MLP: The Prank of the Century. Part 1

It was April Fools Day in Equestria, and the world was in utter comedic chaos. Ponies were running rampant through the streets, hiding on rooftops, disguising themselves among boxes and various forms of furniture with intent to victimize others, all the while laughing to themselves from their embarrassment. They were all having the time of their lives humiliating their opponents, only for the opponents to have their inevitable vengeance.

However, as somewhat malicious in nature as the jokes and pranks themselves seemed, as well as the resulting misfortune, the heart of the holiday remained in its rightful place. But the one pony that made the most of the holiday was none other than the infamous pegasus, Rainbow Dash. To most of the other pranksters, Rainbow Dash was terror incarnate, a mastermind of misfortune, among other imaginative and relative titles.

She had become so adept in strategizing practical jokes for this holiday that she seemed almost undefeatable; always remaining one step ahead of the competition, there being so few, and virtually claiming the holiday as her own. Her reputation had expanded to such a position that the Town Hall's banner for April Fools Day has Rainbow Dash as its primary mascot. In short, she was a force of cunning and craft to be reckoned with. However, despite her maniacal abuse of power, many other ponies enjoyed this holiday to its fullest.

The excitable Pinkie Pie and the deliberate Fluttershy, meanwhile, were trying their best to escape the ensuing chaos, having had more than enough pit traps and ice buckets for the time being. But little did they know that the devastating alliance between Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were stalking them from the street corners, armed with firecrackers, haply titled 'mud cakes' and a 2-pound bag of flour.

They had devised an ambush for the two unsuspecting pedestrians and were ecstatic to unleash it. However, Rainbow Dash had then spotted Rarity following the duo as well, possibly attempting to steal the opportunity for herself. It was already peculiar that somepony as neat and somewhat germophobic as Rarity would sacrifice her sanitation for this holiday, but Rainbow Dash decided not to question it, as the upper-class unicorn had already stolen the first move for herself.

Rarity had leapt into action and splashed Fluttershy with a thick shower of paint, drenching her in the blue substance from head to hoof as her ambusher screamed "Gotcha!" with a maximum level of delight. Pinkie Pie panicked and attempted to escape, shrieking "I knew it! I knew we were being followed!", only to be cornered by of the Rainbow Dash, the firecrackers raised above her head and sparkling brightly.

Before she could throw them, however, Applejack had tossed the first mud cake at Pinkie Pie and splattered it against her forehead, distracting Rainbow Dash long enough for the firecrackers to detonate prematurely and startle her. The following chaos resulted in both Pinkie Pie and Rarity being drenched in mud, Twilight getting coated in the flour, often being confused for Rarity by Rainbow Dash and Applejack, and Fluttershy managing to escape the ensuing panic; possibly into another trap, knowing her luck.

Eventually, any energy that the ponies had mustered for this skirmish had finally been drained, as they sat leaning against the picket fence or on their backs, each trying to catch their breath to speak. By this time, Fluttershy had returned from cleaning herself of all the paint. "You… ran off on me… Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, scraping mud off of her neck. "S-sorry! I wanted to g-get the paint off!" Fluttershy stuttered, clearly hesitating from this ungracious attention.

Applejack arose from the dirt and wrapped her arm around Fluttershy's shoulder, cheerfully saying "Hey c'mon, gal. It's all in good fun". The shy pegasus turned away in embarrassment, a small grin emerging across her face. "Well, since the party seems to be over, you wanna go get something to eat?" Rainbow Dash offered, shaking most of the remaining flour off her wings. "Oh thank goodness, I'm starved!" Pinkie Pie wailed in excitement. "Hey now, don't get too crazy on us. We don't want ya to have any… well…" Applejack mocked smugly before jabbing Pinkie Pie's stomach with her hoof. Pinkie Pie squealed with flushed red cheeks, sending an intense glare towards the southern socialite.

"Hey! You two coming or what?" Twilight asked the duo while following to others, only now realizing Applejack and Pinkie were still talking. They both nodded enthusiastically and followed after them, Pinkie Pie's mind remaining focused on what meals would be chosen. After feasting themselves in the nearby café, to which Pinkie Pie managed to devour more than the others as usual, they all parted ways. "Seeya tomorrow, girls!" Pinkie Pie exuberantly yelled to her colleagues. "Huh? Oh, yeah! Seeya, Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash shouted back as she followed Applejack and Twilight.

Once Pinkie Pie giddily bounded her way around the corner and was out of sight, the group gave mischievous glances towards eachother and gathered together. Rainbow Dash giggled cheekily, asking "She doesn't suspect anything, does she?" Applejack responded "Nah, she doesn't. Tomorrow's gonna be so good!" while beaming a wide, cocky grin. Twilight added "I've told everypony in town about our plan, and they all want to help". Rainbow Dash's smile widened malevolently, before replying "Very good. With the whole town helping us…" and standing proudly before her companions.

"This, my friends, is going to be the 'Prank of the Century'!"

---

The next day, Pinkie Pie felt unwilling to leave her bed, having been greatly fatigued from yesterday's events. She thought to herself "It's not like I have anything to do today, anyway…" before furrowing her eyebrows and grimacing, "Wow. Listen to yourself, Pinkie Pie. We can't just lounge around like this for a whole morning!"

From this encouragement, she literally dragged herself from her bed with a 'Thud!' and sleepily stumbled her way down her staircase. "I might just get something to eat at the café for this morning" she considered, "Maybe I can just be a little lazy. Just for today".

By this time, she'd pushed her way through her front door and inhaled the surrounding air, instantly intoxicated by the aroma of sweets from her Pastry Shop on Sugarcube Corner. Upon coming of age, the previous owner of Sugarcube Corner, namely Mr. and Mrs. Cake, had resigned their ownership of the store and left it to their trained assistant and daughter in law.

"I'll bet the others will be there too!" she thought to herself giddily as she bounded her way through the streets without a care, determined to enjoy her morning before it would inevitably pass. However, upon finally arriving at her destination, she was confused as to find the café completely vacant, despite the lack of a 'Closed' sign. "Weird…" she muttered, "They're always open on weekends".

By this time, realization finally dawned on her.

She looked over the streets and through the windows of the nearby homes and buildings; try as she may, she couldn't find anypony where they would normally reside. All shops seemed devoid of workers or customers, all homes were emptied of their residences, and the streets had been cleared of pedestrians; this place had become nothing more than a ghost town. Pinkie Pie, taken aback by the ominous qualities that Ponyville now possessed, wondered what this discovery could mean. "Did I miss a memo or something? Maybe their meeting at the Town Hall" she thought to herself.

After a short journey, she arrived at the Town Hall, already offset by the lack of guards at the main entrance. Reluctantly, she entered the building against regulations and searched for any inhabitance, only to find nopony here either. Nopony, no staff, no form of security personnel; everypony appeared to have vanished into thin air, leaving no evidence or clue of their existence.

For the following hours, Pinkie Pie had begun to feel a deep sense of loneliness and solitude, unable to clear her mind of the possibilities of this unexpected situation. One by one, she visited each of her friends' houses in search for them, only to find each abode entirely vacant with no trace of either life or sentience.

Finding herself in the center of the market district once again, Pinkie Pie attempted to think of any plausible explanation for this phenomenon, only to be left clueless upon every attempt. She eventually ceased searching and simply wandered through the streets, feeling incredibly lonely and stranded, hoping to herself that somepony may happen to find her and explain this bizarre occurrence.

Finally, her wish was granted. After exiting the marketplace for the fourth time in her search, she quickly noticed Applejack's filly sister, Applebloom, wandering from one street to the next. Excited by this, she called out "Hey Applebloom! Do you know where everypony went?" while running towards her. However, upon seeing her, Applebloom panicked and ran into a nearby alleyway, confusing Pinkie Pie greatly from these actions. "Hey, where are you going?" Pinkie Pie called out to her, but Applebloom either didn't hear her or was intentionally ignoring her.

Pinkie Pie ran into the alley in pursuit, only to find a dead end, and Applebloom having disappeared without a trace. From what Pinkie Pie could tell, there was absolutely nowhere that she could've gone; nowhere that Pinkie knew off, at least. "Why did she run away from me!?" she exclaimed in shock, "Why wouldn't she tell me what's happening!?" Pinkie Pie shook her head frantically, frustration and fear welling within her body as she screamed "ARRGH! WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

She turned and ran out of the ally and stopped in the middle of the street, gasping and panting heavily for control of her senses. She swung her head in different directions and ran towards the first building she could she, flinging the door open and yelling "Hello?! Is anypony here!?" As she should've expected, no form of response could be heard.

Pinkie Pie was undoubtedly panicking by this point, trembling fearfully at the thought of rejection; the thought of abandonment. She spun around and staggered through the shop exit and halted in the center of the street, her panting only having grown heavier and more desperate as time passed. Finally, in a final fit of hysteria, she stared upwards to the sky and raised her arms dramatically.

"WHERE IS EVERYPONY!?"

Silence. Nothing but silence had answered. All at once, Pinkie Pie lost all hope and began to ponder the worst possibilities for this terrifying situation. Pinkie Pie's arms dropped to her sides and her eyelids slowly closed; she collapsed on her stomach, disregarding the painful impact, and simply lay still.

Why did everypony leave? Why was she the only pony here? Was everypony avoiding her? Did they leave to go somewhere? Why wouldn't they tell her? Did they leave her by herself on purpose? Did she do something wrong? Was there something wrong? Was there something wrong with her? She rolled onto her back and sat up from the dirt, tears beginning to well in her eyes from these morbid thoughts. "Is there something wrong… with me?" was all she could say before she lost herself to despair.

Unbeknownst to her, two pairs of observing eyes viewed this degrading scene, each widened in awe of its unbelievable outcome. Upon a nearby rooftop, hidden within the thatch roof, were Applejack's sister Applebloom and her friend, Scootaloo. "Well… I wasn't expecting that" Scootaloo whispered as she observed Pinkie Pie's weeping. "No kidding. I didn't think she'd take it so seriously"

Applebloom replied, before considering her statement and asking "But then again, how else would anypony have reacted to something like this?" The more the duo observed their accomplishments, the more guilt they felt for their involvement. After lowering the lifted section of the roof, Applebloom grimaced "I don't think we thought this through enough".

By nightfall, Pinkie Pie slowly staggered her way through the streets towards the front door of her home. By this time, she had all but accepted her solitude and was prepared to spend the rest of her life alone. Despite this, she still remained baffled as to why this would happen to begin with, but believed that she would never uncover the reason.

She stepped towards her front door and was about to twist the knob; but then, she heard a sound that was incredibly familiar to her, but was definitely the last sound she expected to hear. There was a faint noise in the air, but it was growing louder. The very rhythm of it sent chills up and down Pinkie Pie's spine.

Laughter.

---

She flung the door open and raced upstairs to her bedroom, the sound of laughter growing ever louder all the while. She twisted the knob on her door and it slowly creaked open, and the sight she was met with was too much for her to comprehend. All of her friends were giggling to themselves, before they all noticed her an all shouted "Surprise!" in unison. Pinkie Pie's heart skipped a beat from this revelation, "You… Where did you all go? Where did everypony go?" she exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward and answered "We were hiding of course, silly! Everypony in town was!" All her friends smiled with delight and laughed to themselves, "This was the greatest trick ever!" Applejack cheered. They all raised there glasses and toasted to eachother. "What did you think, Pinkie Pie? Did we get you?" Rainbow Dash asked, and all the others turned to view the expected expression of relief on her face. The sight they witnessed instead grinded their party to a shocking halt.

Pinkie Pie sat in the doorway, as pale as a ghost and her eyes welling with tears. She stared at the ground and held her head in her hooves, clearly in a state of shock. Her friends stared in horror before Applejack rushed to her aid, asking "Hey Pinkie Pie, ya feelin' alright?" Pinkie Pie's eyes suddenly shot open and her cheeks flushed red with rage.

"AM I ALRIGHT!?" she screamed as she leapt to her hooves, before shouting psychotically "YOU ALL ALMOST SCARED ME TO DEATH! WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO ME!?" Her friends stood dumbfounded by this unexpected turn of events. "THAT WAS HORRIBLE! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HORRIBLE THAT WAS! I THOUGHT THAT EVERYPONY LEFT ME HERE ALONE!" Eventually, though, Pinkie Pie's maniacal meltdown was soon replaced with sorrow, as tears could be seen dripping from her cheeks.

"You thought this would be funny to me!? There is never anything funny about losing your friends!" she sniffed distraughtly, her eyes glistening with misery. Unable to bare this scene, Applejack suddenly intervened; "But ya didn't lose us, Pinkie Pie! We're right here for ya!" Applejack assured, clearly concerned for Pinkie Pie's emotional, and mental, stability. Pinkie Pie tilted her head up towards her friends with her eyes fixed upon them.

"Get out" she sneered, having sucked the party dry of its original intended joy by this time. "Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow Dash whispered under her breath. "I said get out! Now!" she snarled, gritting her teeth tightly, "I've had enough of my 'friends' for one day". An ominous silence lingered within the bedroom. But, not wanting to upset her any further, her friends reluctantly obliged and left one by one, swiftly descending to the first floor and exiting through the front door; all the while, Pinkie Pie followed from behind for reassurance of their departure.

Rainbow Dash was the last to leave; but before doing so, she turned to Pinkie Pie and said "Hey… Pinkie Pie? If you want to… we're having a celebration at the Town Hall. You don't have to come if you don't want to… but I really want to make it up to you for today". With that, she lay an invitation letter on the floor, before stepping outside and shutting the door behind her. Pinkie Pie stared at the letter for a long while as it lay on the floor before her, before picking it up to examine it. It was addressed to her, and the envelope was a promising colour of pink. Her smile began to return for the first time today as she curiously pealed the seel open and pulled the note out to read it.

'BOOM!'

Confetti and powder immediately flew in random directions, covering both Pinkie Pie and the furniture around her. She stared down at the letter in utter disbelief; a simple text reading 'This message will self-destruct before you'll be able to read it!' and an expended wick could be seen. This was unbelievable; after all that she had just said, after all that's happened, after such a horrible day, it was just a joke. A joke? Is that all it was to them?

Her friends witnessed this from outside the window, before turning to stare angrily at Rainbow Dash. "What exactly was that!?" Applejack questioned sternly. Rainbow Dash backed away sheepishly before answering "I… thought it was gonna cheer her up". Applejack then lectured "It wasn't so bad when it was just the prank, but that there was just mean of you". As they bickered, a loud 'Thud!' came from inside, instantly diverting their attention.

This was followed by more loud thuds along with multiple loud crashes and a wailing scream from their pink companion, whose encompassing rage had finally reached its peak. "Okay, I think w-we should go now" Rarity spouted hesitantly before backing away from the window and taking her leave. After a chilling atmosphere had enveloped the air around them, the others regrettably followed Rarity's advice and quickly departed.

Pinkie Pie sat with her back leaned against the bedroom door, her eyes spreading a deluge. She was beyond crying by now, she was sobbing; bawling over her horrible misfortune. Why would they do something so mean to her? Is it really so funny to see bad stuff happen to her? Did they hate her that much? This last thought was what started it, as it set off a chain reaction that altered Pinkie Pie outlook on the world entirely.

Her hair fell over her shoulders, becoming lank.

To be continued…