http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fridge/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E16ReadItAndWeep
- Of course Daring Do is a Palette Swap of Rainbow Dash. We're seeing the events filtered through Rainbow's imagination, and RD immediately empathizes with the novel's heroine. She's putting a bit of herself into the reading.
- That's also why Fluttershy's putty tat shows up in the novel's events. Rainbow didn't really care for the cat back in May the Best Pet Win, so her memory shoves it in when she imagines a generic cat.
- Not necessarily - Daring Do is on the cover of the book.
- In universe combination of Rule of Cool and Reality Is Unrealistic. Not as many ponies have multiple hair colors, much less six. So as a way of making the character look cool, the illustrater gave Daring Do a rainbow mane, but grayed it out because, in all honesty, who has a rainbow mane?
- Why is the book titled "Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone" when it's actually about a statue? Twilight Sparkle even repeats the title with "Statue" instead of "Stone." Why, because of reprints and alternative titles, like "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone"!
- Of course, said statue is clearly carved from a sapphire, or a sapphire-colored stone.
- Why does Rainbow Dash heal from a compound wing fracture so quickly? Simple, ponies have magic and access to at least some herbal medicines with magical healing capabilities. It's very likely their hospitals are more effective because of it.
- It's simpler than that actually, If Rarity can reattach tree branches and river serpent's mustaches and Twilight can repair broken dams at what is presumably a molecular level, it stands to reason a unicorn doctor can do the exact same thing to bones. So by the time Rainbow Dash had woken her wing was already mostly healed and she just needed a few day's rest.
- At first, Daring Do's choice of difference in the tiles — the rat as the only non-predator — seems rather arbitrary. However, both predators and the traps try to attack Daring. The rat wouldn't attack her, and so wouldn't trigger the trap.
- Perhaps the predator/prey distinction is more significant to small, tasty ponies.
Viewers Are Geniuses doesn't mean "Maybe there's a far-fetched explanation for it after all." That sounds like
Fridge Logic, however.
- The ponies play a pony version of Battleship. ...which is also owned by Hasbro! So I don't see a reason why they had the line cut off before its title was said.
- Because, despite the series' use of Schizo Tech, they probably don't actually have battleships. This game is about clouds, so it wouldn't be called that.
- ............ Cloud..................... ship?
- Some kind of airship is seen being launched in "Sweet and Elite", so perhaps the game involves them
- Schizo Tech didn't stop the writers from mentioning tanks.
- Maybe they meant a tank as in container...?
- It's interesting to note that Pinkie is the one who mentions Spider powers - her own Pinkie Sense is a direct Shout-out to Spidey's Spider Sense itself.
- The X-ray with the unlikely bone structure of a wing actually explains the rather odd uses and properties of wings in some later episodes.
- At first, Rainbow's fears of being mocked for being an "egghead" seem a little strange, but then remember one thing; the poor girl was bullied all through flight school, of course she'd be afraid!
- The right book for the right pony? No matter your personality, your reading level, or your pain threshold, there is always something out there for you. Sooner or later, you will find it.
- The pony who is on the bed that Rainbow Dash hides under is bald. Could it be possible that pony has cancer?
- Or awaits (or recuperates from) a brain surgery. Which - of course - isn't any better.
- The ward Rainbow Dash was on looked more like a broken bone ward. It's more likely that he was doing a series of dares and ended up breaking something. And since his head isn't bandaged, the baldness could just be a fashion statement.
- Could be a concussion bad enough that they had to shave his head for stitches or what have you.
- Or maybe the baldness was just from the earlier parts of the escalating series of dares.
- Given the quavery voice when the pony accuses Rainbow Dash of trying to steal his slippers, it's also possible he's just old.
- The mental patient pony that barks like a dog.
- Somebody pointed out that this is exactly what happened to Big Macintosh in episode 2. Discord literally drove Big Mac insane.
- She's got a screw cutie mark. Considering how pony's cutie marks are destined to what the pony's special talent is, this pony's cutie mark story must be extremely interesting.
- Or she's a carpenter or something...
- Rainbow's roommate heard her narrating the entire book — was he driven to desperation by a need to know how it ended? He couldn't exactly say so...
- After days of listening to Rainbow endlessly bounce a ball off the walls, strobe the light switch on and off, and tell horrible jokes, he may well need to move to the mental ward himself. Worst Roommate Ever.
- Those weren't days, though. That was just the one minute.
- I actually highly doubt that he would be driven to desperation like Rainbow. He might not have cared about the book, and if he did, he probably wasn't like Rainbow in that he'd never want to admit he liked reading. Once he got out of the hospital he'd probably have no problem with borrowing the book from the library.
- Rainbow Dash lives in a house in the clouds. The doctors kick her out of the hospital in a wheelchair, all alone.. after telling her to not fly for a week and not arranging any sort of transportation.
- There probably are some sort of regular "sky ferries", or magical teleporters, or something like that, which would allow earthbound ponies access Cloudsdale whenever they need to.
- The IDW Micro-series answers this one: the rest of the weather patrol can just rope her house to the ground.
- How is it that Twilight, the most organized pony in Ponyville has all the Daring Do books, and the copy she loans Rainbow Dash is the third book on her shelf devoted to Daring Do? It seems odd that that somepony as OCD as Twilight wouldn't want to start her friend on the first book in the series. Perhaps two prequels were written and "Sapphire Stone" is the first published book in the series.
- Or the entire bookcase is devoted to adventure stories and the first two books on the shelf are by a different author.
- Or "Sapphire Stone" is the third in the series, but the first two aren't on the hospital's library cart.
- Twilight says that it's the first book of the series.
- Or the other two books are prequels and Twilight had them in the order that they happened.
- The real reason, of course, is that it's more compositionally interesting to have the book be sandwiched between others than be at the very end when Twilight pulls it out.
- We've seen Spike as being the one who reorganizes the shelves... maybe he got lazy?
- They are awful, awful prequels, on the level of Star Wars or even (shudder) Dune. Twilight wants to spare Rainbow the horror.
- Perhaps she chose the book where Daring Do had a wing injury, specifically to help Rainbow Dash identify with the character.
- Again, Twilight tells Rainbow that "this is the first story in the series."
- Maybe the library has multiple copies of the book.
- This. It's quite common for a library to have more than one copy of a popular book.
- There is actually real-world precedent for this in The Chronicles of Narnia series. While the book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was the first one written, and The Magician's Nephew was the second-to-last book written in the series, many collections of the books will put The Magician's Nephew first in the series, because it deals with the founding of Narnia, and the origins of the wardrobe in Wardrobe, as well as other characters and events in the series. So depending on which collection you have, Wardrobe, could be the first released, but second in the order.
- Or, she could've sorted them alphabetically like most libraries do.
- "With the Sapphire Statue secured, the world was safe once again." Uh, from what? The book never mentioned any danger about Ahuizotl having the statue. Does it have some sort of mystical power that we're never told about? Judging by the title of the next book, it looks like we'll never find out.
- A bad case of Show Within a Show Lost in Medias Res, although Ahuizotl does mention using it to Take Over the World.
- Apparently, Dash read the entire book up to the last chapter in one setting, it's very likely we didn't see the entire book because there wasn't time.
- Or she started in halfway intending to half-ass a read, since she seemed confused as to where Ahuizotl came from initially.
- My theory is that those two books before are prequels, but they were filled with spoilers for the later books and would have spoiled future stories for Rainbow Dash. That or the first two books didn't have much in them that would be interesting to Rainbow, so Twilight picked a more action-filled one.
- The impression I got is that the Statue is irrelevant. Ahuizotl says "With Daring Do out of the way, the world will suffer mightily at my hands." It's the fact that he thinks he's gotten rid of Daring Do that he is celebrating, not the fact that he has the Statue. The narration: "...with Ahuizotl defeated, and the Sapphire Statue secured..." also implies that his defeat is what has made the world safe. If the Statue was the more prominent concern, it should have been mentioned first.
- Which all leads to one conclusion: Hasbro needs to hire people to actually write the books and settle these debates.
- Why would a mental patient pony be in the same hospital as ponies with injuries?
- It's a small town hospital, they might not have a separate mental institution. Besides they can have different wards.
- Also, do hospitals usually employ security guards? Then again, seeing how they seem to have a mental ward which is, as seen above, Fridge Logic in its own right...
- As at least one episode from any medical drama will teach you there is stuff worth stealing in a hospital, add the rather public nature of any hospital building, the possibility of children about and the need for security guards arises.
- This Brony works as a security guard and I can assure you that we do have officers who work at the hospitals.
- Doesn't Pinkie Pie live at Sugarcube Corner? The house she was sleeping in during Dash's chase scene doesn't look anything like it. Does that mean this episode takes place shortly after Spike's rampage?
- It's never stated where she lives before, and it's more been said she WORKS for the Cakes and they see her like a daughter. Otherwise why would they ask her to be a permanent babysitter in Baby Cakes if she was living with them?
- Party of One explicitly shows she lives above Sugarcube Corners. The Cakes don't want her to be their permanent babysitter because they don't trust her, which is what the friendship report in Baby Cakes was about.
- Word of God says that Pinkie does live at Sugarcube Corner, so either A) she's staying with a random pony (Derpy, maybe?) while her home gets rebuilt, B) She moved out so the Cakes could use her old room for the foals, or C) The animators forgot or for whatever reason couldn't fit the Sugarcube Corner model into the scene.
- She may have been at a sleepover or late night party there, as well.
- The whole "looks like a giant dessert" thing Sugar Cube Corner has could be a facade, or a "False Front." Such a technique was commonly used in more olden times to make a store look bigger and more impressive. It's still used today, but to a much lesser degree. It's easy to see this used when watching a western, and the stores and buildings have those large fronts, but small backsides.
- In any case, she's back at SCC and her room is intact as of "A Friend in Deed".
- The Hospital staff and their security guard proceed to hunt Rainbow out of the hospital's premises and through the entire city, all by themselves. Are they... even allowed to do this?
- Apparently so. And all over a pair of slippers.
- Why would ponies need hospital gowns (outside of Rule of Funny)?
- A bedridden pony wouldn't be able to easily take a bath if their coat got dirty (for example, from a mishap with the hospital food), so the hospital gowns are a cheap and easily-replaced cover to block dirt and such.
- All for the sake of Rarity's line about the gowns matching the curtains.
- Why did Rainbow Dash have to stay in the hospital to begin with? I mean, she had to go there to have her wing dressed, but if all she needed after that was bed rest, couldn't she do that at home?
- She lives in the clouds. Transportation would likely be difficult.
- Then couldn't she have gone to a friend's house?
- If she stays at the hospital, she's more likely to receive better care, and they may want to keep her there for further observation.
- She seems to spend her entire stay lying/sitting on her back. Wouldn't walking around with her four intact limbs be better than putting weight on the broken wing?
- I agree here. Are pegasi wings sensitive to the point where there would be increased pain when a pony walks? Her legs are all fine, so I can't see why they can't just put medication on it inside a cast and let her walk freely.
- She seemed pretty beat up in other respects too. Might have been some sprains and bruises that needed to heal up.
- I think that having to stay in the hospital was mostly because she was unconscious due to traumatic brain injury when brought into the hospital.
- How could Rainbow Dash 'never lose' in what is basically Battleship? You can only strategize so much in that game, and luck of the draw would dictate she would lose a game eventually.
- Not giving away hints as to the locations of your ships and being able to see them in others would also accounts. Rainbow has show several times to be able to pick up on traits in the others, something that would certainly help in such a game. That and she might just be very lucky at it.
- Either that, or she cheats.
- Given that Fluttershy's entire reason for bringing the game was that she knows how much Rainbow Dash likes to win, maybe her friends always throw the game for her sake.
- Or, she's surprised at how easily Rainbow Dash hates to lose, and knows that under normal circumstances, she would be far more aggressive and demand a rematch.
- Rainbow frets that enjoying reading makes her an 'egghead' — but she was reading a light-hearted adventure story, nothing that requires serious scholarship. Is the point of the story "Reading is for everyone, but the cool kids stick to fun stuff that isn't too far from what they already know and like"?
- Which is more likely, trying to convince someone who doesn't read to read the works of Shakespeare, or convincing them that reading can actually be fun by convincing them to read an easy to read adventure story? The point is more likely "The right book for the right person."
- Besides, who is to say that Dash can't one day consider more challenging literature? At least she is reading now and that's a start.
- Daring Do could very well be Dash's Gateway Series in fact. Note, in the later episode, "Spike At Your Service," she's writing a Fan Fic, so she is making progress.
- Rainbow's problem was that she thought any kind of reading was for eggheads. She probably still thinks the kinds of books Twilight reads are for eggheads. But at least she can enjoy the kinds of books that appeal to her.
- Rainbow is released from the hospital with the strict warning that she shouldn't use her wing for a week thereafter. In fact, she accidentally uses it during the break-in, complete with a sickening "snap" noise. And yet, the next morning, she's shown in her house - which is in the clouds, implying it was well enough to let her fly up there? If anything, that snap would imply it'd be worse than it was before.
- According to the IDW Micro-series, she can just ask the weather patrol to tie her house to the ground.
- She borrowed one of Pinkie's flying machines, or got a lift else-wise.
- Emergency Pegasus Ladder.
- It's logical to assume that there is some standard way to let earthbound ponies access a flying pegasus city if they have some business in there. One can surmise Rainbow Dash simply used that method, whatever that was.
- On a related note, they discharge her from the hospital and tell her to stay off her wing for a while... And just leave her in front of the hospital instead of taking her back to her cloud house that they just told her not to fly back to on her own? That doesn't seem like very good outpatient care...
- This might just be one of mine, but I would have thought that Rainbow would have been more worried about Twilight being smug about her coming back and admitting "well, yeah, reading is okay," as opposed being terrified by the very idea of liking it. Seems more in character for the both of them, but maybe I'm just reading in-between lines that aren't there.
- Why do all the hospital nurses have the same Cutie Mark?
- Because all their special talent is in the medical field.
- Clones.
- So the patient in the hospital thought Rainbow Dash wanted to steal his slippers. But why would any pony have slippers in the first place? They are never shown wearing shoes, except as accessories. How would they even put a slipper on a hoof?
- The slippers are standard, in case there's a wound in their hoof that gets exacerbated. You'd put them on the same way you would the standard type of slipper (like these ones
◊), by sliding one's hoof into it. - Yeah, "sliding one's hoof into it" is where I see the problem. Hoof's anatomy makes it impossible for human-style slippers not to immediately fall off. They'd need to be strapped to the leg, or otherwise clasping tightly around the hoof, kinda defeating the whole idea of a slipper.
- Why did Rainbow Dash wear a catsuit but not bother to hide her extremely distinct tail?
- She never was the brightest bulb in the room.
