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.
Revenge's Best Served Colourful
Pinkie Pie awoke with a loud yawn and stretched out her front legs. Today was going to be a great day, her Pinkie Sense was telling her so. She rose from her bed to find Gummy asleep on the covers. She smiled as she gently picked up her pet alligator and suddenly embraced him, the poor critter waking up to be smothered in Pinkie-style affection and candyfloss mane.
“Good morning, Gummy,” Pinkie said as the alligator bit on her mane, “We have a busy day ahead of ourselves.”
She reached into her mane and pulled out a to-do list from within its depth.
“We have three cutie mark parties to plan, five birthdays and a whole lot of baking on our hooves down at the bakery! Isn’t that great!”
Gummy, as usual, didn’t reply. He was too busy munching her his owner’s mane to simply care. Pinkie let Gummy go where he found a loose balloon to be an alternative chew toy.
Pinked jumped out of bed and headed over to her bathroom. She was going to jump her way into the shower when she froze mid-jump at the mirror. She landed in reverse onto the tiled bathroom floor and her head turned slowly at the sight of her reflection. Her very colourful reflection. She ran towards the mirror to get a proper look at her new mane colour.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, along with her signature pink, now was the new look of her usual bubbly mane. It looked like Mayor Mare’s wig during Twilight’s first Nightmare Night in Ponyville. She could easily qualify as a circus or rodeo clown down in Appleloosa.
Her mouth, literally, dropped to the floor with a thud. Gummy just licked an eye with his tongue.
Pinkie’s own eyes began to bulge out of their sockets and she reached out to see if she wasn’t dreaming.
When everything dawned on the party pony that this was her mane and not a wig that was stuck onto her, she gasped and screamed.
It was early morning down at Sweet Apple Acres and the Apple Family were digging into some pancakes, ready for another hard day of harvesting. Applebloom was helping herself to a large drizzling of maple syrup.
Applejack was about to take a bite out of her fork of pancakes when an almighty scream rattled through the kitchen. The family was quick to grab their plates and morning apple juices, tea and coffee cups as the table shook from the sound.
It took several long, agonising seconds for the scream of terror to fade and calm was restored to the family’s kitchen.
“What was that?” Applebloom turned to her older sister.
Applejack thought long and hard before she got it.
“Revenge has been exacted upon today, Sugarcube,” Applejack smirked.
This only earned her three confused faces around the breakfast table.
Pinkie Pie zoomed out of Sugarcube Corner, startling the Cakes having their breakfast as she rushed towards a certain floating cloud house.
“Was it me, dearie, but did Pinkie Pie have a clown’s wig on her head?” Mrs Cake asked her husband.
“Maybe her next party theme is the circus,” Mr Cake shrugged.
Pinkie Pie didn’t pay attention as she raced towards the outskirts of Ponyville, the house of her target floating in the distance.
She stopped at the base of the cloud house and threw an angry fist in the air.
“Rainbow Dash, I know you’re in there!” She shouted as loud as her pipes would allow her.
From the top of the house where the mare of her fury would usually nap, a pink head poked out. She had an innocent face, but Pinkie knew that this was her signature poker face when she tried to hide something she did. Pinkie can read every pony like an open book because she knew everypony in Ponyville.
“Coming,” Rainbow said calmly before gently gliding down to great her prank sidekick. She looked up at Pinkie’s new mane and pretended to gasp in shock.
“Geez, Pinks. What happened to your mane? Did you do It yourself or did some pony sneakily come into the night and did the job for you?”
Rainbow acted innocent enough, but Pinkie wasn’t having any of it.
“Very funny, Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie said through gritted teeth, “I mean, look at me! I didn’t plan on a circus-themed party! Ponies around town will now think that I am you!”
“Yes…” The corners of Rainbow’s mouth lifted upwards.
“My pink coat totally clashes with my new name! Rarity would have a fit about the combination of colours before her eyes. She would get her fainting couch out in sheer horror!”
“Totally.”
“I feel like this is going to be such a long, hard day for me-“
“Go on.”
“And that I feel like a complete… oh.”
“Now you get it,” Rainbow flew upwards and crossed her forelegs. She didn’t expect Pinkie to jump up to her and hold her in one of her infamous bone-crushing hugs.
“Oh, Dashie! I’m, so, so, sorry! I didn’t know that my idea of a prank, and we’re pranking buddies. Team buddies should always consider how the others would feel. Could you ever forgive me!” She then let the waterworks flood out of her eyes, her downpour of tears creating a puddle around them. Rainbow Dash struggled in her pink friend’s embrace.
“Let…me…go… and I’ll call it even…” She struggled to say the sentence. Pinkie realised that Rainbow’s pink face was turning a deeper blue than her normal coat colour and she quickly let her go. Rainbow struggled to breathe for a second, coughing and stretching her wings to get the circulation through her muscles going again.
“Don’t sweat it, Pinkie,” Rainbow comforted her pranking sidekick, “Pranking buddies forever?” She got out a hoof to her.
“Pranking buddies that will always stick together!” Pinkie shook her hoof vigorously. The two looked at each other, one in pink and another with a rainbow mane, admiring each other's efforts during their prank-off.
It was then that Pinkie got that famous spark in her eyes. It was the spark of a mischievous idea.
“Say, Rainbow?” She said to her prankster pegasus friend, “Do you have any light-blue dye with you?”
Rainbow blinked before nodding. She flew up and reached in through a window and dropped a bottle of cyan blue dye to her. Pinkie then asked for the other colours of the rainbow. Rainbow, not sure what she was planning but was still intrigued by her idea, also dropped the box of dyes to her.
“Okay, wait right here!” She then dashed behind a nearby tree and Rainbow could hear the sound of bottled uncapping and dye being poured out. It was then that Pinkie emerged and Rainbow gaped at the sight in front of her.
Standing in front of her, was herself. A smiling, bubbly-maned version of herself. Pinkie’s tail had also been given the same treatment as her mane. Pinkie even managed to pull out a pair of fake blue wings.
“Where’d you get the wings?” Rainbow pointed to them.
“I have fake wings stashed all over Ponyville, in case of fake wing emergencies.”
Rainbow didn’t even bother asking more questions from that.
Pinkie Then reached into her mane and pulled out pieces of blue and pink paper and colouring pens. It was then Rainbow got what Pinkie was planning.
“Nice one, Pinkie!” Rainbow giggled in mid-flight, “By the end of the week, no pony will know which one of us is the real Rainbow and Pinkie Pie.”
Pinkie giggled with equal amounts of excitement as she draw hers and Rainbow’s cutie mark on the corrected pieces of paper. She got some tape and stuck the correct cutie mark to her flank. Rainbow did the same to her flank.
“Now come on, my pranking buddy!” Pinkie skipped down the dirt path, “We only have a week until the dye fades away. Ready to make the town pull their manes out!”
Rainbow giggled in anticipation of what they were going to do to the citizens of Ponyville.
“I thought you’ll never ask!”
The two of them giggled in enthusiasm as they made their way towards the town for a week of confusion with the residents.
Author's Note
So many wanted to see where this would go. I wanted it to be episode-like with a nice cute ending and a ton of laughter at the end, so this is what I went with. 
It's shorter since it's the best I can come up with... 
Hope you all like it 
You can thank superfun Twilight_Shimmer Eris Dis Harmonia
Wolfram-And-Hart and Dusk Star Shine for getting me back to my keyboards and brainstorming an idea for this second chapter
