S03:E01+02 - The Crystal Empire

[Moony the Cat 3,701]

I liked this Two Parter, not as much as the last one, but it was still good. The only thing i found a tiny bit sad, was the fact that Sombra didnt do all that much. Except for the past, he was locked out most of the time.He was still a cool Villain, specially since he didnt talk all that much, makes him a bit more mysterious.

[Meushell 52]

Great episode.

Poor, poor Cadance. Barely any recovery time from the last episode before this all happens. It’s kind of creepy that it was a test for Twilight as Cadance suffered. I’m going to assume Celestia would have stepped in if she had failed. Maybe she was still recovering herself.

Aw, Dash and Fluttershy in armor.

It is a bit strange that “Have a fair” is part of the solution. I wonder how many of the crystal ponies lost families and friends that were outside of their city/empire? Do they have a chance to meet descendants of anyone they knew? 

I do sort of wished Sombra survived to attack again, but only if he remained a villain. I don’t read the comics. Are they canon? He just seemed like such a powerful, clever, and downright evil villain. No other villain has had that.

 

Edited July 13, 2018 by Meushell

[bigbertha 414]

This is the best adventure of the show. It feels epic in scope yet still keeps its focus on the mane six. The drama feels real and the comedy works really well. Sombra had a great presence throughout the episode which gave some real stakes to the story. The only thing to complain about is the tone. The shifts between comedy at the fair and drama in the castle are not as smooth as they should be. Aside from that, this two parter is what "A Canterlot Wedding" should've been.

Score: 10/10

[bigbertha 414]

There's some issues with continuity here. Celestia says that the Crystal Empire was taken over 1,000 years ago and says even her knowledge of the Empire is limited. This makes no sense because at this point, 1,000 years ago would be during Luna's time on the moon. Celestia was presumably already a princess for a while once Sombra took over and thus should've had to deal with the Empire before he took over. So she should have a good amount of knowledge. And there's the flashback to defeating Sombra that includes Luna when it shouldn't. All of this makes the entire premise of the episode feel like an ass-pull to get some more toys. It makes me care about the Empire less which is pretty bad when all of the tension comes from caring enough about the Empire to fear it being ruled by Sombra again.

There are some other issues here too. There are some moments where the dramatic and comedic tones clash, though it's not a huge problem. What is a pretty big problem is that the episode isn't that funny. Pinkie has some good bits and there are a couple other jokes, but there's not that much here. Rarity also feels a little one note. 

On the positive side, Twilight's story is decent. It's not exactly great (especially coming off of A Canterlot Wedding), but it's serviceable enough. It's a pretty simple arc of learning self sacrifice, but it works. I like that Spike gets a big role at the end. And the climax in general is pretty exciting. Definitely the best part of the episode. Sombra is a fine villain too. He's not interesting or really fun, but he serves his purpose of being a threat.

In the end, with most of the tension doing nothing for me, there's not much to this episode. There's a conflict for Twilight, but it's overshadowed by A Canterlot Wedding and the conflict itself isn't that good. Some of the jokes work, but a lot of them fall flat. Everything in the episode falls towards the middle. I can see the effort put into a lot of parts of the episode, but it's not doing much for me.

Score: 4/10

[Wonderpony 3]

Hoping that they make Sombra more threating in the future.

[Rushing cash 835]

I enjoyed this episode, the premise was intriguing and had a lot of potential. Sombra is my favorite villain with his awesome design and the aura that I felt every time he was mentioned not to mention his mysterious nature. The pacing of the episode was great and it did not felt rushed. However, some characters felt... off. Cadence cutie mark being the crystal heart was very clever. Sombra was supposed to be more like a force rather than a character and the focus of the episode is stop sombra before he regains full powe, that's why his defeat felt like a missed opportunity after all the built up. 8.5\10      

[TheAnimationFanatic 3,583]

This is a pretty solid two-parter, but in my opinion, it's the weakest Season premiere. It's not that there's nothing inherently bad about it, but rather that it needed something to give it an extra punch. There was a huge missed opportunity in not following more on the events of "A Canterlot Wedding". I wished that they showed that there were repercussions from the rehearsal. 

Have it set a month after the wedding. Things are awkward between Twilight and her friends. She blames herself for her blunder, worries about them ditching her again, and even wonders if she can trust them again after they hurt her.

The others still feel guilty about not listening to and then leaving Twilight, fearing that their choices severed their connection to the Element of Magic. Spike is so consumed with guilt that he fears that Twilight will replace him.

Cadence meanwhile is still having nightmares about being in the caves, which comes at the worst time as Sombra is trying to invade. 

Perhaps the arc of the season could be about the Mane 6 trying to re-establish trust and reconnect to the Elements. 

[SunburstRainbow2019 3]

All I can say about this episode:


CRYSTAL PONIES!

Gotta love Rarity

[starlightglimmerlove 10]

This eposide is Great! I like Cadence

[Splashee 28,558]

On 1/13/2013 at 9:33 PM, Emerald Heart said:

are they going to do that everytime? 'sunshine shunshine ladybugs awake, clap your hoofs and do a little shake?' what happens when they re both really old and they are still doing it? will one break a hip or something?

It was cool that they did it so many times in do many episodes, however they skipped it later on.

But if they had continued, Twilight would somehow outgrow Princess Cadance, even though both are princesses. Never thought about that

[Justin_Case001 4,872]

I never reviewed this one?  You gotta be kiddin' me.  Well, anyway, I loved it.  Sombra was always my favorite villain, and the one with the most potential... until he spoke in S9, that is.  What a weenie he turned out to be.  But he was awesome in this one, and in the alternate war future in The Cutie Remark.

The best and most memorable aspect of this episode was Twilight's decision to sacrifice personal gain by letting Spike save the empire, and thus expecting to fail the test, which she then of course passed due to her selflessness.  Now, the question I always had was this: did Celestia actually intend for that to happen?  I mean, did she somehow know that Twilight would need to let someone else get that football into the end zone, and wanted to test Twi's selflessness?  I mean, I always liked the idea that sacrificing the reward actually was the test, and that was specifically what Twi needed to do to pass.  I liked the idea that Celestia actually wanted Twilight to disobey her order that "it had to be her alone who saves the day".  But if that were actually the case, then how the hell would Celestia have known how it would play out?  Clairvoyance is one power that never existed in the world of FIM.  The closest anypony came was Pinkie's vague, immediate Spidey-sense.  So, then... I guess Tia didn't know?  So... then... why did Tia tell Twi that "it had to be her alone"?  Just...for kicks?  Just to f*ck with her?  Doesn't make sense.  Still a cool episode.

[North Star 4,686]

We can saaaave the crystal ponies  Crystal Con vs Sombra is so silly

Aw Spike's worst fear

Knight Flutters jousting

At first I wasn't sure but now I love that Spike gets the central role in returning the heart and Cadance is such a bad-flank with Shining in support :3 

Still think outright destroying Sombra is pretty strong for a kids show about ponies :p Also the nightmare sombra in the nightmare world is gonna give me nightmares D:

Twilight Twilighting

Love the outro song  Turns out you were prepared for this. 

Nice lore in this ep - the nightmare magic and all the traps. Never liked Sombra in the show, but he's clearly a crafty shadow-horse. Cunning and industrious. He sure put the poor crystal ponies to work on that castle :s 

[Paianis 489]

This set of episodes makes more sense when The Crystal Empire is an allegory for a person's inner world, and King Sombra is an evil force, at one point enslaving their thoughts but continuing as a burned-in spirit on the periphery of a person's mind that just won't bugger off. In this context, the villain does not need a meticulously defined personality, because what the villain's fighting for will be different for everyone, all that's needed is to capture the mood.

And I have experienced just such a thing over a very long period of time, well into adulthood, so I'm heavily biased in favour of this one.

[Paianis 489]

One more thing: I rewatched both episodes last night from a European DVD that is mastered at 25 frames per second, with the audio track running at about 4% faster than the source and NTSC counterparts. This means that all audio is pitched up by nearly a semitone. For instance, The Ballad of the Crystal Empire is shifted to sound much closer to Db major than C major.

Maybe it's just me but I think this improves just about all the musical numbers, including the background music heard during the crystal heart's reinstatement. All of it feels bolder, more serious, more 'awe-inspiring'. Not quite sure why. These episodes demand a capable hi-fi system to do them justice.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Paianni

[Gale Wind 82]

On 2018-07-13 at 3:36 AM, Meushell said:

Great episode.

Poor, poor Cadance. Barely any recovery time from the last episode before this all happens. It’s kind of creepy that it was a test for Twilight as Cadance suffered. I’m going to assume Celestia would have stepped in if she had failed. Maybe she was still recovering herself.

Aw, Dash and Fluttershy in armor.

It is a bit strange that “Have a fair” is part of the solution. I wonder how many of the crystal ponies lost families and friends that were outside of their city/empire? Do they have a chance to meet descendants of anyone they knew? 

I do sort of wished Sombra survived to attack again, but only if he remained a villain. I don’t read the comics. Are they canon? He just seemed like such a powerful, clever, and downright evil villain. No other villain has had that.

 

Sombra did survive to attack again though. Was this written before season 9? I’m a little confused.

[Cash In 21,993]

Ah, the crystal empire. One of my favourite locations in the entire show. It's so geographically and historically interesting. Love it!

King Sombra is a cool villain. He's more of a looming danger than a direct one, which I liked. The whole goal was stop him before he is able to do anything, which I think added an interesting sense of urgency to the story.

My favourite part had to have been watching Spike and Twilight trying to bypass Sombra's trials. I thought those scenes were cool. Also, Twilight letting Spike save the day was pretty neat. I also really liked seeing the rest of the Mane 6 trying to distract the crystal ponies. I thought those scenes manage to add a bit of levity to a pretty dark plot.

I liked how this premiere gave more screen time to Shining Armour and Cadance. It's a neat way of picking up where S2 left off, plus I love the reverse of their roles. This time, Cadance is the one protecting the magical kingdom from the dark forces.

I really enjoyed these episodes. I honestly think it's one of the more underrated season premieres.

[Cheerilee 26,559]

It was a very interesting episode and well done plot, with Sombra being the villain. I would have wanted to see more backstory about Sombra - including Radiant Hope in the backstory, but it sort of makes sense that Celestia and Luna wouldn't have known about that. My biggest problem with these two episodes is Shining Armor and Cadence. So they both are sent off to rule a nation of ponies without their consent? I mean, it seems kinda strange that they wouldn't have found another crystal pony to rule the Empire. The way that I see it - is that the Crystal Empire shown in the show is just the capital city - and the Empire itself was much larger, but after the Capital city itself vanished the rest of the Empire got absorbed away into Equestria and the Crystal Ponies inter-mingled with the Equestrians.

Another problem that I have is how unhelpful Twilight's friends are. Rainbow Dash in this episode is just a self-centered jerk, Rarity cares more about her vanity than helping Twilight. At least Fluttershy tried to help, and Pinkie and AJ were just kind of...there. But yeah, the writing of Twilight's friends in this episode to me was not well done. The writing however, of Twilight's trials and how she is tested - I really liked that. Celestia and Luna are wise to send her out, since they know she can do it and they are preparing her for more and more responsibility. I also like how Spike got the Crystal Heart, too.

Sombra in this episode seems more like a force of nature - brutish, not very keen on vocabulary. I would have wanted to see more of Sombra in general, he is one of my favorite villains in the show. The way the Crystal Ponies operate, based around emotions is an interesting touch. We did get a small look into their history, too.

[Hadrien 947]

This is a great season premiere. I like the idea of the Crystal Empire, and King Sombra is my favorite villain in term of design. I love me some evil unicorn king with fear powers.

The crystal ponies are pretty cute, with a very specific design. The way their memories are sealed away by the power of Sombra is a nice touch, showing the trauma he influcted to the population without having always to do flashbacks. The crystal fair was alright, the song wasn't as good as the Failure/Success song though.

Twilight is def the main focus of this premiere, it's kind of sad that the rest of the Main Six are mostly there to pad out the time. I think it would've make more sense for Celestia to send Twilight alone to the Crystal Empire, with maybe only Spike, and then she would've had to stretch herself thin to try and keep up the search for the crystal heart, and keeping everypony happy at the fair. Then she really would've had to sacrifice her own test to save everyone in the Empire by accepting help from Spike, or even Shining Armor or Cadence.

Again, the fear power of Sombra, and how it shows that fear is one of the most powerful emotion, but also the one you can easily overcome with help of those who love you is very nice to me. The way Twilight finds the Crystal Heart is also interesting, showing how much Sombra was paranoid that no one would try and find it.

Overall 8.5/10, really good start to one of my favorite season.