Pumpkin Cake has been through a lot throughout her entire childhood trying to keep her alternate murderous side from ever controlling her consciousness. But recently, Pumpkin met a colt name Acer who she grew a crush on. However, Acer actually had a crush on her for a longer time before he moved to Ponyville. He wishes to help the Cakes comfort and support their daughter by becoming her coltfriend. Unfortunately, this didn’t bode well with Ruby Rose who became overly-jealous of the situation. Now she plans to do whatever it may take to make Pumpkin lose her sanity in front of Acer hoping that he would have second thoughts on being so close to the dangerous filly.
Right now, we find Pumpkin and Acer hanging out at the Ponyville Park spending some time together and talking about different things about their lives. They were sitting on a bench just enjoying the scenery around them and feeling the brisk warm air.
“This is a beautiful day; isn’t, Acer?” asked Pumpkin.
“Yeah, it is,” Acer responded while smiling and looking up at the sky, “Although, I think what makes this day even better for me…” He suddenly turned his view over to the relaxing filly, “… is being here with you.”
Pumpkin suddenly turned her head away and blushed feeling embarrassed by Acer’s comment, “My goodness, Acer; stop it. Are you trying to over-flatter me or something?”
“Maybe; I mean, the more I flatter you, the better you feel. And it is important that you feel really great, right?”
Pumpkin turned back around to face Acer and looked him in the eyes, “Yeah, you’re right. Just don’t treat me like I’m too special, okay?”
Acer placed his hoof on her shoulder, “But you are special. I don’t care how dangerous other ponies may think you are; you have every right to live the way you want to live and be what you want to be.”
Pumpkin smiled as she looked to the side and was rubbing her shoulder. Besides her family, she never thought that any other pony would be this nice to her; especially a pony whom she’s never met before.
“You’re just being too nice, you know that,” the bashful filly said, “Come on, loosen up a little.” She lightly tapped Acer on his shoulder making him feel motivated, “Why don’t you show me… your wild side.”
Acer suddenly blushed a little himself and his eyes grew moderately wide, “Wait, excuse me?”
“I mean show me any cool aerial tricks you may know,” Pumpkin responded questionably, “What did you think I meant?”
Acer realized that he jumped the gun a little and mistook what she really meant. He quickly tried to change the subject so Pumpkin didn’t think he had a dirty mind.
“Oh, um… hey, I do have some cool tricks to show you; check this out!”
Pumpkin just looked up when Acer flew up in the air and smiled forgetting about Acer mistook thought.
-----
Unknown to both ponies, Ruby Rose was spying on them from a nearby bush. She was feeling very furious as she saw them carrying on with their business and being so close to each other.
“Oooh… just look at her,” she thought to herself while eerily eyeing Pumpkin, “spending time with the pony who should be my coltfriend. I just don’t understand why he would choose her. Sure, maybe she ‘s good at making mean, delicious pumpkin delectables; but that doesn’t change the fact that she a murderous, killing machine ready to strike at any time. I have to make Acer see her as she truly is… but how?”
Suddenly, Ruby looked up above the park grounds and noticed that the gray, clumsy pony known as Derpy was setting up little rain clouds over designated areas.
“Ahh, there we go! All rain clouds aligned perfectly. Whoo, that wasn’t so hard; and now to water some plants!”
Ruby had a little mischievous smirk on her face as she saw blonde mare start bucking the clouds and releasing the little trickles of rain.
“Yes… perfect.”
As Derpy continued, Ruby made her horn glow and was creating a little rain cloud of her own, but she had it aligned right under Pumpkin. The unsuspecting filly didn’t seem to realize as she was too distracted watching Acer’s aerial tricks.
“Wow, Acer, that’s so cool;” shouted Pumpkin, “even cooler than my brother perhaps!”
Acer did a little flaunting pose in air for Pumpkin just to make her laugh, “If you think that’s cool, watch this!”
It was at that moment that Ruby finished creating her cloud and Derpy was just finishing bucking the last few clouds she set up. Ruby’s plan was set; all she needed now was to catch the bait.
“Well, that’s all of them,” said Derpy to herself while wiping off some sweat, “And they said that I couldn’t do it.”
Suddenly, she happened to look to her side and noticed another cloud that didn’t get bucked.
“Huh, what’s that?”
She flew over to the extra cloud and looked at it carefully and suspiciously, “That’s weird; I don’t remember setting up this cloud. It also seems a bit darker too.”
Ruby was just itching to yell out to her to release the rain water already; but she knew that doing that would just give her away. She waited patiently as Depry kept looking at the cloud like she was studying it for bugs or something.
Then, Derpy just shrugged her shoulders and thought, “Oh well, what pony am I to keep count.”
A little smirk found its way back on Ruby’s face as she saw the clumsy mare get in front of the cloud and lifted her back legs.
“Fire in the hole!”
With one swift move, Derpy kicked the cloud with all her might; and instead of little trikles of rain coming out, a huge downpour came out instead.
“What the…” Derpy thought as she was shocked to see just how much came out.
Acer was in the middle of showing one of his routines to Pumpkin when he suddenly saw the huge downpour of rain heading right towards her. He tried to call out in time…
“Oh no; Pumpkin, look out for the…”
“AHHHHHHHH!!!!”
“…rainwater.”
However, it was already too late, the rainwater had already gushed all over Pumpkin leaving her to lay there all wet and drenched.
“Yes,” thought Ruby to herself feeling amused and satisfied, “Bulls-eye! That freak of a filly is gonna blow.”
Derpy realized the huge mistake she just did; and seeing who she accidentally soaked made her become even more worried.
“Uh-oh.”
Pumpkin just sat there with her head hanging down and her wet mane sloshed over her eyes. She didn’t appear to be moving, but Acer knew something was about to happen. Suddenly, he noticed that her teeth were gritting together and her horn started to glow slightly. Acer approached her with caution.
“Um, are… you alright Pum…”
Just then, like Ruby hoped, Pumpkin just lost it.
“UGH! What the hay!? Look at me at I’m soaking wet!”
Acer soon noticed that Pumpkin’s beautiful crystal-blue eyes suddenly changed into a crimson-red color. That was a sure signing that her other side was trying to come out.
“What stupid, idiotic, unfortunate soul has the nerve to do this to me?!”
Suddenly, Pumpkin’s fearful dark stare turned up above her and was fixed on the shaking gray mare who was trying not to show any fear; but it didn’t work.
“S-s-sorry; I really am! I didn’t realize that this cloud had that much water in it; n-nor did I realize that you were sitting… right under… this cloud. I… I-I just don’t know what went w-wrong.”
“Alright,” said Ruby while grinning in her hiding spot, “any moment now, she going to attack that mare and Acer will finally see his mistake; I just hope she won’t go too far.”
Pumpkin stepped down from the bench and then looked back up at Derpy wearing a fake smile along with her original murderous stare. Acer suddenly became uneasy.
“What’s the matter, clumsy vision,” said Pumpkin in a slightly menacing tone, “can’t see straight? Then why don’t you come down here…” Suddenly, her fake smile completely disappeared within her emotional presence, “SO I CAN STRAIGHTEN THEM OUT FOR YOU!?”
Pumpkin immediately fired an aura beam in the air, and Derpy quickly panicked as she stepped to the side to barley dodge the beam that only graced her side.
“Yeow!”
She quickly hid behind the empty cloud while holding onto the slightly bleeding side wound. She was hoping that she could shield herself while trying to apologize.
“Ow, ow, ow; hey, I said I was sorry!” she said while looking over the cloud.
“Why are you hiding, coward!?” shouted Pumpkin, “Afraid of a little magic!?”
Pumpkin charged up her horn again in an attempt to fire another beam
“Pumpkin, stop,” shouted Acer as he flew towards her.
Ruby was looking at Acer suspiciously and was also feeling a slight feeling of worry, “What the… what’s he doing? He should be scared and frozen in shock, not getting brave and getting closer. I mean, I know he’s brave, but this is ridiculous.”
Acer suddenly grabbed a hold of Pumpkin causing her hesitate on her next attack and glared back at him with her intense red eyes.
“Don’t you dare do it, Pumpkin,” said Acer, “That mare didn’t do that to you on purpose! Can’t you see; it was a complete accident. Please, don’t do this.”
Pumpkin slightly turned her glare back at Derpy who was still behind the cloud shaking and holding on to her light wound, and then glared back at Acer who was staring at her with steady, determined eyes. Just then, the expression in Pumpkin’s eyes suddenly shifted away from her anger, and her demonic red eyes changed back to her normal light-blue shade.
“Ugh… oh my… what did I…” she wondered. Then it suddenly hit her as she gasped suddenly and looked up towards the quivering mare.
“S-sorry, Mrs. Derpy; I didn’t mean to lash out at you like that! Please, forgive me?!”
“It’s… i-its okay,” Derpy responded awkwardly, “It was all just a big misunderstanding. And don’t worry about me; i-it’s not like I was s-s-scared or anything.”
Pumpkin looked back at Acer feeling a sense of relived comfort as she shook herself dry, “Thanks you, Acer. I just don’t know what came over me; it was just water.”
Acer just gave her an assuring smile, “Glad I could help. I told you I would do my best to support you and keep you safe.”
Pumpkin then went over to Acer and gave him an embracing hug; she was so happy to have him by her side.
Ruby couldn’t believe that her plan failed; she was flowing with anger, “How did he even do that; all he did to stop her was putting his… hooves around… her waist. Ugh! That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Ruby wasn’t going to give up on her first try though; she really wanted to make her mother proud of her and Acer’s attention off of Pumpkin as well.
“Alright; I need to think of something else.”
-----
Sometime the next day at Twilight’s house…
“Easy… easy… easy…” said Twilight.
Pumpkin was practicing some magic with Twilight. She was still trying to learn to keep things stable when being carried by her magic. Right now she was practicing by keeping a puddle of water in a ball formation and then carries it to a vase that Twilight had set up. However, she ended up dropping it about halfway.
“Darn it; stupid water!” Pumpkin shouted, “Why can’t I do it right?”
Acer was sitting behind her supporting her all the way, “You can do it, Pumpkin! Just do your best and don’t let this frustrate you!”
Twilight just smiled and said, “You heard your coltfriend; just let go of your frustration.”
Watching from outside the tree was Ruby… again, and she realized how frustrated Pumpkin was to the excersice.
“Sounds like somepony is a little stressed. Seems like another good chance to mess her up.”
Pumpkin was doing the exercise again, but this time she almost had it over the vase.
“Almost got it; almost got it…”
Ruby chuckled as she used her magic to make Pumpkin think she was struggling with again; a pain went through her head that caused her wince and drop the ball of water right before it could reach the vase.
“Oooooh my gosh,” said Twilight in a worried tone.
Once again, Pumpkin yelled out of frustration and slight annoyance, “Argh! This practice sucks!” She suddenly made the vase shatter right before Twilight’s and Acer’s eyes; and then she glared at the purple mare with her changed eyes, “You… you will teach me something that’s worth my time or I’ll… I’ll…”
She then saw Acer who was just sitting there behind the startled Twilight. He knew for a fact that this irritation was nothing to her and that he trusts her to control her emotions. The crimson red color once again vanished from her eyes, and Acer smiled feeling proud of her.
“Are you okay?” asked Twilight.
Pumpkin rubbed her head and looked at the remains of Twilight’s vase, “Yeah… I am. I’m sorry about your vase though; you know I d-didn’t mean it, right?”
“Don’t worry about it; nothing a little unicorn magic can’t handle. Although, I have to say that I’m lucky that you had your coltfriend here to help support you. I’m afraid my place might have gotten a little messed up if he wasn’t here.”
Pumpkin looked over at Acer who was giving a cool acknowledgement of congratulations. She smiled back him and blushed a bit; his presence just makes her feel all aglow.
“Let’s try that exercise again, shall we?” said Twilight.
“Okay,” Pumpkin responded in a cheerful way.
“AHHHHH! NO!” screamed Ruby from outside, “It happened again! Acer is keeping her calm; and that time he didn’t even have to hold her! Why can’t he see what he is dealing with?!”
Ruby was furious and very frustrated; she needed to figure out a way for her plan to work… and soon.
-----
The next day at the schoolhouse…
Pumpkin was playing a game of tag with her brother and some of the other classmates. They were being careful though because there were some mud puddles that were leftover from a light shower from last night. Ruby was watching close by pretending that she was writing something so no one suspect her of anything.
“I’m sick and tired of wasting my time;” Ruby thought to herself, “How can I get her to lose her cool here?”
Suddenly, it hit her; the running, the muddy puddles, and Pumpkin out there at risk of falling in one; now that sounded like a good plan. Ruby found herself smiling again as she continued to watch for a perfect opening.
“Okay, Pudgy,” said a random filly, “You’re it! Try and catch somepony!”
The well-rounded little colt did his best to run around and catch any of his classmates. But today, Ruby knew that Pudgy would try and catch Pumpkin for the first time; it was good chance to finally get her to finally let her rage loose.
Ruby smiled as she saw Pudgy going after Pumpkin with determined spirit to catch her.
“I’m gonna finally tag you, Pumpkin!”
“You’re going to have to catch me first!”
They were both running very fast but the grass was very slippery; not a good combination, but it would help Ruby complete her plan. Once Pumpkin was at a certain angle and Pudgy was close enough, Ruby used her magic to quickly cause Pudgy to ram forward into Pumpkin. She went forward in the air and landed face first into a nearby mud puddle.
All the classmates gasped in horror upon seeing what happened; Pudgy especially was triple worried that Pumpkin was going to gut him like a fish. Miss Cheerliee was nearby and saw what happened and came to see if she was okay and if she was calm. Ruby was still sitting where she was with a satisfaction smile. That mud was probably going to take forever to get out of her mane; she’ll lose it for sure.
“Oh dear Pumpkin; what happened,” said Cheerliee as she ran to the soiled filly, “Are you alright!?”
Pumpkin just laid there not moving a muscle; not a good sign.
“I don’t know what happened, Miss Cheerliee,” said Pudgy as he approached them, “I was just trying to tag her when suddenly it felt like I accidentally sprinted forward and rammed into her!”
Pudgy was hoping that she was okay and not miffed at him; he wouldn’t be able to outrun her if she tried to chase him down and kill him.
“Please, don’t be mad at me, Pumpkin! I didn’t mean it! Honest, I didn’t!”
Pound and Acer came to them as well to see if Pumpkin was okay.
“Pumpkin, we’re right here,” said Acer, “Are you alright?”
The dirty-stained filly slowly got up and turned around to face the quivering plump colt who was just sitting there waiting for whatever Pumpkin was going to do to him. She walked to him in a slow manner partially glaring at him and her horn suddenly started to glow.
“Pumpkin, please don’t injure your classmate;” said Cheerliee, “Just let it go!”
Just then, Pumpkin used her magic to float away most of the mud that was on her and flung it to the side. Pudgy looked at her and saw that her horn stopped glowing and she was smiling at him.
“It’s okay, I’m sure you didn’t mean it. It was an accident, right?”
Pudgy stood there with wide eyes and slowly nodded his head. Pumpkin then gave him a hug of forgiveness, “Thanks any way for the apology though.”
Cheerliee sighed of relief; she was glad nothing major happened and then she told her class, “Okay, class, from now on, no playing tag when the ground is wet.”
After seeing what happened they all agreed.
“She didn’t even get upset this time?!” Ruby thought to herself, “This is outrageous!”
She looked over at the crowd and saw Acer give Pumpkin a kiss on the cheek.
“I am going to break you, Pumpkin…” she said with bitter jealousy in her eyes, “if it’s the last thing I do.”
-----
Ruby just didn’t understand how this was possible. Before Acer came to Ponyville, she was able to get Pumpkin to release her anger just by verbally insulting her; let alone physically. But now it been about a week since Acer and Pumpkin met, and none of Ruby’s sneaky attempts has succeeded. Based on her mother’s intuitions, she knew something terrible would happen if she didn’t get Pumpkin to release her anger soon; she just didn’t know what. But the more she failed, the higher risk she would put everypony in. She needed to end this now before Pumpkin’s emotional anger became too powerful for her magical teachings to handle.
At the end of the week after school, Ruby saw Acer hanging out… again, but at one point Pumpkin was waiting outside a sport gears store while Acer checked on something. This was her chance to finally let Pumpkin have it… for everypony’s sake and hopefully she could handle whatever amount of anger that was stored inside.
“Oh, hi Ruby,” said Pumpkin with a pleasant smile as Ruby approached her, “Do you need something.”
“Why would I need anything from you, freak,” said Ruby stuck-up tone.
“Excuse me?”
Ruby stared at her and was trying not to fall for the innocent act. She knew what she was, and she needed to bring that side out.
“Do you really think that you can just forget what you are? Do you honestly think nopony isn’t terrified of you?! Do you really think that Acer is going to continue hanging out with a psychopath like you?!”
“Well… yeah,” said Pumpkin with no hint of anger in her tone, “I admit, you gave me a hard time, Ruby, and I thought I was about to lose conscience; but… I’m not mad at you anymore. You and your mother can say what you want, but thanks to Acer, he’s made me realize that there are more important things in the world than being mad, getting upset, or even planning revenge. I hope you can mellow down and realize that… it’s over.”
Ruby couldn’t believe it; what was Pumpkin even saying?! How could she not be at least a little bit angry?
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” she shouted, “You’re not fooling anypony, Pumpkin! I know all about you and your freakish condition! You can’t tell me that you go through all that and you’re not furious at all!”
“Actually, I can,” Pumpkin said coyly, “What is it to you anyway? You really need to get another hobby. I mean come on; it’s not like me not getting angry is going to be the end of the world.”
Ruby then got up in Pumpkin’s face with a furious and frustrated look on her face, “Listen, I don’t like you, my mother doesn’t like, and Acer doesn’t like you; nopony here in Ponyville likes you. Not even your own sweet-tart family likes you; you’re just living in a huge illusion! You’re a freak, a monster and a complete murderous nut-job; and one of these days you are going to hurt Acer and I won’t forgive you! So give me everything you got right now; lay it on me! Show everypony here what you truly are now… you… freak!”
Pumpkin for one really hated being called that and it’s what usually brings her a little on edge, but she just looked at Ruby while she was catching her breath from all that yelling.
“Are you quite finished,” asked Pumpkin, “I sure hope so because you really need to just give up… it’s over.”
“What… what are you?” said Ruby out of exhaustion.
Suddenly Acer walked out of the store and noticed that Ruby was here; he was hoping that she wasn’t trying to stir up trouble.
“Ruby… what are you doing here,” he asked, “I hope you weren’t trying to do something bad because of your jealousy.”
Pumpkin didn’t feel like having him know what Ruby was really doing and told him something that would save Ruby’s reputation with him.
“Oh don’t worry, Acer. She was here insulting me, but she was only testing me to see if I truly had control over my emotions, and it worked! And I have you to thank for that.”
“I guess that’s cool,” Acer responded, “Thanks for doing that, Ruby; maybe I mis-judged you.”
“Y-yeah… no problem,” said Ruby solemly.
As Acer walked off, Pumpkin was following him from behind. As she went by Ruby, she stopped for a second and whispered to her, “You’re welcome.” And then she left; leaving Ruby to just sit there and wallow in her ultimate failure.
-----
Back at her house, she told her mother about what it had come down to. She still wanted to do something to get Acer out of that situation; but right now, it seemed that she would never get the chance.
“It’s no use, Mother; I’ve tried all this week but nothing I do seems to upset her anymore! And it’s all because of her feelings for Acer.”
Ruby appeared to be crying thinking that she failed her mother and Acer.
“Do not cry and feel sorry for yourself, Ruby,” said Envy, “You’ve done your best, and that’s all that matters.”
Ruby started to dry her tears away, and then suddenly, she thought of a possible point on this situation.
“Maybe… maybe nothing will happen,” she said, “Maybe her anger is subsiding and we really have nothing to worry about.”
It was a nice positive thought, but her mother had to deny what her daughter had said.
“I’m afraid that’s all a complete lie, my dear. The more anger that filly stores in, the more powerful her magic will become; soon it will all burst out by force and nopony will be able to stop her.”
Ruby understood what her mother was saying, but she still saw no point in continuing, “But what can I do?! I tried everything, but I failed every time; it’s hopeless! I will never get Acer away from that… freak.”
Suddenly, her mother walked up beside her and gave her a comforting hug before saying her next words.
“There is… one more thing you can try.”
Ruby looked up at her and wondered, “There is?”
“Yes, but I’m afraid that you won’t like it.”
Ruby wondered what her mother meant by that, but at this point she really didn’t seem to mind, “What is it; what do I have to do… I’ll do anything!”
Her mother took a deep breath and gave her daughter the answer, “You… must use a lying spell to have Acer… cheat on Pumpkin.”
Ruby’s eyes grew wide in realizing what her mother just said, “What; you want me to… to cast a spell on him?!”
“Yes,” her mother answered, “If what is happening is true and Acer’s love, trust and affection is what holds Pumpkin’s anger in then it’s the only way. You must set up those two to meet each other somewhere in two close alternate times. Have Acer show up first, and then you must use the spell on him so he will have the exact opposite feelings for her. He will hate her, despise her, he'll treat her... like trash; and if done right, he will love you instead. Once Pumpkin sees this, her love and comfort for him should disappear; and then prepare yourself to do whatever it takes to keep her down until the medics gets there.”
Ruby felt totally lost; she couldn’t bring herself to do such a thing to Acer. But, what else could she do?
“But… I-I-I can’t do that to Acer; even if I am jealous!”
“Nehtier do I,” said Envy sadly, “This is hard to do to both of them, but Acer has brought this onto himself. What needs to be done has to be done. So tell me, Ruby, do you wish to do this and save Acer’s life, or do nothing at all and risk letting that filly kill him and endanger everypony else’s life?”
This was a tough decision for Ruby to make. She really didn’t want to this, but she didn’t want Acer to be killed by Pumpkin’s bi-polar side. She still pondered over the fact of exactly why her mother knows so much about her condition.
“M-m-mom? Just what are we dealing with here?” she said in a quivering voice.
“I already told you, it’s best that you never know,” her mother responded, “So… are you still willing to do this; I will not force you.”
“No mother… I… you’re right,” said Ruby in a normal seldom tone, “It’s best for Acer and everypony… if Pumpkin is locked away again. She won’t risk anypony’s life ever again. I… I will do it.”
Envy hugged her daughter again out of compassion knowing that she made an important decision, “You are doing a good thing, Ruby. You make me proud.”
Ruby accepted her mother’s hug and put on a slight smile, “Thanks, Mom. I… I-I won’t let you down; I promise.”
However… Ruby’s life and perspective on her actions was about to change forever.