Senko

You know on rewatching this as part of my effort to make a timeline I've just realized how many hints to Cozy Glows true personality are scattered through it like her mistaking the symbol for the magic of friendship for "control" when she's being tutored.

Interestingly the species that guards pony dreams in the comics live on the moon and where corrupted by Nightmare Moon when she was banished there. Excluding cross media continuity an interesting paralell could be made between Ponies not having a dream guardian and the number of mental . . . quirks the main characters have demonstrated. Twilight: Obsessive compulsive to the point of mania if things fall through. Pinkie: Depressive if she feels her friends are excluding her to the point of delusion. Starlight: Embarked on a scheme to steal cutie marks and later rewrite history becuase her foalhood friend went off to Canterlot without her. Applejack: Obsessed with pride and self-sufficiency to the point she works herself to exhaustion. Trixie: Possibly compensating for an inferiority complex to the point she enslaves a town. Roseluck and her friends: Collapsing in a faint at the sight of a Bunny Stampede. Fluttershy: Literally afraid of her own shadow.

It may just be me but its a feeling I get a lot in this season and I am using OOC as in different to their established character from the previous 8 seasons. For example Twilight going into a nervous wreck in response to things is not something she really does anymore but their using it to the point others have a name for it is in my opinion in character. She doesn't do it nearly to the extent they seem to imply but it is an established part of her character. Having the two princesses who have consistently been calm, collected and largely hands off rulers who try to guide others to the solution even after multiple direct attacks (Tirek, Chrysalis, the storm kings army) suddenly start running around the country trying to solve every little problem personaly because they got a taste of adventure earlier in the season and want more is OOC. This is not in character, its in fact directly opposite to their established characters and the reason doesn't make sense when they've had similar circumstances without this kind of reaction before.

It's something I've noticed in season 9 there's a lot more episodes where the writers have a specific story they want to tell and are quite happy to make characters out of character to ensure they fit in with that story rather than shaping the story to fit the characters.

Moondancer too though not Minuette, Lemon Drops or Lyra that we've seen. And he's supposed to have a cutie mark in magic too.

Do we know that? I don't recall ever having a backstory as to what her cutie mark actually means.

I was thinking about the ponies we know in the show and it hit me why both Sunburst and Twilight got into Celestia's school. It's not power, intelligence or the like its that they both had a cutie mark in magic. Compare them to Sweetie Belle a unicorn tutored by Twilgiht who got a cutie mark in helping other ponies and never even got asked if she wanted to go. Obviously its a school for unicorns gifted in magic any unicorn who gets a cutie mark in that is automatically in. If you don't have one like Twilight didn't till her surge the best you can hope for is that you'll be given a chance to prove your really, really good at it and be allowed in that way because you might get a cutie mark in it in the future. Similarly Starlight probably was violentally opposed to the whole idea and her dad didn't want to let her go so no one realized her cutie mark was in magic until she was all grown up and enslaving towns.

It does have a lot of problems especially since we've seen Twilight doing a lot of paperwork, summits and other princess duties alongside Celestia, possibly more than Luna given her night shift nature. Like I said its not a bad "episode" taking alone but taken as part of the established continuity and it just has them out of character from where I sit. The characters are being forced into a specific role to allow the story to be told rather than the story being told in a way that fits with the characters. Even if you retained the Celestia, Luna want some time off together with Twilight taking on more duties it could be done more in character. Have Celestia wanting to take advantage of the quiet times to bond more with her sister rather than only seeing her at Twiligth or special events. Have her ask Twilight to temporarily handle the duties alone while they connect. Have them spending time together and enjoying things like sharing the sunset/moonrise (done by them) on the top of Mt Fillymanjero, have little moments of bonding with things like Celestia watching her sister fanfilly over posting a letter with mild amusement and affection. Have the conflict come form in character quirks like Celestia wanting to enjoy her vacation with quiet and sedate things like spa visits or the opera. Things she's been shown to love previously while Luna hates them because after a thousand years alone on the moon and countless night's seeing amazing things in other ponies dreams she wants the chance to experience them herself. Have Luna be the one wanting to do ziplining or other extreme activities when Celestia just wants to rest and enjoy watching her little ponies enjoy the kingdom she made for them. Then if you have to repeat the fight/make up we've seen before in the show it flows a lot more naturally. Just my opinion.

They took it too far though this isn't how they've acted in private before as I've said it just feels like they aren't the princesses we've seen who are capable of having fun without acting like kids. Especially with things like Celestia dragging Luna away from something she's had an entire episode dedicated to her enjoying.

Isn't Snips a profesional Buckball player and Snails has designs to be his manager?

Unlikely given Rainbow and Scootaloo barely know each other before sleepless in ponyville, the episode opens on Scootaloo saying she just needs to find a way for them to spend more time together which she wouldn't if Dash was taking care of her. Rarity might be given she's friends with Sweetie Belle when first introduced, the cakes may be an outside chance (It seems unlikely to me but then I'm still not sure why they're part of the rotation in the first place beyond the proposed "small town everyone know's everyone and chips in" another poster gave). Dash however doesn't know her before season 3 as I see it.

Ummm . . . ok . . . so either the writer has no idea of character or history for this show or they decided Celestia and Luna are in the middle of a midlife crisis. That would explain a lot about their recent actions come to think of it. Of course it doesn't explain Twilight believing the princesses do everything themselves when the "heads of the swanifying commitee' are introducing themselves and Celestia has constantly delegated jobs to her and her friends. Some cute moments in this episode (Fluttershy's blush at Spike saying she's the only one to wash Armadillos), some worrying ones (horns can get sunburnt?) and some that are just plain odd (Luna and Celestia not wanting to raise/lower the sun/moon or Mt Fillymanejaro). All in all its a sweet episode but I just can't bring myself to like it on first viewing (there'll be at least one more when I'm doing the timeline for season 9) as so many characters are out of character not just for themselves but in context of the show itself. Though its interesting that Celestia and Luna seem to have a certain degree of Omnicogniscence as they're apparently aware of every little problem in Ponyville and are able to respond nearly instantly from Canterlot, during the day.

They bring it up yes but the rotation is Dash, Rarity and the cakes who are friends/employees of Pinkie. 2 of the mane 6 and a close friend of one of them which is why I suspect them for having organized it.