Twilight studies Pinkie. For Science!
Pinkie Pie: It's my tail! It's my tail! It's a-twitchin' twitchin'! And you know what that means!
Twilight Sparkle: Actually, Pinkie, I haven't the slightest idea.
Twilight Sparkle: Actually, Pinkie, I haven't the slightest idea.
Written by Dave Polsky
Twilight Sparkle learns that Pinkie Pie has an unusual ability to sense happenings in the immediate future based on twitches and tics of her body, known as "Pinkie Sense". Twilight is skeptical, but much to her frustration all of Pinkie's predictions seem to come true... and even more frustrating is that they all seem to target Twilight for some reason, whether it's falling objects, slamming doors, or an alligator in the bath tub.
Twilight tries to investigate Pinkie's so-called abilities with the intent of disproving them, but her efforts are hampered by her own impatience and a series of slapstick disasters, all of which are seemingly predicted by the Pinkie Sense. There's clearly a pattern going on, but Twilight stubbornly refuses to admit it. When Pinkie suddenly predicts "a doozy" of an event happening in the Froggy Bottom Bog, Twilight tags along with her friends only out of concern for Fluttershy, who had earlier gone there to help some frogs find a new home.
The gang finds Fluttershy safe and sound in the marsh, and Twilight is all set to rub it in that the Pinkie Sense has apparently failed... but she never gets the chance, as a vicious hydra emerges from the swamp and attacks! A frantic chase ensues, and Twilight is forced to buy time for her friends to get to safety. Twilight herself only escapes the hydra by trusting in the Pinkie Sense and making a literal leap of faith. Much to Twilight's bafflement, it turns out the hydra attack wasn't "the doozy" Pinkie had predicted, but she's too worn out to be angry for long. Twilight finally admits that Pinkie's senses are real, even if she doesn't understand how or why they work. And guess what? The "doozy" Pinkie predicted was Twilight admitting she was wrong.
Later, Twilight prepares a letter to Princess Celestia with her lesson for the day (that there are some things you don't have to understand completely to accept as real or true), then goes to hang out with Pinkie. Her Pinkie Sense is telling her there'll be another falling object today, but she and Twilight are prepared. Spike, however, is not prepared for Princess Celestia literally dropping in to pick up Twilight's report in person.
Tropes:
- Abandoned Catchphrase: Spike uses the catchphrase "Holy Guacamole!" twice in this episode, but never says it again for the rest of the series.
- An Aesop: Just because you can't understand something doesn't mean you should deny its existence.
- Agent Mulder: Applejack is this to Twilight's Agent Scully by insisting that the Pinkie Sense is real and she fully trusts it.
- Agent Scully: Twilight becomes this, refusing to accept that Pinkie's "Pinkie Sense" is real up until the very end of the episode. Part of her problem is that she's more interested in being right than in finding the truth.
- Amusing Injuries: To Twilight when she follows Pinkie Pie when she tries to disprove her "Pinkie Sense".
- Anvil on Head: A flower pot, a big anvil, a hay cart, and then a piano fall over Twilight Sparkle. Justified in the best way possible, as they all fell from a sky delivery truck managed by a group of bumbling pegasi, one of whom is Derpy Hooves.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Twilight's dismissal of Pinkie Pie's special senses comes off as this when you consider all the fantastic things that go down in this show on a regular basis. Pinkie points out that Twilight herself uses magic, although Twilight counters that magic just doesn't work that way.
- Ascended Meme: This would be the first episode (and generally at least once in every following episode to date) where Derpy Hooves is present with the derped eyes that she was accidentally given in the very first episode "Mare in the Moon". She had appeared in several episodes but lacking the derped eyes. Here, she's even given a job as a delivery pony, tangentially related to the fandom's take as the Ponyville mailpony.
- Blowing a Raspberry: One of the hydra's heads sticks its forked tongue toward the ponies as they give up the chase.
- Bomb Whistle: At the conclusion of the episode, Spike steps outside to send off the letter to Celestia, while Pinkie announces her Pinkie Sense has just detected another imminent falling object. Cue the whistle, and Spike looking up in terror. However it's just Celestia, who makes a controlled, if thunderously hard-landing. She then picks the scroll out of his claws, and takes off again.
- Bouncy Bubbles: Twilight falls into the swamp as she flees from the hydra, but is bounced up by a giant mud bubble to reach her friends.
- Burning with Anger: Twilight Sparkle's mane and tail turn into flames, her coat turns white, and her eyes turn red, at being informed the hydra wasn't "the doozy". Apparently, Twilight evolves into Rapidash when she's really angry.
- Butt-Monkey: Poor Twilight Sparkle. While she is this in general, she has it real bad when she gets injured throughout this episode.
- Canis Latinicus: Twilight is observing Pinkie Pie, scientific name Pinkius pieicus, in its natural habitat, and she totally didn't just make that up.
- Captain Obvious:
- Pinkie Pie said to Twilight that when her tummy rumbles, it means that she's hungry.
- When Pinkie mentioned the frog attached to Twilight's face.
- Catchphrase:
- The episode appears to be trying to make "Holy guacamole" into one for Spike. Thankfully, it didn't take.
- This episode was also the introduction of Pinkie's "Okie Dokie Lokie!"
- Circling Birdies:
- Spike has Circling Stars when Twilight gets distracted by her spell and drops a rock on his head.
- Happens to Twilight thrice: The first when she falls into a ditch, the second when an anvil falls on her head and the third when she crashes into the cliff after fleeing the hydra.
- Continuity Nod: Fluttershy recites "A hop, skip and a...jump!" when leaping from a cliff to a stone pillar, the mantra Pinkie Pie taught her back in "Dragonshy".
- Cosmic Plaything: Every disaster Pinkie predicts specifically targets Twilight and nopony else.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: The Pinkie Sense is always correct.
- Deer in the Headlights: When the rest run away from the hydra, Pinkie is almost paralyzed in fear. Twilight pulls her tail to get her out of it.
- The Door Slams You: Spike to Twilight. Twice. Predicted each time by Pinkie, of course.
- Exact Words: Pinkie's combo of ear flip, eye flutter and knee twitch mean watch out for opening doors. Twilight, in a smug attempt to prove it's bupkis, stands near a barn door. As she proudly trots off, Applejack's apple cellar door swings open and she falls into it. The barn door she stood in front of was already open.
- Flaming Hair: Twilight's mane and hair turn into flames when she is Burning with Anger.
- Flower-Pot Drop: When the already horribly-injured Twilight Sparkle is assuring Spike that something is not going to fall, a flowerpot then crashes on her head. Then an anvil. Then a hay wagon. Then an upright piano. They all turned out to have fallen out from a delivery truck that Derpy Hooves was working at.
- Forgot About Her Powers:
- Twilight could have easily teleported past the broken platforms (even though she was able to teleport out of the last adrenaline-pumping chase she was in). Twilight can also telekinetically carry an Ursa Minor and a water tower several miles without a line of sight but not herself for a few yards to a point she can see. This could possibly be due to being overcome by fear.
- Fluttershy doesn't just fly over for some reason. Though, similar to the case above, it may be justified in this case, as the last time she tried to fly when she was scared her wings locked up.
- For Science!: A benign example, but it's still shown as the wrong approach. Twilight observes Pinkie Pie and makes correlations between body twitches and what they signify but she can't figure out the connection between the twitches and the events.
- Furry Reminder: At one point, Pinkie rolls around in the grass. You may think it's just her randomness, but real horses do that a lot.
- The Glomp: Spike on Fluttershy.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Pinkie Pie shudders her way right off a cliff, only to get yanked back by Applejack. Gravity fails to grab her for long enough that you'd almost think her shudders would get her across the gap on their own.
- Growling Gut: Pinkie's stomach growls once in this episode, which winds up causing a loophole.Pinkie Pie: It's my tummy! That usually means I'm hungry. Let's eat!
- Inflating Body Gag: When Pinkie Pie's "doozy" finishes, she changes into a lot of shapes, even causing her body to swell up like a balloon.
- Instant Bandages: They appear on Twilight after things fall on her.
- I Take Offense to That Last One:Pinkie Pie: What's not to believe? You do magic, what's the difference?
Twilight Sparkle: Huge! For one thing... [stands on soapbox] magic is something you study and practice. It only happens when you decide to do it. It's meant to make something specific that you want to happen happen. With you, ugh, it makes no sense at all!
Pinkie Pie: That's so not true, Twilight! [beat] Sometimes it's a bunch of random things happening to my body at random times that supposedly predict the future. I call 'em "combos". - Lampshade Hanging: Twilight delivers a speech about magic while standing on a soapbox.
- Leap of Faith: Word-for-word during the hydra Chase. It's Pinkie Pie's advice to Twilight on a literal leap, but also applies to the Pinkie Sense itself.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Twilight's idea of what Rainbow Dash would do when faced with a hydra is CHARGE! See it here.
- The Load: Spike. He can't keep up with the rest of the ponies on foot as they run and later gets stuck in the bog, requiring Twilight to run back to save him.
- Made of Iron: Twilight falls down a ditch, gets slammed by doors, is stung by a swarm of angry bees, falls down a steep stairwell, then later takes a flower pot to the head, followed by an anvil, a hay cart and a piano. By all rights these should have either put her in the hospital or with the previously mention anvil, cart and piano, killed her instantly. Still, she shakes it off within seconds and is fit as a fiddle and ready to go off on a rescue adventure. (OK, she's in bandages after a couple of these, and even ends up in a wheelchair at one point, but those are gone within a scene or two.) Said adventure ends with Twilight falling down a cliff, landing on a big swamp gas bubble that sends her flying until she lands on top of a stone pillar, from where she bounces onto a second pillar, from where she bounces a second time until finally crashing against a solid rock wall. After a couple of seconds, Twilight shakes her head and she's fine again.
- Mad Scientist Laboratory: Twilight's basement is shown to be filled with complex sensory apparati, tubes and bottles of colorful bubbling liquid, racks of test tubes, bookshelves, and giant tubing and machines of unclear purpose, with many of the larger pieces having tree roots wound around them.
- Minimalist Cast: The only characters in this episode are Twilight, Pinkie, Spike, Applejack, Fluttershy and Gummy, as well as a hydra and some frogs.
- Mobile Shrubbery: Twilight uses this when spying on Pinkie. Turns out that Pinkie knew all along that Twilight was spying on her but said nothing to not spoil Twilight's fun.
- Our Hydras Are Different: A giant four-headed hydra, bipedal but lacking forelimbs, inhabits Froggy Bottom Bog and attacks the main characters when they venture into the swamp. Its heads' personalities are distinct enough for them to laugh at each other's misfortunes and for one to be somewhat slower on the uptake than the rest.
- Piano Drop: One of the things that fall on Twilight.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Twilight's eyes turn red when she is Burning with Anger.
- Scary Stinging Swarm: Twilight gets stung by a swarm of bees near the schoolhouse while following Pinkie.
- Schizo Tech: Twilight's basement lab, complete with flashing lights, computers, scientific equipment, and more. It fulfills the typical Mad Scientist Laboratory, and is Played for Laughs.
- Science Cannot Comprehend Phlebotinum: Twilight runs herself ragged trying to analyze/disprove Pinkie Pie's "Pinkie Sense". In the end, she gives up and admits that maybe the "Pinkie Sense" can't be analyzed (which turns out to be the "doozy" that Pinkie predicted would happen). The point is that it exists, even though Twilight doesn't understand how it works.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Pinkie predicts that the "doozy" was going to happen at Froggy Bottom Bog, which leads the gang to investigate there. Had they not gone to Froggy Bottom Bog, Twilight wouldn't have admitted that Pinkie Sense was real there, which would have made her right about it in the first place. Then again, that would mean that Fluttershy is left to the mercy of the hydra. That could have qualified as a "doozy".
- Shout-Out:
- Twilight Burning with Anger also turns her coat white, making her briefly appear to have evolved into Rapidash.
- Twilight's "Latin" name for Pinkie Pie sounds like a reference to the Roadrunner cartoons where they'd do the same, fitting since Twilight is stalking Pinkie Pie and in the process suffers much the same sort of injurious Humiliation Conga Wile E. Coyote often did. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie, as usual hops around everywhere like Pepé Le Pew.
- The scene where Twilight is hit in rapid succession by items increasing in size is reminiscent of the end of the Tex Avery cartoon "Bad Luck Blackie" wherein a bulldog suffers a similar fate (except in his case, the falling objects included a school bus, an airplane, a steamroller, and a navy destroyer.
- "Pinkie Sense" is named after Spider-Man's Spider-Sense.
- The cloud of apparently nasty smelling gas that appears when the hydra first shows up may be a reference to the original myth in which the hydra produced a deadly poisonous gas that constantly surrounded its lair.
- Soapbox Sadie: Twilight stands on an actual soap box to lecture on why her magic makes rational sense and Pinkie's "Pinkie Sense" doesn't.
- Spider-Sense: The Pinkie Sense is an instinct that alerts Pinkie Pie to immediate danger.
- Squashed Flat: Happens to Twilight both times when she's hit by a door.
- Straw Vulcan: Twilight is so obessed with logic that she fails to see that the Pinkie Sense is a repeatable, reliable ability, that Pinkie Pie simply can't control.
- Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: Twilight's rationale for why unicorn magic is believable, and the "Pinkie Sense" isn't; unicorn magic is something that is practiced and studied while the Pinkie Sense is random and innate.
- Surprisingly Creepy Moment: Mostly a silly, funny episode... then the hydra shows up. Though it has its own brand of silliness, with one of the heads being slow on the uptake.
- Swamp Monster: The Froggy Bottom Bog is resident to a hydra that eats ponies.
- Wacky Sound Effect: Spike, backing out of the library's main door with a stack of books, emits the same "backing up" alarm that vehicles like delivery trucks and forklifts make.
- Weirder Than Usual: When seeing Pinkie Pie responding to her twitchy tail, Twilight just writes it off as her "Just being Pinkie Pie", but Spike notes that she's "Being extra-super Pinkie Pie today."
- What Would X Do?: "What would a brave pony like Rainbow Dash do...? CHARGE!"
- Wildlife Commentary Spoof: Twilight does one while observing Pinkie Pie. She wears a safari hat and uses binoculars.
- Wrong Context Magic: Inspired by this episode, the Pinkie Sense. It does not make sense according to the rules of magic as Twilight knows them.
- You Know What That Means: Used by Pinkie:Pinkie Pie: It's my tail! It's my tail! It's a-twitchin' twitchin'! And you know what that means!
Twilight Sparkle: Actually, Pinkie, I haven't the slightest idea.
