Twilight lightly hit the gavel onto the table before announcing, "Alright, everypony, the Council of Friendship has officially come to order. We are here at the request of Fluttershy and Big Macintosh, concerning a prank that occurred last night, committed by-"

"What is the big deal?!" All eyes turned to Rainbow Dash, "It was just a prank! I mean, the setting, the execution- How can you not appreciate that?"

"Because I don't think being scared is very funny!" answered a peeved Fluttershy as Big Mac glared at Rainbow.

"We do!" Cheese Sandwich interjected.
"Your hearts get all racy," agreed Pinkie Pie as her heart seemed to beat out of her chest, held back only by a layer of skin.
"Your hooves get all tingly..." added Cheese.
"Your mouth gets all dry-y," Pinkie puckered her dry lips before conceding, "Actually I don't like that part."
"But the rest is great!" Cheese exclaimed, his fillyfriend nodding excitedly.

"See?! Everypony likes to get pranks," Rainbow shrugged, "They're just jokes!"

"They're not jokes when it involves scaring baby foals so much that they cry!" Fluttershy glared contemptuously at Rainbow and then all eyes turned to disapproval, causing Rainbow to shrink in her throne. Even Soarin was giving her the stink eye.
"Y'know how long it took us t' get th' twins t' sleep last night?!" Macintosh griped.

"Scaring babies, Rainbow Dash? For shame," Thunderlane shook his head.

"Well- I didn't know Fluttershy had the twins with her!" Rainbow defended herself.

"Rainbow Dash, even if the foals hadn't been there," Blueblood spoke up, "I don't think Fluttershy would have called for this meeting if she thought your prank was funny."
"Indeed, darling. Everypony has things they like and things they don't," agreed Rarity.

"An' scarin' Fluttershy is jus' lazy," sniped Applejack.

"Lazy?!" scoffed Rainbow.

"A prank isn't very good if you're the only one laughing," Twilight brought up as she stood beside Fluttershy.
"No matter how funny you might think it is," added Soarin.
"The trick to a prank, Rainbow, is making sure your idea of funny matches with their own idea of- HUH?!" Twilight had been about to sit in her throne, only for Midnight to levitate her away from the seat.
"Midnight?!"

"Sorry, Twily," Midnight levitated a needle and stabbed it to the seat of Twilight's throne, making a huge POP, to everypony's surprise, except for Rainbow who looked as deflated as the whoopee cushion Midnight raised for everypony to see.

Everypony gave Rainbow another look while she sighed grumpily at her most recent prank being foiled, when Midnight smirked, "A whoopee cushion, Rainbow Dash? Heh, talk about juvenile and lacking in imagination..."

"Excuse me?!" Rainbow Dash immediately took offense. "What do you know about pulling pranks, Midnight?"

"He's gotcha there, Dash," Applejack agreed, "A whoopee cushion is like a joke shortcut."

"WHAT?!" Rainbow, Pinkie, and even Cheese all exclaimed in response.

"Honestly, Rainbow Dash," huffed Rarity, "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."

Looking to the party ponies for support, Rainbow was dismayed wen they shrugged and didn't offer any support, so Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves onto the table, "FINE. If you ponies want effort, then that's what you'll get. And Midnight?!"

She got up in his face, pressing her snoot to his as she glared into his unworried face, "You'd better watch out..."

Watching her fly away and out the castle window, an uneasy air fell over them all when Blueblood said, "I don't think she understood what we meant."

Over the next couple of days, Ponyville was plagued by a string of pranks, courtesy of Rainbow Dash. She pranked Rarity by replacing her sewing machine with a cake shaped like it. She'd gotten Soarin by mixing up a weather scheduling so a raincloud poured onto him when he'd taken his lunch break. She pranked Applejack by moving the sleeping farmer's bed into her pigsty, leading to a messy awakening. She'd pranked Blueblood by replacing his oil can with one filled with frosting. She pranked Spike by making him think the messages he was sending Princess Celestia were coming back by dropping identical scrolls onto him every time he burned them (which had the bonus of pranking Princess Celestia by burying her in scrolls). She'd pranked Sunburst and Starlight during their first date, where she'd replaced a box of chocolate bonbons with harmless firecrackers. She set a heavy boulder onto Big Mac's wagon as he'd been about to make it up a steep hill, only for him to be dragged back all the way down. She'd replaced Carrot Cake's oatburger patty with a brick. She'd erased Cheerilee's lesson plan on her chalkboard with an unflattering drawing of her, causing her students to laugh. She even pranked Cheese Sandwich by filling up his accordion with spray cheese.

And for everypony she pranked, she also gave them an obnoxious "GOTCHA!"

Befre closing the box, Pinkie Pie examined the cupcakes before deciding they needed a quick sprinkling. Once they'd been sprinkled to perfection, Pinkie closed the box and turned arou-

"Pinkie, we need your help."

"Eep!" Pinkie dropped the box and noticed she was being visited by Twilight, Midnight, Starlight, Spike, Sunburst, Big Mac, Fluttershy, Applejack, Blueblood, Rarity, Soarin, Thunderlane, Cheerilee, Carrot Cake, and many other of their friends and neighbors.
"Okay! With what?"

"Are you honestly just going to stand there and tell us you know nothing about all the pranking Rainbow Dash has been doing lately?" exclaimed Rarity.

"Oh no. She's been pranking up a storm!" Pinkie replied positively.

"Did she prank you too?" asked Fluttershy as she held and Macintosh held their babies, Belle and Sandow warmly.

"Oh yeah! She and Gummy both!" laughed Pinkie as she recalled finding Rainbow Dash and Gummy hanging in her closet like bats and giving her a 'Boo'. "They got me good."

"Well she needs to stop," Sunburst said firmly.

"Stop? But pranks are so much fun!" Pinkie debated.

"Not for everypony," Twilight amended, "and it doesn't seems like Rainbow Dash is taking the time to see who enjoys them and who doesn't."

When everypony murmured in agreement, Cheese stepped forward, "Look Pinks, we know that you and Rainbow Dash have a great time pulling pranks. So we think you should be the one to tell Rainbow to... how to put this lightly... quit it."

"Et tu, Cheese?" Pinkie was surprised her coltfriend and fellow party pony had the same opinion and look as everypony else giving her such a firm look, it made her squeamish.

It was then Midnight stepped forward, giving Pinkie an unreadable look, "Pinkie, just talk to Rainbow Dash. Try and get her to ease up on the pranks. But if she won't listen..."

He levitated up a folded piece of paper, "Give her this note. It's for her eyes only, understand?"

Pinkie accepted the note before sighing heavily and nodding.

Making her way to Rainbow's address, Pinkie Pie looked up to Rainbow's cloud house and shouted, "Hey, Rainbow Dash! I have something very important to tell you!"

"Pinkie! Hey," came Rainbow's response before she flew out of her window and came to join Pinkie Pie down on the ground, "I actually have something very important to tell you!"

"You do? Oh! You go first," Pinkie got giddy hooves as Rainbow Dash looked to the left and then to the right.

"Okay, you know how I've been pranking everypony?"

"Yeah, hahaha! It's been pretty funny," giggled Pinkie Pie before she remembered why she was here and backpedaled, "Uh- I-I mean, that's what I have to talk to you about."

"Here, have a cookie," Rainbow offered a box of cookies to Pinkie.

"Ooh! Thanks," Pinkie chomped onto a cookie Rainbow threw her way.

"So, I got to thinking," Rainbow explained, "why waste my time pranking everypony one at a time when I can prank everypony all at once?"

"Everypony at once?! That sounds amazi-" *record scratch*

Pinkie froze in mid-cheer as she realized what she was saying, "Uh- Wait! It's... not."

"You don't even know what it is yet!" protested Rainbow. "Pinkie, this is gonna be... the best prank ever!"

Having a feeling of where this was going, Pinkie Pie sighed, "Well, Rainbow, I'm sorry that I can't talk you out of it. Which leaves me to tell you two things: First off, I'll have no part of it."

"WHAT?! Pinkie! We're prank buddies, the devious duo!" Rainbow pressured her friend, "Just let me tell you what this prank-"

"I'm sorry, Dashie! But everypony isn't liking your pranks and that's why they asked me to talk to you," Pinkie shook her head. "I think you should ease up on the pranks, but obviously I can't talk you out of it. Which leaves me with the second thing I gotta tell you."

Pinkie pulled out the note from her mane and held it out, "Midnight told me to give this to you if you were gonna keep pulling pranks. I don't know what it says, but- WHoOaOaAoAoAaOOoAoAAoah!!"

All of a sudden, Pinkie was spinning around in place as her body coursed with an unpleasant sensation while the note fell into Rainbow's wing. But the rainbow-maned pegasus was taken aback by whatever was happening to Pinkie, "Pinkie Pie! Are you okay?!"

"Uhhh..." Pinkie stopped spinning, but looked rather queasy, "Oh, that... I've never felt that before!"

"What was it?! The Pinkie Sense?!?" Rainbow dreaded to hear but had to know.

"Uh-huh! That-that was... a whopper!" Pinkie had a really bad feeling, "I don't know what it is... but it has to do with you! Sorry Rainbow, but I-GOTTA-GET-OUTTA-HERE!!!"

Pinkie hurried off as fast as her hooves could carry her, leaving Rainbow Dash alone with the note and her dread and disappointment. A Whopper? She couldn't recall Pinkie ever having something like that from her Pinkie Sense. The Doozy, sure, but never something called a Whopper! Even so, she was really disappointed that Pinkie wasn't going to help her with her prank, but then she looked at the note Pinkie had left her.

"From Midnight, huh..." Rainbow unfolded the note and read:

Dear Rainbow Dash

If you're reading this note, it means Pinkie Pie failed to convince you to ease up on the pranks. Therefore, you leave me no choice but to challenge you... to a Prank-Off! You have until sunset to pull a successful prank on me, the Prank Master! Succeed and I will relinquish my title to you and never get in the way of your pranks again.

However, if you fail, you will stop pulling pranks and will be forbidden to pull pranks for an entire year!

If you don't think you're up to it, simply stop the pranks and we'll call it even. You'll still be permitted to pull pranks every once in a while but you'll have to make sure they are pranks that everypony involved can enjoy and laugh at and that there are no hard feelings. But considering your ego, I am all but certain you'll take up my challenge.

In which case, I honestly and truly wish you the best of luck, because your pitiful attempts to prank me will only lead to your own humiliation.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Yours truly,
Midnight Blaze

P.S.

Look up

!!!

Rainbow Dash quickly zoomed to her left in order to avoid the perceived prank from above-

*SPLUT*

...only to find herself covered in something mushy, cool... and delicious? Licking whatever it was she'd flown into, she realized it was, "Banana cream?!"

"Hey, is there a kitten nearby?" Rainbow wriggled free from what was apparently a giant pie set up vertical, and there stood Midnight, having a good laugh before he smirked and softly said,"Because Rainbow Dash just got prrrranked, hahaha. Gotcha!"

"RRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH, MIDNIGHT!!!" Rainbow Dash shook herself like a dog to get off as much of the banana cream pie filling and whip creme as she could before she glared such a stink eye at the sapphire stallion.
"IT - IS- ON!!!"

"Sure, sure, whatever, Dashie," Midnight chuckled with a sympathetic shake of his head as he turned to leave, "Talk to you at sunset... when you lose! HA!!"

Watching the precocious prince amble away all casual-like, Rainbow gritted her teeth, "You... are going down, Blaze."

"28 Pranks Later" is going to turn out a bit scarier than it was in the actual episode...

*cue diabolical laughter, booming thunder, and flash of lightning*