Rainbows and Suicide
Rainbows and Suicide
Written by TheCrimsonDM
Staring out over the balcony of Ponyville’s crystal tree-castle Rainbow Dash could feel the urge to jump, perhaps stronger now than ever before. Once upon a time that urge would lead right into her doing some acrobatic stunts and showing off for her friends. Now it was different. She wanted to jump, but she didn’t want to open her wings and fly. Smashing into the ground at maximum velocity almost sounded pleasant.
After all, what would her friends care? They had broken her trust with that zombie prank of theirs. All of her closest friends betrayed her, hurt her, and then acted like it was all okay because it was done in the name of revenge. Even Fluttershy, the last pony Rainbow had ever expected to hurt her, had joined in on the prank. It was true that Rainbow Dash might have gone too far with her pranks and she was willing to admit that now. Still that didn’t change one simple fact that she had already tried to kill herself in redemption of what she’d done and that darkness inside of her didn’t go away after the fact. It was still there, cold and hungry.
The ground below was looking very tempting. It would only take a hop, a skip, or a jump and all of Rainbow’s problems would no longer be there. One of her hooves stroked the smooth railing.
Twilight’s voice called from just inside, “Rainbow Dash! Are you okay out there?”
Pinkie’s voice followed it. “Yeah, we’ve been waiting for your turn forever! Can I roll for you?”
Rainbow put her hoof back down. It was time to go back inside and continue pretending that she was okay, and that they hadn’t broken her. Every one of her muscles ached as she moved back inside. It almost killed her to put on a false grin. The game board on the table was filled with various little characters, five of them were bright and colorful while the rest were all red.
Rainbow Dash took a seat in between Fluttershy and Rarity. “What did I miss?”
“Not much,” Rarity said. “Pinkie Pie just opened a trapped door and somehow rolled a natural twenty to escape it.”
Pinkie Pie flashed a child like grin. “I told ya I’d be fine.”
Rarity’s eyes lowered. “No you didn’t. You said, and I quote, ‘Ohh, a secret door, I wonder what’s behind here?’ and then you opened it, and the explosion did five damage to me and my wonderful mane.”
Twilight groaned. “Come on, is somepony going to do anything? You’ve been arguing about this for five minutes. This isn’t even a proper role-playing game.”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I guess I’ll go into the secret door and see what’s there.”
A pink aura surrounded Rainbow Dash’s character, a little figurine of a mare with a mane of purple and silver wearing chainmail and holding a broad sword in her teeth. The figurine moved through the door on the map and into the next room. Three of the red monsters appeared on the map, each one was some kind of giant lizard with big robes and even bigger pointed hats.
Twilight beamed as she spoke in her narrator voice, “You walk through the creepy tunnel filled with dust and loose soil into a small chamber with an altar and a magical book with a pony’s face stitched onto the cover. Three of the Lizard Wizards are there performing some kind of ritual, they look like they are completely lost in their ritual. What do you do?”
Rainbow Dash couldn’t bring herself to really care. This game had lost all interest on her about ten minutes after coming to Twilight’s house. So Rainbow Dash thought she’d just end the game as quickly as she could, she’d seen Twilight use this exact scenario before and almost died last time. “I go to the book, pick it up, and start reading it out loud.”
Everypony froze, for a brief moment it looked as if Rainbow had managed the most amazing feat in Equestria, shutting the elements of Harmony up. Of course Twilight ruined the moment by asking, “A-are you sure?”
Fluttershy grabbed Rainbow by the leg. “Please don’t. Last time we had to fight a big, scary, star thingy.”
Rainbow eyed the table hard and tried to ignore the traitorous hooves touching her. It felt like her skin was trying to crawl away from Fluttershy. “Too bad you didn’t follow me or else you could have told me that. I open the book. And I read from it aloud.”
Fluttershy pulled back, she looked wounded.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Okay, it uh… it’s another one of the Fellstar books. I’m going to need to roll a die and compare it to the table of random effects,” Twilight rolled a D20. It landed on a natural 1. “Oh… oh… uh, look if you want to buy out of this I will allow you to sacrifice a rare item to-“
“What happened?” Rainbow asked in a tone that brokered no argument.
“The book uh… rips your face off and replaces the cover of the book with your old face. You… died,” Twilight said in an apologetic tone. “I can help you make a new character in a moment, um did you want try being a pegasus this time, or perhaps a uni-“
Rainbow Dash pushed away from the table. “Whatever, cool, I’m dead. See you later.”
Before anypony could argue Rainbow Dash jumped into the air and flew back out the balcony door. Her movements were much slower than normal, but still faster than Fluttershy. There wasn’t really anywhere for Rainbow to go now that she’d effectively pulled off ruining everypony’s fun. She could always go home but the only thing waiting for her there was the sinking hole in her heart, but by this point it had almost become a comfort to know that she didn’t have to care about anything anymore.
It was going to be a long night.
***
The next couple of days went by with Rainbow Dash doing her best to ignore her so called friends. Nopony came to check up on her. Nopony was worried about her killing off her own character in Twilight’s game. Nopony cared.
If she had had any doubts about being abandoned before they were gone now. She knew for a fact that she was now all alone. There was no way anypony could understand what it was like for her. To think she had hurt her friends so badly that she could only make up for it in death, then to find out that it was all just a lie.
Rainbow Dash was the most awesome pegasus in Equestria, or at least she used to think she was. The poison her friends had planted in her heart was eating away even at her own memories. She questioned whether she had just been fooling herself this entire time in thinking that maybe she could be more than the worthless winged pony that she was. Even the fact that she was a fully fledged member of the Wonderbolts was something she now believed she’d earned only by riding on the backs of her friends. If it wasn’t for them, and their fame, Rainbow wouldn’t have been anything.
The afternoon sun didn’t help her feel any better as she sat in a tree staring out over the seemingly endless plains of Equestria. Ponyville was behind her, having fun and sharing love and kindness without her. It was almost peaceful here. Almost peaceful enough to close her eyes and never wake up.
Just as she was on the verge of falling asleep she heard two voices talking. They were growing steadily louder as they approached her. One of them was easily recognizable.
Starlight Glimmer’s voice sounded almost musical it was full of so much joy. “Come on, it’s a great place to just watch the sunset. I discovered it right after I moved here, best of all nopony ever comes here.”
The other voice was familiar though Rainbow couldn’t figure out which mare it belonged too. “That sounds wonderful.”
“I’m glad that I took you up on that offer to go on tour with you for a few weeks.” Starlight sounded more than just a little happy about that. “Turns out that while I was gone there was a zombie infection in Ponyville. Glad I could steer clear of that one.”
The other mare exclaimed. “That can’t be true! Did anypony you know die?”
“Twilight didn’t say what happened exactly, just that everypony got better.” Starlight laughed. “I bet she fixed everything with some great and powerful magic.”
“That is not funny.”
Finally Starlight was at the base of the tree. “Oh come on it is too. I bet that if I- wait, Rainbow Dash? What are you doing up there?”
Rainbow Dash reluctantly looked over and saw both Starlight and Trixie standing on the ground below her. “Sup?”
“Uh, hi,” Starlight said, she sounded unsure of something. “Are you okay?”
“No,” Rainbow Dash answered bluntly as she turned to look back at the sunset.
“Do you mind if we sit here with you?”
Rainbow tried to shrug. “Whatever.”
Starlight sat down and Trixie took a seat next to her. For a moment there was silence and Rainbow was almost glad for that. Of course Trixie had to ruin it.
“Rainbow Dash, Trixie demands that you tell us what happened with the zombie infection.”
Starlight facehoofed. “Trixie, you can’t just demand things of other ponies. Especially if they’re not feeling well.”
Rainbow Dash rolled off her perch and landed on the ground. “You really want to know?”
Trixie smiled. “Yes, and from the one and only Rainbow Dash no less, how could Trixie refuse a story like that?”
Rainbow Dash knew that Trixie was trying to use flattery to manipulate her, but she didn’t care. It gave her an excuse to finally tell somepony how she felt, and two ponies that were not involved in the event none the less. This was going to be good. So Rainbow Dash told them everything. About how she was originally going on a pranking spree, to how she tried to pull off the ultimate prank in all of Ponyville with the cookies and how it turned them all into zombies.
“So than I was trapped in the barn surrounded by everypony I know and love, all of them killed and turned into undead walking corpses because of my selfishness,” Rainbow Dash said. “There was no way I could fix them, I’ve read the books, seen the comics, and the movies. There’s only one way to cure a zombie, and that’s with a blow to the head. I would never hurt my friends, undead or not. So I’d killed them, I was responsible. It was all my fault. There was only one thing I could do to make up for it, I ate the cookies.”
Trixie and Starlight both gasped. Starlight was first to respond. “But they were infected cookies! How did you not get infected?”
“Yes! Tell Trixie!”
Rainbow Dash tried to smile but it came out as more of grimace. “The cookies did nothing to me. In fact when I ate them, everypony just stopped and stared at me wide eyed. I thought maybe I had joined them at first and that was what it was like to be a zombie, but then I find out from Twilight’s own lips that none of them were actually zombies. It was all just a giant prank. They were just trying to teach me a lesson. I… I tried to kill myself for them… they made me think I had killed them… I would never…”
Starlight reached out with a hoof and gently wiped some tears away from Rainbow Dash’s face. “Shh, it’s okay. I’m sure they didn’t mean to hurt you. Did they apologize?”
Rainbow Dash didn’t even realize she had started crying, but she didn’t care. This was the one friend she had left who didn’t betray her. Even Fluttershy had joined in on that evil prank. But not Starlight. “Even if they did, how could I honestly forgive them?”
Trixie sighed, and her eyes looked down at the ground. “Trixie… kinda understands.”
Rainbow Dash shot a mean look at Trixie. “How could you? It’s not like you ever hurt your friends, or tried to kill yourself.”
Trixie’s lower lip trembled. “A-actually, I did.” That had Rainbow Dash stunned. Luckily she didn’t have to prod Trixie to continue. “Back when T- no, when I hurt Starlight’s feelings and made her cry. She was the first pony to ever care about me, the only one to really take an interest in me. I hurt her so badly though that I thought I lost my only chance at friendship and at redemption. I knew that I couldn’t survive being eaten by a manticore. Sure I really hoped that Starlight would come to my rescue, but I didn’t believe she would. I mean, what would make anypony want to save something as despicable as me?”
Rainbow Dash frowned. The story although different did sound awfully familiar. “How did you move on from it?”
Trixie shook her head. “I haven’t. It’s still a battle to get by each day, but I vowed to myself and to Starlight that I would never try to hurt myself again. Instead I would be there for her, for whatever she needed, whenever she needed it. Starlight could ask me to go to the ends of Equestria and I would do so for her. To make up for what I did.”
“But… what do I do?” Rainbow Dash asked. “My friends hurt me in a way that nopony has ever hurt me before.”
Starlight shook her head. “I’d say ask Twilight but obviously she can’t help you with this one. Maybe you could start by telling everypony how you feel and talk about what they did to you. I doubt they’d go so far as to vow a life debt to you, but they would like to help you with what you’re going through. I’m sure that nopony knows how badly they hurt you.”
Rainbow Dash’s entire body shook. “They should know. Why would they think I’d be okay after a stunt like that?”
Starlight shot back, “Why did you think that Fluttershy would be okay after being nearly attacked by a dragon?”
Rainbow opened her mouth to retort but came up with nothing. Starlight had her there. Yes everypony had hurt Rainbow Dash, and badly. Yet at least one of her friends had been hurt by her own actions too. Rainbow Dash knew that Fluttershy was terrified of dragons, more than anything else. If there was any one pony that she could trust to talk to about this, to forgive first, it would be the one pony who actually deserved to get revenge. Nopony was in the right here, but maybe Rainbow Dash could make two wrongs become a right.
***
Fluttershy’s cottage was as small as it ever was. It also smelled like animals and pine cleaner, but that came with the territory of being an animal sanctuary. Rainbow Dash was nervously sitting on the couch, a soft breeze flew through the window brushing against her mane. Fluttershy set a cup of tea down on the coffee table before taking a seat next to Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy offered a kind smile. “I’m having company over soon, but I can always make time for us to talk, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow tried to return the smile but simply couldn’t find the energy to lift her lips. “Thank you.”
There was an awkward pause shared between them. The only sound being whenever Rainbow would take a sip of her tea. It was honey lemon tea, sweet but a little sour. Not at all too her liking, but she wouldn’t be a bad house guest and tell Fluttershy that.
“What did you need to talk about?” Fluttershy asked.
“That… you remember that prank I pulled on you, the dragon one?”
Fluttershy took a sip of her tea. “Yes… Why?”
“How bad did that affect you?”
“I-it was… I-I mean, I-I’m okay now… mostly.”
Rainbow tried to keep the hurt out of her own voice as she pressed for more information. “Fluttershy, please. I need to know.”
“I had nightmares for a few days. I also couldn’t sleep alone. Rarity was kind enough to let me stay with her, but I was still…” Fluttershy shook her head and opened her mouth but stopped short.
“What else?”
“I was mad at you,” Fluttershy admitted. “Really mad. You… I still can’t go near that part of the forest, even in daylight because I’m scared that a real dragon will show up. I’m just glad that it’s out of my way or else there’d be… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought this up.”
Rainbow Dash was mad at herself now. Fluttershy was still hurt by that dumb prank. It was just supposed to be a joke, but it had been too much for Fluttershy. Rainbow lowered her head. “I’m sorry.”
“N-no I’m sorry.”
“Fluttershy, I’m the jerk who pranked you. I am the one whose sorry about that.”
Fluttershy blinked, than nodded. The smile that grew on her lips was genuine. “I… I forgive you. And thank you for talking to me about this in private. I… it means the world to me.”
The first part was done, apologizing for her own actions. Now for the hard part, getting an apology back from Fluttershy who admitted to harboring feelings of anger towards her. The next few words were like swallowing a bitter pill for Rainbow Dash, she needed it, she just didn’t want it. “You, hurt, me.”
Fluttershy’s ears folded back and her eyes widened. “I’m sorry, when, how? Oh I didn’t mean too. Is it bad? D-do we need a doctor? Was it during the game when I grabbed your leg?”
A bitter laugh escaped Rainbow Dash’s lips. “What? You think that pansy attempt to stop me from ruining your game was enough to hurt me? Pfft no. I’m talking about how you and the entire town literally broke my spirit and made me want to die.”
Fluttershy leaned back. “W-w-what?”
“You know with that stupid prank where you all became undead zombies. I thought that I had killed you all myself, and yet there you were just messing with my mind. I actually tried to kill myself to join you, you all watched.”
“B-b-but-“
“NO! I want you to know what you did to me. Remember that game, how I went outside to go get some fresh air or whatever? I was actually just looking at far the ground was and wondering if I could jump off the balcony and hit terminal velocity before you or Twilight could stop me.”
Fluttershy’s eyes were glistening wet. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t know how to live with myself anymore. All of my friends betrayed me, all of them, and not a one of you has tried to actually apologize to me yet. None of you. How dare you make me think I killed you all. Now I know just how much of a worthless sack of crap I am, and I can’t believe that anypony ever really liked me to begin with. You were all probably taking pity on me. Well now you can be mean all you want, because I don’t care anymore, I can’t care anymore. I am literally incapable of caring, about anything.”
Fluttershy’s ears perked up a little but her eyes grew only sadder. “Rainbow.”
“I’m hurt.” Rainbow’s vision was too blurry to see anymore. She rubbed a hoof at her eyes and it came back wet. “I’ve never been hurt like this. What am I supposed to do? I could have killed you all, I tried to commit suicide to make up for it, and everything turned out to be a freaking lie. I, I don’t know how to live anymore.”
Fluttershy leapt across the couch and wrapped her legs around Rainbow Dash pulling her into a tight embrace. “I am so sorry. I never thought that Twilight’s idea would hurt you that much. I was just so angry, I couldn’t see how badly I was about to hurt you. If… if I had been in your shoes… if any of us had been in your shoes. Thinking we killed everypony we knew and loved… I don’t know how Twilight or Applejack would have taken it, but I wouldn’t have been able to even speak. I… I think I would have given up, on everything. Retreated to some safe part of my mind and never come back out. But you’re stronger than me. You can get past this, and I’ll help.”
Rainbow Dash looked up and met Fluttershy’s eyes. “You’re my best friend.”
“You’re mine as well, Dashie.”
Rainbow Dash laid her head down over Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Heh, don’t call me that.”
For a moment silence passed between them, and for the first time since that horrible night Rainbow Dash actually felt almost okay. It hurt, everything hurt. From her eyes to her tail she was aching all over, but at least she had her best friend back.
“Please don’t tell anypony about any of this. Especially not about the part about what if they were in my shoes.”
Fluttershy nodded. “I won’t.”
Rainbow Dash let out a sigh. “Good, because the last thing I need is Rarity or Applejack thinking about what it would be like to kill their own flesh and blood… it hurt enough when I did it… I never thought about what it would be like to kill foals before, but there I was, murderer of an entire town of ponies…”
“I wish we never listened to Twilight,” Fluttershy said.
The front door opened and Rainbow Dash’s heart froze. Her five other friends all stood at the doorway, each one of them in varying states of disrepair. It had looked like all of them had been crying, even Applejack whose face was hidden behind her hat. For a moment Rainbow Dash simply stared at them, and then she tried to wipe her face clean and looked away at the wall.
Twilight’s voice echoed across the small living room, it sounded weak, defenseless. “Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow Dash put all her effort into trying to sound like she was perfectly fine. “Yeah?”
Twilight sniffled. “Could you ever forgive us for what we did to you?”
That was it, Rainbow’s heart was officially breaking. They had all heard her conversation with Fluttershy, or at least enough of it. When Rainbow Dash looked at the window she cursed herself for not closing it earlier. The worst part was seeing how much her own words had affected her friends.
It took every ounce of strength that Rainbow had left just to speak, and she could no longer disguise the pain in her voice. “How?”
Twilight shook her head, a few glistening tear drops hit the floor. “I don’t know. We’re monsters for what we did to you. You could set my entire library on fire and it wouldn’t even compare to how badly we hurt you.”
The others all looked at Rainbow Dash with pleading, hurt eyes. For a moment Rainbow Dash put herself into their places and wondered what it would have been like to hurt one of her friends that badly and to know she could never make up for it. That the damage and the scars would be there for the rest of her life. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes. The closest she’d come to that was with Fluttershy, and even then it was too painful to think about. It might be impossible, but Rainbow Dash had made up her mind.
Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and made sure that she had everypony’s undivided attention. “Everypony, I... I love you guys. I don’t know if I can ever forgive you all, but… I can promise to try.”
That night was spent having a lovely little dinner at Fluttershy’s cottage. Even with everypony trying to make amends, and promises to help Rainbow heal from the trauma they all put her through, Rainbow had to admit it was the first time she’d been honestly happy in a long time.
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Sequel chapter here. It's more of a short story continuing a short story but yeah, here it is.
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7838836 If it makes you feel better, I happen to have a few punishment ideas for those who participated in this whole ZOMBIE fiasco. Want to hear them?
7839103
Killing everyone and loose trust in everyone are two different things. While the former is something you can recover from. Thinking you kill everyone is a whole new level. Add to it someone like Rainbow Dash, who values loyalty above everything else and you have a recipe to despair. Just imagine,
1st chapter, when Rainbow is trying to commit suicide with those cupcakes. If there would be knife instead of cupcakes...
I get what you were trying to say. Both of them were arful, but I just think "that prank" was worse than Mare-Do-Well.
7838919
Great chapter/sequel, everything is just like I like. I like what you did on the end. "I can't forgive you, but I can try." Loving it.
This is a very good 2-shot.
7838919 Wow, I didn't realize so many people asked for a sequel/additional chapter.
In any case, this was definitely a great addition to this story. I had a feeling that Trixie would have had an inkling into how Rainbow Dash felt. I'm guessing Twilight or somepony clued Starlight in on all the pranks Rainbow did while she was on the road with Trixie? Otherwise, how did she find out about the Rainbow's prank on Fluttershy? Also,
Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, & Pinkie. Who was the fifth?
7839997
It's not that, they have intention overreact to some things like Mare-Do-Well and 28 pranks later, yes. When you would see the first 2 episodes, and those 2 episodes, you would say something like you said. But you can judge, when you see what they done wrong. See it whole. like episode Sonic Rainboom. Twilight and others (beside Rarity) come to Cloudstale to just cheer for Rainbow (what ends up as fail because of Rarity).
But I don't understand why did they decide to do something like that. Twilight, mastermind of nearly everything, Princess of Friendship pulls something like that? Really? That is what pisses me off. When you are angry with someone, slap him and yell at him. That would hurt less than that prank. I don't know what were they trying to do to Rainbow Dash. If I would survive something like that, even after I would do some pranks like Rainbow did. I would probably never ever look at my friends same. If I would look at my friends at all...
Justifying to say things like "We were trying to teach you a lesson about pranks." is in this situation idiotic.
Let's say, you don't play with your dog, just your Mother or Father does that. even after 100th times they say: "Play with that dog, for Christ sake!" you don't. Then they decide to kill the dog just to show you, how to appraise that dog. It's overkill.
"Hey, I don't like her pranking, it went too far, let's do a prank where we all turn into zombies because of her cookies to show her what it's like." Really? Really?! Maybe I am little overreacting, but what the hell? When you don't like something, Say You Don't Like It! When that person is your friend and he or she doesn't stop, you need to think what are you to your friends, if he value some pranks over you. And I really doubt that Rainbow would value her friends over pranks.
7840249
What, you mean like this?
vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/3/3e/Mane_Six_assembled_in_the_throne_room_S6E15.png/revision/latest?cb=20160814095831
vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/c/cc/Pinkie_Pie_%22a_good_time_to_stop_pranking%22_S6E15.png/revision/latest?cb=20160814122211
7840496
Yes, I know what you mean, that one with Fluttershy is one of her bad ones. And they did try talking. Yes and she didn't take it right. Yes, did send Pinkie (Not a best choice, my opinion) to talk with Rainbow. I am not saying Rainbow is holy or something. But it's not like others were any good.
Twilight said on the beginning that pranks are pranks only when both, victim and prankster are laughing. Otherwise, something is wrong. And then they decide to pull that prank for main reason: Stop pranking.
It's like infinite loop. You hurt someone just to show how much hurt something he did. It's not the right way. Things like that destroy friendships.
But I hate the episode as well. I can't just see Rainbow so blind to others feelings. It's like she was hearing what she wanted. I mean, come on, it was obvious that they didn't like it. And to add to it. That zombie prank. Just arful...
One good thing on that episode is lesson. Prank is a prank as long both sites enjoy it.
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7840496
good points on both sides. Personally I think the episode is one of my all time favorites. Because you rarely see ponies being mean to one another and this had the potential to become a really good hurt/comfort story arc. Now if only the writers weren't afraid of emotion of saddness, as in real life tragic saddness, we could have an episode about AJ's parents that would instantly become my favorite, but oh well, I still have Adventure Time and Gravity Falls for that.
You know, when I really think about it, this episode is even WORSE than Mare-Do-Well.
The only thing it it did better is that it showed Dash's friends trying to talk to her. But even then, they still resorted to going behind her back. Everyone is welcome to their opinion, but I firmly believe that if you have to resort to tricking someone into learning a lesson, you do NOT have the moral high ground.
And at least with Mare-Do-Well, the worst Rainbow got was that her PRIDE was hurt. Here, Rainbow's friends, hell the whole TOWN (who honestly seemed to be getting WAY to much enjoyment out of the prank for them to simply be "teaching her a lesson") were willing to let Dash think she had MURDERED EVERYPONY!!!!
7845792 Can I say something?
7848683 ......Yes?
If you want to put in your two cents, go ahead. You don't have to ask permission.
7849051 If it will make you feel better, I happen to know a few punishment ideas on how to punish the ZOMBIE ponies of ponyville. Want to hear them?
7849786 ......I'm listening.....
....So long as you don't actually kill them.
7849861 Worry not, these won't include death.
I'll separate my punishments between the "BIG PONIES" & "THE FOALS". And to top it off, the entire town receives a TWO year ban from Nightmare Night.
BIG PONIES:
Twilight: Three months Grounded. Striped of her title and powers, sentenced to 1000 hours community service.
Applejack: Two months Grounded, Striped of apple-bucking privileges, 1000 hours community service.
Big Mac: Two months Grounded, Striped of apple-bucking privileges, 1000 hours community service.
Granny Smith: Two months Grounded, Striped of apple selling privileges, 1000 hours community service.
Pinkie Pie: Three months grounded, Striped of holding any parties of anything or for anyone, and 1000 hours community service.
Rarity: Two months grounded, Striped of her powers, no fashion designing, 1000 hours community service, and 10 weekends of rain gutter detail.
Fluttershy: Two months grounded, striped of animal care taking privileges, and 1000 hours community service.
Derpy: Two months grounded. 1000 hours community service.
Mayor Mare: Relieved of her position, 1000 hours community service.
Mr & Mrs. Cake: Two months grounded, no sweet's baking or sales, 1000 hours community service.
Mr & Mrs. Donkey: Two Months grounded, 1000 hours community service.
Ms. Cheerlee: Two months grounded, striped of her teacher duties, and 1000 hours community service.
FOALS:
Applebloom: Two months Grounded, Striped of cuite mark, striped apple-bucking privileges, no crusading with friends, and Two year ban from Nightmare Night
Sweetie Belle: Two months Grounded, Striped of cuite mark, striped of singing privileges, no crusading with friends, and Two year ban from Nightmare Night.
Scootaloo: Two months Grounded, Striped of cuite mark, striped of stunts performing privileges, no crusading with friends, Two year ban from Nightmare Night, and no Wonder-bolts privileges.
Spike: Two month Grounded, Confiscation of comics and secret gem stash. Extra chores duty and two weekends of library cleaning detail. Two year ban from Nightmare Night.
Cake Twins: One month grounded, no sweets privileges, Two year ban from Nightmare Night.
7845792
I think you might be confusing the premise of the actual episode with the premise of the fanfic? In the episode RD merely thinks she made her friends sick. She's perfectly aware they are alive. CrimsonDM is presenting an alternative ending where RD thinks she actually killed them. The evil bastard.
I'm curious, though, what do you think they should have done after talking failed?
7851999 Apparently she's very observant when flying. Make her fly circles while dodging clouds and explain it to her at the same time. Have Fluttershy cry too. That might have worked. I mean that's how she studied history after all
7853369
Fluttershy crying is worse than an actual zombie apocalypse.
7851999 She thought they were "alive," but as zombies, and essentially tried to join them in the same state.
That's messed up. She went too far, but so did they.
As to what they should have done? Maybe first, send someone other than Pinkie, and make a more concerted, intense effort? Not just a one-off "Maybe don't?" like she did in the show.
I'm not saying Rainbow wasn't pushing the limits, or that something didn't need to be done, but they went and basically threw all logic and reason out the window, and went straight for the most extreme option available.
Their stock response to Rainbow doing something they don't like seems to be humiliation. I don't know about how you lot see it, but that would make me think long and hard about who I called my friends.
7855374
Ah, sorry. We were talking about the episode, not the fic. I can see how that might have been confusing. In the episode RD did not eat the cookies.
They didn't go straight for the nuclear option. They tried on two separate on-screen occasions to talk sense into RD. Once as an intervention with all of them, and once by having the member of the group that RD could most consider a peer at the time to talk to her in private. You can't really keep devoting screen time to that approach when the point really is just to show that RD won't listen and does not understand the problem with her actions.
In Mare-Do-Well, I'd agree with you. That was completely awful exactly because they went straight for the nuclear option, merely because RD was enjoying the attention she was getting. This one, though, I feel like they did everything right regarding the setup. RD was actually causing problems and it was believable that RD would not really see the problem with her actions, and the mane6 made as many honest attempts to talk with RD as could reasonably expected in a half hour episode before they got to actual (undead) meat of the episode.
While in Mare-Do-Well you could argue that the response to RD acting out was to humiliate her, in 28_pranks_later it was a case of turnabout is fair play. To suggest that trying to humilate her is the stock response, though, would be forgetting episodes like Rainbow_Falls, where Twilight merely talks to RD and allows her to make her own decision. And, Tanks_for_the_memories where RD was incredibly disruptive, after having hibernation explained to her, and the mane6 did not attempt to humiliate her while she was going through denial but let her get it out of her system and then showed up to console her. Not counting all the times they just show outright support for her since we're focusing on times were RD acted out and the mane6 response to that.
7855456 My mistake, that.
As to MDW, yes, that was just a terrible episode.
As to 28PL? Maybe a counter-prank was the best choice, but they still went too far in my view, literally causing her to believe she had killed everybody she cared about in life. Frankly, some things you just don't do, and this honestly was too much. I just feel it deserves some measure of punishment.
Pranks to open her eyes would have been fine. This specific prank was not.
7855456 And this right here is the reason I hate how many writers this show has. Seriously people get mad at me for writing ooc, but ooc according to which one of the many writers? Is Pinkie a super caring, though accident prone pony or is she a psychopath who can do something like this to her best friends?
Still I love the episodes where they are mean to each other. It's like watching a train wreck at slow speeds. XD
7855477 Only reason I have never done a Mare-do-well alternate ending is because I've seen too many of them. It was probably the first time I noticed the mane six can, depending on the whimsy of the writer, be complete jerks in the best/worst of ways. Horrible, horrible drama. XD
7855563 Agreed. They can be dicks when they want to be/the writer wants them to be.
Man... what if, before she went to talk to Flutters, she kept on thinking about what had happened, and when it got too much for her, she simply flew up as far as she could, forced herself to pass out, and then ended up smashing into the barn she hide in with the others at terminal velocity?
What would be the town's reaction THEN, the unfeeling sickos!
7855587 I hate when the writers do episodes like this.
I'm sorry, but if you have to trick or scare your friends into learning a lesson, you do NOT have the moral high ground. All this teaches is that it's perfectly okay to just do whatever the hell you want, consequences be damned, as long as it's for someone's 'own good.'
8121180 Agreed. They made, what, one small effort to talk to her, and when that didn't work resorted to trickery and humiliation?
8121939 And you know what else? It didn't work.
In Mare-Do-Well, Rainbow just thought there was some pony trying to stand her up, and her behavior got worse. It was only after the others revealed themselves and talked things out did it begin to sink in.
In this episode, all they did was scare the crap out of her and make her think she made her friends sick. Again, it was only AFTER they revealed the whole thing was a prank and talk to her did Rainbow realize she went too far.
And what kills me is the sheer hypocrisy. In Apple Buck Season, Applejack wound up hurting a lot of ponies with her stubbornness and wreckless behavior. But did Twilight and the others conspire against her? No. Twilight went to talk to her. Again and again and again, until it started to sink in.
In Putting Your Hoof Down, Fluttershy hurt a lot of ponies and even called her own friends' special talents, their very reason for living, worthless. Did the others decide to bully her to teach her a lesson? NO! In fact, they pretty much forgave her of any wrong-doing and pinned it all on Iron Will, whose only sin was giving Fluttershy advice that she took too far!
So I ask you, how is it fair that when the others act up they get a pat on the back, but when Rainbow acts up, she gets humiliated and dragged through the mud?
8122050 Agreement. The others get a talking to, repeatedly if necessary, but she just gets dragged through the mud.
7855563
Good thing they weren't that day and saved Rainbow Dash's show boating flank before someone got killed.
7855477
I loved that episode, it remains one of my favorites.
7839103
And saved her show boating ass and never thanked them for it.
7729161
Just waits till she gets the bill from the Filly Scouts for the 100 boxes of cookies she stole and replaced.
Notice how Rainbow Dash suffered no punishment at all for destroying the weather factory? I think the writers have became afraid of punishing her for her stupidity because of temper tantrum fics.
8172245 To each their own.
Oh dear, I just had an unpleasant thought. What would happen if Scootaloo found out what that prank had done to her big sister?
I must say, this is possibly the only accusation fic about 28 pranks later that has a fallout and solution. Great job picturing how everything ends, and bringing a third party in this matter shows that both sides has their own fault.
The only criticism I can give is, ironically, not on the fic itself. It seems that everyone here is antagonizing the town too much. Watch Rainbow's 'pranks' again, I'm surprised that nobody went on a ponyhunt for her (Do you know the feeling of getting sprayed by a skunk point blank?). The mane six did try to talk Rainbow out of it, but she only escalate to prank the ENTIRE town, using the cookies made to be shared to the residents of Ponyville as a 'weapon'. If negotiation doesn't work, then one must take action.
Maybe zombifying the town isn't the best idea, but do you consider how the ponies feels after they got 'pranked'? Emotions such as anger may steer one's mind awry, and thus, resorts in the cruel prank against Rainbow. The perfect revenge.
And after that? In the end, Rainbow didn't change.
8200371
Why not? I thought this was a free country, where everyone could express their opinions.
This. Is. Such. A. Great. Story!!!!
OMG!!
Made me cry buckets after this!! Great job!
(P.S mind if I copy it and post it on Watpad? Will give you 100% credit
)
I was sure the second chapter was going to be about Rainbow Dash faking a successful suicide attempt over what the others put her through and then leaping out from around a corner to shout "Ha! Doesn't feel so great, does it?"
8218749
Before or after she learned all the vicious over the top stunts RD had done to random innocent ponies the day before?
8534808
Sorry, I am genuinely not sure what you mean by that? What does Rainbow's mean pranks from before have to do with how Scootaloo would feel about the unintended consequences of the towns revenge prank? I am presuming you don't mean Scootaloo would be happy that (in the story of this fic) Rainbow is suffering from suicidal thoughts after believing she had murdered everypony she loved in a prank gone wrong (regardless of whether she deserved it or not) as Scootaloo still loves her big sister despite her flaws, right?
I'm not trying to argue with you, I'm just confused by your question.
Ya, i can say for sure pranking her when her element is loyalty and making her think she did the ultimate betrayal and basically killed all the town..... ya, the 'lesson' went 20'000 leagues too far especially counting psychology.
8172255
They're not allowed to read fanfics. Plus it's not like Rainbow Dash is the only pony who gets away with stupid shit. Twilight's probably committed more illegal actions than anyone with her magical "solutions" and they made her a fucking princess.
So are we going to pretend the season one episode, dragonshy doesn’t exist?
I mean I’m my personal opinion if fluttershy can stand up to a dragon to defend her friends, she can stand up to one to defend herself. And I understand she can’t completely change who she is but c’mon, she’s been brave before. I’m just saying.
If there's any solace to that awful episode, it's that it's the reason we have great fan fiction like this to fix it. Other than that, there's nothing good about that episode. In fact, I wish I could forget about it and move on, but it keeps slinking back into my head every time I try to forget it.
Hell, I tried scheduling some electroconvulsive therapy, but, apparently, trying to inadvertently wipe your memory to forget something you don't like is FROWNED UPON! Thanks, ECT; you fail me yet again.
9033972
lol. I'll be the first to admit, it's a pretty terrible episode in terms of morality. That being said, I absolutely love how mean it was.
BTW you could always try ordering one of those memory wiping sticks from the MIB.