Bittersweet Memories

~Nightmare Night 17 years ago~

Bon-Bon was looking at a full body mirror. Her face had painted scars and black eye shadow around her eyes. She was also dressed in old torn up clothes and her hair was messy instead of its usual curly self.

An older mare walked up behind Bon-Bon and took a moment to look at her in the mirror. "Ooh, you looked scary." Bon-Bon's grandmother said with a fake terrified tone.

"Thanks, Grandma." Bon-Bon said.

"Now, where's your sister?" The older mare went up to the foot of the stairs. "Starlight, come on out. It's time to leave." She shouted.

"No, I look ridiculous." Starlight responded.

"Oh, I'm sure you look great. Please come out." There was a long pause, followed by the sound of a door opening and closing. Starlight walked up to the top of the stairs for all to see. She was dressed in pink and white froufrou dress and wore a cone shaped princess's hat, which matched the dress. "Oh, you look precious."

Bon-Bon walked up next to her grandmother and looked up at her sister. She instantly fell to the floor in laughter. Starlight's face turned red in embarrassment.  Bon-Bon laughed for a good minute before there was a knock at the door which took her mind off her ridiculous looking sister.  The zombie got up off the floor and went to open the door.

Standing there on Bon-Bon's grandmother's doorstep was Ditzy Doo, dressed up in paper bags. Four small paper bags covered her hooves and a larger paper bag was used as some sort of hat. Around her neck hung her candy bag, which was also just a paper bag with a long string attached to both sides. Bon-Bon was confused. Very confused.

"Hey Bon-Bon, happy Nightmare Night." Ditzy said with a large smile on her face.

"Happy Nightmare Night." Bon-Bon said. "Um, Ditzy, what's with bags?"

"It's my Nightmare Night costume."

"I understand that, but why are you dressed as paper bags?"

"Oh, well it's sort of a family tradition to wear paper bags for Nightmare Night."

"Who came up with it?" Bon-Bon asked.

"My dad." Ditzy said.

"You aren't you just the cutest thing." Bon-Bon's grandmother said. She was standing right behind Bon-Bon.

"Hello, how are you doing tonight?" Ditzy asked politely.

"I'm doing great, thanks for asking. You ready to go collect some candy?"

"Yes, mam."

"Oh, she's so polite."

Starlight came downstairs. Ditzy took notice of her princess outfit and smiled, but did not laugh. "Nice costume, Starlight." Ditzy said very kindly.

"Shut up, Ditzy." Starlight said. Ditzy was confused but she just shrugged that confusion off.

"Alright kiddies, let's get going." Bon-Bon's grandmother said. Bon-Bon and Starlight grabbed their candy bags and placed them around their necks. Bon-Bon's had a jack-o-lantern on hers and Starlight had a spider on hers. The mares all head out of the home and began their night of collecting candy.

Bon-Bon and Ditzy galloped up to their first house of the night, slowly followed by Starlight. Ditzy knocked on the door and the three fillies waited for a good fifteen seconds before the door opened.

"Nightmare Night, what a fright, give us something sweet to bite." Ditzy and Bon-Bon said together.

The house they had knocked on was the home of Ms. Blossom. She was a tall yellow unicorn with a blooming flower for a cutie mark. "Aww, don't you all look adorable." Ms. Blossom said. Bon-Bon and Ditzy Doo had smiles on their faces, but Starlight was embarrassed and tried to hide her face behind her sister and her friend.

Ms. Blossom, using her magic, levitated a bowl of candy from somewhere out of site and put two pieces of candy in each of their bags.

"Thank you." all three fillies said and galloped off back to Bon-Bon and Starlight's grandmother. They moved on. In the end they stopped by nearly sixty homes and now was the time for another Nightmare Night tradition. The four mares headed back to Bon-Bon's grandmother's house, where the fillies gathered around grandmother's rocking chair. The fire in the fireplace lit up the room in a dim orange glow.

"Alright, kiddies." Bon-Bon's grandmother said. "Do you know what tonight is really about?"

"Dressing up in costumes?" Ditzy said.

"Candy?" Bon-Bon said.

"No," the two sister's grandmother said. "It's the longest night of the year and also is said to be the night Nightmare Moon returns from the moon to feed." There was a slash of lightning, followed by a roar of thunder. "Nine hundred eighty four years ago, Equestria was ruled by two princesses instead of one. Both were sisters and both ruled the land peacefully for many centuries but one day the younger princess was possessed by greed and was transformed into Nightmare Moon. So, the older sister was left no choice but to banish her younger sister permanently to the moon. But it is said on the longest night of each year she returns to Equestria and must feed before returning to the moon."

"When the younger princess had become Nightmare Moon and before she was banished to the moon, foals began disappearing. Some say she ate them and gained energy from their souls. So, every year we dress up as monsters and fairy tale characters so that she does not recognize us and we leave a candy offering outside our doors to help satisfy her hunger."

The the three fillies were shaking in fear. Bon-Bon and Ditzy were holding each other in shear terror.

"What, are you waiting for?" Bon-Bon's grandmother asked. "Go leave a nice tribute to Nightmare Moon so she doesn't gobble us all up." The three fillies immediately jumped up from where they were sitting and galloped outside where they dumped half of their candy on  the doorstep. Bon-Bon slammed the door shut and locked it behind her. "Well, I think it's time for all three of you to hit the hay. Ditzy I'll show you to your room."

The next morning Bon-Bon was the first to wake up. She went down stairs and walked outside to see what the weather was like. She looked down at the doorstep to find that the candy they had left the night before was gone. Bon-Bon gasped in terror and then whispered to herself. "She's real."

~Hearth's Warming Eve 17 Years Ago~

It was around seven in the evening. The house was warmed by a toasty orange fire in the fireplace. Bon-Bon's home was decorated top to bottom in traditional Hearth's Warming Day decorations. Wreaths hung on every door, in the living room was a pine tree decorated in ornaments and colorful lights, and underneath the tree were dozens of presents, all wrapped up for the fillies to open on Hearth's Warming Day.

It had been snowing for a week now and there was no sign of it stopping soon.

Luck was on the sofa, reading his newspaper and drinking eggnog, Life was upstairs in her and her husband's bedroom with her mother, finishing wrapping the last ten presents, and Bon-Bon and Ditzy were playing with Bon-Bon's dolls downstairs by the fire.

"Hey, Ditzy." Luck said. "Has your parents said anything on how long it's suppose to snow for?"

"My dad said that it's gonna snow till the day after Hearth's Warming Day." Ditzy informed.

Luck just nodded and went back to reading his paper. There was a knock on the door. "Ah, that mus be your parents, Ditzy." Luck said as he got up off the couch. He let out a small grunt and then went to open the door. He would usually have his butler do it but he gave him the week off.

Outside, wearing coats and scarfs, were two pegasi looking overjoyed. "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey!" the two pegasi said with much enthusiasm. They greeted their host with a hug, which Luck had no way of avoiding.

"Hello Hail, hello Storm." Luck said. The hug was finally broken. "Please, come in."

"Thank you kindly. Luck." Hail Storm said as he and his wife entered Luck's home. "Brrr, it's freezing out there. Even after being a weather pony for seven years you never get use to cold weather." The three ponies laughed.

"May I take your coats?" Luck said.

"Oh yes, thank you so much." Hail said and he and his wife handed their coats and scarfs to Luck who hung them up on the hat rack.

"Ditzy, your parents are here." Luck shouted.

"Ok." Ditzy yelled back, but there was no sign of her coming. The three ponies chuckled.

With in the hour the two families had Hearth's Warming Eve dinner. Ditzy and Bon-Bon sat next to each other, Luck was at the head of the table, Hail Cloud Storm and Storm Cloud sat next to each other, and Life and her mother sat side by side. On the table was a bowl of salad, a plate of variety of different flowers, hay, and bread rolls.

"The weather outside is just dreadful." Life said, scooping some more hay onto her plate.

"Oh yes and it's only going to get worst." Storm Cloud said. "It's gonna be a real doozy getting home."

"Well you're always welcomed to stay the night here." Luck offered.

"Oh, we don't want to impose on your families Hearth's Warming Day." Hail Storm said.

"You won't be imposing, will they dear." Luck said. Everypony turned to Life who had a mouth full of salad in her mouth. She just shook her head with a chubby smile.

"Well if you insist."

Ditzy Doo and Bon-Bon began cheering. Life and Luck looked at their happy daughter and smiled.

"So, what do you usually do on Hearth's Warming Day?" Storm Cloud asked.

Life looked up at Storm and spoke, "Well first we wake up early in the morning, open presents, and after that was just sort of let things run it's course. We let the children play with their new toys and sometimes at the end of the day sing Hearth's Warming Day Carols."

"We, love singing Hearth's Warming Day Carols." Ditzy's father mentioned. "We do it every year. Kind of a tradition."

"Well, then we'll be sure to sing some tomorrow." Luck said.

Soon after dinner everypony agreed that it was time to hit the hay. Luck and Life showed Hail and Storm to the guest room. Starlight went to her room and Bon-Bon's grandmother went to bed in the second guest room downstairs. Bon-Bon and Ditzy went to Bon-Bon's room where they crawled into their beds. The pink and navy blue maned filly was nearly asleep when Ditzy spoke up.

"Bon-Bon?"

"Yes, Ditzy?" Bon-Bon responded, sounding annoyed.

"Happy Hearth's Warming."

"Happy Hearth's Warming to you too. Now go to sleep."

"Ok" Ditzy said the two fillies went to sleep.

The next Day didn't come quickly for the little fillies in the household, but when it did arrive Bon-Bon was the first to wake. She shook Ditzy awake.

"Ditzy! Ditzy wake up!" Bon-Bon said as she shook her friend mildly.

"Huh, what?" Ditzy grunted. "Bon-Bon? What's going on?"

"It's Hearth's Warming Day."

Ditzy shot wide awake and jumped up from her mattress bed. Ditzy galloped into the guest bedroom to wake up her parents and Bon-Bon did the same in her parent's room. "Mom, Dad, it's Hearth's Warming Day." Bon-Bon was now jumping up and down on their bed.

"Alright, Bon-Bon, Bon-Bon. We're up." Luck said as he slowly woke himself up. "Just please stop jumping on the bed." Bon-Bon jumped off the bed and took off into her sister's room.

"Starlight wake up." Bon-Bon said.

"Bon-Bon, get out of my room!" Starlight said and she tried to throw her pillow at Bon-Bon, but missed. Bon-Bon then woke up her grandmother and with in minutes everypony was downstairs ready to begin opening presents. Luck pulled out the first present from under the tree and read the label.

"To Bon-Bon, from Mom and Dad." Luck scooted t he present over to Bon-Bon who was nearly jumping with joy. Once she received the present Bon-Bon began tearing off the wrapping paper with her teeth like a wild animal. Underneath all that wrapping paper was a boxed up doll. The one of which Bon-Bon had been asking for years now. She let out an ear piercing squeal and began hugging her parents and kissing them on the cheeks.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Your welcome." Life said with a tired smile. The tired mare yawned which caused everypony else to yawn, even Bon-Bon.

The next present went to Starlight and the one after that went to Grandma. Very soon all the presents had been open. All except one, which sat patiently at the back of the tree. It was a small red and white square box shaped present with a tiny red bow on top. Luck read the label.

"To Ditzy Doo, from Bon-Bon." Ditzy's eyes widened with surprise. Everypony, except Bon-Bon, looked just as shocked as Ditzy. Bon-Bon sat next to Ditzy with a large smile on her face. Luck slid the present over to Ditzy Doo who slowly began opening it. She kept looking over at Bon-Bon with a smile.

It was a white box. Ditzy used her mouth to open up the box and inside was the greatest gift she could ever hope for. She pulled out two dog tags with "Bon-Bon and Ditzy Doo, Best Friends Forever." engraved in it.

"One for you and one for me." Bon-Bon said, taking one of the dog tags and putting it around Ditzy's neck. "So no matter how far away we are from each other we'll never forget that we are best friends." Ditzy latched onto Bon-Bon with huge hug and spoke softly as tears began flowing down her face.

"I love you, Bon-Bon." Ditzy said as she cried.

Bon-Bon hugged back and responded, "I love you too, Ditzy."

Everypony else just sit back and watched, not knowing what to say. The hug lasted for a good five minutes and the silence was broken when Luck said, "Who wants breakfast?"

"Oh, I do." Hail Storm said. "I'm starving." So Luck made breakfast and for the rest of the day Bon-Bon and Ditzy Doo played with Bon-Bon's toys. At the end of the day, after Ditzy and her family went back home to open their own presents and finish Hearth's Warming Day with their own traditions.

~New Years Eve 17 Years Ago~

The entire city had gathered outside the Canterlot Castle. Only minutes remained till the start of the new year and at any moment Celestia would come out of her castle and announce the start of the new year. Bon-Bon and Ditzy were up at the front while both their families were near the back.

The whole place was quite loud and it was really hard for the two fillies to talk to each other. Soon all the lights lighting up the area dimmed down and everypony went quiet. Princess Celestia stepped out from her bedroom balcony, which was very well lit.

Everypony cheered loudly. Celestia raised a hoof to her subjects and everypony went quiet. "Welcome everypony to this year's Canterlot New Years Eve Celebration. In just a few moments I will move the moon to hang straight up in the sky and thus beginning the new year." Everypony cheered once again. Celestia let them cheer for a while and then she once again rose her hoof and the whole crowd went silent once more. "And now let us all count the seconds as we fall into yet another year of harmony. Ten!"

"Nine!" Everypony shouted in a massive chorus. "Eight! Seven! Six! Five!"

Bon-Bon and Ditzy had huge smiles on their faces as they counted down along with everypony.

"Four! Three! Two! ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!" The crowd roared in excitement. Fireworks shot up into the air lighting up the night sky with an explosion of colors. Many couples hugged and kissed one another at that moment, others opened up bottles of champagne and sparkling grape juice, and some just watched the fireworks go off. The only one who didn't do any of these things was the Princess Celestia, who was looking up at the mare in the moon. She sighed and shed a tear.

"Happy New Year, sister." Princess Celestia said under her breath.

Bon-Bon and Ditzy Doo were in complete awe from the fireworks. Some of the fireworks made shapes, these impressed the fillies the most. One looked like pegasus, another looked like a unicorn and there was one that looked like a regular earth pony. The one that really impressed the fillies was the one at the end that looked like the symbol of Equestria.

Bon-Bon and Ditzy Doo cheered wildly along with thousands of other ponies. Afterwards everypony outside went home to either have their own party or to go to bed. In Bon-Bon and Ditzy's case it was to go home and sleep. But Bon-Bon couldn't sleep though, she just laid on her porch and stared at the night sky.

Somepony placed a hoof on Bon-Bon's shoulders making her jump. She turned around and saw her grandmother. "Oh, hello grandma." Bon-Bon said and she turned her gaze back to the stars.

"What in Equestria are you doing out here this late?" Bon-Bon's grandmother said.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know." The pink and navy blue maned filly said, not taking her eyes off the stars above her.

"Looking at the stars, huh?"

Bon-Bon nodded her head.

"I used to look up at the stars every night when I was a filly." Bon-Bon's grandmother mentioned. "My mother would tell me that you can wish on a star and that it would come true."

"Really?" Bon-Bon turned her attention back to her grandmother.

"Oh yes. But she told me you can only make one wish, so you must make it count."

Bon-Bon turned her head and stared at the stars for a moment and then back to her grandmother.

"Did you wish for anything, honey?"

Bon-Bon shook her head and then spoke, "I want to saver it. Use it when I feel like i need it."

Bon-Bon's grandmother nodded and smiled. "Very wise, but I think it's time for all wise fillies to hit the hay."

Bon-Bon got up off the ground and she and her grandmother went inside to get some sleep.