S02E24 Episode Analysis

"MMMystery on the Friendship Express"
Written by: Amy Keating Rogers

Airdate: April 7, 2012

Synopsis:

Pinkie Pie is tasked by Mr & Mrs Cake to transport their cake entry to the National Dessert Competition being held in Canterlot. The cake becomes too cumbersome to transport along the way, so the rest of the Mane Six are enlisted to assist with the delivery. Once loaded onto the train to Canterlot the cake is safe, or is it? On the very same train are opposing bakers also transporting their entries to the competition, and Pinkie worries over the possibility of cake sabotage!


Personal Assessment:
This episode was great for continuity and attention to detail, it was also a lot of fun. I enjoyed it very much.

Episode Analysis:

Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness Cake (00:06)

What is the Madness Cake made out of exactly?

• Marzipan - a confection with a distinct strong but pleasing almond flavor and aroma.
• Mascarpone - an Italian cheese made from cream.
• Meringue - a type of dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar.

Return of the Hay Smoothies & the Elements of Harmony Book (01:13)

Lyra's Hay Smoothy

Reference Guide to the Elements of Harmony

The drink that's good enough for the Great and Powerful Trixie is also the drink of choice for Twilight while she catches up on some reading. Even Lyra prefers a Hay Smoothy as she waits for Bon Bon in the background of S02E19 (Putting Your Hoof Down). It could be just a reused prop, however there is a different giant blue beverage cup in Lyra's screenshot being used as a shop advertisement.

It also appears Twilight is planning on re-reading her Reference Guide to the Elements of Harmony, it must one of her favorites. The cover doesn't match the original opening scene of the series (reverse image), this appears to be an animation error and is consistently shown with the unicorn logo facing the book's spine thereon after the opening scene in S01E01.

Return of Twilight's Force Field (01:17)

Twilight uses her shielding spell again this episode to protect the cake. It's a relatively easy task for her considering in the last episode (S02E23 Ponyville Confidential) Twilight was shielding the entire library tree from the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Rarity Poised to Catch the Cake with a Safety Net (01:27)

You think Rarity was chosen to catch the cake with a net by chance? Nope, she has prior experience from catching Pinkie to catching a cake with her face at a moment's notice....albeit not very well, but it's experience nevertheless.

The Portrait is Visible while Big Mac re-attaches the Wall of the Train (02:24)

It's wonderful that it's shown how they got the cake into the train by Big Mac re-attaching the train's wall after we returned from the break. A lesser cartoon would have probably never explained it, leaving the watcher to either let it go or go mad with trying to figure out how they logically got the cake in. The fact that the makers of the show actually puts this level of thought, care, and attention to detail into this series is one of many testaments of the show's excellence.

The Portrait is a nice touch for detail since it's an important clue further in the episode. Unfortunately later on in this analysis it's shown that the dessert cart in this scene should be flipped 180 degrees. It's not that big of a deal considering the Portrait is consistently on the correct wall in all the subsequent scenes it's shown (51 scenes from my count).

Gustave Le Grand and his Exceptionally Exquisite Éclairs (03:36)

Gustave Le Grand is one of the other bakers transporting his dessert to the competition. Like Gilda from S01E05 (Griffon the Brush-Off) he is a Griffon, however Gustave's beak, eyes, and feather coloration differs from Gilda's. It's unlikely they are related as Gustave has a French accent (or as Applejack would put it, he talks in Fancy). Additionally Gustave seems to lacks Gilda's mean streak and is actually shown to be relatively amicable, being no more arrogant in boasting his dessert than the other bakers.

Gustave's dessert are Exceptionally Exquisite Éclairs which are oblong pastries made of dough filled with cream and topped with icing. The dessert originates from France, probably around the early 1800's. Interestingly, the simpler and cheaper alternative to the éclairs are Long Johns which are doughnuts, coincidentally enough.

The Return of Pony/Doughnut Joe with his Doughnutopia (03:51)

We last saw Joe working in his doughnut shop at the end of the first season finale (S01E26 The Best Night Ever). Back then he was referred to by Spike as "Pony Joe", and in this episode he is referred to as "Doughnut Joe" or just simply as "Joe". I would say "Doughnut Joe" is his business name, and Spike was belligerently calling him "Pony Joe" due to being drunk affected by the doughnuts with extra sprinkles and his discontent over his pony friends not wanting to spend time together at the Gala.

Doughnut Joe was in Ponyville picking up the final and all important ingredient to his contest entry "Doughnutopia", which was super sprinkles. Big gruffing messy Joe is confident that his doughnuts are going to steal first prize, making his doughnut shop famous forever!

Mulia Mild and her Mousse Moose (04:19)

Mulia Mild is the second mule we've seen in the series, unless you count Rarity according to the Diamond Dogs "Hi-Yah Mule!". The first being a grey mule that takes no offense to Twilight's comment of Apple Jack being "Stubborn as a Mule". He's also seen in "Hurricane Fluttershy" (S02E22 00:21) taking no offence to Rainbow Dash's comment of "be cool or be mule".

Mules are the offspring of a male donkey and female horse, but not the other way around which results in a hinny. Female mules on very rare occasions have given birth to viable offspring, while male mules have been believed to be sterile as there are no known instances of them siring offspring. Also according to Rarity in S01E19 (A Dog and Pony Show) 18:00, mules are ugly and she's brought to tears thinking if she was ugly as an old ugly mule. Mulia Mild appears to be an older mule with wrinkles, Rarity is not seen interacting with her directly. Mulia is definitely a mule as she is referred to as one by Pinkie at 12:02.

Bronies have pointed out that Mulia Mild is a reference to Julia Child, who was an American chef, author, and television personality that promoted French cuisine. I'm not familiar with Julia Child, but the striking similarities in name, appearance, and voice are undeniable.

Mulia's dessert entry is a Mousse Moose; Mousse which is usually a sweetened dessert with whipped cream as a base often stabilized with gelatin and chilled in a mold, in the shape of a Moose.

Sherlock, Watson, and Applejack's Hats (08:45)

The "Sherlock" hat, "Dr. Watson" hat, pipe, and magnifying glass are all references to Sherlock Holmes, a fictional detective famous for using astute logical reasoning and deduction to solve cases. The "Sherlock" hat is a Deerstalker type hat, "Dr. Watson" hat is a Bowler/Derby hat, and Applejack's hat is some sort of Cowboy hat (if anybody knows what it is exactly, let me know).

Rainbow Dash's Clue before the Reveal (06:21)

If you have a fast eye, or frame-by-frame scanning like I do, you can actually see it's Rainbow Dash running to the back of the train. I really admire the makers of the show actually giving you a chance to figure out the culprits before the reveal at the end of the episode. Lesser shows and movies, let alone cartoons, often don't even give the viewers a chance to figure things out which I find rather disingenuous.

Fluttershy's Clue before the Reveal (06:35)

Faster than a blink, and almost beating my frame-by-frame...Fluttershy is awfully fast when fleeing, her flank is only visible for 4 frames for me and a few more frames for her tail. With some "Night Vision", you can see it's distinctly Fluttershy's cutie mark.

Don't feel so bad if you didn't catch it, Fluttershy is quite cunning when she puts her mind to it. She is actually dressed up as the train conductor when she went to take a bite of the cake. Pinkie sees her silhouette in the next cart which clearly had the conductor's hat on before they got to the engine room. This means Fluttershy was plotting beforehand to frame the conductor if she got spotted, Iron Will has taught her well indeed!

Again, I'm impressed the animators actually used Fluttershy's model for accuracy instead of a generic pony model even if it was for a few frames. Another testament to their excellence and dedication to details.

Rarity's Clue before the Reveal (07:18)

Rarity's Eye Lash was probably the most visible clue as it was shown throughout the episode in multiple shots. It was distinctly not on the painting before she took her "lady-like" bite, and ever present afterwards. The only exceptions to this is during Pinkie's imagined sabotage scenes with the bakers, which makes sense since those events never really happened, and once during 11:36 where the Eye Lash was missing when it shouldn't have been. This error is easily forgiven based on the sheer number of other times they did get it right and other details they were able to keep consistent.

Twilight Takes a Closer Look (16:08)

They did a really good job in misdirecting my attention from Rarity's Eye Lash, I didn't even see it when Twilight was staring close to it saying "What is this?". She did look around the Portrait slightly, throwing me off from telling exactly what she was looking at. Again, great job from the animators of the show.

Gustave Le Grand as a Silent Film Villain (09:40) 

Pinkie's first suspect is Gustave Le Grand as an "Old Timey" type villain from the era of Silent Films. It was often a trope of these films for the villain to tie the damsel to the train tracks. These films were prevalent between 1894 to 1929 until they were replaced by "Talking Pictures", films with sound. Silent Films featured piano music because they nearly always were shown while a pianist played live music synchronized with what was happening in the film. Interestingly, it's a misconception that the visual quality of Silent Films were poor at the time. Apparently much of the visual artifacts comes from the deterioration of the film over the years and the only remaining copies of Silent Films are second or third generation copies of copies.

Twilight dismisses Gustave as a suspect due to Pinkie not being tied to the train tracks and the cake was bitten rather than sliced with a saw.

Doughnut Joe as Con Mane (11:00)

Doughnut Joe as Con Mane is an obvious reference to James Bond, they even include the iconic gun barrel opening of the films in doughnut form. The milkshake is probably a reference to James Bond liking his martini shaken, not stirred. I'm also guessing the name "Con Mane" is a reference to Sean Connery, the actor with one of the more popular portrayals of James Bond.

Twilight dismisses Doughnut Joe as a suspect because there was no laser beam security system and Joe is big gruffing messy instead of sleek and stealthy.

Mulia Mild as a Ninja (12:29)

Mulia Mild was suspected of being a Ninja by Pinkie. While "Ninja" was never actually mentioned, it's implicitly implied by the way Mulia was dressed and also by the type of sword she was using. Mulia is wielding a Ninjatō which is a straight sword Ninjas are portrayed to have carried. Katana swords, on the other hand, are curved and are carried by Samurai which are quite the opposite to Ninjas. To knock out Pinkie, Mulia uses a frying pan which is not a traditional weapon of the Ninja. However, since Mulia Mild is based on Julia Child (a chef) the frying pan could have been a reference to her, in addition to the cartoony nature of the frying pan. Also there was a frying pan located in the caboose cart. The scene was quite stylized with an Anime or Manga feeling to it.

Twilight dismisses Mulia Mild as the culprit by just exclaiming "look at her". While probably not the best line of reasoning to let a suspect off the hook, pointing out the cake isn't sliced again would have been redundant.

Twilight has Good Pipe Hygiene (14:13)

I'm impressed they took the time to show Twilight's good pipe hygiene by wiping off the pipe after it's been in Pinkie's mouth before Twilight puts it in her own. It's consistent with Twilight's personality, I doubt Applejack would have wiped it off. Even Pinkie doesn't wipe it off when she gets the pipe back at 19:43 and puts it in her mouth.

Rarity's Eyelash Consistency (08:18)

Not only did they have the Portrait with the eyelash persistently correct after Rarity's "lady-like" bite and face-plant into it, but her mane covered her right eye with the missing eyelash consistently since and subtly until the reveal too. By my count there were 20 scenes of this, very well done.

Rarity's False Eyelashes (18:41)

We've seen Rarity's secret of false eyelashes before, she puts them on while getting ready for the Gala in the finale of Season 1. The continuity and consistency in this series is excellent, and adds greatly to the experience of the show. It's remarkable because many TV shows and movies lack continuity or place little importance in keeping things consistent over the course of the series; while MLP:FiM adds continuity and consistency subtly or naturally without it feeling like it's been shoehorned in.

Pinkie is Good at Finding Things (19:41)

Pinkie is also Good at Finding People

When Pinkie Pie actually tries, she is quite amazingly good at finding things among a large amount of objects in a relatively short amount of time. In other words, she really good at "finding the needle in the haystack" type of situation, frighteningly good. Previous examples of this is when Pinkie finds the Reference Guide to the Elements of Harmony (S01E02), the Flight Spell on page 27 among the disarray of all the books in Ponyville's library (S01E16), and the "Go Back in Time" spell in the Canterlot Archives (S02E20). This uncanny searching ability also extends to seeking out people (ponies, donkeys, etc.) who are actively trying to evade her across vast distances and obscure hiding spots. Do not break a Pinkie Promise, she will find you!

The Guilty Bakers (19:52)

• Gustave has Mousse in his Mustache
• Joe has Éclair in his Hair
• Mulia has Sprinkles in her Wrinkles

Winning Dessert of the National Dessert Competition (21:13)

The Blue Ribbon winning dessert at the National Dessert Competition is the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness Exceptionally Exquisite Éclair Doughnutopian Mousse Moose Cake. Try to say that ten times fast.

The Return of Celestia's Cake Vulnerability (21:20)

Every superhero has a weakness, so it's no surprise that this Godess has a Vulnerability to Cake as reported by Gabby Gums last episode. The real surprise is Gabby Gums got this scoop right as we can see here Celestia is fixated on the cake so much she doesn't even notice Pinkie waving her hoof in front of her. We all wondered where Celestia was when Nightmare Moon was running amuck in Season 1 and what she was doing while Discord was wreaking chaos in Season 2; I now suspect Celestia was merely gorging on cake somewhere too busy to care.

Pinkie Pie's Appetite (21:24)

Pinkie Pie is not a picky eater, she even eats the blue ribbon on the cake....not to mention breaking the 4th wall by taking bites out of the screen! All this sugar must be how she has so much energy and it could explain how she moves so quickly chasing after those running away from her.


Derpy Hooves Sightings:
None Detected.

OCD Level Scrutiny:

Train Dessert Cart Layout

The layout of the train cart is actually pretty consistent throughout the episode. It's a little confusing and difficult to track all the objects given the number of scenes and different perspectives we're shown, but I've constructed the layout above to show where the objects are in any of the four perspectives.

The portrait is beside the door leading to the sleeping quarters and eventually to the engine of the train in the front. The door with the mirrors (or windows) on either side leads to the back of the train, eventually to the caboose. And of course the remaining side door was the entrance to board the train though.

There are few errors; although given the number of scenes and perspectives, I'm impressed at the level of consistency.

Missing Éclairs (05:19)

There should be a table of Exceptionally Exquisite Éclairs behind Rarity, but clearly there isn't any here. In the next shot of this perspective (5:34), they can be seen behind Twilight half obscured.

Missing Doughnutopia (13:32)

The Éclairs are actually behind Pinkie, they're just not visible because the view zoomed out moments before causing Pinkie to obscure them. However the Doughnutpia is definitely missing in this scene, but is immediately back in the next scene.

Prematurely Messed Up Doughnutopia & Éclairs (06:17)

When Rainbow Dash zips by Pinkie, who's starting to doze off, there a scene of the door slamming closed. The Doughnutopia and the Éclairs are messed up, but when Pinkie returns to this cart after RD gave her the slip....the desserts are restored. This is well before the train goes through the tunnel and the bakers devour the desserts.

Missing Stove is Possibly Not a Mistake (17:22)

The missing stove in this scene is possibly not a mistake, given this is a memory scene. Twilight reminds Pinkie of how she chased the suspect to the caboose, and we see what Pinkie is remembering. The lack of a stove in this scene could be seen as same as the lack of Rarity's eyelash on the Portraits in Pinkie's imagined sabotage scenes with the bakers.

Wrong Door (15:35)

The wrong door to the dessert cart is shown here, it should be the door with the Portrait on the left and the Mousse Moose on the right. Twilight and Pinkie having just changed hats in the Train Engine should not have been coming back through this door which goes to the caboose.

Missing Eyelash (11:36)

This was the previously mentioned one time missing eyelash on the Portrait after Rarity face-planted into it.

Pinkie Ear Scratch (07:37)

Pinkie Pie subconsciously scratching her ear like a dog when she wakes up is actually quite fitting for her character's zany personality, not to mention it was so endearingly cute. I doubt it would have been appropriate for any of the other mane six, Rarity wouldn't have even slept on the ground. It's a nice little touch by the production staff that really added a lot of depth to the scene subtly.

Another example of this is the rooster call that woke Pinkie up. If you listen to it closely, or with earphones like I did, you may notice that the rooster call travels from the left audio channel to the right channel. This implies that the rooster was being past by the train cart, rather than being static which would have suggested it was on the train or imagined. The fact that the production staff puts this level of care and detail into the show is simply amazing. I only caught this by chance while reviewing the scene right now, it's easily overlooked; it makes me wonder what other brilliance like this I've overlooked.

Second Train Cart & Arrival Time (20:35)

The second cart on the train is structurally different to the other carts as it has wide open windows and a second floor. I like to refer to this cart as the "Muffin Cart" since it kind of looks like a muffin and Derpy likes to ride on the second floor. This can be seen in all the Season Two intros after "The Return of Harmony" episodes (Discord episodes) and "Hearths Warming Eve" (S02E11 00:09), "The Last Roundup" (S02E14 03:54 & 07:10), and "It's About Time" (S02E20 14:30).

I like how the production staff kept the Muffin Cart in mind when animating the view from the train engine room. Unfortunately they forgot about the Muffin Cart at 15:18, where we can see it's a standard cart from the type of window shown. However one out of three isn't bad, and I admire how the production staff strives for accuracy.

How does a pony get to the second floor of the Muffin Cart? I'm speculating that there must be either a ladder inside next the door to the train engine, or an entrance on the outside. We've only ever seen Derpy in this compartment, so it's possible that it's her VIP compartment (or at least I like to think so).

The arrival time can be determined from the Canterlot Train Station clock. The hour markers are a little difficult if not confusing. I added a clock overlay to help, and matched up the 3, 6, 9, and 12 o'clock positions accordingly. The hour markers in-between those positions are a bit baffling because instead of two markers there's only one. These in-between markers are clearly non-standard because with the minute hand pointing at around 30 minutes, the hour hand should not be pointed directly at a hour marker which it is. Anyhow, I determined the arrival time to Canterlot was 10:32am.

What's also a little baffling is the length of time it took the train to arrive at Canterlot. Given the arrival time and that the train occupants went to sleep for the night, we can surmise that much time has past. However in "Hearths Warming Eve" (S02E11 00:09) we can presumably see the train arrives at Canterlot fairly quickly from Ponyville. The only explanation I could think of is the train was going slower in this episode. This could be because the train was hauling more carts than in "Hearths Warming Eve" (11 carts oppose to 5 carts), and/or they didn't want the desserts to fall over in transit and were going extra slow to ensure such. This is probably the most likely reason, given the care they took getting the cake to the train.

Train Cart Count (02:26)

The Train consisted of eleven carts and one engine. In the Big Mac scene, you could count four carts behind the dessert cart. When Pinkie chases after Fluttershy to the engine room, 06:37 to 06:40, there are six carts in front of the dessert cart. So in total: 4 + 1 + 6 = 11 carts and one engine. This calculation is also backed up by the "Con Mane Imagined Sabotage" scene where all the carts are visible from the Muffin Cart to the Caboose. While this is an imagined scene by Pinkie, which means factual information may not necessarily be reliable like the eyelash clue, it does fit perfectly with my observations down to the colors of the roofs.

The notable components of the Train is the Engine, the Muffin Cart, the Luggage Cart behind the Muffin Cart, the standard carts with the yellow and blue roofs (dessert cart & sleeping quarters), and the caboose containing a kitchen (sink, frying pan, utensils, stove) with a distinctive A-Frame Roof and exposed back area. It's also a nice little detail that the carts have those black connection corridors between them.

The mistake noted earlier in this analysis regarding the dessert cart needing to be flipped 180 degrees is due to the portrait facing the direction of the visibly distinctive colored caboose in the background. The direction of the portrait should be going toward the front of the train instead. We see this when Pinkie chases Fluttershy to the engine room (06:32) and when she chases Rainbow Dash to the Caboose (06:17).

Conductor Pony (15:14)

The train conductor is the same pony operating the train to Canterlot in previous episodes, and presumably the train to Dodge Junction in The Last Roundup (appears to be the same train, but very little was shown). He is not the same train conductor shown in Over a Barrel (S01E21), the train to Appleloosa is different and is staffed by different ponies. The Appleloosa Train appears to be more industrial, and less aesthetically pleasing (less cute and quaint).

Coal Fueled Steam Locomotive (18:00)

The Train to Canterlot is fueled by Coal, it would appear the ponies are not as environmentally green as you would think or at least it's suggested they've gone through a period of fossil fuel usage. We've seen Ponyville with a Hydroelectric dam in S02E08 (The Mysterious Mare Do Well), so it would appear they do possess environmentally greener alternatives. The Canterlot rail-line could be a steam train for quaint tourism purposes, as there are still steam locomotives running today for such. This is a little dubious though, as I wonder why they would be still using coal instead of oil. Additionally the train to Appleloosa was also a steam locomotive which needs to burn something to operate, however we did not see it fully functioning in the "Over a Barrel" episode as it was being pulled by ponies.

If you're curious, Steam Locomotives were first in use in 1804 and were gradually phased out by electric and diesel powered trains starting in the early 1900's. Steam Locomotives work by burning a combustible material such as coal, wood, or oil to heat water into steam for mechanical power.

Title Reference (02:30)

The title of this episode is a reference to the book "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie, a British author famous for her mystery novels. I believe this was confirmed by one of the writers but don't recall where it was mentioned, if you know let me know so I could add the proper link.

Transporting Precious Cargo (00:36)

Big Mac was strong enough to pull a house in "Hearts and Hooves Day" (S02E17), however he's having problems transporting a cake. This may seem contradictory, but I believe it's actually not. An argument could  be made that Big Mac doesn't know his own strength because we see great feats of strength from him when he's under mind altering spells such as the Love Poison and Twilight's "Want it, Need it" Spell (S02E03 Lesson Zero); however I don't think that's necessarily the case either. When we see Big Mac pulling the house, he's pulling the house horizontally which is something he's used to as indicated by the tackle around his neck. Carrying the cake is more of a balancing act and endurance over pure strength, and it uses different muscles than pulling.

It looks like a crowd has come out to cheer the cake on. We can see Bon Bon, Cherry Berry, Carrot Top, Berry Punch, and one other which I don't know the name of behind the barricades. Berry Punch seems especially excited, she made a heart sign, she's probably drunk. Closing off the street and attracting a crowd may mean the cake entry is representative of Ponyville rather than just Sugar Cube Corner. With months of planning and testing for the cake entry, it's kind of odd that Mr and Mrs Cake are not going to the competition like the other bakers. I suppose they do have the two highly mischievousness babies to take care of though.

Bartender Pony (10:53)

In Pinkie Pie's imagined sabotage scene with Con Mane, there's a Bartender Pony seen briefly. This bartendering pony was also seen in the Ticket Master (S01E03) where he was the waiter serving Twilight a daffodil & daisy sandwich and some extra crispy hay-fries to Spike. It appears he's making milkshakes shaken not stirred for Con Mane in this scene.

Con Mane's groupies are Berry Punch, Carrot Top, and Cherry Berry.

Con Mane's Watch (10:58)

This isn't the first time we've seen watches on ponies, but Con Mane's computer watch is the most advanced we've seen so far. While filly Twilight was taking her entrance exam to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, one of the examiners had a wrist-watch hoof-watch. Spitfire had a watch with a more elaborate picture on the clock face which I couldn't make out. The lightning bolt on the watch strap seems to indicate it's a Wonderbolt branded watch. And Rainbow Dash has a windup watch self-drawn on her hoof in Party of One (S01E25). Interestingly, she drew it on herself backwards as the windup knob should be on the right side and also based on the positions of the clock hands.

The message received on Con Mane's watch seems to indicate an order to blow up the cake with explosives, however Con Mane slices the cake with lasers. I suppose the message could be just generically indicating to destroy the cake. It's all in Pinkie's imagination anyways, so I guess it's not that important.

Competition Judges (21:09)

The National Dessert Competition's Judges had inconsistent cutie marks. In the closeup their cutie marks were desserts, I guess to indicate their expertise in desserts to properly judge the competition. However in the wide angle view, their cutie marks were stars and an hourglass.

The Judges did a poor job anyways, they picked the winner by only using a visual assessment (they didn't even taste the cake).

Éclair Count (13:18)

I used different color dots in groups of five to count the visible Éclairs, there's probably more that's not visible because I doubt three Éclairs at the bottom could hold up the entire pile.

Doughnut Count (03:59)

There is a total of 133 visible doughnuts composing the Doughnutopia, there could be a few more on the other side of the towers marked in red and green dots. I counted the half doughnuts as one full doughnut in the picture, if you want a more accurate number....there are 115.5 doughnuts visible.


Lesson:
Don't admit guilt until caught, if caught apologize to get off the hook. It's not good to jump to conclusions, you have to find out all the facts before accusing someone. If you don't, you could end up blaming somebody for something they never did. This could hurt their feelings and it could make you look really foolish. Also Princess Celestia doesn't care about the lesson you learned when distracted by cake.

Other Thoughts:

Twilight is Skeptical

I really enjoyed how Twilight needed more than one line of evidence before she was willing to confirmed the culprit. If she just stopped at one, she could have been wrong, and most definitely Rainbow Dash would have gotten all the blame. Twilight is one Skeptical Pony, she demands more evidence to confirm. If you don't know what I'm referring to, Skeptical Dog and Skeptical Cat.

Poor AJ and Twilight didn't get any cake or other baked goods this episode, but it's totally consistent with their characters. AJ wanted some, but was told "No" by Pinkie early on. Being so honest that AJ is, she respectfully never tried to steal a bite. Twilight is not that interested in the delights of food, we saw how well she resisted hunger in the Ticket Master episode. I bet she had more fun figuring out the mystery. Pinkie being responsible for the Cake also did a very admirable job of resisting eating the cake....until it won at the competition that is. In my opinion very well done, the three ponies most likely not to steal a bite made total sense.

• Update: One of the writers, I think Amy Keating Rogers, said that originally Applejack had took a bite of the cake, but was too sneaky to have left any clues. However at the end she admits it out of guilt. Apparently it was only a few lines cut for time. If anybody knows where this is mentioned, let me know so I can add a link. I believe it was in one of the Everfree Network convention videos.

After revisiting this analysis, I found way more details than I initially did. The harder I looked the more details I found. It just shows how well the episodes are made and how densely pack they are of details. I'm sure I haven't found them all, there's probably a ton of musical references and sound effect details that I missed because I tend to notice visual things better than audio.



If you noticed anything noteworthy that I've missed or made a mistake on in this blog, please let me know. Include any references to help me quickly find it and determine if it's plausible and of merit. I'll make appropriate changes or add notes accordingly if that's the case.