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Fall Weather Friends (January 28th 2011, 22 minutes)

Summary: Applejack and Rainbow Dash compete for best pony.

Applesnack. I like that nickname.

They're throwing horseshoes, which seems natural, but that brings up an odd point. Horseshoes, especially the ones drawn here, are meant to be nailed to the hoof to keep them from chipping or wearing down too fast on rocky ground. Modern horseshoes are also used to correct growth issues with the hoof, like braces are for teeth. That's got to be really awkward to do to yourself, so they'd need to have some other pony do this to them like a farrier does in real life. It's not like a pedicure, as there's a lot more health issues with messing that up. So it's possible they'd treat their farrier in a similar way we treat dentists (to bring it back to the braces thing.)

A lot of the roofs in Ponyville are thatched, did I mention that one before? Takes a lot of skill to thatch a roof.

Rainbow was actually quite a bit insecure at first when the competition started.

I love the way it turns into a massive spectator sport.

Running of the Leaves is the fall equivalent to the Winter Wrap Up, just not quite as important culturally.

They have a lot more control over that balloon than they would in real life.

"I like pickles?" Best response to Pinkie.

This particular forest is 'White Tail Wood'. Referring to white tail deer? We've not seen deer in this show yet.

Ah! Sap buckets. That's.... weird, actually. Sap collection is normally done in the spring, not in the fall, as you want to get the sap as it rises in the tree. The trees normally store starch in their roots and stuff, preparing for winter. Over the winter those starches are converted to sugars, which then gets shoved up the tree in the spring, which is what you're tapping for. In the fall you might collect resin, but that's done from coniferous trees, not deciduous and you don't use taps for it. I'm a little confused as to what's going on here.

And suddenly Celestia! How the heck can someone that large, and a princess, move around without anyone noticing that she's there?