History Headscratchers / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason1Episodes14To26

** Perhaps she thought it would be bothering the groundskeeper so she did not bother with him.

** WordOfGod [[http://comments.deviantart.com/4/1603670/1926366980 says]] that it was more or less forced on her: she didn't want a train in MLP, but the crew (and probably Hasbro) wanted a Wild West episode and a train was needed. Simply having the ponies pull the train looked wrong, and would have denied them the iconic sounds of the locomotive and the subsequent train robbery. So she punted.

[[folder:[=1.2?=] Cutie Mark Chronicles]]
* How the hay did Sweetie Belle's helmet fit? Since the other Crusaders aren't unicorns, they wouldn't have trouble wearing a helmet without a hole to accommodate a horn.

** perhaps Bonbon (aka "Agent Sweetie Drops" was still getting used to her undercover identity.

** Ever try to lug a heavy suitcase up a hill or a flight of stairs? If there is a mounain with a high grade of incline and one of the train pony's footing slips, the entire thing could start backsliding.
** Simple. They weren't PULLING the engine, they were ''powering it with Earth Pony magic.'' Notice that there was steam coming from the whistle-- but no smoke from the smokestack? And if I remember correctly there was no coal car either. Earth Pony magic to heat the boiler! E

** Simple. They weren't PULLING the engine, they were ''powering it with Earth Pony magic.'' Notice that there was steam coming from the whistle-- but no smoke from the smokestack? And if I remember correctly there was no coal car either. Earth Pony magic to heat the boiler! Especially makes since as Earth Ponies are the strongest of the ponies with the most endurance-- which means they probably have more magic than either the pegasi or unicorns. But since earth ponies have to have their hooves on the ground to use their magic....
* Little Strongheart tells Rainbow Dash that the bison never meant to hurt anyone when taking Bloomberg...except that they attempted multiple times to ''derail the entire train'' (which would have undoubtedly killed at least some passengers) before switching over to the relatively harmless method of detaching the caboose.
** They seem to have been trying to stop the train from moving. When the pulling ponies knock them back (who knew they could be so tough?), they resorted to taking the caboose while it was still moving. Perhaps it was a bluff, or they suspected no passengers were on this train (Little Strongheart was surprised when Dash appeared on top of the train).
** I don't think they were actively trying to derail the train. It seemed more like a diversionary tactic, so that Little Strongheart could get on the roof and disconnect the caboose without interference.

* How did Chief Thunderhooves get knocked off course by an apple pie while in mid-jump? Given the momentum he'd built up during his charge, he should still have hit Sheriff Silver Star.
** The apple pies are made out of dark matter. Also, cartoon physics.
** For that matter, who even threw that last pie? Up until the point where Chief Thunderhooves goes down, there didn't appear to be anypony anywhere near Sheriff Silver Star.

* Is Little Strongheart seriously the only non-adult buffalo in the herd? Or just the only one that chooses to interact with the adults?
** They were getting ready for a fight, so maybe she's the only one good enough to join the warriors?

[[/folder]]

[[folder:[=1.22=] A Bird in the Hoof]]
* Why does Princess Celestia simply leave Philomena behind, for Fluttershy to steal/take to try and "cure"?
** One word: [[FanNickname Trollestia]]
** Or she was just in that much of a rush. Celestia probably told her guards to go back for Philomena but Fluttershy had already taken her.
** A better question is what Philomena's doing there in the first place. It's reasonable that she'd be left behind as Celestia meets with the mayor, since who brings a pet to governmental chats?
*** It's suggested multiple times that she does not like stiff official governmental stuff. Maybe she brought the bird along to bring some oddity into it to make the atmosphere less dignified.
*** It's also possible that Celestia wanted for Philomena to show off her rebirth in front of the mane six, though hopefully without trolling them first. Or at least not to that extent.
*** Or she just likes seeing Philomena flare up and come to life again and didn't want to miss it.

* Fluttershy describes the party for Princess Celestia as a "Brunch" yet the clock shows 4:00. Brunch is a meal between between breakfast and lunch. You don't have Brunch that late in the afternoon.
** The animators probably forgot about the clock when using that background.
** Alternatively, where the ponies are concerned "Brunch" is a term for any special meal/snack gathering that isn't one of the official mealtimes. There have been RL uses of Brunch that take place in the afternoon.

* Why didn't Fluttershy or Twilight Sparkle recognize the phoenix? Fluttershy usually knows ''everything'' about animals, and Twilight Sparkle is not only hugely studious and full of knowledge, but is Princess Celestia's personal student. You're telling me Fluttershy has never heard of one, and Twilight Sparkle never read about them or saw her mentor's pet before?
** Philomenia didn't exactly look like a book-standard phoenix at the time, and Twilight Sparkle is nothing if not a bundle of eager book smarts wrapped around massive gaps of practical knowledge. Even if Twilight had seen Philomenia before, she might not recognize her near the end of her lifespan, and we've no reason to believe that Philomenia's getting old and bursting into flame on a regular basis. Fluttershy's got a lot of practical experience, but we're outright told that phoenix are uncommon in Ponyville or Cloudsdale, and even where Fluttershy does have massive hidden depths, she doesn't often have the ability to implement it in reality. I've a feeling that she's more interesting in the sort of critters she actually runs into.
** Philomenia spent most of the episode looking like nothing so much as a diseased parrot. When that suddenly bursts into flames and a completely different bird rises from the ashes, it's reasonable to expect confusion.

* My question is why Twilight or Fluttershy, after hearing that the guards were looking for Philomena, didn't just sneak the bird into the back yard and then rush out to the guards ten minutes later and explain that they found the bird? Everyone was looking for her, so if they claimed to be the ones who found her no one would have been angry. Yes, it would have been a bit dishonest, but they didn't seem to intend on owning up to having the bird anyway, and it would have been an easy way out of the situation.
** My guess? Panic. The guards walk in and Twi and Shy have maybe a few seconds to come up with something. Neither was in the state of mind for careful planning and were focused on getting Philomena back as soon as possible. It probably wouldn't have worked anyway, seeing as it might have looked suspicious if they "found" Philomena so soon after she went missing in a suspicious manner

* The Guest List. How was it determined who was invited to the party, and who wasn't? When Twilight sees Fluttershy being turned away, she says: "It's alright sirs, she's on the list." Looking who attended, nobody except the Mane Six is a character we're actually familiar with. If Cheerilee or the Cutie Mark Crusaders or Macintosh was there, ponies Twilight has actually interacted with, it'd make sense, but the guests seemed completely random.
** It could easily have been comprised of ponies who were part of the Ponyville town board or something. Such things rarely if ever come up in the show, so it's possible that we've just never seen any of Ponyville's governing body aside from the Mayor.

* Fluttershy's closet in the [[TheTeaser Cold Open]]. Why in the Wide Wide World of Equestria would all of the Mane Six's dresses for the Gala be at her cottage?
** While Fluttershy has no talent at clothing ''design'', she is a close peer of Rarity as a seamstress. Remember, she's the one who finished Rarity's gala dress for her in "Suited For Success". It's possible that Rarity asked Fluttershy to go over the dresses and look for loose threads and suchlike because Rarity was busy with something else.
*** Also, Ponyville's map seems to be just slightly more static than Springfield. The point being that everybody might have intended to meet at Fluttershy's house before heading out. It's may be close to the train tracks, or close to the path, or somehow located most centrally to the others (and with Rainbow Dash's home being non-disclosed thus far and Sweet Apple Acres clearly not part of Ponyville proper so much as adjacent it's possible if a bit improbable.

* Why does Philomena look like a turkey when she lacks of feathers? The top of her head and her beak have a very different shape from her Phoenix form.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:[=1.23=] The Cutie Mark Chronicles]]
* Why were Rainbow Dash's childhood bullies making fun of her flying skill and dismissing the Sonic Rainboom as an "old mares' tale" if ''they themselves have actually seen her pull it off''?
** Maybe not. One of them crashed into a pillar a probably got knock out, and when Dash charged at full speed and left the other bully behind, he was kinda thrown afar because of the wind following her, perhaps ending up in a crash and knock out as well. Doesn't justify much, really, but it's something. Perhaps even if everyone told them, they refuse to believe it without seeing them just out of dislike for Rainbow Dash.
** Even if they did see it, they're the sort who would claim they didn't, just to be jerks.
** At first this bothered me, especially after seeing "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" where it's obvious that everyone else at the race saw it, too. However, like the troper right above this said, they're jerks. Not to mention not that bright. What bothers me is that it bothered Rainbow that three ponies didn't believe in her first Sonic Rainboom.
*** Rainbow tends to have some self-confidence issues, even when she does win. Add in the stress she had about trying what for her was a once-in-a-lifetime feat in front of her idols and God..
*** It's not the point that she knew she had done the Sonic Rainboom once long ago. The point was she knew she hadn't been able to do it while practising now, and wouldn't be able to do it again. (Or wouldn't have, if she hadn't had a motivator equally great as last time, which also made her forget to worry about it.)
** Regardless of the fact they may not have actually seen the Sonic Rainboom, they cannot deny that ''Rainbow Dash beat them in that race. Hard.'' So why do they still give her crap?
*** Because, as previously mentioned, they're jerks.
*** Most likely they simply didn't see it, due to being either concussed or spiralling out of control at the time.
*** Given how jerkish they are, if anything beating them in a race would just make them more bitter.

* Where did Celestia get Spike? How would it be explained in canon? The only things I can think of that make sense are pretty depressing: either he's an orphan or his parents gave him up. Also, who named him?
** There is one possibility that isn't depressing. The dragon-flights could have a treaty with Equestria, offering a few eggs and maybe their services in times of great need in return for a supply of gems and a safe place for the dragon-flights to roost. Maybe someone else can figure out a better set of terms between the two, but that's enough to get the point across for now.
*** "In the name of equestria, her royal highness Celestia, mistress of the sun, High-magistrix of the magic academy and general of the equestrian armies, bestows upon the dragonkin all the lands within the Nibenay valley, and guarantees them safety within, and only within, their own lands, as well as the right to self-govern. Any dragon who leaves Nibenay is subject to equestrian law, and needs written permission from her highness, princess Celestia, to perform any acts of fire-breathing or meat consumption. In return, the dragonkin promise loyalty to the kingdom of celestia, service in times of war and a tribute of two dragon eggs every hundred years, of which the hatchlings will be assigned to and trained along with students of the magic academy of Equestria."
*** Alternately, there's some kind of fosterage/cultural/hostage exchange going on and there's a few unicorn colts shining scales and sorting gems for elder dragons.
** Some stories say that dragon eggs need humans to hatch, so there may be something similar going on here.
** Another possibility: Spike's egg wasn't even a real egg; it was an oval shaped rock with green spots painted on it. The test was an UnwinnableTrainingSimulation to see how the candidates would respond to an ImpossibleTask. When Twilight went and actually hatched a dragon from it, it was just her RealityWarper powers at work.
** Or Dragons simply don't care about their offspring. They lay their eggs and leave them, and that's it. The dragons shown so far that aren't Spike include an apathetic one that does not get along with any of the ponies except Fluttershy, and a crazy jealous one willing to kill his own kind, so they hardly seem to be a compassionate species.
*** We also have a gang of (physically and mentally) teenage dragon thugs in "Dragon Quest." They seem to hang out largely separately from the adult dragons, though it neither supports nor disputes the idea that dragons don't raise their own offspring. This does show that some dragons will socialize with other dragons of roughly their age, however.

* Why does Spike's adult dragon form look so different from the other adult dragons seen so far? Is it a sign that Spike is a special dragon?
** If you're referring to Twilight's magic burst shown in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", I figure that what happened to Spike is what would happen if you super size an infant. He'll probably look more like other dragons when he actually grows up.
** Well, Spike already doesn't look much like other dragons even without the magic transformation. No wings, for one. Maybe he's a different race of dragon? Or maybe dragons go through transformations as they grow up, and Twilight's spell aged him without any of those happening.
** We've seen three dragons in the series so far and two of those are [[PaletteSwap Palette Swaps]] of each other to save money. There are lots of different types of dragons, even within specific mythologies dragons vary greatly from one to another.
*** We've seen a sea serpent in the second episode. It's perfectly possible Spike is a wingless dragon species, incapable of flight, but sturdier and stronger. It would also explain how can he [[NighInvulnerable take so much abuse]] despite being so young.
*** This. If you look at the picture of the dragon on the side of the cart, it has no wings either. Spike is meant to be wingless.
** Something that just occured to this troper that also helps and is actually a bit of FridgeBrilliance: Celestia would never give her students a dragon hatchling as a pet from a dangerous dragon, not to meniton how hard it would be getting an egg from a territorial dragon. Spike's Species probably gives some of their eggs to the princess as a peace offering or dontation or what have you, giving her students their own partner that won't try and kill everypony around it.
** Looking at the giant Spike, he's obviously some kind of Godzilla-type. And Godzilla is usually the hero or at least the NotSoEvil amongst the kaiju.
** Or maybe these dragons aren't born with wings? Like... they grow them later? They earn them somehow? They come when a dragon hits dragon puberty? Spike's drawn how he is so he'd look cute and his design would look less odd beside the ponies.
*** A later episode shows Spike as he would become if he succumbs to greed. Maybe the form we see is the form Spike would take if he grows up with his greed in check.

* Applejack says she was younger than the Cutie Mark Crusaders are when she got her cutie mark. So, that means Apple Bloom wasn't born yet. But in her flashback, we see no trace of her parents, just Big Mac and Granny Smith. So where did Apple Bloom come from?
** Your math may be off. It's possible that, for instance, Apple Bloom is 10, Applejack is 18, and Applejack got her cutie mark at the age of 9. In that case, Apple Bloom would have been a year old by that time. (We don't see her in the flashback, but she might have been too young to run around.)
** I like this answer. 'Apple Bloom isn't seen... because her parents are caring for a newborn foal. (Or trying to create her, but let's not explore that.)'
*** It's still a little problematic, because when young Applejack is looking out the window and reminiscing about life on the farm, she only wonders what Big Macintosh and Granny Smith are doing. She doesn't mention her parents at all, suggesting that they're either dead or otherwise absent from her life. It's possible that Apple Bloom has already been born, though, and she's just not bothering to think about her baby sister - in fact, that might be a reason for her to leave home in the first place.


* Pinkie Pie grew up on a rock farm... A ''what''?
** [[CaptainObvious A rock farm.]] To be more helpful, it was conjectured in a fanfiction that is not remembered at this time that the rock farm was where most gemstones came from, assuming that Rarity's ability to seek them out is a... well, rare talent.
** There's also the possibility that she's making up everything but the rainbow.
** Rock farms to produce gemstones makes a lot of sense. Rarity's ability to find gems is linked to her special talent, so there's a chance that it could be rather rare. And farms that produce gems would explain why gems are so plentiful that the ponies have no problem with Spike eating them like candy. Though that also means Rarity potentially stole from Pinkie's family.
** Rocks are commonly "farmed" for raw materials and other uses, even today. Of course, the places where this happens are called "quarries," not "rock farms," and it's not actual "farming" as much as simply "gathering and processing." And by that I mean they use tons of dynamite to blow chunks of rock out of the earth and then round them up to sell to their clients. So... not quite the same thing.
*** The idea of Pinkie Pie having access to explosives is both hillarious and terrifying.
** Either a 'rock farm' is a 1) Quarry, 2) Geode/magic gemstone growing farm, or 3) 'Rocks' grow due to gravity when the solar system forms. Thus Pinkie Pie helped create the planet! And that's how Equestria was made! (Also, her sisters were light grey and purple. Which god-tier ponies are also respectivly light colored and purple?)
** Maybe a rock farm is just like a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_rock_garden rock garden]], but bigger?
** This is a world where they have to wrap up winter. Perhaps the rock farming is how raw rock materials are gathered to make certain landmarks or natural designs. Earth-shaping, in a sense. Though in practice I'd go for the rock-farm=quarry idea.
** It's also possible that it was simply a more traditional quarry or mine, and Pinkie Pie just called it a "rock farm" because she figured that's what her audience--children from a rural farming community--would best understand as a metaphor.
*** It's also possible that it's even FURTHER metaphorical, and actually tells the story of how Equestria was made. The rock farm, the Sonic Rainboom, the party... it could all be a very ancient tale shrouded in riddles and enigmas. (More likely it's just Pinkie being Pinkie.)

* Pinkie claims that where she grew up, there was no talking involved. And yet, the only people that DO speak are herself, her mother and her father.
** No talking doesn't mean "no talking ever." It means "no idle chitchat during work."
** Exaggeration. Plus, I doubt that Pinkie would've outright said 'And then Daddy walked out that morning and said, "Time to harvest the rocks from the south field."'

* If Applejack's aunt and uncle Orange are urban socialites, then how do they have oranges as their cutie marks? I wouldn't imagine there's much room for growing oranges in the city.
** Maybe they don't grow oranges so much as sell them. The Orange family could own a large orange plantation just outside of town, and a factory to make orange juice and other orange related products.
** I think it's just a reference to the Apples and Oranges allegory. The cityfolk are vastly different from the ones in Ponyville.
** Or they made their money in the [[TradingPlaces frozen concentrated orange juice market]].
** Cutie Marks aren't always literal: Cherilee's daisies don't limit her to being a gardener, Twilight Sparkle's only an astronomer as a hobby, Fluttershy's not just an entomologist, and Rarity can not only do fashion, but do fashion that doesn't involve gems. For all we know, the Oranges might represent having a tough skin for dealing with criticism or being good at bringing disparate groups to work together or something.
*** Rarity's talent is that she can find gems in the ground/inside rocks. The fashion thing is another matter entirely. And the orange mark might also mean they deal with cleaning products.
*** That's her signature spell, not her talent -- by the same standard, Twilight's talent is teleportation, not magic. Her talent is bringing out beauty in things -- finding the gemstones hidden in ordinary-looking rocks and earth is one aspect of this, but she can also do things like seamlessly weave her tail into the remains of a missing mustache, or turn what foliage remains on an ugly, bare branch into topiary.
*** Then signature spells in unicorns become their cutie marks. "Bringing the beauty out of things" is hardly represented by gems, but finding gems... well... In Twilight's case, her signature spell(AKA, when the Sonic Rainboom hit her) was to have magic incontinence, so it still fits both her magic talent and her spell.
*** Not necessarily. Gemstones don't necessarily indicate ''bringing out'' beauty, but they're a common symbol of beauty in general. Cutie Marks aren't always direct or literal -- Rainbow Dash's talent isn't making rainbow lightning, but her Cutie Mark brings to mind speed, and Fluttershy is talented with more than just butterflies. Cheerilee's cutie mark is not only symbolic, but the fact that it is and how exactly it symbolizes her talent is directly explained.
** Before ultra-fast transportation made fruit from around the world an everyday occurrence in supermarkets, oranges were a rare treat for anyone but the super-rich. Maybe the orange cutie marks have some tangential thing to do with that?

* Why do so many people think Pinkie's Cutie Mark story was a case of UnreliableNarrator and it probably didn't happen?
** Because she ended the tale with "And that's how Equestria was made". That signifies that at some point in her mind she was no longer relaying her cutie mark story. Remember, the question central to UnreliableNarrator is "Is the narrator telling the truth?" and that particular question is applicable here. This is a question the Cutie Mark Crusaders have by the time they find Rainbow Dash.
*** She's Pinkie, of course she's going to be a CloudCuckoolander. What do you expect? Besides, the events of Magic Duel and most recently Pinkie Pride prove she was telling the truth.
** It seemed to me she was just being [[CloudCuckoolander Pinkie]].
** I figured the entire story was true; she just screwed up at the very end with "And that's how Equestria was made" when it should have been "And that's how I got my cutie mark."
*** And then Pinkie offers to tell them the story of how she got her cutie mark, implying that she didn't already tell them that exact story.
*** Or implying that she's got two punchlines mixed up. A non-sequitur is not proof of outright lying.
** It's probably more because of the rock farm part. Sure, there are excuses of it being a quarry, but the visuals suggested an actual rock farm.
** While not a full retcon this enviroment seems inconsistant with the song laugh in Episode 2.
*** No it isn't; Granny Pie hasn't been shown on-screen yet. And there's still a gap between Pinkie getting her cutie mark and the events of Episode 2.
** Also, every other pony's tale in "Chronicles" also explained, more or less, how they came to be where they were when we first met them in the pilot. Pinkie's story ended with her now happy on her family's rock farm. So why would she subsequently have left the farm to live in Ponyville with the Cakes? At the very least, something is missing from this tale.
** An ability to host parties cannot last long on a rock farm. Perhaps it will come up in a future episode how Pinkie Pie moved from the farm to Sugarcube Corner. Maybe the Cakes are distant relatives.
** The episode "Magic Duel" shows that the rock farm wasn't made up. Also, maybe she moved to Sugarcube Corner for more opportunities - I'm happy with my parents, but that doesn't mean I'm going to live with them forever.

* Was that Cheerilee in Rarity's flashback? Does that make them OlderThanTheyLook? Considering Cherilee looked teenaged, to tweenaged, in her 80s picture that'd make them in the pony equivalent of their thirties.. Which makes sense.
** Propably Cherilee is teacher in that young age. Horever ponies can still have 30 years but for them it can equivalent of late teens or early twenties (because Ponies can live longer).
** They don't live in our society, so the equivalent of 80s fashion wouldn't neccessarily be 20-30 years ago for them.
** She was a pre-teen, or young teen though. 20-30 Pony years seems about right.

* Pinkie Pie's "And that is how Equestria was made"... now that I think about it, it is more like an expression than a literal statement. But it confused me then since Pinkie Pie is known to be LiteralMinded. Besides, Pinkie Pie then offered that she will tell the story of how she gained her cutie mark. Unless, by "And that is how Equestria was made", she means "And that is how she started her party spree" instead of "And that is how she gained cutie mark", it can really sound weird.
** It's a funny non-sequitur. Pinkie does random stuff like that to be funny.

* When the CMC are talking to Rarity, they mention that most of the other kids have gotten their cutie marks already. Maybe trying everything they can possibly think of for brief amounts of time is actually slowing them down? One would think that since all of their classmates have their marks, they might think "Hey, what did the other kids do to get theirs?" The answer in most cases would probably be that they realized something they enjoyed all along was what their talent was.
** They've all heard that they should get their marks from what they already enjoy from all the adults they know. Problem is that they're too immature and impatient for the lesson to actually sink in. Until they finally relax and discover their talents themselves, they'll remain blank. Even if somebody strait up told them what their talents are, they'd still be blank until they finally [[TheOnlyWayTheyWillLearn figure it out for themselves]]. Judging from what we've seen, the only lesson they'd take away from the other kid's stories is that they should mimic ''their'' talents for a while, which would obviously fail.
** It's possible they're not on speaking terms with the rest of the class. Diamond Tiara had no problem getting the class to laugh at Apple Bloom for not having a cutie mark in Episode 12, so they probably don't have many friends outside of their secret society.

* Comparatively minor next to some of the other questions this episode creates, but here goes. If ponies don't zipline, and Spike lives in pony society, how does HE know what ziplining is? Also, how do ponies know what ziplining is yet have no interest in it despite it clearly being possible if three fillies can make an almost-serviceable zipline on a whim?
** He lives in a library. He probably read about it. And the reason that ponys arent interested in ziplining could be that there was just no demand for it, no one wanted to try to rig up a zipline by themselves without any experiences making it (the CMC's broke, remember?) or there were places to zipline in Equestria- just not that specific town.

* Fluttershy says that she had never been on the ground before and didn't all of the animals were there, but then how did she know what the names of the animals were?
** Just because she had never been on the ground before doesn't mean she's not educated. Many of the denizens of Cloudsdale visit Ponyville on a regular basis, such as Rainbow Dash, so it's not a stretch to assume that education in Cloudsdale includes zoology. She might not have known that those particular types were there, but then try to name all the native species where you live.
*** And vice-versa; you'll notice there were unicorns and earth ponies amongst the race spectators in that flashback and RD's. (Probably thanks to a cloud-walking spell.)
** Could have been something as simple as a storybook. How many young children have never seen a real, live elephant, yet know exactly what they are and what they look like?

* Why in Equestria would Big Mac and Granny Smith let Filly!AJ go to Manehatten by herself? She's just a little foal, and from what we've seen, her family cares for her a lot! Plus, according to the Official Map, Manehatten is miles away from Ponyville.
** Well the show does have a more old timey and golden age-y feel, so I'm guessing that falls under FreeRangeChildren. It was fairly common once to put a kid, even quite young children, on a train with strict instructions on which stop to get off at and where to go when they did. These days it is horrendous, but even three decades back it wasn't uncommon.
*** I hadn't considered the idea of the train. And upon closer inspection of the Map of Equestria, it turns out there are railroads from Ponyville to Manehatten. I was just assuming AJ walked all the way there.
*** In "One Bad Apple" Babs Seed's parents send her from Manehatten to Ponyville all by herself... by buying her a train ticket. So, yeah, that's how AJ got there and back.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:[=1.24=] Owl's Well That Ends Well]]
* Let's see here....Spike told the truth to Twilight Sparkle in "Owl's Well That Ends Well" after what happened considering the mistake. It has already been previously established in the series that damage to books would be FAR worse than lying to Twilight Sparkle for what happened. Let's see, I'm supposed to respect Twilight Sparkle's rather brazen issues against what is essentially her surrogate child? Sure, his EvilPlan was not good for him, but the rest of her reactions to his fumbles really did seem to be completely uncalled for. I mean, lying has happened more than once in the series without any real consequences by Twilight Sparkle herself in episodes prior and later than this. So, what's the big deal?
** Big deal? She just gave Spike some reprimands which he blew out of proportion.
** And to be fair the book thing wasn't about him doing it, in fact she probably would have been mad then forgiven him and off they go to the comet, no harm done. It was Spike hiding it and then lying about it that pissed her off, she expects more from him like any good parent or parent substitute. Spike just took "I expect more from you" and "I'm disapotined in you" as "Owlowicous ratted you out for spite and I prefer him" and "I hate you" respectively.
*** It was more him taking "This is not the Spike I know and love" to mean "She doesn't love me anymore".
** Part of me agrees that Twilight Sparkle was just reprimanding, but we know for a fact she just would've been angrier with him even saying as such; Books and reading is one of Twilight Sparkle's clear interests, and likely a BerserkButton would have been pressed if he came clean. Even when he did become clean, her reaction was rather severe and disproportional compared to what I would have expected. 'ThePlan' Spike laid, I have no problem with; that was pure misbehavior and misplaced manipulation. It's the first time she got mad I dislike.
** I don't know where you're getting this from. Twilight likes reading, sure, but only as a means to an end. She has no problem scattering her books about haphazardly when she's looking for something and we've never seen her get overprotective of the books themselves. Spike's destruction of the book probably would just have been met with an admonition to be more careful and telling him to get another copy. We really have a better case for her going beserk over lying, giving her repeated bouts of skepticism.
** We've also seen that Twilight's social skills are still very rusty. I think she's doing what she's read is the right way to deal with things like this. I also think she was probably deeply ''stung'' that he lied to her, since he's never lied to her before, since like Dash, he's very blunt and tactless. In "Party of One" he's shown to be more apt to keep secrets rather than lie. He's her number one friend, her oldest friend, her ONLY friend for years, and a ''child''. She doesn't want him growing up thinking lying is okay. Twilight's scolding of him was exactly the kind of scolding I received as a kid for lying. I don't think she was being unfair at all. Sometimes you have to be firm with kids regarding things like this. I think you're judging her anger way too harshly. People get angry, and they tend to get more angry and disappointed the closer they are to that person, because it hurts more.

* If Owlicious (Twilight's pet owl) is supposed to be nocturnal (IE, awake at night), why is he still awake during the day, and worse, helping Twilight get the books that Spike wanted to give her?
** He's pulling an all-dayer (the opposite of an all-nighter). Maybe got really tired of this by the end of the episode, which is why we don't see him in later episodes.

* This troper always [[WildMassGuessing figured]] Equestria and the rest of the planet (if it's indeed a planet and not just a pocket dimension) to be surrounded by a spherical canvas on which the princesses magically paint the day and night skies - like a global equivalent to ''Film/TheTrumanShow''. However, this is suddenly challenged by Twilight's accurate description of a comet, which implies their universe follows a similar model to our own. The two are obviously mutually exclusive. Thoughts?
** Well, what immediately comes to mind is that there's never been any actual indication that the former is the case.
*** If ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' concept isn't the case, though, how does the Endless Night plot at the beginning of the series make sense? Short of a forced [[TotalEclipseOfThePlot Solar Eclipse]] for all time, Luna's plan can't really work with a cosmic system and a spherical planet short of doming the entire planet anyway. Endless Night would have to mean Endless Night for ''everypony,'' and that means halfway around the world too.
*** Or does it? If Equstria is just a country within a bigger world, it could work if she wanted to bring the eternal night just there. The other side of the planet would have eternal day, but Nightmare Moon might not care -- she wants the admiration of her subjects specifically.
** Equestria could simply be a geocentric system. Never mind that that's not how star systems form naturally in our universe--what if Equestria has artificial sun and moon satellites kept in their stable orbits by first the concerted effort of unicorns ritually performing the same spells they always have, and later by the Princesses? They could be the last remnants of an ancient civilization, now long gone. It would explain why they have to so carefully manage seasons and nature--without a long, slow revolution around the sun, any axial tilt will be meaningless--heck, it's even possible that the planet doesn't spin at all! In that case, Nightmare Moon could have caused eternal night for Equestria simply by spinning up the planet so the sun's orbit became geostationary--causing rather a high temperature increase on the opposite side, and decrease on the Equestria side. No mention of time zones or differences is made in the series and it's implied that when Celestia raises the sun, it rises at more or less the same time everywhere that matters, so it may be assumed Equestria is not globe-spanning.
*** The Fimbulwinter seen in "Hearth's Warming Eve" is a glimpse of what life would be like in Equestria if Nightmare Moon's plans succeeded.

* How does the green dragon fit in with the events of Dragonshy? In episode 7, they kicked up a fuss over a dragon living in a distant mountain and sleeping there. But here, we have a dragon living in the neighbouring forest and nobody kicks up a fuss about it. [[WatsonianVersusDoylist I think it's an inconsistency caused by there being different writers for the two episodes, but what about an in-universe explanation]]?
** The dragon in dragonshy was going into hibernation, and was going to cover Ponyville in black smoke. the other dragon never showed signs of starting hibernation. Presumably, if/when he starts, Twilight will lead another expedition.
** The entirety of the problem in Dragonshy was the smoke. This one doesn't seem to produce destructive smoke in his sleep, so his presence isn't causing a problem.
** It was a (minor) health condition of the red dragon that caused him to produce the smoke, similar to how some people snore and some don't. The green dragon doesn't have this problem, therefore he poses no threat to the ponies.
* What was Spike afraid of with the green dragon? We know he's fire-proof (In "Dragon Quest" he outright swam in lava), so the dragons fire breath would've done nothing. He's also pretty resistant to being slammed into stuff (Once again, "Dragon Quest" shows him being thrown into a rocky cliff face, and later belly flopping into lava from 30 feet up, which the other teen dragons said would kill anything else), and Rarity's sewing needles didn't bother him either ( "Green isn't Your Color"). This seems to point out that Spike can't be hurt by a lot.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:[=1.25=] Party of One]]

* I understand that Gummy's party can have few guests but why does Pinkie Pie's Birthday Party only have (with Pinkie) 6 ponies (who organised the party), her pet aligator and a baby dragon? Why it not look more like Twilight's Welcome Party ?
** Nice answer: Pinkie Pie wanted a small, intimate gathering of Gummy's closest and dearest friends (i.e, Pinkie's friends.) Alternatively, no one else wanted to go to a birthday party for Pinkie's creepy, toothless pet -- or she didn't even get around to inviting anyone else. The "singing telegram" thing nearly killed her as is.
** The Poster was referring to the party at the end of the episode(for Pinkie's birthday), not the one for Gummy. Nevertheless, I think I have an answer; The mane cast simply couldn't get away with it. Look at how close they were to letting the surprise slip when only six people were in on it.
** Maybe Pinkie had expressed a preference for small, intimate birthday parties in other years. I mean, she chose the guest list for Gummy's party, and that was just the mane six. Plus, she forgot about her own birthday, so it's probably not that important to her, which means the mission statement of the surprise party might have been less "let's make a huge, awesome party because it's what Pinkie would want us to do" and more "let's surprise Pinkie with an expression of our love, because it's what we want to do." If that makes sense.
*** And the fewer ponies who are in on the secret, the less likely that somepony spills the beans by accident. It was supposed to be a ''surprise'' party, after all.
*** They could have simply told other ponies to come without telling them who the party was for. Ponyville looks like a place that enjoys parties, even if they don't know who the target is.
**** Twilight's welcome party was big because she was new to town and probably didn't have any friends, Pinkie's birthday party seemed to be more of a "close friends only" party. Besides, who could keep a party with everypony in ponyville a surprise? (OTHER than Pinkie Pie)

* As a result of Pinkie's PerpSweating, Spike confesses that he used up all the hot water to take a seven-hour bubble bath "yesterday". But surely Rarity's suggestion to take a bath, which he overreacted to in usual lovestruck form, happened ''that morning'' before Pinkie tried to invite her to the afterparty. Does he really take that many extravagant baths, or did the writers go for a BrickJoke and err on the payoff?
** On that note, how would a 7-hour bath use up all the hot water? It doesn't matter how long you bathe, it's still using the same amount of water.
*** After a little while, the water gets cold, so you'd have to refill the bath with hot water.
** It's possible bath A was an extravagant, seven-hour bubble bath, and bath 2 was just a quick scrub so he wouldn't smell like garbage any more. Just because Spike took a bath on two consecutive days (and hopefully more than just that) doesn't mean they're ''all'' necessarily "extravagant."
*** True, but "took a seven-hour bubble bath because he wanted to enjoy it" isn't nearly as amusing as "took a seven-hour bubble bath because ''[[LoveMakesYouCrazy Raaaarity]]'' wanted him to wash up".
** Simple: Spike took a seven hour bubble bath the day before because he knew he was going to be working with Rarity the next day.
*** This also might be considered Fridge Brilliance when you notice Spikes' absence during the Singing Telegram and Gummy's party. He was bathing that whole time!
** Which makes the fact that she then makes him take out the garbage HilariousInHindsight.

* How did Pinkie attribute anything other than parties to her friends' behaviour? She was aware that secret confections were being purchased; how could the pony of parties not link secret cake to surprise parties immediately?
** She probably tough they were having a party ''without her''
** At the end of the episode she immediately assumes that it is her own farewell party, perhaps after perp sweating Spike, she had already come to that conclusion.
** Her special talent is hosting parties. If she thought her friends were betraying her, finding out that they were having a party without her would make it seem like they were rubbing it into her face that they didn't want her and didn't need her.

* During Pinkie Pie's interrogation of Spike, he confesses to spilling juice over one of Twilight's books. Given that this suggests he hasn't told ''Twilight'' this yet, does that mean he learned nothing from last week's episode? You know, when he ruined one of her books and didn't own up to it?
** Not necessarily. AnachronicOrder, remember? It's possible that this episode happened ''before'' that one. Or it's possible he just hasn't had a chance to tell her, since she's been running around helping to prepare a surprise party all day, and hasn't been home.
** Spilling juice on a page is less heinous than incinerating an entire book. It would be in-character for Spike to push his luck a bit by seeing if he could get away with a minor infraction of trust. "OK, so there's a little apple juice on this word here, but hey, at least I didn't give you a hardback filled with ashes again, eh Twilight?"

* Come to that, why is Spike so myopic in this episode? Surely, if Pinkie Pie's hair deflates and she starts looking sad and says that her friends don't love her anymore, he would at least have picked up on that and said something in their defence, or looked confused? The writers could have had her run out of the room before he can explain, or have her throw him out before he can explain, thus preserving the episode's events without making Spike look like a SociopathicHero.
** RuleOfFunny.
** He was hungry for the gems.
** Personally, it looked to me that he was so ''terrified'' by her aggressive tone and mood, he simply blurted out everything she demanded him to say, just to get her off his spine.
*** The actual moral of the episode is: "Push somepony hard enough, and he'll tell you he started the great Canterlot fire- now, that don't necessarily make it buckin' so!"
** Spike seems myopic a lot of the time: In "Applebuck Season", he tries to get the ponies to eat the "baked bads", despite having seen an entire room of ponies poisoned by them; in "Suited for Success", he calls Rarity out onto the stage and cheers and claps, not noticing Hoity Toity's disparaging comments, the utter silence of the crowd, or Rarity's obvious humiliation; and in "Over a Barrel", he repeats the same pattern of being the only one clapping and cheering at the end of Pinkie Pie's awful song. It actually would have been ''more'' out of character for him to notice Pinkie Pie's depression.
* Given that Pinkie knows every single pony in Ponyville and is friends with all of them, what would ''normally'' happen in this situation is that she tries to hang out / have a party with some other ponies (who she will try to make her new "best friends".) Or at least that's the most common trope IMO. It's a bit strange that she doesn't do that. (In retrospect, though, perhaps it was better she didn't, for the sanity of those other poor ponies who would have had to endure her ranting about her "ex-friends". It would have been an awkward party indeed. Although that's ''also'' how the typical storyline goes.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:[=1.26=] The Best Night Ever]]
* Okay, I know that they wanted to save Luna's major reappearences for season 2, but...I mean, come on, "Best Night Ever" centered around (presumably) the single biggest, most important event in Equestria, at ''night'', no less, and they couldn't even be bothered to put in even a small cameo? There's saving the good stuff for next season, and then there's just being ''lazy''.
** Don't you dare call Lauren Faust "lazy".
** In-show explanation: why in the world would Luna agree to go to such a terribly boring party?
** Maybe Luna still feels ashamed of her actions as Nightmare Moon, so she doesn't attend public events.
** Maybe she's working. As the moon goddess she kinda has to work the late shift.
*** Like for the party at night?
*** Night shift would at least explain why she's never had a reason to appear at any other point during this season.
** It's likely that Luna would have kept her distance during the Gala because she's still uncomfortable about her public image (a concept soon to be explored in S2E4, ''Luna Eclipsed''). If you were essentially an ex-criminal, would you show your face at a grand event attended almost entirely by the judgmental upper-class? Considering that we ''see for ourselves'' what dicks they can be?
** Plus she's been on a thousand year hiatus, and has [[FanFic/{{Progress}} a lot of catching up to do]]. That's not the best time to mingle with the elite, unless you're ''very'' confident and secure (and the circumstances of her transformation into Nightmare Moon - loneliness and envy, both of which indicate issues with self-image - suggest she is not.)
*** Including language lessons. A thousand years of linguistic drift is a LOT to catch up on. We're lucky she didn't gallop into Ponyville on Nightmare Night and start belting out Middle Equestrian (referencing Middle English here), unable to explain anything intelligably to any but the most devoted of language scholars.
**** That would also explain why she didn't understand "fun". She understood the concept perfectly, but the word used to describe it was unfamiliar. So when she realized they were describing what she thought of as, I dunno, "fhynne", she feigned ignorance to cover up the gap in her vocabulary lessons.

* So, is The Best Night Ever supposed to take place right after The Ticket Master? As in, they get their tickets and that night they go to the gala? The events of both episodes link up if you watch both right after the other, what with them living their dreams from The Ticket Master (well, as best as they can anyway)but the fact that they are wearing the dresses Rarity made them in an earlier episode seems to imply that they were two different Galas. If this is the case then it turns into a different headscratcher, if they were already at a gala then they should have already known what to expect at one and not have had their expectations so high. Just something that crossed my mind after rewatching them.
** There's lots of fan speculation on the exact order of the episodes, but it's generally assumed that The Ticket Master is followed by Suited For Success which is followed by The Best Night Ever. This is easily defensible by the fact that the cast are attending their first Gala in The Best Night Ever (based on the fact that Pinkie, Twilight, and Applejack completely misjudge the nature of the Gala) and are wearing the dresses made in Suited For Success. If they had attended a previous Gala off-screen, Twilight would have known better than to expect a monopoly on Celestia's time, Pinkie would have understood the tone, and Applejack would have prepared a better business strategy.
*** That's so obvious it isn't a matter for speculation. There's no reason for why the characters couldn't dream about what they will do at the Gala, then get dresses made, and then go to the Gala and still expect the same things there.
** They're not going to the Gala that night, because ''it isn't on'' that night; the invitations were received well in advance. They're just taking Twilight out for dinner.
** I just assumed that the order in which the episodes were released was the chronological order too, even if it leads to oddities like Winter Wrap-Up being two episodes ahead of the Running of the Leaves.
** The Grand Galloping Gala is quite literally the biggest annual event in Equestria. Tickets were no doubt received WELL in advance, it's not unreasonable that planning for the next Gala starts as soon as the previous one ends. While it might seem odd that Twilight takes her dress to Rarity well before the event, it seems most likely that the dress was her usual formal outfit, and she damaged it recently, and that she mentions the Gala because that's her next scheduled formal event where she would wear it.

* Am I the only one wondering how Twilight's dress was ruined at the end of "The Best Night Ever"? She wasn't involved in any of the shenanigans of the night after all.
** While they were leaving, they probably met up with fleeing ponies and other critters, offscreen.
*** Or was rammed by the fleeing ponies as she and Celestia got to the wreckage.
** NoodleIncident.
*** As funny as that would be, it's unlikely. She was with Celestia the whole time.
*** ... Given [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation the treatment Celestia gets put through]] by the brony community, that could make for an even ''funnier'' NoodleIncident.
** Animal stampede messed it up.

* At the end of "Best Night Ever", Rarity accidentally ends up leaving her glass shoe behind and Pinkie Pie notices it and explains its worth to Rarity, only to have her break it soon after. I get that it's supposed to subvert the climax / ending of "Literature/{{Cinderella}}", but couldn't she have just, you know, put that shoe on by herself (or at least carry it by her mouth) instead of, you know, just stomping on it? I mean, why not break all of those shoes that she's wearing while she's at it? Not to mention the shards that would most likely hurt her for weeks to come...
** Emotions were running high at that point. Also, if you're making footwear out of glass it would almost have to be "safety" glass that wouldn't get stabby when broken. Chalk it up to yet more SchizoTech.
** Hoofs are less vulnerable than normal feet. And imagine what she was thinking when this fact was pointed out to her. She obviously understood the reference and the meaning. She was frightened by the meaning.
** Also, RuleOfFunny.

* Does this bother anyone else that almost everyone at the Grand Galloping Gala had those fancy sophisticated outfits, but the princess herself showed up in her regular attire? After all the fuss about creating proper Gala dresses for mane characters in "Suited for success", this troper couldn't wait for the final episode to see what pimped-out dress Celestia would wear (maybe because he saw DA fanart of Luna wearing a really pretty one too) and then it turned out she went for the standard "collar plus crown" combination that she always wears on occassions far less formal than GGG.
** She is God Princess, she looks great and noble every times and no dress or lack of it change this. Also Celestria doesn't like GGG so she might hate fancy dresses, at least for it.
*** Possibly if she starting wearing dresses, ponies would expect her to wear them at many occasions.
** ErmineCapeEffect Aren't most of Celestia's appearances formal to begin with? (Despite what she wants, too.) If anything, it would be interesting to see what she's wearing when she's off the clock.
** It could be a subtle way of signaling the guests not to be so uptight about the Gala.
** She has flaming hair forged out of rainbows and is twice as tall as everyone else. She doesn't need a dress to be notable at a party, and the flaming hair probably cements her status as godly overlord better than any fancy dress.

* In "Best Night Ever" there's this lovely cello playing pony, fan-named Octavia. She's playing cello, and her cutie mark is a ''Treble Clef''! A reasonable explanation is that she plays more than one instrument, and was just playing cello at the time... but as a violinist, this really bugs me.
** It's probably out of convenience since ponies in general seem to be unable to stand on their hind legs for a long period of time. At least the Cello can partially support her weight as she is standing (although balancing while playing an instrument that is also supporting some of your weight sounds difficult enough as it is). Although that also brings up how she's holding onto the bow and even playing when she doesn't have any fingers...
** According to TheOtherWiki, the treble clef is "sometimes used, along with tenor clef, for the highest notes played by bass-clef instruments such as the cello..." On second thought I doubt there's any violinists on the staff.
** Octavia's a musician; thus, her cutie mark symbolises music in general.
*** Likely this. A treble clef is probably just more recognizable than a bass clef (especially in a show for girls, who very rarely use a bass clef unless they play an instrument in that range or have an unusually low voice).
** Most likely the above. Treble Clefs are typically used to represent music in general. They always have been and always will be. They're prettier and swirlier than a bass Clef. Plus, Octavia's talent might not be cello specifically, it could be something else entirely, but she just happens to be very good at cello and they needed a cellist for that night and their regular cellist was gone for whatever reason.
** And perhaps the bass clef had already been taken by someone who plays an even lower-pitched instrument, like, well, a bass. Then again, I don't know if cutie marks are supposed to be unique or not.
* Near the end of ''Best Night Ever'', in the infamous scene where Blueblood uses Rarity as a shield against a flying cake, why didn't either of them use magic to stop it? Levitation is a talent every unicorn has, so shouldn't they have been able to stop it without much trouble?
** Perhaps to levitate things, unicorns have to be able to, er, "aim" at them as if they're going to grab them, and trying to levitate a flying cake while in a panic was too difficult a task. Or they both [[ForgotAboutHisPowers forgot they could]].
*** Yes. Magic takes a bit of focus. In the pillow fight in "Look Before You Sleep", Rarity gets hit by a few pillows at first, before eventually telekinetically grabbing some from the air as they come towards her and sending them back.
** Or perhaps Blueblood thought using magic himself was beneath him and Rarity was too surprised/shocked and didn't have time to cast anything.
*** It's also a very ''large'' cake; the only unicorn on the show we've seen lift anything of comparable size is Twilight Sparkle. It may have been beyond Rarity's weight limit. (And Blueblood, useless twit that he is, probably strains to lift anything heavier than a comb.)
**** Not so, in a previous episode, Rarity levitated half a dozen mannequins at once with no visible effort, and in a future episode she summons a couch. More then likely Rarity was caught by surprise, and Blueblood can't stand the thought of doing anything for himself

* Why does Celestia hold the gala every year if she hates it at this point? She's an absolute monarch ruling by her own divine right, so its not like she can't get rid of any laws mandating it, and court protocol is almost by definition whatever she wants it to be...
** Because it has 1000+ years of tradition behind it, giving it an inertia of sorts. It's a high-society affair, so the nobles and aristocrats will look forward to attending so they can rub elbows, learn juicy secrets, and hopefully figure out a way to manipulate their way into an even better position. Other ponies will want to attend as well, if they can, considering it is a big, high-society event, so simply attending would be a mark of status. If Celestia canceled the Gala, then all those ponies would be upset and upset nobility can make Celestia's job worse by subtly working against her and undermining her efforts to get things done, while upsetting the lower classes that dreamed of going to the Gala [[CaptainObvious gives you upset lower classes,]]and upsetting them too much can lead to revolution.\\
There are also businesses that use the Gala to generate revenue, like Carousel Boutique. Rarity mentions making dresses for ponies that are going to attend the Gala in 'The Ticket Master.' While the Gala being canceled probably wouldn't hurt those businesses, they would be upset at the loss of that revenue.\\
So basically, Celestia has to keep holding the Gala, and keep attending, and keep greeting everypony that walks into the Gala or she will get some grief from those that want the Gala, potentially for weeks, months, maybe even the rest of the year. Maybe even longer, depending on how hard the nobility of Equestria stick to their grudges. So a night of absolute boredom for relatively smooth running the rest of the time sounds like a pretty good idea for me.
** It might have had a more interesting origin - perhaps originally it was a celebration of harmony after Discord or Nightmare Moon were defeated, and over the centuries it stagnated.
** There's also the fact that Celestia dislikes it primarily because she's had to go through it hundreds of times. Your average pony doesn't have to; even someone who went the majority of their life would maybe end up going about 60 times total, which might not be enough for it to really get boring. Not to mention that unlike Celestia, most other ponies are free to mingle and socialize, which is probably far more interesting and enjoyable than shaking hooves for four hours.
** Maybe Celestia's just...you know, not a jerk. She might not like it, but she realises that her guests do, and she's not the type to inconvenience and/or disappoint what looked to be hundreds of ponies just because she's bored for one night of the year.

* Twilight is among the "mane cast" to make the promise to make the Gala "The Best Night Ever". And she...proceeds to stand with Celestia and continue shaking hooves and doesn't do anything till the Gala's nearly destroyed?
** Her dream was to spend the night with Celestia, and that didn't go so well. It's clearly shown they weren't even in the same room for all the destruction. They only arrived after everything was said and done.

* It ''REALLY'' bugs me that the Wonderbolts blew Rainbow Dash off the entire time. I know they're celebrities and all, but this isn't the average talented fan we're talking about here. Rainbow Dash saved their LIVES, and managed to pull of a Sonic Rainboom at the same time, something which is very close to legendary among pegasi. Surely that merits a little more attention than what they gave?
** They're celebrities at a big, important event. They had to spread out their time among all the various people that came to see them. It was just exaggerated for the sake of plot. You'll notice that, at one point, they are literally dragged away from Rainbow for a photo. They were trying.
** She does get special treatment from them, Spitfire explicitly thanks her for saving their lives (and Soarin's pie) before inviting her to come and hang out with them in the [=VIP=] section. The problem comes in that every time they try to socialize with Rainbow, something happens to pull them away.

* Am I the only one who was bothered by how irresponsible Twilight was for abandoning Spike as soon as she got to the Gala? Remember that Spike is, by his species' standards, a ''child''. Even if you don't consider Twilight to be a surrogate mother/ guardian to Spike, she should have known how dangerous it was to leave him unattended, especially in a big, crowded place that he probably wasn't familiar with. What if he had gotten hurt? What if he had gotten lost? Would it have been too much to ask of her to keep him close by, or at least establish a place for them to meet up after the party was over?
** Despite being a baby(By Dragon standards), Spike has shown to be on a mental level equal to the mane cast(young adults) and has shown enough resolve, cunning and level head to be able to take care of himself. Furthermore, Twilight knows how strong and durable Spike is. It's much more likely for her to get hurt than him.
*** Equestrian society seems to support young children being allowed to explore on their own at a level more comparable to 1950s society than modern Earth -- we see the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who seem to be schoolchildren-equivalents, out on their own pretty often -- and in turn the Palace Grounds are probably more like a second home to Spike than a dangerous and unknown place.
** There's also the fact that 1. Spike is incredibly durable to the point that it's doubtful anything is going to hurt him; he can breathe fire, for crying out loud 2. He grew up in Canterlot, so he's probably more comfortable there anyway 3. WordOfGod is that Celestia basically raised him, so it's entirely possible that some of the Canterlot ponies already know who he is, if only as Twilight's research assistant.

* So, given that the Wonderbolts were apparently finished with their show by the time they arrived at the party, does that mean the girls not only arrived too late for Rainbow Dash to try to crash their performance, but to even ''see'' it? You'd expect her to complain about that.
** I was under the impression that they had a show when the Gala started and planned to perform again later in the night, but the party ended early before they could.
** She was there for the first show and was likely going to be invited to take part in the second, considering Spitfire's apparently high opinion of her.

* AppleJack was able to set up a stand at the GGG in the first place? She must have asked first, since it would be insanely rude to just turn up with a stall and risk getting turned away. Add to that the initial pitch fee which would be quite high at a large event, unless it is offset with a higher skim. This presents two opportunities for the event organizer (Probably not the Princess directly) to have said "Listen kid, this isn't the right place to do that."
** I got the impression it just happened without AJ giving the organisers a heads-up first. She is naive like that.
*** Then surely she should have been turned away as a trader by the event securityponies?
*** What event securityponies? All we see are some bouncers to make sure that no-one gets into the VIP section unless they're supposed to.
* What are the (nick)names of the four musicians? Octavia seems to be disproportionately popular in the fandom, but what about, say, the pianist or the harpist. Is this just because Octavia looks like one of Pinkie's sisters?
** There's an entire MLP wikia and it lists fan-names for nearly every background pony. You can likely find fan-names for the other musicians.
* I can accept Fluttershy's breakdown, given the animals' behavior. But I cannot see any plausible way for her to go from "You're going to LOVE ME!!" to laughing about it (as she does at the end) with anything less than several hours of focused distraction, probably consisting entirely of positive animal interactions. Probably longer. Which is not implied to have happened, and I doubt any of the other ponies would have thought of it at the time.
** Seeing the animals destroying the Gala and the guests running around in a panic gave her enough of a reality check that she was able to get her temper under control.

* I'm a bit more surprised that Twilight didn't know what to expect. Surely, as the personal protege of the princess, she's had to attend some formal events before. Best I can figure, she didn't realize just how busy Celestia would be, and expected that she'd have at least some free time.
** Maybe? But then, she also seems the sort to have ducked out of them by going to study magic some more, at least until the whole "go make some friends" order, so perhaps she truly never went to one and never asked what they were like. All she knew was that her beloved teacher was going to be there, and kind of assumed the rest. It just happens that said beloved teacher is ''princess of Equestria'', and therefore has a ''lot'' of ponies to divide her attention amongst...
** Twilight's thoughts about the GGG weren't exactly far from what was happening. If you look at the other ponies at the Gala, it really is a lot of talking, socializing, and catching up. The problem is more in that Twilight wants to spend time with someone she now only gets to see about every other week(if that), whereas at previous events, hanging out with her teacher who she saw far more often, wouldn't have been a priority, and that person happened to have a laundry list of duties to perform.
* So if Celestia hates the GGG, why does she attend if all she does is act the door greeter all night? Skipping out probably wouldn't hurt her approval rating.
** It definitely would have hurt her approval rating though. She's the ruler of Equestria and part of her job is attending things like the Gala. The better question is why does she care about her approval rating. While we don't have anything but fannon to go on for her power, but it's safe to say that just like Luna was able to keep the moon in place for an extended period of time we have no reason to believe that if Celestia simply decided she didn't feel like raising the sun that there is anybody (sans possibly Luna) who could force Celestia to do ANYTHING or replace her. Ultimately she goes to these things (and probably a lot of other formal parties) for the same reasons that heads of state do these things. It's part of the job description.
** As said above - Celestia's just not a jerk. Maybe it would have hurt her approval rating, maybe it wouldn't have - but guests were going to the Gala with the hopes and expectations of being able to see the Princess, and she didn't want to disappoint.
* At the end, Twilight says "I just hope Princess Celestia isn't upset with '''us''' for ruining the Gala." While it's mostly Fluttersy's faut for ruining the Gala by scarring animals and, I admit, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and arguably Rarity contributed, I don't understand why Twilight blames herself because all she did during the night was greeting guests with Celestia.
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** He's pulling an all-dayer (the opposite of an all-nighter.) Maybe got really tired of this by the end of the episode, which is why we don't see him in later episodes.

** My best guess of what they were going for is that Twilight should have just accepted her friends' explanation of the Pinkie Sense because they had known Pinkie for longer and she could trust them. There's also the fact that Twilight's approach to the whole situation was "I know I'm right and I'm going to prove it" rather than "I don't know what's going on and I'm going to find out". She cared more about proving Pinkie wrong than actually figuring out what was going on.

*** Can't be. Her mane and tail have the colours in opposing orders (mane has red on tip, tail has the violet). In Cutie Mar Chronicles, it definitely switches orders- Off her mane, it's red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, but in the air its clearly the other way around. Sonic Rainbooms make rainbows at the exact same time. Besides, Pinkie Pie specifically states that it makes a sonic boom and a rainbow at the same time. The answer to the first question is simply that Sonic Rainbooms are very hard to make, and making rainbows in the factory is much, much easier than having Dash do it every time. Plus, what happens when Dash dies? No more rainbows without liquid ones. Liquid rainbows are simply the easiest way to get one.

* Is it just me, or did Pinkie Pie seem very out of character in 'Green Isn't Your Colour'? She's supposed to embody the element of laughter - in other words, fun. But her behavior made three of her friends absolutely miserable, and could have lead to an enormous falling out between Rarity and Fluttershy.