@Heroshep: Unlikely, barring further evidence.

edited 15th Dec '12 8:33:02 AM by KylerThatch

Pinkie how did you get in the pool this time...?

@Hourai: Here.

edited 15th Dec '12 8:32:38 AM by AceOfScarabs

do you think Flower Shine And Blossom Forth are sisters?

Well, they are now.

Now I'm thinking of a reason why Orion is training in the WB academy. I've never defined him as a serious flier.

Maybe he was, he just thought it was too embarassing to admit for some reason.

And here are my opinions on it:

I watched it and liked it pretty much, although it's not necessarily a big favorite of mine, either. Rainbow Dash did a great job at showing how she embodies her Element of Loyalty, though. It also shows an improvement over her behavior from the first episode written by the same writer (Mare-do-well) where this time, she dropped everything she was doing to rescue ponies falling from a balloon crash. I bet Steve is going to LOVE Spitfire in this story, since he loves making everything military-related.

I thought that it was either ironic or fitting that an episode that featured a running gag of someone being impatient for something to arrive was leaked early, And on that topic, I highly identified with Pinkie's constant checking the mailbox. That's how I get, only exaggerated, when I'm impatient for something to arrive or for information to appear on a website. I also was going to say that earlier in the thread, storyyeller said something like "What if there was a story where Pinkie had to wait for something?" This episode answers that question.

edited 15th Dec '12 8:34:41 AM by Rainbow

@Seraphem: Honestly, I don't think it was. Like Enlong said, she didn't do anything overtly jerkish until she crashed the rest of the group during the precision flying exercise. The only jerky thing she did before that was cause RD to clip her wing, and that's minor enough that it really isn't that bad. Sure, she didn't have much sympathy, but honestly in the sports world you're kind of expected to be able to power through that kind of thing. Like how football players will sometimes dislocate a finger, pop it back into place and get back on the field.

She didn't do anything jerkish during the 500 laps or during the recovery exercise, and she was actually pretty good about not lording her "leader" position of Dash when they ended up being partners.

edited 15th Dec '12 8:36:47 AM by JapaneseTeeth

@Ace: Seems legit. Collar badge is probably a skill designator since that's where branch insignia usually goes.

@Colin: Maybe he's taking a supplementary training course for something or other, or he won a contest of some kind and got a week at the academy.

Oh yeah, I just remembered.

Clouds can apparently be compressed into a solid cushion. Enough to support non-pegasi.

Also, I love how Fluttershy momentarily forgets she can fly.

So, what was Spitfire's cutie mark?

All that fanart of Stupid Sexy Spitfire with a flaming lightning bolt cutie mark...Jossed! *sniff*

@Hourai: If her lapel badge is the Wonderbolts unit/branch badge, then her chest badge is an award for something or other, mayhap a performance commendation.

@Syd: Just shop in her real cutie mark :V Or she posed with a different cutie mark to make ponies think it was a model impersonating her.

edited 15th Dec '12 8:37:47 AM by AceOfScarabs

@Syd: here.

It was hard to get a good look, but it looked like a pillar of fire.

or a set of flaming wings

edited 15th Dec '12 8:37:48 AM by Seraphem

New meme that's an Academy record

@kegi: I truly believe that Rainbow was made wingpony to teach her more teamwork and also to serve as a motivator — so that she would push herself even harder. I also think it makes sense that the wingpony would be the better flier of the two. It's similar with sniper teams; the spotter is generally the better sniper of the two since he has to call distance, corrections, and so on.

Or, everyone in the balloon had the cloud-walking spell from Sonic Rainboom on them. Considering they were making a trip to a cloud-structure, I would not be surprised.

According to the recap page it's apparently a Phoenix.

RD should have earned herself some of those commendation badges by now.

Anyways, I think I'm going to tuck in for the night.

@Rainbow: Actually on that note, (The military one), I've already seen the first round of hate for this episode. What it seems to come down to is,

1: Raindbow Dash should have been accepted outright because the Sonic Rainboom.

2: Spitfire was out of character, because she was meaner than she'd been in other episodes.

This tells me two things about the haters of the episode, which are,

1: they do not understand how Team Sports work.

2: They do not understand how training, especially pseudo-military training works.

So, is Spitfire now just a terrible person? I haven't seen the episode yet, but I'm okay with broad spoilers.

This◊ is Spitfire's CM. It's either a really cool flame design, or a stylized phoenix, not sure. Either way, it's pretty badass.

EDIT:JT has a much better picture. Looks like a phoenix to me.

She plays the role of Drill Instructor here, so she has to be a hardass.

edited 15th Dec '12 8:40:08 AM by PerpetualLurker

@Enlong: Yeah, I said that on Wednesday in the Spoiler thread.

@Red: Nah, it's just her WAR FACE when being a hardass Instructor; apologies to any donkies in the audience.

Synchronization!

edited 15th Dec '12 8:39:38 AM by AceOfScarabs

@ JT: Thanks!

@Ace not necessarily as the Blue Angels/Thunderbirds are a unit in their own right. The collar wings might just be aviator wings or something of that nature, to identify her as a qualified flier under extreme conditions.