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** In the episode with Gilda the Griffon, the two do a lot of pranking together. I'd say Pinkie Pie and Rarity.
to:
** In the episode with Gilda the Griffon, the two do a lot of pranking together. I'd say Pinkie Pie and Rarity.Rarity.
** I'd say either Pinkie and Rarity (the only episode that they're shown with each other but not in a larger group is Putting Your Hoof Down), or maybe Fluttershy and Twilight. Twilight is very bookish and doesn't go out much, whereas Fluttershy spends tons of time outside with animals and stuff.
** I'd say either Pinkie and Rarity (the only episode that they're shown with each other but not in a larger group is Putting Your Hoof Down), or maybe Fluttershy and Twilight. Twilight is very bookish and doesn't go out much, whereas Fluttershy spends tons of time outside with animals and stuff.
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** Good question. I'd say that it's Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
to:
** Good question. I'd say that it's Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.Pie.
** In the episode with Gilda the Griffon, the two do a lot of pranking together. I'd say Pinkie Pie and Rarity.
** In the episode with Gilda the Griffon, the two do a lot of pranking together. I'd say Pinkie Pie and Rarity.
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** Also, who says the trauma didn't get to them? It certainly got to Twilight, if Lesson Zero is any indication. That episode came out after Part 2 of Return of Harmony after all.
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** Good question. These are the possible interactions:
Fluttershy & Rainbow Dash
Fluttershy & Twilight Sparkle
Fluttershy & Rarity
Fluttershy & Pinkie Pie
Fluttershy & Applejack
Applejack & Pinkie Pie
Applejack & Twilight Sparkle
Applejack & Rarity
Applejack & Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash & Twilight Sparkle
Rainbow Dash & Pinkie Pie
Rainbow Dash & Rarity
Rarity & Pinkie Pie
Rarity & Twilight Sparkle
Twilight Sparkle & Pinkie Pie
Now, I'd say that it's Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
Fluttershy & Rainbow Dash
Fluttershy & Twilight Sparkle
Fluttershy & Rarity
Fluttershy & Pinkie Pie
Fluttershy & Applejack
Applejack & Pinkie Pie
Applejack & Twilight Sparkle
Applejack & Rarity
Applejack & Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash & Twilight Sparkle
Rainbow Dash & Pinkie Pie
Rainbow Dash & Rarity
Rarity & Pinkie Pie
Rarity & Twilight Sparkle
Twilight Sparkle & Pinkie Pie
Now, I'd say that it's Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
to:
** Good question. These are the possible interactions:
Fluttershy & Rainbow Dash
Fluttershy & Twilight Sparkle
Fluttershy & Rarity
Fluttershy & Pinkie Pie
Fluttershy & Applejack
Applejack & Pinkie Pie
Applejack & Twilight Sparkle
Applejack & Rarity
Applejack & Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash & Twilight Sparkle
Rainbow Dash & Pinkie Pie
Rainbow Dash & Rarity
Rarity & Pinkie Pie
Rarity & Twilight Sparkle
Twilight Sparkle & Pinkie Pie
Now,I'd say that it's Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
Fluttershy & Rainbow Dash
Fluttershy & Twilight Sparkle
Fluttershy & Rarity
Fluttershy & Pinkie Pie
Fluttershy & Applejack
Applejack & Pinkie Pie
Applejack & Twilight Sparkle
Applejack & Rarity
Applejack & Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash & Twilight Sparkle
Rainbow Dash & Pinkie Pie
Rainbow Dash & Rarity
Rarity & Pinkie Pie
Rarity & Twilight Sparkle
Twilight Sparkle & Pinkie Pie
Now,
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* This isn't much of a headscratcher, just something I'm curious about, but which of the Mane Six have interacted the '''least'''?
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* This isn't much of a headscratcher, just something I'm curious about, but which of the Mane Six have interacted the '''least'''?'''least'''?
** Good question. These are the possible interactions:
Fluttershy & Rainbow Dash
Fluttershy & Twilight Sparkle
Fluttershy & Rarity
Fluttershy & Pinkie Pie
Fluttershy & Applejack
Applejack & Pinkie Pie
Applejack & Twilight Sparkle
Applejack & Rarity
Applejack & Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash & Twilight Sparkle
Rainbow Dash & Pinkie Pie
Rainbow Dash & Rarity
Rarity & Pinkie Pie
Rarity & Twilight Sparkle
Twilight Sparkle & Pinkie Pie
Now, I'd say that it's Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
** Good question. These are the possible interactions:
Fluttershy & Rainbow Dash
Fluttershy & Twilight Sparkle
Fluttershy & Rarity
Fluttershy & Pinkie Pie
Fluttershy & Applejack
Applejack & Pinkie Pie
Applejack & Twilight Sparkle
Applejack & Rarity
Applejack & Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash & Twilight Sparkle
Rainbow Dash & Pinkie Pie
Rainbow Dash & Rarity
Rarity & Pinkie Pie
Rarity & Twilight Sparkle
Twilight Sparkle & Pinkie Pie
Now, I'd say that it's Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
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** Well, then the question basically becomes: ''are'' you a god if nobody thinks of you as one? As much as they'd certainly have the raw ''power'' to play the part, not many people seem to consider, say, Superman or the Q Continuum actual religious figures in their respective settings... (As far as I'm concerned, 'god' is pretty clearly a ''social'' role as much as anything else and so the answer is no, but YMMV.)
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** It's possible that the tradition predates the founding of Ponyville. Granny simply brought it with her with her family.
to:
** It's possible that the tradition predates the founding of Ponyville. Granny simply brought it with her with her family.family.
* This isn't much of a headscratcher, just something I'm curious about, but which of the Mane Six have interacted the '''least'''?
* This isn't much of a headscratcher, just something I'm curious about, but which of the Mane Six have interacted the '''least'''?
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** Either that or Rarity used Sweetie Belle as a dress up toy so often when they were younger that she got it all out of her system or something. And we ''do'' see Sweetie get used as a model in "Ponyville Confidential". Presumably Rarity has spent so much time with Sweetie Belle that she no longer feels the needs to constantly give her makeovers. Yes, Rarity is into fashion, but she's not ''constantly'' dragging her friends in to play dress up.
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** OK, so cutie marks are a reflection of somepony's special gift and they get them around puberty. Yet the cutie marks, more often than not, coincide with their names, which apparently they get at birth. The Apple clan all have apple-related marks. So are the cutie marks completely dependent on a pony's talents, or are they guided by bloodlines?
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added to Wheres Spike
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** Yeah. They seemed like they were acquainted. But we never really see them hang out in the background, or have Spike ever mention hanging out with Lickety Split, after he appeared in that ''one'' episode. Maybe later on he'll appear more though.
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** Yeah. They seemed like they were acquainted. But we never really see them hang out in the background, or have Spike ever mention hanging out with Lickety Split, after he appeared in that ''one'' episode. Maybe later on he'll appear more though.
** Spike has said that he likes it when Twilight goes off and does things that don't include him, because then he can sleep more. But yeah, give the guy a line or two when everypony's celebrating.
** Spike has said that he likes it when Twilight goes off and does things that don't include him, because then he can sleep more. But yeah, give the guy a line or two when everypony's celebrating.
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* In Winter Wrap Up we hear that the Earth ponies of Ponyville have been wrapping up winter like this for hundreds of years. In Family Appreciation Day we discover that Granny Smith's family founded Ponyville. So is Granny a bi-centenarian?
to:
* In Winter Wrap Up we hear that the Earth ponies of Ponyville have been wrapping up winter like this for hundreds of years. In Family Appreciation Day we discover that Granny Smith's family founded Ponyville. So is Granny a bi-centenarian?bi-centenarian?
** It's possible that the tradition predates the founding of Ponyville. Granny simply brought it with her with her family.
** It's possible that the tradition predates the founding of Ponyville. Granny simply brought it with her with her family.
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** One of the best ways to shake off traumatic events is by doing fun things that make you forget about said traumatic event.
to:
** One of the best ways to shake off traumatic events is by doing fun things that make you forget about said traumatic event.event.
* In Winter Wrap Up we hear that the Earth ponies of Ponyville have been wrapping up winter like this for hundreds of years. In Family Appreciation Day we discover that Granny Smith's family founded Ponyville. So is Granny a bi-centenarian?
* In Winter Wrap Up we hear that the Earth ponies of Ponyville have been wrapping up winter like this for hundreds of years. In Family Appreciation Day we discover that Granny Smith's family founded Ponyville. So is Granny a bi-centenarian?
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** She has a fanclub as seen in the mare-do-well episode.
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* Anyone else kind of weirded out by how the ponies are able to shake off traumatic events easily? In "The Return Of Harmony Part 1 and 2", the Mane Six are ''brainwashed''. I will say it again, ''[[NightmareFuel brainwashed]]''. Then, after Twilight un-brainwashes them, they defeat Discord and go on with their lives as if nothing happened, but if I was ''brainwashed'', I don't think I'd do that. Same thing happened in "A Canterlot Wedding". Let's see, Cadence was thrown beneath these caverns where nopony would have ever found her if Twilight hadn't been sent down as well. She also got replaced by some hideous, shape-shifting bug-pony monster who wanted to drain all the love out of her husband-to-be, and possibly [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil other things as well.]] Yet, after they defeat the Queen Chrysalis, what does she do? Party around happily with her friends as if nothing ever happened.
to:
* Anyone else kind of weirded out by how the ponies are able to shake off traumatic events easily? In "The Return Of Harmony Part 1 and 2", the Mane Six are ''brainwashed''. I will say it again, ''[[NightmareFuel brainwashed]]''. Then, after Twilight un-brainwashes them, they defeat Discord and go on with their lives as if nothing happened, but if I was ''brainwashed'', I don't think I'd do that. Same thing happened in "A Canterlot Wedding". Let's see, Cadence was thrown beneath these caverns where nopony would have ever found her if Twilight hadn't been sent down as well. She also got replaced by some hideous, shape-shifting bug-pony monster who wanted to drain all the love out of her husband-to-be, and possibly [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil other things as well.]] Yet, after they defeat the Queen Chrysalis, what does she do? Party around happily with her friends as if nothing ever happened.happened.
** One of the best ways to shake off traumatic events is by doing fun things that make you forget about said traumatic event.
** One of the best ways to shake off traumatic events is by doing fun things that make you forget about said traumatic event.
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** Equestria's cosmology is something that hasn't really quite been addressed on the show and is the subject of much fan speculation. Given the role of the princesses and occasional other bit of circumstantial evidence, there's a very real possibility that the sun and moon of the setting just plain don't work like their real life counterparts ''at all'' -- yet the pervasiveness of the LikeRealityUnlessNoted trope seems to get in the way of thinking that all the way through for some people.
to:
** Equestria's cosmology is something that hasn't really quite been addressed on the show and is the subject of much fan speculation. Given the role of the princesses and occasional other bit of circumstantial evidence, there's a very real possibility that the sun and moon of the setting just plain don't work like their real life counterparts ''at all'' -- yet the pervasiveness of the LikeRealityUnlessNoted trope seems to get in the way of thinking that all the way through for some people.people.
* Anyone else kind of weirded out by how the ponies are able to shake off traumatic events easily? In "The Return Of Harmony Part 1 and 2", the Mane Six are ''brainwashed''. I will say it again, ''[[NightmareFuel brainwashed]]''. Then, after Twilight un-brainwashes them, they defeat Discord and go on with their lives as if nothing happened, but if I was ''brainwashed'', I don't think I'd do that. Same thing happened in "A Canterlot Wedding". Let's see, Cadence was thrown beneath these caverns where nopony would have ever found her if Twilight hadn't been sent down as well. She also got replaced by some hideous, shape-shifting bug-pony monster who wanted to drain all the love out of her husband-to-be, and possibly [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil other things as well.]] Yet, after they defeat the Queen Chrysalis, what does she do? Party around happily with her friends as if nothing ever happened.
* Anyone else kind of weirded out by how the ponies are able to shake off traumatic events easily? In "The Return Of Harmony Part 1 and 2", the Mane Six are ''brainwashed''. I will say it again, ''[[NightmareFuel brainwashed]]''. Then, after Twilight un-brainwashes them, they defeat Discord and go on with their lives as if nothing happened, but if I was ''brainwashed'', I don't think I'd do that. Same thing happened in "A Canterlot Wedding". Let's see, Cadence was thrown beneath these caverns where nopony would have ever found her if Twilight hadn't been sent down as well. She also got replaced by some hideous, shape-shifting bug-pony monster who wanted to drain all the love out of her husband-to-be, and possibly [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil other things as well.]] Yet, after they defeat the Queen Chrysalis, what does she do? Party around happily with her friends as if nothing ever happened.
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*** Nightmare moon kept the night from ending by refusing to lower the moon. If the sun and moon were independent, all she would have done is messed with the tides.
to:
*** Nightmare moon kept the night from ending by refusing to lower the moon. If the sun and moon were independent, all she would have done is messed with the tides.tides.
** Equestria's cosmology is something that hasn't really quite been addressed on the show and is the subject of much fan speculation. Given the role of the princesses and occasional other bit of circumstantial evidence, there's a very real possibility that the sun and moon of the setting just plain don't work like their real life counterparts ''at all'' -- yet the pervasiveness of the LikeRealityUnlessNoted trope seems to get in the way of thinking that all the way through for some people.
** Equestria's cosmology is something that hasn't really quite been addressed on the show and is the subject of much fan speculation. Given the role of the princesses and occasional other bit of circumstantial evidence, there's a very real possibility that the sun and moon of the setting just plain don't work like their real life counterparts ''at all'' -- yet the pervasiveness of the LikeRealityUnlessNoted trope seems to get in the way of thinking that all the way through for some people.
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**** Because she's [[CuteBookworm Twilight Sparkle]]. Hitting her books for answers is what she does.
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->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason1 Season 1]]
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason2 Season 2]]
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3 Season 3]]
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicMeta Meta]]
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSetting Setting]]
->and you can still go back to the [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Main Headscratchers Page, here]]
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason2 Season 2]]
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3 Season 3]]
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicMeta Meta]]
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSetting Setting]]
->and you can still go back to the [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Main Headscratchers Page, here]]
to:
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason2 Season 2]]
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3 Season 3]]
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicMeta Meta]]
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSetting Setting]]
->and you can still go back to the [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Main
-->[[AC:Seasons:]]
--->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason1 Season 1]]\\
[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason2 Season 2]]\\
[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3 Season 3]]
-->[[AC:Others:]]
--->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicMeta Meta]]\\
[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSetting Setting]]\\
[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicGeneralCanon General Canon]] (You are here.)
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*** Not something a book can do? Then why does Twilight rummage through the library trying to find a book for it?
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Stupid question.
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*** Nightmare moon kept the night from ending by refusing to lower the moon. If the sun and moon were independent, all she would have done is messed with the tides.
* I'm curious, how old are the Mane Six? They seem to be in their late teens but I can't tell.
* I'm curious, how old are the Mane Six? They seem to be in their late teens but I can't tell.
to:
*** Nightmare moon kept the night from ending by refusing to lower the moon. If the sun and moon were independent, all she would have done is messed with the tides.
* I'm curious, how old are the Mane Six? They seem to be in their late teens but I can't tell.tides.
* I'm curious, how old are the Mane Six? They seem to be in their late teens but I can't tell.
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** Most likely, but either way it wouldn't really matter. Obviously she's powerful, but there's no worship of her or anything because, well, there's really no need for faith when your "goddess" is literally right there.
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** Twilight treated spike pretty badly in the first episode. She started treating him a lot better since then. I'd say that she considers him a friend. She just didn't until she moved to Ponyville. Also, she had her Big Brother Best Friend Forever, so she definitely did have at least one friend before that.
to:
** Twilight treated spike Spike pretty badly in the first episode. She started treating him a lot better since then. I'd say that she considers him a friend. She just didn't until she moved to Ponyville. Also, she had her Big Brother Best Friend Forever, so she definitely did have at least one friend before that.
*** The key word there is brother. Sibling friendships are not really similar at all to actually friendships. Presumably that's also why Spike doesn't really count for friendship; because Twi had a similar friendship with Spike that she had with Shining.
*** The key word there is brother. Sibling friendships are not really similar at all to actually friendships. Presumably that's also why Spike doesn't really count for friendship; because Twi had a similar friendship with Spike that she had with Shining.
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*** Nightmare moon kept the night from ending by refusing to lower the moon. If the sun and moon were independent, all she would have done is messed with the tides.
to:
*** Nightmare moon kept the night from ending by refusing to lower the moon. If the sun and moon were independent, all she would have done is messed with the tides.tides.
* I'm curious, how old are the Mane Six? They seem to be in their late teens but I can't tell.
* I'm curious, how old are the Mane Six? They seem to be in their late teens but I can't tell.
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** They're just kids, they haven't matured enough to accept that they can't get their marks so soon.
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** Likely it's just animation errors.
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** Taking "Baby Cakes" into consideration, it's possible that Scootaloo's parents aren't Pegasi, which would explain why they don't live in Cloudsdale.
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Like this design better.
Changed line(s) 1,5 (click to see context) from:
[[index]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason1 Season 1]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason2 Season 2]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3 Season 3]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason1 Season 1]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason2 Season 2]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3 Season 3]]
to:
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason1
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicMeta Meta]]
->[[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSetting Setting]]
->and you can still go back to the [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Main Headscratchers Page, here]]
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* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicMeta Meta]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSetting Setting]]
[[/index]]
----
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSetting Setting]]
[[/index]]
----
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Cleaner, leaner links at the top.
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Since we love discussing this show so much that we broke the size limit, the {{Headscratchers}} for each season have been given their own page. Go back to the index [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic here]]
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* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicGeneralCanon General Canon]]
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** Twilight treated spike pretty badly in the first episode. She started treating him a lot better since then. I'd say that she considers him a friend. She just didn't until she moved to Ponyville. Also, she had her Big Brother Best Friend Forever, so she definitely did have at least one friend before that.
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** There are two stained glass windows in Canterlot showing the Mane 6 saving the world. They were publicly awarded the second time. It is not secret.
** Those probably work pretty well assuming ponies' hooves work based on [[http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/06/pony-hooves-explained.html granular jamming]].
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** I don't get what you mean by "the sun and moon cannot be in the sky at the same time" (is it stated somewhere that this is a rule in Equestria, or did you just assume it from the implications?), but it's possible that the crescent moon in Equestria is the result of the moon moving through Equestria's umbra rather than moving so that the side furthest from the moon changes its visibility like around Earth.
to:
** I don't get what you mean by "the sun and moon cannot be in the sky at the same time" (is it stated somewhere that this is a rule in Equestria, or did you just assume it from the implications?), but it's possible that the crescent moon in Equestria is the result of the moon moving through Equestria's umbra rather than moving so that the side furthest from the moon changes its visibility like around Earth.Earth.
*** Nightmare moon kept the night from ending by refusing to lower the moon. If the sun and moon were independent, all she would have done is messed with the tides.
*** Nightmare moon kept the night from ending by refusing to lower the moon. If the sun and moon were independent, all she would have done is messed with the tides.
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Since we love discussing this show so much that we broke the size limit, the {{Headscratchers}} for each season have been given their own page.
to:
Since we love discussing this show so much that we broke the size limit, the {{Headscratchers}} for each season have been given their own page.
page. Go back to the index [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic here]]
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Since we love discussing this show so much that we broke the size limit, the {{Headscratchers}} for each season have been given their own page.
[[index]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason1 Season 1]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason2 Season 2]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3 Season 3]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicMeta Meta]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSetting Setting]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicGeneralCanon General Canon]]
[[/index]]
----
* "I used to wonder what friendship could be…" Um, no. Twilight couldn't have cared less about friendship, before the spark. She was ''far'' too busy studying to wonder about things like ''friends''.
** Well, maybe she tried to understand friendship and didn't get it.
** She didn't have friends. Then Celestia told her to make friends. That's when she started wondering what friendship could be. Then she made friends with the mane cast and learned what friendship was.
** Notice the past tense. When she was young she WONDERED (past tense) what friendship was. As she got more and more into studying and magic, she decided she could do without and didn't think about it anymore. Leading to the first episode where she's a tad stuck-up and believes she doesn't need friends, no longer wondering what friendship could be.
** The first verse of the full version of the theme (so far found only on a Talking Twilight doll) makes the whole song much clearer:
--->"When I was young, I was too busy to make any friends
--->Such silliness did not seem worth the effort it expends
--->But My Little Ponies, you opened up my eyes
--->And now the truth is crystal clear, like splendid summer skies
--->And it's such a wonderful surprise"
** The German translation renders that line as "Ich fragte wozu Freundschaft gut sein kann," roughly, "I asked (or wondered) what friendship could be ''good for''."
* Applebloom's spent three episodes to date trying to get a cutie mark, and she's asked many ponies for advice or help. She's talked to her sister, her sister's friends, her teacher, and her own friends about this frequently. Isn't it odd that we've never seen her ask her own ''brother''?
** Big Macintosh might not have more to say on the subject other than "Ee-yup."
*** He had sound advice for his other sister that one time.
**** Maybe he did and like Applejack, 'Bloom didn't listen.
** [[http://csimadmax.deviantart.com/gallery/27895270?offset=48#/d36lh5a This is probably what would happen.]]
*** That only raises more headscratchers: In "Call of the Cutie", we see Twilight Sparkle's attempts to magic a cutie mark onto Applebloom fail as her flank immediately re-blanks itself. But is it just an anti-magic field, or do a pony's hindquarters also nullify any physical act of tattooing, or dyeing, or even pasting another image on? Is it just the fact that Twilight tried to change what markings Applebloom would have permanently, in which case only tattoos might be rejected? This is the sort of thing the Cutie Mark Crusaders should investigate.
**** Maybe it does the nullifying part in order to prevent cheating. Doesn't apply to putting race numbers on (as seen in Sonic Rainboom).
**** You have to think about what Twilight was trying to do. She couldn't have been casting a spell for drawing random images, or for specific images while selecting a new random image each time. She wasn't just trying to make tattoo by magic. She would have noticed the ethical implications of doing that, for one. "There, your life-long destiny is to act on this random picture I made." She could only have been trying to make a real Cutie Mark appear, to tap Applebloom's latent potential to have one. Since Applebloom hadn't earned hers yet, it makes sense what appeared were random possibilities the mark might have been, but which also didn't last. So, the evidence hardly suggests the ponies come with magic for wiping out images from their flanks. What they have makes the specific kind of images appear, and when invoked ahead of it time like that, it doesn't last.
** Because the cutie mark is a metaphor for puberty, and boys and girls generally don't talk to each other about that. Even the parts that are the same for both genders. (Besides, even though the male horses get cutie marks too, the show is intentionally highlighting it specifically as relevant to girls. Can you think of anything that happens to human girls where they just wake up one morning and something significant to their adult lives has magically appeared and is visible to everyone?)
*** So, cutie marks are tits? That makes the show.... even more odd.
** Wouldn't it be more reasonable to assume that Twilight, the more-or-less adult pony in the situation, would only be doing it to prove a point to Apple Bloom? In reality whether or not Twilight could make a permanent cutie mark seems irrelevant, as she nows Apple Bloom needs to earn her mark honestly, and wouldn't make her a permanent cutie mark anyway.
** Eh...I don't know if it's really a metaphor for puberty. It's more about finding your place in the world.
*** It could easily be both. Remember, Apple Bloom was upset that the other girls had their cutie marks and she didn't. Tell me, how common is it for real life girls to get upset that their friends have found their place in the world and they haven't? It easily ties into puberty as well as the concept of "finding yourself".
*** Definitely both. Remember what the party was called? a "Cuteceañera". This comes straight from the Spanish traditions of a "Quinceañera" (15th birth year), which is a gigantic celebration of upcoming womanhood.
* Why does Twilight always seem frightened of Celestia and letting her down? I mean, this could be hero worship, but she always seems like if one little thing wrong, Celestia will rain the wrath down from the heavens, when in reality Celestia is a very kind, patient, VERY understanding, even when Twilight screws up royally. I mean, shouldn't she know of all people that Celestia is a LOT more Understanding than she gives credit for?
** Well, Celestia did banish her own sister to the moon for a thousand years. You don't trifle with gods, no matter how friendly they act.
*** Keep your friends close, and your potential usurpers even closer?
*** To be fair, that's a very different set of circumstances entirely, given Nightmare Moon is also very powerful, and had to be stopped. Banishing her is preferable to other methods for stopping her from trying to bring down eternal night on Equestria. I seriously doubt Celestia would ever actually want to banish someone to the moon like that. If she was left with no choice, that would explain why she would do it. Twilight Sparkle (and Rainbow Dash, during one of her panic attacks in 'Sonic Rainboom') are far more afraid of Celestia than they should be. Celestia doesn't even bat an eyelid when Pinkie Pie eats one of Celestia's cupcakes right in front of her (although Mr. and Mrs. Cake end up going into a panic, and have to be trolled to calm them down). Celestia only got even remotely angry when Philomena went missing, but she was surprised to think that someone could think of the punishment Twilight Sparkle thought of (banished somewhere else and thrown in a dungeon).
** True, but she doesn't really need to be frightened from where I stand, too. If anything, Twilight Sparkle is one of the closest people in Princess Celestia's inner circle as her apprentice, and would probably know the most about her before having come to Ponyville.
** As Bill Waterston once said, and i'm paraphrasing: You die a thousand deaths before you even get punished when you're a kid. While Twilight's a bit older, she's also introverted and as much as she knows the princess, she's also awkward enough that she is scared that if she fails in doing something for the princess, that she'll fail the princess. While Celestia has shown endless patience of anything short of "trying to drown the world in darkness" and even then she was forgiving. Twilight, like a kid, flat out panics when the punishment is usually non-existent, it's just part of her personality.
** Twilight doesn't just act that way around Celestia. She freaks out about possibly upsetting her friends in Boast Busters and The Ticket Master. Compare to, say, Rainbow Dash, who worries about failing and being mocked, but not her friends being disappointed in her.
** Remember the episode of the PowerpuffGirls (an earlier project Lauren Faust worked on) where [[{{Satan}} Him]] made the girls' worst fears come true, and it was revealed that Blossom's worst fear amounted to, "If I weren't smart anymore and start getting questions wrong in school, then no one will love me anymore, and I will be cast down into Hell"? It's like that. Twilight's just as insecure about failing her beloved mentor, Celestia, as Blossom was about not being smart enough.
** Twilight is kind of insecure. It's irrational, but since when has insecurity really been a rational feeling?
** Plus, Twilight regards Celestia and their relationship highly for any number of reasons. Even if you know someone is kind and understanding, when you hold that level of respect, you don't want to fail them and disappoint them because -you- feel bad about it.
** As the others have said, irrational fear and insecurity can certainly fit. I've been working at a rather industrial bread factory for several months, and while I don't ''panic'', I do feel rather self-conscious and uncomfortable about it any time I waste a bread's worth of dough, even though I know that every day several ''tonnes'' are thrown away.
* So what ''is'' Twilight's relationship with Princess Celestia? She seems to regard her as a surrogate parent figure...except she has real parents whom she presumably keeps in contact with. Is Princess Celestia a mentor? Then why does Twilight seem to be ridiculously terrified at the prospect of disappointing or upsetting her, since Celestia has pretty much shown regularly that, at least when it comes to the Mane cast, she's very much a ReasonableAuthorityFigure?
** Well she's definitely Twilight's mentor. Even though Twilight does have real parents, Celestia could still be a surrogate parent of a sort. It seems that Twilight has been living away from home and studying under Celestia for years. As for Twilight being terrified of disappointing her, don't kids usually want their parents to approve of them. Imagine for a moment that your mom told you she was coming to visit you and meet your friends (assuming of course that you live away from home). Wouldn't you be a bit worried and hope that she will approve of your friends? Compound this with the fact that Celestia is their ruler (and a god!), and I think that her worries, though irrational, should not be unexpected.
*** Also, Twilight has repeatedly demonstrated a tendency to catastrophize situations. While Celestia has always acted reasonably in the show, one of Twilight's character flaws is to assume situations are or will become far worse than they actually are. Note how Twilight Sparkle tries to sneak into the star-swirl the beareded wing of Canterlot's library when none of the guards would even consider denying her access, or how during Boast Busters she assumes her friends will hate her for using her magical talents to put the braggart Trixie in her place. She simply can't stop herself from catastrophizing whenever something the tiniest bit negative happens.
* Shouldn't Rainbow Dash be incredibly famous in Ponyville, if not in all of Equestria? According to series canon, she's the only pegasus to EVER break the sound barrier (the "Sonic Rainboom"), and she didn't do it just once, but twice!
** Yes. Yes she should. If not in Ponyville than at least in Cloudsdale. I'd suggest that a future episode could involve her going back to Cloudsdale and learning she's a celebrity, but that would probably just be a repeat of "Green Isn't Your Color". Actually, all of the mane cast ''should'' be famous for saving Equestria, but chances are no one outside of Ponyville (besides Celestia and Luna, of course) knows that they were the ones who did it. The residents of Ponyville might not even know if they didn't bother tell anyone (but knowing Rainbow's personality, she'd probably let everyone know).
** Moreover, shouldn't ALL 6 be famous for saving their world from Nightmare Moon?
*** Rainbow Dash doesn't seem to be the kind of person who would enjoy celebrity. She loves showing off and impressing people, but the things that come with it (expectation, lack of privacy, people telling her what to do, too many rules, not enough nap time) would drive her up the wall in the end. Her fame was likely dimmed by the fact that after Sonic Rainboom she just fled right back to Ponyville and continued doing odd jobs in what is pretty much the equivalent of Nowhereville, North Dakota, which is likely exactly what she wanted. Her desire to join the wonderbolts is pretty much so she can hang out with some awesome ponies and pull off sweet tricks, not fame persay. As for saving Equestria, I wonder if that wasn't entirely attributed to Twilight (who does seem rather well known), along with the actual details being mostly unknown to anyone who wasn't directly involved.
**** It wouldn't surprise me if there were an episode where Rainbow Dash is invited to perform with the Wonderbolts, but finds out it's a lot more work than she expected. Then again, we've already had an episode where Fluttershy learns she hates fame. And Ponyville is hardly Nowhereville. It was important enough for Celestia to visit the Summer Sun Celebration held there. Actually, seeing how close it is to the old castle, it could have been part of the capital before it moved to Canterlot (Is that in WMG yet?). And I doubt Twilight would let people give her all the credit and ignore her friends. If anything, people might assume Celestia showed up and saved the day.
** There might be a factor of "no man is a hero to his butler" for Rainbow Dash. The citizens of Ponyville know she's amazing, but also know she's lazy and has a big head about things, so they don't treat her as a revered celebrity. The ponies of Canterlot are snooty and urbane enough to pretend to be unimpressed because she's an outsider. She probably would be pretty famous in Cloudsdale; but she doesn't spend a lot of time there.
** From a Doyleist standpoint, the mane cast can't have normal lives if everyone treats them like celebrities. So they don't.
** Perhaps Celestia engineered a cover-up to prevent evil beings from trying to get at the Elements.
** They have two, not one, two separate stained glass windows in Celestia's palace depicting them, explicitly, defeating both Nightmare Moon and Discord. In addition, after the Discord thing, they had that big Star Wars-styled ceremony in their honor with lots of ponies in attendance. Yet, later, when Rarity is visiting Canterlot in "Sweet and Elite" and before she lucks into hanging out with Fancypants, and even afterward when the other five show up at the party, all of the upper-crust ponies are like "Who are these hick ponies rednecking up our fancy party?" And Fancypants himself just goes "I, for one, find them charmingly rustic" rather than more realistically being all "HOLY SHIT, you're the guys that beat Nightmare Moon and Discord and had that big ceremony honoring you the other day and have two separate stained glass windows in Princess Celestia's palace depicting your deeds WOW it's totally an honor and a privilege to have you guys attend our party here!"
*** Same reason for Mario's status in Paper Mario. Despite living near Toad Town, and of course, having saved the world countless times, people still treat him like a normal citizen, nor do they ever swarm him. I suppose being swarmed by crazed fans would interfere in one's job.
* This is a small one, but I've seen some people claim that most unicorns can only use their telekinesis on things directly related to their talents... But does the show actually say this anywhere? The closest thing I can think of is "Boast Busters", where Spike and Twilight mention that most unicorns only gain a small number of spells related to their talents, but nothing is mentioned about limits on their ability to move things with their horns.
** Telekinesis does appear to be the default use of unicorn magic. Everything else is either spell-like abilities related to your talent / Cutie Mark, or spells learned and cast from books.
** The "Cutie Mark Chronicles", when Rarity's magic was triggered, she found gems. When Twilight's magic was triggered, she did about fifteen separate things without meaning to and had to be stopped. They never say it outright, but it's pretty heavily implied that specific telekinesis is a given, while wide-ranged magic is... odd.
** Rarity's Dumb Rock Event was her innate, talent-related ability to find gems going off. Most Unicorns innately gain their abilities related to their cutie marks. Twilight's talent IS magic, so her first big release was magical energy at its rawest, which could be shaped into whatever abilities could be concieved (As seen with the gem-finding spell in ''A Dog and Pony Show'') hence Celestia taking notice of her potential. All unicorns seem to pick up basic cantrips like simple telekinesis and light(Snails), but their strongest abilities come from their talents.
* Why can't Spike fly? I think since G1 he didn't have wings, but I'd like to know if he'll grow wings when he grows up or what?
** Spike may be a wingless dragon, in Twilight flashback in CMC we see picture of adult dragon of Spike race, it looked same as other dragons but no wings.
** Alternately, Spike could merely have been enlarged by the spell, instead of matured, and he may grow his wings at a later age.
*** No, I was referring to that picture, not enlarged Spike.
**** It IS possible that the picture was just supposed to represent a young/baby dragon.
** Fans have theorized that just like how there are different kinds of ponies (earth, pegasus, unicorn) there are also different kinds of dragons, each with their own skill and specialties. The wingless kind like spike are larger and stronger than others (let's call them thunder-lizards), horned dragons who have wings and can fly are more lithe and faster (how about... pterosaurs), and water dragons who look like eastern dragons and can control the elements (leviathans, maybe).
* So, is it me or do the ponies don't age much. They're either small, chibi-like fillies and colts or their VagueAge pony versions.
** Same reason Bart Simpson is still 10?
** I didn't mean it like that. They're adults, but its like they only go through two life stages. They're either the former or the latter.
*** Filly Fluttershy looks older and ganglier than the other fillies, so there are in-between stages.
*** Don't forget snips and snails.
*** Pipsqueak is also different. He is smaller than any of the other kids (fillies/colts).
*** And there's also Granny Smith.
*** Flim and Flam seem to be somewhere in between the Mane Cast and Granny Smith in age, if their body shape and legs are anything to go by.
* Ok about the elements of harmony, doesn't Rainbow Dash posses the element of "loyalty" and Applejack the element of "honesty" In my opinion Rainbow Dash is the most honest out of all of them (example : telling Rarity she was the laughingstock of Ponyville after her failed fashion show) and Applejack is more loyal (example : not giving up on Fluttershy in the episode "Dragon Shy" when Rainbow Dash wanted to leave Fluttershy behind). I really think the two ponies elements are switched
** in the pilot, they fit their respective elements very well. I don't think a momentary laps of these qualities means anything. also, this might be Hasbro's fault as they denied the idea or a continuing story arc. some of the writers might have just forgotten as a result.
** Heck, maybe the elements of harmony attune to people based on the actions they've performed ''that day'', rather than fundamental character traits.
** Rainbow Dash is more honest because she doesn't think before she speaks rather than deeply engrained loyalty. Consider Party of One- Dash refused to give up on crazy Pinkie, but had no problem making up a story earlier.
*** That's called being blunt, honesty is more than merely saying the truth, it also involves having an open life, one that isn't hard to figure out, an overall straightforward attitude in conversations (no deceit, no misdirection, no manipulation) and a will to help others improve by pointing out their flaws. Applejack has issues lying when need be (which is her element's weakness), but being a better liar definitely does not mean Rainbow Dash is more honest.
** One could also argue that in Dragonshy, Rainbow Dash was being loyal to her friends, since 1) Fluttershy didn't want to be there and 2) Up until she stared down the dragon, Fluttershy had been TheLoad and had repeatedly delayed their journey and endangered herself and Rainbow's other friends.
** I agree with the original poster that their elements don't really fit them. In "Applebuck Season" Applejack even identifies herself as the most LOYAL and DEPENDABLE of ponies. Her line in the theme song is also "faithful and strong." In "The Ticket Master," Applejack's reasons for wanting to go to the GGG were helping her family; fixing the barn, replacing the plow, fixing her Granny's hip, while Rainbow's reasons were purely selfish. She wanted a chance to impress the Wonderbolts. Rainbow Dash always comes off as a little selfish. In "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well," she was more loyal to herself than the ponies she was actually saving. And her entire dream about joining the Wonderbolts kind of implies that if she was actually offered a position, she would leave Ponyville, and subsequently her friends, behind.
*** Applejack is loyal, maybe even more so than Rainbow Dash, but the opposite is not true. What's the alternative? That AJ becomes Loyalty, and RD becomes Honesty, which definitely does not suit her. Besides, she claimed her loyalty was to the princess, not her friends. As much as the current setting seems flawed, it's also the best, because the alternative doesn't make sense either. RD's loyal, blindly so at times, but that's.... really all she has when it comes to friendship. Recent episodes have shown facets of her personality that would make previous antagonists jealous by comparison.
*** Shazzba had a really [[http://shazzbaa.tumblr.com/post/17644330485/my-little-pony-the-elements-of-harmony interesting theory]] about this. In short? The Elements represent what each of the mane six values the most about friendship.
**** I agree with this one the most, because its similar to the explanation for why the Digi-destined in Digimon Season one, had their crests, it represented what they needed, not what they possessed and both seem to fit IMHO.
* Why do so many of the Background Ponies have such stupid voices when they speak? Bon-Bon (though in her "Green" cameo she had a normal voice), Colgate, Carrot-Top, etc.
** Depends what you call "stupid". For me those voices are not stupid. And the reason for this is that they are only extras with no set VA for them so they got a random available actor to record some lines.
*** Also, remember that voices for this cartoon are recorded before the animation is completed, and background ponies are almost always chosen at random (but they like using Bon-bon for some reason), so no one in the booth knows which background pony is going to say which line.
** "Stupid" as in being at least very unusual. They always sound droopy, low pitched, slurred, and different from the other ponies.
*** Main characters are done by professional VAs - minor characters are done by random staff members.
**** Wrong. Background ponies are often as not just pickup lines from the main VA's (especially Libman, Ball, and Weseluck). They would use really crazy voices to avoid sounding anything like their principal characters.
* Why do the characters refer to their manes as "hair"?
** Because it's... like hair?
** Because it's made of hair?
** Because it ''is'' hair!
** They do often simply say "mane" instead. "Hair" is probably a hiccup on the scriptwriters' part, like how sometimes they'll say "everybody" instead of "every''pony''" or something to that effect.
** A tail is not a mane. Mane and tail is hair.
* How do Ponies age? Like our horses, right?
** No, they are not like our horses, they propably aging similar to humans or maybe they had longer lives (look previous entry)
*** Any proof? I know in the original series the Earth Ponies are more or less just talking horses.
**** Well first off, we know that Celestia is over 1000 years old. I wouldn't be surprised if the normal ponies also age in a non-realistic manner, probably similar to humans.
*** 'Sort of' WordOfGod (Lauren seemed relucant to establish firm canon on the subject) is that they age faster than humans. Personally I'm of the '40 - 50 years' camp, but there's no real evidence. I doubt there ever will be.
** Well, consider the fact that this is a world populated by sentient ponies who have developed culture, science, and magic. Humans today live MUCH longer than humans of the past because for hundreds of years, we've been developing treatments and cures for human ailments. It would make sense for ponies with our same level of intelligence and ability to do the same, but for pony ailments.
* is "bits" the name of Equestria's currency? it may just be slang like it real life but money in this show has never been called anything else.
** It appears to be. Then again "bits" is an actual unit of money, just was never produced in the USA. A bit is 1/8 of the main unit of currency, like the dollar.
** In ''My Little Pony Tales'' the money was called "Jangles", but considering they still lived in "Ponyland" back then, there's a chance the name of the currency has changed too.
** This is probably another of the show's equestrian puns, it's just a little less obvious than most. In equestrian nomenclature, the bit is the (usually metal) part of a bridle that goes in the pony's mouth.
* What is the level of Equestria's technology? most of the time, it seems Victorian era at the latest but then we have the brainwave monitor from "Feeling Pinkie Keen" and in "Call of the Cutie", Apple Bloom says that the Apple Family takes credit. the latter would seem to imply not only credit cards but scanners.
** RuleOfFunny.
** I was hoping for more of a straight-forward answer.
** They obviously have some kind of SchizoTech, but it mostly follows the RuleOfFunny, as in, sometimes things just exist for a sight gag. There probably isn't a better explaination.
** In fictional works, any modern society where magic exists tends to be farther behind technologically, or at least have only developed technology where magic can't solve all the problems. There's probably a trope for this, I'm just not sure what to search for.
** "Credit" is a concept that's been around FAR longer than credit cards. In the old days, in small towns where everyone knew each other, it was common practice to allow customers to purchase goods on credit -- which, back then, usually just meant that the store owner could rely on the customer to pay them back at a later date. The term carried on into the 20th century, where it was typically used in reference to bank loans; this is reflected in the term "credit rating" which we still use today.
** I'd agree that it's firmly in RuleOfFunny SchizoTech. At first, things seem to be a pony- and magic-filled version of, say, 18th or 19th century (Western) life. Then you have Twilight's EKG, Pinkie's pedal-powered helicopter, Rarity's non-pedal-powered sewing machine and hairdryers, the Crusaders talking about cannon and power tools ...
** If you need an in-universe explanation, I'm gonna quote myself from higher up the page: Since a lot of the work can be done by magical means, most areas in the world probably have no use for technology. Only towns with a low population of one of the kinds of ponies would need technology to supplement their need. Because the need for this is so low, there is no centralized production and every town has to make the tech for itself, resulting in different levels of technology per town. In addition, each town we've seen is rather passionate about their identity, which would probably explain the massive cultural differences. And if you want a more meta reason: the settings are designed to fit the story, not the other way around.
** Out-of-universe: WordOfGod has stated that writers should avoid using "modern" technology though it is not forbidden to include to make a story or joke work, as well as to establish some sense of familiarity to the younger viewer: hence why we have elements like flashlights. However, writers shouldn't be lazy to include, say, a washing machine when non-powered tech (a washboard) works for the same joke/story element. Lauren's also stated that if there ''is'' something electrical, just think of it that a unicorn mechanic put a whole bunch of magic into it in the past.
** In-universe: steam power seems completely likely: we have the steam engine train in the S2 opening, there's the spa, there's Fluttershy's radiator, Spike uses up all the hot water for his shower, etc. Perhaps Ponyville, situated where it is near a large mountain range, sits on a geothermal pocket, which would make steam-driven mechanical generators to drive things like basic plumbing, hot water, and heat. Also a good source of wind energy (the windmill). All that could be made that, where appropriate, each home and building has a simple electricity generator running off steam for lights and other equipment. Not efficient if you translated it to a real world technology, but its not like Ponyville's suffering from global warming yet...
** "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" establishes that Ponyville has a hydroelectric dam nearby. And they have modern construction equipment to build a multi-story building.
*** That episode is nothing but evidence for SchizoTech. The dam had some sort of artifice attached to it, but there's no evidence of any of the infrastructure necessary for it to be an electrical generating facility. Look at pictures of actual hydroelectric dams--there's a lot of utility lines leading from them. We've never seen powerlines in the show, either on the dam itself, or anywhere in Ponyville. I like the explanation somebody on EquestriaDaily came up with, that the dam was generating some other type of energy for some esoteric purpose. And that construction site is ''all kinds'' of wrong. The crane is ''wood'' ferfuxsake. I can't tell you it's outright impossible for a construction crane to be wood, but it definitely wouldn't look like the crane in the show. The building is too high for the type of wood-frame construction they show--actual buildings in that height range would be steel- or concrete-framed (today) or masonry (historically). The show has always been really loose in worldbuilding, often because they need to make it recognizable for the show's target audience.
*** Electrical devices could be powered by magical batteries--think of AA-cell glowing crystals that last months or years in heavy appliances. Then the dam wouldn't need power lines because it's hydromagical rather than hydroelectric--all they need is regular shipping to cart away crates of magic-infused gems.
* It's been established that with the exception of ones whose talents ''are'' magic, a unicorn can only do magic in relation to what their talents are. so how can the faction and decoration inclined Rarity open doors and levitate smores with her magic?
** The common belief is that all unicorns are capable of basic telekinesis.
*** This is pretty much proven in the show.
** As for the smores, the dialogue makes it pretty clear that Rarity is always obsessing over details in everything she does, whether it's making clothes or preparing snacks.
** It may be that you can ''attempt'' almost anything, its just that actions outside your talent will be more difficult. So Rarity can do a few things outside of her talent so long as they don't require alot of power.
** Or that learning any type of magic outside of the area of their special talent requires hard work and practice, while magic related to their talent is fairly easy to learn.
* It's pretty much canon that Twilight is Spike's adoptive mother and while Spike's DeadpanSnarker traits are played for laughs most of the time, he does get the occasional dirty look for it and it has sometimes bordered on JerkAss. so is Twilight one of those parents that's afraid to be tough on their kids?
** I think she's actually more like a [[CoolBigSis big sister]] to him, and the way he treats her in the series seems to prove this. That's pretty much what being a big sis is about - sometimes you're a surrogate mother, sometime you're a ButtMonkey, while mother-son relationship would rather exclude the second part.
** He's her "number-one assistant", not her adopted son. Though "little brother" and "friend" also work pretty well to describe the relationship.
*** He's referred to as her "number-one assistant," but remember that she hatched his egg and has presumably been raising him from infancy by herself. Also, consider that they live together and that they love each other. They may not be called mother-and-son, but it seems pretty clear that that is what they are in all but name. "[[http://img.ponibooru.org/images/36/3644d29056fbb9efbe182706019b83ce You know in your heart that this is canon]]."
*** WordOfGod is that Celestia's the one that raised him after Twilight hatched him. So... no, Twilight is not his mother figure.
* Going with the above info, does Spike consider Twilight's parents as his own? "Cutie Mark Chronicles" shows that Twilight was charged with raising him, however we can assume her parents did most of the work as she was only a filly.
* With the exception of Cherilee and the Mane Cast, why are the ponies in town so awful to the CMC? In "Call Of The Cutie", as Apple Bloom is cornered and brutually teased, the entire room full of adults stands around smiling. In "The Show Stoppers", they laugh hysterically when an entire set falls down on three little kids -- yes, granted, they got up and smiled after, but there were visible nails sticking out of those boards -- and didn't seem to notice when they slink off stage with miserable expressions.
** Ask a kid someday about how effective he or she thinks adults are when being teased (and depending on the age of the kid, wait for the string of bitter cursing to stop).
** The performance was taken to be a comedy; presumably the audience assumed the set was ''meant'' to fall down like that and thus that there was no danger.
* How old are the main cast ponies? Because the "Cutie Mark Crusaders" seem to be somewhere between 7 and 9 and they're called fillies by the main girls. Still, the main ponies themselves don't seem to be that old. I'd have to guess that they're upper teens (18-20), but it's really hard to tell.
** This is been asked many a time, and the simple answer is "it doesn't matter". They've all passed all the relevant legal milestones to count as full adults, and beyond that it's a matter of opinion. Fluttershy being a year older than Pinkie is the only clear evidence we have, which along with her teenage appearance in Cutie Mark Chronicles leads people to believe she's the eldest, but even this is far from evident fact.
* so is Rainbow dash in charge of controlling the whether over ponyville or just a member of the team?
** I think given her job at the Summer Sun celebration and the fact that she was team leader at Winter Wrap-up, she's probably in some sort of leadership position, though not necessarily at the top. She gets the orders then implements them in the field.
** I think she is in charge of clean-up. Anytime we see her doing work (Summer Sun Celebration, Winter Wrap-up, first episode of Season 2) or her work is referenced (opening of Bridle Gossip) she's clearing the skies. So she'll be the pony that breaks up a storm and brings forth the clear skies for the sunny days.
** "Hurricane Fluttershy" strongly implies that Rainbow Dash is numero uno in charge of the Ponyville weatherponies.
* Why do the Wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash sometimes bother with flight goggles? When she gets up to speed to do a Sonic Rainboom her eyes just about start to water, otherwise their all fine without them.
** Possibly to protect against anything else that might be in the air: dust, bugs, etc.
** Probably for the same reason they wear those blue full body suits. It's just part of their costumes and looks cool.
* So is Scootaloo's inability to fly natural for Pegasus Ponies her age or is she behind in her development? Rainbow Dash was able to fly by her age if not younger, as shown in the flash backs scenes of The Cutie Mark Chronicles.
** She's probably behind the curve. Someone needs to put her in flight school. Then again, Fluttershy was a crap flyer at a much older age, so Rainbow Dash may simply have been unusually talented.
*** There is also the two boys of similar age she was racing, and Fluttershy could at least fly (if sporadically) and it's stated and shown that she was a bad flyer.
** Pound Cake is able to fly even as a newborn. But then, despite the fact that their abilities are merely played for laughs in "Baby Cakes", both Pumpkin and Pound Cake seem like they should potentially be considered as atypical genius prodigies concerning their abilities. In addition to Pound's ability to walk on the ceiling, Pumpkin Cake can phase through solid matter, for example. Unless you count Twilight's teleportation, that doesn't seem like something a normal unicorn can do, let alone an infant.
* Why is Scootaloo being educated and brought up in Ponyville rather than Cloudsdale like other Pegasus Ponies? The flash back scenes of The Cutie Mark Chronicles shows young Pegasus Ponies being brought up in Cloudsdale.
** Her parents decided to move to ground level, perhaps?
** That's like asking why Rarity was brought up in Ponyville instead of Canterlot like most unicorns. Nothing in the show has ever said that ''all'' Pegasi are born & raised in Cloudsdale, just most.
* Why doesn't Twilight consider Spike a friend? Don't say she "does" because at the end of the first episode she does state very clearly that she didn't "know know what friendship could be" meaning she must not have had any one in her life she viewed in that light already.
** Spike isn't the same as her other pony friends. She's had Spike as a live-in servant/confidant for most of her life (or, to be more accurate, the entirety of his).
** Twilight hatched Spike from an egg and has presumably raised him from infancy by herself. Their relationship seems to be that of an adoptive mother and her adopted son. As close as they are, and as much as they love each other, they are not friends; they are family.
*** WordOfGod is that Celestia's the one that raised him after Twilight hatched him. So... no, Twilight is not his mother figure. Spike says so himself, he doesn't consider Twilight to be his "mommy".
* So are Applejack's parents dead?
** Her parents could be dead, living on another farm or just absent for some reason. Maybe one day there will be a WordofGod or an episode about her parents (or their death), but until then it’s nothing more than a popular Fanon theory.
*** It was thought that this was also the case for Rarity, but then we finally met her parents.
* if Applebloom wasn't born yet at the time of the flash backs in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, shouldn't Applejack's parents have been alive and well and waving her off when she left to live in the city?
** Maybe they said goodbye in the house while the others did so at the gate.
* Does Sweetie Belle live with Rarity? If so, why?
** WordOfGod says Rarity lives alone (not counting Opalescence), and Sweetie Belle lives with their parents. Proved in Episode 31 when their parents make an appearance.
* How come Rarity will basically drag in strangers off the street just to dress up and restyle them, will lecture friends about etiquette..... but has almost indifference towards her own sister on such issues? Like in Stare Master when she doesn't even bat an eyelid when a sizeable chunk of Sweetie Belle's hair is cut off by the cat (remember how badly she reacted to Twilight's messed up hair in the first episode) or that she's perfectly fine with all the rough and tumble antics she and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders get up to. I would have thought being Rarity's little sister would be like being somebody's {{Barbie}} doll half the time.... but in fact she seems like a perfectly normal older sister, which, while nice, is still inconsistent with her character.
** An upcoming episode will deal with the relationship between the two, hopefully we'll get to know more about them. For now, we can only assume she gave up on her sister just like she did with Applejack at first, or that she expects her sister to learn by herself.
** Considering that Sweetie's mane was back to normal by the next scene, I'd either chalk it up to RuleOfFunny or Rarity fixing it in the split second she was off-screen.
* Rarity's voice is all over the place. Sometimes it's rather deep, other times it's very high-pitched, sometimes she seems to be British, other times Canadian, and yet other times her accent is somewhere in between. What gives?
** It's ''clearly'' meant to be an affectation, and one she hams up for effect at times. The fact her sister doesn't have a similar accent and it occasionally slips reinforces it. Interestingly, it seems her friends are at least partially aware of this, as the imagine spots in ''A Dog and Pony Show'' seems to portray her accent slightly more exaggerated than normal, suggesting the Mane Cast see it as a tad ridiculous.
** It's called a Mid-Atlantic accent, IIRC, and it doesn't actually occur naturally. It's a completely affected accent that's meant to sound high-class. Or, to put it another way, it's just another thing Rarity's doing for her image as a designer (like only going by the one name), and all the evidence that it's an affectation (above bullet) is really just evidence that she hasn't perfected the act yet.
*** This is proved twice. In "Cutie Mark Chronicles", filly Rarity doesn't have the Mid-Atlantic accent yet (since she doesn't realize that beautifying is her special talent). And in "Sisterhooves", we learn that her parents both have thick Chicago/Wisconsin accents.
* So are horses not sapient like ponies, mules and zebras, or just not the ones Twilight creates from the mice in "The Best Night Ever"? I wad amused actual horses didn't exist in their world until "The Best Night Ever".
** Watch that episode again. You clearly missed the joke.
* do all the wonder bolts all just coincidentally, naturally have manes that grown in that weird AnimeHair mock windswept style, or is it part of their uniform to get geld that way? basically [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wkafsxFhuRE/TcYvT6l4W8I/AAAAAAAAEPU/e936a_a_93c/s1600/11428+-+gala+goggles+rainbow_dash+spitfire+wingboner+wonderbolts.jpg this.]] or [[http://th00.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2011/138/d/2/spitfire_brushed_hair_by_ponyvectors-d3gmel9.png this.]]?
* It may be just me, but is Celestia a god to the ponies? The thought comes to me in the sisterhood episode, when Rarity states: "Celestia as my witness, I WILL have my sister back."
** It's not just you. The terms PhysicalGod and [[GodEmperor God Empress]] are often applied to Celestia. The line you're referring to just kinda confirmed what we already knew.
** Well, for one thing ponies probably don't pray to Celestia and actually expect to be heard. If they want something badly enough, they'll still write a letter or request an audience much as they might from a 'mere' mortal king or queen. That said, as far as ponies at large are concerned Celestia is ''the'' Princess -- sole ruler of Equestria and literal bringer of both day and night for a thousand years. (While yes, Luna is back now, that happy event is arguably still too recent as of yet to have left much of an impression on a public consciousness shaped by generations of pony ancestors who grew up, raised their children, and died knowing no other way the world could possibly be.) It's doubtful most of them would as much as seriously ''consider'' that any sort of even higher authority might exist, so if a pony makes a vow and really, really means it, invoking her name is kind of the natural thing to do.
* Does it bother anyone that some of the antagonistic characters do not give the Mane 6 any respect in spite of being the Elements of Harmony, the one's who defeated Nightmare Moon, and are acquainted with the Celestia?
** Not really. Most of the antagonists the Mane 6 meet are other species that aren't part of pony society and might not have even heard of the Nightmare Moon incident (Gilda, the Diamond Dogs, the Buffalo, and the dragons from "Dragonshy" and "Owl's Well..."), or monsters that might not be intelligent enough to grasp the information in the first place (the hydra, the Ursa Minor, the cockatrice). That just leaves Trixie and the three bullies from "Sonic Rainboom"; since the Mane 6 don't walk around wearing "I Stopped the Apocalypse (You're Welcome)" t-shirts, Trixie had no way of know who she was dealing with. The three bullies probably don't have any excuse, but that's a headscratcher for another time.
*** My guess is is that the information regarding Nightmare Moon was locked down to prevent the inevitable backlash from putting a would-be usurper (whatever her reasons) on the throne. Only Ponyville and Canterlot castle know the full story.
** What annoys me is that nopony, antagonist or otherwise, seems to care. In Sweet and Elite, Rarity says something along the lines of her friends being the most important ponies to her, even if they're not really important. In The Mysterious Mare Do Well, Rainbow Dash lets the fame go to her head for saving a few ponies, as if it could even compare to the fame that ought to be brought upon by helping save the world twice.
* How come there haven't been any new antagonists or intentional threats to Ponyville in season two? It probably sounds petty but really; Beyond the required BigBad beatdown of Discord, everything bad going on is either a miscommunication between the Mane Cast or a accidental disaster, also because of the Mane Cast. We're almost to the half-season mark, by this point in season one most of the VillainOfTheWeek and MonsterOfTheWeek episodes were aired. Lauren Faust even said she and the crew wanted more adventure stories in the series but exectutive and time constraints were stopping them. Now that they were given more freedom with the show I thought they would try to balance in more adventures along with the slice-of-life, but the exact opposite has happened.
** The CMC didn't appear until episode 14 or so, give it time, there is still plenty of episodes for a monster to come and ruin everyone's day.
* So, [[RhymesOnADime Princess Celestia is the ruler of Equestria]], right? Well, doesn't that technically make her a queen, not a princess?
** WordOfGod is that Celestia and Luna were supposed to be queens, but Hasbro said that they should be princesses because kids associate queens with evil and princesses with good. In-universe, it might have something to do with the fact that the two sisters rule together.
** She's the absolute leader, and a goddess too, she can call herself whatever she likes.
** It is worth mentioning that Celestia absolutelly hates her job as a ruler, only keeping it because she knows it is needed to keep peace on Equestria, being called a "princess" instead of "queen" helps to lighten things up.
*** When was this mentioned? She certainly doesn't seem to like spending every Grand Galloping Gala shaking hooves, but I don't see any reason to believe she hates her job.
** There's another theory that her and Luna's parents are still around, so technically she can't call herself queen.
** Plenty of nations historically have been ruled by princes or princesses. Technically speaking, Equestria could be called a Theocratic Principality (as Celestia and Luna are both princesses and goddesses).
*** [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Glorious Pony's Theocratic Principality of Equestria!]]
* According to the [[http://img.ponibooru.org/images/02/02b14f657f8b589243c1279e8a08d8f6 concept art]] Pinkie Pie was originally a pegasus and Fluttershy was originally an earth pony. Why were they switched? Fluttershy is not good at flying and has a connection to nature. Wouldn't it make more sense if she was an earth pony?
** My guess is that the changes were made to show that nothing is set in stone, and that there are exceptions. Fluttershy is, as far as we know, the only pegasus that doesn't live in Cloudsdale or a floating house/castle, and had a cutie mark that isn't related to weather or speed at all, showing that there is more depth to the pony races than you'd imagine. We're already seeing how earth ponies have to struggle to make up for their lack of a horn or wings, so a pegasus with fourth-wall powers? Probably not...
** Because the moral of the show is BeYourself, not [[UnfortunateImplications be what's expected of your race]].
** Actually, they were changed because Pinkie was originally a pegasus named Surprise, which is one of the G1 ponies that Hasbro has lost the rights to. The same with Posey, the earth pony that Fluttershy was originally.
*** Not quite. Even after being changed from Posey and Surprise, they were still Earth Pony Fluttershy and Pegasus Pinkie Pie for a while. Not sure when it was changed, but you can find concept art of this stage. It's likely it was changed because Pinkie Pie was a prominent Earth Pony character in G3/G3.5, and although Fluttershy was an Earth Pony in G3, it's a very pegasus-sounding name.
** IIRC, they switched them to add more varied body language to the cast. Pinkie was moving too much like Dash in the air, zipping and zooming everywhere. Fluttershy became a slow, timid flier to contrast Dash, and Pinkie got her characteristic bounce.
* why are the other main characters friends with Pinkie Pie if they find her so annoying?
** They find this one thing about her annoying. Are your friends all perfect?
** This. I love my friends and family, but they all have annoying sides.
* Why is it, that Spike is always left out of many of the ponies adventures? In season two, he is not at Twilight's birthday party/visiting Rarity, at Applejack's welcome home party, nor does he go with the others to find her. He also has been less active since Secret of my Excess,having little to no lines. Does Twilight force him to stay at the library while SHE goes out to have fun with the others?
** I'm more bothered by the automatic assumption that Twilight and the others are forcing him to stay home. He's his own person, he probably was either at Canterlot again or just doing his own thing.
** I bet he isn't forced to stay home (I was actually kidding when I said that), but there are many episodes where I feel he could be there. In Sweet and Elite, he didn't go to Twilight's birthday/ visit Rarity, didn't see the Cake's babies at the hospital, go to Applejack's welcome home party, or look for her. I'm sure he is his own person, but he's just a kid. Kids love to go outside, and be with their friends. Twilight and the others are his friends, so it's unusual to see him not hang around with them, with no explanation.
** I think that Twilight just gives him a lot of chores to do. And it's just increased after Hearth's Warming Eve, making him very busy. So, his busy lifestyle is probably what's preventing him from spending a lot of time with his friends. Much to his dismay.
*** I don't think Twilight would overload Spike with that much work, and I doubt she would consciously leave him out of her birthday. I like to think he might simply have been ill at the time.
**** Twilight might just be overloading him with all that work, and might not even noticing how it's giving less time to be with his friends. And as for missing Twilight's birthday, I always thought that maybe he celebrated it with her back at the library. He stayed home because, Twilight would probably be the center of attention (it's her birthday after all), and wanted Rarity's attention to himself. And in the Secret of My Excess episode, he certainly did get Rarity's attention. What a lucky dragon.
*** Well, if Lauren Faust is to be believed and it was actually Princess Celestia who raise Spike for most of his life rather than Twilight it's possible that he was off visiting her during "Sweet and Elite" while the girls were at Twilight's party and Spike and Twilight did something smaller at home either before of after. In "The Last Roundup" He didn't go looking for Applejack because he had to stay in Ponyville to look after the Library and possibly Fluttershy's animals like he did in "Dragonshy," and didn't go see the Cake's babies because He's not that close to the family, being more like a friend of a friend of a friend.
**** Even if the writers go with Lauren's idea, he and Twilight still share a brother-sister relationship. So there really doesn't seem to be an excuse not to add him to "Sweet and Elite." They could've probably visited the Princess after Twilight's birthday, seeing as they were staying at the castle where she ''lives.'' Besides, I don't think anything would keep him from his sister and Rarity. Spike sees Celestia a lot. Especially since in, "Look Before you Sleep," it's shown that sometimes he's away on business in canterlot for the princess. So there's probably time to see her. Besides, he's still just a kid. Celestia wouldn't constantly have him go from Ponyville to Canterlot to do work while everpony else doesn't seem to. And as for "The Last Roundup," I think he should've at least appeared for the welcome home party, so we could see that he cared for Applejack. They also could've added a scene where he agrees to stay behind to watch the library, and see if Applejack comes back. That way we at least know where he is. As for "Baby Cakes," I agree with the above statement, that he really didn't know the cakes much. And besides, what kid would really want to spend a whole morning in a hospital looking at babies? It's not too exciting from a kid's perspective. But other than that, episodes like "Sweet and Elite," or the,"The Last Roundup," didn't really HAVE to give him major roles, just add him to the background and give him small lines, to show that he is spending ''some'' time with girls. It just seems a bit weak on the writers part, to not even address why he's not with his friends. Especially for events that friends usually go to with each other. There's the chance that he has male friends he hangs out with, but they're never mentioned, or even seen. He's usually with Twilight. Also, when he's not with them, he's at the library. Does he spend all his time there? What does he do? Sometimes, like in Episode 2 of Season 2 he was shown sleeping, but holding a mop, so it's implied that he was doing chores, and tires himself out. But that can't just be ALL he does. He may be Twilight's #1 assistant, and he likes his job. But he's also a kid. And we never really see him do any kid things, like play with fillies or colts his age, or even go to school. So it can be assumed that he is just a busy guy.
**** He ''has'' male friends that the mane six don't seem to know much about: Snips and Snails
***** The only time they ever interacted, was in "Boast Busters." Spike didn't really seem all that close to them. If anything if seemed more annoyed with them. And that was the only time they were seen with each other. After that, he goes back to being with the girls.
**** He seems to know Lickety Split well enough that the colt was willing to give him his ball for his birthday.
** Yeah. They seemed like they were acquainted. But we never really see them hang out in the background, or have Spike ever mention hanging out with Lickety Split, after he appeared in that ''one'' episode. Maybe later on he'll appear more though.
* What is the name of the fat gray colt seen in the background of the CMC episodes? I've seen a few names tossed around but nothing really agreed upon.
** He is now called, [[FanNickname "Truffle]] [[Film/TheGoonies Shuffle".]]
* The ponies constantly use items made for humans with fingers, such as bowling balls with three fingerholes, cups with handles, doorknobs, etc. I can understand the meta reason for this, but in-universe, why haven't the ponies replaced these items with ones operated using the mouth? It would certainly be easier for them.
* Why didn't Spike and Twilight go talk to Zecora when Spike wanted to know where he came from? In ''The Secret of My Excess'', Zecora was the only one who knew what was going on with Spike. Surely she has access to other information on dragons like Spike.
** Zecora may know about basic dragon biology, but that doesn't mean she would know anything about Spike's personal background, and I don't think information ''about'' dragons is what Spike wanted. He wanted to find his family, or at least establish a place in a society where he felt he fit in. That's not something a book can do. Spike wanted to ''feel'' like a dragon.
* Scootaloo's rather skilled on her scooter. You'd think she'd already have a scooter-related cutie mark, wouldn't you?
** This troper thinks it might be because she doesn't think what she sees as just a hobby to be her special talent. Like how Sweetie Belle's a good singer but wants to peruse something else for her cutie mark, even though singing could be her special talent.
* Does Dinky have a cutie mark? She had like, four in "Call of the Cutie" and then in season two most of her appearances have her as a blank flank. Is she gonna be a CMC?
* The sun and moon cannot be in the sky at the same time. In order for this to work, the sun and moon would have to stay on opposite sides of the planet. This would mean that the moon is always full. I don't know if a crescent moon has ever been shown, but there are certainly several examples of its imagery, such as Luna and Trixie's cutie marks. Does the rule that they can't both be up at once only apply to Equestria? Is their planet flat? Is half of the moon black and the moon not tidally locked with a 1:1 ratio like ours?
** I don't get what you mean by "the sun and moon cannot be in the sky at the same time" (is it stated somewhere that this is a rule in Equestria, or did you just assume it from the implications?), but it's possible that the crescent moon in Equestria is the result of the moon moving through Equestria's umbra rather than moving so that the side furthest from the moon changes its visibility like around Earth.
[[index]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason1 Season 1]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason2 Season 2]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSeason3 Season 3]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicMeta Meta]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSetting Setting]]
* [[Headscratchers/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicGeneralCanon General Canon]]
[[/index]]
----
* "I used to wonder what friendship could be…" Um, no. Twilight couldn't have cared less about friendship, before the spark. She was ''far'' too busy studying to wonder about things like ''friends''.
** Well, maybe she tried to understand friendship and didn't get it.
** She didn't have friends. Then Celestia told her to make friends. That's when she started wondering what friendship could be. Then she made friends with the mane cast and learned what friendship was.
** Notice the past tense. When she was young she WONDERED (past tense) what friendship was. As she got more and more into studying and magic, she decided she could do without and didn't think about it anymore. Leading to the first episode where she's a tad stuck-up and believes she doesn't need friends, no longer wondering what friendship could be.
** The first verse of the full version of the theme (so far found only on a Talking Twilight doll) makes the whole song much clearer:
--->"When I was young, I was too busy to make any friends
--->Such silliness did not seem worth the effort it expends
--->But My Little Ponies, you opened up my eyes
--->And now the truth is crystal clear, like splendid summer skies
--->And it's such a wonderful surprise"
** The German translation renders that line as "Ich fragte wozu Freundschaft gut sein kann," roughly, "I asked (or wondered) what friendship could be ''good for''."
* Applebloom's spent three episodes to date trying to get a cutie mark, and she's asked many ponies for advice or help. She's talked to her sister, her sister's friends, her teacher, and her own friends about this frequently. Isn't it odd that we've never seen her ask her own ''brother''?
** Big Macintosh might not have more to say on the subject other than "Ee-yup."
*** He had sound advice for his other sister that one time.
**** Maybe he did and like Applejack, 'Bloom didn't listen.
** [[http://csimadmax.deviantart.com/gallery/27895270?offset=48#/d36lh5a This is probably what would happen.]]
*** That only raises more headscratchers: In "Call of the Cutie", we see Twilight Sparkle's attempts to magic a cutie mark onto Applebloom fail as her flank immediately re-blanks itself. But is it just an anti-magic field, or do a pony's hindquarters also nullify any physical act of tattooing, or dyeing, or even pasting another image on? Is it just the fact that Twilight tried to change what markings Applebloom would have permanently, in which case only tattoos might be rejected? This is the sort of thing the Cutie Mark Crusaders should investigate.
**** Maybe it does the nullifying part in order to prevent cheating. Doesn't apply to putting race numbers on (as seen in Sonic Rainboom).
**** You have to think about what Twilight was trying to do. She couldn't have been casting a spell for drawing random images, or for specific images while selecting a new random image each time. She wasn't just trying to make tattoo by magic. She would have noticed the ethical implications of doing that, for one. "There, your life-long destiny is to act on this random picture I made." She could only have been trying to make a real Cutie Mark appear, to tap Applebloom's latent potential to have one. Since Applebloom hadn't earned hers yet, it makes sense what appeared were random possibilities the mark might have been, but which also didn't last. So, the evidence hardly suggests the ponies come with magic for wiping out images from their flanks. What they have makes the specific kind of images appear, and when invoked ahead of it time like that, it doesn't last.
** Because the cutie mark is a metaphor for puberty, and boys and girls generally don't talk to each other about that. Even the parts that are the same for both genders. (Besides, even though the male horses get cutie marks too, the show is intentionally highlighting it specifically as relevant to girls. Can you think of anything that happens to human girls where they just wake up one morning and something significant to their adult lives has magically appeared and is visible to everyone?)
*** So, cutie marks are tits? That makes the show.... even more odd.
** Wouldn't it be more reasonable to assume that Twilight, the more-or-less adult pony in the situation, would only be doing it to prove a point to Apple Bloom? In reality whether or not Twilight could make a permanent cutie mark seems irrelevant, as she nows Apple Bloom needs to earn her mark honestly, and wouldn't make her a permanent cutie mark anyway.
** Eh...I don't know if it's really a metaphor for puberty. It's more about finding your place in the world.
*** It could easily be both. Remember, Apple Bloom was upset that the other girls had their cutie marks and she didn't. Tell me, how common is it for real life girls to get upset that their friends have found their place in the world and they haven't? It easily ties into puberty as well as the concept of "finding yourself".
*** Definitely both. Remember what the party was called? a "Cuteceañera". This comes straight from the Spanish traditions of a "Quinceañera" (15th birth year), which is a gigantic celebration of upcoming womanhood.
* Why does Twilight always seem frightened of Celestia and letting her down? I mean, this could be hero worship, but she always seems like if one little thing wrong, Celestia will rain the wrath down from the heavens, when in reality Celestia is a very kind, patient, VERY understanding, even when Twilight screws up royally. I mean, shouldn't she know of all people that Celestia is a LOT more Understanding than she gives credit for?
** Well, Celestia did banish her own sister to the moon for a thousand years. You don't trifle with gods, no matter how friendly they act.
*** Keep your friends close, and your potential usurpers even closer?
*** To be fair, that's a very different set of circumstances entirely, given Nightmare Moon is also very powerful, and had to be stopped. Banishing her is preferable to other methods for stopping her from trying to bring down eternal night on Equestria. I seriously doubt Celestia would ever actually want to banish someone to the moon like that. If she was left with no choice, that would explain why she would do it. Twilight Sparkle (and Rainbow Dash, during one of her panic attacks in 'Sonic Rainboom') are far more afraid of Celestia than they should be. Celestia doesn't even bat an eyelid when Pinkie Pie eats one of Celestia's cupcakes right in front of her (although Mr. and Mrs. Cake end up going into a panic, and have to be trolled to calm them down). Celestia only got even remotely angry when Philomena went missing, but she was surprised to think that someone could think of the punishment Twilight Sparkle thought of (banished somewhere else and thrown in a dungeon).
** True, but she doesn't really need to be frightened from where I stand, too. If anything, Twilight Sparkle is one of the closest people in Princess Celestia's inner circle as her apprentice, and would probably know the most about her before having come to Ponyville.
** As Bill Waterston once said, and i'm paraphrasing: You die a thousand deaths before you even get punished when you're a kid. While Twilight's a bit older, she's also introverted and as much as she knows the princess, she's also awkward enough that she is scared that if she fails in doing something for the princess, that she'll fail the princess. While Celestia has shown endless patience of anything short of "trying to drown the world in darkness" and even then she was forgiving. Twilight, like a kid, flat out panics when the punishment is usually non-existent, it's just part of her personality.
** Twilight doesn't just act that way around Celestia. She freaks out about possibly upsetting her friends in Boast Busters and The Ticket Master. Compare to, say, Rainbow Dash, who worries about failing and being mocked, but not her friends being disappointed in her.
** Remember the episode of the PowerpuffGirls (an earlier project Lauren Faust worked on) where [[{{Satan}} Him]] made the girls' worst fears come true, and it was revealed that Blossom's worst fear amounted to, "If I weren't smart anymore and start getting questions wrong in school, then no one will love me anymore, and I will be cast down into Hell"? It's like that. Twilight's just as insecure about failing her beloved mentor, Celestia, as Blossom was about not being smart enough.
** Twilight is kind of insecure. It's irrational, but since when has insecurity really been a rational feeling?
** Plus, Twilight regards Celestia and their relationship highly for any number of reasons. Even if you know someone is kind and understanding, when you hold that level of respect, you don't want to fail them and disappoint them because -you- feel bad about it.
** As the others have said, irrational fear and insecurity can certainly fit. I've been working at a rather industrial bread factory for several months, and while I don't ''panic'', I do feel rather self-conscious and uncomfortable about it any time I waste a bread's worth of dough, even though I know that every day several ''tonnes'' are thrown away.
* So what ''is'' Twilight's relationship with Princess Celestia? She seems to regard her as a surrogate parent figure...except she has real parents whom she presumably keeps in contact with. Is Princess Celestia a mentor? Then why does Twilight seem to be ridiculously terrified at the prospect of disappointing or upsetting her, since Celestia has pretty much shown regularly that, at least when it comes to the Mane cast, she's very much a ReasonableAuthorityFigure?
** Well she's definitely Twilight's mentor. Even though Twilight does have real parents, Celestia could still be a surrogate parent of a sort. It seems that Twilight has been living away from home and studying under Celestia for years. As for Twilight being terrified of disappointing her, don't kids usually want their parents to approve of them. Imagine for a moment that your mom told you she was coming to visit you and meet your friends (assuming of course that you live away from home). Wouldn't you be a bit worried and hope that she will approve of your friends? Compound this with the fact that Celestia is their ruler (and a god!), and I think that her worries, though irrational, should not be unexpected.
*** Also, Twilight has repeatedly demonstrated a tendency to catastrophize situations. While Celestia has always acted reasonably in the show, one of Twilight's character flaws is to assume situations are or will become far worse than they actually are. Note how Twilight Sparkle tries to sneak into the star-swirl the beareded wing of Canterlot's library when none of the guards would even consider denying her access, or how during Boast Busters she assumes her friends will hate her for using her magical talents to put the braggart Trixie in her place. She simply can't stop herself from catastrophizing whenever something the tiniest bit negative happens.
* Shouldn't Rainbow Dash be incredibly famous in Ponyville, if not in all of Equestria? According to series canon, she's the only pegasus to EVER break the sound barrier (the "Sonic Rainboom"), and she didn't do it just once, but twice!
** Yes. Yes she should. If not in Ponyville than at least in Cloudsdale. I'd suggest that a future episode could involve her going back to Cloudsdale and learning she's a celebrity, but that would probably just be a repeat of "Green Isn't Your Color". Actually, all of the mane cast ''should'' be famous for saving Equestria, but chances are no one outside of Ponyville (besides Celestia and Luna, of course) knows that they were the ones who did it. The residents of Ponyville might not even know if they didn't bother tell anyone (but knowing Rainbow's personality, she'd probably let everyone know).
** Moreover, shouldn't ALL 6 be famous for saving their world from Nightmare Moon?
*** Rainbow Dash doesn't seem to be the kind of person who would enjoy celebrity. She loves showing off and impressing people, but the things that come with it (expectation, lack of privacy, people telling her what to do, too many rules, not enough nap time) would drive her up the wall in the end. Her fame was likely dimmed by the fact that after Sonic Rainboom she just fled right back to Ponyville and continued doing odd jobs in what is pretty much the equivalent of Nowhereville, North Dakota, which is likely exactly what she wanted. Her desire to join the wonderbolts is pretty much so she can hang out with some awesome ponies and pull off sweet tricks, not fame persay. As for saving Equestria, I wonder if that wasn't entirely attributed to Twilight (who does seem rather well known), along with the actual details being mostly unknown to anyone who wasn't directly involved.
**** It wouldn't surprise me if there were an episode where Rainbow Dash is invited to perform with the Wonderbolts, but finds out it's a lot more work than she expected. Then again, we've already had an episode where Fluttershy learns she hates fame. And Ponyville is hardly Nowhereville. It was important enough for Celestia to visit the Summer Sun Celebration held there. Actually, seeing how close it is to the old castle, it could have been part of the capital before it moved to Canterlot (Is that in WMG yet?). And I doubt Twilight would let people give her all the credit and ignore her friends. If anything, people might assume Celestia showed up and saved the day.
** There might be a factor of "no man is a hero to his butler" for Rainbow Dash. The citizens of Ponyville know she's amazing, but also know she's lazy and has a big head about things, so they don't treat her as a revered celebrity. The ponies of Canterlot are snooty and urbane enough to pretend to be unimpressed because she's an outsider. She probably would be pretty famous in Cloudsdale; but she doesn't spend a lot of time there.
** From a Doyleist standpoint, the mane cast can't have normal lives if everyone treats them like celebrities. So they don't.
** Perhaps Celestia engineered a cover-up to prevent evil beings from trying to get at the Elements.
** They have two, not one, two separate stained glass windows in Celestia's palace depicting them, explicitly, defeating both Nightmare Moon and Discord. In addition, after the Discord thing, they had that big Star Wars-styled ceremony in their honor with lots of ponies in attendance. Yet, later, when Rarity is visiting Canterlot in "Sweet and Elite" and before she lucks into hanging out with Fancypants, and even afterward when the other five show up at the party, all of the upper-crust ponies are like "Who are these hick ponies rednecking up our fancy party?" And Fancypants himself just goes "I, for one, find them charmingly rustic" rather than more realistically being all "HOLY SHIT, you're the guys that beat Nightmare Moon and Discord and had that big ceremony honoring you the other day and have two separate stained glass windows in Princess Celestia's palace depicting your deeds WOW it's totally an honor and a privilege to have you guys attend our party here!"
*** Same reason for Mario's status in Paper Mario. Despite living near Toad Town, and of course, having saved the world countless times, people still treat him like a normal citizen, nor do they ever swarm him. I suppose being swarmed by crazed fans would interfere in one's job.
* This is a small one, but I've seen some people claim that most unicorns can only use their telekinesis on things directly related to their talents... But does the show actually say this anywhere? The closest thing I can think of is "Boast Busters", where Spike and Twilight mention that most unicorns only gain a small number of spells related to their talents, but nothing is mentioned about limits on their ability to move things with their horns.
** Telekinesis does appear to be the default use of unicorn magic. Everything else is either spell-like abilities related to your talent / Cutie Mark, or spells learned and cast from books.
** The "Cutie Mark Chronicles", when Rarity's magic was triggered, she found gems. When Twilight's magic was triggered, she did about fifteen separate things without meaning to and had to be stopped. They never say it outright, but it's pretty heavily implied that specific telekinesis is a given, while wide-ranged magic is... odd.
** Rarity's Dumb Rock Event was her innate, talent-related ability to find gems going off. Most Unicorns innately gain their abilities related to their cutie marks. Twilight's talent IS magic, so her first big release was magical energy at its rawest, which could be shaped into whatever abilities could be concieved (As seen with the gem-finding spell in ''A Dog and Pony Show'') hence Celestia taking notice of her potential. All unicorns seem to pick up basic cantrips like simple telekinesis and light(Snails), but their strongest abilities come from their talents.
* Why can't Spike fly? I think since G1 he didn't have wings, but I'd like to know if he'll grow wings when he grows up or what?
** Spike may be a wingless dragon, in Twilight flashback in CMC we see picture of adult dragon of Spike race, it looked same as other dragons but no wings.
** Alternately, Spike could merely have been enlarged by the spell, instead of matured, and he may grow his wings at a later age.
*** No, I was referring to that picture, not enlarged Spike.
**** It IS possible that the picture was just supposed to represent a young/baby dragon.
** Fans have theorized that just like how there are different kinds of ponies (earth, pegasus, unicorn) there are also different kinds of dragons, each with their own skill and specialties. The wingless kind like spike are larger and stronger than others (let's call them thunder-lizards), horned dragons who have wings and can fly are more lithe and faster (how about... pterosaurs), and water dragons who look like eastern dragons and can control the elements (leviathans, maybe).
* So, is it me or do the ponies don't age much. They're either small, chibi-like fillies and colts or their VagueAge pony versions.
** Same reason Bart Simpson is still 10?
** I didn't mean it like that. They're adults, but its like they only go through two life stages. They're either the former or the latter.
*** Filly Fluttershy looks older and ganglier than the other fillies, so there are in-between stages.
*** Don't forget snips and snails.
*** Pipsqueak is also different. He is smaller than any of the other kids (fillies/colts).
*** And there's also Granny Smith.
*** Flim and Flam seem to be somewhere in between the Mane Cast and Granny Smith in age, if their body shape and legs are anything to go by.
* Ok about the elements of harmony, doesn't Rainbow Dash posses the element of "loyalty" and Applejack the element of "honesty" In my opinion Rainbow Dash is the most honest out of all of them (example : telling Rarity she was the laughingstock of Ponyville after her failed fashion show) and Applejack is more loyal (example : not giving up on Fluttershy in the episode "Dragon Shy" when Rainbow Dash wanted to leave Fluttershy behind). I really think the two ponies elements are switched
** in the pilot, they fit their respective elements very well. I don't think a momentary laps of these qualities means anything. also, this might be Hasbro's fault as they denied the idea or a continuing story arc. some of the writers might have just forgotten as a result.
** Heck, maybe the elements of harmony attune to people based on the actions they've performed ''that day'', rather than fundamental character traits.
** Rainbow Dash is more honest because she doesn't think before she speaks rather than deeply engrained loyalty. Consider Party of One- Dash refused to give up on crazy Pinkie, but had no problem making up a story earlier.
*** That's called being blunt, honesty is more than merely saying the truth, it also involves having an open life, one that isn't hard to figure out, an overall straightforward attitude in conversations (no deceit, no misdirection, no manipulation) and a will to help others improve by pointing out their flaws. Applejack has issues lying when need be (which is her element's weakness), but being a better liar definitely does not mean Rainbow Dash is more honest.
** One could also argue that in Dragonshy, Rainbow Dash was being loyal to her friends, since 1) Fluttershy didn't want to be there and 2) Up until she stared down the dragon, Fluttershy had been TheLoad and had repeatedly delayed their journey and endangered herself and Rainbow's other friends.
** I agree with the original poster that their elements don't really fit them. In "Applebuck Season" Applejack even identifies herself as the most LOYAL and DEPENDABLE of ponies. Her line in the theme song is also "faithful and strong." In "The Ticket Master," Applejack's reasons for wanting to go to the GGG were helping her family; fixing the barn, replacing the plow, fixing her Granny's hip, while Rainbow's reasons were purely selfish. She wanted a chance to impress the Wonderbolts. Rainbow Dash always comes off as a little selfish. In "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well," she was more loyal to herself than the ponies she was actually saving. And her entire dream about joining the Wonderbolts kind of implies that if she was actually offered a position, she would leave Ponyville, and subsequently her friends, behind.
*** Applejack is loyal, maybe even more so than Rainbow Dash, but the opposite is not true. What's the alternative? That AJ becomes Loyalty, and RD becomes Honesty, which definitely does not suit her. Besides, she claimed her loyalty was to the princess, not her friends. As much as the current setting seems flawed, it's also the best, because the alternative doesn't make sense either. RD's loyal, blindly so at times, but that's.... really all she has when it comes to friendship. Recent episodes have shown facets of her personality that would make previous antagonists jealous by comparison.
*** Shazzba had a really [[http://shazzbaa.tumblr.com/post/17644330485/my-little-pony-the-elements-of-harmony interesting theory]] about this. In short? The Elements represent what each of the mane six values the most about friendship.
**** I agree with this one the most, because its similar to the explanation for why the Digi-destined in Digimon Season one, had their crests, it represented what they needed, not what they possessed and both seem to fit IMHO.
* Why do so many of the Background Ponies have such stupid voices when they speak? Bon-Bon (though in her "Green" cameo she had a normal voice), Colgate, Carrot-Top, etc.
** Depends what you call "stupid". For me those voices are not stupid. And the reason for this is that they are only extras with no set VA for them so they got a random available actor to record some lines.
*** Also, remember that voices for this cartoon are recorded before the animation is completed, and background ponies are almost always chosen at random (but they like using Bon-bon for some reason), so no one in the booth knows which background pony is going to say which line.
** "Stupid" as in being at least very unusual. They always sound droopy, low pitched, slurred, and different from the other ponies.
*** Main characters are done by professional VAs - minor characters are done by random staff members.
**** Wrong. Background ponies are often as not just pickup lines from the main VA's (especially Libman, Ball, and Weseluck). They would use really crazy voices to avoid sounding anything like their principal characters.
* Why do the characters refer to their manes as "hair"?
** Because it's... like hair?
** Because it's made of hair?
** Because it ''is'' hair!
** They do often simply say "mane" instead. "Hair" is probably a hiccup on the scriptwriters' part, like how sometimes they'll say "everybody" instead of "every''pony''" or something to that effect.
** A tail is not a mane. Mane and tail is hair.
* How do Ponies age? Like our horses, right?
** No, they are not like our horses, they propably aging similar to humans or maybe they had longer lives (look previous entry)
*** Any proof? I know in the original series the Earth Ponies are more or less just talking horses.
**** Well first off, we know that Celestia is over 1000 years old. I wouldn't be surprised if the normal ponies also age in a non-realistic manner, probably similar to humans.
*** 'Sort of' WordOfGod (Lauren seemed relucant to establish firm canon on the subject) is that they age faster than humans. Personally I'm of the '40 - 50 years' camp, but there's no real evidence. I doubt there ever will be.
** Well, consider the fact that this is a world populated by sentient ponies who have developed culture, science, and magic. Humans today live MUCH longer than humans of the past because for hundreds of years, we've been developing treatments and cures for human ailments. It would make sense for ponies with our same level of intelligence and ability to do the same, but for pony ailments.
* is "bits" the name of Equestria's currency? it may just be slang like it real life but money in this show has never been called anything else.
** It appears to be. Then again "bits" is an actual unit of money, just was never produced in the USA. A bit is 1/8 of the main unit of currency, like the dollar.
** In ''My Little Pony Tales'' the money was called "Jangles", but considering they still lived in "Ponyland" back then, there's a chance the name of the currency has changed too.
** This is probably another of the show's equestrian puns, it's just a little less obvious than most. In equestrian nomenclature, the bit is the (usually metal) part of a bridle that goes in the pony's mouth.
* What is the level of Equestria's technology? most of the time, it seems Victorian era at the latest but then we have the brainwave monitor from "Feeling Pinkie Keen" and in "Call of the Cutie", Apple Bloom says that the Apple Family takes credit. the latter would seem to imply not only credit cards but scanners.
** RuleOfFunny.
** I was hoping for more of a straight-forward answer.
** They obviously have some kind of SchizoTech, but it mostly follows the RuleOfFunny, as in, sometimes things just exist for a sight gag. There probably isn't a better explaination.
** In fictional works, any modern society where magic exists tends to be farther behind technologically, or at least have only developed technology where magic can't solve all the problems. There's probably a trope for this, I'm just not sure what to search for.
** "Credit" is a concept that's been around FAR longer than credit cards. In the old days, in small towns where everyone knew each other, it was common practice to allow customers to purchase goods on credit -- which, back then, usually just meant that the store owner could rely on the customer to pay them back at a later date. The term carried on into the 20th century, where it was typically used in reference to bank loans; this is reflected in the term "credit rating" which we still use today.
** I'd agree that it's firmly in RuleOfFunny SchizoTech. At first, things seem to be a pony- and magic-filled version of, say, 18th or 19th century (Western) life. Then you have Twilight's EKG, Pinkie's pedal-powered helicopter, Rarity's non-pedal-powered sewing machine and hairdryers, the Crusaders talking about cannon and power tools ...
** If you need an in-universe explanation, I'm gonna quote myself from higher up the page: Since a lot of the work can be done by magical means, most areas in the world probably have no use for technology. Only towns with a low population of one of the kinds of ponies would need technology to supplement their need. Because the need for this is so low, there is no centralized production and every town has to make the tech for itself, resulting in different levels of technology per town. In addition, each town we've seen is rather passionate about their identity, which would probably explain the massive cultural differences. And if you want a more meta reason: the settings are designed to fit the story, not the other way around.
** Out-of-universe: WordOfGod has stated that writers should avoid using "modern" technology though it is not forbidden to include to make a story or joke work, as well as to establish some sense of familiarity to the younger viewer: hence why we have elements like flashlights. However, writers shouldn't be lazy to include, say, a washing machine when non-powered tech (a washboard) works for the same joke/story element. Lauren's also stated that if there ''is'' something electrical, just think of it that a unicorn mechanic put a whole bunch of magic into it in the past.
** In-universe: steam power seems completely likely: we have the steam engine train in the S2 opening, there's the spa, there's Fluttershy's radiator, Spike uses up all the hot water for his shower, etc. Perhaps Ponyville, situated where it is near a large mountain range, sits on a geothermal pocket, which would make steam-driven mechanical generators to drive things like basic plumbing, hot water, and heat. Also a good source of wind energy (the windmill). All that could be made that, where appropriate, each home and building has a simple electricity generator running off steam for lights and other equipment. Not efficient if you translated it to a real world technology, but its not like Ponyville's suffering from global warming yet...
** "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" establishes that Ponyville has a hydroelectric dam nearby. And they have modern construction equipment to build a multi-story building.
*** That episode is nothing but evidence for SchizoTech. The dam had some sort of artifice attached to it, but there's no evidence of any of the infrastructure necessary for it to be an electrical generating facility. Look at pictures of actual hydroelectric dams--there's a lot of utility lines leading from them. We've never seen powerlines in the show, either on the dam itself, or anywhere in Ponyville. I like the explanation somebody on EquestriaDaily came up with, that the dam was generating some other type of energy for some esoteric purpose. And that construction site is ''all kinds'' of wrong. The crane is ''wood'' ferfuxsake. I can't tell you it's outright impossible for a construction crane to be wood, but it definitely wouldn't look like the crane in the show. The building is too high for the type of wood-frame construction they show--actual buildings in that height range would be steel- or concrete-framed (today) or masonry (historically). The show has always been really loose in worldbuilding, often because they need to make it recognizable for the show's target audience.
*** Electrical devices could be powered by magical batteries--think of AA-cell glowing crystals that last months or years in heavy appliances. Then the dam wouldn't need power lines because it's hydromagical rather than hydroelectric--all they need is regular shipping to cart away crates of magic-infused gems.
* It's been established that with the exception of ones whose talents ''are'' magic, a unicorn can only do magic in relation to what their talents are. so how can the faction and decoration inclined Rarity open doors and levitate smores with her magic?
** The common belief is that all unicorns are capable of basic telekinesis.
*** This is pretty much proven in the show.
** As for the smores, the dialogue makes it pretty clear that Rarity is always obsessing over details in everything she does, whether it's making clothes or preparing snacks.
** It may be that you can ''attempt'' almost anything, its just that actions outside your talent will be more difficult. So Rarity can do a few things outside of her talent so long as they don't require alot of power.
** Or that learning any type of magic outside of the area of their special talent requires hard work and practice, while magic related to their talent is fairly easy to learn.
* It's pretty much canon that Twilight is Spike's adoptive mother and while Spike's DeadpanSnarker traits are played for laughs most of the time, he does get the occasional dirty look for it and it has sometimes bordered on JerkAss. so is Twilight one of those parents that's afraid to be tough on their kids?
** I think she's actually more like a [[CoolBigSis big sister]] to him, and the way he treats her in the series seems to prove this. That's pretty much what being a big sis is about - sometimes you're a surrogate mother, sometime you're a ButtMonkey, while mother-son relationship would rather exclude the second part.
** He's her "number-one assistant", not her adopted son. Though "little brother" and "friend" also work pretty well to describe the relationship.
*** He's referred to as her "number-one assistant," but remember that she hatched his egg and has presumably been raising him from infancy by herself. Also, consider that they live together and that they love each other. They may not be called mother-and-son, but it seems pretty clear that that is what they are in all but name. "[[http://img.ponibooru.org/images/36/3644d29056fbb9efbe182706019b83ce You know in your heart that this is canon]]."
*** WordOfGod is that Celestia's the one that raised him after Twilight hatched him. So... no, Twilight is not his mother figure.
* Going with the above info, does Spike consider Twilight's parents as his own? "Cutie Mark Chronicles" shows that Twilight was charged with raising him, however we can assume her parents did most of the work as she was only a filly.
* With the exception of Cherilee and the Mane Cast, why are the ponies in town so awful to the CMC? In "Call Of The Cutie", as Apple Bloom is cornered and brutually teased, the entire room full of adults stands around smiling. In "The Show Stoppers", they laugh hysterically when an entire set falls down on three little kids -- yes, granted, they got up and smiled after, but there were visible nails sticking out of those boards -- and didn't seem to notice when they slink off stage with miserable expressions.
** Ask a kid someday about how effective he or she thinks adults are when being teased (and depending on the age of the kid, wait for the string of bitter cursing to stop).
** The performance was taken to be a comedy; presumably the audience assumed the set was ''meant'' to fall down like that and thus that there was no danger.
* How old are the main cast ponies? Because the "Cutie Mark Crusaders" seem to be somewhere between 7 and 9 and they're called fillies by the main girls. Still, the main ponies themselves don't seem to be that old. I'd have to guess that they're upper teens (18-20), but it's really hard to tell.
** This is been asked many a time, and the simple answer is "it doesn't matter". They've all passed all the relevant legal milestones to count as full adults, and beyond that it's a matter of opinion. Fluttershy being a year older than Pinkie is the only clear evidence we have, which along with her teenage appearance in Cutie Mark Chronicles leads people to believe she's the eldest, but even this is far from evident fact.
* so is Rainbow dash in charge of controlling the whether over ponyville or just a member of the team?
** I think given her job at the Summer Sun celebration and the fact that she was team leader at Winter Wrap-up, she's probably in some sort of leadership position, though not necessarily at the top. She gets the orders then implements them in the field.
** I think she is in charge of clean-up. Anytime we see her doing work (Summer Sun Celebration, Winter Wrap-up, first episode of Season 2) or her work is referenced (opening of Bridle Gossip) she's clearing the skies. So she'll be the pony that breaks up a storm and brings forth the clear skies for the sunny days.
** "Hurricane Fluttershy" strongly implies that Rainbow Dash is numero uno in charge of the Ponyville weatherponies.
* Why do the Wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash sometimes bother with flight goggles? When she gets up to speed to do a Sonic Rainboom her eyes just about start to water, otherwise their all fine without them.
** Possibly to protect against anything else that might be in the air: dust, bugs, etc.
** Probably for the same reason they wear those blue full body suits. It's just part of their costumes and looks cool.
* So is Scootaloo's inability to fly natural for Pegasus Ponies her age or is she behind in her development? Rainbow Dash was able to fly by her age if not younger, as shown in the flash backs scenes of The Cutie Mark Chronicles.
** She's probably behind the curve. Someone needs to put her in flight school. Then again, Fluttershy was a crap flyer at a much older age, so Rainbow Dash may simply have been unusually talented.
*** There is also the two boys of similar age she was racing, and Fluttershy could at least fly (if sporadically) and it's stated and shown that she was a bad flyer.
** Pound Cake is able to fly even as a newborn. But then, despite the fact that their abilities are merely played for laughs in "Baby Cakes", both Pumpkin and Pound Cake seem like they should potentially be considered as atypical genius prodigies concerning their abilities. In addition to Pound's ability to walk on the ceiling, Pumpkin Cake can phase through solid matter, for example. Unless you count Twilight's teleportation, that doesn't seem like something a normal unicorn can do, let alone an infant.
* Why is Scootaloo being educated and brought up in Ponyville rather than Cloudsdale like other Pegasus Ponies? The flash back scenes of The Cutie Mark Chronicles shows young Pegasus Ponies being brought up in Cloudsdale.
** Her parents decided to move to ground level, perhaps?
** That's like asking why Rarity was brought up in Ponyville instead of Canterlot like most unicorns. Nothing in the show has ever said that ''all'' Pegasi are born & raised in Cloudsdale, just most.
* Why doesn't Twilight consider Spike a friend? Don't say she "does" because at the end of the first episode she does state very clearly that she didn't "know know what friendship could be" meaning she must not have had any one in her life she viewed in that light already.
** Spike isn't the same as her other pony friends. She's had Spike as a live-in servant/confidant for most of her life (or, to be more accurate, the entirety of his).
** Twilight hatched Spike from an egg and has presumably raised him from infancy by herself. Their relationship seems to be that of an adoptive mother and her adopted son. As close as they are, and as much as they love each other, they are not friends; they are family.
*** WordOfGod is that Celestia's the one that raised him after Twilight hatched him. So... no, Twilight is not his mother figure. Spike says so himself, he doesn't consider Twilight to be his "mommy".
* So are Applejack's parents dead?
** Her parents could be dead, living on another farm or just absent for some reason. Maybe one day there will be a WordofGod or an episode about her parents (or their death), but until then it’s nothing more than a popular Fanon theory.
*** It was thought that this was also the case for Rarity, but then we finally met her parents.
* if Applebloom wasn't born yet at the time of the flash backs in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, shouldn't Applejack's parents have been alive and well and waving her off when she left to live in the city?
** Maybe they said goodbye in the house while the others did so at the gate.
* Does Sweetie Belle live with Rarity? If so, why?
** WordOfGod says Rarity lives alone (not counting Opalescence), and Sweetie Belle lives with their parents. Proved in Episode 31 when their parents make an appearance.
* How come Rarity will basically drag in strangers off the street just to dress up and restyle them, will lecture friends about etiquette..... but has almost indifference towards her own sister on such issues? Like in Stare Master when she doesn't even bat an eyelid when a sizeable chunk of Sweetie Belle's hair is cut off by the cat (remember how badly she reacted to Twilight's messed up hair in the first episode) or that she's perfectly fine with all the rough and tumble antics she and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders get up to. I would have thought being Rarity's little sister would be like being somebody's {{Barbie}} doll half the time.... but in fact she seems like a perfectly normal older sister, which, while nice, is still inconsistent with her character.
** An upcoming episode will deal with the relationship between the two, hopefully we'll get to know more about them. For now, we can only assume she gave up on her sister just like she did with Applejack at first, or that she expects her sister to learn by herself.
** Considering that Sweetie's mane was back to normal by the next scene, I'd either chalk it up to RuleOfFunny or Rarity fixing it in the split second she was off-screen.
* Rarity's voice is all over the place. Sometimes it's rather deep, other times it's very high-pitched, sometimes she seems to be British, other times Canadian, and yet other times her accent is somewhere in between. What gives?
** It's ''clearly'' meant to be an affectation, and one she hams up for effect at times. The fact her sister doesn't have a similar accent and it occasionally slips reinforces it. Interestingly, it seems her friends are at least partially aware of this, as the imagine spots in ''A Dog and Pony Show'' seems to portray her accent slightly more exaggerated than normal, suggesting the Mane Cast see it as a tad ridiculous.
** It's called a Mid-Atlantic accent, IIRC, and it doesn't actually occur naturally. It's a completely affected accent that's meant to sound high-class. Or, to put it another way, it's just another thing Rarity's doing for her image as a designer (like only going by the one name), and all the evidence that it's an affectation (above bullet) is really just evidence that she hasn't perfected the act yet.
*** This is proved twice. In "Cutie Mark Chronicles", filly Rarity doesn't have the Mid-Atlantic accent yet (since she doesn't realize that beautifying is her special talent). And in "Sisterhooves", we learn that her parents both have thick Chicago/Wisconsin accents.
* So are horses not sapient like ponies, mules and zebras, or just not the ones Twilight creates from the mice in "The Best Night Ever"? I wad amused actual horses didn't exist in their world until "The Best Night Ever".
** Watch that episode again. You clearly missed the joke.
* do all the wonder bolts all just coincidentally, naturally have manes that grown in that weird AnimeHair mock windswept style, or is it part of their uniform to get geld that way? basically [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wkafsxFhuRE/TcYvT6l4W8I/AAAAAAAAEPU/e936a_a_93c/s1600/11428+-+gala+goggles+rainbow_dash+spitfire+wingboner+wonderbolts.jpg this.]] or [[http://th00.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2011/138/d/2/spitfire_brushed_hair_by_ponyvectors-d3gmel9.png this.]]?
* It may be just me, but is Celestia a god to the ponies? The thought comes to me in the sisterhood episode, when Rarity states: "Celestia as my witness, I WILL have my sister back."
** It's not just you. The terms PhysicalGod and [[GodEmperor God Empress]] are often applied to Celestia. The line you're referring to just kinda confirmed what we already knew.
** Well, for one thing ponies probably don't pray to Celestia and actually expect to be heard. If they want something badly enough, they'll still write a letter or request an audience much as they might from a 'mere' mortal king or queen. That said, as far as ponies at large are concerned Celestia is ''the'' Princess -- sole ruler of Equestria and literal bringer of both day and night for a thousand years. (While yes, Luna is back now, that happy event is arguably still too recent as of yet to have left much of an impression on a public consciousness shaped by generations of pony ancestors who grew up, raised their children, and died knowing no other way the world could possibly be.) It's doubtful most of them would as much as seriously ''consider'' that any sort of even higher authority might exist, so if a pony makes a vow and really, really means it, invoking her name is kind of the natural thing to do.
* Does it bother anyone that some of the antagonistic characters do not give the Mane 6 any respect in spite of being the Elements of Harmony, the one's who defeated Nightmare Moon, and are acquainted with the Celestia?
** Not really. Most of the antagonists the Mane 6 meet are other species that aren't part of pony society and might not have even heard of the Nightmare Moon incident (Gilda, the Diamond Dogs, the Buffalo, and the dragons from "Dragonshy" and "Owl's Well..."), or monsters that might not be intelligent enough to grasp the information in the first place (the hydra, the Ursa Minor, the cockatrice). That just leaves Trixie and the three bullies from "Sonic Rainboom"; since the Mane 6 don't walk around wearing "I Stopped the Apocalypse (You're Welcome)" t-shirts, Trixie had no way of know who she was dealing with. The three bullies probably don't have any excuse, but that's a headscratcher for another time.
*** My guess is is that the information regarding Nightmare Moon was locked down to prevent the inevitable backlash from putting a would-be usurper (whatever her reasons) on the throne. Only Ponyville and Canterlot castle know the full story.
** What annoys me is that nopony, antagonist or otherwise, seems to care. In Sweet and Elite, Rarity says something along the lines of her friends being the most important ponies to her, even if they're not really important. In The Mysterious Mare Do Well, Rainbow Dash lets the fame go to her head for saving a few ponies, as if it could even compare to the fame that ought to be brought upon by helping save the world twice.
* How come there haven't been any new antagonists or intentional threats to Ponyville in season two? It probably sounds petty but really; Beyond the required BigBad beatdown of Discord, everything bad going on is either a miscommunication between the Mane Cast or a accidental disaster, also because of the Mane Cast. We're almost to the half-season mark, by this point in season one most of the VillainOfTheWeek and MonsterOfTheWeek episodes were aired. Lauren Faust even said she and the crew wanted more adventure stories in the series but exectutive and time constraints were stopping them. Now that they were given more freedom with the show I thought they would try to balance in more adventures along with the slice-of-life, but the exact opposite has happened.
** The CMC didn't appear until episode 14 or so, give it time, there is still plenty of episodes for a monster to come and ruin everyone's day.
* So, [[RhymesOnADime Princess Celestia is the ruler of Equestria]], right? Well, doesn't that technically make her a queen, not a princess?
** WordOfGod is that Celestia and Luna were supposed to be queens, but Hasbro said that they should be princesses because kids associate queens with evil and princesses with good. In-universe, it might have something to do with the fact that the two sisters rule together.
** She's the absolute leader, and a goddess too, she can call herself whatever she likes.
** It is worth mentioning that Celestia absolutelly hates her job as a ruler, only keeping it because she knows it is needed to keep peace on Equestria, being called a "princess" instead of "queen" helps to lighten things up.
*** When was this mentioned? She certainly doesn't seem to like spending every Grand Galloping Gala shaking hooves, but I don't see any reason to believe she hates her job.
** There's another theory that her and Luna's parents are still around, so technically she can't call herself queen.
** Plenty of nations historically have been ruled by princes or princesses. Technically speaking, Equestria could be called a Theocratic Principality (as Celestia and Luna are both princesses and goddesses).
*** [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Glorious Pony's Theocratic Principality of Equestria!]]
* According to the [[http://img.ponibooru.org/images/02/02b14f657f8b589243c1279e8a08d8f6 concept art]] Pinkie Pie was originally a pegasus and Fluttershy was originally an earth pony. Why were they switched? Fluttershy is not good at flying and has a connection to nature. Wouldn't it make more sense if she was an earth pony?
** My guess is that the changes were made to show that nothing is set in stone, and that there are exceptions. Fluttershy is, as far as we know, the only pegasus that doesn't live in Cloudsdale or a floating house/castle, and had a cutie mark that isn't related to weather or speed at all, showing that there is more depth to the pony races than you'd imagine. We're already seeing how earth ponies have to struggle to make up for their lack of a horn or wings, so a pegasus with fourth-wall powers? Probably not...
** Because the moral of the show is BeYourself, not [[UnfortunateImplications be what's expected of your race]].
** Actually, they were changed because Pinkie was originally a pegasus named Surprise, which is one of the G1 ponies that Hasbro has lost the rights to. The same with Posey, the earth pony that Fluttershy was originally.
*** Not quite. Even after being changed from Posey and Surprise, they were still Earth Pony Fluttershy and Pegasus Pinkie Pie for a while. Not sure when it was changed, but you can find concept art of this stage. It's likely it was changed because Pinkie Pie was a prominent Earth Pony character in G3/G3.5, and although Fluttershy was an Earth Pony in G3, it's a very pegasus-sounding name.
** IIRC, they switched them to add more varied body language to the cast. Pinkie was moving too much like Dash in the air, zipping and zooming everywhere. Fluttershy became a slow, timid flier to contrast Dash, and Pinkie got her characteristic bounce.
* why are the other main characters friends with Pinkie Pie if they find her so annoying?
** They find this one thing about her annoying. Are your friends all perfect?
** This. I love my friends and family, but they all have annoying sides.
* Why is it, that Spike is always left out of many of the ponies adventures? In season two, he is not at Twilight's birthday party/visiting Rarity, at Applejack's welcome home party, nor does he go with the others to find her. He also has been less active since Secret of my Excess,having little to no lines. Does Twilight force him to stay at the library while SHE goes out to have fun with the others?
** I'm more bothered by the automatic assumption that Twilight and the others are forcing him to stay home. He's his own person, he probably was either at Canterlot again or just doing his own thing.
** I bet he isn't forced to stay home (I was actually kidding when I said that), but there are many episodes where I feel he could be there. In Sweet and Elite, he didn't go to Twilight's birthday/ visit Rarity, didn't see the Cake's babies at the hospital, go to Applejack's welcome home party, or look for her. I'm sure he is his own person, but he's just a kid. Kids love to go outside, and be with their friends. Twilight and the others are his friends, so it's unusual to see him not hang around with them, with no explanation.
** I think that Twilight just gives him a lot of chores to do. And it's just increased after Hearth's Warming Eve, making him very busy. So, his busy lifestyle is probably what's preventing him from spending a lot of time with his friends. Much to his dismay.
*** I don't think Twilight would overload Spike with that much work, and I doubt she would consciously leave him out of her birthday. I like to think he might simply have been ill at the time.
**** Twilight might just be overloading him with all that work, and might not even noticing how it's giving less time to be with his friends. And as for missing Twilight's birthday, I always thought that maybe he celebrated it with her back at the library. He stayed home because, Twilight would probably be the center of attention (it's her birthday after all), and wanted Rarity's attention to himself. And in the Secret of My Excess episode, he certainly did get Rarity's attention. What a lucky dragon.
*** Well, if Lauren Faust is to be believed and it was actually Princess Celestia who raise Spike for most of his life rather than Twilight it's possible that he was off visiting her during "Sweet and Elite" while the girls were at Twilight's party and Spike and Twilight did something smaller at home either before of after. In "The Last Roundup" He didn't go looking for Applejack because he had to stay in Ponyville to look after the Library and possibly Fluttershy's animals like he did in "Dragonshy," and didn't go see the Cake's babies because He's not that close to the family, being more like a friend of a friend of a friend.
**** Even if the writers go with Lauren's idea, he and Twilight still share a brother-sister relationship. So there really doesn't seem to be an excuse not to add him to "Sweet and Elite." They could've probably visited the Princess after Twilight's birthday, seeing as they were staying at the castle where she ''lives.'' Besides, I don't think anything would keep him from his sister and Rarity. Spike sees Celestia a lot. Especially since in, "Look Before you Sleep," it's shown that sometimes he's away on business in canterlot for the princess. So there's probably time to see her. Besides, he's still just a kid. Celestia wouldn't constantly have him go from Ponyville to Canterlot to do work while everpony else doesn't seem to. And as for "The Last Roundup," I think he should've at least appeared for the welcome home party, so we could see that he cared for Applejack. They also could've added a scene where he agrees to stay behind to watch the library, and see if Applejack comes back. That way we at least know where he is. As for "Baby Cakes," I agree with the above statement, that he really didn't know the cakes much. And besides, what kid would really want to spend a whole morning in a hospital looking at babies? It's not too exciting from a kid's perspective. But other than that, episodes like "Sweet and Elite," or the,"The Last Roundup," didn't really HAVE to give him major roles, just add him to the background and give him small lines, to show that he is spending ''some'' time with girls. It just seems a bit weak on the writers part, to not even address why he's not with his friends. Especially for events that friends usually go to with each other. There's the chance that he has male friends he hangs out with, but they're never mentioned, or even seen. He's usually with Twilight. Also, when he's not with them, he's at the library. Does he spend all his time there? What does he do? Sometimes, like in Episode 2 of Season 2 he was shown sleeping, but holding a mop, so it's implied that he was doing chores, and tires himself out. But that can't just be ALL he does. He may be Twilight's #1 assistant, and he likes his job. But he's also a kid. And we never really see him do any kid things, like play with fillies or colts his age, or even go to school. So it can be assumed that he is just a busy guy.
**** He ''has'' male friends that the mane six don't seem to know much about: Snips and Snails
***** The only time they ever interacted, was in "Boast Busters." Spike didn't really seem all that close to them. If anything if seemed more annoyed with them. And that was the only time they were seen with each other. After that, he goes back to being with the girls.
**** He seems to know Lickety Split well enough that the colt was willing to give him his ball for his birthday.
** Yeah. They seemed like they were acquainted. But we never really see them hang out in the background, or have Spike ever mention hanging out with Lickety Split, after he appeared in that ''one'' episode. Maybe later on he'll appear more though.
* What is the name of the fat gray colt seen in the background of the CMC episodes? I've seen a few names tossed around but nothing really agreed upon.
** He is now called, [[FanNickname "Truffle]] [[Film/TheGoonies Shuffle".]]
* The ponies constantly use items made for humans with fingers, such as bowling balls with three fingerholes, cups with handles, doorknobs, etc. I can understand the meta reason for this, but in-universe, why haven't the ponies replaced these items with ones operated using the mouth? It would certainly be easier for them.
* Why didn't Spike and Twilight go talk to Zecora when Spike wanted to know where he came from? In ''The Secret of My Excess'', Zecora was the only one who knew what was going on with Spike. Surely she has access to other information on dragons like Spike.
** Zecora may know about basic dragon biology, but that doesn't mean she would know anything about Spike's personal background, and I don't think information ''about'' dragons is what Spike wanted. He wanted to find his family, or at least establish a place in a society where he felt he fit in. That's not something a book can do. Spike wanted to ''feel'' like a dragon.
* Scootaloo's rather skilled on her scooter. You'd think she'd already have a scooter-related cutie mark, wouldn't you?
** This troper thinks it might be because she doesn't think what she sees as just a hobby to be her special talent. Like how Sweetie Belle's a good singer but wants to peruse something else for her cutie mark, even though singing could be her special talent.
* Does Dinky have a cutie mark? She had like, four in "Call of the Cutie" and then in season two most of her appearances have her as a blank flank. Is she gonna be a CMC?
* The sun and moon cannot be in the sky at the same time. In order for this to work, the sun and moon would have to stay on opposite sides of the planet. This would mean that the moon is always full. I don't know if a crescent moon has ever been shown, but there are certainly several examples of its imagery, such as Luna and Trixie's cutie marks. Does the rule that they can't both be up at once only apply to Equestria? Is their planet flat? Is half of the moon black and the moon not tidally locked with a 1:1 ratio like ours?
** I don't get what you mean by "the sun and moon cannot be in the sky at the same time" (is it stated somewhere that this is a rule in Equestria, or did you just assume it from the implications?), but it's possible that the crescent moon in Equestria is the result of the moon moving through Equestria's umbra rather than moving so that the side furthest from the moon changes its visibility like around Earth.
