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*** Indeed: she had to try to warn herself not to worry, because she did tried; yet she couldn't succeeded, because she didn't succeeded[[hottip:*:And yes, I'm conjugating into the double past. What of it?]]
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*** Indeed: she had to try to warn herself not to worry, because she did tried; yet she couldn't succeeded, because she didn't succeeded[[hottip:*:And succeeded[[note]]And yes, I'm conjugating into the double past. What of it?]]it?[[/note]]
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* Where did the Changlings come from? Where do they live? And why do they feed off of love?
** Tartarus. Wherever they can hide[[hottip:*:They're '''shapeshifters.''' They could be hiding in your own closet without you knowing.]]. And love tastes sinfully delicious, without being fattening in the slightest.
** Tartarus. Wherever they can hide[[hottip:*:They're '''shapeshifters.''' They could be hiding in your own closet without you knowing.]]. And love tastes sinfully delicious, without being fattening in the slightest.
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* Where did the Changlings Changelings come from? Where do they live? And why do they feed off of love?
** Tartarus. Wherever they canhide[[hottip:*:They're hide[[note]]They're '''shapeshifters.''' They could be hiding in your own closet without you knowing.]].[[/note]]. And love tastes sinfully delicious, without being fattening in the slightest.
** Tartarus. Wherever they can
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** Luna is shown to relieve Celestia at nightfall, and when she shows up for the wedding asking whether she's missed anything it's once again evening. The Changelings also never seem to have found her while swarming all over Canterlot[[hottip:*:[[FridgeHorror, at least as far as one can ever tell when shapeshifters are involved,]]]], which together with her earlier arrival through the shield would indeed suggest that she spends her days elsewhere and may in fact simply have slept through the whole thing.
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** Luna is shown to relieve Celestia at nightfall, and when she shows up for the wedding asking whether she's missed anything it's once again evening. The Changelings also never seem to have found her while swarming all over Canterlot[[hottip:*:[[FridgeHorror, Canterlot[[note]][[FridgeHorror, at least as far as one can ever tell when shapeshifters are involved,]]]], involved,]][[/note]], which together with her earlier arrival through the shield would indeed suggest that she spends her days elsewhere and may in fact simply have slept through the whole thing.
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* Why does everyone hate Cadence and Shining Armor? When I first saw it, I didn't have a problem with them.
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***** To put things into perspective, the Fake!Cadance did quite well by manipulating Twilight's friends, brother, and mentor like that, so it's more of an underhanded tactic on her part when you think about it. Plus, in all fairness, Twilight's lack of proof is actually justified by the fact that she had no possible way of showing any proof in this case to begin with, and Twilight ''did'' lose all feelings of possessiveness and unhappiness after learning that her brother was marrying her favorite foal-sitter, so when you think about it, Twilight had ''every'' right to accuse "Cadance" of being evil, even if it never occurred to her that this "Cadance" was an imposter.
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***** To put things into perspective, the Fake!Cadance did quite well by manipulating Twilight's friends, brother, and mentor like that, so it's more of an underhanded tactic on her part when you think about it. Plus, in all fairness, Twilight's lack of proof is actually justified by the fact that she had no possible way of showing any proof in this case to begin with, with (Granted, she could have tried her exposition beam that she pulled in "Return Of Harmony: Part 2", but it most likely would have still done no good, considering how it could still likely be contradicted.), and Twilight ''did'' lose all feelings of possessiveness and unhappiness after learning that her brother was marrying her favorite foal-sitter, so when you think about it, Twilight had ''every'' right to accuse "Cadance" of being evil, even if it never occurred to her that this "Cadance" was an imposter.
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**** I think the possibilities of there not being enough time for Luna to receive word about the chaos or Luna having slept through the chaos seem plausible enough.
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** I'm not too bothered by this. Sure, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity broke their promise to not eat the cake Pinkie Pie tried to protect, but given how Pinkie earlier [[FoodPorn described the cake in such a vivid and delectable way]], I'm not surprised that they fell to their temptations. It's like that WesternAnimation/SouthPark episode where Butters allegedly commits suicide, a PetSematary grave digger arrives at his parents' home and warns them not to try and bring back their son, despite giving them specific instructions and locations. Also, the mane 6 don't always follow their elements to the letter: Fluttershy was seen to be mean and angry when she took advice from Iron Will; Rarity tries to take gems from that dragon from Dragonshy and guilt-trips Spike into handing over his gem to her on his birthday; Rainbow Dash isn't necessarily the most dependable of ponies (as she's often seen napping and generally being lazy unless called upon). The ponies are fallible, make mistakes and can give-in to temptation (especially if unintentionally goaded into doing it).
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** I'm not too bothered by this. Sure, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity broke their promise to not eat the cake Pinkie Pie tried to protect, but given how Pinkie earlier [[FoodPorn described the cake in such a vivid and delectable way]], I'm not surprised that they fell to their temptations. It's like that WesternAnimation/SouthPark episode where Butters allegedly commits suicide, a PetSematary ''Literature/PetSematary'' grave digger arrives at his parents' home and warns them not to try and bring back their son, despite giving them specific instructions and locations. Also, the mane 6 don't always follow their elements to the letter: Fluttershy was seen to be mean and angry when she took advice from Iron Will; Rarity tries to take gems from that dragon from Dragonshy and guilt-trips Spike into handing over his gem to her on his birthday; Rainbow Dash isn't necessarily the most dependable of ponies (as she's often seen napping and generally being lazy unless called upon). The ponies are fallible, make mistakes and can give-in to temptation (especially if unintentionally goaded into doing it).
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***** Ever seen Bridezilla? Yes, some people do act that way about their wedding.
***** I'd also note that from the rest of the cast's perspective, fake!Cadance wasn't being ''that'' bad. Applejack doesn't ''know'' that she hated the food (she doesn't hear it until Twilight tells her later), Rarity takes her criticism of the dress in stride (and it really isn't that weird for a bride to be nitpicky about her dress), and her critiques of Pinkie dance and Fluttershy's bird chorus are shown to actually be accurate: Pinkie's dance ''is'' inappropriate for a wedding (even if the real Cadance is okay with it), and the bird really ''was'' singing off key. That and while we saw ''all'' the times Chrysalis was being a bitch, each of the cast members only saw individual occasions of it and chalked them up to wedding stress. Then you have the fact that frankly, it's kind of an enormous goodwill gesture to let five ponies you don't know be your bridesmaids, so that probably got fake!Cadance a ''lot'' of points with the other five of the group. Add in the fact that Twilight acts rather possessive and unhappy about the wedding from the get-go and doesn't back up her accusations with proof, and it really isn't a stretch for the rest of the cast to just assume that she's horribly overreacting.
****** To put things into perspective, the Fake!Cadance did quite well by manipulating Twilight's friends, brother, and mentor like that, so it's more of an underhanded tactic on her part when you think about it. Plus, in all fairness, Twilight's lack of proof is actually justified by the fact that she had no possible way of showing any proof in this case to begin with, and Twilight ''did'' lose all feelings of possessiveness and unhappiness after learning that her brother was marrying her favorite foal-sitter, so when you think about it, Twilight had ''every'' right to accuse "Cadance" of being evil, even if it never occurred to her that this "Cadance" was an imposter.
*** Twilight was shown to be very possesive of Shining Armor as far back as the beginning of the episode, when she threw a complete fit over hearing about his wedding secondhand. That in and of itself was probably a surprise to her friends, since she doesn't seem to get very angry often. They also don't have the intimate knowledge of Cadance's personality Twilight does. To the rest of the mane 6, Twilight started getting out there when she first heard about the wedding, and only got worse from there. And whether she had reason to be or not, Twilight wasn't at all calm or rational when she accused Cadance of being "evil". They'd be hard-pressed to assume anything other than, "She's off her rocker, and it's because she's clingy about her brother".
*** Don't forget that Twilight didn't even bring up most of the worst evidence about Cadence - not only did she not mention that she didn't recognise her, she also didn't mention the argument she had with her brother. The only real problems she brought up, other than vague accusations that she was "EVIL!" could easily be explained away by saying Cadence just wanted her wedding to be perfect.
***** I'd also note that from the rest of the cast's perspective, fake!Cadance wasn't being ''that'' bad. Applejack doesn't ''know'' that she hated the food (she doesn't hear it until Twilight tells her later), Rarity takes her criticism of the dress in stride (and it really isn't that weird for a bride to be nitpicky about her dress), and her critiques of Pinkie dance and Fluttershy's bird chorus are shown to actually be accurate: Pinkie's dance ''is'' inappropriate for a wedding (even if the real Cadance is okay with it), and the bird really ''was'' singing off key. That and while we saw ''all'' the times Chrysalis was being a bitch, each of the cast members only saw individual occasions of it and chalked them up to wedding stress. Then you have the fact that frankly, it's kind of an enormous goodwill gesture to let five ponies you don't know be your bridesmaids, so that probably got fake!Cadance a ''lot'' of points with the other five of the group. Add in the fact that Twilight acts rather possessive and unhappy about the wedding from the get-go and doesn't back up her accusations with proof, and it really isn't a stretch for the rest of the cast to just assume that she's horribly overreacting.
****** To put things into perspective, the Fake!Cadance did quite well by manipulating Twilight's friends, brother, and mentor like that, so it's more of an underhanded tactic on her part when you think about it. Plus, in all fairness, Twilight's lack of proof is actually justified by the fact that she had no possible way of showing any proof in this case to begin with, and Twilight ''did'' lose all feelings of possessiveness and unhappiness after learning that her brother was marrying her favorite foal-sitter, so when you think about it, Twilight had ''every'' right to accuse "Cadance" of being evil, even if it never occurred to her that this "Cadance" was an imposter.
*** Twilight was shown to be very possesive of Shining Armor as far back as the beginning of the episode, when she threw a complete fit over hearing about his wedding secondhand. That in and of itself was probably a surprise to her friends, since she doesn't seem to get very angry often. They also don't have the intimate knowledge of Cadance's personality Twilight does. To the rest of the mane 6, Twilight started getting out there when she first heard about the wedding, and only got worse from there. And whether she had reason to be or not, Twilight wasn't at all calm or rational when she accused Cadance of being "evil". They'd be hard-pressed to assume anything other than, "She's off her rocker, and it's because she's clingy about her brother".
*** Don't forget that Twilight didn't even bring up most of the worst evidence about Cadence - not only did she not mention that she didn't recognise her, she also didn't mention the argument she had with her brother. The only real problems she brought up, other than vague accusations that she was "EVIL!" could easily be explained away by saying Cadence just wanted her wedding to be perfect.
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***
***** To put things into perspective, the Fake!Cadance did quite well by manipulating Twilight's friends, brother, and mentor like that, so it's more of an underhanded tactic on her part when you think about it. Plus, in all fairness, Twilight's lack of proof is actually justified by the fact that she had no possible way of showing any proof in this case to begin with, and Twilight ''did'' lose all feelings of possessiveness and unhappiness after learning that her brother was marrying her favorite foal-sitter, so when you think about it, Twilight had ''every'' right to accuse "Cadance" of being evil, even if it never occurred to her that this "Cadance" was an imposter.
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*** Which actually leans more toward the idea that they ''did'' forget the lesson learned in "Lesson Zero".
**** Could be justified, though, since the idea of of "Cadance" being an imposter would most likely be the last thing to ''ever'' come to Twilight's mind in the first place.
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*** Okay, but then we still have the rest to consider if we ignore the superficial threat; Twilight was not irrational by the scope of the lessons she has had in Ponyville as well as the others that relate (Best Night Ever, Parasprites because of listening and respecting others, Putting Hooves Down, etc) and reactions she has learned about her friends. The Changeling!Cadance was extremely rude and dismissive of all these people-towards people who would never accept that behavior from anyone else save for a poor excuse over the said perpetrator's wedding. One's wedding is '''not''' an excuse for her actions especially against the Elements of Harmony and the idea of the show, and Twilight was right to call her out on it...and she would have left it there, if that was just the case and there was no evil afoot.
**** Ever seen Bridezilla? Yes, some people do act that way about their wedding.
**** I'd also note that from the rest of the cast's perspective, fake!Cadance wasn't being ''that'' bad. Applejack doesn't ''know'' that she hated the food (she doesn't hear it until Twilight tells her later), Rarity takes her criticism of the dress in stride (and it really isn't that weird for a bride to be nitpicky about her dress), and her critiques of Pinkie dance and Fluttershy's bird chorus are shown to actually be accurate: Pinkie's dance ''is'' inappropriate for a wedding (even if the real Cadance is okay with it), and the bird really ''was'' singing off key. That and while we saw ''all'' the times Chrysalis was being a bitch, each of the cast members only saw individual occasions of it and chalked them up to wedding stress. Then you have the fact that frankly, it's kind of an enormous goodwill gesture to let five ponies you don't know be your bridesmaids, so that probably got fake!Cadance a ''lot'' of points with the other five of the group. Add in the fact that Twilight acts rather possessive and unhappy about the wedding from the get-go and doesn't back up her accusations with proof, and it really isn't a stretch for the rest of the cast to just assume that she's horribly overreacting.
**** Ever seen Bridezilla? Yes, some people do act that way about their wedding.
**** I'd also note that from the rest of the cast's perspective, fake!Cadance wasn't being ''that'' bad. Applejack doesn't ''know'' that she hated the food (she doesn't hear it until Twilight tells her later), Rarity takes her criticism of the dress in stride (and it really isn't that weird for a bride to be nitpicky about her dress), and her critiques of Pinkie dance and Fluttershy's bird chorus are shown to actually be accurate: Pinkie's dance ''is'' inappropriate for a wedding (even if the real Cadance is okay with it), and the bird really ''was'' singing off key. That and while we saw ''all'' the times Chrysalis was being a bitch, each of the cast members only saw individual occasions of it and chalked them up to wedding stress. Then you have the fact that frankly, it's kind of an enormous goodwill gesture to let five ponies you don't know be your bridesmaids, so that probably got fake!Cadance a ''lot'' of points with the other five of the group. Add in the fact that Twilight acts rather possessive and unhappy about the wedding from the get-go and doesn't back up her accusations with proof, and it really isn't a stretch for the rest of the cast to just assume that she's horribly overreacting.
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****** To put things into perspective, the Fake!Cadance did quite well by manipulating Twilight's friends, brother, and mentor like that, so it's more of an underhanded tactic on her part when you think about it. Plus, in all fairness, Twilight's lack of proof is actually justified by the fact that she had no possible way of showing any proof in this case to begin with, and Twilight ''did'' lose all feelings of possessiveness and unhappiness after learning that her brother was marrying her favorite foal-sitter, so when you think about it, Twilight had ''every'' right to accuse "Cadance" of being evil, even if it never occurred to her that this "Cadance" was an imposter.
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*** Given that Season 3 opened with The Crystal Empire, an unknown amount of time passes between A Canterlot Wedding and The Crystal Empire and the lack of any accurate way of judging how far away the Crystal Empire is other than you can get there by train it's at least possible that they sensed King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis just happened to be past the point of no return in her plan by that point, thought she could defeat/negotiate/avoid King Sombra or was working for/with him in some capacity. The Mane 6 and the Princesses are capable of being wrong and I see no reason they couldn't have gotten two threats mixed up to their benefit. Heck it's even possible that Sombra intentionally made himself known to spoil Chrysalis' plans since she might very well have been unstoppable had she captured the love of Canterlot.
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**** It might not matter. If you're not in the middle of infiltrating a specific group why not take a fairly generic form? Something common enough not to raise eyebrows and specific enough that you know when someone is talking to you. Though the real obvious answer is that the artists have the basic pony model saved and when they create a crowd they just slap colors and cutie marks around.
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** They outright point out an offscreen incident where she saved some falling baby birds. She's just got serious performance anxiety. Despite the tendency for the fandom to overreact to every little thing, there's nothing at stake here except town pride. Even if the town screwed up so badly they lost the reservoir, there's nothing stopping Cloudsdale from finding another water source and sucking up the water there.
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* With all the drama of Fluttershy only clocking in at 0.5 and 2.3 wingpower, why didn't anyone remind her that she was able to ''outrun Rainbow Dash while pulling a hot air balloon loaded with passengers'' earlier in the season?
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*** For me the problem isn't that they didn't believe her, it's that they completely walked out on her after her "Big Brother Best Friend Forever" basically disowned her. While there is no denying Twilight behaved badly, look how forgiving she has been of their more mean spirited behaviour in previous episodes (Bridle Gossip and Luna Eclipsed for example). Not to mention after all she's done for them (Particularily Fluttershy in "A Bird in the Hoof" and Rarity in "Sweet and Elite", you'd think that the ONE time she acts up, they wouldn't just turn their backs on her. They were right to be angry, but all this talk about they probably tried to find her afterwards to work things out ignores that none of this happened onscreen. For a series that is very good about onscreen reconciliations, seeing Twilights friend turn their backs on her with no indication they still cared for her is more then a little jarring. Compare "Party of One", Pinkie has a massive outburst and is extremely nasty to her friends because she believes they no longer care about her. Rather then getting mad, they all sit there sadly and wait for her to realize her mistake. When Twilight has an outburst because she thinks she saw her brother getting hypnotized, everyone turns their noses up at her and walk out, despite her expressing remorse on the spot, and having just been disowned by her brother. There was no "Twilight, we love you, but this behaviour is inexcusable" speeches, they just leave. Plus, once they realized Twilight was right all along, Applejack gives a very weak apology for not believing her, NOT for abandoning her, and the others never apologize at all. Celestia implies an apology, and Shining takes Twilight as his Best Mare again, but the others never say anything. Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness has no compassion for Twilight, Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter leaves Twilight to wallow in misery and despair. Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty abandons Twilight without a moments hesitation, Applejack, who has a brother herself and showed the most concern earlier for Twilights worries over Shining, etc. The problem isn't that they didn't believe Twilight or disapproved of her behaviour, it's that not one of them hesitated to abandon Twilight at a very low point in her life without giving her a chance to apologize, atone, etc.
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*** For me the problem isn't that they didn't believe her, it's that they completely walked out on her after her "Big Brother Best Friend Forever" basically disowned her. While there is no denying Twilight behaved badly, look how forgiving she has been of their more mean spirited behaviour in previous episodes (Bridle Gossip and Luna Eclipsed for example). Not to mention after all she's done for them (Particularily Fluttershy in "A Bird in the Hoof" and Rarity in "Sweet and Elite", Elite"), you'd think that the ONE time she acts up, they wouldn't just turn their backs on her. They were right to be angry, but all this talk about they probably tried to find her afterwards to work things out ignores that none of this happened onscreen. For a series that is very good about onscreen reconciliations, seeing Twilights friend turn their backs on her with no indication they still cared for her is more then a little jarring. Compare "Party of One", Pinkie has a massive outburst and is extremely nasty to her friends because she believes they no longer care about her. Rather then getting mad, they all sit there sadly and wait for her to realize her mistake. When Twilight has an outburst because she thinks she saw her brother getting hypnotized, everyone turns their noses up at her and walk out, despite her expressing remorse on the spot, and having just been disowned by her brother. There was no "Twilight, we love you, but this behaviour is inexcusable" speeches, they just leave. Plus, once they realized Twilight was right all along, Applejack gives a very weak apology for not believing her, NOT for abandoning her, and the others never apologize at all. Celestia implies an apology, and Shining takes Twilight as his Best Mare again, but the others never say anything. Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness has no compassion for Twilight, Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter leaves Twilight to wallow in misery and despair. Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty abandons Twilight without a moments hesitation, Applejack, who has a brother herself and showed the most concern earlier for Twilights worries over Shining, etc. The problem isn't that they didn't believe Twilight or disapproved of her behaviour, it's that not one of them hesitated to abandon Twilight at a very low point in her life without giving her a chance to apologize, atone, etc.
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** And this is a Headscratcher because...?
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** And this is a Headscratcher because...?
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*** Debatable, since all of the examples are different: The Elements of Harmony *were* dependent on 6 friends with specific personalities, regardless of how those friends treated each other. Luna was banished from a 1000 years, the only relationship that she still has is her own sister. Trixie and Gilda weren't shunned fro being introverted or loners, but because they were unrepentant jerks. And so far we haven't had anyone who is a loner because he/she wants, so it's also debatable the unfortunateimplications of that.
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*** [[SarcasmMode Wow, what a ''great'' message for kids.]] If you're an introvert, or don't want to hang out with your friends all the time, you're a freak of nature.
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*** [[SarcasmMode Wow, what a ''great'' great message for kids.]] If you're an introvert, or don't want to hang out with your friends all the time, you're a freak of nature.
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*** [[SarcasmMode Wow, what a ''great'' message for kids.]] If you're an introvert, or don't want to hang out with your friends all the time, you're a freak of nature.
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** The comics answer this; in the Rainbow Dash Micro-Series comic, she injures her wings and her house is shown to be anchored to the ground.
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**** Yes, but this time they'll know it's coming and be able to plan accordingly.
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* Am I the only one bothered by the fact Rarity and Pinkie keep referring to Iron Will as "monster"?And it's not even for his teachings:they started doing this when they were still happy about "new Fluttershy".So [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop is okay to insult someone because he looks different from you?]]
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Headscratchers is not for complaining about episodes, fandoms and characters. It\'s also not for character bashing, whitewashing, demonizing, etc.
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** The only people who see him as a villain are Fluttershy fans, saying that his training turned her into a monster.
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** Only Fluttershy fans see him as a villain, since his training turned her into a monster.
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** Same reason she couldn't ask Twilight for the book. Pride.
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* Why couldn't Rainbow Dash just ''ask'' the nurses if she can find her book?
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** I think that was simply showcasing how their gossip was largely indiscriminate. We hear about these characters because they are recognized characters, but they were probably getting dirt on everybody, hence why everybody was angry with them.
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* Although I do not like the way the Cutie Mark Crusaders were shunned after the gossip, why did they have to target ''the Mane Six ,their friends and family, and people like Trixie, Princess Celestia, and the Mayor'' to gossip about anyway?
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** I thought it was implied that the rodeo was much more like the play offs in real life sports. She had to go to several different towns on her journey and we only catch up with her where she finally stopped. Rainbow Dash by contrast was invited straight into the Finals or whatever the equivalent is, the point being that hers was a one day event and Apple Jack was gone for at least a couple of weeks if not longer.
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** I'm thinking Chrysalis had those bridesmaids put where they were in an attempt to slow down either Twilight or the real Cadance, should they escape their imprisonment, and prevent them from stopping the wedding.
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**** Also, considering he didn't seem to have any idea of ''when'' the bachelor party was supposed to occur, the Mane Six were probably just humoring him, in the sense of "oh that's so cute! Moving on..."
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[[/folder]]
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:[=2.14=] The Last Roundup]]
* So was the money to repair the town hall needed because Derpy trashed it, or was it already in terrible condition, which is why it fell apart even though she just bumped into it?
** Hard to say really, but considering that AJ had already pledged prize money for repairs, the town hall was probably already in bad shape. Either way, Derpy did not help matters.
** I think Rainbow Dash implies at the beginning that Derpy is the one who caused the initial damage in the first place. What we see on screen is just her making it even worse.
** It's doubtful that Derpy was responsible for all of that, or even most of it. If she were, the consequences for her would probably have been much more severe than Rainbow Dash telling her to be more careful, and Applejack would have been unlikely to pledge to pay for the repairs unless Derpy was a ''very'' good friend of her, which is not the case from everything we've seen. More likely, the town hall had simply fallen into disrepair over time, and maybe Derpy crashed into it, causing its disrepair to become evident.
*** I dunno. "Applebuck Season", "Boast Busters", "The Best Night Ever", "Lesson Zero", and "Secret of my Excess" all contain examples of Equestrians causing major property damage or putting dozens of lives at risk, and facing no repercussions, or ones so minor they might as well not exist; it doesn't seem as though ponies get punished for their actions unless they're performed from actual malicious intent. Granted, there were mitigating factors in each instance, but Derpy's "special needs" status seems as least as good as any other. I kind of doubt they'd hammer Derpy with any severe penalty. As for why AJ would offer to pay for the damages, this is Poneyville's most helpful citizen we're discussing. Pledging the winnings from the rodeo, a windfall amount that she might not have already had earmarked for the farm, to help her community, seems pretty in line with her character to me.
** If Derpy had been the original cause of the damage, I doubt they'd let her hang around the hall and cause even ''more'' damage. (Remember that AJ had apparently pledged her winnings to fix Town Hall before the episode took place, suggesting that Town Hall was already in need of repair at that time.) I say the whole thing had fallen into disrepair from termites or whatever, and Derpy just made things slightly worse.
** WordOfGod is that she was responsible. As the writer originally wrote it, she (named Ditzy Doo at that point in the wirting) was supposed to have wrecked it while Bolt Bucking, getting careless and making the mistake of doing it too close to the town center, and mistaking Rainbow Dash's warnings as praise when they were rendered unintelligible by the noise of the thunder and lightning. The flashback was cut for time, as the Applejack storyline was more important.
* Where was Spike when all this was happening? Wouldn't he want to go look for one of his closest friends?
** He might have still been sore at Twilight for being used as a file cabinet/bulletin board in "Baby Cakes."
*** Or he's taking care of Fluttershy's animals like he did in Dragonshy
*** He was in Canterlot on official business.
*** He was taking another seven hour bubblebath.
* There was ''no'' runner-up prize money in any of the events Applejack placed in? Isn't there usually a smaller purse for those who place? And hardly anyone at the rodeo remembered the pony who had placed in so many event?
** It looked to me like they remembered her, but didn't know where she went afterward, which seems reasonable.
** Repairs of the magnitude the Town Hall needed can cost upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even if Applejack did earn some consolation prizes, and even if it would cost less than what it would in real life, she probably still didn't have enough.
** Why not send a "Staying here. Will send more money later. Here's some of it now. Bye."
*** The other ponies assumed that she had won all of the blue ribbons, and thus would be able to send all of the money at once. If she only sent some of the money it would seem like even more of a slap in the face to her family and friends, on top of her not returning to Ponyville.
*** Changing the wording of the telegraph doesn't change the fact that, from the perspective of her friends and family, Applejack abandoned her home with no explanation. They'd still be worried and probably still look for her regardless. Keeping the letter vague just ensures that Applejack doesn't have to either lie to everyone she knows or admit that she was (in her own mind) a failure.
* So Rainbow Dash has the word "guns" in her vocabulary. Does that mean firearms are now canon?
** Given how Pinkie actually ''owns'' a large scale firearm in the shape of the Party Cannon, I imagine so, yes. Though trying to fit small arms around hooves would be difficult, so maybe only Artillery Guns exist.
** WMG: Every firearm/weapon mentioned is actually "party" firearm in the genre of Pinkie's Party Cannon. So there are Party Guns, Party Tanks, Party Bullets, maybe a few Party Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, etc.. They're all perfectly harmless and are only used for throwing parties.
* When Dash competed in the Best Young Flyer Competition, the mane 6 attended and cheered her on. But when AppleJack competes in a rodeo...nopony comes along to watch? Not even Applebloom?
** Applebloom is easily explained; she was needed at the farm along with the rest of the Apples. As for the others, it's probably as simple as Applejack telling them didn't need to come because either 1. they were busy with other things or 2. the rodeo tickets were expensive.
** Two therioes: Theory A. Maybe the Rodeo was on a weekday (assuming the Flyers competition was on a weekend) so the Mane cast needed to work. Of course, this doesn't explain why Pinkie, with her rather lax work ethic couldn't come. Theory B: Applejack has gotten a bit GenreSavvy and identified the chaos that happened at the Young Flyers Competition was a result of the Mane Cast being about and politely asked them to stay at home to avoid a repeat performance. Bit out of character, admittedly, but the idea kind of amuses me.
** I like this one better: the girls went to the Best Young Flier's competition because ''Rarity'' told them how much Rainbow Dash needed their support. She saw through Rainbow's bravado and knew that her friend needed the emotional support to actually get out and perform. Applejack, conversely, did NOT need the extra rooting. She was sure of herself, the others knew it, and while it would've been nice to go, they figured Applejack was in good shape and would come back with her hooves full of rewards.
** It appears that Canterlot is a bit further away from Ponyville than Cloudsdale is, and the rodeo event was implied to take place over the course of several days, as many real-life rodeos are. The rest of the Mane Cast may not have been able to take that much time off.
** In addition to that, it also seems that the rodeo probably wasn't quite as big a deal as the Best Young Fliers competition was. The latter is apparently a big enough deal that the uber-popular Wonderbolts and ''Celestia herself'' are in attendance, whereas it's never implied that the rodeo is such a big event. As far as we know, the rodeo is just one of several similar competitions (and given that AJ has ''won'' in previous rodeos, this would seem to be the case), and as such there's less reason for everyone to come along. To put it in modern perspective, the BYF competition is analogous to a huge, nationally televised championship game in a popular sport, whereas the rodeo is something more along the lines of a regional championship, or a championship in a less popular sport (like billiards or something) that might have a decent sized amount of prize money, but isn't nearly as popular as the BYF. And as noted, Rainbow Dash needs the moral support a lot more than Applejack does.
* So Derpy's cutie mark is bubbles, but she's a mailpony? What's with her cutie mark, then? I know that her being a mailpony (who likes muffins) is basically something that the fandom leaped onto, but do we have an in-universe reason?
** You just answered your own question. her being a mailpony is entirely a fan-made thing, just like her addiction to muffins. If you want some kind of connection between being a mailpony and bubbles: bubblewrap. Besides, it's not like your cutie mark is explicitly indicative of your proffesion, else Rarity would be a jewler, Fluttershy would be an entomologist, and Twilight would be an astronomer.
*** Agreed that a cutie mark doesn't necessarily determine a pony's profession. A high majority of the ponies we've seen work based on their talents, and why wouldn't they? It's their talent and they wish to see it put to good use. It's more about choice than it is destiny, and there are bound to be some ponies who prefer to work in other professions, like Pinkie Pie who has a talent for parties but works in a cake store (which can be used for things other than parties), and Rainbow Dash who's talent is speed, and while she applies it in her work, her main job is weather management. However, the literal interpretation of the symbols of the cutie marks is off.
* Why couldn't Twilight and the others have figured out that Applejack didn't win at any event of the competition? Why couldn't they put the facts together to come to some conclusion on why Applejack decided to not return? With the way that Applejack was acting quite cold towards her own friends and keeping a tight lip on things, it should clue in to the girls why she's acting like that.
** Twilight and the others didn't see winning second and third place as bad things, they didn't think that Applejack would be so upset at getting those ranks. In fact, they were actually excited to learn that Applejack got second and third place in many events. They probably assumed that Applejack was leaving over a much bigger issue.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.15=] The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000]]
* While I'm aware that this borders on a FamilyUnfriendlyAesop, it needs to be asked. It's established that not enough cider is made each day to serve all of the desiring customers. It's also established that Sweet Apple Acres needs its cider money to fund its way through the winter, which is one reason why they decided not to partner with the Flim Flam Bros. Isn't the solution obvious from a basic business perspective? ''Raise the price.'' Demand decreases to match supply and you have more earnings that can keep your orchard afloat.
** The Apples never said they had any problems with the income their cider generates as of now; merely that they have a limited supply of their very popular product. Some customers were disappointed that they didn't get their share, but not to the point were they'd do more than grumble. In fact, they seem perfectly willing to start lining up for miles the next day just to increase their chances of getting a cup. There'd be no reason to deliberately drive some away, especially considering that the family depends on repeat business. Besides, the Apples are all straightforward ponies; they'd see such a tactic as dishonest and reject it out of hand.
** The cider sales are what keep them afloat during the Winter. It's not supposed to make them a profit, so increasing the price would not be a suitable solution.
* Or, from a more benevolent business standpoint, shouldn't Applejack have learned one potentially valuable lesson from this whole ordeal? Aside from how the whole competition was a massive risk for her and did nothing but benefit the Bros. (if nothing else, she just gave them a field's worth of apples for free) and she should have refused to take part from the get-go, shouldn't she have learned that maybe Sweet Apple Acres would benefit from more employees? She could get enough manpower to increase supply to meet demand, and if they really do have enough apples to spare before they go bad, the increase in sales could easily pay the wages with no other lost costs.
* I get that Sweet Apple Acres is a family farm, and for the most part they can get by just fine with Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, and Applejack (and to an extent, Apple Bloom) doing all the work, but seeing how ridiculously busy Cider Season is, wouldn't it be a good idea to hire one or two temporary workers just for that time? Equestria doesn't seem to have high unemployment rates (lucky...) but surely they could find a couple ponies willing to do a little extra work for a few bits? Shoot, even if they got their friends to pitch in for a few hours for free (they seem to have a lot of free time on their hooves) they could probably get a LOT done. Even though it appears the farm and family do sometimes struggle for money, if they hired one or two extra ponies they would profit in the long run because of all the extra cider they would make.
** Sweet Apple Acres is more than a business: it's an Apple family tradition. Letting in outsiders, aside from ''very'' good friends, would likely be seen as a violation of their values. It's not really logical, but that's the way these things go with close-knit families.
*** There should be an episode focusing on non-Apples working at the farm. Maybe a "sometimes, traditions need to change" lesson, perhaps.
*** That leaves the mule in Applebuck Season unexplained.
**** The mule wasn't working, though. He seemed to just be hanging out there for some reason.
* I can't help but feel that if the Flim Flam brothers had been even remotely fair or realistic with their partnership offer, or had been willing to negotiate the profit split, then it would've resulted in a mutually-agreeable business relationship. If they'd offered, say, 50/50, or even something in favor of the Apples since they're the ones growing and supplying the apples to make the product, then everyone would've made a profit, everyone would've gotten the high-quality cider (since it's implied that the cider the machine makes is just as good while the quality control is on), and everyone would've been happy.
** Even a 50/50 split would be disadvantageous for the Apples because they still have to cover the overhead of operating a large orchard while the Flim Flam brothers only provide their cider machine. Unless the partnership produced enough cider to serve multiple times the normal amount of customers, the only ones who'd turn a profit from a partnership are the brothers. Besides, the Apples were still dubious about the quality of the machine's work compared to their homemade product (which we can only assume would be inferior even if the brothers didn't ignore quality for quantity). Either way, it'd leave them dependent on the work of the Flim Flam bros. for their financial futures; a very large amount of trust demanded considering that they just met.
** How do we know that 50/50 would be disadvantageous? We just know that 75/25 in the twins favor would mean they lose money. And even assuming they make less per-sale on 50/50 than they would going solo, they'd also be making exponentially more sales. If the brothers had just considered negotiating a business deal that would be mutually beneficial (and really, as long as the twins get a percentage at all they'd benefit since it doesn't cost them a dime to run the machine), the Apples probably would've considered listening. They might not have come to an agreement immediately, but they lost any chance at one by threatening to drive them out of business because they weren't willing to take a deal that would also drive them out of business.
*** They probably could have negotiated ''something'', but the Flim Flam Brothers were obviously looking to get rich quick and weren't interested in an equitable solution. You can't come to a reasonable deal when one of the parties is being deliberately dishonest.
*** Actually, I'm not so sure that a 75/25 split ''would'' result in them losing money in the long run. If you recall the beginning of the competition, the [=SSCS6K=] was able to fill six barrels of cider by the time the Apple family was finished with one. So even though they'd only be making 25% of their normal profit for each glass of cider they sell, they'd also be making six times as many sales (assuming they sold all of the cider they produced, and considering the town's massive cider demand, who's to say they wouldn't?). 25% x 6 = 150%. The end result is that they'd be making 1.5x as much as they usually do.
*** That's not how businesses work. Profit = Revenue - Expenses. What the Apples would be getting is 25% of the revenue, not the profit, or Profit = (Revenue * .25) - Expenses. In this scenario it would be likely that they wouldn't cover their expenses and their profit on every sale would be negative. Thus, by selling more they would actually be losing more money.
*** While that's correct, their expenses are pretty much 0. (Or if you prefer, a flat number based on the cost to maintain the farm and family through winter.) Nothing the machine does actually costs money to run except maintenance, which would be on the brothers. Basically, any money that goes into their pockets from cider sales is raw profit. If they had access to a device that makes six times as much product but only .25 times as much money per sale, and their expenses didn't scale at all with revenue, which it doesn't... Well, the math's already been done two bullets above this. At a 50/50 split, however, which is a much more fair deal, they triple their sales income, (50% X 6 = 300%) but their expenses still aren't directly related to how much product they move, so their expenses are still not very high. If their expenses scaled with sales, then they'd definitely lose money, but they don't, so they don't.
*** Hum... but... they didn't got the apples for free, so their expenses are not "0".
*** They didn't get the apples for free, no, but since their business is already an apple orchard, they already HAVE the apples, because they normally just sell them raw. It's product they're not going to move otherwise, since it's implied that the apples are going bad soon. Every cost associated with making cider is NOT one that scales as you make more, so as long as they make significantly more sales - and they would if they had taken the initial offer - they would've made more money in the long run.
**** But they don't have an unlimited amount of apples, so the long run might not be long enough to ensure profit. Furthermore, even if they would make a profit, the split just wasn't fair. The Apple family would be doing all the work maintaining the farm, growing the apples and harvesting them. Furthermore, even though they already have the apple trees, the farm still has a lot of expenses. They may have to purchase fertilizer, and of course, there's maintenance of the barn, fences, signs, tools, they have to buy things like barrels, and more. Not to mention they need enough money left over to support a family of four. Big Apple Acres is more than just the orchard, they have a lot more to support. And as seem in the episode, the Flim Flam brothers cared only about profit, not quality or integrity. Would you really want to work with someponies like them?
*** As stated a few times, the expenses from running and maintaining the farm, and feeding the family, are all expenses they make already, regardless of whether they make cider. The initial idea was that if the brothers had offered something that was more enticing (like a relatively-reasonable 50/50, since they're bringing unprecedented technology they literally can't get anywhere else to the table), then they probably would've been able to discuss a real business relationship with the Apples, instead of sparking an immediate feud. As for integrity, of COURSE nopony would want to work with them if they knew the brothers for more than 30 seconds. They're jerks, but if they HADN'T been jerks, they would've offered some a split that's not insulting, and could've made something great happen. Quality, though, is a different story. Until they "cheat" at the competition, their cider is implied to actually be delicious. Granny Smith drinks some and clearly looks worried that they actually have an equal product. They very clearly put great care into making sure their machine turns out a quality product consistently. They only stopped caring about quality because they started panicking about potential loss, and they probably figured losing would've made them look even worse than having an undrinkable product.
* When she was speeding up the cider making, why didn't Twilight simply harvest the entire field's worth of apples with magic? We've seen her do it before in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E4ApplebuckSeason Applebuck Season]], and if she had done this then they'd been able to put more energy into the quality control and juicing.
** Because they'd hit a bottleneck with Granny Smith and Rarity inspecting the fruits and the mill only capable of juicing so many at a time. Better to split the crew among the various tasks according to their talents for better overall efficiency at all four steps than to attempt to focus on the sheer volume of one part of the process.
** We don't know how magic works exactly. It's possible that certain spells can only be performed under certain conditions. For instance, maybe in Applebuck Season Twilight had to spend a couple hours ''preparing'' the mega-apple-picking spell before she could actually use it. If so, then such a spell would be worthless in a timed competition like this.
** Alternately, it was just more efficient for Twilight to be helping with the tallying and the barrel moving. You don't always put the best pony on the job, especially if that pony would make the operation faster elsewhere.
* You know, the bet between the brothers and the Apples was only over the "exclusive cider-making rights in Ponyville." It wasn't over Sweet Apple Acres itself. The brothers themselves said two or three times in the episode that they don't have any apples themselves, and every time they demonstrate the use of the machine they have to borrow apples from the Apple family. Couldn't the Apples just sell the apples to the brothers? You know, the apples they need to make any money whatsoever? It would cost them much more to have them shipped from somewhere else, and it's cheaper to buy apples from them than buy their entire farm. The Apples might actually wind up selling their entire field's worth of apples and not have to have any left over they can't sell before they go bad.
** They said they relied heavily on the cider sales to get through the winter. If they sold the apples directly to someone else instead of making cider, they probably wouldn't make as much money.
* They make a big deal about how important the traditional method of making the Cider is, but considering the demand for the cider, any moment they're selling the stuff is time they're not making it. Why doesn't the Apple family subcontract the selling of the Cider? They already do that with Zap Apple jam, why don't they ask, say, Filthy Rich to be their middle-man while they produce the stuff during the day so they can attempt to meet demand?
** I was wondering that myself. However, it's mentioned that the family relies heavily on cider sales to get through the winter. If they sold it to a middle-man, they'd be getting a smaller portion of the profit.
*** But they can't make money on products they don't have. I was suggesting they concentrate on making as much product as possible and get someone else to sell it.
*** Selling cider directly from the source not only allows them to set their own prices, it gets ponies to come directly to the farm and familiarize themselves with the Apple family. Doing so ensures repeat business and allows them to move other apple products while the crowds are still there. They can combine advertisement, seasonal product selling, regular products sold, and the full portion of the profits all by cutting out the middle man. Of course we don't see any additional products sold, but it would be a perfect opportunity.
*** Well, rather than sell it to a middle man, why not spend all of their time making the cider while trusted, responsible family friends like the Mane 6 work the stand. Make the cider within eyesight of the stand, interact with the customers during breaks, but also make more product, thus sell more product, get a better profit, and don't leave anywhere near as many dissatisfied customers, so the Flim Flam Brothers can't get the entire town behind them. In fact, if they got the whole gang to help work the stand, they could run 5 lines at a time while they have enough stock, thus shortening the lines so even if you get turned away you haven't wasted as much of your day waiting on it. Or if they prefer, have the trusted family friends do the cider making while the family works the counter. Either way, they make a LOT more product, without losing any of that family business feel.
*** If this is the first cider season after "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E4ApplebuckSeason Applebuck Season]]" it might not have occurred to the Apples. There's nothing to say that they won't get the Mane 6 to help out in future cider seasons, now that they trust them and have seen the difference their help makes.
**** The problem with having the Mane 6 help is that they already ''have'' jobs. Even if they're willing to help, they may well be too busy next year or the year after that.
* Flim and Flam's names are probably supposed to indicate their nature, but…how? They're certainly not nice, but they're not ''dishonest'' either. Their machine works exactly as they claim it does, and until they press that button, nothing indicates their cider is of lesser quality. Granny Smith tries some of it, and her reaction suggests that it is indeed as good as her family's, though she's not about to say so. Even when the brothers ''do'' put quantity over quality, they're perfectly willing to lower the price of the cider, if only to get ponies to buy it. So while they're definitely ruthless and callous towards the Apple family, what evidence is there that they're actually cheating anyone?
** They could buy the apples, they could offer an actually fair deal to the apple orchard they join businesses with, they could sell/lend their machine, they could start their own orchard...but no, they simply go from town to town, offering a ridiculously one-sided deal that's almost certain to shut down the business they get the apples from. They don't want to invest a cent beside their machine, and as far as we know, their challenge might be a clever trick they pull on all the orchards they come across. Instead of starting from the beginning, they made their machine and tried to take over another business with it, take it as you will, but I doubt that's standard business in Equestria.
** Their behavior prior to making the challenge and their deliberate outline of its specifics, in which they stand to lose far less than the Apples, suggests that the whole thing was planned from the beginning. Just look at what happened: they showed up right after the Apples had exhausted their cider supply, then they started offering to sell their cider made with Sweet Apples. When AJ objected, they started insulting the family's pride and offered a contest that they outlined the rules for (in which they risk nothing, but the Apples give up their vitally needed cider business), goading them until they not only accepted, but freely gave them the raw materials that they tried to "deal" for earilier. The whole thing was a ploy to drive the Apples out of business and let them take over. The Bros. might not have directly lied about anything, but that doesn't change the fact that they're dishonest about their intentions and running a scam.
* I found it kind of hard to believe that the Apple family has such a hard time getting through the winter when just a few episodes ago it was obvious they made a bunch of money selling Zap Apple products. Exactly how much time are we supposed to believe passed between that episode and this one? Also, if the cider is such an imperative part of their income, shouldn't the Apple family spend the whole season making it? As in, Applejack should not have [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup left for that rodeo]] if the cider actually is a surefire way to make money?
** I think this episode has shown that the Ponyville Apples seem to have demonstrably poor business sense. They let themselves be taken for suckers, they don't plan out their cider season better, they don't hire any type of help for this crucial time of year.
** Well Granny Smith is senile and Applejack and Big Macintosh are in their early twenties at most, with no formal business education. It's made clear that they have two big products (Zap Apples and Cider) that come once a year, but as mentioned above they're too concerned with honesty and community relations to really make a killing on these products. The rest of the year they seem to struggle somewhat, and they seem to have quite extensive overheads. It’s possible that Sweet Apple Acres donates money to other Apple family ventures too, and in the name of entrepreneurship Applejack keeps their financial situation very close to the line so that their money isn’t just sitting around wasted.
** And considering the fact that these episodes are supposed to be watchable in any order, and the fact that there are no references to the previous one, who's to say that this episode took place after "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup The Last Roundup]]"?
* I can't help wondering just how cutie marks work in the context of this episode. The Flim Flam Brothers have apple cutie marks, but wouldn't they have cutie marks that suggested their true nature better? After all, based on the quality of their machine they would have decided to be inventors first (''and that's not getting into them deciding to be swindlers'').
** I frequently think that Equestria is a safer place than reality, since a hypothetical John Wayne Gacy Pony couldn't hide in plain sight because it's cutie mark would serve as a warning.
** ...Safer place? [[TheLostWoods With a forest of death next door]]? [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E1TheReturnOfHarmonyPart1 With the Spirit]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 of Chaos]]? [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E12BabyCakes With baby unicorns getting bursts of magic]]? [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E13HearthsWarmingEve With the Windigos ready to freeze any loner or hater?]]
*** True, but you can identify a serial killer from across the room because their cutie mark... isn't.
**** Nup. Generally cutie marks are more abstract - see Cheerilee's, Twilight Sparkle's, Rarity's, Lyra Heartstrings's, etc. etc. It makes sense when the pony explains it, but it is usually not obvious. So, for example, Gacy? He'd have a clown Cutie Mark. Reflected in most peoples creation of a {{Dexter}} Pony, who has a splatter of blood for a cutie mark - which means both his work as a blood splatter analyst and his...hobbies. Incidentally, that clown cutie mark? Perfect for attracting young fillies and colts......
** We don't know enough about the Flim Flam brothers to say for sure, but there are a number of possibilities. It's possible that cider-making itself is their talent, (most likely, judging by their cutie marks) and they made a machine for it later on to improve efficiency. And as we've seen before, a pony can have many talents. Fluttershy can sew, Applejack is good at sports, and so on. They may be good at swindling and building machines, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's their "special talent" that they get a cutie mark for.
*** The mere possession of a cider-mobile doesn't mean they built it. I suspect they got their cutie mark as apple salesmen, and in the course of their apple selling business encountered an inventor, and used their talent to take advantage of his.
** They might have originally been farmers, and got themselves kicked out for dishonesty.
** Or, the cutie mark is fake? They were selling apple cider, so something related to apples would have people think they're honest.
** They're [[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bad%20apple bad apples]].
** When you put their cutie marks together, they make a whole apple. It means they work well together. They just use their particular talents(special and otherwise) for [[JerkAss swindling]] instead of good.
* If cider was in deficit, why was Pinkie allowed to buy a whole armful of mugs? Wheter it was done [[ShoutOut intentionally]] or [[HilariousInHindsight not]], the whole setting strongly reminds me of the memetic Soviet-era [[http://rutube.ru/tracks/2231328.html beer lines]], and believe me, if somepony'd tried to hog the beer like this, they would've been explained the wrongs of their way swiftly and painfully. Even taking the SugarBowl into account, shouldn't there've been an outrage from the line?
** I think the best and only answer here is that Ponyville simply isn't Soviet Russia. The ponies are all forgiving, friendly, and closely knit. Even the bitterest ponies seem more likely to mope to themselves than actually start a confrontation.
*** Hogging cider is distinctly unfriendly, so by the transitive property so is helping someone hog it.
** In addition, if this was a more cynical universe, Pinkie would be in the perfect position to scalp cider.
** Pinkie Pie was the ''first'' pony to get cider. It's possible that, at the beginning, they overestimated the amount of cider that would be available, and thus they saw no reason to ration it.
*** Except they do it every year. They run out of cider every year, and they sell too much to Pinkie Pie every year. If they haven't realized the pattern now, then the Apple family is significantly stupider than we've been giving them credit for.
** Pinkie was so enthusiastic about the cider that nopony wanted to tell her that she couldn't have her fill. (She was the very first in line, after all. In fact she's apparently ''always'' the first in line, every year, because she loves cider that much.)
* Moreover. They know how much cider they've got, why the hell don't they announce it, so that everypony knows for sure whether or not they'd get any and not waste time?
** I'm sure they don't know exactly how many mugs they'll be able to make ahead of time. Especially taking into account ponies like Pinkie, who buy more than one.
* Given how much cider they were able to make in 45 minutes (granted they were speeding up production tremendously), why don't the Apples alternate the selling days? One day is set to making as much cider they can and the next sell it. That way they could stockpile a large amount and not run out and risk alienating their customers.
** Because then ponies like Rainbow Dash would get really impatient during the non-cider days.
** The cider wouldn't be as fresh if they waited a whole day before selling it.
*** Particularly if they don't use preservatives. Which, as far as we've seen, they don't.
* The Flim Flam Brothers call Canterlot a "kingdom", but I was under the impression that the kingdom is Equestria (ruled by Celestia & Luna and all), and Canterlot is its capital.
** Alliteration demands sacrifices.
** And Equestria is a Principality since it is ruled by a princess. A kingdom is ruled by a king.
*** Thank God it's not a country.
* Flim and Flam WON. Not just the contest, but the whole situation came up in their favor. They'd taken control of Sweet Apple Acres and were in a perfect position to sell their high quality cider. The only reason that the situation turned out okay was because they believed that no one wanted their product, based on the reactions of those who received the cider that hadn't been under quality control. They were aware that they'd turned off the quality-control, and otherwise appear to be rather intelligent ponies, so why would they arrive at this conclusion?
** It would appear to be a moment of fridge logic: Why on earth would two reasonably intelligent businessponies give the worst cider to the first customers? Then the switch is made to Fridge Brilliance when you realize that, since the barrels were stacked, all the good stuff was at the bottom.
** The cider might not have been the issue so much as how pissed off the townsfolk were at that point. They were probably already upset (to some degree or another) by the brothers' cruel treatment of the Apple family on their way out, and that the two were willing to sell them crappy cider at all put the nail in the coffin. Flim and Flam likely figured that pushing the citizens any further would result in an angry mob, and that the only feasible option was to get the hell out of Dodge.
* As somepony already mentioned, the bet between the brothers and the Apples was only over the "exclusive cider-making rights in Ponyville." It wasn't over Sweet Apple Acres itself. So after the Apples lose the contest, why does everybody act as if they lost Sweet Apple Acres to the Flim Flam brothers as well? Granted, losing the right to make cider would have put the Apples in difficult financial papers, but they wouldn't go bankrupt instantly, would they? Heck, the apples the Flim Flam brothers would need to make cider for Ponyville would still be property of the Apple family.
** I haven't seen the episode lately, but I'm pretty sure what happened Applebloom opened her big mouth and changed the terms midway through the contest, or just before it.
* A minor one, but: when queuing for cider the first time, Fluttershy buys the last mug of cider and Rainbow doesn't get any. Fluttershy is the world's biggest doormat; Rainbow is the poster-pony for being inconsiderate of others' needs if they get in the way of her own, and she ''really'' wanted that cider. ''How did Fluttershy stay ahead of her in the queue for all that time?'' Rainbow was so desperate for cider she ate the dirt it fell on, but at no point did she think to go "Hey, Fluttershy, let me go ahead of you in the queue, I'm dying here!"
** Well... for some reason, Rainbow Dash went way out of her way to make sure Fluttershy also got some cider. From the beginning she could have easily gone to the farm to get it first, but instead made a detour to wake up Fluttershy, and not only that, but she made sure that both of them got there at the same AND gave Fluttershy dibs. It would have been weird to see Rainbow Dash demanding cider from Fluttershy after that.
** Throughout the scene, you see Fluttershy trying to speak, but she never gets to say more than "I don't mind..." before being cut off. I assumed she was about to offer some to Rainbow Dash, but couldn't get a word in edgeways.
* I think there's another aspect of this plot that hasn't been touched here. It's a bit subtle, but I think it makes a family unfriendly aesop when you think about it. At first it might seem like Granny Smith was an idiot for accepting the bet; she could just have said no and basically lost nothing (I have hard time believing that the townspeople would have thought any less of her or the Apples in general.) However, that wasn't actually the reason for accepting the bet. The real reason was so that no competing cider business would form in Ponyville. In other words, Granny Smith didn't want competitors on their market, ie. she wanted to keep the cider monopoly. The episode somehow paints this as a good thing, even though competition is usually beneficial for the customers (because the competing businesses will try to win customers by increasing quality and decreasing prices, which benefits the customers) while monopolies are generally bad for the customers. Competition is precisely what keeps monopolies in check. This episode seems to paint a picture that competition in the market is actually an undesirable thing.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.16=] Read It And Weep]]
* Why doesn't Rainbow Dash sneak into Twilight's library and steal her copy of the book? She wouldn't have to deal with so many guards and have a way easier time breaking in.
** Dash is too worried that Twilight might find out that she enjoys an "egghead" hobby to risk going directly to her home. Sure, it'd be easier, but RD's pride has always been able to override her logic.
** Perhaps she'd rather rob an establishment that she had no personal connection to, than her friend.
** Because RD has ''no idea'' where Twilight would keep her copy. Considering her disdain for reading, it would be hard for her to find a specific book no matter how well organized the library is.
*** Well, the ''Elements of Harmony'' was under "E" and Pikie found it in 10 seconds flat. I would guess [[SuperOCD Twilight]] would keep ''Derring Do'' under "D".
* How the hay do the hospital ponies keep up with Rainbow Dash? She's shown that she can easily outrun all the ponies in Ponyville except Applejack and Pinkie Pie. They should be falling further and further behind.
** Well, the pain from her wings could had crippled her running speed, and the one time we really saw her run against someone else was during a marathon, this was a sprint. Ponies also tends to demonstrate greater physical abilities when pushed, having a thief break into your establishment, especially after a patient claimed he was robbed sure seems like a great way to push the medical staff and a security guard... and an insane patient, apparently.
*** Indeed. [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E13FallWeatherFriends Fall Weather Friends]] has already established that most of Dash's speed comes from her wings. Since she still needed to keep off her wing for the duration of the chase, she wouldn't have been any faster than an earth pony.
*** But that's just it: In that race she repeatedly demonstrated that she could go from way behind the pack to way in front of it, even ''without'' her wings. The only pony who could actually keep up with her was Applejack.
*** Doesn't stop her from still feeling pain from her crippled wing, though. Ever felt that stab in the ribs while running?
*** And she was just released from the hospital. She probably wasn't 100% recovered.
* How did Daring Do escape the strips of whatever it was that tied her down? She turned back the spiked walls and the quicksand by hitting the lever with her hat, but how did she rip through the ropes that were so strong a second ago? Lazy writing on the author's part?
** Maybe the spikes tore up the rope a bit so she could break it?
** Maybe the ropes were for some reason linked to the lever as well?
** ''That's'' what worried you about that scene? What about the fact that the snakes and spiders simply vanish as soon as she gets her hat off, or even that they didn't bite her once despite crawling all over her for minutes on end? To answer the original question though, it could be that the bonds were weakened by her struggling, and only got weak enough to break at that point. Had she not stopped the trap beforehand, it would have been too late for her.
* How did Dash get to her house, in the SKY, if she has to keep off her wing for at least a week? She tries to fly during the chase, and it definitely gives the impression that it really hurt her to even try. Did Fluttershy just carry her to and from her house until she could fly on her own?
** We don't see her at her house until the end of the episode. It's possible she stayed on the ground until the theft ordeal was over.
*** On the other hand, though, she did finish the book in her bed, and given how excited she was about it, she probably didn't wait for a week to finish it. I assume that either Fluttershy helped her or that Twilight used teleport or that RD borrowed the hot air balloon. Or maybe Tank carried her.
*** That or maybe gliding downwards doesn't use as much energy as flying and therefore doesn't hurt as much.
**** But then there's still the matter of how she got UP there.
*** Why would she have to get down before the week was over? As I said above, before the attempted theft she probably stayed on the ground, and afterwards (considering the giant bookpile next to the bed) she most likely had everything she needed to stay home. As for getting everything there, Fluttershy and Twilight probably helped her.
** Most likely used some kind of balloon or machine. When people in real life get injured, there are methods of helping them get around. In a world where there's a species that mainly uses flight to get around, they probably have various methods of getting around injured ponies. There are various flying mechanisms in the series that are all possible.
** Or perhaps Fluttershy or some other pegasus constructed a stairway out of clouds for her.
* Is there a reason Rainbow Dash had to read the entire book out loud? If it was for our purposes, couldn't they have done it in a voice-over? And since she was reading out loud? Why didn't the rest of the mane six hear her before they even got into the room?
** Same reason she and every other pony announces their thoughts out loud when they're alone: RuleOfPerception.
** She isn't used to reading, so it's very VERY probable that she didn't even realize she was reading out loud.
** Or she's just the type of pony who reads aloud to herself when she really gets into a book.
* So the stallion who took RD's bed after she left the hospital, the one who thought she was stealing his slippers; was he supposed to be a cancer patient? I can't help but notice that his mane had fallen out (as though due to the effects of chemotherapy), and he seems to grimace in pain even in his sleep.
** I just assumed that he had some catastrophic accident that broke numerous bones, not anything like cancer. I mean he was in a full body cast, they probably had to shave his mane to properly treat his wounds.
** No no, not the purple one she was roommates with; the yellow stallion who was put in her former bed after she had been discharged.
** Maybe it's just a minor lacerations and the hospital stuff had to shave his head to threat it properly? Alternatively he’s just a guy who likes this kind of hairstyle. We’ve seen ponies with mustache and long beards so a blad pony wouldn’t be that out of place.
** You can see some slight shading where his mane was indicating stuble, which doesn't happen when hair falls out from Chemo (at least not unless it starts to regrow after ending treatment), so shaving is much more likely, also if it was something causing the hair to fall out, it would almost certinitly affect his coat as well, not just his mane.
* So did Rainbow Dash stay up for three days? she stayed up all night reading then the following night trying to steal a copy and then reading in her own house.
** Rainbow Dash naps a ''lot''. It's possible that after getting ahold of her stealth suit, she spent the rest of the day relaxing in preparation for her raid.
* So is Rainbow Dash going to just go without sleep untill she's finished the series? she started reading the second book right away....even though she siad she wanted to finish the first one so she could get some sleep
** For the first one-two books - probably. Then the initial rush should've toned down.
* Why does Rarity wear her false eyelashes for bed? We see them on when she's waken up by the chase.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.17=] Hearts and Hooves Day]]
* Why would Twilight's book include the recipe for the dangerous love potion? I understand it was history and all, but it's incredibly irresponsible to just leave instructions for a potion capable of driving those who ingest it into a love-fueled madness lying around. Especially considering that it was simple enough for a group of fillies to construct without much effort.
** The writer operated on the assumption that reading enough of the passage to see the results would prevent anyone from doing so. Oops.
** Also, the love potion's effects aren't too hard to counteract; keeping the affected ponies from making eye contact for an hour wouldn't be too hard, if not for the fact that Big Mac was one of the affected ponies. I think the real question is, why couldn't the prince and princess in the original story be separated?
*** They may have taken a while to figure out how to stop the spell.
** It could be a matter of recording things, as magic study to figure out how different things interact with each other in potions. Similar to real life science. If the effects of a dangerous potion are already recorded, some experimenting pony won't try to mix the ingredients together because they would already know what would happen. (and it wouldn't be that hard for a pony to eventually try and mix those things, considering there were only 3 ingredients and they were relatively easy to come by) There are probably a ton of potentially dangerous potions and spells.
** If it was indeed a magic study book it was possibly from Canterlot school library(restricted section?), or some other place your average bored unicorn couldn't access easily.
** As was pointed out elsewhere, the ingredients are around each other all the time in the Cloudsdale weather factory, and possible other places. The love poison is probably well known as a dangerous industrial byproduct to most adult ponies. The writers of that book wouldn't be concerned about people using the recipe because it wouldn't occur to them that they have to warn someone about drinking toxic waste.
* How is Big Mac supposed to pay for a precious diamond ring on what is essentially an impulse purchase, when his entire family can't seem to keep the farm maintained due to lack of finances?
** Credit?
*** Sweet Apple Acres would give the family plenty of collateral for buying something on credit.
** Weren't gemstones incredibly common in Equestria, and hence relatively cheap?
** I'm sure that Big Mac does earn money from the share of the profits generated from Sweet Apple Acres. He doesn't seem to have any expenses or extravagant hobbies so he probably has quite a bit of money saved up. Maybe not enough to support the entire farm through the winter as mentioned in "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000," but more than enough to put at least a down payment on an engagement ring.
** On that note, how is having a diamond ring for a pony plausible? Yes, Rarity imagined one in her daydream of Prince Blueblood proposing to her, but they're both unicorns and I guess could keep it on their horns or magically place it somewhere on their person. Earth ponies though...where would they put it?
** I don't think we ever see the specific piece that Big Mac buys. When buying for an earth pony or pegasus, one could imagine earrings are the done thing. Or a necklace. Something noticeable but classy, probably in the face or mane area. It might even be that rings are actually very uncommon as proposal pieces because they're species-specific and look kind of silly. Or maybe, more likely, the writers were thinking about making the scene make sense from a human (the viewer's) perspective rather than making it make sense in-universe.
** We've never seen any ponies wearing rings, not even ones canonically married(Aunt Orange and Uncle Orange, unless you count her necklace), though Candace and Shining armor wear their wedding rings on their horns at the wedding. It's possible that the presentation of the jewellery is the only time it is ever used.
* According to the backstory for Heart's and Hooves Day, the love poison caused a prince and a princess to fall so madly in love that they neglected their royal duties, resulting in the kingdom collapsing and "chaos reigning." Did... we just get a cannon explanation as to how Discord came to power?
** It's possible. The story didn't make it clear where or when the event took place, so like a lot of things in the history of Equestria, it's open for interpretation.
** Discord isn't strictly necessary for chaos to happen. It was probably just the figurative use of the phrase.
* Wait, if the spell breaks when the two lovers take their eyes off each other for an hour, wouldn't the spell be broken the first time they fall asleep? I might understand with the ancient couple, one was an Alicorn apparently, she could probably use her magic to keep them awake indefinitely, but Big [=MacIntosh=] and Cherilee have no such provisions? Or was it that the children didn't think of that?
** Maybe the spell makes it so they can't sleep?
** Even if they collapse from exhaustion in a couple weeks and the poison wears off afterward, it'd still be pretty devastating to the farm and to the two 'lovebirds'. Victims of the love poison can be talked into making life-changing decisions with the smallest nudge, and don't make rational decisions about their own interests; that gets into some really dark places really fast. Merely not being fatal would still be terrible. Applebloom's predictions are a little ridiculous, but that's cause she's a kid with terrible long-term planning ability. Even from a more adult perspective and even presuming the poison only lasts for a short time, it's still really nasty Magic Mind Control Juice.
** Another possibility is that time passing only counts while they're awake. The spell would probably make them dream about each other.
* One silly thing that won't stop puzzling me: at the beginning of Sweetie Belle's song, she has a (sort-of) ImagineSpot with Cheerilee holding up an apple. What in Equestria is this scene supposed to mean? It reminds me strangely of Ryuk from Manga/DeathNote.
** Teachers received apples as gifts from students sometimes? It probably doesn't happen these days anymore, but it's more like that scene in Pinocchio where he gets an apple to give to the teacher.
** Giving a teacher an apple is one of the oldest tropes around in American animation. It's reflected all over the place, how could someone not know it?
** DeadHorseTrope. While it was prevalent at one time, the most recent showing of it that I can name was in The Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and that's only a vague recollection. I can imagine the latest generation of fans not being familiar with it, especially if they're more acclimated to anime where it never caught on.
** Holy Celestia; it just occurred to me. In trying to set Cheerilee up with Big Macnitosh, [[FridgeBrilliance the entire episode was the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to give "an apple for teacher"]]. Pardon me; I need to grow drink as I process this.
* So why does every ingredient of the love potion has something to do with pegasi? Are they like pony cupids, or something?
** As Granny Smith explained, magic can be strange. So maybe.
* Why didn't the CMC care that all the main characters were (presumably) dateless on Hearts and Hooves day, if Cheerilee's single status upset them so?
** They are impulsive little kids who only got the idea in class they were in. Presumably they didn't think of it and got too focused on Cherilee. Also, they would only be interested in the Mane characters they are closest to (or want to be closest to). That would be: Applejack (who is too stubborn to accept help), Rarity (who does not seem to lack for boyfriends), and Rainbow Dash (who lives in the clouds and is therefore unavailable).
** Because Cheerilee is their teacher, aside from Rarity and Applejack (being their sisters) they just don't have as strong a connection to the other Mane Six, and it could be speculated that Rarity and Spike might be doing something for Hearts and Hooves day. That just leaves Applejack and the reason to focus on Cheerilee instead (from a practical storytelling standpoint) is because there have already been ''two'' Applejack episodes this season.
*** Plus, It would be werid pairing up Applejack with her older brother...
** The people behind the show have a relatively close relationship with the fandom, so I doubt they would want to start a shipping war just for an episode. Also, having one of the mane six enter a relationship would change the mood and focus of the series from Friendship to girls talking about boys. In story, because it would be unbelievable for the CMC to outsmart any of the mane six to be an hour separated of their special somepony(Regardless of involvement of Big Macintosh): Twilight can teleport, Fluttershy has the Stare, Rainbow is faster than them, Pinkie has offscreen teleport, Rarity is ''very'' cunning and clever, and Applejack would be basically the same as Big Macintosh.
** Excuse me... but how do we know none of them have boyfriends? We don't see any of them on Hearts and Hooves day after all (except for Twilight, but she quite frankly screams 'uninterested virgin'). We rarely ever see them when they're at work, why would we see them on dates? We see them with their friends, because that's what the show is about. They could all be dating off screen for all we know.
*** For ponies who constantly get into trouble and need to learn a new lesson about friendship every other week, it would seem like too big a deal to just happen offscreen, don't you think? If they ever used that element, it'd come off as an AssPull and if they didn't, it's virtually the same as not happening. Besides, if the fandom is to be believed, at least half of them would have girlfriends instead of boyfriends, anyway.
**** Heck, if one goes off the fandom preferences/shipping then the Mane 6 would be dating amongst themselves, which would be even more impossible to shove offscreen. Just not showing what any of the Mane 6 were up to (aside from Twilight spending the day with her one true love, books) was the safest thing to do.
* What about the age difference between Cheerilee and Big Mac? Or is Big Mac supposed to be around the same age as the CMC's teacher? Cheerilee is the pony-equivalent of late-20s/early-30s, if her 80's hair photo is to be believed. I always saw Big Mac to be in his early/mid 20s, because he doesn't seem more than a few years older than Applejack. Did the CMC not think of the implications of an adult teacher dating a younger adult? Just something I'm confused about, especially with no real official age to go by...
** Maybe it's a cultural thing, because I don't see any implication there. What does it matter that she's a teacher? He's not her student. Anyway, I do believe that Cheerilee is the younger one. Cheerilee is apparently around the same age as Rarity (Cutie Mark Chronicles). If we assume that all of the Mane 6 are basically the same age, +/- 2 years, this means that Applejack, who is Big Mac's younger sister is about the same age as Cheerilee, then he's probably older than her. But of course, it's still not clear by how much. Maybe they're the same age. Maybe he's 5 years older. Or maybe he's actually younger. However, even if so, it wouldn't be by much.
** So, even if Mac is in mid 20s and Cheerilee is in early 30s, does this 5 or 6 years really make such a difference? Besides, you're assuming that "pony 80s" happened around the same time as our 80s, but there's no indication that it wasn't, for example, only 10 years prior to the show's events and Big Mac is the same age as Cheerilee. And the CMC may not even know Cheerilee's age, it's not something you'd normally ask your teacher about.
* The ingredients for the love poison seem awfully common. A bit of cloud and rainbow coloring, with pegasus feather to stir. Seems like anyone in Cloudsdale could put that together without even meaning to.
** Which comes as kind of FridgeBrilliance : The ingredients and the result are written in the book as a warning of what will happen if the mix is made.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.18=] A Friend in Deed]]
* Why didn't Matilda simply put the note for Cranky ''outside'' her door, to make sure he sees it?
** Because then we wouldn't have the character's StartOfDarkness.
** It didn't occur to her, mistakes like that happen all the time much to the insanity of everyone involved.
* This episode dealt with Ponyville's token Donkeys and also had cameos by Ponyville's token Zebra and Cow. While I'm sure this was unintentional... It can't help but make me [[UnfortunateImplications wonder]] about the state of [[FantasticRacism minorities in Equestria.]]
** You mean minorities that get invited to the Grand Galloping Gala?
** It's possible that certain places in Equestria are more accepting of minorities, such as small farm towns like Ponyville where herds of cattle and groups of pigs are usually found; also, that Celestia herself would accept anyone with open arms. But given what we've seen of Canterlot ponies, I doubt a donkey would be quite as welcome by the general populace.
** I'd say the episode actually attempts (little clumsily, but still) to dismiss some of the earlier UnfortunateImplications in the series. We see the cow shopping in town, as opposed to being rounded up into a barn, and the donkeys are treated quite respectfully, despite "mule" having been used as an insult in at least two episodes.
* "Nopony calls him Doodle." "Nopony...but Matilda." It's adorable and this is nitpicking, but...Matilda isn't a pony.
** Ponies use the term "nopony" and the like when referring to characters like Spike. The "-pony" suffix has simply replaced "-body" in Equestria.
* As awesome as the first song was, at the Jump rope bit, it did look incredibly like Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle (who ''just'' gets a look in) were ignoring Applebloom for some reason. Some kind of Cutie Mark Crusader falling out going on?
** They're little kids, so probably.
** I rather got the impression that Applebloom went off by herself because she isn't good at rope-jumping, which depressed her. I think Applebloom is more sensitive when it comes to failure.
** I wouldn't give much significance to anything that happens during the Smile song. Why was Big Macintosh just waiting with a wagon for Pinkie to jump into with the two foals? How does the rope keep skipping when no one is holding it? How can Pinkie Pie share the screen with a sad version of herself? Why is there a sudden ticker tape parade that vanishes the second the song ends? The answer is that the song in it's entirety runs on Pinkie Logic.
* Just how do cows get milked in Equestria?
** We know they can be milked using magic, presumably in the same manner humans would, as Twilight demonstrated in "Boast Busters".
** Squeeze the udders by the hooves?
*** Except that the cows seem to live at Sweet Apple Acres, which is entirely run by earth ponies. Maybe they just use a milking machine.
* When Pinkie wanted to apologize to Cranky, he stubbornly refused to accept her apology. The obvious question is why? All he had to do was say "I accept your apology" to get her to leave him alone, even if he didn't really mean it.
** He was too mad, and a little scared, to think of it. He wanted her to know that she wasn't welcome around him.
** Up until that point, Pinkie had showed that no matter what she did, Cranky just couldn't get rid of her. In Cranky's mind, there was no reason to believe that once he had accepted her apology, she would go back to annoy him.
** Just because he is cranky doesn't mean he would be okay with lying about accepting her apology. He has standards.
* Daisy Jo was in the bakery buying cookies to go with her milk. It's implied she's going to eat the cookies...does that mean she's going to drink [[{{Squick}} her own milk?]]
** It could have been coconut milk or soy milk.
* Is it just me, or does this episode show how brutishly impolite and insensitive Pinkie can be? Yes, I know "she1s just being Pinkie", but apparently that includes having no concept about privacy, personal space and respect for a personality different from her own. Not to mention accepting when somepony simply doesn't want to be with you, which happens all the time in real life. No, she keeps pushing it, while forcing herself into Cranky's house, rummaging through his personal stuff, and managing to destroy his album - his only memory from the past. And, of course, in the end it's all justified, because it helped her find Matilda, and she's easily forgiven for everything! I know she wanted good but it still annoys me to no end.
** I actually think it's a well-established fact that Pinkie has trouble understanding and empathizing with other ponies, we were shown multiple times (Griffon the Brush-Off, Feeling Pinkie Keen, Party of One, Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, Luna Eclipsed and this episode being examples, YMMV on some of these) that she is prone to downright ignore what others may feel as a result of her actions. If anything, it adds a negative trait, thus depth to her: she wants to party hard, no matter the cost. She's not completely insensible, though, as Baby Cakes has shown that she may be aware of this and is trying to improve as a result.
** Also, this show takes a dim view of loners and introverts ''anyway''. Which makes perfect sense, given how important friendship is to the entire fabric of how Equestria works. Twilight Sparkle's loner tendencies almost got in the way of beating Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna's years out-of-action caused her to make a fool of herself in Luna Eclipsed, Trixie's lack of consideration for others made it necessary for her to be served a slice of humble pie, Gilda didn't care about anypony except Rainbow Dash which eventually contributed to her downfall at the party, etc. So it could be said that Pinkie Pie is easily forgiven for annoying a loner because according to "the magic of friendship" that allows Equestria to be a paradise in the first place, being an introvert is ''itself'' a personality problem to ''begin'' with.
* Why do Matilda and Cranky lack cutie marks? It seems odd that they don't have them when we've seen Zecora the zebra with a cutie mark showing that non-pony equines should have them. But what bothers me is that ponies can still apparently breed with donkeys as indicated by the mention of mules indicating that they're similar species, but donkeys are entirely realistic save for their sentience while ponies are magical animals. Come to think of it, when we did SEE a mule, he had all the traits of donkeys and no colors, wings/horns, or cutie marks indicating he inherited anything from the pony side. I know pony genetics is weird, but this point is really bugging me.
** Maybe the fantasy world just isn't fair. Ponies are FairFolk with their magic, and donkeys are mundane creatures who have none of it. Also, it's a wild guess, but maybe pony/donkey interbreeding doesn't produce "halves" as such - a mule basically appears either full donkey or full pony. It would seem consistent with rules of interbreeding between pony types, from what we've seen. Or perhaps half the magic is never enough and a mule will always just be a donkey.
* For an episode featuring Pinkie Pie singing about how much she loves her friends, this ep sure was light on Mane 6 presence. Most of them only receive a brief scene during the song, and Twilight and Rainbow Dash are the only other main characters to receive speaking roles.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.19=] Putting Your Hoof Down]]
* Anyone else see Iron Will as not that bad of a guy? I mean, all he wanted was to be paid for his services. He left without a problem after Fluttershy explained she was not satisfied. Its probably even safe to say that the past ponies Iron has helped improved for the better after his services.
** I didn't get the impression he was ''meant'' to be a bad guy. Rarity tries to manipulate him with flattery and Pinkie Pie with lying and trickery, both of which are as morally suspect as Fluttershy's {{Jerkass}} behavior and not necessarily presented as good things. Iron Will sees right through them, but is brought around by Fluttershy's polite and respectful, yet still assertive, demeanor, which is much more morally sound than any other alternative presented to being a doormat.
*** He even learns a lesson at the end, that saying "no means no" is a good way to be assertive.
** If there's anything people can learn from Iron Will, it's that there isn't so much of a ''villain''. Was he trying to cause harm to the characters, like say, the Flim Flam brothers? No. All he was doing was giving advice, and it was Fluttershy going crazy about it...and he actually kept his word that it's free because Fluttershy was not satisfied, even walking off deciding to teach people that "no means no" is also a good way to be assertive without being overly-aggressive.
** The only people who see him as a villain are Fluttershy fans, saying that his training turned her into a monster.
* I don't have anything against Iron Will - for me it seems like he is at worst neutral charcter. Yet I worry some may take him for villain. In the same time, I would like to point out, that Pinkie Pie and Rarity acted like [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Mares]]. Both tomato’s seller and nerdy-pony didn't really do anything wrong and yet the way our Mane2/6 acted is shown as completely justified. Semi-honest haggling and mooching staff are not assertiveness.
** Sure Rarity only flirted with that guy to get the last vegetable, but she didn’t take it away from him. She paid him and gave him a good ego boost. That seems to be a fair deal.
*** You may be right here. Maybe as a nerd and capitalist, I'm a bit thin-skinned about the kind of things Rarirty and Pinkie did. Still, I would prefer if they would teach assertivness in other way.
*** An 'Ego boost' is not a proper trade-off, even if Rarity paid him back, she now has the last asparagus, that's the only thing that matters. If anything, there's a chance that pony will eventually remember why he wanted it in the first place, and realize the deception, turning the 'ego boost' around. It really depends on whenever someone considers charm to be a justified means to an end or a trick to manipulate others to be frowned upon.
** People really forgive heroes. I don't think Iron Will was a "villain", just someone who gives bad advice but he learns a lesson too. I don't think he deserves to be demonized, especially since, you know, he wasn't ''intending'' to hurt anyone like say, Gilda or the Flim Flam brothers.
** I think the show should have been clearer about it, but no I don't think Iron Will was a villain. And his lecture WORKS its just a real life assertiveness seminar would probably include advice about how not to be a jerk. If he were a villain he'd force Fluttershy to pay up, but the truth is, his product was good yet flawed, so Fluttershy wasn't 100% satisfied
** I agree too. In fact Iron Will was one of the few characters who didn't try to take advantage of Fluttershy this episode. He held a class on assertiveness and wanted to be paid which is completely reasonable. The only villainous thing he did was threaten Fluttershy and that was most likely a buff (though he really shouldn't have threatened her). He listens to Fluttershy and respects her reason for not paying. Compare him to any of the jerkass background ponies and it will be obvious who the real villains are in this episode.
** Only Fluttershy fans see him as a villain, since his training turned her into a monster.
* Is it just me, or did those goats look ''way'' too evil for just being hired help for a guy who's no worse than a bit of a {{Jerkass}} who gave advice that essentially equated "being assertive" with "being a creep"?
** Well real goats can have a bit of an evil look about them some times, so maybe it's kind of Genetic?
* So... how exactly did Fluttershy manage to nail boards across her door on the outside, whilst ending up inside her cottage?
** Get someone else to do it.
** She could fly through the window.
* Why was everyone so mean to Fluttershy at the beginning when they've been at worst neutral towards her in the past. A special mention goes to Angel, who went from impatient but lovable pet foil to Flutershy to Domestic Abusing Jerkass.
** Rule Of Aesope. If we don't have this, we should.
* Why didn't Fluttershy use The Stare on Angel in the beginning of the episode?
** Fluttershy doesn't seem to like using the Stare in general, and didn't she say she can't exactly use it at will?
* Iron Will is a minotaur (half-bull/half-human) does this mean humans exist on this show?
** ...that would raise some {{squick}}y implications. However, Minotaurs don't necessarily have to be literal human/bull hybrids (the ones in DungeonsAndDragons, for instance, are just a species like any others.).
** Why can't he just be a bipedal bull? I know traditionally they're half human, but with old mythology there's room for new interpretation, particularly in a world with no humans.
** The lower half of his body looks like the hindlegs of a pony/horse, so he might just be Equestria's version of a Minotaur.
* So, does this mean that Fluttershy's assertiveness will supercede her kindness? I mean, that Element of Harmony is quite important, and even an ActionGirl like Fluttershy-when she wants to be-should still be as kind as kind can be.
** Kindness and ''politeness'' aren't necessarily the same thing, to say nothing of being an outright shrinking violet and/or doormat. If anything, then inasmuch as the show has a continuity I'd expect Fluttershy's new assertiveness (assuming it sticks) to help her reach out to and help ''more'' people that she'd otherwise have felt too intimidated by.
* If Iron Will feels the need to introduce himself by name to Pinkie Pie and Rarity, then how does he know they're friends with Fluttershy?
** They were talking to her through the door, and they are around the same age as Fluttershy, so he assumed they're her friends and happened to be right about that.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.20=] It's About Time]]
* Why didn't Future Twilight just use the time travel spell, again? Did it say you have a limited amount of chances to use the spell?
** Who cares? That's Past Twilight's problem now.
** If she didn't go through that ordeal she would probably never have learn her lesson about not worrying about the future.
*** Indeed: she had to try to warn herself not to worry, because she did tried; yet she couldn't succeeded, because she didn't succeeded[[hottip:*:And yes, I'm conjugating into the double past. What of it?]]
** Actually, it ''did'' say the spell can be used only once.
*** Why only once?
*** It could've meant that you could only go back to a certain time once.
* Why does Twilight conclude that the disaster was supposed to happen by sunrise on Tuesday morning, instead of any time over the following five or six hours?
** All of the "signs" (her injuries) had come to pass; no disaster was needed to explain them.
*** That doesn't explain why seems to treat dawn as a deadline, and is immediately relieved when the sun rises without incident. For all she knows at this point the disaster could be any time before 12 noon.
** Future Twilight specifically mentions she's from next Tuesday '''morning''', so whatever disaster past Twilight thought happened couldn't happen after that point in time.
*** Which, as I've pointed out, does not rule out the disaster happening at any time before 12 noon. So at sunrise, Twilight should still have another five or six hours before she can be certain.
**** Two points: First, Twilight would know her ''own'' (and thus her future self's) idea of what constitutes "morning" better than we do, and it may not actually ''be'' "any time before noon" as far as she's concerned. And second, after all she's been through trying to prevent the disaster she's worried about it's no surprise that by the time the sun comes up she'd be just plain exhausted and ready to call it quits.
* So, Cerberus exists in Equestria guarding the entrance to some world full of evil spirits. Did they really just imply that there's hell in the My Little Pony world?
** Eeyup. Does it matter? The show isn't exactly a utopia.
** Well, evil spirits doesn't have to mean it's related to hell as in a form of afterlife. Maybe Princess Celestia just banished a bunch of creatures like the Windigos or spirits of disharmony like Discord (just weaker) into that place at some point and then set up a guard-dog.
** Tartarus in Equestria is not necessary hell.Could be a prison for ancient and evil creatures, or maybe regular monsters like the ones in the Everfree Forest.
*** Twilight explicitly describes the creatures in Tartaros (Twilight distinctly pronounces it in the Greek, rather than Latin fashion, with an "os" rather than an "us") as ancient evils, so they aren't just run-of-the-mill creatures.
** OP here. It just seems weird that such a location exists, but only now has it been referred to. Seriously, what kind of implications does that hold about Equestria? We've seen a few evil creatures, but those seemed to be anomalies. But the existence of Tartarus implies that there are a LOT of those things, so many that there's a whole area to lock 'em up in.
*** I don't think the writers care. Tartarus was used just for a gag, probably didn't exist before this episode was written and won't appear ever again.
*** Some sort of underworld prison for ancient evils existing doesn't necessarily imply that it has a ''lot'' of occupants. Just that the ones it does have are too dangerous to let run free (and considering what sorts of monsters do still roam the Everfree Forest and the occasional other part of Equestria that's probably saying something). Discord probably didn't end up there because before he was turned into a statue nobody could've so much as forced him to enter (let alone stay) and afterwards there was no need, and Nightmare Moon gets a bye on grounds that no matter how bad things got Celestia wouldn't have wanted her ''sister'' to be imprisoned with the 'other' horrors.
* When Future Twilight gives the location of the time spells. Did Twilight not know that the Starswirl the Bearded wing even existed, or did she just not know that is where the time spells are kept? Her comment after they "break into" the building, "If my calculations are correct, the Starswirl the Bearded wing should be right here," seems to imply the former. So how did either Twilight come to learn of this wing and the spells it contains? The only reason Past Twilight knew is because Future Twilight told her. Does this not make sense to anyone else?
** Twilight said Starswirl had a wing of the library named after him in Luna Eclipsed, so she knew it existed. Presumably, she'd never seen a reason to visit the high-security part of the library before.
** Yes, the time loop is based upon a problem it caused. Depending on one's perception of time (which is to say, highly subjective and open to interpretation), it might imply that there was a time when the loop wasn't initiated. This particular Twilight might had simply stumbled upon the spell and used it, creating an alternate timeline which eventually stabilized into a loop. For the sake of simplicity: original Twilight goes back in time as herself for some reason, something causes her past self to become 'future Twilight', then she goes back to the past for the reason we saw, poof, the loop is made.
*** It is not as much subjective as it is just a choice the writers made. I for one am very satisfied they went for a [[StableTimeLoop bootstrap paradox]] and sticked to it, with no GrandfatherParadox nor [[AlternateUniverse alternate reality]] being thrown into the mix.
*** Maybe there actually WAS a disaster before she started the loop, but it was averted by disaster-proofing Ponyville.
*** WordOfGod (tongue in cheek as it may be) is that Equestria was saved by trimming Pinkie's hair.
* Okay, it was cute and all, but Fluttershy giving Cerberus tummy rubs after he runs off and leaves the gates of Tartarus unguarded? Isn't that just encouraging him to hop over the fence and run off to play again? I really think a somewhat firmer hand (hoof) might have been more appropriate here.
* Why was Celestia in the locked and secluded old library before sunrise? And why do neither she nor the guard question WHY Twilight is there. The guard is understandable, because maybe, he didn't even know that Twilight left Canterlot. Celestia, on the other hand, casually walks by Twilight, greets her, then leaves, no questions asked. Was she not wondering why her student looked like she was cosplaying [[Franchise/MetalGear Snake]]? Did she not wonder why her most faithful student decided to sneak/break into the castle (even though she could've just asked) in an impromptu "visit," and not to visit her mentor? I guess the automatic answer is "Trollestia," but still!
** Because apparently Twilight was allowed in that section, even if Twilight herself had forgotten about it, and honestly, what can be more natural than a Twilight Sparkle in a library? Or maybe Celestia knew what was going on and didn't want to interfere in the time loop.
** We may also want to take Celestia's age and position into account. She's over a thousand years old (how much older exactly hasn't been revealed, but it's at least that) and she's been, as far as we know, the sole Royal Princess of Equestria ever since she had to banish her sister back then. That's a lot of experience, both in general life terms and in [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask wearing the queenly mask]] -- ''of course'' not many of the "surprises" that her little ponies might happen to throw her way by accident or design would faze her anymore!
*** TL;DR version: Celestia's seen some shit in her time.
** The simple answer is that Spike told her what Twilight was up to. That's what he did in ''Lesson Zero.''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.21=] Dragon Quest]]
* Why are Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow dash so shocked that Spike wants to be with his '''own''' kind?
** 1) Because dragons really are dangerous. The only one he's ever interacted with tried to kill him. 2) Because Spike doesn't really know anything about "his own kind". 3) Because it means that he, one of their closest and youngest friends, is leaving without any guarantee that he'd return.
* Am I the only one who kinda felt that the ponies reasons for wanting to join spike were a little shallow? It seemed like the only reason that they joined him was because they didn't think he could handle going by himself (granted he did need a little help, but at the time, they didn't know that)
** They followed because they were just worried about their young friend going off into the unknown. How is that "shallow"?
** If I ever have children, and they suddenly express a desire to hang out with delinquents known for breaking people's windows or hassling people smaller than themselves, I would ''at the very least'' keep tabs on what my kids are picking up from their new friends. Is it ''that'' surprising that when Spike expresses a desire to hang out with nasty dragons, his friends follow him to make sure the dragons won't turn him into a monster?
* So is there some kind of "Finders Keepers" rule in place between the sentient species of Equestria when it comes to offspring? Princess Celestia had a dragon egg she was using as a test for Luna knows how long (and let Twilight keep Spike, despite not knowing anything about dragons and their needs) and Spike apparently get to keep the newly hatched Pheonix, even though he knows it has a family out there. Just a little bit bothered by that.
** Well, we still don't know where his egg came from, so it's still up to interpretation where his egg came from. But as for the Phoenix, the nest his parents were staying in was destroyed, and they were being chased by vicious dragons, so they probably won't go back to their old nest, looking for their egg anytime soon. Birds usually just move on to another location and stay there. So Spike taking the egg, probably saved the egg's life.
* Is Spike defective or something? No really, think about it. Every single dragon, literally every. single. dragon. has wings except for Spike. It's even pointed out by him.
** Well he is still just a little guy. He may grow his wings later. Who says that his Greed-Growth in The Secret of My Excess, was his '''real''' grown up form. His greedy form could just be a malformed (incorrect) way of growing up. And the Grown-up version of him in the Cutie Mark Chronicles, was just him blown up to a larger size. And we didn't even see if that form had wings.
** The most simple explanation is that Spike just isn't the same type of dragon as the others we've seen. He doesn't have wings because his species is naturally flightless.
*** That still begs the question as to why he was pretty much the only flightless dragon there. So many dragons went on the dragon migration, even if Spike is a wingless species, why was he the only member there? Is his species that rare? Is his species from a far-away land?
**** The migrating dragons were migrating via ''flight''. Perhaps the non-flying dragons simply don't migrate, or don't travel such a large distance as the others.
** Spike is not the only wingless dragon. The one with a giant tail also didn't have wings.
** Maybe spike is just a late-bloomer. He may get his wings, but they'll grow in slower, than the other dragons.
** Even not having wings still makes him less unusual than Crackle. Dragons just seem to have a lot of variation in body type.
** The River Serpent didn't have wings either. [[FridgeBrilliance Maybe that's another reason Spike couldn't get along with other dragons: they were simply not his kind.]]
* The teen dragons were not the only dragons, why didn't Spike try find some who were nice to baby dragons? Perhaps there were dragon his own age (those dragons were definitely older than him)?
** That's even if baby dragons were there in the first place. If there were other baby dragons there, they would have likely been guarded by their parents. As we've seen many a time, adult dragons can be hostile for even little reason, so they might not take kindly to other dragons, even young ones, approaching their young.
** Perhaps Spike went for the first smaller dragons he saw, and later was too proud to back off?
** Part of Spike's mission was to prove that he was tough. He didn't want to wimp out when the teen dragons acted unfriendly; he wanted to stand his ground and prove himself.
* Shouldn't Fluttershy know better than to stomp on Rainbow's rib cage? Fine, she was flying, so it was probably less severe, but the sound wasn't the most pleasant one. She could have broken her ribs that could have pierced her lungs!
** That's why you don't mess with Fluttershy. But seriously, she was careful enough not to hurt Rainbow Dash. And Rainbow Dash was not hurt. What more was she supposed to do?
** Ponies are MadeOfIron.
*** And this being Fluttershy, I'd be surprised if she could anything more to Rainbow Dash than [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E20GreenIsntYourColor that vase]].
* Did it bother anyone else that all the young dragons were unanimously declared {{Jerkass}}es? They're crude and uncivilized by pony standards, but they seemed to treat Spike fairly well considering. As for raiding the phoenix nest, that seems to be instinct and a natural cycle of predator-prey more than conscious cruelty or sadism. Not to say Spike should have conceded to peer pressure or sold out his own values, but he didn't say, "This lifestyle isn't my thing, and I don't feel like I belong," he flat-out said the ponies were ''better'' and the dragons inferior. Are we supposed to believe that dragons are naturally AlwaysChaoticEvil?
** To be fair, the red dragon in Dragonshy seemed like an okay guy. Just grumpy from having woken up.
** He was interacting with the douchebag teenage dragons, it probably would've gone differently had he interacted with a more mature bunch of dragons.
** No, we're supposed to believe that [[TeensAreMonsters teenagers]] are AlwaysChaoticEvil.
** Spike never said ponies were better than dragons. He said that his pony friends were better friends than those [[JerkAss three]] [[TeensAreMonsters dragons]]. They were trying to get him to smash a phoenix egg, not for predatory instinct, but [[KickTheDog pure malice]]. Most might have written the dragon teens off as simply toughening him up with their trails and whatnot had it not been for them trying to [[MoralEventHorizon kill phoenixes]] entirely for [[ForTheEvulz fun]].
** Was it entirely for fun? It seems to be more of a rite of passage. For all we know, smashing a phoenix egg (or doing something similarly callous) could be something every dragon has to do, including the one from "Dragonshy", who clearly wasn't meant to be too bad. Spike's right about the ponies being better friends, as the dragons' friendship is recinded when he doesn't follow orders, but despite that, it still seems more like a bad case of ValuesDissonance than much else.
*** Which ranges into pure speculation. From what we've seen, there was nothing hinting that the egg smashing was anything official, let alone some dragon rite of passage. It appeared to be just a trio of teenage dragon punks being destructive for fun.
* Seeing the teenage dragons call Celestia a 'namby pamby pony princess' I wonder of the relationship between her and the dragon community.
** It would be the same thing as the relationship between the president of America and teens from another country, say, Canada. The teens can badmouth the American president, but that doesn't mean that the U.S government is going to suddenly declare war on Canada. Unlike what most fanon would like you to believe, Princess Celestia is not as thin-skinned as she's made out to be.
*** Mostly accurate, except that the U.S. President isn't personally responsible for Canada not being cloaked in everlasting darkness due to the sun never rising. As for why they disrespect someone who's the sole reason they're alive... haven't you ever seen a teen (or been a teen) who was disrespectful to their parents?
*** They probably have no idea who Celestia is or what she does. They're probably assuming she's the kind of princess you kidnap and force to clean the cave, not the kind who personally kicks you out with her phenomenal cosmic powers if you invade her country.
** Given how little ponies canonically know about dragons, it's entirely possible that the same holds true in reverse: the ponies consider the dragons too dangerous, the dragons don't bother to pay attention to mere ponies unless they become a nuisance (which for the aforementioned reason isn't often), and so anything like purely ''social'' pony/dragon interaction just doesn't happen. (This runs counter to some fanfics in which the dragons have their own kingdom(s) and formal diplomatic ties to Equestria, but those were generally written before this episode.)
* Why didn't Twilight just send a letter to Celestia asking about Spike's heritage?
** That's even if Celestia knows about Spike's heritage. Ponies know very little about dragons, to the point where even TWILIGHT couldn't find anything about them, which indicates that ponies and dragons have had very little interaction. It is a possibility that Celestia doesn't know who found the egg, and even if she does, that doesn't necessarily mean she knows where the egg was found, or who Spikes parents are, or even what type of dragon he is. (the fact that he was pretty much the only dragon there without wings indicates he's not like them)
*** But Twilight only searched in her library which doesn't contain all the books in the world, also she was unaware of the Starswirl the Bearded wing and the time spells, so it could be possible that Celestia had books and/or knowledge that would've aided in their research.
** Maybe they're saving the truth of Spike's origins for a future episode.
** Perhaps Celestia had explained to Spike about his history in the letter she sent to him...which was thrown in the lava pool. The migration seems to be a big event, and it would be reasonable for Celestia to think that at that time Spike might want to know something about where he's from.
** Maybe Celestia has some good reason not to tell Spike about his origins.
* Why couldn't Rainbow Dash fly with Twilight and Rarity in the dragon costume? She didn't seem to have any trouble at all carrying ''four'' ponies back in "Sonic Rainboom".
** The geometry of Rarity's dragon costume obviously wouldn't let Rainbow Dash to do it, the lower part of the costume is open so the ponies could walk on their legs
*** Even so, Dash was unable to take off at all, clearly struggling with the weight. Was the costume itself just ridiculously heavy or something?
*** She wasn't able to accelerate properly with two ponies holding her down and the costume futzing with her aerodynamics. If she had been able to get some more speed some how, or arranged the other two better, she would have been able to get them into the air.
*** Besides, that time was a case of HeroicResolve.
* Phoenix are immortal (they are reborn from their own ashes). Yet we have seen they lay an entire ''clutch'' of eggs at a time. Why isn't Equestria overflowing with them? No matter how slow or infrequent the mating instinct may be, no permanent deaths would mean no way to compensate for the birds that are successfully hatched.
** For that matter, what would ''eat'' a phoenix? How many animals would enjoy a meal of ash instead of meat?
*** Dragons are probably the only creatures that could. We've seen Spike eat some pretty gross/inedible things.
** Doesn't the Phoenix rebirth thing only happen once every thousand years? If they die due to other causes, they might actually be killed off for real, or at least until the next thousand years is up.
** A phoenix is reborn after dying of old age. Whether they can be reborn after dying from being eaten or otherwise mauled is yet unknown.
*** There is a real world species that has biological immortality, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_nutricula immortal jellyfish]]. They can still die from disease and injury.
** Maybe they only get reborn a limited number of times before they die permanently.
*** So...phoenixes are {{Time Lord}}s?
* Why was Fluttershy scared of dragons when she [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath defeated]] one in ''Dragonshy''?
** Fluttershy's dracophobia was established in that episode. It was only when he was directly threatening her friends that she got over it. As it stands, the dragons aren't doing much aside from collateral damage.
* How come no one thought about asking Zecora about dragons? The Secret of My Excess shows that she does know a thing or two about dragons.
** Spike wanted to actually meet and interact with dragons and participate in their society, and maybe find out about his parents. Zecora couldn't have helped with that. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity just wanted to keep tabs on him, so Zecora couldn't have helped there either.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.22=] Hurricane Fluttershy]]
* So Bonbon's a pegasus now?
** There was also a Pegasus Lyra in one of the previous episodes, so maybe Bon-Bon has a pegasus twin too.
** There's a Pegasus version of Doctor Whooves who competes in the Best Young Flyers competition. Apparently a lot of background ponies have doppelgangers of a different pony type.
** Changeling.
*** As much as I like this theory when applied elsewhere, I gotta question the idea of a changeling being so incompetent as to not only get the species wrong, but to risk drawing attention to that mistake by participating in a town-wide event.
* Why didn't Spitfire do anything to help? They were one pony away from getting the water spout created, and that's to provide water for all of Equestria. How come Spitfire didn't just jump in to help? If Rainbow Dash is pushing a 16 wingpower, I'm sure that Spitfire would have broken the required 5 no sweat and is probably about equal with Rainbow.
** It's an important job that provides Equestria's rainwater, but there's a definite element of competition to it, with prestige going to the locale that performs the best. If a town/city is really incapable of producing a tornado, more serious steps are probably taken.
*** The solution was simple, Spitfire should have joined the group and finished the job. Then she'd have added, "Unfortunately, I am going to have to note that you only reached 795 WP before I joined you in my official report." Maybe add something about also noting in the report that they did pretty well considering they were down 8 flyers (Which seemed to be able 8-10% of the towns pegasus population). It may be a competitive thing, but it's still a job. Get the job done, but disqualify them from any competitive recognition.
**** It's not like there was an emergency, like a fire or something. And competition or not, it was still a matter of pride for the town. It would be impolite for Spitfire to just barge in uninvited. Besides, Fluttershy was there, and perhaps Spitfire understood that it was an important chance for her to overcome her fears and earn respect. Now, if she'd flat out refused to join, then maybe Spitfire would've done it.
** But why was Spitfire there in the first place? It just doesn't add up!
*** Spitfire was there to oversee the water transfer and record Ponyville's top tornado windspeed.
* When Thunderlane coughs, Twlight's response is to... spray his mane with something? What does it have to do with coughing at all?
** Its a disinfectant spray. She's cleaning the germs from Thunderlane's cough. She even says it.
** Yeah, but did she think Thunderlane coughed on his mane somehow?
*** She didn't target his mane specifically, rather his general direction.
* Is it just me, or is this the first time in the entire series that Rainbow Dash actually acts kind and caring to someone? Even when defending her friends or doing them favors, she's still pretty loud and obnoxious about it. Here, she's soft spoken and rather supportive of Fluttershy throughout much of the episode, returning to her loud and boastful variety of friendliness when she's playing up Fluttershys performance. She's not exactly perfect (She's still begging Flutteryshy to help), but this is probably her first incident of being actually sensitive. It almost seems Dash went through a bit of character development off-screen, and we missed a friendship letter somewhere.
** How about The Last Roundup, where she was also quite nice to Applejack? Or last episode, where she was protective of Spike? The main problem here probably is that her first two episodes this season portrayed her as an asshole.
*** Or when she shows genuine affection towards Tank after he proves his worth? Or when she graciously accepts her defeat in ''Fall Weather Friends''? Or when her actions in general in ''Sonic Rainboom''? I could go on, but the point is, Dash has ''always'' been a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, not a callous JerkAss like a lot of people are painting her as lately.
**** I did not intend that Dash was not capable of being nice. But there's a difference between her good traits manifesting loudly and energetically, like they usually do, and her being relatively low-key in this episode. To be fair, she was somewhat quiet when trying to calm Tank down when he got scared towards the end of Best Pet. However, I'm pointing out that, normally, she's more like she was at the end of the episode, where she was giving the credit to Fluttershy in her usual boisterous manner. It's not that Dash can't be kind and considerate, it's that in this case, she behaved in a much more subdued way here. It seems like a younger Dash might have tried to be a lot more energetic towards Fluttershy, rather than her much more downplayed than usual behavior here. It's like if Pinkie Pie threw a party, and it was just a quiet affair, maybe with a single cake and basic food, and it was much more about the guests simply enjoying each others company than the actual party itself. It wouldn't be completely out of character, but it would be odd, and signify positive character development and better empathy on the part of the character (Dash in the episode, Pinkie in this example).
** Her character development indeed seems to have improved over time, especially in 'Read it and Weep', in which she learned to stop hating what she doesn't understand, a lesson she truly needed. There's a few moments in which RD was actually caring to someone else, but the rather poorly planned two episodes in a row dedicated in showcasing her absolute worst features, almost making her seem like a villain in 'May the Best Pet Win' and 'Mysterious Mare-Do-Well' did a great job of changing the opinion of the community regarding her. It took some time, but it seems like she was eventually redeemed by becoming a more open-minded pony and being the target of most jokes in episodes.
** You may recall that when RD first learned of what Fluttershy's problem was, she started out being rather abrasive, but then stopped herself, and continued on more gently. I simply took this as her [[ShrinkingViolet realizing who she was dealing with.]] She knew she was talking to Fluttershy, and needed to be a bit more sensitive than normal. Compare it to Griffon The Brush-Off - Rainbow and Pinkie pranked every member of the Mane Cast except Fluttershy, because Pinkie declared that she was too sensitive for that, and that even the lightest prank would hurt her feelings. Rainbow agreed to this rather quickly. Similarly, there's not much of a problem when RD's brash with a Pinkie Pie or an Applejack, because they're not very likely to get their feelings hurt by it. But Flutters is the sensitive one, and she knows to be easier with her.
*** Yeah, dumping cold water and scaring her? Yeah, that's being kind. Hell, its not like RD needed Fluttershy anyway; she had most of the people in Ponyville riled up like her and could easily do the tornado without Fluttershy. The only thing that prevented their ability was the other ponies getting sick.
*** Fluttershy pulling out a cheap, obviously faked, "sick" excuse is understandably going to aggravate Rainbow a little bit, and as said above she went easier on her afterwards. She wanted Fluttershy to be in the tornado not because she ''had'' to be, but because she really, really, wanted her to participate and be part of the group. When Fluttershy acquiesced, it became more about helping her overcome her confidence and self-esteem issues. Fluttershy giving up and staying home wasn't the end of the tornado project, but it was a big disappointment and a loss for both Rainbow Dash and her.
* [[YouFailPhysicsForever How does Roid Rage fly with these itty-bitty wings?]]
** It's been implied at times that Pegasi rely partially on magic to fly, so maybe wing size does not matter that much.
** RuleOfFunny
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.23=] Ponyville Confidential]]
* [[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Dear Gabby Gums: How do you type with horseshoes on]]?
** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Gabby Gums didn't use a typewriter]]. Anyway, the typewriters had two hoof-sized buttons and what looked like a space bar. That changes the question from how they hit the buttons to how they fit all the functions into such few keys.
*** I've got it! They type in... Horse Code!
*** A) Pun of the year. B) The keys probably function something to the effect of "select letter", "type selected letter", and a space bar. It would be slow going (or would have to be magically enhanced), but it would probably work okay.
*** Perhaps it works in a similar principle as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard chorded keyboard]].
* Cheerilee's involvement at the end felt off for a few reasons. Most significantly, what was the reason why she decided to step in and demote Diamond Tiara? If it was because of public annoyance with the articles, shouldn't it have happened before the Crusaders wrote their resignation letter? If it was due to the resignation... note that the Crusaders didn't actually blame Tiara for their actions and instead said that public feedback drove them to continue, so why would Cheerilee find her accountable? The blackmail apparently never went public, so that wasn't a nail in her coffin.
** As the editor, Tiara had final authority over whatever was printed. The Crusaders could've written whatever they wanted, but it would've never made it in the paper without Tiara's approval.
** Cheerilee must not have known, maybe not actually paying attention to the contents of the paper. Then Diamond Tiara blackmails them and Featherweight took a picture. Since it wasn't used for the paper, he must have given it to Cheerilee as concrete evidence of what Tiara was doing.
* After the entire episode revolved around the Crusaders attempting to write stories that met with Tiara's approval so that they could get printed, and after she blackmailed them into continuing... Tiara approved the publication of their next article ''without ever looking at it''? And was caught completely off guard ''after'' the papers were circulated? She knew they wanted to change their format or leave their position, so why would she ''relax'' her editorial mandates? It's true that the deadline was approaching, but that still felt like an IdiotBall on her part to reach the episode's conclusion.
** Tiara was probably too over-confident in her blackmail keeping the girls in line.
** They also seemed to be right at the paper's deadline, and she probably figured any Gabby Gums piece would be better than publishing the photos and cutting ties with the CMCs forever.
** Tiara's been consistently shown to be ''mean'' -- not necessarily ''smart''. (It's not like she hasn't been [[HoistByHisOwnPetard hoist by her own petard]] before.) Plus she's for all her attitudes still not an adult herself, so some GenreBlindness can be excused. Also, yeah, the two points above.
** These explanations would be acceptable for a purely print piece. However, the article actually has a picture of the Crusaders front and center, instantly implying that they are owning up to their actions as Gabby Gums, and we see during the later montage that it quickly caught the attention of those who were spiting the group. Even if Tiara didn't pick up on that implication, she'd have to wonder why they were writing a defamation article against themselves. For her to publish the article and put it on the "newstands" without realizing that it wasn't their standard fare, she must have not even ''glanced'' at the thing from the moment they handed it to her to the moment when everyone was reading it, and that would include not being anywhere near the printing or distribution process, especially so close to deadline when you need to make sure everything goes without a hitch. That's a pretty extreme reversal from earlier.
* Why does a one-room schoolhouse have its very own newspaper?
** Given how far more colts and fillies are shown about the school than are ever shown in classroom shots, the school is clearly larger than we've been led to assume.
* Why didn't Cherilee step in earlier? The newspaper was going all over Ponyville and in Cloudsdale, surely she would've heard what stories were being printed. Is she just that irresponsible?
** Maybe she wanted to hang back and see if the kids would solve it themselves. Which, of course, they did, and they learned a valuable lesson along the way. It'd be a risky move, but some teachers are like that, especially in fiction.
** She did take her students on a field trip which resulted in unsealing an ancient evil and having Equestria descend into total chaos, maybe she's really that terrible a teacher.
** Sadly, the above. In the past, Cheerilee has let students be teased in front of her and watched the CMC get into a physical scuffle without intervening. She's sweet and loves her students, but she's never been a terribly reliable teacher.
** We don't see her after the first meeting until the end of the episode. Perhaps she was out of town on sabbatical, or at a teacher's conference. She might have been unaware until she came back and found out what had happened.
* How did the CMC manage to dig up dirt on Trixie, if she had left Ponyville a long time ago?
** For that matter, how did the CMC get dirt on Celestia? Three fillies managed to hop a train to Canterlot without any supervision?
** Some of the stuff is stated to be made up. Also, they have access Spike and Twilight, so they may have grabbed an old photo. As for Trixie, I'm guessing that it's one of those "Breaking the Magician's Code", only done via ransacking or talking to those who have ransacked through her wrecked carriage. Alternatively, they might have gotten hold of Trixie's diary (assuming one exists) from Snips and Snails, who had themselves recovered it from the rubble.
** It's almost certainly made up. Every other column they did was a picture and a caption that didn't even necessarily have to be related to the picture. (like claiming Fluttershy had tail extensions) They could've easily gotten a random picture of Trixie and added any accusation.
* Why didn't Spike tell the mane cast the CMC were Gabby Gums? He had been interviewed by one of them, and later that interview appeared in Gabby's column. He should have been able to put two and two and two together and get Matilda- er, the fact that the CMC were Gabby Gums.
** Diamond Tiara pulled that article. She said it was too nice. While the mane six know that he knows who Gabby Gums is, they never actually ask him. The CMC might have asked him to keep it a secret. Or he also might have told the others off screen.
** He probably did. Someone had to have told the town who Gabby Gums was, since they all knew. It had to have been Rarity or Spike, since Rarity figured it out and Spike was interviewed by them. Rarity seems unlikely because 1. It's her sister, and 2. She'd already heard how guilty Sweetie Belle felt about it. So we can probably guess that Spike exposed them.
* Anyone thought the Ponyville publicly shunning the [[PowerTrio Cutie Mark Crusaders]] a bit harsh? Granted, they invaded their privacy and were humiliated but they're only young fillies. I hate to see what the town will do if the girls did something worse...
** It was a day. They'd likely get over it soon enough. They've already gotten over poisonings, massive collateral damage, MindRape, and attempted genocide, a few rumor-mongering fillies likely won't be that impressive in comparison.
** They (albeit unintentionally) let loose the spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. You can't get much worse than that, and no one seems to hold it against them in the long term. Not to mention they fed Big Macintosh and Cherilee a LovePotion that forced them into a relationship together and caused them to go so bonkers they caused a significant amount of collateral damage. Again, no one holds it against them (unless Macintosh's rant at them was partially fueled by that).
*** Not so much in the former case, since no one really knew that they were to blame. Celestia might have had realized that CMC's quarrel fueled Discord's release, but she probably didn't know about it, and Cheerilee who saw it probably didn't connect an ordinary class trip she likely have had dozens of times with the appearance of an evil PhysicalGod.
*** Even Celestia might not have known the CMCs were responsible. She didn't say he'd been woken up or released, only that he had returned.
*** Also, [[FalseCause correlation does not imply causation]]. They got into a squabble next to Discord's "statue" and a short while later he broke free, but it's never stated (assuming for convenience's sake and on grounds of the LawOfConservationOfDetail that it wasn't simply pure coincidence) ''which'' of the two was cause and which effect.
* This one's kind of a nitpick, but it's also central to the entire episode, so I think it bears saying. The girls create the shared alias of "Gabby Gums" because they can't fit all three of their own names in their one section of the paper. But why not just sign it "CMCs" or "the Crusaders" or something? It's not like their club name's a secret or anything; plenty of other characters have acknowledged it before.
** Maybe they just liked the name.
** Maybe they heard about the idea of pen names and figured that using one would help them earn their cutie marks.
* "I Was A Canterlot Snob". Everyone goes on about how much the CMC hurt and humiliated Fluttershy, and for good reason. That being said, it seems constantly overlooked what they did to Twilight, who has been just as good to them, but got a FAR more scathing article. Fluttershy is the most sensitive member of the group, without question, but previous episodes, such as "Boast Busters" and "Winter Wrap Up" show Twilight to also be easily hurt, as well as eager for approval and acceptance. It's also worth noting that Twilight and Fluttershy are both [[NiceGirl Nice Girls]] with a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Jerk With a Heart of Gold]] sidekick who had similar reactions. Spike's hostility toward the CMC mirrors Angel Bunny's, and we don't even SEE Twilight, who may very well have been hiding in some back room crying! What's more, as impressive as Twilight's Force Field was, it raises the question of why she blocked off the ENTIRE library, including from the air. Why not just use a spell on the door, and let Spike chase them away? (Which he did) Was she trying to keep out all of Ponyville? [[FridgeHorror Were there ponies who took the article seriously and went to confront Twilight before the Crusaders showed up?]] Were there ponies who believed that [[SpoiledSweet Twilight]] was really like that article said? [[FridgeHorror How badly damaged was Twilight's reputation?]]
* When Rainbow Dash kicked the cloud in the episode it unleashed a torrential downpour but in past episodes Rainbow Dash has kicked clouds and they dissipated
** Pegasi magic?
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.24=] MMMystery on the Friendship Express]]
* '''Where the heck is Spike during all of this!?''' I mean, besides the "Last Roundup", and "Sweet and Elite" he's the ''only'' one of the mane cast that keeps being left out of the group's fun. And we know for a fact that in this episode he wasn't on official business in Canterlot, or else he'd make a cameo. Was Twilight really making him stay behind to do chores at the library, rather than hang out with his friends and see Celestia, the one that helped Twilight raise him, and in a way, a mother to him?
** Well, it was a rather spontaneous invitation, wasn't it? I was under the impression that they didn't even go home.
*** They had tickets, or at least rooms. Either they had warning before hand, or they were able to make some arrangements.
** With Twilight gone, someone has to man/pony/dragon/whatever the library. Spike's also said that he likes it when Twilight goes on trips, since he gets to slack off.
*** [[FridgeLogic This raises the question of what she did during "Dragon Quest."]] Was she able to find a temp librarian, or did she just close the place down?
** Spike obviously stayed home because he has to take care of his baby phoenix pet, which he didn't have at the time of "Dragon Quest"
* The CharacterDerailment of Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity bothers me. Did they become jerks just for the sake of the plot or is there an underlying instinctual behavior regarding ponies and cakes.
** This bothered me, too. Especially at the end when the other bakers scrambled around to eat each other's goods. Seriously? Do none of these characters have any self-control? Pinkie Pie's immediate forgiveness and understanding baffled me as well. If all of my friends conspired to ruin something that I worked really hard on and might bring my town some recognition I'd be really pissed and call my friendship with these people into question.
*** Well, "conspired" is the wrong word, but yeah, at the very least there should have been some indication that the three intended to work off the debt somehow.
** My initial thought upon first viewing was that it was another "chalk it to Pinkie's weirdness" thing - she is SO EXCITED and SO OBSESSED with the food that her descriptions are literally mind-altering, turning even the ponies of loyalty, generosity, and kindness to sneaking a bite. As such, I found it hilarious.
** I'm not too bothered by this. Sure, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity broke their promise to not eat the cake Pinkie Pie tried to protect, but given how Pinkie earlier [[FoodPorn described the cake in such a vivid and delectable way]], I'm not surprised that they fell to their temptations. It's like that WesternAnimation/SouthPark episode where Butters allegedly commits suicide, a PetSematary grave digger arrives at his parents' home and warns them not to try and bring back their son, despite giving them specific instructions and locations. Also, the mane 6 don't always follow their elements to the letter: Fluttershy was seen to be mean and angry when she took advice from Iron Will; Rarity tries to take gems from that dragon from Dragonshy and guilt-trips Spike into handing over his gem to her on his birthday; Rainbow Dash isn't necessarily the most dependable of ponies (as she's often seen napping and generally being lazy unless called upon). The ponies are fallible, make mistakes and can give-in to temptation (especially if unintentionally goaded into doing it).
* Pinkie eating the entire cake at the end. And then everyone just laughs. It just strikes me as horribly gluttonous, even after all she's been through to protect it, and [[KarmaHoudini the others who were apparently desperate to taste it should have been livid.]]
** RuleOfFunny. If you want a better explanation: This is [[BigEater Pinkie Pie]] we're talking about. Everyone's pretty much accustomed to the fact that she can't resist sweets. They were probably more surprised that she managed to hold off on doing so until the cake itself was no longer needed than anything else.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.25-26=] A Canterlot Wedding]]
* When Twilight went to Shining Armor and the others to tell that Cadance is evil because Twilight saw her do some things that made her look evil, and then Shiniing Armor tells her that the things Cadance was doing was completely different, the others dismissed her. Did Twilight's friends and Celestia forgot about the lesson from Lesson Zero: that you shouldn't dismiss your friend's worries even if they are blown out of proportion, and that you shouldn't let your fears turn a small problem into a big problem?
** In Lesson Zero nopony could actually directly say that Twilight was wrong, and were just dismissing her concerns because they seemed silly. In the finale, the rest of the group had actually had their own experiences with Cadance, and while they didn't find her particularly pleasant, they all seemed to like her okay enough. And Cadance had already offered them a plausible explanation for why she would want the gang as her bridesmaids BEFORE Twilight came in spouting that she was evil.
** There's also the fact that this time around, there was an alternate explanation for her behavior; the entire first half of episode 25 where Twilight goes on and on about how important her brother is to her and how mad she is that he's getting married without telling her could easily come across as possessive. Adding to that is that they aren't there when it's revealed that Twilight knew Cadance, or when she made peace with her brother. Add in the fact that (fake) Cadance treated the rest of the cast pretty well (putting people you don't know into your wedding party is a pretty big gesture) and it's pretty clear that from their perspective, Twilight is being insanely possessive of her brother, and making up excuses to dislike the pony who's taking him away from her. They didn't just brush her off; they heard her out and made an (wrong) informed decision that she was just jealous.
* Where did the Changlings come from? Where do they live? And why do they feed off of love?
** Tartarus. Wherever they can hide[[hottip:*:They're '''shapeshifters.''' They could be hiding in your own closet without you knowing.]]. And love tastes sinfully delicious, without being fattening in the slightest.
** Or maybe... ever notice how there's more than one Bonbon? or Derpy? Changlings live everywhere and act just like normal ponies.
*** .... Is it possible they just gave a canon explanation for all the duplicate background ponies?
** There's a whole planet outside Equestria that's largely unknown and unexplored. Alternatively, it's been proposed that Chrysalis [[spoiler:was originally the love-poisoned princess referenced in Hearts and Hooves Day]].
* If Shining Armor is Twilight's BBBFF (Big Brother Best Friend Forever,then why does it seem like the others don't seem to know who he is until Twilight tells them? Wouldn't she want to tell them everything about the guy she looks up to?
** I guess the relations between the two got distant after Twilight left Canterlot.
* Where was Luna during the fight? Was she asleep (ya know, she rules at night)?
** They showed Luna flying in at night, so wherever she spends her days is outside of the shield. The event also went down fast enough that they didn't have the time to send word to her after the shield fell, and if Canterlot fell, then she would have been needed to rally forces elsewhere in Equestria.
** Luna is shown to relieve Celestia at nightfall, and when she shows up for the wedding asking whether she's missed anything it's once again evening. The Changelings also never seem to have found her while swarming all over Canterlot[[hottip:*:[[FridgeHorror, at least as far as one can ever tell when shapeshifters are involved,]]]], which together with her earlier arrival through the shield would indeed suggest that she spends her days elsewhere and may in fact simply have slept through the whole thing.
*** Still strange that Luna would leave Canterlot at night even though Canterlot is explicitely under threat of attack. Wouldn't it make sense to have both powerful alicorns at hand to repel the threat? Not to mention Luna's presence at the wedding itself would have resolved the plot immediately.
* Shining Armor's Twilight's BBBFF (Big Brother Best Friend Forever), then what about Spike? Does that make him her LBBFF (Little Brother Best Friend Forever)?
** I actually think the introduction of Shining Armor hasn't ruined the theory that Twi and Spike are like bro and sis. It's just that their relationship is different. With Shining Armor, he was someone she could look up to, and play with. Spike was just a baby at the time. And probably spent a lot of time with Celestia (seeing as she taught him that "fire-magic sending thingy"). But Spike loves Twilight as family (confirmed in Owl's Well That Ends Well, and Dragon Quest) and shows that she returns the feelings.
** One WordOfGod suggested that Celestia took to the initial raising of Spike, given the general lack of pony knowledge on dragon raising, only giving her to Twilight as an assistant when both were mature enough for it. Hence, the Twi/Spike relationship - prior to being sent off to Ponyville - would be more formal, and becoming more sibling as they both learned to adjust to Ponyville. This would also be consistent that leaving Shining (whom she still probably saw every day while at Canterlot), her relationship with Spike would be upgraded to the sibling nature to make up for not being around Shining.
* Why was everyone so quick to take Cadance's side? They all completely snuffed Twilight, as if her opinion didn't matter. It's especially odd, since the other 5 had learned to take others feelings a [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E3LessonZero little more seriously]].
** They all saw Twilight get into a bad mood because Shining Armor didn't tell her about the wedding personally. They assumed she was overreacting because of that. And as much as her friends try to take her concerns seriously, Twilight obsesses over the smallest of things.
*** I'm not so sure that holds water. This is Rarity and Applejack we're talking about, and the dress and the apples were snubbed by the bride. Even if she wasn't a changeling-much less the queen-we're talking about someone who basically disrespected the very foundation of what those two characters have based their lives and liveihoods on. Applejack would normally defend her own apples to the death. Rarity is not someone you screw around with when it comes to dressmaking. If Cadance was realistically acting in this manner, it makes perfect sense to call her out on her bullshit, especially from the Mane Six. Struck me as a little out-of-character for them to hold back and instantly forgive her. I may be a guy, but I know a 'bridezilla' when I see one.
**** Rarity doesn't always reject criticism. Remember when she made dresses for her friends, and they didn't like them? She worked overtime re-making the dresses according to their requests. It's no surprise she would do the same for a princess's wedding gown.
**** The scene where Twilight crashes the wedding is probably the worst for that, it really bothered this troper. The other ponies completely dismiss Twilight without a thought. I genuinely thought they were being mind-controlled/influenced like Shining Armor was. Even Celestia leaves in a huff without actually talking to Twilight about her concerns. It gets really egregious when Shining Armor tells her off so utterly... considering the relationship the siblings are supposed to have, that should have set off alarm bells. Yet her supposed friends just leave her without saying anything? The hell?
**** ^ It's entirely possible that any of those characters planned to talk to Twilight some more after she had a chance to calm down. They tried to find her a few minutes later, but she had already been imprisoned at that point and thus could not be found (and they assumed she had run off). And you can't really count what Shining Armor said, considering he was under some sort of mind-control influence.
*** Rarity has actually got lots of prior evidence for being a total pushover when it comes to being talked back to about her dresses. Applejack I might expect to be a little harsher, but she didn't lose her temper with Prince Blueblood either, and was remarkably civil with the Flim Flam Brothers too.
**** Being a fashion designer and a farmer/caterer respectively, it's understandable that they hold a professional attitude when dealing with a fussy client.
*** To be fair, Twilight never actually accuses "Cadance" of being an outright ''fake'' -- just vaguely "evil", which does make her sound more than a bit irrational and desperate. Since she doesn't even bring up her alleged former favorite foal-sitter blithely failing to recognize her at first, it seems that the idea that she might be dealing with a genuine impostor (rather than the real Princess Cadance simply turned somehow 'bad') didn't occur to even ''her''.
*** THIS. Go back and watch the rehersal scene and try to forget all the other stuff that happened in the episode. Twilight comes across as an extremely rude, possessive, irrational pony just spouting off the word 'evil' over and over. The look on Rarity and Rainbow Dash's faces afterwards are entirely realistic reactions.
*** Okay, but then we still have the rest to consider if we ignore the superficial threat; Twilight was not irrational by the scope of the lessons she has had in Ponyville as well as the others that relate (Best Night Ever, Parasprites because of listening and respecting others, Putting Hooves Down, etc) and reactions she has learned about her friends. The Changeling!Cadance was extremely rude and dismissive of all these people-towards people who would never accept that behavior from anyone else save for a poor excuse over the said perpetrator's wedding. One's wedding is '''not''' an excuse for her actions especially against the Elements of Harmony and the idea of the show, and Twilight was right to call her out on it...and she would have left it there, if that was just the case and there was no evil afoot.
**** Ever seen Bridezilla? Yes, some people do act that way about their wedding.
**** I'd also note that from the rest of the cast's perspective, fake!Cadance wasn't being ''that'' bad. Applejack doesn't ''know'' that she hated the food (she doesn't hear it until Twilight tells her later), Rarity takes her criticism of the dress in stride (and it really isn't that weird for a bride to be nitpicky about her dress), and her critiques of Pinkie dance and Fluttershy's bird chorus are shown to actually be accurate: Pinkie's dance ''is'' inappropriate for a wedding (even if the real Cadance is okay with it), and the bird really ''was'' singing off key. That and while we saw ''all'' the times Chrysalis was being a bitch, each of the cast members only saw individual occasions of it and chalked them up to wedding stress. Then you have the fact that frankly, it's kind of an enormous goodwill gesture to let five ponies you don't know be your bridesmaids, so that probably got fake!Cadance a ''lot'' of points with the other five of the group. Add in the fact that Twilight acts rather possessive and unhappy about the wedding from the get-go and doesn't back up her accusations with proof, and it really isn't a stretch for the rest of the cast to just assume that she's horribly overreacting.
*** Twilight was shown to be very possesive of Shining Armor as far back as the beginning of the episode, when she threw a complete fit over hearing about his wedding secondhand. That in and of itself was probably a surprise to her friends, since she doesn't seem to get very angry often. They also don't have the intimate knowledge of Cadance's personality Twilight does. To the rest of the mane 6, Twilight started getting out there when she first heard about the wedding, and only got worse from there. And whether she had reason to be or not, Twilight wasn't at all calm or rational when she accused Cadance of being "evil". They'd be hard-pressed to assume anything other than, "She's off her rocker, and it's because she's clingy about her brother".
*** Don't forget that Twilight didn't even bring up most of the worst evidence about Cadence - not only did she not mention that she didn't recognise her, she also didn't mention the argument she had with her brother. The only real problems she brought up, other than vague accusations that she was "EVIL!" could easily be explained away by saying Cadence just wanted her wedding to be perfect.
*** For me the problem isn't that they didn't believe her, it's that they completely walked out on her after her "Big Brother Best Friend Forever" basically disowned her. While there is no denying Twilight behaved badly, look how forgiving she has been of their more mean spirited behaviour in previous episodes (Bridle Gossip and Luna Eclipsed for example). Not to mention after all she's done for them (Particularily Fluttershy in "A Bird in the Hoof" and Rarity in "Sweet and Elite", you'd think that the ONE time she acts up, they wouldn't just turn their backs on her. They were right to be angry, but all this talk about they probably tried to find her afterwards to work things out ignores that none of this happened onscreen. For a series that is very good about onscreen reconciliations, seeing Twilights friend turn their backs on her with no indication they still cared for her is more then a little jarring. Compare "Party of One", Pinkie has a massive outburst and is extremely nasty to her friends because she believes they no longer care about her. Rather then getting mad, they all sit there sadly and wait for her to realize her mistake. When Twilight has an outburst because she thinks she saw her brother getting hypnotized, everyone turns their noses up at her and walk out, despite her expressing remorse on the spot, and having just been disowned by her brother. There was no "Twilight, we love you, but this behaviour is inexcusable" speeches, they just leave. Plus, once they realized Twilight was right all along, Applejack gives a very weak apology for not believing her, NOT for abandoning her, and the others never apologize at all. Celestia implies an apology, and Shining takes Twilight as his Best Mare again, but the others never say anything. Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness has no compassion for Twilight, Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter leaves Twilight to wallow in misery and despair. Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty abandons Twilight without a moments hesitation, Applejack, who has a brother herself and showed the most concern earlier for Twilights worries over Shining, etc. The problem isn't that they didn't believe Twilight or disapproved of her behaviour, it's that not one of them hesitated to abandon Twilight at a very low point in her life without giving her a chance to apologize, atone, etc.
**** As noted above, it's entirely possible that they just wanted to let her cool off a bit before talking to her. She's only alone afterward for maybe five minutes tops before Chrysalis banishes her, after all. Things were getting pretty heated, so the rest of the cast thought it was prudent to take a break before confronting her again so they wouldn't say anything they'd regret. And then by the time they came back for her, she was already gone.
* Nobody noticed the giant army right outside the force field? None of those guards noticed the changelings and thought to notify Celestia? Nopony glanced outside and saw those black ominous looking poinies? [[FlatWhat What?]]
** The changelings didn't start attacking until Queen Chrysalis revealed herself. And an army of shapeshifters is very, very, very easy to hide.
* Putting aside the fact they were stopped, how exactly were the mane six supposed to get to the Elements of Harmony? The door to them is sealed by a spell that only Celestia can break.
** They '''are''' the elements of harmony. So the spell wouldn't work on them.
** Either Celestia was delirious from getting the snot kicked out of her, she made the Elements accessible to them, or that wasn't Celestia. None of those have good implications for what became of the Elements, especially since we have no idea what happened after the manes were surrounded in Canterlot tower.
** It is possible that what unlocks the door isn't Celestia's magic, but an specific spell, something Celestia could have taugh to Twilight after the accident with Discord.
** It's also possible that while only Celestia herself could actually ''undo'' the spell, the magic is still designed to let certain authorized ponies simply pass without interference. After all, not only could the Elements always be needed when the Princess isn't conveniently around to fetch them (as seen in the very series pilot, which isn't something she's likely to have forgotten about already), but she can't use them herself anymore anyway and knows it, too.
** For yet another alternative, we don't even know for certain that that spell is still there. It failed to keep out Discord, after all; Celestia may have replaced it with something else in the meantime.
* Why would the changelings shape-shift into the ponies they're fighting? Now they have no idea who's friend and who's foe.
** Neither do their opponents.
*** Except that their opponents can all quite easily attack the ones that look like them, and can also attack any group of two or more clones of the same pony who appear to be fighting together. The only way this might give the Changelings an advantage is if they themselves had the ability to spot the difference, but judging by Fluttershy's trick they clearly don't.
** Judging by the changelings' habit of slamming their faces into things (either the shield or the ground), perhaps they're not very intelligent.
** Psychological warfare, they did it hopping to mess with the Mane 6's heads a bit.
*** Exactly. Yeah, it didn't work in their favor, but most of them seemed to enjoy messing the Mane 6's heads, notably when a group of Changeling!Twilights mockingly repeat Twilight's "They're changelings, remember?"
** The comic series shows how the changelings prefer to fight, and it's by using subterfuge rather than direct force. The changelings took their forms out of habit, because they usually approach their targets in disguise.
* How did the Queen manage to get past the force field?
** She probably went in before it was even put up.
* At the climax, Shining's having trouble making his magic work due to being drained earlier, and Cadance says she'll help empower him with her love. The Queen's response? "What a lovely but ridiculous sentiment." It's a common villain trait to underestimate ThePowerOfLove, but doesn't that sound wrong from the mouth of a villain whose entire plan up to that point involved growing more powerful from someone's love?
** The point may've been that she'd drained Shining Armor so much that they could not possibly have enough combined power to defeat her. The way she worded it still sounds off though, I agree...
** It could also be that Chrysalis thought only Changelings could benefit from ThePowerOfLove. To her, it was as if Pinkie had gone up to her and said "I'll defeat you with my magic"
** It is also possible she saw love as a source of food and nothing else, only Changelings can "eat" love and she wasn't expecting it to be weaponized against her.
** Cadance was weakened from imprisonment, so Chrysalis probably had no idea she could still do magic
* So, the threat to Canterlot. The one that caused Shining Armor to beef up security. What was the deal with that? The implication is that it was a threat from the Changelings, but that doesn't make much sense. They're shapeshifters who did their very best to hide the operation until it came time to invade. Telling them that they're planning to attack only made their job harder. The only explanations I can think of are that they were ridiculously confident or that the threat was sent by Shining Armor before he became brainwashed, who'd figured out what was happening and sent it to himself in an attempt to thwart their plans. Yeah, I don't know either.
** I think they let slip that something unspecific was threatening Canterlot, and between him constantly keeping up the forcefield and the Changeling Queen draining him, they were trying to run the source of the defenses out of power, so the shield generator would be completely tapped out for their invasion.
** The simplest explanation is that the Changeling Queen herself made the threat after switching places with Cadance. Her plan required him to be too distracted to notice her changes in behavior, and for best results she would want him too exhausted to really fight back. Forcing Shining Armor to keep the shield up for an extended period of time accomplished both of those things, and claiming to heal him gave the Queen an excuse to cast spells on him repeatedly.
** Just because "a threat has been made" doesn't mean the changelings announced themselves. It's possible they accidentally triggered some sort of warning system earlier. There could be a spell that detects various non-pony races approaching Canterlot and sends a warning to the guards, but can't determine any more specific information.
* In the end, the Changelings are still alive. What is going to keep them from infiltrating towns with no massive force fields, like Ponyville or Manehatten?
** Nothing, but it don't make strategic sense, Celestia could easily send a well-organized army to take the city back, and if it fails, send the Mane Six with the elements of Harmony to defeat them, the main objective of taking down Canterlot first was so the rest of Equestria would offer little resistance.
*** Said army would need to find them first and then be able to tell the shapeshifters from the real ponies. There are still a ''lot'' of Changelings around, too, to say nothing of their Queen; they could probably take, say, Ponyville by strength of numbers alone, and if they were even halfway sneaky about it nopony outside of town would be any wiser for a good long while. And they have every reason to come back: there's ''food'' to be had in Equestria and starving on purpose would make even ''less'' sense, strategic or otherwise... -- Essentially, while their latest plot may have been foiled, the Changelings are far from actually defeated. SequelHook, anyone?
*** Yes they would need to find the towns, but they wouldn't need to change into real ponies. In a city they could walk right in with good forged documents (or legit documents gotten through some means), and claim they have always been citizens. In a small enough town where the locals know most of the other people in their town, they would be some random pony moving in from out of town. Real world spies don't normally need to impersonate real people when they infiltrate, why would changelings? Of course they would have to do this on a gradual scale.
*** It IS a SequelHook, we finally have a villain evil enough to be an actual problem and not too strong to be to dangerous to let free, I am just saying, the Changelings don't NEED a large scale attack to feed thenselfs, they are shapeshifters, they could just sneak on a town, eat as much love and whatever other emotions they might also enjoy as they want and get away from there as fast as possible.
** Keep in mind that the Changelings were likely disorganized from being blasted over the horizon, and demoralized from their recent defeat. They'll probably return eventually, but at the moment, fighting them is less war, and more pest control.
** I figure they do indeed lurk throughout Equestria, but for reasons mentioned above know they would lose a large scale battle and so keep themselves hidden. Unicorns can destroy their illusions remember, if she wasn't empowered the (significantly more powerful that her subjects) Queen would have been totally flattened by Celestia. Her plan was likely to zerg rush Celestia and the royal guard, while they were both exhausted and had their guard down. Doing so takes away the main threat to domination of the whole country.
** Now that Canterlot is ''aware'' of a changeling threat, they may develop spells to detect changelings, and send out patrols around Equestria to find them and stop them from causing too much trouble. (They knew there was a threat before the changelings arrived, but I don't think they knew anything specific. Now they do.)
* Is Vinyl Scratch related to Shining Armor and, by extension, Twilight? She looks an awful lot like him - white unicorn with dark/light blue mane and all.
** Judging relations in Equestria by mane and coat color might be a bad idea, none of the families we saw so far have identical colors(Big Mac and Applebloom, for example, go so far as having inverted colors).
* When did Cadance foalsit Twilight? Before or after she became Princess Celestia's apprentice? If she lives with the princess as her apprentice, then why would she need a foalsitter? Wouldn't celestia keep an eye on her?
** Before, if you check the flashbacks, Twilight didn't have her Cutie Mark yet, I personally like to think Cadance went to the same school as Shining Armor when they were teens and became friends, at some point Shining Armor complained about not being able to do something(such as do the test to join the royal guards, for example) because he had to take care of Twi, and Cadance offered to foalsit her, she liked Twi enough to start foalsitting her whenever possible.
*** Following that theory, it is possible Cadance had a crush on Shining Armor ever since back then, which is why she offered to help him in first place, FirstGirlWins, anyone?
*** The lack of cutie mark could have just been an animation mistake, considering that we see little Twilight unpacking her things (including [[ContinuityNod Smartypants]]) in what appears to be a castle chamber, which would imply that Cadance foalsitted her during her years as Celestia's personal pupil.
*** It's also possible that that was Cadance's castle chamber, not Twilight's, and she only brought along a box of toys for the day. The chamber itself also features many heart motifs in its decorations, which makes this interpretation more likely.
** The season 3 premiere may have shed some new light on this one. There are some very heavy hints dropped that Twilight has some important destiny that Celestia is grooming her for. If this is the case, then it's certainly possible that she has been paying attention to Twilight for a long time, even before she got her cutie mark. If so, then connections between the royal family and the Sparkle family start to make a lot more sense.
* The direction in which Chrysalis and her minions got blasted off too looked absolutedly barren. Is that Tartaurus? Or is it someplace else entirely?
** Could be Appleoosa, actually. Or just someplace we haven't seen before. (And besides, I got the impression that the changelings were blasted in all directions.)
*** There is a good chance that it is not Appleoosa as that place did not have dark clouds hovering over it. Furthermore, if you look closely the river stops just before it hits the barren place. Rivers don't do that, they keep on going and going. You can also see a rather distinct line where the forest quite literally stops. The only place thst ever happens is in the Sahara Desert
*** If you actually pay attention, the river, with all its twists and turns, keeps going toward the left side of the screen, and just bends away from that place. As for the forest, it's hard to tell what's actually happening there.
** It would kind of make sense to assume it's just part of the frontier lands where Appleloosa and Dodge Junction are located, especially since [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup The Last Roundup]] reveals that this part of Equestria is visible from Canterlot - but it seems pretty clear that writers wanted to imply that it's some sort of {{Mordor}}-like wasteland where changelings come from and now were sent back there.
* If Shining Armor was considered Twilight's only friend, then what about Spike? Based on dialogue from previous episodes, it's implied that they always had a strong bond- Owl's Well that ends Well he was afraid that Twilight didn't love him anymore. And that knew each other ever since they met- Secret Of My Excess mentions how for '''every''' birthday he had, Twilight always gave him a gift. And the picture of baby Spike with Twilight in the final scene from Dragon Quest, implies that she knew him from the moment he was hatched. Is it because he was a baby for most of the time, that he wouldn't be old enough to play the things she wants to? Or is it out of ignorance, since he's younger, she looks down on him (like any older sibling would on a younger sibling)?
** What is ''with'' you and your constantly demonizing the ponies as dragon abusers??
*** They don't abuse Spike. If anything, Twilight definitely cares about him. I just find it odd how she only counted Shining Armor as her one friend in Canterlot, while Spike was hanging out with her too. I'm just wondering where exactly does he fits in her circle of friends? Does she see him as another brother, a friend, a son, or just an assistant?
** Shining Armor was probably her only friend ''before'' she became Celestia's pupil, and thus also before she met Spike. Twilight mentioned they drifted apart, and that's probably the point in time when the drifting happened - when Twilight became Celestia's pupil.
*** Now that you mention it, I do notice how she didn't have her cutie mark in those flashbacks. So you're probably right. I bet Twilight sees Spike and Celestia as her second family. Seeing as she drifted apart from her own, Celestia became a second mother, and Spike a second brother. But she always kept in touch with her parents and shining armor.
* If Shining Armor was her friend, then why is it in past episodes Twilight said she never had friends in Canterlot?
** Because Twilight exaggerates and is prone to massive errors of perception. She also forgot about Spike. Both are perhaps family, which don't count for reasons of proving a point.
** She probably meant she had no friends outside her family. When she's spoken of a lack of friends in past episodes, I'm pretty sure it was to exemplify how she never tried to ''make'' friends. She didn't need to socialize to make friends with Shining Armor because he's family and she didn't need to; it was just an automatic bond.
* Why did the writers feel they needed to give Princess Celestia-generally considered a power onto a literal god in this world as an alicorn-TheWorfEffect? Talk about a way to talk down the most-powerful individual pony in all of Equestria. If Luna had been there, I'm sure a double-team would have settled it...but no, of course not. Dramatic contrivance ho!
** Yes it was dramatically convenient, but in fairness Celestia being THAT powerful is Fanon. She's never demonstrated anything beyond being a particularly powerful unicorn with added wings, and the ability to raise the sun each day was confirmed in "Hearth Warming Eve" to be a normal unicorn ability, albeit likely one that required a group of them working together before Celestia came along. And yes, if Luna had been there too things would have gone differently, which is why she ''wasn't''. Give the writers ''some'' room to create meaningful conflict.
** Just because Celestia can raise the sun doesn't mean she has god-like powers in other areas. It's entirely possible that she has great power over the sun ''specifically'', and relatively little power with other types of magic. (I mean, she's obviously more powerful than average. She's just not god-mode powerful.)
** Another, more God Celestia compliant, theory is that ThePowerOfLove is just that strong. One way to think about love is that it is a more intense and generally more powerful version of friendship and thus would produce a power more potent than it. Assuming that Cadance was taken some time before the events of the episode, that means that Chrysalis has been stockpiling a suped up version of ThePowerOfFriendship for quite a while. Whether of not this means she can produce a burst akin to the Elements of Harmony depends of the conversion rate of [[ThePowerOfFriendship Friendship]] to [[ThePowerOfLove Love]].
*** THIS. It's not that Celestia is weak, it's that Cadance and Shining Armor's love was that powerful. If Twilight and the others had gotten the Elements of Harmony, I wonder if they wouldn't have worked.
*** So, it was okay for Celestia to lose? Of course, Chrysalis didn't expect to win that faceoff, but there's all forms of indication that Celestia is that powerful; In Heart's Warming Eve, it was said that the ritual did require unicorns to use, but how many? Celestia has enough magic power to do so as ''one pony''. She also has the aspects of Pegasi-flight and assumed weather control-and Earth Ponies since her body type tends to conform-which also assumes a connection to the earth and incredible strength and resilience. They put someone like her in a green and webby prison egg thing. Does that not bother anyone else?
*** I presume the Changelings paralyze the ponies before putting them into cocoons.
*** It probably does bother those viewers who've taken the whole fan-created "Celestia is a '''''goddess!!!'''''" meme to heart, yes. You'll notice, though, that the ''show'' never actually comes out and says anything like that; she's a, possibly even ''the'', Princess of Equestria, but never gets accused of outright divinity in canon. Moreover, having a special talent for moving the sun (as indicated by her cutie mark) does not automatically make her any more badass in an actual ''fight'' than any other powerful unicorn...like, say, Shining Armor, who Chrysalis apparently had plenty of time to sink her real or figurative fangs into.
*** Well, after all, ponies frequently refer to Celestia where we would say God, so...
*** She's their primary authority figure and has been for over a thousand years, yes. But even if the other ponies ''believe'' her to be an actual goddess as we'd understand the concept -- unclear at this time since pony religion hasn't really come up in the show at all, probably so as not to needlessly wake sleeping MoralGuardians --, that doesn't necessarily make her one in fact. (That the ancient Egyptians supposedly believed in the divinity of their pharaos didn't exactly endow ''those'' with mighty supernatural powers either as far as we can tell.)
*** The indications are that Celestia simply ''is'' more powerful than the normal ponies, and indeed probably one of the more powerful entities in the setting. She can control the sun as a single pony -- the play somewhat implied it took more than one normal unicorn to do it. She broke a spell cast by Twilight Sparkle -- herself a force to be reckoned with on the series' power scale -- as if it were nothing. She wielded the Elements of Harmony both with the help of her sister and single-handed -- something it currently takes six ponies to accomplish. Queen Chrysalis very, very obviously didn't consider beating her in open combat even a remote possibility until it had already happened. Does this mean she's a goddess? Not necessarily... but it ''does'' mean that Celestia is a force to reckon with. Combine it with her apparent immortality... and "goddess" is the word that would spring to most people's minds.
*** Ultimately, speculations about Celestia's "power level" are just that -- speculation -- because we don't have all that much solid ''information'' to go by. Moving both the sun and the moon on time for a thousand years during Luna's/Nightmare Moon's exile is arguably her most impressive feat to date, but that's really only ''one'' trick (and one that could be [[{{Handwave}} explained away]] as an expression of her personal special talent and her specifically being Luna's sister if need be), and beyond that we don't see her exercising whatever personal magical powers she may have much at all. Perhaps worse, her known track record in facing {{Big Bad}}s by herself (i.e., without the Elements of Harmony) is three losses out of three so far: Nightmare Moon is strongly implied to have imprisoned her offstage easily enough, she's not even shown to ''try'' taking on Discord herself when he breaks free, and against Chrysalis she finally officially loses onscreen. TheOmnipotent who simply decides to [[AllPowerfulBystander keep losing on purpose for some reason]]? Just a literal [[IncrediblyLamePun one-trick pony]] with [[HundredPercentAdorationRating great PR]]? Something in between the two extremes? You decide.
**** Considering everything we know about Trollestia personality wise it's entirely possible that she simply LET Nightmare Moon win their fight. Where ever she was being held she either broke out on her own or was conviently teleported to RIGHT OUTSIDE when her sister was defeated. Personally I think she was quietly watching from outside and could have intervened if she chose. Whole thing was a secret test of charachter for Twi. Not sure on Discord or Chrysalis though.
** Or it's possible that Celestia simply held back on unleashing her full power out of fear of the other ponies in the room getting hurt, using only the bare minimum she though would be needed, then taken out by a sucker punch.
*** Seconded. Celestia had the power to defeat Crysalys. She had the power (along with Luna of course) to defeat Discord. She stopped Twilight's "Want It Need It" spell with barely a thought. She used the Elements HERSELF to trap her sister with a SuperPoweredEvilSide. It is very clear that she is a powerful princess, and should not be trifled with. However, during the battle with Crysalys, she used one of her least-powerful spells to keep the civilian ponies from getting hurt. Consider.also,the possibility of surprise. Celestia has obviously not faced the changelings before, and as such underestimated their powers. So, using the simplest spell in her repetiore seemed the best way to save as many ponies as possible and defeat the villain in the easiest way possible.
** It bears keeping in mind thought, that Celestia might very well be a case of WeakButSkilled; stuff like moving the sun or disabling the Want-It, Need-It spell could just as easily be chalked up to the fact that she's had over a millennium to learn to use her method most effectively, and that when it comes to matters of raw strength, she's only a few steps above Twilight. As said above, we simply have no context for her raw power level; we don't know whether she has the magical ability of ten Twilights, or a thousand Twilights. Stuff like the sun raising spell doesn't really help, because we have no clue how many ponies the original version took; it could have taken hundreds of unicorns, but it's also entirely possible that half a dozen Twilight-tier ponies could pull it off.
* If changelings feed off emotions, why do they have fangs?
** Because [[RuleOfCool they're cool.]]
** Because they can eat actual food in addition to love.
*** Actually, I don't know if they can. The only time we see her actually eat anything she doesn't enjoy it and promptly throws it away (true it's suppose to add to her jerkassness, but there could be more to it). Even beforehand she looks like she's doesn't look forward to eating the food (whereas with the other wedding aspects she just has a look of disinterest to her)
** RuleOfSymbolism. They ''are'' essentially [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]], after all.
** The comic shows them feeding. They suck love in through their mouths, so the fangs are probably to help hold larger, stronger prey in place during the process.
* When did Chrysalis replace Cadance? My first thought is that it must have been several months ago, before Shining Armor even proposed marriage. I figure this because, as Twilight says, Shining Armor would normally discuss such a big decision with his sister before actually getting engaged. He didn't mention it to her, so I can only assume Chrysalis was messing with his mind at the time, which means she had already replaced Cadance. (We're going with the theory that Chrysalis intentionally prevents Shining from contacting Twi, right? And not just that he's "really busy"? Because really, how hard would it be to send Twilight a letter?). But, if Chrysalis has been Cadance for so long, what has Cadance been ''eating'' down in those caves? And how does she know about the wedding?
** How about this: Chrysalis replaced Cadance months ago. She's been keeping Cadance fed because she wants Cadance to keep generating love that Chrysalis can indirectly feed on. Cadance knows about the wedding because Chrysalis told her, via villainous gloating. Fortunately, Cadance is just as willing to marry Shining Armor as Chrysalis pretended to be.
** While possible it is unlikely that Cadance would just go ahead and marry when it wasn't even her that was proposed to. It seems more likely that she was taken around the time she was proposed to. The chaos of such a thing would be the primary reason they might have forgotten to message Twilight and by the time they would have remembered Cadance had already been replaced and the threat made aware.
** Given how poor a job the Queen did of acting like Cadance, it was probably around the time the threat was made. If it wasn't for the excuse of additional stress from planning the wedding on her own, the Queen would have been made easily, even with Shining Armor brainwashed. Shining Armor probable didn't tell Twilight about the engagement earlier because he wanted it to be a surprise. He also couldn't tell her in person because his job kept him in Canterlot.
** It was probably after the decision had been made to have the Mane Cast help in the wedding preparations, and after the point where she could refuse them without suspicion. Having the Mane Six close by exposed her to one of the ponies that knew Cadance well, and risked them being able to use the Elements.
* Okay, can someone PLEASE tell me how the Royal Guard was so easily subdued? All throughout the first episode we see dozens of them stationed all over the place, so how is it that the Changelings won so quickly? It's not like they had the element of surprise by the time they broke through the barrier, unless the Guards happened to not be looking up for the minute or so it took the Changelings to finish off the barrier. On top of that the Mane 6 who, while they have proven to be exceptionally Badass time and again, manage to defeat a large horde of Changelings between the 6 of them. In fact we only see two Royal Guards who are of course bound and useless, so what about the rest of them? Are you telling me 6 ponies are a more capable fighting force than the ENTIRE ROYAL GUARD minus Shining Armor? Even if their commander was getting married, it's not like they wouldn't have sub-captains and lieutenants directing the various units. Now of course the more obvious reason was to allow the Mane 6 to have an epic battle sequence, but wouldn't it have been even MORE epic to have the Royal Guard lending a hand? I just find it hard to believe a trained army could be so easily defeated.
** Even by the end, the Mane 6 were subdued by the Changelings. On top of that, the Changelings can shapeshift, making it very hard to tell them apart and fight them. If they used the same technique they used on the Mane 6 on the guards, it would be a lot harder since the guards all look the same.
** Remember too that the Queen had their captain brainwashed. She knew exactly where they were deployed, where they were weak, what the individual members were capable of... her minions were likely under order to finish them off first, only going for the group of six unarmored ponies runing through the city when they went for the elements of harmony. It was also likely that groups of them were indeed still fighting, but it wasn't plot important enough to show them.
*** Come on, let's be honest. The Royal Guard hasn't really proven themselves to be effective save Shining Armor's impressive barrier. I mean, when you live in a matriarchal society where your main leaders are triple-aspected Gods, you don't have much to do normally.
** When have the Royal Guards ''ever'' proven themselves to be more than a RedshirtArmy, anyway?
*** Fighting a co-ordinated battle, in a city, without central leadership, against a foe with air superiority, enough power to break down your supposedly indestructible fortifications and no apparent regard for civilian casualties or collateral damage... good luck with that. My best guess is that the guards decided that the changelings were out of their league, and went off and did something useful, like evacuate civilians.
* Is it spelled Cadence or Cadance? The former is what I thought it was (and the way this site spells it), but the closed captions and the MLP Wikia spell it as "Cadance".
** Cadance is the official spelling.
* When Cadance first goes over the wedding arrangements with the main characters, it's pretty clear that she doesn't approve of most of them. Twilight uses this as ammunition against her later, which the other ponies quickly dismiss as desiring things to be right on her special day. An understandable sentiment, to be certain, even if we don't like them to become bridezillas. But then all of the trickery and drama occurs, and at the end the real Cadance prepares for the same wedding... and a quick montage shows that she instantly approves of all of the previous designs. While there are certainly other possibilities in play (Cadance genuinely agreeing with them, or counting her blessings that she's getting a wedding at all), is it really a good idea to subvert TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong, only to double subvert it later?
** Well, to be fair, there wasn't much time, the episode was almost over. It's possible that she gently objected to some things (I could imagine that she asked for a different hairstyle, for example) and we just got to see the outcome, that she was genuinely happy. It's less about this trope and more about just showing that she's sweet and kind. I didn't see it as a double subversion. The problem wasn't that fake!Cadance disapproved, it was just the way she acted.
** Plus, Chrysalis was a ControlFreak. She probably found something wrong with ''everything'' simply to assert her control over every little thing. And it's also possible the choices were meant for the REAL Cadance to begin with, and Chrysalis simply had different preferences than her. There was ''nothing'' wrong with their arrangements except they were meant for the real mare, not her AxCrazy EvilQueen impostor.
* Where did that bouquet that Cadance used on the bridesmaids come from? I would normally just say RuleOfFunny except the plot hinged on them being able to get out of the cave, so to pull a random bouquet out of nowhere seems weird. It's not like this is Pinkie Pie either, this is Cadance, whose only personal magic has been to be the Equestrian version of Cupid. I know it seems like I'm fixated on this, but it's so easy to fix too; just have a patch of flowers growing in that one area (there's light streaming in, so there wouldn't be too much question of how flowers are growing in a cave) ,have Cadance pick some, and boom, problem solved.
** It's possible it was simply an illusion or some other conjuration by Cadance. She is a winged unicorn after all. One way to justify this is that her talent seems to be love/matchmaking which often includes a bouquet of flowers as a key item for such rituals.
** We see Trixie conjuring a bunch of flowers out of thin air earlier in the series, and it's treated like quite a simple trick.
* Why doesn't Twilight just teleport out of the caverns? Or did she [[ForgotAboutHisPowers forget that spell again? ]]
** I get the feeling Twilight needs to know the distance she's teleporting. It's not as simple as, "I want to go there," if she doesn't know where 'there' is in relation to where she is.
** Twilight's teleports are almost always short range and line of sight, and she couldn't see an exit. Teleporting straight up as far as you can go, even with someone that can fly right next to you, is always a very desperate plan, and they never got quite that desperate.
** Also, the only time we really see her teleport a long distance to someplace she can't actually see that I remember, she was under massive stress, admitted she didn't ''know'' she could do that, and nearly fried Spike when he came along. She may well not have mastered doing it at will, and even if she did, Cadance is a squishy pony, not a scale-covered dragon -- there's no guarantee she'd survive the side effects.
* Queen Chrysalis's handling of Twilight. Seriously; all of it. I understand that the writers needed something for Twilight to found her suspicions on, but the most basic common sense infiltration tactics say that when you encounter a close relation to the person you are imitating, you play along until something about that relationship is revealed that you can use to allay suspicions. Instead, Chrysalis is instantly dismissive of Twilight to such a degree that it provokes an immediate response that eventually causes her to confront her brother. I mean, why? Her exchange with Applejack proved that she at least had the capacity to grit her teeth and force out politeness, so why didn't she do that with Twilight? What could she possibly gain by this? Even if that put off was supposed to be part of some scheme to get rid of Twilight after she publicly humiliates herself and no one would want her around, it's a plan she wouldn't even have to use if she just acted the part like she should have in the first place.
** Because that was all part of her plan. Her plan was to goad Twilight into murdering the real Cadance down in the caverns. First, she'd do everything possible to make Twilight think Cadance had a Face Heel Turn somewhere along the way. Then, when the time came to send Twilight into the caverns, she'd taunt her, whipping her into a frenzy, before having her blast her way through to the real Cadance. At which point an enraged Twilight, she expected, would kill her right then and there.
*** Do we even ''know'' if that was her plan? This is the same villain that went "HOLY CRAP! That actually worked?" when she punched out a freaking Princess and went "Meh, I don't see anything happening" when the exact same power to punch out said Princess was going to be used against her.
** On top of the previous, keep in mind Chrysalis still had the Elements to fear. Getting rid of one of the Elements of Harmony Bearers neutralizes their threat to her. Problem? Doing it in a way that won't draw suspicion until it's too late. So she picked one of the group out of it, namely the one who actually KNEW Cadance, and made her suspicious, trying to goad her into a confrontation of some kind she could twist around and make her look like the bad guy. Sure, Twilight seeing her MindRape probably wasn't part of the plan, but she adapted to it.
*** If that's the case, why not just kill Cadance herself? Or Twilight? I'll assume for the moment that before she started feeding on Shining Armor she lacked the capacity to do this herself. She somehow has knowledge of these secret caverns beneath Canterlot that no one else knows about, right? To the extent of knowing where the entrances and exits are, because she knew where to have her hypnotized bridesmaids stand guard. Presumably other ponies don't search these caves, because Cadance was simply left down there for an indeterminate amount of time without being found. Once she has herself set up as Cadance, she smuggles several dozen of her followers into the city (y'know... shapeshifters?), and send them to wait in the caverns. Then once she sends Cadance down there, they devour her alive. Same plan for anyone else that needs to be taken out of the way.
*** Because she's a sadistic monster, that's why. She deliberately wanted to torture Twilight both by having her kill someone, and even worse, realize she out and out murdered her friend when she heard the wedding going on as planned above.
*** Claiming that Chrysalis was deliberately risking her cover like that seems a stretch. While she took full advantage of Twilight's distrust, purposefully estranging Twilight like that would have been an incredible risk, with little-to-no reward over over keeping Twilight on her good side.
** Maybe Chrysalis just screwed up. Maybe she just assumed Twilight would mirror her brother's opinions. Thus, she didn't try very hard to fool Twilight.
** It's possible that she didn't have the time to study Cadance, or that Cadance is just that opposite in character, or maybe she's just plain a bad actor.
** It looked like Chrysalis was annoyed by the sheer presence of the Mane Six. She had successful isolated Shining from his family, who would’ve been the first ones to noticed that something was wrong, but then Celestia invited Twi and there wasn’t much that Chrysalis could do about it. At first she barley could contain her frustration and wasn’t rational. It took her a while to calm down and adjust to the new situation. At the point she probably get rid of her old bridesmaids, so that Twi’s friends could take the free spot in an attempt to win them over.
*** Chrysalis didn't kill Cadance because she was powering herself up by absorbing Cadance's love for Shining Armor. Kill her, and that power/food sources disappears.
*** As for why she didn't make an effort to fool Twilight, here's my theory: Chrysalis' plan involved going incognito for an extended period of time (she must have replaced Cadance before the barrier went up), so she studied Cadance's relationships with Celestia and Shining Armor to imitate Cadance better. There are two reasons she didn't do this for Twilight: First, she didn't realize Twilight knew Cadance that well and as such didn't prepare to fool her. Second, by this point she's probably been undercover for a good amount of time and she's getting sick of pretending to be Cadance. Shining Armor and Celestia have been interacting with her on a frequent basis, so they write off her bitchiness as wedding-related stress (when Chrysalis first switched in, she likely acted far more like Cadance) when in reality it's just Chrysalis making less and less effort to act like Cadance. When Twilight shows up out of nowhere, Chrysalis is ill-prepared to deal with her, and really can't be arsed to get back into character just to deal with one pony. So she takes the shortcut of physically removing Twilight on the assumption that it'll keep her out of the way long enough for the plan to come to fruition. Keep in mind that Chrysalis' plan is literally a day away from completion, so it's not that weird that after months of working on it Chrysalis just went "Screw it, I'll chuck her in the dungeon" rather than going to the trouble of figuring out how to get on Twilight's good side.
* Cadance's love magic in Twilight's flashback (the one with the quarrelling pony couple), aside from being [[TastesLikeDiabetes sickeningly sweet]] and having vaguely disturbing [[MindRape mind rape-y]] undertones, contradicts the CMC's lesson in Hearts and Hooves Day, namely that one must respect other's feelings and let them work out their relationships on their own. I understand that Cadance, being a carefree adolescent at the time, might have misused her power for her own amusement, but the whole thing is handled positively, and there's no indication that she has changed once she was a grown-up. When fake!Cadance showed up and started acting bitchy towards Twilight, I honestly thought that she was just a SpoiledBrat who got around by manipulating ponies with her power and making them love her.
** This one I was sort of okay with. It's one thing to use mind-altering magics to cause two ponies who are clearly not interested to fall desperately in love. It's another thing to use what is most certainly much less invasive magic to help two ponies who are probably already in love realize that what they are arguing about is a petty and trivial thing that is making them forget how much they care about each other.
*** Possibly, but it might help if we actually knew, or knew that Cadance knew, what the argument was about.
**** Well, there are no details, but given that she kept talking about how she was going to a hooficure, where her friends are, it's quite likely that they knew each other or were even married. At the very least, they were certainly no strangers.
*** We don't really know how exactly that spell worked, we just saw it being cast and its most obvious effect. It's quite possible that its whole purpose was to ''remind'' the squabbling couple of their love for each other (which would also mean that it wouldn't have worked if there really hadn't been anything to remind them ''of''). In pretty sharp contrast to [[ShadowArchetype Chrysalis]], Cadance just doesn't come across as the deliberately manipulative type.
*** Remember the spell Twilight casts in "Return of Harmony" to remind her brainwashed friends of their feelings for each other and thus snap them out of Discord's spell? I think we just saw who Twilight learned how to do that from.
* What's up with Shining Armor's sclera being light blue? Everypony has it pure white except for him. A disease, maybe?
** Maybe because he's white too and it would look as if he doesn't have any scelera? Most other white ponies (Celestia, the guards) have rimmed eyes, so the issue doesn't arise.
** Prince Blueblood actually has blue sclera, too. Make of that what you will.
*** I make of it that they used the same eye type (if not the same body-except-hair type) for both Blueblood and Shining Armor.
* If the changelings feed on love, than why openly invade and terrorize the population? People who are being attacked by horrible monsters usually feel terrified, not loving. Wouldn't it make sense for them to do exacly as their queen did, i.e. infiltrate pony communities under disguise, hook up with ponies or probably abduct and replace their loved ones and then leech on their love?
** It's only a guess, but: consider how many changelings we actually see on screen. There really ''are'' a lot of them making up just this one swarm. That means that in order to feed them all they'd likely also have to replace a lot of ''ponies'' if they wanted to go the 'subtle' route...which would increase the risk of being caught in the act and bringing the wrath of the princesses and whatever forces they have at their command down on them ''anyway''. So it's not inconceivable that Chrysalis could have decided to take advantage of the royal wedding (where pretty much everypony who was anypony would be present) to launch a preemptive decapitation strike at the Equestrian government right away -- the changelings could then always go back to playing their disguise games at their leisure ''after'' taking over, after all.
*** Except that's a terrible plan. They feed on LOVE. The entire plan from beginning to end is pants on head stupid when you think about it. Frightening the population is like invading a country for food and setting the farms on fire during the invasion. You simply wouldn't do it. My guess is they can feed on fear just fine just love is better.
** It's only a WMG, but it's possible the changelings have more direct means of feeding off their victims, once they're incapacitated. We saw them gather around cornered ponies. And really, we've never actually seen how they feed.
** That they feed on love doesn't necessarily mean that anybody needs to specifically love ''them'' (or whoever they're pretending to be at the moment). We can't necessarily generalize from the sole example of Queen Chrysalis -- she had reasons to take the subtle approach ''beyond'' just looking for a meal. For all we know, threatening one victim to tickle out whatever love and concern anyone else nearby may be feeling for ''them'' could be a perfectly fine standard changeling feeding method.
* Twilight says that before the mane six she had no friends except for her brother. Wouldn't young!Cadance count as a friend?
** A babysitter would probably count more as a parental figure. It's unlikely that a small child would think of an adolescent/young adult as a friend, especially since Cadance was looking after her, so they weren't exactly on equal footing there.
* What were Celestia and Luna looking at/for through the telescope? The fact that it was pointed ''downward'' suggests it wasn't for astronomic purposes.
** For enemies.
* Why did Fake!Cadence imprism (no that wasnt a typo) Twilight? Twilight believed that she was evil, but ''everybody'' didnt, including the Mane 6, her brother, and ''Celestia''. She has no one to turn to, and Fake!Cadence could easily have her banished and then thrown into a dungeon where she banished her too if Twilight tried to stop the wedding again, especially if Twilight used violence
** It was probably Chrysalis being on the safe side, which was a smart move. Twilight's friends may have been put off by her erratic behavior at the rehearsal, but Chrysalis should know as much as anyone how close they all are and how important friendship is; the rest of the Mane 6 would never turn their backs on Twilight completely. Princess Celestia is arguably closer to Twilight than Cadance herself (at the very least, they've had more on-screen interactions). It's conceivable, perhaps even likely, that Twilight would have been able to convince everyone of the truth if she had a little more evidence and/or was calmer. Chrysalis couldn't take that chance.
* Furthermore, (ignoring this is a kid's show) if she was going to trap Twilight, why didn't she just kill both of them? Keeping witnesses alive is generally a bad thing for {{Big Bad}}s I mean, if you're basically a team of [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 Spies]], then why not backstab the ones you are trying to impersonate?
** She may have kept Cadance around to milk her for more information, and got so caught up in planning the wedding, buttering Celestia up and making invasion plans, she never got around to the killing part. Killing Cadence was probably a low priority, since having her hidden in the Canterlot caves was almost as good, and she only needed to be gone until after the invasion. She could also have planned to just leave them both down there and let them both die of thirst. No need to get your hands dirty for no good reason. Or her control freak-side just loved to watch them squirm.
*** Yes, but Cadence can fly, and can carry twilight. Other than ItWasAwesome, the mine-cart rollercoaster ride was pointless. They definitely had an escape route. Also, (different question) why the FRUIT did Fake!Cadence put the exit to her portal at the castle?
*** Actually, Cadance may not have been physically able to fly a whole lot due to her confinement. The mine cart hit the dead end, they both flew into the air a good distance, and Cadance glided to even out their trajectory and make sure they landed safely on the opposite side.
*** Was the exit at the castle? We didn't see where Twilight and Cadance came out, and rearranging an ''entire forgotten mine'' without anyone noticing is not an easy task. She also had guards on the exit, who she expected to do a better job, as well as the caves being a [[ColossalCave maze of twisty little passages, all alike.]] She probably didn't expect them to be able to find their way out that quickly.
* Wait, how was Canterlot protected before Shining Armor was around? He's only been around to cast the protection spell for only a few years. What was keeping the Changelings from attacking in the decades or so before he came around? It can't be fear of Celestia, the loss of the shield wouldn't keep her from intervening.
** The previous commander of the royal guard also knew protective spells? Some other wizard? The changeling weren't strong enough to mount an attack? There could be many factors and we have no information, so it's pretty pointless to guess.
** Who's to say it ever needed protection on the scale that Shining Armor is capable of producing? It was Chrysalis' idea to raise the barrier, for whatever reason she had for doing that.
* Really minor nitpick, but ignoring RuleOfFunny, who lets a BABY dragon organize a bachelor party?
** Spike's only a baby by dragon standards. He's right up there with ponies in terms of intelligence and maturity.
*** He's approximately the age and maturity of a relatively mature prepubescent child. That's still not someone you want running a bachelor party.
**** Keep in mind the setting here as well as the fact it was played jokingly. A bachelor party is only a problem for those under the age of 18 if the plan is to have 'adult entertainment as is commonly shown it would seem to happen during bachelor parties. That and as Spike was planning it there clearly wouldn't be anything inappropriate going on, ignoring the fact or perhaps enforced by it that Spike had it planned for after the wedding.
* So... were Twilight's friends, mentor, and brother seriously going to leave Twilight for dead in those caves? I mean, I know she was acting like a total bitch, but I wouldn't doubt that ''no one'' would find her after the wedding was said and done. Unless all her friends' middle names happen to be Judas, then that would be understandable.
** I am almost positive that they were planning to talk things over with her once she calmed down, but it seems as though not a whole lot of time had passed between her outburst and the wedding.
** Let's also not forget that after Chrysalis sent Twilight into the caves, naturally ''nobody else knew where she was''. Even if her friends had gone looking for her and quizzed "Cadence" whether ''she'd'' seen Twilight, Chrysalis could always have feigned ignorance herself (optionally even delivering an excuse along the lines of "I tried to talk to her, but she ran away and I don't know where she went") with nopony any wiser...
** Add in that according to Chrysalis nopony knew about those caverns, even if they had gone looking for Twilight, they wouldn't have know where to look.
*** Hah. Wonder what that says about Celestia. [[NeverLiveItDown Lived in Equestria for 1,000 years, don't even know that there's an underground mine]]. Actually, she said that ''most'' ponies forgot about it.
* How the hell was ''Celestia'' fooled by Chrysalis? I mean, aren't Celestia and Cadance supposed to be close? I mean, with the Mane Six, it's because they never saw her before (or in the case of Twilight, for a long time), and in Shining Armor's case, he was brainwashed. But how was Celestia, someone who should know Cadance more, fooled by someone who is clearly bad at disguising as her, going as far as to laugh evilly during her freaking wedding?
** I never got the impression Celestia and Cadance knew each other well at ''all''. They're both called "Princess" granted, but Celestia and Luna are the rulers of Equestria; Cadance seems more like a noblemare who actively interacts with the commoners outside of ceremonial duties. As for Cadance being Celestia's niece, well, Blueblood was supposed to be her nephew, and they didn't seem to know each other well either.
*** Huh. Well, I guess that explains it. Thanks.
* Why are some people surprised that Twilight never mentioned her brother to her friends? Maybe it's just me, but I have friends that I've been friends with for over 5 years, and I've never told them about my own older brother, or any of my siblings in fact. It's a real-life YouNeverAsked thing for me, and I think it was the same for Twilight. It never bothered me that she never told her friends she has a brother.
** I guess some people are just disturbed by the fact that a character we've never heard of before appears completely out of nowhere to shoehorn himself into the already established backstory of a much more developed character
* How retarded is Chrysalis, exactly, to put ''bridesmaids'' between her captives and the exit of the caves? Unless her MindControl spell gives supernatural strength and stamina, seems like they'd be the most incompetent jailors ever. Why not take control of a few Royal Guards, at least? As Red Shirty as they are, they would have to perform better than ''bridesmaids''. Chrysalis holds the VillainBall for all the duration of her plan, but this has to take the cake!
** Well they... uhhhh... mmmmm.... hmmmmm? ...Good point. Even a few of her changelings would be better guards. Maybe she was just using what she had, and she could easily pass off their absence as "doing a favor" and claiming a falling out as why they never showed up. An outright absence of Royal Guards would get noticed (well, she could just grab some off duty ones...). Since they are Cadance's friends, she's hoping she would hesitate enough for the bridesmaids to subdue her, and [[IndyPlot tossed Twilight in their on the fly without thinking of how it'd render her bridesmaids useless]]. Still, that's grasping for straws, and anybody else would have been better retainers.
** I'm going with the "she used what she had available" theory here. Her swarm wasn't ''there'' yet, the Royal Guards presumably at least keep tabs on their own making it hard for any of them to "disappear" for any significant length of time...so putting the bridesmaids she no longer really needs because she has a new (if not necessarily welcome) set anyway to use actually makes some degree of sense.
* Why did Celestia even ALLOW the wedding to take place? Clearly, everyone in Canterlot is aware of the threat that is assumed to be the Changelings. It doesn't matter if the wedding plans were made before or after the moment of the threat announcement. Whereas it is entirely plausable that Chrysalis controlled Shining Armor to want to have the wedding ASAP, Celestia is not mind controlled, and it would be absolutely absurd to approve and foresee the wedding of your Royal Guard Commander and your niece in the middle of a crisis when it could easily be postponed and rescheduled. Don't even throw the "weddings are hard to reschedule after so much planning" argument, because seriously, she's the Princess, there's a bucking crisis, and they ended up being clearly able to reschedule it to a later date, and it was at least two days later, considering that they used at LEAST one more day to repeat all the preparations again.
** It's a ''royal'' wedding -- as much a major political event as anything else. You don't lightly cancel those just on account of a random vague threat or three because it'd set a bad precedent and make your government look weak; instead you do your best to tighten up security and then go ahead as planned anyway. Which is exactly what Celestia did. (And if her security measures had in fact been sufficient to meet the threat, we would be seeing compliments for her quick thinking and decisive statesmareship rather than the complaint above. Of course, then we'd have needed something else to fill the ''second'' episode with at the very least...)
** I'm more bothered about why the mane six weren't given the elements as soon as they arrived, or at the very least, make Rarity work the fancy necklaces and crown thingie into the fancy dresses they'll be wearing anyway. If they get attacked, the elements are ready, if they aren't, hey, the elements of harmony attended the royal wedding!
*** Ties into the question why the Elements aren't being used more often to begin with. For example, right at the start of the next season? When Celestia sends Twilight and friends off to help out in the Crystal Empire? She doesn't get the Elements of Harmony out of their vault for that mission, either...and while there's always the [[WatsonianVersusDoylist out-of-universe argument]] that just blasting King Sombra with the Prismatic Friendship Cannon at the first opportunity would have made for a pretty short story, alternatively it could also point at the Elements having some ''in''-universe constraints on their use that just haven't been spelled out yet.
* It's been established that 1) Twilight has a far greater magical potential than any other Unicorn, having enough strength to create a lullaby and lift a Ursa Minor from Ponyville to a cave, and 2) that she can create shields just like Shining Armor. Why doesn't she offer to take up Shining Armor's spot in creating the shield?
** One possible theory is that Shining Armor is more talented at the shields than Twilight, despite her great magic potential. We've only seen her use the shields on her own house where as Shining Armor could create one that can encompass an entire kingdom. It could be that Twilight is simply a JackOfAllTrades, MasterOfNone, where she can ''learn'' these spells, yet she can't ''master'' them as well as someone whose special talent is that spell alone.
** Alternatively, it may not even be that she ''couldn't'' master that spell just as well as her brother -- simply that she ''hasn't'' yet and wouldn't have the time before the wedding, either. (She's also younger than he is and so may for all her raw power and potential be less able to ''sustain'' that kind of effort.)
*** It's also not out of the realm of possiblity that Shining Armor himself is more powerful then the average unicorn. Heck, for all we know, he's the second strongest Unicorn after Twilight, so naturally he'd be more powerful in his specific area. If so, that family seems to produce some pretty badass unicorns
* It's very brief, but at the end of "This Day Aria", just before Cadence goes: "Oh the wedding we won't make, he'll end up marrying a fake" we see Twilight and Shining's parents in the lower right corner. Seemingly unconcerned that their daughter isn't present at her brother's wedding. Combined with how quick Twilight's friend were to walk out on her without giving her a chance to explain or apologize, and showing her no compassion, patience, or forgiveness for her after she was basically disowned by her brother, this casts Twilight's loved ones in a rather disturbing light, particularily as we haven't really seen any interaction between Twilight and her parents after she accidentally turned them into potted plants. Compare to how forgiving the Mane Six were towards Pinkie's outburst in "Party of One", and how forgiving Twilight has been of her friends more mean-spirited behaviour, it just comes off as pure hypocrisy. Again though, my main point her being Twilight's parents apparently not noticing Twilight's absence
** They were only onscreen for a couple of seconds. Not really enough time to show a complex mix of emotions, and they were probably trying to focus on the positives at the moment, rather than dwelling on strife between their children. Kinda disappointing that they didn't have a scene where they talked to their children, but only so many minutes in an episode.
* Twilight has no ill feelings towards everyone for nearly disowning her, but [[WhatIf what if]] she did feel resentful? How do you think she'll react?
* What happened to Shining Armor's helmet after he took it off?
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.14=] The Last Roundup]]
* So was the money to repair the town hall needed because Derpy trashed it, or was it already in terrible condition, which is why it fell apart even though she just bumped into it?
** Hard to say really, but considering that AJ had already pledged prize money for repairs, the town hall was probably already in bad shape. Either way, Derpy did not help matters.
** I think Rainbow Dash implies at the beginning that Derpy is the one who caused the initial damage in the first place. What we see on screen is just her making it even worse.
** It's doubtful that Derpy was responsible for all of that, or even most of it. If she were, the consequences for her would probably have been much more severe than Rainbow Dash telling her to be more careful, and Applejack would have been unlikely to pledge to pay for the repairs unless Derpy was a ''very'' good friend of her, which is not the case from everything we've seen. More likely, the town hall had simply fallen into disrepair over time, and maybe Derpy crashed into it, causing its disrepair to become evident.
*** I dunno. "Applebuck Season", "Boast Busters", "The Best Night Ever", "Lesson Zero", and "Secret of my Excess" all contain examples of Equestrians causing major property damage or putting dozens of lives at risk, and facing no repercussions, or ones so minor they might as well not exist; it doesn't seem as though ponies get punished for their actions unless they're performed from actual malicious intent. Granted, there were mitigating factors in each instance, but Derpy's "special needs" status seems as least as good as any other. I kind of doubt they'd hammer Derpy with any severe penalty. As for why AJ would offer to pay for the damages, this is Poneyville's most helpful citizen we're discussing. Pledging the winnings from the rodeo, a windfall amount that she might not have already had earmarked for the farm, to help her community, seems pretty in line with her character to me.
** If Derpy had been the original cause of the damage, I doubt they'd let her hang around the hall and cause even ''more'' damage. (Remember that AJ had apparently pledged her winnings to fix Town Hall before the episode took place, suggesting that Town Hall was already in need of repair at that time.) I say the whole thing had fallen into disrepair from termites or whatever, and Derpy just made things slightly worse.
** WordOfGod is that she was responsible. As the writer originally wrote it, she (named Ditzy Doo at that point in the wirting) was supposed to have wrecked it while Bolt Bucking, getting careless and making the mistake of doing it too close to the town center, and mistaking Rainbow Dash's warnings as praise when they were rendered unintelligible by the noise of the thunder and lightning. The flashback was cut for time, as the Applejack storyline was more important.
* Where was Spike when all this was happening? Wouldn't he want to go look for one of his closest friends?
** He might have still been sore at Twilight for being used as a file cabinet/bulletin board in "Baby Cakes."
*** Or he's taking care of Fluttershy's animals like he did in Dragonshy
*** He was in Canterlot on official business.
*** He was taking another seven hour bubblebath.
* There was ''no'' runner-up prize money in any of the events Applejack placed in? Isn't there usually a smaller purse for those who place? And hardly anyone at the rodeo remembered the pony who had placed in so many event?
** It looked to me like they remembered her, but didn't know where she went afterward, which seems reasonable.
** Repairs of the magnitude the Town Hall needed can cost upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even if Applejack did earn some consolation prizes, and even if it would cost less than what it would in real life, she probably still didn't have enough.
** Why not send a "Staying here. Will send more money later. Here's some of it now. Bye."
*** The other ponies assumed that she had won all of the blue ribbons, and thus would be able to send all of the money at once. If she only sent some of the money it would seem like even more of a slap in the face to her family and friends, on top of her not returning to Ponyville.
*** Changing the wording of the telegraph doesn't change the fact that, from the perspective of her friends and family, Applejack abandoned her home with no explanation. They'd still be worried and probably still look for her regardless. Keeping the letter vague just ensures that Applejack doesn't have to either lie to everyone she knows or admit that she was (in her own mind) a failure.
* So Rainbow Dash has the word "guns" in her vocabulary. Does that mean firearms are now canon?
** Given how Pinkie actually ''owns'' a large scale firearm in the shape of the Party Cannon, I imagine so, yes. Though trying to fit small arms around hooves would be difficult, so maybe only Artillery Guns exist.
** WMG: Every firearm/weapon mentioned is actually "party" firearm in the genre of Pinkie's Party Cannon. So there are Party Guns, Party Tanks, Party Bullets, maybe a few Party Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, etc.. They're all perfectly harmless and are only used for throwing parties.
* When Dash competed in the Best Young Flyer Competition, the mane 6 attended and cheered her on. But when AppleJack competes in a rodeo...nopony comes along to watch? Not even Applebloom?
** Applebloom is easily explained; she was needed at the farm along with the rest of the Apples. As for the others, it's probably as simple as Applejack telling them didn't need to come because either 1. they were busy with other things or 2. the rodeo tickets were expensive.
** Two therioes: Theory A. Maybe the Rodeo was on a weekday (assuming the Flyers competition was on a weekend) so the Mane cast needed to work. Of course, this doesn't explain why Pinkie, with her rather lax work ethic couldn't come. Theory B: Applejack has gotten a bit GenreSavvy and identified the chaos that happened at the Young Flyers Competition was a result of the Mane Cast being about and politely asked them to stay at home to avoid a repeat performance. Bit out of character, admittedly, but the idea kind of amuses me.
** I like this one better: the girls went to the Best Young Flier's competition because ''Rarity'' told them how much Rainbow Dash needed their support. She saw through Rainbow's bravado and knew that her friend needed the emotional support to actually get out and perform. Applejack, conversely, did NOT need the extra rooting. She was sure of herself, the others knew it, and while it would've been nice to go, they figured Applejack was in good shape and would come back with her hooves full of rewards.
** It appears that Canterlot is a bit further away from Ponyville than Cloudsdale is, and the rodeo event was implied to take place over the course of several days, as many real-life rodeos are. The rest of the Mane Cast may not have been able to take that much time off.
** In addition to that, it also seems that the rodeo probably wasn't quite as big a deal as the Best Young Fliers competition was. The latter is apparently a big enough deal that the uber-popular Wonderbolts and ''Celestia herself'' are in attendance, whereas it's never implied that the rodeo is such a big event. As far as we know, the rodeo is just one of several similar competitions (and given that AJ has ''won'' in previous rodeos, this would seem to be the case), and as such there's less reason for everyone to come along. To put it in modern perspective, the BYF competition is analogous to a huge, nationally televised championship game in a popular sport, whereas the rodeo is something more along the lines of a regional championship, or a championship in a less popular sport (like billiards or something) that might have a decent sized amount of prize money, but isn't nearly as popular as the BYF. And as noted, Rainbow Dash needs the moral support a lot more than Applejack does.
* So Derpy's cutie mark is bubbles, but she's a mailpony? What's with her cutie mark, then? I know that her being a mailpony (who likes muffins) is basically something that the fandom leaped onto, but do we have an in-universe reason?
** You just answered your own question. her being a mailpony is entirely a fan-made thing, just like her addiction to muffins. If you want some kind of connection between being a mailpony and bubbles: bubblewrap. Besides, it's not like your cutie mark is explicitly indicative of your proffesion, else Rarity would be a jewler, Fluttershy would be an entomologist, and Twilight would be an astronomer.
*** Agreed that a cutie mark doesn't necessarily determine a pony's profession. A high majority of the ponies we've seen work based on their talents, and why wouldn't they? It's their talent and they wish to see it put to good use. It's more about choice than it is destiny, and there are bound to be some ponies who prefer to work in other professions, like Pinkie Pie who has a talent for parties but works in a cake store (which can be used for things other than parties), and Rainbow Dash who's talent is speed, and while she applies it in her work, her main job is weather management. However, the literal interpretation of the symbols of the cutie marks is off.
* Why couldn't Twilight and the others have figured out that Applejack didn't win at any event of the competition? Why couldn't they put the facts together to come to some conclusion on why Applejack decided to not return? With the way that Applejack was acting quite cold towards her own friends and keeping a tight lip on things, it should clue in to the girls why she's acting like that.
** Twilight and the others didn't see winning second and third place as bad things, they didn't think that Applejack would be so upset at getting those ranks. In fact, they were actually excited to learn that Applejack got second and third place in many events. They probably assumed that Applejack was leaving over a much bigger issue.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.15=] The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000]]
* While I'm aware that this borders on a FamilyUnfriendlyAesop, it needs to be asked. It's established that not enough cider is made each day to serve all of the desiring customers. It's also established that Sweet Apple Acres needs its cider money to fund its way through the winter, which is one reason why they decided not to partner with the Flim Flam Bros. Isn't the solution obvious from a basic business perspective? ''Raise the price.'' Demand decreases to match supply and you have more earnings that can keep your orchard afloat.
** The Apples never said they had any problems with the income their cider generates as of now; merely that they have a limited supply of their very popular product. Some customers were disappointed that they didn't get their share, but not to the point were they'd do more than grumble. In fact, they seem perfectly willing to start lining up for miles the next day just to increase their chances of getting a cup. There'd be no reason to deliberately drive some away, especially considering that the family depends on repeat business. Besides, the Apples are all straightforward ponies; they'd see such a tactic as dishonest and reject it out of hand.
** The cider sales are what keep them afloat during the Winter. It's not supposed to make them a profit, so increasing the price would not be a suitable solution.
* Or, from a more benevolent business standpoint, shouldn't Applejack have learned one potentially valuable lesson from this whole ordeal? Aside from how the whole competition was a massive risk for her and did nothing but benefit the Bros. (if nothing else, she just gave them a field's worth of apples for free) and she should have refused to take part from the get-go, shouldn't she have learned that maybe Sweet Apple Acres would benefit from more employees? She could get enough manpower to increase supply to meet demand, and if they really do have enough apples to spare before they go bad, the increase in sales could easily pay the wages with no other lost costs.
* I get that Sweet Apple Acres is a family farm, and for the most part they can get by just fine with Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, and Applejack (and to an extent, Apple Bloom) doing all the work, but seeing how ridiculously busy Cider Season is, wouldn't it be a good idea to hire one or two temporary workers just for that time? Equestria doesn't seem to have high unemployment rates (lucky...) but surely they could find a couple ponies willing to do a little extra work for a few bits? Shoot, even if they got their friends to pitch in for a few hours for free (they seem to have a lot of free time on their hooves) they could probably get a LOT done. Even though it appears the farm and family do sometimes struggle for money, if they hired one or two extra ponies they would profit in the long run because of all the extra cider they would make.
** Sweet Apple Acres is more than a business: it's an Apple family tradition. Letting in outsiders, aside from ''very'' good friends, would likely be seen as a violation of their values. It's not really logical, but that's the way these things go with close-knit families.
*** There should be an episode focusing on non-Apples working at the farm. Maybe a "sometimes, traditions need to change" lesson, perhaps.
*** That leaves the mule in Applebuck Season unexplained.
**** The mule wasn't working, though. He seemed to just be hanging out there for some reason.
* I can't help but feel that if the Flim Flam brothers had been even remotely fair or realistic with their partnership offer, or had been willing to negotiate the profit split, then it would've resulted in a mutually-agreeable business relationship. If they'd offered, say, 50/50, or even something in favor of the Apples since they're the ones growing and supplying the apples to make the product, then everyone would've made a profit, everyone would've gotten the high-quality cider (since it's implied that the cider the machine makes is just as good while the quality control is on), and everyone would've been happy.
** Even a 50/50 split would be disadvantageous for the Apples because they still have to cover the overhead of operating a large orchard while the Flim Flam brothers only provide their cider machine. Unless the partnership produced enough cider to serve multiple times the normal amount of customers, the only ones who'd turn a profit from a partnership are the brothers. Besides, the Apples were still dubious about the quality of the machine's work compared to their homemade product (which we can only assume would be inferior even if the brothers didn't ignore quality for quantity). Either way, it'd leave them dependent on the work of the Flim Flam bros. for their financial futures; a very large amount of trust demanded considering that they just met.
** How do we know that 50/50 would be disadvantageous? We just know that 75/25 in the twins favor would mean they lose money. And even assuming they make less per-sale on 50/50 than they would going solo, they'd also be making exponentially more sales. If the brothers had just considered negotiating a business deal that would be mutually beneficial (and really, as long as the twins get a percentage at all they'd benefit since it doesn't cost them a dime to run the machine), the Apples probably would've considered listening. They might not have come to an agreement immediately, but they lost any chance at one by threatening to drive them out of business because they weren't willing to take a deal that would also drive them out of business.
*** They probably could have negotiated ''something'', but the Flim Flam Brothers were obviously looking to get rich quick and weren't interested in an equitable solution. You can't come to a reasonable deal when one of the parties is being deliberately dishonest.
*** Actually, I'm not so sure that a 75/25 split ''would'' result in them losing money in the long run. If you recall the beginning of the competition, the [=SSCS6K=] was able to fill six barrels of cider by the time the Apple family was finished with one. So even though they'd only be making 25% of their normal profit for each glass of cider they sell, they'd also be making six times as many sales (assuming they sold all of the cider they produced, and considering the town's massive cider demand, who's to say they wouldn't?). 25% x 6 = 150%. The end result is that they'd be making 1.5x as much as they usually do.
*** That's not how businesses work. Profit = Revenue - Expenses. What the Apples would be getting is 25% of the revenue, not the profit, or Profit = (Revenue * .25) - Expenses. In this scenario it would be likely that they wouldn't cover their expenses and their profit on every sale would be negative. Thus, by selling more they would actually be losing more money.
*** While that's correct, their expenses are pretty much 0. (Or if you prefer, a flat number based on the cost to maintain the farm and family through winter.) Nothing the machine does actually costs money to run except maintenance, which would be on the brothers. Basically, any money that goes into their pockets from cider sales is raw profit. If they had access to a device that makes six times as much product but only .25 times as much money per sale, and their expenses didn't scale at all with revenue, which it doesn't... Well, the math's already been done two bullets above this. At a 50/50 split, however, which is a much more fair deal, they triple their sales income, (50% X 6 = 300%) but their expenses still aren't directly related to how much product they move, so their expenses are still not very high. If their expenses scaled with sales, then they'd definitely lose money, but they don't, so they don't.
*** Hum... but... they didn't got the apples for free, so their expenses are not "0".
*** They didn't get the apples for free, no, but since their business is already an apple orchard, they already HAVE the apples, because they normally just sell them raw. It's product they're not going to move otherwise, since it's implied that the apples are going bad soon. Every cost associated with making cider is NOT one that scales as you make more, so as long as they make significantly more sales - and they would if they had taken the initial offer - they would've made more money in the long run.
**** But they don't have an unlimited amount of apples, so the long run might not be long enough to ensure profit. Furthermore, even if they would make a profit, the split just wasn't fair. The Apple family would be doing all the work maintaining the farm, growing the apples and harvesting them. Furthermore, even though they already have the apple trees, the farm still has a lot of expenses. They may have to purchase fertilizer, and of course, there's maintenance of the barn, fences, signs, tools, they have to buy things like barrels, and more. Not to mention they need enough money left over to support a family of four. Big Apple Acres is more than just the orchard, they have a lot more to support. And as seem in the episode, the Flim Flam brothers cared only about profit, not quality or integrity. Would you really want to work with someponies like them?
*** As stated a few times, the expenses from running and maintaining the farm, and feeding the family, are all expenses they make already, regardless of whether they make cider. The initial idea was that if the brothers had offered something that was more enticing (like a relatively-reasonable 50/50, since they're bringing unprecedented technology they literally can't get anywhere else to the table), then they probably would've been able to discuss a real business relationship with the Apples, instead of sparking an immediate feud. As for integrity, of COURSE nopony would want to work with them if they knew the brothers for more than 30 seconds. They're jerks, but if they HADN'T been jerks, they would've offered some a split that's not insulting, and could've made something great happen. Quality, though, is a different story. Until they "cheat" at the competition, their cider is implied to actually be delicious. Granny Smith drinks some and clearly looks worried that they actually have an equal product. They very clearly put great care into making sure their machine turns out a quality product consistently. They only stopped caring about quality because they started panicking about potential loss, and they probably figured losing would've made them look even worse than having an undrinkable product.
* When she was speeding up the cider making, why didn't Twilight simply harvest the entire field's worth of apples with magic? We've seen her do it before in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E4ApplebuckSeason Applebuck Season]], and if she had done this then they'd been able to put more energy into the quality control and juicing.
** Because they'd hit a bottleneck with Granny Smith and Rarity inspecting the fruits and the mill only capable of juicing so many at a time. Better to split the crew among the various tasks according to their talents for better overall efficiency at all four steps than to attempt to focus on the sheer volume of one part of the process.
** We don't know how magic works exactly. It's possible that certain spells can only be performed under certain conditions. For instance, maybe in Applebuck Season Twilight had to spend a couple hours ''preparing'' the mega-apple-picking spell before she could actually use it. If so, then such a spell would be worthless in a timed competition like this.
** Alternately, it was just more efficient for Twilight to be helping with the tallying and the barrel moving. You don't always put the best pony on the job, especially if that pony would make the operation faster elsewhere.
* You know, the bet between the brothers and the Apples was only over the "exclusive cider-making rights in Ponyville." It wasn't over Sweet Apple Acres itself. The brothers themselves said two or three times in the episode that they don't have any apples themselves, and every time they demonstrate the use of the machine they have to borrow apples from the Apple family. Couldn't the Apples just sell the apples to the brothers? You know, the apples they need to make any money whatsoever? It would cost them much more to have them shipped from somewhere else, and it's cheaper to buy apples from them than buy their entire farm. The Apples might actually wind up selling their entire field's worth of apples and not have to have any left over they can't sell before they go bad.
** They said they relied heavily on the cider sales to get through the winter. If they sold the apples directly to someone else instead of making cider, they probably wouldn't make as much money.
* They make a big deal about how important the traditional method of making the Cider is, but considering the demand for the cider, any moment they're selling the stuff is time they're not making it. Why doesn't the Apple family subcontract the selling of the Cider? They already do that with Zap Apple jam, why don't they ask, say, Filthy Rich to be their middle-man while they produce the stuff during the day so they can attempt to meet demand?
** I was wondering that myself. However, it's mentioned that the family relies heavily on cider sales to get through the winter. If they sold it to a middle-man, they'd be getting a smaller portion of the profit.
*** But they can't make money on products they don't have. I was suggesting they concentrate on making as much product as possible and get someone else to sell it.
*** Selling cider directly from the source not only allows them to set their own prices, it gets ponies to come directly to the farm and familiarize themselves with the Apple family. Doing so ensures repeat business and allows them to move other apple products while the crowds are still there. They can combine advertisement, seasonal product selling, regular products sold, and the full portion of the profits all by cutting out the middle man. Of course we don't see any additional products sold, but it would be a perfect opportunity.
*** Well, rather than sell it to a middle man, why not spend all of their time making the cider while trusted, responsible family friends like the Mane 6 work the stand. Make the cider within eyesight of the stand, interact with the customers during breaks, but also make more product, thus sell more product, get a better profit, and don't leave anywhere near as many dissatisfied customers, so the Flim Flam Brothers can't get the entire town behind them. In fact, if they got the whole gang to help work the stand, they could run 5 lines at a time while they have enough stock, thus shortening the lines so even if you get turned away you haven't wasted as much of your day waiting on it. Or if they prefer, have the trusted family friends do the cider making while the family works the counter. Either way, they make a LOT more product, without losing any of that family business feel.
*** If this is the first cider season after "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E4ApplebuckSeason Applebuck Season]]" it might not have occurred to the Apples. There's nothing to say that they won't get the Mane 6 to help out in future cider seasons, now that they trust them and have seen the difference their help makes.
**** The problem with having the Mane 6 help is that they already ''have'' jobs. Even if they're willing to help, they may well be too busy next year or the year after that.
* Flim and Flam's names are probably supposed to indicate their nature, but…how? They're certainly not nice, but they're not ''dishonest'' either. Their machine works exactly as they claim it does, and until they press that button, nothing indicates their cider is of lesser quality. Granny Smith tries some of it, and her reaction suggests that it is indeed as good as her family's, though she's not about to say so. Even when the brothers ''do'' put quantity over quality, they're perfectly willing to lower the price of the cider, if only to get ponies to buy it. So while they're definitely ruthless and callous towards the Apple family, what evidence is there that they're actually cheating anyone?
** They could buy the apples, they could offer an actually fair deal to the apple orchard they join businesses with, they could sell/lend their machine, they could start their own orchard...but no, they simply go from town to town, offering a ridiculously one-sided deal that's almost certain to shut down the business they get the apples from. They don't want to invest a cent beside their machine, and as far as we know, their challenge might be a clever trick they pull on all the orchards they come across. Instead of starting from the beginning, they made their machine and tried to take over another business with it, take it as you will, but I doubt that's standard business in Equestria.
** Their behavior prior to making the challenge and their deliberate outline of its specifics, in which they stand to lose far less than the Apples, suggests that the whole thing was planned from the beginning. Just look at what happened: they showed up right after the Apples had exhausted their cider supply, then they started offering to sell their cider made with Sweet Apples. When AJ objected, they started insulting the family's pride and offered a contest that they outlined the rules for (in which they risk nothing, but the Apples give up their vitally needed cider business), goading them until they not only accepted, but freely gave them the raw materials that they tried to "deal" for earilier. The whole thing was a ploy to drive the Apples out of business and let them take over. The Bros. might not have directly lied about anything, but that doesn't change the fact that they're dishonest about their intentions and running a scam.
* I found it kind of hard to believe that the Apple family has such a hard time getting through the winter when just a few episodes ago it was obvious they made a bunch of money selling Zap Apple products. Exactly how much time are we supposed to believe passed between that episode and this one? Also, if the cider is such an imperative part of their income, shouldn't the Apple family spend the whole season making it? As in, Applejack should not have [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup left for that rodeo]] if the cider actually is a surefire way to make money?
** I think this episode has shown that the Ponyville Apples seem to have demonstrably poor business sense. They let themselves be taken for suckers, they don't plan out their cider season better, they don't hire any type of help for this crucial time of year.
** Well Granny Smith is senile and Applejack and Big Macintosh are in their early twenties at most, with no formal business education. It's made clear that they have two big products (Zap Apples and Cider) that come once a year, but as mentioned above they're too concerned with honesty and community relations to really make a killing on these products. The rest of the year they seem to struggle somewhat, and they seem to have quite extensive overheads. It’s possible that Sweet Apple Acres donates money to other Apple family ventures too, and in the name of entrepreneurship Applejack keeps their financial situation very close to the line so that their money isn’t just sitting around wasted.
** And considering the fact that these episodes are supposed to be watchable in any order, and the fact that there are no references to the previous one, who's to say that this episode took place after "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup The Last Roundup]]"?
* I can't help wondering just how cutie marks work in the context of this episode. The Flim Flam Brothers have apple cutie marks, but wouldn't they have cutie marks that suggested their true nature better? After all, based on the quality of their machine they would have decided to be inventors first (''and that's not getting into them deciding to be swindlers'').
** I frequently think that Equestria is a safer place than reality, since a hypothetical John Wayne Gacy Pony couldn't hide in plain sight because it's cutie mark would serve as a warning.
** ...Safer place? [[TheLostWoods With a forest of death next door]]? [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E1TheReturnOfHarmonyPart1 With the Spirit]] [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E2TheReturnOfHarmonyPart2 of Chaos]]? [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E12BabyCakes With baby unicorns getting bursts of magic]]? [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E13HearthsWarmingEve With the Windigos ready to freeze any loner or hater?]]
*** True, but you can identify a serial killer from across the room because their cutie mark... isn't.
**** Nup. Generally cutie marks are more abstract - see Cheerilee's, Twilight Sparkle's, Rarity's, Lyra Heartstrings's, etc. etc. It makes sense when the pony explains it, but it is usually not obvious. So, for example, Gacy? He'd have a clown Cutie Mark. Reflected in most peoples creation of a {{Dexter}} Pony, who has a splatter of blood for a cutie mark - which means both his work as a blood splatter analyst and his...hobbies. Incidentally, that clown cutie mark? Perfect for attracting young fillies and colts......
** We don't know enough about the Flim Flam brothers to say for sure, but there are a number of possibilities. It's possible that cider-making itself is their talent, (most likely, judging by their cutie marks) and they made a machine for it later on to improve efficiency. And as we've seen before, a pony can have many talents. Fluttershy can sew, Applejack is good at sports, and so on. They may be good at swindling and building machines, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's their "special talent" that they get a cutie mark for.
*** The mere possession of a cider-mobile doesn't mean they built it. I suspect they got their cutie mark as apple salesmen, and in the course of their apple selling business encountered an inventor, and used their talent to take advantage of his.
** They might have originally been farmers, and got themselves kicked out for dishonesty.
** Or, the cutie mark is fake? They were selling apple cider, so something related to apples would have people think they're honest.
** They're [[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bad%20apple bad apples]].
** When you put their cutie marks together, they make a whole apple. It means they work well together. They just use their particular talents(special and otherwise) for [[JerkAss swindling]] instead of good.
* If cider was in deficit, why was Pinkie allowed to buy a whole armful of mugs? Wheter it was done [[ShoutOut intentionally]] or [[HilariousInHindsight not]], the whole setting strongly reminds me of the memetic Soviet-era [[http://rutube.ru/tracks/2231328.html beer lines]], and believe me, if somepony'd tried to hog the beer like this, they would've been explained the wrongs of their way swiftly and painfully. Even taking the SugarBowl into account, shouldn't there've been an outrage from the line?
** I think the best and only answer here is that Ponyville simply isn't Soviet Russia. The ponies are all forgiving, friendly, and closely knit. Even the bitterest ponies seem more likely to mope to themselves than actually start a confrontation.
*** Hogging cider is distinctly unfriendly, so by the transitive property so is helping someone hog it.
** In addition, if this was a more cynical universe, Pinkie would be in the perfect position to scalp cider.
** Pinkie Pie was the ''first'' pony to get cider. It's possible that, at the beginning, they overestimated the amount of cider that would be available, and thus they saw no reason to ration it.
*** Except they do it every year. They run out of cider every year, and they sell too much to Pinkie Pie every year. If they haven't realized the pattern now, then the Apple family is significantly stupider than we've been giving them credit for.
** Pinkie was so enthusiastic about the cider that nopony wanted to tell her that she couldn't have her fill. (She was the very first in line, after all. In fact she's apparently ''always'' the first in line, every year, because she loves cider that much.)
* Moreover. They know how much cider they've got, why the hell don't they announce it, so that everypony knows for sure whether or not they'd get any and not waste time?
** I'm sure they don't know exactly how many mugs they'll be able to make ahead of time. Especially taking into account ponies like Pinkie, who buy more than one.
* Given how much cider they were able to make in 45 minutes (granted they were speeding up production tremendously), why don't the Apples alternate the selling days? One day is set to making as much cider they can and the next sell it. That way they could stockpile a large amount and not run out and risk alienating their customers.
** Because then ponies like Rainbow Dash would get really impatient during the non-cider days.
** The cider wouldn't be as fresh if they waited a whole day before selling it.
*** Particularly if they don't use preservatives. Which, as far as we've seen, they don't.
* The Flim Flam Brothers call Canterlot a "kingdom", but I was under the impression that the kingdom is Equestria (ruled by Celestia & Luna and all), and Canterlot is its capital.
** Alliteration demands sacrifices.
** And Equestria is a Principality since it is ruled by a princess. A kingdom is ruled by a king.
*** Thank God it's not a country.
* Flim and Flam WON. Not just the contest, but the whole situation came up in their favor. They'd taken control of Sweet Apple Acres and were in a perfect position to sell their high quality cider. The only reason that the situation turned out okay was because they believed that no one wanted their product, based on the reactions of those who received the cider that hadn't been under quality control. They were aware that they'd turned off the quality-control, and otherwise appear to be rather intelligent ponies, so why would they arrive at this conclusion?
** It would appear to be a moment of fridge logic: Why on earth would two reasonably intelligent businessponies give the worst cider to the first customers? Then the switch is made to Fridge Brilliance when you realize that, since the barrels were stacked, all the good stuff was at the bottom.
** The cider might not have been the issue so much as how pissed off the townsfolk were at that point. They were probably already upset (to some degree or another) by the brothers' cruel treatment of the Apple family on their way out, and that the two were willing to sell them crappy cider at all put the nail in the coffin. Flim and Flam likely figured that pushing the citizens any further would result in an angry mob, and that the only feasible option was to get the hell out of Dodge.
* As somepony already mentioned, the bet between the brothers and the Apples was only over the "exclusive cider-making rights in Ponyville." It wasn't over Sweet Apple Acres itself. So after the Apples lose the contest, why does everybody act as if they lost Sweet Apple Acres to the Flim Flam brothers as well? Granted, losing the right to make cider would have put the Apples in difficult financial papers, but they wouldn't go bankrupt instantly, would they? Heck, the apples the Flim Flam brothers would need to make cider for Ponyville would still be property of the Apple family.
** I haven't seen the episode lately, but I'm pretty sure what happened Applebloom opened her big mouth and changed the terms midway through the contest, or just before it.
* A minor one, but: when queuing for cider the first time, Fluttershy buys the last mug of cider and Rainbow doesn't get any. Fluttershy is the world's biggest doormat; Rainbow is the poster-pony for being inconsiderate of others' needs if they get in the way of her own, and she ''really'' wanted that cider. ''How did Fluttershy stay ahead of her in the queue for all that time?'' Rainbow was so desperate for cider she ate the dirt it fell on, but at no point did she think to go "Hey, Fluttershy, let me go ahead of you in the queue, I'm dying here!"
** Well... for some reason, Rainbow Dash went way out of her way to make sure Fluttershy also got some cider. From the beginning she could have easily gone to the farm to get it first, but instead made a detour to wake up Fluttershy, and not only that, but she made sure that both of them got there at the same AND gave Fluttershy dibs. It would have been weird to see Rainbow Dash demanding cider from Fluttershy after that.
** Throughout the scene, you see Fluttershy trying to speak, but she never gets to say more than "I don't mind..." before being cut off. I assumed she was about to offer some to Rainbow Dash, but couldn't get a word in edgeways.
* I think there's another aspect of this plot that hasn't been touched here. It's a bit subtle, but I think it makes a family unfriendly aesop when you think about it. At first it might seem like Granny Smith was an idiot for accepting the bet; she could just have said no and basically lost nothing (I have hard time believing that the townspeople would have thought any less of her or the Apples in general.) However, that wasn't actually the reason for accepting the bet. The real reason was so that no competing cider business would form in Ponyville. In other words, Granny Smith didn't want competitors on their market, ie. she wanted to keep the cider monopoly. The episode somehow paints this as a good thing, even though competition is usually beneficial for the customers (because the competing businesses will try to win customers by increasing quality and decreasing prices, which benefits the customers) while monopolies are generally bad for the customers. Competition is precisely what keeps monopolies in check. This episode seems to paint a picture that competition in the market is actually an undesirable thing.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.16=] Read It And Weep]]
* Why doesn't Rainbow Dash sneak into Twilight's library and steal her copy of the book? She wouldn't have to deal with so many guards and have a way easier time breaking in.
** Dash is too worried that Twilight might find out that she enjoys an "egghead" hobby to risk going directly to her home. Sure, it'd be easier, but RD's pride has always been able to override her logic.
** Perhaps she'd rather rob an establishment that she had no personal connection to, than her friend.
** Because RD has ''no idea'' where Twilight would keep her copy. Considering her disdain for reading, it would be hard for her to find a specific book no matter how well organized the library is.
*** Well, the ''Elements of Harmony'' was under "E" and Pikie found it in 10 seconds flat. I would guess [[SuperOCD Twilight]] would keep ''Derring Do'' under "D".
* How the hay do the hospital ponies keep up with Rainbow Dash? She's shown that she can easily outrun all the ponies in Ponyville except Applejack and Pinkie Pie. They should be falling further and further behind.
** Well, the pain from her wings could had crippled her running speed, and the one time we really saw her run against someone else was during a marathon, this was a sprint. Ponies also tends to demonstrate greater physical abilities when pushed, having a thief break into your establishment, especially after a patient claimed he was robbed sure seems like a great way to push the medical staff and a security guard... and an insane patient, apparently.
*** Indeed. [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E13FallWeatherFriends Fall Weather Friends]] has already established that most of Dash's speed comes from her wings. Since she still needed to keep off her wing for the duration of the chase, she wouldn't have been any faster than an earth pony.
*** But that's just it: In that race she repeatedly demonstrated that she could go from way behind the pack to way in front of it, even ''without'' her wings. The only pony who could actually keep up with her was Applejack.
*** Doesn't stop her from still feeling pain from her crippled wing, though. Ever felt that stab in the ribs while running?
*** And she was just released from the hospital. She probably wasn't 100% recovered.
* How did Daring Do escape the strips of whatever it was that tied her down? She turned back the spiked walls and the quicksand by hitting the lever with her hat, but how did she rip through the ropes that were so strong a second ago? Lazy writing on the author's part?
** Maybe the spikes tore up the rope a bit so she could break it?
** Maybe the ropes were for some reason linked to the lever as well?
** ''That's'' what worried you about that scene? What about the fact that the snakes and spiders simply vanish as soon as she gets her hat off, or even that they didn't bite her once despite crawling all over her for minutes on end? To answer the original question though, it could be that the bonds were weakened by her struggling, and only got weak enough to break at that point. Had she not stopped the trap beforehand, it would have been too late for her.
* How did Dash get to her house, in the SKY, if she has to keep off her wing for at least a week? She tries to fly during the chase, and it definitely gives the impression that it really hurt her to even try. Did Fluttershy just carry her to and from her house until she could fly on her own?
** We don't see her at her house until the end of the episode. It's possible she stayed on the ground until the theft ordeal was over.
*** On the other hand, though, she did finish the book in her bed, and given how excited she was about it, she probably didn't wait for a week to finish it. I assume that either Fluttershy helped her or that Twilight used teleport or that RD borrowed the hot air balloon. Or maybe Tank carried her.
*** That or maybe gliding downwards doesn't use as much energy as flying and therefore doesn't hurt as much.
**** But then there's still the matter of how she got UP there.
*** Why would she have to get down before the week was over? As I said above, before the attempted theft she probably stayed on the ground, and afterwards (considering the giant bookpile next to the bed) she most likely had everything she needed to stay home. As for getting everything there, Fluttershy and Twilight probably helped her.
** Most likely used some kind of balloon or machine. When people in real life get injured, there are methods of helping them get around. In a world where there's a species that mainly uses flight to get around, they probably have various methods of getting around injured ponies. There are various flying mechanisms in the series that are all possible.
** Or perhaps Fluttershy or some other pegasus constructed a stairway out of clouds for her.
* Is there a reason Rainbow Dash had to read the entire book out loud? If it was for our purposes, couldn't they have done it in a voice-over? And since she was reading out loud? Why didn't the rest of the mane six hear her before they even got into the room?
** Same reason she and every other pony announces their thoughts out loud when they're alone: RuleOfPerception.
** She isn't used to reading, so it's very VERY probable that she didn't even realize she was reading out loud.
** Or she's just the type of pony who reads aloud to herself when she really gets into a book.
* So the stallion who took RD's bed after she left the hospital, the one who thought she was stealing his slippers; was he supposed to be a cancer patient? I can't help but notice that his mane had fallen out (as though due to the effects of chemotherapy), and he seems to grimace in pain even in his sleep.
** I just assumed that he had some catastrophic accident that broke numerous bones, not anything like cancer. I mean he was in a full body cast, they probably had to shave his mane to properly treat his wounds.
** No no, not the purple one she was roommates with; the yellow stallion who was put in her former bed after she had been discharged.
** Maybe it's just a minor lacerations and the hospital stuff had to shave his head to threat it properly? Alternatively he’s just a guy who likes this kind of hairstyle. We’ve seen ponies with mustache and long beards so a blad pony wouldn’t be that out of place.
** You can see some slight shading where his mane was indicating stuble, which doesn't happen when hair falls out from Chemo (at least not unless it starts to regrow after ending treatment), so shaving is much more likely, also if it was something causing the hair to fall out, it would almost certinitly affect his coat as well, not just his mane.
* So did Rainbow Dash stay up for three days? she stayed up all night reading then the following night trying to steal a copy and then reading in her own house.
** Rainbow Dash naps a ''lot''. It's possible that after getting ahold of her stealth suit, she spent the rest of the day relaxing in preparation for her raid.
* So is Rainbow Dash going to just go without sleep untill she's finished the series? she started reading the second book right away....even though she siad she wanted to finish the first one so she could get some sleep
** For the first one-two books - probably. Then the initial rush should've toned down.
* Why does Rarity wear her false eyelashes for bed? We see them on when she's waken up by the chase.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.17=] Hearts and Hooves Day]]
* Why would Twilight's book include the recipe for the dangerous love potion? I understand it was history and all, but it's incredibly irresponsible to just leave instructions for a potion capable of driving those who ingest it into a love-fueled madness lying around. Especially considering that it was simple enough for a group of fillies to construct without much effort.
** The writer operated on the assumption that reading enough of the passage to see the results would prevent anyone from doing so. Oops.
** Also, the love potion's effects aren't too hard to counteract; keeping the affected ponies from making eye contact for an hour wouldn't be too hard, if not for the fact that Big Mac was one of the affected ponies. I think the real question is, why couldn't the prince and princess in the original story be separated?
*** They may have taken a while to figure out how to stop the spell.
** It could be a matter of recording things, as magic study to figure out how different things interact with each other in potions. Similar to real life science. If the effects of a dangerous potion are already recorded, some experimenting pony won't try to mix the ingredients together because they would already know what would happen. (and it wouldn't be that hard for a pony to eventually try and mix those things, considering there were only 3 ingredients and they were relatively easy to come by) There are probably a ton of potentially dangerous potions and spells.
** If it was indeed a magic study book it was possibly from Canterlot school library(restricted section?), or some other place your average bored unicorn couldn't access easily.
** As was pointed out elsewhere, the ingredients are around each other all the time in the Cloudsdale weather factory, and possible other places. The love poison is probably well known as a dangerous industrial byproduct to most adult ponies. The writers of that book wouldn't be concerned about people using the recipe because it wouldn't occur to them that they have to warn someone about drinking toxic waste.
* How is Big Mac supposed to pay for a precious diamond ring on what is essentially an impulse purchase, when his entire family can't seem to keep the farm maintained due to lack of finances?
** Credit?
*** Sweet Apple Acres would give the family plenty of collateral for buying something on credit.
** Weren't gemstones incredibly common in Equestria, and hence relatively cheap?
** I'm sure that Big Mac does earn money from the share of the profits generated from Sweet Apple Acres. He doesn't seem to have any expenses or extravagant hobbies so he probably has quite a bit of money saved up. Maybe not enough to support the entire farm through the winter as mentioned in "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000," but more than enough to put at least a down payment on an engagement ring.
** On that note, how is having a diamond ring for a pony plausible? Yes, Rarity imagined one in her daydream of Prince Blueblood proposing to her, but they're both unicorns and I guess could keep it on their horns or magically place it somewhere on their person. Earth ponies though...where would they put it?
** I don't think we ever see the specific piece that Big Mac buys. When buying for an earth pony or pegasus, one could imagine earrings are the done thing. Or a necklace. Something noticeable but classy, probably in the face or mane area. It might even be that rings are actually very uncommon as proposal pieces because they're species-specific and look kind of silly. Or maybe, more likely, the writers were thinking about making the scene make sense from a human (the viewer's) perspective rather than making it make sense in-universe.
** We've never seen any ponies wearing rings, not even ones canonically married(Aunt Orange and Uncle Orange, unless you count her necklace), though Candace and Shining armor wear their wedding rings on their horns at the wedding. It's possible that the presentation of the jewellery is the only time it is ever used.
* According to the backstory for Heart's and Hooves Day, the love poison caused a prince and a princess to fall so madly in love that they neglected their royal duties, resulting in the kingdom collapsing and "chaos reigning." Did... we just get a cannon explanation as to how Discord came to power?
** It's possible. The story didn't make it clear where or when the event took place, so like a lot of things in the history of Equestria, it's open for interpretation.
** Discord isn't strictly necessary for chaos to happen. It was probably just the figurative use of the phrase.
* Wait, if the spell breaks when the two lovers take their eyes off each other for an hour, wouldn't the spell be broken the first time they fall asleep? I might understand with the ancient couple, one was an Alicorn apparently, she could probably use her magic to keep them awake indefinitely, but Big [=MacIntosh=] and Cherilee have no such provisions? Or was it that the children didn't think of that?
** Maybe the spell makes it so they can't sleep?
** Even if they collapse from exhaustion in a couple weeks and the poison wears off afterward, it'd still be pretty devastating to the farm and to the two 'lovebirds'. Victims of the love poison can be talked into making life-changing decisions with the smallest nudge, and don't make rational decisions about their own interests; that gets into some really dark places really fast. Merely not being fatal would still be terrible. Applebloom's predictions are a little ridiculous, but that's cause she's a kid with terrible long-term planning ability. Even from a more adult perspective and even presuming the poison only lasts for a short time, it's still really nasty Magic Mind Control Juice.
** Another possibility is that time passing only counts while they're awake. The spell would probably make them dream about each other.
* One silly thing that won't stop puzzling me: at the beginning of Sweetie Belle's song, she has a (sort-of) ImagineSpot with Cheerilee holding up an apple. What in Equestria is this scene supposed to mean? It reminds me strangely of Ryuk from Manga/DeathNote.
** Teachers received apples as gifts from students sometimes? It probably doesn't happen these days anymore, but it's more like that scene in Pinocchio where he gets an apple to give to the teacher.
** Giving a teacher an apple is one of the oldest tropes around in American animation. It's reflected all over the place, how could someone not know it?
** DeadHorseTrope. While it was prevalent at one time, the most recent showing of it that I can name was in The Grimm Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and that's only a vague recollection. I can imagine the latest generation of fans not being familiar with it, especially if they're more acclimated to anime where it never caught on.
** Holy Celestia; it just occurred to me. In trying to set Cheerilee up with Big Macnitosh, [[FridgeBrilliance the entire episode was the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to give "an apple for teacher"]]. Pardon me; I need to grow drink as I process this.
* So why does every ingredient of the love potion has something to do with pegasi? Are they like pony cupids, or something?
** As Granny Smith explained, magic can be strange. So maybe.
* Why didn't the CMC care that all the main characters were (presumably) dateless on Hearts and Hooves day, if Cheerilee's single status upset them so?
** They are impulsive little kids who only got the idea in class they were in. Presumably they didn't think of it and got too focused on Cherilee. Also, they would only be interested in the Mane characters they are closest to (or want to be closest to). That would be: Applejack (who is too stubborn to accept help), Rarity (who does not seem to lack for boyfriends), and Rainbow Dash (who lives in the clouds and is therefore unavailable).
** Because Cheerilee is their teacher, aside from Rarity and Applejack (being their sisters) they just don't have as strong a connection to the other Mane Six, and it could be speculated that Rarity and Spike might be doing something for Hearts and Hooves day. That just leaves Applejack and the reason to focus on Cheerilee instead (from a practical storytelling standpoint) is because there have already been ''two'' Applejack episodes this season.
*** Plus, It would be werid pairing up Applejack with her older brother...
** The people behind the show have a relatively close relationship with the fandom, so I doubt they would want to start a shipping war just for an episode. Also, having one of the mane six enter a relationship would change the mood and focus of the series from Friendship to girls talking about boys. In story, because it would be unbelievable for the CMC to outsmart any of the mane six to be an hour separated of their special somepony(Regardless of involvement of Big Macintosh): Twilight can teleport, Fluttershy has the Stare, Rainbow is faster than them, Pinkie has offscreen teleport, Rarity is ''very'' cunning and clever, and Applejack would be basically the same as Big Macintosh.
** Excuse me... but how do we know none of them have boyfriends? We don't see any of them on Hearts and Hooves day after all (except for Twilight, but she quite frankly screams 'uninterested virgin'). We rarely ever see them when they're at work, why would we see them on dates? We see them with their friends, because that's what the show is about. They could all be dating off screen for all we know.
*** For ponies who constantly get into trouble and need to learn a new lesson about friendship every other week, it would seem like too big a deal to just happen offscreen, don't you think? If they ever used that element, it'd come off as an AssPull and if they didn't, it's virtually the same as not happening. Besides, if the fandom is to be believed, at least half of them would have girlfriends instead of boyfriends, anyway.
**** Heck, if one goes off the fandom preferences/shipping then the Mane 6 would be dating amongst themselves, which would be even more impossible to shove offscreen. Just not showing what any of the Mane 6 were up to (aside from Twilight spending the day with her one true love, books) was the safest thing to do.
* What about the age difference between Cheerilee and Big Mac? Or is Big Mac supposed to be around the same age as the CMC's teacher? Cheerilee is the pony-equivalent of late-20s/early-30s, if her 80's hair photo is to be believed. I always saw Big Mac to be in his early/mid 20s, because he doesn't seem more than a few years older than Applejack. Did the CMC not think of the implications of an adult teacher dating a younger adult? Just something I'm confused about, especially with no real official age to go by...
** Maybe it's a cultural thing, because I don't see any implication there. What does it matter that she's a teacher? He's not her student. Anyway, I do believe that Cheerilee is the younger one. Cheerilee is apparently around the same age as Rarity (Cutie Mark Chronicles). If we assume that all of the Mane 6 are basically the same age, +/- 2 years, this means that Applejack, who is Big Mac's younger sister is about the same age as Cheerilee, then he's probably older than her. But of course, it's still not clear by how much. Maybe they're the same age. Maybe he's 5 years older. Or maybe he's actually younger. However, even if so, it wouldn't be by much.
** So, even if Mac is in mid 20s and Cheerilee is in early 30s, does this 5 or 6 years really make such a difference? Besides, you're assuming that "pony 80s" happened around the same time as our 80s, but there's no indication that it wasn't, for example, only 10 years prior to the show's events and Big Mac is the same age as Cheerilee. And the CMC may not even know Cheerilee's age, it's not something you'd normally ask your teacher about.
* The ingredients for the love poison seem awfully common. A bit of cloud and rainbow coloring, with pegasus feather to stir. Seems like anyone in Cloudsdale could put that together without even meaning to.
** Which comes as kind of FridgeBrilliance : The ingredients and the result are written in the book as a warning of what will happen if the mix is made.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.18=] A Friend in Deed]]
* Why didn't Matilda simply put the note for Cranky ''outside'' her door, to make sure he sees it?
** Because then we wouldn't have the character's StartOfDarkness.
** It didn't occur to her, mistakes like that happen all the time much to the insanity of everyone involved.
* This episode dealt with Ponyville's token Donkeys and also had cameos by Ponyville's token Zebra and Cow. While I'm sure this was unintentional... It can't help but make me [[UnfortunateImplications wonder]] about the state of [[FantasticRacism minorities in Equestria.]]
** You mean minorities that get invited to the Grand Galloping Gala?
** It's possible that certain places in Equestria are more accepting of minorities, such as small farm towns like Ponyville where herds of cattle and groups of pigs are usually found; also, that Celestia herself would accept anyone with open arms. But given what we've seen of Canterlot ponies, I doubt a donkey would be quite as welcome by the general populace.
** I'd say the episode actually attempts (little clumsily, but still) to dismiss some of the earlier UnfortunateImplications in the series. We see the cow shopping in town, as opposed to being rounded up into a barn, and the donkeys are treated quite respectfully, despite "mule" having been used as an insult in at least two episodes.
* "Nopony calls him Doodle." "Nopony...but Matilda." It's adorable and this is nitpicking, but...Matilda isn't a pony.
** Ponies use the term "nopony" and the like when referring to characters like Spike. The "-pony" suffix has simply replaced "-body" in Equestria.
* As awesome as the first song was, at the Jump rope bit, it did look incredibly like Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle (who ''just'' gets a look in) were ignoring Applebloom for some reason. Some kind of Cutie Mark Crusader falling out going on?
** They're little kids, so probably.
** I rather got the impression that Applebloom went off by herself because she isn't good at rope-jumping, which depressed her. I think Applebloom is more sensitive when it comes to failure.
** I wouldn't give much significance to anything that happens during the Smile song. Why was Big Macintosh just waiting with a wagon for Pinkie to jump into with the two foals? How does the rope keep skipping when no one is holding it? How can Pinkie Pie share the screen with a sad version of herself? Why is there a sudden ticker tape parade that vanishes the second the song ends? The answer is that the song in it's entirety runs on Pinkie Logic.
* Just how do cows get milked in Equestria?
** We know they can be milked using magic, presumably in the same manner humans would, as Twilight demonstrated in "Boast Busters".
** Squeeze the udders by the hooves?
*** Except that the cows seem to live at Sweet Apple Acres, which is entirely run by earth ponies. Maybe they just use a milking machine.
* When Pinkie wanted to apologize to Cranky, he stubbornly refused to accept her apology. The obvious question is why? All he had to do was say "I accept your apology" to get her to leave him alone, even if he didn't really mean it.
** He was too mad, and a little scared, to think of it. He wanted her to know that she wasn't welcome around him.
** Up until that point, Pinkie had showed that no matter what she did, Cranky just couldn't get rid of her. In Cranky's mind, there was no reason to believe that once he had accepted her apology, she would go back to annoy him.
** Just because he is cranky doesn't mean he would be okay with lying about accepting her apology. He has standards.
* Daisy Jo was in the bakery buying cookies to go with her milk. It's implied she's going to eat the cookies...does that mean she's going to drink [[{{Squick}} her own milk?]]
** It could have been coconut milk or soy milk.
* Is it just me, or does this episode show how brutishly impolite and insensitive Pinkie can be? Yes, I know "she1s just being Pinkie", but apparently that includes having no concept about privacy, personal space and respect for a personality different from her own. Not to mention accepting when somepony simply doesn't want to be with you, which happens all the time in real life. No, she keeps pushing it, while forcing herself into Cranky's house, rummaging through his personal stuff, and managing to destroy his album - his only memory from the past. And, of course, in the end it's all justified, because it helped her find Matilda, and she's easily forgiven for everything! I know she wanted good but it still annoys me to no end.
** I actually think it's a well-established fact that Pinkie has trouble understanding and empathizing with other ponies, we were shown multiple times (Griffon the Brush-Off, Feeling Pinkie Keen, Party of One, Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, Luna Eclipsed and this episode being examples, YMMV on some of these) that she is prone to downright ignore what others may feel as a result of her actions. If anything, it adds a negative trait, thus depth to her: she wants to party hard, no matter the cost. She's not completely insensible, though, as Baby Cakes has shown that she may be aware of this and is trying to improve as a result.
** Also, this show takes a dim view of loners and introverts ''anyway''. Which makes perfect sense, given how important friendship is to the entire fabric of how Equestria works. Twilight Sparkle's loner tendencies almost got in the way of beating Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna's years out-of-action caused her to make a fool of herself in Luna Eclipsed, Trixie's lack of consideration for others made it necessary for her to be served a slice of humble pie, Gilda didn't care about anypony except Rainbow Dash which eventually contributed to her downfall at the party, etc. So it could be said that Pinkie Pie is easily forgiven for annoying a loner because according to "the magic of friendship" that allows Equestria to be a paradise in the first place, being an introvert is ''itself'' a personality problem to ''begin'' with.
* Why do Matilda and Cranky lack cutie marks? It seems odd that they don't have them when we've seen Zecora the zebra with a cutie mark showing that non-pony equines should have them. But what bothers me is that ponies can still apparently breed with donkeys as indicated by the mention of mules indicating that they're similar species, but donkeys are entirely realistic save for their sentience while ponies are magical animals. Come to think of it, when we did SEE a mule, he had all the traits of donkeys and no colors, wings/horns, or cutie marks indicating he inherited anything from the pony side. I know pony genetics is weird, but this point is really bugging me.
** Maybe the fantasy world just isn't fair. Ponies are FairFolk with their magic, and donkeys are mundane creatures who have none of it. Also, it's a wild guess, but maybe pony/donkey interbreeding doesn't produce "halves" as such - a mule basically appears either full donkey or full pony. It would seem consistent with rules of interbreeding between pony types, from what we've seen. Or perhaps half the magic is never enough and a mule will always just be a donkey.
* For an episode featuring Pinkie Pie singing about how much she loves her friends, this ep sure was light on Mane 6 presence. Most of them only receive a brief scene during the song, and Twilight and Rainbow Dash are the only other main characters to receive speaking roles.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.19=] Putting Your Hoof Down]]
* Anyone else see Iron Will as not that bad of a guy? I mean, all he wanted was to be paid for his services. He left without a problem after Fluttershy explained she was not satisfied. Its probably even safe to say that the past ponies Iron has helped improved for the better after his services.
** I didn't get the impression he was ''meant'' to be a bad guy. Rarity tries to manipulate him with flattery and Pinkie Pie with lying and trickery, both of which are as morally suspect as Fluttershy's {{Jerkass}} behavior and not necessarily presented as good things. Iron Will sees right through them, but is brought around by Fluttershy's polite and respectful, yet still assertive, demeanor, which is much more morally sound than any other alternative presented to being a doormat.
*** He even learns a lesson at the end, that saying "no means no" is a good way to be assertive.
** If there's anything people can learn from Iron Will, it's that there isn't so much of a ''villain''. Was he trying to cause harm to the characters, like say, the Flim Flam brothers? No. All he was doing was giving advice, and it was Fluttershy going crazy about it...and he actually kept his word that it's free because Fluttershy was not satisfied, even walking off deciding to teach people that "no means no" is also a good way to be assertive without being overly-aggressive.
** The only people who see him as a villain are Fluttershy fans, saying that his training turned her into a monster.
* I don't have anything against Iron Will - for me it seems like he is at worst neutral charcter. Yet I worry some may take him for villain. In the same time, I would like to point out, that Pinkie Pie and Rarity acted like [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Mares]]. Both tomato’s seller and nerdy-pony didn't really do anything wrong and yet the way our Mane2/6 acted is shown as completely justified. Semi-honest haggling and mooching staff are not assertiveness.
** Sure Rarity only flirted with that guy to get the last vegetable, but she didn’t take it away from him. She paid him and gave him a good ego boost. That seems to be a fair deal.
*** You may be right here. Maybe as a nerd and capitalist, I'm a bit thin-skinned about the kind of things Rarirty and Pinkie did. Still, I would prefer if they would teach assertivness in other way.
*** An 'Ego boost' is not a proper trade-off, even if Rarity paid him back, she now has the last asparagus, that's the only thing that matters. If anything, there's a chance that pony will eventually remember why he wanted it in the first place, and realize the deception, turning the 'ego boost' around. It really depends on whenever someone considers charm to be a justified means to an end or a trick to manipulate others to be frowned upon.
** People really forgive heroes. I don't think Iron Will was a "villain", just someone who gives bad advice but he learns a lesson too. I don't think he deserves to be demonized, especially since, you know, he wasn't ''intending'' to hurt anyone like say, Gilda or the Flim Flam brothers.
** I think the show should have been clearer about it, but no I don't think Iron Will was a villain. And his lecture WORKS its just a real life assertiveness seminar would probably include advice about how not to be a jerk. If he were a villain he'd force Fluttershy to pay up, but the truth is, his product was good yet flawed, so Fluttershy wasn't 100% satisfied
** I agree too. In fact Iron Will was one of the few characters who didn't try to take advantage of Fluttershy this episode. He held a class on assertiveness and wanted to be paid which is completely reasonable. The only villainous thing he did was threaten Fluttershy and that was most likely a buff (though he really shouldn't have threatened her). He listens to Fluttershy and respects her reason for not paying. Compare him to any of the jerkass background ponies and it will be obvious who the real villains are in this episode.
** Only Fluttershy fans see him as a villain, since his training turned her into a monster.
* Is it just me, or did those goats look ''way'' too evil for just being hired help for a guy who's no worse than a bit of a {{Jerkass}} who gave advice that essentially equated "being assertive" with "being a creep"?
** Well real goats can have a bit of an evil look about them some times, so maybe it's kind of Genetic?
* So... how exactly did Fluttershy manage to nail boards across her door on the outside, whilst ending up inside her cottage?
** Get someone else to do it.
** She could fly through the window.
* Why was everyone so mean to Fluttershy at the beginning when they've been at worst neutral towards her in the past. A special mention goes to Angel, who went from impatient but lovable pet foil to Flutershy to Domestic Abusing Jerkass.
** Rule Of Aesope. If we don't have this, we should.
* Why didn't Fluttershy use The Stare on Angel in the beginning of the episode?
** Fluttershy doesn't seem to like using the Stare in general, and didn't she say she can't exactly use it at will?
* Iron Will is a minotaur (half-bull/half-human) does this mean humans exist on this show?
** ...that would raise some {{squick}}y implications. However, Minotaurs don't necessarily have to be literal human/bull hybrids (the ones in DungeonsAndDragons, for instance, are just a species like any others.).
** Why can't he just be a bipedal bull? I know traditionally they're half human, but with old mythology there's room for new interpretation, particularly in a world with no humans.
** The lower half of his body looks like the hindlegs of a pony/horse, so he might just be Equestria's version of a Minotaur.
* So, does this mean that Fluttershy's assertiveness will supercede her kindness? I mean, that Element of Harmony is quite important, and even an ActionGirl like Fluttershy-when she wants to be-should still be as kind as kind can be.
** Kindness and ''politeness'' aren't necessarily the same thing, to say nothing of being an outright shrinking violet and/or doormat. If anything, then inasmuch as the show has a continuity I'd expect Fluttershy's new assertiveness (assuming it sticks) to help her reach out to and help ''more'' people that she'd otherwise have felt too intimidated by.
* If Iron Will feels the need to introduce himself by name to Pinkie Pie and Rarity, then how does he know they're friends with Fluttershy?
** They were talking to her through the door, and they are around the same age as Fluttershy, so he assumed they're her friends and happened to be right about that.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.20=] It's About Time]]
* Why didn't Future Twilight just use the time travel spell, again? Did it say you have a limited amount of chances to use the spell?
** Who cares? That's Past Twilight's problem now.
** If she didn't go through that ordeal she would probably never have learn her lesson about not worrying about the future.
*** Indeed: she had to try to warn herself not to worry, because she did tried; yet she couldn't succeeded, because she didn't succeeded[[hottip:*:And yes, I'm conjugating into the double past. What of it?]]
** Actually, it ''did'' say the spell can be used only once.
*** Why only once?
*** It could've meant that you could only go back to a certain time once.
* Why does Twilight conclude that the disaster was supposed to happen by sunrise on Tuesday morning, instead of any time over the following five or six hours?
** All of the "signs" (her injuries) had come to pass; no disaster was needed to explain them.
*** That doesn't explain why seems to treat dawn as a deadline, and is immediately relieved when the sun rises without incident. For all she knows at this point the disaster could be any time before 12 noon.
** Future Twilight specifically mentions she's from next Tuesday '''morning''', so whatever disaster past Twilight thought happened couldn't happen after that point in time.
*** Which, as I've pointed out, does not rule out the disaster happening at any time before 12 noon. So at sunrise, Twilight should still have another five or six hours before she can be certain.
**** Two points: First, Twilight would know her ''own'' (and thus her future self's) idea of what constitutes "morning" better than we do, and it may not actually ''be'' "any time before noon" as far as she's concerned. And second, after all she's been through trying to prevent the disaster she's worried about it's no surprise that by the time the sun comes up she'd be just plain exhausted and ready to call it quits.
* So, Cerberus exists in Equestria guarding the entrance to some world full of evil spirits. Did they really just imply that there's hell in the My Little Pony world?
** Eeyup. Does it matter? The show isn't exactly a utopia.
** Well, evil spirits doesn't have to mean it's related to hell as in a form of afterlife. Maybe Princess Celestia just banished a bunch of creatures like the Windigos or spirits of disharmony like Discord (just weaker) into that place at some point and then set up a guard-dog.
** Tartarus in Equestria is not necessary hell.Could be a prison for ancient and evil creatures, or maybe regular monsters like the ones in the Everfree Forest.
*** Twilight explicitly describes the creatures in Tartaros (Twilight distinctly pronounces it in the Greek, rather than Latin fashion, with an "os" rather than an "us") as ancient evils, so they aren't just run-of-the-mill creatures.
** OP here. It just seems weird that such a location exists, but only now has it been referred to. Seriously, what kind of implications does that hold about Equestria? We've seen a few evil creatures, but those seemed to be anomalies. But the existence of Tartarus implies that there are a LOT of those things, so many that there's a whole area to lock 'em up in.
*** I don't think the writers care. Tartarus was used just for a gag, probably didn't exist before this episode was written and won't appear ever again.
*** Some sort of underworld prison for ancient evils existing doesn't necessarily imply that it has a ''lot'' of occupants. Just that the ones it does have are too dangerous to let run free (and considering what sorts of monsters do still roam the Everfree Forest and the occasional other part of Equestria that's probably saying something). Discord probably didn't end up there because before he was turned into a statue nobody could've so much as forced him to enter (let alone stay) and afterwards there was no need, and Nightmare Moon gets a bye on grounds that no matter how bad things got Celestia wouldn't have wanted her ''sister'' to be imprisoned with the 'other' horrors.
* When Future Twilight gives the location of the time spells. Did Twilight not know that the Starswirl the Bearded wing even existed, or did she just not know that is where the time spells are kept? Her comment after they "break into" the building, "If my calculations are correct, the Starswirl the Bearded wing should be right here," seems to imply the former. So how did either Twilight come to learn of this wing and the spells it contains? The only reason Past Twilight knew is because Future Twilight told her. Does this not make sense to anyone else?
** Twilight said Starswirl had a wing of the library named after him in Luna Eclipsed, so she knew it existed. Presumably, she'd never seen a reason to visit the high-security part of the library before.
** Yes, the time loop is based upon a problem it caused. Depending on one's perception of time (which is to say, highly subjective and open to interpretation), it might imply that there was a time when the loop wasn't initiated. This particular Twilight might had simply stumbled upon the spell and used it, creating an alternate timeline which eventually stabilized into a loop. For the sake of simplicity: original Twilight goes back in time as herself for some reason, something causes her past self to become 'future Twilight', then she goes back to the past for the reason we saw, poof, the loop is made.
*** It is not as much subjective as it is just a choice the writers made. I for one am very satisfied they went for a [[StableTimeLoop bootstrap paradox]] and sticked to it, with no GrandfatherParadox nor [[AlternateUniverse alternate reality]] being thrown into the mix.
*** Maybe there actually WAS a disaster before she started the loop, but it was averted by disaster-proofing Ponyville.
*** WordOfGod (tongue in cheek as it may be) is that Equestria was saved by trimming Pinkie's hair.
* Okay, it was cute and all, but Fluttershy giving Cerberus tummy rubs after he runs off and leaves the gates of Tartarus unguarded? Isn't that just encouraging him to hop over the fence and run off to play again? I really think a somewhat firmer hand (hoof) might have been more appropriate here.
* Why was Celestia in the locked and secluded old library before sunrise? And why do neither she nor the guard question WHY Twilight is there. The guard is understandable, because maybe, he didn't even know that Twilight left Canterlot. Celestia, on the other hand, casually walks by Twilight, greets her, then leaves, no questions asked. Was she not wondering why her student looked like she was cosplaying [[Franchise/MetalGear Snake]]? Did she not wonder why her most faithful student decided to sneak/break into the castle (even though she could've just asked) in an impromptu "visit," and not to visit her mentor? I guess the automatic answer is "Trollestia," but still!
** Because apparently Twilight was allowed in that section, even if Twilight herself had forgotten about it, and honestly, what can be more natural than a Twilight Sparkle in a library? Or maybe Celestia knew what was going on and didn't want to interfere in the time loop.
** We may also want to take Celestia's age and position into account. She's over a thousand years old (how much older exactly hasn't been revealed, but it's at least that) and she's been, as far as we know, the sole Royal Princess of Equestria ever since she had to banish her sister back then. That's a lot of experience, both in general life terms and in [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask wearing the queenly mask]] -- ''of course'' not many of the "surprises" that her little ponies might happen to throw her way by accident or design would faze her anymore!
*** TL;DR version: Celestia's seen some shit in her time.
** The simple answer is that Spike told her what Twilight was up to. That's what he did in ''Lesson Zero.''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.21=] Dragon Quest]]
* Why are Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow dash so shocked that Spike wants to be with his '''own''' kind?
** 1) Because dragons really are dangerous. The only one he's ever interacted with tried to kill him. 2) Because Spike doesn't really know anything about "his own kind". 3) Because it means that he, one of their closest and youngest friends, is leaving without any guarantee that he'd return.
* Am I the only one who kinda felt that the ponies reasons for wanting to join spike were a little shallow? It seemed like the only reason that they joined him was because they didn't think he could handle going by himself (granted he did need a little help, but at the time, they didn't know that)
** They followed because they were just worried about their young friend going off into the unknown. How is that "shallow"?
** If I ever have children, and they suddenly express a desire to hang out with delinquents known for breaking people's windows or hassling people smaller than themselves, I would ''at the very least'' keep tabs on what my kids are picking up from their new friends. Is it ''that'' surprising that when Spike expresses a desire to hang out with nasty dragons, his friends follow him to make sure the dragons won't turn him into a monster?
* So is there some kind of "Finders Keepers" rule in place between the sentient species of Equestria when it comes to offspring? Princess Celestia had a dragon egg she was using as a test for Luna knows how long (and let Twilight keep Spike, despite not knowing anything about dragons and their needs) and Spike apparently get to keep the newly hatched Pheonix, even though he knows it has a family out there. Just a little bit bothered by that.
** Well, we still don't know where his egg came from, so it's still up to interpretation where his egg came from. But as for the Phoenix, the nest his parents were staying in was destroyed, and they were being chased by vicious dragons, so they probably won't go back to their old nest, looking for their egg anytime soon. Birds usually just move on to another location and stay there. So Spike taking the egg, probably saved the egg's life.
* Is Spike defective or something? No really, think about it. Every single dragon, literally every. single. dragon. has wings except for Spike. It's even pointed out by him.
** Well he is still just a little guy. He may grow his wings later. Who says that his Greed-Growth in The Secret of My Excess, was his '''real''' grown up form. His greedy form could just be a malformed (incorrect) way of growing up. And the Grown-up version of him in the Cutie Mark Chronicles, was just him blown up to a larger size. And we didn't even see if that form had wings.
** The most simple explanation is that Spike just isn't the same type of dragon as the others we've seen. He doesn't have wings because his species is naturally flightless.
*** That still begs the question as to why he was pretty much the only flightless dragon there. So many dragons went on the dragon migration, even if Spike is a wingless species, why was he the only member there? Is his species that rare? Is his species from a far-away land?
**** The migrating dragons were migrating via ''flight''. Perhaps the non-flying dragons simply don't migrate, or don't travel such a large distance as the others.
** Spike is not the only wingless dragon. The one with a giant tail also didn't have wings.
** Maybe spike is just a late-bloomer. He may get his wings, but they'll grow in slower, than the other dragons.
** Even not having wings still makes him less unusual than Crackle. Dragons just seem to have a lot of variation in body type.
** The River Serpent didn't have wings either. [[FridgeBrilliance Maybe that's another reason Spike couldn't get along with other dragons: they were simply not his kind.]]
* The teen dragons were not the only dragons, why didn't Spike try find some who were nice to baby dragons? Perhaps there were dragon his own age (those dragons were definitely older than him)?
** That's even if baby dragons were there in the first place. If there were other baby dragons there, they would have likely been guarded by their parents. As we've seen many a time, adult dragons can be hostile for even little reason, so they might not take kindly to other dragons, even young ones, approaching their young.
** Perhaps Spike went for the first smaller dragons he saw, and later was too proud to back off?
** Part of Spike's mission was to prove that he was tough. He didn't want to wimp out when the teen dragons acted unfriendly; he wanted to stand his ground and prove himself.
* Shouldn't Fluttershy know better than to stomp on Rainbow's rib cage? Fine, she was flying, so it was probably less severe, but the sound wasn't the most pleasant one. She could have broken her ribs that could have pierced her lungs!
** That's why you don't mess with Fluttershy. But seriously, she was careful enough not to hurt Rainbow Dash. And Rainbow Dash was not hurt. What more was she supposed to do?
** Ponies are MadeOfIron.
*** And this being Fluttershy, I'd be surprised if she could anything more to Rainbow Dash than [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E20GreenIsntYourColor that vase]].
* Did it bother anyone else that all the young dragons were unanimously declared {{Jerkass}}es? They're crude and uncivilized by pony standards, but they seemed to treat Spike fairly well considering. As for raiding the phoenix nest, that seems to be instinct and a natural cycle of predator-prey more than conscious cruelty or sadism. Not to say Spike should have conceded to peer pressure or sold out his own values, but he didn't say, "This lifestyle isn't my thing, and I don't feel like I belong," he flat-out said the ponies were ''better'' and the dragons inferior. Are we supposed to believe that dragons are naturally AlwaysChaoticEvil?
** To be fair, the red dragon in Dragonshy seemed like an okay guy. Just grumpy from having woken up.
** He was interacting with the douchebag teenage dragons, it probably would've gone differently had he interacted with a more mature bunch of dragons.
** No, we're supposed to believe that [[TeensAreMonsters teenagers]] are AlwaysChaoticEvil.
** Spike never said ponies were better than dragons. He said that his pony friends were better friends than those [[JerkAss three]] [[TeensAreMonsters dragons]]. They were trying to get him to smash a phoenix egg, not for predatory instinct, but [[KickTheDog pure malice]]. Most might have written the dragon teens off as simply toughening him up with their trails and whatnot had it not been for them trying to [[MoralEventHorizon kill phoenixes]] entirely for [[ForTheEvulz fun]].
** Was it entirely for fun? It seems to be more of a rite of passage. For all we know, smashing a phoenix egg (or doing something similarly callous) could be something every dragon has to do, including the one from "Dragonshy", who clearly wasn't meant to be too bad. Spike's right about the ponies being better friends, as the dragons' friendship is recinded when he doesn't follow orders, but despite that, it still seems more like a bad case of ValuesDissonance than much else.
*** Which ranges into pure speculation. From what we've seen, there was nothing hinting that the egg smashing was anything official, let alone some dragon rite of passage. It appeared to be just a trio of teenage dragon punks being destructive for fun.
* Seeing the teenage dragons call Celestia a 'namby pamby pony princess' I wonder of the relationship between her and the dragon community.
** It would be the same thing as the relationship between the president of America and teens from another country, say, Canada. The teens can badmouth the American president, but that doesn't mean that the U.S government is going to suddenly declare war on Canada. Unlike what most fanon would like you to believe, Princess Celestia is not as thin-skinned as she's made out to be.
*** Mostly accurate, except that the U.S. President isn't personally responsible for Canada not being cloaked in everlasting darkness due to the sun never rising. As for why they disrespect someone who's the sole reason they're alive... haven't you ever seen a teen (or been a teen) who was disrespectful to their parents?
*** They probably have no idea who Celestia is or what she does. They're probably assuming she's the kind of princess you kidnap and force to clean the cave, not the kind who personally kicks you out with her phenomenal cosmic powers if you invade her country.
** Given how little ponies canonically know about dragons, it's entirely possible that the same holds true in reverse: the ponies consider the dragons too dangerous, the dragons don't bother to pay attention to mere ponies unless they become a nuisance (which for the aforementioned reason isn't often), and so anything like purely ''social'' pony/dragon interaction just doesn't happen. (This runs counter to some fanfics in which the dragons have their own kingdom(s) and formal diplomatic ties to Equestria, but those were generally written before this episode.)
* Why didn't Twilight just send a letter to Celestia asking about Spike's heritage?
** That's even if Celestia knows about Spike's heritage. Ponies know very little about dragons, to the point where even TWILIGHT couldn't find anything about them, which indicates that ponies and dragons have had very little interaction. It is a possibility that Celestia doesn't know who found the egg, and even if she does, that doesn't necessarily mean she knows where the egg was found, or who Spikes parents are, or even what type of dragon he is. (the fact that he was pretty much the only dragon there without wings indicates he's not like them)
*** But Twilight only searched in her library which doesn't contain all the books in the world, also she was unaware of the Starswirl the Bearded wing and the time spells, so it could be possible that Celestia had books and/or knowledge that would've aided in their research.
** Maybe they're saving the truth of Spike's origins for a future episode.
** Perhaps Celestia had explained to Spike about his history in the letter she sent to him...which was thrown in the lava pool. The migration seems to be a big event, and it would be reasonable for Celestia to think that at that time Spike might want to know something about where he's from.
** Maybe Celestia has some good reason not to tell Spike about his origins.
* Why couldn't Rainbow Dash fly with Twilight and Rarity in the dragon costume? She didn't seem to have any trouble at all carrying ''four'' ponies back in "Sonic Rainboom".
** The geometry of Rarity's dragon costume obviously wouldn't let Rainbow Dash to do it, the lower part of the costume is open so the ponies could walk on their legs
*** Even so, Dash was unable to take off at all, clearly struggling with the weight. Was the costume itself just ridiculously heavy or something?
*** She wasn't able to accelerate properly with two ponies holding her down and the costume futzing with her aerodynamics. If she had been able to get some more speed some how, or arranged the other two better, she would have been able to get them into the air.
*** Besides, that time was a case of HeroicResolve.
* Phoenix are immortal (they are reborn from their own ashes). Yet we have seen they lay an entire ''clutch'' of eggs at a time. Why isn't Equestria overflowing with them? No matter how slow or infrequent the mating instinct may be, no permanent deaths would mean no way to compensate for the birds that are successfully hatched.
** For that matter, what would ''eat'' a phoenix? How many animals would enjoy a meal of ash instead of meat?
*** Dragons are probably the only creatures that could. We've seen Spike eat some pretty gross/inedible things.
** Doesn't the Phoenix rebirth thing only happen once every thousand years? If they die due to other causes, they might actually be killed off for real, or at least until the next thousand years is up.
** A phoenix is reborn after dying of old age. Whether they can be reborn after dying from being eaten or otherwise mauled is yet unknown.
*** There is a real world species that has biological immortality, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_nutricula immortal jellyfish]]. They can still die from disease and injury.
** Maybe they only get reborn a limited number of times before they die permanently.
*** So...phoenixes are {{Time Lord}}s?
* Why was Fluttershy scared of dragons when she [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath defeated]] one in ''Dragonshy''?
** Fluttershy's dracophobia was established in that episode. It was only when he was directly threatening her friends that she got over it. As it stands, the dragons aren't doing much aside from collateral damage.
* How come no one thought about asking Zecora about dragons? The Secret of My Excess shows that she does know a thing or two about dragons.
** Spike wanted to actually meet and interact with dragons and participate in their society, and maybe find out about his parents. Zecora couldn't have helped with that. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity just wanted to keep tabs on him, so Zecora couldn't have helped there either.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.22=] Hurricane Fluttershy]]
* So Bonbon's a pegasus now?
** There was also a Pegasus Lyra in one of the previous episodes, so maybe Bon-Bon has a pegasus twin too.
** There's a Pegasus version of Doctor Whooves who competes in the Best Young Flyers competition. Apparently a lot of background ponies have doppelgangers of a different pony type.
** Changeling.
*** As much as I like this theory when applied elsewhere, I gotta question the idea of a changeling being so incompetent as to not only get the species wrong, but to risk drawing attention to that mistake by participating in a town-wide event.
* Why didn't Spitfire do anything to help? They were one pony away from getting the water spout created, and that's to provide water for all of Equestria. How come Spitfire didn't just jump in to help? If Rainbow Dash is pushing a 16 wingpower, I'm sure that Spitfire would have broken the required 5 no sweat and is probably about equal with Rainbow.
** It's an important job that provides Equestria's rainwater, but there's a definite element of competition to it, with prestige going to the locale that performs the best. If a town/city is really incapable of producing a tornado, more serious steps are probably taken.
*** The solution was simple, Spitfire should have joined the group and finished the job. Then she'd have added, "Unfortunately, I am going to have to note that you only reached 795 WP before I joined you in my official report." Maybe add something about also noting in the report that they did pretty well considering they were down 8 flyers (Which seemed to be able 8-10% of the towns pegasus population). It may be a competitive thing, but it's still a job. Get the job done, but disqualify them from any competitive recognition.
**** It's not like there was an emergency, like a fire or something. And competition or not, it was still a matter of pride for the town. It would be impolite for Spitfire to just barge in uninvited. Besides, Fluttershy was there, and perhaps Spitfire understood that it was an important chance for her to overcome her fears and earn respect. Now, if she'd flat out refused to join, then maybe Spitfire would've done it.
** But why was Spitfire there in the first place? It just doesn't add up!
*** Spitfire was there to oversee the water transfer and record Ponyville's top tornado windspeed.
* When Thunderlane coughs, Twlight's response is to... spray his mane with something? What does it have to do with coughing at all?
** Its a disinfectant spray. She's cleaning the germs from Thunderlane's cough. She even says it.
** Yeah, but did she think Thunderlane coughed on his mane somehow?
*** She didn't target his mane specifically, rather his general direction.
* Is it just me, or is this the first time in the entire series that Rainbow Dash actually acts kind and caring to someone? Even when defending her friends or doing them favors, she's still pretty loud and obnoxious about it. Here, she's soft spoken and rather supportive of Fluttershy throughout much of the episode, returning to her loud and boastful variety of friendliness when she's playing up Fluttershys performance. She's not exactly perfect (She's still begging Flutteryshy to help), but this is probably her first incident of being actually sensitive. It almost seems Dash went through a bit of character development off-screen, and we missed a friendship letter somewhere.
** How about The Last Roundup, where she was also quite nice to Applejack? Or last episode, where she was protective of Spike? The main problem here probably is that her first two episodes this season portrayed her as an asshole.
*** Or when she shows genuine affection towards Tank after he proves his worth? Or when she graciously accepts her defeat in ''Fall Weather Friends''? Or when her actions in general in ''Sonic Rainboom''? I could go on, but the point is, Dash has ''always'' been a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, not a callous JerkAss like a lot of people are painting her as lately.
**** I did not intend that Dash was not capable of being nice. But there's a difference between her good traits manifesting loudly and energetically, like they usually do, and her being relatively low-key in this episode. To be fair, she was somewhat quiet when trying to calm Tank down when he got scared towards the end of Best Pet. However, I'm pointing out that, normally, she's more like she was at the end of the episode, where she was giving the credit to Fluttershy in her usual boisterous manner. It's not that Dash can't be kind and considerate, it's that in this case, she behaved in a much more subdued way here. It seems like a younger Dash might have tried to be a lot more energetic towards Fluttershy, rather than her much more downplayed than usual behavior here. It's like if Pinkie Pie threw a party, and it was just a quiet affair, maybe with a single cake and basic food, and it was much more about the guests simply enjoying each others company than the actual party itself. It wouldn't be completely out of character, but it would be odd, and signify positive character development and better empathy on the part of the character (Dash in the episode, Pinkie in this example).
** Her character development indeed seems to have improved over time, especially in 'Read it and Weep', in which she learned to stop hating what she doesn't understand, a lesson she truly needed. There's a few moments in which RD was actually caring to someone else, but the rather poorly planned two episodes in a row dedicated in showcasing her absolute worst features, almost making her seem like a villain in 'May the Best Pet Win' and 'Mysterious Mare-Do-Well' did a great job of changing the opinion of the community regarding her. It took some time, but it seems like she was eventually redeemed by becoming a more open-minded pony and being the target of most jokes in episodes.
** You may recall that when RD first learned of what Fluttershy's problem was, she started out being rather abrasive, but then stopped herself, and continued on more gently. I simply took this as her [[ShrinkingViolet realizing who she was dealing with.]] She knew she was talking to Fluttershy, and needed to be a bit more sensitive than normal. Compare it to Griffon The Brush-Off - Rainbow and Pinkie pranked every member of the Mane Cast except Fluttershy, because Pinkie declared that she was too sensitive for that, and that even the lightest prank would hurt her feelings. Rainbow agreed to this rather quickly. Similarly, there's not much of a problem when RD's brash with a Pinkie Pie or an Applejack, because they're not very likely to get their feelings hurt by it. But Flutters is the sensitive one, and she knows to be easier with her.
*** Yeah, dumping cold water and scaring her? Yeah, that's being kind. Hell, its not like RD needed Fluttershy anyway; she had most of the people in Ponyville riled up like her and could easily do the tornado without Fluttershy. The only thing that prevented their ability was the other ponies getting sick.
*** Fluttershy pulling out a cheap, obviously faked, "sick" excuse is understandably going to aggravate Rainbow a little bit, and as said above she went easier on her afterwards. She wanted Fluttershy to be in the tornado not because she ''had'' to be, but because she really, really, wanted her to participate and be part of the group. When Fluttershy acquiesced, it became more about helping her overcome her confidence and self-esteem issues. Fluttershy giving up and staying home wasn't the end of the tornado project, but it was a big disappointment and a loss for both Rainbow Dash and her.
* [[YouFailPhysicsForever How does Roid Rage fly with these itty-bitty wings?]]
** It's been implied at times that Pegasi rely partially on magic to fly, so maybe wing size does not matter that much.
** RuleOfFunny
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.23=] Ponyville Confidential]]
* [[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Dear Gabby Gums: How do you type with horseshoes on]]?
** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Gabby Gums didn't use a typewriter]]. Anyway, the typewriters had two hoof-sized buttons and what looked like a space bar. That changes the question from how they hit the buttons to how they fit all the functions into such few keys.
*** I've got it! They type in... Horse Code!
*** A) Pun of the year. B) The keys probably function something to the effect of "select letter", "type selected letter", and a space bar. It would be slow going (or would have to be magically enhanced), but it would probably work okay.
*** Perhaps it works in a similar principle as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard chorded keyboard]].
* Cheerilee's involvement at the end felt off for a few reasons. Most significantly, what was the reason why she decided to step in and demote Diamond Tiara? If it was because of public annoyance with the articles, shouldn't it have happened before the Crusaders wrote their resignation letter? If it was due to the resignation... note that the Crusaders didn't actually blame Tiara for their actions and instead said that public feedback drove them to continue, so why would Cheerilee find her accountable? The blackmail apparently never went public, so that wasn't a nail in her coffin.
** As the editor, Tiara had final authority over whatever was printed. The Crusaders could've written whatever they wanted, but it would've never made it in the paper without Tiara's approval.
** Cheerilee must not have known, maybe not actually paying attention to the contents of the paper. Then Diamond Tiara blackmails them and Featherweight took a picture. Since it wasn't used for the paper, he must have given it to Cheerilee as concrete evidence of what Tiara was doing.
* After the entire episode revolved around the Crusaders attempting to write stories that met with Tiara's approval so that they could get printed, and after she blackmailed them into continuing... Tiara approved the publication of their next article ''without ever looking at it''? And was caught completely off guard ''after'' the papers were circulated? She knew they wanted to change their format or leave their position, so why would she ''relax'' her editorial mandates? It's true that the deadline was approaching, but that still felt like an IdiotBall on her part to reach the episode's conclusion.
** Tiara was probably too over-confident in her blackmail keeping the girls in line.
** They also seemed to be right at the paper's deadline, and she probably figured any Gabby Gums piece would be better than publishing the photos and cutting ties with the CMCs forever.
** Tiara's been consistently shown to be ''mean'' -- not necessarily ''smart''. (It's not like she hasn't been [[HoistByHisOwnPetard hoist by her own petard]] before.) Plus she's for all her attitudes still not an adult herself, so some GenreBlindness can be excused. Also, yeah, the two points above.
** These explanations would be acceptable for a purely print piece. However, the article actually has a picture of the Crusaders front and center, instantly implying that they are owning up to their actions as Gabby Gums, and we see during the later montage that it quickly caught the attention of those who were spiting the group. Even if Tiara didn't pick up on that implication, she'd have to wonder why they were writing a defamation article against themselves. For her to publish the article and put it on the "newstands" without realizing that it wasn't their standard fare, she must have not even ''glanced'' at the thing from the moment they handed it to her to the moment when everyone was reading it, and that would include not being anywhere near the printing or distribution process, especially so close to deadline when you need to make sure everything goes without a hitch. That's a pretty extreme reversal from earlier.
* Why does a one-room schoolhouse have its very own newspaper?
** Given how far more colts and fillies are shown about the school than are ever shown in classroom shots, the school is clearly larger than we've been led to assume.
* Why didn't Cherilee step in earlier? The newspaper was going all over Ponyville and in Cloudsdale, surely she would've heard what stories were being printed. Is she just that irresponsible?
** Maybe she wanted to hang back and see if the kids would solve it themselves. Which, of course, they did, and they learned a valuable lesson along the way. It'd be a risky move, but some teachers are like that, especially in fiction.
** She did take her students on a field trip which resulted in unsealing an ancient evil and having Equestria descend into total chaos, maybe she's really that terrible a teacher.
** Sadly, the above. In the past, Cheerilee has let students be teased in front of her and watched the CMC get into a physical scuffle without intervening. She's sweet and loves her students, but she's never been a terribly reliable teacher.
** We don't see her after the first meeting until the end of the episode. Perhaps she was out of town on sabbatical, or at a teacher's conference. She might have been unaware until she came back and found out what had happened.
* How did the CMC manage to dig up dirt on Trixie, if she had left Ponyville a long time ago?
** For that matter, how did the CMC get dirt on Celestia? Three fillies managed to hop a train to Canterlot without any supervision?
** Some of the stuff is stated to be made up. Also, they have access Spike and Twilight, so they may have grabbed an old photo. As for Trixie, I'm guessing that it's one of those "Breaking the Magician's Code", only done via ransacking or talking to those who have ransacked through her wrecked carriage. Alternatively, they might have gotten hold of Trixie's diary (assuming one exists) from Snips and Snails, who had themselves recovered it from the rubble.
** It's almost certainly made up. Every other column they did was a picture and a caption that didn't even necessarily have to be related to the picture. (like claiming Fluttershy had tail extensions) They could've easily gotten a random picture of Trixie and added any accusation.
* Why didn't Spike tell the mane cast the CMC were Gabby Gums? He had been interviewed by one of them, and later that interview appeared in Gabby's column. He should have been able to put two and two and two together and get Matilda- er, the fact that the CMC were Gabby Gums.
** Diamond Tiara pulled that article. She said it was too nice. While the mane six know that he knows who Gabby Gums is, they never actually ask him. The CMC might have asked him to keep it a secret. Or he also might have told the others off screen.
** He probably did. Someone had to have told the town who Gabby Gums was, since they all knew. It had to have been Rarity or Spike, since Rarity figured it out and Spike was interviewed by them. Rarity seems unlikely because 1. It's her sister, and 2. She'd already heard how guilty Sweetie Belle felt about it. So we can probably guess that Spike exposed them.
* Anyone thought the Ponyville publicly shunning the [[PowerTrio Cutie Mark Crusaders]] a bit harsh? Granted, they invaded their privacy and were humiliated but they're only young fillies. I hate to see what the town will do if the girls did something worse...
** It was a day. They'd likely get over it soon enough. They've already gotten over poisonings, massive collateral damage, MindRape, and attempted genocide, a few rumor-mongering fillies likely won't be that impressive in comparison.
** They (albeit unintentionally) let loose the spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. You can't get much worse than that, and no one seems to hold it against them in the long term. Not to mention they fed Big Macintosh and Cherilee a LovePotion that forced them into a relationship together and caused them to go so bonkers they caused a significant amount of collateral damage. Again, no one holds it against them (unless Macintosh's rant at them was partially fueled by that).
*** Not so much in the former case, since no one really knew that they were to blame. Celestia might have had realized that CMC's quarrel fueled Discord's release, but she probably didn't know about it, and Cheerilee who saw it probably didn't connect an ordinary class trip she likely have had dozens of times with the appearance of an evil PhysicalGod.
*** Even Celestia might not have known the CMCs were responsible. She didn't say he'd been woken up or released, only that he had returned.
*** Also, [[FalseCause correlation does not imply causation]]. They got into a squabble next to Discord's "statue" and a short while later he broke free, but it's never stated (assuming for convenience's sake and on grounds of the LawOfConservationOfDetail that it wasn't simply pure coincidence) ''which'' of the two was cause and which effect.
* This one's kind of a nitpick, but it's also central to the entire episode, so I think it bears saying. The girls create the shared alias of "Gabby Gums" because they can't fit all three of their own names in their one section of the paper. But why not just sign it "CMCs" or "the Crusaders" or something? It's not like their club name's a secret or anything; plenty of other characters have acknowledged it before.
** Maybe they just liked the name.
** Maybe they heard about the idea of pen names and figured that using one would help them earn their cutie marks.
* "I Was A Canterlot Snob". Everyone goes on about how much the CMC hurt and humiliated Fluttershy, and for good reason. That being said, it seems constantly overlooked what they did to Twilight, who has been just as good to them, but got a FAR more scathing article. Fluttershy is the most sensitive member of the group, without question, but previous episodes, such as "Boast Busters" and "Winter Wrap Up" show Twilight to also be easily hurt, as well as eager for approval and acceptance. It's also worth noting that Twilight and Fluttershy are both [[NiceGirl Nice Girls]] with a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Jerk With a Heart of Gold]] sidekick who had similar reactions. Spike's hostility toward the CMC mirrors Angel Bunny's, and we don't even SEE Twilight, who may very well have been hiding in some back room crying! What's more, as impressive as Twilight's Force Field was, it raises the question of why she blocked off the ENTIRE library, including from the air. Why not just use a spell on the door, and let Spike chase them away? (Which he did) Was she trying to keep out all of Ponyville? [[FridgeHorror Were there ponies who took the article seriously and went to confront Twilight before the Crusaders showed up?]] Were there ponies who believed that [[SpoiledSweet Twilight]] was really like that article said? [[FridgeHorror How badly damaged was Twilight's reputation?]]
* When Rainbow Dash kicked the cloud in the episode it unleashed a torrential downpour but in past episodes Rainbow Dash has kicked clouds and they dissipated
** Pegasi magic?
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.24=] MMMystery on the Friendship Express]]
* '''Where the heck is Spike during all of this!?''' I mean, besides the "Last Roundup", and "Sweet and Elite" he's the ''only'' one of the mane cast that keeps being left out of the group's fun. And we know for a fact that in this episode he wasn't on official business in Canterlot, or else he'd make a cameo. Was Twilight really making him stay behind to do chores at the library, rather than hang out with his friends and see Celestia, the one that helped Twilight raise him, and in a way, a mother to him?
** Well, it was a rather spontaneous invitation, wasn't it? I was under the impression that they didn't even go home.
*** They had tickets, or at least rooms. Either they had warning before hand, or they were able to make some arrangements.
** With Twilight gone, someone has to man/pony/dragon/whatever the library. Spike's also said that he likes it when Twilight goes on trips, since he gets to slack off.
*** [[FridgeLogic This raises the question of what she did during "Dragon Quest."]] Was she able to find a temp librarian, or did she just close the place down?
** Spike obviously stayed home because he has to take care of his baby phoenix pet, which he didn't have at the time of "Dragon Quest"
* The CharacterDerailment of Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity bothers me. Did they become jerks just for the sake of the plot or is there an underlying instinctual behavior regarding ponies and cakes.
** This bothered me, too. Especially at the end when the other bakers scrambled around to eat each other's goods. Seriously? Do none of these characters have any self-control? Pinkie Pie's immediate forgiveness and understanding baffled me as well. If all of my friends conspired to ruin something that I worked really hard on and might bring my town some recognition I'd be really pissed and call my friendship with these people into question.
*** Well, "conspired" is the wrong word, but yeah, at the very least there should have been some indication that the three intended to work off the debt somehow.
** My initial thought upon first viewing was that it was another "chalk it to Pinkie's weirdness" thing - she is SO EXCITED and SO OBSESSED with the food that her descriptions are literally mind-altering, turning even the ponies of loyalty, generosity, and kindness to sneaking a bite. As such, I found it hilarious.
** I'm not too bothered by this. Sure, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity broke their promise to not eat the cake Pinkie Pie tried to protect, but given how Pinkie earlier [[FoodPorn described the cake in such a vivid and delectable way]], I'm not surprised that they fell to their temptations. It's like that WesternAnimation/SouthPark episode where Butters allegedly commits suicide, a PetSematary grave digger arrives at his parents' home and warns them not to try and bring back their son, despite giving them specific instructions and locations. Also, the mane 6 don't always follow their elements to the letter: Fluttershy was seen to be mean and angry when she took advice from Iron Will; Rarity tries to take gems from that dragon from Dragonshy and guilt-trips Spike into handing over his gem to her on his birthday; Rainbow Dash isn't necessarily the most dependable of ponies (as she's often seen napping and generally being lazy unless called upon). The ponies are fallible, make mistakes and can give-in to temptation (especially if unintentionally goaded into doing it).
* Pinkie eating the entire cake at the end. And then everyone just laughs. It just strikes me as horribly gluttonous, even after all she's been through to protect it, and [[KarmaHoudini the others who were apparently desperate to taste it should have been livid.]]
** RuleOfFunny. If you want a better explanation: This is [[BigEater Pinkie Pie]] we're talking about. Everyone's pretty much accustomed to the fact that she can't resist sweets. They were probably more surprised that she managed to hold off on doing so until the cake itself was no longer needed than anything else.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:[=2.25-26=] A Canterlot Wedding]]
* When Twilight went to Shining Armor and the others to tell that Cadance is evil because Twilight saw her do some things that made her look evil, and then Shiniing Armor tells her that the things Cadance was doing was completely different, the others dismissed her. Did Twilight's friends and Celestia forgot about the lesson from Lesson Zero: that you shouldn't dismiss your friend's worries even if they are blown out of proportion, and that you shouldn't let your fears turn a small problem into a big problem?
** In Lesson Zero nopony could actually directly say that Twilight was wrong, and were just dismissing her concerns because they seemed silly. In the finale, the rest of the group had actually had their own experiences with Cadance, and while they didn't find her particularly pleasant, they all seemed to like her okay enough. And Cadance had already offered them a plausible explanation for why she would want the gang as her bridesmaids BEFORE Twilight came in spouting that she was evil.
** There's also the fact that this time around, there was an alternate explanation for her behavior; the entire first half of episode 25 where Twilight goes on and on about how important her brother is to her and how mad she is that he's getting married without telling her could easily come across as possessive. Adding to that is that they aren't there when it's revealed that Twilight knew Cadance, or when she made peace with her brother. Add in the fact that (fake) Cadance treated the rest of the cast pretty well (putting people you don't know into your wedding party is a pretty big gesture) and it's pretty clear that from their perspective, Twilight is being insanely possessive of her brother, and making up excuses to dislike the pony who's taking him away from her. They didn't just brush her off; they heard her out and made an (wrong) informed decision that she was just jealous.
* Where did the Changlings come from? Where do they live? And why do they feed off of love?
** Tartarus. Wherever they can hide[[hottip:*:They're '''shapeshifters.''' They could be hiding in your own closet without you knowing.]]. And love tastes sinfully delicious, without being fattening in the slightest.
** Or maybe... ever notice how there's more than one Bonbon? or Derpy? Changlings live everywhere and act just like normal ponies.
*** .... Is it possible they just gave a canon explanation for all the duplicate background ponies?
** There's a whole planet outside Equestria that's largely unknown and unexplored. Alternatively, it's been proposed that Chrysalis [[spoiler:was originally the love-poisoned princess referenced in Hearts and Hooves Day]].
* If Shining Armor is Twilight's BBBFF (Big Brother Best Friend Forever,then why does it seem like the others don't seem to know who he is until Twilight tells them? Wouldn't she want to tell them everything about the guy she looks up to?
** I guess the relations between the two got distant after Twilight left Canterlot.
* Where was Luna during the fight? Was she asleep (ya know, she rules at night)?
** They showed Luna flying in at night, so wherever she spends her days is outside of the shield. The event also went down fast enough that they didn't have the time to send word to her after the shield fell, and if Canterlot fell, then she would have been needed to rally forces elsewhere in Equestria.
** Luna is shown to relieve Celestia at nightfall, and when she shows up for the wedding asking whether she's missed anything it's once again evening. The Changelings also never seem to have found her while swarming all over Canterlot[[hottip:*:[[FridgeHorror, at least as far as one can ever tell when shapeshifters are involved,]]]], which together with her earlier arrival through the shield would indeed suggest that she spends her days elsewhere and may in fact simply have slept through the whole thing.
*** Still strange that Luna would leave Canterlot at night even though Canterlot is explicitely under threat of attack. Wouldn't it make sense to have both powerful alicorns at hand to repel the threat? Not to mention Luna's presence at the wedding itself would have resolved the plot immediately.
* Shining Armor's Twilight's BBBFF (Big Brother Best Friend Forever), then what about Spike? Does that make him her LBBFF (Little Brother Best Friend Forever)?
** I actually think the introduction of Shining Armor hasn't ruined the theory that Twi and Spike are like bro and sis. It's just that their relationship is different. With Shining Armor, he was someone she could look up to, and play with. Spike was just a baby at the time. And probably spent a lot of time with Celestia (seeing as she taught him that "fire-magic sending thingy"). But Spike loves Twilight as family (confirmed in Owl's Well That Ends Well, and Dragon Quest) and shows that she returns the feelings.
** One WordOfGod suggested that Celestia took to the initial raising of Spike, given the general lack of pony knowledge on dragon raising, only giving her to Twilight as an assistant when both were mature enough for it. Hence, the Twi/Spike relationship - prior to being sent off to Ponyville - would be more formal, and becoming more sibling as they both learned to adjust to Ponyville. This would also be consistent that leaving Shining (whom she still probably saw every day while at Canterlot), her relationship with Spike would be upgraded to the sibling nature to make up for not being around Shining.
* Why was everyone so quick to take Cadance's side? They all completely snuffed Twilight, as if her opinion didn't matter. It's especially odd, since the other 5 had learned to take others feelings a [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E3LessonZero little more seriously]].
** They all saw Twilight get into a bad mood because Shining Armor didn't tell her about the wedding personally. They assumed she was overreacting because of that. And as much as her friends try to take her concerns seriously, Twilight obsesses over the smallest of things.
*** I'm not so sure that holds water. This is Rarity and Applejack we're talking about, and the dress and the apples were snubbed by the bride. Even if she wasn't a changeling-much less the queen-we're talking about someone who basically disrespected the very foundation of what those two characters have based their lives and liveihoods on. Applejack would normally defend her own apples to the death. Rarity is not someone you screw around with when it comes to dressmaking. If Cadance was realistically acting in this manner, it makes perfect sense to call her out on her bullshit, especially from the Mane Six. Struck me as a little out-of-character for them to hold back and instantly forgive her. I may be a guy, but I know a 'bridezilla' when I see one.
**** Rarity doesn't always reject criticism. Remember when she made dresses for her friends, and they didn't like them? She worked overtime re-making the dresses according to their requests. It's no surprise she would do the same for a princess's wedding gown.
**** The scene where Twilight crashes the wedding is probably the worst for that, it really bothered this troper. The other ponies completely dismiss Twilight without a thought. I genuinely thought they were being mind-controlled/influenced like Shining Armor was. Even Celestia leaves in a huff without actually talking to Twilight about her concerns. It gets really egregious when Shining Armor tells her off so utterly... considering the relationship the siblings are supposed to have, that should have set off alarm bells. Yet her supposed friends just leave her without saying anything? The hell?
**** ^ It's entirely possible that any of those characters planned to talk to Twilight some more after she had a chance to calm down. They tried to find her a few minutes later, but she had already been imprisoned at that point and thus could not be found (and they assumed she had run off). And you can't really count what Shining Armor said, considering he was under some sort of mind-control influence.
*** Rarity has actually got lots of prior evidence for being a total pushover when it comes to being talked back to about her dresses. Applejack I might expect to be a little harsher, but she didn't lose her temper with Prince Blueblood either, and was remarkably civil with the Flim Flam Brothers too.
**** Being a fashion designer and a farmer/caterer respectively, it's understandable that they hold a professional attitude when dealing with a fussy client.
*** To be fair, Twilight never actually accuses "Cadance" of being an outright ''fake'' -- just vaguely "evil", which does make her sound more than a bit irrational and desperate. Since she doesn't even bring up her alleged former favorite foal-sitter blithely failing to recognize her at first, it seems that the idea that she might be dealing with a genuine impostor (rather than the real Princess Cadance simply turned somehow 'bad') didn't occur to even ''her''.
*** THIS. Go back and watch the rehersal scene and try to forget all the other stuff that happened in the episode. Twilight comes across as an extremely rude, possessive, irrational pony just spouting off the word 'evil' over and over. The look on Rarity and Rainbow Dash's faces afterwards are entirely realistic reactions.
*** Okay, but then we still have the rest to consider if we ignore the superficial threat; Twilight was not irrational by the scope of the lessons she has had in Ponyville as well as the others that relate (Best Night Ever, Parasprites because of listening and respecting others, Putting Hooves Down, etc) and reactions she has learned about her friends. The Changeling!Cadance was extremely rude and dismissive of all these people-towards people who would never accept that behavior from anyone else save for a poor excuse over the said perpetrator's wedding. One's wedding is '''not''' an excuse for her actions especially against the Elements of Harmony and the idea of the show, and Twilight was right to call her out on it...and she would have left it there, if that was just the case and there was no evil afoot.
**** Ever seen Bridezilla? Yes, some people do act that way about their wedding.
**** I'd also note that from the rest of the cast's perspective, fake!Cadance wasn't being ''that'' bad. Applejack doesn't ''know'' that she hated the food (she doesn't hear it until Twilight tells her later), Rarity takes her criticism of the dress in stride (and it really isn't that weird for a bride to be nitpicky about her dress), and her critiques of Pinkie dance and Fluttershy's bird chorus are shown to actually be accurate: Pinkie's dance ''is'' inappropriate for a wedding (even if the real Cadance is okay with it), and the bird really ''was'' singing off key. That and while we saw ''all'' the times Chrysalis was being a bitch, each of the cast members only saw individual occasions of it and chalked them up to wedding stress. Then you have the fact that frankly, it's kind of an enormous goodwill gesture to let five ponies you don't know be your bridesmaids, so that probably got fake!Cadance a ''lot'' of points with the other five of the group. Add in the fact that Twilight acts rather possessive and unhappy about the wedding from the get-go and doesn't back up her accusations with proof, and it really isn't a stretch for the rest of the cast to just assume that she's horribly overreacting.
*** Twilight was shown to be very possesive of Shining Armor as far back as the beginning of the episode, when she threw a complete fit over hearing about his wedding secondhand. That in and of itself was probably a surprise to her friends, since she doesn't seem to get very angry often. They also don't have the intimate knowledge of Cadance's personality Twilight does. To the rest of the mane 6, Twilight started getting out there when she first heard about the wedding, and only got worse from there. And whether she had reason to be or not, Twilight wasn't at all calm or rational when she accused Cadance of being "evil". They'd be hard-pressed to assume anything other than, "She's off her rocker, and it's because she's clingy about her brother".
*** Don't forget that Twilight didn't even bring up most of the worst evidence about Cadence - not only did she not mention that she didn't recognise her, she also didn't mention the argument she had with her brother. The only real problems she brought up, other than vague accusations that she was "EVIL!" could easily be explained away by saying Cadence just wanted her wedding to be perfect.
*** For me the problem isn't that they didn't believe her, it's that they completely walked out on her after her "Big Brother Best Friend Forever" basically disowned her. While there is no denying Twilight behaved badly, look how forgiving she has been of their more mean spirited behaviour in previous episodes (Bridle Gossip and Luna Eclipsed for example). Not to mention after all she's done for them (Particularily Fluttershy in "A Bird in the Hoof" and Rarity in "Sweet and Elite", you'd think that the ONE time she acts up, they wouldn't just turn their backs on her. They were right to be angry, but all this talk about they probably tried to find her afterwards to work things out ignores that none of this happened onscreen. For a series that is very good about onscreen reconciliations, seeing Twilights friend turn their backs on her with no indication they still cared for her is more then a little jarring. Compare "Party of One", Pinkie has a massive outburst and is extremely nasty to her friends because she believes they no longer care about her. Rather then getting mad, they all sit there sadly and wait for her to realize her mistake. When Twilight has an outburst because she thinks she saw her brother getting hypnotized, everyone turns their noses up at her and walk out, despite her expressing remorse on the spot, and having just been disowned by her brother. There was no "Twilight, we love you, but this behaviour is inexcusable" speeches, they just leave. Plus, once they realized Twilight was right all along, Applejack gives a very weak apology for not believing her, NOT for abandoning her, and the others never apologize at all. Celestia implies an apology, and Shining takes Twilight as his Best Mare again, but the others never say anything. Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness has no compassion for Twilight, Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter leaves Twilight to wallow in misery and despair. Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty abandons Twilight without a moments hesitation, Applejack, who has a brother herself and showed the most concern earlier for Twilights worries over Shining, etc. The problem isn't that they didn't believe Twilight or disapproved of her behaviour, it's that not one of them hesitated to abandon Twilight at a very low point in her life without giving her a chance to apologize, atone, etc.
**** As noted above, it's entirely possible that they just wanted to let her cool off a bit before talking to her. She's only alone afterward for maybe five minutes tops before Chrysalis banishes her, after all. Things were getting pretty heated, so the rest of the cast thought it was prudent to take a break before confronting her again so they wouldn't say anything they'd regret. And then by the time they came back for her, she was already gone.
* Nobody noticed the giant army right outside the force field? None of those guards noticed the changelings and thought to notify Celestia? Nopony glanced outside and saw those black ominous looking poinies? [[FlatWhat What?]]
** The changelings didn't start attacking until Queen Chrysalis revealed herself. And an army of shapeshifters is very, very, very easy to hide.
* Putting aside the fact they were stopped, how exactly were the mane six supposed to get to the Elements of Harmony? The door to them is sealed by a spell that only Celestia can break.
** They '''are''' the elements of harmony. So the spell wouldn't work on them.
** Either Celestia was delirious from getting the snot kicked out of her, she made the Elements accessible to them, or that wasn't Celestia. None of those have good implications for what became of the Elements, especially since we have no idea what happened after the manes were surrounded in Canterlot tower.
** It is possible that what unlocks the door isn't Celestia's magic, but an specific spell, something Celestia could have taugh to Twilight after the accident with Discord.
** It's also possible that while only Celestia herself could actually ''undo'' the spell, the magic is still designed to let certain authorized ponies simply pass without interference. After all, not only could the Elements always be needed when the Princess isn't conveniently around to fetch them (as seen in the very series pilot, which isn't something she's likely to have forgotten about already), but she can't use them herself anymore anyway and knows it, too.
** For yet another alternative, we don't even know for certain that that spell is still there. It failed to keep out Discord, after all; Celestia may have replaced it with something else in the meantime.
* Why would the changelings shape-shift into the ponies they're fighting? Now they have no idea who's friend and who's foe.
** Neither do their opponents.
*** Except that their opponents can all quite easily attack the ones that look like them, and can also attack any group of two or more clones of the same pony who appear to be fighting together. The only way this might give the Changelings an advantage is if they themselves had the ability to spot the difference, but judging by Fluttershy's trick they clearly don't.
** Judging by the changelings' habit of slamming their faces into things (either the shield or the ground), perhaps they're not very intelligent.
** Psychological warfare, they did it hopping to mess with the Mane 6's heads a bit.
*** Exactly. Yeah, it didn't work in their favor, but most of them seemed to enjoy messing the Mane 6's heads, notably when a group of Changeling!Twilights mockingly repeat Twilight's "They're changelings, remember?"
** The comic series shows how the changelings prefer to fight, and it's by using subterfuge rather than direct force. The changelings took their forms out of habit, because they usually approach their targets in disguise.
* How did the Queen manage to get past the force field?
** She probably went in before it was even put up.
* At the climax, Shining's having trouble making his magic work due to being drained earlier, and Cadance says she'll help empower him with her love. The Queen's response? "What a lovely but ridiculous sentiment." It's a common villain trait to underestimate ThePowerOfLove, but doesn't that sound wrong from the mouth of a villain whose entire plan up to that point involved growing more powerful from someone's love?
** The point may've been that she'd drained Shining Armor so much that they could not possibly have enough combined power to defeat her. The way she worded it still sounds off though, I agree...
** It could also be that Chrysalis thought only Changelings could benefit from ThePowerOfLove. To her, it was as if Pinkie had gone up to her and said "I'll defeat you with my magic"
** It is also possible she saw love as a source of food and nothing else, only Changelings can "eat" love and she wasn't expecting it to be weaponized against her.
** Cadance was weakened from imprisonment, so Chrysalis probably had no idea she could still do magic
* So, the threat to Canterlot. The one that caused Shining Armor to beef up security. What was the deal with that? The implication is that it was a threat from the Changelings, but that doesn't make much sense. They're shapeshifters who did their very best to hide the operation until it came time to invade. Telling them that they're planning to attack only made their job harder. The only explanations I can think of are that they were ridiculously confident or that the threat was sent by Shining Armor before he became brainwashed, who'd figured out what was happening and sent it to himself in an attempt to thwart their plans. Yeah, I don't know either.
** I think they let slip that something unspecific was threatening Canterlot, and between him constantly keeping up the forcefield and the Changeling Queen draining him, they were trying to run the source of the defenses out of power, so the shield generator would be completely tapped out for their invasion.
** The simplest explanation is that the Changeling Queen herself made the threat after switching places with Cadance. Her plan required him to be too distracted to notice her changes in behavior, and for best results she would want him too exhausted to really fight back. Forcing Shining Armor to keep the shield up for an extended period of time accomplished both of those things, and claiming to heal him gave the Queen an excuse to cast spells on him repeatedly.
** Just because "a threat has been made" doesn't mean the changelings announced themselves. It's possible they accidentally triggered some sort of warning system earlier. There could be a spell that detects various non-pony races approaching Canterlot and sends a warning to the guards, but can't determine any more specific information.
* In the end, the Changelings are still alive. What is going to keep them from infiltrating towns with no massive force fields, like Ponyville or Manehatten?
** Nothing, but it don't make strategic sense, Celestia could easily send a well-organized army to take the city back, and if it fails, send the Mane Six with the elements of Harmony to defeat them, the main objective of taking down Canterlot first was so the rest of Equestria would offer little resistance.
*** Said army would need to find them first and then be able to tell the shapeshifters from the real ponies. There are still a ''lot'' of Changelings around, too, to say nothing of their Queen; they could probably take, say, Ponyville by strength of numbers alone, and if they were even halfway sneaky about it nopony outside of town would be any wiser for a good long while. And they have every reason to come back: there's ''food'' to be had in Equestria and starving on purpose would make even ''less'' sense, strategic or otherwise... -- Essentially, while their latest plot may have been foiled, the Changelings are far from actually defeated. SequelHook, anyone?
*** Yes they would need to find the towns, but they wouldn't need to change into real ponies. In a city they could walk right in with good forged documents (or legit documents gotten through some means), and claim they have always been citizens. In a small enough town where the locals know most of the other people in their town, they would be some random pony moving in from out of town. Real world spies don't normally need to impersonate real people when they infiltrate, why would changelings? Of course they would have to do this on a gradual scale.
*** It IS a SequelHook, we finally have a villain evil enough to be an actual problem and not too strong to be to dangerous to let free, I am just saying, the Changelings don't NEED a large scale attack to feed thenselfs, they are shapeshifters, they could just sneak on a town, eat as much love and whatever other emotions they might also enjoy as they want and get away from there as fast as possible.
** Keep in mind that the Changelings were likely disorganized from being blasted over the horizon, and demoralized from their recent defeat. They'll probably return eventually, but at the moment, fighting them is less war, and more pest control.
** I figure they do indeed lurk throughout Equestria, but for reasons mentioned above know they would lose a large scale battle and so keep themselves hidden. Unicorns can destroy their illusions remember, if she wasn't empowered the (significantly more powerful that her subjects) Queen would have been totally flattened by Celestia. Her plan was likely to zerg rush Celestia and the royal guard, while they were both exhausted and had their guard down. Doing so takes away the main threat to domination of the whole country.
** Now that Canterlot is ''aware'' of a changeling threat, they may develop spells to detect changelings, and send out patrols around Equestria to find them and stop them from causing too much trouble. (They knew there was a threat before the changelings arrived, but I don't think they knew anything specific. Now they do.)
* Is Vinyl Scratch related to Shining Armor and, by extension, Twilight? She looks an awful lot like him - white unicorn with dark/light blue mane and all.
** Judging relations in Equestria by mane and coat color might be a bad idea, none of the families we saw so far have identical colors(Big Mac and Applebloom, for example, go so far as having inverted colors).
* When did Cadance foalsit Twilight? Before or after she became Princess Celestia's apprentice? If she lives with the princess as her apprentice, then why would she need a foalsitter? Wouldn't celestia keep an eye on her?
** Before, if you check the flashbacks, Twilight didn't have her Cutie Mark yet, I personally like to think Cadance went to the same school as Shining Armor when they were teens and became friends, at some point Shining Armor complained about not being able to do something(such as do the test to join the royal guards, for example) because he had to take care of Twi, and Cadance offered to foalsit her, she liked Twi enough to start foalsitting her whenever possible.
*** Following that theory, it is possible Cadance had a crush on Shining Armor ever since back then, which is why she offered to help him in first place, FirstGirlWins, anyone?
*** The lack of cutie mark could have just been an animation mistake, considering that we see little Twilight unpacking her things (including [[ContinuityNod Smartypants]]) in what appears to be a castle chamber, which would imply that Cadance foalsitted her during her years as Celestia's personal pupil.
*** It's also possible that that was Cadance's castle chamber, not Twilight's, and she only brought along a box of toys for the day. The chamber itself also features many heart motifs in its decorations, which makes this interpretation more likely.
** The season 3 premiere may have shed some new light on this one. There are some very heavy hints dropped that Twilight has some important destiny that Celestia is grooming her for. If this is the case, then it's certainly possible that she has been paying attention to Twilight for a long time, even before she got her cutie mark. If so, then connections between the royal family and the Sparkle family start to make a lot more sense.
* The direction in which Chrysalis and her minions got blasted off too looked absolutedly barren. Is that Tartaurus? Or is it someplace else entirely?
** Could be Appleoosa, actually. Or just someplace we haven't seen before. (And besides, I got the impression that the changelings were blasted in all directions.)
*** There is a good chance that it is not Appleoosa as that place did not have dark clouds hovering over it. Furthermore, if you look closely the river stops just before it hits the barren place. Rivers don't do that, they keep on going and going. You can also see a rather distinct line where the forest quite literally stops. The only place thst ever happens is in the Sahara Desert
*** If you actually pay attention, the river, with all its twists and turns, keeps going toward the left side of the screen, and just bends away from that place. As for the forest, it's hard to tell what's actually happening there.
** It would kind of make sense to assume it's just part of the frontier lands where Appleloosa and Dodge Junction are located, especially since [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E14TheLastRoundup The Last Roundup]] reveals that this part of Equestria is visible from Canterlot - but it seems pretty clear that writers wanted to imply that it's some sort of {{Mordor}}-like wasteland where changelings come from and now were sent back there.
* If Shining Armor was considered Twilight's only friend, then what about Spike? Based on dialogue from previous episodes, it's implied that they always had a strong bond- Owl's Well that ends Well he was afraid that Twilight didn't love him anymore. And that knew each other ever since they met- Secret Of My Excess mentions how for '''every''' birthday he had, Twilight always gave him a gift. And the picture of baby Spike with Twilight in the final scene from Dragon Quest, implies that she knew him from the moment he was hatched. Is it because he was a baby for most of the time, that he wouldn't be old enough to play the things she wants to? Or is it out of ignorance, since he's younger, she looks down on him (like any older sibling would on a younger sibling)?
** What is ''with'' you and your constantly demonizing the ponies as dragon abusers??
*** They don't abuse Spike. If anything, Twilight definitely cares about him. I just find it odd how she only counted Shining Armor as her one friend in Canterlot, while Spike was hanging out with her too. I'm just wondering where exactly does he fits in her circle of friends? Does she see him as another brother, a friend, a son, or just an assistant?
** Shining Armor was probably her only friend ''before'' she became Celestia's pupil, and thus also before she met Spike. Twilight mentioned they drifted apart, and that's probably the point in time when the drifting happened - when Twilight became Celestia's pupil.
*** Now that you mention it, I do notice how she didn't have her cutie mark in those flashbacks. So you're probably right. I bet Twilight sees Spike and Celestia as her second family. Seeing as she drifted apart from her own, Celestia became a second mother, and Spike a second brother. But she always kept in touch with her parents and shining armor.
* If Shining Armor was her friend, then why is it in past episodes Twilight said she never had friends in Canterlot?
** Because Twilight exaggerates and is prone to massive errors of perception. She also forgot about Spike. Both are perhaps family, which don't count for reasons of proving a point.
** She probably meant she had no friends outside her family. When she's spoken of a lack of friends in past episodes, I'm pretty sure it was to exemplify how she never tried to ''make'' friends. She didn't need to socialize to make friends with Shining Armor because he's family and she didn't need to; it was just an automatic bond.
* Why did the writers feel they needed to give Princess Celestia-generally considered a power onto a literal god in this world as an alicorn-TheWorfEffect? Talk about a way to talk down the most-powerful individual pony in all of Equestria. If Luna had been there, I'm sure a double-team would have settled it...but no, of course not. Dramatic contrivance ho!
** Yes it was dramatically convenient, but in fairness Celestia being THAT powerful is Fanon. She's never demonstrated anything beyond being a particularly powerful unicorn with added wings, and the ability to raise the sun each day was confirmed in "Hearth Warming Eve" to be a normal unicorn ability, albeit likely one that required a group of them working together before Celestia came along. And yes, if Luna had been there too things would have gone differently, which is why she ''wasn't''. Give the writers ''some'' room to create meaningful conflict.
** Just because Celestia can raise the sun doesn't mean she has god-like powers in other areas. It's entirely possible that she has great power over the sun ''specifically'', and relatively little power with other types of magic. (I mean, she's obviously more powerful than average. She's just not god-mode powerful.)
** Another, more God Celestia compliant, theory is that ThePowerOfLove is just that strong. One way to think about love is that it is a more intense and generally more powerful version of friendship and thus would produce a power more potent than it. Assuming that Cadance was taken some time before the events of the episode, that means that Chrysalis has been stockpiling a suped up version of ThePowerOfFriendship for quite a while. Whether of not this means she can produce a burst akin to the Elements of Harmony depends of the conversion rate of [[ThePowerOfFriendship Friendship]] to [[ThePowerOfLove Love]].
*** THIS. It's not that Celestia is weak, it's that Cadance and Shining Armor's love was that powerful. If Twilight and the others had gotten the Elements of Harmony, I wonder if they wouldn't have worked.
*** So, it was okay for Celestia to lose? Of course, Chrysalis didn't expect to win that faceoff, but there's all forms of indication that Celestia is that powerful; In Heart's Warming Eve, it was said that the ritual did require unicorns to use, but how many? Celestia has enough magic power to do so as ''one pony''. She also has the aspects of Pegasi-flight and assumed weather control-and Earth Ponies since her body type tends to conform-which also assumes a connection to the earth and incredible strength and resilience. They put someone like her in a green and webby prison egg thing. Does that not bother anyone else?
*** I presume the Changelings paralyze the ponies before putting them into cocoons.
*** It probably does bother those viewers who've taken the whole fan-created "Celestia is a '''''goddess!!!'''''" meme to heart, yes. You'll notice, though, that the ''show'' never actually comes out and says anything like that; she's a, possibly even ''the'', Princess of Equestria, but never gets accused of outright divinity in canon. Moreover, having a special talent for moving the sun (as indicated by her cutie mark) does not automatically make her any more badass in an actual ''fight'' than any other powerful unicorn...like, say, Shining Armor, who Chrysalis apparently had plenty of time to sink her real or figurative fangs into.
*** Well, after all, ponies frequently refer to Celestia where we would say God, so...
*** She's their primary authority figure and has been for over a thousand years, yes. But even if the other ponies ''believe'' her to be an actual goddess as we'd understand the concept -- unclear at this time since pony religion hasn't really come up in the show at all, probably so as not to needlessly wake sleeping MoralGuardians --, that doesn't necessarily make her one in fact. (That the ancient Egyptians supposedly believed in the divinity of their pharaos didn't exactly endow ''those'' with mighty supernatural powers either as far as we can tell.)
*** The indications are that Celestia simply ''is'' more powerful than the normal ponies, and indeed probably one of the more powerful entities in the setting. She can control the sun as a single pony -- the play somewhat implied it took more than one normal unicorn to do it. She broke a spell cast by Twilight Sparkle -- herself a force to be reckoned with on the series' power scale -- as if it were nothing. She wielded the Elements of Harmony both with the help of her sister and single-handed -- something it currently takes six ponies to accomplish. Queen Chrysalis very, very obviously didn't consider beating her in open combat even a remote possibility until it had already happened. Does this mean she's a goddess? Not necessarily... but it ''does'' mean that Celestia is a force to reckon with. Combine it with her apparent immortality... and "goddess" is the word that would spring to most people's minds.
*** Ultimately, speculations about Celestia's "power level" are just that -- speculation -- because we don't have all that much solid ''information'' to go by. Moving both the sun and the moon on time for a thousand years during Luna's/Nightmare Moon's exile is arguably her most impressive feat to date, but that's really only ''one'' trick (and one that could be [[{{Handwave}} explained away]] as an expression of her personal special talent and her specifically being Luna's sister if need be), and beyond that we don't see her exercising whatever personal magical powers she may have much at all. Perhaps worse, her known track record in facing {{Big Bad}}s by herself (i.e., without the Elements of Harmony) is three losses out of three so far: Nightmare Moon is strongly implied to have imprisoned her offstage easily enough, she's not even shown to ''try'' taking on Discord herself when he breaks free, and against Chrysalis she finally officially loses onscreen. TheOmnipotent who simply decides to [[AllPowerfulBystander keep losing on purpose for some reason]]? Just a literal [[IncrediblyLamePun one-trick pony]] with [[HundredPercentAdorationRating great PR]]? Something in between the two extremes? You decide.
**** Considering everything we know about Trollestia personality wise it's entirely possible that she simply LET Nightmare Moon win their fight. Where ever she was being held she either broke out on her own or was conviently teleported to RIGHT OUTSIDE when her sister was defeated. Personally I think she was quietly watching from outside and could have intervened if she chose. Whole thing was a secret test of charachter for Twi. Not sure on Discord or Chrysalis though.
** Or it's possible that Celestia simply held back on unleashing her full power out of fear of the other ponies in the room getting hurt, using only the bare minimum she though would be needed, then taken out by a sucker punch.
*** Seconded. Celestia had the power to defeat Crysalys. She had the power (along with Luna of course) to defeat Discord. She stopped Twilight's "Want It Need It" spell with barely a thought. She used the Elements HERSELF to trap her sister with a SuperPoweredEvilSide. It is very clear that she is a powerful princess, and should not be trifled with. However, during the battle with Crysalys, she used one of her least-powerful spells to keep the civilian ponies from getting hurt. Consider.also,the possibility of surprise. Celestia has obviously not faced the changelings before, and as such underestimated their powers. So, using the simplest spell in her repetiore seemed the best way to save as many ponies as possible and defeat the villain in the easiest way possible.
** It bears keeping in mind thought, that Celestia might very well be a case of WeakButSkilled; stuff like moving the sun or disabling the Want-It, Need-It spell could just as easily be chalked up to the fact that she's had over a millennium to learn to use her method most effectively, and that when it comes to matters of raw strength, she's only a few steps above Twilight. As said above, we simply have no context for her raw power level; we don't know whether she has the magical ability of ten Twilights, or a thousand Twilights. Stuff like the sun raising spell doesn't really help, because we have no clue how many ponies the original version took; it could have taken hundreds of unicorns, but it's also entirely possible that half a dozen Twilight-tier ponies could pull it off.
* If changelings feed off emotions, why do they have fangs?
** Because [[RuleOfCool they're cool.]]
** Because they can eat actual food in addition to love.
*** Actually, I don't know if they can. The only time we see her actually eat anything she doesn't enjoy it and promptly throws it away (true it's suppose to add to her jerkassness, but there could be more to it). Even beforehand she looks like she's doesn't look forward to eating the food (whereas with the other wedding aspects she just has a look of disinterest to her)
** RuleOfSymbolism. They ''are'' essentially [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]], after all.
** The comic shows them feeding. They suck love in through their mouths, so the fangs are probably to help hold larger, stronger prey in place during the process.
* When did Chrysalis replace Cadance? My first thought is that it must have been several months ago, before Shining Armor even proposed marriage. I figure this because, as Twilight says, Shining Armor would normally discuss such a big decision with his sister before actually getting engaged. He didn't mention it to her, so I can only assume Chrysalis was messing with his mind at the time, which means she had already replaced Cadance. (We're going with the theory that Chrysalis intentionally prevents Shining from contacting Twi, right? And not just that he's "really busy"? Because really, how hard would it be to send Twilight a letter?). But, if Chrysalis has been Cadance for so long, what has Cadance been ''eating'' down in those caves? And how does she know about the wedding?
** How about this: Chrysalis replaced Cadance months ago. She's been keeping Cadance fed because she wants Cadance to keep generating love that Chrysalis can indirectly feed on. Cadance knows about the wedding because Chrysalis told her, via villainous gloating. Fortunately, Cadance is just as willing to marry Shining Armor as Chrysalis pretended to be.
** While possible it is unlikely that Cadance would just go ahead and marry when it wasn't even her that was proposed to. It seems more likely that she was taken around the time she was proposed to. The chaos of such a thing would be the primary reason they might have forgotten to message Twilight and by the time they would have remembered Cadance had already been replaced and the threat made aware.
** Given how poor a job the Queen did of acting like Cadance, it was probably around the time the threat was made. If it wasn't for the excuse of additional stress from planning the wedding on her own, the Queen would have been made easily, even with Shining Armor brainwashed. Shining Armor probable didn't tell Twilight about the engagement earlier because he wanted it to be a surprise. He also couldn't tell her in person because his job kept him in Canterlot.
** It was probably after the decision had been made to have the Mane Cast help in the wedding preparations, and after the point where she could refuse them without suspicion. Having the Mane Six close by exposed her to one of the ponies that knew Cadance well, and risked them being able to use the Elements.
* Okay, can someone PLEASE tell me how the Royal Guard was so easily subdued? All throughout the first episode we see dozens of them stationed all over the place, so how is it that the Changelings won so quickly? It's not like they had the element of surprise by the time they broke through the barrier, unless the Guards happened to not be looking up for the minute or so it took the Changelings to finish off the barrier. On top of that the Mane 6 who, while they have proven to be exceptionally Badass time and again, manage to defeat a large horde of Changelings between the 6 of them. In fact we only see two Royal Guards who are of course bound and useless, so what about the rest of them? Are you telling me 6 ponies are a more capable fighting force than the ENTIRE ROYAL GUARD minus Shining Armor? Even if their commander was getting married, it's not like they wouldn't have sub-captains and lieutenants directing the various units. Now of course the more obvious reason was to allow the Mane 6 to have an epic battle sequence, but wouldn't it have been even MORE epic to have the Royal Guard lending a hand? I just find it hard to believe a trained army could be so easily defeated.
** Even by the end, the Mane 6 were subdued by the Changelings. On top of that, the Changelings can shapeshift, making it very hard to tell them apart and fight them. If they used the same technique they used on the Mane 6 on the guards, it would be a lot harder since the guards all look the same.
** Remember too that the Queen had their captain brainwashed. She knew exactly where they were deployed, where they were weak, what the individual members were capable of... her minions were likely under order to finish them off first, only going for the group of six unarmored ponies runing through the city when they went for the elements of harmony. It was also likely that groups of them were indeed still fighting, but it wasn't plot important enough to show them.
*** Come on, let's be honest. The Royal Guard hasn't really proven themselves to be effective save Shining Armor's impressive barrier. I mean, when you live in a matriarchal society where your main leaders are triple-aspected Gods, you don't have much to do normally.
** When have the Royal Guards ''ever'' proven themselves to be more than a RedshirtArmy, anyway?
*** Fighting a co-ordinated battle, in a city, without central leadership, against a foe with air superiority, enough power to break down your supposedly indestructible fortifications and no apparent regard for civilian casualties or collateral damage... good luck with that. My best guess is that the guards decided that the changelings were out of their league, and went off and did something useful, like evacuate civilians.
* Is it spelled Cadence or Cadance? The former is what I thought it was (and the way this site spells it), but the closed captions and the MLP Wikia spell it as "Cadance".
** Cadance is the official spelling.
* When Cadance first goes over the wedding arrangements with the main characters, it's pretty clear that she doesn't approve of most of them. Twilight uses this as ammunition against her later, which the other ponies quickly dismiss as desiring things to be right on her special day. An understandable sentiment, to be certain, even if we don't like them to become bridezillas. But then all of the trickery and drama occurs, and at the end the real Cadance prepares for the same wedding... and a quick montage shows that she instantly approves of all of the previous designs. While there are certainly other possibilities in play (Cadance genuinely agreeing with them, or counting her blessings that she's getting a wedding at all), is it really a good idea to subvert TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong, only to double subvert it later?
** Well, to be fair, there wasn't much time, the episode was almost over. It's possible that she gently objected to some things (I could imagine that she asked for a different hairstyle, for example) and we just got to see the outcome, that she was genuinely happy. It's less about this trope and more about just showing that she's sweet and kind. I didn't see it as a double subversion. The problem wasn't that fake!Cadance disapproved, it was just the way she acted.
** Plus, Chrysalis was a ControlFreak. She probably found something wrong with ''everything'' simply to assert her control over every little thing. And it's also possible the choices were meant for the REAL Cadance to begin with, and Chrysalis simply had different preferences than her. There was ''nothing'' wrong with their arrangements except they were meant for the real mare, not her AxCrazy EvilQueen impostor.
* Where did that bouquet that Cadance used on the bridesmaids come from? I would normally just say RuleOfFunny except the plot hinged on them being able to get out of the cave, so to pull a random bouquet out of nowhere seems weird. It's not like this is Pinkie Pie either, this is Cadance, whose only personal magic has been to be the Equestrian version of Cupid. I know it seems like I'm fixated on this, but it's so easy to fix too; just have a patch of flowers growing in that one area (there's light streaming in, so there wouldn't be too much question of how flowers are growing in a cave) ,have Cadance pick some, and boom, problem solved.
** It's possible it was simply an illusion or some other conjuration by Cadance. She is a winged unicorn after all. One way to justify this is that her talent seems to be love/matchmaking which often includes a bouquet of flowers as a key item for such rituals.
** We see Trixie conjuring a bunch of flowers out of thin air earlier in the series, and it's treated like quite a simple trick.
* Why doesn't Twilight just teleport out of the caverns? Or did she [[ForgotAboutHisPowers forget that spell again? ]]
** I get the feeling Twilight needs to know the distance she's teleporting. It's not as simple as, "I want to go there," if she doesn't know where 'there' is in relation to where she is.
** Twilight's teleports are almost always short range and line of sight, and she couldn't see an exit. Teleporting straight up as far as you can go, even with someone that can fly right next to you, is always a very desperate plan, and they never got quite that desperate.
** Also, the only time we really see her teleport a long distance to someplace she can't actually see that I remember, she was under massive stress, admitted she didn't ''know'' she could do that, and nearly fried Spike when he came along. She may well not have mastered doing it at will, and even if she did, Cadance is a squishy pony, not a scale-covered dragon -- there's no guarantee she'd survive the side effects.
* Queen Chrysalis's handling of Twilight. Seriously; all of it. I understand that the writers needed something for Twilight to found her suspicions on, but the most basic common sense infiltration tactics say that when you encounter a close relation to the person you are imitating, you play along until something about that relationship is revealed that you can use to allay suspicions. Instead, Chrysalis is instantly dismissive of Twilight to such a degree that it provokes an immediate response that eventually causes her to confront her brother. I mean, why? Her exchange with Applejack proved that she at least had the capacity to grit her teeth and force out politeness, so why didn't she do that with Twilight? What could she possibly gain by this? Even if that put off was supposed to be part of some scheme to get rid of Twilight after she publicly humiliates herself and no one would want her around, it's a plan she wouldn't even have to use if she just acted the part like she should have in the first place.
** Because that was all part of her plan. Her plan was to goad Twilight into murdering the real Cadance down in the caverns. First, she'd do everything possible to make Twilight think Cadance had a Face Heel Turn somewhere along the way. Then, when the time came to send Twilight into the caverns, she'd taunt her, whipping her into a frenzy, before having her blast her way through to the real Cadance. At which point an enraged Twilight, she expected, would kill her right then and there.
*** Do we even ''know'' if that was her plan? This is the same villain that went "HOLY CRAP! That actually worked?" when she punched out a freaking Princess and went "Meh, I don't see anything happening" when the exact same power to punch out said Princess was going to be used against her.
** On top of the previous, keep in mind Chrysalis still had the Elements to fear. Getting rid of one of the Elements of Harmony Bearers neutralizes their threat to her. Problem? Doing it in a way that won't draw suspicion until it's too late. So she picked one of the group out of it, namely the one who actually KNEW Cadance, and made her suspicious, trying to goad her into a confrontation of some kind she could twist around and make her look like the bad guy. Sure, Twilight seeing her MindRape probably wasn't part of the plan, but she adapted to it.
*** If that's the case, why not just kill Cadance herself? Or Twilight? I'll assume for the moment that before she started feeding on Shining Armor she lacked the capacity to do this herself. She somehow has knowledge of these secret caverns beneath Canterlot that no one else knows about, right? To the extent of knowing where the entrances and exits are, because she knew where to have her hypnotized bridesmaids stand guard. Presumably other ponies don't search these caves, because Cadance was simply left down there for an indeterminate amount of time without being found. Once she has herself set up as Cadance, she smuggles several dozen of her followers into the city (y'know... shapeshifters?), and send them to wait in the caverns. Then once she sends Cadance down there, they devour her alive. Same plan for anyone else that needs to be taken out of the way.
*** Because she's a sadistic monster, that's why. She deliberately wanted to torture Twilight both by having her kill someone, and even worse, realize she out and out murdered her friend when she heard the wedding going on as planned above.
*** Claiming that Chrysalis was deliberately risking her cover like that seems a stretch. While she took full advantage of Twilight's distrust, purposefully estranging Twilight like that would have been an incredible risk, with little-to-no reward over over keeping Twilight on her good side.
** Maybe Chrysalis just screwed up. Maybe she just assumed Twilight would mirror her brother's opinions. Thus, she didn't try very hard to fool Twilight.
** It's possible that she didn't have the time to study Cadance, or that Cadance is just that opposite in character, or maybe she's just plain a bad actor.
** It looked like Chrysalis was annoyed by the sheer presence of the Mane Six. She had successful isolated Shining from his family, who would’ve been the first ones to noticed that something was wrong, but then Celestia invited Twi and there wasn’t much that Chrysalis could do about it. At first she barley could contain her frustration and wasn’t rational. It took her a while to calm down and adjust to the new situation. At the point she probably get rid of her old bridesmaids, so that Twi’s friends could take the free spot in an attempt to win them over.
*** Chrysalis didn't kill Cadance because she was powering herself up by absorbing Cadance's love for Shining Armor. Kill her, and that power/food sources disappears.
*** As for why she didn't make an effort to fool Twilight, here's my theory: Chrysalis' plan involved going incognito for an extended period of time (she must have replaced Cadance before the barrier went up), so she studied Cadance's relationships with Celestia and Shining Armor to imitate Cadance better. There are two reasons she didn't do this for Twilight: First, she didn't realize Twilight knew Cadance that well and as such didn't prepare to fool her. Second, by this point she's probably been undercover for a good amount of time and she's getting sick of pretending to be Cadance. Shining Armor and Celestia have been interacting with her on a frequent basis, so they write off her bitchiness as wedding-related stress (when Chrysalis first switched in, she likely acted far more like Cadance) when in reality it's just Chrysalis making less and less effort to act like Cadance. When Twilight shows up out of nowhere, Chrysalis is ill-prepared to deal with her, and really can't be arsed to get back into character just to deal with one pony. So she takes the shortcut of physically removing Twilight on the assumption that it'll keep her out of the way long enough for the plan to come to fruition. Keep in mind that Chrysalis' plan is literally a day away from completion, so it's not that weird that after months of working on it Chrysalis just went "Screw it, I'll chuck her in the dungeon" rather than going to the trouble of figuring out how to get on Twilight's good side.
* Cadance's love magic in Twilight's flashback (the one with the quarrelling pony couple), aside from being [[TastesLikeDiabetes sickeningly sweet]] and having vaguely disturbing [[MindRape mind rape-y]] undertones, contradicts the CMC's lesson in Hearts and Hooves Day, namely that one must respect other's feelings and let them work out their relationships on their own. I understand that Cadance, being a carefree adolescent at the time, might have misused her power for her own amusement, but the whole thing is handled positively, and there's no indication that she has changed once she was a grown-up. When fake!Cadance showed up and started acting bitchy towards Twilight, I honestly thought that she was just a SpoiledBrat who got around by manipulating ponies with her power and making them love her.
** This one I was sort of okay with. It's one thing to use mind-altering magics to cause two ponies who are clearly not interested to fall desperately in love. It's another thing to use what is most certainly much less invasive magic to help two ponies who are probably already in love realize that what they are arguing about is a petty and trivial thing that is making them forget how much they care about each other.
*** Possibly, but it might help if we actually knew, or knew that Cadance knew, what the argument was about.
**** Well, there are no details, but given that she kept talking about how she was going to a hooficure, where her friends are, it's quite likely that they knew each other or were even married. At the very least, they were certainly no strangers.
*** We don't really know how exactly that spell worked, we just saw it being cast and its most obvious effect. It's quite possible that its whole purpose was to ''remind'' the squabbling couple of their love for each other (which would also mean that it wouldn't have worked if there really hadn't been anything to remind them ''of''). In pretty sharp contrast to [[ShadowArchetype Chrysalis]], Cadance just doesn't come across as the deliberately manipulative type.
*** Remember the spell Twilight casts in "Return of Harmony" to remind her brainwashed friends of their feelings for each other and thus snap them out of Discord's spell? I think we just saw who Twilight learned how to do that from.
* What's up with Shining Armor's sclera being light blue? Everypony has it pure white except for him. A disease, maybe?
** Maybe because he's white too and it would look as if he doesn't have any scelera? Most other white ponies (Celestia, the guards) have rimmed eyes, so the issue doesn't arise.
** Prince Blueblood actually has blue sclera, too. Make of that what you will.
*** I make of it that they used the same eye type (if not the same body-except-hair type) for both Blueblood and Shining Armor.
* If the changelings feed on love, than why openly invade and terrorize the population? People who are being attacked by horrible monsters usually feel terrified, not loving. Wouldn't it make sense for them to do exacly as their queen did, i.e. infiltrate pony communities under disguise, hook up with ponies or probably abduct and replace their loved ones and then leech on their love?
** It's only a guess, but: consider how many changelings we actually see on screen. There really ''are'' a lot of them making up just this one swarm. That means that in order to feed them all they'd likely also have to replace a lot of ''ponies'' if they wanted to go the 'subtle' route...which would increase the risk of being caught in the act and bringing the wrath of the princesses and whatever forces they have at their command down on them ''anyway''. So it's not inconceivable that Chrysalis could have decided to take advantage of the royal wedding (where pretty much everypony who was anypony would be present) to launch a preemptive decapitation strike at the Equestrian government right away -- the changelings could then always go back to playing their disguise games at their leisure ''after'' taking over, after all.
*** Except that's a terrible plan. They feed on LOVE. The entire plan from beginning to end is pants on head stupid when you think about it. Frightening the population is like invading a country for food and setting the farms on fire during the invasion. You simply wouldn't do it. My guess is they can feed on fear just fine just love is better.
** It's only a WMG, but it's possible the changelings have more direct means of feeding off their victims, once they're incapacitated. We saw them gather around cornered ponies. And really, we've never actually seen how they feed.
** That they feed on love doesn't necessarily mean that anybody needs to specifically love ''them'' (or whoever they're pretending to be at the moment). We can't necessarily generalize from the sole example of Queen Chrysalis -- she had reasons to take the subtle approach ''beyond'' just looking for a meal. For all we know, threatening one victim to tickle out whatever love and concern anyone else nearby may be feeling for ''them'' could be a perfectly fine standard changeling feeding method.
* Twilight says that before the mane six she had no friends except for her brother. Wouldn't young!Cadance count as a friend?
** A babysitter would probably count more as a parental figure. It's unlikely that a small child would think of an adolescent/young adult as a friend, especially since Cadance was looking after her, so they weren't exactly on equal footing there.
* What were Celestia and Luna looking at/for through the telescope? The fact that it was pointed ''downward'' suggests it wasn't for astronomic purposes.
** For enemies.
* Why did Fake!Cadence imprism (no that wasnt a typo) Twilight? Twilight believed that she was evil, but ''everybody'' didnt, including the Mane 6, her brother, and ''Celestia''. She has no one to turn to, and Fake!Cadence could easily have her banished and then thrown into a dungeon where she banished her too if Twilight tried to stop the wedding again, especially if Twilight used violence
** It was probably Chrysalis being on the safe side, which was a smart move. Twilight's friends may have been put off by her erratic behavior at the rehearsal, but Chrysalis should know as much as anyone how close they all are and how important friendship is; the rest of the Mane 6 would never turn their backs on Twilight completely. Princess Celestia is arguably closer to Twilight than Cadance herself (at the very least, they've had more on-screen interactions). It's conceivable, perhaps even likely, that Twilight would have been able to convince everyone of the truth if she had a little more evidence and/or was calmer. Chrysalis couldn't take that chance.
* Furthermore, (ignoring this is a kid's show) if she was going to trap Twilight, why didn't she just kill both of them? Keeping witnesses alive is generally a bad thing for {{Big Bad}}s I mean, if you're basically a team of [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 Spies]], then why not backstab the ones you are trying to impersonate?
** She may have kept Cadance around to milk her for more information, and got so caught up in planning the wedding, buttering Celestia up and making invasion plans, she never got around to the killing part. Killing Cadence was probably a low priority, since having her hidden in the Canterlot caves was almost as good, and she only needed to be gone until after the invasion. She could also have planned to just leave them both down there and let them both die of thirst. No need to get your hands dirty for no good reason. Or her control freak-side just loved to watch them squirm.
*** Yes, but Cadence can fly, and can carry twilight. Other than ItWasAwesome, the mine-cart rollercoaster ride was pointless. They definitely had an escape route. Also, (different question) why the FRUIT did Fake!Cadence put the exit to her portal at the castle?
*** Actually, Cadance may not have been physically able to fly a whole lot due to her confinement. The mine cart hit the dead end, they both flew into the air a good distance, and Cadance glided to even out their trajectory and make sure they landed safely on the opposite side.
*** Was the exit at the castle? We didn't see where Twilight and Cadance came out, and rearranging an ''entire forgotten mine'' without anyone noticing is not an easy task. She also had guards on the exit, who she expected to do a better job, as well as the caves being a [[ColossalCave maze of twisty little passages, all alike.]] She probably didn't expect them to be able to find their way out that quickly.
* Wait, how was Canterlot protected before Shining Armor was around? He's only been around to cast the protection spell for only a few years. What was keeping the Changelings from attacking in the decades or so before he came around? It can't be fear of Celestia, the loss of the shield wouldn't keep her from intervening.
** The previous commander of the royal guard also knew protective spells? Some other wizard? The changeling weren't strong enough to mount an attack? There could be many factors and we have no information, so it's pretty pointless to guess.
** Who's to say it ever needed protection on the scale that Shining Armor is capable of producing? It was Chrysalis' idea to raise the barrier, for whatever reason she had for doing that.
* Really minor nitpick, but ignoring RuleOfFunny, who lets a BABY dragon organize a bachelor party?
** Spike's only a baby by dragon standards. He's right up there with ponies in terms of intelligence and maturity.
*** He's approximately the age and maturity of a relatively mature prepubescent child. That's still not someone you want running a bachelor party.
**** Keep in mind the setting here as well as the fact it was played jokingly. A bachelor party is only a problem for those under the age of 18 if the plan is to have 'adult entertainment as is commonly shown it would seem to happen during bachelor parties. That and as Spike was planning it there clearly wouldn't be anything inappropriate going on, ignoring the fact or perhaps enforced by it that Spike had it planned for after the wedding.
* So... were Twilight's friends, mentor, and brother seriously going to leave Twilight for dead in those caves? I mean, I know she was acting like a total bitch, but I wouldn't doubt that ''no one'' would find her after the wedding was said and done. Unless all her friends' middle names happen to be Judas, then that would be understandable.
** I am almost positive that they were planning to talk things over with her once she calmed down, but it seems as though not a whole lot of time had passed between her outburst and the wedding.
** Let's also not forget that after Chrysalis sent Twilight into the caves, naturally ''nobody else knew where she was''. Even if her friends had gone looking for her and quizzed "Cadence" whether ''she'd'' seen Twilight, Chrysalis could always have feigned ignorance herself (optionally even delivering an excuse along the lines of "I tried to talk to her, but she ran away and I don't know where she went") with nopony any wiser...
** Add in that according to Chrysalis nopony knew about those caverns, even if they had gone looking for Twilight, they wouldn't have know where to look.
*** Hah. Wonder what that says about Celestia. [[NeverLiveItDown Lived in Equestria for 1,000 years, don't even know that there's an underground mine]]. Actually, she said that ''most'' ponies forgot about it.
* How the hell was ''Celestia'' fooled by Chrysalis? I mean, aren't Celestia and Cadance supposed to be close? I mean, with the Mane Six, it's because they never saw her before (or in the case of Twilight, for a long time), and in Shining Armor's case, he was brainwashed. But how was Celestia, someone who should know Cadance more, fooled by someone who is clearly bad at disguising as her, going as far as to laugh evilly during her freaking wedding?
** I never got the impression Celestia and Cadance knew each other well at ''all''. They're both called "Princess" granted, but Celestia and Luna are the rulers of Equestria; Cadance seems more like a noblemare who actively interacts with the commoners outside of ceremonial duties. As for Cadance being Celestia's niece, well, Blueblood was supposed to be her nephew, and they didn't seem to know each other well either.
*** Huh. Well, I guess that explains it. Thanks.
* Why are some people surprised that Twilight never mentioned her brother to her friends? Maybe it's just me, but I have friends that I've been friends with for over 5 years, and I've never told them about my own older brother, or any of my siblings in fact. It's a real-life YouNeverAsked thing for me, and I think it was the same for Twilight. It never bothered me that she never told her friends she has a brother.
** I guess some people are just disturbed by the fact that a character we've never heard of before appears completely out of nowhere to shoehorn himself into the already established backstory of a much more developed character
* How retarded is Chrysalis, exactly, to put ''bridesmaids'' between her captives and the exit of the caves? Unless her MindControl spell gives supernatural strength and stamina, seems like they'd be the most incompetent jailors ever. Why not take control of a few Royal Guards, at least? As Red Shirty as they are, they would have to perform better than ''bridesmaids''. Chrysalis holds the VillainBall for all the duration of her plan, but this has to take the cake!
** Well they... uhhhh... mmmmm.... hmmmmm? ...Good point. Even a few of her changelings would be better guards. Maybe she was just using what she had, and she could easily pass off their absence as "doing a favor" and claiming a falling out as why they never showed up. An outright absence of Royal Guards would get noticed (well, she could just grab some off duty ones...). Since they are Cadance's friends, she's hoping she would hesitate enough for the bridesmaids to subdue her, and [[IndyPlot tossed Twilight in their on the fly without thinking of how it'd render her bridesmaids useless]]. Still, that's grasping for straws, and anybody else would have been better retainers.
** I'm going with the "she used what she had available" theory here. Her swarm wasn't ''there'' yet, the Royal Guards presumably at least keep tabs on their own making it hard for any of them to "disappear" for any significant length of time...so putting the bridesmaids she no longer really needs because she has a new (if not necessarily welcome) set anyway to use actually makes some degree of sense.
* Why did Celestia even ALLOW the wedding to take place? Clearly, everyone in Canterlot is aware of the threat that is assumed to be the Changelings. It doesn't matter if the wedding plans were made before or after the moment of the threat announcement. Whereas it is entirely plausable that Chrysalis controlled Shining Armor to want to have the wedding ASAP, Celestia is not mind controlled, and it would be absolutely absurd to approve and foresee the wedding of your Royal Guard Commander and your niece in the middle of a crisis when it could easily be postponed and rescheduled. Don't even throw the "weddings are hard to reschedule after so much planning" argument, because seriously, she's the Princess, there's a bucking crisis, and they ended up being clearly able to reschedule it to a later date, and it was at least two days later, considering that they used at LEAST one more day to repeat all the preparations again.
** It's a ''royal'' wedding -- as much a major political event as anything else. You don't lightly cancel those just on account of a random vague threat or three because it'd set a bad precedent and make your government look weak; instead you do your best to tighten up security and then go ahead as planned anyway. Which is exactly what Celestia did. (And if her security measures had in fact been sufficient to meet the threat, we would be seeing compliments for her quick thinking and decisive statesmareship rather than the complaint above. Of course, then we'd have needed something else to fill the ''second'' episode with at the very least...)
** I'm more bothered about why the mane six weren't given the elements as soon as they arrived, or at the very least, make Rarity work the fancy necklaces and crown thingie into the fancy dresses they'll be wearing anyway. If they get attacked, the elements are ready, if they aren't, hey, the elements of harmony attended the royal wedding!
*** Ties into the question why the Elements aren't being used more often to begin with. For example, right at the start of the next season? When Celestia sends Twilight and friends off to help out in the Crystal Empire? She doesn't get the Elements of Harmony out of their vault for that mission, either...and while there's always the [[WatsonianVersusDoylist out-of-universe argument]] that just blasting King Sombra with the Prismatic Friendship Cannon at the first opportunity would have made for a pretty short story, alternatively it could also point at the Elements having some ''in''-universe constraints on their use that just haven't been spelled out yet.
* It's been established that 1) Twilight has a far greater magical potential than any other Unicorn, having enough strength to create a lullaby and lift a Ursa Minor from Ponyville to a cave, and 2) that she can create shields just like Shining Armor. Why doesn't she offer to take up Shining Armor's spot in creating the shield?
** One possible theory is that Shining Armor is more talented at the shields than Twilight, despite her great magic potential. We've only seen her use the shields on her own house where as Shining Armor could create one that can encompass an entire kingdom. It could be that Twilight is simply a JackOfAllTrades, MasterOfNone, where she can ''learn'' these spells, yet she can't ''master'' them as well as someone whose special talent is that spell alone.
** Alternatively, it may not even be that she ''couldn't'' master that spell just as well as her brother -- simply that she ''hasn't'' yet and wouldn't have the time before the wedding, either. (She's also younger than he is and so may for all her raw power and potential be less able to ''sustain'' that kind of effort.)
*** It's also not out of the realm of possiblity that Shining Armor himself is more powerful then the average unicorn. Heck, for all we know, he's the second strongest Unicorn after Twilight, so naturally he'd be more powerful in his specific area. If so, that family seems to produce some pretty badass unicorns
* It's very brief, but at the end of "This Day Aria", just before Cadence goes: "Oh the wedding we won't make, he'll end up marrying a fake" we see Twilight and Shining's parents in the lower right corner. Seemingly unconcerned that their daughter isn't present at her brother's wedding. Combined with how quick Twilight's friend were to walk out on her without giving her a chance to explain or apologize, and showing her no compassion, patience, or forgiveness for her after she was basically disowned by her brother, this casts Twilight's loved ones in a rather disturbing light, particularily as we haven't really seen any interaction between Twilight and her parents after she accidentally turned them into potted plants. Compare to how forgiving the Mane Six were towards Pinkie's outburst in "Party of One", and how forgiving Twilight has been of her friends more mean-spirited behaviour, it just comes off as pure hypocrisy. Again though, my main point her being Twilight's parents apparently not noticing Twilight's absence
** They were only onscreen for a couple of seconds. Not really enough time to show a complex mix of emotions, and they were probably trying to focus on the positives at the moment, rather than dwelling on strife between their children. Kinda disappointing that they didn't have a scene where they talked to their children, but only so many minutes in an episode.
* Twilight has no ill feelings towards everyone for nearly disowning her, but [[WhatIf what if]] she did feel resentful? How do you think she'll react?
* What happened to Shining Armor's helmet after he took it off?
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