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For Whom the Sweetie Belle Tolls Review *SPOILERS*


Commander_PonyShep

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Lots of people consider this episode a Sweetie Belle episode, because of the emphasis on Sweetie Belle and her unwarranted jealousy for Rarity. However, I'd rather consider it a RariBelle episode, in that Rarity shares the spotlight with her baby-sister. The reason I'd bring this up is because I was disappointed with the complete lack of a Rarity episode in Season Three; originally, "Spike At Your Service" was a Rarity episode, but they changed it to an Applejack one because Rarity was too mean to Spike. As a result, the closest thing I ever got to a Rarity story since was in the comics, in the form of the Nightmare Rarity arc, where she gets kidnapped and possessed by nightmare forces, and so her friends free her by showing her memories of all the things she did for her friends.

 

I had doubts about Season Four as a result of no Rarity episode in S3. I originally thought that Rarity would have the least amount of episodes again, compared to her friends, especially Applejack after receiving four episodes of her own plus an upcoming fifth. Hell, I even wanted to consider "Filly Vanilli" a RariShy episode, because Rarity was the one who formed the Ponytones and everything. But thankfully, there is an upcoming Sparity episode, which revolves around Spike rebooting Rarity's creativity with a spell, thus giving her the attention she needed after receiving none at all last season.

 

But just last Saturday, we received an excellent RariBelle episode. In that episode, Sweetie Belle becomes jealous of Rarity after her dresses received more attention than the rest of Sweetie's mediocre play. So, out of revenge, she ruins a costume Rarity designed, but eventually went through a Christmas Carol-style dream sequence where Luna shows her the future, where Rarity's career became ruined due to her baby sister's actions.

 

My favorite thing about that episode was that Rarity was not being intentionally mean to her baby sister, unlike in Sisterhooves Social where she was a tremendous jerk to her until the end. Instead, she just wanted what was best for Sweetie Belle, and never wanted all the attention she keeps unintentionally receiving. And, when I see Rarity behave like a generous sister to Sweetie Belle, it almost makes me think about what "Spike, At Your Service" would've been like if the writers rewrote her to be less mean and manipulative to Spike, instead of outright replace her with Applejack. I mean, she's the Element of Generosity, which involves giving oneself up for the greater good! As established in the climax of the Nightmare Rarity arc, Rarity had done multitudes of generous deeds for all of her friends, and as a result they were all thankful for her, thus allowing them to free her from the nightmare forces.

 

Sure, Rarity's generosity to Sweetie Belle when she was five almost contrasted her lack thereof in Sisterhooves Social, and sometimes, I have to wonder how Rarity went from generous to her sister, to not-so-much, and then back again. But thankfully, alongside the other plot-hole of Luna knowing everypony's lives through their dreams, that one aforementioned plot-hole does not get in the way of its own strong quality.

 

This episode proved that, alongside the upcoming Sparity episode, which is called "Inspiration Manifestation", there is still hope for Rarity, all while focusing on Sweetie Belle and her relationship to Rarity. That's why I wish to give this one an 9 out of 10.

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I don't think it needs to be called a plothole, the contrast between this and Sisterhooves.

Sisterhooves was just Rarity getting frustrated and unfairly lashing out at Sweetie. It was just a fight.

 

But yea, I agree somewhat with the broader point. They do a good job having Rarity be generous but they frequently undermine it by carelessly having her be selfish.

Usually this is for extraneous comedy, as I don't consider her focus episode indiscretions to be evidence that she's 'selfish' as she is not motivated by a selfish desire and they're usually just her handling things poorly.

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I don't think it needs to be called a plothole, the contrast between this and Sisterhooves.

Sisterhooves was just Rarity getting frustrated and unfairly lashing out at Sweetie. It was just a fight.

 

But yea, I agree somewhat with the broader point. They do a good job having Rarity be generous but they frequently undermine it by carelessly having her be selfish.

Usually this is for extraneous comedy, as I don't consider her focus episode indiscretions to be evidence that she's 'selfish' as she is not motivated by a selfish desire and they're usually just her handling things poorly.

I don't remember Rarity acting unintentionally selfish in "For Whom the Sweetie Bell Tolls".  Technically what I saw was an older sister trying to help her younger one, but receiving attention she could've given to said younger sister.

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