Well, it’s now time for me to watch “A Bird In the Hoof”, by Charlotte Fullerton.

I remember this episode, but I don’t remember it remember it. It had troll-y Princess Celestia, and looney tunes benny hill chases and such.

Time to watch it and see what strikes me now after not having seen it for a while, (Aside from said yakkity-sax scene, which I remember rewatching a clip of a while back.)

So, we start at Fluttershy’s cottage with three bunnies outside. Never a bad start.

And it’s a mousie in a wheelchair. Very cute.

Then Angel comes in channeling the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Maybe headbutting Fluttershy’s rear end wasn’t the best move on his part, though.

The clock is very very Alice in Wonderland. I like the charades where he puts his hands out like a clock.

“You found a watch?” *shakes head no* “You want to be a watch?” Fluttershy…

“You’re... late?” *nods. Clock strikes the hour. *Gasp* “I’m late. For a very important date!” And now we’re straight quoting Alice in Wonderland.

Angel faints as Fluttershy starts panicking. We find out she’s late for an important brunch with Princess Celestia. We get a momentary glimpse of Fluttershy’s outfits in her closet, too. Or actually, those aren't Fluttershy's...

And she leaves… but not before thanking Angel, who was being a very helpful bunny. Poor Angel. It must be stressful being Fluttershy’s personal assistant.

You know, seriously, why wasn’t he acting as Fluttershy’s personal manager two episodes ago, when she was a model?

He actually has to lock her out of her cottage to get her to actually go off to where she’s late to, too. That’s dedication.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash is trying to annoy the royal guards or at least provoke some sort of reaction out of them. They are professionals, though, and she leaves.

The do stop Fluttershy from entering, though, almost causing her to leave. Seems like it took Twilight to tell her she was on the list. Shouldn’t they have known that?

Hmm, Spike appears to be using his flame to quick cook all the baked goods. I almost want to say he’s an airfryer, but he’s acting as an oven here.

Twilight’s worried because this is the first time Celestia’s spent any real time with them, and she wants her to approve of her friends. Except… Celestia’s probably been in more episodes this season than most. She didn’t spend any time around them in, say, the running of the leaves, for example?

Rarity’s also there being neurotic.

And there’s Applejack trying to figure out what to eat. Eat all of it, Applejack, it’s food. Except for that ham sandwich on the table. Seriously, according to Pinkie Pie last episode, they are vegetarians…

Too late, Pinkie Pie is eating all of it. She hits herself with a pie, sticks her head in a chocolate fountain, and eats Princess Celesia’s cupcake before she can? So, Pinkie Pie doesn’t know how to behave at a party? The Cakes gasp and quickly replace the cupcake and tea.

And Celestia trolling at 3 o’ clock. She slurps down the tea, and they refill it. She repeats this several times, then just makes a slurping noise, causing them to refill a full teacup. She’s probably resigned to all of this formality all over the place by now, and just finds ways to make it more fun for herself.

“As Princess, I care greatly about All Creatures Great and Small.” So… what other shows do you watch?

Fluttershy is distracted by the sounds of a bird dying coming from a cage and feathers flying out, though.

And we get our first glimpse of Philomena, derpiest of phoenixes, a large patch of her feathers missing and making rude noises and generally acting like she’s about to expire. She’s as big a troll as the princess.

But the party is cut short because the Mayor requested an audience with Princess Celestia. Whatever for, I wonder?

Applejack finally decides to eat something, only to have it all taken away. Should have eaten something earlier. Though you would think they’d leave things out for the other guests for a while?

“Stay right where you are. All I want is a clear path to the exit. Nobody move and my dress won't get hurt! Stay back! Back, I say!” Rarity makes quite an exit.

And Fluttershy has bird-knapped Philomena. She’s trying to justify it to herself as a favor to the princess, but generally I’d tend to think that’d involve letting someone know you are doing said favor.

Philomena is clearly having comically serious hot-cold flashes, a red hot with a blanket on and freezing without it with an ice pack on. As a phoenix, I’m guessing the former is closer to normal.

Very looney tunes style, anyways. Doubt they’d have done this in later seasons.

Fluttershy is now trying to feed Philomena “medicine”. What kind of medicine is this, especially when you clearly don’t recognise her species? Looks more like a suppository, too.

Philomena won’t eat it, so she dumps a bunch of birdseed on it. She eats the birdseed… but not the pill.

So now Fluttershy’s made what looks like homemade tomato soup. Do birds actually eat hot soup? I wouldn’t have thought so.

“Here comes the choo-choo train. Chugga Chugga Chugga Chugga Woo Woo!” This is a bird, not a baby, Fluttershy. An unamused bird at that.

So Fluttershy brings by a hummingbird friend to cheer Philomena up, and they sing the theme song.

Philomena vomits on Fluttershy’s face.

Fluttershy tries out a humidifier. It doesn’t help.

Somehow, I’ve got a feeling this was written early on, like when they thought it have been an 11 minute show. There’s an awful lot of padding here.

She tries incense and indian music. Maybe she got that from Tree Hugger? No, she was a new friend in season 5, wasn’t she? Maybe they met because of a shared interest in aromatherapy.

In a warm bath, Philomena absorbs all of the water.

Fluttershy smears random ointment on her, which she is allergic to.

Fluttershy and Angel play doctor with Philomena. Angel dressed up as a doctor is cute, though this scene is kinda the “hammer” scene from Stare Master.

Twilight drops in to thank Fluttershy for making a good impression on Princess Celestia and immediately notices the bird-napping. We’re out of filler, back to the plot! (Four minutes of filler?)

Twilight yells at Fluttershy for a bit, and they decide to return Philomena.

Except that the guards show up about then, looking for Philomena.

Said trolly phoenix starts making rude noises, and Twilight and Fluttershy start pretending they are the ones making them.

Honestly, I’m surprised the guards just walked away, as suspicious as they were acting.

Now Twilight doesn’t want to return her.

Twilight: “You have no idea what the princess is gonna do if she finds you're the one who took her pet, do you?!” Fluttershy: “Do you?” Twilight Sparkle: “Well... no. But it can't be anything good. She might banish you from Equestria. Or throw you in a dungeon. Or banish you and then throw you in a dungeon in the place that she banishes you to!” Ever get the impression Twilight really doesn’t know the princess that well? Kinda Lesson Zero preludes here.

At about this point, I left the computer for a moment, came back to a black screen and had to shut down and reboot. Fortunately, I type this up in google drive, to no text lost!

Boy, the whole next series of events is kinda lesson zero preludes, really. Twilight decides Philomena is going to get well, like it or not, even saying “Tough love, baby!”.

“I made it for Philomena, but she wouldn’t eat it.” “Oh, she’ll eat it all right.”

And Philomena runs. I mean, I’d run if Twilight made that face and came for me. Cue the yakkity-sax chase sequence.

Various looney tune type tropes happen. Fluttershy and Twilight chasing her around a tree, then chasing around it while Philomena just sits at the top. Guards looking for Philomena while she sits on a bench reading a newspaper disguised with a huge mustache, making Fluttershy and Twilight run into each other while chasing her, that sort of thing.

It’s a fun sequence.

Eventually, the guards and Fluttershy and Twilight and the rest of the main six are all around a fountain with Philomena, nearly featherless, on top.. She, naturally, dies dramatically, really hamming it up.

Fluttershy goes to catch her as she falls off the fountain, but Philomena bursts into flames, and she catches nothing but ash.

Naturally, that’s about the point Princess Celestia shows up. She’s probably been watching this whole time.

Fluttershy and Twilight argue over whose fault it was, each trying to take the blame. Pinkie Pie tries to get in on it, too.

“Thanks for trying to protect me, Twilight, but... Princess Celestia, I'm the one who took your pet bird. I really was only trying to help the poor little thing. Then I was gonna bring it right back to you, honest. So, if you wanna banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in the place that you banish me to, then that's what I deserve.” Princess Celestia is probably thinking ‘Where in Equestria do they get these strange ideas from?’.

Then Celestia says “Oh, stop fooling around, Philomena. You're scaring everypony.”, and Philomena emerges from the ashes.

She’s now a gorgeous flaming phoenix in the peak of health, and very much showing off.

Princess Celestia then explains all about phoenixes, which she knows all about as headmaster of Hog… oh, wrong series. I’m surprised Fluttershy doesn’t know about phoenixes, though. And I’m really surprised Celestia’s student didn’t. Seriously, Twilight, have you never met Philomena?

Oh, and Celestia actually says just about what I had her thinking a minute ago. Alright, then.

This time, no letter, but the lesson was as follows:

Princess Celestia: And I do appreciate that your heart was in the right place, child. But all you had to do was ask me and I could have told you Philomena was a phoenix and saved you all this trouble.
Fluttershy: I know. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. Next time I'll ask before taking matters into my own hooves.

Though, you know, Celestia was actually gone for the entire time that ‘all she had to do was ask’. So she really couldn’t have.

Rainbow Dash talks Philomena, troll that she is, into playing a prank on the guards, and we end in laughter. Oh, the laughter.

Can’t really say my opinion of this episode has changed. It isn’t bad, just forgettable, and really rather filler.

Next week, we get an important episode, though. The Cutie Mark Chronicles! Looks like that was a MA Larson episode. I think he was actually more important of a writer than we give him credit for sometimes.

See you then!

--Sweetie Belle

7170003 I can't say I care too fondly for this episode, but I do love Celestia's portrayal in it. It's episodes like these that give her a very playful vibe that I dig massively. It shows a sense of humour I think that really gives her a layer of three-dimensionality that makes Celestia stand out from other princesses; she could have easily just been serious all the time, but instead she enjoys poking fun at people for being too serious around her, and when someone basically just nicks her pet, she doesn't get angry, but instead takes the opportunity to make them squirm a bit.

I get that it's stuff like that that fuels the whole 'trollestia' thing, but in fairness, it's established that she does like jokes and light ribbing, and this is something that persists all the way into later episodes when she does things like laugh at Twilight for being too worried about Starlight. It's a very fun human side that I can almost imagine she struggles to keep in check sometimes.

A shame this episode wasn't more memorable, because I do like how this ep portrays Celestia.

7170003

Yes, this episode reeks of filler, almost certainly written before anyone did any serious thinking about the characters. One would think that Celestia owning a phoenix, so much as anyone can ever be said to "own" a phoenix, would be a pretty well-known fact. Certainly Twilight would know, she practically lived with the mare for nigh on a decade!

You know what would have worked? If it had been Rarity instead of Twilight as Fluttershy's coconspirator. Then the manic panic would have felt much more in line with the premise, and we could have gotten to see twilight's reaction at the end to Celestia and Philomena pranking somepony again.

This thread is full of images that could be used as covers for stories.

Rainbowdash Hits on the guards.
Or.
Princess Celestia's Official Confectionary Guards.

Spike's Kitchen. (A parody of Hells Kitchen)

Fluttershy M.D.

Twilight gives you a suppository.

MLP: Murder's a Good Answer to Problems.
Or.
Celestia Dances on an Enemy's Grave.

7170003
It’s nice to look back at how the formula for this show worked in the past. Humor, animation, and character personalities have changed so much.

I feel the episode is good for what it does, it’s just not as in your face or memorable as some others.

Paranoid Twilight kind of feels like her natural early self and a little relative because I used to be the same way. Work hard to get where you are and handle obstacles with brute strength in intelligence, the stress will get you and could make you a little nutty.

It’s nice to remember how small their world was back then too. At this point, mainly know the mane 6 and could revolve around them for an episode, so all 6 or most of them would make some kind of appearance for the most amount of fun.

I feel it’s a nice episode, but around my mid favorite for the season.

7170074
The Princess Celestia portrayal was good. I do like her sense of humor, and it was established well.

I actually did really like the initial Angel x Fluttershy segment, too, and the dynamic there. I'm also a bit of a sucker for Alice in Wonderland references.

7170081
That actually would have worked pretty well. The episode even gave a reason for her to come over. Fluttershy had all those outfits of the others in her closet. Rarity could have been coming over to pick them up. Freakouts about the princesses pet would have been perfectly in her character, and i wouldn't have had all the quibbles about Twilight not knowing things she should have.

7170084
A lot of those could definitely been whole premises to themselves. They are still totally stealable if someone wants to write them, too. Screenshots have always been a good source of cover art. I only took two pictures above myself, and neither are ones you listed. (I took very similar shots to some of those, but I grab from the mlp wiki galleries before pictures I takes, and a lot of times I can totally pull all of them from there.)

7170124
The world was pretty small then, wasn't it? There was a lot more physical comedy, and silly stuff that wasn't very realistic, too.

It is interesting to look back on, and I didn't really consider it bad, but not very memorable for me. Most of what I remembered before the rewatch was Princess Celestia and her tea trolling, and the whole benny hill music sequence. Which was, honestly, a very good sequence.

--Sweetie Belle

7170132
Agreed. I guess that’s show development too XD

... Dear God it took until the sqwakin' lil brat was shown that I remembered this episode. Forgettable is right. I even forgot which season it was from till I saw Twilight.

7170003
What if the ham is actually fake ham? Like soy

7170003

And I’m really surprised Celestia’s student didn’t. Seriously, Twilight, have you never met Philomena?

Yup, that's a pretty big contradiction. I'm going to assume your theory about this episode is true, they wrote this for an eleven minute show and before they had really defined the characters.

7170194 I never thought about that. But I think the more obvious answer is that this confirms ponies could eat meat if they wanted to, they just choose not to. Kind of like how Beast Boy in the original Teen Titans cartoon was a vegetarian, because he'd been most of those animals. The ponies choose not to eat meat out of respect for the animals that become them (pigs are likely used for garbage disposal since they'll eat anything).

7170003
Ah - a less controversial season 1 episode. Not one of it's most memorable ones, though - kind of average, which for season 1 means very good.

Given that understanding animals is Flutters' cutie mark talent and main professional skill, it seems quite odd that Angel has to resort to charades. Could he be mute? He can also read a clock, which even many humans struggle with untrained.

Poor Angel. It must be stressful being Fluttershy’s personal assistant.

Not half as stressful as being that little devil's caretaker - but we'll get to that in a later episode.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash is trying to annoy the royal guards or at least provoke some sort of reaction out of them. They are professionals, though, and she leaves.

In some ways, she no doubt finds them admirable - some of the last living paragons of pegasus warrior ideals. But in other ways, she can't get them at all - not sure whether it's standing still for hours or giving up your own fame and glory to be a faceless ideal that's more alien to her. (Sure, the Wonderbolts wear uniforms too, but any real fan can tell you all their names and records.) She probably doesn't even process this ambivalence on a conscious level - she just knows she really wants to see them crack, to know there are ponies underneath the armour.

Twilight’s worried because this is the first time Celestia’s spent any real time with them, and she wants her to approve of her friends. Except… Celestia’s probably been in more episodes this season than most. She didn’t spend any time around them in, say, the running of the leaves, for example?

Unknown episode order - and most of those were flying visits with little chance for conversation. (And at the Running of the Leaves, two of her friends were utter disgraces and a third one up in a balloon.)

And while some episodes try a bit hard to shoehorn the full cast in, I do like how they all get their own bit here, since it's going to be an almost pure Fluttertwi ep after this scene.

Philomena is fun, albiet even more chronically underused than her owner. And I still don't get how Twilight didn't know about her.

And Fluttershy has bird-knapped Philomena. She’s trying to justify it to herself as a favor to the princess, but generally I’d tend to think that’d involve letting someone know you are doing said favor.

But that would mean, like, talking to them. Not exactly her favourite activity at the best of times.

I do kind of like that Flutters got some solo time here - she can fade into the background a bit when around more assertive ponies. And of course, the shots of her house will be useful when I finally get mi locations group off the ground...

Twilight: “You have no idea what the princess is gonna do if she finds you're the one who took her pet, do you?!” Fluttershy: “Do you?” Twilight Sparkle: “Well... no. But it can't be anything good. She might banish you from Equestria. Or throw you in a dungeon. Or banish you and then throw you in a dungeon in the place that she banishes you to!” Ever get the impression Twilight really doesn’t know the princess that well? Kinda Lesson Zero preludes here.

Perhaps Celestia hasn't always been quite so nice, and Twilight can't separate the one she's read about and her mentor?

Princess Celestia then explains all about phoenixes, which she knows all about as headmaster of Hog… oh, wrong series. I’m surprised Fluttershy doesn’t know about phoenixes, though. And I’m really surprised Celestia’s student didn’t. Seriously, Twilight, have you never met Philomena?

Still can't answer the last bit, but I kind of like this in general - just because its a famous creature in our legends doesn't mean it's well-known at home. And I feel it works for the target audience whether they know about phoenixes or not - if they do they can enjoy knowing what'll happen (or if they're a bit slow, go "Ohhhh. I see" when it does) like us grown-ups, and if they don't then it's not a bad first introduction to the concept. Although mi inner Standards & Practices is a bit worried if any kids who watched this tried setting their pets on fire or otherwise killing them if they seemed sick...

(Oh, and Celestia as Hogwarts Headmistress for the win, Only thing I'm not sure of is whether she should replace Dumbledore or marry him - yes, I know he's gay, but in every other way they're so right for each other. )

Speaking of Celestia, this is really her standout appearance this season - we still don't see that much of her directly, but both what we do get and how Philomena is paint quite the picture.

Besides that, it's pretty much just a good, fun, episode - perhaps a little padded, as you said, but it's not bad padding. With stuff like this as its average, its no wonder I love this season (and fell in love with this show).

7170081
I can buy it being a secret from the public, especially if phoenixes are little known. As for Twilight... well, depending on the length of Philomena's life cycle, Celestia might have been waiting to pull this one on her since she became her student. Switching in Rarity could work too, though - she's on par with her fellow unicorn for overreacting.

7170261
True, I think that some ponies choose to eat meat as a choice, but yeah, that makes sense