S06:E16 - The Times They Are A Changeling

[Babyyoshi309 1,829]

I loved this episode! Though there were a lot of things wrong with that. For instance, even though that spike song was good, it was the most forced song MLP has ever had. Also, just singing a song to magically get rid of racism was even more stupid then the Martha thing in BvS. By the way, I am not just being one of those people who hates season 6. I love season 6! On my opinion it is the best season yet! Though this episode, it technically was a horrible episode, it should not have worked. Yet I enjoyed the most. It is one of those cases where the material should really not work, but ends up working perfectly. I would definitely recommend this episode in a heart beat. 

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

Such a great episode!! I loved seeing another Spike centered episode that was done well and portrayed him as a great supporting character. Thorax was fantastic and I definitely hope to see more of him in later episodes, seeing how difficult it was for him to make friends due to him being different was very heartwarming and sad. I loved the song and think it fit the episode well and conveyed the message the episode was going for. I liked seeing Sunburst and Flurry Heart again as well, one of the messages I loved in this episode is acceptance, and not judging someone based off of first appearances. Instead get to know someone first and hopefully friendship will show. Just a fantastic episode all around, 10/10!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Music Chart Fan 819]

I think the Crystal ponies see Spike as us people see real-life heroes - they magnify the good and ignore the bad or unimportant. To them, it doesn't matter that Spike didn't necessarily save the entire empire during the games, it was enough that he saved some pony lives and it all gets swept up into his legend as a hero, making him larger-than-life even if from a truly objective standpoint it isn't as impressive as it really is.

 

Probably part of the reason that I don't like watching the Spike hero worship is that, given my usual skeptical and cynical attitude, I'm just averse to idolizing or worshiping heroes and celebrities in general. I can't think of anyone whom I would react to in the way that the crystal ponies react to Spike, and I would probably (figuratively) roll my eyes if I saw a group of people doing something like that. But I guess I should keep in mind that I may not be representative of the general population in that regard.

 

As for Spike's fame, he only seems to get this recognition when he's in the Empire, and frankly for all the crap he's gone through I don't mind seeing his ego getting stroked at all.

 

Yeah, that might be why ponies that know Spike roll their eyes when he gets the hero treatment, but otherwise don't really try to stop it.

 

I tend to dismiss security unrealities in this series, or a lot of series for that matter. There's so much Hollywood fakery going on when it comes to stopping crimes that the ponies not actually being effectual in keeping things safe is a minor issue for me. But I see your point - the guards could have done more, and Shining could have conjured his big shield spell again if he really felt there was an impending invasion.

...

Yeah, a lot of folks are wondering about this. If this weren't subtitled "Friendship is Magic", I could see Thorax being a ploy by Chrysalis to take over the kingdom. But so far this show has been pretty transparent when a character is good and when a character is evil most of the time. Chrysalis, for example, didn't even try to really blend in all that well when she took over Cadance - she was clearly a baddie (at least to Twilight and the audience.)

 

It seems as though if the changelings were determined enough to infiltrate the Crystal Empire, I'm not sure what the crystal ponies could really do about it. If security is only increased when a changeling is spotted, then it might be too little, too late already. Who would really know how many or which crystal ponies were removed and replaced by changelings, especially if they had observed their targets enough previously to do a good enough imitation? If there weren't a wedding that Twilight was invited to, who knows how long Chrysalis could have gotten away with pretending to be Cadance? The Crystal Empire can't keep track of everyone all the time. So the security displayed in this episode might be inadequate, but I don't know ultimately how reliable of security could even be achieved. Maybe they do just have to hope that the changelings aren't that cunning and make their plans obvious enough to be countered when the time comes.

[Nuke87654 1,849]

 

Overall, this episode was pretty "meh" to me, and didn't have what I think was the intended emotional impact. The biggest problem is probably that there are too many believability issues for me to really get into the episode. There also seems to be a lot of clunky dialogue stating (and re-stating) the obvious, particularly in the first part of the episode, and I think the episode is rather ham-handed in how the moral is delivered.

 

To start, this episode involves the whole idea that Spike "saved the Crystal Empire" twice, and is a hero and celebrity among the crystal ponies. I've never liked this idea, and to me, it feels like a one-time gag that the show is inexplicably committed to, despite it not being believable or even entertaining. Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadance (and even others) all played significant roles, some arguably even more so than Spike, in stopping Sombra's return. And at the Equestria Games, Spike might have saved some ponies from injury and/or death, which was laudable, but that was not "saving the Empire", and is something that presumably others have done without getting the celebrity treatment. For example, the Mane Six have "saved Equestria" several times, and are not being mobbed or fawned over wherever they go. It seems like even the show can't decide whether we're supposed to take Spike's hero/celebrity status seriously. On the one hand, Spike is shown to be egotistical about his hero status, leading other characters to roll their eyes and leading to Spike being humiliated after not living to his hype. But on the other hand, this episode wants us to believe that Spike is making a real sacrifice by risking his fame/reputation in the Crystal Empire by defending Thorax. The latter, to me, rings hollow, since Spike's fame/reputation seems overblown and at least somewhat undeserved, anyway. That's probably a big reason why this episode didn't have the intended emotional impact on me.

 

Another big part of this episode is that the Crystal Empire is supposed to have increased security looking out for changelings and protecting from them, but many times that security seems lax and incompetent. To give an example, I'm not sure that the "sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake" thing with Cadance near the beginning of the episode is necessarily a foolproof means of making sure that it's the real Twilight. That might have worked back in "A Canterlot Wedding" because it was something that Twilight and Cadance did many years ago and presumably hadn't been done or talked about since then. But now it's basically become Twilight and Cadance's standard greeting whenever they meet each other, and they don't seem to be trying to keep it a secret. Anyone who has observed Twilight and Cadance meeting since "A Canterlot Wedding" might know how their greeting goes. Also, even if Twilight were confirmed not to be a changeling, that doesn't necessarily mean that Starlight and Spike aren't changelings. I would think that they would at least have to ask Twilight, say, whether Starlight and Spike ever left her sight or went somewhere else and came back, such that a changeling might have taken one of their places. But in the episode, it seems to be assumed after it's "proved" that Twilight isn't a changeling that Starlight and Spike aren't changelings, either.

 

Another example of lax security is that Thorax's story about being born different than the other changelings, seeing true friendship during the Canterlot invasion, leaving the other changelings, and wanting to find love to share is just unquestioningly accepted by Spike, and later, everyone else. If there is legitimate fear of changelings infiltrating the Crystal Empire, wouldn't it be plausible that one of them might give such a false story in order to get inside to the Royal Family and spy on them, find out weaknesses in the defenses, discover and/or sabotage their plans, etc.? Even saving Spike from falling into the abyss would be part of this plan, getting Spike to trust Thorax even as Thorax is using Spike to get access. Yet none of the characters even bring up, let alone act on, such a legitimate possibility. Maybe Spike is too young and/or naive to consider this, but then wouldn't at least one of the others think of it and bring it up? Or did everyone assume that Spike (especially after his "heartrending" song) somehow confirmed that Thorax isn't a spy when Spike had really done no such thing? I couldn't help thinking about this issue the entire rest of the episode, and even after the end of this episode, Thorax's being a spy is still a possibility, even if the episode never gave any indication of it.

 

Another believability issue is that after Spike failed to get the guards and Shining Armor to warm to the idea of befriending a changeling, Spike's plan is to...have Thorax take the form of a crystal pony and enter the Crystal Empire, then win everyone over before, at some point in the future, revealing that he's a changeling. But why couldn't Thorax have just done all of that himself, especially if, as he claims, he's starving? Presumably Thorax had reason(s) not to attempt that earlier, so how did Spike make that plan viable when it wasn't before?

 

Was Thorax unable to enter the Crystal Empire with the form of a crystal pony earlier because security would have stopped him and demanded identification, and he had no good identification or verifiable backstory to provide? If so, how did Spike solve that problem? Did Spike really just vouch for Thorax and get him in (without even having a name for him, since Spike only came up with a name for him when introducing him to Twilight)? If so, then that's another case of lax and incompetent security. I would think that the identities of everyone who leaves the secure borders of the Crystal Empire would have to be re-verified before re-entering, considering that they could have been replaced by changelings while they were gone. Although, considering Thorax seemed to get away pretty easily after initially revealing himself in the throne room, and got back to the throne room later without being detected, maybe the best explanation is that the Crystal Empire security just isn't very good.

 

And if Thorax didn't enter the Crystal Empire as a crystal pony previously because he feared prematurely outing himself as a changeling, then again, how would Spike's presence solve that problem? Considering that both Spike and Thorax were well aware of Thorax's revealing his changeling tendencies when love is around, did they even have a contingency plan for such a situation? There didn't seem to be one when exactly that situation occurred in the episode.

 

When Spike goes to find Thorax after betraying him, Thorax initially doesn't help Spike up from dangling into the abyss, which might be more of a moral dilemma than it appears. Should Spike's betrayal of Thorax really be punishable by death, by allowing Spike to fall into the abyss and most likely die? I'm inclined to think not, that Thorax should have helped Spike up regardless of whether Spike was still his friend or apologized sincerely enough. But there are at least a couple of other considerations. For one, what would the ramifications of Spike's betrayal have been? By not verbally and/or physically defending Thorax in the throne room, was Spike essentially allowing for Thorax to be killed? What would have happened if Thorax had been caught? Second, Spike's betrayal aside, could it be argued that Thorax caused Spike to be in the predicament of possibly falling to his death? And if so, would Thorax have the moral responsibility to try to save him? It doesn't appear that Thorax, say, directly pushed Spike off the cliff. But Thorax's appearing next to Spike and yelling and hissing in his face naturally scared Spike, leading to him backing away and off the cliff, although one could say that maybe Spike should have been more aware of his surroundings. So, again, while I'm inclined to say that Spike's friendship status shouldn't be a factor in deciding whether to save him, this whole situation might be more morally complex than it first appears.

 

Shining Armor's over-the-top line that "there's no such thing as a nice changeling" is an example of this episode's ham-handedness.  Have ponies actually observed changelings at any other time than the Canterlot invasion? If not, then Shining Armor's line would be like saying that everyone from X country is bad based solely on observing X country's soldiers in a battle. Even then, one couldn't preemptively say that every single soldier in an enemy's army is evil - maybe that's the assumption that's operated on, but of course there might be some individuals who defect, are unwilling to actually fight, etc. Shining Armor might be more correct to say something like "We don't know what the changelings are up to, so we have to treat any of them as potential enemies until we have very good reason to believe otherwise", but then that kind of nuance might interfere with the intended message of the episode.   

 

Finally, there's the whole scene with Spike's song. In the song, Spike repeats "Why can't we imagine a changeling can change?", but didn't Thorax say that he was born wanting friends and being different than the other changelings? In other words, if we're to believe him, Thorax didn't "change", he was different all along. (If that's true, then I would think that would be a big obstacle to Thorax taking knowledge of friendship back to the Changeling Kingdom and reforming it.) Also, Spike sings that "this changeling, it seems, knows the real me and would stay by my side 'til the end", but how is Spike able to make such a claim when they've only known each other for, what, a few hours? And of course, the idea that everyone changes their minds after Spike's single (supposedly) tear-jerking song, and Twilight's statement of belief, is yet another believability issue that diminishes the emotional impact of the episode and its moral.

 

Now for a few other miscellaneous observations:

 

Starlight says on the train that doesn't want to fall behind on her friendship lessons back home. So are Starlight's friendship lessons like school assignments, given on a regular basis and with set due dates?

 

Sunburst just so happened to be the one to perform Flurry Heart's crystalling, since Twilight was busy with casting the spell to restore the Crystal Heart, and now Sunburst appears to be Flurry Heart's caretaker. Is that a job he really wanted, or thought he was signing up for when he agreed to do the crystalling under extraordinary circumstances?

 

What's Spike's excuse for repeatedly coming and going from the Crystal Empire in order to talk to Thorax outside?

 

I think there are far too many failure points for the whole illusion with Spike seeing his "reflection" to have gone on as long as it did. First, I want to ask "His reflection in what?" - what natural formation would create such a perfect mirror? And besides, we see just a minute later that there's nothing there - Thorax goes right through where the "mirror" would have been. So when Spike reached out his claws to touch the "mirror", he would have been touching Thorax's claws instead. And all of this is besides the obvious fact that there's no way that Thorax would know how to mimic Spike's random movements in real time.

 

Why is it that Crystal Hoof, and Thorax later in the episode, must be summoned and shown the baby, simply because he's a friend of Cadance and/or Shining Armor? I guess it's part of the culture around babies that some parents feel the need to show off their babies to everyone they meet, but I find it rather pointless and silly. In fact, if Crystal Hoof hadn't been summoned and shown the baby, then he might not have blown his cover.

 

May I challenge on these points, Music Chart Fan?

[Music Chart Fan 819]

 

 

May I challenge on these points, Music Chart Fan?

 

If you want to make a post discussing points I made in my post, go ahead - I'll try to respond if I can. 

[Nuke87654 1,849]

 

Overall, this episode was pretty "meh" to me, and didn't have what I think was the intended emotional impact. The biggest problem is probably that there are too many believability issues for me to really get into the episode. There also seems to be a lot of clunky dialogue stating (and re-stating) the obvious, particularly in the first part of the episode, and I think the episode is rather ham-handed in how the moral is delivered.

 

 

I'd say quite the opposite as to me was a take on prejudice and it handled it quite well as it not only didn't paint the ponies as being wrong for holding their beliefs towards the changeling which who can blame them as I'll get to below, but also showed of how not every person from the opposing side is a bad person and that some are capable of changing for the better.

 

 

To start, this episode involves the whole idea that Spike "saved the Crystal Empire" twice, and is a hero and celebrity among the crystal ponies. I've never liked this idea, and to me, it feels like a one-time gag that the show is inexplicably committed to, despite it not being believable or even entertaining. Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadance (and even others) all played significant roles, some arguably even more so than Spike, in stopping Sombra's return. And at the Equestria Games, Spike might have saved some ponies from injury and/or death, which was laudable, but that was not "saving the Empire", and is something that presumably others have done without getting the celebrity treatment. For example, the Mane Six have "saved Equestria" several times, and are not being mobbed or fawned over wherever they go. It seems like even the show can't decide whether we're supposed to take Spike's hero/celebrity status seriously. On the one hand, Spike is shown to be egotistical about his hero status, leading other characters to roll their eyes and leading to Spike being humiliated after not living to his hype. But on the other hand, this episode wants us to believe that Spike is making a real sacrifice by risking his fame/reputation in the Crystal Empire by defending Thorax. The latter, to me, rings hollow, since Spike's fame/reputation seems overblown and at least somewhat undeserved, anyway. That's probably a big reason why this episode didn't have the intended emotional impact on me.

 

 

It was with the help of Spike that:

 

A. Saved Twilight Sparkle who was going to fail miserably when a trap sprung on her when he disobeyed her to not follow her to find the crystal heart.

 

B. Whisked the Crystal Heart away from the pedestal when again Twilight was ensnared in a trap and Sombra was closing in. While Cadance deserved credit too for saving Spike from Sombra's clutches but Spike should earn kudos for getting Twilight to that spot and recovering the crystal heart for her.

 

C. Helped save the equestrian olympics from a disaster by melting the ice.

 

Considering all of these at least it would make sense for why the Crystal Empire would view him so favorably, especially as he's treated with great respect by the royal family for his deeds.

 

As for why he and not the mane 6 get kudos for their efforts, it is because of:

 

A. The show runs on the trope that the mane 6's deeds in saving equestria aren't mentioned for the sake of not paying such attention to it.

 

B. For Spike's case however they have chosen to to give Spike some respect to his character. 

 

C. The Crystal Empire is not like the rest of Equestria as they have their own customs and what not, so they chose to worship Spike for saving their kingdom from Sombra and the giant ice at the equestria games.

 

D. Spike himself loves it as it helps boost his own self importance so I don't see any problems with it.

 

The thing is is that Spike is risking his reputation that he has built up and earned with the crystal ponies and especially among the Crystal royal family as especially Shining Armor have shown to despise changelings so him showing support for Thorax puts his butt on the fire to where he could lose a great deal of respect among them for supporting a changeling as he would be viewed as foolish at best, traitorous at worse. I mean folks have lost their reputations for far lesser crap, him supporting a being from a mortal enemies to ponies would be the ticket for it.

 

 

Another big part of this episode is that the Crystal Empire is supposed to have increased security looking out for changelings and protecting from them, but many times that security seems lax and incompetent. To give an example, I'm not sure that the "sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake" thing with Cadance near the beginning of the episode is necessarily a foolproof means of making sure that it's the real Twilight. That might have worked back in "A Canterlot Wedding" because it was something that Twilight and Cadance did many years ago and presumably hadn't been done or talked about since then. But now it's basically become Twilight and Cadance's standard greeting whenever they meet each other, and they don't seem to be trying to keep it a secret. Anyone who has observed Twilight and Cadance meeting since "A Canterlot Wedding" might know how their greeting goes. Also, even if Twilight were confirmed not to be a changeling, that doesn't necessarily mean that Starlight and Spike aren't changelings. I would think that they would at least have to ask Twilight, say, whether Starlight and Spike ever left her sight or went somewhere else and came back, such that a changeling might have taken one of their places. But in the episode, it seems to be assumed after it's "proved" that Twilight isn't a changeling that Starlight and Spike aren't changelings, either.

 

It's a little thing that Cadance and Twilight would know how to do between each other and it's a cute callback from past seasons of their little dance number they had between each other. I see no issues for it. As for why they assume that Starlight and Spike are fine, they're newcomers that just arrived alongside Twilight and they assume that if Twilight was able to vouch for them and she was real than it was fine. Not everything needs to be tight and close to be 100% certain that they're changelings, especially as they said that the changeling was spotted in the crystal empire so I wouldn't expect newcomers like Twilight and her companions among the chief suspects.

 

Another example of lax security is that Thorax's story about being born different than the other changelings, seeing true friendship during the Canterlot invasion, leaving the other changelings, and wanting to find love to share is just unquestioningly accepted by Spike, and later, everyone else. If there is legitimate fear of changelings infiltrating the Crystal Empire, wouldn't it be plausible that one of them might give such a false story in order to get inside to the Royal Family and spy on them, find out weaknesses in the defenses, discover and/or sabotage their plans, etc.? Even saving Spike from falling into the abyss would be part of this plan, getting Spike to trust Thorax even as Thorax is using Spike to get access. Yet none of the characters even bring up, let alone act on, such a legitimate possibility. Maybe Spike is too young and/or naive to consider this, but then wouldn't at least one of the others think of it and bring it up? Or did everyone assume that Spike (especially after his "heartrending" song) somehow confirmed that Thorax isn't a spy when Spike had really done no such thing? I couldn't help thinking about this issue the entire rest of the episode, and even after the end of this episode, Thorax's being a spy is still a possibility, even if the episode never gave any indication of it.

 

Another believability issue is that after Spike failed to get the guards and Shining Armor to warm to the idea of befriending a changeling, Spike's plan is to...have Thorax take the form of a crystal pony and enter the Crystal Empire, then win everyone over before, at some point in the future, revealing that he's a changeling. But why couldn't Thorax have just done all of that himself, especially if, as he claims, he's starving? Presumably Thorax had reason(s) not to attempt that earlier, so how did Spike make that plan viable when it wasn't before?

 

 

As for the stuff, you're assuming that Spike is going to think of the situation similarly to how you would approach it. He was convinced that Thorax was honest with his story, and especially as he saved Spike from falling to his death.

 

As for the others, they were paranoid and didn't trust Thorax as it took essentially Spike putting his reputation and vouching for him on the line to show how much he trusts Thorax and wishes for others to do as well and an alicorn princess in Twilight to further recommend they do the same. Again they're not going to approach a situation similarly as what you believe they should but instead should see if they're approaching a situation with justifiable cause and action which I believe they have.

 

 

Another believability issue is that after Spike failed to get the guards and Shining Armor to warm to the idea of befriending a changeling, Spike's plan is to...have Thorax take the form of a crystal pony and enter the Crystal Empire, then win everyone over before, at some point in the future, revealing that he's a changeling. But why couldn't Thorax have just done all of that himself, especially if, as he claims, he's starving? Presumably Thorax had reason(s) not to attempt that earlier, so how did Spike make that plan viable when it wasn't before?

 

Was Thorax unable to enter the Crystal Empire with the form of a crystal pony earlier because security would have stopped him and demanded identification, and he had no good identification or verifiable backstory to provide? If so, how did Spike solve that problem? Did Spike really just vouch for Thorax and get him in (without even having a name for him, since Spike only came up with a name for him when introducing him to Twilight)? If so, then that's another case of lax and incompetent security. I would think that the identities of everyone who leaves the secure borders of the Crystal Empire would have to be re-verified before re-entering, considering that they could have been replaced by changelings while they were gone. Although, considering Thorax seemed to get away pretty easily after initially revealing himself in the throne room, and got back to the throne room later without being detected, maybe the best explanation is that the Crystal Empire security just isn't very good.

 

And if Thorax didn't enter the Crystal Empire as a crystal pony previously because he feared prematurely outing himself as a changeling, then again, how would Spike's presence solve that problem? Considering that both Spike and Thorax were well aware of Thorax's revealing his changeling tendencies when love is around, did they even have a contingency plan for such a situation? There didn't seem to be one when exactly that situation occurred in the episode.

Because you're assuming that Thorax could pull it off well as we see that despite his disguise, due to his hunger, he'll lose it and expose himself which was likely how they found out there was a changeling in the first place. Spike's plan is not stellar but given the circumstances and what he could do it was literally the best plan Spike can do for Thorax as they try to figure out what to do to get him to feed in a manner that wasn't going to hurt anyone as Thorax feared doing.

 

You can blame it on the lax security for not checking identification for him at the gate or so true however. Though I do not consider it such a flaw as they did do security sweeps and stuffs just not to the extent one should expect they should do.

 

 

When Spike goes to find Thorax after betraying him, Thorax initially doesn't help Spike up from dangling into the abyss, which might be more of a moral dilemma than it appears. Should Spike's betrayal of Thorax really be punishable by death, by allowing Spike to fall into the abyss and most likely die? I'm inclined to think not, that Thorax should have helped Spike up regardless of whether Spike was still his friend or apologized sincerely enough. But there are at least a couple of other considerations. For one, what would the ramifications of Spike's betrayal have been? By not verbally and/or physically defending Thorax in the throne room, was Spike essentially allowing for Thorax to be killed? What would have happened if Thorax had been caught? Second, Spike's betrayal aside, could it be argued that Thorax caused Spike to be in the predicament of possibly falling to his death? And if so, would Thorax have the moral responsibility to try to save him? It doesn't appear that Thorax, say, directly pushed Spike off the cliff. But Thorax's appearing next to Spike and yelling and hissing in his face naturally scared Spike, leading to him backing away and off the cliff, although one could say that maybe Spike should have been more aware of his surroundings. So, again, while I'm inclined to say that Spike's friendship status shouldn't be a factor in deciding whether to save him, this whole situation might be more morally complex than it first appears.

 

I think this point here is a case of one thinking deeply  for larger contexts of those scenes rather than something inherently wrong.

 

 

Shining Armor's over-the-top line that "there's no such thing as a nice changeling" is an example of this episode's ham-handedness.  Have ponies actually observed changelings at any other time than the Canterlot invasion? If not, then Shining Armor's line would be like saying that everyone from X country is bad based solely on observing X country's soldiers in a battle. Even then, one couldn't preemptively say that every single soldier in an enemy's army is evil - maybe that's the assumption that's operated on, but of course there might be some individuals who defect, are unwilling to actually fight, etc. Shining Armor might be more correct to say something like "We don't know what the changelings are up to, so we have to treat any of them as potential enemies until we have very good reason to believe otherwise", but then that kind of nuance might interfere with the intended message of the episode.   

 

Actually it's pretty justifiable for Shining Armor to behave like that to Changelings considering how:

 

A. Queen Chrysalis kidnapped his wife and guised as her.

 

B. Brainwashed him and drained his love for her own needs. Which leaves far darker contexts between Queen Chrysalis and Shining Armor in that case if we're to assume they slept with each other.

 

C. Used his love to defeat Celestia and nearly take over Canterlot and threaten Equestria with her changeling army

 

Thus in the show alone, he had justifiable reasons to hate the changelings as much as he did. Hell I loved that as it showed good characterization on his part, something I wish his wife was a little more consistent in that regard.

 

This is not including the comics to where we see

 

 

This

 

And

 

this

 

 

Where Queen Chrysalis and the changeling horde wrecked at least two Equestrian cities and they gotten so bad that Celestia herself in her youth went and stopped them personally and threw them inside a volcano. 

 

Lorewise, Changelings are the Equestrians biggest enemy in existence as the changelings seem to be predators to the Equestrian pony prey. So put all that together, it makes total sense for any pony to behave as Shining Armor did.

 

 

 

Finally, there's the whole scene with Spike's song. In the song, Spike repeats "Why can't we imagine a changeling can change?", but didn't Thorax say that he was born wanting friends and being different than the other changelings? In other words, if we're to believe him, Thorax didn't "change", he was different all along. (If that's true, then I would think that would be a big obstacle to Thorax taking knowledge of friendship back to the Changeling Kingdom and reforming it.) Also, Spike sings that "this changeling, it seems, knows the real me and would stay by my side 'til the end", but how is Spike able to make such a claim when they've only known each other for, what, a few hours? And of course, the idea that everyone changes their minds after Spike's single (supposedly) tear-jerking song, and Twilight's statement of belief, is yet another believability issue that diminishes the emotional impact of the episode and its moral.

 

Now for a few other miscellaneous observations:

 

Starlight says on the train that doesn't want to fall behind on her friendship lessons back home. So are Starlight's friendship lessons like school assignments, given on a regular basis and with set due dates?

 

Sunburst just so happened to be the one to perform Flurry Heart's crystalling, since Twilight was busy with casting the spell to restore the Crystal Heart, and now Sunburst appears to be Flurry Heart's caretaker. Is that a job he really wanted, or thought he was signing up for when he agreed to do the crystalling under extraordinary circumstances?

 

What's Spike's excuse for repeatedly coming and going from the Crystal Empire in order to talk to Thorax outside?

 

I think there are far too many failure points for the whole illusion with Spike seeing his "reflection" to have gone on as long as it did. First, I want to ask "His reflection in what?" - what natural formation would create such a perfect mirror? And besides, we see just a minute later that there's nothing there - Thorax goes right through where the "mirror" would have been. So when Spike reached out his claws to touch the "mirror", he would have been touching Thorax's claws instead. And all of this is besides the obvious fact that there's no way that Thorax would know how to mimic Spike's random movements in real time.

 

Why is it that Crystal Hoof, and Thorax later in the episode, must be summoned and shown the baby, simply because he's a friend of Cadance and/or Shining Armor? I guess it's part of the culture around babies that some parents feel the need to show off their babies to everyone they meet, but I find it rather pointless and silly. In fact, if Crystal Hoof hadn't been summoned and shown the baby, then he might not have blown his cover.

 

 

While it's true that Thorax was different rather than change for them, however in context this can open up to where we see more friendly changelings as it's shown that there are friendly changelings out there and while Thorax has a long upstanding battle against Chrysalis and the rest of her changelings, however considering what they have done with Gilda representing Griffons, the Yaks, and Ember for the Dragons, I assume they have a plan waiting in store for them and intention for what they could have in store. Who knows, perhaps he can help bring about the change they need away from Chrysalis's war mongering rule.

 

Yes considering how Twilight and her friends did friendship reports so it makes sense for Starlight to be taught in a similar manner. Heck there's an upcoming episode this season that will explain more on it. 

 

I'm sure it's something he agreed to do considering that he holds  a prestigious position of not only taking care of the crystal but also being a royal nanny has it's perks for his reputation so  I'd say he's in a happy position in his life. Much more than his life as a bitter librarian and scholar.

 

I think this point is thinking a little much on how Spike is able to convince coming and going as he pleases, especially with his reputation and such in the empire.

 

The reflection gag is actually based on an old time joke here:

 

 

 

So it was meant to be funny rather than being anything super serious.

 

As for showing off the baby, here's why:

 

 

But other than that, I'm sure it was so he can feed safely or something like that he was still starving so I'm assuming this was them allowing him to feed off from the love the baby had. For other ponies, they're just proud parents to say the least.

 

Thank you very much, music chart fan.

[Guest]

I'm so far behind ;_; Haven't watched any new episodes since the beginning of Season 5.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Good jobs, @@Nuke87654, you defend a bunch of challengers... at once   I'm looking forward to read your review about this episode. I think this ep is overrrated, the ending is rushed, Spike just sings a magical song and everyone is convinced.

 

  Actually it's pretty justifiable for Shining Armor to behave like that to Changelings

 

Yes, Shining is justified to hate the changeling, he is brainwashed by their queen, using his power to harm everypony and somehow he can trust Thorax after hearing the lovely song, without any resistence at all. They should just remove the song, let Spike has a normal speech to convinced them, Twilight & Cadence & Starlight will stand up for Spike and somehow convinced Shining to give the changeling a chance, yup, that would be better , but the writers are lazy, they use a song to solve everything. The song "A Changeling can change" has the nice messenge but in the wrong situation. Thorax is just different from birth, he is not a reformed Changeling, he is good from the beginning. The changelings are bad even they are just a larva, that is their nature, Thorax is just a black sheep among them  This song didnt make any sense, Thorax is not changed at all, he just a good changeling all along. If Thorax is an evil changeling and somehow can become good then i can appreciation this song.

 

I would be disappointed if you give this ep a 10/10 in your next review 

 

 

[WubBeast 49]

hey guys so I'm a little late to the party but I enjoyed the episode how about you guys

[cider float 2,537]

Just going to wait until they change a physical feature on Thorax to make him distinguishable from the other Changelings if they decided to put him in another episode.

[Tapfire 92]

I've been so happy since watching the episode. It's told me so much and it's allowed me to do so much more with my OC (Half Changeling) that's it's just been great. Not only big things like "Ponies aren't a limitation" - we've now seen a changeling turn into a dragon and even a rock but even little things like the flames can be different colors, and, like ponies, seems to be directly linked to eye color. In addition, it proves that changelings understand english, and have the free will enough to go against the hive.

 

We also see that in changeling behaviour that changelings can have a preferred change, as seen by Thorax displaying the same pony to both Spike and Twilight upon first meeting each other. They can also willingly change their voice (They could mimic the mane 6's voices) or not (Thorax maintained a voice in both changeling and... Crystal Hoof form, I guess.)

 

Love is also seen as an uncrontollable thing for Changelings. They don't have any control over a large amount of love, as seen as his forced reversion into changeling form when he sensed the huge surge of magic from Flurry Heart.

 

I'm hoping we see more of Thorax (I'm praying they don't make him evil later on, because that'd annoy me greatly). He's been a fun character and has 100% showed us so much more about changelings. I can't wait to expand on my OC's story based on what I've learned from this episode.

 

We can also theorize that Changelings could feed off of each other, but can't due to their inherent anger towards each other, and in general.

 

I'm a little sad Lily Peet won't be reviewing this episode (Contains Starlight Glimmer, long story) because she seemed rather excited for a changeling return back when Rainbow Rocks came out.

 

 

Unrelated to Throax: Spike musical number woo

 

TLDR: Loved the episode.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I have wondered how Chrysalis actually treats her Changelings when they are born into the hive and how they are born, interesting note to see that Thorax was the only good apple out of the bunch compared to the rest of his kind. Spike getting along with Thorax despite how he is treated at first, but didn't defend him at first to secure his reputation.

 

Then the second time around, Spike knows what to do now... retract his first decision and sing! Can't be surprised on the quick turnaround which has been prominent in the show, nice song and everything is right with the world.

 

Good episode and was a bit shaky but I enjoyed it anyway.

[Thrond 3,263]

Good jobs, @@Nuke87654, you defend a bunch of challengers... at once   I'm looking forward to read your review about this episode. I think this ep is overrrated, the ending is rushed, Spike just sings a magical song and everyone is convinced.

 

 

 

 

Yes, Shining is justified to hate the changeling, he is brainwashed by their queen, using his power to harm everypony and somehow he can trust Thorax after hearing the lovely song, without any resistence at all. They should just remove the song, let Spike has a normal speech to convinced them, Twilight & Cadence & Starlight will stand up for Spike and somehow convinced Shining to give the changeling a chance, yup, that would be better , but the writers are lazy, they use a song to solve everything. The song "A Changeling can change" has the nice messenge but in the wrong situation. Thorax is just different from birth, he is not a reformed Changeling, he is good from the beginning. The changelings are bad even they are just a larva, that is their nature, Thorax is just a black sheep among them  This song didnt make any sense, Thorax is not changed at all, he just a good changeling all along. If Thorax is an evil changeling and somehow can become good then i can appreciation this song.

 

I would be disappointed if you give this ep a 10/10 in your next review 

We've previously seen implications that changelings are capable of sapient thought, and although Thorax clearly demonstrates that there's some sort of instinctual drive to prey on ponies, it also seems that changelings need to be socialized to give in to those instincts and to go with the will of the hive, or else they might reject it as Thorax had. Like with the dragons, it'll be interesting to see how introducing a more friendship-inclined strain of thought into changeling society will affect it. 

[Celli 4,337]

@@Lambdadelta, Do you have any points to back up why it's overrated, other than, the ending is rushed?

Also, if he does, you're going to have to deal with it.

[Dark Horse 12,955]

A joyfully good episode for Spike, something which I feel he so desperately needed as of late. Too often do I feel he winds up as a comedy pratfall role with little purpose but to provide a few cheap laughs, so I really do appreciate when he gets to leave that bubble in episodes such as these. The introduction of a friendly Changeling worked out surprisingly well too. Thorax is just so adorable! Specially his little 'hissing' fits.   

 

I think in today's world especially the plot point of putting aside your prejudice can mean a lot to some people. No one is born inherently evil, and everyone deserves a chance to change.

 

There were a few personal gripes I could think of: Spike's song at the end felt a little out of place and honestly didn't really prove anything we didn't already know. Also, Starlight and Sunburst's presence in the episode was pointless, despite it initially being built up otherwise. They had almost no interaction and were simply there to provide some small bits of exposition. It just felt like an arbitrary appearance.

 

But those are honestly minor issues that detract little overall from this otherwise enjoyable episode. Kudos to the new writer who rose to the challenge exceptionally.

[manic 121]

I think this could have been served better as a two-parter, but I was happy to finally see the return of changeling(s).

[Victoria Sponge 1,017]

This episode was good, apart from the ending which I felt was very rushed. All it took was Twilight saying she was Thorax's friend and every single pony in the crystal empire immediately changed their mind.

 

I liked Thorax as a character though and the way they lit Starlight up as Spike sung "darkness turns to light" was very clever.

[Sonic5421 423]

This episode was good, apart from the ending which I felt was very rushed. All it took was Twilight saying she was Thorax's friend and every single pony in the crystal empire immediately changed their mind.

 

I liked Thorax as a character though and the way they lit Starlight up as Spike sung "darkness turns to light" was very clever.

 

Yeah, that part was a bit rushed. If they included at least a scene of Shining Armor and Cadance going from angry at Thorax to shocked at Twilight willing to befriend him, then guilty shame over letting their past cloud their judgement before approaching Thorax all smiles with Flurry Heart and Sunburst, that would have worked out much better at them willing to give Thorax a chance and prove that there are some Changelings who would rather choose friendship over Chrysalis' will.

 

Plus, how would Twilight react if she was willing to put the events of A Canterlot Wedding behind her and befriend Thorax, but her sister-in-law and B.B.B.F.F. would not? Threaten to leave the Crystal Empire to fend for itself without the Elements of Harmony/Rainbow Power from the Mane Six? Tell Celestia and Luna so they would threaten to not send reinforcements to the Empire to assist if Chrysalis returns?

 

Cadance and Shining Armor are family, and Twilight still has to look out for Flurry Heart, but she does not have to put up with her siblings by birthright or matrimony keeping to their prejudice ways because of their past trauma when she's willing to do so herself for the sake of Equestria and her #1 assistant.

[Golden Star 149]

While I will also admit that I thought the ending was rushed, I do also have to jump to its defence. Everyone keeps saying that all it took was Spike singing a song for everyone to change their minds, when the truth is, it wasn't. Even after Spike had finished, everyone was still unconvinced and frowning and looking down upon him and Thorax, apart from Twilight and Starlight. Twilight is the more notable one here as she is practically Spike's mother, she knows him better than anyone and therefore could tell that everything he was singing was completely sincere and heartfelt. It's only after Twilight declares how proud she is of Spike, and accepts Thorax as a trustworthy companion, that everypony else is finally swayed. It still happens rather suddenly, but at this point I just assumed they all thought, "Well, Twilight knows Spike better than any of us, and she is the Princess of Friendship, who would we be to argue against her judgment and authority?" Again, it is a bit rushed and I can understand why some would take issue with that, but I didn't have a problem with it myself.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Golden Star

[weesh 690]

on the topic of feeling rushed, yes, it avoided a bunch of things it could have done, like proving spike was real, or discussing the ramifications, or being slower to change their mind, but none of those things were required.  its possible that they would have detracted from the lesson, and the impact of the song.  

 

I think they made the right choice, and i don't think this should have been a two-parter.  How would they have divided it up?  what would have been the cliff-hanger?  

[SparklingSquirrels 21,311]

I liked this episode as it was, but I think it would have been better as a two-parter. I guess they could have divided it up near the middle since I got the feeling that both the exposition as well as the resolution were rushed.

 

I wasn't a big fan of the song either. Although it was nice to hear Spike sing, I don't think the song really added all that much.

 

Thorax is adorable though

[Nuke87654 1,849]

Good jobs, @@Nuke87654, you defend a bunch of challengers... at once   I'm looking forward to read your review about this episode. I think this ep is overrrated, the ending is rushed, Spike just sings a magical song and everyone is convinced.

 

 

 

 

Yes, Shining is justified to hate the changeling, he is brainwashed by their queen, using his power to harm everypony and somehow he can trust Thorax after hearing the lovely song, without any resistence at all. They should just remove the song, let Spike has a normal speech to convinced them, Twilight & Cadence & Starlight will stand up for Spike and somehow convinced Shining to give the changeling a chance, yup, that would be better , but the writers are lazy, they use a song to solve everything. The song "A Changeling can change" has the nice messenge but in the wrong situation. Thorax is just different from birth, he is not a reformed Changeling, he is good from the beginning. The changelings are bad even they are just a larva, that is their nature, Thorax is just a black sheep among them  This song didnt make any sense, Thorax is not changed at all, he just a good changeling all along. If Thorax is an evil changeling and somehow can become good then i can appreciation this song.

 

I would be disappointed if you give this ep a 10/10 in your next review 

 

Thank you Lambdadelta. Perhaps in September I will do so among others I'm missing.

 

Now as for the lyrics, from what I've gathered, it seems to be of a changeling that is challenging the view and perspective on a changeling as a whole. Note the part where he states in song of how no two ponies are the same or two snowflakes. If this was a matter that a changeling can change for the better, it would highlight something like that. Instead he states at how nothing can be the absolute same to each other. Thus what I see when it says 'A changeling can change', it's not meaning the individual changeling, but rather on a changeling challenging the views on what is a changeling and how he can change their views on his race give or take.

[Sonic5421 423]

While I will also admit that I thought the ending was rushed, I do also have to jump to its defence. Everyone keeps saying that all it took was Spike singing a song for everyone to change their minds, when the truth is, it wasn't. Even after Spike had finished, everyone was still unconvinced and frowning and looking down upon him and Thorax, apart from Twilight and Starlight. Twilight is the more notable one here as she is practically Spike's mother, she knows him better than anyone and therefore could tell that everything he was singing was completely sincere and heartfelt. It's only after Twilight declares how proud she is of Spike, and accepts Thorax as a trustworthy companion, that everypony else is finally swayed. It still happens rather suddenly, but at this point I just assumed they all thought, "Well, Twilight knows Spike better than any of us, and she is the Princess of Friendship, who would we be to argue against her judgment and authority?" Again, it is a bit rushed and I can understand why some would take issue with that, but I didn't have a problem with it myself.

 

Appreciate the support, and yes, it was Twilight taking Spike's side once his song was over and her speech regarding her duties as the Princess of Friendship and accepting Thorax herself that finally convinced her sister-in-law, Sunburst, and her B.B.B.F.F. to look past the events of A Canterlot Wedding and accept Thorax themselves. Twilight had been on their side at first with the angry glare she gave Thorax and Spike, thinking Spike betrayed her and Equestria, but as she listened to Spike's song, and realized it was a similar situation to her and Trixie back in No Second Prances, she was the first to come around and take Spike's side against her sister-in-law and brother.

 

If they had still refused, Twilight would've probably turned to Celestia and Luna for help, and they would've forced Cadance and Shining Armor to accept Thorax, unless they would rather be left to fend for themselves if Chrysalis attacks the Empire and discover they are not getting any support from either Canterlot or the Mane Six because of their earlier conflict with Twilight and Thorax, putting the royal couple in a "My God, What Have We Done?" position and have to pray that Twilight still comes to at least save Flurry Heart so they can apologize and makes amends with Twilight and the Royal Sisters.

[Music Chart Fan 819]

Hey, @@Nuke87654, I'd like to respond to some of your points and hopefully clarify some of mine.

 

It was with the help of Spike that:

 

A. Saved Twilight Sparkle who was going to fail miserably when a trap sprung on her when he disobeyed her to not follow her to find the crystal heart.

 

B. Whisked the Crystal Heart away from the pedestal when again Twilight was ensnared in a trap and Sombra was closing in. While Cadance deserved credit too for saving Spike from Sombra's clutches but Spike should earn kudos for getting Twilight to that spot and recovering the crystal heart for her.

 

C. Helped save the equestrian olympics from a disaster by melting the ice.

 

Considering all of these at least it would make sense for why the Crystal Empire would view him so favorably, especially as he's treated with great respect by the royal family for his deeds.

 

As for why he and not the mane 6 get kudos for their efforts, it is because of:

 

A. The show runs on the trope that the mane 6's deeds in saving equestria aren't mentioned for the sake of not paying such attention to it.

 

B. For Spike's case however they have chosen to to give Spike some respect to his character. 

 

C. The Crystal Empire is not like the rest of Equestria as they have their own customs and what not, so they chose to worship Spike for saving their kingdom from Sombra and the giant ice at the equestria games.

 

D. Spike himself loves it as it helps boost his own self importance so I don't see any problems with it.

 

First, I think it's fair to ask whether the crystal ponies who idolize Spike know what his actual role was in saving the Crystal Empire from Sombra (i.e., your first A and B above). Was there some Empire-wide announcement of the facts and behind-the-scenes events of that day which the general crystal pony public didn't see? And wouldn't the full story, if they do know it, show that, while Spike was a major part of saving the Empire that day, he wasn't the only one or even the main one that did so? And yet we don't see any acknowledgement of anyone else's role in saving the Empire amidst the Spike adulation - we don't see crystal statues of the other characters, and they're not given valiant names, mobbed, asked for their autographs, etc. So part of my issue with Spike's hero status in the Crystal Empire is that I think it would be more fair for the other characters who helped save the Empire to be recognized, too. And also, I suppose it just bugs me a little that Spike's reputation appears to be based on a distortion of the historical record, and even though there are ponies who know the full story and could correct it, it seems that no one cares to do so.

 

And sure, Spike gets to enjoy the "perks" of being a celebrity in the Crystal Empire, and it could be argued that Spike deserves some recognition somewhere for his achievements. But I also think the fact that Spike's hero status is based on an exaggeration of his achievements (and/or an omission of others' roles) casts a dark cloud over that enjoyment. Spike may not be "living a lie", but I think he's "living an exaggeration", and as we see even in this episode, that can come back to bite him later.

 

Additionally, as I mentioned in my reply to Truffles earlier in this topic, I don't really like or relate to hero/celebrity worship in general.

 

I agree that, for whatever reason(s), the Mane Six aren't often recognized for all the times that they've saved Equestria (although it's happened a few times more recently). That might make the adoration of Spike stick out even more, since such adoration is a relatively uncommon occurrence in the show.

 

So, ultimately, the show seems committed to the idea that Spike is a hero in the Crystal Empire, and for various reasons, I'll probably continue not to be entirely comfortable with it. And that's fine - I don't have to, nor do I expect to, like everything in the show.

 

It's a little thing that Cadance and Twilight would know how to do between each other and it's a cute callback from past seasons of their little dance number they had between each other. I see no issues for it. As for why they assume that Starlight and Spike are fine, they're newcomers that just arrived alongside Twilight and they assume that if Twilight was able to vouch for them and she was real than it was fine. Not everything needs to be tight and close to be 100% certain that they're changelings, especially as they said that the changeling was spotted in the crystal empire so I wouldn't expect newcomers like Twilight and her companions among the chief suspects.

...

As for the stuff, you're assuming that Spike is going to think of the situation similarly to how you would approach it. He was convinced that Thorax was honest with his story, and especially as he saved Spike from falling to his death.

 

As for the others, they were paranoid and didn't trust Thorax as it took essentially Spike putting his reputation and vouching for him on the line to show how much he trusts Thorax and wishes for others to do as well and an alicorn princess in Twilight to further recommend they do the same. Again they're not going to approach a situation similarly as what you believe they should but instead should see if they're approaching a situation with justifiable cause and action which I believe they have.

 

I think my point about the security is that I perceived a disconnect in the episode between the supposed fear and urgency of an imminent changeling infiltration/invasion and what I saw as often lackadaisical and/or ineffectual increased security measures taken in response. The "sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake" thing might not work as a way to tell whether Twilight is a changeling if the changelings had observed Twilight and Cadance doing that greeting in public, and the changeling pretending to be Twilight had learned it. Even if Twilight believes that Starlight and Spike aren't changelings, if they had left her presence for any extended length of time, changelings could, theoretically, have taken one or both of their places. If the changelings wanted to get reconnaissance on the castle, potentially eavesdrop on the Royal Family's plans, etc., then one way that they could do that would be by befriending someone close to the Royal Family like Spike to get access. And, as I mentioned in my initial post, Spike may not have considered that possibility, but it could be argued that Shining Armor - the captain of the Royal Guard - or one of the other guards should have.

 

But, ultimately, I'm just speculating about how their security responses might be better in a particularly bad scenario. We don't really know how clever or long-term any changeling plan to infiltrate/invade the Crystal Empire would be. And again, as I mentioned in my response to Truffles earlier, if the changelings were really determined to infiltrate the Crystal Empire, then increasing security only after a changeling is spotted may be a moot point, anyway. Perhaps all the Crystal Empire can do is hope that the changelings aren't as shrewd as they would be in the worst-case scenario.

 

Because you're assuming that Thorax could pull it off well as we see that despite his disguise, due to his hunger, he'll lose it and expose himself which was likely how they found out there was a changeling in the first place. Spike's plan is not stellar but given the circumstances and what he could do it was literally the best plan Spike can do for Thorax as they try to figure out what to do to get him to feed in a manner that wasn't going to hurt anyone as Thorax feared doing.

 

You can blame it on the lax security for not checking identification for him at the gate or so true however. Though I do not consider it such a flaw as they did do security sweeps and stuffs just not to the extent one should expect they should do.

 

@@Truffles suggested in his response to me that Spike may have given Thorax enough friendship/love to sustain himself, and with that, he could keep his crystal pony form when he may not have been able to earlier. That seems like a plausible explanation. I think we can still wonder, though, why Crystal Hoof's identity seems not to have been challenged (even as he goes into the castle), especially since he came in from outside the Empire, and wonder why Spike and Thorax seem not to have come up with contingency plans in case Thorax was on the verge of revealing himself as a changeling.

 

Actually it's pretty justifiable for Shining Armor to behave like that to Changelings considering how:

 

A. Queen Chrysalis kidnapped his wife and guised as her.

 

B. Brainwashed him and drained his love for her own needs. Which leaves far darker contexts between Queen Chrysalis and Shining Armor in that case if we're to assume they slept with each other.

 

C. Used his love to defeat Celestia and nearly take over Canterlot and threaten Equestria with her changeling army

 

Thus in the show alone, he had justifiable reasons to hate the changelings as much as he did. Hell I loved that as it showed good characterization on his part, something I wish his wife was a little more consistent in that regard.

 

This is not including the comics to where we see

...

Where Queen Chrysalis and the changeling horde wrecked at least two Equestrian cities and they gotten so bad that Celestia herself in her youth went and stopped them personally and threw them inside a volcano. 

 

Lorewise, Changelings are the Equestrians biggest enemy in existence as the changelings seem to be predators to the Equestrian pony prey. So put all that together, it makes total sense for any pony to behave as Shining Armor did.

 

I don't disagree that it's justifiable for Shining Armor to distrust changelings. My issue is that his "there's no such thing as a nice changeling" pronouncement comes across as deliberately hyperbolic in order to prove him wrong and make him look foolish. Shining Armor's statement is absolute, such that a single counterexample would disprove it; in other words, the existence of a single nice changeling (i.e., Thorax) makes Shining Armor's statement wrong, and makes him look needlessly unreasonable. It seems like a reasonable person should try not to make (or at least not stand by) absolute pronouncements unless he/she is absolutely sure of them, and as I said in my initial post, we don't know that Shining Armor can really be sure that "there's no such thing as a nice changeling". So it's the perceived unnecessary hyperbole in Shining Armor's pronouncement that I was taking issue with.

 

As a side note, while I have read some of the MLP comics, I haven't made any particular effort to keep up with them. So when I make posts about episodes, I don't really include events in the comics in my considerations, since I haven't read them all and probably don't remember much of the ones I have read, anyway.

 

The reflection gag is actually based on an old time joke here:

...

So it was meant to be funny rather than being anything super serious.

 

Yeah, I figured the reflection gag was a reference to something, although I wouldn't be able to say what it was specifically. My thinking about how the logistics of that gag wouldn't work is probably an indication that I wasn't terribly entertained by it. But again, that's not a big deal - different viewers will find different gags entertaining or unentertaining.

 

Thank you very much, music chart fan.

 

You're welcome!

[Justin_Case001 4,880]

 He's actually done some background singing, most notably in Twilight's famous "Failure Song" in S3's "The Crystal Empire, Pt. 1":

 

 

and then later that season he got to sing a quick solo... in "Spike at Your Service". -facehoofs- It's my favorite part of the episode, which doesn't say much. 

 

Oh yeah!  I forgot all about the background parts in the Failure Song.  Yeah, yeah, that' right.  But that was barely anything.  And the song in Spike at Your Service doesn't really count as a song, though I agree that it's probably the best part of the episode.  Though that episode was fraught with problems, it really did have a lot of funny moments.  I loved Fluttershy saying "I don't think that's her favorite s--" and then getting cut off.

 

 

one of the messages I loved in this episode is acceptance, and not judging someone based off of first appearances.

Absolutely.  That was great.  And the best part is that, unlike the past several episodes, this one's moral didn't feel forced.  Really, nothing about this story felt contrived.  Thorax's struggle, and the resolution both felt genuine, and it was a very important and useful moral.  This show hasn't run out of things to teach us yet.