//------------------------------// // Fifth Lesson- Laugh or Cry // Story: The Magnificent Six // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// Fifth Lesson- Laugh or Cry "So, Miss Poesy," Truly sneered, whipping her mane back arrogantly. "What y'all gonna do about it?" Poesy stood the for a moment, turning away from the mean mare, and trying to hide her bitter sobs. But after a few minutes, the little yellow filly suddenly turned back to face her tormentor. To Truly's surprise, the look on Poesy's face was completely neutral; neither twisted in a wrathful snarl, nor contorted from her sorrowful weeping. "You know miss Truly, I've met ponies like you before. Bullies who pick on other ponies and things smaller than they are to make themselves feel better." She began to slowly trot towards the older mare, her cold and steely gaze starting to make Truly nervous. "Bullies like you won't ever stop tormenting others, until somebody teaches you a lesson." "Naow hold awn, Miss Poesy." Truly protested nervously, taking a few steps backward. "Thair's no need ta get violent in the royal gahdans." "Me, get violent? Oh no Miss Truly, I'm a very gentle Pony, the element of kindness." Poesy replied, as the plants near her hooves began to move around as if there were a breeze. "I'd never raise a hoof against you. But the flowers... they can be very unhappy when cruel or mean ponies do bad things to them." Feeling something begin to coil round her hoof, Truly looked down to see several long vines moving towards her. As the frightened mare tried to struggle, the vines began to grow rapidly up and out of their flower beds, engulfing Truly entirely. "Wait, what's goin-" The plants slowly began to entangle her, pulling the mean mare to the ground. "Poesy, halp me!" "It would be wise for you to treat the plants, and other ponies, with a bit more kindness." As she stared down at the tied-up mare, Poesy's normally green eyes were glowing with an eerie blue light. "Because next time, it might be a rose bush with thorns you have the misfortune of offending. Do you understand me?" "Mmmmffff." The frightened mare nodded, her words garbled as the vines coiled around her muzzle. Smiling, the yellow Filly trotted over to the bushes, and pulled Sweet Stuff's gemstone eyes out. "Here you go, Sweets." Poesy whinnied, putting the mare's eyes back into their sockets. "You all right?" "Yes, I guess so." The gentle earth pony replied, looking down at the enveloped Truly. "I'm just sorry that the flowers had to do that to her. I don't mean to be offensive, but that doesn't seem like something the element of kindness should support." "Part of being kind is not letting others being treated unkindly, Sweet Stuff." Poesy told her. "Now c'mon, I think Truly needs to be alone with the flowers for awhile." As the two female ponies trotted back into the palace, the vines slowly loosened on Truly. The earth mare shook the plants off and stood up, looking around at all of the tulips and daffodils around her. "Uh, Poesy?" The nervous mare called out, as the petunias and marigolds seemed to glare at her. "Y'all come back here... please?" ... It was early the next morning, when Firefly finally came back from her little trip with the other ponies. The exhausted Pegasus filly collapsed into her bed, and refused to talk about what had happened. "C'mon, Firefly." Poesy asked, trotting over to the bed, and nuzzling her friend. "Are you sure you're all right? I hate seeing you so unhappy." "I said I don't wanna talk about it!" The filly wailed, pulling the blanket up over her head. "Boy, those two mares must've done quite a number on poor Firefly here." Twilight told Glory. "And Poesy seemed like she'd been through quite an ordeal when she came in last night, too." "Ah did notice thait." The white unicorn replied. "Ah wondah if thair is moah goin on heyah thain meets the eye." While the two of them continued to talk, Applejack finished her breakfast of apple pie and warm milk, and looked around the room. "Hey, any of you girls see Surprise?" The orange filly asked. "She wasn't in here when I got up this morning." "Oh, I saw her leave early this morning." Poesy replied, turning away from the sleeping Firefly. "I think she wanted to have a look around the Paradise, or something." "Well, I really hope she's not gone too long. The breakfast the maid brought her will get cold. " Twilight replied, trotting over to her own breakfast of sausage, eggs and bacon. "Besides, something stinks with this whole setup, and it's not in the castle's ventilation system." ... "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa, mommy!" A small filly wailed, galloping down the hallway in tears. "A mean filly put a cockroach into my peanut butter sandwich!" "Hey, that's a lie! It was only a wasp!" Surprise protested, shaking her mane. "Honestly, it's like kids these days don't wanna eat their protein!" It was at that point, that Fizzy came trotting down the hallway. Seeing the giggling prankster yelling at a fleeing foal, the jewel-eyed unicorn called out to her. "Hey Surprise, what's up?" Fizzy whinnied, walking up to the other pony. "How's the harmony bearing thing going?" "Fizzy! Hey, I haven't seem you since the boat ride." Surprise frowned. "Ugh, it's been sooooo boring ever since I got here. Nobody in this place has a sense of humor!" "Yeah, I kinda heard something about you putting lobsters into Princess Royal Blue's bath." Fizzy snickered. "And I wonder how that colony of ants got into Princess Starburst's bed?" "Awww, those princesses just can't take the biting and stinging criticism." Surprise replied with a laugh. "Just wish there was a way I could play an even funnier prank. Something epic, worthy of being the element of laughter!" "Oh, thinking ahead to your test, huh? Yeah, playing practical jokes does make people laugh." Fizzy smiled, a twinkle in her glassy eye. "Hmmmm. Say, you know I'm from the same place that Twilight's from, right?" "Yeah, you're both Dream Valley ponies." Surprise replied, nodding. "So what's that got to do with a really good prank?" "Well I grew up around Twilight, and I know what her weak spot is." Putting a hoof around the white Pegasus, the two ponies began to conspire. "Trust me, I gotta prank you can pull that Twilight will never forget." ... "Hey Twilight," Applejack called out, standing at the door she had just opened. "there's a delivery mare here for you!" Twilight Shine was laying on her bed, finishing up her fairy tale book, when a messenger arrived. Getting up and trotting over to the delivery mare when her name was called, the unicorn filly was given a pink envelope sealed with a heart sticker. "Ohhh, thait lettah looks all fancy, Twi." Glory noted curiously, as the delivery mare bowed and left. "Y'all have a secret admiahrah?" "Oh my, what does it say, Twilight?" Poesy asked. "well, you don't have to tell us, if you don't want to." "No girls, it's alright, really." Blushing slightly, Twilight used her magic to unseal the envelope. Levitating the letter up and unfolding it, the pink unicorn began to read aloud; My dearest Twilight, I am so sorry about the way I acted back in Fort Rainbow Dash, my treatment of you and your friends was the height of Foolish arrogance. I wish to make it up to you, o sweet angel, and shower you with the attention and affection a lovely filly such as yourself truly deserves. Meet me by the Royal fountain in two hours, dressed in all the radiance of a princess. I'll be waiting for you there, my sweet, where I shall treat you to an experience you will remember forever. Tornado Firehooves After she had finished reading, Twilight simply put the letter down, and stared blankly into space. Her face was a glowing, crimson red. "Holy horses, Twilight." Applejack exclaimed in surprise. "Seems he wants ta make up with ya, really bad." "Oh, haow romantic. Your steed in shining saddle has shown hismsailf." Glory sighed, tossing her mane. "Oh Twailaight, Ya'll simpleh must go tah him." "But, the way he treated Firefly's friend," The filly looked over to the bed where her pink Pegasus friend lay. "I couldn't just-" "Twilight, listen." Firefly suddenly pulled back the covers, and stood up. "Tornado made a mistake, and believe me, I just recently learned how easy it is for a good pony to make a lousy mistake." The Pegasus trotted over to the other pony, the weariness evident in her voice. "Now he's apologized, and I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Go ta him, Twi." "O-okay, I'll go." Twilight's face suddenly lit up, as she rushed over to her luggage. Digging quickly through her bags, she pulled out a pink dress, a pair of dangling diamond earrings, and a pink Tiara encrusted with colorful jewels. As the teenage filly rushed to put the garments on, the other fillies just stared at her in shock. "Twilight, what the hay is all that stuff?" Applejack asked, looking over the regal looking ensemble. "And where the heck did you get an ancient Equestian princess's tiara?" "Oh, this? This is my fairy tale princess outfit." Twilight replied sheepishly. "Even though I'm not really a princess, I do kinda like to dress up as one. As to the crown, it's an ancient family heirloom. although it's obviously not the element of magic tiara. I did repaint it pink, though." "Well, I guess that does make sense." Poesy replied, admiring the magnificent garments. "You are the pony of fairy tales and wishing, after all." "Hang on a sec, Poesy." Applejack snorted, walking up to her friend. "No offense Twilight, but that does seem a little childish. Aren't you a little old to be playing pretend?" "I know it's silly, AJ. But ever since I was a little filly, I always dreamed of being a character in a fairy tale. My grandmother used to read my all these old fairy tales when I was a foal, to help me to go to sleep at night" Twilight Shine exclaimed, a huge smile on her face. "Back in Dream Valley, my friend Paradise and I used to read the fairy tales out of the books in the library, then act out the stories in them." She looked back at the outfit. "My grandma made this outfit for me for my eleventh birthday, before she passed away." "Woaw, Twailaight," Glory replied sympathetically. "Y'all really must miss her." "I've had the castle dressmaker modify this outfit every year, to make sure it was always in my size." Twilight nodded, closing her eyes. "Whenever I wear this, I feel really close to grandma. And since tornado asked me to come looking like a princess, I just thought, well..." "Go get im', kid." Applejack replied, trotting up to her friend and setting the tiara on her head. "Yer prince charming is waiting for ya." Smiling, the pink unicorn pulled all of her friends in the room into a big hug, and happily galloped out the door. "Well, there goes one happy filly!" Firefly chuckled, climbing back under the sheets. "Hope she has more fun than I did." ... "Ohh, I hope she gets here soon!" A voice whispered from the balcony above the fountain. "This is gonna be so good, I can't wait!" "Shhh, keep you're voice down!" The other voice whispered back, as unicorn magic kept the two hidden from sight. "Here comes Twilight now!" "Tornado, are you here?" The unicorn filly trotted up to the fountain, her glittery crystal shoes clinking on the marble floor. "Tornado, your princess has arrived." It was at that moment, that the well-dressed pink pony heard a rustling sound coming from the balcony. "Tornado, is that you?" Twilight asked, looking straight up. SPLASH! "AIEEEEE!" The response came in the form of a vat of red liquid, dumped straight down on the unsuspecting filly's head. It showered all over her beautiful outfit, mixing with the dyes, and turning a once lovely dress a myriad of hideous colors. "Ha, gotcha Twilight!" Fizzy giggled, as she and Surprise high-hoofed each other. "Howd' ya like your tomato juice bath of love?" "You should see the look on your face!" Surprise laughed hysterically, falling backward. "It's a riot!" "Fizzy, Surprise, it was you?" Twilight looked down at the ugly mess she was wearing, tears welling up in her eyes. "OH HOW COULD YOU!?" The weeping unicorn went galloping out of the main hall, tears streaming down her face. The other two ponies stopped laughing, and only stared after her in confusion. "Twilight?" Surprise called out, getting a sinking feeling in her chest. "Twilight, what's wrong?" The only response was the sight of Twilight Sparkle's ancient princess tiara lying on the floor, as the unicorn who had been wearing it galloped off into the night.