• Published 5th Oct 2019
  • 5,307 Views, 171 Comments

Six Mean Ponies - Tangerine Blast



When Mean Twilight's plan goes sideways she has to balance keeping her sisters in line and discovering what she actually wants out of life

  • ...
5
 171
 5,307

A Glowing First Day of School

Evening’s eye twitched sporadically as she sat in Rarity’s Class of Generosity.

She actually had no idea what said Element of Generosity was teaching, standing up on a dress podium in the front of the class. Everypony else seemed absolutely enthralled with it, staring intently and engaging attentively with their teacher.

Evening, however, was distracted from the most likely fascinating lesson by a-

Splat!

Her eye twitched again and her ear got in on the act as a wet, sticky ball of paper and spit collided with the back of her neck. Two familiar voices giggled behind her.

She would not turn around and blast Pansy and Vanilla into a thousand pieces. Even if they wanted to behave like children, Evening wasn’t about to stoop to their level. Just grin and bear it. She was better than them.

They weren’t sitting at desks as Evening had expected. Instead, the classroom was arranged like a small theater in the round. Rarity’s podium sat in the center and the students could stand close up front and get hooves on experience or sit on the floor further back and watch more passively.

As Evening was sitting in the back, nothing was protecting her from getting a spitball right in the sensitive spot between her wings.

She barely contained her yelp as she spun around and grabbed the next spitball out of the air with her magic and glared death at the two trouble makers. “Stop.

Vanilla shrunk a miniscule amount behind Private Pansy, straw still in her mouth, as the Pegasus only smirked at the enraged, and soggy, Alicorn.

“Oh?” Pansy whispered back, leaning forward so as not to draw the rest of the class’s attention, “And what are you going to do if we don’t?”

Without a word, Evening magically plucked the straw from Vanilla’s mouth and, with a spell intended to be used on candles, lit the thing on fire. “I am not. Above. Revenge.”

She turned back around with an air of finality. There was a brief murmur behind her as Pansy scoffed and Vanilla grumbled how it was a boring game anyway but, at the very least, the spitballs had stopped.

“I didn’t think it was funny at all,” came a country twang accent directly to Evening’s side.

Evening let her eyes slide over to where Crispin was, of all things, writing notes, and squinted suspiciously at her.

“Are you mocking me?”

A smile tugged at Crispin’s lips and she raised her hoof high. “Hey, teach, what’s the best way ta get drool out of somethin’?”

Rarity stopped talking and most of the other ponies in the room turned to face her. No pony looked surprised by the question, or by who was asking it. No pony, except Rarity herself.

“...drool?” The Unicorn asked, squinting as if she couldn’t see Crispin from half a dozen feet away, “Why would you need to know that Crispin?”

Evening narrowed her eyes dangerously but the Earth Pony clone only shrugged her shoulders casually. “Ah got a baby at home and it keeps droolin’ in all my fur and feathers is’all. Since you’re the leadin’ expert on all things I figured you would know.”

There was a strange occurrence that was happening in the classroom that Evening had noticed since walking in. Not a single pony looked absolutely baffled by the clones’ presence and, worse yet, still didn’t react in confusion to the absolute applesauce Crispin was spilling. Some were even nodding in sympathy.

Evening would have assumed their… situation… had been explained to the students before hoof. But even ponies weren’t this nice to just roll with the dark magic infused clones in their midst. Besides, at a school for friendship, at least one brow should have been raised at the aggressive lie Crispin spat.

But no. The only pony in the room looking confused was Rarity herself and even she was trying to move right along like this was some sort of serious question and not just an excuse to embarrass Evening. “Well… um… Crispin dear, saliva can usually just be washed out with normal soap and water. As long as there isn’t any, erm, spit up then it shouldn’t leave a stain.”

Crispin nodded in a thoughtful manner. “Makes sense. Thank ya kindly.”

Rarity nodded back and quickly resumed her lecture. “Now where was I… oh yes! To divide generosity by-”

“Oh, Mrs Teacher,” Crispin quickly interjected, not even bothering to raise her hoof this time, “Evenin’ has to go to the potty.”

Death. Crispin had chosen death.

“Arlight,” Rarity answered, seeming to be going more confidently with Crispin’s bull, “It’s just down the hall. Do you need somepony to show you…”

Her voice trailed off as she got a good look at Evening’s unamused face glaring back at her.

“On second thought, why don’t you-”

“Oh! Oh, I can take her Mrs Rarity.” A tiny little pink hoof shot out from the crowd and waved enthusiastically.

Rarity bit her lip as her eyes flicked from the eager hoof to Evening’s face and to the rest of the students. “Perhaps…”

“Please? I want to help our new students.”

Rarity’s resolve faltered because she was weak. Weak and not willing to save Evening from an incredibly embarrassing fate. “...very well. Just be quick about it, arlight?”

“Of course!” The little pony chirped sugar-sweet-like and got up to trot out of the room.

Evening, with all eyes currently on her, and a gross feeling mane anyway, had no choice but to follow. At the very least she could escape the rambling coming from Rarity for a few minutes.

Though the pony she was now stuck with obviously wasn’t any better. Her hair was curled immaculately with a little ribbon tied into it. Truly, she looked like a living doll.

“I saw what you did back there,” the pony said in a sugary sweet voice that made Evening gag a little bit, “Threatening your friends like that.”

“They aren’t my friends,” Evening shot snippily but bit off the rest as the tone of what the filly had said, more than the words, caught up to her. The tiny little doll-like pony wasn’t scolding her, or nervous, or even worried. She had sounded… impressed? Excited?

Evening glared suspiciously at that wide, innocent smile, “What’s it to you?”

“Oh ~nothing~,” the pony sing-songed, “I’m Cozy Glow, by the way. You’re… Evening Star right?”

“Yes.” Evening kept her words short now. Based on that sudden topic shift, Cozy was definitely trying to steer the conversation in a particular direction and, while Evening had no idea for what, she at least could sense an agenda when it was presented to her. Someone trying to control her. “They announced it during class. Gold star to you.”

“Mmmhm,” Cozy simply hummed happily, as if she had already won, “But they didn’t announce where you came from. I’m sure everypony here just assumes you’re more changeling exchange students.”

“And you don’t,” Evening said bluntly.

Cozy’s little wings buzzed to life as she flew up to hover in front of Evening. “Oh no, I know that you’re all clones made with the one goal of destroying the Elements of Harmony.”

Again there was no fear. Just absolute giddy excitement. “Starlight Glimmer, actually, but that is more or less correct.” Evening wasn’t going to question how Cozy knew that. She assumed the filly would just take it as a chance to gloat. Instead, she leaned forward until she was pressed nose to nose with Cozy. “Again. What’s it to you?”

Cozy simply smiled, no longer sugary sweet, but instead malicious and predatory. She pressed a tiny hoof to Evening’s cheek and looked deep in her eyes. “You seem to be the only competent one of your little group. I can help you get the vengeance you so rightly deserve.”

Evening snorted and brushed her hoof away as she moved past the hovering filly. “Thanks but no thanks. The ‘vengeance’ that I’m after isn’t even mine in the first place.”

“Well, what if I could get you out of here?” Cozy called after her, “Free you from this stinking prison they call a school. No worry about any pony dismantling you. No masters. Just the sweet freedom that comes from being the most powerful creature around.”

Evening stopped. That was… more interesting. Slowly, she turned back around until she once again faced the little Pegasus still in the air. “How? How is a normal filly going to defeat the Elements of Harmony?”

Cozy’s grin sent a shiver down Evening’s spine. “Have you ever heard of a demon called Tirek?”

***

They went back to class.

Which was infuriating as it was boring. Cozy promised to explain her entire plan to Evening after the class which, if they were caught ditching, would cast them in increasing suspicion. Evening had agreed the plan was sound but that didn’t make it any more frustrating.

Despite her best efforts, she was immensely curious as to what Cozy’s grand plan was and how this Tirek creature was supposed to help with it. Evening didn’t trust the filly, not by a long shot, but if she had some way to make the Elements powerless… well, that would solve a good deal of Evening’s problems.

She waited patiently as Rarity went on about giving and the meaning of Hearth’s Warming or some other tedious drabble like that. Evening took notes, of course, but that was more habit left over from Twilight Sparkle than anything else. The only other noticeable thing to happen was when Evening smacked Parade awake before Rarity could see the Pegasus dozing off.

After forty-five long, grueling, minutes the class was finally over and the other students started to pack up their materials. Evening gave her already memorized notes to Infinity, who stuffed them in a bag that she had obtained somewhere, and weaved her way between the other students and towards the door.

She had just made it out of the throng when she was halted by an unstoppable force.

“Hey, Evening! How was your first class? Did you love it?”

Evening groaned internally as she turned to address the bundle of questions that was Pinkie Pie. She could just see Cozy Glow disappear around the corner. Hopefully, the filly wouldn’t think Evening was backing out if she was a few minutes late.

“Hello, Pinkie, class was fine,” she said shortly, changing direction so she wouldn’t get trampled by the other students but still be able to casually talk to Pinkie, who was now right at her side.

“Aww,” Pinkie said, poking Evening in the cheek, “that doesn’t sound fine. That sounds like a grumpy time.”

Evening forced herself to relax her shoulders. She didn’t not like Pinkie’s presence, after all, she just had something much more pressing to get to. “If you have to know I found the lecture boring and the students…” She shot a glare at Pansy who was passing by, only to get a tongue stuck out at her in response, “... detestable.”

Pinkie tilted her head and raised a single eyebrow. “Did you even talk to anyone else but your sisters? This is a school of friendship! You gotta try to make friends to make friends, silly.”

“I talked to a pony,” Evening corrected, “I just don’t enjoy the lecture aspect of ‘making friends’. Seems like a counterproductive way to teach morality.”

Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Well, looks like somepony wasn’t engaging. Cause I’ve been to Rarity’s class before and it’s way fun if you sit up front and listen. It’s weird you didn’t have fun ‘cause Twilight pretty much loves school work.”

Evening frowned and gave out an involuntary huff. “Well, I’m not Twilight Sparkle. So it hardly matters.”

“You’re right,” Pinkie said, wrapping Evening’s front leg with her own in a sort of half-hug, “Sorry for implying otherwise. Twilight’s been grumpy too so she’s on my mind. Hopefully her trip will calm her right down.”

“Trip?” Evening asked, not reciprocating the hug but also not pulling away, “What trip?”

“Oh,” Pinkie said distractedly, waving back to a few students who greeted her as they walked past, “Twilight’s been, like, freaking out lately so I suggested she go visit her brother and sister-in-law for some R and R.”

Evening’s brow furrowed. “Really? Even with us just integrating into her school?” She snorted. “She must underestimate us more than I ever imagined.”

Pinkie jabbed her in the side. “Nuh uh! She trusts you, silly. And so do I! Even if that dumb Neighsay or some other bad guy attacks while she’s not here I know you’ll help us.”

Evening patted her on the head. “You’re a flatterer, you know that?”

Pinkie only giggled in response. “Is it working?”

“Hello Professor,” came a sweet voice from the other side of Pinkie.

“Oh, hi again Cozy,” Pinkie said, turning to where the little filly was standing, gazing up at her with her default big eyes and adorable smile, “Gee, I keep running into you today, huh?”

“Seems that way,” Cozy replied with fake cheer. Her eyes flicked to Evening and, somehow without twitching a muscle, her gaze got darker. But just as fast she put the cheer back on and beamed back up at Pinkie Pie, “May I borrow the new student for a little bit? Miss Rarity gave us a homework assignment and I’d just love for her to be my partner on it.”

“Awww,” Pinkie cooed, ruffling Cozy’s mane, “That’s so sweet of you! I’m sure Evening would love to be partners with you. Wouldn’t you, Evening?”

Pinkie turned and blinked innocently at Evening. It was almost funny, partially because Pinkie was just trying to be funny, but also because of how much of a poor parody her expression was to Cozy’s truly manipulative one.

Evening rolled her eyes at the both of them and stepped forward to follow Cozy. “Fine. Since it seems I’m being ganged up on here.”

“Oh golly!” Cozy said, and Evening withheld a wince at how forced the phrase sounded, “I can’t wait to get to know you, Evening. I bet we’re going to have so much fun together.”

If Pinkie noticed how thick Cozy was putting on the sugar she did not comment on it. “Okie dokie loki! You two have fun then.”

She waved them off and was almost immediately snatched up by another student wanting her attention. Leaving Evening Star and Cozy Glow essentially alone in the crowd.

“What an idiot,” Cozy said, just loud enough for Evening to hear, before turning around and buzzing back the way she had come, “Come on. We should go someplace private to talk about our project.”

Evening took one last glance at Pinkie before following Cozy through the crowd.

***

The filly led her to the library, which was full to the brim of studying students, and over to one of the closed-off, soundproof, study areas.

“Okay, we can talk freely in here.”

Evening looked around the room. The wall facing the rest of the library was see-through glass but she could detect a subtle spell around it that would most likely block out any sound coming in or out.

“Seems really dumb of them to just have these avaliable,” Evening remarked as she sat on one of the chairs around the plain wooden table.

“They think we’re all good little students using them for study reasons,” Cozy cooed, making her voice even more sickly sweet than usual. Almost immediately, however, she dropped the act and gave Evening a cold, calculated look as she took the chair opposite. “So, let’s talk, shall we?”

“Yes,” Evening agreed, “About this ‘Tirek’ of yours. I recall him being a very powerful demon currently locked away in tartarus. What does he have to do with a little filly like you?”

Cozy tapped her hooves together. “Let’s just say I know ponies who can get me what I want and he is very interested in my plan.”

Evening’s brow furrowed and she sat up straighter. “Are you implying that you have contact with a demon.”

The filly giggled condescending. “He loves writing letters. Apparently it’s pretty boring down there.”

Evening’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “For what purpose are you doing this? Surely you’re not stupid enough to try and break him out. He’ll kill you the first chance he gets.”

Cozy waved a hoof dismissively and leaned forward, pressing her front hooves together. “Of course not. But he has given me some interesting information about magical properties that they just don’t teach ya’ in school.” Her smile grew sharp. Sharp and hungry. “Powering down the elements is actually a lot simpler than ya might think.”

Evening scoffed. “Please. If Tirek had a way to just render the Elements of Harmony useless he wouldn’t be rotting in a cell.” She stood up and turned away. “He’s obviously just lying to you so you’ll help free him. This is a waste of time.”

“Have you heard of the theory of Ethereal Dissonance?”

Evening glanced over her shoulder with bored, half-lidded eyes. “Of course. That’s the magical principle behind counterspells. You throw magic of the same ethereal frequency onto a spell and they’ll both cancel each other out, leaving no magic left at all.” She turned around just to loom over the filly. “But the Elements of Harmony are the most magical artifacts in the world. They’re connected to Equestia itself. To cancel them out you’d practically have to dissonance all of Equestria at once.”

Cozy’s cheeky grin only grew, seeming as if it would burst off of her face.

Evening’s eyes narrowed. “Which is obviously impossible.”

“Is it?” Cozy could not keep the glee out of her voice.

“Tirek does not have that much power.”

“No,” Cozy easily agreed. “But six other artifacts all charged with Harmony and the magic of the other species just might.”

Evening snorted. That was ludicrous. There was no way they could… but if theoretically… the Element’s were ancient… so were the other species’ magic… but how would…

She had sat back down at some point. “Say you had these artifacts. And this crazy scheme did work. How would you even ‘infuse them with Harmony’. That sounds like nonsense.”

“Well, you see, that’s where you come in,” Cozy leaned forward even more so almost her entire body was on the table, grinning up at Evening with eager eyes. “I need someone who knows magic, really knows magic, and also knows the Elements of Harmony to figure out the best, and most inconspicuous way of super charging these artifacts. I’m just a Pegasus filly, that’s why I was getting Tirek’s help. But with you? Oh, we could do so much more.

Evening fluffed her wings subconsciously and sat up straighter. “I do know about magic. And with something with this much power… it could get dangerous for a little filly to handle alone…”

Cozy’s face twitched, just a bit, before it smoothed back out and she nodded. “Oh yes, that’s a good idea. We wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt after all. That’s why we aren’t trusting Tirek completely.”

“Smart thinking,” Evening muttered as her face became contemplative, “But taking away the magic ability of everyone in Equestria would still pose a problem. Celestia and Luna couldn’t move the sun and I don’t know about you but I can’t survive without sunlight.”

“Oh, don’t worry about something like that,” Cozy said dismissively, “The spell has a range that slowly expands and even at its biggest it doesn’t stretch around the whole world. They’ll find someplace to keep everything working while we sit safe and free. Forever.”

“Good,” Evening smirked as something occurred to her and she shook her head, “Seems like you didn’t think this fully through, however. If the range expands slowly then the Bearers will certainly find out about your scheme before the device pushes the Elements out of range.”

Cozy giggled. Evilly. Evening didn’t know you could do that. “Oh don’t worry about ~that~,” she said in a sing-song type voice. “We just have to blame the whole thing on Tirek.”

Evening raised a brow skeptically. “And you think them combing the town for a demon centar won’t cause them to stumble upon your rune circle?”

“I’m not stupid enough to leave them to their own devices,” Cozy said, a scowl slipping onto her face, “The spell will take away their magic but knowing their history they’ll manage to mess everything anway. No, we get rid of them before we finish. Permanently.”

“What?” Evening said with a start, her heart clenching in worry. Cozy raised a brow at her, however, and the clone quickly schooled her features and continued. “...do you mean? What do you mean, by that? Certainly you couldn’t...”

“That’s the genius of blaming Tirek,” Cozy said, either missing or ignoring Evening’s sputtering, “They’ll go to find him. And once they get to Tartarus and see he’s still there enough magic in the world will be gone that they won’t be able to open the gates back up.” She giggled again and that giggle turned into a chuckle and then a full-on evil cackle. “They’ll be trapped there with him! Forever! Or at least until they get weak enough for Tirek to finish them off for good.”

“No!” Evening said forcefully, cutting the filly off mid-cackle. Her insides rolled at the thought of what Cozy was suggesting. Of course, they needed to get the Elements out of the way, there was no question of that, but… this? Locking them away in Tartarus to the mercy of a demon? Evening couldn’t do that. That wouldn’t make her any better than Chrysalis for one thing and for the other she just… couldn’t. She couldn’t do that.

But she couldn’t let the sadistic little foal know that either.

“That’s a stupid plan,” Evening said with a haughty snort, rolling her eyes for good measure, “There are only a dozen factors you didn’t consider.”

“Oh?” Cozy asked and while her voice was still conversational her eyes were narrowed. Like she was trying to pierce through Evening’s words to their ulterior meaning. “And what would those be?”

Evening didn’t let the disturbing look get to her. She tapped her hoof to her chin and hummed, making sure Cozy understood she was mocking her. “Well, let me think. What do you think would happen if your plan doesn’t work out exactly how you envision it?”

“And why,” Cozy asked, sugar and malice dripping from her voice in equal parts, “Wouldn’t it work? If someone decided they wanted to tattle...”

Evening dropped her false cockiness to be replaced by very real irritation. “I’m not going to betray you, idiot. I believe most of this scheme has a very real chance to succeed and I do want to help you with it. But only a fool would go into something so risky without a backup plan.”

“Hmm,” Cozy hummed, mimicking Evening just moments before, “I would think locking our biggest threats in an inescapable prison is a pretty solid backup plan.”

“And what if they get out?” Evening fired back, spreading her front hooves out in a sweeping gesture, “Imagine they somehow escape and now know you were working with one of the most notorious villains they’ve ever faced. You’d be hunted by everypony in Equestria. And then there’s the problem of Tirek himself. Tell me, did he, perhaps, suggest this plan to you?”

Cozy frowned. But whether in thought or from irritation, Evening couldn’t tell. “You think Tirek has some ulterior motive?”

“He’s a demon, kid.”

“Then what would you suggest?” Cozy asked, crossing her hooves in front of her and eyeing Evening with a squint. “How do I get the Friendship Buddies out of my mane without playing to the whims of Tirek or letting them know I was responsible the whole time?”

Evening grinned. To her, the answer was obvious, “Just send them away, to the far corners of Equestria.”

“Oh, great idea!” Cozy put back on her false smile and big eyes, “I’ll just send them a letter that says ‘get out of town’ and then all my troubles will be solved! Golly, why didn’t I think of that?”

“I think you’re underestimating just how easy this will actually be,” Evening pushed on, ignoring Cozy’s mocking words, “I happen to know that Princess Twilight Sparkle will be leaving the country for a few weeks to get a little bit of a vacation. The rest of them have friends scattered all across the world that could theoretically need their assistance. Not to mention that map thing that sends them running off at the drop of a hat.”

Cozy’s smile had dropped during the explanation, not into a sneer, but instead into a thoughtful half-smirk. “That… hmm… that honestly could work. If the plan somehow doesn’t succeed they come back knowing nothing even happened in the first place…” She turned her attention back to Evening with a grin, “I knew coming to you was the right idea. This partnership is going to go… splendidly.”

Evening tried not to preen at the words, even though they were completely true. “When shall we meet again?”

Cozy waved a hoof dismissively, “Oh, we don’t need to worry about that. As long as we pretend we’re Best Friends they’ll be happy to let us go off on our own whenever we want to. These ponies are really stupid.”

Author's Note:

Man going to Everfree Northwest really jumpstarted my desire to write again!