Truffles

No, this has nothing to do with who Smolder's brother is (but what I'm posting does spoil the end of the episode, so be forewarned). Instead it answers the question as to whether Spike was born different or not: But what's this?

Heh, I had to go back and rewatch that scene. All this time I thought Rarity said she was selling dresses for the dance. My assumption up till just now was that no one wanted to spend bits on dresses for a first-run dance I'm not even sure Yona would have even needed to ask them to keep it a secret. By their reaction when Yona arrived it seems like they wanted Sandbar to be surprised all on their own - I got the impression they wanted to be able to rib him over his date going to such lengths to impress him once she arrived. (And they did, lol.) However, since they were also surprised by her outfit and new way of talking, it appears even they didn't know the lengths Yona was going in order to "fit in." The bottom line is she simply got flustered and was worried having a wig over her face was making her look silly. But knowing how she reacted to situations in the past and what some of her fears are, it's also possible having her vision blocked may have triggered a fight-or-flight response in an effort to get the wig fixed. I guess it doesn't help that of all the quadrupeds, yaks are the most limited in using their forehooves to manipulate objects due to how large their barrels are. Heh, I noticed this too, but its understandable why it happened since she was startled by all the food. I still like that scene before where she went to rescue him from rolling away, so the mistake after doesn't bother me. Hopefully that head was made of soft material and did absorb some of the impact.

Knowing their individual personalities, they'd be more likely to be in a friends-with-benefits type relationship than have a romantic one. But there may be military rules that restrict team members from even being in relationships at all to prevent cohesion issues from arising. If so, Soarin would have to retire before they could start a relationship of any sort.

Fluttershy reading off the dance moves so effortlessly was an absolutely amazing moment! It reminded me of her surprise detailed knowledge of sewing and couture back in Suited For Success.

Speaking of blushes, if they handed out awards for blushing Sandbar would take the cake. I almost want to call him Sandblush for the number of times he blushed at Yona this episode. This is the dragon who for the first HWE dressed up as...a purple dragon. And for another as a two-headed version of himself. I guess he saves all his best roleplaying for O&O. XD

A really funny episode that I ended up loving. I seem to be responding more to the funny episodes this season than I am to the ones with the more serious tones, though the moment where Yona runs off is as heartbreaking as anything I've ever seen in this show. So kudos to the episode for managing to cover a vast range of emotions well. Everyone played their part well. I didn't get the feeling anyone was acting stupid or OOC. The Mane 6 do have some good reasons to believe Yona wants to fit in - after all, they know first-hoof how difficult it is dealing with yak culture, and if she really wanted to tone it down for the dance then their actions can be justified. (Certainly hinting that her slop-bucket was not going to go over well was a good thing to do.) Their main fault was taking it too far. Rarity had the most amusing expressions this time out, even beating out the Student 6 who had their fare share as well. My favorite is this one: Seeing characters unhappy about getting food on them tickles my funny bone. Reminds me of this scene which I still find amusing: Even though a lot of what happened was what I expected, I did have some doubt Yona would ever learn to be like a high society Canterlot pony. (I mean, let's face it - that's who Rarity was trying to mold her into. If she had aimed for someone more down-to-earth like Applejack, it would have worked out better. Though the dance probably still would have ended in disaster like it did.) So I was surprised and amused to see Yona speaking and acting so refined, even though it's right in line with the "My Fair Lady" plot. Knowing her character (and the yaks in general) It's something I guess I just never expected the show to do. The interesting thing about Yona is she's already pretty different from other yaks. In the very first scene after the title sequence, we see her cautiously knocking and entering Rarity's room. She already knows the propriety of being polite, which I can't say any of her brethren have caught on to yet. After the Mane 6 realize they've succeeded, it's interesting to note Angel's expression compared to the rest of them: Is this just a case of him being resentful because he's jealous of how well she's learned? Or does he already know the Mane 6 are making a mistake by trying to make her into someone she isn't? There is some evidence from past episodes he's a lot wiser than he looks, and I'd like to think that's the case here. There's a few other shots that I like because of some of the details are notable and nice-to-see moments that could get easily overlooked: A nice bit of love from Twilight, making sure her little brother, #1 assistant (and newly minted DJ Scales and Tail, lol) doesn't get hurt in his costume during the pandemonium. We know Gallus is actually an emotional guy on the inside, but it's always nice to see him show it. Here, he seems genuinely shocked over what just transpired, maybe even as much as Sandbar. It probably reminds him of the kinds of fights he's seen back at home when they get together for "family" time. I also really loved the pacing of this episode. A lot goes on before the end, but somehow they managed to leave the entire third act available for Sandbar and Yona to work things out, and even leave time for the Mane 6 to chime in as well. I wish more episodes could be organized this way - it's much more satisfying than getting a rushed moral in the last minute or two. And Sandbar is the big winner in this episode. Between learning he has a crush on Yona to how he explained his feelings for her and what he likes about her, he's shown more development in these 22 minutes than he has at any other time - including his moment in last season's finale where he rescued the rest of his friends. We get to ride sidecar along with his emotional state for the first time - something that has been severely lacking in his character up to this point. Before this, it was hard to take him seriously about anything due to how he reacts to the littlest inconveniences, or seemed like a stereotypical surfer dude during other conflicts. Vincent Tong must be happy he finally got a chance to play a role that didn't seem one-dimensional. What else? I guess Gallus is open to the idea of dating Smolder, even though that hug from Silverstream last season seems to say otherwise. I personally think Smolder is just a cover for him so he doesn't have to reveal too much of his true self. If he had asked Silverstream, he'd be putting himself out there emotionally since he seems to have feelings for her. Asking Smolder (who from the S8 premiere he seems to have the most in common with in terms of attitude) is a safe bet since both of them just want to go for the food. No need for either of them to open up about anything. The song was great and gets better each time I hear it. The reprise was good, as was Yona's heartbreaking song at the start of the third act. I really want someone to make a GIF of Silverstream waggling her eyebrows at Sandbar at the start of the dance, lol! Speaking of the dance, I could tell the new name was "Amity Ball". But I was scratching my head as to the original name: The Fetlock Fete. I had to look "fete" up to understand what Twilight was talking about, lol. No, the big problem with those two episodes was how insensitive, out-of-character, and unlikable 3 of the Mane 6 were. Here, they had good reasons to try to help Yona out. These two statements seem to be in conflict with one another. I guess you are just saying the end result wasn't any different? But the big difference is the yaks in Party Pooped meant to do all that stuff and this (as you say) was by accident. But the difference between the accidents of slipping on a banana peel and her tripping on the dress is that the actions of the Mane 6 are what caused her to trip (and later also get blinded by the wig.) So the award was an extension of their apology to her for taking things too far. Whether or not she should have accepted it is a matter of debate, though I tend to let it slide since her and Sandbar did show a great example of friendship. It's not so much about showing ponies how to not be racist as it is about exposing the citizens of Ponyville to other cultures and how they do things differently. While Equestria does have other creatures, it is a mostly homogeneous population made up entirely of ponies. They might see a few griffons during the Equestria games, they might run by a few cows to chat. But for the most part the other species have been AWOL from their society for one reason or another: Griffons and the yaks kept to themselves. Hippogriffs were in hiding. Dragons and ponies don't get along and knew "next to nothing" about one another. The changelings were adversaries. Even Zecora seems to be the only zebra interested in living there. These past two or three seasons have been the first chance they've had to intermingle, and this dance was just another chance for them to do that. Also Spike is an interesting case. Even though ponies don't seem to react to him negatively (probably due to his age), we just saw 3 episodes ago he didn't feel like he fit in with Twilight's family. I talked about that a bit in my comments on that episode, but to summarize they just didn't think he'd be interested in doing pony things since he was a dragon. So even though ponies aren't all outwardly racist, there's a cultural divide that may make others species feel excluded.

That makes perfect sense, and would explain why he'd feel safe spilling the beans in front of Rainbow Dash. Though I still wonder if Daring Do really wants to be outed like that. XD This part of the conversation brings up an interesting point: Perhaps Ponyville has players who have an advantage that none of the other teams can duplicate, so there's no need to ever change their strategy since it (probably almost) always ends up winning the game for them? Specifically, can Pinkie use her Pinkie Sense to figure out what the opposing team is going to do next? If Fluttershy uses her stare, is that legal? I'm not sure what special abilities Snails has but it wouldn't surprise me if it gives him a big advantage as well. XD This reminds me of the balance issues many real-time computer strategy games have, causing companies to spend years releasing patches to get things right. Perhaps buckball is so new there are issues with the rules that always give Ponyville an advantage over other teams?

That song has a rather unique and catchy rhyming structure. I like it! Those parts about the shampooing and "Too much Twilight" cracked me up. XD I'm curious as to which character the moral will be directed toward - Rarity, Yona, or both? We just got the moral of "be yourself" in last week's episode, so it would be unusual to duplicate it so soon. I suppose it depends on how Sandbar and the rest of the Student 6 react to her new look and attitude of trying to be more like a pony. It could even be neither if the students end up being overly critical of her change and they become the target of the moral. (I feel this is highly unlikely, however.) I wonder if there will be an explanation as to why Spike picked deadmau5 specifically to dress up as when he DJs, or whether this will be like the dragon costume in "Luna Eclipsed" where he dons a costume and the audience just rolls with the visual gag? It worked for "Pygmalion"/"My Fair Lady," though we don't know without seeing the episode if the end result is Rarity becoming obsessed with her creation and forcing Yona to become something she isn't. EDIT: And I just found out the film this episode's title is playing off of, "She's All That," (1999) is in fact a redo of "My Fair Lady." So there you go.

That is one of the things I noticed after initially seeing it. Both the 200th and 201st episodes were wall-to-wall with visual gags and snappy comebacks; this episode had to be more sincere in its storytelling so the change of tone is all the more apparent. Especially when Discovery Family airs the previous week's episode right before the new one and I happened to tune in to see it again.

The episode plays better the second time around. I think this is the first time we've seen Rainbow Dash ribbing someone over having a special somepony with her line, "Soooo, you and Clear Sky, huh?" I found that very amusing. XD Also interesting is Rainbow Dash spilling the beans to Clear Sky and Wind Sprint that Daring Do is real. Or does everyone already know she's real and alive?

A nice episode. Everyone was in character, the story made sense, and it resolved itself satisfactorily. I felt like the first two acts with the multiple attempts at trying to win Wind Spirit over could have finished sooner and left more time to show her and Quibble bonding. It didn't help that Clear Sky was pointing out the solution early on - which by itself does make perfect sense - but unfortunately also highlights that there was no clear reason for Quibble to not listen to her in the first place and simply slow things down. I understand he really wanted to make her like him so they could be a family, but I guess I don't know enough about his character to say definitively that he would be obsessive over something that didn't involve Daring Do trivia or his fan theories. But the episode isn't made for me. I've been fortunate enough to never have had to make room for another parent in my life. The kids who have to deal with this situation are the ones the message is targeted toward, and in that respect it succeeds. It's kind of funny that the pony Quibble should have been seeking advice from to slow down and take things gradually also happened to be in this episode, and by that I mean Snails. He's the master of zen and Quibble could have learned a thing or two from him instead of Rainbow Dash, who is exactly the opposite. In fact, I wish the episode had used his demeanor in some way to help resolve things, but it was nice to see and hear from him again, anyway. (Also Snips, who has become a forgotten character as of late.) I guess that explains why Applejack didn't appear in this episode - it would have short-circuited the resolution even more than Clear Sky was already doing. If there's one positive thing I can take out of "The Cart Before the Pony" is that she is all about slow and steady, and having someone with strong opinions like her around would have prevented Rainbow Dash's plans from being executed. I missed Quibble's snarky attitude. That's one of the fun things about his character, but here he has to tone it down in order for the audience to root for him. Still, I think a scene of he and his real-life daughter having a snark-off over Buckball trivia would have made for a funny scene, and that in itself could have been a breakthrough bonding moment for the two of them. They could have even played it up in that Clear would be horrified at first but then see this is the way they can make a connection, maybe even throwing in an inside joke of, "Are you two sure you're not related?" XD Anyway, this is a likeable low-key episode that is stretched out a little too long in the middle section.

Starlight thinks both Twilight and Spike have gone off the deep end: Also, +1 for more silly expressions.

It wouldn't surprise me if bits are solid gold. Reason being that in a world where anyone can apparently dig almost anywhere and find rare gems, the same it likely true for gold. XD Twilight speculated she owed around 1000 bits. Someone else already did the math and calculated with 28 days per month, and 12 months in a year, then it's been at least 3 years. But since Twilight was only speculating and Spike later said "You don't want to know" when he used the abacus, it's hard to say whether there's any useful details we can use. It's probably better to continue using the number of holidays that pass in the show to indicate passage of time. Even if the Cake twins seemingly never age. XD

I must think anything is possible in their world, then, because as I was live commenting on the episode I basically said someone needs to look into how that library is run if it turned out to be true that she was fired because of the missing book. Heh, I went and watched that scene as well to check for continuity and you're right the book in question appears to land beside her. However there's no actual historical footage of where the book lands - only a shot of a book on the floor - so I'm willing to give the show some wiggle room to tell a story. In fact, I was impressed there was a scene of her tossing books aside at all because I thought that part was where the new animation started - I didn't realize she actually did that. Also of note is she conveniently only remembers from when Spike is coming up the stairs and not the scene the moment before where she smacks him to the floor with the door. Knowing her personality, I could see her fretting. Being banned from a library (even if she could ask for special permission to get back in) would be a terrible black mark on her record, especially because research is one of her true joys in life. The same is true for her Best Borrower pic - it's a matter of pride and losing that cuts to her soul. It's funny, because seeing Twilight and Spike here took me back to me childhood. When I was young, I worried like Twilight that some book I returned would somehow not get reshelved and I'd end up with a huge fine I'd have to pay as an adult. (Yes I was in general a big worrywart, and still am to some extent today, lol.) Of course, Twilight and Spike are much older, and should know better. But since the episode made a point of the library seemingly going out of its way to remain mum on the fact that there's a cap, perhaps instilling some of that worry in patrons was intentional in order to keep their books from being taken or lost? It seems almost like the fines they were calculating were mistakenly including interest or something, because it ultimately capped at such a low level it seems like the fine was really only 1 bit a day. (Which in itself is interesting because it means at least some Equestrian months only have 28 days in them.) Having said that, I very much want to believe Spike was calculating based on some simple fixed-accumulative factor, because it would allow us to determine the number of years which have passed since episode 1. Like I said to @Ganondox above, because I wasn't sure how Equestria society works, I wasn't sure if this was possible or not. If it were true, then it would be an outrageous situation for librarians to never lose a single book to a patron. And the only way such an arrangement could work is if librarians had the power to deny book loans to an individual if said creature looked suspicious and unlikely to return a book (which would also be outrageous). But I was willing to give the story a chance to play out to see if and how Twilight misunderstood what had happened. (As it turned out, it was Folio who was at fault.) Perhaps. One interesting possibility is instead of a library card, the library creates a stamp based on your cutie mark and gives the stamp it to you? Thus the creature in question is responsible for bringing their stamp with them when they want to check out a book and that stamp is used in the ledger. I think that was just a reflex to the shame of having to return a book so late. I don't think she really expected anyone to not know it was her since a record lookup would need to be done. Racist ponies think dragons are only there to serve them! :O XD Actually, that may not be that far from the truth after learning there's an undercurrent of xenophobia going on in Equestria last season. Though in reality it's probably more about him looking like a busboy than him being a dragon. Maybe they figure a bipedal creature with digits makes sense to hire as a waiter instead of a quadruped, digitless pony. As for why he goes along with it, he's already at wits end with Twilight so he didn't have anything left to argue with the diners that he wasn't employed there. Or maybe there's some past explanation from when he lived in Canterlot and came to expect this kind of treatment because ponies thought he was someone's pet? Another instance of ponies not taking young dragons seriously. Or maybe they were just angry at them for interrupting their game? I think they intentionally fail to mention that, but I can't say how it would work out legally since we don't know much about their legal system; though I would think in Canterlot it would mean appealing to Celestia and Luna directly. I never even caught that detail. I think because of the way the episode ended, I just assumed she took the room because of her reminding Twilight about teaching her Haycarte's method. But you're right the episode doesn't actually answer that question definitively.

Dusty didn't get fired - that was just a rumor that Folio had mistakenly believed. Dusty's record being tarnished allowed her the freedom to quit and get away from the library and try other things life had to offer. Very possible. I like the idea that Moondancer's self-imposed isolation may have led to several books being returned late, and that's why she got to know Folio. Maybe there was even some hurt feelings between the two of them because of all the late returns and Moondancer took the initiative and patched things up after Twilight and her friends fixed things back in S5?

This scene of Celestia sending the scroll explaining the delivery made me laugh, even though the context was probably unintentional: Spike: "Really?? She couldn't have put it into the box?" Spike, she's just trolling you for what you did to her in the previous episode. Also, Spike seems to end up getting roped into hiding in bushes more often than any other character except for maybe the CMC. (And Starlight, that one time.) Also, those faces on the last one. XD

Yes, the initial reason Twilight heard was just a rumor. The gist of it was ponies heard that her perfect record was broken due to a missing book and that she no longer had her job. So they put those two bits of info together and just assumed she had been fired for the missing book. To clarify, he's appearing in episodes where it makes sense for him to appear, not that he's being forced into situations where it doesn't make sense. And in those appearances he's been written as well as he's ever been. True, though about jumping to conclusions. I'll just shut up about that since I don't want to jinx it, lol.

Another episode I loved. There were a few pacing issues, but otherwise a really fun romp through memory lane. Yeah, that was really freaky. Not sure what it was a reference to, if anything. I wouldn't say she ruined Dusty's life - even though she thinks she did for most of this episode. Her forgetting to return the book turned out to be the best thing that happened to Dusty. That moment was a nice surprise and great bit of character growth for Twilight. She took the lesson from "Amending Fences" and didn't hesitate to apply it here. That alone is enough to make this the best G.M. Berrow episode to date. Not quite - he didn't have any lines in episode 2, since he was zombified the whole time. Cathy Weseluck's name didn't even appear in the credits for that one. However, he still did appear, so it counts towards not being forgotten in any episode so far. @FlareGun45 must be very happy that the curse of Spike's odd-numbered seasons where he either gets poorly written or barely gets airtime (in just 5 episodes this season, he's appeared more than he did for the entirety of S7) is finally broken. I was a bit worried when I heard the premise that the Twilight freak-outs would start to get stale. But the way the episode plays out, that never happens. When it's revealed Dusty was "fired" because of that book, Twilight had a right to be concerned that she was to blame. But the episode switches things up and instead of Twilight continuing to worry about herself, she immediately gets concerned over the librarian. Spike still tries to reassure her, but in a way that's balanced and sensible. (And even he has a few moments of panic when it comes to the fines and other ramifications of her never returning the book.) Berrow's best work using dialogue to express the mood, hands down. I was very happy to see baby Spike again in the family photo. Seems like everyone' working on the series is finally on the same page that Spike did indeed exist between the times of his hatching and Twilight leaving for Ponyville. A minor gripe I have is the pacing changes so abruptly between the first two acts and the third act. In the former, the visual gags, Easter eggs, and funny dialogue come in rapid-fire succession. The third act slows that pace considerably, and feels more like a typical Berrow episode. I was really enjoying the adrenaline rush, and felt its lack of presence when it stopped. Like I said, no biggie, but I would have liked to see the pace slow more gradually than it did. But why complain about perfection in an episode where that's the moral? XD Also, after last week's episode, hearing Twilight refer to Spike as "best companion" just reminded me of how he really wants to be thought of. I imagine there are technical reasons why she didn't refer to him as "L.B.B.B.F" since all these scripts are written in parallel, but that was the only other jarring aspect I experienced while watching this one. This really did feel like a nice followup to that episode. If they had had Moondancer tag along during the search it would have made it even better! I'm dubious that that is the reason why they didn't appear. They could have appeared and not had any dialogue if they were concerned about Caucasian actors playing ethnic roles . I don't think anyone could argue showing other cultures wearing colorful outfits in a non-human fantasy setting is somehow insulting. (Heck, we even got Derpy speaking again in this episode.) My guess is there wasn't time to include them since they had so many Easter egg pony assets they had to create. On a side note, I'm thoroughly impressed with Spike's knowledge of naan (and giggling over how he just assumed the role of waiter without even putting up a fight, lol). It would make sense since he's the castle cook and likely has to prepare appropriate meals for visiting dignitaries who come to see the Castle of Friendship. Huh. I didn't get that impression. He was just trying to prevent a lot of time being wasted since she has a school to run now. Maybe when I get to see it again, I'll count the number of grumpy Spike faces? XD

It's Apple Chord. At least that's what my ears heard. It was Tirek in last season's finale who kept forgetting about Spike while they were all trapped together in Tartarus. And he kept saying 6 with Spike correcting him to 7. So it did happen, just not with Chrysalis. I thought that moment was hilarious. I'll bet if Starswirl had been present, he'd gently scold her for being un-princess-like.

She didn't; I was just using its premise as a comparison example.

We seem to be getting a lot of Twilight panic episodes lately. Even the HWE special had her stressing out. It's like she's not only gunning for Sibling Supreme, but is also trying to win back the title of "Master of the Freak-Out" from Starlight, as Spike puts it. But in this case, perhaps G.M. Berrow really wanted a chance to write a Twilight-loses-it episode before the series ends even though there have been so many? One upside is Berrow's best episode, "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" was a really fun outing, so putting Twilight into that kind of situation could work well. From the two promotional shots that have been released, I wonder if the librarian is really happy being retired but Twilight tries to rectify things anyway? I hope not - that treads a little too closely to "A Friend in Deed" territory - and that episode was rather frustrating to see Pinkie sink so low. What's funny is I thought this episode would be the best opportunity to see young Twilight with baby Spike in a flashback to when the book in question was checked out. As it turned out, I got that present an episode early. Some have speculated the book in question could be the one that prophecized the return of Nightmare Moon. That would be a really nifty bit of continuity to the series opener, and fitting as a premise for an episode in the final season. Anyway, here's hoping to another good episode to make it 5 in a row. A chance to have more changelings visit Ponyville is always welcome in my opinion.

On a side note, it was presumptuous of him to declare himself the ultimate winner just because he had the last win. A better standard would have been to count the number of wins by each of them and the one who won the most is the ultimate winner. Of course, then the episode wouldn't be able to close Spike's story arc since he'd have just that one win. But I suspect Twilight and Shining both realized they had both been petty with each other by the end of the contest upon seeing Spike so glum. They decided the right thing to do was give it to him as part of their apology for taking him for granted for all those years the three of them lived together. I had to revise my previous statement: I was actually thinking she should teleport it outside the castle walls, away from all the guards. But I forgot about the changeling throne shards blocking that magic. While she could teleport it to another location inside the castle, I suspect the extra patrols would make getting it to one of Sparkle's 7 very difficult and too much of a risk to attempt. I don't think she could teleport it to the tunnels under the castle, either, because they also may be outside the magic barrier. She could teleport it to another room in the castle, but would that really be any easier than the throne room if they are not all familiar with the layout of the place? I guess Spike's plan of having the real heist go down right under Celestia and Shining's noses with everyone present was ultimately the best option.

I think the real sore spot for Twilight (and Spike) is Shining kept the crown to himself and didn't share it with her over the past several years. Twilight won the (monthly?) competition several times, so she may have felt slighted that he took it and hid it from her. (I don't know for sure if he really hid it from her, but it since it didn't show up in "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" when she dug out all of his childhood items, he must have been keeping it in a secret location in the palace at the Crystal Empire. (Of course, the real reason is that DHX didn't know any of this at the time of Cadance being pregnant, but now it has to be the default explanation since this is the new lore. XD ) I have to take Celestia's statement about Sombra's return at face value, and they are planning to keep whatever security ends up being proven reliable there permanently, or at least until whatever threat which managed to raise Sombra from the dead is dealt with. (Though you're right some of it is impractical, more on that in a bit.) It could be that Celestia and Luna know more about what is going on than they are letting on and they are not revealing more in order to prevent a panic. (I'm not sure keeping Twilight and Cadance in the dark is wise if that's the case, though.) Since the castle is just one building in Canterlot, presumably the fans wouldn't affect the regular populace - and even then only pegasi. Only the princesses and guards would be majorly inconvenienced by all these fans since they are the ones who arrive and leave by air via the various landing spots available. I guess they'll just have to huff it like earth ponies and unicorns to get in and out of the castle. I'm not really sure why they have so many ways into the castle that bypass security in the first place. I could see good reasons to have several secret exits in case the castle is overrun and the princesses have to flee. But these tunnels are very obvious to anyone walking by, and I'm surprised they weren't bricked up right after Chrysalis' defeat in S6. When it comes to the royals, who pays for anything in this kingdom, really? XD These two are the only things that don't make sense. They make for a great bit of storytelling, but from a practical matter I'm not sure they would work out, either. The geese would poop and honk at every visitor who came to see the royals. The princesses would trigger the trap door and fall into the pit like Spike and Fluttershy did. In fact, these two security measures seem to be designed to protect an inanimate item and not two living beings, in this case the Hard-Won Helm. So in this regard I agree these two may have only been designed for the contest. Spike and Fluttershy's role was extra tricky. He wanted them to be sabotaged as another reason to switch back to Twilight's plan, but it had to do it in a way that didn't get them caught in the process. If they were caught and detained, there would be no chance of Twilight's plan even getting off the ground. It was fortuitous Rarity and Rainbow happened along and triggered the escape. The patron pony who walked by said it was always closed at that time, so presumably he's not another plant by Luna and it really was closed. It is curious Spike and Luna would make it easier for Rainbow and Rarity to get in by using Zephyr. Unless Spike has his own version of Pinkie Sense and knew he'd need them to get out of the trap door pit, it seems strange to allow the both of them to get into the tunnels since having them fail outside (where they could flee more easily) would be beneficial. Indeed. And for the second time this season we see Twilight and Spike flying in a rush all the way from Ponyville to Canterlot. Both of them having wings sure makes for convenient travel. XD And she didn't seem to know using a hot air balloon to get to space isn't ever going to work. If it were hydrogen, she could get pretty close, though. But yeah - the air requirements would be an issue. Maybe Twilight knew her plan was silly from the start and was simply humoring her? Whatever height she did manage to get to, it would have worked out in terms of acting as a lookout. Maybe in her fantasy she didn't want the imaginary versions of her family to find out about her alter-ego, either? It's Spike's fantasy, so explosions and lasers are right in line with a teenage male. I can attest. Good point. Hopefully this little exercise won't cause problems for her down the road.... Another animation error? Storyboarding error? Ran out of time to actually animate the crown floating over? XD Or perhaps when they did storyboard it, the layout artist realized it would be hard for the Helm to stay hidden from Shining since it would be floating in front of the direction he was facing and it was decided to not bother re-recording the dialogue? What I find interesting is how much the plan relied on Luna being there at the end. Spike did predict Shining would gloat, and presumably both of the princesses would be by his side to officiate - and that meant Luna would be there as the ultimate card up his sleeve. But couldn't have Luna teleported the Helm out to Twilight before any of the plans even started? I suppose that would mean Luna would get the Helm and not Twilight, but in terms of testing would it not be just as valid an "inside threat" as the way it actually played out in the episode? A lot less fun, I suppose. EDIT: Duh on me. I forgot about the shards blocking teleportation outside the castle. And trying to get it to someone inside the castle but outside the throne room would be risky with the extra patrols. Maybe Luna didn't expect Spike to spill the beans as to how he got the crown and was thinking she could simply keep the "security hole" a secret, and when it came time to do the plans herself like she wanted in the first place, she'd simply include inside threats as a factor?

What's the biggest flaw? Spike's Flash puppet unexpectedly disappearing mid-scene while Twilight is in front of her chalkboards making plans. XD I didn't notice this until it was pointed out, and apparently none of the animators at DHX noticed this, either.

FUN FACT #2: Back in S1E01, Spike told Fluttershy his entire life's story. Therefore the competition between Twilight and Shining must have been mentioned. It puts Twilight's sour mood at the end of his story in a new light since Spike likely brought up the fact that Shining had been the last winner of the Sibling Crown and never returned it. (If you hadn't noticed, I'm having too much fun retconning all of these events back into the earlier parts of the series. XD) Now I have this mental image of him wearing it in the Canterlot barracks when he was coming up through the ranks because he wanted to feel like a king. XD Speaking of when they were young, I love all these shots we got of them together: That last one is kind of interesting in that it implies Twilight Velvet looked after Spike while Twilight was in class, which is different from the ideas put forth in the IDW comic where she had to drag him around school in a papoose. (Its true the comic isn't canon but was the only thing we had to go on until now.) I suppose both could be true if these scenes portray events after the comic, and Velvet took a bigger role in caring for Spike. This is the one that is the most adorable and most heartbreaking, however: He really, really wanted to be included in their little competition, since even then he wanted to be a part of the family even though he was a dragon and not a pony. Some real feels here when I saw this. Also, it's worth noting dragons are competitive by nature (according to Ember) so it makes perfect sense he would want to compete. In hindsight, I should have realized Spike would be the one to get the crown right at this scene, as it was clear he wanted to win and would be his reward at the end of the episode. Finally, it's interesting to compare the old baby Spike model to the new one. Here it is for reference: The most striking difference is the size of his eyes. They were smaller and more proportional to the rest of his head, much like how he normally looks in the show. I guess DHX decided larger eyes are cuter, though I have to say he's plenty cute for a baby in his S1 flashback.