13-1: Out of control Pound
It was early in the day, and Pinkie, Carrot, and Cup Cake were downstairs preparing stuff for the morning rush. Pound and Pumpkin were in their room. It was the weekend, so they didn’t have school.
Pound was restlessly pacing around the room, letting out little huffs and unable to sit still.
Pumpkin was on her bed, trying to read a book, and she found the sound of Pound’s hooves incredibly distracting.
“What’s wrong, Pound?” she asked, looking up from her book as he passed by her.
“Oh, shut up!” Pound snapped, giving her a hard shove and knocking her off the bed.
“Ow,” Pumpkin replied as she got up, though she wasn’t really hurt. “What’s the matter with you, Pound? I didn’t do anything to YOU!”
“And let’s keep it that way, you stupid brat!” He hopped onto her bed and grabbed one of her stuffed animals, attempting to pull its head off.
“HEY!” Pumpkin yelled, hopping up there with him and attempting to pull it out of his grip. Pound just laughed, holding onto one side tightly. There was a sound of ripping fabric, and Pumpkin let go in panic, which only led him to finish yanking the head off with a sinister cackle and throw the halves at her.
“POUND!” she yelled, a tear coming down her eye as she grabbed the pieces of her teddy bear. “H-how could you? T-t-that was one of my favorites.”
“Why don’t you just grow up, you baby?” Pound said coldly. “How long are you gonna keep sleeping with stuffed animals, Baby Cake? You gonna wet the bed again any time soon?” He laughed savagely at her.
Tears brimmed the bottom of her eyes, and she ran out of the room crying.
Pound heard the voice of his father calling him down a short while later, but ignored it, going up to Pinkie’s room. He knew she was downstairs in the shop. He went up to the picture frames of their family together. He picked up one of the two of them together, and scowled at it before turning and hurling it at the wall, causing the glass to shatter and the frame to break into pieces.
Picking up one of the pieces of glass he got up onto the bed and began to pop the balloons she had scattered around the place. The voice of his dad was closer now, and he knew his dad was in their room looking for him. He didn’t care.
He went out onto the loft overlooking Ponyville, pacing around. He knew the deal now. He hadn’t seen it before, but now he knew the truth. It was all wrong. All of it.
He walked back inside, heading downstairs. He completely ignored Carrot as he tried to talk to him, skirting him and running downstairs when he tried to grab him.
Pound saw several of the displays already full of cookies and other assorted treats. Going around behind them he took a cookie and stuffed it in his mouth.
Cup Cake said in a grave voice, “Pound Cake! You know better than to have sweets so early in the morning! And you also upset your sister. This is not behavior I expect of you.”
Pound gave her a thoroughly disinterested look before grabbing another cookie and saying under his breath, “Blah, blah, blah.”
Cup Cake heard him. “Excuse me, young stallion? I am not going to tolerate this behavior from you.”
Pound let out a little huff, his eyes narrowing a bit as he grabbed the entire plate of cookies and threw them on the floor. “THERE! Happy now? It’s easy now, right?”
Cup Cake was torn between anger and confusion. “What’s 'easy?'”
“Don’t lie to me! I know! I know, alright? I’m not as stupid as you think.”
Attempting to steer the conversation into brighter waters Cup Cake took a deep breath and said in what she hoped was a comforting tone, “Pound, honey, what’s bothering you? You’ve been in a foul mood since yesterday. I’m here to listen to you.”
His body tensed as he glared at her, a few tears appearing at the corner of his eyes. “Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up! I know! I already know, so stop pretending! I know what you really are.”
Cup Cake’s head tilted, unsure of what he was talking about. “And… what am I?”
“You’re all the same,” he said, his voice coming out almost like a growl. “You, and Pumpkin, and Pinkie, and Dad. Well, it’s not gonna happen! YOU HEAR ME? IT WON’T!”
Carrot came to stand by his wife, also clueless as to what Pound was talking about. “Son, what do you mean?”
His face clenched up, his cheeks puffing up and turning red. “Don’t lie to me. Although I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less. I know now.”
Pinkie came out of the kitchen with Pumpkin, looking concerned. “Pound, why are you screaming? We’re your family. Please talk to us.”
Pound let out an odd laugh, unnatural and wrong-sounding coming out of a child’s mouth. “Well, everyone’s here. Now the show can start.”
All of them were just getting more and more confused. None of them had an inkling of what was setting him off, but he was sure talking like he was expecting them to.
“No?” Pound said, sounding angry again. He grabbed the plate the cookies had sat on and threw it at a wall, making it shatter.
“Hey!” snapped Cup Cake.
“There you go! Now it’s even easier. You don’t even need an excuse now. It’s what you want, isn’t it? COME ON! DO IT!”
In a sharp voice Carrot said, “Pound, that is enough! What is it you want from us? You keep going on and on about us, but none of us know why you’re mad at us.”
“Why shouldn’t I stop? Come on, then. Punish me. Go ahead. I dare you.”
Pinkie felt her stomach aching. “Pound, we don’t want to punish you. We want to understand you. And we can’t help you if you won’t tell us what’s upsetting you.”
“Please, Pound!” Pumpkin said, a tear coming down her eye as she walked over to him. “Just stop this.”
Pound got a devious look on his face before backhoofing Pumpkin across the cheek, knocking her off her hooves and causing her to hit her head on the side of a display case. Pumpkin immediately began wailing as she clutched the side of her head.
“POUND CAKE!” Cup Cake roared as Pinkie ran over to begin comforting her. “If you keep this behavior up you’re not going to be allowed to go to school anymore and you’ll be locked in your room for a month.”
Far from upsetting him Pound got a really twisted grin on his face, and his head went back as he began to laugh that very creepy laugh again. “Thank you!” he said, laughing as if he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world. “I knew I was right. I’m gonna go to my room so I can be 'punished.'
His reaction and his laugh were so unnatural that none of them stopped him as he trotted up stairs.
When he got to his room he closed the door and hopped on his bed. His sense of euphoria vanished after a few minutes, and his stomach began to feel like it was twisted in knots. He began to breathe heavily before he felt a heavy weight on him. He began to stomp around his room, throwing his stuff around. When that was no longer enough he collapsed onto the floor and began screaming as he wailed and slammed the floor with all four of his hooves.
He rolled around on the floor, his legs flailing around as he threw a giant tantrum. For over an hour he alternated between periods of quiet and periods of complete and utter loss of control. Wiping himself out he unwillingly fell asleep on the floor, curled up into a ball.
***
Fluttershy was feeding her animals, humming to herself as she flew around filling up their bowls. She turned her head when she heard a knock on the door. “Now who could that be?” she said to herself. Going to the door she opened it, seeing Cup Cake standing there. “Oh, hello,” she said in a cautious voice. Cup Cake was looking like a wreck. Her mane was frazzled and she looked like the weight of the world was on her shoulders.
“Fluttershy,” she said in a heavy voice, “I need your help.”
“Of course,” she said, setting down the box of food. “What do you need?”
She put a hoof to her head, her eyes closing as she released a sharp breath. “It’s Pound Cake. He’s out of control, and quite frankly I’m at the end of my rope. I-I… I just don’t know what to do.”
“Oh, my,” Fluttershy said, putting a hoof to her mouth. “What’s he been up to?”
“EVERYTHING!” Cup Cake said in a high-pitched voice. “For the past three days he’s been completely unmanageable. I’ve tried… I really have. I’ve tried your method of not scolding at all and just letting him say whatever negative things come to mind so we can get to the real issue. It worked for Twilight when Pound was yelling at her, so I thought it would work for me too.
“He’s been breaking everything in sight, disrupting the customers, and I haven’t trusted to let him go back to school yet because I know he’d just get kicked out again. He’s been absolutely horrible to Pumpkin, destroying her stuff or attacking her. She’s got a nice bump on her head and some bruising from it. He won’t listen to any of us at all, not even Pinkie Pie, and he usually is much more relaxed around her because she’s the most fun of his authority figures. He keeps talking like we’ve all done something to slight him, but he won’t ever say what it is, insisting that 'he knows' and he won’t elaborate when we ask. He seems to be going out of his way to incite negative reactions out of everyone in his life, daring us to punish him. When we try to be understanding he simply does something nasty to try to provoke us to anger, and he gets this incredibly satisfied look on his face and gets this creepy laugh.”
Tears began to come down her eyes. “Do you know how horrible it feels to have to rely on you for this? I’m his mother, but I can’t do a thing for him. My baby is hurting so badly, and whether I’m nice or mean it doesn’t seem to make a difference to him.” She slumped to the ground and began gently sobbing.
Fluttershy felt a tear come down her own eyes, kneeling down and nuzzling her. “There, there,” she said comfortingly. “Sometimes we just don’t have all the answers. That’s what our friends are for. I know I never would have come as far or learned as much as I did if my friends hadn’t been there for me to help me grow. And it’s simply not true that you can’t do anything. If that’s what you really thought then you wouldn’t be here talking to me.”
Cup Cake looked up at her, hiccupping in breaths.
“You said this started three days ago, right? I know that small children, especially boys, can go through rambunctious or rebellious phases, but what you said about him striking Pumpkin hard enough to leave bruises makes me think there was a definite trigger. Overprotective Pound wouldn’t just simply abandon his values for no reason.”
Cup Cake stood up on shaky hooves, shrugging. “We don’t know what started it. We went to the beach, the next day he went back to school. That night he was moody and fresh, a little more than usual, but we didn’t think much of it. The next morning is when he got into full monster mode, and he’s been in that state ever since. According to both his teachers and Pumpkin Pound was perfectly friendly the whole day, and seemed in good spirits. If it wasn’t something that happened at school, though, then I don’t know what it could be.
"We were trying to handle things on our own, but…” She sighed. “Well, you’re our last hope, Fluttershy. You’re the Element of Kindness, and Pound and Pumpkin trusted you enough that they relied on you when they ran away.” She looked thoroughly defeated, beyond any emotion.
Fluttershy nodded. “Unfortunately I can’t promise results. He may treat me just the same as the rest of you. However, I’ll do my very best to get through to him again.”
"Thank you," said Cup Cake, wiping her eyes as she gave Fluttershy a hug.
"No problem," she replied, hugging her back, before she let go and the two of them headed toward Sugarcube Corner.
So does anyone want to wager a guess what's eating at Pound? What does he "know?" 
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He's trying to get punished because of guilt over his past behavior, and is doubling down to make sure he's punished enough.
He knows Carrot Cake is not his real father! He's seen a pegasus around town with his colors.
6360738 I second this.
Also, Fluttershy to the rescue!
6360738 6360764
Nope!
That's not the reason.
This is going to be a four part arc. The second part of the story gives more clues as to his reasoning. By that point you may have enough to piece it together, but I'll just say there's a reason this chapter is happening when it is. That's the only clue I'm giving right now.
You'll have to wait until tomorrow or so for the next piece of the puzzle, and this time Fluttershy may not be the hero of the story
6360871 Fluttershy isn't the hero?! NOOOOOOO!!!
6361027 You'll understand, maybe, when the next chapter is up. Fluttershy technically does count, as she discovers the reason for his behavior. However, she knows that she's not the pony to help him, as she doesn't have the right experience to truly understand it.
6361102 Oh...well as long as she helps out.
6361123 I'm not sure how good this is gonna work out. Time will tell, but I think Fluttershy's section should have been with the first part because it seems kinda short and she's getting to the revelation too quick. I gotta put in a little filler, or maybe dump it with the first part and leave a highly visible authors note on part 2 to make people aware.
Since I can only bump a story once a day my interest tends to wane after posting a chapter, so maybe my inspiration will kick in later on and it will come out nice and long.
I don't know if I said this already, but I didn't plan for this chapter initially. I was supposed to start the Discord chapter. However, this idea came to me and seemed very significant in Pound's development and couldn't wait for Discord's chapter to be over, or the timing wouldn't make sense.
What happened? I mean I'm clueless, but for him to attack even his little sister like that it had to have been something to hurt his feelings pretty bad. And poor Cup Cake, I wanted to hug her so bad. I'm not a parent, but I know how it feels when a child you love is hurting and you can't figure out why.
6361312 Don't worry about it. Take your time.
6361591 Things will make a lot more sense next chapter, maybe. But it's not a coincidence he's acting this way, and the reasoning makes sense in child logic. This is a four part arc, and the next chapter will shed a little more light on things, although it's not until chapter 3 that the full explanation for his behavior is revealed. You might be able to piece things together with that new information, or maybe you'll have to wait until part 3. I know I'm usually not smart enough to figure things out but maybe you are.
Update: Next chapter is done and it will be posted tomorrow morning. (You can only bump a story once a day, so I want to wait to post it so it will get the most views.)
6361880 Next chapter will be up tomorrow. It's only a few paragraphs away from being done.
6362374 Yay!
I'm guessing something or someone is messing with his head. He was acting as though he'd been brainwashed or like he was experiencing some kind of schizophrenic behavior
Either he's under a mind-control spell or he's been replaced by a changeling or he found one of his parents' S&M magazines and decided to experiment.
Suspense now. this fic is soooooooooooooooooooo good
He's adopted
I am as clueless as his mother
But really the best opener ever!
I took my so much by surprise and horror and continued though out the whole chapter. I love how Cup cake confesed her motherly feelings to Fluttershy. Another great show of you character strength.
ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!
He didn't put on a pair of sunglasses that made the world look black and white did he? And some ponies look....different?
Overprotective is one word.
Mrs. Cake can be so mean sometimes.
Mrs. Cake is still mean!
Mrs. Cake is a very naughty mom. She is like Benson from Regular Show.
i.imgflip.com/wmigr.jpg
This is what would happen if Pound Cake screwed up even more. (Just a theory)
https://youtu.be/gwiIKl5d6uE
Here is Busy Afternoon.
8349353
She's not being mean. She's being a mother disciplining her child.
Now, if we might proceed with reading...
Hee-hee!.. At first it looks, as if Pound were possessed... Then it looks, as if his parents have messed up. But at any rate his behaviour looks mysterious and stumping...
That's all we'll say for now
...