The Hanging of Wayward Jinks
Wayward Jinks was the most obnoxious pony in the entire world, if the entire world was confined to only Ponyville Elementary School. He’d spend every moment of his life playing terrible pranks on his peers and classmates. It was his own unique way of being annoying. Wayward once pulled a prank on Scootaloo by making the wheels on her scooter loose, causing her to fall and have an injury on her leg. Another one of his mean-spirit prank was putting green food coloring in the water fountain, making the teeth of those who drank from it an ugly shade of green. It was only a couple of days before their teeth were white again. He switched signs on restroom doors, put dirt on fruit pies during lunch, disrupted class while Miss Cheerilee was speaking by making rude noises. He even had the nerve to steal Diamond Tiara’s prized tiara. It was missing for days before she found it in buried in the sandbox. To say she was angry would be an understatement. It seemed as though nobody was safe from the antics of Wayward Jinks.
There was no answer for why he did the things he did, and for all the answers they came up with, it only raised more questions. Miss Cheerilee tried to discipline him many times, but it was no use. It ran in a vicious cycle. Wayward does something bad, Miss Cheerilee punishes him, he appears to be remorseful for a day until he goes back to his old self.
Then, on a day unlike any other, Wayward Jinks crossed the line. It was known by all who was there as “The Day Wayward Jinks Had Gone Too Far.” After pulling pranks on many of the children of Ponyville Elementary he could name, he decided his next victim of his shenanigans will be Sweetie Belle. What he had done to her was unspeakable, but it will be detailed here. During lunch break and recess Wayward was busy chewing bubblegum. He had the idea to blow the biggest bubble he could, while looking for potential targets for his cruel jokes. He spotted a filly named Sweetie Belle talking to her friends, and a devilish smile crossed his lips. Wayward put his lips together and a pink bubble grew from his mouth, while at the same time approaching Sweetie. Sweetie noticed that someone was behind her.
“... Can I help you?” she asked confusingly.
The bubble grew into size until it popped, and Wayward quickly placed the wet pink wad of chewed-up gum on the tip of his tongue and spat into Sweetie’s hair. It took a moment for her to react. She was so stunned and shocked from happened that she screamed only after Wayward laughed and ran away from the scene. Her loud ear-piercing shriek made the children at play stop what they were doing; even Miss Cheerilee rushed out of the schoolhouse to see what the commotion was about. Sweetie screamed and sobbed as her two friends desperately tried to get the gum out of her hair. Miss Cheerilee made her way through the crowd of children and took her inside immediately. The others pointed to Wayward Jinks as the culprit, and as always he was severely punished by Miss Cheerilee, suspension for a week. There was still a sly smile on his face as his punishment was given, knowing he accomplished what he set to do. It was decided by every child in Ponyville Elementary that Wayward Jinks had gone too far.
On the days that followed, a Friday afternoon to be exact, Miss Cheerilee’s entire class attended a meeting at the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse (that was what Sweetie Belle and her friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, called themselves). Apple Bloom stood behind a short wooden podium with a homemade gavel. On either side of her seated Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Because she had to have most of her hair removed, Sweetie wore sunglasses and a head scarf, too embarrassed to reveal to her classmates her true appearance. Apple Bloom scanned the room, making sure everyone who attended class were presented. She banged the gavel and all was silent.
“The meeting of Miss Cheerilee’s class at the headquarters of the Cutie Mark Crusaders will now commence,” Apple Bloom announced. She declared it as professionally as she could despite her country accent. “As y’all know, we have a sticky situation on our hooves.” She turned and saw Sweetie staring at her, even though her eyes were hidden by the sunglasses. “What I’m referring to is a certain classmate of ours named Wayward Jinks.” The crowd of children hissed and booed. Apple Bloom raised her hooves to settle the audience down. “He has pulled many a horrible prank on us before, and we try to put up with him, but what happened recently was downright unforgivable, despicable even!”
“Wayward Jinks has gone too far!” a boy yelled from the back, and there was an uproar of agreement from the children. Apple Bloom banged her gavel to silence them.
“Yes, Wayward Jinks has indeed gone too far. As y’all know, he deliberately spat chewing gum on poor Sweetie Belle’s hair.” As she said that, Sweetie covered her face and weeped. A filly in the front row handed her a piece of tissue. “Even though he is suspended from school, we feel that justice is not yet served. The Cutie Mark Crusaders and I have called this meeting to offer suggestions of what should be done. Any thoughts?”
The room was silent. A moment later a colt from the midsection suggested to pin Wayward to the ground and feed him live worms, but everyone else thought it was too easy, also gross. Another colt thought it’d be great if everyone became one dodgeball team and throw balls at him. A filly wanted Princess Celestia to send him to the moon, while another filly wanted the princess to turn him into stone. The whole room debated loudly about Wayward’s comeuppance, causing Apple Bloom to bang her gavel several times.
Suddenly, Diamond Tiara raised her hoof and stood before the meeting. “I have a great idea,” she said. “We hang him.”
The children gasped collectively. Even her best friend Silver Spoon was shocked. Apple Bloom left her mouth open, then came to her senses and banged the gavel.
“Are you crazy?” she said sharply. “We can’t do that!”
“Well, that’s all I got, unless any of you got better ideas,” Diamond Tiara said.
The room fell silent again. Then, one by one, they nodded to each other. It was clear that hanging Wayward Jinks was the only way justice can be served. A colt from the back stood and applauded, then everyone followed his lead. Apple Bloom banged her gavel to quiet them. Everyone agreed that on Saturday morning, Wayward Jinks will hang from a tree.
An army of children marched to one direction through the streets of Ponyville on Saturday morning. The sight gave the adults passing by confused looks on their faces. Leading the march was the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Diamond Tiara. It amazed the children to see how the four of them settle their differences in an effort to deliver justice. They entered a neighborhood which had rows of one-story houses. They picked a house which looks to be the house of Wayward Jinks. They approached the front door and rung the bell. Apple Bloom looked back and saw that one of her classmates, and thin orange unicorn named Snails, was carrying a large sack with him.
What’s with the sack? she thought to herself. A moment later the door opened. A drowsy-looking mare with glasses and curly hair stood in front of them. She was unfazed by large number of foals that appeared on her doorstep.
“Are you Wayward Jinks mother?” Diamond Tiara asked.
“Yes,” the mare said flatly. “He can’t come out right now. He’s punished.”
“Oh, we don’t want to play with him. It has something to do with school,” Diamond said sweetly.
Mrs. Jinks raised an eyebrow, then turned her head away from the foals. She yelled for her son to come to the door, and also to make it quick since he is grounded, then turned away from the scene. A yellow colt with brown hair was surprised to see his classmates staring at him with angry looks.
“Hey guys,” he said nervously. “... What are you doing here?”
They didn’t answer. Wayward noticed Sweetie Belle, and how she was wearing sunglasses and her head covered in a scarf. He looked at Scootaloo, seeing that she was holding rope. Then he remembered the bubblegum incident, and his face slightly wriggle out of fear. He took a step back.
Apple Bloom came forward. There was no emotion on her face. She pulled out a scrowl, opened it, and began to read. “Wayward Jinks, for your crimes against the students of Ponyville Elementary School, and for giving an unnecessary amount of stress to Miss Cheerilee, we sentence you to be hanged from a tree.” She closed it. “Do you have anything to say?”
There was a lump on Wayward’s throat that he couldn’t swallow. Sweat dripped from his forehead. The foals glared at him. He had no idea this day will come so soon. He had to think of something, and fast. He pointed to the sky. “Look, there’s Shining Armor and Princess Cadence!” The children turned around and gazed at the sky, chatting loudly about the arrival of two very famous ponies. When nothing came about, they turned around. Wayward disappeared. They have been fooled yet again by the trickster.
“He’s making a run for the backyard!” Diamond Tiara yelled.
The children forced their way into the house, ran straight for the front door, and once they were in the backyard they jumped over the fence as Wayward tried to run away from the angry mob. The chase went from Wayward’s neighborhood, to a shopping plaza in Ponyville, and culminated at the park. Wayward Jinks ran as fast as he could until he tripped over a small ditch in the ground. He tried to crawl back to his hooves but it was too late, the angry foals caught up with him, and surrounded him. He begged and pleaded for his life, but his cries fell on deaf ears. Two colts pinned him to the ground while Scootaloo tied one end of a rope to one of his legs. Scootaloo then threw the other end of the rope over a tall tree branch. The other children pulled the rope until Wayward was risen by his leg upside-down, and the other end of the rope was tied to a stake that was driven to the ground. Seeing how Wayward was hung upside down made the children laugh at him.
“Okay, you had your fun!” he cried. “I get it! I’m sorry! Please let me down, please! I’ll never play any jokes on anyone again!”
“You’re not getting off that easily,” Diamond Tiara said. “We’ve been wanting to do this for a long time!”
She gestured to Snails, and he opened the large sack he was carrying. There was an assortment of fruits and vegetables piled inside (they were probably no longer fresh). Each foal, except for Apple Bloom, grabbed one. There was a look of horror on both her and Wayward.
“Diamond Tiara, what are you doing?” Apple Bloom asked. “We were just going to leave him upside-down for a little while! This ain’t part of the deal!”
“He should have never touched my tiara!”
“But this was not the deal we agreed on!”
“I just altered the deal, Apple Bloom! Pray I don’t alter it any further!”
Apple Bloom continued to watch in horror, shocked that even Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo grabbed some of the fruits and vegetables for themselves. By Diamond Tiara’s command, Wayward Jinks’ punishment commenced. The foals used his face as a target as they pelted him with produce. The hysterical and cruel laughter echoed in the air. Although Apple Bloom couldn’t hear him, she knew that Wayward was crying by looking at his distorted face. There was nothing she can do. She decided she didn’t want to watch anymore, and hid her face in shame.
