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Ponyville Confidential (March 31st 2012, 22 minutes)

Summary: The Cutie Mark Crusaders try for journalism cutie-marks, and miss the mark as usual.

School paper. Does that kind of thing still exist? It was a big deal back in the 80's when I was in school, but I would have thought it had faded away by now.

Journalism. Does that kind of thing still exist? Yeah, yeah, sarcasm.

Wait, that formula on the blackboard. That's what was written on there back in the Cutie Mark Chronicles episode. Fine, this is a lesson she goes over a lot then. Let's look at the formula in detail... The multi-dimensional differential of D over the mean of the set members of u added to the change of... something equals the diamond-sequence cross-product of... I'm not familiar with that funky d symbol. That's the mathematical equivalent to word salad, unfortunately. I think. The nearly all the symbols have meaning, but they're messed around in ways I've not seen before. However, taken as written this is axiomatic set theory and vector calculus. What the heck grade is this supposed to be?

She set up the mapdrop with her picture ahead of time. Okay.

Standard mechanical typewriters, and a roller-style printing press. Actually, to be more specific an offset lithographic press.

Thermos and cup, with a dark steaming liquid. Probably hot chocolate, but it could be coffee. Whoever handed coffee to these three fillies deserves to be slapped upside the head.

Okay, here's something. Hitting a unicorn's horn temporarily disrupts their telekinesis. That's useful. Question is, how far does that go? Will it disrupt any spell? How hard do you need to hit? Would simple pressure suffice?

The jester-hat looking place appears to be the jewelry store. Right next to the Spa which is the other tent-like building.

The mayor is dying her hair gray. To make herself look older? But obviously they have mane dye. That's got to be a pain given the natural color range of pony manes.

Plus tail extensions, which are a real thing for horses, believe it or not, but must be annoying to manufacture with that range of colors again.

Twilight can pull off a force field as well, large enough to cover the entire library.

So despite the popularity of the school newspaper, expanding to Cloudsdale and beyond, no adult at the school (Cheerilee) noticed the increase in printing expenses and decided to take a look at what was going on until now. Typical delayed bureaucracy in lack of action.