ponyvangelist

The Crown Jewels That's Princess Luna in a nutshell. Dangerous beauty. Technically, she's a queen, and per Disney canon, princesses are good and queens are evil. No exceptions. That's why Celestia and Luna, who really should be queens if you ask me, are nominally princesses. Lauren Faust initially wanted them to be queens, but that was shot down by the Hasbro brass because of the perceptions reinforced by Disney over the years. Yet it doesn't seem right to me that they would hold the same rank as Cadance, who is more like a true princess. I voted Cadance for beauty, and her magical specialty fits that like a glove, but her station in Canterlot society is nowhere near that of Celestia and Luna, nor does her ability even begin to approach the power over sun, moon and the elements of nature wielded by the regal sisters. And Prince Blueblood's loutishness puts him squarely beneath the entire mane cast, in my opinion. Perhaps they should institute a system of "Junior" and "Senior" Princesses, and maybe Deputy Assistant Under-Prince, Fourth Class, for Blueblood.

The fact that each of the CMC has obvious talents in certain areas, but not for the roles they chose, is the central gag of the episode, and plays into the running joke of their looking for cutie marks in all the wrong places. If everything went well, it would have been a pretty boring show. Ironically, according to Daniel Ingram, the first version of the song was done beautifully by Madeleine Peters and Michelle Creber. Unfortunately, because it sounded so good, it didn't fit the plot of the episode, so they had to redo it and deliberately fudge it up. I'm hoping to be able to get a copy of the un-fudged version someday, because I suspect it would indeed sound pretty awesome.

I was being a bit abstruse for the sake of my own amusement, but I do appreciate your well-informed, helpful and decidedly less abstruse reply.

Spike's growth is a metaphor for Capitalism. Or, for that matter, the way Socialism plays out in the real world. Which is probably why I find that episode so depressing.

Learning To Fly One of the things I find intriguing about the pets we see in "May the Best Pet Win" is that many of them first appeared in "Ticket Master" and "The Best Night Ever" in the Royal Canterlot Gardens. Standouts include the toucan; hummingbirds that can really hum; the buzzard that can really buzz; blue jays and red jays and green jays, pink jays (in the cloud scene, not pictured here) and even the pink flamingo. Perhaps they felt bad about how Fluttershy had been treated at the Gala and followed her home?

I'm going with "misunderstood", since that's sillier and has a lot more comedic value than "evil". To wit: http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRZxek8rwNU Also, in fairness, I think it's important to point out that Celestia Shot First.

Derpy all the way, now and forever. Besides, since when is "derpy" any less flattering a name than "ditzy"?

The Princess Bridle You say that like it's a bad thing... I can't disagree with voting for Princess Celestia, because she really does have an incomparable majesty all her own. And it's not just her looks, but her bearing, personality and strength. She never has an unkind word for anypony (except villains who threaten her subjects), and leads by example. Her psychedelic pastel rainbow hair is also somewhat hypnotic and punctuates the fact that she is truly like no other. I also can't disagree with those who voted for Luna. Her physical appearance, with her beautiful coat, moon symbols and flowing star-field hair are the perfect counterpart to Celestia's radiance. As the younger sister and Princess of the Night, her motif is dark and mysterious, and there is much we don't know about her. Despite her naive, youthful personality, her backstory as Nightmare Moon, her thousand-year banishment and her tendency to punctuate her sentences with thunderbolts make it clear that she is every bit Celestia's equal, and a powerful elemental force in her own right. When it comes to Cadance, I can't help feeling these episodes could be renamed Mary Sue Got Married -- to Marty Stu, the perfect husband. She's so perfect, in fact, that I'll admit preferring the Chrysalis version at times, just for the depth of character. Asked as we are who the most beautiful is, however, I had to vote for her. The regal sisters have a lofty, unearthly beauty, but Cadance has a youthful glow and colors that stand out in a field of standouts. Where Celestia and Luna are more like noble queens than princesses, Cadance is a true princess in every sense. Her unpretentious, loving, down-to-earth personality is icing on the cake, but very important icing and part of the complete package. Queen Chrysalis gave us a chance to see what she would be like if she was a haughty, insensitive bitch, and in that form, she lacked almost all of the appeal of the real Cadance, which shows that her beauty isn't just hide-deep. Cadance is the princess who cares about everypony, and holds herself above nopony. Her royalty needs no herald nor crown. She's a natural, it's an inseparable part of who she is. Where Celestia is the Princess of the Day, and Luna is the Princess of the Night, Cadance is the Princess of Love. It is her special power, unique among all ponies. How could I not vote for her?

Castle In The Sky Being a pegasus who can manipulate clouds at will, I'm pretty sure Dashie built her own house, and can change it whenever she feels like it. Her house does look different in different episodes, but hey, it is made of clouds, after all. And rainbows. How did she make rainbows for her house? Well, she is Rainbow Dash, after all. None of that answers the question of how the Daring Do books she borrowed from the Ponyville library don't fall through it. Maybe Twilight cast a spell on them. In any case, compared to Trixie's former home, Rainbow lives in a castle. Heck, compared to any of the mane cast, Trixie is definitely lower-rent.

Battle Royale I think they're all awesome, and appreciate each of them for who they are. During Season One, Celestia was tied with Dashie for Best Pony in my book. She's not only the perfect monarch, but the perfect mom as well. When Luna came back in Season Two, I was blown away. Any princess who wears a cape made out of bats is clearly Best Princess. I still thought Celestia was awesome, but Luna was just on a whole different plane. Different as night and day, if you will. And now we have Cadance (yes, it's officially spelled "Cadance" rather than "Cadence", like it used to be), and for as much as I admire the regal sisters, she's hooves-down the most beautiful. Cadance is also practically perfect in every way, from her magical specialty to her personality (almost too perfect, really), so aside from her beauty, she seems like a shoe-in for Best Princess, too. Am I going to be banished to the moon for saying that?

If she wasn't homeless before, she is now.

Hollywood. They would fit right in.

Guys like a girl with attitude, ergo Trixie.

Small Wonders In just about any other show, characters in this age group would drive me up the wall. They would either be too cute, or too irritating, or both. The CMC have the ability to be that way, but the way they are actually handled in the stories is so masterful that CMC episodes are some of my favorites, with The Cutie Mark Chronicles at the top of the list. Their running gag of trying every way but the right way to get their cutie marks is epic, and if any of them should ever actually get a cutie mark, I'm not sure how I would feel about it. It's the goal that unites them and drives them. What would they be without the Cutie Mark Crusade? Maybe we'll find out someday. In the meantime, I not only don't dislike them, but am quite a fan. "Ugh! These namby-pamby stories aren't getting us any closer to our cutie marks! They're all about finding who you really are and boring stuff like that. Come on, girls! We need action! We need Rainbow Dash!" -- Scootaloo P.S. Scootaloo is Best Filly.

Most likely, it's because he became lost in the woods as a foal and was raised by wild wonderbolts.

They're all members of Celestia's and Luna's harems, so for anyone who may wonder how they have so many nephews and nieces -- and guards, for that matter -- mystery solved.

Undeniably, Unquestionably, Unstoppable Kill Rainbow Dash? It is to laugh. She can do this for fun... And this only slows her down long enough to pull her eyes back out, through a tree... And it would probably be better not to think too much about where Starscream's spark is right about now... http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=8er83h9Bbn8 The idea of Discord somehow killing Rainbow Dash is an amusing thought, but he would probably have better luck trying to kill a vampire with a swizzle stick, because no matter how cool he may think he is, Rainbow Dash will always be about 20% cooler.

Come to think of it, we never do see Luna and Chrysalis together in the same room... Seems legit.