Nov
6th
2018
Points of Canon: Better Together · 5:53pm Nov 6th, 2018
The last major batch of Equestria Girls microepisodes, and I’m going to do the whole batch at once. And what a big batch it is. This post turned out ridiculously long…
All of these want to follow Legends of Everfree, but with the way they treat the continuity, of course, several of them ended up totally impossible.
School of Rock
- Chronology markers: Use of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
“I’m thrilled that you are here at the Canterlot Natural History Museum to learn about rocks, minerals, fossils, and, last, but not least, landforms.”
- Canterlot Natural History Museum exists.
1. Do you know how many complete T-Rex skeletons were actually excavated? Three. Every museum wants a cast, though.
Copious dinosaur skeletons imply Pedestrians believe those were a thing, too. Notice that this does not necessarily mean they’re correct.1
- We do not know why exactly is Maud a guide in the museum. A part time job sounds most likely, though: Her lines identify her with the museum employees.
- For some really unclear reason, the CMC are present, being (nearly) the only younger generation characters in a class-full crowd of older students, chaperoned by Cheerilee.
“Ready for what we planned with Maud?”
- This would involve prior collusion, which would have to happen on Pinkie’s initiative, since Maud herself never sought contact with Humane 7…
- Notice that this involves copious use of magic in quite a public place, and students make sure to take pictures.
“As a proud member of the Maud Squad, I just wanted to ask, will you sign my geology book?”
- A Maud Squad exists. What exactly does one do and since when is this a thing, we never find out.
- The logo of the Maud Squad is a stylized portrait of Maud. And unless Maud is her cutie mark, the girl doing this has no mark of her own.
- For some bizarre reason, Maud signs the outer cover of the book she is given, rather than the title page, as people usually do.
Normality inertia must be really strong in this area of Pedestria for this incident not to result in trending hashtags.
A Fine Line
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
“Hey, is this the line for the new Tirek’s Revenge video game?” “Ooh! Rise of Tirek was awesome! I’ve been waiting ages for the sequel!”
- While it’s possible for the game to be based on a historical – mythical, presumably – character, this is not something people do unless they’re as rich as Disney already: It’s tough to copyright them. So my guess is, a historical Tirek did not exist in any form in Pedestria.
- For that matter, this Pedestrian Tirek character is likely to be the protagonist of his game – the first game is “Rise of Tirek” and the second one is “Tirek’s Revenge.” Jury is out on whether he’s a villain protagonist or not.
- Sunset has discovered video games comparatively early, if she has been waiting “ages” for the sequel – a common time for a big name game to get a sequel would be something like a couple years after the release of the original.
2. This is mildly important, because almost all Equestrian species with hands have four fingers, and only Storm King and his goons have three
The poster for the game contains mangled, but quite readable Latin letters spelling “Tirek’s Revenge” – a rare occurrence of readable English in Pedestria. Tirek himself on the poster is quite similar to the Equestrian one, and appears to have at most four fingers2 – but since he’s only shown from the chest up, we don’t know if he’s a centaur or not.
The poster has an ESRB rating – it’s “E.”
- Pedestria has an ESRB!
- Unless the rating system is significantly different in Pedestria, “Tirek’s Revenge” only contains “minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.” Which is how a game gets away with a villain protagonist, I suppose…
“Heh, this is the line for the line.”
- Actually, the fact that the line exists at all, let alone includes people camping in tents and sleeping bags, suggests that the platform the game is made for does not have digital distribution.
- Pedestrian Derpy is capable of juggling.
- “Hey, it’s about the quest with your buds. Not the loot.” This line would suggest, but not say definitely, that the game’s an RPG of some description, right? Otherwise it’d be quite a non-sequitur.
- Snips and Snails entertain themselves with handheld consoles – exactly the same as the one found in Sunset’s locker in Forgotten Friendship. The back side of the device has a logo, which looks like a mutated Gamecube logo. Notably, the same logo later appears on the box with the game, which is too big for a disk or cartridge that would fit into this handheld – which suggests that this is not a standalone handheld console, but rather, something like a Dreamcast VMU on steroids.
- “Uh, I didn’t think they’d wanna do this.” Sunset believes that beside her, Rainbow is the one most interested in gaming among the Humane 7.
- “I pre-ordered it for you weeks ago.” Pinkie did it with no obvious provocation. Shipping fuel!
“You know what the best part of this game is?” “Uh, the quest?” “The powerups?” “The revenge?” “It’s multiplayer!”
- It pretty much would have to be an action-RPG with that list of features, but something like “Tales of Phantasia” is also a possibility.
- Notice how Fluttershy is interested in sublimating revenge.
This one is actually quite useful! An interesting question to ask, did Sunset know who Tirek is before arrival to Pedestria or not?
Pinkie Sitting
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
“I can’t thank you enough for filling in for my babysitting emploi, Pinkie Pie. I couldn’t pass up the last-minute ticket to the Young Designers’ Gala.”
- Rarity babysits.
- Young Designer’s Gala is a thing.
- Notice that Rarity brought the girl to Pinkie’s home, instead of any other possible arrangement.
- “Oh, you’re a small pink lifesaver!” I’d say this is an acknowledgement that Pinkie’s hair is pink, but Pinkie is always pink…
- “It’s about a band of girl pirates who are sailing the seven seas, and one day, there’s a big storm and stuff.” What, like these?
- To perform all the stunts subsequently displayed, Pinkie would have to have a stockpile of decorations, sweets and costumes, but we kinda believed she had all that anyway.
- Pinkie sleeps with her squeaky toy alligator.
Introvert’s nightmare.
Queen of Clubs
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. This episode has a significant chronology issue due to the presence of yearbooks, however…
- “Whyever do you have that swine accompanying you to school, Applejack?” Because pets are forbidden in school, but who cares about that.
“It’s Photo Day for all the clubs, and it’s a Young Farmers’ Club tradition to have your critter in the yearbook picture.”
- “Young Farmer’s Club” exists, and presumably, so does the tradition.
- So what did Applejack bring in Year 1P, 2P and 3P?
- “You’re lucky you’re only in one club. I’m in five this year.” Remember how many demands the Mane 6 have on their time, with their jobs and teaching positions and everything? Applejack and Rainbow seem to be determined to top this.
- “I meant five sports clubs!” CHS has at least five sports clubs.
Clubs actually observed:
- Chess club, which Rainbow definitely wasn’t a member of. The board shown on screen is invalid: It’s only 6x6.
3. Only a few systems other than D&D and its derivatives use a d12.
Tabletop roleplaying club. Members include Big Mac, Snips, Snails and Trixie. For the picture day, they chose to get costumed. Big Mac has a GM screen, indicating he’s probably the GM for this session. Polyhedral dice are in use, including a d12, suggesting a d20 family system.3 Applejack tries to butt in on this photo, so she definitely wasn’t a member prior to that, either.
- Knitting club. Fluttershy is a member, and so are Lyra and Bon-Bon, as well as Bulk Biceps and two other background humans I don’t care to remember. Rainbow wasn’t a member. Rainbow’s superspeed is precise enough to allow superfast knitting.
- Fencing club. Sunset is a member, though we don’t know for how long. Applejack misunderstands the word “fencing” to butt in on this one.
- Some manner of science club. Twilight, Flash, Rarity and Derpy are members. Rainbow is not.
- A marching band. Applejack is not a member.
- An art club. Rainbow is not a member.
- Cheerleading squad. Applejack is not a member, but for some reason, Pinkie isn’t either.
- Cooking club of some description. Pinkie, Flash, Derpy, Sandalwood, and one other girl are members. Rainbow is not.
- Drama club. Applejack is not a member.
- A hip-hop club of some kind. Snips, Snails, Pinkie are members. I’m not sure about Rainbow, since she turns up in the same hip-hop costume she used for Dance Magic – she might be.
- A computer club. Twilight, Micro Chips, and a few others are members. Applejack is not. Twilight attends with the robotic dog from Mad Twience.
- Hairdressing club of some kind. Pinkie is a member. Rainbow probably isn’t.
Clubs observed indirectly:
- Hockey team – Rainbow probably is a member, seeing as how she has a personalized hockey stick. Only, that’s a goalkeeper’s stick – why would she be a goalkeeper? She’d be bored…
- An unclear box with either an antenna or a grappling hook in Applejack’s hands indicates a club activity that involves it. My first thought was amateur radio direction finding, but that would involve headphones, which Applejack does not have – and would not involve the goggles she does have. Which club is that? A Spy Club?!
- Archery club – Rainbow carries around a quiver, but we don’t know when she got it. She might or might not be a member.
- The CMC rush past the camera with yearbooks – blue yearbooks. Same color yearbooks the Humane 7 are handling. For some reason, Sunset is not shown to be involved with yearbooks at all.
- “At least between the two of us, we joined every single club at CHS.” Unfortunately we don’t know how many clubs escaped being shown, so this isn’t useful.
- “Oh, well, of course. You can’t expect me to be the president and the vice-president.” What exactly was the nature of the club Rarity set up to spite the two is never elaborated, but looks like setting up a club is easy enough at CHS.
That’s a lot of clubs, particularly unexpected clubs for Flash, and certainly makes this episode required reference for anyone writing an in-depth story set in CHS. Notice that very few of them are sports clubs. The resolution of this episode would have to be delayed until the publication of the yearbook.
Which brings us to the chronology problem of this episode:
- It has to follow Legends of Everfree, because everyone has their geodes throughout, and they are occasionally used.
- That movie’s events cannot start earlier than Year 3P summer – Equestria Girls would depict the autumn of Year 3P, the beginning, and Twilight cannot join earlier than spring of Year 3P, and Legends of Everfree is a summer camp, so it’s the end of Year 3P at the earliest.
- Which means that this would be the Year 4P yearbook – but Forgotten Friendship lays a claim for the same yearbook. Which is a different color.
It’s not a particularly impenetrable problem – it’s possible for multiple printings with different cover colors to exist for the same yearbook – but it requires us to jump pointless hoops to accept it into the continuity.
Overpowered
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
- Sunset owns a pair of spiky earmuffs – she doesn’t call them earphones.
- “My science project is gonna be overdue!” Sweetie Belle definitely has classes at CHS.
- “Trixie is gre-eat, Trixie is powerful…” Trixie’s thoughts are very consistent with her speech.
Surges experienced by others offer the following:
- Twilight diligently wears a helmet when riding a bicycle. The use of telekinesis renders this entirely pointless, but who cares.
- Applejack’s locker contains an extra pair of boots and a piece of warmer outer clothing.
- “Hi, guys! I just ran here from the soccer field in three seconds! Wait, hold on! Forgot my backpack!” Actually, that’s about 0.8 seconds for a round trip. Which should be close to the speed of sound, or even exceed it, resulting in sonic booms and other damage.
- “Our geodes are all connected. So the more each of us use our magic for everyday tasks, the more all of our powers become supercharged and go… haywire!” “Since Rainbow was using her super speed for everything, all of us experienced an uncontrollable boost.” See pet theory offered when discussing Mirror Magic, which this hypothesis plays into – if the Humane 7 are not the actual hosts of magic, and instead, their “friendship” gestalt is, this works.
- “And our geodes will go all glowy if it’s about to get whack-a-doodle-doo?” Useful magic-in-Pedestria rule, take note.
- “Hey, Rainbows! There you are. Do you wanna go to the mall with me?” Say hello to the Pedestrian Zephyr Breeze. Whether he goes to CHS or not, and how old he even is, is anyone’s guess, but he’s just as interested in (a) Rainbow as the Equestrian one.
While this episode introduces a rule of Pedestrian magic, I don’t think it ever comes up again.
The Finals Countdown
This is a music video, with the usual caveats, but it does have a plot.
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers except the finals themselves – when in the year would that be?
- At least for this class, the entirety of Humane 7 are in the same class, which should be by itself notable.
“And I hope you’re all prepared, because final exams are in two weeks!”
- CHS has finals at all.
- The paper Cheerilee holds in her hands and the one used later during the exam itself suggests a standardized multiple choice test. Typical for an American school, less so for the rest of the world.
In addition to previously observed objects, Twilight’s bedroom contains:
- A blackboard, added for this episode.
- A reflector telescope of unclear type.
- Sunset and Twilight are the only ones not particularly upset at the perspective.
- Sunset is caught playing her weird handheld again. See A Fine Line.
- The first problem Twilight offers is
4(4x) + 2(x) = 72– and the syntax feels pretty weird, because it’s equivalent to
16x + 2x = 72, which would be obviously trivial. Twilight gives the correct answer,x = 4– so what’s up with the syntax?… - Rarity’s dress calculations are mathematically correct, but make no sense, since she appears to multiply units of length of a complete dress by dollars.
- Sunset checkmates Twilight as part of the preparations. Which would normally indicate chess is part of the curriculum, wouldn’t it?… Unless Sunset actually doesn’t need any tutoring and they’re just passing the time while everyone else is working.
- Pedestrian Angel is sufficiently capable to assist in using flashcards, at least while in Fluttershy’s presence.
- Another example of weird syntax is a problem for Pinkie:
(\frac{7}{5})_2– which actually means
0.2 \times \frac{7}{5}, since the correct answer, according to Twilight, is0.28– wtf?… Is this what they teach the American kids these days?… - Applejack’s tutoring includes a science project, assembled in a workshop, a model of some compound which I can’t readily identify. The wiki says it’s methyl butanoate, the apple scent molecule, but I’m not about to verify.
- Final results: Sunset, Twilight, Rarity - A+, Applejack, Rainbow - A-, Pinkie, Fluttershy - A.
This one is weird, to be honest.
Star Crossed
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes and Timber Spruce require Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
- “Oh, I’m so excited for my, uh… ‘hang-out’ with Timber Spruce.” There’s a photo of Timber Spruce with Twilight on the mirror, with some kind of trophy, taken in a parking lot by Timber, selfie fashion. This photo never appears on this mirror before or after. Make of it what you will.
- “First, we’re gonna peruse the exhibit on gravitational fields for thirteen minutes.” How exactly does one look, anyway? Pretty difficult to visualize these sensibly.
- “Then, we’ll marvel at the vastness of the universe during the planetarium show.” Now, here’s a thing to keep in mind… A planetarium is a fairly specialized medium of entertainment, requiring some very specialized equipment. There aren’t all that many of them.. Fortunately, we subsequently find out the place does not actually have a planetarium.
- “Awww, that’s so sweet. You didn’t… have to?” Notice that Twilight does not appear to ask what the bugs are or how are they meant to be used.
- The globes in front of the planetarium make no sense.
The exhibits inside include:
- Multiple globes of planets that I cannot identify reliably, whether due to cartoon resolution or because they’re senseless, I’m not sure.
- Multiple random rocks and plants. No idea.
- A statue that is easy to identify as the Pedestrian Star Swirl the Bearded.
- Two models of spacecraft. The one on the right looks more like TKS VA than the Apollo CM which it should be – a very strange choice. The one on the left is a Saturn V, heavily mutated and reduced in scale compared to the capsule – but there’s no other realistic spacecraft that rocket could be.
“But it says the exhibit should be right here, next to the statue of Star Swirl.” Acknowledging Star Swirl by name has implications for pony name proliferation in Pedestria, and here are the options I see:
- Pony name phenomenon is not geographically localized. (Doubtful, see my commentary on A Case for the Bass)
- Pony name phenomenon is geographically localized, but not localized temporally. (Doubtful, would imply North America got settled by Europeans a lot earlier than you’d think.)
- And option C, the one I’m picking. “Star Swirl” is a local researcher, relatively contemporary, and wore this stupid outfit because he was a weirdo.
What? It’s valid.
- The prospectus Twilight is perusing has a V-2 style rocket and a stylized grey alien head on the side we can see.
- “All shows are cancelled for the rest of the day.” That’s… not a planetarium at all. And no, you can’t hide a digital projector in that “star” in the middle. And handling delicately painted globes like that would break them. What the hell are they doing…
- “Now how am I supposed to impress you by pointing out the constellations of Equuleus, Pegasus, and Cassiopeia?” All three are actual constellations in our world as well, implying that Pedestrian Earth has to at least occupy roughly the same position in the galaxy as our Earth. Equuleus and Pegasus border each other, but Cassiopeia is not near them and I’m not sure if they would be visible all at the same time or not.
- Fluttershy is capable of teaching even primitive insects to perform complex swarming behavior out of her presence.
This one was painful to watch, to be honest.
My Little Shop of Horrors
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
“Thank you for looking after my garden while I’m away on vacation, Twilight. I really appreciate it.”
- This is Celestia’s own garden, since the school has nothing of the sort nearby. And it’s a bloody big garden, with the forest beginning immediately on the other side of the fence. How’d Celestia end up with it is anyone’s guess.
- The gazebo also contains a vase and two cups on a table, so presumably, two people were just there, and they probably weren’t Celestia and Twilight.
“I’m so excited, Spike! I even brought my own watering can!”
- Honestly, I’m surprised she even owns one.
- Notice that neither Celestia nor Twilight notice the wisp of magic infiltrating the can.
- “Well, hi there, little guys! How are you doing?” Now, why isn’t Twilight surprised at the singing flowers? Because that would be the moment she should have started suspecting something…
- Twilight’s SMS to Applejack consists exclusively of emoji. That said, Applejack appeared surprisingly quickly.
- “It’s that waterin’ can, that’s what! It’s got magic all over it!” So how does Applejack know that?
“Quick! Try this!”
- Once again, why would Applejack even think this could possibly work?
- Why would a greenhouse have a sprinkler system?…
- “Just be careful not to over-water the plants. Have fun!”
This one feels like a lot of pieces are missing. The biggest takeaway from it is Celestia’s ridiculously big garden.
Display of Affection
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
- “After working here for months and months, I knew I’d finally do something to catch your eye!” Which would make Prim Hemline’s establishment Rarity’s primary part time job, whichever other places we see her work at.
- “I have tried everything – fringe, appliqués, cheese!” I wonder if she meant literal cheese, or some figurative variation.
“Another piece by the secretive street artist Flanksy.”
- Sunset’s reaction and subsequent scenes say that’s hers nearly outright, but I do wonder why exactly is she doing this, and more importantly, since when.
- Notice that this doesn’t exclude Banksy from existing elsewhere.
- “This mural is everything I want to say, but through paint instead of fabric!” I hope she doesn’t mean this literally, because that would imply she wants to express heartbreak through rainbows. Because the heart on the mural is cracked.
- “Yes, uh, it’s a postmodern installation piece celebrating the creative process— Ooh, who am I kidding? It’s atrocious!” Actually, no, Rarity, you got that exactly right.
- “Au revoir, career!” Another incident of Pedestrian Rarity using French.
- Sunset is wearing the baseball cap also observed in Forgotten Friendship.
So for whatever reason, Sunset is doing street art, and is known as “Flanksy.” Ok.
A Little Birdie Told Me
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree, and there’s a redundant establishing shot of the CHS showing no horse statue. No other markers.
“All right, kids, notebooks away. Quiz time!”
- Cranky Doodle is a teacher alright.
- The formula on the blackboard is overcomplicated for high school, including vectors and a few constants I can’t identify. This is especially weird compared to the finals in The Finals Countdown.
- “Only No. 2 pencils, got it?” Actually, why?…
- “Ugh, I hate math.” Trixie hates math. Not surprising, but good to know.
- “If you take four from that one and divide them equally, that sounds like a solution to the problem, Reginald.” There’s no way that matches the formula on the blackboard, which should have tipped Trixie off, but didn’t.
- “Fluttershy, cheatin’ is a serious offense.” Notice there’s no attempt to dismiss the accusation as implausible. Talking to birds is now normal.
- Fluttershy’s answer is even more complicated than the original formula – and notice that it involved wiping off the original formula and rewriting it, because Doodle’s handwriting sucks.
- “Hello? The Great and Powerful Trixie needs a tutor. Uh, which one of you knows trigonometry?” Did it have anything to do with trigonometry at all?…
I’m not about to go track down the source on that formula, because I’m pretty sure it means nothing useful in the context of worldbuilding for Pedestria.
Super Squad Goals
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
- Framing story: Sunset is drawing a comic. Which leaves the actual events depicted in question – now we don’t know if this actually happened or not.
- “A whole day in the big city to do whatever we want!” That would involve a car trip, wouldn’t it? Otherwise there’s no “whole day” aspect to it.
- “The cupcakes will have to wait for justice!” Henshin! The girls haven’t done anything of the sort for a while, but isn’t that a bit overkill?
- Throwing a granny together with the bench she’s sitting on strikes me as pointlessly inconsiderate: What if Applejack did hit the robber? Similarly, knocking a boy into the water, saving him from getting dunked, and then forgetting about his bicycle.
“But now you’ll have plenty of time to think about that…” “…from jail!”
- Rainbow can’t grammar.
- For that matter, just who arrested the guy?
This is much less useful than it could be, and portrays our heroines as pretty insensitive ladies throughout, but can be safely ignored.
Road Trippin
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree, and the bus from Get the Show on the Road is redundant. No other markers.
“Instruments? Check. Band members?”
- This is the tour bus that is restored in Get the Show on the Road.
- One of the seats, the one Fluttershy is sitting on, has a long gash in it, which implies that it has seen some use since. Violent use. There’s no way they would call it restored if that gash was still there.
- The seats have seat belts, which is uncommon for buses.
- “Directions to Cousin Goldie’s party? Check.” The gig is an Apple family affair.
- “We’re a little behind schedule, but if we get on the road in the next 37 seconds, we’ll make it just in time to go on stage for Goldie’s party.” Did she budget the time for a sound check and setup?… Subsequent events show that no, she did not.
- Notice that it’s Granny Smith driving the bus, rather than any of the girls or Big Mac.
- “The GPS has accounted for traffic.” Pedestria has GPS.
- Twilight’s telekinesis is sufficient to swap a wheel – which involves bolts, normally impossible to manipulate without leverage. That’s actually pretty impressive.
- “Hold on ta yer horses, girls!” Granny Smith had to have had quite a turbulent youth to pull this stunt at this age.
- “Sorry! I love your work!” Pinkie recognized the director of the movie shoot they busted somehow.
- “Tell the props department we’re gonna need another bridge!” This is actually problematic: The matte painting they destroyed appears to have been of a dead end – and they approached it from the direction of a broken bridge. That would mean that the opposite side depicted an intact bridge. It would be highly irregular for it to be painted on both sides.
- Notice that the party has only six people in attendance, the rest of the headcount being mostly cows.
X Marks the Spot
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
- The Humane 7 beach kit includes yet another boombox with an iPod dock.
- “Check this out! I found an actual real-life message in a bottle!” Notice that the bottle wasn’t corked or otherwise sealed. This should have clued Sunset in. Probably did, as for the rest of the episode, the activity is treated like a game.
- “It looks just like this beach.” Actually, how did Twilight identify it? Beaches tend to have very few notable features.
“Follow the trail to the top of the MFBO and look for the X at the end of the…”
- The only thing I can read on the actual “map” is “MFBO,” the other symbols don’t look like anything recognizable – and notice that my recognition matches Sunset’s. The subsequent use of a decoder ring reveals these to be special symbols, not Latin letters at all. Each letter does appear to be encoded to the same letter every time, so the code is probably valid, but I can’t make out any Latin letters on the decoder ring.
- Notice a quintessentially Equestrian style of this map – instead of relative positions of geographic features, we see a chain of landmarks connected by a trail, and the relative positions are seen as unimportant, only the order is. Compare, say, to the map in Stranger than Fan Fiction.
- “Rainbow!” Actually, being a very mobile landmark – a sign on top of an ice cream truck! – is this really it? The X is in the correct place, though…
- Sunset has no issues eating sushi.
- Even Pinkie can’t handle a wasabi overdose. Considering that it’s quite rare to find real wasabi in a sushi place outside Japan, this might have been what tripped her up.
Nice fluffy piece, but not that useful in the general sense.
Aww… Baby Turtles
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers. This is a beach outing, but the subset of the Humane 7 is entirely different from X Marks The Spot, which included Sunset, Pinkie and Twilight – here, we see Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow and Applejack. This makes it possible for these two to occur on the same day and simultaneously. That said, with such a glut of beach episodes, many of them could be combined, and it’s still clear that they spent at least an entire week hanging out at the beach daily.
- There’s a ferris wheel far in the distance on the beach, which strikes me as unusual. A later shot presents a parking lot next to the beach – and it’s almost entirely empty too.
- “From a bunch of baby sea turtles. They just hatched and are trying to find their way to the water. But they’re lost.” Fluttershy could get all of that purely through hearing, which actually implies that if the Pedestrian sea turtles have any form of actual language, it’s entirely inborn. That said, they probably don’t.
“Tank here is a tortoise. Maybe he could help us?”
- Yes, his name is Tank, too.
- Tank was somehow able to locate the sea turtles, when Fluttershy could not. This is actually pretty weird.
- “We just need to help them get to the water safely. Just over this sand dune, past those rocks and crabs, beyond that abandoned sandcastle city, and around that dangerous shipwreck!” The dangerous shipwreck is the ship Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie rented for their trip in P.P.O.V.. Not just one exactly like it – it’s the same ship, down to the apple on the sail. But, as a later scene shows, it’s the size of a model – about 20cm long. Now how the hell did that get here?
That ship is unnerving.
Lost and Found
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. Applejack states that it’s summer, and it’s yet another beach episode. No other markers.
- “My earring’s gone! A one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable work of art! I should know. I made it.” Pedestrian Rarity makes jewelry, which is actually quite a separate skill from making clothing, in most cases.
- “Oh, would you mind? I took the liberty of getting some equipment.” Notice that Rarity has her own personalized metal detector, while the detectors she picked up for Rainbow and Applejack are identical.
- “Close… but not quite.” Actually, how would an ice skate end up here? Does the ocean freeze in this location? Really?…
- “False alarm.” A horseshoe in this condition would imply actual horses being ridden in the vicinity like right now.
- Notable other objects recovered are an UFO, a sea mine, a Nokia 3310, and a kitchen sink. I hope for their sake this pile is a narrative device. Notice that Rainbow doesn’t recognize what a Nokia 3310 is – i.e. her first phone was a slab, not a candybar.
- So how did that earring end up in Rarity’s earphones? The only way this could have happened is if she was just trawling the beach for stuff alone immediately prior to losing it.
Not very useful.
Too Hot to Handle
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers. It’s yet another beach episode – have they spent most of the summer on the beach after the camp?
- “Thanks for helping with the Crab Adopt-a-Thon, everyone.” Why exactly would crabs need adopting? They should nave no problems in the wild here.
- “There’s still an hour until the shaved ice stand closes!” The beach has a shaved ice stand.
- The sand got sufficiently hot that Pinkie can’t walk across it barefoot, which is actually pretty rare and something to remember about the place – that doesn’t happen at all latitudes.
- Crabs cool themselves off by eating shaved ice. I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t work if Fluttershy wasn’t in the vicinity…
Fluff, mostly.
Unsolved Selfie Mysteries
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes and Timber Spruce requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers. It’s yet another beach episode – that was a long summer!
- “It’s a sea monster. We just caught it on camera!” “Hold on. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation.” Funny thing is, in Equestria this would be the default explanation, and it would be perfectly logical, so Sunset is quite justified.
- Timber Spruce is at the beach, and I’m not sure why: His outfit and position at the lookout tower that he does not move from suggest he’s working as a lifeguard – that life preserver ring on his chest. Which would actually be strange: Did Camp Everfree close already? Doesn’t his sister need him there?…
- Hiding from the “sea monster” behind Twilight certainly doesn’t win him any points.
- Pinkie is so reluctant to go swimming without her float that it’s doubtful she can swim at all. Which is actually quite surprising.
Possibly the only worth of this episode is further characterization of Timber Spruce, but it’s strange that he’s here at all.
The Salty Sails
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers. And it’s yet another beach episode, though this time, concentrated around a sailing trip.
“Life vests – on. Nautical dictionary – memorized. And course – set. Smooth sailing ahead. Ready about!”
- Nautical dictionary would be insufficient, but don’t tell her that. Generally, I’m not sure anyone would rent you a boat like that without certification, but – depends on local law, so we’ll let this slide.
- This is a very tourist map, which nevertheless depicts islands that are not visible from the shore. I wouldn’t go sailing with that, myself.
- According to the map, Stephen Magnet is a local urban legend or heraldic animal, because he’s pictured on it.
- “Hmm? Oh, just a change of clothes and a coat in case it gets chilly. Also, a small folding table, various tools, a fashion reference library and a bag of gems. You know, the essentials.” Pedestrian Rarity carries around a bag of gems? Really?…
- “My calculations accounted for the weight of the boat, but I forgot to account for Rarity.” Actually, a trunk of this apparent mass would not matter at all for a boat this big, unless they were racing in it. Especially with the kind of wind actually observed.
- “Don’t worry. I checked the weather. We should expect a strong westward gale in three, two, one.” This is unusually precise. About the only way Twilight could get that information is by watching something like a weather wane on the horizon.
“Ready about! Tack! Jibe! Am I the only one who memorized the nautical dictionary? Turn!”
- Twilight’s use of nautical terms only makes marginal sense. Check a nautical dictionary.
- For that matter, I’m pretty sure that a wind moving this boat that fast when the sails aren’t to the wind would turn it, if it wouldn’t outright flip the thing.
- “A rock! I mean, rock ho!” Pinkie’s explosion would not reverse the course – rather, it would act as a depth charge.
- “Especially if your friends have towels!” Rarity’s trunk is mysteriously still on the pier where Twilight left it.
I have a hunch things didn’t happen exactly as depicted, this time.
Blue Crushed
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers. And it’s beach season, apparently.
- Both Applejack and Rainbow own personalized surfboards.
- “Zephyr Breeze? Since when do you surf?” According to Rainbow and Fluttershy, Zephyr is a novice, which makes me wonder what he occupies his time with otherwise.
- Both Applejack and Rainbow are competent surfers. Zephyr isn’t.
That was kind of out of the blue.
Turf War
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes and Timber Spruce require Legends of Everfree. No other markers. And it’s still beach season.
“I’m the substitute lifeguard today, and I’m ready to dive in headfirst. What’s the plan?”
- Remember Unsolved Selfie Mysteries and my complaints about Timber being a lifeguard? Well, the statements from Applejack, as well as her outfit with the same logo, imply that Timber actually is working as a lifeguard here. What happened to the camp?…
- For that matter, how did Applejack get to be a substitute lifeguard?…
- “Uh, I got here first, so I just took care o’ savin’ that kid for ya. You’re welcome!” Applejack is much faster than Timber Spruce.
- Bulk Biceps is not a competent swimmer.
- “It’s just I hate to… see you fight!” This is… a very strange reaction.
What the hell just happened?…
Friendship Math
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers. Omg, it’s still beach season.
- “Rarity left her Canterlot Beat magazine here!” The city is big enough to have a local magazine.
- Correct answers to the quiz for Pinkie: Favorite food – cupcakes, Favorite part of school – helping the janitor refill the snack machines, biggest fear – clownfish. The correct answers for Twilight are not presented, but it’s interesting that her favorite part of school is not “library,” which was what Pinkie guessed.
- “Twilight, your friendship equation!” Twilight came up with something that vaguely looks like an equivalent of Princess Twilight’s friendship calculus, but the detail is insufficient, and it gets washed away by the sea immediately anyway.
Fluff, possibly shipping fuel.
The Last Day of School
Chronology markers: This episode is impossible.
- Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree.
- It is explicitly the last day of school, and would have to be the last day of all high school for the Humane 7 – last day of spring in Year 4P. Unless it’s the last day of school before the winter break.
- Which would be possible, but Rainbow says “We’ll be back in three months!” – and no winter break is that long, so it would have to be Year 3P, since there’s no school after Year 4P. And that’s impossible, because Twilight is here and she has a geode.
Therefore, either this never happened, or Canterlot High School is a limbo, i.e. does not actually exist.
- “You’ve still got four more hours of classes. That’s plenty of time to do extra credit work.” Actually, in most sane schools, it’s way too late already.
- “It’s barely enough time to write all my thank-you cards to the teachers!” Twilight packs more envelopes for those cards than we know CHS to have teachers.
- “Take it easy, Twilight! We’ll be back in three months!” The line that breaks the episode.
“Daring Do vs. the Swamp Monsters!”
- This is yet another Daring Do movie, not the one from Movie Magic, which did not include even a single swamp monster.
- Shots from the actual movie itself show it’s Chestnut Magnifico again, which would actually be odd: A sequel for a prior Daring Do movie would be treated pretty differently, and there’s not enough time between Movie Magic and here to fit another Daring Do movie production.
- Yes, these classrooms are actually equipped with VHS VCRs. And nobody sets the clock on them.
- Despite Daring Do, Rainbow Dash is bored and subsequently falls asleep. Now I’m certain this never happened – this must be Twilight’s nightmare.
- “It’s summer vacation!” See above.
The only way to save this episode and reintroduce it back into the continuity is to take the geodes away, but then you’d have to explain how the hell does Rainbow sleep through a Daring Do movie.
Outtakes
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
- “All set up to make the cutest, most cuddly adoption video ever. Once everyone sees what good pets you are, you’ll find your forever homes in no time.” So I wonder, where does Fluttershy expects to publish this video that would actually target those who actually can adopt those pets? Does the mall take video ads?…
“Come on down to the Canterlot Animal Shelter!”
- And that’s the official name of this establishment.
- We get an outside shot of the shelter. It’s a separate building, and not, say, part of the mall.
Minor useful data.
Pinkie Pie: Snack Psychic
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
- “This place is packed!” Pinkie’s family restaurant / diner / whatever. Notably, Flash is dining alone.
- “When you’re stressed, you always order grilled cheese.” Flash does, and Pinkie is aware of it, so he’s probably a regular at this place. Good to know.
- “Here! Twi can help you. She’s basically a genius at everything. Especially math.” As far as we’re aware, this transparent attempt to matchmake Flash with Sci-Twi never resulted in anything but a completed math homework.
- “Don’t worry, darling. I can fix this! Do you have glitter on you?” How exactly would Rarity fix a grease stain on a dress with glitter? That’s a trick I’d like to know.
- “Eating soup after the big loss at the swim meet today?” Since when CPA students lose at sports? For that matter, since when Rainbow Dash can give them tips?…
While this is largely fluff, this is the second time Pinkie is caught matchmaking at her workplace.
Five to Nine
This is largely a music video. The usual disclaimers apply.
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
- Applejack’s bedroom contains nearly no noteworthy objects: Three competition ribbons, two trophies, that’s it.
- The barn Applejack is cleaning looks like nobody touched it in at least a season, which presents a question – how the hell could it end up in this state? On an active farm, this would be space that would see some regular use.
- The rest of the Humane 7 arrive in the same stretch limo used in Equestria Girls, which is honestly quite overkill for the occasion.
All that gets us is that sometime after the Camp Everfree, an Apple family barn got used for a big party for the school kids, and said party was a total success. One thing to note is that Sandalwood and Micro Chips were invited, but Timber Spruce or Flash were not - they never appear.
So Much More to Me
Another music video. The usual disclaimers apply, and this one also makes heavy use of effects and has no clear plot.
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
- “Are you sure you don’t wanna come to the karaoke party, Fluttershy?” Fluttershy avoided this for obvious reasons, none of the others did, something to keep in mind.
Pretty much no useful detail – lots of interiors of the animal shelter, but no useful detail on those either.
The Other Side
And the last music video. The usual disclaimers apply. This one explicitly involves dream sequences, even.
- Chronology markers: Presence of geodes requires Legends of Everfree. No other markers.
- Rarity has a workshop – however, this is not her bedroom that she used for the purpose in Dance Magic, so it’s probably her workplace at Prim Hemline’s, if the place even exists.
…And honestly, that’s all I can fish out of it.
Whew.
TLDR: Some analysis
For my research, I’m more interested in Sunset’s behavior than any of the native Pedestrians, so you’ll have to excuse me that I focus on her.
- I have no idea why would Sunset want to be “Flanksy,” and we don’t know when she started: The earliest time we get a look at the contents of her locker, in Rainbow Rocks, the cap she uses for the activity is not there. However, to be a painter sufficiently skilled to get such a reputation, she would have to have started painting back in Equestria, and that’s an important characterization detail.
- For that matter, the times when Sunset gets to act on her own or lead anyone in anything that looks remotely like an adventure, she displays an almost childlike capacity for wonder, a very pony trait. You can become nicer than you are by applying conscious effort. You cannot consciously demonstrate that capacity without being inherently two-faced, you either have it or you don’t – and it’s clear to me Sunset has always had it, if these episodes are permitted into the Pedestrian canon.
- Most of the summer of Year 3P appears to have been spent on the beach.
- This is the second source that states CHS has a metric fuckton of clubs, but now we have a list and we even find Flash in several. Neither of which have to do with music. Did he end up in them randomly, to get closer to someone, or because of having an actual interest? Take your pick.
- Twilight’s relationship with Timber Spruce never seems to come to anything: By the finals, his picture is gone from the mirror entirely. What exactly happened?
- Celestia’s big-ass garden suggests she’s far wealthier than a school principal salary could possibly permit, but we don’t know much of anything else. We don’t even know if she lives with Luna or not: While those two cups imply she was drinking tea with someone, and left those cups unattended before vacation (which says a lot about her habits) we never see any other evidence of anyone else’s presence, or the house itself.
It's an exceptionally bad Daring Do movie?
I'm more and more convinced Pedestria has low key, cutie mark-related magic already. In this case the audience mostly assumed Maud has a "talent" for presenting geological facts.
i.pinimg.com/originals/ec/ef/33/ecef33b7e00a09ac2a1d12edbbe7af63.png
Follow-up question: When will they give Tirek and Cozy Glow a console in Tartarus to co-op Tirek's Revenge?
I don't really have a lot to add to your analysis here, just I agree that's a very useful portrait of CHS student life. Also that this club proliferation reminds me of Japanese schools in anime.
CHS is a pretty well-off public school, isn't it? The huge number of extracurricular activities, many of which require substantial student investment...
We know that tons of memory wipes were going on in the yearbook club, for most of the last several years. I could see some fallout of that being Sunset keeps setting up orders for book bindings with different covers, and ends up splitting the order amongst a group of different vendors.
Depends on her speed. If Twilight got blindsided her TK would be useless.
I've had experience analyzing superpowers from comicbooks, including at attempt at the Flash. Trust me, don't touch super-speed, it makes Pinkie's powers look logical.
Sunset gets an A+ without seeming to study or worry about grades.
Starswirl was a local amatuer astronomer who built a cheap-ass science museum and put a statue of himself in there, and Twilight ignores the inaccuracies and sub-par "planetarium" because of the powerful pull of childhood nostalgia?
This is also the first time magic showed up completely randomly and without any kind of previous explanation. Why was the magic there at that point in space/time? Why did it attach itself to the watering can rather than drifting through it?
It's one of a bunch of different things that establish Sunset is a skilled artist.
Short-range teleportation is a skill Trixie can do thanks to complex mathematical calculations that Trixie learned from birds!
Yeah, I thought it was pretty clear Sunset was just drawing a random comic for S&G.
And traffic prediction.
Poor Fluttershy. Most of the "adopted" crabs are going to end up like those pigs from Sweet Apple Acres that get shipped to Griffonstone as "pets."
Given what we learned about how hot this beach is, they went out a little in the boat, passed out from the heat, woke up later and headed home with some hallucinated fantastic voyage.
It's closed while money is raised for repairs? Or it only runs a few weeks during the summer, and this is Timber's vacation?
Man, that is a pickle. Is it possible the whole Camp Everfree thing occurred during a Spring Break?
At this point I think we can establish that Fluttershy does two different things, probably on different days of the week:
1)Volunteers at the animal shelter for free
2)Works for money at a pet shop/animal grooming business.
But, it does show that Pinkie was looking to hook up Sci Twi with someone else.
Except for the detail that this is the cutest video in creation.
When we were talking about what Flash saw in early Sunset, this is probably a big portion. A pony trying to learn to be human definitely comes off a bit "manic pixie dream girl."
Summer fling don't mean a thing but oh oh the summer nights.
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Then she’d be enraged, not asleep.
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It’s an option, sort of, though I’m not sure I like the idea.
When Twilight figures out how to run electric power into Tartarus without breaking the place even further.
Actually, I meant that once she flies up that far with her telekinesis, no helmet would save her if she fell – she’d break her neck.
Eh, it’s easy if Rainbow’s superspeed works in the time domain rather than space domain…
Doesn’t surprise me at all. She’s like five years older than all of them, and mathematics, once you get past the syntax, is universal, she probably forgot more of it in those four years than the rest of the Humane 7 learned. Her worst subject would be history.
A very good option, actually!
Mirror Magic ends up in the same bracket temporally, but we don’t know which one was the first. And it had a near identical wisp of magic attaching itself to the mirror – similarly inexplicably. Magic taking the path of least resistance through air, traveling like lightning, across a pattern of random ionization, until it bumps into a suitable solid?
It is an option, none of them are wearing hats.
I don’t like either option, to be honest. To make good on all the loans, the camp needs to be in use for as long as possible, and Timber’s presence would be required…
I’d have to doublecheck the transcript (and the book) to be sure, but AFAIR, no.
Yes. Could be something to do after a messy breakup with Timber, I suppose?
P.S. Tinder Spruce.
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That just switches to all the problems with time stop, like how does Rainbow breathe, etc. DC just claimed there was a mystical "speed force" that was blatant phlebotinum, and people had to accept it.
And we know from her skill with the guitar and painting, which she had to learn, that she can study like crazy when she wants. I wager she's read about every history book in the CHS library by now, not least so she doesn't expose herself as a pony.
Might be worth taking a look at. I feel like we've run into a whole lot of problems around the timing of Legends of Everfree, being able to have the various shorts, plus like 3 later movies, occur across parts of Y3 as well as the summer between Y3 and Y4 would make a lot more sense.
Hehehehe.
I suspect the reason they broke up is that Timber basically was home-schooled by his parents/older sister, and only had a chance to date campers before. Now that he's visiting the wider world more often and hanging out at the beach, making enough money to afford a smart phone, he wants to spread his oats a bit.
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She doesn’t breathe. Being starved of oxygen is why she’s so dumb sometimes.
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While the movie does not lock the season in strongly, there’s a phrase: “This gazebo was a gift from last year’s group.” – which only makes sense if the camp only runs for one season, and if so, that season would be summer, because otherwise, nothing would stop it from running for three seasons. Never mind that they sunbathe and live in tents.
I’m still going through the book, but while they might not strictly prohibit moving it to the spring break, it doesn’t look good.
At the same time, there’s an unorthodox option: “Attention, students, we’re almost there. But before we arrive, we just wanted to say how proud we are of you for raising enough money to go on this class field trip.” Emphasis mine.
Field trips are normally done within the school year, not during breaks, so it can be close to the end of the school year. That resolves the strictest contradictions, including the blue yearbook, but doesn’t save up much time. In fact, it would mean that the field trip is pretty much the first group activity Sci-Twi does at CHS.
I had quite a rant on this subject in another blog's comments, but I'll save it for the Rollercoaster of Friendship PoC.
This is interesting when you also take into account that Applejack has a job at the mall and that Granny Smith, as per the first movie, is working as a cafeteria lunch lady. Evidence seems to suggest that Pedestria's Sweet Apple Acres fell on hard times, and no longer operates as a farm.
These shorts certainly do give a lot more context to Sunset's character. Shame I can't use any of it for Fire Burning, since all this is past my cut-off.
Evidence of Celestia the immortal?
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I bet Flash frequents /mlp/.
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Does seem quite probable, and yet in Rollercoaster of Friendship they’re suddenly making two tons worth of apple sauce in that barn.
Or just coming from a long line of identical Celestias… which was actually done in several stories.
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Business picked back up again?
4964800 I forget the name, but there was a great story about how the only girl Flash was interested in besides Sunset and Twilight was Lyra, who in EQG is obsessed with ponies. It ends with the Rainbooms realizing that, now that they have magical powers, they are basically pony girls.
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That would be Chengar Qordath's Why Do I Like Horse Women?, which funnily enough I was just reading yesterday...