The Colors of the Paintball
Having Some Fun
Raven rubbed her moderate orange eyes as sunlight crept up behind the covers that protected her from the cold wind she endured the night before. She brushed her long black hair out of her eyes and to the sides of her face, preventing her mane from obstructing her view.
Her eyes panned at the room around her, the guest room that Princess Celestia gave her for handling all of her appointments. “Time to work. Got to get ready first,” Raven kicked the covers off to the side with her forelegs on the edge of the bed before she walked off to the bathroom.
Raven frantically paced around with toothpaste in one hoof and a toothbrush in the other, a white coat of toothpaste covered her pearly, white teeth in a thick line of paste. She pressed the toothbrush against her teeth with the toothpaste making contact along the soft bristles, the toothpaste brushed against the surface of her teeth. Her tongue traveled amongst the rows of teeth, a big grin shined on the reflective surface of the mirror.
“Teeth, check.” She noticed the rest of her features, looking in horror at her ruffled mane and drool on her face.
Celestia’s aide grabbed a manepin and the end of her scraggly, black mane - twirling her mane around the pin into a bun, leaving the rest of her mane alone. “Mane, check.”
She rushed into her dresser drawer for a red rubber band to tie her tail with, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. “I’m already late, Princess Celestia will kill me!” A blood curdling scream escaped her windpipes, she could hear guards covering their ears with their pillows.
“Pipe down!” A guard yelled behind the wall of her room, banging his head against the wall. “Some of us prefer to sleep in after a long night in the barracks!”
Raven finally found the red rubberband she desperately needed, tying the rubber band around her tail. Her black tail was tied into a big, poofy bun that would look professional and not too messy, to impress the princess. “Tail, check. All ready to go now.”
She took her quill, ink, and clipboard to her front door and closed the door behind her. Trotting happily through the hallway to the throne room, the sound of her hooves echoed through the silent hallway as she knocked on the doors that towered over her.
Celestia’s aura surrounded the doors, opening the doors as they creaked open. Her eyes looked at her aide standing in front of the throne, “Good morning, Raven. Do you have something to inform me of?”
Raven adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her muzzle, her eyes squinted at her clipboard. “You have a meeting with the dignitaries from the Griffon Kingdom, but before your meeting, you have an afternoon lunch with Princess Twilight Sparkle. Anything that you need me to help you with, get your morning coffee and file some reports?”
Celestia held a dismissive hoof at her young aide. “That won’t be necessary, Raven. Cancel all of my scheduled appointments tonight, because I want you to have fun today.” She walked off her diarch and approached Raven, pressed her hoof under her chin.
“With all due respect, Princess Celestia, are you sure that I need a day off?” Raven scratched her head vigorously, then she collected her thoughts and composure.
“You’ve worked really hard and I feel that you deserve a day off. It’s beautiful outside, the sun is shining, thanks to yours truly. This is an order, go have fun.” Celestia sat back down on her throne, nodding her head confidently at Raven.
“If you feel that way, I shall not let you down!” Raven bowed before she ran out of the throne room and out onto the castle gardens. She trotted down the road past a group of butterflies flying around her without a care in the world, an oncoming paintball pellet sped past her head, narrowly missing the mare. “What the heck?”
The sound of paintball pellets rang through the air, suppressed paintball guns shooting off multiple rounds of paintballs at their intended targets. Twilight hopped over a barricade, she wore paintball protective gear as she held one hoof on the trigger of her paintball gun and the other hoof on a paint bomb.
“Come out and play, Twilight. Don’t be a chicken!” Rainbow called out to Twilight, walking through the battlefield of their little paintball game. She heard an object move rapidly past her as she fired off some warning shots into the air, her eyes fixated on the area around her.
A small projectile rolled around on the grass near her hooves, she felt the cold metal touched up against her hooves. Rainbow Dash turned around with her weapon still clenched in her forelegs, and tapped her hoof against the object. “Pssh, this thing is completely harmless.” A thick cloud of pink smoke sprayed out from the object, blanketing the area in the haze of the smoke.
“Duck for cover, because the pink ninja is coming after you!” Pinkie bounced around on her hooves into the cloud of smoke, kneeled down on one knee and her hoof on the trigger of her paintball gun. She looked around, the party pony thought that she heard somepony say something.
Rainbow took off into the sky for cover and swooped back down with a bag of paintballs cradled against her chest. “Bombs away, Pinkie!” She unraveled the bag as the paintballs came crashing down onto the battlefield below, paint splattered everywhere from the barricades to the green grass that was painted in every color of the rainbow.
Pinkie slid down on her knees, jumping over a barricade and leaned her back against the barricade. The thick cloud of pink smoke dissipated as Pinkie cocked her huge paintball cannon and aimed the cannon at her rainbow-colored adversary flying in the air.
The cannon shot out an array of paintball pellets into Rainbow Dash, the pellets painting her coat similar to her mane and she felt the sudden impact of the pellets on her coat. “Target neutralized. My paintball cannon always hits its target,” she giggled as Rainbow Dash swooped down onto the grass, with her body stretched out and coughing from the smoke.
Fluttershy walked cautiously onto the battlefield, her eyes looked behind her and all around her surroundings. “Eep!” She crouched behind a nearby barricade, her paintball pressed against her chest and breathing in silently.
“So this is the fun that Princess Celestia speaks of, alright then.” Raven wandered aimlessly onto the battlefield, humming the tone of a hummingbird to herself before she was tackled to the ground and a hoof silenced her.
“Ya can’t just go out there without a paintball gun. Here, ya’re going ta need this.” Applejack handed the clueless mare a paintball gun filled with green pellets, she placed Raven’s hoof on the trigger and reeled the hoof back to pre-aim.
“How do I work this contraption?” Raven banged the trigger mechanism of the paintball gun, a paintball pellet shot out of the gun and green paint was splattered on Applejack’s coat.
“Ya got the gist of it mostly, just keep yur hoof on tha’ trigger. Press your other hoof against the trigger, aim at yur opponent an’ shoot when ready.” Applejack pressed her forehead against Raven’s forehead, she nodded her head to show that she understood.
“Got it, I’m ready.” Raven pushed the farmpony away, jumping over the barricade and aimed her paintball gun at Fluttershy, who had her head in her hooves and was weeping into them.
“I surrender!” Fluttershy wailed as she wiped away her tears, the suppressed sound of a paintball sniper rifle broke the silence. She plopped down on the ground slowly from a purple paintball to the head with the paint dripping across her forehead. Raven kneeled down to the pegasus and she coughed from the direct blow, her ear pressed against Fluttershy’s mouth.
“Avenge me,” Fluttershy fainted, her tongue strewn across her face.
“I shall,” Raven stood triumphantly as she closed Fluttershy’s eyelids.
Rarity cranked the bolt of the sniper back on the top of her sniper tower, removing the used ammo clip and reloading the next ammo clip into the sniper. With the sound of a click, she aimed the sights of her sniper down at the battlefield noticing that only Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight remained on the battlefield without any paint on them. She leaned her head to the right, her eye peered into the scope of the sniper and felt the bolt slip into her hoof.
She watched Twilight lineup with her sights until she turned around to see a small paint bomb hurled onto the floor of her sniper tower, shielding her eyes to block the white powder from making its way into her eyes. Raven climbed the ladder up to the top of her tower, watching Rarity’s every move as her hooves swayed away from her eyes.
Raven grabbed the end of the sniper and swung the sniper forward at Rarity’s temple, the sniper smacked into the top of her head. She grabbed the back of Rarity’s hind legs, tossing her off the sniper tower crashing down onto a soft landing below.
Twilight poked her head out from the safety of her barricade, Pinkie Pie launched a paintball grenade over the barricade. “Grenade, get down!” The grenade exploded upon impact as pink paint covered the barricade with letters colored in pink graffiti.
“Twilight, you don’t have to be afraid. We can go get some cupcakes after we’re done, all you have to do is surrender and call it a draw.” Pinkie giggled, her watchful eyes glued to Twilight when she reveals herself and seal her fate.
“Surprise!” Twilight jumped out from her barricade and leaped out at Pinkie, guns blazing as their pellets flew into the air.
“This is one intense battle,” Rarity’s eyes widened as a paintball pallet struck the bridge of her nose, she fell back down on the ground.
As the smoke settled from the encounter, Twilight’s hoof shoved up against Pinkie’s throat on the paintball-littered ground of the battlefield with her other hoof on her trigger ready to aim and shoot once she felt it was needed to. “What say that we end this-”
“Right now. I couldn’t agree more,” Raven aimed the butt of her paintball gun as her hoof cradled the trigger close against it, she pressed the trigger and a green paintball pellet splattered across the back of Twilight’s head, which caused her to press the trigger of her gun that propelled a purple pellet into Pinkie’s face.
The rest of Twilight’s friends stood up from their defeat, all of them were covered in paint and removed their protective gear. Raven raised her foreleg up to the sky as she ducked her head down, paintball dog tags hung around her neck.
“Congrats to you, stranger. What’s your name?” Twilight smiled at Raven.
Raven rose her head up, the clanging sound of the dog tags woke her up from her apparent victory. “I’m Raven, Princess Celestia’s aide. At your service, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
“You don’t have to call me that, address me in whatever way that you wish.” Twilight said solemnly.
“Nice to meet ya, Raven.” Applejack tipped her hat at Raven.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, darling.” The seamstress held her hoof out as Raven shook her hoof.
“It’s pretty awesome to meet you, crazy how you beat all of us. Though I hate losing, I’ll give you props for winning the whole shebang.” Rainbow shook Raven’s hoof, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
“I-I’m Fluttershy.” Fluttershy cowered behind Rainbow, her body shaking like a leaf.
“And of course, I’m Pinkie Pie! That was a super, duper, funnerific time that we had together with you. I hope that we can have more fun together!” Pinkie’s forelegs trapped them in a strong huddle position, they all panted as they gasped for some air. She let go of her grasp, freed them from the hug. “Oopsie woopsie, sorry about that.”
“No worries, hopefully I can stay for a while longer.” A small scroll bopped Raven in the back of her head, she looked down at the scroll and unraveled it.
To my loyal subject, Raven
I hope that you had a fun day today with Twilight and her friends. If so, you can spend as much time as you wish with them, make sure to report back to me when you want to conclude your day of fun. Also, where’s my coffee?
Yours Truly,
Princess Celestia
Raven's eyes lingered back to Twilight and her friends, their anticipation building up. "Looks like I'm here to stay!" They bundled the mare in a large group hug, an idea popped into Pinkie's head.
"This calls for a party!"
