Well, well, well, after a week off from our regularly scheduled dose of ponies, MLP returned with quite the treat for us with "Trade Ya"! I for one adored this episode; I know it didn't have the most serious message in the world, and for some there might have been some pacing issues, but I for one love it when we have just plain ol' silly, random, nonsense once in awhile. On top of that, this was a Mane 6 ensemble episode to boot, and in my opinion it was funnier than both "Castle Mania" or "Power Ponies", for reasons I'll explain shortly. So without further ado, let's jump right into this review of "Trade Ya"!

Seeing as this episode was really all over the place, I think as far as the main storyline and characters go that I'll just cover the three bits themselves with Twilight/Pinkie, Applejack/Rarity, and Rainbow Dash/Fluttershy. All three were fun in their own ways and had their own unique blend of humor going on. In addition, I actually didn't mind the varying types of pacing and screen time all three got; I know we've had more well balanced episodes, but a lot of the time the reason those episodes are more well balanced as far as screen time allocation goes is because they're relying more on physical humor. Here, the majority of the humor was actually dialogue-based, which is the probably the biggest reason that I think it was funnier than "Castle Mania" or "Power Ponies". Now don't get me wrong, I love physical humor in cartoons, especially when it's done well, but for my own personal tastes, especially for this show in particular, solid comedic dialogue trumps physical humor any day. It's also a far rarer occasion in MLP that we get an episode that largely relies on comedic dialogue alone, rather than trying to balance out comedic dialogue and physical humor, and it actually gave me some Season 1 and Season 2 nostalgia, when this happened far more often (though even then it was rare). Anyways, point is, not only was the dialogue hilarious time and time again, but it's probably the main reason that some bits were longer than others and the pacing/screen time allocation was all over the place, and honestly I give the writers credit for doing as well as they did.

D'aaawwwwwww, embarassed Twily is so cute- wait, what the buck??? AJ, what the heck is up with that look of yours?!?! It's very... suggestive, to say the least.

Back to the bits themselves, let's cover each one briefly. Twilight and Pinkie's probably left the least impression on me, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. Twilight was adorable (albeit a bit of a doormat) throughout, and it was quite sweet seeing her decide to keep all her books after realizing how much they meant to her and reminded her of everything she'd learned and gone through since moving to Ponyville (though that message could easily be warped and twisted by people who are hoarders, which would not be a good thing at all, seriously, hoarding can be quite a serious problem for some ). Pinkie was hilarious as the world's greatest and simultaneously worst auctioneer, plus it was sweet seeing how she genuinely was trying to help her dear friend out, even if she was going about it the wrong way. Still, besides the sweet lesson Twilight learned and Pinkie's randomness, there's not too much about their bit that I can specifically recall (other than the filly who I'm pretty sure was a younger cousin or niece of Derpy; I'd say it was filly Derpy herself, but this filly had purple and not yellow eyes... and yes, I notice that kind of thing, wanna fight about it? :okiedokielokie:). Overall though, they still had a fun bit.

Applejack and Rarity was probably my favorite pair to watch, simply because, as I've said before, Rarijack is my favorite duo out of the Mane 6. Sure they got probably less attention than the other two pairs, but their bits were seriously funny. Not only did they start off all sweet and friendly with each other, but both wanted to get hilariously bad junk (seriously, a pie tin that speeds up cooking by 5 seconds and a vintage broach that looks just like one Rarity has already?! ), but then they squabbled over whose item was more useful like only those two could (hearkening back to their squandering in "Look Before You Sleep"), and THEN they started squabbling over who was more mature and a better friend than the other! That last bit was possibly my favorite of theirs, it was just so nonsensical and they didn't even realize how ridiculous what they were saying sounded, and the fact that those two really are probably the two most mature members of the Mane 6 only made it funnier. Their resolution was probably my favorite as well; they both made up by compromising and getting a seemingly lesser version of the item the other wanted for each other, but in the process they both gave each other something far more meaningful because it was a testament to their true friendship. Seriously very sweet ending, even if they had the least screen time of the three pairs.

Finally, the pair that the episode was devoted to the most, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. I got four words for ya'll: GREATEST FETCH QUEST EVER!!! Their bit spiraled more out of control than any of the others into a swirling vortex of madness, and I loved every minute of it. For one, RD fangirling over a Daring Do book was too cute, but much to her misfortune, as we learned, RAINBOW DASH IS THE WORST BARTERER EVER!!! I think the problem was that RD has far too high an estimation of herself and all things Rainbow Dash, considering she decided that an rusty old horseshoe (and no, I don't care if it was her lucky horseshoe, IT WAS A RUSTY OLD HORSESHOE! ) would be a fair trade for what is apparently the only signed first edition copy of Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue. Great thinking RD, I see no problems in this logic whatsoever. Anyways, her rapid descent into madness, despair, and unyielding determination to get that book at all costs was hilarious to see play out; she was like Bad Luck Brian in this episode, or, for a more cartoonish comparison, she actually reminded me of, say, Daffy Duck or Wile E. Coyote here, Looney Tunes characters perpetually cursed to misfortune. The only point where I thought she got ridiculous to the point of being out of character was when she bartered away Fluttershy (though to be fair Fluttershy kind of volunteered) without a second thought, but in RD's defense, she'd been on a quest to get that book all day, so I understand if after all of that she was just a little out of her mind right then and there. Speaking of Fluttershy, she was top notch as well. I didn't think she was so much a Mary Sue, nor a doormat; rather, here, she was a Yes Man (or should I say, Yes Mare) in that she just couldn't refuse any of RD's requests out of the ridiculously high levels of kindness in her heart. Combined with RD's crazed determination, the two made for quite a potent comedic duo (as they often do), and, unsurprisingly, we got quite a bit of cute Fluttershy as well being her adorable self. The bear call whistle was cool (and I felt so bad for her when she lost it ), she was adorable and hilarious with the orthros, and her sticking by RD in all of their shenanigans was both hilarious and admirable. The only thing that kinda disappointed me about their bit was the resolution; Rainbow nearly bartered away Fluttershy into servitude in Manehattan for quite possibly months, and in return all she did was get Fluttershy a bird call whistle to replace the undoubtedly far rarer bear call whistle she had?! Sorry, but Fluttershy kinda got the short end of the stick here. Plus I wasn't exactly buying RD's fangasming over the normal old paperback edition of the Daring Do book that she got from Twilight; I know it's a meaningful item for them, but at the same time, I don't know, after everything she went through to get the first edition copy, it just didn't seem like she should be that stoked about it. Besides the resolution, however, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash got up to some hilarious shenanigans that seriously had me in stitches.

Dat moment when a pegasus is two seconds away from murdering somepony... this is that moment.

Alright, main bits out of the way, I think the only thing I got left to cover are some miscellaneous items. Let's see... it was very cool getting to see Rainbow Falls again; definitely one of my favorite Season 4 locations, has a very unique look to it. The recognition of Twilight's princesshood was very cool to see, definitely a nice bit of continuity. The trading fair itself was awesome, just seeing all the stalls and different items, as well as a unique concept as far as imaginative world building goes. Some of the best vendors include the Daring Do vendor (her voice was quite funny, as well as her blunt mannerisms around RD, those cracked me up), the beast tent vendor (who reminded me of Khal Drogo from "Game of Thrones" for some reason, mostly in his design), and the antique chicken statue tent vendor (mostly because he bartered antique chicken statues, and that's simply AMAZING!!!). We got the return of Jeff Lebowski pony working the food vendor cart (which pleased me very much seeing as "The Big Lebowski" is my favorite comedy of all time). I spotted quite a few Crystal Ponies in the crowd, which was a very nice and subtle bit of continuity that I give a lot of props to the writers for doing. The orthros was a very cool and very, very cute animal (at least when Flutters was around it), and its slobbering made for quite a few funny bits (though I was quite disappointed that RD didn't just give Fluttershy the orthros instead, she clearly loved it. But no, you get her a bird call whistle instead... really RD, really? ). Finally, I loved both the Derpy-like filly who I'm pretty sure is related to her (like I said, not her because she had purple and not yellow eyes, but she didn't talk and wanted to trade a broken quill for Twilight's books, quite the derpyish character if you ask me!) as well as the quick little cameo Derpy made (she showed up in the crowd at the end there, not a big cameo, but seeing as I'm me I just had to note it ). And oh yes, Spike's little comic book subplot was both a nice bit of continuity from "Power Ponies" as well as just plain hilarious. Even if we didn't get to see much of it, that hand off at the end was quite funny. Overall, this was a great episode as far as side characters goes, and we got to see all sorts of new faces and characters interacting with the Mane 6.

Despite the fact that, again, there weren't very deep messages here, that worked just fine for me, because the episode wasn't trying to be serious. It wanted to be a funny, nonsensical episode full of random and funny bits, and it did just that in my opinion, to a T. Overall, for me, "Trade Ya" was one of the comedic highlights of Season 4 thus far, and I very much look forward to rewatching it!