Ginger Mint

hi hi I am frequently embarrassed when I tell people that my favorite color is purple, because more than half the time they instantly make assumptions about my character. Sometimes I wonder if the English language does this kind of a discussion something of a disservice by having so many different emotions all fall into the category of Love. There are so many different types of love... The love of a fine meal, the love of a good friend or family, the love of a faithful pet, of a warm fire, of a challenge, of discovery, of a good book on a rainy day. I guess I don't really concern myself too much with relating everything to romance, but I guess that might just be me.

hi hi As Twilight says, expect the best, never assume the worst. While there's lots of different explanations for Celestia's behavior, I choose to imagine she has one that is good. She isn't a surrogate mother for Twilight at all, but she is a beloved teacher, the kind you might hang around after class to talk to or hug at the end of the school year before breaking for the summer. (or shake hands if you are a guy and that is more socially acceptable) Twilight went from her first days in school all the way up to young adult under Celestia's supervision in Canterlot. We hear that Celestia trusts her completely, so I assume that Twilight earned that trust over time and as she grew up, Celestia knew that Twilight could take care of things on her own without the need for close guidance. She has given Twilight enough direction up to this point that Twilight is now self directed, and Celestia knows better than to stifle that motivation. Just a subtle touch here and there to keep things on track. Her trip to Ponyville, if you were to look at it from an academia standpoint would be kind of like studying abroad, and the Princess is her sponsor. Twilight is so excited about spending time with Celestia because she's used to spending more time with her than she did during the time of the show and had some catching up to do. Every time Celestia came to visit, something unexpected happened, so it wasn't really her fault. Once I got up to post graduate work, most profs have would have a relatively hands off approach that I think Celestia is reminiscent of. As for the Grand Galloping Gala, I don't think she organizes the grand galloping gala herself rather it is something that the nobles host and to which she is regularly expected to attend. And she did originally just send two tickets, one for Twilight and a guest. (usually means bring a date, or could have been for Spike) Of course she didn't mind having Twilight's friends come along either. Still, we never saw what happened after the mane six left, it could have been that most of the ponies present had a good laugh after the dust settled. At very least, they might have gone home with a better appreciation of peace and quiet. She can and does raise the sun every morning. I don't think anypony was ever in mortal danger from falling objects while Celestia was around. Regarding Luna. As we saw in the old dusty tome, Celestia fought Luna all by herself. She didn't have five other friends to hold the other elements for her. Also, the whole 1000 years of imprisonment thing was very specific. It was the stars that eventually helped Luna break free, nothing less than an auspicious celestial event. I think Celestia knew what she was doing, but didn't have much of a choice. It was the best card of a bad hand so to speak. Celestia is very powerful, but she isn't omnipotent, I have to assume that those guards aren't just for show. Don't forget that Nightmare Moon was powerful enough to defeat Celestia one on one (which she implicitly did, albeit did off-screen, in episode 1), and only with the Elements was Celestia able to stand a chance the first time around. Also, for two immortal beings, the passage of time might be a bit different. In addition, they mention that Luna was transformed into the monster Nightmare Moon, which to me implies that they weren't even entirely the same person. (Kind of like when any number of characters in LotR lost their heads because of the Ring's influence.) Celestia suffered the pain of losing her little sister for those 1000 years too, which makes me think that she didn't do that on a whim. (all those fan comics love to show Celestia getting mad and banishing everything to the moon, but in episode 2 she did say that she had missed her sister while she was away.) Regarding Philomena, I think Celestia fully intended to tell Fluttershy all about it but she got called away. Perhaps she expected Twilight to know what a Phoenix was and be able to fill in for her. (after all, Twilight is her protégé) Perhaps she brought Philomena along in that state specifically because everypony would enjoy watching the rebirth, had they known what it meant. Remember, it was Philomena that decided to ham it up for everyone, an act that she was scolded for by the Princess. In summary, I think Celestia is a wise ruler that tries to make sure that her subjects don't get too dependent on her by making them work and think for themselves, but knows when to step in and intervene when things get out of hand. She cares deeply about all of her subjects, which makes it hard for her to focus on any one individual, and she has a playful attitude that is based on deep values of what is important in life. You don't always get to decide what happens around you, but you always get to decide your point of view if you choose. When you are in a good mood, even a rainy day can be something grand.

hi hi Bodies of water and vapor are also good ways of regulating temperature. Water has a very high specific heat, which essentially means that it can hold a lot of thermal energy, it takes longer to cool, and helps keep its surroundings warm by transferring that heat into them. This is part of why deserts can get so hot during the day but so frigid at night. If the Pegasai needed to, they could also increase the cloud cover during the night to help trap heat in near the surface.

hi hi When I first saw: "Oh, I brushed it," on ponibooru it made me smile. And the expressions in "still wanna hang out?" are great. They kind of remind me of some friends I know who always have a semi-sarcastic quip on hand for any occasion.

hi hi Edit: I think everypony's right, except me... so just forget I said anything.

hi hi I've only once seen a company say: "That will never happen," in regards to a DVD request, and that was probably only because it was an old movie that they probably didn't have a master copy of anymore. But I can understand some executive's hesitance to wade into waters unknown.

hi hi Having done work in news and video games, I can safely say that deadline pressure is a very reasonable explanation for these kinds of errors. Of course that's not to say that it is the reason, but when deadlines start to loom, people start to rush, they put in extra hours, they get tired. Other reasonable causes would be an animator acting out of spite because of poor working conditions, bad pay, etc.

hi hi It looks like the animator was turning off some layers and hit a few of the wrong ones, namely the mouth and ear layers.

hi hi I like that the land of Equestria isn't yet another world where the forces of good and evil are diametrically opposed in a fragile balance of power. Princess Celestia doesn't seem to be the type to put up with big bads for extended periods of time. Still, some serious villains every once in a while would be a good thing I think.

hi hi She gets so tired of pine needles and tree sap that she becomes a professional tree pruner. Also, did anypony else notice how she complained about getting covered in tree sap, but as the episode progressed, she still had to deal with sappy stories? She just can't avoid it no matter what.

hi hi • I know it'd be hard on the animators, but I'd like to see everypony travel around to new places more. • Luna luna bo buna banana fana fo funa me mi mo muna, Luna! • An episode about the stuff they do during the winter.

hi hi I think people's concerns are valid, especially when the details are a bit unclear, things like this have happened before in other franchises. (X-Men 3 anyone?) But I think in this case it seems more likely that everything will continue on as before. I'm a bit worried about Hasbro increasing deadline pressure and cutting funding, but that has always been a concern and we really haven't been told much at all about what they're doing. In any case, nothing they do now can take away the magic of season 1. Iron breakfast kazoo.

hi hi Time will tell. On one hand, we should give credit where credit is due for both Lauren and all the great people who've worked with her on this. I think it is safe to say that season two won't be much changed by this. Season three and beyond (if there will be such a thing) is perhaps less certain, but we'll see when we get there. One thing I know for sure, creative people don't usually stop on a dime. I'm betting that we'll see more great work from both Lauren and the various members of the team for years to come, even if it isn't ponies. Especially now that Lauren has vindicated the merits of her "shows for girls don't have to be dumb," philosophy.

hi hi Ginger Mint, in the key of Rainbow Dash I've been so nervous, anticipating gotta keep my heart from racing the lively crowds, and all their stories for me to hear, it wont be boring all of their big adventures all of their dreams and sorrows paths crossing for a moment right here at the gala

hi hi Thunderbirds do get used for a lot of different things. I was referring to the mythological creature from several native american culture's folk lore. It was a large bird that created lightning and thunder by beating its wings.

hi hi I thought Soren was a play on words with "soaring." Also: Rarity "I refuse to let you put on your new dress when you're all sweaty." Oh Rarity, if only you knew how it would end up. Ever since "Ticket Master," I had the impression that the tickets weren't tickets in the sense that you bought them at ticket master, but rather passes handed out to friends of the hosts. Sort of an invite only social event. I bet they could have pulled off the evening if they had someone on the inside to anchor them, rather than running off in all directions. So I try not to be too harsh in my opinions of the snobby elite ponies, after all, for the most of them they probably weren't in their every day character either.

hi hi So great! And if anypony says they don't like it, I can just tell them: "Well, it just wasn't what you expected." The ending made me D'awww something fierce... "Friends have a way of making even the worst of times into something pretty great." Those words struck deep like truth. Also, Pony Joe and The Groundskeeper... They're now my favorite side characters. (next to Derpy perhaps) I got the inkling that Fluttershy might have actually enjoyed herself if she'd have spent time with the groundskeeper, but she was too fixed on her plan. I guess its like the old saying, "No party survives first contact with the guests." Or something like that. The Wonderbolts, even though they inevitably got tied up, proved to still be pretty awesome. Six way split screen, such determination! Did anyone else notice how the normal, everyday ponies of Ponyville were by far more gracious? At first I was just thinking that it was about Blueblood, but when I got to the part where he wouldn't even open the door, it suddenly dawned on me. Sure blueblood was kind of a jerk, but the ponies that helped pull the carriage were grade A+ good folks. Twilight is still my fav overall, but wow, Applejack's braided mane stole the fashion show I think. Epic song! +++ I think the wonderbolts must have a core team and a newbie tier.

hi hi I saw that earlier, but I was guessing its because of the "technical malfunction" at around 18 minutes. I'm bursting at the seams, but I'll hold off on discussing it until we get a topic.

hi hi Well, I don't know about ponies that were in previous seasons, but since unicorns and pegasi were based out of old mythology, they could have an eight legged Sleipnir pony. In the same realm as Gryphons and Hippogriffs, you might find Perytons or Sphinx. Other mythical creatures that might come out of the Everfree forest, some dangerous some not: Jackalopes, Thunderbirds, Chimeras, Wyverns, and the infamous Chupacabras.

hi hi I think Pinkie Pie worked as the "crazy like a fox," character, so yeah, hopefully "crazy like a loon," episodes will be few and far between. The pattern to the chaos if you will.

hi hi I'm not sure if Fluttershy got bullied a lot as a filly, after all, she does say that the one instance we saw was the most humiliating moment of her life. I got the impression that maybe she had been raised somewhat in seclusion, maybe her parents lived far out in the country, and that her summer at flight camp was perhaps one of the first times she'd been around others her own age for any real length of time or in an unsupervised manner. I think her shyness has a lot to do with her empathy, no only does she feel bad when she feels bad, but she feels bad when others feel bad too. Since she's afraid of hurting other pony's feelings, she doesn't confront her problems and just shies away. Twilight seems to be very concerned with doing the right thing, perhaps due to a solid sense of justice that she picked up from her mentor? She's putting her own comforts/safety on the line to try to resolve problems, she wants everything to go by the book as it were, and when things break down she wants to try to fix them. Some of Applejack's loyalty and responsibility might come from her parents. I don't know what keeps them away from the farm and their kids, but I'd like to assume that it is a good reason that Applejack can look up to. (they weren't living at Sweet Apple Acres even before Apple Bloom arrived.) Rainbow Dash certainly has a bit of only child, in her. (so to speak) I think part of her loyalty and fearlessness might be due to the fact that she has seen the dark side of things. (so to speak) Learning from mistakes is one of the least effective ways to learn, but when you work your way out from a bad lifestyle, you'll know with total certainty what worked and what didn't. No need to second guess, no need to imagine, you've seen it all in the first person perspective. So my guess is that maybe Rainbow Dash actually did some bullying of her own as a Filly, but realized she wanted to be respected instead of feared. Rarity doesn't have much of a backstory, but I think if you look at both her and Sweetie Belle together, you can see some patterns. I get the impression that Sweetie Belle still lives with her parents, who must then presumably still live in Ponyville. After all, in "Staremaster" the CMC's say "Sleep over at Rarity's, yay!" instead of "sleepover at Sweetie Belle's, yay!" which is what I would expect kids to say if they were sleeping over at a friend's place. I agree that parents with high expectations is commonly how talented children get their start. (not always a bad thing, so long as the high expectations are paired with proper support) Of course, with power comes responsibility, so it may explain why Rarity's parents are so absent, because they have lots of important work to do. (a trait you could imagine being handed down when Rarity is telling Sweetie Belle that she doesn't have time because of her work) Pinkie Pie: I think Pinkie Pie was around since before Equestria was made, as she seems to fill the role of the trickster deity. Seriously though, even though she did have her episode where she lost her composure, she seems to have a pretty good handle on her emotional well being most of the time. She is frequently put in situations where nopony believes her, or they ridicule her, or don't trust her, and she typically handles it in stride. Her weakness seems to be assumption and suspicion. Most of the time, she turns out to be right about things. She seems like she always has a plan, but when she doesn't know what to do she gets really lost. From an upbringing point of view, she probably had a very wise teacher somewhere along the line to help her make sense of the world. (Grannie Pie perhaps?)

hi hi Pinkamena is a pinka meanie... Sorry, I had to say it.

hi hi Technically MP3 stands for Moving Picture Experts Group audio layer 3. GIMP is a good program though, even though it doesn't do a lot of the stuff photoshop does (like CMYK, vectors, etc.), it does most of the basic image editing/painting stuff that people usually use photoshop for. I guess Paint.net is another simple image editing program, even more basic than GIMP, but I've used it before in the line of work and it holds up alright.

hi hi My guess is that they have a robust organ donor program. When some critter dies of natural causes, they donate the remains as food to the carnivores, thus maintaining the cease fire.

hi hi The way I see it, Pinkie Pie has a way of embellishing stories. I mean, really, a rock farm? That doesn't sound like how Equestria was made to me.