Friendship is Card Games: Tell Your Tale, Pt. 17 · 1:23pm Nov 19th, 2023
So, this is a rather interesting circumstance. My math on Tell Your Tale releases was off, and I can (and will) in fact do the penultimate TYT blog this week…but there’s a catch.
The latest short apparently spoils the entire resolution of the Opaline situation… assuming even that’s consistent between the two main G5 content streams. Given that, and given how there are seven remaining shorts, I’m going to leave “The Rise and Fall” to headline the very last TYT blog (tentatively set at some point in January depending on how much other content we get with Secrets of Starlight.)
That being said, let’s begin:
I do appreciate how much of Sunny’s love language revolves around feeding her friends. As I’ve said before, it’s a core earth pony trait.
That said, breakfast in bed might be a bit much.
I do have to wonder what the P in “OMP” stands for. I’ve heard “Oh my sparkle” before, but this is new.
I really hope that quivering is just Pipp’s shudders making her mane vibrate and not a sign of some kind of emerging awareness. But given some of what I’m seeing in this cold open, I’m not so sure.
Also, in manespray not an option? Sunny just combed it. There are stronger measures available.
… By “stronger measures,” I did not mean “wear a lampshade.”
On an unrelated note, we apparently have a point of reference for pony units (or at least earth pony units) going by that clearance sign. 3.89 something. Feet? Meters? Ponyheights? Heck if I know, but it’s something.
Huh. And apparently bits are broken down into pence rather than cents going by the 20p mustache grooming service.
So is that mare’s two-tone horn natural, or is that the latest cosmetic trend? Also, I’m going to assume she’s either adopted that earth colt or is just looking after him as a favor for a friend. It’s a little early for intertribal foals. (Or maybe it’s a prosthetic, which raises its own concerns…)
Oh, it’s a pandemic. Somehow. And apparently very few ponies own an actual hat.
Ah. Right. Pipp episode. Of course it’s cosmetic alchemy gone wrong. I can’t help but wonder if someone at Entertainment One pointed out that Pipp’s social media following is several orders of magnitude greater than the actual pony population and they’ve since gone for different default storyline for her time in the spotlight. You’d think after a while ponies would stop buying her creations. Or at least wait to see what happened to her first.
“Mine learned to juggle!”
“Mine won’t stop eating things!”
I have several questions and concerns.
“Fortunately for you ponies, I have the solution behind this very lockable door okay bye!”
Alright, that got a snicker out of me.
Windy is the Batman of Maretime Bay, apparently. If she’s seen this before, it may have been while training under pony R’as al Ghul.
Oh, we’re going for the Ducktales approach. The Junior Woodchucks Trail Trotters prepare you for everything.
Do I even want to know why Pipp wanted a cardboard cutout of herself with the eyes missing? Mascot-scale mane product bottles make some kind of sense, but that thing’s just creepy.
What doesn’t make sense is why the bottle costumes let them sneak past the mane tangle… unless the sheer mass of hair blocked them from the tangle’s view until they were far enough to run. Intriuing if that’s the case.
“Look, here, in the Trail Trotter’s Guide to the Dragonlands!”
… I was joking about the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook. Also, I have to take issue with reptiles growing hair outside of Number 25. Going by dinosaur logic, they should have feathers. (There is the argument of Eastern dragons, especially given Sparky’s whisker-like nose hairs—and was it really necessary to have them grow directly out of his nostrils?—but that’d be the first such influence we’ve seen on G5 dragons.)
“Are you saying that Sparky grew a dragon hair, plucked it out, dropped in my product, and accidentally created some sort of mutant pony dragon magic hair monster potion!?”
Well when you say it like that, it sounds ridiculous! 
But seriously, how many times does this kind of unforeseen contamination have to take place before Pipp learns to lock her lab when she’s not in it?
“Dragonfire can fix this!”
The operative word possibly being “can,” as opposed to “will.” Goodness knows Sparky’s breath is a wild card… but there’s barely more than a minute left in the short, so this seems like a safe bet.
Ah yes. Breathe fire directly into an aerosol spray can. To say nothing of opening that pressurized canister in the first place. This is a good plan with no possible unforeseen consequences.
Oof, poor Seashell. Most ponies have it bad enough, but her mane cocooned her against that lamppost.
So… Windy’s special talent has something to do with scouting? I feel like they’re just handing out glowing cutie marks on a whim at this point. That or the Map of Harmony’s magic has suffused the entire planet and it’s using this mechanism as a magical pat on the back.
It feels very weird for a pegasus to talk to one of her princesses like a teacher giving a student a gold star sticker. Yes, Pipp isn’t the heir to the throne, but this is still a bizarre interaction.
I do appreciate a momentary gag with later payoff. I just wonder whether that flower’s going to sing.
Certainly a fun variation on “Pipp’s experimental cosmetology goes horribly wrong,” but again, they’re really overplaying that idea.
Ah, greater detail on the process of… well, Misty moving in. Though she certainly seems to have less baggage than in “Father of the Bridlewood.” See previous comments on getting the two sides of G5 video content to agree.
Huh. A party cannon. Going the rust on the wheels, possibly a Twilit Era party cannon. There’s a “Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power” joke in here somewhere.
Pipp’s heart is in the right place, but given that Misty may still be doing double agent work, she may not want to stream this.
“It’s… right in the middle.”
Yeah, the shared bedroom was designed for four mares. I imagine it’ll take a fair amount of time and effort for each to adjust her space to fit another… which raises the question of why they didn’t before now. This is making more and more sense as a prequel to the MYM episode.
“Sorry in advance for the snoring. Aaaand the levitating.”
Nervous laughter may be the only appropriate reaction there.
I do appreciate Pipp being horrified by how little Misty has to her name. And Izzy getting swept away by a rush of creativity before Misty can get a word in edgewise.
“You’re never, ever, ever going to be alone ever again!”
Sunny’s speaking from the depths of her own lowest point there. It’s hard being the town pariah, and she never wants to go back. Misty, meanwhile, is very much in an adjustment period.
Sunny. How many years have you been operating blenders? Also, why are you blending entire orange peels? That stuff’s going to be more bitter than Opaline on a good day.
Yeah, the Brighthouse is a special kind of hell for an introvert who’s used to being left alone when her single housemate doesn’t need something. (Which wouldn’t be very often, but still.)
“I’ll make popcorn!”
“I’ll eat it!”
The Pinkie Pie-Rainbow Dash relationship for a new generation. 
… Oh. Misty retreated to Alphabittle’s tearoom. So this is just flat-out incompatible with its corresponding Make Your Mark episode. Again. Is it really so hard to compare notes?
That said, being Opaline’s lackey isn’t exactly being on her own. I imagine the alicorn had a number of demands on Misty even before plotting to regain her magic. But part of what drove Misty out of the Brighthouse was the unrelenting positivity. It’s one thing to suffer through constant drudgery. It’s another when you’re expected to smile through it.
Again, they’re just handing out mark glow at the slightest sign of harmony… though after NaN years of magical quiescence, can you blame capital-H Harmony for being eager on the trigger?
Oof. I know Misty’s catastrophizing, but seeing her bed missing still hits hard.
You know. Up until she spots the new one. Also, funny how the stained glass window is in Cutie Mark Crusader colors. Accidentally fitting for a mare who was willing to do anything to get her mark.
The highlight reel of all the good times Misty’s had with the others was a lovely touch. Good way to reassure her without crowding her. And Izzy bothering to ask before barging in? My heavens, she can learn.
(And, frustratingly enough, they made sure to use Misty’s old mane color in the recorded footage. So someone’s thinking about continuity…)
Heartwarming finish, but the contradictions required to get there still bother me.
Impressive parkour and dodging skills on Misty’s part, but I have to wonder where all of this food even came from. Did Sparky go on a rampage recently?
There’s something legitimately terrifying about Izzy diving into that crossfire.
… Okay, so if this is how unicorns deal with food waste, how much are they eating? That’s a lot of ammunition. Including entire uneaten pies. I get the sense that they started making things specifically for the food fights.
Good to know there’s an opt-out zone for those who don’t want to participate in the culinary carnage.
Seriously, given how little consideration G5 gives to where ponies are even getting their food, seeing this much rotten excess feels ludicrous.
“You don’t remember?”
She literally remembers nothing about her foalhood, Alphabittle, we’ve been over this.
“The pegasus soars through the air” doesn’t seem like the most appealing thing for a unicorn to tell his daughter in the time before the tribes reunited. (Also, there’s the question of Misty’s mother, but it seems to be a rule in this generation that each protagonist gets one biological parent at most.)
Ah. Misty was the spark that set off this particular powder keg. Though I imagine she’s become a lot more gunshy after, you know, the years of emotional abuse and more recent threats of incineration.
And Elderflower’s using telekinesis. Come on, people, this is the one thing you need to get right. Unless magic went away about fifteen years ago, but that just raises more questions.
Seeing Misty don blueberry war paint and gallop into battle as the background music insists “It’s the place where love and friendship starts” is a lovely juxtaposition.
Grapes = machine gun rounds
Misty has discovered Yoshi logic.
Opaline might be ever so slightly proud of Misty’s combat prowess. I imagine she had a hoof in this; no sense in leaving your only minion unable to defend herself.
… Was that a sausage cannon? What’s in those?
And yes, this is just composting with extra steps. And a dash of The Purge. That’s still a ludicrous amount of uneaten food, and the worst continuity error yet. Possible emphasis on that last word depending on how Make Your Mark handles Opaline.
Interesting concepts, but redundant, contradictory, or both. It’s almost a relief that we’re nearing the end of the run for Tell Your Tale. I do enjoy these individually, but trying to make sense of the lot… Well, it’s rather annoying when it feels like I’m the first person to try to do so. Still, let’s see what I can get out of them:
Deluxe Cupholders W
Artifact
Each creature you control crews Vehicles as though its power were 1 greater.
Craft with Vehicle 3W (3W, Exile this artifact, Exile a Vehicle you control or a Vehicle card from your graveyard: Return this card transformed under its owner’s control. Craft only as a sorcery.)
Deluxe Cruiser
(W) Artifact — Vehicle
Living metal (As long as it’s your turn, this Vehicle is also a creature.)
Vehicles you control have ward 2 and vigilance.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, another target Vehicle you control becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.
5/5
Encased in Honey 1W
Enchantment Artifact — Aura Food
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block.
4W: Exile enchanted creature. You gain 3 life.
There’s just no getting out of some sticky situations.
Pillow Fort 3W
Artifact
Creatures can’t attack you or planeswalkers you control unless their controller pays X for each of those creatures, where X is the number of nontoken artifacts you control.
“Misty isn’t here. She’s safe in Pillow Town.”
—Misty Brightdawn
Vengeful Pastamancer 3WW
Creature — Unicorn Wizard
Flash
When Vengeful Pastamancer enters the battlefield, exile target attacking creature. That creature’s controller creates a Food token. (It’s an artifact with “2, T, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.”)
Justice is a dish best served steaming-hot.
3/4
Privacy Curtain U
Instant
Kicker 3 (You may pay an additional 3 as you cast this spell.)
Target creature gains shroud until end of turn. If this spell was kicked, instead put your choice of a hexproof counter or a shroud counter on that creature. (A creature with shroud can’t be the target of spells or abilities.)
Drifting Dreamer 1U
Creature — Unicorn Wizard
U, Q: Target creature gains flying until end of turn. (Q is the untap symbol.)
For some ponies, the greatest challenge wasn’t learning how to use magic, but how to stop.
2/1
Bridlewood Retromancer 3U
Creature — Unicorn Wizard
Paradox — Whenever you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand, return up to one target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand.
“Sure, there’s no magic now. That’s why I cast a spell to send him back to when there was.”
3/2
Ravenous Mane 1B
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature you control.
Enchanted creature gets +3/+3 and has menace.
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a creature.
An infusion of dragon magic leaves anything hungering for more.
Unbearable Roommate 2B
Creature — Nightmare Unicorn
Each other creature you control enters the battlefield with an additional -1/-1 counter on it.
It’s not just the oppressive aura of despair or the ear-piercing screeching. She doesn’t rinse her dishes either.
5/5
Weaponized Compost 2B
Artifact
T, Mill a card: Add B.
Fathomless descent — 4BB, T, Sacrifice Weaponized Compost: Each opponent loses X life and you gain X life, where X is the number of permanent cards in your graveyard.
Nothing in the Bridlewood goes to waste.
Curse of Social Overload 2BB
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
At the beginning of enchanted player’s upkeep, if that player controls the most creatures or is tied for the most, they sacrifice a creature.
Too much of a good thing can be the worst affliction of all.
Aerosolized Dragonfire 1RR
Sorcery
Create a Treasure token. Until end of turn, artifacts you control gain “T: This artifact deals 1 damage to any target.” (A Treasure token is an artifact with “T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.”)
Clever dragons make hoards that can guard themselves.
Thermo-Cosmetologist 2R
Creature — Pegasus Shaman
Reach
T: Thermo-Cosmetologist deals 1 damage to each opponent.
Whenever a noncreature, nonland permanent enters the battlefield under your control, untap Thermo-Cosmetologist.
“You’ll want to hold still for this treatment.”
0/4
Fearless Food Fighter 3R
Creature — Unicorn Warrior
Protection from Foods, from Horrors, and from players who gained life this turn
3W: Each player gains 2 life.
When the compost started fighting back, some unicorns just saw it as a new layer of fun.
5/2
Overwhelming Assault 3R
Instant
Overwhelming Assault deals damage to target creature or planeswalker equal to the number of creatures you control. Excess damage is dealt to that permanent’s controller instead.
What you’re throwing doesn’t matter when there’s enough to bury your enemies.
Coiffed Flytrap 2G
Creature — Plant Mutant
Reach
Coiffed Flytrap gets +1/+1 for each permanent attached to it.
Interacting magics often meant Maretime Bay was host to anomalies not seen for centuries, if ever.
1/3
Invasive Growth 2G
Sorcery
Domain — Creatures you control can’t be blocked by creatures with power X or less this turn, where X is the number of basic land types among lands you control.
Global experience means people the world over know not to get in your way.
Untouchable Guerrilla 3G
Creature — Unicorn Warrior
Untouchable Guerrilla has hexproof if it hasn’t dealt damage yet.
Dash 1GG (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it’s returned from the battlefield to its owner’s hand at the beginning of the next end step.)
3/3
Trichohydra 3GG
Creature — Hydra Horror
Champion a creature (When this enters the battlefield, sacrifice it unless you exile another creature you control. When this leaves the battlefield, that card returns to the battlefield.)
Whenever Trichohydra champions a creature or attacks, put X +1/+1 counters on Trichohydra, where X is the championed card’s power.
2/2
Scout’s Guidebook 3
Artifact
Raid — 2, T: Draw a card. Activate only if you attacked this turn.
Sunny helped compile the Trail Trotters guidebook, including advice on how to handle both magic dating back to the Paleopony Period and phenomena nopony had ever seen before.
Icon of Destiny 4
Artifact
As Icon of Destiny enters the battlefield, choose a creature type.
Spells you cast of the chosen type cost 1 less to cast.
You may look at the top card of your library any time.
You may cast spells of the chosen type from the top of your library.
Eyeless Effigy UB
Artifact Creature — Shapeshifter Horror
Eyeless Effigy can’t block.
Whenever Eyeless Effigy attacks, exile up to one target creature card from a graveyard. Then you may have Eyeless Effigy become a copy of a card exiled with it until end of turn.
“Was that cutout always there?”
1/1
Welcoming Cannonade RG
Instant
Choose one —
• Welcoming Cannonade deals 2 damage to each creature that entered the battlefield this turn.
• Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature that entered the battlefield this turn.
Bridlewood Ambush 4BG
Instant
You may put a creature card from your hand or graveyard onto the battlefield. When you do, that creature fights up to one target creature you don’t control.
The deeper Bridlewood is unsafe for lone travelers. As is the town on some days.
Yeah, when I heard about this, even I felt charitable enough to not cripple MYM's final chapter even further pre-viewing and opted to hold off on the final short until after it.
Do you just mean the last of this season? We well know by now that we've got two more years of TYT coming on a weekly basis, with four episodes a year being 22-minute behemoths too.
Or were you saying you don't intend to look at TYT further? I wouldn't blame you, but I'd also be very surprised, given your "what fan content and interesting material I can make of it" approach. And with only the remaining chapters books otherwise as far as official content is concerned, you'd end up relying primarily on fan content for FiCG pretty fast, bud!
It's certainly one of the more tolerable "Pipp's products go wrong" shorts, because this at least isn't her fault and there a bit of an earnest clumsiness. Proves this web series is better when it has no pretensions to being anything but goofy nonsense. Though the pivoting to trying to make a character out of Windy just feels weird – her role here could have just as easily being done by Sunny looking in an old book of dragon lore. And her voice just does not feel find for the character or her model.
Also, there are a few close-ups on the tentacle hair throughout witty intricate shadows that are so detailed as to feel like they’re from a different show, and they rather took me out of the moment.
Fun fact, this is the shortest one yet, at only 4:32! More likely than not it's them diverting a little budget from each short for the four 22-minute ones next year, though the small bit of length flexibility is nice.
I was torn enough on this, as it started out on a rote “Misty likes her alone space due to her upbringing” thing we've gotten many times already, and in the usual manner that requires the Mane 4 to be oblivious (though the strikes are accidental and unintended, Pipp excepted because of course). And Hitch's exemption outside of stock footage stings. But the back half has a high number of grace notes, between visiting Alphabittle, getting good reassurances, and the Mane 4's accommodating Misty without over-explaining it. The frothy and bubbly tone undermines it, but getting any acknowledgment of the psychological effect Misty’s upbringing would have had, and NOT ending with her just becoming more social like them, shouldn’t be dismissed.
And yeah, the discontinuity between the two series is annoying, but honestly, were I in the TYT writers' shoes, I'd probably do similar with all the restrictions I had to work with, to get any material out of it.
Pretty same take from me; mostly I notice that this is the third short in the last four to feature the Misty/Alphabittle dynamic – a dynamic the “main” show resolved super quick and never returned to. I ain’t complaining, it’s something to grab onto even if it remains surface-level. You can really feel the staff wanting to try and do something with this character relationship, with every short finding a reason for these characters that live apart now to be together again.
I'm pretty sure it's just "Oh My Pony".
Oh my pony I want that fic
No, they're pieces. Bits and pieces.
Is Invasive Growth supposed to be looking at creatures?
Favorite this time around is Encased In Honey. Now to go listen to Sweet Bod again...
Haven't caught up yet, but this is an excellent bit of characterization. The rich princess who thrives on attention and possessions (if consumable ones like beauty products) getting culture shock at someone who had roughly none of that is appropriate. And yes it's more likely coincidence than a serious "This is perfect for Pipp!" in the writers' room, but in G5 we take what we can get.
I really love this line, too. For Sunny who spent so much of her life craving connection and understanding, for part of it lacking even familial ties, the line is the most wonderful, encouraging thing she could imagine. It's what she wished someone had said to her. For an introvert adjusting to common pony interactions and already out of her depth, it's more threat than promise.
This one got a laugh from me. XD
You've watched this series -- you know the writers aren't going to put in any more effort than "pony."
Pipp strikes me as the type who would want to know what her clientele is saying about her when they think she isn't in the room.
Interesting that Hitch is the only one of Pipp's supposed best friends who was willing to try her new mane softener.
Apparently Opaline could have gotten all the dragonfire from Sparky that she wanted if she had just asked politely.
So... that shot of a sleeping Izzy hovering over Misty in bed while making lip-pursing expressions. How many fanfics have already been written as the result of that? I'd estimate it was a three-digit number, but I don't think this series has that large a following.
Did Alphabittle make hot cocoa instead of tea, or did he place marshmallows in tea? Either way, it seems out of character. (Unless there was an earlier episode in which Misty revealed that she doesn't like tea? So much of this generation dissipates from my memory immediately after each episode ends.)
Still, props to Alphabittle for not trying to seize the opportunity to get Misty to move back in with him in a misguided effort to get his little filly back.
Sure, but knowing Opaline, I assume most of those were delivered when Opaline stormed into the room, barked her demand (and maybe a couple of insults) at Misty, and then stormed back out, leaving Misty to do her chores in peace.
...Come to think of it, Misty's going to have just as much difficulty adjusting to the freedom to make her own decisions as she will being surrounded by other ponies. Just ask anyone who's spent years in incarceration.
This episode came so close to delivering the message "introverts exist and need their space" (I very much empathized with Misty throughout this short), but then it defaulted to "yay friendship we're all gathered together" yet again. Sigh.
Near the beginning, one of the unicorns launched a whole carrot, pointy end first. No wonder Bridlewood's population is so small.
If Friday Night Food Fight is the unicorns' way of providing the forest with mulch, and the battle takes place pretty much everywhere with no cleanup afterward, then Bridlewood must stink. Puts a new perspective on the old unicorn rumor that earth ponies smell like fish.
Izzy's "That's sure a side of you I've never seen" is a cheerful way to gloss over the reformed villain being scarily proficient at weaponizing anything around her.
5755611
And the type who thinks this would convince anyone that she wasn't in the room. But then, so are the writers.
I'm thinking "OMP" might be "oh my princess". A holdover from the Twilit era. With the original "OMG" referencing God, the princess was the closest thing to a god in Equestria. More generic than "oh my Celestia" once there were more than one princess.
And yeah, when magic was lost is treated really loosely. Tbh there are a few things which kind of hint at it being recent if not for the story of Twilight creating the gems. But given that it's just sloppy.