See * for disclaimer

I could do these as individual entries, but honestly at this point I just want to get through this stuff. I'm not exactly regretting this blog, especially with starting with G1's first special and going through *every* episode ever as I've found that to be a useful experience, but adding in the comics and novels may have been a mistake. Not that there isn't stuff to pull out and comment on, but that the length of time I've been doing this is a bit wearing and I find myself using it as an excuse to procrastinate on other things.

Here we have the first set of Microcomics. Short comics that run alongside the main comics that focus on individuals. Honestly, I'm not sure why these are a separate set of comics, rather than putting them in pairs (to fill a single issue) and putting them in between the main comic arcs. That's what I would have done, but I'm not a comic publisher.

Pony Tales Volume 1 (Microcomic Issues 1-6, February 20th, March 20th, April 24th, May 30th, June 20th, July 11th 2013)

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight is to take her Intermediate Level Two Magic Test. That's... interesting as the main series implies that Twilight is actually in Advanced studies when she is sent to Ponyville, the equivalent of a Masters or Doctorate degree. Or possibly multiple degrees, as she gives off the vibe of the 'eternal student' that would never graduate unless the University itself kicks them out. And this story takes place after, with her being summoned to Canterlot for a test in the same vein as the test she was expecting when the Crystal Empire re-appeared.

Canterlot has an official Archive, where they keep copies of all books. Basically what the Library of Congress in the USA is billed as.

The doors are all arch doors. While not uncommon, this has always been an expensive option. Flat, or header doors, are just so much cheaper to make.

Canter in the Sky. Cute. Jade Singer is of course is supposed to resemble J.D. Salinger, and the book is Catcher in the Rye.

The odd little wagon Jade is using looks a lot like a ponified version of a knee scooter that you can get now-a-days when you have a broken foot but want to have more mobility than crutches.

So many puns. I'm going to ignore most of them past this point, or that's all I'm going to be typing out.

At this point in her life, Twilight and the rest of the Mane 6 are normally the same size as the rest of the adult mares in Ponyville. Here she's significantly shorter than Jade Singer. Either Jade is unusually tall, like Sapphire Shores in the series, or the artist has regressed Twilight's age to a much younger point for purposes of this story.

Lipizzaner is a breed of horses famous for their acrobatic movement.

Cesium Grande? Interesting. This may be a reference to C.S. Lewis (because Cesium = Cs), but this may actually be F. Scott Fitzgerald. Salinger once said he was 'Fitzgerald's successor' so that would make sense.

They're eating macaroni. That actually makes sense as macaroni, like many pastas, are made of wheat, water, and pretty much nothing else. Pasta would be a quite reasonable food for ponies.

Rainbow Dash

Now we're dealing with a SummerFell Festival. Just the main series has quite a few festivals, but the books and comics add so many in, it starts to make sense why this society seems so static. They simply don't have much time outside of the festivals to be working.

PNN. So in this continuity ponies have TV. That's new.

Not sure why nobody else is doing anything.

Gremlins. Who can also walk on clouds, but feed on despair like so many other empathic vampires.

And Double Rainboom. Yay.

Not much else here, other than they seem to be connecting Zap Apples to Rainbow Dash somehow. Or this particular batch of Zap Apples are especially infused with happiness thanks to Rainbow Dash's display.

How Rarity Got her Groovy Back

I wonder why this one got an actual title, while the others didn't?

A bustle is a bit of framework supporting the back of a dress. Otherwise the heavy fabric common at the time would crush the undergarments and flatten the back of the skirt under normal wear-and-tear. All the poofery that was meant to give an appearance similar to a train without the fabric needing to drag on the ground behind you constantly. So anything to slow down the crushing of the undergarments was a bonus.

Wow. Feel the flower power. Late 60's, early 70's outfits, typical across North America and parts of Europe.

Actually, this isn't that far off of what a lot of hobby farms go through. Living on one myself at the moment, I recognize a lot of this. Minus the flower power bits, of course.

Introduction of assembly line processes.

There's actually a lot here for developing the setting. It's just hard to frame. We have an alternative small business that is having problems with promotion and distribution, mainly because the ponies running the business are pure 'artists' and have no head for business. Rarity on the other hand is the rare (ha) pony that is both artistic and entrepreneurial. Getting the products to Canterlot where there is a market, and advertising them appropriately is a hurdle that the flower ponies simply don't have the context to be able to overcome. The question is, now they've been shown the water, can they drink on their own, or are they going to need constant management? Given their inexperience, and how Flim, Flam, and Filthy Rich took them down originally, they're going to get shredded by the Canterlot Elite without help.

Fluttershy

What an odd little cabinet Fluttershy has there by her door this time. It's got a baker's drawer, a writing desk shelf, and a puppet theatre above. I wonder what it is?

Fluttershy has a secret basement? Okay.

This is called Yarn Bombing, in knitting circles. Covering *everything* in knitted work, doing sculptures from knitting, and so on. My wife is constantly showing me pictures of trees covered in knitted sleeves and the like, and threating to do it herself. Luckily she's too busy spinning yarn from raw fiber, and weaving cloth now-a-days or she might actually take the challenge.

I'm not sure why Fluer and Fancy are acting that way. It seems a bit jarring, their difference in characterization. Of course, maybe they really just don't like Fluttershy's sculpture. Due to the layout of the comic, there's no guarantee that they're response really isn't anything more than 'meh'. It's just being implied that they are part of the art critic entourage, and joining in on the thoughtless critique. Mind you the layout is implying that Rarity is also joining in on that.

However, we are now aware of art galleries in Equestria.

Pinkie Pie

Twilight wonders if there is an earthquake scheduled. That's a telling question. Can the ponies control earthquakes as well?

Colta-Cola. Cute.

Ponyacci, the greatest clown in Equestria. Pagliacci is an Italian opera where there is a play within a play. The characters of the opera are actors putting on a play, one of the character of this inner play is Pagliaccio (which means 'clown'.) It gets more complicated from there.

Ponyacci's outfit is a classic pierrot costume. A stock character from pantomime and the like reaching all the way back to the 17th century, and instantly recognizable as the original 'clown'.

I vaguely recognize the joke Ponyacci is telling, but I can't remember what it is from. Other than I think it was also a orphaned punch line where you never hear the setup.

The silent knock-knock joke... okay, I really want to know what that is.

Lovely sequence showing time passing.

Interesting, this could even be a sequence pointing right at fans taking things personally when it is not really their problem.

This, this is really good, actually. It's nice seeing clear references to history and culture, with a real solid moral.

Applejack

Smudging apples? Huh. Somebody actually knows how an orchard works. Smudge pots are basically dirty smog makers used in orchards to protect fruit crops from early frost. This kind of thing used to be used on railways and construction sites as well, but natural gas and propane heaters have taken over those uses.

Wut?

Wut?

Okay, okay. Take it as written, I keep telling myself. Right, we have a creature made out of ... gourds, called the sassquash. Who dances. Sassily.

I'm not... wut?

Ahhhhh. It was a snipe hunt. That's better. I believe it has other names in other places, but where I grew up it was called the 'snipe hunt'. Sending the kids off to hunt a non-existent beastie as a joke.

Nooooo. I liked it just being a snipe hunt.