Chapter 7: War and Prank
PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE'S CASTLE
September 5
09:34
"Let's seee. . . . . what time's Fluttershy supposed to -AHHHHH!"
Spike blinked in shock at the fact he was now hanging from the ceiling by a thin net. He narrowed his eyes before lifting his head. "DANNYYY!"
Not even a few moments later, a second net shot up towards the ceiling, only a thin white colt was the victim this time. Though, his face wasn't nearly as flustered as the dragon's. "You rang?" The boy said with a large smirk.
"What the heck am I doing up here?!"
"Hey, what you do in your personal time isyourbusiness." Danny said, holding his hooves up.
"Danny..."
The teen snorted. "Alright, alright. I was actually waiting for Twilight." He confessed with a shrug of his shoulder. Spike sighed and raised a claw to his face, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You'restillgoing on with this Prank Battle thing?" He grumbled.
"I'd say it's more of awarnow."
Spike's deadpanned look was enough for Danny to fold his hooves across his chest, which was a difficult thing to do when you're entangled in a net suspended many feet in the air. "Hey! This issooonot my fault, alright.Rainbow Dashwas the one who decided it would be a good idea to hijack my bed in the middle of the night and push it out onto the pond . . . withmestill on it!"
The dragon couldn't help but chuckle at the memory of it, and a thoroughly ticked off, dripping colt.
"Hey, it wasn't funny then. Still isn't funny now."
"Sorry." Spike apologized, only to fold his own arms. "So what? You just decided to drag everypony else into this mess?" He questioned.
Danny narrowed his eyes and pointed a hoof at the dragon through the net. "Hey, if I'm tail-spinning down towards the Land of Craziness, then everyone else is gonna crash and burn with me." He said with a serious expression, which was marred from the fact his net was now rotating slowly in the air, ending up with the teen facing away from the dragon at times as he spun.
Spike rolled his eyes. "Such inspirational words. Ponies should really start to quote you." He muttered sarcastically.
Danny folded his hooves. "I know you're being sarcastic, but I'm gonna take it as a compliment anyways." He smirked.
The dragon sighed at the teen's antics. "Whatever, I'm just glad I'm not gonna be here to endure your idiocy." He said with a small look of relief.
"Oh, right. You're heading to Canterlot this weekend." He said, the dragon nodding in assurance. "Yep, and actually, Fluttershy's coming with me. Apparently, there's this new exhibit over by the Canterlot Gardens she's been waiting to see, so I might as well spare her from your treachery." He muttered.
"Whatever."
"I mean it, Danny." Spike said, pointing an accusing finger at the teen across from him. "This house better be spotless when I get back." He scolded, only to receive a cocked brow in response.
"Alright, it better be decent."
". . . . ."
"Okay, it b-better be in one piece."
". . . . ."
"Alright, fine! Just make sure the castle is still standing when I get back!"
Danny merely shrugged his shoulders. "Can't make any promises." He confessed before glancing up at the top of the ceiling, where the ends of the net met together in a tight pinch on the crystal surface. "Alright, now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to plotting how Dash and I are gonna get the other girls in on this as well." He said with a smirk as he reached a tiny hoof through the net and attempted to reach the top of the net.
Spike moaned and dropped his head into his hands. "Oh, don't drag them down to your level." He pleaded.
Danny smirked. "And what level is that? The Level of Greatness? Maybe Awesomeness?"
Spike scoffed and crossed his arms. "Nah, I'd say it's more in the zone between Insane and Child-like Annoyance." He muttered, only for Danny to give him a cheeky smile. "Aww . . . you know you love me."
"That's debatable."
"Whatever, I have someplotting to do!" He announced over dramatically before reaching up and pulling a small string at the top of the net, the entire thing falling limp around him as he nimbly landed on the floor and ran out of the hall.
"Whoa, wait DANNY!" Spike shouted after him, wondering how on Earth the teen managed to do that. The dragon let out a sigh and wrapped his tail around himself as he brought his knees up to his chest.
"Great . . ." He muttered, noticing how his net was also beginning to spin slightly.
ENEMY BASE: SWEET APPLE ACRES
September 6
07:23
Applejack was not happy. No that was a bit of an understatement.
Applejack wasfuckingPISSED.
Though that was to be expected when you wake up to find your entire room has been covered in what she could only assume was gift wrap, even her bed! How whoever did this managed to wrap a bed she had been sleeping in without waking her was beyond her. She just wanted to make them pay for making her room look like something out of a holiday card.
Though as she stepped out of the green and red-papered room, she quickly realized her bedroom wasn't the only victim. Nope, it looked like herentirehouse had been wrapped in the shiny wrapping paper, quite expertly to be honest. The floors, the walls, the tables, chairs, picture frames, even thefrikkin ceilingwas hidden away underneath the decorative paper.
"Alright, whoever decided our house shouldn't be opened until Hearts Warming better start runnin'!" She snarled, angrily stomping down the stairs. Applebloom and Granny Smith both were waiting for her at the foot of the stairs.
"What inTARNATIONis goin' on around here?!" Granny Smith shouted, turning a hard stare towards her oldest granddaughter.
Applejack shook her head angrily. "I have no idea." She growled out. "I woke up to find everything dark, only to realize someone hadgift wrapped me to the frikkin bed!"She retorted.
Applebloom walked into the corner, staring at the wrapped couch and walls. "I'd be angry if I wasn't so impressed." She breathed out.
The mare tipped back her hat before walking over to the wall. "Fine, I'm plenty angry for the both of us." She growled, reaching out to the wall as she violently ripped a large piece of paper away from the wall . . . . only to find another layer of the same paper underneath . . . . and another.
"Ugg!" The mare snarled, whipping back around towards the others. "DO you know howlongit's gonna take to clean all this up. And that's not even includingwho-knowshow many layers there are underneath this." She muttered.
"Uhh . . . AJ?"
All three ponies turned to glance over at the stable door (both the bottom and the top were wrapped as well), Big Mac's head sticking out the open top door.
"What is it, Big Mac?" The asked.
"Something else outside?" Applebloom guessed.
"Yep."
The Apple Family quickly rushed out of the barn, slight relief flooding through their system when they noticed the grass wasn't covered as well. Though that relief was quickly yanked out of them as they lifted their heads.
Literally every single tree has been wrapped in the decorative paper from the trunk all the way up to the tree, including the apples, which were each wrapped individually.
"Wow. Just . . . .wow." Applebloom breathed out, staring out at the acres of wrapping.
Applejack's mouth continued to hang open as she slowly walked over to the nearest tree, having noticed something attached to the base of the trunk. Taped to the colorful paper was a small white sticky-note, a white cloud with a rainbow-colored lightning bolt crudely scribbled onto it.
The mare shut her eyes and took in a deep breath before slowly (and harshly) releasing it through her nose.
Without another word, she turned on her hoof and began to walk in the opposite direction, towards the main road that led into town.
"Where're ya' going, Sis?" Applebloom asked.
Applejack didn't even bother to turn her head as she replied. "I got a pegasus to string up! NEUTRALITY IS DEAD! THIS MEANS WAR!" She shouted, quickly realizing she had lost her internal battle of staying out of Dash and Danny's ridiculous prank war. She could only hope Pinkie Pie would stay strong.
ENEMY BASE: SUGAR CUBE CORNER
September 6
14:02
Danny poked his head through the front entrance of the store, quickly locating Pinkie Pie behind the counter.
"Hey, Pinkie! Wanna join our prank war?!"
"SURE!"
PRINCESS TWILIGHT'S CASTLE
September 6
15: 08
"Twilight?" Rarity called as she continued to walk down the halls towards the dining room. The mare kept a watchful eye around her, grimly aware of the ongoing prank war that had consumed most of her friends.
Well not her. She would never stoop to engaging in something so . . . . immature and childish.
And though she would have rather stayed home and rode out the war safe in her own house, she couldn't just ignore her friends, especially the ones who weren't even involved in the war. So when Applejack had come over to her house and said that Twilight wished to talk to her about something, she of course had her doubts, but reluctantly agreed to come.
So here she was, currently wondering where the mare could be.
Entering the dining room, her smile instantly vanished as she realized the princess was nowhere to be seen. She felt a small frown grow on her face but choked down her doubts. After all, Twilight wasn't one for such juvenile games.
Walking over to the dining table, she decided it best to just wait for her friend to arrive. Pulling her chair back, she quickly stepped on and took a seat . . . right as a bucket of syrup fell from the ceiling and onto her head.
She yelped in shock, the bucket falling to the floor, but not before spilling its contents all over its victim.
Rarity blinked in shock, which quickly melted away into anger. "How dar-"
She never got to finish her sentence as a large mound of feathers fell down from the ceiling as well and coated the syrup-covered mare in another layer of humiliation.
She quickly rose to her hooves, her face visibly furious. "Are you kid-"
Once again, she was cut off as another bucket fell from the ceiling, though this time, the rope attached to the bottom stopped it from falling to the floor. It did not, however . . . stop the glitter.
Rarity stood in silence, quivering in rage before a small note gently floated down from the ceiling. She took in a deep breath before releasing it through her nose before grabbing the note with her magic. On the paper, she recognized Rainbow Dash, Danny, and Applejack's cutie marks scribbled onto the note.
""I'LL DESTROY THEM!"
PRINCESS TWILIGHT'S CASTLE
September 6
16:32
Twilight rubbed her temples as she tried to relieve herself of the growing headache. She was currently locked in the upstairs bathroom, one of her favorite books the only thing keeping her"sane".Downstairs, shouts, crashes and bangs could be heard often. It hadn't taken long for Danny, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack to move their little World War into the castle, despite her protests.
Now she was forced to lock herself away before they could find her and drag her down into the pits of no shame or mercy. No, sherefusedto be a part of their ridiculous little game. Though she couldn't say Danny hadn't been sparing no expense to entice her to join.
She let out an annoyed sigh as she reluctantly recalled said enticements.
. . . . .
Twilight hummed softly, eyes shut as she walked down the hall and into her open bedroom. Next to her head floated a small book she had been aiming to read for quite some time. Eyes still shut in content, the mare walked into her room, expertly dodging all the furniture as she walked over to where sheknewher bed was and dropped her book on the nightstand.
Or at least where the nightstandshouldbe.
After hearing the book drop to the floor, the mare opened her eyes in surprise. There wasdefinitelysupposed to be a table there! Her newly opened eyes widened in shock as she realized her room was now empty. Her bed, dresser, table . . . . all gone.
She whipped her head back and forth for a moment before falling still in thought. A thoroughly confused look still adorned her face as she slowly backed out of the room and closed the waiting for a second, she opened the door again, half expecting for her furniture to be right where it should be.
It was not.
She walked back into the room and sat down, racking her mind as to where everything might be. As she tilted her head up slightly in thought, she gasped and leapt to her feet, craning her neck upwards.
All her furniture was glued to the ceiling, directly above where it normally was placed on the floor. Everything seemed to be firmly attached to the shining crystal surface, for none of it showed signs of falling back down to the ground, not even the sheets on her bed, which she sincerely hoped weren't glued to the piece of furniture itself.
They were.
She merely continued to stare at the scene above her head for a moment before she firmly clamped her mouth shut and stewed silently before forcing her jaw open again just so she could scream-
"DAANNNNYYYYYYY!"
. . . . .
Twilight flattened her ears slightly and hunched her back. It had takenmany . . . . MANYhours to finally pry her furniture off of the ceiling (and rip her sheets off the bed) and get everything back to its original positions.
Yet even despite the courageous attempt, she still had not given in.
Though that didn't mean Danny stopped there.
. . . . .
Royal Summits were never the most interesting things to begin with, let alone when the topic of the Treasury and Local Monetary Issues were the central issue for the day. So safe to say . . . Twilight was tired.
Slowly trudging up the stairs, the mare continued to focus on the task of placing one hoof in front of the other as she climbed up what felt like King Sombra's Staircase of Hellish Proportions. Nevertheless, the princess finally reached the top step and continued onward, stumbling down the hallway like a mindless zombie - NO! Like atruepolitician.
Shuffling down the hallway, she vaguely noticed the light underneath Danny's door was absent tonight, which was weird, considering he usually stayed up longer than she did. Though her mind was in too much of a fog to really think to deep into it.
Finally, she reached her room. Her GLORIOUS ROOM!
Reaching for the doorknob with a large relieved smile on her face, she turned the knob and pulled the door open . . . . .
A scream of terror escaped her before she became buried underneath the large wave of multicolored jelly beans that gushed out of the room's open door. The wave of candy rushed out and even began to fill the hallway around her room.
After a moment, a small mound could be seen moving underneath the pile before a head popped out of the jelly beans, thoroughly shocked. She blinked at the river of candy around her for a moment, wondering if maybe she was more exhausted than she previously thought, only to freeze as a lone door farther down the hallway creaked open.
Danny poked his tiny head out of the opening and gave the mare a knowing smile. "Twilight . . ." He said in a scolding tone. "You know you shouldn't eat all those sweets before bed. Tsk, tsk, tsk . . ." He clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
Reaching out, he picked up a handful of jelly beans. "Well, you know what they say. The more colorful your diet is, the healthier you'll be." He stated, popping the beans into his mouth. "Nailed it." He smirked before walking back into his room.
. . . . .
A shiver ran through Twilight's spine. She had been avoiding her room as much as possible after that. You can only be buried underneath a mound of hard candy so many times before getting a little paranoid. On the bright side, they had plenty of leftovers for a while there.
Still . . . . it still hadn't been enough to break her.
So Danny decided to step it up a bit.
. . . . .
Twilight strapped her saddle bag to her back before walking towards the front door.
"DANNY! I'LL BE BACK SOON! I'M HEADING OUT TO MARKET!"
"KAY!"
She nodded her response before turning back towards the door, pushing it open as she glanced up towards the sky. The sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky, not a cloud in sight. She took in a deep breath and gave a small smile of content before taking a step forward.
"AHHHH!"
After a second of free-falling, she belly-flopped into a strange liquid . . . . and it wasn't water. After a moment, her head resurfaced with a loud gasp for breath. Whipping her head around, Twilight found herself inside a large hole about the size of her room. She was also currently swimming in what she could only pray was molasses.
"What the - - HOW DID YOU EVEN DO THIS!" She screamed, noticing other ponies from the street were not running over, staring at the strange hole in confusion, only to gasp as they realized somepony was actuallyINthe hole.
Glancing down at her sides, Twilight tried to unfurl her wings, but found it much more difficult to push through the goopy substance than she first thought. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she lifted her head back up to the sky (and to freedom) and grit her teeth as Danny's face appeared in the crowd.
"Hey, Twi!" He called, cheekily waving a hoof down at her.
"Danny, I swear when I get back up there . . . ." She threatened.
The teen, however, seemed less than phased. "It really is agreatday for a swim, huh Twi?" He smirked .
"Yeah, great day for a swim. How bout' you come down here, I'll show you a swim." The mare muttered.
"What was that? Sorry, I couldn't hear you, Maybe it was the molasses in my ears . . . . ohwait. . . ."
"I hate you so much right now, Danny!"
. . . . .
And that is what led twilight to simply locking herself in the bathroom, at least until this stupid prank war was over. She REFUSED to become a part of it. REFUSED!
Though the mare knew she couldn't stay locked in the small room for much longer . . . . actually fornolonger. She had finished her book.
With a small sigh, the mare slowly and hesitantly pushed the shower curtain back and stepped out of the tub. Walking over to the door, she slowly pushed it open slightly. Peeking her head through the crack, she noticed the hallway was empty, though loud crashes and bangs could be heard from downstairs.
Which just happened to be where the library was. Great.
Letting out a sigh, the mare pushed through the door and walked over to the stairs. As quietly as possible, she slowly began to step down them, careful to make as little noise as she could. Thankfully, the warzone seemed to be centered around the living room, so the foyer was empty.
Resisting the urge to look up and survey the damage, she briskly walked over to the library door and pushed it open.
Her eyes widened and a gasp floated out of her mouth.
"SON OF A -"
Everything in the library was encased in jello.
Not even kidding.
While a few books managed to survive, most of them were now the new surprise center of large green blobs of lime jello.
But it wasn't just the books.
The tables were encased in super-sized blobs, the ladders were stacked sideways on top of each other and were surrounded by the giggly substance, and there was even some jello splattered against the walls and the ceiling.
Twilight blinked at the scene in front of her for a moment before spinning on her hoof and marching out into the living room, making everypony freeze.
"ALRIGHT! I GIVE UP! YOU WIN! . . . . . Now someone hand me a paintball gun."
PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE'S CASTLE
September 8
08:15
Spike watched Fluttershy hop out of the cab they took from the train station to the castle before turning back towards the door.
"TWILIGHT, DANNY, I'M H-"
The words froze in his mouth as the door swung open and he got a good look into the castle.
Bits and pieces of crystal littered the floor, having broken off from various places in the castle. The walls were spray-painted all sorts of colors, ranging from streaks of blue to splatters of green. What he could only assume was jello clung to the ceiling and parts of the floor. Chips, pie and soda were strewn all over the place, mostly the floor. The windows were either broken or covered in cream. A variety of different animals scurried along the floor before disappearing back into the fray, and there was a goat currently eating the couch in the living room.
But none of that compared to the girls inside.
Pinkie Pie had pie, chips, cookies, streamers, confetti, and even bits of wood stuck in her hair, which was currently twice its average size. She had peanut butter smeared up one of her legs and the other was smeared with jelly. There were two pieces of bread glued to her back and a streak of paint going diagonally across her face, a piece of paper with Applejack's cutie mark stapled to the bottom tip.
Rarity's hair was all over the place, mostly considering someone had cut off a large chunk and scattered it across the floor. Lipstick had been smeared all over her face and spray paint dripped from her multi-colored tail. Rainbow Dash's cutie mark had been scribbled onto her chest in crayon and the honey, feathers and glitter from before still covered her from head to hoof.
Applejack's hat had been cut, stripped, and burned, yet was still barely clinging to her head. She was soaking wet, considering Danny would repeatedly dunk her with ice water whenever he got the chance. Her hair was nothing more than a massive knot and many apples had been glued to her pelt all over, from her legs to her stomach. She also had Rarity's cutie mark shaved into her coat.
Rainbow Dash had avoided most of the humiliating pranks, but ended up with the more violent ones. She had a sprained wing, a black eye, a missing tooth, and a crooked ear. Pinkie Pie's cutie mark was spray painted to her chest and there had also been a large amount of hair dye dumped onto her head of varying colors, which had quickly turned her colorful mane into a gross dark brown color . . . . which was still dripping all over the place.
Twilight's hair had been tied up into a bow above her head and an ice cream cone had been glued overtop her horn. Her wings had been hogtied behind her back and her tail was frizzed and smoking, small crackles of electricity sparking from it at times. Her right hoof was encased in jello, her left was smeared with molasses and her back two legs were sealed inside large blocks of ice, which meant she merely slipped and slid across the floor. Danny's cutie mark was also carved into the ice.
Danny had a pie tin on top of his head, the contents dripping down onto his hair and down the sides of his face. He was drenched in honey, different papers attached to his sticky body. His white coat looked even whiter considering he was also covered in flour, which could be seen in the white hoofprints left all over the place. He also had a cactus stub stuck to the back of his tail, most of the spines already stuck in his coat. On his forehead, Twilight's cutie mark had been scribbled.
Spike watched with wide eyes as the girls continued to run around the castle like crazy, screaming and shouting at each other, unaware of the little dragon's presence. Loud bangs and crashes could be heard from all over and the little dragon could barely believe it when a loudwhoopingreached his ears.
Raising his head, Spike could resist face-palming at the scene.
Danny swung by on the chandelier, war-cry ringing out, paintball gun in hoof and decked out in padding as he swung through the air, shooting the gun repeatedly, blobs of paint flying everywhere. Rainbow Dash yelped as she was nailed in the back of the head and sent sprawling on the ground. Another whoop from Danny before he disappeared once more into the fray.
Spike shook his head and let out a sigh, slamming his hand to his face once more before dragging it down. "Nope." He muttered, quickly turning on his heel. "FLUTTERSHY! GET BACK IN THE CAB!" He shouted before slamming the door shut, leaving the group to kill each other off.