PlunderSteed

Holy crap that was one heck of a necro. Dude must have rolled a Nat 20 to pull off that kind of Necromancy...brought back a thread that had been dormant for 8 years. I'm just poking fun, though. It was a fine thread, and there's life in the old gal yet! On to the question at hand...I've met many thousands over the years. At BronyCon 2015 there were over 10,000 attendees. Some of my most meaningful friendships were made during my interactions with the fandom. Also, like half of my FWBs have been pegasisters I met at conventions or in online brony groups.

Yada yada, more commentary on old episodes... - Best line of the season (so far) goes to Glim Glam. While speaking to Twilight, she says, "you're not a PRINCESS princess," which illustrates that massive gap in experience and royal stature between Princess Nerd and the fucking Sun Goddess. Everyone knows this, but it takes someone like Glim Glam to actually say it. - Terrifying canon: Before Celestia, every single sunrise required the permanent sacrifice of 5 unicorn magicians. I mean...Jesus FUCK! Was their planet tidal locked to the sun or something? Weird physics aside, I think that bit of lore originally came from the comics back in like 2015, but I'm not sure. Cool to see it acknowledged in the show, though. That alone makes Celestia deserving of the worship she's received for the past 1,111 years. - When it comes to dealing with the reality that Celestia is a bad actress, I'm glad AJ immediately stepped forward (as the Element of Honesty) and said, "You need to tell her the truth." And, since the Common Sense Switch is clearly NOT in the Twilight position today, Twilight discards this advice. The rest of the episode was a bit cringey, but I suppose it's important for Twilight to be reminded that Celestia isn't perfect.

Sweet, who's ready for some more of my eons-too-late commentary? Nobody, eh? Cool. Here it is anyway. - The CMC summoned by the map? I was pleasantly surprised, but I feel dumb for being surprised, because this sort of thing was bound to happen. Also...the CMC burst into the map room as if they know exactly what their glowing butts mean. Is it common knowledge that the map even exists, let alone how it works??? I mean, I suppose it SHOULD be. Otherwise the CMC wouldn't know wtf it meant when their cutie marks started glowing. - Scoots totally, immediately calls out Twilight for tagging along purely because "somepony just wants a vacation." - AB's janky exposition about Hippogryph lore. Ehh...it's sometimes necessary to do this kind of thing, given a 22 minute episode runtime. Christopher Nolan this is not. - The CMC encounter the same problem the Mane 7 have been struggling with for 4 years: the map gives no context or specifics about what the "friendship problem" actually is. I'm glad they addressed this right away, and I'm glad Twilight was there to steer them in the right direction. I haven't read this entire thread (wanted to avoid spoilers), but just from scrolling down, I gathered that a lot of people found Twilight's presence annoying. I get that, but I don't think the episode would be plausible without her. - At the festival I'm getting some kind of tension from Terramar. The subtext seems to be that he's biracial...triracial?... and openly embracing this seems to be frowned upon by the ultra-terran/avian folks who chose to leave the sea permanently. I'm sure other pointed this out years ago, but his name, Terramar, is a blend of the Latin words for "earth" and "sea." - "Everygryph" is a term, like "everypony." I like this. Everygryph refers to gryphs of all types, in the same way that everypony refers to the 3 types (or 4, if you include Alicorns) of ponies. - Sky Beak addresses Twilight as "Your Highness", and she takes it in stride. Has anyone else addressed her in this way? - Scoots says, "when in doubt chart it out." This is the most Twilight thing I've ever heard anyone say. And in this situation, it's an easy, practical way to gain insight. Good job, Scoots. - They transform into Seaponies. It's heartbreaking to see Scootaloo swimming around freely as she says, "this must be just like flying." - Let's take a moment to appreciate the beautiful musical score as Twilight, Terramar, and the Crusaders go to meet Ocean Flow. Nice work, William Anderson and Kelly Davidson. - "Your Heart is in Two Places" is the best song so far this season. Another solid showing from Daniel Ingram and lyricist Brian Hohlfeld. This is the first time we've heard Scoots sing since like...season 6? The singing voice wasn't Madeleine Peters, btw. It was Arielle Tuliao this time. - Twilight artfully declines the high-pressure demands from both sides of the surf, and immediately connects this stress to Terramar's problem. Good job, Friendship Goblin. - Speaking of all that, are Terramar's parents divorced or what? They seem friendly (in a genuine kind of way), but they clearly don't interact that often. Good subtext. This episode has nuance. I like that. And I like how the Crusaders are growing up and gaining adult responsibilities. They're still immature and shortsighted in their own ways, but so are the Mane 7, who are all at least 10 years older. Life be like that sometimes. And we get to see Twilight doing legit Princess stuff, and doing it well. Great episode!

Watching this one for the first time. Favorite moments (I pause and type them here as they occur): - Spitfire and Fleetfoot playing chess on the Wild Blue Yonder roller coaster. Fun fact: that term, "The Wild Blue Yonder" comes from the official song of the United States Air Force. - A terrified Angel Bunny riding on Rainbow Dash's back - AJ lassos Dash's tail. Am I forgetting something, or is it true that the only character AJ EVER lassos is Dash? How many times has she done this, btw? Fodder for the Appledash crowd. - The grannies come with written instructions, including what/when to eat. Like they're fucking Gremlins. Or Alan from The Hangover. - The whole "roller coaster built into a hotel" thing is a reference to the real world "Big Apple Coaster" which sits atop the New York New York Hotel in Las Vegas. I rode this coaster in 2000, when it was called The Manhattan Express. - Dash used her left wing as a hand, of sorts, when she pulled out the itinerary. I've never seen her or any other Pegasus do this before. Makes sense, I guess. At least as much sense as Pinkie sprouting fingers from her hoof, right? - Derp Cat judges the shit out of Rainbow Dash - Spooky AJ ghost reminding Dash of what not to do. We now have two episodes this season where terrible stereotypes of the Mane 6 show up as Dickensian guilt ghosts. - Granny Smith's nachos look frackin' amazing. With jalapeños, as is good and proper. - Wait, so is DJ Pon3 the only DJ in all of Equestria? She just *poof* appears in Las Pegasus to do a show, and nobody comments on it. - Horny old ladies, and Dash's reaction: "so gross." Jealous, perhaps? - "Well, fish-flavored kitten kittle" is apparently a saying. Gonna use this one at work, next time someone gives me a lame excuse about why they messed something up. - Annoyed by the ending: they got pics of Dash riding the coaster, but never showed her adding them to the cork board alongside the other Wonderbolts pics. It was a fun episode, if terribly formulaic. Granny Smith got to let her hair down (figuratively and literally) for once. The "most irresponsible" character being forced to be responsible is a classic setup, and she inevitably overdoes it. Also, I'm now hungry for nachos. Good job, DHX.

I'm just now coming back to the community after a 5 year break. Making my way through S8, and this episode is the first one that really made me laugh. A couple thoughts: 1. Calling raccoons "rodents" is basically using the N-word. Hilarious, but also clever use of subtext. 2. Flutterbitch is best Flutter. 3. Exactly how close are Ponyville and Manehattan? A whole bunch of characters are shown going back and forth throughout the episode, as if it's only a half hour drive.

As others already said, I wouldn't call her a troll (which implies a mean-spirited kind of humor), but she does appreciate a little joke here and there as a way to subvert the hyper-formal atmosphere that follows her around like a rain cloud. Like many in royalty, she definitely seems to be tired of everything being proper all day everyday. I can't blame her. At work, my position kind of puts me in a place where people think of me as a humorless authority figure, but I do a lot of the same things that Celestia does...if nothing else, to gradually put people at ease and maybe relate to them.