Another day had come and gone for young Charlie Bucket and his eight mystical companions. Following another day at school, Charlie had gone to attend his paper route leaving his friends at home to care for his family. By the time he arrived home, his friends and family were in the living room waiting for him as always. No sooner did the young boy walk into the house, he was instantly greeted by a huge hug from Pinkie Pie.
“Hiya Charlie!” She said, happily. “I missed you today.”
“Oh Pinkie, I’ve only been gone for a few hours,” Charlie replied.
“Felt longer to me!”
Nevertheless, Charlie hugs her back and acknowledged the others sitting on the bed along with his grandparents, who were watching the television.
“What’s going on?” He asked.
“Yah better come and have a look, sugar cube,” Applejack responds.
Charlie quickly lets go of Pinkie Pie, then strolls over and sits alongside the bed with the others. Another news broadcast was on the air, this time from London.
<>
On the television, the camera crew stood in the middle of a rather large house, likely a mansion, all cameras pointed towards a smiling little girl and her parents. The little girl, dressed rather fancy, held one of the four remaining golden tickets in her hands.
“Veruca Salt? Veruca? Can you spell that for us, please?” One reporter asked.
“V-E-R-U-C-A,” Veruca spelled. “Veruca Salt.”
Many photographers started taking more pictures as she continues smiling. Her father, Henry Salt, a rather portly gentleman, placed a hand over her shoulder giving off a smile.
“As soon as my little Veruca told me she had to have one of these golden tickets, I started buying all the Wonka bars I could lay my hands on,” The man explained. “Thousands of them, hundreds of thousands. I’m in the nut business you see, so I say to my workers…”
<>
The scene shifts to a bright sunny day in the great land of London, England. The Queen’s land has not seen such a beautiful day in so long, the birds chirping and the sky at its most beautiful shade of blue. Though as beautiful as it appears outside, things were not so bright and happy inside of the nut shelling factory known as ‘Salt’s Nuts’.
It was inside this factory where the President of the company, Mr. Salt, stood before his employees, most of them women. Hence, where his speech took place:
“Good morning, ladies!” Mr. Salt greeted. “From now on, you can stop shelling peanuts and start shelling the wrappers off these chocolate bars instead.”
Sure enough, hundreds of girls worked quickly as they began unwrapping boxes upon boxes of Wonka Bars by the house.
<>
“Five days went by and we had no luck, it was terrible,” Mr. Salt continued. “My little Veruca got more and more upset each day.”
<>
Five days indeed went by, to the point all the tables in the factory were all line with silver wrapping and chocolate bars, most of them uneaten. But sadly, not one single golden ticket was discovered. Indeed, this made one specific little girl very upset…
“I wanted to be the first to find a golden ticket, daddy!”
The young girl, Veruca Salt, sat in her father’s office, spinning herself in the office chair grumbling to herself.
“I know, angel,” Mr. Salt assured. “We’re doing the best we can; I’ve got every girl on the bleeding staff hunting for you!”
Veruca just completely ignored her father, as she kept spinning around in that chair with the most hateful frown upon her face.
“Alright then, where is it?!” She yelled, toward her father. “Why haven’t they found it?”
“Veruca, sweetheart, I’m not a magician!” He yelled back. “Give me time!”
“I want it now! What’s the matter with those twerps down there?”
“For five days now the entire flipping factory’s been on the job. They haven’t shelled a peanut in there since Monday. They’ve been shelling flaming chocolate bars from dawn to dusk!”
Suffice to say, Mr. Salt’s words were entirely true. Ever since Veruca decided she wanted the golden ticket the entire factory had worked five straight days unwrapping chocolate bars. Let it be known, here and now, Veruca Salt, the seemingly sweet British girl, was a very spoiled, bratty child. Every time she ever wanted something, she’d whine or yell at her parents (Often both) until they did all in their power to get it for her.
“Make ‘em work nights!” Veruca demanded.
Mr. Salt quickly ran to the window in the office, which overlooked the rest of the factory, and flung the window wide open.
“Come along, come along, you girls, put a jack in it or you’ll be out on your ears, every one of you!” He shouted out.
The girls all looked toward their boss, every single one with a bored blank expression. After doing this job for the past five days straight, they all knew this was getting quite ridiculous. Here they stood, slaving away trying to find a golden ticket for the spoiled daughter of their boss, feeling as if they weren’t getting anything out of it.
“And listen to this,” Mr. Salt continued. “The first girl that finds a Gold ticket gets a one-pound bonus in her pay bucket! What do you think of that?”
Finally hearing something good, with the prospect of a little more money, all the girls cheered and continued shelling the bars. Seeing them working, Mr. Salt closed the window and slumped against the wall, breathing rather heavily.
“They’re not even trying!” Veruca pouted. “They don’t want to find it; they’re jealous of me!”
“Sweetheart, I can’t push ‘em no harder!” Mr. Salt wheezed. “Nineteen thousand bars an hour they’re shelling. Seven hundred and sixty thousand they’ve done so far.”
“You promised, Daddy!” Veruca screamed. “You promised I’d have it the very first day!”
Meanwhile, Mrs. Salt sat on the couch off to the side completely oblivious to the entire situation at hand. The whole time, she’s been working on her cross stitching.
“You’re going to be very unpopular around here Henry, if you don’t deliver soon,” She warned.
“That breaks my heart, Henrietta,” Mr. Salt replied. “I hate to see her unhappy.”
<>
“I just hated to see my little girl unhappy like that,” Mr. Salt spoke. “I vowed I would keep up the search until I could give her what she wanted.”
<>
“I won’t talk to you ever again!” Veruca yelled at her father’s face. “You’re a rotten, mean father. You never give me anything I want. And I won’t go to school ‘til I have it!”
Veruca slumped along the couch beside her mother. Mr. Salt knelt before his daughter, trying his best to reason with her.
“Veruca, sweetheart, angel… Now… There are only four tickets left in the whole world, and the whole ruddy world’s hunting for them. What can I do?!”
All hope seemed truly lost for the Salts, when suddenly…
“I’ve got it!” One girl shouted. “I got it, Mr. Salt, here it is!”
Suddenly, a roar of cheers and applause erupt throughout the factory. Mr. Salt ran toward to the window and saw one of the girls waving the golden ticket around, as another worker went to deliver her to the office.
“It’s about time too!” Veruca growled. “I want it!”
The worker dragged the girl through the crowd, bringing her up the stairs only to be stopped midway by Veruca herself, who snatched the ticket away from the girl and waved it about as if she won it herself.
“It’s mine!” She cried happily. “I found a golden ticket!”
The very worker who pulled the girl to the office helped Veruca back up the stairs, whispering in her ear the entire time. His octagon spectacles and scar over the left eye were very familiar. Meanwhile, back in the office, Mr. Salt breathed a huge sigh of relief that it was finally over as his wife came over to give him a pill and having one herself.
“Thank god for that,” He sighed.
“Aye,” Mrs. Salt replied. “Happiness is what counts for children. Happiness and Harmony.”
<>
“As you can see,” The father presented. “I finally found her a ticket.”
<>
Charlie and the rest of the group watched the whole broadcast to the very end. But the whole time, they couldn’t help but feel rather upset over the whole segment. They had to watch this little girl pose, the golden ticket in her hands, as if she accomplished the feat herself. The only thing she accomplished was robbing a poor child a fair chance at finding the ticket.
“Man, she’s even worse than that Augustus kid!” Rainbow snarled.
Charlie nodded his head in agreement.
“Doesn’t seem like that was really fair,” Charlie said. “She didn’t even find the ticket herself.”
Grandpa Joe reached over, patting the boy along the shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it, Charlie. That man spoils his daughter and no good ever comes in spoiling a child like that.”
If they think Veruca is bad, how will the ponies react upon seeing Darla Dimple?
Hmm… I’m still on the fence on whether to do that movie. I’ll get back to you on that.
Charlie nods, as he turned towards his grandfather and his friends.
“That means there are only three tickets left,” Spike piped in.
“Granted, the second one was found rather unfairly,” Rarity added.
“Regardless of how it was found, Rarity, there’s still only three tickets left,” Rainbow said. “That means we gotta step up our game.”
“How do you propose we do that darling?”
Twilight turns over to Charlie, placing a hoof along his arm.
“Charlie, please let us help you,” She practically begged. “If I can just give you a few bits, you could buy more Wonka bars and your chances of winning would increase!”
But Charlie just shook his head.
“No Twilight, I can’t accept that. I appreciate what you’re trying to do; I just don’t accept handouts.”
“It’s not just that. I feel bad we didn’t really get you a present for your birthday and I’d really like to make it up to you.”
Charlie smiles toward his friend’s kindness, giving her a light pat along the head.
“You don’t need to get me a gift, Twilight,” Charlie smiled. “The friendship all of you have given me is more than enough.”
The sound of violin string playing beside them, made them turn toward Cheese Sandwich, the pony dressed in a tuxedo playing a heartwarming tune. Once he noticed them all looking at him, he stopped in his tracks.
“Sorry, thought the moment needed something.”
Everyone shook their heads, but they had a good laugh, nonetheless.
“Now with only three tickets left, I wonder how much crazier things could get!” Rainbow grimaced.
Fluttershy silently nods, as she looks toward the television. The moment she did, her eyes grew wide.
“Girls,” She whispered. “I think we just got our answer.”
Once saying that, everyone turned toward the television and saw the news broadcast slightly changed. It now turned into a report displaying the damage as a result of the Wonka contest.
<>
The camera zooms toward a cart full of broken Wonka boxes, each one filled with old candy-wrappers.
“This, ladies and gentlemen, is the sign of our times… The symbol of the havoc, the mad craze that’s sweeping the world today. Whatever corner of the globe we are in, whichever of the five continents we’re on, the great search for Wonka Bars continues. We’re now nearing the end of our forty-third day in the hunt for the Golden Tickets, and everywhere we’re beginning to see signs of anxiety. Every hour on the hour, new shipments are being sent to different points around the globe, but they’re just not moving fast enough. And as time passes, the men who seek them become more and more desperate.”