Talk:Putting Your Hoof Down/@comment-6492126-20120305191228/@comment-68.46.218.162-20120306060239

"The story fits around the episodes...." Until there is a season and a half of history behind the episode. Then there are certain ground rules that must be met. Things like character consistency, as a show progresses, especially one that has a mostly linear timeline like this one, characters develop into a certain personality and then they stay along the lines of their unique character. That is until a 'character development' interacts with them that causes a shift along that alignment. For example, since its safe to call the general public in a work of fiction a character, I will point out that as a whole, Ponyville is a warm, welcoming community where ponies get along pretty well for the most part. That means you won't often see the vast majority of the community coming off as rude, greedy, and selfish until something such as the disorganization in Winter Wrap-up, parasprites in Swarm of the Season, stampedes like in Applebuck Season, or a want-it-need-it spell like in Lesson Zero interrupts the status quo and puts tension on their otherwise uneventful lives. By changing the atmosphere of the general public, there was an infraction on the character of Ponyville. As for continuity, the entire first season was a cleverly contrived sequence of events that led up to the season finale at the gala. And then taking it one step further the season 2 opener readdressed the entire first season as a significant plot point. Even when the story shifts after Lesson Zero and later in Luna Eclipsed when Twilight basically says in her letter to Celestia that she has returned to where she started, but not as a newcomer who lacks the understanding of social interaction, but as a resident of Ponyville, the theme of the show involving growth and development is still present. The motif of morals is used to deepen the story as a whole, not to work independently depending on the situation. This episode wrongly challenged previously established canon.