Aug
11th
2018
Points of Canon: S8x17 - The End in Friend · 12:16pm Aug 11th, 2018
A spoiler. Also, a G.M. Berrow episode. Which explains things.
- Chronological markers: School of Friendship. Spike’s wings are in evidence, requiring Molt Down to complete. Artifacts introduced in A Matter of Principals are referred to again. Rainbow’s statement early on locks the season of this episode to spring. These nine months of Fluttershy being teacher of the month sure look really, really strange now, don’t they?
- Rarity has her own office in the School of Friendship, complete with rolls of cloth and everything.
- “Oh, I’d love to help, but I have to meet Rainbow Dash for our day of fun together.” Notice that Rarity declares this well before their group activity is actually used as an example, implying that otherwise, they would be able to have fun together. I wonder how exactly, because the alternative is that Rarity hasn’t ever had a day of fun with Rainbow before, which is bogus.
- Notice that for the purposes of this outing, Rainbow is already wearing what later turns out to be a buckball uniform in those ridiculous “Ponyville” colors established in Buckball Season. Later on, the Appleloosa buckball team turns up. Yet Rarity remained entirely unaware that she is to play buckball, and didn’t even know how. That’s kind of a dick move on Rainbow’s part.
- “She’s working on her winter collection, and it’s not even summer yet!” I.e. it is now spring, because it’s very obviously not winter.
- “Uh, look.” Actually, don’t. This is in Twilight’s class, right? Rainbow and Rarity are here because Twilight needed them as an example. But why exactly is Starlight here?…
- Appleloosa buckball team includes that lady with a spur for her cutie mark. I did already mention that the only way spurs make sense on pony cutie marks is if they represent <insert clopfic>, because as we can plainly see, when they buck things, the front part of the hoof connects first, and the push is done with the flat of the hoof, so they’re useless even as a weapon.
- Braeburn is playing the earth pony for the Ponyville team for some really strange reason. Appleloosa buckball team for some reason has an extra earth pony, for a total of four members. Wat.
- Rainbow is now capable of doing a Sonic Rainboom while accelerating in a ~3m radius circle, i.e. in the space of no more than ten meters, at a reduced power output.
- Ponyville has a specialized shoe shop, that literally sells nothing else. The only reasonable target group for it is out of town tourists.
“Unless you like tripping with every step, heels on a horse are pretty useless.”
- Ponies count as horses, according to Rainbow.
- The stilettos Rarity actually ended up purchasing are almost three times as long as the shoes she inspects as this phrase is uttered, and I do wonder how that would look on her.
- The shoes Rarity does actually purchase continue dropping glitter for the rest of the episode, which is not physically possible without magic. With magic, it would mean constantly regenerating glitter…
- “They’re perfect in a multitude of situations. Formal functions, afternoon teas, evening teas, high tea, tea by the sea, royal tea—” That’s a lot of teas, and all of them actually exist.
- Once again, we see the weird gemstones that grow on stalks.
“This will be perfect for the emerald-encrusted romper I’ve been working on!”
- Rompers are a thing, and I wonder how would a pony get into a one-piece one.
- The gem Rarity handles at the moment is an emerald, so take note at how it shatters so easily a few seconds later. Generally, you would require to whack the 7.5 Mohs hard gem of this size with a hammer pretty vigorously to get it to break at all. This is an issue with most of the gems collected, because even the shards look like the gems were empty inside.
- “And then there was the time Rainbow Dash called my Cloudsdale Couture Boutique idea ‘impractical!’ Imagine that! Just because I needed Twilight to perform the butterfly wing spell on me whenever I wanted to deliver merchandise!” So whatever happened to the balloon service? Because even the secondary literature insists there’s regular balloon service to Cloudsdale. Was it just Rainbow fishing for excuses not to help Rarity with this?…
- “No way am I wearing those!” Considering Rarity has a full complement of four, sharing out the two would make it look quite a lot better…
- One of the shots shows a view of the ceiling of Starlight’s office, including four kites of various description and the lamp with a very obvious electrical wire.
“Great! We’re all here!”
- I do wonder how much time has passed, because it would require both of them to read a book. Neither of them actually finished reading it, but Starlight would have to give them some time to do so.
- Notice Bon-Bon and Lyra on a date making bedroom eyes at each other.
- Notice that Roseluck does not have a plate before her, but the spot opposite her does.
- “It’s just that I find those action sequences so ridiculously over-the-top.” Good to know!
- “Cucumber sandwich?” See Sandwich Problem.
“You see, if you didn’t know that Sir Fluffingsworth von Radishfield wears only silk, double-breasted waistcoats, you’d never deduce that he, in fact, was the culprit!”
- Wait. How exactly does a pony get a name like that, even if he is a character? What exactly does “von” mean for ponies and why the mismatch with Radishfield?
- Notice that the pony on the illustration is not a unicorn.
“That amulet can reverse the tides and summon tsunamis!”
- This is the first, EVER time the series mentions tides are even a thing. Consider that spinning the Moon around like, say, the Storm King does in The Movie would result in destroying the coastlines instantly all across the world, and you can be certain they have nothing to do with the Moon’s motion or gravity. Now riddle me this: How do tides come about and why exactly would you want to reverse them? Does the word even mean the same thing?…
- Tsunamis are a thing. The typical source of those is a submarine earthquake.
- “While we work on a locator spell. It’s the perfect solution!” A locator spell is an option, not something described before.
- “There appear to be no signs of damage to the surrounding artifacts, suggesting the thief did not leave in a hurry.” All the artifacts are piled up in the same chest like trash.
“The Amulet of Aurora is made out of Azurantium! … The same metal that the Amulet of Atonement from Daring Do book four is made from? It always leaves sparkles wherever it goes.”
- Notice that the trail of sparkles left by the amulet is not spawned physical glitter, unlike whatever Rarity’s boots produce: It remains hanging in the air, and is undisturbed by Rainbow’s wings when she flies across it.
- So the fourth book had that “Amulet of Atonement.” Does this match whatever the actual printed books say?
- Azurantium is a metal. Not necessarily an element, at that.
- “Actually, I learned it at Scootaloo’s Filly Guides camp.” Filly Guides have camps, though what exactly was Rainbow doing there is an open question.
“If one of those geysers burns off my wing feathers, I’ll be out of the Wonderbolts for weeks.”
- So why is a higher altitude not an option?
- Feathers regenerate over the course of weeks, rather than, say, months.
- Boiling water damages feathers, which is not necessarily a given.
- “But I’d need two perfectly placed trees, some stretchy rope, and a pith helmet.” This garment is called a pith helmet even in Equish.
“The S.S. Cragadile, at your service!”
- Ponies use ship prefixes. As I mentioned before, only certain navies in our world do.
- S.S. would normally mean a steamship. It’s obvious Rarity’s goofing off, but what does it mean in this case?
- Rarity had a very interesting period in her youth, didn’t she? Playing guitar, making rafts with found materials, picking locks – because yes, picking locks is quite a specialized skill, requiring training and dedication even if you already have the high dexterity to practice it.
“I think it’s a Bufogren. They have really sensitive ears.” This creature is a huge problem.
- For one, it’s sapient enough to speak, and even know the word “information.” Yet it obviously is not part of any society, that’s always a problem. Because normally sapience can’t develop in this situation even in species otherwise sapient. I suspect this might be handled by introducing the idea that pony society has a special provision for a magical sapient monster, which are sapient not in the same way social species are. But it’s still iffy as hell.
- The really sensitive ears are a problem too, because immediately afterwards, Rarity and Rainbow find the secret door. Which, through an underground corridor, leads back into the School of Friendship. Now, such an underground corridor cannot be very long. Which means that the bufogren effectively lives within city limits with its sensitive ears…
- Pegasus magic can be used to produce clouds in place. Whether it’s pegasus or unicorn magic that is used to further condense the cloud to a gel-like state, we can’t really tell.
“Maybe the key to unlocking this thing is in these inscriptions.”
- Everyone and their mother noticed that both Rarity and Rainbow did not notice the unique school logo painted on the door. Why?…
- So whoever cooked up the plan had to have either written directions to find the key on the door, or had to know Rarity can lockpick. Both options are strange.
- “High heels can do that?” Actually, with most kinds of locks they can’t.
- “Wait! That tunnel leads to the… school? A secret passage!” It’s not actually very secret, just covered by the trophy case, but that neither Rarity nor Rainbow knew about it already implies they did not take part in the construction and furnishing of the school much, if at all.
- “Spikey-wikey! You stole the Amulet of Aurora?!” Spike has wings. Gweh.
We’ve had much worse episodes this season, but it obviously follows Berrow’s canon and ignores everyone else’s, which creates problems.
Now riddle me this. The Amulet of Aurora leaves a trail when it’s moved. How the hay did Spike hide it in A Matter of Principals?
She's on a date with her imaginary waifu. Given the flower ponies' usual mental state, that wouldn't be weird.
To be generous, one has to have some money first. Rarity probably stole her first million.
I think my biggest question for the episode is still "Why did Twilight build a secret passage out of her school to some random fucking swamp?"
4918406
Fire escape? You usually don’t expect a swamp to burn.
Yeah, this episode. Years-long friendship enduring through mundane events and major national threats both... put in crisis when the Friendship School decides to poke at it. That's not the best mark on the school's performance record. And it's not as if it was a shallow or false friendship that was built back up stronger; the status quo was restored, and this was a friendship strong enough for the Elements of Harmony.
(And what was it Rarity said? "When we give each other a chance to share the different things we enjoy, it can be surprisingly wonderful!"? Except, wasn't that basically already their plan for their day of fun? At most, it seems like they just weren't trying the right things in their original plan, and I suspect that, if they weren't under the pressure to prove their friendship and were just, with reason, assuming it, they might well have just kept trying things until they found something that did work.)
"but that neither Rarity nor Rainbow knew about it already implies they did not take part in the construction and furnishing of the school much, if at all"
Which seems fairly plausible for Rainbow but rather more of a stretch for Rarity.
"Now riddle me this. The Amulet of Aurora leaves a trail when it’s moved. How the hay did Spike hide it in A Matter of Principals?"
Well, it doesn't seem to leave sparkles quite everywhere it's moved. Or maybe the gaps were just where Spike cleaned them up, and he did the same thing in the other episode?
4918420
An amusing idea... but a fire escape that not only isn't clearly marked but is behind an actual secret door?
4918542
Purely so that the children don’t go drown in the swamp unsupervised, you understand.
Why in the name of Space Jesus would anyone try to pick a lock with a heel, ever?
4918558
Oh, right, that makes perfect sense. :D
4918406
See the crystal outcroppings all over the place? I'm pretty sure TSSF's foundations were not built, but grown from the same stuff as Twilight's castle, and that the school building was just placed on top of it.
4918542 4918558
I think it's probably more for escaping monsters or villains. In the event the school is attached by a rampaging hydra or conquering yeti, get all the students inside then close the door so the bad guys can't find them.
Twi, Spike and Starlight gave up the secret easily enough, so they clearly don't mind staff and students knowing it's there.
4918790
Hm, yeah, good idea; thanks!
Is the Ibuprofen really that different from Steven Magnet in a sapient being that appears to have no real society?
Anyway, I bet he makes a living by blackmailing ponies in ponyville with the things he overhears.
Also, wasn't the playhouse already built into the backside of the schoolhouse? It's good that we now know there's a swamp right behind the school, wedged between the lake and Mount Canter.
More signs of age: Twilight built a school this season with secret passages that have had time to become overgrown. How long does it take vines to cover a door?
On the other hand, re-watched the S8 Opener. Noticed that the stepping stones actually pop out of the ground. I think that's evidence the School of Friendship was built by the Crystal Ponies the same way they build things up north, which could be radically faster than normal construction.
4920494
Yes: Steven Magnet goes to the town spa, attends a wedding, goes on adventures with a donkey, and is otherwise socially active in pony society, if a bit reclusive.
About thirty seconds. Remember what Twilight did to vanilla stalks in Not Asking for Trouble?
Possible.
So much for my theory about the fakes... Although maybe the glitter effect is easy to replicate with illusions?
I figured this was meant to be a cartoon representation about how glitter gets everywhere, but magical glitter could be illusory and/or temporary. Notice that early on Rainbow accidentally spreads it to her cheeks, unable to get it off herself, and then later is clean again. And surely Twilight didn't just add a magical glitter trail right through the school hallway that's going to last forever, right? (I'm sure it will be gone next episode, proof that it is temporary and certainly not that the writers forgot🙄)
I got nothing. It seems inconsistent with how gems have been portrayed in the show before, too.
Search me. I look forward to reading whatever explanation you come up with in your story! 😁
Hasn't Rarity demonstrated the ability to locate gems at some point? Although with the frequency at which they appear on the surface rock of caves, one wonders why you'd ever need or use a gem-locating spell...
You know, unless they teleported, an ability that adversaries have demonstrated before...
That's all you're worried about? Not being boiled alive or crashing into the swamp and having to try to swim to shore while in excruciating pain? Geeze, ponies are hardy. Maybe they have hit points or something...
Steamships seem plausible with pony technology, if unseen. Perhaps it's a common prefix for airships -- sky ships. In either case, though, it seems plausible that Rarity is not familiar with ship nomenclature, saw a ship with a prefix mentioned in a newspaper article or book, and thought it was just a common part of ship names.
Alternate explanation: Rarity knows full well that this is not a steam ship and was setting up for a 'why, it's a swamp ship!' punchline, but Rainbow doesn't know or care about ships so didn't ask.
I chalk that up to natural magic -- it's like any magical beast in D&D that understands/speaks even though it doesn't have a society.
That door was coming down one way or another.derpicdn.net/img/view/2012/7/2/28634__safe_lesson+zero_animated_atomic+rainboom_explosion_hub+logo_meme+origin_mushroom+cloud_rainbow+nuke.gif
It's a magic spell and Rarity just pretended the shoes mattered so she wouldn't look stupid for buying high heels as an ungulate. ...Okay, I'm out of plausible explanations for this episode, the writers just didn't care.
Ditto.
All in all, the conflict of this episode feels horribly out-of-place in Season 8. I could see it in an early season, maybe, and I grant that 'friends can get along even if they don't share hobbies' is a good lesson for an episode of a children's cartoon, but it seems like Rarity and Rainbow Dash should have dealt with this long ago. It's like Applejack forgetting to be honest whenever a plot requires it. Maybe they're running low on creative ideas and want to do standard kid's show stuff, and that's why the show needs to be rebooted before they run out completely?
What bothered me most about this episode was Twilight, Element of Friendship who has advanced enough in her studies to not only take on a protege of her own but found an entire school, spends most of her screen time acting like someone nervously trying to cover for the fact that what they're selling is fake. She should have been able to give an in-depth, scientifically rigorous lecture about this permutation of 'friendship' -- or, if she really didn't understand it that well, panicking and going full CMFIS at the apparent prospect that two of her best friends' friendship was a lie.
4920649
Rarity’s gem finding ability/spell locates a general class of objects (gems) while the spell referred to here would have to be specific (locate the Amulet of Aurora).
Oh, they’ve been seen, once. During Rarity Takes Manehattan.
Probably. :)
That would be a better option, but would also involve giving the writers too much credit.
Precisely my point.
More like, Hasbro came down on them this season because the show wasn’t “for kids” enough. Their original kids who started watching the show when it was born are young adults now. So now they have to kill and remake it because the target audience is kids, because it is supposed to be the vehicle to sell toys.
Because young adults are not supposed to buy toys.
Amen!
Honestly, out of all the chronology fucks written into the show, I find the 9 months bit to be the most unforgivable one. I choose to pretend it was 2 or 3 months instead.
Yes, this matches the books. It also matches the show itself. Book 4, Daring Do and the Razor of Dreams, was mentioned in Season 4's Daring Don't, as was the Amulet of Atonement. It was the same book in which Dr. Caballeron tried to partner with Daring Do, though Daring refused. The Amulet of Atonement was the main magical artifact of that book. Ahuizotl gained control of it, planning to use it to take control of the Tenochtitlan Basin. Daring took the amulet back, dispelling the dark magic of the Ketztwctl Empress, and erecting the Radiant Shield of Razdon to protect the basin from Ahuizotl. This was the shield that Ahuizotl was attempting to break using the Rings of Scorchero in Season 4's Daring Don't. Also at some point during this book, Daring Do ambushed a group of ponies at the Horavian Caves. (This first paragraph is entirely from "Daring Don't".)
Interestingly, book 4 was also the book wherein we meet Knuckerbocker (of "the shell of Knuckerbocker" fame). Knuckerbocker the Octavian dragon was under an imprisonment enchantment that Daring broke him free from. Considering himself to have a life debt to Daring Do, Knuckerbocker helped her recover the Radient Shield of Razdon and gifted her a relic from his home, the Isles of Scaly, the shell that can summon him. She later uses the shell to get to the island of Octave and find the Eternal Flower in Daring Do and the Eternal Flower. (This second paragraph is entirely from G.M. Berrow's second Daring Do book.)
By keeping it in a box until putting it in its hiding spot? Not that hard, honestly. It also doesn't leave the trail when Twilight is floating it around in AMoP, but it might just be that it takes a while for the trail to start happening (thus why there is no glitter near the chest in this episode).
4927641
Considering that the trail remains hanging in the air locked to the position of the planet, if anything, and is not disturbed by ponies moving through it, why do you think a box would stop it at all?
4927689
Twilight has been carrying around the artifacts in a box since she got them, and it seems to have worked.
4927917
It could have simply faded since the last time the box was moved, though – it does eventually fade.
4928193
Fair enough.
Leaving aside the question of why Rarity is suddenly acting like a passive consumer of fashion rather than the influential producer she's been rather clearly established to be, and leaving aside the question of why four-legged ungulates would feel the need for high-heeled shoes... why do Rarity's shoes have toes?
5003808
To quote “Aporia”:
I.e. I have an answer, but it only makes sense in the context of my story, you’ll have to find your own. :)