Picking Apart "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", Season 2 Episode 24

MMMystery on the Friendship Express

Coming down the home stretch, in this episode Mr. and Mrs. Cake have put together their ultimate creation - a four-layer cake.  Pinkie Pie has the honors of protecting this delectable dessert all the way to Canterlot, where it is to be entered in a dessert contest.

Of course, what's a contest without some competition?  First off, we have a griffon named Gustave le Grand who already insults the cake (bad manners) and shows off his own eclairs.

Second, Joe returns with a creation made entirely of donuts.

Donut Joe: Picking up the final all-important ingredient for my contest entry, Donutopia! And with these super-sprinkles, my donuts are going to dunk all the other lousy desserts, steal first prize, and make my donut shop famous...

...forever!

And thirdly, we're also introduced to a mule named Mulia Mild (another joke name based on real life chef Julia Child), who has a chocolate mousse in the shape of a moose, which is almost unoriginal.

The four of them enter a heated argument over which confectionery is destined to win the contest until they all go to sleep for the night while Pinkie attempts to safeguard her cake.

That night, something zooms by the cake and Pinkie gives chase.  We don't know this yet, but she's chasing Rainbow Dash.  It's actually remotely obvious because who else is super fast?

Next, she chases a silhouette of Fluttershy all the way to the furnace where she's secretly posing as the conductor to confuse Pinkie.

Then the blinds are mysteriously closed.  We don't know this yet, but that's Rarity's doing with her magic.

What?  Oh, I'm spoiling things for you?  Well, big fat flipping deal!  I don't care.  The episodes have come and gone for months now, so just humor me and deal with it.

Anyways, Pinkie falls asleep trying to protect the cake and when she wakes up, Twilight points out that three of its layers has been bitten into.

Pinkie and Twilight then don detective hats and go on a case to solve this mystery on their hands.  Actually, Pinkie doesn't even bother to look for clues and instead accuses each of the other competitors without any evidence, making up scenarios based on silent movies and other stuff.

But it should be noted that Pinkie describes all four of the desserts perfectly and makes everyone's mouth water.  So is it possible that anyone could barely resist having so much as a nibble of any of the confectioneries?

"Eeyup."

You bet it is!  Because when the train goes into a dark tunnel, sounds are heard as if they're in a mystery novel and when the train emerges, the other desserts had been gotten into.  Well, so much for the competition.

So Twilight takes over the investigation and has Pinkie retrace her steps.  Once Twilight finds three clues, she summons everyone back and shows them, exposing the culprits of the cake devourers as Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity, each of whom fess up.

Then Pinkie looks for clues to find out who ate the other desserts, which of course ends up to be the three chefs themselves, who had in fact tasted each other's creations.  They each explain that because Pinkie described each of the desserts so vividly, none of them could resist getting into them.  It should be noted that according to Amy Keating Rogers, who wrote the episode, this scene also included a part where Twilight commended Applejack for her self-control, but she then comes clean that she too had a bite of the cake but didn't leave behind any evidence.  Of course, this scene extension was cut for time.

In the end, all four competitors band together and create a new dessert that wins the competition hands down and Princess Celestia is offered a slice of the new cake, but not before Pinkie's third letter which contains the most contradictory and hypocritical statement in the entire series.

Pinkie Pie: Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned that it is not good to jump to conclusions.

Pinkie Pie: This could hurt their feelings, and it can make you look really foolish.

So before I explain, I'll say that the episode ends with Pinkie using her logic-defying mouth and appetite to devour the first-prize confectionery in one vast gulp, medal and all.  Bon appetite!

Now then, to explain what I meant earlier.  Jumping to conclusions and hurting feelings is exactly what happens in the next episode.  The Season 2 finale basically defies every single friendship lesson ever learned so far because at this point you think the characters would know any better, but in fact, they don't.  In simplest terms, the continuity is a bust.  Yeah, can't wait to discuss that.  But I promise you.  You'll see exactly what I mean once I get started.  "A Canterlot Wedding"... has ruined everything.  Next... the two-part Season 2 finale...  It's time to dig deep, for the worst is about to come...