“Ill get it!” She giggled and skipped to the ball. She knelt down to pick it up in her mouth, but noticed Larkspur sitting in the grass a ways away, collecting mushrooms in a pile. She tilted her head, and turned back to her friends.
“Hey, should we invite Larkspur to play?”
Milo shook their head, and Connie sneered, “Heck no! He’ll spoil it!”
Plumeria looked back at the draconequus sympathetically, “We should give him a chance. It’s no fun being alone, even if you’re grumpy all the time.” She trotted down to him, ignoring the whispered “no no no!” from Connie. The little earth pony facehoofed with a groan.
“Hey, Larkspur, do you wanna play with us?” She asked with a smile.
Larkspur glared at her, “No.” He picked up a funny-looking toadstool and added it to his pile.
Plumeria tried again, “Are you sure?”
Annoyed, Larkspur growled, “Did I stutter? No, I don’t want to play your stupid game.”
Slightly hurt, Plumeria persisted, “Well you’re all alone out here, so I just wanted to ask~~”
“Look, get it through your skull you halfwit! Nobody, not even an naive idiot like you, wants to play with me! You’re just asking because you feel bad for me. So take your dumb ball and leave me alone!” In his anger, he shoved the small filly down to the muddied ground.
Dirty and bruised, she stared up at him, terrified and hurt with tears in her eyes. “I-I’m telling Cheerilee…you BIG BULLY~~”
Larkspur pinned her down, “What? You gonna cry now? Go ahead, then everyone will know you’re just a big, fat cowar~~”
Connie slammed into Larkspur’s side, knocking him down. “Leave my sister alone!!” By the grace of catching him by surprise, Connie had Larkspur pinned for a moment. They struck Larkspur’s muzzle wildly, most certainly giving him a black eye.
Larkspur snarled, “Get off of me, freak!” Connie did not comply. Larkspur’s paws sparked with green flame. He snatched one of Connie’s legs as it swung to strike him again. As they came into contact, Connie’s entire body was engulfed in terrible green flame. Connie just watched themselves dissolve with a silenced horror. Larkspur watched as Connie disappeared into a puff of smoke, leaving nothing behind but…
…wait, is that…is that a rabbit?
A small bunny sat crouched in the grass in front of him, shocked and confused. Slowly it looked at its paws, and jumped into the air with a shriek.
Plumeria yelped, “C-Connie?? Is that you?” She rushed to the rabbit, which was seeming to panic. It squeaked, and heaved with sobs, although, of course, rabbits could not cry. “What has he done to you?” She began to cry with the rabbit, making an oddly comedic but simultaneously tragic scene.
“What’s going on?” A mare’s voice called across the yard. Miss Cheerilee stared at the weeping pair, and then at Larkspur. “Larkspur? What~~?”
“H-He turned C-Connie i-into a rabbiiiit~~!” Plumeria stammered between sobs, eyes gushing with tears.
Larkspur just looked at his paws in wonder. “I didn’t know I could do that…” He murmured to himself.
Cheerilee ran to rabbit-Connie and Plumeria. “Don’t panic! Princess Twilight will know what to do! If you’ll come with me, we’ll fix this.” She picked up the distraught bunny, and turned to glare at Larkspur. “You. Stay here, and we’ll figure out your punishment for this later.”
Larkspur folded his ears back, “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean~~” But they trotted away before he could finish. He clutched his paws with fury, and decided to distract himself by casually transforming other things with the fire, delighted when one of his mushrooms transformed into a warm, chocolate chip cookie with macadamia nuts.
“I may have a black eye and everyone hates me now, but at least I have you, cookie.” He smiled mirthlessly and took a bite out of the cookie. He immediately spat it out, as it tasted of soot and mildew, and the cookie crumbled into black dust before his eyes. His heart sank when he thought of Connie. Will Connie turn to dust too? For a moment he felt inclined to spring up and run after Cheerilee to make sure they would be okay, but on second thought…it’s their own fault for attacking me like that. And Plumeria’s for bugging me. Besides, Miss Cheerilee told me to stay put. Not my fault for following the rules.
Larkspur laid in the grass contemplatively, picking blades of grass.