S07:E16 - Campfire Tales

[Shrug 9,922]

Very average episode. Rarity's story is the only one I really felt anything for. The other two were simply too cookie cutter and dull for me care even the slightest bit.

Another thing that annoys me about Campfire Tales is that there is way too much narration over the stories. Usually what happens in an episode like this (or anything like this, really) is that the story teller will give a brief summary of the background to the story so you have an idea of what's going, then the story takes over because we no longer need to hear anymore information. That's not what happens here. All three stories have the narration for basically the entire time. It's all just explaining the story rather than letting it speak for itself. I found it annoying and pretty distracting if I'm being completely honest.

Rarity told a great story, there were some funny jokes and the animation looked incredible throughout all three stories, but I am going to call this a meh episode.

[JH24 385]

For me personally that was the fourth great episode in a row. I really enjoyed it. Seeing the ponies in all those different costumes and cultures was awesome. 

My favorite parts though were all the bonding moments between the characters. Especially Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. The expressions in this episode were fantastic.

Edited August 26, 2017 by JH24

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

Man this episode covered some super-deep themes. The legends were so powerful, especially the one about the beauty. It definitely reminds me of what Jesus had to go through to die on the cross for our sins. Love how they kept saying "Nothing's impossible". Overall, a super encouraging episode with what this world is going through right now. 

[Batbrony 15,994]

"And then... the brash, hotheaded, boastful pegasus Prism Sprint painted ALL of the Peach family's peaches as a prank along with the earth pony who eats too much sugar, Blue Brownie, costing the Peach family an incalculable amount of loss in time, labor, and product!  OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" 

"Why does this story sound familiar when I've never heard it before?" 

"Just think about it, sugar cube, I'm sure it'll come to ya eventually." 

Good afternoon everypony, and welcome back to another edition of "Batbrony Reviews"!!  Me oh my, this show has seriously got to stop throwing so much amazing at us, for real!  I have not seen track records of flat-out great episodes in this show, this consistently, since Season 2 (in my estimation, at least).  We got a break last week with an episode that was very much just good, not great, but the show returned to giving us more great episodes again this week in the delightful "Campfire Tales"!  This one's gonna be a pretty easy episode to review as I can simply go sequentially through the episode itself, so without further ado, let's dive right in.  This is "Campfire Tales."

Alright, so this episode set out to do not one, but two things, and given that it had writers who've never written for the show before (Barry Safchik and Michael Platt, respectively), that was no easy feat.  However, unlike with Becky Wangberg's atrocious debut in "Hard to Say Anything," these two clearly did their homework, and the result was a great episode.  So, just what exactly did the episode aim to do?  First, it needed to act as solid continuity to Season 3's amazing "Sleepless in Ponyville," which we all of course remember most for being the first episode in which Rainbow Dash decided to start acting as a surrogate older sister to Scootaloo, but was also just as enjoyable for the camping subplot in which Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all go on a camping trip together.  Now, for the most part the episode handled the continuity great; it's one minor flaw was that the dialogue at the beginning suggested that this was their first annual camping trip since the last one, suggesting only a year had passed in the show since Season 3, and I refuse to believe that given everything that has happened.  But that's easy enough to ignore, so I don't need to gripe about it too much.  The other thing that the episode set out to do was add some very cool canon of its own to the MLP:FiM universe canon, while still juggling it's primary plot in the present, and in this the episode splendidly succeeded as well, introducing us to characters recently introduced to the MLP comics themselves in the still ongoing "Legends of Magic" series!  Let's take a closer look at just how the episode succeeds in both of these respects.

So to start things off we get an absolutely delightful opening scene setting up the camping trip itself, establishing that this is now an annual tradition of these three pairs of sisters.  We see that Applejack is, as always, the grounded center of this group of six ponies (no surprise given that she's been trying to be a family matriarch since a young age due to the untimely death of her parents, especially for Apple Bloom, and she has the most experience being a dependable sibling of any of the older ponies here, so she can run a show like this no sweat); Rarity for her part has become considerably more practical for a trip like this, though delightfully still brings her own unique touch to it, just in a more reasonable manner; and Rainbow Dash for her part is mostly focused on using this time to hang out with Scootaloo, which makes sense considering (1) she's very busy as a Wonderbolt these days, so probably doesn't have much time to regularly hang out with Scoots, and (2) she has the most reason to do as much bonding with her surrogate sister as she can, seeing as she's been treating her like family for the least amount of time of all three older siblings and thus has the most developing of her relationship to do with Scoots.  As for the CMC, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle seemed pretty chill in their activities, but Scootaloo's own behavior further emphasizes my point that she and Rainbow Dash's bonding is especially important to each other on this trip.  While the other two pairs of sisters clearly see this as one of many things they do together, Scootaloo and Rainbow both clearly see this as an event that will always be special to them seeing as it was the foundational event of their "sisterhood."  On top of that, Scootaloo also clearly is far more nervous in nature now than Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle are; her nightmares on their previous trip clearly left a bad impression on her, and this was, for me, one of my favorite bits of continuity.  In a lesser show, she'd be over these fears by now as if they didn't happen, but here the writers had fun with the idea of Scootaloo instead kinda not doing too well in nature, which added variety to the group as a whole.  Some people can camp no sweat like the Apples, others do it while still needing as many comforts from home as possible, like Rarity and Sweetie (though Sweetie would probably do better without them than Rarity would), and others are either bad at survival skills, like Rainbow (given that she almost ate poisonous berries before Scootaloo told her what they were) or just do not do well in nature at all and find it to be an unsettling place they don't ever get used to, like Scootaloo.

But anyway, moving on, the trip is off to a lovely start... that is until of course it's interrupted by a fresh spawn of hell in this show's canon, FLY-DERS!!!!  Yes, Fly-ders, little bastards that are apparently flies crossed with spiders and all the more terrifying for it.  These bastards from the Luna Bay area way up in Northwest Equestria will bite you, web you (apparently they're even carnivorous considering AJ, who seemed to know the most about them, was doing everything in her power to stay away from them), and web up all your shit too just because they can!  In other words, they are the Equestrian equivalent of the hyena: NATURE'S ASSHOLE!!!!!!  So after the swarms of fly-ders appear, the group is forced to flee into a nearby cave, and the older ponies (after Rainbow quite hilariously and recklessly fetches their campfire from the fly-der swarms) decide to raise their younger sisters spirits and pass the time (hoping the fly-ders will soon leave) telling them all campfire stories, namely stories about their favorite Equestrian legends.

Applejack starts off with the legend of Rockhoof, a legendary earth pony whose sheer determination in the face of impossible odds magically unlocked his strength as he saved his village from certain destruction!  The story itself was delightful, especially in seeing the Norse-type culture that Rockhoof belonged to, but the real highlight for me was in how Applejack told it.  Unlock the other two pairs of sisters, this was a story that Apple Bloom had already heard many times (further highlighting how naturally close those two are as sisters, and delightfully conveyed in how excited Apple Bloom got at certain parts of the story, even squeeing in anticipation, which was too adorable).  The backgrounds were especially impressive to me; while Rarity's story probably had the most artistically beautiful backgrounds, and Rainbow's even had the biggest, this somehow felt bigger, even though it was technically a more confined story than Rainbow's was.  I think it has to do with how the volcano so nicely contrasted the blue sky; normally an erupting volcano would be surrounded by a sky full of ash and fire in a scene like this, but here you had this massive volcano overlooking this tiny pony village, but contrasted wonderfully by a picturesque blue sky.  The lava effects as well, although hardly the first time we've seen them, were very cool, and Rockhoof was quite an awesome character.  Since we know that the Season 7 finale is going to tie into the Legends of Magic somehow, I cannot wait to see more of this guy in the finale when it comes around!  Aside from being an earth pony, Rockhoof didn't tie too explicitly into the Apple Family like the other two stories tie into their respective characters, but I was OK that; it's easy enough to believe this is a favorite story among earth ponies in general, so Applejack probably heard it from her parents too when she was younger, plus of course I could easily see a character like Rockhoof overcoming his smaller size to do the impossible inspiring younger earth ponies like Applejack used to be before she could do greater feats of strength.

Huh, I wonder what he's screaming at...

Oh... yeah, that makes sense 

The next interlude leads into my favorite segment of the entire episode, Rarity's story.  Things are set up nicely when Sweetie Belle expresses boredom at their current plight.  Rarity in turn starts to do something I wish we saw in the show more often, use her generous nature and eye for aesthetic beauty to the benefit of others in creative ways most would never think of doing.  First she shows Sweetie Belle that there's more to the cave they're in than meets the eye, showing how flecks of gold dot its wall (further emphasizing her eye for spotting gems and precious minerals as well), and even uses their campfire to create beautiful shadow puppets (and a pretty humorous throwback to ballerina Twilight as well).  I love now knowing that Rarity can both do this, as well as the fact that she clearly used the shadow puppets to help tell her story.

While it's possible that Twilight told Rarity about what she did, for some reason I find it more likely (and amusing) that Starlight told Rarity when they were both talking about how OCD Twilight can be sometimes 

Then she proceeds to tell the best story of the lot, about a unicorn by the name of Mistmane.  Mistmane lived in a corner of Equestria where some type of ancient Japanese-inspired culture was prevalent, and the scenery we got to see there was too amazing to describe!  So many colors, beautiful buildings, backgrounds, and clothing we've never seen in the show before, and even unicorns with curved horns, something that has only appeared, to date, in either the MLP comics or fan art!  As for Mistmane herself, she was a beautiful unicorn and powerful sorceress who was forced to defeat her best friend Sable Spirit, now the empress of their region, who, after trying to magically make herself more beautiful, only made herself more ugly instead, and in her rage chose to have all of her subjects spend their days doing nothing but beautify her palace.  Mistmane easily defeats Sable, but then does an even greater act of heroism; saddened by the state of her home, and simply wanting to bring back hope to her people, Mistmane puts all of her magic into restoring both her home and Sable, at the cost of her own beautiful features.  While it doesn't fix everything her people have lost, their hope is restored, as is the Sable's perspective upon being shocked by how generous and selfless Mistmane was for the sake of others.  Sable resolves to reflect Mistmane's generosity as best she can for the rest of her days, and the land is restored as ponies return to leading their old, happy lives.  Mistmane herself spends the rest of her days wandering the countryside, assisting ponies with her magic wherever she can, and spreading beauty along the way as she does; even if there's nothing she can do or nothing for her to do to help someone, the least she can do is make their day a little brighter with something beautiful.  What makes this story the highlight of the episode is not only the fact that it's a beautiful story in its own right about generosity, the value of true aesthetic beauty when used appropriately, and self-sacrifice for the good of others and how that is the highest beauty of all, but also the fact that it gives us so much insight into Rarity's own philosophy about both aesthetic beauty and generosity, and how they tie together for her so naturally.  This didn't sound so much like a story she would have grown up with like Applejack did, on the contrary, this felt more like something she would have come across when she was growing older, possibly during her college days (so to speak); the story was far more refined and developed than Applejack or Rainbow Dash's were, and it clearly held dear personal meaning to Rarity.  She very deliberately saw herself, or at least a pony whose example she wants to follow, in Mistmane, though unlike Rainbow she did not flat out state it either.  For her, in this moment, it was most meaningful sharing something so personal and beautiful with her friends and her beloved sister, further illustrating how, even in telling this story, Rarity's generous nature was on display, and also went hoof in hoof with her love of spreading beauty to others as well.  Hands down the best segment of this episode for me, it just might also be Rarity's highlight moment of Season 7 thus far, making "Campfire Tales," oddly enough, Rarity's best appearance in Season 7 to date, which is incredibly odd given that she was not the primary focus of the episode itself.

I cannot even begin to imagine how complicated and technically difficult some of the animation and backgrounds were in this story... I mean... JUST LOOK AT ALL OF THIS!!!  Easily some of the best, complex, and most beautiful animation we've seen in all of Season 7, or the entire show for that matter, so far!

Finally, after Rainbow causes a cave in when the fly-ders (little bastards that they are) start advancing on the group again, Scootaloo has a near panic attack, and Rainbow decides it's her turn to tell a story.

Uh, Rainbow, I think ya got something on your... ya know what, nevermind, I'm sure you'll notice eventually

The best part about the set up for this one (as well as the story itself) is that Rainbow is clearly telling this to calm Scootaloo down.  It fits Rainbow's demeanor and personality that she is protective to her surrogate sister, and doing something like this is about as much of a softy as she typically gets.  She may have acted a bit gruff at times, acting as though she were annoyed at Scootaloo's panic, but really you could tell she was just trying to put on a brave face for her as she reassured her everything was going to be OK.  The story itself wasn't particularly remarkable (especially after Rarity's), but Flash Magnus is easily the best Flash on this show (suck it, Flash Sentry), and it did feature some pretty awesome flying scenes as well as some of the best dragon action of the show (including with, presumably, Ember's father, the former Dragon Lord Torch).  I did find it super cool on a personal level that the commander of the pegasi in the Royal Legion was called Commander Ironhoof; I say this because I have a minor character featured in Equestrian history in my own fic-universe in my fic "Batmare Begins" whose name was Eisenhuf, that is, German for Ironhoof!  Total coincidence of course, but it was pretty cool seeing the show runners decide that's a badass name for a pony just like I did some time ago.  Other than that, the story featured some cool action and a cool new Equestrian hero (I'm going to presume it took place before the Sisters arrived since the pegasi seemed to be in old Pegasopolis armor), but a fairly standard lesson about one's loyalty bringing out your most heroic side.  This felt more like a story Rainbow would have learned in school than from her parents, but instantly latched onto when she first heard it; being totally awesome as a result of your loyalty to your companions and friends is something she clearly prizes, so it's unsurprising this was one of her favorite stories.

OK, that is admittedly bucking awesome...

...but holy shit, that's adorable!!!

After the close of Rainbow's story, (and a failed attempt from Applejack to clear the cave in, but to her credit, she did come close; let's say she had her very own "Captain America almost lifts Mjolnir" moment and almost channeled some Pie-family magic into her strength) the sisters decide to go through the back of the cave, and follow an underground river.  Their spirits have all been bolstered at this point by the stories, both young and old, and the river, fortuitously enough, leads to Winsome Falls, their destination for the camping trip.  The younger sisters, emboldened by the stories they've just been told, are determined to salvage the trip here, and the older sisters are happy to oblige, glad to see their younger counterparts happy.  The episode closes on a happy note, and all is well.

Woah!  Check out the return of wet-mane Rarity (bonus points for a lil' wet-mane AJ too ... oh don't look at me like that, YOU KNOW YOU WERE THINKING IT TOO!!! )

If this episode has any lesson at all (besides those contained in the stories themselves) it's in the power of older siblings to impact their younger siblings lives for the better in the low moments.  Older siblings, especially when their siblings are genuinely smaller than them, can do things they can't, but more importantly are figures they look up to.  This doesn't mean the things older siblings do always have to be big, rather, small acts are often some of the most important that their siblings will remember years later.  The little ways they went out of their way for them when they didn't have to.  As an older sibling myself, I loved getting to see these sides of Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash once more, always do whenever it happens, and so I found myself very, very appreciative for everything this episode did.  It's another great episode of Season 7, and me, I got no complaints on my end about that.  Until next time, everypony, this is Batbrony signing off.  I'm off!!! *cue dramatic exit*

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

Started watching it, finished the opener.

1 hour ago, Truffles said:

While I liked the continuity, they did mess up the timeline by implying the time they did this last year was the time Scootaloo was having all the bad dream issues, which actually took place a number of years ago. If the Crusaders didn't have their marks, one could say this episode took place in the past, but the foreshadowing doesn't really allow for that, either.

The same problem arises in Princess Twilight and Tanks. Sure, the Equestrian world doesn't have a set calendar, but to suggest that everything from Sleepless to Campfire happened in one year is really stretching it.

[Stardust Balance 7,716]

Well... It wasn't as tedious as last week's episode, but it's not saying much. Probably the most "meh" episode of the season so far. Rainbow's story certainly filled me with irritation and rage at the obvious allusions to an insufferable "love interest."

They took the confrontation from those "Flyders" better than I would. One look on those things nearing me and I'd light myself on fire.

[DJ_Bonebraker 182]

I rather enjoyed this episode, mainly because we get a bit more world-building with it:  I mean Viking Earth Ponies! Asian Unicorns! (Which, due to the whole "Far-East" theme that Sunset Shimmer's power-up modes have in Equestria Girls as well as her running a sushi cart makes me wonder if she isn't from the same general region originally).  And, while we've had Greco-Roman Pegasi before, I love how they had Torch in that story as well as confirming the existence of an Equestrian equivalent of the Aegis Shield in Pegasus lore. 

I also must say that I agree with the others about Rarity's story being my favorite, with Mistmane being willing to sacrifice everything she had to redeem her friend & restore her homeland.  I also really liked the caring dynamics between the big sisters and little sisters, particularly how this episode and season 7 in general have shown how Scoots & RD love each other like family now (heck, even RD's parent's seem to have unofficially adopted her), and that just gives me all kinds of warm fuzzies.

So, despite a few minor gripes about the portrayal of Scoots as a scaredy-cat and some of the story telling methods used for the legends, I really enjoyed it.

[Luminance 2,181]

This is a great episode of endearing tales and legends of past ponies. It's something that we don't usually see from the show and it's a nice welcomed addition to build upon with these new characters and their respective stories. Rockhoof, Mistmane and Flash Magnus each were great in their display of determination, bravery and compassion and I find this episode very entertaining to watch with what these heroic ponies had done in the past.

The soundtrack is also really great in this episode too especially the one with Mistmane's legend. Hat's off to Daniel Ingram for giving it a special Oriental feel to it.

This to me goes in as one of Season 7 best and most original episode with the inclusion of new characters and stories.

 

Edited August 26, 2017 by Star Mist

[CypherHoof 26,479]

How long IS an equestrian year anyhow? It doesn't have to be the same length as ours, just have four seasons and so forth; it could be equal to two or three of our years easily enough.

[Ginger Ale 722]

I have a question. Do the Asian ponies really have different ear and different horn?

I really like the Apple Jack's campfire story.

[Sonic5421 423]

I like how this episode was a callback to Sleepless in Ponyville with the Crusaders and their big sisters heading up to Winsome Falls on an annual camping trip, only for this trip to be ruined by some very annoying pests in the fly-ders. Despite Rainbow taking some pretty nasty bug bites, she at least saved the campfire so the big sisters could tell their stories of their legendary heroes that were actually the stories told in the Legends of Magic comics, including Rockhoof, Mistmane, and Flash Magnus.

They still manage to find their way out and find a shortcut to Winsome Falls, and the Crusaders generally enjoyed hearing the stories.

Also, excellent work with the Flash animation to integrate the Legends of Magic characters and their time periods into the episode. That was amazing work with Rockhoof's Viking homeland, Mistmane's Chinese origins, and Flash Magnus' Roman heritage.

This episode definitely earns a 10/10 from me.

[Oleks 1,983]

It was a nice episode. Not superamazing, but nice. New lore, new male heroes, a touch of continuity, interesting references. Although for me it felt like its main purpose was to advertise the comics. Not a bad thing though.

The legends have very good lessons in them, and the Rarity’s one surely stands out. “Japanese” unicorn race looks great. However, I hoped their eyes would look more like Powder Rouge’s, but I guess she is just from a different part of Equestria. I was also glad to see dragons from the previous seasons appear in this episode.

Well, now I actually might read those comics. Right after I figure out how Rarity did that shadow play.

[CypherHoof 26,479]

24 minutes ago, Ginger Ale said:

I have a question. Do the Asian ponies really have different ear and different horn?

I really like the Apple Jack's campfire story.

No way to know - this is Rarity's story, she may just see them that way.

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

13 minutes ago, Oleks said:

It was a nice episode. Not superamazing, but nice. New lore, new male heroes, a touch of continuity, interesting references. Although for me it felt like its main purpose was to advertise the comics. Not a bad thing though.

No, I don't think it was meant to advertise the comics. Chances are, these legends are the season arc, as the rest are coming soon. I just guess the comics where released early just to end roughly at the same time as the season finale  

 

PD: FINALLY, PAUL DOBSON VOICED PONIES  . KNEEL TO THE MIGHT OF DOOM  

[CypherHoof 26,479]

17 minutes ago, Oleks said:

Well, now I actually might read those comics. Right after I figure out how Rarity did that shadow play.

Loved the shadow twi, especially when she fluffed out her wings, but was surprised when she managed to leap, so that there was no place for the rest of rarity in the shadow.

 

hmm.

 

she was literally a pony of shadows there though.....

[Frostgage 7,972]

Could it be? Kirin ponies?

Spoiler

 

[Oleks 1,983]

5 minutes ago, Steve Piranha said:

Chances are, these legends are the season arc, as the rest are coming soon. I just guess the comics where released early just to end roughly at the same time as the season finale

So, it's a good idea to read them anyway then. I hope we'll finally see Star Swirl as a part of the arc.

[Steve Piranha 28,782]

1 minute ago, Oleks said:

So, it's a good idea to read them anyway then. I hope we'll finally see Star Swirl as a part of the arc.

For what I've seen, these comics explore an adventure of each of these heroes AFTER the legend. You don't have to read these to keep-up with the show, but it's good to further expand the lore of the heroes. I'm pretty sure we'll see Starswirl one day, probably the season finale, or Uncommon Bond at the soonest, but he WILL play a part

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

1 hour ago, Batbrony said:

So far, that's the only joke in the episode to not land. It's another one of those faces over the past two seasons that's disgusting instead of funny (*cough* Rarity's breakdown face from Fame *cough*)

The other jokes so far are more organic and rely purely on reaction and chemistry above all else. AB quipping at SB and Scoot for sometimes getting grouchy after missing breakfast and this…

Quote

Rarity: *crossly* Yeeeess. *normally* But did you know she used to be the most beautiful unicorn in all the land?

Dash *deadpanned*: No.

…were really good.

Edited August 26, 2017 by Dark Qiviut

[Jeric 46,835]

1 hour ago, Dark Qiviut said:

Started watching it, finished the opener.

The same problem arises in Princess Twilight and Tanks. Sure, the Equestrian world doesn't have a set calendar, but to suggest that everything from Sleepless to Campfire happened in one year is really stretching it.

 

54 minutes ago, CypherHoof said:

How long IS an equestrian year anyhow? It doesn't have to be the same length as ours, just have four seasons and so forth; it could be equal to two or three of our years easily enough.

In universe explanation is that there were trips in between the two, ones in which Scootaloo and Rarity continued to showcase attributes seen in Sleepless, which were still on display in this one -- if only reduced. 

This is similar to the "if you guys ever turned evil" comment. In the show we have seen Rarity get possessed. In the comics she became Nightmare Rarity, and all of the Mane Six were briefly evil. Some could easily call foul on that as a lack of continuity, but one could derive that the above examples don't count as turning evil as the characters were influenced by outside forces. 

So, what they said was all true -- from a certain point of view. 

 

Just now, Dark Qiviut said:

So far, that's the only joke in the episode to not land. It's another one of those faces over the past two seasons that's disgusting instead of funny (*cough* Rarity's breakdown face from Fame *cough*)

I would say that is closer to Rarity's spa face. Better analogy since it's not from an emotional place. 

Dear Lord that was nightmare fuel. 

25 minutes ago, Frostgage said:

Could it be? Kirin ponies?

  Hide contents

 

I had the same thought. 

@Lady Kiriness

You pop back on ... check this episode out.

[Thrond 3,257]

Meh. 

Not gonna lie, this has basically nothing to do with why I watch the show. I found the framing story kinda dull, and all the attempts at humour fell flat for me, but at least there's a few kinda pleasant moments here and there. I also found the stories themselves mostly derivative, though the third had some tension and solid action. It's also good to see new environments. The moral's predictable and cliched but nice enough. It's all nice enough, really, except the main characterization, which seems to have jumped into caricature for the sake of bad humour and forced sweetness. Would have been better without the bugs creating conflict, IMO, but still not super exciting.

Review to come later. Gut feeling is 55/100, but that's subject to change. 

[Philweasel 139]

I think I had too much invested in these stories, especially Rockhoof (who's comic I adored). It made it very hard to be objective, and enjoy the episode on it's own merits.

Still, I really enjoyed it.

[Batbrony 15,994]

18 minutes ago, Dark Qiviut said:

So far, that's the only joke in the episode to not land. It's another one of those faces over the past two seasons that's disgusting instead of funny (*cough* Rarity's breakdown face from Fame *cough*)

I actually don't agree with that point you raise, at least not for this joke.  It didn't seem that gross or over-the-top to me, and I don't think it was the butt of the joke either; the butt of the joke was that Rainbow did something VERY impulsive for the sake of making a very minor point about her bravery (in the grand scheme of things) and may have gotten far more than she bargained for.   The show avoids gross out humor enough anyway that I think it can get a pass for doing it every now and then.

I agree with Jeric's point that the Rarity face from "Applejack's Day Off" was FAR more terrifying and out of place given that it was largely there just to be gross, not to make a particularly fun or clever joke.  Bucking nightmare fuel, that face!

[CypherHoof 26,479]

19 minutes ago, Jeric said:

 

In universe explanation is that there were trips in between the two, ones in which Scootaloo and Rarity continued to showcase attributes seen in Sleepless, which were still on display in this one -- if only reduced. 

That doesn't really fit unless scoots was excluded - when she referenced the "last camping trip" RD pointed out that she had a "big sister" this time.

 

19 minutes ago, Jeric said:

This is similar to the "if you guys ever turned evil" comment. In the show we have seen Rarity get possessed. In the comics she became Nightmare Rarity, and all of the Mane Six were briefly evil. Some could easily call foul on that as a lack of continuity, but one could derive that the above examples don't count as turning evil as the characters were influenced by outside forces. 

Or didn't count because they were speaking in a future sense "If somepony told me either of you turned evil" and unlike the EqG were too polite to bring up past history?

 

[Dark Qiviut 22,173]

@Batbrony

52 minutes ago, Jeric said:

I would say that is closer to Rarity's spa face.

As gross as Rarity's wrinkly face is, that's merely the worst example in the show. (Big Mac's smoochy-smoochy's worst this season; nothing else comes close.) Dash's stung face is nowhere nearly as bad, and Batbrony has a good point about her impulsiveness there.

On second thought, I'd call Dash's face better than Rarity's, because Fame is writing a serious story, yet treats her (real) horror as only a stupid joke.

Edited August 26, 2017 by Dark Qiviut