Chapter 1
"You want to learn to PRANK?!"
Pinkie Pie's smile seemed to take up about half of her face at this point. Hearing this from her marefriend was something that she often dreamed of, but nothing she ever thought would happen. Then again, she didn't think most of her dreams would ever happen. A lot of them involved things like boats made out of gelatin or magical bushes that grew every kind of fruit in the world. She'd tried making a boat out of gelatin, but it was a lot harder than she expected, and one time she could have sworn she found a bush that grew both grapes and blueberries, but it turned out the blueberries were just really small grapes. It was all okay though, because if she could only have one of those three dreams come true, she would have definitely picked the one that was happening in front of her face.
"Um...well, yes..." Fluttershy said quietly. She had come into this conversation with a little more gusto, but Pinkie's enthusiastic approach surprised her a bit. At this point in their relationship, she was used to Pinkie enthusiasm. There was pretty much no way that she couldn't be; Pinkie was enthusiastic about practically everything, from aardvarks to zippers. Right now, she seemed to be at a whole new level of excitement, one that Fluttershy hadn't quite expected.
"Eeeeeeeeeeee!" Pinkie squealed, bouncing up and down. "I'm soooooo happy to hear that! It'll be so totally super-amazing to go pranking with my Flutterbutter! Ouh, we'll run all over town and prank everypony! And I mean EVERYPONY! Normally I'd say everypony except Fluttershy, but you are Fluttershy, so this works out perfectly!"
Fluttershy watched Pinkie bounce energetically around Sugarcube Corner. She was a little tentative about Pinkie's grand plans, but she loved it when Pinkie got this happy. Even though it was a little intimidating, it was still nice to see the look of elation on her face. Granted, it was very rare that she didn't have a smile on her face, but this level of exuberance was a combination of intimidating, adorable, and infectious. She figured Pinkie would likely describe it as "intimifectiadorable" or something like that.
"Um...well, we should probably start with something simple before we do all that, Candy," the pegasus said with a little smile. Pinkie skidded to a halt in front of her, her eyes lighting up.
"Of course!" Pinkie said, grabbing Fluttershy's cheeks with her front hooves. "And I've got the perfect first prank for you!" She looked at Fluttershy for a moment, then giggled and gave her a kiss. "I couldn't resist, you looked cute like that! Now let's get to work!"
"R-right..." Fluttershy said, blushing heavily.
~~~~~~~~~~
Rainbow Dash was a very busy pony today. She'd woken up, had breakfast, taken her post-breakfast nap, cleared the clouds from the sky (in 11 seconds; she decided to take it slow), taken her post-work nap, and had lunch. Now, it was time for her post-lunch nap. Rainbow fluffed the solitary cloud she'd saved for napping purposes, then set her hooves down on it, kneading it until it was at the optimal softness. This was going to be the best nap ever.
"Um...Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow sighed and looked down over the side of her cloud for the source of the voice. Fluttershy was waiting for her on the ground below, and it was obvious from the urgent look on her face that whatever she needed couldn't wait until after this nap. Rainbow rolled off the side of the cloud, plummeting for a few seconds before she caught herself, settling down into a perfect landing.
"What's up, Fluttershy?" Rainbow said through a big yawn.
"Oh...um...I'm sorry if I'm interrupting your nap..." Fluttershy said, scuffing her hoof against the ground. "It's just...I need help."
"With what?" Rainbow asked. Something about her friend's poise concerned her; she couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but something was odd about her. It was something about the way she stood...and her voice sounded a little off.
"Well..." Fluttershy said, looking down. "It's Pinkie...I told her I wanted to try my hoof at pranking..."
"Hah! You? Pranking?" Rainbow interrupted. "That's a laugh!" She chuckled at the idea of it, until she saw how uncomfortable her laughter was making Fluttershy. "Okay, okay, sorry...so what's the problem?"
"Well...she's getting really excited about it..." the timid pegasus said, looking down. "And she's coming up with so many complicated pranks, and I'm not sure if I can manage it..."
"What kind of..." Rainbow started. Then she stopped. Now she knew what was up with Fluttershy. Rainbow grinned at how brilliant she was as she worked out the exact situation in her head.
"Hah!" Rainbow laughed. "Stop right there! I know exactly what's going on here! You're acting funny, your voice sounds weird...and don't think I don't remember what happened when we were in the Crystal Empire!" Rainbow reached a hoof out, throwing it into Fluttershy's mane and confusing the pegasus. A moment later, she found what she was looking for, and pulled the zipper down on the Fluttershy costume, revealing a now-giggling Pinkie Pie.
"Okay Dashie, you got me!" Pinkie said through her giggles. "That was good, huh?"
"Totally!" Rainbow responded, laughing herself. "I mean, it wasn't perfect, but it was good!"
"It wasn't perfect?" Pinkie asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Nah," Rainbow responded, smirking proudly. "I saw right through it."
"Well, what should I fix?" Pinkie asked, her interest causing her ears to perk.
"Oh, that's easy," Rainbow responded. "Fluttershy's got this way she stands. Her posture's always a little...I dunno, unsure? And her voice is a little softer, you were putting way too much energy into it to really sound like her."
"I don't think I really get it," Pinkie said. "Maybe we should go get Fluttershy so we can compare?"
"Sure!" Rainbow said. "I'll go get her!"
"Oh, there's no need for that, actually," Pinkie answered, starting to grin.
"What?" Rainbow asked. "But you just said...why not?"
Pinkie's grin grew devious. She reached one hoof out towards Rainbow, but then turned it back towards itself. The hoof ran across her own scalp, before finding what it was searching for. Down came the zipper on the Pinkie costume, revealing a grinning Fluttershy.
"What?!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Did you...you're...you just..."
"Gotcha," Fluttershy said. Suddenly, Pinkie burst out of a nearby bush, hugging Fluttershy and laughing her rump off.
"Best prank ever!" Pinkie laughed, nuzzling Fluttershy's cheek. Rainbow's response was to fall over laughing.
"That was awesome!" Rainbow laughed. "You totally got me!" Fluttershy beamed. She had been a bit nervous about how her first prank would go, but the laughter of her friends was all the approval she needed.