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Fhaolan

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  1. Fhaolan

    Equestria Girls

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    This is not the first My Little Pony theatrical release. It's the second one. The first was back in G1 with My Little Pony: The Movie. Fan reaction to this EqG film was mixed, but it pulled in a lot more money than Hasbro expected on it's own. According to some stockholder reports, the box office returns for Equestria Girls was *astonishingly* high given the strange specialty release to only select theatres. Supposedly, however, it did not do what they wanted in selling the tie-in toys.
     
    There are things about this film that are odd. Not the film itself, although there are odd things in there to, but in the way the film was handled. It was very deliberately marketed to the tween and young teen market, not the child demographic that the main series is supposed to be marketed towards. Yet the actual movie presumes the viewer is already a fan of MLP:FiM, with knowledge gleaned from watching the main series. The distribution of the film was to select theatres, rather than using one of the standard distribution packages. For example, in Washington State, originally there was only going to be two or three theatres. None of which were in Seattle, the big population center. Eventually there was, but only because Bronies, and I mean very specifically *Bronies* arranged special viewings at other theaters that could be hired out for that purpose. I'm told this occurred in other places as well. This all seems to indicate that Hasbro had no idea what to do with this thing once they had it, and were relying on the DVD production company, Shout Factory, to tell them what to do, rather than going to one of the larger movie distribution companies that other Hasbro properties have gone through (like Lion's Gate), or even Discovery Communications that runs the Hub for them. I really have no idea why, but it's very weird.
     
    Again, I'm not passing judgment on it's quality, I'm just pulling out bits of information useful to build up the setting. Most of my comments on the plot will be more trying to make sense of it as cultural touchstones. If the characters react such-and-such way, then what does that mean to the setting they come from, and so on.
     
    Equestria Girls (Theatrical Release, June 16th 2013, 73 minutes)
     
    Summary: The Element of Magic has been stolen, and Twilight must chase the thief into an alternate world where everything is the same, yet so very different.
     
    Twilight is now officially at Princess Summit, previously mentioned in Keep Calm and Flutter On, which either means that they have these things extremely frequently, or that episode was a lot longer ago than it's position in the season indicates.
     
    Heh. Transformer noises.
     
    Twilight demonstrates that suddenly getting wings doesn't mean you suddenly know how to fly. Which is contrary to the ending of Magical Mystery Cure, but I can write that off as Twilight thinking about it too much now and not willing to rely on instinct.
     
    Why one Guard (Flash Sentry) that is not a Crystal Pony? All the others are identical. Also Flash isn't using Canterlot Guard armor that makes them all white or gray. He's retaining in normal coat color.
     
    Cadance implies that the coronation in Magical Mystery Cure was a relatively long time ago. Which maps to the time line of Princess Summit above, but is curious. How long has it been?
     
    We get one of the few indications of relative sizes of all the ponies. Luna, and Celestia are not as tall as previously implied. Which may be again because they are constantly under some kind of transformational magic, and they simply don't want to be that much taller than Cadance and Twilight right now.
     
    Twilight's crown is slightly different, mainly in that the 'arms' now go over the ears, rather than in front of them as it used to do. Otherwise, the only other differences can be written off as artistic license. I know, I'm jumping ahead in knowledge, as that could have been just Twilight's coronation crown, which *could* be different from the Element of Magic, but it gets confirmed later that it's one in the same thing.
     
    Spike can balance on his tail. Has he done this before, I can't remember?
     
    No comment. Really, no comment. I'm laughing so hard due to fannon concepts here that are completely inappropriate.
     
    There is are a few subtle changes to the architecture in the Crystal Empire. The houses are still blocky and crystalline as they were before, but the profiles of the buildings are now more like typical modern subdivision housing.
     
    Non-Crystal Pony Unicorn Guard, using the light from his horn as a directed flashlight. So another non-Crystal Pony in the Crystal Pony Guard, there must be some migration of population going on, which makes me wonder why no Crystal Ponies appear to have immigrated into Equestria proper? Unless because Celestia and Luna are there currently, their personal Guards have joined in on patrols?
     
    No hesitation there. The thief goes directly to Twilight's room and switches the crown with a rougher-looking duplicate. So she knew exactly where the bearer of the Element of Magic would be, and exactly what it would look like. Despite Twilight being a guest that arrived only the evening before, and the Element of Magic being legendary until relatively recently. So the thief's been here prior and has been involved in the preparations for the Princess Summit without anyone noticing.
     
    And the thief gets a name 'Sunset Shimmer', who was a former student of Celestia. Former enough that Twilight was unaware of her existance. Given the way Twilight behaves normally, that would mean that Sunset left Celestia's tutorage some time before Twilight started. Exactly how long before, you can't tell from this.
     
    Celestia implies that she doesn't know the other side of the magic mirror. Actually, she specifically says that Twilight will soon know more about it than she does, which doesn't mean that she knows *nothing*, just that she expects Twilights knowledge to surpass hers fairly quickly. Which could just be a vote of confidence on Twilight's abilities to learn than an indication of Celestia's actual knowledge of the alternate world.
     
    Luna knows about the mechanics of the mirror, in that it opens once every 30 moons. Which could be two and a half years, or a little over half a year depending on exactly how long a moon is (referring to previous speculations about a moon = a month, which would make sense as that's what 'month' actually means, but technically it could also be a week, as in the span of time from one Moonday (Monday) to another.) Assuming that the broadcast dates of the episodes map in some vague way to when they occurred in Equestria, then the last time Sunset could have been in Equestria was about the same time the Elements of Harmony were discovered by the Mane 6, which would explain her knowledge of the Elements. However, that could not have been the time Sunset left Equestria originally, as Twilight would have known about her, so we're dealing with at least 2.5 more years earlier, or much longer ago. I've got a speculation on that, but I'll wait until it comes up in the film.
     
    Why was it in the Throne Room in Canterlot Castle? And why send it to the Crystal Empire now? It seems odd to put this thing on display like that.
     
    Luna believes that the Elements of Harmony can be used individually, and with ill intent. Or maybe she believes that it will simply because it's in an alternate dimension and will react differently than normal.
     
    Celestia believes that there is a limit to how much material (or magic) can move between dimensions before things get *really* wacky. Especially if the rest bring their elements with them. This is actually a fairly common multi-dimensional theory, that objects can't pass between alternate dimensions without causing disruptions in the fabric of space-time, the more movement there is, the worse the disruptions get. With Sunset Shimmer and the Element of Magic already there, sending more than Twilight is exponentially more risky, not just to the alternate world but the 'void' where the missing objects used to be in Equestria is inviting damage to Equestria as well.
     
    Luna implies that the gateway is open for part of a lunar cycle, with three days left before the full moon where the gateway closes. I wonder if it opened on the new moon? Which means the gateway is technically open for about fifteen days. Plenty of time for Sunset to learn about Twilight and current events if she's smart.
     
    Spike is now a dog. Well, since he sleeps in a dog bed normally, I can see it.
     
    Twilight doesn't know about humanity.
     
    Given Twilight's clothing, I'm pegging this to be in the early 90's. Specifically, she's wearing what is either gaiters (similar to leg warmers from the eighties but meant to cover the top of the shoes as well like spats, which is a common style in horse-riding outfits or those wishing to imply that they are rich enough to ride horses for amusement.) but more likely knee-high socks thanks to the argyle pattern at the top, that are made to blouse over the top of the shoe (again a remnant of the leg warmer style). Plus the pleated miniskirt, blouse with puff upper arms, and floppy bow.
     
    Watching the rest of the school, I'm not seeing anything that marks it as later than the early 90's. Skinny ties, cut-off shorts under skirts, ring-pull zippers on jackets. Hey, a punk, even. No goths so far though. Also, the guy with the knit cap. All it needs is a maple leaf on it, and I'd put this in Toronto.
     
    Twilight and Sunset Shimmer are both failing to recognize each other in their alternate forms. Understandable as the forms are shaped quite different, even if the color schemes are identical.
     
    That's an odd behavior of Twilight, stomping in greeting. She's not done that before to my knowledge, so this is new.
     
    I discovered very rapidly that volunteering at the animal shelter was a really bad idea for me. I couldn't handle the number of animals that got there via seizure from abusive households, and the number of animals that had to be put down every day simply because there was no room to keep them all. We were getting about five animals *a day* showing up there, and only about one adoption a day. Not sustainable, no matter how many volunteers or donations there were. I was simply not emotionally capable of dealing with it.
     
    Celestia seems to be saying that the crown is part of the existing regalia for the Princess of the Fall Formal. So the crown Sunset Shimmer switched with the Element of Magic, the relatively crude-looking thing, was the original crown of the Fall Formal.
     
    The picture gallery implies that Sunset was the Princess of the Fall Formal the last three years running. Her attitude is quite different in each picture, showing a progress from relatively innocent surprise to straight-out megalomania. However, the crown is different in each one. So the crown that Celestia has claimed for the Princess of the Fall Formal must get made new every year. Which may mean that Sunset Shimmer had a hand in making it, so that it would be as close to the Element of Magic as she could get it, based on the descriptions she had gathered 30 moons ago when she was last in Equestria and the Elements were discovered.
     
    Given that Sunset had to be in the universe long enough for Twilight to become Celestia's student, and graduate, but she's only been here for about four years in-context. That could mean that time runs a bit slower in this Humanize universe mapping to anywhere from 1:1 to 1:4 to Equestria.
     
    What... exactly was in that fruit salad that *splashed*? That's a lot of liquid in that thing.
     
    Wait, those pictures were of Sunset as Princess of the Spring Fling *and* Fall Formal? Those different crowns were the regalia of different seasonal events? Do they have one for every season, so Sunset has been here only for one year? That would mean the time difference between these two different dimensions are even more skewed, running from 1:4 to 1:12. So in that one year, somewhere around ten years have passed in Equestria, with the gateway opening up once a season in the Human world, and once every 2.5 years in Equestria.
     
    The balloons on Pinkie Pie's skirt are actual balloons. Cute.
     
    Pinkie is implying that Twilight *does* have a counterpart in the universe, but she hasn't moved to this school district the way that Twilight moved to Ponyville in the main series. Possibly because Sunset Shimmer changed over to this universe and disrupted the order of events. Basically filling the Twilight Sparkle 'space' that the Humanized Twilight would have occupied.
     
    Despite the bizarre scrawl, Sunset can read 'Twilight Sparkle' in that.
     
    And here's the first thing that marks it as truly modern, the smartphones Snips and Snails have. And the monitors on the computer terminals.
     
    In the main series, there are only two things that look like computing devices, Twilight's heavy iron she used when trying to analyize Pinkie Sense, and the video game cabinets seen in the Hearts and Hooves Day episode. Twilight's machine is more along the lines of ENIAC and EDSAC, programmed via cables and switches, so she wouldn't recognize a terminal. It's the video game cabinet that throws this for a loop, but we don't get to see the screen in that episode. It's entirely possible it's an electro-mechanical game like Periscope or Crown Soccer, not what we would recognize as a computer-driven video game. For these reasons, Twilight's confusion with the computer terminal is understandable.
     
    I've seen people at work type like that, with their fists. Usually in frustration, but I work for an IT company. Frustrated workers are expected.
     
    I've also seen people accidentally photocopy their face as well, hitting the button at the wrong time and blinding themselves. It's pretty amusing.
     
    New dress... complete with wig? What?
     
    More indication of full modernity, we're dealing with kids more connected through email and texts than face-to-face communication.
     
    As I've mentioned elsewhere, the competition with Rainbow Dash wasn't intended to test Twilight's sporting abilities. Rainbow was testing to see if Twilight would give up or worse, not even try.
     
    And the song that basically makes this film. When I was in high school, if a bunch of cheerleaders started singing and dancing in the cafeteria, and blatantly flirting with everyone no matter which clique they were in, pretty much everyone in the school would vote whatever way they said. So this is, as far as I could tell, the most realistic part of this film.
     
    Personal note, I dislike the models they used for Celestia and Luna. There's something odd in the way they've drawn the adult characters that is distracting to me.
     
    What, no photoshop? Literal cut and paste is a bit primitive relative to the technology they've already displayed in the film.
     
    It is highly unlikely any school board would let two sisters be principal and vice principal of the same school. This would mean the system there is quite different. It brings up the possibility that none of this is 'real'. Meaning what Twilight (and Sunset) is experiencing is so very alien that their minds are constructing this simulacrum of Equestria as a coping mechanism. If this is true, then it seems that Twilight is acting as the driver, as most of the simulacra characters are being pulled from her own mind, and not Sunset's.
     
    And Pinkie proves that she has some bizarre connection to her counterpart, pulling the exact scenario out of the air.
     
    One thing that other people keep telling me that it's unrealistic that Twilight can show up at this school, not go to class, and enter the Fall Formal competition, without being a student at the school. Honestly, given how bureaucracies work, it would have taken the staff at the high school I went to at least a week or more before they questioned an extra student with no paperwork explaining their presence. And Twilight was only there for three days, so this doesn't bother me at all. And given the 'lets rebuild the gym' scene, it doesn't seem like any of these students spend a lot of time in class.
     
    Okay, here's another odd thing. Rarity has a collection of jewelry that just coincidentally matches the pony cutie-marks the same way the various Elements of Harmony does. Are these actually the Elements of Harmony of this universe?
     
    Twilight has what's called 'invisible heels'. A style of high heel shoe which was fashionable in about 2008-2009. It didn't catch on past that point as the sole of the shoe has to be dead hard to carry it off with no support, requiring the wearer to basically concentrate constantly on ballerina pointing the entire time wearing them.
     
    Is that a cartoony representation of a 2008 Dodge Challenger? The front's not quite right, but the I can see the resemblance.
     
    There's this one background character with badger-like stripes in his hair that is a bit distracting. I swear I've seen that design decades ago in some kind of Scooby Do knock-off, but I can't find it. The best I can do is a blending of Alexandria and Alexander Cabot from Josie and the Pussycats, but that's not what I'm remembering.
     
    Sunset is pretty obviously threatening to break the frame of the portal, as she's not actually standing near enough to hit the center of the portal. No guarantee that would actually do anything to the portal itself, but if the statue collapses, it might block the portal long enough to prevent Twilight going through it. That's the best I can do to figure out why this is considered a valid threat.
     
    And suddenly we're in a different movie. The hell? Has the Element of Magic always been able to do this?
     
    I get the feeling Sunset is making stuff up as she goes along now. This cannot have been her original plan. This is a *stupid* plan. If this is the kind of power only available because the Element of Magic is not in Equestria, then going back through the portal will end Sunset's ability to do this. Her mind must be being scrambled by this transformation.
     
    I... what? This... what?
     
    Okay, Twilight is pulling the magic out of the Element of Magic without being in contact with it.
     
    The humans are very quickly accepting of these anthros, magic being thrown around, demonic entities, etc. I get the feeling this isn't *that* unusual for them. It may be legendary, but I bet they've seen this kind thing before.
     
    And Pony Pinkie demonstrates that she's just as connected to her Humanized counterpart, with the ability to guess exactly what occurred in the alternate reality.
  2. Fhaolan

    Nightmare Rarity

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Nightmare Rarity (Comic Issues 5-8, March 27th, April 24th, May 16th, June 12th 2013)
     
    A lot less pop-cultural references this time around. Which gives a bit more room for actually building the setting.
     
    Summary: The Nightmare returns, and this time the corruption is less than generous.
     
    Issue 5
     
    Notice that Spike is sleeping in a dog bed? That's not just here, that's in the show itself.
     
    Mabel from Gravity Falls, as Maybelle the pony, twinned with a cute in-joke with Twilight being spelled Twilite and Rarity calling that out.
     
    The black smoke entity shows that it has physicality in that it can carry Rarity, and hit Rainbow Dash. Plus it can teleport.
     
    Interesting that we're going with Luna's appearance from Season 1. Yet all the ponies know she's the protector of dreams from Season 3. Perhaps her appearance does in fact wax and wane just like the phases of the moon?
     
    In fact, Luna says that it's currently a new moon. It's been a full moon whenever we've seen Luna previously. Huh.
     
    The 'Nightmare Forces' appear to be another set of entities that feeds off of emotional energy. Luna speaks of them as if they were always an external power to herself, but then we have them being granted 'one more chance'. Granted by who? Why only one more chance? Why are they connected to the moon's cycles? I'm getting the impression that these were not originally an external force, but instead are created in the mind of Luna as a personality fracture when she became Nightmare Moon. Something to shuffle off all those negative emotions and keep the original Luna 'clean'. Classic comic-book multiple personality disorder, like the Incredible Hulk. And now, the 'cleansing' of the Elements of Harmony stripped that Nightmare Moon partial personality off, giving it something of a form.
     
    Reference to the cow's native language, cowhili. Probably just a joke.
     
    Issue 6
     
    I... okay, lassoing the moon with an enchanted rope. A bit more fairy tale than then middle-to-low fantasy that we normally deal with in MLP, but fine.
     
    Reference to the moon landing, I should have been expecting that one.
     
    Not sure where Spike got all the armor from, he must have been collecting it. I especially like the heraldry, although the pattern in the chief isn't one that is covered by the standard English or French heraldic system.
     
    Twilight seems to indicate that her telekinesis can't hold the weight of Spike at this time. But Luna's can.
     
    So the moon is inhabited in this continuity, by lunar animals. The Nightmare Forces has to take on their general shape and inhabit them to survive.
     
    And they have the power to move the ponies in and out of a dreamscape. A pseudo-reality manufactured from the minds of their victims. However, the ponies are still physically on the moon, it's just their minds that are trapped. This is not the same ability as the trick with teleporting Rarity away in the previous issue.
     
    Pinkie breaks out without much help from the others.
     
    And the reveal of Nightmare Rarity.
     
    Issue 7
     
    Heh. Sigh Stallion. Cute.
     
    So there's a dungeon up on the moon, to go along with the dilapidated throne room we've seen previously. Fascinating. Who built it? The lunar animals? No, more likely Nightmare Moon did.
     
    Se there's a bat-like rabbit-thing native to the moon, and single eyed fuzzy slugs.
     
    And the Nightmare Forces' powers are subtle enough to move Spike into the dreamscape without him even noticing the transition.
     
    And they are not limited to just nightmares, but can create pleasant traps as well.
     
    Issue 8
     
    The magic of the Elements may not be particularly effective unless working as a set, but they appear to have some functionality individually as they can make the ponies glow at least.
     
    Rarity's transformation into Nightmare seems to be still progressing. Her cutie-mark has continued to change, and she seems to be getting taller. Interesting that she has not yet gained the sharp teeth that Nightmare Moon and Sombra both had.
     
    The various ponies are actually pretty effective on their own.
     
    Heya Doctor Whooves. Complete with sonic screwdriver even.
     
    Reference to Kesuke Miyagi of The Karate Kid.
     
    Trixie referring to Magic Duel.
     
    And Luna transforms into her Season 2+ form. I'm so confused as to where this is supposed to sit in continuity with the series, to be honest. This form shift is implying that it's happening before Luna Eclipsed (Season 2), but everything else is implying that it's after Sleepless in Ponyville (Season 3).
     
    I'm not entirely sure how to describe Larry and Jerome's natural moon-creature forms. They are very obviously different species though.
     
    No bonus comics in this volume, this time.
  3. Fhaolan

    The Crystal Heart Spell

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Okay, I'm not sure how this is going to work, as doing what I've been doing out of written text rather than video feels a bit odd. However, I'm going to try at least once. I may not do the other novels individually, or at all, depending on how this goes. For those wondering what happened to the comics, I'm going to do them as a batch based on the trade compilations, and the first trade is Volume 1 which contains individual comics published from November 2012 to March 2013, so that's next. I would have put it after One Bad Apple when the first issue was published, but that would make Volume 4 which doesn't have all it's individual issues published yet get really weird. This novel was officially published in April, but a special Scholastic edition was released in February, so this is where I'm placing it.
     
    Also I should probably address the whole 'canon' thing right now while we're on this subject. People who have been in other fandoms like Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, etc. will recognize this, but it may be a new concept to Bronies who don't have experience in other fandoms. Whenever a franchise expands into multiple media; TV, films, books, comics, games, radio-plays, etc. and even when a franchise in it's original media extends past a couple of 'seasons', you will get conflicting canon. That's normal, and expected. Many will deny the 'canon' nature of these alternate media, but I personally don't take it that way. Canon is nonsensical, in truth. Because it's all fictional, whatever the writer puts down is, at that moment in time canon as long as they have the approval of the owner of the IP, which in this case is Hasbro. As long as Hasbro promotes the item in question as canon, it's canon.
     
    But that doesn't mean that any other writer is required to take it into consideration. There is a 'show bible' for MLP:FiM, but it was written by Lauren Faust as part of the pitch to Hasbro, and it is unlikely to have been kept updated since. Because of that, there are no guidelines for continuity unless the writers themselves make it an issue.
     
    So in order to cope with this, most fandoms adopt what I call a 'sliding scale of canon'. There might be a better name, but I haven't run into one myself. Basically everything 'official' is canon unless it contradicts another official source. When two or more sources contradict, one will take priority. In our case broadcast episodes as the original media should trump the comics, which trump the novels in turn as the most derivative media. Plus it's usually accepted that newer episodes/issues trump older ones. A lot of trumping can be worked around as misinterpretations by the characters involved, but there will be enough that cannot be worked around.
     
    So whatever I notice in this book is likely to be trumped by either the comics or the animated series, but I know of at least one thing in the book that has not yet been overruled that is important to worldbuilding. Which is why I'm attempting this.
     
    Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell (Novel, February 2013)
     
    Summary: Twilight Sparkle may be a princess now, but she doesn't feel like it. Now she searches for someone to help her understand how to be a princess.
     
    This is set after Magical Mystery Cure, long enough for the story to circulate throughout Equestria.
     
    Mention of San Franscolt and Manehattan.
     
    The special ability of Earth Ponies is mentioned as being Strength, but not physical strength but instead strength of character. Interesting choice.
     
    The book titles: The Princess Bridle... oh dear. Purple Reign by Crystal Ball... ooooh dear. Heh, the worn path Twilight paces in a circle is 'The Twilight Zone'. Cute. For those too young to remember, The Princess Bride was a 1973 novel by William Goldman turned into a film in 1987. Purple Rain was an film staring Prince and The Revolution in 1984, plus a soundtrack album of the same name, plus the title track of said album. And the Twilight Zone was a sci-fi 'horror' anthology series back in the sixties but was revived several times since.
     
    Another Daring Do book title: Daring Do and the Trek to the Terrifying Tower. And Daring Do's biggest fear is... fish? Really? Okay, fine.
     
    Professor A.B. Ravenhoof being the ponification of Professor Abner Ravenwood from Indiana Jones, a character never actually seen but was mentioned and supposedly intended to be Indy's former mentor. Supposedly he was to be modeled after Professor Challenger, a character from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (and several other stories).
     
    Rainbow Chip cupcakes. They seem to have rainbow *everything* here. It's kinda like old sci-fi films, where they put 'space' in front of everything to make it more futuristic. Space telephones, space guns, space toothpaste. It's just rainbows here.
     
    In the novels at least, everyone seems to recognize Twilight.
     
    And here is the bit that is the biggest worldbuilding point. Cadence was a pegasis originally, an orphan found by Earth Ponies abandoned in a forest.
     
    And a evil enchantress pony, powered by a dangerous artifact, a necklace that twisted her mind. Which is not surprisingly familiar. Except that this necklace supposedly amplified all magic around it, not just the wearer's. Which doesn't match up to the Alicorn Amulet. Either that or Cadence is remembering this section with a lot more bias than stories normally do.
     
    In any case, Cadence's experience mirrors Twilight's bit in the Magical Mystery Cure where she is transported to some astral realm and turned into an alicorn. This had to have taken place when Cadence was still quite young, much younger than what Twilight is being presented as.
     
    Okay, this is a separate necklace to the Alicorn Amulet. The casualness that they treat artefacts capable of mental distortion is criminal, really.
     
    We still have the problem with the time taken travelling between the Crystal Empire and Ponyville, but in the novel it's easier to ignore as the time is being taken between chapters, allowing the reader to assume how long the trip actually is.
     
    Hornaments. Cute.
     
    And at this time Cloudsdale is directly above Ponyville.
     
    The necklace is made of a special gemstone called 'Cosmic Spectrum' which naturally has the abilities of amplifying emotions, the same as the Crystal Heart.
     
    Sparkle's Six? Reference to Ocean's Eleven, 1960 film remade in 2001.
     
    Mythica, Neigh York. Ithaca is a city in the middle of New York state, known as one of the most liberal places in the United States. This a strange reference, as it's putting a state in play, where Equestria has never used states before in other media.
     
    Twilight's cottage? It's odd describing the library as a cottage.
     
    That's about it for references and notes from the novel. The way they dealt with Gilda and Trixie may it hard to fit into the timeline of the show, and there's some bits that are a bit odd, but all-in-all there wasn't anything worldbreaking.
  4. Fhaolan

    Magical Mystery Cure

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    This episode had a lot of controversy around it. So in addition to the disclaimer above, I'm going to reiterate that I'm not looking at judging the quality of the episodes. I'm just pulling out bits and pieces that are indicative of culture and worldbuilding within the episodes, plus noting things that amused me, because it amuses me to do so. Basically I'm taking things as presented.
     
    Magical Mystery Cure (February 16th 2013, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Twilight Sparkle casts an unknown spell written by Starswirl the Bearded, and then has to clean up the mess.
     
    And finally, the Beatles. Magical Mystery Tour (1967) is a movie, a soundtrack to said movie, and a title track on that album. The movie is completely nonsensical, unscripted mess. No, don't think that's got anything to do with this episode. The episode is worlds better than that film.
     
    Okay, sofa and quills. That's pretty darn random for a store. I've not been able to wrap my head around the business model.
     
    And the magical musical number that everyone joins in on. I wish real life worked this way. Then again, my voice is a deep bass, so I'm not sure that would do well for these random musical numbers.
     
    And we more have evidence that cutie-marks *can* be manipulated, even if it takes a lot of magical oomph behind it.
     
    Whatever caused this cutie-mark change has re-written Rarity's memory to accommodate it. And honestly the amount of power behind the telekinesis to pull this off is extremely impressive. The clouds are above the mountains in this picture, so we're dealing with quite a range.
     
    'Too last season'... so many layers to that pun. Fashion, weather. Well done.
     
    Pinkie's mane has gone flat. And her accent... But Applejack's accent didn't change. Odd. So this cutie-mark change has modified all their memories, but hasn't necessarily given them the skills to carry out what they *think* they're supposed to be doing. Which makes Rarity's trick with the clouds even more impressive as that means she was able to pull that off before. And Pinkie's mane likely means that at some deep level, they are aware that this is wrong.
     
    In each case, they seem to be carrying out what their impression of their counterpart was all about. Rarity believes Rainbow Dash is all about weather, because she defines ponies by their job. Rainbow Dash thinks of Fluttershy as a zoo keeper, Fluttershy thinks of Pinkie Pie as a clown, Pinkie Pie thinks Applejack is defined by her accent, and Apple Jack thinks Rarity as just a seamstress. This is pretty sad when you think about it, because it means they don't really understand each other at all for all their friendship.
     
    Spike is aware of the problem, so whatever changes these pony's memories didn't affect him. It's entirely possible that only the ponies with switched cutie-marks are having their memories affected, which means all the other ponies of Ponyville are *really* confused as to what's going on right now.
     
    Twilight seems to have something against postponies. She closes the door in their faces on a regular basis it seems.
     
    So this is Starswirl's research journal. Which Twilight casts a spell out of, deliberately because she says she cast it, which did not conform to her expectations of spell construction "It doesn't even rhyme", and then immediately went to bed. For those in the IT industry, yes, this is very much like doing a release Friday afternoon and then letting all the issue tickets pile up all weekend. It happens, but it's daft.
     
    Interesting. The colors on the Elements of Harmony re-arranged. The Loyalty gem has Fluttershy's color, the Laughter gem has Applejack's color, the Honesty gem has Rarity's color, the Kindness gem has Pinkie Pie's color, and the Generosity gem has Rainbow Dash's color. This is... not what I expected. It's right, but I expected the gem to change color depending on which pony got that cutie-mark, because the gems are in the shape of the cutie mark. Except they're not, the gems still represent the same ponies with their original cutie-mark, but have changed color to match the 'destiny' that they've taken on. This is deliberate, the animators and writers didn't do this by accident, and it's even more indicative that this is a cosmetic change with some mind control, not an actual change in destiny.
     
    Now, was this what Starswirl intended? If so, he had to know enough about aware of the Elements of Harmony to be able to write a spell to manipulate them. Or he had to know about something *like* the Elements of Harmony... Exactly when he lived is a bit weird, as he's mentioned as being from a time before Celestia, and yet Celestia and Luna imply that they knew him personally. So it's possible that he's the one that gave them the information necessary to find the Elements, and that he was very, very old at that time. (I'm ignoring Season 4 here, as that's in the future.)
     
    Nice callbacks to the various similar issues they've had before. Spike is actually being quite thoughtful, and honestly there's no harm in *trying* some of these cures that were successful before, or finding common threads and assemble a new cure our of the old ones.
     
    The picture has the original cutie-marks on these ponies. So history hasn't been re-written.
     
    The difference between restoring their memories of themselves, and showing them the memories others have of them is... bit more subtle than I expected to be honest. I can see the difference.
     
    But that's not really what they did. They demonstrate that the afflicted ponies have the wrong skillsets, which trigger the memory reset.
     
    Oh, Twilight, is that really bright, casting the spell when you still don't know what it does?
     
    And all the elements join in on this one. Without conscious control of the bearers.
     
    Suddenly Celestia, and this astral plane. And reference to Starswirl the Bearded not understanding Friendship to the same level as Twilight.
     
    You get the distinct impression that Celestia is not in any way in control here. She's just there to keep Twilight from panicking.
     
    And the first time the word 'Alicorn' is used in the series.
     
    And the image is of Twilight's cutie-mark, with an additional star. This is... odd. It gets copy-and-pasted a few times, so it had to be a deliberate choice, but her actual cutie-mark doesn't change, so I'm not entirely sure why they did this.
     
    Celestia uses completely different terms for the Elements. Ones that make a bit more sense to me, to be honest. Charity, Compassion, Devotion, Integrity, Optimism, and Leadership. Especially 'Integrity' and 'Optimism'. Those make *so* much more sense than Honesty and Laughter.
     
    I'm going to have to assume that whatever enchantment makes the Guard have the same limited color-scheme is at work here on the banner-bearers. That seems a bit weird to expend energy on doing that, but hey, Canterlot.
     
    Some old mansions/castles do have a specific 'speaking' balcony. It's arranged to have very special acoustics to help project your voice over the courtyard. It's never quite as efficient as being shown here and in other media, but it does technically help. You still need to know how to project your voice, which is part of the training of stage actors and singers.
  5. Fhaolan

    Games Ponies Play

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Games Ponies Play (February 9th 2013, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Can the Mane 6 win the bid for the Crystal Empire's hosting of the Equestria Games?
     
    Yet again, a title reference, but this one even more vague. There's a variety of songs by this name, most of which were supposedly inspired by a 1964 book on human psychology and transactional analysis.
     
    From a presentation point of view, the conceit of this episode and Just for Sidekicks is pretty neat. Running two episodes that are taking place simultaneously. Personally, I would have reversed them, with this one coming first, but that's just me.
     
    Equestria Games being their equivalent to the Olympics. Now, our Olympics is named after Greek mythology while it appears that the Equestria Games is a bit more prosaic. Also, they're including the Crystal Empire as a valid place to have the Games, which is implying that the Crystal Empire is officially part of Equestria and not really a separate country. As I've mentioned before, it's been indicated that Equestria was once part of the Crystal Empire, and this is now a role reversal of sorts, with the region now known as the Crystal Empire being a much reduced form.
     
    So Cloudsdale didn't host the games. How would that of worked, anyway? All those Earth Pony and Unicorn competitors, unable to actually be in Cloudsdale proper. Unless that plateau we saw in the Wonderbolts Academy is officially part of Cloudsdale? That would explain a couple of things we'll see in later episodes.
     
    Also the youth of RD in that scene seems to be implying that the Equestria Games, like the Olympics, only occurs every so many years. Given the way this series does it, I wouldn't be surprised if it was '50 moons', or whatever works out to four years.
     
    I still don't get why Cadence is relying on the mane 6 for this. It's way outside of their normal scope, and is a serious imposition on the mane 6 when they could be working on a bid for Ponyville itself. Now, I can see *Celestia* asking the mane 6 to take an active hoof in an effort to speed up the re-integration of the Crystal Ponies into modern society, as that's the kind of thing she tends to do, but she's not mentioned. Unless she's doing the chessmaster bit again, working through Cadence's relation to Twi rather than going directly. Seems a bit needlessly complicated to me.
     
    The Crystal Ponies are all in full crystal form now, and that appears to be permanent, but with no indication of any pegasi or unicorn versions.
     
    And Cadence and Shining Armor are showing no signs of crystallization. So the crystal ponies do appear to be a separate breed. I'd be curious to see if a normal pony born within range of the crystal heart would be born a crystal pony instead? Much like the idea that you can be born an alicorn if one of your parents is an alicorn. Which would mean that the theoretical Skyla some bronies are still anticipating may not be just a born an alicorn, but actually born a crystal alicorn. Somehow, I doubt it, but still.
     
    Wait, several of the ponies being tended to at this royal spa aren't crystal ponies either. They've got the manestyles typical of crystal ponies, but they don't have the crystallization. Are these other guests of Cadence?
     
    I like the messenger outfit. Pillbox hat, mandarin collar, little winged shoes... with trim that matches her coat color. Nice.
     
    That accent could be Oklahoma, or Kentucky for that matter, it's kind of generic 'southern' and is wandering a bit. Cute little lace collar, with a neckerchief bow beneath it. With the pink shirt with breast pocket, this was something I saw occasionally as women's service uniforms (waitresses, stewardesses, etc.) when I was in midwest America in the 70's-80's.
     
    Uhhhhh. The drill & bit is a mite... disturbing.
     
    And the accent wanders down into Texas for a moment.
     
    In a way, I'm surprised claustrophobia isn't more common in ponies. In real life, it's a common training issue having horses walk under or into structures. They're not really built for dens the way other animals are.
     
    Yes, they do. It's a rotunda. Neo-Gothic, also known as Gothic Revival, was an architectural style from the early 19th century. It's typified by high pitch spires and towers, tall thin windows with pointed arches (lancets), plus lots of finals, scallops, and heavy decoration. Actual Gothic is somewhat plain in comparison, while Neo-Gothic is all stretched out and over-decorated.
     
    The rest of the Mane 6 don't know where they're going, but Twilight seems to know the layout of this place pretty well.
     
    The brim on Shining Armor's hat seems a bit overenthusiastic, but honestly, given how long pony muzzles are, it makes sense. All the ponies he's coaching appear crystalized as expected.
     
    You must meet Princes all the time... how many Princes are there, for her to be meeting them all the time? Even allowing for flattering exaggeration, that seems to imply that there are a good number of known Princes.
     
    Mustangia. Not mentioned on the official map of Equestria. Mustangs are feral horses (domesticated horses that have returned to a wild state), descended from a variety of Spanish horses (The Iberian group) brought over from Europe. True native American horses having died out thousands of years prior.
  6. Fhaolan

    Just for Sidekicks

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Just for Sidekicks (January 26th 2013, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Spike takes on the responsibility of critter-sitting.
     
    More odd titles. Just for kicks, is a standard catchphrase. It's also the title of a rather bad series of films about kids football (soccer).
     
    Nice little callbacks to the phoenix chick Spike had. Continuity!
     
    Making a Jewel Cake. Treating the jewels similar to nuts or candied fruit. As such, he should coat the jewels in flour before adding them to the mix. It helps fix the 'foreign bodies' in the batter so they don't float to the top or sink to the bottom during baking.
     
    Unconscious eating is a real thing. Usually it's paired with sleepwalking, but this is funny.
     
    Okay, this is weird, and I'll probably bring it up tomorrow with the Games Ponies Play, but it's *so* weird I'm going to mention it now. Why does Cadence 'need' the Mane 6 to welcome the Equestria Games inspector? If the Crystal Empire is making a bid for the Equestria Games, shouldn't this be handled by the Crystal Ponies? The Mane 6 may have helped free the Crystal Empire from Sombra, but as far as Equestria seems to be concerned that was all Cadence as 'the Crystal Princess'. And even if the roles of the Mane 6 are included, *Spike* was instrumental and was central in the stained glass window in Canterlot. So what's going on here? There's background information we're missing.
     
    The glow on the shaft of Tank's prop is indicating that it's a permanent enchantment. That's pretty rare in this series. Also, the aura is yellow which doesn't match Rarity's blue or Twilight's violet. So who enchanted this for them?
     
    A thousand carats is about 0.2 kilograms, or a little less than half a pound. (0.44 pounds). As I've mentioned before gem carats are purely weight, and have nothing to do with quality. This often gets confused with gold carat (or karat), which is a measure of purity. It gets even more confusing when gold carats break down into grains (1 karat = 4 grains) and quarts (1 grain = 4 quarts), which has nothing to do with the volumetric measurement of 'quarts'. Same problem with ounces that can measure volume (fluid ounce), weight (avoirdupois and troy ounces, which are different), and thickness (only certain people even remember this one, but technically it's still used to measure thickness of leather).
     
    The train station is easily visible from the library. Interesting that the library isn't visible in the opening credits establishing shot. I wonder where the library is relative to the town hall?
     
    The ponies seem to use the term 'critter' a lot with respect to their pets. The word critter is a North American dialect of 'creature', specifically meant to refer to domesticated animals, as opposed to varmint (dialect of vermin) that refers to pests and larger predators.
     
    Skydiving... Interesting. That means some pegasi (or gryphons) run skydiving businesses. Huh.
     
    The value of gems is very odd. They're exceptionally common in general, but they can purchase that large piece of equipment.
     
    Here's an instance of Zecora being both right and wrong. She's absolutely correct that dragon greed is a big problem, but that's so far back in Spike's problem cascade that it's not really relevant.
     
    Spike doesn't count as a chaperone, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders do. That's odd, because the CMC are no more responsible than Spike in behavior, so this must be a case of not *enough* chaperones, not the simple presence of one.
     
    Next stop, the Crystal Empire... No stops between? So this must be an Express or something. And even then, with the distances involved there should be some kind of stops between for the steam engine to refuel and rewater, unless the engine is running off of something completely different than coal? Given that airships have more lift for volume of gasbag than in our universe, and clouds can be compressed to provide a temporary cushioning surface, it's not that surprising that steam has more 'push' as well, so requiring less fuel to get the same motive force. I still wonder what they're burning though, as they seem to not use any fossil fuels anywhere else.
  7. Fhaolan

    Keep Calm and Flutter On

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Keep Calm and Flutter On (January 19th 2013, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Discord vs Fluttershy! Fight!
     
    What's with the titles this season? This is in reference to 'Keep Calm and Carry On', a British poster from just before World War II that was rarely seen in the first place. It's well known now, because a couple were found recently, but at the time the series of posters had been discontinued before this one actually got posted.
     
    So the lower end of their legs are shinable and are referred to as the hooves. On some stallions we can see that the hooves are distinct with 'feather' (the technical term for the long hair around the hoof), so we can infer that despite the art style all the ponies have distinct hooves. They just don't appear with the art style.
     
    Those air chariots can take a substantial weight for cargo, if the Discord statue is in fact made of stone.
     
    You may understand, but I'm not sure I do. Chocolate milk with whipped cream? That's a new one on me.
     
    More evidence that Fluttershy's special ability is linguistics, specifically speaking animal languages. I wonder if that extends to other languages. For that matter, I wonder if other languages exist?
     
    Reference to a Royal Summit. This one comes up later, in Equestria Girls, so I'm curious as to the frequency of these things.
     
    The animation implies that the stone is just a shell over the real Discord.
     
    And proof that Discord may have been inanimate, but he was still completely aware of everything going on around him. Not sure what the range was on that, though.
     
    Twilight's trust in Celestia's protection spell is ... naïve.
     
    Nice background detail. The whole area is flooding, and nobody notices.
     
    The idea that Discord can be reformed means one of two things (or possibly both). 1) Discord is not actually an incarnation of primal Chaos so much as powerful entity that has embraced Chaos as their fundamental philosophy. As such he is as prone to Good and Evil as any other living being. 2) We're actually dealing with a triad style philosophy like the Celts and the Egyptians, with Order, Chaos, and Void being the three legs and Harmony being the balance between all three. Celestia represents Order, unchanging stability. Discord represents Chaos, with constant growth. And we don't have a representative for the Void, the force that destroys and makes room for more growth and stability.
  8. Fhaolan

    Wonderbolts Academy

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Wonderbolts Academy (December 15th 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Rainbow Dash follows her dream to become a Wonderbolt!
     
    Rainbow Dash's mailbox is firmly stapled to the ground, not up on her cloud condominium. This could be because the postal service isn't all pegasi and the mailboxes have to be mounted so that all mailponies can reach them. Or cloud houses move around, so they're not considered a 'fixed address' for mail routes.
     
    Either Rainbow Dash is really impatient, or ponies are used to exceptional mail service. That acceptance letter arrives the same day Rainbow Dash has to leave to get to the Academy? Especially with the speed RD uses to get *anywhere*, that's not allowing much leeway if any. And the Academy is only a week? More likely that's a week before RD will be able to come back to Ponyville to visit. Any Academy that only takes a week is pretty pointless.
     
    The Academy is mostly on a plateau of some sort. That's somewhat surprising given the pegasi usually work with cloud structures. Unless they have to allow for service crew members who aren't pegasi.
     
    Most of these guys are from Ponyville. Do they recruit one region at a time normally?
     
    Okay, just because the recent episode brings this up, I'm going to touch on it here. Snowflake (because I think that name's funnier, so there) starts out right there with a very slow takeoff. Basically a F-84 Thunderjet rather than a F-86 Sabre. I don't know why he's at this Academy, as he'd be better suited for regular Pegasi Guard. However, he can obviously fly just fine.
     
    They're pushing the 'Wonderbolts'='Military' here, but I'm starting to question that.
     
    There's a *lot* of support staff around for this Academy. That's a lot of resources being devoted to what is nominally a stunt team. Unless this is all in support of the Pegasi Guard as well, and we're just dealing with it in context of the Wonderbolts for purposes of the Academy.
     
    And that right there is where this deviates from a military operation. The cadets were not under observation during the entire agility exercise, which would never happen. Survival exercises, sure, but not agility exercises. If had they were under observation, then Rainbow and Lightning would have been on the carpet for endangering their fellow cadets right then and there.
     
    Actual weather work. This specific scene is why I wonder if the weather ponies are actually a branch of the Equestrian military in the vein of the Army Corps of Engineers.
     
    Rainbow Dash compresses several normal clouds into one dense mass, changing it's color, and allowing the other ponies to sit on top like pegasi on a normal cloud. It appears to only work while RD is actively compressing the cloud, and even then she can't keep it intact for long.
     
    And where are the trainers? These cadets are working unsupervised *again*? If this is how the Equestrian Military is organized normally, I'm surprised they haven't been conquered a dozen times over.
  9. Fhaolan

    Sleepless in Ponyville

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Sleepless in Ponyville (December 8th 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Scootaloo will do anything to impress Rainbow Dash, but does that include facing her nightmares?
     
    Title pun on Sleepless in Seattle, which thankfully has nothing to do with this episode beyond the title.
     
    Checkers with little horseshoe markers. Cute.
     
    Standard pup tents. You can't get these anymore unless you pick them up custom, as dome tents and their variants have taken over completely. They're a simplification of the Anglo-Saxon ridge tent that commonly had a separate ridge pole rather than relying completely on canvas tension.
     
    And as silly as it seems, I've actually seen something very close to Rarity's tent in real life. It's a center pole marque tent, using inflatable 'poles'. It was amusing, but no-where near as stable as it needed to be, and the stupid inflator pump had to be running constantly to keep it up. And while I've seen tents with second 'floors' they were more like hammock nets for storage. Except for one fellow who actually had wood plank flooring, but that thing had steel cable guylines, six-foot long stakes, and left the concept of 'tent' a long time ago.
     
    Ponies really can't help but put that spiral decoration on *everything* can't they?
     
    Here the horseshoes are very specifically called out and visible.
     
    Heya Luna!
     
    Scotaloo may not be able to fly, but she can still do cloudwalking and the like.
     
    At what point did Sweetie Bell lose the ability to sing?
     
    The Headless Horse. Of course being a homage to the Headless Horseman. The Headless Horseman's been running around in mythology for a very long time, with both Celtic and Germanic versions being popular. The oldest version I've run into is the Headless Huntsman, a variant of the Wild Hunt.
     
    So Luna is a dreamwalker. She speaks of it being her 'duty', so likely this isn't a natural ability but a specially researched spell. This opens up a lot of questions about range and usage.
     
    In this case, Scootaloo is again using 'Horse' as a specific thing, as she uses the term 'Pony' in her description as referring to the Headless Horse's victims, but insists on using the term horse when referring to the monster in every other way.
     
    Okay, fascinating. The rainbows are running like water. Not just in appearance, but blending in with the actual waterfalls. But the color dissipates after some distance so that the rivers after the rainbowfalls don't pick it up. So whatever the pigment is, it vanishes once it passes a point of dilution. In which case, Zap Apples may be a case of picking up this dilute pigment from the soil and concentrating it again, much like how Hydrangea flowers change color based on soil conditions.
  10. Fhaolan

    Magic Duel

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Magic Duel (December 1st 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Trixie's back, and she is going to make Twilight pay!
     
    The shop of 'Needful Things'. This one's an old trope, predating Steven King (novel by that name), and the Gremlins movie (which is probably why the shopkeep is dressed with a mandarin hat). It's a shop that you only find when you're vulnerable, and they always have something that will 'help' that turns out to be the worst thing ever. The oldest story I've read that has one of these is The Magic Shop by H.G. Wells (1903), but it wouldn't surprise me to find out that it's much, much older.
     
    Alicorn Amulet. All black and red. Oooooh. Evil.
     
    The shopkeep's scarf is tied in a strangely complicated way. I'm not entirely sure what's going on there. There's a knot at the front where two small ends are put together like a triangular neckerchief, but there's a length wrapped around, then under and over like a long scarf. I've not seen anything quite like that style.
     
    Twilight shows some strain during this maneuver. However, Rarity pulls off tricks like that on a regular basis with no effort. Unless there's some additional cost because Twilight's targets are alive?
     
    Basketball with the traditional fruit basket. Invented in 1891 in New England, using peach baskets. The ball didn't pass through the basket in the original version, but had to be poked out of the bottomless basket by a pole.
     
    So Trixie managed to buy another wagon after her original was destroyed. And we get reference to Pinkie's parents.
     
    Just as a note, nearly every farmer I know calls their patch a 'rock farm'. It's just one of those things that working the soil for whatever reason (which includes just having livestock running over it constantly) causes the rocks to 'float' to the surface.
     
    Age spell is for the highest level of unicorn. A couple of things to note. Snail's cutie-mark changed here, and Snips no longer has one. This actually did change their age, and apparently cutie-marks *can* change over time, if slightly. Likely the age spell transferred age from one to the other.
     
    Why can't Spike send a letter on his own?
     
    Zecora demonstrates slight-of-hand at least, and actual magic at best. Does Zecora have access to the same tricks that Pinkie pulls?
     
    Why are there bunny ears on the dangerous outfit? I just...
     
    Twilight is still using 'Beyond the Everfree Forest' as an indicator of 'truly foreign'.
     
    This time both targets aged in a similar way.
     
    Interesting that the glass contained Ponyville is developing a storm front inside of it. The heat and humidity in there must be astonishing.
     
    And Trixie's lightning blast tickles RD. Now, Pegasi are probably resistant to lightning, or at least weather ponies are. And since Trixie was intending an extremely painful blast (but not lethal, she said so.) which wasn't boosted by the amulet like she expected, this is probably much like a static electricity shock.
     
    And Trixie is defeated by stock stage magic.
     
    Bingo! Saddle Arabians. Definitely far more horse-like than the ponies. Almost as tall as Celestia, with thin legs with defined hooves. All the trappings are typical Arabian horse tack.
     
    And a true fourth-wall breaking moment, from Pinkie *and* Twilight.
  11. Fhaolan

    Bits and Pieces

    By Fhaolan,

    Okay, I've got a collection of little bits here, none of which have ended up big enough for an essay of their own. Mostly updates to previous entries.
     
    Also, this one will be the last essay on the 'every week' schedule, as I've covered all the bigger ideas I had and I've fulfilled my need to get most of this junk down somewhere so it's not clogging up my mind, preventing me from concentrating on other projects. I'll still do more entries, but it will be less regular and more when inspiration strikes. Hopefully, this means I'll make some progress on the fanfiction ideas that have started pestering me more consistently recently.
     

     
    Money
     
    Have I mentioned before that the term 'bit' as a monetary unit amuses me? It's a real thing actually. In the United States 'two bits' refers to 25 cents, also known as a quarter for the exact same reason. It's a cultural hold-over from when the United States did not have it's own consistent currency and was primarily using the Spanish dollar (also known as the eight-reale coin, peso de ocho, or in English: pieces of eight.) It was common practice to cut the coin into segments to produce lesser denominations, the smallest being one eighth or just a bit of a dollar.
     
    Which in my mind means eight bits should make a buck. In which case ponies could say things like "I don't give a buck!" meaning they don't think something is worth eight bits. :comeatus:
     

     
    Gemstones
     
    The Elements of Harmony turn out to have come from the Everfree Forest, as a kind of fruit of a special tree. Okay, fine. And now returned to the tree. Sure, whatever.
     
    But they were gemstones in nearly all incarnations. Which in a way lines up the fact that gemstones in Equestria are not treated in any way like gems are in this world.
     
    Gemstones in Equestria are found everywhere, in clusters of a variety of colors, usually encased in rock. However, they already appear cut and polished when freed from their encasement. Spike and Rarity use real-world names for different gems, but apply them differently. Spike talks about ripening, and 'seasons' for gems as if they grow and can 'go bad'. Carat is a measure of weight, and the carat values Rarity applies to gems would indicate that these gems are incredibly light for their size.
     
    Gemstones appear to be, organic is not the right word here, but they appear to behave in an organic way. As if they are an aluminum silicate version of a truffle in Equestria. As such, they aren't as valuable as they would be here.
     

     
    The Crystal Empire
     
    The place billed as the Crystal Empire is still likely to be the Imperial Capital rather than the entire Empire. However, in re-viewing the Crystal Empire episodes, it is heavily implied that the Crystal Ponies were an imperial power that dominated all of Equestria via a form of emotional control using the Crystal Heart. Not necessarily in a bad way, or even in a conscious way, until Sombra took control, but still the Empire officially included all of Equestria according to those episodes. This is basically just verification of what I had originally written.
     

     
    Alicorns
     
    We've seen a couple of animation errors with alicorns in the background, and another showed up in Rarity Takes Manhattan. With the animation assets upgrade in Season 4, I'm starting to question the 'error' part of that. With the way Cadence was a foalsitter, the way Twilight believed there may be a Princess she had never met in that same episode, and the way Twilight is being treated now, there is an increasingly strong possibility that alicorns may not be as rare as the show is implying. That there are more than just the current four running around, and that these other alicorns have no higher potential than any other pony.
     

     
    Festivals
     
    I knew I had missed one when I had that open slot on the cusp of Summer and Fall. The Summer Harvest festival from the Babs Seed episode. It's odd putting a harvest festival in the summer, as the word 'harvest' actually means autumn in Old English. But there are crops that do come in at the end of Summer, so putting it right before Fall starts does make sense. What's actually being put on display during that festival is very odd, as there's a big emphasis on gourds and tree fruit, which are definitely a mid-autumn harvest in most locales, but whatever. It's more likely this festival was deliberately placed at this time, as a warm Summer festival with a harvest pretext.
     

     
    Sophistry
     
    Gilda, a gryphon, is a natural predator, being a blending of an eagle and a lion. Yet she is treated as a rare curiosity. Iron Will, a minotaur, is called a monster on various occasions, yet the general populace accepts his presence with no qualms. Cows can buy and sell products, travel on trains and go into stores, yet are herded and penned. Their close relatives, the buffalo, have their own culture and customs and rarely interact with ponies unless forced. Sheep have talked, goats run stage shows, and they get penned as well. Zecora, a zebra, was a focus of fear until a filly made it her business to change that. Various donkeys and mules run around Ponyville just fine, but do have to deal with some unfortunate racial slurs on occasion. Horses are considered separate from Ponies, and we've seen Saddle Arabians who appear more horse-like, but only the once and never again. And we haven't seen any Changelings beyond the Wedding Invasion. We think.
     
    Zecora could be explained as being the pony equivalent to the 'Uncanny Valley' reaction. She looks just like a pony, but not, making ponies react automatically without realizing the source. The rest seem to follow the same pattern as the Hearth's Warming Eve story. Ponies form strong societies that are difficult to break into.
     
    Ponies are clannish, that's a given. They are based off of herd animals after all.
     
    The problem this is starting to face, from a worldbuilding perspective, is that with all these intelligent species and their relative positions in Equestrian society, it's starting to resemble real-world race relations. And that is one extremely twitchy topic, especially the day after MLK day here in the 'states. This is one of the reasons I decided to put off publishing this one on the normal Monday schedule.
     
    I'm not going into it here, because I've made the conscious decision that I am not going to talk about current real-life issues in this context. It's not appropriate, and I'm not qualified. If I could do it in suitably vague or historical terms, I might try, but what I've worked out of what I would say is far too current and specific to be anything other than needlessly inflammatory.
  12. Fhaolan

    One Bad Apple

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    One Bad Apple (November 24th 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Apple Bloom gets a visit from a cousin she's never met before, and discovers that sometimes blood isn't enough.
     
    Apple Bloom hasn't met this cousin before. Which means this cousin hasn't been to any of the Apple Family Reunions, at least while Apple Bloom has been going. There's a question, are the Reunions always at Sweet Apple Acres, or do they take place elsewhere as well? Is Sweet Apple Acres the original Apple homestead, as per the Celestia land grant, or is it a satellite of the original homestead? Why are all the other Apple families so far away now that they only see them during reunions or special trips?
     
    Apple Bloom hasn't met Babs Seed, but Applejack has? Babs is not named an Apple, at least not obviously. Give me a second. No apple cultivars with 'babs' in the name.... Babs is usually short for Barbara. No cultivars with Barbara... Hrmmm. A lot of these names are so pretentious that ponies would be forced to shorten them or be mocked forever... Hey, how about this one: "Beauty of Bath", a cultivar from Bath, England, 1964. I could see that getting shortened to Babs for self-preservation. Ehhhh, it's easier that she's named after the married-into family, like the Oranges, but whatever.
     
    Babs' accent is supposed to be Manhattan, but it's odd. In my experience, Manhattanites talk a *lot* faster than that, and use a slightly different emphasis. That slower speech pattern sounds more Bronx to me, but it's still not quite right.
     
    Summer Harvest Parade... fascinating. It's not a coincidence that harvest usually happens in autumn, the word 'harvest' itself is in fact Old English (hærfest) for autumn. Having a summer harvest festival means either there's a primary crop in the region that comes ripe in the summer, or the ponies have deliberately put a harvest festival there in order the fill in a ... gap ... Ah! There's the festival on the cusp of Summer and Fall I've been looking for. I did an essay on it previously, and there was no festival in that spot. I'll have to do an update.
     
    Ponyville has a movie theatre. Complete with the old 'go to the snack bar' animation that I remember from when I was younger.
     
    So this is Sweetie Bell's room, for a second I thought they were in the windmill, but I guess her house is right next to the windmill.
     
    Edible gold is actually just gold. It's basically waste, as it passes straight through you without providing any nutritional value.
     
    Edible boots... No.
     
    They're calling it a 'Moving Mechanism', not an engine. Curious. So the float is supposed to be self-propelled?
     
    That's pretty heavy-duty construction for a float that's only supposed to last for one parade. That's the way *I* would build it, and I'm known for over-constructing stuff.
     
    Sounds like a heavily muffled two-stroke engine with that vrrr vrrr vrrr pulse. Either that or the timing needs adjusting. What's the fuel, though? This will be the only petroleum-based thing we've seen in this world.
     
    Doctor Whooves dressed as a pear. Cute in-joke. Only Doctor Who fans are going to catch that one.
     
    I don't really get the 'Veggie Salad' bit. Pinkie's making a pun, but I think I'm missing the cultural context to figure out what it's a pun of.
     
    Sweetie Bell, actually using ironic correctly. How strange.
     
    A pair of timps (kettle drums).
     
    Babs has a big sister too, wonder what her name is?
  13. Fhaolan

    Too Many Pinkie Pies

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Too Many Pinkie Pies (November 17th 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!
     
    Twilight specifies that this transformation spell is more difficult than an average spell and at the edge of her capability. However, it seems to work even when she's tackled during the casting. However, the resulting transformation is not quite right. So the transformation itself isn't that hard, but there are boundaries and restrictions that Twilight is trying to apply to the spell during casting that is the trouble?
     
    Rainbow Dash doing some weather management. Quite dense and localized fog at that.
     
    You know, I'm sure Lotus and Aloe would do quite a deal with Fluttershy to have a 'butterfly grove session' as an option for the spa.
     
    Are the tables in front of the café actual mushrooms, or are they just made to resemble mushrooms?
     
    Pinkie, despite being random, seems to know off the top of her head more legends that turn out to be accurate than Twilight does. Parasprites, Mirror Pool, so on and so forth. Are they all from 'Nana Pinkie'? Wait, Nana Pinkie? Nana is short for Nanny, but it's also slang for your mother's mother. Was there prior Pinkie Pies? Assuming the Pie family descends maternally rather than our usual paternally, of course.
     
    I like the effect on the Mirror Pool.
     
    The Mirror Duplicates are physical duplicates, but emotionally and mentally something's wrong. The clones seem to have picked up what Pinkie desired for them to do, but that's about it. It's like everything else is scrambled. Did the mirror pool actually duplicate Pinkie, or did it give Pinkie's shape to some kind of simple spirit like a doppelganger?
     
    Hay juice? Technically, it doesn't get to be called hay until it's dried, so it can't have a high enough fluid content to produce juice, so this must be some form of slang, possibly for iced tisane. Tisane is the technical name for herbal teas, because they don't have any actual tea plant in them so they're not really 'teas'. Oh! This could be the local term for iced barley water. Barley water used to be a very popular and ancient drink, going back past Ancient Greece, but was still popular in the 1920's in America. Never had it myself, so I don't know why it fell out of favor.
     
    So... again, that wasn't in Pinkie's mind. Rainbow Dash saw that too. Pinkie Pie can change the rate she falls at will, but this is not a skill any other Earth Pony has.
     
    Duplicates of duplicates may be further 'deteriorated', but I'm not sure.
     
    What's this book doing hidden away in the library?
     
    And nobody notices the one Pinkie Pie acting different from the others? That really doesn't say good things about her friends. The rest of the Pinkies had one emotional setting and one reaction to any stimuli. Yet the single depressed Pinkie, which both Spike and Rainbow Dash mentioned as behaving differently from the rest isn't even considered?
  14. Fhaolan

    A Canterlot Wedding

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    A Canterlot Wedding (Part 1 and 2) (April 21st 2012, 2 x 22 minutes)
     
    Just as a note, I'm pretty sick right now, so this may be more incoherent than normal.
     
    Summary: Twilight's big brother is getting married, but to who?
     
    Part 1
     
    Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. The first mention of this princess. We've not had an Italian pony name before, and for that matter the only other non-English name I remember is Fleur de Lis, and I'm not sure anyone said her name in show.
     
    The fact Twilight is confused about who this is, is interesting. It means she honestly expects there to be Princesses that she doesn't know. As in non-Equestrian royalty, or there are counterparts to 'Prince' Blueblood in Equestria that even as Celestia's protégé she hasn't met.
     
    Filly Twilight is far too cute.
     
    Animation error with three alicorn guards. Pity that was called out by the animators as a mistake, as it could have been the only alicorn stallions we've seen in the show.
     
    You can see the shield over Canterlot already. This points out that Twilight and the rest of the ponies really are kind of oblivious outside of their own narrow spheres of influence. Nobody questions the big purple bubble over their capital city?
     
    Captain of the *Royal* Guard, not just the Guard in general. And Rarity uses the phrase 'A' Captain. So there are likely more Captains of the Guard, but possibly only one Captain of the Royal Guard, and likely at least one rank above that.
     
    Case in point.
     
    I like the 'Are you absolutely sure sir?' look the other guards give Shining Armor when he takes his helm off and greets Twilight.
     
    How many guards are there? Assuming we're not double-counting from the train station on, this is looking like hundreds.
     
    Alicorn foalsitter? And this was before Twilight got her cutie-mark. You get the impression Twilight's family has a *lot* of pull in this society. Even if Shining Armor and Twilight got where they are fully on their own abilities, these kids seem to have started out with a lot of advantages.
     
    Magic spell that can kindle love (or re-kindle love, it's unclear). Dangerous.
     
    Ice sculptures and flowers do technically fall under catering even in this world, because in most large venues they share chiller & freezer space. It's kind of interesting that they don't put more emphasis on flowers in this episode, but I guess it would be like decorating a wedding with shrimp cocktails and cucumber sandwiches... Oh, I didn't need that vision in my head right now. 'scuse me for a moment.
     
    Most of the weddings I've been to are much like six-year-old birthday parties. I got so tired of the chicken dance polka when I lived in Kitchener, Ontario.
     
    That's an interesting dress uniform for Shining. Red jacket, with gold cuffs and stand-up collar, white cross collar pins, and an odd silver double bandoleer with pectoral shield. Other than the silver shield, it looks a lot like the Walking Out Order uniforms of the Dragoon Guards of the British Empire, early 1900's. The cuffs need a bit of gold scrollwork going part-way up the sleeve though, and the belting should be white, not brown. For that matter, no medals? You'd think he would have accumulated at least a couple of clangors at that rank. The strips of color on the left breast of most ranking uniforms are representing the ribbons of the medals, so you don't have wear the actual metal disks that would distort the uniform jacket. America usually puts service hashes on the sleeve, rather than medals, but I don't see anything equivalent there, either.
     
    What the heck is Luna (and Celestia previously), doing? What exactly is the nature of the threat they were expecting?
     
    Cute animation style change to match the dolls they were going to use for the cake.
     

     
    Part 2
     
    Underneath Canterlot are extensive mines for gemstones. Why? Gemstones are seemingly plentiful in this world. You can dig them up from under just a few inches of rock going by Rarity and Spike's prior escapades. There must be something specific about these gems that require deep mines.
     
    Cadence foalsat for *other* families as well.
     
    As fun as this song is, I have to say the colt version where it's Shining Armour who's been replaced is a great deal creepier.
     
    Now, here's a little thing. The three bridesmaids. With the slow voices it's implied that they are mind controlled. However, what if they were changelings as well? That would explain a few things, like triggering the alarm early, etc.
     
    Okay, so changelings would need to be relatively daft for that boquet thing to work, so maybe? Wait, where did she pull that from?
     
    Heh, very Aku (Samurai Jack). I almost expected to hear Mako Iwamatsu talking there.
     
    Celestia went out for coffee during this monologue?
     
    Here we go. Yeah, honestly everyone looks surprised there, even Chrysalis.
     
    They're daft enough to slam themselves into the ground hard enough to make craters, so still a maybe there.
     
    Changelings can't identify another changeling when disguised. And as aggressive as they appear, they're awfully accommodating on occasion.
     
    Some kind of cocoon. and similar green goop holding Cadence down.
     
    Doctor Whooves! What exactly are the changelings feeding on, though? I doubt there's much love running around right now. More fear I would think.
     
    And Cadence is now healed of all damage.
     
    You know, I swear I see wings on Shining in that silhouette. A faint outline, but there.
     
    The shield only repels changelings... Oddly specific. If he rigged it just now, he's *really* fast at modifying that spell. If not, and that's what he's been casting all along, is it just changelings or anything with ill intentions? In which case, why aren't there dozens of regular ponies being cast out as well?
     
    The Bridal Chorus. Which is amusing really. It's originally from a German opera by Wagner, it's supposed to be *after* the ceremony, not before, in the opera itself the marriage is a failure, and most churches won't allow it because Wagner's operas in general are extremely pagan.
     
    When did the CMC get here?
     
    The two Groomsmen uniforms are similar, but different from Shining. That's odd. Rank is usually denoted by some kind of decoration, not a full color change. This would seem to indicate that the two Groomsmen are actually in a different branch of the Guard. Perhaps they're not 'Royal' Guard, but regular Guard. They're also Earth Ponies, not Unicorns. In fanfictions I've not quite finished yet, I have that Shining spent some time in the Equestrian version of Military Intelligence before becoming the Captain of the Royal Guard. So those would be Intelligence uniforms.
     
    And now Rainbow Dash can do the Rainboom on queue.
     
    We've seen Vinyl's rig and that microphone before so no point in talking about it again.
     
    Classic Disney-style glass coach. They didn't make spherical coaches like this historically. The double curve is just too annoying without a boat-like keel. However, they're popular in animation. The standard enclosed wedding carriage used by English Royals is called the 'Glass Coach' and was originally a Sheriff's coach. At the time the role of Sheriff was basically the British equivalent of the American Secret Service, charged with protecting Judges, and the Judicial system as a whole.
     

     
    And that's it for season 2. Moving on to the short season, number 3, but there's a good chance I'll do the comics and possibly the 'canon' books. Though I'm kinda twitchy about those as I'm not sure how my way of pulling out things I notice will work with those mediums.
  15. Fhaolan
    See * for disclaimer
     
    MMMystery on the Friendship Express (April 7th 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Who murdered the Cake? Not the Cake family, but the desert. Honestly, you people.
     
    This time the title actually does reference something. Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie with Hercule Poirot as the detective.
     
    Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness. Yeah, I can see that. It's basically a cheesecake base (using mascarpone, which is a very creamy cheese), with meringue as filling (as per Meringue de Angel), using marzipan as the top coat on the cake (typically wedding cakes used to be glazed this way, but nut allergies means everyone has moved to fondant instead), plus marzipan fruit decorations. The marzipan is absolutely necessary here to prevent the meringue from pulling the water out of the air, which would make the entire desert collapse. What? My mum used to run a bakery before she retired.
     
    Yeah, that would be heavy. That's not sponge cake, that's *cheesecake*. That... Heh. Had that problem once. How to get the stupidly huge cake through a tiny side door. You're basically done without making a wider entranceway, as you can't turn decorated cake sideways without damaging the coverings.
     
    The train hasn't left Ponyville yet, so all these other entrants are using Ponyville as a staging ground for this competition? Interesting.
     
    The gryphon has the stereotypical French chef going on. Given the 'official' map of Equestria that follows, as the arrow pointing towards the Gryphons would be pointing towards the Europe-equivalent, so it wouldn't surprise me to find out the Gryphons are supposed to be originally French, Italian, or Spanish.
     
    Donut Joe in a real speaking part. Another Italian-esc Brooklyn accent, seems to be a common one.
     
    And a Julia Child knockoff, as a Mulia Miles? Oooookay then. Julia's accent was pretty much hers and hers alone, mostly Pasadena California though. This moose mousse is a common joke and is normally presented as a hard chocolate shell with the actual mousse as a filling.
     
    Sherlock Holmes reference.
     
    Ah, Snidely Whiplash, which everyone always points to silent films for, but is actually pretty rare there. This villain is more from mid-nineteenth century stage productions, along with the tied to the train tracks thing.
     
    And a James Bond reference, specifically the Roger Moor version. Though honestly that Con Mane? That's so stretched of a pun I'm surprised they went with that.
     
    Hahhahahahhaaaa! Okay, Samurai Jack reference. Thank you, Amy Keating Rogers, who was a writer on that show as well. For anyone who hasn't seen it, I recommend it.
     
    Why does Twilight have a selection of tall brown kraft envelopes?
     
    I wonder who the portrait is of? Obviously military type, with the shoulder epaulettes that are still in fashion with some nation's dress uniforms. Just for reference, epaulettes started during the 17th century as a means to keep shoulder belts (bandoleers) from slipping while on horseback.
     
    It takes anywhere from one full day to a day and a half to get from Ponyville to Canterlot on a train.
  16. Fhaolan

    Ponyville Confidential

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Ponyville Confidential (March 31st 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: The Cutie Mark Crusaders try for journalism cutie-marks, and miss the mark as usual.
     
    School paper. Does that kind of thing still exist? It was a big deal back in the 80's when I was in school, but I would have thought it had faded away by now.
     
    Journalism. Does that kind of thing still exist? Yeah, yeah, sarcasm.
     
    Wait, that formula on the blackboard. That's what was written on there back in the Cutie Mark Chronicles episode. Fine, this is a lesson she goes over a lot then. Let's look at the formula in detail... The multi-dimensional differential of D over the mean of the set members of u added to the change of... something equals the diamond-sequence cross-product of... I'm not familiar with that funky d symbol. That's the mathematical equivalent to word salad, unfortunately. I think. The nearly all the symbols have meaning, but they're messed around in ways I've not seen before. However, taken as written this is axiomatic set theory and vector calculus. What the heck grade is this supposed to be?
     
    She set up the mapdrop with her picture ahead of time. Okay.
     
    Standard mechanical typewriters, and a roller-style printing press. Actually, to be more specific an offset lithographic press.
     
    Thermos and cup, with a dark steaming liquid. Probably hot chocolate, but it could be coffee. Whoever handed coffee to these three fillies deserves to be slapped upside the head.
     
    Okay, here's something. Hitting a unicorn's horn temporarily disrupts their telekinesis. That's useful. Question is, how far does that go? Will it disrupt any spell? How hard do you need to hit? Would simple pressure suffice?
     
    The jester-hat looking place appears to be the jewelry store. Right next to the Spa which is the other tent-like building.
     
    The mayor is dying her hair gray. To make herself look older? But obviously they have mane dye. That's got to be a pain given the natural color range of pony manes.
     
    Plus tail extensions, which are a real thing for horses, believe it or not, but must be annoying to manufacture with that range of colors again.
     
    Twilight can pull off a force field as well, large enough to cover the entire library.
     
    So despite the popularity of the school newspaper, expanding to Cloudsdale and beyond, no adult at the school (Cheerilee) noticed the increase in printing expenses and decided to take a look at what was going on until now. Typical delayed bureaucracy in lack of action.
  17. Fhaolan

    Dragon Quest

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Dragon Quest (March 17th 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Spike joins the Great Dragon Migration to find himself.
     
    The title may be a reference to popular console RPG series, but I can find no connection between the stories.
     
    The Great Dragon Migration takes place only once in a generation. Twilight has been called out before for temporal exaggeration leading to Granny Smith being hundreds of years old, so I don't know how much stock to put into this. However, it is definitely an event meaning that dragons do 'flock' occasionally and move as a group from one territory to another.
     
    And yes, there is such a thing as a butterfly migration. Usually it's species by species, not one big lump of all butterflies. Also, butterflies usually migrate in one direction only, as they simply don't live long enough. It will be the next generation that will migrate back again.
     
    Fluttershy seems to have... well, it's technically not a phobia, as it's a perfectly reasonable fear. It's more that the rest of the Mane 6 have a lack of perfectly reasonable fear. I'm not sure there's a good term for this, as most 'lack of fear' words are positive, and I'm looking for a negative.
     
    A variety of camo hats. Including a WW2 military helmet with netting used to hold silhouette-breaking foliage. The modern versions of that helmet that I have seen have less brim.
     
    Technically, I've seen modern digital camo patterns that are as bright as what Rarity is wearing. But they are meant for urban camo, not for trenches.
     
    And yet Twilight doesn't feel the need to ask Celestia? There should be some record of where Spike's egg came from, even if it was a donation from somewhere else. If nothing else, Celestia would know who to ask. Okay, given that Celestia seems habitually incapable of giving a straight answer, that may not be that productive, but still.
     
    Mountain goats, used as a mode of transport, but it looks like Spike *asked* which means they're intelligent enough to agree. And a donkey running a raft service.
     
    Plus two phoenix. myth logically there's only supposed to be one phoenix, but again there was only one Minotaur and one Pegasus.
     
    'Teenage' dragons. This is showing that the dragons do have a society. It may only kick in once in a while as dragons are normally anti-social. Which would mean that the behavior of these young dragons is not 'teenage' but is simply how dragons treat each other. The adult dragons seem to be studiously ignoring the younger ones.
     
    Dragon breath is different colors, much like unicorn magic auras.
     
    Well, there's one other dragon without wings. They did make an issue out of it previously, so I'm not sure if that's meaningful or not. We don't see that dragon again, and I'm not sure how he is participating in the migration.
     
    Dragons are highly resistant to heat, it seems. Likely this is the equivalent of a 'Polar Bear Swim' and is something used as a challenge rather than a regular pastime.
     
    Out of curiosity, these dragons seem to be presented as typical teenage males, given the voices. Are any of them actually female?
     
    Pretty eggs, really.
     
    Phoenix have a special 'flare' ability that can blind the dragons.
     
    And all that just to smash the egg? If this is the equivalent of a college panty raid, the egg should be displayed as a trophy. Otherwise, eating the egg would be more appropriate.
     
    That's pretty sad that Spike had to add himself into some of those pictures.
  18. Fhaolan

    It's About Time

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    It's About Time (March 10th 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Twilight comes from the Future to warn of impending Doomtm!
     
    Arbor Day. Started in 1872 in Nebraska, it's a holiday where everyone is encouraged to plant a tree to combat deforestation. This is now an international 'holiday', but it doesn't have a set date. Each nation, and usually each state/province has it on a different day, so the calendar reference of the 4th of whatever doesn't help us. In any case, this is rarely 'celebrated' as a festival or anything similar, and unless we actually see the ponies celebrate it for real I'm not sure where to place this one.
     
    A meeting with the Ponyville Hay Board... What the heck is Twilight's *job*? Put this into the bucket for questions about local government in Ponyville.
     
    Twilight cosplaying as Snake Plissken.
     
    Again with the Groucho Marx glasses.
     
    Fillydelphia to Los Pegasis. Giving the impression that these are at two extremes of the map.
     
    Cerberus, the hellhound that guards Hades. Normally depicted with three heads, a mane of snakes. and a snake's tail. However, the number of heads vary from one all the way up to 50 in some places. Here we've lost all the snakiness (which Cerberus got from it's mother Echidna, mother of all monsters, who is normally depicted as a kind of elder Gorgon.)
     
    Tartarus, although Twilight is pronouncing it Tar-tauros, which is actually correct as I understand it. However, mythologically Tartarus is a separate place from Hades, where Cerberus is supposed to be. Interesting. Tartarus (the place, as Tartarus is also the name of the primordial Greek deity that rules that land, much like Hades rules Hades) is the prison of the worst of the worst, although exactly who is in Tartarus varies constantly. Twilight refers to 'ancient evils', which is likely the pony equivalent of the Titans. Which is fascinating when you think that Discord and Nightmare Moon were *not* sent to Tartarus, but to their own prisons. Makes you wonder what exactly might be in Tartarus.
     
    Never, ever question Pinkie. It's not worth it.
     
    Baltimare.
     
    Crystal Balls as divination tools goes back to at least the 1500's. Prior to that the primary 'gazing' divination was with pools or bowls of water with appropriate ingredients added.
     
    Okay, when *Pinkie* questions Pinkie, it's *really* not worth it.
     
    Mad is the correct word, used incorrectly.
     
    So this is upstairs? I thought Twilight's lab was in the basement. This makes more sense, somehow.
     
    So the Starswirl wing of the Canterlot Archives is secure, meaning that stuff there is considered dangerous in some way. This includes time travel spells... which Twilight only knows about because she told herself they were there. Given that Twilight knows as much as she can about Starswirl, this either means that that stuff was kept secret by Celestia, or the Starswirl wing includes all the dangerous stuff regardless of whether it has anything to do with Starswirl himself.
     
    (I still think there's something fishy about Starswirl, given that in prior generations Star Swirl was a mare. And 'Bearded' is old LGBT slang for someone going to extremes pretending to be a different orientation. It's unlikely the writers are going to go that way, but it would be funny to me.)
     
    Night guards, but not batponies. Oh well.
     
    I have plans for that hourglass. Oh, do I have plans.
     
    Yeah, 'secure'.
     
    She just glanced at that scroll, and was able to cast the spell easily. Twilight really is OP.
  19. Fhaolan

    Putting Your Hoof Down

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Putting Your Hoof Down (March 3rd 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Fluttershy takes some training for Assertiveness, and Asserts herself all over Ponyville.
     
    Okay, given the buildings around, that set of tents offset from the Carousel Boutique in the opening credits appears to be a permanent market place.
     
    Pop-up pamphlet. Cute.
     
    Interesting. Why set up the seminar stage in the middle of the hedge maze? Oh, and goats wearing clothing and com headsets.
     
    Okay, Iron Will, a minotaur... The original Minotaur was a singular creature, not a race, but then so was the Pegasi. How the ponies are reacting is... odd, really. They usually panic when they see something unusual, but they accept Iron Will right off the bat. So they must encounter minotaurs relatively regularly.
     
    The seminar started off reasonable, "look them in the eye" indeed. The rest starts to go off the rails pretty quick.
     
    Reference to minotaurs being considered 'monsters'.
     
    Taxi in Ponyville.
     
    Did seasons pass, or are we dealing with the emotional state of ponies affecting the surroundings as well as the pony themselves?
     
    I still don't view Iron Will as a villain here. He's a minotaur of his word. Yeah, his training is ridiculously over-the-top, but when confronted with what he said he accepted it. If any of the ponies had actually tried *talking* to him, this entire scenario may have gone another way.
  20. Fhaolan

    A Friend in Deed

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    A Friend in Deed (February 18th 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Pinkie encounters a donkey who doesn't want to be friends. Challenge accepted!
     
    Wow, legwarmers. Haven't seen those since the 80's. The feathers hanging from a clip on the headband, check. The music's pretty appropriate to that era as well.
     
    We've seen the cows talk before, but this time one is acting entirely ponyish with the going to shops and the like.
     
    And Matilda the donkey.
     
    Now, we have the problem of wondering how much of this is happening in Pinkie's head. We could take this as evidence of Pinkie having access to magic, with the making of the skip rope go without anyone holding it. However, some of those fillies *are* unicorns, and may be playing along. Or this is something Pinkie is just imagining.
     
    And three governmental-style ponies. We know Mayor Mare, the other mare with the gavel cutie-mark is likely a judge, and the stallion seems to fit right in. Now, most Western legal and governmental systems come from Norse customary law, with the Roman need to write everything down, and the Gaelic need to argue about *everything*. This generates the three customary branches: Executive (the ones that keep the law), Legislative (the ones that write the law), and the Judicial (the ones that argue the law). So this would mean that this stallion is likely somehow connected to the legislature.
     
    And more evidence on the side of there being way more mares than stallions in this town. Or maybe the mares are just more likely to join into an impromptu musical number.
     
    Cranky Doodle Donkey. Yankee Doodle Dandy is actually called 'Yankee Doodle Boy' and was originally part of the musical 'Little Johnny Jones', all about an American jockey (based on the real life Tod Sloan) going to England to ride in a big race (the Epsom Derby), and trying to deal with all the various foreigners.
     
    Donkeys are quite different from ponies in real life. They don't form herds, and their fear reaction is more likely to be to freeze in place rather than run. They are also harder to frighten in general, leading them to get that stubborn reputation. In my experience they are also a little more playful than horses, and sneaky.
     
    Curious. That cart has hinges on the back gate and on the front. Given the nature of ponies, I could see that as being useful.
     
    Yikes, instant calliope/treat wagon. I want one.
     
    Was that Derpy in the snow globe? Manehatten, Fillydelphia.
     
    Dash is reading another Daring Do book.
     
    Why is it that most of the nightmare fuel in this series involves Pinkie?
     
    Pinkie in a fursuit. I... wat
  21. Fhaolan

    Hearts and Hooves Day

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Hearts and Hooves Day (February 11th 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: The CMC play matchmaker with Cheerilee, Big Mac, and chemistry!
     
    Back when I used to teach summer school, the classroom ended up looking like that a lot. Mind you I was supposed to be teaching grade 8 math, but still.
     
    A relatively modern-looking clock. If they count time starting at midday and midnight like we do, then we're looking at school letting out at the equivalent of 3 pm.
     
    A couple of those houses are crazier looking than normal. Ponyville usually keeps to a vaguely Tudor architecture, but we've got two houses in the background that look more like jester hats than houses. As if they are modelled after tents, specifically multiple bell tents attached together. I've seen something vaguely similar before, in California, but it was one of those 'architect model buildings'. One-offs just to show off the architect's creativity.
     
    Okay, these go by fast: Button Mash in some kind of outdoor arcade, with at least three video arcade cabinets, and a crane cabinet.
     
    An outdoor funeral complete with coffin... the elderly pony is wearing a clerical collar, which came into existence in the late 1800's for the Presbyterian and Anglican faiths. It took until the 1960's before it was adopted by the Roman Catholics.
     
    Ambulance, with a white cross on a red circle. Which is the symbol for Switzerland, not any medical service. With the inevitable pony extra decorative hearts and whatnot.
     
    Leisure suit. The style is originally from the 1930's, but the cheap disco version this is representing is from the mid to late 70's.
     
    Doctor Whooves!
     
    I refuse to ask about the giant jam jars.
     
    I love the little skippy dance. I rode a horse once that I swear was trying to do that. It was extremely unpleasant trying to ride it.
     
    The barn at Sweet Apple Acres seem to have two settings. This one is the one the various parties and what-not happen at, due to the large storage ground floor, and walkway on the second floor but open otherwise. The other is where the Apples actually live with bedrooms on the second floor and living area with kitchen on the ground floor. I'm trying to think of a way to reconcile them, but the best I've come up with is that there are actually two barns that are otherwise built functionally identically on two parts of the property.
     
    Above the big doors of the barn, on the interior, there are three horseshoes nailed up there. I was at a barn once owned by a German family, and noticed two horseshoes in much the same position. I asked about it, and the lady said it was one for each of their children's luck. There are three young Apples. Nice.
     
    Hearts and Hooves day was started due to a love potion, in a book complete with the formula for said potion? Okay, fine.
     
    Cylinder vacuum, running without any power source. Huh.
     
    "Served to two ponies who aren't in the know." So neither victim can know about this?
     
    The faces are hilarious.
     
    These fillies will make great computer users some day. Never, ever, read the manual first.
     
    Okay, the prince gives the princess the potion, but he knew about it. So either that part of the recipe was incorrect, or there's more to this story than what is in the book. I bet on more story.
     
    The princess is drawn as an alicorn, with wings and horn. The prince is an earth pony it seems, or if he's a pegasus, his wings are off-panel.
     
    Dragon coming, kingdom falling, chaos reigning.... sounds like Discord to me.
     
    Comedy aside, Cheerilee totally destroyed that door.
     
    Pronking.
     
    I like the kitty door for Opal.
     
    We have to allow that something about the magic potion/love is increasing these two ponies' strength. But still, that's freaking impressive. Both of them are being depicted as incredibly strong during this time. Big Mac regularly demonstrates a lot of physical strength, but that's likely because he's... well, he's Big Mac. Applejack also is shown as being stronger than the average pony, and I'm sure Apple Bloom is also quite strong. It's likely a family thing, not necessarily because they're Earth Ponies.
  22. Fhaolan

    Read It and Weep

    By Fhaolan,

    While the view count for these episode watching thingies is relatively low, I'm seeing some regular names show up in the viewing box. I honestly don't know why you guys keep coming back. This stuff is interesting to me, and I'm using this for my own purposes, but I'm puzzled as to why some of you are reading these so regularly when I'm not putting any effort into making them entertaining or anything. I'm not even grammar checking them, it's just stream of consciousness stuff.
     
    I've also noticed my entries for these episodes have gotten longer recently. There seems to be more stuff that I'm seeing in them.
     
    See * for disclaimer
     
    Read It and Weep (February 4th 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Read, or the owl will eat you! (Don't ask, it's not worth it.)
     
    So close, and yet so far.
     
    The machine that goes beep!
     
    For all that the inside of this hospital gives the impression of the generic modern hospital (albeit a 1950's country hospital with wood furniture and the like), the décor is fascinating. Even here, the ponies could not resist putting effort into swirling paint schemes and fluted columns.
     
    Wait, where did that fluted column go? It's not in the master shot of the room. Huh.
     
    Cute. The things you do to stave off boredom.
     
    definitely electrical bedside light, and a tissue box. Boxes of tissues like that were first introduced in the 20's for makeup removal. As I understand it, it was one of those cases where the manufacturer was completely blindsided by how the customers actually used their product. They hadn't thought of using these tissues as disposable handkerchiefs.
     
    I want to know about the other pony there, what's his story?
     
    Here we go with another problem episode. What we are about to see is fictional within this setting, and it is being presented as a complete fiction; the mental movie that Rainbow Dash is building around what she is reading. So all we'll be able to pull out of this for worldbuilding is based on the things RD thinks she knows and what the author thinks is entertaining. Except for the Season 4 episode Daring Don't that challenges that assumption, and all of this goes sideways. Let's do the best we can, and simply say this section requires a lot more grains of salt than the rest of the series does.
     
    Tiger and a black jaguar (also known as a black panther). Tigers are Asian, while jaguars are South American. Black panthers are not a specific breed of jaguar, but a odd genetic glitch that shows up quite often called melanism, causing an otherwise normal jaguar to be black. Jaguars are normally a third of the size of tigers, but here they're being shown as being much the same size. Melanistic leopards from Africa and the Middle East are also called black panthers, but they're much smaller than jaguars so I'm giving this one to the jaguars.
     
    That's a lynx, and with the limited spotting looks like a Eurasian lynx rather than a Canadian lynx or a bobcat (which is a subtype of lynx). Lynx are usually about a fifth the size of a jaguar.
     
    Cheetah, which covers much the same region as leopards is normally slightly smaller than a jaguar.
     
    So this shows that these animals are not quite the same as their real-life counterparts. The relative sizes have been jiggered around, but that might be due to interpretation of various levels.
     
    Housecat. Which isn't as out-of-place as you might first think. Funny, yes, but the domestic cat has more in common with the cheetah and the lynx than it does with the tiger or the jaguar (or leopard for that matter).
     
    This temple has a Mixtec feel to it, with the anthropomorphic brazier holders. Central and South American cultures tend to get all mixed up into big 'blocks' like Olmec, Mayan, Aztec, Inca, etc.. but there was a lot more variation going on than most people realize. What people normally call 'Aztec' includes the real Aztecs plus Mixtec, Totanacs, K'iche', Kaqchikel, etc. They were all distinct cultures, but reductionism has turned their history into mush for the most part.
     
    Battle axes only had that general shape during the bronze age in the Cretian area of Greece. However, very old bronze that has not been cleaned for a very long time has that kind of gunmetal color, so it's possible that these are *not* as out-of-place as they first appear.
     
    Standard Indiana Jones traps. Actually, there were a bunch of traps the Egyptians put into their tombs to deter graverobbers, but no where near the number that people thought there were. A lot of what they took as deliberate traps were just accidents due to decaying structures. These however, are very deliberate traps.
     
    Conjoined twin Jackal statue. Hrmmm. Lot of symbolic possibilities there. Pity this is the equivalent of a dream sequence.
     
    Pegasi version of the Battleship game (also owned by Hasbro). I wonder if anyone there even considered putting that out there for real. I'm not sure anyone would buy them, but it would be amusing.
     
    Heh.
     
    Ahuizotl. Crazy looking thingy isn't he? That's an actual mythological creature from South America, although the mythological version's fur is all clumped into spikes, and is about the size of an otter, while at the same time being strong enough to drown a person with the hand on it's tail. It also tends to eat eyes, teeth, and fingernails. Ick.
     
    I'm not entirely sure what to make of that accent. It seems to slide around from Bordeaux France to St. Petersburg Russia by the way of Budapest Hungary without stopping at any particular place long enough to settle down.
     
    That's the definition of overkill, right there.
     
    Okay, they have electricity, but use fireflies in their camping lanterns. So no naphtha, kerosene, or propane. Makes me wonder what's driving the train engines? Do they use coal or petroleum at all, or do they have substitutes for all of that?
     
    And that was my experience when I had my knee rebuilt. Went in, had surgery, suddenly I was outside in a wheelchair wondering what just happened?
     
    Get the book, and get out, you silly filly!
     
    The heck? Those are very stubborn nurses to chase beyond the hospital grounds.
     
    And the hospital has a psychiatric department, apparently. Screwloose is best bloodhound.
     
    Bit of a Blofled moment there. Or is that Blueblood in this universe? I'm assuming that's been made into a fanfic somewhere, I can't have been the first to think of that one.
  23. Fhaolan
    See * for disclaimer
     
    This is one of my favorite episodes, mainly because I liked Music Man and other films of that type and period. I know there are lots of Bronies who don't like musicals and that kind of thing because it's 'too old', but I'm old too. So there.
     
    The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 (January 28th 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: The Apples get embroiled in a bet, and might loose the farm because of it.
     
    Camping out for cider season. I can see this, but the evident demand of this cider is fascinating.
     
    Although it's a joke, Spike's reference to a 'Sapphire Season' might be more evidence that gemstones are not what we think they are.
     
    Okay, while the montage is going on, let's talk about what 'cider' is. Traditionally, cider is fermented fruit juice, usually but not always apple, with a relatively low alcohol content, starting at 1.5% and going above 8% in some cases. Once you get about 10% alcohol you're in the range of 'Apple Wine', which I personally think tastes like drinking a glass of hammers, but whatever. There are specific breeds of apples used for apple cider, apples that are more sour than 'eating' apples. What gets sold as 'Apple Cider' in grocery stores now-a-days is just apple juice from cider apples with no filtering so there's still pulp suspended it in. It's not actually real cider.
     
    The fermentation is done at a relatively low temperature to slow it down. Even so, it only takes three months for a basic cider to ferment. Traditionally cider and various types of small beer (like root beer, ginger beer, etc.) all have similar alcohol levels, and are used as enticement to get itinerant workers to come to your farm during planting and harvest. It was also much safer to drink than water, given that the low alcohol content still killed most of the harmful bacteria, so it was often used as the primary drink for the entire family in medieval times.
     
    We're seeing foam on the cider, and it appears to be pressurized given that Apple Bloom isn't pumping the cider, she's releasing it. And when it runs out the spout fizzles. This means the cider is either fermented or carbonated like soda. Natural carbonation is also a product of fermentation, as the earliest forms of soda were in fact ciders and small beers, but it's possible to do it other ways and that might be part of the 'magic' of Sweet Apple Acres cider that makes it that attractive.
     
    That's one heck of a piece of Victorian engineering there. Reminds me of some of the sequences from the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang film.
     
    Again with the tall, thin body type. This is becoming far more common as the series progresses, and seems to be more common with Unicorns than others.
     
    The Flim Flam Brothers, and song, being the Music Man reference of course. Snake Oil Salesmen of this type being extremely common during the 19th century, but kept strong right up until the middle of the 20th century with travelling salesmen peddling just about anything they could. Even today there is a resurgence of the vacuum cleaner salespeople who go door-to-door with a variety of magic tricks to make you think their wares are functionally better than anyone else's.
     
    Reference to Horse and Pony being considered different things in that song.
     
    Here's one of the scenes that people use to point out that the number of mares in any sample population in Ponyville is far more than the number of stallions. I've paused the scene near the end of the song where there's a bird-eye shot, and yes, there are more mares in there, but not a *huge* number more. They just seem to push themselves to the front when it's a pony-eye view, and leave the stallions in the back rows.
     
    The Apples are good farmers, however this is giving the impression that they are pretty bad businessponies. While farms often do have bad seasons that can be devastating, the script here is implying that the Apples run the edge of bankruptcy as their normal operating procedure. The cider sales are all that gets them through the winter, every year. A farm this large and productive with the level of obvious demand that the cider and the zap apple jam products have should not be in any danger of 'losing the farm' that easily unless there's some massive expense that the Apples are trying to support. Given the apparent size of the farm, maybe it's too big for the current Apple family to handle, so they can't really effectively work it to cover the expense of that extra land. Or too much land is being given over to non-productive uses (as per episodes I haven't reached yet in this blog.) Both of those would mean they either mortgaged the farm to someone, some point in the recent past because that farm that was part of a land grant from Princess Celestia as per the Family Appreciation Day episode, or the various levels of government have put truly onerous taxes on that land... Maybe this has something to do with the mysterious circumstances around Applejack's parents, or Granny got desperate when Applejack went to Manehattan, as that left just Granny Smith and Big Mac to run the entire farm.
     
    And the Apples are bad gamblers. They just gave away all their advantages.
     
    Okay, you can't ferment cider *that* fast. If that's coming out of the barrels pressurized like that, when it was put into the barrels with just a tap above a topless barrel and after only an hour or so of aging, there's some special Earth Pony magic going on that the Flim Flam brothers have figured out how to replicate with Unicorn magic.
     
    Well, that's unfortunate that Applejack didn't learn anything, because there was a lot there for her *to* learn. Don't gamble your life on things, ask for Rarity's help in running the business side of the farm, etc.
  24. Fhaolan

    The Last Roundup

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    The Last Roundup (January 21st 2012, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: Applejack goes AWOL.
     
    The title of this episode is also a song from 1933, written by Billy Hill and covered by numerous musicians including Gene Autry and Dean Martin. There were several films by that name, ranging from a 1929 silent film, through a 1934 film, and a more well known 1947 one with Gene Autry again. There's no real connection between any of these and this episode beyond the title, but I have no doubt that there's a Gene Autry fan (or more likely the child or grandchild of a Gene Autry fan) on the staff of MLP.
     
    Applejack running hurdles. The design of the hurdles and the variety of them likely mean this is a Timber Steeplechase, a standard horse racing event where the hurdles are solid (rather than brush) but you are still allowed to hit the hurdles as long as you don't knock the bar off. You'd get a time penalty for 'broken' hurdles.
     
    Hammer throw using a bale of hay. This would be a more modern form of the Hammer throw, as the older form used a weight on the end of a solid handle, rather than a flexible one.
     
    Rodeo is apparently a standard sporting event in Equestria. Not really that surprising.
     
    Heya Derpy.
     
    Interesting that *Canterlot* is having the Equestria Rodeo, I would not have put that as something the Canterlot ponies would enjoy.
     
    Okay, that's a little freaky that they're all ceasing to 'clap' with one simultaneous stomp.
     
    Right Pinkie Pie limbering lips. There's my nightmare fuel for the day.
     
    The mail pony looks like the male equivalent to the Fleur de Lis body style.
     
    Twilight's not a little rude there.
     
    That's a relatively large number of Apples present at this surprise party. They must have come special.
     
    Interesting, this is the Canterlot rodeo, right? Yet they're all Earth Ponies, not one Unicorn. And the desert area is suspiciously close by. Where the heck are we?
     
    No toilets on the train, apparently.
     
    Dodge Junction. Old steam trains only had so much range, and water and fuel had to be taken onboard on a fairly regular basis. When multiple railways were built to cover areas, these refueling stations were top of the list to run junctions that would allow trains to switch between lines. Towns grew up around these expanded stations to service the trains, provide relief for long-distance passengers, and so on.
     
    That's quite an elaborate hairdo for a rancher.
     
    Cherry orchards are quite common in 'desert' areas, as they prefer well-drained almost sandy soil. At least, that's what my wife tells me, and she grew up on an orchard.
     
    Interesting, as yellow cherries are likely Rainier or Royal Ann cherries that are a specific breed from the Pacific Northwest. Which doesn't jive with the vaguely Texan flavor that this episode seem to be trying to give to Dodge Junction and it's inhabitants.
     
    When did this switch to the I Love Lucy show? Mind you, that is Lucille Ball's best known gag, and it's still funny.
     
    I've never actually had a kumquat. I understand it's basically a sour orange, but I'm curious now.
     
    Poor Applejack, does anyone really deserve being Pinkie'd like that?
     
    Yes, apparently she does. Breaking a Pinkie Promise. Tsk. Tsk.
     
    A larger variety of hats being shown here, much more accurate to the actual Old West than all Stetsons. Not enough bowlers though.
     
    "Rarity catch me!" That's funnier than it should be, due to personal events.
     
    Okay, so regular carts can be used as sky chariots, but only for a limited amount of time and took considerable effort from RD and Fluttershy to pull off. That makes sense, and likely means there's something special about the construction of pegasi chariots.
  25. Fhaolan

    Hearth's Warming Eve

    By Fhaolan,

    See * for disclaimer
     
    Hearth's Warming Eve (December 17th 2011, 22 minutes)
     
    Summary: The dead of winter, and the true meaning of Equestria!
     
    I've been waiting for this one. Before I begin my normal 'here's what I noticed' spiel, I'm going to address the fact that what I'm about to watch is the ponies putting on a play, and therefore cannot be taken as History. That is true in a way. It's no more 'true' history than Shakespeare's various plays like Henry V and so on. Shakespeare wrote his historical plays while under the patronage of the crown, for the most part. Basically, his 'take' on these topics were heavily colored by what he believed Queen Elizabeth I wanted to see and would approve of. In the same way, a play on the history of Equestria like this is likely written to be what the playwright believed Princess Celestia wanted to see.
     
    There are some signs that there are kernels of truth in this play. Twilight is an expert on Starswirl the Bearded. If she says that Clover the Clever was Starswirl's apprentice, and doesn't kick up a fuss about it, then I think we need to take that as what she actually believes. That doesn't mean the play is in any way accurate, but it seems to be what the ponies want to believe happened. As such, it is still a reflection of pony culture, even if it is not word-for-word what really happened. As I tell people who want me to run RPGs for them, there's 'what people believe happened', 'what people wrote down as happened', 'what really happened', and the types of storylines I tend to run explore the differences between those three things.
     
    Anyway, on with the 'what I noticed':
     
    Ahhh! Rarity and her hats. There are no words.
     
    Here's the reference that to my knowledge is the best indication of the actual size of the ponies. "An eight-foot candy cane." Using that as a reference, that puts the foal (Scootaloo, which is interesting she's even in Canterlot at this point) beside it a little over 2' at the top of her head. Put Scootaloo beside an average adult mare, and it works out that the mare is about three and a half feet to the top of her head. Celestia ends up being a little less than 5' tall. Of course, this is all dependent on the ponies using the same definition of the 'foot' measure, of course.
     
    Lots of evergreen trees that were not present in prior views of Canterlot. So they import trees specifically for the season in order to decorate them.
     
    Rarity refers to this as a 'pageant', not a play or a pantomime. That's actually an important distinction. A pageant is meant to be instructive; teaching 'history', morals, etc. For reference, a pantomime is a musical comedy with considerable slapstick, actors (and actresses) in drag, audience participation, etc. I bring up pantomime because in English tradition Christmas is the primary holiday for pantomime performances.
     
    Yeah, this is pretty much what backstage is like during a big production.
     
    Spike specifically says 'before the rule of Celestia', so ponies do believe there was a time when Celestia was not the 'Princess'. I notice Luna not being mentioned. Possibly this play was written during the time Luna was in exile, and therefore it was not politic to mention her. Or, Celestia became Princess before Luna did.
     
    The pegasi outfits are very Roman in appearance. So far the earth pony costumes are unremarkable peasant gear that could be from pretty much any period. The unicorns are more Middle Ages.
     
    Pegasi control the weather, yeah, yeah. *Only* the earth ponies could grow food. And the unicorns control the day/night cycles. As a note, the storybook intro in the first episode specifically says the princesses use their 'Unicorn powers' to control the day/night cycles, and are only referred to as alicorns much later in the series. They're called 'Winged Unicorns', which may mean that Celestia and Luna were considered to still be Unicorns.
     
    The hat the earth pony is wearing is a form of keffiyeh, sudra or ghutrah. Basically a headscarf with a band (agal) to keep it in place. Currently this is a very middle eastern style common throughout region, but is truly ancient due to it's simplicity and could be found in any arid region on the Eurasian continent in every period.
     
    Earth pony huts are depicted as circular one-room stone buildings with a thatched roof, seen in the Iron and Bronze ages in most of Western Europe.
     
    Pegasi buildings are again, Greek and Roman in inspiration.
     
    And the Unicorn castles are Middle Age keeps with crenelated towers.
     
    Rarity is playing the 'daughter of the Unicorn King', not the actual ruler of the unicorns, while the other tribes sent their rulers, a Commander, and a Chancellor. Commander is interesting, as normally this title refers not to 'the one in command', but 'the one given command to', meaning that there was someone above them to give this power. It's possible this is currently the highest rank for the pegasi, but there was once a higher one. As in the Commander is also a regent, much like the Stewards of Gondor in the Lord of the Rings. Chancellor is the highest rank in the government in many systems, but was originally the Roman equivalent to the modern court reporter.
     
    Pinkie's outfit, especially the neck ruff, is very Elizabethan, so the Earth Ponies in this are being depicted in a vast range of historical periods and styles, where the pegasi and unicorns are very focused on specific periods and locations. That's interesting.
     
    Fluttershy's helm... I'm not sure where to start on this one. It appears to be a blending of a Galea helm and a much later period Morian helm. This is pretty unique, and something that belongs to just the ponies. As a note, this character's rank of 'private' is originally from the medieval period, referring to mercenary or conscripted soldiers who reported to a specific nobleman rather than a national or royal army. So like the helm it's oddly out-of-place with the general Roman feel the play is giving the pegasi.
     
    And Applejack is wearing an early form of the Tyrolean hat. I'm not going to bother with Pinkie's hat. It's just being silly.
     
    Pegasopolis, Unicornia, Earth. Interesting, so what was the names of the original places they came from?
     
    That's one heck of a theatre. I think it's actually Celestia's throne room being repurposed. If it was an actual theatre, the floor would be sloped towards the stage to allow rear seating's to see the stage.
     
    I've been in board meetings that were much like this. "That's *my* rock!"
     
    Windigos. Nice name. Windigo is a real variant spelling of the Wendigo, sometimes also called a Wihtikow, Manaha, or Wechuge. An Algonquian and Athabaskan mythological spiritual creature associated with winter, famine, cold, and greed. People possessed by a Wendigo become cannibalistic. They're pretty much playing this one straight, with minimal ponification outside of the appearance.
     
    Twilight saying straight out that Clover the Clever was mentored by Starswirl the Bearded.
     
    Windigos are one of the several creatures that feed off of emotional energy, this one being conflict and hatred.
     
    Clover undergoes a magic surge sponsored by the magic of Friendship. Not sure what to make of the flaming heart symbol.
     
    And the one really out-of-place thing, the flag of Equestria being used that depicts two Alicorns in a ying-yang like arrangement. Probably not the historical flag, but the current one used out of expedience.
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