//-------------------------------------------------------// Truth Be Told... -by Rainbowfan45- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Nothing But the Truth... //-------------------------------------------------------// Author's Note This is a very silly and random story that popped into my head while munching cookies. Please do not ask why I was thinking of truth serum while I was eating cookies. Or why I chose to use it as a prank on Dash. I have no idea. Sometimes I just do weird stuff. Like Pinkie Pie does. Don't try to understand me and my reasoning...it is what it is. I am fairly sure I regret nothing in this tale...:applejackunsure: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/applejackunsure.png (P.S. I have made revisions to parts of this story. I hope you guys still enjoy it! :twilightsmile: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/twilightsmile.png) Nothing But the Truth... "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Spike asked, watching as Starlight mixed and measured and mixed some more. "Somehow I don't think you should be messing with truth serum, let alone giving it to a friend..." "Oh, relax, Spike!" Starlight said cheerfully. "I know what I'm doing! And besides, Rainbow Dash deserves to be pranked, considering all the pranks she's played on all of us. Especially me." She frowned. "Why does she target me more than the others, anyhow?" "I don't think its intentional." Spike stated, eyeing the freshly mixed truth serum with more than a little apprehension. "But even so...Starlight, I really, really think this is a bad idea." Starlight huffed. "Please. Like I said, I know what I'm doing." She poured the serum into the most unassuming container she could find: an empty vanilla bottle. "I'm only going to give her a small amount. It'll be so fun to watch her reaction. Besides, except for its affect of absolute honesty, truth serum is fairly harmless. What could possibly go wrong?" "Um...besides just about everything you could think of?" Spike said. "I don't have a clue." Starlight rolled her eyes and placed the bottle in the back of a small cabinet in the remotest corner of the kitchen. "It'll be fine, Spike. Absolutely nothing will go wrong. Trust me." She said. "Now, how to get Dash to take it..." Spike sighed. "I guess if you're gonna do this, you'll need help." He stated with a shudder. "Twilight will kill me when she finds out, not to mention probably blast you into a wall or something. But, I'll help you." "Thanks, Spike!" Starlight said happily. "But who says Twilight will find out? She won't ever have to know what happened." Spike met her gaze squarely. "She's Twilight. Trust me, she'll know." He said. "But to answer your previous question, why don't we have some kind of party? Pinkie can throw it, and you can slip the serum into Dash's drink or something." He blinked and slapped a claw over his face, groaning. "I can't believe I'm even saying that!" "That's brilliant, Spike!" Starlight praised him. "I'll see if Pinkie Pie can come over here and help set stuff up." She bounded from the room. Spike's gut churned as he glanced at the cabinet containing the serum. He shivered. "This can't possibly end well." *********************************** Pinkie was happy to come to the castle and talk parties. Twilight was summoned and asked, and she grinned. "Sure, Starlight! A party sounds just fine! I'll take care of asking the girls to come over!" And off she flew. Pinkie Pie got busy and decorated everything while Starlight and Spike simply followed along and did whatever she asked of them. At last, Pinkie retired to the kitchen to bake cakes and cookies while Starlight checked to see that everything was in order. "This is gonna be a blast!" She said, grinning. "Revenge is so sweet!" "Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of, revenge is a dish best left in the kitchen." Spike said. "Well, that's where my revenge sits right now, Spike!" Starlight pointed out. "But it won't be for long." "Starlight!!!" Pinkie yelled. "Do you have vanilla????" There was a bunch of clattering and banging. "Ooh! Never mind! I found it!!!" "Well, I asked the girls," Twilight said, entering the room. "They'll all be here at six for the party." A crash errupted from the kitchen, followed by a cheerful voice yelling,"I'm ok!!!" Twilight blinked. "What is she doing?" "She's baking treats for the party." Starlight replied. Twilight winced at another crash. "Sounds more like she's fighting with the baking pans." She said. "Anyway, I'm going to the library. I'll see you later." And she was gone. "Starlight, please, can you just not go through with the whole truth thing?" Spike asked, figuring he'd try one final time to talk her out of it. Starlight's gaze met his, her eyes flashing. "She covered me in red dots and convinced me I had measles." She said darkly. "Then she proceeded to dye my fur the worst mix of colors I have ever seen. Rarity fainted on the spot when she saw me and later she said I looked like a horrid creature from Tartarus. Dash is going to pay." Spike sighed. "Ok." He said. "But I still have a really bad feeling about this." "And I repeat what I said earlier: what could possibly go wrong?" There was a loud bang in the kitchen. "I'm goody goody in here!!!" Pinkie yelled. "This is going to be unforgettable!" Starlight said happily, as she trotted off to make some last minute checks of the decorations. Spike swallowed hard and sighed. 'Unforgettable. Yeah. Understatement of the millineum.' ********************************** The girls arrived a little after six, all of them smiling. "Hi!" Starlight greeted them "Oh darling, it was so nice of you to invite us over here for a party!" Rarity said. "And the decorations are lovely!! Pinkie Pie, you outdid yourself as always!!" "I know!" Pinkie giggled. "Ah'm lookin' forward to this." Applejack spoke up. "Yeah, this is totally awesome!" Dash agreed. She met Starlight's gaze. "Hey, um, StarGlim...you're not still mad at me for dying your fur, are you?" Starlight forced a smile. "Oh, no, Dash, of course not!" She said, adding silently, 'You are going to get it!' Dash grinned. "Awesome!" "I, um, hope you don't mind, but um, I brought Angel." Fluttershy motioned to the bunny seated on her back. "Of course not!" Starlight said. "Spike? Do we have carrots in the-" "Way ahead of ya!" Spike called out, appearing with a bowl of greens and sliced carrots for the bunny. He put it on the table. "I'll get Twilight." He hurried off to the library, returning moments later with her by his side. "Hi, girls!" She greeted. Everypony took seats around the table. Before they could start their meal, there was a pounding at the castle door. Spike went to get, returning seconds later with a familiar blue unicorn following. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is here!" She said. Starlight laughed. She'd had Spike go and ask Trixie to join the party. "Hello, Trixie." Twilight greeted her warily. Trixie took a seat by Starlight, and the meal began. Once it was over, Pinkie brought out a platter with a big cake on it, surrounded by mini cookies. She served it up as Starlight levitated all the glasses to the kitchen to refill them with water. Spike tagged along. Once she filled them, Starlight opened the cabinet to get the serum for Dash. She froze. It wasn't there. "Uh, Spike? Did you move the serum?" She asked. "No." He said. "Why?" "Its not here." Spike's gut churned again. "Its gotta be here somewhere!" He looked around frantically. Starlight followed suit. She had her head in a lower cabinet when Spike spoke from behind her. "Starlight? I...I think...I found it." She instantly straightened and followed his pointing claw. On the countertop, next to a stack of bowls coated in cake batter and cookie dough, sat the blue vanilla bottle. Realisation hit them both as praises towards Pinkie's treats floated in from the dining room. They met each others' panicked gazes and spoke in a simultaneous whisper. "Oh no..." *********************************** The two of them returned to the table and sat down, watching everypony scarfing down the cake and cookies Pinkie had made...and inadvertently laced with truth serum. The only one not eating dessert was Trixie. "You already ate your dessert?" Starlight asked, afraid of the answer. "Oh, no, Trixie is too full right now." Trixie said. Starlight and Spike both looked less worried. "Oh, thank Celestia..." Starlight said. Trixie frowned. "Starlight, why are you so worried?" She asked. "What did you do?" She followed the other's gaze to the desserts and gasped. Her voice dropped. "Starlight! Did you poison those??" She hissed. "No..." Starlight whispered. "Well, not exactly..." Trixie narrowed her eyes and dragged both Starlight and Spike away from the table and into the kitchen. "If Trixie just narrowly avoided death, she would like to know! And she would like to know now!! So, Starlight...What. Did. You. Do.??!" "Well, uh, its a funny story." Starlight said. "It, um...started with Dash, and pranks..." She told the story hesitantly. When she finished, Trixie was gaping at her. "You put truth serum in the desserts?!" "No, Pinkie did." Spike said. "Only she thought it was vanilla..." "Trixie honestly does not know what to say." Trixie stated, blinking in complete bewilderment. "I feel a little funny," Dash said from the next room. The three in the kitchen poked their heads out. "As do I." Rarity admitted. "Me too!!" Pinkie giggled. "Like I have to start saying a bunch of true stuff and never stop!!" "I feel the same..." Twilight said, rubbing her head. "But I don't understand it. I mean, the only thing that would make this happen is a curse or maybe..." Then it hit her. "Oh no. I think know what's wrong...I just don't know how it happened." "What?" Dash asked. "I think...we've somehow been exposed to truth serum." "Well, that's comforting." Dash mumbled. At that moment, Fluttershy twitched and opened her mouth. "I'm in love with Big Mac!!! And sometimes I think bad thoughts about him, too. Naughty ones. That I...do stuff...to." She turned bright red and slapped her hooves over her mouth. Starlight sank to the floor and covered her head with her hooves. Spike blinked in shock. Trixie stood slackjawed. "Um...ok...." Dash said, stunned. " "Uh, Twilight? This...serum...is going to make us spill all our secrets, isn't it?" Rarity asked nervously. Then her eyes widened. "Oh...oh dear...I think I..." She gulped and clamped her mouth shut. At long last she exploded. "I think you are completely beautiful and sexy, Twilight!" She turned beet red and tried desperately to swallow her next words, but the serum in her system pushed it out. "I would love to date you!!!" In the kitchen doorway, Spike tried to speak, but failed. Trixie smirked. "Trixie is entertained by this." She whispered. She sat down. Starlight was unamused. "I'm the one who broke into the library and took the newest Daring Do book!" Dash yelled out suddenly. "And I really, really like Starlight! She's just...so...hot..." She was quite red faced. Everypony was. Starlight somehow rose and entered the room. Dash spied her. "Starlight..." the name rolled off her tongue seductively. "Oh, I just wanna grab you up and hold you down and..." "Ok! Stop!" Starlight yelped, turning impossibly red. "Dash, that...that is just...stop!" "Starlight, do you have any idea how we would have been exposed to truth serum?" Twilight asked, breathlessly, fighting the rising urge to spill her own secrets. She knew she wouldn't last long. "Well...I...I might..." Starlight said hesitantly. "I, uh...will explain later. But um, right now, you guys might want to brace yourselves. The serum had a pretty high strength dosage." Twilight scowled and opened her mouth to lecture her...only the lecture was not what came out. The serum had won. "I think Applejack is so sexy." She turned red, and tried to backpedal, but the serum was not having it. "The way her muscles ripple while she works...her gorgeous eyes...I just wanna snuggle with her and do her all day..." she moaned a little. Starlight quite honestly had no idea what to do, or say. She stood there quite dumbly. Applejack was red in the face, and tugged her hat over her eyes. "Ah really love Rainbow Dash...Ah do. Ah wanna take her and romp in the hay..." Trixie was, by now, in a fit of hysterical giggles. Spike clapped his claws over his eyes and moaned pitifully. "Sweet Celestia...make it stop..." "I really, really, really like Fluttershy!" Pinkie piped up joyfully, licking her lips as she stared at the yellow pegasus, who eeped and blushed harder. "So sweet...like cupcakes...just wanna grab her and lick her like a frosted cookie..." Fluttershy eeped again. "Can't you shut them up??" Spike groaned. Starlight gulped. "Well, there... there is a counter potion...I could mix it up." She noticed that everypony around the table was staring seductively at each other...except Dash, who was staring seductively at her. "Yeah. I'm gonna go mix it. Right now!" And she fled from the room. She was back in ten minutes with the potion. "Alright, hurry up and give it to them!" Spike pleaded. Starlight started towards the kitchen saying something about adding it to their glasses. She stopped halfway, blinking rapidly, and, after a hestitant glance towards the table, a highly devious grin crossed her face. "Maybe I won't give it to them just yet..." she mused. "Starlight, whatever you're thinking, STOP THINKING IT!!!" Spike said in terror, not liking her look. "Trixie is curious. What are you thinking?" Trixie asked in amusement. Starlight just smirked. "I think we may be past all the really embarrassing stuff, but what if I redirect their thoughts a bit? You know, away from any more, uh, awkward...stuff." Starlight chuckled. "We could probably find out some hilarious and dark secrets that don't include...what we just heard." "Trixie likes it!!" Trixie said enthusiastically. "Spike doesn't like it!" Spike said in irritation. "Starlight, give them the potion, and quit..." she wasn't listening. She was grinning widely. "...You're gonna do it, aren't you?" He groaned. "One of you blast me with a deafening spell so I don't have to hear this!" He shuddered. Starlight hid the potion in the kitchen, then returned to look at her friends. They were no longer staring each other down, thankfully. They met her gaze. "So...anypony ever do something really bad?" She asked. "Like, do you have any secrets you'd never want to spill? Besides what you already did?" "Starlight..." Twilight ground out through clenched teeth, desperately trying to fight the serum...and her rising urge to choke her student. The truth serum won out again. "Ok, fine!! I broke into Celestia's private cake room and stole an entire cake!!!" "Twilight! I'm shocked at you!" Starlight stated in mock dismay. She grinned. "I never would have expected you to do something like that. But ok. Anything else?" "Starlight!" Spike said. "I'm begging you! Just stop this and give them the potion! Its not right to pry into their secrets this way!" Starlight ignored him, focusing on the group of ponies. Spike groaned. "Twilight is gonna kill her when this is over!" "Ok! Ok!" Twilight yelled. "I once tried an advanced spell that backfired and turned the entire castle into cheese one day! Then I put everypony in the castle to sleep, erased their memories of what happened, and switched everything back! Except for Celestia's throne, which somehow stayed cheese and I told her I had no idea how it happened!" Trixie was dying with laughter at this point. Starlight couldn't help but snort and the others were snickering. "Discord would be so proud." Starlight said. "Is that all?" Twilight flashed her a look of panic, then whimpered. "I cheated on a math test. But only once!" Starlight stared. "I...was not expecting that." She said slowly. "See? You'll make them give up secrets that'll just kill them to have anypony know about!" Spike said. "Starlight, think! Fix this. Now!" "Oh, not yet!" Trixie said. "This is getting very interesting." "Anypony else got anything to confess?" Starlight asked. For a moment, none of them spoke, clearly trying to fight the serum. It was no use. "I GO TO FASHION SHOWS WITH MY MOM!!!" Dash screamed out, then clamped a hoof over her mouth as she looked in horror at the others. "Oh wow. I totally did not see that one coming." Starlight muttered, completely taken aback. "And I sometimes dress up in nice dresses and...and try to look pretty!".Dash moaned. "Make it stooooop!!!" "Starlight, if you don't quit right now, I'm gonna-" Spike never finished his threat. A blast of magic his direction promptly glued his lips shut, rendering him literally speechless. He blinked in shock, then glowered at Trixie. "Sorry." She said. "But Trixie is entertained by this and does not wish for it to stop yet." Trixie informed him, smirking. Spike glared harder, and if looks could kill, the magician would have dropped dead on the spot. Trixie looked back at the others. "Ok, so, anypony else?" Starlight said, clearly enjoying herself. Perhaps a bit too much. She knew she was likely going to regret this later, but for now, she was going to have fun. With the darkest secrets having been revealed earlier, the ones being told now were harmless...not to mention hilarious. "Ooh, I once broke into a magician's house!" Pinkie supplied merrily. "And??" "And we played cards for a really long time! He was super nice! And his name was Constantine!" Trixie blinked at this and looked at Starlight. "Trixie does not understand why that is such a secret." "Because I wasn't supposed to be there!!" Pinkie wailed. "It wasn't my day off! I played hooky from work!!!" "Oh." Trixie said flatly. "Yes, that does make all the difference, I suppose." She looked back at Starlight, who shrugged. "Its just Pinkie." She said. "Don't try to understand it." Trixie rolled her eyes. Fluttershy chose that moment to start whimpering. All eyes were on her instantly. "I once dropped a birdhouse." She wispered, eyes wide. "With birds inside! And...and eggs....and...and it...it...it...killed them! All of them!" Her voice dropped to an even lower whisper. "I am a bird killer!" Starlight blinked, Trixie swallowed a snort, and poor Spike groaned in sympathy. Twilight glared at Starlight. "You are in so much trouble..." she muttered sourly. Starlight gulped, but tried to look completely cool and collected. "Rarity?" She said. The fashionista opened her mouth to take a breath. "I once stabbed a stallion with a knitting needle in the chest. He survived, but was so traumatised by the experience he went completely mad." She chuckled softly. "It was quite a satisfying thing, actually. Still, I did not want it known." She scowled at Starlight, eyes narrowing dangerously. "You...did...WHAT???" Starlight sputtered, while Trixie stared open mouthed and Spike looked completely and utterly stunned at this secret from the pony he loved. "Why would you stab a stallion with a knitting needle?!" "He had the audacity to mock my newest line of fabulous dresses and say they were unfashionable, ridiculous, and completely unnecessary!" Starlight looked at Trixie, who stared back. "Trixie is very afraid of her now." "Agreed." Starlight muttered. "Maybe keeping this up was a bad idea..." Spike clapped to get her attention and gave her a withering look. Starlight looked back at her friends, who were glaring. The truth serum was apparently not stopping them from thinking about murdering the unicorn. "Applejack has yet to say anything." Trixie said pointedly. "Trixie is interested in further skeletons in her closet too." Starlight glanced at Spike, then back at Trixie. "Ok!" She looked at the farmer. "So, Applejack. Any further confessions?" She grinned. Applejack scowled fiercely. "Ah'm gonna buck you into next Hearth's Warming..." she muttered, before her eyes widened slightly. "Uh oh..." Starlight grinned as she waited, knowing a secret was coming out. Applejack was clearly fighting, but, apparently realising it was no use, she pulled her hat over her eyes, gave a heavy sigh, and let the words roll from her mouth with no resistance. "Ah once knocked over a stack of cider barrels with my apple cart. An' spilled all the cider. An' Ah also one time let an acre of apple trees remain unbucked cause Ah fell asleep...an' forgot." "How much cider did you lose?" Starlight asked, astounded. "Four an' a half barrels." "Oh wow." Starlight shook her head. Twilight was glaring intensely at her again. "Make. This. Stop." She snarled. "Now." Starlight gulped. "Oh come on!" Trixie said as she watched her head to the kitchen. "Trixie wanted to ask some questions!" "No, I think we...I, have done enough." Starlight said, returning with the glasses of water and potion. She passed them out, shifting uneasily under Twilight's unyielding gaze. 'I am in really big trouble.' *********************************** Twenty minutes later, when the potion had returned the group to normal(and Spike's mouth had been unglued), Starlight found herself snout to snout with one royally angry Twilight...and getting death glares from the others. "Explain. Now." Twilight growled. Starlight obeyed, leaving nothing out. When she finished, Twilight and her friends all took deep breaths. Then Twilight stared hard at her student, her eyes holding a murderous expression that made Starlight cringe and wonder what awful fate her mentor had in mind for her. When Twilight finally spoke, her voice was calm, but had an edge of steel in it that would have sent even Starswirl the Bearded running for his life. "Here's what we are going to do. You are going to apologise to every single one of us for this stunt, and we are going to forgive you. Then, you are going to pinkie promise to never, and I mean never, so much as look at truth serum again without my permission. And then, the six of us are going to get as many bottles of hard apple cider as we can find and get very, very, very drunk so we will forget any of this ever happened, while you and Spike clean up from this fiasco of a party. Do you understand?" Starlight nodded. Twilight scowled fiercely. "Good. And if you ever do something like this again, Starlight Glimmer, I will personally see to it you have a reservation on the moon for an indefinite amount of time. Am I clear?" "C...crystal." Starlight faltered. Twilight stared at her expectantly. Swallowing hard, the embarrassed and ashamed unicorn apologised to them, and they all agreed to forgive her. She watched as they all left, presumably headed to Applejack's for their long session of drinking. As they went, she heard Dash explode incredulously. "YOU DESTROYED FOUR AND A HALF BARRELS OF CIDER????! APPLEJACK!! HOW COULD YOU??!!!" She didn't hear the answer as the door slammed. Once they were gone, Trixie giggled. "Trixie was highly amused by all that." She said. "But she does not wish to see your shadow in the moon, so, don't do it again." She giggled again as she, too, took her leave. Starlight groaned as she started cleaning up. "It was such a bad idea!" "I told you so." Spike said. "Spike, do me a favor." "What?" "If I ever get such an idiotic idea again..." "Yeah...?" "Stop me in any way you have to." "Oh, I will!" Starlight sighed heavily. Truth serum. What in Tartarus had she been thinking??! As soon as she was done cleaning, she was going to follow her friends' examples and go drink herself silly so she could forget the whole mess. She was never, ever, ever going to even think about truth serum again for the rest of her life!!