It was just another morning on Sweet Apple Acres. The roosters crowing. The morning breeze shifting the apple tree leaves. Yep, it was a typical morning, except for one thing. Today was Hearts and Hooves Day, and all of the couples in the nearby town of Ponyville were getting ready for a ‘fun’ night.
But for one young filly, she had a plan that, to some, could be hilarious, and to others could be embarrassing and painful. Little Api Apple had spent days working on her latest ship-made-canon plan. Her cousin Red June had told her that the prince of the Crystal Empire will be visiting soon, on this particular morning even.
Api figured that, since Prince Valiant Heart (or ‘Lance’ as he preferred to be called by friends) was the son of the Princess of Love, Cadence, he'd probably know at least a few spells centered around love magic. And the plan that the slightly-more-evil-than-most-foals-her-age Api had concocted involved (and absolutely needed) love magic.
She had originally planned for Lance to use his love magic on 2 other ponies that she'd planned to make an official couple, but a monkey wrench named ‘Epic Parody’ had taken away the daughter of a certain party pony, and a golden-maned nurse from Canterlot had taken her cousin. So that left two ponies, and she had every intention to make them a couple, no matter what!
Prince Valiant Heart trotted down the road under his civilian alias; Awestruck, a normal everyday unicorn. He’d been to Ponyville a few times before, mostly to see his cousins, aunt and uncle.
But this time he was planning to spend some time with a certain cherry farming mare tonight…
…at least until three foals stopped him and dragged him away, insisting that they needed his help, one of them happening to be the cherry farmer's cousin.
"I'm sorry, you three want me to do what?!"
Sadly, their request was anything but simple.
"I need you to cast a love spell on my friends and help them get together!" Api stated like it was the simplest and easiest request in the world, her two friends Echo and Pixel looking at her like she'd grown a second head.
"Y'know, when you said the Prince was essential to your plan I didn't think you meant using mind control!" Pixel shouted in irritation.
"Okay, first of all it's not mind control. The spell merely helps a certain ponies feelings for eachother resurface, it has nothing to do with brainwashing or anything like that." The Prince stated, getting the CMC's attention. "Second of all, even if I wanted to help you -- which I don't -- I have little to no knowledge of how my mother's spells work. I can barely pull it off myself." He finished before trying to head towards the barn, only for Api to dart in front of him.
"Aw com'on! Please?! We need you for this! We just wanna make Prism and Whirlwind happy again…"
“Wait… Prism and Whirlwind?” The Prince asked.
"Yep! They've been apart for so long and we wanna get them back together!" The young Earth Pony proclaimed.
The Prince thought for a moment. Prism and Whirlwind had been practically inseparable when he'd first met them. However, somewhere down the line the two had apparently had a falling out of some sort --even their friends didn't know the details of how it happened-- which ended with them breaking up. Even to this day, he still couldn't understand why they'd broken up when they'd been so happy together.
Realizing that this might be his best shot to repair their relationship(and that they may not let him go unless he said yes), Lance sighed in defeat. “Alright… What do you need me to do?”
"Ya'know Api, this is starting to seem like a very dangerous plan that could very easily backfire on us…" Echo stated nervously as she watched the disguised Prince trot towards the bushes.
"I'm with Echo on this…" Pixel added. "You heard him say that he doesn't know much about love magic…"
"Don't Ya be chickening out me now, mate!" Api said as she set up the drinks before turning to face the shy pegasus. "Do Ya really want yer cuz spending Hearts and Hooves day all alone and unhappy?"
"W-Well no but-" Echo stuttered.
"Then less lip, more ship!" The farm filly cut her off as she placed some rose petals around the area. "Now go get Prism while Pixel and I get yer cousin!"
Echo sighed as she took off into the air while the Pixel and Api ran down the road, leaving Lance to charge up his spell…
"So you wanna learn some new flying tricks eh?" Prism smirked as he soared over Echo. "Well then, you were wise to seek help from Equestria's most talented flyer!" The stallion proclaimed, spreading his wings for emphasis. "…next to my parents of course." He quickly added.
'And Hot Head.' The filly mentally added, but she knew better than to say that to his face, least he get angry and leave. "Well of course! I mean, my cousin can only teach me so much when she's not practicing herself. And I figured, 'why not learn from the expert himself'?"
"Well I don't mean to gloat… On second thought yes I do! But what can I say? I'm just that awesome!" The older Pegasus proclaimed, puffing his chest out with pride.
Echo came close to rolling her eyes, but managed to simply smile and nod. "Well, thank you for taking your time to teach me… but I was kind of hoping that you could show me in the fields near Sweet Apple Acres? There's a lot of open space there…" She asked, praying that he took the bait…
"Sure, why not?" Prism said while stretching his wings. "Del and I gotta settle our little wager on who can buck the most trees later, might as well be close by."
"G-Great! Let's go!" Echo smiled as she took off. Prism smirked as he took off after her. He had to admit, it felt nice to have somepony asking him to teach them.
'I wounder if this is how Mom felt when she took Aunt Scootaloo under her wing?' He thought to himself.
At that moment, Echo began to feel extremely guilty about tricking her cousin's friend like this…
"Seriously?!" Whirlwind asked, bouncing in place excitedly.
"Yep! Rainbow Dash offered to teach yer cousin a few special tricks near Sweet Apple Acres. Saw it with me own two eyes I did!" Api proclaimed proudly.
Pixel just put on a false smile. "If you hurry you might be able to catch her and get her to train you too!" In reality she feels horrible about lying to her friend's cousin, but she kept telling herself that it was for the best.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" The Pegasus mare squeezed before taking a deep breath and regaining her composure. "OK, gotta act cool, natural, don't want to come off as desperate… but I'm so excited!" She sounded before taking off towards Sweet Apple Acres, with the two foals in hot pursuit.
"Alright, everything is going according to plan!" Api giggled as they chased after the Pegasus.
'Then why do I have such a bad feeling about this'? Pixel thought to herself.
"Com'on… com'on…" Lance groaned as he continued to focus on the spell, he had tried replicating the spell he'd seen his mother use in the past, but sadly he lacked the magical talent and finesse is his mother held to fully utilize the spell.
As he attempted for the fifth time to pull it off, the closest he got was a small heart the size of an ant that popped out of existence mere seconds after he'd conjured it up. "Dang'it!" He stomped his hoof in frustration. "That's the fifth time! How the heck does mom make it look so easy?!" He took a deep breath, calming himself down. "I need a way to strengthen the spell somehow, but how do I-wait, what if I used… yeah, that might just work…"
"Alright, here we are!" A familiar voice brought the disguised Prince out of his thoughts. Lance looked up to see Prism soaring over the field with Echo right next to him. "Clear skies and an open field, the perfect place for training!"
Echo look around nervously, the others weren't even here yet! "So, what are we going to practice first? Maybe the ‘double inside-out loop’ trick?" She asked, trying to sound eager and stall for time.
"Woah kid, slow down! My mom tried that when she was my age and ended up in the hospital for a week! That trick is way too advanced for you to be doing for at least another… five to six years." Prism stated, ruffling the filly's mane. "Let's start with the basics and work up from there. First, we're going to start with some stretches-"
"Hey Rainbow Dash!!" A familiar voice called out, the two Pegasi looked up to see Whirlwind descending from the sky. "Oh, hey Prism, hi Echo."
"Hi cuz!" Echo smiled.
"Sup Dubz?" Prism smirked, calling her by her nickname. "What brings you here? Come to see my awesome moves?"
"Well no I… Is your mother around?" She asked hesitantly while looking around.
The Pegasus stallion arched a brow. "Mom? She left for Cloudsdale this morning, why?"
"Wait, she left this morning?" Whirlwind asked, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "But… but Api and Pixel told me they saw her leading my cousin here to teach her some new moves…" She said as of the two fillies in question arrived behind her.
"They must have just mistook me for her." Prism stayed off-handedly. "But worry not! Your cousin was wise enough to come to me for training!"
Whirlwind arched a brow, unamused. "And why would Echo go to you for advice on flying?” She asked, not questioning his flying skills, but being more worried that he'd spent most of the time focusing on himself instead of actually teaching her.
"And why wouldn't she?" Prism gloated. "I'm fast, handsome, agile, quick on my hooves, and all around the best flyer to come out of Cloudsdale!" He proclaimed, styling back his mane and puffing out his chest for emphasis.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Whirlwind smirked, cutting the stallion off while pretending to clean something out of her ear. "I can't hear you over your ego!"
Prism chuckled. "Really? I figured with all the time you spent around Hot Head you'd be used to it by now!"
"Oh please, Hot Head's way different from you!" Whirlwind scoffed. "Unlike you, he actually wins the 'Best Young Flyers Competition'."
Everyone froze for a second, registering what the Pegasus had just said. As mentioning Hot Head being better than Prism in any way, shape, or form was a real sore spot for Prism.
The three fillies then slowly turned to said Pegasus to see his reaction. If Prism was mad, he was putting in the mother of all efforts not to show it. "And exactly where do you get off comparing me to him?" He asked in an unnervingly calm tone. "Last I checked you're not exactly top flyer yourself, little Ms. Bronze Medal. Or have you forgotten that in almost every single one of those competitions you came in third place?"
"BRONZE MEDAL?!" Whirlwind snapped, her wings flaring out in rage. "I'm just as good a flyer as you!"
"And yet you haven't won the competition either! So don't go talking like you and Hot Head are automatically better than me!" Prism shouted, finally letting loose his anger.
As the two Pegasi began to argue, the three young fillies could only watch helplessly as their plan spiraled out of control.
'I knew this was a bad idea…' Pixel thought as she watched the argument escalate.
'Oh great, now they're both at each other's throats! Why did I even agree to this?' Echo thought as her cousin and her ex continued to bicker with one another.
'Dagnabit Lance, what's taking you so long?!' Api thought as she glanced at the bushes.
"Honestly, what exactly do you have against Hot Head anyway? Sure he's won several times but you don't see me getting all stuffy whenever he's around!" Whirlwind shouted.
"Why wouldn't I have something against him?! Every time he wins he rubs it in everyone's faces, especially mine!" Prism retorted. "He's a sore winner and a straight up arrogant jerk!"
"Well if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black?!" Whirlwind countered. "I mean it's not like I never hear a peep out of you about your exploits! Seriously, what's the difference?!"
"Simple, I don't go out of my way to antagonize Ponies after I win! You only get special treatment because he has a thing for you! Oh, and you're seriously bringing up hypocrisy?" Prism chuckled mockingly. "That's big talk coming from you of all ponies!"
"And how am I in any way a hypocrite?!" She asked defensively.
"Oh please, you think I haven't noticed a stupid glare you give me whenever I'm hanging around with another mare?!" Prism stated. "And you have the gall to call me out on acting weird when you hang out with another stallion?!"
Whirlwind looked away with a small blush. "W-Well maybe if you stopped acting like a lazy, selfish, spoiled brat all the time-"
"Lazy? SELFISH?!" Prism shouted, getting right in Whirlwind's face. "I'M THE ONE TAKING TIME OUT OF MY DAY TO TEACH YOUR COUSIN SOME FLYING MANEUVERS! BUT IF YOU THINK THAT HOT HEAD CAN DO A BETTER JOB THAN ME THEN GO ASK HIM AND STOP WASTING MY TIME!!"
"FINE, MAYBE I WILL!" Whirlwind retorted, getting equally close.
"FINE!"
"FINE!"
"FINE!"
"FINE!"
Api bit her lip. This is not how it was supposed to go! 'Oh for Celestia's sake… Lance, if you're going to do something then do it already!!'
As if somehow answering her, a bolt of golden blue magic shot out of the bushes and struck the two arguing Pegasi, forming a blue heart-shaped sphere that expanded over the two. After a short but blinding flash of light, everything was quiet, Prism and Whirlwind just stood there staring at eachother, for a brief second, there was a blue aura surrounding their body's before it vanished completely. The two Pegasi then smiled at each other before Whirlwind boldly slammed her lips into Prism's and happily started making out with him, the stallion's eyes widened in surprise, but he happily kissed her back.
"Success!!" Api cheered as Lance trotted out of the bushes. "Jeez mate, try cutting it a little closer why dontcha?!" The young mare snapped.
"Hey, I told you I don't know a lot about love magic! When I tried casting the spell I could only manage a small heart that'd barely get them to calm down. So I improvised."
"With what?" Api asked.
"Oh just a spell that strengthens the force of my shields. I figured using it on the love spell would have similar effects…" The Prince began to explain. However he was interrupted when Whirlwind squealed in delight as Prism pushed her to the ground and got on top of her.
"Ohhh Bolty, you're so daring!" Whirlwind cooed as he kissed her neck.
“What… the hay… are they doing?” Pixel asked as Prism started trailing kisses down her neck and stomach.
“Huh. It looks like they’re- Oh, crap! We need to separate them now!” Lance shouted before lifting Prism off Whirlwind with his magic. "Dude seriously, what the hay were you thinking?! There are foals present!" He yelled.
"I. Don't. Care!!" Prism grunted as he tried to wiggle free. "I want my Dubsy!!"
Pixel blinked, registering what the stallion had just said. "Did he just call her…?
"Gimme back my Bolty!!" Whirlwind screamed as she charged towards Lance, either forgetting or just not caring that he was an Alicorn Prince. Realizing that this is getting bad, Lance teleported himself, Api and Prism away from the Pegasus mare.
“BOLTY!!!” Whirlwind gasped, before she took off towards Ponyville.
Pixel blinked, as if registering the sudden turn of events. "…Uh, what just happened?"
“I think we just dug our own graves,” said Echo as she and Pixel watch her cousin fly towards the town.
Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Golden Delicious (or Del as he liked to be called) was in the kitchen preparing a special meal for his date tonight with Amber.
Or at least he was until Lance miraculously teleported into the room with his little cousin and best friend in tow.
"LET ME GO YOU SON OF A-"
Del's instincts kicked in and he quickly covered Api's ears, just in time to avoid her learning the onslaught of swearwords Prism spewed out. Needless to say, what he said left the Crystal Prince less than happy. "HEY! MY MOTHER IS A SAINT YOU LITTLE-"
"ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU!" Del screamed, getting both stallion's attention. "Would you mind explaining to me what's going on?!"
"Well long story short, we kind of persuaded Lance here to cast I love spell on Prism and Whirlwind, and it worked… a little too well.” Api explained, trying--for once--to make herself a small as possible.
“Him and Whirlwind got so into eachother that were about to do ‘IT’, so I had to separate them.” Lance stated, a small blush adorning his face.
“‘IT’?” Del repeated, before a blush appeared on his face as he realized what ‘IT’ meant. “With Api present of all ponies!?”
“Along with her two friends.” Lance added.
“Uh, if ya don’t mind me askin’, but what does ‘IT’ mean?” Api interrupted.
“We’ll discuss it later. When you’re 16!” Del shouted, not in the mood to deal with that at for several years.
“Let me go! Let me go!” Prism yelled as he struggled to escape from Lance’s magical grip.
“Okay, Prism, just calm down a little,” Del said to the panicking pegasus.
"What the hay is goin' on?!" June shouted as she stormed into the room. Her mood however, softened when she noticed Lance. "O-Oh, hi Lance." She smiled before registering the situation they were in. "Uh...what-"
"OW!" Before she could ask, Lance screamed in pain. During their conversation Lance had levitated Prism a little too close to himself, Prism had used that opportunity to bite Lance's horn, hindering his focus and freeing the Pegasus.
"I GOTTA FIND DUBSY!!" Prism screamed before taking off, barreling right through the wall and off to Celestia-knows-where.
"There was a door right there! An open door!" Api shouted.
"What the hay was that all about?!" June shouted as she stared at the pegasus-shaped hole in the wall.
Lance's eye twitched. "…I think I've made a huge mistake…" The Prince said before he grabbed Api with his magic. "We gotta stop him, QUICK!!"
"Wait, who's going to clean up this mess?!" June shouted, gesturing to the hole in the wall and all the rubble surrounding it…
…Only to see both Lance and Api dart out of the house after the love-crazed pegasus. The cherry farmer then turned her attention to the only remaining stallion.
Del sighed. "I'll get the mop…"
As Whirlwind flew through the market, she kept thinking of one thing… 'Where’s Bolty?! Where’s Bolty?! Where’s Bolty?!'
While searching she immediately caught sight of a familiar Pegasus talking with a white Unicorn mare.
"…and then my Mom tells me that Dad originally wanted to name me 'Starfall'!" The unicorn snickered.
"Seriously? That's a boys name!" Starburst laughed.
Whirlwind smiled. Star was Bolty's friend! She'd know where he was! "STAR!!" She called out as she soared down towards her.
"Oh hey, Whirlw-GAH!" The Pegasus yelped as she was shook back-and-forth by the lovestruck mare before her.
"WHERE'S MY BOLTY?!" She screamed in desperation.
"W-Who-are-you-talking-about?!" Was all Star managed to say while being repeatedly shaken.
"WHERE. IS. PRISM BOLT?! TELL ME NOW!!!" The Pegasus mare demanded.
To say that Starburst was taken aback from that was an understatement. The unicorn was equally surprised by the purple pegasus’ tone. “I… thought he was at Sweet Apple-” Starburst didn’t have time to finish that before Whirlwind let go of her and took off in the direction of the orchard, crashing through many ponies, carts, and food stands on the the way, the two mares just stared at each other for a few moments. “Que diable est entré dans elle? (What the devil got into her?)” The unicorn asked in her native tongue.
“Je ne suis pas sûr, Dove. Mais je ai un mauvais sentiment à ce sujet… (I’m not sure, Dove. But I have a bad feeling about this…)” Star responded.
Mere seconds after she said that, Echo and Pixel rounded the corner and ran straight towards them. "Star, Dove! Has my cousin been here?!" Echo asked, looking around desperately.
"Y-Yeah," Star said, still baffled by the turn of events. "She asked me where 'Bolty' was and took off towards Sweet Apple-"
"ThanksgottagoBYE!" The young foal screamed before rushing off with her friend...
Prism bolted through the skies desperately searching for Whirlwind. For what reason he didn't know, all he knew that he had to find her and fast before something happened to her. His search had eventually brought him to Crystal Clarity's shop; Hearthfire Jewellery.
That's when a small yet brilliant idea popped into his mind: jewelry! Dubsy would love that! With that in mind, he immediately darted into the store, much to a certain dragon-pony hybrid's surprise. "Prism?" What brings you h-"
"I need the biggest brightest most beautiful jewel you have, RIGHT NOW!!" The rainbow-maned Pegasus yelled, slamming his hooves on the counter.
"....Nice to see you too." Claire growled, less than happy with Prism's attitude.
"No time! I need the most beautiful jewel for for Dubsy, NOW!!" Prism shouted, growing more and more impatient by the second.
Claire narrowed her eyes at the stubborn Pegasus. "I hope you do realize that that what you're asking for is very, very expensive..."
"STOP!!" Another voice called out, The two turn to see Lance and Api barge in "He's under a spell! He's not in the right state of mind!" Api shouted.
"You again!?" Prism growled in aggravation. "Get it through your thick skulls! Dubsy is mine, and nopony is taking her away from me!!" He yelled before darting straight up, crashing through the ceiling and into the sky.
"MY CEILING!!" Claire screamed, only for some of the debris to fall on the display cases , crushing and shattering the gems she'd put so much work into. "MY GEMS!!"
"Oh for the love of-send me the bill and I'll take care of it! Com'on Api!" Lancette before picking up the foal and darting out the door before the hybrid to get a word in.
Less than a second after they left, a giant blue cake appeared in the middle of the store, Prince Illusion burst out of it wearing a top hat and a tuxedo. "HAPPY HEARTS AND HOOVES-" The Prince stopped in mid-sentence upon seeing the state his marefriend's shop was in. "Woah...what'd I miss?"
"A lot of chaos and confusion." Claire deadpanned before making her way towards shattered display case. "But since you're here, lighten up my day and clean this up would you?" She said as she made her way to the back of her shop, only to stop and stare at the cake he just popped out of. "...and I'm not eating that."
And……. that’s the last one, Twilight thought to herself as she finished signing the papers for the reconstruction of the bowling alley. “Those three new Crusaders… they’re even worse than their mothers were. Now with those documents out of the way, I can finally plan some ‘alone time’ with Flash tonight…"
"Princess Twilight!"
'…right after dealing with this son of a-ahem-loyal Royal Guard.'
"Yes, what is it?" The Princess asked through gritted teeth, trying her best not snap at him.
"W-Well it's… Um… you might want to see for yourself…" The guard started, apparently finding it hard to pick the right words to describe the situation.
'This had better be good…' The Princess of Friendship thought as she trotted towards the balcony… only to see several objects flying through the air, accompanied by several cries of outrage.
"What the hay?!"
"Look out!"
"Watch it you clutz!"
"MY CABBAGES!!"
"MY MUFFINS!!!"
Twilight groaned. "Really!? Just once couldn't this town avoid falling to pieces?!" She shouted before spreading her wings and flying towards the source of all the chaos...and was out right baffled at what she saw:
Many ponies were gawking and staring at the spectacle before them, Prism Bolt and Whirlwind we're both trying their hardest to reach one another, but were held back by varying obstacles. Prism was desperately trying to free himself from Lances magic grip, while Whirlwind was being held back by the newest generation of Crusaders. Api was desperately trying to push her back, Echo was on her cousin's back just barely holding down her wings down, and Pixel was holding her by the tail with her magic.
"BOLTY! COME TO ME!!"
"DUBSY! I WANT YOU SO BAD!!"
"Oh for the love of-SOMEPONY STOP THEM!!" Api screamed in desperation as Whirlwind inched closer towards Prism. As of answering her call, a lavender light enveloped the two Pegasi. The two were levitated above everypony else as a blue aura was seemingly ripped from their bodies, forming an orb between the two. The orb then dispersed into thin air.
“Whao! Nice one Lance!” Pixel said.
“Uh… That wasn't me.” Lance started, staring up at the two Pegasi as they looked around in confusion.
"No, it was me." Another voice called out, the entire group looked up to see none other than Princess Twilight Sparkle hovering above them. “You all have some explaining to do…” The Princess said to the 6 ponies, giving them the mother of all death glares.
Back inside the Castle of Friendship, Prism, Whirlwind, Valiant Heart, and the CMC we're all standing before Princess Twilight Sparkle in the throne room, and said princess looked anything but happy at this moment…
"Alright, so explain to me exactly why I have another mountain of paperwork that'll most likely take me all night to sort through and why Prism and Whirlwind were a hairs breath away from going at it like rabbits in the middle of the town?!" The Princess of Friendship shouted before taking a deep breath and calming herself.
"P-Princess Twilight," The stallion began.
"Prism, your Mom and I are best friends, just call me 'Auntie'." The Princess reassured him.
"R-Right…" Prism stuttered. "I-I really don't know what happened! I mean first me and Dubz were arguing about something, then the next thing I know I got hit with some weird magic!"
"That was… my fault." Lance stated, getting a glance from the two pegasi and his aunt. “Api and her friends somehow convinced me to uses one of my mothers spells on them.” Lance sheepishly added.
"Is this true?” The Princess asked, turning her attention to the Crusaders, who all had the decency to look ashamed.
"I'm very disappointed in you three." Whirlwind scolded the trio. "Why would you do that to me, to us?!"
Api took a deep breath and was about to step forward... only for Echo to step forward. "Because you're never happy around this time of year."
Whirlwind was taken aback by this statement. "What...what are you talking about?"
"You like to act like you're happy, but I can see you aren't. At least not the way you were back when you two were dating." She said gesturing to her and Prism. "Whenever I see you with another stallion all I see is a fake smile, like you're only acting happy so they'll be happy. I never see the smile you had when you and Prism were dating... so I thought that maybe if I got you to back together you'd be happy again for real... that's why I put this whole thing together and dragged my friends into it..."
"So what, I'm only a worthy candidate to be a teacher when you want to manipulate me into something?!" Prism snapped.
"No! I never meant for it to go that far!" Echo explained, trying to hold back her tears. "I just wanted... I just wanted to help you to get back together again, every time someone talks about it you two are so stubborn about why you don't want to be together..."
Whirlwind approached her cousin, and bent down so she was at eye level with her. "Echo, I understand that you're young, but you need to understand that Prism and I can't simply get back together.... not immediately anyway. It's... very complicated..." She said before glancing at Prism sadly, who seemed to be trying to glare Lance to death. "You need to learn that some ponies want to get through their own love-life problems themselves without outside help. Certain relationships can't simply be solved by firing a magical love beam and hoping for the best, things like this take time...understand?"
"I-I understand cousin..." She said, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Now, I believe that this something you and your friends would like to say to us?" Whirlwind stated, motioning for Prism to turn his attention to the three(which he did reluctantly, wanting to glare at the Crystal Prince some more).
The three Crusaders nodded. "Prism, Whirlwind... we're sorry..."
Prism sighed in irritation, if there was one thing he couldn't do it was hold of grudge against a foal. "Fine… we forgive you. But I expect to see you tomorrow at the field bright in early, you owe me a training session for all this trouble you put me through."
"And I will be there to make sure you're not slacking off." Whirlwind added.
“Good, I'm glad we could get past that." The Princess of Friendship stated as she got off her throne. "Now while you were talking I sent some letters to your parents about what took place today. They'll decide your punishment."
The three to see it it looked down and disappointment, knowing their parents would not be happy about their actions
"You three may leave now,” the Princess of Friendship said to the young Crusaders. Sighing with a hint of relief, the three fillies left the throne room.
As the young Crusaders made their way down the hall, Api turned to Echo. "Thanks… You know, for sticking yer neck out for me like that…"
The shy Pegasus gave her friend a small smile. "No problem. After all, what are friends for?"
Api smiled back before turning to Pixel. "So you're not mad either?"
The young unicorn gave her friend a flat look. "No, I'm not mad. But the next time you have a plan to get two ponies together, leave magic out of it! Understood?" She snapped, getting right in her face.
Api simply gulped and nodded. And with that they walked down the hall towards the castle exit, ready to face the punishment that their mothers were no doubt going to dish out…
Back in the throne room, Lance was not only staring down the stern and clearly not happy look from his aunt, but from the two Pegasi he unintentionally made way too lovey-dovey.
"Seriously, what were you thinking going along with such a half-baked plan anyway?!" Whirlwind asked, holding back from charging at him.
"What gave you the right to cast a spell on us anyway?! Heck, why the flying buck are you so interested in our love life to begin with?!" Prism asked, seriously considering the pros and cons of punching him right then and there.
"Because I was jealous okay?!" Lance shouted, much to the their surprise. "Look, as a Prince my love life isn't exactly of the stuff of dreams as you would think. With every mare that tries to woo me there's the very high possibility of them being-"
"Gold diggers?" Prism interrupted.
"…that's one way of putting it, yes. " The Prince said as he continued. "So contrary to popular belief my love life is pretty much nonexistent due to all the mares that just want me because I'm a prince, and the only mare who'd see me as more than that is a farmer so that makes things even more complicated for me… so when I saw you two together… I was both jealous and happy for you. You two were so happy together, then when you two broke up for Celestia-knows-what-reason, it… just didn't feel right. So when Api came to me with her idea I thought I could help fix whatever went wrong between you two…" He sighed in disappointment. "…but instead I ended up botching it up. I'm sorry, I never meant for things to turn out this way…"
"Well it did!" Prism said through gritted teeth. "And now thanks to you, everyone in Ponyville's gonna be giving us dirty looks for Celestia-knows-how-long! Not to mention I'm pretty sure we'll be banned from a lot of stores…”
"While I can sort of understand wanting to help, what exactly possessed you to use such a large amount of love magic anyway?" Twilight asked.
"They were at each other's throats the moment they saw each other! I was aiming to just calm them down!" The Prince defended himself.
"We wouldn't of been at each other's throats if somepony had just kept his ego in check." Whirlwind muttered, shooting a glare at Prism.
"Well maybe I wouldn't have had to if you didn't keep comparing me to Hot Head!" He snapped, countering her glare with his own before speaking in a high-pitched mockery of Whirlwind's voice."‘Unlike you, Hot Head actually wins the 'Best Young Flyers Competition'. Sound familiar?!"
Whirlwind growled as she got dangerously close to Prism's face. "Yeah, well maybe if you-"
"ALRIGHT YOU TWO, ENOUGH!" Twilight shouted as she pulled the two away from each other with her magic. "Prism," She began, turning her attention to the Pegasus stallion. "I understand you don't like losing repeatedly to the same stallion, but you can't let those losses be the source of your anger. There are times where we just have to keep trying, you may not beat him this year or the next, but that doesn't mean you should automatically let the mere mention of the stallion drive you up the wall. Otherwise you're just letting him beat you in a whole new way, understand?"
"…yes Auntie Twilight…" Prism sighed.
"About time somepony got that through his thick head." Whirlwind mumbled.
"And Whirlwind," The Princess continued, catching the Pegasus mare off-guard. "Some ponies don't like being reminded of all the ways somepony else is exceeding their abilities. You as a friend need to respect that. And should it be absolutely necessary, you should do it in a more supportive way and be less condescending about it. Otherwise you come off as rude, spiteful, and in your case a little hypocritical… I seem to remember a certain Pegasus filly getting jealous of Prism just because he snatched the title of ‘best flyer in class’…"
Whirlwind blushed upon being reminded of that little fact, while Prism started laughing. "Wait, so that's why you avoided me for two weeks?! Oh man that's rich!"
"Now I believe the two of you have something to say to each other." The Princess of Friendship smiled as she levitated the two Pegasi towards each other before lowering them to the ground. "Go on…"
The two Pegasi stared at each other for moment before Prism sighed. "Look I'm… sorry for snapping at you like that…"
"And I'm sorry too… it wasn't fair of me to compare you to Hot Head like that, or call you lazy when you offered to help my cousin…" Whirlwind apologized, her ears flattening against the sides of her head.
"Good, now that that's settled… there's still the matter of handing out your punishment Lance." The Princess said, turning her attention back to her nephew, who gulped nervously. "While I can understand your intentions, I can't overlook the fact that your actions caused damage to most of Ponyville."
"I understand Auntie…" The young Prince said, bowing his head in disappointment. "I will undergo any punishment you deem necessary-"
"Oh you misunderstand, " Twilight interrupted her nephew. "I'm not the one who's going to be giving you the punishment, that privilege falls to the two Pegasi you cast a spell on in the first place." She finished with a sly smile adorning her face, gesturing to Whirlwind and Prism.
"Wait, us? You're letting us choose his punishment?" Whirlwind asked in shock, surprised that the Princess was giving them complete control over what happened to her nephew.
Prism, however, was smiling like Pinkie when she got told she'd be throwing ten parties in one week. "Oh I have the perfect punishment in mind!" He cackled evilly while rubbing his hooves together in a sinister manner. That look was more than enough to make Lance back up against the wall in fear.
"Um Prism, maybe we should go easy on him…" The Pegasus mare said, only for Prism to interrupt her.
"It involves a unicycle, a bag of feathers, a pink tutu, and lots of honey." He explained with a smirk.
"I'll hold him down for you." Whirlwind said with an equally evil smile, causing the Prince to start sweating.
"Although I'm not completely merciless, I'll give you a fifty-second head start." The moment he heard those words, the young prince was out the door in a heartbeat.
"A fifty-second head start?" Whirlwind asked, arching a brow. "That seems a little generous of you…"
"One… two-skip a few-fifty!" Prism shouted before taking off after the fleeing unicorn.
"...never mind." Whirlwind chuckled before taking off after him. "Hey wait up!"
Princess Twilight giggled as she watched her friends children give chase… before turning to face the mountain of paperwork and next to her throne. "I'm gonna need a lot of coffee for this..."