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// The smell of pranking in the morning 
// Story: Prank War! 
// by Ashfur 
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The sky above Canterlot was abuzz with reporter pegasi trying to get that perfect picture of the royal sisters as they got into their sky chariot with their human friend to depart for Ponyville.  Even the entierty of the royal guard's pegasi couldn't keep them out of the air.  Still, that didn't deter the three friends from taking off for Pinkie's 'We haven't had a party yet this week and it's already Tuesday AND we were supposed to have a party yesterday, so we're fixing that' party.

Yes, it was printed on the invitations that way.  Nick was rather curious to see how the crazy pink pony was going to fit it on a banner and cake.  He was also fighting a headache from trying to figure out how the invitation arrived a month ago, despite not knowing yesterday's party would be cancelled by... well he hadn't read Twilight's letter to Celestia yet about what happened, but it was twice as long as usual so it was bound to be a treat.  He decided to take everypony's advice and let Pinkie be Pinkie.

Nick adjusted his backpack as he looked back at the swarm of reporters.  "I swear, those guys never give up.  I'm half tempted to use the prank on them..." he muttered.

Of course, alicorn hearing was phenomenal, so both sisters heard that.  "Oh, thou had a prank planned, Nicholas?   Tell us now and we will let you off with a warning this once... perhaps."  Luna glared at her friend.  Celestia shared a rather dark look, but it seemed perfectly normal from a distance.  A princess needs to keep her public image, after all.

"Well,"  Nick began, leaning back in his seat.  "Since it's too late for you to avoid it now, I might as well tell you.  You ever watch the movie Speed?"

Celestia answered the question.  "You haven't told us about that one yet.  Go on."

"Well, the main plot of the movie is that a bunch of folks get trapped on a bus, or I suppose a train to help you understand better, that has a bomb on it that will explode if the vehicle drops below a certain speed."

"Nicholas, did thou put a bomb on our sky chariot?!"  Luna was immediately grateful for the sound barrier all chariots had, so the guards flying it didn't freak out.  Celestia appeared worried, as well.

"Oh, don't get your tail twisted, Luna.  I wouldn't put us in any danger this high up.  And explosives aren't always as destructive as you imagine.  I merely took inspiration from the movie.  Tell me, are either of you aware of a certain plant known as murkweed?"

The sisters froze.  Having lived on the planet for centuries, they knew full well what the accursed plant was.  Murkweed was a thankfully rare plant that only grows in froggy bottom bog in the everfree forest.  It produces a horrid stench similar to a skunk that has the magical tendency to stick to whoever gets near it for a week or so.

"Yeah, the look on your faces says it all.  I loaded a stink bomb full of eau de murkweed underneath the seat, and rigged it so it'll go off when only one of us is left in the chariot.  You two will have to figure out who's getting sprayed, and it's gonna be hilarious!  But don't worry.  Twilight wrote to me about some new experiment about a spell to remove bad odor, so I'm sure she will help you... after she attends the party she pinkie promised to be at, of course.  Mua ha ha."

Celestia thought for a moment.  "And what makes you so confident you won't be the last one in the chariot?"

He gestured to his backpack.  "Duh, I brought a parachute.  I'm gonna bail before we hit the ground.  Easy peasy."

Celestia picked up the backpack in her magic and teleported it away.  "And NOW what makes you think you won't be the last one in the chariot?"

"Er... well... I can still uh... jump out before you guys do!  I still have a 2/3 chance of getting out!"

Luna responded by spreading her wings and flying off.  Nick stared slack-jawed for a moment.

"Shoot, I forgot about that."

"I will ask again, Nick."  Celestia powered up her horn to teleport away.  "What makes you think..."

"Celestia, please..."

"That you won't be the last one in this chariot?"

"I swear I will buy you like a bajillion cakes.  Don't do this to me."

"Hm... tempting."

"Really?"  Nick asked, wide eyed that his desperate plea worked.

"...but any cake you buy from a bakery is no match for my chefs.  So no deal."  And with a flash of light, she appeared flying a few dozen feet away from the chariot alongside her sister, maniacal gring on their faces.

"Oh, fudge.  I hope Twilight's stupid treatment works."





Dear Princess Celestia,

As you no doubt have heard, Ponyville is in a bit of a fuss right now.  I have spent the last few weeks trying to perfect an odor elimination spell in order to help make my lab smell less like burnt...things... after an explosion a month ago that you really don't need to worry about, I swear.

But I digress.  Nick came to me smelling horrible and explained that Murkweed was the cause, and asked for my help.  Well, I did, and I discovered a few things.

Firstly, while my prototype spell works perfectly fine on most smells, it reacts differently to magically-induced scents.  More specifically, it transfers the scent to the object nearest to the creature or object affected by the spell.

Second, the amount of magic required to transfer a smell is directly proportional to the size of the being or object affected.  The larger the target, the more mana is required.  Theoretically, if I used all may available magic at once, I could remove a scent from a hydra.

Third, my Castle of Friendship is much larger than a hydra.

As soon as the stench left Nick, it transferred to the nearest object, and unfortunately my castle counts as an object.  Furthermore, as the stench is magical in nature and not chemical or biological, being spread across the entirety of the castle did not result in the smell becoming any less potent.  So, the whole Castle of Friendship smells horrible.

Unfortunately there is no, as Nick would call it, 'undo button'.  I did not think to create a counterspell as it did not seem necessary at the time.  And transferring the smell away from the castle requires far more magic than we have available.  So for the time being, we are coming to stay at Canterlot Castle.  This is non-negotiable, as we are writing this from the train.  We can get supplies there, after we throw Nick in the moat, as is customary for retaliation from a prank, albeit an accidental one.

Your irritated faithful student fellow princess,
Twilight Sparkle