Pranks For That

Starlight opened the door to Sugarcube Corner and was greeted by the overwhelming scent of freshly baked goods. Cakes, pies, donuts, cookies, etcetera, (Etcetera being the name of catch-all pastry Pinkie had recently invented that could contain any and every type of icing, batter, and flavor one could imagine and just thinking about it made Starlight’s mouth water.) all competed for her nose’s attention.

She inhaled, inviting all the mingling smells to dazzle her. It was a marvel to behold; easily her favorite thing about visiting the bakery. Besides seeing her friend, of course.

The lunch hour had long since passed, taking the crowds with it. Aside from a corner table with a single pony at it, the place deserted. Not that Starlight was complaining: no lunch rush, no line!

She sauntered up to the counter, only to be greeted by a cotton-candy colored tail. It shifted and bounced, reflecting its owner’s movements below.

“Pinkie?” Starlight asked.

THUD!

Starlight flinched as the counter jolted. No doubt Pinkie had forgotten where her head was and brought it up a little too fast.

“Starlight!” Pinkie’s smiling face still managed to rise above counter, unburdened by the blow to her head. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going,” Starlight said, a little noncommittal. Her day was stuck somewhere in the void between good and bad, but she had a feeling that was about to change. “Is my order ready?”

“Yupperoni!” Pinkie pulled a purple box up from under the counter, her grin growing a little wider. And perhaps a bit more… mischievous? “One dozen Etceteras! The Starlight Special.”

She giggled a bit. “Don’t remind me.” At the rate she could put those things away, she was surprised the pounds weren’t packing on faster.

“Fifteen bits please,” Pinkie said, setting the box down and letting her hoof flying over to the cash register. She hit a few buttons and the till popped open, just as Starlight got out her money.

“Here you go.” Starlight dropped the bits in Pinkie’s waiting hoof, and her magic enveloped her box in her bright blue aura. “Have a good one, Pinkie!”

She turned to leave, her box floating after her. Already, Starlight could barely contain herself; she wanted nothing more than to rip the box open and pig out. But… she had promised Spike he’d get at least one. She worried if she started now, there’d be no stopping her.

“Don’t you wanna check them?” Pinkie suddenly asked.

Starlight paused, turning back around. Pinkie had a wide smile on her face, that only grew as she nudged her head toward the box.

“The Etceteras, silly,” she clarified, grin now reaching ear-splitting proportions. “You know, just to make sure I didn’t mess anything up with them.”

“Hmm.” It wasn’t like Pinkie to doubt herself like that. Starlight looked to her box, rotating the lid around to face her. Her magic slowly moved to open the top. I guess it couldn’t hurt to check…

POP!

“AH!” Starlight fell backwards as confetti exploded out of the box. Even after her flanks hit the floor, all she could see was the fluttering aftermath of brightly colored squares. They rained down around her, eventually giving way to a laughing Pinkie Pie.

“Gotcha!” she cried, snorting

Starlight could barely process that, her heart was racing from the sudden jolt. By the time the last of the confetti settled to the floor, she’d managed to recover, if only just.

Sugarcube Corner’s single patron was looking her way now, raised brow matching his curious glance. He at least stayed quiet, which is more than could be said for Pinkie. She’d traded in her snorts for cackles, barely able to keep herself from falling over as she laughed.

Feeling heat rise beneath her cheeks, Starlight fought down her embarrassment as she stood back up. “What was that for, Pinkie?”

Stifling her laughter, Pinkie wiped a tear from her eye. “Hehe… I just couldn’t resist. And the look on your face was totally worth it, too!”

“But…” Starlight struggled to find the right words. She needed to roll her shock, embarrassment, and disappointment in not getting her Etceteras all into one, apt phrase. And what she settled on was, “Why?”

Pinkie no longer needed to contain her laughter, but she didn’t even try to hide her bubbly grin. “Oh come on, Starlight. It was just a little prank.”

Her brow furrowed. “A prank…?”

“Yup yup!” Pinkie reached below the counter once more. “Cause earlier today, I was thinking about all the pranks Dash and I had pulled all over town, and I remember that out of all my friends, you were the pony I’d pranked the least! We’re talking a big ole goose egg worth of pranks, too.”

Coming back up from the counter, Pinkie’s hooves produced a new box, identical to the last. “And I got to thinking, ‘Hey, I can’t go without pranking one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world!’. And I knew you’d be stopping by today for these—” Pinkie popped open the lid of the box. Starlight reflexively flinched, but was relieved to find it only contained her prized pastries.

Pinkie snapped the box closed and slid it across the counter to the end closest to Starlight. “—So I came up with that one lickety split! Pretty good if I do say so myself.”

Starlight brushed the confetti from her path and took a step forward. “So you… prank your friends?”

“Mmmhmm!”

Starlight’s eyebrow climbed her forehead. “Why?”

Pinkie giggled. “Because it’s fun, silly! And what’s better than having fun with your friends?”

“It wasn’t fun for me,” Starlight grumbled as her magic took hold of her new, hopefully confetti free, box of goods.

“Hmm…” Pinkie tapped her chin. “Well, maybe you’re more of a pranker than a prankee... Oooh, I know! You should try pranking somepony!”

Starlight blinked. “Uh… but I don’t have any confetti with me.”

Pinkie laughed right into a snort. “No no, a prank can be anything! Just as long as it’s unexpected and funny.”

Starlight tilted her head in thought. Maybe a prank would be more fun if she wasn’t on the receiving end of it. And if what Pinkie said was true, she might even be able to wiggle a friendship lesson out of the experience.

I know Twilight would approve of that.

“Okay...” she said, giving her tentative agreement.

“Really? You’ll try it?” Pinkie bounced skyward. “Hooray!”

“I’ll look into it,” Starlight clarified for her. “I’m sure the castle library has a few texts on the subject. Then maybe after I’ve read up on it I’ll give it a shot.”

“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie was still jittering with excitement. Starlight had a feeling no matter what else she did to temper expectations Pinkie would take it as an enthusiastic yes anyway. “You’ll have to tell me all about it when it happens. Unless you prank me, cause then I can find out for myself. And then I can return the favor, and then you can, and then I can, and then—”

“Uh… sure.” Starlight might have to pass on that one. She had a feeling she did not want to get involved in a prank war with Pinkie. “But I’ll definitely tell you all about it,” she said, turning towards the door.

“Make it a good one!” Pinkie called out after her. “You only get one first prank, after all!”

“Yeah, will do, Pinkie,” Starlight said, waving as she left.

Starlight munched on a mixture of cookie dough ice cream, coconut cake, and strawberry icing. The many tastes of the Etcetera all blended in her mouth, creating the spine-tingling goodness that she’d become so addicted to over the past few months.

She flipped through the pages of her book and shoved the last bite of the Etcetera in her mouth, not even looking up from the lines.

Since she’d gotten back, Starlight had burned through the libraries wealth of knowledge on pranking. There was actually a good bit to go through, from Joy Buzzer’s Theory on Gags and Tricks, to High Jinks’ Practical Application of Practical Jokes.

Soaking it all up like a sponge, Starlight was now on the last book she could dig up, Whimsy’s Prankopedia, a glorified spellbook that held hundreds of charms, incantations, and other forms of magical mischief.

She had to admit, at this point she was getting a little excited. The more she learned about pranking, the more fun it seemed. The tense preparation of the setup, the crooked satisfaction when the trap was sprung… Starlight could feel laughter bubble up within her just from the anticipation of her first prank, and she didn’t even know what it was going to be yet!

Flipping through the pages of the book, Starlight wrestled with herself over which idea to settle on. Her eyes fell on a transfiguration spell that could give any seat the properties of a whoopie cushion. Briefly, her mind flashed to a future where she’d cast this spell in Twilight’s throne room, turning the regal chairs into glorified fart machines.

“Mmm…” Starlight shook her head, turning over the page. Fart jokes weren’t all that funny. And besides, she could do better. Pinkie’s reminder flashed to the forefront of her memory.

“You only get one first prank, after all!”

Starlight nodded in agreement with the memory. “Yeah,” she murmured to herself. “Gotta make it count.”

Maybe she could go with a classic, then? Her page flipping brought her to a curse that would cause a bucket of water to fall on a pony whenever they opened a new door.

“...Nah.” She could see that getting old fast. And that wasn’t nearly as funny as the whoopie-cushion throne idea, which was saying something.

Starlight sighed, and whipped through the pages of the book with her magic. The fluttering paper kicked up a nice little breeze, but that was about it.

Even as the pages flew by, Starlight was able to keep up just by skimming the titles. But as the chapters worth of jokes passed in front of her eyes, she started losing hope.

“Nope. No. Nah. Uh-uh...” Tripwires, plastic wrap, air horns, shaving cream and feathers...

Starlight eventually leaned back in her chair, groaning. At this rate, it didn’t seem like she’d find any prank worthy enough to be her first. She’d seen nearly five-hundred ideas in the Prankopedia and not one had managed to light a spark in her.

Letting her head drop back, Starlight saw the rows and rows of bookshelves behind her. Surely amongst all of them she’d come up with something. She just had to start digging.

She groaned at the prospect. Normally reading wasn’t a bother to her, but today was different. Her tail flicked, filled with anxiousness. Starlight ground her teeth together, about ready to hop out of her seat.

Wading through stacks of mostly unrelated books in the hopes that she might find inspiration sounded like torture right now. She feared by the time it took her to settle on something her excitement would fade away.

“Gaaaaaah!” She sat back up hooves covering her face in anguish. “Why does this have to be so hard?”

Pinkie made it look so easy before. Then again, Pinkie made everything look easy, from buckball to friendship.

Starlight let her hooves drop from her face, just about ready to resign herself to a lesser prank just to get it out of the way. But then, her eyes caught something.

On the desk the Prankopedia was still open. Starlight had assumed she’d flipped through all the pages already, yet there was still one left unturned, waiting.

Her ears pricked up at the sight, and a spark of hope ignited in her. Leaning back over the table, Starlight flicked the final page over and hoped she wasn’t setting herself up for more disappointment.

At first, she was almost nervous to look, knowing this might be the last idea to choose from for her first prank. But even so, curiosity got the better of her: she had to know.

The page flipped, and Starlight’s tentative eyes rose to the top of the page.

The Padded Prison

Locks your target in a giant cushy diaper that can’t be removed. Watch them squirm and struggle with embarrassment, unable to escape their padding!

Starlight’s eyebrow’s pricked up. Unconsciously, her tail flicked back and forth and she felt the corners of her mouth turn up a little.

Trapped? In a diaper? She snorted. Just the thought made her want to break out into laughter.

This was the kind of prank she could get behind. It was humiliating, it was fresh, and just by looking over the spell written down, Starlight could tell it was pretty easy to do, too. In fact, thanks to her horn, she basically had everything she needed.

Her oncoming smile blossomed into a full on, almost evil, grin. This was it; the prank she’d been waiting for. That earlier excitement that had almost passed over her was now getting a second wind. Her spark had caught fire.

Giddily reading and re-reading the instructions for the spell, Starlight practically committed it to memory. Her body was jittering by the time she was done, ready to pounce into action.

Okay… okay… Starlight tried to maintain some degree of calm amidst her overwhelming desire to test out this new prank. So now all I need is somepony to prank...

“Heya, Starlight.”

WHAM!

The Prankopedia whipped closed, sending a thunderous clap through the room. The sudden invasion of a familiar young dragon’s voice had caused Starlight to flinch in fear, not wanting her first prank to be discovered before it even began.

“Hi, Spike!” she called out, spinning around to him. She forced a wide smile, hoping he wouldn’t suspect anything.

He raised an eyebrow at her, suspecting something. “What, did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

Reaching behind herself, Starlight shoved the Prankopedia further behind her back. “Nooootice what?”

Spike hit her with a knowing smirk and pointed to the corner of his mouth. “You already picked up the Etceteras, obviously.”

Starlight blinked, wiping at the corner of her mouth to find a lingering blob of frosting. She licked the treacherous morsel up, her heart rate already steadying; her perfect pranking ploy was safe.

“Well?” Spike’s claws met his hips. “You didn’t forget, did you?”

“Huh?” Her head perked up. “Oh right!” She’d promised she’d save him one, hadn’t she?

Starlight’s head turned to the box. The lid was open, but resting low to obscure half its interior. A pinch of nervousness grabbed her, as she couldn’t actually recall how many she’d eaten already. Was it ten? More than that?

Oh boy… Her horn lit up, gingerly gripping a corner of the lid as she peeled it back. Come on, Past Starlight, don’t fail me now.

The creeping emptiness of the box dulled her hopes. The lid pulled back to reveal even more and…

“Yes!” One final Etcetera remained!

Starlight withdrew a mass of vanilla icing sandwiched between two hoof sized chocolate chip cookies. The whipped cream on top buckled under the weight of a strawberry dipped in strawberry ice cream, but refused to collapse.

“Here you go,” she said, levitating it over to Spike. She smiled, proud of her self-control.

“Thanks.” Spike chomped into it the second her aura got free. “I was going to head over to Rarity’s to see if she needs a helping hoof with anything, so I’ll catch you later.”

Starlight’s brow furrowed. “Wait, I thought you were helping Twilight catch up on some paperwork today?”

He chuckled, licking whipped cream from his lips. “I was, but she didn’t last very long. Spent all night reading again, I bet, ‘cause she passed out right on the bill she was supposed to be signing. Figured she’d prefer to catch up on sleeping before catching up on the paperwork, so I left her to it.”

“In the throne room?” Starlight’s brows leapt up her forehead.

“Well… yeah,” Spike looked like he felt a twinge of guilt, but snuffed it out with another bite of cookies and icing. “I know I do a lot for her and all, but carrying her all the way up to her bedroom? That’s a bit much, even for her number one assistant.”

“So Twilight’s gonna be alone,” Starlight spun around in her chair, eye’s drifting to the Prankopedia. “And you don’t think she’ll be up anytime soon?”

“Nope,” Spike mumbled through stuffed cheeks. Swallowing he said, “You’d probably have to drive a train through the castle to wake her up now.”

“I see…” Starlight hoof excitedly tapped the Prankopedia’s cover. She only barely tempered the smile blossoming across her face.

“Whelp,” Spike licked his fingers, heading out. “I’ll see you later then.”

“See ya,” Starlight called back, her magic nudging the door closed behind him.

When she heard it shut, she sprung out of her chair, bouncing around. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! YES!”

How perfect could this possibly be? She had the best first prank imaginable, and the best target to try it out on!

After all, what could be more humiliating for a Princess than to be caught in a diaper? It was almost too good to be true. Starlight’s horn flickered to life and she pinched her fore leg and earned a sharp spurt of pain.

Wincing, she just grinned harder. “Nope, not dreaming!”

This was actually happening. She was actually going to get to prank Twilight!

She scooped up the Prankopedia, her horn sparking to life once more. Even though it was a short walk to the throne room from here, Starlight refused to wait even a second longer. In a blinding flash, she teleported straight in.

As the blue light around her dissipated, Starlight took in her new location. The Cutie Map was covered with scrolls, parchments, inkwells, and quills, all of which buried the miniaturized towns of Equestria in an avalanche of paperwork. Not even some of the thrones had been spared, with extra work piling up on top of them as well.

Only two thrones were saved from that fate: Spike’s, which undoubtedly was only because he’d just left, and Twilight’s which held the Princess of Friendship as she dozed.

Twilight was bent over the Map, cheek nestled into a pile of scrolls to use as a makeshift pillow. Dark circles lined the bottom of her eyes, complimenting her heavy snores as she shifted unconsciously.

A giddy whirlwind whipped through Starlight’s body. She dispelled some of the excess energy by prancing in place, so excited she almost cheered.

She halted her premature celebration to open up the Prankopedia again. The pages darted past her eyes until she came across the Padded Prison spell once more.

“Okay, let’s see,” she whispered to herself. Just because Twilight was out cold didn’t mean she was going to get careless this early into the prank. Overconfidence would always be her downfall.

“Concentrate on the image of a diaper, got it.” Her eyes skimmed down as she read aloud. “Focus your magic around your target’s pelvis, got it. Warnings, yada yada yada…” She quietly slammed the book closed. “Ready.”

Her horn ignited with her light blue aura, and soon wrapped Twilight’s waist in a similar light. Her mentor remained completely unaffected, sinking deeper into her scroll-pillow with all the regality of a clam.

“Hmm…” A thought wormed its way into Starlight’s brain, one that had her put a pause on summoning the diaper.

Twilight’s pretty good with magic. Better than me, even… she realized. I can’t have her finding a way out of this spell when she wakes up...

She tapped her chin, running through a rol-o-dex of ideas in her brain for how to solve this problem. Her plan was to simply return after Twilight woke up and pretend to catch her stuck in a diaper, with plenty of teasing to go along with it. If Twilight broke free before she got back then her first ever prank would be completely ruined!

Okay, how about I just put all the power I can into this spell? Her magic had gone toe to toe with Twilight's before. If she gave it her all then Twilight shouldn’t be able to get the diaper off by herself.

Yeah, that was a good idea. Great even!

Starlight grinned, her horn glowing brighter. I’m a pranking genius! Just wait until Pinkie Pie hears about this.

Magic swirled around Twilight’s waist. The alicorn failed to pick up on any of it, continuing to snore like an Ursa Minor. As Starlight’s horn burned with magical aura, the spell reached its apex. She could practically hear it humming with power.

She cast the spell, throwing everything she had into fashioning a diaper Twilight would never be able to take off. Light overtook the room, but evaporated as quickly as it came.

Starlight had to blink, vision dotted with spots as she waited for the aftershock of the bright light to fade. When it did, she got her first look and her handiwork.

Twilight was sitting same as she had been, head buried in the papery pillow she’d made for herself. But her plot was a different story. Wrapped around her flanks was a miniature cloud of padding. Starlight had never seen a diaper that big in her life; even pressed against the throne, it was still poofy enough to spread Twilight’s legs apart.

"Mmm..." Twilight groaned in her sleep. Her plot shifted around in the seat, earning a few crinkles from her new diaper.

Starlight laughed, just barely slapping a hoof over her mouth in time before her eyes darted up to Twilight’s face. No change.

She kept her hoof to her mouth anyway, not trusting herself to stay silent. She knew it’d be funny to see Twilight in a diaper, but she doubted anything could’ve prepared her for how goofy and foalish it turned out to be.

Not bad for a first prank.

Now all she had to was wait for Twilight to wake up. Sure, she could shake Twilight awake now and begin a barrage of teasing, but Starlight couldn’t shake the notion that catching a cornered Twilight who was desperately trying to hide her foalish shame would be way more fun.

But the wait was going to be murder all the same. Starlight could already feel the suspense rattle her bones, and her mind raced with the possibilities of how it would all play out.

She took a step back from Twilight, still trying to suppress her laughter, and wobbled. All of a sudden, she felt lightheaded.

Come to think of it… I put a lot into that spell. She steadied herself, needing all four hooves for the job. The exhaustion of pouring all her magic into that one spell was starting to pile up. Not even the sugar high of the Etceteras was going to help counteract it.

She looked at the sleeping Twilight once more, a new idea popping to the forefront of her mind.

Yeah… a nap would be good.

She turned and started dragging herself to her room, knowing a good rest would eat up time faster than anything else she could do anyway. Once she woke up, she’d have so much fun humiliating Twilight.

Starlight chuckled to herself, still able to revel in the success of her first ever prank. She shot one last glance back at Twilight and smirked evilly. She couldn’t wait to see those purple cheeks turn red.