“Flash, get back here right now!” Firestar shouted as she chased after her son. Onlookers in the Crystal Empire watched them both fly by.

His only reply was to increase his speed and fly faster. If someone were to ask Princess Firestar about it – on a day when she did not want to kill him – she would actually say that she was impressed. Her two sons Blaze and Flash were both superb flyers. She honestly did not know if it was genetics, her training with them, or their Great Aunt Rainbow’s training that made them so good.

Right this second, she did not give a buck. She just wanted to pluck his feathers out one at a time for what the little shit did.

It had all started as a simple prank. Blaze and Flash had quickly taken up their great aunt's more eccentric nature and began pulling pranks on everyone around them. Firestar swore she would chew Rainbow’s flank off for that the next time she saw her.

At first, they were relatively harmless; the twins took it in turns to prank each other, and even their parents. Firestar was not without a sense of humor; she could even laugh at herself a few times when they would put a bucket of milk over a halfway opened door.

She even laughed when Radiant woke up one day to an all pink coat. He did not.

However, when Princess Cadance came downstairs today and somepony shaved a stripe from the top of her head all the way down her back. That was the end of the line. A quick search of each of their rooms found a razor with pink hair in it. Flash had tried to clean it; he just failed to get behind the blades themselves.

He took off as soon as she found it. Straight out the nearest window. Firestar followed, her rage at this latest prank getting the better of her. “Flash, if you don’t stop right this second, I swear to Luna I’m gonna have Twilight banish you to the bucking moon!”

It was all for naught, he was running to try to avoid punishment, yelling at him about more punishments just caused him to fly faster.

Flash had speed, endurance, and youth on his side, his natural talent and training shown through. It all allowed him to pull off a level of speed that should have been impossible for any normal pony to keep up with. Unfortunately for him, Firestar was not a ‘normal pony’ by any definition of the world. While it was true that she would never be as fast as Rainbow, nor did she have the speed Ataxia did when she transformed, and she could not augment her flight with magic the way Shimmering Night or Twilight Sparkle could. She was the daughter of Spitfire, before she became Commander of Cloudsdale and married Prince Radiant Star; she had served as Captain of the Wonderbolts.

He never stood a chance.

She caught up to the white pegasus before he even made it out of the Crystal Empire’s airspace. Wrapping her hooves up under the base of his wings, she grabbed him in a bear hug. The effect caught Flash completely by surprise. With the added weight of his mom on his back and the loss of lift from his wings, gravity jerked him down and left him with the sensation of lightheadedness.

Firestar was more than prepared to take on her son’s weight. She caught him midair and spread her wings wide. Her years of Wonderbolt training included more than her fair share of narrow escapes where she would have to rescue a pony from an out of control maneuver. She spread her wings as wide as they would go, increasing lift to accommodate the extra weight of her son. With a slight change of angle with her wings, Firestar slowed them down enough to safely land on the hills below.

A million and one thoughts went through Flash’s head at that moment. Each and every one of them focused on escaping whatever punishment his mom would dish out, punishment that included, but was not limited to, banishment to the moon.

He looked at his mom. Her face was teeming with rage, anger, and worse… disappointment. Of all the emotions, Flash hated that last one the most. It was easy to deal with someone who was mad at you. Disappointed? That was another story altogether. He considered running again, for a second anyway. That thought died as quickly as it came up, he flew as fast as he could as she still caught him before he made it out of the empire.

She paced around on the ground, walking back and forth in a small circle of her own making. Any other time, Flash would have been laughing, as she was starting to leave an indenture in the ground. This was not one of those times.

Firestar glared at him, every time she did it was a look of utter disgust at what he did. She could not look at him for long, yet every time she turned away it was the only place she wanted to look. She wanted to see why, why he would think that was an appropriate thing to do to his grandmother.

A part of her, a rather large part wanted him to have a good reason, it wanted him to say something along the lines of, ‘she had a tick that I could only get by shaving her back’. Given, it was not a good excuse by any means, but at least it would make some sense. She kept looking back at him and then to the ground until something gave her pause, something she never thought she would see on her son’s face: Fear. He was afraid of her, or more accurately, he was afraid of what his punishment would be.

Her rage died in her chest, she sat back on her flank, closed her eyes, and sighed loudly. When she opened her eyes, her son was running his hoof through the grass. A small part of her was surprised that he did not try and run. ‘You’re smarter than you let on,’ she thought.

“Why?”

Flash looked up, surprised how one word spoken so softly could have so much meaning. That it could have so much implication to it. Worse, he was surprised that he did not know the answer to it.

“I… I… I…” he tried to say something. Nothing came out; he had no real answer for it.

Firestar sat there, patiently waiting for her son to give a reply to such a simple question. Yet regardless how much he tried, nothing came out of his mouth, she knew that nothing would.

“You think it’s funny don’t you? You know that the crystal fair is today, you know that Princess Cadance has to give a speech in front of the entire Crystal Empire. Yet you, you, you…” Firestar found herself as lost for words as her son was.

“You’re in so much trouble,” experience let her find her words much faster than her son could. “Get back to the palace, now.”

Firestar turned around and took off in the air. She did not even turn her head back to verify that he would obey.

“I’m sorry.”

She paused, unsure if she had heard that correctly. Turning around, she hovered in air and looked at him, “What?”

Flash looked up at his mom, “I’m sorry. It was dumb, I… I shouldn’t have done that.”

Firestar glared at him for a few seconds; she let the time drag on and on. For Flash, each second felt like an eternity, like each one that passed took a hundred years to do so. Once she felt her anger subside, she spoke to her son, “It’s not me you have to apologize to.”

He gulped, “You mean?”

“Oh yes, you need to get back to the palace and apologize to Princess Cadance. I’ll let her decide your punishment.”

His eyes went wide, his breathing heavy, and sweat started visibly pouring off the young stallion. “But… but… but-.”

“No buts, now get your flank moving,” Firestar gestured for him to lead the way.

Every inch of the stallion wanted to run, wanted to flee for his life rather than face whatever punishment was about to be dished out from his grandmother. Memories of the stories Ataxia told the twins played through his mind a hundred, no a thousand times.

Cadance’s legendary rage during the battle against Tartarus. How she single hoofed brought a God to its knees with just a glare alone, allowing Rainbow to finish the job. How you should never, never, never, NEVER get her angry.

Firestar watched her son slowly spread his wings and began the long journey back to the palace. She had to do her absolute best not to break out in laughter as she watched the poor stallion fly as if he was going to his own funeral. His white coat, light-blue and white mane lead the way. His yellow lightning bolt cutie mark seemed to droop.

His twin brother had an identical cutie mark; thankfully it was red. That day forever ended the game of ‘which one are you talking too’. Firestar still considered that day one of the happiest of her life; Twilight was even able to remove the spells from their heads.

One time Blaze tried to paint his cutie mark yellow. Radiant grounded him for a week straight after that. He left the colt with the distinct impression that if he or his brother ever painted over them, they would both be subject to six months under their grandmother’s care.

Despite her best efforts, Firestar could not fully hold back her giggles. They all knew the story Ataxia told the boys and while the other foals discovered the truth soon enough, Blaze and Flash still believed that Princess Cadance was the Spirit of Vengeance.

…

Flash landed in the throne room of the Crystal Palace. His head downcast, his eyes glued on a spot at the floor. Princess Cadance sat on the throne, glaring at him, judging him, calling out every single fault she could find with the stallion, revealing them, and showing them to the world for all to see.

Or that’s what his mind’s eye saw.

Firestar starting biting her tongue. Princess Cadance was indeed sitting on the throne, with a stripe shaved from the front of her mane all the way down her back. It was the most hilarious thing she had ever seen in her life.

Radiant Star was right next to his mom. On the outside, to any observer, he looked pissed. His face scrunched up in a frown at his son. His normally stoic resolve fully intact.

That was only to a pony that did not know him. Firestar knew every inch of the stallion. She could see the small tales, the subtle hints that anyone who knew him intimately would know. He was dying on the inside. She could see it, he was doing his absolute best not to laugh at the state his mom was in.

For her part, Cadance looked like she did on any other day, minus the obvious of course, and the smile that she normally wore around her family. This was anything other than something to smile about.

“Prince Flash, look at me,” Cadance spoke with authority, the type of tone that commanded obedience from anypony that heard it.

Flash did not want to look up; he did not want to face the pony that had defeated a God. He did not know why he looked up, maybe it was the tone of her voice, or maybe it was because she used his title. Whatever the reason, he looked up.

Princess Cadance had always been a mare that smiled, always one that radiated love and compassion. Looking at her gaze now, he saw none of that. He only saw the Princess of Equestria that had his life on the line.

“Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I’m sorry!!!!” he bawled out. No longer able to hold his cool under her direct gaze. All the stories from Ataxia flooded his mind in an instant. The terrible, powerful, vengeful ruler shone through his mind, overlapping the image of his grandmother.

Cadance kept up the stare, “What are you sorry for?”

“I’m sorry I shaved a line down your back, it was stupid. Please, please, please don’t kill me!”

Princess Cadance could no longer hold back her laughter at that. It started small at first, a slight giggle, one that exploded outward in a full on laughing fit. Radiant and Firestar soon joined in, each of them had been holding back as well, doing their best to keep up the facade. They could not hold back any longer. All three adults in the room soon found themselves on the floor at this whole situation.

Poor Flash could only look around in confusion, he had been expecting a lot... a lot of very, very bad things. This? This laughter coming from his parents and grandparent? This was not on the list, not by a long shot.

“What?” was all he managed to say to the ‘adults’ in the room. His mind was not comprehending how his parents could laugh about his impending death at the hooves of his grandma.

Cadance broke out from her laughter first, “Dear Flash, do you honestly think I would kill you?” The visage he had over her, the one of the vengeful spirit of vengeance, it was gone. In its place he only saw the mare he had grown up around, the one that helped raised him. The one that laughed with him, cried with him, and loved him more than anything else in the entire world.

Despite the situation and the tears in his eyes, Flash’s frown became a smile, he soon started giggling himself, “It was all a lie wasn’t it? You didn’t defeat a God with a glare. I should’ve known,” Flash was amazed, he actually found himself laughing.

“Oh no, that part's true,” Cadance said with a straight face.

“What?” Flash stopped laughing.

“Kidding,” Cadance smiled at him. “Rainbow Dash killed Tartarus, Ataxia and I only helped.”

Flash ran a hoof through his mane and over his face, “Sweet Luna, Vela was right, we are dumb,” He was laughing at his own joke.

Firestar walked over and placed a hoof around her son. “Sweetie, you’re not dumb. Just a little gullible is all. Hey, don’t look at me like that; It’s not necessarily a bad thing. It just means you’re very trusting,” she playfully rubbed his mane.

“Thanks mom,” he smiled at her, gone was the look of rage and anger, and most thankfully, the look of disappointment. In their place, he only saw the love she had for her son. A love that would always be unconditional regardless of what he did.

“Although, you are still in trouble,” her gaze took on a stern glare. One that brought back the memories of what he did.

He looked from her to his grandmother. He had to stop himself from smiling when he looked at her. The stripe shaved from the top of her head all the way down her back made her look ridiculous to say the least. Even if it had been a little too far, the prank was still awesome.

“I understand. Grandma, I’ll accept whatever punishment you deem appropriate.”

Cadance held a hoof to her chin and thought about it for a minute. “Hmm, let’s see. Radiant sent your brother to Canterlot to get Twilight or Shimmering Night to come fix this. However, whichever one comes up, I will need a source of replacement hair. I think it’s only right if you volunteer for that.”

“I… I… “ he did not know what to say about that. His mane and tail where a LOT shorter than Cadance’s. He could see it now; they would have to take his entire mane off and a large amount of fur. He would be completely bare until it grew back.

A portal opening up in the Crystal Palace Throne Room sealed his fate. The portal was a bridge that connected it directly with Celestia’s Palace. A little trick Twilight figured out to transport her son from one location to another in the blink of an eye.

A very groggy Shimmering Night, a very excited Ataxia, and a very worried Blaze walked out of it. Eight years ago, Twilight taught her daughter how to open up the bridge in order to help her get Ataxia from one location to another without worrying about her legendary dislike of teleportation. It was something that normally left her sick more than anything else.

“Ataxia?” Radiant asked; he had no idea what the mare was doing here. He had expected Twilight or Night to simply teleport up here on their own.

Night answered his question, “As soon as Blaze woke us up and told us what happened, she insisted that she come along.”

Click!

A blinding flash emanated from the device strung around her neck as Ataxia started to take pictures of what Princess Cadance looked like. Radiant could easily tell by her shit-eating grin that she was really enjoying this.

“Oh, and she brought a camera. Sorry about this,” Night said with a sigh, based on the grogginess on her face it was easy to tell she had just woken up.

“No problem,” Radiant said with a smile back. In the blink of an eye, three magical blades sliced the camera and the film into ribbons.

“Hey!” Ataxia complained.

“Shut up,” Radiant glared at her. He gave her the sort of look that said, ‘you had to have known this was coming’.

Ataxia grumbled something about it being a waste of a trip now, but Radiant chose to ignore it. With a mare like Ataxia, you just had to let some things slide.

Flash walked up to Night, “It was my doing; I’ll volunteer my hair to replace hers.”

Night just looked at him, “What are you talking about? All I have to do is simply regrow her hair.”

Flash’s jaw dropped, “But… but… bu-“

“No buts, now move aside. I wanna get back to sleep,” Ataxia said with a snarl as she forced the young colt out of her wife’s way.

Flash was just stunned. He looked up at his mom and saw the smile on her face. It was then that he knew they just played for the second time that day, “Why did you make me believe that?”

“Pranks aren’t so much fun when you’re on the receiving end, are they?” When she spoke, it was with understanding and knowing. This was not her being mean; this was her teaching her son a lesson, one he needed to learn the hard way.

“I’m sorry,” he looked at his mom and smiled. He really did mean it.

Shimmering Night approached the princess sitting on the throne. She had to do her absolute best not to laugh at the sight before her. Princess Cadance was always so beautiful; she had the most gorgeous pink hair and purple/yellow mane. Seeing it like this, with a stripe shaved from the top of her horn all the way down her back. It was one of the funniest sights she had ever seen.

Cadance smiled at her, “You can laugh if you need too,” in truth, when she had woken up and seen herself in the mirror, she laughed too.

Night did chuckle, but that was all she did. “I’ll have you fixed in an instant.”

Cadance nodded at her to go ahead. She had tried to do it herself, but when she put her magic to it, she could only accelerate the growth by a factor of ten. In three days she would be back to normal, however she did not have three days to wait, she did not even have one.

As such, Cadance needed Twilight or Night to come over and fix it. Their magic was on another level. Even beyond alicorn magic, God magic.

Night used that magic now, or more accurately, she commanded that magic now. As the Demigoddess of Magic, Night was able to command the forces of magic that existed all around the world. She directed that magic to reform what should have been there. Atom by atom, centimeter by centimeter, the magic rebuilt what was lost. The hair follicles regrew at an insane rate. Causing the hair Cadance lost to regrow on her back. Her mane grew even faster, in the blink of an eye; it had two weeks’ worth of growth on in, then four, six, eight, twelve.

Night’s eyes flashed white as she channeled this much power. She was careful not to overdo it; else, she would leave the princess as a hair monster. Radiant smiled as he watched her work. Back in the day, she had always been impressive, but this was something else entirely. He glanced over to his wife and watched her lower jaw meet the floor.

Radiant walked over and picked it back up for her, “You always were so easy to impress.”

“How, what, when...” Firestar was at a loss for words.

“You forgot why and where,” Radiant kissed her, bringing her back to reality. “Some days I forget that you’re not used to this sort of thing. That you didn’t grow up around it. You’ll get used to it, eventually,” The last decade had been so peaceful; it was rare to have such a display of raw magic potential like this. He smiled as his forehead made contact with hers. Even after fifteen years of marriage, he was always finding new things to love about her. He hoped… he knew that would never change, and he could not be happier about that fact.

“You idiot,” Firestar whispered the words.

“Can we go back to sleep now?” Ataxia’s words brought him back to reality. He glanced over to see that Night had finished her work. Ataxia was walking over to her wife with an over-exaggerated yawn on her face.

“Yes Ataxia, let’s get back to bed,” Night replied with a smile as she turned around and opened a gateway back to their room in Celesta’s Palace. She turned back to Blaze before they stepped through, “Do me a favor, next time try and find Twilight.”

Blaze just shrugged, he really did try to find her, but nopony had seen Twilight or Rainbow for hours. He had been left with no choice but to wake up Princess Night, which of course woke up Princess Ataxia.

When the two were gone and the portal closed, Firestar turned to her son. “So, about your punishment.”

He looked at her, “What? That wasn’t enough?”

“What do you think?” Firestar glared at him.

“Actually Princess Firestar, I think I remember you saying that his punishment was left up to me,” Cadance said matter-of-factly.

Firestar turned to her, “Yeah, but-“

“No buts. It’s what you said is it not?”

“Well, yeah….”

“So I’ll decide his punishment if you don’t mind,” Cadance smiled as she got up and walk towards the young colt. “Let’s see… as I don’t think you did it alone or without at least some corrosion from your brother over there.”

Cadance glared at Blaze, he wanted to deny it, but under her gaze, he just could not do it. After all, it was his dare that caused Flash to shave the stripe in his grandma’s fur after all.

“I think you should both go down to Canterlot and get flight training from Rainbow over the weekend,” Cadance said with a smile.

Both Blaze and Flash went from worried to happy as soon as those words left her mouth. They flew over and dogpile the alicorn, “Thanks grandma!”

“What do you mean thanks? This is a punishment after all,” Cadance said with no amount of sincerity in her voice.

They both got off her and grinned to each other, “Oh no, not flight training with Rainbow. We’re so sorry,” they said with a deadpan voice.

“Sorry boys, but I have to lay down the law. Now go and pack your things, you’ll be leaving for Canterlot tomorrow,” Cadance winked at them as they each made to leave to their rooms.

They could barely stop themselves from dancing out the doorway.

Firestar and Radiant each gave Cadance a death glare of their own. The alicorn just smiled. “You were supposed to punish them,” Firestar said.

Cadance turned to her daughter-in-law, “They may like training with Rainbow, but you know as well as I do that she will put them both through their paces. With what she’s going to do to them, they’ll be exhausted for a week. Besides, the point of discipline is to make sure the action never happens again. With the lesson we taught Flash, I highly doubt he will ever pull such a prank again. He now knows what it feels like.”

Radiant actually smiled about that, “I think they were punished enough, don’t you dear?”

Firestar frowned as she saw the shit-eating grin on her husband’s face, “Well, I guess I’m outvoted here.”

“Firestar, it’s not like that!” Radiant tried to reason with his wife.

“No, no. You two are right and I guess I’m wrong,” she looked up and away from her husband.

“Firestar, I tell you what. Since I’m kind of tired today, why don’t you lead the crystal ponies in the Crystal Heart ceremony this year.”

“That’s your thing Cadance; I wouldn’t want to take it away from you,” Firestar played it off, acting as if she did not want too.

Cadance saw through that clear as day, but she played along, “Oh no, I insist. I want you to do it.”

“Well, if you’re sure about it, and it’s what you want me to do. I guess I can find the time,” Firestar said as she walked out of the room.

Radiant and Cadance both grinned at her as her wings were sticking straight up from the excitement she felt. “Masterfully played, mom.”

“What can I say, I caused the fight, and it’s only fair that I ended it.” She turned to Radiant and noticed the grin on his face, “What?”

He smiled at her, “That was a funny prank.”

“Yeah, it was,” Cadance smiled as she admitted the truth.

………………………

Rainbow awoke to the feel of water hitting her fur. She grumbled as she soon realized that it would not stop on its own. “Taz, cut it out!” she yelled without opening her eyes.

It kept up.

“Taz, I swear to Luna if you don’t stop.”

Still more water droplets.

“Son of a…” Rainbow opened her eyes. What she saw surprised her. She was not in bed; she was on a cloud. Well, more precisely, she was on an alicorn that was on a cloud. Above them weather ponies were moving several hundred weather clouds for the rainstorm tonight.

Looking down, Rainbow saw that she had fallen asleep on Twilight. Who fell asleep on a cloud. The only reason her wife had not woken up to the rain dripping on them was due to the fact that Rainbow’s coat caught all the water.

Rainbow felt torn, with one look at the sun’s position she knew that they had overslept. It was well past noon; in fact, it was almost time to set the sun. Twilight would be pissed about sleeping so late, about missing all the meetings she had planned for today and her entire schedule being off balance.

On the other, it was such a nice bed. She could easily raise them above the rain clouds and go back to sleep with her wife.

It was a very, very, VERY hard choice.

In the end, after a lot of internal debate, Rainbow went with what her wife would want her to do. Rainbow knew that Twilight would be upset about this, so she did her best to make the wakeup as enjoyable as possible given the current situation.

She started off slowly. Simply placing her muzzle on her wife’s neck. Rainbow left light kisses up and down Twilight’s neck in just the way she knew that her wife would like it.

The response was as expected as it was welcome. Twilight practically purred as she felt the kisses up and down her neck. Rainbow upped the ante; she began nipping lightly on Twilight ear. With every bite, Rainbow softly blew into the ear lobe. The effect left goose bumps in her wake.

Twilight slightly tilted her head to give Rainbow better access. She responded in kind and lightly bite down on her wife’s neck. When Twilight did not respond, Rainbow bit down even harder.

Her efforts were rewarded with a loud gasp from Twilight. Rainbow softly began to suckle on the spot as a newborn would from their mother’s teats.

She felt a hoof run through her mane as Twilight gave the first conscious response since Rainbow began her ministrations. “Well, someone’s in a playful mood.”

Rainbow congratulated herself on a job well done but she did not stop. There was no need, a timer formed in her head and started counting down. ‘Three, two, one….’

“Rainbow! What time is it?!” Twilight jumped off the cloud and started panicking as her mind went through everything they missed.

Rainbow laughed even as she ended up on her flank. “Relax Twi, it’s not the end of the world.”

“Relax, relax, how can I RELAX?!”

“I thought we were doing a pretty good job of it myself,” Rainbow said as she gave her little cocky smile.

Twilight wanted to rage, she wanted to fume, she wanted to blow, she wanted… she wanted Rainbow to quit smiling at her like that. She lowered her head in defeat. “How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“How is it, with one grin from you, I lose all my anger?”

Rainbow flew up and wrapped her hooves around her wife. She looked Twilight straight in the eyes. “What can I say? I’m just that awesome.”

“Yeah, you are,” Twilight closed her eyes as her muzzle closed the distance between them. Rainbow reciprocated and they met in the middle. Had Twilight thought about it, she would have been amazed. Even after all these years, every kiss felt just as good as the first.

Sadly, they had forgotten about one thing, as it was at that moment the weather clouds opened up over them. The rain drenched the two lovebirds instantly.

They did not care. They each held the kiss despite the rain. Some things were worth getting wet for. When it was over, they both opened their eyes and stared softly into their counterparts.

They laughed.

“Shall we get going?" Twilight asked as soon as they calmed down.

“Do we have to?”

“Yes Rainbow. Besides, you started something that I expect you to finish.” She lightly bopped the cyan mare on the nose with a hoof.

Rainbow smiled, “Then what are we waiting for?”

“Just a sexy little wet featherbrain and I wouldn’t want her any other way.”

They both turned and flew towards the palace. While it would have been quicker just to teleport there, Twilight wanted to spend this time with her wife.

“They’re going to be pissed, aren’t they?”

“They’ll get over it,” Twilight replied. “I’ll just have them reschedule the meetings to Saturday.”

“Saturday? Ahh man. You mean we gotta work over the weekend?”

Twilight caught up to her wife. Turning upside down in midair she flew under her and kissed her. “All part of the fun of being a princess,” Twilight smiled.

Despite the thought of losing half her weekend, Rainbow smiled back. Some things were just worth it.

Twilight was definitely at the top of the ‘worth it’ list.

Author's Notes:

Pranks can be a lot of fun, until you take them too far.