History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E15TheCartBeforeThePonies

-->--'''Apple Bloom'''

* VolumetricMouth: Particularly during the Derby Racers song:
-->'''The Crusaders;''' ''[in unison]'' let me out, I'd do it over... if I only knew hooooowwww...

** A few moments later, during the "Go go go" portion of the "Derby Racers" song, a shot of the carts crossing paths in a checkered flag pattern is an homage to Anime/SpeedRacer's iconic opening credits. Bonus points if you know that the anime name for that series is "''Mach Go Go Go''".

** A few moments later, during the "Go go go" portion of the "Derby Racers" song, a shot of the carts crossing paths in a checkered flag pattern is an homage to Anime/SpeedRacer's iconic opening credits. Bonus points if you know that the anime name for that series is "Mach Go Go Go."

---> '''The Crusaders in unison:''' “let me out, I’d do it over… if I only knew howwwwwwww…”

** The four-way interchange leading to a four-way collision appears to be based on {{Webcomic/Xkcd}} [[https://xkcd.com/253/ 253, "Highway Engineer Pranks"]].

* LeftHanging: The episode ends without any certainty as to whether or not the Cutie Mark Crusaders win the prize ribbons they were aiming for. Apple Bloom placed first in the race, so she at least certainly did.

** The four-way interchange leading to a four-way collision appears to be based on [[https://xkcd.com/253/ xkcd 253]], "Highway Engineer Pranks".

* AwesomeButImpractical: Rarity's [[SwanBoats swan cart]] has mechanical wings that definitely fit her vision of "big and bold", but block the entire road so that other racers attempting to win for speed can't pass her.

* NoOSHACompliance: Setting up a major race track with multiple roads overlapping at one point? WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong

* OutOfOrder: This is the fifteenth episode in production order but is the ''fourteenth'' episode in broadcast order.

** Just like in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E18TheShowStoppers The Show Stoppers]]", the Crusaders reject the idea of doing something within their own interests and talents, opting to instead aim for something outside of their comfort zones; in this case, Apple Bloom wanting speed instead of tradition, Sweetie Belle wanting tradition instead of creativity, and Scootaloo wanting creativity instead of speed. The three of them being more well-rounded characters now, it's portrayed as a positive choice this time, and indeed the conflict is driven by their elder sisters' desire to do what the individual Crusaders would ''normally'' try.

Cheerilee's students are excited to participate in the Applewood Derby, a cart race that has been a regular event in Ponyville for years. Prizes are awarded in three categories - Fastest, Most Traditional, and Most Creative - but only carts that finish the race are eligible to win. One older pony can help each filly or colt build the cart, then has to ride in it with him/her during the race. The Cutie Mark Crusaders decide to enter in categories outside their comfort zones (Fastest for Apple Bloom, Most Creative for Scootaloo, Most Traditional for Sweetie Belle) and recruit their older sisters to help.

As the race gets underway, Applejack's traditional cart is so slow that it lags far behind everypony else, the flapping wings on Rarity's swan-shaped cart keep blocking other racers, and one of the wheels falls off Rainbow's streamlined cart to send it sliding out of control. The three teams collide in the very middle of the track, causing a pileup that destroys all the carts. Finally fed up, the Crusaders lash out at their sisters for commandeering the jobs of building and driving the carts and ruining the Derby. Both sides realize their mistakes - the Crusaders for not standing up for their own ideas, the mares for not listening to them.

However, each of the three mares soon takes over the entire project for her team. Applejack builds an old-style cart for Most Traditional, determined to uphold the Apple family's ways. Rainbow Dash designs one to win the race and capture Fastest, remembering the fun she had as a cart racer in Cloudsdale when she was a filly. Rarity goes for Most Creative, as a way of making up for her second-place finish in that category when she competed in her youth. Every time the Crusaders try to change the cart designs, their sisters override them. Their resentment steadily grows until race time, when they all find they have been demoted from driver to passenger in their own carts.

As the race gets underway, Applejack's traditional cart is so slow that it lags far behind everypony else, the flapping wings on Rarity's swan-shaped cart keep blocking other racers, and one of the wheels falls off Rainbow's streamlined cart to send it sliding out of control. The three teams collide, causing a pileup that destroys all the carts. Finally fed up, the Crusaders yell at their sisters for commandeering the jobs of building and driving the carts and ruining the Derby. Both sides realize their mistakes - the Crusaders for not standing up for their own ideas, the mares for not listening to them.

The mares help the Crusaders rebuild their carts in the styles they had originally intended, and the Derby is re-run with all the older ponies watching from the sidelines. With nothing more to do, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity relax at trackside and wonder why they got so caught up in winning in the first place.

* DeathGlare: To shoot that kind of a look at Rarity, Diamond Tiara must have been royally pissed off.

* RedOniBlueOni: That's putting it ''really'' mildly. During the discussion and preparation of their cart designs, each Crusader winds up being the Blue to their respective role models' Red.

* SecondPlaceIsForLosers: Rarity winning second place for most creative cart in her youth certainly made her think so. Even worse, she lost to ''[[TheKlutz Derpy Hooves]]'', whose cart was just a bunch of planks nailed together and rolling on log wheels.

* CallingTheOldManOut: The CMC mostly react to their sisters' overbearing nature with resigned disappointment, right up until the thirty-cart pileup. Then they ''explode''.

'''Apple Bloom:''' ''We'' were supposed to design them.\\

* AesopAmnesia: Both Applejack and Rarity seem to have forgotten past episodes where they learned to listen more to their little sisters.

* CompetitionFreak: Rainbow Dash displays an apparent dark side to her competitive spirit by ''sideswiping two carts'' during the race. This aggression constitutes cheating, poor sportsmanship, and endangerment to minors.

* WackyRacing: The CMC and their sisters (or, in Scootaloo's case, sisterly figure) take part in the Applewood Derby cart race. The big pile-up at the end of the song [[{{Pun}} drives]] this trope home.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Seeing the way that a helmet sits firmly onto a Unicorn's head, it would actually cause their horn to bend inwards in such a way that it would break and cause serious injury. To prevent this would require a modified helmet with a forehead hole cut out for the horn to go through but none of the Unicorns (Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Snips) are wearing this kind of helmet.[[note]]A helmet without a forehead hole would not even fit in the first place, as a Unicorn's horn would stop it from resting firmly on their head.[[/note]]

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Seeing the way that a helmet sits firmly onto a Unicorn's head, it would actually cause their horn to bend inwards in such a way that it would break and cause serious injury. To prevent this would require a modified helmet with a forehead hole cut out for the horn to go through but neither of the Unicorns are wearing this kind of helmet.[[note]]A helmet without a forehead hole would not even fit in the first place as a Unicorn's horn would stop it from resting firmly on their head.[[/note]]

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity all miss the point of the Applewood Derby being for fillies and colts. They also miss how their little sisters clearly wanted to go outside their own comfort zones. And worst of all, they showed a much greater initial concern for their own carts than the well-being of the Crusader that looked up to each of them.

** On the scene transition to Rainbow Dash's cloud house, one can see the Twinkling Balloon sitting out front, which explains without dialog how Scootaloo got up to see Rainbow Dash.

* JerkAssBall: Dash, Rarity, and Applejack all hold it to some extent, given how unreasonably mean and self-centered they are towards their sister counterparts.

** The Applewood Derby is a nod to the Pinewood Derby, an annual event for Cub Scouts, an event where boys craft cars out of a block of wood and race them down a track; the Derby itself is similar to a Soapbox Derby and similar Cub Scout gravity cart races. Typically, there are prizes for the fastest cars and most creative design. And, in a case of TruthInTelevision, often fathers become a little too competitive, taking over the design and construction of the cars.

* SkewedPriorities: Lampshaded by the PunBasedTitle.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity all miss the point of the Applewood Derby being for fillies and colts. They also miss how their little sisters clearly wanted to go outside their own comfort zones.

** One of the things Rainbow Dash pulls out of her trunk is the banner Pinkie Pie made for her "birthaversary" party in "Pinkie Pride".

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In the end, AJ, Rainbow and Rarity finally get hit with this after realizing they did go overboard with their designs and agendas and apologize to the Crusaders and the other racers/Cheerilee for their actions.

** The background racetrack and music for the Cloudsdale cart race in Rainbow Dash's flashback looks and sounds like it would be at home in ''Franchise/MarioKart''.

** A few moments later, during the "Go go go" portion of the "Derby Racers" song, a shot of the carts crossing paths in a checkered flag pattern is an homage to Speed Racer's iconic opening credits. Bonus points if you know that the anime name for that series is "Mach Go Go Go."

* YouDidntAsk: The three adults' slight rebuttal to the WhatTheHellHero above was that the Crusaders asked them for help first. If the Crusaders felt their sisters were going overboard, the Crusaders could have told them so. Nopony bothers to point out that [[SelfServingMemory the CMC did complain, but were brushed off]].

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Except for the Crusaders, ''no one in the crash'' suffers so much as a scratch.