Discipline of Two Mothers
By BSting
Springtime has recently hit the nation of Equestria, and the light of the sun and cool breeze attracts many ponies to the great outdoors. The royal family of the Crystal Empire is no exception, as they recently traveled south from their city borders to witness the beauty of Neighagra Falls for a quick vacation. However, the area around the popular tourist attraction had no lodges to speak of, in order to preserve the natural excellence for all to see. So, the family has no other choice but to rough it in the wilderness during their stay. While this might sound like a quiet and fun time for Shining Armor and Cadence, their daughter, Flurry Heart, prefers to be back at the castle. On the half-day train ride over to the camp site, the spoiled princess already misses chilling out out on her bed, listening to the latest hits that the music world had offer, and reading the latest issue of her favorite gossip magazine, Horse's Mouth.
As if it wasn't bad enough for her, she also had to endure a lengthy walk with her parents to the sight itself before the sun sets. She could swear that, while it's unheard of to form blisters on one's hooves, one is in process of forming from the trek while carrying some of the camp equipment.
"Are we there yet? It feels like we walked halfway across Equestria", she complains.
"Just a bit further", assures her father with an encouraging tone. "I used to come here before with your mother, so I know which way to go."
"The last thing I trust is your sense of direction. Remember when we got lost in Canterlot castle? You tried to find the exit to the courtyard and we found ourselves walking in circles for a good hour."
"Now, now", Flurry's mom interjects. "If there's one thing I know that's drilled into my dependable knight's memory, it's the location of one of our honeymoon spots." She sighs romantically and begins to reminisce. "I remember cuddling with my hubby and listening to the sound of the roaring water under the pale moon sky. Our love burned brighter than the sun, as we-"
"Ew! No! Stop! I don't wanna hear about you two doing Celestia-knows-what in the privacy of your own tent!" Flurry shouts in disgust.
For both Cadence and Shining Armor, it's hard to believe that a full 15 years passed by so fast since Flurry Hearts birth. Now she is teenage mare that is in the middle of the dreaded "rebellious streak" that is popular for ponies her age. She's still a good pony at heart, but her attitude is still in need of an adjustment from time to time.
"Oops! Speaking of roaring falls, I can hear it now.", says Shining Armor, quickly diffusing an awkward conversation of supposed moonlit copulation. The family reaches the top of a hill to see the falls off into the distance. The rushing waves of water emit a crashing cacophony of sound that is heard from their location. Both Shining Armor and Cadence take the time to face each other and give one another a wistful smile. Then, they move their heads in close to rub their horns together, in an affectionate and passionate moment. That moment is quickly interrupted by Flurry Heart's protests.
"Oh, hey, look at that. It's a waterfall. Just like what's on the cover of those hiking magazines. Neat. Well, when are we heading home?"
Cadence gives her daughter a blank stare, looks back to her husband that is doing the same, and begins to talk in disbelief.
"Um, we said that we were going to be camping here for a few days."
"But we saw the waterfall, there's no point in staying here any longer."
"You haven't even seen it up close yet. Besides, your father wanted us to go and enjoy nature for a while."
"Nature is full of bugs, mud, and animals that want to eat you. Why would we ever want to leave our cozy castle for that horse apples?"
"Watch your language, young lady! That's very unbecoming of a princess like you."
Shining Armor stayed at the side lines and thought of how to make the two mares stop bickering. He hates it when this happens. He feels like it's hard for him to give his input when his wife made solid points on her own. After all, mares understand mares better than stallions do. But this time, Flurry is more resistant to the idea of camping than anything else. It's time for his trump card: buying cooperation.
"Honey", stated Shining Armor. "If you promise to behave during this trip for your mother and me, I promise that I'll buy you that new cassette player that you've been asking me about."
"A Pony TrotmareTM? Really?", asks Flurry excitedly.
"Shining, don't-", Cadence protests.
"Yep, but only if you behave yourself", confirms Shining Armor.
"Oh, thank you, daddy! Alright. I'll do it!"
With a sudden spring in her step, Flurry treks toward the waterfall with her parents following behind, arguing about better parenting techniques.
Two days have already passed in the family's camping trip and, while the stay has been pleasant and relaxing for Shining Armor and Cadence, Flurry Heart is getting more and more bored and restless. She's desperately trying to put up a good front for the sake of a new music player, but it's getting to be not worth the sheer boredom of not having her usual activities to do. She's already seen the waterfall and, while she thought it was beautiful, she did not want to go for a swim or go fishing with Shining Armor. She even stayed away from the forest area near the falls, as the idea of picking up firewood, getting dirty, or being bitten by mosquitoes didn't sound like a fun time to her at all. She did make one one exception, however, when her mom and dad started to talk cutesy to each other over how much they love each other more. With a quick excuse to "answer nature's call", she makes her way to the forest for time to herself.
Cursing to herself for ever agreeing to come along, she trudges down a winding path that leads deeper in the forest. When she did reach the end, however, her eyes stare in unbelief at the most beautiful sight in front of her. Flowers, as far as the eye could see, cover the forest clearing and the air is filled with a perfumed scent that made her a little weak in the knees. There were many different kinds, mixing and mingling in the floral get together in front of her. With hesitation, she walks forward and takes in the atmosphere. Reaching the middle of the opening, she decides to plant her seat in the middle and take in the environment.
However, behind her, in one of the flowers, is a busy bee gathering pollen from the many flowers here. Then, it notices that a shadow is being cast over it and it's growing darker. It looks up to she Flurry's hindquarters, getting closer and closer to where it is. In fear of getting squished, it lifts its abdomen, brandishes its stinger, and hopes for the best.
"OW!"
Flurry Heart's rear-end jolts up in shock! Looking behind her, she can see the bee that's attached to her, stinger first. The bee opens one eye to see that it's ok, but quickly becomes afraid when Flurry gives it the worst look in the world! Emitting a tiny shout, the bee dislodges its sting from her flank and flies off before she could smack it with her hoof. The bee buzzes around her in circles to confuse her, as she tries to swat it in anger.
"Dumb bee! This is why I hate bugs!", she shouts.
Finally, as the the bee makes a beeling away from her, she decides to fire a beam of magic to teach it a lesson, once and for all. With a hearty zap, she barely misses the bee. But, before long, she looks to see what was hit instead and her heart sinks in fear. The laser has blown a hole in tree, revealing a broken apart beehive with bits and pieces scattered around. The bee, that was once afraid, now harbors an unbridled rage against the attacked. A swarm quickly forms, and makes its way towards the regretful princess. Without hesitation, she makes a dash to the path she came in, to the outside of the forest. After a few moments, it looked like she was going to get away. But, mother nature is a cruel mistress, as she trips over a bed of vines and takes a tumble. After somersaulting twice, she plants her face into the dirt. She tries to get up, but she finds that she can't move her legs. The vines have tangle her up, making her almost immobile. The buzzing grows louder, as the bees observe her accident. Her head is down as her backside is positioned upwards and her tail is moved to the side.
In a creative twist, the bees form the swarm into the shape of a wooden paddle. Flurry starts to sweat profusely and begs not for them to do what they are about to do.
"Please, no. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do it. Please let me go!"
The pleas fall on deaf ears. The bees wind up the formation for a swing. Then, they aim for her tuckus and splash themselves onto her. 20 to 30 bees thrust themselves into her buttocks, digging their stings into her mounds and pumping venom in her cheeks. She give a cry that echoes in the forest, as the bees stuck to her, one by one, remove themselves. The message clearly given, the swarm makes their way back to the hive to begin their repairs. Tears form from the pain in Flurry's eyes, as she untangles herself and runs as fast as her sore legs could back to the campsite.
The married couple back at the camp are still acting like newlyweds before Flurry Heart filled the site with her wails.
"Flurry! What happened?!", Cadence asks with panic and concern.
"I *hic* was in the forest, when I... I got stung by a swarm of bees!" says Flurry Heart, struggling to say while fighting against her tears.
Shining Armor looks at her daughters backside and utters a loud whinny in shock. "I'll go get the first aid kit!", he shouts.
Cadence tries to calm her down, so she could ask her some questions. "Why did they attack you, sweetie?"
In any other circumstance, when Flurry Heart did wrong, she would usually play the victim as much as she could to avoid making herself look bad. But, in this situation, she could not think straight. Her buttocks were throbbing from the amount of venom that has injected into her.
"A bee stung me in the forest, so I tried to kill it. When I attacked it with a magic spell, I accidentally destroyed its hive and-"
"WHAT?!" Cadence interrupts her daughter's sob story when she found out that she invoked violence against other animals.
"I thought I told you better than that, Flurry Heart! You realize how strong your magic is, right? You can't abuse it to kill any creatures like that!" Cadence says sternly.
"It started it. It stung me!" Flurry says in her defense.
"Bees sting, Flurry. It's what they do. That's no excuse to exercise your power against other innocent creatures, like the rest of its hive."
"She's already suffered enough punishment from her actions. Let's just patch her up." says Shining Armor with a first aid kit hovering beside him from his magic.
"No. I'm about to drill in the lesson about respecting all life, no matter how significant. Get my brush," commands Cadence.
Flurry Heart's eyes light up from hearing this as bad childhood memories flood in. "No! Mom! You can't do that to me! I'm too old for a spanking!"
"You are never too old for discipline, young lady. Especially when it concerns the use of her magic."
Cadence forcefully uses her magic to pick up Flurry Heart. She sits down on a log and places her over her legs, using magic to hold her in place. Shining Armor, nervously hands his wife her favorite brush. It has a wooden, flat surface in the back that is perfect for the discipline of young fillies. Cadence juggles her magic between holding the brush and her daughter in place, as she moves Flurry's tail aside to guarantee a clean hit. Flurry blabbers incoherently in fear, scared of how the brush will her affect her sore butt.
"Shush! I'm going to give you three reasons why you must never abuse your magic." says Cadence in a harsh tone. Flurry whimpers, as she looks behind to see the brush winding up behind her.
"One. You are powerful, while others are defenseless. You should use your power to defend, not destroy."
With a swift stroke, the paddle makes contact to Flurry's rear, making it ripple from the shock slightly. Flurry yells in agony as the spank doubles in pain from the swelling of the bee stings. Cadence lifts her brush again and states her next lesson.
"Two. If you kill for no reason, it will blacken your mind and have you abuse your magic more."
Another swift stroke makes the brush slap Flurry across the buttocks. The agony of the sore area receiving more abuse is almost too much to bear. Flurry is bawling at this point.
"I hate you, mommy! Why are you doing this to me?!", Flurry shouts in anger.
"I'm doing this because I LOVE you, Flurry. If you abuse your power, you could end up like King Sombra and frighten your people. Love and wisdom is the answer, not violence!", responds Cadence.
A final smack grazes the fillies cheeks, making her already red bum turn a darker shade. Cadence releases her magic and puts down her brush. Flurry isn't struggling to run away anymore. In fact, she is leaning her body even closer to her mother's. Despite what she said, she didn't really mean it. Her emotions were only surging at the peak of the moment to make her say something like that. She had heard the tale of Sombra's reign when she was young, and she vowed to never subjugate her people when she inherited the throne. It seems that the message got through to her about abusing her magic, as her father carefully applies aloe and and bandages to his daughter's backside. Cadence begins to run her hoof through her daughter's mane, as Flurry slowed her crying.
"I'm so sorry, mom...", she said in her breath.
"I know you are, sweetie. You got a good heart, deep down", comforts her mother.
The next day, the family enjoy a quiet ride home from their camping trip. Despite the incident, Flurry did admit that she did enjoy the quiet time of being by herself instead of being adored by everyone one in the kingdom. And, due to the stern, but fair teachings of the consequences of her magic, she would grow to be revered all the more in the future.
Oh, and her dad bought her the music player anyway, because he's a cool dad like that.
