Chapter 1
“Hey, Pinkie?” Starlight Glimmer called out as she trotted into Sugarcube Corner. “I heard you were sick, so I…” Her voice trailed off when Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared less than two inches away from her nose.
“Don’t say a word!” Pinkie said in a loud whisper. “Not here. Upstairs!” She wrapped a foreleg around Starlight’s neck and pulled her toward the stairs, up to her loft.
Once upstairs, Starlight finally got a good look at Pinkie Pie. She noticed her coat was an unusually muted shade of pink, and her mouth was rainbow colored. That alone would have been cause for alarm. However, Pinkie was standing on all fours.
“Wait a minute,” Starlight said. “Rainbow told me you were bed-ridden, that you could barely stand up. How are you…?”
“Well, duh!” Pinkie interrupted. “I was faking it. That’s what I need to talk to you about.” Pinkie opened a green box nearby and pulled out a cookie. “Here, eat this.” She put the cookie in Starlight’s hoof.
“What’s going on here?” Starlight asked flatly. “Why is your mouth rainbow colored? Why did you lie to Rainbow about being sick?”
“Just eat the cookie,” Pinkie insisted, “and I’ll tell you while you chew.”
Starlight huffed, but did as she was told.
“Okay, remember the other day, when the rest of us told Rainbow Dash that she shouldn’t pull pranks on ponies who might not appreciate the joke?”
Starlight nodded, still chewing on the cookie.
“Well, she didn’t exactly listen, and she’s been on a pranking streak for a while now.”
Starlight already knew about that. She was still chewing her cookie, so she spun her hoof, signaling Pinkie Pie to tell her something she didn’t know.
“Anyway, Rainbow just told me about her plan to prank everypony in Ponyville. She’s switched the Filly Guide’s cookies with these prank cookies that turn your mouth rainbow colored.”
At this, Starlight swallowed. “Wait, was that…did you just feed me one of those cookies?”
“Uh-huh. I tried to talk her out of it, but she was determined to make this happen. So I decided it was time to turn the tables on Rainbow Dash. Now, everypony who eats these cookies is going to pretend that they were contaminated, turning them into cookie-craving zombie-ponies!”
“What?” Starlight screamed. “The cookies are contaminated?”
“Of course not!” Pinkie said. “That’s the joke! We’re going to trick Rainbow into believing that her prank made everypony sick, to teach her a lesson about taking a joke too far. Now, let me hear your zombie voice, Starlight.”
“Huh?”
“Come on, if you’re going to be a part of my prank on Rainbow Dash, you need to act like a zombie.”
“What if I don’t want to?” Starlight asked.
“You might as well,” Pinkie said. “Your mouth is already rainbow-ized.”
Starlight ran to the bathroom in Pinkie’s loft and looked in the mirror. Pinkie spoke the truth, her mouth was indeed dyed with six different bands of color. When she saw it, her eyes narrowed. Her legs tensed up, and she could feel blood rushing to her face. She whipped her head in Pinkie’s direction and marched toward her.
“I look hideous!” Starlight moaned. “Pinkie, how could you do this to me?”
“Well, Rainbow Dash will never believe you ate her ‘contaminated’ joke cookies if you don’t have a rainbow mouth, silly,” Pinkie Pie said matter-of-factly.
“You didn’t even ask me if I wanted to be a part of your joke!” Starlight shot back. “You just force-fed me the cookie and expected me to join your ridiculous plan!”
Pinkie Pie said nothing at first. “Ohhhhh!” she said when she realized her mistake. “Oops, my bad!”
Starlight snarled at Pinkie Pie. “Oops, my bad? Is that all you have to say? You willfully forced me to eat a rigged cookie, discolored my coat, humiliated me in public, and all you have to say in return is ‘Oops, my bad?’” Pinkie cowered while the other pink mare ranted.
“Oh, no. Starlight, I’m so sorry. I had no idea you’d take it this hard. I never meant to hurt your feelings, honest. Can you ever forgive me?”
Starlight relaxed a little bit. She could see the concern on Pinkie’s face, and she knew Pinkie meant no harm. Starlight released the breath she had been holding in a heavy sigh. “It’ll be okay, I guess. This dye isn’t permanent, is it?”
“Dunno,” Pinkie said with a shrug. “But even if it is, permanent dye doesn’t really stay on your coat forever. Not forever forever, anyway.”
“I don’t really feel like waiting for my fur to grow back,” Starlight said. “Anyway, I think scaring Rainbow Dash like this is a terrible idea. You should call it off.”
“It’s too late to do that,” Pinkie said. “As we speak, Rainbow and the CMCs are selling the rainbow joke cookies to every house in town. Each and every pony they visit is in on my prank. My plan is already in motion; I can’t just tell hundreds of ponies to abort now.”
Starlight’s face collapsed. She brought her hooves to her mouth and started to breathe through them. Her head started to tremble with fear. “No,” she whispered. “No, we have to stop this. There has to be some way to stop this!”
“Weren’t you listening?” Pinkie said. “I just told you, it’s too late. Besides, Rainbow needs to learn her lesson, and this is the only way to get through to her.”
“You don’t understand!” Starlight shot back. “You can’t stoop to her level! You can’t teach her not to bully other ponies by bullying her! It will never work!”
“I wouldn’t call it bullying,” Pinkie said. “Rainbow wasn’t intentionally hurting anypony’s feelings. She was just having fun by herself, without thinking about how much she’s hurting her victims. All we’re doing is showing her what it’s like to be hurt by a harmless prank.”
“Have you thought about what’s going to happen when Rainbow realizes this was just a joke?” Starlight asked. “She’s going to see that each and every one of her friends was ready, willing, and able to terrorize her for something she considers to be no big deal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending Rainbow’s pranking streak, because clearly she’s in the wrong. But two wrongs don’t make it right. Getting Dash back will only make her want to get you back, and then you’ll have to get her back, then she’ll get you back, and so on, and so forth, over and over until somepony finally dies.”
“This isn’t about revenge, Starlight. This is about teaching Rainbow a lesson.”
“What lesson?”
“Pranks can be fun when everyone is having fun with it, but you have to realize that not everypony likes being pranked. Dashie has to be sensitive of other’s feelings.”
“You’re not going to teach Dash that lesson by terrorizing her. All you’re going to teach her is that all her friends actually hate her. You’re going to make her feel like she’s all alone in Ponyville, with no one she can trust, because nopony likes her. Do you have any idea how horrible that feels?”
Hearing this reminded Pinkie Pie of her last birthday party. Her friends had all conspired behind her back to throw her a surprise party. But when she caught wind of it, they all closed rank and refused to spoil the surprise. At the time, Pinkie convinced herself that they all hated her, and wanted her out of their inner circle. She was wrong, of course, but for a brief moment, she felt like her whole world was destroyed.
“Yes,” Pinkie said somberly. “Actually, I do.”
“That’s why this prank cannot happen. Rainbow Dash is going to take this to heart, and she’ll withdraw from Ponyville society, maybe even move away altogether. After all, if nopony likes her, why should she stay?”
“I don’t think…”
“Not finished!” Starlight insisted. “The poor pony will wander from town to town, always keeping everypony she meets at foreleg’s length, which will keep her alive, but miserable. Eventually, she’ll find her way into a desolate wasteland, where she’ll build a small village. Then she’ll reach out to other lost and lonely ponies wandering aimlessly through Equestria, bring them to her village, and…” Starlight’s voice trailed off when she finally heard what she was saying. “…and force them to remove their Cutie Marks,” she finished flatly. “I’m not really talking about Rainbow Dash anymore, am I?”
Pinkie Pie said nothing. She walked over to Starlight, and put her hooves around her in a warm hug. “Starlight, I understand how feel about this, and I’m sorry I tried to force you into it. But like I said, this prank is going to happen one way or another. Believe me, if I thought for one second that Rainbow Dash would take this personally, I never would have started it in the first place.”
Starlight huffed, defeated. “Very well. At least I’ve said my piece, so my conscience is clear.”
Just then, there was knock on the door.
“That’s Rainbow Dash with the CMCs!” Pinkie said. “You’ve got to get out of here!”
“Why?”
“Your mouth is still rainbow colored! If she sees you like this, and you’re not acting like a zombie, my plan will be ruined!”
“Oh, really?” Starlight Glimmer said, with a mischievous smirk.
“No, Starlight,” Pinkie Pie said firmly. “I know what you’re thinking. You don’t want to do this.”
“Oh, but I think I do,” Starlight said, walking toward the stairs.
Pinkie rushed to block the stairs. “If you sabotage this plan, Rainbow’s pranking streak will only continue. Possibly forever. Is that what you want?”
Starlight stopped. “Ugh, all right.” She looked away, dejected.
“Go out the window,” Pinkie instructed. “Stay at Twilight’s place until tomorrow morning. And scrub your face with baking soda to get the rainbow out.”
Starlight walked to the window, but turned back briefly. “You know, you’re not the only pink-coated mare who has held sway over an entire town,” Starlight said. “I hope for your sake that you do no harm.” With that, Starlight levitated herself away.
Starlight’s parting words struck Pinkie really hard. Was she doing the right thing? She climbed back into her bed and resumed her act of being sick. Maybe Starlight was right. Maybe Rainbow would take this prank harder than expected. Maybe she was the one who was crossing the line.
She trained her to listen in on the conversation between the Cakes and the CMCs. That’s when she heard Rainbow Dash laughing. That laugh was the laugh of a mad mare. That was the laugh of a pony who cared naught for her friends, so long as she was having a good time. That was selfish laugh, an evil laugh. Pinkie Pie may have once been called the Element of Laughter, but laughter like that was anything but harmonious. Laughter like that had to be stamped out. Pinkie was doing the right thing. Rainbow Dash would understand. With that resolved, Pinkie turned to face the fourth wall.
“And that’s why Starlight Glimmer wasn’t in this episode.”
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I'll comment again when I actually read this, but here's my thoughts on the question:
The episode takes place before Cutie Re-Mark, and so do the other episodes without Starlight in them that have aired this season.
First off, welcome to FimFiction, and congrats on your first story!
I thought this was competently written, with few (if any) technical issues, and a believable presentation of the characters. Where I thought this could be improved is in the way you incorporate information about things that happened in the past, notably Pinkie's birthday party; it can be difficult to keep things interesting while weaving in those kinds of background details, and right now they disrupt the narrative's flow a bit. However, overall this is a great start; many authors (and readers!) would love it if more stories were this clearly written!
'Twas a cute little one shot. Not too good but not bad by any means.
Grade: B
Not bad!
A well written story!
I myself was brainstorming a story about the lack of Starlight in that episode; except it's far more comedic.
7504341 From what I've heard, it's more like they were written before the previous season finale. They still chronologically take place after it, but there's no Starlight because she wasn't part of things at the time of writing.
7505353 Honestly, the show's always had a bit of a shifting timeline, so regardless of when an episode is written, it could take place before episodes that were written prior to it.
7505374 Perhaps, but some have their own moments of more recent continuity. Rainbow Dash finally becoming a Wonderbolt for example, which has been used in three Starlight-less episodes so far.
7505440 There's enough time space between the Cutie Map and the Cutie Re-Mark for all 3 to fit.
7505575 Not that much time. Scootaloo had her Cutie Mark in "Newbie Dash," remember?
7505584 True, but for all we know, the events of the other episodes took place within one or two days of Newbie Dash.
your fanfic reminded me of this fanart
http://zsparkonequus.deviantart.com/art/Comic-74-Meanwhile-628078357
Okay, now that I actually read it... I thought it was okay.
I mean, it's a reasonable enough explanation, but that's about it.
There's one thing, though, and that's about the worry about getting the rainbow off of Starlight's mouth.
The episode itself showed that getting rid of it was as simple as wiping it off.
Yes, can you imagine - Intentionally forcing other ponies into behaving the way you tell them to and doing things they might not want to do solely because you think it's for the best, altering their appearence without their consent, even if only in a small area, and expecting to be instantly forgiven for everything after a half-hearted apology, if that.
I mean, a pony who did something like that would be utterly reprehensible. But I can't think of anypony who'd do that, can you, Starlight?
Okay, so I enjoyed reading this, all the way up to the last two lines. That really just pull the reader out and nearly ruin the whole thing. If you take them out, the story would rank much higher imo.
What an enormous overreaction! And I'm very glad it's in there! Starlight's tendency to turn something little into something big is a big part of her character, and one of a few things that keep her from just being Sunset 2.0.
7571739 But notice the quotation marks. It's just Pinkie breaking the fourth wall, which she's been doing since the pilot.
Only one little quibble: Pinkie didn't force Starlight to eat that cookie. She tricked her into eating it. That doesn't really change the story at all, but just saying...
involves starlight
is a random fic
basewd on the worst episode in history
go back to F*cking writing school, and are you new to the internet
7588511 Hi there! I'm glad to see that my story has captured your attention. When you get around to reading it, I hope you'll write me a review.
7588603 decent as an accusatory fic, but why doest starlight have to be the one to confront pinkie, she has lo logic herself, LOL, (but in all seriousness i agreed with starlight on practically everything) also, don't try to make pinkie look like the good guy, Did those pranks injure or kill anyone?, no?, then why do you think that scarring dashie for life and bullying her for a couple of harmless pranks, that's Gilda's job
7504341 and how do you know that?
7591080 I don't.
However, I find that the easiest thing to believe in regards to Starlight's numerous absences this season.
And, until an official timeline of the series gets released, detailing the exact order that the episodes take place in, I will continue to believe that's what it is in most cases.
7591080 I have no doubt in my mind that if your friends did to you what Dash's friends did to her in this episode, you would be scarred for life. I am doubly certain that your friends know that about you, and therefore would never do that. However, Rainbow Dash is not you any more than she is Starlight Glimmer. Not only was Dash not mentally scarred by the affair, I don't believe that's what her friends intended in the first place. I would recommend you read the sequel to this story, "The Joy of Being Pranked," where I expand on this topic. Barring that, I would suggest you watch the episode again, and see if you can figure out why each of the characters does what she does.
7591608 I would like this episode more if they did it "to get back at her" rather than to "teach her a lesson"
who in their right minds teaches someone a lesson on why pranks offend people by playing a prank on them, that makes them no different from RD
7591625 I've heard it said that "fighting fire with fire only makes a bigger fire," but people who say that don't know what fighting fire with fire actually means. When a wildfire breaks out in a forest that abuts people's houses, firefighters will strategically set fire to the wood and brush that is immediately adjacent to the residences, then smother it right away. Once all that wood is burned up, the wildfire won't be able to spread beyond that area, thus saving people's homes and lives.
Pinkie Pie knew from her conversation with Rainbow that she was a mare possessed, and she wouldn't stop pranking until she accidentally hurt somepony. Rather than wait for that to actually happen, Pinkie chose to trick Rainbow into thinking her cookie prank resulted in everypony getting sick. She knew Rainbow would only come to her senses when she saw that her actions caused irreparable damage to her friends. In short, this prank was like a controlled burn used to stop a wildfire.
I'll be honest, I did not like the episode the first time I saw it either. The idea of an entire town ganging up on one person for whatever reason really upsets me. But the humor was so clever and laugh-out-loud funny, that I felt bad about the negative feelings I was harboring toward the episode. That's why I started writing this story in the first place. I managed to convince myself that there was no foul play here, no malicious intent, and now 28 Pranks Later is one of my favorite episodes. I don't expect my comment to change your opinion on the episode. But, I thought at least I could give you something to chew on for a while.
Anyway, thank you for engaging me in this debate.
7602309 well, i think it's an extreme and complicated way to do it. if Dash Did it to ever-so-blunt gilda or, more appropriately spitfire got caught up in it she would probably smack her, and she would get the message quick
either way telling her they are offended by her pranks and then tuning around and throwing one on dash is a bit hypocritical
I have reviewed this HERE.
Really good for a first story, and a good story anyways.
Okay I want to point out that there is a major flaw here. That flaw is the fact that several years have passed between the events of that episode and 28 pranks later so saying it was her last birthday party is highly inaccurate.
Anyway, it really didn't make any sense for Starlight to not be in this episode.
If it's permanent, it would be The. Worst. Possible. Thing.
8423609 years if we're going by there time then its prob bend what 1 or 2 years ago
I give credit to you for using your story for Act 16 in Phineas and Ferb: Night of the Zombie Ponies (28 Pranks Later and Night of the Living Pharmacists) go check it out
fimfiction.net/story/516231/phineas-and-ferb-night-of-the-zombie-ponies-28-pranks-later-and-night-of-the-living-pharmacists
Great story!