Alright, good afternoon everypony, apologies for taking some time to get around to this review. This morning we got what I would call an average episode with an exceptional ending, at least by Season 6 standards. That's not to say I didn't enjoy "The Cart Before the Ponies," but it hit beats that were very predictable in many regards, as we'll see. Without further ado, let's begin, this is "The Cart Before the Ponies."

So this episode's biggest problem really comes down to the type of story it's telling. We've seen this story in a million different ways before, the "older sibling/parent helping out the youngster with something, and getting carried away by their own ambitions/nostalgia and in the process forgetting what the activity's really about" storyline. It's not a story thread I'm a particular fan of, for one big reason: it demands that the adult character act more immaturely than the younger character. This isn't to say you can't do that, you certainly can; adults are often stupid or immature in their own ways, far too often. The reason it doesn't work a lot of the time in this particular type of story is because the adults are usually being immature about something very petty, in this case a derby race. This felt very out of character for all three of the Mane 6 here, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity, ESPECIALLY when one considers that this is a Season 6 episode. If this had happened in Season 1 or Season 2, I could've bought it at the very least, but this is Season 6 and all three of them were being ridiculous for the first 2/3 of this episode. They felt like stereotypes of themselves, and not in a good or even humorous way. But like I said, I don't blame this on the episode or the characters so much as just the particular type of story that was being told, and thankfully the episode had enough redeeming points to overcome the bad story-type.

First of all, Cheerilee featured prominently for the first time in a while, and I remembered how much I love when that happens, for a couple of reasons. (1) Cheerilee's adorable and I have a soft spot for her since my mom's a teacher, so a good teacher character will always win me over, (2) she's voiced by Nicole Oliver, who doesn't get NEARLY enough screentime in the show between Cheerilee and Princess Celestia these days, simply shameful considering she's a great VA who has so much fun in both roles. Cheerilee was basically what she always is, hilarious and adorable. She has a very deadpan sense of humor where she usually just gets fed up with something stupid going on around her, while somehow remaining chipper all the same, and her cheerleader outfit in the final scene was TOO CUTE!!! She was also the most mature adult pony here and called RD, AJ, and Rarity out for their BS at the end, which was gratifying to see.

Secondly the humor was top notch, especially for a slice of life episode that really brought Ponyville to life. We got to see A LOT of side characters and background ponies in prominent roles, and that's always fun and gave it a very early-seasons feel. I was especially pleased by how much of my best pony, Derpy, there was (and her possible brother/nephew/son??? Seriously, who the buck was that colt???), and she got the biggest laugh from me in that flashback scene with Rarity (don't ever underestimate how creative my best pony is, ya'll! ). The whole town came alive here, and that's always one of my favorite things to see in the show. Also, Scootaloo wanted to make a chicken-cart, THAT IS EPIC TROLLING FROM THE WRITERS/ANIMATORS!!!

Third, we got a killer song at the end despite the fact that it was basically RD, AJ, and Rarity singing about how much they were bucking up. It was fun, the whole town was involved, and it had a killer tune to it. Not much else to say about that other than I liked it.

Finally, the resolution was satisfying despite the fact that I could see the message coming from a mile away. Pretty much everypony in town was ticked off at RD, AJ, and Rarity, and rightfully so because they screwed up the whole derby for everyone. The CMC got to vent their frustrations as much as they should have, the Mane 6 members learned their lesson well, everypony got to have fun in the end and all was made right. Overall, while this episode was utterly predictable and utilized a very tired and not terribly good story thread, it was satisfying enough in its execution to be enjoyable enough. It wasn't great, but it was better than average on the whole, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Should be fun to rewatch, especially for the little things that elevated it. That's all for this week everypony, until next week this is Batbrony signing off. I'm off! *cue dramatic exit*