Spreding the Hate
It was a quiet night in Ponyville. The moon was full and the stars were bright as every pony was snug in their beds. Well, almost every pony.
In the center of town, a blue unicorn with a white silk mane eyed the homes and other buildings that surrounded her. Then an evil smirk appeared on the unicorn’s face as her horn began to glow a dark red. Then a huge cloud of purple smoke came out of the horn and spread it’s way through the town as it seeped through every window and went under every door.
“And now,” said the unicorn, “I just have to sit back and watch the fun.”
She then let out a small sinister chuckle as she walked away.
The next morning, Twilight Sparkle awoke and let out a big yawn as she got out of bed. As she went to her mirror and started brushing her mane, she could hear a quiet snoring sound coming from behind her. She turned around and saw Spike still fast asleep in his little bed, snoring away.
“C’mon Spike, rise and shine,” said Twilight as she gave her little assistant a gentle tap on the head, but Spike replied by letting out a big groan and pulling his blanket over his head.
Twilight then remembered how hard Spike worked the other day, helping her re-shelve every book in her library and writing up her to do list for the next day. He was so exhausted from this chore that he fell asleep on the floor and Twilight had to carry him to his bed. Twilight decided to let Spike sleep a little while longer and she would do her morning errands by herself.
Twilight walked up to her desk and saw the to do list Spike had written up and read the first item:
1. Pick up oatmeal cookies at Sugarcube Corner.
Twilight licked her lips after reading this. Oatmeal cookies were her favourite thing to snack on while she did her studying. So she used her magic to place her saddle bag onto her waist and placed the list inside it. She also put in her writing quill, so she could check of the stuff on the list, and walked out the door.
As she walked down Ponyville, Twilight noticed Big Macintosh pulling a huge cart filled with stocks of hay. Twilight waved at him and gave him a friendly hello. But when Big Mac looked at her, Twilight noticed that he started moving pretty fast. Twilight assumed that he was in a hurry to get the hay stocks back to the farm, but then saw that he was running right towards her. Twilight quickly jumped out of the way as Big Mac ran right past her.
Twilight was a bit shocked at what just happened. Not only because she almost became a pony pancake, but she remembered Big Mac’s face when he was running towards her. It was kind of like a look of anger and hatred, almost like he was deliberately trying to run her over. But Twilight couldn’t believe that because Big Mac was one of the nicest ponies she knew and simply came to the conclusion that he was in such a rush to get home, he didn’t see her.
Twilight continued her walk towards Suagrcube Corner when she saw Applejack attending one of her apple stands and decided to go say hi to her.
“Hey Applejack,” she said, “how are you doing?”
“Good,” said Applejack in a quiet tone.
Twilight wasn’t really expecting Applejack to talk like that. Usually, the farm pony was always happy and cheery when she and Twilight talked.
“Uh, that’s good,” Twilight said, “listen, I hate to be a burden, but could you please tell Big Macintosh to be careful when he delivers hay? I just saw him a few seconds ago, and he almost ran me over with his cart.”
When Applejack heard that, she looked at Twilight with an extremely angry look.
“How dare you talk about my brother like that” Applejack said furiously, “he knows what he’s doing when it comes to delivering hay and other supplies! You were probably in his way!
“I’m sorry, AJ” said Twilight, a bit stunned at Applejack’s tone, “I didn’t mean to sound insensitive.”
“You never did like my brother,” said Applejack, “you probably think he’s a big dummy, just because he lives on a farm! In fact, you probably think that about my whole family!”
“What?!” Twilight said, “I would never….
“Get out of my sight,” Applejack interrupted.
Twilight tried to say something but Apple jack just told her to get lost, so she walked away without saying a word.
Twilight couldn’t believe that Applejack would talk to her like that. She knew Applejack cared about her family, but she didn’t think that she was so sensitive about it. Twilight then just assumed that Applejack was probably frustrated because she probably didn’t sell any apples and continued on her walk.
Twilight finally made her way to Sugarcube corner. When she went in, she saw the Cake twins, Pound and Pumpkin, playing with their blocks on the ground. Twilight then walked up to the front counter where Mrs. Cake was standing.
“Good morning, Mrs. Cake,” said Twilight, “one batch of your freshest oatmeal cookies, please.”
“Very well,” said Mrs. Cake, who instead of her normal cheerful self, sounded a bit annoyed as she walked into the kitchen.
Twilight then looked at the twins, who were now starring at her, and smiled at them. But the twins didn’t smile back, they frowned at Twilight. And before Twilight knew it, Pound picked up one of the blocks and threw it right at her, hitting her in the forehead. Twilight let out a small shout of pain and started rubbing the place she got hit. At that moment, the twins started crying. Mrs. Cake then came out of the kitchen, with a box wrapped around her tail, as she ran to her children and picked them up.
“What did you do to my little ones?” Mrs. Cake asked Twilight.
“What did I do?” asked Twilight, a bit angry, “I didn’t do anything. I was just smiling at the twins and then Pound threw a block at my head.”
“How dare you talk about my babies like that?” Mrs. Cake said angrily
She then took the box she was holding with her tail and shoved in Twilight’s face.
“Take your order and get out of here,” she said.
Twilight didn’t say anything. She just used her magic to place the box into her saddle bag and left the bakery.
As she walked away from Suagrcube Corner, Twilight was still a bit shocked at what just happened. She never saw Mrs. Cake that mad before, and she also wondered why the twins acted the way they did. They were usually cheerful babies.
At that moment, Twilight’s stomach started grumbling. She then remembered the cookies she just bought and decided to have a few. She used her magic to take the box out of her bag and open it up. Her mouth started to water a bit as she eyed all of the fresh cookies. She levitated one of them in the air and was about to take a bite when something flew right into her and she fell flat on her side. As she got up she saw that the thing that hit her was Rainbow Dash, who was probably practicing another one of her flying stunts. Twilight then saw that all of her cookies were in a big puddle and were completely soaked.
“Rainbow,” Twilight said angrily, “why don’t you watch where you’re going?”
“Why don’t you look where you’re walking?” Rainbow Dash snapped back as she flew back up into the sky.
Twilight wasn’t too surprised that Rainbow Dash snapped at her like that. She thought that she was just frustrated that her stunt didn’t work out too good.
But Twilight then took another look at the wet cookies. She held one in her hoof and was disgusted on how soggy it felt. Twilight thought about going back to Suagrcube Corner to get another batch, but then remembered what happened with Mrs. Cake and decided on not going back.
She then took out her list and checked off the first thing on it and looked at the next item:
2. Go borrow chalk from the school.
Twilight remembered that she ran out of chalk for her blackboard back at the library and she always went to the school for some more. They always had a big supply of chalk and Cheerilee was more than happy to share it.
She made her way to the school and knocked on the door and Cheerilee answered.
“Hi Cheerilee,” said Twilight, “I was wondering if I could burrow some more chalk.”
“Oh, of course. Why else would you be here?” Cheerilee said in a sarcastic tone.
As Twilight followed Cheerilee into the school, she could see all of the students sitting at their desks and giving her very stern glares. Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders were glaring at her, but Twilight couldn’t understand why.
Cheerilee then took out a small box of chalk from her desk and handed it to Twilight.
As she placed the box into her bag, Twilight heard Cheerilee say, “If you keep this up, there will be no more chalk for me.”
Twilight giggled, thinking that Cheerilee was telling a joke, but then looked up at her face and saw that she was not laughing. She didn’t even crack a smile.
Just then, Twilight felt something hit her in the back of the head. She turned around and saw what hit her on the floor. It was a crumpled up ball of paper. Twilight picked it up with her magic and uncrumpled it and was shocked at what she saw. On the paper was a drawing of a purple pony surrounded by squiggly lines and at the bottom of the paper were the words, “TWILIGHT STINKER.”
Twilight showed the drawing to Cheerilee who then looked at her entire class and asked them who drew it.
“I did,” said Sweetie Belle, raising her hand.
Twilight was expecting Cheerilee to give Sweetie Belle a firm talking to, but instead, she noticed that the teacher had a sinister smile on her face.
“This is very creative, Sweetie Belle,” said Cheerilee, “Excellent work on the stink lines and I think the name suits her very well.”
At that very moment, all the kids in the classroom began chanting “Twilight Stinker.” over and over again. Even Cheerilee joined in. Twilight was so embarrassed by this that she ran out of the school and slammed the school door behind her. As she left she could hear Cheerilee shout, “If there is one ding on this door, you’re paying for it, Twilight Stinker!”
As Twilight walked through town, she was trying to figure out why every pony she met was acting so mean to her today. As she continued walking, she noticed that every pony that walked by her was giving her a nasty look. It made her feel a bit uncomfortable.
Just then, Fluttershy walked by Twilight with her bunny, Angel sitting on her back. Twilight smiled and waved at her friend, but Fluttershy just took one look at her and let out a big “Humph,” and walked away with her nose in the air. Angel looked a bit shocked when he saw this and as Fluttershy walked away, he looked at Twilight and gave her a shrug, meaning that he had no idea why she was acting like this.
As Twilight watched her friend trot off, she turned her head around only to be smacked in the cheek by a purse. Twilight shook her head and saw that the purse that hit her belonged to Granny Smith.
“Out of my way, you whipper-snapper,” the elder pony said as Twilight moved out of the way so she could walk by.
As Twilight backed up to give Granny Smith some room, she felt something bumped into her. She turned around and saw Pinkie Pie, who to Twilight’s surprise, didn’t have her usual trademark smile on.
“Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” the pink pony said in a very grumpy tone.
Twilight just continued walking as she took out her list and saw that she had only one item left to do:
3. Help Rarity think of new ideas for her next dress
“I’ll just to this last thing and head home,” Twilight said to herself, “maybe I can get a little studying done by the end of the day.”
Twilight made her way to Carousel Boutique and went inside. She saw Rarity standing next to one of her manikins that had a yellow dress on it.
“Hello, Rarity,” said Twilight, “you will not believe the day I’ve been having. Anyway, I’m here to help you with your dress.”
“I don’t need your help,” said Rarity, a bit rudely, “I can do this dress on my own. Besides, why would I need help from a pony like you?”
“Wh-what do you mean?” Twilight stammered.
“What I mean is that you don’t know anything about fashion,” snapped Rarity, “you spend all your time reading all of those old books so why would I need help making a dress from some kind of pathetic book worm like you?”
At that moment, tears started to fill Twilight’s eyes. She felt like almost every pony in Ponyville couldn’t stand being around her and she ran out of the boutique, crying her eyes out.
Twilight ran all the way back to her library and stopped right front of her door. She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to catch her breath.
“What is happening to every pony?” she asked herself, “it’s almost as if they.. As if they…."
“Hate you?”
Twilight turned around and saw who said that. Standing right in front of her was a blue unicorn with a white mane and a magic wand as her cutie mark. The unicorn had a devious smile on her face and she slowly walked towards the purple unicorn.
Twilight recognized the pony right away, “Trixie.”
“That’s the “Great and Powerful” Trixie to you,” the blue unicorn said, “so Twilight. How was your day? I’ve noticed that you’re having a little trouble with your friends?”
Twilight just glared at Trixie. Then she heard a few heavy stomps coming her way. She looked and saw that all of the ponies she talked to that day were walking right towards her. She could see, Big Macintosh, Applejack, Mrs. Cake, with Pound and Pumpkin sitting on her back, Rainbow Dash, Cheerilee, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Granny Smith, and they all had angry looks on their faces. Twilight also saw that almost every pony in Ponyville was right behind them, all with the same look. But what shocked Twilight the most were their eyes, which were all bright red.
“You,” Twilight shouted at Trixie, “you did this, didn’t you?”
“Guilty as charged,” Trixie chuckled.
“What did you do?” Twilight demanded.
“Just a little spell I know called the hate spread spell,” said Trixie, “it has taken all of my hatred for you and has passed it onto every pony in town.”
Twilight soon remembered the last time Trixie was in town. She showed off her magic skills and bragged about how she defeated an Ursa Major. But when a baby Ursa, an Ursa Minor, attacked the town, Trixie could not beat it and had to admit that she made the whole story up. Luckily, Twilight was able to put the Ursa to sleep using her magic and Trixie left Ponyville in shame.
“This is all because I humiliated you, isn’t it?” asked Twilight.
“Oh, you didn’t just humiliate me,” said Trixie angrily, “you ruined me! I was once the most famous magician in all of Equestria, but that all changed when news got out that I was a fraud. No one wanted me to perform for them anymore. I couldn’t even walk down the street without some pony calling me a fake. There was also a young filly who I once gave an autograph to, who said that she wanted to be just like me when she grew up. Then one day, after my little visit here in Ponyville, I met the filly again. She just looked at me, held out the picture I singed for her and ripped in half right in front of my face.”
“Look Trixie, I’m sorry about all that, I really am,” said Twilight, “but you did deserve it. All you did was brag about how you were better than every pony else and humiliated my friends. And now your taking revenge on me just because you’re not famous anymore?”
“YES” shouted Trixie, “you ruined my life, so now I’m doing the same thing to you. And it looks like it worked. For as you can see, every pony now hates you as much as I do.”
“That’s what you think,” said a small voice that just came out of the library. It was Spike, who ran up next to Twilight’s side.
Twilight took a good look at Spike and saw that his eyes weren’t red at all.
“This is impossible,” said Trixie, “my spell was suppose to work on everyone.”
“I know,” said Spike, “I heard you explain that spell of yours through the balcony window. You said that spell worked on ‘ever pony’ and in case you’ve forgotten, I’m not a pony. I’m a dragon.”
Trixie let out a groan of frustration before saying, “It doesn’t matter. I’ve still be able to get every pony here to hate you Twilight, and now I’m going to enjoy watching them take it all out on you.”
“Don’t be too sure,” said Spike, beaming, “after I heard you talk about your little spell, I sent a letter to a certain pony, who should be here any second now.”
At that very moment, a huge white light appeared between Twilight and Trixie, and when it disappeared, in it’s place was none other then Princess Celestia.
Trixie quivered in fear as she saw the princess glaring down at her.
“I’ll deal with you later,” Celestia said as she turned her gaze to Twilight, who told her the situation.
Celestia then looked at all of the angry ponies and a big yellow beam began to glow from her horn. The mob gazed at the beam as Twilight could see all of their red eyes turn back to normal. When the beam was gone, the mob all talked in confusion as to what was going on.
“What happened?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“All I remember is going to sleep last night and everything else is just a blank.” said Mrs. Cake.
Twilight then went up to the mob and explained everything. Every pony in the mob was shocked at what they heard and their angry glares soon returned, only now they were starring at Trixie.
The blue unicorn tried to run off, but soon found herself floating in the air as she saw Princess Celestia glare at her with her horn glowing to keep her up in the air.
“What kind of punishment do you think would be quite fitting for this pony, Twilight?” the princess asked her student.
Twilight thought about it for a bit. She wanted Trixie thrown in the dungeon for what she put her through, but she didn’t think that even someone like Trixie deserved that.
“Maybe a little community service would do her some good,” she told the princess.
“An excellent idea,” said Celestia, “and I know just what kind of service. How about entertaining the students at my Magic Kindergarten?”
“No! Please! Not that,” Trixie pleaded, “I can’t stand being near children! All they do is scream and cry!”
But Celestia just ignored these pleads as both her and Trixie disappeared in a flash of light. Twilight giggled after they left, thinking that spending time with nosy kids was way worse than being thrown in a dungeon.
Some of the ponies in the mob walked away, knowing that the whole ordeal was over, but Twilight noticed some of them walk towards her, all looking at the ground in shame due to them hearing what Twilight had explained they said and did to her while under Trixie’s spell.
“We’re awfully sorry about what we did to you, Twi,” said Applejack, “we just weren’t ourselves.”
“Eeyup,” said Big Macintosh.
Mrs Cake then went up to Twilight to apologize too. Then Pound Cake crawled up on top of his mother’s head so he was making eye contact with Twilight, and gave her a kiss on the forehead, right where his block hit her.
“Sorry about the cookies, Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash, “let me make it up to you. I’ll go down to Sugarcube Corner right now and get you a fresh batch.”
“Thanks, Rainbow,” Twilight said with a smile.
“I still can’t believe Trixie went through all this trouble just to get back at you,” said Rarity.
“That’s the thing about hate, Rarity,” said Twilight, “some ponies hate someone so much, that it can consume them. I hope someday, Trixie’s hate will go away.”
“Well, I can wait,” said Spike, “now what’s this I heard about Rainbow Dash getting us cookies?”
“She said for me Spike,” Twilight said jokingly.
“Oh, come on,” Spike said, “you always devour all the cookies when you buy them and I don’t get any.”
“Tell you what,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, “you two follow me to Sugarcube Corner and the first to make it there gets the first cookie.”
Rainbow Dash flew into the air and took off towards the bakery.
“Alright, go,” said Twilight as she ran after her friend.
“Hey, no fair,” Spike said as he ran after Twilight, “you didn’t say ‘on your mark’ or ‘get set’.”
The other ponies laughed as they saw the two friends race towards the bakery.