art by TheRandomJoyrider

Back in 2011, I started watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic because a brony friend challenged me to, rightly saying that I had no place criticizing something I hadn’t actually seen. The first episode made me cringe, especially the opening song. But some of the things in the second episode were a pleasant surprise, and I was curious enough to continue. However, I wasn’t converted to actually liking the show until “Griffon the Brush Off”. And the scene that sold me was the one where Pinkie Pie stopped Rainbow Dash from pranking the extremely shy and sensitive Fluttershy.

That moment breathed a lot of dimension into her character, transforming Pinkie Pie from someone I found annoying into someone I could admire.

Rainbow Dash went along in agreement, particularly since Pinkie Pie was quick to switch targets. But it makes sense that this was a lesson Rainbow Dash never really learned. And it is about time that she did.

I’ll take a more detailed look at the episode below the break.

art by AssasinMonkey

This episode takes place much later, and after the friendships between the characters have been firmly established and after Fluttershy has had plenty of experiences to strengthen her character. So when Rainbow Dash finally crosses that line which Pinkie Pie prevented her from crossing back in the first season, the impact of the prank is much less catastrophic than it would have been, and the response is appropriately mature: the Mane Six arrange an intervention.

(And to give Rainbow Dash some credit, the fact that this is happening now strongly implies that she never tried to prank Fluttershy in this manner prior to the episode. Rainbow Dash may not have put proper consideration into whether Fluttershy would be all right with the prank and enjoy it in retrospect, but she at least held back until she had assessed – correctly, I would note – that Fluttershy could handle it. While that doesn’t make it okay, it does show she didn’t simply ignore what Pinkie Pie had told her.)

Unfortunately, the intervention does not go well. They get off-track, wounding Rainbow Dash’s pride in the quality of her pranks rather than focusing on proper consideration for the target of the prank.

Now you've challenged her. Congratulations.

(Special kudos to the writers, by the way, for Pinkie Pie in the intervention scene, as well as making her the one who orchestrated the big prank. It is important to remember that these ponies are individuals; they won’t all react the same or automatically form a homogenous front.)

Even without the synopsis, it seemed obvious that this would be a “Mane Six get together to teach Rainbow Dash a lesson” episode, almost certainly in the form of an elaborate and pointed prank. This time, they did far better than the last time they tried this – their exceptionally ill-thought, poorly-implemented and morally questionable gambit in “The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well”.

A small part of me worried that this episode would turn into that one, but the Mane Six have become much more mature (and gotten much better writing). I am exceptionally happy to say this episode succeeded everywhere that one failed. Amongst other things, here, they actually gave communication a serious try first. Not once, but twice. The reverse pranking was relatively brief and designed to have the proper impact, nobody acted hypocritically, and they ended the prank at their own initiative and at the right time.

I strive to avoid spoilers, including not viewing the previews, so normally all I know about an episode before watching it is the title (and possibly a little of the synopsis, thanks to my recording method). As such, I was pleasantly surprised when they lived up to the title’s promise with an actual zombie apocalypse prank. That was… kinda awesome.

True, it was obvious that it was all going to turn out to be a prank. There isn’t anything wrong with that kind of predictability. Many of Shakespeare’s plays were based on historical events, and everyone knew how those stories would end before arriving at the theatre. What they came to see was how the story unfolded. The audience can delight in the journey regardless of whether they already know the destination. This episode played on the same level, and did so with enjoyable effect.

art by Flutterthrash

from Rarity, “28 Pranks Later”:

”Every pony has things they like and things they don’t.”

I have only once played Cards Against Humanity. The game simply doesn’t appeal to me. There are many kinds of humor, and people have different levels of enjoyment and tolerance of each. Just as I do not find anything funny about slapstick, I have no appreciation for toilet humor and generally feel that being crass is what people do if they don’t know how to be clever. Cards Against Humanity aims towards very low-brow amusement.

(I did win a few hands, enough to move on to the second round at the convention tournament. But my only play I found funny enough to remember was for the “haiku” challenge – stringing three cards together in some semblance of sense – which I won with this combination:

John Wilkes Booth

The Big Bang

A Salty Surprise

That was bad and I feel bad. But I also giggle a little.)

Likewise, I agree with Applejack that “a whoopee cushion is like a joke short-cut.” Conversely, some of Rainbow Dash’s pranks actually made me laugh. Her prank on Rarity was pretty masterful; it was both well thought-out and required a level of understanding of her target that no mere acquaintance would have. And it left them with a tasty treat that Sweetie Belle at least would enjoy. The fact that the sewing-machine cake was even yummier than the cake-cake was just the icing on the… um… cake.

I found the prank on Applejack was also quite good, if only because of the excessive effort that Applejack put into avoiding it to no avail.

Conversely, there were pranks that just fell flat, seeming to lack the sense of humor that those first two employed, at least to me. I was far more impressed with Rainbow Dash’s l33t ninja skills in Cheerliee’s classroom than her crude drawing. The young children thought it was funny though. Perhaps they were the target audience?

The skunk was just cruelty.

In the real world, Rainbow Dash’s “prank” with the brick sandwich could have caused serious harm – a lot of pain, expensive dental surgery and a permanent reduction in chewing capability. But I had to shuck my initial negative reaction and remember that this prank is happening in a world where some ponies eat rocks, and where the feats that ponies can casually perform with their teeth are often shocking.

In fact, the scene from “A Dog and Pony Show” is what convinced me that mouth-held pony firearms were within the realm of suspension of disbelief; the scene was even directly referenced in Fallout: Equestria

from Chapter Twenty-Three, “Patterns of Behavior”:

"Little Macintosh is possibly the most powerful firearm of its size... designed with the kind of buck to the teeth that only a mare like Applejack could handle easily.” Despite how low I was feeling, a snort of laughter escaped me. According to Spike's story, Applejack was strong enough in the tooth to haul not only her own weight but that of all five of her friends with nothing more than a bite on a dragon's tail.

The success of the pranks, however, did not depend on whether or not I thought the pranks were funny, but whether the targets did… a point that was nicely illustrated with Rainbow Dash’s prank on Pinkie Pie. To quote Quibble Pants, I found it “not particularly original or inspired, but it worked.” Pinkie Pie, however, was delighted. And that is what mattered for the prank to be a roaring success.

It was particularly appropriate that the pony who exemplifies the virtue of Laughter was the one to teach the lesson. In the real world, there are many people who use “it’s just a prank” as an excuse for unsafe, unethical, excessively cruel or even violent behavior. Intending a prank never makes bad or malicious behavior acceptable or excusable.

Virtuous laughter understands the difference between laughing with someone and laughing at them, and finds upsetting, demeaning or harming someone (emotionally or physically) in the name of “amusement” to be vile. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash never descends to the level of a troll, but the fact that she crosses the line at all makes this a lesson needed.

art by mysticalpha

Other tidbits:

It is cute that the CMC are part of the Filly Guides. The first time I recall seeing this group was in “Just For Sidekicks”. I like to think that the CMC joined as part of their efforts to try new things to get their cutie marks, and have happily stuck with them after.

Just like in past episodes such as “Spike at Your Service” and “Party of One”, Applejack continues, fittingly for someone who exemplifies the Virtue of Honesty, to be cringingly bad at lying. If Rainbow Dash hadn’t been overwhelmed by the situation, AJ’s “backfired on you” line would have given everything away… as would her sloppily-applied muzzle coloring.

We know from previous episodes that Pinkie Pie is on a first-name basis with everyone in town. Only she could have gotten everyone together like this. Who other than Pinkie Pie could have even gotten Pound and Pumpkin Cake to play their part? Seeing them involved was quite surprising.

”How many boxes would you like?”