Truffles

Oh yeah!  I forgot all about the background parts in the Failure Song.  Yeah, yeah, that' right.  But that was barely anything.  And the song in Spike at Your Service doesn't really count as a song, though I agree that it's probably the best part of the episode.  Though that episode was fraught with problems, it really did have a lot of funny moments.  I loved Fluttershy saying "I don't think that's her favorite s--" and then getting cut off.

Yeah, it's true he didn't get much singing during either of those times, but they were the moments that made me want to hear more of Spike's pipes. So I'm giddy three seasons later I'm finally getting something in the show crossed off my checklist! 

And you're right "Spike at Your Service" was filled with funny moments. I particularly like the grass counting joke and his surprising ability to stack boulders, implying he can do amazing things if he puts his mind to it. Plus I always seem to recall his love of having smelly feet whenever I write his character, and this is the episode that established that revolting habit of his.  

It's a shame the episode is totally undermined by his OOC nincompoop behavior in the middle, and using a generally cliche premise as the backdrop.

Speaking of that premise, why didn't Spike enslave himself to Thorax for saving his life? I suppose he abandoned his Dragon Code after the events of "...Service", which is kind of heartbreaking because he had no real sense of a positive self-identity for his species, at least not until "Gauntlet of Fire."

Spike (pointing to a changeling hatchery): I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit; it's the only way to be sure.

- or -

Spike, in a changeling hive, notices an egg hatching next to him, tilts his head as he gives Chrysalis a "buck you" look and proceeds to torch the entire egg cluster with dragonfire!

To start, this episode involves the whole idea that Spike "saved the Crystal Empire" twice, and is a hero and celebrity among the crystal ponies. I've never liked this idea, and to me, it feels like a one-time gag that the show is inexplicably committed to, despite it not being believable or even entertaining. Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadance (and even others) all played significant roles, some arguably even more so than Spike, in stopping Sombra's return. And at the Equestria Games, Spike might have saved some ponies from injury and/or death, which was laudable, but that was not "saving the Empire", and is something that presumably others have done without getting the celebrity treatment. For example, the Mane Six have "saved Equestria" several times, and are not being mobbed or fawned over wherever they go. It seems like even the show can't decide whether we're supposed to take Spike's hero/celebrity status seriously. On the one hand, Spike is shown to be egotistical about his hero status, leading other characters to roll their eyes and leading to Spike being humiliated after not living to his hype. But on the other hand, this episode wants us to believe that Spike is making a real sacrifice by risking his fame/reputation in the Crystal Empire by defending Thorax. The latter, to me, rings hollow, since Spike's fame/reputation seems overblown and at least somewhat undeserved, anyway. That's probably a big reason why this episode didn't have the intended emotional impact on me.

Personally, I'd like to see the show acknowledge the Mane 6's contributions more often. We've seen it twice this season so far, and I'd like it continue - at least to a degree that is doesn't become a distraction. As for Spike's fame, he only seems to get this recognition when he's in the Empire, and frankly for all the crap he's gone through I don't mind seeing his ego getting stroked at all.

I think the Crystal ponies see Spike as us people see real-life heroes - they magnify the good and ignore the bad or unimportant. To them, it doesn't matter that Spike didn't necessarily save the entire empire during the games, it was enough that he saved some pony lives and it all gets swept up into his legend as a hero, making him larger-than-life even if from a truly objective standpoint it isn't as impressive as it really is.

Finally I think his sacrifice of his status was real. Even if the Crystal Ponies are overblowing his fame, that fame would fall away if they weren't convinced Thorax was the real deal. All the perks Spike has grown to enjoy during his visits would stop, and I imagine that would probably make him feel pretty bad.

Another big part of this episode is that the Crystal Empire is supposed to have increased security looking out for changelings and protecting from them, but many times that security seems lax and incompetent. To give an example, I'm not sure that the "sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake" thing with Cadance near the beginning of the episode is necessarily a foolproof means of making sure that it's the real Twilight. That might have worked back in "A Canterlot Wedding" because it was something that Twilight and Cadance did many years ago and presumably hadn't been done or talked about since then. But now it's basically become Twilight and Cadance's standard greeting whenever they meet each other, and they don't seem to be trying to keep it a secret.

I tend to dismiss security unrealities in this series, or a lot of series for that matter. There's so much Hollywood fakery going on when it comes to stopping crimes that the ponies not actually being effectual in keeping things safe is a minor issue for me. But I see your point - the guards could have done more, and Shining could have conjured his big shield spell again if he really felt there was an impending invasion.

Another example of lax security is that Thorax's story about being born different than the other changelings, seeing true friendship during the Canterlot invasion, leaving the other changelings, and wanting to find love to share is just unquestioningly accepted by Spike, and later, everyone else. If there is legitimate fear of changelings infiltrating the Crystal Empire, wouldn't it be plausible that one of them might give such a false story in order to get inside to the Royal Family and spy on them, find out weaknesses in the defenses, discover and/or sabotage their plans, etc.? Even saving Spike from falling into the abyss would be part of this plan, getting Spike to trust Thorax even as Thorax is using Spike to get access.

Yeah, a lot of folks are wondering about this. If this weren't subtitled "Friendship is Magic", I could see Thorax being a ploy by Chrysalis to take over the kingdom. But so far this show has been pretty transparent when a character is good and when a character is evil most of the time. Chrysalis, for example, didn't even try to really blend in all that well when she took over Cadance - she was clearly a baddie (at least to Twilight and the audience.)

Another believability issue is that after Spike failed to get the guards and Shining Armor to warm to the idea of befriending a changeling, Spike's plan is to...have Thorax take the form of a crystal pony and enter the Crystal Empire, then win everyone over before, at some point in the future, revealing that he's a changeling. But why couldn't Thorax have just done all of that himself, especially if, as he claims, he's starving? Presumably Thorax had reason(s) not to attempt that earlier, so how did Spike make that plan viable when it wasn't before?

...

 

And if Thorax didn't enter the Crystal Empire as a crystal pony previously because he feared prematurely outing himself as a changeling, then again, how would Spike's presence solve that problem?

I'm thinking having Spike around - the hero of the Empire - gave him the confidence boost to pull it off. Maybe Spike's love itself was enough energy to allow him to sustain his Crystal Hooves form long enough for it to work now?

When Spike goes to find Thorax after betraying him, Thorax initially doesn't help Spike up from dangling into the abyss, which might be more of a moral dilemma than it appears. Should Spike's betrayal of Thorax really be punishable by death, by allowing Spike to fall into the abyss and most likely die? I'm inclined to think not, that Thorax should have helped Spike up regardless of whether Spike was still his friend or apologized sincerely enough.

I think he would have saved him even if Spike hadn't pled his case. The cries of Spike falling are probably what brought him to his senses and his moral code reasserted itself.

Shining Armor's over-the-top line that "there's no such thing as a nice changeling" is an example of this episode's ham-handedness.  Have ponies actually observed changelings at any other time than the Canterlot invasion? If not, then Shining Armor's line would be like saying that everyone from X country is bad based solely on observing X country's soldiers in a battle. Even then, one couldn't preemptively say that every single soldier in an enemy's army is evil - maybe that's the assumption that's operated on, but of course there might be some individuals who defect, are unwilling to actually fight, etc. Shining Armor might be more correct to say something like "We don't know what the changelings are up to, so we have to treat any of them as potential enemies until we have very good reason to believe otherwise", but then that kind of nuance might interfere with the intended message of the episode.

Shining Armor didn't seem to think rationally when it came to changelings. He had more reason than most to be bitter with them and I could understand his openly stating he hates every one of them. His unwillingness to judge each one on an individual basis is part of the moral of the episode - overcoming prejudice - and I felt they handled it as well as they could in the time restraints they had.

Starlight says on the train that doesn't want to fall behind on her friendship lessons back home. So are Starlight's friendship lessons like school assignments, given on a regular basis and with set due dates?

I think they are, and I think this might be foreshadowing for an upcoming episode. But we'll see! =)

Sunburst just so happened to be the one to perform Flurry Heart's crystalling, since Twilight was busy with casting the spell to restore the Crystal Heart, and now Sunburst appears to be Flurry Heart's caretaker. Is that a job he really wanted, or thought he was signing up for when he agreed to do the crystalling under extraordinary circumstances?

Considering his old job was an unknown (it seemed like he was on welfare or something in "The Crystalling") I thought he'd be happy to get any job, especially one as important as that. I imagine they kept Sunburst on because of Flurry's magic issues and he knows a lot about spells that can keep her powers in check. I thought it was implied that was the case, so I wasn't surprised to see him with the baby.

What's Spike's excuse for repeatedly coming and going from the Crystal Empire in order to talk to Thorax outside?

Potty breaks? Maybe dragon excrement isn't compatible with Crystal Empire plumbing? XD

Seriously, though, he probably proclaimed he was "heroically" going outside again to be on the lookout for more changelings and the local fanatizens simply accepted his explanation.

I suppose being a different species allows Spike to explore other friendships that Twilight might not deem possible. Twilight is his inspiration, however - he lives to carry out her tenets on friendship, even when she doesn't.

In fact, he's practically her disciple. Why that is is something the show hasn't really explained - whether it's because he goes to bed worrying that Twilight is going to abandon him someday like his parents did or because he's bound to her through magic because she hatched him, we can only speculate.

There's one part i can't help but tease, a lyric in Spike's song

♪ No two snowflakes ever match their desiiiggggnnnn.. ♫

...

You know, apart from, these 4, these 3, these 3, those 2..

Ah yes, the pitfalls of Spike living in a Flash-based virtual reality where the true powers are budgets and asset reusability.   

Since literally right after Canterlot Wedding, one of the many items on my wishlist has been either A.) We meet a changeling who's good, OR B.) They develop Chrysalis to be not entirely bad.  Note that I'm not in favor of a Chrysalis reform, but just making her complex, perhaps like Magneto in that she believes she's good,

If Chrysalis does have to go through some sort of reformation at the end of the season, I like your idea of making her like Magneto. It's different from how Discord is now, and we'd get a mix of her being the antagonist and a partner with the Mane 6 in future(?) seasons. Or maybe the movie.

One thing that always bothers me is why characters don't just tell others what's going on in a clear, direct manner.

Agreed. Spike went right up to those guards and told them, and the result was very believable - they thought he wasn't being serious. Then Shining came around and pretty much shot down that notion. (Which, he had good reason to since Chrysalis pretty much mindraped him in their first encounter...) The chain of events that followed worked out in a perfectly plausible manner: Spike's plan B first getting ponies to like him in his disguise and then doing the reveal. I knew that problem he has with going all feral when presented with a sudden burst of love would come back to bite them both in the end.

This isn't at all specific to FIM.  This is a TV trend since the dawn of time.  I guess if characters actually explained things, the episode would be over at the start of the second act.

I guess the nice thing about this episode having so much ground to cover in so little time is it allowed them to write Spike taking the most sensible, straightforward approaches to everything and still have plenty of story to tell.

I think it's great that they finally gave Spike a solo song.  He deserves it.  Poor guy hasn't even had a cameo line in a group song!  The best he's gotten was Cloudsdale's "national anthem" at the games.

He's actually done some background singing, most notably in Twilight's famous "Failure Song" in S3's "The Crystal Empire, Pt. 1":

and then later that season he got to sing a quick solo... in "Spike at Your Service". -facehoofs- It's my favorite part of the episode, which doesn't say much. 

Regardless how you feel about season six, there's one thing it does so well: Spike is getting the treatment he rightfully deserves. I don't know if DHX'll return to their old habits, but if they continue this current treatment, it'll be easily his best season yet.

 

What do you think of Spike's characterization post-Princess Spike? Have you, too, noticed improvement? What theories can you come up for his characterization turnaround?

I noticed the improvement after the Season 5 hiatus ended. Before that, Spike was severely inconsistent or he basically became a background pony: Even as far back as Season 4, he pretty much stopped being the voice of reason between "Power Ponies" and "Inspiration Manifestation", aside from his memorable fourth wall-breaking look to the audience in "Simple Ways".

Then we got to season 5 and the background status continued until we got "rewarded" with "Princess Spike", which we don't have to speak of again. =P  It wasn't until "Amending Fences" when he finally reacquired his "voice of reason" status, but then he seemed to get forgotten again until the finale.

Even though he was backgrounded through most of Season 5, the reason I say things still improved for him post-hiatus is because before that, I always felt like his friends took him for granted - like he wasn't an important member of the team. We were more likely to hear some pony scolding him or ordering him a round rather than treating him like one of their friends. Post hiatus, I felt like even in the brief scenes we did see of him, they showed us they still love him, something we hadn't seen much of since Season 2. "Hearthbreakers", and "Scaremaster" immediately come to mind as examples of this.

As for Season 6, I can't complain, really. You're right about that suitcase scene in "Newbie Dash" - ugh. But for the most part, he's been respected by his friends and been a useful contributor to solving the problems of the episodes he's been in. It would be nice to have him appear more often - it was difficult coming off this hiatus and having to wait until "28 Pranks Later" to even get our first glimpse of the scaly purple one in over two months, and even that was a non-speaking role.

As for why, I think it can be assumed the showrunners got together and listened to the fans. I don't know when they staged the intervention, though I would like to think the tipping point was "Princess Spike", because then that episode would at least have some usefulness in that it got everyone on the same page for this special dragon.

It's funny/sad, because while Spike is now getting fixed up and is the character with all the unfinished plot threads to explore, the Mane 6 have now become like he was in earlier seasons - drifting aimlessly and being written inconsistently as a result because they've finished all their arcs and the writers don't know what to do with them. In fact, the situation is so similar it's uncanny.

Stories whose point is to do nothing other than humiliate/torture/maim a character simply because the author hates that character.

One thing I really liked about the song was Starlight's demeanor. It was subtle, but as the song when one you could see her feeling fluctuate from pure anger to concern and even regret. The episode didn't have to say it; it just hit home for her.

I had to go back and watch the song again - you're right! It's actually brilliant how they did this. Seeing this is one of the things that has lessened my criticism that the ending was too rushed. Also Spike doesn't smile at the end of his song - he fully expects to get scolded (or worse) for trying to convince everypony.

Mind you, I still would have liked to have seen more drama at the end, but it's okay for me now.

I kinda wish they would have expended on how Spike's reputation as hero would have been destroyed because of Throax, like having his fans see Crystal Hoofs as Throax and turn away from Spike.

My worry about doing that is the episode would slide into "Princess Spike" / "Cart Before the Ponies" territory and make all the ponies come off as petty and vindictive. Spike's a hero twice over and they suddenly hate him because he tries to explain to them that not all changelings are bad? That seems shallow and out-of-character for the crystal ponies, especially after they were practically throwing themselves at him earlier in the day. I feel like the negativity shown was just about the right amount, the only thing that might have been better would have been to have had more than the song convince them.

Spike seems to be gaining fans this season.

I wish Hasbro would notice and give us more high-quality Spike merch. I love the GoH figures of him and will have them in my hands in Sept, but some more figures and plushes would be a welcome addition to adorn my room! =)

Speaking of GoH, kind of ironic Spike is fighting Chrysalis in that one bit of merch. They should add a Thorax and Ember figure to that package! =D

Does anybody know if Cathy Weseluck sang the song for spike or was there another person who did his vocals?

She did indeed sing for Spike, as she has in all of his brief singing appearances!

Thorax is oh-my-Luna adorable and such a fantastic character in his own right. He's the best character introduced this season.

I'm torn, I really am. Although the season has been a mixed bag in many instances, I do think we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to new characters. My top three would be Thorax here, Sunburst, and Ember. And frankly, I can't decide which one of them I like the most!

You can see how much he wants to be accepted, but he feels ostracized because he doesn't enjoy what Chrysalis did, and no pony accepted him because of who he is. For Spike to be the one to bridge the gap is an excellent idea in itself and helps bridge it.

Indeed! When Thorax was feeling hopeless over ever fitting in, I personally wanted a bit of dialogue where Spike explains being a dragon among ponies isn't as easy as it seems, and then explain what's hard about it. Maybe that's spoon-feeding the context to the audience, but I dunno. I guess for me, I already spend (probably) too much time thinking about all the problems Spike faces fitting in, so I'm already primed and I personally didn't need it, but I was thinking it might make the story stronger if he did?

As it is, the only time he's really disliked being among ponies is in "Dragon Quest," and the only reason he came back was they made his own kind ridiculously unpalatable to him. =/

His reasons were very believable. When he failed to stand up for Thorax, he felt obscenely guilty and wanted to make things right.

Agreed. The guilt over what he had done is what drove him to go looking for him. There wasn't anything else needed to motivate him.

Think about it, he was willing to sacrifice his reputation at The Crystal Empire over standing up for someone of a race that nearly took over Canterlot.

I would put this on par with what he was willing to sacrifice for the ponies of Equestria in "Gauntlet of Fire". Aside from the danger of getting seriously hurt in the trial, he initially thought he'd have to stay behind to be the Dragon Lord (and Twilight even pointed that out). He'd probably be miserable and lonely away from everyone and everything he ever knew.

And the song at the end…good golly, it's so good.

I like it more and more every time a hear it. It's definitely getting transferred and put on my music device playlist!

It's not just my favorite episode this season. It may be the best of season six so far. Well done!

It's definitely my fave episode of the season. It has the same quality of humor of "The Saddle Row Review" and had all of the poignancy that my favorite MLP episodes include.

I suppose it is important to use Spike as a plug to show some involvement with teenage characters as it seems there was almost none to none at all teenage ponies so far or just none to my knowledge.

 

Though these ponies could be possibly teenage ponies.

I have to say they look like teenagers as well. I think it's true the show is trying to show more adolescent characters (kind of surprising it's taking this long since that has been a large part of the audience since the fandom emerged). Before, you pretty much had foals, adults in their 20's and the a few really old ponies like Granny Smith.

Curious point.  Personally, I couldn't quite gauge what age he was supposed to be. I'm assuming from the size relative to others that he might be a teen as a pony? We have no idea about changeling lifespans though. The birthing scene could have been 1000 years ago for all we know.  :awuh:

That's true about their lifespans. All we really know is he's two years or so older than he was in the flashback to the Canterlot invasion!

Curiously, I rewatched "Canterlot Wedding" last night to bone up for this episode, and all of the changelings there had evil voices. XD

the song would of had a stronger impact if Spike mentioned himself as a dragon that is not a pony and that dragons too are dangerous and frightening but Spike has shown that not all dragons are like that and the same can be applied to Changelings.

 

And with Spike as a hero I would have wanted to see some kind of inner struggle in the beginning where he has to choose between being famous or doing what he felt was right and then when he sides with Thorax he begins his physical struggle of being pelted with rotten fruits by the townsfolk as he's placed under custody going from hero to zero but becoming a real hero and understanding that value.

Totally agree on the song including some dragon-phobia as part of the lyrics! I'm sure there are ponies around even more frightened of them than Fluttershy is - ponies that are even afraid of baby dragons (or simply don't know the difference between an adult vs. a baby - a dragon is a dragon to them).

As for someone as young as Spike getting pelted with nasty fruit.. I'm not sure that would be too good. I could see half the fandom (well, at least the Spike fans) raising their ire and shouting at the screen that the Crystal Empire can go screw themselves. XD Even if Spike is 16, I'm not sure pelting a 16 year old with rotting fruit would go over very good, and it only gets worse if the audience thinks he's 13 or 10.

Oh, thank goodness it's Spike!  For a second there we thought you were Carrot Top; man, that guy is the worst, not funny at all!"

LOL, Carrot Top came to mind as well when I saw this disguise!

. you do realize you can't use that as a test for ANYPONY ELSE right?

LOL, I tend to agree, though I think it was meant just for Twilight (not sure why they wouldn't think Spike and Starlight couldn't be changelings if Twilight wasn't). In any case, it was a nice ref to the scene of Cadence doing the same thing back in "Canterlot Wedding". =)

Spike's vocals are hardly something to write home about, his voice alone ensures that, but that lends to the simple, quiet beauty of the song.

Gee, I actually liked Spike's vocals. XD I don't know if they're autotuning or not, but every note came out so smooth, it was a delight to the ears.

And finally, the quiet nature of the song and Spike's impassioned pleas hammered away that this was coming from a very real, desperate, sincere place for him as a character.

I'd sure like to know who did the choreography and direction for the visuals in that song. They were amazing! (I'll let slide the mystery spotlight controlled by Derpy. XD ) Spike's acting was top-notch here and like you, I really felt for him while he was singing. He was putting it all on the line and the outcome wasn't certain to him.

I also kind of wanted Cadance rather than Twilight to be the first pony to listen to Spike and reach out to Thorax; I didn't mind that Twilight did and it made sense since she's both a sister and mother to him and also the Princess of Friendship, but I thought there might have been an added element of weight to it seeing the pony who most suffered because of the Changelings last time around (and probably has some trauma from that ordeal still considering she was abducted and held hostage, essentially) being the first to forgive them and try to make peace with at least this one, but again, it worked out just fine.

While I think from a logical standpoint Twilight made the most sense to step forward for the reasons you present, I can't decide whether Cadence or Starlight would be better runners-up in that regard. You're right that Cadence stepping forward would have a big impact on the message because of her history with the changelings (though one could argue Twilight pretty much feels the same). But then we have Starlight who does have the evil past - during the song as was mentioned above she started feeling guilty hearing Spike's words, so her stepping forward would have worked well, too.

Speaking of Cadence, I finally forgive her for how poorly she treated Spike in "Princess Spike". He didn't get a lot of time to interact with her in "The Crystalling" even though she seemed better there, but in this episode it's clear she cares about him and that whole thing with the conference in "PS" was a fluke of bad writing. =P

What was interesting was Crystal Hoof's age. (BTW that's the SECOND time this season Spike has had to look around at random objects to come up with a name - first time was in "Gauntlet of Fire" when he had to cover for Ember.  )

Anyway, "Crystal Hoof" is clearly an adolescent pony - he's smaller than all the other ponies around him, but doesn't sound like a foal. In fact, his voice reminded me of Snails in a way, without the goofiness thrown in. So I wonder if that means Thorax is an adolescent changeling? I realize he was able to turn into Spike who is a lot smaller, but it seems strange to pick an adolescent pony to become if Thorax himself is an adult.

The change of heart was a bit rushed, I guess musical numbers do that? XD

I liked Spike's solo though!

I still think it would have been more effective if he had pointed out he was briefly a monster, and Starlight could have chimed in that she was once evil and they point out the ponies all forgave both of them as the thing that changes their minds.

Damn... The feels.    I find it believable that Spike would succumb to peer pressure and throw Thorax under the bus. So far a good mix of humor, action, and angst in this episode.

Spike having a big ego is still cute, though I could see how it could get out of claw.

He should have used his fire breath on the rock to check to see if it was a changeling instead of kicking it.

Ah, the old "mirror" gag... the classics never grow old.

AND THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY.

Also: There goes the fanon that there is such a thing as changeling detection spells.

LOL, and Spike packs his Rarity plush with him.

So many past refs, and Spike is adored almost immediately after removing the disguise. I'm loving this so far. XD

BAM. And there's Starlight. Knew that was a typo. XD

I'm there.

I feel like on a rollercoaster riding to the top of the first drop. While I kinda know what to expect, I don't know if the ride is going to be smooth and thrilling or jaw-shakingly rough. XD

I thought Thorax was a girl 

I always heard Spike say "And he's my friend" when he was pleading his case to the Cadence, Sunburst, and the guards, even though I realize some heard it as "she." I'm not surprised Thorax has a male voice.

Eh, based on how dash hops into the world in the clip, It looks more like discord has just made an altered reality zone and she ended up running into it rather than she's playing a table top game with them.

Good eye! Yeah, now that I look at it I see the left side appears to be Twilight’s castle. What is also interesting is she is in the winter garb that we saw in the Discovery Family promos that showed the Mane 6 ready to leave for somewhere snowy. I wonder why among all of them these two had to come back?

I am quite surprised to see Dash and Pinkie appear. I thought this was going to be the proverbial "guys only" episode for a change of pace. Also curious is their pick of ponies - I wouldn't have pegged Rainbow and Pinkie as RPGers. I guess it's possible that they got sucked into the game against their will, or Discord has created NPC versions of them (which has it own ethical ramifications like the Mirror Pool Pinkies).

The most likely ponies to accompany them would have been Twilight and Fluttershy. Twilight because she's adorkable, and Flutters for her relationship with Discord.

Still looks to be a cool episode - I can't wait!

FANFIC WRITERS,  ROLL OUT!

Who says we already haven't? 

I started writing a follow-up to this episode three weeks ago as soon as the commercial bumpers aired with the scenes from this episode, and I was hoping the preview clip would feature this changeling's given name. Now I can go back and change all of the "this changeling," "Spike's friend" tags to something more sensible. XD Unfortunately, I wrote him with the personality that's a cross between Lieutenant Commander Data and a generic goblin. I'll have to fix that! XD

This looks like an amazing Spike episode that might just beat Gauntlet of Fire!

Unless the new writers have totally screwed one of the characters up, I think it will easily beat out "Gauntlet of Fire" - which is saying a lot for this episode since that was a great episode as well!

You should spoiler tag this, because I'm about to post a bunch of spoilers. XD

This is awesome! I woke up this morning hoping they released the preview clip sooner rather than later, and they did! =D It's so much better when the clip makes you WANT to see an episode rather than scare you away from it. I like the voice they chose for Thorax (appropriate, if basic, name I suppose XD.) It sounds like it's the same VA who does Sunburst and that makes sense too, since he's in the episode as well.

That bit with him lashing out at acts of kindness is an interesting aspect to his character. I wonder if he'll manage to get control over it or whether it will just be a running gag? I thought it was funny, at least. XD

I thought he'd be more emotionless, more stoic, since they feed on the emotions of others, but that seems to not be the case.

This scene seems to take place right after he rescues Spike from falling into that icy chasm. I laughed over how Spike tries in vain to explain his hero status to Thorax. Oh well now he has another opportunity to make his name known among yet another species. XD

I hadn't even thought of that.  I had heard something about some of the episodes being out of chronological order, though.  That's very interesting.  It would explain a lot.  Well, congratulations, Truffles: you have continued your trend of making me feel moderately better about an episode that I was rather upset about.  Thanks! 

You're welcome! I wish the fans didn't have to come up with explanations for why various characters have regressed or aren't present, though. 

I'm going to agree with all the comments on Rainbow Dash - she's been regressed to her Season 1 and 2 form and only seems to be exhibiting flaws lately to make the stories that involve her work. I'd like to see her loyalty tested - that is, she remains loyal to another character despite others having misgivings about said character, and her proving she was right in the end.

Actually, that's sounds a lot like the premise to "The Times are a Changeling," and I suppose they could have substituted Rainbow for Spike there. But Spike works out a little better in this instance since he can relate to how a changeling living among ponies feels. It's ironic he was temporarily the Element of Loyalty, because he exhibits it in much the same way.

Speaking of Spike, normally I would include him too as a character that needs an intervention, but they've really addressed a lot of the issues this season with only a few episodes where he's been conspicuously absent when he should have been part of the story. (Saddle Row Review and No Second Prances - I'm looking at you. =| )

We learned that friendship is really important to him - perhaps due to his being close with Twilight and taking her new role upon himself as well - when he met Ember, so much so he was willing to risk his life to prove his point. And now it appears the same is true with the upcoming episode in a few days, though it's not the other character he has to convince this time - it's an entire city full of ponies.

We don't know yet how he'll be portrayed in "Dungeons and Discords," hopefully this run of great Spike episodes won't falter.

Finally, Applejack is pretty much in the same boat as Rainbow, so she could use an instance of her honesty solving the problem again. Although that premise already sounds a lot like "Inspiration Manifestation." I'm almost ready to proclaim a South Park-like saying and declare there's nothing left to do because "Spike already did it." XD

Remember, Sunburst lives in the Crystal Empire. Maybe Twilight, Starlight, and Spike just stumble upon Sunburst once they've already arrived.

That's true, but I'm just going on what the premise said: "Spike travels with Twilight and Sunburst back to the Crystal Empire". It doesn't make sense for Sunburst to be included in that sentence if he's already there, unless the real typo is they meant to include him after the words "Crystal Empire".

Anyway, I know he's in the episode - they showed him reacting to Spike declaring his friendship with the changeling. I just hope Starlight goes along since she's been missing from most of the episodes this season, and her and Spike get along really well.

here is a question, was the cake that pranked rarity ( the cake cake, not the sewing machine) actually trapped? or did rainbow predict that Rarity would think the normal cake was trapped so only the sewing machine was actually trapped?

My thinking is it wasn't trapped, and Rainbow knew Rarity well enough that she would avoid the cake altogether. Sweetie Belle certainly didn't have any ill effects from eating the cake, but I suppose we can only speculate whether the cake was really booby trapped if somepony attempted to get the uniform off the cake topper.

If the typo in question is not the lack of an "a" before "Changeling," then I really have no idea what it could be...

I'm still fairly confident the typo is the mention of Sunburst following Spike to the Crystal Empire. I'm certain he didn't come out to Ponyville for no apparent reason just to return with him, and it's likely the name that is supposed to be there is Starlight. Plus it makes a lot of sense she would want to go to along for the trip.