Ginger Mint

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I never played Patapon, but this one was nice. I'm not very good at rhythm games so maybe it was just me, but I didn't mind that there were only three beats I had to memorize. Maybe thats not enough for genre fans, but it was simple enough for me to handle.

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Alright, since I didn't have a weekend to speak of, I'm going to try to knock down three episodes in three lunch breaks. Can I do it? Only time will tell.

And the first episode up for bid is "Over A Barrel," I admit it wasn't my favorite the first time I watched it. I think it was the first episode where I actually had to wait to watch, since I usually caught them as soon as they aired. It was hard on me to avoid spoilers, and I think the fact that some spoilers got through is what dampened it the first time around.

However, I thought about it for a while, watched it again and enjoyed it a whole lot more. It still might not be up there on my list of very best episodes, but its a good episode that tackles a really tough issue and handles it really well. I gotta give them mad props for even trying, let alone succeeding. It was a gutsy move to be sure.

Before I really begin, I'm pausing the tape cause I gotta get something off my chest. I the horse pulled steam engine. I have no idea why people made such a big fuss about it. Its just close enough to what we're familiar with to give a frame of reference, while being different enough to still feel like its from a magical faraway place called Equestria.

Bloomberg's bedtime story... This is one of the reasons why Friendship is Magic is, well, magic. They can take something absurd like reading a bedtime story to a tree and make it seem kinda touching actually. One of those little slice of life moments that you don't normally get in television. (Seriously, who didn't like getting a bedtime story when they were little?)

by Shuffle001

Rainbow Dash: "Oh man, we're going fast!" I admire her enthusiasm, but "man?" What is this Man you speak of? Probably some weird hairless monkey or something.

I know distances in Equestria are a little on the completely arbitrary side, but I was playing an RPG where people needed to know how far it was to Appaloosa and I went and did some checking and found that old steam engines in the mid to late 1800s went around 10-30 mph depending on the rail quality (faster rails existed but were uncommon) so for an overnight ride, Appaloosa could be hundreds of miles away from Ponyville. So even though you could walk to Canterlot or Manehattan in a day, Equestria is a pretty big place apparently.

"Fluttershy's not a tree silly!" Oh my, even if it weren't for any other part of the episode, this bit is absolutely hilarious. I had to watch it twice.

Also... memeception!

This one's for you Dessa.

Hey Little Strongheart, maybe you could stop and check to see if Rainbow Dash is alright? No? Ok...

Aaaaaaappaloosa! The horse drawn horse drawn carriages was my favorite part of that scene. I mean, did you see the expression on the sketched pony's face? I might be biased though... Mild west dances came close.

"We can't find Pinkie Pie too." You know, I never did understand how Pinkie Pie got off the train. I guess that's Pinkie Pie for ya.

"They totally respect dragons though." Hmm, after watching Season 2, I wonder if perhaps there's more than one group of dragons. Those dragons from the dragon migration didn't seem terribly respectable.

I admit it, when I first saw Spike playing the piano, I immediately remembered the My Little Pony movie... However, Pinkie Pie's performance was far and away better than Lickity Split's performance. I don't know why no one like Pinkie Pie's dance routine, maybe if they'd have watched Lickity Split's performance their reaction would have made sense though.

Animation genius right here.

"Ohh, that wasn't the message of my song at all..." There there Pinkie Pie *sniff* I got the message.

Applejack might not like the look of the storm brewing, but I loved the serious looks on all the different ponies as they were doing their sort-of-a-montage thing. And the music, lets not forget the music. The Appaloosa theme throughout the whole episode is one of my favorites, with its jaunty piano play, banjos and that weird twangy thing that I don't even know what it is. Some seriously epic stuff. I wonder what the show would have been like if they hadn't hired William Anderson.

Rainbow Dash: "Come on... think think think think." I do that myself sometimes, but it never works for me either.

I know I've posted this before, but I've gotta post it again.

Pinkie Pie is a force of nature, she can banish fear with a song and a dance, or start a international conflict without even trying too.

Although the bit with Sheriff Silver Star and Chief Thunderhooves was the most touching part in the climax, I thought the bit where the buffalo rams into the clocktower to be the most poignant. He never would have crashed into the tower if he hadn't been hit in the face with a pie.

I always found it a bit strange that some people didn't like the way the conflict was resolved in this episode. On one hand, yes, nothing the mane 6 did really influenced the outcome, but at the same time I think that teaches an important lesson in and of itself. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." Or in other words, you can try all you want to get people to get along, but they've got to want to get along somewhere along the line.

Now for the remix of the episode... It almost feels like cheating to pull out Eurobeat Brony for some reason.

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Hmm, this is a tough one, a real doozy of a decision to make. And I thought making the cannolis would be the hard part...

First off, making Pinkie Pie go it alone? Never! Option one is right out. Victory is best when shared with a friend, and the thought of Pinkie Pie not having anyone to lean on for a crushing defeat is just too much to bear. So that only leaves one choice, disguise or not disguise.

Clearly, the event organizers weren't very concerned about accuracy when they were setting up this competition. In a true competition, the judges shouldn't know who made what until after they've already made their decision. So on one hoof, its tempting to enter together and proudly, just so you can put Emerald's professionalism to the test.

On the other hoof, if we were worried about the competition, we wouldn't have voted for Pinkie Pie. (I suggested Applejack personally, but I'm not going to hold a grudge.) We're in the competition for fun, and I've been told that cosplay is super fun. You met Rarity the other night, perhaps you can get her help with a fabulous disguise? Or maybe you can just jump into a bale of hay. Either way, you're sure to surprise the audience.

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That sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure... Am I allowed to make changes after I've already marked the application as final? I don't want to make anyone have to go over it again or something. (I'm sure the helpstaff has enough on their plates as it is.)

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Here you have a family owned business that refuses to let in outside investors

In spite of Granny Smith's objections, Applejack remains uncertain, but she seriously considers their offer (asking them for more information rather than flat out refusing) until she realizes that it is a bad deal and they'd lose the farm.

The Flim Flam brothers had a classic "get rich quick" scheme. They had no means of providing a supply of raw materials (moving from town to town without investing in any infrastructure) and using fast talk to get others to invest in them instead.

The sad fact is that placebo justifications really do work on people. In a classic study, people went and asked to cut in line at the copying machine. The first group said "May I cut in line," with no explanation, the second group said "May I cut in line, I need to make some copies." Even though the second group didn't say anything useful in their reasoning (of course you need to make copies if you're trying to use a copying machine!) they witnessed a significant increase in the number of people who let them cut in line.

Like the part where one of the Flim Flam brothers says "We'll even throw in this [necessary thing for the deal to work in the first place] for free!"

So I guess in this case, it depends on who's assertions you decide to take at face value. The Element of Honesty, or the Flim Flam brothers.

Real con artists are good at what they do and good at making themselves appear to be reasonable and honest. You've got to recognize what they're up to in spite of that. They roll into town and put on a big production that revolves around a couple of truths.

• True, there's a cider shortage.

• True, their machine is fantastic and amazing.

They use those truths to try to establish confidence and trust so that when they try to pull a fast one (and they do) people will still think they're on the level.

Now that I think about it, since they couldn't even tell the difference between the good cider and the bad cider they produced, I wonder if they even built the machine themselves. I would think an automatic quality checking device would require some knowledge of quality in the first place to design. Perhaps they just stuck their name on it in the same way they tried to rename Sweet Apple Acres into Flim Flam Fields.

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Thanks. I do have more of an explanation for her cutie mark symbolism, though I cut it out when I was trying to trim the application down for the sake of the helpstaff. In retrospect, I guess that should have made the cut... and now that I think about it, my original explanation was a little lame anyway.

Anyway, the idea was that she was watching this mechanic repairing the airship and enjoying watching all the pretty sparks as he went, but every time he got to a hard to reach spot, he had to stop and struggle for a while, and the entire mood would change. One minute he'd be cruising along like it was nothing, the next minute everything would come grinding to a halt. Thats when she remembered the fancy wrench her dad liked so much because it always turned smoothly. It was a lot more fun to watch work when it was going smoothly.

Some other things that didn't make the cut were a little bit about how her parents had to remind her a lot to ask permission before following someone around and seeing what they were up to. (in a "Pinkie Pie, haven't you ever heard of personal space!?" kind of way.) because even though it foreshadowed her future studies, it was mostly just fluff. Also, I left out the description of her workshop and residence, and about how she travels around far and wide sometimes to find the right ponies for the job, since it was mostly stuff that would happen in a thread anyway.

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There is a reason why gambling is illegal in many places and considered immoral in different philosophies.

Where I live, it is legal but regulated, a common argument is that going to a casino is entertainment, and that the person who is statistically doomed to throw their money away is really just paying for that entertainment. I don't think that the Flim Flam brothers were trying to perform a service for the Apple Family that would justify an expense though, entertaining or otherwise.

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I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that in this day and age people still fall for the oldest tricks in the book. Having these conversations has convinced me that the lesson in Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 is even more important for kids than I first thought, although apparently it could have been a bit more clear.

The enemy in this episode was always the Flim Flam brothers, not their machine. The writers do a number of things in this story to make sure that it isn't a John Henry vs The Machine moral.

• John Henry wins against the machine. The Apple Family loses.

• It takes the apples more than 4 times the horsepower just to keep up.

• John Henry challenges the rail company to the test. The Apple Family initially decides to try reaching a deal, accepting that if its better for everyone than it would be a good idea. Only after the Flim Flam brothers propose an obviously bad deal do the Flim Flam brothers challenge the Apple Family to a test.

• The only reason the Flim Flam brother's cider didn't taste good is because they turned off the safety features on their machine.

That last point is critically important to the moral of the story. This is not a moral about how technology is bad, this is a moral about how technology is good or bad depending on the user. The Flim Flam brothers misused their own device and they payed the price.

Edit: Friendship is Magic actually does this a lot, taking classic tales and tropes, then twisting them around. Look at Canterlot Wedding for example, they take the classic knight and shining armor saves damsel in distress story and turn it around 180º.

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Starswirl hits it right on the nose. The Flim Flam brothers may have been wearing a facade of reasonableness and geniality, but ultimately their intentions were not honest.

Flimflam: also known as con game, con, scam, grift, hustle, swindle. An attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence, exploiting characteristics such as honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, naivety and greed.

As I've said before, the telling moment was when they make their first offer and Applejack says that at such a rate, they'll lose the farm, and the Flim Flam brother's basically say, "No deal? That's ok, we'll just have to run you out of town anyway." Which should have let the audience onto the fact that it was their plan the whole time.

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Lets face it, if we were cooking to win, we wouldn't have gone with Pinkie Pie in the first place. Neigh, we're cooking for fun, and thus the only real answer is answer number 1! Onward! Undiscovered culinary creations await!

Pineapple, Plum, Pomegranate, Pear, Pecans, Praline? Nah!

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I think that the term heavy, in the context of food refers to foods that are greasy, fatty, oily, rich and/or thick. They're the kind of foods that you can feel sitting in the pit of your stomach for a long time after you've eaten them. Rich, creamy, cheesy casseroles, deep fried dishes with thick refried beans... those are foods that might be considered heavy, even if you only eat a little bit.

The opposite being foods that are light and crispy, flakey, fluffy, etc.

I suppose you could potentially make a calzone that was light, but all the calzones I've ever had were more akin to deep dish pizza, filled with cheese and meats and really greasy.

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Yes Pinkie Pie, I'll be friends with you.

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Thanks, I hope she's able to pass muster too.

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((hopefully this character doesn't start arguments about technology in Equestria, she's supposed to be about other pony's special talents.))

It is difficult to weave a rich tapestry with only a single thread...

Roleplay Type: World of Equestria

Name: Ember Spark

Sex: Female

Age: Mare

Species: Earth Pony

Coat Color: Thistle

Mane/Tail Color and Style: Coral

Eye Color: Peach

Cutie Mark: A red star with orange sparks, representing the spark of inspiration.

Physique: Shorter than average, somewhat wiry. She is not the strongest or the fastest, but she is comfortable working for long periods of time.

Origin/Residence: Raised in Breakbeak City, currently lives in the suburbs of Manehattan.

Occupation: Magical Enchantment Craftspony.

Motivation: She was always a creator. She got her cutie mark when she realized how everypony has something they can't do on their own, and that she could help ponies share their talents with others in need.

Likes: Big words, new ideas, new places, new faces, and those rare times when all the pieces fit together on the first try.

Dislikes: Secrets, letting things go to waste, not having anything to do, and ponies who would rather act superior than lend a helping hoof.

Character Summary:

Both of Ember Spark's parents, Sundawn and Silver Lining are unicorns, so there was some confusion when she was born an Earth Pony. However, her great Auntie Merry Diem was an Earth Pony too, so it was not without precedent in the family. Her father works at the scrap yard, while her mother is an official records keeper and, busy as they were, it took some effort adjusting to the unique difficulties involved in raising an Earth Pony. Still, they loved and cared for her deeply, going out of their way to support her. They even built her a flower garden so she could have things to grow, no easy feat in crowded, dingy Beakbreak City. As much as she enjoyed gardening (and still does) she was more interested in other ponies (or non-ponies as the case may be) and learning about magic, just like the kind her parents used.

As a filly, she wasn't able to help out with her parent's work. While she did have a gift for making things out of scrap, the scrap yard was too dangerous for such a young pony. That didn't stop her from sneaking out on occasion and trying anyway, since officious record keeping just isn't the kind of thing that anyfilly is going to have the attention span for. Most times when she would sneak out of the house though, she'd go try to meet new people and explore. Her outgoing personality did earn her lots of friends amongst her peers, though its any pony's guess whether they helped keep her out of trouble or got her into more trouble. When playing games with her friends, she was the kind of pony who'd rather pass the ball rather than go for the goal herself.

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.

Not long after she earned her cutie mark, her parents convinced her to leave town and continue her studies in Canterlot, tagging along with some of her friends. While she didn't seem to mind Beakbreak's rough edges, she agreed that broadening her horizons would be good in the long run. She did however, mind the "better than you," attitude she encountered from a number of ponies in Canterlot. Focusing on her studies, her interest in magic that she'd had since she was little came to life. Even though she couldn't cast unicorn magic herself, she did well in magic theory and even managed to write a few spells for her friends to use.

Being able to understand how magic relates to the special talents of others, and how those special talents can in turn help others, inspired her to start her current line of work. She crafts things that can be enchanted with magic. Everything from scrolls to lightning rods, it doesn't matter what the purpose is. What matters is that her crafts fit with the magic they're intended to hold. First she has to find a pony who actually knows the right kind of magic and a pony who knows how to craft the right kind of material, then she has to study them at work until she understands how it works and how that pony's personality influences it. It is a long process that can take days or even months to fill a single order, and sometimes ponies don't want to cooperate, but as tight as her budget may get, she insists on making a quality product. Its her dream that some day, thousands of years from now, one of her creations will by worthy of mention alongside the ancient treasures from olden pony times she saw while studying in Canterlot.

Maybe its Earth Pony magic, maybe its just her friendly personality, but while she spends time studying other ponies in action, she is usually helping them to grow and improve their own work at the same time. Her broad field of study often provides new perspectives, and occasionally she's able to write a new spell that relates to a unicorn pony's special talent.

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Maybe you're right, though I've never had anything take more than a couple hours to cook unless it was something like bread or a roast that needed to sit overnight.

Other foods that start with the letter C, Cake, cheesecake, custard, cookies, creampuffs, crullers, cobbler, coffeecake, cupcakes, corncakes, cornbread, chili, curry, chutney, coleslaw...

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Calzone - Delicious but a little bit heavy, especially since ponies probably just finished eating breakfast, and its more of a lunch or dinner kind of thing anyway.

Chimichanga - If Calzones were heavy, a deep fat fried burrito with rice and beans is going to be right out. If this competition were being held just before dinner time, I might recommend this, but I'm afraid its out.

Casserole - This one is almost cheating, since there are so many different types of casseroles. Did you know that both Shepherd's pie and Lasagne are considered casseroles, along with a great many other dishes?

Chunky Clam Chowder with Chives - You're kidding... you're kidding right? Need I remind you that pony's diets are completely vegetarian?

Cannolis - This is the ticket. A (relatively) light, sweet desert, the perfect thing to go after a hearty breakfast. And if somepony hasn't eaten yet, all the better, they can come back for seconds.

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While I haven't watched the episodes over yet, I gotta say I didn't guess that Philomena was a phoenix at all. It wasn't until she burst into flames and appeared good as new that I connected the dots, or had them connected for me, depending on how you look at it.

As for the story, I had to go with Applejack, but it was a really tough choice. Pinkie Pie is the obvious choice if you're not too interested in the competition, Twilight Sparkle is totally right about getting sleep, but Applejack is a bonafide tasty treat maker so I don't think you could go wrong with her on your side.

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My point was that we don't really have any way of knowing what kind of economic system they have in Equestria. The possibilities are as numerous as the stars in the sky, and for all we know, they're using a system that no human has ever considered. At the very least, the presence of trade using currency does not mean it has to be capitalism. Capitalism is a rather new economic system, and money and private businesses have been around for a long time.

In the strictest sense, mercantilism doesn't require colonies, it involves government control over land use and trade policy to establish a positive balance. Perpetual growth is a sticky subject for Capitalism as well, since some economists argue that the need for perpetual growth unsustainable in a world with finite resources and is a major cause of instability and exploitation today.

Geonomics was an economic system that got a little bit of traction in the 1800s and was based on the premise that private ownership of natural resources, namely land, should belong equally to all and be leased out to individuals using a land value tax. I don't think we know enough about Equestria to say one way or another, but it could explain the Apple Family's need to turn a profit and the way the Princess can assign parcels of land to ponies.

Personally, I think its best that they leave it abstract and not fully explained. (For one thing, it allows us to have these kinds of discussions. ) but if someone doesn't want to accept the stated premise "we'd lose the farm," thats a choice, not a mathematic fact.

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You could definitely make the argument that Granny's expression meant it was good cider, and thats how I chose to interpret it myself, but it was never explicitly stated.

Plus, the fact that it was implied to be good cider flies in the face of what's-his-name's argument that the episode was anti-technology. Because if the machine did in fact make good cider, the Flim Flam brothers lost out in spite of their superior technology, because their actions were bad enough to make up the difference.

If you'll allow me to make a counterpoint, Mercantilism had public businesses that could sell things, and in Geonomic systems people can sell the things they make even if they don't personally own land, so I would hesitate to say that it has to be a Capitalist system.

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Ok, wow... that guy in the video doesn't really know much about agriculture. In the industrialized world, most farms have to carry insurance against crop loss in order to avoid going under.

According to a report by Carolina Farm Credit, speculation was one of the top reasons for farm failure during the 1980s.

"Too many people have gone into business or expanded without adequate planning, without adequately analyzing the added costs associated with the added returns, or without analyzing potential risks...Many agricultural commodities have a very inelastic demand and the response of market prices to rapid increases in production often have been dramatic. Demand is said to be inelastic when commodity prices decrease proportionately more than aggregate production increases, which results in a decrease in total revenue."

A sort of "tunnel vision" towards production technology is also a primary cause of farm collapse.

Many of the producers who have failed or are in trouble have been considered by the farming community to be top farmers. This is largely because the general definition of a top farmer is tied almost entirely to his production ability, but attaining the highest yields does not necessarily result in the highest profits. Many top producers have neglected or not understood the financial and marketing aspects of management. More emphasis needs to be placed on marginal cost and return relationships in determining input levels.

Premises in that video that should not be assumed:

• x3 the cider is guaranteed to be sold.

• the other 75% of the apples cannot be used for anything else.

• The farm was given to them by Princess Celestia without any strings attached.

• Equestria is a capitalist economy.

We can't really say for certain that the economy in Equestria is a capitalism. It is entirely possible that the land technically remains under the control of the Princess, much like how in feudal times, farmers didn't own the land they farmed on.

"The only situation I can think of where a farm would go immediately insolvent due to a short lack of funds is if they were mortgaged up to their eyeballs." - The original 75/25 deal was a long term deal. If you are losing money, its only a matter of time before you go insolvent. Applejack didn't say "we'll lose the farm tomorrow," she just said that they'd lose it.

As for the Flim Flam brothers leaving town, even if they had some good barrels left over from the beginning of the challenge, their brand reputation was shot to pieces before they realized their mistake. Brand reputation matters, a lot. Most businesses, especially start-ups don't get a second chance when they serve someone a bad product the first time.

"...And you guys learn not to fear technology." I suspect thats why he's not bothering to look past the surface to find answers to his simple questions. Its more of an ideological thing. He is mad because he thinks the episode portrayed technology in a bad light, even though it was completely agnostic on that topic.

The episode goes out of its way to avoid saying for certain whether or not the machine was capable of producing good cider, and so his entire tirade about technology vs tradition falls flat on its face. Granny Smith's vague expression on tasting the Cider is our only clue, but it is purposefully vague. (Remember that whole thing I said about what you leave out being as important as what you put into a story?) The moral of the story revolves around social interactions, with technology being a good way to make the Flim Flam brother's threat plausible, but not having any bearing on the morality one way or the other. The message of the story is about competition.

The episode demonstrates how you can work together and compete at the same time. How competition can be done wrong and how it can be done right depending on the circumstances. Good, useful competition is about pushing yourself to be better, not about crushing your opponent into oblivion, which is just plain destructive.

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I like explanations just so long as they are not so definitive that there isn't any room for further exploration. You've got to have loose ends otherwise the story grinds to a halt.

Have you ever watched a movie or television show where they start off with some vast mystery that is all very interesting and engaging, and you follow the character through their adventures all the while wondering what the secret really is, then they reveal the truth and its just a huge letdown? I think sometimes the stuff that is left out is just as important as the stuff thats explained. Its the imagination of the audience that can really make things come to life, and if you go through as story treating it like a history textbook, there won't be much room for imagination.

Its the kind of thing that so often ruins prequels. They spend so much time trying to set up the stuff that happens later that they forget to have a story of their own.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see a long form story arc in the Friendship is Magic universe, but I'd be a bit nervous if they were trying to explain everything.

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I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with having episodic stories. They usually don't change things around so drastically that its impossible to suspend disbelief. Everyone has good times and bad times, and we don't know what happens in-between episodes, or if they're even taking place in linear order. I'm sure they could have spent five minutes explaining why the stuff from other episodes doesn't conflict with the situation at hand, but then they wouldn't have been able to have an awesome song and dance routine.

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You might think that saving Equestria would entitle you to vast hoards of wealth, but it would seem that is not the case in the world of ponies. Each of the mane six go on about their daily lives as if nothing had happened, and their heroics are scarcely given a second thought.

We can only speculate as to why this might be the case, whether it is a fiat of the writers to keep the story arcs separate, or if service to Princess and Country is expected by default and not considered extraordinary, we may never know. The world was saved four times in two seasons, perhaps it is such a regular occurrence that its just considered normal.

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This argument makes some assumptions about the economics of Equestria that I'm not sure we can safely make.

• We don't know what the Equestrian land use policy is, and whether or not there is a mortgage in the strictest sense, its not hard to think of expenses that the apple family would be obliged to pay.

• Twilight is the Princess's pupil, she's not really in a position to make policy decisions on their behalf. This is Friendship is Magic, not Exploiting your Relationships is Magic.

• For all we know, the Apple Family is already deeply in debt and cannot take on additional loans. Finances for the farm have been a recurring issue for Applejack ever since "Ticket Master," when Applejack wants to go to the gala to drum up business for the farm. Replacing the barn was going to require a significant investment, but before the gala even took place, the barn was destroyed and replaced. Furthermore, getting a loan responsibly requires some assurance that you will be able to pay it off, you cant do that if you're perpetually operating at a loss.

• Growing Apples is a yearlong task while Cider Season is a very short period of time. This is roughly analogous to the Christmas season in the US, where many businesses operate in the red all year long until "Black Friday," named because it is when many businesses start operating in the black. The Flim Flam brother's machine may harvest the apples itself, but it is hard work and Earth Pony magic that is responsible for growing them.

• The extra apples that the Flim Flam brothers turn into cider cannot be used or sold by the apple family in other forms. They say that Cider Season gets them through the winter, but they still need to get through the spring, summer and fall as well. That would be more difficult to do if all their apples are used up getting through the winter.

• Last but most certainly not least: When Big Macintosh rejects their first offer, they make it totally clear that they were happy he rejected the deal. They knew it was a bad deal but were trying to keep up appearances for the crowd. Negotiating a fair deal was not on their agenda, running the Apples out of town was.

This is the nature of the con artist. They make arguments that sound sincere and are anything but.

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Well, if my experiences playing hide and seek as a child are any indication, going unnoticed takes a lot of grace and dexterity. Or maybe its all those years of tiptoeing through the minefield known as social interaction.

I think the troubles of Equestria are part of its charm. Its not that there are no problems, no work that needs being done in Equestria, but that ponies are encouraged to and rewarded for helping out -big or small- and as a result, things actually get done and in a timely, orderly fashion to boot. Sure, it may be an oversimplification, but thats the overall impression that I get.