Good morning, everypony, and welcome to another edition of "Batbrony Reviews"! First of all, I want to apologize for taking so long to get around to this review; last week was a nightmare as far as school work was concerned, and I had two honking big papers to finish up. Thankfully, that's all done, so that out of the way I now bring you my thoughts on "Gauntlet of Fire."

And... well, this might just be my favorite Spike episode ever. It appears the DHX folks have resoundingly learned from their mistakes in some of the clunkier Spike episodes in earlier seasons and must have some writers there who just GET how to write Spike, because he's had some great episodes in the last two seasons. He held his own great in the season finale, but this episode was even better. In summing up what made this episode so great, we really need to look at two things: world building and characters.

Starting with the former, this was a great world building episode. We learned a lot more about dragons than we knew before, we got to see a really cool new environment, and it added overall just another nice layer to the already huge world of MLP. I think the one thing that put me off a bit was that we didn't see any large adult dragons around besides the Dragon Lord Torch, and that was confusing considering we've seen plenty of dragons close to his size before. Maybe only younger dragons were allowed to compete for the title of Dragon Lord, I don't know, but it was a bit odd (though admittedly, it would've been unrealistic for Spike to win if he were competing against dragons that big). I did love the various dragons we got to see, some of them had very cool designs. And this last bit may not count as world building, but I absolutely adored that Celestia and Luna showed up at the beginning of the episode. I've been wanting to see them doing just day-to-day stuff for the longest time, so to actually see it was great and hopefully a harbinger of things to come this season, including, hopefully, the long-awaited Celestia-focused episode. Plus it made sense that they'd know what the call of the Dragon Lord is considering how long they've been around.

Moving on, the rest of the review will largely focus on characters, starting with Spike. Man... this was a GREAT Spike episode, I cannot reiterate that enough. He wasn't treated like a Gary Stu, but it was great that they highlighted just how different he is from the rest of his kind, in a good way. This actually was a very nice continuation of the Season 2 episode Dragon Quest; in that episode, Spike wanted to be more like a dragon in order to connect with his roots, but realized he didn't have to do so when he realized it would mean needlessly being a jerk to others. He walked away from that episode determined to be the best dragon he could be by living the way his pony friends had taught him to, and he re-entered the world of dragons in this episode determined more than ever to do just that. It wasn't a lecture or great power on his part that won the day. It was just boundless kindness, determination, and optimism that won out, and I loved that. It was not only a reflection of how much the ponies have taught Spike, but how much he's learned and matured since Season 1. All he did was keep showing how much better things are to the rest of his kind when you just try to get to others through kindness and friendship rather than hostility, and he very well by the end of the episode may have laid down the foundations for a better future for his whole people. That's awesome, and Spike is awesome. I can only hope we get to see more Spike episodes like this this season.

Moving on, we come to the NEW character that everyone cannot stop talking about, for very, very, VERY good reason. Princess (now Dragon Lord) Ember. This character... let me put it this way. After I saw how crazy the fandom was going over her, I was worried that she wouldn't live up to the hype and expectations. I am glad to say I was 110% wrong! Ember was a delight. This was a happy instance of a new character (1) having a great design, (2) having a voice actress that perfectly represented what the character needed to be, (3) went through a character arc where she went from being grumpy and distrustful of others like the rest of her kind to open and receptive to the idea of friendship in just one episode, but it didn't feel forced or artificial, and (4) was just plain adorable, in a very tsundere manner (if you don't know what that is, it's basically how AJ and RD are adorable to; characters, typically female, who hide behind a tough exterior but eventually their warmer side comes out, usually making them more adorable in the process). I really, really dug this character in just about every respect. It felt like the type of character dragons needed. In Dragon Quest, all of the new dragons that Spike met were just over-the-top caricatures of teenage stereotypes. It made some sense, but it was also kinda boring and predictable. Here, we got to meet a character who was intelligent but also fairly set in dragons' ways just because she'd never heard of an alternative, or at least seen any in action. She proved herself, however, to be receptive to new ideas when she saw both the apparent and inherent value of friendship. She didn't just help Spike in the end for utilitarian purposes, she made a decision as well that friendship was something worth fighting for for its own sake. Spike taught all this to her just by being a good guy and showing her a good example, and I thought it made sense that he would leave such an impression on a character as intelligent as her. Overall, I just really, really, REALLY dug Ember, and I really hope we get to see more of this character going forward. She was just kinda awesome all around.

While we're still on the topic of dragons, let's talk about our antagonist, Garble. Honestly, I thought even he was improved by this episode. In his first appearance, he was just kind of a really annoying jerk, but not much of a threat. He was a teenager stereotype, and that made for some laughs, but at the same time I never could take him seriously. Here, they actually struck the right balance. He was still a jerk and an idiot, but he felt plenty threatening as well, especially because of what he planned to do to ponies if he became Dragon Lord. Some of his scenes also made for great Spike scenes, particularly whenever we saw Spike stubbornly remaining his kind and helpful self even to Garble, despite the latter remaining a jerk and a bully to him. It was a great way of emphasizing that Spike was not going to make the same mistakes he did in Dragon Quest and fall for Garble's ways. To top it all off, he got a great comeuppance at the end that felt perfect for him without being too mean-spirited.

Finally, to round things off with the dragons, I absolutely adored Dragon Lord Torch. This guy was, in a word, HILARIOUS. He had an ego to match his size, and it made for some of the best humorous bits in the episode. Plus I can't help but feel that he genuinely does care about his daughter and was just hiding it behind his extra, extra gruff, scaly exterior the entire episode, especially considering he didn't want her to compete for the Bloodstone Scepter. But all in all, this guy was just plain hilarious, and I really hope we get to see a bit more of him in future episodes, even if he no longer is Dragon Lord.

On one final note, I thought Rarity and Twilight were great here. They didn't do a whole lot aside from giving Spike moral support, but even that played a key role in the end in how Ember learned about the true value of friendship. Twilight geeking out over dragons was pretty funny, and it was nice too to see that Rarity still takes a special interest in Spike's well-being. It's a testament to how close he is to both characters that they were the two to come along and accompany him.

Besides the characters, the animation was very nice as always, they put together a nice musical score for this episode, and the episode had a nice balance of action and humor. All in all, this was a very fun and rousing episode with a surprisingly very good and well-delivered message. Right now, it's my favorite stand alone episode of the season, and one of the better ones we've had in awhile. It's nice to see Spike getting treated so well, and I can only hope this continues as the season progresses. That's all I've got for this one everypony, until later this morning, this is Batbrony signing off. I'm off!!! *cue dramatic exit*