Aug
18th
2018
Points of Canon: S8x19 - Road to Friendship · 10:25am Aug 18th, 2018
All this “release schedule” business is getting on my nerves.
- Chronology markers: School of Friendship does appear on screen as Starlight’s day job. So does Cozy Glow, though this does not produce a hard lock against her introduction. Spike and his wings are not seen, permitting some backdating.
- “I don’t know, folks. She’s been in there a long time!” Starlight wields a mechanical watch. Not a stopwatch for some reason – it has two hands. It’s interesting that it appears and disappears with no fanfare, suggesting cartoon resolution concealing Starlight’s pockets.
- Flurry Heart is still wearing diapers, which puts a soft limit on the time this episode can go into the future relative to her birth. Unless diapers are your thing.
- Bon-Bon is in the crowd of viewers, but Lyra isn’t.
- Trixie’s horn never lights up during the appearance-from-smoke-cloud, implying non-magical means of smoke production, not that this would be a surprise. Later, we see a whole box of impact-sensitive, glass-looking balls that appear to be the origin – but notice there’s apparently no broken glass involved, and they don’t leave any visible trace except the smoke residue.
- “But if you’re there, who’s in here?” Trixie covers a lot of ground in under one second, and yet, Starlight’s horn does not appear to light up, and neither does Trixie’s. Trixie can be ridiculously quick when required.
- “You shoulda oughta tell a pony before ya go a-poofin’ ’em around the stage!” Now, is Granny Smith acting to support the show, as she is likely to do, or did the trick actually rely on teleportation? Because it doesn’t have to.
- Trixie effortlessly floats trunks which have to weigh upwards of 50kg, giving us a gauge on her power level. In fact, eyeballing it, Trixie’s gear has to weigh a total of 2-5 metric tons and she has a very sturdy wagon, which the rest of the episode capitalizes on by subjecting it to much abuse. The thing also seems to be considerably bigger on the inside. And she can easily pull the wagon herself… Notably, so can Starlight.
- “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake!” Trixie’s and Starlight’s reaction indicates this sort of thing is not normal and more importantly, considered mildly embarrassing.
- “The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t chant.” Good to know!
- “Which I’m supposed to be doing right now!” Starlight teleports something like a kilometer three times in quick succession, but we already knew she can do that.
- Trixie does something very strange. She pulls at the door handle, but it doesn’t give. Then Trixie leans into the pull, as if her previously shown capability of lifting 50+ kilograms is insufficient, and loses her magical grip, which results in her falling. This is not a fluke, as she does this twice, eventually ripping the handle off and falling again. This is very much not how telekinesis has been previously shown to work, and in general it’s something a pony would be very unlikely to do. What’s going on?
- “Usually, ponies just call me Trixie. But ‘Ms. Powerful’ has a nice ring.” Notice the absence of “Lulamoon.”
- “From here to Saddle Arabia, I have seen nothing that compares with your wondrous show. Uh, would you consider blessing my homeland with it?” From seeing the untranslated French version, I was nearly convinced that “Saddle Arabia” would turn out to have been “Southern Equestria” all along. Thankfully, it’s not so. However, the route to Saddle Arabia passes through Somnambula, which implies that it is on the same continent – otherwise, boarding a ship in the nearest port would be a far superior option.
- Hoo’Far himself is well outside the pony size norm, and more in line with the Saddle Arabians seen in Magic Duel, while at the same time, being a unicorn, capable of magic. Which implies Saddle Arabians are a strain of pony, rather than an entirely separate species. Later Starlight confirms it by saying “I traded it to that pony from Saddle Arabia for his.” – emphasis mine.
- “Trade it?! Heavens, no!” That’s the first time anyone uses heavens this way, I believe, but in any case, we needed more exclamations like those.
- Starlight’s office has more crystals growing in pots on the windowsill.
- “You’re not just my assistant and my counselor. You’re also my friend.” Trixie essentially treats Starlight as a therapist, which is actually a bit strange.
- “I should probably get somepony to cover my student counseling duties while we’re gone.” We never find out whom did she get to do it. Bulk Biceps? Derpy? Vinyl Scratch?…
- “Oh. You brought luggage.” Which has handles on either side which she isn’t using.
“Three one-thousand-piece puzzles, one copy of Dragon Pit – the best board game in the history of ponies – my famous collection of campfire spices, and an inflatable raft.”
- Starlight still has no idea of how to pack for camping, despite The Mean Six, but this suggests this episode actually does have to happen afterwards: This would be a camping experience she would want to cite.
- Ponies have piece puzzles. I’m not sure if those turned up on screen before or not.
- How exactly did Starlight acquire a “famous collection of campfire spices?”
- The inflatable raft inflates by pulling a cord, and very quickly at that, implying either mundane or magical means of producing a large quantity of gas very fast. Both are an option for ponies, based on other observations. This is normally a trait only present in emergency rafts…
“Trixie, there’s plenty of high-quality inns to stay at on the way.”
- The map matches the previously seen Season 4 map, but notably, depicts the western seaboard of Equestria, with the top side near Vanhoover, and the bottom going all the way down to Arimaspi territories. At the time this is said, however, they’re still just leaving Ponyville, which is further east past the map edge.
- The icons used for the inns seem to be a bed in a circle, and they’re too large to be practical for this map scale…
Song montage time!
- Starlight can trot backwards when singing. We have never seen ponies do this when not singing, though.
- When hugged, Starlight loses concentration, dropping the wagon into a river. Shippers ahoy.
- Notice that the wagon survives this, when most regular ones would be irreparably damaged. Later, it survives a shorter drop without even the benefit of water to cushion the fall. Looks like Trixie really went all out after her first one got stepped on…
- The fire swamp that Apples traverse on their pie route in Somepony to Watch Over Me should, in theory, be east of Ponyville, but for some reason, there is one along this route as well. That’s a pretty strange biome to have a lot of.
- Mailponies are wearing the UPS brown variant of the mailpony uniform, consistent for the first time in forever. Why exactly are two pegasi with a chariot on the ground remains unexplained.
- “In summer, winter, spring, and fall, we’re friends throughout the year.” Yes, ponies have four seasons, which is easy to forget sometimes.
- “Or like a buddy movie where the two protagonists can’t get away from each other because they’re wearing hoof-cuffs!” Such a buddy movie exists in pony fiction, which is actually very indicative.
- “Falafel bonding, right?” Ponies have falafel. That said, I wonder just what kind of budget did they set out on this trip with if a single falafel can put a dent in it. Looks like Trixie lives hoof to mouth with no cushion at all, but I wonder why didn’t Starlight contribute.
- “Besides, we still have enough for… haycakes and juice.” Notice, not pancakes, even though they are later shown and look the same as food previously referred to as “pancakes” – for example, in Castle Sweet Castle. Where would they even get hay in Somnambula?…
- “I always buy my haycakes here.” This is by far not the first time Trixie passes through Somnambula.
- “Nope. … Sorry. … All full!” Somnambula is big enough to have business for at least four inns, which you wouldn’t say looking at it.
- “You might’ve thought to make a reservation!” Making a reservation ahead of time was an option, which would require at least telegraph, or a very efficient mail system.
“Sleeping-in-tight-quarters bonding.”
- The entire scene strongly implies that Starlight and Trixie have never spent a night in the same room before. Shippers take note.
- Starlight snores, is aware she snores, and used to wake up the neighbors in her village. Good to know!
- Trixie talks in her sleep. Which is probably something very few ponies have known before.
- “Is there something I can do to make things more comfortable for you?” Actually, sleeping in one hammock would save space…
- “Yes, well, before we throw away the magical items it’s taken me years to collect, we could try switching hammocks.” Trixie collects this stuff rather than manufactures it, which is an important distinction. Also, I wonder how the birds were stored and what did Fluttershy think about them…
- Starlight uses an actual flame to cook breakfast, in contrast to the stone-fireplace Trixie had in her campsite in To Where And Back Again.
“What a glorious morning! I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to the first show of your tour!”
- Hoo’Far proceeds to the building marked with an icon resembling a showerhead, implying they’re in a campground explicitly set up for travelers with wagons.
- This is the first time Trixie and Starlight have stopped to do a show on this route, though this does not tell us how long did they take to get there exactly.
- “The good news is I’m so exhausted, I could sleep through a stampede of wild boars!” Equestria has wild boars, who can occasionally be seen to stampede. Not a given!
- “I traded the old, worn-out wagon that was too small for us, for this nice spacious one that we can both enjoy.” I wonder, did Starlight consider who gets to pull it, though?
- “Au contraire.” Français again.
- “Your song really inspired us! We decided we need to head off on the road to friendship, too!” “It sure beats the road to deliveries!” And that’s how Starlight and Trixie impeded mail service and prevented ponies from receiving the letters they anxiously awaited: Their ex-cart no longer has any mail in it. And I’m wondering what did they use for flotation. I hope it’s not mailbags.
- “Steaming hot beverage?” “Thank you. No.” You have to admire Trixie’s tenacity. By this point she had been lying there for at least something like twenty hours.
- “That was the worst friendship chant I have ever heard!” I wonder, did Hoo’Far hear a lot of them?…
I’m surprised. A Josh Haber episode that doesn’t screw with canon too much and is actually decent.
That said, he forgot about the trip in To Where and Back Again, which had to have involved the same kind of distance, and definitely involved the wagon…
Hoo'far looks a lot like Sassy Saddles, between the very long horn and the height and the ectomorphic build. Is she from Saddle Arabia too?
As a former conmare, she knows she has to run when the jig is up.
Stole it from her dad, maybe. He looks like someone who'd collect bizarre things.
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Sassy, in turn, looks like Fleur. Maybe Fleur is actually from Algieria rather than Prance proper.
Another thing from that episode he forgot is that Starlight has a silencing spell. A silencing spell that she specifically used on Trixie. How neither of them managed to get any sleep given that is a mystery.
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There's no guarantee that Starlight's silence-sphere is air-permiable. In fact, looking at it in that episode, I think it almost has to have been a limited-oxygen sort of spell. Looks solid.
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Possible, I suppose. Although, considering all the ways we've seen shield spells be used without this concern (in particular, Twilight sealing herself and her library inside a shield when she was mad at the CMC), an air-permeable version of this spell must exist.
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I think the only shield we've seen that must have been air permeable was Shining Armor's shield over Canterlot* since it was up for days at a time. Every other shield was up for minutes at most with the ponies inside being fine with whatever air was trapped inside when they initially formed. Shining Armor being able to do things with his shields that nopony else can do is his special talent after all.
*Cadance's barrier against Sombra wasn't a traditional shield.
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I doubt it – he’s a lot taller even than Sassy Saddles. It is possible one of her parents is from there, though…
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More importantly, Starlight must know it: She sleeps in the same castle with Twilight and Spike, who would be complaining if even the villagers of Our Town did.
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Unless Twilight knows an air-permeable version and Starlight doesn't? Which would be weird, considering how magic is their shared interest, but it's the only thing I can think of that explains Starlight not using such a spell in this episode. It might be that, as 4921803 suggests, Shining Armor's shield spells are special, and he taught Twilight whatever trick he uses to avoid suffocating.
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Twilight knowing a spell Starlight does not is simply not possible.
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New head canon acquired.
A meh episode, but pretty good for season 8. I feel my expectations have dropped.
I think this might have to be after Cozy Glow's intro episode, since Starlight made a big point in that episode about how she has no clients, and now she has a bunch (most of whom looked like adults, and I think a lot of the adults showed up after Friendship U).
Also, the Glowpaz festival is happening, so this episode is a yearly integer away from Daring Done.
Considering being a volunteer in Trixie's dad's show has been a dream of hers, I guess volunteer playing things up a bit.
I wish we could see Flurry's face during this, I would love to see if she's old enough to be embarrassed by her mom.
Anyone have any idea what he was up to? He seemed like he had ulterior motives for something the whole time, I thought he might be Chrysalis. Did he just really covet Trixie's wagon for some reason?
It's not that strange, whenever you have one friend who's a huge drama queen, they love unloading on their other friends like that. It's probably co-dependent though.
The CMC?
And no kite?
I noticed that. My guess is that is a map of all the nice inns on the west coast that Starlight bought. Surprisingly, they did a semi-good job of sequences that the gals should travel. It looks like they went through the Ghastly Gorge, which turns into a river, and the river hits a forest (which makes a swamp), right next to the area of the map of all those reddish cliffs, which might explain why the fire swamp area is so reddish in hue. Then they travel through the jungle, circling west around Arimaspi territory and hitting the west coast.
I wonder if Saddle Arabia is supposed to be in that area with the chock white hills, and the giant statue in the shape of an Arabian pony's head off the coast?
Either Trixie was expecting Starlight to contribute for the privilege of being an assistant, or Starlight only gets paid in room and board to be a friendship counselor. I'd believe either.
And yet she's never been to Saddle Arabia, so this might be the southernmost stop she makes.
And she lied to them all and got them to believe bears were attacking every night. And that was after every new member has to spend a night in Starlight's house! This is my favorite part of the episode.
Good point. I wonder if they're some kind of magically animated fake bird.
I think they could have loaded the wagon up on a train and taken the train to Starlight's village. They didn't take the train to Somnabula (it has a train line!) Because they wanted the magic of road trips.
You are not the only one who thought that
4921970
You can! She looks concerned derpicdn.net/img/view/2018/8/17/1808849.gif
4921970
Do we know this is a yearly festival though?
Considering that he was caught actually using it extensively, I would have to say yes, but I don’t have a good idea for why did he want it.
Absolutely not: This would make a shred of sense.
Confirms that Starlight does not know how to pack kites for transport.
Man, I missed another one?! There's just too much pony to keep track of at once!
I suppose at this point we just have to accept that magic shows are a thing in a world with real magic. Even if the best unicorn spellcasters can teleport with ease, that Trixie escaped the box without magic is surely impressive.
I like that Flurry Heart is now consigned to the role of Cadance's Head Pet. You'd think carrying a baby on your head all day would be heavy, but alicorns have earth pony strength after all.
So, if the Princess of Love says that...
How do you have a caravan if it's just one wagon? More linguistic fodder for Oliver's fanfic, I guess.
Trixie can levitate?! Or maybe that's just Feather Fall.
Why does she need that many trick wands that all do the same trick?
How about helping her, Starlight? Or just levitating the whole thing along with magic? Or casting a self-propulsion spell like Twilight used in Winter Wrap-Up?
WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MAP EVEN SHOW?!
I KNEW SHE COULD LEVITATE IT
Hey look, Oliver! Two mailponies wearing the same uniform!
...And Starlight and Trixie aren't going to help them? Ooooo-kaaaay...
At least Starlight takes turns pulling the wagon.
HOW? By mail? She prooobably could've thought ahead and checked into an inn while Trixie was waiting in line, though.
It's good you can joke about your village at this point!
Starlight's friendship education seems to have skipped over some crucial lessons!
Hold on, isn't the original trade even less legitimate if they aren't friends?
Weren't you traveling on your own for all of Season 5? Maybe she was hanging out with the Other Sith.
I bet Cozy Glow volunteered and then messed with the other students to support whatever her master plan is.
Oh, so that's what the map showed. The inn icons could be a more literal form of cartoon resolution.
Maybe if the wheel or axle breaks, whatever allows pegasi to pull chariots and wagons through the air stops working? We never see them just pulling boxes, after all. Come to think of it, do the wheels turn when they do that? Either way, what the heck could they have hit? A very large bird? Or maybe they landed to rest and had a bad landing.
Maybe they were illusory birds? Or temporary magical conjurations?
Obviously ponies design all wagons to float just in case. I mean, that's weird, but Trixie's floated, despite getting fully submerged and filling with water!
He's a fan of Trixie. And fans in this universe want tied-up-Daring-Do body pillows...
Well, that was an interesting episode. Not as fun as the Washouts, but not nearly as bad as the yovidaphone one!
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Illusion, I’m telling you.
Why wouldn’t they be? Everyone can run, people still watch track and field.
It’s a Britishism. “Caravan” is the word used for a trailer equipped for long term living on occasion.
Probably, because they don’t last?
Yes, the wheels do turn if present, though they are not required for flying a chariot. (See Three’s a Crowd for example.) It might be, though, that the magic requires the chariot to be land-worthy in its original form…
Probably the only interpretation that doesn’t require Trixie to feed birds packaged into hats.
A fancomic artist points out that there was a quite simple solution here...
Smart Ideas by bobthedalek
I was re-watching this episode and I realized something: Hoo'far acts kind of weird and is always trying to switch his larger, nicer wagon for Trixie's throughout the episode.
In the opening scene we see Hoo'far in the audience with Princess Cadance, but as soon as the show ends he walks away while Cadance smirks at Trixie and Starlight and drops hints about their "chemistry."
Then later on Hoo'far shows up, invites Trixie to go on a tour of Saddle Arabia, and tries to trade her wagon for a huge fancy wagon that can comfortably fit 2 ponies.
What if Hoo'far is Cadance in disguise (after the first scene where the real Hoo'far leaves), running some kind of weird matchmaking scheme on Trixie and Starlight?
I admit it seems implausible that a mother and ruler of a medium-sized city could take weeks off just to try and get two ponies to fall in love with each other/admit their feelings, but then again I have no idea what a Princess of Love would consider a reasonable inconvenience to tolerate in the name of shipping. Or if Hoo'far wasn't Cadance herself in disguise, maybe she asked Thorax for a favor and he sent a friendly changling on a mission.
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I don’t buy disguise for two reasons: They’re in the same crowd in the beginning, and Cadance is wearing Flurry on her head the entire time. Matchmaking or no matchmaking, there’s no way you would get this eldritch horror to stay quiet.
Acting on Cadance’s request and according to her plan, though? Easily.
5016107 Oh yeah, that's the real Hoo'far in the first scene, no question. I just meant either Cadance or a friendly changling (maybe even Thorax, if he feels he owes Trixie and Starlight a biggie for redeeming his brother) borrowed Hoo'far's appearance when they saw him leaving town. Cadance could always dump Flurry on Twilight or something, the second appearance of Hoo'far is after a scene-break, I think it could have been an hour after the real Hoo'far took off.