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Fhaolan

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  1. Fhaolan

    Trade Ya

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Trade Ya (April 19th 2014 22 minutes)
     
    I was planning on doing the Friendship Ahoy! arc in the comics next, but I discovered something in that comic that required me to read a *different* book that I had not originally intended to do. I read the comics and MLP books through a Kindle app, and for some reason the app is crashing on that one book to such an extent that it won't even let me open the Kindle app at all anymore. So I'm going to continue on with episodes until Amazon gets back to me about what the heck is going on.
     

     
    Back to Rainbow Falls. Still no real indication where this location is relative to anywhere else on the official map, other than it's pretty high up in the mountains, on a plateau. It wouldn't surprise me to find out this is supposed to be the Equestrian equivalent to Colorado Springs or some such. In which case it would be situated on the other side of the mountains from Los Pegasus, south of that river that runs from Ponyville to Los Pegasus.
     
    Okay, so actual Princess duties here. This traders exchange is a yearly thing, and every year there has to be at least one princess presiding over it. Has Twilight not been to one of these before? Otherwise her surprise at her immediate reception is odd. If she has been to one before, and the streamers and banner for the Princess didn't appear then, then they're making an unusual amount of fuss over Twilight this year. Possibly because they are aware this was the first official Princess act she's done?
     
    Oh lord, the wagging tail. That's way too cute.
     
    This is the only first edition left of this specific book? Hrmmm. Probably it was very early in the series then, printed before it became popular, given that they can't be *that* old as the author is still living.
     
    Bear call. These actually exist, which surprised me.
     
    Orthros was a specific two-headed (and serpent-tailed) dog in Greek mythology. The brother of Cerberus and Chimera, and the father of the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion. He was killed by Hercules as a side effect of one of Hercules' labors. Like most Greek monsters, he was an individual, not a species, but whatever.
     
    Yeah, this does feel like a flea market. A lot of junk that nobody in their right mind would want, and an environment set up to make sure nobody is in their right mind...
     
    What a fascinating outfit the Orthros seller has. Very post-apocalyptic, in that Mad Max style. It's probably supposed to invoke a gladiator-like image.
     
    Darn it, the antique chicken seller is imitating an old-time comedic actor's accent that I should recognize. Phil Silvers, Milton Burl? Not quite, but something from that era. This is going to bother me now.
     
    Interesting, we're seeing Crystal ponies outside of the Crystal Empire now. That's probably about the right amount of population migration, given we don't really have a good idea of how much time has passed.
     
    The comic book trader has a standee of some kind of flame pony using a similar body model to the princesses. Another case of me feeling I should catch that reference.
     
    That's supposed to be a paperback? Given it's size relative to the other books, it's at least a tradeback. (A paperback in the same form-factor as a hardcover.) In which case there's a possibility it's actually better, given that tradebacks used to be primarily for preliminary print runs sent out for reviews before the actual production hardcover runs. Which means a much more limited printing run, and will likely still contain passages that will be edited in the production run.
  2. Fhaolan
    Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3 (April 5th 2014 22 minutes)
     
    I haven't done these in awhile, as I've been busy doing other things (pony and otherwise). So I'm making the effort to catch up again. Because of that big gap, I'm going to re-iterate my disclaimer:
     
    My intent here is not a review or a critique. That's not what I do. Instead this is watching the various episodes of My Little Pony with the intent of pulling out any details that can help inform the worldbuilding around the setting itself. That includes cultural events, festivals, architecture, clothing styles, references to other cultures, and whatnot. I've done this for all MLP episodes (including prior generations).
     
    I put in all my notes I take when watching the episode, usually the *second* time I watch an episode, and include comments on non-worldbuilding stuff just to keep myself engaged and watching. I rarely go back and edit them, but I do pause the video on occasion to go look stuff up. Also, I will very rarely go into whether I thought the episode was 'good' or 'bad' unless it's something so glaring I can't put it aside to look at the worldbuilding elements. Again, I'm not a reviewer or what many are calling an 'analyst'. My purpose is the gather information.
     

     
    Right off the bat Twilight is reading about a spell that can have permanent effects, but only under certain conditions. Indicating that magic effects don't necessarily need to be maintained by the caster if the caster does it the 'right' way. Which is interesting given how few permanently enchanted items there appear to be in this world. So the 'right' ways must often be unknown or extremely difficult.
     
    Newly formed Wonderbolt Reserves. So this is a new concept for them, they didn't have 'Reserves' before. However... this feels like we're seeing the episodes out of order. I get the distinct feeling this should have occurred before the Wonderbolts Academy episode in Season 3. Or to be more precise, that the Wonderbolts Academy episode should actually be after this one.
     
    Lampshading the ponies' tendency to sing about stuff on occasion. Cute.
     
    Ahhhh. More evidence that Twilight actually hates books. Highlighting is a relevant study method, but it wrecks the book, so I always avoided it.
     
    Another cute lampshade on Twilight's apparent growth since alicorning.
     
    Actually, why not? Why not watch the movie? If she retains it better, and the movie is in fact reasonably accurate, it's a valid way of learning.
     
    Actual History! The EUP Guard was formed after the Nightmare Moon incident, with the name the 'Protective Platoons'. Platoons were originally a way to organize firing regimes rather than a proper military unit. Within a battalion, there would be several groups of soldiers either aiming, firing, reloading, or moving. Each group was called a 'platoon'.
     
    It appears the calendar is actually dated from the banishment of Nightmare Moon, that being the first 'Celestia Year of Peace'.
     
    Here is reinforces that the Wonderbolts were at one point a division of the EUP Guard, which has changed into just 'the Guard' we see now. That doesn't mean the Wonderbolts still are a division of the Guard, of course, but that's where they started. And the Guard at one point had a complex and deep rank structure with titles like 'Admiral', 'General', 'Colonel' and the like. Unless those are just the bizarre names those particular ponies had, and their ranks were actually different.
     
    And of course FyreFly is the handle Lauren Faust uses online, referencing her favorite G1 pony Firefly.
     
    Wait, 'Fourth Celestia Era'? So... those thousand years since the banishment had distinct eras? Interesting. I wonder what distinguishes them from each other?
     
    Rainbow Dash does have a tendency to panic, doesn't she?
     
    There is actually a really good reason to know the Wonderbolts history, as a Wonderbolt. The Wonderbolts are modelled after the stunt flying teams of the Blue Angels, the Snowbirds, the Red Arrows, and so on. They're actually budgeted in the various militaries as recruiting tools. The members are expected to be able to stand up at the various events, and be able to talk intelligently about their teams, and how wonderful it is to be part of the team, and of the military itself. Knowing their history is critical and is part of the entrance requirements in real life.
     
    I... what? I'm not sure how Fluttershy expected this to work. It's silent, and barely representational.
     
    Okay. Pinkie. I... what? Fun, very fun, but what? I mean, rhyming and music is in fact a valid learning tool. I just... wow.
     
    And Rarity. As a costumer, and a historian, I appreciate what she's trying to do, but no. What this does illustrate is that the styles of Wonderbolt costumes are moving through several periods of history that map fairly well to our own world. Most of the costumes are ponified models of actual historical military uniforms from the late 18th century up until at least the 1980's. Time does progress, but just like other evidence we've seen, these costumes seem to be from the past 300 years or so of human history, not the 1,000 years it would be expected. So we have yet another indicator that pony culture is slower to change than ours, or that an Equestrian year is not equivalent to a Earth year. Thought the uniform Fluttershy is wearing is a bit odd. The fabric recalls a lot of 50's and 60's 'hip' clothing, not something you'd normally see in a uniform.
     
    Pinkie's actually pretty good at extemporaneous rhyme.
     
    Another helicopter-like device. This one pony-powered. That appears to be quite a heavy design for a single pony to be powering.
     
    Rainbow Dash's emotions have an actual effect on the clouds. Interesting.
     
    While peripheral learning is in fact another real method (hiding facts in the background of scenery), it's rarely retained in such a way to do testing well. It's really the same as the subliminal messaging techniques used by marketing companies.
     
    Neat to see the entire town getting involved.
     
    I could have sworn I heard that one pegasis using the same voice that Grey Delisle used for Derpy in a fan-short. That wasn't Derpy, as the pony in question was blue, but still.
     
    But I agree with several reviewers, that should not have been a 100% result. It should have been a pass, yes, but not *that* good. Unless the 100% means something different than what I understand.
     
    Lots of details in this one, as you would expect of a 'learn the history of x' episode. The info is a bit repetitive, but again that's part and parcel of the premise of having a character in the show 'learn the history of x'.
  3. Fhaolan

    Leap of Faith

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Leap of Faith (March 29th 2014 22 minutes)
     
    Big Mac has the floating ring again. Is he actually a weak swimmer, or does it just amuse him?
     
    Heh. Big Mac showing his sense of humor again. He's getting a lot of characterization this season.
     
    So is Granny for that matter. So she was a shallow diver when she was younger. It used to be called 'high diving', like they are here, but due to a different event being adopted into the Olympics under the name 'high diving', enthusiasts have given the sport Granny's talking about a new name. Shallow diving is to go from the highest point, into a shallow depth of water, like a kiddie pool or whatnot, and it used to be a big thing with travelling circuses.
     
    Woah, back up there. That's a pony in a full support cart. In real life, that kind of thing is made for dogs and the like. There's various reasons why they don't make them for horses, but it's interesting to see them here.
     
    No, actually, she isn't. That seems to be a reoccurring thing with Applejack. She's rarely curious.
     
    Flim & Flam. Interesting, I just noticed their cutie-marks. I didn't notice them prior. I wonder if these two are actually Apples. Yes, I know they're unicorns, but that doesn't mean much.
     
    What an odd device. It's like a magic lantern turned on it's side, combined with a calliope.
     
    Ha! So they're snake oil salesmen for true this time. Back to their roots, as it were. Snake oil salesmen regularly peddled 'tonics' and 'patent medicines', most of which were just turpentine with red pepper oil or other similar things added. I have an old medical journal from the Victorian era that is full of 'cures' based on drinking turpentine and kerosene, so this wasn't just con-men peddling this. Honest medical practitioners believed in this stuff. Technically 'tonic' (of gin and tonic fame) was originally carbonated water with a large amount of quinine in it, and is actually a real medicinal treatment for malaria. Quinine is exceptionally bitter, so people got in the habit of mixing it with alcohol in order to stomach it. What you get as tonic water now has very little quinine in it, and a lot of sugar-equivalents to counteract the bitterness. So your gin and tonic doesn't actually taste anything like the original.
     
    Just as a note, patent medicines usually were in fact patent. Patents don't verify the thing actually works. Just that it's a new formulation/technique not previously used.
     
    Uh. What's with the heavily made up mare with the parasprites covering her hat?
     
    Okay, bear with me as I try to list the odd conditions:
     
    The reins, the spurs, and the Clydesdale fur blight, hooferia, and horsentery, bridle bit cleft, Saunter sits, and gallop plop... the rest are normal.
     
    None of these RL horse conditions but some of them are simple puns based on real conditions, or so close to real conditions I can see them. The reins is a pun on the runs. Spurs seems to be something like burrs getting tangled in your hide in a very specific area, or something gone wrong with the chestnuts (Chestnuts is the equine equivalent of the dewclaw, a growth on the leg that is the remnant of the animal's fifth toe's nail). Not sure why Clydesdales are being singled out for the mange, but okay. There are breed-specific conditions like Lethal White Syndrome, but I'm not aware of anything specific to Clydesdales. Hooferia and horsentery are punnery of hysteria and dysentery. Bridle bit is likely to differentiate it from the currency bit, and cleft means an unusual split in that area, so a malformation of the mouth back behind the rear molars. Saunter sits sounds like some kind of rear-leg nerve damage, and gallop plop... well, let's leave that one alone shall we?
     
    The details don't really matter though. The point is that there are specific diseases and conditions that are considered in some way debilitating and current medical practices are not effective for them. That's bad from a pony's point of view, but good from a worldbuilding point of view. More evidence that magic isn't a cure-all.
     
    Flim and Flam immediately admit they recognize Granny from before.
     
    A 'Shill' is also known as a stooge, a person planted in the audience to give the impression of an independent voice advocating a product or act. Modern usage has dilute this into any kind of salesperson, but technically it's someone who is pretending to *not* be a salesperson while selling you something.
     
    It looks like they have a secondary 'magic lantern/calliope' that's either being re-rigged or is under repairs there.
     
    Flim and Flam seem to have done some research on the Apples since their last encounter. They know a lot of background details about Granny. Though... they might have done this research before. They did seem to know how to press the Apple family's buttons then, and were specifically geared to the cider issues... These guys are more dangerous that I thought. They may have dropped the ball because they got too greedy, but they actually seem to plan ahead.
     
    Placebo effect in full force.
     
    I know nothing about synchronized swimming, so I'm no judge here.
     
    That's gonna hurt.
     
    Applejack's rope is made of rubber.
     
    No, she didn't, actually. Everyone just assumed.
     
    And that's the Placebo effect in a nutshell.
  4. Fhaolan
    See * for disclaimer
     
    For Whom the Sweetie Bell Toils (March 22nd 2014 22 minutes)
     
    For Whom the Bell Tolls. Everyone keeps saying it's Hemmingway, but it isn't. Hemmingway took it from a meditation of John Donne from 1624. The meditation is all about how everyone is interconnected, and any loss is a loss to all. Not really relevant to this story except in the most vague sense.
     
    Applique is basically a small decorative object added to the main piece. It can be *anything*, as long as its visually different from the main piece. The examples Sweetie Bell is pulling out would indeed be applique for that dress.
     
    Sweetie, sweetie. Yeah, there's no recovery for those dresses. They need to be taken out back and shot.
     
    Interesting. This is obvious a dedicated theatre in Ponyville. We've not seen that before. And the backstage area is a lot more plush than small theatres usually can manage. Who the heck is producing this, given the previous outings of the CMC on stage? Brave pony, that is.
     
    Cheerilee seems to be acting as the stage manager. Not a particular *good* stage manager, as she hasn't noticed that the costumes haven't arrived yet.
     
    Rarity started from scratch there.
     
    "Foresooth and anon, I commeth forth with and poste haste with glad tidings, my ladies." Oh, so close, Sweetie. I've heard worse. At least with this I can actually parse out what you intended to say. "Hey! I came right over to tell you the good news, girls!"
     
    Interesting that Spike isn't assisting Rarity.
     
    Taffeta and chiffon? I can't tell with the art style, as chiffon would be very difficult to get to look right in that style. No, they seem to indicate that was a separate dress from the lace with embroidered cuffs she was wearing. Interesting as Rarity only had three dresses on the rack. There was probably more we didn't see.
     
    Key stitching is something you usually avoid. And that didn't seem very hidden to me, but likely the material twists over it to hide it.
     
    Okay, I see the chiffon now. What I thought was simple lace was actually chiffon, given it's translucence.
     
    Rarity's bedroom is actually her workroom as well? Or is that only when Sweetie Bell is sleeping over? Hrm. Sweetie has a toy box and everything there, so no. Sweetie is spending a *lot* of time at Rarity's it seems. I'm guessing their parents are on a trip or something. Oh, this is part of a dream sequence, so anything I see from here on in is indicative of Sweetie's subconscious desires, not a reflection of her actual status. Nevermind.
     
    Luna! Yay!
     
    Sweetie caught on fast there.
     
    Where's Luna getting this extra information? Or is this actually manufactured by Sweetie Bell's subconscious, coming up with what it thinks is 'the most reasonable' scenario.
     
    The dolphins are implying they are in some kind of interconnected dreamscape, complete with predictive nightmares. Interesting. This still seems like mostly Sweetie extrapolating rather than actual future possibilities.
     
    "Get your Pony on"? That's an odd title. I'm not entirely sure what to make of that.
     
    Sapphire Shores is still a head taller than 'normal', but one of her backup dancers has a similarly very tall build. We really are getting a lot more variety in background pony appearances this season. Their outfits are very typical dance workout clothes. They look very 80's, but honestly that's mostly the colors. The actual style hasn't changed significantly since the 70's.
     
    Heh, the backup dancers are almost falling over, but Sapphire isn't even breathing hard. Yeah, that's about right in my experience.
     
    Sapphire Shores is rapidly rising in my list of 'favorite secondary characters' to be honest. It's the little details like the subtle dance she does when she talks.
     
    Tails gain carrying a *lot* of weight.
     
    Suddenly Luna again. Again, I've heard a lot of complaints that Luna's voice sounds wrong here. However, there was a tweet from Megan saying that 'DHX broke Tabitha's voice' at one point, so I'm guessing that was right before she recorded these lines. I can hear a slight buzz from strained vocal cords with my headphones on. Tabitha must have been screaming or doing something else for another part just before this. I know that they don't record these things in any reasonable order, and sometimes they don't give the VAs enough time to recover.
     
    And here's where there's indication that the dreamscape was all interconnected. The dolphins were from Sapphire's dreams.
  5. Fhaolan

    Maud Pie

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Maud Pie (March 15th 2014 22 minutes)
     
    Starting right off with absolutely modern safety goggles. Normally made of plastic, these are often used for liquid or small particle protection. Sometimes they come with little filters on the sides for very small particles, but that's not quite as common.
     
    Making rock candy is actually a pretty simple, but tedious in it's way. You're basically making a sugar/water solution (a syrup) and then spending a week or so precipitating the sugar out of the solution as large crystals. The amount of flavor or color added is actually quite small relatively speaking. Making rock candy takes a *long* time. You're not going to be able to do it in a hour or so.
     
    Actually having rocks in the rock candy? Okay, here we get into a couple of strange facts. Horses, in real life, do on occasion eat rocks. I'm not kidding. They can try to eat sand and gravel. This is usually a sign of poor diet or serious blood conditions, and it's called geophagia. Being herbivores, horse digestion is a bit more... aggressive than a human, and they can if necessary pull dietary minerals like iron and copper right out of gravel. But even after the condition has passed, horses have a tendency to form very strong habits very easily, so they'll keep doing it even if it does them more harm than good. This is the leading cause for impaction colic in horses. Also, horse teeth grow continuously and need to be worn down to flat surfaces by the mechanics of eating. Supposedly if they aren't being worn down by their regular diet horses will try to deal with it by chewing gravel. I've not seen this one myself, but that's what our vet has told us. Modern horses are often fed less coarse food than would do this teeth maintenance naturally, so you regularly have to get your horse's teeth filed or they will have trouble eating properly. This is called 'floating', as that's the name for the specific kind of file used.
     
    Ah, but these are *special* rocks. I'm starting to get suspicious here.
     
    Maud is being presented as an older sister, it seems. This maps to the Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party novel, as expected.
     
    Maud is pursuing and actual degree in 'rock science'. Typical that Pinkie wouldn't use the term geology.
     
    Uh. Okay, Rarity and her hats. Fine. Rather large clear crystals there. Quartz, maybe?
     
    Maud apparently moves at geologic speeds as well.
     
    Maud is either extremely literal and had difficulty expressing herself, or she has the driest, most wicked sense of humor I've seen in a long time. Given she 'expresses herself through clothing' and yet 'It doesn't speak. it's a dress.', I'm going to go with the dry humor.
     
    That, and she's actually playing with Boulder. Giving the pebble the chance at the sandwich. Oh lord... sand-wich.
     
    Uhm. Okay, if that was actually quartz, this girl is *strong*. She's picked up the Dragon habit of eating gems. As I said before, I'm starting to get suspicious that most gemstones aren't aluminum silicate like in RL, but are something more like hydroxyapatite.
     
    Yep, I'm really going with a *wicked* sense of humor here.
     
    Actually, it does suit her. Almost a camouflage pattern of earth tones.
     
    And that is what a lot of spiders to do in real life as well. No, not the flowers. Keeping more dangerous or annoying insects at bay.
     
    Standard emo poetry. I'm not going to say it's 'good', because I know nothing about poetry. However, after seeing this episode I ran into this comic, and I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt there.
     
    The puns. The puns are killing me.
     
    That's pretty impressive, RD. That rock must weigh quite a bit. I used to do heavy events at Highland games when I was younger, so I appreciate a good toss. She was using a hammer throw spin, it seems.
     
    The heck? Okay, yeah, this girl is *strong*.
     
    If all that rock candy only weighs 200 lbs. then either it's extremely light, or we have another example of scale issues where measurement systems aren't translating between Equestria and here. Oh, historical note, the reason why 'pound' is shortened to 'lb.' is because the Roman weight measure of 'libra'. We use 'pound' because of a Germanic misunderstanding of the Latin phrase 'libra pondo' where it was supposed to mean 'a weight of libra', pondo being Latin for weight, but was mistranslated as being the 'the weight of a libra'.
     
    RD's now into puns. Well done, Maud.
     
    Well, do something then? The Mane 6 are displaying the same 'stand there and watch' habit they picked up in Daring Don't.
     
    Yeah, RD's got my reaction there. What, how, what? Well, she is related to Pinkie. She breaks physics.
     
    And explicitly saying that Maud is Pinkie's older sister.
     
    Still not clear on exactly where the rock farm is. but I think I have a good guess. What we're seeing looks a lot like the Painted Desert in Arizona, so I bet the rock farm is in the San Palomina Desert region on the opposite side of the Ghastly Gorge from Appleloosa (going by the official map). They seem to have a train station of their own, which doesn't match up with the tracks on the map though. Likely it's a minor line that didn't get onto the map. Huh, I just noticed the official map has a track running south *past* the map right through a mountain range. I wonder what the heck's going on down there?
  6. Fhaolan
    See * for disclaimer
     
    Somepony to Watch Over Me (March 8th 2014 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Apple Bloom yet again has to put up with Applejack the Control Freak.
     
    From the muttered voices, it sounds like Granny Smith is doing most of the talking.
     
    As Tudor as the various buildings in Ponyville are, it's interesting to see that some of the beams are curved. That's more typical of regions/cultures with lots of shipbuilding. In this case it would be beams salvaged from ships, or ones that turned out incorrectly curved during ship construction. Or they were expecting the building to have a lot more stress on it than normal, and were hoping that arch shapes would be lend more resilience than regular triangles. Given how often they have to rebuild their barns... yeah, I can see that. But curving large timber consistently like that (and there are two places in frame where they've done it, so it is consistent) takes specialized skills usually from shipbuilding. We've seen modern ferries in this show, but we've not really seen a proper marina yet to see what kind of ships they use.
     
    Pretty tough pies to be handled like that. I like the specialized selling carts, given the amount of mobile retail they seem to do. There's a lot of room beneath/behind the shelves as well for more product kept more secure. Nice. The artists unfortunately have likely never seen actual carts or wagons, as the shafts should be attached to the front axle not to the front board of the wagon. It's a pretty typical cartoon convention though.
     
    Very modern field pack Applejack is using. Curious that she has one, but Big Mac doesn't.
     
    Great Aunt Pineapple? Did we see her during any of the reunions? I don't remember seeing any other relatively elderly ponies not previously identified.
     
    There are subtle cues that Ponyville has expanded, that we've seen throughout this season. More foals in the playground, a more crowded marketplace, new construction, and now Ponyville has a taxi service.
     
    The wood burning stove has a permanently affixed bellows. That's atypical for a farmhouse, but not for a commercial setup like a bakery. Given that they churn out pies for sale in distant towns now, that makes sense.
     
    I... what? Hats and bows closet? Okay.
     
    Applejack has often shown signs of being a control freak. She must have been suppressing it for awhile now for it to pop up this strongly. That, or there's something else going on that we are not aware of. She's definitely under some sort of unusual stress.
     
    Refrigerator, not icebox. I would have expected them to call it an icebox given it's appearance, and their accents. At least, the people I know from southern United States still use that term.
     
    So this is Applejack's version of a psychotic break?
     
    Actually, we replaced most of the wheelbarrows on our farm with two-wheeled barrows for similar reasons. It allows me to one-hand the barrow while still dealing with tools in my other hand.
     
    Providing AJ is colorblind...
     
    HA! No time for a song indeed. Well done.
     
    Just as a note, hay bales are not soft. At all. The bailing machine compresses them quite a bit. Those are bailed interestingly though. That's a very long stalked hay in order for the twine to go around just the long side like that. Usually the twine goes around the short side, and for bales that size around multiple sides.
     
    "Like she does everything... with sass!" Heh.
     
    I like the expressions the fillies are getting now.
     
    A hoof of ricotta? American ricotta is normally made for cow's milk, but actual Italian ricotta is made mostly from sheep or goat milk.
     
    If those maps are correct, they're sending both Big Mac and Apple Bloom north, into the region next to the Galloping Gorge. But the terrain she's passing through seems more like Froggy Bottom Bog to me, which should be south. Unless the maps were drawn using the X as the origin point rather than the destination?
     
    That's the fire swamp! We'll never survive.
     
    Nonsense! You're only saying that because no one ever has.
     
    Okay, Chimera. Oddly enough, *not* the D&D version, but a slightly more classical version with the snake head on the tail. (The D&D version usually has a dragon head on the opposite shoulder to the goat head.) Also, a tiger body instead of a lion. With sabretooth fangs. Sabretooth Tigers are actually quite different from regular Tigers, so this is odd all around. However, even classically the chimera had different heads in different regions. The Hittite version had a human head instead of a goat head, for example.
     
    Interestingly enough though, associating the Chimera with flaming terrain like this *is* classical. In legend, the Chimera is normally found in regions with permanent gas vents burning methane such as the near the Temple of Hephaestus in Lycia.
     
    And it talks! Okay, that puts it in a different category than the Manticore and other creatures of it's ilk, and moves it into the Gryphon/Minotaur territory.
     
    The artist did get the detail on the goat's eyes right. The pupil for goats and sheep are odd, being a narrow rectangular shape going left to right. Actually most ruminants have this, but due to coloration it's more obvious in goats and the like.
     
    Applejack in dominatrix boots. Really, DHX? Really?
     
    That resembles a pungi, the traditional flute used for snake charming. However, it's missing a detail. Pungi normally have a second reedpipe running alongside the melody pipe that acts as a drone. You can hear the drone in what AJ is playing though, so perhaps the drone is under the melody pipe on this version so we can't see it.
     
    Ha! I want one. I want spring-loaded folding chair like that!
     
    Okay, that's why they wanted ricotta specifically. Goat cheese for the goat head.
     
    Cajun ponies. That's new. Okay, so they *must* have gone south and are now on the far side of Froggy Bottom Bog.
     
    That would be a big selling point actually. In my experience Cajun people tend to be *very* family orientated, and even a hint of 'my sister' or 'my momma' or something like that as part of the sales pitch does wonders.
  7. Fhaolan

    Pony Tales Volume 2

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Pony Tales Volume 2 (Microcomic Issues 7-10, August 22nd, September 11th, November 13th, December 18th 2013)
     
    Only four issues in this one, unlike the six in the previous volume.
     
    Cutie Mark Crusaders
     
    Wait, Cutie Mark Tattoo Artists? Who the heck let the CMC near them with needles and ink?
     
    Sweetie Bell channeling Derpy's dangerous rump here.
     
    Interesting cave formations. Due to the cubic shape it looks like this entire area has been carved. Maybe this is an old Diamond Dog cavern. Or Equestria's prone to isometric crystal formations at a scale far beyond this reality.
     
    A sclerometer is a tool invented near the end of the 19th century to measure the 'hardness' of materials. It measures the width of scratches made by a diamond with a very specific amount of pressure behind it.
     
    Spike is fully aware of this thing right off, even though he should have no more experience with them than Twilight does. He didn't even touch it, but knew when he got close. So there is an instinctive reaction here, pulling off of cues we can't see.
     
    'Greater' Equestrian Mimicker? As opposed to a 'Lesser' one? Interesting. Again, this is a expy of a D&D monster called the 'Mimic' that was introduced to the game back in the 1st edition Advanced D&D monster manual in 1977. In that, though, the 'Lesser' mimic is sentient while the larger 'Killer' mimic is more animalistic and aggressive. Since then, mimics have shown up in a variety of video games that have no official connection with D&D.
     
    It appears the mimic communicates via musical tones, like a whistle.
     
    And shapeshifting like this takes energy, so the creature becomes tired. However, the amount of shapeshifting Imp goes through before becoming tired is pretty impressive. That's a lot of reserves she has.
     
    And she can get to a pretty impressive size as well.
     
    Heh, MST3K reference. Cute. Actually, up until now, this issue has been pretty stand-alone, with minimal pop-culture references.
     
    Huh. I'm not entirely sure what I'm seeing here. Imp is turning into all the things she turned into before, and that's somehow turning into a cyclone funnel that projects her into the center of town?
     
    Flea Market. Those tend to be fun, if you're into salvage, antiques, and whatnot. This one is turning into a mini-carnival with farm stalls and games. Including a face painter-equivalent who looks to be painting cutie-marks onto young foals. That's a bit of culture reinforcing.
     
    And the mimics seem to have some form of family structure, as Imp returns to be greeting by a much larger 'maternal' figure.
     
    Celestia
     
    Normally I don't mention covers or things like that, but this splash page of Celestia is interesting. The headwrap with the Elements of Harmony charms and large solar fascinator is an interesting style. Looks very late 60's. Plus that the artist has the bust image being supported by Luna and Cadance in sleeping poses is curious.
     
    Introduces a teacher/parent meeting for the School for Gifted Unicorns as a High Tea function. Following a kind of English private school model there.
     
    Hidden reference to Gordon Ramsey in there. There was a fanfiction where they actually made the head chef of Canterlot castle a sheep just for the 'Ram'sey pun. Pity they didn't go with that here, I would have found that amusing.
     
    I've seen that hairstyle on Floribunda before in real life. It's even worse in real life.
     
    Ha! Special little snowflake.
     
    Technically, yes, the animated rabbit-monster *was* far more efficient.
     
    Interesting. Canterlot being under attack. Given the apparent age of Inkwell, I would guess that this happened shortly after the Apple family founded Ponyville. I wonder who the attackers are, in that they're using siege weaponry, and are being presented with non-pony silhouettes.
     
    The attackers were 'formed from shadows', so perhaps they're a spin-off of the Nightmare Forces?
     
    Inkwell seems to have gone up against creatures in a similar way as the current Mane 6, and the damage done to her eye was unhealable. So magic healing has limits.
     
    In the School for Gifted Unicorns, Inkwell has the title of Professor. While in America many teachers at University are called 'professors', but most of those are assistant or associate professors. Being a full professor is still reserved title for only the top ranks. This also reinforces the idea that the School for Gifted Unicorns is a higher-education equivalent, like a College or University, and schools like the one in Ponyville is for primary education.
     
    Spike
     
    A Daring Do comic book. Adventure comics used to be quite common. Now-a-days it's rare to see a non-superhero comic book, but back in the 50's, 60's, there were many different genres of comic books, including military, western, romance, train... yes, train comics. Don't ask, it's not worth it.
     
    And yes, comics were full of ads for absolutely useless junk, including Sea Monkeys adverts that looked a lot like that. Sea Monkeys were actually a specially hybridized brine shrimp who's eggs could survive freeze-drying. The trick to make them appear 'instantly' is because the eggs are introduced to the tank the day before with the 'water purifier' packet, not with the supposed 'egg' packet. Brine shrimp have very short lives, and because they were sold to kids via comics, they tended to be put into tanks with not enough salinity or oxygen circulation to encourage further generations. Also, the claim that they were 'trainable' was completely bogus. These tiny shrimp were as trainable as fleas. Meaning they weren't.
     
    Due to their size, brine shrimp eat equally tiny stuff, like actual yeast, plankton, etc. Another reason why sea monkeys don't survive is that a lot of kids tried to feed them fish-food instead.
     
    Interesting. These sea beasts are actually not that far off of the illustrations, and are being depicted as tadpoles.
     
    Wait, tadpoles that can reproduce by fissiparity? Usually that's restricted to creatures like coral, worms, starfish, etc.
     
    And now the tadpoles have grown into their next form with legs. They're retaining the tail, though. And they have their own language.
     
    And now have a vague attempt at a civilization. I swear I've read this story before. Oh, yes, Sandkings by George R.R. Martin, back in the late 70's in some pulp magazine.
     
    Uh.... Flowers for Algernon? Really? Poneigh Decart? Fine. Roll with it.
     
    Luna: The Day Shift
     
    And Luna's splash page is a mirror to Celestia's. The colors on my Kindle copy makes it bit washed out so it's harder to see but otherwise it's fine. Given that Cadence is still a supporter, I wonder if there was an intent to have a third one in the set with Cadence along before this series was cancelled.
     
    Again, Luna is one of the few issues of this series who get's a proper title to their story. Interesting.
     
    Love Celestia's bed-head. So cute.
     
    Standard stereotypical bureaucratic organization. I'd say it was fictionalized, but I regularly run into these exact same kinds of people, so I know they really exist.
     
    Poor Luna, the bureaucrat is leading you in the wrong direction. The term you're looking for is Freemen, which is above Villein (which you are modernizing into civilian), Bordars, and Slaves. All of which are technically peasants but different grades. Using your terminology they aren't nobles or clergy, which are the only other options in that system. The merchant/craftsman class (middle class) wasn't acknowledged in that system.
     
    Here they are using the classic Hollywood-style police station exterior with the glass globes as the bottom of the stair. Historically, these globes would have been lit by a kerosene lamp, not gas or electricity like you would think. Not surprisingly, the idea of the police station being extremely well-lit for safety occurred to people pretty early on. Long before electricity or piped in gas lines. In many areas, the lamp-lighter's guild would be in the same building, if they weren't the same people entirely.
     
    Oh, yes. And this indicates that the comic-book team also thinks the Guard occupy the a similar societal position as the police do here.
     
    This must be taking place before the Equestria Girls movie, due to the presence of Flash Sentry in the Canterlot guard.
     
    Hiding an elite area in a condemned building. How prohibition of you.
     
    Crystal Empire Winter Snow Day requiring sign-off from Canterlot? That's odd. It seems to indicate that in this continuity the Crystal Empire is subject to Equestria, but that's an extreme level of submission. A trade agreement or the like I can see, but this is definitely not that, even with the doves thrown into the mix.
     
    Ha! Cut the baby in half indeed. Various call back here to prior issues and episodes of the show.
     
    A good chunk of this isn't Princess work, but stuff that should be handled by... corgis? Is the Queen of England visiting, and Luna's walking her pets?
     
    The ponies have an interesting attitude towards Luna. They're fearful of upsetting her, but not that they're really *afraid* of her. They are, in fact, treating her as royalty.
     
    This spa pony looks so much like Lotus, Aloe, and Vera that this must be a standard fashion for the industry.
     
    What the heck?
     
    Okay, Luna broke. Somebody get the crazy glue.
     
    Ha, Rarity's brand's still going strong.
     
    Again, poor Luna. That was mean of Kibitz.
     
    Luna Gets a Pet
     
    Mini-comic in a micro-comic? Okay, cool.
     
    Obviously, Luna is a much more... physical than her sister, and enjoys sports such as boxing and the like.
     
    Actually, no, there shouldn't be any copyright issues with the Owlbear. D&D is currently owned by Wizards of the Coast, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hasbro. So they could bring in any of the copyrighted D&D creatures like the Owlbear, the Beholder, and the Mind Flayer. Though those last two are a touch hard to present without bringing in darker themes than what MLP normally likes to go into.
     
    Tibereous? As in the Roman Emperor? (As an interesting note, the Roman Emperors were actually called 'Prince' [Princept], as the term 'Emperor' [imperator] officially only applied during military action. The idea of 'Empire' as a geopolitical organization comes out of this, but the Roman Empire was quite different from what people use the term 'Empire' to cover now-a-days. Just like the way Equestria is organized, how about that. ) I think they're actually looking for the word 'tenebrous' which is derived from the Latin tenebrae, meaning darkness.
  8. Fhaolan
    See * for disclaimer
     
    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.
  9. Fhaolan

    Twilight Time

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Another case where the title gave me more ideas than the actual episode. Not that it was a bad episode, but it could have been about Starswirl the Bearded's time travel spells, Doctor Whooves, and a rainbow object episode. All at once! Yeah, I know they're not going to do Doctor Whooves without some serious legal bizarrity going on, but I live in hope!
     
    Twilight Time (February 22nd 2014, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: The CMC discover that they can't borrow fame.
     
    It's Twilight Time! Can't touch this! Da da da dun taaaa dun ta dun. Okay, fine.
     
    Potion making. Honestly, I can see why Apple Bloom would gravitate towards this, given her previous attempts with Zecora. I'm not sure it's her special skill, but she does seem to get pulled back to it on occasion. This is obviously a Twilight version though, with the retorts and glassware. There's something odd about that particular set-up. This looks like a multi-stage distillation and condensation rig, but only the first has a nominal heat source. No additional materials are being added to the spheres, so there is no reason for a reaction to cause vaporization. So likely the spheres are enchanted in some way to produce an effect.
     
    Apple seedling? Why has it got a flower on it? Apple trees don't flower until they have matured past that point. Unless there's something very odd about Equestrian apple trees, or Apple Bloom brought it in *saying* it was an apple seedling without actually checking whether it is or not. That strikes me as very CMC in general.
     
    King's Corners. I think they call it Foursquare now. I'm not sure where this game started, but it got *really* popular at summer camps in the late 70's.
     
    The fillies are acting as if Princess Twilight's rank actually means something, which is interesting but odd in that this is possibly the first time it seems to have occurred to the citizens of Ponyville that some Twilight becoming an alicorn was important.
     
    I'm noticing that Sweetie Bell is taking the lead on this one. Usually it's one of the other two. Probably because this is a social situation that Sweetie is trying to manipulate. Basically learning from her sister. Apple Bloom is more... well, practical isn't quite the word I'm looking for, but it will do for now, and Scootaloo is definitely the act first, think later type. Neither of which are into the social scene that Sweetie Bell seems to be stepping into.
     
    Twilight isn't confused at all by Diamond Tiera and Silver Spoon's behavior. It's like she's actually gotten used to this, but is unwilling to do anything about it.
     
    The student body of this school is much larger than appear in any of the class scenes. The school must be larger than the building gives the impression of being, so that it is actually a multi-room schoolhouse with more than just Cheerilee as the lone teacher. Either that, or poor Cheerilee has a more modern teaching schedule with short classes with a dozen or so students in each class.
     
    Because equines are herbivores, they do usually eat a lot more food, pound for pound than humans do, so the amount of food in front of Twilight there does make sense. Oh, that's cute. Horseshoe fries. As in shoestring fries. That's subtle. I'm glad I watch these at least twice before doing these blog entries, as I didn't catch that the pun the first time through.
     
    Interesting that they even have a fast-food/diner equivalent here. Complete with modern napkin dispensers, ketchup squeeze bottles, and the like. The main doors have the slanted push bars that are popular in the higher-end restaurants of this type.
     
    Pinkie has a tray carrier, similar to her camera rig. I wonder if that's standard for Earth Pony customers, or is she working part-time as a waitress here?
     
    Rainbow Dash really is rubbing off on Scootaloo. Though I understand her statement completely. If I'm not smiling in a picture, I look upset. I just have that kind of face.
     
    I notice there are no adults in this mobbing of Twilight. The colts and fillies are having this problem, but all the adults are basically ignoring it. There's something odd going on here.
     
    The 'HayBurger'. It's highly likely this is a take on 'Fatburger', a popular chain on the west coast that reaches from California all the way up to Vancouver, Canada (where DHX is). The original Mr. Fatburger started in the late 40's, and it went chain in the early 50's.
     
    Again, Sweetie Bell seems to be taking hints from what she's seen Rarity do, missing the details as children are wont to do.
     
    Yikes, Zombie Apocalypse Time.
     
    Oh, and I figured out a possibility why some baked goods in Equestria are gray. One of my hobbies is baking, and I was in looking through some of the funky flours that Top Foods (a local grocery store) just started to carry. Amongst the 'alternative' flours like Quinoa and Amaranth, was buckwheat, and it was distinctly gray rather than tan like the other flours. Buckwheat, or Beech Wheat, isn't actually a wheat, it's just used like one. It's actually related to rhubarb. I've eaten buckwheat pancakes before, and I did notice they had were oddly gray, but I hadn't put two-and-two together as I'd not ever seen pure buckwheat flour before.
     
    Odd diagram in the background. Looks like the rainbow box turned into a schematic. Oddly, there are nine key holes diagrammed, rather than six. Likely the additional three are Twilight trying to find a pattern in their shapes.
     
    Poor Spike.
     
    What the *heck* is that thing Apple Bloom grew?
     

     
    Hey! I'm done! That's it for my one-a-day Episode blogging. 167 blog entries for 217 episodes/issues, spanning from the first G1 special right up to today. From here on out, I can't do them every day because I have to wait for stuff to actually release first. This is going to be weird.
     
    This is going to be really weird, actually. I've just lost another procrastination lever. I'm going to have to actually do something creative on my own. Yikes.
  10. Fhaolan

    Filli Vanilli

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Filli Vanilli (February 15th 2014, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Fluttershy shakes it like she just don't care! ... What?
     
    Milli Vanilli was an R&B pop act back in the late 80's, early 90's. Famous for a lip-syncing fiasco. It wasn't that they lip-synced though, because every pop act does that. It's that it wasn't even them on the original recordings that they were lip-syncing to. The pair on stage were not actually involved with the production of the music at any point. The 'real' Milli Vanilli were a five-member group of singers that were presented as the backing singers for a pair of models that were hired purely for their appearance and presentation. Not entirely sure why this ended up being a problem, as most boy (and girl) bands for that matter work exactly the same way.
     
    Jackalope, with a regular bunny. Though perhaps the bunny is just a jackalope without antlers. There are several antlered species that are gender-differentiated, or may have other reasons for non-antlered individuals. As I've mentioned before, the name Jackalope is American, but the idea of an antlered rabbit exists all over the world, and possibly originated from a real virus that causes horny growths on the poor things.
     
    If anyone's curious why so many animated shows turn out musical episodes, it's because singing is usually a standard part of voice acting training. If you're a professional voice actor, you have likely had singing training as part of the regime. As such, it's a shame to waste that training and never sing in-character.
     
    She has sung before in front of everyone though... unless she didn't? The singing as part of the ensemble Mane 6 can be excused as artistic license of presentation. And the one time she was on stage singing was in the Hearth's Warming Eve... could she have been simply mouthing along with the song then?
     
    Ah, wait. Twilight said "I have never heard you sing *like that* before." Like that. Something about that performance was significantly different from her prior singing. As a soloist, perhaps?
     
    The Ponytones. Pure Tone is a common name for various bands, and comes from the concept of musical note with a single, simple frequency with no 'over tones'.
     
    Pinkie, Pinkie, Pinkie. I believe she honestly thinks she's helping by overblowing the issue, not to ridicule Fluttershy, but trying to make Fluttershy see her fear as being ridiculous. That never works, but I can see how Pinkie would think it would.
     
    Stage fright is a real issue. I have it. Every time I go up on stage (or enter the field in the case of my time with the Seattle Knights), it's a struggle. Once I'm up there, it's fine, but taking that first step on the stage is a real terror.
     
    That's quite good, actually. Yay Big Mac! I'm curious about the other two members as they have interesting 'looks' to them. The skinny one is even more lanky than we've seen before, I think. The outfits are very classic barbershop quartet outfits. They just need the boater hats to finish the look. But given that boater hats are still current fashion in Equestria, I can understand not needing them for this context.
     
    I love a cappella music, and while they are dressed Barbershop, that's not technically what they are doing. The main thing that differentiates Barbershop from other a cappella music is the very specific chords that cause a fifth tone to 'magically' appear thanks to overtone harmonics. Also, they're using the bass to lead, which is not in any way Barbershop.
     
    Normally it's hog calling contests, but I know at least one person who does compete in turkey calls. It's a lot rarer of a contest, but they do exist because turkey calling involves five or six different 'calls', making it a bit more difficult.
     
    Finally, Zecora being treated like a valued member of the community with relevant skills.
     
    For a brief moment I was thinking Zecora was going to sing 'bass', although technically that would be called Contralto in the same way that male sopranos are called Countertenors.
     
    Oh my lord, they actually used the fanon term 'Flutterguy'. So many props.
     
    And here is where the title comes into play. Well done writers.
     
    Is this stallion and his little filly supposed to reference someone specific? It's a very distinctive look for ponies, but I'm not catching the reference.
     
    You little minx, Cheerilee. Can you possibly flirt harder?
     
    Not just a distinctive look, the stallion has a very distinctive accent. Some sort of eastern Slavic, but he's not talking enough for me to pin it down.
     
    I would have preferred a couple of different songs, rather than the same one over and over again.
     
    The return of Flutterbat, sorta.
     
    Big Mac seems to be feeling the strain a bit. Either that or he's having difficulty concentrating on lip-syncing while Fluttershy is waving her butt against the window.
     
    You mean, none of her friends noticed that she hasn't been talking this last week or so? Okay, this is Fluttershy, maybe that works.
     
    Okay, what did you do with the real Pinkie? This one is only a half-step away from being demonic, crawling up the wall like that.
     
    Ah, five-part harmony. Love it.
  11. Fhaolan

    Simple Ways

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Honestly, when I saw the title of this originally, I was thinking this was going to be an episode about Pinkie's family, as previously they were presented similarly to the 'Plain People', which includes most of the Anabaptist groups like the Amish, Mennonites, and so on. So I was in a way a bit disappointed, as I am very curious about Pinkie's actual family and want to know more about them.
     
    Simple Ways (February 8th 2014, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Rarity tries to impress a VIP, who is more impressed by Applejack. Can their friendship survive... Romance! Dun dun dun...
     
    Ponyville Days, a local festival. Many rural towns in North America have similar festivals based on the 'founding' of the town. A very common occurrence in communities that were settled anywhere from 50-200 years ago. Older than that, and the festival usually becomes less recognizable and gets absorbed into some generic summer festival.
     
    I just saw a video on this episode, that has a quick explanation for Granny Smith being there at the founding of Ponyville, which Twilight says was hundreds of years ago, issue. After the Fact Headcannon accepted.
     
    I'm a bit confused by the ponies in costumes. A pair in Norman armor, a clown, a Science! cosplayer, and a Wonderbolt? I'm not sure how any of those are relevant to the Founding of Ponyville celebration?
     
    The fact that everypony just accepts Pinkie's insanity...
     
    They never really give enough time for this kind of stuff. Real festivals take about six months to a year to organize, depending on the exact circumstance. If there's only three days to the festival, you're done.
     
    The ring on Rarity's horn is weird. Given that the horn is viewed from the side as often as from the front, and given that the horn is angled upwards, a better design decision would be to have symmetric stones on either side with a filigree design in the center, than a single stone. Or at least put some weight on either side of the stone for side viewings.
     
    Trenderhoof. Give me a minute, this pun is so convoluted and is based on modern misunderstandings of original words... Okay, you've got Trend, as in fads and fashions, mixed with "tenderhook" which is actually supposed to be Tenterhook. Tenters were frameworks that woolen cloth was stretched (held in place by the tenter's hooks) during the fulling process to prevent shrinkage. Interestingly, Tenderhoof is also a manufacturer of horse medications and the like.
     
    Culinary revolution in Trottingham. Interesting. I wonder what culinary items came out of that, given the normal inclination for English-style foodstuffs. (English food is *not* as bland as billed. It's just highly dependent on sauces, relishes, and chutneys.)
     
    What is with the argyle symbol? It's strangely popular all of a sudden, and now it's this yuppie's cutie-mark. And yes, he's some kind of blend of Yuppie and Hipster. Not the worst one I've ever run across but still. He even carries a comb in his pocket for hair emergencies. I was hoping for a more world-weary version of this character.
     
    For someone who is a professional travel writer, it's weird that you get the distinct impression he's never actually been outside a city before.
     
    If he really wants to see something, I invite him over here so he can spread the sheep shit over the pastures this weekend. Sorry, actually living on a livestock farm kinda takes the bloom off of 'country living'.
     
    Really? Really, DHX? Wiping her.. Okay, fine. Back to commentary.
     
    Nice detail, with the black tears from her mascara running. Usually a *lot* messier than that, but there are limits the artists would be willing to go.
     
    Heh. Nice.
     
    Wow, dude. That may not have been intentional, but I can see how that could be considered racist. It is indicative of how outside Ponyville and a few other places, the various breeds of ponies must still be somewhat segregated. Much like what was implied in the Flight to the Finish episode. Casual 'breedism' must still be a problem in Equestria.
     
    Garish, yes, but it's pretty close to the 'western' fashions I've seen at various horse-shows. Especially the hat and the boots.
     
    Rather wide furrows, which makes sense given that she's likely planting for orchard trees.
     
    Well, he *is* trying to buck apples. Sort of.
     
    Oh my. That accent. I love it.
     
    I never really understood that style of straw hat. It's real, it exists, but it's more that it's unfinished than anything.
     
    Applejewel. Heh. Okay, Ashliegh and Tabitha are just having too much fun with these accents. They're both approaching the same bizarre accent from opposite sides.
     
    More shiny hooves, reinforcing the idea that these are in fact their hooves, even though they match the coat color. It's not a covering, their hooves are actually that color on these particular ponies.
     
    And Rarity finally snaps.
  12. Fhaolan

    Three's a Crowd

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Three's a Crowd (January 25th 2014, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Twilight tries to spend some quality time with her sister-in-law Cadence. Oh, and Discord has a minor part in this.
     
    Twilight received several pieces of mail, most of which look like modern envelopes, including standard-looking junk mail and bills with little plastic windows and large mass-produced labels. Except for Cadence's letter which is sealed with wax. I know for a fact that real modern post will reject letters sealed with wax as it messes up their automatic sorting machines something fierce. And the letters don't get returned to you either, they just bin them on the spot.
     
    And Cadence uses tatty-edged paper at that. Probably some kind of fashion statement.
     
    Reference to the Breezies, a G3 creature. I'm actually a bit surprised they're starting to bring in stuff from prior generations at this late a date. Although out of the list (seaponies, flutterponies, bushwollies, and breezies), breezies are probably the easiest to deal with.
     
    Starswirl the Bearded Travelling Museum. Cute. Travelling Exhibits have been around for a very long time, almost as long as museums themselves. And now we know what Starswirl is presented as looking like to modern ponies. White coated, and honestly a very fake looking beard as it's more like insanely long sideburns as it doesn't reach to his chin. I still hold out hope for it to be Star Swirl from G1-G3, putting on a beard to make herself more respected in the magic-user community, as being 'bearded' is a common slang in LGBT circles for using a prop (usually another person) to pretend to be a different orientation.
     
    The Crystal Empire has considerably bigger locomotives. This looks like an exaggerated Southern Pacific 4449 engine.
     
    Wait, that's a Crystal Pegasis! We've not seen anything other than crystals earth pony up until now. Is that an animation error? I can't find any notes from anywhere saying that it's an error. Yeah, yeah, Flash Sentry, who cares... I want to know about the crystal pegasis!
     
    Are we sure the writers/animators aren't fans of Doctor Who? This spinning/falling mystery object is kind of a trope in Doctor Who, going back into the classic series, even.
     
    "What?" And that, dear readers, is how you do a character reference properly.
     
    Interesting question, where does Discord 'live' normally?
     
    Caverns of Maretania? The only place that comes to mind that could be a pun of is Mauritania, a country in North Africa. I'm not sure *why* it would be that though.
     
    Why would he need a candle though? Was there something preventing a light spell?
     
    Magic Health Bubble? Interestingly specific spell, must be pretty useful.
     
    Wow, that song. I can't keep up with all the references, but they're not really relevant as Discord, like many 'genie' characters are notorious for bringing stuff in out of context. Anything he creates/references isn't necessarily part of the setting, and while fun and amusing, have no bearing on pony culture or the setting in general. Unfortunately, because some of those references are hilarious. Harry Potter, the singing harp from Jack the Giant Killer, so on and so forth.
     
    Cadence mentions she's out of practice flying. More like she's out of practice pulling a cart while flying, to be honest.
     
    This looks like the badlands at the southern edge of the official map of Equestria.
     
    Tatzlewurm is what the writers called this. The mythological tatzelwurm is from the Alpine regions of Europe, and is basically a small lizard with no hind legs. Similar to the much larger Lindworm (or linnorm), which is a Nordic dragon with no wings or hind legs. This, however, is drawn to resemble something between the Dune sandworm and the Bettlejuice ghost worm. Sorry, there's a good chunk of the Tremors graboid (or olgoi-khorkhoi, mongolian death-worm) in there.
     
    I feel sorry for Shining Armor. As a former captain of the guard, he's probably putting all his energy into *making* the Crystal Empire safe and predictable. He probably has no idea Cadence is bored.
     
    Wait, Discord has no idea what the Tatzlewurm is? That's an interesting gap in his knowledge.
     
    And Discord can actually get sick.
  13. Fhaolan

    Rainbow Falls

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Rainbow Falls (January 18th 2014, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Rainbow needs to qualify for the Equestria Games, but will she do so for Ponyville, or the Wonderbolts?
     
    Honestly, I prefer the name Snowflake for this guy.
     
    Not entirely sure how Brown Betties would be considered an athletic food. It's a layered apple cobbler, but sure, whatever.
     
    While having him have difficulty flying makes sense with his physique, that calls prior episodes where he flies just fine into question. Unless he's done something recently that has changed his abilities. Heh, maybe flying is a limited resource and when Twilight got wings, Snowflake lost the ability to fly to compensate.
     
    You can only compete in one event? That's a strange rule that no athletic competition I'm aware of follows. In fact, they make big deals of athletes who compete in dozens of events at the Olympics. I know that this is so RD gets 'saddled' with the two worst flyers in Ponyville for plot convenience, but it isn't necessary to make RD's teammates so completely useless to carry this plot. Ah well, back to looking for worldbuilding tidbits.
     
    Technically fruit can be used for carbo-loading, but it's normally counterproductive as the sugars in fruit are mostly fructose which doesn't metabolize into muscle glycogen very well. You're better off with high-starch foods like potatoes, bread, and the like. Unless these brown betties are actually mostly crust? Mind you equine metabolism is quite different from human. Eating large amounts of fruit for a horse is like drinking significant amounts of alcohol for a human. There's an Air Force saying 'Flexibility is the key to air power. Alcohol increases flexibility. Therefore, Alcohol is the key to air power.' That must apply here.
     
    Okay, *finally* we're in a new location. Architecture is primarily Bavarian, with tiled high-slope roofs, balconies. Lots of timber-frame construction but not the very blatant Tudor styling of ponyville. Lots of rainbow falls, of course. Do they actually name this place Rainbow Falls? I haven't heard anyone say the name out loud yet.
     
    Place really feels a lot like Levenworth in Washington state. Basically a tourist town made to resemble an old-world Alpen town.
     
    Hey, gryphons, seemingly as competitors. Hope we see more from them eventually.
     
    And these ponies recognize Rainbow Dash. Finally *somebody* recognizes one of the Mane 6 in context.
     
    Wait. The Wonderbolts are either Celestia's own aerial stunt team, or the elite of the pegasi Guard, depending on how that works. In either case, what are they doing competing for Cloudsdale? That seems odd to me.
     
    Applejack... really?
     
    Not really a baton, but okay. Interesting that it's shaped like a high-traction horseshoe.
     
    Rarity... really?
     
    All else aside, Soarin is still a dude.
     
    I also notice that Soarin regularly has that little line under his eyes, even when he's not stressed or otherwise, that are normally used to indicate age. Soarin might actually be the pony equivalent of middle-aged.
     
    Snowflake is actually too big to fit through the hoops comfortably, given that the course equipment will be regulation, you would think that would disqualify him right from the beginning.
     
    The Wonderbolts (and dash) get their hooves polished. The art style normally doesn't show actual hooves on mares, so it's actually showing their lower
     
    leg being shiny, and the same color as their coat. Which in a way lines up with the unicorn horns also being the same color as the coat. So it's entirely possible that their karitin is in fact normally color-matched to their coats and the few stallions we've seen with 'normal' hooves are the outliers.
     
    Also, the Wonderbolts have team outfits that are not in the Wonderbolt livery. But they still have the badges that indicate they're Wonderbolts. That's a bit confusing. Are they here as Wonderbolts or not?
     
    Okay, what did you do with Rarity? Those outfits are horrid, even aside from the problem that they are inappropriate for athletic events.
     
    Yay, Derpy! That aside, I've seen objections as to why they didn't ask Twilight to join the team, as she is shown as being no worse a flyer than the existing team members. Likely this event is limited to pegasi by the rules, and Twilight is not actually a pegasi. There are hints in the series that alicorns are more common than fanon supposes, and if that was true they would likely have their own events. Probably something along similar lines of the biathalon.
     
    Rarity seems to be indicating that the Equestrian Games run every year. I doubt that, actually. There's too much spin-up for it to run every single year.
     
    Interesting that the rings in the first two thirds of the run are physical, but the rings in the last third are 'rainbow' based, floating in midair with no supports.
     
    Gryphons qualified, so hopefully we'll see more of them later.
     
    And Twilight using an old folding camera from about 1910-1940.
     
    The second rainbow-tainted object. The question at this point is less 'what is it', and starts to become 'how will they find out what it is?'. Yes, they're starting to accumulate them, but they technically don't even know they're accumulating them.
  14. Fhaolan

    Pinkie Apple Pie

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Pinkie Apple Pie (January 11th 2014, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Pinkie discovers that she might be a distant relative to the Apples, and she and the family go on a quest to find the truth.
     
    Never challenge Pinkie Pie to a game of Jenga.
     
    Really, Pinkie's abilities seem to be connected to being able to manipulate the laws of probability. She makes the improbable guaranteed.
     
    A ponyville snail? Snap? Snat? I tried listening to that line several times and I couldn't quite make out what it was. And again, with the moons, but this time 48 moons which finally sounds *specific*. Technically hibernation is a specific type of periodical dormancy that only applies to mammals and marsupials. If this is a snail, then we're dealing with Aestivation instead.
     
    It sounds like the Apples used to go on family road trips on a reasonably regular basis, but haven't for some time. Recent enough for Apple Bloom to remember being on one, but far enough back that they are really wired to be doing one again.
     
    Equestria *and beyond*. Indicating that the Apple family extends to other nations. Still hoping that some time we'll get to *see* these other nations.
     
    Applejack plays the banjo. Quite well, too.
     
    I've experienced a total wagon failure at a draft horse show once. It looked pretty much like that. Thing is, some of those wagons at the shows are made to be disassembled almost completely for transport, and if you don't know what you're doing when you put it together (or assign that task to people who aren't... detail orientated), they do have a tendency to fly apart pretty completely.
     
    Jalopy an old American term from the late 20's meaning a decrepit vehicle. For awhile in the 50's it was often used to refer to hot rods, especially those made from Model T's and other very old cars.
     
    Scariest cave in Equestria. By Granny's standards, sure, but I wonder if that's an official designation?
     
    For as isolated as that cabin looks, Pinkie Pie was able to find a store selling scrapbooking supplies pretty quickly. Even for Pinkie. I wonder what town this is actually near?
     
    I know that voice (Golden Delicious). I swear I've heard that specific voice before.
     
    I... wow. I knew a girl who lived like this. Crazy cat lady already, but she was only in her thirties.
     
    Dustykat. Cute.
     
    And if nothing else, Golden Delicious is connected to Pinkie, that's for sure.
     
    Whoever copied out the page (or copied the scroll into the book) copied it complete with smudge. This may seem stupid, but it actually happened more often than you would think. There have been many times in history when reading and writing wasn't a common skill (I'm not going to be more definitive on that one, because literacy tended to cycle a lot throughout history in different regions), and even those who were professional copyists didn't always know how to read. So they literally *copied* the text, drawing out the letters exactly the same, including any mistakes, smudges, ink blots, etc. because they honestly didn't know if any of that was important.
     
    And Pinkie continues to have far more control over her mane and tail than any other pony. We've seen AJ able to use her tail semi-prehensile with her lassoing skills, but Pinkie's tail is pretty much completely prehensile at this point.
     
    That and she has access to Hammerspace.
  15. Fhaolan
    See * for disclaimer
     
    Rainbow Dash and the Daring Do Double Dare (Novel, January 7th 2014)
     
    I'm continuing to do these novels, as the prior ones each did have something interesting in them that was picked up by the show in some way. I'm not sure if that's going to continue to be true, but we'll see.
     
    Summary: Yet again, Rainbow Dash has to prove she is the Daring-ist Daring Do fan.
     
    Heh. Big Mac is also a Daring Do fan. And dabbles a bit in cosplay.
     
    This author really like the idea of Mythica, Neigh York. I wonder if the author is from Ithica?
     
    I... okay. Bookworm. Sentient. Fine. It's Fluttershy, so ... fine.
     
    Yeah, this one is going to annoy me a little, isn't it? It's parodying what I do in a way. Here, the ponies are talking about the realism of Daring Do, where I talk about how Equestria might work realistically.
     
    Okay, that's subtle. This is indicating that this is taking place after Daring Don't, but isn't doing so flat out.
     
    We get the Ghastly Gorge again, with the Quarray Eels. In this, the distance from Ponyville to the Gorge is a brisk walk but no more.
     
    Froggy Bottom Bog again.
     
    Interesting. Rainbow Dash doesn't like hot peppers at all.
     
    The peppers in question come from South Amareica, past the San Palomino Desert. Cute.
     
    Zecora had in her possession yet another artifact. This time the 'half-gilded horseshoe' which is a key to a Spirit Circle... Half-gilding is a real art technique, using the gilding basically as a pigment, and the bare base material usually being polished to provide a contrasting color. Spirit Circles are vaguely like group meditation, usually treated as a séance-like event, but not always. And the ponies have the concept of generic malevolent spirits.
     
    Colossa-gators, about the size of the Ursa Minor. Pity the author wasn't in-the-know of current series events, or it likely would have been Rockadiles.
     
    Given the way this thing is set up, I was expecting this all to be a con of some sort to re-teach Rainbow a lesson. But they don't follow through with a reveal, oddly enough. If Braze was just a recolored Zecora it would be a lot easier to write off as all a set up, which would make sense. But the only pony Braze could really be if this was a con, is Big Mac under a *lot* of makeup, as the description Rainbow Dash gives of Braze is way too male for Zecora. Which they have done before in the show, again with Zecora involved so it kind of hangs together. But he would have had to do all that rhyming as well, which he... might be able to do, but you'd think they would have stuck a reveal in there at the end just for the reader if nothing else. We seem to be being asked to take this one straight. So I'm a bit confused.
     
    If we are to take this straight, then the Castle of the Pony Sisters has a lot of other odd things going on, including a gateway to a spiritual realm secured by a key that *Zecora* has possession of. So... the shadow figure shown at the end of Castle-Mania would reasonably have been Zecora... or this Braze if they do in fact bring him into canon some time later. Hrm.
  16. Fhaolan

    Rarity Takes Manehattan

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Rarity Takes Manehattan (January 4th 2014, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Rarity discovers that generousity can be taken advantage of.
     
    I sincerely hope the title is in reference to the Muppets take Manhattan, not Jason takes Manhattan. Although now that I think about it, that would be briefly amusing.
     
    New York actually does have a 'Fashion Week', ever since 1943 in fact, and occur twice a year to handle the differences between Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer fashions. One just ended in New York as well. However, I'm not aware of any competitions going on during it.
     
    Manehattan has a Bridleway. Cute.
     
    Hinny of the Hills. Hinny is an odd term for them to pull out there, not many are familiar with it. It is the mirror opposite of a mule. A mule is from a male horse and a female donkey. A Hinny is from a female horse and a male donkey. They're a bit rarer than mules due to genetics, and while male mules and hinnies are always sterile, female mules and hinnies very rarely aren't.
     
    This musical is likely a ponification of the Sound of Music, which has some interesting implications given that the background story of that musical is about an Austrian nationalist and his family fleeing the Nazi annexation prior to World War II. Exactly how much of that story could survive ponification? A neighboring (ha) nation of donkeys perhaps being annexed into the Crystal Empire early in the rule of Sombra, perhaps? Huh, with that setup you could even work in a bit of the Diary of Anne Frank into that one if you tried really hard. I wish I was better at fiction writing.
     
    Here we has the skyline of Manehattan. Very Manhattan, as expected. The art-deco Chrysler Building s evident... although it's probably called the Clydesdale Building here. I really have no idea why that Romanesque horse bust keeps showing up everywhere, and especially here. It's very odd, as that building resembles the IBM headquarters on Madison the most to me.
     
    Wow, they couldn't hang that lampshade any higher, could they.
     
    It's not as crowded as the real Manhattan, but it is more crowded than Ponyville and Canterlot are normally presented. The population density of the ponies in general seems low compared to humans. Which probably contributes to the utopian feel.
     
    That looks more like a Chicago hot dog to me, all dressed. Oh, I see, the hot dog was replaced with a carrot. Gotcha.
     
    Manefair Hotel. They're having a lot fun with puns this time out.
     
    Hey, Fancy Pants on the ferry to the ponified Liberty Island. Much, much smaller than the real one. I wonder if the history of the statue is similar, in which case this plus Apple Bloom's 'speaking Fancy', means there is a France equivalent in this world. I believe the fannon name is 'Prance'.
     
    One of the billboards resembles the billboards that used to be up for the musical Cats. That one could actually survive intact translated into ponydom.
     
    Rarity has a repair spell that bonds wood together at least. Amazingly useful ability.
     
    Also the streetlamps, in a style used by electric lights. That particular style wouldn't work for gaslight, so unsurprisingly they do have a distributed power grid in this city.
     
    Rarity developed the fabric herself. I believe that's been mentioned before that she makes her own fabric. That's pretty darn impressive actually, that's not something fashion designers usually tackle.
     
    Okay, the horse-head building is *not* the IBM headquarters like I thought. It's too complicated nearer the base and I don't remember a clock on it. Though it has been many years since I've been in Manhattan.
     
    Prim Hemline. Makes me think that Harshwinny is also a Manehattanite, as they are very similar in structure and accent. She has an interesting gate, like a Spanish walk.
     
    Coco Pommel, after Coco Channel.
     
    Why the heck are they running a spinning wheel? What fiber are they spinning? And a standing loom? Well, okay, Rarity makes her own fabric, so that makes sense, but those are not pieces of equipment easily transported or packed in to the many, many bags they brought. So they must have bought them right there in Manehattan.
     
    And Rarity's emergency fashions make about as much sense as actual fashion show designs. Unfortunately.
     
    That's not honestly. That's teasing.
     
    Why is Hinny on a rope? I want to know what *that's* all about.
  17. Fhaolan

    Power Ponies

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Ah. Here we have a procedural problem. Up until now, I've been trying to do these entries in the chronological order of the source material's issue. Which means, I should be doing the second Pony Tales volume, followed by the FriendShip Ahoy! story line in the comics.
     
    The problem is I'm reading those off of the Kindle Trade editions. And they haven't released the Kindle versions of these compilations. Supposedly the Pony Tales Volume 2 will be released for the Kindle some time in March, and I have no idea when Friendship is Magic Volume 4 will be released on Kindle. There are several advantages to these electronic readers, especially for someone like me who has some issues with hoarding (Electronic versions are cheaper so I can afford more, and easier to store out of sight which I find reduces the my pathological need to 'complete the set' on things.) So I'm going to have to wait on those, and do them when I can actually read them properly. So, in order to keep my one a day schedule, I need to move on with the main series.
     
    Power Ponies (December 21st 2013, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Spike and the girls are pulled into a magic comic book, and have to become the Power Ponies to escape.
     
    We're going to have a problem with this episode, like we have previously, in that most of it is fictional within the setting of Equestria. This time, however, we don't have a future episode making it real. As such, what we see is more indirectly indicative of culture.
     
    Okay, let's start off here. They have comic books. Which means they have color image printing processes. They also have super-hero comics, which are modern extensions of the mythological hero concept presented in an easily consumed popular form. The comics Spike give the impression of following the Golden age 'broad brush' morality, but it could be Silver Age. We'd need to know more about the comic characters themselves to judge. Unlikely to be Bronze or Copper ages as I doubt their dark themes would be compatible with MLP:FiM as a whole. The Mane-iac origin story is very much like some versions of the Joker.
     
    Why are they renovating the castle, anyway? I mean, I know why *I* would, but are they intending to turn it into some sort of museum, or are they expecting it to be an alternative residence for Celestia and Luna?
     
    I would be more concerned with structural considerations, like walls, windows, floors, and roofs, then be puttering around with pictures and cleaning floors.
     
    There's chunks of ceiling lying on the floor. There are *holes* in the wall that you can see outside through, and you're messing around hanging wallpaper? Really? You ponies are nuts.
     
    Okay, in the comic book proper. We've got Maretropolis, a pun on Metropolis, the primary city for Superman. According to the Siegel and Shuster, the original creators of Superman, Metropolis was a blending of New York and Toronto. We know they have Manehattan, so this is likely a fictional city based on Manehattan.
     
    The Mane 6 are now the various Power Ponies. We're dealing with a mixed team in the vein of the Justice League (or Justice Society if we're still the Golden Age), or the Avengers. It wouldn't surprise me if this was also a sideways reference to the Power Puff Girls, but if so, the name is pretty much all the reference.
     
    Masked Matterhorn: The horn appears to be artificial in this, so we're dealing with a pegasis who has given herself unicorn-like abilities. There isn't an exact match in famous comic-book characters.
     
    Filly Second: Pun on millisecond. Lots of different speedsters in comics, like the Flash, Johnny Quick, Quicksilver, etc.
     
    Zap: Weather based hero, similar to Storm, but focusing a lot on lightning
     
    Radiance: Green Lantern equivalent.
     
    Mistress Marevalous. Got a lot going on here. Magic lasso, which may seem like Wonder Woman, but WW's magic lasso was a lie detector system and minor mind control. Not a living rope like shown in this episode. Plus a variety of throwing irons and the like, in the style of Batman. Plus the name is a pun on the various 'Miss Marvel' characters.
     
    And Saddle Rager, the Incredible Hulk substitute.
     
    The Mane-iac with her strong prehensile hair is probably modelled after the Power Puff Girl's villain: Sedusa, which in turn seems to be inspired by a lesser-known Marvel character called 'Queen Medusa'.
     
    Yes, real factories do sometimes have large signs advertising what they make, but I've never seen one with animated neon signs. That and AJ recognized it as a shampoo factory, which means such things must be reasonable in Equestria.
     
    Oh my lord. Competence? We have a relatively competent (if nuts) villain, and it's in a comic book?
     
    Rarity is really just owning this.
     
    You'd think that with a hero who's primary ability is to transform into a giant monstrosity, their costume would be designed to cope.
     
    Who in their right minds would sell actually enchanted comics to what is obviously an underage individual? No, sorry. Answered my own question there. Nevermind.
  18. Fhaolan

    Flight to the Finish

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Flight to the Finish (December 14th 2013, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: The Cutie Mark Crusaders have to compete to carry the Ponyville Flag in the Equestrian Games. No matter what disabilities they are told they have.
     
    The various towns are sending teams to the Equestra Games. So this is the Olympics writ small, with towns instead of nations.
     
    Ponyville has a flag. Huh. I guess towns do usually have something *like* a flag, but it's not something that comes up often.
     
    They're having the flag bearers for each town do a routine. That's interesting, and it's the kind of thing I would actually like to see for opening ceremonies. The modern massive advertisement for the host nation I find a bit annoying. I'd rather see smaller bits from the various participating nations.
     
    After school at 15:00. Which means school lets out before that. Seems early to me, but they likely have much shorter school days given the society.
     
    This is implying that elsewhere in Equestria the pony breeds are more segregated. Or at least, the *foals* see the rest of Equestria is more segregated. Which could be because it was more segregated at one point, and they're pulling this out of their history lessons.
     
    And another hint that 'horses' are different from 'ponies' in this culture.
     
    First hint that Bulk Biceps is going to be a lot more 'forward' in this season. And he's afraid of butterflies? Odd.
     
    This hints at some odd aspects to this society. Until it was pointed out to them, it never occurred to them that Scootaloo's possible disability could be an issue. Yet pegasi usually live in places like Cloudsdale where being unable to fly would be a serious hurdle to overcome. And once Scootaloo has her face rubbed in it, she obsesses over it, but nobody else seems to care. Either real disabilities are so rare than nopony considers them, or the society compensates so completely that it's deemed irrelevant.
     
    Wait, they're travelling overland to the Crystal Empire via wing-powered scooter? Again, MLP:FiM has an issue with travel distances.
     
    And ponyville's flag is, yellow with two purple silhouette mares facing each other rearing up, supporting a pink heart. Can't really do that one in classic European heraldry, due to the pink. I'd have to bring in some late-period India heraldry where they added several colors to the system.
  19. Fhaolan

    Daring Don't

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    This is another problematic episode from a worldbuilding perspective. Not impossible to work with, but it causes pretty severe shifts in perspective.
     
    Daring Don't (December 7th 2013, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Rainbow Dash gets a chance that few ever get, meeting a fictional character.
     
    Fortress of Talicon. Arrow defense. You know, that sounds like a video game. Or a hidden reference to Samurai Jack episode "Jack and the Three Blind Archers".
     
    And Rainbow Dash gets a serious knock on the head... again, giving everyone an excuse that this episode never actually happened. I'm not taking the easy way out on this one though.
     
    The name the author of Daring Do is using is A.K. Yearling, a pun on J.K. Rowling. Yearling being a horse of one year of age, of course.
     
    Classic serial movie 'line on a map' gag, using a line sketch version of the official Equestrian map. Starting at Ponyville, going to the waterfall below Canterlot, doing some loops below Cloudsdale, stopping at the whistle-stop where the rail line splits from going to Vanhoover and the Frozen North, another stop in the Unicorn Range, and we loose it somewhere north of Vanhoover. So we're somewhere in the Equestrian equivalent of British Columbia?
     
    The place is trashed, but there's a fire still burning in the fireplace. If I was a suspicious pony, I would be checking the fireplace for burning papers.
     
    The outfit A.K. Yearling is wearing is reminiscent of some of the outfits Agatha Christie used to wear back in the 20's. Of all the authors that A.K. Yearling could have been modeled on, Agatha Christie is a good choice. Many of her later books were written while at archeological digs with her second husband (who was a full archeologist.)
     
    That's a weird system. The book had locks on the binding, and when unlocked the book opened backwards... Huh. I wonder if when 'locked' the book opens normally and looks just like any other book.
     
    Heh. The goon's cutie-marks are 60's Batman wing-dings.
     
    Okay, here's where I have to do some work. We have revealed that A.K. Yearling is in fact Daring Do. Fine. We have two problems here. The lesser one is that the comics implied that Twilight's mom was the author of the Daring Do books. The bigger one is trying to fit the Daring Do mythos into Equestria.
     
    The bigger one is actually the easier one. There's nothing that we've seen with the Daring Do stories that couldn't fit into the world Equestria is in. The official map of Equestria lines up surprisingly well with a map of the United States, with the Crystal Empire being Canada. What we have seen of the Daring Do world is far more South American with various Toltec, Mixtec, and Aztec imagery. So it's easy enough to put the various Daring Do bits far, far south of Equestria. Plus what we know about Daring Do's adventures are fiction within this setting. So it's very likely what was written was 'inspired' by the reality, and is not an exact match.
     
    The lesser issue with A.K. Yearling and Twilight's mom (officially named Twilight Velvet), is a bit trickier. There's several ways to deal with this. In the comic the award for best writer and the award for Daring Do are two separate awards. Twilight V is definitely an award-wining writer, but the Daring Do award may named after Daring Do, not an award *for* Daring Do. Or she's moved on in her career and is now a publisher, and that's a publishing award. (which means that's how Twilight Sparkle got all this advanced info about A.K. Yearling. She asked her mom.) Finally, it's entirely possible that A.K. Yearling isn't really the author, but dictates her adventures and has ghostwriters turn those notes into novels. Especially with autobiographies and the like, it is extremely common to employ ghostwriters. In fact, my wife has ghostwritten several books (not novels, but technical how-to's on equitation and the like.) This is the least likely scenario, as ghost writers, by their nature, don't get awards.
     
    Why do the Mane 6 just sit there? I'm thinking they're experiencing cognitive dissonance and out-of-context errors. Daring Do has been fictional to them up until right now, and they're glitching, reverting to a passive 'audience' state and watching through the window like it's a movie. Maybe they actually have Daring Do movies, and they are still having trouble believing what they are seeing is real? Which would make sense, except they've been in similar situations before with fairy tales come to life (Nightmare Moon) so you'd think they'd recover from this faster.
     
    Dr. Caballeron. Meant to resemble Belloq from Indiana Jones. Caballero is Spanish for a gentleman, and for a horseman in the same way that 'knight' does. Actually, that's a well done urbane Spanish accent as well. That's one of those that gets messed up a lot in America due to the Mexican influence which is quite different.
     
    More prophecy, this time for eight hundred years. Interesting, as given prior tendencies of the writers I would have thought they would have defaulted to the increasingly annoying 'thousand years' again.
     
    Unrelenting heat. Huh. That sounds suspiciously similar to the G1 'The End of Fluttervalley'. This is the second time that miniseries has been referenced within G4.
     
    No, this is exactly at your head-height. This is what you guys do. What is the issue here?
     
    But you publish those secrets. In books. You, madam, are a nit.
     
    No, Rainbow Dash is the nit it seems.
     
    So, here is an issue. Where the heck are they? The episode implies that we're not that far from Daring Do's house, which was somewhere north of Vanhoover. Yet we've switched to South American architecture and fauna. We missed a travel sequence somewhere.
     
    It is being implied that the eight hundred years of sweltering heat (for just the valley) is going to be from modifying the sun in some way. Probably the rings activate some kind of giant magical magnifying glass system.
     
    He has minions? Interesting. Typical fictional mix of various South American accents. The spears are wrong for the period/region, but what the hey.
     
    What are the rings made of? They look like gold, but gold doesn't shatter like that. They might actually be yellow jade. In direct sunlight yellow jade can appear to be gold from a distance.
  20. Fhaolan

    Castle-Mania

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Castle-Mania (November 30th 2013, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Where are you, Ditzy Doo? No, Ditzy isn't in this one. It the best I could do for a Scooby Doo joke.
     
    I've been curious about this library in Ponyville, anyway. Is there a library *system* in Equestria? Celestia seems to have direct authority over the libraries, in the same way she had direct authority over her own school, in order to put Twilight in as librarian with little effort. Are there book exchange programs? There really isn't that much room for stacks in that building, especially given that there is a living space for Twilight and Spike, plus a lab in the basement, so are there lower storage stacks we haven't seen?
     
    So the castle of the Pony Sisters is closer to Ponyville than Canterlot is, despite being deep in the Everfree Forest.
     
    And the Everfree Forest is now passable by pairs of ponies, without particular peril.
     
    The forest has reclaimed the grounds of the castle, and it is in ruins. There are holes in the roof for weather to get in, and this is wild weather not controlled by pegasi. Yet a good number of these books are still intact. They must be made of something particularly impressive. And why were they not transferred to Canterlot after Celestia abandoned this castle? There must have been something else going on that prevented them from salvaging valuables from this castle after the exiling of Nightmare Moon.
     
    These books are at minimum a thousand years old. Twilight can read them. More evidence that pony culture is not experiencing linguistic shift as human cultures would.
     
    Okay, that's an alicorn statue, but rendered in a more realistic horse-like way. Is it a generic artistic sculpture, or is it supposed to be somepony specific?
     
    Star spiders.
     
    Would have been more impressive if they hadn't been wearing bee suits. Oh, and the stallion called them off with a whistle, so unfortunately the pair probably wasn't actually in any real danger.
     
    Star spider *season* at that, which Fluttershy seems to think is a problem.
     
    Rumored? You were there awhile back. You didn't notice them? Well, yes, you *were* a bit busy at the time, but still.
     
    Actually, that's a pretty good idea. Restoring tapestries is a good thing to do for archeological reasons, plus using the ancient patterns for fashion purposes is a common theme in high fashion circles. New primary source material would be extremely valuable.
     
    If anyone knows legends of the castle, it would be Granny. Not surprising that nobody takes her seriously as well, as Nightmare Moon was an 'old mare's tale' back in the first episode, and as far as we know Granny is the epitome of 'old mare'.
     
    A tapestry that large would be incredibly heavy. I'm surprised a single pegasis could even budge it. Mind you, she doesn't really.
     
    Many old buildings really do have secret passageways and the like, though most of them are more like priestholes. Small rooms for hiding individual people for short times, during the various religious persecution periods throughout Europe. Most secret passageways are incredibly tiny, barely big enough for a person to squeeze through.
     
    That's the same picture on the wall of a military pony that was on the train during the MMMystery of the Canterlot Express. Who the heck is he?
     
    A corridor of ... hooves? That sounds familiar, why does that sound familiar? I mean, it wasn't an uncommon design for torch sconces in real life to have sculpted hands holding torches, but I swear I've seen this in some kind of silly horror movie.
     
    AppleDash shippers in full force.
     
    And here we go with Phantom of the Opera. Pity it's not actually Bach's Toccata et Fuga in D minor. That would be classic.
     
    Interesting suits of armor. Quite different that what I expected, as it's far more 14th century in styling, especially in that Milan hounskull-type faceplate surmounted by a spectacle eyeframe, although the rest of the helm resembles a 17th century Japanese kabuto.
     
    Oh, I like the dragon gargoyle.
     
    Huh. The armor has plates covering the tail. Not just the base of the tail, but the entire tail. Curious. The ponies do seem to have the apparent ability to use the tail as a crude manipulator, but that's still curious.
     
    "Do you know how to drive a motorcycle?" "I expect so, it's been that kind of day." -> Doctor Who, new series, 'Let's Kill Hitler' episode.
     
    Then it comes back, with cake. That about sums up Pinkie, doesn't it?
  21. Fhaolan

    Princess Twilight

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Princess Twilight (Parts 1 and 2) (November 23rd 2013, 2 x 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Princess Twilight must discover where Celestia and Luna have disappeared to, and to do that requires a sacrifice.
     
    Part 1
     
    Twilight thinking about it too much.
     
    There's an interesting question. Twilight's got wings, but did she get the ability to walk on clouds and the like as well?
     
    No need for that now? Was there need for that before? I don't remember Celestia insisting that Twilight curtsy to her.
     
    Celestia is surprisingly easy to ponynap.
     
    Yes, that is weird. And kinda puts a dent in one of my pet theories. So the sun and the moon can actually be in the sky at the same time now. That's new. Even Discord didn't manage to pull that one off. However, the way it's presented it does *look* like the moon is capable of blocking the sun, the range is just less than I had hoped.
     
    All the citizenship run to Twilight when they see her. So here Princess Twilight has some standing.
     
    The Royal Guard take instruction directly from the princesses. No command structure apparently.
     
    And another guard, this one with his own coat color. Whatever the enchantment that causes all the guards to look identical seem to be wearing off, or they've run out of the original enchanted armor and we're dealing with new harness being made. Might still be enchanted for protection, but they no longer seem interested in the 'uniform' enchantment.
     
    More indication that Fluttershy's cottage is on the edge of the Everfree Forest.
     
    Odd. The clouds have thorns as well.
     
    Ah, the vines disrupt magic, or at least cause magic to go haywire.
     
    When did Twilight get seatbelts installed?
     
    Discord summoning, via the Elements of Harmony. Ah, so Celestia gave this spell to Twilight. Interesting, how did Celestia develop this spell?
     
    And amazingly convenient Zecora arrives.
     
    And how does she *know* that? How much alicorn magic is floating around for this purpose? That seems to indicate that alicorns are more common than we suppose.
     
    Ah, a short history lesson. Here we have pre-Nightmare Moon Luna.
     
    I still think Luna looks a bit surprised and confused for a second before the transformation. Not that that it still isn't completely her, of course, but that she was unaware of the consequences of her behavior.
     
    Part 2
     
    This entire sequence is way too short. Not that it should have gone longer for the viewer, but there should have been time skips to give the *impression* of going longer. Give the battle between the sun and moon more weight. As it is, the impression is that the entire Nightmare Moon episode a thousand years ago took about fifteen minutes at most.
     
    At least this looks like Discord has been running rampant for quite some time.
     
    And the Tree of Harmony. And again, it looks like Luna and Celestia had a hard time getting to this point.
     
    A rockadile. Although they're calling it just a crocodile. Or crocodilly, according to AJ.
     
    Honestly, Discord's behavior is more likely that he dislikes it when ponies try to not play his game.
     
    The vines have 'flowers' that have the visual impression of distorted venus fly trap leaves. The venus fly trap actually does have proper flowers. The odd 'traps' are highly modified leaves.
     
    This thing may look like a tree, but it's pretty much entirely crystalline. I notice while it has Celestia's and Luna's cutie mark (and a variant Twilight one as well), Cadance is not represented.
     
    Discord uses the phrase 'thousands of moons ago'. He's definitely using that as a 'saying' rather than an exact measure of time, but it does seem to indicate that the vines were to germinate a couple of hundred years after his imprisonment.
     
    And I assume Twilight's 'starboom' is more from magic than due to sheer speed like the rainboom. Society-wise though, it's interesting that is to be included. It wouldn't have been that unusual for Celestia and Luna to make this day all about them, but they've gone out of their way to include Twilight.
  22. Fhaolan
    See * for disclaimer
     
    My Little Pony: Annual 2013 (Comic Special, October 30th 2013)
     
    The Annual comic includes two functionally independent comics, both related to the Equestria Girls alternate universe.
     
    The Fall of Sunset Shimmer
     
    Summary: How Sunset Shimmer came to Canterlot High
     
    Sunset taking a mid-term test at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
     
    We see cute-markless Twilight plus Cadance and Shining Armor in the background. That gives us a general time-frame for this. Interestingly, Lyra and Minuette are also present as the same age as Sunset, and probably close to the same age as Shining Armor and Cadance, so that gives us relative ages for these characters.
     
    The mirror seems to have some other abilities beyond just being a portal. It's producing hallucinations based on the viewer's desires, much like the Mirror of Erised in Harry Potter, or the mirror in Snow White.
     
    Celestia is being presented as dealing with 'her' pupil pretty much every day, including some rather casual settings like a picnic. Despite this, she's not really paying much attention to Sunset's behavior and attitudes.
     
    There is a Dark Magic section of the Canterlot Archives, complete with a librarian? And it's not otherwise secured?
     
    Lots of books with occult-sounding titles, and the necronomicon from the Evil Dead movies.
     
    Interesting that 'Canterlot Castle: A History' is in the dark magic section, that it includes information about the mirror, which is therefore would also be considered dark magic.
     
    Also, the story of the banishing of Nightmare Moon is in this section.
     
    Equestria Girls
     
    Summary: How the main 5 met, and actually did become friends.
     
    The school has a freshman fair, where the freshmen sign up for clubs and sports. Honestly, I don't remember this ever happening at any high school I attended (and I attended a lot, my family moved around for various reasons.) The sports teams had no interest in freshmen, and there were only a couple of 'clubs', most of which were primarily for the Seniors as a bolster on their university applications.
     
    That and none of the schools I went to were rich enough to have booths for any purpose.
     
    Pinkie is giving the impression of being a Sophomore here, already involved in various clubs and events.
     
    Nope, not a sophomore, unless she's been held back a year to be in the same classes. Actually, I could see that.
     
    And Mrs. Harshwinny. Though to be honest, given the characterization I would have pegged her as a Ms. Harshwinny. Someone who wants her martial status to be irrelevant to her professional standing.
     
    So this Granny is in fact AJ's granny. The various character's ages may be messed around in this alternate universe, but the relationships between characters are reasonably stable.
     
    And here we have more evidence of the ages being inconsistent between universes, as Babs is being depicted as being the same age or older than AJ.
     
    That's a specialized soccer field, not a generic sports field being used for soccer. Either soccer is *the* sport of this school, or we're dealing with a very rich district that can afford multiple sports fields. Usually American football goalposts have to be permanently fixed, and there's no evidence that this field has anything like that.
     
    Heh, there's two students that look like the gremlins from the Rainbow Dash microcomic.
     
    Huh. The lockers changed design. This school's been renovated at least once, but only certain wings.
     
    I could mention the costumes AJ changes into, but the weasel in the tux jacket with the coffee cup is distracting me.
     
    Oh good, that was just Pinkie being Pinkie. I was having trouble there.
     
    Not sure what Luna's referring to. Maybe it's Pinkie becoming the various event coordinator?
     
    Awww, come on ref! That's a yellow card at least!
     
    And the rest of the issue is characterization, with nothing that I can find for worldbuilding or setting development. With that, I'm done with the 'Season 3' stuff, and we can move on to the current season. The end of daily blog posts are in sight!
  23. Fhaolan

    Pony Tales Volume 1

    By Fhaolan,

    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.
  24. Fhaolan
    See * for disclaimer
     
    Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair (Comic Issues 9-10, July 31st, August 28th 2013)
     
    Summary: A day in the life of Big Mac.
     
    Issue 9
     
    The Apples have an upright piano. I wonder who plays?
     
    Heh, Benford tool box. Reference to Tim the Tool Man Taylor, as part of the tv series and standup routine for Tim Allen back in the day.
     
    For want of a Nail, a proverb that goes back to at least the 13th century.
     
    Summer Wrap-Up Festival and Hoedown. Taking the 'wrap-up' theme and extending it to other seasons. Heh, the sign has a 'Taste of Ponyville' on it. 'Taste of' festivals occur all over the United States, sometimes with slightly different names. I get the impression that Taste of Chicago was the first, and the biggest.
     
    Ah, the CMC with access to fireworks. This can only end well.
     
    Rainbow Dash talking about a Sun Stone, in the background... interesting.
     
    Heya Doctor Whooves, spoofing the 2007 Doctor Who episode Human Nature.
     
    Trixie being harmless, but kooky, and still working entertainment.
     
    Pinkie Pie talking about giant bees... okay, wait. Sun Stone, Giant Bees? They're referring to the G1 miniseries The End of Fluttervalley that kicked off the original My Little Pony 'n Friends TV series, as if it occurred to them. Fascinating.
     
    Family Circus reference... And mention of Big Mac entering a timewarp and saving ponyville from mutant apes... is this a reference to one of the Planet of the Apes movies, or Equestria Girls?
     
    And the first reference to Big Mac actually being quite shy around mares.
     
    Big Mac gets shipped *so* hard in this comic, it's pretty funny actually. Poor guy, completely oblivious.
     
    Charlie Brown reference.
     
    Plasmids and Vigors? What? When did Bioshock enter this universe?
     
    Playful Luna is best Luna. "Blame My Sister" shirt, indeed.
     
    Big Mac hates cherry pie. Nice detail. Wait, Sugar Cube Sculpting, Synchronized Water Polo, but just 'Curling'. Huh.
     
    And the return of one of the batponies. A couple of the DHX crew have tweeted that they are treating the batponies as their own separate race, but it hasn't shown up in the show yet. At first I was liking the idea, enough to put it into my own fanfiction, but with the Crystal Ponies, Gryphons, Donkeys, Zebras, Buffalo, and the upcoming Breezies, the racial diversity is starting to get odd in this show. Not that these different races exist, but that they're so very isolated and only seem once in many cases. (Yes, they're starting to address that in Season 4, but that hasn't happened yet in context of this blog.)
     
    You get the impression Big Mac may have a bit of a crush on Zecora here. At least, he's a lot more comfortable in her presence than he has been with other mares. Okay, crush might be a bit strong. Actually friends rather than acquaintances might be a better descriptor.
     
    Rent a lizard? Trade ins accepted? Okay, weird.
     
    Issue 10
     
    Return of Spike the old-time Barker. I like this framing device, and it's especially appropriate given the carnival setting we're dealing with right now. It was a little out-of-place previously in the Changeling arc, but here it works.
     
    Ahhh! Pinkie must have sold her Pinkie costume from the Changeling arc, and this guy made a doll out of it. Disturbing.
     
    Poor Fleetfoot.
     
    Fluttershy now telling a bit of that 'Fluttervalley' story. And a Star Trek reference, specifically The Return of the Archons from the Classic series.
     
    And Derpy now lives in the cocoon from the Changeling arc? Okay.
     
    Summer Wrap Up Parade, complete with giant balloons in the shape of Daring Do and Mare Do Well.
     
    Ah, Sapphire Shores. With a cover of "Car Wash" (1976) by the Rose Royce band. Actually Rose Royce would be a good pony name, without any actual change. Huh.
     
    Poor Big Mac.
     
    And Twilight continuing the 'Flutterpony Valley' story...
     
    And Spike representing custom pony figurine sellers everywhere.
     
    Oh, this just passed into being cruel to Fleetfoot.
     
    Flim and Flam at their natural calling, snake oil salesmen.
     
    I should probably know who this pony is who's shipping. Pausing to look it up.... It's 'Tealove'? Previously in the toy line, not in any other media. Introduced in this comic right here by Hasbro's request. Okay. Interesting.
     
    BBQ Hay. That just... How does that work?
     
    Celestia hoofwrestling with Big Mac. And Luna making some moves on Big Mac. Big Mac gets all the mares.
     
    Okay, final wrap up. This had little worldbuilding in it, and added little to the setting as a whole beyond some details. But I found it hilarious. While I personally like adventure-type stories a lot and I want to see more of that in MLP, this was excellent 'filler' and really encourages me to pick up the rest of the comics.
  25. Fhaolan
    See * for disclaimer
     
    The second of the series of G.M. Berrow novels. As I mentioned previously, these are being treated as canon by Hasbro as IP owner, even if the DHX crew isn't. But then, maybe they are, because of something that happens with this particular book, and with the most recent episode. Otherwise I would have skipped this one, and the rest of G.M. Berrow books as fluff. With this, and the Cadance as a pegasis originally in the previous book, it seems that the DHX crew is in fact taking a few cues from these books. However, they're not in complete agreement as to what's going on, so I'm still treating these as secondary or tertiary canon, to be overridden by the main series.
     
    Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party! (Novel, July 2nd 2013)
     
    Summary: Pinkie's family is in trouble, and only a Pinkie Party can save the rock farm.
     
    Indication that the story takes place one week after Winter Wrap-Up, but that doesn't mean it was the *same* Winter Wrap-Up seen in the series. We could be on another year for all we know.
     
    Posy is not actually a specific flower, but is a type of flower arrangement. A small handheld cluster of flowers, basically a small bouquet. This seems to indicate that in Equestria there is an actual flower called a 'posy'. And it's bitter to ponies. There are several flowers that are toxic to horses in real life, Goldenrod, Larkspur, Silverling, etc. So likely a Posy is in one of these families.
     
    Reference to the Mirror Pool.
     
    Also mention that this story occurs after the Crystal Empire episodes, but that in Pinkie's memory she was put in charge of the flugelhorn booth.
     
    There actually were spring-soled shoes, and still are but they use a different design. The ones I used to have were originally from the '50s called 'Satellite Jumping Shoes', made by Rapaport Brothers. Now-a-days they use a far more modern design but are just as freaking dangerous.
     
    Again Cloudsdale is right next to Ponyville at the moment.
     
    This is the second reference in this novel about how the returned Crystal Empire is changing the fashions in Equestria.
     
    And we get names for Pinkie's family. Cloudy Quartz (mom), Igneous Rock (dad), Marble Pie and Limestone Pie. The naming convention is very... strange.
     
    And here's where this gets weird. Pinkie refers to an older sister, who was not seen in the Cutie Mark Chronicles episodes. Normally this would just be something that could be written off as non-canon, but in the most recent episode (Pinkie Pride), a picture of Pinkie's family was shown, including a third sister not seen in the previous episode.
     
    Strange. The impression in the Cutie Mark Chronicles was that Pinkie's family loosened up a lot with Pinkie's first party. This backsliding is a bit odd.
     
    However, we now know this story is occurring in Season 4, as we have Princess Twilight Sparkle in full force. More so than in the main series, actually.
     
    I should have expected that one. A rock concert. The term 'palooza' was originally from an old 19th century word lalapalooza or lollapalooza, meaning a extraordanary thing. It was adopted as an extension on words in the same way as 'orama' and 'agogo' to mean an extraordinary event.
     
    Oh, that pun. Nine Inch Tails. Ouch, that hurt.
     
    More band pony puns, some being a bit odd. Switchhoof (Switchfoot), Neigh-Z (Jay-Z), Coldhay (Coldplay), The Whooves (The Who), John Mare (John Mayer). A really odd range of bands for the author to think of. This is an eclectic set.
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