Also Technically Not Set In April
Last year’s prank:
Twilight and Cadence argued about who Shining Armour loves more so with the help of his ex, Chrysalis, they set up a fake kidnapping where Shining has to choose which one of them live over a skype call from the room next to him. He then pulls out a gun and shoots himself so Chrysalis won’t hurt either of them. Cadence and Twilight scream, Chrysalis and Shining Armour laugh. Chrysalis told him about it so she could prank Cadence instead. Prank was actually on her though as Shining said ‘but you’re now in a room with two angry girls you just pranked… have fun’ and the three of them then agreed to get back at Shining next year… before leaving Chrysalis duct taped her to a phone pole. Fluffle Puff was the first to find her.
“I still think we should’ve done this on April first.” Twilight said as the three of them discussed their plan to revenge-prank Shining Armour after their last prank went awry.
“He’d see it coming if we got him back on the same day as the first one.” Chrysalis told the younger girl as if she was stupid despite the fact that Twilight, only about twelve now, was probably the smartest out of the lot of them. “Three month later he’ll think we’ve forgotten all about it and won’t be expecting anything.”
“Well maybe if you hadn’t double crossed us and told him about the prank we would’ve never duct taped you to that power pole and let you get abducted by that mentally challenged girl.” Cadence replied angrily to her boyfriend’s ex. She did not like the plan Chrysalis had cooked up… even if it would be funny afterwards.
“She poked me in the chest repeatedly with a toy van for over an hour! I dropped a cup size because of her!” Chrysalis nearly yelled. She still hadn’t forgiven him for leaving her in that room with these two. “Look, unless you’ve got a better idea, we’re going with my one. The party’s tonight and Shining Armour’s a Ponies & Palaces playing nerd who never gets invited to these so who knows when we’ll get another chance.”
“I don’t mean to gossip but I can’t stop thinking about it. He’s such a jerk!” Cadence said as she and Shining Armour walked down the hall just after school had finished for the day. Her arms wrapped tightly around his right arm as they did. “I don’t know what I would do if I was her. I just want to rip out that jerk’s eyes and throw them at the girl he cheated with and then rip out hers and swap their eyes with one another and…”
“Calm down Cadence. You’re starting to dig your nails into me.” Shining whined. She’d been on about this for a few days now.
“I’m sorry. It’s just cheating is just… it’s horrible. And I hate anyone who would do that to their girlfriend. I mean, maybe if it was a mistake and they owned up to it… but to hide it like he did and try and have two girls, that’s just despicable. Oh, but I know you’d never do something like that would you?” she said with pleading and yet also stabbing eyes.
“Of course I wouldn’t. You’re the only girl I love.” Shining then leant down slightly and kissed Cadence.
“Aww… that’s so sw-”
“Other than Twilight”
-eet…” she finished with a bemused tone. Though after what they done, well, tried to do last year she couldn’t blame him. Of course she also knew he was lying. Chrysalis had told them her plan had succeeded. She’d gotten someone to get Shining drunk then approached him. Thirty minutes and a few drinks later the two of them had made out. Heavily too according to Chrysalis description that Twilight really shouldn’t have heard.
Cadence had been laying on this clingy and jealous act for three days now and Chrysalis had been texting him about it, threatening to tell Cadence about it if he didn’t do stuff for her. Of course with how well he was holding up under the two acts, it almost made Cadence worry that he actually was trying to have both of them at once. ‘last night was a mistake, lets just pretend it never happend’. But the text Chrysalis had shown her from him said otherwise.
“He’s been acting as if nothing’s happened at all. Has he been acting any differently here?” It was later in the day and Cadence was sitting on Twilight’s bed while Twilight sat at her desk reading one of her books.
“Not that I’ve noticed. He’s started gardening but he used to help Mom in the garden all the time so I wouldn’t say so. He isn’t panicking or getting edgy like you said he would.” Twilight replied without looking up from her book. “It is possible the Chrysalis never did anything and that she’s just playing the prank on us. Again.”
“That’s… actually quite likely. But how’d she fake that text from Shining Armour?” Cadence asked as she pulled out her phone and began looking for Chrysalis in her contacts. “Hmm… I guess it’s easy enough to message from some other phone and just name a contact Shiny. I’ll give her a call and tell her to meet me sometime tomorrow.” Cadence added as she pressed a button on her phone and lifted it to her ear.
“She called him ‘Shiny’ on her phone?” Twilight asked, actually looking away from her book.
“She did, but don’t worry about it. Chrysalis is just doing it to try and get to us.” she told Twilight as the phone rang a few times before it picked up ‘Yo if I know you leave a thing after the thing. *BEEEEP!*’ Cadence sighed heavily and hung up. “She’s been avoiding me at school too. I haven’t even seen her since Sunday. Not that we usually hang out but I haven’t seen her at all. Playing it smart I guess. Would seem suspicious if Shining saw the two of us talking out of the blue.”
“Isn’t the whole point of this prank for Shiny to see you two together and think she’s telling you about the party?” asked Twilight, having already returned to her book.
“That’s not a bad idea. Well, morally it is but… anywho, I’ll text her and tell her to meet me up with me tomorrow. Besides letting Shining Amour see us together I can get her to prove the text is from him and not someone else.”
“She never showed up.” said Cadence, once again sitting on Twilight’s bed while the younger girl read a book. “I asked around and she wasn’t at school yesterday and possibly monday either.” as she fell backwards onto the bed.
“Maybe Shiny’s a sociopath.” Twilight said bluntly.“What?!” half yelled Cadence as she quickly sat back up. “What on Equestria gave you that idea?” she asked, getting up from the bed and walking over to Twilight’s desk. Twilight just flicked a few pages back and showed her. ‘A sociopath can be defined as a person who has Antisocial Personality Disorder. This disorder is characterized by a disregard for the feelings of others, a lack of remorse or shame, manipulative behavior, unchecked egocentricity, and the ability to lie in order to achieve one's goals.’ “What are you even reading?”
“Psychology 301”
"That’s it... Chrysalis is just trying to flip the prank on us. She never even spoke to Shining Armour on Saturday. And I’m going to prove it!”
“How?”
"I have no idea.”
Twilight just put a mark in her book and closed it. She stood up and started towards the door with a bemused look on her face. “I’ll distract him, you get his phone.” and when Twilight returned to her room, Cadence was sitting on her bed once more waving his phone by her wrist as if it so ‘I got it’ to a Twilight who really didn’t care at this point. The last ‘prank’ she was a direct part of and though she was reluctant towards it, at least she was a part of it. This one however, she was only part of it because they let her be.
“Alright, let’s see what we’ve got…” which was followed by a lot of tapping. “Nothing… he hasn’t got any messages from her at all. He hasn’t even got her number on here. See. I knew she’d double crossed us.”
“He probably just deleted them.” Twilight said once more without looking up from her book.
“What… then how do I get them back?” her brow furrowed and she poked her tongue out the side of her mouth, which of course is the international sign for getting serious, as she grabbed the phone with both hands and rapidly began tapping away with both thumbs looking for a way to restore something that had been deleted. She couldn’t. “Awwwgghhh….”
“Maybe try putting Chrysalis’ number in and see if anything comes up.” Twilight said. Though she was a little fed up with Cadence’s whole plan that wasn’t even really working out. If they didn’t find anything interesting then she was just going to give up on it and convince Cadence to do the same. After all, it was really starting to cut into her reading time.
I’m be over in a few. But if you even mention saying anything to cadence you’ll regret it!
“That… is at least proof she messaged him.” said Twilight as she looked over Cadence’s shoulder.
“Well, at least he’s worried. He’s just a really good actor I guess. Maybe I should just tell him it was our payback prank.” she said as she slid her finger on the phone, scrolling back through the two’s conversation.
Hey Shining Amor. Your GF and sister are plannign to prank you. I wanna prank them so just know when I call you later it’s fake. So pretend to not care or something. Kthxbye
Cadence groaned… Twilight did too but more so because of the horrible spelling. After that there was more than a year gap between messages.
last night was amazing…
last night was a mistake, let’s just pretend it never happened
oh come on. You know I’m better than that trampy candy arse you have
please, just forget we ever slept together.
“WHAT!?!?!?” Cadence yelled. “She slept with him?! That was NOT part of our plan!” she fumed and continued reading. She’d let him go knowing he’d made out with Chrysalis but to sleep with her? Even if he was drunk that was too far.
I don’t want what I have with her ruined
“Aww… I can’t stay mad at him after that…” Twilight just looked at her former babysitter with a bemused expression that said ‘seriously?’.
either you dump her or I’ll do it for you
Don’t you even think about it!
Or what?
You’ll regret it
hahaha yeah right. Tell you what, why don’t you come over and I’ll make you change your mind
I’m be over in a few. But if you even mention saying anything to cadence you’ll regret it!
The last message was sent Sunday afternoon and after that the contact had been removed from the phone. “What would… you don’t thi- no. Um…”
“Did Shiny kill her?” Twilight said bluntly. It was what Cadence was thinking too but she couldn’t possibly imagine him doing anything so extreme. Could he? They’d talked about him joining the army and if he’d really be able to kill someone if he had to. And he’d told her he thought he could.
“Don’t be silly… I mean MAYBE he beat her a little but…” Cadence stopped realising that didn’t exactly sound good either. “Look, she’ll be at school tomorrow and if she’s not…”
“We’ll go to her house and see if she’s home.”
“Oh, you’re talking again?” Twilight said after Cadence had remained quiet since they were in her room last night. “And is that why you took me to this run down old house?” She continued as Cadence walked up to the door and knocked. They heard some shuffling from inside and the clinking of glass bottles before the door opened.
“What do you want?” asked and older lady with a thick Brooklyn accent for some reason.
“Is this… is this where Chrysalis lives?” Cadences asked looking inside to see the mildewy walls and ceiling, along with torn wall paper and garbage just littering the floor. Cadence knew Chrysalis lived in a bit of a dump from all those drawing the fluffy girl who’d abducted her had shown during the court hearing but still, to see it in person… no wonder she’d gotten Stockholm Syndrome and moved in with the girl for a few weeks.
“Yeah?” the woman, likely Chrysalis’ mother, asked in response. “You’re not friend with that pink girl are ya?”
“No. no, I’m in a few of her classes at school and was sent to give her her homework. Can we come in?”
“Who's the girl?”
“She’s my slave.” Twilight answered as the young girl she was.
“Sure she is... come on in. Down the hallway, first on the left. If the door’s locked just kick it in again.” Matriarchrysalis said as she turned around and headed back to her chair in front of the boobtube. Twilight quickly accepted the invitation and walked in. Cadence followed suit.
Much like the first door on the right, the door frame around the handle was in splinters leaving Chrysalis’ door a fraction open. Cadence reached over Twilight and knocked on the door. Which of course caused it to slowly swing open. The room was trashed. Holes in the walls, a broken TV screen down on the ground and a shard of broken window over the bed underneath it.
All in all it looked much like the rest of the house but with one exception. “That’s a lot of blood…” Twilight said as Cadence paled. Besides the giant pool of it near the television beside the bed, there was also a few spats of blood on the walk over a poster of band Baxter, Baxter, Baxter, Francis and Francis. “More than a person could lose and still be alive: a lot.”
Cadence covered Twilight’s eyes and forcibly turned her away from the room. “Miss. Where’s Chrysalis?” Her voice trembling.
“I don’t know. She’s not in there?”
“No!”
“Calm ya tits girl. She’s probably just staying with her father.” she said, getting up from her chair once more. She waddled over to the door and took a look at the latch. “You know I was joking about kicking it in…” she said dryly. “This place is a hole but ya don’t have to make it worse alright?” before she looked inside “Oh… shit… I just bought that TV!”
“When did you last see your daughter?!” Cadence half yelled.
“Daughter? Never. My niece? Uh… Sunday? Night I guess.”
“There’s a pool of blood in there! How can you be this calm!?”
“Girly, I lost her last year for nearly a month. I’m already over her death.”
“What?!” fully yelled this time.
“If…”
“That doesn’t help!”
“She’s calling the cops… this is bad. If Shining Armour really did what I think he did…” Cadence said as she paced back and forth in Twilight’s room.
“How did we get back here? This is really getting weird.”
“Game over man… game over!” Cadence quoted as she rocked back and forth in the fetal position while sucking on her thumb.
“Ugh…” Twilight sigh and rolled her eyes. “What is wrong with you? You and I both know my big brother would ever do something like that! Why don’t you just ask him instead of thinking you’re playing it cool with your stupid prank that’s three months too late! Gah!!!” erupted Twilight.
Having stopped Cadence’s panic attack, Twilight huffed and puffed for a moment before the older girl stood up and walked over to her. Placing a hand on her shoulder she said “You’re right… where is he?”
“Hmmm…” Twilight wonder as she turned to the window and looked outside. Shining Armour was walking towards the house from the backyard with a small bit of dirt on him here and there. “He’s coming back from his garden right now.” and with that Cadence left the room and head downstairs to meet Shining at the door. He was just outside washing his hand at the tap when she got there.
“Hey Cadence. What are you doing here tonight? You know my parents will be home on Thursday nights.” he said with a seductive eyebrow wiggle that really just looked silly.
Cadence giggled and answered “Just hanging out with Twilight. I’ll be leaving soon but… there’s one thing I have to ask first. You haven’t at all happened to have maybe perhaps caught a glimpse of… Chrysalis… lately?” she said the last part with a slightly squeakier tone than needed for the question.
Shining hadn’t batted an eyelash at Cadence’s mentions of other girls over the week… not that she’d done that for two days now, but now, mentioning her by name, just for a second, a brief twitch of the eye gave him away. “Uh… no. I haven’t seen her since… what, a years and and a few months ago when that whole… I’m sorry. For the prank. That was wrong of me… and maybe there’s a little blame on you too but I went way overboard in what I did back.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s fine.” Cadence said with a reassuring smile.
“Oh god he killed her!” Cadence whisper-shouted as she paced back and forth in Twilight’s room. “There’s no other explanation. The lying, the threatening texts, the blood in her room, the signs of being a sociopath, missing for five days, the… wait… it’s missing. Where’s the body?!” Cadence spun around grabbed Twilight’s arm and pressed her face up again her face, eyes fully dilated.
“Cadence you’re hurting me…”
“There’s no body. There’s no proof! Maybe it is just a prank still. An elaborate, well thought out prank that I’m the butt of. There’s no way Shining killed her… there’s no way!” her eye twitched but in a slightly different manner to Shining Armour’s eye twitch. Where his was a brief spasm, hers was a constant and vigorous shaking. “Ok… think this through. When did she disappear? Sunday. Shining Armour went out Sunday night… what could possibly have changed since then?”
“Well. He started gardening again.” Twilight answered. “In fact… he started Monday morning before I woke up. I was having breakfast when he came back inside covered in dirt. You don’t think…”
“She’s buried under the garden… wait. Where is the garden?” Cadence asked as she looked out the window.
“It’s behind the shed in the back corner of the yard. Next to the swing set.”
“Ok noob, here’s the strat. You distract him with the care package your gran-ma sent you. He knows you're not allowed to have the cookies out of that jar so if he hear it clink he’ll come and stop you. I’ll sneak out the balcony stairs. Ready? Break!”
“What?” and with that Cadence was out the window, already having not followed her own plan. It was just getting dark outside and the sky was purple. A time known as sunset when the clouds would shimmer and the starlight would just start to glimmer as the moon dancered in the sky. It was just dark enough that Cadence’s trixie stealth plan would work…
Twilight, for her part figured that even though she no longer needed to, she might as well go get herself a cookie now that she thought about it. By the time she got down there Cadence had already started digging up the garden, completely disregarding the freshly sprouted buds that had popped up from the ground. She was about a foot down at this point and covered in dirt.
“There’s nothing here…” she said happily… she had been pranked. And boy did it feel good. Of course Shining Armour hadn’t killed Chrysalis… she’d have to be stupid to think he had. She’d just gone and stayed with her father and skipped school to mess with h- the tip of her fingers hit something that didn’t feel like dirt. It felt rough... she quickly pushed some more dirt away. It was a piece of cloth… and as she poked it… it felt soft. Like there was something, or someone under it.
“Stop right there!" Shining Armour shouted from inside.
“Criminal scum! Gran-ma sent those on her deathbed…” Shining stated with a nonplussed expression on his face. “I thought you and Cadence were hanging out… did she put you up to this?”
“What? Uh, no. No… she left. Yeah. She left… in a hurry. Something about… finding…” Twilight stuttered. She wasn’t good at lying to her brother. Anyone else? Absolute pro at it but him, different story.
“What was that?” Shining said as the two of them heard a short shrill squeal coming from the back yard. Cadence, back behind the shed, had uncovered more of the body. And it was definitely a body. The cloth had been a shirt… and one she recognised as Chrysalis wearing when they’d spoken last. She’s dug upwards and reached the skirt. She then dug downwards until she began finding strings of dull green hair in there with it. And finally she uncovered the face. Chrysalis’ face.
“He... killed her!” she muttered to herself through the hands over her mouth.
“Twily, stand back. I think there’s someone in the backyard.” he said as he went into the garage and grabbed a baseball bat before turning on the backyard light. Cadence’s eyes hurt for a second as they adjusted to the light. “Who's there?!” he yelled at her even though he couldn’t see her behind the shed. Cadence could however see him. Or at least his shadowed silhouette coming towards her with weapon in hand.
She tried jumping the fence but couldn’t get over it. She then tried squeezing between the shed and the fence but only ended up getting stuck. As he rounded the corner Cadence looked at him in shear terror, stuck and helpless, standing over the body of his ex that he’d killed and she’d unearthed. “Please don’t kill me too! I’ll do anything! I’ll suck your dick! Just please!!! Don’t kill me!!!!!” she yelled and continued to yell but beyond that it was all incoherent crying and babbling.
Shining just stared at his girlfriend. He went to take a step forward and was tackled by Twilight. Actually tackled is the wrong word. More like she ran at him jumped and then hit the brick wall that was her brother of double or more her size. From her spot on the ground she looked up at Shiny who was also looking down at her before the two of them turned and saw Chrysalis’ corpse in the upturned earth. It was now Twilight’s turn to start babbling incoherently.
“What is going on out there?” Night Light yelled as he walked out of the house.
Shining, bat in hand turned to his father furrowed his brow and took a step towards him as he swung the bat up over his shoulder. “I have no idea. Cadence dug up my roses and Twilight jumped at me… also there’s a dead pig back there.”
“What? Let me see.” he said as he walked past Shining and “Shining Armour. Why is that… pig… dressed in girl's clothing?”
“I really have no idea.” he repeated.
“Why is Cadence stuck between the shed and the fence?”
“I have no clue.”
“Uh huh… and why is your ex girlfriend looking out of the shed window covering her mouth.”
“I’m sorry. What?” Cadence said, instantly snapping out of hysteria and looked up at Chrysalis who finally moved her hands and just started laughing like a mad wymxn.
“Oh my-hahaha-oh my god… I didn’t… HAha didn’t think it would work. The look on… hahahahahahahaha… bwhahahahaa….. HHHAAAAHAHAAAHHHHAAAHHHHAA!!!!!!”
“Get me out of here I’m going to kill her!” Cadence yelled as she started violently thrashing around, shaking the shed and the fence to the point that you could hear metal creaking and wooden palings cracking.
Night Light suddenly shouted “Would someone PLEASE tell me what is going on here?”
Chrysalis sat in the Sparkle’s living room with the three she had just pranked and a very large and throbbing anime style welt on her head. “And that’s how it all happened.”
“I-I’m confused.” Night Light said, scratching his head. “Could you go over it all one more time?”
“Well, I have to thank Cadence for this one, she made it too easy. First, being part of Cadence’s prank plan against Shining Armour gave me the inside information, obviously. So from there I formulated my own idea. And you can guess that was to fake my own death. The hardest part about it was waiting for you numbskulls to figure it out.”
Flash back using still images with a grainy and shifting filter
The first step was to make sure Cadence thought the original plan had gone off without a hitch. So I snuck into Shining’s room after the party on Saturday night and… ‘borrowed’ his phone to send those texts back and forth.
After that I snuck into Twilight’s room and planted the psychology book knowing that she’d be reading it by monday to make sure you were really questioning whether you can trust him or not.
Then came the dirty work. I bought a whole pig and dressed it up in my clothes. I got a wig and even got a special effects artist to make a realistic latex mask of my face. Sorry, did I say dirty? I mean expensive… this cost me over $500. Worth it.
Of course with a dead pig, you get a lot of blood to fake the murder scene with. The TV and door I broke are counted in that $500 as well. Seriously, I hope you appreciate how much went into this prank.
Lastly, and here’s the kicker, which I absolutely loved watching earlier this evening when you asked him if he saw me. I did talk to him at that party. I didn’t bang him like I said in the texts or even kiss him as planned. I hold him that it would be so romantic if he started a garden and grew some roses to give to you for your birthday in a few months.
Then I just hid in the shed and waited.
Unflash back
Chrysalis sat with the group and a second throbbing anime style welt on her head as Shining held Cadence back. “I’m cool I’m cool…” she said to Shining who then let her go. “How did you get Shining Armour to go out Sunday night though?”
Chrysalis just sighed… “Really?” then just stared at them in disbelief. “If anything I thought this would be the part of my plan were it all fell apart. He goes out every Sunday night. Even since before we started dated. Shining Armour never gets invited to parties because…”
It was at that moment that both Twilight and Cadence realised why. “He’s a Ponies & Palaces playing nerd. And every Sunday he go and plays PnP with his band. Right… I try to block that part of him out out as his girlfriend.”
“There’s still one thing I don’t understand.” Twilight interjected. “How did you get your mom to go along with it and let you take off a week of school!?” which was honestly the most shocking part to Twilight.
“I’m going out to fake my death Ant. If anyone comes asking for me you don’t know where I am.”
“Alright.”
“Oh I see… then everything is wrapped up in a neat little package!” Twilight proclaimed. All eyes were on her now, waiting for next follow up question. She was silent for a moment until she realised all eyes were on her. She looked around and “No really I mean it. Sorry if it sounded sarcastic.” she shrugged.
“You clearly put a lot of work into this plan and it was quite impressive.” Shining Armour began. “But don’t you think it was a little mean? I mean… you made Cadence think she dug up your dead body and had gotten you killed.”
Chrysalis just stared at him for a moment before calmly yet very forcefully stated “They tapped me. To. A phone pole!”
Shining Armour then raised a finger and began to speak but couldn’t really think of anything to say before lowering his hand… “Good point.”
Cadence, having calmed down was sitting with her hands folded in her lap simply said “Well. You know, all this means is that we have to get you back even better next year.”
“Oh bring it o-”
“NO!!!” Twilight shouted. “You two are not doing this again…”
The End
“Because next year… I’ll be pranking the three of you. Mwahahahahaha…..”