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The Cutie Mark Chronicles (April 15th 2011, 22 minutes)

Summary: How I got my cutie-mark, by the Mane 6.

Right off the bat. Zip-lining has been around forever, but that's relatively recent name for it. Early references to a sliding line go back to the 1700's as one of the stunts tightrope walkers, steeplejacks, and the like performed. The version shown here is a cobbled-together one out of climbing equipment instead of a dedicated zip-lines (which would use pulleys). They're using carabineers, which were invented in 1910 in Germany.

Question is, how did Spike know about zip-lining, if no pony has done it? As far as I know, Spike only knows pony culture, and that through Twilight, and I can't see Twilight zip-lining, can you?

Actual Manehatan, considered to be the most cosmopolitan city in all Equestria, at least by Applejack. Pony pun of Manhattan, one of the five boroughs of New York City. The buildings are typical brownstones, indicating that this area is the equivalent of the Upper West Side, and therefore is traditionally upscale. We also see a ponified Statue of Liberty, which along with Fluttershy's references to Haute Couture, means there is probably a France equivalent in Equestria.

Wah. I object to that interior. The color is just so blah. The ceiling light is art-deco from the 1930's.

All the servants at the dinner are unicorns here, and all the guests are earth ponies. It's not a very good sample to draw conclusions from, but it's something to look out for if we ever return to Manehatten. It may be a class reversal from Canterlot.

AJ could see the rainbow from Manehattan.

No indication of anyone in the Apple family outside of Big Mac, Granny Smith, and Applejack. Apple Bloom may not be born yet, but if she is, she's too young to be walking. No indication of Applejack's parents.

Summer Flight Camp. Summer camp for pegasi. No idea where this might be located, but if it's not Cloudsdale, then are there other pegasi cities?

Fluttershy is very... stretched here, being very skinny. A growth stage beyond little filly? Rainbow Dash is definitely smaller than Fluttershy here, reinforcing that she's likely younger than Fluttershy.

Where are the adults during this?

Fluttershy had never been near the ground before. So some pegasi don't visit earth-bound ponies very much, if at all. But she knows the *names* of all the creatures. Song is very Broadway, which is odd when you think that it's Fluttershy singing it. Maybe the creators had a bit of a New York City fixation going on.

Actual sonic rainboom this time, not just a rainbow.

Scootaloo 'can't take any more singing'. Which means Fluttershy was actually singing that Broadway-style song right there. That's... fascinating really.

Rarity seems to be indicating that she was also late in getting a cutie-mark.

That's the same school building as Ponyville, so we have a definite location here.

Rarity's magic is going haywire. I love Rarity's expression as her magic drags her across the landscape.

No comment.

Terrain is very broken, not like the terrain around Ponyville, so Rarity's been dragged quite a distance.

Rainboom is still distinct, but no rainbow afterwards.

Same stage as the CMC were on during their talent show.

Canterlot.

Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, with an entrance exam. Which means Twilight likely has had previous schooling. So either she is small for her age, and is also late in getting a cutie-mark, or she's being treated as precocious and is getting the entrance exam early thanks to her parents having some form of influence.

Rainboom is visible from Canterlot.

Twilight experiences some form of surge, much like Rarity just did but far more devastating. I doubt that hatching the egg was really the intent of the test, otherwise I think Spike would have mentioned other baby dragons at Twilight's school. So likely it was more a 'how do you approach the problem' test rather than a 'solve the problem' test.

Okay, this is Pinkie we're dealing with here. No way of knowing how much creative interpretation of events we're experiencing. This time we don't just get the rainboom, but the rainbow afterwards.

Clothing and manestyles of the Pies seem very Plain People, which is a category of Christian groups which include Amish, many Mennonite orders, some Baptist orders, a few Quakers, Hutterites, etc.

Oddly, Pinkie's mother sounded East Coast with what little I can make of it. Someone's *really* focused on New York City it seems.

Sonic Rainboom was legendary, and Rainbow Dash did it right in front of those bullies from the previous episode that denied that she did it. Odd.

Okay, now we confirmation that all the Mane 6 saw the Rainboom. So it was visible from Manehattan to Cloudsdale to Ponyville to Canterlot to ... wherever Pinkie was. Pinkie also saw the rainbow, as did AJ, Rainbow Dash, and supposedly Fluttershy. So Cloudsdale was at that time nearer to Manehattan, and the Pie's rock farm, than it was to Canterlot and Ponyville. Given the official map has Cloudsdale on the other side of Canterlot to Manehattan, then Cloudsdale must move.