History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E12GamesPoniesPlay

* FacePalm: Rainbow facehoofs one when Pinkie starts making funny faces at the false inspector.

** The messenger has wings on her shoes like Hermes/Mercury, the gods' messenger.

* GenreSavvy: Pinkie Pie remarks that the real inspector is probably ''not'' at the spa where Princess Cadance is getting her hair done, since that's the ''last'' place they want her to end up. Upon [[TemptingFate realizing what she just said]], the ponies rush over to the spa.

** The Crystal Empire welcoming the wrong pony as the Inspector is very similar to Creator/NikolaiGogol's play ''Revizor'', in which a small provincial town hears that a government inspector is coming, but welcomes the wrong man, who plays along with the town's mistake.

** Maybe Pinkie just thought it would be boring to do the [[BreakingTheFourthWall same lineup]] again?

* OlympicGames: The Equestria Games.

* AmericanAccents: The tourist the Mane Six mistake for the inspector has a noticeable southern dialect to her voice, similar to Applejack's. Justified as she mentions she's a mustang.

** The Crystal Empire welcoming the wrong pony as the Inspector is very similar to NikolaiGogol's play ''Revizor'', in which a small provincial town hears that a government inspector is coming, but welcomes the wrong man, who plays along with the town's mistake.

* FashionHurts: While Rarity is working on Princess Cadance's mane, the latter's hooves can be seen twitching and straining against the pain inflicted by the elaborate hairstyling.

* WilhelmScream: Two Crystal Ponies scream one simultaneously when the tourist Ms. Harshwinny crashes into them.

!!Tropes present in this episode: [[YMMV/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E12GamesPoniesPlay YMMV Tropes here]].

-->'''Pinkie Pie:''' ''(meekly)'' Cinnamon bun?

** Pinkie does an honest one later when they find out they've been entertaining the wrong pony...
*** BigYes: ...only to change it to this to respond to Rainbow Dash's rhetorical "We got the wrong pony?!"

-->'''Pinkie:''' So, you see this here? This, um... This is, um...a big, ''round'' room. It's known for its ''roundness'', and bigness. And did I mention that it's ''round''?
* DramaticIrony: A somewhat unique example: everything that happens here makes it evident that Cadance's reasons for not inviting Spike (as mentioned back in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E8JustForSidekicks "Just For Sidekicks"]]) are more understandable and justified. Plus, considering all things, there was nothing actively preventing Spike from joining them if he hadn't had responsibilities at home.
** Goes double for Rainbow Dash's comment at the end about how Spike had to miss out. It even makes very little sense when you realize how much hell the Mane 6 (save for Rarity who focused on styling Cadance's mane) went through while mistaking a tourist for the inspector.

* {{Face|palm}}hoof: Rainbow gives one when Pinkie starts making funny faces at the false inspector.

* ForegoneConclusion: The climax of "[[SynchronousEpisodes Just for Sidekicks]]" where the Mane Six are ready to return home hints that the trip ends okay, even if Rainbow Dash's comment about Spike missing out makes little sense considering how much hell they went through while mistaking a tourist for the inspector.
* FreezeFrameBonus: When the train causes Fluttershy to crash into the wall you can see that she has [[SpecialEffectFailure Twilight's cutie mark for some reason]]. Same goes for Pinkie when the Mane Six do their cheer at the castle.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Twilight and Cadance's usual dance and rhyme greeting gets relegated to this trope, both by the animators and by Rarity, who pretty much ignores the whole thing while looking around Cadance's private spa, while the rest of the Mane Six watch Twilight and Cadance.

-->'''Twilight Sparkle''': Come on, how bad could it be?\\
'''Rarity''': Imagine her mane turned into a porcupine.\\
'''Twilight Sparkle''': Ooh.

* GenerationXerox: Rainbow-colored manes run in Rainbow Dash's family, if the flashback of Filly!Dash with her dad is anything to go by.

* HandshakeSubstitute: Twilight and Cadance's famous not-so-SecretHandshake.

* {{Irony}}: It turns out Ms. Harshwhinny has seen so many other Equestrian cities put on overblown welcoming performances that she's all but sick of them, so it's probably for the best the Mane Six ''didn't'' meet her first.

* [[NiceGuy Nice Mare]]: The fake inspector, apart from her claustrophobia and mild irritation when she first meets the welcome committee, is among the cheeriest ponies they could ever hope to meet. [[EntertaininglyWrong Rainbow Dash thinks]] [[StepfordSmiler it's all just a front]] [[SecretTestOfCharacter to test them]].
* NoNameGiven: The tourist who gets mistaken for Ms. Harshwhinny. She is credited as "Games Inspector," which of course she ''isn't,'' but there's also a credit for "Ms. Harshwhinny," who is probably the real one. [[AllThereInTheManual Some sources]] call her Ms. Peachbottom. [[note]]Meghan [=McCarthy's=] Twitter says "[=#MLPSeason3=] factoid: Original name for new character intro'd in this week's episode was Ms. Peachbottom." The wording, saying that the "original name" for a character "was" Ms. Peachbottom, suggests that the name was changed; it was ''probably'' going to be Ms. Harshwhinny's name at one point. However, "Ms. Peachbottom" as the visitor's name has since found its way into DVD closed captioning and a Hub online game.[[/note]]

* POVSequel: To "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E8JustForSidekicks Just for Sidekicks]]" as told through the Mane Six's perspective.

* SeriesContinuityError: Despite apparently taking place at the same time as "Just For Sidekicks", there are some inconsistencies. At the end of "Just for Sidekicks", the ponies line up to board the train at the end as Twilight Sparkle-Applejack-Pinkie Pie-Rainbow Dash-Rarity-Fluttershy. When the same scene is shown at the end of this episode, Twilight and Pinkie have inexplicably switched places.
* SeriousBusiness: Both Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash treat the welcoming of the inspector very seriously both as a favor to Princess Cadance and the Crystal Empire and, in Rainbow Dash's case, to not have the Crystal Empire suffer the same disappointment she felt when she was a filly. Hosting the games is a huge honor for any city, so there is no reason not to treat the matter seriously. Plus, the fate of all of Equestria kinda depends on the Crystal Ponies' self-esteem, as "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E1TheCrystalEmpirePart1 The Crystal]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E2TheCrystalEmpirePart2 Empire]]" demonstrates.

** Cities really do go to absurd lengths to woo Olympics inspectors.
*** Studio B, the animation studio in which ''Friendship Is Magic'' is produced, is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and around the same time, the first season of [=FiM=] was in the process of being animated there. The writers would be all too familiar with the lengths such cities can go.

* StrongerThanTheyLook: The tourist is clearly a better athlete than anyone the Crystal Empire is preparing to send to the games, by ''far.'' When she is panicked and running, she at one point ends up on the racetrack, and easily blows past the other runners before blowing straight ''[[ThereWasADoor through]]'' the hurdles and the exit. Rainbow Dash has to catch up with her to remove the vase on her head, and (though it ''may'' have something to do with being thrown against a wall when it finally popped loose) was completely ''exhausted'' by the chase even though the tourist is perfectly happy and saying that a good run always makes her feel better. She may have proven not to be the one to decide if the games will be held in the Crystal Empire, but if they signed her up, she could ''surely'' make sure a gold medal ''did'' end up there. On top of that, she once makes a reference to "these old bones." When she was young, how strong must she have been?
* StrongFamilyResemblance: In a flashback, it's revealed that Rainbow Dash really takes after her father.
* SynchronousEpisodes: With "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E8JustForSidekicks Just for Sidekicks]]".

* [[WhatTheHellHero What the Hell, Messenger?]]: Rainbow Dash chews out Princess Cadance's messenger for telling everypony the more pressing issue of Ms. Harshwhinny's early arrival ''after'' telling them Cadance's mane stylist has the flu.

** Rainbow Dash reasons the pain of losing out on hosting the Equestria Games will be the worst thing to happen to the crystal ponies since [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E1TheCrystalEmpire King Sombra's curse]].
** When greeting each other, Twilight and Cadance do [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E25ACanterlotWeddingPart1 their childhood rhyme together]]. [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E26ACanterlotWeddingPart2 Again]]. [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E1TheCrystalEmpire And this time, the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance]].

* Bathos: Pinkie Pie, after Rainbow Dash breaks the news of the debacle to Cadance.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: You can suspect that the pony they greet isn't the inspector when you notice her luggage is damaged, and that her cutie mark is a chicken and not a trophy[[note]]Miss Harshwhinny's cutie mark[[/note]], a laurel wreath[[note]]the mare that announced the host of the Games in Rainbow Dash's flashback[[/note]], or anything else that would suggest a special talent related to something akin to the Olympics.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: You can suspect that the pony they greet isn't the inspector when you notice her luggage is damaged.

* NoNameGiven: The tourist who gets mistaken for Ms. Harshwhinny. She is credited as "Games Inspector," which of course she ''isn't,'' but there's also a credit for "Ms. Harshwhinny," who is probably the real one. [[AllThereInTheManual Some sources]] call her Ms. Peachbottom. [[note]]Meghan McCarthy's Twitter says "#MLPSeason3 factoid: Original name for new character intro'd in this week's episode was Ms. Peachbottom." The wording "original name" suggests that the name was changed; it was ''probably'' going to be Ms. Harshwhinny's name at one point. However, "Ms. Peachbottom" as the visitor's name has found its way into DVD closed captioning and a Hub online game.[[/note]]

* SequelHook: A season four episode about the Equestria Games themselves seemed inevitable at the time the episode was originally aired, especially in light of Twilight and Rainbow's conversation about coming back to watch the Games. Show writer Meghan McCarthy later hinted in a [[https://twitter.com/HubTVNetwork/status/403970748257021952 tweet]] that there would be an episode focusing on the Games at some point during the fourth season.

* NoNameGiven: The tourist who gets mistaken for Ms. Harshwhinny.

* BrokenAesop: Ms. Harshwhinny eventually decides to host the games in the Crystal Empire, saying that every other place she visited tried to put on airs, while she got the story of how great the empire was from a normal pony. The problem is the only reason the tourist has such a glowing opinion of the empire is because she experienced all of the things that they were doing to specifically impress Ms. Harshwhinny, while Harshwhinny herself only got grief and frustration from the Crystal Empire citizens. So if the moral was meant to be "People will be more impressed by sincerity than by fake attempts to seem great", or "Sometimes it takes an honest opinion from a fellow tourist to make up for what you've missed, whether or not you'd want to see it for yourself", then it undermined its own message.

* BrokenAesop: [[spoiler:Ms. Harshwhinny eventually decides to host the games in the Crystal Empire, saying that every other place she visited tried to put on airs, while she got the story of how great the empire was from a normal pony. The problem is the only reason the tourist has such a glowing opinion of the empire is because she experienced all of the things that they were doing to specifically impress Ms. Harshwhinny, while Harshwhinny herself only got grief and frustration from the Crystal Empire citizens. So if the moral was meant to be "People will be more impressed by sincerity than by fake attempts to seem great", then it undermined its own message.]]

** [[AlternateAesopInterpretation Alternatively]], it could be seen as [[spoiler:[[TruthInTelevision "Sometimes it takes an honest opinion from a fellow tourist to make up for what you've missed, whether or not you'd want to see it for yourself."]]]]

* BreatherEpisode: A hilarious episode featuring mistaken identity, crazy antics, and cinnamon buns only one episode before Twilight becomes an alicorn princess of Equestria.