Sweet as Candy [Ponyville] Attn: SteelEagle

[Skycoaster]

Candy Corn

It was a cool and rainy fall evening when Candy debarked the train. "Well, this is home for the next stage of my life," she said as she let out a sigh. "I guess I had always thought today was going to be all sunbeams, rainbows, and candy. Seems the weather thought otherwise..." The unicorn would collect her few bags and levitate out a rather crude map of Ponyville. Her destination was that of a fellow candy maker...the shop of a pony named BonBon. As she ventured into the damp streets, a mist would begin to roll into the streets. She smiled to herself as the street lights would appear to have halos around them. Her smile would not last long however as the rain began to pick up almost to that of a downpour. She picked up her pace, her worn wheeled suitcase bouncing with each puddle it hit. As the rain continued to get heaver, she would hold an old Bittsburgh Post Gazette above her head to try to keep the water out of her eyes. 

 

Finally she would reach the house indicated on her map. She would try to force a smile as she knocked on the door, the old paper the only thing attempting to keep her dry. As she heard a door open, she would begin to read the letter the ponies at the apprenticeship board had given her. "Hello," she would begin to read in a monotone, her eyes fixed to the piece of paper in her levitation. "My name is your name here. I was sent by the Equestrian Apprenticeship Board to learn the craft of...you craft here as you have been found to be proficient and deemed able to mentor young minds..." Her voice would shift from monotone to that of one of a nervous tone. This was her first venture out into the real world after all. Off the farm as it were. She could only hope that the pony that had opened the door knew she was coming.

[SteelEagle]

                                                                                               


Bon Bon's mane was unkempt and wild as she tossed herself awake at the first sound of a knock. Disentangling herself from Lyra was already a bad way to start the day because she didn't want to do so, especially when the weather wasn't looking so hot. Then she couldn't find her comb for a few seconds and she didn't think that she could be less pleased about it. And she didn't have any coffee. It was supposed to be a late riser. The poor weather was going to make the market kinda awful so they were going to open up later in the day, after the pegasi were done doing their dirty deeds. She wasn't prepared. She didn't need to be prepared. She needed to be asleep with her wife. Why was she not in bed right now? Who was waking her up?

 

She opened the door and was met by a monotone delivery. It took her brain a few seconds to get everything back in order. Apprentice? Huh...what? Oh, that's right. She was wondering when they'd get around to doing it. She had put her name in years ago it felt like. She had no intention of retiring any time soon but she absolutely wanted to spread her craft and help ponies learn the fine craft of sales, and more pointedly the sale of the best candies in the world. But it had been so long since she had signed up that she had forgotten about it, and she started to believe that she had tossed the EAB's last piece of mail by mistake. Whoops. Well, hey, nopony was perfect, least of all this failed former SMILE Agent.

She smiled.

 

"Well, Miss Your Name Here, pleasure to meet you. I'm Bon Bon," she said as she cleared her throat. "Uhh, feel free to come in and take a load off. The storm will subside soon and then we can make our way downtown, make some bits, do some apprenticing and whathaveyou. Sorry for the state of things, I...uhh, I forgot. Hahaha. Want some coffee?"

[Skycoaster]

Candy Corn

Candy happily stepped into her new...I guess it would be boss's house. Smiling, she would set her possessions in a corner. "Candy." she would say without much context. "Candy Corn is my name," the young unicorn giggled. "A mug of coffee would be great to warm up. If I didn't know any better, I'd say winter was just around the corner..Oh wait," she giggled once more before taking a seat on a chair. As she waited for BonBon to return, she would levitate a rather thick book from her saddlebag and open it to chapter one. A second, slightly thicker book would be levitated to the coffee table.

 

"Ponyville looks like a nice tawn, at least maybe when it's dry," her Bittsburghese accent sneaking out. "Yinz never heard of a porch though?" she joked, noting that most houses only had just a step up into their front door. A loud crack of thunder could be heard and a flash of light outside. "Um, when did you say this storm was supposed to pass?" she said looking up from her reading. "Wow, this is a thick rule book...and the mentor one is even thicker they sent for you."

[SteelEagle]

 

 

Bon Bon nodded her head. Candy. Candy Corn. Wait, why did a pony named Candy Corn want to learn about making Bonbons? Was she hear to learn about Bonbons? Was Bon Bon's Bonbons destined to become Candy Corn's Candy Corn? Or was she just overthinking it? Probably overthinking it. She overthought things when she was tired. She wished she didn't overcompensate by underthinking when she was wide awake but hey, that was life. "Gotcha. Two cups," she said as trotted into the kitchen, getting to work quickly. She didn't know how somepony from Bittsburgh- she knew her Equestrian accents well.

 

It wasn't long before she returned with the coffee. And some answers. Not about the coffee, anyway. "Huh. Can't say I've ever noticed. I mean, I guess there aren't many porches in Ponyville. Maybe the porch mafia hasn't gotten here yet," she said with a laugh as she gave her mentee her cup of coffee. Bon Bon then sat down, placing her hooves on the book that she had been given. She was still tired. "I mean, book about being a mentor? Huh?" She then looked down at where her hooves were. Embarrassed, she pulled up, though doing so caused the book to fall with a thunderous crash. "Celestia, why is it so big? You'd think we were hunting down owlbears, bugbears, or bear-bears," she said with a guffaw. "What makes you wanna get into this anyway?"

[Skycoaster]

Candy Corn

The unicorn giggled at BonBon's comment about the 'Porch Mafia' before levitating the coffee and taking a small sip and setting down her own doorstop of a book. "Well, you see...I believe the apprenticeship program is for ponies and I guess every creature now who's talent is different from that of their family.  I mean, would you believe my family is mostly corn farmers. I know it a bit of a shock," she giggled. "I need to expand my reptar? or is it repertoire?" Candy would take another sip of coffee "Anyhow I need to learn to run a business with a storefront, hence why I showed up on where you should have had a porch," as she stiffed a laugh. 

 

"In regards to the books..." she rolled her eyes, "I guess the E.A.B. is just as bad as the E.E.A., or so I hear from a friend of mine who's trainin' to be a teacher in Bittsburgh. As for here, I had a few choices, and Ponyville was the closest opening to the Burgh and it kinda reminds me of home."

 

"I do have one question though. I believe the first chapter is about..." she closed her eyes and swallowed what felt like a large lump forming in her throat. "Pay..payment and room and board," as she laughed nervously, quickly finishing off the coffee to hide her nerves.

[SteelEagle]

 

 

Yeah, not much of a shock that the Corn family farmed corn! It really was true that the majority of Equestrian agriculture was in the hooves of a few powerful families. The Apples, the Berries, and yes the Corn family. Of course why would anypony wanna leave that cozy setup? You could make a ton of bits and have near-certain job prospects for as long as you cared to be employed. The mare must have a bit of a daring streak in her if she was willing to pursue a dream over such a comfy life. Good for her. Candy Corn's dreams were as sweet as the candy she was named after! "Well, we'll see what we can do. My cart does brisk business so I'm sure I can help you learn everything there is to learn about...candy sales. Probably, anyway. I mean I don't own a store like Sugarcube Corner, but I have my own advantages. I can take the cart around so when we run some sort of event I can plop the cart down in front of it. The Cakes? Psssh," she laughed. "They're stuck in place."

 

She continued to sip her coffee while her guest talked about the EAB. The EEA comparison was harsh but likely well deserved. A lot of those organizations were left alone for so long that they started to wield considerable power and were doing very little good with it. Luckily, a lot of that power was illusionary. You could have a school that was EEA unaccredited and you could have an apprentice that the EAB didn't want you to have. "Don't worry about them. Just focus on doing a good job," she said as she kicked the book off the table so her hooves could rest on it easier, "and forget the rest. Well, I can say that. I don't know if they'll check up on you. Knowing how weird the EEA is, I wouldn't kick your book like I did. Well, unless you really want to. It felt pretty good. As for payment, room and board? Well, uhhh...I kinda thought that you'd just be getting a motel room. There is a good place near the Watering Hole, just outside of the city limits. But if you need a place, uhhhhh...I have a basement? It isn't bad or anything, but I haven't had work done on it."

[Skycoaster]

Candy Corn

Candy would chuckle at the mention of the cakes being stuck in one place, however a cart was far from what she was expecting. Sure it had its advantages with mobility, though she though of the disadvantages as well, like weather.

 

Candy’s ears would lower as Bonbon mentioned her possible boardings. “O-oh,” she said, the tone of her voice noticeably more somber. She would take a few slow breaths before taking a few more drinks of coffee. Sitting there, she would begin to ponder her options. While her family was a bit more well off then other farmers, housing was not a planed for expenses, and the bits with her where few. She would laugh nervously. “I guess the basement it is for now. Then I can start looking for an apparent.”

 

 

[SteelEagle]

Candy seemed a little letdown. Well, she couldn't help it. She had marked her business as cart-based! Besides, it would prove good. Maybe Candy Corn's future was in a storefront but if you could work a cart- which meant you had to cook in a less than optimum place, had to move your business yourself and likely repair it yourself, and had to put in extra work for a myriad of reasons- then you could run a storefront. And Candy seemed even more letdown by the basement, and that was just a fact of life. Still, Bonnie would put a nice spin on it. "Basement it is! The tour starts now," she said with unusual pep in her step and voice as she beckoned Candy to follow her down a flight of stairs. It didn't take long to reach the bottom, for better or worse.

 

It was a very large affair, stretching the same length of the entire first floor of Bon Bon's house. It was wide open with only the house's supports and stored materials for her business- cart supplies and cooking supplies alike. In the northwest corner was a small wheel powered elevator to bring goods to the kitchen, and in the southwest corner under the stairs was the one part of the basement that was closed off- the bathroom, an indoor outhouse setup.

 

"I think once I move some things you'll have a place that is bigger than your average bedroom plus your own bathroom- well, I mean we'll need to clean it. It's almost ever used so it is probably scary. Star spiders infest the whole town it feels like and while they're sweet as can be you won't remember that when you're using the little filly's room  and one crawls up your leg. I come down here when I need to materials to fix the cart and once or twice a week to move cooking supplies to the kitchen. I can move all that along the northern wall and that'd give you the southern part of the room. Privacy? Maybe a good sheet," she laughed, then shrugged, "oh, we can work that out. I also know a place we can get a bed, so that's a start. Bed, some lamps, a desk, a drawer- I'm not going to lie and say it's as good as a five star restaurant but small-moon Bon Bon would have died for that space," she said as she ended the tour.

 

She led Candy up the stairs, talking as she did.
"So, want to see the cart see the cart- I have the day's supplies ready to go already so its just a matter of prepping the cart itself- or do you want to just relax a bit or work on your room?"

[Skycoaster]

Candy Corn

Candy would rise from her chair and carefully set the mug her coffee had come in down, making sure it would not leave a ring. The young unicorn would follow her mentor down into the sub-dwelling of Bon Bon's house. While it wasn't up to apartment standards, she did have to admit it was quite large and was built quite well. Her frown would begin to fade slowly, and she could not help but chuckle at the comment about the spiders in the bathroom. "Well, it is a quite large room, and," as she tapped her hoof on the ground, "far from the dirt floored cellar of my house in Bittsburgh." As she continued, Candy would pick out a nice area near where BonBon had mentioned.  "I'm thinking here's a good spot to set up too. I...wait, what is small moon Bon Bon?" Her curiosity peeked as she followed her mentor back upstairs. She hoped there was a story to hear.

 

Candy tapped her chin at BonBon's question. "I think it'd be best to get the basement fixed up for now...If that's not an issue. I think the Pegasi have wetter plans today for outdoors anyway," as a crack of thunder could be heard. "While were moving things down there, we can even do a good ol' inventory of supplies- Oh and I even brought some of my family's almost famous popcorn kernels for a snack later. Actually they sent a whole jar full as a gift for you," she giggled as she levitated it over to the earth pony mare.

[SteelEagle]

 

Bon Bon was pleased that Candy didn't dislike her living arrangement. It was a nice basement, one to be proud of? Maybe a bit much, but it would work well for now for the both of them. Her mind ran with ideas regarding what to do with the space. She didn't want Candy Corn to be upset and while she seemed to be coming around that didn't mean this was best. Then she asked a question- small moon Bon Bon? Big Moon Bon Bon tittered. "Oh, yeah. Small-moon is a phrase we used back home to describe a young pony or filly. That or few-moon. I think it came from an ancestor who was in the Lunar Guard?" She asked nopony in particular. She then shook her head. "Or maybe we are just too weird. And c-c-crazy," she snorted.

 

Candy Corn wanted to make this place a home. That worked well enough for her. She could show Candy the cart and the rest of the town later. For now, it was time to get things to work out better for her. Bon Bon started trotting about. "Okay. So we can split the rom in half with a hung curtain for now. That should give you space for a bed, a dresser, a desk as well as some good open space, and access to the bathroom. Do you have-" she started off before Candy Corn talked about her family's famous popcorn kernels, and even a jar for her as proffered as a gift. Yum! "Ooooh, that sounds tasty. I'll have to judge to harshly, you know. So I know all about you and your family skills at making good food," she said with a wink as she took the jar to her supply area. "Okay. So let's get started!"

[Skycoaster]

Candy Corn 

Candy would nod to her mentor’s words as she began work rearranging supplies. “You know,” she said with pep in her voice, “this isn’t too far off from what I did back home. I never inherited the Corn family green hoof. Though I guess that’s because I’m only half a Corn,” she said with a blush. “I never knew my real father. Pop Pop was there since the day I was born and the best dad a pony could have. The only thing I know about my biological father is that he was some chocolate maker from Filly...”

 

As they continued, Candy would find a large roll of rope. “This should work, right,” she said as she levitated it up ad tied it to the supports. “Now we just need the actual divider...and the furniture. I can do without most of it for now, but I do have enough bits to buy a bed, and a few little things. And it looks like the storm is beginning to wind down. Can we head to the furniture store next?”

[SteelEagle]

 

 

Bon Bon started rearranging the basement to suit her sweet new tenant. It had been unexpected but Bon Bon was a mare who above all other things was good at adapting to unwelcome events, and this wasn't necessarily unwelcome to boot. Candy Corn seemed pretty swell. It would be an easy enough adjustment and being a mentor might be kind of fun. She had never given great thought to what the future of her business would be. Frankly, she never believed she would be the type to run a candy business. It had happened as a near accident. She just needed a cover and when the agency went the way of the four-eyed sloth of Shire Lanka, boom, she had a career. It helped that she was good at it ad liked it, but it was a lie to say it was planned. Like this. And her track record was sparkling so far, so why not continue the streak?

 

She nodded along as Candy spoke. There was a little sadness to be had as her father was not a pony she could claim to really know. Well, that made the mood a little less bright. Why was she sharing it this quickly? Oh well. Some ponies share quickly. Others were shared with quickly. Bon Bon was one of the latter, and she was fine with that. As she helped move and pull and work along with her mentee, she couldn't help but smile. "Half a Corn, A third a candy, half Pop Pop- what really matters is that you're all Candy Corn, finding your own way in life. Be true to you and you have nothing to fear no matter what," she said as she finished her momentary work. It was coming along well. Perfection? Not on the docket. But making it work for Candy Corn would suffice for now. "Yeah, we can go to the store. Got you a present, perhaps," She asked as she trotted to the far well, next to the elevator that brings supplies up to the kitchen she removed a brick, then two more, revealing a small safe. The hole covered, she pressed a few runes and the safe opened. A bit bag was pulled out.

She tossed it over to Candy Corn. "Here! Consider it a housewarming gift."
She looked around.
"Okay, maybe less a *housewarming* gift, but you catch my drift. We'll get this all prepped for you so you can learn to be Ponyville's premiere party confectioners without worrying where your flank will rest at night."

[Skycoaster]

Candy Corn

The young unicorn smiled at her new mentor’s kind words. With how conservative Bittsburgh was, she was afraid of how others would judge her and her mother for that matter. “Thanks. I’ll remember those words when I’m feeling down.”

 

When BonBon mentioned a present, her eyebrow raised. “Really?” Excitement was in her voice. As she caught the bag, she began to cry lightly, and within moments she found her hooves around BonBon, hugging her tightly. “Thank you! I’ll never forget this day as long as I live.”

 

She would release the earth pony from her grasp and step back a few steps. “S-Sorry. Emotions got the best of me. Now then, shopping time.”

[SteelEagle]

 

 

That wasn't expected. It was rather unexpected if she were being honest, and she loved being honest when it suited her. Candy Corn embraced Bon Bon as if she had never been given a gift before, or at least a bag of bits. It was awkward. Not bad, just awkward, and she liked awkward when it suited her. After a few moments of being caught off-guard, she returned the affection. She was being hugged kinda randomly, and she she liked hugging back when it suited her. "Haha, well. I hope that you end up having so many good memories that you do forget a bag of bits, but you're welcome," she said as the mare pulled back and apologized. Bon Bon laughed and tossed her mane. "No reason to apologize, I have that affect on mares. You should see my wife when I do anything. At all. Ever," she laughed as she led the way back upstairs.

 

She made a beeline for her saddlebag in her room. It was messy. Lyra was still asleep and as was her want, she was laid out across the bed. How could one pony be so absurdly active while sleeping? Not that Bon Bon minded. She was a fan of Lyra and all her ways, and she liked her activity when it suited her. She got her saddlebag and put it on, slipping it on silently, giving her mare's back a slight touch with her tail as she left. She then trotted into the kitchen and grabbed a bonbon, tossing it onto her mouth and gulping it down in one bite. "Ahhh, so good. Feel free to take one!" She said as she trotted to the front door and stretched her legs. When Candy was ready, she led the way out. The rainstorm was still happening but it was dying off with the last raindrops already coursing their way through the clouds on their way down. In just a minute or two, it would be over.

 

Bon Bon took a breath. Delicious! "Alright, so. This is Ponyville. You'll spend a lot of time in the market, so get used to the smell of after-storm and pre-storm and the taste of the sun on your back. Yes, it has a taste. Your biggest competitor won't be another cart in the market, though," her head tilted towards a nearby storefront. "That's Sugarcube Corner. It is...really, really, really good. The ponies who run it, a married couple known as the Cakes, are very nice and run that place well. And Pinkie Pie? Uggh. Second-best baker in town," she rolled her eyes with a smile. Back on task. "Okay. The store you're looking for is Quills and Sofas. A stallion named Davenport runs it. Used to only sell quills and sofas but he expanded into a little bit of everything. Good deals, too."

[Skycoaster]

Candy Corn

Candy blushed but then laughed. "Wait...really? And I thought my family was prone to random hugging," she said with a chuckle. "So, you have a wife? Is she upstairs? When do I get to meet her..." she paused. The thought of living in BonBon's basement was beginning to feel a bit awkward, though as they went upstairs to the kitchen, that feeling was put to ease. Candy levitated a bonbon into her mouth as her mentor of the same name had suggested. Instantly, a smile formed on the unicorn's mouth. "Mmm, these are good." She would stop in her tracks. "I have an idea to try when you teach me to make them," as she followed the mare out the door. 

 

The young unicorn would follow BonBon, taking notes as if she where on a tour...and not learning about her new home for the time being. Pausing, she would look upon Sugar Cube Corner. It was a rather large storefront, though a bit....decadent. Bittsburgh was an entirely different style. A remnant of its industrial past. "Quills and Sofas, got it," she said, winking. "Be back home before you know it."

 

Candy had found some amazing deals in the store, and BonBon's bag of bits was more then enough to cover it. "Bunk Bed, Check, Desk, check, Night Stand, Laps, check, Rug, check, Dresser, check, and most importantly, a divider curtain." She would give the shop attendant a smile and a wink when she gave him the address for delivery. When it came time to pay she was shocked at the low price. "Wow, are you sure these prices are right?" He would nod bushing. "Thanks," she would say walking out the door with a pep in her step.

 

 

[SteelEagle]

Bon Bon couldn't help but have a wide, brimming smile. "Knowing Lyra, and the lack of chaos in the house, she is asleep. She is a late to bed and late to rise. Funny, since I'm early to bed and early to rise. I think one day we'll have our patterns so well set that we will never see one another and get married to new ponies and be none the wiser as we share the house," Bon Bon said with a chuckle. A hearty one, maybe too hearty, because she was so well-set in her habits and Lyra's always changed. Knowing how this pattern went soon enough Lyra would need to pull an all nighter to reset her flailing, failing sleep schedule and you know who would have to rein her in? Not her sugar-tossed friends. It would be up to her intelligent, suave, good-natured and well-mannered spy-chocolatier wife, and it would just be one of a million little good deeds that Bon Bon had done that would go unheralded as a new Equestrian dawn rose for its citizens. Not all heroines wore capes, but some did when they were alone. Which she never was. Why did she even bother keeping that getup?

 

At least she could keep her name with pride. She knew she made a good bonbon but Bon Bon of Bon Bon's Bonbons sometimes worried that there was too much bon and not enough bon in her bonbons, at least for ponies not named Bon Bon, who proudly ran Bon Bon's Bonbons but with recipes for bonbons that Bon Bon's bonbon loving father had given her, leaving her somewhat unsure each time a pony tried Bon Bon's bonbons from Bon Bon's Bonbons. Of course, that didn't mean that the aforementioned pride didn't threaten to run a full court press at times. "Well, keep those ideas to yourself," she said with a playful wink, "don't want these bonbons to get the wrong idea. They can be a skittish bunch and before you know it, boom bam, you've been damned by vindictive chocolates who think you think that they'll lesser," she said, shaking her head sorrowfully for effect. A moment later, smile. "Make sure to write the idea down. Celestia knows I've lost a lot of good ones up here in the brain pan."

 

And with that, the Bittsburgh filly was off to her business while Bon Bon was off to hers. It wasn't a lot of baggage on her end but she had some essential shopping to do, and not a lot of time to do it thanks to the storm. Luckily, her saddlebag was travel sized- perfect for the busy mare! The outside market would only slowly start to come alive and she couldn't afford the time, so she went to the least patrician place of all, Barnyard Bargains. When she first moved in she would admit that she didn't much care for it- overly busy and the produce, with some exceptions such as the Apple family products, were too generic for her Canterlot-raised taste buds. Then she grew up and realized that a carrot that wasn't bad was a carrot like all the other carrots so who cared if the names were different. She made her grocery run in record time and trotted home. She'd start the slow-cooking stew and then prepare the cart for a truncated day. Victory for everypony! Especially ponies who enjoyed themselves some nice bonbons from Bon Bon's Bonbons, and the mare who took their money. She won too.

[Skycoaster]

Candy Corn 

The young mare made her way back to the house who’s basement she would soon be living in. Unbeknownst to the filly, she had seemed to garner the attention of quite a few colts along the way. With all the waves she got she couldn’t help but think the ponies in this town were extra friendly. Perhaps it was her accent or perhaps it was her way of walking that even had a young student from the school of friendship come up to her and say hello.

 

The unicorn open BonBon’s door before announcing she had returned. “Yinz are so friendly in this town,” she would say turning to wave to those that had followed her. “Is this normal,” she would point out the window in front of BonBon. “Oh before I forget, do you need any help cooking or redding up before the stuff for dawnstars arrives?”

[SteelEagle]

 

By the time the shopping was done, she was pooped. Bon Bon was a mare who could work all day long as long as she had it planned out. Impromptu work and running around? Nope, not very good. She hadn't known any of this was happening and was making it up as she went along. She was good at thinking on her hooves but she still had a long way to go before being completely settled. She hoped the same was not entirely true of her charge. She seemed the nice sort and Candy Corn was getting her very first taste of Ponyville. Was she enjoying it? Bon Bon knew it could be an acquired taste for ponies from larger communities. But in time, everypony came to love Ponyville. It was as sure as the sun. She arrived home and unpacked the evidence of her success, excited for the rest of the day.

 

It wasn't long before Candy Corn also returned, herself embodying a successful day out. In a different manner, it seemed. As Bon Bon approached her she got a look out. A trail of smitten stallions and mares followed her until they were outside the house. After a few moments they would start to leave. Bon Bon smirked widely as she looked at Candy Corn. yeah she was pretty attractive but that was weird. Must be the Bittsburgh exotica about her. "Yeah, we're a friendly bunch down here. Sometimes I think even too friendly!" She said with a laugh, patting Candy corn on the shoulder. "Got everything you were looking for, I take it?" Bon Bon asked as she imagined what it was that Candy had decided for herself. "Anything cute? I only allow good choices in my basement."