Of all of the friends that Allan had made so far, Pinkie Pie was perhaps the one who could make him the happiest, and the most exasperated, within a day, and today, during his third week of living in Equestria, she seemed determined to do just that. Misfortune be upon Allan that the third week of his stay in Equestria included a day that put three particular residents of Ponyville in a very good mood. National Prank Day.
The human turned changeling had already figured out that Ponyville’s three resident pranksters would be paying him a visit at some point, which meant that he would be getting pranked.
How could he defend against Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Discord? One could predict things, one was super agile and athletic, and the other was the Lord of Chaos. Just how could he keep himself from being pranked, like he knew he would?
As the day in question drew closer, Allan got an idea. A devilishly, deliciously, dementedly, dastardly, dreadfully delightful idea.
But he would need some help…
*******************
It was finally Prank Day, and Rainbow Dash giggled and chuckled as she flew towards Fluttershy’s cottage, ready to set up her pranks for Allan while he was out in town. Landing in front of the cottage, Rainbow trotted up to the front door, and knocked. She wouldn’t dare to intrude in her friends home withoutpermission…. Not after the last time. That had been embarrassing for both pegasi.
Hearing hoofsteps approaching the door, Rainbow prepared her best pleading face, complete with puppy dog eyes and quivering ‘lip.
When the door swung open, it wasn’t Fluttershy who stepped out, but… Allan. Who she had just seen heading down the path… Not one minute ago.
The weight of her saddlebags was suddenly very noticeable to her, and she quickly tried to come up with some sort of excuse for her being there.
“Hi, Dash. What are you doing here?”
“Oh, hi, Allan… I was here to… uh, ask Fluttershy if she could…. Um….” Rainbow’s brain tripped over itself, trying to be helpful, and failing dismally. “Help me with…..Tank! Yeah! I think he’s ill, but I’m not sure…” That sounded convincing, right?
“Oh, well, you just missed her. I think she went to town to talk with Pinkie Pie. Something about a red herring, I think.”
“Oh, okay, thanks anyway!” Rainbow turned tail and forced herself trot at a casual pace. “That was close!” She breathed out a sigh of relief as she finally got far enough to fly off.
*****************************
Discord winked into existence in Fluttershy’s living room in a shower of shredded paper and a chorus of quacking ducks. “Hello, Fluttershy!” He crowed, looking around for his best friend, his yellow and red eyes filled with glee. Today was the one day he could cut loose without so many repercussions, and he was not going to waste it! How could he resist pranking Ponyville’s newest resident? The answer was “Not at all.”
The mare in question came trotting in, pleasant smile on her face as she noticed the draconequus. “Hello, Discord. How are you, today?”
“Oh, I’m just wonderful today, my dear! You know how national prank day is for me, after all, so I was just wondering if our mutual friend Allan was here.”
“Yes, I am.” Came the answer, the bronze shelled changeling trotting in, a rather large compendium of spells floating in front of him in his bright blue magical aura. “I thought I would get some more studying in before I braved going into town. I know that you, Rainbow and Pinkie are probably preparing pranks for everyo- I mean, everypony in town, and I’m pretty sure I’m on the list.”
Discord ground his sharp teeth in frustration. Allan had proven far too observant for him to be able to pull his usual tricks without the changeling noticing.
“Why, of course not.” Discord lied. “Just because we love pranking doesn’t mean we just go about pranking willy nilly! We’d get into so much trouble that it just wouldn’t be worth it.”
Allan raised an eyebrow, in a rather Twilight-esque fashion. “And since when did the mighty Discord ever care about consequence?”
The Draconequus held back a growl, and smiled cheekily instead. “So, just what is it Twilight has you studying, anyway? Nerdiness 101?”
“Actually, Twilight recommended a particular spell, just for today.”
“And what would that be?” Discord asked, eyebrow raised.
“Discordius Repellus.” The Changeling said in a casual and jovial manner, as though he had not just told Discord he was learning magic that was essentially poisonous to him.
“That’s far too advanced for a beginner like you. Twilight would never teach you that spell!” Discord spluttered.
“Well, you can take a look if you want, if you really don’t believe me.” Discord snapped his claws, and the book was suddenly in his his claws. To the Draconequus’ shock, the book actually was open to the spell known as “Discord Repellent” to the more skilled Ponyvillian
unicorns. It also was a book that belonged to Ponyville’s resident egghead Princess, which was just as surprising.
“Well?” Allan asked, eyebrow raised, and with a slight smirk on his muzzle.
Discord shrugged his shoulders, and pretended not to care. “Well, that’s all well and good, but just knowing that spell won’t save you from every prank I could cook up.” He said, a large white lab coat, goggles and smoking beaker appearing on him and in his eagle claw, as
he spread his arms, balancing Twilight’s book on his lion paw. “Anyway, I just thought I would drop in for a visit to make sure nopony else had started pranking either of you.”
“Right. You totally didn’t come here to set up a bunch of pranks for me, while I wasn’t here.”
“As if I would ever sink to such cheap tactics!” Discord snapped, denying his own previous track record of underhanded tricks “With all the power at my disposal, I have no need to sneak about, like a common thief.”
“So the Elements of Harmony vanished from the box in the vault in Canterlot Tower on their own, did they?” Allan asked, his own snarky streak having been triggered.
“That was the old me. I have changed since then, and everypony knows it!”
Fluttershy glared at Allan from behind Discord, silently telling Allan to stop antagonizing Discord. The Changeling nodded his understanding, and turned apologetic eyes up at the Draconequus. “I’m sorry, Discord. That was rude of me. Forget I said anything, okay?”
The Lord of Chaos grumbled a little, but accepted the apology, and after talking with Fluttershy and her house guest for a little longer, vanished, beginning to re-plan his pranks for Allan.
*********************
Pinkie Pie pronked her way up to Fluttershy’s cottage, not five minutes after she had seen Allan in town, ready to set up a party cannon or two in the guest bedroom in the cozy little cottage. She was so excited to see how Allan would take a few jokes, and she hoped a few harmless pranks would help him feel more welcome.
She saw the telltale flash of magic from a teleport through the window of the cottage, and her smile grew bigger. That was probably Discord, having set up a few tricks of his own.
His chaos magic made pranking others incredibly easy, but Ponyville’s premier Party Pony would not be outdone by the Draconequus, Lord of Chaos or not.
She bounded up to the door, quite certain of the fact the Allan was in Ponyville with Fluttershy today.
Her surprise when the Changeling himself opened the door, complete with a mischievous grin, was beyond Equestria, a pair of words that Pinkie made note of, for sounding like the title of a really good story. She started, not quite sure what to make of it. Sure enough, this was Allan, and as soon as she saw him, she knew that he was in the cottage, not in town.
“Hi, Pinks. What’s up?” He asked.
Pinkie fought through her confusion to give a response. “Oh… Hi, Allan!” She squeaked in her normal voice. “I was gonna try and set up a bunch of pranks for you today, but you’re here, and doing that with you at home would be weird, and wouldn’t work, because you’d probably see me.”
Allan blinked, before smiling. “Well, I can’t fault you for trying. Wanna come in? Twilight and Rarity are here too, so why not join us?”
Pinkie nodded with glee. At least she could have fun with friends.
True to Alan's word, Twilight and Rarity sat on the couch, their heads bowed slightly towards each other and talking quietly, giggles breaking up the conversation at random intervals. They looked up as Pinkie and Allan entered, their faces breaking into happy smiles at the sight of them.
“Pinkie! Darling!” Rarity cried in greeting.,”So glad you could join us! Come, my dear! Have a seat!”
“Hello Pinkie. You not pranking today? I thought you’d be having fun with National Pranking day?” Twilight asked, her head tilting slightly to the side.
“Well, I was gonna try and put some pranks up on here, but I think I made a mistake in my timetable for him today, because I thought he was supposed to be in town.”
“You made a mistake? That’s not like you.” Twilight seemed concerned, and Pinkie felt a little guilty. Twilight would need a cupcake as an apology. She shoved one she had been keeping in her mane into Twilight’s face, smooshing bright yellow icing all over her startled friends muzzle.
“Don’t worry about me Twilight, I’ve made mistakes before…” Pinkie paused, suddenly struck by a strange sense that she was being misled. She needed to check, just to make sure that her friends really were her friends. Time for some questions... “Twilight, what are you afraid of?”
“Huh?” The Princess of Friendship seemed confused. “Why are you asking me that?You already know the answers.”
“Humour me.” Pinkie said, in jovial tones.
Twilight looked at Allan, obviously not wanting to share. “Quesadillas….” She said slowly. Allan burst out laughing. "What?! They're just so....." She shuddered. "Cheesy..." Allan laughed harder, prompting the Princess to pout.
“Rarity, what colour do you least like wearing?” Pinkie asked, once Allan had stopped laughing.
“Green. It doesn’t really suit me.”
“I dunno.” The changeling said, hoof on chin, scrutinizing the Alabaster mare. “I could see you in a rather slim, green silk gown.”
Rarity glared at him, before the idea started to take root in her mind. “.....Oh, that might actually work! Something simple, yet elegant…..” She drifted off, muttering ideas, and scribbling down notes in her notebook, which hovered in her blue aura, as did the scribbling
quill.
Fluttershy had trotted in midway through Pinkie’s questioning, some chocolate chip cookies balanced on a tray, which in turn was balanced on her back. She watched it all with mild amusement, before Pinkie was suddenly in front of her, making her release a very
familiar: “Eeep!” sound.
“Fluttershy, what’s your secret dream?”
“Oh… um, which one?” True enough, the pegasus had several, most of which she thought were potentially embarrassing, including knitting, and the strange desire to be a tree.
“Doesn’t matter!”
“Oh, um...I guess… I just want somepony to take care of me, for once…” That was a good answer.
Allan's gaze was softer then, as she said that, and Pinkie could see sympathy in those eyes. As Fluttershy had been looking out for him, Pinkie could see how his own feelings for her were growing. That was enough to convince her. He’d not told anypony, so it was as deep
a secret as she needed to know.
Still, she could feel a nagging sense of being lied to, but she knew that these were all her friends, so it couldn’t be them…. Unless they were planning a surprise for her… Hmmm….
Perhaps she should just let them have their fun. She wouldn’t want to pry too hard, like when she had forgotten her own birthday. It wouldn’t be very nice of her to ruin something they were planning.
Fluttershy looked embarrassed after her admittance, her cheeks red, and her eyes fluttering. Allan averted his gaze, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable. Pinkie noticed everypony else do the same, so she decided to take their minds off Fluttershy’s anxiety, via
cookies. Cookies from the tray on the pegasi’s back.
“Hey everypony,! Let’s eat!”
That got everypony smiling again.
*************************
Not so far away, Rainbow Dash flew over the town, grumbling at missing her opportunity to prank Allan. Oh well, plenty of other ponies to pull a fast one on. Searching for a good victim, Rainbow spotted Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was always down for a prank, so she wouldn’t care much.
Now, what trick to play….? Rolling thunder? Nah, no clouds on a sunny day like today. Her team had seen to that. Dragoon? Nope. Where would she find a dragon costume at this time of year, anyway? Perhaps… oh, Fluttershy was with her. Rainbow was about to fly away when she caught a snippet of the conversation.
“This is gonna be so fun when we see their faces!” That, from Fluttershy, of all ponies? Suspicious.
“Yes, it is gonna be awesome!” Pinkie crowed. “I just hope none of them catch on too soon.”
Fluttershy nodded her agreement. Come on then. We’ve gotta get into position for Discord. He should be coming to prank the town soon, and he told us to be there in time.”
An explosion of ice cream nearby made them exchange panicked glances before zipping off to find Discord, leaving Rainbow to ponder the meaning behind the conversation.
********************
Discord laughed at the myriad of ponies trying to escape the deluge of ice cream, and ultimately failing. As he he was about to scram, so as to avoid the scathing tones and angry/amused looks, he spotted a pink blur come shooting around a street corner, screaming:
“ICECREAM ICECREAM ICECREAM!” It was the pony that followed that made him pause though.
Fluttershy, looking nervous at the extreme amount of ice cream, trotted slowly into the street. “Um, Pinkie… That’s probably not safe…” She tried to caution the logic defying Earth Pony, but to no avail, as Pinkie dove headfirst into the small mountain of ice cream that had
emerged from nowhere. He had just seen her at the cottage, and unless she had somepony teleport her, she couldn’t cover that distance on her own.
“It’s no use Fluttershy.” A third voice joined them. A familiar bronze changeling trotted out from the same alleyway that Fluttershy and Pinkie had. Allan!? He was here too? Things were getting out of hoof. “You can’t reason with her when she’s like this.”
Discord’s eyes narrowed, and he snapped his fingers, reappearing in Fluttershy’s cottage. Allan, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie all sat on the sofa, happily munching away on oatmeal cookies with Rarity and Twilight. Discord did not let himself be seen, staying invisible to them
all, and he peered at each of them with intense focus.
They all seemed perfectly normal.
Discord snapped his fingers again, silently bringing himself back to the ice cream drenched street. Allan and Fluttershy stood, watching on with exasperated expressions as Pinkie Pie dove in and out of the dessert like a dolphin, complete with dolphin noises. Once again, they all looked normal. Something strange was going on here, and he wasn’t so sure he liked it.
***********************
Rainbow watched the flooded street with a frown. Allan didn’t know teleportation, so how had he gotten here so quickly? She had seen Discord hovering around, but his expression at seeing Fluttershy and Pinkie had seemed to be one of surprise. This whole thing
was getting very strange.
***********************
The nagging feeling that Pinkie had just wasn’t going away. Something was funny here, and not in the “Ha ha!” way, either. The longer she sat with her friends eating chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies, the more the little niggling worry grew, which was starting to get on her nerves. Twilight seemed to pick up on it first, her face growing increasingly less happy and more concerned again. She seemed to want to ask, but she simply mustn't know how to broach the subject.
The little gathering finally ended, Twilight and Rarity saying their goodbyes.
“Wait!” The cry was from Fluttershy. “Why don’t we all go into town together? Allan and I wanted to go into town today anyway, but you came over before we could.”
“Oh, what do you guys want in town?” Twilight asked, curiously.
“Oh, well… it’s actually Allan's idea.” Fluttershy explained. “He wants to get me something as a thank you for letting him stay here. And, he has something else he wants to do too, but he won’t tell me what it is.”
That seemed strange. “Sounds fun!” Pinkie said, plonking in place. “Can I come?”
“Of course!” Allan grinned. “All our friends are welcome.”
***********************
Rainbow watched the group below like a hawk, her magenta eyes focused entirely on her quarry. She didn’t even notice Discord appear behind her.
“Isn’t spying on your friends rude, Rainbow Dash? I wouldn’t ask, except that I’m apparently still a novice at friendship.”
Rainbow squealed loudly, though it was thankfully muffled by the cloud she was using as cover. “Discord! You better tell me what’s going on, right now! Or I’m gonna-”
Discord covered her mouth with a claw. “I would, miss Dash, but unfortunately, whatever is going on, it isn’t any of my doing. I’m innocent.” He said, failing to sound convincing at all.
“I don’t believe you!” Rainbow cried, trying to punch Discord. All she did was put her hoof through a previously non-existent hole in the Draconequus’ body.
“Look, no matter what you think-” The Lord of Chaos stopped, ears picking up a new group of voices. Rainbow stopped too, and the two of them peered through a hole in the cloud.
Two groups of their friends stood below, but now, where the Pinkie, Fluttershy and Allan from the ice cream street had stood, Applejack, Starlight, and even Trixie stood, with the stetson wearing farm girl waving over to the others.
“Howdy y’all!” Applejack called in greeting. “Lookie who I ran into on my way to the market today!”
“Starlight! Trixie!” Allan called, trotting over. “Good to see you two again.”
Twilight looked ready to gag at the mention of Trixie, but she managed to keep herself under control, so she didn’t end up embarrassing her student.
“Oh, hi Starlight. How have you been?” Fluttershy asked, she Allan and Starlight descending into small talk.
Discord and Rainbow glanced at one another, before looking back at their friends.
****************************
Allan grinned, sneaking a glance up at the cloud he knew concealed Rainbow and possibly Discord too. This was too easy. He continued his conversation, and waited for the fireworks to begin.
***********************
“Alright! That’s it! I’m going down there and sorting this out right now!” Discord fumed, snapping his fingers once more, teleporting himself and half of the cloud the two were hiding in, right into the middle of the ponies, and changeling, below. “Enough of this! All of you have been acting strange all day, and for one, I’m not happy about it! I demand an explanation!”
Rainbow swooped down beside him, glaring at him for leaving her behind. “Yeah! And you better explain it good!” She demanded, glaring at Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Allan. “We’ve seen you popping up everywhere! You were at Fluttershy’s, then you were here, then you were here again, but not where we’d just seen you!”
Allan seemed the one that was most alarmed at their sudden arrival and their aggressive questions, but despite that, an despite his face being wet drenched by cloud vapour. (He’d caught a face full of the stuff.) he was also the only one who seemed ready to offer up some kind of account of the bizarrities of that morning.)
“Well… I don’t know what you’re talking about. Me, Fluttershy and Pinkie were with Twilight and Rarity all morning.We haven’t been in town until just now. Whoever you saw, it wasn’t us.”
Despite the sincerity of Allan's testimony, Discord’s ancient mind was whirring, literally, with cogs and gears having appeared all over his lengthy, equine muzzle, clicking and whirring as they processed the information he had. Friends appearing and disappearing, with no sign of teleportation. The more he thought about it, the more obvious the answer became.
“You’re all shapeshifting…” Discord said slowly, looking at them all with sudden clarity. “You figured out some way to let everypony shapeshift…”
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnHmskwqCCQ )
Allan's face turned from anxious to extremely energetic in the space of a heartbeat. “Meep Meep!” He cried, and after making a strange noise that sounded similar to repeatedly popping cork, he suddenly sped off in a cloud of dust that left both discord and Rainbow coughing.
“What the-?!” Rainbow cried, amid coughing. “He’s never been that fast before!”
Discord wiped the dust from his eyes, then quickly took them out, brushed some dirt out from behind them, and started to follow the changeling, only for Rainbow to stop him by tugging on his arm. “What is it- oh…” Their friends, sporting some of the biggest, mischievous
grins in the history of grins, were standing in a circle around them.
“MEEP MEEP!” They chorused, before doing exactly as Allan had done and speeding off in different directions.
Rainbow and Discord spent another little while coughing the Dust out of their lungs, before the pegasus managed to ask. “Are they all Changelings?!”
“*cough* No. They must have some sort of charm that lets them shapeshift at will. No doubt our mutual changeling friend and our bookworm Princess cooked this whole thing up.”
“So...”
“Let’s catch them!” Discord roared.”Nopony makes a fool of Discord but Discord!”
Discord sped off after Allan, while Rainbow went off after Pinkie Pie. She caught up with her quickly, only for the pink pony to leap through the air in a graceful arc, landing inside one of two wooden barrels. Rainbow stopped, eyeing the wooden container with a wary stare,
only to be surprised when Pinkie popped back up, pulling a face at the prismatic pegasus.
“Nyah nyah!!”
Rainbow growled, then dived in after her friend. Seconds before Rainbow slammed down on top of her, Pinkie suddenly dived back down, disappearing into the dark bottom of the barrel.
Rainbow slammed down in the bottom of the barrel, only yo find no Pinkie, just wooden boards. She could hear Pinkie’s laughter somewhere outside, and her own frustrated yelling. She managed to pull her forelegs free, and then pushed herself up, out of the barrel.
Spotting Pinkie was easy. She was half out of the neighbouring barrel, clutching her stomach as she fell over laughing.
Rainbow launched herself at the pink menace, trying to tackle the mare out of the wooden container.
Pinkie easily dodged the assault, vaulting out of the way and galloping off down the street, peals of laughter trailing behind her. Rainbow slammed her hoof into the side of her barrel, her irritation growing with each staccato burst of Pinkie Pie’s hooves.
Before she could make a move, Fluttershy was in front of her, panting, but with an expression of boundless joy on her face. She seemed exhilarated by the chase, and was off again in a flash, the serpentine form of Discord careening after her.
As he pair were crossing a street intersection, Allan crossed in front of the Draconequus, distracting him from Fluttershy. The Lord of
Chaos turned to chase down the changeling, whilst Fluttershy disappeared into an alleyway further down the avenue.
This whole situation reminded her of a comedy show she’d once seen with her father, one that had focused almost entirely on slapstick comedy and a chase scene backed by quirky trumpet music....
Gritting her teeth, Rainbow took to the sky, trying to spot one of her friends. A flash of blonde hair, trailing out from under a large brown hat notified her to Applejack’s whereabouts, giving her a target. Rainbow streaked down, only for Applejack to twist her head around and spot her.
“Woah, nelly!” The Earth Pony cried, diving down a different street to try and shake her pursuer. Rainbow had to quickly flip herself over backwards and twist around so that shestayed on Applejack’s tail, only to see that Applejack was inexplicably going back the way she
had come.
Rainbow dropped to the floor on instinct, pivoting on her hooves to follow the farm pony. As Rainbow went to follow, Rarity screamed past, laughing all the while, an angry Discord chasing after her with several pieces of fruit clinging to his fur from where she’d no
doubt thrown something in the way in an attempt to slow him down. Another Discord appeared at the end of the alleyway as well, finally using his chaotic powers to catch the two ponies before they could escape again. Applejack and Rarity chuckled nervously as Rainbow and one of the Discords approached, their manes plastered to their faces from a little sweat.
As Rainbow was about to reach for the Applejack, the Discord on guard suddenly blew a raspberry at the two irritated pranksters, and vanished in a flash of blue fire, replaced by Pinkie Pie, who then charged off again, closely followed by Rarity, who hoofed it the moment
that Pinkie appeared.
Applejack wasn’t so lucky, as Rainbow grabbed her before she could run, quickly finding the trinket that was letting her shapeshift. She pulled the amulet up and over Applejack’s head, and the moment it came loose, Applejack vanished, the real Rarity standing in her place, trying to hold back laughter at the look of befuddlement on the pegasi’s face.
“That’s the real Rarity, the other one must be somepony else. Come on! Let’s get the others!” Discord ordered, snapping his fingers and teleporting away.
Rainbow gave Rarity one last look before charging off, leaving the fashionista a little tired after her run.
The other Rarity had far too much endurance to be the real thing, which gave her away as really being Applejack, as no other pony besides Pinkie Pie could get so far so fast.
The “Rarity” up ahead made a wrong turn, going into an alley with a dead end. Rainbow sped up to the corner and then around it, to see “Rarity”, trying to figure out how to escape. Rainbow pounced, eliciting a squeal from her adversary as she ripped the enchantment away, revealing Applejack. “Aww, shucks. I was havin’ fun.” The farm pony grumbled.
Slinging the amulet around her own neck, to join it’s companion, Rainbow dashed off again, as Applejack trotted out of the alley at a more sedate pace. Spotting Starlight being strung up by Discord near the marketplace, only for the removal of her amulet to reveal Trixie, Rainbow searched for somepony else to catch.
As luck would have it, Allan came hurrying around the street corner opposite of her, completely oblivious of her presence. Rainbow streaked forward with a war cry, only for the startled changeling to dodge at the last second. Twilight rushed in as well, teleporting the pair
away in a flash of violet magic. Rainbow spotted the nearby flash that told her exactly where the pair had teleported to, just a few buildings away. She took off, her wings pumping hard to get there in time, only for Allan to charge past her the other way, and Twilight start galloping in the other direction. Rainbow decided to go after Allan, and was able to catch up quickly, her wing-power quickly trumping his leg power. She grabbed him by the barrel, and the two went down in a tangle of limbs. His amulet went flying off, and….revealed Pinkie Pie.
“Whee! That was so much fun! Can we do it again? Huh? Can we?” She squealed.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, retrieved the amulet, and started off again, leaving Pinkie Pie to pronk her way back to the place they’d started.
She spotted “Trixie”, or, most likely, Starlight, hiding up on the balcony of Town Hall.
The Unicorn was quick to spot her too, and in typical “Trixie” fashion, she threw down a smoke bomb and vanished. Rainbow cursed Starlight’s friendship with the show mare, and flapped off again, trying to find anypony. She flew over the little square that this silly chase had started in, spotting Discord depositing Twilight and Fluttershy into the middle, where everypony else was waiting. That just left Allan and Starlight.
Discord joined her in the air, both of them glaring intently at the streets below, until Rainbow spotted a “Pinkie” creeping along behind Sugarcube corner. She pointed her out to Discord, and then let herself fall a few feet, to gain momentum, before she angled herself
towards the bakery and snapped her wings open.
Somewhere behind her, the startled yelp of somepony who sounded like Trixie, but probably wasn’t, revealed that Discord had caught Starlight.
Rainbow grinned, and rammed into Pinkie… or would have, had the pink party pony not ducked at the last second, forcing Rainbow to smack straight into the ground. Rubbing her now sore head, Rainbow snarled in Pinkie’s direction, expecting her to run off like before.
Instead, “Pinkie” was backing into a corner, Discord and the other Elements of Harmony, all around.
“Alright Allan, the fun’s over.” Twilight said with a smile. “I think it’s about time we all calmed down, so just let the disguise go and we’ll head back to the castle.”
Allan looked around the semicircle of his friends, his gaze lingering on Rainbow and Discord, before he sighed. “Okay. Fine. I’ve had my fun anyway.” Pinkie’s clone vanished in a flash of blue, revealing a tired looking changeling.
“I take it the two of you cooked this up?” Discord queried, an edge to his voice. He pointed at Twilight and Allan in accusation.
“Yep! I supplied the emotion gel to make the amulets, and Twilight figured out how to duplicate a changeling’s ability to shapeshift! Then it just took, oh, about a week of planning and practice.”
“Yeah! They told me about it today after switching places with each other! Then they asked if I wanted to join in, and since it looked like so much fun, I did! And it was so much fun! I was the one playing Allan when you figured it out, so I said : “Meep Meep.” and ran off! It
was so fun watching the looks on your faces-” Applejack cut Pinkie off by putting a hoof in her friends mouth. Pinkie still blabbered on, completely oblivious to the hard keratin in her face.
“Well, I don’t know about you two, but I’m beat.” Applejack said motioning to the two pranksters. “Why don’t we head on back to the castle now? We can get something’ to eat, get some nice hot chocolate…. That sounds real good right now….” The farm pony trailed off at the thought of the hot beverage, and both she and Pinkie started drooling, causing Applejack to pull her hoof away in disgust. “Consarnit, Pinkie!”
“What?” Hot chocolate’s gooooood.”
“Wait a minute, where’s Trixie?” Rainbow asked, upon noticing the absence of the show mare.
“Oh, you didn’t know?” Starlight asked. “Trixie has a show tonight, so she had to go back to her wagon and get ready.”
“Oh… well, I guess that’s okay. Let’s just go get something to drink.” Rainbow said, turning and flying off towards the castle. "I'm done with chasing you guys around today."
************************
The group pushed open the doors to Twilight’s castle, walking slowly inside, each of them tired, heads low and tails flagging. Rainbow and Discord seemed rather pleased with themselves, though, both of them smiling smugly at having foiled the plan Allan and Twilight
had cooked up.
The troupe of ponies trudged inside, taking the time to wipe their hooves on the welcome mats that Twilight had set up both inside and outside, for double effectiveness. Together, they marched through to the closest of the castle many kitchens, with
Discord repeatedly mocking Allan for how he had beaten his silly game of switcheroo. The changeling just smiled, happy that he had spent his day having fun.
The kitchen was as immaculately ordered as everything that Twilight put her hooves to, with the coffee, hot chocolate and tea all organized via flavour, effect and strength. “So…. who wants what?”
*************************
“I think this the best hot chocolate I’ve made in a while.” Twilight congratulated herself as the group trotted easily into the throne room.
“Allan!” Twilight’s voice suddenly echoed across the room, but not coming from the Twilight holding a steaming mug of coffee in her magical aura. Instead, it came from the the side of the room, where Twilight and Spike had just walked in. “Did you take the changeling
amulets I was working on, without my permission? You know-” She stopped, noticing herself standing with her friends, all but Rainbow and Discord looking around in mock innocence. The Princess spotted the amulets hanging on Discord and Rainbow necks. “Allan, what did you do?”
“Relax Twi, we got ‘em all.” Rainbow said, confidently flapping over to her Alicorn friend and giving her the amulets she’d taken off of the others.
“Yes, no need to thank us.” Discord boasted. “We stopped Allan and our friends from running rampant with them throughout ponyville. No need to thank us.”
“Only eight?” Twilight asked, looking at the bundle of necklaces that the pranksters had given her. “I had twenty.”
Discord, Rainbow and the real Twilight turned to stare at their friends. All of them were wearing new amulets, and grinning again. Blue fire swallowed them all, replacing each of them with a bronze changeling. They spoke as one. “Ready for round two?”
“Oh.” Rainbow groaned. “Ponyfeathers.”
The End.
Author's Note
Just a little something for April fools. Hope you guys enjoy it! I certainly enjoyed writing it!
P.S: Can you figure out who plays who at different times?
