Hello 😊 you must be here to read our pretty pony’s story. Well then, let's begin...

This pink pony's name was Vanity. This name was given her for very good reason. Do you know what that word means? It's when someone cares too much about their looks and not enough about who they are and how they treat others. That was exactly what she used to be like before....before is exactly where our story starts but for now, we'll call her by her first name, Vanity.
One day Vanity was standing by the river as usual, to admire her reflection in the water. She thought she looked exceptionally beautiful today. Especially her long Mane. Vanity loved her Mane more than any of her other features. More than her eyes. More than her nose. More than her mouth. More than anything! She brushed it all day and braided it and looked at her reflection as often as she could.
Today was the same as every other day for Vanity but she didn't mind. After all who would be bored with looking at her beauty all day, everyday she thought. So she left her stable early as usual and found the clearest part of the river to see herself clearly through it. Vanity came closer to the water, bowed her head, humming proudly then suddenly...”aaaaah!” She screamed!
“my face! My beautiful face!” Vanity was so frightened when she saw her reflection looking so different...so....so...Hairless! She started neighing and shaking her head to check if her beautiful, long Mane was still on her head. “Phew” Vanity breathed with relief when she felt her hair touch her face. Though she was scared, she then walked back to the river, slowly, looked curiously down again and saw the same hairless head looking back at her. This time Vanity didn't jump back in fear. She decided to try something. She began to make funny faces at the reflection in the water, to see if it will do the same. She crossed her eyes. The reflection crossed its eyes too. She shook her head. The reflection did the same. So this time, she decided to try one last test. She lifted herself up on her hind legs then quickly dropped down again, bowing her head down as she did so, so all her thick Mane fell forward on her face. Suddenly “Woooow!” She heard the reflection say in awe of her beauty. She pricked her ears and blew her hair off her face only to see...shall we guess together what she saw? Hmmmm was it...an ELEPHANT! No they're too big. Was it...a GIRAFFE! Again it couldn't be a giraffe could it? It would be too tall! A BUTTERFLY is too small, it couldn't be a KANGAROO either. None of those animals live in water so, what could it possibly be? Which creature lives in the water? You guessed it! It was a fish! A small colourful fish with the colours of the rainbow all over it.
“Wow! What is that?!!”
“why, it's my Mane of course" replied Vanity haughtily, annoyed at this ignorant little fish that gave her such a fright.
“A Mane? What's a Mane?” asked the fish with wide, curious eyes.
“it's what humans call hair!” hmph this fish really doesn't know anything, thought Vanity.
“what's it for?” Not knowing that she was bothering Vanity with her curiosity, fish asked again
“why it's...it's...it's to....” Vanity was getting very upset now because she couldn't think of anything her Mane was useful for. Then she suddenly burst out “ TO KEEP MY HEAD WARM OF COURSE!”
Now fish was smart enough to see that she had upset this beautiful pony. She couldn't understand why. She only meant to be friendly. Poor little fish said in a shy, quite voice “ I'm sorry. I just wanted to make up for scaring you before. I really didn't mean to! Honest! I was playing. I thought we could be friends. I guess I'll be going now" poor poor little fish started sinking her tiny body slowly under the surface of the water when she heard Vanity say “Wait. Wait. Come back.” Vanity was embarrassed at the way she behaved. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted at you. We can be friends if you still want to" You see, Vanity wasn't a bad pony. She just needed to learn a little lesson in modesty that's all. That lesson was about to come through this tiny new friend she made.
“YIPPEEEE!” Shouted little fish happily, jumping up high, she did A flip in the air then dived straight back down. She disappeared for a minute in the deep then popped her head back by the shore where Vanity was standing. “hahaha that was amazing! You're a funny little fish.” Said Vanity laughing with amusement at her happy little friend. “So tell me. What's your name little fish?” “My name is Bassata “Bassata? That's a funny name. What does it mean?” “it means Simplicity in Arabic" “I like it. Mine is Vanity" “Vanity? Why are you called that?” “What do you mean why? It's my name that's all" replied Vanity crossly. She felt a little insulted by the question but she didn't know why. “It's just that...you seem nice. Don't you know what it means?” “No. I just liked the way it sounds, so when my humans named me, I never asked. Why? What does it mean" Vanity had a suspicion she’s not going to like the answer to that. “Well...it means...it means...that you like yourself too much” blurted out Bassata. She hesitated to tell her new friend because she didn't want to hurt her feelings but she had to let her know what name she was carrying. “So? So what? Am I supposed to not like myself? Then how exactly am I supposed to live with myself if I don't like me? That doesn't make any sense at all!” “No no. Of course you should like yourself but...Vanity means you like yourself only... You like yourself so much that you don't even notice or care about others. Is...umm...is that true?” “No of course it's not true!” replied Vanity defensively. “is that...do you think that's what my humans think of me? Is that why they gave me such an awful name?” Vanity started weeping quietly. She felt so sad that her family and friends thought she was so selfish. That she didn't even care about them as long as she had her beautiful looks. She wasn't like that at all! “What can I do to make my family think better of me? I don't want to be called Vanity anymore! Waaah!” She started crying openly now. Bassata was so sad for her friend, so she tried to cheer her up. She said “I know! Why don't you do something heroic so everyone would see that you care about more than your looks!” “sniff. like what?” “hmmm let's think" replied Bassata thoughtfully. They began walking together. Vanity by the shore and Bassata swimming next to her, thinking of ways to change Vanity's name.
“I know! What if you help some chicks find their way back into their nest! They're always falling from their nests and needing help.” “hmm I don't know...I don't mind helping chicks but is it enough to change my name?” “maybe you're right. I'll think some more" Vanity & Bassata were lost in thought as they walked (& swam) together when Vanity said “What if...” but when Vanity looked down at the river she couldn't find Bassata! “Bassata. Bassata where did you go?” suddenly she heard a shout “Help! Vanity Help! Help Me!!” Vanity ran as fast as she could only to find Bassata caught in A whirlpool! Bassata kept going round and round and round. She couldn't swim out of the whirlpool as much as she tried. kicking her fins as fast as she could, she just kept going round & round! Vanity tried to bend down on her front legs and stretched her neck out as far as she could to try to catch her with her teeth but she was too far! Vanity suddenly heard a flock of birds chatting above her so she shot a look upwards and found the answer! These birds were big , white elegant, immigrant birds, but more importantly, they had long, sharp beaks! Vanity started neighing and jumping to try to get their attention. She got their attention alright and the attention of all the other animals AND humans around. Everyone came running to see why Vanity, who was usually quietly braiding her hair by the river, was suddenly making such a loud noise. The sight they saw surprised everyone! By the time everyone had gathered, Vanity had explained to the birds her plan. The birds then started cutting Vanity's hair with their beaks as fast as they could. Vanity then picked up her braids in her mouth and threw the other end out to her desperate friend. Bassata held on tightly with her tiny mouth onto the end of Vanity's braid and Vanity pulled her quickly onto the shore. Bassata couldn't breathe out of water and kept flipping and flopping on the ground, so Vanity gently carried her and ran as fast as she could away from where the whirlpool was and dropped her in the river where she was safe and breathing again. “pant..pant...thank you. Thank you Vanity. You saved my life and...your hair...your beautiful hair is gone! You cut your hair for me?!!” Both Vanity and Bassata looked at each other affectionately and knew then they would be friends for life when suddenly they heard loud cheering behind them “Wooohooo! Bravo! Vanity's a hero! 3 cheers for Vanity! Hip hip hurray!!”
Vanity then had her wish. Her humans came up to her and said “from now on you will no longer be called Vanity. You cut your beautiful hair, not caring about your looks, to save a friend. You have shown wisdom and quick thinking. More importantly, you have shown loyalty & love. Because of your heroic action you will be called Hero. How do you like it?” Hero, formerly known as Vanity, was very proud of her new name. Not because everyone thought she was a hero but because she proved to them and to herself that she is not vain. So from that day onwards, everyone called her Hero. Everyone except Bassata who called her “Batalty”, My Hero.
A mystery for you to solve: Someone tiny played a big trick in this story. Do you know who & what the trick is?
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