S06:E15 - 28 Pranks Later

[Celli 4,332]

Didn't care for this one. Was oddly more enjoyable than last week's, but that's not saying much. Rainbow was an ass in the first act, the second act wasn't good, and the last part gave me a slight chuckle, I guess. Probably a 6/10.

[Allen 1,371]

This episode was great! Well too scary at the zombie part to chase after Rainbow Dash. That was just a prank joke, though.
 
"I'm going to use my (newest) magic wand to turn these plagued ponies back to normal (as part of my dream)."

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

I could have easily written my review for this one without even watching it.

 

Did not care for it.  Not one bit.  S5 had some of the best episodes of the entire series, but so far, I'm really not excited about S6.  So, in my Stranger Than Fanfiction review, I did a piece on how, while the episode was okay, it would have been far better if they had followed Twilight to the Griffonstone friendship summit instead.  I discussed at some length how I think this show has a tendency to squander potential, and brush aside great story opportunities in favor of throwaway stuff, such as what we got today with Pranks.  They have established such great lore, with such dynamic characters, but tend not to pursue it like they should.  They have a tendency to introduce a spectacular new storyline, but then forget it and never mention it again.  The best example is Fluttershy's budding singing talent, which was dropped and never explored again.  In today's case, I think a much better idea would have been to further Dashie's new career.  They made her a 'bolt, had her achieve her lifelong dream, and we probably won't see anything more about it until next friggin' season (if there is one.  #Ihopethemovieisthefinale)  Rainbow becoming a 'bolt was a HUGE deal.  It warrants more development.  Not sometime later on in the future, but right now.  This episode should have focused on that.  Sadly, I kind of feel like Wonderbolts Academy was the last truly great Rainbow spotlight we will ever get.

 

I'd like to linger for a moment on this idea of them focusing on the wrong things.  I'd like to see this show explore bigger, more meaningful stories.  I completely understand that a central theme of the series is slice of life, everyday friendship lessons and I'm all for that, but even Faust's original vision was an even balance of slice of life and adventure.  Now, I'm not saying that every other episode needs to be some epic, huge-ass adventure.  (The Pony: An Unexpected Journey.  Although that could be good, too.)  No, I'm merely suggesting that they make more of an effort to explore and develop their careers, goals, etc.  So far this season, we should have had the Griffonstone friendship summit, a Flutteryshy performing/singing episode, and another 'bolt episode to show how Dashie's new career is taking shape.  Instead we get Daring Do Con (which wasn't too bad, though), boring soapbox racers ( ), and dopey pranks ( ).  The show is literally bursting at the seams with enormous potential, but they just keep brushing aside and choosing rather bland, throwaway stories.  That's how I see it, anyway.

 

So, back to Pranks.  There simply wasn't any way for this premise to be executed without Dashie coming off as a giant, immature douche in the first act, and that's exactly what happened.  Really disappointed by her behavior.  Felt like a big regression.  I really agree with here--this felt like it belonged in season 1.  The whole story was extremely predictable as well.  The zombies...well....minor props to the FIM team for attempting zombies, but they didn't work.  Not for me, anyway.  Not at all.  They came off as...just weird and dopey.  But I think what annoys me the most is the fact that the lessons are feeling extremely forced and contrived lately.  Today's felt like a real stretch.  Perhaps they needn't do the overt lessons anymore.  It isn't necessary.  Viewers will learn valuable lessons just by example and subtle interactions.  They've managed some brilliant and elegantly delivered morals before, but lately it's been very forced.  AJ's Day Off, Cart, and Pranks all felt like they were scraping the bottom of the friendship lesson barrel.  I think the writers shouldn't worry about including a specific moral.  Just make a good story, with characters being themselves, and viewers will get a lot out of it without even knowing it.

 

Now, this episode could have been a grand slam if they had made it a parody of Frasier's "Tales From the Crypt."  It would be TAILS From the Crypt!  Right?!  Huh?!  HUH??!  This may be a little obscure for this crowd, but if anyone is familiar with that, imagine Twilight in Frasier's role, and Rainbow as Bulldog in that episode and tell me that wouldn't be the most awesome thing in the history of pony.

 

 

Even Starlight didn't show her face, nor did any pony mention her.

That is a great point.  That was suspicious.  See, this is the kind of thing I'm talking about.  They showed every pony from Ponyville, but not her.  Does she even live there anymore?  (rhetorical)  If they're gonna introduce a character and a storyline like that, then own it and don't forget she exists!

 

Now come on, team.  Step it up.  You're better than this.

[Hazy Skies 1,010]

Honestly, i found this episode as cringey and predictable, and Rainbow Dash seemed oblivious and uncaring through the entire episode, which i didn't like..
 
Pinkie being sick was one thing, and Rainbow didn't put her friend in need before her "prank",  but then when everypony turned into "zombponies"..
I could immediately tell that it was a reverse prank.. Which means there was minutes of zombie moaning while I was moaning waiting for the big reveal..
 
Not that Rainbow Dash didn't deserve it, but she has displayed a caring and understanding side in the past, and she completely ignore that this episode..
I'll just be aware now that when Rainbow is on a pranking spree, she won't listen to reason and she is an uncaring, pranking and teasing bully..

Or maybe that'll change now, due to the episode's plot progression?

 

In any case I didn't really like it that much.. Another episode to the Season 6 "don't like" list.. Along with Flutter Brutter..

Edited August 14, 2016 by AURAequine

[Eggy0 101]

Eh, I give it a 7/10.

In my opinion, Rainbow felt rather OOC and, like some of the other people here, I think the episode belongs in season 1 or 2 more than season 6 especially since Rainbow should've/has changed by now; after all, she went all out on pranking other ponies for no reason other than laughs in this episode and I'm pretty sure she had at least a bit of character development from a show-off to a caring and loyal friend during the course of 5-6 seasons.

The "zombie apocalypse" was definitely predictable as a prank, though I have this feeling that the writer(s) intended this (the synopsis mentions ponies "giving Rainbow Dash a taste of her of medicine", and there are hints of the "apocalypse" being a prank).

I expected the episode to be MMDW 2.0, though to be honest, they handled the "RD takes it too far" situation much better here than in MMDW; in MMDW the Remane 5 tried to teach RD about her bragging by being a bigger show-off than her (and also bragging about how great MMDW is... see the problem?), whereas here every Ponyville resident simply turned one of RD's pranks against her so she could see what it feels like to be pranked in a way you don't find funny.

In overall, it was an okay episode. It could've done much better than it did, but it's not bad like MMDW was.

[cider float 2,535]

Ugh I could already seen what was going to happen. This show really devolved into those mediocre Saturday Morning Cartoons -_-

Also Rainbow Dash again? 

 

Only clever thing I can say about this is that the title is based on a zombie movie, 28 days later.

Edited August 14, 2016 by cider float

[VengefulStrudel 1,486]

Well, that was certainly interesting, seeing the ponies act all creepy and zombie-ish was rather eerie, especially the Cake Twins. Zombie babies! D:

I thought it was an alright episode, though I would've expected Dash to be more sensitive towards Flutters. As a side-note, gotta love Pinkie's scared face. Other than that, I also liked the Spike/Celestia and Rarity pranks. Did not expect the sawing machine to be cake-fied too. x)

[Thaliel 116]

what I really enjoyed was the VAs all sounding so different from their usual roles, very well done

[Hazy Skies 1,010]

Anypony else notice that Pinkie's voice was a bit off this episode? ... It just seemed.. different..

[Redhatbrony 59]

I've finished my review today,

Enjoy my work.

https://youtu.be/b1z9-mPLvgQ

[Thrond 3,257]

I could have easily written my review for this one without even watching it.

 

Did not care for it. Not one bit. S5 had some of the best episodes of the entire series, but so far, I'm really not excited about S6. So, in my Stranger Than Fanfiction review, I did a piece on how, while the episode was okay, it would have been far better if they had followed Twilight to the Griffonstone friendship summit instead. I discussed at some length how I think this show has a tendency to squander potential, and brush aside great story opportunities in favor of throwaway stuff, such as what we got today with Pranks. They have established such great lore, with such dynamic characters, but tend not to pursue it like they should. They have a tendency to introduce a spectacular new storyline, but then forget it and never mention it again. The best example is Fluttershy's budding singing talent, which was dropped and never explored again. In today's case, I think a much better idea would have been to further Dashie's new career. They made her a 'bolt, had her achieve her lifelong dream, and we probably won't see anything more about it until next friggin' season (if there is one. #Ihopethemovieisthefinale) Rainbow becoming a 'bolt was a HUGE deal. It warrants more development. Not sometime later on in the future, but right now. This episode should have focused on that. Sadly, I kind of feel like Wonderbolts Academy was the last truly great Rainbow spotlight we will ever get.

 

I'd like to linger for a moment on this idea of them focusing on the wrong things. I'd like to see this show explore bigger, more meaningful stories. I completely understand that a central theme of the series is slice of life, everyday friendship lessons and I'm all for that, but even Faust's original vision was an even balance of slice of life and adventure. Now, I'm not saying that every other episode needs to be some epic, huge-ass adventure. (The Pony: An Unexpected Journey. Although that could be good, too.) No, I'm merely suggesting that they make more of an effort to explore and develop their careers, goals, etc. So far this season, we should have had the Griffonstone friendship summit, a Flutteryshy performing/singing episode, and another 'bolt episode to show how Dashie's new career is taking shape. Instead we get Daring Do Con (which wasn't too bad, though), boring soapbox racers ( ), and dopey pranks ( ). The show is literally bursting at the seams with enormous potential, but they just keep brushing aside and choosing rather bland, throwaway stories. That's how I see it.

Blame the format. Every episode needs to be self-contained for the purposes of reruns, and it hurts the show more and more with each passing season. I'm not invested in Fluttershy's singing career, particularly, but it would give her a solid goal to work towards, and the fact that we haven't seen another Wonderbolts Dash episode is downright tragic. I guess Hasbro just doesn't pay enough for the crew to keep a tighter level of control of story and character development. Episodes like this aren't necessary, but at the very least season 6 has a tone where they're less dissatisfying than in season 5.

[ph00tbag 108]

Ok so, 28 Pranks Later, or, my preferred Youtube clickbait alternate title for this episodes, Cookie Zombie Prank GONE SEXUAL! GONE WILD! ALMOST DIED! 

I actually prefer, "She tried to prank her friends with joke cookies. You won't believe what happens next!"

 

 

Blame the format. Every episode needs to be self-contained for the purposes of reruns, and it hurts the show more and more with each passing season. I'm not invested in Fluttershy's singing career, particularly, but it would give her a solid goal to work towards, and the fact that we haven't seen another Wonderbolts Dash episode is downright tragic. I guess Hasbro just doesn't pay enough for the crew to keep a tighter level of control of story and character development. Episodes like this aren't necessary, but at the very least season 6 has a tone where they're less dissatisfying than in season 5.

In addition to not really being able to cover several arcs in a given episode, there are enough sub-arcs to the show that giving more than one or two episodes to any of them per season cuts into the time they have to develop anything else, and they keep adding arcs in, so it gets harder and harder as they go on.

Edited August 14, 2016 by ph00tbag

[The Nth Doctor 652]

Wow, Dashie, way to be an insensitive * * to Fluttershy

Poor thing had a freakin' panic attack and you laughed at her

 

 

 

This is why I'm all for episodes that turn Dashie into a weeping wreck of a pony because she desperately needs to be taken down a peg more often than not

[Thrond 3,257]

This is why I'm all for episodes that turn Dashie into a weeping wreck of a pony because she desperately needs to be taken down a peg more often than not

I feel like having so many episodes about her being taken down a peg is the reason she keeps regressing to her relatively insensitive characterization. Let her move on and be more mature. 

[The Nth Doctor 652]

I feel like having so many episodes about her being taken down a peg is the reason she keeps regressing to her relatively insensitive characterization. Let her move on and be more mature. 

She would be if she remembered the lessons from the episodes where she was taken down a peg

[Sunny Shimmer 259]

LOL! Well, have a brohoof. You're of the straightforward honest sort. 

You know me so well. We should be friends.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

I'll admit, this was an nice episode for me to watch. It seems that Rainbow had the notion of taking pranks too far, even against her own friends, and Pinkie, being the Element of Laughter, was the only one to enjoy them while the others were getting tired of it all. Also, while I'm glad we got a cameo appearance of Princess Celestia, it is clear she was getting a bad case of a repeat of Griffon the Brush Off with being the unintentional victim of Rainbow's prank on Spike. She must have told Twilight of what happened to her, and Spike and Twilight figured out it was Rainbow's fault, hence being at the head of the angry Ponyville residents who come to ask Pinkie to speak to Rainbow about her pranks.

 

Rainbow's big mistake with her ultimate prank with the joke cookies was telling Pinkie about it. Knowing the only way Rainbow would listen to reason was if she was the victim herself, Pinkie told Rainbow's plan to Twilight and the rest of the Mane Six, and they prepared a counter-prank with the rest of Ponyville. The real question is: How did everyone get their colors to become paler for their cookie-craving zombie apocalypse prank on Rainbow? A spell from Twilight, perhaps? Because once they saw Rainbow admit that her prank was no longer funny, the next scene of them shows them back to their regular, brighter colors before wiping the rainbow filling off their muzzles in unison. Twilight could have removed the spell while Rainbow was still squeezing her eyes shut in terror while Pinkie revealed the deception.

 

Either way, this was a good way to stage a zombie apocalypse without anyone having to actually become the living dead in the process, so I give the episode an 8.5/10.

 

I asked myself the same exact question about the pale color. I thought it might be a spell since the ponies went gray from both Discord's and Starlight's magic in pervious episodes but in the last scenes it was like they could change their colors at will which seemed strange. 

 

Pretty much MMDW 2.0

Why the hell any writer would sit down and say "you know that episode that everyone hated? Yeah, lets Remake it!".

The intro is wildly out of character with how in S1 dash realized that fluttershy was too sensitive to prank and her general protectiveness of fluttershy, and overall it just felt very weak and unfunny. There was a couple good parts like the Sewing machine cake (Due to sweetie's diabetes expression while she's eating it) and the celestia/spike prank, but past that, its pretty freaking weak.

 

 

3/10. Only eclipsed by Newbie dash and AJ's day off.

 

Why do you call that a diabetes expression? I'm just asking out of curiosity not criticism as I have friends with diabetes now

 

OK, good afternoon everypony, and welcome to another edition of "Batbrony Reviews."  Sorry for taking so long to get around to this review, just been preoccupied since the episode.  This should be a pretty short review anyways overall, not a whole lot to say with this episode since, well, it was a pretty basic and simple episode.  Without further ado, let's dive into "28 Pranks Later"!

 

 

Somepony, help me!!!

 

So let's get this out of the way, this is just an alright episode.  It's not outstanding, it might have some stuff that might tick people off, but overall, it's just OK, and sometimes OK is fine.  In this case, I certainly think that is so.  The lesson is serviceable, and actually has broader applications beyond the episode context.  Basically, it's all about when joking in general goes too far.  We all probably know a coworker or some friend or family member who doesn't know when enough is enough when it comes to joking (and this doesn't just have to apply to pranking).  This is actually a more serious character flaw than one might think at first glance, after all, who doesn't like a good joke?  But when you think about it, people who get too hung up on joking and being humorous ALL THE TIME can come off as flippant, frivolous, and not to be taken seriously because they don't seem to take anything seriously.  That's what Dash's problem was here; she was making jokes at the expense of others, not taking their reception of her behavior into account.  In an attempt to prove she was the best at something (as Dash is want to do when she believes she's been challenged), she actually proved to be the worst in becoming too zealous in her efforts.  If nobody besides her was enjoying the pranks, what was the point?  Now some of the pranks by themselves might seem harmless enough, but let's keep in mind that the whole town clearly knew what she was up to by the middle of the episode.  This is no different than when the town turned on the CMC after they discovered they were the ones running a gossip column.  It was a collective anger and annoyance which made perfect sense and was perfectly reasonable and understandable.

 

 

Huh, apparently RD is part bat-pony... HUZZAH!

 

 

How is this face scarier than ANY of the zom-pony bits were?

 

As for Dash herself, I didn't think she was out of character.  Some people will immediately point to her scaring Fluttershy as the biggest sin of the episode given that she and Pinkie had agreed in the past not to prank her.  But consider a few things.  First, that was ALL the way back in Season 1; just because she's matured doesn't mean Dash, anymore than the rest of the Mane 6, is any less capable of still screwing up or doing something wrong.  No one else was around to tell her otherwise, and she was probably just bored the first time.  The second time she was out at that point to prank everyone because, to reiterate, she felt like her pride and prowess had been challenged, and the episode did right by having all her friends point out that it wasn't just mean, but also lazy to prank a pony as easy to scare as Fluttershy, so there was an awareness from the episode itself that it was unusual for her to do so.  Overall, Dash was just being a knucklehead, and I don't see why that's hard to believe her doing, even in Season 6; she's still one of the more stubborn characters, plenty liable to making a mistake, certainly not a Mary Sue.  I thought she was fine, and she learned her lesson more than enough in the end.  It was interesting too that, if you paid attention, she didn't really go after Pinkie Pie in her pranking; she gave her a soft prank, probably for two reasons, (1) she was scared that if she got her too bad that Pinkie would retaliate, and (2) Pinkie didn't really go against her at the beginning.  Very interesting to consider both of those points, if you think about it.

 

 

Seriously, is RD loaded or something, how much money did she spend on these pranks?!

 

Finally, the humor, while not gut-busting, worked for the most part.  I was slightly disappointed that the zom-pony bit didn't go further, but it worked for the most part.  I think the most disappointing aspect of it was the title; being called 28 Pranks Later, I kinda wanted them to spoof 28 Days Later and have the "zom-ponies" be super fast.  But no, like we've seen in many, many cartoon zombie spoofs, it was a Night of the Living Dead spoof, and a pretty basic one at that, but it was still pretty funny.  Honestly the two biggest laughs came from Harry the Bear (seriously, he just steals the show when he gets decent screen time) and RD's last bit where she pretended like she hadn't learned her lesson.  Overall though, like I said earlier, this was just an OK episode, but I'm OK with that.  It was pretty clear that a new writer had worked on it (which has been kind of apparent a couple of times this season), but again, not every episode has to be a masterpiece.  This did what it wanted to, and I'm fine with it for what it is.  That's all I got for ya this week everypony, until next week this is Batbrony signing off.  I'm off! *cue dramatic exit*

I agree in regards to Rainbow Dash's character especially. 

.  

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

Started out cringy for me, but then it turned around. 

 

Tbh, it feels like the writers are pulling a rewind on Rainbows personality so far this season. This was S1 E5 Rainbow Dash and sadly, she had to learn another hard lesson. There really hasn't been any "soft" lessons for Rainbow Dash this season, or really at all. It may be because of Rainbow's personality. 

 

Anyway, great episode overall. 

[F.A.D.E 12]

flesh eating zombies. ya'know, for kids.

Edited August 14, 2016 by F.A.D.E

[Babyyoshi309 1,829]

This episode legitimately scared me, not because it was scary. The actual episode was not that scary (compared to horror movies at least). I was just scared because I was not expecting it. I was basically like "WTF!!!!! I THOUGHT THEY STILL SOLD TOYS TO LITTLE GIRLS?!!!!!". So yeah, it kind of startled me.

[Knightgem 158]

I was genuinly scared at the pony gang up. I mean sure Rainbows pranking got WAY out of control and could tell it was gonna be served up in a cold dish called 'revenge' aka 'payback', but still I got absorbed by the 'bad cupcake virus' that I had completly forgotton those small details that Twilight mentions. And when cupcake zombies  were 'cured' I was just "Awww that was mean! Even for her own medicine!"

[Sonic5421 423]

I asked myself the same exact question about the pale color. I thought it might be a spell since the ponies went gray from both Discord's and Starlight's magic in pervious episodes but in the last scenes it was like they could change their colors at will which seemed strange. 

 

Yeah, I was guessing that once Pinkie warned Twilight of the prank, she cast the spell on Pinkie to start the counter-prank off with Pinkie looking pale and bedridden, asking for more cookies to make her feel better, then as the rest of Ponyville bought the joke cookies from the Crusaders, they let Twilight know, so by nightfall, Twilight has cast the spell over everypony in Ponyville except for Applejack, Rarity, and the Crusaders, which she probably did while they were still hidden from the light of the lantern Rainbow turned on.

 

Once Rainbow's eyes were shut in fear of being devoured and pleaded that her prank was no longer funny, Twilight used that opening to undo the spell and return everypony back to their normal, brighter colors, though as for the loose, frayed hairs in their manes and tails while pretending to be zombies, I credit that either to Rarity, since we saw her comb her mane back to normal once the deception was over, or being part of Twilight's spell as well, unless all the unicorns in Ponyville helped Rarity and Twilight out with the manes and tails of everypony during the ruse instead.

 

Either way, glad I'm not the only one who was asking about that little nitpick of the episode regarding everypony being a pale, cookie-craving zombie one minute, then suddenly back to their brighter, normal selves the next when the prank was over without telling us how they even performed that move in the first place in the span of the few seconds Rainbow had her eyes shut before the deception was revealed.

[MovieLord101 140]

Honestly, I thought this episode did a better job of "RD being taught a lesson by her friends" than TMMDW did. At least in this episode, the whole town was in on Pinkie's plan, unlike 4 seasons ago where they had no clue. It honestly felt like a better message to boot because it didn't make the rest of the Mane 6 look like jerks.

[Music Chart Fan 818]

Overall, I found this episode frustrating, obnoxious, and even rather boring - it's yet another episode in which Rainbow Dash is too self-centered and has to be taken down a notch. The previous episode might have had few redeeming qualities, but this episode has essentially none. Rainbow and her enabler Pinkie are both insufferable in their pranking and attitudes about it. They're both completely unempathetic jerks and just flat-out don't care that they are. The rest of the Mane Six's intervention with Rainbow is ineffective, and so they resort to "giving her a taste of her own medicine", which seems vengeful and unproductive, even if it "worked" at the end of the episode. And the whole zombie apocalypse angle doesn't really make sense and isn't entertaining to me, so that doesn't redeem the episode, either.

 

First, after Rainbow's inconsiderate prank on Fluttershy, the Mane Six get together for an intervention to try to get Rainbow to stop (or maybe tone down) her pranks. And while they make good points about how the target of the prank ought to enjoy it, too, Rainbow is in defensive mode and doesn't seem to want to listen. The matter is made worse by Applejack's telling Rainbow that her pranking is lazy and Rarity's statement that "if you are not willing to put forth the effort required to pull a prank that everypony can enjoy, you may as well not pull one at all", which are taken by Rainbow to be a challenge. Rarity has a point that a prank is better (and requires more effort) when the target can laugh about it too, rather than Rainbow just cracking herself up at others' expense, and the two of them were probably also trying to get Rainbow to stop the pranking by implying that her current pranks are beneath her and that she could do something more worthwhile. But, while I get what they were trying to go for there, those were probably too nuanced of points for Rainbow to understand when she was in defensive mode and not really listening anyway.

 

Of course, Pinkie doesn't help when she essentially defends Rainbow, laughs at her pranks, and enables her behavior. Every time Pinkie interjects, I feel like saying "Nobody asked for your opinion, so can you shut up, please?". I guess it figures that Pinkie yet again displays a total lack of empathy, given how many times she's done so on the show before.

 

So then Rainbow goes on a pranking spree to prove just how hardcore her pranking can be, and in the process really demonstrates what an unempathetic jerk she can be. At least a couple of the pranks could have actually hurt somebody, including putting the giant boulder in Big Mac's cart and causing him to get dragged downhill, as well as putting a brick in Mr. Cake's sandwich. And even the pranks that don't physically harm anyone would still incur significant effort to fix and clean up after. Rarity has to figure out what to do with a giant cake (including probably disposing of most of it), Applejack has to clean herself and her bedroom furniture before moving it back, Cranky has to dispose of a skunk and try to get rid of the smell of skunk spray, and Celestia has to dispose of hundreds of scrolls (does the castle have an incinerator?). And of course, Rainbow flies away as soon as she gets her laughs, apparently leaving her targets to clean up after her pranks themselves.

 

I will note, though, that some of the targets of the pranks seemed rather unobservant or incautious.  When Rarity and Sweetie Belle run across the giant cake (and the cake sewing machine) in the boutique, why is Sweetie Belle's first reaction to rip a piece off and start eating it? Besides suspecting that it might be booby-trapped or otherwise part of Rainbow's prank, I wouldn't even be sure that it's made of edible materials, and even if it is, it might be, say, spoiled or stale and nasty. Next, I don't know how Cranky fails to notice that he's picking up a living animal rather than his toupee. Then, when Spike "sends" the scroll, only to supposedly have it fall back on his head, what does Spike think happened? Why would the scroll failing to "send" cause it to re-materialize above his head? And, of course, why doesn't Spike ever look up, or try to investigate why the scroll isn't "sending", rather than just attempting to send it over and over and over (hundreds of times, apparently)? Finally, it would seem like Mr. Cake would notice if there were a brick in his sandwich, although in that case, the sandwich looked fine right up until he took the top bun off to inspect it, so I don't know what happened there.

 

I'll also note that I think part of the problem here is that getting upset and yelling at Rainbow after her pranks only seems to egg her on. Maybe her pranks would stop being as fun to Rainbow if the targets just had no particular emotional reaction at all - i.e., no trying to "outsmart" the prank, no getting (visibly) upset, etc.

 

After all these pranks, the residents of Ponyville recruit Pinkie to try to talk Rainbow into stopping. But Pinkie again shows how little she actually cares about her friends and the residents of Ponyville when she's talking to Rainbow and can't even stick to the matter at hand - trying to convince Rainbow to stop the pranks - even after everyone else told her that they need to stop and Pinkie apparently agreed to intervene on their behalf. Instead, she continues to enable Rainbow's pranking and laughs about how funny the pranks are. Pinkie apparently really thinks that it's funny to get sprayed by a skunk, be dragged downhill by a giant rock being placed in the cart to which someone's tethered (and so can't easily escape from), etc.

 

Rainbow's prank with the joke cookies staining the mouths of the residents in Ponyville just seems unamusing and really not worthwhile. Assuming the rainbow dye in the cookies isn't permanent (although, considering Rainbow's other pranks this episode, that might not be a safe assumption), at best, the residents of Ponyville have rainbow-dyed mouths for a day or two before it washes off. That hardly seems worth the money and effort spent in buying and replacing tens or hundreds of boxes' worth of Filly Guide cookies.

 

Regarding these joke cookies, why would eating them stain the area around ponies' mouths? Most adults manage to eat food without smearing it on their faces, so how does the dye get there just by eating the cookies normally? Also, if Rainbow replaced the Filly Guide cookies with the joke cookies, where are all the Filly Guide cookies? You know, the ones that the residents of Ponyville thought that they were paying for? Was Rainbow planning to give everyone the cookies they actually paid for at some point, or was she just going to keep them for herself, or sell them elsewhere to recoup the costs of her prank, or even just throw them away?

 

I also don't get Rainbow's expectations about the logistics of the prank. As the group finishes up going door-to-door and selling the cookies, Rainbow rubs her hooves together and says "Any minute now...", apparently expecting to see Ponyville residents run out into the streets with rainbow-dyed mouths. But, first, why would the residents buying cookies only choose to eat them at the moment that the group finishes selling them to everyone? I might expect a few ponies to eat them right after buying them earlier in the day (in which case the prank might be revealed too early), and also expect some ponies to wait and eat them later at night, or maybe not eat any cookies at all that day. Second, even if they ate the cookies and discovered their stained mouths, why would the expected reaction be for a mass of ponies to run out in the streets, as though in a panic? Cookies dyeing their mouths doesn't seem like an emergency or anything urgent. If anything, maybe some residents would go to their friends to warn them about the cookies, but it doesn't seem likely that they would be running out in a panic to do so.

 

The whole thing with the town supposedly becoming cookie-eating zombies is more baffling than scary, and consequently, it seems like Rainbow should be spending more time trying to figure out what's going on and what can be done about it, rather than running around scared and barricading herself and the non-zombified ponies. Why would eating the joke cookies cause ponies to shuffle around and chase Rainbow Dash while mindlessly moaning for more cookies? Why would sick ponies act that way? What possible ingredient would cause that specific behavior? Why are the cookie-eating zombies chasing Rainbow, and what happens if they catch her? It's not like Rainbow has any cookies on her. Does Rainbow think that their sickness is contagious and that she'll get it if they catch her? Why would sick ponies be trying to give non-sick ponies their illness? Of course, in light of these questions, Rainbow and company barricading themselves in the barn and saying "we'll just hide out here until the effects wear off" doesn't necessarily make sense. What are the effects, and how would they wear off? Again, why do they need to keep the zombies at bay, and why would the zombies be trying to harm them? I mean, I thought the idea is that you don't want to be caught by brain-eating zombies because then they would eat your brain, so exchanging brain-eating zombies for cookie-eating zombies sort of eliminates that threat and muddles the whole concept. 

 

At the end of the episode, when the prank is revealed, Rainbow is so dense that the others have to excruciatingly spell out to her that it was a prank, and that her objections to the prank could be, and were, made by the targets of her pranks. I can't help feeling like Pinkie is being a hypocrite, though, by lecturing Rainbow about how it feels when prank targets don't have a good time. Earlier in the episode, it seemed like Pinkie herself needed to learn this lesson, too - she dismissed the objections to Rainbow's prank on Fluttershy, acted as an enabler of Rainbow's pranking, and couldn't help laughing about Rainbow's pranks even as she was supposed to be getting Rainbow to stop doing them. So why is it that now she knows this lesson so well that she can teach it to Rainbow?

 

Finally, the method employed in this episode - if people do things you don't like, then take it upon yourself to do the same or worse back to them, so that they feel what it's like and realize to stop doing those things - doesn't seem, in general, to be a wise or effective way of dealing with conflicts. There's a good chance that the targets might not learn the intended lesson, and if the targets themselves feel wronged and follow this same method, then it could create an escalating cycle of the bad behaviors that were supposed to be stopped in the first place. So while this method "worked" this time, it really doesn't seem like a good general moral to be taking away from the episode.

[Thrond 3,257]

I'm always surprised when I'm lukewarm about an episode and discover that opinion is way on the positive end of the spectrum. Makes me like an episode a lot more. 

Tbh, it feels like the writers are pulling a rewind on Rainbows personality so far this season. This was S1 E5 Rainbow Dash and sadly, she had to learn another hard lesson. There really hasn't been any "soft" lessons for Rainbow Dash this season, or really at all. It may be because of Rainbow's personality. 

I've been relatively frustrated with it, but honestly it's not come across to me as all that much more than an extension of how she's only ever been depicted as a jerk or a relatively weak character almost continuously since "Rainbow Falls." Barely a single episode where she's not screwing up or generally not showing her good side. Compare Rarity, who some episodes are able to depict as being in the wrong and making mistakes without completely compromising their best qualities. RD is one of the show's best characters, so it's aggravating to see her having been misused for years on end.