S04:E21 - Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

[Metemponychosis 1,257]

If anyone is interested in talking about the Royal Guard...

 

If I understood correctly, from this episode, before Celestia and Luna stopped seeing eye to eye, there wasn't a Royal Guard. They were born after Luna (not Nightmare Moon... I'm disappointed writer) was banished. The EUP Guard, which seems to be the same as the Protective Pony Platoons, were formed in order to protect the Princess. So, are they the modern Royal Guard, whose function is to protect the princesses, seeing as each of the princesses, Twilight excluded, has her own guard?

 

Who is protecting the rest of Equestria? The Wonderbolts make an appearance to "fight" Spike in Secret of My Excess. It makes sense to me that each city or region would have their own "guard", but I don't think we ever saw any canon appearances or mention. Or are the Royal guard supposed to fight all threats, since we saw a couple of them captured by the changelings outside of the palace's grounds?

 

I know there are lots of fictions that show the Royal Guards as defender of all Equestria, but I'm looking for canon stuff or extrapolations of it. Thoughts anyone?

[Ruddboy Olaf 10,628]

This episode was fantastic!

10/10

 

The Pinkie rap was hilarious,the conflict was relatable,the ending was nice,and Dash was so cute throughout it! (Especially when she was tipping the chair!  )

[Sony 106]

during the episode, pinkie pie just became so random. but when i seen vinyl scratch's eyes, i wondered if they were purple red or just purple

[PrymeStriker 408]

I thought this episode was alright. Nothing that wow'd me today. Though, the fact that Rainbow Dash has gotten closer to achieving her goals is good for the show's story. 
 
If only they'd fix up that attitude of hers...

[ggg-2 3,552]

am i the only one who thinks the "Wonderbolts Reserves" idea was introduced as a compromise? having dashie "technically" be a Wonderbolt while still being able to be with her friends at all times unless she's needed in a war (which come on, what are the odds of that?)

[Metemponychosis 1,257]

am i the only one who thinks the "Wonderbolts Reserves" idea was introduced as a compromise? having dashie "technically" be a Wonderbolt while still being able to be with her friends at all times unless she's needed in a war (which come on, what are the odds of that?)

I think that the reason the producers decided she was to be put on the "reserves" is because she would have to leave her friends in order to be a Wonderbolt. It's a cop-out, but a good one. It makes sense and is believable.

[BronyMike775 6]

The episode was hilarious!

[Jorguil 54]

I was not ready, this was so funny and it made want to turn away with just how much it was making me laugh.

[PrinceJosh 5]

So is rainbow dash in the wonderbolts now?

[Red Cedar 1,408]

I was thrilled to see this episode as I think it was the first time I had seen a cartoon touch upon a serious subject as far as education goes: Learning styles. Not everyone is able to just sit down and read and use things like flashcards and it's only been in the last few years that the education system seems to have started to pick up on this (at least from my experience). Watching RD run the gamut of emotions from blowing it off to frustration to having her self-esteem crushed pretty much mimicked the real-world emotions anyone with a non Visual-Auditory learning style goes through when confronted with a text book and a desk.

 

As for the rest of the episode, I loved it, especially the interaction between such polar opposites as Rainbow Dash and Twilight and the attempts of the rest to help Rainbow learn, each with their own particular bend to it. Obviously, there's a reason none of the others are teachers. My only possible logistical complaint with the story is that they didn't try to enlist the help of an actual teacher like Cheerilee, but considering that Twilight had more than a little egghead experience of her own which she thought might help, it's understandable. Great episode all around.

Is she? She still looks the same size to me.

I thought it was meant as as in-joke in that some fans thought Twi would be this towering Alicorn this season.

She is slightly taller than she was before. She's now taller than all the others where before she was the same height. And obviously, at least one pony has noticed.

In my opinion Rainbow was somehow afraid of it, because she didn't saw it as beneficial to her. Add to it her cocky attitiude and... yeah. Rainbow is kind of pony, which is easily discouraged. She thinks that she's the best at anything and collision with the truth is painful for her. Her way of thinking is rather simple: I'm the best flyer ---> I don't need anything else. I don't want to say it's alright. I want to say that Rainbow sometimes needs... a pusher. Someone to show her (sometimes hard way) that she can't be so focused on herself.

After this episode, I don't see Rainbow Dash's cocky attitude coming from her thinking that being the best flier is all she needs. We saw a glimpse of why as she's flying around depressed and talking to Twilight. Rainbow says to Twilight, outright, that she'd eventually pick up flying because "you're good at everything".

 

Rainbow Dash doesn't think that she's the best flier and that's all she needs. She thinks she's a great flier and that's all she is. She has nothing else to fall back on and she knows it, and when she's confronted with that painful truth head-on, her self esteem nose-dives. Her cocky attitude is a front.

[CloudSeeker 23]

If anyone is interested in talking about the Royal Guard...

 

If I understood correctly, from this episode, before Celestia and Luna stopped seeing eye to eye, there wasn't a Royal Guard. They were born after Luna (not Nightmare Moon... I'm disappointed writer) was banished. The EUP Guard, which seems to be the same as the Protective Pony Platoons, were formed in order to protect the Princess. So, are they the modern Royal Guard, whose function is to protect the princesses, seeing as each of the princesses, Twilight excluded, has her own guard?

 

Who is protecting the rest of Equestria? The Wonderbolts make an appearance to "fight" Spike in Secret of My Excess. It makes sense to me that each city or region would have their own "guard", but I don't think we ever saw any canon appearances or mention. Or are the Royal guard supposed to fight all threats, since we saw a couple of them captured by the changelings outside of the palace's grounds?

 

I know there are lots of fictions that show the Royal Guards as defender of all Equestria, but I'm looking for canon stuff or extrapolations of it. Thoughts anyone?

 

 

i think that in equestria, only places with royalty can be attacked, because...thats how equestria works, idk, some sort

of physics-stuff.

 

you see, nightmare moon in the first season made celestia dissapear,

and could take over (or at least try to) equestria.

 

discord took away the elements of harmony, and so rendering celestias

"useless" to take over reign.

 

chrysalis made cadence dissapear and eliminated celstia. hence her

changelings could feast on the love of others

 

and sombra came back at the exact moment when cadence and shining

came to the crystal empire (yea i blame them for the return of sombra jk )

 

so the only one in need of protection seems to be equestrian royalty,

no other ponys get harmed

 

okay, i might be kidding, 

but to be honest it really seems like theres only

the royal guard. maybe there arent so many threats

against equestria not involving gods of chaos, smoke monsters

or changeling-queens, because the royal guard would seem pretty useless against

them. maybe the guard is only needed for small incidents?

 

 

but now about the episode: i think it was pretty good,

at some point i could emphazise with RD, also rapping

pinkie was...amusing. and finally more about the mane-6

as a whole and not only the cmc and one or two of the mane-6..

 

and i think we really need a name for that flying earthpony

first the ballon and now this helicopter-thingy.

or does she already have a name?

[Jorguil 54]

This episode had the most intense battle in the whole show the battle of Luna cat vs Celestia bunny 9:11-9:15.

[RED20 289]

This episode had the most intense battle in the whole show the battle of Luna cat vs Celestia bunny 9:11-9:15.

 

That scene took my breath completely away.

[Sky Cutter 294]

Rainbow Dash is the new Sherlock Holmes of ponies.

[NezPPTS 36]

At around 4:00-4:10 in the episode (When Dashie, Owlicious and Spike begin their band thing), you can see that Twilight is talking without her mouth even moving. Lol.

[Megas 27,539]

I love how prior to the episode there were a lot of complaints about how Rainbow and Twilight were handled this season, and then this episode shows up and pretty much rectifies a lot of peoples' complaints for both of them

[Metemponychosis 1,257]

I love how prior to the episode there were a lot of complaints about how Rainbow and Twilight were handled this season, and then this episode shows up and pretty much rectifies a lot of peoples' complaints for both of them

Not really. Though I can't see the problem with the way Rainbow was handled this season, I think that Twilight being turned into a princess with all the drama and pompousness from MMC is jarring when she is only a princess when the plot calls for it. Mind you: I love the fact that she is a princess AND an alicorn (the two have kinda meshed together in my head), it's the continuous execution of the concept I don't like, i.e., the way she is being handled.

[Midnight_Magic 72]

soooo I'm just gonna say it...I loved this episode! I truly think this is my favorite season 4 episode to date! beating out "flight to the finish" and the 2 part premiere!

 

not only were my two favorite ponies in the lime light (Twilight and Rainbow) but they were both written, voiced and drawn so freaken well here!

 

not to mention we got a little tid-bit  of more equestrian lore. and a mention of Firefly! (gen ones rainbow dash). 

 

so yes...this is now my favorite of season 4..hooves down! 

[SapAppleJamer 7]

Did anyone notice that there was not rainbowshine in this episode...

[Batbrony 16,043]

Oh finally, I apologize for not getting this out sooner everypony.  Life's just been crazy lately, ya know?  Anyways, let's get this review going.  "Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3" was a delightful episode; not only probably Rainbow Dash's best of the season, but one of the best episode's of the season all around.  Since there's quite a bit to cover I'll try to keep everything as concise as possible.

 

Just sit back and relax, students, it's time to learn!!!

 

First of all, as I said, this was probably Rainbow Dash's best episode yet this season.  One thing that actually worked to great effect were the many different sides of RD we got to see.  She started off the episode brash and cocky as usual; next we got to see her functioning, or rather failing to function at all, in a classroom setting, displaying almost ADD-like behavior; as the episode went on, we got more and more the sense that, even when she wanted to learn, she simply couldn't learn or retain knowledge at all through traditional means; after giving in to despair, we saw RD in probably the most depressed state we'd seen her in since "The Mysterious Mare Do Well", illustrating yet again a lot of the insecurity that she harbors beneath her confident exterior; and finally, we got to learn something quite intriguing about RD, that she is brilliant in her own way in that she can multitask like no other when she's doing the thing she loves most, that is, flying.  While the almost Rain Man-like nature of her subconscious like information-absorption is a bit strange, it still made sense when you take into account that Rainbow's spent years perfecting her flying and doing everything she can to become the peak flyer in all of Equestria.  The only other inconsistency that I noticed was that we've seen Rainbow Dash reading Daring Do books while grounded perfectly fine before, she hasn't had to fly while doing so, but that was a minor inconsistency that I could waive given the fact that she had so little time to study for her test.  Overall, Rainbow was pretty much written perfectly here; I do wish that the fact that she'd procrastinated in her studying would've been critiqued more in the episode, but other than that, she was adorable, sympathetic, likable, and we learned some of the most interesting new things about her character that we've learned in awhile.

 

One step closer to living the dream.

 

Our deuteragonist, Twilight, had a pretty darn good episode as well.  I've always loved Twilight's love and respect for knowledge, so seeing her in her element here was quite awesome for me, especially seeing as the subject in focus was history, which actually is my very own major and what I'm going to continue studying in grad school next fall.  She not only covered quite a few effective learning and studying methods that one can practice both inside and out of the classroom, but she also got in quite a few diatribes about the importance of knowing history no matter what your occupation is.  On top of that, despite her frustration, Twilight stayed a true friend to RD and never gave up on her, no matter how many study methods failed, how frustrating RD could be to work with, or how despairing she got towards the end.  She was clearly in charge of this endeavor, and once again proved herself the main character of the show and the leader of the Mane 6 in her efforts, especially her organizing the Mane 6 and all of Ponyville to boot at the end there.  Overall, Twilight was in her element here, and had one of her own best episodes of the season as well; she was a great teacher, a great friend, and a great leader from beginning to end.  As a quick aside, the few times that she and RD discussed her still adjusting to her new wings was a nice bit of continuity.

 

Yes, everypony, it's true, I am best teacher!

 

Fluttershy had her own moment of note when she not only calmed both a frustrated and bickering Twilight and RD down, but was also the first pony to recognize that traditional methods of learning and study might not work for RD.  Granted, her theatrical presentation didn't really help (and it certainly didn't help that it was silent theater  ), but her heart was in the right place, and as said, she was the first one to try something different.  She was also pretty adorable in her organizing all the animals in the first place, and her Celestia cosplaying at the end was too cute.

 

And the best cosplay award goes to...

 

Pinkie Pie had what might quite possibly be the most random moment we've seen all season when she broke out into her Pinkie Rap.     It may not have helped RD at all whatsoever, but gosh dang if it wasn't funny, and the fact that she kept coming back to the rapping and her wicked tight fedora as the episode went on just killed me.  Despite her study method's utter failure, Pinkie Pie proved herself yet again to be the Queen of Random.

 

I think this bit of amazing speaks for itself.

 

Rarity and AJ both had probably the worst attempts at helping RD, but at least they were true to themselves.  I'm not exactly sure what RD was supposed to learn from seeing the Wonderbolts different outfits, but they certainly were interesting looking (and looked fabulous on Rarity to boot  ), and AJ was hilarious in her blunt honesty that she knew absolutely nothing about the Wonderbolts.  Either way, they both delivered some comedic humor, and made up for their earlier failure when they helped RD in the end.

 

Well now, that's delightfully ironic on a number of levels.  :comeatus: 

 

Besides the characters, there's a few other elements in this episode of note.  The Wonderbolts' history was very interesting to hear and learn about (that is, when we could pay attention to it, but thankfully they repeated it enough times that we got the gist of it).  The only thing I found confusing about it were the ranks of some of the historical figures in the Wonderbolts; I caught General, Colonel, Commander, and Admiral.  I know it's just a kids show and we can't expect the guys at DHX to know too much about the military, but they were mixing branches with those ranks for crying out loud, and being the history buff I am, it was just a bit confusing.  Other than that, however, the history was a very interesting bit of MLP canon to learn, and quite a delight if I do say so myself.  The humor was spot on and really every character that showed up got a good bit of humor or comedy in there at some point.  Definitely one of the better ensemble episodes we've had this season, especially in the comedy department.  Finally, the ending was simply spectacular.  The twist in Twilight's solution was extremely original and unexpected, seriously, completed blindsided me on my first viewing, and the effort that all of Ponyville put into helping Rainbow Dash was very touching to see.  I really did also like the lesson that traditional learning methods don't always work for everyone, and sometimes we need to think outside the box to teach and educate others.  It was very unique and original in both its content and delivery, and one that I hope viewers young and old take to heart.

 

I'd say things escalated out of hand just a bit in this episode.  Just a bit.

 

My only complain about the episode remains this, although I'm not as angry about it now as I was initially; as I've said before, procrastination was not addressed at all in this episode.  Now if RD had just passed her test, I probably wouldn't be so mad about this; but she didn't just pass, she got 100% when she had less than 12 hours to study for it.  If they'd given her a week or even a few days left before her test, then I could've seen her getting 100%, but instead, they gave her less than 12 hours and she got 100% after discovering a freakish talent for absorbing information while in flight.  Let's be honest, few in the real world can be expected to have a similar ability for having such an incredibly eidetic memory.  As some pointed out, procrastination wasn't the subject here, and they could also only fit so much into this episode (and let me just say that the pacing was stupendous here as well), but still, that doesn't change the fact that they could've executed this episode differently with only a few minor tweaks and made it not look like procrastination doesn't matter at all, because, it does.  Most successful students, such as myself, put in hours of work to get the success we achieve in the classroom, so seeing something like the end result that RD got was just a bit insulting and unrealistic.  Again, though, I'm not too mad about it at this point, and it doesn't take away from the fact that, overall, this was an amazing episode, definitely one of the best of Season 4 for sure.  It hit all the right notes, was pretty much perfect in its content, execution, humor, and everything else really, and is just a fun and moving episode to watch.  Well done DHX, well done indeed; we've just got five episodes left, and I anticipate that each and every one of them should be quite a treat indeed.  Till next time everypony! 

[ernesth100 4]

Loved Pinkies rap, also Dash is obviously kryptonians.

[Sobori 46]

I like the new eppisode. I know lots of fans will love it for it just being Rainbow dash but two things that really caught my attention. One was the history of the Wonderbolts, something we really haven't seen any up until this point. Second I was really happy to see the different ways of learning being taught to kids in a friendly manner. The different types of studying was neat to see.

[RainbowxWolf66 67]

I thought the episode was good. Rainbow dash once again trying to impress the wonderbolts and wanting to be one of them some day. But i keep on wondering what is the main plot for season 4? I feel like the episodes are just random and don't really have any plot too them. Does anyone else think that or is it just me? -_-

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

I feel bad for being the only one to hate pinkie pies rapping...... I guess it's just instinct.... I see a rapping animal and I'm all like DA PHUQ!?!?!?

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

I have seen better episodes. 6/10