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The Burn3,988 words
The Scheme4,842 words
The Rogues Gallery2,794 words
The Big One8,284 words
The Sting3,139 words

The Rogues Gallery

“Fluttershy?” asked Rarity. “Just how long are you going to keep making that face?”

“What do you mean?” said Fluttershy.

“You look more nervous than a rodeo clown in the bull pen,” replied Applejack. “Honestly, I’ve never seen you this jumpy, unless dragons ‘r involved.”

“I-I just hope we don’t get into any trouble for this,” said Fluttershy, with a shiver.

Applejack gave Fluttershy a reassuring nudge, which was well timed as Fluttershy just missed Rarity rolling her eyes.

“Now don’t tell me you forgot about this afternoon,” said Applejack. “Remember what Pinkie said? We’re just gonna pull a little practical joke on somepony, that’s all.”

“Exactly,” added Rarity. “We’re just having a bit of fun.”

“Are you sure?,” asked Fluttershy. “Everypony sounded so... angry.”

“Ahem, well...” coughed Rarity, looking aside.

Applejack gave a slight shrug and adjusted her hat.

“I’ll admit. We all had our ire up when we came up with the idea. But I promise, it’s just a joke.”

“Sure,” happily added Rarity. “Sapphire Shores is just a rude little pony who needs to be taken down a peg. It’ll be fun, you’ll see.”

The trio arrived at their destination, Twilight’s treehouse library. Typically by midnight, everypony would be snug in their beds. But tonight was a night for late night scheming. Thankfully for Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity acted as escorts, giving the pegasus just enough courage to make the late night trek.

Upon knocking on the front door, the three heard what sounded like the door being unlocked, several times. The door opened by a crack, revealing a pair of pink eyes staring back. Fluttershy instinctively ducked behind Applejack.

“What’s the password?” said the pair of eyes.

“Password!?” responded Applejack.

The door flung open, showing the owner of the eyes to be an irritated Rainbow Dash.

“See?” she said, glaring at Pinkie Pie. “I told you.”

“Lucky guess,” shrugged Pinkie.

Inside the library, the lights were turned down low, almost pitch black. In the center sat a six-sided table surrounded with a handful of candles, along with some late night tea and treats. As Rainbow and Pinkie took their seats next to their new arrivals, Rarity did her best to stifle a yawn.

“Oh dear,” she said, covering her mouth. “I hope this doesn’t take long. All this midnight skullduggery is cutting into my beauty sleep.”

“Rainbow,” said Applejack. “What gives? What’s with all the low lights and passwords?”

“Hey don’t look at me, AJ! This is all Twilight.”

“Twilight?” answered Fluttershy. “But why?”

“To set the mood,” said Twilight as she stepped out of the shadows, throwing her hooves into the air with dramatic abandon. “Welcome everypony, to the first meeting of the Midnight Hexagon of Revenge!”

Twilight, her hooves still skyward, looked across the befuddled faces staring back at her.

“The what?” asked Fluttershy.

“The who?” asked Applejack, flatly.

“The...” Twilight paused. “Us! Look a hexagon has six sides, and there are six of us. It’s perfect! Plus I finally get to use the six-sided table I brought last week.”

“Jeez, Twi,” snickered Rainbow. “How corny can you get?”

“It is a rather... busy name, darling,” added Rarity.

“Your clock says twelve o’ five,” pointed Pinkie. “So wouldn’t that make us ‘The Five Minutes After Midnight Hexagon of Revenge?’”

“There’s nothing wrong with the name,” huffed Twilight.

“But, but, we’re getting revenge on somepony?” mewed Fluttershy. “I really don’t like the sound of that.”

“Ain’t nothing to worry about,” replied Applejack, patting her on the back. “It’s just a name, right Twilight?”

“Of course. I’m just being dramatic.”

“More like melodramatic,” half-whispered Rarity, prompting duel snorts from Rainbow and Pinkie.

“Anyway,” said Twilight through her teeth. “Let’s get down to business.”

Twilight flipped a glamor photo of Sapphire Shores onto the table. The moods of her friends quickly soured at the sight of the “pony of pop.”

“Tomorrow is Sapphire Shores’ one night only concert in Ponyville. It’s a safe bet that the whole town will be out for the show. In my educated opinion, the perfect time to strike has to be during the concert. There’ll so much commotion, we could sneak in and out quite easily. The question is, the prank itself. If anypony has any ideas...”

The table looked toward Rainbow, who had made herself comfortable. She leaned back on her chair, kicked her back hooves up on the table and munched on a hooffull of cookies.

“I’m in no rush,” she smirked as she chewed. “Anypony can go ahead. Course, mine’ll still be the best.”

“Well ain’t you modest?” grimaced Applejack before turning to the others. “Not to brag, but I think my idea’ll be a real doozy.”

Conjuring a feather pen and parchment, Twilight simply nodded to Applejack.

“Very well,” said Twilight. “You have the floor.”

Pulling down the brim of her hat, AJ glanced to her left and right.

“Okay, ya’ll know how know I use all them bruised or rotten apples to make pig feed, compost, whathaveyou? Well what do you think about taking some of that slop, loadin’ onto one o’ them pumpkin chuckers from Nightmare Night, and goin’ all catapult-like on Shores right in the middle of her show? Sounds better then a couple boos and rotten tomato huh?

“Crude, but very effective,” mumbled Twilight as she wrote on her parchment.

“If we’re resorting to barbarism,” snuffed Rarity.

“Oh, and I suppose the prissy little dressmaker can do better?” smirked Applejack.

“You suppose correctly,” smirked Rarity, as she pulled a small bit of blue fabric from under the table, laying it out for all to see.

“Ahem. May I recommend a less clumsy, brutal method and more stealth and sabotage? Observe.”

Floating up her teacup with some magic, Rarity let a small drop fall onto the fabric. The transformation was almost instantaneous.

“What the..?” blurted Applejack.

“Oh my,” shivered Fluttershy.

“Ha!” laughed Rainbow Dash.

“Hmm,” pondered Twilight.

“ooooOOoooo!” bubbled Pinkie.

What was a patch of soft blue fabric had rearranged itself into a garish mish mosh of colors and designs. Zigzagging stripes covered in polka dots and smeared with blotches of mismatched colors. There was no flow, no rhyme or reason, it was the antithesis of everything Rarity worked for.

“It’s perfect,” cackled the unicorn. “A month ago, with just one color spell gone awry I learned how to turn a brilliant ensemble into the kind of drek not even fit for the bottom of the barrel. Since Sapphire Shores is famous for her stunning sharp fashion sense, I could easily replicate a dress and all she’ll need is just one drop of moisture to turn her into a fashion catastrophe!”

“Intriguing,” murmured Twilight, still writing away.

“Not bad for a first try,” sighed Rainbow. “Anypony else?”

A pink hoof slammed on the table, shaking teacups, plates of treats and the nerves of several ponies.

“Me!” roared Pinkie Pie. “I’ve got a doozy of a plan!”

“And that is?” asked Twilight.

“There’s nothing doozier!”

“Pinkie?”

“It’s the dooziest!”

“There she goes again...” mumbled Applejack.

“It’ll be the dooza-ramma-lamma-ding-”

“Sheesh, while we’re young, Pinkie,” said Rainbow.

“I’m gonna mush a pie right in her face!” yelled Pinkie, with an appropriate crack of thunder. “Moo hoo ha ha ha haaaaaa!”

“A... pie?” said Twilight, raising her eyebrow. “Really?”

“And just to show I’m a good sport,” added Pinkie, setting her hooves on her sides. “It’ll be a banana cream pie. That’s my favorite. Course, I love coconut cream pie. And pecan pie, blueberry pie, peach, chocolate cream... and apple! Oh I looooooove apple pie! Oh man, I’m gonna need to rethink everything now.”

Pinkie set a personal record by going from pride, to inquisitiveness to unconstrained joy to doubtful thoughtfulness within the span of a few seconds. She plopped back down, deep in concentration.

“Huh,” finally uttered Twilight. “Well, at least it’s... direct.”

“Ah, Pinkie,” smiled Rainbow. “Gotta love the classics.”

“That’s doesn’t sound... too horrible,” whispered Fluttershy, trying to add to the conversation.

“Speaking of which,” interjected Rainbow with an eye to her fellow pegasus. “What have you got for us, Fluttershy?”

“M-m-me?” she blurted.

“Yeah. You’ve got an ax to grind just like we do. So c’mon. Whattya got?”

“Um, well. I-I was sort of thinking about it. And... um...”

“Go ahead Fluttershy,” smiled Rarity.

“I’m sure whatever it is, it’ll be a good idea,” added Twilight.

Fluttershy gulped.

“I was thinking of... of... not saying ‘hi’ to Sapphire Shores if she passed me by.”

Fluttershy looked down, not noticing her friends’ shaking heads and rolling eyes.

“Ha ha, perfect,” snickered Rainbow. Oh yeah, that’ll learn her.”

“That’s it!” shouted Applejack. “I’ve had about as much as I could stand! You’ve been smart-mouthin’ us the whole night. Time to put your bits where your mouth is.”

“Indeed,” added Rarity. “Though I can’t imagine any plan that warrants such a smug look.”

Rainbow was looking pretty smug. She finally leaned forward, finally taking a place among her circle of friends. From beneath her share of the table, Rainbow procured a small bottle. Inside, was a swirling green mist.

“Well since everypony’s so curious,” said Rainbow with a smrik. “Lemmie just say that the big problem I’m seeing, is that nopony’s come up with a plan that sticks. AJ, I’m digging the catapult and Rarity’s wardrobe malfunction sounds like winner too. I even like Pinkie’s pie plan. But see, all Sapphire Shores needs is a shower and a change of clothes. Now, if we’re really gonna get her. We gotta get her good!”

With that, Rainbow pops the cork on the bottle, covering her nose and mouth as the green mist rises and dissipates in the air. It only took a few short seconds before...

“Blaaaagh!” choked everypony except Rainbow, whose laughs were muffled by her hooves.

“That’s the foulest thing I’ve ever smelled!” cried Twilight. “And I had to change Spike when he was a baby!”

“Hoooo-weee!” went Applejack. “That smells worse than the South side of a sow in the Summertime!”

“My nostrils,” cried Rarity. “My beautiful nostrils! It’ll take months of aromatherapy undo such an offense to my sense of smell!”

“Peeee-yeewwww!” blurted Pinkie. “That’s gotta be the third worst smell I ever smelled!”

Fluttershy reply was nothing but a series of stifled coughs as she tried to see through teary eyes.

“Breathe it in ladies,” announced Rainbow. “You’re getting a whiff of some of the best swamp gas the Everfree Forest has to offer. Not too shabby, huh?”

“Plenty shabby,” coughed Applejack. “How’re you gonna get that close to Sapphire to open that bottle?”

“Pffft! Leave it to one of you groundhogs to be totally clueless when it come to making weather. All I need is a small cloud to soak up enough swamp water and I can nail Shores with a downpour of the stuff. See what I mean by making it stick? She’ll have to spend a week in a bath to get the smell out!”

“It’s impressive,” said Rarity. “But how in Equestria did you come up with such a bold plan in so little time?”

“Well to be honest,” admitted Rainbow. “I’ve have this prank in my head for a while. I just never tried it out.”

“Um, because it was too mean?” asked Fluttershy.

“Uh, no,” replied Rainbow. “Cause I couldn’t find the right pony to use it on.”

“Heh,” snickered Applejack. “Normally, I’d be mighty cross at you for just thinking of a scheme like this. But, well, color me jealous. Heh.”

“Hmm,” added Twilight, putting the final touches on her paper. “Not bad.”

The comment was like a slap in the face for Rainbow.

“Not bad! Not bad!? This is my best, prankiest prank ever Twilight! I’d love to see you do better!”

“Calm down Rainbow,” sighed Twilight, like Rainbow was a rambunctious student. “What I mean to say is that all of you came up with some really great ideas.”

“Nice of you to say,” said Applejack. “But whose plan are we going with?”

“Why even discuss it?” pleaded Rainbow. “Duh! Mine’s clearly the winner!”

“Let me finish,” continued Twilight. “I think all your ideas are perfect. Which is why...”

Twilight unfurled her parchment across the table. It displayed a detailed illustration showing Sapphire Shores wearing a ridiculous dress, while being rained on and about to be hit with a large flying pie.”

“We’re doing all of them. We’ll switch out one of her dresses for a sabotaged copy from Rarity. Then we drench her with stinky rain, which will in turn her dress into unfashionable gobbledigook. She’ll be taken by surprise long enough not to notice a huge pie filled with pig slop fired from a catapult from a hidden location. And I suppose for the coup de gras, we’ll snub her the next day if she says ‘hello.’”

“... Dang,” said Applejack.

“What she said,” added Rarity.

“Ooooo,” marveled Pinkie Pie.

“Beautiful,” sniffed Rainbow with pride. “It’s like poetry...”

“Wait!” shouted Fluttershy.

Though she was one of many ponies who rose their voice that night, it was always a surprise when Fluttershy had something she wanted to say.

“We’re going to do all those things to Sapphire Shores!? It’s too much, it’s... it’s insane! My goodness, it would be the most humiliating moment of her... of anypony’s life!”

For the moment, all Fluttershy could hear was her own labored breathing. Her friends looked to her, then to each other.

“She makes a good point,” said Twilight.

“Can’t argue the truth,” replied Applejack.

“And it does make sense,” added Rarity.

“Sure does,” threw in Pinkie Pie.

Fluttershy nearly slumped out of her chair, as she felt all the gathered tension start to leave her. She looked towards Rainbow with an exasperated smile.

“Sooooo...,” said Rainbow, looking at everypony else. “Where totally doing this right?”

“Of course,” said Twilight

“Heck yeah,” replied Applejack.

“Naturally,” added Rarity.

“Totally!” threw in Pinkie.

“Awesome!” laughed Rainbow.

Fluttershy felt her stomach tie itself into a knot as her friends joined in the laugh riot. It felt so much different than the other times she laughed with her friends. It felt, wrong, cruel and bitter. It also didn’t help that every started with a hearty “Mhua ha ha...”

The lights suddenly blinking on, was only a tiny respite, though it caused confusion among her friends and brought an end to their villainous cackling. The six saw a small robed dragon walk down from upstairs, pass them by with a yawn, head into the kitchen and then return upstairs with a glass of water.

“Um,” said Twilight. “Good night, Spike.”

“Mmm... night,” mumbled Spike.

“Well then,” said the unicorn. “Maybe we should turn in? Busy day tomorrow after all.”

After a few quick, yet quiet goodbyes, everypony cleared out of Twilight’s tree. Fluttershy felt like she was in a daze as she walked back to her cottage. She was reminded on how much she didn’t like the dark after Rainbow Dash offered to walk with her.

“Mind some company?” asked Rainbow.

“Huh? Oh, not at all,” replied Fluttershy.

“Honestly? I’m nervous.”

“W-what? You’re nervous?”

“Sure. I mean, can we really pull this off?”

“Oh.”

“But I know we’ll be fine.”

“How... how do you know that?”

“Easy,” smiled Rainbow. “Cause we got you.”

“Me,” balked Fluttershy. “I don’t see what I can do...”

“C’mon Fluttershy. The sleepy dragon? The cockatries? Heck, do I have to mention the tornado we made?”

“Um, what?”

Stopping Fluttershy, Rainbow put a hoof on her friends’ shoulder and smiled. It wasn’t her classic smirk, or a sarcastic grin. It was a genuine friendly smile.

“Every time push came to shove, we could always count on you. I’ll admit it takes a lot of pushing to get you shoving. But you always come through for us.”

Fluttershy couldn’t even begin to find the words. She could only mumble as Rainbow took off, as they were close enough to Fluttershy’s cottage.

“B-b-but...”

“You’ll be fine, Fluttershy. I trust you.”

As she flew away, Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile at her friend.

“Awwww, Rainbow...”

Then frown as she felt the pit in her stomach that never left.

“Now what am I gonna do!?”

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