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1->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Headscratchers Index]]
2-->[[AC:Seasons:]]
3--->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason1 Season 1]]\
4[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason2 Season 2]]\
5Season 3 (You are here.)
6--->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason4 Season 4]]\
7[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason5 Season 5]]\
8[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason6 Season 6]]\
9[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason7 Season 7]]\
10[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason8 Season 8]]\
11[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason9 Season 9]]
12-->[[AC:Others:]]
13--->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSetting Setting]]\
14[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicGeneralCanon General Canon]]
15----
16
17[[foldercontrol]]
18
19[[folder:[=3.01=] The Crystal Empire - Part 1]]
20* We see in the beginning that Celestia and Luna overthrew King Sombra after he made the Crystal Empire vanish for a thousand years. There is only one problem: Princess Luna was ''also'' gone for a thousand years, and from the fact that she returned two years before the Crystal Empire did, we can conclude that she disappeared two years earlier as well. So how could she have been around to vanquish the king?
21** Was it stated to be exactly a thousand years, or was the thousand year disappearance just an approximation?
22** Celestia was rounding to the nearest millenium.
23** Perhaps "one thousand" is used in the sense of "an undefined large number", like the Greek "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad myriad]]".
24** Previews for the Season 4 premiere seem to confirm that the entire show up to that point (the first three seasons and Equestria Girls) happened over the course of a single year. So if we assume that the fight against Sombra and Luna's fall happened in the same year, the math checks out.
25* Is the Crystal Empire a city-state or something? It seems pretty small.
26** I just assumed that it was a city-state, but they just used the Crystal Empire name because a) it rolls of the tongue easier and b) younger viewers might not know what that is.
27** Maybe it ''was'' an empire when King Sombra ruled it. The word "empire" implies conquering, so it's possible he took over a bunch of surrounding areas, and when Celestia and Luna defeated him all the areas he conquered reverted to their previous owners and only the capital remained. The name is just a holdover.
28* Why weren't the Elements of Harmony used to deal with King Sombra? Unlike against Nightmare Moon, Discord, or Chrysalis, they weren't lost, stolen, nor were their wielders intercepted or rendered ineffective, and it's not like they're limited to purely apocalyptic threats, since Chrysalis was more a mortal threat working of some sort of empowerment. Hell, why seal him away, a lot of pain might have been saved if the Princesses just destroyed him.
29** Remember that Celestia and Luna were the original users of the Elements. Who's to say that the Elements weren't used and the result was Sombra's imprisonment?
30*** Compare the appearance of the magic used on Sombra to that of the Elements first use against Nightmare Moon. They're nearly identical, supporting the possibility that the Elements were used against Sombra.
31*** No they're not. The Elements always have a rainbow aura when used, even when Celestia soloed Nightmare Moon. Against Sombra, it was just their standard magic auras.
32*** Given how Celestia and Luna were silhouetted in the flashback, it's safe to say that the beam may have had a different-than-usual hue in the flashback as well.
33*** It's more the fact that they didn't say they used them, unlike with Discord.
34*** Because context-wise, the Crystal Heart was more important.
35** Because the Elements of Harmony had become a crutch, and Equestria was almost destroyed ''twice'' because of it. The Elements were no longer a practical solution. The Mane Six needed to find ways to deal with villains without them.
36*** Well they could have mentioned that in the episode. As it stands, the mane six are sent to deal with an evil power that broke out of a thousand-year-old seal, a city under the curse of dark magic, and a population of ponies brainwashed by evil - all problems that the elements have been shown to rectify. But no-one even bothers to try.
37*** Who's to say that Sombra's TakingYouWithMe curse wasn't simply faster to kick in than the Elements' WorldHealingWave?
38** We fundamentally know very little about what the Elements can and, perhaps even more importantly, ''cannot'' do. Given that the Mane Six basically ''never'' seem to just take them along "just in case", even when facing obvious problems to much or all of Equestria as in "Dragonshy", it stands to reason that they probably do have some limits. (If nothing else, they're basically irreplacable national treasures, so only taking them out of storage once a deserving threat actually unambiguously ''shows'' itself makes a degree of sense even without invoking arcane restraints on their function in and of itself.)
39*** That, and the Elements seem to never be able to permanently end a threat, only delay dealing with it by a thousand years.
40*** If by "permanently end" you mean "kill" Celestia probably didn't want to kill her sister, and Discord being an AnthropomorphicPersonification is presumably immortal [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil as long as chaos and disharmony exist.]] Given WordOfGod that Nightmare Moon and Luna weren't the same entity, it seems Nightmare Moon was in fact killed by the Elements when the Mane Six used them.
41* What was with the cold looks Luna kept giving to Twilight?
42** She doesn't really have Celestia's experience being a social animal in modern times; that's probably still how she thinks royalty should act. The unspoken matter of what they're trying to see what Twilight's ready for probably keeps things more formal, too.
43** Luna was also very annoyed with Celestia over using the situation as a test. Some of that annoyance spilled over in Twilight's direction.
44** I personally think it was concern, Luna knowing Celestia is sending Twilight into terrible danger but unable to vocalize it.
45** Simple... She works the night shift. She is not a Morning Pony. Have you ever seen someone who got woken up from a dead sleep? They hate everyone.
46** In addition to what's already been mentioned, it seems less that Luna is displeased with Twilight herself and more that she doesn't approve of the overall situation. Her mindset is probably something along the lines of "The Crystal Empire is a big enough deal that we should handle it ourselves rather than subcontracting the job." The reasons for that could be anything between doubt for Twilight's ability to handle it to displeasure at the fact that Celestia is endangering her pupil when she could probably solve the issue quickly herself. Also Celestia probably dragged her out of bed really early to have her there. Anybody would be grumpy after that.
47** This is probably more something of a WMG, but since it's a question: Who put a bee in Luna's metaphorical bonnet? Her mood seems absolutely foul in this episode?
48** Wild speculation, but isn't Luna all about making people face their fears? Here Twilight Sparkle faces down her fear of failure. I suspect given the friendship between Luna and Twilight Sparkle, "the next level" of training will be studying under Luna, reframing their relationship. On that note...
49* What is that book Luna conjures up at the end of the episode?
50** A User's Guide to Defeating Dark Magic Wielding Evil Emperors by Luke Skywalker?
51* So...just what caused the Crystal Empire (and King Sombra) to suddenly reappear anyway? There isn't really any attempt to explain it at all. The only possibility I can come up with is some sort of thousand year time-lock on King Sombra's curse, but that doesn't really hold up well to scrutiny...
52** I think that the curse was set so the Crystal Empire would reappear when Sombra regained the power to conquer it once more. He likely spent the last thousand years regenerating his form and strength, and finding a way to break free. Once he did he broke his curse so he could re-enslave the crystal ponies.
53** Alternatively, it's no mistake both the banishment of Nightmare Moon and the disappearance of the Crystal Empire happened a thousand years agoish. Perhaps, [[WildMassGuessing Sombra was responsible for Luna's corruption, and when she was purified, the darkness inside her didn't poof but went back to him, allowing to gather form and bring back the Crystal Empire.]]
54* Who builds a train station in the middle of the pony equivalent of the arctic?
55** Research station?
56*** Perhaps a research station meant to keep an eye on the former location of the Crystal Empire('s capital), and maybe try to figure out a way to bring it back without necessarily returning King Sombra to power.
57** Someone who makes plans many, many years in advance for the stuff she knows is going happen in a thousand years.
58* So, King Sombra is threatening the Empire. Why didn't they use the Elements of Harmony against him? They might not have worked when he was a normal unicorn, but now that he's a shadow... thing, they should have a good chance of beating him. Granted, there's no guarantee that they would have worked against him, but they could have at least tried.
59** As of this writing...we just don't know. The exact powers and limitations of the Elements have never been spelled out, and until that happens we can only speculate. For example: even if the Elements of Harmony ''had'' defeated King Sombra, that would still have left the Crystal Empire without its Crystal Heart. (It might even have simply resulted in the same outcome as the last battle, with both Sombra ''and'' the Empire gone for yet another thousand years afterwards.) So it's not outside the bounds of possibility that Celestia secretly sent Twilight there specifically in hopes that she would manage to find and recover the Heart -- and once that was back in place, there was no more need for the Elements in any case.
60** Because Celestia wanted to leave Twilight no option to but to use the dark magic she just showed her. The whole point of the exercise is to test Twilight's ability to learn and use it, without getting corrupted by it.
61* Why do the crystal ponies speak in a manner befitting a pony of the era of the Mane Six, and not in the tongue of the time from which they (and Luna) hailed? True, Princess Luna was using the formal speech, but I was under the impression that the majority of how she spoke was normal for her time, and that once she "toned it down" she spoke in as informal a tone as a thousand-year-gone pony with crippling social anxiety ''could'' speak.
62** A thousand years ago, Luna was already ''royalty''. By contrast, we don't even see a single distinct lesser noble among the crystal ponies -- they all seem to be "commoners". So different speech patterns make sense even if both sides hail from the same general era. (This is setting aside the simple possibility that Luna's archaic ways of expressing herself were simply a one-time gag to underscore her FishOutOfTemporalWater issues in "Luna Eclipsed", of course.)
63* So, in "Sisterhooves Social", sheep are sentient beings, capable of speech (even if their treatment was a bit...disrespectful). But in the Crystal Empire, they're of low enough caste that their young can be relegated to petting zoos. What's up with that? Are Crystal Sheep non-sentient creatures, a distinct species from normal sheep? Are sheep in all of Equestria a slave species, who just have to be thankful their pony overlords aren't carnivorous? Or are they totally cool with the petting zoo thing? Like, is it like an afternoon of free backrubs for them? What's the deal here?
64** 1) Livestock have been shown to be client races of the ponies and generally pretty cool with the arrangement 2) The sheep looked perfectly happy to take part in the petting zoo. Honestly, a lot of people would volunteer to stay in one place and have people pet them for a day.
65* This could be attributed to the animation budget, but this episode is clearly after Canterlot Wedding, what with Twilight knowing Cadence and her brother in one room. The technical question is in regard to the fact that neither seem to be wearing their wedding rings on their horns. Were they just ceremonial? Did they take them off while at work?
66** A lot of married couples don't wear their rings all the time.
67** Plus, the unicorn horn is hard and conical; the ring would probably fall off at the first opportunity.
68* Everything's made out of crystals, so why isn't Spike chowing down like it's [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons the Land of Chocolate]]? You'd think he'd show at least some interest.
69** The crystals throughout the empire may not have the same mineral makeup that gemstones have, making them worthless as food.
70** Give Spike some credit, he has more restraint than that.
71* I get that Shining Armor and Princess Cadance now rule the Crystal Empire, but is Shining Armor still the Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot? I really need to know.
72** Really unlikely, as he lives in a totally different place now.
73[[/folder]]
74
75[[folder:[=3.02=] The Crystal Empire - Part 2]]
76* How is Candence's cutie mark the Crystal Heart? Is it because she was destined to rule the Crystal Empire? Wouldn't Celestia have known that the Empire was coming back as soon as a pony with a cutie mark like that appeared? Is it possible to have a cutie mark and not know what it means? None of the outside ponies knew the Crystal Heart existed until one of the crystal ponies remembered and mentioned it...
77** Who said it was specifically a picture of the Crystal Heart, rather just a heart made of crystal? And cutie marks do repeat, so there's probably been other ponies that gained that mark over the centuries.
78** The Crystal Heart was just a focus for the love of the crystal ponies. Cadence's power is to foster love. To me this means that in Equestria, a heart made of crystal is a symbol of strong love, possibly because of the Crystal Heart and its origin forgotten.
79*** It could also be the universe's way of saying that THIS is Cadence's destiny, similar to how Twilight's cutie mark it the Element of Magic.
80*** ... ? Twilight's mark isn't the Element of Magic, the Element took the form of her cutie mark. Celestia saw potential in Twilight before she got her mark.
81*** Actually, if you look closely, the element appears in the basic stone sphere form above her head before transforming into the crown and it has the six-pointed star on it. Twilight's cutie mark is the six-pointed star of magic, surrounded by five smaller stars representing the other elements. The flashback in "Princess Twilight Sparkle" confirms the Element of Magic always looked like that even when the other elements changed form.
82*** That is decidedly odd. Cutie Marks are supposed to be reflection of what is inside, not precognitive, and Twilight's mark is one of those marks that repeats. Shining Armor's uncle's harness design also implies that it runs in the family, which raises a lot of [[FanficFuel questions and possibilities]].
83*** Probably the six-pointed star is a generic symbol for magic in Equestrian culture. Thus a family of unicorns with strong magic would tend to have six-pointed stars in their cutie marks and powerful magic artifacts would be likely to have it as a motif.
84* If the Crystal Ponies recognized Cadence as the Crystal Princess, and Cadence knew how to activate the Crystal Heart, then why didn't she tell Twilight what she needs to help save the Crystal Empire?
85** The Crystal Ponies didn't recognize Cadance as the princess until ''after'' she got the heart. All Cadance did was put the real heart where the fake was. The process seemed either automated or controlled by the Crystal Ponies.
86* Since the outside ponies became crystaly when the heart activated and went back to normal when they got far away, would the crystal ponies become normal ponies outside of the Empire's/Heart's range?
87** They kept their crystal hair even when depressed, so they would probably keep that even outside of the Empire.
88* Does anyone else think this was one of the lopsided morals? This entire show is about the power of FRIENDSHIP, and yet Celestia decides that Twilight has to do this ALONE. And when she decides to throw Spike the heart, (or actually, he just picks it up), Celestia says that letting Spike get it shows ability to look past self-interest.. UM, WHAT? SHE WAS ONLY DOING THIS TO SAVE HER BROTHER, HIS WIFE, AND A FREAKIN' EMPIRE!
89** Twilight doesn't think like that, and Celestia knows it. She congratulates Twilight on breaking her trust and the rules of the test because although it's very justified from anyone elses' perspective, doing so is a very big deal for someone as rules obsessed as Twilight. Twilight remember is generally of the opinion that Celestia will exile her to the moon for using the wrong color pen on her test sheet.
90*** Actually, Twilight never breaks the rules of the test. The rules were that when the time comes, only Twilight can do what needs to be done. What needed to be done was handing over rescuing the Empire to the only person who could actually do it, even if it meant jeopardizing her chances of passing the test... and Twilight ''was'' the only one who could do that. You're using the exact same misinterpretation of the instructions Twilight used. Celestia likely didn't predict the exact course of events, but knew that Twilight would eventually be forced to accept help to succeed... so the test was giving her instructions that sounded like saying she had to complete her test alone, when they were actually saying the opposite -- that when the time came, she had to accept help from others.
91** Celestia was also likely hoping that Twilight would say screw that and involve her friends anyway. Being able to tell when your teacher is giving a deliberately bad lesson is an important test in itself, and hopefully Twilight has reached the point where she would understand that she needs her friends (and indeed, she used them well to buy her some time and took Spike along without much convincing).
92*** As mentioned above, Celestia wasn't deliberately giving a bad lesson. She was giving a ''good'' lesson (You should put others first and rely on your friends), but disguising what it actually was. The test was to see, when it came down to it, whether Twilight would realize the real lesson and do whatever it took to save the Empire, even if it meant "failing" her test, or be so wrapped up in passing this test that she'd fail to do what was necessary to pass it.
93** Kind of the entire point of the test was that Twilight sacrificed the "Looking out for number one" mentality for the greater good of the kingdom. That, and as noted, Celestia actually says that Twilight's friends are going to go with her anyway. She never could have done it without them, so I don't think that really breaks the moral, when the moral is "One should be willing to sacrifice one's own interests to help out those who truly need it".
94* Am I the only one who's kind of mad at Celestia for the test thing? Granted, it is perfectly in character for her to show circuitousness, but here it doesn't make any sense. First, there's no reason for her to test Twilight right that very second. She could easily put it off until the crisis was over. Yet she does it right then and there, despite there being no apparent reason for her to do so. Which brings me to my next point: pulling that kind of test in that kind of situation is very counter-intuitive. This is a crisis that very well could have ended with Equestria and the Crystal Empire/Kingdom/whatever being destroyed or worse. To stop this, you will need to have everyone giving their all to solve the problem. But then she hands out a test with the worst timing imaginable, thereby adding a completely unnecessary problem and keeping Twilight from working at her best. So all that she really accomplished was making the whole thing much harder then it had to be.
95** To be fair, we never are given any indication that Celestia ''knew'' King Sombra had returned. She probably thought he was still sealed in that icy crevice she and Luna sealed him in.
96*** Except that it was obvious that she knew that the Empire, and thus Equestria, was in danger. Why she knew that when she didn't seem to know Sombra was back, I don't know, but she knew that there was a serious threat.
97** She [Twilight] saved Equestria THREE TIMES, IS THAT NOT ENOUGH?!
98** Celestia (offhandedly, but still) mentions to Luna that if Twilight passes, they will know that "she is that much closer to being ready". So perhaps Celestia needed Twilight to be tested in such dire situation, in preparation for something possibly even worse. She also seems to have an unwavering faith in Twilight, for better or for worse. Luna disapproved, as you could see. And it was never supposed to be an academic-style test and Celestia said as much, it's just that Twilight couldn't let got of that idea.
99** King Sombra was also as close as they would get to an ideal stress test. He was powerful enough to put pressure on Twilight and her friends, while still be weak enough that Princess Celestia and Luna could defeat him without the Elements of Harmony. Additionally, having fought him before, Celestia and Luna knew what he was capable of. It was a dangerous situation, of course, but not so much that they couldn't keep it under control if Twilight failed.
100*** Except that it's still never been confirmed or denied if they needed the Elements, only that they defeated him in general. And even if they didn't, they still seemed to need at least a CombinationAttack to beat him, implying that he was roughly strong enough to stalemate them both at once (not to mention how, even in defeat, he was still able to make an entire kingdom vanish, something that many people consider to be roughly RealityWarper-tier). Furthermore, given his savvy streak, who's to say that ItOnlyWorksOnce wouldn't have come into play if they had, in fact, directly intervened again? Additionally, Celestia flat-out confirmed that her knowledge of the Empire was limited, meaning that she and Luna most likely didn't know the full extent of what he was capable of, either.
101** I'm less mad at Celestia and more confused as to why Twilight seemed to view the whole situation as just a test all the time. I mean, gee, the crystal ponies face potential enslavement for a millennium, but Celestia forbid Twilight fails her test! I guess we can all agree that it was a weird set-up. It would have made more sense to just send her on a mission, or to "interrupt" her test for the mission and then reveal that in succeeding, she also passed the test.
102*** In Twilight's defense, she'd unquestionably be more affected emotionally by losing her friends and Celestia as a mentor; a bunch of ponies she doesn't know personally (other than as a bunch of sadsacks), not so much. That and Celestia seemed to place a lot of emphasis on the fact that the situation, while serious, was nothing that the Princesses couldn't handle should Twilight fail (and Celestia was utterly confident she wouldn't). Compare her demeanor here to her ''very'' troubled mood when Discord returned.
103** It's also possible Celestia wasn't even aware King Sombra had escaped his imprisonment, since Shining Armor and Cadence were on their way when she dispatched Twilight and they didn't seem to know Sombra was going to be waiting for them. It's also possible King Sombra turned out to be more dangerous than she thought he'd be, since he may not have been able to prepare for two gods attacking him and thus didn't put up as much of a fight against her and Luna as Discord did. Celestia's not infallible.
104** I thought the whole test was actually to see whether Twilight would put herself first or other ponies who were in danger first. What was more important to Twilight, that she pass her test or that she save the ponies? The whole purpose seemed to be to shift Twilight from an academic view of her studies to a real world view.
105** As cliched as fan fiction may have made the "Twilight becomes an alicorn" idea sound by now, there's one scene in the first episode that might actually hint at something like that -- namely, [[RuleOfSymbolism when we see Celestia and Luna with their cutie marks as separate motifs in the background followed by a cut to the same for Twilight]]. Together with the other hints in the previous and at the end of this episode, it seems pretty clear that the princesses (or at least Celestia) are grooming Twilight for ''some'' future role that's going to be rather more important than just "librarian of Ponyville". In that case, it makes sense that [[ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself This Is Something She's Got To Do Herself]] would come into play in full force for this "test".
106* Why does being "crystalized" make ponies hair go all fancy-like?
107** Because in the world of Poni, hair is magic. Why else do you think that the two most powerful pony princesses have the fanciest hair?
108** The crystallization was part of a party-ceremony. As for the un-depressed ponies' hair turning fancy-like, I don't know. Perhaps, as stated above, it's because [[ExpressiveHair pony hair is magic]]. Perhaps the remnants of King Sombra's spell kept their "true" hairstyles suppressed (except the bluish pony with the golden bow-and-arrow cutie mark, because he's cool like that, and totally deserves to be an [[EnsembleDarkhorse Ensemble Darkpony]]). Perhaps [[EpilepticTrees Pinkie was sneaking around offscreen and spraying all the crystal ponies with dopamine-reacting "memory-gel" hairspray]]. Or the ponies all used a popular magic charm to keep their hair tidy with little to no effort beyond the exertion of will; that or the "remnants of King Sombra's spell" options seem most likely to me.
109** Their hair is different to sell toys. Pure and simple. (Toys of the Mane Six as crystal ponies exist and, as of when I write this, still on toy store shelves.)
110** According to "The Crystalling" three seasons later, the Crystal Heart just kind of does this whenever it's kicked into high gear. Given that it also makes living creatures ''translucent,'' styling their hair as a side effect seems relatively minor. It's probably just some kind of "make living creatures look awesome" effect.
111* Why didn't Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy just take the statue away somewhere safe, like the balcony for "polishing". Why keep it in the center of town?
112** No doubt because they needed to keep up the illusion that the Crystal Heart was found to keep the Crystal Ponies from losing it. If the one thing that was needed to restore your kingdom was moved from its spot, wouldn't you think something's up?
113* Dark magic crystals can be destroyed with significant effort. Why didn't anyone try to free Shining Armor? He is already know to be an expert on defensive magic. He could at least sleep while his spells went on.
114** The only times that dark crystals were destroyed were when Celestia destroyed the ones she used for a demonstration and when the Crystal Heart was used. The magic needed to undo Sombra's dark magic is probably out of Twilight and Shining Armor's range.
115** Also, they might not have wanted to tamper with it, given the lack of time, and not knowing if they would make it worse, which would have had a negative effect on Cadance.
116** Princess Celestia destroyed the crystals by shooting them. Using that solution would require shooting Shining's horn. Which is attached to [[BoomHeadshot his head]]. A different solution might have been preferable.
117* All crystal ponies are earth ponies. Where did RD and Fluttershy find barding with wing holes?
118** They might have belonged to the former pegasus residents, but they may have been forced out during Lord Sombra's reign, either they were exiled or they made an exodus. There are statues that depict both pegasi and griffons, so they were certainly aware of winged, quadrupedal sentients. As for why King Sombra didn't get rid of it all, he seemed to run a one-pony dictatorship. He might simply not have been able to round up all the remaining pegasus armor between oppressing the masses and booby-trapping his fortress. Or kept them as trophies.
119*** Or Rarity modified some for them.
120*** Discord was shown to have the power to turn Pegasi and Unicorns into Earth Ponies. Perhaps Sombra simply did the same to ensure nopony could escape his realm, and to further add to their sense of hopelessness. Since Discord is the only confirmed instance of such magic, we don't know if it was temporary, or he just gave them back their horns/wings out of sadistic pleasure once he thought they were harmless. Sombra, on the other hand, may not have wanted the ponies to ever regain their original forms.
121*** Or Sombra might have removed their extra body parts [[NightmareFuel without magic]].
122** To be fair, we don't know what the Crystal Empire's pre-Sombra demographics actually looked like, but we've certainly seen pony settlements favoring one tribe or another before. So it's quite possible that pegasi were always rare at least in the Empire's capital and that what few were present when Sombra took over simply managed to escape (or got killed trying to fight him). That armor? Could have easily been something left for or even by earlier pegasus ''visitors'' who only dropped by to attend the Crystal Fair.
123* Am I the only one who felt that Rainbow Dash was a bit harsh on Fluttershy during the jousting part? She should really know by now that her friend isn't cut out for rough, competitive sports. What's worse, rather than check if she was ok, Dash criticized her for asking if someone else could do it, using the old "don't you want to help them" guilt routine.
124** On the one hand, it ''is'' pretty harsh, especially the guilting. On the other, ''somepony'' has to be Rainbow Dash's sparring partner, and the rest of the Mane 6 are occupied. Rainbow Dash was dismissive, but to be fair, there was more at stake at the moment than Fluttershy's personal comfort.
125** It's still kind of jarring to see her act that way, especially after what happened in [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E22HurricaneFluttershy a certain episode.]]
126** Rainbow Dash isn't really a 'good' pony. She fits the category for a good friend in that she'll help bury a body, but that's as much because she doesn't put 'bury a body' as that tricky a thing as it is that she's very loyal. Moreover, unlike Rarity, she doesn't really struggle to rise above her base impulses. It's not that she's a bad pony. She'd say, and believe, that she was doing what needed to be done, and she's not evil, but empathy's not the highest priority.
127** My personal take on that scene is that RD realized there was kind of a lot at stake, and she couldn't really put Fluttershy's personal foibles ahead of the larger mission. It was kind of important to keep the Crystal ponies distracted; if they realized Sombra was returning, they'd return to their depression and the Crystal Heart wouldn't be able to activate. Yes, she was harsh to Fluttershy, but it wasn't like she was bothering Fluttershy for no reason. It's just that in this particular situation, she prioritized the overall mission over Fluttershy's shyness. It was harsh, yes, but not without reason. RD really does care about her friends, it's just that she's also really prone to taking the "Suck it up, we have work to do" approach to situations.
128*** It's one thing for Rainbow Dash to tell Fluttershy to suck it up for the mission of saving the Crystal Empire; it's another when Rainbow Dash "twists the knife" with making Fluttershy feeling worse about herself by using the "it must not be important to you" guilt-trip routine.
129** Well, Rainbow Dash does have a history of being brutally honest and not being good at remembering that not everypony is as tough as she is. See her "Well, she kind of ''is''" bit in Suited for Success.
130** Maybe RD was just trying to get back at Fluttershy for what happened at the beginning of "Dragon Quest"?
131* Does Pinkie have full-size suits for every other one of the Mane Cast?
132** There is no possible answer to that question that will help you sleep at night. Anyway, she [[CrazyIsCool obviously]] [[CrazyPrepared does]], but I'm more worried about why you asked that question in the first place.
133** Do not seek to explain Pinkie Pie. To do so will only bring confusion, frustration, and possible mental scarring. Simply accept that she is Pinkie Pie, and be grateful for this fact.j
134** Pinkie Pie has Fluttershy costumes stashed all over Equestria. In case of Fluttershy costume emergencies.
135*** Including places that haven't even existed for a thousand years. Why? ''Because she's Pinkie Pie.''
136* Hey, Twilight, thanks for handing off the Crystal Heart to someone who was not really capable of handling the sitaution due to his lack of physical capabilities. We know you could have used magic, so why didn't you teleport the Crystal Heart out of the castle and within plain view so someone could have caught it with more ability-like any of the Alicorns or Pegasi on the field-to bring it to the altar? At least Spike would not have been at risk then and it would have been far safer. Also, the lesson would have still applied. Bad enough that Shining Armor barely had a chance to show his stuff.
137** One does not hurl the irreplaceable magical artifact needed to fend off the vengeful ghost out the window of the tallest tower in the land. Also, since Twi only tried to use short-range teleporting it's safe to infer that she had a good reason not to try it for longer distances.
138*** Furthermore, since Sombra's trap includes an anti-teleportation effect that snatches Twilight right back inside the crystal prison when she winks out, it's likely that trying to teleport the Heart away would not have worked either.
139** Yeah, Sombra had magically warded the heart to trap anyone who tried to grab it, and teleportation was explicitly shown to be useless. Giving it to Spike was a much better option than just hurling it somewhere, because he can actually take care of the thing. He managed to keep it away from Sombra long enough to return it to it's rightful place.
140* How exactly the tower in the center of the Crystal Empire is constructed puzzles me. On the ground floor, there's a place for the Crystal Heart, and a few floors up is the balcony and throne room. Below the throne room is a shaft with a staircase leading down to that door, all placed by King Sombra. Go out that door, and at first you're outside in a weird nothingness area, at the base of a different-looking tower with a lot of steps. At the top of those steps, suddenly you're at the very top of the tower outside and able to see the entire city. This is also where the Crystal Heart was being hidden, and by the end of the episode, the whole tower/castle is acting as a radio tower broadcasting signals of positive feelings all across Equestria (while looking like the Northern Lights).
141** First of all, you should keep in mind that the phase-shifted castle (Sombra's palace) is different from the tower we normally see in the episode. Second, there may be some kind of [[AWizardDidIt tricky dimensional magical effects on the tower]].
142** That, and the fact that the throne room might be either high enough in the castle that there was room for the basement below it, or else when Twilight exposed the stairwell in the floor, she was ''actually'' opening a portal into a subterranean cavern; same with the scary nightmare door. It was a portal to the top of the castle rather than a physical gateway.
143** The door moves around the chamber and hypnotizes anyone who tries to open it. I don't think it's possible to explain how the path to the Crystal Heart works using rational means.
144* Do the coats of the crystal ponies remain all shiny and crystall-y after the fair has ended? We see that the effect doesn't work permanently on the mane six, but the crystal ponies return to their houses in the same state they have been in when the Crystal Heart began to work. Is the effect just elongated on them? Or is it bound to the Empire, and leaving its territory results in being transformed to a normal, non-crystallized state?
145** Given that it seems to wear off on the Mane Six ''just'' as they're leaving the Empire, it's probably indeed tied to the territory. Or at least it seems to be as far as ''visitors'' are concerned -- technically, whether and how the coat of a 'proper' crystal pony who decided to leave the Empire for the world outside would be affected hasn't been established yet.
146** Looking at later visits to the Cystal Empire, yes.
147* If Princess Cadence is ruler of the Crystal Empire shouldn't she be known as Empress Cadence?
148** Celestia and Luna rule a kingdom. They're both princesses.
149** Cadance is so down-to-earth humble that she actually did baby-sitting jobs as a princess. If anypony's going to be ModestRoyalty, its her. Plus, it seems that in Equestria if you've got both wings and a horn then you can call yourself whatever the heck you feel like.
150* According to Celestia, if hatred and fear take hold of the Empire, dark energy is radiated throughout Equestria, and vice versa with love and hope. But so far, this supposed effect of the Empire has never been demonstrated, unless they meant by the Crystal Heart. However, every time the Crystal Heart is mentioned, it is described as a means of defense for the Empire, rather than what Celestia describes. In fact, it is stated to draw the power of positive energy from the Crystal Ponies specifically, and use this power to ward off attacks. So, what does this mean? Are Celestia and Luna confused as to how the Heart works? Celestia does mention her knowledge of the Empire being limited. Or is what we're told about how the Heart works wrong? If so, that would mean that if negative energy were to gather in the Empire, the heart would basically wreck Equestria by doing what it did to King Sombra, except against those who are good inside. But if this is the case, there would be no reason for Sombra to hide the heart away, as once he destroyed hope in the Empire, the Heart would work in his favour.
151** According to [[http://orig12.deviantart.net/16e7/f/2012/357/5/2/sombra_stained_glass_window_vector_by_phantombadger-d5m8i9j.png this]], he did, in fact, want to wield it as a weapon (which would explain why such a NoNonsenseNemesis didn't just throw it into lava or something), making it more of a double-edged sword. And as for hiding it being pointless in that case? Well, given his CrazyPrepared history, better safe than sorry.
152[[/folder]]
153
154[[folder:[=3.03=] Too Many Pinkie Pies]]
155* Why didn't Twilight simply ask the clones about something like the Canterlot Wedding or Crystal Empire? Pinkie only gave the clones some basic details on Ponyville and it's inhabitants, so they couldn't know anything about that. As we will probably see in endless crappy fan fics to come soon, there was the risk the real Pinkie couldn't handle the paint drying, quizzing them about something like this doesn't have that risk.
156** The real Pinkie is the only pony who knows that the clones don't have all her memories, so Twilight wouldn't think of that unless the real Pinkie told her, and she wouldn't know if that information was reliable. The other thing is that the Pinkies were utterly laying waste to the town and they were basically scrambling for a solution. They'd probably have stumbled across it eventually, but they likely didn't want to wait that long.
157*** Which is odd because Pinky only told her clones a few important names. Considering how many of them were running around the rest of Ponyville should have noticed that if you weren't a member of the Mane Six that Pinkies were forgetting your name. I know they were destructive but between the Ursa Major and the Parasprites we know whoever Ponyville contracts out to rebuild is VERY good at their job.
158*** So you're telling me they couldn't tell her apart from the rest based on her intelligence and mannerisms alone? She is the only one capable of making a cognizant sentence without repeating herself and had proper social acuity. There's your real Pinkie right there; the one who isn't jumping around and being simplistic. Twilight, of all ponies, I expected to realize that. Because hey, Spike certainly did.
159*** Actually the first Pinkie clone made was capable of speaking normally and only slightly more hyperactive than the real one. It's just the clones of the clones that couldn't.
160*** Considering they dismissed the Pinkie Pie who was acting very VERY differently than the others (and admittedly also very un-Pinkie-Pie-like), this seems to have been PlayedForLaughs. In addition, the goal was to find the original Pinkie Pie, and there are so many of them running amok that it'd be incredibly difficult unless you gathered all of them in one place.
161* Instead of suggesting a difficult task, why didn't Pinkie Pie suggest a test of knowledge? It's made clear that the clones don't have Pinkie's memories and don't know anything about her friends, while Pinkie has been shown to have an extraordinary memory for details of their lives.
162** Before the clones split up, she tested them to remember the names of her friends.
163** They would know the names yes, but only the real Pinkie would know their birthdays and favorite colors and what song they danced to at their last party, and all that sort of thing.
164*** Also, Pinkie has been shown several times to have an almost supernatural memory. The real Pinkie Pie would recall those events with detail that would be impossible for anybody who didn't experience them first hand.
165*** To expand on the above, Pinkie's/the clones' photographic memory means that in order to properly give them a memory test, they would either have to quiz each Pinkie one at a time in a sound-proof room, or just line the Pinkies up and fire off random questions down the line until only one Pinkie remains. These are both much safer, but exhausting and time-consuming. It's not impossible to administer this test, but [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality WAAY too boring for a comedy television show and with no dramatic payoff]].
166*** Assuming Twilight is just as trigger happy, it would be a step up from watching paint dry.
167* Let's sum up the test: Whoever looks away from the paint is instantly banished away (and/or possibly killed, depending on the nature of the Pool). That's it, you're gone forever. Why wasn't there a secondary test to be 100% certain Pinkie wouldn't meet a fate possibly worse than death such as a place in which those that failed were nevertheless kept in case the remaining one turned out to be an unusual copy (like the one they ADMITTED TO BE AN ANOMALY BEFORE THE TEST BEGAN) that simply "malfunctioned" during the test?
168** Well, it was Pinkie herself who suggested the test (well, a vague idea of the test, but still). It was far from perfect, but did fit with what little the others knew about the clones (i.e. they're more manic than normal for Pinkie). Still, you'd think Twilight would be logical enough to come up with a more definitive selection process than "pick the one who wants it the most".
169** We also don't know about "gone forever". From the way the first clone appeared, it's possible that the pool is actually some kind of dimensional gateway and the clones just went back to their home dimensions.
170** Or they're just dormant inside the pool again, waiting for the next pony to summon them. The episode raised a lot of fascinating questions, but in true franchise tradition, ignored them all.
171** Well, it's not like they really had time to cover everything in 22 minutes.
172** Twilight did seem oddly trigger happy during that part. So much as looking away, because another Pinkie talks to you, was enough for the ZAP! Only real explanation I can think of is that Twilight knows that the real Pinkie will resist the urge to look away because of how important this is (which she does).
173*** What about if she, say, had to sneeze? Even the slightest movement caused you to die.
174*** For the love of, it was not like that! Every clone who got zapped clearly got distracted either by fooling around or by watching others fool around.
175*** Maybe sneezing doesn't count? It IS involuntary, after all.
176* If you sent a pony with a saddlebag full of bits into the pool, would the clone have a saddlebag full of bits?
177** The [[IntimidatingRevenueService Equestrian Revenue Service]] would like a word with you...
178** My guess is that either the gold would be fake (the fake Pinkies didn't seem to be ''exact'' copies of the real deal), or only the pony themself would get cloned.
179* Unicorn horns can overheat? That's certainly more dramatic than the usual nosebleed or fainting one would use to show overexertion, but have any unicorns been burned from it?
180** It's likely just a sight gag. Twilight's used more magic in shorter time frames without that happening.
181** Maybe. But she hadn't used that particular spell before, and intense spell casting does run a lot of energy through the horn... Celestia did have singe marks on her horn after her fight with Chrysalis. Maybe they didn't come from the Queen?
182* So....What exactly was Fancy Pants doing in Ponyville? Besides Rarity, of course...
183** Well, the first time we see Rarity, she's wearing a new dress design. It's possible that she's getting a new fashion line ready and Fancypants might have come to Ponyville to see what she had so far. From what little we know of him, he's certainly the kind of guy who would be willing to make the trip himself rather than force her to drag all of her stuff to Canterlot.
184** He's commenting on how charming and rustic everything is.
185* Twilight Sparkle completely reorganizes her books every now and then, how could she have not noticed a secret compartment? The only explanation is if someone recently installed it in secret, but why would someone do something like that just for a book about a mirror pond? And how did they manage to avoid getting caught by Spike and/or Twilight?
186** They might have actually known about it but just never bothered to actually press the horseshoe until this episode. (That's my best guess at least.)
187*** The book contains a spell that can at the least banish, maybe even murder, a real pony. Spike doesn't stumble across it, so it's possible that Twilight and Spike knew about the book, but kept it hidden.
188** It's enchanted with an illusion that only lets you find it if that's specifically what you're looking for. Pointless plot convenience magic 101, really.
189** Given that the hidden button was on the bottom shelf, it's possible that nopony, or Spike, bothered to bend down and look at the back of the shelf while it was empty before.
190* Twilight can turn an apple into a carriage and mice into horses, yet she struggles in this episode to turn an apple into an orange?
191** Eh, everyone knows apples are more closely related to carriages than oranges. Also semantics, but she didn't exactly turn them ''into'' horses; she made them more similar ''to'' horses.
192** Twi's just sweating the small stuff again.
193** Oranges are the complete spiritual opposite of apples, of course it's difficult. Birds and frogs into oranges? That's easy. But changing something into its natural antithesis? Even Celestia herself would have trouble with such a spell.
194*** Actually it's relatively easy to turn one thing into it's spiritual opposite, so long as you know how to do it. You can turn water into fire by separating the hydrogen and oxygen, igniting the hydrogen, and use the oxygen to keep it burning. She just hasn't figured out the apple to orange conversion equation.
195** The transformation part works well enough on a bird and a frog (which the spell may or may not even have been designed for in the first place). Twilight's clearly working on improving her ''control'' here -- imagine how embarrassing it would have been if one of those stray zaps had hit an actual pony...
196** Twilight is probably working on a spell to permanently transmute things while that carriage would revert ala Cinderella. Besides, the transformation of those mice was pretty darn flawed
197* The entire conflict of this episode was stared by Pinkie's inability to hang out with Applejack and Rainbow Dash at the same time. Except... she can! She's already demonstrated an ability to be in multiple places at the same time, most notably in "Baby Cakes". Why couldn't she just do that?
198** Every time she's done that it's been in the same room; her fourth-wall powers are short range.
199* OK, this is admittedly a minor quibble, but Fluttershy promises Pinkie Pie she "won't do anything fun at all". Next time we see her, she's having a tea party with her animal friends. Did she lie or does she secretly hate tea parties and is just trying to make her friends happy?
200** I think she's using Pinkie's high-energy definition of "fun" when she's making that promise. I like to believe that even if the Mane Cast don't like them, there are people enjoy who themselves at the Grand Galloping Gala or the Canterlot Garden Party, even if they would probably be considered "not fun" by Pinkie's definition.
201** At the tea party, she apologises for breaking her promise. She didn't ''plan'' to have any fun, but then the animals suggested the tea party and Flutters just couldn't bring herself to say no.
202* Wouldn't having a magic pool that could replicate a pony at will be an incredibly useful thing to have? It backfired horribly with Pinkie Pie because she's got no self-control, but wouldn't having the ability to replicate an extra Twilight Sparkle or Shining Armor be useful when a major disaster is coming up?
203** Thing is, the clones didn't fail because it was Pinkie. The real Pinkie ''did'' have self control; she was willing to quiet down to let RD relax, for example, whereas the clones didn't seem to care about anything other than having fun. It seems that the pool didn't clone her perfectly, it created copies that imitated her surface personality (her desire to have lots of fun), but not her care and consideration for her friends. The clones just wanted to enjoy themselves, whereas Pinkie wanted to have fun ''and for her friends to also have fun''. If the ponies picked up on that, it's not hard to see how they might come to the conclusion that the pool would do more harm than good. Like if the pool copied Twilight, it's entirely possible you'd get a pony with comparable magical ability and drive to study, but none of the motivation to use that ability for the sake of her friends, the end result being that the library would be packed with a bunch of powerful magic unicorns that would react very badly to being removed.
204** More importantly, the dupes would lack the knowledge of the original. Aside from the question of personality, you'd have a Twilight Sparkle without a magical education and a Shining Armor without military training. Not useful.
205* How come neither Twilight nor Spike noticed the suspicious-looking horseshoe at the back of the shelf before, and just what book was it hiding?
206** And why did Pinkie's grandma know about the pool that was mentioned in it? Or should we be wondering why the book knew about the pool that Grandma Pie had found? And was that the only secret compartment in the library? Many subtle questions were raised this episode.
207** There is a simple explanation: somepony had used the pool before to clone herself, to pretty much the same result. The librarian at the time hid the book once the clones had been dispelled to prevent anypony else from stumbling across it. As for how Grandma Pie got ahold of this information, she was probably there to witness it, if not the one that cloned herself the last time.
208** Another question: why didn't the book mention that the duplicates don't have the memories of the original? That was one of the most noticeable things about the dupes.
209[[/folder]]
210
211[[folder:[=3.04=] One Bad Apple]]
212* Why didn't Applejack tell Apple Bloom and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders about Babs Seed's bullying problem back at Manehatten from the very beginning? Sure, I understand it was meant to build drama for the episode, but I still don't quite get it why Applejack decided to tell of Babs Seed's backstory so late in the episode and at such an inconvenient time when it was almost too late for the CMC.
213** Sometimes it's better to let relationships grow on their own instead of giving too much details. Babs Seeds still has her privacy, Applejack likely understood she'd talk about it whenever she felt like opening up.
214** If that's the case, why did Applejack tell the CMC about Babs Seed's bullying problem anyway?
215** The idea was that she didn't want to make Babs feel like a loser by informing her cousins that she was a bullying victim, because then she might feel like the CMC were just including her out of pity. By the time the parade rolled around, AJ probably assumed (due to Babs being the one driving the float) that they had grown close enough that she could tell them about Babs' background without making it awkward.
216* So, is Babs the child of AJ's/AB's Aunt and Uncle Orange, or actually a member of the Apple family?
217** Aunt and Uncle Orange ''are'' members of the Apple family, just with a different name. It seems likely that Babs is their child, since having more than one branch of the family in Manehattan would allow them to just send her to the other family, rather than all the way to Ponyville.
218** I find it highly unlikely that Babs Seed would be the child of Aunt and Uncle Orange. For one thing, the Oranges live like Aristocrats (if we were to take anything away from Applejack's cutie mark story) and Babs doesn't seem to possess any form of "high-class" mannerisms (unless she hides it very well, which is unlikely).
219** [[RebelliousPrincess There's a trope for that.]] Additionally, Rarity acts high class despite her family being common as mud. Babs seemed to be even more tomboyish than Scootaloo, so she could just not be the delicate type. [[FridgeBrilliance Which might be why she was sent to Ponyville in the first place.]]
220** It's a cliché because it does happen a lot, and it's something many people either do not know or overlook. It's long known by criminologists that victims of violence tend to become more violent themselves. There are many other explanations for why bullies behave the way they do, but I get the feeling most would not get past the network censors.
221* If Manehattan is the equivalent of Equestria's New York, why is Babs' accent closer to a Boston accent?
222** Accents can float over from region to region really easily; I live in the Tri-State area and there are people with all kinds of different accents around here. Alternately, Manehattan is just a conglomeration of cities in general, mashing the different aspects together.
223** Because Manehattan ISN'T New York, my little brony, it's a city of sapient horses in another dimension. Who says in THAT world, [[FridgeBrilliance Manehattanites don't have "Boston"-like accents?]]
224*** It sounds like a Bronx accent. I assume Manehattan is supposed to be a stand-in for ''all'' of New York City, not just Manhattan, so it makes sense.
225* How come [[AlphaBitch Diamond Tiara]] & [[BetaBitch Silver Spoon]] were so quick to accept Babs Seed as their friend despite her not having a cutie mark? I thought they only bully people who don't have cutie marks!
226** They seem to never go out of their way to torment any character that isn't Applebloom or immediately associated with Applebloom. It seems that the "Blank Flank" thing is just their most effective rhetoric to get under Applebloom's skin, and going after anyone she's friends with or is related to is just another tactic. Getting Babs on their side is much more effective at antagonizing Applebloom than would just calling Babs a Blank Flank while she's with Applebloom. Note when Applebloom got her hoop Cutie Mark through artificial means, they were quick to dismiss it.
227* How did Applejack not notice that Babs destroyed the float? Or at least didn't notice that it wasn't a pumpkin anymore but an apple!
228** Maybe she did, and Aplebloom just lied about it somehow getting loose, possibly because Babs was watching.
229* Also, Babs teamed up with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon because she was afraid of them bullying her for her blank flank. Yet Babs has been shown to have a rather more vicious streak than the other fillies, not only teasing the CMC but also stealing and damaging their property. If Babs is afraid of some stuck-up rich kids making fun of her, wouldn't it make more sense for her to stand up to and attack them, and not the CMC? Why should she be afraid of bullying from a pony like Diamond Tiara whom she would be able to and would probably be disposed towards beating up? Come to think of it, with that strength and attitude, why was she bullied in Manehattan in the first place? Are all foals there that tough? Did she in fact go to the school from ''Film/TheKarateKid''?
230** Babs is so mean because she's outright trying too hard to impress her new friends, plus she's a lot less subtle in general. As for why she joined the bullies, she could well have just figured the CMC were the losing side and didn't want to be on that team again. The rich stuck up kids bullied her because they had all the power, and Babs quite understandably wanted to be on that side of the fence for a change. And she might well be bullied BECAUSE she's big and strong and a little scary. She can't just beat up ponies who tease her because then she'll get in trouble, she looks like a delinquint without even trying (so good luck getting adults on her side) and size and strength does nothing to protect you from psychological bullying.
231* The moral of the episode is that you can solve a bullying problem by just telling an adult. But if Babs is troubled by bullies, and Applejack knows this, she must have already told her parents and it didn't solve anything.
232** Not necessarily, as we didn't see anything from Manehattan. If the bullying was recent (solved or not) her parents probably just wanted to give her some time to relax and have fun.
233** In Babs' next appearance we find out that she recently changed schools maybe adult intervention couldn't get the bullies to stop targeting her, but it did at least get her away from them and into a safe enough environment that we learn she made some new friends and started her own branch of the CMC.
234* So... Is Babs going to stay in contact with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? The two of them seemed to actually like her, so as far as they know, she decided to turn on them for no reason. Kind of a terrible way to end a relationship.
235** Because she ditched two bullying SpoiledBrat twits? Babs is better off without them.
236** They didn't like her for who she was, but only for how she was treating Apple Bloom (and the others)
237* So if the lesson of this episode is "When dealing with a bully, consult with an adult and try to befriend them instead of pushing them in the mud," then how come when Diamond and Silver show up all they do is push them into the mud?
238** If you're referring to the ending, no-one pushed them; they fell into the mud themselves in a panic.
239*** And they panicked because Babs threatened to tell an adult (their mothers specifically), so I guess it did work.
240** That, and the CMC have known DT and SS for a long enough to time to know that such an approach wouldn't work.
241* Why are Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walking around by the barn on Sweet Apple Acres anyway? They are given no reason to want to be on the Apple property, let alone getting close enough to eavesdrop on the CMC and Babs.
242* So... did Scootaloo keep Babs blindfolded with her hooves all the way from the train station to the treehouse? Is she adept at walking on her hind legs, or was she riding on Sweetie Belle's shoulders the whole time?
243* The means of propelling the floats during the parade. They are clearly run by some unseen motive force (there's pedals in the cabins but these are like standard car brake and acceleration pedals). While we've got the steam engine locomotive for the Friendship Express, and Flim and Flam's magic for their cider machine, it's unlikely the CMC had access to these. Yet the show gives a possible hint, considering the workings of a standard kitchen timer, like the one the CMC borrowed from Granny Smith. A spring-loaded mechanism would be more than sufficient to propel the floats for the short distances of the parade course.
244[[/folder]]
245
246[[folder:[=3.05=] Magic Duel]]
247* Twilight levitating animals in a formation doesn't seem as impressive as her levitating an Ursa Minor in "Boast Busters" or harvesting a whole crop of apples at once in "Applebuck Season". So what was the big deal about that?
248* In the beginning of the episode [[NervousWreck Fluttershy was biting her nails.]] Except she doesn't have any nails. So what the heck was she biting and what were those clippings that were scatter on the ground? Was she biting her hooves? Because if so then ...ouch.
249** Why 'ouch'? Hooves, at least the outer layer, ''are'' nails[=/=]claws.
250** Really? I always figured they were a part of the leg. Plus, considering how hard hooves are biting them can't really be good for one's teeth.
251** Hooves are essentially a big finger or toenail. That's why you see ponies in the show using nail files on them, and why equines can have nails driven into them without suffering horrible injuries. Might not be good for her teeth,[[note]]I have no idea how equine teeth work, but I'm pretty sure that it isn't the same as how human teeth work.[[/note]] but Fluttershy doesn't do it often.
252*** Horses kept in domestication often have problematic teeth that require regular dental care. Their teeth continue to grow throughout their lives, and uneven wear on them can actually lead to a number of very serious health problems. It's very possible that chewing on one's hooves is actually fairly healthy, as it would wear down the ridges that tend to grow on their teeth and make chewing food uncomfortable. Veterinarians actually use metal files for this purpose in real life.
253* If Twilight had destroyed Trixie's career to the point she was working in a rock farm where did she get all of the gold to pay for the Alicorn Amulet?
254** [[FridgeHorror Theft?]]
255** Maybe she had her life savings stashed somewhere, but had to raise the money to get to the hiding place.
256** Spend nothing on self, live in crap conditions to cut back on expenses, save up for however long, sell any remaining valuables, empty her life savings, and possibly even resort to theft and prostitution.
257** [[http://money.howstuffworks.com/10-high-paying-dirty-job1.htm#page=7 Alternatively, it may be rock farming is lucrative, but unpleasant work, akin to coal mining in this article.]] Might explain why Pinkie can afford to throw all those parties.
258** Why do you think it took so long for Trixie to reappear? She certainly didn't earn those bits overnight.
259** It's also possible that Trixie, an egotistic entertainer who's prone to drama and embellishment, is exaggerating just how badly her career crashed.
260* ''How was Pinkie breathing?''
261** Through her nose. What I'm wondering is how she was able to play a tuba without a mouth? (Although, I guess "it's Pinkie Pie" is a legitimate answer for both of our questions too.)
262*** The tuba had a [[BuffySpeak ball-shaped air-pump thingy]] that Pinkie was operating by pressing it with her cheek.
263** Didn't Trixie remove Pinkie's snout as well?
264** I just took a look back at the episode and yes, she does indeed lose her snout. All I can say is [[AWizardDidIt it's magic or it's Pinkie Pie.]]
265** I'd worry more about how she was eating, since she was shown to ''not'' be able to do that.
266** Could be an invisibility spell and the magical equivalent of duct tape. Illusions are Trixie's specialty, after all...
267** Maybe there was air in the trashcan-dimension, and the separated snout could breath it?
268* What the heck was up with Fluttershy's attitude in the beginning, when she threatened Twilight? It irked me a little to see her act that way. I know she tends to be protective of her "critters", but, she was perfectly fine with Twilight using magic on them at the Gala, which seems more dangerous than just levitation (which she can do very easily, as seen and mentioned during "Failure Success" in The Crystal Empire Pt. 1).
269** See my post above. While she did seem concerned for Twilight during the episode, her attitude during the beginning and when she was sent to find her bothers me a lot. We can only hope she gets a more supporting role in Wonderbolt Academy.
270** The spell wasn't just levitation, as Twilight was spinning them around at a high hight. If she messed up, the animals could be hurt, which could be why Fluttershy was panicking. In regards to the Gala episode, I recall Fluttershy being nervous about the mice, just not threatening Twilight. And maybe the mice changed back at midnight or something, since that scene was inspired by Cinderella.
271*** Don't forget that this is Twilight, a unicorn who is extremely skilled with magic. Fluttershy had the right to be scared, yes, but why would she need to threaten Twilight, since Twilight knows what she's doing and has successfully used far more dangerous spells (i.e. replicating King Sombra's magic after having only seen it be used once; time travel)?
272*** I agree that the threatening thing was uncalled for; I was just saying that, based on what the spell looks like (and the fact that Angel Bunny appeared to be a participant), Fluttershy was definitely more scared than if it was just levitation. Also, this could have been the first time that Twilight performed the spell on living creatures, so maybe Fluttershy didn't know what to expect and panicked.
273* The issue for me is that Fluttershy's supposed to be in tune with her animals. She communes with them on a level no other pony can. But here, she makes a big deal, shrieking, "LOOK HOW SCARED THEY ARE!" when they're clearly perfectly cool with everything. Fluttershy's always been skittish but ''never'' at the cost of her relationship with her critters.
274** The sad fact is that they did it for the sake of a good joke, rather than find a way to make it funny while keeping her in character.
275*** She was too busy being scared to pay attention properly.
276*** She ''believes'' they're scared. It's a textbook example of psychological projection.
277** Well, just two episodes ago, Twilight accidentally turned two animals into oranges. I'd be more concerned than usual, too.
278*** Except, Twilight wasn't working on turning apples into oranges (the reason she "turned two animals into oranges" in the first place is because Pinkie bumped into her and and her aim was thrown off), she was levitating them.
279** Fluttershy behaves strangely in the Crystal Empire too. When the apathetic Crystal Ponies ignore her, for a moment she looks like she's gonna lash out at them. She has something of a Jekyll/Hyde personality, and isn't prepared to cope with her repressed darker impulses. This bodes ill for her impending confrontation with Discord. Beware the Nice Ones, indeed!
280* Why didn't Spike just contact Princess Celestia himself?
281** Seeing as the dome was able to contain several large stormclouds, it would probably block the smoke from Spike's fire. Also, as a magical barrier, it may be attuned specifically to block magic. Otherwise Twilight could have just teleported back in.
282*** That seems unlikely. Spike has received messages through Shining Armor's shield, which was even larger.
283*** Shining Armor's shield was selective in its targeting, capable of affecting Changelings without affecting buildings, trains, ponies or dragons (which is why only the Changelings got sent flying, instead of flattening Canterlot into a love shield-induced crater). Trixie's wasn't, most likely because she didn't want it to be.
284*** Outside of his sudden blast, Shining's shield has to have holes opened to let people through. Spike's letters went through it while it was in that state. Spike's letters also don't seem to travel across all the intervening space, as he receives them almost instantly and through his mouth rather than the air.
285** Spike's only penpal is Princess Celestia, who was in Saddle Arabia at the time. Not really close enough for fast action. The episode takes place over maybe two days, or possibly just one. Trixie's clouds made it hard to tell. Even if he did send a scroll out, and he might have, Celestia might not have had enough time to do anything.
286** How much help could Celestia have dispensed from Saddle Arabia? She still would have had to get back to Ponyville from what is implied to be the other side of the world. And since only Spike and her seem to be able to use that form of communication, she probably wouldn't be able to send help from within Equestria, either.
287* Trixie takes over a rather prominent town (it is kind of prominent considering this is where the Elements of Harmony live), surrounds it with a magical barrier, more or less terrorizes the populace (if rather mildly), and nopony on the outside notices?
288** Ponyville is repeatedly said and shown to be a podunk town right next to the forest of death. The only reason that Celestia cares about it is because her star pupil lives there. It would take a while for anyone to notice anything had happened to it.
289* Why couldn't Twilight have just walked to Canterlot? It's not like it's far away. From what I can see from the opening movie, it's maybe a virtual mile or two. Why don't you just walk? Failing that, if indeed Canterlot is actually hovering over the earth (Wouldn't that be Pegasi turf?), couldn't she have written the letter, and smuggled Spike along with Fluttershy?
290** No one seems to actually go to Canterlot without a vehicle. We have so far seen a chariot ("Friendship is Magic Part 1"), a carriage ("The Best Night Ever"), and a train ("It's About Time," "[=MMMystery=] on the Friendship Express," and "A Canterlot Wedding"; and in that second example, it seems to require at least from daytime to the following morning). All this leads me to believe that Canterlot is either much further than it looks due to stylization of the backgrounds (''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' and ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' played with perspective in landscape shots in similar ways--shots within downtown Townsville look much, MUCH bigger than is depicted on each episode's opening wide shot, for intance), or an actual safe path to Canterlot is actually incredibly long.
291* So if Celestia really was too far away to take action, why didn't Twilight try contacting ''Luna''?
292** Does Twilight even know where Luna lives? And even if she does, does Luna live somewhere that Twilight could contact quickly? ''A Canterlot Wedding'' strongly implied that Luna didn't live in Canterlot, and nothing has contradicted that.
293* How the bucking hell did Trixie get off completely scot free? Princess Celestia sends people to the moon for not liking bananas!
294** Celestia let Twilight off from hypnotizing a good chunk of the town with a slap on the wrist,[[note]]Actually the name of that part of equines[[/note]] and gave Spike no punishment for rampaging across town. The lesson? As long as your depredations are restricted to Ponyville, she doesn't care.
295*** Wait, when did Twilight hypnotize a good chunk of the town?
296*** ''Lesson Zero'', the "Want-It-Need-It" spell.
297** The notion of a "ruthless, tyrant Celestia" is pure fanon. Celestia's a kind, forgiving character. Plus, the alicorn amulet was said to corrupt whoever wore it, so she definitely understood.
298*** If Celestia's even prepared to rehabilitate Discord, we can put this "ruthless tyrant" notion to rest.
299*** Sadly, the fans would likely take it as her trying to create an attack dog out of him.
300** Look at how fast the Amulet corrupted Trixie. She went from 'get revenge on Twilight' to 'take over Equestria' in the course of a day to two days tops. It's quite possible that Trixie's original intention WASN'T that bad, maybe beat Twilight in a Magic Duel to restore her reputation and get her life back, but by the time she got to Ponyville, the Amulet had corrupted her significantly. It'd be like punishing something someone did while controlled by Discord.
301*** Uhh, no. She was still trying to hurt Rainbow Dash with her magic after taking off the Alicorn Amulet, even expressing angered confusion that it failed. If she was mind-controlled, she wouldn't have still been intent on it after being duped into depowering herself. In other words, she had to be ''well aware'' of what she was doing.
302*** Not everything wears off immediately. The amulet was influencing her, not mind controlling her so it naturally took a few minutes for her normal behaviour to reassert itself.
303** Trixie got away Scott-free because Twilight is just a very forgiving pony. I'm not sure if Celestial even ever found out about the events of this episode, and if she did, Twilight probably just explained to her that Trixie wasn't in control of herself at the moment or whatever.
304*** And yet Twilight Sparkle put a force-field around her treehouse just because the CMC gossiped about her being a "Canterlot snob", which somehow broke her down, rather than diplomatically have a talk with the three. Go figure.
305*** Which happened in season 2. This should be plenty of time for her to have learned not to do it again.
306** Contrary to popular belief, Celestia only managed to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon with the powers of the elements. Not to mention, if we are considering Friendship is Magic Bitch as canon here (I don't understand why you would), please note that she never actually banished anyone to the moon in that video, she just launches them off into the distance.
307* [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim Why didn't Twilight just shoot Trixie?]] If she was able to give Trixie that mustache, the amulet must not boost it's wearer's magical defenses that much. There must be plenty of spells that could have incapacitated her. Failing that... imagine what the amount of telekinetic force she used during Trixie's last appearance would do to a pony. Yes, it's preferable to avoid using lethal force, but torturing foals by fusing their bodies together is definitely over the MoralEventHorizon (and at the time, Nopony knew Trixie was corrupted by the amulet).
308** From the looks of it, a magic duel is more about showing off who has the more powerful magic, not hurting the opponent. For all the nasty spells Trixie performed, she did undo them (except Pinkie), so it's possible that Twilight didn't think that Trixie really intended to permanently hurt anypony other than her.
309** Logically, if Twilight couldn't beat Trixie in a show-off contest, she would fare no better in direct combat. Twilight would have to incapacitate Trixie with exactly one spell, that gives the target no chance to react. Her magic's probably not ''that'' lethal. It was safer not to escalate things.
310*** Plus, lethal force wasn't really called for. Trixie hadn't really harmed anyone or threatened them with significant harm.
311*** While I disagree that establishing a tyranny isn't real harm, "lethal force" isn't done in Equestria. Their culture believes, rightly or wrongly, that the Windigos will freeze the crops if hatred and fighting become pervasive.
312* Zecora tells Twilight to "use the six". If she means the Mane 6, then Twilight is one of them, so she can only use five at most. And she ends up using her friends' family members, more than six ponies in total. So what was that number about?
313** The six elements of harmony- Friendship is magic (duel).
314*** Spike is the sixth. Zecora was just telling her to rely on her friends while saying it in a way where she'd have to figure it out on her own.
315* Why did Twilight need to use Fluttershy's critters in her magic show? It's not like the animals were dancing or performing tricks in the air, she could have been juggling rocks to the same effect.
316** Well, cute animals are a lot more fun to watch than rocks.
317** It could have been in order to make the trick harder. When holding animals with telekinesis, Twilight had to be careful not to squeeze any of them so hard that it would hurt. What Trixie did to Spike basically confirmed that telekinesis can apply more or less outside pressure to the affected object. Since the animals were of different sizes, she had to adjust the grip strength for every one of them individually, in addition to moving them independently. The trick was meant to show off the precision with which the magician can control her magic.
318* How did Fluttershy get back into the town? If she did when Trixie removed the dome, there wouldn't be enough time to prepare for the duel, and I seriously doubt Trixie would be in the mood to lift the dome for the beavers again (besides, why would they be carrying the log inside).
319** Misdirection. Trixie lifts the dome to let the beavers back in, Fluttershy sneaks in in another part where Trixie isn't paying attention. Or Twilight teleports her while there's an opening.
320*** Yeah, that's the point. Why would Trixie lift the dome again - she could barely be bothered to do it the first time, and the talisman was supposed to make her ever nastier.
321*** Simple. When Trixie lifted the dome to let Twilight in, Fluttershy went around through the back. It may have been an effect of the clouds, but it looks like some time passed between Twilight re-entering Ponyville and the rematch.
322*** But Fluttershy had to go in before Twilight so she could put on the Rainbow Dash disguise. Though perhaps we can assume that Fluttershy used her animals to sneak back in.
323*** Twi probably teleported her in. She didn't do it herself since before she had a plan there was no point, and after she had her plan she needed to distract Trixie to let the others set up.
324** Getting ''into'' the dome isn’t really the problem. Trixie was probably only too happy to let her in.
325* The Alicorn Amulet doesn't give Trixie wings, but it does increase her unicorn powers. So does the alicorn part of the name refer to [[WingedUnicorn winged unicorns]] or the material that unicorn horns are made of?
326** "Alicorn" in this context refers to the power level of the Alicorn i.e. "godly might", not the {{Winged Unicorn}}s themselves.
327*** Except the amulet made Trixie much more powerful than Princess Cadance. Vast power seems to be unique to Celestia and Luna, not common to all winged unicorns. And until Luna's recent return, Celestia was the only pony known to have that kind of power.
328** The simplest theory is that [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin it's just an amulet that looks like a Winged Unicorn]].
329** An equally simple theory is that [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin it was named after what it does]]. This has the bonus of giving it a useful description.
330*** But we don't know if alicorns in general are super-powerful, or if that is a unique property of Celestia and Luna (since we don't exactly see Cadance laying the smackdown when the need arose, and Hearts and Hooves princess succumbed to a love drug). Meanwhile, we do have an artifact that looks like an alicorn, so Occam's Razor seems to be in play here.
331*** The Alicorn Amulet increases the power of the wearer's alicorn. What's simpler than that? It doesn't seem to have anything to do with winged unicorns.
332*** The design seems to be a unicorn surrounded by a pair of wings.
333*** But the function doesn't have anything to do with wings. It would be odd to be named after a winged unicorn if it doesn't do anything relating to winged unicorns.
334*** Why must it be named after its function? Why can't it be named for what it looks like?
335* Why did the rock Trixie broke look hollow like an egg?
336** Furthermore, why are there rock farms in the first place? Now that we know that they exist outside of [[UnreliableNarrator Pinkie's tall tales]] we have to wonder how they work, and what purpose they could possibly serve.
337*** If rock farms are really farms in the sense that rocks are grown, it's possible that different types of rocks are grown for different purposes. Some for building, some for tools, etc.
338** There's a common bit of fanon floating around that Rock Farms are Equestria's main source of gems, ponies manipulate the land in some way that produces geodes, which are then harvested. Remember that gem-filled rock that Rarity finds in "Cutie Mark Chronicles"? Rock farms might produce those. The reason the rock Trixie broke was empty is that it wasn't mature yet; hence why Mr. Pie wasn't happy with her efforts. Alternately, a rock farm is the Equestrian equivalent of a quarry.
339* Why didn't Spike just dig a hole to get out of the dome?
340** Why would he? Aside from the question of whether or not the dome extended under ground, he was busy in the library and can't cover ground as fast as a pony. And if he could send messages out,[[note]]Which seems likely, as his messages went through Shining Armor's shield[[/note]] he was needed to send messages to from Ponyville to Celestia.
341* Take a look at the opening. See that part where a smile forms on Trixie's shadow? Since it looks like light is shining on Trixie from behind, there's no reason for a smile to be visible unless the light is passing through a mouth-shaped hole in her head. So... what the hay?
342** That's more of a storytelling or visual thing than actual facts. It's sorta like having characters in a dark room, with only their eyes illuminated to show who's who and who's there. In this case, when Trixie first looks upon the amulet and smiles, the details of amulet shows through her teeth, make her teeth look sharp and jagged. This is meant to give the audience the impression of big trouble ahead.
343** That works as a Doylist explanation, but I was looking for a Watsonian one.
344*** It's been a couple of weeks, but if I recall correctly I thought the light was reflecting from the amulet onto her teeth ([[ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes By The Lights Of Their Teeth]] always bugs me, so I took notice and was surprised when it seemed like there could have been an explanation for once).
345*** This is a cartoon. It doesn't need a Watsonian explanation. Trying to explain everything away with that technique for any animated work, regardless of genre, country of origin, or somesuch, results in many unnecessary headaches. This show uses toon physics--a milder variant than those made famous by Bob Clampett or Tex Avery--but it does exist, even outside of Pinkie Pie, and that alone means many things exist in this show for RuleOfFunny, RuleOfSymbolism (like this one), RuleOfCool, and other Rules Ofs. There's a reason this show seems to get compared to Creator/JohnKricfalusi a lot (even though I'm certain he hates this show with a fiery passion).
346* It seems to me like Trixie would know stage magic when she sees it, since that's her talent. Granted, she uses ''actual magic'' to perform it, but you'd think she'd still be aware of how her profession normally works.
347** Either the corruption was blinding her, or her talent might not actually be stage magic.
348*** Think about it. Trixie, a stage magician, uses the Alicorn Amulet to beat Twilight Sparkle, an actual wizard, with overwhelming magical power. Twilight then uses a fake amulet to beat Trixie with exactly the sort of misdirection and sleight-of-hoof that she would have recognized instantly if she wasn't crazy from the amulet's influence and obsessed with power at any cost.
349** Of the top of this troper's head, Trixie's talent could be telling stories, traveling, or working on stage. Fireworks seem to be her signature magic trick as well. In short, unless the pony says what their talent is, don't assume that you know it.
350** Also, Trixie would probably be out of practice by that point. It seems like it's been two years since the events of Boast Busters, and most of that time would be spent either getting run out of town, working on the rock farm, and ''maybe'' researching spells to trump Twilight Sparkle with.
351*** Two years? It seems unlikely that a season takes entire year, since the Crusaders haven't aged at all and Spike's first birthday in Ponyville is almost halfway through the second season.
352** Illusionists never reveal their secrets, even to each other. If these are tricks Trixie doesn't know, she'd have to figure them out herself, and she is certainly no Penn Jillette. That being said, there are two factors to keep in mind: Twilight has consistently used magic whenever she says she'll use magic and Trixie herself is now using powerful magic, so there's no reason to believe otherwise (especially as Twilight opens with an act Trixie previously performed); and Twilight's tricks involve usage of her acquaintances. Trixie has no companions, and thus the sort of tricks that require voluntary accomplices to prepare beforehand would be foreign to her.
353* There's a spell that lets a pony modify their own age, or that of others. Since it can only be used by the most powerful of unicorns, does that mean that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have been [[VainSorceress using magic to keep themselves young]]?
354** Well, you see, Celestia and Luna aren't just powerful unicorns, they're ''alicorns'', which appear to be god-level ponies. They probably look permanently young naturally.
355*** Cadance being grabbed by Chrysalis and unable to escape on her own despite lax security measures indicates that most winged unicorns ''aren't'' supremely powerful. She also seems to age normally. Winged unicorns get their magic from the unicorn part, and use the same magic as unicorns without wings. Since Celestia and Luna are more powerful than other unicorns '''and''' winged unicorns, using a spell would explain why they don't seem to age when Cadance does.
356*** Twilight was unaware that Celestia was over a thousand years old in the second episode, which implies that she doesn't know how Celestia's aging process works. That would imply that it isn't standard for whatever she is.
357*** ''Family Appreciation Day'' would seem to suggest otherwise. Nobody reacted with any shock or confusion when Granny Smith told the class that Celestia had personally granted the Apple family their homestead, which the class knew predated the Ponyville's founding; meaning that her long life is common knowledge. It also seems unlikely that Twilight--who is a bookworm who, in the very first episode, was seen to be researching Equestrian history--would not know that Celestia had been present at (or at least alive during) major historical events.
358*** Princess being several centuries old is common knowledge. Princess Celestia being over a thousand years old it not. The events of a thousand years ago shrouded in mystery, and not even someone as studious as Twilight Sparkle knows what happened then. The knowledge of when Princess Celestia began her rule has seemingly been lost, with most ponies assuming it has been considerably less then a thousand years. Whether anyone knows how Princess Celestia has lasted so long is unknown. It could very well be common knowledge that Princess Celestia has been age regressing herself on a regular basis.
359* One detail kind of bugs me. Since Trixie effectively no longer had her powers after getting tricked into taking off the Alicorn Amulet, why didn't it immediately give Pinkie Pie her mouth back?
360** Because not all spells need to be maintained, most last until you reverse them.
361[[/folder]]
362
363[[folder:[=3.06=] Sleepless in Ponyville]]
364* How much time does Luna spend patrolling dreams? Does she have enough time left over to actually hold court, or is the bureaucracy entirely Celestia's purview?
365** Celestia seemed to be doing perfectly well before Luna returned, so I doubt it would take her that long. It's also possible that she does some of the patrolling while she's asleep.
366*** Did Celestia patrol dreams? Scootaloo's reaction implies that Celestia either didn't, or that it was so rare as to be unknown.
367** Even the bureaucrats and other ponies at court have to sleep sometime, so it's not implausible that Luna would in fact have more time to herself at night than Celestia ever seems to during the day. Besides, even as co-ruler Luna isn't just Younger!Night!Celestia -- it's not so inconceivable that the two might actually have somewhat ''different'' duties on their respective shifts.
368* As [[https://twitter.com/Rblueboy777/status/277487182275555328 pointed out]] by [[WebVideo/FamiliarFaces CR]]: If Luna has the ability to dream-walk and help children all over Equestria fight nightmares, how come she felt lonely and isolated a thousand years ago? Why would it bother her so much that nopony comes out to play in her night, if she can just visit anypony in their dreams?
369** Perhaps it was something Luna had only developed recently, possibly as a realization that "you know, maybe I should do something more constructive about this 'I'm lonely in the night' thing other than turning to the dark side." The ability to dream walk probably would have been helpful in uncovering Queen Chrysalis.
370*** Are we sure that Luna was actually there? Scootaloo ''was'' dreaming, after all.
371*** Unless Scootaloo was ''still'' dreaming while confessing to Rainbow Dash, OccamsRazor suggests that Luna being actually there makes more sense than "meh, it was all just Scoots's imagination". Because that's when we get the vision of her in the moon telling Scootaloo it's time to face her fears...
372*** I agree, but if the choices are between 'Scootaloo was dreaming/hallucinating/imagining it,' and 'Luna's giant silhouette on the moon was speaking to Scootaloo to remind her of what she had told her in the dream she had infiltrated,' I think Occam's razor demands we accept that Scootaloo was still dreaming.
373*** Not in Equestria, where the night actually ''has'' a magical talking pony princess. Essentially, it may come down to this: the episode showed us Luna, and there was no indication whatsoever that she was supposed to be somehow less real than in any of her other appearances. So what's more likely -- that she was, in fact, there, or that the show was blatantly and for no good reason lying to the audience about what actually happened?
374** [[WebVideo/FriendshipIsWitchcraft They didn't invite her to their block parties, or their slumber parties.]]
375** She may have had the exact same ability back then and still eventually decided that it just wasn't ''enough'' for her. We simply don't know how much time actually passed between her first trace of resentment and her going all-out Nightmare Moon -- she's immortal, it could easily have taken centuries or more. (Incidentally, if she ''could'' dream-walk back then already, that would add a whole new dimension to the name "''Nightmare'' Moon"...)
376*** Communicating with ponies in her dreams is her job. It's not like she's hanging out with friends for fun that way. Besides, it cannot be nice to know that people only appreciate you when they are unconscious.
377** I kinda theorized that Luna was like [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire the Absol]] of the MLP universe. Let me explain, according its Pokedex entry Absol has the ability to foresee disaster and it often tries to forewarn people of these disasters. But, because it's always there when bad things happen it is always blamed by those it was trying to warn as the cause of the disaster. What I'm thinking is that whenever Luna tried to help someone out with a nightmare but failed she often ended up becoming associated with the nightmare in the process.
378** Luna didn't go to the dark side because she was lonely, she went because no-one CARED about the night - everyone loves the day, but then dark comes and they close their eyes and go to an entirely made-up world of their own. And what she probably finds when she Dreamwalks there is that most people are having wonderful dreams full of SUNSHINE... and the few that are having nightmares are dreaming up scary and foreboding places where, among other things, it's night. Because the night is nothing but a dark and scary place.
379** Or you know ''it's just a power she has'', but one she only uses occasionally when the opportunity arises. Really ''nothing'' up to that point implied even a hint of the sort omniscience and multitasking monitoring even a tiny pittance of the population would demand. To suppose that she can suddenly nets her several god like RequiredSecondaryPowers. Thus the simple explanation is that having little else to do she may often wander the land during the night and on coming across the obviously troubled child decided to try and help. This maybe how it always goes, that she only does it on occasion when she happens upon an obvious case.
380* If Luna can look into everypony's dreams, how come she was so out of touch with present pony culture in "Luna Eclipsed"?
381** She ([[FridgeHorror hopefully]]) couldn't do this when sealed into the moon, and it may have taken some time for her abilities to recover when she returned. Dreams also tend to reflect reality, rather than mirror it: Scoot's dreams are shaped by recent stories and by her surroundings, but using them to make a map for the campsite would be counterproductive. Especially given how ponies are incredibly respectful of Princess Celestia, dreams probably show Princesses speaking with massive presence and incredible showmareship just because ponies feel Celestia is a Big Deal even when she's coming by for tea. Other enjoyable things take on not-logic, such as where throwing plushy spiders and commanding animated live spiders are fundamentally similar. She may also consider it rude (or [[DirtyMindReading squicky]]) to interact or directly observe when not needed, or may not even observe most dreamers unless there's signs of panic or nightmare, or may even need to be invited such as when Scoot is asking for help.
382** Also consider: when "Luna Eclipsed" took place, Luna was still working off the bad image that other ponies had of her for being NMM. If she didn't take the steps that were started in "Eclipsed", to show she, as Luna and not as NMM, was a caring princess, her sudden appearances in everypony's dreams would have likely caused mass panic. Getting the population to accept her as a kind pony was a needed step before she could patrol dreams.
383* Luna can make her face appear on the moon and talk to ponies through it. Of all ponies in Equestria, how come Scootaloo is the [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight only one who even [=NOTICES=] it happen?]]
384* Why was Luna in Scootaloo's dream? I know she's popular and she's helping Scootaloo, but why put focus on her? What about all the other ponies, and by extension other creatures, in Equestria that are suffering nightmares. Does she randomly go around helping them when she likes?
385** Perhaps she's capable of distributing her consciousness among multiple ponies.
386** It's possible that she just sort of roams around the dream world and helps out whenever she sees somepony having a nightmare, and then helps them. Just because she's capable of entering the dream space or whatever doesn't mean she automatically knows about all the nightmares. On this particular occasion, it just happened to be Scootaloo that she stumbled across.
387*** Likely something along these lines; Luna can probably somehow tell when somepony needs her help, and appears accordingly. Anypony could have a nightmare, but it wouldn't be a huge deal normally. Scootaloo on the other hoof needed someone to actually talk her through the problem that was causing the nightmares in the first place, and dream-Luna was perfect for that.
388*** You can see her briefly during the first nightmare, so she was just strolling through dreamland and only chose to intervene when she saw someone having basically the same nightmare two nights in a row.
389*** So, she just walks through everyone's dreams every night till she sees something interesting? That seems as invasive as it is impractical.
390*** We don't really know the limitations of the Princesses at all. It seems just as likely that Luna can simply see dreams as part of her powers. Unless Equestria really is flat (which many of theorized that it is) Luna and Celestia can't possibly watch the whole of their kingdom from the single tower and telescope we've seen.
391*** That seems to be how dream-wanderers like ComicBook/TheSandman, [[WesternAnimation/TwiceUponATime Ralph the All-Purpose Animal]], and [[VideoGame/NiGHTSIntoDreams NiGHTS]] function.
392*** Split the difference; she only investigates nightmares. This mirrors Applejack's "I know something's wrong but I'm not going to force you to admit it" attitude, [[RuleOfFunny and it's a pun]].
393*** Well, there's always the Doylist explanation: if Luna had been doing anything else, then she simply wouldn't have appeared at all. We see her because, well, she obviously has to be ''somewhere'' and the episode's focus just happens to be on the very pony she's decided to pay a visit. (Besides, if the creators want to give Luna some more airtime, an episode that's set mainly at night and deals with fears and nightmares -- pun fully intended -- is the ''perfect'' opportunity.) But if we really need an in-universe reason for what makes Scootaloo "special", it makes some sense that Luna would concern herself just that bit more with ponies who actually spend her night outside instead of in the safety of their own homes and that she'd have a soft spot for foals (being a younger sister herself and all and keeping "Luna Eclipsed" in mind). And in the end she doesn't even spend all ''that'' much time with Scoots.
394*** It's possible that Dream!Luna wasn't actually Luna at all. A perfect facsimile of Rainbow Dash appeared in Scoot's dream at the end. Maybe Dream!Luna was just her subconscious telling her what she already knew?
395*** Of course, it's just as possible that ''both'' Dream!Luna and Dream!Rainbow Dash were real in that last dream...that Dream!RD was just a figment of Scootaloo's imagination is an easy assumption to make, but not 100% a given considering that stranger things have happened in dreams in fiction before. (Also, Luna being just a dream doesn't quite seem to mesh with her brief appearance in the moon when Scootaloo is awake and facing Rainbow Dash. Which can't be readily dismissed as a flashback, either, because the vision's words ''aren't'' simply an echo of anything Luna said in the dream before...)
396** We first see Luna wandering through Scootaloo's dream, but not intervening. She probably looks through the dream world looking for ponies having nightmares, not through EVERY dream, but able to sense if someone is having a nightmare or at least otherwise see it. She sensed Scootaloo's nightmare and same to help, as it is her JOB, but didn't find her the first night. It only makes sense she'd keep an eye on her during patrols the second night and noticed what was going on, so she helped her. Same reason for why she came the third time; to make sure it was really fixed. Does there NEED to be a more complicated explanation?
397*** Is there anything canon to suggest that Luna's job goes beyond raising the moon and co-ruler of Equestria? Frankly the second seeming to be much closer to fanon than canon since she's only been seen in four or five episodes since then, had a Canterlot Wedding gone off as planned she would have missed it entirely instead of JUST catching the very end and perhaps saying Celestia pulled her punk card in The Crystal Empire that didn't look to me like a conversation between equals.
398*** There ''is'' her telling Scootaloo that it's her duty to "come into your dreams" -- whether that's "you" as in Scootaloo in particular or pony dreams in general isn't quite clear -- right in this episode, as well as her throwaway line about "guarding the night as always" in the first part of the Season 2 finale. So, yeah, there actually is some evidence that she does in fact do a bit more than just raise the moon and play at being "Celestia, only during the night when there's not actually much to do because most ponies are asleep ''anyway''"...it's sparse, to be sure, but we can to some extent blame that on her limited spotlight time.
399*** Well, how common ''are'' recurring, real-life-problem-borne nightmares in Equestria? I'm guessing not very; ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' can get pretty grim on occasion, but it's still My Little Pony, I'm sure most of them have really adorable dreams. Something like what Scootaloo was going through would stand out to someone watching the tapestry of dreams.
400** There are many Emotion Eaters in Equestria. The Windigoes feed on hate. The changelings feed on love. Surely something feeds on fear, and Luna's doing her best to ward such things off.
401** If you'll excuse me wandering off into WMG territory here, perhaps the "dream-scape" is just that, a landscape, similar to Equestria that is a consistent place, and the Ponies merely "appear" in various places, and Luna was just taking a walk in dreams, and happened across Scoots. Alternatively, perhaps when you start to dream, a "land" appears in the "Dream-scape", and Luna was checking it out as a quick patrol type thing. That's why we love this series, if you ask me. The ability to theorize on stuff like this.
402** "Dream time" doesn't pass at the same rate that "real time" does. What you perceive to be hours in your dream could actually just be the blink of an eye in real life. Because of this, Luna could potentially visit who knows how many ponies in their dreams per night?
403* What was up with Rarity? I feel as if this episode flanderized her even worse than Fluttershy in the last episode. I understand that her cleanliness is a distinguishing trait, but do you let that take priority over being a good sister? Rarity was actually content with Sweetie Belle, half her size, towing all that luggage without any help. [[FanNickname Rainbow Jerk]] may not be Scootaloo's blood sister, but ''she'' came off as a better big sis than Rarity.
404** Be fair to Rarity, Sweetie Bell just tried to unashamedly manipulate her into doing something she explicitly stated she hates doing, and she can't keep saying no or she'll really come off as the bad guy. Siblings tend to make life hell for each other, if Sweetie's gonna jerk around with Rarity, Rarity will jerk back.
405*** Also, Sweetie Belle is freaking strong, stronger than you might guess from looking at her, and Rarity likely knows it. If it were truly too much, well. She might well have charmed a stallion to pull it, if not pulled it herself.
406** First, can we not make 'character X seems to have been flanderdized' a thing? This is a place to ask questions about things that puzzle us or that we have questions about not a place to complain about the writing. (Just thought I should point that out considering I've seen similar entries for "Too Many Pinkie Pies" and "Magic Duel.") Second, it's as the above troper says, annoying your siblings is pretty much in the job description. Getting your little sister to the unfavored chores is part of the fun in being older. They fact that Sweetie Belle was pulling so much was simply an exaggeration for the sake of RuleOfFunny.
407** That, and knowing what we know about Sweetie's packing habits, half the crap in the wagon was probably hers anyway. She certainly wasn't complaining about towing it or anything. In addition, she does get more into the trip as the episode goes on. Like on the first night she's all dolled up and sitting on her fainting couch, but the next night she forgoes that and sits on the log with her sister.
408** Rarity has never been a terribly good sister, as a contrast to the extremely loving and supportive relationship of Apple Bloom and Applejack. She's visibly uncomfortable interacting with Sweetie Belle on numerous occasions, and has little patience for her childish mistakes. She improved after the Sisterhooves Social, but problems like that won't be fixed overnight.
409* As this was a CMC sister (and sister figure) bonding episode, we do not even see the other half of the mane cast. They may not have that intimate bond with the CMC that the others have, but they are all TrueCompanions and the CMC also seem to hold them in high regard. With her behavior in the previous episode, maybe it was a good idea that Fluttershy wasn't there, but did Twilight and Pinkie really have better things to do?
410** [[SarcasmMode Yes, because obsessively devoting every single moment of your time to your friends is the definition of a healthy social life.]] It was explicitly stated to be a SISTERLY bonding trip, Scoots was afraid that RD would blow it off because they weren't sisters. Fluttershy, Twilight, and Pinkie have jobs and a life, they Mane 6 don't have to be together all the time.
411** Yeah, the cast are good friends, but it doesn't mean that they do ''everything'' together. The camping trip was more or less for the sake of the CMC, so it doesn't make sense for the other mane cast members to come along. I mean, we've seen in plenty of episodes that they do things with each other that don't include the whole group (RD and Fluttershy going to the butterfly migration, Fluttershy and Rarity's spa days, Pinkie and Rarity doing whatever they were doing in "A Friend in Deed"). They aren't going to feel left out over something like this.
412** I understand that the Mane Cast will go off and do things in small groups, if not [[ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself on their lonesome]], but those tend to be either niche activities (i.e. the [=RariShy=] spa trips) or spur of the moment happenings (i.e. that sleepover in season 1, which was really just Applejack and Rarity seeking shelter from the storm and Twilight making a big deal about it.) But this was a camping trip, which tend to be [[SeriousBusiness kind of a big deal]], have to be planned well in advance, and offer a plethora of things for everypony to do. It was almost like the message being sent to the other three was "Yeah, we're taking this totally awesome camping trip, but those without a filly who idolizes them[[note]]Pinkie does have Pumpkin Cake, but she's just an infant for now.[[/note]] need not apply."
413*** What needs to be remembered about this specific camping trip is that is was originally between the Apple sisters. It just happened, at the same time, Scootaloo's dream (being noticed by Rainbow Dash) was coming true. So Apple Bloom, good friend that she is, uses the trip to bring the pegasi closer. Naturally, Sweetie Belle did not want to be left out and, reluctant as Rarity may have been, '''nopony''' could ever take the place of her sister in this aspect. It was this reason that the other three got swept under the rug, but, for all we know, there could be other trips for anypony who desires.
414*** Thing is, the camping trip isn't a "Mane 6 oriented activity". The point wasn't that "if you aren't idolized by a filly you aren't worth bringing along", but that the entire trip was being taken for the benefit of the fillies. The trip was about the CMC, and the fact that their sister figures just happened to be good friends already was a happy accident; if Sweetie Belle was somepony else's sister, Rarity wouldn't have come along. And honestly it would have been rather out of place for the other members of the mane cast to come on the trip anyway; it was explicitly a sisterly bonding excursion and having the rest of the cast around would have defeated that purpose by sidelining the CMC. Also, I'd kind of doubt that a camping trip is really ''that'' enormous of a deal that the other ponies would really feel all that slighted. AJ and Apple Bloom may have planned in advance, but it really seems like the other four coming along was kind of a last minute thing. Lastly, there's no indication that the rest of the cast ''wasn't'' invited. It's entirely possible that they couldn't have gone but just chose not to for whatever reason.
415* Why did Sweetie Belle sound horrible when she was singing in this episode, when back in ''The Show Stoppers'', it was implied that Sweetie Belle's cutie mark would be for singing?
416** Presumably because One Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall (or buckets of oats) is a song that is impossible to sing well.
417*** Rule of Funny?
418*** Or it's something she feels you're not supposed to sing well?
419*** Maybe she's going through puberty; you just can't tell. Or the writers forgot.
420* While they were away, Big Mac and/or Granny Smith could've looked after Applejack's pets, but what about Opalescence and Tank?
421** Fluttershy or Big Mac & Granny Smith could offer to look after them too. Twilight or Pinkie Pie is another possibility, tho maybe Opal won't want to be with Pinkie. Tank may be fine with any of them. Or they got a petsitter for that time too. (Or, since cats and tortoises are fine with being left alone for the day, they couldd have everything they need at home... but if the camping takes more than one day; as I haven't seen this ep for a while, then they could be with others like I said above)
422* This might be a bit of a strange question, but bear with me: we know ponies use bathrooms from "The Last Roundup". They were outside where there were no bathrooms for two nights. I wouldn't put NatureTinkling past the other ponies, but ''Rarity''?
423[[/folder]]
424
425[[folder:[=3.07=] Wonderbolt Academy]]
426* Why didn't Spitfire make Rainbow Dash in charge, after everything she's done? She's helped save Equestria about 3 times! Heck, she saved Spitfire once, and not once is it brought up. Did she just forget about it, or is she just doing all this to Rainbow Dash, for fun?
427** Just because Rainbow Dash managed to do great deeds, it doesn't automatically make her exempt from going through academy at the beginning level. If it were the case, it'd be like a student at a school being exempt from classes, because he/she saved the principal from a fire once upon a time. It'd also make the other cadets/students upset and jealous of Rainbow Dash, and cause dissension.
428*** Yeah, but good deeds aside, her doing the Sonic Rainboom should have been enough to make her a wonderbolt. The Sonic Rainboom was mentioned to be a difficult thing to do, and she did it three times (the first time when she was just a filly, and again, the second time was when she saved the wonderbolts, the third time she just did it casually at the wedding, with hardly any trouble). So it shows that she's already a great enough flier to be a wonderbolt.
429*** While the Sonic Rainboom does make her exceptional, being a Wonderbolt is almost certainly about more than skill. Like the ability to work as a team, willingness to take orders, etc. Hence why Spitfire made Lightning Dust the lead pony and Rainbow Dash the wingpony, she outright admitted that RD was faster but made LD the leader because she was more willing to push herself.
430*** Imagine going through the Wonderbolt Academy is like going through a job interview; the interviewer may be impressed by your accomplishments and skills, but what they're really looking for is a "people person": a person who is likable, disciplined, works well with others, and has life experiences. They'll hire someone who has minimal work experience, but plenty of people skills, over someone who is skilled in the field of work, but is also not very friendly. Just like with the case with Lightning Dust; she is very skilled, fearless, and daring, but because of her poor attitude and recklessness, she probably won't become a Wonderbolt. Going through the academy is about determining character as much as it does skill.
431*** Exactly. Spitfire could secretly be an outright squeeing Rainbow Dash fanmare and it wouldn't matter one whit because she'd ''still'' be expected to maintain enough professional detachment to treat RD the same as the other candidates. If anything, it's to her credit that she does exactly that. (For that matter, how happy would ''Rainbow Dash'' really be about her instructor playing favorites if she ever found out?)
432*** A very subtle thing that I noticed during the episode was that when Spitfire was chewing RD out at the beginning and RD stayed stone cold giving the correct response, she gave a small smile; I'm sure she never forgot that RD saved her live. This isn't a change in character, just another facet of her character.
433*** Yet, she feels inclined to be DrillSergeantNasty to all ponies involved, despite all those points. She can't have forgotten this, because it would be a detraction of her character because she's literally questioning RD's abilities right to her face. To be fair, DrillSergeantNasty is becoming a trope used far too often nowadays, and showing a little pullback and character change can only improve the character without making them nasty, especially towards someone who has literally proven her worth in earlier seasons.
434** The short answer: just because RD did one or two cool things doesn't mean she gets to jump the process, and as an authority figure, Spitfire can't show favoritism because simply put, it isn't her job. Not to mention that if Rainbow Dash really ''is'' Wonderbolt material, she should be able to pass through the academy without much difficulty. In addition, Spitfire's treatment of RD actually shows that she remembers Dash's flight ability. She never really doubts Dash's ability as a flier (she knows Dash did a Sonic Rainboom) or as a leader (she oversaw the cyclone in Hurricane Fluttershy), but what she doesn't know is whether Dash could function as a team member who wasn't in a position of leadership. As such, she focuses on testing that aspect of Dash's abilities.
435*** We should get confirmation from pilots, but I understand playing wingman is actually the harder position, making Dash's assignment a vote of confidence. Moreover, Spitfire already saw Dash's impressive leadership abilities in "Hurricane Fluttershy" (which lends support to the theory she's got her eye on Dash.) But how good a follower is Dash? Spitfire's job is to ask such questions. So far, she's a tough Reasonable Authority Figure, as I'd expect from somepony named after one of history's most magnificent aircraft.
436* What does the academy need a runway for? Pegasai are not planes, they can take off and land vertically.
437** They ''can'', but that doesn't mean they always do. There were a couple of times shown in show where they come in at a high speed and skid down the runway rather than slowing down in the air.
438*** Okay, but wouldn't skidding across pavement be extremely painful?
439*** Yeah, but there are times they'd have to land/take off from the ground to do their shows and stuff. Might as well get used to it now.
440** It's good to have a a designated high-speed-landing area. That way, you know where not to be. Or if you must cross, be slow to start, but quick to get across once you do go.
441* Is it just me or were Dash and Dust the only ones who actually wanted to join the Wonderbolts? The others acted like this was a summer camp and were genuinely surprised after they realized that begins a Wonderbolt means hard work. Ok RD and Dust are natural talents so it’s no surprise that the other cadets looked bad in comparison. but it still felt like they weren’t even trying. And they were the ones that got an invitation. Makes you wonder how bad the rest was.
442** They were probably weren't expecting anything this harsh for joining a stunt flying group, not realizing that the Wonderbolts (like the Blue Angels they're modeled on) ''are'' actually part of the Equestrian military with similar requirements for joining up.
443*** When did the episode imply that the Wonderbolts were military? This episode made it pretty clear that civilians could join.
444*** It takes place on what is to all appearances a military air base, with Spitfire and other Wonderbolts being in military dress uniform with medals and insignia. That's... a pretty obvious implication that it's a military organization. Plus, we saw the Wonderbolts being mobilized against Spike during "Secret of My Excess", which once again suggests that they're a military organization in some capacity, not just a civilian stunt group.
445*** The Wonderbolts seemed just to be in Ponyville and willing to help during "Secret of My Excess" they were not summoned. And that the Academy was military like might have been just playing for laughs and not meant to imply that the Wonderbolts are an actual military organization. And how Rainbow Dash was even considering joint the Shadowbolts that easily if the implication was that it is a rival military organization?
446*** Equestria has a military? Even against threats like Chrysalis and Discord, We've seen only Canterlot's royal guard and a stunt-flying team, Celestia, Luna, and Twilight Sparkle's special group. It looks to me the Windigos made Equestria abolish the Pegasus' military long ago.
447*** It's true that we haven't seen much in the way of a 'proper' Equestrian military to date. However, it's possible that something like an Equestrian army beyond just the Royal Guard does in fact exist...and is busy primarily guarding Equestria's ''borders'' against intruders, which would keep them mostly out of sight in a show that tends to focus on the area surrounding Ponyville and Canterlot.
448*** Plus, a Royal Guard ''is'' a military organization. One dedicated to bodyguard duty for heads of state and dignitaries, but still.
449*** The Wonderbolts academy installation was a training course for a stunt group using civilian equipment. If it was supposed to be military, they would have focused on combat in some way, instead of just stunt flying and weather duty. Dash is never mentioned or implied to be joining the military in this or any other episode. The Wonderbolts were also absent during the Canterlot wedding episodes, instead of patrolling the skies, and have never been shown or implied to work with the Royal Guard, who are treated like Equestria's military. People outside of the military use uniforms, so that isn't the best proof of anything.
450*** Rainbow Dash's every comment about the Wonderbolts makes them out to be a civilian athletic team. No mention or implication that they are supposed to be military, and quite a bit of implication that they are just a group of athletes, with no responsibilities beyond any other citizen of Equestria.
451* How did Bulk Biceps get through to Wonderbolt Academy to begin with, given that we learn later on that he's not a good flyer (aside from the fact they hadn't made season 4 yet)?
452** For that matter, even in this episode he doesn't seem to be that good. Right after Spitfire orders all the candidates to do 500 laps, he can be seen struggling to take off, and in the next scene he's among the slower fliers. Either their standards for admission are ''much'' lower than had been previously implied, or Spitfire thought it would be amusing to see him try.
453[[/folder]]
454
455[[folder:[=3.08=] Just For Sidekicks]]
456* Wait... how did Spike find Peewee's parents, considering the rather long journey he had to take, the fact that the family scattered after the dragon attack, and any other problems with that? Or did Spike find Peewee a foster family because of the above difficulties?
457** Perhaps Philomena, Princess Celestia's pet Phoenix, helped locate Peewee's original parents.
458** They may not be the original parents, but a pair that were willing to take in Peewee, and that Peewee was happy to stay with.
459*** The lack of the other phoenix chicks adds to this theory
460* How do ponies valuate jewels? The tiniest of Spike's gems was worthy enough to pay for a huge, expensive hairdryer while the largest gems were barely enough to pay for train tickets and a tray of donuts.
461** The smallest jewel was probably the most expensive because, whatever type it was, it was the rarest of them all... and who gave Spike this particular jewel but [[StealthPun Rarity]]?
462** Other than the tiny jewel being used to pay for something, the others were given as bribes, so it's probable that Spike got shortchanged by the train ponies. That or the dryer was cheaper.
463* I'm just gonna say what we're all thinking. Why on earth did Cadance not invite Spike to the Crystal Empire?! He helped save it! And for that matter, why didn't any of the other ponies just tell him that he could come along anyway, since he deserves to?
464** I can't give you a plausible in-universe reason, but I can give you a meta reason. ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is a SliceOfLife show that occasionally makes forays into HighFantasy MagicalGirl stories. As a general rule, the Mane Cast rarely get acknowledged as saviors of the world, simply because that would interfere with the SliceOfLife plots. (For example, Rarity's attempts at social-climbing, even though plenty of people should logically know who she is.) The only exceptions I can think of are "Luna Eclipsed" and "Keep Calm and Flutter On", simply because the plots can't work without acknowledging their deeds. Personally, I just accepted it as a general rule of the show and moved on a while ago. I realize this isn't the most satisfying answer, but I think it's the most reasonable one.
465** It's called "Games ''Ponies'' Play" silly, not "Games ''Dragons'' Play."
466** I figure it's for this reason: this is an inspection for a possible location for the games, not the actual games. The Games Inspector is just scouting out the new Crystal Empire stadium to see if it's good enough, with possibly a few games played for demonstration purposes. It's the same reason only you and some close personal friends would look at a venue for an upcoming birthday party instead of taking every friend you have to look around. He'd be bored just sitting there while adults do stuff, so Cadance assumed he'd find more fun things to do at home.
467** Also, Cadance is probably familiar with Spike, and knows that Spike is horribly addicted to eating gems, which is bad when you're in charge of the '''Crystal''' empire. Remember how Spike was eyeing the houses in the season premiere? Even if Spike won't eat the Crystal ponies, he'd probably take a bite out of benches, statues, decorations, fences, and other stuff. If Cadance is trying to make the Empire presentable to the games inspector, having the statues missing their hooves or benches missing their legs won't be good.
468*** Spike didn't really have this problem when he first went there, or even when everyone became crystallized. It seems that he had self-control, when it came to crystal beings, and their crystal homes. But maybe the inspector would've still been nervous around the dragon, and to spare both Spike and the inspector's feelings, Spike wasn't invited.
469** While the possibility of Spike getting bored is reasonable enough, it is no more apparent than the fact that the main reason the Mane 6 were invited to help welcome the inspector is so they could convince her to arrange for the Crystal Empire to host the games. Judging from what they went through, Cadance not inviting Spike more or less seems understandable and justified already.
470** Because A) the plot demanded it and B) the writers hate Spike (not an exaggeration - check out the CreatorsPest page). I mean, it's POSSIBLE that Cadance thought Spike would be bored, but that didn't stop her from inviting [[OneOfTheKids Pinkie Pie]].
471* What happened to Spike teaching peewee about being a pony? Why suddenly give him back to his parents, after that setup?
472** Perhaps the writers really couldn't figure out just what to do with the character. So rather then shoehorn him somewhere, they decided to write him out and be done with him.
473** Not to mention, it helps to resolve the fact that Spike technically brought Peewee into his possession by ''stealing him.''
474*** Can it really be considered stealing if the alternative was to let him die?
475*** There's not really any indication that was the case -- it's not as though the rest of the phoenixes had vanished or otherwise made it impossible for Spike to return the egg in the first place. In fact, judging from Spike's photo, it seems as though they were still living in the exact spot that Spike originally found them.
476*** ... We see Peewee's family fly off into the distance after escaping from the dragons that destroyed their nest. There's no explanation given for how Spike ''could'' have found them.
477*** Plus, didn't Twilight instantly teleport them home while they were running from the dragon teens? He'd have to make the several day journey, only likely without the massive dragon migration serving as a landmark.
478*** It's possible they had found ''him''. How? Eh, mother's heart will manage, and besides, magic.
479* Why did Applejack leave Winona with Spike when Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Applebloom were in town? She's a well-behaved dog, the rest of the family would be familiar with her habits, and they weren't supposed to be gone that long.
480** Spike probably ''begged'' her to give Winona to him. For a jewel of course.
481** Spike basically volunteered his services to get the gems, and Applejack didn't turn him down for whatever reason. It's really the same deal with Rarity and Pinkie; there's no reason Rarity's parents couldn't keep an eye on Opal, or for the Cakes to watch Gummy while Pinkie is gone.
482* Why did Spike wait until after all the pets were dropped off to make his cake? He had an entire day to use the five gems he'd conned out of the ponies for his baking, yet didn't do anything with them. If he'd just finished his baking early, he'd have a five-gem cake to snack on while dealing with the animals instead of trying to split his focus and lose them all.
483** Easy, he was a greedy dragon and wanted that sixth gem for the cake.
484* Why didn't spike just look for gems? The way equestrian geology works, not finding gems would be harder than a game of mine sweeper.
485** It's possible he needs a very refined kind of jewel, just grabbing one out of the ground might result in something not even he would eat.
486*** ''Dog and Pony Show'' has perfectly cut gems come straight from the dirt and Spike was eager to eat them.
487** The last time we saw Spike jewel hunting, he was with Rarity whose signature spell lets her find jewels. Without her, he'd have no idea where exactly to find cache of gems. Gems are common in Equestria, but it's not like you can just trip over random piles of them in a minute. Sure, he'd find some ''eventually'', but it'd take hours of digging up an entire area. Unless he's able to get Rarity or Twilight to come with, it'd be much less work to get them from the pony girls.
488** Also, speak for yourself. I suck at mine sweeper.
489** Gems have never been particularly common in Equestria. Remember, Rarity has to go prospecting in the mountains to find anything with her magic spell, that only her and Twilight Sparkle know, and it still takes her hours to get a decent amount. For everyone else, they have to find them the hard way, and there aren't any close to Ponyville. The reason that viewers think that gems are common is because a living gem finder is one of the mane characters.
490*** Dragons use them as their main food source, there are lots of dragons and they are big, The only way an ecosystem could suport such creatures is if there is an infinite amount of gems.
491*** Spike describes gems as his favorite food, but Dragons are shown to be able to eat just about anything. That said, gems have some capacity to be grown, since he's mentioned having done that in ''Secret Of My Excess''. Alternatively, it could be that gems are more often found deep underground, out of easy access to ponies, making them rare and potentially valuable on the surface, but common in places that dragons can get to. Also, we see in ''"Hearth's Warming Eve"'' Princess Platinum stumbling on some gems out in the open.
492*** We've never seen adult dragons eat jewels, and Spike doesn't have gems as his normal food source. No reason to think that other dragons eat them all the time, either.
493*** It looks to me like there are many different types of gems with different, erm, scarcities. For instance, that ruby in "Secret of My Excess" was implied to be not-at-all common and quite valuable. Most likely, the gems given to Spike are highly sought-after and worth a bunch, at least to varying degrees. If they were all common, the Cutie Mark Crusaders would not have been able to trade their tiny shard for an industrial pet cleaner.
494* Why was Spike carrying the bucket of jewels with him everywhere he went, anyway? Certainly, they helped to get him out of a variety of pinches, but you'd think it'd be a bit safer to stow them back at Twilight's treehouse rather than take them while looking all over for Angel.
495** He's a greedy little dragon, and wants to keep an eye on his little hoard at all times. His common sense seems to dissapear whenever gemstones are present, after all.
496* Zecora tricking Spike out of some of his payment for watching the pets seemed like something of a dick move, never mind if she did give it to charity. Yes, he was very greedy once. A full season ago. Which was a temporary affliction that wore off long ago. Is Spike just not allowed to own anything ever again in Zecora's eyes?
497** Well, he did destroy her house back then. Not to mention that she was right; it was Spike's greed that got him into this situation. She did not object to him having the jewels, she objected to his attitude.
498** There's also no proof that it was a temporary thing; Zecora saw signs of Spike starting to relapse and decided to nip it in the bud before he turned into a monster again. Which would have been even more disastrous this time around because his friends aren't around to help him revert.
499** There's also the fact that Zecora never really told Spike to never own anything ever again, and since Zecora did mean well by donating one of his jewels to charity, you might say that she had high hopes for him to learn this lesson all over again.
500*** Wait wait wait, are you guys saying that giving to charity is a bad thing?
501*** No, fraud is. She made it seem like she'd help him for a jewel, took the jewel for whatever purpose, then left him there.
502*** She helped him... To not become a greedy little monster again. Granted it was not what he wanted help with, but it was help nonetheless.
503*** Still trying to process how learning his lesson is a bad thing...now I've got a headache. Now I remember why I've been trying to stay off Headscratchers.
504* Why is there an actual, published recipe for a jewel cake to begin with? The only creatures we know of that can actually eat gems are dragons and they don't seem likely to publish a baking recipe.
505** It could be that the original recipe calls for something else, but Spike substituted the original... say... chocolate chips with gems. Or there are other lithovore species. Or ponies can eat gems if they've been treated.
506** The illustration for the cake showed them being used as decorations on top. Given that he considered even one gem enough for the cake, it seems that he was just adding gems to the batter rather than them being a normal ingredient.
507** The Cakes also made a sapphire cupcake for his birthday, so there is at least precedent for that.
508* Fluttershy asked Spike to take care of Angel,but what about all the other pets sha has at her cottage?Who is watching them?
509** They can take care of themselves. Realistically, there is no way Fluttershy can manage all of the animals at her cottage all by herself--she'd not only have to spend all her time there and never get to do anything else during her waking hours, she'd need a full staff. Thus, the alternate explanation is that these animals are somewhat more sentient than they are for real and can get along and subsist in safety. Angel was brought along because, well, Angel is a real troublemaker, as seen in this episode.
510** Fluttershy doesn't consider her animals to be pets. They don't rely on her to take care of them, they just hang around her cottage because they like her.
511*** She may not consider them pets but they are clearly under her care/protection. ''May the Best Pet Win'' implies she runs some kind of shelter and gives away animals if a good home can be found and ''Magical Mystery Cure'' heavily implies she's the only thing keeping her animals from going nuts is Fluttershy. That's not counting her chickens either. The animals probably can survive for a while on their own just like real animal. While it's cruel the majority of pets, assuming sufficient food and water are left for an extended weekend (which is as long as the cast seems to be missing if that long) will survive.
512* Is it me, or is Spike's encounter with the CMC a great demonstration of why they will never earn their cutie marks? In this episode, they say they're sure to earn their skydiving cutie marks, but then discard the idea just like that, saying they hadn't really thought it out anyway. What I'm trying to say is that the CMC's exploits all focus around coming up with hare-brained schemes to earn their cutie marks, yet in all but a few of their episodes the lesson learnt is that you can only earn your cutie mark in your own time, by being yourself, the exact opposite of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. See what I'm saying? They ''never learn''.
513** Not really because learning doesn't seem to be a prerequisite to earning your cutie mark. Lets look at the very few that we can concretely pinpoint when they got them. The Mane 6 all got them more or less directly from Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom. Twilight had been enrolled in what appears to be a prestigious magic school prior. Rainbow Dash was already racing, Fluttershy was saved by Butterflies. Pinkie Pie was rolling a rock and suddenly discovered that she was a party animal, Rarity was staring at a ROCK and quite upset about it and Apple Jack has been quoted saying she was born to run Sweet Apple Acres and to date nothing has arrived to make us doubt that. We also know that Cheese Sandwich got his cute mark seeing how happy Pinkie Pie made others with her parties. Now while it's heavily implied that the CMC are trying to hard we don't have any hard evidence that suggests that your Cutie Mark really has to do with being yourself so much as someday you're just going to get it. It'll strike you and you'll know. Pinkie was specifically NOT being herself and unless being in mortal danger was being yourself neither was Fluttershy. We also know, because of the teasing, that the CMC are all past the point when they should have had them and that happened prior to them exploring. Which shouldn't hurt the process anymore than taking a wide variety classes in college would prevent you from becoming whatever you eventually become.
514*** While I agree with the general gist, I have to point out that Fluttershy gained her cutie mark when she calmed the animals after the sonic rainboom scared them, not for being rescued by the butterflies. Likewise, Pinkie Pie got hers when she threw a party for her family and realized that made them happy, so yes, she was learning to be herself.
515* Didn't Spike learn his lesson from "Owl's Well That Ends Well"? Why is he still so rude to Owlowiscious?
516** The writers threw him the JerkassBall in order to "justify" his treatment in this episode.
517* So there's apparently a group of fillies that work towards earning a small iconograph of an activity through their deeds in that activity? The CMC may want to look into joining the Filly Scouts...
518* Spike has a friend who is a gem expert and another who is a SupremeChef. Why didn't he ask one of them for help with his cake?
519** Part of the fun of making a cake is snacking on the batter. Having someone else involved, especially those who can't physically eat the cake, would result in them stopping you from doing that. Spike's only issue with making the cake is his own lack of self-control, so if he doesn't have that, then he doesn't have the self-control to ask someone else for help with his cake.
520*** At no point does Spike ever snack on the batter, though. He ate the entire bowl of gems meant to go in the cake along with the one he held onto from his babysitting job. Still, he had no self-control to stop himself.
521* There were ponies other than the Mane Six on the train when Spike and the Crusaders had to take the pets back home. They could have easily warned the Six of the stowaways.
522[[/folder]]
523
524[[folder:[=3.09=] Apple Family Reunion]]
525* Were those stars supposed to represent Applejack's parents? If so, is it now safe to say they've kicked the bucket?
526** [[https://twitter.com/TheRealSibsy/status/282581589479792641 Word of God]] has it that the two shooting stars we see in the sky from time to time are meant to stand in for them.
527** Probably reinforced by the fact that the episode otherwise didn't refer to them at all -- not even in the [=RSVP=] scene, where you'd think that if they had been invited and simply couldn't come, Apple Bloom wouldn't have been quite as excited about ''everypony'' showing up...
528* During a few of the crowd scenes, background ponies from Ponyville are hanging around. Are they actually cousins that just happen to live in Ponyville, or are they party crashing?
529** Could be ponies that are dating/married to members of the Apple clan.
530** First time we/Twilight met Applejack back in the first episode, there were a bunch of other apple family members around at the time, so unless that happened to be a previous reunion, it would seem there are indeed other apple family members living nearby.
531*** Applejack said they were just in town for a reunion in Applebuck Season which is why they couldn't help her with the apple bucking.
532*** Yup, you're right, I just saw that ep. One could probably chalk it up to the standard background ponies being used again
533* Applejack said that they held a family reunion every 100 moons (around eight years). There was also a family reunion in the very first episode, but the characters seem to be the same age as they were in the first episode. Just how long is a moon?
534** Granny Smith has a terrible memory and was just approximating the time.
535** A "moon" is a different length of time in Equestria, considering there's a pony controlling the dang thing.
536** The reunion we saw in the pilot was due to the Summer Sun Celebration being in town and wasn't the "official" reunion. The Summer Sun Celebration usually isn't held in town where the family founder lives, so they could have decided to hold a out of cycle gathering to celebrate the occasion as well as helping set up the festival.
537** Or maybe each official reunion really is about every eight years; the way AJ talked, it sounded like she wasn't in that many of them. Maybe the last one really was eight years ago when she was a baby (nothing points to ponies aging like humans.)
538** I admit this is from memory, but I could swear she just said the last one was "100 moons ago", not that they were only held that often. Either way, it's possible that she was just being hyperbolic because it had been a while. The first one was the first thing that happened in the series chronology, with the exact span between that and this episode being virtually impossible to determine thanks to AnachronicOrder and an unknown amount of time passing between episodes.
539* Doesn't Luna raise the moon ''every'' night? If so, saying "N moons" is just a fancy way of saying "N days".
540** "Moon" as a length of time usually means phases of the moon, from new moon to new moon. About 28 days on Earth.
541*** Except that Luna raises the moon when Celestia sets the sun, so every night should theoretically be a full moon (even though [[WeirdMoon it's not always depicted as such]]).
542* ''Family Appreciation Day'' shows Granny Smith as being roughly the age of the mane cast when her family first moved to Ponyville, but the earliest family reunion photo shows her standing in front of what is clearly the same barn as a filly. Is there some way of reconciling that, or did the writers just lose track of the timeline?
543** If the barn got wrecked and rebuilt as often back in the day as it seems to be in modern times on the show (including the time right in this episode), it's probably not actually the same barn after all.
544* Speaking of parents, if Babs Seed was there, and "everypony" from the Apple family still alive was there, where was Babs' parents?
545** There is one possible answer, that being that Babs would be the child of Aunt and Uncle Orange (who are both present at the reunion). Where she got her Bronx accent from, nopony may know, but it's a workable theory.
546** Who's to say they aren't? We see several foals but are never told who's they are.
547[[/folder]]
548
549[[folder:[=3.10=] Spike at Your Service]]
550* Wait, if saving Spike's life puts him in debt to his saviors for eternity, why didn't he do the same when Cadance and Shining Armor when they saved him from King Sombra?
551** Maybe because he didn't know about/ create the Noble Dragon Code yet? Maybe he learned about/made it prior to the whole Timberwolves incident.
552** He was saving them (and everypony else) at the same time by recovering the Crystal Heart, so it evened out.
553* Just where did Spike get this noble dragon code anyway? In "Dragon Quest" Spike knows little to nothing about his background, history or species, and begged Twilight for even a tiny bit of information. Twilight's library doesn't have much on dragon lore either; they looked through the whole thing. So either Spike made it up himself to make himself feel better after hanging out with those jerky teen dragons, or he's encountered somepony somewhere who knows some dragon lore (possibly Canterlot's library has some, or perhaps Zecora). The song he sang about dragons may also indicate he composed that himself or heard somepony (or griffin...buffalo...mule...) sing it.
554** He referred to it as "his" dragon code. He probably made it up, but when he made it is unknown.
555** However, when AJ goes to talk to Twilight, Twilight is apparently well-versed on this Dragon Code and more that just pandering to Spike. Unless there's some NoodleIncident where Twilight saved Spike and learned of this made-up code from him at that time.
556*** Or Spike told her about it when he made it. The two of them do live together.
557** The writers made up the whole "Dragon Code" thing because the plot demanded it.
558* Considering none of the other dragons featured were [[AlwaysChaoticEvil particularly noble]], including Adult Spike from ''Secret of My Excess'' and that Spike's worst nightmare is not being Twilight'a assistant anymore, this episode raises a lot more questions about the veracity of the "Dragon's Code".
559** It's possible that the code never came up with the other dragons, having had no one save their life at any point in time. It's also possible that the "code" is something that Spike set for himself only, to distance himself from the brutish, animalistic dragons.
560** Living in a library and being raised by Twilight and (according to WordOfGod) Princess Celestia herself, Spike's ideas of nobleness and heroism probably come from knights' stories. Therefore, his own 'code of honor' would be based on those commonly associated with knighthood, including the 'life debt' part.
561*** Practically confirmed by the fact Spike shows a card he obviously did himself as proof of this code's existence.
562* Why did the Apple keep eggs on such a high shelf? It looks like even Big Mac couldn't reach it.
563* What is keeping the Uberwolf from coming back to life?
564** Spike threw a stone in to it's throat. It was choking, when it was smashed into pieces, so we can assume that it actually died, or didn't have enough time/focus to regenerate.
565** Or perhaps, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. By that, I mean giant timberwolves require more time and energy to regenerate than regular timberwolves do.
566** Could also be that getting smashed to pieces ''several times in a row'' (first the individual wolves, then the same mass of timber as the giant) is harder to regenerate from. Since for all its sophistication we're still talking about a kids' show, we can probably assume that it didn't stay dead for keeps, just remained conveniently out of it long enough for everypony to wander off and then slunk back into the forest in turn. (As scary as the Everfree Forest may be, it seems that most of its native monsters prefer to stay there, averting the SuperPersistentPredator trope in at least that regard.)
567** Alternatively their regeneration ability is tied to the forest and they will lose it if they stay out of it for too long.
568* How could a Timberwolf choke if, being made out of loose wood, it presumably had no lungs?
569* The timber wolves are made out of wood, an extremely flammable substance. Why doesn't Spike set them on fire?
570** Because "extremely" flammable is an exaggeration (most wood actually doesn't instantly burst into flame the moment you hold a match or the like to it), and because his fire breath has a pretty short range and so using it would have meant getting ''closer'' to the monsters, not away from them.
571** Perhaps it's for the same reason why unicorns like Twilight don't use their magic to get themselves out of situations most of the time (such as fleeing from monsters): maintaining drama for the episode, and magical abilities aren't used that often when in emotional distress, such as terror.
572*** The above is correct. Only chemicals fall in the category of "extremely flammable", which is why you typically see people use chemicals like gasoline when they burn a house down because that makes the process faster. A fire is itself a chemical process and it needs fuel to consume in order to continue burning. You could burn a large structure of wood if you struck at the right spot but this would require you to get close, and unlike a house a giant wolf made of wood isn't going to allow you to get close without attacking you. Still, Spike should have at least tried as it would have been more substantial than throwing a rock at it.
573*** But the reasons above explain why setting wood on fire is impractical, and we see well enough in the episode that throwing rocks at them breaks them into pieces. Also, the wolves are animated by some kind of living magic, so perhaps intuitively obvious methods like setting them on fire don't work on them at all.
574** He doesn't ''burn'' paper/wood, he sends it to Celestia. Imagine sitting there on your throne chilling when suddenly TIMBERWOLVES HUNDREDS OF THEM..
575*** He can burn paper, and instantly bake pies. Probably not enough. He's only a baby.
576** There's also the fact that green wood doesn't burn easily; unless the timberwolves are formed out of dried wood, they might not be that flammable.
577*** Considering the timberwolves had green leaf ears, they were most definitely green wood.
578** The timberwolves are most likely an enchantment rather than biological creatures (Wood Golems). Whoever or whatever created the enchantment most likely had the foresight to make them flame resistant.
579** He could have at least tried. Even if the fire didn't burn them, it might have scared them off.
580* If being saved by someone puts a dragon into debt for eternity, shouldn't Spike, and by extension, every "Noble Dragon" be in debt to the entire Mane Six, as they have saved Equestria about three times by this point?
581** Dragons are pretty badass. With Nightmare Moon, eternal night wouldn't be much of a problem, since they can generate their own warmth, bathe in lava, and might be able to eat literally anything, possibly getting oxygen from eating material containing it. Discord... is hard to tell, we don't know if the chaos he brings could muck them up, or if his powers are geographically limited (he's always talked about as having ruled Equestria, not beyond). In fact, Spike wasn't really affected by the chaos, though that might be Discord not yet getting around to him personally. With Chrysalis... you're kidding, right? A changeling invasion against dragons would last about as long as an extended lunchtime. In draconic circles, such an event would be referred to as "The War of Hors D'Oeuvres"
582*** A third possibility is that it only obligates them for saving them from immediate threats. Discord might be a problem in the long term (see above for why Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon aren't considered threats at all to dragons), but the Noble Dragon Code only applies to those who save their rumps right then and there, lest some jackass claim their farming technique ensured the long-term survival of the dragon in question in order to claim eternal servitude.
583*** Plus, they might consider it the work of the Elements of Harmony, the literal artifacts the Mane Cast used. They are transferable objects that without which, the Mane Cast would have been completely incapable of handling these threats.
584*** There's also the possibility that most dragons either are unaware or don't believe that the Mane Six have saved Equestria repeatedly.
585*** Or perhaps with Spike (due to his upbringing with Twilight), he takes the Noble Dragon code very seriously, while other dragons would most likely treat it as some sort of suggestion than obligation.
586** Spike's "Noble Dragon Card" is pretty obviously home-made, and his last attempt to connect with his draconic heritage went really poorly because all the other dragons were jerks. The other dragons aren't indebted to the main six because Spike made the Noble Dragon Code up himself as a way to create a culture he can believe in and grow up with that won't end in rampant, destructive greed.
587* How can Spike be so clumsy in the Apple household when up to this point he was quite competent helping Twilight with all the books and stuff? It seems a bit forced.
588** A combination of possible factors:
589*** Overenthusiasm: he's so dead set on helping that he isn't really paying attention
590*** He's not ''that'' competent. Even in the library, he occasionally drops stuff or sets books on fire or whatever. It's possible that he's only so effective in the library because he's literally been doing it his whole life. When he gets pulled out of that zone, he has no clue what he's doing, and he's too young to realize it. This results in him not knowing what he's doing, but doing it with his usual amount of gusto.
591* As minor as this is, this is a source of bafflement for me: how is Rainbow Dash able to perfectly imitate another species? The whinny in "Sleepless in Ponyville" is understandable, but this is an entirely different animal she's replicating. Plus, it seems more like a Pinkie Pie moment, being completely random, against the norm, and unexplained. As it seems slightly inconsistent with her character, Rainbow Dash requires more explanation. I sincerely hope the show clarifies this in another season.
592** RuleOfFunny.
593* What was the point of cleaning the pig if it was going to get dirty all over again? That is like the most pointless thing ever!
594** Actually, farmers bath their pigs when they're taking them to a contest so the judges can examine them in detail. Maybe Applejack was taking the pig to a contest.
595** Another option is that AJ gave that job to Apple Bloom just to give her little sister something to do and make the little girl feel she's collaborating with the farm's chores; doing a job that isn't beyond the little one's capacities and has no serious consequences if done wrong. It's something parents and older siblings often do to teach responsibility to children and to make them feel useful.
596** ''Everything'' gets dirty again eventually after you clean it, so let's just stop wasting time on cleaning anything altogether...oh, wait. -- More seriously, if you wanted to give the pig even the most cursory check to see whether or not it looks healthy (no unusual skin conditions or the like, say), cleaning it off first would only make sense.
597*** I know everything gets dirty eventually, but this is different. The pig rolled around in mud literally less than an minute after it was cleaned. I can understand cleaning it if you were gonna do something important with the pig... but just letting it get dirty so soon? That would be like if someone cleaned their dog and it ran off to go roll around in mud immediately after giving them a bath, that would be very frustrating.
598*** It makes perfect sense for the pig to roll in mud. Pigs lack sweat glands and need to roll in mud to keep themselves cool, or they could very well die. The most likely reason for cleaning it was to check on its health. So after the pig was found healthy they let it roll in mud so it can stay healthy.
599*** It's called a joke, as in "Hey, they went to all that trouble to clean the pig and now it's dirty again, ha ha ha."
600* Why did they need to make a Timberwolf marionette which Twilight was going to animate via its strings/handles, when she could have just animated it herself with the same magic?
601** Because her magic would have made the puppet glow. However, as evidenced by Discord's similar use of puppetry when he 'discorded' applejack, peripheral vision doesn't exist when it's plot convenient.
602*** Though arguably, the show has not outright asserted that the other ponies see the magic glow when an object is being manipulated (see "Winter Wrap Up", where despite the entire plow glowing, AJ can't tell Twilight is using magic.)
603*** The show has been very consistent about ponies being unable to see spell auras. There isn't any evidence that they can see them, and
604* There’s something that has been bugging me in this episode. When Applejack’s hoof got stuck in the rocks, why didn’t she just stomp or kick the rock off with her free hoof!? Applejack’s kicks are really strong so it could have moved or even broke the rock!
605[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E24MysteryOnTheFriendshipExpress Mystery]] explicitly shows that unicorn levitation is invisible from the perspective of the other characters. Stronger spells effects might sometimes be visible, but the standard glow isn't.
606[[/folder]]
607
608[[folder:[=3.11=] Keep Calm and Flutter On]]
609* If Fluttershy said that the stare just happens - as in, she can't control it - then why did she threaten to use it on Discord? Has she gained control over it?
610** That's probably why it didn't work; she was ''trying'' to do it.
611** I think she's either lying, exaggerating or mistaken. She certainly seems to have control over it when she used it on her chickens in season one. She also reassured Rarity that she would never use it on Opalescence which means at the very least she doesn't HAVE to use it if she doesn't want to.
612** Maybe it's a reflex; Fluttershy's Stare is more effective when she has little or no control over it, as she was forced to use it on the cockatrice to save the Cutie Mark Crusaders' lives, and it worked. Here, she purposefully tried to use it on Discord, which didn't work.
613** Rainbow Dash used to not be able to pull off a Sonic Rainboom at will. Now she can. Perhaps The Stare is similar.
614* So, what exactly does a "reforming spell" entail? Brainwashing Discord into being a good guy?
615** Something like what Discord does, that turns them against their true self?
616* Now that Discord is free, and on the road to redemption, where is he going to take up residence? Will he remain at Fluttershy's cottage? And seeing that John DeLancie isn't a regular on the show, will give us some off screen mentions of him?
617** He could create his own house. He has the power to do so.
618** Princess Celestia's appearance implies that he'll be going to Canterlot. Wherever he stays, it's unlikely that he'll be hanging around Ponyville.
619* Why was Celestia making that awkward, slightly apprehensive facial expression at the very end of the episode? Was it in reaction to Fluttershy's comment about Discord or Discord [[TitleDrop title dropping]] the show's title?
620** She still doesn't fully trust Discord (let's face it, she shouldn't at this point) and while his realization that he cares about having friends is an encouraging start, it's still only a beginning. And if everything should in fact come crashing down in the end (I don't think it will, but even if I'm right ''Celestia'' can't know that), ''whose'' fault would that be for coming up with this silly plan to "reform" him in the first place, again?
621* What kept Discord's statue from falling over and breaking on the way to Ponyville? There wasn't anything holding it in place, all it would take is one clumsy guard and *SMASH* !
622** It was probably better secured than it looked. Princess Celestia and a good chunk of the royal guards can use magic, after all.
623** Maybe it did fall off. Celestia was running late, after all.
624** '''Can''' it even be smashed? Is it relative to how powerful the being that was turned to stone was? Is it just an outer prison and he was actually trapped INSIDE of stone?...After having re-watched the scene where they free him, it honestly looks like it's an outer shell.
625*** Be a bit small to fit him, in that case. Stone flaking off is a standard effect for when someone is restored to flesh, so it's just a non-plot related visual like the spell auras.
626* What does God need with a friendship?
627** Since we know nothing about Discord's origins, it is possible that before he became an omnipotent spirit of chaos, he sought friends, but was unable to have any. Perhaps being rejected in his youth was part of his StartOfDarkness. Nice [[Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier Star Trek]] reference though.
628** There was a distinct lack of explanation for why Discord cared for for Fluttershy's friendship. This story really could have used a second episode to show why having a friend made a difference to Discord, especially since all she did was put up with his shenanigans, which everyone else ends up doing when he's on a rampage.
629*** My guess is that it matters to him exactly because he won't get Fluttershy's friendship, should he go on a rampage. If you think about it, Discord actually acts very much like a simple spoiled child that whines until his parents buy him a toy. Only in his case there is a near omnipotense instead of parents and Chaos instead of a toy, which is worse. Fluttershy was ready to put up with the inconvinience of sharing her home with Discord not because of fear or being forced to do it, but on her own accord, because she considered him her friend. I doubt Discord ever had anyone actually willing to do something for him, so that made him appreciate his newfound friendship so much that he wouldn't be able to part with it and thus had to cope with inability to have the things going his way all the time. Afterall, he can create his World of Chaos any time he wants it, and he is immortal, so he might as well be patient and appreciate the moments of friendship with Fluttershy and get back to his other entertainment later.
630*** It's similar to an event in a Q episode "True Q" - where a new Q uses her powers to make her heart's desire fall in love with her, but gets no joy from his attention as it is artificial. Discord can do ANYTHING, but the joy of friendship is that you can't make it happen, you have to earn it, so when you have it, it is all the sweeter. Your friends actually like you, you can't brainwash them, they have to choose to do it. Thus, he realized he'd lost something he couldn't just snap his fingers and restore, and THAT's why he cares about it.
631** Discord is Chaos incarnate, and most feelings would be technically his dominion. It's very probable he doesn't even realize WHY Fluttershy's friendship is suddenly so important to him, he just knows that it is.
632** I figure it's a you-don't-know-what-you've-got-until-it's-gone kinda thing. He didn't realize how much he wanted friends until he lost the ''only'' friend he has ''ever had''. He's be around for how long? Over a 1000 years? And in all that time, he has ''never'' had a friend, never had someone who cared even a little for him. He's probably wanted friends for a long time, but didn't know it until he lost his first ever friend. He's probably wanted acceptance for a long time and Fluttershy was the first to ever do that. Losing her and her acceptance of him came as a bigger blow than he anticipated, because he's wanted it for all this time and didn't realize it.
633** I always imagined it was a bit of ItsAllAboutMe thrown into the mix. Discord doesn't NEED Fluttershy's friendship, but once he has something, he won't give it up just because. So he makes a few simple concessions that don't matter to him to keep something he wants. Easy peasy.
634* Okay, so what exactly did Celestia need Discord's help with? It's a nitpick admittedly, but it's so concerning. Is there another reality warper on the rise? Is Discord the only one who can acquire the next MacGuffin? [[ShipTease Does she want to get laid?]]
635** It could be a precaution. Celestia is powerful but she's certainly not the most powerful being in Equestria. Having an ally like Discord would be a huge help against future threats.
636** While I believe the above Troper is onto something I don't think this is a precaution. I think this is a PLAN. When the Crystal Empire reappeared Luna wanted to go personally and either deal with or assist with the problem (it's not clear which), Celestia stops her because Twilight needs prove she's able to take it to the next level. Now we're freeing and domesticating Discord? I'm pretty sure that whatever is coming next is the kind of epic bad that three princess and the Elements of Harmony aren't enough to handle. Also how powerful Celestia is or isn't really is never covered clearly. It heavily implied that Discord is more powerful than she is by a heavy margin but after this episode it seems that she's perfectly capable of nullifying him as long as she makes the first move, so it's possible that she would have been more effective last time had he not effectively snuck up on her and even then she made no direct effort to enter the battle until the final step.
637** Celestia just says she has ''use'' for Discord's magic if he can be reformed (which is kind of a no-brainer, of course he could be a powerful asset) -- not necessarily that she anticipates any immediate ''need'' for it. It might indeed just be a precaution, and possibly even just a bit of a smokescreen for trying to reform him just because she ''wants'' to (and because releasing Discord under controlled circumstances just about ''has'' to be better than just sitting there waiting for him to one day break out under his own power ''again'').
638*** Considering it took Discord at least one thousand years to break out before waiting for him to break out on his own again seems to be a prudent plan. Especially since he can be relocated. I want to know why they didn't banish his statue to the far end of nowhere a few hundred years ago and hope he didn't wander back.
639* The guy who can change reality with a flick of his finger is now one the side of the good guys. How can any villain stand a chance against that? It was already hard enough to come up with reasons why Celestia and Luna couldn’t defeat a big bad, but what kind of excuse are they going to use for Discord?
640** They're probably going to [[TheWorfEffect Worf the hell out of him.]]
641** Well, Discord is the God of Chaos, basically. If he's on the side of the good guys, then he's not really using his magic to cause chaos...so he might not be nearly as strong anymore.
642** First, yes, he's a prime candidate for a RedemptionDemotion. It's even somewhat plausible -- once he starts to actually ''care'' about what effect his antics have on others, he pretty much by definition can't fling his power around quite as carelessly and freely as he did before. But perhaps more importantly, second, as with the princesses his ''actual'' power may have been somewhat exaggerated by the fandom. He may be more powerful than Celestia and Luna (whose own badassery is mostly [[MemeticBadass of the memetic kind]] in turn), but with the boundaries on magic in the setting not particularly well defined it's hard to say where his upper limits actually are. We've seen him use mainly transmutation effects, teleportation, and his brainwashing trick -- all things that, while perhaps on a slightly grander scale than usual, don't really seem all that out of bounds for a hypothetical sufficiently powerful and crazy ''unicorn'' wizard...
643*** We've seen him have large-scale environmental effects like raising and lowering the moon at will as well as altering the geography, grant ponies reality-defying properties without much effort, and he's got a sort of omnipresence that lets him keep up with current events even when turned to stone. Discord is effortlessly slinging around mojo that would probably exhaust Twilight to even attempt, and [[ExcuseMeWhileIMultitask he's doing it all at the same time]]. Perhaps to explain the necessary power level reduction, he's got a PowerBornOfMadness, and when he's not crazy, he loses power (though he'll probably still be on Royal Alicorn sisters level).
644*** Twilight, for all her talent, is still a ''student'' in the magic department. Let her get a few decades under her figurative belt and mature to, say, about Star Swirl the Bearded level, then we can talk about how powerful Discord still is compared to her.
645*** He's still capable of overriding both Celestia and Luna in bringing up and down the sun and moon, does it while simultaneously wrecking the landscape.
646*** Which is kind of the point: much of the general idea the fandom has of Discord's power level seems to be based on the same fandom's likewise exaggerated opinion of the power of the ''princesses''. There's a lot of (not necessarily even bad) outright fanfic ''hype'' going around when it comes to these three.
647** We may be preparing for a Unicron or Cthulu (Cthulucron?) Scale villain.
648** I think when they say good they mean he's not actively looking to hurt others. When it actually comes time to pick a side he'll lean more towards ChaoticNeutral with little hints of ChaoticGood. (Like Q from Star Trek.) Or they'll just Handwave it by saying that he's off fighting bigger and badder guys, like other Draconequus.
649** It's also possible that as strong as he seems he might have serious limitations placed on him. It occurred to me watching Disney's The Return of Jafar. Genies are ridiculously over powered but the inability to kill (or even do lasting harm it seems, I know breaking everybody's legs would have gone a long way to victory) anybody might be what keeps Discord in check. So it may be that he did that brainwashing trick to the Main Six because whatever rules/limitations he's subject to meant that was ALL he could do.
650** The S4 premiere and subsequent episodes answer this: Discord retains his power, but while he's no longer quite as openly malevolent, he's still a tremendous jerk and won't use his powers to help them if he thinks it'll be more fun to let them figure it out themselves. In addition, he sort of fancies himself as a StealthMentor who prefers to make the ponies ''work'' for their win, even if he could solve it with a fingersnap. And "Three's A Crowd" shows that he isn't ''completely invincible''; as [[spoiler: A tatzlwurm sneeze manages to make him sick.]]
651* Fluttershy kept her promise of not using her element even after Discord tricked her (i.e. "fixing" the flood by turning it into ice and openly mocking her). Why? This doesn't seem like a particularly smart decision - how did she know that Discord wouldn't return to his old ways, torturing ponies and wreaking havoc for the hell of it? Would she have kept her promise then, leaving countless others to suffer?
652** While it is problematic, Fluttershy is the element of kindness (foolish or not), not loyalty or intelligence. Perhaps she has the ability to sense when someone is in need of kindness (like the manticore) and being kind to them will improve the situation.
653** That's the idea--it is risky, and there is a good chance that her keeping her word wouldn't work. That being said, if she decided to break her promise and use her Element of Harmony to attack Discord with, Discord could just poof the Elements somewhere else like he did before because he'd know exactly what would happen next otherwise. Fluttershy had to choose between possible failure and guaranteed failure.
654*** Except Celestia warded the Elements against his magic, so "just poofing them somewhere else like he did before" wouldn't be an option.
655*** He could still poof the ponies themselves anywhere he wanted, they've got to be together to be a threat to him after all.
656* Why did the others of the Mane 6 seem confused when Princess Celestia put her faith in Fluttershy? Did they forget who the Element of Kindness was?
657** Because they were expecting to band up and either collectively nicen up Discord or preparing to fight him again should anything go awry.
658* How was Celestia able to ward the Elements from Discord's magic, when she was unable in "The Return of Harmony"?
659** Discord utterly blindsided her in "The Return of Harmony". When Celestia had the time she cast the spell. The original spell binding Discord lasted over a thousand years mind you so she may have believed it permanent.
660*** Still doesn't explain him bypassing her already-warded vault.
661*** I doubt the vault was warded enough to stop someone like Discord. We don't even know if the vault was warded at all outside of needing magic to '''open'''. It's less that she made the Elements magic-proof, and more that she made them Discord-proof.
662* During the episode the Mane 6 are served at a dinner party by Discord. During the Dinner Pinkie Pie requests gravy with her food, now seeing that ponies in nature are herbivores it seems a bit odd.
663** You can find recipes for vegetarian gravy online. There's onion gravy, for instance.
664** You can also make it with mushroom soup. Just needs a little thickening, so add a tablespoon of corn starch. Stir, and add more until it's the way you want it. (Fantastic on potatoes.) However, that gravy was just plain brown, which can be made without ingredients that will offend a herbivorous animal. Heck, my cat eats it!
665*** Your cat is a pure herbivore, like a horse? Better check on that. Cats are definitely carnivorous.
666*** I think he's talking about the gravy. And the cat is unlikely to be on a pure gravy diet.
667* If the only thing keeping Discord in check is his desire to have a friend, what happens when he makes friends that share his interests?
668** I don't think we'll need to worry. [[Franchise/TheDCU The DC universe]] and Equestria do not share a continuity so Discord and The Joker will never meet. On a more serious note, friendship is more than just having similar interests. Even if Discord were to find someone with a love for chaos he wouldn't want to hurt his newly made friends, especially Fluttershy. (Well, he truly has reformed that is.)
669[[/folder]]
670
671[[folder:[=3.12=] Games Ponies Play]]
672* The games inspector complains about never getting an honest view of what places in Equestria are really like because everyone's always trying to impress her, but after getting no welcome at all, she talks to a pony who had a wonderful welcome and that convinces her to give the games to the Crystal Empire. ''Except that warm, impressive welcome was meant for HER and she only didn't get it because of a mix-up''. And that would be okay, except ''Rainbow Dash explains that in her presence''. What the Hell? All the Mane Six did was prove that the Empire isn't any different from any other place competing for the right to host the games, ''and'' Harshwhinny had a terrible time on top of that. What the Hell?
673** They needed their DeusExMachina happy ending.
674** Maybe Harshwhinny thought that everyone who visits the Crystal Empire gets that treatment and that she was left out for whatever reason. It's still deceptive and Twilight et al. lucked out though. Not that there's anything wrong with that sort of ending, if you ask me. ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' pulls these sorts of morally ambiguous endings all the time, though I can understand why eople would get up in arms of this sort of ending on this show, which tries to be as wholesome as possible without being badly-written. It is a tough balancing act.
675* Why didn't the Mane 6 just ask the pony they met at the train station, they were the Inspector? That way they wouldn't get the wrong pony, who also has a flower pattern on her suitcase. This would've been avoided if they just did that. Heck, they could have just said, "Ms. Harshwhinney?"
676** Near the end of the episode, the inspector complained about places in Equestria sucking-up to her to convince her to have the Equestria games in their town. My guess is that the mane 6 didn't want to appear too overt and phony with introducing their "guest" (by that, I mean appear as genuine, but still enthusiastic as possible with every visitor).
677** For that matter, why didn't the messenger have a more specific description of the inspector than mentioning the pattern on her luggage? It didn't even mention what type of pony she was, let alone anything personal about her appearance.
678*** The real question is, why didn't they think twice when they saw the floral luggage HAD A TEAR IN IT? They spend the whole first few minutes talking about what a hardass she is, why would she go around doing official business with a ratty suitcase?
679*** What, your luggage never gets a tear? They probably thought that Mistress Harshwhinny just hadn't had time to replace it yet.
680*** And yet they never make that observation, and they all arrive at that conclusion at the exact same time? Harshwhinny's only known characteristic is that she's a hardass whose job is to judge the places she goes according to highly competitive standards; showing up ''anywhere'' with her suitcase in tatters when her job is literally to travel is, equally literally, the very image of being unprofessional.
681* The Mane Six would have realized they weren't attending the real inspector just by looking at her cutie mark; a chicken/hen. Unless the games inspector used to be a poultry inspector, this detail is more than enough to question the mare's identity, since the cutie mark reflects a pony's personality or job.
682** With how Rainbow Dash was acting, she'd probably just claim it was another test or something.
683*** Maybe there are (non-magical) ways to conceal one's cutie mark and RD thought that was what the inspector used.
684*** Yeah, in Ponyville Confidential, we see that cutie marks are part of the coat, NOT the skin, so RD probably thought that she just used paint or something.
685** [[FlatWhat What]]? By the same logic, Cheerilee's flowers make her a gardener, Twilight's flash of light makes her a photographer, and Luna's moon makes her an astronomer. Cutie marks aren't a visual indication of job.
686** Plus, IdiotBall. The plot required them to ignore any indication that they were dealing with a run-of-the-mill tourist, up to and including having a highly ambiguous way of telling the inspector apart from anyone else. Yet they don't do the basic thing, such as ask for a name.
687* How could Cloudsdale have ever been in the running to host the Games? It's made of clouds, there's nothing really solid up there. Unless they decided to exclude everyone who isn't a pegasus from entry, it wouldn't have any chance of playing host.
688** Why do you think it wasn't chosen?
689*** I get that, but the problem is so obvious that it really should have been taken into account before getting their hearts up with a visit. Unless they have a stadium on a large plateau like the Wonderbolt Academy (which would still present a lot of issues for large numbers of non-pegasi, but still) we don't know about, it shouldn't have been presented as an option.
690*** In Sonic Rainboom, it was shown that there are spells to allow non-Pegasus ponies to walk on clouds temporarily.
691*** Yes, but that would be incredibly inconvenient. It's one thing to do it for 4 people, it's another to do it for several hundred.
692*** Not to mention all the walkways that would have to be added to a city where the local population is used to flying from place to place in order to accommodate the non-pegasi, even ''with'' cloudwalking spells.
693** But it was considered as a location, even if it was rejected, so it could have been feasible to put in features for non-pegasi. Cloud-walking spells and condensed clouds are just two options, so long as they could get the staff. Or else the entire city could be lowered to ground level temporarily.
694*** An easy way for Cloudsdale to qualify would be if ''the ground underneath it'' was city property as well. Whether or not that's actually the case is something that hasn't really been addressed yet.
695*** It works for Las Pegasus, a hybrid cloud-ground city. It could work for Cloudsdale. Also, they could build special structures made of solid ground or provide transportation for competitors and spectators.
696* So, the Crystal Empire is part of Equestria? In this episode it was called just a city in Equestria, and it is unlikely that it would be chosen as a location for the games if it was actually a foreign nation.
697** Equestria in general is considered an amalgamation of all the territories that subscribe to Princess Celestia's authority, and are thus subject to the authority of Canterlot politics. An Empire by definition works in much the same way, it has control of multiple different territories that are subject to the ruling body's authority. The Crystal Empire logically cannot be an Empire and at the same time be an Equestrian kingdom, either it is an Empire thus making it a foreign, but friendly, nation, or it is subject to Celestia's authority. However regardless of whether it is a foreign nation or not I don't see why Celestia wouldn't involve friendly foreign nations in their sports, similar to the Olympics we host in real life.
698** It's possible the name "Crystal Empire" is a [[VestigialEmpire remnant of a time when it was much bigger]]. Nowadays, it's just a name, like Equestria being called a kingdom, despite the fact that nations ruled by princes/princesses are called "principalities".
699** Given that the Crystal Empire has been gone for the past thousand years, it's likely that they lack the infrastructure to act as an independent nation, and as such they're considered a part of Equestria until it's strengthened enough to exist on its own. In fact, that might be why they're so adamant about hosting the games; it would demonstrate that they're capable of functioning on such a large scale.
700* Why wasn't anyone from the Empire helping show around the Inspector? The Manes hardly know the place, and even Cadance isn't a native of the region.
701** The city was gone for a thousand years, they probably have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to modern behaviors and mannerisms.
702*** Still, there wasn't even a crystal pony assisting them. It seems an odd choice, given that the Manes don't even know their way around the castle.
703*** Right after they arrive in the empire, Twilight speculates that they were asked to handle the welcome because (evidently) "every pony in the empire" was already busy helping to tidy the place up. Ridiculous as that sounds, a handwave's still a handwave.
704* Rarity uses a ''battery-powered drill''. Does it use magic or electricity?
705* Why would Ms. Harshwinny choose to arrive so early? Couldn't they have just informed her that needed more time to get ready since Cadence's mane stylist was out sick?
706[[/folder]]
707
708[[folder:[=3.13=] Magical Mystery Cure]]
709* Why was Applejack making dresses? Rarity's cutie mark isn't dress-making; it's gem-finding -- she just happens to like using the gems in her fashion designs. Applejack could have taken the talent in a completely different direction if she wanted. Similarly, Rainbow Dash's cutie mark was supposed to be for speed, not weather control.
710** IMHO, you're both wrong - why is Rainbow Dash's CM about racing? Just look at it - it's *cloud*, not finish line. Rainbow Dash got it by creating rainboom, a *weather* phenomenon. Same with Rarity - she got it making dresses. Seriously, racing and gemfinding? I'd say the new owners explanations are spot-on.
711** Finding gems may be her special talent, but fashion is her destiny.
712*** Finding gems isn't even her special talent. Her special talent is fashion, with gems being her trademark. She go her mark after presenting her dazzling dresses, not when discovering gems.
713** Rarity signature spell is for finding gems, her cutie mark didn't appeared until she saw the other fillies wearing her gem-encrusted costumes happily, not just for finding the gems, alternatively, one gives their own meaning to their cutie mark, as Cherilee's flowers means "teaching" to her, and Twilights means "magic", while Photo Finish has the same mark and means "Taking awesome photographs" to her.
714** Rarity didn't say what she thought her fake mark symbolized, just that she had been controlling the weather since it appeared. Rarity's response strongly implied that she had a different interpretation than Rainbow Dash.
715** The spell altered their societal role, not their personal role. Destiny is usually measured in relation to society.
716** Still, Rarity’s cutie mark has to do with gems- specially using gems in fashion. Rainbow’s is speed-related. AJ should have been trying to use gems in her outfits if she was obeying her cutie mark. We see the “interpretation” thing isn’t true because if it were, it doesn’t explain what simple-solution oriented Rainbow and AJ are doing. There’s no reason why AJ would look at three diamonds and think “I make dresses”. There’s also no reason why Fluttershy would think “balloons” mean “being onstage making people laugh”. Rarity should have been doing something related to speed, like trying to cause a Rainboom on the ground. Weather isn’t something we often see Rainbow doing unless all Pegasi are doing it. Rarity and AJ’s interpretations don’t make sense from any standpoint. Not from “I think it means this” or from “it told me it means this”. Only Pinkie Pie and Rainbow were doing exactly what the Cutie Mark would have been telling them- run Sweet Apple Acres and tend to animals. We’re told way back in S1 that Rainbow’s special talent is rainbooms, Pinkie’s is throwing parties, AJ’s is running Sweet Apple Acres, Rarity’s is putting gems into clothing, and Fluttershy’s is tending to animals. That should have been what the others were doing if they were doing “what their cutie mark is telling [them]”, as they were supposed to be doing the others’ special talents. It’s why Twilight CAN single out Rainbow to help Rarity and why Rarity is the only one doing what she’s doing. All Pegasi can work with weather. There’s no reason why Rarity was left to do it alone.
717* To go along with the above headscratcher about talent: If the ponies' cutie marks changed, then why didn't their talents change, too? Ponies don't get a random cutie mark; they get it in something they're good at. Even if the cutie marks were swapped around by magic, this should change their abilities, too, since if the ponies think that they got those cutie marks naturally, then it must mean that they have some ability in their new talent.
718** The swapped cutie marks were fake. No spell can give a pony a real cutie mark, which is why they were overwritten by their real cutie marks the instant they were reminded of their true selves. Their memories were also altered, and they were implanted with an artificial compulsion, which is why they were trying to do something they disliked. They might have thought that they got their cutie marks naturally, but that was just another altered memory, as the change wasn't retroactive.
719*** Cutiepox seems to suggest that even a fake cutie mark comes complete with the appropriate skill set.
720*** The Mane Five didn't have the Cutiepox, which seemed to create real, but uncontrolled cutie marks. The fakes that they got were more like the fakes that Twilight tried to summon onto Apple Bloom's butt back in the first season, but still distinctly different.
721** The Cutie Mark swapping was a symptom, not a cause. The spell altered their destiny, their past, it altered who they were as ponies. The Cutie Marks were just reflections of these changes, not the cause of the changes. Once they were restored to their true selves, their real CM was restored.
722*** That's not really possible. If it altered their destiny, their past, and who they were as ponies, they wouldn't be bad at their new talents. "It's what my Cutie Mark is ''telling me''" definitely implies it's their own perception of what their Cutie Mark now means that's causing the problem, and we know from plenty of other episodes that ponies that try to do anything contrary to their true destiny are ridiculous failures at whatever the wrong thing is.
723** Again, I'm gonna go with "because the plot demanded it." Or maybe the writers just forgot that cutie marks don't work that way, I don't know.
724* Rarity claimed to have been controlling weather since her cutie mark appeared, but Dash continued her schooling for some time after getting her mark. While Rarity was literally correct, did she mean that she remembered starting the weather control job when she was a filly, or what?
725** Probably a fake memory that hasn't been well-integrated with the rest of her mind. None of them seem very sure about the placements they got; they simply put it down to "cutie mark says yes, so what can you do?"
726* If Swapped!RBD is living in Fluttershy's cottage, Swapped!Fluttershy in Pinkie's bedroom, etc. - where does Swapped!Rarity live? If she really had RBD's life, her house would have been a cloud one in the sky.
727** The changes weren't retroactive, and didn't last long enough for Rarity to try to spend the night at Rainbow's house. It would have been interesting how Rarity's altered memories tried to play that.
728* How did the whole scenario play out for the rest of the Apple family - did they think Pinkie was a family member or did they know something was wrong? (a question about all the townsponies as well) Did they just disappear and let Sweet Apple Acres fall into decay?
729** Given that Twilight started looking intot he swaps right after breakfast, the other Apples might not have realized that Applejack had ran off and Pinkie replaced her until Twilight got there. After that, they were just putting up with her until Twilight found a solution.
730* While Celestia was probably going to grant Twilight the title regardless of what the completed spell did, did Celestia know what Twilight's version was going to do? Given that the uncompleted version did nothing related to creating winged unicorns, expecting it to have that result doesn't really make sense.
731** '''"From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone fulfilled."''' Based on the wording of the incomplete spell itself, it honestly seems to be a spell to fulfill one's destiny. But as it was incomplete, didn't work out as planned, and caused the Element of Magic to mess with the other Elements. A big of fridge also comes into play when you consider the possibility that Starswirl '''did''' complete the spell. [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Has Discord's origin been elaborated on at all yet?]] Hmm...
732*** Discord's friendless background, to an extent far beyond that of Twilight Sparkle, judging by his reaction, makes it highly unlikely that he was ever a pony. Then again, his claims of being friendless play badly with the amount of social skills that he has displayed.
733*** On the other hand/hoof, Starswirl was said to have failed the spell because he didn't understand friendship like Twilight did. And are you implying that a pony growing up without friends is impossible simply because they are a pony? That...makes no sense.
734* How was becoming a winged unicorn Twilight's destiny if it only happened because she finished a spell that was given to her by Princess Celestia? It's just as artificial as her friends' swapped marks, just that no one is complaining about it.
735** That's the subtle (read: mind-boggling) logic of destiny; twilight was destined to complete the spell that would complete her destiny.[[note]]in-show, anyway.[[/note]]
736* What would have happened to the weather if one of the earth ponies had gotten Rainbow's cutie mark? The changes looked random. Rarity at least had her magic to try and do something, but Pinkie and AJ have nothing.
737** There was a [[https://www.deviantart.com/kturtle/art/Twilight-cheats-at-Magical-Mystery-Cure-357154651 fancomic]] that had Twilight cheat by doing the below entry 4 times. Applejack tried using a rake (which didn’t reach the clouds at all) and Pinkie used a trampoline.
738* Why not just cast the spell again to fix the cutie marks? Sure, they might just end up swapping again, but there are only so many combinations to go around, sooner or later everyone would just end up with their standard cutie marks.
739** The problem came about because Twilight cast an incomplete spell without knowing anything about it. There's no way of knowing what would happen if she cast it again, it might make things even worse.
740** With five ponies, there are 120 possible combinations; assuming each iteration is random, that means you would have to cast the mind-altering, reality-bending spell an average of five dozen times. That has "bad idea" written all over it.
741*** It's a reckless approach it's less dangerous than her "I'll kill any Pinky that that responds to anything." plan, while it didn't do ANYTHING using the Elements against Discord when they discorded was pretty high on the toodumbtolive scale as well. I can easily see her at least trying this.
742*** Erm... there wasn't actually any indication that she was ''killing'' the Pinkies in said episode. It's a popular {{Fanon}} interpretation, but the {{Canon}} actually seems to imply she was just sending them back to wherever they came from in the first place -- still risky and dangerous, but the absolute worst case is that Pinkie is... somewhere else.
743*** 'Somewhere else' might be a place where they can see her, but can't return her from, a fate which might be even *worse* than death, especially for pony like Pinkie.
744*** Rainbow Dash was about to get eaten alive later that day. They couldn't afford to waste a moment, much less trying to cast a spell 120 times. Granted, Twilight couldn't have known what would've transpired in that cottage, but I'm sure she knew not to waste time.
745*** Not to mention that there's no guarantee the spell will set the cutie marks in a combination that it hasn't yet set them to. Each time the spell was cast, it could be a 1 in 120 chance to get the correct combination. Twilight could cast the spell a million times and never see the correct combination. It's just not a feasible solution at all.
746* So, where was Discord? He spent his entire first appearance screwing with the weather, and his last appearance centered on his learning the value of friendship. He should have been the ''first'' person Twilight went to for help controlling the destructive weather patterns Rarity was making, instead of just retreating to her room to sing a moping song about how she screwed up.
747** That's if she even knew how to contact Discord in the first place.
748** ''IF''? Of ''course'' she knew how to contact Discord, ''through Celestia''. Celestia was the one who took him into custody in the first place, she would have to know where he was! At least she could have ''tried''. Twilight spends pretty much the whole show learning how to delegate whenever possible, having her contact Discord to contain the weather while she figured out a solution would have been a better test of character than learning how to make friends because your [[TheChessmaster mentor]] thinks a princess should understand friendship.
749** Discord being the first person to contact makes very little sense, especially when she didn't even consider contacting Celestia. He's insanely dangerous, and only restored his own chaos. Assuming he can magically fix a broken spell because he is him makes as much sense as Celestia doing it. Which raises the question of why twilight didn't ask her. Which I would guess was shame + the short duration of it.
750** I think she didn't contact Discord to solve this problem because she isn't dumb enough to think that Discord can be a reliable solution to a chaotic problem. He's a nice guy now, sometimes, but only sometimes, and its almost certain that any solution he offers will leave things entertainingly chaotic ''somehow''. No, far better to try and do it on her own before resorting to Mr. "Status Quo is just ''boring''".
751*** Season 4's Opener answers this pretty well. Discord is under no apparent obligation to help if he's not in the mood and in addition summoning him to solve what from his point of view would be a harmless but hilarious prank wouldn't be wise. He'd probably just make it worse by hiding the plot coupons.
752* I'm not opposed to Twilight becoming a princess, but why did ''this'' trigger her coronation specifically? Why is "creating new magic" more impressive than saving the entire kingdom a few times over? Or Fluttershy taming Discord? Or any other number of feats the Mane Six have accomplished throughout the series?
753** It wasn't just the spell that proved her worthy. It was the accumulation of all her accomplishments and how much she has changed as a person. The spell simply proved that the Twilight we saw in episode 1 has changed and now has all the qualities that Celestia sees fit in a ruler.
754** Twilight's story arc is very similar to that of a typical grad student (Celestia is her thesis advisor, and she's been pointing Twilight towards studying the connection between friendship and magic the entire series). Getting a Ph.D. requires demonstrating the ability to do original research: the fixed version of Starswirl's spell is Twilight's Ph.D. thesis! (And the past episode montage with Celestia after Twilight is zapped is a very gentle version of a Ph.D. defense).
755* If creating new magic is enough to become royalty, why isn't Starswirl a prince right now? Doesn't he have an entire wing of the royal library dedicated to him and his discoveries?
756** Aside from Equestria seemingly having only princesses for whatever reason, with the particular spell in question it was mentioned that Starswirl couldn't actually finish/make the spell because he didn't understand friendship. Twilight was able to complete the spell where he couldn't.
757** Two explanations. First, Starswirl simply rejected the position for whatever reason. Second, he didn't exhibit qualities that made him suitable to lead a country. After all, a good wizard may not necessarily make a good leader and Celestia did say the reason he couldn't complete the spell was because he didn't understand friendship the same way Twilight did.
758*** That hardly seems fair. The rest of the Mane Six learned just as much as she did about the same lessons she did, and they're all the best at what they do; Celestia, Luna, and Cadence don't seem to have any unique magical abilities beyond what their cutie marks denote, so Twilight's ability to create new magic shouldn't have mattered, and if it didn't, it shouldn't be more important than Rarity advancing color theory with a fashion line or Rainbow Dash being fast enough to compress clouds into a spring. Twilight doesn't even learn more about leadership, teamwork, or responsibility than the others.
759** The one key thing here... Twilight Sparkle wants to be a Princess. She's always wanted to be a Princess, ever since she saw Celestia raise the sun. Rainbow Dash wants to be a Wonderbolt (and she is getting there), Rarity wants to be a famous fashion designer (and she is). And Twilight's final test wasn't the spell, it was identifying that the key missing component of the spell was friendship, and correctly applying it. She showed that she understood friendship, and was able to apply it practically and academically. That's a pass grade for any student.
760** Creating a spell doesn't make someone royalty. Star Swirl made more than two hundred spells. Celestia made Twilight a princess because of Twilight's knowledge of friendship. Twilight herself was surprised by the whole thing.
761*** The Spell that Twilight created was probably a spell to transform into an alicorn. As a matter of fact,we only know that alicorns are Princesses. And while Twilight did make the spell and turned into an alicorn, Starswirl didn't.But this raises another question: If the spell transforms one into an alicorn, [[FridgeHorror what hinders someone to use the spell as well?]]
762*** ''If'' the spell transforms one into an alicorn, which is kind of a big "if". All we see it ''do'' is trigger the Elements of Harmony, which then in turn only seem to transport Twilight to wherever exactly it is she's having her conversation with Celestia. Watching the scene again, the more likely explanations for Twilight turning into an alicorn are either (a) Celestia did it -- it's ''her'' magic that starts the light show that's the most obvious candidate for an actual {{transformation sequence}}, after all -- or (b) Twilight [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong had the potential all along]] and it just needed to mature and be brought out.
763*** Celestia didn't seem to use ''any'' magic during that scene. Even the clipshow corridor seemed to be automatic rather than under her control. The colors from the transformation scene are Twilight's colors, by the way.
764** Something worth mentioning is that Starswirl seems to be held in very high regard even by the likes of Celestia. (That being said, I have never seen "Hearth's Warming Eve" as I'm following this show directly on The Hub and it skips that episode, so I can only ascertain what I know about him through subsequent episodes.)
765** As the above headscratcher states, it's not creating the spell that did it. It was the culmination of all of Twilight's efforts, which just so happened to end in the creation of the spell.
766** Maybe not even Celestia herself knows fully of the powers by which Twilight became an Alicorn. It's possible that it has connections to the Elements of Harmony, and that all Alicorns get the status of Prince or Princess in modern Equestria. After all, Cadence seems to be royal simply by lineage
767* The Elements of Harmony shoot those beams at Twilight as soon as she finishes the spell, so...was it the Elements that made her an alicorn? Or was it Celestia, as all the dialogue implies? Or can Celestia control the Elements? And if she can, why hasn't she before, instead of relying on each of the girls?
768** I think the elements simply sent her to that [[BuffySpeak universe thingy]] and Celestia was the one her turned her into an Alicorn.
769** Celestia's alicorn spell drew a glowing ball of light from Twilight's chest. That was likely the power source needed, Celestia just needed to... 'hatch' it so to speak. It could have come from the spell, some innate force inside her... it's likely left ambiguous for a reason, no need to over-explain things.
770** The spell that Twilight made turned her into a winged unicorn. If the spell was supposed to do that, if the Elements were supposed to be a part of that spell, Star Swirl knew that the spell would do that are all unanswered questions. All that can be said for sure is that Twilight didn't know what was going to happen.
771* Why doesn't anyone ever stop and ask if Twilight ''wants'' to be a princess? This seems like an awfully big thing to just thrust upon someone.
772** From how Twilight was reacting she seemed pretty happy to become princess. Plus, they could have just simply asked her off screen.
773** Twilight pretty much says in "Cutie Mark Chronicles" that Celestia is basically who inspired her to get into magic in the first place; given her intense reverence towards her teacher, it's extremely likely that Twilight aspires to just like her. Keep in mind that Twilight's only voiced objection to being a princess has nothing to do with the responsibilities; it's that she ''doesn't want to stop being Celestia's student''. There's no reason to think that as soon as she realizes that both Celestia and her friends aren't going to change, she's entirely okay with it.
774** [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Destiny rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing.]]
775** Twilight would likely have said no, because she's scared, because she doesn't want to be raised above her friends and alongside her mentor, because she doesn't know how to be a princess... but Celestia knows that these are false reasons, that Twilight's ready, and it was better not to even offer her that choice.
776*** Not wanting to be raised above the friends who made it possible for her to pass an exam she didn't know she was taking and that gave her that position is a false reason for refusing a crown? This episode pretty much flies in the face of the entire rest of the series. Up until now there was always this general premise that there's no wrong way to be a girl and being good at one thing doesn't make you better or worse than someone who's good at something else... except that's exactly what happens. Twilight has a special talent in magic that makes her worthy of being groomed since early childhood to take a position of authority roughly equivalent to a god-king.
777*** Except the series has also taken pains, albeit not quite enough, to show that the position of god-king is more of a burden than it is a blessing. Luna got CMFIS and a thousand years imprisonment for her princessly duties not being appreciated, Celestia is bored as hell of her position and its duties as shown by the Grand Galloping Gala and her general trollishness, and Cadence was a target by a terrorist infiltration/replacement due to her high-ranking and influential position. This isn't a reward, this is more duty and responsibility being heaped on the poor girl as a consequence of doing a really good job at her way of being a girl, a natural extension of what happens when you excel at a "way of being a girl" best defined as "apprenticeship to a major political figure" and just as much a burden to bear as it is a perk - but, as she is suited to that burden, and she was already working towards it, albeit unknowingly (though, really, she should have realized Celestia was grooming her for SOMETHING), she got it.
778*** That would matter more if ''Twilight'' ever expresses those concerns, but she doesn't. And why should she? Most, if not all, of the problems with being royalty stem from a lack of power (Cadence) and a lack of friendship (Luna), both of which Twilight has in spades, and since Celestia and not she is the host of the Grand Galloping Gala every year, Twilight has all of the benefit but none of the drawbacks.
779*** Just because those are the only examples we've seen doesn't make them the only examples there ''are''. Like, say, holding court on a regular basis and listening to (and acting as mediator and judge in) your subjects petty squabbles and/or petitions/petty nobility issues- or serious squabbles where you can't rule without hurting one of the two parties. And unlike Pinkie Pie, she doesn't have the advantage of knowing everypony personally, so if and when she does hold court, she'll be going off of theoretical knowledge and similar experience, rather than actual situational details. Two words for how that'll be after the first month or two: '''emotionally draining'''. Heavy lies the head that wears the crown for a reason: being a political leader in a monarchy isn't JUST about military power and being pampered, its about being the executive and, in most traditional monarchies, judicial and legislative, branches of government. Look at US presidents. Look at how fast their hair turns grey after being elected. Now multiply that by adding some responsibilities of the other two branches (and divide by the increased number of leaders Equestria has).
780*** Um, okay. That is true in the real world. But it doesn't have a whole lot to do with what's expected of royalty in a world full of magical ponies ruled by god-kings. There's nothing to indicate that the crown is going to be a burden any heavier than having to be boring at parties because magical powers are central to royal responsibility, and Twilight is already on her way to becoming the most powerful unicorn in Equestria, assuming she isn't there now. You can tell, because Celestia has been calling on her for every known major crisis since the beginning of the show and getting her butt kicked when she tries to step in herself. Even the administrative tasks of being in charge are going to ''delight'' Twilight because she's obsessed with being organized, and is actually better at telling other people what to do than she is actually doing anything herself, even if she doesn't understand how they do what they do (Winter Wrap Up, anyone?).
781*** Fundamentally, the problem may be in assuming that becoming a princess automatically makes Twilight somehow "better" than her friends, which in turn is then (somehow) wrong. Well, notwithstanding that the show has gone out of its way time and again to demonstrate that royalty are just ponies as well in the first place...Twilight always ''has'' been just a little "extra-special" in her own way, right from the start. And there's nothing wrong with ''that'', either -- if anything, demanding that all ponies should be created exactly equal would only serve to ''undermine'' the idea that there's no "right" or "wrong" way to be one!
782*** They ''were'' created equal!
783*** Well...no, they weren't. On the meta-level, while each of the Mane Six has gotten her share of spotlight time, character development, and fans who consider her "best pony", Twilight is still pretty clearly the ''main'' protagonist. She's the one whose move to Ponyville gets the whole series rolling and around whom their whole little group is essentially arranged, and when there's a BigBad threatening to make trouble for Equestria, who always takes center stage in dealing with them? Twilight Sparkle -- and friends, to be sure, but it's pretty clear that the Mane Six aren't defined primarily around, say, Applejack instead. And even in-universe, Twilight already starts out as the personal student of Princess Celestia herself because of her unique magical gifts as the series opens; no matter how good the rest of the group may be at ''their'' respective specialties (and I'm very much not trying to sell them short here), that's kind of hard to top or even equal in terms of "princess potential". It'd be no more fair to deny Twilight the chance to become a new princess than it'd be to ''force'', say, Fluttershy into the same role.
784*** That's true, but that's part of my point: she leads, but she never does it alone, and her leading the others in times of crisis doesn't give her any sort of formal authority. They were part of a very thematically balanced team, with Twilight at the center of the circle. Celestia comes right out and says she only sent Twilight into Ponyville to make friends so she could learn the virtues necessary to become royalty. And now she is: the spell that made her a princess is the one that requires friendship to work but only affects herself, and she wears her Element crown alone: in other words, there was an ulterior motive for Twilight to befriend the Mane Six all along, and now that motive is satisfied and Twilight has nothing more to learn. I know that it's not the kind of show where Twilight would go through the typical 'forgetting where you came from' phase, but she doesn't defend the validity of her friendships outside of their educational uses or object to being manipulated. And none of her friends object to being used, either. To go back to the original point here: under the circumstances, not wanting to be elevated above her friends is exactly what should have happened, not a false reason to turn down a crown.
785*** Because AmbitionIsEvil and [[StayInTheKitchen girls should never aspire to advance beyond their "proper" station?]] I think the show's done pretty well so far in providing counterexamples to those notions...if it's okay for Rarity to want to find and marry her personal Prince Charming (even if her first attempt with some dolt named Blueblood didn't precisely work out) and for Rainbow Dash to dream of one day joining the Wonderbolts, there's little reason to think it'd be any more "wrong" for Twilight to ''not'' turn down a chance to become more like her idol Princess Celestia. And by now she should know her friends well enough to realize that they'll only be that much happier for her, so that's honestly not really a big concern either.
786*** Actually... yeah, it kind of ''is'' bringing up an issue of station and advancement, since Twilight was born noble, or at least high-class, in Canterlot and only became Celestia's student because her parents were able to get her into an elite magic school, and she only became Princess because Celestia chose her for the position based on her application to attend that elite school in the first place. Those opportunities just don't exist in Ponyville. Rainbow Dash is a good comparison for what I'm talking about: there's no mentor figure to pave her way to ultimate success, even though she's one of the top flyers in the known world. Twilight never had any competition for her role because she only had to please Celestia to prove her worth as a Princess, and she was given permission to delegate the parts of her studies she couldn't handle to her friends, who were expected to comply with no reward than the privilege of helping Twilight because the decree came from Celestia herself. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, has to actively compete against other flyers using only her own abilities, and if she can't handle it, she will not become a Wonderbolt, end of story. Yes, all the ponies have their destinies and their goals, but the fact remains that Twilight's ascension depended on her having help and support that ''none'' of the other Ponies are afforded, and she only has that help and support because of her elevated status.
787*** No, ambition isn't evil, no, there's no issue of proper or improper station, and I never said either of those things. What ''I'' am saying, is that ''making friends specifically to gain a position of authority and power is wrong, and the ends do not justify the means''. Although it was Celestia's machination and not Twilight's, that doesn't make it okay: she sent Twilight to learn about friendship not for its own sake, but because she wouldn't make Twilight a princess until she did. Celestia comes right out and says that Twilight's entire life in Ponyville (including all those times the rest of the Mane Six were put in danger) was just another test, and Twilight never seems to realize that her crown (and all the benefit, with no equivalent drawbacks) was gained by her mentor exploiting her friends before they even met, and in fact would have been exploiting her friends no matter who they would have been. That's even leaving aside the likelihood that she's going to move back to Canterlot at Celestia's behest: in other words, getting everything she can from her friends and then moving on when they've dried up as a resource. If Twilight's coronation didn't ''explicitly'' come from her learning about friendship ''just so she could be crowned'', or if she at least objected to her friends being used to give the other five a chance to support her in full knowledge (since they don't have the benefit of being in whatever spell-space Twilight was in when Celestia explained all that) there wouldn't be a problem, as far as I can tell. But Celestia never tells them, and neither does Twilight.
788*** Also, there's absolutely no indication that Twilight's parents are any more nobles than any other unicorn. If they were nobility we'd probably have seen them at the Grand Galloping Gala or something. And Twilight was only made Celestia's personal student because of ''her abilities''. If Twilight hadn't demonstrated freakish magic power, she'd never have gotten in. Furthermore, Twilight's parents had little to do with getting her into the school. They applied for enrollment, but everything after that was based on Twilight's magic ability.
789*** Enrollment isn't that cheap you know. Plus, Shining Armor (who has the same kind of magic ability) became captain of the royal guard, which you can't just give to any pony, and Cadance was foalsitter before being enrolled. Plus, her parents not being at the gala doesn't really mean anything since they may just not care for it (Twilight herself has never been there before the season 1 finale after all) and Luna wasn't there either.
790*** Twilight is ''not'' leaving Ponyville. This has been confirmed by WordOfGod.
791*** The problem with the above argument is that it ultimately sells Celestia ''way'' short of her usual depiction on the show as its BigGood -- basically, it implies a deliberate cynicism on her part that seems rather out of character for her (although it might fit some of her fan versions). It also doesn't address why Celestia would so desperately ''want'' Twilight to become a princess when the latter could presumably have lived a perfectly happy, productive, and fulfilled life without a crown...or why, if all she wanted was a royal stooge, she couldn't have simply ''given'' the title to Twilight at any time.
792*** I don't think there's any reason the show could give that would make it okay. Celestia's interest has been almost solely in Twilight and her progress, with the other five being considered only as far as they related to Twilight's well-being. Once Twilight doesn't need her friends to operate the Elements of Harmony anymore, ''that's'' when she gets promoted, and Celestia ''only'' explains her logic to Twilight in a space where her (now clearly unimportant, in Celestia's view) friends can't hear it. This may make a certain amount of FridgeBrilliance: Celestia wanted Twilight to realize that friendship is magic before making her a princess, because Celestia obviously doesn't understand it herself, but she understands that ''not'' understanding is a problem, and has been grooming Twilight to supplement. Otherwise she'd have friends of own instead of an endless train of subordinates, and Luna might never have become Nightmare Moon in the first place.
793*** To add to all that, there's absolutely no indication that Twilight and her friends will no longer be friends, as clarified by WordOfGod. Being that Celestia is a kind and caring ruler, and also Princess Luna to an extent, it's quite evident here that Twilight, given her obvious care and love for her family and friends, will never let princesshood go to her head. Thus, Celestia's intentions for Twilight were strictly honorable to begin with, and by encouraging Twilight to make friends, Celestia has been a big help in assisting Twilight to fulfill her destiny which to me is a very responsible act on Celestia's part as a benevolent ruler.
794*** What part of endangering five of her subjects' lives is ''responsible and benevolent''? Celestia sent Twilight to make friends for a very specific purpose, but that purpose showed ''zero'' concern for those friends. It was one thing when they just happened to be attuned to the Elements of Harmony and therefore the job was theirs by default, but now we know for a fact that Celestia arranged any of it is because she wanted to make Twilight a princess. Essentially, it means she knowingly sent the rest of the Mane Six into danger and assigned them to do Twilight's homework for her when she made it clear she couldn't handle it (instead of disqualifying her for the crown based on the fact that she ''abused magic to create chaos when things were too peaceful for her comfort''; Discord got turned to stone for that exact crime!), but never, at any point, intended to actually reward them for anything they did, and never even bothers to inform them of the role they played in Twilight's ascension. I don't think it's responsible ''or'' benevolent to manipulate your subordinates for personal gain.
795** Aside from the fact that [[UndyingLoyalty Twilight would never turn down a task from Princess Celestia,]] Twilight becoming a princess wasn't about what Twilight wanted. Celestia made Twilight a princess because she thought that Twilight was a paragon, a symbol of what all ponies should aspire to. Celestia gave her that title because she thought that casting attention on Twilight would be good for Equestria, because Twilight would now teach Equestria all she had learned about friendship. Becoming a teacher is what a good student is supposed to do.
796** I think it's worth pointing this out again: Twilight being the best pony for a certain position, or the fact that she's been put into a position of authority does ''not'' necessarily mean that Twilight is inherently a better pony than her friends or that she views herself as such. She herself obviously recognizes that she'd never be cut out for the position without her friends. She might be better equipped for ''that specific role'', but that doesn't mean that she's somehow better than all of them, just that out of the cast, Celestia views her as being better suited to the job than the others. And again, ''Twilight herself still seems to view herself as not being any better than her friends''. It's why she explicitly credits them during her inauguration speech and jumps off the chariot to walk alongside them at the end. She's fulfilling a new role, but she still feels the same way about her friends that she did before.
797*** To add to that, this episode does not teach the moral that, "being good at one thing makes you better or worse than someone who's good at something else." It teaches the moral that if you work hard at what you do, you can do great things. It's the same as telling a child that they could one day be president. And why don't characters like Rainbow Dash and Rarity also become princesses? Because that's not the goal they're working toward! Rainbow wants to be a Wonderbolt, Rarity wants to be a famous fashion designer. What does Twilight want? To meet whatever end her apprenticeship leads her to, which is exactly what happened. That doesn't make her better than her friends no more than it makes the Queen of England better than us. More power does not equate to "better than everyone else."
798*** Not "better than", "''more important''" than, there's a difference. Of course they'll all stay friends, but Twilight is now explicitly more important than the others (especially in the movie, where their only purpose is to sing Twilight's praises to make her more popular) because she just plain doesn't need them anymore. All the stuff she used to need them for (the Elements in particular) she can now do on her own. And personally I think that sucks.
799*** Being more important, at least in the sense as shown in this episode (that is, politically), still doesn't make one inherently better. No one is shown competing for importance. Everyone's goals are in different directions and at different levels of importance because that's what (they believe would) satisfy them the most. Rarity doesn't want to be a princess. She just wants to open up Carousel Boutique in Canterlot. Appljack is perfectly happy where she is tending the farm. The Cutie Mark Crusaders just want to find their true calling. The principal cast is shown to be pretty humble, and they have accordingly humble goals.
800*** I think it's pretty obvious that Alicorn royalty ''are'' considered inherently better than the average pony: they're powerful, openly admired by literally everyone, plus they have Pegasus wings and Unicorn horns for flight and magic, and develop the tall, lean build that seems to be associated with supermodel-class beauty (evidenced by that one pink-maned unicorn with the fleur de lis cutie mark) but nothing to represent Earth ponies, who are clearly shown to be Equestria's laborers. And except for Luna, a reformed villain, none of them have any acknowledged flaws. There's a reason the fandom doesn't look kindly on Alicorn original characters, and it's because of that inherent superiority.
801*** ^ This is sort of true, but also keep in mind that both Celestia and Luna don't seem to ''like'' the fact that they're put on a pedestal. Both "A Bird in the Hoof" and "Best Night Ever" imply that Celestia would prefer to just be treated normally rather than constantly revered, and Luna's entire character arc is learning how to relate with her citizens as a pony rather than as a Princess. It's entirely possible that Celestia's motive in making Twilight a princess was to bridge that gap by having a Princess who was originally a regular pony.
802*** She already had that in Cadance, though, and Cadance has the same issue: unicorn horn, pegasus wings, exceptionally beautiful, but nothing to connect her to Earth Ponies. Neither does Twilight, post-transformation she definitely gets taller and leaner and she was a unicorn to begin with, so she was always part of the... well, nobility isn't the right word, but she has all the earmarks of what passes for aristocracy in Equestria anyway. Also it's hard to point to celebrity being a real drawback in this universe because being put on a pedestal means they never have to worry about public opinion or being judged for making the wrong decision. Celestia is free to sabotage her own parties, Cadance's biggest contribution to a major diplomatic event is getting her hair done, and Twilight is free to get all the rest she needs because Spike is there to handle everything (and then get blamed for following orders later). The Mane Six end up doing all the real work, which would point to Twilight actually having a real drawback to her status, except that's the way she wants it, she quite particularly throws aside her obligations to Equestria's infrastructure to go off adventuring because, as the Chosen One, the Elements of Harmony are meaningless without her.
803* When Twilight changed the Cutie Marks, and it affected the memories of the other Elements of Harmony, does that include everyone else in the world? Like, since Pinkie Pie works on the Farm, Applebloom now thinks she's her sister? Because Twilight and Spike's memories aren't effected once the spell is cast.
804** There's no way to tell either way, but I just assumed it only affected the memories of those who had their cutie marks switched.
805*** If that was the case, then a new headscratcher pops up: why didn't anyone realize that five ponies suddenly got their cutie marks swapped around? One would think the other ponies would try to help if they remembered the five of them with the right cutie marks.
806*** The cutie marks are swapped for less than a day, and Twilight starts working on it immediately after breakfast. When something weird goes down, the townsponies go to Twilight, and if Twilight was already dealing with it... Besides, to most ponies it just looked like the Manes had decided to swap jobs for the day. Not that weird for Ponyville.
807*** Except the consequences were rather drastic, town was filled with starved, uneducated ponies... oh, wait, those were the fantasies of a panicking filly... oh, wait no, that's pretty much what happened. Everyone was freezing and depressed, the Apple farm was in decay... and nobody seems to find it strange or unnatural.
808*** Strange and unnatural events? For Ponyville, that's Tuesday. Rarity's bad weather was hardly the worst thing to happen ''this season'' alone.
809** This is supported by the fact that everybody cheered when Pinkie Pie told everyone that she wanted them to smile.
810** Let us keep in mind that the people of Ponyville are all idiots.
811* So.. what was this new magic Twilight created? Her spell is not only the completed version of someone else's work, it just does the same thing the Elements of Harmony do. She wrote two sentences based on previously-existing artifacts that require five other ponies to work, completing however much work Starswirl the Bearded did actually writing the spell from scratch.
812** Presumably the new spell is either a way of manually activating the Elements on an as-needed basis, rather than automatically in emergencies, or its a way of undoing mixed-up Cutie Mark shennanigans.
813** It's never explained what the original spell or Twilight's completed version do. Something to do with destiny and friends, but what was never explained. It's also unclear whether it was designed to effect the Elements, or if that just happened by accident. Given what the spell did and the words used, I think that it would have affected any group of ponies the same way if they were present, it just affected the Manes through the Elements because of their connection to their Elements.
814*** The Elements probably just amplified the spells. "From one to another" indicates the first spell functioned as it was intended, to switch cutie marks. It worked somewhat but was conceptually flawed; it only accounted the efforts of the individual. As we've seen repeatedly in the sow, no-one can get by without help from their friends. Twilight's spell focused on friends working together to achieve greater heights; this being a magical universe, the "greater heights" turned out to be a magical plane.
815*** So... does that mean the other five ponies/elements are just material components for the spell? Because they certainly didn't show up on the magical plane, or seem to have any knowledge of what was going on there.
816* To answer several of the questions above: It's possible that Star Swirl was working on an Alicorn spell, and couldn't complete it because he didn't realize that the Elements of Harmony were necessary to get it to work. Twilight filled in that missing piece: friendship. When she plugged that in, the spell kicked in for real and caused her to grow wings.
817* I have to ask, did the story suddenly move to Townsville or did the [=SStB=]'s spell affect all the other ponies as well, making them stupid and useless? Because otherwise I honestly cannot see how it could all go to hell like this, just because six ponies got their priorities screwed. So, Rarity cannot control weather (which, as rightfully noted above doesn't make any sense, since RD's cutie mark was about ''speed'', not weather control). Where are all the other pegasi? Pinkie cannot do chores around the farm - so why aren't the other Apples helping her? RD cannot take care of the animals, but they are ''wild animals''. I'm pretty sure most of them can take care of themselves. And were Pinkie's antics really the only thing that kept the whole town from turning into jerks? That's really depressing, actually.
818** My interpretation is that Twilight was the only one without her memory affected; as far as anypony else could remember, things had always been this cruddy and they'd always had these roles, which was restored to the proper memories when the cutie marks were. Not a particularly logical-once-you-think-it-through set of false memories, but, then, that's magically induced false memories for you.
819** The point about the wild animals would be off in any case -- it's already been pretty much established early on that no, they ''can't'' take care of themselves, or at least aren't used to it. Otherwise that wouldn't be explicitly part of what spooks ponies about the Everfree Forest.
820*** Ok, fair enough. I do however find it hard to buy into everybody's ineptitude in general. RD cannot handle animals? Right, it's not like she had, at one occasion, whipped all the Shy's avian residents into perfect attention, from a hummingbird to a freaking ''eagle'', [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E7MayTheBestPetWin oh wait]]. Pinkie cannot work with her hooves? Pinkie, who assembled a goddamned flying machine, cannot fix a leaking pipe? Gimme a break (and again, why aren't the Apples helping her). As for Rarity, surely RD wasn't the only pegasus in Ponyville who knew how to clean the clouds. We've seen that she had a team of cloud cleaners. Did the spell incapacitate them as well?
821*** Rainbow Dash knows how to get a bunch of pegasi to help her with the weather. Rarity, lacking Rainbow's knowledge or skill, does not. Remember, Rainbow is the only full time weather pony in Ponyville. Rainbow couldn't control the animals because she was trying to control them the way that Fluttershy does, Pinkie was trying to fix things the way that Applejack does, Applejack was trying to make Rarity's fancy designs, and Fluttershy was trying to use Pinkie's material. They weren't just trying to do each other's jobs, they were trying to live each other's lives, doing what each other would do instead of what they would do.
822*** And yet Rarity was trying to clean the clouds aesthetically, which gave me an impression that they retained their old skills and knacks, and they were trying to employ them at tasks they were unaccustomed to, which is why they failed. Except that Pinkie can make things and RD can handle (or at least discipline) animals. And I've yet to understand what were other Apples doing while Pinkie was running their farm into ground (in one day, yeeeeah). As for the other pegasi, are you implying that they are completely helpless and lost without RD? Ok, we've seen that complex organised effort is not their strong side, but surely they could buck a few clouds out of the sky, if their lives depend on it, full time or not.
823*** They were trying to use talents that they didn't have. If they had been in their right minds, they would have done better at their new jobs. And while the other pegasi would stepped in eventually, Rainbow was restored by, what, lunchtime, if that late? They hadn't gotten fed up enough to take things into their own hooves. I've got nothing for where the other apples were, though. Pinkie scared them off?
824*** To the above it raises the question of what EXACTLY the spell did and how. I assumed the spell retroactively swapped the ponies somehow and only Twilight remembered how things should be. So things at their respective jobs had ALWAYS been screwed up. Otherwise it doesn't really make sense why they didn't just go back home and explain that they had different cutie marks. It's shown that they clearly retained their own skill sets and powers and the Apples (the only real family we're shown) didn't think twice about sending Pinkie out to work the farm instead of sending her to find AJ which reeks of retroactive universe changing.
825*** A retroactive change makes ''even'' less sense because none of the five possessed the skills needed to gain their positions. And as we saw, none of them were going to be able to continue in their swapped jobs for any length of time. Memory alteration of the swapped people seems the most straightforward explanation.
826*** While retroactive change may not be the most accurate idea I think the five of them would have managed somehow. However the fact is if the song "What my Cutie Mark is Telling me" is an accurate depiction of what was happening the townsponies were expecting Fluttershy to be funny instead of wondering what was wrong with her Cutie Mark. There is no evidence that the Apple Family thought something was amiss with AJ being absent and Pinky Pie working the farm. The spell was clearly big enough to effect not just the five ponies destinies/cutie marks but also the expectations of those around them. The problem would actually solved itself otherwise when Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle fetched their sisters, Angel went and got the right Pegasus and anybody with a sense of humor hunted down the funny pink pony.
827** In a Season 5 episode we learn that the Mane Six are the only thing keeping Equestria from being a heckhole ruled by tyrants like King Sombra and the Flim Flam Brothers. Apparently they're the only thing keeping Ponyville running smoothly, too. Also, as I've said before the citizens of Ponyville are idiots.
828* So Princess is a title you don’t get but have to earn instead? Then what’s a about “Prince” Blueblood? What did he achieve to earn his title?
829** We only know that that's apparently how it worked ''for Twilight''...and that may just be on grounds of the ruling sisters' say-so. Whether we can infer from that that that's also how it works ''in general'' isn't clear, especially since royalty otherwise seems to follow the "traditional" pattern well enough -- Celestia, Luna, Cadence and (however distantly) Blueblood are all related, and Shining Armor became prince of the Crystal Empire by essentially ''marrying'' into the royal family.
830** Do we forget Princess Platinum? She got her title being daughter of the king of the Unicorns. And someone, either Twilight or Shining Armor, mentions to (who they believe to be) Ms. Harshwhinny that she must meet a lot of princes doing her job. If there's a difference between princes and princesses, perhaps princes are hereditary/marriage based. And technically, we don't know what Cadance did to get her title. For all we know, she was born an Alicorn and made a Princess because they saw it as a sign from the Heavens, or was simply born to a royal family member under a lucky star. You know, Twilight becoming a princess might have gone over better if they got into some of the details ahead of time, so we can understand what the hell is going on.
831** Its all about the matriarchy, man. Princess actually means something significant, so it has elaborate rules, while prince just labels you as a glorified brood-stallion and descendant of a princess who mattered. Stallion's liberation movement forever!
832* So, are alicorns an actual race, or just sort of a...promotion? The episode treats being an alicorn like it goes hand-in-hand with being a princess -- when you become one, you also become the other. Can you be born an alicorn? Can you be an alicorn without also being royalty? If an alicorn abdicates, will their alicorn-ness be taken away? Were Celestia, Luna, and Cadence ordinary ponies like Twilight at some point?
833** This is wild mass guessing man. We barely know anything about it, and the few bits of information we do get are from those who likely are no better informed (like Rarity). Wait until season 4, we might get some answers then.
834** WMGS are theories -- these aren't. They're headscratchers -- pesky, nagging questions the episode inspired but never answered. Maybe season four will shed more light on the matter, but until then, they're legitimate topics for discussion. The fact that we ''don't'' know anything about this stuff is a headscratcher in itself: How are we supposed to be happy for Twilight when we have no idea what happened or what it entails?
835** Related to above; this kinda bothered me about this being a single episode instead of a two parter like we've had before. There was too much to deal with in one episode, so we get left with a load of unanswered questions. Hopefully season 4 will answer some of them, but given this is a kids show at the end of the day, they may well not.
836** [[spoiler: Alicorns are indeed a promotion. A novel reveals that Candance used to be a pegasus.]]
837*** [[spoiler: Didn't that novel contradict a fair amount of established canon?]]
838** Well, now we have a definite born alicorn in [[spoiler:Flurry Heart]]. This is treated as unheard of, probably indicating that Luna earned it, as Celestia also likely did. Either way, we now know that it ''can'' happen, well, either way, but if earning it is rare, ''being born one'' is even ''rarer''.
839* This is a weird one to ask, but I'll ask anyway: What happened to Spike during the second act? After the True friend song, he disappeared. One moment he was next to twilight and the others, singing. And then they go the the library and he disappears. Also, when Twilight talks about the friends she's made, he isn't standing up there, with them, nor did he congratulate her or hug her in the end too? He was there, he gave her, her tiara, and sang in the final song. So why did he disappear at the weirdest times? Wouldn't he, especially want to congratulate her?
840** '''Spike not being at the library'''- His little legs made it hard to keep up with them, after the song. He finally caught up once twilight was disintegrated.
841** '''In her friendship speech'''- I thought about this one for a while, and I realized, all friendship reports involving him, were something that ''he'' himself learned. Twilight talks about how her friends taught ''her'' something. It doesn't mean she values him any less as a friend. He was her first real friend in Canterlot (not including her BBBFF), but you notice that she acts distant and cold to him. Why? Because she didn't know how to act towards a friend. It wasn't until the other elements taught her about friendship, that you see her warm up to him. So if anything, she thanks the ponies for helping her to be a better friend, especially to him.
842** '''He didn't congratulate her'''- Maybe he didn't want anyone to see him acting all mushy and sappy in public.
843** '''Spike singing'''- He never sang.
844* So, we learn a bit more about this Starswirl the Bearded. Putting together a lot of what we know about him, IE that not much is known, to us at least, about his past. He was a '''very''' powerful magic user in his time, to the point that he created time spells, and that he apparently didn't really understand friendship to ascend to becoming an alicorn, if that's what the spell was supposed to do. This brings up the question, why is Starswirl starting to sound a lot like Discord? '''Extremely''' powerful, the most powerful creature shown so far acting using their own power. Doesn't really get friendship until his HeelFaceTurn, and his ambiguous past with Celestia and Luna...Anyone else think there is a connection at the very least? If not outright Discord being Starswirl? Is this intentionally obvious?...Did Twilight get the short end of the stick, power wise at least?
845** Judging by the the wording of the spell alone, it's supposed to fulfill one's destiny, apparently requiring a power source more powerful than magic of a unicorn, even one as powerful as Star Swirl, thus changing the destinies and then ruining what was given to them instead for fuel. Perhaps the spell wasn't finished because Star Swirl the Bearded, without knowledge of the Magic of Friendship, actually wrote it that way, used it and fulfilled his destiny as a selfish reality-warping God of Chaos? Afterall, if you think about it, Star Swirl's spell did work for Twilight - without casting it, she wouldn't have her EurekaMoment, wouldn't rewrite it to use Friendship and wouldn't fullfill her destiny as a Princess.
846** Star Swirl being related to Discord seems extremely unlikely. While he didn't have Twilight's ''understanding'' of friendship, he had at least one student and left his knowledge for others to use, showing that he formed relationships with others. He's also viewed favorably as a historical figure, whereas Discord was dreaded by those that did remember him.
847*** Having a friend isn't really necessary for one to have a student. And that could just be Celestia and Luna deciding that Starswirl should be remembered for who he was, and not who he became. If all of this isn't just pure fanon speculation...Though it does make a bit too much sense when you consider how much we just don't know about either Dicord or Starswirl.
848*** Maybe not necessary, but I never saw Discord as the kind of guy who would care about getting a student for any reason. Being all powerful and Immortal, Discord is obviously not going to find a mortal successor. And if he was the same guy as Starswirl, he would've disposed of his student and make sure his former knowledge never got discovered
849*** Dicord does have a beard.
850*** So does [[http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Mr._Greenhooves Mr. Greenhooves]], yet nobody's accused ''him'' of being Star Swirl in disguise thus far. [[WildMassGuessing Then again, why not?]] If Star Swirl supposedly could turn into Discord, then pretending to be a simple earth pony gardener should be child's play for him...
851*** Considering what the spell was apparently supposed to do based on it's wording, it isn't too far-fetched to say that Discord '''could''' have been Starswirl after completing the spell. But like you said, this is just [[WildMassGuessing guessing]].
852** As of Shadow Play, Discord is NOT Starswirl. Besides, if he was, the elements would've purified him, not turn him into stone.
853* Why couldn't Pinkie do AJ's job a LITTLE better? She grew up on a farm, so her "true" self knows how to do basic farm chores, and we've seen her help AJ pick the apples during Applebucking Season and Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. It makes sense that she's not super-awesome-great at it, but she should probably be at least competent.
854** She was clearly trying her best, but Pinkie just doesn't have AJ's endurance and persistence. As to the scene of the farm in ruins, chalk that up to visual exaggeration.
855** She grew up on a ''rock'' farm, which probably functions a lot differently than an apple orchard.
856** Take someone who grew up on a farm that only grew a few specific crops, and put them in charge of a completely different farm years later that grows entirely different crops than what they are used to, and tell them nothing about how to do it. Do you see this going well? At all?
857*** Pretty sure fixing gutters is the same no matter where you are or what your farm grows.
858*** Maybe she's spent so much time as a baker she forgot?
859*** Though there was a lot more than just that going wrong.
860** Even if she did live on the farm, there's no indication she was ever good at it. Pinkie has a poor attention span and tends to go at things with enthusiasm in place of good planning, which is why she's trying to push a plow with her head and fix a gutter by climbing on top of it and shaking.
861*** Yes, Pinkie (as Pinkamena) grew up on a farm. She also hated every minute of it-every minute of the plowing, harvesting, and digging. You think that her parents would send a filly on top of the roof to fix the gutter? No, there's no reason Pinkie would have experience in doing that.
862* Twilight's crown is modeled on the Element of Magic, but is clearly a different tiara--which makes sense, you wouldn't want her wondering around with one sixth of a super weapon on her head. What actually happened to the Element of Magic, though? She was wearing it she was blasted by the other five elements, and after an act break we see her in that etherial void thing without it. To my knowledge, it's not seen again.
863** It's now a part of her, as it always was. Remember that it was also absent in the premiere.
864** Well according to Equestria Girls, the crown IS the Element of Magic, just given a new shape. And yes, carrying it around everywhere with her is exactly what leads to it being stolen and her having to chase the thief into the alternate dimension.
865*** Which, as I asked in the EG Headscratchers: What the fuck? WHY would would make a very important artifact/weapon into a very visible princess crown? Why wouldn't you make a replica for Twilight to wear and keep the real Element of Magic with the rest of the Elements?
866*** Because the other five aren't necessary anymore. Twilight can use the Element of Magic by herself now, so there's no reason to store it with the others. The real problem is that Twilight left it unattended and sitting out in plain view while she slept; just having her wear it day to day should be fine.
867*** Twilight has ''never'' shown the ability to use the Element of Magic by herself, even when it would be really useful. Even that scene in ''EG'' required five friends, and had someone else use the Element solo.
868*** It required five friends in the sense that Twilight needed somewhere to summon them to (and she did ''summon'' them, there was no hunt for the five other elements. She had all five of them with her the entire time). They had no bearing on its use or activation. She could have used five shelves and the outcome wouldn't have been any different. The Season 4 premiere has her taking all six of them out of their settings to return them to the Tree, and she's always used the glowing-eyes-and-rainbow attack by herself.
869*** The elements would not work with shelves and No. She never used the elements by herself. The subtitle Friendship is Magic wouldn't exist if she did.
870* How did Fluttershy fed the bear? Rabbits got carrots and cabbages, squirrels - nuts and seeds, but it is highly unlikely a giant bear would be satisfied with just that.
871** First, bears are omniverous. It could live off plants for quite a while if it had to. Though she doesn't seem to keep the bear so much as help it on occasion. Second, Fluttershy is shown feeding worms to birds and fish to ferrets (or weasels or something in that family) so she is either capable of hunting or Equestria has a fish mart. Finally as much as they try to keep it on the low low ponies clearly eat eggs and dairy products.
872*** They also raise pigs and sheep. The latter may be for wool (not that they wear enough clothing to justify it) but there is only one reason to be raising pigs. While you asking how did Fluttershy feed, she has a hawk (which may eat fish and not delicious bunnies)and a vulture. These ponies are clearly omnivorious and simply prefer plants.
873*** Waste disposal, for substandard apples etc.? They're good against snakes?
874* This episode put ''Lesson Zero'' in a different light; doesn't it rather strongly prove that Twilight is maybe not psychologically prepared for the task of being royalty? Missing a deadline isn't so terrible, but going to such lengths to cheat the assignment that is causes a riot is a pretty damned big deal now that we know Celestia's lessons were meant to prepare Twilight for a crown, and it's not much better that the Celestia's solution was to remove the deadline entirely and let Twilight's friends do her homework for her. It would be one thing if she was just a student learning magic, because she's a fantastic student whose stellar dedication would earn her some breathing room after however many years of uninterrupted study... but now we know Celestia's been planning on making her a princess since the beginning. Shouldn't the reaction have been a lot stronger there? And not resulting in absolving of Twilight of her responsibility and putting it on all her friends, who weren't involved in Twilight's lessons/ascension otherwise...? The whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially where the rest of the Mane Six are concerned.
875** And Lesson Zero took place in the beginning of Season 2. Twilight's come a long way since then, and Season 3 shows Twilight being granted with more responsibilities and whatnot. As long as her friends support her, Twilight will make a fine princess.
876** I don't think it was "removing the deadline" so much as it is "officially stating that there isn't one". Rewatch the end of Friendship is Magic, Part 2: Does Celestia ever impose a frequency with which these reports should be sent? No; it's all in Twilight's head. She has a talent for organization (seen in Winter Wrap-Up, turning a WWU with several big mess-ups -- not all of them hers -- into the first one in a long time to finish on time) and sometimes that translates into setting deadlines for herself that nopony ever gave her, not even the one who assigned the task.
877*** Then we have It's About Time later in the season, which shows she didn't learn a thing from LZ. We then have The Crystal Empire, in which we see her ego expand massively as she sees a whole kingdom to save as a "Test"... for her and her only. We then have Too Many Pinkie Pies in which she shows complete disregard for safety as she fires banishment spells with reckless abandon, not even caring about hitting the real one by mistake, and finally Magical Mystery Cure, in which she fixes... yet another issue SHE caused, and is REWARDED for it, instead of being locked up in Canterlot for being a walking disaster? I'm sorry, but Cadance's "Deep Breaths" method is the only improvement she's shown. Her privileged status as Celestia's protege is the only reason she's been granted her undeserved ascension.
878*** Several days with little to no sleep, AND a concussion on top of that. It was because Celestia straight told her it was. We still have no proof it would have really aveft the 'real' Pinkie, and given everything else, it seems highly unlikely, even then, it worked. her "privileged status" in and of itself doens't mean a damn thing, she only has that position because of the exact same traits and qualities that made her worthy of becoming a Princess.
879*** Different troper here; I disagree. Twilight isn't any less insane about tests and deadlines than she ever was and it's pretty obvious that being Celestia's student is what stops her from being considered Equestria's equivalent of a mad scientist. Somewhere around, someone points out that Lesson Zero shows Twilight inciting chaos because things are too peaceful to suit her needs, a crime that got Discord ''turned to stone'', but Twilight is instantly forgiven and her friendship assignment both reduced ''and'' delegated to the rest of the Mane Six, which sounds an awful lot like a reward to me. Especially considering that the letters are emblematic of the study of friendship ''that served to qualify her promotion to Princess''. The way the show illustrates it, it sounds like "the support of one's friends" means "the one with connections gets to dump her work on the others but still gets to reap all the benefits by herself". Which, if you're cynical, is pretty true to real life at least.
880*** There's a big difference between what Twilight did and what Discord did. Discord caused chaos for his own pleasure, and was shown to be extremely sadistic and emotionally manipulative, taking joy in everypony turning grey. Twilight was panicked she was going to be sent to magic kindergarden where she would be bullied relentlessly, along with being seperated from her friends, and was being ignored and even ''laughed at'' by her friends, which slowly broke her. Discord caused chaos [[ForTheEvulz for the evulz]], Twilight did it out of desperation.
881*** Desperation or amusement, the bottom line is that they saw that things were too peaceful to suit their own needs and deliberately used magical mind control to sow chaos for their own benefit at the cost of Ponyville. I'd argue that Twilight is actually doing worse than Discord in that scenario because Discord is naturally a chaotic.. whatever he is, and learning to be civilized is part of his (very slow) growth as a character. Twilight, on the other hand, throws away everything she's ever taught in the space of a single afternoon. If a grad student deliberately caused a public riot just so she wouldn't have to take an exam she didn't thinks she'd pass, we'd call it ''terrorism''. Just saying.
882*** Except we don't know what part of Discord's actions are his nature or of his own free will. Plus how is fighting over a doll terrorism and why do you assume that such a scenario would happen in real life? Sure the ends don't justify the means but a difference is still a difference. Besides Twilight at least was remorseful about it and apologized while as was said above, Discord was being an unrepentive and and sadistic jerk about it. (And where was there ever a law against chaos in general?)
883*** There's also the fact that Twilight ''has'' gotten better at her worrying. In TCE, she willingly defied Celestia to do what's right, when before she would brainwash others in fear of disappointing her. She made her own decision for once. She also questioned her in person when she brought Discord, and knew that Celestia would understand if they turned him back to stone. And last of all, she actually managed to solve the problem on her own now, instead of needing Celestia, and took charge herself. [[SarcasmMode Yeah, Twilight isn't any different at all...]]
884*** That's not actually relevant to the issue at hand. She's never had a problem fighting evil, it's when she's at personal risk of academic/professional failure that she loses her head, and she's never gotten over it.
885*** None of what was said had anything to do with fighting evil, except maybe the first one and even then, the troper never mentioned Sombra. Besides, getting better and getting over it are not the same and becoming a princess doesn't stop the improvement.
886** Bottom line. This is an argument that no one seems to win. The way I see it, I think that the notion that Twilight being a Karma Houdini who doesn't deserve to be a princess is silly and that the notion that being Celestia's student is the only reason she is a princess is a speculation that is never implied in the show and amounts to RonTheDeathEater. Given that now it's been 8 seasons and no catastrophe has befallen that Twilight caused post ascension, I am just going to have to say that Twilight has gotten better while still having her personality still in check.
887* Something very strange is going on with Twilight's Cutie Mark. It has five "satellite" stars on her flank, before and after her ascension. But the image in the sky shows six. Is this an error, or a clue?
888** I'd guess "error", but if not, maybe the sixth one is Spike?
889** I'd also like to think that Spike is finally getting some recognition. I also suspect that the symmetry of having three stars on each side made it easier for the animators, who wouldn't have to worry as much about continuity between scenes. Twilight's cutie mark is normally oriented with three stars in front (towards her head) and the other two behind (towards her tail), but that would be harder to keep track of on the flags and banners.
890* Why does Twilight's fantasy in the classroom with the foals from Lesson Zero appear in the screens during Celestia's Ballad? It never actually happened, it was just Twilight's imagination.
891** That doesn't necessarily mean that Celestia doesn't know. Her sister watches over dreams; perhaps if you're not actually asleep, that's Celestia's jurisdiction.
892[[/folder]]
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