//------------------------------//
// A Plan Within a Plan 
// Story: The Pranking Manual 
// by Jubilee Bloom 
//------------------------------//

Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,
We would like to ask you to meet with us in the remains of the Castle of the Two Sisters. We cannot reveal many more details here, for the sake of privacy issues, but we would like for the meeting to be held in what was once the main corridor leading away from the throne room. Do not rush to find a time for this meeting; while important, it is not critical in any way. We have flexible schedules and want to make sure that both of you are able to comfortably meet with us for approximately half an hour. 
When you have both found a suitable date and time, please list both on a piece of paper and leave it in the mailbox that has been affixed to the northern side of the mountain that Canterlot is built upon. It is painted bright red, for ease of locating. It will be removed after our meeting.
Sincerely, Your Anonymous Subjects

*****

“Just one question, Pinkie. Where are we going to get a bright red mailbox?”
Rainbow Dash looked at her friend with confusion, after having read the letter that they were to send to the Royal Sisters for their prank.
“Seriously, Rainbow,” said Discord, snapping his fingers and manifesting a bright red mailbox out of thin air. Turning to address Pinkie, he continued, “I’ll put this and the letter in their proper places, and then we can start collecting the materials.”
“Sounds good to me! I’m so excited!” Pinkie replied with a happy boing!
“So am I,” Starswirl voiced his agreement. “I just hope this works.”
“So, are you nervouscited?” Pinkie asked. “That’s when you want to jump up and down and yell YAY! but you also want to curl up in a teeny tiny ball and hide at the same time!”
Starswirl just stared at Pinkie for a moment before responding. “Not exactly to those extremes, but I guess I could say I am ‘nervouscited.’”
“I think we all are,” Discord said with a small shrug. “Now, it’s about time we get to work. I’ll go put these in place.”
“Doesn’t the mailbox have to be on the northern side of the mountain? How will you know which side that is?” Flash asked.
Discord deadpanned at him, raised his bird claw, snapped, and manifested a compass. “You and Dashie both. Seriously.” With that, he teleported away to install the mailbox, leaving the rest of them behind at Sugarcube Corner.
A mildly uncomfortable silence filled the air, eventually broken by Starswirl. “What are the rest of us supposed to do in the meantime?”
“How about you and Flash go back to the castle before Twilight gets suspicious,” Rainbow said with a joking grin.
“That might actually be a good idea,” said Pinkie. “If I know anything about her, which I do, she’s probably already suspicious. I highly suggest the two of you return to the castle before she crashes our party.”
“Aww,” Flash whined. “Do I have to sit through another one of her lectures?”
“Yes, Flash,” Starswirl replied with a sigh. “And just because I’m helping you with this prank doesn’t mean you can copy off of my notes.”
Flash shot Starswirl an impressive scowl/pout combo before turning to fly out of the famed bakery off in the direction of Twilight’s castle. Starswirl then turned to address the two remaining ponies. “I guess this is goodbye for now until we have a date and time.”
“I guess so,” Rainbow agreed, a bit dejected.
“Don’t worry, Dashie,” Pinkie said, patting her friend on her colorful head. “We can find something to do until we have our pranking time.” Turning to face Starswirl, she added, “You should probably get going, like, now.”
Starswirl gave a single nod, then teleported back to the castle immediately. Rainbow sighed and landed on the ground, before melting in a cat-like style on the ground, finishing off with an impressive groan. “I’m gonna be so bored for a long time ‘cus the princesses probably won’t have any free time for months and I’m just going to be waiting and waiting and waiting-”
“Cut it out, Dashie,” Pinkie interrupted. “I’m sure they’ll have some free time soon enough. For now, we just need to find a way to entertain ourselves! Do you wanna play Battle Skies? I know how much you love, love, love that game!" Pinkie's enthusiasm slowly grew with each word she spoke. "Except for the time you were trying to hide the fact that you like reading and were too stressed out to enjoy the game, but there's nothing to be stressed about now, so you can have fun!"
"I'm not exactly stress-free at the moment, Pinkie," Rainbow replied with a huff. "What if the princesses don't have any free time? What if we misbuild something and the prank doesn't work? What if we get in trouble? What if we ruin a chance for Starswirl to reconnect with the princesses? What if-"
Rainbow cut herself short suddenly as if she had said something wrong. She then sighed and continued. "Look, I'd rather just go home at the moment. And... maybe we should make this the last prank for this particular spree. The stress is getting at levels where it starts to outweigh the fun."
"You've really got this down to a science, huh?" Pinkie said, impressed. Rainbow replied with a simple nod. "Just don't let Twilight turn it into an excuse to write an essay," she added snarkily, eliciting a few giggles from her friend. "Well, if you want to go home now, then I guess this is until next time!" Rainbow shrugged slightly and nodded again before flying out of the door to Sugarcube Corner and back to her house.

*****

"Well, that was fast."
Discord sounded surprised, but not very, at the princesses' reply.
To Our Dear Anonymous Subjects,
We are pleased to report that we have 45 minutes of unscheduled time from 1:30 P.M. to 2:15 P.M. on Monday, June 15th, 1425 A.I.U. We can meet during that time. We hope that you are doing well and that there is no immediate danger. Of course, if there is, we will do whatever we can to ensure your safety.
Best Wishes,
Princess Celestia
Princess Luna
"Do you think they actually fell for it?" Pinkie asked, worried. "What if they actually know, and they're just playing along? Or even worse, what if they decide to dodge it? Our plans will be ruined! Not only will the prank not work, but-"
"Calm down, Pinkie," Discord sighed. "We sent the letter only yesterday and they've scheduled the time for this afternoon. That means they at least take this seriously enough that they want to have this 'meeting' as soon as possible. I don't think they'd do that if they were just playing along. Or maybe none of our creators understand the concept of realistic pacing. Or both."
"Would we have as many fun adventures if they did?" Pinkie pointed out. "It also saves us from having to wait around pointlessly doing nothing!" Her exclamation was punctuated by a knocking from her door. "See? They're here!" She ran to open the door, and sure enough, the rest of the pranking crew was waiting. Flash Magnus flew in first, followed closely by Rainbow, then Starswirl walked in last, closing the door behind him.
"So when did they say that we should meet?" Rainbow asked as soon as she landed.
"1:30 this afternoon," Pinkie replied, holding the letter.
"That doesn't leave us a lot of time to set it up," Flash noted, a bit worried. "It's already 9:30, and if we factor in lunchtime and Twilight, that only leaves us about 2 hours to find the supplies and assemble the contraption."
"Don't worry. I thought ahead," said Pinkie, pulling out a large wooden crate from behind the counter full of gears, ropes, tape, and glue, as well as an empty bucket on the side.
"Is that all that we need?" Starswirl asked, his eyes running over the hodgepodge of materials Pinkie had amassed.
"Yep! And I double and triple checked to be sure!" Pinkie reassured. "Now if we can-"
She was cut off mid-sentence by Discord teleporting them all to what was once the main corridor leading away from the throne room of the Castle of the Two Sisters/Trinity Kingdom Castle, supplies included. Pinkie sighed. "Discord, can you please ask before doing that? I mean, I appreciate you helping and all, but I don't like being teleported like that without warning."
"Oh, all right," Discord sighed. "Do I also have to ask before snapping my talons and building the prank system? It would save us a lot of time."
"How about we just make it a general rule that you have to ask before doing anything major with your magic that involves others," said Rainbow. "As for the prank... well, what do the rest of you guys think?" She made a sweeping motion with her hoof, gesturing to Pinkie, Flash, and Starswirl.
"Okie-dokie-lokie with me!" exclaimed Pinkie.
"All right with me," Flash said much more calmly, but still quite excited.
Starswirl thought for a moment before speaking. "It would save us a lot of time, but then what we do with said spare time?"
Pinkie immediately opened her mouth to respond, froze, and closed it again. Rainbow picked up the conversation. "That's a good point. I wouldn't want to wait around bored all day, but I also really don't want to have to build this whole contraption. It's kinda tricky to assemble. How the princesses were able to build it at such a young age is beyond me."
"What's beyond you?" Flash asked, confused.
"'Beyond me' is a modern idiom meaning that a concept is beyond one's understanding," Starswirl explained, "which you would have known had you paid attention to Twilight's lecture on the evolution of our language." Flash rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. "As for how those two were able to build such a contraption; they were always very brilliant for their age, which was simultaneously a blessing and a curse over the course of my career as their teacher." His tone of voice suggested annoyance, but a small, nostalgic smile graced his face nonetheless.
"I've got it!" Pinkie exclaimed suddenly. "If Discord assembles the prank with his magic, that will leave more time for Flash to catch up on Twilight's lessons!"
"So, that's a yes then?" Discord asked, looking up from the latest monthly edition of Beyond the Wall: The Inside Scoop on Fandom News.
Flash spoke up quickly. "Actually, I think it would be fun for us to all build it together, y'know?" He tried to keep his voice as calm as possible, which wasn't very calm at all.
"Funny how the moment you are expected to do actual work, you would rather take the long route for the prank," Starswirl said, his eyes narrowed at Flash. "Go ahead and build the contraption, Discord. It seems I have a certain slacker to pester into doing his work."
"Do I really need to know all this stuff?" Flash whined.
"You've been gone for eleven centuries," said Rainbow. "That's a really long time for things to change, so I would highly suggest you listen to whatever Twilight's telling you. Trust me, this world is a lot different than what you're used to."
"I can second that, having been gone for almost as long as you have. Go do your work," Discord said, then snapping his talons and assembling the prank, not breaking eye contact with Flash. Starswirl then teleported himself and Flash back to Twilight's castle before Flash had another chance to protest.
"I guess we can all just hang out now, or go do our own thing," Rainbow said with a small shrug.
"I'm gonna head back home for a bit and take a nap," Discord said with a yawn. "I was too excited to see the princesses' priceless faces to get any proper sleep last night." Before either of the girls could say anything else, he disappeared with a flash and a pop!
Rainbow and Pinkie turned to each other. Rainbow spoke up first. "Mind if I join you? I think I'm in the mood now to play that game of Battle Skies you suggested."
"I dunno," Pinkie mumbled. "Now I think I'm too stressed to enjoy it. I'm especially worried that our secret plan might not work..."
"Don't worry, Pinkie," Rainbow said gently, wrapping a wing around her friend. "Flash isn't going to tell Starswirl about it, and I highly doubt he'll suspect anything. Now come along, it's time for me to whoop your butt."
"We'll see about that!" Pinkie said with a grin, getting into her competition groove. "It. Is. On!"

*****

"OmigoshomigoshomigoshimsonervouscitedfortheprankIcantevenuseproperpunctuationorsentencestrctureImsonervouscited!"
"I have absolutely no idea what you just said, Pinkie."
"It's okay, Swirly. You don't have to always understand me."
"Can you please not call me Swirly?"
"The faster you accept it, the faster it stops annoying you."
"That's the spirit, Flashy!"
Their conversation was cut short as Rainbow shushed them, anxiously watching the door at the end of their booby-trapped corridor. The tripwire had an invisibility spell over it, the pranking party was safely hidden behind a large pile of what used to be a wall, and the bucket was filled. Not just with ordinary water, though. They had made the last-minute decision to make it a very runny, sticky goo instead, for a better effect. They had scheduled plenty of time for them to clean up, anyway. Might as well make the most of it.
"You all remember the plan?" Rainbow asked as quietly as possible while still being audible. Her only responses were nods from all of them.
Time seemed to stretch on forever, barely moving at all. Discord was biting his talons. Starswirl toyed with his beard, Pinkie chewed on the ends of her curls. Flash was fiddling with his gauntlet. Rainbow rolled a stone from hoof to hoof. They waited.
Suddenly, a sunny golden glow surrounded the old, rusted doorknob, as the door opened to reveal Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They walked into the corridor, wings spread slightly, heads held high, hooves placed gracefully. The pranksters immediately ceased their fidgeting and sat as still and rigid as the stone they hid behind.
"They said they would be here at this time, right, sister?" Luna asked her solar counterpart.
"Maybe they had a bit of difficulty getting here," Celestia said gently. "I'm willing to wait for a while for whoever these ponies are. I don't have anything scheduled for the next forty-five minutes anyway." They stopped walking in the middle of the corridor, just inches away from the tripwire.
"Very well, we will wait," Luna agreed.
"I wonder why they wanted to meet here, of all places," Celestia pondered. "Nopony comes by here anymore."
"They wrote in the letter that they wanted to keep the details of their meeting private," Luna reasoned, "and since nopony comes by this place anymore, this would be a good place to discuss more private matters."
The pranking group watched the sisters with growing apprehension, no longer paying any attention to their continuing conversation. Why weren't they walking towards the tripwire? Was all their work really going to be foiled because the sisters simply weren't going to walk any further?
No, our plan will succeed, Rainbow thought to herself. She curled her hooves around the small stone that she had been playing with earlier, slowly and deliberately lifting it up, and aiming for the opposite end of the corridor.
Beads of sweat began to form above her brow, and her heart was racing. She was nervous, anxious, even. She only had one shot to get this right, or the whole plan would come crashing down on their heads. She bent her forelegs and prepared herself for the toss. Three, two, one...
Thunk.
The princesses turned their heads toward the source of the sound, having not noticed the throw.
"What was that?" Celestia murmured, more to herself than to her sister.
"Do you think we should go investigate?" Luna asked.
"We might as well," Celestia said with a small shrug. The two of them set out walking once more, only for Celestia to stop suddenly in the middle of the hallway, as a downpour of goo cascaded from the wall and over the sisters, drenching them in the cold, sticky fluid. They simply stood there in shock, wondering what in the world had just happened to them.
Pinkie snorted, then Rainbow giggled, then Discord chuckled, and pretty soon all five of them were laughing hysterically. They all burst out from behind their pile of rubble and yelled "GOTCHA!" together, as best as they could through their laughter.
The sisters stood still for a moment more, confused, but they quickly pieced together what had happened.
"Our old pranking manual..." Celestia half whispered. "Which one of you found it? And how?" she asked, quite a bit louder.
Starswirl took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, got to his hooves, and explained. "Rainbow Dash originally found it completely by accident, then she pulled the rest of us except for me together to carry out some of your pranks, and then I joined the group more recently for some long-overdue revenge." Here, he walked out from behind the rubble pile over to where the invisible, now-empty bucket was suspended, the sisters' eyes following him every step of the way. "We used your classic invisible bucket of water, except we turned it into-"
Starswirl stopped talking suddenly as he looked back to where the rest of the pranksters were.
Or rather, where the rest of the pranksters had used to be.
Starswirl's smile vanished immediately, replaced by a look of worry. He glanced over at the sisters, who were also staring at the recent vacancy. Slowly, their eyes went back to their former teacher. The three of them stood perfectly still, not talking, not moving, barely breathing or blinking. After what seemed like days, Celestia broke the silence.
"You thought it would be funny to prank us by means of luring us here under false pretenses?" Her gaze drilled into Starswirl, or so he felt. To make things worse, he couldn't detect a hint of emotion on her face, although he already knew the sensitivity of that nature to be... not one of his strong suits.
"I used to think so, at least," he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking. His eyes swept the room— if you could call it that— trying to find any evidence of his friends.
"Where did all of you go?" he called out, to no avail.
"Where are you hiding?" Still no response.
"Y'know, Rainbow, for the Element of Loyalty, you're not exactly being very loyal right now!" Nothing. And his students-turned-rulers were still glaring at him. Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, he turned to address them, but Luna spoke before he could.
"I think I have a fitting idea for a punishment, sister," she spoke calmly, their eyes finally giving Starswirl a break and turning towards each other. Luna whispered something into her ear, and Celestia gave a single nod. However, Starswirl was able to notice the slightest flicker of emotion cross the elder sister's face; he couldn't discern exactly what it was, but he could at least tell that it was something positive. The two sisters then turned back to face their teacher-turned-subject.
"An eye for an eye, the saying goes," Celestia spoke calmly.
"So since you decided to cover us with this goo as a prank," Luna continued. Starswirl noticed her mouth was scrunched up a bit, as one does when trying not to smile.
"We decided to return the favor," Celestia explained, her mouth still frowning, but her eyes smiling.
There were silence and stillness for only a second more, before any and all air of royal authority crumbled to the force of joyful grins and laughter, and the two rushed forward to envelop Starswirl in a crushing bear hug, indeed covering him in the sticky substance. However, in their enthusiasm, they both forgot that they were no longer the little girls they used to be, and Starswirl found himself crashing to the floor, landing flat on his back with a yelp. He immediately felt the sisters tense up in shock, then release their grip.
"We're so sorry-"
"We didn't mean to-"
"We just wanted-"
Starswirl pushed himself up with his forehooves to a sitting position, as Celestia and Luna continued to sputter out various bits and pieces of apologies, which were soon silenced as he returned the hug wholeheartedly. The princesses froze in shock once more, tentatively re-embracing him. Each of the sisters carefully wrapped their forelegs around him, their heads resting against his shoulders. Starswirl didn't even notice the cold stickiness covering him anymore, as a wave of nostalgia hit him. Memories flooded his mind, but he quickly cleared them away, determined to focus on the present and not the past. He closed his eyes, listening to the faint sounds of the sisters' even, relaxed breathing and the gentle rustling of their magically flowing manes. He felt cool and hard—though not uncomfortable—touch of their peytrals, sharply contrasting with their warm, soft coats. He could sense three faint rhythms ticking just out of synchrony; these were their heartbeats.
After what seemed like years, but was in reality only seconds, Luna gently broke the silence.
"We're sorry about knocking you over," she mumbled. Starswirl opened his eyes, glancing down at the relatively younger alicorn.
"I guess we were so excited that we forgot we weren't children anymore," Celestia continued, lifting her head up slightly to make eye contact with Starswirl.
"Don't worry about it," he whispered reassuringly. "I'm not seriously injured in any way. A little sore, perhaps, but it's nothing compared to being knocked over by a rampaging hydra."
"Yeah, that sounds bad," Luna muttered with a slight grimace.
"Agreed," Celestia added, before sighing wistfully. "I guess we're a little big for tackle hugs now."
"I would recommend you be careful about that," Starswirl conceded. "But don't worry, you'll never outgrow the special place you have in my heart," he said with a smile, watching as two particularly beautiful shades of pink appeared on the sister's cheeks. He almost laughed at their adorable bashfulness, the two of them releasing him from their embrace and shrinking into themselves. He was on the verge of standing up when he was stopped by the two of them nuzzling into his chest. He froze for only a split second before instinctively pulling them back into the hug.
The sight of the two of them curling up and snuggling into Starswirl as if they were fillies again nearly made his heart explode.
He closed his eyes once more, this time allowing memories to replay through his head. He smiled, certain he was also blushing. At this point, however, he couldn't care less. All that mattered was the two cuddly, loveable alicorns in his forelegs. He had left them for far too long. The rest of the world could wait.

*****

"D'awww!"
Pinkie couldn't help but smile at the sweet scene unfolding beneath the pranksters hidden in Discord's bubble.
"This plan of yours worked out wonderfully, Pinkie," Flash said, a blissful smile on his face.
"Yeah, I find myself agreeing with you guys and I don't even like sappy stuff!" Dash exclaimed, laughing.
"All right, I'll admit it, this was kinda adorable," Discord grumbled. "Can we leave now?" The rest of the crew halfheartedly mumbled their agreements, and Discord teleported them away, landing in front of Sugarcube Corner, right where it had all began in the first place.