Pretty Dragon Princesses · 5:26am Jun 21st, 2015
I'll let the big-name people do the actual analyses of this episode. I'll just point things out and hope I get some discussion. It was fun for Griffonstone, hopefully it will be fun here, too.
Like world-building, for example. Not only did Griffons get another drop in the bucket for Best Species with their awesome tiger-striped and hawk-beaked delegate:
But we saw more pony designs, like this mare:
You don't see it? Look at her eyes. My first thought was that she was a Twinkle Pony from G1, but digging around, her eyes match the Crystal Ponies before they became Crystal Ponies (I must be out of touch), so I guess she must be the delegate from the Crystal Empire? Not quite as interesting as bringing back Twinkle Ponies, but it still raises the question of why she isn't all crystal-y. Maybe I'm completely overthinking things and it's just because she's away from the Crystal Heart. Don't mind me, I just got home from a full week of herding scouts at camp while trying to keep dry, and 
I see a lot of people feel sorry for/annoyed by Spike in this episode (and who can blame him, the guy needs all the help he can get), but honestly, I'm more worried about how Spike treats others:
On a more serious note, do you ever get the feeling the writers are regretting the decision to make Cadance a princess?
You may not be tired of seeing her (I'll have to ask my more-awake self if I am), but there's no question that she's a bit out of place in the Equestrian pantheon. The random addition of a third alicorn and princess with no real explanation really cheapened Twilight's ascension for me, and now she has to be a part of every royal function, taking the lines and roles that really ought to have gone to Luna (no serious role for Best Princess since S2, people! Come on!).
Cadance does work as Twilight's fillyhood friend and sister-in-law, but was there ever really a need for her to be a princess? The S3 premier with Sombra could've been in Canterlot or some new location, and it would've had less of an impact than shoehorning an extra princess everywhere.
Okay, you know I need to go to bed when I bring up a show complaint two-and-a-half seasons late. First, updates!
I've been completely absorbed with the OC SlamJam, a unique sorta contest run by Obsolescence. Round 2 just ended last night, and unless I counted the votes horribly wrong, it looks like I'm finally out of the running. Oh well, it was a good run. Lots of fun. I think I'll be entering more contests in the future. Also look out for my contest entries coming out in a compilation story at some point. Now I can finally get back to writing Crisis!
Or I can do real-life stuff instead. I'm moving tomorrow to an apartment with no WiFi for the rest of the summer, so my activity in these parts will be very spotty until school starts up again. Sorry, vren! I'll do what I can!
Here's a treat for anyone who actually reads these blarghs: I'm actually going to be rooming with Ponky at university this Fall. He's a really cool guy, and I'm hoping I can do something to rekindle his interest in wishful writings about small colored horses. He wants to want to come back, if that makes sense.
Anyway, if I stay up any longer I'll have another dream about the Internet's reaction to the reveal of the trailer of "Sharkboy and Lavagirl 2." You only ever want to see that once.
You know, I didn't even notice she wasn't crystal, but it makes sense, if the Heart can make regular ponies crystal, living around it imbues them with that characteristic all the time, and it fades after they leave the Empire.
3167824 And that raises the question of what makes the natives different, if any pony becomes crystal-y around the Heart. Why do they have the funky sparkles in their eyes in the first place, since they keep those no matter where they are?
Something else that I forgot to mention last night is the difference between Prince Blueblood and Princess Cadance. Both were featured in season finales and both are royalty to some ambiguous degree. So why do we still have so much Cadance and absolutely no Blueblood? Why wasn't he even the Canterlot delegate instead of Fancypants?I don't think he should be standing beside the Royal Sisters like Twilight and Cadance, of course, but if we can just drop him after one season like he never existed, surely we could have had a non-alicorn Cadance, right?
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The reasoning is most likely dumb. :B
Well concerning cadence
Many toy makers know that girls like 3 things
1 princesses
2 the color pink
3 ponies
So what better way than to make a pink princess pony to get the most out of sales.