TheTrueMelissa

Celestia and Luna have been squabbling, and Starlight learns that each believes the other doesn't appreciate her work, so she switches their cutie marks. Both are soon in over their heads. Luna's failure at Celestia's job isn't so bad, but Celestia's lack of expertise with nightmares could scar Starlight's psyche forever. This was really good. Daybreaker was appropriately menacing, and the real menace to Starlight added some tension. I wonder if we'll see Daybreaker for real? That would be awesome.

I loved this one. It was great to see minor characters stepping up to save the day. I didn't think I'd like Starlight, but she's growing on me. I loved how a lack of magic made Trixie's illusions important. I do find it slightly implausible that an entire species had never thought of this until Thorax came along. We also never get an explanation as to why he was born different. In my head canon, it's because he's a king changeling, and those who might potentially rule have a greater ability to consider others, invent, and see the broader picture. It makes sense. Chrysalis, for all her many faults, is serving her people via a very creative scheme.

Does anyone want to do another watch party for the end of S5? This time I know to set up a Discord event, so it'll go more smoothly. :) I haven't seen this part of the series yet. It'll be new to me.

This was nice. I liked Diamond Tiara having a story of her own, making her act like that. I guess she reached an inner crisis here, yelling at her best friend and all, and finally just dumped it all out there... to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who of course were on the case. I'm not sure why they say they all have the same mark, because they don't. Their marks are each a shield with a different emblem. If it's true that the shield means helping others, then perhaps (e.g.) Sweetie Belle is destined to be a music teacher rather than a musician. Although, in case, you'd think Cherry Jubilee would have a shield backing her cutie mark. I guess this is some special thing for the CMC, then.

I liked this one a lot. The "villain" turned out to have her reasons, which should happen more often in children's media. "The Rules of Rarity" is a great song.

This was a bit meh, IMO. I had trouble believing Twilight didn't alert when Spike mentioned Lyra Heartstrings. I also had trouble believing she didn't know the names of her friends. How is that possible? This episode acts like your friend group is assigned to you by some central office. Moondancer's story reminded me of the decades-long rampages of revenge which powered the supervillains in DC's Silver Age.

This was magnificent. Utterly beautiful. When I'm rewatching in the future, I'll be glad when it's time for this one.

Okay ... I think I missed something. Gilda and Rainbow Dash and Pinky Pie are dangling from a rope into a chasm, in peril of plunging into the depths below, but Rainbow Dash and Gilda can both fly. Is the chasm too windy for safe flight? No, they're not really blowing around on that rope; Rainbow Dash has flown in much worse conditions. I rewound and rewatched some, to see if I'd missed an explanation of some anti-flight spell, but I didn't find one. Did I miss something, or did the writers forget that the two winged characters, who met at flight camp and fly constantly, can in fact fly? I just checked a summary, and apparently it's supposed to be because of the wind. That's absurd. Rainbow Dash literally manages the weather, but strong wind foils her? Oh well. It's been a strong season so far. Can't hit 'em all out of the park.

My first thought was that someone must have re-read A Wrinkle in Time. "Alike" and "equal" aren't the same. My best guess is that the spell didn't touch the pony's inner talents, only their surfaces appearances. They all looked alike except for mane color, right down to their cutie marks, but did it even out their underlying skills? We don't see enough to be sure if they've all lost their skills or if they're just determinedly ignoring concepts like "better at this" on ideological grounds.

This one was a little disturbing. Troublehooves isn't deliberately trying to entertain people. They're laughing at his clumsiness, as he earnestly tries his best. He didn't get his cutie mark when he discovered a love of clowning; he got it when an accident embarrassed him. Also, an upside-down horseshoe doesn't symbolize clowning (but is a classic symbol of bad luck). I was disturbed when the fillies started pushing at him with "You've always wanted to be part of the rodeo, right? Well, this is the only way someone like you ever could." Troublehooves now faces a future of trying his level best to perform rodeo feats, failing spectacularly, and being laughed at. This is exactly the misery he wanted to avoid, but now it's good because three little girls said so.

This episode is a mixed bag for me. Maud's hilarious, especially when interacting with Pinky, but the messaging is dubious. Pinky's friends seem to think that they have to find Maud entertaining in order to hang out with her. Most people have relatives they find tedious, so I'm not sure that's a good message. I also think it's odd that they can't find one single thing to like about Maud until Pinky is randomly endangered and Maud saves her. Random lethal danger is pretty normal in cartoons, so okay, but "we all love Pinky Pie" is a pretty terrible thing to have in common, especially when that's all. It makes me think of divorcing parents who hate each other, reminding themselves through clenched teeth that "we both love Timmy." Seems like a little more thought could have been applied. Rarity has her own talent for gemstones, so perhaps they could have discussed that. Maud's strong and used to farm work, so you'd think she'd have some things in common with Applejack. Etc. It's strange that they couldn't find one single thing in common, when everyone was allegedly trying. It's also strange that the Ponyville ponies thought that was required. It was still fun, though.

Loved this. Loved it. Loved Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy teaming up, and it's not even because flying is required. Loved their RPG quest to trade their way to the quest item. Loved Rarity and Applejack angrily snarling at each other over who's a better friend. Also loved Rarity's version of an angry snarl. Fluttershy's really doing what Applejack and Rarity are performing. She goes too far, much too far. Fluttershy can't say no, which gives the others some responsibility not to take advantage of her, and Rainbow Dash struggles with that sometimes. You know, Equestria has a lot of these ceremonial jobs which require a princess. Before Cadence was born and Luna returned and Twilight ascended, Celestia must have been one busy lady.

I've now gone past the point I watched the first time, so I'm seeing these for the first time. This was fun. Pinky Pie came off as a little selfish for most of it. Why is there even such a thing as the "headliner" of someone else's party? Perhaps she ditches that idea when she realizes it's supposed to be about Rainbow Dash. Cheese Sandwich's cutie mark doesn't seem to have much to with his calling. I guess it's possible to choose other paths. I liked Cheese Sandwich. Maybe he'll turn up again.

I've restarted the Zoom meeting for further coordination. We can go ahead and start watching, if we want. I'll just restart it again for the next episode.

Everything's working. We're starting in about 20 minutes.

I'm going to set things up now. In a few minutes. You should be able to join. I'll keep you posted. You should be able to come in now. See you in about half an hour!

It's only 2:30 my time, so we've still got two and a half hours as of this posting.

Yes, I did assume everyone had Zoom these days. Does anyone not have it? In theory, you can just join the Zoom room via that link. I'll figure out how to share my screen.

I don't care either way. If you want your camera off, that's fine with me. :)

Yeah, that should work. I haven't opened it yet, since it's still so early. I'll probably open it an hour or so in advance, just in case there are problems. I'm hoping it'll be straightforward, though. :)

I have Pluto. If I share my screen on Zoom, that should do it. Yeah, I'll definitely log in early to make sure it works. :) Are you going to set up the call? Wait, I think I figured it out. Try this: Melissa Hollingsworth is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: MLP:FiM Watch Party Time: Jun 26, 2025 05:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us05web.zoom.us/j/81543893431?pwd=IoW3edr4iPB86vpsIhBhrk2olzJqZN.1 Meeting ID: 815 4389 3431 Passcode: 9MqekE

Are you on Eastern time? 8:00 for you would be 5:00 for me. I can do that, but we'll have to check with @Ishmael. It might be too early for him.

Yeah, this evening is good. I'm also West Coast. Maybe we should still aim for early, in case any East Coasters want to join. How about 6:00 our time, or 9:00 EST? @NorthProductions@Deiv2008 Everyone's welcome, as far as I'm concerned.

I would like to think that Rainbow Dash wrote that herself, as fanfic, to pass the time until the latest canonical installment was finished. Then, at the end, a pony who looks suspiciously like Rainbow Dash is on the cover of the new novel. I'm still going with "Didn't really happen." If one of the cover models happens to look like Dash, that's just a fortunate coincidence.

I love this one. "What My Cutie Mark Is Telling Me" and "A True, True Friend" are both A+ songs. The plot is cute and has plenty of funny moments, and the surprise payoff brings a real smile.