Carolina

This was an interesting episode and fairly entertaining overall, but I can't help but feel it would have fit better earlier in the season in terms of Starlight's friendship lessons. I don't love Starlight Glimmer, but I wasn't opposed to her joining the Mane cast, provided it was done well. IMHO, it hasn't been done well the majority of the time. In fact, aside from Twilight and Spike, I don't really know how any of the Mane girls feel about Starlight or vice versa. Sure that could be because she doesn't appear in episodes unless in the starring role, but heck, Discord appears even less and we still get to see more distinct relationships between him and the ponies. Starlight, on the other hand, appears to be only Twilight's friend (although "friend" might be pushing it, as she's really more of a student). In this episode, we see that she feels uncomfortable hanging out with Twilight's friends without Twi, so much so that she has to brain wash them to avoid looking bad at their chosen hobbies. And throughout the season, Starlight has been excluded from every single Ponyville activity (ie: she didn't attend Rainbow's first Wonderbolt showcase, she didn't help Rarity move into the Manehatten Boutique, she didn't accompany the Mane Six to where ever they went in "Dungeons and Discords," didn't show up for the Applewood Derby, didn't try out for Buck Ball and wasn't even present when the whole town showed up to prank Rainbow Dash!) And really, I don't expect her to have a ton of lines, but just showing up in the background in slice-of-life episodes would have made her presence in episodes like this one a lot less jarring. Could it be that the rest of the Mane Six don't like Starlight, or at the very least, don't consider her a friend? If so, I really, really wish the show would actually address this, like it did/does with Discord. Heck, this could have been a great opportunity to develop distinct roles for each pony and further develop their characters. For instance, maybe Applejack is hesitant to trust her, while Pinkie welcomes her with open hooves. Maybe Rainbow finds her annoying but wants to take her under her wing and teach her how to "chillax." Maybe Rarity forgives her for the whole "Our Town" thing, but their personalities clash. Maybe Fluttershy feels intimidated by her. Who knows! As far as I'm concerned, that ship has, sadly, pretty much sailed. If this episode had taken place earlier, it could have served as a set-up for Starlight to acknowledge that she feels uncomfortable around the Mane Five and they could have worked on building relationships from there. As it is, it seems exceptionally strange that Starlight's entire purpose this season is learning about friendship and yet she has no relationship to speak of with her mentor's closest friends.

I'd say either ESFP or ISFP. Think she is more inclined to act on feelings than think things through. I could see your point about being more of a loner. now that I think about it as she does seem to like some solitutde, although in "Mare Do Well," she does say "I hate being alone" which definitely sounds more like an extravert. Gonna go with ESFP, the "Performer."

My Little Dashie (both the fanfic and the mini-movie): It is a weird story (for cereal, doesn't anyone else think its a little sad/creepy that the protagonist kept Rainbow Dash all alone and didn't tell her she was a fictional character for...15 years?), corny to the extreme and just boring/poorly written (IMO, anyway!) Plus Rainbow Dash acted nothing like the actual Rainbow Dash (and yes, I know that can be explained by the fact that she was raised in the human world, but she just wasn't as interesting and really could have easily been anypony.) Snow Drop: Sorry, but I found this to be really corny as well. And also immensely boring. I will say that the animation was really nice, though. Doctor Hooves: I don't watch Dr. Who and don't plan to, so yeah, don't care. Slice of Life: Probably the boringest/most uncomfortable episode I have ever seen. Seriously, it felt like a series of inside jokes I wasn't included in (many of which were Dr. Who related). Never a nice feeling! Princess Ember: Actually, I didn't like the episode "Goblet of Fire" that much anyway, but I definitely don't understand the fascination with Ember. She's kind of a bitch, TBH. And a really random one: I don't like how people refer to the show as "Pony." IDK why. It just bugs me.

I agree with the consensus that this episode was incredibly boring. I went in with pretty low expectations, as I've never been particularly interested in Applejack's farm life (even if I like Applejack in general), but I was still fairly disappointed. When I saw the preview clip, I thought Applejack was acting weird because she had finally snapped from all the hard work (hence a need for a day off), so I was bummed that her antics just amounted to her routine to feed the pigs. Still, despite my disappointment with that scene, it still provided some of the only laughs of the episode. The rest dragged and felt like they had too little story to tell for 22 minutes of TV. I also concur that Applejack seemed uncharacteristically dumbed-down this episode. That's also a good point! I go to the spa maybe once a year at most because getting a massage is EXPENSIVE! So yeah, I couldn't really relate to that either. I wish I could schedule regular spa days, but they are usually just for special occasions (such as Christmas or birthday presents). This bothered me too, actually. I even wondered aloud why AJ and Rarity didn't invite Rainbow Dash to hang out with them since they were all at the spa anyway. Lastly, I know this is brought up a lot, but it really bugged me in this episode: for what purpose do ponies keep pigs??? Cows for milk and chickens for eggs, obviously, but what does AJ even do with the pigs? Eat them? Enter them for prizes at the state fair? The fact that keeping pigs is a big question mark just makes her long, bizarre routine to feed them even more pointless.

I liked this one a lot. Songs were great, atmosphere was cool and humor was nice. However, there was one problem. See, I have the same feelings as Starlight Glimmer about Christmas. I used to absolutely love it, but have come to see it as quite stressful and overly commercial. And I think specials like this (and The Grinch and Scrooge) reinforce it. Christmas is just made so overly important in our culture. It's like this magical pinnacle of the year where everything is supposed to be made better (hell, listen to some of the old Christmas carols! There's one by Raffi that says "every little hope, every little prayer, has a chance of coming true at Christmas). We've built it up WAY too much - advertising in November? Or October? Even September? Half the year practically focuses on this one day alone. It just sets people up to be disappointed, I think, and to believe that its the ONLY time to show kindness to people (although the "spirit of Christmas" as they say, is actually a good way of thinking if it implies treating people well and warmly). I kind of think that, in some ways, we spend the entire year getting over how Christmas has disappointed us. And how could it not? It's just one day! You can't expect that much from one day. I remember how much I used to hate the end of the holiday season because it seemed like now, you had to get on with dreary, not-so-special reality. Also, this episode has that common problem of portraying anyone who doesn't like Christmas as having something WRONG with them. Snowfall Frost doesn't dislike it because it has disappointed her, but because someone convinced her to be a workaholic. And I also felt like Starlight was getting guilt-tripped for not absolutely loving Christmas (er...Heathswarming's Eve) and of course, at the end, she had a change of heart. Someday, I'd like a kid's episode/special where it's okay for someone not to like Christmas without them seeming like a douche (or in the wrong) for doing so. Lol. This is the longest post I've made in forever. Yay for passion! It was a nice episode. Definitely one of my faves this season.

Well, I liked it! Good character development for Rainbow Dash! Also, as a future teacher, I definitely liked the message about how much expectations (and name calling) can affect one's ability to perform. In teaching we call it the Pygmalion Effect and it's definitely a real thing. Once others expect you to fail, it's hard to get your own confidence back, even if, like Rainbow Dash, you are really capable. I also like Rainbow Dash taking full responsibility at the end and the Wonderbolts being revealed as not-quite-assholes for once. Rainbow acting like the other Mane Six was pretty funny, too. On the other hand, I still don't really get why Rainbow Dash wants to be a Wonderbolt. They've been proven time and time again to be disappointing. Oh well. One thing I wondered about though was Starlight's absence all episode. I mean, they could've had her show up to the event if nothing else. I wonder if that means she and Rainbow Dash aren't really friends. If so, I hope this is addressed. Or else, maybe the writers just forgot about her. Eh.

I liked this one a lot! Maud's dry, underplayed sense of humor plays really nicely against Pinkie Pie and Rarity's over-dramatics. I wonder why we haven't seen more of Rarity and Pinkie together! They interact extremely well.

Always quite liked Starlight Glimmer, even though her backstory, as revealed in the S5 finale seemed a bit underwhelming. Now that we have met Sunburst, though, I found her despair over him a little more believable. Her tears after revealing her behavior to Sunburst were really convincing - a good moment I thought! I also like that she still has a bit of a manipulative side to her when she got Spike to tell the Crystal Ponies his stories in order to waste time. I hope she gets more episodes this season, but I definitely don't want her to take much needed screen time from the Mane 5. "No Second Prances" sounds like it could be a Starlight episode based on the title.

I kind of think Starlight's backstory (going completely bezerk because Sunburst left her) would have made more sense if she had romantic feelings for Sunburst (or, at the very least, an unrequited crush). So, I guess I have always shipped them! I definitely could still see it in this episode, especially considering their nervousness around each other (yes, it was because both were lying to each other and the meeting was awkward, but still). They make a cute couple AND a cute couple of friends irregardless.

I liked it. Not the best two-parter, but fun enough. The first part was a little slow, though and took awhile for the plot to really get going. I was more invested in Starlight and Sunburst's plot than in the Alicorn baby, but I did really like Shining Armor (he's always so derp!) The Mane 5 had nothing to do, but at least Spike got a good role. The Crystal Ponies are always such idiots, though. Maybe because they've been comatose for 1000 years? Really disliked that old pony with the out-of-sync valley girl voice. She was the dumbest of all.

Is it just me, or does Sunburst look more like a mare in the trailer? Granted, we only see him for a few seconds, but the shape of his face makes him look more female. Anyway, the premiere doesn't look nearly as interesting as season five's, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

Huh. This is a really good point! If you think about it, even immortal (or long-lived) non-ponies like Discord are sometimes treated like they need the Ponies' help in order to live successfully (well, perhaps Discord is the only example as of now, but it's still worth mentioning.) Shouldn't Discord know a lot more about the world and how to behave than the ponies do just by virtue of being so much older? Now that I think about it, the only other "good" species we have seen is the the humans from Equestria Girls and they aren't even technically from the same universe!

I've responded to this thread before, but here is my new answer for everypony: Twilight Sparkle: Cordelia Rarity: Helen Pinkie Pie: Cheryl Applejack: Annabel Rainbow Dash: Bridget Fluttershy: Becca Spike: Charlie Sunset Shimmer: Regina Starlight Glimmer: Iris Apple Bloom: Gretchen Sweetie Belle: Brooke Scootaloo: Lesley Diamond Tiara: Kylie Silver Spoon: Flora Big Mac: Adam Shining Armor: Nick Princess Cadance: Sue Discord: Owen Princess Celestia: Jessica Derpy: Frances

This was another good episode! The writers have really been doing a good job with Applejack this season (she and Rarity have both had a very strong season!) But while "Made in Manehatten" and "Hearthbreakers" both gave AJ's character flaws some much needed focus, this one highlighted her positive qualities extremely well. Ra-Ra was also a really likable character and I loved how they fleshed out her history with Applejack. Somewhat like "Canterlot Boutique," this episode focused on the idea of "selling out" as an artist and not being true to one's talent. As a writer/artist myself, I definitely relate to this concept. If you re-watch the first song, you'll notice Ra-Ra wasn't really utilizing her talent/passion that she had always had. I love how Applejack helped her find her true calling again! And anyone else think Applejack has/had a crush on Ra-Ra?