The walls of the crystal palace glittered and shone with an enchanting light show in the sunset, ponies milling about with various tasks doing their best at whatever they did best. Everypony, that is, except Shining Armor.
The stallion sat at the desk in his office, reading and rereading the clearly important document that had been placed in front of him. It bore the royal seal of the princesses, and he had spent the better part of the day trying to figure out what exactly was on it.
Dear Prince Shining Armor,
It has come to our attention that <REDACTED> is <Why are you reading this> next month! Luna and I would appreciate it if you could make time for us to <Discord Was Here> and help select the best possible <Don't keep reading these, there's nothing here>, discreetly if possible. We will be arriving in <⏱ It's Time to Stop> as an excuse, under no circumstances are you to <You asked for it!> and please inform Cadence as well.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
Of course, being handed a seemingly confidential document with parts redacted was never a good thing, but this letter seemed to hint at something dangerous on the horizon. Unfortunately, unlike the magical blacking out on normal sensitive material that dissipated for those authorized to read it, this one wasn't budging. And with Luna visiting in a few days for a trade meeting, it could be very serious!
Luna arrived at the train station of the crystal empire, and was immediately set upon by crystal guards. They demanded that the princess come with them for her safety, and the mood quickly changed from a cheerful meeting to discuss imports and export taxes to a tense feeling not unlike when Sombra attacked years prior. Even Nick was taken to safety, and assigned the task of keeping Flurry distracted for the time being.
Inside the secure meeting room, Luna found Shining Armor exhausted. His mane was disheveled, his eyes bloodshot from nights with no sleep. Honestly she hadn't seen Shining this bad an a long time, and Cadence was not too far behind.
"What's gotten everypony up in a tizzy?" Inquired Luna. "We haven't seen security this tight since Equestria was attacked by the Storm King. Don't tell we something big is coming..."
"You're the whole reason we are on edge in the first place!" Shining cried out. Years ago, as a royal guard, he never would have shouted like that at the princesses, but as a prince he had that luxury. "The guard has been working overtime to keep the empire safe, and we don't even know what's going on!"
"Whatever does thou mean, Shining? We never-" Luna found the letter thrust into her face and read it over. She then tried checking it with magic designed to unlock the blacked out portions of the letter, but to no avail. "Oh dear. This could be serious, and sister has yet to inform us of any potential threat. Guards!" The ponies she brought along readied themselves. "Send a message back to our sister. Inform her we cannot read the sensitive material contained in her letter, and we have mobilized the Crystal guard until we know what is coming. Go!"
Meanwhile, halfway across the castle, a completely unrelated and different meeting was taking place.
"More tea, my little snowflake?"
"Yez plees, in unca Nik! Moar tea!"
"You are absolutely adorable, ya know that?" Nick picked up the teapot and carefully poured a small cup of the beverage for Flurry Heart. She took it in both hooves and carefully sipped it, earning an 'aww' from the human. "So, how are things here in Flurryland?"
"Gweat! Mommy an Daddy vewy busy. Unca Nik, why they make da guards work so much?"
"Ah, that. From what I overheard, your aunt Celestia sent a letter to your Dad and he's worried. I should know, Celestia asked me to take it to the mailroom. I just took the liberty of highlighting the important parts of the letter."
"Whas a hi-wite? Can you eat it, Unca Nik?"
Nick ruffled Flurry's mane playfully, earning a giggle from the filly. "No, silly head. You can't eat a highlight. But, now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have highlighted everything in black permanent marker..."
"Did you do an miss-steak, Unca Nik?"
"No, my precious little snowflake." He hugged her close, nuzzling her and making her smile. "Everything is going exactly as you dear ol' Uncle Nick planned."
Dear author...
I has come to my attention that you seem to like hiding rick rolls in your stories chapters.
May I suggest that you continue doing so, but use different versions of the song?
Oooof, too sweet. Mah heart, it cant handle the flurry.
Nooooooo! You got me again!!
9321279
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/855/530/745.jpg
HA! They have no idea who did it, but Celestia will know.
Ohhh, Nick is really evil.
...
I like it.
9321315
Goddammit. I have to respect your persevance though. But still.
Goddammit
9321316
I don't think there's a moat, pond, or lake nearby.
We do have a mound of soft frozen water.
That will do very nicely.
nick.................. you will do a prank so big it'll get you too in it.
I need you to understand how much of a struggle it was to not die laughing during a work meeting. To explain further, said meeting is still ongoing, but I'm upset with you for making something this amusing and tempting to read immediately. Well done, ya beautiful jackass. :P
Hah! There's the advantage of reading in Ultra Dark. Your rickroll link was highlighted blue through the spoiler text ;p
9321339
True, but I took extra care to find the color that would best blend into the spoiler blackout on both night and normal mode. If I made it pitch black, it was obvious on night mode. Leave it the natural blue and it showed up on both...
Hell, even some emojis cut through it! Can't win em all, I guess. See?
9321338
Uh.... whoops? I'd say that's what you get for reading at work, but I do that too during slow moments.
9321357
It's a really boring meeting, we're doing backlog grooming, if you're familiar with it. Essentially just going over all our existing tickets and making sure they're correctly prioritized and such.
9321349
Honestly, I knew there was going to be a Rick roll before I even saw the link... how I knew is the fact that you can't put that much spoilers without putting SOME type of prank.
Wait... did I just stare at a blank screen this whole time?
9321401
Couldn't resist. But it's more referencing the fact some places technically don't exist on a map.
And also This article from the onion
9321408
Does the Crystal Empire hace a moat to throw Nick into, or will Shining have to improvise?
9321408
Ḏ̵̨̨̧̢̧̛̘̖͉͇̭̜͓͖͙̱͔̤̖͂͐̀̀̇̅͑͛̀̾͌͒̂̐̑͐̈̿͛͝ͅͅí̴̧̡̧͓̲̙͕̜̗̭̮̭̹̭̭̝̟̞̝̮͔̅̾͗̆̑̎̎̀̽̋̃͋̅̈̅͘̕͠͠͝s̷̡̪͚̲̖̭̞̲͖̭̯̞̩̖̟̠̗̖̙͎͂̈́̄͊̈́̀̑̉͗̑̇́̈͑̈́̐̕̕͘͝͠ͅc̴̝͔̜͉̟̳̥̭̟̭̖͙̠̭̗̼͍̞̪̄͂̃̓̃̔́̀͐͑͑̄́̌̆̓̓̎͐̊̚ͅͅo̶̧̡̮͇̰͉̤͕͎̻̲͕̫̫̠̥̲͔̜̜̓̌̌̏̈́̓̽̏̄͑̿̍̊̿̂̊͘̚̕͜͝͝r̸̛͙̙͍̮͎̭̮͓̼̼̙̤͎͖̰̗̬̪̣͑̉̽͌̅̂̈́́͗̇̽̓̋͌͐̒̅̐̕͜͜͝ḋ̵̨̡̛̛̛̮̳̫̣̖̟̝̫͓̝̝̼̲̻̰͔̻̂̿̍̒͐̔̀̿̾͛̎̎̐͂͜͠͝͠ͅ ̷̧̡̧̢̛̮̜͎͔̥̯̰̹̬̫̣̳̺̫͐̈̉̒̀̌̎́́̌̀͌̀̂͑͐̈́͜͝͝ͅw̸̧̡̛̛̤̗̪̦̙̦̩̗̻̟̝̗͖̟̞̋̊̒̋͌̌͐̌͋̏̎̔͆̿̏͛͂̊̓͜͜ͅͅȃ̴̡̛̠̜̪͈̼̘͕͓͕͙͖̲͈̗͈̥̟̠͖̥̈̌͆̏̀̓͑̔͐̂̄̓̑̈́͌̂̀͛͠z̸̮̗̪̤̱̭̜͓̹͍̯̟͈̳̰̭̥͎̮͍̥̈̾́̍́̾̿̍̃̎̇͊̓̈́̈́̏̌͐̔͘̚ ̸̢̳̩̘̞̺̤̩͕̞̯͔̬͕̱̘̻̲̮͙̩̈̾̿̀̑͆̊̉͒̇̾̐̽͐̃͌̒́̒͗͝ḩ̶̦͇͈̪̺̲̠͓̟̺̰͓̭͚̫̪̲̝͚̈́̅̌̇̿͊̋̾̉͐̍͒̈́͐̽̾̎̚͘̕͝ͅę̶̡̛͚̹͔̞̖̹̪̝̥͕͖̪̘̰̜̫̣̝͍͒̄̆̔̑̈́͗͊̇̐̔͒͆͐̎̆͗̚̕̚ř̶̨̨̛͇̫̻̬̣̙̜̫͖̭̬̰̜̲̗̩̯͕͖̏͒̎͌͒͌̋̑̀͌̌̍̏̈́̒̚͠͝͝e̷̢̛̫̤͙͍̩̫͎̻̳͙̱̮̭͎̫̟̙̻͍͗̉̈́͆͐̓̈́̈́̂̉͊͌̋̓̄͗̆̚͘͠ͅ
Hng! The flurry induced cutiebeetis!
From Girmly serious to toothache inducing cuteness in just a few sentences, you are a genius at making funny yet clever chapters.
Oh boy. Nick is going to pay for this one. It's going to be beautiful seeing what could possibly top this monster of a prank. One black permanent marker. One innocent letter about Redacted and chaos ensues. Discord should be nervous.
I love how the Rick Roll has turned from a meme into this story’s running gag.
9321566
And the moat, and the cakes, and of course, who could forget "alright, do you want anything else?"
9321603
Yeah
I regret I only have one fnord to give this chapter.
You should use the extra scene after the cesdits from the Wreck it Ralph 2.
9321197
You can't make a sphere a game console without having supports which would make it no longer a sphere.
9321418. Just toss him into one of the snowdrifts outside the shield
9321603
Discords, "what could go wrong" gun
9321819
Sure you can, the sphere just fits inside a base that is not actually connected but holds it steady. The console itself is a perfect sphere.
*clicks on spoiler bars*
*reaches the last one*
*clicks*
memegenerator.net/img/instances/82413062/oh-no.jpg
9325587
Oh yes!
#ImNotLaughingISwear
Holy shit that bit with Flurry was so damn cute!
I'm loving this story btw.
9321241
you want a different version, huh?
9321401
That's what I saw, but on a side note, did you catch the Candle Cove reboot's pilot episode last night? It had a cameo from The kid (now an adult, of course!).
........
........
........
........
........
CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNT!!!
9331601
Okay...that was Evil on multiple levels!!
....I REALLY need to stop clicking on links you post in here >.<
I hate you........ that's the first ever time I got Rick rolled and I was laughing for about 15 minutes after
9381719
GOTCHA! Muahahahahahaha
I accept your hatred, dear sir or madam, and hope you are enjoying the story thus far.
That was one of the best hidden things I've seen in a long time.
9424028
He got me as a mobile user so I tapped the link as I removed the spoiler mark
Huh... An embedded link reading "you asked for it" why do I get the feeling it's-*click* "WE'RE NO STRANGERS TO LOOOOVE"
.... **pulls out revolver** I will murder you.
9676070
This is not a pipe. (Despite being Canadian, I am not actually fluent in French)
I held my finger on that one so it didn't open the link
I doubt anyone enjoyed that prank...