Mythbuckers

First and foremost I would like to say that this is not directed at anypony in particular. I've just been hit with this one-two combo one too many times, and, since I'm already working on figuring out what's not quite right with my map, I might as well provide some analyzation on this topic as well.

In any case, y'all know the drill for Mythbuckers. A scenario is provided, then lots of random tests and facts about the scenario are presented. Once everything has been considered, the myth is either confirmed or bucked, generally with the help of a lot of random explosions and/or harm to a crash test pony. Due to our very static medium, we're going to have to forgo the explosions, but we can still do our best to buck some myths!

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Myth #1: Right near the beginning of the title song shown in every single episode of MLP: FiM, the artists provided a top down view of Ponyville that shows the majority of the town. This view has been considered by many artists, writers, and Minecrafters to be canon, and is quite possibly the most thorough rendering of the town. However, is it really accurate? And... y'know, it's been too long since I've seen the show. I'm probably just completely screwing up the narrator bit, so let's just move on to the facts.

First things first, how about we get an idea of the layout of Ponyville straight from the source, Lauren Faust herself: ( [link] ). "I know it's been touched on, but not completely defined. I think Everfree is West of Ponyville. AJ's farm is South West and Fluttershy's cottage and meadow North of her farm, right on the edge of the Everfree Forest (ironically.) I couldn't say where Whitetail Wood is, to be honest, and Canterlot is North East." Looking at the title shot, I'm sure you can spot the inconsistencies. Even if we were looking East (out from the Everfree), Sweet Apple Acres and Fluttershy's cottage would have to swap positions to be correct according to Faust.

If this isn't enough, I'd like to point out a few other things. First up, the shops on the North side of the main plaza. As you can see from multiple perspectives taken during different episodes (including quite a few shots not shown here), the order of the buildings shown during the title shot is backwards from the norm. It should be, from left to right, the Bridal Shop, Spa, Joke Shop, and Ice Cream Store, not the other way around. As for the school, aside from the obvious differences, the houses are way too close to the building! There should be enough space surrounding the structure to hold a playground, the stage, and copious trees. In the title shot, Fluttershy's house is not located alongside a creek, nor is it far enough away from town. And as for the idea that the river should make a sharp turn to the South and run alongside Sweet Apple Acres instead of continuing to loop around the town... well the pictures sort of speak for themselves.

While I don't mind if you don't trust my maps due to the current inaccuracies (goodness knows I need to make some alterations), please, for the love of Celestia, don't base your work off the title shot! If anything, use that one shot in the top left corner of this deviation. The title animations for every show in existence are almost always made back when the show is in its beginning phases, back when details are not nailed down and the layouts aren't complete. I have a feeling FiM was no different. Yeah it's not accurate, but can you blame it? It just happens to be a long lived minor mistake created before all the facts were in place. Ignore it and move on. Long story short, this myth is BUCKED! (That didn't sound quite so inappropriate in my head...)

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Moving on to myth number 2! Basic concept: The Apples live in the barn, and that intriguing barrel house with a carrot on top belongs to Carrot Top's family. While this is a possible interpretation, there's a LOT of evidence to the contrary. First things first, let's look at the outside of the barrel house itself. The primary argument for this house belonging to Carrot Top (or Golden Harvest depending on your preference) is that there is a giant carrot statue atop the highest point of the roof. While this is an excellent point, there is also a radish adorning the front porch. This is not a carrot exclusive home. Also of note is that the Apples are not an apple exclusive family. As you can see in these shots, the farm also supports cabbages, radishes, carrots, pumpkins, and even hen fruit. We all remember seeing AJ working with (and then being pelted with) corn in Return of Harmony so we know she is personally working with the corn. Plus, we know that the Apples also deal with grapes as seen in Sisterhood Social. tl;dr - There is a decent chance that the Apples may have decorated their home with something other than apples just to change things up a little.

Looking past the coincidences regarding the crops, let's look at the actual layout of each building. Starting with the interior of the house, notice that the basic layout requires a pony to walk through a single door then turn right to go up some stairs if they want to reach the second floor. If the Apple's house were in the barn, we'd have to enter either through the side annex or through the back door due to the single door requirement. Needless to say, this somewhat precludes the possibility of the barn containing an actual barn... Since we can see all the way to the rafters/curved roof and all the way to the back wall (as seen in the right images), the barn must contain a barn, not a house, and thus is not the Apple house. On the other hand, if we were to assume that the Apple house is actually contained in the barrel house on the back hill, then we can easily fit this layout in the building. Notice that the barrels are both gigantic (big enough to contain a single room) and partially buried in the hill. If we take the fact that they're buried to their logical conclusion, we realize that the Apple house is IN the hill, as well as on, behind, and below the hill. We could honestly fit well over a dozen rooms in the space provided in a wide variety of configurations without even batting an eye. And that my friends is why I believe the barrel house belongs to the Apples, not Carrot Top. Consider this myth bucked!