Button Mash held his eyes in the bathtub water trying to rid his eyes of the lingering onion powder. Had his mother not been watching from afar, he was more than certain the filly would be holding his head underwater to drown him.
"I really am sorry, Mrs. Love Tap," Diamond said, using a sweetly innocent voice as she talked with Button's mother. "I didn't know that the cap was so loose! I just feel so terrible!" Her lip began to quiver as she turned to Button. "I really am sorry Button!" She said, before mouthing that it was far from over.
"It's alright Diamond," Love tap said in response. "I'm sure Button understands it was an accident. Right Button?"
Button murmured something. Whenever his mother said, 'Right Button', she was not in any way asking for his opinion. What it actually meant was 'accept the apology. I'm not asking.' Just like how 'I'm not mad, I'm disappointed' meant 'I am so mad I could ground you for several years and not lose a wink of sleep over it.'
"Right Button?" His mother repeated, her tone becoming sterner.
"Yes, I forgive you." Button raised the top of his head from the water and began to dry off. He hung the towel on a hook and went to his room, followed by Diamond Tiara. Normally, he would have sent her home, but she insisted that they spend at least some time together. His mother, unfortunately, agreed with Diamond Tiara. The door to Button's room slammed shut, and suddenly, Diamond's smile faded and was soon replaced by a scowl. Button was given a shove.
"What was that for?"
"For pranking my friend!" Diamond shouted. She let out a sigh before collecting herself. "Fortunately for you, I am a very forgiving filly, but only if you tell me why you want to prank Sweetie Belle so badly."
"How did you know?" Button raised an eyebrow.
"Because it was set up in her desk. Any moron could see who it was intended for." Diamond said.
"Right. So, do you want the long version or the short version?" Button asked.
"Give me the full story," Diamond said, folding her forelegs over her chest.
"Well, some time ago, I had a crush on Sweetie Belle…" Button began with a bit of hesitation, "At some point, she confronted me and said some hurtful things, how she'd never be my special somepony and that I should grow up. She made me cry, ripped out my heart and stomped on it and—"
"And now you want revenge," Diamond concluded, cutting him off midsentence. "Yeah, I can understand that. The revenge thing, I mean"
"I had a feeling she would. Then again, this is the school bully I'm talking to…" Button thought to himself. "So, since you got back at me for pranking Silver Spoon, are we even now?" he asked.
"Hmm. Sure, water under the bridge," Diamond Tiara shrugged. "Though, now that you've told me why you want revenge upon Sweetie Belle, I'm interested in how you plan to get it."
"Wait, what?" Button looked at the rich filly with confusion.
"You heard me. I want to know how you're going to get revenge upon Sweetie Belle" Diamond said as she took a step closer to the gamer colt.
"Well, the onion powder thing backfired horribly on me," Button began, tapping his chin. "So, here's my backup plan: I go to Sugarcube Corner and ask Pinkie Pie if I can help out. I wait for Sweetie Belle to order a drink and, when nopony is looking, I spike it with ipecac."
"Ipecac? What's that?" Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Well, to put it lightly…" Button started.
[Flashback]
"Ipecac? Button, ipecac is used to make sure someone vomits after they're poisoned. You would need to be dumb enough to ingest something poisonous before I even think of—" Doctor Stable paused as he looked down at the colt and the many, many, many times that he had been called to his house. When it came to the males in Button's family, it was much less a matter of an if he ingested something poisonous, and more of a when he ingested something poisonous. "I'll contact your mother and give you a bottle if she sees fit for you to have one."
[End of Flashback]
"Eww, that's disgusting!" Diamond Tiara cringed, her tongue sticking out in disgust.
"Exactly! That's why it's perfect. We give Sweetie Belle a drink with a ton of ipecac hidden in it, and when class starts, she throws up all over the floor" Button explained.
"Any ideas that don't involve vomit?" Diamond narrowed her eyes.
"Fine. We bake cupcakes and make a special one for Sweetie Belle. Hers is filled with laxatives—"
"Ok, I know what those are. How about a plan doesn't involve anything disgusting or borderline illegal?" Diamond offered.
"That's all I got," Button said.
"Is there anyone else that we can talk to? You managed to come up with the powder prank."
"Well, that was Gibson. Oh, we should ask him!" Button took Diamond and led her to Gibson's room. "Gibson is my older brother, he's great at pranks."
"I was unaware that you have an older brother," Diamond said as the two of them came to Gibson's door.
"Do you know anything about me?"
"You like those stupid games," Diamond deadpanned.
"What's my favorite color?"
"Okay, fair point."
Button knocked on the door, and Gibson peered out. "No way," he said. The door was suddenly thrown open. "Button, you have a girlfriend?!"
"Ew, no!" Diamond shouted. "Why would you think that?"
"Oh thank goodness, I'm still in the running for the bet then," Gibson said. "So, why are you here? Does Button have you under a spell, did he drug you, are you kidnapped and suffering from Stockholm syndrome?"
"None of those," Diamond said.
"So, you're just here out of your own free will?"
"Shockingly, yes. Do you know how to pull a prank? Button doesn't know what the term moderation means."
"Ah, if you're looking for pranks that don't violate any laws, you've come to the right place," Gibson said, opening his door. Diamond was the first to enter, followed by Button.
"Just take a seat on the bed, if you would."
Button was about to hop on but was stopped by Diamond. "Yeah, nice try." She walked over lifted the mattress up and removed a pink bag. "Whoopie cushion under a seat. It's okay, but you need to try a bit harder to prank me," Diamond said, shoving the bag against Gibson's chest.
"I'm shocked you saw that one coming."
"Right," She said rolling her eyes. "You'd have to be a moron to fall for it. Don't get me wrong, I think that it's cute. It's like baby's first prank if baby didn't have a creative bone in his body."
"You know, words can hurt," Gibson said.
"They can, you know what's really going to hurt? The realization that you and your friends' band is a pipe dream that doesn't lead anywhere."
"We just need more practice!" Gibson cried out. He became silent for a moment before taking a deep breath. "You are a mean little filly."
"Gibson, that doesn't even begin to describe her."
"Yeah, yeah, insult me while you can. By the way, this room is disgusting," Diamond said, walking around while ignoring the two boys. "First order of business is to clean this place up! It smells. Get to it, now." Diamond emphasized this by clapping her hooves together.
Gibson shifted in his seat. "I guess I could get Mom-"
"I'm sorry," Diamond said, shoving her hoof against Gibson's mouth, "did I say to get your mother to do it?"
"No-"
"That's right, I said you clean up." Diamond put a hoof against his snout and before taking a seat on the bed.
"And who are you to tell me what to do?"
"Diamond Tiara Rich. Now Gibson, look me in the eye. Do you really want to mess with me?"
Standing from his seat, Gibson walked over to Diamond, looked her square in the eye for a few moments, and gave his answer.
"Diamond I cannot thank you enough!" Love Tap said as she began to place dinner on the table. "I can't name the last time either of my boys did their own laundry or cleaned their rooms so thoroughly! What's your secret?"
"First you need to set their standards," Diamond said, bowing her head when she was given a plate of food, "fair but tough. Then you need to remove the word no from their dictionary when it comes to chores. I find that it takes a firm hoof to move boys in the right direction."
"Can I play games after dinner?" Button whined, he had made little progress on the prank, and only had whoopie cushion jotted down on a scrap piece of paper. Gibson grumbled having been forced to spend almost two hours cleaning and doing his homework.
"Did you take out the trash?" Diamond asked.
"Oh, come on!"
"Listen to Diamond, Sweetie," Love Tap insisted.
"I bet you don't have to do chores," Button grumbled.
"You obviously have never had a maid before," Diamond retorted, recalling how she often had to straighten up before the maid came.
There was a sudden creaking and the sound of pattering hooves as a stallion rushed into the "Hi Princess," Brave Heart said, coming into the kitchen. He gave his wife a small kiss on the cheek before giving her a bouquet of flowers.
"Brave, they're beautiful! I can't remember the last time you gave me flowers."
"Well, I wanted to surprise you and say thank you, and that Gibson and Button did not wave down Derpy to relay me a message to get my crap together before coming home."
"See, it's a ripple effect," Diamond said. "Get those two in line, and the last one will pick up on it quick."
"And who's this little filly? Dinner smells great by the way!"
"Diamond Tiara, pleased to meet you."
"She's Button friend. Isn't she just a treat? She got Gibson to clean up his room!"
"That is impressive!" Brave laughed, taking a seat next to his wife. Soon dinner was served, and they began to eat, with Diamond Tiara making sure that the boys kept their manners about them.
It was the best night of Love Taps, but the most agonizingly painful night the brothers had ever had.
"Thank you so much, Diamond! I can't remember the last time that anyone helped with the dishes." Love Tap said as the little filly finished putting away the last of the dishes. She had not scrubbed any of them. Button and Gibson had washed and dried them all. All Diamond had done was stack the plates and put them away. Yet, Love Tap had showed the most Gratitude for her.
"It was not problem, thank you for the meal. It was delicious."
"Don't we get any recognition?" Gibson asked.
"Yeah, this is like, work!"
"Now, now, both you did well, it's just, Diamond gave you both that needed push. I'm so glad you made friends with such a wonderful filly!"
Wonderful filly. Those were words that should never be used to describe Diamond Tiara. Of course, this was taking into consideration that she was helping him prank Sweetie Belle. Which they still had yet to do.
"By the way, Diamond, it's getting late. Shouldn't you be getting home?"
"Damn it!"
"Don't worry, I let my Daddy know I was going to be home late. Would it be okay if I spent one more hour with Button before going home?" Diamond asked with a smile.
"If it were up to me, I'd have you move in!"
"Thank you!" She said, grabbing Button and Gibson and dragging them upstairs.
"Okay losers, let's get to work, Sweetie Belle isn't going to prank herself."
"Well, she is a member of that group that usually ends up covered in tree sap, right? Doesn't that kinda constitute as pranking herself?"
"No. Now let's get to work, I can't stay out all night!"
And so the three foals worked for an hour straight, and devised a plan so horrible, so devious, and so ingenious to the foal population, that nothing that a teenager and two children could think of would be able to stop it. Diamond nor Button could be any happier.