HopeFox

So nobody else is going to call this sort of disgusting behaviour out? Alright, then, I will. Or, at least, I'll get our good friends at Equestria Daily to do so. This isn't EQD, and I doubt anyony from the show actually reads this forum, but this is still a disgusting attitude. Not only are the writers human, they work exceptionally hard to provide all of us with a show we seem to take for granted. That's to say nothing of just how many people are actually involved in creating each episode. But no, go ahead and put all of your hatred on two people. That's fine. I was really, really hoping that somebody else would speak out against this attitude, but nobody did. I'm very disappointed in you, Canterlot, and I won't be returning. Farewell.

My guess is that the moral of the episode is going to be "Friendship isn't about keeping score". As friends, Applejack and Spike should help each other out when the opportunity arises, rather than feel indebted to each other for each incident. I don't have any real ideas about how the episode will go, though. Spike is a pretty helpful little guy, and while he probably doesn't have the strength to do any of the heavy lifting, he could be useful at the sort of tasks Apple Bloom performs.

Another thing I really like about this episode is that Granny Smith actually gets to hang out with other ponies her own age. In most of her appearances, she's talking down to other ponies, either as the doting grandmother or the irascible elder. I'm pretty sure she still thinks of Filthy Rich as a teenager, for example, even though he's got a daughter of his own. Seeing her chatting with Apple Rose and Applesauce was really sweet, and gave us a better idea of her character, I think.

I'm a bit worried, and surprised, at the idea that Rarity might not get an episode this season. The formula seemed pretty obvious - nine mid-season episodes equal one for each of the mane six, one for Spike, one for the Crusaders, and one for Scootaloo because that was long overdue. Oh well, only time will tell. That being said, this sounds like a fun episode. Angel and Opalescence have always gotten plenty of characterization, and Winona's been showing up more and more lately, but we've seen very little out of Tank, Gummy and Owlowicious since their debuts. It also looks like the Crusaders will be "helping", which is nice, because Spike doesn't seem to spend nearly as much time with the Crusaders as you'd think, being in the same rough age group.

Celestia and Leo being cousins would actually mean that one of Celestia and Luna's parents had a brother or sister, being one of the parents of Leo. Of course, that assumes that we can really take words like "sister", "cousin", "niece" and "nephew" to mean the same things for ponies like Celestia as they do for mortal ponies or humans. I'm not 100% convinced that Celestia and Luna are sisters in the sense of both having been foaled from the same physical mother, or even if they were conventionally "foaled" at all.

This is interesting. On the one hand, it's not what I would have done as a writer. The way Discord always worked in my mind, based on what I'd seen on the show, is that he's not "a creature who has decided to be evil and chaotic", or even "a creature that is evil and chaotic", but rather "chaos and evil made into a creature". It's no more possible to persuade him not to spread disharmony between ponies than it is possible to teach a sentient paperclip maximizer to stop making paperclips, or a computer to stop using binary. The capacity simply doesn't exist. On the other hand, you can't just tell kids "some people are just plain evil, and nothing will ever change them". Even if it's true. It's just not a good philosophy to have in life. So I'm glad that the effort is being made. With any luck, this will put a stop to some of the more ridiculous twisting of Celestia's character in the fandom, too. I'm completely in favour of the heroes making the effort to reach out to the villains and helping them to reform - if anything, it should happen more often.

Something else cool I just noticed about this episode - at the seven minute mark or so, Apple Bloom is participating in applebucking. We've seen her help out with other chores at the farm before, of course, but this is the first time we've actually seen her kicking trees and making apples fall out. Combine this with Sweetie Belle's brief burst of magic in "One Bad Apple", and the evolution of Scootaloo's ability to use her wings, most recently in "Sleepless in Ponyville", and we're definitely seeing the Crusaders growing up and coming into their tribal powers, slowly but surely. I think that's pretty cool.

I filed this with "Too Many Pinkie Pies" under "generall enjoyable episode". There wasn't anything particularly special about it, and it wasn't particularly emotionally hard-hitting or carrying a particularly weighty message, but it was fun. Unfortunately, the parts where Applejack was being socially oblivious didn't sit well with me. I always find that sort of scene intensely uncomfortable, and it didn't feel appropriate for Applejack, who's usually very good at picking up on when other ponies are distressed. The scenes with Granny Smith and her generation of ponies were great fun, though, as was seeing Babs again. The Oranges were in the group photo, too, which was nice, and it's at least possible that Babs is related to them. The song, again, wasn't exactly "Smile Smile Smile" or "This Day Aria", but it was fun. ... then someone explained the thing with the shooting stars, and I couldn't stop crying. Well done, writers. Well done. Oh, and as for ponies whom we didn't think were Apples, like Hayseed Turniptruck? Some of them might be Apples by marriage - spouses do often come to family reunions. I also like the fact that there were two unicorn fillies in the group photo.

Two things bothered me about this episode, but otherwise it was wonderful. The first was Pinkie Pie. I think her antics have been gradually getting wackier and taking up more screen time than they really need to. It felt a bit like her antics in "The Last Roundup", but with one very important difference - her antics were actually backed up by her love and concern for Rainbow Dash, instead of being entirely irrelevant and mostly showing disdain for Applejack. In this episode, they were heartwarming, and I loved the way she was so concerned about Rainbow's success at the academy, but I still felt they went on for too long and were over-the-top, even for Pinkie Pie. The second thing that bothered me was Spitfire. If it weren't for her mane, I wouldn't have been able to tell it was the same character. I understand that as a military instructor, she'd dress differently from when she's performing as a Wonderbolt. I can appreciate that she'd present a different side of her personality under those circumstances. I also understand that voice actors come and go for lots of reasons. But all of those things together made it really hard to reconcile the Spitfire we see in this episode with the one we're used to. On my second viewing, I was used to all of it, and I actually rather liked this presentation of her. I liked the fact that she treated Rainbow Dash just like all of the other raw recruits, because it would have been unprofessional and unwise for her to do anything else. However, the real problem I have with Spitfire in this episode is that, as far as I can tell, Rainbow Dash's accusation that the Wonderbolts were rewarding recklessness at the expense of other ponies' safety was actually accurate. Now, I'm generally very forgiving of thoughtless, reckless, selfish or irresponsible behaviour from the Mane Six and other ponies their age (like Trixie and Lightning Dust), because learning from those mistakes and growing into a better, more mature pony is the whole point of the show. Spitfire is (presumably) older and wiser, though, and moreover, she represents the entire Wonderbolts and possibly a substantial part of the Equestrian military. To see her exhibiting such bad judgement and a bad philosophy towards the Wonderbolt recruitment program really lowered my opinion of her integrity and wisdom, and that's rather sad. Other than that, the episode was great! I loved the way Lightning Dust was presented as a dark shadow of Rainbow Dash, with all of the ambition and drive but none of the perspective or responsibility. Having a character like that around enabled us to see how responsible and mature Rainbow can be. The scene where she turned in her badge was exceptionally moving, because we all know how much that meant to Rainbow. The look on her face when she realised just what she had done was heart-wrenching. It was a lovely callback to her demonstration of loyalty against the Shadowbolts. I found it really interesting that, despite what one might expect, Lightning and Rainbow weren't actually rivals. The problem wasn't which of them was better, but which one had the right attitude. I liked the way Rainbow initially fell victim to Lightning's philosophy, but rebelled against it when she realised the consequences. The fact that she was uneasy about it all the way through was good, too. I really liked the other recruits, too. It seemed a bit odd that so many of them were from Ponyville, but eh, new characters cost animator time. The way Cloud Chaser and Horse Power stuck together was really cute, and I liked Horse Power better in this episode than in "Hurricane Fluttershy".

My guess is that the Wonderbolts only accept one new pony each year - or, as has already been suggested, it's a matter of whenever an existing member retires - and Rainbow Dash passes on joining this year because she decides the other good candidate would be better for the team, or that it would mean more to the other candidate than it would to her (for example, the other candidate is entirely an unknown, whereas Rainbow is already making a name for herself and has a fan club and stuff). I'm sure she won't be ruling out joining the Wonderbolts at a later time, just for the moment.

Having allowed this episode to settle in my mind for a few days, I've realised why it resonates so strongly with me. I have a lot of nightmares. I don't really know why, but nightmares, sleep disturbances and sleepwalking are a common nocturnal occurence for me. I don't even remember them for the most part. As such, while Scootaloo's actual nightmares are more suspenseful than actually horrific to me, the way she reacts to them really struck a chord in me. I know all too well the feeling of waking up in the middle of the night, and being convinced that something terrible is about to happen, then doing something amazingly stupid like running off into the woods alone or putting my leg through a plate glass door. Rational thought basically stops working, and you can't help but act the way the nightmares are making you act. I never really understood the bronies who say that they want to live in Equestria, but a magical princess who watched over my dreams would sweeten the deal, let me tell you. Ironically, the night after watching the episode for the second time, I had the worst nightmares I've had in months, which is why I haven't watched it again since then. It was a brilliant episode, and I will watch it again soon. Just not for a few days.

I think it was her ego that ruined things for her, yes. I mean, at the end of the episode, she adds fireworks to Twilight's display for Celestia and the Saddle Arabian ambassadors, and they all really seemed to like it. I think the Entertaining and Moderately Powerful Trixie could have made a perfectly good living as an entertainer, showcasing her magic as purely a form of entertainment rather than a demonstration of her power. She could even have signed on with some kind of travelling circus or theatre troupe. But the Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't share the limelight.

I don't think I can express how thrilled I am about this episode! My girlfriend is still vibrating across the floor with the need to gush to her friends who haven't seen it yet. I really have a lot of respect for Madeleine Peters after this episode (not that I disliked her work before or anything). I think it's awesome that the show uses such young actors to play three very important child roles, and they're doing an excellent job. The interaction between Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo was adorable, of course. The only thing that lessened it for me is that I've seen so much Scootalove in fanfics and webcomics that it almost felt repetitive to see it on the actual show, but that's my own fault for participating in the fandom. It was really lovely to see it actually happening. It was true to Rainbow's character, too - not particularly sappy, and based on Rainbow's genuine respect for Scootaloo and her skills. Luna. Oh my gosh, Luna. I did not see that coming at all. When she appeared in the background of Scootaloo's first nightmare, I immediately hypothesized that she was lurking in dreams to guard ponies from nightmares, because I've seen it in a few fanfics, but having it confirmed was just... amazing. I cried, it was just so sweet. Knowing that not only does Luna have this power, but she cares so much about her little ponies that she spends what must be a fair amount of time in guarding their dreams, just raised my estimation of Luna's compassion and empathy through the roof. I did find Luna's voice a bit unusual when she first started talking, but it seems that the way she speaks in dreams is quite different from HOW SHE TALKS IN REAL LIFE. It's showing a softer side of her personality. Equestria today really is better than how it was a few years ago, before Twilight Sparkle started fixing things. Not only is there now a visible beacon of hope and love shining across the land for the first time in a thousand years (the Crystal Heart's "aurora borealis" effect), but there's now an immortal princess guarding her little ponies' dreams, again for the first time in a thousand years. Sombra's rise to power and Luna's corruption into Nightmare Moon really put a downer on the kingdom, didn't it? On another note, ponies seem to have much more lucid dreams than humans do. The fact that Luna and Scootaloo can have a coherent conversation in Scootaloo's dreams, which Scootaloo presumably remembered afterwards, is interesting. And despite Luna doing this, and presumably having done it before she became Nightmare Moon, they still didn't pay attention to her. Bad ponies! Getting back to the main thrust of the episode, Scootaloo admitting her fears was a pretty big deal, especially to Rainbow Dash. And their bonding... yeah, just amazing. The bit where Rainbow took her flying with her was adorable. Oh, and the interplay between Rarity and Sweetie Belle was interesting. I actually think it was Sweetie Belle's idea to pull the wagon, because she didn't seem to complain, object or even resent the task - she looked exhausted, but not upset. Rarity does have a legitimate problem with dirt and sweat, after all, so maybe that was Sweetie Belle's way of repaying Rarity for guilting her into the trip in the first place. Sweetie Belle also needs to take singing lessons. She has an amazing voice, and can perform some wonderful songs, but sometimes "99 Buckets of Oats" will happen, when her enthusiam outstrips her control.

I did enjoy this episode, but there were a few things that didn't quite sit right with me. For a start, as others have said, it felt rushed. There were a lot of really good moments in it, and it wouldn't have felt at all out of place in a different show, but... friendship. It really, really needed a Letter to Celestia at the end, more than other episodes, and the lack was noticeable. I could figure out a few lessons from it - friendship is more important than power, and holding grudges is stupid - but I think a bit more time could have been spent on the lesson. I think a little more time could have been spent on Trixie and Twilight's conversation at the end, too. In general, less magic, more friendship. Also, Fluttershy exhibited more fear and timidity in this episode than she's had in recent episodes, and it felt a bit forced. The rest was great, though. The Alicorn Amulet is an interesting bit of world-building, and I can't help but wonder if King Sombra had a hoof in creating it. Also, if it really does draw on the power of alicorns, then surely it would be able to amplify the magic of the other tribes. What would it do to Rainbow Dash's pegasus magic? Or Applejack's earth magic? (Answer: nothing, because they're both way too sensible to put the darn thing on. Also note how the possibility of using the amulet herself never even briefly occurs to Twilight.) I disagree with the idea that Trixie would have been ruined by her first confrontation with Twilight Sparkle, but it's canon now, so I can run with it. I suspect that Trixie could have made a decent career out of being an actually entertaining showpony rather than an arrogant fraudster, but she would have had to swallow a lot of pride in order to do so. Trixie working on the Pie rock farm was hilarious, and means that rock farming is definitely canon now, not just one of Pinkie's oddities. I'm not sure where Trixie got the money to buy the Alicorn Amulet if she was reduced to being a hired farmhoof, though. The Saddle Arabian ambassadors are interesting. They look awfully big - almost as tall as Princess Celestia. I wonder if they're on a similar cosmic level to her, or if Arabian ponies are just naturally taller? When I saw them in a preview, I thought there was something Middle Eastern about their attire. The existence of "ambassadors" implies that they're from a separate nation, which is very interesting - everything we've seen so far suggests that Equestria is the only pony country. Maybe it is, and Saddle Arabia is a sort of vassal state. Focusing on Twilight's improvement in her magic is always good, since that's supposed to be the big story arc of this season. I thought juggling small animals was a bit of a step down from pacifying an Ursa Minor, though - we've definitely seen her do more impressive things. The level of control required to keep the animals safe may have been the point here. And Zecora was awesome. I'm not sure why Twilight hasn't been taking more lessons from her already. The Star Wars references were obvious, but I don't think they were out of place. All in all... yeah, some things didn't sit right with me, but it was a fun episode. I suspect the writers really enjoyed being able to make Trixie into an over-the-top villain without actually making her truly evil.