Payback

You walk through the long hallways of the royal castle, on your way back to your room after a long, grueling day.

You walk, holding a towel, wiping the remnants of a pie from your face, being laughed at by a pair of solar guards as you walk by. You mutter something under your breath as you hear their their laughter.

Sure the guards get pranked from time to time, along with Luna, but it's you who suffers the worst by far.

You work directly under that troll, cleaning her, pampering her, and cleaning up after her day in and day out. On top of that, you yourself are pranked the most by Trollestia, even more so than Luna. And to top it off, you have to put up with her discrimination against you.

'No magic, no wings, and no strength.' that's a few of the things she'd say to you. You are in fact, by no means weak or small. Sure you can't punch or kick a tree so hard, the fruits shake free, but you can still inflict some serious damage with your arms or legs if provoked. Hell, you could probably lift and throw a pony as big as an alicorn of you tried, but none of that mattered. At least not to Celestia.

All that probably mattered to her was that you were there to get pranked and laughed at. Reason enough for you to want to prove her wrong.

As you make it to the double doors of your room, you throw the towel over your shoulder as you kick the right door open in case of the bucket prank or a heated knob. But there was no falling bucket, so you walk into your room. Magic gave pranks new precautions you had to look out for. Bucket pranks back on Earth, the door was always open a crack to hold the bucket up, but with magic, the door could be closed; one of the many lessons you taught yourself over your time here.

Your room wasn't much by royal standards, but it was still luxurious by yours. A long, soft, four-post bed, a large dresser with an extra pair of clothes you had on you when you arrived, and a balcony with long, blue curtains. But, with all this, you know to be careful since you were out of your room all day.

Removing your shoe while still standing at your door frame, you toss it onto the bed, springing the water balloon trap as it fell onto your bed. The softness of the pillows prevented it from popping, and you were grateful for that. Otherwise, you'd have to sleep on the floor again. Removing your other shoe, you set it down and kick it towards the bed, setting off the trip wire which dropped another water balloon, but this time, it splattered against the hard marble flooring, but you didn't care. It'll dry up by morning.

With bed traps safely sprung, you proceed over to your bed, grabbing the unpopped water balloon and tossed it out the balcony door, not giving a damn where it went or who it hit. Climbing into your bed, you let out a long sigh from a whole day of taking, springing, diffusing, and avoiding pranks.

It didn't take long for you to close your eyes and doze off unto dream land.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, Princess Luna was idly walking around the royal gardens, enjoying her night along with her sister sleeping and not being a pain in the flank.

"The night is a beautiful thing." Luna sighed, looking up at the moon, stopping her walk for a moment. But before she could enjoy her moon any further, a gleam from the direction of the garden caught her eye. Looking over, she saw the statue of an alicorn, an inhibitor ring around its long horn. Narrowing her eyes, she closed her wings back up and made her way to the statue. The ring around the horn was black with a silver lining and silver ornate designs, no doubt used to cripple even the most powerful of magic wielders of their magic.

It didn't take long at all for an idea to form in Luna's mind. But as always, there were faults that needed to be avoided.

'Celestia, even asleep, will notice me as soon as I am within close distance to her. But the human possesses no magic at all. He does not even have a signature.' Luna reminded herself as it was all coming together. On the ethereal plane, everything, whether living or nonliving, gave off a magic signature. The human, having little to no magic at all whatsoever, is near invisible on the plane, and can't be detected, even by an alicorn. A cheek-to-cheek grin was plastered on Luna's face as she reached up and grabbed the inhibitor ring from the statue.

No sooner than she did that, she was almost hit with a stray water balloon, had she not moved her hear to the side in the process of reaching up.

"What? Celestia is asleep. Where did this water balloon come from?" Luna pondered as she looked up to the royal castle to see the lights in your room still on, you not caring whether they were on or off. Better if you kept them on anyway. Luna very well knew that you wouldn't be one to prank another, and figured that you just discarded the balloon once you sprung the trap.

'Hmmm, I wonder.' Luna thought as she spread her wings and too flight up to your room. Landing on the balcony, she peered inside the balcony door to see you fast asleep in your apparently dry bed with a large puddle of water right next to your bed.

"It seems that he's grown quite accustomed to sister's pranks." Luna said as she climbed into the bed, resting down on her stomach next to you as you slept on your back. She took the moment to enjoy watching you sleep, enjoying how peaceful you look as you slept. She gently ran a hoof over your stomach, giggling slightly as she watch you shift a little at the sensation of her smooth hoof. But not now. Luna has a plan, and she intends to carry it out. Sparking up her horn, she gently pressed the tip to your forehead. The strength of magic is relative to proximity, and toughing another with the instrument of magic is the strongest way to transmit a spell. With that in mind, Luna began to enter your dream.

XXXXX

In your dream, you were walking through a silent, peaceful forest in the early morning, away from the royal castle.

The sun was just over the horizon, birds and crickets chirping as you gently yawned. The grass and plants were cool and moist from recent rain, and the trees were giving off little droplets of water.

However, as you took a moment to stretch, you witnessed Princess appear right in front of you, a large grin plastered on her face.

"Luna? What are you doing here? This is my dream, my scapegoat from the toil and troubles of real life." you explained, wondering what she could be here for, praying not here for any funny business.

"I do apologize for intruding your thoughts, but I have an offer to make you." Luna said, making you raise an eyebrow, you interest aroused. You urge her to go on.

"How would you like to put my sister where she belongs?" Luna asked. You jumped at the chance, accepting immediately. The princess of the night only chuckled.

"I knew that you would." Luna said as she began to explain the situation to you. She proceeded to tell you about the inhibitor ring, your invisibility to detection, and what you were to do.

"Pray, be careful. My sister most likely set traps all around her section of the palace." Luna warned as she began to take flight. You in affirmation as you began to wake up.

XXXXX

As you woke up, you felt a smooth surface shaking you awake.

Opening you eyes, you saw Luna's soft eyes looking down at your own.

"Was that you in my dream?" you ask as you began to sit up, rubbing a sore spot on your head. Luna simply nodded before she placed the inhibitor ring next to you.

"You know what to do, correct?" Luna asked, you nodding as you threw your legs over the bed to find out that the floor is dry.

"Good luck." Luna said before she got up and crawled out of your bed. "I pray for a future with no more pranks." were Luna's final words before she spread her wings and took flight from the balcony, leaving you alone again. Looking down, you picked up the ring and put it in your pocket.

You realize it's almost morning, so scratching your back, you stand up and stretch, heading to your bathroom to freshen up for another grueling day of bullshit.