Flash Flash Revolution - Friendship is Magic (current FFR Pony avatar count: >9000)

nah jk it's just over a barrel

Quote:

Summary -- My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic, Episode 22, "Over A Barrel"

The orange pony is reading a bedtime story to an unseen character. The purple pony enters, angry, and the camera reveals that the orange pony has been reading her story to a tree. Oh, orange pony, you rascal! The purple pony is distressed that the orange pony has reserved an entire car for a tree, while she is confined to less desirable quarters. [FN1]

Credits roll.

Sleeping car. Some sort of lizard or dragon talks to the girl ponies.[FN2] The lizard-dragon appears to be suffering from sleep apnea; his snoring is severe enough that one might expect it to disrupt his breathing.

The lizard-dragon, annoyed by the incessant chatter of his female equine companions, escapes the sleeping car and heads to the tree's private car to share a bed with it. I find myself destressed by his careless decision. It has already been established that the lizard-dragon is capable of breathing fire -- not a trait that is considered advantageous when one is sleeping with trees! Shape up, lizard-dragon!

Scene change. Morning has arrived; buffalo are stampeding alongside the train. [FN3] The stampede is having a deleterious effect on the stability of the train ride. The ponies are being thrown about the sleeping car. The lizard-dragon and the tree are sliding wildly around the interior of the private car, but the lizard-dragon is still asleep. Back outside, it's revealed that a brown pony wearing regalia apparently meant to be reminiscent of a Native American headdress is in command of these well-trained buffalo.

The Native American pony leaps atop the traincar, which incenses the lesbian pony. The lesbian pony teleports or flies or something to the top of the traincar to face off with the newcomer! Tension mounts. The lesbian pony attempts to interact with the Native American pony, but is repeatedly rebuffed.[FN4] The newcomer pony foils the lesbian, and begins sabotaging the traincar. The buffalo and the Native American pony abscond with the tree and the lizard-dragon.

The ponies arrive in Orange Pony's hillbilly hometown, Appleloosa.[FN5] After being greeted by Braeburn, the ponies catch him up on the day's events. Braeburn reveals that the buffalos resent the fact that the settler ponies of Appleloosa have planted apple trees everywhere, and they want the trees gone.

The lesbian pony is out searching for the Native American pony when the pink pony startles her. The pink pony, failing to heed the lesbian's warnings about the need for silence, stirs up a ruckus -- and both ponies are captures by the buffalo! Oh no!!!! [FN6] But wait! Spike emerges from behind the buffalo, assuring them that all is well.

Spike takes the girls back to the buffalo's camp, where the Native American pony -- Strongheart -- appears. The lesbian pony is incensed and insists on leaving, dragging the pink pony with her by force. But Strongheart apologizes, explaining that they only wanted the tree -- apparently, because of the settler ponies' planting of the orchard, the buffalo can no longer stampede. Apparently Strongheart is a female buffalo, not a pony. Mind blown. How the **** do buffalo reproduce if the females are 1/10th the size of the males?

Strongheart takes the girls to the chief. The chief explains the buffalo's long ancestral ties to these stampeding grounds, and explains that the Appleloosans trees are preventing the buffalos from stampeding. I thought we had already established this. The lesbian pony is incensed and immediately takes up their cause.

Orange pony leads a posse to rescue her friends, not realizing that her friends don't need rescuing. They make it about 5 steps before they run into the lost ponies (and Spike). The reunion is very happy -- until Strongheart appears from behind a rock. Orange pony and lesbian pony have an argument about the natives' rights vs. the settlers' rights. Pink pony has an idea on how to solve this dilemma.

Her idea appears to be some sort of burlesque show with a topic-appropriate song. The song sent me into some sort of rage-stroke, so unfortunately I can't recap it. The performance is panned. The chief announces that the buffalo are going to stampede at noon, no matter what. War is imminent!

The Appleloosans fortify their settlement. No one is interested in peace except the main characters. Battle lines are drawn; flags are hoisted; pies are baked. Meanwhile, the buffalo sharpen their horns and practice headbutting. The lesbian pony, whose name is apparently Rainbow Dash, implores the chief to consider peace, but to no avail.

The moment of truth arrives. The tension in the air is palpable as the buffalo stand on a bluff overlooking the town. strongheart touches the chief's cheek, and it appears that disaster will be averted -- but pink pony starts singing again, and the buffalo are enraged. They charge.

The buffalo fall before the settlers' pie onslaught. Apparently pies are guns in this analogy. I wonder what smallpox blankets are. The chief is defeated by a single pie. He tastes the pie, and is revived -- he loves it! He has a better idea!

The orchard is being partially cleared. The chief intones that they will allow the orchard to stay, as long as they get a share of the apples and pies. Purple pony starts doing a voiceover. Pink pony is angry, but I don't care why, I really don't.

The end.

Themes

This episode, of course, is a ponyified reflection of the conflicts between American settlers and the indigenous peoples of the continent around America's birth. But in Ponyland, things happen differently. Instead of wholesale butchery, genocide, and war, the ponies and the buffalo find a mutually beneficial solution. The two sides learn to respect each other, care for one another, and exist in an almost symbiotic relationship.

Could America have pursued a similar solution? How different would the landscape of the United States currently be if the settlers and the indians had learned to understand and respect each other just like the ponies and the buffaloes?

Perhaps we would not be facing the dire problems with American Indian reservations that we face today. The statistics are grim. The suicide rate for American Indians and Alaskan Natives ages 15 to 24 is three times the nation's average, Carmona says. And it is estimated that there are 13 nonfatal attempts for every fatality. The High Plains has seen its share of incidents. The Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota has lost 17 teenagers to suicide in recent years. On the Standing Rock reservation, which straddles the border between North Dakota and South Dakota, at least 10 teenagers have taken their own lives since early 2004. [FN7] Some American lawmakers propose an increase in mental health services on reservations, but that seems to be addressing a symptom, not a cause.

My Favourite Pony

The lesbian pony's awesome wings, cool hair and liberal sensibilities endeared her to me, but I think in the end my favourite pony was the orange pony. Despite being affiliated with the settlers of Appleloosa, the orange pony decided to actually listen to what the buffalo had to say, and to work against the war between them. That takes real courage and strength of character. No one likes to stand up to their own family and say "hey, that's enough," but orange pony did it. I respect her a lot.

[FN1]: Sharing is, indeed, caring. The orange pony appears to be a little selfish. Perhaps she will learn a lesson by the time the events of this episode have come to fruition!!!!
[FN2]: The lizard-dragon appears to be male, while all of the ponies appear to be female. There are no sexual overtones to this mixed-gender, interspecies sleeping arrangement. I suspect that this is meant to reflect that in a utopian society such as these ponies and lizard-dragons are meant to share, sexual considerations do not need to be a part of friendship.
[FN3]: The exterior shot of the train reveals that the train is being pulled by ponies!!!!! Apparently, these ponies exist as some sort of menial labour underclass, toiling away through the night while the pampered ponies doze in their sleeping car? Notably, while the story's protagonists are all mostly white or lighter colours, I note that these ponies are all brown. Is this meant to serve as a reflection of America's sad history of slavery?
[FN4]: Despite being able to fly, the lesbian pony is inexplicably impressed with the Native American pony's ability to do a backflip. Perhaps this is the writers' satirical implication that affirmative action in America lowers the bar for minorities to the point that relatively unimpressive feats are considered exceptional? I find this offensive.
[FN5]: "Appleloosa" is clearly meant to represent the South, and again we see a brown pony serving as manual labor, pulling a cart containing a blue pony. Clearly another racial commentary.
[FN6]: Considering that the lesbian pony can fly, how does surrounding her on the ground do any good? Does she need a runway to take off? I don't understand ponyphysics.
[FN7] http://trib.com/news/state-and-regi...dc3155a57e.html