With their secret plan carried out successfully, the pranksters decided to hang at Sugarcube Corner and talk for a bit before parting ways. Well, most of them. Discord left early, complaining that he was still too tired from last night's excited lack of sleep. The other three were currently sitting at one of the smaller tables eating more of Pinkie's awesome cupcakes, which she had yet to find a proper name for.
"I'm thinking that should be our last prank for this spree," said Rainbow, before taking another bite out of her cupcake. After chewing and swallowing, she continued. "It was kinda stressful to set up."
"Especially with our plan to not tell Starswirl about our usual Discord-bubble-hideout to give him a chance to reconnect with Celestia and Luna," Pinkie said, grabbing another cupcake from the tray she had brought over. "That just added more stress to the mix."
"But it worked, though," Flash mentioned, wiping away a smudge of frosting on his cheek. "At least, I'm pretty sure it did."
"Yeah, it did," said Pinkie, "but the number one rule of being a professional prankster is knowing when to stop, or rather, to pause. A true professional never stops entirely."
"But there are still so many pranks left!" Flash complained, gesturing to the book lying on the table, safely out of the reach of any frosting splatters.
"Well, we can't just use them all up in one round," Rainbow paused to eat another small bite of cupcake before continuing. "We've got to save some for next time, right?"
"Right, I guess," he agreed halfheartedly.
"What are you not telling us?" Pinkie asked with a raised eyebrow.
"What makes you think I'm hiding anything?"
..."okay, maybe I'm a little eager to cram in as much fun as possible before I lose the chance. I didn't exactly get much free time back in the day."
"You must have had some free time. Well, I know that being a Pillar and being in the old Pegasus army probably ate up a lot of time, but it didn't take up everything, right?"
"I'm guessing 'eating time' is another modern idiom?"
"Yep."
"Well, anyway, yes. I had a little bit of free time, but there were restrictions."
"Like what?" Pinkie asked.
"Oh, being part of the Pillars came with a lot of restrictions. For one thing, I wasn't allowed to drink alcohol because the Leaders of Equestria didn't want any negative side effects interfering with our ability to fight, but that also left me out of a good portion of army get-togethers."
"Wait, but the purpose of the rule was to make sure you could fight properly," Rainbow interrupted. "Wouldn't that have applied to the rest of the army too?"
"No, that was only for the Pillars. We had some rules that were pretty strict. For example, we had to notify the Leaders before traveling anywhere, which I guess made sense because they needed us if there was a threat. But there were also some that were just too much. For example, none of us were allowed to get married or have children because they didn't want any 'harmful interference in loyalty or sense of duty.' Seriously, that was the exact wording the Leaders used."
"Hang on, who are these leaders?" asked Rainbow. "You keep mentioning them and I have no clue who they are."
"Commander Hurricane, Princess Platinum, and Chancellor Puddinghead."
"You guys were around at the same time?" Pinkie asked, shocked. "Oh wait, now that I'm thinking about it, I guess that makes sense. I guess I just hadn't thought about it much before."
"I knew literally nothing about history except for the Hearth's Warming story until about a week ago," Rainbow mentioned.
"When you saw that there actually were cool ponies in old times?" Flash asked, smirking.
"Yeah, pretty much."
There were a few minutes of companionable silence following this as the trio finished their cupcakes and started making their way homeward or temporary-learning-stay-ward for Flash.
Pinkie picked up the conversation once more as she was putting the serving tray away. "If somepony had told me a week ago that I would hear the royal sister's names together with 'pranking' in multiple sentences and that I would pull pranks that they had designed, I would have thought they were crazy. And not in the way I am. The other kind."
"Yeah, who knew they were so troublesome?" Rainbow laughed.
"I did," Flash raised his hoof. "And if you think this was bad, wait until you hear about their loophole phase." Both of the mares in the room turned to him eagerly, eyes wide with anticipation. "It's too long to explain at the moment," and to this, their faces fell, "but don't worry, I'll make sure you hear about it. Oh, they found every way to break the rules without actually breaking the rules possible. Drove Starswirl crazy."
"Okay, can't wait to hear it!" Pinkie accentuated this statement with a boing!
"See you later, alligator! Rainbow waved goodbye as Flash flew away. "That's another modern idiom!"
"I could guess!" he called back as he set his path towards the sparkling crystal castle. He added to himself under his breath, "Of course they had a loophole phase, they practically were loopholes themselves..."
This left Pinkie and Rainbow alone for a moment more. Rainbow retrieved the pranking manual from its place on the table. "I'm holding on to this, right?" At Pinkie's nod, she tucked it away and started her flight home, waving goodbye to Pinkie on the way out.
It barely seemed like any time at all has passed before Rainbow found herself at home once more, placing the book back on it's designated spot on her bookshelf. I usually end up learning a lesson from my pranking sprees, but they often revolve around my ego, she thought to herself. But I ended up learning a lot about my new friends these past few days. It all felt so quick. I know it's been quite a few days, but it doesn't feel like it at all. Usually, these busy stretches have me feeling like time went on forever, but at the moment it all just seems like a blur.
She flopped back onto her bed, her prismatic mane landing gracefully around her head. She could marvel at the mysteries of pranking, friends, and time later. Now, she needed a nap.