Ponyville:
The Next Generations
Chapter One
Spring was on the horizon for Ponyville. Winter was approaching its end, soon to be marked by the annual and traditional 'Winter Wrap-Up' and the sun was once again shining brightly across the land…well, as much as it could through the thick clouds and smog that were forming a thin grey blanket over the city.
The vile stuff was being churned out by the continuously passing trains travelling to, from and through the town along the several new lines of tracks that came together like one big artery. That and from the towering chimneys of the dozens of factories that were popping up around the area like mushrooms. In fact, it was not just the sky that appeared to be affected; the greenery of the landscape surrounding the town had turned a slightly paler shade of green and the air, once you really took notice, was starting to become…bitter, especially as you trotted deeper into town.
For those of you who cannot take the hint, perhaps a bit of backstory is in order. Ponyville had, during this period of history, become a benefiter, or from a different point of view, a victim of what historians dubbed 'The Great Gallop Forward' The town was now booming, in one sense or another, with new buildings that seemed to grow only taller with every new one built; new businesses that brought plenty of jobs for ponies and new faces and a result of both. These were accompanied by the introduction of newer machines in vaster quantities, the farming sector being one of the hardest hit – give it a few years, they said, and the old ways of farming would be made almost, if not entirely obsolete. Of course, not everypony was at ease with all this, many of whom you would find amongst the inner circles of ponies who had lived in Ponyville, a breed that was troublingly only becoming rarer as this rate of growth continued. If you could a moment to talk with them, preferably at the nearest café, they would often lament how the town they called home now looked little to nothing like they remembered it year ago. And yet – wouldn't you believe it – those were pretty much the least of Ponyville's problems. I haven't even begun to talk about the ga—oh, no wait, let's not spoil everything. That will be enough backstory for now; we'll have more in due time.
Here we present to you a tale, well, no, not a tale, rather a peculiar anecdote of a mother and her daughter, encompassed by the stories of a dozen other ponies and the chaotic madness unfurling around all of them. It has its high points and low points, but in the end, what resulted was the two becoming close…well, closer. It's not a soap opera, but it's not a sitcom either. It's…it's an odd serious of events, let's just put it like that. The stage is set, let's begin…
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Mooom! I don't wanna go!"
"You're going whether you wanna or not!"
Rainbow Dash then squinched her eyes and rubbed her pounding head. She was still feeling the hangover from the other night and her daughter's whining did not make it any better. It was not just her head; her legs and joints were throbbing and the weight from her bouncing, dangling stomach only put more strain on her back.
Both ponies were walking down a newly constructed sidewalk, one walking a bit more odd than the other, heading in the direction out of town where the greenery had not entirely been spoiled. Rainbow Dash would have preferred going down the main dirt road next to them or even simply flying, but there were only so many compromises she could get out of her daughter. As they passed the walls of the old and new buildings, they seldom took notice of their 'decorations': a couple of posters brightly beaming in red, white and purple 'Vote Sparkle'; graffiti tags that read the likes of 'SNAILS WAS HERE', 'COBBLETROT TERRITORY' and in bright blue 'THE BRAINIAC IS WATCHING YOU' and plenty of advertisem*nts, including one for discount pedicures at Aloe and Lotus' spa and ladies night at the Bloody Hooves nightclub.
Crash! Smash! To their left, they saw a small but rowdy group of male ponies, colts nearing adulthood and a couple of griffins and diamond dogs and one Changeling hanging out on the street. Most of them were sitting down on the edge, dressed in open button shirts and a cider in hoof, talons or paw and listening to a small black portable radio, one of the many gifts of the Great Gallop Forward. They had been listening to the Wonderbolt Derby and obviously their favourite or better yet, betted on racer had not come first. A violent argument was now taking place because some ponies were not willing to hoof over their bits. Neither of the ponies watching this from across the street seemed concerned about this. Instead, they shrugged it off as a common day occurrence and continued on their way, until something else distracted the younger of the two.
"Huh?" The filly's gaze fell on a certain scrawl of writing on a wall and she stopped and asked her mother way too loudly for the latter's preference, "Hey, Mom, you know what this one means? 'For a good time, call-Gah! Hey!" Her blushing mother yanked her by the collar and dragged her off down the sidewalk in midsentence.
It was the same thing every time they passed by the buildings and the advertisem*nts. "Mom, what's the pony in that picture wearing? It looks like she's wearing a fishing net", "Mom, can I get my muzzle pierced? All the other fillies are getting them done and it says they only cost ten bits a piece", and the best and grudgingly funniest yet, "Wow, that pony on the poll looks a lot like Mrs Rarity." A lot of the time, Rainbow Dash could have sworn she knew what she was talking about and only blurting these things out for the sole purpose of embarrassing her.
"I'll tell you in ten years, honey," she muttered and let go of the collar. They got back on their course. "Now enough getting side-tracked, kiddo, I wanna get there today."
"But it's windy!" The young very pale blue filly whined, returning to the matter at hoof and raising her voice higher, much to her mother's annoyance and nestled her head back into her fluffy hot pink button coat. The matter of the wind would then not seem as much a problem because of this garment, that and the matching coloured thick stocking she wore on her forelegs down to her hooves, the left of which was so pale it looked bone white. She put her hoof to her much tidied and brush-stroked red and dark blue striped mane in concern. "It's gonna ruin my mane and going out there's only gonna make it worse!"
The older, less spry Rainbow Dash was this close to bashing her own skull in. "Drizzilla…I honestly don't care."
"But what if it starts raining?"
"It's not going to, believe me, I should know."
"And if I cough up, again?"
"Then hard hay! Now stop messing around; we're almost there."
But the filly was not going to stop there and continued with her rant, "But I hate them, Mom. They're all just a bunch of posers!"
"Then I guess you'll have plenty to talk about," Rainbow Dash answered her daughter in the most deadpan tone possible. She peered forward and spotted their destination. "Okay, here we are. Oh look…they're already here."
The two Pegasi trotted passed the outskirts of the town and approached a nearby open field alongside a dirt road a few trees. Rainbow Dash and her friends knew this place well; this was where they would all take their pets, her tortoise named Tank included, for play dates. That was years ago. Nowadays, it served a similar purpose, yet in lieu of pets, they brought along their children to play whilst they sat to the side and talked about whatever it was mares approaching their middle age were interested in.
After all, the Mane Six were no longer as young as they used to be.
"Rainbow, there you are," both Pegasi turned to their left and saw Twilight Sparkle trotting up to them and greeting them cheerily. "I was beginning to worry whether you were show up today, especially after last time." Twilight then became nervous, like she had just said something offensive and immediately backtracked. "N-not like that's a, uhh, a bad thing. I-I mean, not like we're mad at you or each other about it…or anything."
Rainbow Dash put her hoof up, as if to tell Twilight that "it's cool". Her attention returned to her daughter. "There," Rainbow Dash pointed over at a large tree a stone's throw away down a slope where under it the silhouette a few ponies could be seen. "Go play with your friends, and give mommy a rest."
"They're not my frie-"
"Now!"
Stifling a scream of frustration through her gritted teeth, the filly stormed off down the slope, heading towards the tree, not without looking back over her shoulder and shouting loudly, "I hate you, mommy!"
"Yeah, what else is new?" Rainbow Dash shouted back and pounded her hood in the ground, seething for a moment. When she cooled down, she trotted passed an awkward Twilight, groaning, "Come on, let's go."
Both mares made their way over to a spot where six recliner chairs were set up, and slumped down, letting out sighs of relief. Pinkie Pie was already there next to them, sitting up straight and sipping a tall glass of pink lemonade on the rocks.
"Got any cider?" The blue Pegasus looked over at a blue ice box that's lid was closed. "I'm feeling like a big frothy mug."
"If you're talking about the stuff the doctor told you to seriously lay off of – which I know you are – then no," Twilight responded, crossing her hoofs over her belly. "We've just got lemonade. Sorry." Rainbow Dash groaned and threw her head back against the chair and pouted grumpily. Her friend frowned and told her in concern, "Rainbow, you've got to start listening to them and take their word. I mean, I know you of all ponies enjoy your cider-"
Que Pinkie Pie, who, in her trademark fashion, popped up in between the two and exclaimed, "'Enjoy'? Rainbow guzzles it down like…like oats! I remember like, a few years, and she was all like this!" She did her best impression of a dog lapping up water from its dish and Twilight slowly pushed the party pony away from between her and Rainbow Dash. If there was thing that had not changed over the years, it was Pinkie Pie.
"All I'm saying is if you don't cut back, then you risk one day wrecking your liver!"
"…meh. I'll just buy myself a new one."
Such a ludicrous statement would normally have left Twilight in a state of stuttering disbelief, but over the years, she came to except and go along with it. She just took a bottle of lemonade out the ice box and poured herself a glass.
A moment of silence between the three passed, until Rainbow Dash brought up something conversation-worthy. A fleeting thought reminded her that this would be the last thing Twilight would have wanted to talk about during a time when she was supposed to be relaxing, but they needed something to break the ice after the last conversation ending about Rainbow Dash getting a new liver.
"So how's the campaign going?"
Her friend did not need second invite. The purple Unicorn pulled herself upright, pressing her hooves up against her temples. "Ohhhh, that reminds me. I've got that debate in town hall next Tuesday, and that fundraiser tomorrow night! That's three days away and I look a mess!" On 'mess', she took out a compact mirror and examined her herself worriedly. "I've got so many wrinkles 'round my eyes and…ohh, they say the camera adds five pounds! I'll look like a whale!"
"Actually, it adds ten pounds," beamed Pinkie Pie, innocently smiling ear-to-ear.
"Ten pounds?" Twilight's panicking now escalated into hyperventilating.
"Wait, I think it's twen-" Pinkie Pie did not get to finish when Rainbow Dash near enough shoved her hoof in her mouth. She held her other hoof out expectantly and Pinkie promptly gave her a brown paper bag out from hammerspace, and Rainbow Dash gave it to Twilight, who began breathing in and out to calm her calm, which she gradually did.
That fiasco narrowly being avoided, Rainbow Dash sighed, "Now I'm sorry I asked. Listen, Twi, just book an appointment with Aloe and Lotus before the debate. You'll look fine."
"O…kay…" she managed in between inhalations. When she was able to string more than two words together, she pressed her temples again, saying, "Ohhhh, it'd be a whole lot easier on me if Brainy wasn't being so-no. No, I'm promised myself 'not today'."
"Wise decision…" It was then that Rainbow Dash noticed something in all honestly, she should have done minutes ago. "Hey, where's Rarity, Fluttershy and AJ? I haven't seen 'em at all since I got here."
"Down there, on her way and not coming because she's busy," Pinkie answered in order to each name.
"That's the third time she's bailed on us," the blue Pegasus complained. "Busy with what?"
"Well, from what I heard, Appletini got himself into a lot of trouble yesterday."
"What'd he do?"
Pinkie Pie looked ready to burst with the gossip and leaned in and whispered in her friends' ears. As they listened, their expressions grew to shock, then to confusion, and lastly to seriously sceptic.
Finally finishing her news, Pinkie recoiled back into chair, holding her hooves together and giggling almost uncontrollably, though the other two did not look impressed.
"Cool story, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash remarked dryly, basically telling her, 'that's complete asinine!'
Taking another sip of her lemonade, Twilight merely tutted, "Really, Pinkie, the entire chicken livestock? What pony would be foolish enough to do something like that?"
She took a pause to think her answer through, rubbing her chin, and offered, "Appletini?"
The two eyed each other for a few seconds, taking this into account, before both shrugging nonchalantly, admitting to the pink party pony, "Meh. Fair enough."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash's daughter, Drizzilla could practically taste the bile rising to her mouth. When she got closer to the tree, she gradually made out the silhouettes of the ponies ahead. It was that spoiled Unicorn, Precious with her doting mother at her side. She bucking hated that brat and the feeling was mutual, and yet their mothers immediately expected them to be friends, no questions asked. Regularly, Drizzilla would have gone up to Precious and made an insulting remark about her mane or her tacky coats, but with the filly's mother right there, she had no choice but to swallow her bile and put on her biggest, sweetest faux smile she could muster.
"Now Precious, remember to always keep your head up high and your muzzle pointing upward. At all times, do you understand?" Rarity based back and forth in front of her daughter like a military instructor overlooking a batch of new recruits, both of them standing under the tree. "The message you're trying to get across to the judges is: "Here I am. Don't judge me, love and appreciate me, because I'm just that special." And another thi- Precious, are you even listening to me? Precious!"
In fact, her daughter was doing anything but listening to her. The lilac Unicorn filly was busy standing up on her hind legs, swinging her forelegs and hips to the beat, the beat only she could here from the MP3 player on the ground that she was listening to.
Harrumphing, Rarity used her horn's magic to make the headset her daughter was listening through lift off her head and drop to the ground.
Precious scowled at this and stomped her hoof crossly. "Mooom! What the buck?" She demanded in a lower, more nasally voice which sounded like her muzzle was completely bunged up with a dreadful cold, despite the fact the filly was in good health. If she was not, Rarity would never have brought her outside to be exposed to germs, at least not without a complete thick winter getup.
"Young lady! How many times have I told you not to use that kind of vulgar language?" Rarity scolded the filly, swatting her firmly over the head. "I am trying to teach you the fine art of prancing. What I am showing you is a winning prance if there ever has been one, my dear, and I expect you to be paying attentio—Precious!" The filly had placed her headphones one once more and continued dancing to her music, until Rarity forcibly yanked them off again herself.
A voice rang shrilly from behind, and Rarity looked over her shoulder and smiled at seeing who approached them.
"Hiiii, Mrs Rarity," Drizzilla said in the cheeriest and most sugary voice she could manage, keeping her faux grin as long as she could. "How are you and Precious, today? You both look amazing!" On the inside, this was absolutely murdering her.
"Ah, Drizzilla sweetie, there you are," she said and examined the filly's mane with much appreciation. "Oh, we're just fine, darling and thank you for the compliment. And I must say, somepony has really done her mane well this morning." Rarity added with a stern look to her own daughter, "Honestly, Precious, you really could learn a lesson or two from your friend." Clearly, she was referring to her daughter's bright pink, but unkempt mane that matched well with her overall frumpy demeanour. "Now if you'll both excuse me, I simply must go sit down and refresh myself. And this time…let's try and settle any disagreements we have a bit more peacefully, using words instead of hooves, hmm?" And with that, she took off up the slope, leaving the two fillies to themselves.
"Yeees, Mrs Rarity. We'll use our words, alright."
"Ugh…yeah, mom."
Now alone with Precious, Drizzilla dropped her grin and scowled at the Unicorn, rubbing her sore face. Doing that 'sweet' act whenever in Rarity or any of other grownup's presence (save for her mother) was more than she could bear. To be accurate, it felt to the filly like she was injecting enough sugar into her own bloodstream to give her diabetes.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Pweshus!" Drizzilla scoffed, pronouncing her "friend's" name in an insulting manner, as if she were stricken by a severe lisp.
"Hi, Drizzle Wizzle," Precious replied, running her glazed eyes up and down the Pegasus and crossing her hooves over each other, though her 'pet name' could do with a bit of work. "You're looking…dolled up, today."
Drizzilla looked over the electric blue coat the filly was wearing, the exact same make as hers save for the colour and remarked sarcastically, "Why, I just looove that adorable little getup your wearing. Were they having an 80% off sale at the discount store?"
Petty insults were not going to work on her, however. She huffed, pushing her thick collar up to her cheeks, "Flown straight in from Fillydelphia. Electric blue's the new black, hon. Not like you'd know anything about fashion, though. What's that you're wearing? Pink?" Precious held the back of her hoof to her forehead in pretend dismay. "Now that's a fashion faux pas if I ever saw one!" She stepped forward and placed a hoof on the stunned and speechless Pegasus, telling her, sounding almost genuinely sympathetic, "I gotta say, it's really brave of you to go trotting around in public dressed like that."
A multi-pronged verbal assault like that took Drizzilla, and she tried to regain her composure, stuttering angrily, "Oh y-yeah? We-well...like you'd know ANYTHING about fashion, Pweshus! The only reason you get good clothes is because your mom gets them all for you! You're nothing but a, a…POSER!"
Precious gasped dramatically, grabbing and pulling down on her cheeks. "A POSER? You've gotta a lotta nerve!" She pointed her hoof not at her, but over her shoulder. "At least my mom doesn't go dressing up like she's from Los Pegasus!" Drizzilla gasped, holding her hoof near her gaping mouth. "Oh, that's right, sister, I went there. You have to be a super poser if you have to do your mane up like that!"
Little did the fillies know that their bickering left them totally oblivious to how somepony was keeping his eye on the two, observing from above. He was not going to launch his offensive yet; he wanted to see how this played out, first.
"How dare you?" Drizzilla grinded her teeth furiously and took a step forward and got up in Precious' face. "My mom's from Cloudsdale, and that's the best place in the whole of Equestria. You and your mom act like those stuck-up snobs from Canterlot! Heh…" she scoffed, grinning maliciously at seeing Precious' look. She knew she had her good now. "Am I right? I know I'm right! Well, guess what, Pweshus; you're never gonna be one of them. All you'll and your mom are ever gonna be are a couple of po-"
"Hello, girls,"
The fillies stopped and their eyes shot open like pairs of dinner plates and almost automatically, they twisted around with the shiniest eyes and widest smiles possible. It was Fluttershy and her daughter.
"We're sorry we're late, girls," Fluttershy spoke in her soft, gentle voice akin to a dove cooing in your garden on a lazy Sunday afternoon. "But Angel was being fussy with breakfast…again." She lowered her head to her daughter's level and stroked her muzzle against her cheek, much to the latter's embarrassment in front of the others. "Now you play nice, Jellybean, but don't overdo it or you might pull something again. You know how tender you are."
"Mooom…" Jellybean squeaked, her cheek's blushing and wrapping herself up tightly in her large white fluffy coat. The situation was certainly not helped by the fact that Drizzilla and Precious were right there and their hushed snigg*ring was sneaking through their smiling disguises.
Jellybean was the spitting image of her beautiful mother, sharing her soft shade of lemon, but her mane, whilst Fluttershy's was light pink, was a cyan which with many strokes of a brush had a beautiful sheen to it. There was one other thing that set her apart from her mother, and in fact, a lot of fillies in general…
"Y-yes, mommy," Jellybean said finally with a sweet smile and her doe eyes glistening, pecking her expectant mother on the cheek.
"Okay, you girls have a good time," Fluttershy left the fillies at last, allowing Jellybean to mentally sigh, albeit knowing full well what was coming next. She quickly decided she would have to make the first move, however. So when her mother was far enough to be deemed out of earshot, Jellybean's sweet, affectionate smile dropped and was replaced by a deep, exhausted frown. This frown contorted into a dirty scowl when she looked forward and saw her so-called "friends" still standing there, both smirking like they had won the lottery.
Having now discarded her practiced sweet façade in the company of these two, Jellybean snorted and blew a strand of her mane away from her view of vision. "And what exactly are you two gawking at?"
"You should listen to mommy, Jelly," Drizzilla started cooing at her like she was a foal. She reached out her hoof and was inches from her belly. "You wouldn't wanna get another tummy ache and throw up your brunch, now would you?"
"Oh, is that supposed to be another fat joke?" Jellybean stuck her muzzle up at the two. "Guess what; it wasn't funny or smart." Drizzilla was making a reference to the painfully obvious fact that Jellybean's belly was drooping nearly to the grass and pressing against her four legs.
"Yeah, but you're still fat…" Precious rebuked and she signalled Drizzilla through the corner of her eye, who got it right away and they grinned and chanted simultaneously, "Jellybelly!"
That hated nickname stung the filly Pegasus than the worst of bee stings. She squeezed her eyes shut and bore it like a spoonful of bad medicine, and put her confident, smirking mask to the girls.
Is that it, Precious?" She asked her condescendingly just as the fillies were calming down. "Wow, you must've really had to rub your two brain cells hard together to come up with that old one." This earned a chuckle from Drizzilla and Precious looked ready to retort, but Jellybean was far from finished. "Though to be honest, I'm surprised you have any brain cells left, let alone two," she pointed at Precious' MP3 player still on the ground. "Personally, I blame that poppy trash you listen to. It rots your brain, though I'm not entirely sure you had much of one to begin with."
Drizzilla burst out laughing, tears running down her cheeks and all Precious could do was stand there stricken. The onlooker from above had now settled in his hiding place, his primary objective now forgotten and enjoying the show unravelling before him more than any cheap puppet show. He would make his move soon. His weapons were getting harder the longer they stayed exposed to the outside wind.
"You see, sweetie, it takes brains to win the pageant," Jellybean continued in the same smarmy, condescending tone. "So if I were you, I'd save myself the embarrassment by doing the sensible thing and drop out, and leave the competition to the pros."
The Unicorn's face was now flushing. She barked, "Oh, like I even wanna be in your stupid contest! The only reason I'm going is because my dumb mom's making me! Pageant's like that are for Canterlot wannabe posers like yo-"
"Which you and your mother blatantly are."
During this mouth off between the two, Drizzilla was sitting down on her flank, enjoying her temporary position as observer before she too would inevitably be dragged back in. In the midst of her continuous snigg*ring, the sudden change in subject to something about a 'pageant' caught her attention.
"Don't call my mom and me 'posers'!"
"You just called her 'dumb'. Make up your mind!"
"Oh, why don't you go stuff another cake in your cakehole, Jellybelly?"
"Hey!" A sharp loud whistle snapped them back to Drizzilla, who stood back up again. "What's all this stuff about a pageant?" She mentally slapped herself when their glazed stares rolled on her. It was her turn now.
Scoffing and closed her eyes to show off her pretty lashes, Jellybean whisked her long, glamorous mane. "Ugh! The 'Annual Little Miss Ponnyville Pageant', Drizzilla. It's ONLY the biggest event for the prettiest and most cultured girls in all of Ponyville."
A couple of seconds and Drizzilla's memory was jogged. "…oh yeah, I think I remember a bunch of girls going ga-ga over some sorta competition the last couple of years. Strange, you'd think a filly would remember something like that."
Strangely, Precious came out in her defence, saying, "Well, to be fair, the original pageant was cancelled twelve years ago and they only restarted it three years ago. It's actually pretty quiet compared to the original."
"Why'd they cancel it?"
"I dunno. Something about one of the contestants and a saw, but nopony really cares."
This moment of détente in their triple fronted war appeared to irritate Jellybean. She darted her tired eyes left and right tapped her hoof impatiently against the earth, as if waiting for a moment to pounce. Finally, her prays were answered.
"I don't get why so many ponies would enter a dumb competition like that. It's just sounds so-"
Jellybean butted it, raising her voice loudly and standing in between her and Precious. "Oh, well expect you to say that, Drizzle Wizzle. Typical loser talk!"
"Loser?" Drizzilla's forehead was inches from pressing up against Jellybean's. "Hey, better a loser than a poser!"
"Better a winner than a goober!"
SPLAT!
"EEEEIIIIKKKK!"
They turned around. Precious' head was covered in…purple goo? Actually, purple goo, accompanied by large clumps of doe and crust, an aluminium bash and a gush of uncontrollable giggles coming from above.
Instinctively, all three looked up in the direction of the laughter. What they saw was a colt sitting up there in the tree, giggling like a schoolgirl and desperately clinging onto his sides like they were about to burst wide open.
"Jack N Box!"
The colt stood up on the branch and summersaulted through the air. He landed on the ground in front of the girls, spreading out his forelegs, allowing a burst of confetti (complete with a 'horn' sound effect from his breast pocket) out of the sleeves of the cute little bright orange and green pinstriped suit jacket he was wearing. He whipped a little white business card from his breast pocket and held it up to the fillies. It read in wonky green letters, 'Jack N Box, professional in practical jokes and hat enthusiast'. That last part went well with how he was wearing a large orange and green feathered hat that was clearly too big for his head.
"My card, ladie-"
"WHY'D YOU DO THAT?" Precious straight up screamed, scaring the hay out of Jack N Box and making him jump back and his hat nearly fall off. She wiped some purple jelly from her left eye and glared smouldering eyes at the colt.
All he could offer was a nervous grin and he said, "Because…it's funny."
"I'm covered in PIE!" Precious waved her forelegs around hysterically. "You've ruined my mane and my coat! Do you have any idea how much these cost?"
"Hey, whoa whoa, hey, calm down," he put his hooves up defensively and taking a couple of steps back. "It's a joke! I mean, a few hundred bits is worth a good laugh, right?"
"No it bucking isn't!" Precious rolled up her coat sleeves. "I'm totally gonna beat the hay outta you!" She shoved him on the ground.
The colt fearfully crawled on his back away from the advancing filly and started rummaging through his pockets. "B-b-back off, I've got another pie and I'm not afraid to use-hey, where is it?"
SPLAT!
Drizzilla could feel it running down the back of her neck and her eyes and face. Her eyes saw the purple trickle along and drip off her muzzle. She lifted her shaking hoof to her mane, gently knocking off the foil base and pressing her hoof against the soft mesh of hair, jelly and crust.
"Drizzilla…you okay?"
She did not say anything, but instead lowered her hoof and stared intently at what she saw on the bottom side. More purple gunk, only now with a few red and blue hairs and a crumb or two thrown in the mix. The filly's chest cavity began expanding and detracting, becoming faster and expanding further with each breath she took. Her large red pupil now shrunk to little dots surrounding by growing and pulsating veins and her heavy breathing continued until she could bare it no longer and she just let it all out.
"My…MAAA-AAA-AAA-AAANE!"
Screaming bloody murder, Drizzilla launched herself on Jack N Box and went absolute psycho on the boy. Everypony had their own berserk button, and this boyo found himself in the unfortunate position of having pressed it. Hay, if he had not caught her by the shoulders right away, she would be tearing his face off with her teeth! They quickly started rolling around the grass in a chaotic barrel, but to make matters worse than they already were, they inadvertently rolled over Precious' MP3 player, crushing it to pieces. Her response, needless to say, was less than well handled.
"My…TUUU-UUU-UUU-UUUNES!" So she jumped in the fray and made it a three-on-three, ergo, even more entertaining.
All the while this was happening, Jellybean was left watching and blinking stupidly the chaos spiralling further and further. What do you do in a situation like this? Join in on the fun? Go tell the adults? Or do you just sit on your flank and nearly laugh it off completely watching the show? Well, not only did she pick the latter, but she even pulled out a hoof full of multi-coloured jellybeans she had stashed in her coat pocket and stuffed them in her mouth.
Unfortunately, the show was to be cancelled pretty quickly when the adults came galloping down to the scene, wanting to know just what the hay was going on!
"What the hay is going on here?" Rainbow Dash yelled over the fighting. See, I told you.
Each parent nabbed and pulled away and tried to restrain their respective child. Jack N Box was the easiest to tame, given his weaker lanky frame and being that he was the one least putting up a fight. Actually, given his utter lack of a metaphorical background, he slinked out of his mother's grip and behind her in a manner of using Pinkie Pie as a pony shield. Precious and Drizzilla, whom were a different story, for they were as wild as harpies. Rarity had to use her horn magic to keep her wild child in the air, punching and kicking furiously in her tantrum until she tired herself out, while Rainbow Dash on the other hoof simply pinned her daughter on to ground and placed her own weight on her until she stopped struggling. Jellybean, meanwhile, again in the presence of her mother, reassumed her sweet and innocent demeanour and snuggled up against her forelegs.
"HE RUINED MY MANE!"
"THEY BROKE MY MP3!"
"It's not my fault girls can't take a joke!"
"What did you say?"
"NO! I meant 'them', those two!"
This was pretty much how it went for the next fifteen minutes; shouting, accusing and hoof pointing. The parents eventually managed to piece together the basics of what had happened, but at the end of it all, it did not matter. Most colts and fillies who broke out into arguments would usually kissed and made up within ten or so minutes, but not these lot. If there was thing these parents could credit or discredit their kids for, it was how long the latter could carry on an argument. They misguidedly expected their children to get along with each other, believing them to actually be friends, but these "aggressive disagreements" as they called them were becoming more and more commonplace. Hay, another little skill the tykes had was dragging their parents into the whole affair and pitting them against each other, as evidenced when Pinkie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash started yelling at each other over who had caused the fight and should be punished. When Drizzilla screamed, "I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" at everypony with the intent in her eye looking pretty dang serious, the parents knew their brief weekly gathering was at its usual end – in tears.
"Okay, everypony, we'll try this again next week," Twilight sighed, shaking her head exasperatedly and they all gradually departed the scene, some still restraining their agitated prodigies. She added to herself mentally as she was the last to leave the area, 'Ugh. Is it too much to ask for one day when we can just spend time together in peace?' She left too, heading back on the now relatively longer journey home than it would have been years ago. 'Well, it's better than last time, at least. Ugh, that time we had that unpleasant trip to the hospital. Hay, we probably got lucky this time.'
"Just you wait 'till the next time I see you! I swear on my grandma's grave, I'm gonna shove my horseshoe right down your-" Rainbow tightened her grip around Drizzilla and shoved a hoof in her mouth to shut her up.
Twilight watched this closing act to their circus blankly before resuming her journey home. She continued thinking to herself, 'Yeah, very lucky. Boy…if Brainy were here, he might've been able to keep the peace for at least ten minutes…oh, who am I kidding? He'd probably have only made it worse! Hay, why stop there? He would've caused the whole darn thing! He…' Her thoughts suddenly stopped, as did her legs, in the middle of the sidewalk back inside town. It was as if everything insider her simply froze like a busted computer for a moment. She was standing there for the best of three minutes, staring down the straight line of concrete before her, until she finally broke out of her little trance and shook her head. Twilight now remembered. She was supposed to spend some time with him today, in an hour to be exact.
"Don't know what good it'll do…" Twilight muttered to herself and forced her sleepy legs forward. From what the docs told her, he was currently in one of his "more uncooperative moods".
