“Mommy! Look at this! Look at this!” squeaked a filly, jumping up and down in exuberance. The jingling of metal resonated with every bounce she took, as did the curls of her mane. Buttercup, actively pouring some recently melted chocolate into their molds, could only spare a glance over her shoulder to her daughter.

“Just a minute, Bon Bon. Mommy’s busy right now,” she calmly stated. Lifting the bowl in her magical aura, she continued to tend to the chocolate mixture while Bon Bon impatiently trotted in place. Smiling to herself at her handiwork, Buttercup continued to go about filling each mold with their necessary amounts. After some minutes of the delicate process, she lifted the tray of fresh candies with a feeling of satisfaction and moved over to the freezer, storing them away to harden.

She removed her apron and draped it over a hook to hang from, took a damp washcloth to remove some chocolate from her orange coat before it could stain, and finally diverted her attention to her daughter. “Alright Bon Bon, what is it you wanted to show me?”

The filly stopped bouncing and fell backwards on her haunches. “Watch this!” she announced, removing the dangling tambourine from her jaw. Balancing it delicately in her lap between her legs, Bon Bon began tapping away on the drumhead with her hooves. The embedded cymbals clanged with every motion as she produced a very upbeat and well managed rhythm, keeping the pattern going for several lasting seconds.

Bon Bon was lost to herself as a smile grew across her face. The tempo of her juvenile song suddenly paused, and after a moment’s hesitation she whacked against the drum at a surprisingly fast pace, ending the note with a single and triumphant pound. Her hooves danced against its surface, returning to the smooth and upbeat pattern she had been maintaining moments prior. The little cymbals chimed and they clinked, bouncing along to the song Bon Bon was so absorbed in.

“Stop that!” her mother suddenly barked, slapping the tambourine out of her daughter’s grasp. Bon Bon squeaked in surprise, reeling backwards onto the tile floor of the kitchen. Buttercup furiously lifted the instrument with her magic and sent it hurdling across the room, impacting a wall and landing on the ground with a dull thud. “Your father and I have made it very clear that you are not allowed to play drums!”

Bon Bon sat back up, one of her hooves trembling and other trying to calm it. “B-But… this isn’t a drum,” she sniffled. “It’s a tambourine…”

“I don’t care what it’s called,” her mother snorted, turning back towards the countertop and grabbing several bowls and ingredients. “We are a family of confectioners, not musicians, Bon Bon. I don’t know how many times we have to tell you that.”

“S-Sorry Mommy…” Bon Bon quickly apologized. She grasped her trembling hoof tight against her chest and stood back up. “But what will my special talent me if I don’t try everything?”

A whisk and a bowl of taffy floated out towards her. “Try this,” Buttercup insisted.

“But I already tried to get my cutie mark in baking…”

“Then you will try again,” her mother insisted, almost thrusting the objects into her but instead let them clatter to the floor. Bon Bon sighed, gripping the whisk by the handle with her teeth and began to stir.

---

“Hey Bon Bon!” a friendly voice called from across the playground. Sitting on her haunches, Bon Bon looked up from her mundane task and glanced around with an expressionless face, her ears flicking in the wind. Ponyville’s schoolhouse stood tall and proud in the background, where a dozen or so fillies and colts frolicked underneath the spring sun.

A burgundy pegasus fluttered her wings, flying rather haphazardly mere inches off the ground, a determined smile plastered across her face. The filly’s black mane was striped with an occasional silver highlight, and the gusts of wind threw it down over her eyes. Sticking her tongue out, she touched down unsteadily on all fours in front of Bon Bon, almost tripping over herself in the landing.

“Darn wings,” she muttered to herself, rustling the stubby appendages before clasping them against her side.

Bon Bon forced a smile, tugging at the base of her light gray sweatjacket and making sure it covered her flank. “Hey Cinder Flare,” she said casually. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, it is recess,” her friend giggled, trying to blow her mane out of her eyes. “Besides, you’re all over here by yourself. Wanna go play on the swings with me?”

“Thanks but no thanks,” Bon Bon dismissed, returning to the stick she had been playing with. “But I kinda want to be a long right now.”

Cinder Flare’s ears drooped and she curiously tilted her head. “Something wrong?” she asked.

“I said I wanted to be alone,” Bon Bon was quick to retort, an obvious ache in her voice. Holding the wooden twig firmly in her hoof, she went back to unenthusiastically tapping it against the ground, getting a dull thud with every swing. Fidgeting slightly, Cinder Flare continued to stand beside her, watching the sad spectacle.

She gently shook her friend on the withers. “Come on Bons, you can tell me. What’s bothering you?”

Bon Bon hesitated, holding the stick and looking at it forlornly before dropping it on the ground. Slowly, she turned to her friend with an almost pleading look in her eyes. “Promise to keep it a secret?”

“Of course!” Cinder Flare beamed gave an exuberant grin and struck a pose, flashing Bon Bon her cutie mark: a sealed scroll with an arrow piercing straight through it. “Keeping promises is my special talent, after all.”

Sniffling, Bon Bon brought a hoof over her eyes and wiped them briskly against a sleeve. “Right… Special talent,” she mumbled.

“Bon Bon?”

The filly stood up, her sweatjacket dangling at her side, obviously many sizes too big for her frame as it stretched all the way to her tail and the open flaps almost touched the ground. With a shudder, she pulled up its base, revealing her cotton candy colors of her tail to her friend, as well as what lay beyond that. Cinder Flare’s azure eyes went wide at seeing the three wrapped pieces of candy embedded on Bon Bon’s flank.

“Hey, you finally got your cutie mark!” she cheered. “That’s awesome!”

Bon Bon quickly threw the fabric back over herself, hiding her flank as she shot her friend an annoyed, watery-eyed glare. “Quiet!” she hissed. “Don’t tell anypony.”

Cinder Flare reeled back, noticing the tears forming in the pits of her eyes. “Wait, what?” she asked dumbfounded. “That’s your secret?”

Bon Bon nodded, sitting back down on the ground in self-pity, picking up the stick she had been playing with moments prior and hurled it across the playground. The twig harmlessly bounced off a slide and plopped onto the ground.

“You cannot just keep your cutie mark hidden for the rest of your life,” Cinder Flare told her in a matter-of-fact tone. “And what’s so bad about it? You get to have a cute-ceanera and get a bunch of presents!”

Her attempt at cheering her up appeared to have backfired. “I don’t want a cute-ceanera!” Bon Bon squeaked, pulling her oversized sweatjacket in tighter and zipped it up. Taking in a deep breath, she leapt from her position at her friend, wrapping her in a tight hug. Cinder Flare staggered backwards as Bon Bon cried into her withers.

“I don’t want this cutie mark!”

---

“So, any idea what you’ll do when school gets out?”

Bon Bon stared down at her lunch for a moment. The Daffodilly Café always makes the best sandwiches, but today of all days her appetite escaped her. Looking up, Cinder Flare’s azure eyes met her own and she found herself on the receiving end of a friendly smile.

After a pause, Bon Bon merely shrugged. “Don’t know yet,” she said with a hint of anger in her tone, tapping her hoof rhythmically on the outdoor table. “How about yourself?”

“Thinking of becoming a mailmare,” Cinder Flare replied flatly, stealing a quick sip from her smoothie. “I’ve been told I’m one of the most maneuverable pegasi in Ponyville, and weather duty just doesn’t appeal to me. Gotta put my wings to work somehow, you know?”

Bon Bon didn’t respond, rather she found herself staring at her hoof bounce against the surface of the table. The beat seemed so foreign and offensive, yet she couldn’t help herself. Before she knew it her other hoof joined the first, and together the two limbs were happily tapping away in song.

The sound of rumbling wheels drew her attention, and she glanced up at the town of Ponyville just in time to see Golden Harvest walk past. With a happy grin and a swing to her trot, the perky mare dragged a large wooden cart behind her, filled to the brim with bright orange carrots. Bon Bon followed her with her eyes until she was out of view, and her vision wandered back towards the center of town. Mayor Mare was the first pony to catch her attention, and she watched inattentively as she trotted up to a kiosk.

Applejack popped up from behind the cart, a fresh bag of apples hanging in her mouth, and dropped it onto the countertop in between them. The Mayor smiled, reaching into her saddlebags and pulling out a tiny bag of bits, dangling it in front of the farmer like a bone to a dog. Applejack smiled back, tossing the bag of apples her way and the two ponies briskly exchanged items.

Glancing down the other side of the road, Daisy and Lily were busy having an idle chat with each other when Roseluck appeared from around a corner, a bouquet of immaculate flowers held tightly in her mouth. The two ponies turned to their friend with a gasp and rushed up to her, feverishly complimenting the gardener on her beautiful work. Roseluck blushed, and together the three of them retreated further into the town.

Bon Bon couldn’t help but frown.

“You’re doing it again,” Cinder Flare suddenly spoke up, and Bon Bon suddenly twisted back towards her childhood friend.

“Doing what?”

“That beat,” Cinder Flare motioned at her with her snout. Bon Bon glanced down and saw only one hoof tapping away where there was once two, and at a very slow and monotonous pace. “You do that every time something’s bothering you,” she added.

“I do not!” Bon Bon was quick to defend, pulling her hoof in against her chest.

“And you get upset very easily…”

“Do not!”

Cinder Flare raised an eyebrow. “Care to get it off your chest?”

Finishing off a scowl, Bon Bon sighed in defeat. “Fine,” she answered sharply. “My mom wants me to take over the family business.”

“What so bad about that?” her friend asked, moving to take another sip from her drink. “I know what kind of business that place gets, and you’re a great cook. You can really rake in the bits.”

“I hate cooking and I don’t care about the money; she’s literally dumping it on me!” Bon Bon grumbled, pushing aside her uneaten lunch.

“Ouch. Some mother…”

“Don’t even get me started…”

“Then I won’t,” Cinder Flare deadpanned with a shrug. “So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t think I have much of a choice,” Bon Bon said reluctantly, slouching backwards into her seat. “Yes, I admit it’s a good source of income, but I don’t like spending my time making chocolate truffles and taffy.”

With a grunt, Bon Bon slammed her face down onto the table. “I hate my mom. I hate my cutie mark…”

A second passed and then a hoof suddenly slapped her across the side of the face, jolting Bon Bon into momentary shock. She shot upright on, eyes completely wide in disbelief, and her cheek glowing red with pain. Cinder Flare stared intently at her, wings spread and hovering right above her.

“Do not talk about yourself like that!” she barked, raising a hoof and pointing it accusingly. “You know I hate it when you do this to yourself.”

“What’s it matter?” Bon Bon jeered, rubbing her now sore muzzle. “You know I hate the confectionary business, you know my mother made me do it, and now I got this darn curse of a cutie mark. What choice do I have?”

Cinder Flare slowly lowered back down in her seat. “Really? You’re letting your stupid cutie mark lead your life?”

With furrowed brows, the two of them frowned at each other. Cinder Flare, still maintaining her angry glare, stole a quick sip of her smoothie before continuing. “Look: when it comes to cutie marks, there’s gotta be a dozen ways to interpret the things. Heck, for all I know my special talent isn’t keeping promises. Maybe it’s shooting arrows through pieces of paper, but I won’t know if I’m good at it until I try. I mean, Cheerilee’s got the cutie mark of a gardener and she’s training to become a teacher for crying out loud. Can’t get much more outlandish than that.”

Bon Bon rolled her eyes. “Isn’t that a dream?” she said sarcastically.

“Life is made of dreams,” Cinder Flare was quick to say. “I mean, what’s stopping you? We’ve had this conversation before, and it’s always ‘your mother won’t let you,’ but now she’s going to be gone! What’s stopping you from playing the drums now?”

Bon Bon bit her lip; she couldn’t really fathom an argument against that logic. Heaving a sigh, she slumped backwards in her seat, cheeks flushed with red more out of embarrassment then pain.

“Did you really have to hit me so hard?”

“You really needed it.”

“I guess I did,” she chuckled. Looking back down at the table, Bon Bon quietly lifted up her untouched sandwich and took a small bite of it. The flavor was a long missing sweetness to her tongue, forming a tiny smile across her face.

Bon Bon sighed, taking another bite out of her sandwich. Hesitantly, she stole a brief glance at her cutie mark. The three wrapped up pieces of candy innocently looked back, and she frowned at them. What if her cutie mark didn’t mean she was supposed to be a confectioner? But what else could it mean? As far as vague symbols go, hers wasn’t even on the list.

---

Bon Bon stood out in front of her home, trying her best to stand on her two rear legs. It was an awkward thing to do, but after some trial and error she was able to maintain balance. Smiling cheerfully at her dull accomplishment, she reached out with one hoof and delicately held a wooden sign in place. With the other’s assistance, she positioned it rightly on the ground, before pounding away at it. But even having the characteristic strength of an earth pony, each of her mighty swings only drove the sign into the earth centimeters at a time. Determined, Bon Bon continued to beat at the top, driving the sign deeper with every attempt, until she was finally confident it wouldn’t topple over.

“Room for Rent,” Cinder Flare read, trotting up to her with her saddlebags filled to the brim. “About time, ain’t it?”

Bon Bon grinned, dropping back onto all fours. “She’s going back to Stalliongrad, finally. One of two issues solved.”

“The other being the business, I assume.”

“Yeah…” she sighed. Turning back around towards her townhouse, the front window proudly displayed a colorful amount of tasty candies and other treats. Her smile slowly faded into a frown and she released a built up sigh. “I’ve been at this for about a year now. It’s manageable, but it takes up all the free time I once had.”

Cinder Flare raised an eyebrow and looked curiously at the sign, smiling. “Well, that’s one way to say goodbye.”

“Don’t start with me,” Bon Bon deadpanned. “You’ve been my best friend for years, Cinders. Don’t think I’m trying to find somepony to replace you!”

“I’m just joking,” she snickered, tugging at her overflowing saddlebags. “If my job permits, I’ll stop by whenever I can and say hi. Sure am going to miss you, though.”

“I will too,” Bon Bon added. “Want a farewell hug?”

“Hmmm… I don’t kn—okay!” Cinder Flare squealed and jumped, wrapping around Bon Bon with her hooves and a lively smile. In return she giggled, returning the favor for several lasting seconds.

“Geez, you two. Get a room,” a voice suddenly quipped at them. Together they looked up, straight into the amber eyes of an aquamarine unicorn. “But not this one,” she pointed at them with a determined glare and then to the newly erected sign. “This one’s mine!”

Cinder Flare snorted, withholding the urge to laugh uncontrollably. “Good luck,” she whispered to Bon Bon before breaking their embrace. Outstretching her wings, she flapped them methodically until she was in the air. Giving a knowing nod to her friend, Cinder Flare took off down the streets, waving goodbye until she was out of sight.

Bon Bon again sighed, turning to face the unicorn who stood protectively in front of the sign. “So... I hear you want a place to stay?”

---

“So that’s why you got the sudden interest in picking up the drums?” Lyra asked with a tilted head. The scent of fresh waffles filled the kitchen as Bon Bon lowered their breakfast onto the table.

“I’ve had it for a while,” Bon Bon admitted, taking her respective seat at one end. Lyra smiled, grabbing a pitcher of syrup with her telekinesis and slowly poured across her food. She motioned with it towards Bon Bon, she nodded, and then Lyra began dousing her breakfast as well. “I guess I’ve just been too stubborn for my own good,” she continued. “But with the business now, there’s just not enough time even if I wanted too.”

“But you do want to,” Lyra stated, picking up some utensils in her hooves and began sawing away at her waffles. “So that pegasus I first saw was Cinder Flare?”

Bon Bon nodded, and a mischievous grin slowly crossed Lyra’s face. “Huh. I always assumed that she was your fillyfriend,” she teased.

“Lyra! You know I’m not like that.”

“Oh, I know. I’ve tried.”

“Lyra!”

“Heeheehee!” the unicorn giggled. “Oh, Bon Bon... If you want to find time to play, I’d be more than willing to cover for you at the shop.”

Bon Bon blinked. “You’d do that for me?”

“Of course! You’re my best friend,” Lyra stated with a friendly smile, before it disappeared when she shoved a large mass of syrup and pastry into her mouth.

“Hey, you told me how you got your cutie mark. Wanna know how I got mine?”

“Uh… by playing the lyre?”

“Nope!” Lyra giggled. “Well, kinda, but not really.”

“Excuse me?”

“Weeeell…” she began, twiddling a fork between her hooves. “When I was filly back at the School for Gifted Unicorns, they have this really big music room. I had no interest in playing the lyre at all. Rather, I was completely devoting myself into the grand piano that was laying around. I really wanted to get my cutie mark playing the piano, but it just wouldn’t show up.”

Lyra paused to take another piece out of her breakfast. “Thensth onth day,” she spoke, swallowed, and continued. “I lied to some of my friends. Not proud of it, but I did, and they thought I had learned how to play the lyre. As I’m sure I’ve told you before, that instrument is no easy one to master. Anyhow, they called my bluff and I was forced to play a quick tune for them. I did, failed miserably, when suddenly, bam! Cutie mark acquired.”

Bon Bon tilted her head and Lyra began laughing to herself. “Funny thing is; I never picked the lyre back up again for several years. I hated the thing, and instead I kept pressing my luck on the piano. I got really good at it too, like really good. Then one day, for some reason or another, I picked the lyre back up and got good at that too.”

Lyra confidently kicked back in her seat, levitating bits of her breakfast up to her mouth. Completely dumbfounded, Bon Bon simply stared at her. “So, you got your cutie mark by lying?”

“No,” Lyra said flatly, staring unamused across the table for a moment before it was broken by another fit of giggles. “Tartarus if I know the truth, really. There’s gotta be a dozen ways to interpret the things.”

Bon Bon stared down at herself, contemplating. After much hesitation she looked back up to Lyra, who was busy devouring the last of her breakfast. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure thing, oh buddy oh friend oh landlord of mine.”

“Besides being a confectioner, what do you think my cutie mark could represent?”

Lyra looked thoughtful. “Maybe there’s something inside you, wrapped up in colorful plastic, just waiting to be revealed? I don’t know… I’m terrible at the whole philosophy jargon.”

Bon Bon again went silent, staring at her breakfast that merely idled in front of her. Before she could even begin to muse she was interrupted by a large, belligerent belch.

Lyra giggled, getting up and pushing her chair in. Her horn glowed a bright gold and her lyre floated out of its hiding spot and over to her. “Well, I’m going out to the park and make some sweet music, maybe make some bits as well. Want anything while I’m out?”

“No thanks,” Bon Bon dismissed with a smile. “And take your sweatjacket with you! It’s been really cold this morning.”