Ginger Mint

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I'm imagining him either standing under a cold waterfall, or with a bunch of colts and fillies running around making a racket and he's the calm center of the universe.

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I think you're a little bit too hard on yourself. Sure there's always room for improvement, but if you cant pick something out of your art that you like, how are you going to build on it and improve? I like Paladin's armor, and honestly, even the royal guards seem to understand that its not typically worth the effort to cover the entire body with plating. There's a nice balance between protection and freedom of movement, so long as she is facing her foes head on, or from the front shoulder.

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My little human, A~aaaaah! (scream of terror, on that last one. ) Also, pony armor is always fun to draw. I don't know what kind of pony would have such an imposing looking crest, but it looks neat anyway.

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"You gotta problem with coffee?"

"No! Well, yes personally, but I don't mind that anyone else drinks it."

I've never found much of a compelling reason to upgrade versions of photoshop myself. There are some neat tricks that the newer versions have, but only for very specific uses.

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I dig the shading, I think it makes them look rather plushy, if that makes any sense.

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Ponies are great for practicing drawing I think because you don't have to hold yourself to such high standards as you do with people and their faces/feet/hands. Is this some kind of army pony? His color scheme reminds me of camouflage.

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Do you, by any chance, save these to youtube for later viewing?

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This may be a case of the pot calling the kettle black, but I don't think you need to apologize for the look of your artwork before anyone even looks at it. So what if its not perfect, its clear that you're trying, and you've even got some legitimate cuteness in there.

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Thanks for the heads up, I went ahead and made that little change to her cutie mark story. I'm keeping my hooves crossed.

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I guess if I was making a "horrible substitute teacher," story, I'd try to fit in two lessons. Someone doing things differently doesn't necessarily make those ways bad, and sometimes adults make honest mistakes too and there are good and bad ways for kids to handle it.

I'm with Rosewind on the whole villaining inside the chimney thing. (Yes, I verbed it.) There's plenty of stories that revolve around villains that go "Rar! We're bad!" but one of the things I've enjoyed about Friendship is Magic is that even the villains have character and motivations, and we as the audience can even feel remorse for some of them when we think about how they ended up that way. Part of the magic of the series, in my opinion, is that it takes many of the perpetually intractable problems of our own world and tosses them aside, showing an example of a world that (while not perfect) can get along just fine without them.

Equestria doesn't seem to be a land where Good and Evil must exist together in some sort of crazy cosmic balance. Friendship is explicitly stronger than its foes.

That being said, there's some precedent for natural disasters in the show already, not even counting the ancient blizzard from the Hearth's Warming pageant. Rainbow Dash talks about snow production being messed up and causing a drought, so its not hard to imagine that some kind of mistake causing a big problem. Doesn't really even need to be malicious.

A spat between the Princesses could be a great lesson for getting along with your peers. Any kid who goes through school is probably going to be stuck in a group project with someone they're not getting along with at some point.

You could have an episode where Princess Celestia gets called away and Luna requests Twilight and her friend's help with some tasks that she's having trouble taking care of by herself. The mane six could then meet all sorts of ill tempered ponies and try to figure out some way to resolve their differences, or even just in being taken seriously.

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Cheerilee gets sick and has to call in a substitute teacher... of doom!

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Chrysalis has no room in her heart for Shining Armor, or possibly anyone. I'm pretty sure that was consistent with the themes in Canterlot Wedding, being that she was using him and didn't care about him at all.

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Thank goodness I can count on you Lerian and my good Sir Shadowdeath, this dance off is turning out to be tougher than I expected, but I'm confident that with all of us together, we'll win the day. (and maybe the door prize too, if we're lucky.)

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I'm not sure I follow. Earth Pony magic is super relevant to my interests. (or if you prefer to call it something else, I would also mean whatever the vital characteristic is that they have unique to them.) I've been gobbling up every bit of information about it that I can, like Nightmare Moon gobbles up little colts and fillies, and as near as I can tell Earth Pony magic has only ever been implied in the show before.

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I saw that bit about the Princesses not having any Earth Pony in them, and honestly, unless it comes up in the show I'm not going to believe it. Just like I'm not going to believe that Applejack's Farm Truck is canon unless it shows up in an episode.

(Also, Octavia may have only shown up in Canterlot, but Vinyl Scratch was in Ponyville for her first appearance.)

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When or if we ever see Applejack's parents, I bet a lot of people are going to cry foul, no matter how they're introduced.

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What's this? It looks like we've caught up to them, but in doing so, we've sailed right into a trap! Get ready maytees, because I think we're in for the party of our lives. The fate of the gala... neigh, the fate of Equestria might rest on our sweet dance moves. Arm the party cannon! Unfurl the streamers! Fire up the cakes and break out the frosting, if we don't throw this party, its gonna get thrown at us.

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*gasp*

Somepony has pilfered the Summer of Pony! Who would purloin a perfectly punctual periodic phenomenon? We're going to have to do something about this, ponies. We're going to have to set sail and track down the stolen session X. Lucky for us, I have a compass that always points in the direction of the episodes, so so long as we can find ourselves a ship, we should be able to catch up to them.

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How awesome is it? This awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DoEAnb_bWY

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I can't really put these in a linear order, its hard to really judge one emotional moment above or below another. So in no particular order:

• The Return of Harmony was just a roller coaster of emotions for me the whole time, but I think the part that struck me was when Twilight was discorded. That was a dagger in my heart.

• Sisterhooves Social, the part where Rarity actually looks at Sweetie Belle's drawing and sees what she made and realizes her mistake.

• Hurricane Fluttershy, the part where Fluttershy breaks down was hard on me personally. It hit really close to home.

• Celestia scolding Twilight was like a slap in the face, its true... but I feel like even that was just a setup for the B.B.B.F.F reprise that followed shortly after.

• A Friend In Deed, during the Smile Smile Smile song, the part where Apple Bloom is feeling left out, tossing her jump-rope to the ground in defeat. Makes me misty eyed just thinking about it.

• The Last Round-Up, Applejack's "Every color but blue," bit.

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Well, I guess if I could, I might change her cutie-mark story paragraph to this:

"She discovered her special talent when she slipped away from home one day to watch an airship being repaired, admiring all the pretty sparks and the skillful motions of the hard working maintenance pony. He made it all look so easy, but every time he got to a hard to reach spot, everything would grind to a halt for a while. She realized that her dad's extra fancy wrench that he'd gotten in Canterlot would work just right, so she rushed home to "borrow" it for the maintenance pony. The repairs went smoothly after that and the maintenance pony was so thankful, and she was so proud of herself, that she forgot to get it back from him. She didn't even notice her cutie mark had appeared until she got home and her father pointed it out. Thankfully, the celebratory mood helped soften the blow when he found out he was down an extra fancy wrench."

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I went and looked again, making sure to listen really closely to the name. Its right after Fluttershy tries to feed Philomena soup, she brings out her hummingbird friend and says, "Look Philomena, I brought a fellow feathered friend by to cheer you up, Hummingway here was sick once too..." Then, for reasons which are still a mystery to me, Fluttershy "aa~aah's," the theme mofit and tries to get Philomena to join in, which results in her throwing up on Fluttershy's face. I guess Philomena skips over the intro too.

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Leave it to Pinkie Pie to blow cover on the first sentence. I wonder if her Pinkie Sense predicted everything would turn out ok? I sure wasn't expecting it. A good message too, even if you get knocked down, you've just gotta get right back up and keep going.

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It might be funny to have an episode where one character goes around trying to recruit an evil super squad, but as the episode progresses, we find that most of the old villain characters really just aren't interested in revenge. They've moved on, learned their lessons or otherwise have more important things to do than hold a grudge. I would like to see an episode like that, I think it has some good friendship lesson potential.

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Well, it looks like I'm going to have to double post to pull this off. If that means I get banned, or thrown in a dungeon, or thrown in a dungeon in the place I've been banned to, I guess that's what I deserve. Cause it's time for "A Bird in the Hoof."

We'll see how well this episode stacks up to how I remember it. I admit it was never one of my favorites. It was sort of my go-to example of an episode that wasn't great, but wasn't really bad either. My original impression is that a good portion of the episode didn't quite click right for some reason.

I did like the intro though. If I somehow found myself magically teleported into Equestria, I don't think I would worry too much about receiving medical attention if I needed it. If Fluttershy can put a cast on a mouse, I suspect she might not have too much trouble putting a cast on a goofy looking hairless monkey.

My only complaint is that I wish the cool "Angel Bunny is pantomiming running late," musical motif had gone on to a full blown musical number.

"Oh, maybe I shouldn't go..." I've been in that position quite a few times myself. Thank goodness Angel Bunny is there to push her out the door. As much as people think he's awful, I say he's got his moments.

... Actually, this episode is going to be really hard for me to comment on just because I don't want it to turn into a long list of all the times I've been in a similar situation to Fluttershy, whether its being nervous at social gatherings or deciding that having to answer tough questions (Like: what's your name?) isn't worth the trouble and going home. To make matters worse, Pinkie Pie doesn't steal the scene in this episode but for a brief moment, and she doesn't quite get away with it either before she gets caught by the tail. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that, just hard to comment on.

"But this is the first time she'll spend any time with you." You'd like to think that wouldn't you Twilight Sparkle? Too bad fate has other plans for your tea party.

One thing I do like about this episode is one of the few times we get to see Princess Celestia's personality. She doesn't really mind Pinkie Pie's eccentricity, she got a playful side and her little prank isn't nearly as rough as any of the pranks from Griffin the Brush-off, and perhaps quite tellingly she puts her duty above her personal life.

Someone once commented asking why Twilight Sparkle doesn't ask the Princess for favors since she's so well connected, but I think this episode helps establish something that should have been easy to guess. With 1000 years of harmonious rule under her belt (or necklace...thing if you prefer) it makes sense that corrupt governing is not the way she operates. I don't think she is into cronyism or favoritism. Fairness must be important for her.

Also, judging from the looks of the party guests, Twilight has more friends than just the Elements of Harmony these days.

On my first watch through, the thermometer bit seemed way over the top, but of course now that I know Philomena is a phoenix, it makes sense that the thermometer would be way too hot normally and putting an icepack on her head would cause her to start freezing like that.

Is that hummingbird's name "Hummingway?" Oh my... now I'm imagining "Old Mare and the Sea," but Ernest Hummingway...

Fluttershy singing the My Little Pony theme song randomly? I think maybe that was one of the things about this episode that was weird. It just came out of nowhere. Maybe its just me though...

Twilight: "You have no idea what will happen when the Princess finds out!"

Fluttershy: "Do you?" - Brilliant!

Honestly though, this is one of Twilight's better freak outs. She's got some great lines, superior perhaps to even some of the parts in Lesson Zero. (Though its a pretty small portion of the episode by comparison)

Twilight tip-hoofing past the guards? They may have re-used the same bit in Its About Time, but I think its just one of those quirky things that's unique about her character. I mean, the guards aren't even looking for her, but it doesn't matter to her what anyone else knows. She knows the truth and thats what matters.

The part where Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Applejack show up just long enough to toss out a catch phrase or two was probably the other weird part about this episode that felt like it was out of place. I don't know what happened, maybe something got cut during production and they were supposed to have a real role to play at that point, but I guess 2 odd moments in 1 episode isn't that strange.

Everyone made a big deal about the funeral in Hearts and Hooves day, about ponies referencing death and what it could mean if they had an episode about death. However, I think that in part, A Bird in the Hoof covers the topic of Death in a number of different ways, some subtle, some not so subtle.

First off, Philomena pretends to die, and for almost 3 minutes of airtime, anyone in the audience who doesn't realize she's a phoenix or know what a phoenix is, is led to think she is dead. That's pretty straight forward, but there's more to it than that. Most of the episode is devoted to Fluttershy trying to save a pet but nothing she does can help. I think perhaps watching a pet grow old and sick can be a lot like that, sometimes there's just no cure.

So in the end, I ended up appreciating the episode more than I did the first time around. I guess thats part of what makes a good story is you can go through it again and see something new each time.

Now for the remix of the episode.

I can't do it... I can't triple post. So here's my Cutie Mark Chronicles commentary, all >>Wall of Text<< of it.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I think this is the episode where the three crusaders finally managed to develop their personalities as separate from each other. In Stare Master they sorta all acted the same, but here we see Scootaloo's distaste for mushy stuff and Sweetie Belle's preference for not quite so active activities. Applebloom seems to be some kind of never ending source of positive energy and stick to-it-ness, cause ever since Bridle Gossip, she's been this little pony that could. (perhaps she'll get a steam engine cutie mark?)

"The greatest flier to ever come out of Cloudsdale... Fluttershy?" Ok girls, now you're just trolling her.

It sure is a good thing those girls are wearing helmets, I mean how many times do they get into/almost get into an accident in this episode? Important safety tip kids, always wear a helmet when you're zooming down the road in a hoof powered vehicle. (Or wear a seatbelt if applicable, that works too.)

Little Big Macintosh is soooo cute. Its hard for me to tell who's got the best cutie mark story out of the mane six. Rarity may have humor and Twilight Sparkle may have epic epicness, but one thing's for sure... Applejack has heart. After almost a whole season of being a rough and tumble, no nonsense, hard working pony, we see her at a time when she was lost and adrift. (so to speak) I think it goes a long way to explain why she's so well grounded, and later, even though she might be swept out of her element somewhere, she carries some piece of home with her.

"cock-a-doodle-doo..." Celestia help me, that part makes me cry every single time. Every. Single. Time.

Scootaloo: "Sweet? Try sappy!" Sorry Scootaloo, but you should know by now that your attempts to earn a cutie mark are going to leave you covered in sappy stuff.

I know some people thought that Fluttershy's filly design was weird, but I always liked the gangly, awkward look she has. I think it fits.

Rarity's cutie mark story, while short, was even funnier that Pinkie Pie's if you ask me. Part of it is how Tabitha delivers the lines, as usual, but the absurdity of the whole situation is just great. From the way she gets pulled along to the silly costumes everypony is wearing in the play.

(Have a few parodies based on that scene, if you haven't already seen them.)

Watching this episode the first time made me wonder, and later on seeing Sisterhooves Social kind of cemented the idea in my head, but I get the feeling that gems in Equestria aren't so much valued for their monetary worth as they are valued for their beauty. I suppose it makes sense because if it was our world, Rarity would make a fortune just finding the gems, rather than making outfits out of them.

Scootaloo: "We need action, we need Rainbow Dash."

Cut

Twilight Sparkle: "As a young filly in Canterlot..."

The way Tara Strong delivers that line is perfect, she could put someone to sleep with that drone as easily as my old macro-economics professor.

You know, I hadn't been completely sold on Princess Celestia up until this point. I mean, I always thought that she was wise and fair, not really buying into the whole trollestia thing. But wow, seeing her in action like when she raises the sun? Its not hard to understand why ponies think she's awesome, cause she is pretty awesome right there.

Also, did anyone else get the impression that Twilight's parent's were rather well to do after seeing that study room where she's learning magic all night long? I wouldn't doubt that they were important ponies, even before Twilight became the Princess's star pupil.

Those ponies judging Twilight during the entrance exam? They were just as bad as my first judge when I was taking my driver's test. I just want to bonk them on the nose and say "No! Bad pony!"

Oh Pinkie Pie... I'm willing to bet that at least 68.3% of her story is accurate, but the margin of error on that estimate is rather big. I would go into a discussion about the logistics of rock farming, but I think that might be a topic of its own.

Rainbow Dash has some of the best theme music, hooves down.

I know nobody's going to read this (seriously, if you made it this far, congratulations!), but I think Cutie Mark Chronicles dispels a few myths about Rainbow Dash that had been floating around ever since Sonic Rainboom. Lots of people got the idea that Rainbow Dash was an insecure pony who tries to act cool because she's afraid of losing her friends or something, but right here we see the root of Rainbow Dash's competitiveness. She may enjoy the cheers and the glory, but the reason she competes is because she likes it, A LOT. The speed, the adrenaline, the wind in her mane. Its a big part of who she is.

"This is uncanny!" Yes, it is uncanny. Strangely uncanny. I admit that having everyone's story tied together like that was a bit much even for me, but if you look at it in the abstract, its true that the things we have in common are often what hold friendships together, giving people common ground and all.

"Hey, how about a song!?"

• Pony Music Video of the episode:

There are so many fantastic remixes of Fluttershy's song, but in the end, I had to go with one of the originals.

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