//------------------------------// // A lesson the foals will never forget // Story: Twilight the clown // by TechnoPagan9 //------------------------------// Cheerilee was walking towards Sweet Apple Acres because the CMC wanted to showcase a performance they wanted to show in school. She had noticed that the performance appears to be some sort of circus routine which was unsurprising considering that a lot of ponies seem to have taken a sudden interest in the circus ever since it arrived near the town. Cheerilee found herself in the town center and saw Big Mac (who she heard had now started to call himself 'Fat Boomer') with his lover also clowning with him with a big smile on her face as well as her sister who was dressed as a mime but judging by her facial expression she didn't want to actually perform mime. "Well that is all folks" said Boomer who bowed alongside Silver Gem while Limestone Pie (who Maud and Gem renamed 'Mute Grump') folded her hoofs and looked away from the crowd to sulk in silence. The ponies watching all cheered with Cheerilee laughing at the clowns as a result of their antics. Boomer and Gem noticed her as the crowd left the area. "Well hello there Cheerilee, ah heard you are going to see the little ones own performance at their little club house" said Boomer with Gem giving him a kiss. "Indeed they did seem really eager to show me although a lot in Ponyville seem to be volunteering at the circus. Have you seen that arrogant mare who worked as a traveling magician, she seemed to have become more of a foal at heart kind of mare when she started working as a clown alongside Princess Twilight". Cheerilee replied before noticing Mute approaching her. Cheerilee was surprised to see that Mute was the only mime in the area and still looked annoyed. "Ma and Pa decided that Mutey here should take time off the rock farm and maybe perform with us, I think she is really good at it" said Gem with smile while Mute pointed here hoof at her sister and then pointed to the beret on her head leading to Gem grinning. "Not yet we still would like you to put on more shows" Gem said with a giggle. Mute looked down in annoyance while Cheerilee wondered why Mute seemed to want Gem to take the beret off but she shrugged it off. She waved goodbye to the three performers and continued to Sweet Apple Acres and when she arrived she noticed the barn was open and Rodeo Jumper was practicing with what looked like Granny Smith. "Now how can somepony as old as here do all those acrobats, I don't think I would be suprised if Granny Smith could beat Big Mac in a hoof wrestle" Cheerliee thought before making her way to the CMC clubhouse. The first thing she noticed was that the two ramps leading to the clubhouse had been replaced with stars that were painted to look like piano keys. The clubhouse had been painted with red and white stripes to resemble a circus tent and the windows had been replaced with pink eyes that move in random directions. The front door had been replaced with one of those funhouse mirror leading to Cheerilee becoming confused as to how to get in and upon stepping on one, a musical note was made which caused the eyes to look directly at her. "It is ok Cheerliee, they won't hurt you" She thought as she walked up to the mirror door and avoided eye contact with the eye windows. Seeing her reflection as a clown pony in the mirror, She looked for a handle but could not find one to which she tried to push the mirror but it would not budge. She sighed and noticed a button near the mirror that was below a sign saying 'Pointless Button....Warning: This button is Pointless' but despite that she pushed it which resulted in the eyes opening up and spaying Cheerliee with water. "Eek that is cold" she said as she tried to warm and dry herself. She thought this was just going to be a prank and decided to leave but as she turned to walk away she felt six hooves grab here and drag her into the mirror. Landing on the ground with a thump and feelings a little dazed from the fall, Cheerliee started to get back on her hoofs before receiving several slaps causing her to snap out of it and noticed the CMC looking directly at her with creepy grins. "Hi Miss Cheerliee, welcome to the Little Bottom Clubhouse" They all shouted with joy. Cheerliee was shocked at the sheer size of the area because it looked like the circus only a little small yet large enough that it shouldn't be able to fit in the whole building. "How did you mange to fit this all in this tiny house?" She asked the CMC. "O I manged to find Derpy and asked her to make our clubhouse like that strange blue box with the light on it that her roommate that crazy Doctor Hooves. I think it was called the 'T.U.R.D.I.S'". said Roller. "I helped her carry all the strange junk while the doc wasn't looking. Why does he hide all those toys from us when we can have a lot of fun with these do-hicy" Singer Joy said while holding a strange object which had some sort of screwdriver built into it and made a odd buzzing sound when the tip is glowing blue. "And with ah lot of hammers and bashing, we turned this place into our own circus and even got Discord to make that mirror door thingy". said Hammer Pound with pride. Cheerliee could not believe what she was hearing, three of her students all managed to build and create something like this that would put projects done in universities to shame. "Well I have got to say that what you have done is impressive but I would like to see this performance you lot have been preparing" said Cheerliee. The CMC beamed at their performance being mentioned which they then quickly got all the equipment the needed and began performing. Hammer did a tightrope act over a pool of custard where she performed some acrobatics such as flips and gymnastics on the rope while Roller juggled while riding a unicycle where she would sometimes perform tricks like spinning and jumping off ramps. Singer Joy performed stand up comedy which led to Cheerliee laughing. "Did you hear about the horse with the negative altitude Miss Cheerliee?" Singer asked while Cheerliee shrugged. "She always said Neigh" Singer finished. Cheerliee gave off another laugh, she found it cute that these three were being jokers but in her laughter she failed to notice Roller flying directly towards her with a pie. The pie went straight into Cheerliee's face leading to the three fillies to start laughing. "Laugh it up you three" she said as she wiped the pie from her face reveling a red nose. Singer took out a small mirror and showed Cheerliee's her face. She noticed that the red nose was linked to her before she felt a sudden tingle as her vision turned to what looked like a classroom except it was mostly grey in colour. "Wait how did I get here" she said out loud while her manestyle turned into a side ponytail with curls and both her mane and tail turned white and blue with tetris blocks forming in different spots of the mane and tail. "What just happened to my mane" she said as students started entering the room. They were all grey in colour and their expression was one of no emotion. "Hello Ms Tetris" They all said as if being connected to a hive mind. Their tone was deadpanned and only made the tone of the place depressing and Cheerliee's head started to hurt. "No no no, no school should lack all the colour and joy.....wait what, why did they call me Tetris?" she uncontrollably said. She suddenly had the urge to open the table draw where she found various coloured paint. A yellow mortar felt board hat with tassel formed on her head along while a rainbow bowtie formed on her neck. "Ok class I think I know how to make the day more enjoyable...who is forcing me to speak" Cheerliee said as she throw some paint at the students who which caused their fur to take one different colours as well as show some level of emotion. "Come on Ms Tetris, more joy please" one of the newly coloured foals said as they started to smile. "For the last time my name isn't Tetris it is....what my name" Cheerliee said in desperation to recall her name. Some pink and light purple paint spilled on her which suddenly start becoming bigger and until her body (apart from her head) was covered by robe with multi-coloured stars on it. "Girls, what have to u done to.....Come on foals lets paint the room, get rid of all this" She said, her mind having forgotten what she really wanted to say. The formally grey foals started throwing paint all over the room while Cheerliee started laughing (though not willingly) as the room became a colourful work of art. "Ha ha ha....Plz sto....ha ha ha" She said as she faced down and her mind started to break. The foals started to laugh with her as they too started becoming more clownish in appearance while purple blush formed on her cheeks as red shoes formed on her hooves. Her cutie mark was replaced three spinning plates with smiles on them. "I ca...take any...mo....Well wasn't that fun, now you all know how to create laughter in the world" Cheerliee, now Ms Tetris said as she lifted her head with a smile, revealing curled eyelashes, a pink nose and eyes. The foals laughed as her vision returned to normal in which she heard Roller's voice. "Hey she is coming to reality girls" She said to the other two. The three fillies looked at their clown of a teacher as she greeted them with a warm smile. "Thank you girls, you just inspired me on how make teaching and learning a lot more fun" Tetris said "So what you going to do?" asked Singer Joy "Come to school tomorrow and I will show you". replied Tetris who proceeded to leave the clubhouse while the CMC talked among themselves and guessing what will happen. One day later Diamond Tiara had just left her family mansion after helping the butler with some of his duties and trying to avoid her status obsessed mother. She had walked a few meters away when she heard the familiar voice of her best friend. "Diamond, wait up will yeh" yelled Silver Spoon who was running towards her. Diamond smiled and hug her friend and they walked towards the school together. "Hey Silver, how are you and your parents" She asked. "Well I am fine, mother is still a strict workaholic what with her job as the head of a bank but she is alright and father is still alive and well despite the occasion injury from his firework act". Silver said in a happy tone. Diamond has always been a bit jealousy of Silver Spoon with her mother because while's Silver's mother is strict much like Diamond's own, she isn't unloving or obsessed with maintaining her high status. Diamond also found it odd that Silver's parents are very opposing to each other personality wise yet rarely get into arguments or violent deputes. She snapped out of the thoughts when Silver started speaking again. "Hey have you seen CMC lately, they have been acting weird lately.....well a lot of ponies have" asked Silver "Well Scootaloo or Roller as she is calling herself now gave me a brownie but whatever she put in it, it set my insides on fire. Took a lot of water before my throat cooled down" Diamond said while rubbing her neck "But have you noticed that they and a lot of ponies seem to be dressing up as clowns?.....despite national clown day not being for another four months" Silver asked. "Yes I have but those pink eyes they have give me the creeps. Don't most ponies here have eye colours other than pink because I don't remember any of the CMC having pink eyes" Diamond asked back at her friend leading to Silver shrugging. "Maybe they are wearing colour lenses" Silver suggested. Diamond couldn't argue with that and noticed they were getting close to the school house. Outside the door they were greeted by Pipsqueak who looked happy to see them. "Hey girls, have you heard, Miss Cheerliee has a surprise planned for us all today" her said with joy as he walked in the schoolhouse. Diamond and Spoon looked at each other with uncertain looks in their faces before walking into the schoolhouse themselves. While they were expecting the interior of the building to be different then what they are used to, they were surprised to find that it had not been changed at all. They both sat at theirs tables where they failed to notice the whoopee cushions on the seats. 'Pffffffffffftpt' Diamond and Silver blushed as the rest of the foals burst out laughing at them. They turned to see the CMC pulling the cushions from under their seats placed them in a small box. "Can this get anymore embarrassing?" Said Diamond as she placed her face on to her hooves. "O come on Diamond just lighten up, it was only a pranks" Silver said with a small giggle. Suddenly Ms Tetris came through the door with what looked like one of Pinkie Pie's party cannon and placed it on the table, aiming towards the ceiling. Diamond could not believe her eyes that she was looking at a goofy dressed Cheerliee while Silver laughed. "Good morning class, I hope you are eager for that surprise I wanted to show you" Tetris said. The foals nodded while the CMC smiled with glee as Tetris opened the back of the cannon and loaded it up with many different coloured balloons. They each had a circler object floating in the middle of them and each one was coloured to match the coats of students complete with their cutie marks. "Ok everypony let us count to three.....1......2......3!!!!" Tetris said as she activated the cannon, the foals cheered and the balloons were fired in the air and upon hitting the ceiling, they gently floated down towards the front of students. Silver turned round to see a white balloon with a brown patch and a camera on it float in front of Pipsqueak where she noticed the small object within the balloon. "What is that thing in the balloons I wonder" Silver said out loud. Suddenly the balloon burst leading to the object within (revealed to be a clown nose) to fly and attach itself to Pipsqueaks own nose. Both Diamond and Silver giggled at the red nosed little clot but stopped when they noticed him twitch and seemingly freeze in place. "Watch and learn you two, this will be a lesson that none of you will forget" Tetris said in a demanding voice. The two filles grew wide eyed as their small friend started to change in both appearance and personality. They grew terrified as the newly clowned Pipsqueak give a wide smile and stared directly into their soul. "WHAT JUST HAPPENED, PIPSQUEAK WHY ARE YOU A CLOWN?" shouted Diamond "Look, his eyes have gone pink that must mean that everyone being a clown is being brainwashed to do it" Silver said having figured out how the nose worked. "And yet I have never felt better" the small colt as he ran to the CMC. Soon the entire class were either eager to or trying to avoid becoming clowns but those trying to escape the school house found no exit. Some tried to go through the door (but it was glued shut), Some tried jumping through the windows but when they did, they were thrown back in (due to the glass being replaced with rubber) and some even tried going through the toilet (but was blocked due to being clogged up with tissue). Diamond and Silver froze as they found themselves to be the only ones who hadn't become brainwashed clowns yet but gave a sigh of relief when they looked at the ceiling to find no balloons with their marks on them. Unfortunately Ms Tetris took notice of this and grinned at them before turning to the CMC. "You three, get the two specially made balloons" She said to the CMC before turning to some of the other clownified foals and demanding them to restraint both Diamond and Silver. As the CMC got the balloons, Tetris walked up to the two scared fillies and looked directly into Silver's eyes and in a sadistic yet comical voice asked her. "Heads or Tails little Spoony". Tetris pulled out a gold coin and showed it to Silver, "Heads" said Silver which caused the heads side to turn into an image of a joker faced Silver Spoon juggling. Tetris flipped the coin onto the tails side to show the same image except it showed Diamond Tiara instead. "O ah hope it lands tails, ah sure do want to add mah shiny Diamond first to the family because we will make a great duo" said Hammer Pound while weaving her hammer with excitement with Diamond feeling embarrassed by the comment. Singer Joy didn't seem impressed by this and pointed her toy mic towards Hammer. "But Spoony should surely go first because after all she has a funny sliver tongue when it comes to being talky talky like me" Singer said with clear pride in her voice. Roller didn't seem to be paying attention to the coin tossing as she stood next to the pink and grey balloons, muttering to herself as she was deciding which one to use first. Hammer gave her a challenging stare as Tetris flipped a coin but before it could hit the floor, Hammer hit it back up into the air. "O no you don't" said Singer as she did the something with her mic. Neither of the two were sure if it was going to land on what they wanted so they kept hitting back up until Tetris eventually got sick of Singer's and Hammer's fighting and singled Roller to grab the coin in midair. Upon grabbing it, she showed it to Tetris to reveal that it heads leading to Singer jumping with joy and mocking Hammer. "In your face Hammer it looks Spoony is first" Singer said as she stuck out her tongue only to be on the receiving end of angry bashing from Hammer. Roller got the grey balloon and flew towards Silver with a grin. "Don't resist it, embrace it" she said before bursting the balloon and the nose inside flew towards its target. Silver's body tingled as the other foals let go of her where she turned and faced Diamond who was calling out to her. Her voice got quieter as Silver's vision shifted to a point where she could no longer hear her friend. Silver found herself at Diamond's mansion where a birthday party for Diamond was currently underway. "Wait how did I get here" Silver said as her braid split up and form two new braids. The right braid turned blue, the middle braid turned green and the left braid turned yellow. The rest of her mane as well as her tail turned light red with a white stripe while rainbow bows formed on each braid which Silver failed to notice as she heard Diamond's voice. "Hey Sliver Spoon so did you decide to act as the party clown for my party?" Diamond asked. Silver was taken aback by this question as her face turned chalk white with pink blush and red eye-shadow while the rim of her glasses turned purple. "I never agr......yes Diamond, I just can't wait to make everypony laugh" Silver replied as her head started to hurt. Diamond let out a squeak as she smiled and went to talk to some of the party guests. Silver started to stroke her head in hope it will sooth the pain. "Why does my head hurt, why did I suddenly say yes mid sentence and why did GAH" Sliver said as she stood in front of a nearby mirror where she freaked out at the changes. She tried hard to wipe the make-up off as trying to take off the transformed glasses but to no avail. "I am turning into a clown just like everyone back at the school" Silver said as her necklace morphed into a red frilly and a light blue with red trimmed version of the dress she and Diamond wore when the flag carrier for the Equestria Games was being announced which she tried to tear off. "Hey Goofy Spoony, are you ok?" Diamond asked with concern on her face. "This isn't re.....yes I am ok I was just...stop Tiara please hel.....getting into character....no" Silver said as she struggled to think straight. Her cutie mark turned into a pair of Groucho glasses. "Well that is good but anyway it is time for your performance, let me accompany you" Diamond said. Silver grew wide eyed as Diamond grabbed one of her hooves and began to pull Silver towards the crowd as pink and green socks along with light blue shoes formed on her body. "Plz....no Dia...." Silver could barely say anything as her mind snapped. The clown nose turn pink as they got to the crowd to which Tiara announced her clowny friend's appearance. "Everypony, my dearest friend has decided to entertain us allow so stuffy your face with cake before Spoony splatters it into your face" She said. The crowd turned their heads see Silver Spoon, now Goofy Spoony grinning at them with her eyelashes curled and bright pink eyes now staring creeply at them. "Hello everypony who wants a cake to the face" Spoony said as she started throwing parts of the birthday cake at the crowd leading them to laugh. Spoony's vision returned to normal where she saw a visible disturbed and still restrained Diamond Tiara staring directly at her. "The pink eyes....you been brainwashed and turned into a clown" Diamond said with clear distress in her voice. Spoony gave a grin at her friend and grabbed the pink balloon from Singer Joy who was still mocking Hammer about turning Sliver first. Diamond who knew what was coming tried to convince her clownifed friend to stop. "Silver please don't do this I don't want to be a brainwash mad filly" she said. Spoony giggled at her friend's attempts to make her stop and placed the balloon very close to Diamond who was now shaking with dear. "O silly little Tiara, I am not brainwashed I still remember all the fun times we had but this transformation is one of the funniest thing that has ever happened to me. I can't believe I refused it at first but I am glad I was turned because I can perform with daddy and even make mother laugh. I think you will like it in the end so I am going to turn you regardless what you say" Spoony said before crushing the balloon and the nose linking itself to Diamonds own nose. "NONONONONO" Diamond said as her vision turned to the large living room in her family mansion. She saw her parents talking to Silver Spoon's parents Tea Spoon her father and Glacies Stare her mother. Tea Spoon, a dark brown earth pony with a messy (and slightly burnt up) white mane, purple eyes and a firework on a unicycle cutie mark was talking Filthy Rich about Tea's recent performance as well as some past memories. Diamond suddenly heard someone while mane grew longer and turned light blue while her tiara became rainbow coloured. "Psst" She heard a noise and walked to its source in the kitchen. She noticed a door to the oven moving and she carefully walked towards it while a rainbow bow-tie formed around her neck, She opened it to find Spoony with a squirt gun who sprayed Diamond's face with water. "Oops I forgot to say peek-a-boo hehe" Spoony giggled. Diamond grabbed her heard as it started to hurt before noticing that the water on the floor was pink instead of clear. She grew wide eyed and looked at Spoony who was laying with grin in the unlit oven. "Do you have a mirror?" Diamond asked. "Of course Ruby Shine, here you go" Spoony said while giving her the mirror. Diamond was shocked with what she saw because besides the tie, her mane and tiara, her face had turned white. She had pink blushed cheeks, the nose was pink, her lips were ruby red and her eyelids were light blue. "No.....I am turning" Diamond said in distress while Spoon crawled out the oven. "O lighten up I have a idea for a prank and I want you to help me" said Spoony. Diamond noticed that her friend was waving one of Tea Spoon's fireworks in her face. "wait no that is too dang....lets do it what it is" Diamond said before realizing what she just said. Spoony chuckled and they both observed their mothers. Glacies Stare, a unicorn with cyan fur, ice coloured eyes, black mane with a silver strip in a similar style to Silver's mane-style and a pen and paper cutie mark, adjusted the collar of her black business suit. She was being lectured by Spoiled Rich about the 'importance' of status as well as being told that Tea Spoon was not 'the right husband' to put it lightly. None of this Stare wanted to hear but kept her stern expression intact. "I mean what made you think marrying Tea would do good for your your family's status. He was a poor homeless waste when you found him" Spoiled said. "He is very creative and he makes me laugh. He is also the reason I have my little Silver who I love despite my tendency to be strict" Stare said bluntly. "But imagine how life would be much better if you married somepony with wealth" Spoiled said "I never do so because I am not a pony obsessed with chasing an illusion of becoming so high class that my ego becomes as big as my flank. You should be worrying less about your place in high class society and more caring about your family because after all you are often neglectful to your own daughter". Stare said with disdain which Spoiled couldn't argue with due to being fearful of the unicorn's icy glare. Spoony and Diamond managed to avoid being seen hid behind the sofa that that Diamonds parents were sitting on. "OK Ruby we are going to place it under your mother's side of the sofa" Spoony whispered with a somewhat deranged grin on her face. Diamond grew fearful of her friends grin as a dress identical to Spoony's but red with poke-a-dots on it formed her body which she tried to tear off. "No come off I don......That is a great idea Spoony" Diamond said as she shook her head trying to think straight. Spoony began planting the explosive while pink rubbery socks along with dark blue shoes formed on Diamond's legs and hooves. "Plz mo......mother will be an......Let do it" Diamond said as her mind was on the verge of breaking while Spoony gave her the match which Diamond lit and began to place it on the firework fuse. Diamond's cutie mark turned into a rainblower while she tried to keep her mind intact. "nooo....." She said weakly as the fuse ignited. Spoony grabbed Diamond and ran away from the sofa where Stare and Tea spotted them. "What are you two up to now" Stare said with her eyes narrow before witnessing Spoiled Rich being shot up into the ceiling. Diamond closed her eyes and opened them again revealing pink eyes and curl eyelashes and looked back up to her mother who now had a burnt flank and was now stuck. "Best prank ever" said Diamond Tiara, now Ruby Shine as her father and Spoony's parents laughed at Spoiled's misfortune. Ruby's vision returned to normal as she saw everyone smiling. "Yes she is finished, lets all go put on a show" Hammer said with glee. "What a good idea, foals help me take some equipment out and make it the best show ever" said Ms Tetris as the foals all cheered. Spoony hugged Ruby as they helped with the equipment and discussed working as a duo.