Slumber party! I only ever had one and it wasn’t a great success, but I love the idea of slumber parties, and from my memory going into the episode, I thought I’d be in for a comfy time. The opening did not disappoint as I love cold, grey days, and the lampposts dotted around this sort of parkland-area of Ponyville had a nice contrasting glow against the clouds, reminding me of the sort of grey sunsets that happen here where the sun is not visible but it’s still just lighting up the sky, and the lampposts come on. Moments like that are so irresistably comfy to me that I’ll often dash out for a walk, even if it’s well past my bedtime.
The episode sets up the slightly petty conflict in a way that I found somewhat believable, which passed my notice at first, but I was thinking to myself that I feel like I’ve seen this sort of argument done before all over the place, but annoying and blown out of proportion. Compared to other shows, this toed the line quite nicely, and though I obviously think Applejack’s being more rational, I’m not annoyed or perplexed by Rarity’s perspective either. The trading of insults was very schoolyardish, and we’ve discussed previously the slightly childlike behaviour of the ponies, at least compared to humans, and how perhaps it stems more from innocence than from being less intelligent or adapted, and this here is a great example. The two take issue with eachother and butt heads angrily, but unlike irl where two adults in this situation would probably quickly resort to swearing and personally insulting one another, Applejack and Rarity don’t even seem to think of going to genuinely hurtful insults. They’re cross enough that I believe they would, I don’t see much restraint here, I think it’s moreso that it simply does not occur to them to do so, the kind of mindset I would expect from members of a polite society where scathing insults are rare, unlike our species where scathing insults are even part of everyday ordinary conversation. Not to say the pony way is better as such, you’d certainly have to watch your mouth quite consciously as a human visitor, but it contributes to the comfy atmosphere for sure, especially in this example.
Seemingly the library faces out onto this park sort of area – in my mind I envision the street leading to the library going around the edge of the park. We usually see the library from a front-angle, so I could see the park being hidden from view a lot of the time. I was a bit annoyed seeing Applejack fumble with the hose at first, as I’ve always subscribed to the “suction cup hoof” theory, but then it occurred to me that it may be that she’s trying to keep mud off of the hose. All the same, there are moments where the show canon either works with the theory or works against it, and I think the latter is more common, so it does make sense that people continuously joke about Earth-ponies comically having to make do with their mouths, even if every time I see it I want to shout “SUCTION CUPS! SUCTION CUUUUUUUPS!”.
On a similar note – the mud masks. This is where I’m thinking, right, does mud rejuvenate even furred/fuzzy faces? Like, through the hairs, or even of the hairs themselves? Do the ponies even have fur on their face? Moustaches seem to suggest otherwise, as well as pony appearances generally, though tufts of fur appear in the film and on some character designs. Perhaps it’s regional hair growth? So the moustache and tail on one of our fancy Canterlot ponies would simply be where hair grows naturally on an otherwise hairless body, for example, and for later ponies with fur around the chest and legs, those are simply other areas where hair can grow but doesn’t always do so. Would hair blend in that well with the skin tone though? It stands out more on humans thanks to hair being a different colour I guess. Maybe it’s like a plush surface, or something like skin but not quite the same as it? I’m not really sure of the solution here, but I did like the marshmallow pony theory back in the day.
