Points of Canon: Summertime Shorts · 5:46pm Nov 5th, 2018
Also known as “Canterlot shorts” for some reason, and that’s where the pain of simply listing Equestria Girls materials starts showing.
Make Up Shake Up
- Chronology markers: Fall Formal is mentioned explicitly, but as we know, there is one each year. This scene seems to mean to date itself to inside the montage in Equestria Girls, as it concludes with everyone being dressed as they were in the movie. While it could, in theory, occur on the Fall Formal of a number of other years, the sum total of circumstantial evidence restricts it from being any other occasion.
- “Now my visage matches my fabulous Fall Formal attire.” See above: That’s our dating.
- “Come on! Go for it!” Rainbow is curiously enthusiastic to see Applejack painted up – everyone else’s reaction seems interesting, but Rainbow sounds like she’s in it for the tease potential.
- During the procedure, Rarity interrupts to drink what is most likely milk tea: You usually don’t keep coffee in teapots like this one.
- “My goodness! I have simply outdone myself!” Frankly, this is pretty terrifying.
- “You were right, Rarity! You really are great at this!” Fortunately, the Pedestrian Applejack doesn’t have that Element of Honesty hanging over her.
Filler.
A Photo Booth Story
- Chronology markers: This short wants to occur during the dance within Equestria Girls, but it can only do so before Twilight is awarded the crown, since very soon afterwards, the entrance to the school is demolished – we see it intact in this episode. Unlike the period spent dancing afterwards, which has to be confined within 50 minutes, the time the dance lasted before this moment is not so tightly constrained.
- The yearbook colors are not consistent across episodes – in Forgotten Friendship we see yearbooks of four colors, and Year 1P yearbook was red, but in Equestria Girls, the Year 1P yearbook was blue. This one covers the Fall Formal of Equestria Girls and thus has to be the yearbook for Year 3P, but it’s also blue.
1. I am not sure why exactly, but my guess is that this is due to the limitations of self-developing film, which would require specific optics to work effectively.
Photo Finish is using a self-developing film camera with replaceable lens. It’s a chemical process, because she’s waving the photo to make the process complete faster. This actually marks a significant divergence from our world, in which, such cameras never had replaceable lens as far as I’ve been able to determine.1 For that matter, this camera appears to only prints some photos, but not all, which is impossible with a chemical process…
- For some reason, the background they’re shooting in front of has a cornucopia on it. Is this hall actually the cafeteria with the tables and chairs removed?…
Numerous references to Season 1 and 2 episodes shouldn’t have passed unnoticed by Princess Twilight, but apparently did. Who wrote this? Ah, G.M. Berrow, that explains everything.
Raise This Roof
- Chronology markers: Like the previous one, this scene also wants to occur during the dance, but it is not constrained to before Twilight being crowned, like the last one – except through Twilight not having a crown on her head.
- Overhead shot and other background details betray the location as the gym, rather than the cafeteria.
- “Hey! This is the song I requested!” One could request songs at this dance, not a given.
- “Care to cut a rug with your big sis, sugarcube?” Applejack acknowledges Apple Bloom as her little sister, which is actually not a given in Pedestria – though we still have no bloody idea what is she doing in a high school.
- “Emergency trophy in the event of an epic dance-off.” Pedestrian Pinkie was explicitly prepared for this eventuality.
Not particularly useful either.
Steps of Pep
- Chronology markers: Actually, impossible to date definitively. Neither Sunset not any of the Twilights appear at any point, no references are made to any other major events, so it could happen in any year when Fluttershy and Pinkie were friends. The subject of the episode is cheering for various teams, at least one of which is playing against Shadowbolts, but these are not necessarily strictly confined to Friendship Games, are not necessarily part of Friendship Games the movie, and could occur at other times – and the Friendship Games aren’t even mentioned throughout.
“Thanks for joining my cheering club, Fluttershy! What better way to spend a bee-you-tee-ful Saturday?”
- Fluttershy is never shown cheering in Pedestria otherwise that I remember, so we don’t know if she stuck around or not.
- Today is a Saturday, so the football game is actually held on a weekend.
- This goal is definitely not regulation.
- Dunno about you, but I could only identify the Shadowbolts reliably by their logo on the scoring board – the actual players are all rather nondescript. Notice that for a moment – at least at the half-time mark, judging by the timer running out – Wondercolts are leading 2:1. Consider the statements in Friendship Games that imply that Wondercolts actually never win.
- “That sounded great, Wondertones!” Wondertones are the Pedestrian equivalent of Ponytones as seen in Filli Vanilli. Notice the lineup matches exactly.
“That’s checkmate! Woo-hoo!”
- Since when does a chess game accumulate that many spectators without even a display board to show the moves?…
- That might be a checkmate, but there’s no way this is a legal move: The CHS player knocks a piece off the board and then places her piece on a completely different square.
- Consider once again how big a deal was winning against CPA in Friendship Games – because this move wins CHS the chess match.
What’s going on here? When did this happen?
Mad Twience
This is too much of a music video, and I am not convinced the events depicted are supposed to have actually happened. However, the place depicted probably exists…
- Chronology markers: The desktop background of Twilight’s PC is a photo from Camp Everfree, and a photo of Timber Spruce turns up, which would require it to have happened after Legends of Everfree. There are no clear upper markers.
- Twilight has a lab in a converted garage, (you can tell by the driveway) which, uncharacteristically, is a separate building from the house itself.
Notable equipment:
- At least two oscilloscopes.
- Several CRT televisions.
- A soldering iron that does not behave like a soldering iron, but rather, like a point welder.
- A lab power supply.
- A cuckoo clock. No idea.
- Bunch of test tubes.
- A fire extinguisher.
- A PC.
- A VHS player. Where did she even get that?…
- A microwave and a washing machine mysteriously used as components of a more complex device without disassembling them completely.
And a bunch of other items that defy identification.
The final result is producing a robotic companion for Spike, but since this thing never becomes a character afterwards, was this episode something that actually happened, or just Twilight having a nightmare?…
Monday Blues
This is also a music video. The upside of this one is that while nothing much of consequence happens, at least one place shown – Sunset’s apartment – is further corroborated by Forgotten Friendship, so it might contain something useful.
- Chronology markers: This obviously has to postdate Friendship Games, because both Sunset and Twilight participate, but we have no other clues. Use of superspeed by Rainbow Dash and some of the geodes visible on the Humane 7 also imply Legends of Everfree.
Notable objects about Sunset’s apartment not previously noticed while studying Forgotten Friendship:
- Yes, I was wrong, her alarm clock is patched up already.
- Assuming the sun rises in the East in Pedestria, which is not necessarily a given, the window on the left of Sunset’s apartment (when looking out in the direction of her apartment door) points East, or close enough. So why does she sleep without pulling the blinds down?…
- Sunset (famously) uses horse shampoo. But I honestly have no idea why would anyone want to keep a cactus in their bathroom.
- Despite the indications that her dwelling is not a purpose-built apartment building, she does have a pretty regular front door when seen from outside. There is definitely a corridor between them, though, this doesn’t go out straight into the street – the doors don’t match, and neither do the windows for that matter – Sunset’s apartment appears to occupy two floors, not one.
Notable objects about Twilight’s house:
- Twilight uses the same model of hair dryer that Rarity used in Dance Magic, if not the actual one.
- Just about every picture Twilight has on her wall is of Spike.
- Twilight’s area of the town gets school bus service. Sunset does not end up anywhere in the vicinity of the school bus, however.
- Twilight carries a backup umbrella, but unlike Sunset, neglects warmer outer clothing.
- The directions they approach the school from are exactly opposite, but that doesn’t account for turning corners and isn’t worth much.
- Rarity’s locker contains two pairs of high heels and at least four extra items of clothing, not to mention a small rack of beauty products. And there’s a hair curler sticking out of her bag, I think…
- Pedestrian Pinkie’s hair not being poofy is also treated by everyone as a cause for concern.
Not much.
Pet Project
- Chronology markers: This would itself be a chronology marker – Sunset acquires a pet in this episode – if that pet ever appeared again. Presence of Sunset and Twilight implies Friendship Games, but no geodes appear on anyone, and I don’t see any other markers.
- Pedestrian Applejack also keeps a Winona.
- “For the charity calendar. We’re making it to raise money for the local animal shelter. It’s gonna feature all of our pets.” Now, this would mean that the scene with Fluttershy washing Winona is not occurring at the animal shelter she volunteers at, right? So where is this happening? The actual photo shoot occurs in the music room of CHS, so it should be the same building… Equestria Girls started with saying that pets are not allowed in school, but this has been soundly ignored ever since.
- One of the pets is a turtle, which certifies that the Pedestrian Rainbow Dash also keeps a Tank. So what’s the story of how she got one?
- Pedestrian Pinkie would keep an alligator, but doesn’t: Hers is a rubber toy of some kind. That still earns the thing a place in the photo.
- “Fluttershy, will you help me… choose a pet?” And this is where they interrupt the shoot and leave to pick up a pet for Sunset. Which would’ve taken hours.
- “Maybe something a little less… furry?” Actually, why?
- “How about a betta fish?” The fish Fluttershy points out is a Siamese fighting fish, so I guess that’s another match to the US.
“It’s okay, Ray. I’ll take care of you, okay. Promise.”
- The reptile’s name is “Ray.”
- We never see him again, so we can only presume she did…
Well, I suppose keeping pet alligators is just as illegal in Pedestria as it is throughout most of the US.
Subs Rock
Chronology markers: This episode is impossible. No, really:
It opens up with a shot of Canterlot High with an intact horse statue on the pedestal, but then cuts to Sci-Twi – distinguishable by her glasses – attending a lesson inside.
Such a time period, to the best of our knowledge, does not exist: Midnight Sparkle destroys the statue in Friendship Games, Twilight joins CHS only afterwards, and the current best candidate for the chronologically latest episode, Forgotten Friendship, does not show it restored at any point.
This isn’t just an animation error in the establishing shot, either, as later, when Rainbow is playing with her soccer ball and Celestia interrupts her, this happens over the backdrop of an intact statue.
- “I love being your principal here at Canterlot High, but I do miss my old teaching days sometimes.” Celestia’s principal job does not involve her teaching anything, which is not actually a given.
- “Let’s get started on the geology lesson, shall we? Who can name the three types of rocks?” Can anyone tell me which grade, if any, one could expect to see such a lesson in, in a modern US school?
- The classroom includes a CRT TV and what is either a VCR or DVD player, but the cartoon resolution is insufficient to tell them apart.
- “Eh, itty-bitty cafeteria crisis.” That crisis evidently involved Celestia solving the problem in a very hands-on fashion that involved getting quite dirty.
- Celestia is capable of catching a ball with one hand, which is quite difficult with the kind of trajectory and speed Rainbow launched it with.
- CHS is equipped with in-classroom phones, which is actually pretty weird.
Setting aside the fact that this seems to be set in a time period that doesn’t exist, it would imply a very strange management style in CHS.
Shake Things Up!
Being an outright music video, the only thing that gives us is that for some undisclosed reason, Applejack is working a part time job at the food court in the mall. I can’t even identify the specific establishment – it’s not the “Aunt Orange” place seen in Dance Magic, for example.
The Art of Friendship
- Chronology markers: The establishing shot containing the horse statue and Sunset being on good terms with Pinkie lock it between Equestria Girls and Friendship Games, and the existence of Pinkie’s drum kit requires Pinkie on the One – but I see no other bounds.
- Sunset is quite a competent painter, which is noteworthy, considering that hands are not her native appendage.
- Mysteriously, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are in the same art class, hiding in the background. I’m not sure how this could possibly work.
- Notice that today of all times, Pinkie’s drum kit is in the music room.
- “Well, when all else fails, I usually just paint a subject that I think is awesome. Something that makes me really happy. Like these bright sunflowers.” Sunset likes sunflowers. Good to know! I wonder, do ponies eat sunflowers?…
- “When you said to paint a subject that’s totally awesome and makes me happy, I thought of something right away! Ta-da! I painted you, Sunset!” Pinkie/Sunset shippers probably use this scene as their primary shipping fuel.
A few moderately useful tidbits.
The Canterlot Movie Club
- Chronology markers: Poster of the Daring Do movie requires this to happen after Mirror Magic, which had the premier of the movie happen during it.
“The Canterlot Movie Club!”
- Notice that the Pedestrian CMC avoid an association with the Crusades.
- Also notice that if the Pedestrians do have any attachment to their cutie marks, they definitely do not call them such.
- “Doesn’t even feel like we’ve seen the new Daring Do movie five times already!” Assuming they didn’t go more than one time per day, it would mean that at least a week passed since Mirror Magic.
- “No! It’s Gummy! He’s… missing!” I.e. Pinkie lost her squeaky toy, right? The one from Pet Project? Right?… Unless it’s the wrong Pinkie.
- “I love the part when Daring Do swings in on the vine and defeats the band of howler monkeys before breaking into the volcano fortress!” Howler monkeys are a New World species, though I wonder why would Daring Do need to defeat them.
- “Never fear, Pinkie Pie! We will save your gator from… mortal peril!” Now, to know that Gummy is an alligator, Sweetie Belle would necessarily have to know that it’s a rubber toy. Just pointing this out: The CMC are playing around in a perfectly self-aware fashion.
- So how exactly does someone’s toy – a fairly unique one at that, since no other toys in the crane game are anything like it – end up in the crane game?…
- The crane game in the Canterlot Mall allows one three attempts per coin.
- “Wow! That was great! Just like Darin’ Do does in the movie!” “Except instead of rescuing the stolen animals from Ahuizotl, we saved Gummy from the eeeeevil puny claw!” Sweetie Belle would have us believe the movie also contained Ahuizotl, when we’ve never seen him in it, and the poster contains Mojo / Stalwart Stallion instead. This is pretty strange!
Some interesting details, but still no explanation regarding just what grade the Pedestrian CMC are in.
Leaping Off the Page
- Chronology markers: This is obviously after the Pedestrian Rainbow became a fan of Daring Do books, but we have no idea when did that happen. The guitar locks it to after Guitar Centered, and the photo of pets from Pet Project, as well as Twilight’s presence, also add Friendship Games as the lower bound. No upper bound found so far.
- “Daring Do and the Forbidden City of Clouds” This is our only name of a Pedestrian Daring Do book so far.
Rainbow’s room contains:
- Multiple medals hanging off a bedpost and other objects, and several assorted trophies. All the medals shown are for the 1st place, except one – this one is a “2”.
- The guitar that first appeared in Guitar Centered
- A photo with Princess Twilight from A Photo Booth Story.
- A photo of pets from Pet Project.
- A cactus, for some stupid reason.
- Several sheets worth of sheet music, and you won’t convince me she knows how to read it until I see her do it.
- Yet another boombox with an iPod dock.
The aforementioned Daring Do book, if we’re to believe Rainbow’s imagination, mentions the following notable objects:
- “The Doomed Diadem,” a crown of some description.
- “Slingshot”, a villain out to catch Daring Do – another Indiana Jones lookalike.
- “Brumby,” a friend of “A.B. Ravenhoof.” Equestrian Daring Do has a friend named “Professor Ravenhoof,” so that’s probably him.
- Doctor Caballeron, for some reason.
“Uh, sorry to interrupt, but Applejack honked a million times, and you weren’t answering your cell. If we don’t get going, we’ll miss the movie.”
- The ringtone for Applejack (or in general) on Rainbow’s phone is a short 8-bit melody.
- Applejack drives a car. We don’t see it here, though.
- Now here’s a question: How did they get in? If Rainbow had her parents home, they would be more likely to be the ones to fetch her. If she didn’t, doesn’t she lock her door?…
- It’s pretty clear that getting to the Canterlot Mall does not require a drive. Where are they going to watch the movie and why?
More useful names to namedrop, I suppose.
Get the Show on the Road
Being a music video, only a part of it is useful.
- Chronology markers: Sunset and Twilight are part of the proceedings, so Friendship Games is a bound, and so is Legends of Everfree, because magic is used.
- The Rainbooms actually do have decent travel cases for their gear, imagine that. These are actually fairly expensive.
“How are we supposed to go on tour if we don’t have the tour bus she promised us?!”
- Actually, is this wreck even street legal?… Because the broken lights would make it illegal in most jurisdictions I can think of. Where did Applejack even find the thing?
- Going on tour would imply getting a gig somewhere else, and we have no record of such an event otherwise.
- Twilight’s plan for bus restoration includes numerous decorations, but none of the things the bus actually requires to be drivable. Granted, those would require separate blueprints…
- Sunset is capable of welding.
- Applejacks’ magical strength is sufficient to lift the bus all on her own. That thing should weigh something like two metric tons empty…
- I wonder why exactly is Twilight running away from the raccoons, but that is what she’s doing.
Side thought. Remember the “Faculty lot” that student parking is forbidden in? There’s only one obvious parking lot behind the school that I can see, and that’s where this is going down…
Epic Fails
- Chronology markers: Sunset, Twilight require Friendship Games. No other markers.
“My goodness! Look at Countess Coloratura! They’ve caught a picture of her falling over during yoga class!”
- There’s a Countess Coloratura in Pedestria.
- There’s yoga, though after spirit guides that’s hardly surprising.
- The number of pictures in the sequence Rarity is showing is a bit suspicious: Some magazine devoted an entire spread to the whole thing and the front cover to Coloratura.
- Twilight’s most embarrassing moment is, for some reason, an explosively failed chemical experiment at CHS, rather than at CPA. Considering the fact that she’s heating the compound she’s eyedropping something into, this would involve boiling and would probably hurt a lot more than it appears to.
- Applejack’s own kitchen includes, beyond a smoke detector, a sprinkler system, which is quite an unwise use of a sprinkler system if you ask me.
- Rainbow’s most embarrassing moment involves an apparent job in a sporting goods store.
- Fluttershy’s most embarrassing moment involves Lyra walking a dog – and as far as we know, that’s not her dog, we’ve seen it lots of times before.
- Rarity’s moment involves eating a sandwich in the library, which has got to be forbidden. Notably, she seems to be sharing it with Sunset, who doesn’t get a sequence of her own.
A few small useful things.
Coinky-Dink World
This is an outright music video, and appears to contain no useful information except a statement that the Pedestrian Pinkie works in a diner (or is “family restaurant” a more appropriate term?) – very much unlike the Equestrian Pinkie. And entertains herself with matchmaking on occasion.
Good Vibes
Another outright music video. Chronologically, it involves magic use and as such is set after Legends of Everfree. While this one has a plot, I very much doubt it is meant to depict actual events. Still, it makes certain claims:
- Bulk Biceps is actually balding, despite being a high schooler.
- Twilight has a part time job in an electronics store at the mall, and does repair work for customers.
- The sporting goods store that Rainbow is seen working at during Epic Fails is likewise in the same mall.
- Sunset works at a sushi place in the same mall as well, and can’t handle walking in geta.
- Sunset is still on friendly enough terms with Flash to try to cheer him up with a bento.
I’m sure you can see why I would think at least some of these statements are implausible, even though the part-time jobs depicted are quite ordinary.
Whew. Another batch done!
For mine, at least, we covered it during 8th and 9th grade - 8th as introduction to the three main types and how they form, 9th as how that relates to planetary geology, biology and climate, as well as some history. I don't remember much after that - 10th through 12th were more focused on political and environmental sciences (though, in the Pacific Northwest, the latter's hardly a surprise). It doesn't seem to me like that's a hard rule, though - no further lessons built off of that, so it was probably just slapped into the science curriculum wherever there was some open space and that happened to be the 8th/9th grade science classes.
According to this tweet, DHX didn't create Ray and don't have the assets for him, so they don't intend for him to appear again. Which I think is a bit of a shame.
I'll be very curious to see if and how you handle the "choose your own ending" shorts.
I thought we were leaning towards CHS being 6-12th grade or something?
Pinkie told them to show up.
I don't know about all the specifics, but it's all set in one room over a fairly standard point of time. And given we've seen Twilight build advanced sci-fi robots on multiple other occasions, I'm pretty sure Sci-Twi really did build Spike a robot girlfriend.
No one's going to tell their friends they built a robot "cuddle doll" for their dog. Or, considering that Spike can talk, that they requested a robotic cuddle doll.
Most importantly, this short teaches us that Spike looks adorable in a wig.
For someone with a sun cutie mark, Sunset sure isn't a morning person is she?
The Rainbooms all have jobs at the same mall together, as seen in the SunsetXFlash Bento song (except Pinkie).
Probably that truck we've seen her and Big Mac in. (I could totally see a bunch of the girls riding illegally in the back).
Considering it's a school bus, Granny Smith used her job to buy a broken-down school bus from the district, which means AJ just had to drive it from around the back of the school?
Isn't it considered a traditional romantic gesture in Japan for a girl to make a bento box and give it to a guy?
Also, this video has a lot, it basically shows us all the girls work in the same area except for Pinkie.
4963572
The bigger question is whether they will even acknowledge he exists.
4963597
With a statement that neither of the branches refer to events that actually happened unless a subsequent story collapses the waveform by acknowledging one of them.
And there are far too few of the pre-9-grade students for this.
Sure. I’m pretty sure a washing machine is not useful to do it though, unlike, say, a microwave.
I’m not convinced it’s actually supposed to represent a sun.
…To a movie?
They’re already around back.
Often. Especially in school.
4963796
Dangit, should have read this reply before asking in my other comment.
True. I think some of the weirder parts are just things that child Twi took apart and keeps as mementos.
Then from wherever the school bus lot is, which is usually in a weird corner of the campus.
Cacti as house plants seem to aggravate you! Growing up in the southwestern US, they have always been pretty commonplace to me. Many need very little care, so a cactus seems like a reasonable houseplant choice for a busy girl like Rainbow.
4963916
House plants aggravate me in general. That said, if your choice of houseplant is a cactus, because it needs so little care, are you sure you want a houseplant at all, and would you keep it in your bathroom?…
4963954
Fair enough! But yes, last time I had a cactus, the bathroom window sill was where it lived. I do have to agree that right beside the mirror, where she could accidentally grab it when reaching for the toothpaste, IS an odd place for Sunset keep a particularly spiny looking little barrel cactus. She had at least one other nondescript green object in a flowerpot in the living room - it looked like a prickly pear paddle to me, another cactus that seems more suitable for outdoors. She also had at least one hanging plant, so either she doesn't mind doing some watering, or all of them are plastic.
4964077
Or picked up during a drunken bender for subsequent use as a brush, and kept as backup when an actual brush was acquired.
If it was.
Another real book by G.M. Berrow, and all the elements mentioned in the short (Doomed Diadem, etc.) were definitely in the book. Notably, the Equestrian version of the story revolves around an ancient pegasus city, which at the end of the story chooses to reveal itself to the greater world. Whether the Pedestrian Daring Do books are also real or not, one does have to wonder where the "Forbidden City of Clouds" came from in this version if there are no pegasi.
4963597
Well, her name is Sunset, not Sunrise.
4964648
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/158/329/9189283.jpg
Do you really have to ask?