S06:E06 - No Second Prances

[Sunny Fox 5,929]

Below par episode for me. Trixie did herself no favours with her "must beat Twilight at any cost" attitude and immediate turn around. The Mane Six were pretty much just there for gags. I mean, Rarity taking three weeks on one dress? She created an entire fashion line in one go in Season 2, and did multiple modifications of six dresses in much less time in Season 1.

 

And once again, this episode highlights a enormous problem with the concept of stage (i.e. fake) magic in a world where real magic is ubiquitous. Why would it seem miraculous? Not to mention that Trixie CAN do actual magic, even without the boost of the Alicorn Amulet, now she seems to be claiming she can't. It also seems somewhat of a cheat, not to mention somewhat perverse, to use real magic to do a trick of fake magic. And Twilight says she could never have pulled it off? Did she forget she can teleport herself? (And no, she doesn't need to be able to see where she's going in order to do it either.)

 

The plot also kind of railroaded the characters into making stupid decisions, and the characterization overall just felt somewhat off.

 

And the suicide overtones in the cannon scene were rather disturbing. Trixie was quite willing to be eaten alive, because she felt bad that she ruined her friendship with Starlight. Sure, Starlight did end up saving her, but Trixie couldn't have been sure of that, she didn't even know if Starlight was still in the area. "Go ahead and try to commit suicide, because someone will come to save you"? That doesn't seem like a very healthy message.

 

I'd give it maybe two out of five. (Would not rewatch more than once)

[ManaMinori 4,143]

This episode backpedals on Twilight's character and makes me fear Sunset ever being part of FiM, because no doubt Twi would be interacting with her and treating her....like SG.... And I never thought I'd say that. Ever.

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

 

 

Because Both Re-Mark and Crystalling confirmed that she's part of the Mane Eight now.

 

Which they had no business doing. I liked Starlight as a villain, but she makes a terrible main character.

 

 

 

Starlight's a lot of things. "Poor man's Twilight" ain't one of them.

 

 

A socially awkward purple unicorn with powerful magic who comes to Ponyville under the tutelage of an Alicorn princess to learn all about the magic of friendship, which she previously rejected; except instead of saving the world, she just reminds us constantly that she used to be a really cool villain.

[DubWolf 16,572]

Pretty much any episode that gives me the "feels" or is pretty cute I'll say is a favorite because I like that stuff .

 

I'm not always very good at organizing so I'll just bullet point it.

 

1.) Seems like Twilight will never learn to get out of the habit of teaching friendship lessons like you would to teach someone how to cook. These things kind of just happen overtime, but hey it's kind of funny to see her try. At the end of the episode, it's as if she's the student since she learns something from the friendships of others.

 

2.) Trixie making a friend finally gave us another... side of her aside from her "haughty" personality. She never had anyone she could relate to in the show, so we were never able to know how she felt about everypony and everything (although it was obvious from her show title that she was definitely "feeling sorry" about what she did in the past). She never did anything out of character, and the fact that she (at first) wanted to beat Twilight at winning a friend seems like something she would do; try to beat Twilight at something. I was glad (and sighed in relief) that wasn't Twilight going "I told you so" and Glimmer accepting that she should have taken heed to her warnings, and instead showed us that Trixie was indeed hurt by Starlight. Otherwise it would have just meant that Trixie hadn't changed at all and couldn't care less about others in the long run (which is not a trait people like personally). But alas, we got the nice ending we were all hoping for.

 

3.) SPIT *spits* fire!

 

4.) *begin Angel-Glimmer shippings*

 

5.) Lawl, who wouldn't want to friend DJ-pon3? Or Ditzy/Derpy?

 

6.) Celestia is not amused by your teaching, Twilight.

 

7.) Even Fluttershy was afraid of that Manticore (spell?).

 

8.) Holy sh1t, you trying to commit suicide Trixie? Just vent to a frien....ohhhhh right :C .

 

9.) Gee, I wonder what the Houdini cameo character's name could be (moments before he's named in the show). Could it be "Hoofdini"  ?

Edited May 1, 2016 by Woof Wolf

[Truffles 2,033]

And as someone else said, why was Fluttershy so scared of the mantichore?  (And do they really chain up animals for "circus" acts in Equestria?  Disappointing.)

 

I didn't understand the chaining up aspect either, at least in regards to Fluttershy's reaction. In addition to it being strange she was afraid of the Manticore, it was even stranger and OOC for Fluttershy to not make a single comment about how bad it was to have a Manticore chained up for the purpose of a stage show. This is not the Fluttershy I know.

 

 

it's because Trixie was about to jump into its mouth.. I think I'm not 100% sure.

 

In that scene, Fluttershy freaks out at the mention of the Manticore. The part where Trixie announces she is going to fly into his mouth comes moments later, to which Fluttershy reacts negatively again. So her freaking out had nothing to do with what the stage act involved.

 

 

One thing that bothers me is that The Great and Powerful Trixie is for the most part unable to do actual magic. She can't even teleport herself out of a manicore and has to relay on somepony else to do it for her.

 

While it is likely Trixie can't do teleportation of herself, what baffled me is why she was so mystified how "Hoofdini" did it back in the day. Isn't it obvious he either had a unicorn assistant with teleport knowledge, or perhaps more likely - he was a powerful enough unicorn to simply teleport himself out of the Manticore's mouth? I don't get how a society with real magic would be amazed by stage magic if they already have the real thing.

 

 

Remind me again how exactly Starlight earned Twilight (and the mane five's) trust when she still apparently thinks that forcefully controlling people with magic isn't considered a wrong thing to do? 

 

Applejack at least has very little reason to trust her anymore.

 

Interestingly, this is how AJ reacted to Diamond Tiara when she bullied the CMC right in front of her:

 

 

And this is how she reacted to Starlight messing with Big Mac's voice:

 

 

Seems like AJ despises Starlight more than she did Diamond, at least for now. Yikes.

  

 

Even the minor roles were out of character; Mrs. Cake yelling at Starlight and Celestia making no attempts to hide the fact that she's bored and irritated when she's usually so friendly.

 

Totally agreed. See below:

 

 

She is going to be the same Mrs. cake is extremely proud of her baking and then comes along a pony who in mere SECONDS bakes a cake that would take her days or even maybe WEEKS to make and it looked a million times better than the ones she was making and that is her entire life, her cutie mark and lively hood. Wouldn't you be a little defensive about it?

 

The scene with Mrs. Cake was strange because Pinkie was trying to introduce Starlight as a pony who could help in her bakery. So yes, to me it seemed very OOC of Mrs. Cake to freak out over Starlight making a really awesome cake when she'd be doing the same thing to actually help with the Cake's business instead of putting them out of business.

  

 

I'm probably just missing something, but why did Fluttershy sigh after Starlight left Angel?

 

She sighed because Starlight abruptly left. Fluttershy was going to help her make friends with her animals over a nice tea party, but Starlight ditched them before Fluttershy could even introduce them. Whether or not animals would have counted as real friends by Twilight's standards is debatable, but to Fluttershy they were all valid candidates.

 

 

Did anyone else miss having Snips and Snails in a Trixie episode?

 

I did. Trixie claims she never had any friends, but actually the two of them were her friends, or at least they wanted to be if she acknowledged them instead of just ordering them around. I was hoping she would get a chance to meet with them again and apologize and give true friendship with them another go.

 

 

An interesting parallel I noticed:

 

From The Cutie Re-Mark:

Twilight Sparkle: I know you only convinced those bullies to not tease Fluttershy to stop the rainboom!

Starlight Glimmer: Oh, that's not true. I convinced them not to be bullies because everypony should be equal. Stopping the rainboom is just a bonus.

 

From this week's episode:

 

Starlight Glimmer: You win? That sounds like you just made friends with me to beat Twilight.

Trixie: Exactly! Wait! I mean, no! I got caught up in the moment. I like you. Beating Twilight is just a bonus.

 

Furthermore, Twilight pretty much re-iterated what Spike told her in "The Crystalling":

 

Spike: Well, I know she needed to be put on the right path, but giving her the space to make her own decisions worked pretty well. Isn't that how Celestia taught you?

 

And from today:

 

Twilight Sparkle: Starlight, when I first came to Ponyville, Princess Celestia gave me room to make my own decisions and my own friends. I need to give you the same freedom. I shouldn't have tried to pick and choose your friends for you.

 

Twilight should have given him some credit though... >=(

I think this and how Spike went from being Dragon Lord to getting swept under the rug again in the span of one episode put me in a bad mood by the end.

 

 

 

And once again, this episode highlights a enormous problem with the concept of stage (i.e. fake) magic in a world where real magic is ubiquitous. Why would it seem miraculous?

 

And this reminds me of yet another thing that they got wrong (though Starlight can be forgiven since she probably didn't know about it):

 

The whole premise of "Magic Duel" was Twilight using stage magic Zecora had taught her so she could outwit Trixie and get the Alicorn Amulet. So Starlight is wrong when she says Trixie is better than Twilight when it comes to stage magic - Twilight has already shown she's not only better at real magic, she outdid Trixie on her own turf by using stage magic against her!

 

 

 

Y'know, this episode has so many instances of characters having to be dumbed down to serve the plot and humor, it's starting to feel a bit like the "Princess Spike" of Season 6 since in that episode a bunch of Canterlot ponies had to be dumbed down for the same reason.

 

I guess the saving grace for this episode compared to "Princess Spike" is this episode at least had a nifty premise instead of reusing a tired one, so I guess I still like it. Up until the third act I was going to forgive the OOC moments of the characters and say I loved it because the interaction between Starlight and Trixie was so fascinating. But doggone it - that third act and how muddled it became to make the plot fit together was a downer. It's like drinking a really delicious can of soda only to find a dead mouse at the bottom. =P

Edited May 1, 2016 by Truffles

[IrishBrony716 89]

I loved this episode. I have to say as well, Twilight was pretty ignorant in this one. I mean, I thought her and Trixie made up and forgave each other, right? She really didn't need to convince Starlight to ignore her.   I feel that the teacher (Twilight) needed some learning to do for herself. Poor Trixie just needed a friend in the end to help ease her what should we call it, sadness? idk. But in the end, the teacher did the learning and the student did the teaching and learning at the same time. In all, it was a cute episode! <3 

 

let me know what you all think!

 

can't wait to hear back from you all!

[ElegantNerd 39]

This was my favorite episode of Season 6 thus far.

 

*I was never really interested in Trixie until this episode added more depth to her character.

 

*I wasn't expecting the Starlight & Trixie pairing, but it worked very well. They *do* have a lot in common.

 

*Okay, gotta admit: I fangirled over Derpy's appearance! How could I not? She's best pony (to me) and she's only appeared one other time in season 6 (super brief background shot).

 

*DJ Pon-3 is my husband's best pony, so he fanboyed over her appearance and pointed out that she was listening to a remix of "Vinyl vs. Octavia" from the 100th episode. Nice touch!

 

*I think Celestia was justified in being annoyed. Twilight went all "Lesson Zero" on her then ran off, giving no indication on when she might return.

 

*Also: I bet Celestia *did* try to strike up conversation but think about it. DJ Pon-3 was listening to her headphones; Cranky was just wanting to ask annoying (but HILARIOUS) questions, and Derpy was too fascinated by the melting ice sculpture to converse.

 

*I loved the brief but awesome interactions between Starlight and the mane 5. Dash freaked over someone NOT hearing of the Wonderbolts, lol! OMG, Big Mac under the "hyper talkative" spell. More LOL!

 

*I know there are some mixed reactions to this episode, but I gotta say I very much enjoyed the main storyline, the moral, character growth, background ponies, humor, the feels, etc.

 

My one & only nitpick has already been mentioned: Fluttershy thinks Manticores are adorable kitties!!! She'd not fear its roar. I know the explanation of 'she was afraid of someine getting hurt' is going around, but.....yeah, it really looks like she's reacting to his roar.

 

Anyway, these are just my rambling, late at night thoughts to an episode that made me super happy.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

I think the problem was that she seemed to have no problem with trusting Glimmer (the pony who stole her Cutie Mark, kidnapped her, attempted to brainwash her and nearly destroyed the world after Twilight and her friends foiled her evil plans) and yet she couldn't bring herself to trust Trixie. Even Starlight seemed surprised by this.

 

I think Twilight just didn't want Starlight to get hurt emotionally by Trixie and we can see from the episode that some of Twilight's concerns are justified. I have a family member who acted the way Twilight did in regards to my friends out of concern for my emotional well being so I thought the flaws Twilight displayed here are natural and in character. Twilight is not Celestia. 

[Justin_Case001 4,855]

Killer episode.  Holy candy colored ponies, Batman!

 

I loved....I think every single thing about it.  Another Celestia appearance at Twi's place!  How lucky are we? 

 

Great premise.  I am really excited about Starlight's development.  I think they're doing a bang up job at it.  I really didn't see Trixie's appearance coming.  That was a shocker for me.  (I don't watch trailers or read premises.  Actually, hang on a sec....k, I just watched the official trailer on youtube.  Holy sh*t, why do they do stuff like that?!  Just ruin the whole f*ckin surprise, geeze.  Hey, I know, why not show an ad for the Game of Thrones S5 finale that just flat out shows

Jon Snow getting killed?

  Huh?  How bout that?  How would that be?  Sound like a good idea?  Yeah, I didn't think so!  The trailer should have just shown that Starlight is tasked with finding a new friend.  That's it!  NO SPOILERS!  F*ckin grumble grumble god dammit grumble grumble.)  It was a great move though.  The development between those two was very interesting.

 

I'm really happy that they included Celestia.  The only thing I didn't like about The Cutie Re-Mark was how they bypassed Celestia, and Twilight just chose to take on this apprentice on her own, and didn't even tell Tia about it, as if she has more authority that Tia does.  "I'll just train Anakin on my own.  The Jedi council doesn't need to know."  By having this dinner with Tia to fill her in on Starlight's progress, it at least showed she's part of the picture now.  It repaired things for me quite a bit.

 

What I really like is how they're making Starlight a dynamic character with her own personality and issues.  What I was afraid of is that she might turn out to be a sort of friendship accessory.  If her friends were just the mane 6, and she just got along perfectly with all of them, and didn't connect with anypony else, then it would have felt like she's hollow and just there for fluff.  Like a sort of Twilight Mk.II, y'know?  By having her connect with Trixie, I think it helps to cement her as an individual character in her own right.  It's good for Twilight to see that Starlight's friendships aren't going to work out exactly as she expects.  Things are always going to play out perfectly, or the way Twilight would like.  But that's life, right?  Twilight can't treat Starlight like a blank slate that she can mold and craft exactly as she wants.  Twi needs to help and guide her, but respect Starlight's right to her own decisions, and her own friends.  That's why this episode really worked for me.

 

 

 Furthermore, Twilight pretty much re-iterated what Spike told her in "The Crystalling":
 
Spike: Well, I know she needed to be put on the right path, but giving her the space to make her own decisions worked pretty well. Isn't that how Celestia taught you?
 
And from today:

Twilight Sparkle: Starlight, when I first came to Ponyville, Princess Celestia gave me room to make my own decisions and my own friends. I need to give you the same freedom. I shouldn't have tried to pick and choose your friends for you.
 
Twilight should have given him some credit though... >=(

Aw, damn, that's right.  Hmmm.....well, that's disappointing.  Kinda sours the whole thing a bit.  There's isn't really a defense for that.  It would have perfect if Twilight has simply told Starlight, "Spike was right.  He told me to that it was important to respect your decisions.  I should have remembered that.  Sorry."  Oh well, I still really like the episode.

 

I was a bit surprised at Starlight's spell on Big Mac.  That was a really crappy thing to do.  But I guess it's fine because it shows she still has a lot to learn and a long way to go.  I suppose she shouldn't get over her old habits overnight.

 

I felt so bad for Fluttershy after Starlight ditched her tea party.  Again, crappy of Starlight to just leave like that, but again again, just shows she has more to learn.  (Just glad she fixed it.)

 

That scene when Rainbow shot off to go meet Spitfire was frigging awesome.  I rewound that scene and watched it about a half dozen times.

 

Cranky's comment about Tia's mane was absolute gold, of course, as was Tia's annoyance.  It would have been nice if Tia had had a speaking role, but in some ways it kinda worked better having her be silent.  It did a better job of expressing her boredom and annoyance.  I noticed someone on here mention that it seemed out of character for Celestia to be annoyed, but I say that Celestia has had so little development, we can barely say what's out of character.  Having her show some annoyance is actually a little bit of depth for once.  She can't be perfect and pleasant all the time.  I thought it was great.

 

It was exciting to hear them say Vinyl Scratch's name on the show....oh wait...   Yeah, I had always hoped they'd adopt Vinyl Scratch as her canon name.  I know DJ-Pon-3 is her original canon name, but c'mon--we all know her name is Vinyl Scratch.  Actually, why can't it be both?  My headcanon is that her real name is Vinyl, and DJ-Pon-3 is just an alias.  It makes sense that she'd have a DJ alias.  Why not?  I mean, how could her real name be DJ-Pon-3?  It's not a name!  It's a custom license plate!  What parents would put an abbreviation and a numeral in their foal's name?  So, yeah, it's an alias.  She probably prefers to go by that.  Like Notch.

 

I think that's it.  Really pleased.  I think S6 is gaining a lot of steam.  That said, is it just my imagination, or does it feel like we've barely seen Fluttershy in ages?  I feel like she's had the least screentime and the least lines going....perhaps all the way back to S4.  Eh, maybe it's me, but I hope we see her front and center soon.  She deserves it.

[takai 1,060]

I continue to be vastly entertained by this season. I really enjoyed this one, not only because Trixie is one of my favorites, but because all three learned some valuable lessons. Twilight has been a pretty iffy teacher, but this episode made her realize the error of her ways. So glad that was finally addressed.

 

I'm actually surprised how well Starlight and Trixie's relationship worked. Like, it really really made sense. That is what I believe was the real highlight of this episode. They were able to naturally connect after having gone through similar circumstances, and it all felt genuine. I'm really happy for both characters.

 

So glad Trixie finally was not painted as a villain in this episode. Her character desperately needed that; along with a true friend. This makes me hopeful that she'll appear more often in the future, because it has been way too long since we last saw her.

 

So it's officially DJ PON-3 huh? I always said it like "pony".

 

Applejack's angry pouty face was incredibly cute! And the ending line was just perfect.

 

Someone had made the thread the other week about whether Starlight was a welcome addition. After seeing this episode, I believe she's a great addition. I look forward to more episodes about her friendship lessons in the future.

[Hazy Skies 1,010]

Though I did like this episode, the ending was a real shocker for me..

 

I mean, after Trixie got all depressed after losing Starlight as a friend, she decided to continue with her stunt with the slight chance that Starlight would save her from certain death..

 

That is like.. a live suicide attempt on stage I was not expecting that..

[pony.colin 156]

Wow, this episode. This episode. I probably liked it, but for all the wrong reasons (I swear I was drunk on schadenfreude during this episode). 

 

So many things, but I'm not going to get to them all.

 

Like this is possibly the only Trixie episode that I have actually liked. Her debut episode, I always felt the resolution at the end was flawed. Couldn't get over the idea that her popularity was actually real that warranted her coming back the 2nd time. And this 3rd time went in all of the right directions for me to find it favourable for all the wrong reasons. 

 

I always liked Starlight as a character back when she was an antagonist (and even though she had an average background story, at least it was there), but she was hilarious in this episode for everything she did, but also I swear I was just enjoying all the hypocrisy that was running rampant and had to be actually addressed and truths that really needed to come out, cause seriously, if you actually want to stop hypocrisy, then we're going to have to address things that we've been avoiding for ages now.

 

1. when Starlight Glimmer actually made that cake and Mrs. Cake actually freaked out. That shows what people were already commenting about how a highly capable and well trained unicorn who understands high levels of magic could probably easily handle the labour that is required by a non-unicorn to do the same job.  This just shows much deeper complex anxieties in modern society that still need to be addressed in an appropriate manner without causing social tensions. Like they could've totally avoided that, but seriously they put it in. I can't believe that, even I was surprised. The only saving grace you could possibly add to that is the fact that Starlight Glimmer happens to the non-average unicorn and there's not as many of them.

 

2. Starlight, you completely messed-up poor Big-Mac. On the one hand, I shouldn't be laughing at how you justified putting a spell on him against his will. On the other hand, I seriously was laughing at how YOU COULD even present that as your reason for justifying it in the first place.

 

3. It was early on, but to be honest, I wasn't so sure if this was going to be plot-twist to this episode, but honestly, I actually did like how Starlight and Trixie actually found common ground about past actions that they felt both regretful of. So their friendship I actually liked. Because it wasn't really perfect or falling into such an unrealistic ideal, it was actually probably realistic as could be given their past traits.

 

4.

Twilight Sparkle: This is exactly why I didn't want you to make friends with Trixie. Trixie: A-ha! You still don't trust me! But guess what, princess? It doesn't matter if you want to give me a second chance or not. Starlight had to choose between you and me, and she chose me! Your pupil chose me, so ha! I win! Starlight Glimmer: You win? That sounds like you just made friends with me to beat Twilight. Trixie: Exactly! [beat] Wait! I mean, no! I got caught up in the moment. I like you. Beating Twilight is just a bonus. [gasps] Saying that didn't help, did it?

 

Gasp, Starlight, you were manipulated into your friendship. How shocking. How could anypony do this to another pony? What cruel writing irony fate has befallen onto you. I guess you'll have to learn empathy in all of this you know. (hey she learned something valuable out of it). 

But seriously, I actually loved Trixie in all of this. Seriously, I wasn't expecting a "reformed" Trixie. That wasn't going to happen, I expected a semi-spiteful Trixie to Twilight that was having trouble believing that she was given a "genuine" second chance (which even I was surprised that Twilight was so conservative about all of this. Seriously I expected better out of Twilight.), that seemed reasonable from what we last left off. You could understand ponyville being troubled into trusting her again, but I kind of was expecting better out of Twilight. But yeah, Trixie was actually enjoyable, because part of the reason that motivated her actions was to spite back at Twilight, but that wasn't the main reason why she wanted to continue being friends with Starlight Glimmer.  Trixie's ego was part of her stage showmareship so it's why she had it in the first place. But she had an actual moment of feeling lost and regretful of her actions towards Starlight. It was a real moment of humility for her (didn't feel forced at all). Why I actually liked that dynamic moment for all 3.

 

That manticore trick. I'll admit, I didn't notice a possible level of association with suicide. BUT that's because I knew they weren't going to let anything dangerous happen to Trixie.  Like my brain had already jumped to the conclusion that Starlight was going to help her out in the end, (seriously, there was no way it was going to end badly because then everything would've ended for this series). Sure from an in-universe example, it had a real danger associated to it. From out-universe real life situation, yeah no, that's just not flying by the censor. 

 

Eh, the fanservice was really drippingly pushing it for me (even though I actually like Vinyl Scratch, and the fact she got mentioned by name). It was good, but I could've done without it too.

 

Oh poor Celestia regulated to being bored this whole episode. Sadly, this feels like one of her best performances as of recent late to me. (like in terms of showing being really bored).

 

Twilight's ability to not take Spike's advice earlier? Wow Twilight, let it go, let it go. ON a serious note, it did feel pretty sad that she didn't exactly act on Spike's advice first, but had to really be put into a situation to try it out later. But, I'll admit, I kind of feel it's not that out of it for her, as it seems one really needs to try things out for themselves before really putting spoken advice from a friend to the test. Twi was a bit cringy in this episode, just a bit. 

 

Fluttershy scared of manti, so sad. Retcon everything now.  seriously, that stuck out.

 

Actually enjoyable episode to me despite some mishaps, possible mis-implications with hilarious comedy and and interesting dynamic relationship built out of all of this. 

 

But seriously, how does Celestia get her hair to do that?

[Blu Starset 1]

I still can't believe they officially renamed Vinyl to Dj-pon... not.. cool...

 

Also... cranky Doodle's question tho.. haha, i've been dying to know that.. How i tell you... HOW...?!

[BastementSparkle 20,310]

 

 

I still can't believe they officially renamed Vinyl to Dj-pon... not.. cool...

 

Pretty sure DJ Pon-3 isn't her real name still, it's just her stage name. 

[Professional Horse 94]

 

*Spits* "SPITFIRE! Get it? Spit-fire? Spit? Haha, isn't it funny?"



Trollestia is not amused. She's having flashbacks to all those terribly boring Grand Galloping Galas she had to host last millenium.



"Watch this. You can actually pinpoint the second when her heart rips in half. Aaaand... Now.



*Gasps* "You've never heard of Dwarf Fortress? It's only one of the most famous indie game projects in the world!
"Umm... What's an indie game?"
*Dies*

 

 

What a great episode.

Edited May 1, 2016 by Professional Horse

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,024]

Well as an episode it was great! Really loved this one top episode so far!

 

Video review!

 

[Goat-kun 2,495]

Sorry, but I beg to differ.  I have my own pantheon of mental/emotional issues severe enough that I have been on SSI for the last 30 years.  And MLP: FIM does help immensely. 

 

A couple of months ago I was going through a really bad patch and I called my doctor.  She talked to me for awhile about my physical and mental symptoms and my really serious anxiety and panic attacks.  Do you know what she ended up with after tweaking my meds and setting an appointment for me?  She said, "Are you watching the Ponies?  Go and watch the ponies right now!"  (I have the DVDs)  "Snuggle up with your Pinkie Pie stuffie and I'll see you on Thursday!"

 

The Ponies do help.  My life is measurably happier since I discovered Friendship is Magic.  And I'll just bet there are plenty of people right here on these forums who will say the same. 

 

I have real-life friends - good ones - and they are a great comfort to me.  My doctor is awesome, but when I wake up in the middle of the night with tachycardia, and runaway anxiety, it is most often the Ponies that get my feet back down on the ground.  I have "The Art of Equestria" at the head of my bed along with my Pony stuffies, vinyl figures and other Pony stuff, and it helps!

 

Pastel Ponies are good medicine.  And I'm sure that's true whether you're 14 or 64 (like me!)

Whatever floats your goat, I suppose. There are many little things in life that help one fight depression and anxiety. In our parts, such a traditional remedy is dogs. However, I disagree that MLP: FIM should be about these issues or that anything like that should substitute and/or imitate a doctor. I also disagree that constructing a depressed character inside such a show and making it as close to real life as possible somehow makes it good and worthy of praise. That is all.

[Weird Thing 10]

I really liked it. I think that it could be one of the best episodes. I like Trixie more than I did before now.

[MovieLord101 140]

Also, DAT APPLEJACK FACE. That is the face of "SHAME ON YOU".

[Dracu98 139]

Well well, that was...certainly...something.

 

First of all: Even though I like neither Trixie or Starlight, this episode managed to get me more interested in how these two could work together and how they play off each other. There are also some funny moments based on the mane six (RD's "You don't know the Wonderbolts?"-face is the exact same face I make when someone hasn't even heard of...pretty much anything I love), but that's about everything I like about this episode.

 

I am pretty confused about Twilight here. She is willing to make Starlight her student, lets her stay at her castle, and yet, she acts rude and skeptical towards other former villains. "I am not one to dwell on the past! As long as your name isn't 'Discord' or 'Trixie', that is." What is it that makes Starlight stand out? Her backstory? Surely not. Again, I like it that the authors are focusing on Starlights reforming-arc, but that doesn't make up for her flaws. But I'm pretty sure all of us have had this conversation one too many times. One could say "Twilight just wanted to look good in front of Celestia", but if that was the case, why did she invite 1) a pony that never takes of her headphones (WHOSE NAME IS NOT DJPON-3! THAT SOUNDS RETARDED AND I REFUSE TO USE THAT NAME!) and 2) a rude and unfriendly donkey? Derpy is the only one of the three guests that is even remotely close to being suitable for the dinner. Which brings me to my next point:

When the F*CK did Celestia turn into a - and please excuse my choice of words - b*tch that is openly BORED by her subjects? I always admired that Princess, because of the way she treats the ones she rules over and how she is always patient and loving. But THIS? Her look basically says "Twilight. Bread can mold. What can you do?", and that's just not the Celestia I know. That's not the Celestia that we've seen all the ti-

 

Wait a second. A thought just struck me like a lighting.

 

What if the Celestia we've seen in this episode is NOT Celestia? We've seen a Changeling at the end of "The Crystalling". What if Chrysalis was somehow able to capture the royal sisters and take their places? Dear god, I have to make a thread for this!

 

Anyhow: Starlight and Trixie get along very well, and, since Twilight is acting like she doesn't trust Starlight at all, she decides not to go to the dinner and have fun with her friend instead. Honestly, who can blame her? Then, Twilight shows up, Trixie can't keep her mouth shut, and BOOM! No friends anymore. But Trixie decides to try the Manticore-stunt anyways and...most likely die? In front of a crowd? Because she just lost a friend? Wow. Talking about 'extremes'. That was a pretty dark moment which really got me more intrigued in the episode. Nice.

 

Well, there isn't much left to say from my side anymore. The authors took two characters I have no interest in and made them interesting as a duo. Very nice job. But skeptical Twilight and Celestia-B*tch kinda ruined the mood for me. I'll have to be very bored to watch that episode again (or on the lookout for green eyes on Celestia).

Edited May 1, 2016 by Dracu98

[Missklang 1,052]

Welp, at the end... It could have been much worse...

Poor Celestia

[AtomicStone 723]

Wow, a great episode but boy was that ending dark! I knew that the show was starting to take a different sort of approach but I wasn't expecting that at all.

[ggg-2 3,549]

It might be my imagination, but when Starlight used the spell on Big Mac, did anyone else think his voice wasn't as deep as it should be?

[M'gann M'orzz 745]

Why is there no poll? are we not doing those anymore?

It might be my imagination, but when Starlight used the spell on Big Mac, did anyone else think his voice wasn't as deep as it should be?

It was normal at first but then later as he kept on spewing out words he took on a sort of "fancy" tone for a bit before he freaked out.

[Pastel 7,627]

I didn't like it. Celestia was ridiculed (the 3 couldn't care less about her even though she's the princess of Equestria), Twilight was very annoying, and Trixie basically threatened to commit suicide in front of everyone at the end to get a new friend.

 

One of my new least favorite episodes of the show.

Edited May 1, 2016 by Blobulle