Friendship is Card Games: Sisterhooves Social · 3:48pm Nov 30th, 2014
This episode is a milestone in the series; with the exception of the theme song, it is totally devoid of Twilight Sparkle. So, let's see what happens when the friendship cart is unhitched from Purplesmart.
Given the way Rarity insists on perfect parsley placement, imagine how her human analogue would react the first time Sweetie Belle drove her somewhere.
…Oh God, any of the Crusaders behind the wheel. No, it's okay, I didn't need to sleep tonight.
You can see a lot of Rarity in Sweetie Belle. The excessive baggage, the impulse to decorate with gems, even the insistence on doing something nice for someone else. Of course, as is often the problem with the Crusaders, Sweetie has yet to learn the fine art of restraint. The end result is that while Rarity is the Bearer of Generosity, Sweetie is a unicorn version of Zedruu the Greathearted, giving until it hurts everyone else.
On that note, why did Rarity leave the extremely rare sapphires in the same room as the paper and crayons? The sweater was an unfortunate bit of happenstance, but that was shooting herself in the hoof. Furthermore, the glue was still dripping; she probably could've salvaged a fair number of the gems… though that may have been a degree of respect for another artist's work.
I find myself wondering who the pony in that fountain is supposed to be or symbolize. Probably not one of Celestia's petrified castoffs. 
Yes, Sweetie. They're making grape juice. Just grape juice. Nothing else. Pay no attention to Berry Punch watching in the bushes and breathing heavily.
…Wow, that took a turn for the creepy.
Ah, the sheep scene, with Apple Bloom subbing in for Winona. Kind of troublesome, yes, but the sheep don't seem to mind much more than the cows. Slavery or mutually beneficial cooperation? You decide.
Somewhat more troublesome is that Gone With the Wind reference. That was definitely an invocation of Celestia as a deity. That leads to all kinds of questions about pony religion. (On the other hand, it's also Rarity in a moment of epic marshmelodrama. Hard to say just how much of this is sincere.)
I don't know if it's a quirk of the version I'm looking at, but I swear Sweetie's sclera are more yellow than usual when she's explaining why Applejack is a better sister than Rarity. Discord's influence may have lingered more than we knew…
Usually, card names already being used makes me sad. But after the apple pie metaphor, I have to appreciate that Give//Take is a green-blue card (the colors of Applejack and Rarity) that can be brought together for a greater effect. A bit more mad-sciencey than either of those ponies, but what can you do? (Personally, I think Ponyville would be greatly improved by a few lobstersharks.)
And yes, this is the episode that established that Dinky and Sparkler/Amethyst Star are sisters. Well, Elementals was planned before this episode, so I grandfathered Dinky's only-child status into all stories that stem from it. Also, given that ponies are watching themselves compete, it's either a matter of arbitrary background pony assignment or changelings creating false memories. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than okay with them being sisters in new works, but this was the moment when I decided not to bend over backwards for relatively minor revelations.
This episode does a good job of showing how Rarity and Sweetie Belle's sibling dynamic has shades of Celestia and Luna's long before "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils." Conflict and compromise, help and hindrance, resentment and resolution… Of course, the consequences are less cosmic and Celestia might have been more accommodating than Rarity, but there are still parallels.
And now for some apple pie. By which I mean cards:
Abrupt Awakening W
Instant
Untap all creatures.
There is no clarion call quite like a smoke alarm.
Fashion Police 3W
Creature — Unicorn Soldier
All creatures have "This creature can't attack unless you pay 2 for each permanent attached to it."
To question them is to ask for a fabulous baton to the muzzle.
2/2
Sibling Snub U
Instant
Counter target spell if it shares a creature type with a permanent its controller controls.
There are few things sadder than severed family ties.
Declare Uncouth UU
Instant
Counter target nonblue spell unless its controller pays 3. If that spell is red or green, counter it instead.
"I don't find everything uncouth. Just anything that involves an unacceptable amount of dirt. Which is to say, any."
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Device Deluge 4UU
Sorcery
Each player may put any number of artifact cards from his or her hand onto the battlefield.
Sweetie Belle's definition of "a few necessities" was based on her sister's.
Stinking Thinking 3B
Enchantment
Whenever a card is put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, that player loses 1 life.
"You can't let the little things get to you, or they'll team up, drag you down, and never let you get back up."
—Applejack, Bearer of Honesty
Mud Umbra 1R
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and can't be blocked by creatures with flying.
Totem armor (If enchanted creature would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Aura.)
Kitchen Disaster 2R
Enchantment
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, Kitchen Disaster deals 1 damage to that player.
If a player would gain life, Kitchen Disaster deals 1 damage to that player instead.
"I didn't know you could burn juice."
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Swallow Rage 2R
Sorcery
Any number of creatures you control can't attack this turn. Other creatures you control get +1/+0 for each of those creatures until end of turn.
Anger, like any explosion, is much more potent when focused.
Lend Sibling 2RR
Instant
Untap target creature. Target player gains control of that creature until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
"One. Day."
—Apple Bloom
Prize-Winning Pig 2GG
Creature — Boar
At the beginning of your end step, draw a card if you control the creature with the greatest power or tied for the greatest power.
4GG: Monstrosity 3. (If this creature isn't monstrous, put three +1/+1 counters on it and it becomes monstrous.)
3/3
Sweet Apple Flock 4G
Creature — Sheep
Hoofcraft — As long as you control three or more Ponies, Pegasi, and/or Unicorns, Sweet Apple Flock gets +2/+2 and has trample.
Sometimes, all that matters is sheer numbers.
4/4
Organized Chaos UR
Enchantment
Whenever you shuffle your library, you may scry 1. (Look at the top card of your lbirary. You may put that card on the bottom of your library.)
"Utter nonsense, and not the fun kind."
—Discord
Embellish 1UB
Sorcery
Choose a counter on target permanent. Remove all counters from another target permanent. For each counter removed this way, put a counter that's the same kind as the chosen counter onto the first permanent.
"You weren't using those, right?"
—Sweetie Belle
Clean Up 2WUB
Instant
Remove all damage from all creatures. If the active player has more cards in his or her hand than his or her maximum hand size, he or she discards cards equal to the difference. Effects end as though the turn ended.
"There, isn't that better?"
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Reasonable Demand 3(ub)(ub)
Sorcery
Target opponent reveals his or her hand. You may cast a nonland card with converted mana cost 4 or less from that hand without paying its mana cost.
"Please, allow me to show you how to make the most of that."
—Rarity, Bearer of Generosity
Full-Spectrum Fashion 5WU
Sorcery
For each color among permanents you control, search your library for an artifact or enchantment card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library and exile Full-Spectrum Fashion.
Inspiration can strike in any number of ways, sometimes all at once.
If any of them are worse than my sister... I shudder to think about it.
As for the cards, I think I like Kitchen Disaster and Reasonable Demand the most.
So I'm looking at Sweet Apple Flock, and I think, "Trample? Why would birds ha--"
"-- Oh."
I like Embellish. "Oh, you just resolved a really big Hooded Hydra? Let's put all those counters on my Nicol Bolas and ult him."
I really can't see Rarity as Blue. I think she fits better both flavorwise and mechanically as WB.
"Fashion Police"'s flavor text reminded me of a story, which I think is The Ballad of Twilight Sparkle, where-in Rarity gets into a fight with a couple of security guard types and beats the fabulous into them. As in after the fight they all look like super models and are not injured in any way.
They still lost the fight.
"Lend Sibling" is really just another 'steal creature effect'. I think it'd be more flavorful and a good multi-player card if it was more along the lines of "1R Untap target creature you control. Another target player gains control of that creature until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn." That makes it feel more like 'Here, you can have my sister for a turn. One. Turn.'
It'd also combo well with things like Bronze Bombshell.
You should be fleeced for the pun in "Sweet Apple Flock"'s flavor text.
I keep wanting "Clean Up" to trigger things that say 'at the beginning of the next cleanup step' but I can't think of a nice way of saying it without it just being all clunky.
2625232
On the flip side, you can kill a Planeswalker with Embellish, as long as you have something to give counters to (including your own Planeswalker).
2625665
Blue isn't all keeping other people from having fun (though Rarity does a fair amount of that this episode.) I definitely agree that Rarity has white and black aspects. After writing The Implicit Neighs, I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't. But she's blue at her core.
One of the most critical parts of blue's philosophy and one of its major sticking points with green is the concept of nurture over nature. Blue believes that given the opportunity, anyone can became anything. That opportunity could be educational, financial, magical, or something more esoteric, but there's always a way.
Rarity's cutie mark story is a perfect example of this. Her horn self-activated, dragged her for miles, and plopped her in front of a rock. Cue the rainboom and the discovery that the rock was a geode. Rarity's destiny was clear; her special talent lay in finding precious gems. Yet her cutie mark didn't appear. Only when Rarity found a way for that ability to mesh with what she already wanted to do did she get her mark.
Twilight briefly unlocked her full potential. Fluttershy helped for those who couldn't help themselves. Applejack returned to what she was meant to do. Dash put everything she was into what she loved. Even Pinkie knew what she had to do; it just took some setup before she could get it going. But Rarity, more than any other member of the Mane Six, chose and defined her own destiny. It doesn't get much more blue than that. You can see something similar with Cheerilee, who has one of the most circuitously symbolic cutie marks on the show and the very blue talent of education.
In "Sisterhooves Social," we see the same "anyone can become anything" philosophy actively applied. Rarity tries being white-black at first, establishing restrictive laws to control society, even if it's a society of two. But that doesn't work. Sweetie chafes under her rule and refuses to play the game, something white-black can't cope with except through outright destruction (which usually isn't an option with one's siblings, no matter how tempting.) Thus, Rarity must learn and adapt, reinventing herself as the sister Sweetie needs. It's no mistake that Applejack is the one to help her with this; evolution is green-blue's stock and trade.
Oh dear, this grew way out of control. Sorry, color philosophy's something of a passion of mine.
Sweet Apple Flock has an error in the flavortext. It says ’all that matters are‘. Shouldn't that be ‘is’?
And Full-Spectrum Fashion should be hyphenated.
(I'm back!)
4327117
That's actually an interesting question. Does "matters" refer to "that" or "numbers"? I'm genuinely unsure.
The Fashion, on the other hand, has definitely been hyphenated.
4327218
To ‘that’. It's the subject of both verbs. But if you swapped the sides, then the subject of the copula {copula = am/is/are/was/were/be/being/been(ENG)/ser/estar(ESP)/esse(LAT)/להיות(HEB)} would be ‘numbers’, but that of ‘matters’ would still be ‘that’, so they'd get conjugated differently. This sort of sentence, where subject and object of the copula disagree on number, sends prescriptivists into fits, and sends descriptivists to get a pen to write the example down (it's interesting from a logical point of view).
4327269
Duly noted and adjusted accordingly. Thanks!
I decided that Fashion Police should show Rarity's parents. The incongruity is funny.