A New Nightmare

by LittleAngelStocking

Chapter Five - Prank

Twilight Sparkle had never been so angry, and lonely, in her entire life. She felt like she had no physical body, like she was floating; floating in an empty void with nothing but her thoughts. And she was furious about it.

How could Celestia do this to me? She lamented, how could she do this? What did I do wrong? And then the anger faded and distinguished completely. I don’t want to be alone…

That morning, Twilight Sparkle stumbled into the kitchen, yawning. “Oh no, I slept in!” she cried, looking at the clock. She rubbed her aching head, and sighed deeply.

Spike trotted up next to her, “I was going to wake you up a while ago, but I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Oh, that's fine,” she smiled rubbing his scaly head.

“Do you want me to make you something to eat?” he asked.

“No thanks, I’ll do it.” She paused. “Did Luna send any letters while I was sleeping? Or Celestia?”

“No, why? Expecting something?”

Twilight contemplated her answer for a moment before saying: “Yeah, yeah… I was doing a report. About… about…”

She hesitated, she wanted to tell him, but… something in the back of her mind told her she needed to keep it a secret, at least for now. No reason to make him worry, right?

Suddenly, a hoot sounded from behind her. She turned around, Owlowiscious had awoken, and was hovering in the air above her.

“Hoo! Hoo!”

Twilight stared. “What is it? Did you deliver the letter?”

“Hey, I thought I sent your letters!” Spike said, crossing his arms.

“You were sleeping, I didn’t want to wake you,” she smirked playfully before turning back to the owl, who was hooting frantically. “Did Luna get the letter?” she asked again.

The owl perched on Spike’s spines, and hooted loudly. Then, he shook his head.

“The letter didn’t get delivered?” she asked. The owl hooted a confirmation. “What happened to it?!” Twilight tried not to sound angry.

“Hoot, hoot!” Owlowiscious jumped into the air again, and circled, he swooped down and then picked up a random scroll from a bookshelf. He circled again, and then dropped it.

“You… dropped the scroll?” she asked. The owl shook his head, and then took the string that bound the scroll and undid it with his beak, the parchment rolled open.

“You opened it?” she asked. He shook his head again, and then picked up another scroll in his talons. It was held with one leg, the other leg undid the string and he let go, letting it fall.

“The letter got untied from your leg somehow and fell?” she asked.

The bird nodded his head. Twilight groaned, and rubbed her temples with her hooves.

“Relax,” Spike said, “you can just re-write it and I’ll send it.”

Owlowiscious flew back to his perch and settled down to sleep for the day.

Twilight smiled at her assistant. “Okay, hang on.”

“I’ll write it!” Spike produced parchment and quill, and readied them.

Twilight froze, “I… No, it’s fine. This is private,” she added. It wasn’t entirely a lie, she didn’t think.

She gently levitated them out of his grip, and re-wrote what she remembered from last night. It wasn’t entirely the same, but it got the same message across.

She rolled it up, tied it with string and handed it to him. He took it and sucked in a deep breath, then headed for the window, opened it and breathed out a blast of green fire, enveloping the scroll.

“Thanks, Spike-“

“Wait a second,” Spike said suddenly. “You said you wanted that to go to Luna?”

“…Yes.”

“…I’m not entirely sure I know how to send letters to anypony but Celestia,” he rubbed the back of his head.

~~

Princess Celestia left the court, and as soon as she did she sighed in relief.

“They fought for the authority over an orange tree.” She said to herself, the guards behind her remained silent. Suddenly a green flame materialized in front of her, and a scroll was dropped to her hooves. “Oh!” she smiled. What a pleasant surprise!

She levitated it up in her golden aura, and opened it.

Dear Princess Luna

Luna, I hope you get this. The other day, after returning home from my visit, I found an odd scroll in my saddlebags, and for the past day or so I’ve had haunting dreams and odd voices, I hope you could possibly shed some light? I hope this isn’t a mean prank, because that’s what I’m betting it is! Actually, never mind – I hope it is a prank. So, please get back to me when you can, please?

Your Good Friend, Twilight Sparkle.

Celestia narrowed her eyes. She then rolled up the scroll and held it beside her. “Guards, you may go wait in the throne room. I have something to discuss with my sister.” The two bowed respectfully and trotted ahead of her.

Celestia quickly turned her course towards the Lunar Wing of the castle. Luna was playing a prank on poor Twilight, she knew it. Luna loved that sort of thing – pranks. Mean pranks, even though she didn’t mean them to be.

“Well,” she smiled to herself. “At least she’s not throwing pies in pony’s faces. Ha! Like anypony would be mean enough to do that!” she giggled.

As she approached her sister’s bedroom her pace slowed, and she slowly and carefully pushed the door open. Luna was sleeping soundly in her bed, Celestia gently approached her. She magically levitated a book off of Luna’s shelf, and hovered it over her sister’s head before the magic let go, and it slammed into Luna’s sleeping face.

“AH!” The Princess cried, falling off of her bed.

“Good morning, Luna! Lovely day today, no? A perfect day for pranking poor ponies?”

Luna angrily got to her hooves. “Sister! What is the meaning of this?!”

Celestia shook her head, “Read this.” She held up the letter to Luna, “Are you pranking Twilight?”

Luna took the letter in her own magic and read it, her lips moving softly as she read.

“Well?” Celestia questioned.

“Shush you mouth, sister, I am no foal. And this is no prank.” She rolled up the letter and set it on her desk. “Pray tell, why are you reading my mail?”

“I didn’t on purpose, Spike sent it to me. I imagine he doesn’t know how to send letters to you,” Celestia stated. “Now if you weren’t playing tricks, what is going on?”

Luna said nothing, deep in thought. Celestia studied her expression, and finally Luna turned to her. “’Tis nothing, sister. I apologize, I have fibbed. I am pranking your student, it shall stop immediately.”

Celestia nodded slowly. “Why did you lie?”

“It was all in good fun,” Luna said softly.

Celestia shook her head, “Get some sleep, sister. I hope you apologize to Twilight.”

“Will do, my sister.” Luna nodded watching Celestia leave, gently closing the door behind her.

As soon as the Solar Princess was gone her brow furrowed and she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “I feel uneasy, as I have since Twilight Sparkle left. I wonder…” she pulled out quill and parchment, and quickly wrote down;

Twilight Sparkle

I thank you for bringing this to my attention, Twilight. Look, I’d rather not speak by letter, I know you have come recently but I am hoping you will visit once more and we shall converse in private? I am unsure myself if my suspicions are true, but I have a feeling. Don’t bother sending letter via your dragon pet, it will only go to my sister. I will send guards to pick you up tonight, if that is not too much trouble? See you then, I hope.

Your Princess, Luna.

Luna hastily rolled it up and enveloped it in her blue aura, before it disappeared in a flash of light.

~~

Twilight Sparkle paced nervously in the main room of the library. “Come on, come on,” she murmured.

Spike sighed, “Take it easy, Twilight! She’s probably sleep-“

He interrupted himself with a cough, and then he doubled over then belched out bright green flame with holding a letter.

“Oh, joy!” Twilight cried enthusiastically and took it in her magic. She opened it eagerly and read it over, “Oh. Yes, okay! That sounds wonderful!” She smiled to herself, “Spike! I’m leaving for a bit tonight.”

“Again?”

“Not for an overnight, I’ll be back before dawn.”

Comments

[Melkor]

I can't imagine Luna being a prankster but that just makes it seem funnier.

[Mr.Market]

1663443

Teach me the ways of Pun Fu, Great Master.

[LittleAngelStocking]

1667898 Well, we have Gamer Luna and Trolluna, so why not prankster Luna? I don't know, she seems like the prankster type to me, but I might just be a terrible judge of character

[LittleAngelStocking]

1668257 Celestia left, and Luna wrote Twilight back a letter

[LittleAngelStocking]

1668923 I post them like every other day and you guys are begging for more! I'M DOING THE BEST I CAN!

But in all seriousness, I try not to peg a specific release date, don't ask why - so all I can say is soon.

[Melkor]

166885
Well Luna has been stuck on THE MOON (I like yelling that) for a thousand years so any knowledge she had about trolling and pranking has become obsolete.
Basically she's so out of touch with the present that she doesn't even know what HIP means let alone COOL.
(She'll learn but it'll take years to catch up.)

[LittleAngelStocking]

1668964 Alright, alright: In the past when Celestia and Luna were foals, Luna and Celestia liked to prank each other. After they became royalty they laid off a bit, but after Luna was imprisoned and returned, they like to prank each other because they're happy to be together again, so Celestia assumed Luna was pranking Twilight. That's my new reasoning

Also, for some reason I spelled 'returned' like 'neutered' ...What the hell?

[Mr.Market]

Dear LittleAngelStocking:

If you happen to see some of my comments in what appears to be at random chapters and are wondering why..... your guess is as good as mine.

Sincerely: Mr.Market

P.S.: Oh! By the way, I'm still liking the story so far. Even if I don't comment substantially on every chapter, I'm with you till the end! (I'm more of an observer than a critic.)

[Nightning]

1668727 Actually, that's from this video.

[Melkor]

1668984
Your reasoning satisfies my urge to argue.
Can't wait (of course I can. Why say "can't if I'm going to wait anyway? It doesn't make sense) for more stuff so keep up the good work!