April 1st
“Happy Prank Day!!!”
“Wha–!” Pinkie Pie leapt off her bed before falling back and hitting the floor with a thud. Disoriented, she peered about in the darkness but saw nothing. “What’s going on? Who’s there?”
Instantly her bedroom lit up, revealing a smiling Fluttershy standing between a large three-layered yellow-and-pink frosted cake and a little alligator in a conical party hat that stared blankly into space. A rainbow of festive balloons and streamers adorned the loft while overhead hung a massive banner proudly proclaiming “Happy Prank Day”. Throwing confetti into the air, Fluttershy blew a party horn and shouted, “Prank Day Party!”
Pinkie Pie, somewhat dazed and trying to get oriented, looked around her room with bleary eyes. “What time is it?” she asked in a tired voice.
“Midnight! It’s officially Prank Day!” declared Fluttershy.
“Midnight?” Yawn. “Don’t you think it’s a bit early to have a party?” asked a hopeful Pinkie Pie.
Fluttershy gasped. “You don’t want to have a party!?”
Rubbing her eyes, Pinkie Pie quickly responded, “Oh, I do. Uh, just give me a moment.”
~~~
Discord lay sprawled out on Fluttershy’s couch reading a book. Reaching to his right, a glass of chocolate milk appeared out of thin air. He drank the glass and threw the milk away before returning to his book....
The front door slowly creaked opened and a weary Fluttershy, barely able to stand, trudged inside. Discord looked over at the clock and saw it was well past three in the morning. “It seems that somepony is the party animal! My chaos magic must really have spiced things up?”
Yawn. “Even at midnight Pinkie didn’t want to turn down a party, though there were only three of us there.”
“Three of you?” asked Discord, raising an eyebrow.
“Pinkie Pie, myself, and Gummy.”
“Oh yes, that little toothless alligator. Hmm.... I can’t wait to see what happens in a few years. After all,” Discord sniffled and wiped away a tear, “they do grow up so quickly.”
Yawn. “Well, I’m going to go to bed.”
“Did you enjoy the prank?”
“Uh, I don’t think it was very funny.”
“Not very funny!?” Discord sported a look of shock on his face. “Well, it’s a good thing we have another prank coming up!”
Yawn. “Oh, I don’t think I could stay awake. It’s awfully late.”
Discord snapped his fingers. Instantly Fluttershy was refreshed and energetic. “How about now?” he asked.
“Well, I do feel a lot more awake,” conceded Fluttershy.
“Excellent, because this next prank will be really good.”
~~~
Applejack opened her eyes. Her simple rustic bedroom lay dark and quiet, save for the constant Tick-Tick-Tick of the clock hanging near the foot of her bed. Most ponies in town would roll over and go back to sleep, waiting for Celestia to announce the start of the day with the raising of the sun. Not Applejack. No, she wanted to get in some applebucking before breakfast. Softly climbing out of bed, she donned her trusty Stetson before heading down the stairs. Entering the kitchen, she could tell Celestia’s sun was about to rise over the horizon. Perfect timing. She opened the back door –
Applejack stood in utter shock. In the twilight of dawn, she looked out upon the endless sea of trees behind the farmhouse, each one with a basket overflowing with apples. It must have been dozens... scores... hundreds! But when she went to bed the night before the orchard still had yet to be harvested. What the hay happened?
Bam! A faint noise caught Applejack’s attention, snapping her back to the moment. What was that? Bam! She trotted out amongst the apple orchard. Everywhere she looked she saw baskets overflowing... red delicious... braeburn... fuji... jazz. Bam! She walked further into the orchard. Up ahead, she saw a figure silhouetted against the rising sun. Bam! Whoever it was, they were applebucking a large mature tree. With one perfectly placed kick all the apples fell neatly into awaiting baskets. Applejack, a bit perturbed, approached the stranger. Instantly her anger disappeared and was replaced by confusion. “Fluttershy?”
“Oh, good morning,” greeted the pegasus before walking over to the next tree.
“What are you doing?” asked a completely baffled Applejack.
“Applebucking.” Bam! Another kick and the tree was harvested of all its apples.
“Ah can see that. Ah mean why are you applebucking ma trees?”
Fluttershy paused. “Well, I couldn’t sleep so I figured I’d help you with applebucking season. I know how much work it can be so I wanted to lend a hoof.” She walked over to the last tree in the row. Bam! The apple tree was instantly bare of fruit.
“Well, Ah thank ya kindly,” said Applejack awkwardly. “How many trees have you bucked?”
“This is the last one.”
“Okay, but how much of the orchard have you bucked?” clarified Applejack.
“All of it,” responded a calm Fluttershy.
“All of it!?”
“Yes. And the West Orchard. And the North –”
“You bucked all ma orchards last night!?” asked a flabbergasted Applejack.
“Oh, yes.”
“It took me a week to just buck half of one orchard all by maself! How’d ya do it?”
“Oh, it wasn’t that hard.”
Applejack was taken aback. “Not that hard!?”
“No. I, uh, also went ahead and fed your animals, milked your cows, and plowed your fields.”
“You, what!?”
Cock-a-doodle-do!
“Oh, I have to get home and make breakfast for my animal friends.” Fluttershy took to the air and headed towards her cottage. “Have a wonderful day!”
“What the hay am Ah supposed to do now!?” called Applejack.
~~~
Rainbow Dash flew towards Ponyville. She loved flying. The wind blowing back her mane, the air flowing through her feathers, soaring high into the sky looking down at all the earth ponies and unicorns below. But most of all, flying meant freedom. Free to go anywhere, not constrained by borders or boundaries. Free to fly as high as you could. Free to find a fluffy cloud and take a nap. Free to do whatever you wanted to do.
Normally on Saturday mornings Rainbow Dash would spend time free flying. Wonderbolts’ practice sessions were so scripted – stretch, morning brief, formation flying, lunch, afternoon brief, stunt flying, performance brief, show practice, debrief, shower. There was hardly any time to just fly around and strut your stuff. With the new season fast approaching, Spitfire made sure every moment was utilized getting ready for performances. But normally on Saturdays Rainbow Dash was free to practice on her own or provide an impromptu show for her number one fan. Normally. But not today. She couldn’t wait to get back to Ponyville. She’d been out partying with her teammates the night before and didn’t make it home. But with it being Prank Day, she needed to take full advantage of the opportunity to satisfy her passion for pranking!
Suddenly a flash of pink on the edge of her vision caught her attention. Turning her head, she saw Fluttershy flying next to her. What!? Fluttershy had improved as a flyer, but since when could she keep up with Rainbow Dash? “Fluttershy?”
“Good Morning Rainbow Dash,” responded Fluttershy. “Oh, I’ve got to get home and check on my animals.” With that she waved then rocketed straight ahead, leaving a sonic rainboom in her wake.
Rainbow Dash hit the turbulent air, spinning and rolling, becoming disoriented and slightly nauseous, exasperating her hangover. Quickly she steadied herself before she crashed into anything or anypony. Scratching her head, she asked dumbfounded, “What the hay just happened?”
~~~
Rarity stood in her inspiration room staring at a blank piece of paper, puzzling in thought. A pencil hung suspended in her blue magical aura. Her eyes lit up and she opened her mouth to speak before pausing. “No, no. That won’t do.” She brought the pencil to her mouth, resisting her childhood habit of chewing the eraser. “No, that wouldn’t work either.” The blank piece of paper stared back at her. The two stood there, battling each other in a staring content. Suddenly her face lit up and a smile broke across her face. “Idea!” Furiously she began sketching, the pencil flying all over the page. After a minute, she stood back satisfied.
Meow.
Rarity noticed Opal had walked into the room. “Oh Opal,” she picked up the paper with her magic so the cat could see, “isn’t is just to die for! I’ll be the belle of the ball with this gown. I wanted to get a start on our dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala well in advance. After all, I now have to work around running three boutiques.”
Ding-a-ling!
“Speaking of which.” Rarity put her sketches away and trotted to the business section of Carrousel Boutique. “Fluttershy!” greeted Rarity.
“Oh, hello Rarity,” responded Fluttershy as she stood in the middle of the boutique.
“How are you doing today?”
“I’m doing fine.”
“Has anypony pulled a prank on you today?” asked a concerned Rarity.
“Oh, no. No one has played a prank on me,” reassured Fluttershy.
“So, what can I help you with?”
“I came by to hire you.”
“Oh, do you need a dress for a special occasion?” asked an eager Rarity.
“No, I was hoping to hire you for this.” She passed Rarity a folder.
Rarity opened the manila folder and pulled out a dozen sheets of paper. Taking a moment to browse through them, she found them filled with designs for elegant gowns. In fact, to her surprise and horror, they were far superior to anything she had designed, causing her to feel a little unladylike jealousy. “Fluttershy?”
“I have a big order.”
“You have an order!?”
“Oh yes. I need a dozen of each dress.”
“What!?”
“Hoity Toity wanted a dozen of each dress for his Best of the Best Boutique in Canterlot and I just don’t have the time to do it. Will you help me out?”
“What? How? When?” stuttered Rarity.
Dong! chimed the town’s clock tower.
“Oh, I’m late for lunch. I’ll talk to you later,” said Fluttershy as she departed the Boutique. Rarity just stood there trying to figure out what just happened.
~~~
Absolutely exhausted, Princess Twilight Sparkle trudged down the long hallway of her castle. All afternoon had been dedicated to teaching Starlight Glimmer advanced magic. Twilight had never known anypony so eager to learn, or so hard working. Two days before she’d given Starlight a score of books about magical incantations from the pre-classic era. Starlight must have pulled two all-nighters, for she had read every single one of them before today’s session. And Starlight wanted to go through every single spell. Twilight couldn’t think of a pony who studied more or worked harder than her student. Really, didn’t Starlight know there was more to a young pony’s life than studying?
Nearing the end of the hallway, Twilight reached the library. It always felt a bit bittersweet coming to Ponyville Library. It was large, containing thousands of volumes on all topics possible... history... technology... agriculture and horticulture... arts... etc. And that was just nonfiction. The library held a vast collection of fiction ranging from ancient classics, to Neighspeare, to A. K. Yearling. Not to mention its periodicals, film reels, and music inventory. Plus, the library offered ample room for reading, studying, and special lectures. But while the library offered size and diversity, it just couldn’t match the old Golden Oaks Library. Sure the Golden Oaks Library was smaller, and at times cramped. Sure it contained far fewer books. Sure there was a lot less privacy between the library’s public spaces and Twilight’s private residence. But it felt more... welcoming. Perhaps her next project should be to renovate the castle library to bring back the Golden Oaks charm?
“All right everypony. It’s five o’clock. Time for Ponyville Library to close. If you would like to check out any book, please make your way to the front desk.”
Twilight looked about at the few ponies still in the library. Some were putting away books or magazines. Others were collecting their notes and study materials. Two were still looking for that elusive book. Really? The library was perfectly organized after an intense week-long book-sort-cation. Suddenly, something caught Twilight’s attention. At a table with a huge stack of books, a pony sat reading. Though the face was hidden by a large book, the few strands of pink mane poking out from behind and the yellow forelegs holding the book instantly identified the stranger. Twilight trotted over to her friend. “Wow, Fluttershy. You’ve got a stack of books,” observed an impressed Twilight.
“Oh, I know,” replied Fluttershy from behind the book.
“Are these the books you’ve read?” asked Twilight.
“Oh no, these are the books I still have yet to read. I’ve read all the others.”
“All the others?” asked a confused Twilight.
Fluttershy swept her foreleg around. “I’ve read the rest of the library.”
“What!? There are twenty-one thousand, three hundred and forty-two books in here!”
“Well, I was bored this afternoon.”
“This afternoon? How!?”
Fluttershy lowered the book. “It wasn’t really that hard.”
Twilight stood slack-jawed and wide-eyed, completely dumbfounded by the sight in front of her. Finally, after what must have been several minutes, all she could say was, “Fluttershy, you’re an alicorn!”
“Oh yes. I became one shortly after lunch,” responded Fluttershy calmly.
“But – How – Why?”
Looking at the clock, she said, “Oh, I’ve got to get home and put my animals to bed. I’ll see you and the girls for our Sunday pancake breakfast.” In a flash, Fluttershy teleported out of the library.
Twilight stood there, frozen like a statue, for several minutes. It wasn’t until Lyra tapped her on the shoulder and asked to check out a Shadow Spade book that Twilight snapped out of her shock.