S02E25 & 26: A Canterlot Wedding [SEASON FINALE]

[Headless Horse]

I kinda prefer to think Celestia had no ulterior motives at all for inviting the Mane 6: she literally just wanted them for the reasons she stated. Good baking, good party planning, good dress design, good bird conducting, good rainbooming, good spergin'.

It stands to reason that she'd want to have them on hand in light of the non-specific might-need-to-be-defeated-by-the-Elements threat, though. They're both plausible reasons.

Incidentally, I really love the bit in the intro where Twilight's all like "...I guess we are." Her voice all resigned and cracking. God I love the acting in this show.

E: Oh yeah, and the way filly Twilight stomps her hoof in frustration while trying to levitate the book. It goes by so quick, as a little throwaway piece of physical emoting while the main thing you're paying attention to is the lyrics, but it's just so full of character. She's always been the Twilight we know...

[JupiterDermatologists Hate Her!Local Apple discovers weird old trick]

I think Chrysalis's thought process was "Hmm, this Twilight looks like she's on to me, I'd better get in really good with her friends so they tell her how great I am and throw her off the trail." And it would have worked if Twi weren't the stubborn, always-thinks-she-knows-best dork that we all know and love!

[itinerant nomadSurprise Pedantry!]

It would have worked even then if Chrysalis had kept her mouth shut at the end of episode 25, or went further and accepted Twilight's apology.

Encasing Twilight in hellfire and banishing her into a subterranean prison was a pretty decent hint as to her suitability as a sister-in-law.

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

Every MLP villain's biggest weakness is overconfidence, but Chrysalis combines it with a terrible case of the stupids.

I still love Chrysalis. She's disappointing in some ways, though. For one thing, NMM and Discord were diabolical in a pretty literal sense. NMM was a straightforward Satan analogue, a fallen angel who got love-rayed to the moon back in the day and then lost again for the same reason later. Discord is a gleefully manipulative asshole who goes around offering people really bad deals that they always end up agreeing to anyway. He got beaten by the love ray.
But Chrysalis is a sort of wasp queen of the evil wasp fairies, and her interests are awfully, I don't know, biological? Practical? She's a jerk, but she's the normal kind that you might run into on any street corner. She's in Canterlot for food. NMM was bitter and profane, Discord was, well, Discord, and Chrysalis was... hungry? What? She got love-somethinged too, but she wasn't even worth the ray.

[Pocketis she just gonna go booty booty]

I like to think that changelings can eat physical food (a diet of nothing but stolen love strikes me as unsustainable), but love is like some sort of delicacy. It's like a greedy king discovering a foreign land populated by giant sapient lobsters and thinking, "Ka-CHING!"

[Herr Generalfabulous]

It's a little disturbing how Chrysalis just orders the changelings to feed, and we see them going after ponies. I mean, yeah, she states that Equestria has a LOT of love, but do they get it from the ponies themselves or just the atmosphere? It's not even really explained how she gets it from SA either.

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

It's a little disturbing how Chrysalis just orders the changelings to feed, and we see them going after ponies. I mean, yeah, she states that Equestria has a LOT of love, but do they get it from the ponies themselves or just the atmosphere? It's not even really explained how she gets it from SA either.

My headcanon is that the changelings are attacking as a kind of convoluted ploy to insert themselves into ponies' lives: strange invaders are on the loose, you get separated from your friends/loved ones, and when you find them again, boy are you glad! So glad you might not think to question why they're acting a little off and don't seem to remember things that they really should know.

[Daionus The 23rd:3]

I assumed that they were chasing down ponies and about to suck the love out like vampires.

[Headless Horse]

I know I mentioned this before, but I think Spike fighting to regain his breath in the cold open is some of the best/most realistic physical acting of that sort that I've ever seen in animation.

You know what it reminds me of? Hungover Coach McGuirk puking in the parking lot at the renaissance festival.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZH149fY ... age#t=295s

It sounds silly to point out something like this, but it really is awesome to see a show put in the effort to capture that kind of thing so well.

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

It was also a plot device. Remember he coughs up a new letter when he gets there, as he crashed on the floor. But as we know, Spike doesn't control or even have knowledge of when a letter comes out of him. He was running there to give Twilight the first letter, which Twilight reads second. After which, Spike holds up the first letter; the letter he was running there to deliver in the first place. Him being tired was supposed to make the second letter being received first an accident.

[cheerilee1980]

I waited since Xmas for this episode and that was all that worth.

And a bigger for AJ.

[VaultAggie"Shawty, you the best"]

I finally saw this last night, after waiting a month to watch it and it didn't disappoint. Holy shit, this episode was amazing in almost every way. The songs were fantastic, the background music was great and the new characters were all amazing.

[Headless Horse]

You know, there's something just delightfully low-rent about how Celestia and Luna have to use A TELESCOPE to keep a lookout for invading armies or spies or whatever they're looking for.

They're not being omniscient goddesses who see all that goes on in their realm; they're not kything or scrying or gazing in a crystal pool. They're standing on a balcony peering around randomly at everything through a damn telescope.

I think the writers are consciously having us on with this whole "immortal omnipotent pony princess" thing.

[itinerant nomadSurprise Pedantry!]

You know, there's something just delightfully low-rent about how Celestia and Luna have to use A TELESCOPE to keep a lookout for invading armies or spies or whatever they're looking for.

Which really doesn't help unless there's an expectation of an armed conventional army. Not that I wouldn't be intrigued by the prospect of such a story being told.
The military tactics of Canterlot match the idea of a siege-based sort of warfare, which fits the kind of quasi-medieval theme.
How fitting that Pinkie's the one with a cannon, in keeping with her ability to wreck things and the post-castle time period of Ponyville, where less festive cannons ended the effectiveness of stone walls and it was back to Applejack and Pinkie-powered ditch-digging.

They're not being omniscient goddesses who see all that goes on in their realm; they're not kything or scrying or gazing in a crystal pool. They're standing on a balcony peering around randomly at everything through a damn telescope.

That's because putting your hoof up to shield your eyes and squinting is undignified.

I think the writers are consciously having us on with this whole "immortal omnipotent pony princess" thing.

I don't mind it if they do. I'm not enamored of the times when Celestia's name is invoked as if she was (Unless it's immortal like the Highlander, and she has the theme song "Princess(es)(es es es es) of the Universe"). Granted, powerful sovereigns and leaders of cults of personality have probably been invoked in that manner as well.

[Mechanical ApeThank you Sweetio!But your cutie mark is in another castle!]

Equestria's princesses are quite fallible (never more so than in this episode, in fact), and I appreciate that. It would be easy to make Celestia this omniscient deus ex machina who's always watching and has the impeccable ability to always show up on time and make everything okay -- and that's just not who she is. She's not omniscient, there's a lot of stuff that goes over her head, and when she knows something, there's a reason she knows it. When she appears at the end of Lesson Zero, the point is made that she knew to show up because Spike tipped her off. Not because she felt a disturbance in the Force and peered into her friendship pool. She's a realistic mentor figure: she can be wrong, things can be concealed from her, and she can be surprised and disappointed. She'd be pretty boring if it were otherwise -- she'd be reduced to a plot device.

That said, you know that's gotta be one bomb-ass telescope.

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

The princess's not being omnipotent is one of the best aspect's of the show. I especially liked that the ponies didn't end up using the Elements of Harmony to resolve the conflict. Besides, the Love Nuke had some of the best background music in the entire season:

Click here to view video.

[JupiterDermatologists Hate Her!Local Apple discovers weird old trick]

There was the 4-D chess of the pilot episodes, but I guess she had 1000 years to set that up.

[itinerant nomadSurprise Pedantry!]

She could have procrastinated for about 900 years, since she didn't allocate the staging ground of Ponyville prior to her gifting it to Granny Smith's family.
I bet Celestia could slack like a boss.

[Headless Horse]

Which really doesn't help unless there's an expectation of an armed conventional army. Not that I wouldn't be intrigued by the prospect of such a story being told.
The military tactics of Canterlot match the idea of a siege-based sort of warfare, which fits the kind of quasi-medieval theme.

Geez, could you imagine trying to bring a siege army against Canterlot? It's all but unapproachable just due to its placement, and if your enemy can't fly and you've got plenty of pegasi, you're golden. Minas Tirith's got nothing on a castle that's stuck to the side of a cliff three thousand feet up.

Also:

That's because putting your hoof up to shield your eyes and squinting is undignified.

Exactly. It struck me like Fry and Leela "searching the Internet". Or Terrance and Phillip "searching for treasure".

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

Click here to view video.

I love that Pinkie isn't closing her eyes Never noticed that.

[Headless Horse]

And they're all grinning happily except for Flutters. It's so... loud...

[KronosGiver of Zero Bucks]

I love that Pinkie isn't closing her eyes Never noticed that.

It's actually nothing new, she didn't even bat an eye back in Party of One when Rarity spit the punch back in her face.

[itinerant nomadSurprise Pedantry!]

Pinkie sees the world as it is, not as it tells her mind it is. There is no spoon, no bright light. Everything is code streamers.

edit:

Geez, could you imagine trying to bring a siege army against Canterlot? It's all but unapproachable just due to its placement, and if your enemy can't fly and you've got plenty of pegasi, you're golden. Minas Tirith's got nothing on a castle that's stuck to the side of a cliff three thousand feet up.

It does have a source of water, but it seems desperately dependent on the lowlands for provision.
Cannon might not be effective given that it seems to hold such a commanding height.

Perhaps they can get sappers and large amounts of explosives to compromise the cliff face upon which it resides, since the force field they used showed they didn't give much priority for controlling the surrounding area, not even when gravity-based defenses could make approach to the base prohibitively expensive.

And then there are tales told that the "solid" mountainside it is rooted into is riddled with caves...

[Stuff]

If the Queen didn't send Twilight down to the caves (since she began to believe her), would the ending have been different?

[itinerant nomadSurprise Pedantry!]

It would be different.
Whether that means the day would be lost would depend on how plucky we think Twilight can be.

In Twilight's darkest hour, she had been rejected by her friends and uninvited from the wedding.
If the false Cadence simply ignored her, Twilight may have left Canterlot or would have been located somewhere away from the wedding and had no warning when the shield failed.

The other choice is that Chrysalis fakes forgiveness and keeps Twilight on as a best mare, and has her in the cross hairs the instant Shining Armor's spell fades.
The events of the episode don't show Twilight being effective against Chrysalis when she knows she's a fake, and even if she somehow got an inkling at the wedding, she wouldn't have the real Cadence with her. That was the only reason anyone else believed her, and why her friends and Celestia didn't kick her out themselves (putting them with their backs to Chrysalis).
edit: This scenario does also mean Celestia would go down even more like a chump than she did.

Then there's the problem that without Cadence there would have been nothing to repel the invasion.

So yes, Chrysalis would have had better luck if she didn't give Twilight absolute proof of her intentions and proximity to what in hindsight was the means to defeat her.

[Scuderia FerrarityWhy?Because Twilight Sparkle. That's why.-- Twilight Sparkle]

She's a realistic mentor figure: she can be wrong, things can be concealed from her, and she can be surprised and disappointed. .

And she has a sweet tooth for cake.
I suppose that's a good idea for an episode. "Your parents aren't infallible, even though they're older and wiser than you."

That said, you know that's gotta be one bomb-ass telescope.

I always assumed it was some sort of magical all seeing telescope. Maybe it's more symbolic than anything. Looking for external theats when they've never considered the threats were coming from within.
Or maybe this is just the sort of stop and smell the roses detail that would be expanded upon, were this 90 minutes instead of a tightly edited 40.


Sister, hast thou spotted any possible threat.
No, but Saturn's rings are quite visible this time of year.
...

[SlateSlabrock]

I always assumed it was some sort of magical all seeing telescope. Maybe it's more symbolic than anything.

Maybe Mr. Merlin Starswirl built it for her!

[Dal]

What has it been? A month and a half since the episode premiered, and I still get shivers from Cadance's "For oh I so love groom" line of This Day Aria.

[numsOic]

A month and a half already? The drought is gonna drag on...

[diribigalNeither dirigible nor dirigibal.]

A month and a half already? The drought is gonna drag on...

Do you mean "Only a month and a half?" because "already" is kind of at odds with "drag on".

[numsOic]

No. You see, because even though it's been a month and a half and it feels like less, we still have at least three more months to go, which is more than we had last time. So I meant both things.

[CW_Wonderso fuckin' cute :3]

What has it been? A month and a half since the episode premiered, and I still get shivers from Cadance's "For oh I so love groom" line of This Day Aria.

Hah, I thought I was the only one. It's an amazing piece and every time I listen to it, I feel compelled to turn up the volume steadily until that part.

[Doctor Wheeze]

and proximity to what in hindsight was the means to defeat her.

She must have taken lessons from Nightmare Moon.

[Headless Horse]

A month and a half is enough time to say that our opinions of this episode aren't colored by its recentness. And judging by the Best Episodes thread, I'd say we've got a pretty good consensus that this is one of the very tip-top best pony episodes of all.

Prior to it airing I honestly expected it to be a huge letdown. I thought we would go into the summer thinking of Season 2 as being made up of the body of one-off episodes, minus Return of Harmony (which really feels like it belongs more to S1 than S2) and without this unfortunate, blandly titled, Tori Spelling-narrated contractual-obligation finale. I thought it would be glaringly full of corporate meddling and last-minute toy inserts.

...And while it kinda was, they somehow made it fucking fantastic anyway.

I watched Return of Harmony the other day, and somehow it feels a lot less "big-time" than it used to. At the time, it was a huge shocker (and raucously funny) to see the show be so damn sarcastic about itself; but now, after a whole season of that kind of Larson humor, it feels kinda par for the course. And now A Canterlot Wedding is as much of a stylistic about-face, with all its standalone drama and its sincere emotional weight and its focus on character development above tongue-in-cheek laughs, as RoH was with all its giddy subversions of the first season's tropes. It feels like the show's taken the opportunity to grow up, or something.

I doubt it means S3 will tack in a new direction or anything, but I just find it really interesting seeing how many wildly different directions they can go with their two-parters. They're experimenting just as hard as ever, and each time they refine their execution a little more. It's as exhilarating watching the meta-show as much as the show itself, because at least so far it's showing no signs of being any less fascinating.

[Headless Horse]

I just noticed something that had eluded me before.

When AJ surreptitiously puts her hat back on at the end, she only does it the instant she sees that Rarity has turned away to dab her eyes and is no longer watching her like a hawk. Her scrunchiefaced shifty-eyed glance is aimed in Rarity's direction.

So that's another piece of the ongoing Rarity/AJ dynamic, told through ridiculously subtle hints: Rarity is apparently always on AJ's case about her appearance, goading her into reluctantly keeping herself more presentable; the only reason AJ isn't wearing her hat during the ceremony is because Rarity would badger her if she did. Even though she respects and envies AJ's worldly wisdom and relationship with Apple Bloom, she still considers herself AJ's mentor in matters of fabulosity.

Which means the montage in It's About Time (where Rarity tags along with AJ and keeps her clean of cement and leaves) takes on a new meaning: Rarity's doing it not because it's somehow important in a practical sense to keep AJ clean for the tasks she's performing, but simply because it offends Rarity to see AJ all dissheveled, even if it's for a good reason. Which means Rarity couldn't contribute a damn thing to the make-Ponyville-safe campaign, so she's just taking the opportunity to be publicly finicky.

Yep. That is in fact hilarious.

[Wayoshi]

Rarity is probably going at us thinking she actually cared about Ponyville's safety for... over 3 months.

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

Hey, Rarity helped! There's a phrase I use when people ask me to help with things I don't want to:

"Mucho ayuda el que no estroba" which means, "Helpful, is he who does not get in the way"

Besides, Rarity was supervising.

[Mechanical ApeThank you Sweetio!But your cutie mark is in another castle!]

Rarity knows that being presentable is important in itself. If nopony else appreciates this, then it only makes her own efforts all the more crucial. She fights a lonesome, endless battle against horridity.

[numsOic]

estroba

"estorba"

[JupiterDermatologists Hate Her!Local Apple discovers weird old trick]

Moi? Repair a dam? Oh no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no.

I'm flattered that you would think about me though.