A Shade of Humiliation
Applejack was shocked.
She was genuinely shocked, and that doesn’t happen very often. Sure, she would lift her famous eyebrow, stamp her hoof on the ground, roll her eyes or shake her head to clear the cobwebs out of her brain. However, the sight in front of her genuinely caused her to freeze midstep in front of the door of Sweet Apple Acre’s barn. She was practically gobsmacked, speechless and whatever words would fit in a thesaurus Twilight Sparkle would own on describing some pony who literally had no words to say.
There, standing a few hoof steps in front of her was Rainbow Dash. Only, she wasn’t her blue self. Instead of her usual striking blue coat, it was bright pink. Instead of her signature rainbow mane, it was also bright pink. The only thing that was visible and made Applejack realise that it was indeed Rainbow Dash standing in front of her was her cutie mark. It was somewhat hard to see as it was partially covered by a post stick note that had quill ink scribbled on it, saying, ‘Shampoo Pranked.’
Applejack had her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of the water as the rusty gears turned in her head. She slowly stepped forward, raising a hoof to make sure she wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating. Hours of work in Celestia’s sun’s summer heat had that effect on her sometimes.
What she knew was that Rainbow was actually kind of adorable and the pink actually suited her. However, she knew not to say that word or anything similar to her face straight away. Rainbow Dash wanted to keep some of her dignity after whatever happened to her to be dyed pink.
“Uh…” Applejack was all she could muster up. She processed how to proceed with her questioning without further damaging whatever dignity her friend had left.
“I have some questions?”
That was all the farm pony could say. It came out as somewhat strained and not assertive or supportive as she would have liked. She was asking an actual question for herself rather than a statement.
Rainbow Dash huffed, looking at her new pink self with disgust and with a hint of what Applejack can see as clear embarrassment. Rainbow sighed as she answered.
“Ask Pinkie Pie then.”
The gears stopped as Applejack put two and two together before a smile spread across her face, her sides shook and she collapsed on the floor in a fit of laughter.
Rainbow Dash glared as her friend rolled on the floor, howling in laughter. Applejack wasn’t much of the laughing kind of pony. However, if you find the right points that hit her funny bones, she can laugh till the apples fall off the trees themselves.
“Sugarcube,” Applejack said in-between fits of giggles, wiping tears from her eyes, “Why didn’t you wash that stuff off before coming to see me?”
“Twilight analysed it. It’s permanent for a week,” Rainbow said through gritted teeth.
That only made Applejack howl in laughter again.
“So why did you come all the way to see me?” Applejack chuckled.
“I had a hard time and I want the strongest mug of warm cider you have,” Rainbow half-begged, “Please, Applejack. For a friend?”
It was only then that Applejack could see the urgency in Dash’s eyes. It seemed like she had a hard day.
“Shoot, Sugarcube,” Applejack nodded, “I didn’t think it was that bad until you put it like that. One mug of hot cider on the house.”
“Thanks, AJ,” Rainbow thanked as she trotted into the farm house’s kitchen and sat down on the table, her head laying on the table. The sound of mugs lightly tapping the table stirred the tired pegasus to look up. Rainbow’s head rose as she began salivating over her mug. Applejack smiled warmly at her, a mug of her own resting in her hooves.
“Now then,” Applejack comforted her friend with a pat, “Why don’t we start at the beginning.”
Rainbow nodded as she took a sip of her mug.
“It started about the day before yesterday…”
“I’m telling you Pinkie! If there’s any pony who can pull a good prank is me! You should have seen me, pranking up a storm.”
“No way! Your pranks back then were a bit out of touch with the rest of Ponyville. My parties are always bursting with pranks.”
“Yeah right! Squirting flowers, random parties canons and fake snakes in party blowers are so basic!”
The two of them were at Sugarcube Corner. The rest of the customers were trying to drown out the two of them bickering as they tried to enjoy their lunch. Eventually, the two of them had run out of breath arguing and were now slumped in their chairs, eating their snacks.
“I think I can picture it,” Applejack nodded, “Knowing your…er… competitive streak and Pinkie Pie’s love of everything fun, you came up with something to settle this.”
“You know me so well,” Rainbow nodded, “Since we all know Fluttershy is both a Stare Master and Scare Master last Nightmare Night, we wanted to see who was the best Prank Master.”
“Yep, I can see that,” Applejack said, “You may have stealth by your side, but Pinkie has a combined strength of randomness and unpredictability on her side.”
“I should have seen that coming,” Rainbow grumbled and looked away, Applejack seeing a small blush beneath the pink dye. Rainbow turned her head back to Applejack and continued retelling the event that led up to her being pink.
“You know that look Pinkie Pie gets when she has one of her big ideas?” Rainbow asked. Applejack nodded, knowing her pink friend’s wide-eyed face when she had one of her grand plans. There was a certain spark that seems to come from that pony’s eyes when she had an idea.
“I wish I saw it when she asked me the next question.”
“Why don’t you have pink in your mane?” Pinkie asked, causing Rainbow to cough on her milkshake.
“Because pink wouldn’t go well with my awesome mane,” Rainbow flicked her mane for illustration with a hoof, “I mean, I wouldn’t want to ruin this awesomeness even if I wanted to.”
“It’s just that your name is Rainbow Dash, and rainbows should have seven colours. Yours only goes up to purple and that’s the sixth colour.”
“I think a seventh colour would just make the colours of my mane too crowded,” Rainbow shrugged, “Anyway, pink is super-bright more me. You have Pink in your name and it suits you. I would just be one colour than a crowded-coloured pony like what fillies scribble in books.”
“I really shouldn’t have said that last sentence…” Rainbow trailed off.
“I can see the evidence right in front of my eyes,” Applejack teased as lightly as she could. Her friend didn’t need any more suffering for the rest of the day.
“The next day was really busy for me as I was on weather duty with the Wonderbolts,” Rainbow continued her tale of misfortune, “It must have been while I was away that she managed to somehow get into my bathroom and switch shampoo. How did she even get into my cloud house?”
“Er… Pinkie?” Applejack hinted.
“…Right,” Rainbow face-hoofed at the obvious answer right in front of her. When she met Gilda the first time, she used a bunch of balloons and a strange contraption to reach the two of them. “She must have also known that I had a long day and that I wanted an evening shower. I was so tired I didn’t look in the mirror after my wash. ”
“And then you woke up the next day looking like this when you did look in the mirror.” Applejack tried her best to suppress another round of laughter.
“The one and only awesome Rainbow Dash, now the same colour as Pinkie Pie! Pinkie Pie of all ponies!” She threw her hooves in the air with exasperation and hit her face with them.
“I scrubbed it off the best I can, but it wouldn’t come off,” Rainbow muttered, “I rushed to Twilight’s in the early morning so no pony would see me like this. Twilight was equally as shocked and laughed just like you did when she heard the full story. I didn’t stay long when she began to talk about the egghead stuff on the chemical makeup of permanent dyes. By then it was late into the morning and every pony heard what had happened to me.”
“Wow, Pinkie’s committed when she wants to be,” Applejack applauded.
“AJ, we’re talking about Pinkie Pie here. Parties and pranks are her commitment,” Rainbow countered with a giggle. Applejack took it as a sign that she was coming round. Her eyes then wandered down to the piece of paper on Rainbow's flank.
“So what’s with the note?” Applejack pointed to her flank. Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes.
“You know when Pinkie Pie gets really, really sad, her mane goes all straight?” Rainbow hinted.
Applejack needed only a second before another piece of a jigsaw puzzle slotted into place.
“No…”
“Yep…” Rainbow did her best Big Mac impression.
“Pinkie Pie, darling? Are you alright? You know I always worry when your mane goes down.”
Rainbow Dash groaned as she turned to face Rarity.
“Not now Rarity,” Rainbow face-hoofed.
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity gasped, “How did you-?”
“Pinkie Pie and it’s a long story, and right now I’m heading to Sweet Apple Acres to get some cider.”
“I see,” Rarity’s eyes roamed over her friend’s new look, “Well, I won’t say anymore. Ta-ta!”
Rainbow Dash made only a few steps towards the orchard farm when a quieter voice caused her to stop mid-step.
“Pinkie Pie? Is there something wrong?”
“After Fluttershy thought I was Pinkie Pie, the whole town thought I was,” Rainbow groaned, “As if my wings weren’t an obvious clue already. They must have blended in really well. Even jabbing at my pink cutie mark was not enough to get ponies to stop thinking I was Pinkie being sad. It was then that I gave up and stuck a note to myself.”
“Which takes us to right now,” Applejack rounded up, “Honestly, I don’t know what to say.”
“I know,” Rainbow sighed in defeat, “That Pinkie Pie is the Prank Master… For now.”
“And by what do you mean by ‘For now’?” Applejack asked with a hint of trepidation. Rainbow Dash pulled out something from behind her. Applejack’s eyes widened as she saw numerous coloured dyes inside a crate.
“Let’s see if Pinkie thinks seven colours on a pony is too much for her…” Rainbow said with a wicked grin.
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*Sugarcube
*their
This was great! You did a good job!
11167954
Thank you and happy you liked it
Awww, such a sweet little story. I really appreciated the fact that Applejack didn't continue laughing, being completely oblivious to her friend's... hard day. I'm not a fan of that. At all.
Anywho. Really enjoyed this little piece of work of yours. Sweet, short, fluffy and fun. (Hey! That describes all of your stories, that I've read!) Well worth the read!
Thank you for the fun little read, bud
Also; nice see the first place Dash wants to go after a hard day is Applejack's. Makes total sense to me.
Happy you liked it ^^
11167956
You're welcome!
Lol wow I kind of guess you saw the missed color toy of rainbow dash but anyway it looks like Pinkie Pie pulled the ultimate prank on rainbow and now she's all pink well at least she got hurt chance to drink some Cider at least and Applejack was pretty nice of her to do that but now she wants to get even with Pinkie Pie now cuz you know rainbow but anyway this was a pretty good story and a funny one and I did see that on Twitter keep up the good work
A perfect piece of fluff for my morning. Also,that last line...
11167981
Pinkie will be extra colourful by tomorrow ^^
Please for the Love of Faust, tell me that you are making a Sequel to this story, I think that Pinkie REALLY needs a wake-up call that she should NOT prank her Pranking Partner like that without thinking of what would happen to her after said Prank has finished, also if there was ever an 'Order of Pranksters' I can see Luna, Celestia and DIscord being the one's to have created it when they were younger and them being the leaders of it and Pinkie and Rainbow could be members of it too.
11168143
If I see a piece of artwork on DA, I am drawn to it immediately and want to write something that inspires me
If I have to idea or motivation to really
Another one, I just put up mine so I'll give yours a read to see how it fares!
Oh wait, this is what you originally published on DA, LOL.
11168255
Yep it is ^^
11168272
I literally just posted my own take to challenge yours on DA then spotted it here.
Oh Dash, you poor adorable idiot. Fun story! Any chance of a sequel where we get Pinkie turned into Rainbow Pie?
11168310
Depends if I have the determination for it. I get one good chapter and then it just seems right to me
My mind isn't up for more than one sometimes
Knowing Pinkie Pie, she'll probably like being rainbow.
11168427
La-la-la-la! I feel so colourful today XD
A very humorous and humble story.
Brought a smile to my face.
11168446
Thank you for the compliment ^^
The wrath of the Pink One hath be wrought.
This fic is exactly what came to mind when looking at the cover art, so definitely well done.
Oh, I so want to see a sequel!
Question! Did Pinkie Dash, get Pinkie Pie back and turn her into Rainbow Pie?
Would love to see a sequel where Dash gets some revenge.
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11168800
It really depends if I have the drive for it really. I can't really do more than one chapter. Most inspiration comes from the fanart I see on DeviantArt and so it just really goes from there where I create the ideas
I don't really see why so much on asks for a sequel. For me, the last line was the introduction to the episode of the cookies trapped with rainbow dye and the counter prank pony zombies.