"So, what kind of pranks you want to pull off today?"
"Don't you mean tonight?"
"Oopsie you're right! I forgot you're a nighttime pony."
"Okay... do you have any random junk on you?" I asked as I pushed a mop away from me. We were in a cleaning supplies closet, for Pinkie decided to hide there so we can have some privacy for our prank plotting.
"Hmm... let me check," Pinkie answered as she started to pull stuff out of her mane, ranging from a frying pan, to a feather duster, to even an anchor.
After a minute, I put a hoof on Pinkie's chest, saying, "Okay that's enough! I think we got plenty of stuff to work with now. Just... take back the stuff that you need still." Pinkie nodded as she began stashing things back into her mane, leaving behind a third of the stuff that she has brought out, including the anchor. "Hmm... okay, we're leaving the anchor here and go—"
"Why are we leaving the anchor here?" Pinkie asked, which tempted me to let out a sigh.
"Cause nopony would ever expect an anchor to be in a broom closet."
"I would!" Pinkie declared as I resisted the urge to facepalm... or in this case facehoof.
"Okay... you're the exception, and why would you even have an anchor in the first place?"
"You never know when you need to stop a ship!" Pinkie answered with a smile, as I just gave her a deadpanned expression.
"Let's... just head out and start messing with ponies' minds..."
"Right here?"
"Yes, now tape it down."
"Don't you mean tape it up?" Pinkie said with a giggle as she taped a doll to the ceiling, hanging onto it via suction cups on her hooves, causing me to roll my eyes at her. It's been an entire hour since we started this prank, putting stuff in the places most ponies don't normally look at, all the while avoiding the guard that were probably informed by Grace and Shade about Pinkie running off with me. Not like they should panic, I wasn't screaming my head off when Pinkie ran off with me. After taping the doll, Pinkie dropped down to the floor as she stashed the cups into her mane as she asked, "So what's next, Neby?"
"First, stop calling me Neby, second, I just got an idea for a great prank," I answered, getting inspired by how Pinkie was able to sneak around the castle with ease. "Do you have any fake household pest props like a fake rat?"
"Hmm... I do have this fake spider on me!" Pinkie replied as she pulled out a rather fuzzy and realistic spider, as I jumped back in disgust. I was never a fan of spiders.
"Okay.. please put that away, for now, we'll need it later," I stated.
As she put the spider away, Pinkie asked, "So, why do we need that spider for? Are we going to hang off the ceiling and use a fishing rod to put that spider on ponies' heads to scare them?" while bearing a smile that looked a bit feral to me.
"No... but we do need to find Celestia's bedroom."
"Why do we ne—ohhhh... this will be the best prank ever!" Pinkie declared as she hopped into the air, while I heard the chatter of some guards approaching.
"It might be, but be quiet. We need to get moving or the guards will catch us and spoil the surprise," I ordered, to which Pinkie nodded and grabbed me, putting me on her back before she dashed off on the search for Celestia's room.
It didn't take long to find Celestia's room, since we only had to search the wing that had a sun motif design, along with the fact that there were two guards standing next to a door with a sun emblem on it, along with another pair of guards stationed outside another door, probably Chrono's room. After a brief glance around the corner, I directed Pinkie to back away a few feet before I whispered, "As I expected, the bedroom door isn't an option, so we're going to have to do this from the outside," as I went up to a door, opening it softly to find a bedroom with no one inside and a window to the outside. Giving Pinkie a signal to follow me, we entered the room where upon looking through the window I could see that Celestia had a balcony attached to her own room, complete with a glass door. Following my lead, Pinkie opened the window as I hopped onto her back, I looking past her neck to see outside the window, where I saw that it was quite a drop to the castle garden from where we were.
"Ooo... is that Princess Celestia's room? How are we going to get there, with my suction cups again?" Pinkie asked, to which I shook my head in response.
"No, too much noise for that, we need to be really quiet," I answered, as I thought about the situation. Looking at my wings, I doubt that I could fly over there, much less glide if Pinkie threw me, which still presented the issue of a quiet landing or even getting back. Biting my lip, I looked at the balcony, before a thought came to mind. If my passive abilities are still present, then maybe my active abilities will return over time. If I'm right, then my most basic ability should be present to me still. Concentrating on the balcony, I imagined a ghostly image of myself on it. Instantly I could feel a flow of familiar energy within me, that I directed to the image, causing a purplish fire to burst around me as I shifted to my desire spot. Looking back, I saw Pinkie's amazed look, as resisted the urge to smile as I realized that I possessed my most basic dimensional ability. Triggering its secondary effect, I returned to Pinkie's back, though my position was different than before due to me moving about after my 'jump', forcing me to turn my head once to look at Pinkie.
"What was that! You teleported, but your horn wasn't glowing like Twilight does when she teleports!" Pinkie exclaimed in a loud whisper.
"Let's just say it's a trick I developed on my own. Now hoof me that... spider so we can get this prank moving along," I said while holding out a hoof, as I thought about the revealed fact that unicorns can teleport in this world.
Taking the spider out of her mane, Pinkie said, "That's so amazing! I can't wait till I tell Twilight about this, she'll love to be able to do som—" before I stuffed my other hoof into her mouth while grabbing the spider.
"Be quiet or we'll be caught. Besides, my trick has a drawback, it can only go to one point and then back to my origin, then I have to wait a moment before I can do it again. Furthermore, I can't return to the point of origin if I moved away from my destination," I replied as I pulled my hoof out of Pinkie's mouth as I looked at the balcony again.
"Oh, but do you have a name for it? I bet it's something super-duperific!" Pinkie stated.
"Eh, just call it a flashstep if you want," I answered before triggering my ability again, returning to the balcony. Looking at the door, I noticed that it was covered with curtains for privacy, meaning that I can't look for Celestia until I was inside. Raising my head up, I saw the handles were about a few feet above me. Crouching low after putting the spider down, I hopped up to the handles, grabbing it with my forelegs as gravity asserted itself, bringing me down and turning the handle, opening the door a bit as I dropped to my hooves as quietly as I could. With a crack in the open door, I slipped my head through, scanning for any signs of Celestia being woken by the noise I made. Thankfully, I only hear a soft snoring, as I spotted a rather large and luxurious bed with what appears to be Celestia's slumbering form beneath its covers. Grabbing the spider, I inched myself a bit more in as I took a, throwing the spider until it landed on the edge of the bed, where it may not be knocked to the ground so easily. Pulling myself back outside as I pondered why Celestia didn't lock her balcony door, I was about to close said door before spotting Luna beside Pinkie in the window, a pensive look on her face. I could only blink as a blue aura surrounded me, lifting me from the balcony as it brought me over to the window.
"What do you think you were doing, Nebula?" Luna asked in a livid tone, her eyes narrowed at me.
"Umm... playing a prank on Auntie?" I answered, an awkward smile appearing on lmy face that prompted Pinkie to gasp as she pointed a hoof at me.
"Yes, I got you to smile!" Pinkie stated with a smile, causing Luna to give her an annoyed glance that caused her smile to fade away.
"Not the best time, Pinkie," I said, as I looked at her before returning my gaze upon Luna, who looked even angrier than before. "Umm... sorry mom for running off with Pinkie, just wanted to have some fun..."
Despite my words, Luna was still glaring at me, making me wonder if she ever set a pony on fire by doing that. However, that line of thought ended when Luna flashed me a grin, causing me to blink in shock. "Do not fret my daughter, for when I was your age, I too was playing pranks. Though I have to wonder, how did you manage to get onto that balcony? You didn't have Pinkie throw you there, did you?"
Luna said as she turned to give Pinkie a suspicious look.
"Oh no, she used this trick she called flashstep to teleport there without using her horn!" Pinkie answered, causing Luna to give me a surprised look.
"Is this true? You used magic without using your horn?" Luna asked, her expression a mix of bewilderment and amazement.
"Umm... yes and no," I started to explain, causing Luna to look even more confused. "It's not really magic, just a trick I can do. And before you ask, it's not something that I can teach, nor do I think anypony else can copy it."
Luna just stared at me after receiving my answer, causing Pinkie and me to share a brief glance before she suddenly engulfed me in a hug. "What wonderous news! To think that my daughter is so gifted that despite not knowing how to use magic, she can still create feats of power that nopony has ever done before!" I was about to comment that her shouting probably woke up everypony in the wing, until I noticed that the walls and entrances to the room were covered in a blue aura, causing me to suspect that she cast some kind of silence spell on the room. "This bodes well, for I can't wait to see what you are capable of doing with your magic when you mastered it!"
As Luna shook me about in her embrace, I croaked out, "Okay... so um... when's my first lesson then?"
Stopping her attempt to shake me about like a ragdoll, Luna grinned at me as she declared, "Good question my daughter, for you see, I came to retrieve you so we can finalize your adoption. Then we can move onto your first magic lessons if you so desire."
Keeping my lips still, I pondered if I should really go through the effort of learning magic since I would eventually regain my abilities and the fact that I prefer to get physical with my opponents if I was ever drawn into battle, but with the fact that a member of the magisters of time was here, potentially learning magic, settled the matter for me. "Sure, I guess I could try to learn magic after you finish adopting me."
"Splendid! I look forward to when your skill with magic outstrips even the greatest of unicorn mages!" Luna declared as she put me on her back as she trotted out with Pinkie cheerfully following behind, as I pondered why Luna hasn't punished me. "Also, Nebula, you're grounded." Oh... nevermind then.