Oh nelly, "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000"! This is a fun episode, to say the least, namely because it added a very fun fact to MLP canon: ponies like their liquor! Yes, it appears that the ponies of Equestria have a nigh unquenchable thirst for what appears to be hard cider, to the point that apparently every single pony in all of Ponyville foregoes all of their business for days on end just to partake in Cider Season and get some delicious Sweet Apple Cider. Can't really blame them, seeing as I'm quite the fan of hard cider myself, and if Sweet Apple Cider is as tasty as Angry Orchard's Crisp Apple Cider then I totally understand where they're coming from!

Now I'm not really exaggerating when I say that cider is at the center of what makes most of this episode a blast. To be honest, it kinda really is. Most of the jokes revolve around cider, a shortage of cider, or the making of cider. The entire conflict is due to the Apple Family's inability to keep up with cider demands during Cider Season and their competition with Flim and Flam to be sole cider producers in Ponyville. The episode starts with cider, it ends with cider, cider, cider, cider, cider, CIDER!!! It's all over the place in this episode and it makes for a fun episode without much of a lesson but full of tons of humor, fun times, a compelling conflict, and of course, CIDER!!!

Of course, there's more to this episode obviously than cider, namely two elements: (1) the Flim Flam Brothers, and (2) the not-lesson learned. Let's start with the former. The Flim Flam Brothers are kind of the first secondary antagonists the show had really had that the Mane 6 faced off against since, I want to say, the Diamond Dogs back in Season 1 (that's not counting Diamond Tiara, seeing as she's an antagonist to the CMC, not the Mane 6). They enter the show with a bang, singing the delightful "Flim Flam Brothers Song" which, up until this point in the show, was probably the most musically impressive song that Daniel Ingram had thrown together. It's a hilarious and fun parody of "Ya Got Trouble" from "The Music Man" (a musical I've actually performed in myself, making the song all the more delightful to listen to), and to this day it remains one of my favorite songs of the entire show, and one of the only reasons I can't ever bring myself to dislike Flim or Flam that much, despite the fact that they prove themselves to be jerky con artists. Actually, despite the obvious play of their name on the con artist term "flimflam", it doesn't feel right calling them con artists, namely because their machine actually works. The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, when used properly, seems to make perfectly fine cider, and the episode, rather than being honest workers vs. con artists, is more John Henry vs. the Steam Drill (which the episode is actually an homage to). In the end, it's really their sacrifice of quality that proves to be their downfall, for while they outpace the Apple Family and Mane 6, they end up producing terrible cider as a result, compromising the integrity of their product and leading to their being driven out of town. Besides their less admirable qualities, the brothers, when they're not being arses, are kinda fun to watch, and unlike any other secondary characters the show's ever had before or since. In fact, I kinda hope they even learned a lesson from all of this and are now doing honest work somewhere, simply because they're undeniably charismatic and you certainly wouldn't want guys like that to keep digging their own graves.

Next, the not-lesson of the episode is fantastic as well. It really is true what Applejack says at the end; she didn't learn anything because, really, all she does in this episode is put things she already knew to be true into practice. She's grown up her whole life being taught that there is no substitute for hard work, honesty, and integrity in all activities, and her faith in that credo pays off. In addition, she carries over a lesson that she'd learned in both "Apple Bucking Season" and the previous episode, "The Last Roundup", that being, she could always rely on her friends for help and support when she and her family needed it, and her faith in her friends pays off as well. It's really great seeing the ponies, rather than learning a new lesson, simply putting what they've learned into practice in their lives, because that shows character growth and progression, and it's something we've seen more and more as the show has continued. Finally, the not-lesson is also responsible for what is quite possibly the greatest trolling of Princess Celestia of all time, that being of course, AJ's delightful proclamation "Ah didn't learn anything!!!" I'm sorry, but every time I hear her say that, I absolutely lose it.

Overall, "Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" is an incredibly fun episode with cider, a great song, cider, lots of laughs, cider, a wonderful not-lesson, cider, a couple of fun secondary antagonists, cider, some touching interactions between the Mane 6, namely, their being there for Applejack and her family when she needs them most at a moment's notice, and of course, cider! In the end, I think we can all agree that this is what we took away from this awesome episode.