(If you haven't read my first two Pumpkin stories, it's better if you read those first before reading this one; you might be confused if you don't.)
“Miss Cheerliee, Miss Cheerliee!” shouted Minty Swirl; one the recent students of Cheerliee’s school. She came bursting through the entrance doors shouting out to alert her teacher.
“What is it, Minty,” asked Cheerliee as she suddenly jumped from behind the desk she was presently sitting at and then in front of the young filly.
“A fight; there’s a fight taking place outside!”
Cheerliee rolled her eyes while smiling a bit, “Who is it this time? Please don’t tell me it’s Ruby Rose and that other filly.”
Minty suddenly had an awkward smile on her face when looking up to her teacher, “Um… okay; I won’t tell you.”
Cheerliee smacked her hoof against her face and let out a big sigh, “You have to be kidding me; this is the 4th time in 2 weeks.”
Cheerliee walked outside to where her students were having their recess period; only instead of them playing, the students were standing around in a circle-like formation. In the middle of them all were two unicorn fillies going at each other like wild animals. Fur was flying, mild magic beams were being shot and one them seemed to be constantly pulling on the other’s mane.
“Excuse me, out of the way,” said Cherrliee as she went past some of her students heading towards the quarrel. She stopped inches away so she wouldn’t get caught in it herself.
“Alright you two, break it up!”
None of them heard her as they both went on shouting and hitting… and pulling. She had to pull a hoof back to keep it from getting hit by one of their blasts; then Cheerliee got fed up with it.
“I said… BREAK IT UP!”
She raised both of her forehooves up in the air and slammed them both down on the ground; it caused the ground around the rowdy fillies to shake violently and they both lost balance and fell to the ground. One of the fillies was Ruby Rose, a unicorn filly who had a red coat with a light-pink and white mane; she sported a cutiemark of a light-red rose.
The other filly was Pumpkin Cake, who needs no introduction. She started to go to the same school as her brother, Pound Cake, after coming back home from the psychiatric ward from the Ponyville Health and Care Center. Her bi-polar condition was easier for her to control now and she even learned how to meditate with her magic to calm herself down. She and her brother were both ten now and in their final school year with Cheerliee, but Ruby Rose seemed to want Pumpkin to get in trouble by drawing out her other side… her murderous side; but for what reason?
After the two fillies got back up, Pumpkin glared back at Ruby and started to charge towards her again. Cheerliee negated this action by stepping in-between them and holding back the furious unicorn.
“Ruby and Pumpkin, this has gone on long enough! You two need to stop all of this ruckus!”
“Well, don’t look at me, Miss Cheerliee;” whined Ruby while spouting fake tears, “She’s the one who was trying to kill me."
Pumpkin was pushing against her teacher while her crazed anger gaze stayed upon Ruby, “After everything you were doing, don’t put this on me… or you’ll regret it.”
“See, she’s threatening to kill me again!” Ruby responded.
“Why you…”
“I said that is enough!” Cheerliee shouted.
She pushed Pumpkin on her flank and glared at her while Pound was beside her holding her in place.
“Pumpkin, stop making death threats to Ruby; you shouldn’t let words such as hers provoke you so easily!”
Then she turned her glare at Ruby who was lightly giggling; though she stopped when her teacher turned towards her.
“And you young lady, need to stop with your shenanigans and making Pumpkin upset with you; it’s completely unnecessary!”
“I’m not sure what I did,” said Ruby wearing an innocent look on her face, “I was just asking her about her past life.”
Cheerliee rolled her eyes then stepped back so the two fillies could see each other again.
“If any more of this ever happens again, there will be huge consequences; understood?”
Both fillies looked at each other; one showing a hidden pompous smile, and the other sporting murderous glare. They both suddenly responded, “Yes, Miss Cheerliee.”
“Now say you’re sorry… both of you.”
“Sorry.”
Then as if on cue, the school bell rang. Cheerliee let out a huge relief sigh from her chest knowing that recess was over… for today.
“Well, I guess it’s time to go back to class,” she said, “Everypony back to the schoolhouse!”
She then looked back at Ruby and Pumpkin who were still looking at each other intensely, “And you two better get yourselves together.”
-----
When the bell rung again at the end of school, the little fillies and colts gathered up their bags and started to head out door after a hard day of work and play. Suddenly, before Pumpkin could walk out the door with her brother, she heard her teacher call out to her.
“Excuse me Pumpkin; I need to see you for a few minutes.”
She stopped in her tracks feeling troubled as her ears drooped down and her body sweating. Ruby came by them with a few of her friends smirking at Pumpkin and saying softly, “Uh-oh, looks like somepony is in trouble. Good luck, you’ll need it… freak.”
Pumpkin just stared at them intensely as they walked off giggling; all she did was mumbled under her breath, “Idoit.”
Ignoring what was going on, Pound came up to her and asked, “Want me to wait outside for you sis?”
She shook her head in disagreement, “No, it’s okay. Just go on; I’ll catch up.”
“Alright,” Pound responded, “see ya later then.” He then flew out the door; leaving her sister alone with Cheerliee.
Pumpkin slowly walked over to her teacher’s desk with her head down and was feeling a sense worry. She looked up a bit at Cheerliee as she sat down beside her chair.
“Pumpkin, I want to talk to you about your little scuffle with Ruby Rose.”
“Am I… in trouble?” Pumpkin asked in a regretful tone.
“N-no, you’re not in trouble; but I just want to make sure that you don’t.”
Pumpkin was wondering what she meant by that; but she still had that funny feeling that it wasn’t anything that she would be too happy to talk about. Cheerliee looked at her with sincere eyes.
“Pumpkin, were you really… trying to kill Ruby today?”
Pumpkin started to sweat rapidly and became very nervous. She didn’t want to lie, but what would happen if she said yes?
“Well no… maybe… partially yes?”
“Pumpkin,” said Cheerliee, “I know that you’re dealing with your… situation, but is there any way that you can try and ignore Ruby’s hurtful words?”
“WELL HOW CAN I?!” Pumpkin suddenly shouted out of stress, “I mean, it’s bad enough trying to deal with my personal problems; but Ruby… she’s making it even harder!”
Pumpkin stopped for a second to catch her breath and wipe away a few tears.
“Tell me exactly what she is saying to you,” said Cheerliee.
“The usual,” Pumpkin said in a mellow tone, “she keeps insulting me about almost murdering somepony when I was just a toddler foal; she calls me freak, says that in truth no pony actually loves me, and she tells me that I should go back to the place psychos like me belong. She’s even picking on my brother, saying that since he’s my twin he’ll probably end up being as much of a freak as I am one day!” Pumpkin’s eyes started to fill up again and she turned away from Cheerliee.
Cheerliee couldn’t believe what she heard as she placed her hoof on her forehead, “’Sigh’ I can’t believe this.”
Cheerliee looked back over to Pumpkin, only to notice that her horn was slightly glowing and she was wearing one of her familiar creepy glares staring into space.
“Picking on me is one thing,” said Pumpkin in a low distraught voice, “but I won't... allow her to talk trash… about my family…”
Cheerliee noticed her student’s eyes getting narrow and saw a slight eerie smile appear on her face. She panicked and yelled out, “PUMPKIN!” before it was too late.
The magic from Pumpkin’s horn suddenly disappeared and she came to; shaking away the slight pain in her head. She suddenly turned around and saw a slightly terrified look on her teacher’s face and she suddenly bowed down for forgiveness.
“I… I’m so sorry Miss Cheerliee; I’m sorry if I frighten you! It’s just… that filly can really get on my nerves. I do my best to ignore it like my brother does, but there are times that I just can’t take it! It’s like she’s doing it on purpose, trying to make me lose it in front of everypony! I don’t want that to happen!”
Pumpkin broke down on the ground and suddenly started crying. Cheerliee had no idea just how much stress the other filly was putting on Pumpkin. She got up and walked over to Pumpkin and picked her up to her feet. She wiped some of the tears away from her student’s eyes and had her look up at her face.
“I tell you what, how about I come over to your house and have a little talk with your parents; would that make you feel any better?”
Pumpkin wiped away a few more tears and smiled a bit looking up, “Y-yes mam.”
“Very well, I’ll come by later this afternoon. Let your parents know, okay?”
Cheerliee gave Pumpkin a little noogie on the head as the young filly’s smile became a little bigger and she even giggled a bit.
“Okay, see ya later Miss Cheerliee!”
“I sure will!”
Pumpkin left the schoolhouse feeling a little better, but she couldn’t shake what she almost did in front of her teacher out of her head.
Cheerliee suddenly felt a little bad for yelling at Pumpkin when she broke up the fight between her and Ruby, but it was the only way she could keep the two fillies at bay. But still, she knew that Pumpkin didn’t mean to do what she was going to do. She had a feeling that Ruby was causing problems for Pumpkin, but she didn’t realize that it was this bad. She needed to do something about this. After she finished taking care of her business in the schoolhouse, she decided to take a side trip before speaking with Pumpkin’s parents; she needed to speak… with Ruby’s.
-----
Ruby Rose lives in a 2-story cottage house on the outskirts of Ponyville with her mother. They moved there from Manehattan since Ruby was about to turn 8 and her father passed away. Her mother runs a little tea shop there and was living well off of it. However, Cheerliee was hoping that she wouldn’t be too upsetting once she told her what her daughter was being responsible of as she started to approach the cottage house.
“Ah, this is the place,” Cheerliee thought to herself, “I need to get this over with; at least then I might have a little ease looking after Pumpkin.”
She rose up her hoof up to the door and gave it a few knocks. After a few seconds the door slowly opened, and what Cheerliee saw kinda startled her at first.
“’Gasp!’ Oh my…”
In the doorway stood a grayish unicorn mare with a red mane that was tied up in a bun. She also seemed to be wearing a pair of brown glasses that seemed to be a bit oversized for her; maybe it was a recent fashion statement she never heard of. Her cutiemark was a tea cup with green tea leaves sprouting on the sides; it stood for her expertise with all kinds of teas.
The grayish pony looked at Cheerliee with a bored, seldom glare, “And you might be?”
“O-oh, sorry for staring at you like that; my name is Cheerliee, your daughter’s teacher. And your name is…”
“The name is Envy Rose,” the grayish pony answered, “If you looking for my daughter she‘s out with her friends; so if you wish to speak about her, she won’t be a bother.”
“Um, actually it’s okay. I mainly need to talk to you about a serious deal going on with your daughter and another filly named, Pumpkin Cake.”
Envy’s eyes suddenly narrowed for a few seconds then she open the door wider for Cheerliee to come through.
“Hmm… very well; come on in.”
As Cheerliee walked in, she noticed the unique smells of herbal teas and the fancy tea accessories amongst her surroundings. She sat down on a nearby couch and got herself comfortable. After a couple of minutes, Envy came back to where Cheerliee was, placing down a saucer holding a blue teapot with a red rose on it and a couple of little cups.
“Some tea, Miss Cheerliee?” asked Envy.
The magenta mare reached out and poured herself some, “Ah, thanks. ‘Sip’ Mmm, citrus.”
Envy then sat down in another chair and grabbed a cup of tea herself; she took a light sip, then spoke, “So, what exactly is going on between my daughter and… the other one?” There was a slight irritation tone in her voice during her last few words; though Cheerliee didn’t notice it.
“Well, I’ve been noticing it for a while now; but… I’m afraid that your daughter has been severely harassing Pumpkin. She keeps taunting, teasing, and verbally provoking her. This has been going on for who knows how long!”
Envy closed her eyes and took another prolonged sip of her tea. She looked over at Cheerliee and said, “Really, is that all?”
“What do you mean is that all?” said Cheerliee in an upset tone, “You are aware of Pumpkin’s condition, right?”
“Yes, I am aware.” The tone in Envy’s voice didn’t seem to sound too caring to Cheerliee’s ears.
“Then you have to understand; as your daughter continuously harasses her, it stresses her out! She can’t calm down if this continues constantly! Recently, it’s caused her to get into little scuffles with your daughter, and today… she actually tried to kill her; well she might have if I didn’t intervene!”
“I see,” Envy replied; once again not seeming that she cared.
Cheerliee was wondering why this mare didn’t seem to be worried; her daughter was putting herself and others in danger.
“Mrs. Envy Rose, you have to talk with Ruby. If this keeps going on things could go really out of hand. I fear that your daughter could get seriously hurt… or worse!”
Envy slowly lowered her cup on the table and wiped her mouth. She then gave her thought about Cheerliee’s explanation.
“From the sound of it, it seems the only problem is that little Pumpkin menace.”
Cheerliee thought she was hearing things; did Envy just said that, after everything she just said, “What?! Um… Mrs. Envy, I don’t think you quite understand; I’m saying that…”
“I understand quite well, Miss Cheerliee,” said Envy as she interrupted Cheerliee’s recent sentence, “My daughter is being quite a huge bother at your school; I’ll see to it that I take care of that. But as far as the one named Pumpkin goes, it’s really not my problem. If you ask me, that little filly should go back to that hospital ward where she’ll be away from us all.”
“Do you have an idea what you’re saying?” said Cheerliee in an irritated tone, “She’s just a little filly! She’s as innocent as the other students in my class. She just has a problem; a big problem, but a problem nonetheless! She has the means to control it now, but your daughter isn’t making it any easier for her!”
Cheerliee marched right up to Envy and looked at her straight in the eyes, “If you don’t care about the well-being of Pumpkin, then as the teacher I might have to expel your daughter if this continues.”
Envy’s face didn’t seem to change, despite Cheerliee being right in front of her face, “First of all, would you mind giving me some space.”
Cheerliee slowly backed away from the grayish mare giving her a stern look.
“And second of all, why don’t you tell me this; if that Pumpkin filly got the way she did because my daughter only harassed her, imagine what would happen if something much bigger took place. That child is like a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any moment; so the bigger the reaction, the bigger the explosion will be.”
Cheerliee was on the verge of losing it herself, but she just took a deep breath and tried to explain again.
“Look, I know what you mean, but I’m here to get you to keep your daughter from causing trouble so that situation can be avoided. We’re all concerned for both Ruby and Pumpkin. When Pumpkin was but a 1yr old foal, she couldn’t control her condition; but after all those years in that ward she’s learned to control it better! The only thing is that sometimes she may need a little help, and we always…”
Envy slammed down a container of herbal leaves that she was holding with her magic out of frustration and it nearly made Cheerliee jump. She glared over at her visitor and decided to set her straight.
“It… is … pointless! No matter how much help, or support you ponies give that… that child, there is absolutely no hope for her! There is something inside of her Cheerliee, and if she is ever left un-attended somepony could die; as long as she is loose from confinements, she could be the death of us all!”
She calmly got up and sipped some more of her tea as she was preparing to straighten out her kitchen.
“Now, as I said before, I will talk to my daughter and make her understand the situation; but I could care less of supporting the Cake’s psychotic daughter. In fact if I were you, I would expel her instead and have her go back to that psychiatric ward where she belongs.”
Cheerliee just stood there feeling shocked about how irritating and selfish this mare was being. She felt one of her ears flop down and one of her eyes started twitching. But being the polite mare she was, she just got herself together and started to head towards the door.
“Well… Mrs. Envy, I just remembered that there is somewhere else I need to be right now; so I guess I should go ahead and go… seeing that this talk was a complete waste of time. However, thank you for this wonderful conversation, and the tea was delicious.”
Cheerliee got half way out the door and looked at Envy again… with a pleasant smile, “In any case, you have a nice day… Mrs. Envy.”
“As to you, Miss Cheerliee,” Envy responded, “as to you.”
Cheerliee calmly closed the door the door and started to walk back towards the main streets of the town. However, her sweet smiling face changed to an expression of annoyance and irritation. She thought that Envy was being a real… bad parenting role model.
Just then, Envy’s daughter, Ruby Rose, was just on her way to her house to fetch something when she noticed that her teacher had just left her house. She became worried and started to approach her house a little more slowly. She reached her destination and went inside where her mother was tiding up; but her face looked rather troubled.
“Um… Mom,” said Ruby in a worried tone,” I saw Miss Cheerliee leave here just now; what’s going on?”
“Nothing serious dear,” Envy replied, “we were just talking about you and your classmate, Pumpkin.”
Ruby suddenly groaned out loud, “We’re not going to have the talk about school are we?”
Envy suddenly got up into her daughter’s face and stared at her intensely, “Oh, we’re going to talk about your school performance alright.”
She then pulled away from Ruby’s face and gave her a slight smirk, “But as far the business between you and Pumpkin goes… wonderful job; I’m so proud of you.”
Envy gave her daughter a little nudge on the cheek, then went back to her cleaning.
“Oh… y-yeah, thanks Mom,” Ruby said with a breath of relief, “I didn’t succeed just yet, but she was really about to crack this time.”
Envy smiled again feeling proud of her little offspring, “That’s wonderful; just keep it up and before we know it, she’ll show her true colors and all of Ponyville will see just how much of a hopeless case that little filly really is. By the way, make sure to do your deed outside school, I’d really hate it if you got expelled by your teacher, even though it wouldn’t make sense.”
Ruby was happy that her mother was proud for her, but she was wondering just how far she could go with this. What if something really did happen to her?
“Mom, I was thinking. I know Pumpkin is a real danger and everything and she needs to be put away, but what if she actually succeeds in… killing me? Aren’t you worried about me?”
Envy paused in her work and looked at Ruby with concern. She really didn’t want to this, but it was the best way to get Pumpkin off the streets of Ponyville. She went over and gave her a big hug.
“Of course I care about you, my dear child; but this is the best way for your mother to succeed. Just stick with your special defensive and offensive spell techniques that I taught you and you’ll be just fine.”
Ruby stood up proud on all four of her hooves and saluted, “Of course Mom, I won’t let you down!”
As Ruby walked up to her room, Envy continued to clean up in her kitchen. But at some point she looked over at a picture of an much older male pony as she thought to herself, “Don’t worry, Grandfather; I remember everything you told me when I was a young filly. I just didn’t think that we would have to face with this. I will not let this happen again; for as long as that little menace is loose in this world, no pony here is safe.