mylittlejamjar | First Licorice [Visual, postdated to after the event]

Hello, everypony. Some of you may not recognize me from around town, which is fair... I only just got one of these scrolls. My name is Bon Bon, and yes, that means I'm the one who runs the candy shop downtown. Either way, I've got a few announcements to make, now that the nasty business with the eclipses is over.

Firstly: Since it's only a month until Nightmare Night, I'm accepting suggestions for varieties of candy to make for the big day-before sale. Last year's celebrations being cut short by the actual Nightmare Moon I entirely blame on my stocking of way too much black licorice, so I want to know if you all can help make the holiday not a catastrophic failure this year.

Secondly: thanks to that eclipse, I actually do have a bit of a surplus here, so until the end of the month, all taffy is 75% off. Something to chew on for a while. [The mare chuckles, quietly, at her own joke.]

Finally: Until further notice, Zetta and all of those who collaborated with him are blacklisted from the Sugar Shack. I understand that it was apparently some super-secret plan to lure out the evil mastermind keeping all of the offworlders here, but you caused Lyra and Fluttershy to work themselves into exhaustion, made one of my employees sick, and turned the other into a bear! [Yes, Zetta, she's blaming you for that too even if it happened after the fact. And was technically Teddie's fault.] If you want me to lift the ban, then I'm expecting a pretty big apology. Yes, your majesties, that includes you two, too. I'm a businessmare, not a politician, and you hurt my bottom line, so I have to take action.

Thank you all for your time.

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[Private to Dame Trixie]

Trixie? I wanted to thank you for pulling Fluttershy and Lyra out of that mess. There was only so much I could do at the time, and... yeah. Thanks.

That said, maybe it'd be best if you don't talk to Lyra about the version of her you know just yet. She's getting capital-i Ideas, and she needs time to rest before she starts getting more and ending up right back where she was.

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[Private to Kyouko and Teddie]

Kyouko, Theodore.

Just so you know, I'm still gonna need you guys to come in tomorrow. I know it's a really stressful time, but if there's one thing I've learned in life it's that you've got to roll with what life throws at you. If nothing else, a day at the shop might be a good way to help Kyouko learn how to... [she hesitates, before glancing aside and coughing into a hoof.]...bear it, maybe.

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[Private to Lyra and OU!Shy]

You two are on strict bed rest orders for the next week. Doctor Bon's orders.

If you two so much as think of sneaking out on me or not getting the rest you need, you're on poison joke harvesting duty for a month. And I'll figure out a way for you to have to do it without your unicorn magic, too.

I'm serious. Equestria is okay now, get some sleep.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So, here's what I'm thinking.

You're a local business, right? So you're pretty much known by everyone here. And you've got an overstock of crap no one really wants, and there's a holiday coming up.

So here's what I'm thinking. This holiday, Nightmare Night or whatever, if it's what I'm thinking it's like it's pretty much candy season, yeah. So throw a promotion. Take a bunch of the candy that you can't sell or no one will take and say you're throwing...I dunno. An event for foals and their families to make witch's houses or something. Like gingerbread houses but scary themed with Halloween - oh, sorry, 'Nightmare Night' - candy used to decorate it. Now, you'd probably have to put out a little bit more than the stuff you want to get rid of, but that's okay. Because you're hosting it in the store.

So you host an event for kids that will get kids to come in with their families. And, of course, the kids are going to want their parents to buy them candy.

So while it looks like you're just giving something away...

...you've really drawn paying customers into an elaborate honeypot!

I'm quite impressed by your business acumen, I have to say. I didn't expect someone so young to be so savvy about this sort of thing.

[Especially since you introduced yourself with MAGIC CHOCOLATE. Ugh, who does that.]

I don't think I got your name, last time, though.

Yeah, kind of comes from being a business consultant.

[He was hungry alright? It wasn't like he expected to get kidnapped ~~again~~ so he didn't have time to bring any decent food with him.]

Pokey. Pokey Minch.

Well, consider my business consulted. Should I be expecting a bill in the mail?

[Despite the snarky tone of the statement, the gratitude is sincere.]

Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Pokey. [Even if she IS going to have problems mixing up you with Pokey Pierce.]

[Don't worry. The fact of how much more of an a-hole Pokey can be should help make the distinction even clearer.

On the request for payment though...huh. He doesn't know. Money would be pretty great, but after living for about four years where money was kind of pointless, and then in the end utterly pointless, even he doesn't care about it as much as he used to.]

Got that right. We'll work something out.

[I said he didn't care about it as much as he used to, not that he didn't care about it at all.]

I'm kind of surprised you have money. I thought you'd have, like, some kind of barter system or something. Like trading apples for carrots or some crap.

Oh, bartering and haggling are still in frequent use, but the bit has been in circulation for centuries now. It seems a bit backwards to run an actual shop like a farmer's market.

First Licorice [Visual, postdated to after the event]

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