/pone/ - World of Equestria

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The first couple of scenes in this episode are mainly setup, but when they pay off later it’s quite cohesive. First we’ve got the cold open, where Rarity is making her own dress, which will come up later on when the others help finish it, and helps establish how Rarity gets sidetracked by the amount of work she has to do and focuses on her friend’s dresses before her own. Secondly, we have Applejack and Twilight showing up. I’m not quite sure why Applejack was actually there, given that she didn’t want a dress and touching up her ‘work duds’ was Rarity’s suggestion. Maybe she just tagged along with Twilight to visit Rarity. As Twilight and Applejack accidentally irritate Rarity with their chat, we have foreshadowing for Rarity’s irritation at their bizarre design choices later on. And lastly we have Rarity having the idea to make all of the group dresses, where the beginnings of the issues that will come later sort of meets halfway between Rarity’s determination to please, and the others increasingly taking that generosity for granted as a result. It’s quite a clever concept, really – the core conflict is caused precisely by Rarity’s element being in a bit of overabundance, that is, she’s too generous for her own good in this episode. We also have some excellent characterisation of Rarity in full force in these first two scenes, as we begin to see the side of her that allows for her fashionable, sociable outer persona: a lot of hard work. In previous generations and in most girl’s shows, being like Rarity is typically shown as effortless and easy. But  not only does Rarity work hard, her comment to Applejack: “you make it sound like it will be hard!” demonstrates an ironclad work ethic and dedication as well. Rarity is a character, like many of the Mane 6, that is easy to overstate, push to an extreme and just get utterly wrong, but here she’s pretty much perfectly characterised. Even the environment is making this clear, with Rarity’s work floor being in her bedroom. 

On that note, we get into the first half of the fantastic song of this episode. It’s up there with the Smile song as one of the great character songs in the show, which I think is pretty uncontroversial to say. On the matter of Rarity’s hardworking nature, I was thinking while watching the song that whilst Applejack is just as if not more hardworking than Rarity, in all likelihood, the reason Rarity comes across as even harder working than Applejack to me I think really comes down to this song. We see and have described to us the rather painstaking process of creating a dress, and then have that process repeated five times, whereas with Applejack, we see bits and pieces of what she does on the farm, but we don’t really ever see the complete picture. The dresses make for quite tangible measurements of how much time and effort Rarity’s put into her passion. 

As Rarity reveals the dresses to the others, I particularly like Opal’s role in purring and nudging the dresses, nicely contrasted with how she hisses at the next set. She’s a good presence in the episode, making shots more interesting and providing someone for Rarity to interact with when she’s working on her own. Given the song we just had, we then share Rarity’s disappointment at the less than stellar reactions from the rest of the Mane 6. They do try to convince Rarity not to go the extra mile for them, and in fairness if Rarity just listened here the rest of the episode’s conflict would not have to happen, but again I think it’s fantastic that Rarity’s generosity actually leads her into a bit of trouble here. The lesson in a way is not only to be careful not to take advantage of generosity, but also to be careful that your generosity is not taken advantage of, too!

The reprise is even catchier, and we get the 20% cooler line. Oh yes, that old chestnut. The budget comment is interesting though – they’re paying for these dresses? I thought Rarity was doing it as a favour. It makes what they’re doing slightly less egregious if they are paying for them, though.

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When Rarity shows them their new dresses, it’s neat that the dresses are kept in shadow, with only the boots and a hem shown directly. It makes their reveal at the fashion show that much funnier. As Spike bursts in and explains that he mentioned Rarity’s fashion show to Hoighty Toighty, I was wondering, was he doing that as a favour to Rarity due to his crush on her? Said crush was established in the pilot, but I don’t really see any direct reference to it in this episode, so I’m not sure if that was why. Perhaps he was just passionate about sharing what his friends were doing. When Rarity hears about it, she could have asked the others to wear the original dresses, just for the show – but I suppose that would have involved putting down their dresses, and revealing that she wasn’t really happy with them. 

Hoighty Toighty, as he arrives at the fashion show, is interesting. A part of Canterlot high society, a fashion business bigwig, but also an Earth pony. Either the class structure is less stratified along unicorn/pegasus/earth pony lines than we often think (although the show regularly supports that type of stratification), or he’s somewhat of a rags-to-riches story, a bit like what Rarity aspires to. As the show begins, Spike gets to play his favourite role and be the announcer, and I have to grin as he just goes a bit overboard. It’s a show being held by a small fashion parlour in a small town – even if it’s near to Canterlot, it’s not really going to be anything like as prestigious as Spike’s making out, and there’s only 5 outfits being shown off. I’m not very familiar with fashion shows, but surely just 5 isn’t very much? So it’s hardly going to be the day of all days when the “perfect pony gown” finally arrives. And as we see the garish dresses finally revealed, they’re absolutely fantastically made – that is, in order to demonstrate by juxtaposition just how good Rarity’s original dresses were by comparison. I wouldn’t know what sort of clothes are fashionable vs unfashionable (except for a vague awareness that damaging jeans is still seemingly all the rage despite going on like that for what must be more than a decade at this point), so this episode does a good job of making it clear and obvious even for viewers that don’t know a thing about fashionability. However, I will say, Pinkie’s dress didn’t come out looking too bad. All things considered, I think it’s the best looking one of the bunch. Twilight’s “oh dear” moment is absolutely perfect. I love the idea that Twilight can get so wrapped up in technical details, and then suddenly have a rush of clarity and social awareness. Spike’s obliviousness and the crowd’s reactions are hard to sit through, I’m glad it fades away before too long. 

Rarity’s dramatic shutting herself away is hilarious and some more great characterisation, I love it. I also love the concern all five of them show – this episode isn’t just a great Rarity character episode, we get a lot of great interactions between all of the Mane 6, and get a better sense of how they work as a friend group outside of adventures. Just one thing puzzles me – how do they get the dress out of Rarity’s room? Twilight could probably magic it away, but wouldn’t Rarity notice? Ah well, it doesn’t matter too much. Poor Opal is clearly terrified, though it is a funny way to get Rarity to come out.

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Who organised Hoighty Toighty coming back? It could be Spike, as we see him closing the curtains. Perhaps he heard how badly the show had gone previously. Rarity using her magic to make a light show for the fashion show take 2 is impressive, and makes me think that magic is perhaps less so limited by a pony’s special talent, and moreso fueled by passion. I can’t really focus mentally on things I’m not interested in, and perhaps for unicorns it’s similar, where they get a significant power boost if the magic is related in some way to what they’re passionate about. 

I like Hoighty Toighty watching Spike’s letter fly out of the window to Canterlot. It seems like he and Spike might be friends in some capacity, which is kinda neat in a way, and so I assume he knows it’s going to Celestia and knows Spike has regular contact with the Princess. His ending gag is pretty funny too.

Also a fifth screenshot, because Twilight looks really pretty in this dress. I remember this episode as being a particular instance where I began to find her attractive, and I think the dress is a part of that.

Nothing really stood out to me as elements I disliked, and this episode had a lot of positives. I’m going to give it an 8.4, as I just about preferred Dragonshy to this episode, but it doesn’t fall far short. 

I'll respond to stuff a bit later, it's been a hectic couple of days! I did have this review earlier but I wasn't able to post it over the weekend, so this is just a quick paste more or less. I have enjoyed reading your review and responses though /)

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 >>/11234/
> How? How did two ponies contribution matter enough that a significant percentage of leaves didn't fall? It doesn't make sense!
I have a proposal, although the reasoning is still perhaps a bit flimsy. When Applejack is given a lift in Pinkie's balloon, as a result she would have skipped a large portion of the racetrack - and given that Applejack's a particularly strong Earth Pony, perhaps her contribution to that particular stretch of the race was the vital component to those leaves falling. It's the only thing I can think of, and it fits in neatly with my theory.
> Not saying inches violates this, just noting.
I would normally say that since Pinkie says it we can somewhat doubt it, but just next episode Fluttershy mentions France so this sort of thing isn't a one-off. 
also
> 1234
nice
 >>/11235/
> Twist had a unique design and traits, I wonder if anything more was ever considered for her? 
She's one-note enough that I somewhat doubt it, at least in the form we see her. Perhaps earlier in development, though.
> That is your lowest rating thus far but I certainly understand it.
It's the sort of rating where I think it'd be pretty good in a later season. It's still above average, by being above 5, but in season 1 the norm is hovering around 7 or 8 in terms of enjoyability.
> My personal thing is based on degree, joking spooky and childish spooky = comfy.
Agreed. In a way I'd say the problem is adults and teenagers joining in with it and making it "theirs". Stuff like Santa in Christmas is more for kids with there being traditions that are more for adults, I'd much prefer halloween if the spooky stuff and dressup was just for kids and adults just did stuff like pumpkin soup or whatever. Mind you, here I am watching My Little Pony, so I'm not one to judge what adults do necessarily. 
> although I will point out that from dialog/what is shown on screen at the end, Rainbow Dash's did seem to matter. 
It does imply that, though again I just sort of assumed it was really just Applejack making the leaves fall at the end. 
> I'd argue that the slapstick here isn't that reality breaking and the ponies have show some similar feats in other situations. 
That is true, but it's just one after the other here to such an extent that I'm struggling to view it as "canon events", almost. 
> goodnight /endpone/! 
seeya soon /)

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In-between episodes, I’ve read through the My Little Pony manga, too. I like the artstyle a lot – the show uses simplified art, but when fans make My Little Pony in a manga/anime style, they tend to just add detail. This isn’t bad per se, but the style of this manga is closer to looking like what I think of when I think of a My Little Pony manga. It’s more clearly oriented towards children, understandably, but I think for what it is the manga stays remarkably close to the characters (unlike some other material that could be mentioned, like King Zebra) – they each get an introduction which is relatively faithful. Genuinely this would be a pretty good primer for the show for a kid. Then, each chapter is broken up into a little story or two. Some of these are roughly adapted from an episode, albeit simplified – Suited For Success is in there, for instance. Others are original – and the original stories, although I’m not the first to mention it, would make great concepts for episodes.  The one that stuck out most to me is where a particular tree that supports life for a lot of Fluttershy’s animals seems unwell – it’s branches are falling off and it’s sap is drying up. So, they bring the tree to life to ask it what’s wrong. The tree is depressed and so they cheer it up. This would make for a really solid episode I think – minus the ending, where they bring Golden Oaks to life and she and the tree fall in love, with Twilight gaining an extra reading nook in the new tree once it returns to it’s inanimate form. Each of the ponies would have something unique to bring to interactions with such a tree character – Fluttershy connecting with it on matters of nature, Rarity sprucing it up and trimming it, Rainbow Dash trying and most likely failing to psyche the tree up, Twilight reading it books on motivation or something to that effect, and Applejack trying apple-bucking, kind of like those aggressive Swedish sports massages they do. I think it would also fit in well with the pony-natural world relations theme of season 1, where we could expand more on how ponies relate to trees, and perhaps explore the difference between a domesticated tree like this one, and the wild trees of the Everfree Forest. 
Overall more of just a fun read, definitely a bit younger in orientation compared to the show but remarkably faithful in most respects.

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An alright episode. 

I found myself enjoying it on a average level. Rarity being people pleasing to her friends and her friends not appropriating her hoofmade (magic made?) dresses hits home to me in this odd way (I have know of cases of younger family members rejecting homemade stuff from grandparents in the family due to color and fashion considerations, which has personally mystified me). The dress sequences was fun, and I liked Rarity getting more haggard and strained while her friends gave there various detailed to vague and complicated instructions. Of course, can't forget, this is where the famous phrase, 20 percent cooler, came from. I did laugh with the whole first fashion sequence when the Mane 6 realized how ridiculous they looked! 

My perceptions of this episode where average but this is one that I don't remember as well. It did not change with this and I am neither overly impressed or disappointed. 6/10.

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 >>/11295/
Opps, was logged into BO. 

Anyways. The most important thing is this right here:
> Spike: You are never gonna believe this! You've heard of Hoity Toity?

> Twilight Sparkle: The bigwig fashion hotshot in Canterlot?

> Spike: Uh-huh. He heard about your fashion show. Well, maybe I happened to mention it to him... he's coming here all the way from Canterlot to see your work, Rarity!

This is another instance of Spike seemingly having some sort of other duties/life connected to Canterlot. I had completely forgotten about this. Actually, I am not sure if it has ever stuck out to me before to me. 
 >>/10706/
> Spike's on "royal business." I know it was just an excuse to not have him there but this line I have always remembered. What sort of business was he on? Considering how they have usually acted with Spike being a child (relatively responsible to be entrusted with some duties) I wonder what he would be up too and traveling alone, if even to a safe trip to Canterlot for. 

Now, this adds a little weight whatever happened here.

There is a lot of interesting implications. Twilight Sparkle talked about Hoity Toity as somebody famous and not personally familar with. A thought comes to mind of Spike having at least some minor brushes with Canterlot high society while doing, IDK, stuff for the princess. 

110% satisfied 
Rarity said in this episode, who is ready for a forced meme?

Noticing background details too strongly
The first catwalk scene overhead shot I thought the ponies where just one static drawing besides the lights. This would be common in other animation but I handled recalled FiM ever doing that before (obliviously because of the availability of rigs they could just copypaste as they please). The the more close up top down shot of Rarity though does have these ponies move some. These ponies are nothing to really write home about,there colors are off, movements stiff, and just feel overall basic and perhaps a bit rushed (and why not, just a couple of tiny shots less than what, 20 seconds overall? No problem with it). I wonder if these very simple top view ponies ever where used again or if there will be other instances of potentially one off wonky ponies like this?

Rainbow Dash's dress looks completely fine, tbh, not guady and mismatched like the others, just perhaps ill fitting for the setting/theme.

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 >>/11243/
 >>/11244/
 >>/11245/
> They do try to convince Rarity not to go the extra mile for them, and in fairness if Rarity just listened here the rest of the episode’s conflict would not have to happen, but again I think it’s fantastic that Rarity’s generosity actually leads her into a bit of trouble here. The lesson in a way is not only to be careful not to take advantage of generosity, but also to be careful that your generosity is not taken advantage of, too!

Worded better than how I explained it, but yes! I also think the idea of being appreciative of gifts is a worthy component as well that is laudable.  

> The reprise is even catchier, and we get the 20% cooler line. Oh yes, that old chestnut. The budget comment is interesting though – they’re paying for these dresses? I thought Rarity was doing it as a favour. It makes what they’re doing slightly less egregious if they are paying for them, though.

Nice catch and yes, that is a good question. I can come up with somewhat plausible theories but none with strong evidence (they insisted on paying for the dresses. Rarity charged them token prices for the materials. They decided to pay for the new dresses in some capacity). 


> Rarity’s dramatic shutting herself away is hilarious and some more great characterisation, I love it. I also love the concern all five of them show – this episode isn’t just a great Rarity character episode, we get a lot of great interactions between all of the Mane 6,

100% agree.  

> Either the class structure is less stratified along unicorn/pegasus/earth pony lines than we often think (although the show regularly supports that type of stratification), or he’s somewhat of a rags-to-riches story, a bit like what Rarity aspires to.

Another theory, though this can easily exist with the others. Culture is not 100% with race/class. We seen mixed familes most of the time with earth ponies, but that certainly exists elsewhere (and might have some prominent example that has slipped my mind) but an earth pony raised among unicorns in Canterlot may just be that, he still is culturally hip and a little snobby. Rarity has been shown to feel awkwardness with being from Ponyville after all! Racial associations with most of these towns still exist but the in-group/out-group dynamics may apply just as much to culture. 

> Rarity using her magic to make a light show for the fashion show take 2 is impressive, and makes me think that magic is perhaps less so limited by a pony’s special talent, and moreso fueled by passion. I can’t really focus mentally on things I’m not interested in, and perhaps for unicorns it’s similar, where they get a significant power boost if the magic is related in some way to what they’re passionate about. 

There is some later post-season moments that may support this, but that is far off! Very far off.

> I like Hoighty Toighty watching Spike’s letter fly out of the window to Canterlot. It seems like he and Spike might be friends in some capacity, which is kinda neat in a way, and so I assume he knows it’s going to Celestia and knows Spike has regular contact with the Princess

Spike's connection, however minor, is a curiosity to me, for reasons I have already stated.I admit that I probably spent too much time thinking about it, but that is who I am. That is an interesting idea of them being friends.


> Nothing really stood out to me as elements I disliked, and this episode had a lot of positives. I’m going to give it an 8.4, as I just about preferred Dragonshy to this episode, but it doesn’t fall far short. 

Here is how I think of ratings in my head, 
10/10, perfect, I have almost never felt this. about anything
9/10 Great/amazing, rare for me to feel this
8/10 Great/good
7/10 good
6/10 good/okay/something great with one or two flaw that mess it up a bit
5/10 flawed/mixed
anything lower,bad

Yeah,not very clear for and clean, and I think that everyone has slight different perceptions. That is just how I think it in my head and mine are a bit more arbitrary than some(I think).

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 >>/11247/ 
> When Applejack is given a lift in Pinkie's balloon, as a result she would have skipped a large portion of the racetrack - and given that Applejack's a particularly strong Earth Pony, perhaps her contribution to that particular stretch of the race was the vital component to those leaves falling.

> It does imply that, though again I just sort of assumed it was really just Applejack making the leaves fall at the end. 

It is fair enough, I think it just goes back to if one takes unicorns and pegasi ponies being able to contribute. My instincts are mixed on this and I have gone back and forth with thinking of what I remember of the show and might give the episode a rewatch just for more (over)thinking. 

> nice

> 1234

< mfw I didn't notice.


> Agreed. In a way I'd say the problem is adults and teenagers joining in with it and making it "theirs". Stuff like Santa in Christmas is more for kids with there being traditions that are more for adults, I'd much prefer halloween if the spooky stuff and dressup was just for kids and adults just did stuff like pumpkin soup or whatever. Mind you, here I am watching My Little Pony, so I'm not one to judge what adults do necessarily. 

This is actually a very interesting angle, one that I think is relevant but not often discussed and I think it is a multifaceted "thing." Something happened with our society, a nostalgic retreat is a major component but I am still forming fully on the why, reductionist views (technology, capitalism too far or the decline of religion) play a part, but I feel this is often other small nuances that are mixed, my tenancy is to blame tech more than the other two.      I don't view spookiness in Halloween, but agree on overall principles of this idea of adult colonization of childhood things being... something. I am talking a bit vague and unclear, aren't I? I hope you get the gist. I think to an extent the fandom is guilty of that, I never brought the complete self guilt or self aggrandizing behavior that the fandom  often adopts in viewing itself;we are complex and it is complex. 

> seeya soon /)

> I'll respond to stuff a bit later, it's been a hectic couple of days!

Same for the past two weeks for me! So we good. 

 >>/11287/
Manga, more on that later, but for the moment:
>  The tree is depressed and so they cheer it up. This would make for a really solid episode I think – minus the ending, where they bring Golden Oaks to life and she and the tree fall in love, with Twilight gaining an extra reading nook in the new tree once it returns to it’s inanimate form.

Fanfics enter the chat, but yes, I agree overall the concept is workable and the mane 6's interactions could be interesting.

Oh, and:
> Pinkie’s dress didn’t come out looking too bad. All things considered, I think it’s the best looking one of the bunch. 

I think Pinkie's is the second best, it is whimsical and she is whimsical and she makes it work, but I am probably as in tune to fashion as you are.

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Let’s  dive in!

‘’Spike! This magic needs our full attention to make it happen. There's no other way!'’

So, we see Twilight Sparkle practicing magic with Spike helping as her “guinea pig” though admittedly that sounds a little too strong of a wording. I can always get distracted with little starting scenes like this and this one stood out for two reasons: Pinkie’s interruption. Upon Spike being distracted by Pinkie Pie, the rock that was turned into a hat reverts into a rock. Why does a slight distraction cause the rock to revert? Is there a window of time when something is transformed that it can revert back? Like it needs to be held in place? The tuxedo and leaves don’t revert back (but do vanish in the next shot, albeit, a lot of that happens this episode and I think it mostly should be taken as cartoon logic... mostly).  

Reason two: Upon ‘’Spike'’ being distracted by Pinkie Pie, the rock that was turned into a hat reverts into a rock. It seems like Spike himself also needed to have his attention on the Twilight/the rock for it to work. What roll does Spike play here?  This is 30 seconds in, lol, I am focusing too much on this scene  but I think it is weird and possibly is an attempt to justify something later on. 

Twilight Sparkle is at first, understandably dismissive of Pinkie Pie and her antics, but as bad luck ramps up, she starts to frantically try to disprove/understand it. At first Twilight is a little obsessive and as it goes on. I have often seen people say that Twilight Sparkle being a bad scientist who is more eager to disprove than to understand and analyze cautiously and something thinking Twilight having held the idiot ball to some degree. Considering the sequence of events:
> Frog

> Falls in a ditch 

> Mud splash 

> Alligator in bathtub

> Door slam by the front door of the library 

> Door slam in the basement of the library 

> Bees!

> Fell into apple cellar 

> Potted plant, anvil,  hay, a panio

I disagree that Twilight Sparkle was a bad scientist or being an idiot, it was just the trope of the skeptic being skeptical while reality proved contrary. Even then, while frustrated she was still trying to gather data and hadn’t fully “snapped” in the way of her freakout towards the end of Swarm of A Century or had retreated into her book like in Look Before you Sleep (and both of those aren’t necessarily bad either). I still laughed at these and enjoyed most of them. (Personal favorite being the basement door slam for whatever reason) and I considered it slightly surprising as show with a higher age rating had often censored direct impact cartoony violence like that and a discourse that suggested that sort of violence had gone very far out of style (at least that was my impression)  Grew up with boomerang (TV channel that showed old cartoons) so I might have greater appreciation than some. I do think sometimes stuff like that can be offputting and overdone as well. Actually, a lot of times when other cartoons tried (and perhaps FiM in a future episode if I recall) to do this in the 2000s something often felt off to me but not here.

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 >>/11348/
Enter the ‘doozy;.Twilight Sparkle is suddenly healed and aiding Pinkie Pie and Applejack in going to help Fluttershy. I laughed way too much at Spike’s and Applejack’s conversation, with felt weirdly realistic and yet still funny. Realistic in the sense that Applejack seemed like a stressed adult who was trying to not let her mind run wild while Spike being a stressed adolescent panicing. Fluttershy randomly exploding twice in a row also feels like Spike has been reading too many comic books or something (same with his zombie ponies remark a few episodes back). I think the Hydra was an alright random monster threat, perhaps a bit under utilized consider mythology (though it is not like anypony could’ve tried to chopping heads off in this at the time E/I TV-Y kids show) and not the most splendid design, but oh, whatever. 

Here is a part where the episode becomes problematic when your attempting to overthink every detail: Twilight Sparkle’s actions in this fight. I don’t consider it irrational at all for her to be panicked and not thinking straight. While I think it ‘’might'’ be reasonable to assume Twilight’s magic training and tutelage under Celestia had some combat training I don’t think Twilight was groomed to be a monster slayer or anything. This Hydra was huge and she and the others have been shown to be prone to some panic. It is the relative innocence of the setting here. What does feel off is when she does gain some confiendence not using magic, at all. I am not taking about in directly fighting the monster but stuff like telekinesis or the most glaring one I saw people point out in the past, teleportation! This is why I refer back to:
> ‘’Spike! This magic needs our full attention to make it happen. There's no other way!'’

Listen, this is season 1 and I know that haven’t given super detailed thought to stuff like this, but, was this not just for a joke but an attempt to explain what happened here?  I legitimately wonder it. As for any theorizing, I am going to call a spade a spade and just say Twilight Sparkle doesn’t think straight in a panic sometimes as that explanation  makes less sense to me considering what happened with Twilight’s brief confrontation with Nightmare Moon.

The lesson, eh, that deserves its own section and probably the most shaky part of the episode.  
As for my rating for this episode, I am split, 6.1/10 or 6.5/10. I can’t decide! It was a good to alright episode despite certain controversy associated with it with my main problem perhaps being the wording of the lesson over anything that happened in the episode itself.

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 >>/11349/
‘’It's your only ho-o-ope! You have to take a leap of faith!'’

Now, for the main controversy with this episode, the potential anti-science and perceived religious influence here. I have thought about this before and have gone back and forth to how merited it was.  The wording can be taken here with a very symbolic meaning albeit “leap of faith” doesn’t have to mean  “faith” in a strong religious context but also as a figure of speech that just had an unfortunate timing/prescience. The trope of skeptic being dunked on is well established and minus that line, would I think that takeaway as merited at all? No. The end wording of the lesson though:
> I am happy to report that I now realize there are wonderful things in this world you just can't explain, but that doesn't necessarily make them any less true. It just means you have to choose to believe in them, and sometimes it takes a friend to show you the way.'’

I don’t think a strong religious context is there but I can see a supernatural vs science with that as a take away. They probably were aiming for something like not everything needs to be rationally explained and have a little fun with that. I can understand some having a problem with this. For me? Eh, mixed but I do find this wording to be a little questionable and am going back and forth on it myself Also to note, I myself am technically on the conservative to borderline traditionalist side when it comes to religious and science matters, but still, debating the logic here and probably wouldn't use this type of show as a platform for that!

How much does it matter? I don’t think this controversy matters as much
 as it did and I am not sure it would’ve had such a negative reception if it had premiered a few years before or a few years after. A lot of the fandom was fedoras and the peak culture war pastime when it aired was a subset of  mostly evangelical Christians (at least in the US of A) getting into fights/getting dunked on by a larger subset of atheist movement and terminally online internet users who were aligned with that for a variety of reasons. Now it seems to be an afterthought in our current culture wars sometimes with unclear lines. Nowadays I hardly see this episode mentioned in a negative light in the way some others still have and I think it shows how things have changed from then discourse wise. Not going to go any further into that, at least here, makes the thread /uncomfy/. It doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to criticize but it probably should be seen as somewhat poor and wonky over something that is a major faux pas. 

< And wow, strong counterargument. I possibly can talk myself into liking this moral from the angle that our word destroyed a lot of childhood wonder and magic. Twilight Sparkle taken in that light might not be so bad. Our world became sterile and parental standards have become overly prescriptivist on one end to the mere abandonment of children to a world of smartphones and parental neglect on the other. That is a rabbithole for another time.


‘’'The Door to the Apple Cellar’
Now, for the more important thing to speculate on...
WHO OPENED APPLEJACK’S DOOR TO HER CELLAR? It wasn’t Twilight or Applejack from what I gather from rewatching the scene. It seems like it just opened on it’s own! 

‘’‘Rapidash Twilight!''’
A classic and somewhat forgotten meme! Something minorly interesting. A character being injured or wearing cloths one moment and then not the next scene in the same place happens a lot in this episode with no explanation! This is fine and cartoony even if part of my mind wants to overthink it. On the other end though I found it interesting that they bothered to animate smoke coming off of Twilight after she got mad here (though the burn marks still disappear) compared to how most other shots it would just be gone. Need to find the fic that ran way too far with that scene.

‘’‘Observations from  Bridle Gossip Relevant:'’'
 >>/10760/
> It is interesting that Twilight Sparkle is so dismissive of curses. I don't find this irrational unto 

 >>/11350/
Character limit still got me


‘’‘Observations from  Bridle Gossip Relevant:'''
 >>/10760/
> It is interesting that Twilight Sparkle is so dismissive of curses. I don't find this irrational unto itself. Magic to her is still a science and such a science that can be tested and examined. I could see how a curse violates a world of where magic proprieties are pretty well known. Maybe magic needs energy to sustain and function and thus, a curse in the traditional can't exist (there I go trying to rationalize the magic here).

 >>/10696/
> Twilight comments that there’s “no such thing as curses”, another interesting little tidbit about the magic. I think I discussed with the gala tickets in a previous episode whether magic is something that can produce permanent effects, or if it’s always temporary, and notably here curses are typically expected to be quite long in duration, if not infinite in duration. However, since I concluded from said tickets that these lasting enchantments are possible, I think it most likely has to be some other aspect of curses that makes them impossible. 

Pinkie Pie:‘’What's not to believe? You do magic, what's the difference?'’
Twilight Sparkle:‘’Huge! For one thing, [clears throat] magic is something you study and practice. It only happens when you decide to do it, and it's meant to make something specific that you choose to happen, happen. With you, uh, it makes no sense at all!'’

‘’Just a hope skip and a jump'’
Nice continuity Fluttershy!

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 >>/11348/
Lot of formatting errors on my part! I guess that is what I get for posting while exhausted. All my larger posts always feel like air planes making near crash landing. I am not sad but I do apologize if this is a bit more of an eyesore than normal. This review, I tried doing a bit on what you did and noting things sequentially with side observations and a bit minor theorizing. My mind tends to organize things into lists and I have an easier time noting topics as an aside (sometimes perhaps too much so in some of these reviews) but I have fun with this one all the same. The episode is one that I have given a lot of thought about but it has been years... heck, maybe even an decade, that I have seriously picked it apart. A certain nostalgia with this one from reading some the controversy and discourse around it. 

 >>/11287/
I have only glaces at the manga in the past but I do agree the art style is cute and works. It deserves a full read and I think that sounds like a cozy pastime. 

>  It’s more clearly oriented towards children, understandably, but I think for what it is the manga stays remarkably close to the characters (unlike some other material that could be mentioned, like King Zebra) – they each get an introduction which is relatively faithful. Genuinely this would be a pretty good primer for the show for a kid. 
This is one of those things that people underestimate the value of.Not just for kids, but in writing anything pony, a lot of works assume too much foreknowledge of the characters and  setting in question. Whether be it a kids work or some AU fanfic, it is good to have a little bit of an introduction at least. That reminds me that Faust wanted a preschool spinoff staring the CMC (if I recall correctly) though that is tangential. 

> they each get an introduction which is relatively faithful. Genuinely this would be a pretty good primer for the show for a kid. Then, each chapter is broken up into a little story or two. Some of these are roughly adapted from an episode, albeit simplified – Suited For Success is in there, for instance
Makes me want to start reading it and comparing it, lol more crazy theories!

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I wonder why Spike and Twilight were practicing magic outside this time – if concentration is of the essence, it would have been better for them to practice inside the library so there were less distractions. But since they are outside, distractions do occur, in the form of Pinkie with her special umbrella hat, which I would be fascinated to see as a real hat in action. I’d try wearing one, just to see exactly how dry or undry it would keep one in the rain. But rather than rain, we get a frog splatting onto Twilight’s face.  Does Pinkie know how to speak frog from learning with Fluttershy, or is it perhaps her Earth Pony affinity?

Anyways, we then get Twilight dismissing Pinkie’s first prediction as a mere coincidence, before befalling Pinkie’s next prediction, ending up in a ditch. Here is where the endless questions around this episode start, and probably foremost among them since it’s brought up by the episode itself a little later on, is why does Twilight doubt so dismissively when she herself is a student and practitioner of the magic of this world? Well, one thing that I was trying to recall is instances where magic is shown to have predictive power in MLP, primarily within this season as that’s established canon at this point, but later on as well. I can’t say I recall any instance particularly = in Twilight and Dolores’s fight at the end of season 5 (I think) we see potential futures, and that to me would suggest that magic can’t differentiate between potentialities or probabilities. All of which would give a plausible reason for Twilight to both espouse magic and yet doubt predictive divination. The same seems to apply to curses at this stage in canon, going back to the poison joke episode, where maladaptive magic is as likely to adversely affect the caster as the target, and so doesn’t constitute a true ‘curse’. Pinkie’s predictions are proven accurate a third time in a row as Twilight gets splashed with mud, and whilst she runs Twilight a bath, Pinkie explains how different parts of her body will react in accordance with oncoming phenomena. I assume this was a conscious reference on the part of the writer to the real-life phenomenon where people can feel an oncoming storm ‘in their bones’, a real predictive ability as oncoming storms will affect barometric pressure, which can be felt as a sensation in the body. This has an interesting implication for the episode – if that is indeed a conscious reference, then we could take that to mean that the intended reading is that there is a real explanation for Pinkie’s Pinkie sense, but that we simply don’t manage to discover that explanation within the course of the episode. That seems to track with the episode writer, who has made it clear in the aftermath of the episode that they didn’t wish to convey a pro-faith message – not that such a message is undesirable or bad in any way, merely that it wasn’t the original intent as such. In addition, in this scene we see a sink with taps and a faucet, which is the first I’ve seen of plumbing to my recollection in the show. From what we’ve seen of Ponyville, it seems to me as though some buildings have plumbing but most don’t, a situation that puts me in mind of time I spent in rural Ireland as a child. In this context though, Ponyville is less of a truly rural area at this stage in history, and more of a market town (at least in my opinion), and as such, I interpret this as being some of the earliest beginnings of indoor plumbing for areas outside of Canterlot and some other major cities. Also, Gummy introduction, if I’m not mistaken.

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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.

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 >>/11295/
> It did not change with this and I am neither overly impressed or disappointed.
With regard to our differing levels of enjoyment of this episode, I think what really made this episode for me was getting to have the whole Mane 6 in play. It's obviously tricky to pull off, but I really love seeing them as a group - as well as loving the character focus approach, which sounds paradoxical but we got both in that episode and to me, that's a real treat.
 >>/11297/
> This is another instance of Spike seemingly having some sort of other duties/life connected to Canterlot. I had completely forgotten about this. Actually, I am not sure if it has ever stuck out to me before to me. 
This plus the seasons have been standing out to me a lot more on this rewatch - I think there had to have been a 'background timeline' or something similar for this first season, too many things line up too neatly.
> who is ready for a forced meme? 
...110% ready, perhaps?
 >>/11298/
>  but an earth pony raised among unicorns in Canterlot may just be that, he still is culturally hip and a little snobby.
Or even a situation like with the Cakes, where ponies from one group produce a pony from a different group via, presumably, recessive genes in their background. Which makes me think - when Mr and Mrs Cake end up with a Unicorn and a Pegasus for children, that's anything from a non-factor to a blessing for them, but I can only imagine a Unicorn or even Pegasi family having Earth pony children would be a little bit awkward, for both the parents and the children - so much of what would be life's experiences for the parent, they would be unable to share, and the child would almost certainly feel deprived of having those life experiences.
> Here is how I think of ratings in my head, 
I agree with all those, but the ratings are still quite abstract so I find it easier to use episodes as benchmarks for other episodes. 
 >>/11299/
> I hope you get the gist. I think to an extent the fandom is guilty of that, I never brought the complete self guilt or self aggrandizing behavior that the fandom often adopts in viewing itself;we are complex and it is complex. 
I think I get the gist, certainly the sentiment. Complexity is something I'm falling back more and more on as an excuse as I get older - my grandfather always used to say, when asked about something a bit too current or news-y, in a slow and serious voice, "I think it's very complicated". It baffled me back then for such an intelligent man to say such a thing, but more and more I find that on topics where I know something about it intellectually, that really, I can't know much for sure and have to throw up my hands and say "it's complicated". Even something as relatively small as this fandom is large enough that I don't think I could grasp fully what can be truly definitively said about it. The edges are fuzzy and it's more efficient to define it in microcosm than in totality.

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 >>/11348/
> Is there a window of time when something is transformed that it can revert back? Like it needs to be held in place?
My reading was that a transformation needs to be complete to ensure something won't revert, and that the first step of a transformation is an object's appearance, as the least essential of it's characteristics.
> It seems like Spike himself also needed to have his attention on the Twilight/the rock for it to work. What roll does Spike play here?
If intentions, even of non-magic-casting creatures, can help focus or strengthen magic, then perhaps that gives us our answer to why the running of the leaves includes more than just Earth ponies. The underlying magic is being performed by the Earth ponies, but they are aided in what they're doing by the participation of others, strengthening the collective intent. It also gives us potential explanations for things like the power of friendship itself, holding the windigos at bay and manifesting as the most concentrated form of magical power this world has to offer when used by the Mane 6 - since we have an entire nation, Equestria, following the principles of this philosophy of friendship, we could have there the most extreme end example of the power collective intentions have in the magical sphere. 
 >>/11349/
> As for any theorizing, I am going to call a spade a spade and just say Twilight Sparkle doesn’t think straight in a panic sometimes as that explanation makes less sense to me considering what happened with Twilight’s brief confrontation with Nightmare Moon. 
I think the key difference is that when Twilight was confronting Nightmare Moon, she was temporarily isolated from the others and fending for herself in the immediate sense (iirc), whereas here she's defending her friends. It is strange, but people's self-preservation has been known to snap under certain pressures, and Twilight's mind is portrayed throughout the show as in a relatively fragile, snappable state, unfortunate as that sometimes is. I got a chuckle out of it, as it kinda felt like the culmination of Twilight's increasing neurosis throughout the course of this episode.
 >>/11350/
> The wording can be taken here with a very symbolic meaning albeit “leap of faith” doesn’t have to mean “faith” in a strong religious context but also as a figure of speech that just had an unfortunate timing/prescience.
The fact that this was taken at the time to be religion specifically rather than just spirituality or even just superstition I think speaks to the way in which that early-2010s redditor type of atheism was so hostile not just to religion, but to any type of non-empirical thinking or even hypothesis in general. That specific area of the early fandom that was both vehemently hostile to all forms of spirituality and who emphasised the show's value in terms of it's "cleverness" above all else I just find hard to stomach. I never saw MLP as just an ironic, clever commentary on society or something, and sometimes the way early reddit-type fans seemed to talk about the show, it sounds like they viewed it as essentially an early version of Rick and Morty. 
> spoiler
I more or less come from the complete opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to views of the world, so I think it's telling that both of us found the criticism a bit bogus. 
> Now it seems to be an afterthought in our current culture wars sometimes with unclear lines.
As far as MLP's status in the culture war goes, I feel like it's managed to occupy a less contentious space than most other fandoms I dabble(d) in, which is refreshing. I'm in regular contact with both extremes within the fandom (from congoing pride flag types to /mlpol/) and I feel I can more or less get along with both. There is conflict, but compared to something like Star Trek where the core idea of what it's even about is disagreed on, I feel like both extremes in this fandom have more they have in common with regards to how they view the show than might otherwise be the case.

PoLS
Better replies coming later, busy week, but I am doing mostly alright.

 >>/11385/
> If intentions, even of non-magic-casting creatures, can help focus or strengthen magic, then perhaps that gives us our answer to why the running of the leaves includes more than just Earth ponies. The underlying magic is being performed by the Earth ponies, but they are aided in what they're doing by the participation of others, strengthening the collective intent. 

That... wow, need to bookmark and write down this one. Simple point but a strong one I mean, arguably the show short of spells it out but we don't think of applying it to there. Speaking of magic, boy, I just watched Sonic Rainboom and that has had my mind already working on some ideas for that! 


> I more or less come from the complete opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to views of the world, so I think it's telling that both of us found the criticism a bit bogus.

Indeed, /) I can tell religious propaganda when I see it and that ain't it!

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Our opening scene is funny enough and gives us the iconic Fluttershy ‘yay’ meme, but in terms of information, all it actually tells us is that Rainbow Dash is going to involved in some sort of event at which Fluttershy will also be present. As a small moment between Dash and Fluttershy, it’s nice to see.

Speaking of small moments between characters, I enjoy the fact that Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were all helping Twilight tidy up. I wonder what Twilight was studying over the weekend? Then we have the introduction of the titular sonic rainboom, courtesy of Pinkie Pie.  As Rainbow brags that she can do a rainboom no problem, and we as an audience can see that she’s actually nervous, I really like that Rarity chimes in, demonstrating her knowledge and awareness of people. Between this and her focus episode, Rarity is getting some truly great characterisation in this season. It’s also her intervention that goes on to let the rest of the episode happen, as Twilight was more than happy to just go back to tidying up. Pinkie Pie fetching the right book and even knowing what page the right spell is on is fantastic, I even like the explanation she gives to Applejack – even if I do prefer to think of that explanation as an off-the-cuff excuse to hide her powers. Then Rarity even volunteers to be a test subject for the spell! The casting of the spell is also interesting, as Twilight describes it as very complicated and appears drained after casting it. 

As Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash arrive in Cloudsdale, Fluttershy makes a good effort of being assertive. I feel like this is the first we get to see of Rainbow and Fluttershy’s specific relationship being fleshed out more, which carries forward into the rest of the show as I recall. We don’t particularly get this pair-up with the others, but that makes sense since out of all of them, only Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sort of grew up together, or at least in the same surroundings. After they confront the bullies, Rarity shows up and we get to see her wings properly, which are reminiscent of the Flutterponies from G1, which makes me wonder if those pony’s wings were magically formed too, perhaps by virtue of the Sunstone’s magic. But that’s beside the point. The other three disembark the Twinkling Balloon with a surprising degree of nonchalance – if I knew a spell was the only thing keeping me from falling through the ground, I’d be pretty scared. But then again, magic is a very reliable force in Equestria. Rainbow Dash’s statement of Cloudsdale being the “greatest city in the sky” makes me wonder if there’s more cloud-cities besides this and Las Pegasus. In particular, a lost cloudcity would be a very interesting concept to me. They then go to visit the weather factory – now, I would assume that Cloudsdale is the only place with a weather factory, given the way it’s presented in the show. And since Pegasi have controlled the weather since before ponies even came to Equestria, this would mean that the weather factory is incredibly old, as well as being presumably irreplaceable, since we don’t know of any other cloud cities with weather factories. But it’s fair to assume that it would be a difficult feat of engineering to reproduce, since the weather factory is able to cover all of Equestria with it’s output capacity.

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Now, as they move on to the cloud production floor, we see something that really just puzzles me. The clouds are made more or less as real clouds are made, by condensation of water. However, this raises the question of where Cloudsdale gets the water from. Normally, it wouldn’t be a big issue to get water from the sky, but since the water cycle does not exist in Equestria, they must be getting it from the surface below. All this water needs to be enough to water the crops of all of Equestria with rain, too. My best guess is that Cloudsdale has massive water storage facilities, and it periodically moves to the ocean to refill it’s tanks.

As if to contradict my earlier praise of her character, Rarity has a complete turnaround from her earlier generosity and decides to enter the competition, causing more stress for Dash. It’s not really out of character for her to be distracted by being the centre of attention, but she doesn’t do any favours for her likeability, either. In fairness, she does apologise for it later. Then, as Dash tries to avoid going out by swapping numbers, we see what looks like Dr Whooves (sorry, Time Turner, rather), but he’s a pegasus? I guess in canon they’d be separate but similar-looking ponies, or perhaps even twins. I’d say having the same cutie mark is an issue but there’s so many ponies with that cutie mark that it isn’t really. So Rarity and Rainbow Dash both leave it to the last second and go on together, then we get our Icarus moment with Rarity. And from there, we wrap it up with apologies and Dash getting to meet the Wonderbolts. Altogether, a very satisfying ending – and since I probably won’t have time to do another episode before the new year, a fittingly momentous conclusion to end the year on, I think. 

Overall, I would rate this episode 8.7. It mixes some of the character development of Suited for Success with the adventure of Dragonshy, plus some tasty worldbuilding, so it sits a little bit above those episodes for me.

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Sonic Rainboom, what can I say about this one?  This review is going to be on the shorter side,  had two family members fall ill and one injure himself after a surgery, my mobility isn’t 100% right now, been an interesting holiday season!

Something about the traveling here feels different to other seasons. More cozy, more ‘’intimate'.’ I think some of it is the fresh details we get and how fresh and young the world is. I really shouldn’t compare this to later seasons all the time but I can’t hep it! I liked it! I like the feeling here.  I thought the build up to the conflict and how it was executed was solid enough. I enjoyed Rainbow Dash switching her numbers and avoiding leaving till the last possible moment. It reminded me of the dread of waiting for a shot when I was young. Something that was quick and better to get over with sooner, yet, the fear of it is so strong that I want to avoid getting a shot at all costs and anything that delayed it, even slightly, felt like a blessing. The rainboom was well animated by season 1 standards even if it was outdone later on. 

There is a lot of world building that I should get into on Cloudsdale and the weather but I cannot help but focus on the spells here. It is interesting detail of this  is how they so causally let let Rarity compete in the race without prejudice. How everypony fawns over Rarity and shows an interest? You’d think that, especially with the context of some racial animosity that still lingered on and could rear it’s head that was established within the show even  in, well, next season, this should’ve been an issue! I think though this  “problem” in continuity   can be fairly easily resolved : unicorns are a, pun intended, a rarity!  I couldn’t find it from a few quick searches, but I know Faust before has said something to the effect of, Earth Ponies were the most common, Pegasi a hundred times less common than Earth Ponies, and Unicorns a hundred times less common than pegasi. Thinking along these lines fixes this and actually goes with a lot of the cultural dynamics were see in Season 1 and later on. Unicorns budding in  and doing shenanigans like this would be an uncommon occurrence and a speckle/sight of wonder.. They wouldn’t be taking the spotlight every day of the week.

Also, magical spells are common knowledge but unicorns who can preform a lot of spells, may be rarer still. We don’t see anypony else using that cloud walking spell after all! Goodness, thinking along these lines  could be used to explain a lot. Trixie being a performer to the smugness of Canterlot society even might partly be due to the relative rarity of unicorns in this world. 

This review is a bit of a traffic jam, my rating is a 6.9 out of 10. I liked it a lot, but isn’t isn’t in great territory for me for whatever reason.

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 >>/11458/
Now, for the one line that I have racked my brain for way too long:
’’‘Be careful with those wings, Rarity. They're made from gossamer and morning dew, and they're incredibly delicate.’‘

To start:
’‘Gossamer:’
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gossamer
> a film of cobwebs floating in air in calm clear weather
the specifics of  what these wings are made of. Without these line I would just assume magical energy or material of some kind.  Twilight wrapped Rarity in a magic of sorts and the was under considerable strain from it. I logically think some sort of conjuring is involved but gossamer is a cobweb in  a specific ‘’‘state'.'’ Same for morning dew! I am fine with morning dew and evening rain having different supernatural properties and affects,  the thing that is weird here is that it seems like she generated the wings from magic and... I wonder how one would conjure something with properties like that? 

Flutteryay happened here. A classic meme. Though honestly the payoff of Fluttershy cheering Rainbow Dash the loudest was sweet and I enjoyed that more.

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 >>/11446/
 >>/11447/
> in particular, a lost cloudcity would be a very interesting concept to me. They then go to visit the weather factory – now, I would assume that Cloudsdale is the only place with a weather factory, given the way it’s presented in the show. And since Pegasi have controlled the weather since before ponies even came to Equestria, this would mean that the weather factory is incredibly old, as well as being presumably irreplaceable, since we don’t know of any other cloud cities with weather factories. 
> However, this raises the question of where Cloudsdale gets the water from. Normally, it wouldn’t be a big issue to get water from the sky, but since the water cycle does not exist in Equestria, they must be getting it from the surface below. All this water needs to be enough to water the crops of all of Equestria with rain
This is where your review complements mine. I had a singular focus on the magic and you foused more on the setting of Cloudsdale, as for what you propose here there is an interesting dichotomy with it that I'll (hopefully) highlight. One is a narrative inference based on the show at face value and one is a logical inference based on real world logic to some extent. I think that the weather factory, based on what we've seen so far, doesn't necessarily have to exist. Logically, it could be decentralized/or merely another place or process somewhere else. Hurricane Fluttershy I'll ignore, but considering what we have seen thus far, it doesn't necessarily need to be that much water given how magic works and how (possibly) small scale things often seem to be (one dragon being enough to put Equestria under fog for 1000 years). Now, I've done the reverse to you? Does that make me right, IDK. I actually lean towards taking the show at face value (sometimes though, that is impossible!) but I think calculating real world/real scale of things is still worth it!


> Speaking of small moments between characters, I enjoy the fact that Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were all helping Twilight tidy up
I like little moments of that nature as well!

> The other three disembark the Twinkling Balloon with a surprising degree of nonchalance – if I knew a spell was the only thing keeping me from falling through the ground, I’d be pretty scared. But then again, magic is a very reliable force in Equestria.
Agreed, you'd think a fear of heights more generally would still be in effect. Maybe just from the sheer size of Cloudale? It's hard to be afraid of heights with large buildings and places to cloudwalk? Though there still seemed to be a lot of scary places without any guardrails.

>  a lost cloudcity would be a very interesting concept to me. 
Yes! How long would it be before it decayed? A lost cloud city hidden in the eye of a hurricane? Lots of possibilities there!

> Overall, I would rate this episode 8.7. It mixes some of the character development of Suited for Success with the adventure of Dragonshy, plus some tasty worldbuilding, so it sits a little bit above those episodes for me.
My rating as well this time is just based on personal enjoyment and 6.9 is pretty good  oh no, do I consider this scale logarithmic? LOL.  Anyways, this part of my reply is in the new year and we've been at this for a year now haven't we?Happy to be the bridge to 2025!

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The first thing that struck me with  this episode upon rematch was  how “childish” it was. I don’t  mean that in a negative way. It  is not major, but noticeable, the CMC added a air of more preschool show. I don’t know why it is more present here than it was in  Call of the Cutie for me. This is not something I remembered when watching this Episode previous times. (probably been 7 or 8 years at least). Maybe it’s the power dynamic with the CMC being more present with 
adults (Rarity explaining the saying, “I’ve bitten more off than I can chew”, the fact that their being babysat. Though them explaining things for younger kids  happened other times this season). 

This still doesn’t mean it was a bad episode. The first half I found ‘’slightly'’ wanting but still had some moments that I enjoyed. Scootaloo asking for a hammer and then “handing” (hooving it, mouthing it?) over to herself brought quite the chuckle out of me. The CMC were still funny causing havoc. We have the classic song, Hush Now Quiet Now, not a favorite, but nostalgic! 

The second half is where this takes off. I enjoyed the adventuring around in the Everfree Forest. I feel this relative “low stakes” danger is something that adds charm to a lot of Season 1 Episodes that I have seen so far.  Does comfy mixed with danger make sense? The CMC’s bickering I and hyperactive energy I enjoyed more here and felt good with the situation.  I also like the Cockatrice, nice mid tier threat that is mostly forgotten now (random later seasons not withstanding). Twilight Sparkle being incapacitated I think is very natural and as I (think) I have stated before, most of Twilight’s random moments of panic or instances of incoherent competence are actually mostly explainable and don’t bug me. Raw talent  (and probable minor combat training at least) isn’t skill and Twilight Sparkle was also a shut in who was very inexperienced in real world affairs, especially monsters. It has continuity with the establisshed character trait in Dragonshy but I think this was cooler in a way to have a situation where Fluttershy saved Twilight Sparkle and had a greater understanding of the threats and local dangers. 

I’ll close with this, I loved the dynamic with the CMC and Fluttershy that was established here but I don’t remember if  this was ever referenced again. I don’t think it was major but it would’ve been cool for the CMC to have this respect for Fluttershy and seeing her as kind of cool in a sense from that moment.  6.8 is my rating. A lot of 6‘s past few episodes. 6s = good, but not quite great. This was still close to a great episode.

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 >>/11978/
‘’Scootabloom Monster:'’
I wanted to know if there was a name for the “monster” that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo briefly formed in their hyperactive shenanigans.  A brief check of the boorus and wiki reveal nothing but I’ll update if I find anything. I know it is a rather brief instance of a non remarkable “entity" but this is Season 1 and the fandom would pick up anything. Even if I don’t expect to be much I still wouldn’t be surprised if I ever find something that runs with it.

‘’Sweetie Belle and Rarity’s relationship:'’ 
If I recall, Sweetie Belle being Rarity’s sister was confirmed in this episode and originally people ran with the idea of her being related to Lyra or Bon Bon (and often both). I was in the outer most orbit of the fandom when this was occurring and I remmeber reading/hearing about that in... 2012. Need to dig around and see if I can find any instances of this. 
UPDATE: since this review took over two months before getting out, I didn’t find much but did find a confirmation of this on the not very updated fanlabor wiki:
https://mlpfanart.fandom.com/wiki/Sweetie_Belle
> In a period of time following the episode Call of the Cutie (the introduction of Sweetie Belle as well as a large number of other fillies) and up to Stare Master, Sweetie Belle's relation to Rarity was not clarified in the show. Lyra and Bon Bon's relationship had already been "established" in fanon at that point, and because Lyra attends the cute-ceañera in the former episode, some of the newly-introduced foals were taken to be their children. The most enduring and popular of these "fanon adoptions" is Tootsie Flute, but Sweetie Belle was also sometimes considered part of that family until Stare Master aired.

Side note, I find it funny that the episode that introduced Rarity as Sweetie Belle sister didn’t focus much on their relationship at all!  
  
‘’Overthinking the Cockatrice”
By the looks of the Cockatrice’s magic breaking on Fluttershy, it looks like she is being encased in stone, with the layer breaking off and falling away. This could merely be an effect of the magic being uncast (is that the right word?) on her.  Twilight Sparkle wasn’t conscious 

‘’Chicken'’
> Scoot scoot scootalooooooooooooo!
I chuckled at this. The meme came from here and sure lasted awhile even it didn’t stay at the forefront.

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First off, great cold open. The classic ‘perfectionist faced with chaos’ scenario, with Rarity and Sweetie Belle here, and it sets up the conflict nicely and concisely, as many of these cold opens do. An interesting detail is that Sweetie Belle tries to grab the ribbon Rarity wants with her hoof, and her leaning precariously on the sewing machine then causes the mayhem – she did not use her magic to get the ribbon. Perhaps Sweetie Belle’s magic is still tenuous in range or grip at her young age. Then, after the intro, we have Fluttershy returning Opalescence– in a rather fancy basket, presumably the one Rarity usually uses when Opalescence needs transporting. I’d forgotten that Opalescence actually gets on better with Fluttershy than with Rarity, slightly heartbreaking given how much we know Rarity loves and provides for her cat. And an interesting introduction to ‘the stare’, although arguably we might have seen Fluttershy use it on the dragon, and I don’t personally see that Opalescence would be all that nice around Fluttershy if she had been subject to the stare, given that animal reactions to the stare tend to be fearful. Then we have the great gag with Opalescence slicing off some of Sweetie Belle’s hair. Rarity mentions that the robes she’s making are due in Trottingham tomorrow morning, so Trottingham must be fairly nearby, even if it’s going by train or Pegasus. And it SOUNDS like Rarity even uses the British pronunciation of the -ham suffix, though it was kind of hard to tell even on replay whether she says “Trotting-UM” or “Trotting-HAM”. I love how the arrival of Scootaloo and Apple Bloom immediately cheers up Sweetie Belle and the three quickly descend into loud excitement, it’s very authentically kid-like. The over-the-head conversation Rarity and Fluttershy have also very much reminds me of the adult conversations adults would have over my head when I was young. Then, as the CMC race outside with Fluttershy in tow, they run into Twilight, with a creepy musical sting for the mention of the Everfree Forest. Twilight mentions getting her favourite tea from Zecora – I wonder if it was her favourite tea before meeting Zecora, or whether Zecora introduced it to Twilight?

When the group arrives at Fluttershy’s cottage, the realism continues as they rampage around the house in overexcitement, looking at everything and messing with their surroundings. I would venture to say that they aren’t even being especially rambunctious, it seems to me more as though it’s Fluttershy’s shrinking-violet tendencies that’s failing to really take charge of the situation. The way the genuine suggestion of becoming creature-catchers quickly turns into a simple game of pretend also strikes very true to me, even as I fret about Fluttershy’s rug. My parents and grandparents all had rugs that we had to be very gentle with growing up, so seeing a rug mistreated so does shock me a little, even if I really don’t care one way or the other what happens to any rug. The momentary apology followed by the table operation (now that I’m writing it out, is that a pun on ‘operating table’?) got a chuckle out of me, I’ll admit. Also noteworthy in the background is that the door still isn’t shut – although it is just the top half, and it could be summer. 

As the CMC go into the Everfree forest, I chuckle at the name of the chicken ‘Elizabeak’, and pause to ponder why Fluttershy lives next to the forest if she’s afraid of it, as she reacts to the Everfree with fear as she discovers the CMC are gone and spots their tracks leading away from the cottage. It must be that her love of animals, who afterall live near to and sometimes within the forest, overcomes her fear of that same forest, which is a neat little way for her location and home to reflect her character and core motivation of overcoming her fears. The reveal that Twilight has been petrified by the Cockatrice is neatly done, as well as being set up earlier with Twilight’s mention of going into the Everfree earlier in the episode.

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The very presence of the Cockatrice in this episode gives me fond memories of a book my mother read to me when I was little, The Talking Parcel, in which the chief villains are the Cockatrices. 

Fluttershy finds the CMC and, whilst trying to get them out of the forest, warns them about the Cockatrice – but the CMC seem to disbelieve the existence of such a creature. One might think they’d learn about dangerous animals in school, but it’s not so unbelievable to me – during evacuation of London (owing to the Blitz), there were evacuee children who were reported to be unfamiliar even with the concept of a cow. On top of this, the commonality of Cockatrices in this world is unknown, with Fluttershy being a particular expert in the field it’s quite possible that Cockatrices are so rare that their existence is not common knowledge – I could easily see even modern-day students doubting the plausability of, say, a Komodo Dragon if it was described to them verbally. As they express this, Fluttershy interjects to tell them never to look into the eyes of the Cockatrice – which presents the sort of duality of this episode, represented in the title. Both Fluttershy and the Cockatrice are bestowed with a somewhat-supernatural gaze, although I suppose given that Fluttershy eventually triumphs over the Cockatrice, the Staremaster must inevitably refer to her rather than the Cockatrice. The group then, of course, promptly run into the Cockatrice. The CMC’s flip from cocky disbelief to shrieking panic is both appropriately childlike, and appropriately annoying for Fluttershy. The snail crawling across Twilight’s stone face is a rather bold piece of striking, slightly scary imagery for a kid’s show. As the cockatrice approaches the group and Fluttershy orders the CMC to get behind her, we see that what gives her the strength to stand up to the Cockatrice is the sight of the CMC’s terror. Perhaps her affinity for animals belies an underlying desire to protect and care for the relatively defenceless, which flows quite naturally from her characterisation as a shy and nervous person: as someone who knows what it feels like to be defenceless, it’s only natural that she develop empathy for those who are defenceless. Her central flaw is also the source of her central strength, which actually seems to go for most of the Mane 6, thinking about it. Then we have the staring match between Fluttershy and the Cockatrice, with the Cockatrice increasingly alarmed at how confrontational Fluttershy is managing to be in spite of his fearsome appearance and reputation. I don’t think the length of time it takes the Cockatrice to be turning Fluttershy to stone is necessarily tied to willpower or resilience, as we see that when he turned Elizabeak to stone, it was not an instantaneous process there either, and it’s only natural that such a process should take longer on ponies. If the rate Fluttershy is turning to stone is normal for ponies, then there must be an element of the Cockatrice’s stare that forces it’s victims to make eye contact, because I cannot imagine Twilight being unable to figure out what was going on, close her eyes and deal with the Cockatrice using her magic or otherwise do something to prevent being turned to stone in that amount of time. With the Cockatrice sufficiently cowed, it frees Fluttershy and goes to follow her instructions of setting Elizabeak and Twilight free, too. I like the little detail that you can see the silhouette of the Cockatrice flying away as Twilight enters the shot. As we have the episode wrap up with reflection on the lesson, I reflected that this episode had two lessons in one, in a way, as it was appealing at once to two different type of viewer: slightly older girls who might have to babysit younger siblings whilst parents are out in Fluttershy, and of course the younger siblings themselves in the CMC.

Overall, I found myself not enjoying this episode quite as much as the others. I can’t pinpoint anything particularly wrong with it, I just didn’t feel enthused about it, and writing about it was a bit more of a drag compared to previous episodes. I got more enjoyment out of Call of the Cutie, even – but there’s still nothing I can pinpoint as the reason for my relatively low level of enjoyment, so I’ll give it a close 5.8. On paper I love the idea of this episode – I think one thing I can point to as being some detriment to enjoyment, even though it’s far from handled poorly, is the Cockatrice. His involvement in the story is very short, and his presentation is very much silly rather than scary, understandable as that is – it leaves the episode with stakes that feel quite low. 

Replies coming soon...ish!

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 >>/12021/
 >>/12022/ 
> Rarity mentions that the robes she’s making are due in Trottingham tomorrow morning, so Trottingham must be fairly nearby, even if it’s going by train or Pegasus. 

I believe it maybe possible for Trottingham to be far away but an episode in Season 2 is where I can best illustrate this theory. Unless I see something that brings it up to the forefront beforehand, I'll wait till there. 

> And it SOUNDS like Rarity even uses the British pronunciation of the -ham suffix, though it was kind of hard to tell even on replay whether she says “Trotting-UM” or “Trotting-HAM”

Nice catch. Are you familiar with a Transatlantic/Mid Atlantic Accent?  That is what I usually see fans put Rarity's accent as. Think an old Hollywood ascent. It can have a lot of features of British accent. I though their was an official source that confirmed this but I think all I see on a cursory search is fandom discussion and the wiki, which links to a video that I don't have time to watch through right now. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_American_Speech
(drat wikipedia, but alas, the articles that explain this all were from sites that felt very blogspammy) 

> The very presence of the Cockatrice in this episode gives me fond memories of a book my mother read to me when I was little, The Talking Parcel, in which the chief villains are the Cockatrices. 

That looks like a neat book. 

> then there must be an element of the Cockatrice’s stare that forces it’s victims to make eye contact, because I cannot imagine Twilight being unable to figure out what was going on,

My explanation was her being caught off guard and inexperienced but I think that inference is equally valid. 

 >>/12023/ 
> Overall, I found myself not enjoying this episode quite as much as the others. I can’t pinpoint anything particularly wrong with it, I just didn’t feel enthused about it, and writing about it was a bit more of a drag compared to previous episodes.

I have a theory, to refer back to your review:
> When the group arrives at Fluttershy’s cottage, the realism continues as they rampage around the house in overexcitement, looking at everything and messing with their surroundings.

> but it’s not so unbelievable to me , 

> The CMC’s flip from cocky disbelief to shrieking panic is both appropriately childlike, and appropriately annoying for Fluttershy

The CMC played a larger roll here than in the previous Call of The Cutie and the writing was relying on them playing off each other and being annoyance to Fluttershy. They're written fairly well as children, especially here in this early season, and their comedic antics were from them being child. Charming, yes, it can be, but there is less personality than the Mane 6. 

> – during evacuation of London (owing to the Blitz), there were evacuee children who were reported to be unfamiliar even with the concept of a cow. 

Did not know that!

> Replies coming soon...ish!

Take your time!

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 >>/11458/
> Something about the traveling here feels different to other seasons. More cozy, more ‘’intimate'.
They haven't even been back to Canterlot yet, so it's really the first city we've seen them go to on the show (I think)!
> You’d think that, especially with the context of some racial animosity that still lingered on and could rear it’s head that was established within the show even in, well, next season, this should’ve been an issue!
I think, rather, that even whilst animosity exists, it would be a very ponyish thing to do to not even consider making the competition Pegasi only, simply because it's a given that they can fly. I could imagine them letting other flying creatures participate. That is to say, I think Pegasi just think of it as a competition, not a PEGASI competition, if that makes sense. 
> Unicorns budding in and doing shenanigans like this would be an uncommon occurrence and a speckle/sight of wonder..They wouldn’t be taking the spotlight every day of the week.
I think also, with regard to the awe with which Rarity is treated, that the Pegasi might be assuming that she used her own magic to make the wings.
 >>/11459/
> I wonder how one would conjure something with properties like that? 
She does turn frogs into living oranges at some point - I would posit that unicorn conjuring operates on a basis similar to Plato's theory of forms. Normally we think of Plato's forms as being quite universal. I remember in philosophy class reading the example of a horse (appropriately), where all earthly horses are reflections of a singular, heavenly horse - the 'form' of the horse, thus why horses take a horse-form. But it seems logical that specifics would exist too, especially if we imagine the Platonic forms to be a real, spiritual force - and so we have the forms of gossamer, and of morning dew - in this universe, they are (not just by my theory but by the fact they're specified in this dialogue) spiritually imbued with those properties that make them merely appear magical in our world, but in Equestria, such sentiments make them really, truly magical. No longer is waking up to see the dawn an emotionally magical moment: here in Equestria, it's magical in a very literal sense. Furthermore if we go with the Platonic theory, then it goes quite nicely with the relationship between Magic, Friendship and Harmony: when unicorns summon things from our ethereal, Platonic plane, they summon the pure artifact, the perfect thing which all reality merely imitates the form of. And so, Friendship and Harmony, as sources of collective magic amongst ponies, must too be reflective of the magical sphere: a divine order of things that, when reflected or re-enacted down in Equestria, brings it in line with the magical form and so produces magic. It also makes sense for the forms to reflect things in different states given that ice, water and steam are all different states of the same matter. 
> I wonder how one would conjure something with properties like that? 
Given Twilight's studiousness, I'd like to think it requires intense study in order to determine whatever esoteric principle differentiates morning dew from regular water droplets!
>  but considering what we have seen thus far, it doesn't necessarily need to be that much water given how magic works and how (possibly) small scale things often seem to be (one dragon being enough to put Equestria under fog for 1000 years).
That's very true. At this stage we just have Ponyville, Fillydelphia, Canterlot and Cloudsdale. Later when we get to the buffalo out on the frontier, it's notable that it's the desert - so Cloudsdale clearly isn't operating that far afield. It could also just be controlled 'extra' weather on top of normal or 'wild' weather - when an extra storm is needed, one is made, or when more sunlight is needed, Celestia could just slightly lengthen the day whilst Pegasi clear the skies.

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 >>/11482/
> A lost cloud city hidden in the eye of a hurricane?
Now that you've put it like this, it does occur to me that I've essentially proposed an MLP version of Laputa: Castle In The Sky. (That movie was an extra treat for me when I first watched it, as I'd already read the unabridged Gulliver's Travels from which the original Laputa comes)
> Anyways, this part of my reply is in the new year and we've been at this for a year now haven't we?Happy to be the bridge to 2025!
Late *clink*!
 >>/11978/
> The first thing that struck me with this episode upon rematch was how “childish” it was. I don’t mean that in a negative way. It is not major, but noticeable, the CMC added a air of more preschool show. 
It's also the case that at this stage in-universe, the CMC are also themselves younger, and at a time in their lives when they're developing quite rapidly even if we assume a human pace of development.
> Twilight Sparkle being incapacitated I think is very natural and as I (think) I have stated before, most of Twilight’s random moments of panic or instances of incoherent competence are actually mostly explainable and don’t bug me. 
I don't wholly disagree - it's mainly because the cockatrice is established in such a way that it feels reasonably common and un-threatening as mythical beasts go. The whole situation would go down a lot better with me if we didn't have Boast Busters just a few episodes ago. It's not even that it especially bothered me, it's moreso that I found I had to assume there was slightly more to the cockatrice's powers, again especially given how it takes a fair while both to petrify Elizabeak and to petrify Fluttershy from what we see in the episode. 
> Raw talent (and probable minor combat training at least) isn’t skill and Twilight Sparkle was also a shut in who was very inexperienced in real world affairs
I think where I'd draw the line is where I feel like (bar the possibility of there being more to the cockatrice's powers than what we see) even I could thwart this thing if confronted with it. Just shut my eyes and sock it in the nose, job done. I think there's even an intention to account for the cockatrice having variable powers, such as petrifying with fear as well as with stone, so it's not a plot hole... Moreso just that the situation naturally makes me read more into it, since my baseline for Mane 6 competence is basically that they're AT LEAST more competent than I am, lol. 
> It has continuity with the establisshed character trait in Dragonshy but I think this was cooler in a way to have a situation where Fluttershy saved Twilight Sparkle and had a greater understanding of the threats and local dangers. 
That's actually an excellent point that I hadn't even considered - does Twilight KNOW what a cockatrice is? I just assumed she would, bookish as she is. If it's rare AND local enough though, it's quite possible Fluttershy is familiar with it whilst Twilight isn't, however. In which case I could very easily see Twilight trying in vain to inspect what this strange new creature is and get herself turned to stone whilst distracted. Again I think the fact that she knew not only of Ursa Minors, but of the difference between an Ursa Minor and an Ursa Major too, it created this impression that Twilight's an expert on magical creatures as well as magic. 
> 
I’ll close with this, I loved the dynamic with the CMC and Fluttershy that was established here but I don’t remember if this was ever referenced again.
So long as it's not directly contradicted later, I don't mind so much. Built-up but forgotten details like this help create that elusive sense that Equestria is a real, living place... And no, I don't just mean standard worldbuilding, I think it's something to do with the characters too. Point is I can't narrow it down and I can't really think of any setting which is evocative in the same way as Equestria. I think possibly it's the slice-of-life element.

 >>/12032/
Not a thread regular but wanted to comment on:
> Twilight Sparkle being incapacitated I think is very natural and as I (think) I have stated before, most of Twilight’s random moments of panic or instances of incoherent competence are actually mostly explainable and don’t bug me. Raw talent (and probable minor combat training at least) isn’t skill and Twilight Sparkle was also a shut in who was very inexperienced in real world affairs, especially monsters.

> makes me read more into it, since my baseline for Mane 6 competence is basically that they're AT LEAST more competent than I am, lol. 

Remember by this point Twilight Sparkle willing changed into a manticore and Nightmare Moon as well? I think Twilight's baseline is higher than started by chicken-snake. I'm not sure what I'd headcanon here but I am in full agreement with... whatever the /endpone/ assigned nickname the anon has above that this is closer to being an issue than something easily explained by onscreen context and subtext.

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 >>/12037/
I'm assuming that should have been
> willingly charged at

Did she charge the manticore? Haven't seen the ep recently, of course but why not just cancel her credit cards if she's trying to charge everything?

But yes, charging NMM would have been a level of crazy, which is why we have "you're kidding. you're kidding, right?" as a famous quote - but of course that wasn't an actual invitation to battle but subterfuge to separate NMM from the elements and are you thinking with porta^H^H teleportation spells yet?

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 >>/12032/
Late *clink*! back. My replies and review will come soonish. Actually, the Show Stoppers review has already been ready for awhile but I have debated doing something experimental with a double feature. Though I don't like rushing through them so this would be a one time thing. Plus been a little distracted by all this 4chan getting nuked off the internet business. 

 >>/12037/
> Twilight Sparkle willing changed into a manticore and Nightmare Moon as well? 

This is the kind of mistake I make! LOL, do you post with little sleep and strange medical issues as well? Anyways, I assume you mean charged, as in she attacked forward into the Manticore and Nightmare Moon? 5050's and your point isn't a wrong one that I stronger dispute but we have also seen her be scared of bees and other things by this point. Her fight and flight, she still doesn't have fight take over. Of course, my attempt is trying to reconcile what will gradually give way to some pretty conflicting levels of competence if I recall correctly. In which case I try to compare the average between the weaker and stronger showings to try to determine a baseline. 

 >>/12032/
> Moreso just that the situation naturally makes me read more into it, since my baseline for Mane 6 competence is basically that they're AT LEAST more competent than I am, lol. 

THIS especially is a good way to look at it still. Twilight Sparkle is certainly more competent than I am and I think I would have a shot at fighting that creature as well. 

 >>/12038/
> Haven't seen the ep recently, of course but why not just cancel her credit cards if she's trying to charge everything?

Pony's still use a hard currency and credit cards are new so everypony is naive about them still. 

This caused me to look up images of credit cards and Twilight Sparkle, didn't expect to find a real credit card that actually existed. 
https://twibooru.org/2032721?q=twilight+sparkle%2C+credit+card&sd=desc&sf=created_at

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This episode's start I liked pretty well with the introduction to the CMC clubhouse. Scootaloo's little sequence on her scooter I thought was pretty well done and I think I've settled on how I describe my interest for Season 1's animation more definitively  (more on that later). The CMC, while still childish, have a lot more personality in this episode and their traits are becoming more defined. Not just their implied cutie marks, but personalities more generally. For example, Scootaloo's slight snark she displays when she says: Totally lost cause in regards to Applejack saying her old club house needed some TLC. This actually got a pretty hardy laugh out of me because I had forgotten that joke. 

All and all, the central conflict of the episode, the upcoming talent show was fun enough. I liked the CMC's antics as they tried to haphazardly prepare their act. I also liked them helping each other in the areas they were weaker, oblivious to what they should be doing. The show I enjoyed better than I recalled when I last watched this (several years ago at least, maybe a decade) and there was a certain satisfaction in watching the CMC preforming with a limb but continuing on. Scootaloo's poor but enthusiastic singing. Apple Bloom's awkward kung-fo (karate?) dancing and Sweetie Belle's struggle to keep the show going but not quite failing to the end did hold my interest and amused me. Gives me a recollection of someone saying years ago that the hidden strength of earlier pony episodes was carrying on a joke slightly further than what was typical but not overly beating it to death.    

For as much as I praise this episode. Some might find a slight shock here is that the atmosphere of The Stare Master ( >>/11978/) might still outrank in favored status for me and has a higher comfy factor even if I think the CMC are better characters here. Provisional 6.5/10 for now.

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 >>/12070/
The CMCs old cutie marks implications
Sweetie Belle, most obviously, singing 
Apple Bloom, carpentry.
Scootaloo acrobatics or something related but you could probably fit a few things that would fit. 

Not sure how further I want to go into the timeline with this one as I kind of like keeping it right now with a Season 1 perspective and only taking advantage of our hindsight of earlier seasons over diving too far into later seasons but I will note that the CMC's cutie marks not being these was something that I am very split on. In this rewatch I will be noting how much these secondary traits were emphasized. 

The fan
This fan, ostensibly a normal electronic fan of modern manufacture of at least the 20th century level, is one of the most glaring instances of something very modern in this world of incoherent tech level. Presumably it is magic powered as their is no cord. Though really, the stage lights and smoke machine are also relatively modern but perhaps can be easier hand waved as just magic or one off specialty contraptions.
  
Mr Breezy
...is he involved the manufacture or just selling of these fans? I know the awnser later season but keep in mind Season 1 here. Having a special talent related to these devices though shows that they are ordinary and commonly manufactured on some scale. Boy, I really have been overthinking this one. 

Applebloom's Kung-fu
Is this continuity with Rainbow Dash teaching Apple Bloom karate in Call of the Cutie? 

The lake
For some reason this lake I have always remmebered from this episode. Fasinated by a suid's pressence and a slight desire exists for me to make a fanfic or something invovling this but I don't want to overthink and anyalize this too much as for now it's a one off little gag of less than 30 seconds.

 >>/12070/
I've gone on and on the animation of Season One. Certain moments that stood out to me or impressed me but now I've completely settled on:
 >>/8896/
> It still was more rougher and some different things were being tried at times
 >>/10603/ 
> ...speaking of that, Perspective shots, camera effects. The show would sacrifice artistic perfection (lines on characters or objects looking unnaturally big, some art looking weird) for this, and later got better at hiding those little imperfections. Like the storm clouds, I think such efforts were worth it and the imperfections that do show up from that give it a bit of charm to me.
I think these moments are charming, show effort, and the wonkiness can add a certain stylistic charm. I've already sort of said this but was more fascinated and micro focused on one instance or another without fully contemplating that. It's not just I like the effort but actually like the end results of how some of this looks in it's offness. Scootaloo's wings look slightly too 2D and I like that. Simple as that.

Now, sometime in the future I ought to go and actually compare this to other 2D flash animated cartoons at and before this time (among other cartons). How far did it punch above it's weight? Were some of the things that I am impressed with more common then I remember and it's just a nostalgic rose tinted glasses? I can't know for sure till I really examine some of these factors but regardless I still enjoy how the show looks here.

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 >>/12059/
> I have debated doing something experimental with a double feature
Holding off on double feature.  Though next review is mostly ready. 
I just wanted to post this one no in case I get delayed with IRL or pony stuff. 

 >>/12073/
Forgot to post a pic of Scootaloo's wings in that sequence. 


 >>/12031/
> I would posit that unicorn conjuring operates on a basis similar to Plato's theory of forms
You could go to some very interesting places with this idea and this is a VERY GOOD ANSWER to my question. I could still get lost in the weeds of properties in a whole new way now depending on where you take this. 
> Platonic plane, they summon the pure artifact, the perfect thing which all reality merely imitates the form of
If gossamer and morning dew are heavenly gossamer and morning dew then how does that work when their components breakdown? Like, hmmmmm... Trying to bring back study on Plato. 

> I'd like to think it requires intense study in order to determine whatever esoteric principle differentiates morning dew from regular water droplets!
...and condensation. Droplets from the air conditioner. LOL, I wonder what sort of things you could make with air conditioner condensation and dyer lint. Maybe a bit off track. All and all, a very cool idea!

> . It could also just be controlled 'extra' weather on top of normal or 'wild' weather - when an extra storm is needed, one is made, or when more sunlight is needed, Celestia could just slightly lengthen the day whilst Pegasi clear the skies.
I would lean more into an interpenetration that everything is controlled by the Pegasi except the everfree forest by how exotic and weirded out by the fact that the weather is not controlled. Now, for stuff we see later I suspect a lot of places of the world have less fine control than equestria does. 

 >>/12032/
> Laputa: Castle In The Sky. (That movie was an extra treat for me when I first watched it, as I'd already read the unabridged Gulliver's Travels from which the original Laputa comes)
That is cool to have read the actual novel. LOL, for me, I have never gotten around to either though have a vague familiarity  Gulliver's Travels.

> I could very easily see Twilight trying in vain to inspect what this strange new creature is and get herself turned to stone whilst distracted. 
I think your point here:
>  that they're AT LEAST more competent than I am, lol. 
Is still good. For me, there is a lot of variance in some of the Mane 6's competence level's especially Twilight's. I have so far not encountered anything I consider unexplainable but I know more complicated stuff is coming. Because of course this was written as first magical fun horse show. 

>  Point is I can't narrow it down and I can't really think of any setting which is evocative in the same way as Equestria. I think possibly it's the slice-of-life element.
Slice of life + at least partly thought out magic/depth? Whimsical but taken slightly more seriously in spite of it's silliness?

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 >>/11978/
> Does comfy mixed with danger make sense?
Absolutely! I regularly re-read The Hobbit because it's the first book I ever read, and most of that book is Bilbo and the Dwarves' various brushes with death, but I find it exceedingly comfy.
 >>/12024/
> Are you familiar with a Transatlantic/Mid Atlantic Accent? 
I certainly am! That makes more sense than a British accent for Rarity, although before you pointing that out I had just assumed it was British (or Received Pronunciation, I'm in a pedantic mood) to make her sound 'posh'. 
> My explanation was her being caught off guard and inexperienced but I think that inference is equally valid. 
It could also explain the 'layer of stone' you were noting on Fluttershy, with regards to why Twilight wasn't conscious when she was encased in stone. Well, it's not much of explanation beyond saying cockatrice abilities seem to be more complex than just petrification alone, but then again that's mostly because the nature of petrification itself begs rather a lot of questions in terms of specifics to begin with. 
> The CMC played a larger roll here than in the previous Call of The Cutie and the writing was relying on them playing off each other and being annoyance to Fluttershy. They're written fairly well as children, especially here in this early season, and their comedic antics were from them being child. Charming, yes, it can be, but there is less personality than the Mane 6. 
Could well be - the only reason I didn't think that to be the cause is because I thought they were well-written, but perhaps even well-written children are annoying, which, well - real children are annoying, so realistic child characters might well be too!
> whatever the /endpone/ assigned nickname the anon has above
It might be prudent given current events to namefag... I usually dislike doing this, but the structure of the thread so far would make it very complicated and confusing - like the anonymous hivemind had developed a case of schizophrenia. 
Addressing you personally, Bridge and L23 tend to call me 5050 for getting the 5050GET unintentionally - but I don't mind just being anon!

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 >>/12091/
Howdy! (me, bridge/bridgefag) 

> I regularly re-read The Hobbit because it's the first book I ever read, and most of that book is Bilbo and the Dwarves' various brushes with death, but I find it exceedingly comfy.
We are on the same page then. 

> although before you pointing that out I had just assumed it was British (or Received Pronunciation, I'm in a pedantic mood) to make her sound 'posh'. 
Technically, the history of that accent is trying to emulate a British accent to sound posh, so yeah, in a way it is, just a specific way. 

> but then again that's mostly because the nature of petrification itself begs rather a lot of questions in terms of specifics to begin with. 
Completely agreed. I think I will revisit this when we get to Return of Harmony (even if that probably is a different type of magic involved.)

>  real children are annoying, so realistic child characters might well be too!
Or at least can be annoying or boring. I think there is certain aspects of child centric thought/POV that are overlooked BUT if you are going for the average child that moderately relates to a 21st century  westerner this still might apply. Innocence and wonder versus mischievousness and... hyperactivity. I might be opening a whole can of worms with that. 

> It might be prudent given current events to namefag...
Your call. Namefaging for these reviews might make sense depending on activity. I wouldn't count it as violating our softer anon rules as this is a project. 

> like the anonymous hivemind had developed a case of schizophrenia. 
I think the reviews themselves are easy enough to follow along but some of the back and forth conversation might be confusing. It very well could be a necessary measure depending on how "recent events" go down and if this thread gets some random participation thrown in or other anons join along.

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Watching this episode differently than I usually do! In previous reviews I watched the episode on fim.heartshine.gay on my ThinkPad. Tonight, however, I’m catsitting for my aunt and uncle, so I’m watching this episode on Plex, on a big fancy modern smart TV! I’m not a great fan of smart TVs or adverts, but hey ho, it’s not my TV and I get the luxury experience! Unfortunately, can’t take screenshots!

Despite the CMC continuing to be well-written and well-characterized as accurate/realistic children in my opinion, in one regard they step over the line for me and enter the realm of annoyance: whining at Applejack about the state of their new clubhouse (fun to see it introduced, incidentally!). Now, when I was about 7 and visited my grandparents in Northern Ireland, my grandfather put a couple of planks down across a ditch leading to a crumbled old mill, and that served for a castle, for me. It was an absolute state – vastly overgrown, rubble everywhere… But I loved it! It was MY castle, and if anything the imperfections added to the charm, not to mention giving me something to do with the place. Every effort I made to clean it up or clear it out was impactful because I knew I was making the space my own. So with that whole experience in mind, and given that I would have KILLED to have a bloody treehouse, especially one I could visit regularly, I simply cannot sympathize with the CMC here! Even if the adults had offered to clear out the ‘castle’ for me, I think I would have wanted to do even that myself, so if I were in the CMC’s hooves, I’d leap at the opportunity to spruce up the place!

Anyways… A detail that’s of interest is Applejack mentioning that it was her clubhouse, growing up. I wonder what sort of friend group Applejack had over when she was their age? Well, in spite of my annoyance, I like this cold open, I like how it introduces the CMC becoming more of an actual group!

Interestingly, once Applebloom’s fixed up the clubhouse and the CMC start going around their map of Ponyville testing out as many potential talents as possible, we get that same party music bgm from the CMC’s first episode. One of the things they seem to test for is psychic abilities…? This to me would seem to fall under magic, so just to avoid myself a headache I’m going to assume that they’re practicing the talent of guessing. Then we have Cheerilee and Twilight walking in on the CMC causing chaos in the library. I would imagine that Cheerilee gets her sources for lessons from  the library and that’s why she’s there – it seems she and Twilight were having a bit of a stroll together. I like the idea that the two of them are on friendly terms, and I’d love to see a bit of their relationship… Though from my memory of this show, I don’t think we ever really see them interact.

I love the CMC collecting all their bits and bobs, especially Rarity screaming at Sweetie Belle, which made me chuckle. And I really like their concert performance – both the music and the threatrics. The way that it has a nod to rock music aesthetics, plus ends in disaster with everything getting destroyed onstage, reminded me a fair bit of the rock band episode of Space Dandy, where they found the band DROPKIX.  Another intriguing detail is the ponies in the audience stamping their hooves to clap rather than clapping their hooves together. I’m almost certain this is changed to more humanistic clapping in later seasons/episodes, which is a shame as even indoors, this method of clapping makes a bit more sense for ponies as it involves less effort for them physically. The episode ends with the lesson that your talents aren’t always what you think they are, and the CMC are more or less content with having won essentially a participation trophy. 

I’m giving this episode an 8.1 – it was, for me, one of the solidly good plot/character development episodes, like Boast Busters and Look Before You Sleep (I rated those two at 8), but it nudges slightly above as I feel like they’ve been trying to get the CMC formula right and this is the first episode that I really felt nailed it.

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 >>/12037/
meant to reply to this in  >>/12091/
 >>/12094/
> Howdy! (me, bridge/bridgefag) 
Oh hey! And after you said hello right as I was posting, I went and posted something straight after that ignored you, seeming very rude - I'm sorry, I didn't see your post! It's been a bit flat out with work on top of the catsitting. 
> Technically, the history of that accent is trying to emulate a British accent to sound posh, so yeah, in a way it is, just a specific way.
I feel like I've heard differently (namely, that it was simply the natural East Coast accent of the time that migrated to Hollywood), but I can't remember specifics or where I might have heard that, so - I'll take your word for it
> Your call. Namefaging for these reviews might make sense depending on activity
It works going anon when it's just two of us, but if anybody wanted to join in on posting their experiences or observations with each episode, then it might become tricky to figure out who said what. Normally this wouldn't matter, but if we'd like to seek clarification on somebody's point, or refer back to ideas we've discussed previously, it would be much easier if we namefagged - again, that's IF more people wanted to join in (which they don't need to feel obligated to, either). I'll drop the name for now until it becomes necessary. 

Afraid it's a very early start tomorrow, so I'll have to leave it there for now. But it was nice to chat Bridgefag, and nice to see you to any visitors that have stopped by, too (please excuse my Shimmerfaggotry, I've been diagnosed with a terminal disease known as Orange Ponitis).

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 >>/12099/
> I'm sorry, I didn't see your post! It's been a bit flat out with work on top of the catsitting. 
It's okay, I've been having a time myself  a bit more details in a PM I send to you elsewhere.

> but if anybody wanted to join in on posting their experiences or observations with each episode, then it might become tricky to figure out who said what.
Agreed. 

> (please excuse my Shimmerfaggotry, I've been diagnosed with a terminal disease known as Orange Ponitis).
Keep in mind that /endpone/'s board mascot is pic related. You might be saner than normal around here!

Reviews coming this weekend, hopefully!

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We start off with an introduction to maybe the first character in this show that I – dislike might be too strong a word, so let’s just say the first character that I don’t particularly care for. Which in a sense seems to be the point, but nonetheless I consider this Sapphire Shores to be the first pony I’ve seen thus far in the show that appears to be a somewhat bad person, genuinely a vain, prideful jerk. But that may just be that she’s rather clueless instead, it’s hard to say. The outfit Rarity’s made for her reminds me of something like an Elvis outfit. 

After the cold open and our introduction to Spike helping Rarity dig for gems, Rarity mentions that she promised to share some of the gems (or as we see in just a bit, ONE gem) to snack on, providing the explanation for why Spike is assisting her. My question is, would Spike really have said no if she just asked for his help without any reward? No doubt Rarity offered that deal to him without realizing that Spike would most likely do it for free, but nonetheless it surprises me that Spike didn’t then actually offer to do it for free all the same. Also of note to me is that since dragons eat gems, we might conclude that this makes them rarer – however, as we’ll see later in the episode, within just this relatively small area there is a truly astounding amount of gems, so there may be just more gems in Equestria to begin with in any case. Having said that, it could well be that this area is home to a particularly rich gemstone vein, which would give a perfect explanation as to the presence of the Diamond Dogs. Though, I do find amusing that if that’s true, then in spite of being on the site of an incredibly rich gem vein already, the Diamond Dogs are too lazy to just properly excavate the whole vein and instead nab Rarity to do the work. I prefer this interpretation because it helps to establish that Equestria isn’t just completely studded over with gems throughout the entire continent’s crust, and that the Diamond Dogs aren’t just randomly and conveniently present, especially this close to Ponyville - it seems the ponies are not aware of their presence so I doubt they have permission to mine here.

After Rarity is kidnapped by the Diamond Dogs and Spike gets the rest of the Mane 6 to come and help rescue her, he says that he and Rarity were looking for diamonds in the woods – it looks like a rocky clearing to me, but perhaps a rocky clearing in the woods? So, does that mean the Everfree?

The ponies get pulled down into the mines, and we get a slightly clunky exchange between Spike and Twilight about the gem-finding spell. I believe in a previous episode, specifically Boast Busters, I discussed how it seems like unicorns tend to operate within a limited area of speciality with regards to their magic, and typically seem to struggle outside of that area (at least at this stage in the show). The exception to this of course being Twilight, and here we see that it does not occur to her at first to actually copy Rarity’s area of expertise, in spite of the fact that she has in the past actually inquired of Rarity how the spell works. Given that this is the way it’s presented, that it’s not typical or a readily-considered idea that a unicorn might copy another unicorn’s specialized spells, I feel this strengthens my theory that the majority of unicorns have in fact very limited powers, which I like since it balances out the races a lot more, doubly so since we know the unicorn population is smaller than the other two too.

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Rarity refuses, or rather is difficult about digging up the gems for the Diamond Dogs, and so we see the three Diamond Dogs who brought Rarity down here order these other dogs that are wearing armor (are these also Diamond Dogs? Here the fellow seemingly in charge has just called them ‘dogs’, and I wonder whether ‘Diamond Dogs’ is a species name, or rather a title of these three diamond-collared dogs who seem to be in charge of the operation) to dig instead. Presumably, since our three in the waist jackets (I’ll call them the Diamond Dogs and refer to the armored dogs as just dogs for simplicity’s sake from here on) have ordered Rarity to dig rather than digging themselves, and then subsequently ordered the dogs to dig for them, all these tunnels have been dug by the armored dogs that are seemingly in the employ of the three Diamond Dogs. Each Diamond Dog has a diamond-studded collar and a waistcoat with gems stuffed in the pockets, and the main Diamond Dog has an extra, orange gem dangling from his collar, so I believe it’s safe to say that the collars are markers of rank, with the Diamond Dog that has the orange gem being the overall boss of the whole operation. It seems to me that this must be a sort of commercial enterprise with these three in charge of the overall venture and the armored dogs being both miners and mercenaries – they are wearing armor after all. Which suggests to me that this is a traveling mining company and not necessarily reflective of dog culture, and also suggests to me that given the armor their employees are wearing, this sort of operation has faced or can be reasonably expected to face some level of local opposition from the places where they travel to mine. So, not just a mining company, but a mercenary criminal enterprises that carries out illegal mining operations. 

And I enjoyed the rest of the episode – but didn’t really see much to note after that. I enjoyed the premise, the beats and pacing, the lesson and the interactions between Rarity and the Diamond Dogs, who were all very well characterized. However, there were points where the dialogue was oddly clunky in a way that I haven’t at all noticed in any of the previous episodes, which made those moments stand out a little in an odd way. I’m going to put this episode at 7.9 – in most regards it’s up there with the other solid 8s (Applebuck Season, Boast Busters, Look Before You Sleep), but there’s just a couple of elements that are odd or clunky or just not especially well executed to me.

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This episode is different as I have seen it relatively recently compared to other episodes. Ahem: >>/8771/ 

So, different review format for today. 

Favorite aspect of this episode: The sense of adventure. This is the kind of low stakes adventure I live for. 

Least favorite thing:
Is there anything that is a least? I have no strong negative feelings. Diamond Dogs aren't my favorite villains but that doesn't mean I dislike them. Certain scenes maybe slow, but I like slowness.   

Favorite scene: Depends on what you count as a scene. I liked Rarity messing with the Diamond Dogs probably the best, followed by the Mane 6's confrontation above ground.

Lore implications: Lots of questions mainly centered on the Diamond Dogs. Species name or just name of the gang? How freely do they roam on pony territory? 

Other observations: 
The background cave parts of this episode seemed a little thrown together compared to other episodes. What sticks out to me is that the red gradient for the light feels, well, like a red gradient being used for a light and not a like. We've seen this in the show before to some extent but for some reason this really sticks out. Now, I don't particularly hate it. Reminds me of the older flash style of early Bionicle (actually, I've seen comparisons to Bionicle's old style and FiM in the past, I think I've mentioned it before) though it certainly isn't as good! LOL.

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 >>/12109/
Quickie review: This episode was a fine one. Not top tier but I'm a sucker for low stakes adventure with the mane 6. I liked Rarity's tormenting of the Diamond Dogs, who, while not the most compelling villains, are more than serviceable for a secondary antagonist. 

My rating:7/10

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 >>/12109/
 >>/12110/
I'm testing out quicker review formats. Not for me but just showing if somewhat else wanted to join in they don't need to be like ours, lol! 

 >>/12105/
> Reviews coming this weekend, hopefully!
Yeah, one review very late, but I did mix it up! I'm holding back on Green Isn't Your Color for the moment. T

 >>/12095/
> Watching this episode differently than I usually do! In previous reviews I watched the episode on fim.heartshine.gay on my ThinkPad. Tonight, however, I’m catsitting for my aunt and uncle, so I’m watching this episode on Plex, on a big fancy modern smart TV! I’m not a great fan of smart TVs or adverts, but hey ho, it’s not my TV and I get the luxury experience! Unfortunately, can’t take screenshots!
That ain't a bad experience! Hehehe, A Dog and Pony Show and Green Isn't Your Color I watched on a corebooted chromebook due to a couple of issues with my own ThinkPad T470, so different but similar boat!

> 
Despite the CMC continuing to be well-written and well-characterized as accurate/realistic children in my opinion, in one regard they step over the line for me and enter the realm of annoyance: whining at Applejack about the state of their new clubhouse (fun to see it introduced, incidentally!). Now, when I was about 7 and visited my grandparents in Northern Ireland, my grandfather put a couple of planks down across a ditch leading to a crumbled old mill, and that served for a castle, for me. It was an absolute state – vastly overgrown, rubble everywhere… But I loved it! It was MY castle,
I think this was done more in the spirit of: Adult gives child ill suited old junk that was from their childhood trope. It doesn't bug me but I can totally empathize with this as I would have loved a treehouse or an old mill. (That sounds wondrous actually!).

> Anyways… A detail that’s of interest is Applejack mentioning that it was her clubhouse, growing up. I wonder what sort of friend group Applejack had over when she was their age? 
There is a lot of little information like this that I am surprised to have seen the fandom didn't run with more back at the time. Though this is understandably small with no details so where a bunch of other memes. I guess this is in sort of the category like Spike being somewhat well connected and having some sort of independent life doing things for Princess Celestia or what not.  

>  Another intriguing detail is the ponies in the audience stamping their hooves to clap rather than clapping their hooves together. I’m almost certain this is changed to more humanistic clapping in later seasons/episodes, which is a shame as even indoors, this method of clapping makes a bit more sense for ponies as it involves less effort for them physically.
I think I agree. Though I understand some more human gestures being introduced and some fans forget that certain rules weren't always so concrete (ponies did stand up on two legs in Season 1 some). Their is a certain charm to ponies being ponies and it adds to the world. 

> I’m giving this episode an 8.1 
Completely get that, even if I liked Stare Master more. Probably born out of my preference for certain scenarios like low stakes adventure.

 >>/12107/
> dislike might be too strong a word, so let’s just say the first character that I don’t particularly care for.
Bringing up this point next episode. 


> - it seems the ponies are not aware of their presence so I doubt they have permission to mine here.
I wounder how sovereignty works though in this case? In the vast open areas there is various different monsters with varying levels of sentience. Could they be an independent race that operates in the area?  A future episode might provide an answer but I'll wait till we get to it.

>  it looks like a rocky clearing to me, but perhaps a rocky clearing in the woods? So, does that mean the Everfree?
The White Tail Woods are also a candidate but the presence of the Diamond Dogs makes me lean to in, or at least a place near the Everfree (was Froggy Bottom Bog from Feeling Pinkie Keen established in the Everfree?).

 >>/12108/
> ere the fellow seemingly in charge has just called them ‘dogs’, and I wonder whether ‘Diamond Dogs’ is a species name, or rather a title of these three diamond-collared dogs who seem to be in charge of the operation) to dig instead.
I think IIRC the Diamond Dogs are the species name in official other appearances but I am not 100% sure on that because I don't think they appear in much of anything. Will check later. I do see your point here though and that would be a logical inference that would make sense. 

>  feel this strengthens my theory that the majority of unicorns have in fact very limited powers, which I like since it balances out the races a lot more, doubly so since we know the unicorn population is smaller than the other two too.
I had always headcanoned this as a matter of education. Most unicorns only learn the basics and their own spells or magic related to their talent. Your leaning on this, especially in Season 1, is probably the more conservative to what we see on screen and that position is one with me taking into account other things in the show. In either case though: Magic is hard and while their are spellbooks everywhere with a lot of useful and dangerous spells, few unicorns have the ability to use them! 

> unicorn population is smaller than the other two too.
I thought Lauren Faust wanted something like pegasi were an order of magnitude less than earth ponies, and Unicorns were an order of magnitude less than pegasi, but I'll need to see if I can dig that up or if that is just a false memory.