The Strangearium: The Smile.

It was another beautiful morning in Sugarcoated City.

With a smile on her face, Honey McPuppycock the third woke up in her house build on the top of a chocolate cookie tree. As the orange pegasus brushed her teeth to make her smile as shining as the beautiful morning sun, she wondered if today would be an even better day than yesterday.

She then lept out of her favorite window (the one with flowers on the window frame) and flew to work. Underneath her were buddy-bunnies driving in their cars in all the colors of the rainbow. And around her were other happy pegasuses on their way to Honey's workplace; the Singing Factory.

The Singing Factory was the greatest place in all of Sugarcoated City. The pegasuses and buddy-bunnies who worked there jumped up and down as the sung merry melodies into jars that was then sealed and stored in the vault of the factory. And their boss, Mr. Brace Ear was such a nice old bunny who gave them cupcakes during their lunch-breaks.

Everyone in the factory was happy.

Just like everyone else in Sugarcoated City.

After a long and fun day at work, Honey decided to fly home. As she left the factory, she passed by a couple of clown policemen. They said hello, and Honey was glad knowing that they were there, making her city a better place.

But as she was on her way home, she was met by a surprise. Her neighbor, Candice Floss, was sitting on a branch outside her house on the gumball tree and she looked... odd. Not-happy.

"Hey, Candice!" Honey landed on the branch and sat next to Candice. "How do you do?"

Candice sighed. "Not so good. My grandpa is dead. Me and my family buried him today."

"Well, he had good, long life." Honey smiled grew wider. "That's the important thing."

"Yeah. But I still miss him." Candice's not-smile grew wider as well.

"Cheer up, friend." Honey wrapped her wing around Candice's shoulder. "Remember; a funeral is like a birthday party, just opposite!"

Honey's smile grew a bit stiff as she realized that the sentence she had been taught in school to say to not-happy people who had lost their loved ones had no effect. In fact, it seemed to make the situation... more not-good.

"I don't wanna cheer up, Honey." Candice pulled herself free from her friend. "I just want to be a little bit sad is all."

Honey gasped. "Candice, what did you just say?!"

"Oh, take it easy. It's not like I did something illegal."

"Yes you did." Honey whispered into Candice's ear, then looked left and right. "You know that it is forbidden. We must all do what we can to make Sugarcoated City as happy a place as possible."

"Well, I want to be sad right now." Candice said in a not-delighted way. "And I should be allowed that. It's alright not being cheerful all the time. It can be healthy for you to cry or be angry now and then."

Honey was shocked. "Those words... Have you been meting with the Grizzles again? Candice, you promised-"

"Well, I'm breaking that promise. Bring back the forbidden books! Long live the revoluti-"

And then, Candice Floss was gone.

Honey looked up from the tiny pile of ash and saw that the clown police had arrived in their flying cars fueled by jellybean soup. "Young lady, did that not-happy person hurt you?"

"Not at all." Honey smiled as she lifted her right hoof up to salute them. "Long live Princess Sugarbutt!"

Honey then flew back to her own house and began reading her favorite book about kitties. But she couldn't focus, and in the end gave up trying not to look out of the window to watch the clown police at work.

They were almost done burning down Candice's gumball tree. They were good at their job. Soon, it would be hard to tell that there had ever been a tree there.

But then again, there had never been a tree there. So said the clown police, which meant that it was the truth. Just like that all the papers, files, photos or anything else that could prove that there had once been a pegasus named Candice Floss that later would get burned as well never existed. In fact, there had never been a buddy-bunny or pegasus with the name Candice Floss. If someone thought something else, they would soon realize that they were wrong. After all, the clown police had direct authority from Princess Sugarbutt, why should anyone not believe what they told you?

And as Honey McPuppycock watched the tree that didn't exist get burned to a crisp, she smiled the biggest smile she had ever smiled. Because there was nothing as wonderful as a big smile.

@kingkarate: @poze:

@nemesisreloaded:

@boschepg: @4donkeyjohnson: @wildvine:

@admirallogic:

@stahlflamme:

@jackalantern: @heroup2112: @flumox56: @stumpy49er: @cbishop:

Smile!

Just gonna drop these here. Happiness Is Mandatory and Crapsaccharine World.

I'll give you a cookie for technical good writing but not for the story. A twist might have worked if Candice was secret police and Honey was the revolutionary. Or heck, if we're rehashing things what if Honey got arrested for being in association, which makes her realize how broken the system is? Or Honey goes against her own beliefs to save her friend. Or maybe there's a reason why people have to be happy. Instead we have a bad government and people are sheep. I might have been fooled by the sweetness if it wasn't so cynical.

@waezi2: I really like it! A simple but effective story

@wildvine: Well, I did considder going all 1984, but the Strangearium stories has to be weird but simple. I did at first want Honey to join the resistance, but then I decided to let it end with her simply accepting her world and go on with her life since we don't see a lot of those in bad government stories. Also, it would have to be a several chapter long story.

But you are right, the story is not that complex.

@kingkarate: @poze:

@nemesisreloaded:

@boschepg: @4donkeyjohnson: @wildvine:

@admirallogic:

@stahlflamme:

@jackalantern: @heroup2112: @flumox56: @stumpy49er: @cbishop:

Any of you have a favorite bad government story? Mine is "Fahrenheit 451"

@waezi2: Except we know nothing about Honey and the story itself isn't new so doing a slightly somber ending doesn't redeem it. Also Honey's motivation is confusing. Did her grandfather's death conveniently align with her political mindset? Because she does a 90% turn from being sad/angry to fighting the power. Your excuse is the story is phoned in because you didn't want to write it as a series, or to translate, the story is lazy because you were feeling lazy. There is no complexity here. No conflict. What message were you trying for here? That dictatorships exist?

@wildvine: No, it's phoned in because the Strangearium is a parody. It's not suppose to be deep as such and is mostly about making weird stuff for the sake of weirdness. Like the guy who was hated by everyone because he was Joseph Stalin, the man who wanted to go back in time and then was told that he had to fake the assassination of JFK or the dying father who lost his son's respect because he had feet made out of bread. Think of it as a spoof of bizarro-fiction TV shows like The Twilight Zone.

@waezi2: Those other stories were original and had entertaining elements. This isn't original. Parody involves deconstruction. Nothing here is deconstructed. Parody has a point. This has no point that I can see. Parody is entertaining. This is not a parody.

It's a nice little story and I get what you were trying to do here and that you were trying to keep it simple but I have to agree it is a little flat. Good bro, but not your best. Sorry. :)

@wildvine: Your two links in your first comment are the same.

I think you're maybe overlooking the point of the Strangearium stories (and @waezi2 correct me if I'm wrong) which is simply to come up with the strangest thing possible for whatever titles he's given, or comes up with. I have been under the impression that these are quickly written, somewhat like the exercises in the 15 Minute Writing Challenge. The concern is not the level of entertainment or technical proficiency, but simply the level of strangeness. And on that, I think a world of pegasus and bunnies patrolled by clown cops for Princess Sugarbutt is pretty up there on the strangeometer.

@waezi2: My favorite thing here was the wordplay name "Candice Floss." Mainly because I've had a Candace "Candy" Floss on my character list since September, 2011. I haven't made use of her yet, and now I will have trouble thinking of anything but your Strangearium tale.

And my favorite big government story is also Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. All we need are mechanical hounds with injection fangs, and we will be living it as reality. The cover at the right is what made me want to read it.