Aug
8th
2017
Points of Canon: S2x08 - The Mysterious Mare Do Well · 7:03am Aug 8th, 2017
The episode that divided the fandom.
Actually, there were a lot of those. Looks like dividing is good for the fandom, therefore fandoms reproduce by mitosis.
- “The official Rainbow Dash Fan Club will come to order.” To be official, the club would have to be sanctioned, or even started by Rainbow herself, wouldn’t it? Unless Scootaloo doesn’t know what she’s talking about, which is always a possibility.
- The T-shirts Snails and Snips are wearing are interesting in that they have the heart with Rainbow in it on the side rather than the front as just about all other T-shirts depicted in the primary and secondary canon – and even the blue shirt on the filly in the same scene, which has a heart on the front.
- While the CMC clubhouse is used for this meeting of the Rainbow Dash Fan Club, neither Apple Bloom nor Sweetie Belle are present, and I suspect they aren’t members at all. Scootaloo would have to ask them for a permission to use the clubhouse for this, wouldn’t she? I wonder how that went.
- I think this is the first appearance of prop wings, which turn up on a lot of ponies later over the course of the series – like at the con in Stranger Than Fan Fiction.
- So what had Rainbow done recently that got people to be that excited about her, anyway? Because they aren’t ever that excited by her, with the exception of Scoots, who is always excited anyway and doesn’t count. If there’s a need to declare Rainbow the most awesome pony in Ponyville, it follows that it isn’t something that has been done in a prior meeting, and probably, that there was no prior meeting in the first place.
- Rainbow swims through clouds, and actually refers to this activity as a “dip in the clouds,” which is, I think, the only time this sort of thing happens.
- This well has been covered with board for long enough for them to rot through, but I’m not sure how long would that be or how useful to know – Ponyville does have a water distribution network, but even in places which have those, having wells to supplement it can be a thing and sometimes is.
- When Rainbow exits the well, Snails is wearing the Rainbow shirt, making it clear that the scenes aren’t out of order, which implies Rainbow did do something awesome recently to get people excited.
- Interesting that while Rainbow is in the well, Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy are around for some reason, but Rarity isn’t.
- The pony who lost the pram is the same pony that covered Dinky’s ears at the mention of the word “peeved” in Flutter Brutter Is this lady a professional babysitter or something?…
- Prams are really rare for the observed amount of children on screen.
- The road going straight off a cliff implies that the cliff is newer than the road, right? That would mean a recent earthquake or megafauna or Tirek. Only, there is no sign of road continuing beyond the cliff – just a flat green field and pretty old trees. Where did this road even come from? Later, Rainbow even lampshades this: “Buses and baby carriages are always careening down this hill. Where is an out-of-control vehicle when you need one?!” And why is there still not a fence across this hill?
- The entire complement of Canterlot Friends is in town and they’re in the same crowd with the entire Mane 5. Notably, Rarity is present for this one.
- To get the baby to the babysitter (?) Rainbow pulls her out of the pram, and tosses her to the babysitter once the photographers appear. The babysitter leaves. The pram, apparently, remained forgotten where it was, to fall onto someone’s head when the wind blows in the right direction.
- The photographers are the same paparazzi first seen in Green Isn’t Your Color, at least the three earth ponies.
- That balcony breaking off should have been noticed long ago.
- All the ponies in the crowd of onlookers are missing cutie marks. I’ll call this an animation error if you will.
- “Danger’s my middle name. Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash.” Well, of course it isn’t, but let her have her fun.
- “Awesomely heroic that day and awesomely arrogant ever since.” Applejack is referring to the day when Rainbow saved a filly from the well, but as I mentioned above, this couldn’t have started with that. Something caused the creation of the official fan club, and it was something Rainbow did alone. What was it?
- “Umm, autobiographies are supposed to be written by the pony they are about.” Ah, my sweet summer Twilight.
- Some ponies in the line for autographs are wearing a variation on Rainbow’s cutie mark – apparently, held on by surgical tape.
- The infamous purple balloon has Cherry Berry in it the one time it has to fall.
- “I dub this new masked hero ‘The Mysterious Mare Do Well’!” Mayor Mare has to be in on this conspiracy, – this entire line of exposition is way too odd otherwise – though I wonder what exactly her reasons are. This is further supported by the well-orchestrated appearance of Mare-Do-Well at the parade. Mayor Mare appears as a willing conspirator in a few other pranks, so…
- The next wagon to be saved from going off a cliff contains four stereotypical tourists – with garish shirts and cameras. Yep, Ponyville is a tourist destination. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Mayor Mare’s motivation for participating in the conspiracy was exactly that.
- The entire frame of the skyscraper building is wooden, and there is no clear foundation. This is particularly strange, considering that concrete blocks, bricks and steel beams fall among the debris as it falls. I’m not entirely sure how this stayed up until it was knocked down, to be honest.
- The sparks suggest that the crane, despite being mostly made of wood, is electrical.
- One of the things that falls down is a pallet of bricks. Standard pallets are a relatively new thing, and most importantly, they exist because of forklifts, which we have yet to observe.
- Three of the saved construction workers got a sweet for their trouble from, presumably, Pinkie-do-well.
- This is one of the two times we see the dam above Ponyville, which is itself the subject of much controversy.
- “You gotta be kidding me…” Reassembling the dam under pressure, in such a way that it doesn’t have to be decommissioned afterwards, is a feat of magic that requires hauling thousands of tons of stone, applying ridiculous amounts of force, and fusing the concrete up afterwards. Unless Twilight is actually doing something sneakier like locally rolling time back. This is generally far more impressive than just about anything she’s done except the fight with Tirek.
- The town would still get briefly flooded by the water that did get through, though.
- Fluttershy flies with her wings entirely covered by the costume, and that is the limit of her involvement in the proceedings.
- “Oh, for the love of Pete.” I really want to know who that guy is.
- Granny Smith is using an ear horn. I don’t remember her actually using it before, and at least half the time she doesn’t. In fact, her health clearly seems to be improving in general, resisting Rainbow trying to push her across the street has to take considerable strength, and we haven’t seen her zimmer for quite a while.
- Amethyst Star has trouble opening a jar of peanut butter with magic. Ponies have peanut butter.
- And lawnmowers. It’s a non-motorized reel lawn mower, which, at the speeds Rainbow is going at, probably wouldn’t cut very well.
- This is the earliest time in the airing order Rainbow Dash calls Scootaloo a squirt.
- When Rainbow confronts Mare-Do-Well, Twilight and Applejack are in the crowd.
- “I stopped the carriage bus with these babies, Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee.” Yes, Applejack named her hind hooves. Kicks McGee is the one on the right. The origin of the last names remains entirely unclear.
- Fluttershy is excited to declare her participation, no matter how peripheral.
- “Sounds like you’ve got a letter to write to Princess Celestia.” Yep, that’s a hard lock against Lesson Zero.
- Rainbow still wanted to weasel out of writing this letter even though Spike had a pre-written one already.
- …And why did Spike have a pre-written one already?
Some general analysis:
- The more I think about it, the more I like the theory that the events of It’s About Time actually prevented this episode from happening, by disaster-proofing the immediate area – that is, that we’re seeing the world before the start of the causal loop. This is simply the only way to explain why the dam falling apart wasn’t a much bigger event with a lot more consequences. Also, the skyscraper appears, essentially unchanged, in a very similar incomplete state in Pinkie Pride – which would have happened just a few months later…
- I’m pretty definite that Rainbow’s slide into madness did not start with saving a filly from the well, but rather, was motivated by that and the recent meeting of her official fan club. Something triggered the creation of the fan club and impressed ponies other than Scootaloo enough to join it. Was it an episode or not? If it was an episode, which one?
- The behavior of the Mane 6 is pretty odd – not in that they prank Rainbow to get her off the high
horse,but in that they are so certain that it’s going to work that Spike has already written a letter to Celestia in her name. In fact, I am surprised it works at all – loyalty is one thing, but shouldn’t Rainbow interpret this entire reveal as an explicit betrayal? Fluttershy is particularly conspicuous in that she is happy to announce her participation, even though staying quiet would be a much safer option.
More than one accusation fic basically agrees with you that it probably shouldn't have worked, for the reason given (though they tend to expand on Rainbow having a deep psychological need to make a name for herself, and what attacking that without foreknowledge could cause). I've yet to see a good one make a good stab at it fairly. In fact, the only decent takes on it have a kind of minor sniping back and forth. Twilight goes crazy in Lesson Zero, and then this happens, so Rainbow doesn't feel bad about not siding with her in A Canterlot Wedding, and so on. In short, suppressed stuff ends up coming out later as justifications for bad behavior, instead of apologies all around and attempting to really make up for mistakes.
4627483
Well, considering Parental Glideance, the interpretation that Rainbow explicitly needs to make a name for herself is probably out. It’s definitely more to do with self-satisfaction than praise as such, though there’s no denying she enjoys praise. In fact, this episode is also notable since this is one of the few cases when she goes out of her way and to ridiculous lengths seeking it…
4627496
It just means those stories were rendered obsolete by canon. Which is fine, no one makes stories about Mare-Do-Well anymore when they can do that with Anon-A-Miss these days.
Huh. You’re right, there are cinderblocks falling. I’ve been wondering for a while if ponies even use concrete for anything, and missed that there were cinderblocks right there.
This episode getting undone by "It's About Time" is actually supported by "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows," wherein the mayor laments how no one ever lets her in on secrets to one of her fellow co-conspirators. I am entirely in favor of this taking place is an invalidated offshoot timeline.
4627551
How much of canon can be shuffled off out of the core chronology by this cheat? This is why time travel with consequences is murder on coherent continuity.
4627574
Only one episode at a time, basically. The events of It’s About Time explicitly occupy one week. Few episodes have no clear causal links to later episodes, occupy less than that and can be believed to occur in the same time period. Most of them do not contain any events that would be altered by introducing disaster proofing where there previously was none, because they’re not based on a series of random accidents and reacting to them.
The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, however, is definitely very likely to be changed if you assume that before it starts, someone went on a spree of fixing every safety hazard they could find. Patching up the dam is just the most obvious place where they cross, Twilight’s checklist is long enough to wrap a mummy.
The whole thing as a larger conspiracy makes so much sense!
I noted that there are powerhouses at the base that are typical of hydroelectric dams, but instead of transmission lines, there are what look to be Tesla towers. The ponies being capable of large-scale wireless transmission of electrical power would explain a lot of things.
Your theory that Twilight's time spell undid this episode is brilliant, and fits so bloody well!
4627755
For one, it would explain why a clothes iron has a cord but most other devices have no cords shown: Effective power transmission limits would be determined by coil size and the clothes iron needs a kilowatt to be effective. The kind of coil required to receive that much just won’t fit inside.
4627770
Right! An iron consumes more power than any other
handhoof appliance I can think of.It all makes perfect sense!!!
4627797
It also explains why no broadcast radio, but small radio communicators:
Any antenna would receive power. Bigger antenna would receive more power. Keeping it from frying the sensitive receiver circuit would be an huge engineering pain in the rump.
Since the easiest way to improve effective communication distance is a bigger antenna, at least until you’re in the centimeter wavelength range, this would hamper the development of broadcast radio severely all on its own. Couple that with the no ionosphere problem and ponies, who seem to have mostly skipped vacuum electronics and jumped straight into single crystal integrated circuits, won’t have TVs until they work out how to make an LCD and a CCD, increase the purity of crystal by several orders of magnitude so that it can work reliably at much higher frequencies, and lay cable everywhere.
Also, most human tech brought over to Equestria wouldn't like it very much. :)
4627815
It's kind of scary how that all fits together so neatly.
Before I even got down to your suggestion for it, I was already thinking "I wonder if that dam was the starting event for the time loop." So great minds think alike I guess.
Are there any issues with having this episode happen relatively soon after the Best Young Flyers contest? That seems to be the most logical reason Rainbow Dash would suddenly get a fan club of her own (surprised that Sweetie Bell isn't in it though). Also might explain RD being a little extra arrogant.
I also agree with how weird it is that everyone, including Fluttershy, feels like Rainbow won't be mad about the Mare Do Well thing. Maybe they thought she would enjoy a lesson that's also a prank, since she loves pranks? Or maybe this was all Spike's idea. Dude is the expert on superheros, I could totally see an in-universe issue of Power Ponies having a plot like this, where one of the team members gets arrogant so the rest of the team create a new identity to show up the arrogant one and teach them humility. In the Power Ponies comic the humiliated team member takes it well (lazy writers). So Spike tells the rest of the Mane 6 about his comic, shows it to them, and convinces them that this will totally work on Rainbow.
I also agree that Mayor Mare was part of the conspiracy. Twilight telling them about Mare Do Well was probably what got SA and Cadance to write to Mayor Mare in the first place.
4627574
4627579 I agree with Oliver on the specifics of this episode, but Mitch you are right about a more general rule: Using time travel to explain things is dangerously powerful and can lead to continuity errors, as has been seen in many other SciFi shows, so it should be approached with caution.
I don't get what you mean by Twilight's comment on autobiographies.
4628060
It’s not like it’s a particularly new idea. I don’t understand why it isn’t more popular, though, particularly among the crowd that thinks that this is the worst episode ever.
Only the fact that Lesson Zero is required to have happened, which may produce lots of issues indirectly. Needs a lot of investigation to be sure.
Does sort of make sense. He got to play the journalist and follow Rainbow around, recording her every word.
You can’t both have and not have The Mysterious Mare Do Well in the timeline. :)
4628300
In my experience, ghostwritten autobiographies are far more common than the other kind, and I know for a fact that the ghostwriter is not getting credited at all rather often. They’re “supposed to be written” by the person they’re about, but often aren’t.
4628416
Oh dear, quantum Mare Do Well. I guess SA and Cadance could have chatted up the Mayor at the reception in Slice of Life and learned she loves a good prank, even if she's not very good at keeping secrets.
4628416
Aaah, I see.
Crossovers are also divisive, but that would be meiosis I.
So one must ask why bipedal-style shirts are more common, when flank-emblems will have better ad-propagation.
One hardly requires a perambulator when one can have the child also walk?
Superman Will Save Us Syndrome may be setting in.
Well, she's pushing it at a very downward angle, so as to hold it down against possible bounces, so why not?
Freaky knowledge of sewing combined with flight knowledge…I expect she made her own batwings later.
Fanclub.The ManeSixFive are in a scheme together and he feels left out, so he decided to contribute of his own accord, and was shot down. No, wait, he's already her ghostwriter.4628300
"Sweet summer child" = "person who is innocent and missing underhanded dealings due to not knowing they're a thing"
Neat idea having "It's About Time" knock this out.
4630257
Because most T-shirts are actually so short that there’s not much flank on them, and those two are the exceptions.
So why do they exist at all, then? They have handles, pushing them with your mouth can’t be very convenient.
Because this would bend the grass to pass under the blades.