Excuse me, Celtic chap here. The reason that Twilight uses the phrase Moons is because up until 300 years ago everyone in Western culture used a lunar calander which measured the year using the phases of the moon. The solar calender that we use wasn't introduced until the early 1700s. As a result people who live in certain remote of Europe and North America, or who live in families that used to live in certain remote places, still use the term "Moon" as an alternate word for month. I remember when I was a kid and my dad was reading really old books from the 18th/19th century like Robin Hood, or Ivanhoe, or Treasure Island, characters were always using the word Moon or Moons as a word for month.

Nice story you guys might enjoy. My 10 year old nephew is into MLP, and of course like you'd expect from a ten year old boy he's embarrassed by it. His dad's in the military so told him about FOB Equestria, should've seen the look on his face lol, was like I just told him Christmas easter and his birthday were being rolled into one.

Didn't Over a Barrel show Spike can play the piano? I think he just didn't have enough time to learn the piece

I'm more on the dark side when it comes to Pinkie planning her parents' 500th anniversary: She doesn't want to think that they'll die eventually. It's denial!!! Maybe "moons" is just a informal phrase for "time" in general. Like saying "yeah, that happened way back."

And in the 100th episode, the Doctor told Derpy (sorry, Muffins) that he spent decades/centuries studying time travel.

I think what you thought was the least likely reason for Twilight being sad over the Yaks declaring war, is actually most likely. As we saw in The Crystal Empire episode, Twilight becomes very worried when she wants to do something to impress Celestia and show she's capable of doing everything to the best of her ability. Twilight is sad because by failing, it would disappoint Celestia. It wouldn't surprise me if Twilight even assumed that Celestia would take her Alicorn status away if she failed at being a princess, since Celestia is the one who gave it to her in the first place.

5. Remember that Celestia, the head of state is unaware of the whole situation. Imagine how she would react if Twilight caused a war on her own volition this early in her career.

You know I love this series on general principle, but actually having Firebrand make a surprisingly sound argument as to why the Yaks had at least SOME good reason to act the way they did? That was just a straight up pleasant surprise.

Di-PLAH-macy? GOO-ness? Did everyone pronounce those words like that where you grew up, Josh?

To be fair she never said that she was doing this behind Princess Celestias back. That's just what you read into it. After all, Celestia was clearly privy to the party that was happening, and this is kind of a big thing. It could easily have been that she was hoping Celestia would be proud of her for going the extra mile and making friends(rather than just peace) with the Yaks.

How does Pinkie have that Party Cave? Easy She's a secret agent for Celestia. What? Has there never been an instance of a secret agent in the show? Wait, there has, Secret Agent Sweetie Drops, also known as BonBon, who is currently living undercover in ponyville. She didn't keep much of a lid on that secret with Lyra, but Pinkie does have this little thing called Pinkie Promises that she absolutely refuses to break regardless of the circumstances. Still, what other proof could I possibly have of her being an agent? What would hint at this being the case? How about her knowledge on how to make gadgets (including a fully functional Helicopter), her unexplained knowledge that doesn't fall into the realm of parties or rock farming, her ability to shift around the land undetected, her knowledge of other worlds and inter-dimensional travel (she is the one that brings up to twilight that such a thing is even possible without the moon stipulation AND was the one who could take that complicated concept and made it simple for the others to understand), and the fact that she possesses abilities ideal for spying (Like controlling her reflection independent of her movement and location, something both the pony version and Eqg version of her has been shown capable of doing). PInkie is basically the pony Equivalent of the C.I.A while simultaneously enjoying herself as a party pony. She knows about everyone she meets, keeps detailed records on all of them, Hell I wouldn't be surprised if her party cave was actually hiding a whole other facility where the REAL records are kept, or if there were other lairs around ponyville or beyond. We do know she keeps objects of interest stashed around ponyville, and we assume they are all benign like balls and party canons, but who knows, maybe there are cameras and surveillance equipment as well. If she had pinkie promised to keep it all hush hush, that is exactly what she would do. Wouldn't it be prudent for Celestia, whom is now known to of kept secret agents, to have one of her select ponies be part of the mane six? Having an agent among the elements of harmony would give her inside information that Celestia may not get if her faithful student ever decided to fudge her friendship letters and go rouge like some other students she has had. Rainbow WAS looking for a Spy during the beginning of season one, she had some how caught wind there was one in ponyville. Maybe it was BonBon she was looking for, but who knows, maybe that secret agent was just hiding in plain sight. (...lol this probably isn't even remotely true, but it would make a kick-ass fanfic though)

6:56 i'd buy that as a headcanon. we've seen in the 100th episode that Gummy is actually a profound thinker, so i would not question him having such an ability

Also, what you thought was 'going behind Celestia's back' wasn't it. She most likely gave Twilight the challenge and chance to make friends with Yakyakastan. Because she is the Princess of Friendship. Celestia knew Twilight and her friends would pull through at the end.

There is also the fact that Twilight can cast a spell to make someone younger. Which would raise interesting questions about fairness, as twilight's friends can live forever young and the common ponies will grow old and die.

4:22 Not Goonness, GIH-ness

Dude that was such a difference in opinion from all the other reviewers that it actually made me think differently about this episode. Thanks.

12:19 I can't help it...this freeze frame of Fluttershy's face is hitting me with all the cuteness and hilarity!

A "moon" is referring to a lunar year, roughly 350 days.

How many times do I have to say this? party coordinator is a legitimate career choice and if you're good at it and make the right connections you can make a sizable income.

"Did Gummy send a telepathic message through his tongue?" Well, after that monologue in episode 100, yes, yes he did.

Headcanon: Yaks are magic-resistant.

This was an ok episode and did have a lot of good moments with Pinkie Pie. Those if there was anything I didn't like in the episode, it would be the Yaks. Though now that I think of it, maybe it was a bad idea to try and imitate their culture instead of introducing them to the pony culture. I guess ponies can live 100s of years since Granny Smith was in her early 20s when she met Diamond Tiara's Great Grandfather. Now think of that for a moment. Stinkin' Rich-Great Grandfather (Unknow Rich)-Grandfather Filthy Rich-Father That's over 3 generations Granny Smith has lived through. Well over 100 years.

Don't sweat it, man. You're content is ALWAYS worth the wait.

THANK YOU!!!! Out of all the people who've reviewed this episode you are the only one I've seen mention that we don't know enough about the yaks to determine the outcome of a war between them. Everyone else assumes Equestria wins automatically. Thank you for thinking beyond that. One other thing I want to add to that is to point out that many times the ponies seem to forget to use their magic when they should be using it.

this episode with pinkie keeping tabs is HILARIOUS in hindsight considering the events of the fallout equestria fanwork where pinkie pie , using her pinkie sense became, essentially the pony spy gestapo, haviing huge domestic survaillence networks this is even more hilarious when you consider that kkat began writing the work in april 2011, and finished by around christmas the same year so she started only just after season 1 ended, and finished just after the hearths warming eve episode meaning kkat accidentally PREDICTED, in a sense, pinkie keeping tabs on everyone

@3:23 FINALLY Someone understands why I had a big issue with Twilight here!!! I travel alot and have learned that when you welcome people from other countries, they come there to experience YOUR culture, NOT THEIRS!! Granted the Yaks' behavior was extreme, but I just found their nature to be that way to begin with. Hell I'd find it insulting too. Anyway, great review Josh!! I had a feeling you get a kick out of the name Yakyakistan hehe. I say take your time with your stuff and no worries.

When Pinkie said 'curse you, sheep' I was dying laughing at the delivery of that line.

Guys don't forget Twilight was a student of Princess Celestia for several years before becoming a princess herself, during that time we have no idea how many princess like lessons Twilight received before the show even began. We don't know much of Twilights past in retrospect. We know she has a brother, her parents are alive and shipped her off to boarding school (her brother too was shipped off to boarding school) where they basically dumped raising their daughter on Princess Celestia, Twilight hatched and raised Spike earning her her cutie mark, and she spent so much time studying as a kid she didn't allow herself to have much time for friends, where she ironically later became the Princess of Friendship. And as for Twilight knowing about the Yakyakistan cuisine, again, TWILIGHT STUDIES ALL THE TIME! She probably has an old book or two on the country from before the gates were closed in her library.

Glad you're back! Thanks for posting this!

For the whole 'moons' thing, it could be based on eclipses. A total lunar eclipse or a total solar eclipse occurs around once every 18 months, which would mean that 100 moons would be closer to 150 years. That gives a bit more weight to the whole Equestria Girls thing, and would explain why Yak customs are still remembered, yet no one has been to the country.

am I the only 1 who thinks the yeti kind of looks like an absol?

I thought you were turning into Silver-Quill and more or less releasing video reviews every few months >< and what happened to your griffon cameraman? Also wanted to point out still little bit: "Ponyville was Started by Earth Ponies and for hundreds of years never used magic to clean up winter." If flipped: "For hundreds of years Earth ponies never used magic to clean up winter and Ponyville was started by Earth Ponies" Twilights explanation would make more sense.

this video highlights so many things i love about this channel

Fantastic work, I was checking the channel everyday for the new video.

Moons, according to Jayson Thiessen (who's role in the show is unknown to me), is a unit of time with no human equivalent.

so so so so so so glad you're back!!! I've missed your reviews!the fact that you speculate on potential outcomes with a real world rule book makes things so much more thought provoking! the best example being the potential militaristic capabilities of yakyakistan.

Good to have you back, Josh!

glad you're back! I love your work!

This is the first person I've heard pronounce "Guinness" like "GOO-ness".

You're right about her needing Princess Lessons. I actually thought that season four would have an extra big dose of Celestia in it, but no such luck. I'm still holding out hope that sunny-flank will get an episode to herself, and after Big Mac finally got one, my hope is sort of rekindled.

The jokes you make in this episode- YES!!!

My personal luna headcanon is that Luna wanted incorporate moons into the year system so for those night owl ponies can count to nights for when they go to sleep in the day just like luna.

I guess I missed that bit, I didn't really see it as Twilight going behind Celestia's back, moreso, I thought it was that Celestia expects them to come to an amiable agreement, but Twilight wants them to be friends. So, my thoughts was that Celestia wanted a 'alliance' with the Yaks, whereas Twilight wanted Friendship...I cannot think of an immediate world comparison however. The jokes were, for the most part, spot on. Keep up the good work Joshscorcher/Firebrand/Fiery Joker. Looking forward to your next episode.

ingest review you said a line that describes my entire life it was the world keeps finding new ways to disappoint me dude keep up the good work

Happy you are back.

I always assumed "moons" was lunar cycles because I loved the Warriors books growing up.

OMG you are the best at coming up with headcanons!

Some Ponies Just Want To Watch Equestria Burn. this was a fun episode, awesome video dude, truly enjoyed it, sorry to hear about your mic, keep up the great work dude

I think Pinkiejust works at the bakery because the Cakes said "You meet a certain quota, and you can have free pastries." Her real incom comes from her real job, which is that of an Event Planner (Party Pony just sounds more interesting to little kids). We never actually see money exchanging hooves (except with the Apple family) but I think Pinkie may be the richest of all the Mane 6 (right under Twilight), because her parties are in such high demand. Although she burns through her cash real fast if that train scene in Lost a Treasure of griffon stone is any clue.

That was great fun Thanks for the quarter hour of entertainment and speculation, Josh

FINALLY! You are one of the first pony reactors and analyzers (at least the Anglosaxon ones), who mentioned those basics of diplomacy! Most of the fellow bronies don't see anything wrong in copying yaks' environment. As a Pole I can relate to that. For example, Poland and Hungary have been having friendly relations for centuries (despite some cultural differences and totally different languages we use, we even call each other 'cousins'!), however we may - unintentionally of course - easily offend the Hungarians by serving them goulash (a kind of stew, Hungarian national meal, adapted by Poles with less variety) with barley groats, popular in Poland but hated by most of Hungarians (they use diced potatoes or small egg noodles instead). I know it sounds weird, but it's a result of a complicated history of that part of Europe (mostly strained relations between Hungarians and Slovaks)...

Good to see another video from ya! :3

YAY! YOU'RE BACK

Actually Brand giving them their own food is shown as a sign of respect.

I like to imagine that every few days or so, a new moon just sorta pops into existence for no apparent reason, and ponies just started using "x moons ago/from now" as a way to measure time.

Finally, the king is back!

Dude, you have way too much fun doing this. And I envy you so hard.

I love the nod to dilbert! Very well done rants as well!!!

fun thing is we get to see what a war with equestria would look like in the final episode of season 5. can't wait to see what Josh thinks of it

You're honestly the first person I've seen defend the yaks. My theory had been that they find anything that they consider deception to be an offense, which combined with translation issues between their language and the pony's led to all that. Also, about their ages, while I do agree that Earth Ponies probably live longer, I don't think it is as long as alicorns, just like how alicorns usually are able to do spells better than unicorns. While Applejack could have made that face JUST because she was surprised that Pinkie was planning that far ahead, I think it was also her being confused about Pinkie expecting them to live that long.

Welcome Back Bra. :D

Nice to see you again buddy.

Well considering that sunset took the crown at the dance three previous times and tried to take the fourth, and it's been 30 moons since the portal last she was seen, the portal would've probably of open around the same time, 30÷3 is 10 moons to a year at bare minimum.

When I heard moons at first, I thought it was months, because I thought that I’ve heard it used in that sense in real life.

Twigliht had ALL of the power of all three Alicorns, and the crystal empire is unenvolved.

My head-canon is Pinkie is actually CIA (Canterlot Intelligence Agent), it explains everything. :O

"If you're ever touring at a country, order a burger, they're safe" Hence why I never do order a burger in another country. I'm a risk taker when it comes to foreign food. Plus, cereal with hot milk doesn't sound that bad.

Moons is the measurement of how long it takes to get to every full moon. So you get a full moon, then the time it takes to get to the next one is a moon. I think..

+FOB Equestria I think this review was worth the wait. Also, you should check out The Brony Notion's speculations on how long moons are. It's actually quite interesting.

1:47 The length of a month is different depending on what calendar you use. Calendars differ in how they divide up a year, but the year as we know it is the time it takes for the earth to go around the sun, which Equestria's planet doesn't, so their Calendar would be completely different from our own.

still sticking with my theory that the everfree forest is safe in the day time, and ponies didn't know this until zecora taught them so.

Though I DO think I know one race that could be seen as nice: Zebras :P Look at Zecora, she's really polite and speaks properly and respectfully, so taht kinda implies that the Zebras are very respectful and very intelligent. I know she's a shaman, but still.

good to hear a fan letter got your fire roring again man

I LOVE Cherries Jubilee. She's so gorgeous. I LOVE the red/maroon-on-cream/white coat mix. It's amazing :)

You bring up an interesting point about ponies living for hundreds of years, now if I may ruin everything. We're referring to Granny Smith, and the Mr. & Mrs. Cake, who all have one big thing in common. I submit to you that Earth Ponies are the only ones who live for hundreds of years, that's one of their powers they can’t fly, they can’t use magic, but their connection to the Earth gives them incredible longevity. It's how the Richs got so rich, and how in three (or four) generations the Apples built their massive farm.

Now I can't wait for this guy to review Quest for the Lost Mark.

So do we walk back up the slide or......I laughed so hard!

god this is my favorite review... the jokes are amazing 😂

Jayson Thiessen was pressed for its measure, he said it has "no human equivalent."

Pretty sure the Yaks knowing which end of the spear goes into the enemy gives them a significant advantage over the RG.

11:50 I've recently theorized that perhaps the Mane 6 are now immortal, because they are ACTUALLY linked with the Elements of Harmony, as opposed to simply using the Elements as they were before.

Holly cryste, volume control! I had to sit on the volume nob just to balance out the loud from the quiet!

8:30 at least you got disappointed calmly When I first watched that scene, I grabbed a pillow and screamed in it, while my family watches in confusion

I think it's considered a faux pas to trigger a war, no matter how overwhelming your firepower may be.

"moons" basically means one earth month which is the time it takes for a full moon to cycle back to a full moon. hoped that helped a little!

Yeah. Moons is confusing. I remember when Granny Smith said that the Apple Family Reunion happens every 100 moons. And we've had seen two Apple Family reunions. The first episode was one, because all of her family was there and it was stated in a later episode that it was a family reunion. And then that whole episode dedicated to Applejack planning (and almost completely ruining) the apple family reunion. So I'm really wondering how moons really work in the series.

I started thinking about it again. Rainbow Dash broke Cloudsdale's Winter machinery in 'Tanks for the Memories', so I find it hard that the Yaks broke more stuff than she could

Also, Spike did play the piano legitimately during the thing with Little Fartheart

you know, I heard Discord use the phrase a thousand moons ago , and that term was was used right before he got turned into stone for the first time, so one moon could equal one year

An event that takes place every moon is shown twice in a confirmed year. So a moon is equal to half a year.

8:18 I don't care if it's canon or not, in my mind, Spike can now officially play the piano. (I wish, I really do. *cries a bit in disappointment*

I asume the logic behind moons in mlp is the same as in warriors by erin hunter. usually a full cycle of a moon is about a month so one moon equals a month. this was confirmed in the glossary of the warriors field guide. so it may just be months. (fact: kittens have to be 6 moons old to train to be warriors in the series.) so hundreds of moons could be loosely used to mean years as 12 moons would be a year. so hundreds of months? it's better used in warrior cats than in mlp. I just noticed no one bothered answering this question.

Actualy Twlight being afraid of quesadillas makes her relatable to me 'cause I also have a fear not quesadillas but you would still laugh at me.

From what I've heard about the moons thing, the show staff have said that it doesn't really correspond to any measurement of time that we use. So no, it is neither a day (as in one lunar orbit) nor is it a lunar month. All we know is that it's been at least a few hundred moons since Granny Smith founded Ponyville (since they hold their family reunions every hundred moons, apparently), and that 30 moons is enough time for a high school to hold 3 Fall dances, since in the space between Sunset Shimmer leaving Equestria and the portal reopening, she apparently got the Fall Formal crown 3 times... So that would imply that there are 10 Moons in a year, meaning that each Moon is around 36 days or so.

I've never heard anyone pronounce Guinness as "goonness". Also another hint of ponies living for a long time is the fact that Granny Smith's aunt is still alive and kicking, like she's not on the verge of death or anything.

Anther point in the show that says ponies live a really long time is in "Slice of Life" when Doc say "My life work, decades, hm, centuries really"

because months as we know them are a human religious thing only for our specific cultural region. Many societies used to use lunar cycles to measure time because months are an imaginary thing, where as moon cycles are a real solid repeatable act of nature

Also, about the ponys age thing, remember how many candles were on rainbows cake?

As for why they might say "moon" instead of "month" the word "month" is just a variation on the word "moon." We got "month" from people referring to the lunar cycles.

I have to agree with you on the whole food thing, Josh. I mean, let's say I'm visiting Japan for the first time, and I'm wanting to try ramen or miso. And I mean genuine ramen or miso like you'd get at a genuine roadside stand. What I'm getting at is, if I go to a foreign country, I expect to experience local color and customs.