Friendship is Card Games: Parental Glideance · 10:52am May 21st, 2017
A moment of silence, please, now that the first Great Headcanon Massacre of 2017 has reached those avoiding the early airings. The wavefunctions of Rainbow Dash’s parents have collapsed, and the end results…
Well, this actually explains a lot. Let’s take a look.
It’s good to see them acknowledge the cloudwalking issue again. Given how often ponies have shown up at Dash’s house, it seemed like the writers had forgotten about that tidbit.
I love how the giant slingshot actually worked. Truly, the Crusaders live blessed lives. Also, I have to wonder about Sweetie’s suggestion. Not sure how coordinating a flock of birds would work out. Would Fluttershy have to keep them together, or would it go like Pigeon Man with less pathos?
Bow Hothoof’s 5 o’ clock shadow bothers me to an odd degree, mostly because I want to know how pony facial hair works.
One interesting detail is Windy Whistles’s apparent devotion to the princess. After all, ponies don't often swear by Celestia, much less collect commemorative plates of her. Not sure if this is actual worship or just strong royalism, but it’s an interesting non-Dash-related wrinkle to Windy’s personality. Plus, it’s another sign of the loyalty her daughter exemplifies beyond the obsessive adoration of that daughter.
My first thoughts upon seeing the greatest Rainbow Dash fans brought together: “Oh God, there’s three of them.”
Okay, this is going to bother me all through this episode: Where did Scootaloo get all of these photos of moments in Dash’s life? My working hypothesis is that Scoot asked Twilight to take her to the Astral Plane, where she could snap photos of flashback windows to her heart’s content. That would also explain why Dash later says that Scootaloo should've asked Twilight before bringing the parents to the academy.
I remain convinced that Bow stole that T-shirt from his human daughter’s closet. (That is, the daughter of his human analogue.) I don’t know how, but I want to believe he did.
“Our little Dashie.” They just had to slip that in there, didn’t they?
I’ve seen a few instances of people imagining what Twilight’s infantile magic surges were like, but I can’t recall any speculations regarding Dash’s. Her parents definitely had their work cut out for them. I’d say they deserve a trophy or two.
The tortoise poster is actually quite appropriate. Dash’s hard shell may be emotional, but it’s still there, and still employed when the going gets tough.
Yeaaaah, this scene with Dash’s parents and Scootaloo going through the Rainbow Dash museum gets pretty creepy after a while. :sweetieunsure:
No day-saving headlines? No awareness of Dash’s Wonderbolt status? This is more than a little bizarre, especially since we’ve seen that Cloudsdale got deliveries of the Foal Free Press back in “Ponyville Confidential.” (If nothing else, you’d think her parents would have that article.) I can only guess that the other Ponyville papers never got that kind of demand from a cloud city, nor did the FFP when Gabby Gums wasn’t writing. Also, Dash’s parents apparently never visit her… I guess.
Odd as that is, their not knowing she’s a Wonderbolt actually does make some sense, and not just because of their deliberate avoidance of the ‘bolts. Their neighbors have likely been keeping that information from them; consider the cacophony that erupted when they found out. And in Cloudsdale, when you can have neighbors above and below you? Yeah, I can see more than a few ponies dedicated to making sure Bow and Windy were kept out of that particular loop.
Credit where it’s due, that is an amazing door.
“Newbie Dash” still leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth for glossing over Dash achieving her life’s goal, but it’s still good to see her actually in and among the Wonderbolts.
The Wonderbolts Academy, ladies and gentlemen! Perhaps the least secure military instillation in fiction. Of course, that’s what you get when everypony expected to be there can fly.
I love how much wing language there is in this episode.
Hmm. Bow’s tearful exclamation about Rainbow setting and achieving a goal makes me wonder about what he wanted from his life. It’s hard to tell how much of this is over-the-top parental pride and how much living vicariously through his daughter.
Damn it, Fleetfoot, you just had to set him off again.
“Greetings, small ponies.” I don’t know why that amuses me, but it does. Oh, right, because it’s nice to see any glimmer of personality from these two beyond their obsession with Dash.
… That came out harsher than I meant it. But I think you all get what I mean.
So… they never took Dash to a Wonderbolts show? You’d think they’d support her there. Maybe that one uncle from “Games Ponies Play” always took her.
Still, it’s clear that those two really haven’t ever been to a Wonderbolts event before. Otherwise, they might have some idea of what’s actually going on. And they'd know not to launch fireworks at the performers.
Sorry, but the color commentary doesn’t alleviate the massive expository recap. Even if Windy’s “Hooray again!” was amusingly adorable.
“Wanted for a crime she didn’t commit.” I never watched the A-Team, so I’m going to need some help here: Which member does Rainbow most resemble?
So did they make all that Dash paraphernalia themselves or what?
Hmm… So is the magic powering visuals in the Wonderbolt show woven into the uniforms or some twist of pegasus magic similar to contrails?
Credit to Fleetfoot, she tried to help.
Ribbon cutting? Really? It’s moments like this where I have to question just what role the Wonderbolts serve.
That said, without Dash’s parents, this would be really nice; she’s helping inspire the next generation.
Good to see Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail again. Both because I’m a sucker for smoothly incorporated continuity and because I like them.
I admit, I joined in the towel chant.
So… where is Scootaloo scooting off to? She’s on a mesa. Pretty sure the only way on or off is flight. Though her continued presence does explain why Dash’s parents are still in the area.
A sticker. On fur. Ow.
I do like the subtle show of Derpy’s eyes and placing worsening over time as Dash rises in the ranks. But she always medalled, and she always smiled.
Also, that montage gave us this, which is clearly the optimal timeline.
Dash being the youngest flier in that particular circuit does explain some things, but it still feels weird to think the other Wonderbolts are so close to her in age. Of course, the foals there all have the same proportions as the Crusaders, so that leaves a potential age range of at least five years.
And now the elephant in the room: Scootaloo’s lack of parental support. All she says on the matter is that nopony ever told her she’d be the best at anything. Now, this can mean anything from dead parents to inattentive or infrequently available ones to merely ones who are a bit too concerned about their daughter having a sense of perspective (especially during that phase when she was so obsessed with getting her cutie mark.) There is still a wide range of behavioral phase space here. Not as much as there was prior to this episode, but dang it, I really don’t like Orphanloo and I will cling to whatever flimsy justification I can get.
In any case, Scootaloo does point out a very salient point: For all of their overenthusiasm, Dash’s parents are responsible for the mare she is today. If they hadn’t shoveled praise into her like coal into a locomotive engine, she wouldn’t have anywhere near the confidence she does, and if they hadn't encouraged her talents, she might not have the skills to back it up. They are the laborers who, brick by brick, constructed the grand monument that is Rainbow Dash’s ego.
I do love how Bow and Windy immediately latch onto Scootaloo as a replacement daughter.
It’s good to see the other ‘Bolts help out. Makes me wonder if any of them can empathize.
And in the end, we get a happy Scootaloo, with her own megafans. And any episode that ends on a Scootaloo too happy for words can’t be that bad.
Indeed, this one was pretty good. As far as potential Dash parents go, I could’ve done with ones a bit… well, quieter, but this was a very nice counterpart to last week’s episode: Even when your family embarrasses you, they’re still your family. Appreciate them for what and who they are… but don’t be afraid to ask them to tone it down.
Now, who’s ready for the greatest fan cards ever!?
Prismatic Face Paint 1W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and is all colors.
”See, when I do it, it’s awesome. When my parents, do it… not so much.”
—Rainbow Dash, Bearer of Loyalty
Turbulent Praise 1W
Instant
Choose one —
• Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
• Tap up to two target creatures.
Entwine 2 (Choose both if you pay the entwine cost.)
Loving Embrace 2W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can’t attack, block, or be sacrificed.
”I’ll never let you go, Dashie.”
“That’s nice, Dad, but I need to breathe.”
Carbo Load 3W
Instant
Kicker 2W (You may [ay an additional 2W as you cast this spell.)
Creatures you control gain indestructible and lifelink until end of turn. If Carbo Load was kicked, whenever you gain life this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
Airlift Flock 4W
Creature — Bird
Flying
Whenever Airlift Flock attacks, another target attacking creature gains flying until end of turn.
1W: Attacking creatures you control get +0/+1 until end of turn.
Teamwork occurs more naturally near the Tree of Harmony.
2/3
Rainbow Fence 2U
Creature — Wall
Defender
Converge — Rainbow Fence enters the battlefield with a glare counter on it for each color of mana spent to cast it.
Remove a glare counter from Rainbow Fence: Target creature doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.
0/5
Mouldering Report 2B
Sorcery
Target opponent puts a card from his or her hand on top of his or her library. Search that library for a card and exile it. Then that player shuffles his or her library.
Sandwiches don’t make the best recording medium.
Fallen Hero 3B
Creature — Pegasus Rogue
Flying
Heroic — Whenever you cast a spell that targets Fallen Hero, you may sacrifice another creature. If you do, put two +1/+1 counters on Fallen Hero.
Pegasi can survive even a fall from grace, though the result is never pretty.
2/2
Piercing Shriek 5BB
Sorcery
Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for 1 or one mana of that creature’s color.)
Creatures your opponents control get -2/-2 until end of turn. If you control no untapped creatures, creatures your opponents control get -4/-4 until end of turn instead.
Devoted Megafans 1RR
Creature — Pegasus Citizen
Flying
Soulbond (You may pair this creature with another unpaired creature when either enters the battlefield. They remain paired for as long as you control both of them.)
As long as Devoted Megafans is paired with another creature, both creatures get +3/+0.
0/3
Celebration Mortar 2R
Instant
Celebration Mortar deals 3 damage to target creature.
Whenever one or more creatures you control deals combat damage to a player, if Celebration Mortar is in your graveyard, you may return Celebration Mortar to your hand.
World-Shaking Revelation 3RR
Sorcery
Each player discards his or her hand, then draws seven cards. World-Shaking Revelation deals damage to each opponent equal to the number of cards that player discarded this way.
A single sentence can bring more change than a dozen earthquakes.
Wonderclap 4RR
Instant
Wonderclap deals damage to each creature target opponent controls equal to the number of attacking creatures you control.
It can be hard to tell the Wonderbolts’ military maneuvers from their crowdpleasers.
Hidden Achievements 1G
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature you control
Enchanted creature has hexproof.
Whenever enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
”Some things you keep under your saddle.”
—Rainbow Dash, Bearer of Loyalty
Rip and Tear 2GG
Instant
Target creature gets +5/+5 and gains trample until end of turn.
In a place as gentle as Equestria, it takes a lot of guts to use a spell like this.
Celestial Curio 1
Artifact
1, Sacrifice Celestial Curio: Draw a card. If you control a Pony Pegasus Unicorn, you gain 5 life.
”Of all the ways to supplement the budget, I never thought merchandizing would take off as it has. Who knew that princesses sold so well?”
—Princess Celestia
Bronzed Dashmento 2
Artifact
Imprint — When Bronzed Dashmento enters the battlefield, you may exile a card from your graveyard.
T: Add one mana of any of the exiled card’s colors to your mana pool.
One mare’s trash is another mare’s trophy.
Album of Exploits 4
Artifact
2, T: Target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost. (You may cast that card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
Volumes can and have been written about the Bearers’ adventures.
Into the Stratosphere 1UR
Instant
Target creature you control gains flying and gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is its power. Return that creature to its owner’s hand at the beginning of the next end step.
Scootaloo wasn’t going to let a little thing like flightlessness keep her from Cloudsdale.
Junior Flappers Club 1RW
Enchantment
At the beginning of combat on your turn, create a 1/1 white Pegasus creature token with flying that’s tapped and attacking.
Pegasi compete instinctively. Many youth organizations try to channel that impulse in a constructive way.
Unrestricted Area
Land
At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, that player untaps and gains control of Unrestricted Area.
T: Add C to your mana pool.
T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you own Unrestricted Area.
Yeah, thanks for the clips show, Scoots. Actually it's even worse than a clips show because the pictures don't even move. But at least it's short.
Also, apparently Derpy lived in Ponyville but entered in flying competitions in Cloudsdale. I guess that would make sense for pegasi living on land to do.
Anyway, this was an okay episode, but I would've liked it better if the parents had learned a lesson about not going too overboard in their support. Yes, they made RD the pony she is today, but they went way too far after it was no longer wanted or needed. Parts of their shrine were downright creepy, and the fireworks could have hurt the Wonderbolts. I guess maybe they learned a bit of a lesson when Dash turned it around on them, but I don't know if was enough to sink in.
Yeah, I got nothing really to say about this one. I liked it. I thought it was good.
That episode really explains a lot. Not just how Rainbow got so dang confident in herself (I'd say overconfident, if she didn't have the skill to actually pull off almost anything she sets her mind to), but also how easily she can lose that confidence. After growing up getting constantly praised and cheered on for anything, one can imagine how she feels when ponies around her stop giving her support... especially when they fail to acknowledge something she actually did or would do well.
I think the biggest revelation for me in this episode is the existence of cloudmowers.
It raises so many questions! Do clouds grow? Are they alive in some fashion? Maybe they're actually part cotton? Is there such a thing as nephoculture?
The parent's enthusiasm is probably responsible for Rainbow's confidence, yes. But also likely her tendency early on to be, well, kind of a jerk. Support is very good for your kid, but overdoing it can lead to a pretty self absorbed individual, which Rainbow fit pretty much to a Tee.
Fortunately, she got some friends to help ground her a bit.
I don't think the orphanloo thing will ever be canon considering the writers have said multiple times not just on Twitter but at a couple Bronycons that her parents are still with her. But the fandom won't stop until we see them on screen.
Also that uncle guy your talking about, I heard he's Rainbows meantor, not uncle.
Clearly Rainbow Dash has a deal going with the neighbors to keep the information from them. Remember how effectively Rainbow tried to round up every last issue of her Gabby Gums column? And how she apparently manages to maintain her image while getting regular treatments at the spa? She might not always succeed, but Rainbow Dash is an experienced censor
Honestly, those two seem like the kind of ponies that believe with absolute certainty that those rules are only meant for other ponies. And Rainbow inherited that from them.
Something bugs me though: this season seems to be slowly losing its grasp of the past, and instead is projecting the present backwards. In the premiere we saw five of the mane six already being good friends in Ponyville before the show started. Now we see that Rainbow Dash had a tortoise poster years before she got Tank, as if it wasn't a whole thing where she had to figure out that tortoises are pretty cool. And while I love a good flashback reference as much as anyone, the fact that every single contestant in all those flight contests was either a present-day Wonderbolt, a Ponyvillian, or Lightning Dust just feels super-weird to me
Equestria isn't that small, and if those ponies all competed together over and over then why didn't they remember each other when they all met up in the Academy? And if Rainbow Dash beat Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot in flying contests when they were all kids, why were they wonderbolts before her?
That said, I enjoyed this episode, even though the parents' overenthusiasm stopped being comical and started verging on 'serious untreated mental illness' territory after a while. I used to worry that as the show aged, and the main characters started achieving their life-long goals, they would run out of stories to tell about them. Rainbow Dash was the prime example. Having her parents be wildly exaggerated out of all sense is the price we pay for showing us a new side of Rainbow Dash.
Even though Rainbow Dash only shows up in the middle act, and the focus is on the parents and on Scootaloo, this is an archetypal Rainbow Dash episode: her sense of loyalty is challenged; she wavers; she realizes her error and finally reaffirms them.
Oh, I am excited for your FiCG on the next episode. =)
Almost expected Rip and Tear to be a split card, but noticed the lack of "//".
Apart from the launching of pryotechics and chanting, I think the over-supportive parent thing could be interpreted to some degree of realism. Parents living vicariously, but more of a sacrificial way, through their child does happen all the time.
I think that the fact that it happened for so long is really what makes it creepier with RD's parents. Then again, people like that tend to only talk about one thing when they interact with others. I wonder if other ponies in the area avoid socializing with them because they know the only scope of the conversation.
4541217
(Image of Applejack heroically keeping hold of Dash's tail)
4541245 I hope they never do talk about Scootaloo's parents. Leave some room open for the headcanons, please.
4541393 headcanons are meant to be broken, eventually.
4541193
Given how Derpy's eyes were misaligned by the time she won Most Original Cart, it seems her family may have moved to Ponyville after her condition worsened, presumably striking a balance between affordable housing, a hospital that could deal with her condition, and a minimum altitude hazard if she ever found herself missing the front porch by too far a margin.
As for whether or not Dash's parents learned their lesson, I like to think they did. Given how Dash joins in the last chant, I'm guessing they did that more to give Scootaloo a sense of fulfillment than because they had a new pseudodaughter.
4541209 4541217
Yeah, this really was an astonishingly logical look into Dash's formative years.
4541216
It may just be cloudrollers, keeping the surface nice and level. Presumably for the same reasons as mowing lawns; they look more civilized and well-kept than the wild stuff. Of course, rolling it flat just means it's going to puff out again eventually, so it's a necessary routine.
Or maybe the cloudroller infuses some amount of magic into the cloud that lets it support mundane items (but not non-pegasus ponies, whose own internal magic interferes with the support field.)
4541245
Classic case of Shrödinger's cat in action. Until the show staff opens the box, Scootaloo's parents are in a superposition of alive and dead. Just like how Dash's parents were uncertain until this episode.
Also, do you have a source on that mentor tidbit?
4541251
Rainbow Dash: Flies faster than the speed of rumor!
The continuity issues are concerning, though Dash not immediately being enamored with a tortoise does still make sense; she wanted something that could keep up with her in the air. Besides, by that point in her life, reminding her of something from her childhood home might have actually been a point against Tank.
But yeah, here's hoping we don't get a full-fledged internal paradox. I can only justify so much, even with the post-time battle butterfly effect.
4541354
Sadly, Wear//Tear already exists, which means I had to settle for a Doom comic reference.
As for Bow and Windy's monomania, they do appear to have some other interests. They just take so much of a backseat to Rainbow Dash, they're in another car entirely. But yeah, this could be seen as kind of tragic.
4541894 the only source I have for the mentor thing is this card, are these mlp cards canon?
mlpforums.com/uploads/post_images/img-2644621-1-CanterlotNights_017.jpg
Carbo Load... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4&t=1m42s
I'll be putting Prismatic Face Paint into my all-hybrid-white Shadowmoor-block deck as soon as I can get it actually printed, thank you very much. Loving Embrace is fun; we've seen a lot of sacrifice-manipulation lately, so I wonder if something like it would happen soon. And Unrestricted Area may be the most fun I've ever seen in a land, and again it seems so right-up-the-alley for something we may actually see printed; I'd love it in Conspiracy.
I'll stop
gushing(EDIT: not the best word choice given how this started, sorry) cheering now and let you fly.Emeril Lagasse thanks you for putting kicker on a food-based card, by the way.
Emeril Lagasse (2GW)
Legendary Creature - Human Shaman
Whenever you kick a spell, if it is the first time you've kicked that spell, you may pay 0 instead of its kicker cost.
"Bam!"
1/3
Emeril's Essence (1)
Artifact
T: Add C to your mana pool
T: Add two mana of any one color to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to kick spells.
"Let's kick this one up a notch!"
--Emeril Lagasse
I wonder if Fluttershy and her family ever met Rainbow Dash's. Likely they've met...
...
Typo:
4549125
The two families have almost certainly met. The real question if Dash's parents think she reciprocates Zephyr Breeze's affection.
Oh goodness. Imagine Bow going into full overprotective father mode. Who could possibly be good enough for his Rainbow Dash?
Also, thanks for the typo catch.