Friendship is Card Games: Tell Your Tale, Pt. 14 · 11:40am Jul 30th, 2023
Time to get started on the backlog that’s accrued over the course of my Chapter 4 review. Given the side comics coming down the pike, I have mostly G5 planned until mid-September. But first, it’s time to see what the shorts have been doing.
I am 99% sure this won’t be about Phyllis Cloverleaf milking as much money as she can out of Maretime Bay while playing Cold War superpowers against one another. But there’s always that element of uncertainty. 
Pretty sure that’s one of the ZNN anchors providing the voiceover. Makes sense that the resort would sign on a recognized, trusted voice for the commercial.
And Posey continues to suffer at the hooves of the main cast. I’m honestly not sure how many little frustrations pay back the karma of nearly consuming the town in a bottomless void.
(Also, I’m amazed Pipp has been working hard enough to fall asleep in the middle of a salon treatment… but no one said all of the prior labor had taken place at the salon.)
I get the feeling this is far from the first time Izzy’s glued herself to a work in progress.
“Juice the clown wig” is not a phrase I thought I’d encounter today.
Ah, they got both anchors for this one. I suppose they’re something of a package deal. And that the resort is one of ZNN’s sponsors.
Jazz and Rocky are both at Ponytropico? No wonder Pipp’s overworked.
As long as no one asks what’s in those cocktail glasses, we can keep this TV-Y friendly.
So… where is Ponytropico is relative to the known world? It’s presumably an island resort, but I find myself wondering if there are any hippogriff artifacts that the builders quietly destroyed in the construction process.
What would Sunny have done if somepony wasn’t on board for this trip? (I also have to wonder how she can afford those tickets; maybe there’s an alicorn discount she couldn’t turn down.)
There’s also the matter of some of these ponies’ jobs being more vital than others. Hitch is basically leaving the town lawless for the duration of his vacation… unless he deputized much of Maretime Bay’s wildlife.
Ah. Rarity’s legacy lives on, at least when it comes to packing.
Interesting that lightning can interfere with magic, though when that magic manifests as an electromagnetic phenomenon like a rainbow, it does make some sense.
And there’s our thumbnail. Izzy does not fear death; she’s just enjoying the fun of freefall.
Not all mud is created equal. Also, I feel like the earth ponies could help with this situation. Growing something underneath the Marestream seems like a viable way to get it unstuck.
And Sparky exists only to complicate things. Ha. Ha ha. Hilarious. 
Ah, there is a ferry to Ponytropico. All of the infrastructure required to make the resort work makes the setting feels a lot less claustrophobic and post-apocalyptic than before. Though given how quickly we’ve seen ponies work, I still wonder how long it took to make all of it.
Can’t say I appreciate the recycled song. Never a good look.
Well, they never made it to the bar, but they still got mudslides.
Why did they bring this much food if they were just flying to the docks?
Ah. Despite the Prisbeam being very clearly there while Zipp was struggling to get the Marestream out of the mud—as indicated my the engine providing any output—it still needed a recharge. Because visual continuity is for the weak, apparently.
So… why can’t they just fly to Ponytropico? By all indications, the only range limits on the Marestream are externally imposed. To say nothing of this apparently being the last ferry there for the year. I suppose getting tickets for the end of the season might have been cheaper, but that raises the question of the ad’s timing.
On the other hand, all of the things everypony wanted to do at the resort can be done in Maretime Bay. Which is, after all, a beach town. Though I can understand Pipp not wanting to be pampered at her own spa.
In all, ten points for expanding the world, minus several million for logical consistency.
I have to appreciate any moral dilemma expressed through the medium of sock puppets.
Notably, this is the last Tell Your Tale short before Chapter 4 dropped, so it will be interesting to see how Misty handles this.
I mean, I knew the answer wouldn’t be “capably,” but this is still embarrassing for everypony involved. Especially Zipp.
Video evidence. Video evidence of her stalking Hitch and Sparky… though that leads to the question of how Zipp got that footage. Still, anypony believing this mare has no ulterior motives beggars belief.
Why do I get the feeling that Opaline mostly likes shadowberries for the name? She has an aesthetic to maintain, after all.
Because obviously the best course of action was to climb down the tree and take off the necklace rather than, say, snap off that twig. Or just reposition herself. Also, I’m amazed Opaline hasn’t kept trying to call Misty this entire time.
I will assume that Zipp conveniently didn’t hear Misty mention Opaline by name despite stalking her.
“She’s gonna love me for at least five minutes when she sees these!”
That is deeply sad. Also, she’s only holding a single berry.
So… nopony is going to condemn Zipp for stealing from their friend? Especially something that clearly has a lot of personal significance to her? Yes, Misty’s acting suspicious, but from their perspective, this feels like Zipp crossing a line.
Hmm. This raises the question of whether the necklace was subtly (or unsubty) reinforcing Misty’s loyalty to Opaline. It could explain a lot.
“It’s like it turns you into the opposite of who you truly are!”
Ah, an artifact of Discord. Not surprising that Opaline would harness the powers of Disharmony… though this, of course, raises the question of just where Discord is outside of comic continuity (and I doubt we’ll see much of him there either, now that G5 has more concrete data to work with.)
Ah. Part of Hitch’s personality inversion is that ponies actually listen to him. Makes sense to me.
Eh, Pipp rings hollow. She should be a slovenly Luddite, not just perform in a different genre.
Wait, did Misty know the necklace was capable of this?
Ohhh dear. It’s a good thing Misty arrived when she did; I’m pretty sure these rancid vibes could cut off magic at the source otherwise.
Heh. They merely adopted the darkness. Misty was raised in it. Seriously, good show from her… and a good demonstration of how much Make Your Mark would benefit from being done in 2D for the action scenes. And again, this does explain a lot about Misty. Constantly having her personality inverted until she developed a resistance to the effect would go a long way towards explaining why she never got a cutie mark.
… How fragile was that necklace if it broke apart on impact with sand? Heck, how tall is that cliff? Or is the symbolic act of Misty rejecting it doing most of the work? Definitely feels like the “a creature of evil chooses good” destruction clause for a minor D&D artifact.
That said, I do love a good post-destruction skybeam. Bonus points for the screaming. Opaline probably felt that one back at the lair.
I’m glad that Zipp considers the amulet a line of inquiry worth pursuing. Goodness knows it raises a number of questions. It also explains why we never actually saw the thing in Chapter 4.
I do like the end bit with Hitch denying the lingering corruption.
This was much better, and actually helps Misty’s arc in Chapter 4. She wasn’t just overcoming Stokholm syndrome, she was overcoming lingering dark magic. It just would have been nice to get that information in that series. (Heck, this would've made a better plot than half of the episodes of Chapter 4 if expanded.)
I've Seen Fire and I’ve Seen Rain(bows)
And now we come to the first post-Chapter 4 short. Let’s see what that entails.
Hmm. 6.5/10 on that evil laugh. Not so much a continuous cackle as a series of false starts; it’s like Opaline didn’t warm up her engine on a cold day.
“The most powerful fire alicorn of all time” feels like a very narrow superlative. How many others have there been?
Come now, Opaline, is that any way to treat your soap opera buddy?
“Nopony can stop me now!”
Well now she’s just asking for defeat.
Ah, we’re going for a Rashomon recap. Also, Misty got a dye job. It looks good on her; nice way to help reinvent herself.
“I was the reason that Sparky got dragonnapped in the first place.”
Not that we’ll see that happening or anything.
Hmm. Given that this is a recap of “Missing the Mark,” I’m not sure how much commentary I’ll be able to provide that I haven’t already said.
Pipp, most of your audience was there. They’re not that interested in you telling them about something they personally experienced. (Though this might be rehearsal for a vlog. That would certainly be one way to spread the word about Opaline.)
I do appreciate the embellishments for greater drama even when the subject matter already seems sufficiently dramatic. I can’t help but think this is what the animators would have done if they weren’t limited by the janky 3D rigs. With the possible exception of the donuts.
Now this escape from Opaline’s castle feels a lot more justified. No intimation that Opaline has somehow been dealt with once and for all, just “We got what we came for, let’s get out while we can.”
… Other than Izzy thinking that the shield did in fact permanently address Opaline. At least Sunny is aware that it didn’t do the job, even if she’s trying not to think about that. (Which, to be fair, is entirely understandable. She never asked for pitched combat against an alicorn.)
Of course, the question with Opaline is how much of her newfound power is self-sustaining. Is she spending what she can’t get back on these grandiose displays, or does she have literal power to burn at any given time? We’ll see soon enough (assuming the writers ever think of that.)
Ah yes, the timeline wrinkle that even threw the writers for a loop. The concert is supposed to take place after the dragonnapping. Let’s see how much of this one is recap.
There’s something absurd about sprucing up a guardspony without even making them take of their helmet, much less the armor.
Also, rare example of Posey being happy after interacting with the main cast.
Darn it, Pipp, this is why you take inventory.
… Ah, unforeseen supply chain issues. Yeah, that’s definitely a problem. Also, I legitimately couldn’t tell this wasn’t Mane Melody at first. The only tents in the 3D special that were this spacious and enclosed were reserved for the performers.
I do love Sunny’s Celestia-themed saddlebag, even if this seems more like Luna's sort of concert. I also appreciate her asking how Pipp intends for them to handle incoming customers when they’re out of everything.
Also, now that I think about it, isn’t Izzy supposed to be operating this booth?
Going by the braiding style, the mysterious, fabled land of France is still a thing.
I do think that a “back in 15” sign would do a lot less damage to Pipp’s reputation than whatever’s going to happen next.
I do appreciate the live shift in emoji reactions as Zipp shows just how terribly things are going. Also, when in doubt, just turn off the phone.
What exactly happened that made the delivery pony abandon that trailer, anyway?
Also, call me crazy, but maybe having the one trained beautician go out to investigate the supply issue alone was an unwise division of labor. Heck, where are Rocky and Jazz in all of this? We saw them in the Make Your Mark special. Any conflict that requires multiple people to stop existing is a bad conflict.
… Those two were already done. They were very happy with their festival look. Why are they still here?
Oh good, Pipp figured out how a trailer hitch works.
Aaaand cue the arbitrary further impediment that could be solved in a wide variety of ways but won’t because there’s two minutes of runtime left. (Seriously. Pipp can text a friend, call a friend, call the guards on Rufus, point out the supplies she’s hauling, something.)
Credit to Izzy for diving in with all four hooves. And yeah, improvisation is not Hitch’s strong suit.
This was a mixed bag for me. Some good moments, but overall it was just a bite-sized bit of manufactured drama caused by terrible decisions and general stupidity. Not the best note to end on.
A mixed bag overall, but there’s still plenty of material to work with… in three out of four cases. Let’s see what I can do with it:
Deep Investment W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant artifact
When Deep Investment enters the battlefield, exile target nonartifact, nonland permanent until Deep Investment leaves the battlefield.
Some artists become far too attached to their work.
Brilliant Barrier 1W
Instant
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to you this turn. Clash with an opponent. If you win, Brilliant Barrier deals 2 damage to each attacking creature. (Each clashing player reveals the top card of their library, then puts that card on the top or bottom. A player wins if their card had a higher mana value.)
Stormcloud Aviator 2W
Creature — Pegasus Pilot
Flying
Prevent all noncombat damage that would be dealt to Stormcloud Aviator and to Vehicles it crewed this turn.
“Expect turbulence ahead.”
2/2
Imperious Heiress 3W
Creature — Pegasus Noble
Flying
When Imperious Heiress enters the battlefield, you become the monarch.
Creatures the monarch doesn’t control enter the battlefield tapped.
She stands above her subjects in every sense.
3/3
Flurry of Filters U
Instant
Target creature gets -5/-0 and becomes the creature type of your choice until end of turn.
Zipp already looked bad enough to the Pippsqueaks before the baby bonnet.
Opportunity Thief 1UU
Creature — Unicorn Ninja
Ninjutsu 3U (3U, Return an unblocked attacker you control to hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand tapped and attacking.)
Whenever Opportunity Thief deals combat damage to a player, that player chooses draw step, main phase, or combat phase. They skip each instance of the chosen step or phase during their next turn.
3/2
Relic of Generosity 3U
Artifact
Artifact tokens you control have hexproof.
1U, T: Create a token that’s a copy of target artifact token you control.
2U, T: Create a token that’s a copy of another target artifact you control. Activate only if an artifact entered the battlefield under your control this turn.
Telekinetic Trio 6U
Creature — Pony Wizard
Undaunted (This spell costs 1 less to cast for each opponent.)
At the beginning of combat on each opponent’s turn, tap target creature that player controls.
The serene backdrop of Ponytropico is a perfect place to rediscover lost magic.
3/3
Font of Corruption 1B
Enchantment
2B, Sacrifice Font of Corruption: Each opponent loses 3 life and you gain 3 life.
Drink deep, and break the chains of morality.
Burst of Despair 2B
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice an artifact.
All creatures get -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the sacrificed artifact’s mana value.
Centuries of malice released in a single moment.
Multi-Neck Thrasher 3B
Creature — Pegasus Bard Rogue
Flying
When Multi-Neck Thrasher dies, target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. If that creature has a +1/+1 counter on it, put two -1/-1 counters on it instead.
Every finale is unforgettable for those who survive.
3/1
Fried Assault 4BB
Enchantment
When Fried Assault enters the battlefield, create a number of Food tokens equal to the number of opponents you have. (They’re artifacts with “2, T, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.”)
Whenever you gain life, target opponent loses that much life.
Void the Warranty 2R
Sorcery
Return target artifact card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step.
Jump-start (You may cast this card from your graveyard by discarding a card in addition to paying its other costs. Then exile this card.)
Disgraced Loner 2RR
Creature — Rogue
Alicorn (This creature is also a Pony Pegasus Unicorn.)
Menace, haste
Disgraced Loner can only attack alone and can’t block.
Who betrayed whom makes little difference to those who then abandon everything.
5/5
Opaline’s Firestorm 3R
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast this spell, discard any number of cards.
Opaline’s Firestorm deals X damage divided as you choose among any number of targets, where X is the discarded cards’ total mana value.
Sanity given for power, not for the first time.
Rain of Mud XR
Sorcery
Creatures with power less than or equal to the amount of G spent to cast this spell lose flying until end of turn. Rain of Mud deals X damage to each creature without flying.
Early experiments with pegasus weather magic gave messy results.
Energy Cleanse 1G
Instant
Destroy target artifact or enchantment. When a blue or black permanent is destroyed this way, shuffle up to four target cards from a single graveyard into their owner’s library.
Much old magic stems from Opaline, and thus is best dispelled.
Eco-Friendly Accessories 2G
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each card type among cards in your graveyard.
Dredge 3 (If you would draw a card, you may mill three cards instead. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand.)
Visit Paradise 3GG
Sorcery
Search your library for two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. You gain 1 life for each land you control.
Ponytropico is a balm for the body, mind, and soul. Just don’t look at the bill.
Accessory Scavenger 4G
Creature — Unicorn Shaman
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for 1.)
When Accessory Scavenger enters the battlefield, support X, where X is the number of cards exiled with it. (Put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to X other target creatures.)
2/2
Celestial Satchel 3
Artifact
T: Add C. You gain 1 life.
Daybound (If a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn.)
“Sister filled her bags with rations as though the hostel will not feed us.”
—Princess Emerita Luna, journal
Lunar Satchel
Artifact
2, T, Pay 2 life: Draw a card.
Nightbound (If a player casts at least two spells during their own turn, it becomes day next turn.)
“Luna packed books like she thinks we’ll have time to read on the trip.”
—Princess Emerita Celestia, journal
Supply Trailer 3
Artifact — Vehicle
3, T: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
Pipp had no trouble finding the trailer. Moving it without servants was trickier.
4/4
Bayou Chic (bg)(bg)
Instant
Choose one —
• Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each Forest you control
• Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn for each Swamp you control.
Bridlewood aesthetics blend charmingly humble with quietly horrifying.
Chaos Pearl Necklace UBR
Artifact Creature — Equipment Horror
You control equipped creature.
Switch equipped creature’s power and toughness.
Equipped creature has menace.
Reconfigure 5. This ability can target creatures you don’t control as though you controlled them.
2/4
Arrogant Boast 2RW
Instant
Choose combat or noncombat. Prevent all damage of the chosen kind that would be dealt this turn. If a source would deal damage of the other kind to a permanent or player this turn, it deals double that damage to that permanent or player instead.
“Fools! Nothing can stop me now!”
Cluttering Command XGW
Sorcery
Choose two —
• Create X tapped Treasure tokens.
• Create X Food tokens.
• Investigate X times.
• Create X 1/1 white Pony creature tokens.
Ponytropico Panorama
Land
T: Add C.
1, T, Sacrifice Ponytropico Panorama: Search your library for a basic Forest, Island, or Mountain card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
The view from above is barely enough to see everything the resort has to offer.
I'm just here to state how much I love everything about this scene: https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2023/6/15/3144003.webm
With Chapter 4 having dominated in what little brain space I'm willing to concede to G5 lately, and the two shorts from after that being a recap and an addition to the nothing burger Bridlewoodstock special, I'm stumped for things to say, even for TYT shorts.
Yeah, Ponytropico had some of the worst unbelievable contrivances ever in G5; the Rashomon-style recap one wasn't as bad as it could have been (as noted, even in this cheap web series, those action scenes has so much more visual energy, even if the script and staging and especially the music kinda rob it of any dramatic heft), the Misty one is infuriating for how much some of its notions would improve Chapter 4 were they done there, etc. Honestly, by now the thing I remember most here is the ambiguity of whether Misty's new mane was magic or a dye job prior to this short confirming it (though, as usual, MYM gives its own depiction of when and where she gets it, in the clip from the upcoming September episode drop).
With the knowledge that TYT is soon to be the only G5 show, and the numbers of Season 1's 70 shorts needing to conclude by the end of this year meaning they'll be going back to weekly shorts soon, a bunch like this can't help but feel like a holding pattern, a time capsule from when it was the bit player to keep the brand "alive" in between the main show that's now clearly a failure both commercially, in quality and in being a toy commercial that incentives kids to want these pones.
We'll see whether that holding pattern phase holds true next time. Though that the most recent short from three days ago is among the best TYT ones, is a not-negative sign…!
"I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain(bows)" establishes that the creators of the Tell Your Tale shorts DO have access to the Make Your Mark source material. So is Tell Your Tale supposed to be supplementary fluff or an independent reimagining of the G5 characters? The concept of Misty's corrupting amulet implies the latter, but the "Bridlewoodstock" short implies the former.
Or does the production not know? Or care? Maybe the directive is just "pump out as much content with these characters as possible oh and at some point Misty's going to get a new mane good luck trying to properly time the release of the YouTube shorts with the release of the Netflix series with the release of the toys."
And one I'm still skeptical she clears.
5740000
The only reason I can take the claims of being in the G4 continuity seriously is because there was never any such thing in the first place.
Stupid Complicated Game Alert: Flurry of Filters will remove all other creature types the target has (due to a lack of "in addition to its other types"). It will not remove card types, supertypes, artifact subtypes, land subtypes, or enchantment subtypes.
Stupid Complicated Game Alert: Yes, Rain of Mud will ground creatures in time to be damaged by the other half of it. Bear in mind that it also hits your own, though!
Stupid Complicated Game Alert: Energy Cleanse's second sentence won't stop the target from triggering anything that cares about it being sent to the graveyard. Some such effects won't work properly because the card isn't there anymore, but "last known information" means that this affects less of them than you might think.