S02E25 & 26: A Canterlot Wedding [SEASON FINALE]

[Crow.Why, of course!I'm clearly insane! .]

What I love about that fight is how much mileage they got out of the gimmick. It's gag after gag after clever idea after gag.

Twi gets several badass moments. I've only watched that scene twice, but I swear she grabs someone's head and knees them in the face. Then there's the part where she picks AJ up and floats her to herself, presumably for an up-close beatdown while her opponent is helpless and upside down. My Little Pony is fucking brutal.

I suspect most of you have seen this floating around:

[Highbrow DashAJ, Rarity! What's happening?]

So's Luna.

She's just listening to her ipod.

That's trying too hard. All you really need is a video of the "I'm sorry/You will be" scene followed by MY LITTLE PONY MY LITTLE PONY, LALALALA

[Doctor Wheeze]

I suspect most of you have seen this floating around:

I'd add "weaponry" or maybe "artillery" with the shot of Pinkie unloading the party cannon into some fool's face.

[numsOic]

Calling a changeling invasion "international conflict" is kind of stretching it...

[Wayoshi]

That's trying too hard. All you really need is a video of the "I'm sorry/You will be" scene followed by MY LITTLE PONY MY LITTLE PONY, LALALALA

And that pretty much happened live! Pony hell scene, TBC sign, upbeat theme music!

[Highbrow DashAJ, Rarity! What's happening?]

And that pretty much happened live! Pony hell scene, TBC sign, upbeat theme music!

Holy shit, that's perfect.

[The DoctorTurner Of All Things Timey Wimey]

And that pretty much happened live! Pony hell scene, TBC sign, upbeat theme music!

Pony hell is a real place. Where you will be sent at the first sign of defiance.

Holy shit, that's perfect.

I still think it would have been amazing if that was the season finale and we had to wait 4 months.

[kefkafloyd]

Oh hey, my reaction post is up.

(I knew I shouldn't have eaten that cake)

Why is this link broken for me?

Okay, this is now up. Note to self: Never work on drafts in the morning after waking up, lest you hit the "publish" instead of "update draft" button.

[SlateSlabrock]

Green magic is just as good as any other colour.
What? Next you gonna say how lousy Yellow is?

Green Lantern: Not allowed in Equestria.

[Coyote]

Holy shit, that's perfect.

the combinations of both things never gets old for me
I know its supposed to be like an "oh shit" moment but the theme song appearing after that just cracks me up every time


twilight is sent to pony hell
silence and a black screen and then
tralalala

[Stuff]

Holy shit, that's perfect.

Interesting how this video has a much higher amount of dislikes compared to the other ones out there.

[numsOic]

Oh hey, my reaction post is up.

Reposting this because holy shit this is long. This is the Headless Horse we know.

[Whitenoise PosterI am going to eat this entire oak tree because I am a powerful wizard!]

I suspect most of you have seen this floating around:

The other one of these for an older episode worked a lot better.

[stonecutterOne-trick Pony]

You know, Flim and Flam's magic is green. They won't be able to give away their cider now.

And every other unicorn whose magic is green will be looked at with suspicion and driven out of town...and then the snow and Windigoes return.

[RagnarWhat's older? Unicorns, or stars?]

This was in Headless's article. I love that shot so much.

[The DoctorTurner Of All Things Timey Wimey]

Her crown is so wonderfully creepy.

[Headless Horse]

Reposting this because holy shit this is long. This is the Headless Horse we know.

Holy hell, Kefka. That shit cleans up nice.

Thanks!

[Doctor Wheeze]

Her crown is so wonderfully creepy.

I think it's jaunty

[DrSoul]

Has anyone got a cut down clip of the whole "I'm sorry" "You will be" thing?
It would be funny to share that I figure.

Oh god, something just crawled in my head, that spell just now reminded me of Karazhan...Twi will not move when flame wreath is cast or the raid blows up.

[kefkafloyd]

Holy hell, Kefka. That shit cleans up nice.

Thanks!

I just followed your brilliant design!

[stonecutterOne-trick Pony]

Her crown is so wonderfully creepy.

It's actually a wart-like growth.

[AramekYour MRI results have shown total infection to now be approximately one fifth of the full mass of the tissue."So you're saying..."Your brain is about 20% tumor.]

It's a fungus. Cave fungus.

[okan170Adorability torpedoes ready sir!]

It's a fungus. Cave fungus.

...like a magical cave fungus?

I'm not ashamed to admit that I've been looking forward to this writeup since the episode ended. It does not disappoint at all! Though this may be a situation where Headless is held to a higher and higher standard until one of his posts eventually is able to somehow influence the creation of pony lore.

[itinerant nomadSurprise Pedantry!]

By the way, on the subject of the increase in hoofhands and human poses as Season 2 has progressed (this was discussed in the Season 2 Thoughts thread), it sort of feels like they're conscious of it and they're trying to balance it out with more equine mannerisms and gags. Twilight's indignant snort at the beginning, for example.

More human and more pony. I can be happy with that.

One possible explanation for the rise in hoofhanding is that the characters has been tasked with performing more complex actions than in season one, and that leads to more gags and jokes that put pressure on fudging things a little.

It's not all downhill.
In this season, Applejack was allowed to correct two examples of hoofhands from season one. The somewhat lesser problem was the creation of mugs with hoof-sized handles.
The most egregious problem was Applejack's wolverine claws method of toasting marshmallows in "Look Before You Sleep", which was changed to holding a single stick with a bent foreleg in "Sisterhooves Social".

I still think Twi not having her cutie mark with foalsitter Cadance is a bit . It's probably just me preferring that Twilight have normal beginnings (as normal as Canterlot origins can get). Or maybe Cadance was so good she foalsitted the majority of the foals in Canterlot. You can't go wrong with booty shaking.

Maybe Cadance was originally meant to be more ordinary when that scene was first conceived, and it remained mostly unchanged even when she became an alicorn associated with Celestia.
That being said, such an early connection does provide a reason why Celestia knew Twilight's name the day the unicorn got her cutie mark, assuming she didn't take the time to read the lecture hall's meeting schedule before stopping the magical rampage.

[Wayoshi]

Enjoying Headless's long post right now

I noticed the muffled talking live and liked it enough for even having applicable words, but taking a peek at the transcript... that's pretty good. You get Cadance saying "it's your sister..." and SA responding "she's okay", interrupting "I --- ", all within like 2 seconds of each other. I don't want the voice mixer / director / whoever to quit this show, OK?

I’m not sure what that twinkle in the real Cadence’s eyes is supposed to be. It reflects something similar in the darkness as Evil Cadence retreats into the shadows, but I’m unsure what to read from it. It feels as though it’s trying to evoke the “spark” from the show’s very first epic boss battle, but I’m not at all sure how to interpret it.

About the only thing I've come up with is the perfunctory "light is coming from somewhere, so there must be a way out" explanation. I feel like there's something there that perhaps was lost in translation there or unfinished. It's not like Chrysalis and Cadance share any traits...

E: Or maybe as Chrysalis basically runs off after Cadance is freed, we see the spark, Cadance's eyes are still weary, then the spark in her eyes, then her eyes are wide open, perhaps feeling an opportunity with Twilight to finally break ground as time is running out.

[Grilox]

This was in Headless's article. I love that shot so much.

This shot looks adorable to me, rather than creepy and villainous.

(Her "Crown" always looked like an herbal sprig of some sort to me, as well.)

[Opposing FarceDon't you smile at my faceSpit on my backDo you kiss your mother with a mouth like that?]

About the only thing I've come up with is the perfunctory "light is coming from somewhere, so there must be a way out" explanation.

The spark shows up again a little bit later, towards the end of their escape when they see the exit, so I'm pretty sure that's what it's supposed to be. Cadance is catching a glimpse of sunlight off in the distance and realizing that's how they're going to get out.

[RagnarWhat's older? Unicorns, or stars?]

This shot looks adorable to me, rather than creepy and villainous.

I know, right? The character with the most legitimately frightening character design gets the cutest intro shot.

It's also pretty awesome. I like that they went ahead and used black there, trusting that the bold color palate and, I don't know the word, the way they ignore detail in favor of the essential elements like the shape of her horn and her wings and hair, would make her stick in our minds anyway. Pitch black is supposed to be generally a bad idea in visual media, isn't it?

[Opposing FarceDon't you smile at my faceSpit on my backDo you kiss your mother with a mouth like that?]

I know, right? The character with the most legitimately frightening character design gets the cutest intro shot.

I think it's the lack of mouth. There's something disarmingly cartoony about her empty face and big ol' eyes.

[OmniponyWelcome to Good Burgeryou son of a bitch.]

Somebody asked for this?

Click here to view video.

[Headless Horse]

It's also pretty awesome. I like that they went ahead and used black there, trusting that the bold color palate and, I don't know the word, the way they ignore detail in favor of the essential elements like the shape of her horn and her wings and hair, would make her stick in our minds anyway. Pitch black is supposed to be generally a bad idea in visual media, isn't it?

It's never easy to handle properly. It's why Nightmare Moon had a lot of deep blue in her design; it's usually the best you can do to show contrasts and outlines when the main body color is black. Superman's hair in old comics always used blue for the same reason, though it was always just trying to suggest "black", never that his hair was actually blue.



It's a common enough shortcut in visual media that you're supposed to just read it as "black" when you see it; I always sort of assumed Nightmare Moon's design was supposed to suggest that she was pitch black all over, even her armor and hair, and the blue was supposed to be a readable shorthand. But they didn't use it for Chrysalis, which is a really interesting choice. Unless her mouth is open, it and other features just blend into the background of her body color.

I kinda think they might have been taking a cue or two from Aku, whose design didn't have any outlines at all.

[synthorangeLook at me, I'ma talking butt!]

Oh god some artists are drawing her crown as an antenna cluster! So horrible yet it makes sense!

[Highbrow DashAJ, Rarity! What's happening?]

Oh god some artists are drawing her crown as an antenna cluster! So horrible yet it makes sense!

This is what I thought it was when I watched the episode

[synthorangeLook at me, I'ma talking butt!]

Noooo, it's a cute crown at a jaunty angle.

[KronosGiver of Zero Bucks]

To be honest I didn't even notice the crown until after we see Celestia in the pod thing. I think the reason people are misinterpeting (intentionally or not) the crown as part of her body because it's mainly black like the rest of her with only blue orbs at the end. Maybe if they'd made it silver or something instead.

Although then again, she managed to hide the crown when she essentially shifted mass to masqurade as the smaller Candance...

[AramekYour MRI results have shown total infection to now be approximately one fifth of the full mass of the tissue."So you're saying..."Your brain is about 20% tumor.]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnguuuuuuuuuuuuuuuusssssssssssssssssssss.

[DrSoul]

Somebody asked for this?

Click here to view video.

Thanks man, that's perfect!

That scene is just so damn dark, still can't get over it.

[numsOic]

It's never easy to handle properly. It's why Nightmare Moon had a lot of deep blue in her design; it's usually the best you can do to show contrasts and outlines when the main body color is black. Superman's hair in old comics always used blue for the same reason, though it was always just trying to suggest "black", never that his hair was actually blue.



It's a common enough shortcut in visual media that you're supposed to just read it as "black" when you see it; I always sort of assumed Nightmare Moon's design was supposed to suggest that she was pitch black all over, even her armor and hair, and the blue was supposed to be a readable shorthand. But they didn't use it for Chrysalis, which is a really interesting choice. Unless her mouth is open, it and other features just blend into the background of her body color.

I kinda think they might have been taking a cue or two from Aku, whose design didn't have any outlines at all.

HOWEVER, the only time Chrysalis is fully pitch-black is in this specific shot.



Just seconds before with her legs, and after the first zoom-in on her face ends, she is actually dark gray with black outlines. NMM was black with purplish blue outlines, which is more in line with what you're saying.

[Headless Horse]

Yeah... the difficulty of reading a black outline on almost black body is why artists have to come up with NMM-style color schemes so often. It's an interesting choice they made here, exaggerating it for the character's entrance and then toning it down.

[numsOic]

The interesting thing is that the black fill with bright blue outline color scheme makes NMM seem more ethereal compared to the gray-black scheme of Chrysalis, who looks solid. The difference also probably has something to do with the fact that NMM appeared during the night, while Chrysalis is in plain daylight, so the palettes they have to contrast against are different.