Author's Note
This is a slapstick comedy inspired by the works of 'Tom and Jerry'. I hope PastCat and everyone else will enjoy this story. And I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Hearth's Warming.
Night of Pranks
The castle was filled with holiday cheer as it was Hearth’s Warming eve. The castle’s staff and the guards, who were all off duty, were having a small celebration within one of the banquet halls. Princess Celestia had always allowed this small party in celebration of the Holidays to relive some stress from working all year around.
The party usually ended about an hour or two before midnight as to allow those with children to make sure they come home in time. Both Princess usually attended to give good spirt for their subjects for a short time before they retired from the party. But there was one pony who did not want to attend the party this year, as she was currently busy creating holiday treats for her sister.
Princess Luna worked tirelessly throughout the early night in making many treats in the castle’s kitchen. She baked chocolate chip cookies, chocolate covered strawberries, several cakes, and pies, and cookies made in the shape of trees, bells, and other holiday assorted themes. She hummed to herself a classic song as she was busy watching her latest creation bake within the warm oven.
‘I can’t wait to see Tia’s face when she sees all the delicious treats, I’ve made for her’ Luna thought to herself as she prepared to take out the sugary delight from within the oven. As she looked towards the nearby timer as it slowly approached the allotted time for the baked goods to be taken out, she thought about all the many ingredients she used in these creations.
Majority of these treats were made from exotic ingredients that came from all over the world. Herbs from the lands of Zebrica, many sugars from Saddle Arabia, frosting from Yakyakistan, and much more. The Night Princess could not wait to see what this ‘Spirited Sugar’ was going taste like for this creation.
As she wondered how each unique ingredient would taste, the timer rang as the midnight blue alicorn used her magic to open the oven in front of her as well as the dozen other ovens that were in the room cooking the same thing. The sugary delight that was just freshly made that Luna was excited about, Gingerbread Men. She never tried making these small little people before as she wanted to create something new to test her cooking skills and judging from the crisp golden-brown bodies of the gingerbread, she knew they were cooked to perfection.
These little six-inch cookies Luna made smelled delicious and could not wait to have a taste but, she wanted to decorate them first. She spent the next thirty minutes decorating them with one of the many frostings provide from Yakyakistan. Small dots across their chest to resemble buttons as well as on the face for eyes, lines across their shoulders and thighs to resemble shirts and pants, and a curved upside-down arch to make a smile.
As soon as she was done with the last one, Luna used her magic to grab the freshly dressed cookie ready to taste her creation. She liked her lips as she smelled the sugary aroma from the man she was about to devour. As her creation was about to enter her mouth, she was interrupted from a sudden “Amph” from behind her.
Luna turned around to see a dark green Thestral pony mare standing within the doorway of the kitchen. She held a small notebook within her bat wings, a pen was in between her ears that was slightly covered by her royal blue mane, and she wore glasses that enhanced her magenta eyes. “Hello Pasture, how are you this night?” asked the Princess as she put down her almost eaten gingerbread man.
“I’m doing well your Highness,” replied Pasture as she pulled out her notebook and looked in it, “You’re two hours late on that report of the Night Daises for the Nobles.”
Luna looked towards a nearby clock that was on the wall and noticed that it was near eleven at night and sighed. “I was hoping that they wouldn’t want that report tonight.” said Luna as she slowly walked toward her Assistant at the thought of doing paperwork the night before Hearth’s Warming. She used her magic to place small coverings on top of the many trays filled with gingerbread men as she barely had not time to properly put them away in a container.
As they both left the kitchen, with Pasture talking about other paperwork she would be needing to do before the morning, they both failed to notice something amiss about the gingerbread man that Luna almost ate. It’s right arm slightly moved as the kitchen lights were turn off.
The door to the Royal Chamber opened slightly as to peek outside to see if any guards were around. With the coast clear, Princess Celestia opened the door and strolled out into the hallway. The Solar Monarch knew it was half past twelve, but she wanted to grab a quick midnight snack. She knew that tomorrow would be a treat filled holiday with yummy cookies, candies, pies, and cakes. However, her stomach just could not wait and just need a small ‘taste’ of what was to come. She licked her lips at the thought of how delicious all of it would be and just could not wait to taste them all. Especially the cakes.
She knew the best place to go would have been the kitchen but went straight to the ballroom where the party was held. The party would have been long over by now and knew that there would have been some leftover cake possibly if the attendants did not eat it all.
Though Celestia noticed something off as she walked the empty hallways of the castle. That the hallways were completely empty of anyone. She knew she walked past several spots with stationary guards, but they were not there. She wondered if she gave the night off accidentally to her whole guard due to the holidays but remembered that it should be Luna’s guard shift now and guess it was her doing.
‘Luna was always exhilarated during the holidays so giving the night off to her guard is a possibility’ thought Celestia as she reached her destination.
The ballroom was filled with decorations of holiday cheer with ornaments everywhere. While the lights for the room were turned off, the lights from the many ornaments illuminated the room to a seeable degree. Food of all kinds sat eaten or uneaten on the nearby buffet table. But the one thing that caught Celestia’s attention, was the whole towering cake that was sitting in the middle of the table.
‘Perfect’ thought Celestia as she walked towards the cake with a smile of satisfaction. The cake itself was nothing special with a coat of strawberry frosting with vanilla frosting decorating the sides of the circular cake. She grabbed a nearby fork with her magic to take a piece out of it and devour the whole cake for herself.
As soon as her fork connected with the cake-
BAM!
The cake was no longer there. Instead, it exploded with majority of what was the cake covered the stunned white alicorn as she was currently processing what had just happened. Celestia wiped the cake off her face with her hoof, as she had lost the desire to taste the dessert.
“Who… Did… THIS!?” yelled Celestia as she rapidly looked around to see who was the one to cause such a horrendous crime against cakes. She noticed small movement at the edge of her vision and turned around to see the perpetrators. By the time she turned around, the area where she saw something was no longer there.
‘What was that?’ Celestia wondered as she kept a keen eye on the whole room as she knew someone was in here with her to cause such a travesty. She then heard a noise coming from behind her and turned around back to the table to final see the prankster.
Or pranksters as she saw just how many there were on the table that the cake once was. Celestia looked with utter confusion at who were the ones to cause all this.
“You got to be kidding me?”
Princess Luna worked tirelessly on finishing the final report due by the morning as she sipped some coffee that Pasture gave her. This was the one thing she hated about the Nobles in their endless request and demands about such trivial matters. At least the one good thing tonight was that there was only a few of these requests tonight and not hundreds every night.
As the Night Monarch took another sip of her coffee, she found that her drink was empty. She looked up to see if her Assistant was here with the new batch but found that she was nowhere to be seen. Luna looked at the clock to see it was a quarter till one. “She should have been back by now?” she said to herself.
Luna stood up from her desk and walked to the door to find her missing Assistant and opened it to look around the hallway to see if she was coming. However, after looking in both directions, she noticed something that was lying on the ground in front of her door.
A pie was lying right in front of her. A pie that she knew all too well as it was the same pie that she made a few hours early. Luna cocked her head to the side in confusion as she said out loud “Why is my pie he- “
SPLAT
Her pie, that she put a lot of love and effort into, was suddenly flung from the ground to her face. The pie tin slowly fell from her face as she blinked a few times at what just happened. As Luna stood still for a few seconds, steam started to come from her ears from the rage that was boiling from within.
“WHO DARES DESECRATE MY FACE WITH MY OWN CREATION!” Yelled Luna as she looked around angrily with bits and pieces of the pie being flung around. Her eyes were red with rage with the intend to kill the one who wasted all her hard work for a stupid prank.
A sudden noise caught her attention down the hall which led towards the ballroom and immediately flew towards that direction to catch the perpetrator.
Celestia meanwhile was currently dodging pies that were being flung from miniature catapults that were apparently made from what looked like gingerbread. She had no clue how it worked but she could not think about it much more as the pies kept coming.
‘How many pies do they have’ thought Celestia as she hurried towards the main entrance of the ballroom. She made it to the door and opened it to reveal an angry blue alicorn beaming towards her a few yards away.
“Sister?” said Celestia as Luna continued flying towards here completely ignoring the white alicorn in her path. Celestia had no choice but to move out of the way back into the ballroom. When she moved to the side of the door, she noticed a few more pies heading towards the direction she was just standing but had no time to warn the raging alicorn.
“WHO DARES-” yelled Luna before a pie was smashed on her face for the second time that night. The momentum of the pie made her stop midflight for a split second before she was struck with more pies which led to her falling backwards on her back.
Celestia looked out of the doorway to see what damaged had been done to her sister. Luna was completely covered with about eight pies from head to hoof. Luna spat out a piece of pie from her mouth and wiped the rest with her hoof as she saw who was standing over her.
“Tia?” questioned Luna as Celestia gave her sister a nod and her hoof so that she can stand back on her hooves. Luna took the solar alicorn’s hoof somewhat hesitantly as she was confused as to why her sister was doing her.
After being brought back to her hooves, Luna question her sister “What are you doing here?”
“I was going to eat a late-night snack but uh… I got attack by some little ‘miscreants’.” said Celestia as she turned her head to look back inside the ballroom to see if they were going to send in another wave of flying pies.
“So, they attacked you too,” replied Luna as she moved her sister out of the way to find these dissidents against her and Celestia. She looked straight into the ballroom and started to yell “Alright, YOU MISCHEIF-MAKERS! COME ON OUT SO THAT I Can…” Luna’s voiced died down and trailed off as she finally got a good look at who was causing all this trouble.
Dozens of small, frosted smiles looked fondly towards the Lunar and Solar Princess’ as the gingerbread men stood still and waved their hands towards them. All of them with happy expressions on their faces as if they were glad that someone was noticing them.
Luna’s mouth was slightly agape with her eyes twitching slightly at the sight that was in front of her. Celestia walked right next to her. “I know, I had a similar reaction that gingerbread men were the ones who destroyed my precious cake.”
Luna ignored the cake remark as she finally had the strength to speak, “But… But… But these are my gingerbread men!? I created them! How are they even moving?”
Celestia raised her eyebrow at what Luna said, “You made them, why did you create such mischievous pranksters?”
“Pranksters? I did not intend to create such evil little demon cookies!” explained Luna as she pointed her hoof in the direction of the gingerbread men. The ‘evil little demon cookies’ were currently dancing with each other and giving hugs to one another.
“I can see how evil they are little Sister.” said Celestia as she watched them. “I do wish to believe that they have good spirits but using such tactics is very mischievous and not something I would look upon.”
The two alicorn sisters kept watching them as they it seems throwing desserts was no longer an interest. “I want to know why they are sentient and not ready to be treats for tomorrow.” said Luna as she started to walk towards her creations with her angry being replaced with curiosity.
Luna used her magic to pick up of the gingerbread men and brought it up to her face for inspection. She looked on intently as she asked out loud, “How are you moving?”
The gingerbread man looked back at the alicorn that was being held by her. The smile on the gingerbread’s face started to move slightly as if it was going to say something before it pulled out a toothpick from behind it’s back and threw it at Luna’s nose.
“OUCH, YOU LITTLE-“ yelled Luna as she dropped the cookie from her magic. The toothpick was sticking out on top of her nose which caused a lot of pain, and she retaliated in angry to the little creature with a small spell. Her blue magic hit the gingerbread man’s head and a small explosion was created. The smoke died down around it and it no longer had a head but still standing up.
Luna used her magic to pull the toothpick from her nose before noticing what she had done. The gingerbread men stopped what they were doing and looked towards their fellow brother at what just happened.
Celestia and Luna looked in shock as the headless gingerbread man waved its hand over where its head was a few moments ago. They both then looked to see what the reaction would be from the rest of the gingerbreads as they walked up to their brother.
The smiles on their faces slowly morphed into frowns as they approached the two sisters. “That can’t be good.” said Celestia as she started to slowly back away towards the ballroom door.
“Well, if they are going to throw more of my pies, then I do not know what they can do worse.” replied Luna as she looked back to her sister.
Something suddenly was thrown right in between them as they both looked back to see what new object that the gingerbread men threw. A kitchen knife was wobbling from the impact it made on the wall as both sisters slowly turned their heads around to look back at the direction it was flung from. All the gingerbread men started to pull out sharp instruments ranging from kitchen knives, forks, and daggers in retaliation.
“RUN!” both Celestia and Luna yelled as they ran towards the door as more sharp objects was being thrown at them. They closed the door with their hooves as fast as they can before any knives managed to hit them. They both felt the impact of the many objects connecting on the other side of the door. Some of the knives managed to break through the door with the sharp ends slightly puncturing on the side of the sisters.
“They really did not like what you did Luna.” said Celestia as part of a sword just penetrated the door right in between her and Luna.
“I don’t get it. They act like mischievous pranksters using anything to get attention and then if you get them angry, they retaliate in a more violent matter.” replied Luna.
“It’s almost childish in a weird sense.”
“Chaotic even.”
Both sisters gave a deadpan look at each other as they knew who the cause of all this was. “DISCORD!”
With a poof of magic, the Lord of Chaos appeared behind them dressed in a red suit and matching hat. “You rang?” asked Discord as he looked down on the two alicorns who were still holding the door shut.
“What did you do to my gingerbread men?” questioned Luna as she looked to Discord for a reason for all this mess.
“I did what?” said Discord in confusion as he noticed what they were doing, “So, who’s the big bad guy that’s got you two so worried?”
“Luna created gingerbread men for tomorrow’s Hearth’s Warming but somehow they became sentient, and since they are acting very childish and chaotic, we thought there might be some connection between them and you.” explain Celestia to Discord for him to catch up on what was going on.
“Yes, I do not know what went wrong.” replied Luna worryingly when another knife partially penetrated the door, “All I did was follow the recipe while using some unique ingredients from around the world such as the Saddle Aribia Ginger, Equestrian Spirited Sugar and-.
“Did you say, ‘Spirited Sugar’?” interrupted Discord. Luna nodded her head to Discord as he started to laugh. “I was wondering where I put that stuff.”
“That sugar was yours?!”
“Yes, I created that sugar to add a little spirit to my creations back home, but I misplaced it, and it was here all along. Thank you for finding it for me.” Replied the draconequus with a smile.
“YOU RUINED MY DESSERTS” yelled Luna as she flew towards Discord in angry.
“I did no such thing.” Discord replied while leaning down to be face to face with Luna.
They both stared at each other for a few seconds before hearing a sigh. Both looked towards Celestia, who was still holding on the door with many more sharp objects penetrating it. “It’s good and all that we found the cause of all this, but we have a serious situation at the moment!”
Discord let out a sigh from knowing that he was going to have to solve this problem, “Let me see what I can do,” as he snapped his fingers and teleported supposedly into the ballroom.
Celestia let go of the door and backed off as she had no clue what was going to happen. Both sisters waited in silence to see what will happen.
After a few minutes, a sudden ‘BAM’ sound was heard coming frow within. Both sisters looked at the door hesitantly at what the noise could have been. “I hope he’s alright,” said Celestia to Luna wondering if the noise was a good thing or a bad thing.
The doors suddenly opened to reveal Discord being carried on his back by the gingerbread men as they rushed him out the door. There was a large bump on his head with him slowly raising his hand saying weakly, “Tally-Ho!”
The two alicorns looked on in confusion and utter disbelief at what just happened. That the Lord of Chaos was defeated by six-inch holiday cookies and was now being kidnapped by them.
“This is worse than I thought” explained Celestia as she and her sister started to follow them. They followed them for a few minutes until they finally reached a door that was very familiar to both.
“The Kitchen.” both sisters said as they realized how obvious that this is where they were taking Discord.
The doors opened and closed rapidly for the gingerbread men shortly followed by Celestia and Luna. Both stood still at what the gingerbread men did to the kitchen.
Gingerbread men were tinkering with kitchen appliances by using any ingredients in creating more holiday treats. The ovens were on and filled with more gingerbread men getting cooked and ready to be born into this word. Piles of pies and cakes laid around in the back of the kitchen ready to be used by the gingerbread men. And next to the desserts, were tied up Night Guards and Luna’s Assistant, Pasture.
The ponies were hog-tied with what looked like liquorice candy and gaged with large portions of taffy. All of them struggling trying to get free from the gingerbreads grasp.
Discord was currently being tied by the same ropes of liquorice and placed upside down in the middle of the kitchen. His arms were bound to his sides tightly as if they knew that if he snapped his fingers, bad things would come to them. The gingerbread men currently seem to be using him as target practice as they kept launching small amounts of cake onto his body from their catapults.
“They’ve really did a number on this place.” said Celestia in wonder as she watched the gingerbread stirring batter for more desserts.
“They’ve been destroying all my hard work for the past few hours!” explained Luna as she watched them load another pie on a catapult. “When I figure out how to deal with them, I’ll-“
SPLAT
Another pie landed on Luna’s face. She blinked very slowly in angry for being pied the third time.
Celestia could not hold in a chuckle at seeing her sister’s predicament. “I guess they really like ‘Moon Pies’.”
Luna wiped the pie off her face as she looked deadpan towards her Celestia, “This is not the time for jokes.” Her horn started to glow as she was preparing a spell to retaliate against the gingerbread.
Celestia put her hoof in front of Luna’s chest to tell her to stop what she was doing, “Remember what happened last time you struck them with a spell.”
Luna let out a sigh of frustration as she gave up on conjuring her spell from knowing well what their reaction would be. “You’re right Tia, I just wish we can figure out a way to destroy them without violent retaliation from them.”
Celestia smiled at her sister knowing that she managed to calm her down. She opened her mouth to say something to her sister before suddenly, a puff of blue powder hit her on the face.
Luna looked on in horror as her sister’s face became drowsy and she started to fall towards the ground. “TIA!” yelled Luna as soon as the fallen Princess's face connected with the cold floor of the kitchen.
Luna looked in the direction of where the powder came from and saw some gingerbread men with a catapult next to a bag of similar blue powder. She used her magic to grab the bag from them and saw a sleeping zebra with dream bubbles coming from their head was drawn on the front of it.
She read the title of the product as, ‘Mystic Lullaby, helps brings the sweetest dreams’ she turned the back around to see if there was anything else about this product and saw large red letters reading, ‘WARNING: Do not use more than the recommended amount or will cause longer term slumber. Larger quantities will cause longer slumber’.
Luna looked within the contents of the bag and saw almost all of it was gone. The Night Princess looked back at her sister in horror at the thought that she was going to be sleeping for a long unknown amount of time.
Luna clenched her teeth in angry at what the gingerbread men did to her sister. Celestia’s soft snoring did nothing but angry her more as she looked towards the most annoying things she had ever delt with.
“YOU DARE DO THAT TO TIA!” yelled Luna as she went started to charge towards the army of tiny cookies. She was ready to do battle at any cost to destroy these little demons for putting her sister to sleep. However, she failed to notice single pie in her path and step on it with full force. The momentum of her stepping in the pie had her trip on her face and slide across the floor.
The only thing that stopped her from going further was Discord’s body as she rammed straight into him. Disoriented from her crash, Luna lied on the ground from her impact unaware of the ropes of liquorice were being thrown over her body.
The ropes tightened around her body as she slowly started to come to her senses at what was happening. She saw out of the corner of her vision, the headless gingerbread man pointing a toothpick at her, and pieces of cakes were soon flung towards her tied down body.
“I’m getting really tired of getting stuck with my own food!” yelled Luna in annoyance as the desserts struck her body.
“You’re telling me.” replied the now conscious draconequus as he was also pelted with pieces of cakes and pies.
“This is all your fault!” Luna yelled back, “If you did not create such a dangerous ingredient, then none of this would have happened!”
“My fault?! If you did not read the labels on the bag and not used it in your cooking, none of this wouldn’t had happen!” clapped back Discord angrily as he started to struggle to get out of his own restraints.
As Discord and Luna were arguing over each other on who was the one to cause all this, they failed to notice an army of gingerbread men slowly amassing with pieces of candy, frosting, and decorations in hand. Both Discord and Luna stopped their arguing as they noticed the gingerbread men slowly approaching them with unknown intent.
“I can’t believe this is how it ends!” said Luna in desperation of her life, “Being conquered by six-inch holiday treats.”
As the closest gingerbread man neared Luna with a small peppermint candy cane, a loud ‘Chomp’ noise was heard behind them. Everyone turned to see what was caused the noise and Luna went wide eyed at who it was.
It was Celestia, on her hooves and awake as she slowly chewed something in her mouth. That something was a half-eaten gingerbread man who laid lifeless on the floor. A large gulp was heard as Celestia swallowed the holiday treat.
She looked across the vast army of the gingerbread men, completely ignoring Luna and Discord, as she gave a sheepish smile towards them. The gingerbread men retaliated by throwing everything they had at her.
Celestia completely ignored all the flung candy, cake, and frosting as she brought her head down and consumed another gingerbread man with a much faster pace.
The rest of the gingerbread men soon realized that their attacks were doing nothing to the Solar Princess and started to run around in a panic at the prospect of getting eaten by her. Some went pass her and headed straight to the nearby exit of the kitchen, but the doors were soon shut by golden magic and a click was heard.
The gingerbread men knew that the door was now locked and looked back to see the unfazed Princess. Celestia, while chewing one of gingerbread, gave another sheepish smile and walked towards the one who were trying to flee.
“I don’t believe it.” said Luna as she looked in utter surprise at what was happening.
Discord, not knowing what was going on, asked Luna, “Uh… Do you have any idea why Sunbutt currently going on a rampage while looking like she’s totally not there?”
“Because she’s currently sleepwalking,” replied Luna as she watched the sleepwalking Princess eat more stuff other than the gingerbread. Nothing stood in her path as a whole cake that was in her way was currently being eaten. The gingerbread threat was currently slowly being held within the confines of her stomach as she kept eating more of them within a timely matter.
“Any idea why she’s on a food sleepwalking rampage at the moment?” asked Discord as he smiled in glee that Celestia was the one causing a lot of chaos for these little monsters.
“I knew she had sugar cravings every night, but I never realized that if she did not get her nightly snack, she would start to sleepwalk for a treat,” explained Luna as she watched her sister closely at the chaos she was causing. “Since she appears to be the only one who can end this threat, I guess we have to wait till she has her fill.”
‘Well, that’s just great,” Discord said disappointedly as both Luna and him watched Celestia eat another gingerbread man, “I get to see Sunbutt do all this chaos and I don’t have any popcorn to enjoy myself.”
An unknown amount of time passed by everyone as they had no clue how long they have been in the kitchen. But there was one pony who did not care how long much time passed as she was currently resting from her 'midnight snack'. Celestia laid on her side with a satisfied smile. Her stomach had a slight bulge from all the treats she had eaten as her hoof slowly rubbed it in satisfaction. She smacked her lips trying to savor the taste of all the wonderfully made gingerbread men that she had eaten before closing her eyes and going back to sleep.
Discord and Luna looked in awe as all the holiday treats that were consumed. The tied-up guards looked in amazement that their Princess managed to defeat the gingerbread men by eating them all. Celestia spared almost nothing in her path with only a half-eaten cake and a single pie remaining in the aftermath.
“I can’t believe she ate them all,” said Discord out loud.
“I’ve always knew she had a serious sweet tooth but not to this extent,” Luna replied to the still tied draconequus.
Knowing that the war against her creations was over, she used her magic to undo the liquorice bindings and stood up. She gave a small stretch from being tied for a long time and started to make her way towards her guards and Assistant with full intention of ignoring the upside-down hanging Lord of Chaos.
“And where do you think you are going?” asked Discord in annoyance from being stuck in his position for too long.
Luna looked at Discord in content, “I’m going to free my guards and Pasture first before I ever think of releasing you. Besides, I think this is a good punishment for you to remember to always keep track of where you put your things.”
“What!?” yelled Discord, “You still think this is my fault!? I’ll have you know tha-“ Before he could get another word in, a pie was flung in his face by a blue hoof.
Luna smiled in satisfaction at shutting up Discord for the first time in her life as she said with glee, “That felt good,” and walked away from the slowly blinking shocked pie cover face of Discord.
