Jul
31st
2018
Points of Canon: S8x14 - A Matter of Principals · 8:22pm Jul 31st, 2018
Meet episode 15. Or 14. The one that aired in Australia first. In case you’re spoiler averse, you might want to look at this later. Or not. This episode was brought to us by Nicole Dubuc, who was previously responsible for Shadow Play, so my expectations are that it won’t be kind to previously established canon.
That said, it’s a Discord episode, so a lot of the smaller details are actually less meaningful than they would otherwise be. Most of the ones that should be ignored because they are purely part of Discord’s antics and as such are not evidence of Equestria having this or that, I simply won’t list.
- Chronology markers: The episode heavily deals with the School of Friendship, and features Spike’s wings, requiring Molt Down to have completed. Lots of lines, particularly the statements that imply that Discord had not previously visited the school, would make this episode make a lot more sense if it was an early one, but no, they just had to add the wings. The episode also features Cozy Glow, which, while it doesn’t exactly require Marks for Effort to precede, strongly implies so.
- “They’re all legendary magical artifacts!” Twilight uses what presumably is actual artifacts for study props, and later claims that “Princess Celestia gifted these to our school, since they each represent one of the cultures our students come from.” At least some of them would be the property of other nations, at that. Notice, once again, that like in Shadow Play, the episode seems to subscribe to the Tyranny model of magic: Incidental objects belonging to powerful or famous individuals may suddenly acquire magical powers through reputation. I don’t see why else would the crown of Grover be a magical item at all.
“This is the Amulet of Aurora, the Talisman of Mirage, the Helm of Yickslur, the Crown of Grover, Knuckerbocker’s Shell, and Clover the Clever’s Cloak.”
- See above: At least the crown should be the property of Griffonstone, right? Twilight had it because Celestia gave it to her. Why the aerial intercourse did Celestia have it?! This is especially interesting because later, Gallus says that “They say it’s magic and King Grover used it to become the first ruler of Griffonstone.” And I’m sure the yaks would want custody of the Helm of Yickslur, too.
- “Aurora,” “Mirage,” “Yickslur,” and “Knucklebocker” have never been mentioned before, to my knowledge.
- Once again, the existence of Clover the Clever is affirmed. It’s funny that Clover’s cloak is a magical artifact, but say, Star Swirl’s apparently isn’t. Guess Clover is more famous.
- “I’ve read ahead in Equestrian Cultures and Camaraderie: Volume Seven.” I doubt anyone but Twilight wrote that, which means she managed to cook up over seven volumes of this.
- “And we’ll learn all about them in a Spell-venger Hunt!” This appears to be Twilight’s own invention.
- “The team that finds the most wins a private tour of the Canterlot Archives with Princess Celestia.” Celestia must be really bored.
- “You’ve been underwater a long time, haven’t you?” This line by Gallus causes this episode to have the same problem as Yakity-Sax: It would make a lot more sense if that was an early-season episode, but Spike’s wings prevent it from being so.
- “Just getting there will take days!” That’s a very rare admission that travel has a duration. Unfortunately, I can’t quite tell where the map is supposed to be sending them. Can anyone point it out on a more readable map?
- “In the middle of my friendship quilting class? I think not!” Rarity’s curriculum includes friendship quilting. Interesting that we have never observed her doing that with the rest of the Mane 6.
- When Fluttershy needs to fan a swooned Rarity, she uses her hoof, rather than her wing, for some strange reason.
- “The curriculum, rules for the Spell-venger Hunt, dining hall menus for the next six months…” It’s interesting that the rules for the hunt occupy about the same volume as the curriculum.
- “Eh, being a princess for Twilight was hard enough.” “I’m gonna pretend that made sense.” Starlight is not aware of the Princess Spike incident, which is actually rather strange, since that was quite a public affair, and happened during the period that we know she spent stalking Twilight. What gives?
- Twilight travels with an orange suitcase we haven’t seen her use before. Notice cartoon resolution, as it immediately vanishes in the next scene, when the Mane 6 gallop away.
- “This is your first time at our new school, isn’t it?” Discord had not been previously seen at the School of Friendship. All the more reason for this to be an early episode, and yet, Spike’s wings are prominently used.
- “I seem to recall a whole song about how this school is where you make your own rules.” Not being seen obviously does not imply Discord wasn’t secretly spying on what was going on.
- It’s interesting that Starlight deals with Discord turning gravity off by applying her telekinesis, but once he turns it back on, she falls before her magic is expired. How exactly does this work?
- “All you have to worry about is teaching class.” Six distinct subjects of it at once? Starlight’s lucky she doesn’t get to actually do that.
- “Come in, come in. You’ll let the twittermites out.” Previously, twittermites were only encountered in Apple Bloom’s dream in Bloom & Gloom. Unfortunately, this does not establish they actually exist: Discord invoking creatures Apple Bloom dreamed up is unlikely, but possible. It’s notable that Spike uses a bug spray to deal with them – as previously established, poisoning insects is seen as permissible by ponies. It’s also a pressurized aerosol spray can, first patented in our world in 1927, but not actually used seriously until 1941.
- “By the way, I hope you like Limburger cheese.” Which is named after the duchy of Limburg. Unfortunately, that’s Discord, again.
- Iron Will still exists. Since it was Discord who got him here, we don’t know if Iron Will would otherwise be in jail or not – the events of Once Upon A Zeppelin would imply he had a lot to answer for.
- Cranky is wearing his orange wig again. Compare to his appearance in The Break Up Break Down, which causes a problem. Notably, the field his “field trip” is going on in is set up for buckball, which makes this episode – or rather, the start of Season 8 itself – an upper limit on Buckball Season.
- Spike once again uses a fire extinguisher to deal with Smolder’s flame, the one previously seen in Molt Down.
- The trash can Spike uses to scoop up the popcorn Discord throws away has an interesting circular recycling symbol on it. I would love to know more about how ponies recycle.
- “I wouldn’t count on it. I think Discord’s trying to test you. … Well, it’s kinda what he does. Even to ponies or dragons he cares about.” This is a very astute observation from Spike here, one that we’ve made before.
- “Good morning, students!” As of this line, Starlight had been a headmare for at least one day.
- “No fruit calls in my class!” Normally, this wouldn’t mean anything, but Trixie has identified Discord’s banana skit as a “call” – which can only mean a phone call, implying that yes, Equestria does have a phone network somewhere, and Trixie is aware of it. Later on, she automatically answers a ringing banana, further certifying that. Previously, we only had background appearances of phones as evidence of that. At the same time, Trixie is not aware what a long distance plan is, suggesting those, and presumably, long distance lines themselves are not yet a thing.
- Starlight is capable of blasting Discord away temporarily when sufficiently provoked, producing collateral damage which should be equivalent to an artillery shell or two. Her statement that she “banished him from school grounds forever” is the weirdest part of the whole thing.
- “We can use Twilight’s observatory to watch the teams!” Twilight has an actual observatory, not a place we have previously seen. It’s a pretty strange observatory, at that – where does it need to be located to see what happens in the corridors of the School of Friendship?
- “In our book, it says Yickslur was an honorable yak warrior. Any enemies that saw him put down their weapons in peace.” Good to know. I expect everybody can guess why they put down their weapons.
- That extra lens in front of the telescope’s eyepiece makes no sense at all. I suppose, that’s how they see through walls.
- One of the artifacts in question belongs to a changeling, who is depicted on one of the portraits in the library, unless Discord invented the portrait as well. This can only be Aurora or Mirage, by elimination. Where in the changeling history would such an individual be located, I can’t even guess.
- “I thought you banished him from the school.” “Only his body. Apparently, his ghost can come and go just fine.” This is the first time ponies acknowledge ghosts are a thing. I’m not sure Starlight knows what she’s talking about, at that. I would rather interpret it as Discord just “haunting” the school for kicks, and ignoring the banishment as the hogwash it was.
- “The Shell of Knuckerbocker. It’s like a seashell, but if you blow into it, you call a dragon! There’s a sweet poem in our book about it. ‘Climb to the heights with dragon flight.’” This artifact is in particular very strange, if only because we don’t know who Knuckerbocker is. It could be the name of the dragon, but you’d expect it would be someone who called a dragon, instead, since the shell would be theirs. The portrait floating past implies that it was the name of the dragon, though – unless Discord made up the portrait too.
- “Everycreature, stop!” Yep, it’s the new politically correct way to address mixed company.
- “But I will need my own office, expense account, parking space…” “You’re new to the world of education, aren’t you?” Equestrian teachers aren’t paid well either? Now that’s strange.
- “I can’t believe you tricked us into going on a friendship quest that wasn’t real!” Now, Twilight with twigs in her hair is cute and all, but that would also imply she got into this particular misadventure close to Ponyville. Otherwise, she would have had ample time to get them out.
- “A glamour spell on our cutie marks?” Glamour is a term of magic, use to describe illusions, which we haven’t previously heard.
The episode results in the following questions not answerable sensibly at this time:
- Where in the changeling history can an important changeling with a friendship-significant artifact even go?
- Why would a shell summoning a dragon belong to another dragon, and if it did in fact belong to someone else, who was that? Ponies had no contact with dragons.
- Why would Celestia have all those things, particularly Grover’s crown?
It could be worse, of course, but compared to these, the issue of Starlight appearing to exert actual power over Discord entirely on her own is quite minor.
Mirage sounds like a changeling name. Knuckerbocker doesn't sound like anycreature's natural naming scheme. Aurora could be a hippogriff name, they like half-pony, vaguely meaningful-but-not-actually-words type names. That would seem to lead to Knuckerbocker being the dragon name by elimination.
4911344
It would. So riddle me this: Whom was Knuckerbocker friends with, to give them the shell that summoned him? Why does Sandbar say the shell summons “a dragon” rather than Knuckerbocker himself?
Given as a gift to Celestia when Griffon Kingdom entered an alliance with Equestria?
We're ignoring the more apparently intended interpretation that Starlight cast a banishment spell preventing Discord from bodily entering the school because?
Well, the other obvious possibility is that the shell calls specifically Knuckleboxer the Dragon.
Ah! Something I can help with for once! Knuckerbocker is actually a migrant from secondary canon. Specifically, he's from Daring Do and the Eternal Flower, one of G.M. Berrow's books. So is the shell, which in that book, was in the possession of Daring Do. And yes, the shell does call Knuckerbocker himself. Daring uses him as a taxi.
4911356
Knuckerbocher was actually a dragon sorcerer who figured out how to mentally dominate young and stupid dragons. She built a small army of her thralls until she tried to use the shell on the wrong dragon. It was eventually stolen from the hoard of the conqueror of Knuckerbocher by an earth pony named Bag End.
4911358
Seriously?
Because if that was possible, there would be little to no need to use the Elements against him in the first place, banishing him with a spell or two or fifteen would be sufficient. Intended interpretation that pretends that seasons before 5 did not exist is not kosher.
4911367
Good to know. Now I need to know just how did Equestria avoid knowing anything about dragon culture as a result…
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Bleh. I like my version better. It's less oppressively ponycentric.
4911377
There is a heck of a difference between removing Discord as an active threat and preventing him from entering one building which he can circumvent anyway, with him playing along to an unknown degree anyway.
Also, Starlight stronk and has already created spells that did unprecedented things previously.
I don't know about you but at around the halfway point I was hoping she'd whip out her own set of gems replicating the Elements and just stone him, before I remembered Gorgon Grenades.
Also, if the artifacts match up with the portraits that depict them, Clover the Clever is back to being female... and went in for a mane style resembling 18th century French wigs.
Was this not the first time Twilight has directly left Starlight in charge of someplace? Considering her past, I think that's a rather significant event.
As for the mapping:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/10/6/1553160__safe_edit_editor-colon-cheezedoodle96_my+little+pony-colon-+the+movie_rainbow+falls_spoiler-colon-my+little+pony+movie_abyssinia_airship_apple.png
This is the best map of Equestria and surrounding areas as assembled from descriptions in both primary and secondary canon.
Now looking at the cutie map (forgive the quality, recorded from low-rez sendvid):
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/351321807120498689/474001844901904404/unknown.png
And I'm pretty sure Discord just sent them to say hello to Fizzlepop.
I'd imagine ancient ponies, perhaps in the vein of Daring Do, took them and Celestia didn't trust anyone with their magical power... but then, she's willing to risk shenanigans happening to them at the school? Hmm. Maybe they're just fakes and Celestia is trolling Twilight to see how far she'll go when one inevitably gets lost or turned into a teacup or something.
Our griffon student calls out that Grover used it to become the first griffon king, implying it was a magic item before he used it -- it's just named after him now as its most famous bearer.
She's a thousand years old. Of course she's bored!
Really? Her telekinesis didn't have to counter gravity, then, suddenly, gravity was applied. What's interesting is how smooth her landing was and how unsurprised she seems.
I can't help but feel that Starlight AND Spike's expressions here imply she just killed him and is nervously lying to the students. Obviously not the case -- it's MLP and it's Discord, but still.
Maybe it's magic?
Exactly!
She probably remembered she could teleport since the episode was running out of time. Or perhaps a friendship quest was not urgent enough to use teleportation, but the thought of Discord having lured them away from the school was. Probably the former though.
Worrying that Discord used a magic spell to do this and Twilight couldn't detect it.
This was a fun episode, although Discord's casual disregard for student safety is going to raise a lot of hell when the other world leaders hear about it from their students. Not to mention that poor pony in the mascot costume who was last seen floating away.
4911387
There’s no question Starlight is strong. Discord-scale strong, though, I very much doubt it.
4911415
Indeed. Makes the whole matchup all the more dubious.
4911499
Only, Fizzlepop isn’t supposed to be there, remember? She went to travel Equestria spreading the Good News. In fact, nobody except the potentially remaining Storm King soldiers are.
4911769
About the only explanation that makes sense, so far.
This sort of works, until you remember the role of the Idol of Boreas in uniting the griffons. Then it just becomes strange. In any case, there was nothing magical about, for example, Rockhoof’s shovel, and yet it mysteriously becomes a magical artifact anyway.
More likely, she wants to arrange a quasi-vacation through the pretense.
Maybe, gravity does not reassert in linear fashion…
That was my impression as well – she realizes she probably killed him, realizes that this probably isn’t going to be enough to stop him at all, but needs to make something up.
If I didn’t know how much of my power reserves I might require the use of at the destination, I would probably conserve it going there, too.
Twilight probably never thought to check. And Discord used a magic spell to redirect suspicion from himself…
There was actually a pony in there? I missed that.
4911820 It was never stated that she did so just within Equestria.
I would think she would need to be outside Equestria to spread such messages, since all in Equestria would have been told "It's over!"
4911821
How log would it have taken to spread the news to Storm King’s home base, anyway?
4911823 I'm thinking about a season.
4911825
…what, every single soldier, individually, needed a few days of counseling to accept the idea?
4911827 In pony time? Sure! Heck, this place that was the Storm King's homeland was only "a few day's travel" from Ponyville. Consider that no pony has ever gone "a few day's travel" in that direction before (well, any but Fizzlepop).
*sigh*
That movie was so inconsistent with basically all the canon and theme.
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It was my impression that the mascot was a custom version of that sentient piñata from last season's Fluttercord episode. So either the old piñata or a new one made de novis on the spot.
Is it kinda like a cell phone or a pager? "Guys, I need some help here!" :).
Gryphons sold it to get some money? Others... Maybe ponies find it on Equestria soils and kinda like: "We find it in our country so they belong to us"? There also a possibility that someone like Daring Do bring it to Equestria.
4911933
That’s what they describe it like, yes. :) See above, DannyJ found the actual source of the character and the shell: Daring Do had it.
She never told anyone she had a dragon friend, either. Some scientist she is.
I’m not sure if that sounds sufficiently greedy…
4911820
I'm not so sure it's inconsistent. A top tier spell caster caught Discord by surprise and off guard with the ultimate result of temporarily inconveniencing him at best.
Also the idea that Discord doesn't just no-sell spells used against him but instead finds loopholes somehow seems very appropriate for him as a character.
Who says it isn't? Starswirl is just still wearing his for it to be donated to museums / Starswirl-con :)
I'm surprised you didn't mention it but I believe during the scene with the bug spray and cheese in the background there is a red rotary phone on a table. Maybe Twilight's an early adopter of fancy new tech.
Weird? She just banished him. Just like she banished several
feethoovesmoons of dirt, parts of a tree, made sizzly black ashy banishment smoke. You know. Forever. Btw Did Tirek getting blasted by harmony ray leave him in a crater?A meh episode overall. Unlike the romance one, this goes too far in the "make Discord a jerk" side of things.
You could say that about a lot of things in the British Museum. I would wager a lot of other countries either donated stuff to Celestia as diplomatic gifts at some conference or another, or some races (like the Griffons) straight up sold them to Equestria. I mean, if the Griffons had held onto the Crown of Grover, it probably would have had the gems pried out by now, right?
I think there's more than that. The Tree of Harmony is in some sense a deliberate attempt by Starswirl and the Pillar to invoke this model, but it's also a subversion, the Tree and the Map, especially if we consider them one artifact, are the most powerful artifact in the world, and it's been established they've been a secret for almost all of history.
An alternative idea is that all individuals have magic, and great heroes are more likely to have more magic, and that they consciously or unconsciously imbue their treasured items with their power. I think this theory fits this episode and Shadow Play better.
Yup.
Celestia is willing to loan priceless treasures to Twilight to be manhandled by teenagers, she's probably willing to devote an hour or two to a tour. The prize was definitely Twilight's idea too.
It was really brief, but it looked to me like south-west of Kludge, right at the edge of the map.
I also noticed this and wondered if anyone else did! I think we can take it as indicated that Starlight was not in Canterlot during that particular period. She can't be stalking Twilight every minute while also preparing her revenge. Perhaps the time period of Princess Spike was a perfect time for Starlight to break in and scout out the Friendship Castle, while she knew Twilight would be gone for several days.
Discord seems to possess borderline omniscience, he just knows things, the way he knows his buddies want to talk to him in the Hearts and Hooves day episode.
I mean, they're not really distinct, are they? They're all lessons on friendship. And it looks like it was always the plan for Starlight to hire a bunch of substitutes.
It's possible, but why would Discord care about Apple Bloom's dream enough to view it?
I mean, not really anything more than Trixie does. He could probably apply this towards whatever apology tour/community service the Equestrian justice system stuck him with.
Yes. At this point Spike is probably Discord's best friend after Fluttershy. His strategy of "when you're magically-overpowered friend is doing something stupid, just roll with it while making snarky comments until they wear themselves out and feel embarrassed enough to fix everything" works well with many beings he knows.
The only active phones we've seen have been in Manehatten, which according to the comics Trixie has spent some time in. If we wager that there's a phone network that only covers the city, it would explain both Trixie knowing phone protocol and having no idea what a long-distance plan is.
So a couple of things: 1)Starlight didn't look like she cast a spell, she looks like she just fired her strongest energy blast at Discord. The charred ground like an artillery hit sure support that. 2)The way she tells that thing about banishment to the student sure sounds like she's telling kids their sick pet got moved to a farm upstate.
3) Afterwards we see his "ghost, " which doesn't seem like it should have anything to do with a banishment.
Here's what I think happened: Starlight unleashed all her power on Discord in a fit of anger. It was enough to destroy Discord's physical form, which inconvenienced him for a few seconds. He heard her tell the students the lie she made up on the spot and decided to play along with it to show that even if he was banished, it wouldn't stop Discord from doing what he wants.
We earlier saw a wall in place of where it is viewing, so it needs to be a magical spyglass capable of looking through walls. At no point do any of the students go outside or anyplace that could be viewed by a normal spyglass during the hunt. Very creepy that Twilight has it.
Considering the title, the probable author and the school, I suspect some of this stuff might be biased. "Yickslur was a vicious warrior who forced everyone to drop their weapons or be gored" probably would not be a nice way of phrasing it. Textbook curriculum needs to fit the goals of the school!
Very British Museum indeed. Celestia probably stocked a few shelves in the archives with treasures she took off the changlings, since they wouldn't need it in that volcano!
It kind of reminds me of Puck the Magic dragon. Also a poem/song about someone who summons a dragon. They don't call the song "Jackie Paper," it makes sense they name the shell after the dragon.
True, considering the power the EEA wields. Are the Mane 5 getting paid to teach? Is Starlight getting paid to guidance counsel?
My guess is that Discord teleported them back from the bizarre dangerous cave they were in the second he got what he wanted. Otherwise how did they suddenly realize it was a prank and Discord did it?
True. But also Discord can hack the map! (And doesn't need a sympathetic artifact of Starswirl, whose magic is part of the Map, to do it).
Once again the lesson is "Discord is a powerful baby who needs lots of attention at all times."
4911371 Bag End? Not a truffle-hunter with pet pigs named Farmer Ham?
4911387 The thing is, it doesn't look like Starlight is casting a spell, just pouring raw energy out of her horn at him. And the landscape looks blasted like someone shot a giant laser at it, not used a summoning spell. And when Starlight tells the kids she "banished" Discord, she has that "I'm lying" face people have in cartoons.
4911499 Great work with the map! Adds up to me.
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Yup.
4911967
Well there's an old trick there if you're really greedy: Sell it to someone who's rather shady like Doctor Caballeron. Then complain to the Equestrian government that someone has exploited you and taken your priceless cultural relics, so they arrest the individual and return it to you. Then you sell it a second time to a more upstanding organization like a museum.
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Missed that entirely, probably due to the low resolution copy I was watching. I’ll doublecheck when a higher resolution copy is available, thanks for mentioning htat.
Pretty sure that it didn’t.
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And doesn’t make sense with respect to the rest of the series at all.
That’s a good option.
It would be the most random thing he could do?
There is that one scene in Somepony to Watch Over Me which is very strange in this regard:
This scene only makes enough sense if Ponyville has a phone network too, but so far, there has never been a solid piece of evidence that there is one. The rotary phone Fylifa caught here is the first instance of a phone that should actually be connected to something, but that might as well mean that Ponyville has a nascent phone network now – but is not evidence that it had it back in Year 2 or Year 1, which is what Somepony to Watch Over Me is dated to.
That does work, I suppose.
Especially in a boarding school.
You’d think they are, and yet, I’m sure you won’t bet on ever getting solid evidence to confirm or deny this, and neither would I.
Also an option.
Actually, there’s no evidence: A suitably detailed illusion spell cast over the map and the marks should be able to imitate its workings entirely, shouldn’t it? After all, all that is visible is a few blinking images.
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Because then the current stars would have their own magical objects, like Celestia's peytrals or something? Maybe nobody really notices objects are enchanted unless they're away from their bearer. It doesn't seem like Rockhoof or Mage Meadowbrook actually had any idea their posessions had power before Stygian swiped them
Or third possibility: The objects don't actually have any actual magic in them, just historical significance. Even the shell that calls a dragon could just be a unique-sounding shell a dragon has agreed to come to when he hears it.
What about Winona? From the episode with the boat trip, where Appplejack sends a note with Winona to Twilight. In Someone to Watch Over Me, she could have sent a note to Rarity with Winona, and just trusted in Rarity to be able to watch Apple Bloom without actually getting a response.
Careful, we'll inspire a lot of mature stories with this!
Also a tactile illusion of the flank rumbling, but sure. If that's the case though, presumably the nigh-omniscient map is aware that it's being impersonated. Did it try and warn anyone, and was blocked by Discord, or did it just let things go because it knew this would cause Discord to learn a lesson about friendship? (Well, learn for the 8th time).
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Actually, this doesn’t sound like they had no idea:
Now, some of these have sentimental value (blindfold), others were supposed to be magical and powerful even before being associated with a Pillar (shield) but the shovel in particular is definitely unimportant without its association with Rockhoof, and same about, take note, Mistmane’s flower – which is just a random flower she picked to wear in her hair. Yet they call them all artifacts. Did Stygian tell them they were artifacts? Consider the following logic chain:
My Little Pony: Historical Significance is Magic!
Thanks, that works. Yay, Winona saves Ponyville from having a phone network until Season 8.
Too late, someone somewhere already did.
The map is simply in cahoots with Discord?
4913170
I feel like it seems unlikely there was this other awesome ritual he managed to construct to give himself greater power. My guess is that Stygian stole the artifacts, and the ritual worked, it just didn't work immediately. Before he could manifest awesome powers the Pillars showed up, took back their stuff, and told him he was out of the band. Then later on he managed to actually manifest a shadow form.
I'm now imagining Winona digging at the foundations of telephone poles until they collapse when no one is looking.
That would be a great revelation for the end of the series, similar to the Shadows and the Vorlon from Babylon 5.
Yickslur hasn't been directly mentioned but I assume that he must be the yak for whom Yickslurberfest is named.
I disagree. Discord’s entire motivation this episode is that he’s peeved nobody invited him to the Friendship School sooner. So the earlier in the timeline you set this episode, the less reasonable Discord’s reaction becomes. He’s already enough of a whiny baby in this episode without us twisting the timeline to remove his one legitimate reason to be offended.
G.M. Berrow's Daring Do canon keeps getting migrated into FiM and EG these past two years. I mean, I'm glad, since they're the only 3 books I genuinely consider canon to the show, but it's weird how much they're doubling down on that (and also considering how RARE it is for them to migrate anything over from secondary canon as anything other than a vague half-reference like the Filly Guide Scouts).
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Most of this appears to be the work of G.M. Berrow herself, who makes sure to refer to one of her books every time she writes an episode. I suspect the magic of friendship is to blame.
Clover is the subject of a play repeated yearly during Equestria's biggest holiday; as for Starswirl, in the first couple seasons Twilight seemed to be the only one outside of the princesses to have ever heard his name. So, I'm tempted to agree on this point.
I will agree that Celestia happening to own a wealth of other people's artifacts is... suspicious. Why does she have all that stuff? The Shell, at least, I imagine she probably got from Daring Do, but as for the rest... I'm drawing a blank.
5003805
Actually, the first time Star Swirl is mentioned by Twilight, in Luna Eclipsed, it also turns out that Luna recognizes Twilight’s costume and remembers Star Swirl instantly. That said, nobody else does, not even Spike, which is actually odder.
5003818
Hence the "outside of the princesses" qualifier. Twilight, Luna and presumably Celestia know who he is, but no one else seems to.