Yeah that's what I thought. Training and technique.

How powerful was Dash's tornado again?

@Apple Powerful enough to suck and hold parasprites in formation.

So I wonder if natrual disasters like tornados and heatwaves and hurricanes can be made in the Cloudsdale weather factory?

I know they'd never need to, but I wonder if they could. It could make for a decent weapon if used right

edited 22nd Feb '12 6:07:12 PM by gingerninja666

@ginger I suppose. But if 2 pegasus groups ever went to war, they could probably just disassemble each other's weather patterns before they did too much damage.

@ Sky

Ah yes it's coming back to me now.

EDIT: The Pegasi tribe used powerful weather formations as their artillery grade assets.

edited 22nd Feb '12 6:10:20 PM by ApplelightLimited

After such a long era of peace, the creation of such weather is officially banned.

edited 22nd Feb '12 6:08:43 PM by Mio

I meant against non-pegasi.

I'm just curious as to the procedures involved

edited 22nd Feb '12 6:10:04 PM by gingerninja666

@ginger Unicorns would probably use some sort of defensive magic, and earth ponies would be strong enough to simply withstand the weather.

Oh, procedures? I assume they just make a normal storm/blizzard/etc. and add a lot more ingredients. More clouds, more wind, etc.

edited 22nd Feb '12 6:10:46 PM by SkyStrike

So I know I'm really late on this, but I want to note my thoughts on A Friend In Deed (I only saw it yesterday).

I really wasn't expecting much from the episode, since it focused on Pinkie, but oddly enough it has turned out to be one of my favorite episodes of Season 2. And to be honest, though it feels weird to say, I think it may have turned me around on the subject of Pinkie. Honestly, she didn't annoy me at all in this episode (well, the random face-exercising was very wtf). I actually found her hilarious. I think the difference is two-fold: 1) she got paired up with a very awesome Straight Man (Cranky is great and I hope he returns from time to time, I thinkif he should have roughly the same amount of screen-time as Zecora). 2) The humor wasn't derived from the usual "she's wacky!" fare, but from the fact that her weirdness was actually obnoxious. Pinkie basically got turned Up to Eleven in this episode and somehow or another I actually enjoyed it.

The songs I don't normally care for much, but Smile Smile Smile was very well done and I can sort of appreciate it aesthetically at least, though I think the non-sequiter comments Pinkie peppered throughout the early part of the song actually dragged it down quite a bit. When she stopped doing that the song really took off.

Apparently people had a problem with the resolution, right? I'm gonna have to disagree, I thought it was very well done. For one thing, the Matilda plot was handled with considerable more subtlety than I expect from FIM, since most of the time everything is spelled out really obviously and therefore easy to see coming from a mile away. I really appreciate subtle storytelling and I hope they continue to improve in that regard. Also I heard people were irritated that Cranky decided to be her friend in the end, but really, just think about the situation: he had just been reunited with his lost love whom he'd spent years searching for. He was flying high, probably happier than he'd been in years, it's completely reasonable for him to suddenly decide Pinkie was alright. Now, he'll probably go back to finding her somewhat annoying later on but the thing that was really bugging him was her persistence, which shouldn't be a problem now that they're officially friends.

Anyway, late to the party I know, but this is the first episode I've seen since I caught up to the show that I really felt like writing about, so I wanted to get that out.

The use of weather systems during wartime was banned under the Geneighva Convention.

edited 22nd Feb '12 6:12:57 PM by Drenius

Thread hop hypothesis: Fluttershy's friends start demanding too much of her, but she can't bring herself to say "no". So she goes to Iron Will to teach her to be more assertive, and it actually works. She manages to, as the title goes, put her hoof down, without retreating to her usual "...I mean, if that's okay with you". On the other hand, she goes a little too far, not quite to the Fluttersnark levels we saw with Discord, but still selfishly snubbing people off. To the point where even Angel, of all things, looks like the nice one in comparison. Fluttershy finds herself alone, not because she's kept away from most ponies out of her usual shyness, but because no one seems to want to be around her anymore. Or they just don't know how to deal with the new Fluttershy. Even her closest friends. Even her animal friends are starting to shy away from her. But not Angel. He*

(I'm assuming Angel is a "he"?)

stays by Fluttershy's side to comfort her as she wonders what the right thing to do is. Then Rainbow Dash comes by to "check up" on her. Pegasi gotta stick together, and all. She explains that she's all for being assertive, but that Fluttershy crossed a line into just being plain rude. "I should know", she says with a knowing look. So Fluttershy spends the rest of the afternoon apologizing to everyone, and fortunately, they're quick to forgive. And the episode ends with a letter to the princess about not losing yourself in the process of self-improvement.

edited 22nd Feb '12 6:13:57 PM by KylerThatch

Japanese people watching American cultural exports. Always good for a laugh.

Chancellor Pudding...mina?

@Kyler and Blue

Aw man, 2 big posts. I'm compelled to read, but by the time I finish, the thread'll have gained 3 pages.

Big Mac doing jumping jacks.

edited 22nd Feb '12 6:14:36 PM by SkyStrike

Glad you liked it too Bluespade!

I wonder if earthquakes exist in Equestria...

@Kyler: That sounds like a rather good guess, but I hope it doesn't happen. We've had enough of episodes where the focus character turns into a jerk in order to learn a lesson. I can do without another one.

Also, you guys sure are negative on the subject of anime! I despise Moe shows myself but there are good anime out there, animefying MLP wouldn't automatically be bad.

All part of the plan.

edited 22nd Feb '12 6:16:25 PM by Bluespade

@ Sky

That's it!

the tectonic plates are moved by massive teams of E Ps...

No it wouldn't necessarily be bad, but I just don't have a lot of confidence in the anime industry these days.

edited 22nd Feb '12 6:19:31 PM by Mio

Yeah... I once saw an interview with Bonnie Zacherle where I think she said her original idea was in fact the "little" pony design that was more gender-neutral, with realistic colors, but the bosses thought a large toy with motion gimmicks would sell better at first, and then they forced it into being a girls' toy line full of pink and purple.

Well, I don't necessarily dislike anime, it's just Powerpuff Girls Z was pretty much rubbish.

@Blue The main thing that annoyed me was that Pinkie didn't learn that she can't make friends with everyone, she just learned that if being hyper doesn't work, then you can win them over by being quiet instead. She didn't comprehend the reason behind why Cranky thought she was annoying (not really, otherwise she wouldn't have acted lik she di-

y'know what? Forget it. I'm shit at getting my point across anyway.

I actually teared up reading your post, Blue.

I felt betrayed

Then again, because of my paranoia, I always feel betrayed.

I heard good things about it.

edited 22nd Feb '12 6:19:08 PM by LMage

We need to ponify Bonnie for laying the foundations of our modern ponies.

Who the what now?

I don't even remember her being quiet.

Yeah, pretty much, she didn't even learn that, she only said she did.