The horde of sleepy bat ponies in the mess hall let out yawns as the roosters crowed outside, their strange calls echoing across the land. The sun was creeping above the horizon, and the bats were exhausted. They had all been forced to run around the castle, believing that there had been an intruder, when it turned out to be a hugely oversized rat. Nopony had admitted to casting a spell on it.

Storm Bringer, a light grey bat pony with a golden mane and wings, gazed out of the window, listening to the roosters. He was unusual, even in the bat community: he had been born a normal pegasus, but was transformed into a bat pony by Nightmare Moon when she returned from her extended stay on the moon. Most bat ponies had a dark mane, tail and wings, so his gold and white patterns made him stand out. He also loved ghost peppers.

"Hey, wake up Hook. Did you know that Princess Celestia has alektorophobia?" he asked his companion, a red-maned mare with a jet black coat.

The mare jolted and looked around, startled. "What? You sure you're still awake? You just said that the Princess of the Sun is scared of chickens and you called me Hook. You know I don't like that."

"Sorry, Jimmy Hook, oddly named bat mare specialising in transformation magic," Storm replied, earning an angry glare from her. "And yes, she's terrified of chickens and cockatrices alike. Apparently, Midnight Blossom's great-great-great-great-grandfather hid a cockatrice in her bedroom and she's had a phobia ever since." He grabbed a ghost pepper off of his dinner plate and greedily ate it whole, ignoring the stares that were thrown his way.

"Wow. It seems she never inherited the prankster gene."

"Prankster," Storm said to himself. The wheels in his mind began to turn, and rather than counting sheep, he began counting chickens as he slowly nodded off. Everything began to blur together in his head, and he suddenly woke and shouted "EURIKA!"

Everything stopped, and all eyes turned to him.

Rather than shying away, he stood up on his chair and told everypony, "I have just thought of a wonderful prank to play. I need a volunteer who isn't taking the evening shift tonight to find nine chickens and label them one to ten, obviously missing out a number. Get some sort of paint that won't harm their skin or feathers, so you can write a number on each one. Then, in the morning, we release them and let them do whatever they fancy."

"Um, who is this joke being played on?" Midnight Blossom demanded. "I have half a mind to warn them."

"The Princesses and the Solar Guards. Mainly Princess Celestia, although Princess Luna's sleep schedule will be affected by this. You have your great-great-great-great-grandfather to thank for this."

Midnight's tufted ears grew bright red, and she did not say anything.

"Who volunteers to find some chickens and some paint?"

"I do!" Echo screeched, leaping into the air and hovering above everypony else. "Storm, Jimmy, I won't let you down. Nine chickens by midnight, labelled and released in the castle by dawn." She then yawned and said, "But right now I need a nap." She started the procession of bat ponies heading to their dormitories, and they all dreamt of what Celestia's face would look like when she discovered that there were chickens running loose in her glorious palace.

The next morning, the bat ponies were wide awake despite having been on guard duty all night. Echo had nine chickens, labelled one to ten, with the number 6 missing. She told everypony that she found them in the Everfree Forest, but nopony could ever be sure due to her mischievous nature.

"Nine chickens, labelled and ready to run wild," she announced in the mess hall upon her return.

"I'll release them," Storm Bringer told her, taking the nine pet carriers with his magic and teleporting away.

He teleported to the Royal Sisters' private dining room, and let one chicken go.

He left another outside Celestia's bedroom.

Then three in the throne room, where some bat ponies were still on guard duty. They were giddy with anticipation.

Two more were left in the Solar Guard Barracks.

Another was placed in the Garden of Statues.

The final one was strategically placed in the Solar Guard Barracks when nopony was looking, to prove to Celestia that it definitely had nothing to do with the Lunar Guards. Storm laughed to himself as he let the chicken run free, then teleported back to the mess hall. Everypony went to bed and thought nothing of it.

Fifteen minutes later, Celestia ventured out of her room. It was nearly time to raise the sun, and she was always insistent that the sun had to come up at just the right time. She thought nothing of it, but suddenly froze.

There was a chicken in the hallway.

Celestia screamed, cast a gravity reversal spell and jumped onto the ceiling in order to escape the bird. "Hello, beast," she attempted to say in a menacing voice. "You have returned for me, haven't you? Well I am not going to give up so easily."

The chicken looked up at her and clucked. She squealed and flinched.

"Evil little beast. Go away or I'll... I'll... or else."

The chicken attempted to peck affectionately at her mane. She curled up on the ceiling covering her whole body, her mane and her tail with her enormous wings.

"No, little birdie, please, I am a good filly! No pecking me! No eating the ponies!" She whimpered to herself until she heard the hoofsteps of the guards stampeding towards her.

"What is wrong, Princess?" asked a guard.

"Please, just remove the bird."

"You mean the chi-"

"Don't say its name."

"Um, ok, Princess." A unicorn guard picked it up using magic. It protested wildly.

"Now, please, take it to somepony who is experienced with wild birds. I cannot risk anypony getting hurt by this foulest of creatures."

"Yes, Princess." He inspected the chicken closely. "It has a number on it."

Celestia, who was about to undo the gravity reversal spell, stared at him. "What number?"

"Three."

"No. Oh no." She inhaled deeply a few times, attempting to compose herself. "There must be more. There must be at least two more you know whats in the castle. I need them all gone before I can even think about my royal duties. One of you, please find my sister. She can raise the sun without me. She will also need a strong cup of coffee if she is to take over day court for an hour whilst everypony looks for the offending beasties."

"Yes, Princess." The group of guards left and went looking for Luna.

"Sister, please get here soon," Celestia whispered, changing the gravity spell so she could stand on the floor again. She ran into her room, locked the door and cast a golden shield around herself, should a chicken be hiding in the room with her.

"Oh, Tia." Luna called from outside.

"Sister, they're back to get me. The - the - the cockatrices!"

"Sister, the birds are not the problem. The bat ponies, on the other hand, have taken advantage of your phobia, and there is nothing that we can do to punish them since they caught two other intruders in the castle."

"Bird intruders?"

Luna facehoofed. "Technically, yes and no. An earth pony and a griffon were sneaking around the castle last night, and the guards caught them with their saddlebags full of bits and valuable items. I even gave them a slight increase in pay for doing their job so well, since there are many more Solar Guards than there are of them, and the Solar Guards couldn't even recognise the difference between Queen Chrysalis and a fly."

"Don't insult my guards."

"They're useless, but I'll stop now. Anyways, the guards of yours have declared the throne room free of chickens, so day court can begin now."

"If they think so."

"Celestia, stay strong. It is for your country."

Celestia got up. A new sense of courage burned inside her. "You're right. I am Princess Celestia, and I refuse to let the evil cockatrices ruin my day. I am the Princess of the Sun, and they are bound by the dawn that I bring them each morning and my rules!" She teleported to the throne room and the court hearings began.

Meanwhile, Luna and the guards ran around the castle grounds, attempting to find the chickens before Celestia saw them. Luna found the number 10, and sighed because she knew that there had to be ten in total. The number 8 was running around near the statue of Discord, and she smiled affectionately at the spirit of disharmony as she captured the bird. She thought to herself, This is why I have refused to let you out of your statue, Discord. If I let it happen, there would be something like this happening every week.

It took about an hour to find all nine chickens. Of course, nopony but the sleeping bat ponies knew the truth. The entire castle was on edge. The worst thing was that none of them could let Celestia know, otherwise she would go into a panic and call a nationwide emergency.

Perhaps that would have been a good idea.

It was late in the evening when Celestia and Luna ventured outside to bring the night. Celestia asked her younger sister how the chicken-hunting went.

"Fine. I am certain that we have them all."

"Well that's-"

Celestia did not finish her sentence. Her eyes grew wide as the grey marble travelled from her hooves up to her torso and swallowed her. Luna chanced a peek and the same happened to her as well. Her face was frozen in disgust.

Velvet Wings chuckled, "Vot happened here, Henrietta?"

The cockatrice stood by his side clucked with laughter.

Author's Note

Sorry for not updating this in a while. I've been brainstorming and coming up with ideas for my main project at the moment, Sombra's Bat. Also, I have a weird Sci-Twi / Midnight Sparkle idea in mind.

Talking of Sci-Twi, she told me that alektorophobia is the scientific name for a fear or phobia of hens and/or chickens in general. Time to hand out the credit!

Thanks to Samurai_Arashi, creator of the OC called Storm Bringer and the one who suggested this idea in the first place. You are brilliant for suggesting this.

Also, thanks to JimmyHook19 for creating the female bat pony OC of yourself. You also helped a bit with the editing process, which I am thankful for.