Well, that wasn't long now was it? I already commented about this, but man, that was a short hiatus by MLP standards! They must've started work on S6 while they were still finishing up S5, cause it's only been about 4 months since we had new pony. Shortest hiatus ever, that's for sure.

Anyways, welcome, welcome, welcome back everypony to another edition of Batbrony Reviews! Today we'll be looking at the Season 6 premiere, and thankfully, while there's plenty to talk about, it's not what I would call a mountain's worth of new stuff. This was something we really haven't had in a season opener since the first half of the season opening in Season 1: a very slice-of-life season opener. But considering what it was setting out to do, it felt very appropriate for that, and was actually a really relaxing experience. There wasn't too much new stuff to digest, and it felt like a very natural continuation from where Season 5 left off. So, let's get it. Without further ado, this is The Crystalling: Parts 1 and 2.

So, expectantly but still very refreshingly enough, Starlight, NOT Twilight, was actually the main character of this episode, and even more surprisingly, technically had the A-plot even though the biggest threat stemmed from the B-plot. I was very, very glad to see that, even though things have clearly improved for her, everything's not hunky-dory. She's still very insecure, very unsure if this new chapter of her life is going to work out, and they did a great job of conveying that. There were moments where she just expressed her insecurity in her body language alone, and I loved that. Her interactions with Sunburst got all the attention and time they needed, and their reconciling did not feel rushed or forced at all. It flowed very nicely and progressed at a very good pace, and it resolved itself just as nicely; they're not on perfect terms, but they got off to a fresh start, and that's the best she could realistically ask for. It's nice the episode chose to resolve this, and I also liked how they seemed to convey that Starlight's the more powerful magic-user of the two while Sunburst is better at studying and explaining magic, so if they pair up with each other in the future, it would actually make a lot of sense. They naturally complement each other and that's why their lives went astray when they both separated; if you noticed in the flashbacks, she always accomplished the more impressive magical feats when he explained everything to her. They're kinda like the Wonder Twins in that regard, and I'd really like to see them pair up more in the future. So yeah, as the newest member of the Mane 7, Starlight's off to a great start and I look forward to seeing what the writers do with her. Aesthetically, her new mane style is very lovely and I think she's going to be a great addition overall to the main cast.

Next up, ol' Spike had himself quite the episode as well. It was really nice seeing him giving advice to someone besides Twilight, and they wrote him really well. He was a nice combination of helpful and not helpful; he didn't have all the answers and sometimes he tried stuff that didn't work out, but it was never in an insultingly stupid way. Everything felt like actions his character should take, and I really liked that. I hope he gets to work with Starlight more like that as well as aid Twilight in becoming a better teacher too, because he also gave her a great pep talk at the end of the opener. Overall, definitely one of Spike's best appearances in a supporting role.

I already covered a lot about Sunburst, but for one of the show's few male supporting character's who's actually contributed to resolving a crisis, they handled him very nicely in his debut. It was obvious that he was covering something up, but the revelation as to just what was wrong in his life was very nice all the same and, like I said, complemented Starlight's own past nicely and highlighted just how important their friendship is to bettering each other's lives. His design was pretty cool too (I was really digging that beard, loved that design choice). His voice actor was nothing too special, but he was fine. I do wonder how much we're gonna see him, but hopefully we get to at least one or two more times this season considering he seems very important to Starlight.

Our lost new character, Princess Flurry Heart, is already proving to be controversial to quite a few fans, but I have no complaints about her myself. Her wings are still hilariously gigantic, but really I thought they handled her fine. She had some crazy powers to the point that her scream was able to shatter the Crystal Heart, but they actually explained that nicely. We already know that baby magic users in Equestria have strange power fluctuations as infants, and this wasn't just a baby unicorn, this was an alicorn, which even Celestia and Luna explained they didn't know how to handle or what to expect from. So yeah, it wasn't hard for me to buy that she could buck so much up so easily, this is new territory for even the alicorns over a thousand years old (though that does raise a question as to whether they were born alicorns or received their wings/horns at some point, weird, right?). Besides her power, and tendency to buck things up in spectacular fashion, she was quite adorable. I wasn't crazy about her design at first, but it grew on me, and I thought they had a nice balance of cute baby noises and motions without it being overkill. Plus the power thing shouldn't be a problem after the way they resolved things in the end. She's a happy baby who does adorable things (and we probably won't see her too much), what more could you want?

Moving onto the original Mane 6, our favorite girls were, pleasantly surprisingly, all supporting characters here, including Twilight, who was basically the deuteragonist. This was unusual to see, but I really liked it, plus the new things they're going to get to do with Twilight. As I pointed out last season, the show itself has already identified that she is now stepping into a role in her own way that Celestia has been to her the whole show, that is, becoming a mentor and teacher to Starlight. This is a whole new responsibility for her personally and as Princess of Friendship, and one in which I imagine we'll see her acting quite a bit this season, so very glad to see I was on the money about that at the end of last season. Of course, she overdid it as only Twilight can by trying to get friendship down to a science, but she realized by the end that wasn't the way to go about things, and Spike did a good job of helping her take a step towards being a better teacher in the future by advising her on giving Starlight some space to grow just as Celestia did for her. Besides that, it was fun seeing her interacting with Cadance and Shining Armor and stepping into her role as an aunt, and she helped resolve their little crisis quite nicely. As for the rest of the Mane 6, they were just supporting characters here helping out however they could, but that's not a problem at this point. The show's always focused on them and they'll get their own episodes for sure this season, but after five seasons, yeah, seeing an opener not completely focus on them is totally fine.

As for the rest of our supporting cast, Shining Armor might've very well had his best, or at least funniest, episodes yet. Seeing him panic as a new father was both understandable but also quite funny, but he carried himself well as well when the situation called for it. It's pretty funny that he handled himself better when he was evacuating the city than he did when he was preparing for the Crystalling, but again, understandable. Cadance didn't do a whole lot, but it's always fun seeing her with Twilight, and she too responded nicely to the situations at hand, doing what she could to save her people and take care of her baby. It was very refreshing to see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna there for a change and also helping in what way they could, and hopefully we'll get to see more of them, especially Celestia (Luna's still my best princess, but Celestia terribly needs her own episode at some point, and it needs to happen this season) later this season. Not to mention that their crystallized versions were FABULOUS!!!

Besides that, there's just a couple other things to cover. The Crystal Empire was cool as always, and it seems too that apparently the Crystal ponies aren't always crystally; rather, it seems to be something that just happens when an especially large amount of love gets released in the empire, which I guess makes sense. It was nice that the threat wasn't an actual villain but just the terrible weather of the Frozen North itself, especially since the episode didn't have to get distracted covering it that much then (though I couldn't help but wonder if an especially large amount of Windigos are somehow responsible for the terrible weather up there). The themes in the episode were great, it felt very relaxed for a season opener (but in a very nice way), and I adored the pacing, everything felt like it got just the right amount of attention it needed and everything tied up very nicely. Finally, HOLY CRAP, Twilight's and Shining Armor's parents finally talked!!! It only took five seasons after they first appeared.

All in all, Season 6 is off to a great start, and things like Starlight's joining the group, the birth of Flurry Heart, Sunburst coming on the scene, and just the fact that characters like Celestia and Luna could still get more attention show that DHX is by no means out of stories to tell for these lovable ponies. I think this is going to be a very relaxed and slice-of-lifeish season, but a very good one all the same, with hopefully some nice new developments for old and new characters. It's off to a great start so far and I can't wait to see where everything goes. Until next time everypony, this is Batbrony signing off. I'm off! *cue dramatic exit*