//------------------------------// // The Great Caper - Comedy // Story: Krizak's Compendium of Concise Chronicles // by Krizak //------------------------------// “So Spike, here’s the plan,” Twilight said as she surreptitiously peeked around the corner, making sure the coast was still clear. “When the head chef goes on his break, I use my horn to cause a big ruckus, and his sew— sow— er, assistant chef will go to see what happened. That’s when we rush in there, get the goods, and get out before she comes back.” The unicorn turned back to the dragon behind her. “We’re going to have to be quick, daring, and courageous, just like Daring Do! Are you ready?” “Bwa-ha-ha-ha Twilight!” Spike exclaimed in glee before he brought his tail to his mouth, the baby dragon delighted to be with his big sister. A strange look came over the baby, though, and he waddled over to the filly, tugging on her mane with her claws. “Twilight, Pwincess angwy?” The young filly shook her head. “She’s the ruler of all of Equestria, Spike!” Twilight’s horn lit up, the filly straining to lift Spike off of the ground; fortunately, her lessons had been paying off, and she managed to place her surrogate baby brother onto her back. “She’s not going to miss one little container of ice cream!” She peeked back around the corner again, smirking as the head chef headed out of the kitchen, whistling an unfamiliar tune. “Okay, there he goes.” Spike, meanwhile, had given up his tail-sucking for the far more enjoyable pastime of yanking her mane. The young filly simply bore it, barely grunting in pain; she was used to the dragon’s strange fascination with mane-pulling. She thought it might be because he didn’t have a mane, but her science classes had just recently taught her that that was only a hypothosis, one that required testing. The testing would have to wait for another time, however, as Twilight saw her chance and struck. Her horn glowing intensely, the young filly pushed open a nearly-hidden door down the hall. The fancy false wall opened up to reveal a much more utilitarian broom closet, one filled with all the tools necessary to keep the palace neat and tidy. They could also be used to create a huge mess, as Twilight proved by pushing blindly into the room. She couldn’t see what she had just done, but the cacophony of falling brooms and spilling liquids was certainly audible, both to her and to the chef’s assistant. Twilight ducked back around the corner as the grumbling mare came storming past, and then quickly ran for the kitchen as fast as her little hooves could carry her, Spike only staying on her back thanks to his deathgrip on her mane. The vast kitchen loomed over the unicorn filly as she entered, but she knew exactly where she was going, and within a minute, she was standing in front of the enchanted iceboxes. “Okay, Spike.” Twilight sat down, letting the baby dragon slide off her back with a giggle. “These doors are heavy, so I need to concentrate. Watch my back, okay?” Spike replied with another laugh that didn’t really indicate that he knew what Twilight was talking about at all, but the filly accepted it and concentrated on the task at hand. A purple glow surrounded the handle of the icebox, and ever so slowly, the door opened up, causing the two children to shiver at the sudden wave of cold air. When the door was fully opened, Twilight moved her attention to the tub of ice cream within, but as she was pulling her prize out, Spike suddenly gasped. The sound was followed by an angry, “Young filly, just what do you think you’re doing!?” “Aaaah!” In her panic to turn around and look at the assistant chef, Twilight broke her concentration on the tub of ice cream, and it fell, hitting the edge of the icebox and bouncing forward. Twilight watched it sail over her head, her bright young mind seeing where it would land moments before it actually did, unable to do anything as the massive container landed directly on Spike’s head. “Spike! Spike, are you alright?” she asked as she shifted the ice cream off of Spike with her magic, but she found the baby dragon only giggling and laughing. Breathing a sigh of relief at just how indestructible dragons were, Twilight’s mind shifted to the other problem on hoof: being caught. In a startling display of multitasking for a young unicorn, Twilight swept Spike back onto her back, lifted the tub of ice cream, and ran for dear life, the assistant chef only chasing after her a bit before deciding that it wasn’t worth the effort. “Hmm… that’s strange.” “What, Your Majesty? What is so strange?” the head chef asked, his mind quickly flipping through all sorts of nightmare scenarios. Things rarely turned out well for him when the Princess herself came to the kitchen. “The rocky road ice cream seems to be gone,” Celestia said with a sigh, shutting the ice box. “And it hasn’t been served with dessert for the last week.” The royal visage pouted a little, the way only her servants ever saw. “I was looking forward to a bowl of that.”