Yeah, I thought it was better than Return of Harmony. I'm so glad that they returned to this being all about the mane six and not just Twilight, and I'm also glad that it broke a lot of formula: no meeting in Canterlot/Crystal Empire, no Celestia, no taste the rainbow, it was really a refreshing change.
Starlight Glimmer is best villain for me. The reason being is that she doesn't immediately reveal herself as the villain, and instead seems friendly and effective in her philosophy. In fact, the equalists don't seem that evil to begin with, and actually seem happy like Twilight and Fluttershy point out. But what's evil about Starlight is that in order for this system to work, she forces her philosophy and then her friendship on others, and like Applejack says "you can't force no 2 ponies to be friends, it just doesn't work that way." The episode also pointed out a very clear flaw with communism, in order for it to work, everyone needs to be equal except for the dictator. In this case, everyone needs to get rid of their cutie marks apart from Starlight, because she's the one that operates the Staff of Sameness.
Another thing I thought was great is that the towns people don't have all the same views. They've all been brainwashed by Starlight, but some actually want their cutie marks back as shown by the episode. However Starlight Glimmer will not let anyone not have her views, and will brainwash them with nonsense about selfishness.
The song was also good. It's not the best song, but I liked how it explained to younger views how communism works, and how it seems ALMOST like a happy song but with little minor drops. Implying that these people may not be as good as they seem.
It also spoke a very important lesson about friendship, in that differing opinions and personality's can strengthen a friendship rather than weaken it, just like Twilight says how her friends with differences got her to alicornhood. Starlight could and probably will return... I'd love to see her backstory.
Yeah, I thought it was better than Return of Harmony. I'm so glad that they returned to this being all about the mane six and not just Twilight, and I'm also glad that it broke a lot of formula: no meeting in Canterlot/Crystal Empire, no Celestia, no taste the rainbow, it was really a refreshing change. Starlight Glimmer is best villain for me. The reason being is that she doesn't immediately reveal herself as the villain, and instead seems friendly and effective in her philosophy. In fact, the equalists don't seem that evil to begin with, and actually seem happy like Twilight and Fluttershy point out. But what's evil about Starlight is that in order for this system to work, she forces her philosophy and then her friendship on others, and like Applejack says "you can't force no 2 ponies to be friends, it just doesn't work that way." The episode also pointed out a very clear flaw with communism, in order for it to work, everyone needs to be equal except for the dictator. In this case, everyone needs to get rid of their cutie marks apart from Starlight, because she's the one that operates the Staff of Sameness. Another thing I thought was great is that the towns people don't have all the same views. They've all been brainwashed by Starlight, but some actually want their cutie marks back as shown by the episode. However Starlight Glimmer will not let anyone not have her views, and will brainwash them with nonsense about selfishness. The song was also good. It's not the best song, but I liked how it explained to younger views how communism works, and how it seems ALMOST like a happy song but with little minor drops. Implying that these people may not be as good as they seem. It also spoke a very important lesson about friendship, in that differing opinions and personality's can strengthen a friendship rather than weaken it, just like Twilight says how her friends with differences got her to alicornhood. Starlight could and probably will return... I'd love to see her backstory.