Night Sky

My Picks: Twilight Sparkle, Maud Pie Lotus Blossom (AND Aloe Vera), and Ocellus

What to say about MLP FIM's possibly most epic season ender? - Sh1t just got real, it's a different world and a different series after Queen Chrysalis was deposed as ruler of the hive, in favor of the benevolent Thorax. - It seems some ponies refuse to engage with Seasons 8 and 9, and some even don't prefer to have anything to do with season 7. - I don't know, the slice of life stand alone episodes are priceless, but they couldn't go on literally forever. - So, all the slices of life may as well have been contained within a larger, and worthwhile epic context, and this episode is one of the major pivot points. - I love how there was no foreshadowing per se, the Changelings were a known threat, it was up to us to be watching out for them. - Starlight Glimmer was due for her first odd dream visit from Princess Luna anyways, so that wasn't really foreshadowing. - If you'd been watching attentively, it would be immediately obvious what has happened, upon Starlight and Trixie's return to Ponyville, and it's creepy and unnerving. - It's played so deadpan, and the the Changeling ruse was so successful and complete, it's now just a few stray good guys on the run. - While it makes for a more compelling story for Discord to be defanged of his magic, he sure was angry, him versus Queen Chrysalis may have been an interesting fight. - Some ponies may wonder whether or not Queen Chrysalis was tempted by Starlight Glimmer's offer of reconciliation, or if we just misread her body language for one moment. - It doesn't matter what may or may not have been going on inside of Queen Chrysalis, for a bug in her position to have been given such an offer was more than she deserved under the circumstances. - The point is, she was given a choice she didn't even deserve because she was being shown mercy. - But she chose revenge, and in her case it was a point of no return. - You cannot help or save someone who wants to hurt you and is trying to do so, not even ponies can do that.

The Male Ego is a Fragile thing, in that sense at least guys, Rainbow Dash understands us very well.

Oh the webs of misery we weave when, awww shucks.

Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship to the rescue, again. There are objective reasons why she is the leader of the Mane 6 and the Princess of Friendship. She might not be as balanced as Applejack, or quite as confident as RD, or humorous as Pinkie Pie, or sensitive as Fluttershy, or charismatic as Rarity. Thus, she is able to walk a line. A long squiggly line.

A subtle and nuanced send up of the Sorcerer's Apprentice, without the brooms and the well, but still plenty of water. DOOMGUY and Pinkie Pie are a known inter-franchise ship, but I have something a little less...undead cannibal in mind for Starlight Glimmer. If Corvus had Starlight Glimmer by his side throughout all of Shadow of the Serpent Riders, the game would have one setting, piece of cake.

A funny episode, more for the adults than the kiddos. I know there was a Siegfried and Roy couple in this episode, but Flim and Flam are also Siegfried and Roy, except American, 19th Century and utterly perfidious. With how people are now, I am sure Vegas will be selling VIP packages to empty auditoriums soon enough. Also, at this point in the series, it was nice to be reminded that Fluttershy is a full time member of the cast and the Mane 6, this was the first episode in TOO DAMN LONG to feature her in lead role.