S05:E01+02 - The Cutie Map

[Doctor Boojangles 52]

Question: What would Starlight have done to Spike? Turn him into a Pony, then give him an equal-sign Cutie Mark?

Good question, but I don't think her magic has much to do with Cutie Marks and more with taking away what makes them special.

I think a Cutie Mark really represents a level of skill; there's no pre-determined mark but once you get good at something you're Cutie Mark shows it. Twilight was good at magic and got her mark for that, but maybe if she was good at throwing parties she would have Pinkie's mark.

 

TL;DR It would have the same effect.

[killerjag 4]

I see a lot of people sugarcoating communism here, or calling what was shown in the episode fascism or cult. Sorry to break it to you guys, but thats what communism is like(or inevitably becomes). If it looks like a fascist cult to you, you're not wrong, communism is a fascist cult. Just ask eastern europe.

[Twilight Frost 271]

At the end of the series, starlight will steal the cutie marks fo those talanted in magic, including trixie and use their talent to try and beat Twilight who foiled her plans from before.

[Not_A_Replicant 96]

I gotta admit, I dislike Rarity's characterisation. I love how all of the Mane 6 are involved, but Rarity feels a little... off. I guess is because how she always seem to complain over the clothing and the filthy interior.

Yeah. At one point in the episode, she said something about the drapes having nothing to them and I was like, "Just like your character!" #epicburn XD

I personally would like to see her return, as a recurring villain, kinda like Trixie or Sunset Shimmer in the equestria girls series. 

 

Hopefully Hasbro, doesn't just mention her and forget her. 

 I feel like this might happen again with other "villians" throughout this season. They might team up at the end of the season and form an Anti-Mane 6. That would be pretty BA.

Edited April 7, 2015 by P403N1X

[Honsou 399]

I agree. They let her escape for that very reason. She'll be back... the question is: When?

Dun Dun Dunnnnn!!!

Yes Brother Boulder, but look at Chrysalis, she escaped did she not? We have not seen hide nor hair from her. 

[Abia 258]

Yes Brother Boulder, but look at Chrysalis, she escaped did she not? We have not seen hide nor hair from her.

Escaped? Sure, if you consider mass expulsion by force escape.... Starlight Glimmer left voluntarily, meaning she has time to lick her wounds and reappear. Chrysalis was clearly defeated and allowed, mercifully, to crawl back to her kingdom.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Abia

[DemonicBox 58]

Here's what confuses me, In a past episode where applebloom asked twilight to give her a cutie mark but she said she couldn't and that it isnt possible, so how did starlight do that? not to mention Remove it.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

Here's what confuses me, In a past episode where applebloom asked twilight to give her a cutie mark but she said she couldn't and that it isnt possible, so how did starlight do that? not to mention Remove it.

I asked myself the same question. 

[SLotus 8]

I think the focus of season 5 will be the mane 6 wrecking some ideologys and the show will change to My Little Pony : Friendship is Freedom
 jk

[Steve Piranha 28,778]

I'm rewatching it, wanna see what details I've missed  :comeatus:

[Music Chart Fan 818]

Overall, this couple of episodes was decent. There weren't a lot of super-memorable or impactful individual moments for me (though Starlight Glimmer's "Quiet!" was a good one), but the episodes were generally engaging, and I essentially agree with the lessons (whether implicit or explicit) of the episodes - i.e., that having friends with different talents and interests than you is possible and even beneficial; that people generally will be worse off and less happy when they give up individuality for the sake of "equality" or "fairness"; that total equality and fairness is impossible and not even desirable in the first place; that leaders/rulers who order others to sacrifice for the sake of "the community" or vague ideals like "equality" will almost inevitably be hypocrites and not adhere to their own orders; etc.

 

First, I'll write about some of the bigger questions I saw in these episodes. Of course, one of the bigger mysteries that isn't touched on much is Starlight Glimmer - in particular, her background and her motivations. I agree with others that Starlight is less obvious than previous villains who tried to take over the world, used overwhelming power to do so, needed to be defeated by a special force, etc. Yet she does seem to be a more skilled unicorn than usual. Her magical ability to take ponies' cutie marks, and the special talents/skills that they represent, seems pretty unique and powerful in the world of Equestria. How exactly did she acquire this much talent, and what has she done with it previously? Also, what made her so interested in taking ponies' cutie marks away and, in doing so, creating a more "equal" society? A couple of times in the episode, she seems to have a bit of an inferiority complex, such as when she suggests that the villagers would think they're better than everyone else if they had their cutie marks, or her angrily cutting off Twilight's lectures about friendship. But, again, Starlight's background and motivations aren't really explored at all in these episodes, even though I think it would be interesting and contribute more to understanding Starlight as a character.

 

Furthermore, the logistics of Starlight's village and the history of its founding and expansion are also pretty mysterious. Near the end of the second episode, Party Favor says that "We all came to this village because we were searching for something missing from our lives", and prior to that, Double Diamond finds his skis where he first met Starlight fairly close to the village. So how exactly did everyone come to live at the village? Did they all stumble across it in the middle of nowhere, and were "convinced" to stay by Starlight? Or did Starlight actively go out recruiting for new village members? I discuss some more theories about how the village might work in this topic, where I'm discussing theories for explaining the discrepancy between the number of cutie marks in Starlight's vault and the number of villagers we see in the episodes.

 

Throughout the first episode, and even into the second one, Fluttershy seems unbelievably naive about the whole situation in the village. Even as the rest of the Mane Six (and especially Pinkie, to her credit) are rightfully skeptical and annoyed by the villagers' creepy behavior, Fluttershy doesn't even seem to recognize any issues with the villagers' forced smiles, identical greetings, the need to talk to the Mane Six in secret, etc. Is Fluttershy really so socially clueless that she can't tell the difference between genuine smiles, friendliness, etc. and obviously forced ones? Because, unfortunately, that's what it seems like in these episodes.

 

The events leading to the villagers abandoning the equality philosophy and getting everyone's cutie marks back do seem a bit overly convenient and contrived. First, are we to believe that Starlight's makeup covering her cutie mark has never been rubbed, blown, or washed off in front of anyone, ever, prior to its accidental revealing by a stray splashed water drop? Has she never, say, sweated too much, or accidentally rubbed her flanks with her hoof or on anything else (e.g. when she was putting her hoof around Fluttershy earlier)? It would seem pretty difficult to maintain that constantly without ever slipping up, and I might think that she would have accidentally revealed it sooner or later. And then, after that, the villagers seem to be oddly astute at asking the right questions and coming to the right conclusions to abandon the equality philosophy and suddenly desire to have their cutie marks back. And all of this is helped along by Starlight conveniently making just the right statements to be a hypocrite when her cutie mark is revealed. I would think that it would take a little more time and effort to dismantle Starlight's operation, e.g., some of the villagers still believing her excuses and needing to think about it and be persuaded by others to give up the philosophy.

 

Finally, on a bit of a tangent, I couldn't help noticing yet again that when Twilight declares her desire to follow the map, none of the rest of the Mane Six have any other urgent obligations (at Sweet Apple Acres, the Carousel Boutique, Sugarcube Corner, etc.) that would prevent them from going. In addition, Twilight says at the end of the episode that the rest of the Mane Six are part of her mission to spread friendship. This raises the question in my mind of who exactly is financing all of the Mane Six's past and future trips, and whether the Mane Six themselves are somehow being paid for all of this. Since this has been approved by Celestia, are the Mane Six essentially performing government functions? If the Mane Six have to be "on call" to rush off to different parts of Equestria to spread friendship, are they being paid (and being paid very much) to be available to abandon their other jobs when necessary? Are the Mane Six's expenses (e.g. train rides, food, lodging, etc.) being paid for by Equestrian taxpayers? Or are the train owner/operator, lodging owners, etc. all just donating their goods/services because they think this is a great cause? Or are the Mane Six paying their own expenses out of pocket?

 

Now I'll list some of my other quick observations, in order as they appeared in the episodes:

 

I guess the Mane Six haven't yet all sat in their chairs at the same time prior to these episodes, although, to be fair, I guess these episodes could be occurring on the same or the next day as the Season 4 finale.

 

The fact that Spike has a throne, yet it has no markings on it and it doesn't contribute at all to making the Cutie Map appear, seems like a bit of a slap in the face to him; it's like he's important enough to have a throne, but not important enough to be an integral part of helping to spread friendship across Equestria.

 

Twilight's rationale for going to the location on the map where the cutie mark symbols are is summed up by "How could we not follow it"? Twilight doesn't make any attempt to try to get more information about the map or look up any books about it? Maybe the writers don't want to mention books or libraries to save that for the future episode when Twilight and Spike mourn the destruction of the Golden Oak Library.

 

Twilight says "Looks like it's time for a road trip" - is that what they call riding on the train?

 

Apparently the train track just ends seemingly in the middle of nowhere with no town or train station or anything. Why was this track to nowhere built in the first place? Why is the train owner/operator willing to drive the train to such an undeveloped, out-of-the-way destination?

 

Of course no one in the town has heard of Twilight or the fact that she's a princess now (or apparently the rest of the Mane Six who have saved Equestria many times). I might ordinarily think that this indicates that the town is cut off from the outside world, but I know that this is a common occurrence in the show, so I guess there's nothing really to be read into it.

 

I don't necessarily see why Sugar Belle's muffins should be so bad, to the point that none of the Mane Six want to eat them and they seem to make Pinkie feel sick. Wouldn't the average pony be able to follow a recipe well enough to bake, if not great, at least tolerable muffins? It doesn't seem like following a recipe is really that hard to do.

 

Pinkie asks "Why me?" when Applejack tells her to eat the muffins, but Pinkie is the one who doubled their order, so she should already be responsible for eating at least 7 of the muffins.

 

Why didn't Sugar Belle close the basement door before she and the other two started asking questions to the Mane Six, since the goal was to make sure the whole thing stayed secret?

 

When Starlight Glimmer removes ponies' cutie marks, is she literally ripping the skin off of them? Is the cutie mark vault full of the actual removed skin of ponies?

 

When Starlight first lets the Mane Six out of the room, why don't they try to make a break for it? We know now that taking away their cutie marks also took away, e.g., Rainbow Dash's ability to fly really fast and Twilight's ability to teleport, but did they know that? Did they figure that all the ponies around would be able to stop them all anyway?

 

When Starlight is pressuring Fluttershy to reveal the dissenter ponies, she does successfully lie and say that she doesn't know who they were. But when Starlight then asks her to point them out, Fluttershy could theoretically have gone further and said something like "I wasn't paying attention to what they looked like, I don't recognize them among everyone here", though I know that Fluttershy probably isn't gutsy enough to do something like that. It would have been funny, though, to see Starlight sputtering in anger at Fluttershy's refusal to cooperate, since without any other evidence, what could Starlight do about it? I suppose she could torture Fluttershy in secret or something like that (since torturing her wouldn't square with the idea that the village is now accepting her).

 

What happened with Party Favor and the rest of the Mane Six in the locked room? Apparently they were going to show Party Favor that being different strengthens their friendship, yet, according to what he said to Starlight, he refused to believe them. Is this really true, given that he was one of the dissenters who was taking the risk to talk to the Mane Six in the first place? Or was he lying and playing some role in an alternate plan the rest of the Mane Six came up with?

 

Why does Fluttershy try to throw the bucket of water on Starlight from so high up, thus giving her a chance to dodge it? Why not start lower and/or fly toward her to make more sure that the water will hit the target?

 

Double Diamond's throwing the staff (which, as Starlight said, is just an ordinary piece of wood) at the vault's front panel is enough to shatter it and release all the cutie marks? Apparently Starlight wasn't too concerned about making the vault secure.

 

When Starlight went down in the secret hole under her bed, why didn't she replace the bed back? Did she think that it would be impossible for the Mane Six to break in to her house? Did she not care because she assumed that she would be able to get away by the time that they did break in?

 

What is up with the balloon binoculars? Besides being just plain weird to look at, how in the world are they supposed to work? How do they magnify far-away objects? Why do the balloon ends seem to turn as Pinkie is looking around through them?

 

Why is Rainbow Dash upset that the Mane Six can't save their own cutie marks? Does she think that anyone else helping to save the day is unacceptable? Does she assume that the other ponies are not able or reliable enough to do the job? I guess she may just be frustrated at her lack of ability to take action to solve the problem, as she's used to doing.

 

If Starlight is capable of running while holding the jars with the cutie marks with her magic, why not do that from the beginning? Surely having to haul the cart behind her slowed her down somewhat. Or maybe using saddlebags would inhibit her running a little less than hauling the cart behind her.

 

We see and hear Party Favor blow air into a single balloon, and he then apparently creates an entire balloon bridge. Where was he carrying all the balloons necessary to do this? How are balloons inflated with his breath able to support the ponies' weight?

[A Black Circle 1,585]

*let the nitpicks ensue*

You work for Cinema Sins?

 

Anyway, creepiest thing I've seen in ages. 11/10 would be horrified again.

[Cirrus. 1,088]

So to me the season 5 opener ended up having a lot more going on then I was expecting based on the previews.

 

I thought it was just going to be a cuckoo cult town in need of guidance. Instead it looked like the Mane 6 snuffed out what could have been a much larger problem while it was still only in its infancy stage. Starlight didn't seem to be truly interested in "helping" anyone. Instead she was just using them (AND disabling them mentally AND physically) to ultimately try and take over Equestria.  

 

That's what I love about this show. The writers manage to pull off stuff like this with cutesie marshmallow colored ponies and still manage stay inside their little "Y" rating constraints.

 

Sorry If I sound so rambley, but I enjoyed these 2 episodes way too much. I don't know why but I really like unnecessary darkness.    Help me

 

I'm surprised that a lot of people on the forums seem to consider this a LIGHTER EPISODE!

[The Boulder 121]

 

 

Yes Brother Boulder, but look at Chrysalis, she escaped did she not? We have not seen hide nor hair from her.

 

 

Escaped? Sure, if you consider mass expulsion by force escape.... Starlight Glimmer left voluntarily, meaning she has time to lick her wounds and reappear. Chrysalis was clearly defeated and allowed, mercifully, to crawl back to her kingdom.

Wow, its been so long, I almost didnt realize that she "escaped" too.   Shes also due for a return imo. Not sure how thatll work though. I wouldnt like to see her reformed like Discord tho..

[Luffyiscool 397]

I liked the episode tho i hated Party Favor sorry   and I think Starlight will come back again 

I find your profile picture ironic, considering that he's a party pony.

[Winona the Dog 1,981]

Considering Spike in glad what they did with him with the episode. They know when he's not necessary to the plot but give him some screen time for a joke here and there

[Steve Piranha 28,778]

I asked myself the same question. 

PLOT HOLE DETECTED  . Plot hole that could be easily shrugged as Twilight didn't know those things where possible 

[Mesme Rize 15,681]

PLOT HOLE DETECTED  . Plot hole that could be easily shrugged as Twilight didn't know those things where possible 

 

Spells can be learned and be created. Starlight obviously studied this kind of magic for alot of years and she obviously perfected it. Sure, it's not explained how she learned it. But it really dosen't ruin the greatness of this episode for me.

[Honsou 399]

I think the whole cutie mark removal magic is more of a charm, in essence the caster oppresses some of the feelings and things that come natural to ponies, i.e. AJ not being able to countryfy, Pinkie Pie not knowing fun, Rarity unable to tell beauty. 

[Cleverclover 1,525]

Spells can be learned and be created. Starlight obviously studied this kind of magic for alot of years and she obviously perfected it. Sure, it's not explained how she learned it. But it really dosen't ruin the greatness of this episode for me.

 

Perhaps the spell would only work on ponies who already had cutie marks. In Twilight's case, she couldn't give Apple Bloom a new cutie mark because she did not already have one. 

[Blaze Bronson 343]

Here's what confuses me, In a past episode where applebloom asked twilight to give her a cutie mark but she said she couldn't and that it isnt possible, so how did starlight do that? not to mention Remove it.

 

 

Spells can be learned and be created. Starlight obviously studied this kind of magic for alot of years and she obviously perfected it. Sure, it's not explained how she learned it. But it really dosen't ruin the greatness of this episode for me.

 

 

Perhaps the spell would only work on ponies who already had cutie marks. In Twilight's case, she couldn't give Apple Bloom a new cutie mark because she did not already have one. 

 

Cleverclover has the right idea here. It's very different to create a cutiemark, compared to just "move" it.

Also unicorns are born with different unique abilities, so this is probably starlight's unique ability.

Just like Twilight can't search for gems like Rarity can.

[DemonicBox 58]

Cleverclover has the right idea here. It's very different to create a cutiemark, compared to just "move" it.

Also unicorns are born with different unique abilities, so this is probably starlight's unique ability.

Just like Twilight can't search for gems like Rarity can.

We saw her use raritys gem spell so she can search for gems

[Fluttershyfan94 5,738]

I loved the new episodes, great start to a new season. Though what stuck in my the most is this.  

 

[Long Winded 8]

The tweet joke made me laugh

[Steve Piranha 28,778]

Spells can be learned and be created. Starlight obviously studied this kind of magic for alot of years and she obviously perfected it. Sure, it's not explained how she learned it. But it really dosen't ruin the greatness of this episode for me.

Exactly, that's what I meant that said plothole can easily be shrugged off, by deducing that Twiligh simply didn't know that was possible.