Points of Canon: S7x24 - Uncommon Bond

…You know what, I’m tired of spoiler warding. This goes up when I’m done with it.

• “When does the noon train from the Crystal Empire arrive?” I wonder if it means that more than one train might arrive from the Crystal Empire per day.
• As a side note, it’s interesting how none of Starlight’s friends chose to accompany her or wondered where did she spend the entire morning.
• The arriving train contains multiple crystal ponies in their non-crystal state, many with children. I wonder what did they come for. And of course it includes the Nuclear Scientist guy…
• This is the first occurrence of this car with wide subway-style automatic doors, I believe.
• So how exactly did Starlight miss Sunburst anyway?…
• “Ponyville is antique central!” Certainly not by the virtue of antiques naturally occurring in the area, as Ponyville isn’t anywhere near old enough for it, being founded in living memory. However, we do know it’s a tourist destination…
• Sunburst packs Rarity-style.
• The antique shop includes multiple mechanical clocks, implying that at least those are not a new invention.
• “What a difference between the hoof-molded bricks and the extruded ones, right?” Notice the gap: First the bricks are hoof-molded, rather than, say, hydraulic press molded, and then they’re immediately extruded. As far as I’ve been able to determine, in our world, the extruded brick process was invented around 1852, so both should be relatively old.
• “Sometimes, the crystals have magical properties.” I wonder what kind of properties, though.

• “Oooh, look! An ancient map of Equestria made by the Mighty Helm.” Ooh boy.

  This map does match the modern Equestria pretty closely, but here are some things to notice on it:

  • Crystal Empire is not present at all. The area where it would be, however, is.
  • Ponyville area is marked with a symbol that appears to mean a settlement.
  • Pegasi-style Greco-Roman area is positioned somewhere between Fillydelphia and Baltimare.
  • Pagoda-style construction, which obviously represents wherever Mistmane came from, is in the northeast in the Starlight’s Village area. Pony China is somewhere in Pennsylvania. Or maybe Ohio.
  • The tree which denotes Meadowbrook’s village is somewhere in the Hayseed Swamp area.

  This dates the Legends of Magic and their in-series companion stories to post-Exodus, and post-Sombra – and yet, their content dates them to pre-Nightmare. I’ve been mentioning flying fucks too often recently, so I will refrain from doing so again. What the flaming hell?

• The appearance of this map in an antique store implies that Mighty Helm is considered a historical organization, even if the legends are explicitly labeled by Luna as myth in Legends of Magic #1.
• “Without the help of unicorn magic or Pegasus flight, the Earth ponies of the Mighty Helm were able to map the entire coast of Equestria.” But Equestria has two coasts, and this map contains both of them, as well as lots of places in between. Huh?
• Other notable antiques in the store include a typewriter – with individual letter keys, apparently, at that, a pre-automatic-dialing telephone, and numerous kerosene lamps.
• “You have got to see this Saddle Arabian vanity!” Well, this at least suggests that not all of the artifacts on display have to be local to Equestria.
• “This shop looked a lot smaller from the outside.” Let me tell you something, Starlight: Most buildings in Equestria do.
• “Did you see this Palominian letter opener?” Which sounds like another place name which does not appear on any maps.
• “Pen pals!” Up to this point, Twilight was not in any kind of regular correspondence with Sunburst.
• “It’s a blind buy.” Blind buys are a thing.

• Old Ponish. I have no words.

  “Once I found a first edition History of Equestria in the original Olde Ponish.”
  “Hliet foresettan pliht!”
  “It’s an Olde Ponish saying. ‘Reward prefers risk!’ Uh, it loses something in the translation.”

  Sigh. No, I have nothing good to say about it. This is basically incompatible with anything else in the series: It’s a language they don’t speak even in the Crystal Empire, it’s not Luna’s Equish, and yet there’s a History of Equestria written in it, so it has to be a language in use post-Exodus. The only way I can imagine this happening is that there was no Exodus.

• “Dragon Pit!” is a roll-and-move track board game popular between one and two decades ago, now out of print – because Sunburst is surprised Starlight found a copy. How did she do that, though? The first step to look for it would be the antique store, and she only visited it for the first time today. Did she buy it while everypony else wasn’t looking?
• Either some tricky magic or clever mechanics are involved in making the game: getting a ball to roll down a track with no rails is difficult.
• The door to Sunburst’s bedroom is distinctly unlike most other doors in the Friendship Castle: it slides rather than swings, it’s pink, and the shape is pretty strange too. It’s nothing at all like Starlight’s door in A Celestial Advice.
• Sunburst is unusually reserved about being seen naked for a pony. Many people pointed this out already. While he uses the word “changed” rather than “dressed,” it’s interesting that he never ever appears undressed after he gets his cutie mark.
• “Because we used to drink so much apple juice as foals?” Notice that Starlight remembers this and even insists that’s all they ever drank, but Sunburst does not. Why?
• Trixie practices in Sweet Apple Acres. Considering that by now she turns things into teacups and teleports them away while half-asleep, practice has done her good, but I wonder what is Applejack’s opinion regarding her apples running off. The use of the teacup gives us a hard chronology lock against All Bottled Up.
• Starlight teleports Trixie out of the chain. That said, I wonder why Trixie’s trick would be considered much of a trick if nopony can see Trixie actually doing it, but everyone can see she’s using her magic to hold up the curtain.
• “I always liked close-up magic because I knew I could do it if I just practiced enough.” Apparently, that’s the term for what Trixie is doing, but I wonder just how did it come about.
• One of the tricks Sunburst performs involves a false hoof, which he had to either prepare on the off chance he might get to show it off today or somehow produce in place.
• Trixie is capable of instantly reassembling a torn-up and crumpled newspaper correctly, even if she has to use duct tape to keep it together. Something to keep in mind.
• Trixie’s repertoire includes a shell game – and contrary to the usual applications, Trixie puts a ball into all three shells rather than removes it. This is actually more difficult.
• Despite Twilight sealing up the Mirror Pool in Too Many Pinkie Pies, Starlight opened it just to show it off to Sunburst. Notably, somehow Starlight knew exactly where it is, which isn’t a piece of information easy to come by.
• “This place is pure pony lore.” Sigh.
• “This cavern’s actually connected to mine.” Wherever Maud’s cave is, it’s close by. This is another hard lock, against Rock Solid Friendship.
• “I’m uncovering this section of strata for closer study. You might want to step back.” Maud repeats her “knowing where to hit with the hammer” shtick again.
• “Is this gneiss, phyllite, or slate? Wow. The pressure above must be pretty uniform to get the planar fabric to be this consistent.” Which would imply that pony geology works more or less the same as ours, furthering suggestions that rock farming is actually pretty boring.
• The Cutie Map is in place. I’m mentioning that because there’s that interesting incident in From the Shadows (Friendship is Magic #51-53) where it disappears without anyone mentioning anything is amiss, and this repeats in several other comics with no explanation whatsoever that I saw so far.
• Starlight is capable of writing a new spell from scratch. This is another case of a spell for which the scroll it is written on is a material component, something that nopony but Starlight has used before. The resulting spell is some manner of illusion with a temporal component, so it probably has mechanical similarity to the other spell that used the scroll – the time travel spell.
• Trixie has an apparatus for the sawing-a-pony-in-half trick, which she uses to saw herself in half. However, it appears it hasn’t been well-maintained, since the fake legs are really obvious.
• “I created a spell so we could relive playing a game in our childhood home… and bodies.” This “our childhood home” remark raises a lot of questions regarding Starlight’s family situation.
• “Pumice is the lightest igneous rock. It seemed the best choice.” It would still weigh over six kilograms and wouldn’t roll particularly well.
• So Starlight made a hole in the floor just to make a point. I guess there’s no question why the castle hates her, now.

In terms of canon compatibility, season finale gets worse from there.

Comments

[Shrink Laureate]

“You have got to see this Saddle Arabian vanity!” Well, this at least suggests that not all of the artifacts on display have to be local to Equestria.

Not necessarily. It could be a laughably bad imitation of what Canterlot-region ponies think Saddle Arabian style is, rather than native Saddle Arabian. That happens a lot in antiques.

“Did you see this Palominian letter opener?” Which sounds like another place name which does not appear on any maps.

San Palomino Desert, south-west on the map.

“Once I found a first edition History of Equestria in the original Olde Ponish.”
... This is basically incompatible with anything else in the series: It’s a language they don’t speak even in the Crystal Empire, it’s not Luna’s Equish, and yet there’s a History of Equestria written in it, so it has to be a language in use post-Exodus. The only way I can imagine this happening is that there was no Exodus.

Or it's fake.

“This cavern’s actually connected to mine.” Wherever Maud’s cave is, it’s close by.

The cave was previously described as "Ponyville-adjacent", while the mirror pool was located somewhere that vaguely looked like the Everfree but wasn't actually confirmed as it. Can the location of these two caves be discerned from the combined evidence?

“I created a spell so we could relive playing a game in our childhood home… and bodies.” This “our childhood home” remark raises a lot of questions regarding Starlight’s family situation.

It adds credence to (but still doesn't prove) the suggestion that the place was either an orphanage, a boarding school, or both.

[Mitch H]

Palominian probably refers to the San Palomino Desert region.

And Maud's revelation of the 'strata' in the region of the mirror pool is pretty freakish, actually. Solid seams of freaky rose crystal behind some sort of slate? I'm not very geologically versed, but it strikes me as weird. But apparently the actual Alpine regions are similarly weird with a 'crystaline basement structure' under a sedimentary surface? I doubt the writer put any actual thought into the dialog, TBH.

[Meta Four]

Sigh. No, I have nothing good to say about it. This is basically incompatible with anything else in the series: It’s a language they don’t speak even in the Crystal Empire, it’s not Luna’s Equish, and yet there’s a History of Equestria written in it, so it has to be a language in use post-Exodus. The only way I can imagine this happening is that there was no Exodus.

Perhaps it’s like the divergence of Latin from the Romance Languages in the Middle Ages. In the very old days, only scholars and the upper classes could read and write. As spoken Ponish language (or Low Ponish) evolved, snobbery among the literate kept the written variant (or High Ponish) from evolving with it. Eventually, the two weren’t mutually comprehensible anymore. By the time of the Exodus, even some of the scholars had switched to writing in Modern Ponish, but others tried their best to keep Old Ponish from dying.

• “What a difference between the hoof-molded bricks and the extruded ones, right?” Notice the gap: First the bricks are hoof-molded, rather than, say, hydraulic press molded, and then they’re immediately extruded. As far as I’ve been able to determine, in our world, the extruded brick process was invented around 1852, so both should be relatively old.

I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that this gap really means anything. When someone says, “What a difference between listening to an LP and listening to an mp3, am I right?” they aren’t implying anything about the existence of CDs, cassette tapes, 8-track tapes, FLAC files, wax cylinders, or any other obscure format.

• “I always liked close-up magic because I knew I could do it if I just practiced enough.” Apparently, that’s the term for what Trixie is doing, but I wonder just how did it come about.

According to wikiepedia...

Micromagic (also known as close-up magic or table magic) is magic performed in an intimate setting usually no more than ten feet (three metres) from one's audience and is usually performed while sitting at a table.

It is a distinct category from Stage Magic, which is what Trixie usually performs.

4697950

Not necessarily. It could be a laughably bad imitation of what Canterlot-region ponies think Saddle Arabian style is, rather than native Saddle Arabian. That happens a lot in antiques.

Either way, it seems that Orientalism is a thing amongst ponies, too.

[howard035]

I feel bad for not paying more attention to the historical clues because of all the rapidfire shipping going on. I don't really have anything to add for the antiques, though the fact that Sunburst and Starlight seem to remember their childhood in subtly different ways suggests someone's memories were tampered with...

Kind of surprised Sunburst and Starlight never flew kites together in this episode.

So is Trixie actually homeless? I mean, how different is she from someone who keeps all their possessions in a shopping cart?

[Mitch H]

4698056
It's a really tricked-out shopping cart, with racing stripes, and a sleeper in the back. More seriously, she's basically a gypsy. It's more of a vardo than a cart.

[Shrink Laureate]

4698056 4698060
It's not just gypsies. The idea of "homelessness" is actually a modern one. Once upon a time, when the countryside was open and wild, it was a perfectly valid lifestyle choice to just wander at will and never settle. That's true all over the world. I doubt they had particularly good diet, healthcare, life expectancy or protection from crime, so don't romanticise the idea. But it's corporate capitalism that's made us assume everyone has to have a fixed address or be "homeless".

The landscape of Equestria is largely untamed; and ponies, earth ponies particularly, are better suited to living off the land than humans are, so I expect free travelling is still a thing there. The unicorns of Canterlot may sneer at it, but an Apple probably wouldn't.

[howard035]

4698090
4698060 I always figured she was basically a Romani before this, but when she accidentally spends the night sleeping in the orchards and doesn't seem to notice the difference, and then spends the day hanging out in the backfields of SWA (without any sign of the Apples' permission), I think we've crossed the line between "vagabond" and "homeless."

[mastermenthe]

…You know what, I’m tired of spoiler warding. This goes up when I’m done with it.

Misread this as bush warding, wondered if you actually play LoL (Leage of Legends) mr. Oliver

[Comnislasher]

4698056

though the fact that Sunburst and Starlight seem to remember their childhood in subtly different ways suggests someone's memories were tampered with...

I doubt that anyone memory here is tampered with. My parents remember lots of things different. It's difference come from relatively small like who wear what to a massive one like when they arguing in what city this or that event happened. And I doubt that anyone tampered with their memories :).

[Oliver]

4697950

Not necessarily. It could be a laughably bad imitation of what Canterlot-region ponies think Saddle Arabian style is, rather than native Saddle Arabian.

It could be, but I still think that it’s an implication that not all of the items on sale purport to be Equestrian, no matter the actual provenance.

Or it’s fake.

The book might be. The language can’t be, though.

Can the location of these two caves be discerned from the combined evidence?

Not really.

It adds credence to (but still doesn’t prove) the suggestion that the place was either an orphanage, a boarding school, or both.

In any case, Sunburst’s parents were obviously close by in that flashback, the familial resemblance is too strong.

4697969

I doubt the writer put any actual thought into the dialog, TBH.

…just dialog?

4698007

By the time of the Exodus, even some of the scholars had switched to writing in Modern Ponish, but others tried their best to keep Old Ponish from dying.

Excellent idea, much kudos. This salvages a lot of the lore.

Though there’s also the “Pony Latin…”

I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that this gap really means anything.

It might not, or it might imply ponies don’t need hydraulics. Earth ponies certainly can do without for much longer….

4698123

Misread this as bush warding, wondered if you actually play LoL (Leage of Legends) mr. Oliver

Nope. Warding is a pretty generic term.

4698381

I doubt that anyone memory here is tampered with. My parents remember lots of things different.

It’s mostly about the Other Sith theory – there are other reasons to believe Starlight’s memory has gaps in it, which is why it’s easy to see this difference as a corroboration rather than a normal phenomenon.

[Super Trampoline]

Wow looks like I have a lot of review Blogs to catch up on!

[Meta Four]

A fellow over on TV Tropes had an interesting alternate interpretation of Twilight’s behavior in this episode. Basically, she was feigning interest in antiques so she could stalk Starlight and make sure her new/old friend Sunburst was up to snuff. In his own words:

"Sunburst! I'm so glad you're here!" Hi, random Twilight. What are you doing in the antique store? You've displayed as much interest in Sunburst's hobby as Starlight has but you are also a creep who has previously demonstrated a willingness to openly stalk Starlight and make sure her friendships are going okay. So in lieu of explanation, I'm going with that one.
"Starlight's really been looking forward to your visit!" Stalking it is, then!
"Though I'm glad you're in the antique store too. I'm usually the only one." So far as I can recall, Twilight has never set hoof in an antique store. It's totally stalking.
[...]
"Oh, wow! You have got to see this Saddle Arabian vanity!" So, here's a thing. Twilight claims to be in here all the f*cking time but she's just as new to all of this merchandise as Sunburst is. Antiques, by nature, don't exactly bring in large shipments of new merchandise every Friday or so. If she'd been in here as often as she claims, she'd have seen most of this shit already.
Totally stalking. An experienced antiquer Twilight would be like, "Let me show you that cool thing they have over there," rather than, "Oh, wow, I just discovered another cool thing I never knew was here!"

[schpeelah]

So how exactly did Starlight miss Sunburst anyway?…

I think it's implied he wasn't visible from behind all his luggage. And he seems to have exited through a different door than the one Glim was looking at.

“Ponyville is antique central!” Certainly not by the virtue of antiques naturally occurring in the area, as Ponyville isn’t anywhere near old enough for it, being founded in living memory. However, we do know it’s a tourist destination…

It is, however, the closest place to the Castle of the Sisters ruins. This antique thing has probably started with stuff pilfered from there.

The appearance of this map in an antique store implies that Mighty Helm is considered a historical organization, even if the legends are explicitly labeled by Luna as myth in Legends of Magic #1.

I wouldn't put too much stock in the fictionality of "legend" and "myth" given a "legend" can be about the author and the people he knows personally.

“Did you see this Palominian letter opener?” Which sounds like another place name which does not appear on any maps.

Probably refers to the country the San Palomino Desert. It was independent with it's own Pharaoh back in the day.

“Dragon Pit!” is a roll-and-move track board game popular between one and two decades ago, now out of print – because Sunburst is surprised Starlight found a copy. How did she do that, though? The first step to look for it would be the antique store, and she only visited it for the first time today. Did she buy it while everypony else wasn’t looking?

Honestly it looks like it could have been physically the same piece they used to play, owned by Starlight the whole time.

“This cavern’s actually connected to mine.” Wherever Maud’s cave is, it’s close by. This is another hard lock, against Rock Solid Friendship.

Maud's cave looks massive, I would expect the tunnels to stretch for miles.

[Oliver]

4704891

It is, however, the closest place to the Castle of the Sisters ruins. This antique thing has probably started with stuff pilfered from there.

Considering how the castle looks almost entirely un-pilfered, I sort of doubt it.

I wouldn’t put too much stock in the fictionality of “legend” and “myth” given a “legend” can be about the author and the people he knows personally.

Luna explicitly says “my favorite myth,” though.

Honestly it looks like it could have been physically the same piece they used to play, owned by Starlight the whole time.

Somewhat unlikely, if only because Starlight escaped Our Town with nothing but a presumed invisible purse on her in The Cutie Map. Likewise, all the visible artifacts in her room in the Friendship Castle clearly date to post-Cutie Re-Mark period.

Unless she maintained a “real” home somewhere other than Our Town. See the Other Sith Theory.

[Cursed Quill]

♪"a few trips" - can't Starlight just teleport the pile? Or TK the lot in one trip? (Twilight and Trixie later, between them, bring the whle set of luggage back to the station.)

As a side note, it’s interesting how none of Starlight’s friends chose to accompany her or wondered where did she spend the entire morning.

She's remarkably solitary, and Twilight and Spike are sufficiently also so [even if not necessarily recently] as not to worry much on it.

“Sometimes, the crystals have magical properties.” I wonder what kind of properties, though.

You annoyed by that getting diverted from, too, I'm sure.

Ponyville area is marked with a symbol that appears to mean a settlement.

The appearance of this map in an antique store implies that Mighty Helm is considered a historical organization,

counterpoint: tourist trap. Buuut, Sunburst (a scholar-savant) crediting it means you're more likely right.

“Dragon Pit!”

⛧Fireball Island⛧

Either some tricky magic or clever mechanics are involved in making the game: getting a ball to roll down a track with no rails is difficult.

Likewise having the volcano launch it to consistently land on a track.

“Because we used to drink so much apple juice as foals?” Notice that Starlight remembers this and even insists that’s all they ever drank, but Sunburst does not. Why?

othersith

“This place is pure pony lore.” Sigh.

…does suggest that Pinkie's family lore is either not strictly-family, or that Sunburst is a Pie.

the scroll it is written on is a material component,

Material components are, in D&D parlance, consumed. A "focus" is more apt.

“I created a spell so we could relive playing a game in our childhood home… and bodies.” This “our childhood home” remark raises a lot of questions regarding Starlight’s family situation.

❧Remember how age-spells are supposed to be super-difficult?

[Oliver]

4705124

Remember how age-spells are supposed to be super-difficult?

I am pretty sure that this was some manner of illusion rather than an actual transformation, if only because the rest of it clearly was an illusion. An illusion with information for its composition acquired temporally, but still an illusion.

[Cursed Quill]

4698007

divergence of Latin

No, because the Journal basically crushes the Exodus and settling down to a decade…near which Sombra's thousand-year absence begins, and Twilight & co. have no troubles reading any library books at the Empire. It really, really doesn't fit.
…except as a "some scholars being backwards nostalgics about X being the academic language", as you propose, so good, I s'pose. (as a history of Equestria can't exist pre-exodus…without time travel)

[Cursed Quill]

4705133
Illusion magic that is covering sight, sound, touch, and proprioception. Feeding information to that last is …basically beyond "illusion"'s remit and into enchantment/mindmagic…and at some point, a realistic holodeck projection of this kind is also, in order to keep reactions of the subjects verisimilar, should just exert the reciprocal forces, update positions, etc. But, the scroll-mediated cast suggests (should we believe in any laws to it) that the new spell is of the highest caliber, and can really be done with force manipulation, illusion, or mind-magic. She's shown aptitude with all three.

[Eruantalon]

4704905 Perhaps she left it in her house in Our Town, and retrieved it from there sometime after Cutie Re-Mark? That does seem less plausible than her finding an old copy somewhere else perhaps with a Princess's help, though.

(Also, this episode's the first time I started to think your theory on something having happened to Starlight's memory might actually be plausible.)

[Oliver]

4705387

Perhaps she left it in her house in Our Town, and retrieved it from there sometime after Cutie Re-Mark? That does seem less plausible than her finding an old copy somewhere else perhaps with a Princess’s help, though.

This is a possibility, but here’s a thing: At some point, Starlight’s house in Our Town gets demolished entirely, to be replaced by a force-grown tree. Yet she does not seem to acquire a new roomful of stuff in the Friendship Castle after that, and almost all the objects seen in her Friendship Castle room can be clearly dated to her apprenticeship period…

I’m guessing the house in Our Town contained nothing she would like to remember.

(Also, this episode’s the first time I started to think your theory on something having happened to Starlight’s memory might actually be plausible.)

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