would never end (unlike the confectioner’s gastrointestinal fortitude) the vortex flushed the candy mare onto a warm, solid floor. Through her own moans she could hear hoofsteps and the sound of something dragging across the floor. A pair of bright, blue eyes struggled to open. Two images of the world danced around each other as they fought to reconnect.

My eyes must look as wonky as the mailmare’s, She thought. When her eyes finally brought everything into focus, she recognized the back room of her own candy shop. The last traces of green receded into the mirror in her ceiling. The door to the front of the shop was closed, and her taffy stretcher, ovens, and other baking devices were where she left them, The place was a mess of ingredients, but Bon Bon was more focused on the occupants in the room. In all, seven changelings were assembled before her. None of them wore their Non-Bon disguises, though she did see Web was still coated in candy leavings and another changeling was wearing a dress for some reason. Presenting themselves in all their insectile horror, Bon Bon noticed that their legs were full of holes. These bugs must have been pulled straight from somepony’s nightmares!

She tried to struggle to her feet, hoping to run or maybe fight. Instead she collapsed like wet cotton candy. Two of the changelings pushed another two forward while Web walked of his own free will. One of the two changelings being pushed had some gauze on her head and the other looked like she crashed into a wall; her head was wrapped in bandages and her foreleg was in a cast. They all stopped just in front of Bon Bon.

“What do we say?” Said one of the pushing changelings, the one who did a decent impression of Bon Bon’s voice.

“We are so sorry!” Web bowed his head.

The buzzing bug in a cast harrumphed and turned away. The changeling pushing her gave a sharp poke to Buzz’s backside. “Ow! Fine, I’m sorry! Jeez!”

The last one looked Bon Bon right in the eye for a good, long minute. She could see her own face reflected in those shiny, bulbous orbs. They were blue, just like hers…

Just like mine…

“Sting?” asked the changeling who pushed her.

Both Sting and Bon Bon shook their heads. Their brief moment of empathy became a hard, cold stare. Even according to Web’s story, this changeling was responsible for her misery. Some of the strength had come back to her limbs… if she was fast enough, she could grab the wicked little mastermind and toss her in the taffy puller.

“I’m sorry.” Sting closed her eyes and lowered her head.

The other ones would be on me in a second, but maybe I could-“What?”

Sting grit her teeth. “I apologize. I’m sorry. I made a mistake. It wasn’t right to imprison you. But I had no choice. Nopony trusts-”

“Sorry? Sorry?! I can deal with a few bills. I can recover from a business loss. Unfamiliar ponies greeting me on the streets is weird, but tolerable. But if you think for one moment that I can forgive you for lying to Lyra… for making her think that I don’t care anymore, then you’ve got your horns stuck so far up your-”

“Mule-headed, much? You always tell me not interrupt ponies when they’re talking.”

Lyra tried to say more, but Bon Bon had turned around and knocked the wind out of her with a charging embrace. A couple of changelings went ‘aaw’, most politely averted their gaze while Buzz mimed retching. Bon Bon’s only thought was, This is too good to be true!

“Lyra! You’re okay! What happened? Did they hurt you? I’ll smash them to paste!”

“I was just gonna say the same thing! Except that last part.”

The candy mare was taken aback. “Why not? After what they did to us they deserve it! And more! They trapped me and lied to you!”

“They also freed you! And brought me here, too!”

“How can you believe them? They all lied to us!”

“No, they didn’t! Sting told all of the others that you had vanished before they got here. They were all in the dark about you. As soon as Venom figured it out she came straight to me and told me everything she knew.”

One of the changelings stepped forward. When she spoke, Bon Bon recognized her as the one who had talked to the carrot pony. “Last night, when I was talking into a mirror, you must have been behind it. I heard the faintest whisper, but I was interrupted before I could investigate further. The next morning you had gone. I checked with my sisters and a few of them had similar stories. I knew there were old changeling spells that had to do with mirrors but I didn’t know anything about them. Sting is the only one who might know anything about older magic, and I knew she had been acting strangely since we got here.”

“So she came up to me and told the whole story,” finished Lyra. “Most of them didn’t even know. We all confronted Sting, and she broke down when Web spilled the jellybeans.”

Most of them didn’t know, but some of them did!

“I just wanted us to be happy,” muttered Sting, staring at the floor. “Food’s been so scarce. We can only get so far with real food. Web was trying to find something we could eat that might sustain us. But we need love to survive! Everypony’s so paranoid of changelings these days; the original finds us out in the span of a day. There’s too many of us. We can’t hide properly, so we can’t feed properly… I couldn’t let us starve!”

Venom walked to her sister and laid a paper-thin wing over her. “We’ve always found a way. We don’t need this. We’ll never need this. We’ll survive like we always have.”

“Barely.”

This is a trick! This has to be a trick… Lyra wouldn’t side with them. They’ve switched her. This must be a changeling! The real Lyra’s probably in the pocket dimension thing! She could see it in Lyra’s eyes. Doubt. A disbelief. An uncertainty that her ruse would crumble around her.

“Bon Bon, now is a really bad time to space out.”

“I do not space out!” Bon Bon took a few shaky steps back, nearly bumping into her taffy stretcher. “You can’t be real! How could you be real? The real Lyra wouldn’t forgive these monsters for making her think I didn’t care anymore!”

The mint unicorn put a pair of hooves to her shocked mouth. Her lips began to quiver. “How could you... I-I didn’t breathe a word to anypony about that! Not a soul! How…” Lyra’s eyes slowly filled with tears, washing away the doubt and hesitation Bon Bon had noticed earlier. “The mirror! When I heard your voice… you read my mind again!”

Lyra threw her forelegs around Bon Bon again, sobbing. “I’m s-sorry I didn’t believe it was you! I’m sorry I ever thought you stopped loving me!”

The candy mare hesitantly patted her back. There was only one pony that thought Lyra’s thoughts were in her own head. It was the same one who could pull together a full dissertation on music theory in three minutes but not pronounce ‘probiotic’. The only one kind and sweet enough to give repulsive monsters a second chance. She was certain that it was the one bawling into her shoulder.

“I never stopped.”

ZAP.

Bon Bon would describe that sound as a zap, plain and simple. Lyra yelped and began to hop up and down, fanning her smoking tail.

“Lyra!”

“Twilight! Why’re you zapping tha green mare?!”

“I am so sorry! It’s supposed to be a spell for reversing changeling transformations; I must have turned it up too high.”

“Well don’t turn it down yet,” shouted Rainbow Dash, “I think we found our imposters! Zap them!”

Twilight and her rescue brigade had come barging into the back room. Twilight was at the lead with a dangerously glowing horn. Her friends came charging.

“Getting a unicorn doing your dirty work? Afraid to get your hooves dirty? You should be!” Bon Bon recognized Buzz’s voice and saw her tackle the blue pegasus in mid-air, wearing a pegasus Bon Bon form. Glancing back, she saw that all of the changelings had put on their Non Bon disguises as well. Two of them were head butting the Apple farmer. The white unicorn and the Non Bon in a dress were clearly having trouble finding a way to fight without tearing the delicate piece of clothing. Pinkie was nimbly evading another while Web and a yellow pegasus cowered in the corner. Twilight was trying to zap Buzz, who was in a mobile mid-air duel with Rainbow. And each of them was making a mess of the store!

ZAP.

“Stop it!” yelled Bon Bon as the farmer and the two Non-Bons she wrestled knocked into a stack of baking supplies.

ZAP.

“Stop!” She ducked a bolt that left a scorch mark on the wall.

ZAP.

“Stop destroying my store!” Rainbow and Buzz fought their way into the taffy stretcher, getting tangled in the gooey mess. Bon Bon leapt to the machine and hit the emergency stop button. Turning around, she reared up on her hind legs and yelled as loud as she could.

“STOP!”

ZAP.

This time, everyone stopped to look at Bon Bon, scorched from head to toe and in more pain than she was comfortable with. But not a changeling.

“But… I don’t understand! The spell should have worked perfectly…”

“Maybe it did.” The farmer turned back to the two Non Bons. “Ah reckon she got out and all the other ponies are phonies.”

“Yeah!” Tangled in the sticky mess, Rainbow got the better of Buzz and turned her to face Twilight. “Go on, zap her!”

“No, wait!” Bon Bon jumped in front of Buzz just before the bolt landed, receiving a fresh set of scorch marks. She did not want to know what state her mane was in right now. “My… cousins... did not come here to get zapped in the face!”

The Apple farmer turned to face her with a raised eyebrow. “Your… cousins.”

“Cousins.”

“Who all look exactly like you.”

“Close cousins.”

“Save for the one with wings.”

“Mostly close cousins.”

There was complete silence. Thirteen pairs of eyes exchanged a maze of sidelong glances.

“I knew it!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

Epilogue: Punishment

-

“Wow, business sure is booming!”

Lyra and Bon Bon walked beside a row of waiting ponies almost two blocks long, weaving away from her candy shop.

“It’s Web’s new candy. Everypony wants to try Bon Bon’s Change of Heart.” She said with pride. She had thought of it herself, after all. Though Web had insisted on calling it Bon Bon’s Change of Heart. Who was she to refuse the polite little colt? “Not to mention it appeals to a… niche market.”

The pair noticed a tiny yellow filly with purple eyes… waiting a few ponies behind another, identical filly. When the larger, mauve mare standing next to her noticed, she whispered to one of her companions. Together they sheltered the filly from view. There was a dull flash of green, faster than anypony could blink. When the adult mares separated, the filly between them looked completely different.

The lyrist and confectioner walked into the shop. There was no dinging from the door- it was held open by the long line of customers. The snaking line of multicolour patrons terminated at the front desk. A perfect copy of Bon Bon sat there, passing out hoofwrapped candies shaped like little cartoon hearts. It grew sweeter as you neared the center, changing color from crème to green.

“Bon Bon!” screeched a pink candy vacuum. Bon Bon was grateful to Pinkie and her friends for their effort to help, but the shrill mare's appetite was still in a love/hate relationship with Bon Bon's business. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were making a new candy! I love candy!”

“Eh… sorry Pinkie… I’ve just been so caught up in the production and the business boom that I didn’t have the time.”

Waiting in line behind Pinkie was an orange mare with a cowpony hat, her ears laid flat from Pinkie’s piercing voice. Bon Bon had since learned the farmer’s full name, Apple… something. She had forgotten it along with Twilight’s full name, but empathized fully with Applesomething’s ear trauma.

“Pinkie told me about a new kinda sweet yer sellin’. Said it was a heart shaped candy. Green on the inside. Called ‘em ‘Change of Heart.' ‘As sweet as the love from yer special somepony,' she said.” She peered into Bon Bon’s very soul with a penetrating green eye. The candy maker suddenly wished she had used a more subtle design.

“Yup!” chirped Lyra. “They’re delicious! You can only find them here, too!”

Applewhatever backed up. Neither Twilight nor her friends knew the full story yet, but is seemed at least some of them had pieced bits together on their own. She would have to confess at some point, but for now Applewhatsit seemed satisfied enough. “Well, Ah’ll give it a try. Ah’m really more focused on keeping Pinkie from eatin’ every candy in the store.”

“Er, thank you.” She felt a little better for Web… but he’d still have a hard time when Pinkie reached the front of the line. “Have a nice day, we’ll talk later, I promise!”

“Fanks, Web! Shee yoo tomorrow!” called one colt with a mouth full of candy.

Web waved goodbye and continued passing confectionary. When he noticed Lyra and Bon Bon stepping into the back room, he greeted them quickly as he worked.

“Hello, Lyra! Hello, Bon Bon! I want to thank you again for the Change of Heart! It means so much to me!”

Lyra nudged the confectioner. “I thought you preferred Bon Bon’s Change of Heart?”

Leaving Web to his work in the front, both of them entered the crowded back room. The changeling siblings darted to and fro, baking the special candy. Bon Bon pretended to contemplate the question. “Well… I suppose the name is already fairly long… but I won’t forget to include the whole title in any advertisement.”

“Hi, Bon Bon!”

“Hey, it’s Bon Bon!”

“Sorry, Bon Bon, can’t talk right now!”

Most of the siblings were here. Some had found other jobs and Buzz was probably doing laps around the town, hoping to mooch off of one of her sisters. One of them was on a break, having a snack in the corner, undisguised.

“What brings you here today?” she asked.

“I may be the owner, Colony, but I still work here.”

“I thought we told you to take the day off!”

“Yeah,” One of the sisters paused, a load of ingredients on her back. “Thanks to these heart candies, none of us will have to leech somepony’s love ever again!”

“Except Venom…”

A changeling turned from the oven. “Does it really count as leeching if they know you’re a changeling?”

“No,” replied Lyra, “I’m pretty sure that’s just love.”

“Our point is…” Colony sucked a Change of Heart while pointing a hoof at Bon Bon. She still thought those holes were frightening. “Is that you work too hard.”

“Yeah…” Bon Bon looked away. “But there’s somepony here who works harder.”

Throughout the exchange Sting remained silent. She worked quickly and efficiently, ferrying cooled candies to their compartment, ingredients to mixers, mixes to the ovens, cooked candies to the cooling racks. Bon Bon could tell that the ragged mare had been working through the night, and knew she had worked the full day before. It had been like this since she had freed Bon Bon. Every day the poor dear worked herself to death.

“Go on…” whispered Lyra. “Say it.”

Bon Bon swallowed. She took a few steps towards Sting and away from Lyra and the other changelings (who had suddenly grown very quiet).

“Sting?”

The tired mare pretended not to hear, pulling a hot tray from the oven.

“Sting, I have something to say to you.”

Sting ignored her, placing the dish on a cooling rack and working faster.

“Sting, I- Sting, just… oh, will you- Eep!”

Bon Bon staggered forward, bumping into Sting and stopping her frenzied work cycle. A few candies fell to the ground. “Now say it!” encouraged Lyra from where she shoved her marefriend.

Sting had stopped, eyes to the ground and avoiding the candy maker’s gaze. Despite this, Bon Bon could see a vacant look in the mirrored blue orbs. She could tell now why Lyra called it ‘spacing out’- not that she ever did that, of course. Bon Bon knew what it was like… Sting must be thinking about the horrible things she had done at agonizing length, going through every mistake and could-have-would-have. She could think of only one cure for it.

Bon Bon grabbed Sting in a tight hug. “I forgive you,” She whispered.

Lyra and the changelings whistled and clapped.

-

After Twilight and her rescue party had settled down, they insisted on staying to clean up the mess they made. Between them and her ‘cousins’ the shop had never looked cleaner. Bon Bon contemplated telling them the truth several times. She had many opportunities. Her last opportunity was when the six left.

Am I really helping monsters? she thought.

The dress wearing changeling and the white unicorn mourned over some tears the dress had taken, settling on a date to patch them up. Rainbow and Buzz promised that their fight wasn’t over, but it was obvious that they looked forward to a rematch. Web and a couple of changelings Bon Bon didn’t know promised Twilight to return with the books they’d borrowed and to take out several more.

No, I’m not helping monsters.

She waved goodbye to Twilight’s band. She’d have to explain this eventually.

I’m helping ponies who need it.