Discussion Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E6TheCutiePox

Maybe Canterlot has a different public health situation; maybe the previous outbreak happened in Ponyville or nearby (how many people not from near Derbyshire know about Eyam, for example?).

He does bring it up as a mysterious disease with "no known cure", to the panic-happy flower trio no less. The rest is just the usual pony stampede.

I like the localized epidemic theory, as well as the analogy.

I'm pretty sure the panic was less due to them recognizing the Cutie Pox, and more due to Spike's comment about it.

Apple Bloom can still talk and very mobile, so no that doesn't apply here.

It reminds me of the old story of the Red Shoes, (a girl gets a pair of magical shoes that allow her to dance better than anyone else, but although they work, she discovers that she can't take them off and she will just keep dancing until she drops from exhaustion — and in some versions of the story, possibly death).

I checked, and although it was a story by Hans Christian Andersen, it does not seem to be a trope in itself (please double check, since I might have missed it or it might be listed under another name).

Of note: Applebloom's tap-dancing cutie pockmark is a red tap shoe.

Maybe not necessarily an And I Must Scream situation, but more like something that could eventually lead to death - if Applebloom had been unable to stop, she would have likely died from exhaustion by overworking her body (similar to the Dancing Plague of 1518), and she could have caused potential harm/death to others if she got a bad cutie mark.

I couldn't help but think of Story Of The Blanks all through that part.

Could you specify?

I thought the timestamp would be enough.

EDIT: the link was wrong, my bad.

Right after she says "It's just a cutie mark!" her expression turns to one of anger, apparently for no reason.

I figure she's annoyed that Applebloom is taking this so hard/seriously.

It sounds like the music they play at high school and university graduations, but I don't know the name of it off-hand. If we can figure out what the name is, it might be worth checking to see if the music itself is a trope, since it is played in about every movie and tv show with a graduation scene in it.

do you mean pomp and circumstance?

It's not very similar, but it's definitely reminiscent of the style. It's probably just meant to be a generic royal procession type thing.

There's part of Brahms's Academic Festival Overture, common in Europe for university graduations that's similar, but it's not really a close match.

My instincts might have been right. Looks like it's The Jimmy Hart Version of the chorale from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, 4th movement, specifically the bit leading up to the "Froh, Froh, ...".

Bad Fridge Horror moment, oh my tropers and bronies. The piece is used in the film of A Clockwork Orange while Alex struts around the record shop leading up to his seduction of the two naïve teenagers. It's considerably nastier in the book; he drugs and rapes them. They're ten. Anyone else think the incidental music guy was going for a reference, plus hints of cocksure strut + imminent deceit?

I highly doubt that. First of all, they are not very similar. There's some rhythmic similarity, but not much else. Besides, the snippet from the episode is very simple and short - I doubt the composer would have borrowed from the public domain to make such an inconsequential little tune.

Also... a reference, however oblique, to rape in MLP:Fi M? No.

I'm very glad indeed that the answer to the question you put in my mouth is no. That would have no place in a children's cartoon. I don't think it's a reference to the film or hints of deceit either: the same snippet has indeed been used in MLP:FIM S1 in the opening to Suited for Success. With plenty of strutting.

Back on topic, it's a close match (the Turkish March bit of the 9th, 4th movement that is). Same rhythm, slightly different melody, similar instrumentation. But it's true that it's only a bar or three. Why change it if copyright is not an issue, I dunno, but the match seems close enough to my cloth ears.

You can't really show off her talents with a static picture; at least the current one shows (a) she's got a dozen cutie marks, and (b) she's not happy about it.

well, there was that part where she was showing off the plate spinning and the hula hoop, and she's having the time of her life, so at first it seems awesome, but then we see how it actually sucks with the second picture (the current one)

Sounds about right.

This isn't an exact translation but it's more to get across what's being said (also, some words seem garbled)

Starting from here

Oh my gosh! Another Cutie Mark! *Gasp* What's this? I'm speaking French?

(After Applejack saying they need to find someone with a cure)

Right now!

*Scene transition to Ponyville*

Hurry up you guys!

Awesome, many thanks

Yeah, Rarity only had one line. Tabitha St. Germain did still voice throughout, though, as Zecora and also Granny Smith in one scene (she's been speaking alot lately)

Tabitha St. Germain has never voiced Zecora. It's a curiously stubborn rumor for some reason.

Yeah, I don't know why people keep saying that, because so far I haven't seen any indication at all of Zecora's actress.

Although I swear she sounds like Phil La Marr.

It sounds like a funny one to me. However, if poor Apple Bloom doesn't get her real cutie mark after all that, at least I'll be sad for her.

Bittersweet Ending in the making?

If this goes the way I think it will, it'll be part-funny, part-sad, and end heartwarmingly.