Ch 11. A change of pace
Chapter 11 A change of pace
Feel the sun break through the water
Floating on all its colors
Feel the life spread through your veins
Feeling high, time to fly
If you could see me now
10.000 miles and still rising
Can't even see the ground
My beautiful horizon
Joy. It is such a simple, yet so complex emotion. But how does one truly define joy? I believe that everyone has their own unique definition of what joy truly is and that’s part of what makes us unique as individuals. No matter how we define joy though, a lot of us take it for granted. And so some of us are hopelessly lost once we lose it, to those I say take solace in my words, for you need only look inward. Scour your dark thoughts and forge your own path to regain your happiness, let no one stand in your way.
*~*
"Four pairs of hooves clattered against the marble floor as the two ponies made their daring escape through the castle’s winding corridors. One was a grizzled pegasus with a secretive past and a heart of gold. The other was a simple earth pony mare with a love for fun and parties. They were an unusual combo to those who didn’t know them, but in truth they were the best of friends, the greatest buddies, awesomest comrades in arms, the coolest ca-"
"While I love how you narrate our current situation could you please keep it down a bit? You’re making it easier to find us." I cut off the pink mare that was skipping along beside me.
"Okie dokie lokie. Oh and Cloud, jump." Pinkie replied cheerfully.
With a quick flap of my wings I jumped into the air and found myself sailing over a guard that had come rushing from an intersecting corridor. This was probably the fourth time that Pinkie’s seemingly random orders had saved me from being caught.
Perhaps I should roll back time a bit to explain just why Pinkie and I were currently running through the many corridors of Canterlot castle. You see it all started just as we left Pinkie’s room and started heading to Twilight’s...
*~*
"Soooo Cloud, do you want to do something after we talk to Twilight?" Pinkie asked as she bounced beside me.
"Yeah sure, I have nothing planned. I mean what would I plan?" I answered the pink pony.
"Well since you don’t have anything to do I thought we could have some and fun and go pull some pranks." she replied as she flashed massive grin toward me.
"Pranking huh? Aight, let’s do it! One condition though, I get to prank Twilight." I said as I returned her grin. I had just the prank in mind for Ms. Sparkle.
We quickly covered the distance between Pinkie’s and Twilight’s room and before I had time to say anything else Pinkie had knocked on the door.
"I’ll be there in a second!" the muffled voice of Twilight called out from behind the door.
The door swung open to reveal the purple unicorn with a neutral expression on her face.
A neutral expression that quickly became a relieved smile when she saw the back to normal Pinkie. Without wasting another second she enveloped the pink earth pony in a tight hug, which was returned by said earth pony almost instantaneously.
"Oh thank Celestia you’re okay again Pinkie." the unicorn said, quite clearly still high on relief.
"Yep! I’m back to a 125% again thanks to Cloudie." Pinkie replied in her normal, bubbly voice.
The two friends broke their hug as Twilight spoke up again.
"Well don’t stand there in the doorway, come on in."
Twilight stepped to the side to allow Pinkie and me into her room while motioning with a hoof for us to enter. After Pinkie had bounced herself in I stepped inside calmly, allowing Twilight to close the door behind me. Pinkie quickly positioned herself on Twilight’s bed while I opted to sit on the floor beside it. Twilight, that seemed to have had been reading from four separate books that were scattered around the bed, chose the floor as well.
"What exactly did he say to break you out of the depression Pinkie?" the unicorn asked before quickly adding,
"If you don’t mind me asking of course Cloud."
"I’m sorry Twilight but I can’t tell you. I couldn’t betray Cloud’s trust, not after he brought me out of that." Pinkie replied before I even had time contemplate what my response should be.
I was however relieved that Pinkie had understood the fact that what I had shared with her was an intimate secret. Something that one does not simply share with every soul that asks. Twilight seemed to think about Pinkie’s answer for a moment before speaking again.
"I understand and I will not push the issue. I have questioned Cloud’s character far too much already and see where that has led me. Instead I will only be grateful that you’ve regained your spirit Pinkie." she said, a smile adorning her face.
"So what exactly is it that brings you here?" she continued to ask.
"Well nothing much really, just wanted to stop by and tell you that everything has been worked out." I answered the unicorn.
"Next I believe that we’ll stop by the rest of the girls to relay the same message."
"Yeah that’s probably a good idea Cloud. The others have been just as worried as I have." Twilight said nodding thoughtfully before continuing.
"Well don’t let me keep you here."
"Oh we’ll be leaving shortly Twilight but first there’s one thing I have to add." I said suppressing my urge to grin as Twilight focused her attention on me.
"Twilight before Pinkie and I leave, I need to inform you that you are now painfully aware of the fact that you are blinking manually."
Twilight tilted her head to the side in confusion but I could already see the small signs of the effects my words had on the mare.
"I’m sorry but what?" she asked.
"Oh, it’s nothing important Twilight try not to dwell on it. Let’s get going Pinkie." I said as I headed out of the room.
"Okie dokie. Bye Twi! Hey that rhymes!" Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully as she bounced out of Twilight’s room after me.
I closed the door and started to head down the corridor as Pinkie bounced up beside me.
"Hey Cloud weren’t we supposed to prank Twilight?" the party mare asked.
Finally I allowed myself to show the grin I had been suppressing.
"Oh but I already did Pinkie. Just give it a few more seconds."
A scream of frustration was soon heard in the direction of Twilight’s chamber causing both me and Pinkie to burst out laughing as we headed further down the corridor.
"Okay you gotta tell me what did you do Cloud?" Pinkie asked still giggling slightly.
"You know that random detail about blinking? I kinda figured it would mess a bit with Twilight’s OCD."
"Ooooh, you are good at this." Pinkie managed to say before succumbing to another fit of giggles.
*~*
"Cloud we need to take a left turn here otherwise we’ll end up back in the throne room." Pinkie cut in, bringing me out of my reminiscing.
I followed close behind Pinkie as she took the left turn in the intersecting corridors just ahead. I don’t know if she actually knew the layout of the castle or if she relied on her Pinkie sense but I was incredibly grateful that I wasn’t the one leading the way. All the corridors truly looked the same, and knowing my luck I would’ve brought us right back into the waiting hooves of someone we had pranked recently.
Speaking of pranking the next pony we visited after Twilight was Rarity…
*~*
We had walked for a couple of minutes, still full of mirth from our first prank, when Pinkie spoke up.
"Say Cloud how ‘bout we make it into a small competition? We each take turns pranking and see if we can agree on a winner at the end?"
"Hmm, it does sound like it could be fun. I take you want the next prank then since I started with Twilight?"
"Oh yes." Pinkie said with a massive grin.
"I have the perfect prank in mind for Rarity, so let’s go find her. I think she said something about having a chat with the royal seamstress."
"Oh okay, so I take it that’s where we’re headed now?"
"Of course not silly Cloud we’re going to her room." Pinkie said as if what she had stated was the most logical thing ever.
Guess I’m not completely on her wavelength after all. I thought to myself as I trotted after the pink pony. Not sure if I’m supposed to be disappointed or relieved…
*Cough*
My thoughts trailed off as I realized that Pinkie had stopped a few doors back and was waiting patiently for me to get back over to her.
"Sorry Pinkie got a bit lost in my own head." I said, offering her an apologetic smile.
"Oh it’s alright I do that all the time. Like this one time I sat and contemplated what it would be like to be a shark. Would I be like rawr rawr rawr I’m going to eat all of you, or would I be a party Pinkie shark throwing the best underwater parties in the Equestrian Ocean. That was a fun day." Pinkie finished with a happy sigh, while staring off into the distance.
"Okay Pinks that’s good and all but weren’t you supposed to do something here?" I asked, hoping to bring her back to her self-proposed competition.
"Oh yeah! Watch and learn from a master Cloudy." Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced into activity.
I watched as she pulled a bucket filled with water from seemingly nowhere. The bucket was quickly followed by a stepladder that was placed next to the door. At this point there was no doubt where Pinkie was going with this. It was simple, but you have to respect the classics and against a pony such as Rarity the effect could possibly be tenfold the normal reaction.
"And now we wait for Rarity to return." Pinkie declared with a smile.
"Uhm Pinkie, I doubt she’s going to return soon." I said, voicing my thoughts out loud.
"Oh silly Cloud of course she’s going to return soon. See she left her bit bag over there and it’s soon lunch time which means she will be here any minute." Pinkie said as she motioned with a hoof toward a small purple and gold sack on the nightstand.
"Now we better hide. Quick, in under the bed!" she shouted completely defeating whatever purpose hiding would’ve served had Rarity been anywhere near the door.
Luckily it seemed not to have been the case as everything was calm as I crawled in under the bed. Pinkie had dived under the bed with far more grace than I had. A few minutes passed before we could hear hoof steps coming from outside the door. Seconds later the door swung open, which naturally made bucket start its rapid descent.
A splash followed by a loud clatter rung out as the now empty bucket hit the marble floor. From under the bed I could observe the frozen hooves of Rarity as water dripped down from her now drenched coat and mane. As the shock started to leave her system Rarity spoke up in a low yet dangerous voice.
"I pray to Celestia that whoever set this up will face retribution for ruining my mane."
Rarity’s legs started heading toward the bathroom connected to her room and as I warily watched for any additional movement I felt Pinkie poke my side. Turning to look at the pink pony beside me I saw that she was motioning towards the door that Rarity had left open. Slowly and quietly we crawled out from under the bed and started to sneak out as Rarity was in the bathroom trying to dry her hair. All went well until I decided to throw a glance over my shoulder, which in turn caused me to kick the empty bucket with one on my legs.
Pinkie and I froze as the sounds from inside bathroom turned into rushed hoof beats heading toward the bathroom door.
"Run!" Pinkie cried.
And an instant later we both made a mad dash out of the open door and down the corridor with Rarity’s indignant shouts following us, all while we laughed, almost as loud as the screams that followed us down the corridor.
*~*
"Hey Cloud, I never said thank you for saving me and Fluttershy that night did I?" Pinkie suddenly said, causing me to stumble and fall on my face.
"Auow…" I groaned as I sat up and rubbed my poor muzzle. Fluttershy had witnessed me when I fought? Why the hay wasn’t she in a catatonic state when my laughter alone had had such an impact on Pinkie? Was that why she had acted so reserved when I saw her after “dive bombing” Rage? I decided it would be better to voice my thoughts rather than to guess.
"Um Pinkie, while I really appreciate you wanting to thank me shouldn’t we make sure that Fluttershy is okay? I mean you refused to prank her for obvious reasons but now you’re telling me that she saw me fighting?" I asked somewhere between confusion and frustration.
"No silly Cloud, she kept her eyes closed the entire time. Come to think of it I don’t think I ever told her that it was you that was the one laughing in that alley." Pinkie answered thoughtfully as a contemplative look dawned on her face.
I did what seemed to be the most appropriate response for the time being, I facehoofed.
"There they are!" somepony cried out from behind us.
As one Pinkie and I set off running down the corridor again. Can’t say I blame all these ponies though, our pranks did escalate quite rapidly as we decided to prank Applejack.
*~*
Rarity had stopped giving chase a few minutes ago and Pinkie and I were now trotting along in another part of the castle, still full of mirth from the latest prank.
"Aight Pinkie, I have to admit that your prank had more of an explosive result than I expected. Guess I’ll have to out do you with my next prank, yes? Where do we find Applejack, Dash or Fluttershy?"
Pinkie hopped in front of me with a stern expression.
"I can tell you where to find AJ and Dashie, but we’re not pranking Fluttershy."
I sat down on my haunches and held up my front hooves disarmingly.
"Calm down Pinkie, I promise that I won’t think more about pranking Fluttershy."
"Okie Dokie, I’ll hold you to that." Pinkie said still with the stern expression on her face, which suddenly was incredibly close to mine.
"Now let’s go find AJ." She continued cheerfully, her demeanor taking a 180 degree turn.
I was left wondering what had just transpired for a second or two before following after Pinkie who was already making her way down the corridor again. As I caught up to the pink mare a new feeling had started to settle in my gut; hunger.
"Say Pinkie you wouldn’t happen to know where we could grab something to eat before we find Applejack?" I asked as a plan started to form in the dark corners of my mind.
"Sure we’ll just take to route past the kitchen Cloudy. Now let’s go!" Pinkie said as she grabbed my hoof and dragged me along at impossible speeds.
By the time my mind registered what had happened we had already come to a stop outside a set of kitchen doors. From inside you could hear the clamor of pots and pans as various foods were being prepared.
"Okay Pinkie here’s the plan, we try to find out if Applejack has ordered anything from the kitchen and then we add a little something extra to it." I said, turning to face Pinkie. A loud grumble from my stomach got me to speak up again before Pinkie could respond.
"Well finding, or making something to eat will have to be the first priority."
A wider than usual smile took its place on Pinkie’s face as her eyes sparkled with excitement.
"I like that plan Cloudy, let’s get going."
Without further ado we entered the kitchen area. My first impression was awe, everywhere there was activity from pony chefs of all genders and race. There was even a couple of non-pony chefs sprinkled in here and there. I guess we were lucky that we entered the kitchen during the lunch rush. Because no one paid any attention to me and Pinkie as we went through the kitchen, grabbing a fruit here and a piece of bread there. It was by no means a fancy lunch, but it would serve its purpose. Well to be perfectly honest Pinkie consumed more sweets than actual food.
Eventually we also found something that undeniably had to a lunch order by Applejack, at least I hoped it was otherwise some other poor soul would have to endure what I had intended for the cowpony.
Looking around I found quickly what I was looking for, spices. An entire spice rack to be precise. The order that I was going to target was an assortment of apple based dishes, and by that I meant only apple dishes. So I had little doubt that this belonged to Applejack. With a quick grin to myself I got to work, adding a bit of extra sting to the food so to speak. I was careful to not make the extra addition too obvious, but I did put enough spices on there so that if Applejack was observant she would notice. With a roguish grin I slipped away from the food to find Pinkie.
Finding the pink pony in a sea of white marble and white clad chefs was quite easy, as one might imagine. Still can’t understand why no one has decided to question why we’re here yet? We did stick out like sore thumbs in here after all. I thought as I made my way over to Pinkie. Damn, now I miss my thumbs. My thoughts had already started to spiral out of control when I stopped beside Pinkie.
"Okay Pinks, now we wait." I spoke as I sat down beside her.
"Aighty lighty Cloudy." she responded with her bubbly voice.
For a few minutes we sat there watching the plates that I had “tampered” with. Then out of seemingly nowhere a waiter showed up. Using his horn he levitated the plates with the different apple dishes onto a small tray, before heading towards the door.
"Let’s follow him Pinkie, what fun will there be if we can’t see the fruits of our labor?"
In response Pinkie raised an eyebrow.
"Really Cloud? You need waaay more work on your puns." She then proceeded to giggle as my hoof hit my face when the realization of what I had said struck me.
"Let’s just follow the waiter before we lose him." I said in an attempt to get the ball rolling again.
With a giggling Pinkie after me we headed out from the kitchen to trail the waiter. Lucky for us he didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry since we found him moving at a relaxed, but steady, pace down the corridor outside the kitchen.
We opted to keep our distance so that we wouldn’t arouse suspicion from the stallion. Thus we allowed a few extra seconds of a head start before we started to trail after him. Tracking a pony through the corridors quickly proved to be a rather simple task as the waiter seemed to pick the corridors that held next to no activity to reach his goal. I came to the conclusion that our target had knowingly picked this route due to this exact reason. Before long the stallion stopped outside an open door leading into what seemed to be a small dining room. From inside two familiar voices could be heard. The waiter harrumphed and the two voices quieted before the waiter spoke up.
"An assortment of Apple dishes ordered by one miss Applejack and miss Rainbow Dash." he announced.
"Aw shucks tha’s one mighty fast service ya got here. A’m Applejack and please leave out the miss in the future, makes me feel all prudish."
"As you say miss. I hope you enjoy your meal." the waiter responded before turning and leaving. The tray containing the food now missing from the unicorn’s magical grasp.
"Thank ya kindly!" Applejack’s voice called after the waiter from inside the dining room. Before resuming her conversation with Rainbow.
Pinkie and I took the leaving waiter as our queue to move closer to the door. Just close enough as we could peek inside to be precise. Inside we could easily see Applejack and Dash sitting by a large table, eyeing the food.
"Wow this looks delicious AJ, I gotta say that it almost looks as good as the stuff you make." Rainbow declared hungrily.
"Ah have to admit that it looks mighty appetizing but we didn’ order it to look at it, let’s dig in already." the orange farm pony agreed.
As the two mares each choose a dish to start with I was silently thanking whatever luck deity that had blessed me this time. Not only had the order actually been for Applejack but now I was going to prank Rainbow as a bonus. In fact Rainbow being the hastier of the two mares was the first one to fall for my spice trap. Having selected what I thought to be an apple fritter she quickly shoved the treat into her mouth and started to chew happily. The effect on Rainbow’s face when the taste hit her was priceless. Her chewing slowly came to a halt as her eyes widened and started to tear up. That was quickly followed by her cheeks adopting an increasingly red color.
Meanwhile Applejack was still observing the plate with the dishes completely oblivious to Rainbows predicament.
"Now would ya look at that, they even found us some Zapapple jam." Applejack said in giddy voice.
I had no idea what this Zapapple jam was but as Applejack lifted a piece of apple garnished with a rainbow colored substance I was sure she was mistaking it for something else. That was in fact liquid rainbow that I had found a very small supply of in the kitchen.
On the other side of the table I could see Rainbow’s teary eyes widen as she tried to find her voice in an attempt to warn her friend. Much to mine and Pinkie’s enjoyment she did not succeed.
Applejack reacted in a very different manner from Rainbow. After the first few happy chews she suddenly grew rigid. She didn’t move a muscle for few seconds except for a few tail twitches, then she exploded into a burst of activity. Reaching over to a large crystal pitcher of what I assumed to be water she quickly drained half its contents before passing it over to a coughing Rainbow Dash.
"What in Celestia’s name is wrong with the chefs here?!" Applejack demanded angrily, as Rainbow drained the remaining water from the pitcher.
At this point Pinkie and were rolling around on the floor outside the dining room quietly laughing our tails off. Unfortunately fate would have it so that Pinkie’s tail had come into clear view from inside the room. Pinkie and I were however too busy trying to contain our laughter to notice this. Nor did we notice that the complaints about the food being inedible at one point stopped.
"Ah think Ah see what happened now." Applejack’s voice suddenly spoke up, much closer than it had been before.
Pinkie and I froze for the second time that day. We slowly turned our heads to face the athletic pony duo. A duo that was currently glaring at us with spice induced tear streaked eyes.
"Err, hi." I said firing off a weak smile.
"Hello to you too Stormcloud, you or Pinkie wouldn’t happen to know what happened to our food right?" Applejack questioned sternly.
"Well you see I think it was-" I began, before widening my eyes as if in shock and pointing behind the two mares,
"Discord!"
My outcry had the desired effect as they both wheeled around to stare back into the room they had just exited. My response was of course to turn on the spot and bolt in the other direction, Pinkie hot my hooves. A second later the outraged cries of Rainbow and Applejack echoed behind us. But as Pinkie and I reached the first intersecting corridor, where we turned left, and no sounds of pursuit I threw a questioning glance at the pink mare bouncing along beside me.
"Oh don’t worry Cloudy, I threw a net." she told me, as if that was what I should’ve expected. Had I spent a moment to think about it that would probably have been exactly what I should’ve expected…
*~*
Well that brings us to where Pinkie and I are now, being chased by the ponies we pranked and for some reason the royal guard. Or at least I wish that the reason that the guard had joined in on the chase had remained an enigma. Apparently Pinkie had liked the idea of tampering with the food so much that she had laced the biggest pots and pans she could find with dried Poison joke petals. And it turns out that if ingested the effects are immediate but limited to a timeframe of around 20 minutes. I did of course not know any of this until the first guard came rushing and Pinkie urged us to run.
I had since long lost track of how long we had been avoiding getting caught, I was simply following Pinkie as she navigated the castle as if she had lived here her entire life. Suddenly we came to a screeching halt as the corridor we had just entered ended with a wall.
"Ooops sorry Cloud let’s back track we were supposed to take a left last turn." Pinkie explained with a smile.
Before I had a chance to reply though a shout rang through the air.
"There they are!"
Pinkie and I wheeled around to find a corridor that was quickly filling up with guards. Guards led by a disheveled looking Twilight, a pristine as always Rarity and the still slightly agitated Applejack and Rainbow.
"Looks like this little chase has finally come to a halt." Rarity said in a clearly forced polite tone.
I started backing away slowly, knowing that I’d soon hit the wall behind me.
"Pinkie if you have a plan to get out of here now’s the time to speak up." I murmured.
When I didn’t receive an answer I dared to take my eyes away from the horde of ponies that were slowly getting closer. As my gaze fell where Pinkie had been standing just a second ago I felt my eye give an irritated twitch. For before my eyes was a, poorly drawn, life size Pinkie cardboard cutout. The said piece of cardboard slowly toppled over to reveal a note taped to its backside which read:
I’m sorry Cloud but I wouldn’t be able to make a clean getaway if I brought along.
–Your bestest prankster pal, Pinkamena Diane Pie
I felt all the energy I had just a second ago leave me as I realized that there would be no way out for me. With a deep sigh I slumped down on my rump, ears drooping.
"Buck my life…" I breathed out as the pranked ponies descended on me.
Stats
Page generated in 0.019 seconds
Total duration
1,039 users online
274,170 hits today, 1,996,409 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Suddenly, Celestia to the resque!
Evil Pinkie -- You should be ASHAMED... Now you are going to have to teach him Pinkie Sense and admit that you lied to him about it not being teachable.
Awww... the content of Pinkie's note is missing...
4988661 Thank you for bringing this to my attention. The note is now back from whatever early vacation it decided to take.
I think it's fair to say pinkie won the prank war.