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What? You think there is such a thing as overthinking MyLittlePony?

WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic has a surprisingly large amount of material to give you second thoughts. So much we actually need three pages for it.

'''[[Fridge/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicFridgeHorror Fridge Horror]]'''

'''[[Fridge/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicFridgeBrilliance Fridge Brilliance]]'''

'''[[Fridge/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicFridgeLogic Fridge Logic]]'''

'''[[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicFridgeHorror Fridge Horror]]'''

'''[[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicFridgeBrilliance Fridge Brilliance]]'''

'''[[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicFridgeLogic Fridge Logic]]'''

WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic has a surprisingly large amount of material to give you second thoughts.

'''[[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicFridgeHorror FridgeHorror]]'''

'''[[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicFridgeBrilliance FridgeBrilliance]]'''

'''[[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicFridgeLogic FridgeLogic]]'''

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!!'''FridgeHorror:'''

[[folder:Fridge Horror - General]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. The land of Equestria is idyllic and innocent, right? Sure, unless you count Applejack's unhealthy obsession with work, Rainbow Dash's performance anxiety, Fluttershy's (albeit generally well-managed) [[BewareTheNiceOnes anger issues]], and Rarity's manipulative tendencies. And don't even get started on Pinkie Pie, who has a phobia of rejection and bipolar disorder so severe it could arguably turn into dissociative identity disorder if she [[AxCrazy snapped harder than she already has]]. Twilight wasn't joking: all the ponies in that town really ''are'' crazy.
** Pinkie Pie's also a bit of a fridge TearJerker: It's likely that she doesn't constantly throw parties just because she likes them. It's because she knows everyone ''else'' likes them, and it's the only way she knows to be sociable on a normal level. The GenkiGirl randomness that she's known for is too much for most folks, who've probably actively avoided her for it in the past. But if she throws a party, suddenly everyone likes her, and she clings to that. So it's parties forever, and nothing else. Because if she stops, she stops being "That eccentric girl who throws awesome parties all the time" and reverts to "That annoying girl who talks too quickly about things that don't make sense." And then she's all alone. Again.
** In the season 2 episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E3LessonZero Lesson Zero]]", Twilight's [[SanitySlippage behavior]] in the episode becomes all the more horrifying given the fact that the previous episode had them dealing with Discord. Maybe his MindRape of the ponies had some lasting effects...
* After Luna was transformed into Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia used the elements of harmony to seal her away in the moon for a full millennium. Now, despite all the sad fanart depicting Luna stranded on a rock in the sky, it was Nightmare Moon that was stuck up there. However, [[WordOfGod Word of Faust]] says that Luna and Nigtmare Moon were entirely separate entities. It could be interpreted that it was simply [[PuppeteerParasite using Luna's form and powers as a host for its own intent]]. Think about that. Celestia locked away a monster, sure, but somewhere inside that monster was her baby sister. Confused, frightened, being leeched from and likely abused by [[EldritchAbomination a manifestation of pure emotional entropy]]. And she was left like this for a thousand years [[AndIMustScream with absolutely nothing she could do about it.]]
** Even worse, she probably thinks all of it was punishment for what she did. And what she did was feel a little jealous. There's no way that girl doesn't wind up with a major GuiltComplex.
* The fact that Spike has a crush on Rarity, and is great friends with all of the other ponies is wonderful, until you realize that dragons have a much longer lifespan than the average pony. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are basically {{Physical God}}desses so they're exceptions, but eventually [[SoleSurvivor Spike will probably outlive all of his friends.]] The fact that he's already younger than them supports this theory even more. There's a story called ''Fanfic/{{Growing Up}}'' [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7441479/1/Growing_Up seen here]] that explains this perfectly. It's beautifully written, but be warned, as it's a massive TearJerker.
** Also keep in mind that Princess Celestia is a benevolent ruler who cares for all of her subjects. Now keep in mind how many of her people she's outlived after 1000 years and you realize why [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Princess Luna had a sad expression on her face when she recognized that Twilight had dressed up as]] [[PosthumousCharacter Star Swirl The Bearded.]]
* No one seems to notice that Spike was born into slavery.
** He's provided with food, shelter, family, guidance in life, etc. in exchange for doing chores. Sure he does a lot more than you would normally expect from a child, but as seen in Owls Well that Ends Well, he refuses to do less and reacts negatively to any attempts to prevent him from doing them, and he's never punished for failing to do them or for honest mistakes (he's admonished for lying, but even that's very mild). If he's being born into slavery, 90% of non-orphaned children are as well.
** Slavery: No. Although he does do far more work than other children his age (which is also ambiguous, he's definitely younger than the rest of the mane cast but seems to be older than the CMC) and doesn't appear to go to school (kinda weird) and we do see very little of what he actually likes to do in his downtime (when he gets some), a lot of this can be chalked up to "[[CaptainObvious Dragons are different from ponies.]]" They do seem to be fairly active creatures and may become irritable when idle.
*** Spike probably gets tutored by Twilight. Given how smart she is, he's probably ahead of the curve.
** There's no system of money in Equestria, and indeed no bartering really goes on either. Clearly it's a perfect communist society where everyone eats when they're hungry and has parties when they like and just generally take what they need/want when they need/want it. I imagine when someone takes much more than they need everypony sorts them out by talking to them. So basically everyone has their job, and does it, and gets fed and stuff. Twilight is a student, so she gets fed even though she doesn't have a particular job (she helps out whenever possible) like a child would be. So basically, no. Spike is an assistant and receives food and shelter and all the same rights as anyone else. If he ever felt overworked, he could talk it over with Twilight. The only difference is that he, as a dragon, was given a job from the get-go instead of going to school and discovering his talents... which makes sense since eventually he will depart from pony society as a full dragon so he was never going to work all his life anyway, it's more like working at a Burger King than a career.
*** But there is a system of money in Equestria. We see on-screen exchange of currency ("bits") and Applejacks whole reason for going to the Gala was to sell enough to get the money need to replace the family plow, fix up the barn, and get Granny Smith some hip surgery. Such a line of thinking wouldn't work in a communistic system. In the perfect communist society you speak of, Applejack should be able to just go ask for the things she needs. Equestrian economy seems to work on either a capitalistic system, or the old timey mercantile system (which would be fitting as the show seems to be aiming for a medieval/fantasy world feel). We don't see much in the way of money transactions or pay checks, because those aren't the point of the show (in-setting at least), friendship is the point of the show. As for why Spike seems to have been born into slavery, the show gives some evidence that dragons are considered animals in the MLP-world. Talking, intelligent animals, but animals none the less. Case-in-point, the first episode, Fluttershy, who is incredibly shy around ponies, becomes practically bubbling with excitement when she sees Spike. Also in Dragonshy, Twilight wanted to bring Fluttershy along to help with the dragon, when Fluttershy's talent is dealing with animals. So in the connotations of that, Spike isn't Twilight's slave, he's her familiar (she is a wizard after all).
*** The dragons are animals part is all but confirmed in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess Secret of My Excess]], where the doctor checking up on Spike states he only works on ponies, and dragons would need to be checked up on at the vet instead.
*** Eh, not really. The doc recommends the vet simply because he doesn't have experience with dragons more than anything else. Noteworthy that the vet didn't have any advice regarding Spike either.
*** That episode also makes it very clear that the ponies know very little about dragons. They've been treating Spike like a pony because that's how he acts, to them.
* With the way Pinkie Pie eats, had she been a real horse, she should have died several times already. Especially after eating the "baked bads".
** There actually is a fanfic in which Pinkie Pie gets diabetes. [[KillTheCutie And dies]].
*** AndThatsTerrible.
*** The fanfic is called ''Fanfic/{{Bittersweet}}''. [[SchmuckBait DO NOT]] read it unless you're willing to spiral into depression and spend the rest of your life acting like EdgarAllanPoe. Quoth the pony, "Nevermore!"
** Diabetes is the least of her problems: Horses have digestive systems that quite sensitive. They can only handle a bit of food in their stomachs at a time and it's extremely easy for a horse to overeat. They're also unable to vomit so if they eat something that doesn't agree with them, they cannot throw it up. Had she had the digestive system of a real horse, then she would have been in mortal danger from consuming the baked bads.
** I think the point is here is that she's not a normal horse, none of them are. This is a world where a bunch of ponies, two classes of which have wings and a magical horn respectively, live next to a forest that has a dragon, two bears made of stars, and a cocaktrice and there's a god empress pony who raises the sun and her sister who nearly shrouded the world in darkness that raises the moon, the ponies having stronger stomachs isn't really much of stretch.
** Normal horses also can't throw up. These ponies are as closely related to normal real-world horses are you are to a chimpanzee.
* Why do the Diamond Dogs have so many pony-sized harnesses for their carts lying around?
** They were wearing those same harnesses later in the episode, it seems they happen to fit.
*** I would imagine that they're adjustable. Harnesses usually are.
** So it's either they stole them and pony harnesses are the most common ones (though one has to ask why made of heavy metal) or yes, Rarity wasn't the first pony they kidnapped. And then consider the bones we saw in the tunnels.
*** That and in {{Real Life}} old horses are (supposedly) made into dog food when they can't work any more.
* We can see several times that Rarity uses glue in the construction of her dresses. Glue is made from horse hooves.
** Only some kinds of glue are made from hooves. The glue Rarity uses isn't one of those kinds.
*** It's probably made out of that insanely sticky sap the CMCs got into.
** Specifically, polyvinyl acetate replaced hoof glue for almost all applications before 1920. Since the ponies clearly have vinyl (just ask Vinyl Scratch), it fits the technology level nicely.
** Considering the number of ponies there are in ponyville, there's bound to be alot of hoof-clippings about, perhaps they collect them to recycle them into glue... [[{{Squick}} Which is really nasty]].
** Just ask Terry Pratchett, or any cultural historian. No matter how nasty something is, there is something willing to take it away and make money with it. (Just ask a tanner)
*** Or [[DirtyJobs Mike Rowe.]]
** If you've ever read the ingredients to frosting, you should know it contains gelatin, which is made from hides and bones of farm animals, such as cows, pigs, and HORSES. If you think about this for a while, the Apple Family and Pinkie Pie's sweets will sound a heck of a lot less appetizing...
*** There are vegan gelatin substitutes made from seaweed.
*** Or they use one of the multitude of recipes that don't contain geletin. Not all pre-packaged ingredients reflect what you'd use if you made it from scratch.
* Why the hell is Spike (a dragon) being raised by ponies? What happened to his parents? Don't dragons ''eat'' ponies (and almost anything else not tied down)?
** In "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", it's revealed that hatching a dragon egg is part of an entrance exam for a private unicorn school. Perhaps some dragons donate eggs. Or perhaps they don't guard their eggs or raise their young.
*** [[WordOfGod Word Of Faust]] is that her thoughts were that Celestia knew Twilight in specific was special or knew that it was about time for TheMessiah to appear, and put the egg test in place to identify the new Element of Magic. In her original concepts, Spike's egg was unique, and waited who-knows-how-long to get the necessary magic to hatch. (All of that is just her her original ideas, though, and is subject to change if the show actually says something else.)
** And the only other ponie's we've seen were a completely diffrent species than Spike, so it's possible the species of dragon Spike came from are alot nicer, if no less big.
** Also, [=FiM=] dragons eat gems.
** [[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess Season 2]] makes it clear that pony society doesn't know much about dragons. We weren't told what the point of Twilight's test was, but it seems highly unlikely that she was required to hatch the egg.
*** Spike eats pretty much anything, it's a safe bet wild dragons are carnivores when other food can't be found easily.
**** And considering Rarity managed to find 3 times her weight in gems in about 2 hours, plus the fact that the wild dragons we've seen have gigantic piles of gems lying around their caves, clearly gems are easier to get their hands on than any meat. They likely only eat meat if they're desperate or starving.
**** Or if the opportunity presents itself to them. All of the dragons we have seen in the show so far have have become ''very'' hostile toward potential violators of their hoards. All of the dragon stashes we've seen included items that ponies (and some animals, including other dragons) may find valuable in some aspect or another. At least twice, the show has established that yes, there are ponies that will raid the dragon's stash, given the opportunity. It is ''not'' stated that all of the ones to try it survive the attempt, leaving the implication that ponies becoming dragon snacks happens more often than a cartoon marketed to six-year-old girls could let on.
***** Which therefore becomes an Aesop about greed. However, the point remains that a dragon will not seek out or attempt to eat a pony nor any other sapient creature if said creature doesn't pose an immediate threat to it or its possessions. Given their tendency to roar to ward off attackers before attacking, it seems likely only the most extremely foolhardy and/or oblivious of pony's would stick around and try to get some of the dragons treasure. Spike was a fellow dragon - fireproof and with thick scales. Even despite his size, he was considered far more of an immediate threat, so the other dragon tried to kill him outright.
** My theory was that, at some point, there was a dragon attack somewhere, and a knight killed it. but it turns out that MonsterIsAMommy, and left a nest full of eggs. Celestia adopted the eggs and waited for them to hatch.
* What happened to Gummy's teeth?
** Pinkie fed him so many sweets that they eventually all fell out.
** I assumed Pinkie was wandering around until she found a young, toothless alligator (crocodile? I always have trouble telling the two apart.) She took him home as a pet, since he probably couldn't survive in the wild, having no teeth, possibly due to a birth defect.
** I assumed they were all removed soon after he was born so he couldn't hurt anyone, sort of like how you would de-scent a pet skunk.
** He's a baby alligator...
*** What happens when he grows up?
*** Alligator teeth replace themselves several times in the course of a lifetime, and they're normally born with teeth so Pinkie's concern may be justified.
*** Did you mean "lack of" concern?
** Didn't Pinkie imply somewhere that Gummy is congenitally toothless; that he has never had and probably will never have teeth?
* The whole cast having {{Sanity Slippage}}s throughout the series giving fridge horror as limitless possibilities.
* The stars themselves assisted in the escape of the most powerful villain of the series to date. This means that by either the will of the stars, or some other terrible will, a creature capable of plunging the world in eternal darkness was released. The stars, or something controlling, representing, or within the stars override the power of Celestia and the Elements of Harmony. The stars are alive, capable of judgement, more powerful than anything in Equestria. If Luna and Celestia are the gods of this world, the stars are the elder gods, and they do not want to be our friends.
** [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Even though her origin story implies that it's meant to represent her skill at magic]], [[EvillyAffable Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark is still a pattern of stars]].
** It's taken as fanon that the entire night sky is Luna's work. It's entirely possible that a few of the stars (the planets?) are empowered as her servitors. It's also conceivable that the stars didn't aid in her escape as co-conspirators, but as a power source; when the magic binding her weakened enough, Nightmare Moon was able to reach out to the night sky and reclaim some of the power she had used to populate it, and that power allowed her to shatter her prison.
** It could be just a sort of [[WhenThePlanetsAlign astrological night of power calendar thing]]. [[SealedEvilInACan Sealed evils in cans]] are always being released by stuff like that. And this was something that was predicted to happen at a specific time after a long time -- it doesn't really sound like intentional action.
** It also may be part of Trollestia's XanatosGambit: Arrange the stars to let Luna out after 1000 years when the evil possessing her will be weakened and can be defeated by 6 ponies who represent the Elements of Harmony...
** Also, note that once Nightmare Moon is defeated, as soon as Celestia's finished praising Twilight for her success, she goes straight to Luna to offer her forgiveness, affectionately calling her "little sister." This could support the theory that Celestia set a thousand-year time limit on purpose. It seems that Celestia didn't want to leave her sister locked away in the moon forever, but if she told everyone "Hey, Nightmare Moon is in prison for a while, but she'll be back and maybe reformed eventually," it might not go over so well. Making it seem unavoidable would also avoid upsetting everyone who wouldn't want Nightmare Moon back ever, and gives Celestia a chance to save her little sister. It might take a thousand years, but Celestia is immortal. She can wait.
** Celestia could have originally meant it to be forever but found out later, apparently by prophecy, that after 1000 years the prison would break and a the Elements might be used to save Luna. It doesn't have to have been a plan from the start; but once she knows there's a chance, she has centuries to set things up and ''create'' a gambit.
* Luna's rebellion was driven by bitterness that the ponies of Equestria did not appreciate the night she brought and more generally ignored her and took her for granted. Her complaint was with her subjects, ''not'' her sister. Celestia probably understood why her sister was upset and sympathized with her complaint; she probably agreed that their subjects were taking Luna for granted. And yet, Celestia still had her duty: she had to make war upon her own sister on behalf of their subjects, their ungrateful, selfish subjects. Is it any wonder that Celestia become [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask The Mare Wearing The Princessly Mask]] afterward?
** Her rebellion was driven by possesion by an evil otherworldy force. Thats the WordOfGod.
*** First, it's not canonical until it actually appears ''in the show''. Second, it's irrelevant: Luna was still driven by bitterness at being taken for granted by her subjects. She never could have been possessed, if indeed she was, without that.
**** It is canonical that evil magic was involved. Luna mentioned dark powers being removed in Luna Eclipsed (and being happy about it). Though it's unclear whether it was a possessing force like a lot of the fandom seems to think, or something more along the lines of forbidden magic that corrupted Luna's thinking while giving her power beyond her imagining. Looking at the transcript for the episode, it would appear to be the second case, as Luna mentions taking away her dark powers, not removing an evil presence from her or something of that nature. Though that just further invalidates the excuse for Luna's Rebellion. If Luna hadn't tapped into that power she wouldn't have gone as crazy as she did.
* Picking {{Bridesmaids}} to spoof for that well-known billboard is not that random of a choice - both are based on obviously girly premises but turn out to be something quite different once you've sat down and watched them.
* You know, the mortal antagonists have done less to endanger people and property than the heroes and their neighbors. Trixie basically was trying to silence the only people dissatisfied with her performance, Gilda was a bitch and shouted at Fluttershy loud enough to make her cry (amongst other things), Prince Blueblood treated Rarity either like crap, and the Diamond Dogs kidnapped a pony and tried to force her into slavery (yes, this is a horrible thing), and Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara picked on the Blank Flanks. But compare to the Ponyvillians and Cloudsdaleans: Snips and Snails brought in a giant star bear which almost destroyed the town and in fact did destroy Trixie's home, Rainbow Dash almost ''killed'' Fluttershy, Twilight enslaved the minds of most of the town over her doll, Rarity was having her own expectations of her date thrown into her face, Fluttershy and Twilight ''did'' destroy the town by harboring the Parasprites and magically altering them, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie helped exacerbate an already tense situation into an all-out war in Appleloosa, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders released the most powerful danger to the realm.
** There again, it's rather easy to stop an antagonist which is openly trying to cause harm, seeing as how Celestia can pop up anytime and punish them as she likes. The only threat to her had to be defeated with the Elements of Harmony, the rest are irrelevant as they likely cannot cause irreversible damage before being discovered. That's one of the downsides of having a god-tier character watching over the protagonists, whom can then cause havoc as they pleases; they can prove time and time again that their intentions weren't to cause harm. We may see some unique scenarios in time, but right now it appears Celestia would have to be taken down a notch in order for 'true' mortal antagonists to appear.
* The creators seem to take innocent looking plots (Lesson Zero, Cutie Pox) and turn them into tales of horror stories...
** Speaking of, further Fridge Horror can go into the amount of AccidentalNightmareFuel entries - how many for Season 1? 8/26. How many for Season 2 so far? 6/6. ''Every single Season 2'' episode so far as had quite a bit of NightmareFuel already, far surpassing that of Season 1. ''How far is it going to go?!''
*** The first two episodes were probably supposed to be scary. The third was intended to be funny, but they went overboard. The fourth was a Hallowe'en special (so what did you expect other than nightmare fuel). The fifth had NightmareFuel caused by almost nothing other than FridgeHorror. The sixth was almost the same way, though the concept of cutie pox is admittedly somewhat frightening even right off the bat. So ''technically'' it would be more like 4/6 episodes are scary, unless you're like us Internet freaks that overthink everything. (And don't worry about this continuing anyway; I highly doubt the next episode can be scary, considering the plot. But only time will tell...)
**** Wish granted: The Sisterhooves Social, a cute, friendly story about siblings fighting, then making up, as well as further proof that Sweetie Belle is a little...slow...
**** "The Cutie Pox" could be counted as 5/6 if you take the whole StoryOftheBlanks similarities and potential death by exhaustion or dangerous cutie marks into account. But even if you don't count it, you could still say that Season 2 has half as many episodes of Nightmare Fuel so far as Season 1 did, and the Season is only a forth of the way over. As for overthinking everything, we're tropers, it's a natural thing.
***** Okay, I'll give you that; season 2 is definitely scarier than season 1. But keep in mind season 1 was the [[CaptainObvious first]] [[ShapedLikeItself season]], so they likely didn't want to make it seem super-freaky right off the bat. I know that's not making this any less scary, but I'm trying to justify it; [[IronicEcho I'm a troper, it's a natural thing.]]
* Some viewers may remember episodes such as ''Party Of One'' and ''Lesson Zero'' where Pinkie Pie and Twilight respectively went rather insane. Rainbow Dash seemed just on the verge of that kind of craziness while trying to get attention in ''The Mysterious Mare Do Well''. Who knows what could've happened if that went any further? We've seen the kind of destruction she's capable of, and an insane Dash would make the constant problems around Ponyville this episode pale in comparison.
** She can punch through walls and bite through rafters, run so fast it sets the ground on fire, create lightning storms and tornadoes, and nuke entire buildings off the map. And as far as she's concerned at that moment, her life would go back to being great if only the Mare Do Well would disappear. This is just begging to be made into a DarkFic.
* Um, where does Rarity get her ''cat food''?! Ponies are vegetarian, they should have no business making cat food. And AJ with dog food, for that matter. And Pinkie Pie for Gummy? Although, Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie, so questioning that is probably a bad idea. But for the others - I know vegan pet foods exist, but other than that, I can't think of how this works.
** I imagine the ponies in the show are vegetarian out of necessity, horses in real life don't need to eat meat. Furthermore, a lot of real life vegetarians don't oppose meat in food for their pets, they acknowledge that certain animals have different nutritional needs and HAVE to eat meat.
* Season 1 opened up with Nightmare Moon, who wanted to shroud the world with darkness. Season 2 introduced us to Discord, a [[MindRape mind rapist]] who takes away the ponies powers, brainwashes them, and does all kinds of horrifying stuff [[ForTheEvulz gleefully]]. What kind of CompleteMonster could Season ''3'' give us?!
* The whole "Spike loves Rarity" subplot is kind of weird, and not just because he's a baby (although seeing how he matures by hoarding, there's probably some funky genetic loophole going on there). There's been griffins on the show, sure, but how exactly would a canon dragon-pony relationship work out? Could they have children? Then it hit me: We've ''seen'' a dragon/equine hybrid already. A dracon-equus: ''Discord''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fridge Horror - Season One]]
* In part two of the pilot, Nightmare Moon conjures up three pegasi who are essentially [[EvilCounterpart dark versions]] of Rainbow Dash's heroes, the Wonderbolts. They offer to let her join them, and ''is'' tempted, but refuses. Now, one has to wonder...since they were merely conjurings by Nightmare Moon, ''what would have become of Rainbow Dash had she accepted?''
** Say hello to Shadow Dash, formerly Rainbow Dash, TheDragon to Nightmare Moon. Spike is the new Rainbow Dash.
* A bit of meta-FridgeHorror: There is an episode where [[NobleSavage bison]] don't want to share their land with the ponies. Cue FantasticRacism on the part of both. Except when one considers the obvious interpretation of the BrokenAesop, this almost sounds like a HannibalLecture.
* After Twilight alters parasprites' behavior with her magic, they quit eating food and start eating everything else - they even go after Rainbow Dash. Of course she got away unharmed, but if parasprites tried attacking this one particular pony, it is obvious they would hunt other ponies as well even if we didn't see it onscreen, and we can't tell if everyone was as lucky as Rainbow. Who knows what the death toll in Ponyville was after invasion...
** Zero?
** They didn't attack her after Twilight's spell--- they did it before. And then they only clung to/crawled all over her, freaking her out. In one scene you can see a parasprite seemingly attacking a pony, but if you look again it's only gnawing at her skirt. The only thing they ate after the spell was inanimate objects.
*** Which brings an additional layer of horror to the outbreak in Fillydelphia. Twilight's first spell was "don't eat the food", and Celestia turned up shortly afterwards to fix things. The obvious second spell is "don't eat inanimate objects"...
*** Eh, I think it's more likely that Celestia would cast a second spell of "Don't eat" or "Don't eat anything".
*** The ones who attacked Fillydelphia were probably outside the range of Twilight's spell when she cast it. Also, Celestia is probably experienced enough not to make the same mistake Twilight did.
** Another fallout from Twilight's spell - now there's two strains of parasprite out there, able to devour all food and all inanimate objects, all it takes is another unicorn that's read up on the Ponyville incident to flip the 'don't eat inanimate objects' switch in strain II, which already has the 'don't eat food' switch flipped, and [[ApocalypseHow buh-bye everything.]]
*** The spell shouldn't have been permanent.
** The parasprites stop eating food because of Twilight's LiteralGenie spell to "stop eating food", but even though they eat ''everything'' inanimate, they still don't eat ponies. Does that mean that before the spell, ponies would have been next once the food supplies ran out?
*** No it means that [[FridgeHorror ponies ARE already a food source]]. Probably to some kind of Dragon or other beast.
**** If we pull in a mythology reference, then gryphons will eat ponies.
* In "Stare Master", when Fluttershy is chasing the girls chasing her escaped chicken through the Everfree Forest (which most of the ponies generally avoid if they can help it) they run across Twilight Sparkle [[TakenForGranite after her encounter with a cockatrice]]. The FridgeHorror kicks in when you realize that Twilight may have been there a very, very long time if Fluttershy's chicken hadn't escaped.
** She seems to have been in the middle of a main road, such as it is in the forest. Anyone going to or from Zecora's should have run across her.
*** Not that anyone but her and Zecora go to or from Zecora's house with any regularity. The rest of them are scared stiff of the forest that gets along fine without pony intervention.
*** Point being, she told people where she was going.
*** Zecora comes into town monthly to shop.
*** And Apple Bloom at least seems to visit her from time to time as well.
* In "Bridle Gossip", due to Rainbow Dash's flower-induced inability to fly straight, Spike calls her "Rainbow Crash". Later in the series, we learn that this was the cruel nickname she was saddled with by a group of pegasus bullies when she dropped out of flight school. Nice going, [[JerkAss Spike]].
** How was he supposed to know?
** Also a slight source of FridgeBrilliance; watch the scene again. Rainbow is the only one to actually look [[DeathGlare angry]] while the others just look annoyed.
** Now think of this, Applejack got shrunk down to the size of a rat. Not that bad but later on Apple Bloom takes Applejack and leaves her on a branch. In the middle of the evergreen forest also known as the place with giant hydras, timberwolves who hunt ponies, cockatrice, and who knows what else. To make it worse no one knew that Applejack was out on that branch and she could never really get down. Now imagine if no one noticed she was gone.
* In Over a Barrel, when Applejack mentions that the trees are on the only flat land around, the view cuts to a scene of the desert, complete with a staple of any cartoon desert scene: the buffalo skull in the foreground. Of course, in Equestria the buffalo are intelligent beings....
** All it would have taken for the buffalo to plausibly invent [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial sky burial]] would be one pragmatic buffalo (perhaps with something like Fluttershy's ability to talk to animals) to realize how much biomass is IN a buffalo. Vultures gotta eat too you know? Unnerving to someone not from that culture? Yes. Horrifying? Perhaps not so much.
* From the Aesop of "Suited for Success": "In other words, you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth." So slavery is legal in Equestria?
** I believe it was just a self-aware joke.
** Or for an in-world explanation, it could simply be an archaic expression that persists even after the original context was abolished, like "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's".
** "Lesson Zero" gives a possible in-world justification with the Smarty Pants doll: perhaps the "horse" in the phrase would refer to a statuette or a doll given as a gift.
* In "Boast Busters", look carefully at the Ursa Major and Minor. They're made of stars. This is clearly a little [[GeniusBonus astronomy joke]], given both are actual constellations, but they're ''[[EldritchAbomination made of stars]]''.
** [[TwoThousandOne My god... they're full of stars...!]]
** Just had a bit of an epiphany in combining these insights: Everfree Forest runs naturally which as Applejack says "just ain't natural!" Add to that the fact that Celestia and Luna are the immortal regents that guide and control the heavens, and that Luna has been AWOL for a thousand years and what do we get? The literal stars themselves having gone feral and natural, just like the Forest that is home to the Ursas. Compounded by the fact that the Forest was probably much more like Whitetail Wood when the sisters lived in the castle where Nightmare Moon is faced, so we have precedence of the shaped world reverting in their absence.
*** The show never states that Luna controlled the stars. Her raising the moon brought forth the night. So the stars in MLP are possibly creatures/beings in their own right. Luna probably has little to no control over the stars or the star beasts (assuming the two are not one in the same) Though I guess an arguement could be made that Luna would be to the star beasts like Fluttershy is to regular critters. Which going on that logic, it makes sense that some stars helped Nightmare Moon escape. They missed their friend.
**** The sun is basically a star, but if Celestia is only able to control that one star, perhaps her power is not as limitless as we imagine. Still, perhaps Celestia might have some sway over star beasts.
**** The sun may not actually ''be'' a star in this setting, though. While the series does drop the occasional accurate real life astronomical fact (Orion's belt having three stars, the nature of comets as it's understood today), the fact that day and night do in fact go out of whack without the royal sisters suggests that not everything works according to ''our'' rules after all.
* In "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" Fluttershy falls out of the sky in full view of a large crowd and no one tries to save her. Does Cloudsdale have some kind of Sparta-like eugenics policy for pegasi who are weak fliers?
** [[GodEmperor Princess]] [[EvilOverlord Celestia]] probably set it up to breed an unstoppable air force.
** Or the people of Cloudsdale figured Fluttershy could fly her way out when the shock wore off. Odds are most spectators probably didin't know Fluttershy couldn't fly and the only ones who knew for sure were in the middle of a race. Still counts as FridgeHorror, because if those butterflies hadn't been there Fluttershy probably wouldn't have survived the impact. "sniff"
*** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect Bystander Effect]].
** It's possible the butterflies are there just to make sure a stray Pegasus won't be hurt.
*** If the G3 cartoons are any indication, apparently one of the magic powers of the pegasi is summoning a swarm of butterflies to carry other ponies around. Fluttershy may have saved herself by commanding those butterflies to be there without even realizing it.
**** That means that clouds of butterflies are able to support the weight of and absorb the kinetic energy of a filly falling from a great height.
***** The butterflies were made out of Dark Matter!
** If we look at Rainbow Dash, you can see that she's pretty durable, being able to fly faster than the speed of sound without liquefying all her organs. My guess is pegasi are made of heartier stuff than other ponies, and are able to withstand such falls. Fluttershy might have gotten a bit banged up, but the fall probably wouldn't have killed her.
*** [[MadeOfIron Twilight]] [[MagicalGirl Sparkle]] got an [[DisasterDominoes anvil, a hay cart and]] '''[[BeyondTheImpossible a piano]]''' dropped on her head. These ponies are rather tough. It's not much of a stretch to say Fluttershy could easily survive a fall and only suffer a few bruises or broken bones.
*** Considering what's stated above about how much punishment these ponies can take, one has to wonder [[HalftheManHeUsedtoBe what could injure Big Macintosh]] badly enough to put him on the bench for all of Applebuck Season.
**** Wearing Granny Smith's corset, as referenced in a previous episode.
**** actually it could be simpler than that; clouds are made out of water vapour (well, sort of) and Pegasi can stand on clouds, ergo maybe pegasi find air with water vapour in it slightly denser than other things in Equestria do as part of their cloud walking abilities. This would mean that Fluttershy's terminal velocity would have been much lower, and indeed would have steadily decreased as she fell from the lower stratosphere into the troposphere due to the increase in atmospheric density and moisture content, until she was moving slowly enough and was gaining enough support from the relatively moist air near tree top level that ten million butterflies could have stopped her and supported her weight. As a [[FridgeBrilliance side note]] this would also explain why pegasi can obtain enough impulse to not only fly but perform aerobatics that on earth are incredibly energy intensive for flight capable animals (such as hovering and breaking the sound barrier) with incredibly shallow and gentle flaps of their stubby little wings. This of course would also imply that for Rarity's life to be in danger during Sonic Rainboom then not only would she have had to have had her giant wings burnt off, but whatever did that would also have had to undo the magic allowing her the cloud walking, which is odd when you think about it because the only things that could do that would be the two enchantments being linked so that when the wings burned they took the cloud-walking ability with them, Twilight Sparkle cancelling it, [[FridgeHorror or <ERROR 276: full entry could not be posted due to the troper being banished to the moon>]]
***** FridgeBrilliance: "I looked up a simpler spell that would allow ''the rest of us'' to walk on clouds." Rarity doesn't ''have'' the cloud-walking spell. That's why she's always flying.
****** Except when she ''stands on clouds'' to admire her reflection in a window. It's gotta be the wings.
***** That's what I thought...
***** Well, notice that after being rescued by Rainbow Dash, Rarity spends the rest of the episode either being held up by pegasi or in the basket of the balloon. I took that as evidence that the cloud-walking was tied to the wings.
* When Pinkie interrogates Spike in "Party of One", it's implied that [[spoiler:he only told Pinkie that her friends don't like her parties and that they don't want to be her friends anymore because she told him to say so]]--''implied'', but never actually stated. Meaning that '''he could've been correct.'''
** Furthermore, what's going to happen the next time Pinkie Pie decides she wants two parties in a row, maybe even more? What if her friends really ''did'' make excuses, and with good reason? Is she going to go completely out of her mind again?
*** No, she's not. At the end of the episode, Pinkie realizes that just because her friends aren't always there to party with her doesn't mean they're not her friends anymore. Interestingly enough, it seems even [[GenkiGirl Genki Pony]] extraordinaire Pinkie Pie can get exhausted (at the beginning of the episode "Party Of One" where she does an elaborate song-and-dance to each of her five friends, just to invite them to her pet Gummy's first birthday.)
*** Except that wasn't the lesson at all. The aesop was "expect the best from your friends" and don't jump to conclusions. Pinkie got her party, and even got one for Gummy, but she has some very real issues that aren't being resolved.
**** Except that ''was'' the lesson: expect the best from your friends, and don't jump to conclusions[[hottip:*:(and also that evidence acquired by extraordinary methods is not reliable)]]. And Pinkie learned it: her contrite "How could I have ever doubted you?" shows that. She'll handle things better next time. Not that something ''else'' might not send her off the deep end.
*** You're forgetting that Pinkie didn't go out of her mind because they didn't want to come to her party. She did because she believed that they don't want to be her friends anymore. Remember that she was pretty okay when they gave her excuses for not coming, but when it turned out they were ''all'' busy at the same time she started suspecting something, and seeing how they all tried to avoid contact with her at all cost (even though they had good intentions) didn't help. [[PoorCommunicationKills The unfortunate interrogation]] was the nail to the coffin that caused Pinkie to believe that her friends really don't like her anymore, and that was when she snapped.
** It seems to me that if her friends didn't want to go to one of her parties because she was throwing them too frequently or what-have-you, they would simply tell her the truth: "Pinkie, we love you, but too much of anything is too much. You just threw a party yesterday. We're not up for another one right away. This doesn't mean we're not your friends or that we don't love you." They only lied because they needed to keep the surprise party they were throwing for her a secret.
** On a side note: Applejack's terrible attempt at pulling the wool over Pinkie's eyes pushed her strongly towards freaking out, when it'd have worked much better to pull the reliable old "You just have to trust me," as we see with her earning Honesty in the first place. With Applejack not quite living up to her element in Party of One, the stability of Pinkie Pie's mental Harmony and Friendship naturally wavers. Asking for trust doesn't really give away anything of a suprise party, especially considering how uncomfortable Applejack was with the lie to begin with.
** This is all moot as it assumes Pinkie held Gummy's after birthday party the very next day. The transition makes it appear that way, but if you notice the clues, it reveals it actually took place more like a week after the party.
*** I give. What clues reveal that the after-party was about a week later?
** Whether or not the party was held the day after or later, there's an element of fridge brilliance in the fact that Gummy's birthday and Pinkie's birthday coincide so closely. GUMMY WAS A BIRTHDAY PRESENT! He was given to Pinkie at her last birthday, either the day or week after he was born, depending the gap in the point above. It's fantastically easy to imagine that Pinkie became so attached to Gummy that she went way ahead and marked his birthday on the calendar, and once she realized it was coming up she completely forget about her birthday altogether.
*** Excellent deductive reasoning, that hadn't even crossed my mind.
*** I loved the realisation of those implications. For a while I wondered why Pinkie's birthday was (presumably) a day after Gummi's, then the penny dropped.
* As someone said on ponibooru, ''Party Of One'' suggests Pinkie's codependent with her friends and needs their love and attention... to the point that her parties are almost like attempts at validation. "People love me! Because they come to my parties! PLEASE, PLEASE come to my parties!"
** On the same note it's the same surprise party set up in just about every show, the victim usually feel like their friends have abadoned them in every case, when you take into account Pinkies past as a dirt farmer, and then Spike outright confirming her fears she's suddenly back on the dirt farm. Now remember ponies get their cutie marks by finding out what they are going to do with the REST OF THEIR LIVES and in this case Pinkie was essentially told "yeah your life long reason for being, it's a lie." Imagine if you were told that the path you had traveled your entire life and that you had invested all your skill in was wrong. Imagine if Twilight had been after coming to Ponyville "sorry but your magic, it's worthless" or AppleJack was told, "sorry no one likes apples any more, find a new fruit to hock." Or Rarity was told...oh wait we had that "sorry your fashion sucks" episode, so she can probably relate, and Fluttershy had the one with the animals fleeing from her. For Dash I think it would have to be something like the Wonderbolts saying "you 100 years to early to join us kid, go home."
*** Well, that exactly what happened in Sonic Rainboom - she was about to fail spectacularly at her best chance to be noticed and the fear completely paralyzed her.
*** During "Winter Wrap Up", Twilight's breaking down crying and running away after Applejack scolded her for using her magic further validates this theory.
** Possibly more telling is her offer to have Twilight stay late at the end of that party. It suggests that she's afraid to be alone, as if her friends will vanish if she doesn't keep them in sight. ...and now I want to give her a hug.
*** The same happens earlier the first time Rainbow Dash opts to spend time with Gilda and leave Pinkie in "Griffon the Brush Off". It's heartbreaking to see how sad she becomes and how badly she needs her friends.
* For anyone denouncing Princess Celestia as a thoughtless {{Troll}} for setting the mane cast loose on the Grand Galloping Gala, consider that she has had to attend the same boring, stuffy, dreadful ball gala with the same breed of arrogant, supercilious aristocrats... '''[[AndIMustScream FOR TEN CENTURIES]]'''.
** Perhaps back at the first Gala, she really did enjoy it, like the more upper-class ponies that attended. However, it's implied that the Gala is ''incredibly'' exclusive (to the point where Twilight, Celestia's most treasured student and personal apprentice, apparently had never been invited before...Fridge Logic of its own?). Therefore, the "mortal" ponies who rarely experience the Gala greatly enjoyed it in the same way Celestia used to. However, as Celestia has had to attend every single one for 1000 years, it has grown stale. She's gotten bored with it due to familiarity.
*** Who says she was never invited? Remember what she was like before Ponyville? She probably tossed the invitation and spent the night studying. For that matter, she might have attended a few before -- she's excited because she'll get to spend quality time with Celestia again after being away for a year, not because she's going to the Gala itself. In "Ticket Master", she's blasé enough to give away her own ticket.
**** Not blasé, just trying to figure out a way out of what was building up to be a real bind for her. Otherwise the above makes a fair amount of sense.
*** Perhaps she never invited Twilight before because she didn't want to inflict such an awful experience on her faithful student, and only invited her this time because she knew she'd have her friends with her (once Celestia's little educational gambit with the too-few tickets was done and she delivered the rest).
** On the other hand, her long life is also a perfectly reasonable explanation/excuse for her troll-like behavior.
** What I find worse is that Princess Celestia is pretty much the god-ruler of the land, with everypony pretty much worshipping her, probably willing to do whatever she wants, with all year to come up with something new, and a thousand years to do repeat the process. And yet, she can't come up with a better solution than to invite a bunch of quirky, inexperienced, and impulsive girls with the secret hope that they trash the Gala and ruining everypony else's fun, instead of simply asking the party planners to spice things up a little. I can't help but feel that Princess Celestia has a passive-aggressive streak that she doesn't know how to work out.
* In 'The Best Night Ever' Fluttershy runs into the gardener pony twice. Two things pop into mind when you see him: he's the oldest pony we've seen since Applejack's grandma, and he has no cutie mark. So the Cutie Mark Crusaders DO have a reason to be concerned, this pony's existence has confirmed that it is possible to go your entire life without finding your lot in life. That is kind of sad.
** One of the animators said his mark was originally supposed to be covered by a harness for his cart, so one was never designed... Although apparently some of the fans have [[http://ponibooru.413chan.net/_images/e35e2fa85a9130de4e75afd43286da92/18996%20-%20gramps%20hayseed.jpgProgress other ideas.]]
** Maybe he isn't really a pony at all! Last time I checked, ponies don't have beards like that. Perhaps he's actually a goat.
*** If he does come from a civilization of talking goats, they could have been the ones to popularize all the beard styles that Spike mentioned.
*** Star Swirl the Bearded would imply that some ponies can have beards, if only very rarely.
** He seemed perfectly happy with his life, cutie mark or no. It's sort of sweet.
** But what if a pony has a midlife crisis? Does their cutie mark disappear and/or change?!
*** Funny that you bring that up, because that brings to mind a point I've been mulling over: [[FridgeHorror how does]] ''[[FridgeHorror memory loss]]'' [[FridgeHorror factor into this]] [[BuffySpeak cutie mark science]], [[FridgeHorror anyway]]?
*** As stated above, the ponies get their Cutie Mark when they find out JUST what it is they will do for the rest of their lives, what they are meant to do. I dare say that if Humans had that sort of system, then the insecurities which cause a midlife crisis wouldn't happen (or at least, very rarely).
*** Doesn't a Cutie Mark only really determine what you're good at, not ''necessarily'' what your job will be? Pinkie Pie's mark says she's good at parties, but she's employed as a baker's apprentice rather than a party animator. Rarity's mark says she's good at finding gems, but she's a fashion designer, not a prospector.
*** Actually, Rarity does both, as seen in A Dog and Pony Show.
*** True A Cutie Mark says what a given pony is good at, but it seems a pony will generally take a job that utilizes said talent. Also some talents are broader than they first appear. Pinkie Pie's talent isn't just throwing parties, it's making ponies happy. Parties just happen to be the best way to make many ponies happy at one time. Pinkie Pie works as an apprentice baker. Sweets often help to lift one's spirits. Also she might work as a part-time party coordinator for the Cakes. Rarity's talent is finding and bringing out the beauty in things, be that finding the gems buried in rock or creating wonderful and elegant dresses for her friends.
*** Pinkie Pie's talent is for throwing parties. Her job at Sugar Cube Corner appears to be that of party coordinator/planner. Given that, it's not unreasonable for her to know how to do certain party-related tasks, like making cakes, pastires and candies. I imagine she makes decorations herself too, [[MST3KMantra Though I can't imagine how she does it]]
** Well, he has brown fur. My guess is it just got covered with dirt from all the gardening he was doing.
* In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E14SuitedForSuccess Suited For Success]]", Rarity makes new dresses for all her friends. Applejack's outfit includes what seems to be a pair of ''leather'' cowboy boots. But in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E4ApplebuckSeason Applebuck Season]]", we see that cows in Equestria are also sentient, talking beings. I wonder how ''that'' conversation went over?
---> '''Rarity:''' Excuse me, sir! Might you be Moorice?\\
'''Moorice:''' Why certainly, little miss. What can I dooooo for you?\\
'''Rarity:''' Could you do me a teensy tiny, itty bitty favor aaaand..." *STAB*
** Leather can be made from other animals. It could also be synthetic leather.
*** Making leather from other animals isn't really ''less'' creepy. And even given the Schizo Tech at work, there doesn't seem to be much indication of mass industrialization in Equestria.
** And have you never heard of snake-skin boots? Considering how often and easily that stuff comes off, it can't be too much of a stretch to imagine Rarity using it for a quartet of boots.
*** Snake and other reptile-skin clothes and accessories are made in a similar manner to mammal leather so the FridgeHorror stands. But, then again, so does the MST3KMantra.
*** Skinning snakes? I'm sure ''that'' conversation went really well with [[FriendToAllLivingThings Fluttershy.]]
*** Reptles shed their skin ''naturally''; you don't have to kill them.
**** They shed the outer layer of their skin naturally. You can't make boots or any other leather goods from that, any more than you could make leather from the dead skin cells on the surface of your skin.
** Could be made from dead animals (still a bit horrific, but no killing involved) or, like the vinyl/glue example above, could be fake leather.
*** [[{{Tropers/Whitewings}} This troper]] once read a science fiction novel in which one of the main cultures, as part of their funeral practices, skinned the deceased and tanned the hide for leather, which was then worked into clothing as a lasting memorial. It was presented very carefully so the custom came across as touching rather than revolting.
* Pinkie laughed while she was inside an evil tree's mouth. What if it had disappeared in a *puff* like the others?
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ9U1Em8X1I This?]]
** This troper believes that the scary faces were just illusions created by Nightmare Moon, and this was just an example of Pinkie [[ToonPhysics breaking the laws of physics]]. [[FourthWallObserver Plus they're in a children's show and she knew that wouldn't happen.]]
** She would have landed on the ground?
** She must have found the one tree that actually had a large knothole in it.
* In the episode "Owl's Well That Ends Well", as Spike is going around town to find a quill for Twilight, he goes over to Pinkie Pie, who among the list of items that begin with a "Q", tosses him a quince. A quince is a fruit that is poisonous to equines (aka PONIES).
** Of course half the things the ponies regularly eat-- such as chocolate-- are poisonous to equines IRL. As pointed out elsewhere on this page, the My Little Ponies are as closely related to REAL ponies as humans are to chimpanzees.
* In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E3TheTicketMaster The Ticket Master]]", when Twilight teleports herself and Spike to the library, Spike comes out singed. This doesn't seem like a big deal, but then he mentions in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E5GriffonTheBrushOff Griffon the Brush Off]]" that dragons are fireproof. If Twilight's teleport was enough to singe a fireproof dragon, imagine what would have happened if it had been a pony (or any other non-fireproof creature)!
** Maybe the feedback from the teleport is not Fire elemental, but pure [[DungeonsAndDragons Magic/Arcane elemental]]. That means a dragon's fireproof scales would not reduce the damage.
** Maybe dragons are only fireproof in terms of natural fires, but not magical fires. In ''Owl's Well That Ends Well'', Spike gets his "hair" singed by another dragon's fire. Like how Dragon-type Pokemon are resistant to Fire-type attacks, but weak to Dragon-type attacks.
** She's improved since then. She ends up playing teleport pingpong with Spike in ''Secret of My Excess''.
* This may be unintentional, but in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E10SwarmOfTheCentury Swarm of the Century]], Zecora seemed to recognize the parasprites straight away. Now that may seem innocent enough since she as a good understanding of flora and fauna, but consider that she's from a place hinted to very Africa-like (so more than likely very dry most of the time.) [[InferredHolocaust Now consider thousands of creatures eating at crops, and fields in a already arid environment.]] [[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0107_050107_tv_locust_plague.html If]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_locust_outbreak history]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1915_locust_plague is anything to go by.]]
* You will find several pieces of medieval mythology that describe gryphons as highly aggressive and territorial, building treasure hoards and jealously guarding them much like dragons. They absolutely ''hate'' horses in particular, having grown to associate them with knights coming to raid their nests for gold and emeralds, and will devour one if they have the oppurtunity. They also mate for life, and if they lose their mate, they quickly waste away from longing. Now lets consider Gilda; deep-seated and irrational aminosity of ponies? Check. Rainbow Dash being the only one who she sees as a companion and exempt from her meanness? Check. Her presence in the show and how she and Dash interact being the closest thing to evidence the shippers have to RD being a lesbian? Hoo boy, double check. Holed up in a cave somewhere seething at the loss of Rainbow's affections as the lights leave her eyes? Likely. Way to go, Dash and Pie, way to go.
* Why does Trixie end her magic show when all possible hecklers disappear? Wouldn't it be more sensible to continue the show? Unless, of course, Trixie's entire act depends on having hecklers to humilate, and has no feats of magic that aren't centered around humilating neigh-sayers...
** Which wouldn't be entirely surprising, from her.
** That might even be her whole MO. Come out and boast until the audience can no longer stand you, and then humiliate them. As a bonus, it lets her spread her lie about defeating an Ursa Major.
* "Over a Barrel" establishes that pies can be used as weapons are are thrown during combat. In the next episode, "A Bird in the Hoof", Pinkie throws a pie at her own head. Did... did Pinkie just shoot herself in the face?
** [[CrazyAwesome Yes.]]
** If you shoot someone, they die. If you press the bullet against your face, you won't die. She'd have had to ''launch'' the pie at her face to feel any damage.
** In ''Over a Barrel'', [[NonLethalKO Chief Thunderhoof gets hit in the face with a pie thrown with hostile intent, and the worst thing that happens is he gets some in his mouth and decides he likes the taste.]] It was a FoodFight, and not really intended (at least by the writers) to be any more dangerous than that.
* At the beginning of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E15FeelingPinkieKeen Feeling Pinkie Keen]]", one of the frogs Fluttershy's carrying falls and lands on Twilight's face, barely avoiding landing on her horn. Twilight's horn likely isn't sharp enough for the frog to have been ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice, but it at least would've been hurt.
* In the episode Winter Wrap Up, Applejack wants the snow melted fast, but Fluttershy wants it melted slow so that the animals' homes don't get flooded (and presumably the animals that haven't been woken up yet would die a horrible drowning death). Now just think about what happened in years prior when they had no organization; the animals' fate rested on ''Fluttershy'' winning a shouting match against ''Applejack.''
** Presumably, they haven't been late every single year (although the previous is explicitly mentioned), so that probably wasn't a problem before. I'm guessing there's been a population explosion or an oddly sharp line between generations, so suddenly most of the ponies there aren't nearly as experienced at the Winter Wrap-up as they would be.
** It was implied that they haven't been on time for years. At any rate, since the problem was being late, presumably everything happened slowly.
** It's easier to think that the reason they weren't on time was (Partially) because of the animal team waking each animal slowly and carefully.
** Applejack: stubborn as a stubborn pony. Fluttershy: can intimidate a full-grown dragon in rampage, and a cockatrice that has halfway won the conflict, judging by percentage of Fluttershy turned to stone. I'd say the animals were in good hooves. Of course, this also assumes that the captains were always Applejack and Fluttershy, which would be unlikely about ten to fifteen years in the past, when AJ was a filly and Fluttershy was not actually living there.
*** Fluttershy wasn't even captain of the animal team.
* 'Giggle at the Ghostie' freaks me out on two levels. Firstly, 'Just laugh and make them disappear'. Think about it as two separate actions. Think of her dealing with Gilda, she laughed it off in public, if Gilda hadn't left, would Pinkie have 'made her disappear'? Could just be {{Cupcakes}} paranoia. And also, if laughing works to make her fears disappear works, her fears are hallucinated. More insanity!
** Oh, don't be silly! It's just a metaphor for keeping your chin up when things get tough or something is scaring you! Just go make yourself some hot cocoa and maybe some cookies and you'll be fine! *giggles*
*** ...Is that you, Pinkie Pie?!
* I'm not sure that this rises to the level of horrifying, but consider what happens in "Applebuck Season": throughout the episode, Twilight implores Applejack to accept her friends' help in harvesting the bumper crop that was wearing her out, and when Applejack finally accepts, we see Rainbow and Pinkie working together on one tree, Fluttershy on another, Rarity hauling full bushels, and Twilight...harvesting ''half the orchard by herself in seconds'' with her magic. Clearly, the involvement of the others was just a fig leaf. What Twilight really meant was 'let me use my magical powers to do this for you, effortlessly.' Think about that: what for an earth pony like Applejack is the work of her lifetime is to a powerful unicorn like Twilight nothing more than a minor nuisance. For that matter, is Granny Smith's "saggy old hip" the result of old age alone, or the result of age and a lifetime spent bucking apple trees? Now think about why Applejack was so reluctant to accept Twilight's help, and why Applejack was so upset that Twilight used magic a few months later in "Winter Wrap-Up," or why the earth ponies insist that in an earth-pony town, no magic is to be used to wrap up winter. Now, I know that it has been implied that earth ponies get superior strength and endurance to compensate for not having magic or the ability to fly, but imagine if some people were born with the ability to use magic, some people were born with the ability to fly, but you were born an ordinary human being without any such abilities. Mightn't you have a chip on your shoulder, and always seek to prove that you were just as capable as any other person, even without magic or wings?
** Applejack seems to be the only pony aware of such an issue, she was the only one to point out how imbalanced the Iron Pony competition was in 'Fall Weather Friends', though being on the receiving end certainly didn't help. However, the rest of the ponies seem to understand there's no imbalance amongst races. Besides, from what we can gather, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle are special cases; not all Pegasus ponies are athletes, and not all Unicorn ponies are top-notch students. If anything, their unique elements often draws them to perform tasks which do not require much physical effort, something Earth Ponies are perfectly fine with. If all Pegasus also trained for manual labor requiring more than wings yet tougher than cloud bucking, and if all Unicorns were expert students instead of merely being able to perform minor magical tricks, we could see a divide. As it is now, though, there likely shouldn't be cause for worry. 'Applebuck Season' simply points out how Applejack can be hard to reason with, taking it further really isn't all that necessary.
** A couple things: First, this ignores that Word of Faust (and some indication within the show itself) says that Earth Ponies are really the only ones capable of producing apples the way Applejack's family does (unicorns and pegasi aren't anywhere near as good with plants or animals, with Fluttershy being and admitted exception). Second, we see the final result of Twilight's spell, but isn't it also possible that there was a considerable amount of setup involved in harvesting so many at once?
*** This seems to be all but confirmed in the Season Two episode Hearth's Warming Eve, where Spike mentions in olden times the Unicorns and Pegasi traded their services for "food that could only be grown by the Earth Ponies".
*** That episode also confirmed that prior to the forming of Equestria, Earth Ponies were indeed at the bottom of the pecking order. While Spike said that they traded services, even the youngest of children is going to read that as "The Earth Ponies handed over food in return for not being bombarded with storms or magic."
** Don't forget, we're seeing them ''harvesting'' the apples at that point. Who put in the work to ''grow'' them?
* ''Over a barrel'': In the scene where the buffalo are preparing to trample Apploosa, there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cut to a buffalo ''sharpening his horn on an axe grinder.'' Which means that [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice they were really going to skewer anypony unlucky enough to get in their way]]. Anypony else disturbed about the possibility for ponies to die gruesome deaths? I mean [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids this show is for kids, right]]??
* Another Fridge TearJerker: At The Gala is a CrowdSong, right? But the way the other ponies are singing, it implies that most of them were ''also'' hoping to have the best night ever. And most of them seemed to be succeeding a lot better than the Mane Cast before the party got ruined. That means hundreds of ponies also had their dreams destroyed in a space of about five minutes.
** Not necessarily. Let's suppose one young mare called Rose Quartz had the same dream as Rarity, to find her Prince Charming. When she saw Prince Blueblood with a certain white unicorn at his side, Rose Quartz assumed her dream was dashed. However, there was a stallion at the party named True Heart who cheered her up. He wasn't exactly a prince, but he was kind and gentlemanly. They danced the Pony Pokey together, had a good time and when the animals started to stampede, True Heart made sure Rose Quartz was safe. Thanks to the Mane Cast "ruining" the party, Rose Quartz and True Heart get a happily ever after.
** Can I assume that the full fanfic of this is pending?
*** If it is, can we have the link when it's done?
*** Thirded by this troper!
*** Dibs on writing it -doomboy911
* In the ''"Owl's Well That Ends Well"'' scene with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJOCyj5h2WE#t=3m13s the ponies all looking at Spike at the same time and smiling, Pinkie petting him, etc...]] it's clear that Spike was enjoying the attention. It's interrupted when Twilight says that's enough; but perhaps the reason she said that was because she wouldn't want him to get too used to that much attention from them. When Spike ''does'' get used to it, seeing that attention go to an owl instead makes him [[GreenEyedMonster jealous]] enough to temporarily become a villain. [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain (Albeit an ineffectual one.)]] Perhaps that kind of addiction to their attention is what Twilight was trying to prevent...
* FridgeHorror in "The Show Stoppers" episode (and possibly others): The ponies are raising pigs. Why, so that they can eat them? I can't imagine what a pony would want with a pig if not to eat its flesh as humans do.
** WordOfGod says the pigs are raised to find truffles.
* In "Boast Busters", the Ursa Minor destroys Trixie's stagecoach. This is made even worse by the fact that Trixie is a travelling performer, so that coach was also her home. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Great job, Snips and Snails, you just made your former idol into a beggar]]
* In "Sonic Rainboom", Rainbow and Rarity have to perform at the same time. Normally you'd think "how do they not have time for everyone in their own competition?" but what would have happened if they had gone at different times? Rarity would have plummeted while Dash was cowering in the lobby, would have knocked out the Wonderbolts and they all would have fallen to their death while [[ApatheticCitizens everyone else would have sat back and watched them die.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fridge Horror - Season Two]]
* The season 2 opener gives a little piece in the form of one of Discord's lines directed at Princess Celestia: "It's quite lonely being encased in stone, but you wouldn't know that ''because I don't turn ponies into stone!''" At first, it seems like he's merely talking about his own fate at Celestia's hooves. A moment's thought casts a more sinister light on the princess: Just how many of those statues in the Canterlot sculpture garden are actually ponies who were TakenForGranite?
** It also means that Discord was conscious the entire time he was turned to stone, [[AndIMustScream a horrifying concept in itself]].
* Discord created a "game" for the Mane Six to locate the Elements of Harmony, and Twilight Sparkle took it to mean in the Canterlot Hedge maze, which Discord took advantage of to corrupt them. In reality, the Elements were safely at Twilight's home in Ponyvile... but suppose she ''had'' figured out the correct answer... how do we know Discord wouldn't have corrupted them there anyway?!
* In "Mysterious Mare Do Well", a road leads down a steep hill, terminating at a cliff. Why is this a thing? Why put a paved road leading to the edge of a cliff?
*** The View? Or maybe there was a plan to put a bridge there in the future.
*** Take-off ramp for tired, overloaded (such as with groceries), or weak-winged pegasi?
** Weirdly enough, there is a real world precedent for these in some parts of the world, though they generally have crash barriers. The general assumption is you either have enough time to brake hard before going over or the barrier that gets put up is strong enough to prevent any further incident.
* What happened to the driver of the runaway bus? Somepony had to have been pulling it.
* What happened to all the other ponies that were left behind by the tribal leaders in "Hearth's Warming Eve"?
** The tribal leaders went back for them, and said that living in harmony would keep the cold away. The cold only became an immediate threat when the leaders were fighting with each other, so the blizzards might actually have died down while they were gone.
** Worst case scenario: They continued bickering while the leaders were gonne, and suffered from the same HarmlessFreezing that they (briefly) did.
* Discord's reign over Equestria. All we get it was never-ending chaos and suffering for everypony but him. And we see stained glass pictures of him controling ponies and ''holding them over a pit of fire!'' On top of that, during that scene, you can here the suffering cries of ponies in the background (likely Celestia's memories). And we've seen [[BreakTheCutie what his idea]] [[MindRape of fun is already.]] No wonder Celestia is so afraid of him!
* Discord's reign of chaos seems pretty silly...then you realize that ''everyone'' is acting completely insane! On top of that, most of Ponyvile's population is Earth Ponies...and most a lot of Ponyvile was floating at the time.
* Discord's chaotic reign was getting progressively worse throughout the episode. What would it have ended up as if he hadn't been beaten?!
** [[TinyToonAdventures Wackyland]].
* More fridge TearJerker than FridgeHorror, but when Twilight got all of her old notes back from Princess Celestia, and they just kept coming, there is a scenario that most likely have played out for Celestia herself. If she has to send the notes one by one, something she must know would be harsh on spike, then that means she couldn't just deliver the notes herself. That likely means Discord has her confined, probably in the castle, so she can't interfere. The fact that she keeps sending them means she doesn't know if they are getting to twilight, or if they would help matters any. For the first time in eons, she is helpless, clueless, and has no idea how things will turn out. But if she is so cut off from communication, how does she know twilight is in need of the notes? Discord likely stopped by to show his old rival the exact moment twilight's heart, Celestia's last hope, finally broke. So the most likely situation is Celestia, feeling powerless and blind, knowing only that Twilight's spirit is broken, desperately sending letter after letter with no clue if it will change anything. Those may very well have been some of the most stressful and heartbreaking hours she has experienced in her long life.
* Another example of a Fridge TearJerker: The scene where Twilight is trying to find the book about the Elements of Harmony, but her friends keep interfering her due to their corruption. It is, in a way, a rather accurate portrayal of bullying: what bully victim ''wouldn't'' relate to Twilight, whose own friends are bothering her for absolutely no reason? Who wouldn't be in a completely irritated mood, and on the verge of giving up? And think from the other ponies' perspective, the ''bullies''' perspective. One day, you might be friends, possibly best friends with someone, but out of some internal and/or external force (think peer pressure and insecurity instead of MindRape), you find yourself to be the very person you hated. Then you start bullying your former friends; and it doesn't help that bully victims are often socially awkward "nerds" like Twilight.
** Fluttershy's reaction after being restored pretty much confirms this.
* In the second part of Return to Harmony, one of the things that Discord did was cause Granny Smith to start dancing and leaping around like a young filly. Remember one of the reasons Applejack was hoping to raise money at the Grand Galloping Gala? I wonder how Granny felt after the WorldHealingWave hit?
** If Discord was forcing her to dance around like a young filly even though her body was still an old lady's, I think she would have been in unbearable pain until he was stopped.
*** Considering Discord's habit of making things work in exactly the opposite way of how they're supposed to (e.g. the milk filling the glass from the top down, the glass being drunk instead of the milk, Applejack eating apple cores until they turn into apples), I thought that the same applied there. Normally, her joints would be aggravated by movement; what if they were aggravated by the ''lack'' of movement? What if Granny Smith absolutely had to keep dancing, on and on and on, for however long it had been since Discord took control, knowing that no matter how tired or how sleepy or hungry she became she absolutely could not stop or she would feel even worse? What if that state of absolute misery somehow contradicted itself and made her ''happy''—how desperately confusing would that have been?
* ...is anyone else concerned as to whether or not Screwball/Topsy-Turvy was ''wiped out of existence'' when the WorldHealingWave hit?
** WELL NOW I AM.
** Jossed, as of Read It And Weep, Screwball works in the hospital, she is seen taking care of the crazy barking pony. Which is kind of fitting for Discord to make her crazy.
* Twilight Sparkle's SanitySlippage fits in context of the episode of "Lesson Zero". [[http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/186252 Out of context]], however....
* "Want-It Need-It spell, works every time". Who on earth would Twilight use such a thing on? Her fear of the kindergarten clearly indicates some very painful LonersAreFreaks memories, but that was before she learned her magic. So, it would have to be while under the Princess' care in Canterlot... suddenly it seems very wise of the Princess to get her to find some friends...
** Made even more scary when you realize that social rejection and constant need for approval are common traits displayed by rape victims. Could it be that Celestia used that spell on Twilight? Would explain her questionable behavior around the CMC and telling Pinkie not to scream. To Twilight, it's perfectly normal behavior.
*** ... Why.
* At the end of "Lesson Zero" Princess Celestia declares that the Mane Six must start sending in friendship reports whenever they discover them so that Twilight isn't punished, essentially placing them in an open-ended contract with no specificities, agreements between parties, or terms over what qualifies as a friendship report. The agreement is vague and inspecific leaving plenty of room for Celestia to change it as she chooses, such as establishing a report quota, a required length, declaring what the punishment for not sending in friendship reports would be, or just all out declaring the invalidity of lessons learned in friendship reports. And we don't even know what Twilight's punsihment was going to be, the Mane Six could have just entered a Faustian bargain to prevent a punishment to Twilight that could have been dispoportionately better than them spending the rest of their lives filling friendship reports for Celestia.
** All depends on which {{Faust}} [[LaurenFaust you're]] talking about.
** [[StarWars "I have altered the deal; pray I do not alter it further."]]
** She's the absolute ruler and god of this land - if she wanted to, she could have demanded unreasonable terms of any of them at any time, and no-one could stop her. Key words here? If she wanted. Clearly she has no desire to cause suffering to any of her subjects. Clearly all she expected was that the girls write up a letter to her together when they learn something new, replacing Twilights self-imposed schedule based letters with ones based on her friends and her recalling it when they learned a lesson.
** This troper isn't convinced Celestia was going to punish Twilight at all. When she says "I'm listening" it sounded more like she was just letting them sweat, in a possible reference to [[MemeticMutation Trollestia]]. Admittedly, ordering Twilight to meet her in the library did sound genuinely forceful though.
*** She did say "I'll forget Twilight's punishment", in a tone that did not seem like she was joking--however, I don't believe she ever intended to punish Twilight for the report being late. Actually, as soon as her royal duties were over (when the sun went down and Luna took charge) she came to Ponyville ''immediately'', in an attempt to ''help''. What she was furious about was that Twilight had gotten so wrapped up in her own problems that she'd, you know, enchanted the whole town, caused a riot, driven everypony mad, gotten property damaged and potentially hurt innocent ponies. (Did anybody else notice that ''Lyra and Bon-Bon'' were trying to kill each other over a doll?)
*** Which begs the question: How did she plan to punish Twilight for it, exactly?
*** She was probably going to scold Twilight a little, which would be a punishment for Twilight in and of itself.
** What Celestia did was actually more of a ''reward''. First off, she removed the actual deadline, saying to only send in reports when they discovered something new, not every week. Plus, she allowed the others to send in reports themselves, so all that really did was give the other ponies a chance to show her their own point of view. Keep in mind that in some other episodes, somepony other than Twilight would learn a lesson (such as Fluttershy in ''Stare Master'') so the others learning lessons instead of Twilight isn't unheard of.
*** There never was a deadline to begin with on her part. But Twilight considered it her duty to send her a report every week, and set a fix deadline for it, as she is known to do.
* Twilight's SanitySlippage in "Lesson Zero" ''really'' starts after her friends make light of her problem and even laugh at it a bit. Now remember what their "Discorded" selves did to her in "Return Of Harmony, Part 2" and [[BreakTheCutie what that]] [[DespairEventHorizon did to]] [[HeroicBSOD poor Twilight]]. Imagine how it felt to an already ''very'' frustraited Twilight to have her friends laughing to her again after that and their innocent joking seems a ''lot'' less innocent.
* This is more of a fridge TearJerker than fridge horror, but as this troper pointed out on the TearJerker page, think about Twilight's doll, Smarty Pants. When you consider that Twilight has such little knowledge of friendship, combined with the scenes in Lesson Zero of fillies laughing at her, it's quite possible that ''Smarty Pants was the closest thing Twilight had to a friend growing up.''
** *cough* Spike *cough*
** Notice that Twilight describes her by saying, "She was mine when I was your age,". The doll was her only friend ''before'' she met Spike and got her Cutie Mark in the process.
* Not sure if this has been mentioned already, but Discord drove several ponies insane (i.e. Screw Ball). My question is, did they magically get better afterwards?
** Presumably. The WorldHealingWave fixed everything else.
** While Screwball hasnt been seen since, Big Macintosh was, and he was back to perfectly normal.
*** Screwball has turned up since, in Read It And Weep, she works in the hospital, she is seen taking care of the crazy barking pony.
* Discord's prison weakens whenever the Elements change hands- er, hooves, to the point that anyone can walk up to him and break him free on accident. This previously wasn't a problem, since they were still partially attuned to Celestia the immortal sun god. But now they're attuned to ordinary mortals who will die one day...
* If Discord could forget how 'grim' Celestia could be, he must have experienced the passage of time. While turned into an [[AndIMustScream unmoving stone statue]].
** Then again, it couldn't have happened to a [[MadGod nicer]] [[MindRape guy...]]
* While Nightmare Moon may have been stronger than Celestia, Luna is still a walking storm of magic AND has been officially reinstated as the equestrian princess of the night. Now, remember how everyone was behaving around Celestia in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E22ABirdInTheHoof A Bird in the Hoof]]. To some ponies, Luna must be scarier than ever!
** Only SOME? There's [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E4LunaEclipsed something I'd like to show you..]]
* Rarity finding Sweetie Belle has elements of this. There's a blink and you miss it moment before she sees her were she looks truly worried and concerned, then is overjoyed to see her. She also said she'd been looking ''everywhere'' for her and started looking during the day and doesn't find her till later that night. This means Rarity spent a part of the day [[AdultFear looking high and low for her baby sister with absolutely no idea where she is]] and knowing if anything happened to her, it'd be her fault for treating her as badly as she did.
* In ''The Cutie Pox'', when Twilight looks up the cure, she says that the disease disappears as mysteriously as it arrived. The Cutie Pox creates a random cutie mark and the infected is forced to perform the talent related to it and as Apple Bloom shows us, it can be anything to be able to perform tricks with a "Loopty Hoop" to speaking French to being a proficient fencer and no one is able to stop her. That is already frightening enough that Apple Bloom can't stop, but what happens if a more deadly Cutie Mark shows up? One that involves hurting possibly even killing the ponies around her? ''She'd be forced to perform '''THAT''' talent against her will!''
** To add to that, why does the disease disappear as mysteriously as it arrived? If the above FridgeHorror is true, then no pony would be left to tell the tale if it does get that deadly. That or the ponies would be forced to kill the infected before it gets to that point.
*** Don't you realize what this means? ''We may have just been given a canon explanation for StoryOfTheBlanks...''
** Another thing: aren't you all forgetting how Apple Bloom was compelled to do everything the cutie marks represented? What if a sufferer of [[TheVirus the Cutie Pox]] were to become tired from doing all those things simultaneously? [[WildMassGuessing What the pox continued forcing the victim to carry on?]] If that's the case, [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath then Apple Bloom]] ''[[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath was facing death by exhaustion!]]''
*** Anyone who has heard the story of TheRedShoes probably had to pick their jaws off the floor when they saw Apple Bloom begging for help while dancing uncontrollably.
*** And she was ''already becoming exhausted'' by the time Zecora showed up with the necessary herb to negate the Heart's Desire flower. If it had gone on for too much longer...
*** Amazingly, in spite of not having ANY sleep and performing some really physically demanding feats, she wasn't exhausted at all once she was cured and was running into the Everfree Forest with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle as if nothing happened. Then again, it is possible the Seeds of Truth healed any other ill effects caused by the Cutie Pox.
** The cause of the original mass Cutie Pox outbreak gets a whole lot less mysterious when you realize that Zecora had all the ingredients for making a potion that causes them just lying around, and that local water supplies in Equestria are probably pretty easy to contaminate.
*** So the exact kind of herb mixture with Heart's Desire that might cause it would properly mix together in the proper way as it fell into the water and contaminate it? While that could very well be an explanation, perhaps as an accidental natural thing (unless Zecora had ancestors living there who might have ''poured the necessary potion ingredients into the water '''on purpose'''''...), we never know whether the original plague appeared in ancient Ponyville or not, just to "a population of ponies in the Paleopony period.
* In Cutie Pox, after Apple Bloom starts getting more depressed over not getting her cutie mark, she wanders into Everfree Forest...why would she go in there? Considering how dangerous the place is considered and how sad she was, it's possible she was [[DrivenToSuicide giving up on life.]]
** On the other hand, she and the others have wandered in there before without much consideration for safety. They ran into the Cockatrice there in the 'Staremaster', and Apple Bloom sought out Zecora in the zebra's debut episode (Zecora's no threat, but other things in the Forest could be). Apple Bloom could easily have wandered off to get away from everyone because she was upset, rather than being depressed to ''that'' extent.
*** If you were feeling depressed and wanted to be alone, would you go into a mysterious forest filled with several dangerous creatures capable of killing you before you even know they're there, or somewhere ''safe'', like, uh...your room at home?
**** Apple Bloom has always liked Zecora--remember who was sticking up for her the whole time? Zecora has probably become, if not a maternal figure, at least like an aunt. Given that she ended up there, it's clear she was just going to visit her friend.
*** The only reason Apple Bloom got the Cutie Pox from the Heart's Desire was because she wanted her cutie mark more than anything. Presumably a population of adult ponies who had their cutie marks wouldn't want them so badly that the Heart's Desire would give them Cutie Pox. Remember, Zecora was making it for a rooster who couldn't crow.
* Rainbow Dash names her new pet tortoise Tank, because he's "built like a tank." You know, not the container for fluids, the armored vehicle. Although this is a good name, it implies the existence of mechanized warfare in Equestria.
** Well, yeah. Bullets have been brought up before. A cavalry charge wouldn't fare too well against enemies who had guns and entrenched themselves. Naturally Equestria would ''have'' to use some sort of a mechanized vehicle to overrun enemy defensive positions.
** Well, that's assuming that there even IS warfare in Equestria. Hearth's Warming Eve pageant aside, it seems that there just isn't sufficient animosity in Equestria for large-scale warfare to even be a remote possibility. It's likely that the mentioning of bullets and tanks were to make it easier for the show's target audience (younger children, as it's so easy to forget) to understand the metaphors they were mentioned in.
*** Except ... it's not just a metaphor, Rainbow named her pet after a huge metal war machine. For being slow yet unstoppable.
* At the end of the song in ''May the Best Pet Win'', Derpy peers out from the chicken coop. While it's meant to be an EasterEgg for the fans, it does looks suspiciously like Derpy's stalking either Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy. Or she enjoys lurking in chicken coops. Either way pretty creepy when you think about it.
** It could just be that Derpy was looking for extra work and Fluttershy hired her to muck out the chicken coop.
*** Or she is just being... a featherbrain. * RimShot *
* This isn't so much FridgeHorror as Fridge Melancholia, but something occurred to me after watching "May the Best Pet Win": Rainbow Dash, pretty much alone among the mane six, will lose her special talent as she ages. Applejack, in her old age, will not be able to work very much on Sweet Apple Acres herself, but, because it is a family business, and because she is part of an extended clan of apple farmers, she will probably end her days much like Granny Smith is now: as a respected matriarch surrounded by ponies who love and respect her. Fluttershy will in all likelihood be able to maintain her special connection with animals as she ages; she'll probably need more physical help caring for them, but she'll still be surrounded by the woodland creatures she loves and who love her, and she'll still have her special connection to them. Pinkie Pie will probably lose some of her youthful exuberance as she ages, but even in her old age, she'll still be able to make other ponies happy by throwing celebrations for them, even if she needs more help putting up decorations, sending out invitations, and other physical aspects of what she does. Rarity will still be able to find and bring out the beauty in things, even if she can't work at the pace she does now; she probably won't be able to make multiple dresses in a single night, but she'll still be able to create beautiful things from common objects. At the very least, her talent for finding gems in rocks will at least help ensure that she will be well-provided for. Twilight Sparkle will remain a brilliant scholar and powerful wizard; in fact, her knowledge and thus power are likely only to grow as she learns more over time. But Rainbow Dash, well, Rainbow Dash is going to lose her speed as she grows old; there's really no avoiding that. Unlike the other five, her special talent is almost purely physical; granted, her great speed itself is at least to some extent a product of her competitive drive and ambition, but that will probably make the diminution of her physical prowess that much harder to bear. Now consider this: tortoises usually live very long lives, meaning that Tank will likely still be around when Rainbow is old. In fact, the day may come when Tank is faster than Rainbow. In a way, it's somewhat comforting, although still melancholic, to imagine Tank once again carrying Dash on his back.
** [[http://imgur.com/sYB89 Alternate interpretation.]] Let's face it, given his mode of transportation at the end of his debut episode, Tank is only going to get faster with time (especially since Rainbow Dash is such good friends with Pinkie Pie, and Pinkie Pie is so inexplicably skilled with high-altitude devices of all stripes), so my money says that as Dash gets slower on her own, she'll just lean on him more often.
** Well, Tank being faster than Rainbow might be overselling it a bit. Some seniors remain physically fit and active until the day they die, and it's quite likely Rainbow will end up being one of them. Sure, she'll eventually be unable to keep up with the younger athletes, but she can still win the hay out of the Old Flyers' Competition.
** Though it does evoke the heartwarming (or melancholic YMMV) image of an elderly Rainbow Dash using Tank as her walker Granny Smith style.
** She might not be able to compete herself, but she would still be able to coach other competitors. We've already seen her act like a coach in a couple of episodes, though it'll be a while before she's good at it.
* ''May The Best Pet Win'' focuses on how badly Rainbow Dash treated the tortoise, but really, she treated the birds even ''worse.'' Making them go through a forest of thorns? Putting gorge eels in their flight path? If this is what birds would put up with just to be her ''pet,'' then imagine what she might get away with putting a male character who wants to be her boyfriend through...
** All the birds were there willingly though, and had ample opportunity to bow out. The same goes for the tortoise, but Rainbow was mocking him despite his keeping in the competition.
*** By that logic, you could just as easily argue that fraternity hazing is okay too.
** Please note that Rainbow didn't ask them to do anything she wasn't doing herself. This is the sort of thing she does every day, ''for fun''. The whole point of the competition was getting a pet who could keep up with her, after all.
* One that hit me in "Sisterhooves Social", when Apple Bloom covers Applejack in smashed up grapes, Sweetie Belle's reaction is to panic and beg Applejack not to punish her. That almost comes off looking like the reaction of a child in an abusive home.
** It seems unlikely as Sweetie Belle and Rarity's parents seem to be [[GoodParents as far from abusive as possible]] (although they do seem a bit clueless). It's a bit more likely that she was worried about AB and AJ getting into a fight and "not being sisters anymore" like she and Rarity did. Although, this could count as FridgeHorror in and of itself...
* The Mane Cast members were turning greyer in the debut episodes when Discord corrupted them. Was Discord slowly turning them into stone?
** They become dull-coloured once brainwashed by Discord. Turning more grey just indicated the effect was getting worse, such as them mucking around with Twilight's book.
* The sheer number of accidents happening around Ponyville in a brief period of time. Is this normal? Does this sort of thing happen every day just off-screen? And why the hell does Ponyville even ''need'' a steep downhill road leading to a sheer cliff?
** Clearly [[NoOSHACompliance Equestria doesn't believe in Health & Safety.]]
*** Possibly demonstrated by the ease by which Derpy managed to destroy the Town Hall in "The Last Roundup." If Derpy is an "extraordinary" pony, however, this point is moot, as her birth beyond the Fourth Wall exempts her from any in-universe rules.
*** [[FridgeBrilliance Ponyville is expanding]]. Aside from the new train line shown in the season two intro, we see the ponies building a rather large building in that specific episode. They're probably planning to build a bridge across that cliff.
** On a different tangent. What the hell was that horrifying [[http://imgur.com/eBd2p balloon Dash]] in the CMC clubhouse all about?
*** Scootaloo probably just knows someone who's good at making balloon animals and, fangirl extraordinaire she is, asked said balloon animal maker to make a Rainbow Dash. Who knows? He or she might have even been attending the fan club meeting.
* Rainbow Dash had every opportunity to make trouble so she could play the hero. But she didn't. So this just proves how unstable Twilight truly is.
** She's dragged Granny Smith across a street against her will. Rainbow Dash wouldn't knowingly make trouble for somepony, but between her arrogance and disinclination to think things through, she could still make quite a nuisance out of herself. Heck, if she'd gone to tell somepony about the crack in the dam, it could have been fixed without breaking in the first place.
* The various ponies around Ponyville find themselves in some pretty tense situations throughout the episode, luckily Rainbow Dash and later the Mare Do Well are there to save them.
** Speaking of that, ''why does nopony else help?!'' There are several pegasi in the crowds just ''watching'' and doing nothing to help the ponies that are in danger! What gives?
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_responsibility Diffusion of responsibility?]]
** In fairness, the disasters were so fast paced, it would take someone of lightning fast reflexes to act on it.
* [[HoldingOutForAHero Just how badly is Ponyville constructed that they need a dedicated hero to save people all the time?]] [[NoOSHACompliance WHY DON'T THEY DESIGN THE TOWN BETTER?]]
* This troper found it rather dark how a baby is rolling down a cliff, screaming.
* If you think about it, Rainbow Dash could kinda be considered a sadist in this episode. She saves people JUST so she can brag. If she couldn't brag about it, would she just let them die/get injured?
** Well, she does abandon her cloud-top rest to save a little filly BEFORE she had discovered that saving people gets her praise. So no, presumably not.
*** Speaking of that little filly, it seems that the well was very deep, since it took several seconds for Rainbow Dash to get to her even when flying very quickly. How did the little filly get down there in the first place? Granted, she didn't seem hurt, amazingly from such a depth, but still...
* Even though some people think the mane cast overreacted to Rainbow's bragging, if you pay attention, you realize that most of the ponies the Mare-Do-Well saves in all likelyhood [[NiceJobBreakingItHero would've died thanks to her showboating]] if she hadn't.
** Worse: the Mare Do Well appearances were clearly producing the ''opposite'' of their intended reaction. Rainbow Dash was getting more and more desperate for people's admiration. We see her start looking for the most trivial of problems to solve. And as we've seen before, the line between looking for problems and ''making'' problems seems pretty thin for ponies.
* In Luna Eclipsed, I was worried about Twilight's reaction to Spike when Rainbow Dash pranks them with the lightning. We had just previously seen Spike scoffing down candy like there's no tomorrow, and he looks very much like he's choking to death on some of it. He even ends up unconscious and twitching. Twilight's only response is to put Spike on her back and walk on. This is pretty careless behavior given that she is supposed to be looking after him. He does turn out to be fine, but what if he had actually been choking? He might have died without Twilight even noticing.
** Can dragons even choke in the first place? Breathe a little fire on whatever's blocking the pipes and it'll be incinerated by the fire on its way out.
** I would think dragons can choke. Fire needs oxygen, and when you're choking, there is none to be had. We know from ''Owl's Well That Ends Well'' that dragons have to breathe in before they can use their fire. So a choking dragon shouldn't be able to breathe fire to clear the blockage. Even if they can, Spike clearly didn't breathe out any fire until he'd passed out.
** Or she visited a first aid station while off-screen. Or read a book on how to help a choking victim.
* ''Sweet And Elite'' has Rarity lying to her friends about her cat being sick, and [[KickTheDog drenching the cat in hot water to maintain that lie]]. What does it suggest about her priorities when she would rather drench her own cat than be honest with her own friends?
** Not anything that being on the verge of tears when two ponies insulted her social status didn't already. This begets more Fridge Horror, though: It implies that Rarity's sense of self-worth is so deeply tied to her social standing she's willing to hurt herself and her friends so she doesn't lose face. Does that mean that her personality is an [[StepfordSmiler an elaborate mask to hide how worthless she feels?]] And what's more, [[DarkAndTroubledPast how did she get like this?]]
*** Her parents [[ImpossiblyTackyClothes don't seem half as obsessed with their appearance]], which may have had a negative effect on [[TheFashionista Rarity, whose cutie mark came from her desire to create great new looks.]] In "Sisterhooves Social", Sweetie Belle seems terrified for Apple Bloom's safety after she covers her sister with grape smush, telling us that Rarity [[BerserkButton really doesn't like being made to look bad]] -- [[DysfunctionJunction and enforces it.]]
*** Coupling these troubled signs with how Sweetie Belle reacts to Applejack and Apple Bloom about to fight and the whole "it doesn't have to be physical to be abuse" mantra...One has to wonder if they're parents are really as nice as they seem. There could be a very good reason why Sweetie is living with her big sister instead of their parents.
**** Except Sweetie Belle is living with her parents. They even say that the only reason she's with Rarity is because they're going on vacation.
**** But she's also shown in previous episodes to be in Rarity's house quite a lot—to the point of having a sleepover there, instead of where she's actually living.
* If Twilight and Ponyville were ignorant of just what might come of giving their baby dragon a nice birthday party, what else are they unaware of? Having a rampaging monster is bad enough, but if/once Spike goes through dragon puberty properly (as opposed to the accelerated, warped one we see in 'Secret of My Excess') they'll likely end up with a whole host of other issues. Not to mention that flame breath of his turning from 'cute' to 'major fire hazard'.
** When Spike goes through puberty properly, he'll likely be able to control himself better. Don't forget he was technically still a baby, so all that really changed was his size, power, and greed. He couldn't control himself and his dragon instincts very well.
*** Who's to say that wasn't puberty proper . . . [[WhoWantsToLiveForever and they aren't letting him grow up?]]
*** Remember the dragons from previous episodes? Sure, they're protective of their hoard, but they're not out stealing random stuff. Not to mention they never attacked until they realized their gem hoards were in danger (and, in the case of the ''Dragonshy'' dragon and Twilight's attempts to make him leave, he didn't attack ''at all'' - just ignored her, even though she was right in his cave, and didn't attack until Rarity tried to take his gems). They've gone through proper dragon puberty. Spike's was fueled by greed, so pretty much all he knew was greed.
*** We don't know how the dragons from the previous episodes accumulated their hordes, so that doesn't say anything either way, except that they don't feel the need to add to them all the time. And by the end of the episode, Spike had decided to leg it, so it's possible that they did something similar. Given that Spike only suppressed his greed because of his upbringing with ponies and connection to Rarity, it is likely that most dragons use their greed to grow up.
* Spike can either grow up instantly and be a gigantic, vicious, rampaging monster, or he can grow up naturally and see his pony friends die while he's still going through puberty. Considering how long the average pony lives, Twilight won't be able to see Spike as a fully mature adult dragon.
** [[NotAllowedToGrowUp Assuming dragons can grow up without feeding their greed.]]
*** There are ways to satisfy greed that are perfect healthy and even constructive, such as hard work. Rarity does this in "A Dog and Pony Show" where she rewards Spike with a gem after he helps her dig them up. It would just mean that he would grow slower rate, but that would probably be a good thing.
* In ''Hearth's Warming Eve'', we see that the leaders of the unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies had personalities similar - if not completely identical - to Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie respectively. The ''leaders'' of ''entire races''. Imagine if your entire race depended on someone like [[CloudCuckooLander Pinkie]]. Or [[TheFashionista Rarity]]. Or [[LeeroyJenkins Rainbow]] [[AttentionWhore Dash]]. We see how the races eventually get better, but what about before that? How do you think life went for ponies who had to live under that kind of rule?
** That assumes that the Mane Six were accurately portraying them. As an in-story story, any number of dramatic liberties could have been taken.
* Also in "Hearth's Warming Eve", the main antagonists are Windigos. Traditionally, Windigos are the spirit of Cannibalism from the Native American Algonquian people. It was said that people caught in a blizzard would be possessed by the Windigo, and eat their companions, which would make them into a Windigo themselves. Meaning if the ponies hadn't made peace, they would have ate each other.
* As to make people happy about the royal 2 not being there, we had 3 of each type of pony. Alicorns are all 3 together. Yeah...
* The Hearth's Warming Eve pageant has a happy ending, with the three tribes coming together in harmony. However, at the beginning, it's noted that this took place long before the rule of Celestia and Luna. In "Return of Harmony", Celestia notes that she and Luna began their reign after they deposed Discord. The play may have a happy ending, but they eventually are taken over by Discord after founding their new land. And not all that much later, considering that Luna remembers Star Swirl The Bearded, who was mentioned in the pageant.
** It's possible that Celestia and Luna had defeated Discord ''before'' the founding of Equestria, and had been around for some time before the events of the first Hearth's Warming Eve, but did not take political control until some later time.
* In "Baby Cakes", at one point we see Pumpkin Cake using her magic to easily walk through the basket that Pinkie Pie had trapped her and Pound under. What if Pumpkin decides to take up a life of crime later? Or becomes a serial killer?!
** Although that seems highly unlikely coming from this kind of series, it does bring up some unsettling AdultFear: Since Pumpkin can walk through the basket using her magic, what's going to stop her from getting into something ''dangerous''? Like the Drain-O in the sink cabinet, the deadly sharp silverware in the kitchen drawer, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking or the stash of "Equestria After Dark" magazines Mr. Cake hides in his closet?]]
** According to Rarity's explanation in the Cold Open, powerful and unusual magic seems to be [[IncrediblyLamePun just a phase]] that some baby unicorns go through. It's unlikely that Pumpkin Cake will retain the ability as she grows up.
* In "Baby Cakes," as mentioned above, we learn that infant unicorns sometimes have powerful magic surges that fade as they grow up. So that probably means that the difficulties that Pinkie had with Pumpkin Cake in this episode are not uncommon for the caregivers of infant unicorns, especially those caregivers who are not unicorns themselves. But now consider the altogether likely possibility that the strength and frequency of an infant unicorn's magic surges are a function of that unicorn's full magical potential as an adult, that is, that a unicorn with very strong natural magical aptitude is likely to have many and powerful surges as an infant. ''Now'' imagine what Twilight Sparkle must have been like as an infant. Imagine how difficult it must have been for her parents to care for her while also preventing her from destroying them, herself, or [[PersonOfMassDestruction the surrounding city block]]. Do you think the kind of upbringing Twilight must have had as an infant might have anything to do with her neuroses today?
** Yes, and here's why: real world horse foals begin imprinting on experiences within hours after they're born. Whatever memories get imprinted carry with the foal for the rest of their lives, and serves as an underscore to their future attitude toward certain things. Twilight very likely DID magi-bomb her parents' house, and they probably responded with alarm since then every time there was something out of place.
** Also, Twilight's not the only victim, here. Rainbow Dash is also VERY sensitive about her aerobatics, and does everything she can to prove them to herself and the world every chance she gets. She can also fly fast enough to shatter the light spectrum, producing an explosion powerful enough to break rocks and demolish buildings. ''''Her parents had to strap Baby Dashie's wings down to keep her from Rainbooming the house apart.''' (HOWEVER! They never say in the episode if pegasi have bursts of flight, similar to unicorns and magic, or not.)
*** Another thing is that Pound cake is ''one month old'' and he can already fly to the point that he can speed around a house while carrying a pony several times his size and weight. If this is just a fraction of what he'll be able to do, he might be outdoing Rainbow Dash when he's older. If Baby Dashie had to have her wings tied, ask yourself: What's faster than a sonic rainboom? Now apply that to Pound Cake.
**** Now factor in Pound Cake's name. He already likes to "pound" things. Sooner or later, he's going to figure out that faster speeds equal harder pounding on things. Here's to hoping he never thinks to try '''pounding the ground at supersonic speed.'''
** Whoa, whoa. Calm down, that would never happen. You have to remember that Dash's special talent is ''speed''. Pound Cake's special talent is...well, pounding. He might accidentally smash a hole in a floor or wall, but he's not the speedy one.
*** Now think about Scootaloo, who's a filly that's probably several years old but can't fly at all. What happened to her in her infancy (fillyhood?) that she can't even lift hreself off the ground? It might be how human babies can swim by instinct but lose the knowledge of how, so maybe pegasi can fly when they are younger, then have to re-learn it. Hence flight school and the Junior Speedsters.
** Maybe baby unicorns are like [[HarryPotter young wizards,]] or [[TheIncredibles baby superheroes.]] They might be able to do all those things when they're very young, but then their powers change as they grow up and "settle in" to themselves, so they have to relearn things.
* At the end of "Baby Cakes", neither twin has a diaper on before the go to sleep. It's more than likely they'll "make lemonade" [[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime or boom-boom]] not too long after.
* When Pinkie is looking for Pound Cake about halfway through the episode, the house is dark and the only sound other than Pinkie is Pumpkin Cake with the rubber chicken. The window is also open. Suddenly Pinkie hears a whispered "Pinkie..." followed by laughter. It's frightening because she can't see that Pound Cake is flying above her, and up until that moment neither of the twins had ever spoken before. So to her there's an [[TheCallsAreComingFromInsideTheHouse unknown disembodied voice]] of an intruder in a dark house whispering her name and laughing while she frantically searches for a missing child.
* Another thing with Baby Cakes, the Cakes, Earth Ponies, have Unicorn and Pegasus children. in Hearth's Warming Eve, we see that the Pegasi, Earth Ponies, and Unicorns where all hostile towards each other. what happened when, say, a Unicorn gave birth to a Pegasis? they would either be killed or banished, which would be VERY bad for the young pony in question. or, the whole thing was just a case of mistaken identity with the the little ponies. which is not a whole lot better.
** It's mentioned that to have these features, you'd have to have someone in the family line with them. A pair of pure unicorns with no pegasus blood could only have unicorn offspring. It may have caused more than a little drama if it was revealed this way that one was not "pure" as they claimed to be.
* Baby Cakes establishes that Ponies can have offspring of a different group to them. This likely includes Pegasi and Unicorns having children different to them. But Cloudsdale is utterly inhospitable to any Unicorn or Earth Ponies - they would fall to their deaths as soon as they were let go.
** Which may very well be why the "standing on clouds" and possibly even "butterfly wings" spells Twilight used in Sonic Rainboom were made in the first place. Once able to stand on the clouds the ponies didn't seem to have trouble getting around Cloudsdale otherwise.
** I doubt absolutely everything in Cloudsdale is made of clouds. There's probably magic furniture in the hospitals and available for sale so a pair of pegasus parents with a unicorn or earth pony foal can care for their child without having to move.
** Logically speaking, the only way two Earth ponies can produce different species offspring is if the Unicorn/Pegasus gene is recessive. Ergo, the only ponies able to live in Cloudsdale, i.e. Pegasi ponies, would only have Pegasus children.
* Imagine what will happen in the twins' minds when Mr. or Mrs. Cake discusses baking a pound or pumpkin cake in front of Pound or Pumpkin Cake. Something tells me those kids will probably be given nicknames as a workaround...
** They live in a bakery, so that's probably one of the first things they'll learn.
* In The Last Roundup, when Pinkie Pie thinks that Applejack has broken a Pinkie Promise, she turns nearly...demonic. She has a second voice layered under her own and her attitude goes from happy to furious in literally Ten Seconds Flat. Yes, she's happy again when she Applejack tells her that she didn't lie, just found a way out of the promise, but ''what's happened in the past to ponies who really broke their Pinkie Promises''? Is that why everyone takes them so seriously?
** [[Fanfic/{{Cupcakes}} Their numbers]] come up sooner.
** Moreover, Pinkie has some incredible abilities. She can move at incredible speeds, teleport, be in two places at once, appear anywhere (including ''inside mirrors''), whip up complex gadgets in a short span of time, [[SuperpowerLottery etc]]. If you break a Pinkie Promise, [[ParanoiaFuel it's impossible to run from, hide from, or stop her]]
** Keep all that in mind while watching "Green Isn't Your Color" and note how Pinkie shows up whenever it seems Twilight's gonna break her Pinkie Promise. If she feels inclined to, she can ''follow you anywhere'' to make sure you don't break one, like she did with Twilight. Now think about The Last Roundup, and {{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgVPun6TuQQ let the title of this vid sink in]]...
*** Spike wasn't at Applejack's welcome home Party. Which is okay, he was probably busy at the time. But then you realize, Twilight had left for about two days, with the others to go look for Applejack, and we never see her stop by the library to pack, or tell Spike, her number one assistant, and friend, any of this. Which means, she may have just left him there for two days straight worrying about where they are, and they're too preoccupied to even worry about it. You can only imagine how worried he must be at the library.
* While a lot of people consider Discord to be "evil" due to his MindRape and BreakTheCutie tendencies, when you think about it, being the "Spirit Of Chaos", he most likely has [[BlueAndOrangeMorality no sense of "good" and "evil" (or at least not one that's the same as ours or the ponies')]]. This actually makes him ''more'' terrifying than if he were straight-up evil. Think about it. To him, causing all this mayhem, destruction, and insanity is a ''good'' thing to him. Rather than being outright malevolent, he's playful (well, as playful as a psychotic reality-warping god can get) towards the ponies much like a prankster child is to the people he tricks. He thinks ''everything'' is a game (hence why he gloats when he thinks he's won) without realizing/caring that he's hurting others. Imagine being an "ant" being at the mercy of a bored child and you'll get why Discord is more terrifying being "chaos" rather than just being "evil".
* At the end of the ''Super Speedy Cider Squeezy'' episode, the Flim Flam brothers say they're going to the next town. In other words, they're going to attempt to run some other farm out of business and make them lose their home, like the Apples almost did. And this time, they might succeed...
** ''Especially'' considering that they just learned an important lesson about overconfidence. And their most most likely victims? Another branch of the Apple family tree.
*** ...Who are likely now warned about the Flim Flam Brothers by their kin. Meaning not only are they likely not to lend the Flim Flam Brothers the apples to put on a demo, they're also likely to be pretty dang ticked off at what they tried to do to some of their realitives. Keep in mind just how massive the Apple Family is and the Flim Flam Brothers have just made a ''very'' powerful enemy. Especially if they go to a certain town with a massive amount of apple family settlers who just happen to be friends with '''BISON'''.
*** Not to mention that if word got out to Princess Celestia that someone tried to split the Mane Six, and in extension, Elements of Harmony, chances are there'd be hell to pay... At this point, the Flim-Flam brothers shot themselves in the foot not with a pistol, but with a ''rocket launcher''.
** The Apples pretty much lost a large chunk of their southern field for the sake of this contest, either the trees picked clean or destroyed by their opponents. For a farm that struggles to get through the winter, they probably just took a major hit.
*** Though it may help that the brothers left behind several barrels of cider made before they switched off the quality-control, which even Granny seemed to think was pretty good.
** Speaking of the destroyed trees, how many of them had animals nesting in them?
* In "Read It and Weep", Rainbow Dash hides under the bed of a pony with a shaved head, implying that this pony is either recovering from brain surgery... or chemotherapy.
** This episode also gives us a pony with a screw for a Cutie Mark. She barks like a dog and sports the same facial expressions Twilight did when she went insane back in "Lesson Zero". Now let's think about this: cutie marks are a sign of a pony's eternal destiny. And we have an insane pony with a loose screw for a cutie mark.
* In "Hearts and Hooves Day", The Cutie Mark Crusaders crash ''a funeral''. Death and funerals in the ponyverse are now canon.
** The love poison itself has rather UnfortunateImplications. The CMC essentially slipped their teacher and Big Mac a '''DateRape drug'''.
** Expanding on the funeral part a bit. Remember in the previous episode we saw a pony who likely had cancer. So unless unicorns can magically cure cancer...
** The story of the love poison mentions that a kingdom collapsed and "chaos reigned". While that's rather vague, it then mentioned "something about a dragon". Considering Draconequus means Dragon Horse and Discord is modeled off an eastern dragon in body structure...
[[/folder]]


!!'''FridgeBrilliance:'''

[[folder: Fridge Brilliance - General]]
* The conflict of Luna's rebellion and Celestia's 'solution' gains much more credibility and seriousness when you consider the dark tone of Equestria implied a millennium ago. They had over-thrown a sadistic chaos god some-time before, and were just building their world around the ever-free forest (The ancient palace being encroached within it) before taking control of their own 'world'. They had no concept of 'fun' as we know it. Discord even states he forgot how 'grim' Celestia could be. So given the climate, it seems would've been a tough, no non-sense era. Think the Equestrian equivalent of the Dark Ages or the Inquisition, only with world-wide genocide and tyranny at risk via magical/chaotic deities.
** And that would put Equestria somewhere between modern times and the enlightenment/colonial era. They have trains and settlements, but also horses/carriages, and still in land-conflicts with Buffalo. Ignorance towards other cultures (Zecora) was wide-spread throughout a small-town. They have a 'mayor' but still a divine ruler by default. (Similar to how the 13 Colonies had leaders but the monarchy came first) And they seem like a primarily agricultural based society slowly making their headway towards industrialization.
* [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/my-little-ponies_4520.jpg This image]], notice how Pinkie Pie is at the same height as Rainbow Dash, higher than the former can stand. Also notice that her front hoof is bend as if holding her over something, either Twilight's bangs have great holding power or Pinkie Pie is [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall hanging on the fourth wall.]]
** Or she's bouncing, because that's what Pinkie Pie does.
* It's stated right up front that Princess Celestia raises and lowers the sun. As is pointed out elsewhere on this wiki, the sun continues to rise and set without Celestia actively controlling it. How is she managing it? Well, if you'll go to her Characters listing, you'll notice that the BishieSparkle trope is listed, pointing out that she does have a subtle sparkle about her at all times. '''The only time we ever see these sparkles is when there is magic in effect.'''[[hottip:*:Especially when it's twilight out. *ducks a thrown shoe*]] Celestia is using the latent magic in her body to control the sun passively while she goes about her normal business.
* We might as well put this here: The reason for Twilight Sparkle's Adorkable personality quirks? It's all but explicitly stated in the show's canon that she has mild Asperger's Syndrome. The show won't address this directly because many ''adults'' don't fully understand the disorder. The 15-20mins of total airtime each episode just isn't enough to explain the disorder in any satisfactory terms. So they just leave us with Twilight having an occasional "dork" moment for a chuckle.
** While the show manages to be plenty of things, being [[AVerySpecialEpisode equipped to explain real issues]] wouldn't be one of them. Consider the setting: A SugarBowl populated by magic candy-colored ponies. This wouldn't be the sort of show to explain issues such as mental disorders to children. So if that's what the writers are implying then they're definitely downplaying that aspect of her personality to just an occasional "dork" moment. Which in turn manages to be brilliant in itself since most portrayals of people with Aspergers on T.V tend to be a bit... [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]]. To the point where that's the whole person's personality. Twilight's symptoms wouldn't be too extreme since she's certainly intelligent enough and has received the best possible education of anyone in Equestria, she would have learned at least a few social skills with her time with The Princess.
* Applejack's name still fits the theme naming in the Apple family, despite not being any specific dish or breed of apple: Apple''jack'', as in jack-of-all-trades. She specializes in apples in general, as evidenced in her variety of different dishes she offered to Twilight in ''The Ticket Master''.
** Actually no it fits all to well considering her role as the main cider maker of the apple family in "Super Speedy Cider Squeezy". Applejack is actually the name for a strong apple cider made by freeze distillation (the slang term for this type being "to jack something" hence the cider she's been giving to the ponies is actually hard alcoholic cider.
* At first it may seem that the only reason Equestria is so matriarchal (both rulers are female, as is the mayor of Ponyville, as were the three historical leaders including a commander who ruled over militaristic society) is because the show is targeted at girls, considering how in the real world most leaderships have always been so male-dominated (even today, when women are no longer discriminated) But those who are familiar with horses' herd behavior know that it's always the lead mare who is in charge, having the most authority and deciding where the herd will go, so it makes perfect sense that ponies would instinctively choose females for their leaders.
* The Elements of Harmony require a very powerful bond between the users to work at full power - for example, the bond of friendship between the Mane Cast, or the bond of siblings between Luna and Celestia. So, how could it work with Celestia on her own? Celestia used them to protect her little sister until she could be restored to normal. The bond was still there, despite NM's actions. Celestia was essentially saying to Luna, "I am so, ''so'' sorry about this, but I've ''got'' to stop you hurting yourself further. I'm doing this because I love you, and I will ''never'' forgive myself for what you're going to go through from now on." Awwww!
* I used to wonder why Spike's crush had to be Rarity, out of all the Mane Six. Then I realized that Spike's TrademarkFavoriteFood is gemstones, which happen to be Rarity's cutie mark. MrMediaGuy
* Fridge Brilliance regarding Spike's massive crush on Rarity; despite being a dragon, he was hatched and raised by a pony. ''He thinks like a pony.'' And with all the fairy tales in Twilight's collection...why, Rarity's like the princess from all those bedtime stories. Proof with "A Dog and Pony Show" where he pictures himself a brave knight knocking the ruffians into next week to rescue the pretty mare. Realizing that is what put me right in that shipper camp. {{Tropers/Allronix}}
* This troper was thinking about how the Mane Six represent the Elements of Harmony, but in-universe they often exhibit the opposite traits (Rarity coveting gems, Applejack lying to her friends, Rainbow Dash being selfish, etc.). At first this troper thought that this was contradictory, but then I remembered that the purpose of the Elements of Harmony was to maintain balance in Equestria. You can't have yin without yang. Take Rarity for example: she represents the element of Generosity, but at the same time she has a bit of a greedy streak when it comes to the finer things in life. But just as being super-greedy turned her into a crazy paranoid miser in "Return of Harmony", being super-generous would quickly leave Rarity completely out of business and with nothing left to give. With that said, it seems to this troper that Discord didn't completely change their personality- he just brought out their worst possible traits.
* This troper noticed another interesting thing about the Mane Six - when you pair each pony of the same type (unicorn, pegasus and earth pony), their personalities seem to be quite opposite to each other - which fits perfectly with the idea of them being harmonic.
** '''Twilight Sparkle - Rarity''': Twilight doesn't care in the least about her looks (she happily wears an unfinished dress made by Rarity, saying that it's simple and practical, like her, and she even dresses as a male wizard for Nightmare Night), whereas Rarity hates it whenever something messes up her appearance.
** '''Rainbow Dash - Fluttershy''': Rainbow Dash is a tomboy, extrovert and excellent flier, whereas Fluttershy is more girly, shy and more comfortable on the ground.
** '''Pinkie Pie - Applejack''': Pinkie Pie is a CloudCuckooLander, Applejack is sensible and down to earth.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fridge Brilliance - Season One]]
* The design of Twilight's cutie mark is somewhat vague, and we wouldn't really know it is a representation of magic until we are told about it. However, the mark is five small stars, surrounding a big pink one; the most powerful and important star on the mark. An exact representation of the Elements of Harmony, specifically, Magic, as it has to be unlocked by the other five. This also could be the reason that Celestia knew to take Twilight in, after seeing the mark, she knew what it meant, and she knew Twilight was destined to save Princess Luna.
* "On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid her escape." That prophecy wasn't about Nightmare Moon using the night sky to escape from the moon, it was about the Elements of Harmony, the "stars" of the show helping Luna escape from the Nightmare she'd trapped herself in.
* Twilight's name is the connection between (or even ''unification'' of) day and night. Of ''course'' she'd be the one to defeat Nightmare Moon and bring back Celestia and Luna together again!
* Luna's lack of screentime after her redemption may seem like a cop-out at first, but then one remembers that her descent into madness was caused by a lack of appreciation from other ponies- ''because she wasn't seen very often'' due to her portfolio. [[HereWeGoAgain We could assume the same thing is happening after her recovery]] except that WordOfGod on her S2 appearance means that Celestia will thankfully rectify this issue.
** Another possible explanation: She hasn't been around in a thousand years, [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6982210/1/Progress so she probably has to adjust to all the changes.]]
*** Confirmed by Luna herself in "Luna Eclipsed".
** She also may have been waiting until Nightmare Night to make her official re-debut.
** Alternatively, Luna is not seen much because her domain is the night, while the Mane Cast is mostly active during the day.
* No one recognizes Nightmare Moon when she appears in the first episode even though the citizens of Ponyville celebrate Nightmare Night. Then you realize that they didn't recognize Nightmare Moon until Twilight referred to her by name. Holidays and related characters changing over the course of a thousand years isn't new, and they probably had a different idea of what Nightmare Moon looked like.
** It makes even more sense considering Princess Celestia has been ruling for the last thousand years and probably didn't like having her sister viewed as a monster and worked to change the holiday so it didn't involve images of Luna.
** That only works if you assume that the statue of Nightmare Moon was not part of the celebration until after her defeat.
** Or possibly they just didn't put two and two together until Twilight said it out loud. Nightmare Moon was an ancient legend, after all, not someone you'd expect to just suddenly pop up one day and claim rulership of the world.
** The statue is in the Everfree Forest, a place of taboo to ponies, and Zecora leads them to it: you know, the zebra which all the ponies in Ponyville were xenophobic towards until recently. That's probably why they'd never seen the statue before.
* Twilight Sparkle getting a floppy horn in "Bridle Gossip" makes even more sense once you notice that [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash taps Twilight on the horn immediately after flying through the Poison Joke.]]
* The parasprites are apparently native to the Everfree Forest, and they should be able to strip the forest of its entire food supply within a day. So why haven't they destroyed the forest yet? Because the Everfree Forest is home to some of the largest, nastiest predators know to ponykind- the Ursa Major can probably gulp down an entire swarm just by inhaling. This explains why Zecora has never seen one despite living in the same forest. This means, however, that all the parasprites that Applejack and Pinkie Pie sent into the forest are [[FridgeHorror going to die very, very, soon.]]
** However, based on the Princess' comments, it appears that the parasprites are now attacking [[IncrediblyLamePun Fillydelphia]], subtly implying that the 'sprites that they shoved into the forest are now... elsewhere.
** This is an example of TruthInTelevision. Many creatures that are, if not common, present in their native environment, will have population explosions when transplanted to new locales due to lack of predation or some other obstacle. Kudzu is a fantastic example of this. In Hawaii, wild pigs are also highly invasive and destructive.
* So... maybe the reason Pinkie wasn't afraid of the scary trees in the pilot was because her "spidey sense" wasn't indicating danger?
** Doesn't her "Pinkie Sense," only work on future events?
*** Well, I guess that COULD have been a future prediction in itself, but in spite of the weirdly specific nature of many of her Pinkie Senses, I'm not sure "the trees are gonna scare the crud out of my friends in a few moments" would have been amongst them.
*** "When my knee gets pinchy, it means something scary's about to happen!" No pinchy, no scary.
** Or she was the only one who noticed that the trees were completely inanimate.
*** ...Because the only way they could work was to frighten their targets out of their wits, making them incapable of stopping to observe or analyse, and that just didn't work on her.
*** An alternate explanation is TooDumbToFool.
* It's implied repeatedly that earth ponies are stronger and/or have more endurance than pegasi, in general. After the Running of the Leaves, when Twilight mentioned most of the contestants being worn out by the end of the race, the camera cuts to a trio of exhausted ponies... all three are pegasi. For all their mistakes and shameless copypasting, the background pony animators sometimes do something especially clever.
** Also in the Running of the Leaves, Pinkie Pie's announcements of "It's Applejack...it's Rainbow Dash!" seem to be out of sync with who's actually ahead. But, since Applejack and Rainbow Dash have unknowingly fallen behind the others, she's actually announcing who's behind.
* At first the effects of the "curse" in "Bridle Gossip" seemed rather random to me, but then I realized it was targeting each of the ponies' personal strengths: Twilight prides herself on her magical abilities, and her horn goes limp; Rarity takes pride in her appearance, and ends up with long, goofy-looking hair; Rainbow Dash, who enjoys her graceful flying abilities, becomes incredibly clumsy; Applejack prides herself on her physical strength and ability to take charge, and gets shrunk; the highly social Pinkie Pie is rendered unable to talk; and the gentle and soft-spoken Fluttershy is given a deep and somewhat intimidating voice.
** That's quite clever actually. This troper completely missed that.
** Actually-- and you have to look closely to notice it--- Rainbow Dash's wings were on upside down.
** It seemed to me like the effects of the "curse" were more oriented towards karmic revenge for what they had been doing in that episode. Twilight was dismissing the idea of supernaturals besides unicorn magic (even though she was right), Rarity criticized Zeroca's mane, Applejack was constantly dismissing her little sister (using the word "little" a LOT) and Pinkie Pie was implied to be the main source behind the gossip. The curse even prevents her from singing her xenophobic 'evil enchantress' song.
*** Twilight's horn went limp because that's where Rainbow first touched her after touching the flowers herself.
*** That doesn't quite hold up when it comes to Fluttershy however. And the Twilight part also doesn't work, especially since it seems to undermine its own argument.
*** The Fluttershy thing may seem off until you realize that this episode was shortly after "Dragonshy" where Fluttershy stands up to a powerful dragon and tells him to leave his cave. Now keep in mind that "Flutterguy" and the dragon she recently told to leave have the ''same voice'', and you realize that this might be a form of the dragon's revenge considering the fact that Fluttershy used ''her voice'' to make him concede defeat and leave Ponyville.
*** It could be based off of how Fluttershy said "I'll bet she's digging for innocent creatures" while they were hiding from Zecora. As punishment for spreading rumors, she got a loud, scary man-voice.
*** Alternately, it could be punishment for her standing up for her friends, but not for a stranger subjected to injustice.
* In "Suited for Success" one might look at the "second try" dresses and wonder, how can they look at that in a mirror and think it looks good? Then one remembers that they go around naked most of the time! It makes sense that they don't have any taste, since they don't have to exercise it on a daily basis.
* Why is Trixie's magic so useless off the stage? Is she just weak? Maybe, but there's another explanation, one which probably makes more sense. Every unicorn has their own special talent. Trixie's is most likely ''showmanship''
** It's probably more than that when you consider that Trixie is Twilight's ShadowArchetype and while Twilight is nice and has a lot of friends, Trixie is arrogant and has no friends. Now think about what Twilight learned in her battle against Nightmare Moon, and it all makes perfect sense: [[MeaningfulName Friendship Is Magic.]]
** Also, if you observe carefully, you'll notice that all Trixie ever did was turn her hecklers' talents against them. It's not entirely unfeasible that Trixie isn't very good at magic unless she has something to imitate. This is further reinforced when she tries to use the rope-charming trick and the storm-cloud thing against the Ursa Minor.
* Spike's attitude towards the Grand Galloping Gala in "The Ticket Master" is basically a stand-in for all of the peripheral demographic viewers. "I don't want any of that girly, frilly, frou-frou nonsense," he says, and giggles at being invited to the gala too. In other words, Lauren Faust gave all of us a cameo.
** This troper agrees, having encountered so many boys (and girls) who are reluctant to display any inclination towards things like "frilly frou frou" or "rough and tumble boys stuff" because they're afraid of being laughed at or teased, it's nice to see that Spike is both sympathising with this fear, and basically showing us it's okay anyway.
** Though one could say that moral was undercut slightly when, in "The Best Night Ever", Spike spent the entire gala hanging out in a donut shop rather than going to any of the events to which his ticket entitled him (which had both male ''and'' female ponies in attendance).
*** Wasn't he only hanging out there because his friends had abandoned him?
*** Yes. It wasn't that he didn't care for "girly gala" stuff, it was because he had no one to hang out with. Even the best events in the world can be no fun without your friends.
*** Indeed. Remember, while everyone else was thinking of things they could do for themselves, all Spike wanted to do was share his hometown with them like his favorite donut shop.
** The only problem with this theory is that the episode was written LONG before even the premiere aired, so they had no idea yet that the show would be embraced so firmly by a PeripheryDemographic.
*** Even so, one of the chief reasons the show was written in the style it is was so those forced to watch it by young girls who compose the primary demographic would be able to actually enjoy themselves. Spike's perspective on the Gala may not have been for the (yet-to-exist) bronies' sake, but certainly for that of the parents.
* Princess Luna armored herself with her jealousy and bitterness. When the Elements of Harmony broke through that armor, it showed what she really was inside... a lonely little girl who just wanted friends and to be loved as much as her big sister.
** Some FridgeHorror with that; her punishment was to be alone and forgotten for a thousand years, no wonder so many fans think Celestia is evil.
** Considering Nightmare Moon wanted to bring Eternal Night it might be a case of the lesser of 2 evils, but by the same token after the pilot and the entire moral she lets Twilight stay in Ponyville because she made friends but her own sister is never seen again...because she want to make friends...FlatWhat
** Princess Luna is going to be appearing in Season 2. Hopefully her absence from Season 1 will be explained, though some reasonable guesses could be made. It's possible Luna is spending Season 1 getting into the swing of things. 1000 years is a long time for customs, traditions, fashions, and other pieces of culture to change, and Luna is probably out of practice with her royal and mystic duties. That and she could be doing work to build positive PR so she doesn't scare the masses whenever she goes walking outside.
*** Although they tend to be outside of the show's scope, there are a ton of non-Ponyville places in Equestria. She's almost certainly living in the high culture city of Canterlot with her big sister. Celestia probably hangs out in Ponyville so much to oversee Twilight Sparkle's learning, but Luna doesn't have the same motivations.
*** ...should we be expecting to see an [[Fanfic/{{Progress}} abacus]]?
*** Considering that the Mane Six ''and'' to a lesser extent the citizens of Ponyville were about the only ones we know to have had to confront Nightmare Moon in person (possibly excepting Celestia, who we simply don't see at all between her mysterious dis- and later dramatic reappearance), it actually makes a degree of sense that Luna might have been less than eager to visit the place again anytime soon -- after the initial party was over and the realization what she had almost done had time to sink in, anyway. Staging her comeback on Nightmare Night of all the times she could have chosen, and with the ''stated'' purpose of changing the celebration's meaning to something less dark and scary at that, could then be easily read as her trying to make amends to the same ponies her 'evil' self was toying with the last time they met face to face...
* Fluttershy is appropriately named for two reasons. Obviously, she's a very shy pony. Less obviously, shying in equestrian terms (The sport, not the magical land) is the act of a horse jumping in fright, usually at a sudden movement or unfamiliar object, something that Fluttershy does quite often.
** You noticed the jargon-based BilingualBonus, but not the one right in front of everyone, and almost lampshaded by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applejack_(beverage) Apple Jack]] being named Apple Teeny (Appletini). perhaps a subtle we got crap past the radar on both Hasbro and The show.
** Ironically, Fluttershy's name is actually a play on "shutterfly", a slang term for someone who likes to take photos. Her G3 persona ''was'' a shutterfly, but Lauren Faust changed her personality while keeping her name for the show.
** Also, "Fluttershy" sounds a suspicious lot like "Butterfly"...Wait, what is her Cutie Mark ? Butterflies.
*** GeniusBonus: According to some sources, the word "butterfly" may have came about as a misprint of the original word, "flutterby." Whatever Studio B's giving their staff to make them this clever, This Troper wants some of it.
* So why was Pinkie Pie announcing the Running Of The Leaves instead of participating in it directly? [[GameBreaker Because she can run faster than Rainbow Dash can fly, and if she was racing, Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash wouldn't have stood a chance]] which would have made the rivalry between Applejack and Rainbow Dash completely obsolete.
** Alternatively, it's because Pinkie Pie is powered by RuleOfFunny and her winning would be too predictable to be funny so she can't even try.
* The ruined castle in the forest used to be the Princesses' home. Therefore the forest used to be as tame as Canterlot. All the roads must date to that period, and presumably led somewhere a thousand years ago, like ancient Roman roads today.
* In "Call of the Cutie", the pony the fandom knows as "Doctor Whoof" is an earth pony with the hour glass cutie mark, spiky hair and a mature man's voice. In "Sonic Rainboom", the same pony is featured, but he is now a pegasus and speaks in a much younger boy's voice. Isn't the real Doctor reincarnated over and over? Fridge Brilliance!
** And if we see Dr. Whoof as an Earth Pony again, that's hardly a barrier. He's just been time-traveling and pegasus!Whoof is from the future.
*** Or from the past. It's all a bit [[TimeyWimeyBall Wibbly.]]
** Perhaps when he's wingless, it's because he's recently regenerated and his wings haven't grown back yet.
* In "The Show Stoppers", the Cutie Mark Crusaders are shown ComicallyMissingThePoint about finding their Cutie Marks by sticking to what they know and like already. Instead they keep focusing on trying different things in their search for their talents and ignoring their natural gifts. Why? Because the kids don't consider those things to ''be'' their talents. None of them regard their gifts as anything special or noteworthy because, while they know it's not the case intellectually, they regard their real talents in a "IThoughtEveryoneCouldDoThat" sense. They don't realize their building / singing / athleticism are their special talents.
* In "The Show Stoppers", Apple Bloom fixes up Applejack's broken-down tree house all by herself, no problem. So where was that talent when she and her friends were fixing Fluttershy's table in "Stare Master"? It makes a little more sense when you consider that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo don't share Apple Bloom's talent (especially not Sweetie Belle), and Scootaloo was apparently working at cross-purposes with the other two ("We were making a table?"), which lead to a classic "too many cooks spoil the broth" situation.
** Moreover, "too many cooks" seems to be tripping them up even worse as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They do EVERYTHING together, and the result is always a disaster.
** They didn't realize that was their special talent. They do it all the time, and are used to it, so they don't realize they're good at it. Just as Peppermint Twist was making candy for the longest time, she didn't realize it was her special talent until a bit later and she got her mark.
** If the other Applejack family members have Apple-based cutie marks, and Apple Bloom's talent is hinted to be craftsmanship, what does that have to do with apples-- oh. ''Wood''.
** Also, look at Apple Bloom's face when her friends say who wants a picture of a hammer on their flank. She looks like a mix between terrified and upset.
*** Yeah, children around that age are very changable in their desires. They can want to be a fireman one week and an artist the next, and enjoy and try a lot of stuff which probably wouldn't have turned out to be my cutie mark had such things applied in real life. Nobody necessarily has just one talent in life, either.
** This makes sense - Twist mentions that she made those peppermint candies a lot, but it was only when she realized it was her special talent that she got her cutie mark.
* In a bit of FridgeBrilliance Pinkie Pie claims that she won't play a prank on Fluttershy because she's too sensitive and might take it the wrong way. However, it's often implied that Pinkie is well aware of the FourthWall, and [[TalkingToHimself she and Fluttershy share a voice actress.]]
* Of course Rarity's "whining" was painful to the Diamond Dogs, with their canine sense of hearing.
* A bit of FridgeBrilliance, I didn't think much about the choice of making Gilda a griffon, until I remembered that in mythology griffons are the mortal enemies of horses.
** There's some FridgeHorror here too, since according to medieval lore, griffins mated for life and would never seek a new mate if the old one died, and may even refuse to eat and simply starve to death. This makes the LoveTriangle interpretation of that episode a lot more tragic.
* Pinkie Pie's insistence on keeping secrets. It actually makes a lot of sense when you realize that not keeping them defeats the purpose of throwing surprise parties.
** I thought it had more to do with [[JustForPun "pinky swears".]]
** [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation One interpretation of Pinkie Pie's character]] is that she was around for Discord's reign (which is why she grew up on a rock farm), and the reason she's so strange is because ''Discord made her weird'' to cause distress to her family (making her immortal as well, which is also a terrible fate for a pony like Pinkie Pie). What does all this have to do with her focus on keeping secrets? Well, imagine the reactions of a town if they learn through her friends that she was touched by the imbodiment of chaos.
* Being a fan of Fluttershy, I've felt through the series that she's gotten the short end of the stick, getting comparatively little focus compared to the other main characters. But then, she probably wouldn't ''want'' so much attention anyway.
* As noticed on the YourMilageMayVary page, Spike doesn't seem to react when Rarity talks about meeting her dream man at the ball, but it actually makes perfect sense: Spike planned on being that guy, but not wanting Rarity to know he liked her, he didn't say anything so she(or any of the other ponies) would catch on, especially if he acted upset about Rarity possibly finding someone else.
** An alternative theory: Spike being a member of the highest circles in Canterlot (or at least permanently attached to the flank of one who was), he could easily have known Prince Blueblood. Five minutes in his company would probably be enough to dismiss him as a future rival.
*** Another possibility is that Spike heard about him at the donut bar. Though Spike and Twilight were both there when Rarity fantasized about meeting him, but didn't say anything.
*** Or this could be a case of IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy, and Spike leaving Rarity to her own affairs.
* Prince Blueblood is by himself such that a newcomer like Rarity was able to easily approach him and accompany him without constantly getting mobbed like with the Wonderbolts. That's because those who already know him ''can't stand being around him.''
* Okay, so we have the five of the six Elements of Harmony: honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, and loyalty, with the sixth being... magic? Each of the others seems to have a sort of sentimental value to them, but magic seems out of place. Then you remember what the title of the show is: Friendship is Magic. So the sixth element can be interchangeably called either magic or friendship, or even the magic of friendship.
** Well, it could also be an alternate name for chemistry between friends that children would understand, because friendship does require that you get along together as well.
** This especially makes sense with The Return of Harmony Part 2. Twilight doesn't fall to Discord's corruption [[spoiler:until she stops seeing the others as her friends]]. If her Element truly was just magic on its own, she would have fallen the moment Discord took away her horn.
* The siblings Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Apple Bloom, from oldest to youngest, are respectively red, orange, and yellow, all three "warm" colors in order. They also have all three possible combinations of those colors--Big Macintosh has a red coat and orange mane, Applejack has an orange coat and yellow mane, and Apple Bloom has a yellow coat and red mane.
** That's just good colour theory on the mane and body colours.
** Also, the colors get darker with their position, Apple Bloom being lightest and Big Macintosh being the darkest.
* In "Green Isn't Your Colour", Rarity seems to keep her cucumbers on her eyes much longer than it would seem required and literally emoted through them. Then you realize that this was foreshadowing her "green eyed monster" feelings that she was going to get later in the episode.
* Why does Applejack come down so hard on Rarity's nitpicking and high-class behavior in "Look Before you Sleep"? Because Rarity reminds Applejack of her snobby relatives in Manehatten and the social exclusion she felt there as revealed in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles".
** From the same episode, Applejack came to Mane-hattan to try the city life with her orange themed relatives, only to find that it's just not her and returns to the apple ranch. In a sense, you could say that she was trying to compare [[JustForPun apples and oranges!]]
** In a similar vein, why does Applejack get so nervous about eating dishes in the proper order at Celestia's party in "A Bird in the Hoof"? Because she remembers enough of her Manehattan etiquette to know that there's a correct order, and she remembers the exclusion she felt when she didn't fit into their society properly... but it was so long ago that she can't actually remember what she's meant to do.
* Everyone in Applejack's family has an apple-related name, but I always wondered about Big Macintosh. Then I saw his Cutie Mark, an apple with a piece missing, and it all fell into place. For those of you who are even denser than me, it's a reference to Macintosh computers, which are manufactured by the company Apple, and have an apple with a bite missing as their logo.
** That's true but there is an actual type of apple called [=McIntosh=] Red. Which is why Apple Computers came out with a line called Macintosh.
** A closer look shows you his mark isn't a full apple, but the interior of one. Apple Corps (pronounced as "apple core") was the name of the company founded by The Beatles. Many of the records pressed by Apple Records featured a full apple on the A-side and an open apple on the B-side.
** Also, if any of you were wondering what relation Granny Smith has with the Apple motif, green apples come from a seed type called "Granny Smith", named after its main promoter, Maria Ann Smith.
* Ever notice the colors of Celestia's mane are pink, purple, and blue? Colors frequently associated with the sky at sunrise?
** I've seen some people say that it's supposed to be an aurora borealis, which is associated with ''solar'' wind. This also explains why it's constantly [[DramaticWind flowing like it's being blown.]]
** Also, the particular shade of blue in her mane? It's also called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celeste_%28colour%29 Celeste.]] Hello, StealthPun!
* In ''Party of One'', when Pinkie Pie starts to believe her friends have abandoned and she sinks into depression, her mane flattens and her color goes drab, reverting back to her look prior to gaining her Cutie Mark. Without a Party, there is no Pinkie Pie; just Pinkamena Diane Pie.
** Note that when this happens she (particularly her mane and tail) deflates and inflates like a '''balloon''' (complete with sound effects).
* Also in ''Party of One'' Spike admits to using all the hot water in Ponyville to take a long bath. At first this would seem like an over-exaggeration for the sake of a joke (''all'' the hot water for an entire ''town''?) until you remember that Spike is a fire-breathing dragon, and dragons both like and ''need'' a lot of heat.
* If you take your time out of the entire Pinkie pie meltdown, the entire episode is very caricature-like and it's not just Pinkie. Twilight tiptoeing around in broad daylight with accompanying sound effects; Rainbow dash drawing a watch in her leg ''right in front of Pinkie'' and making excuses to leave with a straight face; Applejack closing the barn door in Pinkie face and the poorly done construction noises; Pinkie sitting on Rainbow Dash's head, squishing it flat into the floor ... it seems pretty out of context. Then you realize that in every episode revolving around Pinkie or ones in which she played a large part ([[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E15FeelingPinkieKeen Feeling Pinkie Keen]], [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E20GreenIsntYourColor Green Isn't Your Color]]), the entire universe starts incorporating the laws of the LooneyTunes universe in a very meta way.
** Or, in equally fridge brilliance, we're seeing the world through Pinkie's eyes (in third person... somehow...) and seeing how she interpreted actual events in an UnreliableNarrator sort of way, just painted across the fourth wall. As she began to suspect her friends, she "imagined," for lack of a better word, them acting more and more decietful, and when she held her own party the inanimate objects started off just that until in Pinkie's mind, at least, they became real until Dash turn up and fractured the self-illusion.
* Twilight mentions that Spike's breath ''always'' stinks, but how good ''would'' your breath be if you ate gemstones and breathed fire?
** Hence the term "Dragon Breath".
** I disagree. Gemstones are generally odorless, and, fire, or rather the accompanying smoke, often has a pleasant aroma.
*** But when you burn gems in a fire hot enough to break them down they usually release nasty odors from the various compounds they're composed of. In many myths Dragons must ingest gems in order to fuel their fire, so his breath would always smell like dirty furnace.
* As well in ''Party of One'', this troper spent a good while wondering why Pinkie Pie takes longer to trust Applejack's excuses compared to the other ponies. But then, Applejack is the wielder of the Element of Honesty. She is not just the most likely to get caught first, but it's also hard for her to make excuses.
* How is it that Luna, the younger and presumably weaker sister, was able to easily overpower Celestia not just once, but twice? I though that was strange... until I remembered that [[TotalEclipseOfThePlot the moon can block the sun]].
** But it only blocks it on a tiny portion of the Earth. If the entire energy output of the sun was focused on the moon, it would be enough to disassemble it in a little over five minutes. That's shorter than the time it takes for the light to get to the moon. Granted, it won't be near perfect efficiency, but still.
** Celestia let herself be captured. I'm serious. Celestia knew that Nightmare Moon was about to break free from her banishment, re-banishing her would just start the whole thing over again and would ''not'' heal her sister. Presumably she cannot wield the Elements of Harmony herself since it's shown that you need one representative of each Element to wield them effectively. Standing alone against a threat is a poor way to utilize ThePowerOfFriendship after all. So then her prize pupil finds the prophesy of Nightmare Moon's return. Said pupil has the greatest magical potential, talent and skill of her generation but is very poorly socialized, and is shown to have pretty much alienated everyone in Canterlot but Celestia and Spike. So Celestia ships her off to Ponyville where she can make a fresh start, complete with an official job that will force her to be in contact with other ponies. Celestia knows that Twilight is smart enough to figure out what needs to happen, and she knows the strength of [[FireForgedFriends Fire Forged Friendships]]. All she needs to do is sit back and let Nightmare Moon have her way for a little while, since she can always banish Nightmare Moon back to the moon if the plan fails.
* Read [[http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/12/24/my-little-non-homophobic-non-racist-non-smart-shaming-pony-a-rebuttal/ this]], especially the third paragraph about conflict being resolved by sharing. Then watch "Over a Barrel", specifically Pinkie Pie's song. It's basically a giant TakeThat against that idea.
** Except the conflict is, in the end, resolved ''by sharing''. So Pinkie was right all along! She was just a bit annoying about the idea... kinda like the previous MLP cartoons, I suppose.
*** Well that's basically it, isn't it? I mean when you get down to it the childish morals that pop up in most kids cartoons (don't be greedy, don't judge somebody by their looks, don't be ill mannered about generous gifts, etc) are all pretty solid. Even adults know this. The problem most kids shows have is that they're so TastesLikeDiabetes about it, and don't respect the fact that the real world is more complicated than the ideals. Lauren Faust ''knows'' that, can poke fun at it, and respects that characters with flaws are more relatable, and believable than the sugar-sweet expies of characters, whose 'adventures' in no way solve the problems of little girls today. Sharing with the nasty Diamond Tiara-esque people they encounter at school isn't going to necessarily make them nice straight away, and being open minded isn't going to automatically solve the prejudices they encounter around them. Basically, we trusted the ending of Over a Barrell more after Pinkie's song was terrible and everyone missed the point, because it demonstrated that we know it's not as simple as singing a pretty song to fix everyone's problems, but the solution itself is still there IN the song. Essentially, the show doesn't treat small girls like naive idiots.
* So, Applejack thought she would be earning enough at the Gala to pay for Granny Smith's hip replacement. That's probably a lot of money, considering she hadn't been able to save enough to pay for it throughout the months that have passed during the first season. Applejack must have brought a lot of merchandise with her if she thinks she could make that much money. But then it all gets destroyed! She ''lost'' merchandise worth ''that much money'' at the gala! Why does she still describe it as the best night ever? Then I realized she probably didn't bring that much stuff and just jacked the prices up ridiculously high.
** Which makes sense, given the markups at concession stands. A 20-oz bottle of Coke will run you maybe $1.50 at a grocery store, but $4.00 or more at an amusement park. Applejack figured she'd have a captive audience that would need to eat sooner or later; she didn't count on there being a free buffet.
* When Rainbow Dash does her first Sonic Rainboom, it makes the main cast find out who they truly are and define themselves, in ways they possibly might have not found out otherwise. The show's main point is to teach to be who you truly are, with the characters having those specific personalities. So Pinkie Pie's conclusion on that being how Equestria (as we know it) was made [[TheCloudCuckooLanderWasRight is right in an strange half-meta way]].
** That and they saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon.
** Related to this...you know how happy and excited filly Pinkie was when she saw the rainbow? Well, that seemed more excited than she was to see Twilight for the first time in the first episode. So why did she claim she had never been that excited before? Because it was the first episode--making that statement also right in an odd way.
** It is probably more of an expression than the strict truth. You might get into a fight with you boss of girlfriend and state "I have never been so angry" or after a long day "I have never been so tired" It isn't the literal truth, but an exaggeration to highlight the intensity, basically meaning "very Angry" or "very tired", or in Pinkie's case "very excited"
** Another interpretation to Pinkie Pie's bizarre non-sequitur is that she really ''did'' give the Cutie Mark Crusaders her own bizarre version of how Equestria was made but the naration just cut to Pinkie Pie's ''actual'' cutie mark origin story so that audience gets something that makes more sense in context. Then once it's done, cuts back to Pinkie concluding her own very confusing tale.
* In The ''Cutie Mark Chronicles'', Fluttershy is a bit taller than all of the other main ponies at the time of the Sonic Rainboom. Why? As she said to Pinkie Pie in ''Griffon the Brush-Off'', "I'm a year older than you..."
** Also from that episode, for those who've seen ''Feeling Pinkie Keen'', you might've wondered why Pinkie's "Pinkie Sense" didn't kick in prior to the [[spoiler: sonic rainboom]]. Well, consider the fact that Twilight was able to pass her entrance exam the same day [[spoiler: due to the rainboom throwing her magic into high gear]]. In that sense, that ended up working for Twilight in the same vein as [[{{Spiderman}} the radioactive spider for Peter Parker]]. So, maybe that also caused Pinkie's young brain to be all scrambled and give her that "Pinkie Sense" of hers. It would also explain how she ended up with [[CloudCuckooLander her current personality]]...
* Rarity is able to make dozens of ''perfectly tailored'' dresses in a single night, with nothing more than a sewing machine, a few dress forms, and gentle telekinesis for the tricky bits. But she has a big advantage over human dressmakers: almost every pony in Equestria has the same body model!
* In "Boast Busters", Spike tries to attract Rarity by wearing a mustache, and is depressed that it doesn't work at the end of the episode. This makes perfect sense when you remember what happened to Rarity [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E2ElementsOfHarmony the last time she encountered a purple reptile with a mustache.]]
* Celestia having a phoenix is rather appropriate - considering that they're ''associated with the sun.''
** Not to mention the fact that a phoenix is reborn over and over again, so that would be the perfect companion for someone who's lived for over 1000 years.
* It's been noted that all of the mane cast have had SanitySlippage moments. What isn't noticed is that they all have one thing in common: they occur when a pony's talent with their special skill comes into question. Applejack worked herself to the breaking point because she thought her ability to run Sweet Apple Acres was under fire, Twilight Sparkle started to crack when her magical power backfired, Rarity was depressed when clothes she made were seen as ugly, Rainbow Dash became terrified that she wasn't a good enough flier, Pinkie Pie nearly lost it when she thought her parties didn't make people happy anymore, and Fluttershy flipped out when she encountered animals she couldn't befriend.
** [[http://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/h6muu/all_the_ponies_in_this_town_are_crazy/ Reddit]] refers to it as Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome, or CMFIS for short.
** You left out Luna; she turned evil when the night, which she brought, went unappreciated.
** Fluttershy's emotional explosion at the Gala could be seen as a miniature version of what happened to Luna aka Nightmare Moon. To quote the fanfic [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6854699/5/Merely_a_Mare "Merely a Mare"]],
-->'"What would you do if you wanted to show your affection for some creatures, to guide them and provide for them, to play with them and enjoy their company, and they shunned you? Fled from your domain and presence? Rejected your gifts and spurned your love? How well would you take it?"'
** There's also a theme in how each pony snaps during those scenes. When a pony cracks, her personality becomes the opposite of her typical demeanor. Applejack changed from dependable to completely unreliable. Twilight Sparkle is usually logical, but came up with a nonsense plan that had no basis in reality. Rarity is normally gregarious, wanting admiration from others, but became reclusive to the point of considering self-imposed exile. Rainbow Dash is brash and determined, but began literally cowering and quivering in doubt. Pinkie Pie personifies pep, but turned gloomy and cantankerous. And Fluttershy, who is normally very reserved, became explosively expressive.
** Rarity also had a more subtle one is Sonic RainBoom. She usually puts helping others above all else, but ended up completely self-centered, ignoring Rainbow Dash in favor of an absurd amount of narcissism. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking She also made an incredible tacky outfit.]]
*** So far Season 2 supports this, with Twilight going bonkers again when she felt she was being a bad student. Remember, she got her cutie mark at the same time Celestia took her on as a student.
*** This suggests Luna's normal personality will be soft-spoken and approachable.
*** Sort of. She's a bit of a royal loudmouth in Luna Eclipsed, and she's hardly "approachable" when she announces everything so loudly that her booming voice can create gusts of wind and she insists upon referring to herself in the plural. But it turns out this only because she has no idea how to deal with the Ponyville residents in modern times.
*** It was the ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE!
* Celestia knows that Twilight has five new close friends; she met them after they saved Equestria, and told Twilight to stay in Ponyville specifically to study friendship with them. So why does she send Twilight only two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala? Well, given her tendency towards [[BatmanGambit Batman gambits]] elsewhere, perhaps it's to test how loyal Twilight is to her new friends.
** Either that or Celestia is a {{troll}} and just wanted to mess with Twilight. The loyalty test is just a cover in case she's ever caught.
** Perhaps she figured Twilight would bring a date.
*** After reading down below in Fridge Horror (about Celestia being on the same party for 10 centuries), it explained a lot more to me. 1. She didn't invite Twilight Sparkle before because she wasn't old enough to properly enjoy it. Kids get really bored at those kind of parties and Celestia didn't want her star pupil to have a bad time. 2a. She sent only two tickets because, in her mindset, GGG isn't all that big of a deal and it never occurred to her that mortal, young ponies would ever want to go there. 2b. She expected Twilight to take either a date or Spike, since she doubted Twilight could find a suitable date anyway. Common courtesy dictates that you always give two tickets when inviting someone to an event. 3. Notice how glad Celestia was when she saw Twilight? For all we saw, Twilight was the closest person to her (other then Luna, but she's a different story) and her company was the best part of the entire evening. After all, even the most boring party (the one you experienced 10 thousand times already) can be best night ever if shared with a friend.
** Because Celestia just put Twi's name on the list of invitees. The invitation was a form letter. It started "Hear ye, hear ye", not "My most faithful student", and referred to Celestia in the third person.
*** Exactly. From what I'm aware of most fancy-shmancy get-togethers, you generally are allowed to bring yourself and one guest. This also explains why Twilight didn't ask for more tickets, because "me and a guest" is the norm.
** Put yourself in Celestia's Shoes. Would you expect the introverted Fluttershy to want to socialize with several strangers? Would you expect Applejack to do anything that involved wearing a fancy dress? Would you expect Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash to want to go to an event that involves just standing around and talking all night? No. Would you expect Rarity to want to go to a high society event and insinuate herself with some of the most important ponies in Equestria? Oh so very much. So really, you only need to send one extra ticket for Rarity, since the other's don't want to go. - {{Stinkoman87}} (reposted from guess on the WMG page)
* Banishment, and then being imprisoned in the place you were banished to? What a crazy idea! Except that's exactly what happened to Nightmare Moon...
* For those who saw Photo Finish's cutie mark, you might be wondering why it's exactly the same as Twilight Sparkle, who earned hers through a powerful display of magic (while Finish herself has no powers at all.) Remember her occupation? Her job is basically to bring out the magic in her fashion shows. Or, as she puts it....
---> '''Photo Finish:''' ZE MAGICKS!!
** Photo Finish is a fashion ''photographer''. Her cutie mark, while similar to Twilight's, also resembles the flash of a camera bulb.
* In her song to Apple Bloom, Pinkie Pie mentions to add things that are sweet, not sour. Why? Applejack's muffins had lemon juice in them, which is one of the things that made everypony who ate them sick. Given how traumatized Pinkie was about that, it only makes sense that it would be prominently on her mind when Applejack's sister is in her kitchen!
---> '''Pinkie Pie:''' Not baked goods....baked ''BAAAAADS....''
* Why did the animals run from Fluttershy at the gala? It wasn't because they were scared of her, it was because it was night time, and they were trying to get to sleep. Fluttershy forgot that a lot of the animals there weren't nocturnal in her excitement, and the animals ran away upon realising Fluttershy probaly wouldn't let them get to sleep. Likewise, one could make the argument that Fluttershy had never stayed up so late before, and the lack of sleep took it's toll after she exhausted herself chasing after the animals for a couple of hours.
** This would fit with everypony seemingly thinking the GGG was going to be during the day in "The Ticket Master".
** Consider, also, that Fluttershy deals with animals 'in Ponyville' in a regular basis. Consider that animals rely a good deal on scent to identify friend from foe, the animals would not recognize Fluttershy as a friend because they would not recognize her scent. Try getting near a dog or cat, and it will sniff you first before deciding whether or not it likes you.
** She may have been in heat. Anyone who deals with horses/ponies irl knows (or at least probably has heard) that even very sweet mares can get uncharacteristically cranky when they're in heat.
*** Which puts the "You're going to LOVE ME!" in a [[{{Squick}} WHOLE]] new light...
* I thought it was weird that nopony had assigned Twilight a job in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E11WinterWrapUp Winter Wrap Up]]". I later realized that this was a symptom of Ponyville's poor organization of the event.
** This troper's interpretation of it was that Ponyville's population has very few unicorns (only Rarity?) prior to Twilight coming in town. They probably don't know what she can do to help. And thus don't give her a job. Even then, they probably hold a distaste for using magic to complete a task that can be done with physical labor, seeing as most of them are earth ponies. The Winter Wrap-Up seems like a community task, not meant to be efficient, moreso to bring everypony together so they can bond through working hard and co-operation. Few ponies have magic, so you'd be working alone by using it, and thus not participating in the community bonding. Though back on the main subject, they probably just neglected to give Twilight a task because she's still new to town. Perhaps they don't actually see her as a member of Ponyville yet.
*** I'd have to shoot down the 'rare unicorn' theory. Enough hang around in the background shots (although debatably Lyra moved in from Canterlot later).
** Another little bit. Remember when Twilight's snowplow goes out of control and she ends up cutting off about five or six other plowers? Imagine what would have happened had she not done that. All of those other ponies were heading ''at each other''. Who planned their routes?[[hottip:*:Which is also another example of their lack of organization.]]
*** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint ...Nopony?]]
* Aside from the Aesop of the Week, there is another life lesson for kids in "Winter Wrap-Up:" the pony who ends up in charge is the one who isn't qualified to do any of the actual jobs.
** She's the only pony ever to ''try'' all of the jobs. That's what qualifies her to understand how all the jobs relate to each other.
** It is an ''exact'' demonstration of ScottAdams' ''Dilbert Principle''. Because she failed disastrously at ''every'' job, Twilight eventually landed in the ''one spot'' where she could do the least damage: management.
* In the pilot, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are seen cowering together from Nightmare Moon, even though they don't meet until much later in the series. Animation goof? Nope: [[ThePowerOfFriendship "Every pony everywhere has a special magical connection with her friends, maybe even before she's met them."]]
* During the pilot's opening and telling of the CreationMyth, you see Luna and Celestia being portrayed as being blue and pink, respectively. But when we actually see Celestia, she's rather rainbow. But of course, it's perfectly possible that, after Luna's banishment, Celestia changed her colors to reflect her new role as sole leader (possibly with a name change as well). So, perhaps the [[{{Chickification}} chickified]] and pink version of her toy is just a glance into the past!
** The toy has a pink body and aurora mane, not a white body and pink mane.
*** It could be a middle point between the timeframe of the CreationMyth and the rest of the series, then.
* When Fluttershy tries to sleep on her living room couch in "Stare Master", we see that its back is higher at one end than the other. It's a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fainting_couch fainting couch]], which makes sense because we know Fluttershy is prone to fainting.
** Okay, so how did she GET that couch? As pointed out in examples relating to "Suited For Success," she's best friends with Rarity, who also faints as part of her "Drama Queen" persona. Rarity would understand the value of having a fainting couch, and she ''is'' the Element of Generosity...
* It's hilarious enough that Pinkie Pie is the one singing Equestria Girls, which is a parody of Katy Perry's California Gurls. But when you remember that the original music video takes place in Candyland, you realize that Pinkie Pie was THE PERFECT CHOICE.
** She also seems to be singing to the viewers (even using the word [[FanCommunityNickname "bronies"]]), which makes sense as well since she is known to break the fourth wall.
* There's a number of things that make Twilight Sparkle stand out from her friends in Ponyville. She was [[CityMouse born and raised in the big city of Canterlot]], while most of the other ponies are either native to Ponyville (Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie) or have lived there a while (Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy). More subtly, her coat and mane are darker colors than the brightly-colored Ponyvillers, and her name is [[OddNameOut the only one out of the main six with four syllables instead of three]].
** Rainbow Dash is probably also native to Ponyville. Applejack's and Pinkie's perspectives agree that she flew directly to Ponyville after getting her cutie mark, before she even decelerated below Mach 1... perhaps because she wanted to show her parents?
*** It's stated, by Scootaloo, in Cutie Mark Chronicles that Rainbow Dash is from Cloudsdale. She probably wasn't paying attention to where she was going after the Sonic Rainboom, caught up in the adrenaline rush of flying so fast. Also the show seems to imply that Cloudsdale is somewhere near Ponyville.
*** Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders follow the RuleOfThree in multiple ways. Aside from being a trio of three different types of ponies (an earth pony, a pegasus, and a unicorn), they also all have three syllables in their names. (A-pple Bloom, Scoo-ta-loo, and Swee-tie Belle)
** Additionally, her cutie mark is the only one that does not have a three part pattern (though Rainbow Dash may also seem like an exception at first, the rainbow lighting bolt is comprised of blue, yellow, and red, the three primary colors).
*** [[http://images.wikia.com/mylittleponyhub/images/3/37/Twilightsparkle.jpg Her cutie mark is 3 parts: white star, purple star ontop, surrounded by white stars]]
*** In fact the only other main character with a four syllable name is Ce-les-ti-a, not even Nightmare Moon and Luna have it.
*** Where does that leave Pin-ka-me-na Di-ane Pie?
*** She grew up in an even more rural area (re. "Cutie Mark Chronicles"), we can assume that their custom is ''middle'' names.
* Once you realize that male ponies have angular muzzles while female ponies have rounded ones, it is much easier to tell the genders apart.
** Or, better yet, Male characters, not just ponies, don't have eyelashes whereas, female characters do.
*** What about Owlowiscious?
*** Whoo?
* We're introduced to Cheerilee's g4 counterpart in episode 12 Call of the Cutie. And what is the first thing she does-- tell a story.
** You might want to explain this one a bit... did G-whatever Cheerilee tell stories a lot?
*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaWtE74LA-U&feature=related "I hope we hear a story from Cherilee!"]]
* It may come off as a bit of MoodWhiplash in "Best Night Ever" when the ponies are forced to go through hours of trouble after singing a cheery collective IWantSong suited for a finale. Unless of course, you recognize the tune of "At the Gala" as being similar to "Ever After" from ''IntoTheWoods'', where the heroes sing of their hopes for a HappilyEverAfter, only to be met with a DarkerAndEdgier second arc. Someone in the writing staff was a musical buff.
** Similarly with "Art of the Dress", the second half/version of the song where Rarity sings about her customers fussiness matches the cynical tone of the song it's based on, "Putting it Together".
* As of Cutie Mark Chronicles, we know what it's supposed to look like when Celestia raises the sun. Now go back to episode 2. Celestia descends from the sun in a ball of light, which is NOT a normal part of the sun-raising. Clearly, Nightmare Moon trapped her in the sun, just as she had been imprisoned in the moon!
* It was Rainbow Dash's ''friendship'' with Fluttershy that caused her to race to defend her honor, leading to her first Sonic Rainboom, leading to Twilight Sparkle being taken in as Celestia's student, leading to Twilight learning about Nightmare Moon and being sent to Ponyville by Celestia, leading to the mane cast saving Equestria.
** This is taken UpToEleven when you realize that Rainbow Dash's friendship causing the Sonic Rainboom also caused Twilight to get her Cutie Mark, and discover her potential and talent for magic, which is proof of what Princess Celestia is trying to teach Twilight in the first place, which is that [[MeaningfulName friendship is magic.]]
* Why is it that the remainder of the mane 6 witnessed the Sonic Rainboom in the same-named episode, but didn't make the connection to themselves until the present-day segment of "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"? Because each pony only noticed the sonic boom (Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy) or the rainbow (Pinkie Pie and Applejack) but ''never both at once''. Because ''light travels faster than sound.''
* This troper always felt that Twilight Sparkle simply ''levitating'' the magic school teachers was a bit of a copout after turning her parents into plants and Spike into a full-grown dragon, but then it occured to me - this way, they're still in a condition to ''bear witness to the events and grade her accordingly.'' Otherwise Princess Celestia might have been treading on some thin ice and red tape in trying to get Twilight Sparkle enrolled regardless.
** Also Twilight had no control over her powers in that instant, so her magic school teachers probably just got lucky.
** Keep in mind that these are teachers at a ''school of magic'', most likely pretty powerful magic-users themselves. That they were unable to counter Twilight's magic shows how powerful she is.
*** To build onto the above point: they were employed by '''Princess Celestia's''' School for '''Gifted''' Unicorns. This is a school full of young unicorns with a lot of raw power and/or talent, but not a lot of experience and/or control over it. Attacks of PowerIncontinence happen all the time, so thus the school would have countermeasures in place to protect the school's staff and students. Twilight being able to levitate her proctors at all meant she was ''bypassing some of the most powerful defensive magic available to unicorns, '''as a young filly with next to no experience at all.'''''
* The Mane Cast all earned their cutie marks after various moments of epiphany. However, all these moments had more to do with inner character than one specific talent -- Applejack's love for home and family, Fluttershy's need to nurture and ''be'' needed, Rarity's drive to bring out "spectacular" beauty, Twilight's love for magic and knowledge in general, Pinkie Pie's need to bring happiness to others, and Rainbow Dash's competitiveness. The Cutie Mark Crusaders aren't without marks because they don't recognize their talents; to a certain extent, they probably do. It's just that there's much, much more to it.
** Also, you have to consider the fact that Sweetie Belle already knows she has musical talent, but decides to avoid that path for multiple possible reasons other than her desire to follow in her big sister Rarity's footsteps. The first reason is the fact that she obviously suffers from stage fright, especially around strangers which is completely understandable considering she's so young. The other reason is that since she already is the closest to knowing about their talent, she might think that if she gets her Cutie Mark too much sooner than the other Cutie Mark Crusaders, her friends might ostracize her because she already has her talent, while they're still looking for their own, much like how one person might get into a good college while the rest of their friends aren't so lucky, and might be treated differently as a result.
* One from the WebOriginal folder. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tjb14VoWjg PONIES: The Anthology]] opens with a shot-for-shot remake of KanyeWest's "Power", with Princess Celestia in the center - consider that she had to control both sun and moon after exiling her sister. "No one man should have all that power" indeed.
** [[AffectionateParody No one mare]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VypMb4vpzGU&feature=related should have all that friendship!]]
* It would seem odd that a bunch of ponies could easily pull big carts filled with gems while the diamond dogs struggle to pull them, despite being bigger and muscular. However, horses in RealLife are generally stronger than dogs, and can therefore pull heavier objects easier than dogs.
* Ignoring Pinkie Pie (who was singing the song), the Pony Pokey montage covers the ponies in the same order they were introduced in episode 1. (Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and finally Fluttershy.) It could just be a coincidence, but the chances of that are 1 in 120.
** Actually, Pinkie might fit too. Remember, she was introduced "first," but really made her appearance last. In the Pony Pokey, she sets up the song, but her actual part of the song isn't until the end.
* In Dragonshy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie play tic-tac-toe while waiting for Fluttershy to coax the dragon. Rarity says that's 35 games in a row, and to play best of 71. That means they had just played best of 69.
** It also means that one of them has won all the games.
* Upon defeating Nightmare Moon in the second episode, Applejack says they had the elements of friendship the whole time. That makes sense; a friendship needs generosity, laughter, honesty, loyalty, and kindness, but how does magic-- [[TitleDrop oh...]]
* Some fanworks portray background pony Carrot Top as a rival farmer to Applejack. In RealLife, carrots turn bitter when they're stored with apples.
* This might fall under UnfortunateImplications as well, but whatever. In "Bridle Gossip", Applejack is very noticeably scared of and hostile towards Zecora, even more so than most of her friends. But wait a second - Applejack has a Southern accent, and the Southern part of America is [[AcceptableEthnicTargets stereotyped]] as being prejudiced against African-Americans.
** Subverted in that her little sister Apple Bloom was the only one who was willing to give Zecora a chance in the end.
** Want UnfortunateImplications? Zecora is an African animal who speaks with a Haitian accent, wears lots of gold jewelry, has a hairstyle the Mane Cast find outlandish, lives in a HeartOfDarkness wilderness, and has Zulu-style masks in her house. And, despite being discriminated against, she's more than willing to provide the super-natural cure to the white-folks ponies' problems. This makes her more than a bit of a MagicNegro character.
*** Perhaps... except that her "magic" all comes down to herb-lore (involving magical plants, but, well, this is Equestria...). It's her profession, no more, no less.
*** I don't think the writers were trying to play on the stereotype. It would certainly work against the Aesop of ''not being prejudiced.'' Applejack was more frightened and hostile because she felt she had to protect her sister. She even says this to Twilight.
-->'''Applejack''': "No good reason"?! You call defending your kin "no good reason"?
* I was confused for a fair bit over the title of the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Green Isn't Your Color". I kept thinking, "But Fluttershy wears a green dress to the Grand Galloping Gala..." Then it hit me. The episode is about Rarity being jealous... or ''green with envy.'' -fierystage
** Also remember, in her little bout against Trixie in episode 6, she was temporarily given green hair, which clashed greatly with her overall design.
* In "Ticket Master", we see Twilight Sparkle tearing apart and then eating a flower at the little restaurant before Rainbow Dash shows up in the clouds. From a human perspective, the flower would be a centerpiece. But, from a pony perspective, the flowers are like the free bread some restaurants offer while customers read the menu.
* Why was Pinkie Pie the only one who knew about the parasprites? Because she's a BigEater who works in a bakery, and probably would have a lot of experience dealing with pests that have huge appetites that might eat the food there, [[ExtremeOmnivore especially since she's got a huge appetite herself.]]
** Just the parasprites' biology in general. They don't need that much energy to fly, considering their size, so where does all the food they digest go into? MORE PARASPRITES. The fact that they ''upchuck'' to reproduce lends enough credence to this substitute reproductive system.
** Of course Pinkie Pie knows what a Parasprite is! She grew up on a rock ''farm,'' and farmers have to deal with parasites and pests all the time! It makes sense that she not only knows what Parasprites are, but how to get rid of them, too.
*** But then shouldn't AppleJack have also known about them seeing as how her family owns the only apple orchard in ponyville and she's lived there all of her life? Maybe not, since orchards are usually treated against pests. Crop-dusting pegasi. If Twilight hadn't changed the parasprite's diet, maybe they would have avoided Sweet Apple Acres altogether.
** This also raises the question: Was it always a rock farm, or [[FridgeHorror were the rocks all they had left]]?
*** Probably not. Pinkie's parents both have cutie marks related to rock farming. One parent has a pickaxe and the other has a pile of rocks.
*** The song Pinkie used to lure the parasprites out of Ponyville is identical to the music she played at her first party. Given that it attracts parasprites, did Pinkie unintentionally devestate her own farm? (This throry obviously assumes that rock-clearing is a prelude to crop planting, otherwise there would be nothing for the parasprites to devour.)
**** Even if the Pie Family farm was just a farm that grew rocks (or as many fan theories say, grew things inside the rocks), a parasprite infestation would wreak havoc on the family, as the parasprites would eat up all the family's food, making it impossible to live at the farm until the infestation was taken care of.
*** It's entirely possible that she had a brush with them shortly after discovering her party-planning talent, and that she ''happened'' to be a one-pony band when they showed up, discovering that music is the key to solving the problem entirely by sheer luck.
* [[HeroWorshipper Scootaloo's relentless respect of Rainbow Dash]] might seem like the excess zeal of a young fangirl, but she might be right in wanting to ask for Rainbow Dash's help specifically when you consider the fact that Rainbow Dash [[spoiler: performed the Sonic Rainboom and earned not only her own Cutie Mark, but also helped the other mane cast earn theirs in the process.]]
* When Twilight attempts to force Apple Bloom's cutie mark to appear by magic, it keeps on flashing as different things before fading. Why? Because what she wants to do with the rest of her life is still up in the air, and it could be any of those things.
* Why was Twilight so upset when Applejack scolded her for using magic in the episode "Winter Wrap Up", other than the obvious feeling of humiliation? Because Twilight excels in magic, and doesn't really have too many other talents, other than organizing, so when her one of her only talents is considered a burden, she feels like she can't contribute and won't fit in with the others. Considering the fact that Twilight has just made new friends, and doesn't have a lot social experience, it would make perfect sense that she would be heartbroken over the possibility of being thought of a hindrance and that she wouldn't be any use to her friends and wouldn't fit in with them anymore, which would mean that she would be the same lonely girl she was at the beginning of the series, and that probably hurts more than anything.
* I never noticed the significance of Applejack and Rarity having pets until I thought about their constant arguing in the episode "Look Before You Sleep", and then it made perfect sense. It is said that an owner is similar to their pets, so Applejack who has her dog Winona and Rarity who has her cat Opalescence would definitely have a hard time get along initially since it's more likely they would fight just like ''cats and dogs.'' This is even lampshaded with the way they get into bed, as Applejack just jumps into it like a dog would, and Rarity prefers that her bed remain neat and tidy before entering it like a cat would.
* I was wondering why Spike became so insanely jealous of Owlowiscious so quickly, but then I realised that every dragon so far is VERY territorial and Spike probably considers Twilight and the gang 'his' without realizing it! When he thought Owlowiscious was taking their attention from him his natural instincts kicked in and he became furious!
* More Owl-based Brilliance: According to Twilight, Owlowiscious was hired so Twilight would have someone to help her out during night (in itself Brilliance due to an owl's nocturnal status). So why was Owlowiscious so keen to help Twi during the day? Because the other reason he was hired was because Spike was exhausted from overworking... the owl was putting in some extra hours to give Spike a chance to catch up on lost sleep! Shame Spike didn't see it that way, but the road to strife is paved with good intentions...
* Concerning Owlowiscious, and Spike's behavior and attitude toward him. Twilight Sparkle hatched and raised Spike, making her his surrogate mother of sorts. For many years, Spike was her only 'child'. Then Owlowiscious comes along. Spike gets incredibly jealous, and even states that Twilight doesn't love him anymore. His behaviors and beliefs about Owlowiscious are symptoms of something every child gets; he's just jealous of the 'new baby'. Sure, Spike can be smart, level-headed, and even insightful, but he's still just a child, and is vulnerable to all the afflictions of one.
* I was just thinking, Applejack actually can't put together s'mores with the same finesse Rarity and Twilight have. She doesn't have a horn (or opposable fingers, for that matter.)
** Explains why she says "Ya just eat'em" about the marshmallows.
* The astrophysics equations on the chalkboard in a non-college-level school, and, to a lesser extent, Twilight Sparkle writing a detailed essay on meteors, make perfect sense once you realize that the ruler(s) of Equestria are the [[PhysicalGod anthropomorphic]] (hippomorphic?) [[AnthropomorphicEmbodiment embodiments]] of celestial bodies. Not only are such matters of greater intrinsic interest than they would be to humans, but you have someone around who can probably casually answer at least certain types of questions WAY before the technology to answer them actually exists. Gets a [[FridgeLogic little weird]] when you think too hard about the sisters raising the sun and the moon each day, but...
** It's highly likely that Equestria is a geocentric world. The sun and the moon might be placed in celestial spheres, like the ancient Greeks believed.
*** There's actually a much simpler explanation for this: the school in Ponyville is a traditional one-room schoolhouse of the kind that was common in the United States in the nineteenth century. It is likely, therefore, that many other grades meet in the same schoolroom. Those equations were probably left on the blackboard from the previous class, which was probably an AP Physics class, or the Equestrian equivalent. Notice that Cheerilee comes into the room as if this were the first class of the day for her and her students, and that her lesson is on cutie marks, not anything to do with astrophysics.
* Rainbow Dash's gala gown has some distinctly Greek overtones: the grape-bunch broach, the sandals that weave around her ankles, and especially the laurel wreath headpiece. [[GreekMythology And where does the original pegasus myth come from?]]
** Not to mention the Spartan-style helmet her overwrought gown had.
** Also: The Classical Greek/Roman architectural influences throughout Dash's hometown of Cloudsdale.
** The Pegasus armor in Hearth's Warming Eve is clearly modeled after the Roman Centurion.
* The door to Fluttershy's dressing room in Green is Not Your Colour has a small hole in it, for small creatures like mice to enter in. It's a minor, but very nice detail.
* Is it just me, or do the magic spells that we see Twilight Sparkle making an effort to learn after "The Elements of Harmony" seem designed to allow her to do all the things that her friends did on their quest through the Everfree Forest? After all, what's the first spell we see Twilight Sparkle practicing in a subsequent episode? The mustache-growing spell in "Boast Busters". Why a mustache-growing spell? That seems awfully random, except that it would have enabled Twilight to get past the sorrowful serpent without Rarity. Later, she develops a spell to grow wings for a non-pegasus pony. Used on herself, that would have enabled her to deal with the collapsing cliff without Applejack, Rainbow Dash, or Fluttershy. Likewise, it would have enabled her to retie the rope bridge leading to the castle herself, or simply fly over the chasm; either way, she wouldn't have needed Rainbow Dash there either. It almost seems as though some part of her subconscious is still afraid to really need anypony else. If the first spell we see her develop in season 2 is designed to dispel illusions or calm rampaging monsters, then that will definitely be too much for coincidence.
** She does get a spell to calm rampaging monsters! Remember the reed lullaby she uses against the Ursa Minor!
** I'd say her failsafe spell at the beginning of the season 2 premiere was close enough to dispelling illusions.
** Or her inner scholar couldn't let it go like the Pinkie Sense and she became obsessed with trying to replicate the effects.
** Technically, she didn't really learn the spells for that reason. In the mustache case, Spike calls it "growing magic", not "mustache-growing magic" or anything like that, so it's probably just a simple growth spell that Twilight tested on Spike's (too small to see) facial hair, likely at his insistence. For the wings, she didn't even learn the spell. Notice she read it from a book? She didn't know it, and just pulled it out because Rarity demanded it.
* Isn't it frustrating that no matter how often they fail, the Cutie Mark Crusaders never understand that you're supposed to just wait for your cutie mark instead of trying and trying to make it happen? Even Apple Bloom, probably the most even-headed of the three fillies, just doesn't get it. Even after Cheerilee explained it to her class in ''Call of the Cutie''! "Discovering what makes you unique isn't something that happens overnight, and no amount of hoping, wishing, or begging will make a cutie mark appear before its time." Too bad Apple Bloom, who had been diligently taking notes, was momentarily distracted by Diamond Tiara's note-passing. She mighta learned something.
* Maybe I'm just slow, but I only recently noticed the foreshadowing when Twilight tries to help Rarity with the birds' nests: after Rarity dumps a basketful of materials in front of her, the first thing she does is organize them OCD-style.
* FridgeBrilliance - Before you renounce Scootaloo or the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders as [[TheScrappy Scrappies]], consider this. Scoot idolizes Rainbow Dash (FYI, I love Rainbow and am not tying to put blame on her) and the older Pegasus doesn't seem to get the whole "discovering who you are" part of gaining a cutie mark either. So Scootaloo isn't gonna get it because Rainbow doesn't get it. and as the de facto leader of the Crusaders, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are just going to be strung along with Scoot's (innocent) cluelessness until she realizes the right way to get a cutie mark. besides that, Scootaloo is just a KID. We can't really expect her to do the right thing just yet.
** I don't think Scootaloo should be considered the leader of the CMC. As long as we're assuming one exists at all, Apple Bloom is probably a better fit. Scootaloo is too impulsive and Sweetie Belle too timid. Apple Bloom is the group's jack-all-trades in this respect. She's also had more screen time overall, which should count for something. However, as I implied, I don't think the group acknowledges any kind of hierarchy (even informal). Each filly respects the others' opinions, and no one character is shown consistently acting as a driving force for the others in any of their featured episodes.
* Not sure whether this is FridgeBrilliance or FridgeHorror, but there are three buildings in Ponyville with straw floors. Two of them are barns: the pig pen in The Show Stoppers, and the barn Pinkie's birthday party is held in in Party of One. Straw is used for barn floors because it is absorbent, and makes cleaning up after animals easier. What's the third building with a straw floor? [[spoiler:Cheerilee's schoolhouse.]]
** Neither; that's probably fridge humor.
*** It's a much more logical reason, somepony's gonna bring their new puppy for show and tell. And even ignoring the... first reason we all thought of, think of what happens in little kid classes; arts and crafts. Water and glue is easier to get rid off if it falls on straw as opposed to carpet. And, they might have snack time and/or their lunches in the class, so spills would again be better. It's like giving everypony napkins- but a lot quicker, ecspeccially since most little fillies wouldn't have the ability to pick them up. Even the unicorns probably haven't [[incrediblylamepun grasped]] that ability yet.
* As I watched 'Sonic Rainboom', I started wondering why Rainbow Dash was picked on despite being the only pony to ever do a Sonic Rainboom. Then it hit me: she did it once, by accident. She's never been able to pull it off since. It was a one-off fluke, and an accident isn't going to earn her huge amounts of social standing, especially since: 1, most ponies probably didn't see it; 2, she can't replicate it; and 3, most athletic ponies or fans of such would probably prize a pony who could do tricks repeatedly and flawlessly, rather than someone with a long history of screwing up. To be fair, the Sonic Rainboom is quite hard, but Dash's speed and stamina meant she probably should have been able to do it before.
* Rainbow Dash is Fluttershy's foalhood friend, Pinkie Pie's prank partner and Applejack's athletic adversary. In turn, Fluttershy and Rarity are fashionistas. It means that, long after her sonic rainboom, Rainbow Dash continues to be a keystone in the mane 6's friendship! Poor Twilight must still feel isolated, though.
** Not really, since Twilight's quest to stop Nightmare Moon is what really brought the Mane Six together as a whole.
* In "The Cutie-Mark Chronicles", neither Applejack's Aunt and Uncle Orange, nor any of their party guests, have actual New York accents. Instead, they all have affected Mid-Atlantic accents. This might seem like a simple case of DidNotDoTheResearch or of the creators assuming ViewersAreMorons, but it actually makes perfect sense: the Oranges and their guests are nouuveaux riches arrivistes. Of course they'd affect a snobbish accent, just as they've affected a snobbish attitude. In reality, they are probably nowhere near as cultured or sophisticated as they pretend, and are desperately afraid that somepony will see through them.
** This is supported by their reactions when AJ brings up roosters. Look at their reactions: almost like they were horrified someone would bring up something that would even hint that they aren't what they pretend they are. Makes one of the guests asking what a rooster is into a new light as well. Even if they'd never seen a chicken feather in their lives, how can you claim to not even know what a rooster is? Cuz they're in denial like crazy!
* It's interesting to look how gems are treated in the series; to ponies, precious stones are WorthlessYellowRocks useful only as fashion decoration and generally not seen as all that interesting by anyone but Rarity, who incorporates them into clothing designs and Spike, who eats them. Part of this could be related to how common gems appear to be in Equestria, but it also makes sense that ponies would have learned not to get too attached to the primary food of ''dragons''; only the Diamond Dogs appear to hoard gems, and they're in places where the gems are not only easier to get at but relatively safe from dragons. Gems being important to dragons and nothing but baubles to ponies also explains why the red and green dragon get aggressive in their respective episodes beyond simple territorial matters; the Red dragon actually seems fairly even-tempered if stubborn, but he gets rather irate when Rarity makes a move on his hoard in the way someone else might get pissed at a total stranger waltzing into their home and helping themselves to the pantry. The green dragon overreacts worse because not only is his food supply being invaded by a stranger, it's another young dragon doing it.
* When the mane cast was confronted by a monster in Feeling Pinky Keen, it was a Hydra. Since it has four heads, Fluttershy couldn't stare it down. When Discord hypnotized Fluttershy, he did so by touching the top of her head, rather than staring into her eyes. If I remember correctly, when the cranky Ursa Minor attacked, Fluttershy wasn't there. If any of this were different, she would have stared it down.
* One FreezeFrameBonus during Ticket Master subtly implies that of Twilight Sparkle's friends, [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/freezeframe1_9810.jpg the ones she was most inclined to give the ticket to were Applejack and Fluttershy.]] Of course, Fluttershy was the most polite about it, and fans tend to agree that Applejack had the best reason.
* Another example from "Cutie Mark Chronicles": Applejack's cousins the Oranges live in Manehattan, the Equestrian equivalent of Manhattan, obviously. Manhattan was originally settled by the Dutch, who at that time were ruled by the House of ''Orange''. Note that the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_New_York_City flag of New York City]] today has an orange bar for precisely that reason. The pun is complicated by the fact that New York is also known as the "[[BigApplesauce Big Apple]]."
** This actually hits GeniusBonus when you consider the term "Mixing Apples And Oranges".
* Fluttershy and Rarity receive, possibly, the most "[[UnusualEuphemism clopping]]" references on Youtube videos featuring them, among the Mane 6. Why do [=/b/ronies=] like them so much? Fluttershy is obvious; she fits the "{{Moe}}" archetype [[AwesomeMoments almost]] perfectly. Rarity? If this were a harem anime, she'd probably be the ''{{Tsundere}}''.[[hottip:*:Must...not...write AU harem anime fanfic...]]
** Go ahead and write a harem fic if you want. I know ''I'd'' read it.
* In Boast Busters, Spike wanted to grow a mustache to impress Rarity. Perhaps because he knows Rarity is impressed by dragons with mustaches (Steven Magnet)?
* In The Best Night Ever, the Mane 6 are suffering from Elements of Harmony Failure Insanity Syndrome (as opposed to CMFIS).
** Fluttershy is attempting to imprison harmless animals to entertain herself, hardly a kind action.
** Rarity is self-centred (if not to the same level as Blueblood), looking only to charm Blueblood and win her Prince Charming, rather than generous (again, Blueblood ''was'' being a douche to her, but still).
** Rainbow Dash abandons her friends to go hang out with the Wonderbolts, a pretty disloyal things to do. Especially ironic given how she turned down the Shadowbolts in the pilot.
** Pinkie Pie's antics aren't amusing to the ponies at the Gala, which defeats the purpose of being the Element of Laughter.
** Applejack is being dishonest to herself about what the Gala-goers want to eat (Whole apple pies? really?).
** And Twilight Sparkle is ignoring her friends to try and hang out with Princess Celestia instead.
* Applejack's dog is named Winona. "Winona" means "first-born daughter". Who's the first-born daughter in her family? Applejack!
* In "Over A Barrel" Rainbow Dash yells for Pinkie Pie to get away while she holds off the entire herd of buffalo currently surrounding them. At first it sounds like empty bravado, but then we see just how much damage she can do in "Lesson Zero." Those buffalo really were going to get held off. ''Hard.''
* In 'The Best Night Ever', Rarity repeatedly fantasizes about meeting her true love at the Gala- Prince Blueblood. As was pointed out earlier, Twilight, being part of some of the highest social circles in Equestria, probably knew him, but didn't mention his personality to Rarity. Why? Well, I can think of two reasons to start- one, she didn't want to crush her friend's dream, or two, she didn't think Rarity would believe her. Or, hell, maybe she thought he'd be a better pony by then- or that Rarity would manage to redeem him.
** Or it could be that Twilight didn't actually know ''anyone'' other than Celestia all that well.
* In the ''"Owl's Well That Ends Well"'' scene with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJOCyj5h2WE#t=3m13s the ponies all looking at Spike at the same time and smiling, Pinkie petting him, etc...]] it's clear that Spike was enjoying the attention. It's interrupted when Twilight says that's enough; but perhaps the reason she said that was because she wouldn't want him to get too used to that much attention from them. When Spike ''does'' get used to it, seeing that attention go to an owl instead makes him [[GreenEyedMonster jealous]] enough to temporarily become a villain. [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain (Albeit an ineffectual one.)]] Perhaps that kind of addiction to their attention is what Twilight was trying to prevent...
* At the start of ''Suited For Success'', Applejack is seen walking into Rarity's shop with Twilight. At first, this seems like some sort of way to make Rarity think of making dresses for all her friends, but that role could easily be filled by Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie. For that matter, doesn't Rainbow Dash fill that role? So why is Applejack with Twilight? Because we're given hints in other episodes (''Ticket Master'', ''Applebuck Season'') that Twilight hangs out with Applejack more than any other of the mane cast. Applejack is even the one that counsels her on Pinkie Sense during Feeling Pinkie Keen.
** In a similar vein, Rainbow Dash calls out to Pinkie Pie in Over a Barrel and Pinkie Pie is the only one of the mane cast to follow her. Why? Because they decided they liked each other beyond just playing pranks.
** The final pair (Rarity and Fluttershy) have their relationship expressed throughout a lot of Green Isn't Your Color, especially at the beginning when Rarity mentions that she and Fluttershy spend a day together at the spa ''every week''.
*** This adds in even ''more'' Fridge Brilliance in the second episode, where, after the cliff collapse, Fluttershy saves Rarity, Rainbow Dash saves Pinkie Pie, and Applejack saves Twilight. In the ''second episode'', they hinted at who would be the closest of friends within the larger friendship group.
* The reason Twilight's machine failed to analyze Pinkie sense in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E15FeelingPinkieKeen Feeling Pinkie Keen]]? They were standing in a basement without moving. That meant nothing whatsoever was going to happen, so there was nothing for Pinkie sense to predict!
* Rarity wears her Gala dress to the lunch with Celestia in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E22ABirdInTheHoof A Bird In The Hoof]], and is quite protective of it. Her behavior comes across as being a prissy fashionista, but then you realize her friends made the dress for her as an apology for ruining her reputation and career with their disastrous "dresses" in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E14SuitedForSuccess Suited For Success]]. Not only is she very protective of their dress, she's showing off their work to the Princess herself. Now that's a friend!
* The rabbit stampede in Applebuck Season looks like pure RuleOfFunny at first. But then think about what the rabbits actually do. They start eating the all the flowers in the village. By themselves. With ''nopony telling them what to do.'' That's Everfree levels of mindscrewery right there.
* Fluttershy becoming a model in Green Isn't Your Color might lead to the conclusion that she's the most attractive pony InUniverse. FridgeBrilliance sets in once you find out that InRealLife, as children supermodels were often tall and skinny compared to their peers, just like filly Fluttershy in The Cutie Mark Chronicles flashback.
* Why does Spike claim he came out of a green and purple egg in the first ep when it was just a purple egg in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles"? Because he remembers that egg ''from the inside''.
* Speaking of "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", anyone else notice the fact that the Mane Six's Cutie Marks correspond almost directly with The Elements of Harmony?
** Applejack: Her cutie mark came when she decided to stop pretending to be something she's not, i.e. she stopped lying to herself (Honesty)
** Fluttershy: She got hers when she comforted the animals who were frightened by the Sonic Rainboom (Kindness)
** Rarity: She could've easily kept all of those gems to herself, but chose to give them to somone who really needed them (Generosity)
** Twilight: She discovered her talent for magic ([[CaptainObvious Magic]])
*** And while her magic was going out of control and everyone was freaking out, only Princess Celestia extended the hoof of ''friendship.''
** Pinkie Pie: She got her cutie mark when she smiled for the very first time and decided to spread happiness and smiles all around her (Laughter)
** Rainbow Dash: She got her cutie mark after competing determinedly to defend the honor of one of her friends (Loyalty)
* In "Owl's Well That Ends Well" Spike meets an adult dragon who tries to kill him. While Spike had just eaten part of his horde, it still seemed excessive that he would start trying to kill Spike after giving him only a token effort to explain himself. And then comes "Secret of My Excess," and we see that if Spike had tried to claim that horde, he would have reached adulthood almost instantly. That makes the adult dragon's attempt to kill Spike a reasonable, if grim, attempt to fend off a competitor before he becomes a problem.
* In ''Dragonshy'', during the preparation montage Big Macintosh is seen loading apple juice into Applejack's saddlebags. He's seen looking winded right afterwards, but this is THE Big Macintosh, who can kick ponies over the horizon. This is also the Big Macintosh who was recovering from a serious rib injury not too long ago.
* In "Feeling Pinkie Keen", When running from the hydra the group has to jump across stone pillars to escape. Fluttershy is the first to go and says to herself "It's just a hop, skip and a jump." Which is something Pinkie told her back in "Dragonshy" Why couldn't she just fly across? The same reason in "Dragonshy": ''her wings lock up when she's scared.'' And why couldn't Twilight teleport across when the pillars collapsed when she does it all the time in "Applebuck Season"? As we've seen throughout the series, when Twilight is stressed (end of Lesson Zero, Cutie Mark Chronicles, The "failsafe spell" in Return of Harmony) she has a harder time controlling magic, and it usually just doesn't work.
* I think this is why the doozy in "Feeling Pinkie Keen" was Twilight believing in Pinkie's pinkie sense instead of the hydra. They were expecting something bad to happen at foggy bottom bog. [[CaptainObvious Hydra's are bad.]] The doozy as said by pinkie that something that you don't expect was going to happen. Nobody (including the fans) expected twilight giving in.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fridge Brilliance - Season Two]]
* When Twilight is turned grey she becomes very depressed and emo. [[Literature/{{Twilight}} What is she named after as a pop culture reference?]]
** [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Um.. The period of time between day and night where the sun isn't completely gone, but the moon and darkness have fully risen already? Stars in the sky at that point?]]
*** In other words, it also means the DarkestHour. And at this point, there is [[DespairEventHorizon NO uncertainty]] that it isn't.
*** Twilight is also the point where there is complete balance and ''harmony'' between day and night.
* I just noticed there is merit to the spelling of Discord's species name Draconequus, the third to last and second to last letters are both U's, like in "continuum" like [[StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Q Continuum]]. Also, it contains a Q.
* From the first part of "Return of Harmony" I thought it was a bit much that Fluttershy was such a paragon of IncorruptiblePurePureness that Discord had to cheat to negate her element. But then I realized that Fluttershy's low self esteem meant that if there was tension among the group she'd blame herself rather than everypony else. Discord's tactic of negating the elements relied on exploiting the selfishness or short-sightedness of the group which meant that he had nothing to manipulate in Fluttershy who's both selfless and too scared to act in haste.
** Discord's corruption of Fluttershy becomes even more brilliant when you realize it was basically a role-reversal of [[BewareTheNiceOnes her getting angry and staring down monsters that threatened her friends]].
** That and making someone angry usually isn't a kind thing to do, even if they deserve it.
* At first, Discord forcing Rainbow Dash into [[SadisticChoice choosing between helping her friends and saving her home]] doesn't make much sense going along with Discord's repeated attempts to undermine their Element Of Harmony, after all, it's just forcing her to choose which she'll be loyal to. Then you realize that [[XanatosGambit regardless of which she chooses, she's betraying the other and going against her Element Of Loyality]].
** Expanding on this: Discord's plan to corrupt Rainbow Dash is a XanatosGambit, while the attempts at corrupting the others are not. Why didn't he do that earlier? Because Fluttershy had just proved to him that his usual methods weren't foolproof, so he decided to step up his game.
** Not so much of a XanatosGambit, but just as much FridgeBrilliance, when you realize that Discord never said which choice was the right choice. For all we know, Rainbow Dash just ''doomed'' Cloudsdale, and, if she had just stayed in the maze, it could have been alright.
*** Going even further, Discord never explicitly stated what he meant by "home." Thus, Discord's statement meant that if Rainbow Dash left the maze (making the wrong choice in the process) then she would inadvertently destroy her home (which, for the entirety of the series, has been Ponyville). This means that Discord's prophecy wasn't a lie at all, and that he was merely tricking her with images of Cloudsdale's destruction.
*** Pay close attention and you'll see that he corrupted her even ''before'' she had a chance to choose. And, as it turned out in Part 2, he tricked her into believing that a small patch of cloud was her hometown, just to get her to betray her friends.
*** Pay even closer attention and you'll see that her choice was already made before the corruption started. She just hadn't acted on that choice yet.
** If you think about the whole situation, you realize it's probably just one massive XanatosGambit anyway. Even if they ''found'' the Elements Of Harmony, it's ''very'' likely Discord would've [[BreakTheCutie broken]] one of them before they did, rendering the Elements useless anyway. The only real way he could've lost is if he failed to break or MindRape ''all'' of them and they found the Elements Of Harmony.
* Discord did take Twilights element! When they where about to enter the labyrinth, he took her horn and said himself he took her magic.
** What's more, he separated her from her friends at the very moment her determination convinced them to put their best...hooves forward (cheesy, but awesome). One could say Twilight's not the last to lose her 'element', but it was already taken from her first without brainwashing (because Discord's messing with them all).
* The order of BreakTheCutie in which Discord goes by is actually very smart thinking on the writing staff's part:
** He first goes after Applejack, the TeamMom who'd have noticed if anything fishy was happening to the group and would have united the team (even if they were brainwashed) with her willpower.
** Pinkie Pie second since, despite being an earth pony, she has energy that rivals Rainbow Dash's and is the most optimistic and unpredictable of the group.
** Rarity third because next to Applejack and Twilight, she has the most pluck and common sense to think of a rational way to stop him.
** Fluttershy fourth since while she has a fierce protective side, she is the least assertive of the group.
** Rainbow Dash next since to Discord, she presents the least amount of danger in that she acts before she thinks, and was therefore the easiest target of the Mane Six for him to manipulate.
** And he ultimately succeeds in breaking Twilight by taking away the most important thing in the world to her besides her magic: her first and best friends.
* In the season two premiere, Discord tells Rainbow Dash that Cloudsdale is in trouble, and she'd have to leave her friends to save the town. A lot of people say that either way she's betraying someone, and that's true. However, earlier in the episode, RD says that she'll ALWAYS be loyal to the Princess, to which Discord responds "We'll see". Taking that into account, it really is FridgeBrilliance.
* During "The Return of Harmony", I questioned why Celestia didn't help the Mane Cast search for the elements. Then it hit me: Discord was probably causing troubles all over Equestria before and during the Mane Cast were in the maze. Celestia probably had to fix all those problems before they got out of hand. Just as well, there was probably very little she could do to help the Mane Cast anyway. It's implied that Discord may be as powerful, or perhaps even moreso, that her. Since she no longer wields the elements, she likely couldn't do anything to him anyway, and whatever he did do with the elements, it's not likely that Celestia can do a spell or anything else to help find them.
** And if Discord can remove wings and horns with just a thought, Celestia going in would be risking one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria.
*** When Discord takes over, the sun and moon start rising completely at random, implying that he's able to effectively NEGATE Celestia's powers.
* Just thought it was clever and worth pointing out, whenever Discord tries to lead the ponies into other areas where he can trick them, the first thing they see are their CUTIE MARKS. Notice, Applejack gets to the Orchard by following three apples. What is her cutie mark? A picture of three apples! Rarity is lured by three diamonds, and Pinkie first sees three balloons in the same color and pattern as her cutie mark. Fluttershy sees three butterflies with pink wings, and Rainbow Dash follows a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt. During Pinkie Pie's scene, the camera actually has a close up of her cutie mark right before she sees the first three balloons. Their cutie marks represent their calling in life, and it's what attracts them the most, so it makes sense that Discord would use them to lure them into his trap.
** It's also interesting considering that Discord uses the cutie marks of the mane six talk to most of them character, literally a corrupted form of each of their elements.
** Alternatively/In Addition, the Elemental Harmony Necklaces and Tiara have gemstones that were in the shape of their cutie marks. We only get it spelled out in Rainbow Dash's case, but most or all of them probably thought that Discord had turned their Elements into the things they saw.
*** ...He took the symbol of the one thing in the world that's most sacred to them and used it to betray them? That's just ''[[MoralEventHorizon evil]]''.
** The same thing happens to Twilight! Her CM is one large star and five small ones, like the Elements of Harmony - five small, and then magic/friendship itself. It was when the Elements of Harmony failed that she got Discorded.
* Discord's personality varies sharpely from one moment to the next. He's LaughablyEvil and some of his chaotic creations are simply silly things but at the same time, he's a sadistic, cruel, and cunning ManipulativeBastard who gets a kick out of [[BreakTheCutie breaking spirits for fun]]. One minute he's [[MindRape mind raping]] the mane cast ForTheEvulz, the next he's relaxing on a sofa with popcorn to watch the chaos unfold. He's funny and downright monstrous at the same time. Why? [[AnthropomorphicPersonification He's literally chaos incarnate]]. His personality is just as chaotic as the rest of him, going from silly to sadistic without warning.
* While the Celestia part of this image is a joke, it helped me realize that [[http://s3.amazonaws.com/kym-assets/photos/images/newsfeed/000/177/648/mlp_discord.jpg?1316820872 Discord's design has cues from several other antagonists/threats in the series]].
* The reason why Applejack is such a BadLiar is because she is partially [[FromACertainPointOfView telling the truth at times]]. For one, "I was talking to nopony", is true because she was talking to a pile of apples.
** That can be a very effective way of lying. She's terrible because she has an incredible obvious tell, and because she doesn't know how to make them sound plausible.
* Twilight decides to save Applejack from TheCorruption first. Why? As noted above, Applejack is the TeamMom, plus Applejack's roping skills would come in handy, as seen when they went to save Fluttershy.
** It could also be that, as noted in the Season One folder of this page, that Applejack is probably Twilight's best friend of the mane six so she would want to save her first.
** Which leads to further FridgeBrilliance as to why they chose Fluttershy to free next. Outside of Applejack, Fluttershy is the ''other'' TeamMom.
** More practically, Applejack was also the most approachable of the Discorded ponies. The others all tried to fight back or run away.
* At first I thought it was disappointing that Rainbow Dash wasn't seen more after she got "Discorded", until I realised that her element, being Loyalty, means "to always be there for her friends". With her Loyalty corrupted, she was literally not there for her friends!
* At first it seemed like Discord was caught holding the IdiotBall in the end of "Return of Harmony Part 2", but then again, when you are surrounded by chaos, it's hard to keep track of what has been changed. When Applejack claimed the friends were back together, he could have easily thought she was still brainwashed (and ''said'' as much) and just trying to call his bluff. When the Elements start to work, you'd think he'd start running, but remember that when they failed the first time, it looked like they were going to work until the last second, meaning by the time he could have been able to tell it was actually working, it was already too late. Even then he only encountered the Elements once before, so he may have also assumed when they failed that he broke the Elements themselves and not just their users. All of this is much harder to keep track of when chocolate milk behaves like nitroglycerin and buffalos dance in tu-tus. His defeat was less IdiotBall and more HoistByHisOwnPetard.
** Given this scenario, it's also likely that Discord didn't consider the possibility that the friendship Twilight and the others have for each other would be strong enough to break his spell, making this a case where EvilCannotComprehendGood.
* People have wondered why Celestia kept Discord's statue in Canterlot's Statue Guarden, but think about it. How often in works have fiction has a SealedEvilInACan been accidentally unleashed no matter ''where'' it's kept? Even if he hadn't moved in over 1000 years, the thought he ''could'' awaken was probably constantly in the back of her mind. So doesn't it make sense she'd like to keep him where she can see him at any time? Like ''right outside her throne room window?'' All it takes to realize he's escaped or if he's still there is walk to the place she likely spends most of her day when at the palace and take a peek out the window. And on top of that, the statue guarden is on royal property, likely protected by guards and can be safeguarded, unlike if she'd left it in a forest or something where some poor pony might stumble upon him and accidentally release him. It's just as well guarded as a secret chamber in the castle, but with the added bonus of being able to just peek out and make sure he's still there anytime she needs to. It actually makes perfect sense!
** Or she just keeps the statue as a monument to one of her greatest triumphs.
** Why not both? She could be keeping him as both a monument and to keep an eye on him. On top of that, she and Luna are probably the only ones who reconize the statue is Discord the Spirit of Disharmony anymore (as they're the only living beings that would have lived since Discord was sealed), everyone else assumes it just represents the WORD Discord.
** Plus, remember how Discord stole the Elements or Harmony ''because'' they were heavily protected? Celestia probably predicted that, if she guarded Discord's statue, it would make no sense for Discord to be able to escape (and that's why he would). It even makes more sense when you remember that she did the same with the Elements of Harmony at first but, after some hundred years, she probably forgot.
** You would think she would want to keep the Elements out and easy to take for that very reason, what with Discord being such a dangerous enemy. But that was 1000 years ago. Celestia had probably made/come across more straight forward and powerful enemies since.
* Spike is Twilight Sparkle's personal assistant and the one who's stuck with her the longest, it makes ''perfect'' sense that he'd inherit the Element of Loyalty. This troper felt there was some missed awesome there.
** He does not hold similar loyalty to the other 5 ponies, except maybe Rarity, but only because of his crush. He's similar but not identical, which is why the substitution failed.
** I for one feel like it was not as much Spike's fault as the cast not being themselves. Even if Discorded Rainbow Dash happened to be there, it's very likely the result would have been the same.
* In "Return of Harmony, Pt. 2", you feel bad for Spike because he has to "receive" all the letters from Princess Celestia and it leaves him in a pretty bad state. However, as mentioned in the FridgeHorror section, Celestia probably only knew that Twilight was corrupted and she could only help by sending the letters. But why did she have to send all of them? Because in her apathetic and depressed state of mind, Twilight probably would have ignored one or two letters. However, a whole pile of them was able to pique Twilight's curiosity even in her apathetic state. Also the large number of letters make a deeper impression on her.
* Why does Discord pretty much completely freeze up when he realizes the Elements Of Harmony have been activated? Because before then he'd ''always'' been in control, [[TheChessmaster everything had gone according to plan]]. The ''one'' time before that that something went ''slightly'' different from his plan, [[VillainousBreakdown he got furious]] ''very'' quickly. When he realized the Mane Cast had restored their friendship and the Elements Of Harmony, his entire plan just ''completely imploded'' all at once before his eyes in ''less than a few seconds!'' It suddenly becomes clear to him that everything he'd done over the past two episodes was in vain. No wonder he froze up!
** Also, think about this. Discord seemed ''truly terrified'' when he realized what was happening. How often in the life of an immortal RealityWarper does FEAR show up? When we see him as a statue the first time, he's laughing. Which makes sense, he probably didn't realize the ''newly discovered'' magic Celestia and Luna used on him was more powerful than he was, so he wasn't afraid of it. Now he ''knows'' what it'll do to him. By all logic, that was probably the first time in his entire life he'd ever ''felt'' fear, let alone reacted to it.
*** In short, he had a ''textbook'' OhCrap moment.
* Why does Discord get so frustrated with Fluttershy? Yes, she's not falling for his mind tricks, but there's a bonus: Fluttershy is in total agreement, total ''harmony'' with Discord's insults, while her other friends (even Pinkie Pie) showed doubt, fear, and other kinds of conflicting emotions. Discord is ''all about'' conflict, so of course he wouldn't like it if somepony had absolutely no problem with what he was saying.
** Not to mention that Discord specializes in beating his opponents in their own game, but Fluttershy wouldn't fight him not only because she hates conflict, but because she's the element of ''kindness'' and naturally wouldn't fight on principle which means that Discord literally couldn't win a fight that had no conflict for him to take advantage of, and resorts to cheating to defeat Fluttershy since she refused to directly challenge him.
* In Return of Harmony, part 1, Discord corrupts everyone but Twilight by stripping them of their elements. Twilight's element is Magic, rather then a virtue, so one wonders how he would corrupt her. In part 2, [[spoiler:wrecking the Mane cast's friendship corrupts her on its own, no brainwashing needed. Because Friendship ''is'' Magic!]]
* Return to Harmony, part 1: [[FanNickname Flutter]][[JerkAss bitch]] asks Twilight "why don't you wave your magic little horn, and make everything alright?" After some (justified) moping, soul searching and letter reading in part 2, [[spoiler:that's exactly what she does.]]
** She also inadvertently gave the correct answer to Discord's riddle [[spoiler:by saying "Can we go home now?" Which is where the Elements are.]]
* When Discord causes a character to turn against their "element", they are noticeably... darker. Many fans have noticed the lack of mention this gets in the show, with only Spike mentioning that they look grey. This makes a great deal more sense when you realize that the color shift is a visual cue for the audience to keep up with who has been effected, and to what extent. Spike is often used as an audience analog, so it makes PERFECT SENSE for him to be the only one to notice it.
** Pinkie Pie also notices, but she's known for BreakingTheFourthWall, so it makes ''perfect'' sense for her to know as well!
* There's an old saying "[[DarkestHour It's always darkest just before the dawn]]," meaning that even in the worst of times, there is hope. When the battle with Discord reaches it's DarkestHour, guess who restores hope? ''Celestia'', the one who ''causes'' the dawn!
* Discord says the ponies have to "go back to where they began" to get the elements back. So, where do they have to go? Back to the book about The Elements Of Harmony, which is where episode one of season one began!
* Fluttershy gets probably the most angry we've ever seen her when Twilight points out [[TheBadGuyWins that Discord might win]] and refers to him by the unusally judgemental phrase "[[ThisIsSparta That BIG. DUMB.]] '''[[ThisIsSparta MEANIE!]]'''". This is pretty much the meanest thing ''normal'' Fluttershy has ever said about anyone. Why? Discord has [[BreakTheCutie broken]] and MindRaped all her friends, mutated her animal friends (including Angel), and worst of all, MindRaped Fluttershy herself into being absolutely cruel to them, something Fluttershy viewed as a nightmare. Remember that Fluttershy is a ''serious'' MamaBear when it comes to her friends and the FriendToAllLivingThings. Discord pretty much just did everything he possibly could to make [[ItsPersonal personal]] when it comes to Fluttershy.
* Think about Discord's personality and methods for a moment. He uses lies, half truths, and ExactWords to decieve his enemies, [[ItsAllAboutMe he cares only for his own amusement]] regardless of who he harms, he takes sick enjoyment out of causing others to suffer and laughs at their misfortune, he's cruel and outright sadistic, he makes deals which he twists and manipulates to his own ends without any semblence of fair play, and gets kicks out of breaking apart friendships. All of the above are twisted inversions or outright opposites of the Elements Of Harmony (remember, Magic means Friendship when it comes to the Elements)! Even at his core, Discord is an EvilCounterpart to them!
** Well, it could be hardly said he was selfish, or likely to betrayal (after all, he had loyalty to himself). However, take his methods and then his motivations. He usues subtle trickery to get his way when he could very well brute force it, but he prefers to use intelligence to get what he wants. However, he cares for nobody but himself, takes delight in hurting others, and rules for his own amusement. He's the EvilCounterpart to Celestia.
*** The ''definition'' of 'selfish' is only caring about one's self. And saying that he had loyalty to himself is pointless, because who the hell doesn't?
* At the climax of the [[BuffySpeak dediscordification]] quest, Rainbow Dash was weighed down by Rarity and Pinkie Pie, plus one rope. Fluttershy was pulling an entire hot air balloon that also included Twilight, Applejack, and ''two'' ropes, ''and still caught Rainbow Dash''. Using simple distributive mathematics, it can actually be concluded that, when they caught her, ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Fluttershy was flying]]'' '''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome faster]]''' ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome than Rainbow Dash!]]''
** Of course. Fluttershy had the PowerOfFriendship, while Rainbow Dash had lost it.
** Also, the balloon was supporting the weight of the two other ponies, which means that the only added force Fluttershy would have to exert would be F = (mass of balloon + Twilight + Applejack) * acceleration forward, while Rainbow Dash would have to fight gravity's effect on Rarity and Pinkie Pie by applying force F = (mass of Pinkie Pie + Rarity) * gravitational acceleration upward, as well as applying extra force F = (mass of Pinkie Pie + Rarity) * acceleration forward. Then again, that balloon has a huge profile and Fluttershy was probably experiencing huge amounts of air resistance. I can't be bothered to work this out. Is anyone taking physics?
* Why did Celestia send back all of Twilight's letters? Partly to remind her of how much her friends had meant to her, but also because, if Twilight was willing to give up on her friends, then those letters hadn't really meant anything in the first place.
* At the end of it all, Discord was ''exactly'' like [[StarTrekTheNextGeneration Q]] in the regards of no matter how bad his trolling got, there always was a way out if they could find it, and there was a lesson to be learned (albeit cruelly). "If you can't take a little bloody nose, then I suggest you go back home and hide under your bed" indeed. For all we know, Discord was just preparing them for something much worse.
* In the new season two intro we see a train. Since when did Ponyville have a train? Remember that ditch from Feeling Pinkie Keen? Ponyville is expanding!
* This could be disproved in future episodes, but for now it could be worth noting. During Cheerilee's class field trip to the gardens, the class roster is slightly different than it was in Call of the Cutie (4 background students being replaced by other ponies, but still adds up to a total of 9). Was this done just for the sake of having named characters? Doesn't matter. It's a new year for the show, which means a new school year, which means a slightly different class roster.
** It ''could'' have been a special trip, as, as far as we know, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell are/were in another class, but more tellingly, Snips and Snails are older... aren't they?
*** Easy to explain. 'Boast Busters' shows that they aren't that bright. ([[TooDumbToLive They thought that luring an URSA MINOR to town to get their show-offy crush to show how strong she was was a brilliant idea.]] If they are older, then they were simply held back a year.
* At first it might seem like Twilight has the first breakdown on the show that isn't related to her cutie mark in "Lesson Zero", but then you have to remember that Twilight's area of expertise is magic, and in this show, [[TitleDrop friendship is magic]]. She didn't have a lesson on friendship to report to Celestia, and when her attempts to fix any problems her friends had were going nowhere fast (as in, they didn't need her to be a "good friend" at the time), she really started to lose it.
** In addition, she mentions ''repeatedly'' that she might have to ''leave Ponyville and all her friends''. When you think about it that way, her breakdown ''really'' makes sense. It's not just her fearing being tardy, it's fearing being taken from her TrueCompanions!
** Twilight is clearly suffering from Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome.
* Twilight's SuperOCD and rapid breakdown in "Lesson Zero" might seem like a case of {{Flanderization}}. However, it makes far more sense if one assumes she's having post-traumatic stress disorder: The previous episode had her and her friends suffer MindRape at the hands of the AnthropomorphicPersonification of chaos, and only re-reading her old friendship reports was able to save her; of ''course'' she's going to value order and her lessons afterward!
* Rainbow Dash is seen crashing, head-butting and karate-kicking Applejack's old farm in ''Lesson Zero'', breaking support beams and generally bringing the whole thing to the brink before finishing it off with a nuclear sonic rainboom. Why did she smash it up so bad before the final divebomb? Any demolitionist will tell you that you need to ''weaken a structure'' before setting the charges or else the building might take the blast and not implode properly, or worse still, remain standing.
* Discord, as an embodiment of ''chaos'', was doomed the second he formed a ''plan''. Had he acted on pure whims, he might have had a better chance.
* So far five out of six mane ponies have suffered complete mental collapses: Twilight from lack of lesson-to-be-learned, Applejack from sleep deprivation, Rainbow Dash's performance anxiety has her curl into a foetal position, Pinkie Pie's party of CompanionCube guests and Fluttershy's "you will love me" outburst at the Grand Galloping Gala. Although Rarity has experienced pressure and extreme stress in ''Suited For Success'', she has yet to undergo a complete mental breakdown like her friends. Why is that? Because in ''Lesson Zero'' she shows that she has a powerful coping mechanism: her drama queen outbursts act as a safety valve, releasing her excess stress as occurs and preventing it from building up to dangerous levels.
** What about when she locked herself in her room in "Suited for success?"
*** Freaking out and locking herself in her room is part of her drama queen behavior.
** Any psychiatrist worth their salt will tell you that such things are not healthy and make a person more prone to similar stressors in the future.
** Additionally: by letting her friends know she's upset, she makes sure they'll do whatever it takes to make her feel better. Compare that to Rainbow Dash, who always hides it when she's upset, making it hard for her to get the reassurance she needs.
* In "Lesson Zero", you see Twilight's friends laughing off Twilight's worries about turning her letter on time. Despite being a bit insensitive, you can sort of understand their reaction if you consider they had just seen Rarity flip out over not bringing plates for the picnic.
* Why would Celestia appear to fix the problem at the end of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E3LessonZero Lesson Zero]], when she had not done so with more serious threats in the past? Surely a rampaging Ursa Minor would warrant a visit if an, albeit potentially [[TheVirus catastrophic]], spell does. Consider; however, the position she has been in for 1,000 years. Raising the sun ''and'' moon, while probably sleeping any chance she could when not otherwise obligated. If Luna is only now in condition to raise the moon again, as is the implication in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E4LunaEclipsed Luna Eclipsed]] (especially considering [[WordofGod Word of]] [[http://comments.deviantart.com/4/1603670/2245236163 Faust]]), Celestia would have a very large slate of time now open ''after the sun sets''.
** Well, that, and [[OnlySaneMan Spike]] [[MundaneSolution asked for her help]]. Twilight handled the Ursa Minor on her own, and asking Celestia for help would have taken too much time. Twilight also wants to impress Celestia, which means that she considers asking for her help to be strictly a last resort. Especially since Celestia has tasked her with handling crises before.
** Celestia is also the only one (other than Luna) who can solve the problem. In magical crises it's usually Twilight who solves the problems, but in this instance she can't cancel out the spell she cast because it was much more powerful than she planned. Background unicorns were all caught up in the want-it-need-it spell and Rarity is better at details than huge magical overhauls. So of course it has to be Celestia.
* Fluttershy isn't seen dressed up for Nightmare Night, she just stays in her home. On a night of scares and frights, it would be much worse for a pony that already gets frightened pretty easily as it is.
* Read the page quote on the NightmareFuel page. Now remember what Pinkie Pie says to Twilight that helps her realize how to help Luna.
* In "Return of Harmony, Part 1", Discord says he "forgot how grim [Celestia] can be". Seems a little odd, considering Celestia is normally a more relaxed, lighthearted ruler. Now, granted, he could just be talking about how serious she gets when he's around causing trouble, but the statement also makes much more sense once you watch "Luna Eclipsed"; If Celestia's sister, Luna, after being gone for 1000 years, was overdramatic and serious to the point of having to have ''fun'' explained to her, imagine what Celestia must have been like all those years ago. (Might also explain why the Grand Galloping Gala is such a boring affair...)
** This also goes a long way towards explaining why Celestia is the rather mischievous TricksterMentor that she is. In Discord's time, she was as serious and stern as Luna by necessity, but by the present day, she's mellowed from having seen and done so much, and is very much older and wiser mentally, if not physically. By contrast, Luna hasn't changed, and still has a lot of "growing up" to do on account of being essentially flung 1000 years in to the future with hardly any development.
* Rarity isn't seen at all during "Luna Eclipsed", but then you realize that, as a fashion designer, she's probably passed out on the couch after making so many costumes.
* The entire characterization of Luna in "Luna Eclipsed" gives a lot more context for what went down before the series started. If you notice she obviously wants to be loved and adored, but is rejected due to coming off as too forceful. She shouts and demands citizens' attention as the first thing she does when arriving into Ponyville. What's more, she has no concept of 'fun', and doesn't seem like the understanding type. It literally takes less than a full-night for her to lose her calm and start buckling into her vengeful 'Nightmare Moon'-esque persona (And cancel an adored holiday tradition, with atmospheric theatrics to boot). If this mere trivial holiday was an accurate representation to what she was like 1000 years ago, imagine how this would have transferred over to her having to rise the moon and stars (her job, talent, and life purpose essentially) every night with no acknowledgment.
** It also shows how each sister is different from one another. Luna wants respect, but clearly respect out of admiration of her powers rather than her kindness. She also seems the type to fight if needed, serving possibly as the 'muscle' of the Alicorn sisters.
*** This might be part of their yin-and-yang relationship. Celestia's a very capable diplomat, but has trouble with issues involving direct conflict. Hence, her emphasis on harmony and friendship. Luna excels in resolving direct conflict, but very much sucks in the art of negotiation. Hence, the plot of ''Luna Eclipsed.''
** Also, think about it. Celestia (and Luna after Twilight helps her out) wanted a truly caring relationship with her subjects and to be more like friends. If Luna's behavior was royal custom 1000 years ago, Celestia probably realized it was part of the reason for Luna's alienation from her subjects.
** How about the fact that while she came to make Nightmare Night a joyous occasion but doesn't know what the word 'fun' means. Sounds odd right? Until you learn that the word 'fun' is only 300 years old and Luna has been gone for over a 1000.
* The fact that Twilight is the first pony to befriend Luna makes perfect sense when you think about it. Luna is a powerful magician who Celestia cares for and has trouble fitting in and making new friends, just like Twilight was initially. Watching Luna's plight really shows you why Celestia wanted Twilight to make some friends, and not have to possibly endure the same pain as Luna.
* About Luna's new hairdo representing how she's just regaining her powers. There's a couple of things she does in "Luna Eclipse" - moving things with her magic, which is standard ability for unicorns, and manipulating clouds physically, which is standard ability for pegasus ponies. She's literally practicing the basic techniques.
* Why didn't Celestia simply tell Luna her royal behavior was outdated? If she just ''told'' her, then odds are she'd just be going through the motions. She'd just see it as a different style of behavior and not learned anything at all. By having her go to Ponyville, Luna has to learn first hand proper behavior and actually ''make friends with her subjects''.
** Alternatively, Celestia ''did'' tell her, but Luna, in true "little sister" fashion, didn't listen.
** Or that, unlike Celestia, who slowly changed her manner over time, Luna was more or less flung 1000 years into the future. Old habits are hard to break after all.
** Another alternative is that Celestia simply didn't because she didn't have the available time/resources to devote to prepping up her sister's mannerisms, being a divine monarch and all. That although they're sisters and Celestia loves Luna, they don't have that much time to devote to each other in general. In this regard their relationship would be closer to an ancient prince/princess, where although they're related by blood cannot (meaning aren't allowed to) bond beyond their royal duties (childhood excluded). Meaning if Luna needed or wanted attention, Celestia couldn't simply put the entire kingdom on hold just on Luna's whims. She would be expected as a princess to handle it independently and prove her own sovereignty.
** Does nobody else think that it's possible that Celestia just didn't know that Luna had headed to Ponyville?
* The way Pinkie constantly screams and runs away from Luna in "Luna Eclipsed" seems to directly contradict her "giggle at the ghostly" attitude from the pilot. Until the end of the episode that is, when she tells Twilight that [[spoiler: she's basically just been pretending the whole time because "Sometimes it's fun to be scared!"]]
** Also, her costume now makes perfect sense. It is a tradition to be afraid on Nightmare Night - [[spoiler: and she isn't... so she pretends to be a chicken!]]
* Rainbow Dash comes across as a bit of a JerkAss during "Luna Eclipsed", [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal pranking ponies prolifically]] throughout the night, and nearly ruining Luna and Pinkie's reconciliation. But think about it- she was never around when Luna was terrifying the general populace that night. She had no idea what was going on!
** She was also dressed as one of the Shadowbolts that Luna, as Nightmare Moon, tried to trick her as in the pilot episodes.
* Some people have been asking "If they didn't know Nightmare/Luna existed until the last Summer Sun Celebration, how could they have had a holiday about her for the last however many centuries?" But that's just it: they didn't know she actually existed. Most of them thought she was, as the pilot episode called it, "an old pony's tale," hence the rumor that she eats people and the candy sacrifices.
** Plus, the statue they make the candy sacrifices to is in the Everfree Forest, a place where nopony in Ponyville went until after they'd befriended Zecora.
* Why did nopony manage to recognise Twilight's Star Swirl the Bearded costume, but Luna could instantly? It's not necessarily because Luna is learned. Luna had been banished for a thousand years - she probably knew Star Swirl firsthand near the time she was banished. Twilight's costume is likely one of the few things she can recognise. Meanwhile, in a thousand years he became less well known.
* Consider this: Luna keeps using old-fashioned, "formal" versions of the second-person personal pronoun: thou, thee, thy, thine, etc., even though she supposedly wants (much like her sister, in a way) a closer, warmer relationship with her subjects. But remember, thou, thee, thy, and so forth are actually the informal, personal versions of the second-person personal pronoun, much like "tu" in French or Spanish, or "du" in German. You, your, and so forth are the formal, impersonal forms. When Luna addresses the other ponies as "thou," she's basically saying that she considers them to be close friends.
** And here's some FridgeBrilliance on why she didn't speak that way in the second episode: she was speaking with her older sister, the only pony, and possibly the other being period, she didn't have to be overly formal with because Celestia is her only family. She spoke formally with her subjects because she outranks them.
*** And even ''then'', there was some formality, such as calling her "Big Sister." In a Japanese dub that could easily be converted to OneeSama.
* In "Luna Eclipsed" why don't the citizens of Ponyville treat Luna as the same pony they threw a party for at the end of "Elements of Harmony"? Simply because Luna looks and acts more like Nightmare Moon (in mannerisms, not evilness) now than she did in episode 2. Rather than being the ''relatively'' small, soft-spoken pony with a solid-colored mane that the town met, her appearance changed into a larger, starry-maned pony with a darker coat. In this state, she looks much closer to Nightmare Moon (which all of Ponyville saw for a short time) than the Luna they knew (also seen for a short time). Luna speaking in a booming voice does not help. Keeping this in mind, it is easy to see how they can mistake Luna's return as the return of Nightmare Moon. Also, since Nightmare Night is a holiday ''dedicated'' to Nightmare Moon, everypony has the image of NMM fresh in their minds.
** Alternative explanation: Celestia was right there beside her the whole time. It wouldn't look very good to show disprovable of the god-ruler of Equestria's own kin right in front of her, would it? Especially when the living proof of her power and authority is the thing you'd normally be fearing. (Luna, who'd been banished and is now returning)
* In "Luna Eclipsed", Zecora, the African pony, is wearing spiders as she tells a story. In African lore, stories are the dominion of Anansi the Spider.
* A lot of people seemed to have a problem with Pinkies behavior in Luna Eclipsed, saying it goes against her taking peoples feelings into consideration when she 'pranks' them. But look at it this way (or that way, I have two explanations): she's never there to see Luna saying she wants to be loved not feared, except for when she made her big entrance when she was talking in her big booming voice, which to be honest was kinda hard to understand. So, what reason could she have to think that the princess wasn't in on the whole scaring everypony thing? It's ''her'' holiday, named after her, in honor of her, and is about frightening people! Of course she would think Luna was ''trying'' to scare everyone and Pinkie was just playing along!
** Alternatively, Pinkie was always in the group of kids. She was the only consistent older pony with them, so it's easy to assume she took over chaperoning them for Granny, who as we are keen to remember, [[CrowningMomentOfFunny was supposed to be asleep five hours ago.]] And as any older sibling who has supervised a group of young trick or treaters will tell you, half the job is making things fun, and on Halloween fun equals scarey. Pinkie was over playing the whole being scared of Luna thing for the kids sake, so her being 'insensative' to Luna was just a combination of ignorance and trying to be a good chaperone! (and of course, [[CloudCuckooLander just being Pinkie]])
* The introduction of the '''ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE'''. While the "BE ''STILL''!" was genuinely frightening, it's mainly played for laughs, and seems like an old-fashioned, slightly random addition...until you realize, ''we've already seen it''. When? Just in the previous episode!
---> '''Princess Celestia:''' TWILIGHT SPARKLE!
** Whoa, Nelly...
* The order in which Twilight Sparkle befriended the other ponies cannot have been an accident. Applejack is first. She is forthright, down to earth, and hard working; in other words, she's the pony who is most like Twilight. Fluttershy is second. She's awfully timid, but her compassion and gentle nature make for someone who is almost universally beloved. Pinkie Pie is third. Pinkie is... shall we say... [[CloudCuckooLander unique]] but her cheerful nature lets her laugh at the unknown when it is most terrifying. Rarity is fourth. She is very socially conscious and seems to focus on appearances, which mean nothing to Twilight, but in the right circumstances [[HiddenDepths her generosity rises to the fore]]. Rainbow Dash is fifth, and last. Her relationship to Twilight had been the most negative, and even briefly antagonistic, but she sacrificed a shot at her heart's desire without a single regret, and that allowed Twilight to see a very different side to her personality.
* It might be confusing to some as to why Rainbow Dash has so much trouble pulling a Sonic Rainboom off in ''Sonic Rainboom'' but can do it without a problem in ''Lesson Zero'' [[hottip:*: You know, the [[FanNickname Sonic Rainnuke]]?]]. Taking a look at the three times it's been successfully used, Dash was using it to help a friend - saving Rarity in ''Sonic Rainboom'', standing up for Fluttershy in ''The Cutie Mark Chronicles'', and to destroy Applejack's old barn for her in ''Lesson Zero''. She couldn't pull it off unless she was doing it for a friend. The whole idea of the show is promoting friendship, so this was likely another subtle way to get the message across.
** Or maybe she's just gotten better at pulling it off?
*** [[ThePowerOfFriendship Hush, you.]]
* Anyone else notice how Ponyville's reaction to Princess Luna in "Luna Eclipsed" mirrors many peoples' (especially children) reaction to nighttime itself? At first night can be terrifying and possibly filled with unknown dangers. However, many of these dangers are imaginary, and once one gets used to nighttime, it can become enjoyable and comforting rather than frightening.
* You'd think Rainbow Dash would dress as the Wonderbolts for Nightmare Night, considering they're her heroes. But Nightmare Night is about ''scares'', why would she dress as her ''heroes''? So she dressed as villains instead.
* Sisterhooves Social shows us another example of SchizoTech in Equestria: smoke detectors and feedback-inducing megaphones, but Rarity has an old-fashioned scrub-tub in her laundry room and a clothesline out back. SchizoTech? Maybe, but then remember she's also a seamstress, and a mechanical washer and dryer are no good for all the delicate fabrics she has to wash after piecing a new outfit together.
* Notice how pony bowling balls have no finger holes? That's paying attention right there!
** Except, oddly enough, in one filly's ImagineSpot. Well, 2 of the 3, anyways. Course, that could just be representative of the Crusaders themselves, but it's still a bit odd since the ponies have no reason for finger holes...
*** There's more than just ponies in Equestria, remember. How would Spike, the Diamond Dogs, Gilda, or other clawed/taloned species be able to bowl without any way of holding/throwing the ball properly? The manufacturers probably make at least ''some'' with a means of digit-assisted grip. (This would also explain why teacups have handles.)
* Twilight says there's no known cure for the Cutie Pox because nopony knows where it came from in the first place. How is it Zecora knows the cure? Simple, she knew Apple Bloom stole some Heart's Desire from her and had implored her to make a potion to give her a Cutie Mark. She may have actually had no idea what Cutie Pox were, but she knew it was likely the Heart's Desire which caused Apple Bloom's case of it. She clearly knows all her herbs very well and would know full well how to neutralize the Heart's Desire and thus cure Apple Bloom.
** This gets into FridgeHorror when you realize that Zecora was ''only'' able to cure Apple Bloom because she got the Cutie Pox due to eating the Heart's Desire flower. The seeds only worked for the flower's effects. If the true Cutie Pox showed up, with no Heart's Desire flower involved,''nopony could do anything about it!''
*** Apple B+loom mentions when she first sees the Heart's Desire that she's seen the flower around Ponyville. It's entirely possible that the flowers were still related to the original outbreak.
*** Though, the book did say "a group of ponies", not Ponyville specifically - it could have been from anywhere in Equestria, perhaps some place where the Heart's Desire wasn't around.
*** They also mention there's no known cure because you basically have to let it run its course to go away naturally. Putting aside creepy mind rape implications of being forced to do all that crazy stuff because of the next random cutie mark, it really doesn't seem any worse then having to deal with the chicken pox.
* Who had to learn a lesson about/have a cure based on honesty? APPLEJACK'S sister.
** In fairness to Apple Bloom, she did tell the truth in the end and it cured her, in a way...
* While most likely introduced to play with the show's usual format, having others besides Twilight Sparkle write Friendship Reports is a very significant moment in-universe. She was so busy freaking out about missing her report that the once socially awkward Twilight failed to realize that the reason she hadn't learning something new about Friendship that week was simply because she'd learned so much in her time in Ponyville that she didn't have as much ''to'' learn as she did at the start. Now that others are involved in the Friendship Reports, though, lessons that Twilight herself might not have encountered for some time, if at all, are now also brought to the forefront.
* So, I’m thinking to myself, the first words in the description for the episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess Secret of My Excess]] are as follows: “Spike gets greedy on his birthday…” Now, at first glance, this seems like severe OutOfCharacter, even for Spike, when all of a sudden, it hit me. Dragons, by nature, are natural hoarders ([[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E7Dragonshy as has been]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E24OwlsWellThatEndsWell demonstrated before]]). Being greedy is, in turn, a sign of Spike growing up, a (presumably) central theme in this episode. You never know what you’ll come up with if you just think about it.
* The entire episode of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess Secret of My Excess]] had multiple scenes of Spike receiving affection from Rarity after he gives her his treasured Fire Ruby that he was saving for months to be eaten as his birthday dinner. Rarity was obviously moved by his gesture, because she's the element of generosity, but there's more to it than that when you remember that Spike occasionally breaks the fourth wall, and that the one thing Spike has wanted more than anything is for Rarity to notice him, which happened a lot on an episode about ''his birthday''. The whole episode was a tribute to Spike and Rarity, as well as an actual gift from the writers to him on his birthday as sort of a fourth wall inversion.
* When Spike burst through the roof of Sugarcube Corner, out of all the ponies watching, only Pinkie Pie was truly shocked. She wasn't the only one seeing Spike growing for the first time, and it wasn't because she had just been fighting with him. It was because she rents a room in the attic of Sugarcube Corner, and Spike's head had just gone right through it.
* Rainbow Dash picking the tortoise as her pet in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E7MayTheBestPetWin May the Best Pet Win]] may confuse people. But then you remember Rainbow Dash's element of Harmony is Loyalty, so of course she would pick the pet that was the most loyal to her.
* [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E14SuitedForSuccess " . . . Rainbow won't look like a Tank."]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E7MayTheBestPetWin But her pet sure will.]]
* Why does Fluttershy insist on including a tortoise in Dash's pet contest? It's another classic Literature/AesopsFables, much like the AndroclesLion -- or, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E2ElementsOfHarmony in her case, the manticore]].
* It only makes sense for Rainbow Dash to pick the tortoise because she's the element of loyalty, and the tortoise was the one who stood by her and lifted the rock when all the other pets abandoned her.
* In ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E7MayTheBestPetWin May the Best Pet Win!]]'' Applejack's dog Winona pops up at random and licks Twilight in the face. Hmmm. [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 Where have we seen that before...]] Would this prove that Big Mac and Winona switched minds when Discord took over?
* After rewatching "Sisterhooves Social," I realized that there was an ulterior motive for the scene where Apple Bloom accidentally covers Applejack with grape mush: it is not jusy a very sweet sister scene between Apple Bloom and Applejack, it allows the audience to see Applejack covered with something messy before the race later on. If you pause that scene and then look at a mud-covered Rarity at the race, they look exactly the same (except for the eyes, of course). The animators wanted to be absolutely sure that both Sweetie Belle and the audience would be completely fooled as to who was actually running the race by showing us what a messy Applejack looks like beforehand!
** I think it had more to do with the fact that nobody would suspect Rarity of going along with the race, ''especially'' covered head-to-hoof with mud. Also, many forget that Rarity is actually in really good shape.
* In "The Mysterious Mare Do Well", after the Mare Do Well constantly shows up Rainbow Dash and she utterly fails at looking like a hero again, she is shown lying on a black cloud rather than a white one while seeming rather depressed. She's on top of her PersonalRaincloud.
* In one scene, we have Rainbow Dash saying her middle name was "Danger." In the G1 opening, guess what Firefly says when she tries a stunt! [[CaptainObvious Then again...]]
* In "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" Twilight mentions that an autobiography should be written by the person it's about. But that means Spike is [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 perfectly qualified]] to write Rainbow Dash's autobiography!
** MemeticMutation ShoutOut?
* A lot of people are calling out [[spoiler: the Mane Six (Well, Mane five, anyway)]] for what they did to Rainbow Dash in "''The Mysterious Mare Do Well''", effectively embarrassing her in front of the whole town. But remember at the beginning of the episode? RD had her own fan club even before all those accidents started happening. Chances are she will have somehow saved the town again by the next episode and be a hero again.
** Better yet, nopony aside from Rainbow Dash is really acting like she's been embarrassed. A few ponies grumble at her over the incidents, but nopony's making fun of her or anything. Rainbow Dash is just imagining the situation being worse than it is, just like all the other ponies during their respective freakouts.
** If anything, Rainbow was embarrassing ''herself'' with her constant bragging (the townsponies ''were'' going to get tired of it, just like her friends were), so [[spoiler:the Mane Five]] essentially ''saved'' her from ruining her own reputation. [[spoiler:Which is worse: hurting your friend a little to point out an error in her ways before it gets out of control, or to do nothing and let the town turn against her anyway, despite her efforts to be a hero?]]
* [[spoiler: The Mane Five's]] actions against Rainbow Dash in "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" can seem particularly harsh before you realize: Rainbow Dash freaking out and then feeling all depressed probably wasn't part of their plan at all!
** [[spoiler:Probably? I'm sure they had no idea how much it was affecting Rainbow Dash. It's just that Rainbow is not up front with her feelings (for example, in "Sonic Rainboom" they all knew that Dash was nervous, but none of them ever learned just how bad she was).]]
* Given how much "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" was about teaching Rainbow Dash humility, let's hope she never realizes it took [[spoiler:four ponies (not including Rarity) to be a match for her.]]
** Technically, [[spoiler:Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight each outclassed her badly at whatever task they did. Fluttershy didn't, but she just did a quick fly by. The point was that any of them could match her for heroics, without being a jerk about it.]]
*** Whether or not [[spoiler: they]] could outclass her, Rainbow was perfectly capable of saving the balloon pony, the runaway bus passengers and the construction workers. The fact that her reaction to her failure to do so is "Mare Do Well is better than me" instead of "I messed up" is a big part of her problem for this episode.
** Also, [[spoiler:her friends were more successful because they were playing to their strengths. They didn't really hammer it home, but a secondary point in that episode was that a group is stronger when all its members use their talents, something that Rainbow Dash could really stand to learn. If that episode had had more time, it is likely that Fluttershy and Rarity would have gotten a turn to shine, and that a crisis that Dash's strengths were suited to deal with would have appeared.]]
* One thing that occurs to me regarding "Mysterious Mare Do Well", as noted above [[spoiler: the Mane Cast]] acting preemptively to keep Dash from ruining her own reputation. [[spoiler: They]] saw Rainbow was getting full of herself, recognized potential danger signs, and acted as quickly as possible to prevent the worst possible outcome. In essence, [[spoiler: they remembered the Aesop from "Lesson Zero" about recognizing your friends problems even if they don't appear to be all too serious]].
** And when Rainbow finally finds out [[spoiler: they were behind the whole thing]] you'd expect her to be ''furious'' given the way she was acting just a minute ago. Instead she's just confused and asks for an explanation. Why? [[spoiler: Because ''she'' remembered the Aesop from "Party Of One" and expected the best from her friends, even though their actions seemed weird]].
* People often wonder what's going on with Discord posing so dramatically when he was first a statue. However, if you look at how Discord poses when he says "I'm missing some excellent chaos here!" It's nearly the exact same pose as when he was first turned into stone. Conclusion? He was possibly giving that same line to Celestia and Luna before being stoned.
** Also take into account the Elements were ''newly discovered'' and Discord has an ego as big as Equestria. How would he react to two (likely young) ponies walking up and saying "we've got something we bet will beat you!" or the like? Probably exactly how he reacted in the present when he though the Elements wouldn't work.
* "Sweet and Elite": One would think that the others would know better than to crash a big, fancy party in Canterlot and make a huge mess of it. Then again, they ''had'' "livened up" a [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E26TheBestNightEver boring, stuffy Canterlot party in a similar fashion before]], ''and'' with Celestia's seal of approval, at that.
* In "Sweet and Elite", part of the reason Rarity gets caught up with the Canterlot elite is the ponies inviting her actually say things like "it'll be a disaster without you" or how much they ''need'' her there. It wasn't just her wanting to be part of the elite crowd, but trying to ''help'' them.
** So not only is it appealing to her personal interest in high society, but also to the Element of Generosity.
* One may think that Rarity's friends were carrying IdiotBall when they decided to crash the garden party in "Sweet and Elite", considering how they thought it's a good idea to act stupid on a formal meeting in front of upper class ponies that their friend was trying to make good impression with. But then you realize that they were having Twilight's birthday party, which means they probably had a lot of [[HardDrinkingTropes certain substances]], and suddenly their behavior makes much more sense... (especially Twilight doing her crazy dance--didn't look too sober)
* Remember in "Winter Wrap-Up" when we learned that unicorns aren't native from Ponyville? Sure, the pegasi are from Cloudsdale, which seems to be pretty close of Ponyville, but when did Ponyville got unicorns to live there? Well, in "Sweet and Elite", if you pay attention to Canterlot's background ponies, you'll notice that the ''huge'' majority of them are unicorns. Hinted on the same episode is the fact that Canterlot is quite far from Ponyville. It all makes perfect sense!
* In season one, we saw Twilight's parents enrolled her in Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, followed by the point that Spike was hatched as part of her entrance exam. In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E9SweetAndElite Sweet and Elite]]", part of the plot revolves around Twilight's upcoming birthday. Then, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess in S02E10,]] we have Spike's birthday! Why so close? Because Twilight's parents enrolled her in the school as her birthday present. Which, when you think about it, is the perfect gift for Twilight.
** I like this idea. It must be remembered, however, that the writers play fast and loose with continuity in this series (in favor of having each episode be able to stand alone), so their birthdays may not necessarily be, chronologically speaking, that close.
* It's highly likely that Hayseed Turnip Truck could tell what Jet Set and Upper Crust were really like, and was in fact scrabbling for something nice to say about them before settling on "they ''seemed'' real nice", because we already know ''he's correct about Rarity by befriending her.''
* In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess "Secret of my Excess"]] Spike gives Rarity his prized fire gem, which is shaped like a heart. [[spoiler:When Spike is an evil giant dragon, Rarity moves to protect her fire gem, saying her good friend spike gave it to her. This reverts Spike back to normal size]]. Essentially the aesop can be ThePowerOfLove [[CrowningMomentOfHeartWarming can curb someone's greed.]]
* Fluttershy had no problem subduing a rampaging adult dragon before when it was threatening her friends. So why can't she handle Spike while he's threatening her friends? Because Spike is her friend and she doesn't want to hurt ''him!''
* Why is Rarity so quick to comfort Spike after he reverts to normal? Because thanks to Discord, she knows exactly how it feels to become a greedy monster (though figuratively, not literally) because of something outside of your control and hurt those you care about because of it!
** Even without Discord's influence, Rarity is constantly struggling to control her more self-centered impulses. And she doesn't always succeed. Remember how little effort it took Discord to corrupt her, not even bothering to say anything to her. Out of the Mane Six, she's the only one that knows what it's like to let her greed take control. And unlike Spike, her greed is present all the time.
* Before Secret of my Excess, we've almost never seen Pinkie in a state of abject, pure ''shock'' before. But then, with her Pinkie Sense, how many things have really been able to surprise her? She might have a sense for "a dragon is about to destroy my home/place of employment", but would she have ''ever'' felt it before then?
* Spike's fast growing and aggressive behaviour might seem like an odd way for a dragon to grow up. But then it hit me, it IS odd. Spike is not living the way his species would, he has no siblings to compete with and no older dragon to watch him over and put him down if he misbehaves. It's possible Twilight knew enough about dragons to limit his gifts to manageable amount. It was when Spike got more gifts outside, that his natural hoarding instincts grew.
** Actually, that's probably exactly how they grow up. Exercising their greed would give them a stock of resources useful for eating, bartering, and whatnot, while increasing their physical power and making it easier for them to increase their horde, and therefore grow more. An older dragon might be able to keep a younger one in line, but to them it might seem natural to grow up like that.
** We can also surmise that "Steven Magnet" turned out the way he did because his obsession was ''vanity'' instead. Life as a dragon is a freaking knife's edge.
* You know how that black goop in Sisterhooves Social that was supposed to be toast? ''It's burnt bread batter!'' Yeah, now it's not as big an EpicFail as before, ''[[EpicFail but still.]]''
** Except bread is made from dough, not batter. Dough tends to have a more stable structure. That said, maybe Sweetie forgot to add the flour before cooking.
* In ''Hearth's Warming Eve'', there's an in-universe CastingGag in the fact that the mane six end up all with roles that are almost completely identical to their regular personalities, which seems amazingly coincidental. Then we remember that Princess Celestia, who has already had her fair share of interactions with the mane cast, gave them the roles in the first place. Of ''course'' she'd have them play characters with similar personalities to their own!
** It's also possible that Twilight researched the story proper, then reduced it to a basic plotline while writing the roles as similar to the mane 6 anyways, ''because none of them are professional actors.''
** It's ALSO possible that the actual characters were nothing like they were portrayed, as--again--none of the Mane Six are professional actors!
** Even Spike is perfectly cast as the Narrator, while he is important to the show's dynamic he's often outside the action of the story proper and occasionally provides commentary to the goings on.
* ''Hearth's Warming Eve'' provides some in regards to Discord, depending on how you place the founding of Equestria in the timeline. If Discord's reign of chaos came before it, then it makes perfect sense for the ponies to distrust one another, considering all they probably knew for a ''long'' time beforehand was disharmony and chaos. Under Discord, it was likely "everypony for themselves", which would carry on for a bit after his downfall. If Discord's arrival and reign over the land happened ''after'' that, he had a long history of FantasticRacism to exploit and manipulate. Heck, perhaps the reason he came was because they suddenly began becoming harmonic and he couldn't stand it.
* In ''Hearth's Warming Eve'', we see each pony race found their own nation, which would later become Equestria. However, these groups still inhabit their original claims. Unicorns took the mountains, and the majority of the mountainous Canterlot is unicorns. The pegasai founded a nation in the clouds, which presumably became Cloudsdale. The earth ponies took the lowlands, which became places like Ponyville, consisting mostly of Earth ponies. The legacy of their ancestors still exists in the lands they claimed.
* In Luna Eclipsed, Princess Luna states she knew Star Swirl the Bearded. Clover the Clever's mentor was Star Swirl the Bearded. The historical unicorns raised the sun and moon--perhaps they learned the technique from the alicorns who would become their princesses?
** She didn't actually say she knew Star Swirl, merely that she recognized who Twilight was dressed as. While her comment about the bells could be taken like that, it could also mean she was sufficiently well read on the subject and have met those who missed the bells.
** After all, Twilight knew about the outfit from her book on Obscure Unicorn History. Perhaps Luna is a big reader as well, like fandm seems to think.
* While the parts of the play in "Hearth's Warming Eve'' that appear to be "real" as opposed to a stage production could just be for viewer benefit, a good InUniverse explanation was provided by "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E14SuitedForSuccess Suited For Success]]". If Rarity can do amazing special effects for a fashion show through magic, whose to say the same wasn't done by Rarity, or another pony knowing the same spell, for the play in this episode?
* Though none of the episodes really follow a continuity with one another , at the end of "Hearth's Warming Eve" during the Heart Carol you can see the stained glass windows from "The Return of Harmony" meaning that they are in that same hall, and it includes the one window of Discord being defeated.
* ''Hearth's Warming Eve'' also gives a pretty good reason why alicorns are the royal, ruling class: they are the physical embodiment of the complete and harmonious union of the 3 pony races that Equestria was founded on.
* "Hearth's Warming Eve" also confirms part of Pinkie Pie's claim that "that's how Equestria was made" back in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles". In the beginning of the play there's just narration and no dialogue, hence "no talking", and certainly no laughing either - and towards the end, there is indeed a rock.
* Rainbow Dash could've resorted to making trouble so she could keep playing the hero in "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well." But she didn't. Why? Because that would be disloyal to everypony else!
** Also, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E26TheBestNightEver she already tried that]]. It didn't work.
* In "Hearth's Warming Eve", I always thought it was a little odd that Commander Hurricane demands "Well? Aren't you going to ask how it went?" She doesn't seem to care what Private Pansy thinks, really, and as she only ever speaks when asked a question, there was no reason to expect her to ask anything upon arrival--and anyway, there were other pegasi around. Then I realized--Fluttershy forgot her lines!
** That also explains why ANY pegasus raised in such a martial society ("Do they not realize we are a mighty tribe of warriors?") would be as incredibly skittish as Private Pansy--Fluttershy has terrible stage fright, and it's shooting her nerves to hell.
* Back in "Lesson Zero", the Cutie Mark Crusaders, usually the epitome of EpicFail, remain remarkably composed and tactful when approached by Twilight with Ms Smartypants... because they've already seen Twilight wigging out in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles".
* The Timber wolves in FamilyAppreciationDay are easily scared off by Granny Smith's banging of pots and pans. But these wolves live in the Everfree forest - home to dragons, Cockatrice, the UrsaMajor, killer pony cults.....who knows what. They've learned long ago that if something is making that much noise, it is something that poses a very, very serious danger to them.
* ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E11FamilyAppreciationDay Family Appreciation Day]]'' is one of the few episodes to end without a letter to Celestia. Which is odd, considering there is an ample lesson to be learned here. There are two bits of brilliance here - one, it was a lesson about family, not friendship - ''Sisterhooves Social'' was about sisters being friends, whereas this was about respecting ones elders and realising they've probably done some amazing things in their life. The second bit, is that said letter would be written to Celestia - an immortal being who has lived for eons. How would you go about writing a letter about learning to respect your elders to the oldest living being on the planet?
** Also, the episode was about Apple Bloom, not Applejack and Apple Bloom, as she is not one of the Mane Six, doesn't write letters regularly to Princess Celestia any more than a human would write "Dear Mr. President, today I learned..." The CMCs don't write friendship reports--they're just friends.
*** Actually, Apple Bloom wrote the letter in "The Cutie Pox", and Sweetie Belle co-wrote the one in Sisterhooves, not to mention Spike himself has written too, so basically, anyone who learns anything about friendship (or barely related to friendship) can write to Celestia.
* Back to ''Sweet and Elite''. Rarity ends up doing two dresses for Twilight's birthday. Twilight adores the ''second'', simple, I-didn't-really-finish-it dress as the best reflection on her, while Rarity had intended to go for something hyper-elaborate; Twilight's horn would disappear in the hat, and the dress would probably attract all peacocks within fifty kilometres. Why would it go that way? When she's making the gaudy dress, she ''isn't thinking of Twilight''. She's designing it not to match her, but to ''show up Canterlot ponies''; she's basically designing it in anger. Subconsciously, though, she did have as a basis something plain and practical ... which is what Twilight ends up with when Rarity's not able to actually ''complete'' the design.
* The flashbacks in ''Family Appreciation Day'' have served to elevated the earth ponies' place in the status quo. No, they don't have magic, but they have something better - the ability to ''exact control'' over apparently magical forces, or at least hammering it into a shape that fits them, with little more than trial and error. It's not Appleoosa, but the obvious Western settlers theme has never been more appropriate.
* In the first classroom scene in ''Family Appreciation Day'' Apple Bloom tries to come up with an excuse to prevent Granny Smith from giving a talk, and for a split second she pulls a face remarkably similar to Applejack's Discorded Liar face from ''The Return of Harmony''. It seems having a terrible poker face is an Apple family trait.
* In ''Baby Cakes'', Rarity doesn't even provide an excuse as to why she won't babysit the twins. Though it's easy to figure out what reason exactly: [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E5SisterhoovesSocial she knows her shop isn't child-safe]].
** More like she knows that ''she'' isn't child-safe. Rarity knows that she is highly temperamental, especially when she's at work. She also knows that she only ''barely'' has enough restraint to resist strangling her own baby sister when she visits. So the prospect of babysitting two one-month-old infants in her shop during business hours? It's not even a question. '''NO.'''
** Another reason for this: Rarity mentioned early on about the "magic surges" that come and go with baby unicorns. Since she was probably still living with her parents when Sweetie Belle was born, she had firsthand experience about having to deal with said surges and thus is not yet able to handle that again.
* Although it's never explicitly stated, Pumpkin's constant oral fixation in ''Baby Cakes'' could be because she's teething.
** Not likely: ponies' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_teeth baby teeth tend to come in either before or after the one month mark]]. It's more likely just because babies like to put all sorts of stuff in their mouths, and this is likely to be even more pronounced among babies who have no hands. Remember that we frequently see ponies using their mouths to do things, like writing, that we would do with our hands.
* Pinkie's absolute failure at Stand-up. She was using StevenWright material, which generally requires a more flat, dry delivery - which is a polar opposite to Pinkie at any time.
* Pinkie, the element of laughter is [[TearJerker seriously crying and feeling helpless while babysitting the twins mainly]] [[TruthInTelevision due to the stress of taking care of multiple children.]], which is bad enough, but this is made even worse when you realize that nopony else, including the Cakes, or even Pinkie herself thought she could handle the job of babysitting the twins, and she was at the breaking point and was probably subconsciously admitting to herself that they might all be right about her being incapable of doing the job and making her feel like a completely incompetent failure as a result which is probably the real reason for her tears.
** Weirdly enough, it sort of breaks the aesop of Applebuck Season of "Don't be proud and ask for help if you need it"
*** Though, unlike Applejack, Pinkie Pie would gladly have accepted help had Twilight not said she ''knew'' Pinkie wouldn't be up to the job. That jump-started her pride and made her determined to do it herself. Though in terms of Pinkie's CharacterDevelopment that was probably for the better.
* There has been a lot of speculation about how Pumpkin Cake was able to levitate herself when Twilight, the ''Element of Magic'', couldn't do that in "Sonic Rainboom". Well...she probably ''could''. It seems to be a simple variation of the levitation spell that ALL unicorns use to move things; Pumpkin simply applied it to herself. Twilight could have levitated herself to Cloudsdale, she just didn't think of it!
** Adding to the above: Twilight was looking for ''flight'' spells; she didn't think of just levitating.
** And why didn't she think of something so simple? Because the levitation spell isn't ''supposed'' to be used on yourself. She's too logical to use a spell for anything but its intended purpose. And, of course, it wouldn't have solved the problem of how to get everypony else to Cloudsdale.
*** I wouldn't say she's "too logical" to use a spell like that. It's more because she knows how much power she has, and how easy it is for her to lose control of it. She'd rather take the time to do things the RIGHT way than try to light a cigarette with a flamethrower.
** There's also the simple fact that Pumpkin probably only weighs a fraction of what a full grown pony does. Levitating a full-grown pony for any amount of time would require much more effort, possibly pushing it into AwesomeButImpractical territory for Twilight and downright impossible for a lesser unicorn. In mechanical terms, Pumpkin's 'Power to Weight Ratio' is better than Twilight's, and that's why she can self levitate.
* This cold start of this episode explains how unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies are all able to bear children that are from one of the other races by having them somewhere in their family history (I think Mr. Cake mentions something about [[SixDegreesOfKevinBacon being separated by six steps]]) This helps explain what Scootaloo is doing in the classroom in "Family Appreciation Day," and why she's in Ponyville at all instead of Cloudsdale. One or both of her parents can't fly so she has to live [[IJustWantToBeNormal on the ground.]]
** It would also explain why she seems to be unable to fly.
*** And we ''might'' just have a canon explaination to pegasus Derpy's fanon daughter, unicorn Dinky.
* Another example from "Family Appreciation Day," and also a call-back to "Cutie-Mark Chronicles": Of course Applejack would have felt called home by a rainbow: it reminded her of the rainbow-colored zap-apple jam that is the trademark of Sweet Apple Acres.
* [[http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/234/809/7e2.jpg A somewhat senseful explanation of Pony Genetics]] that would ''not'' [[TheLastDaysOfFOXHOUND give Psycho Mantis a concussion]]
* I was rewatching "Sisterhooves Social" and something occurred to me: it actually makes a lot of sense that Applejack and Apple Bloom would get along much better, and much more easily, than would Rarity and Sweetie Belle. It seems that Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big [=McIntosh=]'s parents have been out of the picture, presumably deceased, for most of Apple Bloom's life. Apple Bloom, therefore, has presumably largely been [[PromotionToParent raised by her siblings]]. Rarity and Sweetie Belle, on the other hand, were both raised by their parents, who are both very much alive. So with AJ and AB, their relationship is really more that of mother-daughter than sisters, whereas Rarity and Sweetie Belle have a more typical sibling relationship, with all the ordinary sibling rivalry that that entails.
** Another thing you have to consider when discussing these sibling relationships is the location. Yes, Rarity and Sweetie Belle were raised by both parents whereas Applejack and Big Macintosh basically raised Apple Bloom, but Apple Bloom also lives at Sweet Apple Acres with them and Sweetie Belle does not live with Rarity at the Carousel Boutique. Give or take a few years, it's very possible that Rarity has lived at the Boutique (NOT at her parent's house) since Sweetie Belle was still very small. Rarity didn't really have the same kind of constant interaction with Sweetie Belle that AJ had with AB because for most of Sweetie Belle's life Rarity did not live at the same house as her, and therefore not only did Rarity not really have the same chance AJ did to fully integrate Sweetie Belle as a "normal" part of her life before she left home, but AJ never left AB's home in the first place.
** As a counterpoint, however, anyone that's ever actually been a mother knows from experience that mother-daughter relationships have no greater guarantee of harmony than do sibling relationships.
* Fans have wanted Big Macintosh to have a larger role in the show pretty much since the beginning and in season two he starts getting a little more attention, but here's the thing: most of the stuff he gets to do is showing off his softer side, such as his love of Twilight's old Smarty Pants doll, helping his granny with the Sisterhooves Social, or crying ManlyTears when he finds out his sister won't be returning to Ponyville (and then tears of ''joy'' when she comes home) it's all well and good until you find out [[spoiler: a future episode will revolve around the CMC attempting to set him up with Cheerilee. They're showing us that he's just as sweet and sensitive as he is big and tough, pretty much the perfect boyfriend!]]
* The Last Round Up finally [[spoiler: has Derpy Hooves as a canon character with her own voice lines]] and if it weren't for her constant appearances, such as in Luna Eclipsed when she [[spoiler: bobs for apples and drains the tub, or has a costume of paper bags]] or any of her other similar appearances, there would be nothing to base her on. It would be like they introduced a character for very little reason, but in reality they brought a background pony to the front that everyone had known all along.
* Why is Derpy so clumsy? She has no depth perception due to her eyes facing different directions!
** That can't explain it. Predatory species, like lions, wolves, and, yes, human beings, have their (our) eyes close together at the front of their (our) faces, to give them (us) good depth perception, although this narrows our field of vision in exchange. Ponies, on the other hand, are herbivorous herd animals. As such, they have their eyes on opposite sides of their faces, to give them nearly a nearly 360 degree field of vision, so as to detect predators approaching from any direction, with the drawback that they have little or no depth perception. As such, Derpy's askew eyes cannot have cost her her depth perception, because she wouldn't have depth perception anyway.
*** Except that ''the ponies of this universe'' have somehow evolved that their eyes now fall ''between'' predator and herbivore angles, as the few UncannyValley head-on shots have shown. Being the dominant species may have had something to do with it.
**** Not so. You can look at a [[http://www.horse-diseases.com/_images/horsediseases.jpg real-life horse's face head-on, and see both of its eyes.]] The horse itself, however, still has little or no depth perception.
* Why didn't the town just raise the revenue through ordinary means, i.e., a new tax levy or a bond issue, to renovate the town hall? Because who would want to pay for such a needless extravagance when the town is [[JustTheFirstCitizen really governed from the library anyway]]?
* This is most likely to be unintentional but it's still brilliant: Derpy's formal introduction in an Applejack-centered episode is actually perfect because you know who else was a complete klutz and a silly pony? ''The original Applejack''.
* A possible indication of an OutOfOrder ep. How would Rainbow Dash know about Wild Bull Hickock and Calamity Mane? They're clearly not with the Wonderbolts - [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E16ReadItAndWeep did she read about them?]]
** Alternatively, they could just be celebrities on par with the Wonderbolts, since Applejack claimed she'd seen them during the rodeo.
* From Last Roundup: Of ''course'' Applejack didn't win any blue ribbons--look at how many events she competed in! Most of the ponies she went up against were probably only competing in one or two, so they were fresh--but Applejack competed in probably ''every event''--she would wear herself out just trying to get to them all in time, never mind the constant exertion!
** Add to that: This is a national competition. Most of the other ponies were professionals or else amateurs that do rodeo as a hobby, meaning they practice their events specifically and a lot. Applejack's athleticism comes from being a working pony, she doesn't practice regularly for specific rodeo events. Combined with running herself into the ground all day, coming in second and third for so many events is ''pretty damn impressive''.
*** One more thing - she entered into every single event, while others likely only went into one - their speciality, meaning that while she was the best overall, they were able to beat her in their specific events. Applejack is a Jack of all trades.
* One new little tidbit for "Luna Eclipsed" (yes, I know that's going back quite a ways here, but bear with me): Pipsqueak's accent. It's not that his VA was slipping up; Pipsqueak himself was slipping up, because the Britinsh accent was to go along with his pirate costume!
** It's also possible that his accent is changing because he's still really young and is slowly adopting a ponyville accent.
* It is absolutely amazing that Tabitha St.Germain thought that Derpy was male and gave her that particular voice. The whole character of Derpy was born from an "accident" of sorts, and that kind of detail makes it a perfect fit.
* The moral of the story in "Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" seems to be more directed towards the citizens of Ponyville, as they are at first ungrateful towards the Apple family for not having enough cider for everyone but finally realize the value of quality over quantity in the end.
* The fan-dubbed Dr.Whooves (Named for his David Tennant-esque hairstyle and hourglass cutie-mark) Is the official ''time''-keeper of the competition in "Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000." At a small stretch you could say that it's being acknowledged that the rules of time are his to control.
** ''And they WILL OBEY HIM!''
* Some fans have questioned why the Apple Family says they need to apple cider sales to get through the winter, when their Zap Apple jam is an amazingly big seller. Simple - the money from the zap apple jam went towards rebuilding the barn, after AppleJack asked Rainbow Dash to destroy it in Lesson Zero. Since the family didn't get the money they expected from AppleJacks cart at the Grand Galloping Gala, they had to put the money from the jam up for the rebuilding, meaning they'd need the Cider money to get by on.
** Another reason why Applejack was afraid she'd lose her farm was due to all the losses and damages accrued over the last season and recently. Between the parasprites eating the farm infrastructure, the failed attempt at making profits from the Gala, the building of another new side-barn, Spike stealing her crops, and the money they're clearly saving to get Granny Smith a new hip, they were desparate to get the profits from Cider Season to tide them over until the next major season.
* "Read it and Weep". Why would the first "DaringDo" book be the third on the shelf? Anachronic order. It's a little-known fact even today that ''IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'' is placed chronologically ''before'' ''RaidersOfTheLostArk''.
* "Hearts and Hooves Day" Doctor Whooves gets one appearance in, and he's shown ''running'' - if you're at all familiar with the 9th-Doctor-and-onwards ''DoctorWho'', you'll know why the simple word 'Run' became ArcWords for three Doctors in succession.[[hottip:*:[[InfoDump As briefly as possible:]] the 9th Doctor (ChristopherEccleston) met his companion Rose while fleeing, so the first thing he said to her was "Run", which was [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay how he identified himself to her]] after regenerating into the 10th (DavidTennant). Down the line, the 11th (MattSmith)'s BadassBoast to his enemy basically boiled down to telling them to ''run.'']]
** That and the whole "I've always been a runner" or something like that.
* In a bit of a meta example, the CMC clearly learned and recited the lesson they learned at the end of "Hearts and Hooves Day," even though a letter was never actually written. That doesn't mean that Princess Celestia never heard it, however: after all, the CMC are telling their lesson to Cheerilee, who shares a voice actress with the Princess.
[[/folder]]


!!'''FridgeLogic:'''

[[folder: Fridge Logic - General]]

* Meta example: Many episodes have often one big moral and a small one, or two morals bundled together. This makes more sense when you consider that, originally, Hasbro wanted the series to run in two shorts per episode.
* Why did Princess Celestia assign Twilight Sparkle's living quarters to the library? More specifically, why did she assign ''Spike's'' quarters at the library? Still more specifically, why did she let the ''fire breathing dragon'' live inside a ''wooden tree'' and surrounded by ''flammable, paper books?''
** Said tree is specifically mentioned to have a magical lightning rod. I don't think magical sprinklers are out of the question.
** Said dragon's flames merely teleport paper material to the princess, as evidenced by Spike's hiccup and the rain of scrolls on Princess Celestia. Lady knows what she's doing.
*** Said paper materials ''fall on Celestia's head''. Lady hasn't thought her cunning plan all the way through.
*** The book's ashes didn't fly out the window to Celestia. It's the scrolls that are magical, not the fire.
*** The best explanation this troper has run across is that ponies (or at least unicorns) communicate via specially prepared scrolls which, when burned, reappear in the fireplace of the addressee. Because Twilight moves around frequently for field work or at the request of the princess but is almost always accompanied by Spike, he is registered as her "fireplace" for postal purposes. Spike's fire acts normally when used for cooking and burns other paper normally; those specially prepared postal scrolls are the only things teleported.
** Said dragon's flames also destroy books, as evidenced by Spike's dragon flames destroying books.
*** Yes but the binding didn't burst into flames with the rest of the book, so the bindings on Equestrian books are probably fire proofed and water proofed given the number of unicorns that practice magic that exist.
** Spike has good control over his fire. We see him burn a book on accident all of once, and he reacted like it had never happened before.
** [[WordOfGod According to Ms. Faust]] Spike's sending ability is a learned skill taught to him by Princes Celestia. Since breathing fire is a natural part of a dragon's biology his sending skill is probably like tensing a muscle, he can do it whenever he wants, but it can also happen accidentally.
** As for assigning Twilight to live in the library, it's [[{{Bookworm}} Twilight]]. She would've gone there everyday if she lived in a normal house anyway.
* Isn't that just a little ironic that Ponyville's library, a place for those who obviously like to read, is marked with ''picture'' of a book?
** It is indeed, but since nowhere else has text in its sign, it would be weirder if the library broke the pattern.
** From a more meta perspective, the show is targeted at a young audience that pictures would be more easily understood. It also makes dubbing the show into other languages easier.
** It is possible that the written language of Equestria is Pictographic, sort of like Chinese. If you look inside the book Twilight was reading in the first episode you'll notice that the words are all Pictograms. The sign outside the library could actually just be a stylized version of the character for "Library". It possible that it's a hybrid system with, like Japanese with an alphabet instead of a syllabary, since we see the ponies writing out Celestia's name in letters. It is also possible that it's the translation convention at work and Celestia spans multiple characters.
*** An interesting theory, but in "Party of One", the phrase "Happy Birthday Pinkie Pie" sort of appears to be written in English, although only the first word is really legible.
**** Again, like the sign that reads Welcome Princess Celestia. It could be translation convention at work. IE they wrote the characters for "Happy Birthday Pinky Pie", its just translated to english for our benifit. Or they use an alphabet for banners and other more formal displays, while using pictograms for everyday use.
** This strays into RealityIsUnrealistic and AluminumChristmasTrees territory, as real world libraries in some countries are marked with some kind of pictogram that is much larger than any written signage, mainly because it conveys the intended meaning much faster. Maybe Equestria just has a similar information graphics culture to our own.
** Write "library" largely and clearly enough to be read from a distance. Do the same with a drawing of a book. A drawing also simply fits the sign's aspect ratio better. Lastly, to young enough ponies and to foreigners, pictures would be more useful.
** There is only one time in the show when clearly legible words are written: in "Swarm of the Century" (the sign that says "Welcome Princess Celest"). All the books have pictures instead of covers on the title, and all the signs are either pictures or illegible words that look like a mix between several different alphabets. This is obviously done so the animators don't have to do any extra work when the show is dubbed into other languages. You can even tell that, in "Swarm of the Century", the writing on the sign looks animated poorly, because it was put into the shot after everything else so it could more easily be changed.
* If ponies and buffalo and cows are all sapient, are any animals of a given size? If so, what do the ones who are large carnivores eat?
** The ursas, manticore, and hydra didn't seem to be sapient, so probably not. It seems more like it's just the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ungulate ungulates]] (or at least the more equine ungulates, I don't think those pigs were sapient, were they?) and the draconians (though once again, that hydra didn't seem sapient). Though all of the animals do seem to have a higher level of intelligence than in the real world.
*** The hydra may be sapient. The heads couldn't communicate with the cast, but they seem intelligent. One expressed schadenfreude (the German word for "shameful joy") and later blew a raspberry at them.
** After thinking about this further, I realized that Gilda demands some changes to the above theory. As a gryphon she is sapient, but she is not an ungulate, draconian, or anything similar. Because the manticore was not sapient, it's not the lion part of gryphons that make them sapient, so it may be the eagle part. So it may be that large birds and related creatures are also sapient. If you consider Philomena to also be sapient then she supports this theory. Though it's hard to say if she's any more sapient than Angel, or any other animal in Equestria for that matter.
*** In the Season 2 episode "May The Best Pet Win," the falcon, eagle, bat, owl and turtle appear to have sapience equal to Philomena; a falcon actually shakes hands with a turtle and expresses deference, but does not speak.
* If [[MagicAIsMagicA friendship is magic]], and Twilight didn't have friends before episode one, than why was she able to use magic so well? Or at all for that matter?
** Friendship is magic, but magic is not necessarily friendship. Celestia assigns Twilight to study the magic of friendship, whereas she had been studying, for example, the magic of unicorns. (This is covered in the prequel series, My Little Pony: Unicorns is Magic.)
*** This is true, considering that Trixie is also a skilled magician, but doesn't seem to have any friends, even if she ''is'' incredibly arrogant.
** How about this for an explanation? Magic can function without friendship. It works on the connection that resides within all ponies towards everypony else. Friendship increases the power that a pony can draw on exponentially, though.
* What were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon named ''before their cutie marks appeared?''
** They, and their parents, are extremely vain, and their highly superflous names became a SelfFulfillingProphecy. Their cutie marks match their names, [[FridgeBrilliance meaning that the thing the care most about is themselves]].
*** If that's true, it's kinda sad that they were pretty much destined to be stuck-up little bitches.
**** Yeah, but if they're happy with it, then it's not too bad.
**** If its like the Apple family them maybe their parents named them after their family theme, like Diamond Tiara's are jewelers, and that being kids only see the bare surface of what there cutie mark means (wearing a tiara and being rich) and are lasking out at other with better cutie marks.
**** This is a good theory, the only problem is that to get the cutie mark they have to discover what they're good at. Find their purpose in life so to speak.
* Is the Grand Galloping Gala invitation-only? The ImagineSpot images that Pinkie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash envisage when thinking about the gala make it look like an agricultural fair with extra attractions (like the Royal Easter Show in Sydney). There looked to be hundreds, if not thousands of ponies in attendance, so it looked like a major tourist event. Even if the tickets to such an event aren't free (which they often are - food and attraction sales are what lets them run a profit), they can't be too expensive or they won't get the numbers they want. Now, none of the main cast seems particularly wealthy, but they don't seem poor either, so if the GGG really would be the highlight of their year, saving up for it shouldn't be too difficult. Indeed, Applejack's business strategy should ''require'' her to bring her produce to the gala. For the six characters, "two free tickets" could simply translate to "we only have to buy four tickets between us", no conflict required.
** It probably is invitation-only. Once they finally get there in the season finale, the whole point is that it's not as they imagined.
** It's either invitation-only or the tickets are incredibly expensive, which would explain all the upper-class ponies in attendance.
*** Now that I've seen the finale, this is indeed true. My mistake. Still, it seems odd that none of the mane cast even consider that there might be other ways to get a ticket to the Gala. And also odd that Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were not just unrealistic in their expectations of the event, but actually deluded as to the entire nature of it. I've never been to the Royal Garden Party, but I know it doesn't involve balloons and apple pies.
*** Some FridgeBrilliance from poster "Lonewolf23" at [=RPGNet=]
-->You know, I think I've figured out why it is that the girls felt so out of place at the Grand Galloping Gala. It was a High-Brow, Upper-Class Affair, and all of them are Working Class girls. [...] Lacking any working knowledge of the Gala, they imagine it using the fanciest event they've experienced or known about: Applejack imagines something like a fancy State Fair, Rainbow Dash pictures an Air Show, and Pinkie Pie just pictures a party and carnival bigger then any she's ever seen. Fluttershy, not caring about the Gala itself, just imagines the Castle's gardens to be a fancier, more exotic wildlife preserve then what she's seen. Only Rarity has an accurate concept of the Gala itself, and it's clear from her romantic fantasy, it's one based entirely from Romance Novels and Fashion Magazines. Twilight herself just imagines she'll be able to spend time with Princess Celestia, like she did before going to Ponyville.
* Twilight seemed to want to go to the Great Galloping Gala to see Celestia. Why couldn't she have gone to Canterlot in her spare time? It's within cantering distance.
** Celestia is implied to be pretty freaking busy most of the time, and given that Twilight's official assignment is to stay in Ponyville Twilight might have assumed that Celestia would frown on her pupil popping in all the time when she was supposed to be off doing other stuff. She wasn't just excited about seeing Celestia, but about spending some quality time with her, hence why she was so crushed when Celestia was basically forced to ignore her for a while. And there's also a bit of a difference between just hanging out, and attending a special, exclusive, once-a-year social function with someone.
** Besides, Twilight arrived in Ponyville on a flying chariot. It's obviously not a trivial distance for anyone less than a Physical Goddess.
* Not really fridge logic, but I have no idea where to put it. Am I the only one who, upon learning Celestia had power over the Sun, wondered if it could be [[KillSat weaponized]]?
** Only usefull for GeneralReaper (and go to Headscratchers with that).
** It has, go read The Sun is Tired, Chapter 5, to be exact.
** It would makes sense that Celestia would be able to use the Sun as a weapon if she needed to. It would essentially be Equestria's version of a nuclear deterrent and probably carry the same weight in the decision of whether or not to use it. Namely if Celestia uses it when it doesn't seem absolutely necessary, it would probably cause rumors to spread amongst the populous, wondering if the princess has lost her mind.
* If Applejack works an ''apple farm''... why the herding skills?
** She's a herd animal. Knowledge of herd animal mentality, and how to work with it, probably comes naturally to her. This would explain why she can steer a stampede of cows, but not gather a bunch of rabbits.
** It's also shown that she keeps animals like pigs and cows at her farm as well as apples.
* It has not been made clear whether six ponies are required to use the Elements of Harmony (since Twilight Sparkle is a new Element wielder and may not have full knowledge of the Elements' use). If, as the mythology states, Celestia and Luna used the Elements of Harmony together [[spoiler: to defeat Discord]], did they split the elements three each? Was Celestia was able to use all the Elements by herself to banish Nightmare Moon? If Celestia was able to use the Elements alone, was it due to her being an alicorn? If so, Luna could also have used the Elements. Or did both of them independently possess fully-unified Harmony powers?
** Backstory implies that, while Celestia and Luna where able to use the full power of the elements against [[spoiler: Discord]] by working together, Celestia was unable to use the full power against Nightmare Moon. Perhaps each princess does embody all six elements, but accessing the elements' full potential requires at least two ponies [[ThePowerOfFriendship working together]].
*** Which, of course leads to this problem: Since all of Celestia's banishments and imprisonments have been weakened (Nightmare Moon and Discord as two examples) shouldn't Celestia send the Mane Six on a tour to check all the locks? After a thousand years, there probably are a few entities Celestia has frozen in carbonite for good reason.
* What's with the appearance of bridles? The Diamond Dogs having them could be justified but why would Rarity have dress forms with bridles on them?
** ...Sexy lingerie?
* Isn't Mr. Cake explanation of Pan Cake wings and Pumpkin Cake horn a little fishy?
* The Cutie Mark Crusaders try increasingly ridiculous things in attempts to get their cutie marks. However, this may not be just a simple excuse for a continuous plot element. If you think about it, they all exhibited their special talent in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E18TheShowStoppers The Show Stoppers]]". It's likely that they're just trying to ignore their own talents so that they have an excuse to keep hanging out with each other. After all, their lack of cutie marks is what brought them together, and it's likely that it's one of the key things ''keeping'' them together. If they were to all get their cutie marks, they would practically have nothing keeping them together.
* What is Fluttershy's actual job? All the other ponies seem to have "regular" work to at least some extent, if you count Rainbow being mentioned to help out with weathermaking now and then and Twilight's job officially being "student". Fluttershy is not Ponyville's vet - that slot is taken - and she doesn't seem to keep enough chickens to sell the eggs. Is she Ponyville's CrazyCatLady?
** Given how eager she seems to be to give animals away, it's likely she runs what's essentially an animal shelter.
*** I sort of thought of her as running something like a pet store, but a shelter is more likely, especially when you think of how she constantly tries to heal them as well, but uses more basic forms of medicine than a vet would. Much like a volunteer at a shelter would. She's also Ponyville's pet-trainer, local animal expert in caring, and '''dragon tamer'''
* Why do ponies' names match their cutie mark at all if the cutie mark only appears a long time after their parents named them? Does this make the cutie mark a SelfFulfillingProphecy?
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fridge Logic - Season One]]

* In the Iron Pony contest, Applejack claims that Rainbow Dash using her wings is cheating. Yet, over half of the contests involve leg strength, where a pony who flies places instead of walking is obviously at a disadvantage. This is never addressed.
** Rainbow Dash ''can'' walk/run, but Applejack and the other Earth ponies can't fly and (obviously) don't have wings to use to get ahead.
** The physics aren't always consistant, but I would expect Rainbow Dash to be a lot lighter than Applejack. As such she could likely run faster with less muscle strength behind her.
*** She could also alter the pitch of her wings to increase or decrease her glide potential without technically "flying," which would give her an advantage over certain terrain.
** If her muscles aren't as strong, then she doesn't deserve the title of "most athletic pony". Using her wings to hover over the mudpit in a tug-of-war is clearly cheating. She was pulled far enough to lose, she just didn't happen to touch the ground beyond that point.
** You shouldn't really be able to compare them. For a pegasus to be as good at everything you can do without wings ''and'' an be excellent flier, she'll need to train much more than someone who does the same things minus flying. Without flying, she'll be at a disadvantage. But with flying, she'll have a huge advantage.
** Think of it this way: had either pony been facing off against Twilight, she could have easily used magic to dominate every challenge, and that is certainly cheating. Rainbow using her wings is no different. The contestants should be limited to skills that apply to ''all'' ponies. Had any challenge involved growing plants or whatever earth pony magic does, Applejack would have been expected to play fair. If influence over animals is a quality of earth pony magic, she may have already passed up a chance to cheat!
*** Its been shown that earth ponies are slightly stronger than other ponies to make up for not having magic or the ability to fly.
*** This is common fanon, but it's never mentioned by [[WordofGod Word of Faust]] or really shown in the show. However, [[WordofGod Word of Faust]] has stated that Earth Ponies ''are'' magical. They have a magical connection to plants and animals that non-Earth Ponies can't match aside from rare examples like Fluttershy. ''And it's been shown in the show, too''. How many unicorns and pegasi do you see with plant or animal related cutie marks that aren't obviously about something else (such as the unicorn teacher in Cutie Mark Chronicles having an apple, which is clearly indicative of a talent with teaching rather than raising apples).
** In that case, if anyone is to blame, then it would be Twilight, in my humble opinion. She was recruited as a judge for the contest, yet she never calls out Rainbow Dash on her behavior. In those circumstances, you can't blame Rainbow Dash for doing something she considers natural for her and that the impartial judge of the contest seems to be authorizing. But this raises the question, how could someone as [[SuperOCD obsessed over rules and order as Twilight is]] have turned a blind eye to Dash's antics?
*** Flying [[AintNoRule wasn't mentioned in the rules]]. And Applejack didn't bring it up until after she'd lost, making herself look like a sore loser.
** To be fair to Applejack, the instances were we saw her being bugged by Rainbow's wings ''were'' cheating: One was a jumping contest and the other was the tug of war, and applejack would have won both(fairly) if rainbow hadn't flying. It's more the equivalent of running in a race walking competition.
* In "Swarm of the Century", both Applejack and Rainbow Dash's attempts to fix the problem look like they would have worked if it wasn't for Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, yet we're supposed to think that Pinkie Pie had the only answer and the other ponies were at fault for not helping her. Granted finding instruments was the most reliable and would have been the fastest solution if everyone pitched in but still, they could have shown both Applejack and Rainbow Dash as only being able to gather most of the parasprites.
** The message I took from this episode was that everyone should have been working together on one plan of action rather than each trying a separate method. Had the others helped Pinkie Pie, or at least gotten her to help with Rainbow Dash' or Applejack's method, the problem would have been solved. It was only because the different methods ended up interfering with each other that the problem persisted. Pinkie Pie's solution wasn't the ''best'' one, it was simply the one that ended up working.
* In "The Ticket Master", during Rarity's daydream, the prince gives her an engagement ring. This was cool looking, with it on his horn, until I realized that ponies don't have fingers to wear rings. Even if this is just a unicorn thing, we don't see any unicorns with wedding bands on their horns.
** Also in that episode, the first thing I thought was "why not just ask the Princess for more tickets?" Because Twilight can't think straight from hunger, is why.
*** She might have felt that asking for more tickets would be rude.
*** Agreed; when someone gives you free tickets to an exclusive event that presumably has a limited number of spots available, it's not exactly polite to use your connections in an attempt to get more tickets.
*** No doubt this was Twilight's reason, but it's worth noting that Celestia asks that very question in her reply.
* In "Look Before You Sleep", Twilight acts like Pinkie Pie, which is quite the opposite to her character. And she doesn't even do anything when the tree comes crashing in, beside looking for help in a guidebook. Was she so afraid to stay alone at stormy night? Or maybe she saw Applejack and Rarity bickering and decided to bring them closer together?
** I thought that too (that Twilight was acting more like Pinkie).One theory is that the writers did actually have Pinkie in mind when they wrote the first draft of the episode's script, but for any number of reasons, they gave the role to Twilight instead.
** It's canon that she hasn't really had friends before, and it was her first sleepover. For all she knew, a tree crashing into the house ''was'' a part of the sleepover experience.
** Twilight is ''concussed'' in that scene. (This also explains most of Feeling Pinkie Keen.)
* In "Over a Barrel", when the buffalo attack the train, how did they know the tree was in the caboose, and not in an ordinary freight car? If they didn't know, then why did they detach only the caboose? For that matter, if they knew it was in the caboose, why did Little Strongheart run almost the entire length of the train to get back to it, instead of just jumping on at the rear?
** Braeburn doesn't seem particularly surprised to hear Bloomberg's been tree-napped, so they may have done this before. In fact, this may be why he asked Applejack to accompany the tree this time. However, that doesn't explain why she was so shocked at it being stolen... unless he's familiar enough with her eccentricities to know how she'd react to her baby being stolen, and didn't want to stress her out too much...
*** She didn't tell them she was bringing the tree, it was a surprise gift. That's why Braeburn didn't show concern until after they told him, even though he already knew the buffalo were a problem.
** And as for the train thing, which overlaps with FridgeBrilliance, The Buffalo Tribe enemies were the citizens of Applelossa and their relatives most of the time. If Little Strong Heart remained on the ground, there was a better chance of an earth pony catching her, getting on the train car prevents them from finding her and gives her time to find the tree, through scent most likely, she just has to travel fast because she's on top of a train, as shown by the fact she has to skid to a halt to stop. This is backed up by the fact she was so startled to see Rainbow Dash, she's not used to having someone able to make it to the top of the cars with her.
* In "A Bird in the Hoof", Twilight seemed just as surprised as everypony else about the true nature of Philemena. But wasn't Twilight Celestia's long-time student in Canterlot for years? How is it that she's unaware of nature of her long-time mentor's treasured pet? Also, as fond as she is of books and studying, Twilight never came across any narratives and illustrations of phoenixes?
** Given that their relationship was highly scholarly, it's likely Princess Celestia didn't mention her pet to Twilight. Most teachers and professors don't. As for illustrations, it may be that she simply didn't come across them in her studies, or, given that Phoenixes are rare creatures, the only pictures she saw were of when they are in good condition, and not about to burst into flames.
*** Plus she could have had one of her insane moments where she doesn't think properly. Remember the last time there was trouble that Twilight didn't want Celestia to know about?
--->'''Twilight:''' Alright everyone, we need to build an exact replica of Ponyville over there. We've got less than a minute!
** Remember how HarryPotter reacted to Dumbledore's phoenix going up in flames? Who knows what weird pets your teacher has that you're not aware of.
* In "Call of the Cutie", Applejack tells Apple Bloom that she was the last in her class to get her cutie mark. Yet in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", she launches into her {{Flashback}} with the claim that she got her mark when she was even younger than the Crusaders. Was her class filled with early bloomers, or what?
** Nah, just means the Crusaders are late bloomers.
** Also, Rainbow Dash says in "Call of the Cutie" that she was the first in her class to get her cutie mark, but one of the boys she races in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" has his already.
*** Maybe he wasn't in her class? There may be more than one.
** She went off to Manehattan for an unspecified period of time. She might have left when she was younger than the Crusaders, but only gotten her mark after a few years - she does seem to grow older between the beginning and end of the flashback.
*** Same school, different class?
*** According to Fluttershy, they were at summer flight camp, so there's no reason to assume they were even from the same school.
* So... Why didn't Applejack just, I dunno, ''tell'' Twilight that if she let go, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash would catch her?
** For that matter, why didn't she just hang onto her until Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash could come get her, rather than let her fall so far before they could catch her? She's probably strong enough.
** Given the choice between putting all your trust in the strong, sensible pony holding your hooves and looking at you, and putting it in a hyperactive pony who crashes into things and another who's terrified by the sight of you... Applejack was probably better off not mentioning it. And the pegasi might have had wing clearance issues getting that close to the cliff edge.
** Yeah, I agree with this. Plus, every pony except Applejack had to demonstrate their element against adversity. Rainbow Dash and Rarity made sacrifices, Fluttershy risked a mauling, Pinkie Pie had to overcome fear, and Twilight had to recognize her newfound faith in her friends. But Applejack had no reason not to tell the truth. Unless... the test was that she didn't tell Twilight that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were waiting to catch her? She had to understand how to withhold information without compromising the truth, and did that by reassuring Twilight rather than ordering her to let go, and appealing to her trust instead of pointing out the pegasus ponies below. Huh, this looks a little like Fridge Brilliance...
*** ...until you realise that Applejack (and the rest of the cast) had no idea that they were supposed to prove or learm anything, or that they embodied the elements. All they knew is that they were on a quest to find an ancient Mcguffin and defeat the Princess's evil sister.
*** Applejack didn't know (and didn't have to know) it had to be a test to know how to stay truthful while not frightening Twilight.
** It's possible that Applejack was afraid of Twilight pulling HER down too, but along with the then-questionably-skilled pegasi point, maybe she didn't want to tell her.
** Applejack comes from a huge family - she knows the difficulty and importance of real friendship firsthand, and she decided to hammer that bodily into Twilight. [[BrutalHonesty Because Honesty... is brutal.]]
**** That makes sense. The whole scene kind of reminds me of one in FindingNemo, where a character's order for another to "let go (and fall)" was also a metaphor for letting go of your children. Twilight never had friends and was clearly afraid, fearing she might be let down or whatever. Maybe Applejack was savvier than anybody realised and knew that Twilight needed to take a really big step and trust them if they were going to get out of this. The first step to friendship is trust. And that was the first step Twilight faced in the forest.
* Everyone seemed to be CompletelyMissingThePoint in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E11WinterWrapUp Winter Wrap Up]]". As Twilight is repeatedly warned, she must not use her powerful magic to solve Ponyville's problems, because the wrapping up process is an ancient tradition from when the town contained only one species. Everything should be done "the Earth Pony way." So far so good... if you could all just turn around and ignore [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom all the helpful pegasi flying by]].
** I got the impression the 'no magic' rule meant just that. The physical, if you like, talents of the earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi could be used to get the jobs done, just not the supernatural ones. If Ponyville was founded by Earth Ponies specifically and they were later joined by the other races, then it makes sense that the tradition was extended to suit each as far as possible. You see earth ponies and unicorns mixing together in teams, but some things, such as clearing the sky, can only be done by pegasi. Unfortunately Twilight's unique talents leaves her at a loose end until she gets a chance to show off the other skill she has; she knows how to ''organize''.
** So how did Ponyville handle the sky before the pegasi moved in?
*** There's an OriginalFlavor fanfic that puts forward [[http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/02/story-first-winter-wrap-up.html a pretty good fan theory]] covering that.
*** Remember Pinkie's [[ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines flying contraption]]?
* Relatively minor one about "Winter Wrap-Up". The teaser shows Twilight explicitly getting dressed into various winter gear, albeit significantly earlier in the morning than she should be. So... why is she not wearing that gear immediately after the title sequence, or at any later point in the episode?
** Another point - she got up incredibly early for the event. So why is it that when she arrives, it's not only full-blown daytime, but ''everypony else'' is already there before her?
*** She realized she woke up way too early, went back to bed and overslept.
** It turned to be a warmer day than she thought.
* In "Party Of One", Pinkie Pie wears Groucho Novelty glasses. You know, the one with the eyebrows, mustache, and... human nose?? Do humans exist in the Ponyverse, and if not, why didn't the animators replace the human nose with a pony nose?
** In the same vein, Pinkie Pie's "You're #1" foam finger in Sonic Rainboom.
*** Depending on her knowledge of what's beyond the fourth wall she often breaks, she may have been giving us a little nod. [[MSTMantra Or she was just being Pinkie.]]
*** Pinkie may have gotten the foam finger from Lyra.
** How about Spike knowing who FuManchu is?
** Apple Bloom's Show Stoppers costume has human skulls.
*** RL 'Satanists' have equine skulls. Make the connection.
*** So that's [[EarthAllAlong where all the humans went]].
** One possibility is that humans and human culture are a thing of myth and legend in Equestria, just like magical talking ponies, gryphons, and dragons are in our world. As such, the groucho glasses and the foam finger could be memorbilia from a popular play (or whatever the ponies watch for entertainment). That would explain not only why Pinkie Pie has said items (which on it's own could be explained by Pinkie breaking the 4th wall) and why they other didn't really react to them (even if they lumped it with Pinkie, being Pinkie, there should be some sort of reaction).
* It's obvious that Twilight has never been to the Grand Galloping Gala before, what with her joy at having been invited and not knowing what to have expected. And yet she's apprectly the Princess's most treasured student, personal apprentice, and closest friend. Yet more evidence towards Trollestia?
** It's on a school night.
** This is the first year she's had friends she wanted to go with. She may have had the opportunity before, but didn't see the point of it any more than she saw the point of anything else beyond her studies.
** Not to mention the only reason she wanted to go was to spend more time Celestia. Before the Gala, she's spent who knows how long away from her teacher with only periodic visits for business, so Twilight presumably wanted to make up for lost time. Compare that to what life was probably like while she lived in Canterlot, where the Princess was never more than a short trot away, and there was no real reason to waste valuable study time on a stuffy high class party. Especially considering she never bothered with a mundane, low class party either.
* A minor Fridge Logic bit. In 'Look Before You Sleep', Applejack's dared to 'play dress-up in a frou-frou glittery lacy outfit'. She then goes and gets a rather weird-looking PimpedOutDress..except they're in Twilight's home. Which means that the dress is Twilight's.
** Knowing Rarity, she probably whipped it up MacGyver-style out of dental floss, paper doilies and old curtains.
** I imagine there's a good chance Twilight recieved that dress from Rarity as a present.
** Oddly, Rarity has it in Green Isn't Your Color, when she's picking an outfit for Fluttershy, and apparently brought it along for the photo shoot in the park, which means it's one of her originals.
** I'd say it's not that outlandish for Twilight to have a PimpedOutDress like that. She did live in Canterlot after all, as the Princess' prized pupil no less. It's not impossible at all that she might have attended some social events wearing it.
* In Giggle At The Ghosties, Pinkie Pie mentions Granny Pie telling her to laugh at her fears, but later Pinkie Pie explains to us that her early life was spent on a rock farm, where there was no smiling, or talking. How could this be explained?
** An even better example would be in "Winter Wrap-Up", where she mentions she has been ice skating "since she was a little filly". Sure, you might say that the above one is just a minor detail, or even that she ''is'' a natural as she said, but c'mon. Ice skating is ''hard'' - even for Pinkie Pie, it's hard to believe she's just that good with little to no practice.
** [[CloudCuckooLander Pinkie Pie]] is an UnreliableNarrator? Shock of shocks.
** First: No talking? How could they even properly live without talking? Anyway, back to the subject, maybe during the part at the flashback, Pinkie Pie's granny had recently passed away and might be the reason Pinkie was so sad-looking at the time.
*** Pinkie is a little on the nutty side. Considering she ended her rock farm tale with "and that's how Equestria was made", it's probably not wholly accurate. Either that, or Granny Pie didn't tell her that tidbit that until later.
*** No talking doesn't have to mean no talk at all, just no talk beyond bare necessities, which to such a social creature as Pinkie might as well not be talking at all.
*** My theory is that you've got it backwards - the rock farmers are the black sheep of the Pie family, whilst Granny and Pinkie are the "normal" ones. The genes for a pink mane have to come from somewhere. And don't you find it strange that the Pies are the only ponies in Equestria with names that contradict their talent? Perhaps they forbade the extended family from ever visiting the farm after Granny taught Pinkamena to "Giggle at the Ghosties."
*** How about this: Pinkie doesn't mean "no talking, no smiling" as in, they were explicitly forbidden from doing those things; she means it as in, ''they're on a joyless depressing rock farm out in the middle of nowhere so no one even wants to''. Granny Pie remembered a time when it wasn't all rock farms, so she could ''tell'' Pinkie to "giggle at the ghosties", but until Pinkie learned about the concepts of "color" and "happiness", she couldn't really comprehend what Granny was saying.
** Granny Pie simply doesn't work on the rock farm. Being boring is part of living on (that particular) rock farm, not necessarily of being a pre-Pinkamena Pie-family-member.
* In "A Bird in the Hoof" it seems a bit odd that the teacups have handles on them, seeing as how the ponies have not digits with which to manipulate the cups, and the unicorns can simply levitate them.
** Maybe the teacup design was thought up by an elitist unicorn and there was a time one it was considered proper to only levitate the teacup via the handle. Or the handle could have been added to aid servants serving the tea. Since ponies lack hands, any non-unicorn servants of aristocrats would have either use their mouths or sit down and use both front hooves to place the cup in front of the aristocrat. Sitting down and using their front hooves would be difficult to deal with the serving tray and would take longer to serve everyone if their master has guests. So the handles were add so servants could grab that with their mouths and set the cup in front of their master or their master's guest(s), who would then pick it up with telekinesis (if unicorn) or their front hooves (if not)
* If Trixie travelled in the wagon, then who pulled it in the first place? She's no Earth Pony.
** She probably moved it magically, like how Twilight moved the snowplow in "Winter Wrap-Up".
** No reason why she couldn't pull it herself. We saw Twilight and Rarity-both Unicorns-hauling heavy carts overflowing with gems in 'Dog and Pony Show'. Unicorns may be overall weaker than Earth ponies, but they can still do feats of strength or defy the stereotype.
* Tails have muscle and nerve endings in them. Rarity's is no exception, she can wave it and use it to pick things up. How then was she able to slice it off like it was just a piece of hair? (Perhaps this is just a headscratcher for some, but I got a little nauseous the first time I watched Episode 2; before it became clear she was fine)
** Watch a real horse's tail move sometime; the part which is actually biologically the tail is actually kind of stumpy; the rest is just hair (and Rarity's shenanigans are just cartoon physics).
*** Either that, or Steven Magnet's fainting suddenly makes a lot more sense.
* In the series opening mythology sequence, Twilight Sparkle reads that Nightmare Moon/Princess Luna has been trapped in the moon, and that "the stars will aid her escape." Specifically, four stars, as illustrated in the book she's reading and shown explicitly when the Mare in the Moon suddenly disappears from the lunar surface. We learn in Season Two that [[spoiler:Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have used the Elements of Harmony before to defeat Discord.]] There are six Elements of Harmony, and no reason to expect that number to vary. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are two (very powerful) ponies. The four stars who aid Night Mare Moon's escape... [[spoiler:were they the four other Element-wielders?]] This concept also gains greater significance when you realize that the entire chain of events - [[spoiler: Twilight Sparkle's re-discovery of the Elements and Celestia's pointed indifference to the return of her sister/Night Mare Moon, and her mysterious absence during the solstice -]] were not about defeating an imprisoned enemy ... the whole thing was [[spoiler: a ''rescue mission'' to recover Luna from Night Mare Moon. [[TheChessmaster Princess Celestia]] could not rescue her sister from Night Mare Moon herself, and had to wait a thousand years (possibly with the assistance of the remaining four original element wielders who had become stars in the night sky, acting as guardians over the imprisoned sister) for the next Element wielders to appear.]]

** If Princess Celestia was the previous wielder of the Element of Magic, then Princess Luna was one of the other elements. If Twilight Sparkle is the new wielder of the Element of Magic, then [[FridgeHorror who among the Mane Six will betray the rest and become the new Mare in the Moon? Or Discord's Disciple?]] [[spoiler: Like Luna, Fluttershy went crazy after being rejected by the animals at the Grand Galloping Gala gardens: Night Mare Shy? Pinkie Pie has unusual powers of travel for an Earth pony, and the fourth-wall cannot seem to hold her: Discordie Pie? Perhaps unintended foreshadowing, but it took five of the Mane cast to take down Discorded Rainbow Dash (who fortunately but inexplicably did not use the all-powerful Sonic Rainboom against them). Could Rainbow Dash be the [[SixthRanger Sixth Ranger]] in the group, and next to be banished to the moon?]]
*** I honestly think that's more of a coincidence than anything. I think the reason for the four stars was FourIsDeath. The rest of that stuff is a nice theory, but barely fits into possible canon. Definitely a good idea for a fanfic though. [[spoiler: And as a side-note, Discorded Rainbow Dash didn't use the Sonic Rainboom because she was hanging onto a cloud for half the time, hindering her speed, and weighed down by Pinkie and Rarity the other half.]]
**** If Twilight Sparkle had mistranslated the thousand-year old prophecy, "the stars will aid her escape" could apply to Night Mare Moon escaping from the moon (as presented verbatim in the first episode), ''or'' (if interpreted differently) it could apply to Princess Luna escaping from Night Mare Moon/the Miasma, which characterizes the stars as a benevolent force, subverting FourIsDeath.
*** The general idea of the [[spoiler: rescue mission]] is supported by effective WordOfGod [[http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/11/lauren-fausts-nightmare-moon-banishment.html from Lauren Faust]]. Link to her actual dA comment page [[http://comments.deviantart.com/4/1603670/2282739345 here,]] screenshot [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x9Ta9OF7I-w/TsTk1yHpPqI/AAAAAAAAUhw/_zBj85My5uI/s1600/1.JPG here]]. She does mention that her reasoning should not be taken as canon, as she no longer runs the show.
*** What makes you think it was Celestia that was the wielder of the Element of Magic? [[spoiler: This makes even less sense when you look at how effortlessly Luna performs powerful magic in Luna Eclipsed, in spite of Word of Faust saying that she's not yet fully grown.]]
* The whole "wingboner" thing seems pretty idiotic... until you see a moment in Dragonshy when Twilight uses her teeth to grab Fluttershy's wing by '''biting''' it, resulting in an agonized/aroused look from Fluttershy. This, though not definitively, proves that a pegasus's wings ''could'' be an erogenous zone. (God, the things I never thought I'd type...)
* Some Brilliance from the first episode. Twilight figures out Nightmare Moon is going to escape, and Celestia's advice is to leave the books alone and go make friends. At first, you think Celestia is just being a JerkAss, but what are the Elements of Harmony powered by, again? Celestia knew she wouldn't be able to use the Elements, so sent the only pony she knew of that had any clue about the prophecy.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fridge Logic - Season Two]]
* Not exactly fridge logic, but I do find it odd that Rainbow Dash thought of Cloudsdale as home instead of Ponyville when Discord basically threatened her home.
** I thought Rainbow Dash lives in Cloudsdale?
** Rainbow Dash ''lives'' in Ponyville (or, more accurately, directly above Ponyville in a cloud-townhouse). She ''grew up'' in Cloudsdale.
*** Hence, "the ''foundations'' of home"; not where she lives, but where she started.
** Most likely Discord warped Dash's sense of loyalty by brainwashing her. Just like he was able to increase Rarity's greed, he probably increased Dash's loyalty to her old home relative to her new home.
* Why doesn't Spike carry around scrolls and a quill at all times? In a world without cell phones, his magic power would make him extremely useful. Irreplaceable, even. In "A Dog and Pony Show," Spike could have sent for help, then [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome gone after]] Rarity [[BigDamnHeroes himself]].
** Because that's not how it works. He breathes on a scroll, it goes to Celestia; she does some magic ti a scroll, it comes out of Spike's mouth. He can't just send a scroll anywhere.
* This simple fact: Even if Cloudsdale's destruction in Return of Harmony was a vision, Discord could easily make it a reality, or it could even have ''been'' a reality (and then [[ResetButton undone]]) given his power and sociopathy.
** During "Sonic Rainboom", there were elderly ponies shown working in the weather factories... ponies that probably can't move fast enough to escape before said factories are destroyed with the rest of Cloudsdale, and that's not even mentioning the children. ''Brr''
* Once one really stops to think about it, Discord as an unrestrained concept is psychologically terrifying. The fact that this is to be TV-Y for its intended audience holds that fact back, but think about it. He has reality manipulation and illusions beyond anything else shown in the show, teleportation of unspecified range, can transmute things with a thought including ones own body, is probably immortal to some degree (At least as old as Celestia/Luna, can decapitate himself just fine), and can shatter and atomize the laws of physics at a whim. But the worst part, is the causal ease he can fuck with your mind. HE RE-WROTE 5 MAIN CHARACTERS PERSONALITIES WITH A MERE TOUCH. (and also messed up Big Mac and some other fodder) The way he made Fluttershy ENJOY INFLICTING PAIN AND SUFFERING ON HER OWN FORMER FRIENDS, god that was fricking sadist. At a certain point, the ponies didn't even care that he was screwing up the town, their family, their entire lives. Taken to the extreme, he can literally convert your friends/family into murderous sociopaths with no qualms about torturing or killing you. And this guy is a trigger happy smirking Jerkass who isn't afraid to abuse his god-mode which he has 24/7. The idea that he, an omnipresent reality-warping monster, can just teleport-poke anyone anywhere, warping their entire mind re-writing both their being and perception of reality before one even realizes what's happening to them.... god, IT'S TERRIFYING.
** In other words, Discord is an eons old, remorseless PsychopathicManchild with omnipotent [[RealityWarper reality warping powers]] and an outright sadistic sense of humor who can MindRape you with a mere touch.
* What about the simple fact that calm composed, ''PhysicalGoddess'' Princess Celestia is ''[[TheDreaded scared]]'' [[TheDreaded of Discord]]. What must she have witnessed all that time ago that makes her, of all ponies, afraid of him?
** Hey, ([[LampshadeHanging as Discord noted]]) at least he doesn't embalm and keep his enemies (and friends) in marble statues in a garden and pretend to create order and harmony by ruling over the land through some Elements of Harmony. Celestia herself seems to be heavily treading along the MoralEventHorizon.
*** [[YourMileageMayVary Depends how you take what he says.]] Is he saying that's something Celestia regularly did, or is he just retorting based on what he went through? Hell, just seeding the thought he wasn't the only one is his MO.
*** He doesn't turn people into stone because that would be ''boring''. And we see how Discord [[ForTheEvulz treats]] everyone, enemies and innocents alike. I'd rather be turned into a stone statue.
* Think about the whole thing from poor Twilight's point of view. She comes across her friends one by one, only to discover that they're not even the same ponies she knew anymore. They're treating her like dirt and she has no idea why or what's causing it. Just thinking about the idea of being cutoff from your friends and finding them in that state is unsettling to say the least...
* Discord is all levels of terrifying, to be sure, but keep in mind that most tropers are, at the very least, in their teens. We've seen our fair share of nightmarish imagery in a show about magical ponies, but just imagine what it must be like for the actual target audience of ''small children''. If we're this frightened of Discord, [[FridgeHorror what must he look like through the eyes of a five year old]]?
** A goofy looking monster with a goat's head who turns roads into soap and clouds into cotton candy that rain chocolate. Discord is only scary when you start analyzing him.
* As silly as Discord's reign over Equestria ''seems'', a lot of it is still rather unsettling. Like the fact ''everyone'' seems to have gone insane...and a few of the Ponies have the same faded look as the Mane Cast...
** Not to mention that when you take into account the kinds of things he's implied to have done before Celestia and Luna had imprisoned him, it could have been a ''lot'' worse, and not just silly tricks...
*** Considering things were getting worse and worse as the episode progressed, it's very likely he was simply working his way up to that...
*** Think ''[[{{Batman}} Emperor Joker]]''.
* Big Macintosh [[spoiler:experienced MindRape to such a degree that he now pants, barks, and licks ''like a dog.'' Discord can turn good, solemn ponies into silly animals. Now ''that'' is scary.]]
** He could have just had [[spoiler:his mind switched with Winona's]]. Okay, that isn't really any better.
*** Does that mean we missed seeing Winona [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome walking around and saying nothing?]]
** Apparently, [[YourMileageMayVary Your Mileage may vary]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny on this one]].
* You want some NightmareFuel? Remember when Granny Smith was busy being compelled to tap-dance? Think about it; would Discord have bothered to fix her hip first? *shudder*
** She was smiling, and Discord's in the business of chaos -- not ColdBloodedTorture. So she probably fared the best out of anyone in Discord's "new and improved" scheme of things.
*** ''It is possible to [[TheJoker smile]] [[MindRape without]] [[StepfordSmiler wanting]] [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel to]].''
*** It's also possible people are overlooking key aspects of Discord's personality in favor of making him DarkerAndEdgier and finding HighOctaneNightmareFuel where there should just be...NightmareFuel. Note that he didn't take control of the Mane Casts' bodies and make them say things they didn't mean; he literally altered their personalities. That's because he's the spirit of chaos, not mindless puppetry. If Granny Smith and Big Mac look delighted with their present situations, it's probably because they are -- which is creepy enough as is.
*** I wouldn't be so sure. GettingCrapPastTheRadar doesn't always have to involve naughty bits. [[WordOfGod Jason]] already stated he and the rest of the staff still have a thin line they need walk by when it comes to this show and its content. So they can't be open about [[ColdBloodedTorture some things]]. However it was stated the mane six didn't have much (if any) self-control when under Discord's influence. So the implications are behind Granny Smith's actions and the after effects are unsettling.
*** The entirity of Discorded Sweet Apple Acres is deepy unsettling, but there is still overreaching. By that same logic, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are in horrific pain from having their wings removed. They just didn't show it in any way, because the show has to conceal it. And that mare being sprinkled with pepper? Clearly her eyes are burning in unspeakable agony, and Discord's just forcing her not to show it.
*** [[FridgeHorror Allow me to make Twilight's breakdown in Lesson Zero worse.]] Even though what Twilight did was just use a "Want-It-Need-It" spell on the CMC ([[ItMakesSenseInContext just run with it]]), consider this my friends: Twilight was desperate, she needed SOME kind of conflict out of the CMC to write a friendship report on. The exact details of her thought processes are unknown but, more than likely, in a bit of desperation, Twilight essentially ''[[spoiler: [[OhCrap took a page out of]]]]'' '''''[[spoiler: [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Discord's book]].]]'''''
*** Does not help that she started rapidly teleporting all over the place, [[spoiler: ''just like him'']]. [[spoiler: It appears he got to her better than we thought...]]
**** This would [[FridgeBrilliance go a ways in explaining Celestia's anger/disappointment]] towards Twilight at the end. Her behavior was [[spoiler: causing her to inadvertantly channel the tactics of the guy who NEARLY DOOMED EQUESTRIA!!]]
***** It is also likely that there were several proscriptions against using that particular "want-it-need-it" spell... and not just because of the obvious results when Twilight did it. Imagine the economic mayhem if any unicorn crook could make people willing, at the drop of a hat, to spend their life savings on a rock or stick or clod of earth.... "so what am I bid for this wad of lint out of my coat pocket?..."
* In Luna Eclipsed, we see that tales of Nightmare Moon are the basis of a well-established holiday tradition. Why, then, did no one recognize her way back in Episode 1?
** They might have recognized her if they had a minute to think about it. It's one thing to hear a fairy tale of a shadowy, villainous figure that eats children and completely another for said figure to appear in front of you as real as ever. Most ponies would probably think "Is this even real?" if NMM weren't so terrifying.
** Does anyone else find it odd that the mane six would be scared of Nightmare Moon knowing full well they defeated her and freed Luna?
*** It seems that they were scared of her loud voice and mannerisms(It sounded like she was angry). Twilight was the first to approach her. Applejack took a little convincing to accept her. Pinkie Pie was pretending. Rainbow Dash didn't care. Fluttershy is scared of anyone who raises her voice (as we saw with Gilda) and Rarity was not in the episode. It seemed that most ponies were scared of her being angry, or of her portrayal as Nightmare Moon, but NOT of her still being Nightmare Moon.
**** But Fluttershy was scared the minute she saw Luna, and even ''called'' her Nightmare Moon. She actually seemed to be afraid of Nightmare Moon.
***** Fluttershy was already a terrified nervous wreck just on account of it being Nightmare Night, so it wouldn't take much to make her even more frightened.
**** Ok, grasping at straws here: Last time the mane characters saw Luna (That we know of) she was timid, smaller and had "normal" hair. In Nightmare night, it was at night(duh) so her coat looked darker, and her hair resembled more Nightmare Moon, plus, she has grew some, and was showing WAY more confidence, resembling more the Nightmare Moon they knew than the Luna that they briefly glimpsed. Add to that the TRADITIONAL CANTERLOT ROYAL VOICE. Twilight, being studious and learning under Princess Celestia herself, probably knew about the voice, either from a book, or from the princess (Hell, there is nothing to say that Celestia doesn't use the voice every now and then). Fluttershy, and everypony else assumed that Luna had been repossessed due to her exterior changes.
***** Celestia used on Twilight one episode beforehand, at the end of Lesson Zero.
--->Celestia: '''''TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!'''''
* Luna was shown able to transform back into her Nightmare Moon form easily, and had the same powers to boot without it. Does this suggest that 'Knightmare Moon' was just a form that Luna already had achieved at some point, and whatever evil force or possession took control of her, just coerced her into using permanently because the aesthetic simply 'worked out better?' And considering her 'original' form from her first appearance,whose to say Luna isn't altering herself now to come off prestigious? Or that Celestia isn't either for that matter. (Her younger form shown being of pink shorter hair)
** I don't know about the powers, but it seemed that Luna had to possess the Nightmare Moon statue in order to take that form again.
** It's probably easy for her to change her appearance with an illusion or transformation spell.
** She still needed fake teeth though :)
*** Of course. Nightmare Moon had normal teeth.
* In "Luna Eclipsed", Princess Luna is shown to be behind the times by a thousand years, unable to speak to her subjects in a way they would expect, the way Princess Celestia would. If we remember that the episodes are out of order, and if we assume that Nightmare Night falls on a similar date to Halloween, then by that episode Luna should have been around for a little over three months (since she came back on what is really the summer solstice). After all that time, Celestia never bothered to tell her how things have changed? Luna never noticed that Celestia never used THE TRADITIONAL ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE? It makes sense that Luna wouldn't appear to the public for a while, but only if Celestia is HELPING her to be the princess she should be. It seems like Celestia just said, "Okay you're back to normal. You can be princess again. Run along now!" and left Luna to embarrass herself.
* This trouper noticed that for a bit of Fridge Horror; In the episode "Lesson Zero" Twilight Sparkle essentially receives no punishment for brainwashing an entire town with magic.
** She received what was probably the ''worst'' punishment in her mind: seeing Princess Celestia disappointed in her, possibly for the first time in her life. Given how much Twilight idolizes the Princess, I don't think that any other punishment would have driven the point home better.
** The princess said that she'd forget Twilight's punishment as long as the whole group submit their lessons. It helps that the others stated it was their fault Twilight went so far.
*** Was referencing the fact that no other pony seemed the least be perturbed that they essentially had their will stripped from them.
*** Ponies seem to just ignore mental stuff after it's over. None of the Mane Six seem to have long term effects from their psychological breakdowns, and everyone ignored Discord's MindRape the second he was gone.
*** Actually, this could be a whole new layer of Fridge Horror. If Celestia kept quiet about it to the general public, the only ponies who know it was Twilight would be the Mane 6, Celestia and probably the Crusaders and Big Mac. As far as the Ponyville public know, they all flipped out over a plush toy totally at random and for no apparent reason. Sounds paranoia inducing at the least.
*** Blame it on the aftereffects of the town being Discorded shortly before, assure them that that was the last hurrah of his powers, and call it a day.
* Bullets and tanks are mentioned in "May the Best Pet Win". However we've never seen anypony using modern weaponry in Equestria. Including elite Royal Guards, and you'd think those would be carrying the best weaponry available.
** Bullets are not just gun ammo. The term can also apply to the ammunition used in mundane slingshots or other sling-type weapons. That sort of weaponry is much more common in medieval settings, even pseudo-medieval settings like this one.
** And "tank" might refer to water tank. Perhaps in Equestria, all water tanks are built to last
** I prefer to think of it as tanks(like the water one). Bullets were a bit tougher until I remember that Hasbro owns the rights to the ''DungeonsAndDragons'' monster manual, and the show has used hydras and dragons and manticores, so why not bulettes(Land Sharks)?
** She doesn't say he's ''built'' like a tank. She says he's ''unstoppable'' like one. Water tanks aren't really known for being unstoppable.
*** There are two possibilities here. First is that tank refers to the kind of tank they'd actually have (but likely never use), which was essentially like a moveable miniature fortress. The second is that tank, in Equestria, means the same thing as it does in [=RPGs=]: Heavily armored warriors that are difficult to take down.
* So how come [[spoiler:the one]] Mare-Do-Well [[spoiler:with Pinkie Sense]] became the one pony Rainbow Dash got the drop on successfully?
** [[spoiler:Same reason she wasn't all twitching in the Everfree Forest: she didn't sense danger or other Pinkie-sense related premonitions.]] Or maybe the Mare-Do-Well just decided to let Dash get the drop on her and end the whole thing.
*** The second of these. [[spoiler:They all led her to the alley and were all present at that location (even Fluttershy, Rarity and Spike), suggesting that they ''planned'' to stage their reveal there. So, most likely Pinkie ''let'' Rainbow Dash get the drop on her.]]
*** Although Pinkie still looked a little shocked, so it's likely they were ''planning'' to pull the reveal, just not ''quite'' at that exact moment. I like to think they were planning to lead her straight into a "soften the blow" surprise party.
** Probably she just doesn't have/doesn't recognize a specific signal for "a friend you've been playing an elaborate trick on is about to pin you down and rip off your disguise".
** I thought she looked more sheepish than shocked. As in "Yeah, it's me. Surprise?" She was reacting to Rainbow's utter loss of words with an apologetic smile.
* In "''The Cutie Pox''", why was Applejack the only one who went with Apple Bloom to Twilight's? I can understand Granny Smith not being there because they didn't want to worry her, but what about Big Macintosh? Did Applejack just whisk Apple Bloom away without telling her older brother? Can you imagine how it would have went if they hadn't of found a cure and he had to find out later? He probably would have kicked their house down in such a fit.
** Or, alternatively:
--> '''Applejack''': Big Macintosh, I'm taking Apple Bloom to Twilight so we can find a cure! Can you stay here and look after Granny Smith and the farm?
--> '''Big Macintosh''': A-yup.
* In ''Sweet and Elite'', we see that Rarity is staying in a suite in a very tall tower. The bellhop pony carried all of her luggage up here. Talk about a workout.
* In "Hearth's Warming Eve", the play ends with the flag of Equestria being put up - it's suppoed to be set in the time before Celestia, yet the flag shows ''Celestia and Luna'', straight from the storybook in the series premiere. Surely they could have tracked down the correct flag design with Twilight Sparkle on hand?
** [[http://www.ponibooru.org/post/view/99735 Look closer at the two flags.]] On the ''Hearth's Warming Eve'' one the alicorns are generically colored, while the one from the pilot they are colored as Celestia and Luna.
*** OTOH the depictions of Celestia and Luna in the stained glass window where they're shown defeating Discord in ''The Return of Harmony Part 1'' look [[http://www.ponibooru.org/post/view/79341 exactly the same]] as the alicorns seen in the ''Hearth's Warming Eve'' flag.
** Two Alternative Explanations:
### RealityIsUnrealistic. The original Equestrian flag is known mostly to historians and scholars, but not to the average lay pony. Trying to use it during the play would've gotten calls that the flag was wrong.
### The original design truly ''was'' lost to history. Be it because of Discord's chaotic reign in between Equestria's founding and Celestia & Luna's rise to power, or just simply being forgotten over time, modern Equestrians don't know what the original flag looked like so use the current one in the play.
** It's possible that the story of how Equestria was made was slightly warped. When it's stated that Celestia and Luna defeated Discord and saved Equestria, they may have saved what eventually ''became'' Equestria, and the disagreements between the pony tribes was a result of Discord's rule that wasn't instantaneously fixed because of how severe the problem was.
*** This one's countered by the narration. The play takes place before the reign of Celestia and Luna (which also forces it to pre-Discord).
*** Not necessarily Pre-Discord. Discord's rule came before Luna' and Celestia's reign, which means it could come before Equestria's founding, as well.
* In Winter Wrap-Up, Twilight says, "Ponyville was started by earth ponies! So for hundreds of years, they've never used magic to wrap up winter. It's traditional!" According to Family Appreciation Day, Granny Smith was one of the founders of Ponyville. Therefore, ''Granny Smith is hundreds of years old.''
** She's maybe a hundred at least if you wanna be generous. {{Determinator}} to the extreme. The more likely explanation is Apple Jack just isn't very good at those "[[CallBack fancy mathematics!]]"
** Granny might be a centenarian, but it's highly unlikely she's multiple centuries old. More likely she's [[UnreliableNarrator embellishing the story a bit.]] Alternatively, Twilight meant that for hundreds of years Earth Ponies have never used magic to wrap up winter, and wasn't referring to Ponyville in the "hundreds of years" part.
** Additionally, I don't think we know how long an Equestrian year is. If the seasons are controlled by Pegasi and the days are controlled by Celestia, how do the ponies measure a year? By a rotation around the manipulated sun, or by the passing of seasons which could last surprisingly short amounts of times? Hundreds of years could translate to 50 Earth years, depending on their measurement. Of course, this logic would also affect the founding of Equestria and the Alicorn's ages.
*** We ''do'' know, however, that Winter (as pointed out by Rainbow Dash in the very first line of the Wrap Up song) is three months long, just like it is for us. Twilight also mentions Spring several times throughout the same episode. The series premiere was set on the Summer Solstice, and the Running of the Leaves marks the beginning of Autumn. So unless the ponies have some wierd seasons we've never heard of, and assuming each of the four they do have lasts roughly the same amount of time, it's probably safe to conclude that they pony calender has 12 months in a year.
* Was it just me, or was there a serious BrokenAesop at the end of "Baby Cakes"? Pinkie wrote a letter to Princess Celestia about babysitting isn't just about playing with children, and that a babysitter has to be responsible. But Pinkie was responsible! Her problem was that the babies she was caring for suddenly manifested extremely powerful and unpredictable magical and avionic abilities, and she was one earth pony handling them by herself. If she made a mistake, maybe it was not accepting Twilight's help, regardless of how condescendingly it was offered. It seems to me that a better {{Aesop}} would have been that sometimes you need to swallow your pride, or even your proper self-respect, and accept help you need even if it is offered condescendingly and insultingly. That might be something of a FamilyUnfriendlyAesop for a kids' show, though.
** Another good alternative: Be careful how you take offense. Twilight didn't realize she was being condescending, which happens a lot to socially-awkward individuals. From Twilight's perspective, '''she was thrown out of her best friend's house for offering to help her babysit.''' Which, given her sensitivity toward her friendships, would have sent Twilight crying back to the library...
*** ...which probably would have resulted in a letter being sent to Princess Celestia, in the hope that she wasn't too busy to lend some comfort. And who could theoretically activate a pony's full power potential at one month old. Suddenly that third act sounds more like a case of divine interference.
*** ...Or maybe just an answering letter back of the Princess gently explaining to Twilight how what she said was insensitive.
*** ...assuming Twilight Sparkle even noticed she'd been thrown out. She didn't even seem realize Pinkie Pie was angry at her, let alone was throwing her out. Twilight just assumed Pinkie Pie was more confident than she'd initially expected.
*** ''Twilight already understands her mistake.'' She'd be upset because of her mistake. She would be writing to the Princess in hopes of getting some comfort, and maybe some guidance on making up for her mistake. Trying to explain it to her at that point would only piss her off and complicate things further. By activating the Cake twins' powers early, Celestia bumps the task of babysitting them up a few notches to break Pinkie as well, placing both ponies on equal terms for when they make up later.
**** Guys, Celestia doesn't need to involve herself in ''everything''.
* The story of "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" is focused on apple cider. ....... this would be the AMERICAN version of cider, because in the United Kingdom, apple cider is alcoholic! On wonders how the subtext of this episode would be received over there, especially if it results in hilarious bonuses!
** Maybe, but cider needs time to ferment and the Apples and the Flim-Flam brothers were selling their cider the same day it was made, so it really couldn't have been hard cider (which, incidentally, certainly does exist in the United States).
** Except that Berry Punch (Who, in fanon, is an alcoholic and in the actual show just likes to drink things) is the one who the camera focuses on when Flam says that "It's the same in every town. Thirsty throats, dry tongues, and not a drop of cider to be found." Her face is one of complete shock (about 5:10) to realize that there not just no cider in Ponyville, but since other towns are in cantering distance, maybe no cider ANYWHERE. There is nowhere for her to get her drink on, and she '''''needs it'''''... whether it's hard cider or not. Besides, we don't know if they add anything between the giant grindstone and the tap when they're making it in the competition, it'd be hidden behind the wheel, or within the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. If you look at Cheerilee's face after she drinks, she's definitely got a "I'm having a wonderful time with this cider" face at about 3:00.
* "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000". Alright, Granny Smith makes a foolish bet because she got called a chicken. If the Apple family lose their cider-selling rights they won't have the money to keep the farm during the winter. That's fine. That's a series of logical events. But by the time the contest has been lost literally everypony involved has made the bizarre mental leap that the bet was actually for ownership of the farm! The FlimFlam brothers talk about renaming Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack talks about packing up and getting out, and none of the Mane Six seem to realise the error. Yes, you might have to sell the farm eventually, but you don't have instantly hand it over to the FlimFlam brothers! That was never part of the deal!
** Everypony also missed another important point in their eagerness to escalate the episode's conflict: the bet only involved the right to sell cider. The only source of apples in the region is Sweet Apple Acres. You might not be able to sell your own cider while the FlimFlam brothers are around, but you can just refuse to sell them the apples they need to make it until they go out of business and move on instead!
* In "Read It and Weep", there was never an explanation for why Daring Do needed to have the Sapphire Statue or the danger of it being in the hands of Ahuitzol. The book mentions that "with the Sapphire Statue secured, the world was safe and sound once again," implying that the statue had some sort of power that could put the world in danger, but they never elaborate on this. Sure, they could just leave it to our imaginations, but the statue was a key point in the story so it should have at least had an important reason for being taken and why it was so dangerous.
** It was probably in the part of the book that Rainbow Dash skipped.
[[/folder]]

*** But there is a system of money in Equestria. We see on-screen exchange of currency and Applejacks whole reason for going to the Gala was to sell enough to get the money need to replace the family plow, fix up the barn, and get Granny Smith some hip surgery. Such a line of thinking wouldn't work in a communistic system. In the perfect communist society you speak of, Applejack should be able to just go ask for the things she needs. Equestrian economy seems to work on either a capitalistic system, or the old timey mercantile system (which would be fitting as the show seems to be aiming for a medieval/fantasy world feel). We don't see much in the way of money transactions or pay checks, because those aren't the point of the show (in-setting at least), friendship is the point of the show. As for why Spike seems to have been born into slavery, the show gives some evidence that dragons are considered animals in the MLP-world. Talking, intelligent animals, but animals none the less. Case-in-point, the first episode, Fluttershy, who is incredibly shy around ponies, becomes practically bubbling with excitement when she sees Spike. Also in Dragonshy, Twilight wanted to bring Fluttershy along to help with the dragon, when Fluttershy's talent is dealing with animals. So in the connotations of that, Spike isn't Twilight's slave, he's her familiar (she is a wizard after all).

* That and the whole "I've always been a runner" or something like that.

* This troper was thinking about how the Mane Six represent the Elements of Harmony, but in-universe they often exhibit the opposite traits (Rarity coveting gems, Applejack lying to her friends, Rainbow Dash being selfish, etc.). At first this troper thought that this was contradictory, but then I remembered that the purpose of the Elements of Harmony was to maintain balance in Equestria. You can't have yin without yang. Take Rarity for example: she represents the element of Generosity, but at the same time she has a bit of a greedy streak when it comes to the finer things in life. But just as being super-greedy turned her into a crazy paranoid miser in "Return of Harmony", being super-generous would quickly leave Rarity completely out of business and with nothing left to give. With that said, it seems to this troper that Discord didn't completely change their personality- he just brought out their worst possible traits.

%%* "Hearts and Hooves Day" Doctor Whooves gets one appearance in, and he's shown ''running'' - if you're at all familiar with the 9th-Doctor-and-onwards ''DoctorWho'', you'll know why the simple word 'Run' became ArcWords for three Doctors in succession.[[hottip:*:[[InfoDump As briefly as possible:]] the 9th Doctor (ChristopherEccleston) met his companion Rose while fleeing, so the first thing he said to her was "Run", which was [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay how he identified himself to her]] after regenerating into the 10th (DavidTennant). Down the line, the 11th (MattSmith)'s BadassBoast to his enemy basically boiled down to telling them to ''run.'']]

** The love poison itself has rather UnfortunateImplications. The CMC essentially slipped their teacher and Big Mac a '''DateRape''' drug.

** Moreover, Pinkie has some incredible abilities. She can move at incredible speeds, teleport, be in two places at once, appear anywhere (including ''inside mirrors''), whip up complex gadgets in a short span of time, [[SuperpowerLottery etc]]. If you break a Pinkie Promise, [[ParanoiaFuel it's impossible to run from, hide from, or stop her]]

** This episode also gives us a pony with a screw for a Cutie Mark. She barks like a dog and sports the same facial expressions Twilight did when she went insane back in "Lesson Zero". Now let's think about this: cutie marks are a sign of a pony's eternal destiny. And we have an insane pony with a loose screw for a cutie mark.