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 >>/11367/
Twilight stands on a real soapbox to explain what magic is and what it is not, and she covers something I’ve discussed previously in our discussion: the role of intent. My working theory with the difference between unicorn and earth pony/pegasi magic was that the former is active and the latter passive. This passive side is what Twilight here refers to as a ‘special power’ – Pinkie would have been more apt to point out that Pegasi have a magical affinity with clouds.

After Twilight fails to get measurable readings out of Pinkie, she dons her pith helmet and observes Pinkie from afar. Something I love about this sequence is that both Pinkie and Twilight are being tremendously playful in their own way – Pinkie is frolicking about, and Twilight is incorporating pointless elements like her headgear and a ‘scientific name’ for Pinkie (revealing in the process that she does not at this stage know of Pinkie’s full name of Pinkamena) , both doing this just in the course of their everyday activities. This made me think about another aspect of differences between humans and ponies – we have discussed already how ponies in general seem like a much more childlike species in some respects, with Celestia even seeming reluctant to endanger the innocence of her subjects with regards to external threats, but here we have a specific aspect of that on display, playfulness. It’s not something we often think about, but play is an instinct which comes very naturally to us as children, and then disappears in adulthood, something which I would posit is caused by society, but I don’t know for sure that it is. Either way, playfulness seems to diminish less as ponies pass into adulthood, with adult ponies seeming quite happy to partake in parties and dress-up and sleepovers and other playlike activities without seeing a discrepancy or feeling it’s out of place, the primary barrier preventing human adults from doing these same things. Obviously as always this is out of necessity given the intended audience of the show, but it seems quite internally consistent and thought-out compared to other worlds targeting the same audience: yes this is the way it needs to be for marketing, but since the parameters of an imagined world are arbitrary in any case, it is delightful to see ideas taken to logical conclusions, since we get to see an entire speculative process play out that really helps Equestia feel truly like another world. 

The Hydra’s a great creature, though I’m a little puzzled as to how it remains upright on just two legs with a body like that. The adventurous conclusion with it here is something I’ve been itching for a bit with season 1, even though we’ve got a fair bit of action already with the pilot and Dragonshy among other moments. All the music in this part of the episode is fantastic too, from the swamp music to the dramatic accompaniment to the Hydra chase. And a cute little ending gag with Celestia, too. 

I had less to say about this episode on it’s own, but I think quite a bit more to say with regards to the debate surrounding it, which I think more or less sums up it’s legacy: an episode more significant for the discussion it generated than the episode itself. For the content of what it actually is, separated from the messy philosophical side of it’s lesson, I find it to be a fun and action-packed episode, but not one that especially stands out, again if not for it’s lesson. It is thought provoking, but I don’t know to what extent that’s due to the episode itself, or to the subject matter. I’d venture to say that due to the questions raised taking the limelight as well as a lot of the episode’s focus, I think it’s actually weaker as an episode in it’s own right than it otherwise would be. I compared it earlier to Dragonshy, and I think it basically is a slightly weaker equivalent of that episode. I was then thinking of putting it in solid 8, but Boast Busters, my benchmark for an 8, just stands out as a better episode than this to me, so with that in mind I think I’ll give this a 7.9.