Talking Cute: Episode 1

[You should read all of Breaking Cute before reading this blog.]
Alright, so I feel that I need to explain myself a little with the events of Arsenic and New Cutie Marks. Yes, I'm a little regretful that I made some of the choices that I did. (Mainly the toilet humor (I feel dirty, and yet I like it. (This must be how The Parasprite feels all the time)). The main premise, and the placing of most of the town in peril I'm very happy with.) But, I got caught in the insanity of the moment.

For this chapter, I guess that insanity is the main theme. The CMC, for all of their descent into evil / madness aren't very adept at anything. Like Walt, they have dived into a world that they don't understand, and that they are still coming to grips with. For the CMC, this is made worse by their lack of background. The idea of murder is a new idea one for them.

So lets get to the meat and potatoes of Arsenic and Cutie Marks. This is the first part of the end of the first act of Breaking Cute. This entire first act has been setting up the conflict of Twilight Sparkle versus the Crusaders. Zecora's inexperience delayed that, but now both sides are aware that the game is on.

We're come off of a series of relatively cute scenes setting up Twilight and Luna's relationship, and their respective mental state. Both ponies are emotionally needy. Luna isn't getting the emotional intimacy that she seeks out of Celestia, and it's driven her to drink. Twilight is well, Twilight. She just wants to study and be a good friend. Her relationship with Luna has drawn her into the madness unleashed by the Crusaders.

Luna has unilaterally decided that she is the only one capable of dealing with the madness. She may very well be right. However, despite being more able to handle the concept of murder than most ponies, Luna is still emotionally needy, and immature. She's pulled Twilight into the situation because, she sees Twilight as a second sister, one that's willing to listen, and respond with more than platitudes. Twilight is the only pony that is willing to bond with Luna on the terms that Luna desires. I know an analysis of Twilight and Luna sounds likes it's a little off topic, but while it's a murder mystery, it's also a TwiLuna story, albeit a platonic one.

So, we have Scootaloo's cuteceañera. It's an impromptu party, that started as Ponyville attempting to forget about the murder of Spitfire in the only way it knew how, by drowning itself in Cupcakes. Into this step the Crusaders, flush with their success in evading capture so far have decided to retake their clubhouse in the only way they knew how (murder).

The Crusaders are still naive foals. They are capable of murder, but they don't quite understand what they are doing. They are treating this as somewhat of a game. I've left it up to the reader to decide if the Crusaders truly understand the concepts of death and killing. Either way, the Crusaders are playing with fire (While lead arsenate isn't ricin, it is a very dangerous chemical.(It was however widely used on Apples, despite it being known that it wouldn't always wash off of the fruit)). They have endangered the life of everypony in Sugar Cube Corner (themselves included). Not to mention contaminated the kitchen of Sugar Cube Corner.

So, between the toilet humor, we have what is essentially a party that has turned into a nightmare. Ponies are dropping fast (although most of them are only suffering from the initial stages of arsenic poisoning.), and no one knows what to do. (Keep in mind, the baked bads brought the town's medical facilities to their knees, and that was a small scale case of food poisoning.)

The Crusaders don't understand just how toxic the substances that they are messing with are. While their intentions towards Twilight, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were hostile, Scootaloo just assumed that because she put a larger per cupcake dose on the murder cupcakes, the rest of the town would live. While this naivety isn't out of place for pastel talking horses, it'll probably feed into the cycle of failure / violence that is driving the crusaders deeper.

See you next time!