The Awkward Pranks of an Awkward Changeling

by PonyThunder

He Who Does The Crime, Does The Time

I have way too much fun picking the music for these. It's probably too punchy to read to...

---

"Okay," said Spike, "so this is fine. They're throwing a party for Twilight because they think she had a bad day. Nobody will find out that you pretended to be Twilight or Applejack."

"Or Rarity," Thorax added.

"Yeah...that too."

"So who can I disguise as next?" Thorax asked excitedly.

Spike suddenly felt very nervous. He'd already crossed the line. "It's probably best that you don't disguise yourself as anypony anymore."

Thorax felt a little disappointed, but found himself agreeing after remembering everything he'd done so far and started to feel bad about it.

"Come on, let's go to this party," said Spike.

"Okay, but let me go use the restroom first," said Thorax. He trotted out the room in a few moments, leaving Spike alone.

"Well that was weird..." he said aloud to himself. But he brushed it off and spent some time putting back the clothes he'd taken out, then left the room and made his way down the hallway to the main entrance room, where Twilight, Starlight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity were conversing. Pinkie Pie had wheeled in a large cake and was bouncing around the room, throwing streamers and confetti over various objects.

"Oh, you're all so thoughtful," said Twilight. "You didn't have to throw a surprise party for me."

"Well," said Rainbow Dash, "you seemed a little off when you were helping me clear the skies earlier, so I figured I'd find Pinkie Pie and put something together for you."

Twilight looked confused. "What do you mean? I've been with Starlight all afternoon since I gave Thorax a tour of the castle."

Rainbow Dash looked equally confused. "Well...I came by earlier and asked you to help me, and you did. And then you kind of threw a fit for whatever reason."

"What?" Twilight replied in shock. "I did nothing of the sort."

At this point, they went back and forth, explaining that the other must have been wrong. After a handful of iterations, they discussion reached a standstill.

"Okay..." said Twilight. "If you say I helped you clear the skies earlier today, and I say I didn't, and we're both telling the truth, then either we must both be wrong, or both be right."

"I'm not wrong," said Dash defensively.

Applejack stepped into the conversation. "Dash must be tellin' the truth, 'cause she came by to tell me afterwards, and I don't think you'd ever lie to me now, would you, RD?"

"No way!"

"Then it's settled," said Twilight. "We're both right."

Spike was standing a ways away and felt the combined power of seven mares staring into his soul.

"Spike, you were here when I came by right?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Uh, yeah."

"Was Thorax with you?" asked Twilight.

Oh no, our cover is blown, Spike thought to himself. Where is he anyways? I thought he said he was using the restroom. "Yeah, he was."

"Well, the way I see things," she continued. "There's only one possible explanation for this conundrum." She raised her voice. "Thorax impersonated a pony."

Spike was taken a bit aback at how serious Twilight sounded. Surely, she knew it was just a joke, he thought, and then decided to voice it. "But it was just a joke."

"This is no laughing matter, Spike," she replied sternly. "Impersonating a pony in Equestria is one thing, punishable by lifetime imprisonment in severe cases."

Spike gulped.

Twilight continued, "but in this case in particular, Thorax impersonated an established political figure: Me. That makes the crime worthy of banishment."

"What? No! You can't do that! It was just a joke, I swear! He didn't mean to do it, I was behind the prank, not him!"

"He who does the crime, does the time," Rainbow Dash stated plainly.

"Eyup," said Applejack. "Sounds like a worthy punishment to me."

"It is rather unfortunate darling," said Rarity, "but it is the law. You know how these things go. Such a shame, too. I was just starting to get to know him. Quite the charming fellow."

Pinkie Pie seemed blissfully unaware of the conversation, as she was still bouncing around the room hanging up banners and more streamers.

"So you see," said Twilight, "Thorax has committed one of the highest degrees of crime in Equestria. There simply is no other option. Had he impersonated anypony more than me, his chances of holding up in the courts would be even less likely."

"Actually," said Starlight, "I did see a particularly poorly-dressed Rarity conversing with him in his room, just recently."

"Well," said Rarity, "what was I wearing?"

"These," said Starlight as she pulled out the clothes that Spike had just put away.

"Oh, those are hideous," Rarity replied. "Totally un-couture. That isn't last year's fashion. That's last last year's fashion. I would never wear those, especially this time of year."

Applejack stepped foward once again. "Apple Bloom was telling me earlier when I came back from gatherin' y'all up that Winona was barkin' at me like she didn't even know me...an' somethin' about perfume. I thought she was just pullin' my leg at the time, but now I can't help but feel like he must've been impersonatin' me as'well."

Spike was beginning to turn pale. My friend is going to be banished for impersonating three ponies. And it's because of me...

"Hey, what's going on?" said another Spike from the other entrance to the room. "What's everypony talking about?"

"What?" replied Spike. "That's not me! That's...Thorax, what are you doing?"

"What do you mean? I'm the real Spike," said the other Spike.

"No you're not, I am!"

"Prove it!"

Thinking resourcefully, Spike manifested a breath of fire from his belly and blew flames from out of his mouth.

"Yeah, so?" the other Spike replied, doing the exact same thing.

"But...what...how..."

"Obviously one of us is faking it," said the other Spike.

"Well how are we supposed to find out?" Spike replied.

"I have an idea," said Twilight. "The real Spike won't be afraid to be tested. Both of you, line up against that wall."

They both put their crossed their arms and indignantly walked towards where Twilight had gestured.

"I'm going to cast a spell that will show your true selves," she continued as her horn began to glow a brilliant purple color. Two rays of light shot out from the tip towards each of them and producing a cloud of hazy purple smoke that cleared after a few moments, revealing Spike and Thorax.

"Hah, I told you!" said the other Spike.

"What the..." said Thorax. "How am I..."

"Don't play dumb," said Twilight. "You've been caught."

"But I..."

Thorax found himself imprisoned in an impenetrable magical barrier that Twilight hovered next to her as she brought him to the center of the room. Twilight stopped walking as she rested the bubble on the floor.

"As an acting princess of Equestria," said Twilight, "I hereby declare that this changeling be banished to an alternate dimension immediately."

Oh, sweet Celestia, he thought. Why did I tell him to do those pranks? Wait...banished to an alternate dimension. Can she even do that with her magic? Twilight summoned an aura of intense dark light around her horn as it swirled and grew in size and intensity. In a flash of light, she released the spell upon Thorax. His eyes rolled back and fainted, falling flat on his back against the cold, crystal floor.

---

Moments later, Spike rose up from the floor in complete shock. Twilight, the six other mares and Thorax were smiling at him. "What in Equestria is going on..." Spike muttered out of pure defeat and exhaustion.

"It's called a hustle, sweetheart" said Starlight.

Thorax walked up to him. "I felt kinda bad about pretending to be everpony, even though it was really fun, so I told Starlight when I was I was going to the restroom."

"And Starlight told me," said Twilight. "And then I had the idea of giving you a taste of your own medicine."

"It was pretty impromptu, if I don't say so myself," added Pinkie. "I only brought decorations for a regular surprise party, but I managed to make them work for the hustle variety."

"You said I was going to banished," said Spike, still recovering from a small panic attack.

"That...was probably a bit too much," said Twilight. Everypony laughed, including Spike, but his were mostly the kind of slightly scared but grateful laugh that one only had after surviving something terrible.

"But how did you make me look like Thorax? I can't transform myself."

"Simple transmorphic spell," said Twilight.

"Oh," Spike replied. "What about the fire?"

Thorax breathed fire again. "I can disguise myself into anything," he answered, and then breathed out bubbles, confetti and smoke from his mouth.

"Huh," said Spike. "That's a neat party trick."

"So, I hope you learned your lesson," said Twilight.

"Don't make others do things for your own enjoyment..." Spike said defeatedly. "Can we leave this one out from sending to Celestia?"

"We haven't done that in ages," Twilight replied.

The conversation died down, and Rarity stepped forward towards Spike and whispered something into his ear. Judging by his reaction, it wasn't something particularly pleasant. He looked extremely embarrassed, and shot a glance at Thorax, who shrugged.

I guess I know who can't keep a secret, Spike thought to himself.

"So," said Thorax, "does this mean I can't ever transform into anything again?"

"Of course not," she consoled Thorax, "as long as you're respectful and don't lie to anypony, it's absolutely okay."

Thorax smiled.

"Ooh, ooh, do me, do me!" Pinkie blurted.

Thorax turned himself into Pinkie Pie and began to prance around them in a circle with the real Pinkie Pie, and continued to do so for much longer than necessary.

Twilight coughed. "Ahem...this reminds me a little too much of previous events involving a particular mirror pool..."

"Oh, right," said the real Pinkie as she stopped prancing, shortly followed by Thorax returning to his old self.

It felt good to be able to be himself with a group of friends that cared for who he really was.

---

After having an actual party, since Pinkie Pie had basically spent the entire time during their discussion creating one, Thorax found himself finally alone in his quaint bedroom overlooking the streets of Ponyville. It was getting late at night, and he was quite tired from the day's events. Spike, Twilight and Starlight had all gone off to bed as well. He took a moment to reflect on how fortunate he felt to be included in such an endearing group of friends, and how he wished he could share what he had with all of the changelings where he used to call home. But he sighed, knowing that one day that time would come, and snuggled himself beneath the soft, silky covers of his warm and comfy bed.

"At last," he sighed wistfully as he wrapped himself in the blanket and finally became a changeling burrito.

-~-THE END-~-

...

"Psst, Thorax," whispered Spike from the crack in the door.

"What?" Thorax groggily replied from beneath the blankets of his bed.

"Would you...consider turning into Rarity just...one more time?"

Thorax rolled his eyes. "No."

Comments

[Bojack H]

[PonyThunder]

7525261 Good?

[Black_Knight]

Nice comeuppance to Spike. Though it seems it didn't quite ingrain in his head since he still try to pull one last one at the end. Then again he mostly has blown all his chance with his lady.

Also we need a changeling burrito picture.

[PonyThunder]

7525353 Trust me, I looked.

If somebody sends me a good one, I'd make that the cover image :P

[StarzGecko]

Oh do a sequel about Discord asking him to prank ponies from Canterlot Castle. Like prank Celestia, Luna, BlueBlood a few nobles, maids and the guards!

That would be so awesome

[OmniFox]

Seriously Spike MOVE ON ALREADY!!!!!!

[PonyThunder]

7530755

Lol. Okay. Yeah it was a little harsh, but Spike was also abusing his friend for personal enjoyment. Chapter 3 was the breaking point.

Believe it or not, I originally had "capital punishment" be his sentence, but lowered it to banishment because that seemed much too harsh. Funny, but wayyyy too harsh. Also, you might notice the part about "wait, can she even do that?" in his thoughts before he passed out. She can't.

Also, not sure if it was clear, but he "looked" like Throrax when it was happening, as part of their plan.

[PonyThunder]

7530771

Okay, have a good day. Don't get too worked up about it, now.

EDIT: I blocked you because they way in which you chose to voice your opinion was more harsh than just providing critique. I agree that the ending was a little harsh, but it was what I came up with at the time and it sounded like a decent way to provide an interesting twist to the story to end it. I'm sorry that you feel so strongly about it, but I don't need your kind of aggressiveness on my comments.

[TheMegaPonyRanger]

You added in a bit of Zootopia in there!

"It's called a hustle, sweetheart" said Starlight.

[PonyThunder]

7532551 Yeah that kind of happened :)

[PonyDragon]

Spike, no more Rarity for you!
: "NOOOOOO!"

Nice story!

[Dragon Master Spike]

I always hate these punishment parts and wish there was a slight twist to them. Seems a little much but makes more sense for Thorax sake. That said I wish there were more fics like this where Thorax and Spike just hangout.

[PonyThunder]

7551722

I'm wishing I found a better way to end it as well, but that's just what came out I guess. Not one of my better endings.

[Nox Knock Jokes]

It's called a hustle, sweetheart" said Starlight.

HOLY Fyay!!!
ZOOTOPIA?!?!!!!!!!!

Really loved the ending! And everything! And your fics! All of them! GIVE ME YOUR SOUL!!!!!

NEED *twitch* MORE *twitch* THORAX!!!!!

[PonyThunder]

7578295

Yep, that line just kinda happened.

Also, glad you enjoyed the ending. Personally, it's not my best work. I think I went a bit too far from character for Twilight.

[Nox Knock Jokes]

7578379

Twilight was acting a bit OOC. But it wasn't too off.

I really do like your work so keep it up!

[PonyThunder]

8055465 Thanks

I remember feeling a little too risque with that chapter but it turned out alright.

[FanficReader920]

"It's called a hustle, sweetheart" said Starlight.

Yay! I love Zootopia!