A Simple Prank

The three little fillies peeked from behind the tree at the edge of Ponyville Park behind which they were hiding: the ponies outside the park were going about their day.

Mothers were exchanging gossip while keeping out an occasional eye for their offspring that were playing nearby; middle-aged couples were arguing over what fruits and vegetables were best to buy for dinner; merchants loudly advertised their products’ divine qualities, as well as occasionally explaining to the non-locals that no, the souvenirs were not refundable.

Scootaloo sighed.

“At this rate we’ll never get to prank anypony!” she complained and pointed at one of the pony gatherings.

“Just look,” she emphasized with her hoof which she waved in said ponies’ direction, ”they’re just… standing there… This way no-pony will pass by us! We’ll get old and die before anypony comes over here! I am so confused! I mean, this is a nice day! Sun shines, birds chirp and all that other stuff! Aren’t ponies supposed to come to park and relax on a nice day?? They usually do stuff like that, right??”

She turned to the girls.
"If they won’t pass us to get to the park, then how can we prank them? Oh, sorry… I meant: how can Sweetie Belle prank them.”

She corrected, and her eyes briefly turned to the unicorn.

Apple Bloom nodded and made an agreeing ‘mm-hmm’ sound. Sweetie Belle stayed silent. Both girls looked at her, and this time their eyes stayed there.

“You alright back there, Sweets?” the Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie Belle jerked her head to Scootaloo as if she forgot that the pegasus was there next to her. She silently nodded and resumed looking at…

--Scootaloo and Apple Bloom’s eyes followed her gaze--

…at an adult grayish-brown earth pony with a red floral shirt and a photo camera hanging from his neck, who appeared to be walking in their general direction – and he did so while taking snapshots of every single (even just mildly interesting) thing he passed.

“Sweet! A tourist!” exclaimed Scootaloo, “Sweetie Belle, get ready!” She patted the unicorn excitedly.

Sweetie’s eyes immediately traveled upward, towards a tree branch hanging above the entrance to the Ponyville Park (again, on which’s edge they were hiding). The branch in question was supporting the weight of a large bag of flour (without an opening), which suddenly became surrounded by a pale shimmering pastel green aura – the same color as the aura currently dancing around Sweetie Belle’s little white horn.

“…okay, I’m ready,” she said to Scootaloo with a mischievous smile that could be also heard in her tone of voice. A squeal wanted to escape her lips but she suppressed the urge; it would be a bad idea to make much noise now.

“Okay,” said the pegasus as she carefully peeked from behind the tree once again as her friends now were hiden completely behind it. “Now just wait… yes… yes… Yes! He is heading this way! Okay now… yes… closer… he’s getting closer… closer… closer… Now just a little bit more and… annnd… now!”

Scootaloo gave Sweetie Belle a single energetic pat on the back, making her squeak in surprise as her aura gave out in a brief burst of a sparkling green light, accidentally shoving the bag in the opposite direction to the one she wanted.

Sweetie Belle quickly re-cast her telekinesis spell and grabbed the bag once again to drop it on the head of the hapless tourist before he walked out of range. Sweetie Belle, instead of dropping the bag, twisted and contorted it in place, leaving the pony below sadly un-floured.

“What are you doing, Sweetie Belle?? Quick! Drop it!” Scootaloo hustled her, a note of panicked urgency noticeable in her voice.

“I can’t!” said Sweetie Belle, with a similar note of panic.

Scootaloo looked at her. “What??”

“The bag… it must’ve snagged on something!” Sweetie Belle explained, “I push and pull and do other stuff but it just won’t budge!”

“What?? But you— but you have to! If you don’t! I mean— there’s no— there’s no time! You have to do it NOW!” she whisper as loud as she could at the same time not drawing attention of the stallion who, luckily, stopped five meters away to admire and make snapshots of a face-height-level squirrel’s hollow inside the same tree which was supporting the weight of his doom.

“YOU. JUST. HAVE. TO,” Scootaloo repeated, grabbing Sweetie Belle by her shoulders and shaking her a bit, as if it would help her with the problem. "...If it's snagged, can't you at least rip it and make a hole?" she added, hopefully.

Apple Bloom quickly shoved her aside and looked at the unicorn and asked “Three minutes’ll be enough?”

Sweetie Belle blinked. “…w-what?”

“Will three minutes be enough? Ah can buy ye five. Jus’ tell me if ye can un-snag that bag in five and drop it on ‘im.”

Another brief pause. “I… I think so? But how are you going to—“ she began but Apple Bloom was already running towards the earth pony who already got bored with the hollow and was about to continue his stroll. Sweetie Belle noticed that her friend untied her hair and was holding in her mouth her pink bow for some reason.

“Mister! Mister!” Apple Bloom yelled to the stallion in distress.

Sweetie Belle curiously watched the scene, but was quickly reminded of her purpose in the prank by Scootaloo who woke her up with a solid sucker punch to her shoulder.

“Ouch!” the unicorn shouted, and then, “…oh… Oh! Right!”

And the green glow once again embraced the cloth container of powdered cereal grains.

***

“Mister! Mister!”

Snap Shot turned his camera’s visor away from the Ponyville Park where he was heading an looked to the right: between camera’s crosshairs he saw a little earth pony filly with a pink bow in her mouth running towards him. She looked worried.

“Yes, little Lady?” he asked with a warm smile and lowered his camera to look at her directly, “Can I help you with something?”

“Oh, yes, Mister! Ah do need yah help!” she said over the bow held between her teeth, “If you’d jus’ help me wit’ tyin’ this bow right here back inta mah hair, ah’d be so grateful! Mah sis’s gonna kill me if she learns that I lost it, and it just might as well happen if ah’ll be jus’ runnin’ ‘ere wit’ it in mah mouth! Please, Mister! I don’t wanna make mah sister angry! Ye don’t know how she gets when she’s angry!”

Snap Shot stopped smiling. “…does your sister beat you?” he asked carefully; the filly looked really stressed-out. If she was being abused then he no doubt will have to inform the authorities.

“No!” Apple Bloom shook her head, “Even worse! She tickles me! Really hard! The last time ah almost lost mah bow, she tickled me so hard that I had to change my sheets on mah bed, because they got wet!”

The stallion sighed in relief. Good; there was no home abuse. He was getting worried for a moment there.

“Oh, so let me tie that bow into your hair then, Miss…?”

“Mah name’s Apple Bloom,” Apple Bloom said with a convincing gratitude as the grown-up began tying the bow into her hair.

“Well, Miss Apple Bloom. You don’t have to worry; I will make sure that your sheets will remain dry. You have my word: I will protect them with my life!” he said in an overly dramatic tone that made her laugh.

When he was done with it, he addressed her once again. He lowered himself down to her level and asked her with a smile, “Well, Miss Apple Bloom, do you promise to be careful next time and treat your bow with a little more respect and not let it fall again?”

She giggled. “I promise!”

“Okay then!” He grinned and stood up. He turned around as if to leave, but he turned back to her once again, closed one of his eyes and raised the corners of his mouth in a mischievous wink, and said.
“I will be ba—gah!”

Apple Bloom gasped; in the spot where a moment ago the funny man was standing, appeared a large white cloud that danced in miniscule wind currents; she totally forgot why she approached the stallion in the first place. A round of giggles sounded from behind the tree on her right, and then a gasp.

“Quick! Girls! RUN!”

Her two friends shoot out from behind the giant buckeye and their rumps jumped up and down as they galloped into the distance.

Apple Bloom heard a groan from the cloud; it has already dissipated almost completely and Apple Bloom could see that the earth pony stallion was coming to his senses. It was her cue. She took off like a bullet, quickly catching up with her friends.

Snap Shot shakily climbed back onto his legs, and looked ahead just in time to see three tails of different colors disappear behind the trees. He could have sworn he also heard some kind of yell. Something that sounded vaguely like…

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS PROFESSIONAL PRANKSTERS YAY~!!!”

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