The Gilda episode! I watched this one twice, this is where the show really starts picking up in quality for me. A few things stand out to me in the first part – first of all, what are those scrolls Spike’s getting? It seems like he’s getting them out of what I assume is the town hall. Maybe it’s mail for Twilight? And also, when the first scroll that Spike accidentally sends to Celestia appears in her chamber, she seems surprised. The only reason I can think of for why Celestia would be surprised by this would be that Twilight only sends her letters on certain days. I looked up a few airdates for the episodes, they seemed to mostly be on various different weekendish slots – Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday, but I don’t know if there’s one in particular the episodes usually aired on. But it ties back in to that theory I had with the timeframe between episodes in Applebuck Season. At least so far in the show, my running theory is that it’s within a given week and the letter-writing portion at the end of an episode falls on a Saturday in-universe. I’m sure this will get disproven later but I like to think of it as being the case ‘for now’. It would mean Twilight’s been in Ponyville for 5-6 weeks, which feels right – she’s got a fair amount of background characterisation in this episode, where she’s reading books throughout. She reads one on the bench, she’s reading one whilst Pinkie talks to her, a theme which comes up next episode too. In addition, I’m interested that Twilight tries to give what SOUNDS like good advice but actually in the course of the episode turns out to be mistaken, showing she’s kind of trying to demonstrate almost to herself that she has learned a fair bit about friendship already but she hasn’t actually learned all that much yet, and in the next episode she has another misunderstanding about friendship in a similar vein. It makes it clear in both episodes that she’s taking her studies seriously, but hasn’t quite found her footing yet. Another thing I’m wondering about is what she was studying this episode – in the next one she tells us, but here it’s not clear. After reading through some books clearly to the exclusion of her concentration on other things – in both instances someone is talking to her and she’s only half paying attention as she reads – followed by this chemical experiment she’s doing. Is it somehow related to her friendship studies? Who knows, I’m probably going to keep pondering it though.

The other thing which stands out to me is the careful emphasis on SAFE pranking. When Spike’s hiccuping, Pinkie Pie is cautious to ask if he’s alright before laughing at the situation, which is frankly such superb characterisation that it actually makes me feel a little depressed at how the later seasons treat her, I think I’m beginning to see some of the pain the Pinkiefags were going through – steadfastly ensuring that she never laughs AT someone but always laughs with them is both a genuinely empathetic trait and a subtle one too, something which I think quickly got forgotten from her character. And of course there’s the relatively famous part where Pinkie doesn’t want to prank Fluttershy as she’s too sensitive, and Rainbow Dash veeery reluctantly agrees. Aside from characterisation, it’s also a good lesson to communicate, especially since it’s not even the main message of the episode. It is hard to distinguish between jokes which are harmless and jokes which are hurtful sometimes, especially for kids where so often it straddles the line between friendly joviality and bullying, pretty nicely demonstrated there with Rainbow Dash filling in for the potential bully role, even if it makes her seem strangely mean.

And I haven’t even gotten onto the lesbian bird yet!

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It’s been commented on to death, but there’s just no way for an adult to watch this episode and see Dash and Gilda’s friendship as platonic, I reckon – at the very least it’s an angle I can’t imagine the creators being unaware of, even if it was accidental or unintended in some way.

Anyways. I like that Pinkie Pie actually tries to take Twilight’s advice to heart as she watches Gilda in the market, attempting to judge her favourably. Taking advice is another thing that I feel like Pinkie increasingly does less and less and time goes on. Granny Smith's reaction to Gilda's tail was odd - does it ever come up that Granny has bad eyesight? Or do some snakes in Equestria really look like that? It has a weird parallel in the next episode too. I was also fascinated by the line “She’s also a thief! ...No no no, maybe she’ll give it back later.” and uh – Pinkie, she ate it! She ate the apple whole, even the core! Reminds me of that bit from the Boondocks about borrowing a french fry – you gonna give it back? Also it occurs to me that Gilda’s confrontation with Fluttershy was kind of set up earlier in the episode where Pinkie says that Fluttershy’s too sensitive for pranking. And it’s also the part where Gilda exposes herself as a New Yorker.

The party is a little weird – Rainbow Dash says she set up all the pranks, but clearly the electric buzzer Pinkie uses is something Pinkie was aware of. Dash also says not all the pranks were specifically for her, which seems potentially true, but some are definitely intended for her. The presents, for example – presumably those are all for Gilda, so naturally that prank was intended for her. The candles are an obvious one too. I find it hard to believe that someone so detail-oriented when it comes to parties as Pinkie could be unaware of the pranks Rainbow set up, so I find it tricky to believe that she was as unawares as she claimed to be at the end of the episode. If I were cynical I’d even say she might have suggested the idea to Dash, but who knows, Pinkie’s mind works in mysterious ways.

I was also intrigued by the fact that at the end of the episode, Celestia begins writing out a reply to Twilight. Does she reply to all Twilight’s letters? In effect that would make it a correspondence. It’s also something left out when the journal gets published way later in the show, it occurs to me. The religious significance of the Princess in Equestrian society is overblown in the fandom, but it is based on existing themes within the show, and it makes me wonder if under Twilight’s reign as Princess, the journal and her correspondence with Celestia all get compiled together into a kind of Princess-endorsed philosophy on friendship, which, after all, we eventually find out is not just friendship as we understand it, but a kind of model of social harmony that makes Equestria both successful and free from creatures like the Windigoes. It’s the kind of book I could see future Equestrian colts and fillies having to learn in school. It’s interesting to think about, but for now I’m watching mostly without thinking about the fact that Twilight’s going to become an Alicorn, except for these posts. It is an interesting idea – basically you get to see over the course of the entire show what kind of life experiences go into making a Celestia-type figure (they say later on that Cadance’s daughter is the first naturally born Alicorn, so part of me assumes that far back in the distant past, Celestia began as someone very much like Twilight, and had a similar path to her ascension, probably with Starswirl as her mentor).

It took 7 years to introduce seaponies for Friendship is Magic whereas gen 5 has just added them with half the time.

With most species in gen 5 gone,after reintroducing both the breezies and dragons, seaponies have turned out to take the 3rd place on the list.

Ironic that they are perceived as some sort of nostalgic throwback to the 4th generation,in spite of their lateness back then.


Funny,I had assumed that they would be reincorporated by the next decade,not in 2024...