The Magnificent Six

by Paradise Oasis

Third Lesson- Decisions

Third Lesson- Decisions

"They'd better not be late!" Wingsong grumbled, tapping her hoof impatiently. "I do so hate to be kept waiting!"

The flutter pony noble was waiting at Dr. Puff's apothecary, out at the far edge of Flutter Valley. Two of her followers, the flutter mares Pink Dreams and Wind Drifter, were busy mixing up some kind of strange concoction while Wingsong stood out at the entrance to the large tree house.

"I should've known they'd never find-" she started, but was quickly cut off the approaching wings. Two large, yellow insectoids with black stripes and four arms landed on the apothecary veranda. The female had a small crown and a crop of blonde hair, while the smaller male wore an aviator's hat and goggles.

"Ahhh, Queen Bumble! Pointer!" Wingsong bowed to her guests. "I've been expecting you. Please, do come in!"

"I trust everything is in order, Wingsong?" the obese humanoid bee asked the traitorous equine. "I have prepared my armies to invade the rest of Ponyland, as we had agreed!"

"Oh, but it is, my good queen," Wingsong replied, motioning for the two of them to follow her inside. "As we agreed, you and your hive will get Flutter Valley and the sunstone, in exchange for eliminating the other herds of inferior ponies!"

"My only question is, how is our one little herd of bees supposed to eliminate all of those unicorns, pegasus, and earth ponies?" Pointer asked, his antenna quivering. "With all of that magic, strength, and flying ability... any one of those pony herd could easily defeat us."

As Wingsong motioned the two insectoids over to the large cauldron her lackeys were working over, the two flutter mares turned to face queen bumble. The ponies had air filtration masks covering their mouths, and Wingsong was slipped over her face as well.

"Ahhh, that's where our plans here come in!" Pink Dreams, an aqua colored mare with a strawberry pink mane, spoke up. "This mixture you see here before you is a compound made from the petals of the heart's desire flower."

"We've weaponized the flower's nectar into a spreadable curse, one that will spread cutie pox to every mare and stallion in Ponyland!" Wind Drifter, the yellow mare with a green mane, added. "They'll be in such a weakened and frenzied state from all of those cutie marks, you and your bees will easily slay them!"

"A clever idea!" the queen agreed. "But how do you intend to infect the other pony herds?"

"And... could that stuff harm us?" Pointer asked, realizing they didn't have any masks on.

"Relax! The plague is entirely harmless to non-ponies!" Pink Dreams told them. "This batch is being prepared for a young prince that we are about to return to Bight Valley!"

"He will unwittingly carry this skurge back to his herd, and it will spread to all of Ponyland from there!" Wind Drifter finished. "A weakened Ponykind will be yours for the killing!"

"And what does your queen think of this entire plan?" Queen Bumble asked. "Does she approve of such a radical and heartless act?"

"Rosedust need not be made aware of these matters, my dear Bumble," Pink Dreams assured her. "She has enough matters on her plate to trouble her as it is!"

"All you need to concern yourself with is making sure those ponies die on your stingers," Wind Drifter agreed. "Just think of all the flowers and nectar your hive will have once Flutter Valley is yours!"

"Trust me, my good queen," Wingsong smiled at her guest, "when all is said and done, Rosedust will greatly praise you for your work!"

...

The four mares came galloping into Flutter City, unicorn horns glowing, and earth ponies ready to charge.

"Beat it, ya glass winged wierdoes!" As the Flutter ponies tried to approach, Firefly dove at each of them one at a time, driving them back into their tree houses. "Stay away from my friends!"

"Stay back, all of you!" Glory warned, ready to zap any pony that got too close to the group. "We don't want to hurt anybody, we just want our friend Posey back!"

The flutter ponies swarmed around through the trees, staring and scowling at the intruders. As soon as they spotted Morning Glory and Honeysuckle with the intruders, whispers of 'traitor' and 'betrayer' went up from some of them.

"Be careful, girls!" Applejack warned. "There's no telling what these flutters might do!"

"We should be all right!" Glory told her. "Flutter ponies aren't extremely dangerous... so long as you don't make any sudden moves!"

"Stop it, everybody!" Honeysuckle called out. "These fillies are the victims of Wingsong's treachery! They only want to rescue their friend!"

"I was wrong to take Posey from her herd!" Morning Glory called out. "We need to let Fluttershy's descendant go!"

"What in the world is going on out here?" Tropical Breezes flew out with an annoyed look on her face. "Girls, why have you brought these outsiders to our kingdom?"

"They were on their way here on their own, Lady Breezes!" Morning Glory told her. "Wingsong tricked the Windy Wing squadron into ambushing them without the queen's permission!"

"She did what?" Tropical Breezes ears suddenly perked up as she heard the name of her longtime rival at court. "Why that slimy little bi-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, your grace..." Twilight Shine interrupted, stepping forward. "...but I am Twilight Shine of Dream Valley, and we've come here to rescue our friend!"

"Dream Valley, you say?" the flutter mare asked, landing next to them. "It's been many years since I've heard that name! How's that old buzzard Majesty doing these days?"

"You've been to Dream Castle?" Glory asked, astonished. "And you know Queen Majesty?"

"She and our queen once competed for the love of a young stallion," the flutter mare sighed. "But that was a long, long time ago!"

"Look, I don't mean to interrupt..." Firefly snorted. "...but we came here to get Posey outta here!"

Tropical Breezes stood and thought for a moment before nodding. "I was against this whole kidnapping plan in the first place. I'll take you to the queen at once... though don't expect a warm welcome."

"Then lead on, lady Breezes," Glory told her. "We shall be happy to speak with your fair monarch."

As the four ponies followed their flutter host, Applejack suddenly stopped and looked around. "Hey, has anybody seen Surprise? I coulda swore she was just behind us."

"Aw, I think we lost her back when we were galloping into town!" Firefly snorted, flying after the flutter ponies. "You know her, AJ. She's probably off banging her head into a wall somewhere!"

...

"Wheeeee! This is fun!"

Surprise was skimming along the surface of a river, using her flapping wings to propel herself along like a motor boat. The little white filly always knew how to find a good time, even when things were at their dullest! And she just knew this river would be perfect for waterskiing on top of as soon as she saw it!

Wasn't there something else she was supposed to be doing? Surprise tried to remember, but thinking about stuff like that always made her head hurt. Instead, she thought about how she could dive into the river and pretend she was a sea monster- that'd get a scare out of that old sourpuss Firefly!

"Yaaaay I win again!" she squealed as she raced to the bend in the river for the seventeenth time. "But then I always win! Awwwww, it's no fun always racing by yourself!"

"Then lemme race with you!" a small dark pink shape suddenly zoomed out from the bush, zipping across the top of the water on a pair of fluttery wings, zooming past a surprised Surprise.

"Yay! I win now!" a little foal with butterfly wings and a white mane giggled. "Wanna race again?"

"What? Huh?" The puzzled and perplexed pegasus pony asked. "Who the heck are you?"

"My name's Lady Flutter!" the child with a ladybug cutie mark replied. "And I'm the princess of happy occasions! Wanna go with me to the princess of ladybug's tea party?"

"The queen of Ladybugs?" Surprise asked the playful flutter pony incredulously. The pink teenage filly stared at Lady Flutter for a moment, before suddenly breaking out in a big grin. "Sure! Lead the way!"

The two little foals -one in actuality, and one in spirit- went skipping off down the river together, laughing and smiling without a care in the world.

....

It wasn't long before the group found themselves in front of Queen Rosedust's throne in the center of the great sunstone megalith. After speaking to Morning Glory and Honeysuckle in private, the Queen granted an audience to the four outsider ponies.

"Your highness, may I present the Harmony Bearers, led by Twilight Shine of Dream Castle," Tropical Breezes announced. "They are here to speak on Lady Starry Wing's behalf!"

"Lady Starry Wings? Do they mean Posey?" Applejack scoffed before Twilight quickly shushed her.

"Dream Castle?" Rosedust replied wistfully. "Did Queen Majesty send you here?"

"No, your highness." Twilight replied simply. "We've come to take our friend home, as she was taken from us by your flutter ponies."

"And why should she return her to you, inferior ponies who could not properly care for her?" the queen scoffed, staring at the ponies besides Twilight with disdain. "You were the ones who let her get kidnapped in the first place, after all!"

"Hey! Watch yer tongue, ya royal bozo!" Firefly snorted, flying practically up into the queen's face. "We may not have fluttery glass wings, but we're every bit as good of ponies as you and yer subjects are!"

"We are so sorry we wern't there to save Posey," Glory lamented, pawing at the ground. "And we want to do everything we can to help her now!"

"Posey is our dear friend," Applejack explained, "and we'll do anything we can to help her!"

"Because we know she'd do the same for us if we were in the same situation!" Twilight finished.

"So ya better give her back, if ya know what's good for ya!" Firefly eyed the queen darkly. "Ya got it?"

The queen looked over the four friends, then slowly nodded.

"Spoken like a true group of friends!" Queen Rosedust replied proudly. "We shall ask good Posey what she desires... and check to see if these accusations against Lady Wingsong are true."

"Your majesty, certainly you're not going to listen to these fools!" a large yellow apodian came buzzing up, scowling at the four harmony bearers. "Lady Wingsong has ever been a friend and ally to Queen Bumble's hive, as we have been friends with the ponies of Flutter Valley! Surely you will not take their word over ours!"

"Hey, who's the bug?" Firefly asked, zipping up to glare at the apodian.

"My name is Sting, pegasus! And I speak for my hive!" the bee man snapped, crossing both sets of his arms. "And I say let miss Posey decide what she wants for herself!"

"Hey, why don't you go buzz off?" Applejack snorted, scowling at the apodian. "This is pony business, and really doesn't concern an insect."

"This most certainly does concern us!" the apodian with the mohawk-like antenna snapped. "We have shared this valley with the flutter ponies for generations, pollinating the flowers, and making honey we freely shared with the flutter ponies!"

"So you're pony friends, just like the humans and elves are?" Firefly grumbled. "That still doesn't give you any say on the subject of our friend, thorax butt!"

"Stupid filly, I should have your head for a trophy!" Sting took a fighting stance towards the earth pony, but Rosedust suddenly spoke up.

"Sir Sting, one act of violence against these ponies, and I'll have you thrown from my court!" the queen glared at him, standing up from her throne. "Now, call forth Lady Starry Wings."

Two of the guards left and came back with a yellow filly with butterfly wings and a crescent moon cutie mark. The sleepy-eyed filly looked over the proceedings with a detached disinterest.

"Posey, is that you?" Twilight asked, dumbfounded.

"Great horsemaster... what have they done to you?" Aa horrified Glory whinnied.

"Hi, my name is Starry Wings." the filly replied with a glazed look in her eyes. "I’m really happy being a flutter pony..."

"W-what is the meaning of this? Where did those wings come from?" Rosedust hissed. "Someone get Wingsong in here, at once!"

"You didn't know about this?" a surprised Applejack asked.

"Of course not!" Queen Rosedust replied, her face growing darker. "This is an outrage!"

"Wingsong and the bugs must be controlling her mind!" Firefly hissed, flying up at Sting menacingly. "You let go of our Posey right now, bug! Ya hear?"

"Get out of my face, nag!" the bee hissed, diving at Firefly with his stinger. The pink Pegasus jumped out of the way, and tackled the bee, biting his arm.

"AGRAHHHHH! GET OFF!" Sting grabbed the filly with his four arms and threw her off. "Lousy nag, I'll make you pay for that!"

"Stop it, you two!" Rosedust commanded, stamping her hoof. "Stop it right now!"

Firefly flew back at Sting, who looped around and quickly got behind her. Unsheathing his stinger, the apodian went straight for the kill.

"Firefly, look out!" Twilight yelled. The Pegasus tried to zip out of the way... but was skewered straight through the wing by the bee's poisonous barb.

"Aieeeee!" The filly shrieked tumbling to the ground.

"Firefly!" Glory yelled, snarling up at the insect. "Why you filthy bug, HOW DARE YOU!"

"End of the road, girl!" Sting gloated, diving straight down at the writhing Pegasus. But before he could get there, an orange earth filly spun and kicked him away from his intended victim.

"Argh! Stupid pony!" Sting yelled as AJ sent him tumbling over. "I'm gonna kill ya-AHHHHHHHHHH!"

No one saw Glory charge the distracted bee. No one saw the energy blade form around her horn. But as the filly's head made contact with Sting's face, the horn blade speared the apodian like a fish. He let out an insane howl, as black blood squirted all over his face.

"GHRRAAAAHHH! MY EYE!" Sting screamed grasping at the left side of his head. "THAT PONY BLINDED ME!"

Twilight moved to protect the injured filly as Glory stared down at the wounded apodian.

"I-I didn't mean to..." she sputtered out, staring down at the insect warrior. "I just saw him hurt Firefly..."

"Guards, arrest them!" Rosedust commanded as the flutter guards poured into the room.

"Uh oh, girls..." Twilight exclaimed, looking around at the angry flutters. "I think we're in trouble..."

Comments

[Styrofoam]

What? That escalated quickly. First the genocide plot, and now they get arrested... Oh, Firefly! You always fly off the handle!

[Pinklestia]

these fillies are way more violent than the mane six...

[Leave a Whisper]

uh oh