Points of Canon: S4x22 - Trade Ya!

Another episode I don’t remember particularly well.

• Rainbow Falls is somewhat different from the last time we saw it in Rainbow Falls – namely, the land-based part of the qualifier track remains but the air-based part is gone, and the flags are gone. This, unfortunately, doesn’t permit us any chronology decisions.
• One minor observation: All bridges in Rainbow Falls appear to have no railings. Why?
• Rainbow Falls does feature an occasional street light.
• “And not just going… we’re accompanying a princess on an official royal duty!” Which is actually the first royal duty since the Summer Sun Celebration in Princess Twilight Sparkle shown on screen. Twilight doesn’t get those a lot in this period, does she?
• Twilight’s own box of stuff for the exchange has a postmarked postage stamp and an address label on it. Which would imply that Twilight has probably received this box in the mail previously, since this is usually how these come about – your local post office will sell you clean new ones if you just want a box.

• “There always has to be a princess at the Exchange. Last year was Princess Cadance, this year it’s me.”

  • Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange is a yearly event.
  • Cadance was here last year, and that requires her being in Equestria last year, rather than, say, being shipped off on a diplomatic mission to Saddle Arabia. If my chronology is close enough to the truth, “last year” is Year 1, and is the year before the wedding – which re-raises some interesting questions about where did she disappear off to once she stopped babysitting Twilight.
  • Notice that the idea of “a princess” at the Exchange would make no sense whatsoever until Cadance turned up, it would always be Celestia. Actually, has anyone written a story where Luna is presiding over the exchange? I expect it would be amusing.
• Notice that Applejack is hauling everypony’s things by herself. Also notice that she has apparently brought that cart inside a train’s passenger car.
• “I’m sure none of the other ponies will even notice I’m here.” And that’s where her please-ignore-me spell suddenly failed, because everypony knew to expect a princess. I think a spell remains our only practical option: Either Twilight being an alicorn is completely or almost completely ignored, or she has to sign autographs. Compare to The Hooffelds and McColts and Once Upon A Zeppelin.
• And of course the Canterlot Friends are here, including Lyra. The crowd also contains one crystal pony in the non-crystal state, and a lot more appear later on. But in general, most ponies observed are Ponyvillains.
• Fluttershy admires a statuette of a bunny, obviously meant to portray Cupid. Which offers an interesting possibility regarding the origin and meaning of the term “angel.”
• “If’n you got the goods to trade for it.” The orgy of barter sets up the plot, but makes me wonder a lot: Is the use of money permitted at the Exchange? If it isn’t, most people would leave with the majority of their goods un-traded, which seems a pain, as anyone who has ever traveled with a cartload of merchandise can attest. There has to be a large cultural missing piece here.

• “One ding, nick or dent, and this Power Ponies comic book wouldn’t be in perfect mint condition anymore. And if you want to trade for a mint comic, you gotta have a mint comic.”

  • It’s packaged in plastic, see chemical industry.
  • Comics collecting is a thing in Equestria. Notably, in our world it took decades for it to become so, which is why mint condition copies of early Golden Age comics are so expensive: They’re rare, because at the start of the comics industry, they were considered worthless transient literature on par with newspapers. This would require comics to have been a thing for said decades in Equestria.
  • Our comics companies are very protective of their IP. Are Equestrian ones? If they are, that makes it really unlikely that the enchanted comic in Power Ponies is not continuous with the one Spike has here. So does this mean enchanted comics were a thing for decades, or the company that makes them bought up the original publisher?
• “But all I’m supposed to do is settle disagreements over whether a trade is fair or not. And since the rule is that a trade is fair as long as both ponies get what they want, there’s never been a disagreement.” Twilight’s statement being true would imply that Rainbow’s escapade is the first time it happened in the entire history of the Exchange, which I find highly dubious. It’s much more probable that Twilight just thinks there has never been a disagreement, because she can’t imagine how would it arise with such a rule in effect.
• That filly wagging her tail like a dog has a photo of Twilight for her to sign, in which Twilight laughs and her wings, if any, are not visible. Now, where exactly would one obtain such a photo?
• “There’s a pony here who’s got a signed first edition of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue, and I’m gonna get it! I’ve been able to get first editions of all of the Daring Do books, except this one! Nopony’s ever put together a whole set, and I’m gonna be the first! If it hasn’t been traded yet… It’s the only one in all of Equestria!” Nopony has ever put together a whole set, not even Yearling herself. You’d think Rainbow is exaggerating, but she also says that this copy is the only one in Equestria. This implies a recall of the first printing of the first book, and the only way Yearling herself wouldn’t have a copy that I can think of is if she herself ordered it destroyed. I wonder what’s the story behind that, because if it were any beginning writer’s first book, that would be the end of their career right there.
• “I did want to trade this bear call I’ve got for a bird whistle…” Equestrian bears answer when called, it appears? I’m also pretty sure you can’t make a whistle that small sound the way it does by the end of this episode without involving magic. Actually, what exactly would Fluttershy use a bird whistle for? Birds come when she calls as it is.
• “Did you say vintage? Why, old and rare items are so in style right now!” Ponies have fashion recurrence cycles.
• Some of the items on the stalls are perishable cakes.
• Say hello to the Lutece twins. They have the cage, but not the bird – I wonder what have they brought to trade for it.
• One of the ponies trying to trade for the Daring Do paraphernalia is a crystal pony in the crystal state. To be so interested in Daring Do, they would have to have been introduced to the books in a very short order – unless there’s a forgotten Daring Do adventure in the Crystal Empire, that happened shortly after its reemergence…
• “Um, shouldn’t your princessness be headed to the royal box seats?” Actually, why would an open-air market have box seats? But the closing scene as Twilight makes a ruling does happen in a box of seats. So who else gets to sit in those and why the hell would they want to?
• “Ever since I became a princess, Celestia’s been sending me more books to read than ever.” This is actually the first we hear about it.
• “My lucky horseshoe!” Rainbow hovers almost constantly, and in any case, the horseshoe is too big for her. She had to have picked the thing up somewhere. But I wonder why does she think it actually is her most valuable possession, and how did she establish it was lucky.

• The Orthros is an “ancient beast,” and…

  • I really wonder what the hell does this phrase actually mean.
  • Other “ancient beasts” include multi-eyed monstrosities with tentacles and eyestalks.
  • The Orthros trainer has a mark running across his eye, and I don’t think it’s a scar, it’s too red for that. This has to be a tattoo, like the one in The Gift of Maud Pie.
  • The Orthros has a bone in its teeth and promptly bites through it. That’s a bloody big bone. Big enough to be a pony bone. So who died to feed this thing Fluttershy called “cute?”
• Rainbow uses a wing for handwaving.
• Lemon Hearts is chatting up Gizmo Poindexter.
• “The metal they used to fashion this one helps cook the pies up to five seconds faster! They don’t make ’em like this anymore!” Now, this is the case in our world: PTFE-coated aluminum pans have displaced most other kinds, particularly the cast iron ones, and some people still swear by those. See chemical industry. But wouldn’t the traditionalist Apples already have a ready supply of cast iron cookware?

• “It looks exactly like the one you’re already wearin’.” Now this is quite odd:

  • The design of the brooch is fairly distinctive, and reproduced closely enough that Applejack can’t tell the difference and doesn’t even believe it is possible to tell the difference. How is it that it is repeated verbatim on a modern item when this one is “vintage?” Does it have some pervasive kind of significance?
  • Why is Rarity wearing a brooch on her saddlebags, anyway?
  • Notice that the whole scene does not involve the booth owner at all while Applejack is handling the valuable brooch.
• The Orthros is strong enough to tear a chain apart by pulling it between the heads. It’s difficult to estimate, but the tensile strength of this chain should be enough to support half a metric ton at least.

• “Well, I could use another lamp.”

  • Notice that the lamp he lost is a kerosene lamp, but the lamp he gets – the Discord shaped one – is electric. And it lights up without being visibly plugged in when he actually gets it later in the episode.
  • Also notice that it replicates the one Discord made in Keep Calm and Flutter On, so unless it’s Discord inspiring someone to make another one by doing the same joke twice, or someone saw Fluttershy’s and decided it’s ripe for mass-producing. Stellar Eclipse does not appear to know Fluttershy, so how?
• “Will you trade a lamp for my horseshoe…” And this here we see a permanent wheelcart on Stellar Eclipse.
• “We need a crystal chalice…” You’d think the lady with the crystal chalices would be a crystal pony, but she isn’t.
• “You want me to trade all my books for a broken pen?” Notice that the child is offering a broken quill, rather than a pen. Twilight is really anxious to get rid of the books, isn’t she?
• “According to the rules of the Exchange, a trade is only fair if both ponies end up with something they want.” The list of the rules Pinkie presents as she says that has 11 rules in it, marked with obvious Arabic numerals. We only ever get told one rule, what about all the others?
• “Gallop over here for your chance to trade for authentic, one-of-a-kind, official princess merchandise!” Pinkie wears a pork pie hat and a mustache while saying that, and I’m wondering if she is imitating the Flimflam Brothers, or they’re both imitating some archetype. Also, more crystallized crystal ponies are listening.
• Fluttershy uses glue to repair the crystal chalice. This one looks green, for some reason, and is still obviously synthetic – though I suspect, it’s probably a rubber cement. Rainbow has a roll of Scotch tape stuck in her hair, and more tape is used to keep the chalice together. See chemical industry.
• “So who wants to start the bidding?” Now, bidding would only be possible if all offered exchange options would be numerically comparable, which I’m sure they aren’t. Is Pinkie breaking the rules or just misusing the word?
• “My belly’s tellin’ me it’s time to eat an oatburger.” Oatburgers exist, and unlike hayburgers, which just have a bundle of hay as seen in Twilight Time, do contain some manner of a patty. These certainly seem more appetizing…
• “But the Exchange ends at sundown!” So why doesn’t it start at sunrise? Because it doesn’t.
• Lemon Hearts pays for food with bit coins, suggesting that at least the catering follows the normal economic rules.
• Notice that nopony wonders where the bear is after being scared off by the bear call, it’s business as usual.
• “Yeah, you know, the thing is… I don’t really want an Orthros anymore.” Actually, it just occurred to me: Since Rainbow herself didn’t want any of the items she traded for, wouldn’t this make every trade she made unfair, according to the stated rules of the Exchange?
• “…If she comes and stays with us in Manehattan until it’s trained!” And if this condition is legal, trading services is also legal, isn’t it?

• “Gosh, training an Orthros takes a long time. I’ll probably be gone from Ponyville for… I don’t even know how many moons!”

  • Gosh, it’s that G word again. Hek is a place for people who don’t believe in Gosh… never mind.
  • Moons. Oh gosh. See RTAC #11.
  • Fluttershy knows how to train an Orthros and in general knows quite a lot about them.
• “And this one reminds me of the day I got it… which was the day I met you.” On the day Twilight left for Ponyville, she got a book from Princess Celestia – a book we never actually saw her read on that day, or, for that matter, carry around. I wonder what is it about.

• “You said it was a fair trade.” Now, is there a rule that a pony must have a legal right to anything they wish to trade away or not, and if it turns out they don’t, the trade is annulled and they are responsible? I’m pretty sure there has to be, among the 11 rules listed, otherwise it would be an endless quagmire, and so, here are the options I can think of:

  1. Two separate trades actually happen as part of one transaction: Book / Orthros, Condition for the other trade to happen / Fluttershy’s services. As long as Fluttershy acknowledges that she wants the fulfillment of this condition, the second trade is fair, and so is the first one, because Rainbow can’t deny she wants the book.
  2. Conditions requiring anything from a third party are illegal in general, in which case the trade is not fair in the first place, and Teddi Safari is the guilty party, because she was the one who made such a demand.
  3. The offer to make a trade is final at the moment it is made, and Teddi Safari made no such condition at the time she offered to trade the book for an Orthros, so the second trade described in #1 did not happen at all.

  Twilight initially rules that the trade is fair, and it remains fair until Teddi makes a statement that it isn’t what she wanted. That would only leave #1 – and I can imagine a huge can of worms that follows. Unless there’s an interpretation that I missed?

• “Oh, come on, that’s… the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.” I am pretty sure she just suddenly realized she’s going to get stoned by the crowd if she doesn’t agree.
• “And with that, I declare this trial, and this year’s Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange, over!” Twilight uses a gavel.
• Spike traded his mint condition comic for a non-sealed trade paperback, it seems. And it took him all day to haggle.
• Rainbow traded off the Orthros for a bird whistle for Fluttershy.
• “Well, what do you know? My copy of Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue. It’s just a beat up old paperback, not a one-of-a-kind first edition…” The book on screen, however, is unambiguously a hardback, whut?

This episode is one of those cases where the moral gets in the way of the worldbuilding. At least, I’m sure that the Exchange is treated as contract law…

Comments

[Comnislasher]

Twilight doesn’t get those a lot in this period, does she?

I think that Celestia, despite this whole "you'll play your part", don't exactly know what to do with Twilight. She a princess but most likely never learns how to rule and manage. Celestia obviously tries to remedy that ("sending me more books to read than ever") but it takes some time I think.

[hawthornbunny]

Those Canterlot Friends are going to have a lot to answer for by the time you get to S5x12.

[Meta Four]

• Spike traded his mint condition comic for a non-sealed trade paperback, it seems. And it took him all day to haggle.

Just like in the real world! Apparently Spike’s just enough of a latecomer to the comic collecting scene that his mint condition comic isn’t actually worth that much, because too many other people also have mint copies of that same comic. Paraphrasing from a Calvin & Hobbes comic:

Hobbes: How can this be valuable and rare in the future, if everyone’s buying copies and preserving them?
Calvin: We’re all counting on the other guy’s mom to throw his away.

[Meta Four]

• “There’s a pony here who’s got a signed first edition of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue, and I’m gonna get it! I’ve been able to get first editions of all of the Daring Do books, except this one! Nopony’s ever put together a whole set, and I’m gonna be the first! If it hasn’t been traded yet… It’s the only one in all of Equestria!” Nopony has ever put together a whole set, not even Yearling herself. You’d think Rainbow is exaggerating, but she also says that this copy is the only one in Equestria. This implies a recall of the first printing of the first book, and the only way Yearling herself wouldn’t have a copy that I can think of is if she herself ordered it destroyed. I wonder what’s the story behind that, because if it were any beginning writer’s first book, that would be the end of their career right there.

Back in “Read It and Weep”, the title of that book was inconsistent, which already suggested that there were differences between the first printing and later editions. And the evidence from this episode is totally consistent with my theory that Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue was the original, first-edition title, and it was renamed Quest for the Sapphire Stone for all subsequent editions.

As for why AK Yearling recalled copies of the first edition... My first thought is that, since her adventures were real, she accidentally included too much information. Maybe something related to her real identity, or, more likely, info about the current location of the Sapphire Statue or some other dangerously powerful macguffin.

[howard035]

Yeah, that trading thing was so weird I never could figure it out. That said, the Orthos and other ancient beasts make me feel like Equestria is more and more like Stranger Things.