Points of Canon: S1x14 - Suited For Success · 7:35pm May 24th, 2017
You people said you weren’t bored.
This one is interesting because in it, Spike shows off. This is also an important temporal marker episode, because in it, Rarity creates the dresses that serve as hard markers for a lot of other episodes.
It’s also a Rarity episode, these are all nice. 
- Rarity says “moi.” She generally uses more French than anyone else.
- Rarity expects to be complimented on her gown, and she expects to be complimented on making it herself.
- Opalescence is quite a smart cat, if Rarity trusts her to hold a pincushion full of pins in her teeth without injuring herself or running off with the pincushion.
- One of the tools Rarity brandishes is what has to be a plastic bottle of, presumably, glue. The only other liquid in such a bottle I can imagine useful in this situation would be oil for the sewing machine. But Rarity is still far away from the sewing machine stage in making that dress, and I’ve never seen people actually use glue this way. Do they?
- Rarity is using glasses while working, but never otherwise, which suggests she is actually far-sighted.
- Twilight is completely incapable of sewing back a button on her own, otherwise she probably wouldn’t bother Rarity with it. You’d think she would know a reliable spell to do it.
1. Most modern ones don’t, they use microcontrollers to regulate speed instead.
Rarity uses a sewing machine that looks very normal by human standards. The particular design is most reminiscent of manually operated mechanical flywheel-based sewing machines of the 1930s, though it definitely isn’t, because that one would have a much thicker base, and the flywheel is too small. Early electric machines also included a flywheel, though.1 When sewing, the flywheel isn’t moving, which has to be an animation error.
- Twilight says “handiwork.”
- Applejack persists in her conviction that she’s going to sell food at the Gala. Everypony misses another opportunity to correct that.
- Rainbow had to have made a hole in the roof of Rarity’s workroom. Who fixed it and when?
- Rarity is the only pony ever to use “yard” as a measure of distance, and this is the earliest time she does it. The other time is in The Gift of the Maud Pie.
- Rarity simultaneously levitates ten ponyquins, five bolts of cloth and six other miscellaneous objects, and otherwise engages in prodigious feats of telekinesis throughout her song and much of this episode.
- Rarity is drawing with what has to be felt tip markers. This is one example of technology that ponies have early – while the earliest markers were invented in 1910, they did not come into widespread use until 1953 – and which is also odd for ponies, because many of them would use their mouths to wield them, and accidentally biting through the reservoir of ink in a volatile solvent would be quite unpleasant, never mind breathing the fumes.
- One of the objects appearing in the song montage is a steam iron. The only steam irons ever made by humans are electric, and in one of the shots, there’s a long wire trailing after the iron. It’s electric alright.
- It’s interesting that all the dresses except Twilight’s include shoes for the front hooves.
- Applejack’s boots, in particular, include prominent pointy toes. So do the boots on the dress-per-Applejack-spec. See Sandwich Problem.
2. There are quite a few other indications.
Rarity says: “And I know you are going to love yours, Fluttershy. It just sings spring!” Which is one of those things that make the Gala more likely to be a spring event.2
- Just what did the Mane 5 dislike about these dresses, anyway?…
- Applejack’s dress includes a recognizable saddle, but Pinkie’s and Twilight’s dresses only include the barest hints of one, and the others don’t have any. This begins the trend of phasing saddles out.
- Among other objects in Rarity workshop-bedroom there’s a ball of yarn with knitting needles stuck through it. She typically isn’t seen actually knitting, though.
- The second version of Fluttershy’s gown includes four sandals.
- Fluttershy says: “The armscye’s tight, the middy collar doesn’t go with the shawl lapel, the hems are clearly machine-stitched, the pleats are uneven, the fabric looks like toile, you used a backstitch here when it clearly called for a topstitch or maybe a traditional blanket stitch, and the overdesign is reminiscent of pret-a-porter and not true French haute couture.” This is a phrase with a lot of interesting consequences and oddities:
3. There’s a Chamber of Extreme Knitting in Micro-Series #4, but knitting is not sewing, and the skill sets are quite disparate.
Fluttershy knows all these terms, and presumably, uses them correctly, judging by Rarity’s stunned reaction. Many of them are quite technical. We still have no idea when or how did Fluttershy come by this knowledge and associated skill that Applejack refers to later in the episode.3
- The dress visible on screen does not have visible pleats. I can’t identify the shawl lapel or a middy collar on this dress, for that matter, as far as I can see both are missing. And since no part of the dress goes around Fluttershy’s legs, something else entirely has to be called “armscye” – because that is the word for the hole to which the sleeve is attached. Cartoon resolution ate a lot. Like, most of it.
4. Matches what happens around here, presumably for similar reasons.
Machine stitches are considered a “bad thing” for a custom garment.4
- There is no whiff of a “France” in the pony world, but the word “French” clearly means something, and it’s definitely not pronounced “Prench.”
- Twilight says, “Now, the stars on my belt need to be technically accurate. Orion has three stars on his belt, not four.” The constellation called “Orion” exists, and has three visible stars in a region called a “belt.” See also FIENDship is Magic #5. Notably, the completed dress-per-Twilight-spec does not include an obvious belt at all.
- One of the constellation images included on Twilight’s dress is a very obvious centaur. Right next to Cancer, Scorpius and Capricorn. The pattern of stars selected for representation does not match ours on any of them, and actually, none of them is Orion.
- “That constellation is Canis Major, not Minor.” The pattern of the stars selected for representation on the chart does not match our Canis Major very well, except the general shape and the position of Sirius. The chart does, however, include an obvious M41.
- Fluttershy says “French haute couture, please,” presenting Rarity with a sketch – but who drew it? Because the style is identical to Rarity’s own sketches.
5. Could it be that Rainbow usually writes the rain schedule a year in advance ignoring national holidays and high profile events, and then has to hastily rain before and after to make up for lost rainfall? That would definitely make galoshes a consideration for that outfit.
Applejack says: “What if it rains? Galoshes!” Ponies use galoshes, which is sensible, but – why would Applejack even consider the possibility that it would rain on such a high profile event?…5
- Rainbow likes to stare at herself in the mirror.
- “Make sure that it stays within our budget.” I would dearly love to know just how did they settle the issue of financing the whole affair between them.
- Even Twilight knows who Hoity Toity is.
- Spike says, “He heard about your fashion show. Well, maybe I happened to mention it to him… He’s coming here all the way from Canterlot to see your work, Rarity!” This is pretty much impossible unless Spike knew Hoity Toity before this and was on reasonably familiar terms with him – Hoity Toity is not just passing through and stopping on his way, he’s going to Ponyville deliberately on nothing but Spike’s word.
6. I don’t know how, mind you, but as far as I can tell he does.
Spike mysteriously avoids seeing the dresses all the way until after the show, even though he’s looking right in their direction as he enters. At least, I am pretty sure he would have to react otherwise, the boy has at least some semblance of taste.6
- Canterlot Friends couldn’t avoid the fashion show, of course. Minuette is here first.
- In the airing order, this is the first appearance of Vinyl Scratch.
7. For comparison, Spitfire wears non-mirrored aviator glasses.
8. Which would also be useful for producing telescope mirrors, but most telescopes we see are refractors…Hoity Toity is the only pony who isn’t just wearing sunglasses, but outright mirror shades.7 Notably, the first mirrored sunglasses in our world turn up in 1948 and they require some rather specific technologies to produce.8 And of course Hoity Toity is wearing them at night and indoors.
- The overhead shot contains somewhere on the scale of 100-120 ponies, which is quite a lot, considering that none of them are wearing anything except Hoity Toity himself.
- So why is the kitchen sink anywhere in the vicinity when Hoity Toity mentions it? Did Pinkie leave that here?…
9. It’s not a nightshirt, even though it doesn’t close fully on her – nightshirts don’t normally have pockets like these.
It’s interesting that Rarity is wearing a bathrobe9 in her bedroom. Also notably, she wears two slippers on her front hooves, rather than back.
- Pinkie says: “She’ll become a crazy cat lady!” Crazy cat ladies are a thing.
- Rarity’s bedroom has a lock with a keyhole and a round handle. Only lever tumbler locks have keyholes like these.
- The window of Rarity’s bedroom opens by sliding up, rather than swinging out to the sides.
- Rarity says, “Hang on, you poor dear! Mama’s coming!” It’s pretty normal for humans to treat cats and occasionally dogs as something like children, and at least Rarity does this towards Opalescence. This is not a given.
- So how exactly did they complete Rarity’s dress without her noticing it vanished? Because when Twilight is looking into the keyhole into the workroom-bedroom – where Rarity currently is – she sees the dress, and Rarity spends whatever time is required for them to complete it inside the bedroom, never opening the door. Twilight could, of course, teleport in, and maybe even teleport out with the dress or teleport the ponyquin itself out, but Rarity would notice, wouldn’t she? When they lure Rarity out with Opal, only seconds pass before Rarity rushes out, definitely not enough time to finish a dress.
- The second try involves Rarity casting a spell, and unless this is just a literary device, it’s actually an elaborate special effect illusion spell.
- The completed Twilight’s outfit includes four shoes, and so do Fluttershy and Pinkie’s. Applejack’s still only has two boots, and Rainbow’s only includes sandals on the front hooves. Rarity’s doesn’t have any shoes.
- Hoity Toity says, “And I suddenly have a fierce craving for some Dutch apple pie, candied apples on a stick, apple turnovers, apple cobbler…” I wonder about the etymology of the word “Dutch” in Equish.
10. I expect the “gift horse” is the Spirit of Hearth’s Warming Presents. And ponies who look her in the mouth suspect she ate some of the sweets she was supposed to bring them…
Twilight says, “In other words, you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”10
- Hoity Toity owns or otherwise runs a “best of the best boutique in Canterlot.”
- “Now, I’ll need you to make a dozen of each dress for me by next Tuesday.” I.e. by the time Gala rolls in the dress will be guaranteed not to be unique…
Side observations:
- I have been keeping track of shoes. That’s because many of these mysteriously disappear later, presumably because ponies constantly need to manipulate something with their front hooves.
- I can easily imagine reasons why ponies would wear pajamas, nightcaps, and other kinds of bed clothes, but why would they wear slippers when they typically don’t wear shoes, and why, exactly, would they prefer to wear them on their front hooves instead of the back hooves?
- The interesting biases in selecting which stars to show when drawing constellations even while the general shapes match needs interpretation. In our case, the selection is based on apparent brightness. Assuming it’s the same for ponies, it follows the stars have a different apparent brightness for them, even if they are located in the similar positions on the night sky, which suggests that Equestria’s Earth has an optically weird atmosphere or sits somewhere smack in the middle of a patchy nebula.
Yeah, not one but two Earth nations getting mentioned in this episode is equal parts bizarre and annoying. That said, your explanation for just who the gift horse is is fantastic.
Theory: It's actually spelled Phrench. Why the country is named Prance but the adjective is Phrench, is one of those linguistic oddities whose true explanation has been lost to time...
You can swap out one sandwich problem for another if you say the design arose the same way cowboy boots came into being in real life: the narrowed toes made it easier to slide your feet into stirrups. (Though the super-pointy toes on modern cowboy boots are a purely aesthetic addition from the 1940s.) And for that matter, the high heels helped keep your feet firmly in the stirrups, and prevented the whole foot from sliding through.
Perhaps some other bipedal species used ponies (or other quadrupeds) as mounts long enough for them to develop riding boots. And ponies eventually copied that style, for aesthetics rather than practicality. It's rather telling that Rarity's design has those cowboy boots, and AJ's design doesn't.
I can only assume that the toes on the galoshes were Rarity's last-ditch effort to inject a little bit of style into AJ's specified dress.
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Alternatively, perhaps it was ponies who used some other quadruped as mounts (perhaps cows)?
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There’s no whiff of a “Prance” either. Secondary literature actually insists that “Prance” is the name of a fashion magazine.
It’s a valid explanation, and yet I don’t like it. Not to mention that no bipedal species of an appropriate size were seen so far.
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Kinda silly, but could explain spurs on cutie marks…
Or ponies have a different visual receptivity spectrum than humans?
She is especially familiar with these objects, and thus will likely be able to efficiently exert effort (and not waste force) on them, even before mystical Principle of Contagion and Practice Effect considerations.
Of course, any of that makes what Twi did in Boast Busters even more incredible.
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Also a possibility, but I find that unlikely.
The problem is rather what she did in the end of Magic Duel, which is positively puny by comparison even to what Rarity does here, but still requires a lot of practice for some reason.
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Is that the telekinetic epicycles of normally nonflying, non-uniform animals? Which are, of course, organisms and as-such have much finer tolerances for "how hard you can squeeze them to lift, accelerate, etc." is what you're getting at?
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Diamond Dogs combined with the stock of yore seen in Crystal Guards (which are stouter than Celestia and about as large) seems like a decent fit. Iron Hoof's goats are about there, too. I suspect Celly's been engineering society and breeding to make her little ponies…and it would provide an alternate explanation for her calling them that.
Alternately, you weren't looking in Spike's fantasy from Dog&Pony.
An appropriate stirrup for a horseshoe would be an inverse tripod, or perhaps more prongs, as the horseshoe is somewhat similar to our own stirrup (a bar, albeit curved)…or, alternately, an alchemical sun-symbol, whch then becomes fantastically profane.
Yards are a clothing measure pretty much everywhere - as far as I can tell, metric never caught on for lengths of cloth. So it would make sense that a clothier-seamstress-designer would operate in yards.
As far as Fluttershy's rant on haute couture goes, I think there's nothing but Doylism to explain this: the script said one thing, the storyboards did something else.
I think the 'shoes' on their front hooves are supposed to be a somewhat more durable version of evening gloves?
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Those. And yes, there can be reasons this is more difficult.
However, do you think a non-specialist would appreciate the extra difficulty?…
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It caught on around here and in most places which never used yards.
Yes, but that’s no fun. :)
That would describe the shoes Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rainbow are wearing at the Gala – these are primarily decorative sandals.
However, Applejack’s boots are obviously way beyond evening globes, and Rarity’s shoes are outright crystal slippers.
I find it really unlikely that Rainbow Dash of all ponies would write a schedule a whole year early. Far more likely that she does the opposite, only planning a week or two in advance at the best of times.
4545829 On the one hand, Rainbow really doesn't seem like the sort to schedule weather patrol more than a week in advance. On the other hand, perhaps regulations require her to write those long-term schedules and submit them to regional managers. In which case Rainbow totally seems like the sort to half-ass those plans (probably just copy them verbatim from last year's schedule) and then more or less ignore them for purposes of day-to-day scheduling.
Raritys glasses could be of the magnifying variety rather then the ones for vision. Magnifying glasses would help with the small detail work.
You know, everyone focused on Moondancer after amending fences. How having one friend blow off your party shouldn't ruin you for life. But I think the real mystery is the others. For years, Minuette, Lyra, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were in Ponyville like almost every weekend. They saw Twilight constantly, and not just reading like she used to, but walking around town, hanging out with her new group of friends, without once recognizing them or acknowledging them. How did Lyra not go up to Twilight by season 3 and buck her in the face? That's the real mystery.
Of course they are, Applejack's great aunt and Ahuizotl.
Considering how Fancy Pants treated Rarity when he learned she was staying at the castle for one weekend, I could see Hoity Toity witnessing Spike go in and out of the castle on a regular basis and act similarly.
For non-unicorns, front hoof slippers actually make a lot of sense. You walk around on the road with your hands all day, you come home, wash your front hooves, and put on slippers before you cook or do anything else. It's what I would do.
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4545829 Alternate theory: Applejack isn't thinking particularly about the gala, she probably has general pragmatic rules for clothing. And her farm is right on the border of the Everfree, so she probably does get some random rain sometimes.
4546179 Hoity Toity also sees guards and cleaning staff come in and out of the castle on a regular basis. And does he listen to them?
4546197 If he stopped to talk to a dragon because that's quite an oddity, and he found out that the dragon actually lives there, not just works there, I think that would put Spike in a different category from guards and cleaners.
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Um… That’s what the glasses used to correct for far-sightedness are. When you’re nearsighted, you actually remove your glasses for detail work.
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I think they mean this kind:
store.extremeelectronics.co.in/images/D/magnifier_20x.jpg
But fashionable instead of merely practical.
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Another half-baked thought: Eohippus, the evolutionary ancestors of horses, had toes. What if they were intelligent and civilized enough to wear shoes?
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Clever! I can certainly see this as one of the competing theories ponies themselves have.
Canon seems to think ponies did not have such an ancestor, though – the Shadow Lock storyline in the comics posits caveponies. And there’s that paleopony period…