//------------------------------// // The usual suspects // Story: Prankstergeist // by General Alduin //------------------------------// Twilight yawned tiredly as her alarm blared. She reached over and swatted at air. Her eyes immediately opened and she looked over, finding the clock was still in its original place Or was it? Twilight looked confused as she used her magic to turn it off and climbed out of bed, where she then immediately bumped into her nightstand. She looked even more confused and moved away, bumping into her bed. There was no way she was this ti- Twilight gasped as she looked around. Everything was wrong! She flew over to her desk and pulled the drawer. Scrolls were replaced with quills and quills were where inkwells were supposed to go! Her head snapped over to her mirror and she flew over to that. It was upside down and all the pictures were switched around! Looking back to her bed, she knew she was viewing it at a different angle from yesterday. She should know, she spent hours figuring just the perfect angle to view her bed from her mirror! Twilight was pulled from her thoughts as she heard Spike scream her name from his room. She immediately took flight and raced down the hallway, bursting into his room. “Spike? What’s wrong?” Her eyes widened when she saw the entirety of Spike's room was glued to the ceiling, Spike himself crumpled in a ball after seemingly falling out of his bed. “Someone glued everything to the ceiling!” Spike stood up, looking up at the ceiling in awe and annoyance.  “And you slept through that?” Twilight asked incredulously. “I’m a heavy sleeper.” Spike offered lamely, shrugging his shoulders.  “If it's any consolation, somepony pranked me too last night.” Twilight said, walking up next to him. “They moved my stuff around and probably pushed everything a few inches in a different direction.” Spike stared at her silently. “Oh no?” “You wouldn’t get it!” Twilight huffed indignantly. “You’re not a girl.” “Yeah, cause every girl out there is hyper organized like you. Have you ever even seen Rainbow Dash’s-” Both Spikes and Twilight's eyes widened in realization and they looked at eachother. “Rainbow Dash!” They said at the same time. “I trust that mare with a key for emergencies and this is what she uses it for?” Twilight growled. “I just want to know what glue she used. I could really use it for my own pranks.” Twilight shot Spike a disapproving look, eliciting a nervous chuckle from the dragon. “Sorry.” “Well, that’s the last time I trust her with any key, I’m going to demand she give it back. If she can’t be trusted to be a mature adult with it, then she doesn’t-” “Rainbow Dash!”  Twilight and Spike looked at each other with confusion. “Was that-?” “Rainbow Dash! Yah get yer sorry flank out here!” “Yeah, that’s her.” Twilight took to the air and flew the rest of the way, landing besides Applejack. “Applejack? What are-?” “Ah’m giving that no good Pegasus what for!” Applejack interrupted. “She thought it’d be hilarious to send me and my mattress floating in the lake! Now Ah have to get a whole new mattress and Ah want her to pay for it!” Twilight opened her mouth to respond but was beaten to the punch by a Rarity. “Did she prank the two of you as well?” Everyone looked over and recoiled when they saw Rarity: her hair looked like it was put through a blender, a fake mustache was drawn onto her face, and she had incredibly heavy blush and makeup on. “Yes, I know I look like a fright. Believe me, I wouldn’t be out and about where everypony could see, but nothing I did worked and I was hoping she could help clean everything.” “Even yer makeup?” “Believe it or not, I looked like a clown before, this is the least amount of makeup I’ve worn all day.” “Well I for one liked her prank!” Everyone looked over to see Pinkie Pie bouncing happily towards them, baby powder coating her body and wafting off her each time she jumped. “She covered my bed in the twins baby powder! That was hilarious!” She skidded to a halt. “I look like a ghost!” She stood on her hind legs and waved her front legs wildly. “Spooookyyyyyy.”  “She seriously spent all night pranking each of us?” Rarity huffed. “Where’s Fluttershy? I have a feeling Rainbow did something to her too.” “Um, right here.” Everyone looked over to see Fluttershy Landing near them. “She Uh… she put my hoof in a bowl of water in the middle of the night.” “That’s it?” Spike crossed his arms. “That doesn’t sound so b-” He stopped mid sentence in realization. “Oh…” “Yeah…” Fluttershy nodded in an embarrassed manner. “That pony has gone too far.” Twilight huffed. “Pranking a friend is one thing, but you can’t break into your friends' houses in the middle of the night to do it.” Everyone gathered nodded and murmured in agreement. “Oh, hey guys!” They looked up when they heard Rainbow Dash's voice, seeing her flying down to meet them. “Surprised you’re all here, what’s up?” She landed a few feet from the group and snickered at Rarity. “Loving the new look Rares, is it some Manehatten fashion I don’t get?” Rainbow's smile faded when everyone frowned or glared at her (or in Pinkie's case made funny faces). “What?” “Rainbow... What did you do last night?” Twilight asked. “Last night? Uh, well, I fed Tank, exercised a little, then read the new Daring Doo book till I passed out.” “You’re sure that you didn’t do anything else?” “Yeah.” Rainbow looked at the group with confusion. “What’s going on?” “Ah’ll tell yah what’s going on!” Applejack marched right up to Rainbow Dash who took a step back. “Yah broke into each of our homes to prank us! Yah crossed a line Dash!” “Wha- broke into your homes?” Rainbow held up her hooves defensively. “Look, I know I can take things a little too far with my pranks and jokes, but I would never betray your trust like that. If I was going to do something like that, I’d get help from the inside.” Rainbow awkwardly cleared her throat at the disapproving looks the last part of her sentence earned her. “If you didn’t do it, then who did?” Rarity asked disbelievingly. “Yeah! I need to know so I can learn how to do the same!” Pinkie closed the distance between her and Rainbow, getting uncomfortably close before Twilight pulled her away. “I mean, I don’t know.” Rainbow shrugged. “Discord?” “Dash.” Fluttershy frowned in disapproval. “You know what he’s like! He’s the only one who’d be able to break into our homes and do it just to prank us.” Twilight hummed. “She has a point, Discord isn’t one for boundaries…” Twilight was quiet as she thought it over. “Alright, we’ll summon him here and see if he has anything to say.” Everyone else looked unsure but gathered around in a circle, Spike standing off to the side. Twilight closed her eyes and all of them began floating into the air. A rainbow began swirling around them as Twilight opened her eyes to reveal they were glowing. The rainbow swirled around before striking the ground, Discord appearing as the rainbow dissipated, a bowl of What was presumably cereal in his hands. “Ah, Twilight.” Discord took a bite from his cereal with a fork, each bite he took making a new random sound. “You’re lucky I haven’t started the day yet, otherwise I’d have berated you for summoning me without notice.” “Lucky me.” Twilight said sarcastically, taking a step forward. “Discord, somepony broke into all of our houses last night and pranked us. Are you responsible for it?” Discord hummed in thought, opening up his cranium to scratch his brain with his fork. “Can’t say I did.” He closed his cranium. “If I was responsible then I may have forgotten. That’s the curse of being a creature of chaos, it’s from one whim to another. If you’d like, I can investigate to see if I left any clues.” “Wouldn’t you just destroy the evidence if you were guilty?” Spike pointed out. “Such slander!” Discord said indignantly. “I am reformed! I would never do something so underhanded! See?” He pointed at the halo that appeared over his head. “If It makes you feel any better…” Discord cleared his throat. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Discord punctuated his point by literally pulling his heart out of his chest and crossing it, then smashing a cupcake into his eye, snapping his fingers so the cupcake disappeared. “I won’t destroy any evidence against me, real or imagined.” Everyone gathered exchanged looks with each other. “Alright, fine. We’ll trust you Just this once.” Twilight called out. “Spikes room is probably the most ‘chaotic’ prank, you can start there.” “You’re the boss, boss.” Discord saluted and snapped his fingers, everyone disappearing in a flash.