She's not good at doing stuff without TK

Celestia, putting up lights is a pain in the ass with hands, why are you trying to do it with hooves? Just use magic!

This seriously might be my new favorite episode. Dash has done a hell of a lot of growing up since early S2. I was totally expecting her to flunk out by...well, being Lightning Dust.

But instead she just kicked enough ass to not only make an awesome episode, but even more impressively, put forth the possibility of continuity actually sticking in a children's cartoon by landing squarely on the Bolts' yes-list.

edited 17th Dec '12 1:39:58 AM by Pykrete

It was definitely a solid episode.

I'm glad Cloudchaser was in it. I really like her mane.

Anyways it makes sense Dashie would be more of a stickler for safety. Last Season she broke her wing during stunt practice, and she got her wing squished by a boulder in an obstacle race gone wrong. Clearly she's learnt her lessons about being reckless

Character development!

Wonder why Flitter didn't join us if Cloudchaser came on in for the episode. Maybe she's just not as good a flier?

I like that it's careful Character Development, ie. rather than just converting her completely into a infallibly nice and rashional character, they snuck in an early Aesop mid way through the episode concerning her ego, showing some habits die hard. Same for the previous episode. She's still arrogant, childish Rainbow Dash, but it makes it all the more touching showing her good points come out through it.

I'm impressed how this season RD has gone from an arrogant Butt Monkey to actually one of the most balanced and complex of the ponies.

edited 17th Dec '12 1:42:41 AM by Psi001

Can't have every pegusus in Ponyville join the Academy. That would just be silly.

Anyways Dashie sleeps a lot because of her training. Gotta get her rest too.

Speaking of background ponies, I saw a few comments (not here) from bronies who were pissed that Derpy didn't get a cameo this episode. As much as I'd like more appearances from the wall-eyed pegasus, I'm honestly glad she wasn't in this one. She's too much of a klutz to be in the Equestrian Air Force—if she had been shoehorned into this episode, it would have raised all kinds of questions.

Derpy wouldn't have fitted except as a mailmare in the episode anyways.

I'm more sad Sibsy had her BG role in the episode replaced by Flower Shine.

Yeah, that was what made it so awesome. She wasn't perfect — she still had those habits, but she stopped herself and did better without needing a moral shoved in her face first, and would've slept just fine at night even if she didn't get rewarded for it.

edited 17th Dec '12 1:51:47 AM by Pykrete

This is a random theory, but after watching this episode, does anyone feel that AJ and RD should have had their elements switched?

RD is the nearest to an personified id of the group, she's most likely to say or act how she feels, in other words, she has Brutal Honesty. This came in handy twice in the current episode, when she immediately argues with Spitfire rather bluntly about her directions, the first gets her ego put in check and helps her learn to cooperate with others, while the other puts Spitfire in check and makes her realise an error in her training methods.

AJ on the other hand is arguably the most altruistic of the group, she often borders as The Lancer for Twilight and is shown to be very close knit to her family and friends. She is most frequently handy as the Team Mom of the group while most of her flawed moments are actually with selfless intent, but exasperated by her overzeal (eg. her Knight Templar Big Sister role in Bridle Gossip, or her immense fear of letting someone down in AS and TLR). Basically she's loyal to a fault.

They actually seem to better represent the other's elements better than their own. As said RD is often swayed the easiest by selfish opportunities, and while she does usually come through in the end, her sense of loyalty doesn't come off much more exceptional from the others (it's not as if any other pony really would have failed the Friend or Idol Decision in the pilot). Meanwhile, the odd Bad Liar joke aside, AJ's honesty doesn't seem that defining. She's not that much more blunt than the other ponies and, while not outright lying, is actually often more capable of sugar coating her feelings in an approachable manner than others.

edited 17th Dec '12 2:04:18 AM by Psi001

Nah, the two of them just have a lot of overlap. Dashie is better at bluffing anyways.

Yeah, while Derpy in this episode would have had plenty of opportunities for funny background events, it would have been too weird that somepony as klutzy as her was able to make it it. As is there were already a bunch of ponies there that made me question how strict the Wonderbolts criteria is.

I admit they have a lot of Not so Different aspects, especially in Season One, but still, their links to their elements seem the least developed out of the mane six, compared to their links to each others' which actually seem more plausible in both a negative and positive sense.

edited 17th Dec '12 2:06:27 AM by Psi001

I think it's pretty clear by this point that canon Derpy isn't a mailmare. Every time the show has featured a postal worker, it's been some other pony. And all those canon mailponies wore a blue uniform, which Derpy has yet to wear.

Which means that, during her cameo in "Thinking Pinkie Keen", she was probably working for a moving company, rather than the postal service.

No, you're not the first. The Friendship is Witchcraft folks had a running gag centered on this in their episode "Dragone Baby Gone": almost of AJ and RD's dialogue is meant to sound like their elements were swapped at the very last minute of production, and the voices were badly dubbed over to reflect the change.

re: Pinkie hugging Dashie

Also, Dashie for Wonderbolts Branch Leader (Ponyville)!

edited 17th Dec '12 2:10:50 AM by AceOfScarabs

So we could have had that poor mailpony getting his chain janked again?

Wow, it's a common theory (makes sense, it was too clever for me to think up). This episode (where RD's blunt honesty comes in handy) only exacerbates it.

edited 17th Dec '12 2:12:54 AM by Psi001

She also displays Loyalty towards her cause :V

As said though, RD's loyalty is usually displayed for very blatant causes, eg. not wanting her friends to get killed, which are obvious enough for any of the six to stick by. Out of the mane cast she actually likely the most likely to desert her friends for selfish reasons (eg. spearheading the Flim Flam's for having cider, until they prove to be blatant Jerkasses). Similarly AJ is honest, but not it's not as much of a Chekov's Gun as it turned out to be for RD in this instance for example and her loyalty is more a defining drive for her personality.

edited 17th Dec '12 2:17:53 AM by Psi001

Well, she is Loyal where it counts.

As said though, so are the other five. Same with AJ concerning her honesty.

edited 17th Dec '12 2:18:47 AM by Psi001

AJ gets extra-guilty about lying moreso than the others apart from Pinkie.