S04:E24 - Equestria Games

[PoisonClaw 8,164]

I'm surprised actually. I thought at first this was going to be another in a long line of mediocre Spike episodes, but it was actually better than I expected. Save for one particular moment (no prizes for guessing what that was) this episode was really enjoyable.

 

Besides the fact that we finally have payoff to an arc that has been building since S3, I liked a lot of the little touches here and there, like the fact that Twilight has her own seat with the rest of the Princesses, but would rather be sitting with her friends. I also like how they didn't drag out her telling Spike that she lit the torch for him like other shows would for the sake of comedy. Though, you kinda knew Spike was being set up for failure with how thick the crystal ponies were laying on the praise and near worship.

 

Plus, the moral is one that hits a kind of personal note for me, so credit where credit is most assuredly due. With this episode out of the way, all that's left is the long awaited season finale two-parter. My stream crashed when they were showing some of the previews for the finale, but what I did see makes me even more hyped for it than before.   

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

Dave Polsky you have done it.

 

You have nailed the best writer this season.

Indeed he has. He's been flawless this season, producing not only my favorite episode of the whole series (and one that still makes this strangely and somewhat creepily obsessed fanboy's heart flutter ) but everything he's done this whole season has been quality gold. I remember when people were bitching about the guy nonstop (and for good reason), but this season has just been the creme de la creme for him Couldn't have had a better season.

 

Now, my dream is to watch Polsky slap Powell around with his episode scripts, screaming "SEE?! THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A MOTHERBUCKIN' MLP EPISODE!!!"

[Luna 2,384]

I liked this episode

I'm not gonna go really into why I liked it.

 

9/10

Edited May 3, 2014 by Cadance

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

One of the best Pony eps ever.

 

10/10

[Radiance64 7,053]

Indeed he has. He's been flawless this season, producing not only my favorite episode of the whole series (and one that still makes this strangely and somewhat creepily obsessed fanboy's heart flutter ) but everything he's done this whole season has been quality gold. I remember when people were bitching about the guy nonstop (and for good reason), but this season has just been the creme de la creme for him Couldn't have had a better season.

 

Now, my dream is to watch Polsky slap Powell around with his episode scripts, screaming "SEE?! THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A MOTHERBUCKIN' MLP EPISODE!!!"

Heh, you know, I would pay to see that.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

All right time to give my thoughts on the episode. 

 

So there two Spike episodes in a row that I found good? What is this world coming to? 

 

This episode is pretty much a great closure to the arcs that have been going on for over a year with an excellent payoff. I laughed at Spike butchering the Cloudsdale anthem and every pony's reaction to him butchering it. Aww Pinkie you're so nice giving Spike a sympathy cheer. Anyways, you really feel for Spike and cheer for him when he finally saves everyone. Hopefully this will end allthe Spike abuse jokes since Spike saved their flanks.

 

Final score: 9.8/10

[Pastel 7,630]

Wow according to the poll it looks like it's a good episode.

Suck I have to wait to watch it...

Edited May 3, 2014 by Blobulle

[Kulstor 254]

I really  enjoyed watching the episode.  A very good Spike centered episode I'd say.

[Magical Anarchy 177]

This was such a great episode! Spike finally got what he deserved, amd it worked. Great story, amd Spike's anthem for Cloudsdale is the best song of the season <- jk

[Aerial~Shot 177]

Ah, finally, the Equestria Games~! We’ve been waiting for this for, what, a year or so?

 

The opening scene was cute, with the callbacks to past Games episodes like Flight To The Finish and Rainbow Falls. Bulk Biceps is still a cutie

 

I love that Spike’s getting some better treatment here. His role in The Crystal Empire is brought back and it was pretty funny to see how he reacted. And Ms Harshwinny calling him Mr The Dragon reminded me of Kermit being called Mr The Frog. His little freak out was interesting and I really felt for him then, I used to have stage fright >.< And I love the way he looks when his scales (ears?) droop down like that~ And his cute sad face

 

Then he went all ‘celebrity’ for a bit and I was inwardly cringing…

 

And his awkward singing… It was cringy, but cute

 

But I loved the ending. Spike really is a hero, he saved the Crystal Empire twice and just feels he did what anypony else would have done. I thought the whole ice arrows thing was pretty cool (no pun intended) and then it hit the cloud and wow. I realised what was going to happen right before it did, but it was still epic. I think that’s a biggest fire Spike’s ever created. And it wasn’t his normal magical green flame; that was actual fire breath. I really liked his final narration, too. It was a good lesson and Cathy did an awesome job as usual this episode

 

Little things I want to say:

 

The princesses’ thrones are so cool

 

The fire animation looks really smooth and I love it

 

Rainbow Dash: “’Sup”

 

Pinkie: “NAILED IT!”
Me: Pinkie no

 

The anti-magic spell was an interesting touch, and of course it was important in that only Spike could really save the day because of it

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

That was a really good episode, it was nice to finally see the Equestria Games and see everypony excited and participating, also nice to see Twilight with the other princesses and Shining Armor. I loved Spike in this episode, he really faced his fears in the end even though he was nervous and clearly scared. Also that was somewhat nice of Twilight to help Spike light the torch, I would of done the same if I was her. All in all a good episode and excited for the Season 4 finale!!! 10/10!

Edited May 3, 2014 by MLPFanatic34

[King Sejong 859]

   Huzzah for Ponyville, victor of the Equestria Games, if only by one medal, interestingly this was a Spike episode rather than the play by play of the games, nevertheless it was great to see the Ponies pomp and circumstance, as try strut their finest players for the Equestria Games. It was good to see Ms. Harshwhinny again, as she informs Spike for the torch lighting ceremony, apparently Spike is regarded as a national hero to the crystal ponies, for his actions during the Crystal Empire episode, now that he has to light the torch, he gets stage fright and he can't light the fire, as a result Twilight Sparkle lights it for him, having learned he did set the fire through pyrokenesis, he gets dishearted and reclusive, as the Equestria Games commence we get to see some of the highlights, like the relay between Rainbow Dash and Spitfire, and the final event was ice archery, it was very awesome, I love archery and I am a traditional archer, I have been in archery competitions using my English longbow, however a fly arrow strike a cloud and it begins to fall to the ground, but magic was disabled by the security to prevent cheating, that was a foolish oversight, but Spike melted the iceberg and saved the games. This was a good episode, admittedly I expected the episode to depict the events, but we got a Spike episode, of when to shine for moments of glory, I know what that is like, when I was in the navy, we had to look our best for parades, so we had rehearsals and drills to keep us on step and on time, to the public we were heroes, although we felt like pawns for the Pentagon, but we still manage to achieve a daunting feat like joining the military, and that is the glory Spike expressed in the games' close ceremony, so we have finally reached the end of season four, we now have a two part season finale, it has been a great season and I say it has been a privilege to be here with you all, see you all for "Twilight's kingdom."      

[Bucky McGillyCuddy 956]

So anyone wanna recap for me please?

Since his last visit to the Crystal Empire Spike has become somewhat of a celebrity to the local ponies being referred to as Spike the Brave and Glorious, having played a major part in saving it from King Sombra in season three. Thus he is awarded by Cadance the honour of lighting the torch at the Equestria Games opening. However, when thrown in the spotlight of thousands of ponies Spike suffers crippling stage fright and is unable to breath fire and ignite the torch. Twilight, watching from the crowd, sees him struggling and uses her magic to light the torch to commence the games. After Twilight explains to Spike that it was in fact her that lit the torch and not him, Spike is then obsessed with the idea that he let every pony down and feels obliged to sing the national anthem at an awards ceremony to make amends. Soon after he announces to the crowd that her will sing the Crystal Empire's national anthem Shining Armour informs Spike that it is actually the winning teams national anthem that he is supposed to sing, which happens to be Cloudsdale, whose national anthem Spike doesn't know. After making up the lyrics to the anthem and completely embarrassing himself in front of the thousands he is overthrown with a deeper feeling of guilt for once again having let everyone down. Spike then spends most of the remaining time in his room 'packing' to go home to Ponyville when Twilight convinces him to see out the rest of the games. After arriving at the games during the final event, the ice archery (in which competitors have to use a bow carved from ice to shoot arrows, which are also carved from ice and freeze part of whatever they hit, to cover the target board), One of the contestant stumbles and accidentally shoots an arrow into an overhead cloud. The arrow turns the cloud into a giant falling chunk of ice which starts to fall towards the stadium, threatening the lives of many ponies. After the pegasus ponies fail to stop the glacier from falling spike jumps into the air and breaths a large plume of fire that melts the ice into a short shower of rain. Saving the day, Spike learns that you can not let down your true friends as they will always be forgiving of you and your shortcomings. 

 

I should also point out that to prevent anypony from cheating a magical barrier was put up inside the stadium so that unicorns / Alicorns could not use their powers to help any of the contestants cheat. Thus making Twilight, Celestia, Luna and Cadance helpless against the falling glacier. 

 

I hope that wasn't too painful to read

Edited May 3, 2014 by Bucky McGillyCuddy

[Sir Wulfington 276]

Since his last visit to the Crystal Empire Spike has become somewhat of a celebrity to the local ponies being referred to as Spike the Brave and Glorious, having played a major part in saving it from King Sombra in season three. Thus he is awarded by Cadance the honour of lighting the torch at the Equestria Games opening. However, when thrown in the spotlight of thousands of ponies Spike suffers crippling stage fright and is unable to breath fire and ignite the torch. Twilight, watching from the crowd, sees him struggling and uses her magic to light the torch to commence the games. After Twilight explains to Spike that it was in fact her that lit the torch and not him, Spike is then obsessed with the idea that he let every pony down and feels obliged to sing the national anthem at an awards ceremony to make amends. Soon after he announces to the crowd that her will sing the Crystal Empire's national anthem Shining Armour informs Spike that it is actually the winning teams national anthem that he is supposed to sing, which happens to be Cloudsdale, whose national anthem Spike doesn't know. After making up the lyrics to the anthem and completely embarrassing himself in front of the thousands he is overthrown with a deeper feeling of guilt for once again having let everyone down. Spike then spends most of the remaining time in his room 'packing' to go home to Ponyville when Twilight convinces him to see out the rest of the games. After arriving at the games during the final event, the ice archery (in which competitors have to use a bow carved from ice to shoot arrows, which are also carved from ice and freeze part of whatever they hit, to cover the target board), One of the contestant stumbles and accidentally shoots an arrow into an overhead cloud. The arrow turns the cloud into a giant falling chunk of ice which starts to fall towards the stadium, threatening the lives of many ponies. After the pegasus ponies fail to stop the glacier from falling spike jumps into the air and breaths a large plume of fire that melts the ice into a short shower of rain. Saving the day, Spike learns that you can not let down your true friends as they will always be forgiving of you and your shortcomings. 

 

I should also point out that to prevent anypony from cheating a magical barrier was put up inside the stadium so that unicorns / Alicorns could not use their powers to help any of the contestants cheat. Thus making Twilight, Celestia, Luna and Cadance helpless against the falling glacier. 

 

I hope that wasn't too painful to read

 

Thanks, sounds like a solid episode even tho the moral is ripped right out of Hurricane Fluttershy, but oh well.

[Castle Bleck 19,327]

The Crystal Empire really loves its anti-magic, doesn't it?

 

First King Sombra's "Silence" crystals and teleport-proof cages, and now those scanners for Unicorns and Alicorns.

Edited May 1, 2018 by A.V.

[kkoi 59]

I liked it.. I just watched it today and it was good. I didn't really like the episodes from season3 because they were just too... Weird. But

I'll give this a 7/10.

[InkyJay 21]

Did they just turn the Equestria Games into a Spike episode?  I... wasn't expecting that.  (Note that I did not read any of the synopses.)  All in all, I'd say that it wasn't bad.  I thought that the message at the end was really good, I'm just not sure that I cared for how they got to it.  I don't know, maybe I was just expecting a little bit more since they've pretty much been building up to this episode since last season.  Overall, it was okay.  In any case, we'll see what the finale has in store for us next week.  I usually don't like to hype myself up for this kind of stuff, but the promo commercial is making it look pretty awesome!

 

I feel your pain. It does feel like a bit of a waste that all this build-up was done for the games, yet at the end of it all, it's just another episode. The same argument could also be given for the Grand Galloping Gala, but I guess that could be more forgivable since it was Season 1. Either way, this episode, kind of like the Grand Galloping Gala, left me feeling a little empty inside.

[Jeric 46,850]

I loved the episode, and twice I thought I knew where it was going. I expected that Twilight wasn't going to tell Spike ... WRONG. Next I thought Spike was going to somehow be the Ponyville frozen archer and redeem himself that way.

 

I can't put my finger on why, but this is one of my favorites of the season easily.

 

Rarities reaction was priceless as was "Sup?"

[Pastel 7,630]

Great episode!

What I really liked:

- The Crystal Empire, beautiful as always

- The number of recurring characters: the mane 6, the 4 princesses, the CMC, Shining Armor, the emperors from beyond Equestria, some pegasus like Derpy, Thunderlane or Bulk Biceps...

- Sup'

- Spike melting the chunk of ice

- Spike's shades and suit

- Luna during the day

 

I didn't like the song, it was a bit too long, poor Spike...

 

Anyway one of the best episodes from the 4th season.

Edited May 3, 2014 by Blobulle

[Will Guide 21,360]

Also if anyone complains that 

The Princess did NOTHING to stop the Frozen Cloud from crushing the crowds, that would be the dumbest episode complaint I'd ever hear! They clearly show that during the games all magic-using ponies step through a scanner that temporarily disables their magic to prevent cheating.

So of course, the alicorns wouldn't able to magically save the day either!

 

[Castle Bleck 19,327]

On 5/3/2014 at 12:03 PM, InkyJay said:

I feel your pain. It does feel like a bit of a waste that all this build-up was done for the games, yet at the end of it all, it's just another episode. The same argument could also be given for the Grand Galloping Gala, but I guess that could be more forgivable since it was Season 1. Either way, this episode, kind of like the Grand Galloping Gala, left me feeling a little empty inside.

 

At least this wasn't the season finale.

Edited May 1, 2018 by A.V.

[Guest90210 3,568]

Also if anyone complains that 

The Princess did NOTHING to stop the Frozen Cloud from crushing the crowds, that would be the dumbest episode complaint I'd ever hear! They clearly show that during the games all magic-using ponies step through a scanner that temporarily disables their magic to prevent cheating.

So of course, the alicorns wouldn't able to magically save the day either!

 

 

Then how did Twilight use her magic to light the torch for Spike? It wouldn't make sense anyway though. Why would they remove the princesses magic?

 

Anyways, 

 

YEEEES. FINALLY Spike gets another amazing episode! As a huge Spike fan, I'm ecstatic.

 

Oh, and Spike singing the Cloudsdale Anthem was the funniest moment I've ever seen in MLP.

Edited May 3, 2014 by Rivendare

[Armin 168]

Polsky has now replaced Mccarthey as my favourite writer. Todays' episode was spot on, loved it and can barely find a flaw.

Anyone who can say they hate Spike after both last episode and todays' can show their opinion up their arse. Yes, he has flaws, more than the Mane 6, but he's a baby.

I might be sliiiightly opinionated, Spike is best pony, but Equestria Games is possibly my favourite episode of the show. Polsky masterrace.

[Castle Bleck 19,327]

Then how did Twilight use her magic to light the torch for Spike?

 

They hadn't used the scanners yet.

 

[Pastel 7,630]

Then how did Twilight use her magic to light the torch for Spike?

I'm not sure, but when she lighted the torch, the games hadn't started yet, so they still didn't set the anti-magic portals.

 

Ninja'd

Edited May 3, 2014 by Blobulle