To be honest, I very much think that the Flim Flam brothers have a very real addiction to scamming at this point.

It doesn't even matter that they can, and have, make much more money in much safer ways by following the law — it's like they genuinely can't help themselves when an opportunity to set up another overly complicated scam comes up, never mind the risk and their terrible track record in keeping these things running. They could stop, sure — but addiction is a powerful thing.

Good point.

So what you're saying is they're twin Eddys.

When did Twilight gain the ability to detect magical energy surges and stuff? Or has that always been a thing?

I don't think it's ever been a thing, but it's not implausible given the already established connection to the tree of harmony either.

Post of the Day #2486

Posted by storyyeller on Sun, 7th Apr '13 6:24:59 AM - Post #354820 in the old thread

Art of the Dress has been stuck in my head for three days.

Speaking of Rarity, I just finished watching "The End in Friend." It was okay. They should have handled a storyline like that earlier in the show's run.

That's probably the most common complaint about the episode. It's a fair story on its own merits, but it strains belief a tad that an issue this fundamental would only come up or be thought about this late in the show, especially when Rainbow and Rarity have carried an episode on their twosome before.

Well, there was also Twilight's decision to turn her friends' personal crisis into a field trip and then have the students follow them everywhere and take notes on everything they did, but that's a whole other kettle of fish.

Increasing Levels Of Evil

That makes Discord look more fearsome than Affably Evil.

Post of the Day #2487

Posted by Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi on 14th Sep 2017 11:58:21 AM - Post #177860 in the new thread

getting drunk is HELLA fun

at least in my experience. i get really bubbly and laughy while drunk.

thankfully i still have a (relatively) high level of self-awareness and control when drunk, though, to the point where most people dont think i'm any more than buzzed.

Edited by EpicBleye on Apr 16th 2019 at 12:25:57 PM

I like the buzzed and lightheaded feeling I get from drinking Coke & rum. :) It helps that I drink it out of that big and tall glass you can get from the Rainforest Cafe.

In other news, I just finished watching "Yakity-Sax," a.k.a. "Party of One 2.0."

I hate being inebriated. Feeling like my own body is out of control is not a pleasant experience for me.

One shot of tequila and I spent the evening regaling my neighbors on what a “bitch” I was when I was a little kid.

I never got drunk or drank alcohol and never plan to

I'm too much of a chicken shit to do it

i used to be like that too

then i got drunk with a bunch of my friends on the beach

Never been drunk. Don't really plan to cuz I don't like the taste of alcohol.

It's been a fair while since I've gotten drunk. Several years, I think. I do drink every so often, usually just a glass or so. My Dad has taken up brewing in what used to be my bedroom, so when I visit over the holidays I usually sample some, and every so often I'll have something lighter to polish off a long week or something.

Though, I think I did get a little bit buzzed for Danger Than Fiction.

I got drunk exactly once in my life because English is not my first language and my belief that hard lemonade was just extra sour was not, in fact, correct.

It was a crappy experience I have no plans to repeat.

never been drunk but maybe one day i'll try it

I can never get drunk for religious reasons.

I've never had alcohol and don't see the appeal. In fact, I could tell the POTD was a response to me without looking.

09x03 - Uprooted

Judging by the title, Imma guess this one's dealing with the fallout from the Tree of Bullshit being destroyed. That does seem like the most pressing issue in the wake of the season opener.

We start with Silverstream becoming the first non-pegasus to join the Wonderbolts, which seems a bit sudden for something she's never shown interest in before. Nice superhero landing, though. But she's expected to perform immediately because Rainbow Dash sucks at—

"Silverstream! Somehow I missed a class all year and the final is today!" Ohhh. This is a nightmare. Gotcha.

Yona's bad dream is flying. Smolder's is being caught wearing girly stuff. Gallus's is claustrophobia which is awkward 'cause I thought he faced this last season. Smolder did too, come to think of it. And Sandbar faces too many cupcakes which might seem weird, but his greatest fear is actually being forced to choose. Eeyup, it's Tree-destruction fallout time.

"Good, you have all answered my summons." Hey, welcome back, Tree-avatar with an actual personality and shit. You're the one thing I actually like about the Tree of Harmony. Nice to see you again.

"How do I pick just one? They all look so good!" "That's your version of a bad dream?" Like I said: forced to choose. Back in "What Lies Beneath", it manifested in the form of having to pick between his friends and mentors. But for someone with decidophobia, even just selecting between breakfast options can be an emotionally devastating situation. That didn't really click with me back when we watched "What Lies Beneath", but as soon as I saw the shelves full of cupcakes, I got it. Sandbar is super laid back because he's afraid of making choices; he likes to just go with the flow of whatever is happening around him.

Which, in retrospect, makes it a pretty triumphant moment of awesome when he stood up for his friends against Dracula during "School Raze".

"You all must hurry. The Tree of Harmony needs you!" I can't even have one episode before the Tree's revived, can I? Nah, I knew this was coming. Pleasantly surprised that it's a Student episode, though.

"We have twenty highlighters! AND THEY'RE ALL ORANGE!!!" Twilight's right, that is horrible news. Orange is the ugliest color for highlighting. Whoever screwed this up needs a sternly worded talking to. I'm looking your direction, Starlight Glimmer.

"Maybe next time, ease in with those truth bombs." Also, nice job with the arbitrary skepticism, Twilight. It's a magical creature that makes up new powers as the plot demands. If the Tree of Harmony wants to resurrect itself by dream-walking to the students, who are you to say that's impossible? You barely even know what it is; you're really only familiar with what it's done, and at this point, I think it's pretty obvious that what it does is whatever the f*ck it wants with no rules or limitations whatsoever.

"And Sombra won't be coming back. So some good news, right?" I love how cavalier Spike is about the fact that they totally killed Sombra. Like, it's not the first time they've wasted a bad guy. Hell, it's not even the first time they've wasted Sombra. MLP's never really been shy about shoving rainbow beams down a villain's throat until he explodes from time to time.

"If only we hadn't gone home for summer break, maybe we could have saved the tree!" PFFT. This happened in the span of like five seconds. What were you going to do, scowl menacingly at Sombra's dark crystals until he agrees to reassemble it somehow?

"Maybe if we close our eyes and think really strong friendship thoughts, the Tree will get better!" Oh man, how funny would it be if it was actually that easy? Like, they do it and the Tree resurrects. THE END. ROLL CREDITS.

"Is it working?" "…no." I'm actually disappointed that it wasn't that easy. I was all set for the Tree to just spring back to life from their friendship thoughts and then the rest of the episode is about something completely different.

"OCELLUS!" She turns into a rock way too late to avoid being caught! I died.

"But she's not a dragon. … You know what I mean." Another valiant but pointless effort on Ocellus's part! Also, rushed; the dragon she turns into has hair, which is not a thing.

"You want that permission slip in triplicate or is one enough? …what? I like to be prepared." Gallus, you are an orphan and nobody loves you.

…I mean that in the best way, of course. My point is, he has signed slips on him because he probably signed them himself, what with having no actual parents or legal guardians. Remember when he didn't want to go home for Hearth's Warming because he didn't actually have a home to go back to? Yeah, it's no surprise that Lonely Unwanted Gallus is able to get his slips signed by the only person who has custody over him: himself.

Ember forces Smolder to compete in an arm-wrestling contest before she'll agree to sign the slip? What the f*ck, Ember? Were you really going to hold her back if she lost the contest? Would that make her too weak and ponylike for you? 'Cause y'ain't never been a dragon who had a problem with that before! I mean, not until hooking up with Spike, anyway.

Yona has to do chores.

Gallus apparently does not have signed forms, just forms. Huh. Okay. He takes his to Grandpa Gruff, who signs it and slams the door in his face without another word. Because Gallus is a lonely orphan and nobody loves him.

Ocellus gets her form signed right away, no hurdles.

Silverstream is the only student who actually f*cking explains what's going on to her parents, who waste no time signing.

"Sandbar, where's the Tree?" "I got rid of it to make room for the memorial!" DUDE. NOT COOL. That thing's going to come back to life soon! Probably! Also, please tell me you dumped it in a swamp.

"This cave was supposed to remain exactly the same so future creatures could come and experience the memory of the Tree!" I mean. That's actually a really shitty idea. Like. You don't just leave a corpse to rot so that people can experience its musky death odor for themselves. Sandbar had the right idea. If you want people to experience the memory of the Tree, build a statue or something. Then they can come and visit the Tree's grave without being assaulted by rotting crystal funk. And I, meanwhile, don't have to fear it coming back to life at any point.

"Like with lots of artwork that represents the symbolism and deep emotions of the Tree!" Yeah! Silverstream's got the right of it! Beautiful, beautiful artwork that won't spring back to life all of a sudden!

"Yona, you've been awfully quiet! Which idea do you like best?" The answer is all of them. All of them is the answer. They don't need to be mutually exclusive. We know this. We learned it already.

Sure is "Castle Sweet Castle" in here all of a sudden.

"Come! See the birthplace of the Tree!" WHERE DID YOU GET TOURISTS

Goddamn ponies will sign up for anything.

"Grown from the tears of a basilisk and tended day and night by pony magicians." Yo, Gallus wanted to present the history of the Tree but doesn't have a single f*cking idea what the Tree is or where it came from. Which actually means he's in good company. Man, this is the best Tree of Harmony-centric episode we've ever had.

"It already HAS a great story!" "Yeah, but mine makes more sense." You know, I cannot argue with that logic. Grown from basilisk tears, tended by pony magicians. That's the Tree's new backstory. It's final.

"Good. It doesn't belong in the Tree's memorial anyway." SURE IS CASTLE SWEET CASTLE IN HERE

Nice to know that in addition to offering no academic value whatsoever, Twilight's school is failing to teach the specific lessons in her Friendship Journal too. Man, these kids are getting nothing out of that school. I mean, other than each other's companionship. They only ever seem to learn from each other. It might as well not even have classes.

"I'm kind of having a hard time remembering what the Tree looked like. I can't believe I'm already forgetting." And cut to Silverstream. HINT HINT. MAYBE THE ARTIST CAN PROVIDE A RENDITION OF THE TREE TO WORK FROM. HINT HINT.

"It's the Tree, silly!" Okay, maybe not.

"What did you do!" I'm surprised Sandbar saved the sapling. I thought for sure the breaking point was going to be the broken statue rolling over it.

"Wow. I can't believe we just got schooled by a yak." I can't believe not one of you ever learned this episode's moral in class.

Not one. Seriously, what is even the point of the Friendship School?

"A treehouse!" Okay, that's actually really clever. Instead of just reconstructing the Tree, they're going to build something new from the crystal it left in its demise. Y'know, like taking a chopped down tree and constructing with it. It's the thing y'do.

"The Tree is in our memory! Its roots have grown deep in our hearts!" Okay, after this musical number, they better not actually revive the Tree. This is a really good musical number about moving on after losing a loved one while still holding them close to your heart. I was ready before this episode for the Tree to come back, but now I seriously don't want it to because of what it would do to this episode's theme. This is an episode about coping with grief. You can't use that as the theme and then end in a resurrection. Totally ruins the entire message.

"Well? What do you think?" I think you should have taken it home to Ponyville before doing this. The Castle of Two Sisters is pretty far out of the way for a clubhouse, especially with the Everfree Forest's threat-level revived in the wake of the Tree's death.

"Whoa, what's happening?!" GODDAMMIT. So much for coping with grief.

"I guess the Tree is still alive, changing and adapting to be whatever Equestria needs!" Of f*cking course it is. Goddammit, I was all set to not be upset about this but then they had to bait me with that grieving moral, pulling me out of my safe defensive barriers so that I could be surprised and pissed off about this after all. And the worst part is, I knew the Castle Sweet Castle rehash was just time-wasting filler until the appropriate moment to resurrect the Tree. But that song, that f*cking awesome song got me to hope just so they could squash that hope and watch me squirm.

Well played, Hasbro. Ya got me.

So. All in all, I liked parts of this episode. The one part I really didn't like was the part we all knew, each and every one of us, that I wouldn't like. And now I have multiple reasons for disliking it because I really thought they were doing something cool with that grieving moral. But nope. Had to f*ck it up.

I’m also not really impressed from them straight stealing the plot of another episode. I was going to give it a pass for doing something different when it was about grief, but then the ending killed that. It really was just time-wasting filler all along.

But the dynamics between the Students is always fun. They're great characters who deserve to really shine and it's always great to see them. So even though the bulk of this episode was just killing time with a plagiarized Excuse Plot, it was at least killing time with fun and likable characters who are a delight to watch. So that's something.