All in all, Lyra felt she had done a pretty darn good job of decorating the inside of her and Bon Bon’s home for Nightmare Night. Sure, she may have goofed and put the legs of one of the skeletons on backwards, and okay, maybe a picture of a pumpkin wasn’t the ideal thing to carve into an actual pumpkin, and admittedly, she should have realized sooner that the box full of fake cobwebs wasn’t full of fake cobwebs, but honestly, the spiders running loose in the living room only added to the atmosphere.

The important thing was that Lyra had finished setting everything up with plenty of time to spare. Bon Bon was freaking out enough just preparing the food for their ‘Night Before Nightmare Night’ party. At least now, she wouldn’t have to worry about getting the house ready too. Every chore Lyra did would earn her brownie points that she hoped to trade in for actual brownies. Cinnamon Surprise Brownies, to be exact. Lyra’s mouth watered just thinking about the sweet, chocolaty goodness mixed with the subtle seasonings of cinnamon, nutmeg, and... other seasonings that she didn’t actually know the names of. Already, the scents of it filled her nostrils with every breath.

After giving the living room one final look over—and wiping away a line of drool with the back of her hoof—Lyra made her way towards the kitchen, eager to brag about her accomplishments. Bon Bon would be so caught up in her oohing and ahhing that she would leave the stove unguarded for at least a minute. Plenty of time to sneak a taste or three.

“Hey, Bon Bon,” Lyra called out as she passed through the kitchen doorway. “The decorations are done.”

Bon Bon didn’t answer right away. She was likely in ‘the cooking zone,’ or something like that. It would take her a few seconds to realize that Lyra was even there. Which was fine, since it gave Lyra time to put on her best ‘I did a good job and should be rewarded in chocolate’ smile.

It always amazed Lyra how Bon Bon was able to create an area of controlled chaos around her while she cooked. She had three pots on the stove with a different temperature on each. To one side of her, the countertop was lined with piles of peeled, chopped, or diced vegetables. To her other side, she had bowls of various batters and doughs. Shockingly enough, everything was clean. No spills, or smudges, or forks bent into unusable shapes. Even the dishes and utensils were washed and sorted next to the sink, waiting to be put away or used again.

After all the years of watching, there was one thing Lyra didn’t, nay, couldn’t understand about Bon Bon’s cooking ability: she never measured anything. All those cups and spoons that had been so carefully crafted to make cooking easier for everypony were forbidden tools as far as Bon Bon was concerned. She eyeballed it all. She even knew how hot a stove’s flame was based only on its size. And yet, she could make the same recipe a hundred different times and each time it would turn out the exact same way: delicious.

Just standing this close to a master at work was mesmerizing, but not mesmerizing enough for Lyra to forget that her cheeks were getting stiff from holding this smile, or that she hadn’t been acknowledged yet.

Still in her own little world, Bon Bon opened the oven door, grumbled something about it not being hot enough, and went back to stirring the pot of liquid chocolate.

Lyra dropped her smile and worked her mouth for a moment to get the soreness out. “Uh, Bon Bon?” she ventured. When that didn’t get a response, she waved a hoof up and down over one of the pots. “Hellooo?”

“Wha?” Bon Bon mumbled as she finally turned away from her cooking. She blinked her eyes a few times before they focused. “Oh! Lyra. Decorations. Right. Thank you.” She returned to stirring the chocolate.

“You know, I can do that for you, if you want to see them,” Lyra said, hoping the eagerness in her voice wasn’t too evident.

“No, that’s fine.” Bon Bon scooped up the chopped peppers and dumped them into another pot. “I’m sure you did a great job.” She moved a bowl from one side of the countertop to the other, then set a fresh bowl in its place. “I’ll take a look just as soon as the oven heats up enough for me to get some things in.” She went back to stirring for several agonizing chocolate-tasting-free seconds, then looked at Lyra. “Can you pass me the sugar? There should be a new bag of it in the pantry.”

Lyra frowned as she crossed the kitchen to the door in the back. Oh sure, it started with the oven needing to be hot enough, but then the dough would need to finish rising, or the soup would need to be more soupy. At this rate, Lyra wouldn’t get a chance to taste the chocolate until after it was mixed in with the batter, baked, cut into squares, and served on a plate for everypony to enjoy. With the sugar held in her magic, she racked her brain trying to come up with a plan that could both distract Bon Bon long enough and not destroy part of the kitchen in the process. She had just closed the pantry when a subconscious thought pushed its way forward.

“Hey, Bon Bon? How have you still not added sugar to the chocolate? I smelled you start making it, like, an hour ago.”

Bon Bon sighed heavily and turned around. “Don’t remind me. I’ve been so frazzled with getting everything started that I forgot I had already added the sugar to the first batch. It ended up way too sweet and I had to toss it out.”

Her magical hold on the sugar nearly failed as Lyra whipped her head in the direction of the trash can. There, mixed in with eggshells and vegetable peelings, was perhaps the only batch of too-sweet chocolate that Bon Bon had ever made. Lyra couldn’t let this opportunity pass her by. Besides, it was probably, mostly, almost still edible. She only needed to find a way to get at it without making Bon Bon think she was weird. Well, weirder, to say the least. Now, she knew the trash can’s narrow opening would require her to angle her horn downwards in order to slip her head inside, but that would make it difficult to get her muzzle in range of the chocolate without submerging her mane first. However, if she were to—

“Lyra!”

Blinking, Lyra realized that Bon Bon had still been talking to her. She forced her head to turn away from the trash. “Huh?”

“The sugar?” Bon Bon said, wide-eyed, as she nodded upward.

Lyra looked up find the sugar pressed against the ceiling, the paper bag crinkling as it threatened to burst. She gave a startled yell and quickly lowered it to the countertop. “Right, sorry, got distracted.” She chuckled nervously, then changed it into a throat-clearing when Bon Bon didn’t join in.

With a roll of her eyes, Bon Bon turned back to her cooking. “I’m not helping you out of the trash if you get stuck again.”

“What? No, no, no. Nooo. I wasn’t thinking of doing that. I was thinking of... spiders? Yeah, spiders! The living room is full of them. You should check it out.”

“I’ll look at the decorations when I get a chance,” Bon Bon said, sounding regretful. “But for now, I simply don’t have the time. It’s bad enough that the brownies set me back, but I only just started the soup, and the oven’s being finicky again. I need to hurry or I’ll never get the sweet potatoes baking, and don’t even get me started on the banana bread.” She sighed and quietly added, “Why did I ever say I’d make everything?” After shaking her head, she added a cup of sugar to the pot, turned down the heat, and slowly continued stirring.

The wooden spoon moved back and forth in a slow, rhythmic motion. The sugar spiraled outwards, then succumbed to the rich, creamy chocolate. Waves and ripples lightly played along the surface of the delicious pool, calling out to Lyra and asking if she’d like to take a dip. She did. If only she knew how to speak the language of chocolate so she could answer. But, she didn’t. So it kept asking. Over and over.

Lyra could feel a twitch coming on in one eye, the opposite ear, her tail, and a hind leg. She had to come up with a plan to get a taste of the chocolate, but she was so hypnotized by the thick, swirling goodness that she couldn’t think of anything.

“Can I taste the chocolate?” Lyra asked without thinking. If she could have kissed her own lips, she would have.

Bon Bon set down the spoon and smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, Lyra, but I’ve used up the last of the cocoa. I know how it is with you. One taste becomes two becomes four, and soon I won’t have enough for everypony. You’re just going to have to wait until they’re finished.”

Lyra’s heart broke.

“However...”

Lyra hastily glued her heart back together.

“If you absolutely need something sweet, there is the bowl of hard candy in the living room. You can have a piece of that, but only one. We’re going to need the rest for the party.”

A sinking sensation came over Lyra, and she had to lick her suddenly dry lips. “Those, ah... those were for the party?”

“Yes they—wait...” Bon Bon stood still. Too still. Then, she calmly reduced the heat on the stove, turned around face Lyra, and narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean ‘were?’”

Lyra fought the urge to take an involuntary step backwards. Bon Bon was getting upset. Bon Bon was scary when she got upset. First would come the hoof-tapping. Then the head-shaking and disappointed sighs. She might even get upset enough this time that she’d do the worst thing imaginable.

“I—” Lyra squeaked, then took a deep breath. “I might have already eaten more than one of those candies.”

“Lyraaa...” Bon Bon whined and held a hoof to her temple. “We went over this yesterday. Those candies I made are for keeping score in the games tonight. Cherry is five points, grape is three, and lemon is one. Remember?”

“I know, I know. It just didn’t occur to me that those were the candies you talked about.”

“Okay,” Bon Bon said softly.

At first Lyra thought that meant she was off the hook, but then she realized that the closed eyes and deep breathing meant Bon Bon was likely talking to herself.

“Okay. This is still salvageable.” Bon Bon opened her eyes. “How many of the candies did you eat?”

“Um...” Lyra attempted to do the calculation in her head and got hopelessly lost the second time she had to carry the one. “Around a million points worth?” she guessed. Judging by how far Bon Bon’s jaw dropped, that wasn’t the answer she was hoping for.

“All of them? You ate them all?”

“They were sugar-free!”

Bon Bon pressed her hoof against her forehead hard enough that it probably started to hurt. “And that’s supposed to make it all better?” She looked Lyra in the eyes. “Now what are we supposed to do?”

“Make more?” Lyra suggested, then instantly regretted opening her mouth.

Bon Bon stared at Lyra for several highly uncomfortable seconds before saying in a low voice, “I’ll barely have time to finish what I’m already making and you want me to add more on top of it?”

“Okay. Bad idea. Um...” Lyra tapped a hoof to her chin and thought about other small, circular, multi-colored objects. “We could use marbles?”

“No...” Bon Bon shook her head and sighed. “You know why it has to be candy.”

Lyra did know why it had to be candy, but she sensed this was her chance to change the conversation’s direction, so she kept her mouth shut and her expression blank. Bon Bon fidgeted and broke eye contact for a moment. When she looked back, Lyra used her secret weapon: tilting her head slightly to one side.

“It’s because it ties the party’s theme together,” Bon Bon admitted quietly. “And it shows I put some thought into planning it. And...” She looked down and rubbed one foreleg with the other. “...and it’s cute.”

Now that the mood had lightened, Lyra smiled. “Aww, you can be a real softy when you try to be.” She quickly held up a hoof to forestall any argument. “Bon Bon? I’m sorry. I made a mistake, but I’ll make it up to you. The party isn’t for another couple of hours. You keep focusing on the food, and I’ll go buy some more candy.”

Bon Bon smiled too. “Thanks, but that’s easier said than done, considering that tomorrow is Nightmare Night. Most stores have been sold out of candy since last week.”

“Well, I’m sure there must be some left somewhere.”

“Let’s see,” Bon Bon said and hmmed to herself. “I think I remember Sugarcube Corner still having candy when I delivered some truffles a few days ago. Pinkie always has the Cakes stock extra for this time of year. If any place still had some candy left, it would have to be them.”

Lyra gasped. The conversation had been going so well, and then Bon Bon had to go and ruin it by saying something like that. “Sugarcube Corner?” she said weakly, then took a step back and shook her head. “No, no. Noo, no, no.” She slashed her hoof in front of her. “I am not going anywhere near Sugarcube Corner until Nightmare Night is over. Have you seen what Pinkie and her friends did to that place? Have you? They turned it into a haunted house, Bon Bon. A haunted house!”

Bon Bon raised an eyebrow. “Er... yes. I know. It’s been the talk of the town since they started setting it up. Why?”

“Why?” Lyra sniffled and turned down her head. This was perfect. A light tug on the heartstrings, and the sympathy chocolate would come pouring in. “I thought you knew me, Bon Bon. How could you have forgotten about the traumatic foalhood experience I had with a haunted house?”

“Probably because you’ve never told me about it.”

Lyra looked up, confused. “I haven’t? I mean—” She let her lower lip quiver and added a just bit of shakiness to her voice. Thoughts about puppies whimpering in a cardboard box during a rainstorm were enough to get her eyes moistened. “Then I’ll just have to recount for you the horrifying tale of my innocence lost…

“It happened when I was a small filly, still living in Canterlot. Nightmare Night was my favorite time of the year. Not just because of the candy, but because of the thrill that came from being scared. I loved it. The adrenaline. The nervous excitement. This year was special because I was finally old enough that my parents agreed to let me enter my first haunted house.

“The haunted house I chose was brand new that year and was supposed to be the scariest thing ever. It was all set up where an axe-wielding ghost would pop out and chase you from room to room. I screamed. I laughed. I was having the time of my life. That is, until I reached the maze.

“Now, I was a smart filly, and I knew the rules for navigating through mazes. But the ghost? He knew them too and was always one step ahead of me. I’d need to turn right, and he’d force me to go left. I’d try to backtrack, and he’d be waiting. I played right into his hooves, and soon, I was at a dead end.

“I sat with my back pressed up against the wall as the ghost stepped closer and closer. I could see my terrified reflection staring back at me in his gleaming axe. I would have screamed if I hadn’t been so scared. He chuckled darkly, enjoying my fear, and kept walking. Then, when he was right on top of me, the unthinkable happened.” Lyra looked up and met Bon Bon’s eyes. “He sneezed. He sneezed, Bon Bon. Ghosts don’t sneeze.” She closed her eyes and lightly squinted one, sending a single tear rolling down her cheek. “That was the day I found out that ghosts aren't real.”

Bon Bon sighed, but not in the reassuring ‘poor Lyra’ way. “I think most ponies are actually quite relieved when they discover that.”

“Why do we do it?” Lyra asked quickly, hoping to get her sob story back on track. “Why do we make up these fantastical creatures for holidays and then lie to foals about them? It’s always so hard when we learn there’s no Hearth’s Warming Reindeer, or Springtime Marmot—”

“Or the Tooth Fairy,” Bon Bon deadpanned.

“Oh no you don’t!” Lyra stomped a hoof. “We are not having this discussion again. The Tooth Fairy is real, I have photographic proof of her existence, and one day, when I get my hooves on her. She. Will. Pay.”

Bon Bon sighed much more heavily and went to the stove, where she turned the temperature back up. “Lyra... just go to Sugarcube Corner and buy the candy.”

Lyra threw her hooves in the air. “Fine!” She made a show of stomping to the kitchen’s door, keeping one eye on Bon Bon all the way. “I’ll just get over my traumatic foalhood experience and stop letting it control my life!”

“That’s nice,” Bon Bon said as she walked towards the pantry.

Lyra smiled, then turned towards the door, lowered her head, and concentrated. This next part would be iffy. “Maybe while I’m gone, you can do the same and get over your fear of strawberries!” She sniffed as arrogantly as she knew how, then walked into the hallway and quickly shut the door behind her.

“I’m not afraid of strawberries!” Bon Bon shouted to be heard. “I am allergic to them!”

“Details,” Lyra called back, fighting to keep the laughter from her voice. She looked to her side where a wooden spoon covered in chocolate floated along with her. She couldn’t believe that had worked. She thought for sure Bon Bon would have noticed her horn glowing or the spoon zipping across the room.

Holding her hard-earned prize before her, Lyra slowly stuck out her tongue and touched it to the spoon. Instantly, her breath caught in her throat, and a shiver raced through her body. Real tears welled up in her eyes. It tasted even better than she remembered. Reluctantly, she pulled her tongue off the spoon. She would have to savor this victory.

A trip to the hallway cabinet netted Lyra a small pouch of ‘rainy day’ bits. She slipped the pouch’s drawstring over her head and was about to head outside when she heard the telltale squeak of the kitchen door swinging open. Lyra’s body locked up, and she tried her best to not start panicking. It was possible that Bon Bon had only wanted some fresh air.

“Lyra? Did you take my spoon?” came Bon Bon’s voice, followed by the sound of approaching hoofsteps.

Lyra positioned the spoon so that her body blocked it from view, then glanced over her shoulder without really looking at Bon Bon. “S-sorry, can’t talk, um... finding candy!” She scrambled out the front door and shut it before Bon Bon could ask why her horn was glowing.

With pilfered treat in tow, Lyra set off to find a candy store that wasn’t Sugarcube Corner. Quickly. In case Bon Bon wanted this spoon badly enough that she’d give chase.