S06:E25+E26 - To Where and Back Again

[cider float 2,538]

These changelings seemed way to quick to change sides which makes no sense since they worked so accordingly with Chrysalis' plans showing their utmost loyalty and dedication and are wracked with pain from starving they would be more inclined to stick with her. If they would have introduced more story of the changelings beforehand that can describe why they would quickly switch sides maybe they have a legend about evolving changelings or something wall paintings, oral tradition anything would have done but no they just had to make it be absolutely random that part was MLP G1 level inefficient storytelling.

[Ninjaed 526]

The changelings were exchanging glances all the while Chrysalis was using Starlight as her personal ragdoll. Seed of doubt planted, Thorax happened who was accepted, didn't have to fight constantly and apparently didn't feel hunger, and then he transforms! Not too surprising they'd be giving it a shot after a life of suffering from hunger.

[cider float 2,538]

The changelings were exchanging glances all the while Chrysalis was using Starlight as her personal ragdoll. Seed of doubt planted, Thorax happened who was accepted, didn't have to fight constantly and apparently didn't feel hunger, and then he transforms! Not too surprising they'd be giving it a shot after a life of suffering from hunger.

But that's the thing, they had all their food wrapped up in cocoons a whole buffet of it right before them. Chrysalis has shown her leadership had provided them with the food they needed.

[Thrond 3,263]

Finally, Starlight's apparently crippling fear of abusing magic if "put in charge", and her speech to Chrysalis about real leaders not using fear and intimidation and not forcing their subjects to do things, might be intended as signs of Starlight's progress, but to me, they also seem to come a bit out of the blue. Starlight tells her old villagers at the end of the episodes that "I guess after the way I used my magic on all of you, I wasn't sure I was somepony who should even be in charge of a baking contest. I was afraid I might go back to being the pony I used to be". But I don't think that's something we've seen her be concerned about before. Starlight had no ethical qualms about magically forcing ponies to do her will in previous episodes this season, and had to be told that doing that was wrong. So it seems rather incongruous for Starlight now to have crippling doubts about being able to control herself if she's "put in charge" of making some decisions about the Sunset Festival, and to be confident enough to lecture Chrysalis about real leaders not intimidating or forcing their subjects to do things. Even if, as many people have theorized, Starlight is supposed to be going through a painfully slow learning process to redemption, it seems like a giant leap for Starlight to go from mind-controlling the Mane Five because she was inconvenienced, and having to be told by Twilight and Spike that that's bad and wrong, to her concern about abuse of power in these episodes. To further complicate matters, in these episodes, we still see Starlight literally force the villagers away from her with a magical barrier, and see her levitate Trixie out of her wagon after she doesn't voluntarily get up at Starlight's admonition. Those might still indicate an instinct in Starlight to use magic first to solve problems, although those actions are on more of the level of what other characters do in the show. So, ultimately, after these episodes, I just find Starlight's characterization messy and exasperating. I don't even know what to expect from her any more, or how I'm supposed to feel about her.

While I agree that there are probably more steps than shown between Starlight in the finale and Starlight in "Every Little Thing She Does," for me that's mainly down to the idea that she can succeed as a leader now. We haven't seen the development of her ethical code since the earlier episode, so why should  we trust Starlight's judgement? I think the idea is that we're meant to share her uncertainty and have it dispelled when she shows competent leadership abilities, but I feel like there ought to be a few more steps between "mind controlling other ponies and not knowing why that's wrong" and "now has developed a stronger ethical code." It weakens the slow-burn reformation idea a little bit, I think. 

 

However, I do believe that these new fears come across as a natural evolution of her actions in "Every Little Thing," where she seemed very guilty about her actions. Now that she realizes that she's still prone to such actions, it gives her all the more reason to be afraid of being put in a leadership position or made to make decisions which affect other ponies, because after recent events she's proven to herself that her judgement is untrustworthy. That aspect, at the very least, feels entirely consistent with her character arc. 

[Jangocoolguy 433]

At first it played like a regular episode, with Starlight in the spotlight. Ugh. Then adding Trixie helped though.

 

I'm glad Starlight felt cirppling guilt/remorse for her actions. Especially since that bit from "The  Cutie Re-Mark" was WAY too fast. However, after getting a slap on the wrist for doing terrible things with magic several times, it doesn't work for me.

 

Fortunately, things really picked up when th actually story started. Seeng those "secondary characters" play Gaurdians of the Galaxy to the Mane 6's Avengers was rather entertaining. Especially since they had to rely on their wits and what was available instead of magic. Especially Discord (whose Flutterlove was showing big time ).

 

However...I too am not happy with the resolution

 

For starters, I always wished the Changelings had gotten more appearances. The idea of an evil group of shapeshifters lends itself to to many story possibilites...and now that's gone

Oh sure, there might more out there, but for the time being it looks like this the end of them.

Thanks Celestia Chrysalis went "screw that!" and fled to plot revenge! (though no time travel this time).

The real problem is that the Hive seemed way too quick to reform. A little debating, some right words, and seeing what happened to Thorax and PRESTO-CHANGO--literally!--they all went good just like *snaps fingers* that.

 

It was still entertaining, interesting and enjoyable...but could've been better.

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

I enjoyed this finale and found it to be both interesting and well done. I definitely loved Starlight and seeing her develop and worry about becoming a leader knowing that she could become the pony she used to be, however she soon gets over those fears and realizes it's important to step up and take charge as long as you aren't being a dictator. The changelings were amazing and I loved seeing them and Queen Chrysalis again, especially seeing the Hive and its landscape, which was spooky and desolate. I was glad Thorax returned and got his big moment to shine, he's definitely a fantastic supporting character. Discord and Trixie were also fantastic and their interactions had me laughing the whole time. I was really glad Chrysalis didn't reform and I hope to see her more in the future. Definitely a great season finale, 10/10!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sonic5421 423]

But that's the thing, they had all their food wrapped up in cocoons a whole buffet of it right before them. Chrysalis has shown her leadership had provided them with the food they needed.

 

Yeah, the very same food that the drones impersonating them back in Canterlot, Ponyville, and the Crystal Empire were collecting for Chrysalis by feeding off of the love everypony had for the Royal Family and Elements of Harmony.

Was over all a fantastic episode, different point of view seeing Secondary characters saving the main six and the Princesses, who were in trouble for once.

 

"In trouble for once?" Celestia and Luna have had their fill of having to be rescued by the Mane Six several times before this, along with a couple times for Cadance. They were caught asleep this time around, so they had no idea of what happened until Starlight told them after being rescued, since many of them did look to be waking up from being asleep for several hours, if not days.

[Dark Qiviut 22,393]

It's the worst season finale of the show.

1. Everything that builds up to To Where and Back Again is really, really sporadic. Thorax, Discord, and Trixie only appeared in one episode apiece.
   
   Starlight's arc was in complete spades; following Tail, she appeared five times, two of them cameos. When the episode doesn't call for her, she's absent. Her being there regardless of speaking role helps give hints that she wants to do something good in life. Secondly, where are her relationships with the other five? They don't build any relationship with her. The only time they spend any onscreen time with her, it's in a montage, she screws up, or makes the big mistake by hypnotizing them in a messier Lesson Zero rehash.
   
   We get to see in Re-Mark and the beginning of The Crystalling that Starlight established some form of kinship with the other five and establishes a close bond with Spike. But her redemption arc is a significant change to the status quo. If you're going to make the audience buy into her character, we needed to see both a larger quantity AND quality. FIM falls into its old habits of sporadically leaving the main arc behind unless necessary. It doesn't work with something this important. Obviously, she wants to be good and tries to do the right thing. However, you're not going to establish a connection by using a small scale of quantity, shaky quality, and reliance on tell, don't show. DHX's habit hurts this episode significantly.
   
   Thorax's development happens offscreen. He's an excellent character, but his development and maturation will have more worth if we as an audience can see it during season six. Him getting to know The Crystal Empire better, getting closer to Flurry Heart, having a diplomatic relationship with the yaks. Something to help transition. The wings give a clue about what his future would be, but DHX's habits force themselves to literally spoonfeed exposition to plow forward.
   
   Discord is the most developed of SG's teammates. His reformation is long cataloged.
   
   Trixie grew, too, but like Thorax, her development happens off-screen this season outside NSP.
   
   Other than Trixie and Starlight and Trixie and Discord, the team doesn't establish a connection until the finale. Sans Discord, their presence and growth impacted Starlight and everyone around them. To Where and Back Again wants the audience to believe she, Trixie, and Thorax grew in between the time they met and the finale. But they only happen when season six decides to show it, which is too little. Providing better hints of their tandem and episodes where Starlight and others grow closer with each other would help. Why? Because we as an audience get to SEE it being built from the ground up. The more we SEE it, the more we can BELIEVE their friendship can work out.
2. Starlight is out of character. Starlight built a close relationship with Twilight and Spike…yet she choose Trixie instead as her "best friend." Four words: think of your implications! Starlight choosing Trixie over Twilight or even Spike implies she doesn't care for them that much if not at all. Remember, we're supposed to care for Starlight. But which dynamics does she receive the most development with? Twilight and Spike. She's really close with them. The reasoning makes no sense at all.
   
   What would've made the starting point better is Starlight choosing Trixie because she wants to establish a closer relationship with someone beyond her comfort zone in Ponyville. This would mark an evolution of her character in three ways. One: we as an audience learn that she wants to grow more and more self-confident. The lessons she learned has impact, and she can attempt to spread that elsewhere. Two: she doesn't implicate lack of trust for Twilight and Spike. She broadens her horizons, yet remembers her renovated and relocated roots. Three: It reinforces her signature weakness of biting off more than she can chew, but established without depending on magic to solve problems.
3. The most important plot point is the Changelings kidnapping the royalty, friends, and Spike. They came out of nowhere, kidnapped them, and hid them in the Changeling Kingdom hive. Okay, so how did they kidnap them? What methods do they choose to kidnap them?
   
   There weren't any. No explanations how. No explanations for when they planned it. Nothing.
   
   A Canterlot Wedding, PTS, and Twilight's Kingdom all showed or gave them reasons for their kidnapping. Here, they left it blank. Magical Mystery Cure, despite its messy ghost writing following season four's backstage announcement, attempted to put the plot points together. How could DHX leave the most important plot point of the finale HANGING?! It's a MASSIVE plot hole. And, yes, how they're captured is very important. Their kidnapping drives the whole story; HOW they're kidnapped is the glue to keep it together. Starlight's quest to become a better pony, the treacherous journey to find them, Thorax's and the Changelings' evolution, and anticipation for season seven all stumble and fall down. Season seven is coming, but the sluggish pacing in part two doesn't quench thirsts.

To say To Where and Back Again is a huge letdown is an understatement. I'm a huge Starlight fan, yet there's no way I can praise a messy story. After pretty good buildup in Part 1, Part 2's a major anticlimax. The plot hole, DHX's bad habits, and Starlight's motivation to join with Trixie to start with kill the entire story. A massive downgrade from The Cutie Map, Re-Mark, and The Crystalling.

[Music Chart Fan 819]

However, I do believe that these new fears come across as a natural evolution of her actions in "Every Little Thing," where she seemed very guilty about her actions. Now that she realizes that she's still prone to such actions, it gives her all the more reason to be afraid of being put in a leadership position or made to make decisions which affect other ponies, because after recent events she's proven to herself that her judgement is untrustworthy. That aspect, at the very least, feels entirely consistent with her character arc.

 

I still don't think that I see this, and it's difficult to me for explain exactly why, but I'll try to give a little more detail about my thinking here.

 

As I wrote in my post about "Every Little Thing She Does", I wasn't really convinced that Starlight had done that much self-reflection, or that she had learned the moral lesson of why she shouldn't magically force ponies to do her will. Neither Twilight and Spike, nor the rest of the Mane Six, nor Starlight ever articulated why Starlight's mind-control was wrong, and it didn't seem to be taken particularly seriously by Twilight and Spike or the rest of the Mane Six. As a consequence of that, when Starlight apologized and acted contrite to the Mane Five that she mind-controlled, I couldn't be sure that Starlight was sorry because she had really learned her moral lesson, rather than Starlight being sorry because her mind-control spell created a big mess for her to clean up, and because Twilight yelled at her, with Starlight apologizing and acting contrite just because Twilight expected her to do those things. The latter case, in which Starlight's lesson from "Every Little Thing She Does" was "don't use magic to force ponies to do things, because they don't like it and they might punish me or socially ostracize me", is what I think would be incongruous with Starlight's deep fear in these episodes of abusing magic if put in charge, and her confidence in lecturing Chrysalis about what a real leader does.

 

And part of what reinforces my feeling that Starlight's characterization is inconsistent is that Starlight's unethical actions in "No Second Prances" and "Every Little Thing She Does" are never mentioned, nor does Starlight ever acknowledge that she learned specifically from those actions. As far as I can tell, the only references made were to Starlight's behavior as the leader of her village, prior to becoming Twilight's student. So, does the fact that these episodes never reference or acknowledge the actions or any lessons learned from "No Second Prances" and "Every Little Thing She Does" mean that the audience should forget that the events of those episodes happened? Are the events of those episodes rendered irrelevant by Starlight's apparently having learned the dangers of abusing power in these episodes? Or should we expect to still see Starlight "slip up" and use her magic in grossly immoral ways in the future? My uncertainty about that contributes to my feeling that Starlight's characterization is messy and exasperating.

 

But at the same time, I don't really know what can be done about that now. Perhaps Starlight's acknowledging that she learned from the events of "No Second Prances" and "Every Little Thing She Does" would have made her concern about abuse of power in these episodes more believable, but I'm not sure where or how that could fit in without feeling contrived or out-of-place.

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

Had a lot of fun with this one! Definitely not the best two-parter plot this show has had, but the characters are so good that they more than make up for it. Loved how there were barely any action scenes, loved how new characters were given the spotlight, loved how this was mostly focused on fun character interaction despite the stakes being fairly high. Think the higher stakes help make it feel less run-of-the-mill than the previous finale, although the tighter focus and different lead characters certainly help. Starlight and Trixie are mostly redeemed for me, too, which is pretty damn significant. Not my favourite finale, but certainly lives up to most of them. 

 

Certain people here are definitely gonna hate this, though. 

 

Full review at my offsite blog as always. 

 

Additional Thoughts:

 

Since he seems to be leaving the show, here's my ranking of Josh Haber's writing credits:

1. "Bloom and Gloom"

2. "Leap of Faith"

3. "The Crystalling"

4. "Stranger Than Fan Fiction"

5. "Castle Mane-ia"

6. "Hamstocalypse Now" / "Pinkie on the One" (tie)

7. "To Where and Back Again"

8. "Friendship Games"

9. "On Your Marks"

10. "The Cutie Re-Mark"

11. "Simple Ways"

Really sad that he's leaving; I loved most of his episodes. 

 

I enjoy that pigs fly at the end, because that's what me actually being satisfied with a season of this show feels like. Total improvement over season 5 in so many ways, even if it doesn't fix all of the show's lingering problems.

 

Hoping the new changeling designs grow on me over time. I'm not really sure how to feel about them right now. 

I'm fairly certain this is just me, but I actually rather like that the princesses and mane six were abducted off-screen. Seems a bit quick for the changelings to work so subtly, but I can buy it. For a moment I thought the entire town was replaced, leaving me to feel it made the mane six a little more "human" and less above everything else, but even with that disproved, I kinda still enjoy that it was so unceremonious. Didn't need to be drawn out or anything; just got to the point. Glad it was all six of them, too - I really appreciate when the show acknowledges that Twilight's friends are just as important as she is. 

Finales ranked: S1 > S4 > S2 > S6 > S5 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> S3

 

What? Josh Haber is leaving? Where did you read that? "Bloom and Gloom" and "Cutie Remark" and "Friendship Games" were great in my opinion too! Most of his work is on my good list. 

[Thrond 3,263]

What? Josh Haber is leaving? Where did you read that? "Bloom and Gloom" and "Cutie Remark" and "Friendship Games" were great in my opinion too! Most of his work is on my good list.

He mentioned on Twitter that he's probably not returning for season 7. Think there's thread about that on here. Real shame, too - dude pretty consistently cranked out solid scripts.

[KrazyDashie 1,847]

"of course princess celestia... id i love to perform for peanut butter crackers..." i think thats why fav line in the whole episode <3

[Photon Jet 5,491]

For Thorax, he was influenced by several good characters:

 

According to his backstory, he was there at the Canterlot Wedding where he saw the Mane 6 working together to defend their city. The Mane 6 unknowingly made him realized that he didn't want to steal love, he wanted to share it!

 

Spike was his first real friend, who even risked his status of a hero to stand by Thorax's side.

 

And finally when Chrysalis tried to steal his love and he tried to resist, it was Starlight Glimmer who revealed that Thorax should give the love and show the Changelings that love can be much stronger when given rather than taken.

And that's why Thorax deserves to be the new king of the good Changelings.

[Justin_Case001 4,885]

 Heh, I guess we have to disagree sometime.  Usually I'm optimistic about allaying my own misgivings, but right now I feel like they kind of killed Thorax off by changing him. He was already a near-perfect character in terms of storytelling: Good at heart, but flawed in his physical form and having an unending hunger for emotion. A bit nerdy in his ways but still able to socialize when in disguise. I'm really going to miss this guy:

 

spikexthorax.jpg

 

Granted, I don't know yet how much his personality will shift with his new form, but somehow I don't think he's going to act the same as before. I now know how those who didn't like Twilight changing felt at the end of season three - of the new characters this season, Thorax was my favorite, and I don't know where he stands in that list now. I guess a lot of it depends on how (and if) he is portrayed next season. Will he still have the same demeanor and voice, or will he be Thorax-in-name-only? 

That is a really good point.  I kind of assumed that he'd still be the same ol' guy we know and love.  Twilight's personality didn't change when she got wings, after all.  It was a big change, sure, but she was still Twilight.  But this could be different, I suppose.  We'll just have to wait and see.  I agree that we really don't want Bornstellar becoming the IsoDidact here.

 

Oh, and I completely forgot to mention this in my main review:  DERPY!!!!!   

But why didn't she talk?  It's not like it's all taboo or anything.  She had tons of (non-controversial) speaking parts in SoL.  They could have just given her a few words.  It made it strangely conspicuous that they went out of their way to keep her silent.  Oh well, I still loved seeing her.

[Sonic5421 423]

It's the worst season finale of the show.

1. Everything that builds up to To Where and Back Again is really, really sporadic. Thorax, Discord, and Trixie only appeared in one episode apiece.

    

   Starlight's arc was in complete spades; following Tail, she appeared five times, two of them cameos. When the episode doesn't call for her, she's absent. Her being there regardless of speaking role helps give hints that she wants to do something good in life. Secondly, where are her relationships with the other five? They don't build any relationship with her. The only time they spend any onscreen time with her, it's in a montage, she screws up, or makes the big mistake by hypnotizing them in a messier Lesson Zero rehash.

    

   We get to see in Re-Mark and the beginning of The Crystalling that Starlight established some form of kinship with the other five and establishes a close bond with Spike. But her redemption arc is a significant change to the status quo. If you're going to make the audience buy into her character, we needed to see both a larger quantity AND quality. FIM falls into its old habits of sporadically leaving the main arc behind unless necessary. It doesn't work with something this important. Obviously, she wants to be good and tries to do the right thing. However, you're not going to establish a connection by using a small scale of quantity, shaky quality, and reliance on tell, don't show. DHX's habit hurts this episode significantly.

    

   Thorax's development happens offscreen. He's an excellent character, but his development and maturation will have more worth if we as an audience can see it during season six. Him getting to know The Crystal Empire better, getting closer to Flurry Heart, having a diplomatic relationship with the yaks. Something to help transition. The wings give a clue about what his future would be, but DHX's habits force themselves to literally spoonfeed exposition to plow forward.

    

   Discord is the most developed of SG's teammates. His reformation is long cataloged.

    

   Trixie grew, too, but like Thorax, her development happens off-screen this season outside NSP.

    

   Other than Trixie and Starlight and Trixie and Discord, the team doesn't establish a connection until the finale. Sans Discord, their presence and growth impacted Starlight and everyone around them. To Where and Back Again wants the audience to believe she, Trixie, and Thorax grew in between the time they met and the finale. But they only happen when season six decides to show it, which is too little. Providing better hints of their tandem and episodes where Starlight and others grow closer with each other would help. Why? Because we as an audience get to SEE it being built from the ground up. The more we SEE it, the more we can BELIEVE their friendship can work out.

2. Starlight is out of character. Starlight built a close relationship with Twilight and Spike…yet she choose Trixie instead as her "best friend." Four words: think of your implications! Starlight choosing Trixie over Twilight or even Spike implies she doesn't care for them that much if not at all. Remember, we're supposed to care for Starlight. But which dynamics does she receive the most development with? Twilight and Spike. She's really close with them. The reasoning makes no sense at all.

    

   What would've made the starting point better is Starlight choosing Trixie because she wants to establish a closer relationship with someone beyond her comfort zone in Ponyville. This would mark an evolution of her character in three ways. One: we as an audience learn that she wants to grow more and more self-confident. The lessons she learned has impact, and she can attempt to spread that elsewhere. Two: she doesn't implicate lack of trust for Twilight and Spike. She broadens her horizons, yet remembers her renovated and relocated roots. Three: It reinforces her signature weakness of biting off more than she can chew, but established without depending on magic to solve problems.

3. The most important plot point is the Changelings kidnapping the royalty, friends, and Spike. They came out of nowhere, kidnapped them, and hid them in the Changeling Kingdom hive. Okay, so how did they kidnap them? What methods do they choose to kidnap them?

    

   There weren't any. No explanations how. No explanations for when they planned it. Nothing.

    

   A Canterlot Wedding, PTS, and Twilight's Kingdom all showed or gave them reasons for their kidnapping. Here, they left it blank. Magical Mystery Cure, despite its messy ghost writing following season four's backstage announcement, attempted to put the plot points together. How could DHX leave the most important plot point of the finale HANGING?! It's a MASSIVE plot hole. And, yes, how they're captured is very important. Their kidnapping drives the whole story; HOW they're kidnapped is the glue to keep it together. Starlight's quest to become a better pony, the treacherous journey to find them, Thorax's and the Changelings' evolution, and anticipation for season seven all stumble and fall down. Season seven is coming, but the sluggish pacing in part two doesn't quench thirsts.

To say To Where and Back Again is a huge letdown is an understatement. I'm a huge Starlight fan, yet there's no way I can praise a messy story. After pretty good buildup in Part 1, Part 2's a major anticlimax. The plot hole, DHX's bad habits, and Starlight's motivation to join with Trixie to start with kill the entire story. A massive downgrade from The Cutie Map, Re-Mark, and The Crystalling.

 

Out of everything you said, I agree with the major plot hole of how the Changelings managed to kidnap Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Shining Armor, Flurry Heart, Twilight, and her friends, took them to Chrysalis' hive, cocooned them, and left them imprisoned there. Unless we saw or knew how they were kidnapped without raising any alarms except from Sunburst, Starlight, and Thorax, it really leaves out a lot that could have made the finale a lot better. Perhaps if they had been able to make it a three-part instead of a two-part finale, it would have provided more room to fill that plot hole regarding the kidnapping process, and rendered the resolution not as anti-climatic as was shown.

[Justin_Case001 4,885]

@@Dark Qiviut: I largely agree with arguments 1 and 3 of your critique.  It would have been much better if there had been more development throughout the season, but I feel like this is less of a strike against this episode specifically, and more of a general complaint of the show's trends.  I definitely agree, though.  Personally, I would have scrapped The Cart Before the Ponies and 28 Pranks entirely and done two episodes to develop these characters and better set up the finale. 

 

As for argument 3, I also agree that it would have been much better to get the how's and why's regarding the kidnappings.  It was instantaneous, with no explanation, and if nothing else, raises massive national security concerns.  However, I didn't see it as being the massive plot hole and episode destroyer that you did.  I was able to let it slide because I feel like it's easy enough for me to fill in what happens off camera myself.  The changelings have always wanted control over Equestria, and I can imagine that they've been planning this for the last four seasons.  I pictured them inserting covert operatives all over the place for some time.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'll absolutely give it to you that they really should have explained their capture in some way, but it just didn't ruin the episode for me.  If I can fill in what happens off camera without trying to hard, then I can usually let things slide as a case of "not enough time".  I just disagree that the means of their capture was the most important plot point.  Now, if I was in charge, I would have foreshadowed this for at least the past two seasons.  There would have been hints and subtle scenes all over the place.  I might have even had an entire Chrysalis spotlight immediately preceding the finale, but that's me.  I've always longed for bigger, continuous story arcs.  I wouldn't mind a season where every episode is cliffhanger, honestly.

 

 

Starlight is out of character. Starlight built a close relationship with Twilight and Spike…yet she choose Trixie instead as her "best friend." Four words: think of your implications! Starlight choosing Trixie over Twilight or even Spike implies she doesn't care for them that much if not at all. Remember, we're supposed to care for Starlight. But which dynamics does she receive the most development with? Twilight and Spike. She's really close with them. The reasoning makes no sense at all.

This is part I disagree with.  Not counting Sunburst, Trixie is the only friend that Starlight has made on her own.  Spike and the six were sort of thrust upon her.  She didn't really choose them, per se.  She accepted Twilight's hoof in Re-Mark, became her student, and then the others became her friends by association.  She formed a one-on-one relationship with Spike, but that was still by association through Twilight.  Trixie was the first pony that Starlight really connected with, on her own, by her choosing.  Due to their histories, Starlight could relate to Trixie more than any of the others.  Doesn't that count for anything?  (Granted, again, it would have been better if we had gotten another episode developing their friendship, for sure.)  And consider this: Twilight is Starlight's teacher and mentor.  There's a bit of a difference between than and a best friend.  Sometimes it might be a bit awkward to do certain things with your teacher, y'know?  Perhaps Starlight thought she'd feel more comfortable at the festival with a friend who's more of an emotional equal, and not someone who'd be judging or critiquing her.  Of course, as usual, more explanation would have helped.  It did seem like Starlight just forgot about Twilight, there.  It would have solved everything if Starlight had just had a little talk with Twilight, and said something akin to what I suggested here.

Your suggestion of how to improve the starting point also would have been very good.  Either way, a few lines would have made this much better, but it still didn't ruin the episode for me.
 

[Ninjaed 526]

It did seem like Starlight just forgot about Twilight, there.

 

As silly as it may sound, this is exactly what happened... It didn't even cross Starlight's mind Twilight might have been talking about herself in a "roundabout" way. So she took it as face value, as a "friendship lesson" and thus didn't even think of Twilight nor Spike as a candidate. Nor any of the Mane 6, really.

 

As for the rest of what Dark Qiviut said, I agree with argument 1 but some found there was too much Starlight already. A bit of a delicate issue, though it doesn't change the fact this would have certainly helped tell a more believable story for those who dislike off-screen happenings. Argument 3, well...Twilight visibly didn't have a clue as to what happened, so either ambush or "ponied out" during the night.  Wouldn't have cost much to have Chrysalis add, as she was revealing her plan, that she'd finally readied her plan to capture them while asleep. Oh well.

[Thrond 3,263]

I still don't think that I see this, and it's difficult to me for explain exactly why, but I'll try to give a little more detail about my thinking here.

 

As I wrote in my post about "Every Little Thing She Does", I wasn't really convinced that Starlight had done that much self-reflection, or that she had learned the moral lesson of why she shouldn't magically force ponies to do her will. Neither Twilight and Spike, nor the rest of the Mane Six, nor Starlight ever articulated why Starlight's mind-control was wrong, and it didn't seem to be taken particularly seriously by Twilight and Spike or the rest of the Mane Six. As a consequence of that, when Starlight apologized and acted contrite to the Mane Five that she mind-controlled, I couldn't be sure that Starlight was sorry because she had really learned her moral lesson, rather than Starlight being sorry because her mind-control spell created a big mess for her to clean up, and because Twilight yelled at her, with Starlight apologizing and acting contrite just because Twilight expected her to do those things. The latter case, in which Starlight's lesson from "Every Little Thing She Does" was "don't use magic to force ponies to do things, because they don't like it and they might punish me or socially ostracize me", is what I think would be incongruous with Starlight's deep fear in these episodes of abusing magic if put in charge, and her confidence in lecturing Chrysalis about what a real leader does.

 

And part of what reinforces my feeling that Starlight's characterization is inconsistent is that Starlight's unethical actions in "No Second Prances" and "Every Little Thing She Does" are never mentioned, nor does Starlight ever acknowledge that she learned specifically from those actions. As far as I can tell, the only references made were to Starlight's behavior as the leader of her village, prior to becoming Twilight's student. So, does the fact that these episodes never reference or acknowledge the actions or any lessons learned from "No Second Prances" and "Every Little Thing She Does" mean that the audience should forget that the events of those episodes happened? Are the events of those episodes rendered irrelevant by Starlight's apparently having learned the dangers of abusing power in these episodes? Or should we expect to still see Starlight "slip up" and use her magic in grossly immoral ways in the future? My uncertainty about that contributes to my feeling that Starlight's characterization is messy and exasperating.

 

But at the same time, I don't really know what can be done about that now. Perhaps Starlight's acknowledging that she learned from the events of "No Second Prances" and "Every Little Thing She Does" would have made her concern about abuse of power in these episodes more believable, but I'm not sure where or how that could fit in without feeling contrived or out-of-place.

I didn't perceive that from "Every Little Thing She Does," but it does make sense, and it also gives words to why Starlight's inability to understand what she did wrong on her own bothered me so much. On paper, it does seem like a good idea to make her a more nuanced and complex character, but I'm not sure if this show is anywhere near serialized or focused to pull that off better than it did. For the most part, I was abe to buy into the premise that Starlight is actually mistrustful of her own judgement, and while I (as said) had a little more trouble accepting that she can be trusted with leadership, I think I'm fine if the show decides that her slow path to becoming a better person is mostly completed now. 

[takai 1,060]

So the writers finally took my advice of centering a season finale around secondary characters, eh?

 

But seriously, very happy this didn't revolve around the Mane 6. It made this one feel so fresh! Couple that along with the return of Chrysalis and you have one stellar season finale. Overall, I enjoyed this one a lot. Starlight grew as a character, Trixie got plenty of screen time, and the Changlings are now good. I think the only other character missing from this B-Team was Cheese Sandwich! I wished he was in this finale.

 

Admittedly, I do think how the rest of the changlings were able to just accept love like that was a little cheesy and unrealistic. The ending did feel a bit rushed in that respect. But it opens up a whole new world of possibilities in the future, how changelings could be implemented into future episodes. It's sort of like the Dragons at the beginning of the season. Hopefully the writers don't forget about them!

 

The new forms of the Changlings are different, but I like them. They're something more akin to pixies or something. And seeing Thorax in his new role felt pretty satisfying. He really grew as a character, but you have to wonder why he didn't talk after he transformed? Different voice in the future maybe?

 

No song? I don't have a problem with that actually. Unless Trixie would have sung of course.

 

I liked how the hive was set up with it's ever changing interior and anti-magic protection, I thought it was all quite clever.

 

I do kind of wish that they explained how they captured everyone, especially the powerful princesses. Numbers I suppose? I guess it isn't that important.

 

Chrysalis choosing revenge was another fairly fresh aspect of this finale, usually we'd expect friendship and everything is all dandy in the end. It was a much darker route for this show, and I'm glad they chose to do it. What I'd really love to see is Chrysalis gather a team of villains to combat the Mane 6 in a future season opener/finale. Imagine, Chrysalis, Tirek, Sombra, and a few others all on one team. That would be an incredibly intense episode!

 

In the end, I really enjoyed this one. It really separates itself from other finales and I'm glad it does. Season 6 had a number of bumpy spots along the way, but it finished strong with this one. Can't stress enough how happy I am to see Trixie be front and center in such important episodes.

 

This finale once again made me very proud to be a fan of this show. Bring on season 7!

[Truffles 2,033]

welp, guess I truly am pretty f*cking blind. or this could just be a case of "people only see what they want to see".

 

I imagine since you said you weren't a fan of Cadance, you probably filtered her out. I wish I could do that and tune out all the advertising that effectively during my favorite TV shows.

 

 

That would seem difficult to make work while staying "in character". And that might be the biggest problem with the plan: from what we saw, the changelings who replaced the Mane Six, etc. were pretty terrible at convincingly impersonating them, or even acting in a sympathetic way to elicit love to store or feed upon.

 

Additionally, if the fake princesses started giving orders their subjects didn't like, it seems like it would cause a revolt. Since they weren't real princesses with their proper powers what could they really do to stop it? I guess they could order the guards to stop it, but that would probably breed more dissent.

 

The biggest problem (and plothole) is who lowered the sun and raised the moon during the time Starlight was traveling back from her village? It was day when she left, but it was night when she got back to Ponyville. By that time the switch had already occurred. How could the fake princesses do such magics if they didn't have nearly enough power? Did Chrysalis do it even though there's no canon that she's capable of those tasks?

 

Also when the group teleports to the hive, it's suddenly daylight again. I suppose this could be explained if the hive is on the other side of the planet and that's where the sun was positioned at the time. That would mean their planet actually is a sphere and isn't flat as some have speculated.

 

  

The whole resolution, by which the changelings share/give love instead of taking it, and thus permanently transform, is all rather dubious. If sharing love with Chrysalis caused Thorax to transform, why didn't that same transformation happen before? Thorax shared love with Spike and presumably others, so why did only his wings change in appearance before, but his whole body transformed after sharing love with Chrysalis?

 

I have to think it was the amount of sharing Thorax and the others did. I imagine it was akin to vomiting back an entire meal versus storing it and metabolising it slowly over time. The metaphor isn't really accurate, though the volume of give-back is the only way I can explain why it caused him and the other to undergo a complete metamorphosis, complete with a (brief) chrysalis stage.

 

After seeing that ending the third time, I couldn't help but notice a bit of unintentional dark humor in what happened: It all seemed like it was some form of changeling bukkake - especially with the way Starlight smiled evilly when she told Thorax to release all his love on Chrysalis. XD 

  

 

So how were the changelings apparently blocking Luna from entering dreams, such that she had to "break through" to Starlight's dream, and how were changelings able to pull Luna out of someone else's dream?

 

I suppose changelings and their need to feed on emotions means they have a conduit into one's mind and maybe they can even go so far as to probe one's thoughts and spy on Luna conversing in her dreamscape?

 

Curious that Luna was able to use her dream powers even  though she was presumably parked next to the anti-magic throne. Maybe she was still in transport, or maybe her dream powers aren't actually magical in nature?

 

 

I'm not sure that describing Thorax as a "reformed" changeling is necessarily accurate. He was born different; it's not as though he used to be just like the other changelings, but was convinced to "reform" at some point.

 

It's the same problem as it was with Spike's song - Thorax never really did change, he was supposedly always good. Unless there was a period of time when he was being trained for the invasion of Canterlot where he acted like his comrades and it was only seeing the Mane 6 that finally convinced him to turn good for good? I agree with you for reasons like this that we should have had another episode with Thorax to get more of his backstory.

 

 

Oh, and I completely forgot to mention this in my main review:  DERPY!!!!! 

But why didn't she talk?  It's not like it's all taboo or anything.  She had tons of (non-controversial) speaking parts in SoL.  They could have just given her a few words.  It made it strangely conspicuous that they went out of their way to keep her silent.

 

Indeed, I thought the stigma of that whole iTunes brouhaha was over. I was kind of expecting her to talk as well.

[weesh 690]

This was exactly the finale I wanted...but oh so much more.

the season was hinting very strongly at a Starlight-centric finale, and if they had not delivered on that, I'd have been confused and severely disappointed.

More than that, we have finally come back to Starlight confidence.

 

The starlight arc has gone:
Evil/Confident -> Defeated/Vengant -> Broken/Confused -> Hopeful/Doubting -> Healing/doubting -> ...

 

We have been on the edge of a healthy Starlight. one where she has her power, her friends, and her confidence back.

They have slow played starlight BEAUTIFULLY this season.  A really satisfying character arc.  

 

If that was ALL that had happened, I'd have LOVED it.

 

But wow, there was plenty of icing on this cake.  
One of the better discord episodes...

The BEST Trixie episode easily (to the pont where I finally kinda like her)

Payoff for Thorax
And MEGA-REDEMPTION.

 

What a killer episode.  

 

(also, the reformed changelings are GORGEOUS)

Edited October 25, 2016 by weesh

[Babyyoshi309 1,829]

Oh how I love this episode!

 

Not because it was well written, not because it was enjoyable...

 

BUT BECAUSE OF THE DISCORD/CELESTIA SHIPS FINALLY DECIMATED!!!!!!! 

 

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

(Fluttercord reins supreme) 

Edited October 26, 2016 by Babyyoshi309

[cider float 2,538]

Trixie, finally someone that could match Discord's sass.

 

Been wondering when someone like that would show up.

[Brightbart 268]

Another great finale from the show. I'm glad we got to see a secondary pony like Trixie, the creators continue to change it up and add new flair to the show. I also enjoy that the villains are getting more intelligent in their plots. Chrysalis was actually quite successful in her plan, she just didn't account for Starlight attending the Sunset Festival and returning a week early. Overall fantastically done, can't wait to see what season 7 has to offer. 

[weesh 690]

its honestly pretty amazing that with this much star power in a single episode that we weren't severely distracted from the story.  really tight writing.