S08:E17 - The End in Friend

[YoshiAngemon 223]

Just now, Sparklefan1234 said:

THE END IN FRIEND EPISODE SPOILERS

  Reveal hidden contents

You'd think Rarity would get along better with Rainbow Dash

considering they're both friends with Applejack.

 

Spoiler

Well, they didn't even think of Applejack. Rainbow Dash is competitive with AJ, and Rarity don't get her country looks. I only wish they had hired Discord to rig another fake friendship problem with the Cutie Map, just to save their friendships, but you know, Discord learned his lesson from that little misadventure.

 

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

So my first thoughts on this episode are that I like we got a Rarity/Rainbow Dash episode and I really loved the end portion of the episode and the animation on the backgrounds were amazing in this but the beginning and middle where the 2 are just fighting I didn't like very much. I wish the lesson was about how Twilight should have let Rarity and Rainbow go with the flow like they do at the end instead of trying to get RD and Rarity to articulate specifically why they are friends because I think the main conflict was that the 2 over thought about their friendship. I get that they are now "Professor Rarity" and "Professor Rainbow Dash" so they need to articulate things and teach but in my own life if I tried to do that too much or in the wrong ways things did not turn out well.

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

Not my favorite Raridash monent but lots of cool callbacks,

[Ganondorf8 11,312]

Just when you thought the creatures of Equestria couldn't get any stranger, we're given a brand new one that's definitely strange in the form of the Bufogren. I was honestly surprised to see it appear and I thought it was going to cause trouble, but it turned out to be really friendly despite having some issues due to its nature. At first I thought its quiet voice was the result of the audio messing up but it turned out that was intentional because of its disdain for loud noises. It definitely caught me off guard. As for the episode itself, you could tell what was going to happen from a mile away, but the journey was well worth watching due to references to past episodes, and giving two characters who normally don't get to interact with each other on their own a chance to shine.

Twilight did make the problem by having Rarity and Rainbow do things together--with obvious disastrous results--whilst the students were taking notes, but then that's part of her learning experience as a character. She's not supposed to be perfect at friendship otherwise she would be boring to watch. Starlight being a supporting character this time around really helped out though her stress must have gone through the wringer a few times due to Rarity and Rainbow arguing. Speaking of our starring characters, this gave them some much needed development in terms of interacting with one another and finding some common ground they could relate to.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash could do with more episodes like this.

[JCKane 345]

Hmm... not bad with the episode.  At least I think it did better than the Applejack/Rainbow Dash issue.  Just, well, two things. 1) why does it have to go to those kinds of extremes?  By ending friendships... I dunno, it was 'ok' but I feel like that "We're different so we can't be friends" storyline is over down and I feel like that was a 'tad' forced but I think it had a bit better flow.

2) Predictable.  I'm sorry but I mean... it was pretty predictable that when Starlight is like "I need to get some help" and then poof Twilight suddenly has something disappeared.  Yeah, new they were behind it... so *shrug*

Though, is it just me... or did it seem more like Rarity was doing more things to 'redeem herself' in Rarity's eyes than Rainbow Dash?   She built the raft, fix the frog thing's bad breath... and unlocked the door.  Rainbow dash just... flew her out of the swamp... unless you count the 'making cloud' thing :/

So I dunno.  It was predictable but still a bit interesting... so I feel like it was in between 'liked it' and 'meh' :/

6 hours ago, StitchandMLPlover said:

So my first thoughts on this episode are that I like we got a Rarity/Rainbow Dash episode and I really loved the end portion of the episode and the animation on the backgrounds were amazing in this but the beginning and middle where the 2 are just fighting I didn't like very much. I wish the lesson was about how Twilight should have let Rarity and Rainbow go with the flow like they do at the end instead of trying to get RD and Rarity to articulate specifically why they are friends because I think the main conflict was that the 2 over thought about their friendship. I get that they are now "Professor Rarity" and "Professor Rainbow Dash" so they need to articulate things and teach but in my own life if I tried to do that too much or in the wrong ways things did not turn out well.

I think you hit some nails on the head with this.  Seriously, the main conflict with them was just 'over doing it' (so it seemed) so I think that would of made a better episode then a "We're different we can't be friends... oh wait we have some things that are cool, guess we can be friends" again...

[ImpctR 155]

For the writer of 'Grannies gone wild' not bad, I didn't like the grannies episode much cause the plot was boring but this one is better and went 4/5 like the majority of votes only because of the 2nd more interesting part. If not for that, I would have my remarks of being like 'Non complete clause' and I still have some!

Firstly, I know Rarity is a fun character to have around but it's been a lot of times in season Rarity or Rarity + someone else, so this is again 2 episodes in a row.

On 7/11/2018 at 4:16 AM, Dark Qiviut said:

Synopsis: Rarity and Rainbow Dash begin to question why they are friends when they can't find anything they both like to do together.

Although I see and I like the end lesson, I still think, isn't it a bit unrealistic to think two with so different interests can stay friends? I would say if it isn't them being elements of harmony bearers to make them together, there would be no real necessity for them to be, and they just have to be friends because of their common fate with the elements. Perhaps this should have been explained by Starlight or Twilight why and how they came to be together and with that, have to make compromises.

The episode was for half its first half like 'Non complete clause' making everyone silly and childish for the sake of the episode, then it developed in a nicer way. Good for Starlight being the smarter one, here Twilight was unable to help though. This is OK cause it would be too one-dimensional to have one character be always the one to help with a certain task just cause the expert, as Twi is with friendship.

And the cutest in this scene ofc are Lyra and Bon-Bon, as always.

 

Spoiler

 

Call it intuition but as soon as Twilight mentioned something about lost amulet, having RD and Rarity go together to look for it, I felt it was a set-up!

My gosh, Hasbro how did you think of it, where did you take it from?? This path of glittering is exactly like an idea I had for my WIP/fan game developed just during this year's spring and I never shared the particular image with the path with anyone or uploaded it anywhere and it came to my mind I dont know any game or movie where I have seen it!

I must admit for my fantasy theme, of my game called 'Trails Of Magic' I could get ideas for a female villain from MLP but now I think it's like mine with that path reached someone at Hasbro! 

Here is what the glitter path looks like

 

Spoiler

 

 

and here is what I had. Now this forest itself is from DeviantArt and as can be seen without a magical trail, the artist allowed me to use that pic, but the sparking trail in forest and rest of the cover was totally my addition to have and base the game on that thing! 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Then comes the frog like thing with many eyes, really reminiscent of the fish-guy from The Movie, in that city Klugetown that Tempest easily knocks on the ground. Was it also part of the test? But I've seen an episode like the chars not realizing they are tested, so I realized this is such episode, reminding of another older TV show with female characters.

Edited August 19, 2018 by ImpctR

[StitchandMLPlover 930]

1 hour ago, JCKane said:

Hmm... not bad with the episode.  At least I think it did better than the Applejack/Rainbow Dash issue.  Just, well, two things. 1) why does it have to go to those kinds of extremes?  By ending friendships... I dunno, it was 'ok' but I feel like that "We're different so we can't be friends" storyline is over down and I feel like that was a 'tad' forced but I think it had a bit better flow.

2) Predictable.  I'm sorry but I mean... it was pretty predictable that when Starlight is like "I need to get some help" and then poof Twilight suddenly has something disappeared.  Yeah, new they were behind it... so *shrug*

Though, is it just me... or did it seem more like Rarity was doing more things to 'redeem herself' in Rarity's eyes than Rainbow Dash?   She built the raft, fix the frog thing's bad breath... and unlocked the door.  Rainbow dash just... flew her out of the swamp... unless you count the 'making cloud' thing :/

So I dunno.  It was predictable but still a bit interesting... so I feel like it was in between 'liked it' and 'meh' :/

I think you hit some nails on the head with this.  Seriously, the main conflict with them was just 'over doing it' (so it seemed) so I think that would of made a better episode then a "We're different we can't be friends... oh wait we have some things that are cool, guess we can be friends" again...

Thank you. I'm glad you liked my comments. I feel Rarity and Rainbow Dash do best with each other when they have some sort of quest like saving Equestria together. Unless you count the episodes where its referenced they both like spas. I'm surprised they didn't tell the students they liked going to the spa with Applejack but maybe Rainbow didn't want to admit that in front of students. I think Rainbow Dash contributed by figuring out what the trail of blue stuff was, figuring out what was in the swamp and why it was not safe to cross in the usual matter, making the raft move faster with wing power, explaining the frog like creatures behavior, making the cloud, and flying Rarity up to the door in total. I think the "We can't be friends" part of the story is aimed at the younger target audience i.e 6 to 9 years old because kids have a tendency to call off friendships too quick if they don't immediately like the same toys or tv shows . When I was 6 my girl buddies and I would constantly call friendships off over who liked things like Polly Pocket or Lilo & Stitch or not LOL. That being said when MLP tries to talk about diversity and differences in friendships imho it tends to come off as a bit awkward and forced so I think a better lesson here would definitely be in order. 

 

3 hours ago, Ganondorf8 said:

Just when you thought the creatures of Equestria couldn't get any stranger, we're given a brand new one that's definitely strange in the form of the Bufogren. I was honestly surprised to see it appear and I thought it was going to cause trouble, but it turned out to be really friendly despite having some issues due to its nature. At first I thought its quiet voice was the result of the audio messing up but it turned out that was intentional because of its disdain for loud noises. It definitely caught me off guard. As for the episode itself, you could tell what was going to happen from a mile away, but the journey was well worth watching due to references to past episodes, and giving two characters who normally don't get to interact with each other on their own a chance to shine.

Twilight did make the problem by having Rarity and Rainbow do things together--with obvious disastrous results--whilst the students were taking notes, but then that's part of her learning experience as a character. She's not supposed to be perfect at friendship otherwise she would be boring to watch. Starlight being a supporting character this time around really helped out though her stress must have gone through the wringer a few times due to Rarity and Rainbow arguing. Speaking of our starring characters, this gave them some much needed development in terms of interacting with one another and finding some common ground they could relate to.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash could do with more episodes like this.

I agree I like the new frog like Bufogren and they should add more creatures like him to the Everfree forest. Yes Twilight was at fault and I almost wish she admitted it in this episode. This episode was an example of why in certain instances you have to let friendship flow naturally rather than teach it in a school format because Twilight created a somewhat unnatural situation in which Rarity and RD knew they were being watched which tends to make individuals not act as they normally would. I am glad that at least the Mane 6 at least teach via real life experiences which is way more than most of my own professors did LOL. 

[Sonic5421 423]

Interesting episode that focused on Rarity and Rainbow Dash while also showing a lesson in friendship to the Student Six. Also, I do like how, when Starlight realizes her idea to get Rarity and Rainbow to restore their friendship isn't working, she drags them back to the School, where their arguing quickly is put on the back burner when Twilight reveals one of the artifacts she was entrusted with by Celestia has gone missing, one that could possibly turn Equestria into Inkopolis with a tsunami.

With the situation dire, Rainbow and Rarity agree to look for it together, soon discovering that they do have some things in common after all as they work together to find the artifact. Also, love the introduction of another strange creature of Equestria with the Bufogren, with its sensitive hearing and very bad breath. Then in the end, after Rainbow and Rarity discover a secret passage that leads back to the School of Friendship, they find that Twilight, Starlight, and Spike had staged the whole hunt for the artifact to help Rainbow and Rarity repair their damaged friendship, still showing the Student Six a valuable friendship lesson they can learn from.

Pretty great episode from my point of view, so I'll give it a 9/10.

[TransitPony 238]

Yoo, this was pretty good to say the least. I was really concerned when Rainbow Dash said to Twilight that her friendship with Rarity was over. Speaking of Twilight, she likely had a feeling there was something up between RD and Rarity when she was showing a friendship lesson to the students. Glimmer's idea incredibly worked. 

The students and the notebooks observing everything that happened between Dash and Rarity reminded me of a quote from an interview of George Carlin before he passed away; go to the 3:10 minute mark (I recommend you watch the whole video for yourself, you will like it).

Quote

When your born in this world you're given a ticket to the freak show. And when your born in America, you're given a front row seat. And some of us get to sit there with notebooks. And I'm a notebook *pretends to be a notebook writer* 

 

Edited August 19, 2018 by TransitPony

[Music Chart Fan 819]

While there are a couple of aspects of this episode to like, those aspects of the episode that I don't like serve to drag it down to the point that I dislike it overall. The second half or so of the episode, where Rarity and Rainbow go on an adventure to recover the Amulet of Aurora, is more or less entertaining, and it's nice to see Rainbow and Rarity successfully planning to do things together at the end of the episode, although the moral(s) of this episode definitely bear a strong resemblance to ones done previously on the show. The main problem is the first half of the episode that takes us there. As I discuss below, the episode starts off with a series of painfully awkward scenes in which Rarity, Rainbow, and Twilight struggle to answer questions, and later Rarity and Rainbow argue and blow each other off in full view of Twilight and the class. All of this seems as though it could have been stopped long before it devolved this far, and it looks to me as though Twilight is failing as a teacher to prevent her class from being derailed, and failing to get it back on track. And it could be argued that Rarity and Rainbow ought to be more mature than having their "day of fun" and their relationship degrade this far this quickly. Then Starlight's making the two of them continue to interact just after their blowup doesn't help matters. So while Twilight's, Starlight's and Spike's plan to help Rarity and Rainbow reconnect works in the end, I didn't like the way that we got to the point that that needed to happen.

-----

First I'll talk about the way that having Rarity and Rainbow as invited guests to Twilight's class was handled. It seems to me like Twilight shouldn't invite guest speakers or demonstrators to her class without giving them time to prepare or planning what they will be expected to do and say. What we see in the episode, though, is Rarity (and, in all likelihood, Rainbow too) being asked to act as an example for Twilight's class literally at the last minute. And to further show how unprepared they are, Rainbow isn't even aware that Rarity was also invited to be an example until Rarity shows up.

But if Twilight insists on inviting guests to her class with no chance to plan or prepare, then, as a matter both of keeping her class on track and of courtesy to the invited guests, she should utilize them for whatever specific purpose they're supposed to serve and then dismiss them to let them get on with their own day. If instead they continue to hang around and talk with no preparation or pre-approval of what they're going to say or do, then that runs the risk of their going off-topic or off-message and embarrassing both Twilight and themselves.

So when Twilight is ushering Rarity and Rainbow out the door, and Silverstream then interrupts and asks a question, then either before or after Rarity and Rainbow attempt to answer, Twilight could have said something like "We might follow up with them later, but they really need to get going, and we need to get back to the lesson". It could be considered rude to the invited guests, and liable to create issues, to expect the two of them to try to answer questions when they weren't told they would have to do that, and haven't prepared for it.

And even if Twilight didn't choose that moment to stop the questions, get the class back on track, and let Rarity and Rainbow leave, there were many other times that Twilight could have done so, especially times when they managed to come up with a half-decent answer to a question and save face. Twilight apparently didn't intend to be having any of this question-and-answer session, and presumably has other lesson plans to get to. But instead, Twilight essentially just allows her class to become derailed, and participates in that derailing herself, by continuing to let students blurt out questions and continuing to have Rarity, Rainbow, herself, or even Starlight awkwardly try to answer them.

For their part, I would think that Rarity and Rainbow would want to minimize their time spent speaking without preparation in Twilight's class, and thus would want to just do whatever specific thing Twilight invited them to do and then leave. If they're not prepared for an extemporaneous question-and-answer session, then participating in that is liable to derail the class and potentially embarrass them. So, when Silverstream asks what Rarity and Rainbow are going to do together, and it quickly becomes obvious that they haven't worked that out, then they could just say something like "Well, we'll have to talk about it and figure it out. Bye!" and then leave. Twilight didn't intend for them to stick around any longer, and they weren't prepared to do so, so it seems like the best thing to do would be to let Twilight continue with her lesson plan.

And again, even if the two of them didn't choose that moment to stop answering questions and leave, there were several other times that they could have done so. But, whether out of a sense of obligation to Twilight or whatever else, they continue to hang around and awkwardly try to answer student questions, rather than (understandably) excusing themselves.

The painful awkwardness continues with the ill-considered decision to follow Rarity and Rainbow around on their "day of fun", even as Rarity and Rainbow had already shown that they hadn't even worked out together what they were going to do yet. Even if the "day of fun" hadn't crashed and burned like it did in the episode, it would still seem like a bad idea to do this with no planning or preparation. Rarity and Rainbow may not act as they normally would under the pressure of observation; Rarity and Rainbow may not exhibit many (or any) teachable moments; Twilight could struggle to relate what Rarity and Rainbow are doing to the lessons that the students are supposed to be learning; a lack of structure and significant downtime could lead students to be distracted and bored and not get anything out of this field trip; etc. But even as Rarity and Rainbow keep arguing with each other and blowing each other off, Twilight still apparently never finds a good place to cut this "experiment" off before it goes bad again or gets worse.

I'll conclude this section with a couple of things about all this that I find a little dispiriting. First, isn't this the same Twilight who wrote an entire curriculum for her school before it opened, and who wrote a rule book for her school that's about a foot thick? Isn't this the same Twilight who had a 70-point back-up plan on a thick roll of parchment giving directions for what to do if she and the Mane Six had to leave the school? So, as I also wrote about "Horse Play", it's frustrating to watch Twilight - who has in other cases made detailed plans and tried to anticipate problems - seem to make these off-the-cuff decisions without thinking them through, just to have them predictably go wrong.

And also, what should we take away from Twilight's failing to get back on track with her original lesson plan in the classroom, and her plowing ahead with observing Rarity and Rainbow as their "day of fun" keeps going badly? Is it evidence of Twilight's lack of experience as a teacher? Did Twilight just keep thinking that this ill-considered experiment was right on the verge of turning around into something great? Was Twilight exhibiting the same stubborn and self-interested refusal to admit that she's wrong which she displayed in "Horse Play"? I don't know what to make of it.

-----

There's another point that I made in discussing "Uncommon Bond" that looks as though it also applies here - namely, that a little bit of planning a "friends' day out" probably goes a long way. In both "Uncommon Bond" and this episode, it seems as though the two friends who plan to hang out haven't discussed together mutually enjoyable activities to do. Instead, the friends seem to think of activities by themselves and then just drag the other along with little or no input, creating frustration and resentment. This seems easy enough to avoid - either talk together about activities that both friends will want to do before the "friends' day out", or have the first thing on that day be to, say, get some food and catch up, including then discussing what to do afterward. In fact, that seems like it could have a response that Rarity or Rainbow could have made after realizing that they're not agreeing on what they'll do on their "day of fun" - just say something like "Well, we'll start by getting some breakfast and catching up".

After Rarity's and Rainbow's "day of fun" crashes and burns, it seems to me that they could probably use some time apart from each other to cool off and to get their minds off of thinking of all the reasons they don't like each other. So I don't really think that making the two of them continue to interact so soon after their blowup is helping. And, admittedly, I didn't see the "read a book from each others' favorite book series" idea coming, but I'm not surprised that it didn't work. Rarity and Rainbow could probably use some time away from reminders of why they dislike each other, including each other's favorite book series. But also, being assigned to read books just reminds me of all of the books we were assigned to read in high school English classes, most of which I skimmed, half-read, and/or read the Cliffs Notes for, and promptly forgot about soon after taking the tests on them. I would think that, in general, it's going to be pretty hard to get people to read a whole book that they have no interest or desire to read, let alone then trying to have any in-depth discussion about it afterward.

Now here's the rest of my miscellaneous observations:

If Twilight's class has already started, maybe Rarity shouldn't loudly announce herself as she comes in?

Over the course of this episode, we see that dragons, griffons, and hippogriffs can hold writing utensils in their claws, and unicorns can hold writing utensils with their magic, but the other ponies and yaks have to hold writing utensils in their mouths to write. Interestingly, Ocellus also uses her mouth to write. Could she be allowed to transform into something that has digits to hold a pencil? Is she just used to writing with her mouth? How recently have changelings even learned to write? Did they ever learn to write under Chrysalis's rule?

Also, could the students get some solid surface to write on? I know I would hate having to try to hold a notebook up or in my lap while writing in it. At the end of the episode, half of the class is even flapping their wings and hovering in the air while simultaneously holding their notebooks at the ready to write in them.

I didn't think that gems are so brittle that they would shatter just from falling a few feet onto the ground.

Do school guidance counselors typically mediate disputes between fellow faculty members? That struck me as being a kind of odd thing to be doing.

Rarity's complaining that the Daring Do series has "silly unpronounceable names", presumably because they come from another language, seems a bit out of place for someone who "respects the finer things" to be doing.

So, in the course of about 20 seconds, Starlight teleported to Twilight and Spike, they all came up with this plan to get Rarity and Rainbow to cooperate on an adventure to recover the Amulet of Aurora, and Starlight teleported back to grab Rarity and Rainbow to put the plan in action.

Considering that we can see where the geysers are, couldn't Rainbow still fly and follow the blue sparkly trail while just avoiding the geysers?

So squeezing a cloud through Rarity's handkerchief produced something with the consistency of toothpaste? Would that be consistent with pegasi being able to walk on clouds and shape them into buildings and such?

Rarity and Rainbow seem to have lucked out that the bufogren liked, or at least didn't mind, the "effervescence" that Rarity gave it. I could imagine the bufogren not liking having its mouth cleaned, and getting angry with the two of them for tricking it into eating something that did that.

Why does the Friendship School have a secret tunnel from the swamp leading to it? Did the tunnel pre-date the school? Did Twilight specifically have that tunnel built? The door to the secret passage looks to have the Elements of Harmony on it, suggesting that it might be connected to the school somehow. Is it supposed to be an emergency exit or something? I also wonder about the security of it, if all it took to unlock the door was spinning the (smooth) heel of a stiletto in the keyhole a couple of times.

Finally, this episode does mark another (admittedly offscreen) instance of Spike using his wings, so it's nice to see that.

[Varrack 1,080]

The amulet hunt being a setup was rather predictable. It was obvious right when it began.

RD and Rarity, who have been friends for years and been through so many things together, just decided to end friendship in a matter of hours. Not only is that somewhat OOC for them, it ended over something as trivial as not having the same interests. They've known about their differences all this time...why did it suddenly become a problem now when it hadn't for years?

Why did it have to outside help to get them to get along again? If their friendship was so strong before, surely they would've been able to resolve themselves at some point, but it took an outside setup (as if we haven't had enough 'setups' this season...) to fix their friendship.

The fact that external factors both ignited and ended the conflict seems to send the message that their friendship is fragile and not something that can be maintained under pressure or without outside help. For an intra-Mane 6 relationship, that doesn't seem right at all.

I suppose this episode wasn't the worst it could've been, but the message kind of got lost on me.

[Justin_Case001 4,889]

I actually had hope for this episode, because discovering that you and your longtime friend might not share the same interests you used to is a realistic and identifiable problem.  It's actually a problem I'm sort of going through right now, to an extent.  One of my best friends is big into paintball, and I used to be, a decade ago, and I'm finding it very difficult to break it to him that it's not something I'm interested in anymore for a variety of reasons.  It happens.  Interests change.  But the difference between us and the ponies is that we're not going to start screaming at each other that we're not friends anymore.  We'll just have to come up with other things to do.  We'll always be friends because we love each other. 

I had hopes that they'd take the mature route in this episode, and that it might be really relatable, but I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.  I just knew that it was going to be a Ricardos vs. Mertzes shouting match.  I HATE immaturity.  It's my biggest pet peeve.  This show can and has created conflict beautifully without immaturity.  This very episode could have done it without immaturity.  You can have arguments or even difficult tests or strains on your friendship without immaturity.  I hate the "WE'RE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE!!" shouting matches.  I'm so sick of crap like that.  I realize people do grow apart in real life (although we certainly wouldn't want any of the mane six to stop being friends), but it's the childish yelling and the snap decisions that they suddenly hate each other that I can't stand.  These ponies are adults, and yet often times the writers seem to forget that and make them sound like 7-years olds.  Make up your damn minds.  Are they adults, or are they 7-years olds? 

I liked it when they showed real maturity, like Wonderbolts Academy and Amending Fences.  Now it's all Non-Compete Clause and End in Friend.  Next week's also sounds like a promising premise, but I'm sure that's also just going to be another, "I hate you guys!!  I'm leaving forever!!" routine.  I'm not giving up on this show, but I wish they'd knock it off with the childish fights.  I've never liked that stuff...in any show, really.

[Luminance 2,186]

I dislike all the fighting and such. So much yelling and stress. What happened to the lighter show with less drama...This feels just so hard to watch.

Edited August 21, 2018 by Luminance

[RDDash 19,181]

After rewatching episode several times the boots Rarity had been wearing was so out of place that they had been littering the endless supply of magical glitter everywhere, in the shop , in the Starlight's office, in the school in general, in the woods. At the end there was only one possible use for them is that they somehow are capable of unlocking doors. Which I am pretty sure they can't actually do in real life. Also part of me really felt like Rainbow and Rarity could have snapped at Twilight for constantly following them around with students.

Edited August 21, 2018 by R.D.Dash

[Senko 459]

3 hours ago, R.D.Dash said:

After rewatching episode several times the boots Rarity had been wearing was so out of place that they had been littering the endless supply of magical glitter everywhere, in the shop , in the Starlight's office, in the school in general, in the woods. At the end there was only one possible use for them is that they somehow are capable of unlocking doors. Which I am pretty sure they can't actually do in real life. Also part of me really felt like Rainbow and Rarity could have snapped at Twilight for constantly following them around with students.

You never know I've opened padlocks with other padlocks in the past and then there were the poorly secured ones that feel open with a tap. That said aside from a single joke there wasn't much made of her glitter spread which seemed odd.

[Compeador 101]

19 hours ago, Justin_Case001 said:

I actually had hope for this episode, because discovering that you and your longtime friend might not share the same interests you used to is a realistic and identifiable problem.  It's actually a problem I'm sort of going through right now, to an extent.  One of my best friends is big into paintball, and I used to be, a decade ago, and I'm finding it very difficult to break it to him that it's not something I'm interested in anymore for a variety of reasons.  It happens.  Interests change.  But the difference between us and the ponies is that we're not going to start screaming at each other that we're not friends anymore.  We'll just have to come up with other things to do.  We'll always be friends because we love each other. 

I had hopes that they'd take the mature route in this episode, and that it might be really relatable, but I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.  I just knew that it was going to be a Ricardos vs. Mertzes shouting match.  I HATE immaturity.  It's my biggest pet peeve.  This show can and has created conflict beautifully without immaturity.  This very episode could have done it without immaturity.  You can have arguments or even difficult tests or strains on your friendship without immaturity.  I hate the "WE'RE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE!!" shouting matches.  I'm so sick of crap like that.  I realize people do grow apart in real life (although we certainly wouldn't want any of the mane six to stop being friends), but it's the childish yelling and the snap decisions that they suddenly hate each other that I can't stand.  These ponies are adults, and yet often times the writers seem to forget that and make them sound like 7-years olds.  Make up your damn minds.  Are they adults, or are they 7-years olds? 

I liked it when they showed real maturity, like Wonderbolts Academy and Amending Fences.  Now it's all Non-Compete Clause and End in Friend.  Next week's also sounds like a promising premise, but I'm sure that's also just going to be another, "I hate you guys!!  I'm leaving forever!!" routine.  I'm not giving up on this show, but I wish they'd knock it off with the childish fights.  I've never liked that stuff...in any show, really.

Couldn't agree more, these story writers seem to think the ponies are the reflection of immature kids instead of mature and grown women/men. In this scenario(or the most S8 EPs) I can only watch the episode with zero expectation and pretend they already abandoned the character development from previous seasons...at least that makes my ass less pain

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

This episode totally reminded me of that one song from Charlotte's Web "Where It Really Counts". Like seriously...Rarity and Rainbow are almost the opposite, but as the song "Where It Really Counts" says, they have lots in common where it really counts the most: they love each other as friends, they both love Equestria and all that...great episode overall. The resolution was well done as well. 

[Misty Shadow 7,874]

I'll admit that when I first heard about this episode's plot synopsis, I wasn't too excited. Like many, I am getting somewhat tired of drama and fighting in the show being made the outlier for a serious plot. It still makes for good entertainment, but the "threat of a friendship ruined" conflict never builds any suspense because we always know that they're going to reconcile in the end. That being said, I did like how everything built up to Rarity and Rainbow Dash solving a mystery together and finding creative ways to get past obstacles. One other thing I slightly took issue with was that even though neither of them were supposed to be in the right, I was able to empathize with Rainbow Dash more. She at least did not pretend to be invested in what Rarity wanted to do, was the first to come clean about not doing the book challenge, and even made a good point about the impracticality of Rarity's fashion designs. I don't know, I've just come to prefer "tell it like it is" types more.

[Here No Longer 5,276]

Good: I found the moment where Rainbow Dash dissed trying on Rarity's boots a little funny (for my own weird reason). That's it.

 

Bad

• On ‎8‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 1:49 AM, Justin_Case001 said:

  

  I actually had hope for this episode, because discovering that you and your longtime friend might not share the same interests you used to is a realistic and identifiable problem.  It's actually a problem I'm sort of going through right now, to an extent.  One of my best friends is big into paintball, and I used to be, a decade ago, and I'm finding it very difficult to break it to him that it's not something I'm interested in anymore for a variety of reasons.  It happens.  Interests change.  But the difference between us and the ponies is that we're not going to start screaming at each other that we're not friends anymore.  We'll just have to come up with other things to do.  We'll always be friends because we love each other. 

  I had hopes that they'd take the mature route in this episode, and that it might be really relatable, but I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.  I just knew that it was going to be a Ricardos vs. Mertzes shouting match.  I HATE immaturity.  It's my biggest pet peeve.  This show can and has created conflict beautifully without immaturity.  This very episode could have done it without immaturity.  You can have arguments or even difficult tests or strains on your friendship without immaturity.  I hate the "WE'RE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE!!" shouting matches.  I'm so sick of crap like that.  I realize people do grow apart in real life (although we certainly wouldn't want any of the mane six to stop being friends), but it's the childish yelling and the snap decisions that they suddenly hate each other that I can't stand.  These ponies are adults, and yet often times the writers seem to forget that and make them sound like 7-years olds.  Make up your damn minds.  Are they adults, or are they 7-years olds? 

  I liked it when they showed real maturity, like Wonderbolts Academy and Amending Fences.  Now it's all Non-Compete Clause and End in Friend.  Next week's also sounds like a promising premise, but I'm sure that's also just going to be another, "I hate you guys!!  I'm leaving forever!!" routine.  I'm not giving up on this show, but I wish they'd knock it off with the childish fights.  I've never liked that stuff...in any show, really.

  This, and I'll add another complaint: Rarity and RD were blatantly OOC just for the sake of creating the whole conflict in the first place. They may not show much interest in each other, but they've never once acted out like this before to ANYONE. They've both had their moments, sure, but NOT A WHOLE EPISODE OF THEM ALL COMPILED TOGETHER.

   

 

Basically, it's Non-Compete Clause 2.0. It's not as bad as some episodes like the horror known as "Fake it 'Til You Make It", But it's a REAL shame it was written by the same writer who wrote "Grannies Gone Wild", which is as of now the second best episode in the season, IMO.  Now she writes what I consider the second worst episode of the season and one of the worst in the series.  But that was a whole different kind of episode. Maybe she should stick to episodes like that, because she can write them really well. I don't like bashing, but the only things to say about this episode are negative. I can't go higher than 3/10 here. It's just that bad.

I thought Season 8 was going really well for a while, but I guess it's coming back to being hit or miss, and this was a huge miss, even worse than Non-Compete Clause in my opinion. The consistency this season has really, really been lacking. From episodes like "The Mean Six", "The Break-Up Breakdown" and "Grannies Gone Wild" to "Fake It 'Til You Make It", "Non-Compete Clause", and this atrocity, the quality seems to just be all over the place. 

Edited August 27, 2018 by Barik, the Master Mechanic

[gingerninja666 487]

39 minutes ago, Barik, the Master Mechanic said:

Good: I found the moment where Rainbow Dash dissed trying on Rarity's boots a little funny (for my own weird reason). That's it.

 

Bad

• This, and I'll add another complaint: Rarity and RD were blatantly OOC just for the sake of creating the whole conflict in the first place. They may not show much interest in each other, but they've never once acted out like this before to ANYONE. They've both had their moments, sure, but NOT A WHOLE EPISODE OF THEM ALL COMPILED TOGETHER.

   

 

Basically, it's Non-Compete Clause 2.0. It's not as bad as some episodes like the horror known as "Fake it 'Til You Make It", But it's a REAL shame it was written by the same writer who wrote "Grannies Gone Wild", which is as of now the second best episode in the season, IMO.  Now she writes what I consider the second worst episode of the season and one of the worst in the series.  But that was a whole different kind of episode. Maybe she should stick to episodes like that, because she can write them really well. I don't like bashing, but the only things to say about this episode are negative. I can't go higher than 3/10 here. It's just that bad.

I thought Season 8 was going really well for a while, but I guess it's coming back to being hit or miss, and this was a huge miss, even worse than Non-Compete Clause in my opinion. The consistency this season has really, really been lacking. From episodes like "The Mean Six", "The Break-Up Breakdown" and "Grannies Gone Wild" to "Fake It 'Til You Make It", "Non-Compete Clause", and this atrocity, the quality seems to just be all over the place. 

I can only speak personally, but I think the next 4 episodes after Yakity Sax at least are good to great. Or even if someone isn't as high on them  as I am, I can't really see them being considered nearly as bad as End in Friend or Non Compete.

Edited August 27, 2018 by gingerninja666

[Here No Longer 5,276]

Just now, gingerninja666 said:

I can only speak personally, but I think the next 4 episodes after Yakity Sax at least are good to great. Or even if someone isn't as high on them  as I am, I can't really see them being considered nearly as bad as End in Friend or Non Compete.

I certainly hope so. Even if they aren't, it's still not going to get as miserable as Season 7 was before "A Royal Problem" aired. I almost quit watching the show over the lack of even decent episodes in that timeframe. With episodes like "Honest Apple" and "Hard to Say Anything", it's hard to blame me.

 

[JCKane 345]

On ‎8‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 7:32 PM, StitchandMLPlover said:

Thank you. I'm glad you liked my comments. I feel Rarity and Rainbow Dash do best with each other when they have some sort of quest like saving Equestria together. Unless you count the episodes where its referenced they both like spas. I'm surprised they didn't tell the students they liked going to the spa with Applejack but maybe Rainbow didn't want to admit that in front of students. I think Rainbow Dash contributed by figuring out what the trail of blue stuff was, figuring out what was in the swamp and why it was not safe to cross in the usual matter, making the raft move faster with wing power, explaining the frog like creatures behavior, making the cloud, and flying Rarity up to the door in total. I think the "We can't be friends" part of the story is aimed at the younger target audience i.e 6 to 9 years old because kids have a tendency to call off friendships too quick if they don't immediately like the same toys or tv shows . When I was 6 my girl buddies and I would constantly call friendships off over who liked things like Polly Pocket or Lilo & Stitch or not LOL. That being said when MLP tries to talk about diversity and differences in friendships imho it tends to come off as a bit awkward and forced so I think a better lesson here would definitely be in order. 

 

Yeah I can see those points about what Rainbowdash did.  Problem is, the things I mentioned with rarity, the show actually imphasised it by having Rainbow Dash have a "That's pretty cool" moment or what not.  You only got like one of those with Rarity.

And Ah, I can see that.  I barely had any friends growing up so can't say I really knew about that.  Social outcast after all!   But, I still feel like it could of done better.  Maybe do something a bit close, but not exactly "We're not friends any more" extremes.   It's more on what they decide to 'stress' or emphasis in the show.  So while they could feel like their friendship is over, I think it could of done a bit more on emphasizing something else.. or just have it feel more natural.

[Cash In 22,314]

I liked this one. Although, I will admit, the whole fight between Rarity and Rainbow Dash was a bit dumb.

I liked the introduction of the new creature - The Bufogren. I'm curious if that particular species will be incorporated in future episodes. I'm also glad that the episode touched on the fact that good friends don't always need to like the exact same things.

[Allen 1,387]

The Amulet of Aurora is found in the School of Friendship with Spike holding it after both Rarity and Rainbow Dash reached the end of the trail of Azurantium, they both stop this argument as a conclusion to do teamwork and be kind with each other, this is part of friendship to fix their differences. I kindly tell both Rarity and Rainbow Dash not to cut off from each other of this episode title. I will say this is a good episode, based on episode rating by users in a poll. 

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

I enjoyed this episode, it was a well done Rarity and Rainbow Dash episode with a well done moral and good dialogue and plot. Friends can have disagreements, but it's important to not let it get in the way of your friendship. I liked seeing Rarity and Rainbow go on a hunt to find the missing artifact only to realize it was a plan to get them to make up. 9/10.