My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Headscratchers/Season 2: Difference between revisions

* Did anyone else think that when Twilight Sparkle got corrupted, that she would become a techhead instead? After all, the obvious offense against Magic is...but my real Headscratcher comes from the lesson of this story; Friendship is hard, but if you work at it you will persevere. This is all well and good, but the problem rears its head when we look at the circumstances that their friendship is threatened. It was totally from an outside force for which they had no control over their actions and weren't acting in their frame of mind. If they had been led into those corruptions from a sense of need to lie or be cruel or be greedy or grumpy in their own personalities, then one could argue that it was their personality and they could be held responsible, but not in this case.

** Twilight was corrupted because she gave up. That's why fighting for their friendship is the lesson. Twilight didn't try to fix them, she just pressed ahead on her own.

** Fair enough. Which leads me to wonder why her strength of enduring friendships would be something to attack. For the longest time, if we are being fair, she resisted. Also, being as smart as she is, you would think she would realize her friends were being manipulated...which goes back to the second question, really. They were being manipulated.

*** She definitely knew ''something'' was wrong, and that it was Discord's fault, but she pegged all her hopes on being able to befriend the crap out of him with the Element Cannon. When that failed, she just gave up until Celestia spammed her with her own letters. To more directly answer the opening 'scratcher, for all of Discord's [[Mind Rape]], he was taking a trait that already existed and turning it [[Up to Eleven|up to about fifteen]]. As one WMG on the Mane Characters page put it, each of them (except possibly Rainbow Dash) had already acted against their Element at least once - all Discord did was let that part out to play for more than a CMFIS (Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome, in case you aren't in the know)-induced breakdown (OK, Applejack's lies were mainly to keep a surprise party secret). Meaning that yes, they ''were'' lead into those corruptions from their own flaws, just aggravated by Discord.

** Umm... [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Shellicopter]], anyone?

* How did Gummy appear in Rainbow Dash's dream? All the other pets were making noises but Gummy can't make any kind of sound so he shouldn't have appeared. It's a pretty silly and pointless question, but this troper was just wondering.

*** And that weird little sound he makes when Pinkie first introduces Gummy in "Feeling Pinkie Keen".

** Gummy has the same [[Reality Warper|reality warping]] powers as Pinkie, and consciously inserted himself into the dream world.

** They could buy the apples, they could offer an actually fair deal to the apple orchard they join businesses with, they could sell/lend their machine, they could start their own orchard...but no, they simply go from town to town, offering a ridiculously one-sided deal that's almost certain to shut down the business they get the apples from. They don't want to invest a cent beside their machine, and as far as we know, their challenge might be a clever trick they pull on all the orchards they come across. Instead of starting from the beginning, they made their machine and tried to take over another business with it, take it as you will, but I doubt that's standard business in Equestria.

** Their behavior prior to making the challenge and their deliberate outline of its specifics, in which they stand to lose far less than the Apples, suggests that the whole thing was planned from the beginning. Just look at what happened: they showed up right after the Apples had exhausted their cider supply, then they started offering to sell their cider made with Sweet Apples. When AJ objected, they started insulting the family's pride and offered a contest that they outlined the rules for (in which they risk nothing, but the Apples give up their vitally needed cider business), goading them until they not only accepted, but freely gave them the raw materials that they tried to "deal" for earilier. The whole thing was a ploy to drive the Apples out of business and let them take over. The Bros. might not have directly lied about anything, but that doesn't change the fact that they're dishonest about their intentions and running a scam.

** I think this episode has shown that the Ponyville Apples seem to have demonstrably poor business sense. They let themselves be taken for suckers, they don't plan out their cider season better, they don't hire any type of help for this crucial time of year.

** Well Granny Smith is senile and Applejack and Big Macintosh are in their early twenties at most, with no formal business education. It's made clear that they have two big products (Zap Apples and Cider) that come once a year, but as mentioned above they're too concerned with honesty and community relations to really make a killing on these products. The rest of the year they seem to struggle somewhat, and they seem to have quite extensive overheads. It’s possible that Sweet Apple Acres donates money to other Apple family ventures too, and in the name of entrepreneurship Applejack keeps their financial situation very close to the line so that their money isn’t just sitting around wasted.

* I can't help wondering just how cutie marks work in the context of this episode. The Flim Flam Brothers have apple cutie marks, but wouldn't they have cutie marks that suggested their true nature better? After all, based on the quality of their machine they would have decided to be inventors first (''and that's not getting into them deciding to be swindlers'').

** I frequently think that Equestria is a safer place than reality, since a hypothetical John Wayne Gacy Pony couldn't hide in plain sight because it's cutie mark would serve as a warning.

*** True, but you can identify a serial killer from across the room because their cutie mark... isn't.

**** Nup. Generally cutie marks are more abstract - see Cheerilee's, Twilight Sparkle's, Rarity's, Lyra Heartstrings's, etc. etc. It makes sense when the pony explains it, but it is usually not obvious. So, for example, Gacy? He'd have a clown Cutie Mark. Reflected in most peoples creation of a [[Dexter]] Pony, who has a splatter of blood for a cutie mark - which means both his work as a blood splatter analyst and his...hobbies. Incidentally, that clown cutie mark? Perfect for attracting young fillies and colts......

** I actually think the introduction of Shining Armor hasn't ruined the theory that Twi and Spike are like bro and sis. It's just that their relationship is different. With Shining Armor, he was someone she could look up to, and play with. Spike was just a baby at the time. And probably spent a lot of time with Celestia (seeing as she taught him that "fire-magic sending thingy"). But Spike loves Twilight as family (confirmed in Owl's Well That Ends Well, and Dragon Quest) and shows that she returns the feelings.

** One [[Word of God]] suggested that Celestia took to the initial raising of Spike, given the general lack of pony knowledge on dragon raising, only giving her to Twilight as an assistant when both were mature enough for it. Hence, the Twi/Spike relationship - prior to being sent off to Ponyville - would be more formal, and becoming more sibling as they both learned to adjust to Ponyville. This would also be consistent that leaving Shining (whom she still probably saw every day while at Canterlot), her relationship with Spike would be upgraded to the sibling nature to make up for not being around Shining.

** They all saw Twilight get into a bad mood because Shining Armor didn't tell her about the wedding personally. They assumed she was overreacting because of that. And as much as her friends try to take her concerns seriously, Twilight obsesses over the smallest of things.

*** I'm not so sure that holds water. This is Rarity and Applejack we're talking about, and the dress and the apples were snubbed by the bride. Even if she wasn't a changeling-much less the queen-we're talking about someone who basically disrespected the very foundation of what those two characters have based their lives and liveihoods on. Applejack would normally defend her own apples to the death. Rarity is not someone you screw around with when it comes to dressmaking. If Cadance was realistically acting in this manner, it makes perfect sense to call her out on her bullshit, especially from the Mane Six. Struck me as a little out-of-character for them to hold back and instantly forgive her. I may be a guy, but I know a 'bridezilla' when I see one.

* The direction in which Chrysalis and her minions got blasted off too looked absolutedly barren. Is that Tartaurus? Or is it someplace else entirely?

** Could be Appleoosa, actually. Or just someplace we haven't seen before. (And besides, I got the impression that the changelings were blasted in all directions.)

* If Shining Armor was considered Twilight's only friend, then what about Spike? Based on dialogue from previous episodes, it's implied that they always had a strong bond- Owl's Well that ends Well he was afraid that Twilight didn't love him anymore. And that knew each other ever since they met- Secret Of My Excess mentions how for '''every''' birthday he had, Twilight always gave him a gift. And the picture of baby Spike with Twilight in the final scene from Dragon Quest, implies that she knew him from the moment he was hatched. Is it because he was a baby for most of the time, that he wouldn't be old enough to play the things she wants to? Or is it out of ignorance, since he's younger, she looks down on him (like any older sibling would on a younger sibling)?

** What is ''with'' you and your constantly demonizing the ponies as dragon abusers??