S08:E07 - Horse Play

[Dark Qiviut 22,160]

Quote

AJ: Why in tarnation are y'all so starstruck? We've met Princess Celestia before, plenty of times.

SG: Those were formal things — galas, world saving. This is different. Imagine doing sweaty warmups with a princess, blowing warmups in front of a princess, sitting around just…talking with a princess.

TS: I'm a princess. You talk to me.

SG: That's different. You're not a princess princess.

TS *sarcastically*: Uh…thanks.

Laughed the first time hearing this exchange last year, and it's still as clever and witty as ever. XD

[Will Guide 21,325]

Yay, The Method Mares from S5’s “Made in Manehatten” are back. And in my opinion, they are the funniest part of this particular episode.

…..

Twilight’s Stepford Smile face to Celestia’s attempt at Charades is going to spread over the Web. To quote Spike, “Now that’s the best acting I’ve seen all day.”

[Batbrony 15,994]

When it all blows up in Twilight's face...

Bravo, Twilight, bravo.  Yet another instance of, "Should've listened to Applejack right from the get-go!" 

[ggg-2 3,550]

Aw.....angry Twilight didn't evolve into a winged Rapidash this time. 

[Will Guide 21,325]

Yep, those are definitely fireworks made by Trixie. The Largest one had her Cutie Mark on it and it explodes into an image of herself.

And Spike about to juggle gave me a new memorable face of nervousness to add to the gallery.

[cmarston1 5,951]

So another Celestia focused episode.  I am down for that, given how she really really needs to make up for some lost time at this point.

I thought that this episode was great.  For starters Celestia getting more focus and development is always a good thing, and her being a bad actress was pretty funny.  Starlight actually feeling like a part of the mane 6 friend group and not just Twilight's friend for once was nice. I enjoyed the return of Flutterlestia as well. Also this episode in general was pretty funny.  This episode was the most fun I have had with the season so far.

I have a feeling the season is starting to pick up.

[Will Guide 21,325]

Fluttershy officially doing the role of Celestia reminds me of this scene from a fanmade video:

 

[Batbrony 15,994]

Princess Celestia > Director than Twilight 

Also, the return of Trollestia at the end there was very gratifying to see.

Glad to see AJ got her proper credit as well for having the right mindset from the very beginning given that, so often, she's so modest that she doesn't even take the, "Told ya so" route.  All in all, this was a great episode that I had a lot of fun watching.

[Castle Bleck 19,163]

TFW at-least some of The Journal Of The Two Sisters became canon again.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Castle Bleck

[Will Guide 21,325]

Just now, A.V. said:

TFW at least some of The Journal Of The Two Sisters became canon again...

 

 

That's what I pointed out earlier.

[YoshiAngemon 223]

Well, it was Fluttershy's SECOND time playing Celestia. First WAS in "Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3," when she helped Rainbow Dash pass the written part of the Wonderbolts Exam.

[Brainstorm 4,092]

Even though Celestia isn't very good at acting, she'll always be a good princess. I wonder if Trixie knew Pinkie borrowed her fireworks.

I wonder if Twilight told Silverstream she met Terramar back at Mount Aris,.

[jorge123esp 912]

Well, this is probably the funniest episode of the season at the moment. Holy moly I laughed a lot with this episode , but... I'm also kind of disappointed with this episode too. I expected a different end, but well, overall is a good episode. 

Spoiler

And yes, Trollestia is back

 

[Castle Bleck 19,163]

Celestia (acting): "While you were still learning how to SPELL YOUR NAME… I was being trained to RAISE THE SUN!"

Edited August 6, 2023 by Castle Bleck

[KH7672 1,604]

6 minutes ago, SwitchGuy2018 said:

Fluttershy officially doing the role of Celestia reminds me of this scene from a fanmade video.

I mean animation-wise and possibly in universe-wise I like to believe it was just because they could just use recycled models/costumes for the part.

Also Fluttershy got over stage fright in this world as well, huh. The question is does she imagine everypony as Applejack or did Rainbow Dash let her commentate on a Buckball match?

[Dark Qiviut 22,160]

>Celestia's Royal Canterlot voice

I'm surprised no princess feels so hoarse afterwards.

[PoisonClaw 8,153]

This is how I feel right now...

 

I adored this episode in so many ways, it would take forever to list them all. First and foremost, I love the comedic timing of this episode. Everything from Twilight's deadpan reaction and build stress, to Rainbow Dash coming in to announce (to everypony's horror) that pretty much all of Equestria will be there to see it, to seeing the joy of Celestia prancing around like a school filly had me nearly fall out of my seat laughing more than once with how perfectly timed it was.

But most of all, I love the sheer amount of characterization Celestia got throughout this episode, showing yet again that Celestia is no different than any other pony despite her role as princess. After season after season of little to no Celestia, seeing Best Princess taking center stage (albeit not literally in this case...) was amazing. And she wasn't the only one, as everyone else got plenty of excellent screen time to shine, like AJ being right (yet again), Rarity freaking out about the outfits and Pinkie being... well, Pinkie.

Overall, I'd rank this as one of my favorite episodes of the season thus far, if not my new favorite episode overall.     

[Will Guide 21,325]

7 minutes ago, Brainstorm said:

Even though Celestia isn't very good at acting, she'll always be a good princess. I wonder if Trixie knew Pinkie borrowed her fireworks.

Pinkie Pie flat-out said she got them from Trixie in a back alley at midnight.

Edited April 28, 2018 by SwitchGuy2018

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,237]

Decent episode. The highlight was the large amount of visual humor, Great faces, funny little gags like Silverstream and Gallus playing dead, and Trixie's face after the rocket explosion was hilarious. Here's where the episode lost me: Celestia. Namely, her attitude after realizing Twilight's lie. This once again makes Twilight into some jerk for no real reason. She had only good intentions, and that alone should have meant something. What makes that worse is Celestia's actions afterwards. A princess who has been alive for over 1,000 years, has dealt with tons of hardship like banishing her sister to the moon and all it takes is a lie laced with very good intentions from her star pupil and one of her best friends for her to get all pouty and bitter. Suck it the fuck up Celestia, christ. That might sound harsh, but for a character that acts all perfect and level headed in nearly every scenario, her getting so upset to fly off without talking it out seems very bitter of her. I know, conflict has to happen, but I wish they wouldn't make Twilight look so damn stupid to accomplish that on top of making Celestia look a bit like an idiot herself and not because of her acting either.

The visual humor is what saved this one for me. If Celestia and Twilight were written a lot better, this would have been a 9 or 10 from me, but I can only give it a 6 maybe.

[Batbrony 15,994]

P.S. Was also quite pleased to see that Twilight didn't get to play Celestia, but instead Fluttershy.  It would've been pretty insulting and annoying if Twilight had gotten to take center-stage after all the mistakes she made in this episode.  Glad the episode didn't indulge in the show's all-too-often need to thrust Twilight into the spotlight, at least in ways that hurt the episode.

[Brainstorm 4,092]

8 minutes ago, SwitchGuy2018 said:

Pinkie Pie flat-out said she got them from Trixie in a back alley at midnight.

So she did know, but Pinkie didn't test them.

[CastletonSnob 3,025]

Could S8 be the best season yet?

[Zantetsuken 364]

Another new writer... and I didn't like this episode.

I am not liking season 8 much. Not many episodes are standing out to me, and this episode certainly didn't break that chain.

I am going to bring up a very logical question my friend posed. Why is Celestia having so much trouble acting when part of her job is technically acting? Do you remember Royal Problem? Celestia said that even though she is tired during the day she still puts on a smile... isn't that sort of like acting in a way? Whenever Celestia is in front of other ponies I imagine she is often wearing a metaphorical mask of sorts. I do believe being on a stage performing for others is a different thing BUT I think it is similar enough that Celestia shouldn't have had as big an issue with it as she did. 

The thing about this episode is there are glimmers of competency in here, places where a few more minor tweaks could have made the story smoother. This new writer is not a complete lost cause. I mean this episode has a similar problem to Fake It Til You Make It or The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows as examples where the character is put into a situation they really should know how to handle but don't because plot.

It not the worst thing I have seen but it's still underwhelming 6/10 

Edited April 28, 2018 by Zantetsuken

[Dynamo Pad 10,775]

I thought this episode was pretty awesome! It's always great to see another Celestia focused episode. It's also pretty cool how it's Celestia's 1,111th anniversary of raising the sun. I wonder if Pinkie had the info in her party planning cave. It was really funny how Celestia pranced around like a filly when she heard that there would be a play. I like how Fluttershy was able to get over her stage fright to be able to play as Celestia. It also looked as if Fluttershy was disappointed when she heard that Princess Celestia, herself, would be the star of the play. I found Starlight's comment to Twilight to be hilarious, in my opinion. I was also surprised that Pinkie didn't use the giant party canon that was used in the movie. Celestia's stage moments throughout this episode were funny and enjoyable. I also liked how we got to see Celestia's Canterlot voice. I could be wrong, but I think that's the first time that Celestia used that voice. If not, then it was still great to see. but it w It was awesome to see some of the ponies from the Method Mares to show up again. It's been quite a while since we last seen them and the acting lessons were funny. I liked how Pinkie brought out the fireworks that she got from Trixie. I would question why Pinkie was out at midnight to get fireworks from Trixie in a back alley. However, I shouldn't because Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie and there's no questioning that form of logic. It was disheartening to see Celestia upset and leaving when hearing about everything from Twilight. I was happy that Twilight and Celestia were able to have a heart to heart talk and work things out. I also liked how Fluttershy was in the same Celestia outfit from the episode, "Testing Testing, 1, 2, 3."  All in all, I found the episode to be enjoyable. The lesson was pretty good and the comedic moments were pretty hilarious. I hope we get to see more Celestia episodes in the future. 

[Dark Qiviut 22,160]

Quote

TS: Any other suggestions?

Spike: Why don't we just cancel the show?

TS: Real suggestions.

Spike. No, think about it. Right now, most of Equestria doesn't even know we're doing a onesversary play. If we shut it down…

Rarity: Nopony will ever miss it!

SG: So they'll never find out Princess Celestia's a bad actress.

FS: And she won't be embarrassed.

PP: Ah! It's the perfect plan!

>on cue, Dash returns after telling everyone in Equestria the play

Do I have to remind everyone how good the dialogue is in this episode?

Edited April 28, 2018 by Dark Qiviut