Twilight Sparkle was having a lovely day.
Applejack had needed some help on the farm, which helped her learn more about how to earth pony, but she also had to stop by Rarity's to spend some time at the spa. It had been a lovely day, and as she entered her massive crystal castle she couldn't help but sigh contentedly. Through the corridors she trotted, her hooves clip-clopping on the cool floor as she made for the library to get some light reading in before bed. And by light reading, she of course meant two encyclopedias.
As she entered the library though, she gasped. Something was wrong. Very wrong. And while the average pony wouldn't have noticed much, she knew instantly that all the books had been rearranged. “Wh-What? Who?! How? Why?!” She cried out, only to notice a note left on the table for her.
‘Welcome to the war, Private Sparkle! Have fun cleaning this one up! ;)
-Nick’
Twilight's eye twitched. It was going to be a long night. Good thing she had the day off tomorrow. With her mind set, she lifted books off the shelves in her magic and began putting them back in their correct placements. It was slow-going, but since she knew where every book belonged by heart, there was no reason for her to slow down. All into the night she silently worked, determination on her face as books were shelved and reshelved at a pace few could keep up with. She even made sure the editions were in the correct order. It took until the moon was high in the sky, but she finally finished after a few hours.
“Ugh, finally. I suppose I had that coming after painting Nick with that bomb. Oh well, I suppose Nick was smart to do it when Spike wasn't here. I suppose I have enough time to read through a few chapters of The Old Mare and the Sea.” Moving to the proper shelf, Twilight grabbed the correct book before snuggling up in a blanket by the fireplace. She began to read. “Chapter one: It was the best of times, it was… wait, WHAT?” She carefully removed the book's protective dust jacket. And staring back at her was the book's title: A Tail of Two Cities.
“Oh, no…” Twilight dashed over to a shelf and grabbed a copy of Wings Above the Mountains. But to her horror, below the dust jacket, it was just a dictionary! “Oh no oh no oh no… he… HE MADE ME DISORGANIZE MY ENTIRE LIBRARY!”
[Page break]
“Thanks again for the help, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash.” Nick chewed on his cupcake happily, a good portion of the paint washed off his body, but not entirely. “There was no way I was gonna reorganize that place alone in a day. And let's be honest, Sparky earned that one for all the times she over thought things and let her insanity get you all into trouble.”
“She's gonna totally destroy you later for that, dude. You know that, right?” Rainbow asked with a chuckle.
“Nah, she already told me she felt super guilty about destroying Nicky's room and she Pinkie Promised that whatever Nick returned fire with she'd let slide, so honestly we're the only ones getting in trouble, Dashie!” Pinkie giggled, hopping off to replenish the snacks of the trio's table at Sugarcube Corner.
“Wait, what? How would Twi know we were even there, Pinkie?!”
Nick grinned his classic ‘gotcha’ smile, one that he had learned from Celestia. “Oh, I introduced Sparky to the concept of security cameras. She should be angrily checking the photos tomorrow. I recommend you two leave on the first train in the morning.”
“Welp, guess I'm crashing at Yearling's for a few days, then…”
That was great.
I love it
If I could upvote again just for Twilight disorganizing her own Library I would. That was stellar. And a new level of pranking achieved: Get them to do it themselves.
Interesting that that’s the first place she thinks of. My question is, will Yearling let her stay?
Book horse only has hardbacks? .... I can believe that.
My favorite sentence was: “how to earth pony.”
9361842
There was originally a third layer where Twilight realized only HALF the books had their covers swapped, and therefore had to do it all again, but then I realized she could have easily grabbed an unswapped book and not notice the whole prank. Or something. The logic got confusing.
9361842
That's like tricking a rabbi into cooking and eating pork.
Okay, that is one freaking clever prank; probably one of the best ones I’ve heard or read about in a long time.
9362008
Well that just says that there arent enough original prank ideas in fimfic. I've seen like 3 or 4 just get recycled over and over and over and over and over and over and
REVENNNNNNGGGGEEE!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
9362037
Well, in order for a prank to be... well, a prank and not just assault, it has to be (relatively) harmless, reversible, and amusing.
For example, Goku™-Stu destroying the moon wouldn't be a prank, but him going to the moon and writing "Goku wuz here" in neon pink large enough to see the pinkness (if not necessarily the writing itself) would be, given that he (or Luna, Twilight, etc) could clean it up.
9362328
Fair, but I've shown lots more examples
I haven’t seen any actual take on Twilight rearranging the library as a prank like that. Awesome job!
9362347
Also true.
9362380
Thank you, thank you. I'll be here for longer then all week
9361846
Incidentally, the next book in the series, whether Rainbow gets to stay or not, is Daring Doo and the Really Angry Librarian. If Rainbow stays, havoc ensues. If she doesn't get to stay, then Yearling gets to help hunt Rainbow down. Either way it'll be an interesting break from exploring ancient ruins.
Can we get Nick and co. pranking other ponies. A part of me wants to know if he could get away with:
1) replacing Trixie's wagon wheels with squares.
2) announcing formaly the wedding betwen Starlight and Sunburst. And inviting their parents, of course.
3) relocating Houlder Boulder.
etc...
OH, I love this,..
Might I suggest, for retribution, Twilight discovering an arcane spell that transforms anycreature into a pony? And then said ponies have an irresistible urge to eat...
And once they start eating....
Well..
They just HAPPEN to transform back, being utterly disgusted and repulsed because of certain foods that have been consumed?
Honestly, I have SO many prank ideas. If you ever want any other suggestions, contact me!
9363470
I like that idea, but I'm not 100% on how the episode would go. I do like it though, and seeing as this story arose from all of my rejected prank ideas in the comments of other stories...
We may have to swap ideas. After I finish the
ChristmasHearth's Warming special, at least...I applaud you good sir, that is some excellent work!
Introducing the new book; How to earth pony for dummies
Okay that was amazingly evil and brilliant
9361878
But that just increases the prank! The library got shuffled and she didn't even realize for x days.
A story concept that the show really ought to have covered, but then they went and tried to pretend that magic was the exclusive domain of unicorns. While still having pegasi control the weather.
Change the Covering over the Books with one another. Very clever !