“Hey! Is there somepony in here!?”
Bon-Bon’s heart would burst from her chest and drill a hole to the Macintosh Hills if it was pounding any further. After all this, all her precious time and efforts, this was how it was all going to fall apart for her?! It wasn’t fair! It just wasn’t! The worst part of it was, as her hooves scribbled at the open cabinets, that something precious hung in the balance now. Something too close to her heart.
“Seriously, I know I heard you! Get out here now!”
How had the pony below her not teleported into this very room yet?! Even before Bon-Bon had rushed back into her room, she’d seen that intruding pony had a horn! And that it wasn’t igniting… Well, maybe she’s just as suspicious as you’d be in her position, right? Thought Bon-Bon. Immediately, the thought perished.
Even now, her mind swam back to where it all started. Bon-Bon knew how much of a risk it was going this far to get into this new house, but she thought it’d all work out in the end. That her past wouldn’t come to bite her. That she was done looking over her shoulder for the next imminent danger. Hadn’t worked, though, had it? Now her carelessness would ruin her own life. Whatever the cost, she couldn’t let the pony downstairs know she-
“Helloooooooo?”
Bon-Bon bit back the urge to respond. She’d be done for if she did. But still, a traitorous voice echoed in her brains Go downstairs. Tell that pony where your precious thing is. Perhaps, with this secret in the open, you could have a chance to move past this a-
No. No.The past was the past for a good reason. Bon-Bon swallowed back a sob, a trace of copper coming from her split lip. Nopony could understand this Eventually this secret would be safe to reveal. But not now. Not to the pony downstairs.
How did this situation even happen? Bon-Bon had always kept to an encyclopedic knowledge of where it was placed, where everything was, how to handle any situation. Guess that reputation was dead now. And so was she anypony knew of that artifact. It’d open talk what more she was hiding, and eventually, the weight of those skeletons would endanger everything she’d worked to build here - her whole life. Losing something this precious at the same time somepony burst in her home as she was looking for it… Celestia, it felt like the universe itself was out to get her!
“I don’t have all day - show yourself!”
Curse it, she had somepony special now! She couldn’t lose her! Not like this, not in the house they shared!! She couldn’t leave anyhow. Not without that precious thing of hers secured, assuming she could find it before her heart gave out from stress! Her hooves scrabbled further among the drawers and shelves, looking for that artifact. Even now, her waning concern for how loud she was being frayed to a millimeter-long thread. It would prove disastrous.
“Wait- I hear it this time! And… There!””
Hoofsteps rang out, ringing through the claustrophobic halls of the house. A floor below her, the door sprang open, its resounding bang pinballing around the walls. Bon-Bon’s heart felt like it lodged into her esophagus. Thickly swallowing, the earth pony froze to the spot. The floorboards below her hooves betrayed the echo of the pony below her rummaging through the various crevices and doors she knew was in that room. Finally, the movement drew to a din.
“Really, what am I saying? Might not even be anypony here and I’m just talking to myself…”
Yes, that's it! This was perfect for Bon-Bon. An empty house gave her all the free time to find that precious thing of hers, put it somewhere safer, forget this moment ever happened!
“But I’ll check upstairs, just to be sure. Got a big payday to look forward to!”
Welp. The earth pony slowly lowered herself to all fours and looked under the bed. The small space within wasn’t large enough to hold a parasprite, let alone her, but she wasn’t looking for shelter now. That precious thing, the thing that she could not risk anypony else seeing, had to be there. How had she even lost track of it? Surely that object didn't have such a hypnotic pull, even after all these years keeping it secret?! Careless, Bon-Bon. Utterly careless!
Alas, it was not present under that bed. Only the faint shadows of horseshoes greeted her brimming eyes. Goodness, so many of those had been bought in hopes of wearing them out traipsing all around Ponyville with her one and only. But all that stood at risk of being lost tonight.
Her mind rebelled again. It wasn’t even that important – almost any store had an artifact just like it! But Bon-Bon’s rational mind- the one huffing ceaselessly into a paper bag right now – knew that if any intruder, anypony else, laid eyes on it… It would be all they could think about. The possibility of more behind that little artifact would be untamable.
And now those steps were coming upwards. Bon-Bon had to move!
Finally! Bon-Bon’s eyes found the artifact. But those clip-clip-clips of keratin on wood were too close. She wouldn’t make it, not with that figure’s likely to just bust down the door! But she had to try!
The earth pony’s lunge toward the outer of the room-and the curve of reflective black peeking out of it – pulsed through the house like a gunshot.
“A-ha! Knew I wasn’t imagining things! You’re mine this time!”
Speaking of which, here’s was almost up! The artifact was in her hoof but where to place it? What was Bon-Bon to do now?! Anything she could think of, magic could breach! Where was the one place it couldn’t-
-Wait! Bon-Bon knew it now! Nopony would bother with the area she had in mind! Moving toward the open window, her hooves went to work pulling at the strip of wood and plaster underneath the entrance to the cool evening’s breath. One nail bent, strained against the wall and Bon-Bon so quickly it scraped nastily at her hoof. Another. A third. But still, the sill wouldn’t move up.
Come ON, give! And finally, as if Luna herself had heard her thoughts and gave them strength, the wood creaked and a small space erupted from the rendered timber. But it was enough.
Stuffing her artifact within the makeshift panel, Bon-Bon closed that part of the windowsill onto, careful so as not to damage it. Wouldn’t be worth the effort if it cracked now.
And then Bon Bon was moving, trying to get to the door, to attempt to grab to it before-
The rectangle of wood flew open with a burst of emerald sparkles, lock giving under the power of magical might. Barely avoiding Bon-Bon’s face, the earth pony could only crash to the floor. Her plan of using that piece of lumber as a hoof-hold was gone, vanquished in the same flash as the one that brought stars dancing across her eyelids.
Standing in its thresh was Lyra Heartstrings, her bared teeth finally breaking into a grin at the sight of the sprawled-out earth pony two feet from her. “Bons! That was you? Why didn’t you speak up, I thought we had an intruder!”
Would that Bon-Bon could do so now- but her jaw worked to no avail. For how much she’d wanted to speak before, the words proved a trial too much for her to manage now.
“Get up, silly! We’re gonna be late for our trip to Café Hay! First dates don’t grow on trees, you know!”
Bon-Bon scrambled up on all fours. Her mind finally reassessed the situation. It was as she’d feared – but no longer. Everything was right again with her world. “I… I thought you wouldn’t be coming this early…”
“Thought I’d surprise ya! Daven gave me an hour off early cause of all the overtime I did. Just have to stop over at Quills and Sofas to get today’s pay and we’re off!”
Bon-Bon sighed lightly and let her head rest on Lyra’s mint-green shoulder. One power breath in of her wonderfully treated mane and she knew that the unicorn – the one she loved so – hadn’t just gone straight here. “You popped over by the spa, didn’t you?”
“… okay, guilty!” The bouncing of Lyra set Bon-Bon’s head on a slight rattle as she lifted it to gaze into her eyes again. “But I wanted to feel and look my best!”
“You succeeded.” Another huff of Lyra by Bon-Bon. She could stay in this room forever now.
“And what was it that you tore through the room for, Bon-Bon? I said I was paying!” Her eyes shot to the rectangle of wood in their room. “Wait, were you at that window, again?”
Bon-Bon’s lungs constricted again.
“Oh, seriously Bons, stay away from that window, it’s been jammed open for ages, we tried to pull it down before. You’ll catch a cold there, silly!”
“S-sure, Lyra. Anything for you.” If only she had the time of day to show just how much she meant this. Maybe then all this sneaking around wouldn’t need to be done.
“Well, we’ve gotta get you a quick wash-up, you’ve been sweating up a storm! You ready for our date, Bons?’
“As I’ll ever be, Lyra.” One last look back into the bedroom was stolen by the earth pony, the door to it still swinging in the tufts of wind from that window to tap lightly against the door.
Before Lyra’s nudging of their bathroom door sent a ray of light into her face, Bon-Bon saw her precious thing one last time. A pair of sunglasses was nestled perfectly in the cubby the earth pony had opened, the freshly separated panels of wood over it like an awning just enough to keep it from view. Even here, Bon-Bon’s pinpoint member gave her the imprint ringing the bottom edges of that headwear, words she could never let anypony else see.
Property of S.M.I.L.E./Agent Sweetie Drops
