When they arrived at Ponyville it was seemingly deserted, there was not a soul in sight, though they could not figure out why for the life of them, so they decided to go ahead as originally planned and proceeded to Sugarcube Corner.
When they walked inside they saw that it was also empty, just as they were about to leave and search around more they heard a sharp "Psssst!" from their left.
Turning they saw Pinkie hiding behind the counter gesturing them over "Get over here!" she whispered.
Looking left and right Star walked towards her and Twilight followed after. When they got near her she pulled them both behind the counter with her "Are you both CRAZY! It's dangerous to be out in the open!" she exclaimed in a low whisper.
"Why?" Star asked.
Pinkie put her hoof over his mouth "Shhhhhh! Whisper!"
After she removed her hoof from his mouth he repeated "Why?"
"There's a war going on out there!" she exclaimed before looking around hurriedly and repeating it in a whisper "There's a war going on out there!"
"A war? Over what?" Star asked worriedly.
"Doesn't matter, now, do either of you know how to throw a water balloon?" she asked.
"Water balloon….?" Star asked raising an eyebrow.
"Water balloon." She confirmed.
"Why water balloons?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie looked over at her like she were crazy "It's a WATERBALLOON war, duh!" she whispered back.
She received two confused looks prompting her to explain "Me and Dashie were having a disagreement so we decided to settle it with a water balloon war, but almost everypony in town has ended up joi-" there was a sudden crashing sound that interrupted her, she then pulled out what looked like a large cannon and started to rapidly fire water balloons towards the door, apparently barraging somepony who was walking into the store.
Satisfied, she put the cannon away where she had gotten it from and turned back to them "As I was saying, everypony in town ended up joining! And since I saw you two first you're on my team!" she said beaming.
"What makes you think that we even WANT to participate in this?" Star asked.
"You don't have a choice anymore." She said simply.
"Why not?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie gave them a smile "Because you made the mistake of walking into Sugarcube Corner, you have been marked as a member of my team, if you walk out of here you're both gonna get soaked into next Tuesday."
Star turned to Twilight and gave her a shrug, which she returned to him before they both turned back to Pinkie "Alright then, how do you plan on winning this war?" Star asked.
"The only way to win this war is to soak Dashie, so we are going to have to gather all of our troops and go in for an all-out attack, all of the pegasi are on her team and all of the earth ponies are on mine, the unicorns chose teams on their leisure." Pinkie explained.
"So, who do we have to gather and how?" Star asked.
"Well, I will get almost everypony, but the hard ones to reach are going to be our friends, they will be under the most fire and in the most danger, Star, I need you to go and get Applejack, Twilight, I need you to go get Rarity, Fluttershy is on Dashie's team. Do you both get that?" she asked.
They both nodded in understanding and they were each handed a bag full of at least 20 water balloons each "Make each one count, if you get hit you can be captured by the enemy team." She said in a very serious tone, which was very unPinkie like.
"So this whole thing is just a game?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie looked at her horrified "You think this is just a game? There are ponies out there getting soaked as we speak just because we can't end this war right now! Now, get moving!" she demanded.
They both comically saluted her and went on their ways out the door, once outside the door they both ran their separate ways.
It was quite a run from Sugarcube Corner to Sweet Apple Acres, Star just hoped that he would be able to make it the whole way there without being notic- "It's Prince Star!" he heard a voice exclaim
"Well, so much for that idea." Star thought while he picked up his pace and ran full speed down the road in hopes of making them lose his trail.
He could hear ponies frantically running after him, he even heard and saw a few water balloons fly past him or be dropped near enough to land right by him, but he wasn't hit once. Just as he thought he was going to be hit he saw Sweet Apple Acres in the distance, he sighed in relief and picked up his pace.
He barely made it to the acres without being hit, before heading to the apple household, he made sure he lost his pursuers in the acres. Just as he knocked on the door to the house he was quickly pulled inside by none other than Applejack, who immediately threw him against the opposite wall where Macintosh and Applebloom held him down.
Applejack approached him, balloon in hand, ready to strike, but she hesitated "Which team 're ya on?" she asked suspiciously.
"I'm on Pinkie's team, I was sent to find you actually." Star said calmly.
She squinted her eyes in suspicion "How can ah be sure yer on Pinkie's team?"
"Not too sure honestly, I don't know how the teams were chosen, all I know is that Twilight and I walked into Sugarcube Corner earlier and were recruited by Pinkie, Twilight is out getting Rarity right now." He explained.
She stared at him suspiciously for a few more moments before nodding to her siblings prompting them to release him.
After they gathered up their own supply of water balloons they left the household and attempted to make their way out of the acres without being noticed by the ponies who were pursuing Star not too long ago.
They made it about halfway through before one of the ponies hovering above the acres let out a yell to alert the others of their presence, causing them to pick up their paces to a full run.
Right as they reached the gate they heard a cry of surprise and turned to see that Macintosh had been hit "Keep goin, I'll distract 'em." he reassured them.
"They'll just capture you!" Star exclaimed.
"Ah know, jus' make sure ya win this thing." He answered giving Star a serious nod.
He nearly had to drag the other two Apple siblings along with him to make sure that Macintosh's sacrifice wasn't in vain. After a short run they found themselves just outside of Ponyville, where some pegasi were scouting around looking for anypony on their opposite team.
"Great, now how are we going to get back to Sugarcube Corner?" Star asked disheartened.
Applejack put a hoof to her chin for a moment "Ah've got an idea." She stated.
Star raised an eyebrow and Applejack pulled him and Applebloom into a huddle and quietly whispered her plan.
"This isn't going to work" Star thought to himself while he pushed along the two Apple siblings holding a water balloon in his mouth in mock aggression.
They made it a good way into town before they were stopped by none other than Derpy Hooves "Where are you going with those two?" she asked.
Star spit out the water balloon before responding "Rainbow asked that I capture these two and bring them to her, she wants to take them out personally." He explained.
Derpy gave Star a skeptical look before shrugging "Alright then, you better hurry, she is usually pretty impatient." She advised.
"Don't worry, I will." Star said giving her a friendly smile.
When they were out of eyesight and earshot Applejack turned to Star "Ah can't believe we didn't get caught!" she exclaimed.
"Me either, now come on; let's hurry down to Sugarcube Corner." Star urged.
They set out and quickly made their way to their destination, when they walked in they saw about thirty earth ponies, Pinkie, Twilight, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle "Hey guys!" Pinkie greeted cheerfully.
"Hey Pinkie." Star said returning the greeting.
"So… where's Big Mac?" she asked.
"He was captured, as far as we know at least." He explained.
Pinkie's face once again grew serious "That's all I needed to hear."
She then looked around the room before shouting "HEY EVERYPONY!" to get everypony's attention.
They all turned to her and waited for her to continue "So, right now we are in the middle of a war, one that I plan on winning, but I will need all of your help." She turned away from all of the other ponies and unfurled a large map of Ponyville that had been hung just behind her "We are here," she pointed to Sugarcube Corner "and our objective is here," she pointed to City hall "here is where Dashie has set up camp, and this is where we are going to strike, any questions?" she asked turning to the crowd of ponies.
A single hoof went into the air from near the back "Yes you right there?" Pinkie asked pointing at the raised hoof.
The crowd parted to reveal that the colt who was asking the question was a brown earth pony with a dark brown mane "Just one question, how exactly do you plan on pulling this off?" he asked.
Pinkie let out a happy smile "Just the question I wanted asked, now, here's what we do." She said before explaining her plan to the group of ponies.
"This was a horrible idea Pinkie!" Star exclaimed while hanging upside down from the ceiling of the City hall. While most of the ponies had been sent to fight with the rest of the opposing team, Pinkie had appointed herself, Star, the pony he now knew as Doctor Whooves, and Applejack. While everypony else was distracted they were to infiltrate City Hall and attack Rainbow directly, but they didn't count on there being traps set all around the building.
This brings us to where they were right now, Star was hanging by his back left leg from the ceiling, Applejack was holding off other ponies at the door, Doctor Whooves was in the same predicament as Star, and Pinkie was having her own small war with Rainbow.
"This was a great idea! It turned out a lot better than I thought; I mean none of you have been hit yet!" she said with a maniacal laugh before she continued to shoot at Rainbow with her water balloon cannon.
"You expected us to get hit?" Star asked in surprise.
Pinkie ducked behind her cover as Rainbow Dash returned fire with a similar water balloon cannon "Just and eensy weensy teeny tiny bit yes." She admitted.
"Can ya hurry up Pinkie? Ah can't hold 'em back forever." Applejack asked.
"I'm trying!" Pinkie reassured her while just dodging a water balloon to the face.
"So, any ideas on how to get ourselves down Doctor Whooves?" Star asked turning his head to look at the other pony that was hung by the ceiling.
"Please just call me The Doctor, and I DO have one idea, why don't you just use your wings and turn yourself upright to cut the rope with your horn?" he suggested.
"I can try, but be warned that I don't actually know how to fly." Star said before starting to flap his wings.
"What do you mean you do-" The Doctor asked before being knocked into by Star.
"Sorry, let me try that again." Star said with a determined look on his face.
This time he did not hit into The Doctor, he managed to turn himself upright and cut through The Doctor's rope, but he then lost control and fell back upside down.
He tried two more times unsuccessfully before he finally managed to free himself from the rope. When he landed he looked over and saw that both Pinkie and Rainbow were still having their showdown so he decided to find a way to win.
After a few moments a devious idea came to mind and he set to work on constructing his brilliant plan, a few ropes and two water balloons later he stood to the side of their battlefield with a devious grin on his face and a rope to his side "Hey, Rainbow, Pinkie, guess what?" he asked.
They both stopped their battle and turned to him "What?" they asked simultaneously.
He put a hoof to his chin "Honestly, I can't really think of a cool catchphrase so…" he left the statement hanging and pulled the rope, causing two water balloons to fall from their positions, one on Rainbow and one on Pinkie.
Pinkie was the first to recover "Good job Star! But why did you hit me too? I was on your team." She asked.
Star shrugged "I may have been considered on your team but you have to remember, pegasi were on Rainbow's team, and earth ponies were on yours, I am an alicorn, so I was technically on both teams, this was the only way I could win without losing." He explained.
"Smart thinking." The Doctor interjected.
"But now there's no winner!" Rainbow pointed out.
"All the more reason to have another one next year, I figure that everypony enjoyed this, myself included, so why not make it a yearly thing, it could be fun." Star suggested.
"That sounds super fantastic!" Pinkie chipped in.
"Let's go let everypony know that the war is over, and ask Mayor Mare about having this again next year, maybe farther into the summer, when it gets hotter." Star said walking towards the door.
After an hour of gathering, reassuring, and being pelted with water balloons, they finally managed to gather everypony in town square where Pinkie, Rainbow, Star, and Mayor Mare were standing in front of the crowd on a small stage.
Mayor Mare pulled out a megaphone from who knows where and began speaking to the crowd "Alright everypony, the water balloon war is officially over! Now I know that many of you would like to know which team won, and I was quite shocked to learn that, both teams won and lost." She explained.
This was replied with confused sounds from the ponies in the crowd, prompting her to explain "You see, Prince Starlight," Star cringed as he heard that "over here took out both team leaders at the same time, now, the team he was on would obviously win, but that is where the dilemma came in, he is an alicorn, pegasi were on one side and earth ponies on the other, but an alicorn is one of all three races of ponies so he is automatically put on both teams, and since he took out both team leaders at the same time they both won and lost."
There were sounds of understanding now heard in the crowd before she continued again "Now, it has been proposed to me that we do this as a yearly event, though I would need to know how all of you ponies feel about that, so, who wants this to be an annual event?" she asked.
There was a roar of approval from the crowd "And who doesn't want this to be an annual event?" she asked.
The noise level immediately dropped to nothing as it turned so silent that you could hear a pin drop and hit the dirt, and that doesn't make very much noise.
Mayor Mare smiled brightly "Then it's settled, as of this year forward today will be known as-" she was interrupted as Star walked over to her and whispered something, she nodded and continued her speech "Actually, in two months and one year it will be an annual thing, I think we can all agree that it would be better to be had in the summer when it is much warmer outside?" she asked.
After another roar of approval from the crowd she spoke once again into the microphone "I hope you all had fun and will have fun next year, everypony have a great day!" she said cheerfully before leaving the stage.
Slowly the crowd dissipated into nothing leaving Star, Pinkie and Rainbow standing on the stage Pinkie turned to the two of them and gave them a sly grin "Well, there is only one more thing to do."
"I think there is." Rainbow agreed returning her sly smile.
Star looked back and forth between the two of them nervously "A-and what would that be?" he asked.
Their smiles grew as they each pulled out a few water balloons and began pelting Star with them "Revenge!" They both called out.
Star dove off the stage, took up a strategic position and began returning fire.
After they each ran out of ammo they were approached by Twilight "Alright everypony, that's enough of that till next year, Star, I have to speak with you." She said approaching him.
Star tilted his head at her signaling for her to continue "I was reading more out of your journal and it passingly mentioned that there were books written after yours and Starswirls adventures, correct?" she asked.
"Apparently so, why did you find one?" he asked.
"Yes and no, you see I was reading through the last Daring Do book that came out recently and near the end the author explained that a few of the characters and other things were based off of things from a series of stories she read as a foal, I further investigated this series and it seems to be your adventures, but they are over exaggerated." She answered.
"Over exaggerated how?" he asked.
"Well let's take you stopping the Dragon and Griffon war, in your journal you put that you had a hunch and went with it, solving the main problem they had, but in the book it says that you single hoofedly took down both armies then made them promise to stop fighting." She explained.
Star was on the ground laughing with his hooves on his stomach rolling from side to side "Me hah take down hahahha an entire hahaha army of hahah *breath* dragons hah AND griffons? HAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
After he finally calmed down Twilight sighed "That wasn't the funny part." She said simply.
"What was?" he asked curiously.
"Daring Do was based off of you! Your personality inspired a GIRL character!" Twilight then burst out laughing.
Star gave her an annoyed look "I will take that as a compliment because Daring Do is awesome." He said defiantly, just making her laugh louder and harder.
He looked up to see that the sun was getting low in the sky, then he suddenly realized how hungry and tired he was, he had barely slept and he hadn't eaten all day "This was nice Twilight, but I am going to go home and get some rest before you can tease me anymore."
They went their separate ways and when Star got to his home he immediately ate the entire contents of his fridge "I need to go to the store soon." he thought.
He was about to get to sleep before he remembered that he still had to pay a visit to Zecora, so with that in mind he grabbed his saddlebag and made his way through the forest to the all too familiar hut.
He knocked on the door not expecting an answer once again, but instead it was answered by Zecora "Hello Prince Star, may I ask how you are?" she asked with a sly smile.
He returned her smile "Please, none of that "prince" stuff, we are friends, and my friends call me Star."
She showed her acknowledgement with a nod before inviting him inside. Walking inside the hut he found it in much the same condition as it had been in when he had left "It is nice of you to visit, but of your purpose what is it?" she asked.
"I came here for two reasons, firstly, I came to visit and speak for a moment, I haven't seen you in well over a month, and secondly, I have a gift." He said opening his saddlebag and taking out a small brown pouch.
A look of curiosity shone in her eyes as she stared at the pouch that he held out to her, she took it tentatively and opened it, revealing a large amount of platinum bits "This is a bag full of five hundred platinum bits, each are valued at one hundred bits each in the current marketplace, placing that all as a total of fifty thousand bits." He explained.
"This gift is nothing short of generous, but I cannot take this." She said pushing the bag of bits back towards him.
"Zecora, I am not going to argue with you over this, this is a gift for everything you did for me when I got here, from taking care of my legs to giving me a place to stay, I probably wouldn't even be here without you, if you don't accept this gift it will hurt my pride and my honor, so please just take the gift." he pleaded.
"I usually don't spend much more than a bit, what am I to do with it?" she asked.
"I don't know, buy more equipment, maybe order some herbs from far out to experiment with, I don't know, but don't spend it all in one place." He said happily.
She gave him a happy smile "With it I still don't know what to do, but regardless I still thank you."
Star returned her smile "I guess I'm gonna go now, I barely got any sleep last night and sleep sounds really good right now, bye." He said walking out the door.
Eventually he got back to his home and went to sleep. The next morning he was woken from a deafening roar in the distance.