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{{cleanup|This is the longest Fridge Brilliance page on the wiki; it should be split into subpages.}}
[[Fridge Brilliance]] for ''[[{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]]''.
== General ==▼
▲== General ==
* Meta example: Many episodes have often one big moral and a small one, or two morals bundled together. This makes more sense when you consider that, originally, Hasbro wanted the series to run in two shorts per episode.
* Why the Mane Six, despite having by now saved Equestria more than once, are still treated like normal ponies and not like ''heroes''? While this with NM can be excused, as everything happened so fast that nopony seemed to know if Celestia was saved or if she freed herself, after Discord there was no excuse, as the Mane Six had even a celebration as heroes at the end of the episode. So how's that possible? Well, considering that Celestia seems to care giving the girls a possibility to live their life as normal ponies, she
* The conflict of Luna's rebellion and Celestia's 'solution' gains much more credibility and seriousness when you consider the dark tone of Equestria implied a millennium ago. They had overthrown a sadistic chaos god sometime before, and were just building their world around the Everfree Forest (The ancient palace being encroached within it) before taking control of their own 'world'. They had no concept of 'fun' as we know it. Discord even states he forgot how 'grim' Celestia could be. So given the climate, it seems would've been a tough, no nonsense era. Think the Equestrian equivalent of the Dark Ages or the Inquisition, only with worldwide genocide and tyranny at risk via magical/chaotic deities.
** And that would put Equestria somewhere between modern times and the enlightenment/colonial era. They have trains and settlements, but also horses/carriages, and still in land conflicts with buffalo. Ignorance towards other cultures (Zecora) was widespread throughout a small town. They have a 'mayor' but still a divine ruler by default. (Similar to how the 13 Colonies had leaders but the monarchy came first) And they seem like a primarily agricultural based society slowly making their headway towards industrialization.
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* The Elements of Harmony require a very powerful bond between the users to work at full power - for example, the bond of friendship between the Mane Cast, or the bond of siblings between Luna and Celestia. So, how could it work with Celestia on her own? Celestia used them to protect her little sister until she could be restored to normal. The bond was still there, despite NM's actions. Celestia was essentially saying to Luna, "I am so, ''so'' sorry about this, but I've ''got'' to stop you hurting yourself further. I'm doing this because I love you, and I will ''never'' forgive myself for what you're going to go through from now on." Awwww!
* I used to wonder why Spike's crush had to be Rarity, out of all the Mane Six. Then I realized that Spike's [[Trademark Favorite Food]] is gemstones, which happen to be Rarity's cutie mark. [[Mr Media Guy]]
** Fridge Brilliance regarding Spike's massive crush on Rarity; despite being a dragon, he was hatched and raised by a pony. ''He thinks like a pony.'' And with all the fairy tales in Twilight's collection...why, Rarity's like the princess from all those bedtime stories. Proof with "A Dog and Pony Show" where he pictures himself a brave knight knocking the ruffians into next week to rescue the pretty mare. Realizing that is what put me right in that shipper camp.
** Add to that Rarity has the vice of [[Greed]] (albeit juxtoposed by being the Element of Genorosity). Spike, being a dragon, is easily corrupted by greed, and also matures at a faster rate when affected by it. As displayed in "Secret of My Excess", Rarity has the ability to both [[Spoiled Brat|provoke]] and [[Morality Pet|neutralize]] this side of Spike. Add to that, being paired with a greedy yet compassionate partner like Rarity would likely lead him to age at faster rate, albeit possibly without the worry of transforming into an outright selfish, feral beast. Under this theory, Rarity makes the ideal "life partner" for Spike he would likely have to worry less about a somewhat tragic [[Mayfly-December Romance]] with.
* This troper was thinking about how the Mane Six represent the Elements of Harmony, but in-universe they often exhibit the opposite traits (Rarity coveting gems, Applejack lying to her friends, Rainbow Dash being selfish, etc.). At first this troper thought that this was contradictory, but then I remembered that the purpose of the Elements of Harmony was to maintain balance in Equestria. You can't have yin without yang. Take Rarity for example: she represents the element of Generosity, but at the same time she has a bit of a greedy streak when it comes to the finer things in life. But just as being super-greedy turned her into a crazy paranoid miser in "Return of Harmony", being super-generous would quickly leave Rarity completely out of business and with nothing left to give. With that said, it seems to this troper that Discord didn't completely change their personality- he just brought out their worst possible traits.
* This troper noticed another interesting thing about the Mane Six - when you pair each pony of the same type (unicorn, pegasus and earth pony), their personalities seem to be quite opposite to each other - which fits perfectly with the idea of them being harmonic.
** '''Twilight Sparkle - Rarity''': Twilight doesn't care in the least about her looks (she happily wears an unfinished dress made by Rarity, saying that it's simple and practical, like her, and she even dresses as a male wizard for Nightmare Night), whereas Rarity hates it whenever something messes up her appearance. Twilight is an introvert, Rarity is an extrovert. Twilight doesn't sweat the small stuff but panicks over major expectations; Rarity throws Drama Queen fits at the most trivial setback, but is supremely confident about taking on impossible tasks.
** '''Rainbow Dash - Fluttershy''': Rainbow Dash is a tomboy, extrovert and excellent flier, whereas Fluttershy is more girly, shy and more comfortable on the ground.
** '''Pinkie Pie - Applejack''': Pinkie Pie is a [[Cloudcuckoolander]], Applejack is sensible and down to earth.
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* The whole "wingboner" thing seems pretty idiotic... until you see a moment in Dragonshy when Twilight uses her teeth to grab Fluttershy's wing by '''biting''' it, resulting in an agonized/aroused look from Fluttershy. This, though not definitively, proves that a pegasus's wings ''could'' be an erogenous zone. (God, the things I never thought I'd type...)
** It is canon that pesasus ponies' wings get stiff in response to various emotions, like anger, fear, excitement etc., so why not sexual arousal? Not to mention that when you look at mating horses, you will notice that wings would only get in the way of the forelegs, so it would actually make sense for female pegasus to have them standing up during the act.
* A thought recently occurred to me with Pinkie Pie's random bursts into song. For the most part, most characters don't mind or at least tolerate Pinkie when she does this. However, there are at least three occasions where her songs backfire spectacularly: "Over a Barrel", "Best Night Ever", and "Baby Cakes." What do these situations have in common that few, if any, of Pinkie's other song moments don't? She's ''trying'' to be entertaining. Most of the time when she starts singing it's just her having fun without thinking much about what she's doing. But on those occasions she was making a special effort to be entertaining and it failed because [[You Were Trying Too Hard|she was trying too hard]].
* Fluttershy is appropriately named for two reasons. Obviously, she's a very shy pony. Less obviously, shying in equestrian terms (The sport, not the magical land) is the act of a horse jumping in fright, usually at a sudden movement or unfamiliar object, something that Fluttershy does quite often.
** You noticed the jargon-based [[Bilingual Bonus]], but not the one right in front of everyone, and almost lampshaded by [[wikipedia:Applejack (beverage)|Apple Jack]] being named Apple Teeny (Appletini). perhaps a subtle we got crap past the radar on both Hasbro and The show.
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** She also seems to be singing to the viewers (even using the word [[Fan Community Nickname|"bronies"]]), which makes sense as well since she is known to break the fourth wall.
* There's a number of things that make Twilight Sparkle stand out from her friends in Ponyville. She was [[City Mouse|born and raised in the big city of Canterlot]], while most of the other ponies are either native to Ponyville (Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie) or have lived there a while (Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy). More subtly, her coat and mane are darker colors than the brightly-colored Ponyvillers, and her name is [[Odd Name Out|the only one out of the main six with four syllables instead of three]].
** Rainbow Dash is probably also native to Ponyville. Applejack's and Pinkie's perspectives agree that she flew directly to Ponyville after getting her cutie mark, before she even decelerated below Mach 1... perhaps because she wanted to show her parents?
*** It's stated, by Scootaloo, in Cutie Mark Chronicles that Rainbow Dash is from Cloudsdale. Confirmed in 'Friendship Games', where Rainbow Dash is potentially eligible for the Cloudsdale team despite being a Ponyville resident because Cloudsdale is her birth city.
** Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders follow the [[Rule of Three]] in multiple ways. Aside from being a trio of three different types of ponies (an earth pony, a pegasus, and a unicorn), they also all have three syllables in their names. (A-pple Bloom, Scoo-ta-loo, and Swee-tie Belle)
** Additionally, her cutie mark is the only one that does not have a three part pattern (though Rainbow Dash may also seem like an exception at first, the rainbow lighting bolt is comprised of blue, yellow, and red, the three primary colors).
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20180120122137/http://images.wikia.com/mylittleponyhub/images/3/37/Twilightsparkle.jpg Her cutie mark is 3 parts: white star, purple star ontop, surrounded by white stars]
*** In fact the only other main character with a four syllable name is Ce-les-ti-a, not even Nightmare Moon and Luna have it.
*** Where does that leave Pin-ka-me-na Di-ane Pie?
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* [[Fridge Brilliance]] - Before you renounce Scootaloo or the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders as [[The Scrappy|Scrappies]], consider this. Scoot idolizes Rainbow Dash (FYI, I love Rainbow and am not tying to put blame on her) and the older Pegasus doesn't seem to get the whole "discovering who you are" part of gaining a cutie mark either. So Scootaloo isn't gonna get it because Rainbow doesn't get it. and as the de facto leader of the Crusaders, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are just going to be strung along with Scoot's (innocent) cluelessness until she realizes the right way to get a cutie mark. besides that, Scootaloo is just a KID. We can't really expect her to do the right thing just yet.
** I don't think Scootaloo should be considered the leader of the CMC. As long as we're assuming one exists at all, Apple Bloom is probably a better fit. Scootaloo is too impulsive and Sweetie Belle too timid. Apple Bloom is the group's jack-all-trades in this respect. She's also had more screen time overall, which should count for something. However, as I implied, I don't think the group acknowledges any kind of hierarchy (even informal). Each filly respects the others' opinions, and no one character is shown consistently acting as a driving force for the others in any of their featured episodes.
*** Insomuch as the CMC have any leader at all it's Apple Bloom, and for a reason entirely believable for a club of small children - Apple Bloom (or, more accurately, her family) is the owner of the clubhouse they meet in. Likewise, whenever the CMC actually bother to have a formal meeting, Apple Bloom is the one at the podium banging the gavel.
* Not sure whether this is [[Fridge Brilliance]] or [[Fridge Horror]], but there are three buildings in Ponyville with straw floors. Two of them are barns: the pig pen in The Show Stoppers, and the barn Pinkie's birthday party is held in in Party of One. Straw is used for barn floors because it is absorbent, and makes cleaning up after animals easier. What's the third building with a straw floor? {{spoiler|Cheerilee's schoolhouse.}}
** Neither; that's probably fridge humor.
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*** Rainbow Dash is the likely candidate for a Tsundere.
* The order in which Twilight Sparkle befriended the other ponies cannot have been an accident. Applejack is first. She is forthright, down to earth, and hard working; in other words, she's the pony who is most like Twilight. Fluttershy is second. She's awfully timid, but her compassion and gentle nature make for someone who is almost universally beloved. Pinkie Pie is third. Pinkie is... shall we say... [[Cloudcuckoolander|unique]] but her cheerful nature lets her laugh at the unknown when it is most terrifying. Rarity is fourth. She is very socially conscious and seems to focus on appearances, which mean nothing to Twilight, but in the right circumstances [[Hidden Depths|her generosity rises to the fore]]. Rainbow Dash is fifth, and last. Her relationship to Twilight had been the most negative, and even briefly antagonistic, but she sacrificed a shot at her heart's desire without a single regret, and that allowed Twilight to see a very different side to her personality.
** Lampshaded horribly in [[Better Living Through Science and Ponies]]: [[
** The above order is incorrect -- Twilight meets Rainbow Dash before Rarity. However, the theory that Celestia set this up is entirely plausible; the reason Twilight seeks out the other members of the Mane Six is because they're each in charge of a different section of the preparations for the Summer Sun Festival. And Celestia is the pony who both picked Twilight to supervise the Summer Sun Festival, and presumably had a hoof in selecting who else would be involved in the arrangements.
* Speaking of [[
* While most likely introduced to play with the show's usual format, having others besides Twilight Sparkle write Friendship Reports is a very significant moment in-universe. She was so busy freaking out about missing her report that the once socially awkward Twilight failed to realize that the reason she hadn't learning something new about Friendship that week was simply because she'd learned so much in her time in Ponyville that she didn't have as much ''to'' learn as she did at the start. Now that others are involved in the Friendship Reports, though, lessons that Twilight herself might not have encountered for some time, if at all, are now also brought to the forefront.
* There's been some conflicted feelings in the fanbase lately, mostly because in the second half of season two [[The One Guy|Spike]] has gotten less screen time. The one upside is that fan-favorite Big Macintosh has been [[Ascended Extra|promoted to a larger role]]. Then it hit me, ''usually'' (but not always) Big Mac has a bigger part in episodes where Spike is missing or has diminished screen time (like in "The Sisterhooves Social" "Family Appreciation Day" "The Last Roundup" "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" and "Hearts and Hooves Day"), they're making [[The One Guy]] a rotating position. Right now it switches between the two of them but as time goes the possibility of other male characters (like Caramel, Blues, Bluegrass or Doctor Whooves) opens up. This allows them to use more of the male characters without having to take away from the Mane Six.
*
**
* [http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/253510-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic This] fan interpretation of those two important-looking ponies alongside the Mayor.
* Why does everyone always dictate their letters to Spike? He's the only one with fingers!
* Some people were complaining about the CMC having so many episodes. But remember, they were originally intended to have a spinoff that never surfaced. Naturally they'd do something with all the episode ideas they probably came up with if they were planning to make an entire series around them.
* Pinkie's "Pinkie Sense" makes a lot more sense when you consider she was named "Surprise" in the early concept.
* A massive fanbase, needless to say, has a large amount of fanfiction. In a good amount of the fanfiction (
** That kind of falls apart when ship fanart like Big Mac/Braeburn together gets put on ponibooru and flamed for being "faggy".
** They are essentially cousins. Homosexuality is one thing, incest is another. Plus, it's ponibooru...
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* A small one but... Gummy is named Gummy because his name is a play on the candy called gummy worms. In this case, he's a gummy wyrm as in a dragon or a lizard. Just the sort of thinking Pinky would do.
** Wait, how would she even know what a "wyrm" ''is?'' That's a word you'd expect to hear from Twilight Sparkle, Ponyville's little answer to any question one might ask. And the only other member of the Mane Cast to keep a baby reptile in her home. In other words, the one pony Pinkie Pie would ask for guidance on how to take care of her new pet baby crocodile.
*** There's also that Pinkie Pie has been revealed as having an eidetic memory and an extremely idiosyncratic and random knowledge base. It's just as likely that Pinkie would know some incredibly obscure bit of trivia as it is likely that she would completely fail to know something in common usage.
** I just figured Pinkie named him gummy because he has no teeth. Though I wouldn't put it past the writers to be playing a pun-game with us.
== Season 1 ==
==
==== Mare in the Moon & The Elements of Harmony ====
* The design of Twilight's cutie mark is somewhat vague, and we wouldn't really know it is a representation of magic until we are told about it. However, the mark is five small stars, surrounding a big pink one; the most powerful and important star on the mark. An exact representation of the Elements of Harmony, specifically, Magic, as it has to be unlocked by the other five. This also could be the reason that Celestia knew to take Twilight in, after seeing the mark, she knew what it meant, and she knew Twilight was destined to save Princess Luna.
* "On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid her escape." That prophecy wasn't about Nightmare Moon using the night sky to escape from the moon, it was about the Elements of Harmony, the "stars" of the show helping Luna escape from the Nightmare she'd trapped herself in.
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* The ruined castle in the forest used to be the Princesses' home. Therefore the forest used to be as tame as Canterlot. All the roads must date to that period, and presumably led somewhere a thousand years ago, like ancient Roman roads today.
==== The Ticket Master ====
* Spike's attitude towards the Grand Galloping Gala in "The Ticket Master" is basically a stand-in for all of the peripheral demographic viewers. "I don't want any of that girly, frilly, frou-frou nonsense," he says, and giggles at being invited to the gala too. In other words, Lauren Faust gave all of us a cameo.
** This troper agrees, having encountered so many boys (and girls) who are reluctant to display any inclination towards things like "frilly frou frou" or "rough and tumble boys stuff" because they're afraid of being laughed at or teased, it's nice to see that Spike is both sympathising with this fear, and basically showing us it's okay anyway.
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* Why didn't Twilight teleport away at any of the many opportunities during the episode? Because she was starving, and teleporting takes a lot of energy! (Which also explains why Spike ended up singed when she did finally teleport - it was an emergency teleport that she couldn't control.)
==== Applebuck Season ====
* Applejack's dog is named Winona. "Winona" means "first-born daughter". Who's the first-born daughter in her family? Applejack!
* The rabbit stampede in Applebuck Season looks like pure [[Rule of Funny]] at first. But then think about what the rabbits actually do. They start eating the all the flowers in the village. By themselves. With ''nopony telling them what to do.'' That's Everfree levels of mindscrewery right there.
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** Additionally... no flowers means that if bees come around, they won't find nectar to gather, or in turn, anything to pollinate. And that could be very bad...
==== Griffon the Brush Off ====
* In a bit of [[Fridge Brilliance]] Pinkie Pie claims that she won't play a prank on Fluttershy because she's too sensitive and might take it the wrong way. However, it's often implied that Pinkie is well aware of the [[Fourth Wall]], and [[Talking to Himself|she and Fluttershy share a voice actress.]]
* Applejack's moment of extreme shock at the painted apples in may seem out of context for the sensible pony considering its just colour on apples... until you realize that they look much like zap apples. For a split second, she thinks the farm has missed its opportunity for one of its cornerstone harvests, seeing as they disappear so quickly.
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** There's some [[Fridge Horror]] here too, since according to medieval lore, griffins mated for life and would never seek a new mate if the old one died, and may even refuse to eat and simply starve to death. This makes the [[Love Triangle]] interpretation of that episode a lot more tragic.
==== Boast Busters ====
* Why is Trixie's magic so useless off the stage? Is she just weak? Maybe, but there's another explanation, one which probably makes more sense. Every unicorn has their own special talent. Trixie's is most likely ''showmanship''
** It's probably more than that when you consider that Trixie is Twilight's [[Shadow Archetype]] and while Twilight is nice and has a lot of friends, Trixie is arrogant and has no friends. Now think about what Twilight learned in her battle against Nightmare Moon, and it all makes perfect sense: [[Meaningful Name|Friendship Is Magic.]]
** Also, if you observe carefully, you'll notice that all Trixie ever did was turn her hecklers' talents against them. It's not entirely unfeasible that Trixie isn't very good at magic unless she has something to imitate. This is further reinforced when she tries to use the rope-charming trick and the storm-cloud thing against the Ursa Minor.
* In "Boast Busters", Spike tries to attract Rarity by wearing a mustache, and is depressed that it doesn't work at the end of the episode. This makes perfect sense when you remember what happened to Rarity [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* In Boast Busters, Spike wanted to grow a mustache to impress Rarity. Perhaps because he knows Rarity is impressed by dragons with mustaches (Steven Magnet)?
==== Dragonshy ====
* In Dragonshy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie play tic-tac-toe while waiting for Fluttershy to coax the dragon. Rarity says that's 35 games in a row, and to play best of 71. That means they had just played best of 69.
** It also means that one of them has won all the games.
* In ''Dragonshy'', during the preparation montage Big Macintosh is seen loading apple juice into Applejack's saddlebags. He's seen looking winded right afterwards, but this is THE Big Macintosh, who can kick ponies over the horizon. This is also the Big Macintosh who was recovering from a serious rib injury not too long ago.
==== Look Before You Sleep ====
* Why does Applejack come down so hard on Rarity's nitpicking and high-class behavior in "Look Before you Sleep"? Because Rarity reminds Applejack of her snobby relatives in Manehatten and the social exclusion she felt there as revealed in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles".
** From the same episode, Applejack came to Mane-hattan to try the city life with her orange themed relatives, only to find that it's just not her and returns to the apple ranch. In a sense, you could say that she was trying to compare [[Just for Pun|apples and oranges!]]
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** Explains why she says "Ya just eat'em" about the marshmallows.
==== Bridle Gossip ====
* Twilight Sparkle getting a floppy horn in "Bridle Gossip" makes even more sense once you notice that {{spoiler|Rainbow Dash taps Twilight on the horn immediately after flying through the Poison Joke.}}
* At first the effects of the "curse" in "Bridle Gossip" seemed rather random to me, but then I realized it was targeting each of the ponies' personal strengths: Twilight prides herself on her magical abilities, and her horn goes limp; Rarity takes pride in her appearance, and ends up with long, goofy-looking hair; Rainbow Dash, who enjoys her graceful flying abilities, becomes incredibly clumsy; Applejack prides herself on her physical strength and ability to take charge, and gets shrunk; the highly social Pinkie Pie is rendered unable to talk; and the gentle and soft-spoken Fluttershy is given a deep and somewhat intimidating voice.
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*** I thought it was an excellent thing they did. Instead of showing just a (metaphor for a) black person who’s completely assimilated, they showed a more authentic (to some extent, this is still a fantasy setting written by Westerners) representation of African culture. And why is it that a black person helping white people a ‘magic negro’ instead of just helpful? Especially when it was shown she was going to Ponyville to get some of her ingridients, so they help each other.
{{quote|'''Applejack''': "No good reason"?! You call defending your kin "no good reason"?}}
* There's a bit of [[Shown Their Work]] in one of the misunderstandings between Zecora and the population of Ponyville. Zecora's pawing at the ground gesture she does several times in town? In the real-world, zebras make that gesture to try and dig for water... but horses make that same gesture as a threat display.<ref>And so do Equestrian ponies; watch Twilight's forehoof right before she charges at Nightmare Moon in the season 1 pilot.</ref> Zecora's foreign body language is sending all the wrong signals and she doesn't even know it.
==== Swarm of the Century ====
* The parasprites are apparently native to the Everfree Forest, and they should be able to strip the forest of its entire food supply within a day. So why haven't they destroyed the forest yet? Because the Everfree Forest is home to some of the largest, nastiest predators know to ponykind- the Ursa Major can probably gulp down an entire swarm just by inhaling. This explains why Zecora has never seen one despite living in the same forest. This means, however, that all the parasprites that Applejack and Pinkie Pie sent into the forest are [[Fridge Horror|going to die very, very, soon.]]
** However, based on the Princess' comments, it appears that the parasprites are now attacking [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Fillydelphia]], subtly implying that the 'sprites that they shoved into the forest are now... elsewhere.
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*** It's entirely possible that she had a brush with them shortly after discovering her party-planning talent, and that she ''happened'' to be a one-pony band when they showed up, discovering that music is the key to solving the problem entirely by sheer luck.
==== Winter Wrap Up ====
* I thought it was weird that nopony had assigned Twilight a job in "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
** This troper's interpretation of it was that Ponyville's population has very few unicorns (only Rarity?) prior to Twilight coming in town. They probably don't know what she can do to help. And thus don't give her a job. Even then, they probably hold a distaste for using magic to complete a task that can be done with physical labor, seeing as most of them are earth ponies. The Winter Wrap-Up seems like a community task, not meant to be efficient, moreso to bring everypony together so they can bond through working hard and co-operation. Few ponies have magic, so you'd be working alone by using it, and thus not participating in the community bonding. Though back on the main subject, they probably just neglected to give Twilight a task because she's still new to town. Perhaps they don't actually see her as a member of Ponyville yet.
*** I'd have to shoot down the 'rare unicorn' theory. Enough hang around in the background shots (although
** At the beginning of the episode Spike seems more lethargic than usual, this could be attributed to various reasons, until you take into account that spike is a reptile and reptiles get sleepy at a lowered temperatures.
** Another little bit. Remember when Twilight's snowplow goes out of control and she ends up cutting off about five or six other plowers? Imagine what would have happened had she not done that. All of those other ponies were heading ''at each other''. Who planned their routes? <ref>Which is also another example of their lack of organization.</ref>
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* Twilight eventually ends up organizing the event (and having them complete everything on-time for the first time ever). What did she do all throughout the 'Winter Wrap-up' musical number and the first part of the episode? ''Find out about every task that takes place during the Winter Wrap-up.'' Everypony else was knowledgeable about their own task but nopony else's, as evidenced by Applejack and Fluttershy both giving Rainbow Dash competing assignments. Twilight is the ''only'' pony who's bothered to get the complete picture. Organization is one of her skills, sure, but what they ''really'' needed was anypony with a big-picture view. - [[User:Alphacat]]
==== Call of the Cutie ====
* In "Call of the Cutie", the pony the fandom knows as "Doctor Whoof" is an earth pony with the hour glass cutie mark, spiky hair and a mature man's voice. In "Sonic Rainboom", the same pony is featured, but he is now a pegasus and speaks in a much younger boy's voice. Isn't the real Doctor reincarnated over and over? Fridge Brilliance!
** And if we see Dr. Whoof as an Earth Pony again, that's hardly a barrier. He's just been time-traveling and pegasus!Whoof is from the future.
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* Isn't it frustrating that no matter how often they fail, the Cutie Mark Crusaders never understand that you're supposed to just wait for your cutie mark instead of trying and trying to make it happen? Even Apple Bloom, probably the most even-headed of the three fillies, just doesn't get it. Even after Cheerilee explained it to her class in ''Call of the Cutie''! "Discovering what makes you unique isn't something that happens overnight, and no amount of hoping, wishing, or begging will make a cutie mark appear before its time." Too bad Apple Bloom, who had been diligently taking notes, was momentarily distracted by Diamond Tiara's note-passing. She mighta learned something.
==== Fall Weather Friends ====
* It's implied repeatedly that earth ponies are stronger and/or have more endurance than pegasi, in general. After the Running of the Leaves, when Twilight mentioned most of the contestants being worn out by the end of the race, the camera cuts to a trio of exhausted ponies... all three are pegasi. For all their mistakes and shameless copypasting, the background pony animators sometimes do something especially clever.
** Also in the Running of the Leaves, Pinkie Pie's announcements of "It's Applejack...it's Rainbow Dash!" seem to be out of sync with who's actually ahead. But, since Applejack and Rainbow Dash have unknowingly fallen behind the others, she's actually announcing who's behind.
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* A lot of people know of the [[Shout-Out]] in "Fall Weather Friends", but take a closer look at Twilight's cutie mark. There are 42 points. Either it wasn't really a shout out, or it's been there since episode 1...
==
==== Suited for Success ====
* In "Suited for Success" one might look at the "second try" dresses and wonder, how can they look at that in a mirror and think it looks good? Then one remembers that they go around naked most of the time! It makes sense that they don't have any taste, since they don't have to exercise it on a daily basis.
* Rarity is able to make dozens of ''perfectly tailored'' dresses in a single night, with nothing more than a sewing machine, a few dress forms, and gentle telekinesis for the tricky bits. But she has a big advantage over human dressmakers: almost every pony in Equestria has the same body model!
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*** This adds in even ''more'' Fridge Brilliance in the second episode, where, after the cliff collapse, Fluttershy saves Rarity, Rainbow Dash saves Pinkie Pie, and Applejack saves Twilight. In the ''second episode'', they hinted at who would be the closest of friends within the larger friendship group.
==== Feeling Pinkie Keen ====
* When the mane cast was confronted by a monster in Feeling Pinkie Keen, it was a Hydra. Since it has four heads, Fluttershy couldn't stare it down. When Discord hypnotized Fluttershy, he did so by touching the top of her head, rather than staring into her eyes. If I remember correctly, when the cranky Ursa Minor attacked, Fluttershy wasn't there. If any of this were different, she would have stared it down.
* The reason Twilight's machine failed to analyze Pinkie sense in [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* In "Feeling Pinkie Keen", When running from the hydra the group has to jump across stone pillars to escape. Fluttershy is the first to go and says to herself "It's just a hop, skip and a jump." Which is something Pinkie told her back in "Dragonshy" Why couldn't she just fly across? The same reason in "Dragonshy": ''her wings lock up when she's scared.'' And why couldn't Twilight teleport across when the pillars collapsed when she does it all the time in "Applebuck Season"? As we've seen throughout the series, when Twilight is stressed (end of Lesson Zero, Cutie Mark Chronicles, The "failsafe spell" in Return of Harmony) she has a harder time controlling magic, and it usually just doesn't work.
* I think this is why the doozy in "Feeling Pinkie Keen" was Twilight believing in Pinkie's pinkie sense instead of the hydra. The hydra was foreshadowed to make the viewers expect the hydra to appear. Twilight giving in wasn't.
==== Sonic Rainboom ====
* When Rainbow Dash does her first Sonic Rainboom, it makes the main cast find out who they truly are and define themselves, in ways they possibly might have not found out otherwise. The show's main point is to teach to be who you truly are, with the characters having those specific personalities. So Pinkie Pie's conclusion on that being how Equestria (as we know it) was made [[The
** That and they saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon.
** Related to this...you know how happy and excited filly Pinkie was when she saw the rainbow? Well, that seemed more excited than she was to see Twilight for the first time in the first episode. So why did she claim she had never been that excited before? Because it was the first episode--making that statement also right in an odd way.
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* After Rarity loses her wings, you never see her standing on a cloud - she's either held up by flying ponies, or sitting in the balloon. This makes perfect sense - Twilight never cast the cloudwalking spell on her because she already had wings. (While Rarity can be seen cloudwalking earlier, this is obviously an ability of the wings, as she also airwalks during the contest.)
==== Stare Master ====
* When Fluttershy tries to sleep on her living room couch in "Stare Master", we see that its back is higher at one end than the other. It's a [[wikipedia:Fainting couch|fainting couch]], which makes sense because we know Fluttershy is prone to fainting.
** Okay, so how did she GET that couch? As pointed out in examples relating to "Suited For Success," she's best friends with Rarity, who also faints as part of her "Drama Queen" persona. Rarity would understand the value of having a fainting couch, and she ''is'' the Element of Generosity...
==== The Show Stoppers ====
* In "The Show Stoppers", the Cutie Mark Crusaders are shown [[Comically Missing the Point]] about finding their Cutie Marks by sticking to what they know and like already. Instead they keep focusing on trying different things in their search for their talents and ignoring their natural gifts. Why? Because the kids don't consider those things to ''be'' their talents. None of them regard their gifts as anything special or noteworthy because, while they know it's not the case intellectually, they regard their real talents in a "[[I Thought Everyone Could Do That
* In "The Show Stoppers", Apple Bloom fixes up Applejack's broken-down tree house all by herself, no problem. So where was that talent when she and her friends were fixing Fluttershy's table in "Stare Master"? It makes a little more sense when you consider that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo don't share Apple Bloom's talent (especially not Sweetie Belle), and Scootaloo was apparently working at cross-purposes with the other two ("We were making a table?"), which lead to a classic "too many cooks spoil the broth" situation.
** Moreover, "too many cooks" seems to be tripping them up even worse as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They do EVERYTHING together, and the result is always a disaster.
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** This makes sense - Twist mentions that she made those peppermint candies a lot, but it was only when she realized it was her special talent that she got her cutie mark.
==== A Dog and Pony Show ====
* Of course Rarity's "whining" was painful to the Diamond Dogs, with their canine sense of hearing.
* It would seem odd that a bunch of ponies could easily pull big carts filled with gems while the diamond dogs struggle to pull them, despite being bigger and muscular. However, horses in [[Real Life]] are generally stronger than dogs, and can therefore pull heavier objects easier than dogs.
==== Green Isn't Your Color ====
* Pinkie Pie's insistence on keeping secrets. It actually makes a lot of sense when you realize that not keeping them defeats the purpose of throwing surprise parties.
** I thought it had more to do with [[Just for Pun|"pinky swears".]]
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* The door to Fluttershy's dressing room in Green is Not Your Colour has a small hole in it, for small creatures like mice to enter in. It's a minor, but very nice detail.
* Fluttershy becoming a model in Green Isn't Your Color might lead to the conclusion that she's the most attractive pony [[In-Universe]]. [[Fridge Brilliance]] sets in once you find out that [[In Real Life]], as children supermodels were often tall and skinny compared to their peers, just like filly Fluttershy in The Cutie Mark Chronicles flashback.
* When you think about it, Rarity being passed over for Fluttershy could be seen as karma. As in "Sonic Rainboom," Rarity basically stole the attention away from Rainbow Dash with her new wings. (The reason why she was there in the first place was to support her in the Young Fliers competition), and now Fluttershy (inadvertently) stole the attention away from her.
** By the same token, Fluttershy's nervousness become worse because of Photo Finish's describing all the ponies out there about to watch her is just as karmic since that's what she did to Rainbow Dash in Sonic Rainboom.
==== Over a Barrel ====
* Read [http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/12/24/my-little-non-homophobic-non-racist-non-smart-shaming-pony-a-rebuttal/ this], especially the third paragraph about conflict being resolved by sharing. Then watch "Over a Barrel", specifically Pinkie Pie's song. It's basically a giant [[Take That]] against that idea.
** Except the conflict is, in the end, resolved ''by sharing''. So Pinkie was right all along! She was just a bit annoying about the idea... kinda like the previous MLP cartoons, I suppose.
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* In "Over A Barrel" Rainbow Dash yells for Pinkie Pie to get away while she holds off the entire herd of buffalo currently surrounding them. At first it sounds like empty bravado, but then we see just how much damage she can do in "Lesson Zero." Those buffalo really were going to get held off. ''Hard.''
==== A Bird in the Hoof ====
* Celestia having a phoenix is rather appropriate - considering that they're ''associated with the sun.''
** Not to mention the fact that a phoenix is reborn over and over again, so that would be the perfect companion for someone who's lived for over 1000 years.
* Banishment, and then being imprisoned in the place you were banished to? What a crazy idea! Except that's exactly what happened to Nightmare Moon...
* Rarity wears her Gala dress to the lunch with Celestia in [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
==== The Cutie Mark Chronicles ====
* In The ''Cutie Mark Chronicles'', Fluttershy is a bit taller than all of the other main ponies at the time of the Sonic Rainboom. Why? As she said to Pinkie Pie in ''Griffon the Brush-Off'', "I'm a year older than you..."
** Also from that episode, for those who've seen ''Feeling Pinkie Keen'', you might've wondered why Pinkie's "Pinkie Sense" didn't kick in prior to the {{spoiler|sonic rainboom}}. Well, consider the fact that Twilight was able to pass her entrance exam the same day {{spoiler|due to the rainboom throwing her magic into high gear}}. In that sense, that ended up working for Twilight in the same vein as [[Spider-Man|the radioactive spider for Peter Parker]]. So, maybe that also caused Pinkie's young brain to be all scrambled and give her that "Pinkie Sense" of hers. It would also explain how she ended up with [[Cloudcuckoolander|her current personality]]...
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** Keep in mind that these are teachers at a ''school of magic'', most likely pretty powerful magic-users themselves. That they were unable to counter Twilight's magic shows how powerful she is.
*** To build onto the above point: they were employed by '''Princess Celestia's''' School for '''Gifted''' Unicorns. This is a school full of young unicorns with a lot of raw power and/or talent, but not a lot of experience and/or control over it. Attacks of [[Power Incontinence]] happen all the time, so thus the school would have countermeasures in place to protect the school's staff and students. Twilight being able to levitate her proctors at all meant she was ''bypassing some of the most powerful defensive magic available to unicorns, '''as a young filly with next to no experience at all.'''''
**** Confirmed. Later on Celestia will Twilight in-dialogue that she has never seen another unicorn with her level of magical ability in her entire life. Remember that Celestia is over ''one thousand bucking years old''.
* The Mane Cast all earned their cutie marks after various moments of epiphany. However, all these moments had more to do with inner character than one specific talent -- Applejack's love for home and family, Fluttershy's need to nurture and ''be'' needed, Rarity's drive to bring out "spectacular" beauty, Twilight's love for magic and knowledge in general, Pinkie Pie's need to bring happiness to others, and Rainbow Dash's competitiveness. The Cutie Mark Crusaders aren't without marks because they don't recognize their talents; to a certain extent, they probably do. It's just that there's much, much more to it.
** Also, you have to consider the fact that Sweetie Belle already knows she has musical talent, but decides to avoid that path for multiple possible reasons other than her desire to follow in her big sister Rarity's footsteps. The first reason is the fact that she obviously suffers from stage fright, especially around strangers which is completely understandable considering she's so young. The other reason is that since she already is the closest to knowing about their talent, she might think that if she gets her Cutie Mark too much sooner than the other Cutie Mark Crusaders, her friends might ostracize her because she already has her talent, while they're still looking for their own, much like how one person might get into a good college while the rest of their friends aren't so lucky, and might be treated differently as a result.
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** Rainbow Dash: She got her cutie mark after competing determinedly to defend the honor of one of her friends (Loyalty)
==== Owl's Well That Ends Well ====
* I was wondering why Spike became so insanely jealous of Owlowiscious so quickly, but then I realised that every dragon so far is VERY territorial and Spike probably considers Twilight and the gang 'his' without realizing it! When he thought Owlowiscious was taking their attention from him his natural instincts kicked in and he became furious!
* More Owl-based Brilliance: According to Twilight, Owlowiscious was hired so Twilight would have someone to help her out during night (in itself Brilliance due to an owl's nocturnal status). So why was Owlowiscious so keen to help Twi during the day? Because the other reason he was hired was because Spike was exhausted from overworking... the owl was putting in some extra hours to give Spike a chance to catch up on lost sleep! Shame Spike didn't see it that way, but the road to strife is paved with good intentions...
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* In "Owl's Well That Ends Well" Spike meets an adult dragon who tries to kill him. While Spike had just eaten part of his hoard, it still seemed excessive that he would start trying to kill Spike after giving him only a token effort to explain himself. And then comes "Secret of My Excess," and we see that if Spike had tried to claim that hoard, he would have reached adulthood almost instantly. That makes the adult dragon's attempt to kill Spike a reasonable, if grim, attempt to fend off a competitor before he becomes a problem.
==== Party of One ====
* In ''Party of One'', when Pinkie Pie starts to believe her friends have abandoned and she sinks into depression, her mane flattens and her color goes drab, reverting back to her look prior to gaining her Cutie Mark. Without a Party, there is no Pinkie Pie; just Pinkamena Diane Pie.
** Note that when this happens she (particularly her mane and tail) deflates and inflates like a '''balloon''' (complete with sound effects).
* Also in ''Party of One'' Spike admits to using all the hot water in Ponyville to take a long bath. At first this would seem like an over-exaggeration for the sake of a joke (''all'' the hot water for an entire ''town''?) until you remember that Spike is a fire-breathing dragon, and dragons both like and ''need'' a lot of heat.
* If you take your time out of the entire Pinkie pie meltdown, the entire episode is very caricature-like and it's not just Pinkie. Twilight tiptoeing around in broad daylight with accompanying sound effects; Rainbow dash drawing a watch in her leg ''right in front of Pinkie'' and making excuses to leave with a straight face; Applejack closing the barn door in Pinkie face and the poorly done construction noises; Pinkie sitting on Rainbow Dash's head, squishing it flat into the floor ... it seems pretty out of context. Then you realize that in every episode revolving around Pinkie or ones in which she played a large part ([[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
** Or, in equally fridge brilliance, we're seeing the world through Pinkie's eyes (in third person... somehow...) and seeing how she interpreted actual events in an [[Unreliable Narrator]] sort of way, just painted across the fourth wall. As she began to suspect her friends, she "imagined," for lack of a better word, them acting more and more decietful, and when she held her own party the inanimate objects started off just that until in Pinkie's mind, at least, they became real until Dash turn up and fractured the self-illusion.
* As well in ''Party of One'', this troper spent a good while wondering why Pinkie Pie takes longer to trust Applejack's excuses compared to the other ponies. But then, Applejack is the wielder of the Element of Honesty. She is not just the most likely to get caught first, but it's also hard for her to make excuses.
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* You might notice that when Pinkie was giving her singing telegram, as well as during Gummy's birthday, Spike was nowhere to be seen. Why not? He was taking that seven hour bath!
==== The Best Night Ever ====
* Prince Blueblood is by himself such that a newcomer like Rarity was able to easily approach him and accompany him without constantly getting mobbed like with the Wonderbolts. That's because those who already know him ''can't stand being around him.''
* So, Applejack thought she would be earning enough at the Gala to pay for Granny Smith's hip replacement. That's probably a lot of money, considering she hadn't been able to save enough to pay for it throughout the months that have passed during the first season. Applejack must have brought a lot of merchandise with her if she thinks she could make that much money. But then it all gets destroyed! She ''lost'' merchandise worth ''that much money'' at the gala! Why does she still describe it as the best night ever? Then I realized she probably didn't bring that much stuff and just jacked the prices up ridiculously high.
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== Season 2 ==
==
==== The Return of Harmony, Parts 1 & 2 ====
* If one takes Discord's hint how to find Elements of Harmony from other perspective (ie. ''you'' as viewers), you will find 0:00 of [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* Fluttershy says she's weak and helpless. This makes sense when you realize that alone she ''is'' weak and helpless; see how she reacted to Gilda's bullying when on her own. Fluttershy's strength comes from her friends.
* Why was Rarity the only one of the ponies to consciously resist mind control? Because she's has had the most experience fighting to stay true to her element.
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* There's an old saying "[[Darkest Hour|It's always darkest just before the dawn]]," meaning that even in the worst of times, there is hope. When the battle with Discord reaches it's [[Darkest Hour]], guess who restores hope? ''Celestia'', the one who ''causes'' the dawn!
* Discord says the ponies have to "go back to where they began" to get the elements back. So, where do they have to go? Back to the book about The Elements Of Harmony, which is where episode one of season one began!
* Fluttershy gets probably the most angry we've ever seen her when Twilight points out [[The Bad Guy Wins|that Discord might win]] and refers to him by the unusally judgemental phrase "[[
* Think about Discord's personality and methods for a moment. He uses lies, half truths, and [[Exact Words]] to decieve his enemies, [[It's All About Me|he cares only for his own amusement]] regardless of who he harms, he takes sick enjoyment out of causing others to suffer and laughs at their misfortune, he's cruel and outright sadistic, he makes deals which he twists and manipulates to his own ends without any semblence of fair play, and gets kicks out of breaking apart friendships. All of the above are twisted inversions or outright opposites of the Elements Of Harmony (remember, Magic means Friendship when it comes to the Elements)! Even at his core, Discord is an [[Evil Counterpart]] to them!
** Well, it could be hardly said he was selfish, or likely to betrayal (after all, he had loyalty to himself). However, take his methods and then his motivations. He usues subtle trickery to get his way when he could very well brute force it, but he prefers to use intelligence to get what he wants. However, he cares for nobody but himself, takes delight in hurting others, and rules for his own amusement. He's the [[Evil Counterpart]] to Celestia.
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* When I first saw the second episode, I thought that it was pretty stupid of Discord not to get rid of Celestia, seeing as how her sending the letters to Twilight Sparkle was what led to the mane six being able to defeat Discord. But then I realised, he naturally wouldn't have thought of a plan to get rid of her- he's the embodiment of chaos; the less planning he can do, the better.
==== Lesson Zero ====
* At first it might seem like Twilight has the first breakdown on the show that isn't related to her cutie mark in "Lesson Zero", but then you have to remember that Twilight's area of expertise is magic, and in this show, [[Title Drop|friendship is magic]]. She didn't have a lesson on friendship to report to Celestia, and when her attempts to fix any problems her friends had were going nowhere fast (as in, they didn't need her to be a "good friend" at the time), she really started to lose it.
** In addition, she mentions ''repeatedly'' that she might have to ''leave Ponyville and all her friends''. When you think about it that way, her breakdown ''really'' makes sense. It's not just her fearing being tardy, it's fearing being taken from her [[True Companions]]!
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** Additionally: by letting her friends know she's upset, she makes sure they'll do whatever it takes to make her feel better. Compare that to Rainbow Dash, who always hides it when she's upset, making it hard for her to get the reassurance she needs.
* In "Lesson Zero", you see Twilight's friends laughing off Twilight's worries about turning her letter on time. Despite being a bit insensitive, you can sort of understand their reaction if you consider they had just seen Rarity flip out over not bringing plates for the picnic.
* Why would Celestia appear to fix the problem at the end of [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
** Well, that, and [[Only Sane Man|Spike]] [[Mundane Solution|asked for her help]]. Twilight handled the Ursa Minor on her own, and asking Celestia for help would have taken too much time. Twilight also wants to impress Celestia, which means that she considers asking for her help to be strictly a last resort. Especially since Celestia has tasked her with handling crises before.
** Celestia is also the only one (other than Luna) who can solve the problem. In magical crises it's usually Twilight who solves the problems, but in this instance she can't cancel out the spell she cast because it was much more powerful than she planned. Background unicorns were all caught up in the want-it-need-it spell and Rarity is better at details than huge magical overhauls. So of course it has to be Celestia.
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* Princess Celestia arrives at the end of the episode to resolve the crisis Twilight created. Sure, as the embodiment of the Sun (and being over 1000 years old) she's probably well-versed in magic, but what do other sun dieties get in their portfolios? ''Healing.'' - [[User:Alphacat]]
==== Luna Eclipsed ====
* Fluttershy isn't seen dressed up for Nightmare Night, she just stays in her home. On a night of scares and frights, it would be much worse for a pony that already gets frightened pretty easily as it is.
* Read the page quote on the [[Nightmare Fuel]] page. Now remember what Pinkie Pie says to Twilight that helps her realize how to help Luna.
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* The fact that Twilight is the first pony to befriend Luna makes perfect sense when you think about it. Luna is a powerful magician who Celestia cares for and has trouble fitting in and making new friends, just like Twilight was initially. Watching Luna's plight really shows you why Celestia wanted Twilight to make some friends, and not have to possibly endure the same pain as Luna.
* Luna instantly recognizing the Star Swirl costume. While, in being royalty, it is expected for her to know more history than the average pony, it is far more likely that, being thousands of years old, she actually knew the guy.
* In retrospect, it's fairly obvious that Pinkie Pie is not really scared of Luna. When fleeing in "terror", she remains on her hind legs, running like a chicken, when she could certainly go faster (she's been shown to be quicker than [[Super Speed|Rainbow Dash]] on some occasions). She's not frightened, she's just in character.
* About Luna's new hairdo representing how she's just regaining her powers. There's a couple of things she does in "Luna Eclipse" - moving things with her magic, which is standard ability for unicorns, and manipulating clouds physically, which is standard ability for pegasus ponies. She's literally practicing the basic techniques.
* Why didn't Celestia simply tell Luna her royal behavior was outdated? If she just ''told'' her, then odds are she'd just be going through the motions. She'd just see it as a different style of behavior and not learned anything at all. By having her go to Ponyville, Luna has to learn first hand proper behavior and actually ''make friends with her subjects''.
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* The way Pinkie constantly screams and runs away from Luna in "Luna Eclipsed" seems to directly contradict her "giggle at the ghostly" attitude from the pilot. Until the end of the episode that is, when she tells Twilight that {{spoiler|she's basically just been pretending the whole time because "Sometimes it's fun to be scared!"}}
** Also, her costume now makes perfect sense. It is a tradition to be afraid on Nightmare Night - {{spoiler|and she isn't... so she pretends to be a chicken!}}
* Rainbow Dash comes across as a bit of a [[Jerkass]] during "Luna Eclipsed", [[
** She was also dressed as one of the Shadowbolts that Luna, as Nightmare Moon, tried to trick her as in the pilot episodes.
* Some people have been asking "If they didn't know Nightmare/Luna existed until the last Summer Sun Celebration, how could they have had a holiday about her for the last however many centuries?" But that's just it: they didn't know she actually existed. Most of them thought she was, as the pilot episode called it, "an old pony's tale," hence the rumor that she eats people and the candy sacrifices.
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* One new little tidbit for "Luna Eclipsed" (yes, I know that's going back quite a ways here, but bear with me): Pipsqueak's accent. It's not that his VA was slipping up; Pipsqueak himself was slipping up, because the Britinsh accent was to go along with his pirate costume!
** It's also possible that his accent is changing because he's still really young and is slowly adopting a Ponyville accent.
* Bit of a [[Late to
* Twilight was the only one who knew Luna wasn't Nightmare Moon anymore. She was ''also'' the only one who recognized her when she ''was'' Nightmare Moon in episode 1.
==== Sisterhooves Social ====
* Sisterhooves Social shows us another example of [[Schizo-Tech]] in Equestria: smoke detectors and feedback-inducing megaphones, but Rarity has an old-fashioned scrub-tub in her laundry room and a clothesline out back. [[Schizo-Tech]]? Maybe, but then remember she's also a seamstress, and a mechanical washer and dryer are no good for all the delicate fabrics she has to wash after piecing a new outfit together.
* After rewatching "Sisterhooves Social," I realized that there was an ulterior motive for the scene where Apple Bloom accidentally covers Applejack with grape mush: it is not jusy a very sweet sister scene between Apple Bloom and Applejack, it allows the audience to see Applejack covered with something messy before the race later on. If you pause that scene and then look at a mud-covered Rarity at the race, they look exactly the same (except for the eyes, of course). The animators wanted to be absolutely sure that both Sweetie Belle and the audience would be completely fooled as to who was actually running the race by showing us what a messy Applejack looks like beforehand!
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*** or maybe she added too little of it, which would make it something close to batter.
==== The Cutie Pox ====
* Notice how pony bowling balls have no finger holes? That's paying attention right there!
** Except, oddly enough, in one filly's [[Imagine Spot]]. Well, 2 of the 3, anyways. Course, that could just be representative of the Crusaders themselves, but it's still a bit odd since the ponies have no reason for finger holes...
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** In fairness to Apple Bloom, she did tell the truth in the end and it cured her, in a way...
==== May the Best Pet Win ====
* Rainbow Dash picking the tortoise as her pet in [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* Why does Fluttershy insist on including a tortoise in Dash's pet contest? It's another classic [[Aesop's Fables]], much like the [[Androcles' Lion]] -- or, [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* It only makes sense for Rainbow Dash to pick the tortoise because she's the element of loyalty, and the tortoise was the one who stood by her and lifted the rock when all the other pets abandoned her.
* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
==
==== The Mysterious Mare Do Well ====
* In "The Mysterious Mare Do Well", after the Mare Do Well constantly shows up Rainbow Dash and she utterly fails at looking like a hero again, she is shown lying on a black cloud rather than a white one while seeming rather depressed. She's on top of her [[Personal Raincloud]].
* In one scene, we have Rainbow Dash saying her middle name was "Danger." In the G1 opening, guess what Firefly says when she tries a stunt! [[Captain Obvious|Then again...]]
* In "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" Twilight mentions that an autobiography should be written by the person it's about. But that means Spike is [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
** [[Memetic Mutation]] [[Shout-Out]]?
* A lot of people are calling out {{spoiler|the Mane Six (Well, Mane five, anyway)}} for what they did to Rainbow Dash in "''The Mysterious Mare Do Well''", effectively embarrassing her in front of the whole town. But remember at the beginning of the episode? RD had her own fan club even before all those accidents started happening. Chances are she will have somehow saved the town again by the next episode and be a hero again.
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* If you look closely, you'll notice that nopony is actually laughing at Rainbow Dash ''or'' shunning her! Like her friends in previous episodes, she's just convinced herself that the situation is worse than it is.
* It makes perfect sense that Rainbow Dash would turn into such a show-off: after all, all the skills she uses to save ponies are the ones she learned in order to ''put on a show!'' And in an air show you know you're doing well if ponies are cheering for you. If they aren't, you must not be showy enough, so you have to do something to make them cheer quickly, or your career might soon be over. Rainbow's just taking what she knows and applying it to being a hero.
* A lot of people are upset with Scootaloo for her role in the episode, but remember [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
==== Sweet and Elite ====
* "Sweet and Elite": One would think that the others would know better than to crash a big, fancy party in Canterlot and make a huge mess of it. Then again, they ''had'' "livened up" a [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* In "Sweet and Elite", part of the reason Rarity gets caught up with the Canterlot elite is the ponies inviting her actually say things like "it'll be a disaster without you" or how much they ''need'' her there. It wasn't just her wanting to be part of the elite crowd, but trying to ''help'' them. So not only is it appealing to her personal interest in high society, but also to the Element of Generosity.
* One may think that Rarity's friends were carrying [[Idiot Ball]] when they decided to crash the garden party in "Sweet and Elite", considering how they thought it's a good idea to act stupid on a formal meeting in front of upper class ponies that their friend was trying to make good impression with. But then you realize that they were having Twilight's birthday party, which means they probably had a lot of [[Hard-Drinking Tropes|certain substances]], and suddenly their behavior makes much more sense... (especially Twilight doing her crazy dance--didn't look too sober)
* Remember in "Winter Wrap-Up" when we learned that unicorns aren't native from Ponyville? Sure, the pegasi are from Cloudsdale, which seems to be pretty close of Ponyville, but when did Ponyville got unicorns to live there? Well, in "Sweet and Elite", if you pay attention to Canterlot's background ponies, you'll notice that the ''huge'' majority of them are unicorns. Hinted on the same episode is the fact that Canterlot is quite far from Ponyville. It all makes perfect sense!
* In season one, we saw Twilight's parents enrolled her in Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, followed by the point that Spike was hatched as part of her entrance exam. In "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* It's highly likely that Hayseed Turnip Truck could tell what Jet Set and Upper Crust were really like, and was in fact scrabbling for something nice to say about them before settling on "they ''seemed'' real nice", because we already know ''he's correct about Rarity by befriending her.''
* Back to ''Sweet and Elite''. Rarity ends up doing two dresses for Twilight's birthday. Twilight adores the ''second'', simple, I-didn't-really-finish-it dress as the best reflection on her, while Rarity had intended to go for something hyper-elaborate; Twilight's horn would disappear in the hat, and the dress would probably attract all peacocks within fifty kilometres. Why would it go that way? When she's making the gaudy dress, she ''isn't thinking of Twilight''. She's designing it not to match her, but to ''show up Canterlot ponies''; she's basically designing it in anger. Subconsciously, though, she did have as a basis something plain and practical ... which is what Twilight ends up with when Rarity's not able to actually ''complete'' the design.
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** Another thing you have to consider when discussing these sibling relationships is the location. Yes, Rarity and Sweetie Belle were raised by both parents whereas Applejack and Big Macintosh basically raised Apple Bloom, but Apple Bloom also lives at Sweet Apple Acres with them and Sweetie Belle does not live with Rarity at the Carousel Boutique. Give or take a few years, it's very possible that Rarity has lived at the Boutique (NOT at her parent's house) since Sweetie Belle was still very small. Rarity didn't really have the same kind of constant interaction with Sweetie Belle that AJ had with AB because for most of Sweetie Belle's life Rarity did not live at the same house as her, and therefore not only did Rarity not really have the same chance AJ did to fully integrate Sweetie Belle as a "normal" part of her life before she left home, but AJ never left AB's home in the first place.
** As a counterpoint, however, anyone that's ever actually been a mother knows from experience that mother-daughter relationships have no greater guarantee of harmony than do sibling relationships.
** It's also a measure of the individual personalities involved. Applejack and Apple Bloom are both calm, down-to-earth sorts of ponies, with differences largely caused only by differing maturity level. So they get along very well. Rarity, OTOH... as much as we love her, she's a highly-strung diva and she knows it. Sweetie Belle's also lovable, but more than a bit of a ditz. And so, friction.
==== Secret of My Excess ====
* So, I’m thinking to myself, the first words in the description for the episode [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* The entire episode of [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* When Spike burst through the roof of Sugarcube Corner, out of all the ponies watching, only Pinkie Pie was truly shocked. She wasn't the only one seeing Spike growing for the first time, and it wasn't because she had just been fighting with him. It was because she rents a room in the attic of Sugarcube Corner, and Spike's head had just gone right through it.
* In [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* Fluttershy had no problem subduing a rampaging adult dragon before when it was threatening her friends. So why can't she handle Spike while he's threatening her friends? Because Spike is her friend and she doesn't want to hurt ''him!''
* Why is Rarity so quick to comfort Spike after he reverts to normal? Because thanks to Discord, she knows exactly how it feels to become a greedy monster (though figuratively, not literally) because of something outside of your control and hurt those you care about because of it! Even without Discord's influence, Rarity is constantly struggling to control her more self-centered impulses. And she doesn't always succeed. Remember how little effort it took Discord to corrupt her, not even bothering to say anything to her. Out of the Mane Six, she's the only one that knows what it's like to let her greed take control. And unlike Spike, her greed is present all the time.
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* Spike's fast growing and aggressive behaviour might seem like an odd way for a dragon to grow up. But then it hits, it IS odd.
** Spike is not living the way his species would, he has no siblings to compete with and no older dragon to watch him over and put him down if he misbehaves. It's possible Twilight knew enough about dragons to limit his gifts to manageable amount. It was when Spike got more gifts outside, that his natural hoarding instincts grew.
*** Also: most dragons live in caves; Spike lives in a town. Most dragons only perceive value in gems, but Spike, because he lives in a merchantilist society, perceives pretty much everything as having value. Hence the hoarding of dog biscuits.
** In Dragon Quest, we see that his behavior was pretty normal for a teenage dragon. He was more greedy than aggressive, but his actions were well in line within the baseline that they established. The main difference was that the other dragons in his age group were constantly playing/fighting with each other, with leads to the conclusion that Spike's problems come from a lack of exercise, and that Twilight should have been more physical when she tried to stop him.
** We can also surmise that "Steven Magnet" turned out the way he did because his obsession was ''vanity'' instead. Life as a dragon is a freaking knife's edge.
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* Spike simply getting a book for his birthday is likely the reason this hasn't happened before.
==== Family Appreciation Day ====
* The Timber wolves in [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
** Which is odd, considering there is an ample lesson to be learned here. There are two bits of brilliance here - one, it was a lesson about family, not friendship - ''Sisterhooves Social'' was about sisters being friends, whereas this was about respecting ones elders and realising they've probably done some amazing things in their life. The second bit, is that said letter would be written to Celestia - an immortal being who has lived for eons. How would you go about writing a letter about learning to respect your elders to the oldest living being on the planet?
** Also, the episode was about Apple Bloom, not Applejack and Apple Bloom, as she is not one of the Mane Six, doesn't write letters regularly to Princess Celestia any more than a human would write "Dear Mr. President, today I learned..." The
* The flashbacks in ''Family Appreciation Day'' have served to elevated the earth ponies' place in the status quo. No, they don't have magic, but they have something better - the ability to ''exact control'' over apparently magical forces, or at least hammering it into a shape that fits them, with little more than trial and error. It's not Appleoosa, but the obvious Western settlers theme has never been more appropriate.
* In the first classroom scene in ''Family Appreciation Day'' Apple Bloom tries to come up with an excuse to prevent Granny Smith from giving a talk, and for a split second she pulls a face remarkably similar to Applejack's Discorded Liar face from ''The Return of Harmony''. It seems having a terrible poker face is an Apple family trait.
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* Remember how in Family Appreciation, it was revealed that the Apple family were the original settlers of Ponyville? Well, ok, Granny Smith, since the rest of her family didn't have the Apple name. Well, I just realized that it's a reference to legendary pioneer and hero Johnny Appleseed! Seriously, read his story, then re-watch Granny Smith's story to the class!
* Applejack's outburst at Twilight for using magic in Winter Wrap Up seems more justified in light of the revelation that ''her'' family of Earth ponies were the founders of Ponyville.
* Also wasn't there a prank where back in [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
** The events of [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* Silver Spoon is the first pony to start clapping for Granny Smith. [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Looks like there's a reason for the heart in the handle of her Cutie Mark.]]
==== Baby Cakes ====
* In ''Baby Cakes'', Rarity doesn't even provide an excuse as to why she won't babysit the twins.
** Though it's easy to figure out what reason exactly: [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
** More like she knows that ''she'' isn't child-safe. Rarity knows that she is highly temperamental, especially when she's at work. She also knows that she only ''barely'' has enough restraint to resist strangling her own baby sister when she visits. So the prospect of babysitting two one-month-old infants in her shop during business hours? It's not even a question. '''NO.'''
** Another reason for this: Rarity mentioned early on about the "magic surges" that come and go with baby unicorns. Since she was probably still living with her parents when Sweetie Belle was born, she had firsthand experience about having to deal with said surges and thus is not yet able to handle that again.
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* Why do the twins come to comfort Pinkie so quickly when she breaks down crying? She's been their constant playmate since they were ''born''. Not to mention that the Cakes have been confirmed by [[Word of God]] to pretty much consider Pinkie their daughter. Even if they're babies, they just realized they'd made their best friend and [[Cool Big Sis]] cry; of course they'd try to comfort her!
** It also explains why they were so rambunctious to begin with; they think of Pinkie as a playmate and not a caretaker and believe it's all a game until she cries and they realize it isn't. Real kids do this as well, assuming that certain people are just there to have fun with all the time.
** In addition, Pinkie went to some pains to comfort them when they cried— whenever they cried, as a matter of fact. So they learned that's what you do. You don't leave someone you care about sad and crying. They immediately sought to comfort her with something she technically taught them at first on accident, and then kept using because it was the only thing she could use to get them to cheer up: the bag of flour.
*** In addition to being their constant playmate as the above posters just mentioned, Pinkie ''lives in an apartment above the shop'', as the Cakes themselves apparently do. The twins haven't just ''played'' with Pinkie their whole lives up to this point, she ''lives with them'', unless she had to move out in order to give the babies room. As such, the twins may not be aware Pinkie ''isn't'' biologically related to them, so not only do Cup Cake and Carrot Cake think of Pinkie as their daughter, the twins may not realize she ''isn't'' related to them. They may believe she ''is'' their actual older sister due to their young age. Think about it. They know their parents because they most likely saw them at birth. Who was one of the next ponies they saw, and kept seeing on a near-constant basis? Pinkie. Not that it exactly matters if they think she's really their sister or not. They ''live with her''. This is part of why they would never have expected a time would come where she wouldn't just be playing with them until she snapped and started bawling. She had ''never'' been in a caretaker role with them before. They thought she was just playing with them to make them feel better until their parents returned. To be fair, she kind of ''was'' doing that because it's what she largely assumed it would work best in keeping them happy in between dealing with the responsibilities laid out for her by their parents.
* Pumpkin Cake spends much of the episode chewing on things. This may be because she's teething. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130813142416/http://forum.horsetopia.com/general-horse-advice/108994-teething.html Yes; it appears that one month old foals can and do teethe.]
** Besides which, magic Unicorn pony, so comparisons to [[Real Life]] horses may not necessarily apply.
* Why did the twins immediately start crying when their parents left? Because their parents just ''left''; that's why! Additionally they're unaware of when their parents are coming back so of course they're upset.
** On top of that, babies learn very quickly at that age but lack the skills to make logical chain deduction. So they were probably aware enough already to realize that anyone who leaves through the front doors is not necessarily coming back soon...if at all. That's part of why the peek-a-boo game Pinkie was playing is so important to baby development. It helps them learn that "if someone we care about goes away, they will come back sooner or later."
* Pinkie's instant desire to play with the Cake babies shortly after their birth seems a bit over the top at first. However if her backstory in the [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* Rarity refusing to babysit the Cake twins was actually generous of her; as a seamstress, her house is FILLED with needles, scissors, pins, beads, spools, and countless other things hazardous to babies. Combine that with the power of Pumpkin Cake's magic spurts, which Rarity knew was going to start happening soon, and you have a recipe for disaster.
==== Hearth's Warming Eve ====
* In ''Hearth's Warming Eve'':
** There's an in-universe [[Casting Gag]] in the fact that the mane six end up all with roles that are almost completely identical to their regular personalities, which seems amazingly coincidental. Then we remember that Princess Celestia, who has already had her fair share of interactions with the mane cast, gave them the roles in the first place. Of ''course'' she'd have them play characters with similar personalities to their own!
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* In ''Hearth's Warming Eve'', we see each pony race found their own nation, which would later become Equestria. However, these groups still inhabit their original claims. Unicorns took the mountains, and the majority of the mountainous Canterlot is unicorns. The pegasai founded a nation in the clouds, which presumably became Cloudsdale. The earth ponies took the lowlands, which became places like Ponyville, consisting mostly of Earth ponies. The legacy of their ancestors still exists in the lands they claimed.
* In Luna Eclipsed, Princess Luna states she knew Star Swirl the Bearded. Clover the Clever's mentor was Star Swirl the Bearded. The historical unicorns raised the sun and moon--perhaps they learned the technique from the alicorns who would become their princesses? Or where they the ones who taught the Royal Sisters the trick?
* While the parts of the play in "Hearth's Warming Eve'' that appear to be "real" as opposed to a stage production could just be for viewer benefit, a good [[In-Universe]] explanation was provided by "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* Though none of the episodes really follow a continuity with one another , at the end of "Hearth's Warming Eve" during the Heart Carol you can see the stained glass windows from "The Return of Harmony" meaning that they are in that same hall, and it includes the one window of Discord being defeated.
* ''Hearth's Warming Eve'' also gives a pretty good reason why alicorns are the royal, ruling class: they are the physical embodiment of the complete and harmonious union of the 3 pony races that Equestria was founded on.
* "Hearth's Warming Eve" also confirms part of Pinkie Pie's claim that "that's how Equestria was made" back in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles". In the beginning of the play there's just narration and no dialogue, hence "no talking", and certainly no laughing either - and towards the end, there is indeed a rock.
* Rainbow Dash could've resorted to making trouble so she could keep playing the hero in "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well." But she didn't. Why? Because that would be disloyal to everypony else! Also, [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* In "Hearth's Warming Eve":
** It is always thought it was a little odd that Commander Hurricane demands "Well? Aren't you going to ask how it went?" She doesn't seem to care what Private Pansy thinks, really, and as she only ever speaks when asked a question, there was no reason to expect her to ask anything upon arrival--and anyway, there were other pegasi around. Then I realized--Fluttershy forgot her lines!
** That also explains why ANY pegasus raised in such a martial society ("Do they not realize we are a mighty tribe of warriors?") would be as incredibly skittish as Private Pansy--Fluttershy has terrible stage fright, and it's shooting her nerves to hell.
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* Using a chimney to enter a house is shrugged off as typical oddball behavior of Chancellor Puddinghead (and the actress playing her). Then at the end of the scene, she attempts to exit the house (through the door this time) and is immediately buried by the wall of snow that had built up behind it. Guess the chimney actually ''was'' easier...
* The style of armor worn by modern Equestrian guards is apparently an in-universe [[Call Back]] to the ancient Pegasi who were the best warriors of all the tribes.
* While it could be explained as simply for the viewer's benefit, the realistic looking scenes displayed throughout have another possible explanation. In "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* Requires substantial knowledge on the subject but if one looks at it, the Wendigos aren't [[Sadly Mythtaken]] at all; just re-purposed for ponies. Besides being humanoid, the mythic Wendigos represented the evils of an Algonquian taboo: cannibalism...especially when it isn't absolutely necessary. These Wendigos on the other hand represent the evils of a purely Equestrian taboo: hatred...especially between the races.
** And there's a second level of [[Fridge Logic]] and [[Fridge Brilliance]] involved if you think about it. The Wendigos are still encouraging cannibalism of a sort; they're encouraging the 3 pony tribes to devour themselves and each other through violence and hatred.
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* When Princess Platinum returned, Clover the Clever asked, "Did the other pony tribes see reason as I predicted?" Now, the meeting Platinum had just been to ended without solving anything; ''however'', her prediction does come true by the end of the story...
==== The Last Roundup ====
* The Last Round Up finally has Derpy Hooves as a canon character with her own voice lines and if it weren't for her constant appearances, such as in Luna Eclipsed when she bobs for apples and drains the tub, or has a costume of paper bags or any of her other similar appearances, there would be nothing to base her on. It would be like they introduced a character for very little reason, but in reality they brought a background pony to the front that everyone had known all along.
* Why is Derpy so clumsy? She has no depth perception due to her eyes facing different directions!
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* Why didn't the town just raise the revenue through ordinary means, i.e., a new tax levy or a bond issue, to renovate the town hall? Because who would want to pay for such a needless extravagance when the town is [[Just the First Citizen|really governed from the library anyway]]?
* This is most likely to be unintentional but it's still brilliant: Derpy's formal introduction in an Applejack-centered episode is actually perfect because you know who else was a complete klutz and a silly pony? ''The original Applejack''.
* A possible indication of an [[Out of Order]] ep. How would Rainbow Dash know about Wild Bull Hickock and Calamity Mane? They're clearly not with the Wonderbolts - [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
** Assuming they're based on their real life counterparts [[wikipedia:Wild Bill Hickok|Wild Bill Hickock]] (Rogue outlaw and gunfighter) and [[wikipedia:Calamity Jane|Calamity Jane]] (gunfighter and partner of Wild Bill), it would make sense that a badass like Rainbow Dash would know about other badasses like the two mentioned without having to read about them. It's also likely Applejack could've told her about them due to her Western-style upbringing.
* It is absolutely amazing that Tabitha St.Germain thought that Derpy was male and gave her that particular voice. The whole character of Derpy was born from an "accident" of sorts, and that kind of detail makes it a perfect fit.
* Derpy and Princess Luna share a voice actress. Derpy is Princess Luna! No wonder everyone loves her!
* The rest of the group don't really try to reason with AJ that much until after [[The Reveal]]. Why? Remember ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* Applejack actually brought her "defeat" on the Rodeo upon herself if you think about it. Consider she won A LOT of ribbons at that one rodeo, which means she had to take part in many different events. That means that Applejack [[Jack of All Trades|has at least some experience and skill at many different events]] but if she spent only some of her time training for each of those different events, then of course she'd end up losing over and over again to different ponies who had spent all their time training for one particular event!
** In other words, you might be able to call her an [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Applejack of all trades]], master of none! Eh? ''Eh???''
** In addition, Ponyville put a ''ton'' of pressure on her, especially Mayor Mare, which clearly made her at least somewhat nervous during the part of the episode prior to her leaving {{spoiler|and was the primary reason her loss sent her into a [[Heroic BSOD]]}}. It's completely possible all the pressure made her choke at the competition.
** And lastly, a main reason why she could have lost one or more of the competitions is seen at the very beginning already. When she jumps the extra-high hurdle, her hind hooves strafe it. What if she did the same thing at the actual competition? Even though it was only a minor slip, it could have still either been a plainly illegal move (coming into contact with the hurdle), or may even have resulted in a much bigger mess-up (losing her balance, flying off-course, tripping, etc). After all, Applejack apparently didn't bother to eradicate this ''one'' misstep in her otherwise completely flawless training.
* The board with ''five'' blue ribbons just after Applejack is announced as a ''ten''-time champion is pretty much explained in-universe - AJ's habit is obviously in taking on all the events each time, and the five ribbons were all from the same outing. And if it's true about other ponies only competing in one or two events, five blue ribbons is ''a lot''. Which sheds some light on the way things turned out - most of the other competitors would probably marvel at her ability to get one medal for every event at all, but only the hoity-toity winners would make sure to point out that none of them are blue, explaining all the added pressure on her.
==
==== The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 ====
* The moral of the story in "Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" seems to be more directed towards the citizens of Ponyville, as they are at first ungrateful towards the Apple family for not having enough cider for everyone but finally realize the value of quality over quantity in the end.
* The fan-dubbed Dr.Whooves (Named for his David Tennant-esque hairstyle and hourglass cutie-mark) Is the official ''time''-keeper of the competition in "Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000." At a small stretch you could say that it's being acknowledged that the rules of time are his to control.
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* The Flim Flam Brothers make the bet based on number instead of quality. {{spoiler|They know their Cider isn't as GOOD as the Apples', they just know they can make more of it faster.}}
** Debatable. Watch Granny Smith's face when she tries some of the first batch...
** Actually, they were betting they could beat the Apples' ''speed'' of making cider. Their first few barrels, before Twilight pulled the "honorary family" card, were made with the quality control ''on'', and those barrels would've been as good as the one they made in their demonstration, which only Granny got to sample.
* Why does Twilight organize the group to help the Apple family, instead of pulling off an "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* Where did Twilight get the whole idea of "honorary family member"? {{spoiler|[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* The moral of the story seems to be more directed towards the citizens of Ponyville, because at first they were ungrateful towards the Apple family for not having enough cider for everyone, but in the end, they finally realize the value of quality over quantity.
* Nopony besides Granny Smith really got a chance to have a drink of Flim Flam's carefully made cider, so having a drink of their poorly made cider in the end only made it worse for them.
** On top of that, the Flim Flam Brothers pretty much did a major [[Kick the Dog]] in front of the entire town that visibly upset the majority of them. Not only did the town taste some rotten cider, they realized how rotten the Flim Flam Brothers really were.
* It's not the first time that a line of campers forms overnight to be the first to get an [[wikipedia:Apple Inc|Apple]] [[Double Entendre|product.]]
* The reason why Applejack said she didn't learn a lesson from all this? [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* We start seeing more mangled/smashed apples in the Flim Flam brothers' machine at the same time it started sucking up the trees as well as the apples!
* So you think the Flim Flam Brothers are going to get away with this scot-free and try it again in another part of Equestria, right? When you realize just how BIG the Apple family is, they're going to be hard pressed to find any more willing suppliers for their machine once word gets out.
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*** Moreover, Flam's cutie mark is three quarters of an apple, and Flim's is the remaining quarter. Remember that percentage deal they proposed to the Apple family?
** Flim (the single-apple-slice one with the higher Samuel Vincent voice) is the one who does most of the talking, but Flam (the mustached one with the majority of the apple piece cutie mark and lower Scott McNeil voice) does more of the mechanical operation of the machine.
* Why does Rainbow Dash bother to wake Fluttershy, fly her to the line and even put her in front of herself, essentially risking not getting a drop of cider? Because she is being loyal to Fluttershy, who is known to be very clumsy about getting somewhere in time, as Angel knows. Dash is making sure, Fluttershy has a good chance of getting cider.
** She even lets Fluttershy go ahead of her on the first day, though it comes back to bite her when Fluttershy gets the day's last mug.
* Why do the townsponies have no problem with any of this contest until the Flim Flam Brothers actually ''win''? It's never publicly stated the Apples will lose their farm if they lose until the Brothers actually win, revealing to everypony that [[My God, What Have I Done?|their impatience has cost the Apples their home and their livelihood.]]
* A small one but the scene where Fluttershy covers herself in embarrasment after Rainbow Dash throws rips her covers away is a little more than a call back to when Rarity didn't want to let Spike in when the girls are getting dressed from an earlier episode. [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
==== Read it and Weep ====
* "Read it and Weep". Why would the first "Daring Do" book be the third on the shelf? Anachronic order. It's a little-known fact even today that ''[[Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom]]'' is placed chronologically ''before'' ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]''.
* Of course Daring Do is a [[Palette Swap]] of Rainbow Dash. We're seeing the events filtered through Rainbow's imagination, and RD immediately empathizes with the novel's heroine. She's putting a bit of herself into the reading.
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*** [[Schizo-Tech]] didn't stop the writers from mentioning tanks.
* It's interesting to note that Pinkie is the one who mentions Spider powers - her own Pinkie Sense is a direct Shout-out to Spidey's Spider Sense itself.
* The X-ray with the unlikely bone structure of a wing actually ''explains'' the rather odd uses and properties of wings in [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* At first, Rainbow's fears of being mocked for being an "egghead" seem a little strange, but then remember one thing; the poor girl was bullied all through flight school, of course she'd be afraid!
* Daring Do seems awfully sweaty when she's in the room with the Sapphire Stone. At first it might be because she's nervous, which would make sense, what with being in a temple full of death traps and all, but don't forget - that room only has a thin floor separating her from a pit of boiling hot magma. It has to be ''hot'' in there.
==== Hearts and Hooves Day ====
* Fans have wanted Big Macintosh to have a larger role in the show pretty much since the beginning and in season two he starts getting a little more attention, but here's the thing: most of the stuff he gets to do is showing off his softer side, such as his love of Twilight's old Smarty Pants doll, helping his granny with the Sisterhooves Social, or crying [[Manly Tears]] when he finds out his sister won't be returning to Ponyville (and then tears of ''joy'' when she comes home) it's all well and good until you find out {{spoiler|a future episode will revolve around the CMC attempting to set him up with Cheerilee. They're showing us that he's just as sweet and sensitive as he is big and tough, pretty much the perfect boyfriend!}}
* In "Hearts and Hooves Day" Doctor Whooves gets two quick appearances, and in one of them he's shown ''running'' - if you're at all familiar with the 9th-Doctor-and-onwards ''[[Doctor Who]]'', you'll know why the simple word 'Run' became [[Arc Words]] for three Doctors in succession.<ref>Incoming [[Info Dump]]: The 9th Doctor ([[Christopher Eccleston]]) met his companion Rose while fleeing, so the first thing he said to her was "Run", which was how he identified himself to her after regenerating into the 10th ([[David Tennant]]). Down the line, the 11th ([[Matt Smith]])'s [[Badass Boast]] to his enemy boiled down to "Basically: '''Run.'''"</ref> That and the whole "I've always been a runner" or something like that.
* In a bit of a meta example, the CMC clearly learned and recited the lesson they learned at the end of "Hearts and Hooves Day," even though a letter was never actually written. That doesn't mean that Princess Celestia never heard it, however: after all, the CMC are telling their lesson to Cheerilee, who shares a voice actress with the Princess.
** Alternatively, the CMC don't have the same kind of friendly connection to Celestia (a mentor figure, at least for Twilight) as the Mane 6 and are reciting the lesson to their ''equivalent'' of her; their teacher.
* The pairing of Twist and [[Fan Nickname|Truffle
* Notice that Scootaloo gathers the cloud--as the only pegasus on the CMC, she's
** She's also at the top of the [[Human Ladder|Pony Ladder]] the CMC make to grab it. Makes sense seeing as Pegasi are implied to be much lighter than unicorns and Earth Ponies (and of course she can't fly yet).
*** Likewise, Apple Bloom is at the bottom of the ladder because as the CMC's resident earth pony, she's physically the strongest of them.
** It may also be further evidence that she ''can't'' fly ''PERIOD'', a theory that has existed for some time among fans and which is underscored by the flashback to Rainbow Dash's own childhood in Cutie Mark Chronicles, where she is the same age if not ''younger'' than Scootaloo, and was already capable of flight. There's also Pound Cake, who is shown to possibly be a prodigy as he can fly at only ''ONE MONTH OLD''.
*** Confirmed later in 'Flight to the Finish' - Scootaloo can't fly, and is well past the age at which a pegasus filly should normally be capable of flying.
* The name of the holiday (and the episode). Hearts And Hooves Day seems to be a reference to human burial practices for racehorses: bury the head, heart and hooves. Double brilliance in that there is a depiction of a funeral service (presumably for a pony) on-screen, and that St. Valentines Day originates from a rather bloody tale from Catholic history but has shifted to be romantic over the years.
* Big Mac says very few words himself this episode. Remember that an episode [[What Could Have Been|that never got put through production]] starring him was supposed to have him barely speak at all.
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* Where did Twilight learn the "Want It, Need It" spell? From her Hearts and Hooves Day book. The illustration even has the same heart-shaped irises as in Lesson Zero.
* How come the Mane Six were pretty much absent besides Twilight giving the CMC that book? So they wouldn't be subjected to [[Ship Sinking]] (Big MacIntosh pairings excluded).
* The [[Fridge Horror]] entry points out that one: the recipe for the horrifying Love Poison is printed in an easily accessible book, and two: clouds, rainbows, and pegasus feathers are all in close proximity at the Cloudsdale weather factory and could easily be accidentally mixed. Maybe the potential to make the poison accidentally is ''exactly why'' the recipe is so accessible - as an all-too-likely industrial accident in the making, it is necessary that the product safety warning be ubiquitously available.
==== A Friend in Deed ====
* [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* There is a ''reason'' for Pinkie Pie remembering everypony's birthday in "A Friend In Deed": the last time she forgot her own birthday was a disaster! She just doesn't want anything like that to happen ever again. Alternatively, remembering all those birthdays was why she forgot her own in the first place. Of course, she apparently remembers her own birthday ''now'', so she's still learned her lesson.
* During the song, next to the Mayor, you see two other other somewhat official looking ponys. Take a look at their cutie marks - they symbolise the separation of powers: executive, legislature, judiciary.
* The reason why Pinkie's thoughts are shown as felt animation could be a Stealth Pun. The Cuckoo-lander Pinkie has "fuzzy" logic.
==== Putting Your Hoof Down ====
* It seems somewhat strange that Iron Will would hold his assertiveness training course in a hedge maze, but [[Greek Mythology|when you consider the original myth of the Minotaur...]] Also making the hedge maze location a perfect choice for the site of his seminar: remember where Fluttershy originally [[Took a Level
* It's kinda easy to understand why some ponies keep calling Iron Will a monster: Who else is depicted as a bipedal figure with horns and hoofed feet who is associated with goats? Oh right, [[Satan]]. [[Our Demons Are Different|Or in this universe]], [[Eldritch Abomination|Discord.]]
* Given events in the [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* In Putting your Hoof Down, both Rarity and Pinkie Pie constantly call Iron Will a monster and blame him for Fluttershy's behaviour. However, Iron Will is shown to be a jerk at most and even willing to accept defeat. By blaming him, Pinkie and Rarity are in effect treating the minotaur like they treated the Hydra or any dragon besides Spike, a foe that must be defeated and to blame. By constantly correcting her friends and owning up to her behaviour, Fluttershy is both showing her Element and maturity. She doesn't need to be a jerk to be assertive, and she doesn't need to blame someone else to justify her actions. Essentially, a good lesson for the kids to learn.
* There's a theory that "Putting Your Hoof Down" is a "flashback" episode (that it takes place before Twilight came to Ponyville.):
** Fluttershy, even in her earliest days, was ''never'' that much of a doormat. She's nervous, yes, and she prefers not to fight, but it's not because she doesn't know ''how'' to stand up for herself. This supports the theory that the episode took place before the beginning of the series.
** Where's the rest of the Mane Six, anyway? If Fluttershy was having an emotional crisis, you'd think her friends would all help! Well, as we saw in Season One ("Green Isn't Your Color"), Fluttershy and Rarity have been friends for a long time, enough to have developed an almost religious ritual of spa weekends. Applejack and Rainbow Dash also seem to have known each other longer than the series itself, and when you consider they're the athletes of Ponyville, that makes sense. (In addition,
** The recent episode [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
** The tone of Fluttershy's letter to Princess Celestia backs this up. She talks about "when I first tried [to be assertive]", putting some distance between the letter and the events of the episode. As well, if this IS a flashback episode, and the first time Fluttershy learned to be assertive without being a jerk, it could explain the origin of her stare. It's brief, but you can see Fluttershy give Angel a stare for a moment right before he finally tries the salad she made for him. If she'd been capable of that all along, she would have used it already. - [[User:Alphacat]]
* All right, we ''all'' wanted to smack [[Jerkass|Angel Bunny]] in 'Putting Your Hoof Down'. However, taking into account the above theory, his bratty behavior makes perfect sense. Fluttershy has ''never'' asserted herself before; Angel's behavior is exactly the kind of thing you would expect from a spoiled child! He's been raised to always get his way, and Fluttershy never gave him the discipline every child or pet needs. When she started being a ''parent'' instead of a servant, he grew into the lovable, if [[Silent Snarker|snarky]], rabbit we know today.
* In Putting Your Hoof Down, we see that a lot of the background ponies have become Jerkasses. At first, this seems like a cheap plot device to get Fluttershy in Iron Will's assertiveness class. However, in Iron Will's class we see that there's an enormous crowd of ponies there. Since Fluttershy became a bully after the class, its safe to say that other ponies could have been affected that same way. Now if Iron Will has held previous classes this could explain where the meanness of the background ponies came from. More Jerkass ponies would result in more ponies feeling like doormats and deciding to take the class, creating a viscous cycle. This means that Fluttershy was probably the first to realize the flaw in Iron Will's program and explain it to him, likely ending (or at least reducing) the cycle of meanness.
==== It's About Time ====
* In, "It's About Time", the [[Stable Time Loop]] may seem like a [[Shaggy Dog Story]]...except that because Twilight was worried about a disaster, she ended up fixing a lot of potential ones, as shown in the montage, and making Cerberus go back to his post. So in actuality, messaging herself from the future actually helped a lot.
* Same episode-it may seem Twilight's gone back to [[Super OCD]]...except that from her POV, she's trying to prevent a catastrophe she knows next-to-nothing about, and is legitimately worried rather than anal-retentive. Once she realizes there really wasn't anything, she calms down instantly and actually goes back to give herself a chill pill, rather than worrying more.
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** Two, it is the "Faithful Student" status that grants Twilight authorization into the more restricted sections anyway.
** Three: She sensed Future Twilight's time spell when it activated. So she knew that at some point, her student would need that spell in order to maintain a [[Stable Time Loop]]. However, Celestia also knows that Twilight has an impulsive streak a mile wide and that she'd NEVER try to ask for something like that normally. So she foresaw Twilight try to break in, and naturally gave her an advantage by having her guards play dumb.
*** Celestia may have also known what Twilight was up to because she's been watching her more closely since [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
*** She probable knew what was happening in this episode for the same reason, namely Spike sent her a letter. She was probable waiting in the archives to calm down Twilight if things got too bad.
* How does "Madame Pinkie" know Twilight Sparkle will receive an awesome birthday present? ''She's'' the one who plans to give it to her.
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* Twilight has taken a lot of flak for leaving Spike alone during this season, but in "Its About Time", he says he ''likes'' it when Twilight goes off on adventures because he can catch up on his sleep.
==== Dragon Quest ====
* Knowing that dragons can swim in lava certainly makes Spike's once using all of Ponyville's hot water on a seven hour bubblebath a lot more understandable. It's also a nod, to the episode [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
* In one of the pictures, during the end sequence, you see that Spike cut and pasted a photo of himself into a group photo of the Mane six. Why on earth wasn't he in the picture with them? Because it was in Canterlot during [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* When Rarity walks up to the trench, a puff of confetti pops out of nowhere to complete the overdramatic display, Pinkie Pie-style. Then we remember that Rarity was seen hanging out with Pinkie the entire episode in "Putting Your Hoof Down", so the latter has likely rubbed off on the former a bit.
* At first it just seems like a normal teenage prank for the teen dragons to go raid phoenix eggs. But if you think about it, why would a phoenix ever lay eggs (let alone SIX CHICKS at a time)? The nature of a phoenix is that it never truly dies; it becomes old, burns up, but then becomes reborn from its own ashes. With this in mind you realize that perhaps the teenage dragons' fondness for egg-raids are, in fact, beneficial to the balance of their ecosystem. What at first seems like a cruel prank actually turns out to be an intrinsic requirement so that the world does not eventually become overpopulated by phoenixes.
** But, then again, we don't really know how ofter phoenixes reproduce; For all we know, phoenixes only reproduce every few hundred years or so. Even though a pheonix can't die of old age, it could be possible for them to die from other mean; starvation, disease, hunting, predators, etc. Again, keeping in mind that pheonix mating seasons could very well be hundreds of years apart, even for a species that can't die of old age, other causes of death like the ones I mentioned could still make occasional reproduction necessary. Something I feel supports this is Philomena's molting: although she was just playing around with Fluttershy, it could be possible this 'molting rebirth' thing could still take a while, so if a pheonix was fatally injured, it's not out of the realm of possibility for them to die before the 'rebirth' part starts (If I remember correctly, it seems like they needed to loose all their feathers before they could be reborn). My point is, just because a species can't die of old age doesn't necessarily mean they're impossible to kill Then again, we don't know for sure exactly about how pheonixes work in this universe, so I could be completely and utterly wrong, but hey, Wild Mass Guessing and all.
* It seems weird at first that someone with as much knowledge about clothes as Rarity would come up with such ridiculous camouflage, wearing purple and gold when everypony else is wearing camo green... until you take a second look and see the whole meadow is lilac - Rarity's suit is the only one that is anywhere near the colour of the surrounding plantlife.
** The "Ya git! E'ryone knows, dat purpl is da sneakiest one! 'Ave you eva seen da purpl a'my? Thot so! Dat 'orsie sure knows her camo!" line from the main page -- Spike's from a line of Dragon Ninja, which is why none of the others have ever seen one like him.
* Spike finally gains his own [[Cool Pet]] in this episode (I guess that means he's a full member of the Mane cast now), a baby phoenix he names Pee Wee. Phoenixes are immortal and in many mythologies (except for death by violence) so are Dragons. Spike's pet will most likely live as long as he does, possibly longer.
** The only other character with a pet phoenix is Celestia, who is also immortal.
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** It also explains Twilight's lack of knowledge in "Secret of my Excess."
** And why Spike's dragon costume in "Luna Eclipsed" [[Shaped Like Itself|still looks like Spike.]]
* The last photo that Spike has, where he has taped himself into shot? It's a birthday party, apparently for Twilight (who is at the center of the group), and appears to be taken at Canterlot Castle rather than in Ponyville. That is, the one from "Sweet and Elite". The one party that the fandom noted that Spike was conspicuously absent from. Its [[Call Back]] here may be to justify why Spike was absent then as to make this shot more poignant.
* Twilight actually has a bit of difficulty teleporting the group to safety and is visibly tired after the teleportation is over. This probably explains why she doesn't just teleport the group where they need to go all the time.
* Dragons are [[Nigh Invulnerable]] reptiles whose growth is based on greed. Of course teenaged dragons, the point were most beings are far more aggressive than normal, would be jerks.
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* After this episode, Twilight has an owl and a phoenix living in her house. They are birds of night and day, which makes sense, considering her name is ''Twilight'' Sparkle
==
==== Hurricane Fluttershy ====
* Why the ''hell'' didn't Spitfire help with the tornado? She's a ''Wonderbolt''--if Dash has over sixteen wingpower during casual training, Spitfire could definitely have helped boost them the five they needed. Why would she just stand there while pegasi are struggling--and getting ''hurt''?
** Not only that, but she probably wasn't allowed to help if she even wanted to: It is tradition that every year, a town in Equestria is chosen to bring the rainwater to Cloudsdale. This is seen as a big honor for the town's local pegasi. Hence why Rainbow was making a big deal over beating Fillydelpia's record. Having an outsider like Spitfire help would undermine the effort made by the local town in question, otherwise Cloudsdale could easily send a team of specially-trained weather pegasi to do the job themselves.
** Also, its not a life-or-death emergency for Cloudsdale; if Ponyville fails to provide the water that day, they'll just move on to an alternate location or else try again when the missing ponies are off the sick list. The only people who are at risk of injury are the Ponyville pegasi themselves... and you don't become team captain of the ''Wonderbolts'' without accepting the fact that if a pegasus wants to risk themselves pushing the envelope, then that's their choice to make.
* Rumble's presence is [[Heartwarming in Hindsight]]. At first it seems a pegasus couple just couldn't find a sitter for their foal, so they decided to drag him along. Then it's revealed that he probably just wanted to be with his big brother. What's more, when Thunderlane gets sick and can't make it, Rumble shows up willing to take his place.
* Hurricane Fluttershy had some Twilight technobabble. The weird thing is that the technobabble was actually sensical. "This is an anemometer. It measures your accelerative velocity and translates it into wing power, thus gauging your cumulative [[
** It also explains how they can use a tornado as a reverse funnel. It's not just the wind, it's their magic pushing the water into the pony-free centre, letting it float freely and making the water shoot up into Cloudsdale through the actual wind force. Otherwise, the water would all be in the same space as the ponies, there would be no shooting action and it wouldn't be very nice to fly in.
==== Ponyville Confidential ====
* It might seem incredibly odd to some that ''Big Macintosh'' would deliver a stern lecture to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but didn't Applejack once warn Applebloom that she'll tell Big Mac if she didn't do as told way back in "Bridle Gossip"? Perhaps he really is the main giver of discipline in the Apple family household.
** Possibly suggested earlier on Hearts & Hooves Day, when he's more than willing to go along with Cheerilee's idea that the Cutie Mark Crusaders do all of his chores as punishment.
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* It's easy to blame the Mane Cast for being insensitive to the CMC for the Gabby Gums stories, but remember, those three are their ''friends and younger siblings'', Scootaloo being Rainbow Dash's, the Element of ''Loyalty's'', number one fan, basically ''betraying'' her, so of course she's going to be upset. Just imagine how much it hurt the mane cast to have their loved ones humiliate them like that, and we see that towards the end the stories just get more and more hurtful, turning from partial truths to outright lies, which is why Applejack, the Element of Honesty, whom while she enjoyed the articles, those articles were kinda true and one article almost put a wedge between Spike and Twilight's friendship. Anyone that's had a loved one betray them will tell you just how much that hurts, especially the Fluttershy scene.
==== MMMystery on the Friendship Express ====
* It turns out, {{spoiler|Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity ate the MMM cake, while the other bakers ate the other goods}}. That leaves {{spoiler|Applejack}} being the only innocent one, while Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle where the ones investigating. If it was {{spoiler|Applejack, then being the element of Honesty, she would have honestly spoken up about it.}}
** {{spoiler|I am skeptical about this, seeing as how the Element of Generosity stole, the Element of Kindness selfishly ruined months of hard work, the Element of Loyalty betrayed her friend, and the Element of Laughter freaked out about this. You can't claim character X would have acted according to their Element when we have four other characters betraying theirs. Applejack was just not being a jerk.}}
** She also wouldn't do it in the first place, since she isn't sneaky either.
** [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
** Plus Applejack was drooling over the cake like a dog and wanted to take a bite out of it the most in the beginning. Applejack and Pinkie Pie also eat the most food out of the Mane Six. Having the residential [[Big Eater
* Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue. MMMystery on the Friendship Express. It's a little obvious, but the MMM in Mystery stands for Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue, as well as being "Mmm", a sound one makes if they are hungry.
* It makes sense that Pinkie Pie first suspects Gustave le Grande of sabotaging the cake, given that she's [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
** [[Unfortunate Implications|Wait, does that mean that Pinkie Pie is a racist?]]
*** Perhaps, but you may also recall that she was willing, without evidence one way or the other, to assume that other griffons aren't ''necessarily'' as bad as Gilda herself. At least, after experiencing only the brush-offs, before Gilda went into active jerk mode...
* The eaters of the cake being {{spoiler|Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity}} makes alot of sense if you think of {{spoiler|all three just obsessed with the cake Pinkie hyperbole described, RD and Rarity would most likely be aggressively pursuing the goal while Fluttershy, being close friends with the other two, would automatically choose to join them}}.
** {{spoiler|Except there's nothing to suggest that the three acted together.}}
** Also, it seems a bit unfair to presume that Fluttershy was just an innocent who was sucked in by RD and Rarity's antics. After all, she has flaws just like the others, and a cake would probably be especially delicious if you spent time feeding animals things like leaves and bugs and so on...
* At first it doesn't make sense that the Cakes would let Pinkie take the MMMM to Canterlot for them when they know how off the wall she is, but they also know that [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
** Also, staying at home let them spend time with their kids.
* The hell Pinkie, you let {{spoiler|Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity}} get away without even a scold?! [[Easily Forgiven|Oh Well]], thankfully it's still you we're talking about; you would probably take a bite too (maybe more than one), if you weren't so occupied to protect it from the contenders, and you knew it.
* Doughnut Joe's motivation for entering the contest is that he wants his restaurant to be famous. You might say he wants ponies to...(wait for it)...[[Stealth Pun|Eat At Joe's.]]
==== A Canterlot Wedding, Parts 1 & 2 ====
* Twilight showed the ability to conjure an identical force field in ''Return of Harmony Part 2'' and ''Ponyville Confidential''. It seems to be quite a powerful ability, as casting it even seemed to dispel some of [[Reality Warper|Discord]]'s magic, returning a section of ground to normal. Many of Twilight's spells are copied from other unicorns, and her special talent for magic allows her to imitate them. But of the unicorns we've seen, most have far less impressive skills than something as useful as force fields, so you'd think a talent like that would be worth mentioning. This episode reveals that it's Shining Armor's special ability, which both explains how Twilight was able to learn it (he taught her), and that it is indeed rather impressive compared to most spells (it's probably what landed him such a prestigious position).
* When it was revealed that Shining Armor was Twilight's brother, there were a lot of questions about where he was and what he was doing during the incidents with Nightmare Moon and Discord. His special power provides a good answer. While he isn't as versatile as his sister, he could provide near perfect protection to whatever he could cover with his shield. During the Summer Sun Celebration he was probably holding a shield over Canterlot, and during Discord's escape he was likely keeping watch over whatever ponies he could.
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* The {{spoiler|Changelings}} can be seen as having been there from the start, after all, do {{spoiler|identical background ponies}} sound familiar?
* In the short photo montage at the end, Spike is seen [[Ship Tease|dancing with Sweetie Belle]]...''Rarity's'' sister.
* Why is everyone quick to believe Cadence when Twilight Sparkle accuses her of being evil? Aside from [[You Have to Believe Me|how outlandish that claim is out of context]], everypony present knows that Twilight has gotten worked up over nothing several times, [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* It seems like {{spoiler|Queen Chrysalis}} sending that threat would make things a lot harder for her, as Canterlot ramps up security in response. However, it probably worked to {{spoiler|her}} advantage: {{spoiler|With Shining Armor expending all his energy on the force field, he was probably much more vulnerable to Chrysalis' magic.}}
* The design for {{spoiler|Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings is pretty clever. The black and dark green color schemes make them look diseased and [[Uncanny Valley|wrong]], as does the fact their bodies are riddled with small holes. More importantly, the holes symbolize that the Changelings are somehow "incomplete", quite fitting for creatures that steal the identities of others and feed off their loved ones like parasites.}}
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* Suddenly I realize exactly why ponies in general appear to be so paranoid and panicky. YOU COULD BE ONE OF ''THEM''.
* {{spoiler|You'd think that Chrysalis would return at some point thanks to the fridge horror, but recall the fact that she was gathering food for her minions. Meaning they'll probably starve to death after they get sent the far reaches of Equestria. Couple that with the injuries mentioned below, and this might be a fitting end for the queen. }}
* Twilight mentioning that Shining Armor was her only friend when she was young, and not mentioning Spike, is because she is referring to before she became Celestia's apprentice, and hatched him. If you notice, in her flashbacks, she doesn't have her cutie mark yet. So before she even met him, Shining Armor was all she had. And so treasures their friendship.
** Also, Shining Armor is like a mentor to her. He taught her how to do many things. Spike wasn't able to. He was just a baby (though in the song, she doesn't even have her cutie mark, so at the time he didn't even exist yet). Also, she sings a song about her relationship with Armor, because she misses him. She doesn't sing about spike, because she sees him everyday (also because the audience already knows about her relationship with spike, unlike shining armor, so they needed a song). She loves her brother like a friend. She loves Spike like a brother.
* One fan pointed out that {{spoiler|one of the songs, "This Day Aria", contains a musical quirk. One of the lines is expected to end on what is refered to as an 'authentic cadence', but instead ends on a 'deceptive cadence'. This makes the musical style of the song a spoiler for the finale, and was confirmed as an inside joke by the song-writer, who expressed surprise at being found out so soon.}}
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* The reason Celestia was beaten so easily is because changelings feed on love. When Celestia rose furiously to defend her people, Crysalis simply took the ''love'' Celestia had for her people and used it to fuel her own power. Celestia was defeated because she cares so much about the ponies of Equestria that it's ''genuine love''. Fridge Brilliance coupled with [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]].
* In a bit of meta brilliance and amusement, Changelings need love, right? The Queen and her minions must be quite full due to the love they are getting.
* Celestia is in charge of the day and Luna is in charge of the night, so what was Cadance in charge of? [http://chzbronies.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-brony-you-know-its-true.gif Twilight!]{{Dead link}}
* {{spoiler|The Changeling Queen}} [[Call Back|is an evil enchantress, she does evil dances, if you look into her eye, she will put you in trances!]]
* Why did {{spoiler|the ponies not put the shield back up after Chrysalis' defeat? Chrysalis was at the epicenter of a massive blast that flung her clear out of Equestria, while the others Changelings were too, Chrysalis took it full force at point blank. On top of that, the momentum she probably had when thrown, being carried ''all the way out'' by the blast probably threw her much further than her minions. Also, the swarm was scattered in all directions and ''very'' far by the blast, meaning even if Chrysalis did survive what happened to her, her army is gone. Even considering her regrouping it, it'd take a very long time to do so, and she'd probably never find all of them. For all intents and purposes, Chrysalis may have suffered the most crippling defeat of any [[Big Bad]] period! At least Discord is still around, and Luna turned good.}}
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** Twilight explicitly says that only Shining Armor can conjure that shield. The reasons aren't explored, but neither his sister nor his boss could take over for him. Celestia has vast power and more than a thousand years of experience with magic, but she doesn't have the ability to learn any spell like Twilight. And in her case there could have been a limit to how well Twilight can copy spells, or perhaps a simple lack of experience with that one. Ultimately, it was unimportant to the plot.
*** And ultimately, ''unimportant to the point.'' Twilight was there. She could've offered him some support with any of the spells she knew. All he had to do was ask. '''POINT:''' Queen Chrysalis was keeping Shining Armor under enough stress, pain, and magic to cloud his judgement so she could maintain her cover as his bride-to-be. '''END POINT'''
* More proof (as if it was necessary) that princess Cadence and Shining Armor are perfect for one another: A [[wikipedia:Military cadence|Military Cadence]] is a tool used by armed forces to build solidarity and cohesion, and what is Shining Armor's job? Captain of the royal guard. So in other words, she will help keep the force together so it can protect the royalty of Canterlot.
* I feel rather silly for taking this long to realize that this episode ended with the locked away princess rescuing her knight in Shining Armor.
* Another reason for the Queen to keep Cadance and Twilight alive: hostages. At some point in her plan, Chrysalis would have to face Celestia, and having her niece and favorite student would provide the leverage needed to disable her.
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[[Category:My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Fridge]]
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