Ten minutes had passed before Rainbow Dash returned. Scootaloo hopped up to her hooves and buzzed her wings in excitement. She raised an eyebrow when she saw what Rainbow was carrying in her mouth, a silver can of something and a brush.
“What’s that for?” she asked and pointed a hoof at the objects in question.
“Are we going to paint her house?”
“Nothing like that.” Rainbow replied after setting the objects down. “You said Rarity does her horn thing every day?”
“Sweetie Belle told me about that. Every day after she closes her shop.”
Rainbow Dash glanced over to the clock tower in the distance. Thanks to her excellent eyesight she could she that is was five minutes to four.
“Perfect.” she resited the urge to laugh maniacally, barely.
“Listen up, here’s the plan.”
____________________________________________________________________
Rainbow Dash sat perched in the tree across from Rarity’s bedroom window. The foliage provided her with perfect cover and a direct line of sight to Rarity’s vanity unit and wardrobe. It was perfect. Below on the ground, peeking around the corner, Scootaloo looked up at her in the tree awaiting her signal.
Rarity had only just closed her shop for the day and it couldn’t take long for her to appear. Providing of course Sweetie Belle was right with her sister’s behavior. Sure enough the bedroom door opened and Rarity came trotting in. She rummaged around out of Rainbow’s sight for a moment. No doubt fixing her bed which couldn’t be seen from the tree and preparing it for the night. It was way too early to be even thinking about going to sleep in Rainbow's opinion, but Rarity liked to prepare in advance for a nice long beauty sleep. She reappeared and opened the window. Rainbow Dash ducked behind the leaves and hoped she hadn’t seen her sitting in the tree. She peeked out from behind the leaves and saw Rarity fetch a night gown from her wardrobe.
Then the white unicorn trotted up to her vanity. Rainbow Dash quickly waved a hoof at Scootaloo on the ground and the filly zipped to the front door. She heard the chime of the doorbell through the open window. Rarity rolled her eyes and muttered something that Rainbow could not make out. Then she left her bedroom closing the door behind her.
Rainbow Dash sprang into action, grabbing the can and brush in her mouth and flying in the thankfully open window. The smell of beauty products, perfumes, exotic shampoos and soaps assaulted her nostrils. For what she had planned the smell would work in her favor. Without looking around she immediately headed for the vanity unit and opened the drawers. She found what she was looking for in the second drawer. A grin spread across her lips as she quickly opened the can. After finishing she quickly closed the drawers and peeked inside the wardrobe. Her grin widened. Jackpot!
She left via the window the moment Rarity returned. Had she been a second later she would have been caught redhoofed in the act. Rainbow Dash dropped towards the ground only to pick up Scootaloo who came running around the corner. Together they flew back up into the tree and positioned themselves with the best view possible without being seen.
“Did it work?” Rainbow Dash whispered into Scootaloo’s ear.
“Yeah. I asked her if Sweetie Belle was there and could come out to play. She didn’t suspect anything. Did you do what you wanted to do?” she whispered back.
“You bet. Let’s watch.”
Rarity reentered her bedroom and paused for a moment in the doorway. She scrunched up her nose and began sniffing the air. Rainbow Dash feared for a moment that Rarity had noticed something was off. The unicorn entered her bathroom that adjoined the bedroom and emerged a few moments later with a litterbag from Opal’s litter box. Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief, so far it was still going according to plan.
A minute later Rarity came back.
“Observe the majestic unicorn in its natural habitat.” Rainbow Dash narrated the scene unfolding as quietly as possible. Scootaloo held a hoof to her mouth to stop herself from laughing.
Rarity trotted up to her vanity unit and levitated a brush to her mane. With swift strokes the brushed her already perfectly styled purple mane.
“Watch as this specimen, its scientific name is Prissycus Maximus, goes about her daily ritual.”
Rarity stopped her brushing and began to sniff the air again.
“The unicorn seems to be able to detect that something is amiss.”
Rarity shrugged and resumed her brushing.
“But she does not let it stop her from her grooming. Most likely the unicorn will be thinking that it was her feline companion that is to blame.”
Rarity stopped her brushing and opened the second drawer on her vanity unit.
“Now observe carefully as the unicorn begins with her grooming of the horn.” Rainbow Dash leaned a bit closer.
Rarity took out a horn-file and looked at herself in the mirror for a moment. Then she flared up her horn with magical energy. With the file between her hooves she carefully slid it over her horn. Then again and a third time. Something seemed to be bothering her as she frowned at the file and put it aside. She reached back into the drawer and picked up a second file.
Same as before she slid it along her horn. She frowned once more and muttered something that neither of the pegasi could hear. She began rubbing the file with a few more erratic movements along her horn. Rarity stopped and placed the file with a bit of force next to the previously discarded one. Then she reached into the drawer a third time, once again pulling out a file.
Rainbow Dash tried not to laugh at the sight of the now slowly frustrated unicorn.
“What did you do?” Scootaloo asked enjoying the show that Rarity had unwillingly become the star of.
“I greased them.” Rainbow Dash snickered.
Rarity had now begun to feverishly rub the greased up file along her horn with increasing strength. Her face was already flustered and she became more and more worked up about her not working routine. She let out a groan of frustration that the pegasi heard.
“Why isn’t this working….lousy cheap products.” She whined and slammed the offending file onto the vanity unit next to its brethren.
Rainbow Dash’s heart raced as Rarity stood up and opened her wardrobe with her magic. This was the grand finale. She had carefully coated the previous files from the drawer with only a fine coat of grease. Then she had used the rest of the entire can of the object that Rarity now levitated out of the wardrobe, a horn-filing post model T45b if she remembered correctly.
Rarity wasn’t paying attention and kept glaring at the three files on her dresser, so she did not notice the thick coat of grease on the post in front of her. She closed her eyes and focused her magic back into her horn. Without looking she plunged forward.
The squelching sound could be heard even outside when she made contact. In a moment of confusion Rarity rubbed along the post some more each time making that sound.
“What the….?” She removed herself with considerable effort from the post with a final squelch.
“What is this? Grease? GREASE?!” she nearly tripped over her own hooves as she raced in front of her vanity unit’s mirror. Half her face and mane were drenched in grease with a thick coating all over her horn. A blob of grease dropped from the tip of her horn on to her nose. Rarity let out a piercing shriek at her current state.
Two pegasi were desperately trying to stifle their laughter and not falling out of a tree.
“WHO DID THIS!?” the furious unicorn demanded to know and looked around in her bedroom.
“Aaaaand that’s our cue.” Rainbow Dash said, quickly grabbed Scootaloo around her midsection and took off.
_______________________________________________________________________
They landed a safe distance away at a small café still laughing.
“That was mean.” Scootaloo said, but couldn’t help herself from grinning at the prank.
“Bah. Rarity can take it. I’ll make it up to her some other time. If she ever finds out that is.” Rainbow Dash snickered.
“Come on. I’ll buy us something to eat here.” She said and sat down at a very specific table.
The waiter arrived as soon as they were seated. Rainbow Dash ordered a veggie burger with fries and a soda. Scootaloo merely said she would have the same after not finding anything else that appealed to her tastes in the menu.
As they sat waiting for their early dinner to arrive they spotted Pinkie Pie across the street. They watched as the pink pony had an animated discussion with Carrot Top. Suddenly she began singing a song about vegetables and fruits to the startled mare. Her song stopped in the middle as Pinkie struggled to come up with a word that rhymed with orange. Judging by Carrot Top’s expression she was less than impressed by Pinkie using the word “Norange” as a substitute rhyming word. Rainbow Dash had to silently agree with her on that.
By the time their food arrived Pinkie had finished her bizarre song and parted ways with Carrot Top. Seeing that both of them were smiling probably meant that the song had been a success. The pegasi giggled at the random encounter of those two ponies and began eating.
Halfway through her burger Rainbow Dash saw what she was waiting for. She had deliberately chosen this table for exactly that moment. With a nod of her head she signaled Scootaloo to turn around.
At the end of the street a white blur sped towards Ponyville’s spa. A large hat obscured the view to the speeding ponies face and mane.
“Wow! Rarity can really run fast.” Scootaloo commented.
“It’ll do her good to run a bit.” Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle.
They finished their meal and trotted back to Carousel Boutique. Rarity would no doubt be in the spa for some times so Rainbow Dash figured it was safe to come back to the scene of the prank. Scootaloo hopped on to her scooter that she had to leave resting against the side of the building when they made their escape earlier. She put on her helmet and buzzed her wings for a bit before turning to the larger pegasus who had retrieved the can and brush from where she had left them.
“Had fun today Squirt?” she asked and smiled at her young accomplice in pranking.
“Totally! I had a great time with you Dash. Pranking and learning stuff with you was really cool.” The filly buzzed her wings again with joy.
“Did you learn anything good?” Rainbow Dash asked still smiling.
“Yeah! Pegasi are awesome!” Scootaloo cheered. Rainbow Dash’s smile grew into a Pinkie’esque grin.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself!”