She's right behind me, isn't she?
Author's Note
Quick forewarning before you read:
Vocal Point's appearance is left entirely to the reader's interpretation. This means that they can basically look like whatever your mind pictures them as.
The truth is that I couldn't settle on a design that I liked, but within the context of the story, I don't think it matters too much. This is a one-off story anyway.
Could maybe do more stories in the future featuring this random pony if people like it. I'm also open to other people making pony OC's that they think would match Vocal Point's appearance perfectly. Might even do a blog about it if I see a design I really like.
With all that said, please enjoy the story. I'm gonna go watch an episode of MLP FIM while you are reading.
She's right behind me, isn't she?
Our story begins with a pony named Vocal Point. As you can probably tell from her name alone, she wasn't afraid to make her thoughts and opinions clear to every pony around her, even when it would be a detriment to herself. She's been in countless scuffles where running her mouth led her to tons of trouble. Did she ever learn her lesson? Well, that's where this story comes in.
We find the pony in question trotting by herself in the marketplace of Ponyville. She was doing her casual thing of giving out random "thoughtful" critiques to the stall venders of the market. Complaining about such trivial matters like the price being too high for an apple because she found a cheaper one in another town or saying that if the sign on the stall was painted red it would've attracted more customers. Most of the ponies who knew her in town all generally agreed that she had no idea what she was talking about. It was very clear to them that she had no experience with business whatsoever and was likely sheltered all her life with no pony to properly guide her. The shop venders paid her no mind, thinking she would just go away eventually if they ignored her long enough.
From the perspective of our "protagonist" however, she viewed the way ponies treated her as a show of incompetence from the general pony public; and on this day in particular, it finally reached a boiling point. She was tired of all the shop vendors ignoring her advice and talking about her behind her back like she was the town's buffoon. She was finally going to let it all out, right here and now. She stood in the middle of the market and began to loudly raise her voice so that every pony within the general vicinity could hear her.
"All of you listen up! I don't know what's wrong with all of you, but everywhere I go it's the same thing! Every town I go to it's the same exact story! Always ignoring my business advice even when it's objectively correct! Treating me like some sort of jokester when I'm just trying to help the economy! It's all led me to conclude one thing!"
A random pony in one of the stalls then spoke up; "That you should get over yourself and stop making such a big scene? You're gonna drive away our customers." The other ponies all clapped and cheered upon hearing that from the random vendor pony. Vocal wasn't having any of it though, so she angrily turned her head towards the vender pony in particular and continued speaking.
"NO! What I have concluded is that this is a societal and economic issue! Why else would it be so widespread? It's like a plague, caused and encouraged by none other than our corrupt ruler Princess Celestia!"
All the ponies in the market gasped loudly upon hearing that. A nearby mother covered the ears of her children with her hooves to protect them from the vile slander that was just spoken by the careless mare. Vocal Point then continued on with her rant, despite the fact that every pony in the marketplace was now utterly stunned by the gall of this pony to openly disrespect their goddess and ruler right in front of them. If there was one thing Vocal Point wasn't known for, it was being able to read the room or stop while she was ahead of herself.
"Princess Celestia only cares about herself! Why else would she push all of her paperwork and responsibilities onto that new princess named Twerkle Spirkle! Thanks to that new princess, she can go around doing whatever she wants because it's technically still her land and nation to rule over. She is careless and irresponsible, and I dare say her demeanor has spread to all of you with how carefree you all seem to be. Ignoring the societal and economic issues we have going on at this very moment and how good business practices are the key to getting things back on track again towards a brighter future where every pony is happy and not some lazy princess."
Unbeknownst to Vocal Point and the ponies below, Princess Celestia just so happened to be flying overhead above the market when she perked her ears up and started hearing all of these slanderous words coming out of a mare's mouth. She proceeded to land gently onto the ground below just behind Vocal Point as she was going on with her negative ramblings about the alicorn in particular. The eyes of the marketplace ponies all went wide, and their jaws went agape upon seeing the princess arrive before them. Vocal Point meanwhile, was so caught up in her rant that she didn't even realize the princess was there in the first place.
"Oh and I bet she raised the price on cakes and sweets in particular just so she could hog them all to herself like some sort of gluttonous pig. It would explain why her flank has gotten so big over the years. I bet she just enjoys being able to do nothing but wiggle her fat rump around while enjoying desserts that she can easily afford in the economy and have them all to herself. Oh look at me, I'm Princess Celestia, I have a big fat flank and I eat cake all day! I'm such a good ruler; you should all bow down before me!"
Princess Celestia grew a stern expression on her face as she listened to the ramblings of this clearly foolish pony bad mouthing her. She swore she was going to have a word with the local pony press about spreading articles about her eating habits in the near future. But that would come after she had a serious talk with this annoying little pony in front of her. Vocal Point was of course still oblivious to the Princess's presence and so continued on her ramble about the Alicorn standing right behind her.
"Don't even get me started on that royal sister of hers. She sounds like she hasn't heard ponies speak in over a thousand years; And it's no wonder considering Celestia didn't even wanna deal with her in the first place and decided to banish her to the moon just so she wouldn't have to put up with her nonsense. Does that sound like such a kind and benevolent ruler to you? No, to me it sounds like a tyrant!"
Princess Celestia grew visibly angry upon hearing the pony before her bring up her sister. She had many painful memories of that dreadful night and regretted what she felt like she had to do in that moment. This mare was portraying her like a heartless monster in front of all these ponies. She was considering just letting this mare off with a warning, but now she's really done it. She was going to make an example out of her.
"I swear, If Princess Celestia was standing behind me right now. I'd give her a stern talking to about all the issues we currently have going on in our society. But right now, I just want to know why you all are- uhh." Vocal Point stopped talking and finally started noticing all the shocked expressions on the faces of the ponies around her. They looked as though they were frozen in place like statues.
"Urg see, this is what I'm talking about, you're all not even paying attention to me or my speech. I'm trying to help you all out and you're all staring behind me like there's something more important than the issue right in front of you. What's possibly more important behind me than the well-being of-"
Vocal Point went silent, and her eyes went wide upon turning around and seeing the Princess of the sun standing right in front of her and meeting her gaze with the angriest glare any pony has ever seen on her. Vocal Point quickly grew a nervous sheepish grin on her face, as if trying to play off the things she just said about the alicorn as a silly little awkward moment Celestia just so happened to walk in on.
"Oh P-Princess! L-Lovely day we're having, eh?"
Princess Celestia just silently stared back at the pony visibly sweating bullets before her. Her expression clearly indicated that she was having none of the pony's nonsense. Despite that, Vocal Point was still awkwardly trying. She was never known for being the smartest pony. If she was, she would've stopped long ago. Needless to say, this won't end well for her.
"So um, h-how long have you been standing there?"
Princess Celestia was again silent. Just angrily staring back into the eyes of the pony before her. Vocal Point watched as the iris in Celestia's right eye shifted into a shadowy silhouette of Vocal Point. The iris of her left eye then also shifted into the body figure of Celestia herself. She then watched as the shadowy silhouette of Celestia lit up her horn and the shadowy Silhouette of Vocal Point was then immediately engulfed in flames. Within a second, the shadowy silhouette of Vocal Point was reduced to nothing more than a pile of ashes.
"I don't suppose it's too late to talk about mercy?"
Princess Celestia remained silent. This caused Vocal Point to let out an audible gulp as her face slowly shifted into one now full of fear and instant regret. She was now only beginning to realize just how bad of a situation she put herself in. It was at this moment that Vocal Point knew; she messed up.
Princess Celestia then leaned her head in close, pressing her face right up against Vocal Point's face as she slowly started pushing Vocal Point's body downwards towards the ground. Vocal Point's body began contracting and squishing itself against the ground as Celestia applied more and more weight onto Vocal point's forehead with her noggin. As the princess leaned in closer and closer, she began speaking once more, and with each sentence that she spoke, she not only said them in her royal Canterlot voice that ponies haven't heard in a long while, but she pressed down against Vocal Point's head further and further, as if to add more enthesis to each word that she spoke and to further drive the pony into the ground.
"Let me make something crystal clear to you my little pony! We may have free speech here in Equestria! But that doesn't mean you can go around saying whatever you want! There are serious consequences for the things we say, and what you just said was not only highly disrespectful to me, but to all of Equestria! I strongly suggest that you change your attitude and soon, or else you might find yourself in a place you don't want to be in! Am I clear?!"
Vocal Point whimpered weakly as her body literally turned into a flat pancake against the ground from Celestia pressing against her face so much that she literally ran her into the ground. Celestia immediately raised her head once more and returned to a neutral stance, smiling triumphantly on putting the loudmouth pony in her place. She then turned around and began to casually trot away. Vocal Point struggled on the ground a bit before her pancaked body then sprung back up from the ground like a spring and her body audibly popped back into its normal shape.
Vocal Point felt like she had just been put through the wringer. Being face to face with the princess herself and getting yelled at by her definitely takes its toll mentally on a pony. She was just about to leave and go home for the day when she suddenly felt a golden magic aura wrap around her body and lift her up into the air. Vocal Point was then dragged right in front of Princess Celestia. Celestia had a calmer expression on her face this time, but she still looked deadly serious. Vocal Point shivered in fear, already traumatized by the princess being in her face just a few moments ago.
"I never said you could leave my little pony. Now walk with me, there's some pony I want you to see. I believe she may be able to help you."
Vocal Point nodded her head obediently as Celestia released her magic aura around the pony and allowed her to walk alongside her. Vocal Point knew there was no use trying to escape out of this one and began to shamefully walk with Celestia towards whatever punishment she had cooked up for her. The marketplace ponies were still standing in place with their shocked expressions still stuck on their faces. They looked like lifelike statues of the regular town ponies somehow frozen in time after witnessing something truly shocking happen in front of them. One of the ponies even toppled over onto the ground while still stuck in their shocked pose as if they were actually a statue.
Twilight Sparkle was in her library, sitting on the most comfortable seat cushion she had sat on in her whole life. She was reading a book to the small fillies and colts who had gathered around her in the room. As she read the story to them, they would frequently ask questions by raising their hooves. Twilight would then stop reading to answer whatever questions they had in store.
The parents of the foals were sitting further back in the room, supervising their children while also listening to the story. As Twilight read the story to them, the adults in the room couldn't help but feel like the story sounded strangely familiar to some of the town's rumors going around recently. A rumor about a rude pony who seemingly disappeared without a trace. But the adults in the room chalked this up to false speculation and just decided to enjoy the story with their children. They didn't want to scare them with ghost stories that might not be proven true in the first place. The parents sat closely with their children and listened in as Twilight neared the end of her story.
"The princess of the sun soon brought the pony to the castle of friendship where she was forced to confess all of the mean, nasty, and hurtful things that she had said about the princess of the sun to the princess of friendship. After a long and stern talk about what to do next, the Princess of the sun gracefully left the duty of reforming the vocal pony in the hooves of the princess of friendship. Eventually, with the help of the princess of friendship, the pony learned that there was more to life than just herself, and that the words we speak can have unexpected consequences that we may learn to regret later. The pony then went on to live a happy fulfilling life full of friendship and fun. The end."
Twilight Sparkle said as she closed the book she was reading to the small fillies and colts in her library. The children in the room all clapped with their hooves and cheered at the end of story time. Twilight smiled at the applause she got from reading her story time book to the growing ponies of Ponyville. She then got up from her seat cushion and handed out a small piece of candy to each of the foals as they left the library with their parents.
"Thank you all for joining me for Twilight time. I look forward to seeing you all next week for another wonderful story."
Twilight said as she waved the small fillies and colts goodbye as they left. After the final parent left and was out of hearing range, Twilight let out a big, exhausted sigh and lit up her horn. The seat cushion that she had sat on during the duration of her story time was then immediately transformed back into the form of a pony. The pony in question was Vocal Point. She laid there awkwardly and clumsily, getting her bearings back after being transformed into a seat cushion and being sat on for over an hour while listening to the questions of small annoying children. Twilight Sparkle then turned around and spoke sternly as she slowly approached Vocal Point.
"You know, it's getting pretty tiring having to put up with your nonsense all the time. I thought you would've learned your friendship lesson by now, but you're as stubborn as a mule when it comes to actually getting anything through to you. You know you can't leave until Princess Celestia deems you as reformed right? I would love nothing more than to let you leave and go on with your life, but legally, you are under house arrest with me until that reformation condition is met. Do you want to stay here for the rest of your life? Because with the way you've been acting, that's the road you're heading down."
Twilight tilted her head downwards to look at the pony laying on the floor as she got her bearings. Vocal Point then snapped out of her dazed state and quickly met Twilight's gaze with a look of defiance as she got up off the floor. Vocal Point then raised her hoof and pointed at twilight as she began to speak.
"All these lessons you've been putting me through have only proved my point! Equestria's justice system is corrupt, and you haven't been helping me at all! All you've been doing is giving me needless punishments for no reason! Saying I've been whining, or complaining about things, or whatever other nonsense you wanna make up! This whole experience has been nothing but torture! Torture at my expense for your pleasure!"
Twilight rolled her eyes at the pony in front of her. She had come to expect this type of response from Vocal Point. Ever since Celestia dropped her off at the castle of friendship and asked Twilight to help reform her, she has proven time and time again to be nothing more than a pain in the flank. Every time Twilight would run a practice session with the pony to help out her social skills, she would just end up complaining the whole time. At this rate, she would never learn her lesson, no matter how hard Twilight tried. Twilight decided it was time for her to change her methods. Perhaps try a more drastic approach.
"Those punishments were meant to give you discipline. To teach you that the words we say have consequences. But no matter what I do or say, that point just can't seem to get through to you. You always act like a victim of circumstance, and I've had it up to here with it."
Twilight then turned around and began trotting slowly towards the exit of the library. Vocal Point considered this behavior from Twilight strange. For the two weeks she had been forced to stay at Twilight's castle, she was always kept under tight supervision by the Alicorn herself. Vocal Point began following Twilight as she approached the door to the library. Vocal Point then opened her mouth and began speaking in a very condescending tone of voice.
"Where are you going?!"
Twilight then stopped in place right by the door of the library. As she stopped, an idea suddenly appeared in her head. It was the type of idea that came across as a stroke of brilliance in a time of need. The idea in question was definitely going to be seen as a mean trick to play on a pony in retrospect; but if this idea didn't work, she couldn't see anything else that would. Twilight secretly smirked to herself for just a second before then immediately turning around slowly and replacing her smile with a tired exhausted stern expression.
"You've been here for over two weeks Vocal, and in that time you haven't changed. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep you around with your behavior. As such, I'm thinking about renegotiating our deal with Princess Celestia. Maybe she'll consider a short time in Tartarus a more suitable option for you."
Vocal Point's eyes went wide upon hearing that. The thought of her being in Tartarus, locked in a cage with the most evil, wicked, and vile creatures ever known in Equestria. If there was a road that she didn't want her life to go down, it was this one. Almost immediately, Vocal Point bent down on her hooves and began begging and pleading to Twilight like a small foal. Vocal's eyes were filled with tears as she sobbed uncontrollably.
"NO! Please don't send me there! I'll do anything! ANYTHING! Just please, anything but that!"
Twilight Sparkle looked at Vocal Point's expression sternly. Twilight's eyes were like daggers piercing into Vocal's soul as she stared into them. After a few moments of silently staring, Twilight then spoke one final word to confirm if Vocal Point means what she says. If she was truly willing to accept any form of reformation in order to avoid such a terrible fate. A fate that would obviously never actually happen to her.
"Anything?"
Vocal Point then nodded her head frantically in response to Twilight. Vocal Point was scared for her life and the possible horrors awaiting her should she not accept Twilight's proposal. Twilight thought it over for a few moments before letting out a sigh and raising her hoof towards Vocal Point as she began to speak once more.
"I'll give you one more chance Vocal. But after that, there's not gonna be any more chances. Don't make me regret giving you one more chance to redeem yourself. You act up one more time and I'll have no choice but to report this to Celestia; and I'm sure I don't need to explain to you what'll happen after that."
Vocal Point shivered at the thought of being brought before Celestia and being banished to Tartarus. Despite how scared Vocal Point was, Twilight could see the desperation in her eyes, which opened up the possibility of her finally taking the practice sessions seriously. Twilight was secretly happy to finally be making progress with Vocal Point; but there was still one last thing that she needed to do. She needed to test Vocal Point's loyalty.
Twilight lit up her horn, and within a flash, Vocal Point found herself wearing a maid's outfit. Upon looking down and seeing the frilly garments upon herself, Vocal Point blushed profusely in embarrassment. Twilight internally giggled at the pony maid before her. Before leaving the room, Twilight turned her head to the maid pony and said one last thing to Vocal Point.
"Go ahead and clean the library while I'm away. Consider this a test of your loyalty. If it's not spotless by the time I get back, I'm reporting your behavior to Princess Celestia. If you perform the task well, I may even be more lenient with you in the future during our lessons. Oh, and the dress stays on, Rarity worked hard on it so be sure to thank her the next time I invite her over for a practice session. Now then, I'll be back in 4 hours. Make sure this library is spotless."
After saying that, Twilight closed the door of the library behind her. She stayed behind for just a few moments to listen in and see what Vocal Point would do. Not even 20 seconds later, she could hear frantic scrubbing and dusting of the library's surfaces. Twilight smiled to herself as she finally left the library and began trotting down the halls of her castle.
Twilight was happy at the prospect of finally being able to make some progress with the reformation of this stubborn pony. The last thing she wanted to do was report to Princess Celestia on how to deal with the situation at hoof. If this was finally the push that she needed to start making some progress, then so be it. When this was all over, Twilight would have to thank Vocal Point for all the free time Spike has gotten to himself thanks to her being around to do all his chores for him as punishments for her non-compliance during the lessons. Something told Twilight that in the near future, Spike would be back on his regular cleaning duty schedule.
Author's Note
Causally munching on popcorn as the credits to the episode roll. I then look over at my computer and see you already finished with the fanfic. I then immediately rush over and start typing on my keyboard.
Oh, I see you are done reading the story. So how was it?
I decided to make this story as a bit of a side project to the other bigger stories I have going on in the background at the moment. I wanted to practice writing more dialogue heavy scenes in a story. The fanfics I have currently in the works feature a lot of scenes with dialogue; so I wanted to practice a bit and get a story out there to see if my current approach was working or not.
As always, leave your feedback in the comments below, and don't forget to give the story a thumbs up if you liked it and want to see more.
Have a great day, or night. I can't tell the time over there.
