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In other Pony family news, I went on the internet and I found THIS!

@Episode
Hmm, the episode was entertaining, but I hate indecisive endings. So is she actually part of the family or not? Also, why would their family history be stored in the middle of nowhere? Is there any logic to that? Ok, I'm over thinking this.

.

Hey who else likes the fact that Hoarding in Equestria is now canon? Also.

Implied catbeingforgotteninthehoardtillitdies is now canon too!

If you could convert heroine into music, it would sound like this.

This song just makes me love the apple family so much. Not a single unlikable character in the bunch, I mean hell I'd consider putting any of the four apples into my Top ** Pony list I mean let's think about it.

Cooky old grandma who is also very wise
Adorable little sister whom you want to get her cutie mark
Boring Applepone (in this show being the boring one is still a good thing as everyone else is just so interesting that there's bound to be one interesting character that isn't as exciting as everyone else but still exciting, thus Boring Applepone!)
And Big Mac.

Just an all around great cartoon family if you ask me. Also, did anyone notice how in the second chorus and beyond you can actually hear Peter New singing backup? I think his singing just taught me how to love.

Hey, so here's a screen cap of a little MLP animation test that I’ve been working on in Adobe After Effects, after the episode "Rarity Takes Manehattan" aired I wanted to try imitating the rain effect used in that episode. This is a screen cap of the results I got when trying to turn a bright and sunny scene like the one in Pinkie Pie’s song "Smile" and make it dark and rainy as a animation test and as a request from someone at college, asking me to make the most depressing version of "Smile" possible.

The way I did it was actually really simple, since I noticed when re-watching "Rarity Takes Manehattan" that the rain is clearly added in afterwards, so first I adjusted the hue and saturation to get that darker look the show has when it rains, then I created a particle effect and adjusted it to match MLP rain using the built in plugin "particle world" and then I simply added a motion blur and adjusted the opacity. It's not perfect since you'd need to add in wet manes beforehand and water droplets afterwards but I'm happy with the outcome for the most part, although I did it on MLP footage, I did it as a general animation test all together since I've always been reluctant to work with rain in the past so I guess I was trying to over-come that fear with the help of ponies…

That image is probably not the best example but it's hard to demonstrate animated rain as an example without posting the video, which I might do later, though it's kind of funny since in the original Apple Cobbler is trying to sunbathe but a tree is in the way, Pinkie moves tree.
Added rain – Apple Cobbler is under shelter from the rain, Pinkie moves tree. That's no way for Pinkie to treat a relative!

@Rain

Why does everyone say Rain is miserable.

I start cackling like crazy whenever I'm caught in a downpour.

Edit: I was kind of expecting a lot of outcomes in the new episode… none of them happened quite how I expected.

Pinkie didn't get disillusioned, and the expected outcome for a plot from that (some steps onward) of Pinkie being related anyways… Also didn't happen.

And the alternative of there being no disillusionment only to find out she's not related didn't quite happen either.

The only thing I did expect could happen, which did, was that they'd say "Hey, whether we are related or not, you are as good as related."

So that happened.

Well, damn…

Maybe Pinkie's genealogy wasn't quite as vague as we first thought!
(Not to mention the affinity for taking pictures shown by the wall of family photos at the end)
I'd say those little hints are pretty definitive: Pinkie is best Apple!

Also, bravo, Animators/Storyboarders.
I'll admit you slipped that by me completely, and I think a lot of others were in the same boat.
That's good, subtle work!

@Shipping
Being related only makes it hotter…

It's nice to see that the show's staff is still following through with Faust's original vision:

Can't fight the genes, kids!

@Episode
This episode had a very different feel to it than any other, and that was a very good thing!
Everything about it was just so… so damn HAPPY!
The song, the animation, the gags, Pinkie… just everything!
Cute and adorable and fun!
A little light on the story, but I was smiling too much to care.
If there is one episode to watch if you've had a bad day, I think this one is it!
Continues humming Apples to the Core

Oh, and another thing!
I-
carried off by eagle

But how did the cat turn to dust in the first place? Surely that isn't possible, right?

…I'm questioning the logic of a cartoon again, aren't I?

I've been waiting for this episode since before S4 was a thing.

Ever since I saw it in little babby animatic form, I knew this would be my favorite episode of the season.

So far this rings true. This is my favorite episode of this season so far. I just hope that the momentum this season has gained doesn't fizzle out. I genuinely want it to be great from start to finish.

EDIT: So this happened. In case you don't read EqD…

That looks like Slender Man to me. I can confirmed this isn't shopped. He does indeed appear during the scene in the episode, if only for a split second. You can see it for yourself by going to 16:55 in the episode and pausing it repeatedly as Pinkie jumps on Applejack.

2spooky4me

Kewln00bs name isn't special said:

Implied catbeingforgotteninthehoardtillitdies is now canon too!

>yfw /mlp/ was getting their jimmies rustled because they thought it was pandering to DustyKatt

>implying it’s been ruined
>implying shippers won’t now use the incest as a turn-on
You underestimate shipping’s abilities.
>mfw Twiluna will never be threatened by familial relationships

>any year
>a corporation
>pulling the plug of their cash cow

>implying an imperative sentence can’t end in an exclamation point
>inb4 muh lack of an implied subject

>find keys
>attempt to open box
>keys break
>“Don’t you see, girls, the real keys were in our hearts the whole time.”
>box opens
>Rainbow Powers

@Slenderpone. Slenderpone is best creepy pone. Also, a story and a picture.

For those who don't wish to click on it I'll give you a TL;DR.
Anon goes to show everyone at /mlp/ that Slenderpone is real.
The Nor/mlp/eople don't believe him because they have to zoom in on the picture and they dislike putting in the effort.
They find out that he posted with his Email address
Dox.
His real name and address are revealed to /mlp/ and everyone gets ready for the nefarious things they'll do with this information.
The Only sensible one there zooms in on the picture to prove how stupid all the Anons were.
Everyone freaks out over Slenderpone.
No one gives a shit that they just outed this guy who just wanted to share Slenderpone with the world.

Just another day on /mlp/.

@Kewl

Then again, if /mlp/ did believe OP, they probably would have doxxed him anyway. Posting your actual email address on 4chan is considered a major offense and 4channers believe that anyone who does so deserves to be doxxed for the mere act of putting their email there in the first place.

It may be a pony board, but it is still 4chan.

High Quality Version without extra junk in the way:

Have we found out who put him in there anyway?
Seems that whoever did it snuck it in under the noses of their bosses:

Anonymous Animator, you need a high-five!

>Slender pony

@Slender man

Let me take this opportunity to make a point that I've had in mind for awhile, namely that season 4 is starting to take a significant departure in tone from the other seasons, and it has nothing to do with purple horse growing wings. Let me show you what I mean.

Season 2 Easter egg

Season 4 Easter Egg

What I take these examples to demonstrate is how in earlier seasons the show was more prone to draw from an extremely tight pool of its own native resources and now it's starting to branch out a bit. It used to be that having a land full of these pony weirdos each with their own vibrant personalities was ample fodder to supply the show's writing and jokes. Now that that well is starting to run a bit dry however, it seems the show is drawing from ever widening spheres of influence. I mean we had the super hero themed episode, the vampire themed episode, the city themed episode, the scary house themed episode, the Indiana Jones themed episode, etc. etc. Now we're including stupid internet stuff for our easter eggs.

It's just something I've noticed and expect to continue. It's probably a good thing in small doses and will add some vitality to the show, but I really hope they don't go overboard with it and make the mistake of thinking that solid writing can be substituted for by pop culture references, a grievous error which I think should be named The Macfarlane Fallacy

Slenderman? lol nope.

@Fifths: It's definitely true that the show we are watching now is not the same show we were watching two seasons ago in both subtle and unsubtle ways. It seems that the writers have been evolving at a steady enough pace to avoid having it be too jarring of a change, but I fear for the day when it suddenly goes overboard.

Moving on to this past episode, I can definitely say this was my favorite episode so far this season. Seeing the Apple family in a more realistic light that doesn't focus around apples or working too hard was refreshing, and Pinkie was absolutely perfect. Not many episodes get me to laugh out loud multiple times while I'm watching by myself, but with this episode I just couldn't stop laughing. But it was more than just clever gags, it felt like there was a lot of substance and heart to it as well with the focus on what family means. This episode may not be all that consequential to the overarching plot of this season, but I still feel this was an important episode to have because of the extra layer it gave to the characters involved. AJ's now has two god songs under her belt this season, too, which is always nice after "Racist Barn".

@Slender Mare:

Looks like this:

is canon now. Celestia bless Golden Delicious.

Slenderman of all things? Thinking of the other cameo-ponies they've had, they sure know how to pick 'em.

BTW, I'm thinking of getting a different avatar now, which of these should I change to?

or

I'm actually not a fan of the 'memes' showing up in this show. It just seems awkward to have Grumpy Cat and Slenderman just show up in this show (Grumpy Cat was planned by the animators obviously while one guy working on 4 frames decided to paste Slenderman in the background). I mean are we going to have Doge show up in Season 5? Are we going to have Big Mac say "Boom goes the Dynamite" or a (god forbid) Trollface pone? Sorry Meghan, I'd rather have that adorable wall-eyed Pegasus back in the background derping it up than having a bunch of dated memes showing up in every other episode.

Go with Twiface. 'S much better.

There's a conspiracy theory going around that the dust-cat was a shout-out to Dustykatt Rhoades, The Manliest Brony in the World.
https://www.youtube.com/user/dustykatt

…On an unrelated note…

I was thinking of making a .gif that shows five KYM bronies riding on a raft…
…they proceed to sail through "The Scariest Cave on the Internet"…
…and when they come out the other side…
…four of them are huddled together in fear, while the fifth has turned into an /mlp/ brony.

Thoughts?

EDIT:
lol just saw xTSGx's post -
">yfw /mlp/ was getting their jimmies rustled because they thought it was pandering to DustyKatt"

DOUBLE EDIT:

LOL somebody beat me to it!
I could still make a gif version though…

And KYM is taking the picture.

@Easter Eggs

Generally I think the new gags are a product of trying not to let the old gags turn into running gags. As in, have them outstay their welcome.

In season one and two, Derpy had quite a bit of build up in presence. In they kept using her, then the gags that come with her would become stale.

Conversely, the new gags allow some to throw out some stimulation to the content starved masses after how short season 3 was.

I imagine at some point, they'll get tired of external gags at some point… And then they'll return to having a few "Light" sprinklings of mythology gags. Derpy will probably do something somewhere and then we'll all breath a sigh of relief… And laugh.

… Then they'll build up the mythology gags again as the referential gags fall to the way side, until it reaches another peak and they return to another slight shift in style to new sources for references.

It's one big cycle… Who's actions will continue for as long as it can while the creators manage to stay on top of what the audience can handle without feeling like its become stale.

And then… Maybe the reference gag of yesterday will become the mythology gag of some fart off season?

I don't know, have a Derpy.

Which reminds me… I'd like to see Derpy be depicted more often as somewhere between clumsy cute nerd and manic pixie girl…

…Hmm…

Like Mako Mankanshouku from Kill la Kill maybe? Except maybe with glasses?

(Okay, seriously, do I just have a thing for glasses? Or do I just really want to see Derpy wearing them? Or both? I don't know.)

And Ponibooru was carried off by an eagle.

I miss two episodes just episodes just because of Skyrim… I should really stop but I somehow can't stop it… Guys, kill me now.

No worries. ES:Skyrim is still a cool game. Here is some unrelated video.

Hey you guys, you know that thing from that episode that we're all looking forward to? Well we finally have our first clip of it!

In related news (which is going to confuse everyone who didn't click the spoiler), I just learned that Twilight X Pinkie is called "Twinkie." This is the best shipping name possible. It even beats Flashlight.

Stunthead approved.

@Slendermane

You know, I don't really mind it. It's obviously a reference only internet fans would get (and likely see at all), but I'm usually fine with references like that so long as they still add to the show and they make sense. There's nothing to say that Slendermane couldn't exist in Equestria. In the same vein, Apple Bloom's little Applelicious song and dance was both in-character and relevent to the situation.
But yeah, I still would rather just have Derpy.

EDIT: Holy crap, this freaking game. I was playing the Fluttershy level and I accidently commanded Twilight to smash face-first into a dangling board… and she did. They even had a little hitsound and animation for it. I know it's not that funny, but goddamn I laughed just from Twilight concusing herself out of nowhere. I spent at least two minutes just running her into the thing afterward.

@Dat new flash game
Was Rarity's job really putting giant hats over the guards' heads so they couldn't see Twilight?

Pictured: G I A N T H A T

Well, since nobody else commented, Twilight it is!

Speaking of…
I've been trying to edit this picture to look like Suprise in Gimp color-picking from this picture and color-filling into the first one. So far I have this:

I haven't done the eyes yet because it wasn't really working for them, it would go in blocks and trying to fill between them just left smaller and more awkwardly shaped blocks of blue between them, I'm guessing because of the gradient in Pinkie's eyes.
Anyone have any possible help to fix that?

As for the new episode, I still haven't caught up and I have exams coming up so I'm just going to have to check it out when I catch up and do Season 4, until then I look forward to seeing what Weird Al's gonna do in it!

@Crash
You could possibly transplant eyes from another twiface image of a character with purple eyes.
The best one I found was this:

Which was part of this gif.

@ Slendermane
I wonder if Slendermane was even storyboarded by the writers… or if one of the animators just decided to be a troll and threw it in without the rest of the team knowing…

@ Derpy
What would you guys think if they turned Derpy into MLP's equivalent of the Adventure Time Snail, and you'd have to scour the episode frame by frame to find her like Where's Waldo?

@Slendermane: Seeing as McCarthy, among other people leading the show, didn't know what Slenderman was before that episode I'm willing to bet it was slapped in there as a joke by a few of the animators.

@Everypony who welcomed me
Thanks for the welcoming, I haven't been in this forum before so Im glad to join it!

Slenderpony: I think it was just like Crimson said, a last minute add for slips and giggles. They know we bronies scower the episodes for these kind of things.

Derpy: I do hope she makes a comeback! The meme gags might be funny but I miss my favorite background pony… She got me into the fandom in the first place!

Also in regards to this tweet:

When I saw this I immediately went "DERPY ITS GOT TO BE DERPY"
What do you think Mcarthy is talking about?

@Princess Muffins
Wait, Derpy got you into the show?

Me too!
I claim you as my brand new muffin buddy. Together we shall discuss muffins, mail, bubbles and SHUNNING THE NONBELIEVERS LIKE CRASHGORDON!

Shun…

Princess Affinity For Muffins said:

What do you think Mcarthy is talking about?

The three going theories are:
1) Rainbow Powers story arc building

2) Soarindash canonization sparking the First Great Shipping War (the Brad Shipping War was resolved by the Treaty of Nullification, which stripped Brad of his S4 status).

3) >2010+10-6
>believing her lies
I want to get off Mr Shiggy Diggy Doo's Wide Ride!

1's most likely and the least shitstorm inducing.

2 would generate the largest shitstorm yet. It would be glorious. I'd sit and watch as /mlp/'s Dashfags go through the five stages of denial while moot whips out the MSG4 music again. Knighty would attempt to stabilize Fimfiction, but the revenge fics on poor old Soarin (I can already feel the "Soarin's an abusive husband/coltfriend" headcanons forming) would be too much and the Final 502 Error prophesied would finally come to pass.

Don't discredit 3 just because of its meme status. Remember the "Everyone's gonna flip out over Discord's line" tweet from S3? McCarthy seems to overestimate our ability to kick up shitstorms, not that I blame her. More than likely, whatever it is won't get nearly the reaction she's expecting it to.

Hmmm, perhaps, just got a couple concerns:
1) Will it look right? I can see Twilight's eyes here have different white reflection bits (and eyelashes, depending on how much I'm to transfer)
2) Would this take very careful cutting and pasting on my part to pull it off?
But in any case, thank you very much for commenting and the advice! I definitely appreciate it!

SHUNNING THE NONBELIEVERS LIKE CRASHGORDON!

…Is this related to the "kissing Derpy" argument at all?

Did I hear Somepony say "Muffins"?

@Stunhead

Yes! I was browsing my favorite art site and this image of a grey blonde maned Pegasus kept popping up on the front page. I later come to find out, she was an animation error, but the fandom gave her a name a job and even some family! And then i discovered she was put in the show develiering mail and goofing up. The animators/writers took the fandoms imput and made it cannon. So then I jumped on the ponywagon wanting to be in a fandom like that. YES SHUN THE NON BELEIVERS. May the muffins have mercy on there souls!

@xTSGx

Im in total agreement that this rainbow power arc will be built in the episode, its a given to me.

Any other takers on Mcarthy's mindblowing tweet?

@Glorious Derpy Master Race. Yes, All Hail our Muffin overlord! Fuck Crashgordan for not thinking Derpy is sexy! Wait a minute…..what?

Hey guys don't you think it would be a real twist if the Magic Box was opened only half way through the season. That's quite twisty.

CrashGordon94 wrote:

I haven’t done the eyes yet because it wasn’t really working for them, it would go in blocks and trying to fill between them just left smaller and more awkwardly shaped blocks of blue between them, I’m guessing because of the gradient in Pinkie’s eyes.
Anyone have any possible help to fix that?

What you could do, is 'empty' her irises, using the magic wand tool. Then, in a new layer, use the paint bucket, with the eye colour. Place the entirely violet layer behind the face of Surprise. You should see the colour in her eyes now.
Select the gradient tool, and play around, clicking and dragging until you find the right colour 'change'.
A quick and rough draft:

The magic wand makes the edges around the pupil pretty rough though, as you can still see a bit of the old eye color around it. But there's probably a solution to that.

Oh, Ar Bee Dee~

The minute I read that I imagined Rainbow Dash as Rob Van Dam.

Good news everyone… With a cursory estimate… I have a good headcannon for the lifespan of dragons in MLP on average.

Its been established since episode 1 that Spike is a "baby" dragon. Assuming this is only an indication of physical maturity rather than a misuse of the term (as Spike seems much more intelligent than that), that makes his age proportional to a 1 year old human on average.

Spike's Chronological age on the other hand, can be guessed to be around 8 years old, considering that Twilight was a filly when Spike hatched and was probably about 10… Ish.

With this horribly base estimations and applying a basic ratio process… Our general answer as to Spike's expected lifetime is around 640 years… Of course, this could extend upwards to around 800 years if lucky…

But here's one more fact… Spike can be expected to have not finished growing till around the time he's 144… He might not even reach "puberty" by 104… Though our limited knowledge of dragons doesn't exclude the possibility that what would be "puberty age" for dragons isn't necessarily the start of breeding age, which might start earlier, but rather possibly just the start of a more rapid period of growth than their pre-hundred year stage.

…But you know… All this makes for a rather odd implications when it comes to shipping Rarity and Spike…

But hey, even if Spike isn't done growing for about a hundred years… Considering dragons are HUGE, that's a good thing for their shipping… It's better than… Well… Use your imagination.

So…
This exists…

(Not linking due to content, but feel free to look it up for yourself.)
Congratulations, bronies!
We're officially big enough to spawn a hilariously bad porno parody!
Complete with vacuous girls in silly ears and wings and super-jacked guys with unicorn horns!
Yay!

'That Episode' spoilers:
<div class=spoiler title="Really? Already?!">

If you thought Flutterbat got sculptures and plushies made at lightning speed, looks like Cheese here is blitzing that by having a figure made two whole weeks in advance of his actual episode!
I have a feeling this trend will only accelerate as we get closer to and beyond it!
I have vowed to avoid watching any clips, but pictures and gifs are already abundant and nearly impossible to miss.
So looking forward to this!

Daniel loved it too:

Always nice to hear that a celebrity is as cool as you would hope.
Too many use fame to recede into their own asses, but Weird Al is just keeping it awesome!

@Shout-Outs

PANDAS!!!

Personally, I'm mixed on the idea of brony stuff getting into the show.
As long as they aren't disruptive or confusing to the uninitiated, I guess there isn't really any problem (AB's singing is in-character and silly, Slendermane is visible for literally 5 frames or less than a quarter of a second), but I'm just hesitant to open those floodgates too wide.
I'm guessing that the show's staff has learned this lesson too, as the last 'big' brony thing they did was Derpy and we all know how that went.

<div class=spoiler title="Not that she might not come back…">

MKToon getting a little McCarthy-y there with the hint-dropping…
Could we soon be seeing The Return of the Derp?!

Oh, and since people are dumb and don't get jokes:

@Crashgor-DUMB!

…Is this related to the “kissing Derpy” argument at all?

…Nah, I just wanted an arch nemesis and you're the only person here I've really had a debate with. So… SHUN! SHUN THE ARCH NEMESIS!

Oh, and a quick word about the new episode coming out this week…

Unrelated Vinyl Scratch bothering Octavia… or is it unrelated?
HAHAHA! Take that, spoiler avoiders! Now you will never know!
…Until the new episode airs. Then you'll probably know.

GUYS!

SHES COMING BACK!

@Porno Parody:

Oh boy, another reason for the mainstream media to laugh at us. But hey, everything's gotta have a porno parody at some point.

Stunthead posted:

Seriously though, that made my day right there. And if you're reading this, I bet it made yours, too.

@Derpy Returning:

Hey guys, I drew a picture of Vinyl listening to some of the music on her vinyls.

and in the intended fashion. You know…Unscratched

@New ep

eh…honestly I'm a little worried. This is the problem I keep talking about how the show seems to be getting just a little too eager to branch away from the original source material and reference pop culture.

Oh well, I'm sure at least the music will be good.