See * for disclaimer

Another case where the title gave me more ideas than the actual episode. Not that it was a bad episode, but it could have been about Starswirl the Bearded's time travel spells, Doctor Whooves, and a rainbow object episode. All at once! Yeah, I know they're not going to do Doctor Whooves without some serious legal bizarrity going on, but I live in hope!

Twilight Time (February 22nd 2014, 22 minutes)

Summary: The CMC discover that they can't borrow fame.

It's Twilight Time! Can't touch this! Da da da dun taaaa dun ta dun. Okay, fine.

Potion making. Honestly, I can see why Apple Bloom would gravitate towards this, given her previous attempts with Zecora. I'm not sure it's her special skill, but she does seem to get pulled back to it on occasion. This is obviously a Twilight version though, with the retorts and glassware. There's something odd about that particular set-up. This looks like a multi-stage distillation and condensation rig, but only the first has a nominal heat source. No additional materials are being added to the spheres, so there is no reason for a reaction to cause vaporization. So likely the spheres are enchanted in some way to produce an effect.

Apple seedling? Why has it got a flower on it? Apple trees don't flower until they have matured past that point. Unless there's something very odd about Equestrian apple trees, or Apple Bloom brought it in *saying* it was an apple seedling without actually checking whether it is or not. That strikes me as very CMC in general.

King's Corners. I think they call it Foursquare now. I'm not sure where this game started, but it got *really* popular at summer camps in the late 70's.

The fillies are acting as if Princess Twilight's rank actually means something, which is interesting but odd in that this is possibly the first time it seems to have occurred to the citizens of Ponyville that some Twilight becoming an alicorn was important.

I'm noticing that Sweetie Bell is taking the lead on this one. Usually it's one of the other two. Probably because this is a social situation that Sweetie is trying to manipulate. Basically learning from her sister. Apple Bloom is more... well, practical isn't quite the word I'm looking for, but it will do for now, and Scootaloo is definitely the act first, think later type. Neither of which are into the social scene that Sweetie Bell seems to be stepping into.

Twilight isn't confused at all by Diamond Tiera and Silver Spoon's behavior. It's like she's actually gotten used to this, but is unwilling to do anything about it.

The student body of this school is much larger than appear in any of the class scenes. The school must be larger than the building gives the impression of being, so that it is actually a multi-room schoolhouse with more than just Cheerilee as the lone teacher. Either that, or poor Cheerilee has a more modern teaching schedule with short classes with a dozen or so students in each class.

Because equines are herbivores, they do usually eat a lot more food, pound for pound than humans do, so the amount of food in front of Twilight there does make sense. Oh, that's cute. Horseshoe fries. As in shoestring fries. That's subtle. I'm glad I watch these at least twice before doing these blog entries, as I didn't catch that the pun the first time through.

Interesting that they even have a fast-food/diner equivalent here. Complete with modern napkin dispensers, ketchup squeeze bottles, and the like. The main doors have the slanted push bars that are popular in the higher-end restaurants of this type.

Pinkie has a tray carrier, similar to her camera rig. I wonder if that's standard for Earth Pony customers, or is she working part-time as a waitress here?

Rainbow Dash really is rubbing off on Scootaloo. Though I understand her statement completely. If I'm not smiling in a picture, I look upset. I just have that kind of face.

I notice there are no adults in this mobbing of Twilight. The colts and fillies are having this problem, but all the adults are basically ignoring it. There's something odd going on here.

The 'HayBurger'. It's highly likely this is a take on 'Fatburger', a popular chain on the west coast that reaches from California all the way up to Vancouver, Canada (where DHX is). The original Mr. Fatburger started in the late 40's, and it went chain in the early 50's.

Again, Sweetie Bell seems to be taking hints from what she's seen Rarity do, missing the details as children are wont to do.

Yikes, Zombie Apocalypse Time.

Oh, and I figured out a possibility why some baked goods in Equestria are gray. One of my hobbies is baking, and I was in looking through some of the funky flours that Top Foods (a local grocery store) just started to carry. Amongst the 'alternative' flours like Quinoa and Amaranth, was buckwheat, and it was distinctly gray rather than tan like the other flours. Buckwheat, or Beech Wheat, isn't actually a wheat, it's just used like one. It's actually related to rhubarb. I've eaten buckwheat pancakes before, and I did notice they had were oddly gray, but I hadn't put two-and-two together as I'd not ever seen pure buckwheat flour before.

Odd diagram in the background. Looks like the rainbow box turned into a schematic. Oddly, there are nine key holes diagrammed, rather than six. Likely the additional three are Twilight trying to find a pattern in their shapes.

Poor Spike.

What the *heck* is that thing Apple Bloom grew?

Hey! I'm done! That's it for my one-a-day Episode blogging. 167 blog entries for 217 episodes/issues, spanning from the first G1 special right up to today. From here on out, I can't do them every day because I have to wait for stuff to actually release first. This is going to be weird.

This is going to be really weird, actually. I've just lost another procrastination lever. I'm going to have to actually do something creative on my own. Yikes.