S09:E05 - The Point of No Return

[Twilight Luna 31,360]

Its a simple premise spread over 20 minutes. Normally, something like this would be a couple scenes and it would be over. The episode feels like there is a lot of padding just to get to Twilight finally seeing Dusty Pages and learning her lesson. It was good seeing Moondancer again with a speaking roll this time. I think the highlight of the episode was the lesson that Twilight had to learn at the end. It'll be interesting to see if her character changes at all after this.

[Ganondox 899]

For someone reason I can suspend my disbelief for a world of colorful magic ponies were the princess of friendship is socially awkward, but expecting me to accept that a librarian was thrown out over one book that went missing is too much. The premise of this episode was very silly, and unfortunately the actual episode was only half-devoted to it's silliness. 

[qwerE 96]

Before watching the episode, the title of this episode really made me wonder what it could be about (I don't read the synopsis beforehand becuase I love being surprised). I thought it was going to be something serious beause the title 'The Point of No Return' sounded so grand. I cuckled when the story turned out to be about twilight having a 8-year overdue book . I like this title because it shows how overly serious Twilight felt about the situation, while being directly related with the story of not returning a book.

I can't clearly explain why, but I love the main concept behind this episode. The situation of Twilight having an 8-year overdue library book is just somehow so funny! Just thinking about the idea made me smile while writing this. I guess it's because not returning a book is exactly the kind of thing that Twilight will freak out about, and brings me up images of her doing that.

The flashback scene featuring Moondancer and restaurant 'Tasty Treat' was a good touch to the episode, too. Maybe it's becuase MLP:FiM is coming to an end, but I really started to appreciate the kind of scenes that remind me of previous episodes. It makes me feel nostalgic, but also glad that past characters are doing well. Didn't know it but I kinda feel sad now...

On a sidenote, I heard that this will be the last episode written by GM Barrow. To be honest, I never looked up the writers and saw who wrote what, so I'm not too familiar with them. But still, I'd like to thank her for writing this super entertaing episode. I hope she does well, even outside the MLP:FiM series!

[MystMane 6]

On 4/23/2019 at 8:19 PM, Truffles said:

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.

Near the end of the episode, Twilight admitted to never having read the book and they had a laugh about how it would have taught her the lesson that Dusty learnt after her record was broken, that it was okay to be imperfect.

Edited April 28, 2019 by MystMane

[Oleks 1,993]

Moondancer is back with a speaking role! 100/10.
Seriously though, I liked the episode, even though they rehashed some aspects of Amending Fences. I really like the message about the impossibility of perfection. If only someone conveyed it to me when I was a kid.
Other things I liked about the episode: Derpy (it’s great that they don’t shy away from giving her lines anymore), pictures of adorkable Twilight, Moondancer, Spike being so cool about the whole situation, and Twi’s reaction to the long nose pony.
Have I mentioned Moondancer yet? I wonder how she became friends with First Folio. Moony must have been a bad pony, not returning many books for a long time, maybe on purpose even. Hm.

[Senko 459]

40 minutes ago, Oleks said:

Moondancer is back with a speaking role! 100/10.
Seriously though, I liked the episode, even though they rehashed some aspects of Amending Fences. I really like the message about the impossibility of perfection. If only someone conveyed it to me when I was a kid.
Other things I liked about the episode: Derpy (it’s great that they don’t shy away from giving her lines anymore), pictures of adorkable Twilight, Moondancer, Spike being so cool about the whole situation, and Twi’s reaction to the long nose pony.
Have I mentioned Moondancer yet? I wonder how she became friends with First Folio. Moony must have been a bad pony, not returning many books for a long time, maybe on purpose even. Hm.

The interesting thing is neither the counter pony, Folio or Dusty are the same pony refered to as the librarian in amending fences. Moondancer appears to have been seeing other libraries behind the Canterlot Arhchives back. Though I still don't know why the book seller has a beehive as a cutie mark.

Edited April 28, 2019 by Senko

[Oleks 1,993]

9 minutes ago, Senko said:

The interesting thing is neither the counter pony, Folio or Dusty are the same pony refered to as the librarian in amending fences. Moondancer appears to have been seeing other libraries behind the Canterlot Arhchives back. Though I still don't know why the book seller has a beehive as a cutie mark.

Yes, I noticed that too. I guess such city as Canterlot can afford several libraries. Or the librarian simply have been replaced. As for the cutiemark, it doesn't always reflect the occupation. I mean, we have a special agent with bon-bons for a cutie mark, a pilot pony with cherries on her flank, and a detective pony with a bee cutie mark.

[JH24 385]

It was a fun episode. Lots of clever and witty dialogue. The middle part dragged on a little, but even that was kept interesting by having some fun dialogue or expressions mixed into it. The moral was good and I thought it was a nice twist how Twilight never read the overdue book in the first place. 

Twilight and that pony in a tug-of-war with the door made me laugh.

For me personally this episode is among if not the best episode from G.M. Berrow.

 

Edited April 28, 2019 by JH24

[Rushing cash 836]

Out of all the episodes that she wrote this is one of my favorites, the others are "grannies gone wild" and "fluttershy leans in". All the episodes she wrote excluding  "the end in friend" were pretty good, with the 3 I mentioned were the best in my opinion. 

On the second watch I noticed that twilight said "my g1 starswirl figure" when she opens the box in the beginning of the episode... nice.

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

Anyone up for a G1 Starswirl toy ?

[DonMaguz 1,023]

This was a nice episode, maybe a bit too 'ordinary' but it feels refreshing to watch this S9 SoL episodes after the "high stakes" conflicts from S8.

Having said that, there was nothing particularly memorable about 'The Point of No Return', it was great to see so many callbacks and cameos from the Canterlot ponies and the elderly (love Apple Rose's appearance), I also liked having another 'Twilight messed up leaving to Ponyville in such a hurry', but since those kinds of things have already been explored before, they don't have the same impact as the first or second time.

Twilight and Spike's dynamic is as great as always, I like how comfortable they are together. A solid contender for the show's 'Best Friendship'.

S9 continues to deliver solid wrapping up episodes, yet it is clear that the show has aged.

Edited April 28, 2019 by DonMaguz
Missed a word.

[Jeric 46,851]

6 hours ago, Senko said:

Though I still don't know why the book seller has a beehive as a cutie mark.

Two reasons that I can think of for that cutie mark: one is that candles can be made from beeswax, and candles are used to read and write at night. Also, historically, some early writing tablets were made from beeswax, so the substance was critical for early writing. I’d also say parchment wax, but another wax was typically used for that. 

[Metemponychosis 1,261]

MLP at it's best. A normal day when something completely ordinary happens. Then Twilight 'twilights', Spike 'spikes', things go wrong and a nice and fun episode happens.

I feel there is an issue with the filler, probably because the premise is so simple and mundane, but the pacing never felt off, with scenes not taking too long to conclude, and in the end, it didn't bother me too much because Twlight's and Spike's 'journey' was a fun one to watch and the message was a good one. Though, an easy one to take the wrong way... That's not a problem with the cartoon, though...

I really like the way the episode led me to think that Dusty Pages had lost her job, because that's the way Twilight herself thought of it, while at the same time, dialogue like the one from First Folio, "Oh, I heard she was forced to leave. It's so sad. She loved the library." feels a bit underhanded. Not that it's a problem, but I think that something more ambiguous, that left Twilight with enough room to imagine the worst, without actually spelling it, would've been preferable.

I hope I can retire to a place like that one, too.

[Truffles 2,033]

12 hours ago, Ganondox said:

For someone reason I can suspend my disbelief for a world of colorful magic ponies were the princess of friendship is socially awkward, but expecting me to accept that a librarian was thrown out over one book that went missing is too much. The premise of this episode was very silly, and unfortunately the actual episode was only half-devoted to it's silliness. 

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.

 

10 hours ago, Oleks said:

Have I mentioned Moondancer yet? I wonder how she became friends with First Folio. Moony must have been a bad pony, not returning many books for a long time, maybe on purpose even. Hm.

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?

[Dark Qiviut 22,396]

Slapstick victimized Spike quite a bit here. That said, they were really funny and not Spikeabuse. Why?

1. The slapstick wasn’t written to punish Spike or mock him at his expense. Each time, it was coincidental, quick, and didn’t end up with him in pain.
2. The episode not only sides with him throughout, but also proves him correct. Twilight was justifiably worried that her mistake got her fired, but Spike (representing the audience) acted as the voice of reason throughout. His reactions mirror the audience’s, and he stays by her to keep her conscience straight. He eventually realizes that Twilight wanted to rehire her in a minute part due to her guilt of losing her spotless record and later keeps her composed when she begins to fret over losing her Best Book Borrower title.

[Castle Bleck 19,354]

Imagine a meeting between Dusty "Freedom From Perfection" Pages and Prince "YAKS SMASH IMPERFECTION!" Rutherford.

[Savy 5,077]

I really enjoyed this episode! It was great to have Moondancer return with a speaking role! 

Speaking of characters talking, It was awesome to hear Derpy's voice again, I always enjoy when she speaks.

The episode was just full of a lot of callbacks to to older ones. Like with the Tasty Treat, that was fun to see again.  

[Ganondox 899]

5 hours ago, Truffles said:

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.

I know, and that's what makes it even worse - it was never even plausible in the world of the show, yet we were expected to take the possibility seriously for the sake of drama. That's what I meant when I said the episode wasn't silly enough for it's premise. 

Edited April 29, 2019 by Ganondox

[Roughshod 719]

Premise was simple and fun though a lesson that Twilight could never really learn given how much it contradicts her basic personality. Pacing was off in the second half with way too many montages. But it was enjoyable enough with some good fanservice and cameos and pretty good jokes here and there. A lot of people seemed to be hoping for AF 2.0 but that's obviously not what we got. Still, I'd say season 9 is looking good so far.

[Music Chart Fan 819]

Overall, I would say that this episode had some good moments, particularly with Spike, but I also often found this episode exasperating. Twilight seems to spend most of the time fruitlessly fretting about things, overblowing things in her mind, and jumping to unwarranted conclusions. Spike did often represent my frustrations as an observer, and he had many amusing responses, quips, and reactions. But I also couldn't help wishing that Spike could have been more effectual in getting Twilight to calm down, think things through, and recognize a different perspective on what was going on. And there are a few things depicted in this episode for which I'm not sure that I can think of a completely satisfactory explanation.

-----

To start off, there's a flashback to the very first episode of the show, depicting Twilight haphazardly pushing aside a couple of books in a stack on the floor, and this particular library book then sliding under the bookcase after Twilight pushes it aside. But if we go back and watch the first episode, that doesn't appear to be what happens. After Twilight haphazardly pushes those top two books in the stack on the floor aside, we see what should be the library book standing upright, half-open, facedown on the floor in front of Twilight. So that book didn't seem to slide under the bookcase at that moment. In fact, the bookcase in the first episode doesn't even appear to have a gap under the bottom shelf that the library book could slide into.

So, okay, maybe that part of the flashback to the first episode was just Twilight's imagining what could have happened that day, rather than an accurate depiction of what actually occurred. So then what did actually occur? What happened to that particular library book? Again, looking back at the first episode, the literal answer seems to be that it disappeared. After we see what should be the library book standing upright, half-open, facedown on the floor in front of Twilight, the camera pans up to show a book that Twilight is levitating down from the top shelf, and when the camera cuts back to Twilight, she doesn't appear to have moved, but the floor around her is empty. And as far as I can tell, we never see that particular book again in that scene, although the animators didn't appear to be too concerned with maintaining the continuity of how many books there were, and where they were, in that scene. (Of course, the animators back in 2010 also couldn't have known that that one particular book would be crucial to the plot of an episode 8 seasons and nearly 9 years later.)

Even if we just look at what happened in the rest of that scene, Twilight levitates a bunch of books off the shelves, and when Spike finds the book Twilight is looking for, she drops the books she was levitating on the floor, and Spike appears to pick the books up and reshelve them. But if Spike picked up this particular library book, along with a bunch of other books, what would he have done with it? Would Spike have "reshelved" it mixed in with other non-library books? In the current episode, both Twilight and Spike seem to recognize the book as a library book essentially instantly, so wouldn't Spike have also recognized it as a library book back then? Did Twilight and Spike have a system for separating borrowed library books from the books that stayed in Twilight's study?

But also, perhaps a bigger question is why this particular library book was found and shipped to Twilight. When we saw Twilight's former study in "Amending Fences", it still had plenty of books in it, including at least some of Twilight's personal books, and Twilight wanted to give Moon Dancer the key to the study so that Moon Dancer could use the books in there. So if someone was cleaning up in Twilight's former study, how did that person conclude that the library book didn't belong in the study and shouldn't stay there? And if that person recognized that, then why didn't she or he recognize the book as a library book and try to return it to the library, rather than shipping it to Twilight with other personal belongings of hers?

-----

The next question that I would have about this whole library book debacle would be why the Canterlot library had seemingly never tried to contact Twilight about her overdue book and ask her to return it. Even if Twilight had moved away from Canterlot to Ponyville, I wouldn't imagine that it would be too difficult to find out where she had gone and to contact her. (They could just ask Celestia, or maybe Twilight's parents, for example.) But I believe I figured out a theory that could (at least partially) explain this. I hadn't thought of this at first, in part because the episode doesn't call any attention to it, and in part because I'm so used to a world of computerized records.

The key is that the checkout card with Twilight's cutie mark on it, and the date, is still in the card pocket. Normally, that checkout card would be removed and filed when the book was checked out, so that the library would have a record of who checked the book out, and when. But it appears that Dusty Pages (and Twilight) neglected to remove the checkout cards from the books that Twilight was checking out on that fateful day. That means that, when the library eventually discovered that the book was never returned, they had no written record of who had checked the book out. And if they didn't know that, then they didn't know who to contact and remind to return the book.

However, this explanation would seem to require that Dusty Pages completely forgot that Twilight had checked the book out - even though Twilight was the star patron of the Canterlot library, with whom Dusty was personal friends; this book was particularly popular, with a long waiting list of patrons who wanted to read it; and Dusty had called specific attention to this book in asking Twilight to be sure to return it on time. Plus, I would think that if there was a waiting list for the book, then the library might not allow Twilight to check it out for very long, and the library would find out pretty soon after the book's due date that the book hadn't been returned. (@Truffles also suggested that maybe Dusty and the other librarians just couldn't believe that Twilight would ever fail to return a book on time, so even if Dusty thought she remembered Twilight's checking that book out, Dusty could have doubted her own recollection and assumed that it was someone else.)

If this is the intended explanation for why Twilight had never been contacted about the overdue book, though, it seems a bit odd to me that there's no dialogue in this episode to suggest it, and the episode never calls any particular attention to it. When I first watched the episode, I never made the connection that the checkout card still in the library book would be significant, and I would wonder how many other viewers didn't make that connection, either.

-----

In this section, I'll go through various cases in this episode where Twilight seems to fruitless fret about things, overblow things in her mind, or jump to unwarranted conclusions.

First, outside the Canterlot library, Twilight frets about potentially having her Canterlot library card revoked, or even being banned from the building. But, for one thing, I don't know if Twilight has even used her Canterlot library card since moving to Ponyville. (In fact, her card could even be expired because of inactivity.) Twilight was also totally unaware that Dusty Pages left the library staff "moons ago", so Twilight doesn't seem to be particularly concerned with staying "caught up" with the goings-on at the Canterlot library. And besides, Twilight doesn't live in Canterlot any more, and doesn't seem to spend much time at all just hanging out there - i.e., doing things other than "official" business with Celestia and Luna or whatnot. If Twilight were to suddenly need materials from the Canterlot library for "official" reasons, I would think that she could assert princess privileges. Plus, Spike says that Twilight has most of the books in her collection at home. So I don't see much reason to fret about this, at least from a practical point of view.

On a related note, Twilight protests at the end of the episode about her "Best Book Borrower" picture being taken down, but it was literally covered in dust when Twilight came in to return the book earlier, so I really don't think anybody was paying attention to it anyway.

The next thing Twilight needlessly frets about is the overdue book fine. At the libraries I've used, the fines for overdue books or materials don't just continue to accumulate in perpetuity with no limit; they have maximum fines set at some relatively low amount (like $10 or $25), or set at the cost of replacement of the book or material. We might imagine that a library's attempting to collect an overdue fine of hundreds or thousands of dollars for a single book or item would come across as rather ridiculous to the library patrons and the community. If a book or item is overdue long enough, then practically speaking, the library would probably just consider it lost, and buy a replacement if needed. And this turns out to be the case later in the episode.

However, both Twilight and Spike seem to have a different idea of how the Canterlot library's overdue fines work. When Twilight first remembers that there'll be a fine, she says "A book out this long will probably cost a thousand bits!". In the basement, Twilight insists on finding First Folio now, saying that she's racked up another 17 bits in late fees in the time it took to go down there, and she acts as though she was making a calculation to determine that number. Later, when Twilight and Spike are out searching for First Folio, Twilight says that her late fines are already up another 26 more bits. And still later, Spike asks about the late fees as he and Twilight are running to Dusty's house, implying that he believes that the late fees are still being accrued. Finally, when at the retirement community, Twilight asks Spike about the late fines, and Spike calculates some number with an abacus before saying "you don't wanna know". So do Twilight and Spike think that the Canterlot library policy is for overdue fines to accumulate by the hour, or by the minute? In the real world, don't overdue fines almost universally accumulate on a per-day basis? Again, would Canterlot library patrons and the community consider that a reasonable policy? Ultimately, whatever calculations Twilight and Spike were making about the overdue fines were way off, because Twilight's total late fees - capped at a month - were 28 bits. Compare that to how Twilight believed earlier in the episode that she had accumulated an additional 44 bits in late fees in just a 1-or-2-hour time period.

Next, First Folio says that she heard that Dusty Pages was "forced to leave" the library, and that Dusty Pages "had a perfect librarian record. Until one careless pony didn't return a book, ruined it all". Upon hearing this, Twilight also concludes that Dusty was fired for failing to find Twilight's unreturned book, thus ruining Dusty's perfect record. But what does that narrative imply? Are Canterlot librarians fired for having anything less than a perfect record of having books returned? Once again, would the librarians, library patrons, and the community think that that kind of zero-tolerance policy is reasonable? It would seem to me that some patron is bound to lose, fail to return, or damage a borrowed item, such that it would need to be replaced, at some point. And there doesn't seem to be all that much that the head librarian or other staff could really do to prevent that. (If the checkout card theory I laid out above is true, then perhaps Dusty carried some small amount of blame for neglecting to remove and retain the checkout card from Twilight's book, but okay, an oversight like that is bound to happen at least occasionally.) This is another thing that Twilight frets about that turns out not to be true.

And on a related note to that, at the retirement community later, Twilight says "I can't believe that my carelessness sent [Dusty] here, when she could be happily surrounded by millions of wonderful-smelling books!". But how is Twilight believe that she's responsible for sending Dusty here specifically? Even if Dusty lost her job at the Canterlot library, why couldn't she have continued to live in Canterlot, and/or gotten a job at a different library or something if she really wanted to? Does Twilight believe that Dusty was blacklisted from all library jobs in Equestria immediately after failing to maintain a perfect record? Does Twilight believe that Dusty, with the loss of her job at the Canterlot library, was suddenly unable to afford to continue living in Canterlot...but was able to afford to live in a pretty nice retirement community?

Finally, Twilight jumps to the conclusions without evidence that the Silver Stable Community is "terrible" (because, for example, "there's not a single bookshelf in sight!" in the welcoming lobby), that Dusty must be suffering while living and doing activities in the retirement community, that Dusty's apparent contentment is "all an act", and that Dusty must surely want her job at the Canterlot library back, even several years later. And needless to say, none of these things turn out to be true, either.

These latter things in particular even arguably lead Twilight to mistreat the retirement community band in a couple of different ways. When Twilight is convinced that she needs to tell Dusty about the overdue book as soon as possible, Twilight stops the band's practice by using her magic to pull all their instruments out of their hands and mouths, including pulling out the saxophone player's dentures in the process. And later, when Twilight wants to mope about Dusty's response to her, and Twilight puts her head on the table while the band resumes practicing, Twilight annoyedly asks them "Do you mind?". But why should they have to be quieter or stop playing? They're the ones who live in the retirement community and normally practice in this room at this time. If Twilight doesn't want to listen, it seems to me that it's incumbent on her to go elsewhere.

-----

Now here are the rest of my miscellaneous observations:

I'm not normally a fan of Derpy in particular, but I liked her appearance in this episode, and I thought that it worked well.

Derpy's having to fly while carrying Twilight's big heavy box for delivery makes me think that a big heavy box like that would probably have been better off with ground shipping, rather than air shipping. Ground shipping may have been a bit slower, but I don't think anybody would have considered that package particularly urgent or anything. (And this topic reminds me of separating "P1" and "P2" freight back when I was a non-conveyable package sorter at DHL.)

This episode also avoids the Derpy/Muffins name issue by just having Twilight say "Are you all right?" and "Thank you" to her without using her name.

I couldn't help feeling a little anxiety at Twilight's and Spike's going through the box of books, scrolls, etc. right next to splashing (and possibly misty) waterfalls and pools in which Twilight's stuff could be dropped. Couldn't the box have been taken inside to open?

It looks as though the library book checkout card has the checkout and return dates handwritten, while the cutie marks - representing the ponies checking the books out - are stamped. Wouldn't it make more sense for that to be the other way around? In the real world, the checkout and return dates are constant for each day, so those would often be stamped, whereas the names of the people checking the materials out would be handwritten, because those are different for every person. Did the Canterlot library make cutie mark stamps for every patron who checked materials out? Did the library only do that for "high volume" patrons who frequently checked materials out? Even if the latter were the case, that would still mean having to find the stamps for individual patrons whenever they go to check things out.

And this also means that we see again ponies being represented on paper by their cutie marks, rather than writing their names out as words, even though their names ought to exist as words, and one might think that writing ponies' names as words would be easier than sketching cutie marks, or having stamps custom-made to represent everyone's different cutie marks.

Isn't this the same library at which everyone was shushing Moon Dancer and Twilight when Twilight tried to talk to her in "Amending Fences"? But in this episode, no one even reacts as Twilight repeatedly teleports in quick succession with the accompanying teleporting noise.

Spike tried to say earlier that it's pointless for Twilight to attempt to keep the returning of the book a secret, but it's especially pointless for Twilight to try to conceal her face and her voice from the librarian at the desk when actually making the return. The librarian is almost certainly going to see that it was Twilight who had checked the book out when the librarian goes to mark the return date and note that the book was returned. (And that's not to mention the distinct cutie marks on her saddle bags, or her own pretty unique appearance.)

When the librarian at the desk asks who Dusty Pages is, Twilight just pulls a book-sized picture of Dusty Pages out of the book she was returning. What was that doing there?

Twilight seems to take the "Grossly Overdue Book Return Office for Ponies Who Should Know Better" moniker completely seriously, even though that sounds like it should be a joke, even in-universe.

When Twilight and Spike go down in the basement, Spike says that it "looks like nopony ever goes down here", but then First Folio leaves a note on the door saying that she's out to lunch, as though she expects that people might go down there looking for her. So if the basement is used frequently enough for First Folio to do that, then why isn't it kept in better shape?

I'm not sure why the two ponies at the Tasty Treat just think that Spike is a waiter. Does he particularly look like one? And I'm also not sure why Spike just goes with it, after an initial attempt to say that he's not a waiter there. I wouldn't think the restaurant would particularly like for random unaccountable people to just start going around taking customers' orders and acting as servers.

Twilight and Spike have to go on a wild goose chase looking for where Dusty moved before finally finding the right place. Did no one in Canterlot have any idea of where Dusty moved? Did Dusty just not really have any friends or acquaintances in Canterlot who cared where she moved?

At the retirement community, Twilight asks the three ponies painting on the dock about Dusty Pages, and they list off the activities she does, but they don't give any times for those things, or say where Dusty could be found right now. Couldn't Twilight have asked them where Dusty might be right now? Or could Twilight have asked the reception desk if they know what Dusty Page's schedule is, and where she might be found right now?

Also, does Spike really need to continue to haul the mail bag around after he and Twilight start searching the facilities for Dusty? Couldn't he and Twilight ask the reception desk to hold it for Dusty or something?

Dusty certainly looks to be playing an acoustic guitar, but the music has an electric guitar playing.

Dusty seems to be happy to get her mail, so I'm curious if she ever wondered about why she's received less (or no) mail since moving to the retirement community, since she apparently neglected to change her address with the post office.

I wouldn't consider watermelon in the rind to be a squishy fruit safe to throw in a food fight.

When Twilight and Spike go to sit next to Dusty Pages on the log, Twilight levitates her saddle bags somewhere off screen, not close to where they're sitting. And yet, when Twilight brings the book up in conversation, she levitates it up as though it was right next to her the whole time.

After Twilight and Spike are pelted with fruit, Twilight was able to teleport Spike, herself, and her saddle bags while leaving the smashed fruit behind, and leaving no apparent residue or stains. So could Twilight do the same with the library book - teleport the book itself, but not the smashed fruit in/on it? And who threw that, anyway? "Time out" was clearly called.

Twilight was hauling this book around, and instantly recognized it as a library book when she first saw it, but she never read the title on the cover?

Finally, when First Folio says that "Most ponies don't know that [the late fine] caps at a month. Probably 'cause we don't tell them", does she just mean that that information is in the fine print that most people don't read, and the librarians just don't verbally tell people about it? Because otherwise, I might wonder if there would be legal issues with the library's attempting to enforce a policy that patrons have no means of knowing about because the library deliberately didn't inform them.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Forget your old friends, I can forgive you, but forget your BOOK!?  This is a travesty! A travesty! 

Wow, Wingless Twilight is just so... interesting.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

So, technically, this is an Amending Fences but with books. How could they make this concept works? Only G.M Berrow can come up with that. This is just her another silly episode but I really like it. Moon Dancer talks again made me happy, and Derpy too. The episode is a bit dragged out and a bit predictable but I expected it to be slice of life so it's alright. It's good to have another Twilight episode to learn about her past self, I started to miss pre-season 3 Twilight.

[Dark Qiviut 22,396]

2 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

When we saw Twilight's former study in "Amending Fences", it still had plenty of books in it, including at least some of Twilight's personal books, and Twilight wanted to give Moon Dancer the key to the study so that Moon Dancer could use the books in there. So if someone was cleaning up in Twilight's former study, how did that person conclude that the library book didn't belong in the study and shouldn't stay there?

1. In AF, Twi offered MD her dorm key in exchange for joining her and company to dinner. Moondancer initially declines, so she returned home with it that night.
2. Celestia decided to clean out old rooms, including Twi’s. She packed items in, thinking they were important. The book lay under the couch for a long time, so we can believe Celestia packed it thinking she’d want it.

2 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

Wouldn't it make more sense for that to be the other way around?

Not for here. Cutie marks are each pony’s pictorial signature. Drawing it would be a lot more painstaking than stamping.

2 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

Next, First Folio says that she heard that Dusty Pages was "forced to leave" the library, and that Dusty Pages "had a perfect librarian record. Until one careless pony didn't return a book, ruined it all". Upon hearing this, Twilight also concludes that Dusty was fired for failing to find Twilight's unreturned book, thus ruining Dusty's perfect record.

First Folio accidentally justified Twilight’s worries from earlier by spreading a workplace rumor that a pony ruining her spotless record got her fired. If Folio explained why she retired, then Twilight wouldn’t race around Equestria to make amends with Dusty.

2 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

And on a related note to that, at the retirement community later, Twilight says "I can't believe that my carelessness sent [Dusty] here, when she could be happily surrounded by millions of wonderful-smelling books!". But how is Twilight believe that she's responsible for sending Dusty here specifically?

Thank the chain of events for giving her this belief. After realizing she isn’t there anymore, she found First Folio, who led her to assume she got fired. By getting fired, she lost her income, so she had to move from her private Canterlot address to Silver Stable. By accidentally ruining her own spotless record, she believed she caused Dusty Pages (who likes her and really trusts her) to get in really big trouble, cascading a viscous slippery slope.

Meeting with and conversing with her in the climax settled everything.

2 hours ago, Music Chart Fan said:

At the libraries I've used, the fines for overdue books or materials don't just continue to accumulate in perpetuity with no limit; they have maximum fines set at some relatively low amount (like $10 or $25), or set at the cost of replacement of the book or material. We might imagine that a library's attempting to collect an overdue fine of hundreds or thousands of dollars for a single book or item would come across as rather ridiculous to the library patrons and the community. If a book or item is overdue long enough, then practically speaking, the library would probably just consider it lost, and buy a replacement if needed.

It can depend where and when it was taken out, too. Some people pay fines years later. One young man borrowed a DVD from a library in 2004, forgot about it, and was arrested after accumulating a large fine.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

On 4/27/2019 at 1:23 PM, YoshiAngemon said:

https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/television/the-simpsons-finally-addressed-the-problem-with-apu-and-now-no-one-is-happy

Rather than explain it myself, because I don't understand it either, you can click this article. All I know is that an Indian stereotype was labeled as politically incorrect, and because of this, the Indian Characters were dropped.

I showed my friends who were born in India this article today, and they thought Apu was not accurate but certainly not offensive as Apu is an exaggerated joke for a dark comedy cartoon. These same 2 Indian friends loved "Spice Up Your Life" and felt the characters should have had a cameo in "Point Of No Return" but that Apu had nothing to do with MLP. Thanks for posting the article. 

[Matraxial Artemi 2,230]

It's a great episode! ^^