Golden Love

by enigmaMystere

Let's go pranking! What are you doing there?

The next day finds Flick curled up on a box by a bench, looking over Twilight’s shoulder as they read together.

“Hey, Twily?” He whispers to her, surreptitiously peeking at her. “Whose idea was it to read outside together, again?”

"Spike, when he decided to use the new and probably too powerful scent of cleaner." She answers matter-of-factly.

“Ah, right.” He glances up from the book at a familiar pink pony. “...and when did she join us?”

"It's less she joined us and more she passed by and has a lot to vent." She says calmly over Pinkie's excited chatter.

“Right... and what is she talking about, again?” He faces her with the most flat expression his face allows.

"Rainbow Dash," Twilight replies simply as Pinkie mimics the pose the flyer always takes.

“Ah, right.” He sighs and gets up, putting his box on his back. “Hey, Pinks?”

"Hmm?" She rotates in mid-air before landing softly, facing him. "Yes?"

“I’m thinking of getting something to eat. Do you know whether any restaurants around here make food I can bring back here?” He rests a claw on Twilight’s shoulder. “Something we’d both like?”

"Well..." She grins and taps her chin. "What sort of food? We have sweets, savories, snacks, snickerdoodles…"

“I think we should ask her first.” His claw moves up to rub the distracted mare’s ear. “What do you think, Twily?”

She backs off, giggling from the contact. "Easy there, touchy. I did hear about a place I've never been to before... the Hayburger?"

He shrugs, then looks to Pinkie, doing his best to hide his disappointment. “Any idea where that is?”

"Sure! It's over..." She spins in place before pointing. "That way! Down the main street and past the Barnyard Bargains."

“Thanks!” He grins at her, then glances over his shoulder. “Say, isn’t that Rainbow Dash?”

She gasps. "Where?" Suddenly there is only a dust cloud where she once stood.

He looks to Twilight, chuckling softly. “You’re welcome.”

"I don't usually mind talking to her, but she did just... you know." She waves a hoof.

He shrugs. “I think I can understand.” He smiles and gives her a salute, moving to turn when he feels something. “...I’ll be right back.” He turns in the other direction and runs off, the box falling right in front of Twilight as she sits on her bench.

As he runs off, the curious unicorn levitates it over to herself, looking at his retreating form.

He hurries along the path, spreading his wings and clenching his jaw at the sheer agony it causes him. Still, he takes off and rockets forward with the wind at his back, catching the last snippet of a conversation as he draws close to his goal.

“I’m in the middle of something!” A familiar blue form calls down to the ground behind her.

"But-" A voice calls up to her.

“I said not now!” She immediately grunts as she crashes into Flick, slamming his back into a sheer cliff side and sliding down to the ground with the two of them still entangled.

Pinkie prances up to them. "I was gonna say watch out for that mountain... and griffon."

Rainbow quietly groans, resting her flushed face on the golden shoulder before her. “...thank you, Flick.” After a moment with no response, she pulls back, ready to give him a piece of her mind.

Then she realizes that his eyes are closed, his body, limp.

“...oh horse apples.”

Pinkie runs up, gasping. "Is he dead?!"

“No, of course not. I can feel his heart beating.” She closes her eyes, wincing quietly. “...could you turn away, for a second? Please?”

"Huh? Is there something behind me?" She quickly turns and looks. "Oh! There's lots of things!"

She doesn’t take notice of this, steeling herself for what she’s about to do. With his eyes not opening and Pinkie not looking - a quick check over her shoulder confirms this - she gently pecks the griffon on his beak. She pulls back an inch, huffing as she whispers to him, “You’d better be grateful.”

“Very.”

The voice, though weak, makes her yelp and smack him across the face. “What the hay, Flick?! I thought you were dying!”

“...I was woozy... and now I’m in pain...” He groans, sitting back up and rubbing his cheek. “...sorry...”

"Should we get him to the hospital?" Pinkie asks, interposing herself next to the two.

“No, it’s not necessary.” He slowly stands up, stretching with a wince. “I’m fine. I can walk it off.”

Rainbow’s brow furrows. “...you scare us and then decide you can just walk off.”

He blinks, staring blankly at her. “...yes?”

"Don't you fly off after hitting ponies al the time?" Pinkie asks the other mare.

“I make sure they’re alright, first!” Flustered, she turns back to Flick, then blinks, staring at what appears to be a fluffier version of himself. Reaching out a hoof, she presses the flat of it against his cheek, making him drift away. “...did he replace himself with a cloud?”

"Hmm..." Looking serious, Pinkie walks around the 'griffon', sniffing it, poking it, and even dipping her hoof in and taking a dollop off before licking it. "Yep, cloud."

“...and you aren’t questioning how he did that in less than four seconds?” She takes that piece of cloud back and carefully fits it in place, both hooves on the cloud as she starts to head south.

"Maybe he has them stashed around for... cloud emergencies?" She taps her muzzle. "I hadn't thought of those." After watching the other mare, she starts to giggle. "I've never seen a pony cuddle a prank before."

Rainbow immediately spins around, face starting to resemble Pinkie’s. “I wasn’t gonna cuddle with it! I swear!” It takes a moment before her mind registers the last part of that statement. “...oh yeah, I guess it was a prank. T-then I’m studying it to do a better version on him!” She nods to herself, proud of how she was able to spin that to her advantage.

"Oooo... so we can use cloud ponies to fool him, too?" She goes to touch the dummy, but her hoof goes right through. "Balloons are so much easier than this."

The prismatic pegasus pulls the party pony’s leg out, smoothing out the section that was disturbed. “I didn’t take you for the pranking type, Pinkie Pie.”

"Well sure! Pranks make ponies laugh, and you know how much I love that!" She bounces in place.

“Really now?” She grins, holding her hoof out to her. “Let me take this home and then we’ll see how well you can prank ponies.”

"Okie dokie!" She taps her hoof against Rainbow's. "You must really want to study this thing."

“Yeah! Study!” Her muzzle scrunches up slightly. “...ugh. Study.” She shakes her head and takes off, leaving behind Pinkie and Flick.

“...she’s going to be cuddling that cloud, you know.”

Pinkie nods. "Maybe she needed a good pillow... hey!" She turns to face the real griffon. "You're back!"

“Never left.” He points over his shoulder. “I hid in that bush.”

She peeks at the bush. "Makes sense to me!"

He rubs his jaw in thought, staring off in the direction Rainbow flew. “So, how long do you think she’ll take? Because I think I need to get back to Twilight.”

"Weren't you getting food?" She asks.

“...right after I get food.” He turns and hurries off, calling over his shoulder to her. “Apologize for me, and tell her that her kissing’s getting better!”

Pinkie tilts her head as he leaves, confused, at least until something gets her attention.

She finds Rainbow beside her with another cloud, much darker and not in the shape of anyone. “Hey, what’s got you looking confused?”

"Oh, nothing big." She springs up, looking to her with a beaming smile. "So, how do we use this?"

“I figured we could use the lightning to startle someone.” She shrugs, looking in the direction Pinkie had been facing. “...is that a golden feather?”

"Huh?" Pinkie turns as well. She manages to catch sight of the item in question just before it blows away in the breeze. "Was that important? I've seen your feathers before, too."

“...it wasn’t there before.” She scrunches her muzzle for a second. “I think I know who we should prank first...”

"Ooo... let's go!"

---

Flick returns to the park with a bag in his claw, a smile on his beak and a pep in his step. “Hey, Twily!”

Twilight looks up from her book with a smile. "Back already? I thought you weren't supposed to be flying."

“I didn’t.” He smirks cheekily. “I ran.”

"Wow," her eyes widen a bit, as does her smile, "well, okay then."

“Yep!” He sits down next to her, forgoing the box the book now rests on. “So, where were we, again?”

The unicorn suddenly looks sheepish. "I may have kept reading while you were gone..."

He blinks, considering this a moment before pouting at the mare. “Is it because I read so slow?”

"No, I just... get really into books." She blushes slightly.

“Ah.” He pulls her into a small, one-armed embrace, thinking for a bit. “...so, what happened after he went to sleep in that one place?”

"Well here, let me flip back and show you..."

As the two of them delve back into the world of literary fantasy, they fail to notice a storm cloud drift over from behind them, as well as the two passengers.

Rainbow huffs, looking over her shoulder at the pony on her back. “Stop moving; I don’t wanna drop you.”

"Sorry! I'm just so excited!" She whispers back.

“Yeah, I get you.” She grins over the edge at the duo below. “I don’t think they’ll get hit from here... what do you think, Pinkie?”

""It's not just a noise cloud?"

“It’s got ball lightning.” She shakes her head, not noticing their cloud starting to spin in spite of her wings not moving. “If they have metal or are really close they could be hit, but otherwise, it should be safe.”

"Oh, okay! Let's do it, then!" Pinkie gives her a squeeze.

She nods and looks down, her smile slowly fading away as she sees the world moving beneath her. “...huh?” She glances around, trying to figure out what’s going on, when her eyes fall on Flick, whose tail is swaying oddly. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say it was moving in circles.

Then it suddenly picks up speed, and the cloud they’re on decides it wants to be a figure skater and has started practicing its spin with the two ponies along for the ride.

"Weee!" Pinkie cries out in laughter, holding onto Rainbow.

The pegasus grits her teeth, eyes narrowed as she focuses on the ground below, surprised to find it helping with the dizziness. She spots purple and gold and immediately launches off the cloud with a kick, setting off the lightning inside.

Twilight yelps, the book she was reading getting flung upward as she jumps.

He immediately pulls her close with his one good wing and catches the book. He looks over his shoulder as he flings the box with his one free claw, dispersing the small storm cloud with its impact but smashing the container in the process. He promptly groans, smacking his forehead. “...dang it, that had my stuff in it...”

Twilight looks around rapidly, trying to piece together what happened. "What was that?! If something broke I can fix it!"

“...can you fix a cardboard box that’s both wet and busted?” He points at the container and the scattered art supplies around and inside it.

She winces a bit. "I was more thinking about glass, but... maybe?"

“If you could, I’d greatly appreciate it.” He smiles warmly at her. “In fact, I’d probably owe you a favor for it.”

"Well... you did bring me food." She sniffs at the bag.

“Oh, right.”

As he starts divvying up the food between them, a certain prismatic mare pokes her head out of a bush, groaning quietly. “...how did he know we were there?”

"Hmm... maybe griffons have eyes in the their tails?" Pinkie offers.

“That’s not possible.” She huffs, crossing her forelegs before glancing back at her friend. “You know you can let go now, right?”

"Oh!" She does so, flopping onto the ground.

“...you know what, we can prank him later.” She shrugs and turns to face Pinkie. “Anyone you wanna get?”

"I have a few ideas..." She grins at the other mare.

Comments

[Pegajen]

She gasps. "Where?" Suddenly there is only a dust cloud where she once stood.

Meep meep!

Then she realizes that his eyes are closed, his body, limp.

It's time for the kiss of life!

Reaching out a hoof, she presses the flat of it against his cheek, making him drift away. “...did he replace himself with a cloud?”

Kawarimi no Jutsu! Ninja Flick confirmed!

"Weee!" Pinkie cries out in laughter, holding onto Rainbow.

Of course Pinkie would find it fun. XD

"I have a few ideas..." She grins at the other mare.

Why do I get the feeling one of them is going to be Applejack? ._.

[LostArchivist]

I think that the rotating cloud trick deserves more mention in the comments. That was pretty funny.

[Amos Anon]

"No, I just... get really into books." She blushes slightly.

Bookhorse is nerd.

Me too.