Tap Tap Tap!

Bon Bon sleeps in her bed, dreaming of lollipops and jawbreakers.

Tap Tap Tap!

Bon Bon starts awake, gasping. The constant tapping on her bedroom window was relentless. Annoyed, she threw her blanket off her and walked grudgingly to the window. She pulled away the curtains to reveal her roommate, Lyra Heartstrings, covered with dirt, frantically tapping on the glass. “Lyra?” Bon Bon whispered in disbelief. “What in Equestria…” Lyra kept tapping, her expression frantic.  Bon Bon immediately opened the window.

“I screwed up, Bon Bon!” Lyra wailed.

“Shh!” Bon Bon hissed. “Do you want to wake up all of Ponyville? What are you doing out here?”

Lyra shook her head rapidly with tears welling up in her eyes. “It’s bad, Bon Bon,” The unicorn whispered. “It’s really, really, really bad!” She hiccupped. “I’m freaking out! Oh, Bon Bon, I’m gonna cry!”

Bon Bon’s expression softened a bit. “Lyra…no. Don’t cry. Be a big pony, now.” Lyra stopped shedding tears, but they still welled up in her eyes. BonBon sighed. “Good.” She then looked sternly at her roommate. “Now get back in this house this instant!” Lyra gulped, and went all the way around towards the front door. Bon Bon sighed again. She closed her window, and went into the living room to let her friend in. When she opened the door, Lyra was sobbing again. Bon Bon quickly ushered her in and closed the door behind them. “Don’t touch anything!” Bon Bon warned. “You’re positively filthy!”

“I Know!” Lyra sobbed.  Bon Bon shook her head slowly, taking in her friend all at once. She was covered with dirt from top to bottom, her mane was disheveled, and her face was streaked with tears.

“Lyra… what happened to you?” Bonbon asked.

Lyra took a few deep breaths. “Okay…okay… you know that new job I got hired for?”

Bonbon nodded. “Yeah?”  

Lyra took another deep breath. She looked the Earth pony straight in the eye. “It all started this morning. At work…”

“For the nth time!”  The business Stallion yelled at his small secretary. “What do I take in my coffee?”  The small mare swallowed, and spoke hesitantly.

“Two creams… three sugars.” The Stallion’s face reddened.

“No!” he yelled. “Two cream, three Sweet’N Low, you mousy imbecile twit!” He threw the sugar wrappers at the mare. Nearby, Lyra and her friend Paper Clip were drinking coffee of their own, watching the whole scene with disapproving glances.

“Can you believe him?” Lyra said angrily. “Who does he think he is, talking to her that way?”

Paper shook his head. “You know Creech is a total jerk,” He said, looking at her. Lyra nodded. Mr. Creech kept yelling at his secretary. “Should we say something to him?” She asked.

Paper scoffed. “Are you kidding me?” He snorted. Then his expression turned dark, looking almost comical. “I fantasize about killing that pony every day.” Lyra gave him a strange look.

“I would love that, okay?” Creech bellowed. He grunted and started walking toward his office, but stopped turned around. “And I don’t open my own mail! You do!” With that, he threw a stapler at the secretary. She gasps and dodges the flying object just in time. That did it. Lyra slammed her coffee cup down on top of the desk she was standing by with her magic.

“Creech!” She yelled. “That is ENOUGH!”  Everyone in the office gasped and stood up from their cubicles to get a good look at the enraged unicorn. Nopony had spoken to their boss like that before! Creech spun around and looked at Lyra with his eyebrows raised.

“Excuse you?” He said, slowly walking toward her, as if asking her for a challenge. The entire office was silent, and all of the ponies looked at each other uneasily. Lyra looked around the room and swallowed. There was no backing out now.

“Uh… you heard me!” Lyra said loudly, hoping that she sounded confident.

Creech looked overly confused. “I don’t even know you, do you work here?”

Lyra paused, and then raised her head. “I’m Lyra Heartstrings,” she said almost threateningly. She started walking towards the Stallion, adding a strut to her step. “And that is a pony you are yelling at. Her name is Blossomforth.” She walked up to Creech and looked up at him fiercely. “And she’s not just your assistant,” She continued. “She is a living breathing hu- pony being!” A short Stallion nearby sat at his desk and admiringly gazed at the Unicorn. “So you can’t just talk to her that way!” Lyra rambled on. “Not as long as I have something to say about it.”

“Whoa,” Bon Bon murmured. “You actually said that out loud?”

Lyra nodded vigorously. “I did,” She sniffled. “I did! I wish it ended there… but it doesn't.”  Bon Bon looked at her with intrigue.

Creech scoffed at the tiny unicorn. “Well, guess what?” he said patronizingly. “You have nothing to say about it. Because I’m your boss, and you’re nothing but a scared, weak, pathetic peon, who can’t even sit in her chair correctly.”  Lyra blinked and bit her lip, but she stood her ground. Creech waved his hoof at her, as if shooing away a foal. “Run along now.” He said. He then turned, and walked into his office. The rest of the ponies went back to work. Lyra sighed. She wanted to tell him off, but she thought better of it. She didn’t want to get fired. Blossomforth smiled at Lyra gratefully. The Unicorn relaxed and smiled back.

She walked over to her desk space, ready to get the afternoon over with. But Creech had other plans. “Blossomforth, GET IN HERE!” He screamed. The window to his office showed him towering over the poor Pegasus. “What happened to the Las Pegasus email?”

“I sent it.”

“WHERE did you send it? To the wrong company! You’re useless!”

Lyra scowled and using her magic, she grabbed a small piece of paper, and scribbled

                                                                         Ur a jerk! I quit!!!

                                                                           Drop Dead…

                                                                                Truly,

                                                                         Lyra Heartstrings

                                                                                  :D

Pleased of what she had done, she put the small piece of paper and put it inside of an envelope. She walked to the door of her office space where the mail pony pulling a cart waited for her. Lyra handed over the envelope. “Take this to Creech’s office.” She said coolly. The mail pony gave a firm nod and walked off with his cart. Lyra watched him go, with a tough look on her face.

Bon Bon grinned wildly “What?” she jeered in a high pitched voice. “Right on, girly, right on! I didn’t know you had it in you!”

Lyra shook her head. “No, not right on, Bon Bon! Not at all right on!” She attempted to go into the kitchen to clean herself up, but Bon Bon held her back.

“Wait, get back over here!” Bon Bon said. She bopped her friend on the nose. “I’m proud of you. And not for just standing up for that girl, but for sticking it to your boss on your own behalf!” Lyra shook her head again, looking like she was about to cry. Bon Bon continued. “To be honest, I didn’t even realize you still worked there, but it takes an enormous amount of guts to stand up and quit like that!”

“No!” Lyra whimpered. “I don’t know what I was thinking, Bon Bon! I need that job, we have bills! Massive bills! Now we’re down to about half!” Bon Bon was silent for a moment, the realization slowly dawning on her. Bon Bon glared at her roommate. “Lyra!” She hissed.

“How could you be so selfish?”

“What?”

“That’s the most irresponsible thing you could’ve done!”

“Will you let me finish my story?”

BonBon clicked her tongue. “Well, hurry it up then!” Lyra nodded. “Okay.”

It was night. Lyra wandered into the office, looking over her shoulder. I heard footsteps. At the time, I was thinking that Creech was burning the midnight oil and be still there. I could apologize. Lyra cautiously walked in to Creech’s office. She was surprised to see her former boss slumped over in his chair. As she got closer, she realized that something was terribly wrong. She gasped in horror.

“He was dead, BonBon.” The earth pony stared at Lyra in disbelief. Lyra nodded. “Totally… dead…. stabbed to death!”

BonBon swallowed hard. “Stabbed to death?” She repeated in a tiny whisper. Lyra nodded once more. “Yes.” She whispered back. BonBon contemplated this for a second, and raised an eyebrow at the Unicorn.

“Did you kill him?” She asked succinctly. Lyra looked astonished. “What? No! Of course I didn't kill him, what’s the matter with you?!”

“Well, did you call the police?”

“I was going to.” She leaned forward slightly. “But then something happened.”

BonBon’s eyebrows knitted together. “What do you mean, something happened?” Lyra’s eyes started to well up again. “Lyra,” BonBon whispered loudly. “What did you do? You got out of there, right? You got out of there, and you didn’t touch anything, right?” Lyra mumbled something and started whimpering again.

Lyra kept staring at her deceased boss in shock and disbelief. I was gonna leave, but then I saw the note I wrote to Creech still in his hoof! Lyra leaned over her boss and tried to pry his hoof open, so that she could get to the note. She yanked and pulled, until finally, his hoof opened, and Lyra grabbed the note victoriously. Then she crumbled it up, put it in her mouth, and began to chew.

“You ate the note!?” Bon Bon yelled incredulously.

“I panicked, Bonbon!” Lyra cried. “There was no place else to put it! I didn’t know what to do!”

Bon Bon waved her hooves in the air. “All right, all right!” She managed to calm herself down, and took a deep breath. “All right. So you did that. But then you walked out of there, you walked out without touching anything else, am I right?” Lyra whimpered again.

After trying to swallow the note, Lyra started coughing. The note was stuck in her throat. She started wheezing and gagging. Panicked, Lyra ran over to the small table to her right, and grabbed a pitcher of water with her hooves and tried to drink it. However, she couldn’t, hand she spit out the water, coughing and choking. Lyra hunched over, and stumbled backwards and crashed into a tree plant, spilling dirt all over the floor and herself, and knocking her boss down from the chair.

Bon Bon shook her head slowly, feeling like she was going numb. “Is that… is that everything?” She asked quietly. Lyra wailed in shame.

Lyra crawled across the floor, and made her way to a fish tank. She stood up, and dunked her head inside, swallowing as much water as possible. The paper finally went down her throat. Relieved, Lyra tried to clean up the mess she had made, accidentally crashing into objects, and knocking them over in the process. The whole office was littered in dirt, papers, and furniture, all knocked over by her. Lyra hunched over a desk, and started to cry. She started to run, but tripped over her boss, landing on top of him. Wailing and shrieking, she crawled off him, and ran out of the office at top speed.

Lyra sobbed uncontrollably. Bon Bon reached out a hoof to her. “Alright, calm down. Hey hey, calm down!” Lyra didn’t stop crying. Bon Bon placed a comforting hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “I’m sure you’re making this sound worse than it actually was.” She said soothingly.

Lyra shook her head. “No, Bon Bon,” She wept.

Bon Bon looked Lyra straight in the eye. “Look at me, Lyra.” Lyra paused and glanced at her friend. Bon Bon smiled slightly. “We are in this together. Just like we always are, you and me.” Lyra hiccupped and nodded. Bon Bon continued. “Now, I’m gonna get some coffee, and then we’re gonna go down there together, and we’re gonna look at this together, okay?”

Lyra wiped away a tear. “You… you would do that?” She sniffled.

Bon Bon smiled. “Of course, Lyra. You’re my best friend. You may be a goofball, but you’re my goofball. We’re gonna make it Kosher.”

“O-okay.”

“And what does that mean?”

“T-the meats and cheeses (Sniff) they’re not gonna touch!”

“That’s right, they’re not gonna touch,” Bon Bon confirmed. “They’re not gonna touch. You stay here, I’ll be right back.” Lyra sniffled nodded as Bonbon went to the kitchen to make coffee.

Later that night, Lyra and Bon Bon arrived at the scene of the crime. Bon Bon’s jaw dropped. “Oh my…”

Lyra nodded. “Yeah.”  

Bon Bon cautiously walked into the office. “Lyra, I think you might have actually undersold this thing.” She took a look around the room and turned back to Lyra.  “You didn’t kill this guy, did you?”

“No!”

“All right,” Bon Bon sighed. “Well, at least you’ve got innocence on your side.”

“What?”

“I think we should call the police, and let the chips fall where they may.”

Lyra scowled. “You’re talking crazy right now, Bon Bon. I won’t get the benefit of the doubt! Not in a case like this! I don’t wanna rot in a cell!”

Bonbon smirked. “Aw, come on, Lyra,” she said playfully. “You know I’m gonna bake you a cake with a weapon in it.”

Lyra pouted. “You said the meat and cheese are not gonna touch, Bon Bon! Well, they’re touching right now!” Lyra started poking Bon Bon repeatedly. “They’re touching right now!”

Bon Bon pushed Lyra back. “Don’t poke me!” She turned and tripped over a fallen plant, crashing to the floor. “Oh no!” She wailed.

“Bon Bon!” Lyra gasped.

Bon Bon stood up, disgusted. “Now I’m all dirty!” She moaned.

Lyra’s eyes widened. “Bon Bon,” She whispered. “Your nose, it’s bleeding!”

Bonbon gasped. “What? A-CHOO!!!”  Bon Bon sneezed. Both mares were silent for a few seconds. Lyra started to whimper again.

***

Somepony was banging on the door. Curious, Octavia made her way to the living room. Who could that be at four in the morning? She thought. When she opened the door, she was surprised to find Lyra and Bon Bon, both looking miserable and covered with dirt. Bon Bon sniffed. “Octavia, we really, really really screwed up!”

Next Chapter: Hoof Prints Estimated time remaining: 46 Minutes