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It Ain't Easy Being Breezies (March 1st 2014 22 minutes)

The Breezies are about to come through Ponyville. Fluttershy went to study them in a prior episode, but the rest of the cast hasn't seen them yet. Obviously this is not part of their normal migration pattern then. What's changed that they're coming through Ponyville this time?

Native land; reinforcing that this is not part of their normal pattern.

Mariachi band? Cute, we've not seen references to Mexican styles in the show itself yet, so this is new. Mariachi is the urban variant of a highly variable Mexican folk music style called Son, which in turn is heavily influenced by Spanish Baroque music. I wonder where the Mexican-like pony culture is based in Equestria, or if it's officially beyond Equestria's borders? If the comics are accurate, south of the Badlands are regions that have other indications of Mexican, Central, and South American areas.

The pollen has a time limit. Interesting, as pollen doesn't decay *that* fast normally. This must be some specific pollen that does. Which might be why they're passing through Ponyville this time. Perhaps they had to go to a different pollen source than normal.

Portal? Okay. Hrmm... So does that mean the Breezies are from a pocket dimension, like the Equestria Girls universe?

Ah, so Fluttershy saw them gathering pollen in Western Equestria. Which likely means the White Tail Woods, according to the official map.

Woah. Bright.

Cute exchange there with Rarity teasing Twilight.

Oh dear lord, what did you make that fabric out of, a nuclear explosion?

How delicate are these things? How did they make it to Ponyville if they are that easy to disrupt?

My engineering background is trying to come up with solutions. What they need is a sail to baffle the one group and allow the other to recover. But again, I'm surprised the Breezies are that easily disrupted given the distance they've already covered 'in the wild'. I get the feeling they're acting it up, especially since the leader-type isn't experiencing the turbulence the artistic breeze lines are implying exists.

A somewhat distorted Northern Europe accent, likely Norwegian but I could be wrong with the distortion filter being applied. Unfortunately I don't know the languages from that region, so I can't tell if the Breezies are normally talking, or if the voice actors are just stage-babbling.

You could just put them in a basket and have Rainbow Dash catch them up to the rest of the group? It would be just as disruptive to the pollen magic as just having them sit there?

Ha, a hoofknitted sweater. Subtle call-back to the Fluttershy mini-comic?

Yeaaaaaah. Okay, Fluttershy is falling prey to the blend of maternal and hoarding instincts common to 'crazy cat ladies' and other animal over-keepers. The Breezies themselves are playing into this for some reason, allowing Fluttershy project a kind of agoraphobia onto them.

Okay, so this one is called Seabreeze. And he's proclaiming that the Emperor has no clothes.

Yes, it actually is true. If a leaf could do that kind of damage... I've already talked about this. They're really trying to reinforce the delicacy of the Breezies, but I'm having difficulty believing it because they are pushing it so hard.

They eat normal food... then what is the pollen for that they're spending this much effort protecting?

More indication of the prehensile nature of pony manes and tails.

Really?

Yeah, they're really sick. C'mon Fluttershy, drop the idiot ball.

Doctor Whooves, complete with 3D glasses, and ... Roseluck? Okay. Unexpected fandom nod there. You can't really get any more blatant.

And that puts paid to the idea that they're delicate. Yes, the Breezies have difficulty dealing with the wind, but Seabreeze just busted through the side of a beehive without significant damage to himself.

I... wow. Okay. 'Does this bring to mind any images to you?' I'm not sure what they're going for there, but if you have a sufficiently bent mind...

Shape copying spell? That one's far too useful for them to keep around.

How far away is the portal, they only had two days, a day ago? It looks like they've passed over a mountain range (for the snow) and through a desert area. That doesn't really like up with the official map, unless they were actually heading south rather than east. Which might explain the Mariachi band from the beginning, if the ponies were attempting to give the Breezies something familiar? Meaning this portal to the Breezie land is somewhere around the Badlands?

The Breezies live in a glade very similar to the valley the Flutterponies from G1 lived in. Reinforcing that these are a blending of the G1 Flutterponies and the G3 Breezies.

I can see why Twilight doesn't want to use the spell again for Rainbow Dash, simply becuase shapeshifting is often shown in fiction as addicting and prone to going wrong in spectacular ways. However, being that dismissive without any explanation rubs me the wrong way.