Batbrony

No no no, you're supposed to tell me that you would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids! Goodness, no wonder you don't RP, you don't even have the "False Suri after she's been apprehended" bit down.

AHA! I KNEW you were a false Suri! Your use of "okay" was the giveaway. The true Suri would have said "m'kay," usually preceded and/or followed by a condescending laugh. Another mystery solved, thanks to Batbrony and the Mystery Gang. Now where's my Scooby Snack?

@Rarity dang it, and I was just getting used to the new forums! STOP ALL THIS CHANGE AT ONCE... please... it is most vexing to me, darling.

Good evening, everypony, and Happy New Year! Tonight I am pleased to announce a very fun forum group project that is currently underway and open to most members of our community: the 2017 MLP Forums Class Photo! What is the class photo, some of you may ask? Why, it just happens to be a group image of OCs submitted by however many members choose to do so! If you have a pony OC of your own, getting it added to the class photo is rather simple; all you have to do is submit a .png image to the following thread: https://mlpforums.com/topic/161506-the-third-annual-mlp-forums-class-of-2017/ Besides that, all you need to know and follow are the following rules: Applicant requirements: You must meet one of the following. (or you will be rejected) 1. Must be a Member for a least 2 months. (as of closing date) 2. Be a Sub/Donor or member of staff (including any Poni staff) 3. have the rank (post rank) of a bunny ​4. actually have either roleplayed or other active posting (subject to me checking) Image requirements: Now for the Image rules: Your Image must adhere to all of these rules (or you will be rejected) A) NO AND I MEAN NO sexualised images B ) any 'Canon' race will be accepted (anything seen in the show, film or comics hell even made up ones ) C) Transparent background D) PNG!!! E) Don't post large Images keep them under a reasonable size F) Only one pony in the image no pairs of couples/groups ​G) appropriate stance (examples below) H) Full body shot with no background Mentis Soliloquy is organizing the class photo, so all submissions will be reviewed by him, and if you have any questions, please direct them to Mentis. Aside from that, all you gotta do is submit your image and have fun! Submissions close on the 2nd of March, so you have plenty of time to get them in, but if you'd like to, please do so as soon as possible. Thank you for your time everypony, and have a nice night! I'm off! *cue dramatic exit*

ATTENTION! PONIVERSE NEWSLETTER NOW HIRING!!! Good evening everypony! First of all, for all you American bronies, we at Poniverse hope ya'll had a very Happy Thanksgiving with friends or family! Here's hoping your bellies are stuffed, belts loosened, and that you are well into a food coma (if not your second or third). That out of the way, we've got some exciting news for ya'll here at Poniverse! The Poniverse newsletter staff is, as of this moment, currently hiring new staff members. While I have no details as to what positions exactly are open, nor do I have an application to link you to, feel free right now to contact 11th Doctor Whooves via PM if you have any questions about what positions are open, what staff responsibilities would be, how you can apply and/or qualify for a position, etc. Once I have an application to link you to as well, I promise that I will post that as soon as I can. Thank you all for your time, and have a nice evening and rest of your Thanksgiving everypony! We hope to see many of you apply to join our staff and are sure that you all may have some really great things to contribute to Poniverse, so please, don't be afraid to apply!

Good evening everypony, and welcome back to another edition of "Batbrony Reviews"! Tonight, I'm reviewing the latest installment of "Equestria Girls," a series which I originally loathed (at least in concept) but has steadily grown on me in its own way since it first came out. That's obviously not to say that the series as a whole is perfect, but it has certainly earned its place in the MLP-verse and I no longer mind seeing new installments added to it, if only for the things which it tends to do REALLY right, even if other elements are a bit cliche or predictable at this point. Without further ado, let's begin, this is "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Legend of Everfree"!!! So interestingly this is the first installment of the series which, aside from Sunset Shimmer (and that kind of doesn't count since she's been in the human world for years by now), did not involve any character from Equestria itself, namely Twilight Sparkle (our Twilight, not the Human Twilight). I actually liked this decision for the most part since it further allowed more attention to be given to the characters in this particular setting. If you're going to have the alternate universe setting, might as well focus on IT and the characters who actually inhabit it rather than a fish-out-of-water plotline like the first film did (and really, that would only work for the first film since Twilight would increasingly not be surprised by the setting itself as she goes there more and more). Another element about the setting which I really liked was the summer camp setting. Now granted, we've seen this type of setting a TON in cartoons before, and like in all of those the camp is usually ridiculous "nice" looking and not dirty at all by real-world standards, but cartoon logic so whatever, that doesn't bother me. Really, I felt that the writers took advantage of this setting as much as they possibly could, namely in how the story felt a little smaller than "Friendship Games" did. A huge problem I had with "Friendship Games" was that there were simply too many characters involved to the point that both the HuMane 6 (besides Human Twilight) and their Crystal Prep Academy counterparts got very limited screentime (although the HuMane 6 did fare better there than in "Rainbow Rocks"). This setting, however, had literally only a busload of students and a couple of camp counselors, and you could tell that not all of Canterlot High's student body was there. The most notable absence was the human CMC, but really I didn't mind this one bit. Such a small pool of characters allowed for more time to be devoted to a smaller cast overall, even for little things like funny gags. Heck, human Derpy even had a line for once, that was awesome! But the HuMane 6 fared pretty well here too and it wasn't JUST the Twilight and Sunset show, even if those two were still obviously the main characters. Besides that, I thought that for a summer camp-storyline, the writers did as best they could; these never for amazing storylines, but if they're clearly just entertaining, one-time adventures and treated as such, they're fun enough at their best. Building off of that point, the story was once again somewhat predictable and frustrating in its predictableness. Most frustrating of all is that now it appears they're trying to make Human Twilight the main character of this series, and after "Rainbow Rocks," that just feels like a disservice to Sunset Shimmer. I was never opposed to a Human Twilight showing up, but why does the spotlight have to be on her? Oh sure, you could argue they were both main characters, but Sunset to me was clearly a deuteragonist to Twilight's protagonist. Sunset didn't have a problem, she was there to give advice and pep talks to Twilight, and while I like seeing how far she's come since the first film, I just wish she were the main focus still. I don't know who's making these choices on the writing for these, but I don't like them. It's not even that I don't sympathize with the problem that Twilight was facing, I actually really liked the idea of her fearing that Midnight Sparkle was a part of her still (the segments kind of reminded me of some of what Luna went through with the Tantabus), but I guess the reason it still feels like a disservice to Sunset is because, technically, Human Twilight is a character we've only known for two films now. She may have some characteristics similar to our Twilight, but she's a tad bit more shy (she sometimes has a Coco Pommel vibe to her), and sometimes has almost a Mary Sue vibe to her. Her nerdiness wasn't even able to be utilized that much here since, well, they were in the woods, not too many opportunities for a character like that to nerd out in a summer camp setting (which probably explains the many, many, MANY nerd jokes between her and Timber Spruce). Bottom line is I just really don't care for Human Twilight being the focus of these films; it felt after "Rainbow Rocks" (still the best of these films by a long shot) that the main character was going to become Sunset Shimmer and focus would be on her growing more and more, possibly to a point that she might one day, even if only temporarily, go back to Equestria. Now I really don't know what the direction's supposed to be. Maybe it'll turn back to Sunset after having Twilight get over some of her initial insecurities which we saw here, but I don't know. Speaking of Sunset, she was great, and every time she was onscreen only made me lament them making Twilight the main character even more. She's matured so much and really seems to be the leading voice among the HuMane 6 at this point, and there's an excitable inquisitiveness about her that I love to watch as well. When she realized there might be magic at the camp, she jumped right into to figuring out what was up in such an upbeat way, not very much like pony Twilight's bookish way of going about things; there's an energy to the way Sunset tries to figure out if Equestrian magic is affecting a place and she seems to always hope it might be used for good in some way. In many ways, we're probably getting to see what type of a student she was at her best under Celestia, and it's nice that she's not just a carbon copy of Twilight in that respect. You can see her old ambition there, except now of course it's being channeled for good. She also had the best solo of the movie which didn't hurt, and even opened up a few new character threads which, surprisingly for me, I'd like to see explored more in the future (more on that later). But yeah, while I loved everything from Sunset here, her appearance still left me disappointed in that it was clear we weren't supposed to think of her as the main character, but rather the deuteragonist. I can only hope that changes in future installments and that, like in "Rainbow Rocks," ol' Bacon Hair becomes the focus of the EQG-verse again. Goodness, that's a saucy look for a kid's movie! Er... not that I'm complaining... oh don't look at me like that, you know you're not complaining either!!! As I said earlier, the HuMane 6 had one of their better outings, similar to "Friendship Games." They weren't just an afterthought, but they still felt like cliche versions of their Equestrian counterparts. Like, it always seemed like all of them (except maybe Applejack who didn't say one thing about apples) had to get in a line that identified their most superficial character trait. Rarity in particular couldn't shut up about fashion in this one, and while I love Rarity (both the pony and human ones) it just felt forced here, probably because of the camp setting and this just not being a natural place for the types of things she was getting up to, like all-out fashion shows (I feel like even pony Rarity would call that a bit much and simply try to have some R&R while at summer camp). Now don't misunderstand, they were still plenty fun to watch and had some delightful gags (AJ and Rarity had some great chemistry as usual, Fluttershy had some funny gags with animals, and Pinkie had the best gag of the movie when Sunset saw what was going on in her mind), but again, as long as they're never the focus of these things, they'll probably just always come off as cardboard cutouts of their Equestrian versions. That's the nature of these movies, not much time for character growth in an ensemble like that except for the most basic of things. Still, no real harm, no real foul. Well, we always wondered, and now we know, for better or worse, just what she's thinking... As far as supporting characters go, let's start with both old supporting characters and background characters just to make things simpler. I thought Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were a lot of fun to see (although sadly enough Celestia here had probably more lines, screen time, and an impact on events than Celestia in the show did in all of Season 6), and their bit about the sundial they helped make was especially funny. The background characters, given that there were far fewer than usual in these movies, made the most of their screen time, especially Bulk Biceps and Derpy who were just all over the place! And now let's get to the big surprise of this thing for me: Flash Sentry. Those of you who have read my reviews before on EQG know I hate this motherbucker with a passion, not because he's some "waifu-stealer," but because he's been a waste-of-space as a character who's contributed nothing at all to this series or justified his existence. Well... I can't believe I'm saying this, but for the first time ever, I... didn't mind Flash. Don't get me wrong, he still didn't actually do much in the story itself, but he DID actually feel like a real character for once. Firstly, SOMEBODY at DHX clearly gave the writers on EQG this message: Yes, I am pretty sure that they are officially killing off FlashLight from EQG and THANK THE LORD!!! Besides the fact that, as Sunset pointed out, Flash and Twilight really won't see each other most of the time, it always had a creepy vibe to it. Like, Flash is aware that this is someone who is a pony most of the time, and he still had the hots for her... and look, I know that SunFlash or whatever you call their ship might happen, but that's different, especially if Sunset chooses to live out her days in the human world. Anyways, the fact that we can lay that nonsense-ship to rest for good made me VERY happy and showed that DHX realized there really wasn't anything they could do with this ship besides having those two blush like idiots for the 5 minutes they were around each other, cause that's such a "fulfilling" relationship. The other thing that worked was really the two conversations Flash had with Sunset. They were actually two of the best moments in the whole film (mostly because so much focus was on Sunset in them), but it was really the first time that Flash came off as an actual character and not some "laid-back, cool highschooler" stereotype like he always has. The fact that he didn't have his stupid jacket on or a guitar anywhere in sight probably helped, but yeah, Flash was surprisingly subdued and shared as much with Sunset, and even seemed lonely realizing that Twilight and him probably wouldn't work out and he had no real reason to try to do the same with HuMan Twilight. I actually find myself interested if those two (Sunset and Flash) will eventually become a thing again, and just the fact that he showed renewed interest in her was an oddly fascinating character trait. Sunset didn't show much interest here, but this is clearly probably not the last we've seen of these two, and dear Lord, if he can actually become a real character for once, more and more, then ship away, DHX, ship away!!! Speaking of ships, let's get into the two new characters, Timber Spruce and Gloriosa Day. Timber Spruce... ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. That's really all I have to say. My nickname for him is "Diet Flash" because really, he came off as the diet version of Flash in the first three films, less infuriating, but also less helpful. Aside from some exposition he really didn't do anything, and I was NOT feeling that ship between him and Twilight. Sure they had a cute moment here and there but I couldn't figure out the guy's age and that kinda freaked me out; he struck me as more of a college age guy than high school (I mean come on, he's running a business with his sister WITHOUT their... presumably dead parents, I suppose), and if that's the case, that's kinda creepy. Besides that, yeah, he just left me feeling nothing but "mehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" every time he was onscreen, so I really have no care for this ship if it becomes a thing. BEHOLD! Diet Flash Sentry!!! Gloriosa Day was... the second best villain of this series, but that's not saying much. It's not hard to beat out Principal Cinch (easily the worst MLP villain ever, whose most evil, dangerous actions were a result of stupidity and nothing else) and EQG 1 Sunset Shimmer (whose plan to take over Equestria was still laughably bad), and really all Gloriosa was was a well-intentioned villain who got carried away by a power she couldn't control (all too similar to what happened to Human Twilight in "Friendship Games"). She only showed up for about 10 minutes and was laughably easy to beat at the end, plus her defeat could only be so satisfying given that she was sympathetic to begin with, unlike the deliciously, unapologetically evil Dazzlings whom you couldn't wait to see get their comeuppance. Again, she was harmless enough as a villain and her situation was sympathetic (although I wasn't crazy about Human Filthy Rich being a douche nozzle), but more than anything she just kind of underwhelmed, plus she had some pretty bad lines which were delivered somewhat forcefully at times. I DID kind of love the build-up to her going full villain, how she was just increasingly driving herself crazy by telling everyone with a smile on her face "I got this!" There were some hilarious moments along the way where she just looked ready to snap any moment and really that was her best character trait, the "older sibling who's burdened herself with too many responsibilities to handle alone" character arc. Overall, while she was barely OK as a villain, as a character overall she was perfectly fine (not that I expect to see more of her). Dear Lord, she looks like a Captain Planet villain! Some things came off as sheer nonsense, like the Gaia Everfree red-herring. Granted, it added an air of mystery to events, BUT the payoff when we learned what was really going on was more underwhelming than the red herring itself. It was just some Equestrian crystals with magic in them, nothing more, and honestly if some being called Gaia Everfree had been causing magical disruptions instead, that would've been more interesting. Granted it'll be interesting seeing in the future what the magical rift back at Canterlot High causes, but for this movie alone, the payoff to the mystery set up at the start just didn't really deliver. What DID deliver was the best running gag of the movie, the dock. HOLY CRAP, these poor bastards trying to fix this dock! No less than three times (if not more) did they try to fix this dock, and even with the help of magic, every time they did inevitably that bucker got destroyed! It was amazing, and the film went out on the perfect after-credits scene in which, once more, the dock got blown up, by Pinkie Pie no less! Actually that's probably my favorite after-credits scene of these movies yet, no set-up for the next one, just this hilarious scene that won't get brought up again. It kinda reminded me of the schwarma scene in Avengers in its randomness. Needless to say, that's how you do a running gag, and boy oh boy was it funny. Besides that, there was plenty of other funny bits, though they were just a tad limited by their setting in the range of jokes they could make. Musically this one was on oddball. It's probably the least or second least impressive of the EQG movies so far overall (only six songs and none of them except two particularly memorable), BUT strangely enough the best song of the movie was the opening credits one! I can't recall the last time that happened in ANYTHING I watched! "Legend of the Everfree (Intro)" is this incredibly fun, bouncy, country tune with a great beat and backed up by great ensemble vocals, piano, and what I believe was a banjo. It doesn't really slow down at any point (unusual given that intro songs in these films usually have far slower tempos), the lyrics don't even have much to do with the plot itself, and it's not even something the characters themselves are singing in the film, but it's just a great song with a great intro sequence and, boy oh boy, let me tell you, IT WILL GET STUCK IN YOUR HEAD AND YOU WILL BE HUMMING IT FOR HOURS!!! Of course the one down-side of the best song being your intro song is that none of the others after that point will be as good, and yeah, most of the others weren't that memorable besides this sweet solo from Sunset. Seriously, can she sing more? Please??? WHY AREN'T YOU THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THIS!?!??! And yeah, that's nice and all, and really nicely highlights what a leader she's become to these girls, but clearly nothing here really compares to the amazingness of "Rainbow Rocks" soundtrack overall (even if, again, that's the best intro song for any of these movies I've ever heard). But at the same time, it didn't ever feel like Daniel Ingram really NEEDED to throw in his best songs ever into this or as many as he could, so overall, even though most of the songs are just ho-hum and not that memorable, I can't really complain. The soundtrack's pretty much just what the movie needed, nothing more, nothing less. The animation continues to get nicer and nicer for these films, and I was particularly impressed with their handling of the outdoor environments since those are something we see increasingly less in the show itself (seriously, I can't recall the last time we had an episode largely set in the Everfree Forest). It was a pretty basic summer camp setting, but it worked, and some of the background characters were a ton of fun to watch. The gawdy outfits that we've come to expect in these climaxes (along with the by-now standard "semi-horse" transformations) were just... mehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I guess Sunset's last dress was pretty nice, but I've really never cared for these outfits and they seem to be purely there just to sell new doll-lines, and they're just so sparkly and blah, but whatever. It even feels at this point like the animators themselves are phoning in some of these designs just to give Hasbro something to put on new dolls, because they are SO glittery it's ridiculous! Now the ones at the concert were a bit nicer (like the aforementioned last dress Sunset wore), but the big-battle climax ones, not so much, those were a bit much. OK, I have to admit, this one I LOVED!!! Goodness me, can AJ please wear that in every scene of EQG from now on? Pretty please??? All in all, this is a pretty standard outing for the EQG-verse at this point. My hope remains that at some point a new film here might reach the same level of awesome that "Rainbow Rocks," did, ideally by shifting focus back to Sunset Shimmer as the main character and having a strong villain again like the Dazzlings, but I can't say whether or not that will happen at any point. But for this, it is what it is; it was entertaining enough, didn't have anything infuriating in it (and honestly was better than "Friendship Games"), and is a fun sit for 75 minutes. Hardly the pinnacle of achievement for DHX, but not something that'll make you slam your head against the wall, and I am still thoroughly impressed that for the first time ever I actually kind of like Flash Sentry since he seemed to be an actual character for once. If you haven't checked "Legend of Everfree" out yet, I'd definitely recommend it if you have an hour and a half to kill some afternoon, it's a fun, lazy sit, nothing more, nothing less. That's all I got for you everypony, until next time, this is Batbrony signing off! I'm off!!! *cue dramatic exit* P.S. As a bonus, enjoy the amazing "Legend of Everfree Bloopers" Sunset: "Did... did Pinkie just ask me out???"

Well, hope things turn out for the best for ya and that the show doesn't disappoint next season.

Don't really know to be honest since you and I are in completely different boats in that regard. It seems to me like you're going to cause yourself in your current state of minds more problems watching Season 7 (at least if it keeps doing the things which you didn't like about this season) than if you don't watch it, but I suppose you should at least give it a shot to get a feel for it. Also just try not to be that worried about it; I know we love these characters, but at the end of the day, they're still fictional characters and we shouldn't let ways they're handled affect our own health detrimentally. That's taking fandom and being a fan to an unhealthy place at that point. Being a fan and a nerd, like all things, is something that can be treated both healthily and unhealthily, and it varies from person to person.

From what I can tell, I don't know what I can really say to change your mind. It's clear you're not happy with the current direction of the show, and while I can't tell you you shouldn't feel that way since that's up to your own tastes and what you like about the show, I do still think you're being just a tad unfair to the creators in that you think they're doing this just to have more characters to merchandize, when really that could be a secondary goal stemming from a primary goal of theirs to open up more avenues in which to tell more stories. It's great that you like the Mane 6 so much, but why should the show be so limited to just them? One of the things that in time has come to frustrate me about the Harry Potter novels is that it was largely limited to his POV, and that limited what we got to explore in the wizarding world (especially in Deathly Hallows, when he and his friends spent most of it on the run while an entire war was going on). As the cast of characters, including main ones, expands, the opportunities for new stories in new settings also expand, and this is something that's been happening since even Season 1, even if through Season 3 it was mostly exclusively focused on the Mane 6. My points on the Story in Season 6 above covered much of this, and if you'd like my thoughts on the finale (I for one certainly did not think that the Mane 6 needing rescue for ONE episode (and let's be honest this isn't the first time they've needed that either, they needed to be rescued in Season 2 finale and Season 4 finale as well, and they needed Twilight's help in Season 2 opener and Season 3 finale too) was insulting to them): https://mlpforums.com/blog/1009/entry-21314-batbrony-reviews-s06e2526-to-where-and-back-again/ As for getting better at reviewing, my advice is to read and write, and just keep reading and writing. Those two things alone are probably the best things you can do to improve your skills as a reviewer or writer in general.

Good evening everypony! Well, another year, another season of MLP. As we've come to expect from the quality of this show, Season 6, like virtually every season of MLP G4, was simply delightful in every sense of the word, and a fun ride to take with all you bronies and pegasisters as always. It was also capped by a very good (though not perfect) season finale, bringing to a close a great season with many exciting developments in the show for the story, characters, and setting. It's set the stage for many new and exciting things to come, but to close this season out, let's take a look back at both the season finale and the season as a whole. Without further ado, this is my full review of Season 6 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, including my thoughts on "To Where and Back Again: Part 1 and Part 2." Enjoy! The Story Season 6 was very much, thematically, a natural continuation of Season 5 in story, world building, and character development. I described last season as having something of a relaxed feel to it because there wasn't necessarily a clear end goal throughout the season that we were heading to in the story; granted we knew Starlight was going to come back seeking revenge, BUT none of the characters knew that like in Season 4 when they were all trying to get the right components the whole season to open up the box bestowed upon them by the Tree of Harmony. Similarly, this season didn't have any clear end point it was heading to either, which again made for a more relaxed feel for the entire season similar to Seasons 1, 2, and 5; most episodes stood on their own while also being a part of a greater whole. The focus of the season, however, was pretty clear, and again a natural continuation of Season 5; Starlight Glimmer was probably the most important focus of the season, as well as (1) more world building and the addition of new characters, (2) more new character development for older characters like the Mane 6, Spike, and the CMC, very different from their earlier developments in that the lessons they learned were often clearly for the more mature characters they've grown into, and also usually involved major changes happening in their lives (i.e. Rainbow Dash becoming a Wonderbolt, Rarity expanding her business, Twilight continually becoming more comfortable as a princess, etc.), and (3) continued payoff in the story from more developments in earlier seasons (like Starlight's reformation, RD and Gilda making up, the Mane 6 discovering Daring Do is real, the CMC getting their cutie marks, etc.). There was definitely a sense this season as it went on that, going forward, the show is only going to continue to expand in its scope in a number of ways; more supporting characters are most likely going to play increasingly important roles in Season 7 after what happened this season, we may see character combinations we've never seen before, and Equestria and the lands around it will most likely be explored further as well. All in all, I really have no complaints with any of this. There was just the right balance of plenty of new things this season with that which we're by now more than familiar with and love about this show, and really I for one will have no complaints if they take that exact same blueprint for this season and apply it to Season 7. It gives the writers plenty of room for growth and development in the show while hardly abandoning anything we already love about it, and for any show this old at this point, it's kind of an ideal situation. MLP's base is more than already established, and there's tons of canon for the setting, story, and characters, so now the creators get to take advantage of that by utilizing a nice, healthy balance of both new and old elements in fun, creative ways. I can't wait to see more, but for now, here are my Top 3 plot developments of Season 6, each wonderful in its own special way! Top 3 Plot Developments: (1) Main Cast Expands (possibly more than we even realize): In the long run, Season 6's biggest impact on the show will probably be the way it contributed to the show's world-building, but not just in a setting sense. After all, this is hardly the first season in which we've seen the show take us to new locations. Rather, the biggest area of world-building was character-driven, namely in how for the first time in a long time, it could be argued that the main cast expanded or has been set up to expand in ways we haven't seen since first introduced to the Mane 6 in Season 1. On the surface of course, we have obvious changes like Starlight Glimmer being a regular member of the main cast, or Spike having possibly his best season to date. But there were other changes that suggest greater expansions to the main cast may be on their way. Here's just a few for starters: (1) Trixie and Starlight are now best friends, (2) Spike befriended the first friendly Changeling on the show, Thorax, and Thorax in turn has become a part of pony society and, after the events of the finale, is now the new king of the reformed Changelings, (3) Discord interacted in a far more normal manner (for him, at least) with ponies that aren't Fluttershy, and (4) the CMC now have a griffon in their ranks, Gabby. After the events of the finale, it is not a far cry to believe that many of these changes may have more permanent effects on the show; Trixie, Discord, and Thorax, along with Starlight as their leader, all participated in a nation-saving event, and with Thorax's new position as well it's very likely we may see these characters (maybe not Discord, but certainly the other three) as featuring characters in episodes next season. The Cutie Map will most likely continue to be a thing, but who's to say that new combinations of characters couldn't happen? Perhaps Trixie and Twilight will set out on an adventure in which they finally make up with each other as well, or Starlight will accompany a member of the Mane 6 on one, who knows? Perhaps Spike will embark on an adventure with Thorax, or Discord will do more with Big Mac and Spike next season. Finally, there is a great potential that we will get more episodes like the delightfully surprising "Where the Apple Lies" which will provide more backstory for the Mane 6, and giving us a look at both these characters in their youth and Equestria at a different time than the present-day setting. In many ways, this season overall, while ultimately revolving around Starlight, also laid the foundation for more changes truly coming to fruition next season, and I can't wait to see where Season 7 goes as a result of everything that happened this season. (2) Cutie Mark Map Still Matters: on the surface this might not seem like much since only about three episodes dealt with it, but this was a nice bit of continuity from last season that I'm glad they stuck with. It showed that the Mane 6's greater existential mission (especially Princess Twilight's), if you will, remains latched to the Cutie Map itself and that it wasn't just a one-season fad, and in many ways continued to utilize this plot device even better than last season did. Character-pairings like Rarity and Pinkie Pie, Twilight and Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy and Applejack worked wonderfully, and as I alluded to in my last point, it's possible that we may see different character combinations that go beyond the Mane 6 next season in regards to the Cutie Mark Map, even though other characters were not Element Bearers. But overall, I'd say the best part about this remains the continuity aspect; MLP has a chronology at this point, things that happen in the plot matter and create permanent changes to the entire setting, and few things highlighted this better than the Cutie Mark Map's return this season. (3) Cutie Mark Crusaders New Mission: after the HUGE development last season that was the CMC finally getting their cutie marks, many long time viewers feared that the transition to their lives after getting them would be rough, from a writing perspective that is. Thankfully, these fears were laid to rest as the CMC have swiftly embarked on a new mission of trying to help others find their purpose in life while trying new pursuits of their own as well. What this means for their later professional careers isn't exactly clear yet, but like the Mane 6, they too have an existential mission of their own connected to their cutie marks, and this was most wonderfully encapsulated when they befriended their new friend Gabby the griffon and helped her "find her cutie mark" in discovering that she too was great at helping others just like they are. It was nice too that, in the "The Cart Before the Ponies" episode we had a CMC episode that didn't revolve around this purpose, since as always, slice of life episodes in general in this show don't have to revolve around the greater plot changes or character developments. I look forward to seeing them more in Season 7 (possibly older versions at long last considering the VAs, especially Michelle Creber and Claire Corlett, continue to get older), and hopefully the CMC itself continues to expand. Honorable Mentions Mane 6 Life Goals: This is a small but important point, since it ties into what I said earlier about continuity in this show. As the show has continued, one of the best ways we've seen continuity is in characters, particularly the Mane 6, achieving dreams they've had since Season 1. In Season 6's case, this was most apparent with Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Rarity opened up yet another clothing store, this time in Manehattan (bringing her total stores to three at this point), a plot point which was handled in a couple of episodes. Likewise, Rainbow Dash finally achieved her life's dream of becoming a Wonderbolt, and while the episode in question in which this happened may have disappointed some, the significance of the development itself cannot be denied, and having seen her since then as a Wonderbolt, it is clear that this is not changing any time soon. Major developments like this are always great to see, and hopefully we see more next season. A Royal Filly is Born: Aside from the season opener, this too didn't have huge effect on the show, but nonetheless we finally got a solid payoff from the news in Season 5 that Cadance and Shining Armor were expecting a child. Right at the start we got just that and got to meet Flurry Heart, and while she cannot yet speak (though I must say that Tabitha St. Germain's baby-noises are hilarious and adorable) and some people thought that her design and initial power levels were a bit ridiculous, all around she's been quite lovable so far and just the fact that two major characters in the show had a child should be commended. What they do with her in the future is anypony's guess, but for now I'm quite pleased with how Flurry Heart's turned out so far. Hmmmmmmm... yeah, I could buy that's how it went Top 3 Worst Episodes This season was very much like Season 5 in that, for most episodes, there were none that I straight up didn't like as a whole so much as simply had very problematic elements to them. In Season 6's case, the most problematic episodes either bucked up their premise or had flawed premises to begin with, as we shall see. Another recurring problem was episodes which felt like they belonged in earlier seasons, not Season 6. (1) "28 Pranks Later": This was undoubtedly my least favorite episode of the season, and the shame of it is that it bucked up a good premise. When I heard the episode title, the idea of a ponies-zombies crossover was DELICIOUS to think about. Unfortunately, it left much to be desired in execution. It was basically "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" lesson for Rainbow Dash all over again (this time about taking pranking too far instead of bragging too far) for starters, and therein lies the problem. I know some people have their problems with the Mare Do Well episode (I am not one of them), BUT that lesson at least fit Season 2; RD was undoubtedly more immature at that time and prone to brag about her feats. But a problem with taking pranking too far in Season 6? It just felt too OOC for RD at this point, especially when she made Fluttershy cry at the very beginning of the episode, a pony she should know not to prank at this point in the show. Besides that, the zombie crossover also underwhelmed; no matter what problems anyone may have with "The Mysterious Mare Do Well," no one can deny that the comic book aspects and shout-outs in that episode are delicious and do not disappoint in the slightest. Here, the zombie aspects did. For one, the title was misleading; it's a send-up to "28 Days Later," which would make one think that the zombie crossover might in some way resemble the terrifying zombies in that film, but instead the only zombie aspects were all "Night of the Living Dead" ones. On top of that, the way they were "zombified" was kind of lame and just not that funny; it felt like a joke more designed for younger kids than kids and adults alike, and given that zombies are such a beloved part of today's pop culture, that was especially disappointing. Overall, this is the only one of the bad episodes this season that was through-and-through more bad than good. (2) "P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)": While the execution of this episode was very good and it also had a unique premise, it had one very major flaw: it suggested that this spat between AJ, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity could actually end their friendship. These are friendships that have lasted and developed for years by now, so the idea that something as small as their dispute here over a bad vacation could end it was simply ridiculous and something befitting Season 1 at best. Its presence in Season 6 was confusing to say the least, and again, while the episode itself was executed very nicely, the conflict simply doesn't work by virtue of when the episode was taking place. There is no way that this spat should have gotten that out of control at this point, and in Season 6, I can't ignore that as a problem with this episode. (3) "The Cart Before the Ponies": This episode's biggest flaw is very similar to "P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)"'s, just to a lesser extent. Whereas in "P.P.O.V." the flawed premise was very hard to ignore despite good execution of the episode, in "The Cart Before the Ponies" the flawed premise was obvious but easy to ignore because of the good execution of the episode. The flaw is that the episode required three Mane 6 characters, RD, Rarity, and AJ, to act far more stupid, ignorant, immature, and selfish than any of them should reasonably be expected to (with their sisters/sister figure no less) at this point in the show in order to teach the lesson in the first place, that is, the younger characters teaching the older ones a lesson. This is not the first time any show has had an episode like this, but as I said in my original review, while this flaw was obvious, it was very easy to ignore because the episode itself was wonderfully handled. The flaw itself is still too obvious to ignore, but for the episode as a whole, it mostly doesn't matter, aside from still being an episode which would work better in Season 1 or Season 2. The Characters The Mane 6 Twilight: This season largely saw Twilight in one of two roles, (1) as Starlight's primary mentor figure, and (2) supporting character, usually a calming voice of reason. Both of these roles make sense in her longer, ongoing character arc given that she's been the Princess of Friendship for three seasons now and has a protege of her own, similar to how Celestia mentored her in her younger years. While she was not the primary focus of this season, Twilight very much shined in this regard in that it's wonderful to really see her now no longer doubting herself as the Princess of Friendship and just very comfortable in the role. She hosts events at her castle and clearly treats it more like home, she's great at giving advice to her friends without fixing their problems for them, but rather guiding them as they figure out how to fix them themselves, and she just seemed for the most part to be very calm and levelheaded the whole season (aside from the occasional flashes of her losing her cool if situations got particularly crazy). While I expect Twilight will always be the main character of the show and may have a little more of the spotlight next season, overall she was great this season and I very much enjoyed this new, more mature side of her and hope to see more of it next season. Applejack: Applejack had a very strong slice-of-life season without really any appearance in an earth-shattering or heartstring tugging episode. In fact, her strongest episode of the season oddly enough was one largely about backstory on her, "Where the Apple Lies." But there's nothing wrong with the kind of season she had, not at all. While I always love getting emotionally powerful Applejack episodes, it felt fine that we didn't get any this season, probably because the most emotionally powerful moments seemed to be largely reserved for Spike or Starlight. Plus it served as a nice reminder that at the end of the day, Applejack's about as down-to-earth a member of the Mane 6 as you can ask for. While she was in two of the "worst" episodes of the season, AJ herself was always a pleasure to watch and had some great pairings in episodes with RD, Fluttershy, and Rarity/Pinkie Pie. I myself was particularly pleased that we finally got a solid AJ/Fluttershy episode in "Viva Las Pegasus," which made up for the incredibly disappointing "Bats!" episode of Season 4, in which AJ was entirely depicted in the wrong the entire time while Fluttershy was totally in the right, when really the conflict was far less black-and-white than as depicted. Here, we got to see them work with each other wonderfully. Their similarities and differences were on full display and used to the episode's advantage, even when they had a spat which led them looking for different friendship problems altogether, and it was just nice to finally see that pair of two of the most down-to-earth of the Mane 6 work. Overall, while this was hardly AJ's best season to date, it was a very strong one, particularly in the second half of the season, and as always I look forward to seeing more of our favorite apple farming pony next season, and possibly finally learning more about what happened to her parents (there were definitely some interesting implications raised by "Where the Apple Lies," even if they weren't addressed in the episode). Rarity: Rarity had a very similar season as Applejack (in fact, you're going to see this a lot with most of the Mane 6 since, again, the main group was not really at any point the major focus of Season 6, despite featuring in plenty of it). Lots of feature roles in slice-of-life episodes, when she wasn't doing that a lot of supporting roles of varying importance. Strangely enough, in two of her episodes in which she was in a leading role, Rarity was paired up with Pinkie Pie. This was both an unusual pairing in the show in general, but made even more strange by the fact that it happened twice. It surprisingly worked quite well in that, like Fluttershy and AJ, Rarity and Pinkie Pie are a pair with as many similarities as they have differences. They're both very outgoing and energetic, even having a common flair for the dramatic, but obviously Pinkie Pie is a bit more impulsive in contrast to Rarity's more measured approaches to situations. Point is, it was a good pairing and fun to see it show up not just once but twice (the addition of Maud in one of the episodes was appreciated as well). The closest to any sort of emotional arc Rarity had was her setting up her new business in Manehattan, obviously a major point of pride for her even if it's more of a character arc than really heavy emotional moment for her, but that was very nice to see all the same. I also particularly liked "Applejack's Day Off," it was just nice seeing Rarity look out for AJ like that and trying to get her to relax a bit more (even if I would've liked to see a bit more emphasis on the relaxing). Though I do have to admit that this season could've done with a bit more RariJack moments, that's still my favorite pair of friends in the Mane 6, and while "Applejack's Day Off" was perfectly fine, it has been too long since we had a really strong, powerful RariJack episode and I'd like to possibly see one next season. Besides that, Rarity was her generous self as always with new and old friends, Tabitha St. Germain delivered some delightfully entertaining performances as our favorite pony fashionista, and all in all she had a solid Season 6, what more could you want? Fluttershy: Very interestingly, I would argue that along with Twilight, Fluttershy had the strongest season of any member of the Mane 6, for very similar reasons. While Twilight got to show off how comfortable she now is in the role of Princess of Friendship, Fluttershy was afforded many opportunities, both in starring and supporting roles, to show off how much she too has grown as a character. Sometimes this came across in little ways, like her interaction with Discord at the start of "Dungeons and Discords" where she very much illustrated how well she understands Discord at this point and how to influence his decision-making in her own, Fluttershy kind of way. But it was probably best highlighted in her strongest appearance of the season in the episode "Flutter Brutter." That episode was a perfect illustration of how far Fluttershy has come since Season 1; in it, we got to see that she has longstanding frustrations with her little brother's behavior going back to their childhood. Her parents shared her frustrations and yet they had a very timid demeanor similar to her old one, which explained a lot about her. Yet it was only now that Fluttershy was willing and able to take charge and do something about it, giving her little brother a dose of some much-needed tough love. This was quite clearly a result of how much Fluttershy has learned to stand up for herself since Season 1, and it was a delight to see her being so firm and assertive at this point. Of course she was still her lovable, gentle self for plenty of the season, and her timidity came through plenty of times too (sometimes in good ways such as in "Buckball Season," where she was quite adorable, sometimes not so well, like in "28 Pranks Later," though to be fair the problem there wasn't that Fluttershy got scared, but rather that Rainbow Dash was pranking her in the first place). Episodes like "Viva Las Pegasus" mixed things up nicely for her as well, and overall, like I said, Fluttershy's season was both surprisingly strong and varied, both unusual for a character like her, but I'm very happy with how things turned out for her. Here's hoping she has just as good of a season next season. Rainbow Dash: Rainbow Dash had a surprisingly polarizing season, probably more so than any of the other Mane 6. That's not even to say that she had some of her worst appearances ever, just that some of the more problematic episodes involved her. Her finally joining the Wonderbolts is a perfect example of this; the development itself is huge, considering it's been RD's life goal since the show began, and it appears that it will rightfully be permanent and should have a major impact on RD's life as a whole. That said, as especially RD fans will attest, her actually joining them could have been handled better, namely in how the writers handled the idea of her being hazed as part of her "initiation" into the Wonderbolts by the rest of them. More than anything, it seemed needless and unnecessary, especially for such an important moment in her life. "28 Pranks Later," the worst episode of the season, was the other major example of a polarizing RD episode; on the one hand the premise was interesting, but on the other the execution left much to be desired and RD exhibited behavior I'd expect out of her in Season 1 or Season 2, not Season 6. That said, she had some great appearances as well. She was phenomenal (as were the rest of the Mane 6) in "Saddle Row Review," she had great supporting appearances (unusual for her considering RD is so good at being the center of attention so often) in episodes like "Applejack's Day Off" and "Flutter Brutter," and she had phenomenal starring appearances in "Stranger Than Fan Fiction," "Buckball Season," and "Top Bolt" (the latter was probably her best episode of the season, that or "Stranger Than Fan Fiction"). So again, despite some weak episodes, it would be wrong to say this was RD's worst season. Far from it, when she was depicted well, she REALLY was, and we got to see some of the best we ever have from Rainbow Dash, very much exhibiting just how far she has come and matured since Season 1. Combine that with the massive importance of her finally becoming a Wonderbolt, and overall Rainbow Dash had a very solid season, and certainly some very strong starring appearances (even a rare solo-outing in "Stranger Than Fan Fiction" in which she was really the only Mane 6 member involved). Pinkie Pie: Every season it seems like there is one member of the Mane 6 who doesn't get QUITE as much attention or solo-appearances as the others. This season, it was Pinkie Pie, which isn't the worst thing in the world and actually kind of makes sense and works. When you think about it, Pinkie Pie had only two real starring appearances in Season 6 (in "The Gift of the Maud Pie" and "Spice Up Your Life"), and three sort-of feature roles in "The Saddle Row Review," "28 Pranks Later," and "Buckball Season." Besides that? Lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of SUPPORTING APPEARANCES. This works for Pinkie Pie, however, because she's such an energetic character that even when she's in a supporting role, she can easily manage to leave a major impression on viewers because, more than likely she'll do something outrageous. What's interesting about her true starring appearances is that both of them were alongside Rarity; I commented earlier that this is an unusual pair in the show but it actually worked quite well in both instances. Still, Pinkie probably showed up less this season than she has in awhile, and in many ways I don't quite mind that. With a character like her, it's easy to fall into the trap of leaning on her as a crutch, namely for quick comedy or random bits. There have been times in the show where it's felt like she's just there to be the funny one or say something silly. So while her absence at times was a bit unusual or noticeable, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing; still, I would like to see a few more starring appearances for Pinkie next season, especially more involving her family besides Maud. Overall, however, I'd say Pinkie had a perfectly fine Season 6; nothing particularly major happened in developing her character, but she was the same old, lovable Pinkie that she's always been. Spike: oh boy, now THIS guy, this guy had himself a season! While as I said before Starlight Glimmer was most definitely the main character of Season 6, our lovable baby dragon, Spike, had himself his best season ever. By extension, this means that Spike had the best Season 6 out of all main characters who have been a part of the show since Season 1, and that's damn impressive! From the season opener, I think we had a really good feeling about how Spike's season was gonna turn out; he played a great supporting role there as an adviser and confidant for Starlight and really showed how much he'd grown over the years. But it just got SO MUCH BETTER from there. Spike was the star of easily two of the best episodes of the season, "Gauntlet of Fire" and "The Times They Are a Changeling." The former had one of the best new characters of the show (and dragon-lord waifu) Princess/Dragon Lord Ember and featured Spike just being an all around BAMF, while the latter was probably the emotional high-point of the season, showing Spike channel many unspoken emotions of his own, most likely stemming from his own dragon-heritage and adopted status, in convincing his pony friends to give a kind Changeling a chance (and getting his first solo song ever to boot). Besides that he also starred in one of the funnier episodes of Season 6, "Dungeons and Discord," and had some great appearances in supporting roles as well. Overall, I don't see how anyone could dispute that this was Spike the Dragon's best season ever, hands down, and all I can say is that it's going to be near impossible for them to top this season for him next season. Spike, in his finest moment, in his finest season Starlight Glimmer: Our newest main character also happened to be the primary focus of Season 6, which was very pleasant to see. In many ways, many of Starlight's episodes felt like we were focused on a Season 1 character placed in a Season 6 setting, and while that could've been bad, it largely worked wonderfully the whole season. Seeing Starlight overcome her own misgivings and insecurities about herself and her ability to befriend ponies outside of the Mane 6 was a very compelling arc to follow from the opening of the season to the end when Starlight finally realized she can be not just a great friend but also a great leader in her own right, if only she believes in herself and sets her mind to it. All of her major developments across the season were great as well, namely because they were unique in their own ways; she first (1) made up with her childhood friend Sunburst, and in the process helped save the Crystal Empire, (2) made her first friend all on her own, her new BFF Trixie, thereby helping Twilight as well patch things up with her old S1 antagonist (though I would argue Twilight and Trixie might still have some ways to go), (3) she then learned how to truly appreciate a pony holiday, Hearth's Warming Eve, which she didn't really think was that meaningful, which makes sense for someone who has spent most of her life distancing herself from the things most ponies care about, (4) she was confronted (in a small supporting role, no less) with the challenge to accept a Changeling as a friend, and in the process clearly reminded of her own past mistakes and the ways she had been forgiven by so many ponies for them, (5) she bucked up majorly when trying to once again take a shortcut in learning friendship lessons, relying on her raw talent in magic to solve her problems and in the process learning that she was actually making things much harder on herself than she needed to, and (6) finally closed the season helping to save all of Equestria from Queen Chrysalis, in the process learning that she is both a great friend and a great leader and shouldn't fear being herself or realizing her potential to the best of her ability. So yeah, needless to say, this mare was rather busy this season and went through some great character arcs time and time again, even sometimes when she wasn't a main character in an episode. I will say that the one strange quality of Starlight's presence this season was that in some episodes it was like she wasn't even around town, which felt odd at times, but that's literally my biggest complaint about her this season. Overall, Starlight really proved herself as a main character this season and made me for one look forward to seeing more of her next season in hopefully many more episodes to come. Can't wait to see what's next for ya, Starlight! I won't lie, these two are kind of adorable BFFs together CMC: I pretty much covered most of the major developments with the CMC already in my earlier point about how strong their arc was this season, so I won't repeat myself very much here. As characters, I thought this was one of their better CMC-as-a-group seasons; the downside is that the only CMC episode that was really focused on any of them individually was "On Your Marks" and sort-of "Where The Apple Lies" (in both cases Apple Bloom, though AJ's the real focus of the latter episode), but it was nice to see how close they were all functioning for the most part this season now that they've figured out what they're supposed to do after getting their cutie marks. I do hope we get one or two more episodes that focus on individual CMC next season (especially Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo since I think there may be more potential to change things up with them than with Apple Bloom), and some signs of aging among them might be nice as well (especially since Michelle Creber and Claire Corlett are clearly aging and it's starting to get far harder, if not impossibly, for them to do voices at the same pitch as they have for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle). Plus I'd really love to see more from CMC members who have joined them over the last few seasons, like Babs or Gabby the Griffon. But overall, they had a really good season, especially coming off the emotional climax of getting their cutie marks last season. Can't wait to see more of these girls and hopefully they continue adding more members to the CMC and helping ponies discover their purpose. Ah, same old lovable CMC- WAIT! Hmmmmmmmmm... one of these things is not like the other, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is... Supporting Characters: Season 6 was a strange season as far as supporting characters go, for really only one big reason which I'll highlight at the end of this section. On the whole, it was largely fine. First of all we had some really great new supporting characters added all season long, and I would argue it was stronger in that department than even Season 5 was. Let's list 'em just to illustrate this point: there was (1) Sunburst in the season opener, (2) Princess/Dragon Lord/Dragon Waifu Ember in "Gauntlet of Fire," (3) Coriander Cumin and Saffron Masala in "Spice Up Your Life," (4) Quibble Pants (voiced spectacularly by Patton Oswalt) in "Stranger Than Fan Fiction," (5) Thorax, our first ever friendly Changeling, in "The Times They Are a Changeling," (6) the adorable Gabby the Griffon in "The Fault in Our Cutie Marks," (7) a whole bevvy of colorful characters in "Viva Las Pegasus," and (8) the adorable Vapor Trail in "Top Bolt." There were also some great returning appearances from old supporting characters, including Discord, Trixie, Flim and Flam, Snails (even I can't believe that one), Princess Cadance and Shining Armor (and their new bundle of joy in Princess Flurry Heart), Princess Luna, Maud, Cheerilee, Big Mac, and even Filthy Rich and Spoiled Rich had some notable appearances. Bow down to your new Dragon Waifu everypony! BOW I SAY!!! There were a couple of not so strong new supporting characters, like Zephyr Breeze and Sky Stinger (both of whom were extremely annoying to the point that I didn't even care that it was intentional it still made it hard for me to like them at all). These two didn't come close to being likable until about the last five minutes of both of their episodes, and boy did it make it hard to come around to them (though I did love seeing Fluttershy getting so assertive and mad at Zephyr, that was great). Some long time supporting characters also didn't feature too much; despite a couple of notable appearances Princess Luna largely was absent for most of the season, and Zecora didn't once make a major appearance. But now we come to the biggest disappointment of Season 6's supporting characters: PRINCESS CELESTIA. Oh me oh my, why can't poor Celly get any love on this show it seems? Between time and time again being incapable of actually solving a national crisis (a plot device that seems a bit tired at this point, I mean, it was ridiculously easy for the Changelings to capture both her and Princess Luna, buck, all of Equestria's royalty was bucking useless in that so I can only help that that was one bucking stealthy operation the Changelings launched) and just disappearing for stretches at a time, this character just can't catch a break these days. Let's not forget that there was a time in this show where pretty much EVERY MAJOR EVENT revolved around Celestia to some extent. She was the main catalyst in sending Twilight to Ponyville and getting her to regularly learn lessons of friendship and report them to her, she bucking made Twilight a princess for crying out loud, and she's supposed to be her dearest mentor, and a mentor and leader to all ponies. Needless to say, since the end of Season 4, that has not been the case and it is NOTICEABLE!!! This is a character who is simply too big in her importance to both the show's setting and main characters to be ignored the way she has the last two seasons by the writers without it coming off as ridiculous. SHE CONTROLS THE BUCKING SUN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT THE HIGH POINT OF HER SEASON WAS A GAG ABOUT HER BEING UNAMUSED IN "No Second Prances" IN WHICH SHE DIDN'T EVEN SAY A BUCKING WORD?!?! It's too much, at this point, it's simply too much. Many of us in the fandom have long been asking for more Celestia, going all the way back to the early seasons, but instead she just had her worst season ever and this NEEDS TO CHANGE!!! She needs an episode next season, to put it mildly, she simply does. Nicole Oliver for one is too good in this role to ignore, but back to the character herself, this is a character that deserves better! Princess Luna has rightfully had a character arc across all six of these seasons, Princess Cadance has even had a character arc and sometimes major appearances in episodes (even if she maybe hasn't ever faced a friendship problem, unless you count "The Times They Are a Changeling"), but Princess Celestia, the sole ruler of Equestria for 1000 years, STILL DOESN'T HAVE A SOLO EPISODE?!?!? BUCKING RIDICULOUS!!! Writers, at this point I'm just begging for anything, anything at all. A fun little slice-of-life episode, maybe about a day in the life of Celestia or a romp with some other character on some random adventure, more about her and Twilight's relationship, maybe a look into her own mind and what her own fears and insecurities are, SOMETHING, ANYTHING!!! But the show simply can't keep ignoring such a big character without it coming off as a major flaw, and until that changes, until Princess Celestia finally gets the proper attention she deserves in the show, even in just one episode focused on her as an actual main character, it will remain quite possibly the biggest long-standing flaw of the show, and it's a shame that a season that was so strong for the most part in its handling of new and old supporting characters was so marred by such a glaring absence. *sigh* Another season, another year of Celestia being largely forgotten by the show-writers... CURSES!!! Background Characters: Season 6 was a far more standard season for MLP background characters than Season 5 was, and really that's to be expected. I didn't think going in that we'd get an episode like "Slice of Life" last season. That said, there were still plenty of highlights. The Spa sisters, Aloe and Lotus, actually got a rather notable supporting appearance in the episode "Applejack's Day Off," Bulk Biceps did as well in "On Your Marks," lots of the mainstays like Vinyl, Octavia, Lyra, and Bon Bon had plenty of small appearances here and there, and of course Derpy unsurprisingly had probably the most notable and best appearances of any background character this season. Derpy had herself fun cameo after fun cameo, the best being in "No Second Prances," "A Hearth's Warming Tale," and "To Where and Back Again," and every time she was just her lovable, cute, hilariously adorable self. One of the more important developments with her also was that there were at least two times where she appeared with Dinky, possibly confirming that Dinky is her daughter (which has been popular fanon for a LONG time). I would still like in the future to maybe see some of the background characters feature in slice of life episodes, perhaps with the Mane 6 or other main characters helping them with their own friendship problems, and I certainly think there's a lot of potential with an idea like that, but I also understand it might not happen (although it certainly would be easier for the writers than having to keep coming up with new characters for slice of life episodes). I'd also love to see bat ponies/thestrals feature as a canon race beyond their only appearance in Season 2, but again, that may or may not happen, we'll just have to wait and see. Overall, while our background characters didn't have the wow-factor that they did last season, they still had a very, very good Season 6 overall and I can't wait to see more of them next season! Derpy Hooves: The true "star" of Season 6! Heh, see what I did there? Heh, heh, wink wink, nudge nudge! Aesthetic Quality Animation Animation as usual was simply gorgeous on the show, and as usual it was also harder than ever for DHX to really improve on their animation. They certainly did, it was just a little more difficult to figure out how this season. This year, they really seemed to experiment with pony body-types and facial expressions more; in the former category I would say they were largely successful, ponies like Coriander Cumin had very unusual designs for characters in this show and the body movements on him as well were great, he really felt like he was moving like a pony his size should be. Facial expressions, on the other hand, were a bit wonky this season; half the time they worked really well and some of the newer or more unusual expressions were really funny, OTHER times however it felt like a bit much. The biggest offender would definitely be Pinkie Pie this year, there were times where, no joke, they made her face so exaggerated that her head would suddenly become 3x larger than her body and she sometimes wore these absolutely bizarre expressions that seemed like they'd be even a bit much in a show like classic Looney Tunes. I get that they were experimenting, but it just felt out of place in a show like MLP; it's a cartoon, sure, but it's not a cartoon like Looney Tunes is (even for a physics-defying character like Pinkie), there are laws of physics here and the characters can't just distort their body like, say, the Animaniacs could. So hopefully they just dial it down just a tad next season. I'll leave a couple of the worst offenders below to show you what I mean by "excessive" facial expressions. Overall, however, the animation was stunning, the colors crisp and vibrant, and the movement flowed as beautifully as ever. Comedy Boy oh boy, was this season funny. Pretty much every episode, even the more serious ones, had laughs to offer, but with gems like "Saddle Row Review" (which was an absolutely fantastically put together episode), "Flutter Brutter," "Stranger Than Fan Fiction" (which was capped with a fantastic ad-lib credits-performance by Patton Oswalt), "Dungeons and Discords," and "Every Little Thing She Does," this was a funny, funny, FUNNY season! And really, the comedy played a big role in establishing the tone of this season; this was a heavily slice-of-life season, and that's indicative by the fact that really its main focus in the larger plot was on one character, Starlight Glimmer, more so than any other character. Ergo, the writers had a lot of room to throw in a lot more lighthearted episodes, and that was a lot of fun to see for sure. If there's a similar level of comedy next season, I will neither be surprised nor disappointed. MLP remains one of the funniest cartoon shows today, with a great blend of humor that both kids and adults can enjoy. What's not to love about that? Songs While Daniel Ingram remains great as ever, this was an odd season of songs for MLP. That's not to say the songs weren't enjoyable, but they were spaced out oddly. The season was mostly frontloaded with songs and, since a lot of those came in one episode ("A Hearth's Warming Tale"), only seven episodes of this season had any songs in them (12 total), compared to 16 songs in eight episodes of MLP last season (two episodes of which had multiple songs in them). The other strange thing about this season is that a couple of songs came out of nowhere and didn't leave much of an impression. "Can I Do It On My Own" in "Flutter Brutter" and "Derby Racers" in "The Cart Before the Ponies" are probably the two best examples of this, and while "Derby Racers" was a plenty pleasant tune, "Can I Do It On My Own" remains a puzzling song and about as underwhelming as a song in this show can be. It was downright bizarre that there was not a single song in the season opener OR the season finale, that is something we haven't seen in the show in awhile, and we didn't have a single song in the season after Episode 19! How weird is that?! But like I said, the songs themselves remained great for the most part, why wouldn't they, this is Daniel Ingram we're talking about? So with that out of the way, here's the best that Season 6 had to offer musically. Top 3 Season 6 Songs (1) Every Song in "A Hearth's Warming Tale": I'm cheating a bit on this one since this is not a single song but rather a collection of songs in a musical episode, BUT in my defense, each one of these songs compliments each other so perfectly that I couldn't imagine separating them, and the ways in which they compliment each other amplify them into the first position on this list for me. I would go so far as to argue that the full collection of songs in "A Hearth's Warming Tale" is the most impressive example of a musical episode in the show to date. Each song was effectively used to tell the story without ever feeling like anything was getting crammed in, and it made for one of the most impressively paced episodes in the entire show ever. Besides that, every single one of these songs were delightful in their own; "Hearth's Warming Eve is Here Once Again," was a fantastic opener and reprisal to close the episode out, "Say Goodbye to the Holiday" was a great villain song (can Starlight just please keep singing those, she's kinda great at them?), "The Seeds of the Past" was perfect for AJ and had a sad, sweet somber tone to it, "Pinkie's Present" was just the BEST holiday song Pinkie could ever sing, and "Luna's Future" had a weight to it that very much fit Luna's vocals. All in all, this was the finest musical achievement of Season 6 and Daniel Ingram and company should be damn proud of what they put together here, and I can't wait to see how they try to top it next season. (2) "A Changeling Can Change": While I could not name this the best musical achievement of the season, "A Changeling Can Change" was undeniably the emotional high point of any song in MLP this season, for a number of good reasons. First, it was Spike's first solo, something we've been waiting for for a LONG time in this show. Second, there was a lot going on here, with Spike just pouring his heart out for a friend he hadn't even met that long ago and was really risking a lot for here, just because it was the right thing to do. Third, it was based on John Lennon's "Imagine" which, while not my favorite song in the world, is undeniably a powerful song, and Ingram very much channeled its spirit here. While Spike's vocals aren't exactly the most musically amazing, there was a heavy sincerity to it all (helped by the fact that, I'm pretty sure Cathy Weseluck herself handled the vocals), and that just made it a song that stuck with you more than any other this season, emotionally at least. Not quite the amazingness that was "The Magic Inside" last season, but again, undeniably the emotional high point of any song this season. (3) "Find the Purpose in Your Life": This was, hands down, the best CMC song of the season, and while a part of that has to do with how pleasant it was, really it has more to do with what was going on. It was a great storytelling song in that it simultaneously showed how the CMC were becoming increasingly perplexed at how to help their new griffon friend Gabby, and at the same time it illustrated just how great Gabby is at helping others, hinting at what her special talent was. The combination of the CMC's group vocals with Gabby's own, plucky voice made for an all around pleasant experience and it was just a really, really lovely song. Honorable Mentions "Spice Up Your Life": This song gets an honorable mention mostly because it was a very fun musical experiment, especially instrumentally, on Ingram's part, with very East Asian/Indian background instrumentals. Not exactly high culture or anything, but it was cool seeing him futz around with something newer like that, and Rarity and Pinkie Pie's vocals very much helped. If anything holds it back, it's just the fact that it's clear in the course of such a fun song that both of these friends are on totally different pages and on their way to bucking things up, which is exactly what happens. Still, the song itself is very nice. "Derby Racers": This is really just a pleasant song and that's really the only reason I'm giving it an honorable mention. It really didn't need to even happen but, unlike "Can I Do It On My Own," I actually enjoyed this one, and really why not? You got the whole town of Ponyville singing along, a fun, bouncy tune, and cheerleader Cheerilee, what's not to like? But yeah, not a very impactful so it can't get too high of a rank, but a very pleasing tune and pleasant song to listen to all the same. Concluding Remarks In many ways, Season 6 was actually very much like Season 3. While it was nowhere near as thematically or philosophically ambitious as Season 5 was, it definitely felt like a lot of important things were being set up or established for future seasons this season. Just as Season 3 set up a ton for Seasons 4 and 5, this season saw a ton of new characters and settings added, new developments for Equestria, including political given how things ended up with the Changelings, and most importantly of all, at least one and possibly more characters added/possibly added to the main cast. For the first time in awhile, I really don't have any idea where the next season of MLP will go from here, but I like to think of that as a good thing. It's nice knowing there's still so many things they can do in this show and not knowing what DHX will come up with next. I for one can't wait to find out, so until Season 7 everypony, this is Batbrony signing off one last time. I'm off!!! *cue dramatic Season 6 exit*

Good evening everypony! I apologize for being so late on my season finale review; my original plan was to post it together with my full Season 6 review, but it turned out that both reviews together were simply to long to post in the same blog, so without further ado, here is my Season 6 finale review of "To Where and Back Again"! The Season Finale After seeing the season finale, I find myself in a very strange position. 95% of this finale was an A+ effort in pretty much every single way, but that 5% that wasn't brought it down quite a bit. In fact, while I overall very much enjoyed the product as a whole, I have to say that this is my least favorite season finale of all of MLP:FiM. How can this be, you might ask? Well, let's take a look, at both the good which was the majority of both episodes, and the little but very significant bad that brought it down quite a bit in my eyes. In many respects, this finale in execution paralleled last season's finale. There was a lot of set-up and A LOT of slow, steady pacing for the majority of both episodes, sometimes to the detriment of the final product. The reason it worked for so much of the episode, however, is that this finale was focused almost entirely on Starlight Glimmer. This worked for quite a few reasons. First, most season finales since Season 2 have been focused on Twilight as the main character; this finale, like the season opener, kept the focus on Starlight, who had probably the most important character developments of the season, and capped a splendid first season featuring her as a reformed character and pupil of the Princess of Friendship. It gave us a great chance to see how she's grown and developed over the season and had some very nice payoffs, like getting to see Starlight and Trixie working together to save the day (for the record, they are quite adorable as BFFs and I really hope we get to see more of them next season). This time also, she was the undisputed sole hero of the day, in that unlike in the season opener, where Twilight and the Mane 6 played a role along with her in saving the day, Starlight (aside from having some friends along, only one of whom she was really well acquainted with) was the primary mover here and focus of most of the episode. And for the most part, I have to say that Starlight had a great episode. In fact, I have no complaints whatsoever about her role in the episode or the lesson that she both taught and learned. This was a fantastic place for her to end up at the end of Season 6; in most of Season 6, she's been perfectly content playing the role of student, of supporter, of learner. In other words, she hasn't taken the lead on many things for the most part because the last time she was in a leadership role, she was an out of control megalomaniac and was terrified that she simply wasn't cut out for such responsibilities. Being a good friend and good pony was one thing, she was comfortable with that for the most part by now even if she still had some anxieties, but being a leader? She simply didn't believe she was ready for that, and couldn't ever be again, and it showed when she returned home and freaked out when all the ponies she'd formerly enslaved wanted her to help take charge with something as simple as festivity responsibilities. But at the end of the day, Starlight realized that she already knew what it meant to be a good leader, could put it into practice, and teach others what it meant. She kept the dysfunctional group she was in united and focused on their task of saving her friends and Equestria, she led them through many perilous situations and stayed at the center of coming up with their next move and bringing the best out of all of them, and she taught what she'd learned about what it means to be a true leader to Chrysalis and the Changelings to save the day. In summary, Starlight, as I said, had a great season finale, and it will be fascinating to see where she goes from here next season. I hope she stays in Ponyville because I've really gotten used to her presence this season and it's nice having a major character that's around as much as she has been this season who wasn't one of the Mane 6, helps mix things up a little. All in all, it was a great close of the season for her and really did justice to her entire character arc this season. The supporting characters were great as well. The Mane 6 and Spike only showed up briefly (mostly at the beginning), but did give Starlight some great advice, and Princess Luna had a pretty great appearance as well in Starlight's first and second dream, first giving her some wonderful advice and then warning her of the renewed Changeling threat (sadly, Celestia did not get a similar appearance, but then again she had a pretty poor amount of screen time this whole season). Chrysalis and the Changelings were as intimidating as ever and, after waiting four seasons for them to come back in force, they made a great showing as the finale's villains, and had a really good plan to boot. Last time they showed up, aside from infiltrating a royal wedding, they tried for the most part to take Canterlot by brute force, which almost worked but in the end proved a futile effort. This time, they definitely upped the stealth and deviousness quite a bit, abducting pretty much every major ruler and protector of Equestria, which could have had disastrous consequences for all of Equestria. It wasn't made clear entirely in the second part if they just wanted to feed off of the rulers or take over the whole country, but I have to think that conquering Equestria was the end game here. Either way, it was a great plan and very dastardly in its execution and intent. But really, the true supporting characters of both episodes were Starlight's motley crew of Trixie Lulamoon, Thorax, and Discord, and this was a fun bunch. When Starlight thought of bringing Trixie along rather than Twilight, it was both adorable and hilarious (mostly because of how peeved and passive aggressive Twilight was about being passed up for Trixie and how smug Trixie was about it), and they were wonderful throughout both episodes. Trixie's still Trixie, and I wouldn't want that to change one bit, but she's also a true friend, even BFF, to Starlight in her own way. They probably shouldn't have turned tail and fled Starlight's town when Starlight had basically a panic attack, but then again, this wasn't one of the Mane 6 who would encourage Starlight to stay, this was Trixie. She's still new to the whole friendship thing herself, and her #1 concern was probably Starlight's comfortableness, not her reconnecting with ponies who Trixie had never even met. Besides, it paid off considering they were able to get back in time to figure out what the Changelings were up to. Her interactions with Discord were also a hoot and pretty much what you'd expect from two reformed villains (Tier 1 and Tier 2 respectively) in the show being around one another for a long period of time, although some of the times when they bickered were a bit much just because it was clearly not the time or place (then again, these are two VERY stubborn characters so it's believable enough out of the two of them). Thorax had a very nice return as well, though I felt a bit bad for him. Don't get me wrong, he was smart, intelligent, very helpful considering he had tons of insider information on the Changelings, and kind of a steadying and calming voice along with Starlight, but he sometimes felt like a fourth wheel. I know that he's kind of a shy and quiet character by his nature, but sometimes, especially in the second episode, Trixie and Discord went at it so much that you forgot he was there (Starlight was usually the one playing peacemaker between the two). Overall, however, he still turned in a really good return, and even though he was hardly as old of a character as Trixie, Discord, or even Starlight, fit right into their motley crew. Finally, Discord was, well, what else, Discord. The strangest part of his appearance was seeing him not being able to use his chaos magic for most of it, but it was great getting to see Discord in a major role in a season finale once again, and this time actually helping for most of it. He was also even more obnoxious than usual considering he barely knew or cared about any of the ponies he was working with and was unabashedly only there to help Fluttershy, but that just made him even funnier (his stand-up routine in front of the Changeling guards was particularly hilarious). Overall, aside from (and we'll get to that in a minute) one little bit at the end, this season finale had a great bunch of supporting characters, even if it was a bit odd seeing the main group of the episode limited to four characters when we're so used to the group of six (seven if you count Spike) we're so used to seeing in major show events in the Mane 6. So... what didn't work? What was the little, tiny bit of this finale that brought it down in my eyes as my least favorite season finale of MLP:FiM to date? Well, it wasn't the obvious plot device in Part 2. You all know the one, the "Changeling magic rock/Chrysalis throne" that sucks out all non-Changeling magic in the vicinity preventing the rescue team from using any magic besides Thorax. Yeah, that didn't actually bother me. I mean, it was obviously a plot device for the sake of convenience to prevent Discord from just using his chaos magic to save the day in two seconds (the show itself admitted as much), but I didn't mind that because it made for a pretty unique situation. We had two unicorns and a draconequus incapable of using any magic to save the day, and a Changeling who could really only use his to transform his appearance. It required a lot of hard and clever thinking from Starlight and company, and even then they only barely succeeded. That, however, is where the problems come in. As I said before, the pacing was very similar to Season 5's season finale. A lot of set-up and a lot of action in the middle of the episode, executed very slowly and very steadily. While this makes for some great scenes at the beginning and in the middle, the problem is the pacing was just a touch too slow. Hence, the conclusion was a bit rushed like last season's. However, that's only the beginning of the problems of this conclusion. Last season, the biggest problem with the conclusion was that it was rushed; however, it still was a very solid conclusion because it was squarely focused on the reformation of one character, Starlight Glimmer. Season 6 only made that conclusion even better because it was clear that, while she was reformed, Starlight still had a lot to learn this season. THIS conclusion, however, was rushed in a bad, noticeable way that caused a lot of problems because it was not about the reformation of one character. THE ENTIRE CHANGELING SPECIES (aside from Chrysalis) WAS REFORMED! That is what we call a rushed ending in the worst sense. All it took, literally ALL IT TOOK to reform the Changelings was one speech from Starlight Glimmer, a pony they'd never met, and a display of magic from Thorax which they'd never heard of. While Thorax sharing the magic of his love for others wasn't problematic (I can totally buy that he'd be able to unleash that at this point), the rest of the Changelings proceeding to do it was downright damn confusing! How did they unlock such magic??? These Changelings had never loved anything before like Thorax had (unless you count their adoration and loyalty to Chrysalis, but I don't think that's love, that's fanatic devotion), and all of a sudden we're supposed to believe that they're unlocking a magic that Thorax himself hadn't known he could unlock in his current condition until two seconds ago? That's just downright ridiculous. The follow-up to that, however, might prove more controversial to fans. After the Changelings ridiculously unleashed a power they shouldn't have yet in a completely random and unjustified act of reformation (talk about your bad deus ex machinas), they, well, for lack of a better term, went through a metamorphosis. And what emerged? Well... this. What the... It's a... a majestic deer-moose-bug-king-thing... I think... what??? Yes. All Changelings (except for Chrysalis and any she is able to produce from this point on, I assume) have been turned from their intimidating appearance into beautiful, majestic looking creatures. Which... kind of defeats the purpose of Thorax's first episode. And therein lies the problem. Thorax's debut was probably the most beautiful episode of the season in its heart and message. And at the center of the end of that episode were the ponies of Equestria and the Crystal Empire overcoming their prejudices against Changelings and placing their trust in a member of a species they had only ever feared, and for good reason, even though he still looked like something out of a nightmare. Now, that's just all gone. It's not hard in the slightest to ask ponies to trust Changelings when they look so damn wondrous, majestic, and beautiful now. The designs themselves were fine, I have no problem with them from an aesthetic POV, but my problem is with the principle of changing their look in the first place. For a show that has always promoted fellowship and goodwill between all no matter who you are, where you come from, or what you look like, it feels wrong on some level that such a shallow change in character appearance would be made just to signify that all Changelings are "good" now. Thorax was good when he looked like a regular ol' Changeling, and I have no idea why that had to change now. In fact, the sad thing is I think I know what drove them to change the appearance. With all of the Changelings reformed, I think the animators were afraid that we wouldn't be able to distinguish Thorax from the rest of the Changelings (or any individual Changeling characters for that matter). If this was their driving incentive, there were surely better alternatives out there; they could've either solely changed Thorax's appearance while keeping the other Changelings the same, or even retained the Changeling body designs but just changed the individual color designs of each one. But now, they're just this beautiful looking species which no pony in their right mind should have any trouble trusting, and something about that just doesn't feel right for this show. It's lazy, it's somewhat questionable from a principled POV, and it wasn't executed very well either. I was happy that Chrysalis is still villainous as ever, and now has a bone in particular to pick with Starlight Glimmer to boot (new nemesis, anypony?), but the end overall was rushed, lazy, underwhelming, and anti-climactic. Even afterwards it was! Did we get a song to end out the season, or even a satisfying closing scene? NOPE!!! While it was nice seeing Starlight return to her town with all of her friends, all we got was this lame bit from RD about how somepony needed to catch them up on everything they missed and... that was it! Seriously, that was it. WHAT A LOAD!!! Bronies, take notes. If you're putting together an essay, or a video, or writing a story, whatever, this finale right here is perfect proof of why a strong conclusion is so important, because your entire body could be perfectly good of whatever you've worked on, and it would still be noticeably sullied by a weak conclusion like what we had here! Overall, I'm not disappointed with the whole of the season finale, really, I'm not. It achieved exactly what it wanted to in strongly closing out the most important story and character arc of Season 6, Starlight Glimmer's. But for a season that was so strong, it is just a tad disappointing that things ended on such a weak, unmemorable note in those last five minutes, as though the end of an entire season of MLP were nothing but an afterthought. Overall, however, "To Where and Back Again" is on the whole a strong season finale to another splendid season of MLP. That's all I got for ya tonight, everypony, until next time this is Batbrony signing off. I'm off!!! *cue dramatic exit*

Hey all, I'm not sure NCMares will get back with ya, BUT to increase your chances try editing your posts and adding his tag @@NCMares to it. Otherwise he might not be aware you even asked since he might not get a notification otherwise about it.