My Little Pony XXVIII: In the Crazy of 40.000 Posts, There is Only Pony!

[Anarion]

Does anypony else just enjoy getting up early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons? Makes me feel like a kid again, and I notice I actually have way more energy than when I stay up until 4:00 a.m. and sleep until noon (as per the typical grad student schedule).

[Topaz]

Ep4:

Spoiler

Show

ZECORA USED MAGIC! ZECORA USED MAGIC!

Ep4 reply:

Spoiler

Show

This episode pretty much cements her as an alchemist. Potions for every occasion!

I really liked her costume, too.

Episode spoiler

Spoiler

Show

Could not stop thinking "How did Celestia not cover this already?"

Ep4 reply:

Spoiler

Show

My theory is that Celestia didn't want to get into the "big sister knows best" dynamic all over again. I bet she suggested Ponyville as the place Luna should go reconnect with their subjects, though.

[Bayonet Priest]

Episode 4 Spoilers

Spoiler

Show

Oh, and all those ponies in EqDaily who think that they named Pip after the FO:Equestria character, I'm going to hunt you down, and jam a copy of Great Expectations down your silly throat. It's around 800 pages! It'll hurt, I promise! (And yet, still probably isn't as long as that fic is.)

Spoiler

Show

Hey, I laughed so hard when Zecora called him Little Pip. I know it wasn't a shout out or a reference to FO:E (as much as I love the story I would prefer grimdark references kept out of the show anyway) but it was still an amusing enough coincidence. I've commented elsewhere that Little Pip is canon now but I don't seriously believe that. I didn't catch the Great Expectations reference though, after looking that up it seems pretty obvious that's where the name came from.

Anyway, I loved this episode. Luna's crazy over the top Goa'uld voice was so awesome. And I loved how Twilight wasn't scared at all, she was just like "Yay Princess Luna! ... why is everpony running?" I didn't see it myself but someone said Colgate was a dentist, I have to see if this is true. Shadowbolt Dash was great, her costume was very appropriate to the holiday.

[the_druid_droid]

[OOC: Should the egg hatch, who wants to play it?

Spoiler

Show

"It says..." Tinker looked at it, "... that I can't tell you because it'll taint the experiment." She looked at it closer, "But it says that I can give you a generic and non-committal compliment! Let's see," Tinker opened up a book and scanned through it "You sure rotated those sides, huh?" She slammed the book shut. "Compliment, check! Next test!"

Tinker turned away for a moment, rummaged with something, and then spun around shoving a sun-crest in Second Hand's face and bellowing "THE POWER OF CELESTIA COMPELS YOU!"

Clockwork RP:

Spoiler

Show

"Compels me to do what?" Igneous asked, looking up from the cube he was now fiddling with. He'd begun with a couple of twists to break up the completed puzzle that Sek had done. Not too many though, he'd never been too good at these things.

Unfortunately, backtracking his actions was proving to be a problem and each turn he made was making the formerly uniform sides turn into a riot of colours once more.

OOC: If it does hatch, it should probably be RP'd by whoever it "imprints" on. That probably means whichever pony it sees first. I don't have any preference as to who that is though (happy to do it if you want, happy to let someone else do it). I do find the image of Charger or Iggy having to care for it to be somewhat entertaining though.

However (Spoiled as it pertains to Iggy's thought processes)

Spoiler

Show

If it hatches though, Igneous is going to be very surprised, as he was deliberately not trying to hatch it. He had two goals when he knocked the thing over, the first was to see whather Tinker, like any good crazy scientist, could identify the object from the sound it made. That gave him some faith in her abilities. The second (which only came into it retroactively once Thanqol identified it as a dragon egg) was to try to find out what a potentially restricted magical item was doing in the shop, and to see if it was there for suspicious reasons.

*Blastech passes the following note to the DM*:

Spoiler

Show

Igneous has placed a magical tracer on it, and will likely send a message to the next guard he sees to find out who last inhabited the store.

Accidents happen though, maybe Tinker's work on it made it more susceptible to hatching via the shock buzzer discharge. So don't let the above stop you from hatching it if you want to.

Clockwork:

Spoiler

Show

As the sun crest is shoved in his face, Sek pulls his head back to avoid a collision with Tinker's hoof. Glancing over at Iggy and Charger, the pegasus wonders aloud, "So Charger, is this a Canterlot thing, or a Tinker thing?"

Actually it'd be me that has it, just updated to have the most recent passage.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1.../edit?hl=en_US
Enjoy!

IT"S ONLY 5 MINUTES TILL THE SHOW, TIME Y U SO SLOW!?

Whoops! Sorry about misidentifying you, Strife. Thanks for the link though!

Also, can't find the ep on Youtube. I am sad droid...

[Raz_Fox]

Spoiler

Show

They had a scene with Derpy and Carrot Top. They know.

Twilight's indignant response to everypony not knowing who she was for Nightmare Night was great. So was random prankster Shadowbolt Rainbow Dash. Now I kind of want to go looking for that "Rainbow Dash becomes a Shadowbolt" fanfic, because she is rocking that costume.

I turned to my oldest little sister during this episode, around the time that Luna was declaring the doubling of the fun, and said, "I'm getting a Starfire vibe from her, aren't you?" And, after a bit of consideration, I can safely declare that I love Supervillain Anachronistic Woobie Luna. (Really, Supervillain Luna. That's the only thing I can call her knack for declaring the THE NIGHT WILL x FOREEEEEVAH and her constant bats/lightning/dark-ominous-cloud-aura. She's a natural Supervillain who's trying her best to be good.)

Funniest part of the episode? When I wasn't groaning at the screen "YOU KNOW SHE'S GOOD", everything with Fluttershy was hysterical. Absolutely hysterical.

Awesome part of the episode? SHADOWBOLT DASH SHADOWBOLT DASH SHAAAAAAAAAAADOWBOLT DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH oh, and did I mention SHADOWBOLT DASH

I wondered why Zecora was spreading the tale of Nightmare Moon, having been stung by ponies telling tales about her before, but then it hit me: she probably didn't know about Luna/Nightmare Moon/what happened at Castle Everfree. She wants to help out at the Nightmare Night festival, to help show the ponies that she was just like them, and the mayor asked her: "Hey, you could tell the foals the story of Nightmare Moon! Here, it goes like this..."

And, for most of the episode, I thought that the writers were playing off Pinkie's already-established character flaw of gossiping and assuming the worst of scary ponies. I had no idea she was trolling the GOD-PRINCESS HERSELF until... man, it hit me right as it hit Twilight. Good writing there.

SHAAAAAADOWBOLT DAAAAAAAAAAAAASH

[Athaniar]

First thoughts about EP4:

Spoiler

Show

It was a good episode (though I still like the last one better). Some somewhat annoying plot holes (...you were all there when she was purified! At least Pinkie was trolling, though), suspicious lack of Rarity (why not just a non-speaking appearance?), but over-all it was rather good.

[Kris Strife]

Spoiler

Show

*Nightmare glances at Leo's direction. "There is a blacksmith not far from here. Why do you need your shoes replaced?

Spoiler

Show

He chuckles and grins. "Well, long story short, they're how I make those portals, my Essence isn't the kind that's supposed to be used for that ability so they wear out after a while... And I really, really don't want to get stuck between the portals."

[byaku rai]

I actually got to watch it! =D

ep 4

Spoiler

Show

Really liked it once Luna's true personality started showing, and it really reminded me of the fanfic Progress, which made me happy.

Pinkie Pie makes a very good chicken.

Luna uses magic much more freely than her sister. maybe that's from spending a thousand years on the moon? Nice effects, although the implications of being able to summon stormclouds/lightning at will could probably put the pegasi out of business.

Love the Derpy moment XD

That's all I've got right now, I'll probably post more once we hit the next thread.

... Ok, I lied. One more thing. We need Luna emoticons.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Grabbing some Ep4 costume pics from Ponibooru (which is running remarkably fast considering it's just after a new episode) spoilered for your convienience:

Ep4

Spoiler

Show

Mr. and Mrs. Cake as Raggedy Ann and Andy



This one has the dentist Colgate:



*snerk*



Some guy from jaws (plus Carrot Top looking very nice as a devil in the BG there :3)



SCORPION WINS! FATALITY:



Some more BG ponies:

Also this: (more ep4)

Spoiler

Show

[Athaniar]

First thoughts about EP4:

Spoiler

Show

It was a good episode (though I still like the last one better). Some somewhat annoying plot holes (...you were all there when she was purified! At least Pinkie was trolling, though), suspicious lack of Rarity (why not just a non-speaking appearance?), but over-all it was rather good.

Another thing: I was sure that Luna's behavior in this episode would make people stop with the Trollestia thing, but reading the comments here I can see I was wrong...

Also, I feel that quote from the MLP:FiM TVTropes Nightmare Fuel page is appropriate:

"We go places that, perhaps, other candy colored TV shows won't go. And that's part of what I love about this show, is that we're allowed to explore those areas... Kids love to be scared."

[Neoseanster]

Arrrrrgh, I'm back and it's not on Youtube yet. Curse you, spoiler boxes, I'm too fearful to look within.

*waits impatiently, taps hoof*

[the_druid_droid]

Ok, well I found a (tolerable) Youtube stream:

Spoiler

Show

Haven't finished yet, but DANG! I really like creepy!Zecora, even the rhyming works for me with that costume and the green dust! Also, Nightmare Luna is freaking AWESOME! Dat Chariot!

EDIT: For those still searching, here's a link to the episode on Youtube (warning: crappy sound) Spoooooky!

[Athaniar]

Arrrrrgh, I'm back and it's not on Youtube yet. Curse you, spoiler boxes, I'm too fearful to look within.

*waits impatiently, taps hoof*

Well, that's odd, because I just watched it there. Here it should be.

EDIT: Pony ninja again! Just like the one in the episode itself.

[MCerberus]

Watching episode log

Spoiler

Show

Twilight being twilight
Pinkie is best pony
D'awww
Pinkie is best pony (eating candy like a Scootaloo)
Pinkie is best pony
Rainbowdash just murdered Spike
It's the pony that had Applebloom ruin his racket
Nice clown-fro
Rhyming alchemist!
Pip makes me D'awww
Darth Woona
That sexy voice
Melodrama princess
Pinkie... not best pony? Luna... best pony?! I'm confused
Fluttershy gunna shy
Scootawolf, Firemare Dinky, Bride of Frankenbloom, Countess Sweetie Bell
New catchphrase: HAHA! The fun has been doubled!
Paranoid-Pie
Good job Pinkie, now there's demon spiders.
Dat backdrop
Pinkie, no, it's a trap!
MY PANCREAS, WHY PIP, WHY?!
The Nightmare Night. Shall last. FOREVER

opinion

Spoiler

Show

A lot less slapstick, a lot more of the usual ponyness

[Neoseanster]

YAYYYYYYY. That didn't show up when I searched. Back in twenty minutes.

[Eakin]

Arrrrrgh, I'm back and it's not on Youtube yet. Curse you, spoiler boxes, I'm too fearful to look within.

*waits impatiently, taps hoof*

Yes it is

Quadruple ninja'd. Very impressive

[Soras Teva Gee]

Hey Guys, point of practicality.... anyone seen Trixie?

The thread, I dinnae 'tink she can take much more Cap'n!

[Athaniar]

Oddly enough it's not moving that fast at the moment. Maybe that'll change soon, though...

[Kris Strife]

Hey Guys, point of practicality.... anyone seen Trixie?

The thread, I dinnae 'tink she can take much more Cap'n!

I was speaking to her earlier.

[MCerberus]

Episode 4: my new catchphrase

Spoiler

Show

[IMG][/IMG]

I'm going to put it in tf2 spray form if anyone is interested.

[EsperDerek]

Well, I guess I know my next project after Titanium and I finish up Rarity's Night.

Spoiler

Show

Rewriting Reaching Midnight, now that I know her proper persona! The later ones are fine, because it's decades later, and things have changed dramatically, but both my fanon and the official canon have progressed enough that I'd love to go back and rewrite Reaching knowing what I know now, and with the skills that I now possess.

[Soras Teva Gee]

I was speaking to her earlier.

Well as long as we know if we need a pinch hitter or not.

[Kris Strife]

Well as long as we know if we need a pinch hitter or not.

I've been instructed to let her know when we're at page 48, any thread name suggestions?

Also, I hate 503 errors with a burning passion.

[Kindablue]

You know, they say that spoilers don't actually ruin our enjoyment of things.

Spoiler Alert: Stories Are Not Spoiled by 'Spoilers'

"Plots are just excuses for great writing. What the plot is is (almost) irrelevant. The pleasure is in the writing," said Christenfeld, a UC San Diego professor of social psychology.

"Monet's paintings aren't really about water lilies," he said.

It's also possible that it's "easier" to read a spoiled story. Other psychological studies have shown that people have an aesthetic preference for objects that are perceptually easy to process.

"So it could be," said Leavitt, a psychology doctoral student at UC San Diego, "that once you know how it turns out, it's cognitively easier – you're more comfortable processing the information – and can focus on a deeper understanding of the story."

But the researchers are careful to note that they do not have a new recipe for writers to follow. After all, spoilers helped only when presented in advance, outside of the piece. When the researchers inserted a spoiler directly into a story, it didn't go over quite as well.

The overall findings are consistent with the experience most of us have had: A favorite tale can be re-read multiple times with undiminished pleasure. A beloved movie can be watched again and again.

[Gadora]

is it online yet? here, in Eastern Europe we don't have Hub :(

anyone can provide a link?

A link has already been posted, but if you don't care for that one, here's an alternative.

Does anypony else just enjoy getting up early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons? Makes me feel like a kid again, and I notice I actually have way more energy than when I stay up until 4:00 a.m. and sleep until noon (as per the typical grad student schedule).

Aye, it is rather fun at that.

Ep4:

Spoiler

Show

Anyone else find Luna's new look to be a bit odd? Sorry if this was already covered, I was avoiding pre-release spoilers.

EDIT:

Spoiler Alert: Stories Are Not Spoiled by 'Spoilers'

I'm sorry, but as someone who loves a good mystery novel, I've got to disagree most strenuously. Outside of mysteries, I still find that spoilers rather dampen my enjoyment by creating expectations that are invariably off, usually by setting my expectations impossibly high. EDIT2: They spoiled Agatha Christie books? Science has gone too far.

[HalfTangible]

Spoiler

Show

"AND TO SPEAK AT THIS VOLUME WHEN ADRESSING OUR SUBJECTS!!"

I'm laughing very hard right now.

[Mando Knight]

Ep4:

Spoiler

Show

It's been how long since they defeated Nightmare Moon? And not once did Celestia say to her sister "Hey, we should talk about the whole "Royal Canterlot voice" thing"?

Trollestia at her best-ia.

Spoiler

Show

Maybe it didn't come up, or Luna just didn't ask. Or Trollestia was being the best big sister she could be and let her student handle it. It seems like a sibling-type thing to do.

Also, she nailed the Elizabethan English. As a fan of Shakespeare and being raised going to a church where a large portion of the Elizabethan was used in the hymnody and chants in the main service book (reasons for which are beyond the scope of the forum), I am very pleased. Especially since the scriptwriters minded their thees and thous. Properly.


Also, I love how much they played up the dark-and-spooky Dracula-style-Transylvanian aspect of Luna's entourage. Bat-winged cat-eyed pegasi, bat motif on the chariot, bats apparently forming Luna's cloak, etc.

Also how everyone is all *GASP* NIGHTMARE MOON! but Twilight is all excited at seeing Luna again.

Plus, Pinkie Pie trolls the foals, is a chicken and not a genius, and Prankster Dash with a smoky contrail is all amusing. And Luna coming to realize the same thing her sister learned over the thousand years: it's fun to spook those silly ponies.

In short,
I.
LOVE.
THIS.
EPISODE.

[the_druid_droid]

Ep 4 Stuff:

Spoiler

Show

I think this has been my favorite on in the new season so far. Some things with Discord felt rushed, and the third episode was slapstick-heavy; I don't mind a little slapstick now and then, but I'm glad that they toned it down this episode. Also, hurrah for a mind-control free episode! Doesn't really bother me, but I know some ponies really dislike it...

So at first, I was totally thinking that Luna's dramatic entrance was intentional, and like Ponyville I wanted to be scared! Then she turned anachronistic, and I was confused and a little put off by all the 'thous' and 'we's. However, as things went on, I decided I kind of liked the nuclear-mode-Galadriel voice. (Though I'm not a big fan of the little breath marks animation that seems to come with it)

I think what really saved things and made everything click was Pinkie's revelation about wanting to be scared. Not only did it rationalize her (up till then) odd and repetitive behavior, but it gave Luna something to latch on to and helped her end the episode back in epic creepy mode, which I was actually looking forward to. She could totally be awesome if she embraces this, like that guy with the crazy-decked-out haunted house and spooky stories that all the kids want to hang around on Halloween night.

Also, re: the Elements of Harmony acting weird about Luna. First, Twilight is obviously unaffected, and Pinkie's reaction is explained later. Dash and Rarity don't really show up or have much reaction so that's that. Fluttershy is scared of everything, whether she beat it or not. The only slight oddball is AJ, but I'm going to blame her cowering on Zecora's epic story skills.

Seriously, this episode redeemed Zecora for me...the rhyming just wasn't my thing until she started using it for a performance with magic and illusions and leering Nightmare faces...

[Deadly]

Episode 4

Spoiler

Show

You know, the only way I can explain how in probably a year or more Luna hasn't noticed that her sister doesn't SPEAK IN HUGE CAPITAL LETTERS to her subjects, is either that she's lived in a cave ever since, or... that really is how they speak back in Canterlot even now.

[the_druid_droid]

Episode 4

Spoiler

Show

You know, the only way I can explain how in probably a year or more Luna hasn't noticed that her sister doesn't SPEAK IN HUGE CAPITAL LETTERS to her subjects, is either that she's lived in a cave ever since, or... that really is how they speak back in Canterlot even now.

Ep. 4 Spoilers

Spoiler

Show

Trollestia has been shouting at her for going on a year now...

Actually, kidding aside, it could be that it hasn't actually been a year. If anything, the Equestrian time stream portrayed in the show is pretty fluid, so if we assume Nightmare Night happens toward the end of October (like the RL counterpart) the episode could very well take place just before/after the Running of the Leaves from last season. That would mean substantially less time had passed and Luna would still have been very much a fish out of water, with only a few months to try and catch up on 1000+ years of old habits.