S07:E25+E26 - Shadow Play

[Night Sky 870]

This was a very interesting and singular season finale.

Certainly a very adult affair, and kind of grotesque actually.

You just don't often see this kind of writing in a kid's show most of the time. 

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna kind of have this school girls' crush on their ersatz Dumbledore of a once upon a time teacher.

So go forth and find him with this newly rediscovered magical tome. 

And thus it was that the Mane 6, with additional technical expertise provided by Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer snapped right to it, no thought as to whether or not this was a good idea, or if Their Majesties really had Their priorities straight.

By this point we've spent the entire series hearing about how powerful and wise Star Swirl the Bearded was. 

And over the course of Season 7, we've come to know some of the exploits of his band of fellow hero ponies, we've seen some of their more famous WINs. 

Come to find out that they were actually a perfect storm of paranoid, insensitive opportunists, who betrayed the very pony who had had the vision and imagination to make a team out of them in the first place.

It was nice to see Twilight Sparkle so happy and enthused at the beginning of this episode, and then it sucked to see her putting her tail between her legs, because she was disdained by an idol who didn't really deserve her admiration. 

Yet again, it took every pony a little too long to listen to Starlight Glimmer, but I am glad that Twilight Sparkle took the lead on reaching out to Stygian all the same. 

And to think, Star Swirl was going to sacrifice the Elements of Harmony. 

There's something transactional about him, and I don't quite like it. 

Fortunately, in the Mane 6, we've had some evolution since his day.