Web Animation / PONY.MOV

From left to right: Rarity, Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. Totally normal.

Twilight: Dear sweet Celestia! Discord, the god of chaos, has returned from his stone imprisonment to lay waste to everything, and everyone we hold dear! Spike, we have only one option: we must locate the Elements of Harmony!
Spike: [lights and smokes a bong] Yeah. Far out, dude.

— DRESS.MOV

PONY.MOV is a six-part Flash mini-series created by Max Gilardi, including a spin-off in the form of an Ask a Pony blog/webcomic named Ask Jappleack. It's basically My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic if it was created by John Kricfalusi and involves a metric ton of Mind Screw. The basic premise is the same as the show—ponies doing... stuff. Except with a much darker, more grotesque twist. And swag.

The main series of videos:

• APPLE.MOV
• DRESS.MOV
• SHED.MOV
• MAGIC.MOV
• PARTY.MOV
• SWAG.MOV

Side videos:

• Uh Oh
• HE'S COMING
• Watch out, Ashleigh
• SPIKE.MOV
• CRUSH. KILL. DESTROY. SWAG.
• Hotdiggedydemon Panel Cartoon #1 (shown to TrotCon; a nearly identical one was made for Everfree Northwest that only changes Spike's mouth animation and what he says)
• Hotdiggedydemon Panel Cartoon #2 (shown to DJ-Pon3 and Canterlot Gardens)

Behind-the-scenes videos:

• Adventures in Animating 1
• Adventures in Animating 2
• Adventures in Animating 3 (possibly)
• Adventures In Animating 4!!!!
• ADVENTURES IN ANIMATING REBORN
• Adventures In Animating: GOD BLESS AMERICA
• Sneak preview
• effects takeone
• Behind the Scenes (3D Pony houses)
• SWAG.MOV: Behind The Scenes

Gilardi also made a Twitter for Paco from "DRESS.MOV", "SPIKE.MOV", and "PARTY.MOV".

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PONY.MOV contains examples of:

• 11th-Hour Superpower: Dashzilla and the Sword of the Holy Titans, never once alluded to except in the tumblr blog, are used to take down Discord.
• Abusive Parents: Pinkie Pie says her dad makes her put glass in her vagina at the end of "SHED.MOV". Subverted when "PARTY.MOV" revealed that Pinkie lied about her father to get attention.
• Adolf Hitlarious: The epigraph under Lauren Faust's fake In Memoriam in the credits quotes her as saying "My Greatest Dream is a World Without Jews".
• Affectionate Parody: As dark, violent, and disgusting as this series is, you can still tell that Max made it out of love.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: R-Dash 5000, which immediately begins destroying everything and self-replicating to destroy more things, rather than take down Discord as intended.
• And Starring: Kira Buckland as Twilight Sparkle.
• Animal Gender-Bender: Despite being female equines, Rarity has man-tits and Rainbow Dash has male nipples. Dash's clearly male voice (when compared to Rarity's at least) and gaining man-muscles when fighting Discord do not help.
• Ambiguous Gender: Fluttershy's gender is labeled as "undefined" rather than "female" on her discharge papers from the psych ward.
• Ambiguously Gay: Among the five ponies shooting Pinkie's "pretty pink princess", two mares are seen◊.
• And I Must Scream: Rainbow Dash is revealed in "SWAG.MOV" to have been a coma the whole time, and she seemed to have been aware of everything that's happened to her.
• Animesque: Rainbow Dash for a scene in "SWAG.MOV" gives a very clear In the Name of the Moon sort of speech, before taking up the Sword of the Holy Titans.
• Apocalypse How: Discord, Wolflor, the R-Dash 5000's, and all sorts of other natural disasters cause a Class 0 when they destroy Ponyville. Then Rainbow Dash pulls off a Class X-4 with her Sonic Rainboom. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash causes a Cosmic Retcon that prevents either from happening.
• April Fools' Day: "SPIKE.MOV", just one video of Spike playing with a finger skateboard the whole time with nothing ever actually happening. Released on April Fools Day 2012.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • R-Dash 2000's Catchphrase.
    R-Dash 2000: Crush, Kill, Destroy, Swag.
  • Inverted, but when Twilight Sparkle asks Spike about where everypony is, Spike replies:
    Spike: Applejack’s in a coma, Rarity’s being held captive by Mexicans, Fluttershy’s in the nuthouse, and Rainbow Dash is dead.
• Art Shift:
  • "HE'S COMING" is made from clips of the actual show.
  • In "SHED.MOV", Fluttershy changes into her design from the show near the end.
  • When Twilight accidentally summons a demon to help Discord destroy Ponyville in "MAGIC.MOV", she and Spike have a Reaction Shot that very much resembles The Simpsons.
  • Once again, clips from the original show are used in "PARTY.MOV".
• Ass Pull: Invoked and Played for Laughs. The Elements of Harmony were up Spike's nose the entire time.
• Ass Shove: More like an Ass Poke, but Twilight Sparkle does this to Fluttershy using her horn in "DRESS.MOV".
  "Hey, hey, hey! Quit poking me with your thing!"
• Back from the Dead:
  • Twilight attempts to resurrect Rainbow Dash in "MAGIC.MOV", but to no effect. Then she comes back in "SWAG.MOV" and reveals she was only in a coma; her friends merely assumed she was dead after she was vertically sliced in half with a chainsaw.
  • Apple Bloom and, presumably, Princess Celestia are also alive again thanks to a Cosmic Retcon caused by Rainbow Dash.
• Bad Boss: Rarity to her "family" of illegal Mexican immigrants.
• Bad Samaritan: Rarity. Gives immigrants a job... which is barely more than slave labor.
• Balloon Belly: Applejack after eating tons of apples in "APPLE.MOV".
• Berserk Button:
  • Whatever you do, do not go in Fluttershy's shed.
  • Don't call Applejack crazy, or tell her that she can't eat all those apples.
• Bestiality Is Depraved: According to Spike, Pinkie once had sex with a snail.
• BFS: The Sword of the Holy Titans. Deconstructed in Ask Jappleack because, while powerful, there was no way for Jappleack and the Equestria Prime ponies to actually use it due to its size. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash becomes a giant to fight Discord in "SWAG.MOV", making her big enough to wield it.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: By "PARTY.MOV", Discord, Wolfor and R-DASH 5000 are destroying everything together. The former two exist because Appelox had created them. The latter was invented by Twilight in a failed effort to stop them.
• Bigger on the Inside: Fluttershy's shed. Tiny on the outside, rather large and spacious on the inside.
• Bittersweet Ending: In "SWAG.MOV", Rainbow Dash stops Discord at the cost of her wings.
• Black Comedy: It's probably easier to count the wholesome jokes in this series.
• Black Comedy Rape: "Lyra Sanchez, unabashed rape victim".
• Blatant Lies: Spike: "This isn't a drug! *cough*" (after having taken a hit from a bong)
• Bloodier and Gorier: In "SWAG.MOV", Ponyville literally gets flooded with Discord's blood.
• Bloody Hilarious: Some of the funnier moments in the series happen during some of the gorier ones, such as Fluttershy chainsawing Rainbow Dash in half while singing about why they shouldn't have come into her shed.
• Book Ends: The series ends as it began: with Applejack eating a shitload of apples.
• Butt-Monkey: Just about everything bad in the series happens to Spike.
• Brain Food: In "SHED.MOV", Fluttershy threatens to eat Rainbow Dash's brain.

• Brick Joke: In PARTY.MOV, Spike claims in an interview that Pinkie had sex with several different kinds of animals, including a snail. In SWAG.MOV, Pinkie is shown at one point drunkenly passed out on a motel bed, with a snail crawling on her ass.
• Broken Angel: Rainbow Dash loses her wings in the battle against Discord in "SWAG.MOV".
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Rainbow Dash succeeds in killing Discord, but she has her wings torn off in the process.
• The Bus Came Back: Rarity returns in "SWAG.MOV".
• Call-Back:
  • In "PARTY.MOV", when Twilight tries to hold an intervention for Pinkie, she notices all her other friends are missing and asks Spike:
    Twilight: This is supposed to be an intervention! Where is everypony?
    Spike: Applejack's in a coma, Rarity's being held hostage by Mexicans, Fluttershy's in the nuthouse, and Rainbow Dash is dead. Anymore questions, smartass?
  • Spike's bad luck with blood.
    PARTY.MOV: Oh dear god, IT GOT IN MY MOUTH!!!
    SWAG.MOV: Oh god, it got in my mouth again!
  • After Applejack's Mushroom Samba in "APPLE.MOV", Spike says, "Yo, Applejack...you alright?" After Rainbow Dash's attempted resurrection in "MAGIC.MOV", Spike says, "Yo, Rainbow Dash...you alright?"
• Canon Discontinuity:
  • Invoked in the Panel Cartoons to explain Rainbow Dash being not dead.
  • The Cosmic Retcon in "SWAG.MOV" rewinds history to the very beginning of "SHED.MOV", well after the period Rarity is being held hostage by the immigrants from "DRESS.MOV". With her appearance here, she is completely fine, with no visible body damage or explanation how she escaped.
• Cerebus Syndrome: A common trend in the series. "MAGIC.MOV" flanderizes almost all of the wackiness out of Twilight to turn her into a bland Straight Man, and "PARTY.MOV" turns Pinkie into a whorish celebrity addicted to parties. While this works on an individual level (each video uses a characterization that acts as an accurate parody of the character), this results in a bizarre case of one-man Depending on the Writer. Despite this trope, however, the series still rarely if ever took itself seriously, making this sort of a zigzagged trope.

• Characterization Marches On: Spike slowly grows more cynical and frustrated with the weirdness surrounding him.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Sword of the Holy Titans is mentioned in the Ask Jappleack blog by Twilight Prime, but she states no one is big enough to wield it. In "SWAG.MOV", the .MOV universe's Twilight summons it for a giant Rainbow Dash to use to finish off Discord.
• Child by Rape: Apparently, Lyra Heartstrings is pregnant with twins due to being raped. She doesn't really seem to care about the rape part, though.

• Comically Missing the Point:
  • When trying to recall what Fluttershy keeps telling everyone about her shed^note "Stay outta my shed!":
  Spike: I think she said we're always welcome in her shed!
  • And then when they do enter and see the horrors inside, Spike says, "Oh my god...look at this porn!", picking up a nearby dirty magazine.
• Cool Sword: The Sword of the Holy Titans. Not only is it gigantic, it's powerful enough to One-Hit Kill Discord.
• Cosmic Retcon: After Rainbow Dash destroys the universe at the start of "SWAG.MOV", the universe resets itself to the moment Apple Bloom gets her cutie mark, giving Rainbow Dash the chance to keep history from repeating itself.
• Country Matters: A couple pop up during the series. In "PARTY.MOV", Pinkie even has it written on her shirt!
• Crapsaccharine World: Everyone in this magical, colorful land of ponies is either mentally ill, a jerk, or completely nuts. Plus, we have slavery, cannibalistic psychopaths, and a giant monster who rampages through the city. Oddly for this trope, the authorities are quite competent, with police and doctors doing their jobs and taking matters seriously. It's improved a bit at the end of the series, since Discord's been killed (the other two monsters are Ret Goned in the process), Fluttershy's sane, and at least two of the Mane Cast have Taken a Level in Kindness. Applejack, after her Character Development, also resolves to start teaching others what friendship and compassion really mean to help make it a better place.
• Crossover: With Wacky Game Jokez, 4 Kidz! at the end of "SPIKE.MOV".
• Cruelty-Rich Leather: Fluttershy's shed has skinned critters all over the walls and a skinned Derpy as a toaster cozy.
• Cut Short: Max claimed in a tweet that "PARTY.MOV" was canceled.

• Deadpan Snarker: Spike exists to get high and be sarcastic about things in this series.
• Death by Racism: Downplayed; she doesn't die, but Rarity gets quite a "generous beating" from the illegal Mexican immigrants whom she forces to make her dresses.
• Dem Bones: In "SHED.MOV", the skinned critters come to life during the musical number.
• Deranged Animation: It looks like John Kricfalusi made it.
• Despair Event Horizon: At the start of "SWAG.MOV", Twilight is dejected that she failed to find the Elements of Harmony to stop Discord, and that none of her so-called friends did anything to help.
• Digital Piracy Is Evil: While coked up, Pinkie rants about it to passing musicians.
  Pinkie: What would you do if Ringo Starr just waltzed into your house and stole your...uh...favorite dress?!
  Octavia: I think I'd mostly just be confused?
• Distracted by My Own Sexy: Rarity breaks her routine of abusing her workforce to gaze at her reflection, calling herself "the most beautiful creature in all of Equestria".
• Distracted by the Sexy: Upon entering Fluttershy's corpse filled shed, the first thing both Spike and Rainbow Dash notice is the porn.
• Dwindling Party: The mane cast gets gradually smaller as the shorts progress. As of "PARTY.MOV", Twilight is the only Element bearer still able to do anything. This is undone due to a Cosmic Retcon.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • The episodes' plots mature over time, going from completely random, absurd, and even abstract in structure, to more straightforward, plot-driven, and comprehensible.
  • Rarity wasn't fat in the first episode and did not have a British accent.
  • Rainbow Dash had her cutie mark from the show in the first episode.
  • In the first episode, Pinkie Pie looked and sounded like Ed, unibrow and everything.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: As surprising as it sounds, they actually do. After the resurrected Rainbow Dash performs a Sonic Rainboom and destroys the universe, she resets history to the point in time when Apple Bloom would've died (saving her life in the process). This also turns Rainbow Dash into a giant...somehow. In the end she beheads Discord with the Sword of the Holy Titans summoned by Twilight, not only saving Ponyville, but preventing most of the other disasters from ever happening at all. The ending has Ponyville rebuilt, the Mane Six on good terms again, and Applejack even keeps her Character Development from Ask Jappleack.
• Everybody Lives: Well, aside from Derpy (who remains a decorative toaster cozy) and some innocent civilians (who lost their lives in Discord's rampage and battle with Dashzilla), all consequential characters survive in "SWAG.MOV" thanks to the Cosmic Retcon.
• Extreme Omnisexual: Pinkie Pie.
  Spike: She'd fuck anything. Chicks, dudes...didn't matter. Fat guys, skinny guys, guys who climb on rocks. Dogs, cats, squirrels, bugs. Snails. She fucked a snail. I watched her fuck a snail once. That sounds weird, right? Just hearing me say it? Imagine how weird it was to see it. She fucked! A snail!
• Extremely Short Timespan: From "DRESS.MOV" to "MAGIC.MOV", the series seems to take place within the course of one day ("DRESS.MOV" taking place in the morning, "SHED.MOV" taking place later in the day, "MAGIC.MOV" taking place at night, and so on).
• Eye Awaken: Discord's severed head opens its eyes after landing back on ground. This isn't done for horror, because he's landed in Fluttershy's shed...
• Family Theme Naming: Pinkie Pie (aka Pinkamena Diane Pie)'s parents have the same set of initials: Patrick Daniel Pie and Patricia Daphne Pie.
• Fan Disservice: Rarity is given certain assets in exquisite detail that make them as unattractive as possible.

• Fat Bastard: Rarity from "DRESS.MOV" onward is fat and nasty.
• Feather Fingers: Parodied a few times. In "SHED.MOV" Fluttershy inexplicably gains fingers (which she snaps) for a moment. Even better, in "MAGIC.MOV", Twilight's hoof suddenly sprouts a finger for the sole sake of pressing a button; the same thing happens with Pinkie in "PARTY.MOV", who sprouts a finger for the sake of tapping on the bench she's sitting on.
• Flanderization: Spike's stoner personality is based on three main canon concepts; the way it looks when he burns letters and sends them to Princess Celestia; a Running Gag within the fanon where certain frames appears as if he has "stoner eyes" (the middle of his blinking animation, where any character can look "stoned"); and of course, his scale colors (green and purple).
• Filming for Easy Dub: Almost no mouths at all appear in Panel #2.
• Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: We have Paco's Twitter account. Just don't tell Meesus Rarity.
• Foreshadowing: Fluttershy's cutie mark is a bloody knife.
  "Stay outta my shed!"
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • In the Ask Jappleack blog, it is established that apples have their own system of letters, replacing the standard A-Z with different shaped apple symbols. On the bottom of Pinkie's vodka bottle in "PARTY.MOV", there's a sentence written in the apple's language. Translated, it reads " APPLE BLOOM NEVER DIED".
  • At a single point in "SWAG.MOV", when Rainbow Dash takes the Sword of the Titans, the words "THIS IS SO FUCKING RETARDED OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M ANIMATING THIS" appear.
  • The penny Paco picks up in "SWAG.MOV" reads "In Twilus We Trust". Twilus, of course, is the leader of the Holy Titans who created the multiverse.
  • The labels on Pinkie's alcohol bottle in "PARTY.MOV", aside from the message in apple language, read "CAUTION!! EXTREMELY LAME freeze-frame gag", "WARNING! BOOZE — made from flowers or something I guess", and "Caution. Do not apply to open flame. Keep away from heat and open flame. Do not feed to babies unless you're really bored or something. I don't know. That might be funny I guess. A drunk baby. He would be like oh man googoo gaga I am so wasted I'm going to puke my strained peas all over my crib LOLOLOLOLOL."
• Funny Afro: The first effect of Rainbow Dash's attempted resurrection in "MAGIC.MOV" due to all the electricity frizzing her hair up.
• Furry Reminder: Twilight poops just like a real horse.
• Gone Horribly Right: Twilight succeeds in making a robot duplicate of Rainbow Dash, but it goes on a murderous rampage.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Twilight's resurrection spell for Rainbow Dash instead summons the demon Wolflor.
• Gross-Up Close-Up: "Just sit back and relax, while I eat your brain!"
• Herr Doktor: Twilight, being a Mad Scientist, occasionally drops some Gratuitous German into her exclamations.
• High-Pressure Blood:
  • Pinkie's period.
  • Also occurs when Discord is beheaded, flooding the entire town with his blood.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: Discussed by Spike, as he asks what the point of saying "anypony" instead of "anybody" is. It's become something of a trademark annoyance for him in the Trotcon video.
• Homage: "SHED.MOV" has clear shades of Carrie, including a near-recreation of the blood prank, the only difference being the source of the blood.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  Spike: C'mon, everybody knows drugs are dangerous. [lights bong, inhales] This isn't a drug.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode follows the naming scheme "[single word related to the contents of the video].MOV".
• Informed Trait: Assuming the bearers of the elements are the same as in canon, most of the ponies count—Rarity is far from generous, Fluttershy is...not particularly kind, Pinkie Pie is revealed to be a very depressed pony, and there's barely any loyalty seen from Rainbow Dash (though she does show it in "SWAG.MOV" when she protects Ponyville from Discord, even losing her wings in the process).
• Insistent Terminology: Rarity constantly refers to herself as being the most generous pony in all Ponyville.
• In the Style of: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic by way of The Ren & Stimpy Show.
• Insult of Endearment: In "SWAG.MOV", after Rainbow Dash is laid up in the hospital after defeating Discord, someone has left a heart-shaped balloon next to her bed that says, "Get Well Soon, Dash-Hole."
• Jerkass: Every member of the Mane Cast. Some less than others.
• Jump Scare: The endings of "SHED.MOV", "MAGIC.MOV", "PARTY.MOV", and the Panel Cartoons show Psycho!Fluttershy's Nightmare Face flying right at the screen. Subverted in "MAGIC.MOV", which gives off several moments where it looks like Rainbow Dash's corpse will suddenly spring up, but nothing happens.
• Kill the Cutie: Apple Bloom and Derpy Hooves get killed off in "SHED.MOV".

• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Derpy Hooves being a toaster cozy is promoted on T-shirts.
• Larynx Dissonance: Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are voiced by Max Gilardi, and it shows; they sound very male, the latter sounding like Fat Albert.
• Last Place You Look: The Elements of Harmony were in Spike's nose the whole time. It's only after Rainbow Dash defeats Discord with the Sword of the Holy Titans that the friends find them.
• Lighter and Softer: The HotDiggedyDemon Panel Cartoons, which are PG-rated compared to the rest of the series.
  Spike: If anyone asks, my eyes are like this because I didn't get enough sleep last night.
• Limited Animation: Downplayed; the animation in the series is by no means stiff but there's a noticeable lack of in-between frames in many scenes and the characters often tend to just glide across the shot. Of course, it's forgivable when remembering the series was animated entirely by just one person (Gilardi himself).
• Literal Metaphor:
  Spike: [Pinkie] started chasin' that purple dragon...not me, 'cause I'm a purple dragon, but, I mean, like, heroin. It's a metaphor, look it up, you have the Internet!

• Misery Lit: Parodied in "PARTY.MOV", when Pinkie Pie publishes an autobiography about her supposedly-abusive father titled "My Daddy Made Me Put Glass In My Vagina" that turns out to be a huge lie to gain attention.
  Reverend Peter Daniel Pie: Don't believe a word this book says. I didn't insert glass into my daughter's genitals, okay? I didn't force her to eat her own hair. I did not hit her over the head with a Sega Dreamcast in a fit of drunken hysteria. And I did not lock her in the basement and blast Blood on the Dance Floor for 17 hours straight when she refused to say the Lord's Prayer. What is that, a band?! I don't even know!
• Mysterious Middle Initial:
  • Spike T. Dragonowitz
  • Flutters H. Shydale
• Near-Villain Victory: Discord overpowers and de-wings Dashzilla. Fortunately, Scootaloo is there to encourage her.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Twilight Sparkle's first two attempts to revive/substitute Rainbow Dash, first by use of Black Magic and then by creating a robot substitute, in "MAGIC.MOV". To a degree she succeeds in both, but not with the intended results; instead of fighting Discord, the attempts add to Ponyville's destruction. And the reason she doesn't get the desired result? Rainbow Dash wasn't even dead, just in a coma!
• Nightmare Face:

• Psycho Fluttershy. The first time we saw her was enough to qualify for this trope, but then there was the "sit back and relax, WHILE I EAT YOUR BRAIN" face. Good god.
• Twilight had several moments during her resurrection of Rainbow Dash in "MAGIC.MOV".

• No Celebrities Were Harmed: The announcer who declares Fluttershy to be Prom Queen in a flashback in "SHED.MOV" bears a strong physical and vocal resemblance to Jeff Foxworthy.
• Noodle Incident: Apparently, the way Rarity coerced Paco into working for her involved a dropped ice cream cone.
• Not in the Face!: Rarity exclaims "Not my generous face!" upon receiving her generous beating.
• Not What It Looks Like: The reasoning Fluttershy gives in "SHED.MOV" after the cops catch her after she finishes chainsawing Rainbow Dash in half.
• Officer O'Hara: The pony cop that leads the siege of Fluttershy's shed from "SHED.MOV" speaks with an Irish accent.
  "Alroight, alroight, what's goin' on in 'ere?"
• Off with His Head!: The final defeat of Discord.
• Oh, My Gods!: "Dear sweet Celestia!"
• One-Winged Angel: Rainbow Dash turning giant to battle Discord in "SWAG.MOV".
• Only Sane by Comparison: Spike is an amoral stoner, but is by far one of the sanest characters in the series, often calling attention to how bizarre or stupid their plans are.
  Spike: Am I the only sane one in this crazy world of technicolor pony weirdos!?!
• Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: Discord, upon getting beheaded, releases enough blood to cause a tidal wave. Justified, as he's a giant.

• Poking Dead Things with a Stick: In "SWAG.MOV", Spike idly pokes the corpse of Rainbow Dash. However, she wakes up screaming, revealing she was never actually dead.
• Porn Stash: Fluttershy's shed is revealed to be this in "SHED.MOV". Never mind the mutilated woodland animals hung up on the walls.
• Power-Strain Blackout: In "SWAG.MOV", Rainbow Dash turns into a huge anthropomorphic pony to battle Discord. After finally killing him, she shrinks and faints.
• Put on a Bus: Rarity all but disappears from the story at the end of "DRESS.MOV" after her sweatshop workers stage a revolution.
• Pun: From "MAGIC.MOV":
  "I've heard of shock humor, but this is ridiculous!"
  "I guess it's true what they say. There really is no sense in beating a dead horse." *rimshot*
• Pungeon Master: In "MAGIC.MOV", Spike shows he is quite fond of making puns at every possible opportunity.
• Reactive Continuous Scream: This happens in "SWAG.MOV" between Rainbow Dash and Spike after the former wakes up.
• Refuge in Audacity: The main source of humor.
• Ret-Gone: The R-Dash 5000 and Wolflor after Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom does a Cosmic Retcon on Ponyville.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: This seems to be the case with the Mane Cast when history resets itself after Rainbow Dash inadvertently destroys the universe, since they act as if everything that transpired between the reset point and the universe's destruction still happened.

• Rotten Robotic Replacement: After Rainbow Dash is sawed in half by Fluttershy, Twilight attempts to use a resurrection spell to bring her back to help take down Discord. When that doesn't work, she decides to build a robot of Rainbow Dash to serve as her replacement. Unfortunately, R-DASH 5000 instead ends up doing the opposite and helps Discord in destroying Ponyville.
• Running Gag: "Yo, ______! ...y'alright?"
• Same Character, But Different: In "APPLE.MOV", Rarity is thinner and doesn't have the upper-class voice she does in "DRESS.MOV".
• Sanity Slippage: Twilight becomes gradually unhinged throughout "MAGIC.MOV" with each failed attempt to bring back Rainbow Dash.
• Skewed Priorities: Discord's been attacking Ponyville since "DRESS.MOV". What does Apple Bloom do during this? Stare at her rump as her cutie mark appears during the carnage, causing her to get promptly squished by Discord. In-character, when you think about it, but still a case of this trope.
• Screamer Prank: The ending of the Panel Cartoons, which show Fluttershy's "WHILE I EAT YOUR BRAINS!" face with a blood-curdling scream.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in "SHED.MOV" right before Apple Bloom gets crushed by Discord.
  • Spike and Pinkie Pie bolt in the same episode right when Fluttershy arrives in her shed with a chainsaw.

• "Shaggy Dog" Story: The plot of Twilight trying to resurrect Rainbow Dash in "MAGIC.MOV" is rendered completely moot when "SWAG.MOV" reveals Rainbow Dash was never dead to begin with.
  • "SWAG.MOV" opens with Twilight failing to save Ponyville because she failed to find the Elements of Harmony, which were stuck up Spike's nose the whole time.
• Shout-Out:
  • Applejack's Nightmare Face and distorted voice when demanding "More apples..." is a shoutout to Tarman from The Return of the Living Dead.
  • The second half of "APPLE.MOV" (to specify, Applejack's Mushroom Samba) is a shout out to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
  • "Rarity is watching you" is a direct homage to the infamous quote from 1984.
  • "SHED.MOV" has one towards Carrie with Fluttershy winning Prom Queen, and Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie backstage yanking a rope that drops a bucket of blood on her.
  • Wolflor the demon wears a WolfMother T-shirt.
  • Fluttershy's mask at the end of "SHED.MOV" looks a lot like the one worn by Hannibal Lecter.
  • Fluttershy, being an expy to Fat Albert, sings a song that is a variation of her source's theme song.
  • Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark is in the shape of the "stick man" Blair Witch symbol.
  • "MAGIC.MOV"'s climax has Twilight and Spike using electricity to try and resurrect Rainbow Dash.
  • Paco's theory as to why the planes are disappearing? Heartless.
  • In "PARTY.MOV", Spike mentions that, in relation to Pinkie's scandals, among those she fucks include "fat guys, skinny guys, guys who climb on rocks", in reference to the old Armour Hot Dog jingles.
  • A very drunk Pinkie once says a slurred, Wiseau-like "Don't touch me, motherfucker!"
  • The pony a coked-up Pinkie rants about music piracy to has a NERV cutie mark. This is a pony version of Garrett Hunter from Mega64, whose band "Slowdraw the Hungry Eskimo" was featured in the previous episode.
  • One of the paparazzi in "PARTY.MOV" is a pony medley of John, Jake, and Karkat.
  • At the very beginning of "PARTY.MOV", when Spike is channel surfing, ponified versions of The Simpsons, Home Movies, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force appear. Not to mention the entire video is one to E!!'s celebrity stories.
  • The beginning of the fight between Rainbow Dash and Discord is a shout out to Megas XLR. In addition, at multiple points during the fight, Rainbow Dash bears an uncanny resemblence to the Rogue Titan, and lets out Godzilla's roar (specifically from the Millennium films) as a victory cry.
  • The Panel Cartoon has Pinkie and RD(!) playing WolfPuncher II, which has a Game Over screen with Sweetie Belle talking in a robot voice.
  • Among the ponified cameos who get crushed under RD's butt in "SWAG.MOV": Anthony and Ashley Burch, the Mega64 guys, the Game Grumps, The Anime Club, and John, Rose, Dave, and Jade.
  • When Spike sees the tidal wave of blood coming, he says, "I hate Mondays".
  • The "credits" in "SPIKE.MOV" resemble those from Seinfeld. Complete with the appropriate BGM and weird names.
• Species Surname: Spike T. Dragonowitz.

• Stimulant Speedtalk: While high on cocaine in public, Pinkie Pie starts randomly yelling about digital piracy to random strangers.
  Pinkie Pie: You know what I can't stand?! Internet piracy! How would you like it if musicians stole from you? (to a green pony with sunglasses) What if Cannibal Corpse stole your precious glasses? (to Octavia) And you! What would you do if Ringo Starr just waltzed into your house and stole your...um...favorite dress?
  Octavia: I think I'd mostly just be confused?
• The Stinger: At the end of the credits of "SWAG.MOV", we see Fluttershy having tea in her shed (which doesn't appear to have any of the animal corpses from before) when Discord's head lands on it. He opens his eye to see Fluttershy glaring at him and saying "You're in my shed."

• Strange Minds Think Alike: Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie in "APPLE.MOV".
  Rainbow Dash: Woah-ho-ho-ho, Applejack! You eat all those apples, you're gonna get a wicked bad tummy ache!
  [later]
  Pinkie Pie: Man, Applejack! You eat all those apples, you're gonna get a wicked bad tummy ache!
  Rainbow Dash: Aw, no way, I just said the same thing, you crazy cunt! Heheheh!

• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Even though Rainbow Dash was only comatose, everyone had thought that she died after being sawed in half by Fluttershy since getting sawed in half should kill you
• This Is Gonna Suck: Spike, when faced with an Ax-Crazy Fluttershy:
  Spike: Well, we're fucked.

• Those Wacky Nazis: Twilight's real last name is "Mengele".
• Time Skip: "SWAG.MOV" starts one year after Discord destroys Ponyville.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Spike in "SWAG.MOV". Though already a total Jerkass in his own right, he still seems pretty affable and only gets angry for good reason in previous episodes (such as Pinkie spraying him with menstrual blood in "PARTY.MOV"). Then Applejack returns, prompting a virtual "Who gives a fuck" from Spike, who then proceeds to verbally bash her when she tries to tell them about her adventure. Keep in mind that the latter was in a coma for five episodes, and barely did anything to provoke this over-the-top assholish behavior from Spike. Though it could be argued that since he remembers the timeline where Ponyville was destroyed and everyone spent a year in misery, he eventually just grew tired of putting up with shit that doesn't directly affect him.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Everyone's reaction to Applejack returning not just from her coma, but also from saving their very existence:
  Spike: Nobody cares, you stupid cunt, shut your fucking mouth, oh my god shut up shut up, a million times shut up, I'm going to kill you, shut up. Nobody cares.
• Unintelligible Accent: Invoked in "DRESS.MOV". One of Rarity's Mexican employees asks her when she's going to pay them all and Rarity smugly responds that she can't understand her supposedly thick accent. Since the employee's accent isn't heavy at all, it's implied that Rarity was only saying she couldn't understand her as an excuse not to answer her question.
• Unusual Euphemism: Pinkie refers to her genitals as her "pretty pink princess" in "PARTY.MOV".
• Valley Girl: Bon Bon.
  Bon Bon: I'm texting my dog.
• Virgin Sacrifice: In "DRESS.MOV", Discord demands that the people of Ponyville bring him their virgins.
  Discord: I AM YOUR GOD NOW! BRING ME YOUR VIRGINS!
• Villainous Incest: Discord and Wolflor are revealed to be brothers in the Jappleack blog. Discord ends up humping Wolflor in "PARTY.MOV".
• Villain Song: "Gunna Eat'cha Brains" for Fluttershy, sung in the tune of the Fat Albert theme song.
• Visual Pun: Selfish, greedy Rarity constantly talks about how generous she is. There are only two generous things about her in this show: her obese figure, and the beating she gets when her Mexican workers start a revolution.
• Voice of the Legion: During Fluttershy's musical number in "SHED.MOV".
  "Just sit back and relax, while I eat your brain."
• Volumetric Mouth: "RARITY!!! Get your fat ass out here and help me find the Elements!!"

• Whip of Dominance: In "DRESS.MOV", Rarity is revealed to have many Mexican slaves who sew dresses for her. She claims that she pretends to whip them as a "silly pretend game" before cracking a whip behind one of the workers.

• Writer's Block: Twilight struggles to write a letter to Princess Celestia because she hasn't learned anything, so she screws it up and throws it in the trash, which is full of other balls of screwed-up paper. Not that Princess Celestia is even alive at that point...
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Twilight's theories about resurrecting cadavers are all from movies, and she doesn't understand why they don't work. It's because the one dead body she tries bringing back, Rainbow Dash, isn't actually dead.
• Xylophones for Walking Bones: In SHED.MOV, there are a bunch of skeletons in Fluttershy's shed. When Fluttershy sings her Villain Song, the skeletons suddenly come to life and provide musical accompaniment on their bones, creating xylophone sounds.
• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • Apple Bloom gets squished by Discord moments after earning her cutie mark.
  • In "SWAG.MOV", Paco finds a penny on the ground. Then he gets hit by a tidal wave of blood. But at least he got to keep the penny, according to his Twitter.

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"How d'ya like them apples?"