Points of Canon: S5x12 - Amending Fences

Ah, the one I have been waiting for. The really important one.

• Chronology markers: Friendship Castle is in evidence. Starlight can be seen spying on Twilight, locking this episode between Season 5 bookends. CMC do not appear, so their cutie marks cannot be seen. The throne room does not appear, so we don’t know if there are roots in there or not.
• Funny, but I don’t think we’ve seen this particular room that Twilight is reading in before or after this episode.

• Cited verbatim:

  Spike: You know the worst thing about you being the Princess of Friendship? The dishes.
  Twilight Sparkle: Thanks for taking care of that, Spike. After three events in one week, I really needed to relax with a good book.
  Spike: It’s kinda funny, isn’t it? All these ponies comin’ to you for advice about friendship?

  • I wonder who washes the dishes most of the time, but this dialog implies that it’s not always Spike. Notice he somehow acquired rubber gloves for the purpose.
  • This situation would only arise if Twilight were receiving guests in the Friendship Castle, wouldn’t it? Well, the “reception” in Party Pooped essentially did not occur, or at least left no un-shattered dishes to be washed, and the preparations for GEPS in Princess Spike did not occur anywhere near the Friendship Castle. As such, there’s no reason to lock either of these two episodes against this one at all: Whatever has Twilight been doing for the “three events in one week,” it was neither of these two.
  • Random ponies now address Twilight for friendship advice, including groups coming in person, otherwise there would not be a lot of dishes. So who was it?

• Cited verbatim:

  Spike: You know, ’cause you used to be famous for being such a bad friend.
  Twilight Sparkle: What are you talking about? I had good friends in Canterlot.

  • Spike asserts that Twilight had a reputation for being a bad friend, which requires a group of ponies to have a reputation with. The only ponies these can be would be SGU students and graduates, since we don’t have any evidence of Twilight socializing otherwise at all, and good reason to believe she didn’t.
  • Twilight remembers having friends, but is incapable of remembering their names, which is a very unusual memory hole to have.

• “Come on, Twilight. Look at the wall. D’ya see any photos from before we moved to Ponyville?”

  • Of the five photos shown, only one has been shot after Twilight’s coronation, even though all of them depict scenes not previously seen. The post-coronation photo, however, shows the dresses that were only seen on the coronation itself. It also appears to have been shot by Spike in a selfie-like manner, at least, his left hand seems to be holding on to the camera.
  • The photo with Rarity depicts Twilight in an outfit she is never seen wearing otherwise.
  • Of the pre-coronation photos, there are photos with Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, but not with Rainbow for some reason.
  • Notice that a photo of a wingless Twilight reading with Moondancer exists. It turns up in A Celestial Advice. And it’s not posted here.
• “Pack a bag, Spike! We’re going to Canterlot!” Notice that Twilight was so anxious that she actually flew to Canterlot on her own wings, rather than took a train, and even did that during the night.
• “The only logical place to start is at the beginning.” This is Twilight’s old apartment from Friendship is Magic. It’s still an apartment building containing three two-story apartments. I mentioned that all the way back in RTAC #1, but it won’t hurt to reiterate that the library Twilight is studying during her cutie mark story flashback in Cutie Mark Chronicles is the very same room as the top floor of her apartment.
• “It’s exactly how we left it! Look! It’s Predictions and Prophecies! And it’s still open to the Elements of Harmony!” Absolutely nobody even came to the apartment to tidy it up. One houseplant just withered and died, even. It’s quite definite that Twilight lived alone with Spike at the moment the series started. I also suspect she didn’t take anything from her old apartment upon settling in Ponyville: you would expect she would at least shelve the book if she did that. It’s almost like she were running away.
• “And here’s that present I was gonna give Moondancer!” Animation error: When Spike finds it, the wrapping is green. Once he picks it up, it becomes red, the color it was originally in Friendship is Magic. It remains red for the rest of the episode.
• “Oh! Uh, Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, Lyra Heartstrings, and Moondancer.” The Canterlot Friends, everyone!
• “I did a little research, and I think I know where we can find Minuette! That is one of my friends, right?” Simply naming Minuette was insufficient to jog Twilight’s memory. I do wonder, just how exactly did Twilight research, and what particular sources did she consult – this is important, but the episode does not tell us anything.
• Minuette’s house is decorated with a large hourglass, and notice that there is no apparent provision to flip it: The lower part is marked with a placard. So the sand, or whatever medium it is, is collected in the bottom half. Does it work?
• There are more hourglasses on the house. That’s a lot of vanity for a cutie mark, which suggests that it’s probably the other way round: Minuette has a cutie mark of a hourglass because she lives in a house so decorated, and had been associated with whatever the hourglass actually symbolizes from birth.
• When Minuette opens the door, we do see a cobweb inside, though why exactly, I have no idea. She immediately shifts the action out onto the street and we never get a good look inside, but what we do see does not imply the house is in any particular kind of disrepair, the cobweb is pretty solitary. Generally, this would imply she lives alone and can’t be bothered to clean.
• “Hey, Spike!” Minuette doesn’t just remember Spike, but knows him well enough to directly acknowledge.

• “Hey, grab a picture of me and the princess, will ya?!”

  • Minuette is sufficiently adept with telekinesis to grab a camera from inside the house where she apparently cannot see.
  • Minuette owns a camera, and this one has to have an electric flash, with a very recognizable whine of charging flash capacitor. Also, an autofocus system, judging by the whirring of a motor when the camera focuses, and these were first patented in 1960 in our world, and would require solid state electronics, and importantly, photosensitive electronics. Also, it’s an SLR camera…
• “I tried to tell my co-workers we used to be friends back when. But they’ve never believed me!” Minuette has a job. I wonder what kind.
• The place they select for meeting with Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts is Joe’s.

• “You remember our old friend, Lyra, right? She lives in Ponyville, too. We’re always over there visiting her. Or she’s coming over here!”

  • Lyra is a Ponyville resident, rather than a Canterlot resident like the rest of the Canterlot Friends.
  • The regular appearance of the entire complement of Canterlot Friends is rationalized by visiting each other, but that’s actually insufficient, because they also appear everywhere else.

• “Sure, it might’ve stung a little bit when you ran off to Ponyville without saying goodbye, but it’s not like we weren’t used to that from you!”

  • Twilight definitely did not even converse with any of them since leaving for Ponyville.
  • Twilight would leave unannounced often. I wonder, where to. Is the practice of sending her personal students on errands a common thing for Celestia? Because there’s that song by Sunset Shimmer that got cut out of the movie along with the plotline that went with it…
• “Hey! Anypony up for a blast from the past?” This prompt results in a visit to the building we know as the School for Gifted Unicorns, which at least implies that all of the Canterlot Friends have graduated by now.
• “It’s our old science lab!” While looking into the window, Twilight sees yet another globe.
• “Remember when Lemon Hearts got her head stuck in that beaker?” That’s not a beaker, that’s an Erlenmeyer flask. Either Minuette actually forgot what it was, or the flashback is wrong. In any case, it’s not possible to do this without magic, I’m pretty sure. I wonder why does the teacher seem to be ignoring what has to be a choking hazard at least.
• The flashback implies Twilight was the first of the gifted unicorns in her class to get a cutie mark: None of the other students has one, but Twilight’s is just not visible.

• Cited verbatim:

  Moondancer: I read ahead, and to make a proper salt lick, you need to add the molasses first.
  Twilight Sparkle: Well, I read ahead too, Moondancer, and I’m sure it said sodium chloride first.

  So basically, the salt lick they’re talking about is some kind of high-salt candy, because the bricks of salt typically fed to horses in our world do not normally contain molasses at all.

• “Oh, right! Moondancer! I remember her!” Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts haven’t seen Moondancer for quite a substantial period of time. Lemon Hearts outright doesn’t remember her.
• “We just sort of lost touch after you left.” Moondancer’s split from the group is dated solidly to the party that Twilight did not attend by this phrase and the subsequent events of the episode. That said, it was not immediate: Later, Minuette says, “We invited her out a few times after that. But she was always too busy studying.”
• “I think she went to live out by the stadium, didn’t she?” Moondancer acquired her current dwelling prior to the aforementioned split: If it were after, none of them would know. Indirectly, this implies that Twilight and company have already graduated by the time the series began: Friendship is Magic #40 has them live in a school dormitory.
• Moondancer’s house is actually very strange: It’s a tiny house sandwiched between much bigger buildings, and even overshadowed by an archway. Land has to be expensive in Canterlot, so I wonder how exactly did Moondancer acquire this place, and more importantly, just how did it survive without getting sold off to a developer or something. It’s also in severe disrepair, as evidenced by the chipped fence, dead tree, and sagging roof, not to mention other details. Minuette says “Didn’t used to look like this, though,” which implies that most of this damage was accumulated recently, and demonstrates just how much was Moondancer hurt. Just sayin.
• Nobody seems to care much that Twilight knocked a hole through Moondancer’s door at this point, not even Moondancer herself.
• “Hey! Kinda like you used to be, huh?” “Exactly how I used to be.” Twilight acknowledges she was just as antisocial.

• “Come on, Twilight! We’ve been watching her for three days! Library, house, library, house. That’s it!”

  • So what does Moondancer eat? Something efficient, I imagine.
  • They’ve been stalking her for three days straight, which is a detail I originally missed.
• Moondancer is capable of writing blind: She’s reading the book and staring squarely at it while nearby, the quill in her magic is taking notes. She only checks on it occasionally.
• “Oh my gosh! Moondancer?!” The G word again…
• Even a princess is not exempt from keeping the silence in the library.
• “Eh, a bubble of silence.” That’s another spell Twilight knows. Which Moondancer dispels on the first try. Notice that since she does not initially know what the spell is, this implies significant skill in working magic out on the fly.
• “Look, Twilight Twinkle…” Moondancer has definitely been trying to forget Twilight ever existed, didn’t she?

• Cited verbatim:

  Twilight Sparkle: I’ve been studying a new studying technique. I can only do it for a few minutes, but you’d be amazed how much you can pick up when you’re actually in a book!
  Moondancer: It’s one of Haycart’s methods.
  Twilight Sparkle: You know Haycart?
  Moondancer: Of course! He’s a genius!
  Twilight Sparkle: I have a copy of his Treatise on Ponies, you know.

  And that’s the limit of what we know about the technique. We neither have any idea of how it works, nor any gauge on what the ponies doing it actually experience: If it were in any way similar to the enchanted comics as seen in Power Ponies, there is no way Twilight would be able to communicate to Moondancer while being inside the book herself. We can’t even say for sure if Haycart is currently alive, though probably he isn’t, seeing how Moondancer goes “ooh” upon Twilight boasting she has a copy of his book. Fandom ran away with these ideas in all directions, though.

• “What is this place?” Moondancer has never been to Twilight’s apartment before.

• “A first edition of Principles of Magic! Hey, didn’t I give this to you?” … “Look, I even wrote something! ‘To my friend, Twilight Sparkle. Thanks for introducing me to the classics.’”

  • At some point, this friendship was solid enough to exchange very personal gifts, seeing how Moondancer even signed the book.
  • Looks like this is a classic book, probably not considered current in this day and age, and probably equivalent to Newton’s “Principia Mathematica”, or something like that.
  • It was Twilight introducing Moondancer to studying classic magic literature, not the other way round.
• “I brought you here to give you this.” Which is actually the earliest appearance of a key to a pony dwelling on screen, I think, isn’t it? Previously, it wasn’t even clear if ponies normally lock their doors. Also, quite a fancy key, that. The shape of the key implies a lever tumbler lock.

• “So, uh, what are you studying these days?” “Science, magic, history, economics, pottery. Things like that.”

  • While she’s saying this, we can see Starlight spying on the dinner party from behind a menu. Notice that for Starlight to even know that Twilight is in Canterlot right now would require tracking her from Ponyville: Twilight doesn’t seem to have told anyone where she went, and couldn’t, since she left at night.
  • Ponies have economics. That is, the science.
• “You planning on being a professor or something?” The answer is “No.” Moondancer can afford studying for the sake of studying. Considering that her house is probably so rundown because she doesn’t care, rather than because she can’t afford to fix it, it means that Moondancer has some other source of income, doesn’t she?
• “Slumber 101? I’ve read that.” So why was Moondancer interested in knowing how to host a slumber party? See my writeup for Look Before You Sleep to see why this is important.

• Cited verbatim:

  Twilight Sparkle: Oh! Really? Well, uh, did you know Lemon Hearts here works at the Canterlot palace?
  Lemon Hearts: Uh, yeah. It’s true. I do the big events mostly. State dinners, that sort of thing.

  • In between hunting for stallions, Lemon Hearts is part of the palace staff. The only thing we have ever seen her do that resembled work is taking photos during The Best Night Ever, so that’s probably it.
  • Ponies have state dinners, which implies heads of other states must exist.
• Moondancer’s magic is strong enough to lift Twilight and flip her over Moondancer’s head. That’s actually way stronger than average.
• “I don’t know, Spike. I really messed this one up.” And you’re about to mess one up for your other friends by running off without paying the bill for the fancy dinner… No, seriously, I hope Twilight came back to the restaurant before running off to pick up Pinkie.

• “Huh. Guess they must’ve gone back to Ponyville.”

  • Twilight didn’t tell the Canterlot Friends of the plan to call for Pinkie.
  • Minuette puts a hoof to her ear, a gesture that I’m pretty sure can’t result in improved hearing for a pony. Hmm…
• Minuette survives falling from a third floor after Twilight knocks her off the staircase. I expect that was mostly because of Pinkie, who immediately turns her tail into a helicopter to add insult to the injury.
• “I did head home. But not to throw in the towel.” Towel throwing is a thing, which implies a sport where you do that is a thing, right? Comics depict wrestling multiple times…
• “You two know each other?” “Oh, sure! She was one of Cadance’s bridesmaids!” Notice that Twilight acknowledges not knowing who Cadance’s bridesmaids were. Meanwhile, Pinkie knows Minuette well.

• Books used to bait Moondancer: “A Brief History of the Wagon Harness” and “The Life and Times of Morari the Maneless”. The names of the rest are not cited.

  • Wagon harness is a subject sufficiently involved to write a book on the subject.
  • We don’t know who Morari the Maneless is. But my pet theory is that he is Star Swirl’s contemporary magic theorist, a rival and opponent, because that would be funnier.
• Baiting Moondancer required ~30 individual books.
• “Back when we were in school together, you invited me to a party.” The only way I can think of for this sentence to be literally true and fit everything else well is if Twilight (and presumably, Moondancer herself) graduated in Spring -1, and that is also when the invitation was issued, for the birthday party to happen during Summer 0. Since gifts are involved, I’m pretty sure it’s a birthday party, so both the occasion and the exact date were obviously known well in advance.
• “I was so focused on my studies that I didn’t show up.” But that definitely isn’t what Twilight was focused on that day! See Friendship is Magic.
• “Please, you’ve got to let me make this up to you.” Notice that Moondancer knows what does one do with a piñata without having to ask, despite her reticence to attend or host parties.

• Cited verbatim:

  Moondancer: Well, sure, why wouldn’t it? That was only the first time I put myself out there, and then you didn’t even bother to show up! Then you left town without saying goodbye even though we were supposed to be friends! I was humiliated! I felt like I wasn’t important! I never wanted to let myself be hurt like that again! Those three finally convinced me that I had value! That other ponies might like me and want to be my friend! And you! Didn’t! Show! Up!

  • Moondancer did not host any public parties of that nature before that.
  • Twilight never communicated with Moondancer either.
  • I’m pretty sure there are things Moondancer isn’t even saying, here.
  • Notice that when Moondancer tosses the stick, it’s Minuette who has to duck to avoid getting a stick in her face, rather than Twilight.

• “That’s the librarian! The bookseller! My sister!”

  • Moondancer has a sister. Which the fandom typically omits. Notice the family eyebrows, the identical coat color, as well as the similar mane and tail – in buns, and with random hairs sticking out.

  • 1. No, seriously, that used to happen to me often. I solved the problem by knowing less people.

    Moondancer doesn’t name either the librarian or the bookseller, which suggests she doesn’t know their names in the first place.¹

  • The librarian’s cutie mark is several books, but the book seller has a beehive for her cutie mark. With bees. I wonder how exactly did it translate into a career in selling books. Is she happy with it? The glasses, which only studious ponies are typically shown wearing, suggest that she is…
• “Now come on, everypony! Let’s party! Right?” This is a line only someone trying to rationally imitate ponies who party would say.
• Spike plays pin the tail on Celestia. I wonder, would it change were Celestia to attend this party.
• “We’ll come back and visit soon.” Which, unfortunately, never happened on screen.
• “You’ve still gotta teach me that Haycart’s technique!” Twilight promised to do so, but hasn’t actually done it yet. Then again, Moondancer walked out on that dinner, so…
• “It got kinda banged up, but here’s a little something I wanted to give you back at your first party.” I.e. in addition to the teddy bear, the package contained a group photo of Canterlot Friends with Twilight pigging out on cupcakes. I’m pretty sure Spike had to have been the one who took it.
• Moondancer’s house has a pump-lever water tap like the Sugarcube Corner.

Some commentary

• Go read my writeup for Friendship is Magic first, then come back: Some important arguments were first coined there.

• Like Shrink Laureate said:

  Theory: every one of Celestia’s students gets the Premium Canterlot Friends Playset, complete with their very own Lyra Heartstrings, Twinkleshine, Minuette and Moondancer!

  Corollary: from the number of them we’ve seen in some scenes, Celestia has had a lot of personal students.

• Notice that it’s pretty clear that Celestia had no idea there are friends that Twilight might hurt by leaving. Moondancer in particular escaped her notice completely.

I’ll refrain from further conclusions, because most of them fuel Aporia, anyway…

Comments

[Impossible Numbers]

Ever since I saw this episode, I've always wondered how Amethyst Star/Sparkler fits into all this. She was clearly there in the first episode alongside Lyra; she even seems to be carrying a gift bag for the party. Slice of Life merely points out that Amethyst/Sparkler was the primary organizer before Twilight moved into Ponyville, but that doesn't confirm whether she's a Ponyville resident (like Lyra), or a Canterlot visitor who just escaped everyone's notice or wasn't particularly close to the other unicorns.

Admittedly, my speculation here is mostly because, prior to Season Five, I had my own fic ideas for the lot of them, which is partly why I up and assume that bit about Lemon Hearts working at the Canterlot palace was a lie Lemon told Twilight to make herself look good.

[Oliver]

4768766

Ever since I saw this episode, I’ve always wondered how Amethyst Star/Sparkler fits into all this.

She mostly doesn’t. That is, the series almost never acknowledges her, and this bit in Slice of Life is her only line at all. My take on them is like this:

1. Lyra is a little older than the rest of the Canterlot Friends – something like five years or so.
2. Lyra is originally from Ponyville, and returned there upon graduation, which happened years before the rest of the Canterlot Friends and Twilight graduated, and would only turn up in Canterlot occasionally – but she couldn’t miss Moondancer’s birthday party.
3. So she dragged Amethyst Star, who is also originally from Ponyville, with her, and it would be very impolite to crash a birthday party without even bringing a gift…

I think it fits, but the mileage of anything that has to do with Lyra even remotely varies very widely: Comics manage to claim that she is both exactly as old as Twilight (Friendship is Magic #40) and a year younger than Shining Armor (Neigh Anything) simultaneously. It’s almost like she has a secret of her own…

… I had my own fic ideas for the lot of them, which is partly why I up and assume that bit about Lemon Hearts working at the Canterlot palace was a lie Lemon told Twilight to make herself look good.

The only thing I ever notice her doing is flirting with a different stallion every bleeding time. This is particularly noticeable at Hearth’s Warming.

[Mitch H]

We don’t know who Morari the Maneless is. But my pet theory is that he is Star Swirl’s contemporary magic theorist, a rival and opponent, because that would be funnier

But which one is Hillel, and which one is Shammai? It'd be amusing if Morari is the Hillel, the more kindly, amiable, respected one who ended up dominating pony ethics and scholarship, and the Star Swirl revival is largely due to Twilight fangirling.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Not much to say (and sorry for falling off the wagon with these analyses,) but I do have to appreciate Shrink's theory to explain Sunset and Twilight's respective Canterlot friend clusters. I wonder how many different iterations of Lemon Hearts work for the palace...

"Your Highness, there;'s an opening in the kitchens. Should I begin putting together a list of candidates?"
"No, just gestate Lemon Hearts Delta-Five-Seventeen."
"Very good, Your Highness."

[Oliver]

4768787

But which one is Hillel, and which one is Shammai? It’d be amusing if Morari is the Hillel, the more kindly, amiable, respected one who ended up dominating pony ethics and scholarship, and the Star Swirl revival is largely due to Twilight fangirling.

Mmmm…

“It’s the theoretical implications that make it difficult,” Moondancer replied, “Like I’m reenacting the endless dispute between Morari the Maneless and Star Swirl the Bearded in my head. Now I feel like Snowfall Frost who doesn’t believe in friendship. It’s not exactly easy when you can’t consciously understand it. How did you do it?”

And guess which of the two is on record for not understanding friendship. :)

[Production Run]

I'm not surprised by the Canterlot Friends having considerable magical power. After all, the reason they're friends is that they were classmates at a prestigious magic school.

[QueenMoriarty]

Which is actually the earliest appearance of a key on screen, I think, isn’t it?

...um...

The Box that the Tree of Harmony made. The items that turned into keys and got called keys, and functioned like keys. Season 4.

[Oliver]

4768806

The subsequent paragraph implies “to a door behind which a pony lives,” though I can see why this wouldn’t be clear. I’ll fix that.

[schpeelah]

Twilight remembers having friends, but is incapable of remembering their names, which is a very unusual memory hole to have.

...Surely it can't be that unusual? I remember having friends in high school but not their names?

I mean, I have a problem learining people's names in the first place, while Twilight didn't spend Season 1 relying on Spike to tell her what her friends' names are, followed by years of sometimes having to guess which one is Applejack and which is Applebloom, but still.

“I did a little research, and I think I know where we can find Minuette! That is one of my friends, right?” Simply naming Minuette was insufficient to jog Twilight’s memory.

...But now I'm not so sure it didn't happen offscreen.

When Minuette opens the door, we do see a cobweb inside, though why exactly, I have no idea. She immediately shifts the action out onto the street and we never get a good look inside, but what we do see does not imply the house is in any particular kind of disrepair, the cobweb is pretty solitary. Generally, this would imply she lives alone and can’t be bothered to clean.

It does seem rather grimy in there. The walls have inconsistent color as if stained, it's quite dark inside compared to the ouside, and the floor looks really dusty.

The regular appearance of the entire complement of Canterlot Friends is rationalized by visiting each other, but that’s actually insufficient, because they also appear everywhere else.

She's covering up their own adventures, surely.

Twilight would leave unannounced often. I wonder, where to. Is the practice of sending her personal students on errands a common thing for Celestia? Because there’s that song by Sunset Shimmer that got cut out of the movie along with the plotline that went with it…

I think she might have been referring to Twilight having a habit of leaving like, social engagements, studying sessions etc. without saying goodbye. Just leave with her nose in a book, or remember she had something scheduled and run out, forgetting there were ponies with her.

“Back when we were in school together, you invited me to a party.” The only way I can think of for this sentence to be literally true and fit everything else well is if Twilight (and presumably, Moondancer herself) graduated in Spring -1, and that is also when the invitation was issued, for the birthday party to happen during Summer 0. Since gifts are involved, I’m pretty sure it’s a birthday party, so both the occasion and the exact date were obviously known well in advance.

Doesn't Celestial Advice imply Twilight's move to Ponyville was correlated with graduating from being Celestia's student?

4768777

So she dragged Amethyst Star, who is also originally from Ponyville, with her, and it would be very impolite to crash a birthday party without even bringing a gift…

Are you implying that Amethyst was the gift <insert clopfic>?

[Oliver]

4768917

…Surely it can’t be that unusual? I remember having friends in high school but not their names?

It is pretty unusual. I remember having friends in high school. My high school is over twenty years ago, while for Twilight, at most three years have passed, and most likely, less than two…

And I have the worst problems remembering names as well. It sounds very funny when I try to start a lecture with “A famous sociologist whose name starts with a T…”

Seriously, did that more than once.

What is particularly strange about Twilight isn’t even that she doesn’t immediately remember the names of her friends when she is reminded she had them – that’s quite a stretch, but still within the realm of plausibility, mostly. The fact that she needs to be reminded of their names after that, more than once, however…

I’m sure something happened here, something interesting. Or rather, the canon left an interesting-shaped hole to fill.

She’s covering up their own adventures, surely.

Pretty much, considering the places we see the whole gang turn up in.

I think she might have been referring to Twilight having a habit of leaving like, social engagements, studying sessions etc. without saying goodbye.

Maybe. But even the comics like to imply Twilight would get Celestia’s missions very early on – starting with the aforementioned Friendship is Magic #40, and let’s not forget Micro-series #1…

Doesn’t Celestial Advice imply Twilight’s move to Ponyville was correlated with graduating from being Celestia’s student?

Being a student at the School for Gifted Unicorns, and being Celestia’s personal student are two correlated but distinct states. Notice also that Twilight still thinks of herself as Celestia’s current student all the way up to Magical Mystery Cure and says as much.

Are you implying that Amethyst was the gift <insert clopfic>?

No, but I would read that clopfic!

[Eruantalon]

Spike asserts that Twilight had a reputation for being a bad friend, which requires a group of ponies to have a reputation with. The only ponies these can be would be SGU students and graduates

Or anypony else at court, who might've tried to socialize with Celestia's faithful student. Though, given the rest of the episode, your guess's better-evinced than mine.

Twilight remembers having friends, but is incapable of remembering their names, which is a very unusual memory hole to have.

Maybe not. I mean, I can hardly remember the faces of my childhood acquaintances; I've filed all my limited memories of them under their names. Twilight probably filed them under cutie mark and forgot their names.

Absolutely nobody even came to the apartment to tidy it up.

Or rent it out to somepony else. Another point for Twilight's family being rich and paying her rent (or maybe for Celestia paying it.)

Animation error: When Spike finds it, the wrapping is green. Once he picks it up, it becomes red, the color it was originally in Friendship is Magic

Uh... maybe some magic that dies down when it's not handled for a year, but replenishes itself when a magical creature touches it?

Twilight would leave unannounced often. I wonder, where to. Is the practice of sending her personal students on errands a common thing for Celestia?

Maybe, but more likely she just ran out from social engagements to talk with Celestia or research in the library or something. That's what I immediately assumed when I first saw the episode, and it fits better with Twilight's personality.

...because the bricks of salt typically fed to horses in our world do not normally contain molasses at all.

Well, if sugar-loving horses made them, maybe they would!

Minuette says “Didn’t used to look like this, though,” which implies that most of this damage was accumulated recently, and demonstrates just how much was Moondancer hurt.

Thematically appropriate, but unless it's really high-maintenance, there'd need to be some other reason for the damage. Maybe Moondancer's been doing damaging experiments? Which would also explain why she doesn't mind Twilight kicking a hole in her door?

We neither have any idea of how it works, nor any gauge on what the ponies doing it actually experience

Myself, I favor Pineta's explanation.

[howard035]

One of the best ones.

I wonder who washes the dishes most of the time, but this dialog implies that it’s notalwaysSpike.

How so? Spike is saying Twilight being Friendship Princess means he has to do a lot more dishes, he has rubber gloves that were probably not that easy for him to get just so he can wash dishes. Twilight is nice enough to thank Spike for doing his job, but it sounds like dishes are Spike's purview here.

Whatever has Twilight been doing for the “three events in one week,” it wasneitherof these two.

Probably, but I would suggest a soft lock of this episode after Party Pooped, since one of the themes of that episode seemed to be Twilight taking the initiative to do her own Princess things, and now she is doing them frequently.

I also suspect she didn’t takeanythingfrom her old apartment upon settling in Ponyville: you would expect she would at least shelve the book if she did that. It’s almost like she were running away.

That is reaffirmed by the later quote "Twilight Sparkle: But look at the way Ileftthis place. It's a total mess!"
It is kind of weird that Celestia didn't have somebody box up some things in Twilight's apartment and send them to her. Also raises a few questions. If Twilight left all her stuff in her apartment (except for say a case of toiletries), does that mean all the scientific equipment and specialized spell books we have seen in the Treebrary were just there already, or Twilight preferred to buy a second copy rather than have her old versions delivered from Canterlot?

• The regular appearance of the entire complement of Canterlot Friends is rationalized by visiting each other, but that’s actually insufficient, because they also appeareverywhere else.

Technically they just say "We’re always over there visiting her." It doesn't have to mean they aren't also over there for other reasons, though I could see how that is implied. (What's Minuette supposed to say, "sometimes we just go to Ponyville because Lemon Hearts likes rural stallions, but most of the time it's to visit Lyra"?

• They’ve been stalking her for three days straight, which is a detail I originally missed.

And the whole time, Starlight was stalking them. Weird.

• At some point, this friendship was solid enough to exchange very personal gifts, seeing how Moondancer even signed the book.

If we're still using memory magic to explain some holes, I almost wonder if Twilight was hit by a forgetting spell of some kind. No matter how anti-social she is, she should have remembered the names of these 4 ponies, especially Moon Dancer.

• Moondancer’s magic is strong enough to lift Twilight and flip her over Moondancer’s head. That’s actually way stronger than average.

I think we can assume that any pony that attended CSfGU has to be in the top 1-2% of unicorn mages by power, with certain exceptions like Sunburst who obviously got in for different reasons.

No, seriously, I hope Twilight came back to the restaurant before running off to pick up Pinkie.

I think in Canterlot they just charge the palace directly whenever a Princess eats.

Meanwhile, Pinkie knows Minuette well.

More weirdness. Did Pinkie and Minuette never once discuss Twilight? If they did, why didn't Pinkie bring them up to Twilight in the past?
I kind of feel like maybe the rest of the Canterlot friends are actually just as mad as Moon Dancer about being abandoned, and are just hiding it better.

• We don’t know who Morari the Maneless is. But my pet theory is that he is Star Swirl’s contemporary magic theorist, a rival and opponent, because that would be funnier.

A Francis Bacon to Starswirl's Shakespeare? If you're going the funny angle, Morari probably spent their life trying to create mane-restoring spells, and we know Morari must have failed.

“I was so focused on my studies that I didn’t show up.” But that definitely isn’t what Twilight was focused on that day!

I think the harsh truth is that even if the events of the series opener had not come about, Twilight would have skipped the party anyway, out of dislike or discomfort with parties. It's part of why she feels so guilty.

No, seriously, that used to happen to me often. I solved the problem by knowing less people.

I just greet people without saying their names.

With bees. I wonder how exactly did it translate into a career in selling books. Is she happy with it? The glasses, which only studious ponies are typically shown wearing, suggest that she is…

Well, if Moon Dancer lives on a fixed income that requires no work, that's probably family money, which means her sister has it too, so she probably only works in a book store for fun as well. Perhaps the family made it big with a series of apiaries?

• “We’ll come back and visit soon.” Which, unfortunately, never happened on screen.

I think the Series 5 Finale kind of counts. I think it was implied she visited Moon Dancer while doing her lecture. Kind of annoyed they haven't used the Canterlot Friends more though.

• Notice that it’s pretty clear that Celestia hadno ideathere are friends that Twilight might hurt by leaving. Moondancer in particular escaped her notice completely.

True, but weird. Celestia was shown in the S7 Opener both obsessively worried about Twilight's lack of friendships, and having personally picked out 5 co-Elementsnew friends in Canterlot. I guess she asked Twilight if she currently had friends, Twilight literally couldn't think of the names of her Canterlot friends, and Celestia assumed any acquaintances Twilight had didn't care for her any more than Twilight cared for them.

[Oliver]

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Or rent it out to somepony else. Another point for Twilight’s family being rich and paying her rent (or maybe for Celestia paying it.)

In some places, people just outright own apartments. That’s the case with me, even, I don’t pay rent – just a stupid amount of utility bills. Apartments like these can stay dusty indefinitely.

Uh… maybe some magic that dies down when it’s not handled for a year, but replenishes itself when a magical creature touches it?

Sometimes a banana is just a banana.

Thematically appropriate, but unless it’s really high-maintenance, there’d need to be some other reason for the damage.

Termites? Doesn’t sound like the climate for them, but Equestrian critters seem to ignore climate anyway.

[Oliver]

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How so?

Twilight says “thanks for taking care of this,” and follows on with saying that she needed to relax, so this is an opportunity Spike gave to her. If washing dishes was always Spike’s chore to do, the followup makes no sense: Thanking Spike is still polite, explaining why did you need him to do it this time is pointless and extraneous.

If Twilight left all her stuff in her apartment (except for say a case of toiletries), does that mean all the scientific equipment and specialized spell books we have seen in the Treebrary were just there already, or Twilight preferred to buy a second copy rather than have her old versions delivered from Canterlot?

The canon doesn’t say. That’s an interesting shape for a canon hole to have, don’t you think?

What’s Minuette supposed to say, “sometimes we just go to Ponyville because Lemon Hearts likes rural stallions, but most of the time it’s to visit Lyra”?

And they go to, say, Rainbow Falls, to visit whom? :)

And the whole time, Starlight was stalking them. Weird.

I expect she only turned up on the second day: Figuring out where have Twilight run off to would involve some effort, since she flew off in the night without telling anyone.

More weirdness. Did Pinkie and Minuette never once discuss Twilight? If they did, why didn’t Pinkie bring them up to Twilight in the past?

There were always more cupcakes to talk about?

I kind of feel like maybe the rest of the Canterlot friends are actually just as mad as Moon Dancer about being abandoned, and are just hiding it better.

Well, they certainly don’t say. That said, with the amount of times they seem to turn up right next to Twilight, Minuette in particular, who is often within touch distance, might be.

Well, if Moon Dancer lives on a fixed income that requires no work, that’s probably family money, which means her sister has it too, so she probably only works in a book store for fun as well. Perhaps the family made it big with a series of apiaries?

Errr… you’re conflating two distinct ponies. Left to right, librarian, bookseller, sister. Yes, we know this is the order, because they move as Moondancer calls them out, one by one. We have no idea what the sister does for a living, if anything, they never say, she never gets lines or even a name.

I think it was implied she visited Moon Dancer while doing her lecture.

Well, not in any direct way, though Moondancer attends the lecture and sits right next to Spike with his slide projector, so I suppose… And I just noticed that the bookseller is sitting right behind her. The sister is present too, but sits quite a ways off, and Starlight is sitting right behind the bookseller.

The Canterlot Friends are scattered all over, for some reason.

Celestia was shown in the S7 Opener both obsessively worried about Twilight’s lack of friendships, and having personally picked out 5 co-Elementsnew friends in Canterlot.

Considering that she also calls them “a special group” when we’re pretty sure that they probably weren’t a group without Twilight, I think it’s more of a case of things changing in remembrance than actually knowing as much about Twilight’s personal life as she claims.

[howard035]

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f washing dishes wasalwaysSpike’s chore to do, the followup makes no sense:

Ah, I see the point then. Yeah, makes sense, and it's nice to know they trade off somewhat.

The canon doesn’t say. That’s aninterestingshape for a canon hole to have, don’t you think?

It is. A boring explanation could be that whatever pony Celestia hired transported all of Twilight's academic equipment but didn't touch her personal quarters, but that library seems like it would be a pretty important component of the academic stuff.

That said, with the amount of times they seem to turn up right next to Twilight, Minuette in particular, who isoftenwithin touch distance, might be.

There have to be like 15 to 20 times they were ten feet away from Twilight and made a conscious decision not to say anything.

You know, I wonder about something: When Cadance confronted Shining Armor when he was under Chrysalis's magic, he seemed confused, then snapped out of it relatively quickly. The bridesmaids seemed quite eager to beat the heck out of Twilight. I wonder if Twilight not recognizing them in Ponyville had any effect there...

I think it’s more of a case of things changing in remembrance than actually knowing as much about Twilight’s personal life as she claims.

That was a magic illusion spell that goes off one's thoughts, rather than an infallible flashback.

[Oliver]

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You know, I wonder about something: When Cadance confronted Shining Armor when he was under Chrysalis’s magic, he seemed confused, then snapped out of it relatively quickly. The bridesmaids seemed quite eager to beat the heck out of Twilight. I wonder if Twilight not recognizing them in Ponyville had any effect there…

That is a possibility. Shining is very much in love with Cadance (Chrysalis would know, she was eating that) while Minuette… isn’t in love with Twilight.

Isn’t quite a bit, then.

That was a magic illusion spell that goes off one’s thoughts, rather than an infallible flashback.

…Is there such a thing as an infallible flashback in this series at all? So far, I seem to be finding problems with every bleeding single one.

[howard035]

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while Minuette…isn’tin love with Twilight.

One thing to note is that apparently the Bridesmaids never approached Twilight and apologized for trying to jump her. That's normally the sort of thing you would expect in Equestria.

I think we have to accept cartoon resolution in flashbacks just as we do in the show. I stand by the S4 Opener ones, if only because there's not much more the show could have done to say "this flashback is a true and accurate depiction of what happened."
There are plenty of episodes that have seemingly impossible things happen in front of our eyes, and I think we should treat them and flashbacks with the same level of skepticism. Of course, if the "flashback" is an in-universe unreliable narrator like Twilight's spell that we are told is just her free-floating anxiety inventing visions, that's different.

[Shrink Laureate]

Minuette’s house is decorated with a large hourglass, and notice that there is no apparent provision to flip it: The lower part is marked with a placard. So the sand, or whatever medium it is, is collected in the bottom half. Does it work?

I assume they have to flip the whole house?

[Oliver]

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The plate would be on the wrong side.

The only way I can imagine this hourglass actually working is by the actual glass being pulled into the house itself and turned over while inside, leaving the frame stationary.