I like Braeburn. I hope he shows up again to make more faces.

edited 26th Mar '11 7:49:47 AM by StarOutlaw

Is it just me, or is screen time together alone a sad justification for shipping? I think that's more people projecting their own desires on to the show rather than actually drawing on anything in canon. But as long as we're talking about that, anyone notice how Fluttershy jumped on Pinkie the moment she saw her?

On a more serious note, this episode was pretty good. I'm constantly impressed at where Lauren Faust is taking this show. This episode in particular amazed me because it actually tackled subjects of serious weight. They’re actually dealing with factional politics and differing cultural practices. Foreign interests infringing on the customs of native peoples in a sovereign land.

I have to again ask if it's just me, or do the two sides and the dispute they are involved with in this episode resemble the Arab-Israeli conflict? A people who have a stake to their native land are having settlements built on it by a more advanced foreign power who both has legitimate need of it and is already established in that area at the time the issue is brought up. I wonder how long it will be before the Buffalos start launching rockets in to Equestrian towns.

Overly serious analysis go! (Seriously, this episode seems more worthy of it than the rest have been, actually concerning politics that resemble many real-life situations)

As for the technological state of Equestria, I think we can assume that this frontier area is lacking in the most up-to-date stuff which would justify many of the things we see in this episode. Is that a gas lamp on the train at the beginning of the episode?

edited 26th Mar '11 8:09:45 AM by Gault

A lot of of shipping is pure this.

As long as we're talking about it, for a brief moment it almost looked like there was a shippy moment between Strong Heart and Braeburn (when they first meet and are trying to negotiate peacefully, but Dash and Jack screw it up). It probably wasn't intended to look that way though. This show really doesn't need shipping.

Anyway, I liked this episode, and I liked that we got to see them in a very different setting from what we're used to. I noticed that all the Appleloosans were Earth Ponies, and there seemed to be a lot more male ponies there. We need to add salt as a G-Rated Drug.

Also, about the train, my guess is that the pony conductors aren't pulling the engine, they're just running ahead of it and controlling it that way, though why they do that instead of just riding it and operating it normally I don't know.

Sometimes, shippers don't even need a reason. Sometimes, they don't even need reason at all.

^^^ Well, they don't seem to have electricity as a utility*

^{(since, strictly speaking, lightning is electricity)}

, so stuff like gas lamps are to be expected.

^ If you can call that "shippy". They only seem to agree to negotiate, anything more is extrapolation.

edited 26th Mar '11 8:32:52 AM by KylerThatch

Almost Burlesque Pinkie Pie!

Internet works fast.

edited 26th Mar '11 8:48:17 AM by IanExMachina

Are there any still alive streams or downloads for the latest episode?

Plenty. Just hit up a search on youtube or something.

Simply existing is justification for shipping.

Observe:

Joan of Arc...

...With Nikola Tesla!

C'mon. You know that this is the coolest ship *ever*.

It also sounds like an awesome plot...

edited 26th Mar '11 10:12:10 AM by TheMightyAnonym

As ponies? But I thought only the doctor was ever a pony! D:<

If they were ponies, shipping them would be even better, yes.

Life would be so much easier if I could pay rent in pies.

@Gualt: If you're referring to the 'Rainbow dash and Pinkie Pie' ship, I think it may have some weight to it, inasmuch as any ship can hold water in a kids show. After all, as soon as the light were out, who did dash go looking for? Okay, sure, she had concerns about the tree, but why go to pinkie with your concerns first?

Also, while It's not inaccurate to say it somewhat resembles the Arab-Israeli conflict, I think it was more made to resemble the frontier issues with the Mojave tribes?

Actually, the electricity question on it's own is an interesting one. In winter wrap-up, Twilights house is instantly illuminated, along with an audible click - clearly the result of a lightswitch. The tech in her basement means that the library, at least, has electricity, but that may be the only time that we've actually seen electricity in the show so far. Was it magic? Is it a new technology put in public buildings?

^Uhm, dash wasn't looking for Pinkie pie, she was looking for the buffalo girl. In fact, Dash was ticked that Pinkie was there because she was blowing her cover.

kegisak is talking about the "Fluttershy's a tree" conversation on the train. The moment the lights were out, Rainbow Dash started talking to Pinkie Pie.

No, I meant in the train. After Spike and Rarity flipped on the rest of the group for talking too much, and they turn the lights out, Dash immediately asks Pinkie if she's awake.

• EDIT* Nevermind, ninja'd.

edited 26th Mar '11 1:47:57 PM by kegisak

oh gotcha. ok!

About the shipping:

When Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie came back just as the other ponies were gonna head out to find them, if I remember correctly Fluttershy jumped straight for Pinkie Pie as she was so glad to see her.

Everypony Is Gay For Pinkie Pie ?

Pinkie pie the saloon-girl!?

EDIT: Also, the chief reminds me of the Arishok somehow.

edited 26th Mar '11 3:32:13 PM by Arilou

Hilarious episode, really loved the puns, I even loved it more that the war could've been dealt with peaceably if Pinkie Pie didn't start singing and dancing again. Brilliant.

But Pie in the face as a form of ammo? Really? Even Twilight Sparkle's face seemed to be devastated... By how silly that seemed.

Hmm. This episode involved someone crashing into an anvil. The writer's previous episode, "Feeling Pinkie Keen, " had an anvil fall on someone's head.

I wonder if this writer is going to have an anvil gag in every episode.

Hey, ACME needs to be kept in business!

Magic user: check. Purple: check. Lives in a library: check. Likes organization and studying: check. Reclusive: (sort of) check.

Patchouli Knowledge is Twilight Sparkle◊

That's sorta funny, actually, I'd never of realized they were written by the same guy until you pointed it out. Pinkie keen was so slapstick heavy, and this one was really reliant on verbal humor.

I wonder if the other writers have a 'style' joke, like the anvils?

^^So I'm not that alone in thinking that...