When Good Sisters Go to War

by thehalfelf

The Wrapped Room

The Wrapped Room

Slowly, the door to the breakfast nook swung open. A dripping wet Celestia, looking tired but triumphant, entered the room. As a habit, she glanced at the scoreboard: tied at thirty-seven, with seventeen days left. The war was almost half over, yet it had only just begun.

“Haven’t we already done the personal storm clouds?” Discord asked after glancing at the puddles left in Celestia’s wake. “I don’t think it’s very sportmarely to give points for recycled pranks.”

“Funny, Discord,” Celestia responded, pulling a towel from a nearby serving table. “Have you looked out a window today? It is raining. It was even scheduled.”

The door opened once again, admitting Cadence and Shining to the room. “You went outside, Celestia? Isn’t that a little dangerous with the war?” Discord continued, ignoring the newcomers, with a glance towards the scoreboard.

“No. I have a feeling that Luna will be a bit... slow to join us today.”

The three judges shared a look over Celestia’s smug smile. “Already?” Shining grumbled, “I at least wanted breakfast first...”

_--_--_--_--_--_

Deeper in the castle, ensconced in the suite at the top of the western tower, a blue alicorn slept, still busy policing the dreams of those who were not yet awake. A little ways away down the stairs, Celestia stood with a small gong and an evil smile. Things were going much better than she initially hoped. Not only had Luna slept through breakfast, but Celestia had managed to slip away from her morning duties just long enough to do... this.

Widening her evil smile, Celestia struck the gong. A loud, low bong echoed throughout the tower, covering Celestia’s hoofsteps as she fled back to court.

Upstairs, the noise was enough to finally rouse Luna from her slumber. Cyan, tired eyes revealed themselves from under heavy eyelids and scanned the room slowly. It was dark, it was always dark when she first awoke due to her heavy drapes, but even in the dim light. something seemed... off. She blinked once, slowly, trying her best to resist the urge just to fall back asleep. Coffee. Coffee will help. Maybe some fruit too. And a slice of Tia’s cake. Dreaming of her new breakfast-to-be, Luna smacked her lips and stretched out a hoof.

With a slight squeak, Luna’s hoof bounced off something just outside the borders of her rather large bed. Confused, she extended her hoof once again, more slowly. Again, it hit a barrier which squashed slightly before emitting a sharp pop.

What is this? Luna wondered for a brief second, before a strand of plastic burst out of the bubble to wrap itself around her hoof. In the dim light she could just make out the slight sheen disturbed by the regular bumps of bubbles. Still not quite comprehending, she brought up her other hoof to attempt to free the first. Another pop heralded another plasticized appendage.

A brief burst of magic threw the curtains open, illuminating the room with bright morning light. Bubble wrap covered everything. Sheens of plastic over the walls, across the floor, and stretched across the illusory star-studded ceiling. Even closer were the thin sheets pulled taut across the three open sides of her bed, trapping Luna within.

Luna looked down to her forehooves, and smirked. It was a good attempt, to be sure, but once something was already covered in bubble wrap, it couldn’t exactly be covered twice.

Pop!

Thunk.

Pop!

After several minutes of chain reaction, Luna stared dumbfounded at the large pile of random objects scattered across her bed and part of the floor - among them a frying pan, book, broken flower pot, small lizard, empty leather pouch, and a kitchen sink - all also covered in bubble wrap.

It was supposed to be foolproof, a simple flaw in Tia’s otherwise cunning plan. If it was just possible to navigate with two hooves instead of four, escape would be simple, but with this...

Luna blew a lock of ethereal mane away from her muzzle in frustration, throwing a look of both despondency and disdain between the door to her ensuite and the door out of her chambers entirely. Both were liberally coated in the enhanced packing material and glistening in the morning light, as though mocking her.

This... was going to be nothing short of an ordeal.

_--_--_--_--_--_

Pop, pop, clunk! Pop, pop, clunk! Pop, pop, clunk! A small pegasus hastily dropped her feather duster in her mad dash to escape. Despite the rules of the prank war, rumor still traveled fast in certain circles, and none faster than the mares and stallions who made a living cleaning the palace and making sure the Sister’s lives ran smoothly. As such, a very irate blue alicorn trailing bubble wrap and miscellaneous items stomping a trail through the middle of the Sister’s private wing was a cause for alarm.

Luna paid no mind as the maids and message runners scurried about, doing everything they could to stay out of her way, and the path of destruction currently creeping up the hallway. She spared no thought for the inevitable cleanup. It had taken nearly an hour to finally break free of her own room, and Luna was determined to make sure her sister knew exactly how painful it was.

And maybe in the future they could rule out these types of pranks.

Celestia could hear the noise in the distance, she knew what was coming. It was fine, accepted even. But somepony had to start it, it had all been fun and games, but at a dead tied score at 37 with seventeen days left, it had been time for some good old fashioned escalation.

As the door to her chambers burst open, revealing a very irate alicorn swathed in random objects and bubble wrap, Celestia sighed. “Good afternoon, Sister. We missed you at breakfast.”

Luna said nothing.

“I trust you had a safe trip?”

With a snort, Luna stomped a hoof over the threshold, and began walking into the room.

Pop!

_--_--_--_--_--_

Three figures huddled around one of Discord’s small floating windows in the chambers of Cadence and Shining Armor. All sat, slack jawed, as bubble wrap and items exploded all over Celestia and her chamber as the two rolled around on the floor in a flurry of limbs, wings, and plastic, giggling like fillies.

“Beautiful,” murmured Discord, using his tail to wipe a single tear from his eye.

“This almost ruins the point of this sibling rivalry thing,” added Shining.

“....That looks like fun,” finished Cadence. “What?” she added, seeing the looks the other two gave her.

Discord closed his window with a snap, leaving the sisters to their fun. “Five. Across the board.”

“That would just continue the tie. Aunt Celestia’s prank was great, well planned, and well executed. Aunt Luna just stomped across the castle and wrecked Celestia’s room. There was no art, no subtlety.”

“But if it stays at a tie, imagine what will happen in the next few days?” Discord floated into the air, practically tying himself in knots. “How will Luna react to this? Surely better pranks will follow if we just... apply some pressure.”

Cadence shook her head. “I can’t let you maintain a tie just to force more chaotic pranks from the two sisters. This one came dangerously close to breaking the Rule of Bystanders; what could come in a few days?”

As one, Cadence and Discord turned towards Shining, who visibly paled under their combined stare. “You want me to break the tie.”

Both nodded.

“No matter what I pick, the other one is going to be angry.”

Both nodded.

“So how am I supposed to remain impartial in the face of angering the God of Chaos, and worse, my wife!?”

Both nodded.

“That doesn’t even make sense!”

_--_--_--_--_--_

Canterlot Construction Incident Report

Hours Billed Include Repair Material and Horsepower:

Clean-up: seventeen hours, 16000 bits
Lunar Door Reconstruction: two hours, 500 bits
Celestial Door Reconstruction: two hours, 500 bits
Misc. Tile Repair: eight hours, 6000 bits
Plumbing Cleaning and Repair: fifteen hours, 10000 bits
Anonymous Donation: -150000 bit

Job Injuries: 3

Notes:
Highnesses, we request, in the future, that any magically altered packaging materials not be used in conjunction with indoor plumbing. Or, if I may speak candidly, with anything at all. I’ve never seen such a mess in my career here and I’ve been contracted to clean up after a Pinkie Pie Party. We also humbly apologize for the stains in the Princess of the Sun’s personal chambers, we have never seen anything like it before, and it did not respond to standard cleaning procedure. The labor price on Clean-up has been reduced to compensate for us sending a specialist at a later date to finish the job.

Your Humble Construction Specialist

Hard Hat

P.S. Reconstruction continues on the site of Fort Luna. We apologize for the delays.

Author's Note:

This chapter isn't late, it's exactly on time.
Thank you all for sticking with us, assuming you still have, while both quick and myself deal with real life stuff. The good news is that we have the last pranks finalized. We now know exactly how long the story will be, so be looking forward to that in another five years.
We'll see you in the next chapter.

Comments

[quick_study]

5/7 would edit again.

[Phantom Night]

Wow, an update, Happy New Year indeed

[AnonponyDASHIE]

So glad to see this story still kicking around. Good thing it was on my favorites or I probably would have completely missed it.
Keep up the good work.

[PonyDragon]

We now know exactly how long the story will be, so be looking forward to that in another five years.
We'll see you in the next chapter.

Well then, time to make myself comfortable.