My Little Pony XXXVIII: Nopony Expects Sponish Pinquisition!

[Gamerlord]

Episode thoughts:

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Meh, I'm not sure what to think of this. Discord suddenly seems a bit less impressive, and the pacing seemed really off.

[MCerberus]

More episode:

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I think this is more angst-shy than flutter***** (you'll LOVE HER). She even has the murdershy voice

The groundskeeper from Best Night Ever?
Anyone win 'spot the Derpy'?

I think the Rarity/Pinkie combo was put in as a setup because they very well might be the two most insecure of the cast to begin with.

Pinkie Pie regrets nothing!

Dainty flower basket is best sight-gag

[Deadly]

New Episode, now that I've seen it again, without a ton of lag

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Nice enough episode, but I agree with others that it seemed like they ran out of time a bit, and Fluttershy's whole turning was a bit unsatisfying. But other than that, plenty of fun moments as always and it's good to see Fluttershy finally get a bit attention this season.

"As Celestia is my witness"... Fluttershy channeling Rarity there, kinda seemed a little off.

When Pinkie laughs, why did Fluttershy throw the punch at her and then immediately turn all "bye girls" like nothing happened? She should know that Pinkie laughs all the time, why did she act all offended and then suddenly not? That part was really quite odd, very pointlessly cruel of her. Discorded rather than overly assertive, I'd say.

Seems like it's hinted that quite a bit of time passes between her realizing her mistake and Pinkie and Rarity coming to find her again. What with the leaves falling off the trees and her cottage all boarded up.

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Yeah I do agree that it wasn't necessary. What they were going for was a parody of real world self-help seminars and so forth, and part of that setup includes images of the presenter and staff coming across as dynamic and organized, which they did here with the goat ties and headsets. There were probably other ways to do it, but as it was done, essentially, for the sake of an overarching joke, I still think it's fine to pretend that they never existed as far as Equestrian tech goes.

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The goats, the images, loud voices, posing, catch phrases... all of that was perfect, and I liked Iron Will. He's kinda nice. But they could have left out the headset and nothing would have changed, really.

[Titanium Fox]

1st thoughts

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Yay finally a Best Pony episode

nerd pony!!

classic Bugs routine (and a 2nd time)

goat! (and more goats later)

what a coincidence getting that flier...

oooo, shades of Gilda with that comment Iron Hoof

ANOTHER new voice for Bonbon??!?

Minotaur = 1/2 man----LYRA WAS RIGHT, HUMANS EXIST!!
(except he is 1/2 goat 1/2 bull )

well, i guess Derpy is officially NOT mailmare..wait, then that means..........
SEASON 2 RUINED MY FANON!!

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Derpy might just not run that particular route.

My only regret is that I didn't put it in a branching recursion like the fib. sequence. Why? Because with a sufficiently high number this brings your multi-core what would have been a super computer 5 years ago system to a grinding halt.

*Glances at my i7 3.8 GHz PC.* Challenge accepted. Do your worst.

New Episode, now that I've seen it again, without a ton of lag

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Nice enough episode, but I agree with others that it seemed like they ran out of time a bit, and Fluttershy's whole turning was a bit unsatisfying. But other than that, plenty of fun moments as always and it's good to see Fluttershy finally get a bit attention this season.

"As Celestia is my witness"... Fluttershy channeling Rarity there, kinda seemed a little off.

When Pinkie laughs, why did Fluttershy throw the punch at her and then immediately turn all "bye girls" like nothing happened? She should know that Pinkie laughs all the time, why did she act all offended and then suddenly not? That part was really quite odd, very pointlessly cruel of her. Discorded rather than overly assertive, I'd say.

Seems like it's hinted that quite a bit of time passes between her realizing her mistake and Pinkie and Rarity coming to find her again. What with the leaves falling off the trees and her cottage all boarded up.

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The goats, the images, loud voices, posing, catch phrases... all of that was perfect, and I liked Iron Will. He's kinda nice. But they could have left out the headset and nothing would have changed, really.

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To paraphrase somepony I had a discussion about this earlier with. "It's cartoon technology, so whatever works for the current scenario or gag." It really didn't take anything away from the episode, nor add anything. In my eyes, it wasn't an issue.

[Pendulous]

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I liked it a lot, but like others, it seemed really rushed, like they had to cut out a lot.

Is there any confirmation on the voice of Iron Will?

[Deadly]

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Pipsqueak!

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Also, impatient Lyra waiting for Bonbon (they're seen sitting together at that table moments later)

[Athaniar]

New Episode

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Pipsqueak!

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Also, impatient Lyra waiting for Bonbon (they're seen sitting together at that table moments later)

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Nice find! I love all the detail they put into the episodes.

[MCerberus]

New Episode

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Pipsqueak!

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Also, impatient Lyra waiting for Bonbon (they're seen sitting together at that table moments later)

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Also Carrot Top out with her little sister

[otakuryoga]

rewatching Hearts and Hooves day after the new one made me realize how many great little reaction snippets there were in that episode

Oh, come on! http://youtu.be/yu_RmSJxtUE

chaos http://youtu.be/u8vQxYDonvI

Awwwwwww http://youtu.be/YnG417eRgdA

and a Nooooooo!!! far better than Vader http://youtu.be/xQmjWdDB7j8


so...bought the DVD so i would have an un-retconed Derpy and on the bonus material there is no segment for Rainbow Dash in pony profiles.. its the other 5 and Celestia

[Thanqol]

Episode

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I do not know what you people are on about. This was one of my favourite episodes

The comedy just worked, every step of the way. Pinkie's showdown with Iron Will was excellent. Fluttershy tying herself up in her house was hysterical. The introduction was amazing - the entire thing had me laughing start to finish. Excellent episode, loved every minute.

[PhantomFox]

Episode thoughts as it plays

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Fluttershy is really being a doormat as the others said. Angel is being kinda a jerk. Again. Has he been taking lessons from Opal?
Rarity, you are such a charmer. And a bald faced liar too.
Pinkie, classic use of the Duck Season/Rabbit Season gag. You know your toon gags like a pro.
...and Fluttershy fails miserably as expected. Nice try though.
Good to see her friends intervene before she ruins herself.
Has she always had that mailbox? Angel still is a jerk. He better do something awesome to make up for it.
I like the popup in the pamphlet.
Did she just rip off Rarity's line? On purpose, or are they just reusing the gag?
Hedge-what center? Oh, hedge MAZE center.
That's a lot of goats.
Hi Derpy! Derped as always before. :)
They picked Fluttershy on purpose. I don't trust those goats though.
Yeah, Will is still awesomely Macho.
Fluttershy is always adorable when she tries this kind of thing.
Well, that worked well. She's thrilled too.
And Bon Bon has a new voice again. Is this supposed to be a running gag?
And not only does she have The Stare, she has The Voice too. I'm wondering where this is going.
One wonders why Rarity is there though.
Ah, there we go. Overcompensation into Flutterbitch.
Aw, Mailmare isn't Derpy. Oh well, can't win them all. Don't think we would want to see Fluttershy do that to Derpy anyway.
Good to see the other reprimanding her.
At least she has her reasons for being this way. It's quite typical for one to binge when given new freedom.
Oh wow, she's really letting them have it.
And a quick What Have I Done revelation, good.
Oh wow, she takes things to the EXTREMES. First extreme niceness, then extreme bully, now extreme recluse. This is given me the PERFECT fodder for that half-abandoned fic idea I had.
I like that closeup pan, there's something about it...
And there's the catch.
Nice try Pinkie, but sometimes Bugs Bunny tactics can't solve everything.
And now Fluttershy finds balance. Yay.
THE STARE. Darn straight Angel, you EAT those vegetables.

A simple episode, but not bad overall. I'm glad that they didn't exemplify extremes as the answer, but rather balance.

[Zevox]

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Rather disappointed with this one. Our only Fluttershy episode of the season so far, and it was quite weak in my opinion.

Simply put, the problem is that I don't believe the events. Fluttershy is entirely too nice to change completely into Discorded Fluttershy overnight just on the advice of some motivational speaker, whether she was trying to be more assertive or not. With Discord it made sense because he was using magic, which he appears to have to nigh-omnipotent levels. Heck, she was the one that he had to go for straight overpowering mind-control on, rather than gradually breaking her down. This is her changing willingly to a Gilda-esque bully without even realizing it. I'm not sure I would buy that even with a much longer setup.

Plus the whole story in general was rather bland and predictable. From the moment I saw what Iron Will was telling Fluttershy to do, the entire rest of the episode was pretty obvious. And there were no real standout moments from anyone either.

Still, not annoying the way some of the worse (mostly CMC) episodes are, but definitely not one I'm a fan of, and perhaps even one I won't be re-watching.

Zevox

[Anarion]

rewatching Hearts and Hooves day after the new one made me realize how many great little reaction snippets there were in that episode

Oh, come on! http://youtu.be/yu_RmSJxtUE

chaos http://youtu.be/u8vQxYDonvI

Awwwwwww http://youtu.be/YnG417eRgdA

and a Nooooooo!!! far better than Vader http://youtu.be/xQmjWdDB7j8


so...bought the DVD so i would have an un-retconed Derpy and on the bonus material there is no segment for Rainbow Dash in pony profiles.. its the other 5 and Celestia

You also don't get a Rainbow Dash intro if you select play all. Sadly, it just didn't make it onto the disk. It's just a mistake on their part I guess, like misspelling "splendid" as "spendid" in the bonus song karaoke.

[Aotrs Commander]

New episode first impressions:

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That was an...okay episode, at best. I found that one a bit awkward actually, rather than funny - maybe because of the complete lack of manners showed by most involved in there. I just didn't find everypony bullying everypony else to be very amusing. That was kinda...eh. There were a few chuckles, but rather less than usual.

And when Fluttershy was making Pinkie and Rarity cry I was sitting there going... "no, that's not funny or entertaining at all"... it made me feel a bit sick, actually, which is a rather unusual response from me, but there you go.

I think this maybe my least favourite episode so far. Dragonshy was far better in that regard, as was Stare Master.

But Angel Bunny is clearly as much of a... jerkwad... as we have long suspected, and he totally deserved a Stare at the end there!

Edit: Post-thread-read-thoughts:

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I agree with Zevox, I wasn't very convinced by the events, and certainly not in the time frame or with the reasons provided. Fluttershy making her friends cry with apparently virtually no motivation aside from some moribund catch-phrases just didn't feel right. She felt, in some ways, worse than under Discord's influence at that moment, and that just felt wrong. And the more I reflect on that, the less I like where they went there; there wasn't nearly enough build-up before or after, and it just failed for me completely. I mean, I could see the bare basics of the idea - Fluttershy going over-board and upsetting her friends - but it would need a far more convincing build-up, and a much more convincing response, other than "Pinkie and Rarity get over that off-screen", and, actuallly, Fluttershy never strictly apologised, did she? No, they over-trivialised that, and it just failed on all the levels, as far as I can see.

Probably doesn't help Fluttershy was one of my favourite characters early on (especially after Dragonshy), it is seems she's sort of falling from those vaunted heights, which doesn't improve my perceptions.

[Pokonic]

I have the perfect idea to knock that little bugger off his pedistal.

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The little bugger being Angel. Tell Spike to "mess with him" by acting more like the meat-eater he could be. Such as, say, flicking that rather snake-like fork tounge. Or, for example, simply "sneak" into Fluttershys house with her permission and faux-hunt for the little guy.

[Excession]

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Liked a lot of the gags, and the goats were brilliant. Not sure the whole thing worked for me though.

The bit where the bridge was blocked by the carts. When did Fluttershy forget how to fly?

[Thanqol]

I have the perfect idea to knock that little bugger off his pedistal.

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The little bugger being Angel. Tell Spike to "mess with him" by acting more like the meat-eater he could be. Such as, say, flicking that rather snake-like fork tounge. Or, for example, simply "sneak" into Fluttershys house with her permission and faux-hunt for the little guy.

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Spike's babysat Angel before. It didn't go so well for him.

[Zevox]

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The bit where the bridge was blocked by the carts. When did Fluttershy forget how to fly?

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Yeah, that was a big one. Can't believe I forgot to mention it in my earlier post, but I was wondering that all throughout that scene. The carts shouldn't have been an issue at all.

Zevox

[thubby]

good idea. needed to be a 2 parter or something, though.

[Pokonic]

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Spike's babysat Angel before. It didn't go so well for him.

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Gah, true. Anyone else have a better idea on how to knock the little guy down a peg?

[MCerberus]

Season two it seems...
Does the MLP crew seem to really want hour shows? It seems like a common complaint is 'rushed', and the creator commentary says a lot about things that got cut already.

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Gah, true. Anyone else have a better idea on how to knock the little guy down a peg?

ep

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I think Fluttershy just did. It seems Angel is closer to an adoption than a pet. At the end she did a stare to get him to eat his greens already, because there's no cloud of smoke to point out this time.

[Eakin]

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Thought it was OK. Agree with everyone who said there were some pacing problems. Flutterjerk was generally amusing.

I didn't think Iron Will was that bad, or even that much of an antagonist. He even broke the fourth wall for a second at the end there.

I really liked her mane the Rarity/Pinkie/Fluttershy dynamic, and I'm glad the episode didn't feel like it had to cram all of the Mane 6 in there. I was impressed at how specific Fluttershy's insults were when she turned on them, she really wasn't pulling any punches.

I didn't like Rarity's "use sex appeal to get what you want."

The Angel thing at the beginning was a little too mean to be funny. Sure, Angel's a jerk a lot of the time, but before this episode he was a jerk who also seemed to care a lot about Fluttershy, for example in Bird in the Hoof when he shoves her out the door because she's running late. This version of Angel veers a lot closer to domestic abuse, which isn't cool.

[Gamerlord]

Season two it seems...
Does the MLP crew seem to really want hour shows? It seems like a common complaint is 'rushed', and the creator commentary says a lot about things that got cut already.

I think 45 minutes for an Aesop based slice of life comedy is a bit overkill. Though I do agree it feels like the show should be a bit longer, just not 45 minutes.

I heard an interesting theory:

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So it's probably crossed your minds that this might actually be the episode which shows how Fluttershy learnt to use the stare. It would explain why she didn't use it initially to get Angel to eat his goddamn salad.

...but what if it took place even earlier than that? This is also the one episode other than Sisterhooves Social which did not feature Twilight Sparkle. What if this episode actually took place before the series pilot? Before Nightmare Moon escaped from the moon and before Twilight had even met her friends in Ponyville?

Just one flaw in that theory....

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Why is she writing a friendship report at the end?

[Jahkaivah]

I heard an interesting theory:

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So it's probably crossed your minds that this might actually be the episode which shows how Fluttershy learnt to use the stare. It would explain why she didn't use it initially to get Angel to eat his goddamn salad.

...but what if it took place even earlier than that? This is also the one episode other than Sisterhooves Social which did not feature Twilight Sparkle. What if this episode actually took place before the series pilot? Before Nightmare Moon escaped from the moon and before Twilight had even met her friends in Ponyville?

(Edit: Actually scratch that, the letter to Princess Celestia at the end kind of ruins it.)

[Anarion]

ep

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I think Fluttershy just did. It seems Angel is closer to an adoption than a pet. At the end she did a stare to get him to eat his greens already, because there's no cloud of smoke to point out this time.

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Yeah I agree with this. Angel seems quite vulnerable tot he stare and simply takes advantage of the fact that Fluttershy most often is fine with trying to please him. If we wanted him put in his place, the best setup would probably be to have Twilight or RD care for him for a while and have them just totally fail at doing what he wants (even if they try) so that he appreciates Fluttershy more.

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The Angel thing at the beginning was a little too mean to be funny. Sure, Angel's a jerk a lot of the time, but before this episode he was a jerk who also seemed to care a lot about Fluttershy, for example in Bird in the Hoof when he shoves her out the door because she's running late. This version of Angel veers a lot closer to domestic abuse, which isn't cool.

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Yeah, the comments on the livestream when angel slapped Fluttershy to make the salad were indicative of the domestic abuse angle. I hope that any parents of little girls watching this took some time to talk about what was going on there, or alternatively that it went over people's heads entirely because it's seriously not okay to go around slapping people when they don't do as you ask right away.

I think 45 minutes for an Aesop based slice of life comedy is a bit overkill. Though I do agree it feels like the show should be a bit longer, just not 45 minutes.

Hour-long sitcoms would definitely change the dynamic. We've seen them do two-parters now with both the premiere and the Discord episodes and they certainly felt like longer stories (although many people have said that Discord would have been better as three episodes).

The question here is whether it's worth having that much time for normal episodes. I imagine that 1/4-1/3 of an hour episode would simply be additional antics and sight gags like we've seen from Pinkie Pie throughout the series, and the actual story extension would be in the 7-10 minute range, mostly focused on longer build-up to solving the major problem. It's arguable whether most of us would appreciate that extra time, as I could easily see it dragging.

Discussion applied to today's episode

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I don't think they needed more time today, so much as they allocated their time poorly. We saw both Pinkie Pie and Rarity demonstrate their versions of being persuasive, then Fluttershy tried and failed, then we watched both of them do their full routine (even the bugs bunny gag) again with Iron Will. That's probably one too many repetitions, when that time could instead have been dedicated to making Fluttershy's epiphany more organic and less rushed.

[PhantomFox]

Episode discussion

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I found Fluttershy's behavior rather believable, under once principle: She tends to take EVERYTHING to extremes.
She doesn't like to make others upset with her, so she becomes a whimpering coward. When convinced that she has a problem, she starts drifting to a proper balance, but the success and freedom that being assertive goes to her head, and she flies to the other end of the spectrum anticipating that greater levels of 'assertiveness' will make her happier.
She finds this newfound freedom so exhilarating, that she doesn't want to go back, and lashes out at her friends when they tell her that she's gone TOO far. When she realizes what she's done though, again, she flies straight back to a THIRD extreme of that she's an awful monster that must be locked up and proceeds to barricade herself from society.

[AlterForm]

S2:E19: Put Your Hoof Down

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Well written and mature, while also preserving the theme of friendship at the core of the show. (Although, reading over responses so far, I'm in a bit of a minority of liking it)

The lesson at the end is something really important to being a functioning member of society. Finding that balance between aggression and passivity where you can get your way and (as much as possible) let others get theirs is a great skill to have. I especially liked how the last scene with Iron Will demonstrates how two people can disagree over something, have one technically "win" in the end, and then both walk away at least satisfied with having gotten something out of the conflict.

My only wish is that they had gone back to Pinkie's and Rarity advice earlier in the show and at least made it more obvious that that wasn't proper behavior either -- they weren't being assertive, they were being manipulative. I guarantee you they wound up on those other ponies' blacklists (well, nerd!pony notsomuch maybe, but tomato!pony for sure). Cherry!stallion was, perhaps, justifiable from a strict supply-demand perspective (seriously, fluttershy, play it closer to the vest ).

[Tiki Snakes]

S2:E19: Put Your Hoof Down

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Well written and mature, while also preserving the theme of friendship at the core of the show. (Although, reading over responses so far, I'm in a bit of a minority of liking it)

Episode Stuff

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Not a bad minority, though, so far.

I liked it. Some thoughts;
Angel Bunny is not a pony, he acts like a child or a pet (because he basically is). Fluttershy's unnassertiveness had gotten so bad that he was starting to act up. It's not suprising, or a major derail. He doesn't need taking down a peg, just a bit of structure and discipline. Part of the reason Fluttershy realised she needed to become more assertive was that she wasn't even able to keep her pets disciplined properly. If she hadn't done something, she'd have been left trying to look after teenagerish bunnies and morbidly obese mice.

And as for why Fluttershy's change was so dramatic, well.
It's worth remembering that effectively she was just doing what Iron Will told her to and following his example just like she did with Rarity and Pinkie.
She was even a doormat about not being a doormat!

She only solved the issue when she managed to figure out how to be assertive without stopping being herself (Which I don't think she really believed was possible until her friends showed up to check on her.)

[PrinceAquilaDei]

New episode:

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Anarion is right about surrounding gags and such being effective and well used, but I wasn't a big fan outside of that. Not only Flutters but Ponyville in its entirety felt out of character here.

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Alternate theory: pony technology is advancing at breakneck speed. Super computers and AI by season 3 or bust.

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I'm going to believe this until proven otherwise.

S2:E19: Put Your Hoof Down

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Cherry!stallion was, perhaps, justifiable from a strict supply-demand perspective (seriously, fluttershy, play it closer to the vest ).

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I cannot disagree harder. I wanted to punch him in the marketing.

And on a non-spoiler note, me and my friends derpin'.

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[MCerberus]

A hypothetical (ep)

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Having earlier broken a Pinkie promise and ticked off Fluttersertive, you are now fleeing from tardy!twilight who wants you for an experiment. You run into a situation where you can either go one way and Pinkie will find you, another and Fluttershy will, or you can be hauled off by Twilight.

What do you do?