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

Well, yeah.

Not why, though. I can guess - I thought it might be one of those things where the more ponies were in on a plan, the more likely it was to fail - but all I knew was that the takeover plot was fake and meant to be a trap for the Pale Pony.

That's why what I did during the eclipse until I got captured was more centered around supporting everypony and not directly attacking Zetta or his minions, outside of... well, resisting my capture.

...why do you let her do that to you? Didn't you say once that you look up to Celestia like a second mom?

More than once. But as long as I've looked up to her, I felt like I couldn't criticize her. And that's exactly what my friends - well, my friends here - are doing, and they're right. This has to stop.

I mean, I didn't even tell my first mom.

A secret isn't worth keeping, not even for a Pinkie Promise, if keeping it hurts others.

And I think this secret hurt a lot more than just us... what happened in cities other than Ponyville? We aren't the center of the universe, after all... didn't the whole mess with Griffaltar prove that?

The only reason I'm not madder is because the good it did slightly outweighed the hurt. I know you did what you needed to, but you can't expect ponies to be happy that they're being used like that.

...admittedly that does raise the question of whether you've seen Pinkie when she knows someone's broken one of those. It's... well... obviously not the worst thing either of us have seen, most likely, but it's still terrifying.

Anyway, according to certain theories everywhere is the center of the universe, which supports that anyway.

Still, is... what was done really right? I'm not even sure of that, precisely because I don't know what happened in other cities. It probably wasn't as bad, since Zetta's actual forces tend to stay around Ponyville, but they still had to deal with the impaired production.

Pinkie's lived in Ponyville a lot longer than you, Twilight.

Everypony in Ponyville knows that you never break a Pinkie Promise. They know it for a reason.

Right, sometimes I forget that.

We never found all the pieces of poor Stormy Skies.

[Hope you like your humor like you like your coffee, Twilight. It's a joke, though you couldn't tell with how straight-faced she's saying it.]

...please tell me you're not serious. The thought of her actually killing someone is not one I ever want to have again.

Come on, Twilight.

It's Pinkie Pie. Could you ever see her doing something like that? Could you ever see any of us doing that, for that matter?

...She did totally pop a balloon effigy of him, though. Scared him straight, at least.

Well, you never know. With this world's her, yeah, never. But with all the possibilities what bits of other worlds have shown us... what if, somewhere, it did happen like that?

[twi stop you're putting yourself in a mood spiral.]

If it did, then that's how things would go. She'd either get what was coming to her for doing things like that, or she'd realize what she did wrong and work to change.

Something I've learned from living with Lyra, Twilight: you can't go thinking about how things would go in "what ifs". Sometimes it's good to make you feel better about a mistake, but if you worry too much about the lives you could have lived, then you stop living the life you're actually living.

What about "what would somepony else do if they were in my position"? What about "what would I do if I were in somepony else's position"? I think those are healthy questions, or at least healthier ones.

Except then you'll always beat up on the bad decisions. Ponies are thinking they'd do better than the princesses because they don't know the full situation. They're even ignoring the facts that are right there in the open, because they're angry, and hurt, and don't understand.

So they'll always use it as justification for "I can do better than THAT", and that makes them resent whoever made the mistake.

That's not really any good, either.

I don't think they know, either. There's something I think they don't know yet. Something important. Something I'll probably tell you later, since Lyra is probably going to want to spend some time with me soon.

And even other than that, do they really know any of the ponies that were brought here? Because I'm not sure they do.

Can even you claim you know everypony, Twilight? Making new friends is fine and good, but you've got to worry about the ones you have, too. I'm not saying that excuses it, but... well, they all have their reasons for lashing out. Mine is just that I know that the ponies running Equestria can do better than they have been... especially Princess Celestia.

I've already made plans to let her know how I think she might do better at that.

But no, you're right. I can barely keep track of everything that's happening in Ponyville, let alone make that kind of statement.

That said... if you have any advice for me, I'd be glad to take it.

Don't be afraid to tell someone their idea stinks.

Just because she's someone you look up to doesn't mean she never makes a bad decision.

First Licorice [Visual, postdated to after the event]

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