//------------------------------// // V - Prank Wars // Story: A New Kind Of Party // by Wolfie 03 //------------------------------// Start of October, 1004 A.D. (After Discord) The night sky was clear, the perfect weather for stargazing for a couple; cold enough to need to snuggle close but not to be encumbered by multitudes of blankets to stave off the chill. The lavender unicorn still wasn't used to inclement weather due to usually being inside; luckily the pink earth pony ran on insane levels of activity producing an almost constant heat to emanate from her, the perfect solution to a slightly chilled bookworm. While it was late September, it wasn't too cold, though this wouldn't be obvious when one saw how close the two mares sat next to one another with a large telescope set up before them. Twilight had been teaching Pinkie more about the stars but the lessons soon dissolved into various barely funny jokes about the subject. “And so the scorpion says to the ursa major, pass me the dipper!” Twilight couldn't hold back her amused smirk at the snort-giggling pink mare who was laughing at her own joke. “Alright, now you try Twilight!” Pinkie watched in anticipation as the unicorn rubbed her chin in thought, stomping lightly when she came up with an attempt. “Ok, ok; I've got one. The ursa minor asked a musician for a major help.” Pinkie Pie rolled onto her back as she giggled at the joke with Twilight chuckling as well at her much weaker punch line. “Oh! Oh! The big dipper turns to the little one and asks, I see the cupcakes but where's the punch?!” Booth mares were laughing as they thought of new 'jokes' to try, the telescope and night sky forgotten before them. “Oh oh, I got another! How many stars does it take to change a light bulb? None, they're all very bright!” Twilight groaned slightly at the nonsensical joke while continuing to laugh at the party mare who was kicking her legs out in glee. “Pinkie, how can stars change light bulbs anyways?” The studious mare looked down into sparkling blue eyes as their owner smiled back, joyfully pecking the unicorn's lips before rolling her eyes theatrically. “Silly, jokes don't have to make sense! They just have to make the other pony laugh, like a good prank!” Twilight raised an amused brow while being caught up in a hug. “Oh? All in good fun, I believe it was?” A bright smile greeted the teasing tone, fluffy mane bouncing as Pinkie agreed to the statement. “Yep! Just like how I put purple coloring berries into your cupcakes!” The unicorn stiffened upon hearing this fact; once the implications fully settled, she lurched out of the hug to conjure a reflective surface and checking the inside of her mouth only to find that it was indeed stained purple. With a taunting smirk, Twilight turned back to her marefriend and leaned menacingly towards her. “You know this means war, right?” Pinkie grinned even larger, pleased that the normally reserved mare was willing to try and prank her. “Sure it does, but the really good pranks are done when you least expect it; you just told everyone your plans!” The librarian raised a wondering brow as she glanced at their surroundings, finding it just as empty as it was at the start of their date. “I see; I'll just wait until you least expect it. Any more tips you want to impart?” The pink mare frowned briefly before her face cleared with a sly grin. “In part? I'm not giving out parts of advice, I'll give out whole pieces!” Twilight rolled her eyes at the goofy reply as Pinkie continued. “I've got some great advice! Like, never go pranking on a Tuesday! And when pranking pegasi, prepare purple parachutes for practice. Oh, oh and when sneaking up on others wear that smelly stuff that smells like strawberries, they totally won't notice!” The studious mare was taking mental notes, even though some of it sounded silly, when she saw the teasing glint in sky-blue eyes. “Oooh, return fire already huh?” The earth pony couldn't hold her laughter any further and rolled in place as she flared her hooves; the unicorn watched for a moment longer before tackling the giggly mare and pinning her in place with a teasing smirk. “Oh yeah? I do still owe you for that 'tickle session' from before.” “Oh noooooooo!” Pinkie squealed as the unicorn tried to find all her ticklish points methodically. The couple spent another half hour in each other's hooves when they decided to call it a night; they both had to get up early the next day for work, requiring that they were well rested. Pinkie retired to bed in the quietest fashion she could, only cheering joy once before pulling Gummy up from where he sat on the bed. “Oh Gummy, being Twilight's marefriend is the bestiest thing ever! She's even going to try and pull a prank on me! Oooooh, I can't wait! I wonder what she's going to try?” Pinkie fell asleep as she tried to predict the prank that Twilight was going to do, something that wouldn't happen until days later when Pranking Tips 101 came in (something the librarian checked that it wasn't one giant joke on the reader). The day was bright and sunny, with business at Sugarcube Corner being busy in the morning as just about everypony wanted to go on picnics and needing the proper sweets for it. As the day continued, the orders slowed to a trickle once most of the citizens were taken care of, leaving Pinkie Pie resting her muzzle on her fore-hooves, lonely at the lack of visitors. A soft tinkling from the bell at the front of the door drew blue eyes that lit up in hope; something that spread to the rest of her face at the sight of purple mane and lavender coat. With a mighty leap, the hyper mare leaned into Twilight's personal space with a large grin. Between being friends for a year and marefriend to the active earth pony, finding Pinkie Pie in such close quarters wasn't as alarming as it would normally be considered. “Hello Twilight! Here for an order of cupcakes?” The lavender unicorn smiled as she shook her head no while levitating a book towards the excited baker. “Oh, well, I found a very interesting book that I wanted you to check out.” Pinkie stared with interest at the very colorful book in dark pink aura which opened to a section on cakes. “This book has a smell the flavor section, would you like a sniff?” The baker bounced in place before leaning forward and taking a deep breath. Within moments there was a tickling in the back of her nose, causing her to scrunch up with half starts of the natural response to the olfactory stimulant. “Ah-ah-ah-AACCHHOOO!” As Pinkie sneezed softly, she zipped backwards to crash lightly into the counter with a laugh already appearing. “Ah ha ha ha, you, you used sneezing powder!” Twilight chuckled slightly as well as she pulled the prank insert out and safely dispelled it while sitting in front of her marefriend. “Well, it said to start with the basic pranks to test out one's acting skills and believability.” Pinkie groaned at the realization of what the librarian got to help her with pranks but gave the unicorn a noogie anyways as she congratulated her on a job well done. “Oh Twilight, you and your books... You did get me though, so this means that it. Is. On.” The party mare grinned manically towards the other who laughed before getting up. “I had best go and fortify the library then; I'll see you later either way?” Upon seeing the agreeing nod, Twilight exited the store and returned home to plan another prank and get the tree house prepared for prank warfare. With the first (though technically third) prank in the prank war fired, the couple spent the next month trying to beat the other. Pinkie met the lavender unicorn that night with a pleased smile and a request to have a reading date. What Twilight didn’t notice was how Pinkie used her abilities to bait and switch the book she wanted to read. Spike, having already seen the extent of cuddling they would sometimes get to, left for the evening to help Rarity with anything, so long as it kept him away from the library. This meant that Twilight had to go hunting for the elusive book that seemed to move and change locations on its own, appearing just in the corner of her eye before moving when she tried to get a proper look at it. The hunt for ‘The Trickster’s Choice’ went on for five minutes before the unicorn noticed her marefriend barely holding her laughter at the growing frustration on the bookworm’s face. Twilight pulled to a sudden stop as realization coursed through her and Pinkie exploded in laughter; with an annoyed twitch of her eyes, Twilight gave the earth pony a small shove before settling down next to her and stared expectantly at the pink mare who pulled the desired reading material from her mane. “... I don’t think I want to know how you managed to do that….” Pinkie grinned back and nuzzled under Twilight’s chin. “Nope! Super Pinkie Secret Numbah 11!” With another shove to the mysterious mare, Twilight settled against her with a smirk to start the reading session while making plans for the counter-attack (as well as mentally rearranging her schedule to prepare and deploy the hopeful prank). Two days later Pinkie Pie gathered the needed supplies for a party of one of the many citizens of Ponyville. She had just finished her shift for the day and was bouncing around her room as she pilfered through the various stacks of supplies. As she hopped to the all important streamer box, she discovered it was completely empty. “Hmmm… That’s odd, I should have enough for another three parties… Oh well! Let’s see if I can just….” With a thoughtful frown, the pink earth pony reached out a hoof and rummaged for any supplies she could borrow. “Ah-ha! Plenty of streamers, I knew it!” Pink hooves were suddenly full of the needed streamers, drawing a face-hoof from the purple maned unicorn who watched from a window as she precariously balanced on the gingerbread roof. (Of all the….! Pinkie Pie and her mysterious abilities! I don’t think I’ll ever understand them; I would try to study it, but I don’t want her to feel like I don’t believe it… Alright, let’s just move on; that other box looks promising.)  Once the unicorn refocused on her task, she closed her eyes in concentration, teleporting the contents of the next box Pinkie hopped to (a big crate of balloons). With a flourish, the party pony opened the lid only to gasp at the hollow case before her. “Oh my gosh! It’s a party pooper ghost! Ok Mr. Ghost, let’s see where you hid my totally awesome balloons!” Pinkie stuck her tongue out in concentration as she again reached out to come back with hooffuls of the needed supplies; something that drew another face-hoof from the lavender audience. “Ha ha Mr. Ghost! There’s nothing that can stop me now! I’ll throw you a ‘totally-caught-by-the-awesomest-party-pony-ever’ party as soon as I get my even awesomer marefriend to help catch you!” With a taunting grin and cheery wave to the empty room, the pink earth pony hopped down the stairs, intending to find the lavender unicorn for help catching ghosts. Twilight’s eyes widened in shock before she focused completely on teleporting the longer distance to appear innocent; she was barely able to make it back to the main room just in time for Pinkie to burst through the door wearing a pale-gray jumper with a large dark gray boxy machine on her back with a hose coming from it to end in a sprayer of some kind. The sight as well as sudden appearance caused Twilight to jump slightly in place, helping with the act of innocence. “Twilight! It’s Ghostbustin’ time!” “Huh?” With a tug on an unseen zipper, Pinkie removed the clothing and gear in one go to step closer to her marefriend with a serious face. “Twilight, my room is haunted by a party pooper ghost; I need your ghost busting expertise to catch him.” The unicorn rolled her eyes as Spike gazed in confusion before continuing on his way. “Pinkie, there’s no such thing as ghosts; what would make you think that anyways?” “It was too a party pooper ghost! Only a ghost could so sneakily take my party supplies without me seeing!” Twilight raised a curious brow at the belief while Spike tried to clean up undisturbed. “Oh? Only a ghost can sneakily take things? So somepony couldn’t have-” “Hey Twilight? What’s with this box of streamers and balloons?” Both mares looked over to find Spike with an open box that held the missing party supplies; Twilight hadn’t had the chance to put them away or place them in an obvious place for her prank, though this was almost just as good to give away who really took the supplies. Pinkie glanced between the box and the librarian a few times with a pointing hoof and slack-jaw before resting on the smirking mare with a smile of her own. “Oooooh! You’re getting stronger in the ways of pranking, young padawan; I shall have to step up my game!” After giving Twilight a peck on the cheek, Pinkie picked up the box and hopped back home to finish her preparations. The studious mare turned to her desk to catch up on her work, having fooled the party mare leaving a smile on her face (even if it went differently than planned). Spike stared at the doorway as he contemplated whether it was still safe to be caught in the midst of a prank war when Twilight called for his attention to retrieve a book she needed. The unicorn was busy the rest of that week, between studying and being on guard for any pranks that she didn’t discover the actual prank until much later, when she was running late for a pony pet play date with her marefriend (she didn’t know why Pinkie wanted to have their pets play together, but one doesn’t question the pink mare). After a quick shower, Twilight galloped out the door with a confused Owlowiscious following close behind and a stunned Spike remaining at home. Once she came to a stop in the park, she found the baker on her back laughing hysterically while the few others in the area stared on confusedly. “*Gasp*… What’s-what’s so funny?” Pinkie didn’t respond but pulled a mirror out to show Twilight why she couldn’t stop laughing. Instead of the usual lavender and purple maned sight, the unicorn found she was a pale-pink with gray-white mane with a single purple highlight in it; Twilight’s eyes widened as she realized it was due to Pinkie messing with her shampoos and growled in a friendly matter. “Piiinnkkiiiieee….” The targeted mare found the unicorn running towards her in pursuit and the two led a chase around the park and even some of the town before Twilight resigned herself to using magic to reverse the effects of the color die. Pinkie soon found herself in a similar situation not even a day later, heading to work only to find the Cakes jumping back in surprise and confusion at the white coat with yellow mane and tail the young baker now sported. After having looked into a nearby mirror and laughing at the new image, Twilight entered the store with a grin on her face at the sight of the party mare. “Surprise! You like the new colors?” Pinkie could hardly respond as she was laughing too much and gave the unicorn a hug for a job well done. The baker then spent the rest of the day with the new colors, giving every customer and friend a surprise of their own at the new look. Twilight had came back at the very end of the business day to offer her newly discovered reversing spell; when Pinkie wanted to keep the look for a few more days, Twilight blushingly explained she preferred the original look, which earned a blush and kiss at the compliment before Pinkie accepted the offer. The next week went by silently, though by that time the whole town knew of the prank war happening between the least expected sources (or at least, unexpected on the librarian’s part). Twilight had started to think the war was on pause or even over when she woke one morning to a sight that almost stopped her heart; all the books in the library were missing. The entire first floor was seemingly empty of literature, with cobwebs on some of the shelves. The unicorn spun in the center, trying to find a book anywhere before shouting throughout the tree house. “Ssppiiiiiikkkeeee!!!” The unicorn barely heard the young drake tumble down the stairs at the call, still searching in vain for any sign of what happened. “What’s wrong Twili-.... What happened to the books?” Spike stood with a claw to his head when Twi suddenly turned to him and shouted in frustration. “I don’t know! Did you notice anything before?!” While the purple and green dragon shook his head in denial, a chipper knock sounded from the front door. As Twilight turned back to the empty room, Spike opened the door to find Pinkie smiling behind it. “Hey Spike! Is Twilight awake?” “Uh, yeah, but there’s a big problem.” Blue eyes became darker in unease as the pink pony followed the young dragon inside where they Twilight staring holes into the shelving. “Twilight, is everything ok?” A single ear flicked back at the question as the room remained silent for a moment longer; just as Pinkie was about to approach the distressed unicorn, Twilight spun around with a crazed look in her eyes. “No! Everything is NOT ok! I’ve lost an entire library’s collection! Something was entrusted to me by Princess Celestia herself! This is a horrible disaster! She’ll never trust me again to keep anything safe! The Princess may even want to have me personally replace every last book!” Pinkie and Spike shared wide-eyed glances before the earth pony slowly approached the still muttering mare; before she could wrap Twilight in a reassuring hug, the unicorn flopped onto the ground with a hoof covering her eyes as her entire frame shook with what sounded like sobs. Pinkie Pie stared at the display in shock before her entire demeanor slumped; she crawled over and gently nudged Twilight with an apologetic frown. “Twilight? Twilight, I’m sorry; I-” “BOOO!” The earth pony and dragon jumped at the sudden shout and movement from the lavender mare who had shot up and forward as she shouted. “HA! I got you Pinkie Pie; I knew you were behind it after I did a rudimentary magical scan of the shelves.” Pinkie relaxed from her surprised stance with a smile as Twilight walked over to a shelf and removed the painted canvas that hid the books from view. “This was well done and just the right colors.” The part pony’s grin grew even larger as she gave the studious mare a hug around her neck. “Thanks Twilight; it takes just the right touch to pull off a perfect prank. You have learned well my young apprentice; you really had me fooled.” Twilight waved off the compliment as she continued to uncover the hidden books with her magic, with Spike collected all the covers to be put away someplace. “So, aside from totally surprising you with a prank, I came to make sure you didn’t forget the picnic today with all our friends in the park!” The unicorn paused in her work to smile reassuringly to the other. “Yes, I remember; it’s on my checklist of things to make a checklist of things I have to do today. I’ll get the cupcakes for everypony, don’t worry.” With a pleased nod, Pinkie gave her mare a swift kiss goodbye and hopped out to make sure she had what she promised to bring as well. It was a sunny afternoon when Pinkie brought the all essential balloons for the picnic. Everypony was tasked to bring something, with Applejack bringing an old quilt to lay on, Rarity to bring plates and other utensils to use, while Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Twilight were to bring food stuff for them to enjoy. Just as they were setting up the picnic cloth, Rarity cried out in alarm as she searched the basket she brought. “Please tell me I did not forget the plates! Oh, I did! I totally forgot them! Of all the worse things that could possibly happen; that is The. Worst. Possible. Thing!” The four others watched as the gray-white unicorn swooned onto a red couch before the fashionista looked up to unamused faces. “What? You didn’t expect me to lay on the grass did you?” While Rainbow and Applejack rolled their eyes at the prim mare’s antics, Pinkie hopped in place excitedly as she recounted the latest effort in the prank wars; Twilight wasn’t there yet and the party mare wanted to show how much more relaxed the bookworm was getting. “-and she totally didn’t expect to find all her books gone! So I went by to see if it was a success and she was going crazy, thinking they were all gone! But then she was a crafty smart pants and pretended to be so super concerned that I thought the prank went really wrong and she gave me and Spike a scare by shouting ‘Boo!’ real loud!” The others stared back in surprise at the news, the entire concept that Twilight, the residential library, would take part in a prank war was unthinkable; the fact that she actually surprised Pinkie Pie was even more so. “Twilight? Get the best of you? I’ll believe it when I see it.” Dash crossed her hooves behind her head and laid out on the blanket to soak up the sunlight; before Pinkie could respond or defend her marefriend, Twilight finally made it with the cupcakes. There was a moment of surprise at the disheveled look of both the box of treats and the one delivering it; Twilight’s mane was frizzed and kinked in various spots and her eyes had a crazed glint in them, while the box was slightly squished and out of shape. “You alright hun?” Everyone stood at the sight of the unicorn and flinched back at the sharp reply. “No, I am not alright.” As everypony stepped forward to examine and offer assistance, Pinkie Pie couldn’t help feel as though it was another prank like the one she did that morning. “It’s just terrible.” The others barely shared worried glances before focusing completely on the unicorn standing on the edge of the picnic cloth. “Yes?” “Simply awful!” With another short and non-explanatory answer, the girls leaned towards Twilight as they grew more concerned as to what the problem might be. “Yes?” “It’s the most horrific terrible trouble I’ve ever been in and I really really need your help!” The five friends leaned even closer to the distressed mare in concern. “Yes?!” “My letter to Princess Celestia is almost overdue and I haven’t learned anything about friendship!” At such a non-threatening issue, the others relaxed their stances as they realized Pinkie had been right; Twi was taking the pranking lessons well and this was an attempt at joking with them. Pinkie watched curiously as Twilight used multiple short teleports to stand in front of each of the others as she explained; the party mare was impressed with the extent that the unicorn was trying, especially since it wasn’t working. “Oh Twilight, you’re such a crackup!” Pinkie rolled onto her back in laughter while Twilight grew further enraged as it seemed like no one believed her. As the lavender mare stormed off with another growl of frustration before teleporting, Pinkie slowly grew worried that maybe it wasn’t a joke. She looked to the others who all shrugged at the behavior before going back to relaxing, assuming that the librarian would return when she gave up her latest prank. Dash in particular nodded soberly to Pinkie as she conceded her previous point. “Huh, I guess the egghead has been learning how to prank others; that one almost had me convinced. You’re a pretty good teacher Pinks.” The rest of the friends nodded to the statement before settling down to silence. The five friends waited for another two hours before starting to pack up their picnic; they had hoped that Twi would have returned long before then but were content to wait in peace. It was as a large commotion was heard that they became unsettled, searching the surrounding area and finding that most of the afternoon had passed with no sign of the librarian and a herd of fighting ponies running through the park. “What in the name of oats and apples is goin’ on here?” Applejack looked to the others who could stare at the display in shock before Twilight appeared and demanded they look away. “Don’t look at it!” Twilight forcibly moved Rainbow’s head from the focus of the fighting while Rarity glanced at the other unicorn in concern. “Don’t look at what?” It was as Twilight covered the fashionista’s eyes and explained exactly what had happened this time that Pinkie couldn’t help but stand in shock; Twilight HAD been serious before and actually needed help, but she hadn’t been a good marefriend and noticed. The pink earth pony could only remain in her shocked stupor at the scene unfolding before her, only breaking free from it at the parting words of the lavender unicorn as she followed her mentor, Princess Celestia, back towards town. “Goodbye girls; if you care to visit, I’ll be in magic kindergarten, back in Canterlot.” Pinkie’s mind unfroze from worrying about her unsatisfactory relationship skills as she realized how difficult long-distance relationships were to maintain. “We’re never going to see Twilight again!” Pink hooves covered tearful eyes as her worst fears, Twilight leaving town never to return, started to appear very real. Applejack noticed the tears and sat next to Pinkie Pie to try and reassure her, though she also didn’t have an idea on how to help. “What are we gonnah do y’all?” As green eyes rested momentarily on the gray-white unicorn, Rarity put a hoof to her forehead in distress. “Of all the worse things that can happen; this is The. Worst. Possible. Thing….!” As the drama queen whimpered in place, Applejack couldn’t help the deadpan she gave her along with the others at the unneeded theatrics. “What? I really mean it this time.” The five friends looked towards town as they tried to think of some kind of solution to a problem that normally wouldn’t be considered so; how can somepony help somepony else with being late with homework? Waiting and thinking of a plan was not Rainbow Dash’s forte, and watching the normally chipper party mare barely hold back torrents of heartbroken tears did nothing to help her patience. “Urggg, why don’t we just go and make the Princess listen to reason and not take Twilight away?!” The others looked at the brash pegasus in surprise; it was actually a good idea, even if it was a bit impertinent of them to demand anything of royalty. With a collective shout of agreement, Pinkie and Dash led the charge back to town where they almost ran into the door in their haste to arrive in time to present their arguments. Applejack had noticed this and raced to the front to slow down the more desperate of the runners just in time to lightly bump into the door; luckily opening it before Rainbow crashed into it as she hadn’t paused but a second at the sudden acceleration of the farmer’s. Once they were sure they had the Princess’ attention, they each presented an argument for why Twilight had been late and should be allowed to stay in Ponyville. It was to their great pleasure that Princess Celestia agreed and even made it so this kind of incident wouldn’t happen again. By the time Spike sent the special letter from everyone concerned, it was late into the evening and the sudden stress meant that everyone needed another relaxing moment to themselves and were soon on their way home; all except for a very concerned pink earth pony who wanted to be sure there was nothing else wrong. Pinkie had thought that being marefriends had made Twilight relax about a lot of things; this incident only proved that it was just when they were doing something together, something that she intended to fix. “Twilight?” The unicorn looked up from her place at the desk to uneasy blue eyes. “Pinkie Pie? What’s wrong?” The earth pony shuffled in place before rushing to sit next to the other mare and placing her head onto a lavender shoulder. “There’s nothing else wrong with you is there? I’m sorry I was such a horrible marefriend that I didn’t notice you were really worried….” Twilight blinked at the apology, having already forgiven her friends since, in hindsight, it most likely was a little silly to be worried about; even if she had never been late with an assignment before and had a perfect record to uphold as well as not wanting to let down the Princess who was kind enough to mentor her anyways and - (Stop, it’s going to be fine Twilight! I just need to be more organized and prepared along with plenty of time to finish projects in case something like this happens again…. ) Once she had ascertained that she would take preemptive measures for future work, the studious mare looked to the distressed mare leaning against her. “Pinkie, I’m not angry at you or anypony else. And there is nothing else wrong; if you want, I promise to come to you and the others first before things get too out of hoof.” Pinkie looked up to reassuring purple eyes and smiled sadly with a nod to the suggestion. “Yeah, that way we can be there to help instead of you doing it by yourself! That’s what friends are for silly! Especially marefriends! I’ll try to be the best marefriend ever!” Twilight smiled at the slowly re-energizing mare as she made the motions to the most severe promise she knew. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” The pink baker smiled at the promise and gave a tight hug to the unicorn before bouncing in place. “I know! You totally missed the great food at the picnic so we should make supper for the three of us! It would be fun and I can make some of the yummy things we had to eat and it would be like a treat for Spike for having done such a good job of taking care of my little star!” Twilight smirked in amusement at the suggestion before her stomach spoke up in agreement with the idea, prompting her to stand as well. “Alright, we can make a ‘very yummy’ supper for the three of us while being a treat for Spike who did a good job today.” The librarian gave her number one assistant a hug before following the bouncing pink pony into the kitchen with Spike following along to see what was going to be prepared in hopes of some nice sapphire or emerald treats heading his way.