Music Chart Fan

Overall, this episode is a bit of a mixed bag. It is nice to see Rainbow Dash's parents, and to see them be so welcoming to Scootaloo, even essentially treating Scootaloo as family. As was pointed out by others, the Wonderbolts show some real camaraderie with Rainbow, giving some good-natured ribbing to her about her "mega-fans" without being too mean about it and being "happy to help" her with a special performance for her parents near the end of the episode. It's also good that Rainbow seems to have repaired her relationship with her parents after probably a few years of not telling them that she was working up to becoming and actually became a Wonderbolt. My main issue with the episode is that Rainbow's parents' support is portrayed as overbearing and excessive, but then Rainbow is made out to be completely wrong for yelling at them to stop and has to put on a big show to apologize, while almost no acknowledgement is made that Rainbow had a point and that Rainbow's parents could learn to be more appropriately supportive. To explain my thoughts a bit more, I honestly thought that this episode was being set up as a lesson in parental moderation - that parents can, and should, support their kids without profusely praising every little thing they do. And to that end, Rainbow's parents would be an extreme example that essentially everyone would agree is taking things too far. Then Rainbow's parents could learn the lesson and be corrected to a more happy medium. Instead, after much of the episode seems to build a case for Rainbow's parents being excessive and obnoxious, and Rainbow justifiably snaps and yells at them, the rest of the episode then goes on to denounce Rainbow for being upset at her parents and "taking them for granted", and Rainbow essentially immediately and completely feels guilty and sorry and has to make it up to her parents (and Scootaloo). Meanwhile, Rainbow's parents seem to display almost no concern or introspection about their excessive behavior, and there's only at best one indirect acknowledgement that Rainbow's parents might at all be at fault. To start out, we see in the first third or so of the episode that Windy and Bow are almost creepy in being Rainbow's "biggest fans", particularly with their "shrine" to Rainbow Dash, including a diaper she wore and an apple she took a bite out of as a young child. And later, we see Rainbow's parents moving beyond being mildly embarrassing to being a public nuisance and even a danger. Windy and Bow act like obnoxious sports fans at the Wonderbolts show, even though it's a performance and not a competition. In fact, over the years, we repeatedly see most, if not all, of the other spectators grimacing, looking annoyed and bewildered, and moving away as Windy and Bow do excessive cheerleading for Rainbow. Of course, at the Wonderbolts performance, Windy and Bow start shooting fireworks in the direction of Wonderbolts in the air, including only narrowly missing Rainbow and Fleetfoot. That could result in serious injury, and Windy and Bow ought to have been escorted out and punished. When the Wonderbolts are giving autographs, Bow slings his ripped-off shirt around and literally smacks a kid in the face with it. Windy, Bow and Scootaloo all distract Rainbow at the ribbon cutting, leading her to accidentally cut off part of Spitfire's tail. And all of that is on top of Windy's and Bow's awkward and disruptive behavior of following Rainbow around everywhere, chanting and cheering. Next, it's rather surprising how Windy and Bow react to the news that Rainbow became a Wonderbolt without ever telling them. In order for Windy and Bow not to have heard about Rainbow going to the Wonderbolts Academy, being accepted as a Wonderbolts Reserve, actually flying in a Wonderbolts show as a backup (and finding Spitfire so she could fly in the show), and of course, finally becoming a Wonderbolt, it seems Rainbow must have been lying to them, doing some serious selective omissions when talking to them, or avoiding them entirely. Shouldn't any of those be concerning to Windy and Bow? I might think that Windy and Bow would say to themselves "Wow, Rainbow never told us about any of her Wonderbolt-related accomplishments of (give or take) the last few years? If we're so supportive and we're her biggest fans, then why wouldn't Rainbow tell us that she was working toward and achieving her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt?". And then they might come to the realization that their behavior might have been overbearing and driven Rainbow away from wanting to tell them what she's really been up to. But when Windy and Bow first see Rainbow after learning that she's a Wonderbolt, we never see them ask her why she never told them about any of her Wonderbolt-related accomplishments of the past few years. All we get is an offhand comment by Windy that Rainbow was being "modest". But shouldn't the two of them at least consider that this might run a little deeper than mere modesty? And later, while waiting in the stands at the Wonderbolts performance, Windy and Bow hear about how Rainbow came to be a Wonderbolt from Scootaloo, and they say they didn't know about this. Shouldn't Windy and Bow want to hear this story from Rainbow herself? Wouldn't that be one of the first questions they would ask Rainbow after seeing her at the practice earlier? Did they try to ask Rainbow to tell them about how she became a Wonderbolt, and she found an excuse to run off or something instead of giving the full story? We don't see any indication of that in the episode. So, considering Rainbow's parents' exaggeratedly over-the-top behavior, and their lack of concern or introspection about why Rainbow has been avoiding telling them about her accomplishments, I completely sympathize with Rainbow when she blows up at her parents. We see a little later that Rainbow has been dealing with this behavior by her parents for her entire life, and all along her parents never seem to have the self-awareness to realize how obnoxious they're being, both to Rainbow and to others at the events they're attending. Furthermore, Rainbow's parents show no sign of letting up on this behavior even when Rainbow is a full-blown independent adult. So I think Rainbow would be justified in believing that her parents are so far gone that they can't be calmly reasoned with about their behavior. I wouldn't be surprised if Rainbow's previous attempts to get them to stop were ignored or dismissed, leading Rainbow to believe that avoiding telling them about being a Wonderbolt was the easiest solution. Of course, Scootaloo kind of put an end to that, so maybe Rainbow's yelling and being blunt to them would be the only thing to have a chance of getting them to stop. And in fact, Rainbow's parents' completely oblivious reactions illustrate how impossible it would be to actually get through to them. Not only do they ask if they did something wrong as though they have no clue what that might be, what do Rainbow's parents do right after she finishes yelling at them about being "so proud" of every little thing she does? They praise her for how she yelled at them, doing the exact thing she yelled at them about! If there's any time that they should shut up for once and refrain from spouting praise at Rainbow, this would be it, and yet they seem constitutionally incapable of stopping themselves. But after Rainbow (with justification) yells at her parents, and they and Scootaloo leave in tears, Rainbow is made to feel essentially instantly and completely guilty and sorry. The episode repeatedly sends the message that Rainbow should be sorry, and we see Rainbow repeatedly telling others that she is sorry. But, on the other side of the ledger, we get at best one ambiguous gag where Windy and Bow jokingly tell Rainbow that her apology Wonderbolts performance is "kind of embarrassing" and "a bit much". Even taking that at face value, it seems far out of proportion to the time and intensity with which the episode expresses that Rainbow was wrong, wrong, wrong to yell at her parents and "take them for granted". I would have liked to see direct acknowledgement from Rainbow's parents and Scootaloo that Rainbow's parents really were excessive and obnoxious, and that they really will tone their support down to a more appropriate level. Unfortunately, though, the final scene doesn't inspire much confidence that Rainbow's parents have actually learned those things. After Scootaloo gets the grade for her report, we see Rainbow and her parents do the same kind of obnoxious cheerleading that Rainbow found ridiculous and "too much" before. It could be argued that Scootaloo showed that she wanted this kind of praise earlier, but do any of them (especially Rainbow) think that it would be better to show a more appropriate level of support? Wouldn't Scootaloo be liable to (eventually) find this annoying just as Rainbow did? Furthermore, this scene comes across as though Rainbow has shifted her view about her parent's support entirely in their direction, while Rainbow's parents don't seem to have changed their attitude at all. So, while it seems as though the episode is supposed to come to a feel-good ending, these lingering concerns put a damper on that for me. Finally, it's rather frustrating that Scootaloo is basically 100% on board with Rainbow's parents' behavior, and seems incapable of seeing Rainbow's side of the story, which leads to Scootaloo acting as a means to guilt-trip Rainbow after her outburst to her parents. When Rainbow initially frustratedly tells Scootaloo that her parents can be "a little bit embarrassing", Scootaloo acts dumbfounded by the idea that that might be the case, even saying "What's wrong with a little support?". Scootaloo also shows no indication of noticing how obnoxious Rainbow's parents are to all the other spectators in the stands at the Wonderbolts performance. And after Rainbow yells at her parents, Scootaloo tears up and asks "Why?" (as though Rainbow didn't make it clear enough), says that she doesn't like what she found out about Rainbow and says that she's going to write her hero report on someone else. Are we supposed to believe that Scootaloo's childhood was so horrible that she can't even recognize that Rainbow's parents' behavior is overbearing and excessive? The episode seems to be making Rainbow's parents' behavior pretty obvious, so I don't know if I believe that. And later, when Scootaloo tells Rainbow "Ya know, some ponies would dream of having parents like that", I can't help thinking that, well, if they do, they probably shouldn't. Scootaloo says that no one told her that she would be the best at anything growing up, but that doesn't mean she (or others in a similar position) should want the opposite extreme of constantly being told that she's the best at everything. Scootaloo also points in apparent seriousness to Windy and Bow giving baby Rainbow Dash trophies and ribbons for "best bath taker ever", "best carrot eater under three" and "greatest napper of all time" as an example of Rainbow's parents giving her the confidence to believe in herself. But I find that utterly baffling, since those awards come across to me as intended to be a laughably ridiculous caricature of participation trophy culture. In short, having actually supportive parents/caretakers shouldn't be conflated with indiscriminate praise for everything one does, regardless of effort or achievement or importance. I think the basic message from Scootaloo of being thankful for having supportive parents would be less hamfisted if Scootaloo gave at least some acknowledgement that going too far with the support, as Rainbow's parents have done, can also be a problem. Now for the rest of my miscellaneous observations: When the CMC are stretching back the slingshot, Sweetie Belle is helping using her magic rather than physically pushing it like the other two. Maybe there wouldn't be enough room for Sweetie Belle to help physically push it back, too, but this might show that Sweetie Belle's magic is strong enough to help on its own. The ramp on which Scootaloo would ride to go to Cloudsdale looks like it's pointed more toward the edge of Cloudsdale rather than the center, which would leave less room for error. Also, the ramp looks essentially vertical, so I'm not sure how Scootaloo would get enough forward momentum off the ramp to carry her to the distant Cloudsdale. Rainbow's parents plug their ears with their wing feathers in an analogous way to plugging one's ears with one's fingers, but would their wing feathers really block their ear canals sufficiently to have any significant effect? We see Scootaloo's high-pitched screaming damage Rainbow's parents' commemorative plates, but then that damage doesn't seem to be brought up by any of the characters. Did Windy and Bow discover the damage only long after Scootaloo was gone? Isn't carbo loading usually done before endurance athletic events like cross country? Are those what Rainbow was doing? I thought Rainbow was best at short events involving quick bursts of speed. Wouldn't a partially eaten apple dating back to when Rainbow grew her first tooth be reduced to a cesspool of mush by now? Even if it is gold-coated, could an apple really maintain its structural integrity over that long a length of time? Windy says that she doesn't have "any of those 'Rainbow Dash Saves Ponyville' headlines" like Scootaloo has. But why not? If Rainbow's parents are her biggest fans, couldn't they obtain copies of the relevant newspapers with such headlines? I mentioned this in a previous post, but when Spitfire asks "Which pony broke protocol and invited guests to our training exercises?!" and Rainbow says "I guess they're with me", I was bracing for Rainbow to get punished, and I was wishing that Rainbow would have added something like "I don't know why they're here, I didn't invite them". Luckily, Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts seem to take the situation with good humor and it doesn't appear that Rainbow was punished. Speaking of that, when Rainbow tells Scootaloo that she shouldn't have just shown up with Rainbow's parents without warning her first, and Scootaloo asks "Why?", one obvious answer that Rainbow could give is that she could have gotten into trouble by (supposedly) breaking protocol. Does Scootaloo know the practice schedule of the Wonderbolts in order to take Rainbow's parents to see a practice? Is that something Rainbow would tell Scootaloo, considering that it's against protocol for guests to attend training exercises? This is kind of a meta point, but who exactly was taking all these pictures of Rainbow, e.g., at the Wonderbolts Academy, or when she was being accused in "Rarity Investigates!"? Put me down as another person who thinks it's rather weird that Rainbow is shown as competing in the same competitions as other Wonderbolts and Lightning Dust as a kid. Finally, Rainbow's mom's name being Windy made me think of the song by The Association about a girl named "Windy", which was a #1 hit in 1967.

This makes me think about how I might, at least theoretically, be in a position to relate to Rarity in this episode. I'm the second oldest of nine kids, and my youngest sister is finishing 8th grade now, which is probably about the age of Sweetie Belle (perhaps subtracting a year or two). And it is a little surprising to think that my youngest sister, who's 14 years younger than I am, will be going to high school, when it doesn't necessarily seem like I was in high school that long ago. But I guess the difference between my situation and Rarity's is that, as far as I can tell, the things I would do with my youngest siblings while hanging out aren't really things that are "age-specific" and that they would grow out of doing, per se. So I can't really recall any regretful or bittersweet feelings within the past few years about not being able to do the same things with my youngest siblings that we used to do, because I don't think that what we do has really changed all that much. Maybe my youngest siblings never did as much "kid stuff" because they would mostly be hanging around us older siblings who were doing more "mature stuff" already. Yeah, the passage of time between episodes and between seasons has always been rather fuzzy. I guess my perspective might have been that major episodes with the CMC after they got their cutie marks in "Crusaders Of The Lost Mark" (i.e., "On Your Marks", "The Fault In Our Cutie Marks") sort of gave the impression that they were fairly new to figuring out what to do with their new cutie marks. And that might lead to a perception that not that much time has passed since they got their cutie marks, and hence, since Sweetie Belle would have last spent significant time with Rarity. But I suppose that the CMC had already helped various residents of Ponyville at the start of "The Fault In Our Cutie Marks", which would indicate at least some significant amount of time had passed. And as you mention, if you use other events to try to ascertain the passage of time, you could come to the conclusion that quite a bit of time has passed in the last few seasons. Haha, yeah, it makes sense that the CMC would try to tamp down expectations after the events of that episode!

Overall, this is another episode that I don't care much for. Rarity seems a bit too airheaded and oblivious, including needing to have Sweetie Belle essentially spell out the moral before Rarity gets it. And it's frustrating that Sweetie Belle almost gets Rarity to see that she's grown up a couple of times, but then she backs down, presumably out of (somewhat justified) fear of Rarity overreacting. This episode is fairly basic, so there won't be as much for me to say about it. First, when it comes to Rarity's behavior, this episode seems to imply that it's been something like years since Rarity and Sweetie Belle have spent time together, such that Rarity would have an updated idea of what Sweetie Belle likes to do. But then, wouldn't the two of them have done that, say, when the CMC got their cutie marks? How much time is supposed to have passed since then? Also, Rarity sees that the CMC have "clients", notes the wall of "satisfied customers", and says "you girls really have come a long way". Might that be a tip-off that Sweetie Belle has matured beyond the level that Rarity originally thought? Finally, it's weird how, after Sweetie Belle herself says that the things she and Rarity have been doing aren't who she is anymore, Rarity insists that no, those things are who Sweetie Belle is, and Rarity is even prepared to give Sweetie Belle "quite the talking to" because Rarity apparently believes Sweetie Belle is just being "unappreciative". Maybe Sweetie Belle knows what she likes better than Rarity does? Next, there are a couple of times when Rarity sees that something's wrong with Sweetie Belle, and Sweetie Belle says she'd prefer something else, but then when Rarity is shocked to hear that, Sweetie Belle backs down and goes along with Rarity's original plans. What would be the problem with Sweetie Belle saying that she's gotten older and therefore prefers other things? It seems like Rarity has to come to that realization sooner or later, and I would think that Sweetie Belle could help that along in a tactful way. Is the fear that Rarity will overreact and get offended? Is Sweetie Belle just left to hope that Rarity will come to the realization on her own later? I guess that fear isn't entirely unfounded, since Rarity gets angry at Sweetie Belle for being ungrateful later, before Rarity finally learns the lesson of the episode. I don't have much else to say about the episode overall, so here are the rest of my miscellaneous observations. When Sassy Saddles walks in and says "Rarity, we're running low on vermilion satin", Sassy should be able to see that Rarity was crying about something else other than what Sassy just said - the tears can't come that fast, can they? If these pictures and memories in the book are so valuable to Rarity, then maybe she should stop crying over them and getting them wet with tears and makeup? Rarity's dramatic sobbing seems overdone and drags on too long. I think we could have gotten the point without having to spend almost 2 minutes on it. Also, so much for Rarity being professional in front of her manager, eh? The CMC's sliding a huge rock slab down the middle of the road, which they have no ability to stop or control, might be dangerous to themselves and anyone else using the road, but hey, at least the CMC are wearing helmets, right? How did the rock slab, which would have considerable momentum, stop and stand upright so suddenly? We don't see an obvious step up or anything sticking out of the ground to stop it so quickly. Of course Chipcutter's safety gear appears out of nowhere. And is it implied that Chipcutter has never attempted rock sculpting before? Wouldn't it require some learning and practice to be able to create a rock sculpture like that? Sweetie Belle says the "CMC guarantee" is that "no matter what it takes, we promise you'll have our full attention". Of course, that seems a bit deceptively worded to sound better than it is. The CMC are not guaranteeing that they'll solve your problem, just that you'll have their "full attention" - for some unspecified length of time. The other kids at the puppet show and in line for balloon animals don't have cutie marks, but other than that, they don't necessarily look much younger than Sweetie Belle. That might be a result of the limited number of age models for ponies used on the show. It seems a little gross for ponies to hold things in her mouths that Ripley would also hold in his mouth. But I don't know, maybe there's less of a norm of separating animal things from pony things in the world of Equestria, as opposed to how humans mostly separate themselves from all other animals. Near the end of the episode, when Sweetie Belle asks Zipporwhill to look at Ripley, Rarity is literally right in their line of sight, and yet none of them seem to see Rarity or react to her standing right there. I don't really understand why the ball and chew toy were completely uninteresting to Ripley, yet a stick gets him excited. The ice cream sundaes Sweetie Belle and Rarity are eating at the end of the episode look almost as big as Sweetie Belle is. Are those intended to be eaten in one sitting? Sweetie Belle says she'll help Rarity finish her sundae, but Sweetie Belle might have to worry about how she'll finish her own first.

I've seen so many song titles in the course of compiling Billboard music singles charts that I'll often see a phrase and automatically think "There's a song called that!". So this is the song that comes to mind when I see this episode title - it peaked at #7 on the Hot 100 in 1981:

That's a really good point, and I might not have realized that if you hadn't pointed it out. When Spitfire asks "Which pony broke protocol and invited guests to our training exercises?!" and Rainbow says "I guess they're with me", I was bracing for Rainbow to get punished, and I was wishing that Rainbow would have added something like "I don't know why they're here, I didn't invite them". But Spitfire and the rest of the Wonderbolts seem to take the situation with good humor. And as you point out, the other Wonderbolts are "happy to help" and do a special performance just for Rainbow's parents (and Scootaloo). The Friends Forever Issue 36 comic with Rainbow and Soarin' kind of gives an explanation for that (with the caveat about comics not necessarily being canon). Soarin' says in that comic that he has less raw talent than the rest of the Wonderbolts, so he's always had to work and practice harder than the rest of them to get good enough (and stay good enough) to be a Wonderbolt.

Ha ha, it seems you know more about building structure than I do! I would agree that the skeleton of the building ought not to collapse so easily with a single disturbance, but I wouldn't necessarily be able to give any details to back that up. But hey, I'm in polymer engineering, not civil engineering!

Overall, I think I would describe this episode as aggravating. This episode seems to be on a mission to show Fluttershy as confident and assertive and committed to her dream in the face of setbacks, but in the process, I think it simplistically portrays Fluttershy as essentially completely right and the three contracted ponies (Wrangler, Hard Hat, and Dandy Grandeur) as completely wrong. It seems to me that all of them needed to have much more communication and give and take about how exactly Fluttershy's abstract "vision" for the sanctuary would be translated into reality, and whether the three contracted ponies' expertise is actually appropriate for the job. I found it offputting that Fluttershy seems to recruit others to help with making the sanctuary using emotional manipulation and generic positive platitudes, rather than being upfront about what exactly her expectations for the sanctuary are and how they might be achieved. Finally, I found it frustrating that the animals are given nothing but the utmost care and consideration throughout the episode, even as it seems they're not faultless themselves. The first big thing to talk about involves Dr. Fauna's clinic and how the animals are treating it. Is Dr. Fauna running a charity clinic? Did Fluttershy ask any of these wild animals to whom she was recommending Dr. Fauna's clinic to pay Dr. Fauna? Are any of these animals compensating Dr. Fauna at all for her services and for taking her living space and resources? I would suspect not. Even if Dr. Fauna has a charity clinic supported by, say, ponies' donations, there's still a limited amount of space and resources, and a limit to how many animals Dr. Fauna can treat and look after. Part of the problem might be that Dr. Fauna says that "most of [the animals] just have minor ailments - hurt wings, stuffy noses, and such". Do animals with such "minor ailments" really need to stay at the clinic (or even at the sanctuary, for that matter) and be watched over? Couldn't those animals be treated and sent back home? Of course, probably the bigger problem is that Dr. Fauna says that animals won't leave even after they're "all healed up". If these wild animals are preventing Dr. Fauna from treating or watching over actually injured, and perhaps paying, patients, then Dr. Fauna should tell them to leave or else be forcibly removed. Regardless of whether this is a charity clinic, she cannot do her job with so many well animals (and animals with "minor ailments" who could take care of themselves) taking up space and supplies, and they have no right to stay on her property and consume her resources without her consent. The next big issue is Fluttershy's dream sanctuary and how she talks about it to others when convincing them to work on it. It seems to me that if Fluttershy is going to ask the rest of the Mane Six, or the three contracted ponies, to help her with building her dream sanctuary, then she ought to be upfront about what they would be getting into - what exactly she wants, and at least some idea of how that will realistically be achieved. However, Fluttershy talks about the sanctuary almost entirely in terms of abstract ideals bereft of details or plans to achieve them, and even seems to use emotional manipulation to get others to agree to work on the sanctuary without them knowing what they're really agreeing to. First, when talking to the rest of the Mane Six, Fluttershy speaks about the sanctuary almost entirely in generic flowery platitudes, with seemingly no details about how those platitudes will be translated into realistic goals. Fluttershy also tells the rest of the Mane Six that Dr. Fauna's clinic is "overrun with adorable critters in dire need of a safe place to lay their heads, and they don't have anywhere to go". But Dr. Fauna said that at least some of them are "all healed up", and that most of them had only "minor ailments". So why can't a lot of the animals just go back home? Are all of their original living locations direly unsafe for them when they only have "minor ailments"? It comes across as hyperbolized in order to convince the rest of the Mane Six to do a lot of work on her behalf. Note that Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity suggest the services of Wrangler, Hard Hat, and Dandy Grandeur only after Fluttershy gives the "inspirational" abstract description of the sanctuary. At that point, Fluttershy hasn't given the rest of the Mane Six any actual plans or details; they haven't even seen the "dream board" yet. Next, when Fluttershy is meeting with Wrangler, Hard Hat, and Dandy Grandeur, Fluttershy shows them the "dream board" which consists almost entirely of sketches, samples, and pictures of plants, and just a single sketch of the layout of the land for the actual sanctuary. And, again, the very few words with which Fluttershy describes the sanctuary are just generic positive platitudes. So Fluttershy seems to have given Wrangler, Hard Hat, and Dandy Grandeur almost nothing to work with. Yet she asks them "So, can you build it?", and does the wide-eyed look of innocence (or whatever you want to call it), which is just transparent emotional manipulation. This would be exactly the time for any of them to say that they would need more plans and details to work with, or that their areas of expertise might not exactly fit with what she's trying to do. Yet, despite obviously acting as though they have reservations, the three contractors apparently accept without asking any questions or raising any of these concerns further. The problems continue when it comes to actually starting the process of building the sanctuary. Fluttershy gives only vague descriptions of what she wants, while admitting that what she wants is unconventional and is outside the contracted ponies' expertise. And all the while, there are lots of indications that Wrangler, Hard Hat, and Dandy Grandeur are not suited for and uncomfortable with what Fluttershy wants them to do. Hard Hat suggests he could build the Ponyville Hospital again, and says that what Fluttershy wants isn't any structure he's familiar with. Dandy Grandeur is doing interior design of curtains (for an outdoor sanctuary with no apparent buildings) and says the natural look "isn't in" and is drab. Wrangler shows off animal traveling cages and asks if Fluttershy wants something more secure. And yet Fluttershy still just leaves them to try to figure out what to do on the basis of those vague descriptions. Is there any consideration by Fluttershy of how realistic her dream sanctuary is, and whether compromises or sacrifices might have to be made in order to work with these contractors? Is there any consideration of whether these contractors might need to be worked with more closely if what she wants them to do is unconventional and has (supposedly) never been done before? Fluttershy is shocked and appalled at what the contractors did, and angrily says "My vision isn't the problem here!" and "I told you exactly what I wanted!", but Fluttershy's vision seems to amount to little more than feel-good platitudes and a few sketches, and Fluttershy's descriptions were far from exact. I can't help feeling like Fluttershy put the contracted ponies in a bit of an impossible situation. At the same time, though, Hard Hat, Dandy Grandeur, and Wrangler have their own issues with how they handled this whole situation. Obviously they shouldn't have "gone behind Fluttershy's back" and done things that she didn't want without her consent. However, the three of them could have headed off potential problems earlier in the process. They could have asked for more concrete plans, and made clear that their areas of expertise might not be compatible, before agreeing to help Fluttershy in the first place. Or, after they agreed to help, they could have asked for more clarification about what Fluttershy's vision is and what they're expected to do, especially in light of its unconventionality and mismatch with their experience. They could have offered to work with Fluttershy more to try to translate her abstract vision into reality. It seemed like there needed to be more communication and more give and take by both Fluttershy and the contracted ponies, but that didn't happen. One other thing to mention is how Fluttershy says that she wants and values other's suggestions about the sanctuary, but then never actually uses them or seems to seriously considers them. After Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity suggest the services of Wrangler, Hard Hat, and Dandy Grandeur, Fluttershy says that she "can't wait to meet all of them and hear their ideas". And near the end of the episode, when the rest of the Mane Six start making suggestions about things to put in the sanctuary, Fluttershy yells at all of them to stop, and then says that she appreciates them sharing their thoughts. But those statements come across as insincere and dismissive in retrospect. We ultimately never see Fluttershy use or seriously consider anyone else's suggestions for the sanctuary; in fact, we never see Fluttershy modify, compromise, or sacrifice her vision for the sanctuary in any way. As the conflict with the three contracted ponies was playing out, I seriously thought that the episode was heading toward a moral that it's often difficult to make dreams into realities, and that compromises and sacrifices often have to be made to accommodate real-world limitations. Instead, the message of the episode is...to be assertive and never compromise on your dreams, I guess. Now for a few other miscellaneous observations: Fluttershy batters herself against a door that obviously has a doorknob; even if the door were unlocked and unobstructed, wouldn't it require, you know, turning the knob first? Fluttershy says that she'll fix Dr. Fauna's "big problem", but doesn't give any indication of what her solution is or how long it'll take to happen. Wouldn't tired, overworked Dr. Fauna be interested in details like that? Also, couldn't Fluttershy help give Dr. Fauna a little relief by telling at least the well animals, and perhaps the ones who can manage themselves, to go home? Hard Hat tells Fluttershy that they're "almost finished with the building already" when all they have is the skeletal structure without, e.g., walls, windows, etc. And the "almost finished" building later collapses when a bear runs into one of the supports. When Fluttershy dismisses the three contractors, had she already paid them for their work and the materials they left behind up to that point? Or did she essentially get their work and materials while refusing to pay for them at all? The tire swing that Pinkie made is tied to a log that appears to be just sitting on a rock, partially hanging over a ledge. So how is that log staying in place? How is it not tipping over or sliding off the edge when significant force is put on it?

I joined MLP Forums because I was watching the show by myself, and I really wanted to read and talk to others about the kind of detailed observations and analysis that I make in my posts for each episode. I've occasionally posted about news, politics, music charts, or personal stuff, but I generally haven't taken much interest in reading or posting about that kind of thing here.

Overall, I didn't much like this episode. Of course, as many others have mentioned, the main issue is probably that Pinkie is in maximum oblivious/tactless/obnoxious mode, and no one wants to tell her so because she'll overreact and get super depressed. It is amusing, in a trolling kind of way, to watch Maud deadpan and give no concession to Pinkie as she gets more and more agitated (similarly to how Cranky repeatedly rebuffed Pinkie's desperate attempts to be friends in "A Friend In Deed"). But at the same time, that reaction isn't solving the problem of Pinkie's desperate and wild behavior, and Maud displays her own issues with tactlessness and lack of social skills. Finally, I suppose it's nice that Starlight and Maud are becoming friends, but I don't find it very satisfying that their main shared traits are being misfits and wanting more friends but seemingly not putting forth much effort to see what they can do differently to make that happen. The first major issue with Pinkie illustrated in this episode (and many others) is her obliviousness, tactlessness, and obnoxiousness. Pinkie is the one who supposedly wants to be friends with everyone, make everyone smile, pick them up when they're down, etc. But then episodes like this one show her to have near-total obliviousness and tactlessness, and she comes across instead as an incredibly self-centered jerk. She just seems to do what she wants to do and doesn't pay attention to or care at all about how others are reacting to that, as we see with, for example, her cheering and shouting at the graduation ceremony when it's pretty clearly not wanted or called for, or her high-pitched screeching on the train that causes everyone else to wince and cover their ears. And it seems that a lot of people (including Maud in the episode) are willing to overlook this because they say that, well, Pinkie has good intentions. But I question just what her intentions are sometimes. If Pinkie supposedly intends to be friends with everyone and do things that make others happy, but then fails to notice or adjust when her behavior is doing the opposite of that, then can we really say that those are her intentions in the first place? How many times must others display their displeasure before Pinkie actually changes her behavior to accomplish her supposed goals? I guess I'm not as willing to handwave away Pinkie's faults because she supposedly has good intentions when the actual results are repeatedly not in line with those intentions. The other major issue with Pinkie that this episode (as well as other episodes like "Maud Pie") illustrates is how her friends seem to have to walk on eggshells with her, not telling her things that she needs to hear because she'll become super depressed and might even do things that would endanger herself or others in her wild desperation. There are several times in this episode when Starlight and Maud are clearly annoyed by Pinkie's stalking and imposing activities on them, and of course Pinkie appears too oblivious to notice, but they never can quite tell Pinkie to just shut up and leave them alone. When Maud is talking to Pinkie just before going to sleep, Maud appears almost to tell Pinkie to stop obsessing over trying to make Starlight and Maud friends, but then Maud never does. And then when Starlight (finally) tells Pinkie that she got in the way and ruined everything all the time, Pinkie overreacts, gets super depressed, and runs out of the room in tears. Again, isn't Pinkie contradicting her own motivations when she makes her friends unhappy and drives them away by overreacting to necessary criticism and making them feel like they can't tell her to being overbearing and obnoxious? Next, when it comes to Maud in this episode, I could often sympathize with her deadpan reaction to Pinkie's antics, but then Maud has her own issues with tactlessness and lack of social skills. It often seems like Maud puts zero effort into social interactions, leading the other pony to put in all of the work and/or waste a lot of effort. When Maud says "Slow down, Pinkie Pie" and Pinkie starts talking in annoying slow motion, Maud doesn't say anything like "Stop, that's not what I meant", but just lets Pinkie continue to do it. When Pinkie wants to move on from the gem cave, Maud makes no effort to walk on her own, rather than forcing Pinkie to continue pushing her. As Pinkie, in increasingly desperate fashion, tries to pass off sting-bush seed pods, Tank, and Lyra as interesting rocks, Maud doesn't ever tell Pinkie to stop. When Rarity asks Maud "What are you doing now?" and Maud replies "Talking to you", Maud doesn't seem to consider that that's an absurd answer, and maybe Rarity was asking about something other than what Maud is doing at this exact moment. Even if Maud can't deduce what Rarity meant, Maud never asks Rarity to clarify. And when Starlight asks if she and Maud have met before, Maud just says "Yes" rather than elaborating with "Yeah, we met at this time and place" or "I think so, let me see if I can remember". Instead, attempting to have an ordinary conversation with Maud turns into a game of 20 questions, where the burden falls entirely on the other pony to phrase questions in exactly the right way to get the desired responses. Maud says that it's hard to find someone who "gets" her, but then, does Maud ever consider why no one seems to "get" her? If Maud wants to make friends, does she ever ask herself if there's something that she could do differently to help make that happen? Finally, I suppose that it's nice that Starlight is making another friend with Maud, but I don't know, I just don't find it very satisfying. It seems the main shared trait we see in the few friendships that Starlight has made so far is "Wow, you're a misfit like me!". And I think that's an outgrowth of one of Starlight's main character traits that I find rather tiresome - that Starlight often frets about social interactions for fear of being judged for her past behavior, while seemingly not actually doing anything about it. Maybe Starlight could articulate an understanding of why her past actions were wrong and try to demonstrate that she's going to act better in the future, but we don't see her doing things like that. Starlight says she likes Maud because Maud accepts Starlight for who she is. But, again, if others are not accepting Starlight for who she is, and Starlight doesn't like that, then does she ever think about why that is, and what she could do about it? I guess Starlight and Maud have that in common - they both haven't made many social connections, and apparently would want more, but don't seem to put much effort into seeing how they might improve themselves to make them. Now for some other miscellaneous observations: I know the opening scene is probably just one giant gag, but from what I've seen, if graduate students complete their degree requirements at a time when few other students have done so, then they can choose to walk at the next soonest commencement ceremony, but there's no ceremony just for them. Also, my impression was that graduate schools generally don't name class valedictorians or salutatorians, because of the divergent degree requirements, the greater importance of research (which can vary widely and thus may not be easily compared) rather than GPA, non-uniform graduation times, etc. And of course, that would especially be the case if Maud is the only one graduating at the time of the episode. The gems in the Ponyville gem cave are even pre-cut, apparently. Why does Tank seem to be wandering around outside by himself? Where is Rainbow or any other pony who might be watching him? Speaking of Tank, Pinkie yells at him so loudly he goes bouncing off inside his shell; Pinkie grabs Lyra out of the blue and growls threateningly at her when she looks at Pinkie wandering what the heck is going on; and Pinkie later climbs on top of Starlight's bed and screams in her face to wake her up. Gee, it sure is great having Pinkie as a friend, huh? Maud says one reason she likes rocks is because "they don't exclude you if you're different", but then, neither does any other inanimate object. That wouldn't in itself explain why Maud doesn't study, e.g., fossils, ancient ruins, the weather, celestial bodies, chemical reactions, etc. Starlight thinks that a wall of the gem cave is hollow, so she immediately casts magic to tear the wall down. That seems just a little dangerous, doesn't it? How does she know she won't, say, bring the whole cave down on top of her and Maud? Of course, the same can be said for Pinkie dynamiting the exit to the underground cavern after that. Right after Pinkie reads Maud's note in the morning, Pinkie runs off to the train station and sees a train just pulling away. But who's to say that Maud didn't leave hours ago, at any time after Pinkie fell asleep? Was Maud's "What eel?" response to Pinkie supposed to show that Maud was unaware that she was eaten by an eel and standing in its mouth? I didn't think Maud was supposed to be that unperceptive of her own surroundings. Why do Maud and Pinkie continue to converse while Maud hangs off a ledge? If either of them thought Maud was in danger, then why wasn't Maud pulled up off the ledge? Or if either of them knew that the ground was right below, then why didn't Maud (and Pinkie) hop down off the ledge? Pinkie begs Maud to "give me another chance...to leave you alone". Where have we heard this message that sometimes "others just like to be left alone" before? Maybe in Pinkie's letter to Princess Celestia back in "A Friend In Deed"? Near the end of the episode, I wonder how the string to Maud's string appears to be slack for that long a period of time. I'm not so sure that the underground cavern would be as amazing a place to live as it's made out to be. All the waterfalls would probably make a lot of background noise to deal with. Plus, the cavern looks as though the air would be saturated with water vapor all the time, which could lead to things like Maud's bed sheets, fuzzy slippers, and books being ruined by the constant dampness. Plus, with the ceiling being open and it being a water source, the cavern might end up attracting all kinds of nuisance animals. Finally, I've never liked the repeated gag where everybody takes Maud's pet rock seriously. The professor awarding Maud her rocktorate addresses Boulder and has no reaction to Boulder being given a seat and Maud waving to Boulder. Maud says she might like having someone to talk to besides Boulder, and we see Maud ask Boulder serious questions and tell Boulder to do things. And Starlight has no reaction as Maud tells Boulder "you don't look a day over 600", and Starlight even tells Boulder "That was awesome!" after she and Maud exit the underground cavern.

Yeah, I kind of forgot about that episode, and sure enough, the schoolponies sick in the hospital in this episode also attended Twilight Time and were excited to meet Twilight. So Twilight knows these schoolponies, at least in passing, and they know her. I would be curious whether kids in towns other than Ponyville would know much about Twilight or be as excited for her to visit, but as you mention, Twilight's celebrity status seems to come and go, so we probably can't say for sure. This reminds me of how, back in the episode "Canterlot Boutique", we learned that Twilight was the most popular princess in every poll Sassy Saddles took. That seemed to come a bit out of nowhere, but I suppose it showed that Twilight can apparently be popular outside of Ponyville.

Overall, I suppose I'm ultimately indifferent to this episode. I mean, I find the basic premise of the episode to be contrived, and several aspects of the episode are grating to me, but then, I know I would have that kind of reaction to this kind of episode. And it doesn't help that the "cuteness factor" doesn't do much for me, because I find it rather excessive and don't especially relate to it. After reading other people's comments, I'll concede that this episode with this premise could have been worse, and I wouldn't say I hate it, but it's not just not my kind of thing. As mentioned above, I find the basic premise of the episode to be contrived. Throughout the episode, Twilight and even Spike are so absentminded, lacking in basic attentiveness to the world around them, and dismissive of Flurry Heart that they repeatedly fail to notice Flurry Heart going off making messes and getting into trouble. I would think that they would quickly learn after the first time (or second time, third time, etc.) to pay attention to Flurry Heart and stop her from getting into trouble again. It also seems a little incongruous with Twilight's insistence that she's the "best aunt ever", her really wanting to babysit Flurry Heart in order to spend time with her, her buying Flurry Heart tens of presents, and her starting off intently playing with Flurry Heart so much that she isn't paying attention to Cadance's and Shining Armor's instructions. I guess we can hope that Twilight's having to clean up so many messes in one day and having to buy so many apology treats (assuming Twilight is paying for them with her own money) will reinforce the lesson to keep better eye on Flurry Heart and stop her from making trouble next time. Another basic issue I have with the episode is that it doesn't seem clear what Flurry Heart's age and maturity level is supposed to be. On the one hand, Flurry Heart doesn't look any older, and is still called a baby. She apparently needs to be spoon-fed baby food and wears diapers that (supposedly) need to be changed frequently. But, on the other hand, Flurry Heart is precocious enough to attempt to emulate Twilight as she levitates the stuffed bear. She wants to pretend that she and Twilight are bears and seems to understand what Twilight is saying. She can magically generate a shield around herself when she's scared. She magically flings food away that she doesn't want to eat. She knows that she has to magically turn the wheels of the shopping cart to make it go. She knows how to both magically erase a blackboard and magically levitate chalk well enough to draw rudimentary stick figures on the board. She knows to get Spike's attention to stop a fight between the Cake twins, then tries to get Twilight's attention, and finally splits the toy in half to "share" it and try to stop the Cake twins' fight. Once she realizes her whammy is gone, she frantically yet methodically turns the hospital upside down looking for it. And yet we're to believe that Twilight is way out of line for reprimanding Flurry Heart because she could have hurt someone. On the face of it, it seems to me that if Flurry Heart is mature enough to do all the things she did in the episode, she ought to be mature enough to start learning not to do things that can hurt others. Finally, there's Flurry Heart's "cute" actions and the characters' reactions to Flurry Heart - Twilight's gasp and "Oh my gosh!" reaction to Flurry Heart, all this talk about "favorite niece" and "favorite aunt", Shining Armor speaking in a high-pitched voice as though it's Flurry Heart speaking, etc. I know that people do do these things, but I just don't relate because I don't really react to other people's babies like that, so I end up kind of rolling my eyes at them. Twilight's repeating over and over that she's the "best aunt ever" is especially grating, and even worse, becomes part of the problem as Twilight uses it to avoiding owning up to her mistakes and changing her approach. Who says that Twilight is the "best aunt ever"? Why does Twilight feel the need to be (or act like she is) the "best aunt ever"? What are the criteria for that? Twilight does end up saying at the end of the episode that quality time, rather than quantity of time, should be what matters, which is true enough, but I just don't relate to or really get the whole thing with Twilight declaring herself "best aunt ever". Now for my other miscellaneous observations: I'm not quite sure why a visit from Princess Twilight in particular would cheer up sick schoolponies. If Twilight is going to read to them and bring snacks and gifts, couldn't some of the schoolponies' parents, for example, do the same thing to equal or greater effect? If there were a class of elementary- or middle-school-aged kids who were sick in the hospital, would they be particularly cheered up by, e.g., their U.S. House Representative or U.S. Senator visiting them? They might be told what an honor it is to be visited by such a person, but it doesn't seem like that would be especially exciting to them. There was a trash can directly under the black canvas "A Thousand Nights In A Hallway" piece, but then when Spearhead goes to show the piece to Cadance and Shining Armor a few seconds later, the trash can is no longer there. Cadance says that usually she and Shining Armor are "covered in mashed peas by now", and Twilight and Spike are shown to be covered in mashed peas themselves. But why do they allow that to happen? If Flurry Heart isn't eating the mashed peas and is just flinging the mashed peas at them and around the room, why don't they, say, take the mashed peas away and try again later? Why don't they use their magic to try to stop Flurry Heart from making a mess in the first place? Wouldn't galloping around the toy store "playing race carts" not be allowed, because it's a nuisance and could hurt somebody or damage merchandise? And yet it seems everyone, including employees, either don't notice Twilight doing that or make no effort to stop her. Right after Flurry Heart rams the cart into the toy display, the cart is nowhere in sight and Flurry Heart is on the floor underneath a pile of stuffed animals. Where did the cart go, and how did Flurry Heart end up unhurt on the floor? Twilight says that going to Sugarcube Corner will be different than the previous two errands because "Flurry can play with the Cake twins AND stay out of trouble!". But wouldn't Flurry playing with the Cake Twins likely be more trouble? Wouldn't the three of them have to be watched even more closely to make sure that they play nice, don't hurt each other, and don't make an even bigger mess? How did Twilight and Spike go from being 55 minutes late at the schoolhouse, to so late that Spike doesn't want to say how late they are and they're considering canceling the hospital visit, to spending even more time at Sugarcube Corner looking up and ordering multiple apology treats (and possibly cleaning up again), to finally only being 4.5 minutes late to the hospital visit? Seriously, where did they make up for all the lost time? I can't even imagine how that happened. In what might be the biggest stretch of believability, Twilight fails to notice that she and everything else in the room is being levitated when she's reading the book in the hospital. Does Twilight not have peripheral vision? Is Twilight not ever look at the schoolponies she's reading to? Is Flurry Heart's levitation magic so advanced that Twilight's sense of balance isn't disturbed in the slightest? If Flurry Heart is capable of levitating everything in the room simultaneously, why doesn't Twilight de-levitate everything in the room and magically keep it down if Flurry Heart tries to levitate it again? Why are Cadance and Shining Armor having an emotional breakdown at the art show? Can they really not stand to be away from their kid for a few hours? There would seem to be plenty of parents, for example, who go back to work a few months after having a baby and (somehow) manage to keep it together even as they're away from their babies for several hours, if not the whole day.

You say that this behavior you're describing is "everywhere these days", and seem to be frustrated by it. But, on the other side of that, I'm frustrated by the seemingly increasing atmosphere of MLP sites like this one and Equestria Daily whereby critical opinions and people who express them are unwelcome; whereby even people who have valid reasons not to like episodes, characters, etc. are ridiculed and dismissed as irrational haters; and whereby legitimate and potentially interesting points of view are stifled and discouraged in a seemingly overzealous attempt to root out trolls and haters. To be clear, I'm not saying you do all of these things. I was just reminded of my frustration when I saw your previous post replying to @Justin_Case001. It seemed rather unfair to him, since I don't believe he's a troll or intransigent hater, and I took his comments about Flurry Heart to be deliberately exaggerated a bit to be humorous. But you said in this post that the behavior you're describing hasn't yet happened in this topic, and I'm glad that you clarified that. I wasn't accusing you (or any individual person) of chastising people for both watching and not watching episodes they don't think they'll like; I was just expressing frustration that, in the aggregate, that's what often seems to happen, and again, that would contribute to this increasing atmosphere I described.

So, on the one hand, if people read an episode synopsis or watch an episode promo and say that the episode doesn't look like it'll be good, they get chastised by some commenters who say things like "How can you say the episode will be bad if you haven't even seen it?", "Why won't you even give the episode a chance?", etc. But, on the other hand, if those people watch the episode and say afterward that, as they suspected, they didn't like it, then they get chastised by other commenters who say things like "Well, why did you even watch the episode and torture yourself if you were expecting not to like it?", "Why are even here if you hate the show so much?", etc. So are we supposed to watch episodes we expect not to like, or not? It seems like we're damned if we do, damned if we don't. I can't speak to everyone's rationales, but I can think of at least a few good reasons why people would "torture themselves" and watch episodes they expect not to like. While this show may not be serialized such that each episode directly follows the previous one, we never know when future episodes will reference or build upon previous episodes that we might have skipped. Or even if that doesn't happen, other forum members may reference episodes we might have skipped when posting about the show in the future. And seeing every episode at least once would probably be necessary to make judgments (and understand others' judgments) about the direction the show is going, how good the season is overall, the best and worst episodes of the season, etc. It seems to me like it's better to spend 22 minutes to watch an episode once and still not like it rather than skip it and always have that hole in one's knowledge about the show going forward.

Heh, yeah, I forgot about the stained glass windows in Canterlot Castle, and of course Spike is immortalized in a statue in the Crystal Empire as well. That would be a good idea for Twilight to get some stained glass windows depicting great historical feats in her own castle. You're right that the scene where Starlight and Sunburst make the chalk symbol on the floor and create a black hole looks to take place in Sunburst's home. I was thinking of the scene before that, where Starlight and Sunburst pour some kind of potion over a log and Starlight touches her horn to it to create a cuckoo clock; that scene looks to take place in the middle of the Crystal Empire library.

Overall, I found "All Bottled Up" mostly to be exasperating and annoying. This episode also reminds me in a bad way of "What About Discord?", though for a bit of a different reason. "What About Discord?" was deliberately designed so that the audience would be frustrated and regretful along with Twilight as both of us endure inside jokes that we don't understand and are reminded repeatedly of what a good time Twilight missed, while the other characters are oblivious to how they're making Twilight (and us) feel. Similarly, this episode seems deliberately designed so that the audience would feel annoyed and angry along with Starlight as both of us endure Trixie's insufferable self-absorption, lack of tact, and total obliviousness to how she's making Starlight (and us) feel. In both cases, it quickly becomes obvious what the problem is and what the solution should be, but the problem is dragged out over the whole rest of the episode as we're left just waiting for the final realization. And in both cases, I don't like the episodes for a large part because I want to watch this show to feel good and to find food for thought, not just to feel unproductively frustrated and annoyed. I can't help wondering whether it's even worthwhile for Starlight to hang out with Trixie if Trixie is normally this self-absorbed and oblivious. If this is the way Trixie normally acts, then it's no wonder no one else has wanted to be her friend. The other big point about this episode to discuss is Starlight's actions and attitude. First, I can acknowledge that, in some respects, Starlight has slightly improved in this episode. Starlight does take some precaution (though not enough, it seems) and tries to impart at least a little responsibility when teaching Trixie to do magic. Starlight does say something to Trixie at the end of the episode about not always trying to use magic to solve her problems. And this time, Starlight's backfired magic might not have been quite as bad as it was in previous episodes. But I can't ignore that Starlight once again performs magic without considering the consequences and creates another "incident" that has to be fixed (although Starlight does at least fix it herself). Did Starlight ever consider what she was doing to do with her bottled up anger energy, or consider what might happen if it escaped and how she would mitigate the damage if it did? Because of Starlight's escaped anger energy, Bulk Biceps throws his whole nut cart on top of Trixie, and it's only because of cartoon physics that she isn't likely seriously harmed. And this time, Starlight hides the whole incident from Twilight and even seems to be getting away with it, with Twilight praising Starlight for "taking initiative" in learning a friendship lesson caused by her own reckless use of magic. In the previous episode, Starlight apparently "graduated", and the previous episode told us several times that Starlight doesn't need friendship lessons and that she has nothing to learn that Twilight could teach her. But then this episode seems to put the lie to all of that, leading me to wonder again why the previous episode drove those points so hard and what it even means for Starlight to have "graduated". This episode continues the trend of Starlight's characterization being exasperating and unclear. I think that's all the big-picture points that I wanted to make, so here's all the rest of the various observations I made: Rainbow brags about the Mane Six being "poster ponies for amazing friendships", but it's not like that in itself is going to get them the record time for solving the room. Sure, working as a team of friends helps, but their individual intellect, ingenuity, etc. are still needed to be able to solve the actual problems quickly. If the first step of a teleportation spell is to concentrate on the object you want to teleport, then wouldn't Trixie have been concentrating on the apple and not the table? If Trixie wasn't concentrating on the table, then should her teleportation spell have actually worked? We see Spike washing all the teacups that Trixie made with her spells, but isn't Spike curious where they all came from and why they all need to be washed? It seems like something that he might ask Starlight about first. I do have to wonder why Starlight's anger manifesting as a physical cloud of magical energy is only seen happening to Starlight, and has never been seen to happen before this episode. Haven't we seen Starlight get pretty angry before, even as she doesn't cast magic to "channel away" the pent-up magical energy, without this occurring? When Starlight is talking to Spike in the kitchen, Starlight only mentions in passing that "I've got to get that map back", and Spike volunteers to look for the map in the castle without even asking what happened to it. Did Spike overhear what happened while he was working in the kitchen? How far away is the kitchen from the map room, anyway? I'm not sure why, when Starlight asks the jeweler if she's seen the table, Starlight describes it as having a magical map on it with cutie marks shooting out. Unless Starlight expects the map to have called the Mane Six sometime after Trixie teleported it, the table wouldn't have the map on it or cutie marks shooting out of it anyway. Why is it that there are so many disjointed possibilities of what place Trixie was thinking of when she teleported the table? Is Trixie schizophrenic or something? The jeweler possessed by Starlight's anger says "You just had to give Twilight those smelly pretzels!", but when in the episode were the pretzels said or implied to be "smelly" prior to that statement? I don't find it amusing that the Mane Six inexplicably feel the need to sing a friendship song and thus barely lose out on beating the previous record. I knew as soon as they didn't turn the key that they needed to turn it to finish the room, and that therefore they would be wasting time while they didn't turn it. I'm not laughing at this situation, I just feel bad and regretful on their behalf, and (again) I don't want to feel bad while watching the show just for the sake of an unfunny joke. I would think that they could have cut extraneous chatter and moved faster while solving the room, which would have saved much more than the two seconds they lost by, even if they still sang the song. During the song, while the Mane Six are trotting "around the world" as the seasons change, I can't help thinking that their planet would be pretty small if its curvature is on that scale compared to them. Of course, after Starlight admits that she's really mad at Trixie, Trixie says that she had no idea Starlight felt that way, and I think Starlight lets her off way too easy when she says "But to be fair, I don't know how you could have known". It seems like if Trixie had a bare minimum of tact and attentiveness, she could have figured out how unhelpful, self-centered, and downright annoying she was acting. So we spend the whole episode with Trixie demonstrating how self-absorbed she is, with all the potential places the table could be being related to Trixie's thinking about things she wants to get for herself, but then we're supposed to believe that the last place she was thinking of was where she met Starlight, because Trixie was just so glad to be friends with Starlight? After Twilight says that she's "so proud" of Starlight, it's kind of weird that Twilight retains her wobbly smile for several seconds afterward, even after blinking. I've mentioned before that it's strange to me how often we see the characters in the show go to the spa, considering that I would think that spa trips are rather expensive and not usually done that frequently. But here, again, all the characters decide on a whim to go on a spa visit, with nothing said about whether they had made an appointment or the cost of doing so (although I think Rainbow says something about a coupon).

Overall, I don't much like "Celestial Advice". I can tell where the episode is supposed to have emotional appeal - seeing Celestia give advice to Twilight, seeing more of Celestia's relationship to Twilight, seeing how much Twilight cares about Starlight, etc. - but it doesn't really end up resonating with me. Perhaps my biggest issue with this episode is that most of it revolves around Twilight being pressured by Discord into announcing that Starlight is graduating and Twilight panicking about coming up with a plan for where to send Starlight after graduation. And yet I don't think it's ever satisfactorily explained why Starlight is ready to "graduate" and supposedly has nothing more to learn from Twilight, and why Twilight has to come up with a plan for where to send Starlight when Twilight already had plans for more friendship lessons for Starlight to do. This episode reminds me in a bad way of "What About Discord?", in that Discord again provokes Twilight into doing things that make her look bad in order to amuse himself at her misfortune. In this episode, though, I'm not even sure if Discord is trying to teach Twilight a lesson, or what lesson that would be. As mentioned above, perhaps my biggest issue with this episode starts when Twilight first talks to Discord. Discord asks what Twilight is going to do with Starlight, and Twilight replies that she's "planned enough friendship lessons to cover the next three years". But then Discord laughs and says that "clearly Starlight is beyond basic friendship lessons", that Starlight has won a medal, and that Twilight must be joking. After that, Twilight seemingly does a 180 and decides that Starlight should graduate and be sent away. If Twilight believed that Starlight had at least three years' worth of friendship lessons to do, then why is Discord able to pressure Twilight so easily into believing the opposite? In fact, right after Twilight tells Discord that she's "planned enough friendship lessons to cover the next three years", the episode seems to flip a switch and commit to the ideas that (1) Starlight obviously doesn't need friendship lessons anymore and is ready to graduate, and (2) Twilight has no plan for Starlight, such that Twilight has to panic and come up with one or else she'll be embarrassed and revealed to be a terrible mentor, or something. But aren't these two ideas contradicted by the fact that Twilight just said that she had three years' worth of friendship lessons planned for Starlight? Throughout the rest of the episode from that point on, I kept thinking "What happened to the three years' worth of friendship lessons?". I'm utterly baffled by how those friendship lesson plans were dropped so quickly and completely. It's not like Discord makes any particularly compelling argument to Twilight to give them up. Again, all Discord says is that Starlight is "clearly" beyond basic friendship lessons, that Starlight has won a medal, and asks if Twilight is joking in a manner that suggests that Twilight is obviously wrong. Why should we or Twilight believe Discord's assertion if Twilight seemingly had good reason to believe otherwise? Does Twilight think that Discord's asserting (without further explanation) that Starlight is beyond basic friendship lessons and asking if she's joking is representative of what most of the others think? In other words, does almost everyone else actually strongly believe that Starlight is ready to graduate and do her own thing, and therefore, it would be embarrassing and the wrong decision for Twilight to have Starlight continue friendship lessons? But then, what reason do we or Twilight have to believe that? Discord is known to try to mislead and trick the characters for his own amusement, so why should we or Twilight just believe him without question when he asserts that Starlight is "clearly" beyond basic friendship lessons? And yet, after that exchange with Discord, Twilight really seems to commit to the conclusion that Starlight is beyond friendship lessons and both deserves and needs to graduate. We see Twilight sitting and looking through a pile of parchment saying "She's already good at that! She mastered this!". Later, Celestia says to Twilight "So you have an overachieving student. Sounds familiar". And at Twilight's "big announcement" near the end of the episode, Twilight says that Starlight has proven herself to be "a kind, loyal, strong, honest, and truly magical friend" and that Twilight knows that there's nothing more that she needs to teach Starlight. But during these scenes I'm just thinking "Starlight is already good at what? She mastered what? She's an overachieving student in what? How do we know that Starlight is a great friend and that there's nothing more she needs to learn from Twilight?". Are these statements supposed to be referring to friendship lessons that Starlight has already completed? If so, then are they from lessons that we've seen in prior episodes? Which ones? I really don't know what's being referred to here. Twilight also makes an argument to Celestia that Twilight had planned those friendship lessons before Starlight "stepped up" in "To Where And Back Again", but then Starlight's actions during that episode somehow prove that friendship lessons aren't enough for her anymore. But, for one thing, after Discord asked Twilight what she was going to do with Starlight, Twilight seemed pretty confident in her initial answer that she has three years of friendship lesson plans for Starlight. Twilight apparently didn't see any need to rethink those friendship lessons at that point, even after the events of "To Where And Back Again" and after Starlight has been awarded the Equestrian Pink Heart of Courage. So, again, why does Twilight's brief conversation with Discord make her suddenly and totally change her mind? Furthermore, I don't see how Starlight's actions in To Where And Back Again prove that Starlight has mastered friendship so much that friendship lessons aren't enough for her anymore. Sure, Starlight demonstrated a certain amount of bravery and initiative by gathering Trixie, Thorax, and Discord and venturing off to confront and defeat Chrysalis. But what did that do to demonstrate Starlight's mastery of friendship? Starlight worked with Trixie, Thorax, and Discord to save the day, but that was kind of forced on her by necessity in dire circumstances. Can that really be translated to having mastered friendship in her day-to-day life? Also, what about what we've seen Starlight do, and not do, in her other episode appearances? We've seen Starlight repeatedly commit grave moral failures, while having to be told that she was wrong and never actually articulating an understanding of why she was wrong. And at the same time, we saw Starlight deliberately avoiding friendship lessons as much as possible, and we've only ever seen Starlight do a handful of friendship lessons, with a good chunk of those being the very basic initial friendship lessons she was putting off in "Every Little Thing She Does". Are we supposed to assume or speculate that Starlight has actually completed lots of friendship lessons offscreen? But, if so, then why isn't that ever even mentioned? Where are the results of that having occurred? I just don't think Starlight's past or current actions that we've seen illustrate any particular mastery of friendship. The other issue, of course, is that several times it's implied or outright stated that Twilight doesn't have a plan for Starlight. For example, Discord says to Twilight "Obviously, you should have a grand master plan for her, the same way Celestia set you on the path that eventually made you a princess", to which Twilight replies with a nervous "Yep" as though she actually doesn't have one. Or in the scene where Twilight is going through the pile of parchment, she says "Why didn't I come up with a path for Starlight? Princess Celestia had it all figured out for me!". But again, what happened to the three years' worth of friendship lessons? Is that not a plan for Starlight that Twilight had figured out? Besides, didn't Twilight supposedly learn at the end of "The Crystalling" that Celestia taught Twilight by giving her space to make her own decisions? Doesn't that kind of contradict the idea that Celestia had it "all figured out" for Twilight, and therefore Twilight better have it "all figured out" for Starlight? I would think it also contradicts the idea that Twilight must send Starlight away, just because Celestia did that with Twilight. And yet Celestia just goes along with it, rather than, say, pointing out that she didn't have everything planned out and that Twilight doesn't have to do everything the way Celestia did it. In summary, it seems as though the episode wants us just to take everyone's word for it that Starlight doesn't need friendship lessons anymore and is ready to graduate, but I just can't believe that, given what we've seen about Starlight's development to this point. And the episode wants us to believe that Twilight has no plan for Starlight and needs to come up with one, but Twilight previously appeared pretty confident in her friendship lessons plan for Starlight, and it's never satisfactorily explained why that whole plan is discarded so suddenly. And the ambiguity about what exactly Starlight has accomplished to have "earned" graduation then leads to further ambiguity about what it even means for Starlight to have graduated. Is Twilight no longer going to give Starlight friendship lessons or try to teach her? Is Starlight supposed to take on friendship responsibilities of her own now? As we see even in the very next episode, Starlight still seems to have a lot to learn. And, as I'll repeat again, Twilight earlier in the episode had plans for years' worth of friendship lessons for Starlight. It looks as though the status quo is basically restored at the end of the episode, but it's unclear what, if anything, is supposed to be different now. Finally, there's a message throughout the episode that Twilight really cares about Starlight, like Celestia really cares about Twilight. Twilight is horrified at having to send Starlight away, is so proud of Starlight's accomplishments that she smiles until her cheeks are sore, gets Starlight the mirror surrounded by her friends, is relieved and couldn't be happier that Starlight isn't ready to leave, etc. I can tell that all of this is supposed to be emotionally impactful, but it just doesn't resonate with me as much as intended. I don't think we've really seen Twilight and Starlight develop that close and personal of a friendship, and so I as a viewer haven't developed much of a connection to that relationship. Now for the rest of my miscellaneous observations: Why did Twilight and Spike need to measure the space for the mirror in Starlight's room while Starlight was there? Why couldn't they have asked Starlight to do something somewhere else for a little while, or just waited until she was out of the room? It's kind of funny that I don't think we've ever seen Equestrian Pink Hearts of Courage being awarded before. The Mane Six ought to have lots of those by now. When the medal won't fit over Thorax's horns, couldn't it just be teleported around his neck? Although then the question might be how he would get it off. As I saw pointed out, the real solution would be to have some kind of snap or clasp on the ribbon. Spike really gets on Twilight's case about reading at a party (...again) as soon as she leaves the room. Maybe Spike knows he has to put a stop to that quickly before Twilight takes it too far. I'm not really sure why Starlight would be particularly qualified to help the changelings adjust to their new way of life, other than the idea that, well, Starlight has to be sent somewhere. Celestia isn't aware that she's an expression? Did the phrases using "Celestia" in place of "God" only start being used recently? If they're in common use, wouldn't Celestia hear about it some time in the hundreds of years she's ruled? At least Starlight's continuing her magical studies with Sunburst would play to her demonstrated strength, and is something I could better imagine Starlight actually doing. It wouldn't really have anything to do with what Starlight has supposedly learned about friendship, though. Why is it that Twilight imagines that Starlight and Sunburst are conducting an experiment with potions/chemicals/etc. right in the middle of the library? Wouldn't that obviously be against the rules, and something that Twilight would be horrified at the prospect of them actually doing? Celestia's outburst of laughing comes out of nowhere and is just weird; I half thought that Celestia was actually Chrysalis the whole time or something like that. I don't see how it "humanizes" Celestia. Celestia's story about how she came up with worst-case scenarios when thinking of where to send Twilight also strikes me as weird, as though the episode is trying to retcon Celestia into being more similar to Twilight in order to create emotional impact. After Celestia has lived and ruled Equestria for hundreds of years, I might think that she would learn not to sweat the small stuff like that. When Celestia tears up and says she must send Twilight away while looking up at the moon with Luna still banished there, I'm not sure what the intended message is. "Sending" (i.e., forcefully banishing) Luna to the moon for a thousand years doesn't seem comparable to the decision to send Twilight somewhere to get her to try to make some friends. Is Celestia thinking that she needs to send Twilight to learn about friendship in order to get Luna back, like she does in this comic? When Twilight says that she will always need Celestia, I know that's supposed to be a heartwarming sentiment, but I can't help thinking whether it's really a good thing for Twilight to "need" Celestia, considering that Twilight is living independently and needs to take care of her own responsibilities, and Celestia has plenty of responsibilities too. Also, does Twilight actually "need" Celestia, considering that we haven't really seen them talk to each other much over the past few seasons? During the scene with Twilight's "big announcement" about Starlight, I couldn't help noticing that Thorax uses the half-lidded "bedroom eyes" quite a bit. When Starlight asks if Twilight is sure about graduating Starlight, Twilight says "Believe me, I've thought long and hard about this". Yeah, so much so that Twilight completely changed her mind about it just a short time ago because Discord pressured her.

Twilight still refers to Starlight as having graduated at the end of "All Bottled Up":

I too have been told a fair number of times over the years to stop nitpicking or overthinking the show when I've asked questions like these. If you look back at the episode posts I've made for the past few seasons, they are typically pretty lengthy and contain many similar observations and questions to those you've mentioned here.

I think that illustrates the problem, though. The single story about Sunburst moving away after getting his cutie mark is the only explanation the show has given for why Starlight turned out the way she did. There's a BIG distance between "Starlight was upset as a kid when her friend moved away after getting his cutie mark" to "Starlight has committed her life to eradicating cutie marks, and is so committed that when the Mane Six try to put a stop to it, she works up a spell to manipulate spacetime in order to get revenge on them". And yet the show provides nearly no explanation of how Starlight got from the former to the latter. Kids moving away from their friends, or vice versa, seems like a pretty normal and understandable occurrence, one that most people eventually get through without obsessing over it into adulthood and drastically altering their life trajectories as a result. So why did Starlight react SO badly, and why didn't anyone (including herself) stop her on her path to thinking that all cutie marks destroy friendships and must be eradicated? I wrote in my original post in the topic for "The Cutie Re-Mark" some of the reasons why I find Starlight's backstory, as presented, hard to believe: I honestly can't come up with solutions to these questions and issues. If the backstory shown in "The Cutie Re-Mark" is only the beginning, then we're not shown or told anything else that happened after that to make Starlight into an adult on a mission to get rid of all cutie marks. And that's a problem because I (and probably others) don't understand how exactly that happened, and have essentially no basis on which to fill in those details and make Starlight's backstory make sense. I would say that this seems like an instance of "show, don't tell", but the show doesn't even tell what happened after the backstory shown in "The Cutie Re-Mark". Maybe it should be rephrased in this case as "show, don't leave the audience to fill in a huge and important backstory with only assumptions and speculation".

I agree, and that reminds me of another pet peeve of mine that I've never understood: why characters in-universe, and the show's writers, use terms like "everypony" and "anypony" when the already-existing terms "everyone", "anyone", "everybody", "anybody", etc. are not only perfectly acceptable, but would be more inclusive of those non-pony sentient beings that you mention.

I like TwiDash, and I would say that it works and is entertaining because Twilight and Rainbow are different in several ways, but also have key traits (and interests) in common. I think one of their biggest shared traits is a drive to excel in their own specializations, which would lead them to respect each other, even if they're not totally interested in each other's specializations. I would also argue, though, that Twilight and Rainbow have, or could have, at least some interest in each other's pursuits. I think Twilight has displayed a moderate interest in and appreciation of flying and the Wonderbolts. And Rainbow has a shared interest at least in reading Daring Do, which could be expanded to some extent (if it isn't already) to Twilight's reading and learning about magic, friendship, or other things. This seems like a good place for a couple to be: they don't need to have total interest in each other's activities, but it's good for them to at least understand each other's interests, be able to talk about them, and sympathize with them. I also think that Rainbow and Twilight would be on about the same level in terms of contribution to their relationship. I can imagine both of them "winning" arguments, convincing the other to try something different, and taking the initiative to do things. We've observed that they can both engage in good-natured sarcasm or snark and keep up with each other. I've seen TwiDash shipfics in which Twilight pursues Rainbow, and ones in which Rainbow pursues Twilight, and I find both cases to be believable and relatable. In contrast, Rainbow would seem to be the much more dominant force in, for example, a FlutterDash relationship. It seems like Rainbow would most often be defending Fluttershy, pushing Fluttershy to do new things, and compromising in Fluttershy's direction, with the reverse happening much less. With the above in mind, I agree with @Fluttershyponygal's points that Twilight and Rainbow can learn from each other and help to moderate each other's excesses. However, I would argue that that's more likely to happen in their relationship, not necessarily because "opposites attract", but rather, because I think the two of them are different enough to learn from each other while not being so different that they fail to understand, respect, or relate to each other.

As we've already observed, the map episodes in Seasons 5 and 6 (not counting "The Cutie Map") obey the following restrictions: (1) There are three map episodes per season. (2) Each map episode pairs two of the Mane Six. (3) Each of the Mane Six appears in exactly one map episode per season. (4) No Mane Six pairing is re-used. As a reminder, these are the Mane Six pairings that have appeared in map episodes previously: Season 5: Rainbow - Pinkie ("The Lost Treasure Of Griffinstone") Rarity - Applejack ("Made In Manehattan") Twilight - Fluttershy ("The Hooffields And McColts") Season 6: Rarity - Pinkie ("Spice Up Your Life") Fluttershy - Applejack ("Viva Las Pegasus") Twilight - Rainbow ("Top Bolt") So, considering the above restrictions and the map episodes that have appeared so far, the following are, by my reckoning, the only possible season configurations of map episodes that can be made: Season A: Twilight - Pinkie Rarity - Fluttershy Rainbow - Applejack Season B: Twilight - Applejack Rarity - Rainbow Fluttershy - Pinkie Season C: Twilight - Rarity Fluttershy - Rainbow Applejack - Pinkie Season X: Twilight - Rarity Fluttershy - Pinkie Rainbow - Applejack So, for example, if you want to see a Rarity - Rainbow map episode pairing, Season B is the only way to get that with the above restrictions. Also note that if Season X is used, then no further season configurations of map episodes can be constructed within the restrictions, whereas Seasons A, B, and C could all be used in successive seasons while fulfilling the restrictions. I'm rather ambivalent about whether I would prefer one of these season map episode configurations above the others. I can see pros and cons about each of them. In Season A, I wouldn't be too hopeful about the Twilight - Pinkie pairing. I fear that it might be something like "Feeling Pinkie Keen", where Twilight is made out to be wrong for being dogmatically committed to a methodical studying/thinking approach, while Pinkie inexplicably has the solution but makes no accommodation to Twilight's perspective. We've seen Rarity and Fluttershy hang out on the show several times before, so they could work together, but I'm not sure how entertaining an episode that would make. We've seen Rainbow and Applejack in "competition mode", against each other but also cooperating, so an episode with them could go either way. Next, in Season B, Rarity and Rainbow would be paired as they were in "Rarity Investigates!" in Season 5, and I rather liked that episode, so that pairing could work, although the opportunities for what they could work on together might be limited. Pairing Pinkie with Fluttershy could tone down some of Pinkie's brashness and hyperactivity, and I can see Pinkie as being somewhat less likely to overshadow Fluttershy. However, Twilight and Applejack doesn't seem like a terribly interesting pairing to me. While the Rarity - Rainbow and Fluttershy - Pinkie pairings have sufficiently different perspectives and skills to be interesting to see work together, I don't see many such possibilities for Twilight - Applejack. Finally, Season C pairs each of the two earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns (/alicorn), although I wouldn't consider that an issue in itself. To my recollection, we haven't seen Twilight and Rarity interact one-on-one much at all, so that pairing could fill in that gap, although that gap might exist because there's not much interesting that the two of them can do with each other. While I did enjoy Rainbow and Fluttershy interacting in, for example, "Hurricane Fluttershy", one concern might be that Rainbow would quickly become the dominant force in that pairing, with Fluttershy not doing much, which is kind of what happened with Twilight dominating in "The Hooffields And McColts". And I would be afraid that an Applejack and Pinkie episode would be something to do with their families, which I have no particular desire to see more of, or that it would become like the Twilight - Pinkie scenario above, where Applejack would be portrayed as too stubborn to accept Pinkie's inexplicably correct solution.

When you say you're looking for "evidence that the majority disliked the season", I would ask "the majority of whom?". If the answer is "the majority of MLP viewers in general", then there just might not be reliable evidence of their opinions. MLP viewers are scattered far and wide, and it's probably not possible to know all of their opinions, or even how many of them do or don't make their opinions known - by, for example, posting or voting in polls on MLP fan sites like MLP Forums, Equestria Daily, etc. I have siblings who watch the show and have opinions on it, but who don't regularly visit MLP sites or participate in them at all. There was a time when I was watching MLP episodes in isolation without even being aware that sites like MLP Forums or Equestria Daily existed. With this in mind, I basically accept that I don't know of any reliable MLP viewer-wide statistics, and that the opinions that I do see on the MLP sites I visit are probably those of a particularly motivated subset of MLP fans, and hence NOT necessarily representative of the (at least partially silent) general MLP fanbase. But then, I also haven't really had much reason to want such statistics in the first place. So I guess my short answer is "I don't know".

Keep in mind that this "majority" of which you speak is a majority of: (1) members of MLP Forums (2) who look at the individual episode topics (and thus see the episode topic polls), (3) who form sufficiently strong opinions about the episodes, (4) who are able to and are comfortable with converting those opinions to a 1-5 integer scale, and (5) who are sufficiently motivated to actually vote in the episode topic polls. That's a lot of qualifiers, so I would be careful about drawing general conclusions on the basis of those episode topic polls. I don't think it's at all obvious that the results of those episode topic polls can be considered representative of MLP viewers in general, or even necessarily the total membership of MLP Forums. For example, I've never voted in the episode topic polls (despite posting in the episode topics and seeing the polls there), and I probably wouldn't consider the results of those polls to represent my views. And that's besides the fact that people could still be voting that they "like" or "love" individual Season 6 episodes while not necessarily liking Season 6 as a whole, especially in comparison to other seasons.