Discussion Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E12BabyCakes

Makes you wonder, huh?

No, I agree. There seems to have been some sort of creepy horror movie vibe they were going for or parodying. I just don't know the proper trope for it.

Perhaps a shout out to another movie? Pound Cake walking on the ceiling seems oddly familiar. A baby walking on the ceiling, then turning it's head to look at someone?

The baby walking on the ceiling, I've seen a dozen places. It's just the creepy bit of her searching the house that doesn't seem to have a trope that fits to me.

I thought of Alien even before Pound was revealed to be Wall Crawling.... if the creepy hallway isn't already a trope it definitely needs to be.

Saw somewhere comparison shots showing that scene to be a shot-for-shot homage for something else.

Trainspotting was suggested, but that itself was a reference to something else. The Exorcist maybe? I don't recall.

I immediately thought back to the episode of Housui Yamazaki's MAIL with the baby's ghost in the hotel room.

Recap for those not familiar with the work: A mother staying in a hotel room attempts a Double Suicide with her baby, in a stroller. She survives, but the baby doesn't. After she gets out of jail, she returns to the scene of the crime to follow up on rumors of a baby ghost in a stroller lurking around the hotel room. She keeps seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, but can't pin anything down... until she turns around and comes eye-to-eye with the ghost of her child, hanging upside down from the ceiling. (It's a lot creepier in context.)

That particular ghost story appeared in MAIL, but it probably didn't originate there. However, I can't find any other references to this ghost story.

FINALLY FOUND IT!

I was thinking of Old, Dark House, and it happens to the school in "Hearts and Hooves Day" as part of an Imagine Spot, and temporarily to Fluttershy's house in "Putting Your Hoof Down," too.

I don't know, how long is the usual gestation period for a horse (pony?)

Almost a year. The topic was discussed in edits earlier, and with a comparison of the photos, before and after from the mlpfim wiki, she doesn't really look significantly thinner.

I think taking real life pony biology into account to determine MLP pony gestation periods is misguided.

The reason RL equines have longer gestation periods than humans (for example) is so that their young are relatively mature once they leave the womb. This is why foals can walk so soon after birth.

However, MLP foals are shown to be roughly analogous to human babies in terms of mental and physical age, which means a shorter pregnancy.

Unlikely that this is actually the case, but it's possible that they wrote it that way on purpose.

So, Ms. Cake had a unicorn, Ms. cake had a pegasai. Mr. Cake was proud, he didn't ask why?

I think it was just Rule of Funny and the fact that Carrot Cake seemed a bit frazzled and possibly lacking in sleep from waiting on the delivery.

Problem with this implication is that its not Cup Cake having one affair but two at the same time and managing to get pregnant with each partner at the same time.

Yeah that's more likely right?

Once we establish that ponies can interbreed, we should probably discard that there are any purebreds given that the tribes have been interdependent for well over a thousand years. Also they are magical ponies, all three types. So let's recite the mantra and move along.

Thankfully Mrs.Faust has given her official word on this. http://comments.deviantart.com/4/1603670/2368877900

It's awkward and long. Not really caption material.

We have a hard and fast rule about captions? I've seen other long captions on other trope or episode pages.

I don't think Break the Cutie applies, really. Because it was only a second or two of her being in tears. The twins immediately acted to stop her crying with something she'd taught them, and it immediately returned her back to her old self again.

Powerful? The only thing I saw was levitation, which seems to be basic magic learned by all unicorns. Levitating YOURSELF could be a different matter, I suppose. I take more issue with the flying than the magic, how exactly is flight school a necessary construct in this world if foals can fly just fine? Also, are we sure that Scootaloo can't fly yet? I don't recall seeing a scene where she has tried to fly, but for some reason I keep thinking she is currently incapable.

Pumpkin also walked through a barrier using magic. What's surprising most viewers, I think, is that she's shown using magic that's never been used by any other unicorn on the show.

About pegasus foals — maybe their wings develop more slowly than the rest of them, so at some point they become too heavy to fly easily, at which point they need lessons?

Scootaloo can't fly yet, but Pound Cake has super strength, so he is probably able to fly sooner than almost all other pegasus babies. Either her wing muscles aren't strong enough or maybe are mutated or perhaps she has a wing related disability. But whatever the reason she can't fly yet, and she compensates by using her wings to give her added speed on the scooter.

Pumpkin not only levitated a large number of large toys, and herself, and turned a barrier intangible; she may also have teleported into the closet to get the rubber chicken since to all appearances, the door was closed as Pinkie had left it. Keep in mind the expressions of effort, exertion, and concentration we have seen on Rarity and Twilight when they use some of their unicorn magic. Pumpkin did it pretty much effortlessly/reflexively.

I do; also that particular aesop was from Stare Master.

Yep, this Aesop came into play as expected. It was a little unnerving hearing the usually hyperactive Pinkie Pie send a letter to Celestia, though.