The Problems with My Little Pony's Last Season (So Far)

It's safe to say that many of my views on My Little Pony's ninth and final season of the show have been controversial, to say the least. It's even gotten to the point I got harassed over my views on The Last Crusade and Between Dark and Dawn, but to put things into perspective, and hopefully shut up those complaining about my views being "wrong" (for the record, no one's perspective is right or wrong - people have the right to say how they feel, whether or not you agree with them; it's a non-issue), I'll go over all the problems I've had with season nine thus far. All I want to say my piece and leave it at that.

Introduction

By the time My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comes to an end, it will have lasted for nine years, which is a fairly long time for a children's show to run. However, by comparison, The Fairly OddParents had been running for sixteen years, likely having ended due to Butch Hartman's departure from Nickelodeon; SpongeBob SquarePants has been running for twenty years and is still going on to this day despite Stephen Hillenberg's death; The Simpsons has been going on for thirty years, thirty-two if you include the shorts that were a part of The Tracey Ullman Show; Thomas the Tank Engine's thirty-five year history is well-documented, and then there are the shows running at fifty years or longer like Sesame Street and Jeopardy!.

Which leads me onto the question; does longevity equate to quality? The short answer is, no, it doesn't. As Mr. Enter explains in his review for The Big Fairy Share Scare:

"After about four seasons, most shows start to decay quickly. We may see the signs before then - the show will start reusing concepts, flanderizing characters, have more and more animation errors, and the people who care about the show, either out of passion or for monetary gain, will desperately do anything in their power to keep it alive. And that this effort tends to make the show worse and worse."

He didn't know this at the time - January 24, 2016, when the most recent episode was The Cutie Re-Mark, where we saw Starlight get integrated into the main cast - but that quote seemed to have been written with My Little Pony in mind. Except maybe the animation errors, but you get the point.

The Problem with Re-Hashings

It would be fair to say that for the last few seasons, the show has been reusing older concepts and tried to either freshen them up, fix up some of the mistakes from the original story, or do neither. It Ain't Easy Being Breezies from the fourth season is a prime example of how to fix up an older episode, Putting Your Hoof Down from two seasons previous. Not only did this episode portray Fluttershy in a more sympathetic light (and even strengthened her character development), the moral was also handled correctly about finding the right balance between tough love and tenderness.

On a similar note, Gauntlet of Fire fixed up most, if not all, of the mistakes Dragon Quest suffered by expanding on dragon culture, showing that not every dragon was a complete jerk, showcasing Spike's strengths very well, and keeping Garble an antagonist (for three more seasons, at least).

But re-hashing older ideas can often be a negative. Every Little Thing She Does practically rewrote Lesson Zero and tried to change a few things to stand out from the season two episode but flopped; 28 Pranks Later amplified all the problems The Mysterious Mare Do Well had, and The Mean 6 completely undid Chrysalis' deviousness and charisma that she had in To Where and Back Again and made The Return of Harmony better than it already was.

Long and short, season nine thus far has been the nadir for rehashing older concepts. An episode most guilty of this, according to many fans, myself included, was Uprooted, which was a near beat for beat retelling of Castle Sweet Castle with the Young Six taking the place of the Mane Six (barring Twilight and Spike) and the Tree of Harmony taking the place of Golden Oak Library.

However, that pales in comparison to The Point of No Return; the episode was yet another retreading of Lesson Zero, with bits of Amending Fences thrown into the mix, made even more tedious and unfunny, and it completely assassinates Twilight's character development. The same thing can be said about Between Dark and Dawn in which the B-plot copied the conflict from Princess Spike and made Twilight look more incompetent than usual, and it back-pedaled Celestia and Luna's development from A Royal Problem mixed with Road to Friendship. Heck, Common Ground and She's All Yak felt interchangeable in how they handled the "be yourself" moral, and they were back to back.

There's more, but I feel I've already made my point. Watching every episode of the season up to this point, I feel as though every episode thus far has been chopped up and spliced together, because they were chopped up and spliced together. Nothing has any sort of coherence to it, which brings me onto the next point...

Where's the Big Story Arc?

The big story arc of the show is that Twilight is to be taking over for Celestia and Luna at the end of the season, and by extension, the show. It was originally conceived by Lauren Faust when she was working on the school, but the more I think about it, the more I feel like they just dug it up because, according to Hasbro, "it's the last season and we got to end it somehow!"

In The Beginning of the End, we get the bombshell that Celestia and Luna are planning to retire and pass on all of their duties to Twilight and her friends. But then Sombra returns after being revived and even takes over the minds of everyone in Ponyville and Canterlot before being defeated again.

Then what?

The only other episode to feature the four major villains - Grogar, Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow - was Frenemies, but that was it. Similarly, the only episode that's aired so far that even mentioned Celestia and Luna retiring soon was Between Dark and Dawn, and there will be an episode focusing on their last Summer Sun Celebration as leaders of Equestria this August (The Summer Sun Setback).

Save for a few mentions about Sombra's recent invasion, there's nothing about season nine that actually feels like it's the last season of the show, or that there's an arc going on. How differently would Sparkle's Seven have fared, I wonder, if it had aired during season six? Remove the references to Sombra and the story remains exactly the same.

There is no story arc taking place, and there never has been. Hell, there's no reason for this arc to take place at all. Twilight and her friends already have their own duties and lives to worry about, so there is no reason for Celestia and Luna to heap all of their duties onto them for the finale. It all feels like there was no thought put into it whatsoever. You could easily be forgiven into thinking that there's no arc going on.

Continuity Confusion and Parental Problems

"Ya know, some ponies would dream of having parents like that ... I never thought I'd be the best at anything, because nopony ever told me." - Scootaloo, 5/20/2017

Two seasons, five episodes and a feature length movie later, we're finally introduced to Scootaloo's parents. In the middle of the last season. Where do I begin with the problems?

First of all, they come from literally nowhere. We're given no build up to their presence in Equestria and they turn up just for the sake of The Last Crusade happening. When A Canterlot Wedding was first announced, people freaked out over Shining Armor being Twilight's big brother despite that we'd never seen him or Cadance before, but A) there was enough of an idea as to why that was the case, and B) most importantly, it was during the second season of the show, back when it was a huge deal. And since that episode had aired, the backlash had long since died down and Shining and Cadance have been more or less accepted into the series.

With fifteen episodes left to go by the time of airing, we're suddenly forced to care about a pair of new characters we've never seen before in a shallow attempt at building upon an already well-established character.

When the English dub of The Last Crusade was leaked after its premature airing in Italy, fans went nuts over it, but by the time it had aired for real in America, the reaction had cooled off, and some began to notice the flaws of the episode, which brings me onto the next problem; the implication that Scootaloo's parents don't care for her.

Scootaloo builds them up as being awesome parents, but Parental Glideance implied that her relationship with them wasn't that great. Heck, Flight to the Finish never saw Scootaloo with a caretaker or guardian in sight. The pieces do not go together.

By the time, Shutter Snap and Mane Allgood finally return to Scootaloo's life, they plan on bringing her with them to Shire Lanka. All of a sudden they care for her, and that was after Sombra's recent attack. Never mind the fact that Scootaloo had survived Nightmare Moon's return, Discord's return, Chrysalis' first invasion, the Everfree Forest attacking Ponyville, Tirek's rampage, the invasion of the Storm King, and just before Sombra's revival, Cozy Glow's brief reign of terror. So them worrying about Sombra's attack on Ponyville and Canterlot completely loses merit when you realize that Scootaloo's parents never bothered to check on her after the previous invasions.

If Shutter Snap and Mane Allgood actually loved their daughter, then why did they never bother checking on her after all the invasions in the previous eight seasons and the movie? On a similar note, if they care for their jobs, then why did they have a daughter in the first place? Either they're complete idiots, neglectful parents, or a combination of both. They might as well be the worst parents in Equestria (at least with Spoiled Rich, she was intentionally written as a bad parent).

When you're a parent, being there for your children should always be top priority, regardless of what job you have. Because they didn't bother being there for her, Shutter Snap and Mane Allgood completely missed out on many of Scootaloo's great achievements which seems to imply to me that their (apparent) sole appearance says, "You should leave your only child to other family members, and they'll still accept you regardless of how focused you were on your job." That is an incredibly harmful message as far as I'm aware, especially to children that may actually have neglectful parents.

Fan-Service Taken Too Far?

I start this section off with a controversial statement; the Brony fandom has been pandered to for far too long. Now obviously, this is nothing new. Fan-service has been incorporated into the show since the early days (season two's The Last Roundup is the earliest example I can think of). The thing with fan-service is, it's a double-edged sword. There are ways to incorporate fan-service properly (Amending Fences), and there are ways that it has been incorporated poorly (Slice of Life).

In the case of season nine, more often than not, it tends to fall into the latter category.

Case in point, Aunts Holiday and Lofty. Them being talked about as an LGBT couple was a huge deal before the episode aired in America, except A) we already saw it in Italy and B) we already knew about them from a chapter book from two years ago (Riddle of the Rusty Horseshoe, to be exact). In retrospect, there was nothing to be hyped up about, especially as they overshadowed the entirety of The Last Crusade.

In my review, I praised it for being progressive, but now, the novelty has worn off and instead, it just comes across as hollow pandering to the LGBT fanbase - and in case anyone starts stabbing their keyboards accusing me for homophobia, let me make this clear: I am not anti-LGBT. Whatever a person's sexuality is, I'll support them, unless they're an incredibly vile person. (The personality is completely separate from a person's sexuality, for the record.)

Shoving a pair of LGBT characters in the middle of the last season almost sounds like it's something they couldn't bother doing in the early seasons. Not only that, making a press statement about your characters being gay could lead to PR trouble; just look at what happened when it was confirmed that LeFou in the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast was gay, only to have him dance with a male partner for a few seconds during the final scene. (You'd have to watch it for yourself to know what I'm talking about.) Just imagine if Dumbledore was outright "outed" in the late 1990s; how many people would have cared about Harry Potter after that?

To be honest, I feel that the Thomas and Friends episode Rosie is Red did far more for the LGBT community than The Last Crusade ever did with the two workmen looking at each other lovingly. And this was an episode where that little moment didn't even need to be included!

Heck, the entirety of the Good Omens miniseries on Amazon Prime contributed a lot to the LGBT community, largely due to the fantastic chemistry between Michael Sheen as Aziraphale and David Tennant as Crowley. Yeah, I know the book said that angels don't have a sexuality unless they really make the effort, but still. If anyone told me they were in love, I'd believe it.

What do Holiday and Lofty contribute? That Scootaloo has a family? That's pretty much it. It felt as though the writers just didn't care and said it was all in the manual. Wow, I focused a lot on the LGBT topic more than I initially intended.

Getting back to the fan-pandering issue, a general theme I noticed is that the writers seem to include fan favorite characters purely for the sake of pleasing older fans. The sole possible exception seems to be Zephyr Breeze in Sparkle's Seven, as an idea by Ashleigh Ball cause apparently, she seems to like seeing Rainbow Dash suffer (no disrespect to Miss Ball, of course). Not to mention Zephyr isn't exactly everyone's favorite...

Then in the episode immediately after, The Point of No Return, Moon Dancer makes a speaking cameo at the Tasty Treat and was rendered redundant for the rest of the episode. Moving on.

Terramar and Mud Briar both made a return in Student Counsel alongside semi-regulars Maud Pie and Trixie, almost as if the writers were telling us, "Hey! These guys were introduced in the previous season! Remember them? Anyone? Huh?!" (Okay, maybe they didn't say that, but you get the point.) It almost feels like a distraction from the fact that the episode was a boring, sluggishly paced slog, though from what I read, Mud Briar is at least becoming more self-aware, so... maybe not as annoying?

Apart from Celestia and Luna getting a starring role in Between Dark and Dawn, the song featured a lot of cameos ranging from Discord to the Flim Flam brothers to Thorax to even a cameo by Capper. But they're so brief it's easy to miss them; they come and go quicker than a Stan Lee cameo (R.I.P., you utter legend). I only mention that now because it had nothing to do with the remainder of the episode.

And then there's the presence of Scootaloo's family which... I've moaned about enough already.

The only episode where it seemed to make sense to bring back a fan favorite was Common Ground with Quibble Pants. Not only did the episode expand on his personality beyond Daring Do, it even made him a more relatable character to the audience. And that was so far the best episode of the season.

The Stories Equestria May Never Tell

So instead of just pandering to older fans for the sake of pandering to older fans, why couldn't the writers have instead focused on story arcs that needed expanding upon?

The Young Six potentially becoming the new Element bearers is a great example of potential not being built upon. They were one of the best parts of season eight, if not the best. Heck, I'd argue the whole season did the school concept way better than Equestria Girls ever did. If School Raze and Uprooted were anything to go by, we could've had a great story arc to show them becoming the next bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Instead, what they got thus far were a pair of stories that could easily have been in season eight. That's a huge waste right there.

Not only that, there was opportunity to have some closure with Babs Seed and the Manehattan Crusaders. What we got instead was a voiceless cameo in The Last Crusade. It's most frustrating when you consider that the last time she got a mention was getting her cutie mark in Bloom and Gloom, but even then, it felt like an afterthought.

What about seeing the Cake twins grow up and start to enter school? Or Flurry Heart? Or how Coco Pommel is managing fashion business on her own? Or Big Mac and Sugar Belle taking their relationship to a new level with marriage? Heck, what is Moon Dancer like outside of her circle of friends, especially as she's been given nothing since Amending Fences? Anything would've been great! But no, we had to focus (or as much focus as the season will allow) on a Princess who doesn't deserve what she'll achieve by the finale...

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Danger

Out of all the Mane Six post-season five, Twilight has received the worst treatment when it comes to character derailment. Yeah, Pinkie can be a mind-numbing idiot at her worst, but she still displays common sense... sometimes. Rainbow Dash can turn into an over-the-top jerkish smartass, but again, that's only on the odd occasion. Applejack sometimes abuses her Element and Starlight tends to get the short end of the stick from the writers, but neither get starring roles that often.

But Twilight? In a lot of her recent starring roles, with exceptions such as Top Bolt and A Flurry of Emotions, she's either an insufferable hypocrite (No Second Prances) or an over-reacting idiot (Marks for Effort). Season nine has Twilight at her worst in the latter category, and cranked up to eleven.

The stress over taking over for Celestia and Luna I can understand... sort of, but at this point, Twilight should be a lot more composed than she was in Lesson Zero. I mean, in Sparkle's Seven, she's practically hellbent on beating Shining Armor just for a tinfoil crown - I think it should've been thrown away by now - making the 200th episode feel more anticlimactic and low stakes than it really was.

It didn't help that it was followed up by The Point of No Return, the one episode where I practically gave up on Twilight as a character. I wouldn't remember that episode at all if it wasn't the one I decided Twilight had completely lost it. The only thing I genuinely remember is that it's a terrible rip-off of Lesson Zero.

If that episode was the point where I gave up on Twilight, then Between Dark and Dawn was where I felt that Celestia and Luna will have blood on their hooves when she takes over. For me, that was the real point of no return for the final season. The season being boring, rehashing ideas and doing nothing with them, not bothering with the potential in side characters. That episode was the straw that broke the pony's back.

Put simply, the episode told me that when Twilight takes over for Celestia and Luna, things will fall into complete chaos and probably end up being worse than before the events of Nightmare Moon's return. In the real world, people are being killed because of incompetent politicians not doing their job properly. To suggest that Equestria will be a mess when Twilight starts to rule it is one of the most horrifying things the show has ever suggested, and she is supposed to be the character we root for. At this stage, I feel like rooting for Grogar and his Legion of Doom, even if Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow have lost their edge (though Cozy Glow had none to begin with, but I digress).

Equestria needs a leader it can trust to feel safe, and Twilight Sparkle isn't. Not anymore. Her character development has been completely undermined by her behavior in season nine alone, and it's absolutely heartbreaking to see her character twisted and broken beyond recognition. Proofreading your scripts is important, and Between Dark and Dawn is a prime example as to why; otherwise, you'll just end up implanting unfortunate implications.

"But if Twilight isn't fit to rule Equestria when Celestia and Luna retire, who is?" That's easy to answer; Fluttershy would've been a far better choice than Twilight. Let's look back at her greatest moments.

Dragonshy. Hurricane Fluttershy. Keep Calm and Flutter On. It Ain't Easy Being Breezies.

Even if we don't know, Fluttershy has always been the true hero of the series. Not Twilight - Fluttershy. Whether it be confronting a dragon about his snoring being harmful to his surroundings, helping Discord learn to change his ways, helping the Breezies home, or helping to provide the last wingpower to create a tornado to lift the required water for Cloudsdale's rainy season, Fluttershy has always been the hero of My Little Pony. Maybe not in number or profile, but unquestionably spirit.

She's the character who you cried for when she remembered the trauma of being mocked in flight school for her flying abilities. And then you urged her on to provide that little bit of wingpower needed to complete the tornado, and then you cheered for her when she succeeded.

The long and short is that Fluttershy had the strongest character arc out of the Mane Six. From the start, she was incredibly shy and withdrawn, afraid to stand up for herself, but as the series progressed, she grew more and more out of her shell to the point she chewed out Garble for his bullying of Spike. And the sad irony is that as she was the most popular of the Mane Six when the series began, people seemed to stop caring about her as it went on, and nobody noticed her character growth.

That is why I feel Fluttershy would've been a better choice for Princess than Twilight. That is why she's my favorite out of the Mane Six. And that is why I love her most recent outings like A Health of Information.

If you're a Twilight Sparkle fan, stick to the first five seasons. At least back then, her freakouts and moments of self-doubt could be defended, even in It's About Time to an extent. But no thanks to Gail Simone in her sole script thus far, Twilight's charm as a character has been destroyed, and I don't think there's a very high chance she'll ever recover from it.

Not-So-Terrifying Villains?

I've already brought up the poor messages implying that parental abandonment is perfectly acceptable as long as the kid is on good terms with you (The Last Crusade) and that someone diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia is perfectly fit to rule a land (The Point of No Return, Between Dark and Dawn). But there's one more that I've yet to bring up...

Frenemies felt my wrath when I first covered it. It's storyline was reprehensible, and the overall message practically spelled out to me that "criminals are not bad, they're just misunderstood". That may be true with some, but what happens if you translate that message to focus on criminals who don't care at all for what they're doing?

In the episode, Cozy Glow, Tirek and Chrysalis practically felt no shame over what they have done. In School Raze, Twilight's Kingdom, A Canterlot Wedding and To Where and Back Again, it was made crystal clear that they were villains the audience should root against. And then all of a sudden, Frenemies basically undermines all of that by saying they weren't evil villains all along working for an even bigger baddie, just misunderstood. Hell, it even implied that they might go through a villain redemption for the finale!

There are way too many villain redemptions as it is, but if you give that to Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow, it will completely undermine what made then great villains to begin with (or in Cozy's case, more hateful than she already is). Their one episode together was practically conceived without a care for any negative implications it could have in the series. In fact, that one sentence summarizes how poor the final season has been thus far.

Final Thoughts

It was T.S. Eliot who once said, "The world will end not with a bang, but with a whimper." That one line sums up My Little Pony and its final season perfectly. It almost felt as though Hasbro didn't care anymore about what Lauren Faust had created and barely put any effort into making season nine really feel like it was the last season. A lot of the episodes felt like they could've been in any of the previous eight and nothing would change.

The sad fact is that there's a good season hidden somewhere. Seriously, if they didn't force in a character arc about Twilight taking over Equestria, it would've served as a nice, gentle goodbye to the fans, showcasing perfectly what made the show great to begin with.

But as season nine currently stands, the trailer Hasbro released on the official YouTube account feels like a lie. The previous eight seasons had more effort put into them, and even with season six, which I used to consider the worst of the show, at least there it had some great ideas hidden among the bad ones. Season nine had no ideas, and even when they did, they were terrible ones.

Which brings me onto the million dollar question; do I think the second half of the season will be better? No. While yes, we're getting the return of Weird Al Yankovic as Cheese Sandwich and a hopefully interesting finale to cap off the show, it still doesn't change the fact that to me, the first half of season nine has been a complete mess and only exists so Hasbro could flog it off to the world as the last season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

My Little Pony Revisited: Season 5, Episodes 20-26

Season five has been quite interesting to revisit, to say the least, but in which direction will these last six episodes take it?

The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows

Written by Gillian M. Berrow

There's only two problems that this episode faces; the 22-minute timeframe doesn't do the episode much justice at all. To be fair, the episode as a whole is far more comedy driven than plot driven, kind of like how SpongeBob became successful. And this sort of branches off onto the other problem. Why was it stated that Shining Armor and Cadance were held up only to turn up a minute after it was said? A bit of false tension? Either way, it's pointless and just there to pad out the runtime.

Nitpicking aside, this is a really funny episode with a simple conflict that fit Pinkie really well. It's also ironic she'd go through the stress of trying to keep the secret away from Twilight, especially after what she told Twilight in Green Isn't Your Color. Not to mention how funny it is the way she reacts to anything relating to Shining Armor and Cadance having a baby.

Rating: Excellent (9/10)

Hearthbreakers

Written by Nick Confalone

Considering the hit-or-miss quality of the middle season thus far, I think it says a lot when an episode of (mostly) average quality turns up twenty in.

I like the idea of two families coming together over the holidays to learn about differing traditions from one another, but unfortunately, it suffers by having the exact same problems that Party Pooped did (ironically, also by Confalone). One tribe offends the other despite their good intentions, and both involve Pinkie Pie.

One difference, however, is that Pinkie's family are given somewhat distinct personalities as opposed to the yaks being interchangeable with each other. But even then, they kind of feel like afterthoughts; we can see Marble Pie is introverted and Limestone can be aggressive... but that's it. As for the parents? Erm... kind of religious?

In addition, the "get the exciting family to bond with the not-so-exciting family" has vague shades of Maud Pie (the episode, not the character), and we get a recap of Hearth's Warming Eve (again, the episode, not the holiday). The latter is kind of unnecessary, but then again, some first-time viewers watching this prior to the season two episode may not know why the holiday is celebrated, so I guess I can understand why it was included.

Apart from that though, the overall result is pretty boring for the most part. Inoffensive, but you'll likely forget about it after watching it. At least the plot is coherent and the Pie family doesn't border on over-the-top unlikable so... that's a nice thing to know?

Rating: Okay (4/10)

What About Discord?

Written by Neal Dusedau

Well, well, well. We meet again. An episode that's so hated it practically sealed Neal Dusedau's fate as a writer for the show. But is it really that awful?

Let's start off with the fact that all of a sudden, the Mane Six (barring Twilight) are friends with Discord. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie (sort of), I can understand, but why Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash? Because last I checked, they're usually not on good terms with Discord.

The pacing in this episode is horrible. The story is so paper-thin that it's almost as if they forced in comedy and pop-culture references just to pad it out and make it interesting. Not only that, they keep repeating the jokes instead of explaining what the Mane Five and Discord did over the three days Twilight was re-organizing her books, constantly repeating "you just had to be there" to rub it in her face. And the audiences' collective face as well.

Further adding onto the padding is Zecora's role. You could cut it out and lose nothing in the process.

The message the episode wants to display is that "it's okay to be jealous". Fine, that's their intention, and if they stuck with that, this wouldn't be a problem... except Discord deliberately left Twilight out of her friends' weekend just to screw with her. "I messed with you just so you could learn something, but that's okay since we're friends."

Another problem with teaching the lesson is that the narrative is so convoluted that it never takes the time to decide who we're meant to root for. Should we root for Twilight given how much she's left out, or should we root for Discord because she has a history of mistrusting him? The episode goes... both directions and yet neither direction at the same time, making it more confused than it really is.

It doesn't help that the episode ended with Discord shrinking in size, as if he was getting his own taste of medicine for being a jerk to Twilight. If Twilight was the one we were rooting for from the get go, and that Discord was the one taking his behavior too far (kind of like Three's a Crowd, which did this way better), this would've been fine.

While not the worst episode the show has spewed, it's still really bad, but on the whole, it's pointless in the long run. You could skip over this episode and you'd lose nothing in the long run. I think it's safe to say that season five was not a good one for Discord, especially since seasons before and after this one did him better justice.

Rating: Bad (1/10)

The Hooffields and McColts

Written by Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco

So Twilight and Fluttershy finally go on a Map Mission together. And... the outcome is pretty average on whole. The overall plot is very much akin to the family feud plot trope like Romeo and Juliet, minus the romance plotline, and... that's kind of it. There isn't really much to say.

Well, one thing I can say is that Fluttershy's characterization here was better than it was in Scare Master. She's concerned about the animals' safety and need, and even learns from them as to why the titular families were feuding for many years. It was all because their first ancestors couldn't agree and come to a compromise. Very good; it connects to the message about animal protection nicely.

But other than that, it's a bit on the run-of-the-mill side compared to most of Joanna and Kristine's scripts. At least it's better than Legend of Everfree.

Rating: Okay (6/10)

The Mane Attraction

Written by Amy Keating Rogers

So here it is; Amy Keating Rogers' swan song for My Little Pony. Having recently rewatched all of her episodes, I feel that some have aged worse than others, the worst offenders being A Friend in Deed and Crusaders of the Lost Mark. This one, however, stands up now like it did back in 2015. Maybe better.

Although this might not have been the intention, the music showcases the difference between music that's outright auto-tuned and relies on flashy effects and sounds to distract you from the singing that may be awful underneath, and the music that's written from the heart.

The song under the Countess persona perfectly demonstrates the former. It's not a great song, absolutely, but it perfectly shows why some people seem to forget what made music good in the first place. That's where her piano ballad at the end comes in. Rara is reflecting on the mistakes she's made in the past and wants to make a fresh start beginning with this song. Rara is more than a musician; she's an average pony like anyone else. No less, no more.

Oh, and did I mention how cute the flashback was, as well as hanging out with the foals?

Too bad Svengallop, one of the most hated characters of the series (and rightfully so), didn't see that. Much as my stance on Pinkie has soured a lot, even she didn't deserve to be berated by him. Thank goodness Rara saw through that (with Applejack's help) and cut herself off from him entirely.

That being said, the "be yourself" message was really good, despite that it's become a cliche in children's media by now, and the additional messages about encouragement vs. influence and the difference between a true friend and a false "friend" added to it, making it even better. The fact that it was Rara, a celebrity, learning it made it even stronger.

All in all, it ended Amy's time with the show on a bang, and is the heartwarming episode Crusaders of the Lost Mark wished it could be. But there's still one more episode out of this hit-or-miss season...

Rating: Excellent (10/10)

The Cutie Re-Mark

Written by Josh Haber

Out of all the episodes in season five, this was probably the most frustrating for me to review. When I first reviewed it in 2015, I thought it was okay, but then I thought it was bad and when I rewrote the original review, I said it was terrible. It mostly came down to Starlight Glimmer and how her arc was the handled, but the more I thought about it, the less it became the main problem I had with The Cutie Re-Mark.

I'll get this out of the way; yes, Starlight's backstory was poorly handled, but not because of how it tied into her motivations. It's because Sunburst was an unnecessary addition. Future episodes featuring him prove just how useless he is, not to mention Starlight barely mentions him whenever she's on screen. Hell, it got to the point he didn't even appear during Sombra's second invasion of the Crystal Empire in The Beginning of the End.

There's a very simple way to fix up Starlight's backstory; instead of having Sunburst be there as her only friend, you could have Starlight explain that when she was a teenager, she didn't get her cutie mark and was bullied for it. By the time she finally got her cutie mark, Starlight resented the fact that she got it so late and would hold onto that grudge for years to come. In a sense, it's like what might've happened had Apple Bloom never met with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and connected with them and formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

And then Twilight tells Starlight that holding onto that grudge wasn't healthy and she shouldn't have let bullying get to her. Just because a few select ponies tormented you, that doesn't mean you should burn the world because of them. It's that simple a fix. But to be honest, I feel people only bring it up because of their hatred for Starlight, which is ironic when you consider that Diamond Tiara's in Crusaders of the Lost Mark was sloppily handled, even more so than Starlight's, and yet the frilly pink brat gets sympathy.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I can talk about why the episode is actually bad. Let's start with the time travel gimmick for the finale; it's extremely confusing and it's not properly explained how it works.

For one thing, Twilight and Spike consistently end up back in the same moment with Starlight before the latter stops little Rainbow Dash from performing the Sonic Rainboom. We've seen Twilight and Spike go back multiple times over, and never once do they encounter themselves.

I've seen the Futurama movie Bender's Big Score where Professor Farnsworth explains that time paradox duplicates are doomed to die for good. For example, earlier in the movie, Hermes is decapitated by accident and Bender goes back in time to retrieve and earlier version of his body, only to lose it again during the wedding. Later on, we see Lars calling of his wedding with Leela and it turns out he's a duplicate of Fry having sent himself to the past. Trust me; you'd have to watch it to know what I mean.

Another direction they could've taken is from Stephen King's 11/22/63. In the novel, there's a 1950s-themed diner with a time portal and every journey through said portal takes the traveler to the exact same time - September 9, 1958, two minutes before noon. Past events can be changed, but subsequent use of the portal will "reset" the timeline and render all changes made on the previous journey null and void.

Had The Cutie Re-Mark gone a similar direction to one or both of the above, it would've cleared up the headache of figuring out how we still ended up with one Twilight, one Spike and one Starlight. Speaking of, where is she in all of the bad timelines, and why didn't Twilight and Spike think of dragging Starlight into one of the timelines earlier as opposed to 35 minutes in? The initial shock of landing in the Sombra and Chrysalis timelines I could buy, but why not just before they landed in the Nightmare Moon timeline?

After that is brief glimpses of the Tirek, Discord and Flim Flam brothers timelines, each somehow worse than the previous. Seriously! How could Flim and Flam taking over Sweet Apple Acres (and by extension, the Equestrian industry) be worse than Discord pulling a Ponyville riddled with chaos? They're average, everyday ponies whose worst crimes have been conning ponies out of their money!

If you want to know how each timeline would've gone from bad to worse, this is how the order should've gone, with the worst that could've happened in each timeline; Flim and Flam (with Equestria being far more industrial than ever), Nightmare Moon (when it's dark 24/7), Discord (with the world in endless chaos), Chrysalis (nothing but lush vegetation ruling the land), Sombra (with Equestria at war with the Crystal Empire), Tirek (with him causing more destruction than ever), and the wasteland. Just... a wasteland.

To be fair, Nightmare Moon was more threatening than she was in the season one premiere, but I don't believe for a second that her timeline is worse than Sombra or Chrysalis. At worst, it's dark 24/7. And bringing the other timelines into consideration, how was she defeated in every one of them? In the normal timeline, she was the first foe the Mane Six defeated! In Discord's timeline, we saw her back to normal as Luna, so if the Mane Six didn't defeat her, then how did Discord defeat her and, by extension, transformed her back into Luna? And how was Discord beaten by Chrysalis, who was then beaten by Sombra, who was then beaten by Tirek? If you think the last few paragraphs are confused, they're nothing compared to the episode itself!

And if Starlight's plan was to stop the Mane Six from getting their cutie marks by stopping the Sonic Rainboom, then how did they end up with the cutie marks they had in the original timeline? In the Chrysalis timeline, they're clearly visible (even though Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity were replaced by Changelings, but that's beside the point), so surely that must mean they still got their cutie marks in the other timelines as well, which would've made Starlight's plan kind of pointless. And again, the worst her actions did was somehow cause a different villain to take over, or in one case, led to a wasteland apocalypse.

On top of all that, Spike and Twilight never seem to suffer any ill effects when travelling back and forth through time. Spike hatched when Twilight lost control of her magic as a filly during her entrance exam, and years later after learning about friendship, she became an alicorn. Surely if neither of those events happened, Spike would feel himself start to fade out of existence and Twilight feel her flight skills start to get weaker?

It could've been like the first Back to the Future movie when Marty accidentally messes up his parents' first meeting, and when he realizes that a photograph of him and his siblings is starting to fade from existence, it's a literal race against time to get his parents together and share their first kiss so he can be born. Seriously, how is it that the simple things are so complicated to understand? It could've made the stakes even higher for Twilight and Spike to stop Starlight from causing a paradox.

Long and short, the problem with The Cutie Re-Mark is not Starlight's redemption arc. That's actually really easy to fix by removing Sunburst. No, the real problem with the episode is that the time travel action is riddled with plot holes, and it would take a lot of re-writing in order to make the whole thing work.

That said, there are redeeming moments. The opening with Twilight encountering Starlight in the crowd during a speech was a nice segue into the main conflict, Twilight and Spike facing off against the antagonist without the rest of the Mane Six is a nice breath of fresh air, and the Sombra timeline does a good job in making you feel for the ponies suffering under his wrath. It really looked like a complete hell hole.

But at the end of the day, the poor decision making in how Starlight's backstory should be handled, as well as the countless plot holes in the time travel, makes it feel like a letdown. With a bit of a rewrite, this could be great. As it is, it's a big change in the show's structure in all the wrong ways.

Rating: Bad (2/10)

Final Season Ranking: Okay (5/10)

My Little Pony: Rainbow Roadtrip

Well, here we go, the last My Little Pony-related product before we enter the final hiatus. The last few episodes of season nine have ranged from lackluster to downright awful, but can Rainbow Roadtrip pull off a Hail Mary at the eleventh hour?

My Little Pony: Rainbow Road Trip

Written by Kim Beyer-Johnson

Let's start off with some interesting trivia; it was intended to serve as a sequel to The Movie, but because of its poor box office numbers - which I don't understand considering that it made back almost ten times its budget ($6.5 million), but then again, My Little Pony has never been all things for all people - Rainbow Roadtrip was reworked to become an hour-long special for television.

But overall... it doesn't even feel at all like a special. It could've been a 22-minute episode and the result would've been exactly the same. Heck, the overall premise feels like something you'd expect to see from a run-of-the-mill, mid-season episode, not a feature length special.

The premise is basically the Mane Six being invited to Hope Hollow where Rainbow Dash is the guest of honor at the Rainbow Festival, only to discover that the entire town and the ponies living there have been drained of color. Once that's done, you're left wondering, "Okay, then what?" Well... very little.

It's basically The Cutie Map, except that episode had higher stakes and was sixteen minutes shorter. In fact, the story comes to an abrupt halt at that point and then it just drags on from point to point. But the stuff between the Mane Six's arrival and departure at the end just isn't interesting. Nothing feels tense or exciting. (Then again, this is My Little Pony in 2019, so what was I expecting?) Except maybe the scenes with Fluttershy, Pinkie, the married couple and their neighbor, though I could be saying this due to Fluttershy being my favorite.

The theme about helping others does work out, however, probably the best that Kim Beyer-Johnson's put out. It's especially relevant given that the world's a complete mess and hardly anyone's doing something about it. That's... all I can say, really.

Final Thoughts

This special didn't even feel like a special to begin with. It felt less like a sequel to The Movie and more like an extended episode. There's really nothing to gain or lose watching it. Ironically, it felt as colorless as Hope Hollow when the Mane Six first arrived there. Some will argue that the character moments were really good, and for the most part, they are, but there's only so far they can go without a story to prop them up within a one hour timeframe.

Rating: Bad (3/10)

My Little Pony Revisited: Season 5, Episodes 14-19

So the first half of season five was a mixed bag, and yet there was no middle ground episode. In general, the episodes were either really good or really bad, but how does the second half of the season fare?

Canterlot Boutique

Written by Amy Keating Rogers

If there's anything this episode is known for, it's the episode where Rarity finally starts to move up in the world by setting up another boutique in Canterlot. And with the help from Sassy Saddles, it becomes a success... but not in the way Rarity wanted.

When the Princess Dress (originally called Reign in Stain) became popular, Rarity felt dismayed that she had to make the same dress two hundred times, and the more she made, the less happy and creative she was feeling. Even when she tries to tweak the design to make it stand out more, she's still forced to go by the same design.

People would easily blame Sassy Saddles for Rarity's depression, but the latter brought it upon herself for not properly reviewing her partner's business plan. Both mares were in the wrong, and poor communication was the problem. Sassy may have had good intentions, but still.

Overall, there's not a lot to say about this. The moral about not losing your creative edge very relevant, especially if you're going through a creative slump, but it's also important that you stay happy as opposed to just doing a good job. After all, it takes time, love and couture in every project you make.

Rating: Excellent (9/10)

Scare Master

Written by Natasha Levinger

Here's another episode that I've held a grudge against since it first aired. Considering that she also wrote It Ain't Easy Being Breezies last season, you'd think Natasha Levinger would do Fluttershy justice, right?

If you want a quick, blunt answer, absolutely not. Fluttershy's character reduced to how it was before Breezies, only way more flanderized and focusing on completely irrational fears.

You don't even need to watch the whole episode just to know this. By this point, she's faced against a cockatrice, Discord (pre-redemption, at least), a swarm of Changelings, Sombra's attack on the Crystal Empire, and heck, she even partook in the Equestria Games and in this season, exposed Starlight Glimmer! All of that is completely ignored just to allow this story to happen.

And her fears against everything Nightmare Night just borders on whiny instead of sympathetic. I mean, afraid of bobbing for apples and eating one piece of candy? Come on! Shaggy from Scooby-Doo isn't this cowardly!

The worst part about all of this is the ending, which basically renders the story as a whole completely pointless. Fluttershy hides once again from Nightmare Night and learns nothing from the experience. What's the point of telling a story - or worse, presenting a character arc - if your main character learns nothing?!

Bottom line, just watch Scaredy Pants from SpongeBob. The animation might be dated by today's standards and run at half the length, but the story never goes so far as to treat its main character like a wimp, and it's a lot more fun to watch.

Rating: Terrible (-3/10)

Rarity Investigates!

Story by Meghan McCarthy, M. A. Larson, Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco
Written by Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songo

I wasn't all that fond of MMMystery on the Friendship Express, mostly because it seemed to lack a certain flavor. Then comes this episode.

Right out of the gate, I can say it's a lot of fun from start to end. Although I haven't watched a lot of noirs, the way the episode implemented the style and tone was brilliant. I might be alone on this, but Rarity's narrative tone and outfit feel like a cross between Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and Carmen Sandiego. Hell, her method of flirting with the guards to get answers was funny; it's a wonder they got past with a TV-Y rating!

The story's antagonist, Wind Rider, did vaguely remind me of actor Willem Dafoe with hints of Henry Winkler, mostly it's the physical appearance and how he was voiced. He's protective of his record and does everything he can to preserve it, even if it means framing Rainbow Dash, but as we all know, as the cliche goes, crime doesn't pay.

But that's not the only message being learned here. Rainbow Dash was shocked at what Wind Rider had done and saw he wasn't as cool as she made him out to be. I'm not sure if that was the actual intention or how I'm interpreting it, but sometimes, your heroes may not be what you think they are. That's one of the most mature morals the show has ever taught; heck, the episode as a whole is fairly mature, but not in a dark, edgy manner. Just enough to be suitable for the target audience and enough for older viewers to be invested.

Out of the characters involved, I feel that Soarin was the best. He might be one of the more laid back members of the Wonderbolts, but he still knows when to take action, especially when Spitfire went missing. That was a nice touch by adding layers to his character.

Rating: Excellent (10/10)

Made in Manehattan

Written by Noelle Benvenuti

There are a lot of charming episodes in the series, this one included.

Community spirit is something everybody needs more of these days, especially when the world of politics is being ruled by the bad guys. (Some are worse than others.) So to have an episode tell the audience about making a big difference by doing something small is something to be admired. Especially in a big community.

The way they present the difference between small communities and big bustling cities by showing the bad attitudes of most of the Manehattan ponies was quite clever. In a small community, everybody's very friendly to everyone they know, but in a big bustling city, hardly anyone has the chance to socialize out on the streets with a few exceptions.

But it's only when Applejack manages to build a new stage after the old one collapses that the Manehattan ponies finally saw what they had lost since Charity Kindheart left. And although the park was still a mess, the ending hints that things will eventually get better, much like The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone.

Even though this doesn't relate to the main story, I can relate to Twilight's boredom here. Having to drop from my college classes due to financial problems meant that I had very little to do except household chores. I was practically cooped up inside with no idea as to what I should do. The weather we were having at the time didn't help at all.

It's a shame this episode doesn't get the recognition it deserves; the message it presents is relevant in today's society. It's because of that alone that it can truly get one rating from me.

Rating: Excellent (10/10)

Brotherhooves Social

Written by Dave Polsky

This is going to be fun! Dismissing this episode solely based on the fact that Big Macintosh dressed up as a lady are not only shallow, but they're also completely missing the point and theme of this episode.

So what if he spent half of the episode disguised as Orchard Blossom? It made him feel a bit more confident in himself, even if it meant making him look like a fool in front of Apple Bloom. But Big Mac did this because he loved his youngest sister and wanted to spend time with her. He felt as if they never spent enough time together and that she always hung out with Applejack.

In fact, this episode completely destroys the stereotype that men are strong and don't show their emotions to the world, but that's completely untrue for the most part. Those who follow this stereotype are the exception and not the rule. Big Mac was open about his feelings to Apple Bloom, and it made him feel more human.

The ending is one of the sweetest of the entire series, let alone this season, and it makes Big Mac's and Apple Bloom's bond feel even stronger despite being disqualified from the Sisterhooves Social. It's like how that guy created the Mrs. Doubtfire persona because he was desperate to be with his kids. If those actions aren't what a man would do, then I don't know what is.

Heartwarming moments aside, there's still a lot of humor to be found when Big Mac and Apple Bloom partake in the events of the Social. Especially when he gets carried away at the race, relying on brute force just to win. And even though I don't mention voice acting that often, this is Peter New's best performance of the show, no hyperbole.

It goes without saying, but this is one of the most heartwarming episodes of the whole series. But sadly, it's also one of the more unappreciated... Oh well. It deserves all the love it can get.

Rating: Excellent (10/10)

Crusaders of the Lost Mark

Written by Amy Keating Rogers

Remember in my review of Frenemies where I focused on the implications surrounding sympathy for the villains and whether or not they deserve redemption? (Spoiler alert: They don't.)

Well, consider this revisit of Crusaders of the Lost Mark round two.

The episode begins by focusing on an election for Student President between Diamond Tiara and Pipsqueak. The latter wins by a huge margin, and the former gets only one vote, and it's not from Silver Spoon, who's finally had enough with her "friend's" behavior. All in all, it's a good enough start, but after Diamond Tiara's ego has been beaten down, we meet with her mother Spoiled Rich.

And all of a sudden, we're expected to believe she is responsible for Diamond Tiara being a terror to the Crusaders since day one and the daughter is completely innocent? Well, guess what? This does not excuse her behavior in the first four seasons at all!

If we're to believe that Spoiled Rich is fully responsible for the way Diamond Tiara is, then did she tell her daughter to put down any foal with a blank flank? Did she tell her to use blackmail against the Crusaders or mock Scootaloo's disability? Sure, Spoiled Rich might have been the one to tell her daughter not to associate with "blank flanks", but it was never implied at all that she was responsible for some of the events that took place in Ponyville Confidential or Flight to the Finish! Last I checked, Diamond Tiara acted of her own volition to put them down.

They try to give Diamond Tiara some redemption by agreeing to have the playground restored, but after what I've seen in four seasons and the first half of this episode, it's far too little, far too late to make up for that. This little bitch doesn't deserve any sympathy that she received. She only received it because the Crusaders took pity on her! Oh, and her saying they're her friends felt really forced.

This is emotional manipulation at its absolute worst. To sum up what I've said thus far, this episode expects you to feel sorry for Diamond Tiara for having an abusive mother, despite the fact that the show spent four years portraying her as an unsympathetic bully! To think that I used to see it as the best of season five like everyone else did, but no! Now I think it's the worst episode of the whole season! Yes, even worse than What About Discord?, and I'll get to that one soon enough...

You know what I think they should've done with the second half? Give Silver Spoon the spotlight. Yeah! I'm not kidding; if you pay attention to the likes of Call of the Cutie and Family Appreciation Day, she feels more like a follower instead of a genuine bully. It would've been the perfect chance to explore why she follows Diamond Tiara and why she chose to behave this way.

Now granted, her behavior in the first four seasons wouldn't be excused either, but if Sweet and Smoky is anything to go by, it would've been good to give a character study on Silver Spoon, and maybe give her a chance to display her more positive qualities. Heck, when she called out Diamond Tiara when the latter lost the election, I found it justified and a good moment for Silver.

But alas, we may never see what Silver Spoon's character is like away from Diamond Tiara, especially since both fillies never spoke again after this episode. My guess is that they wanted to get rid of Diamond Tiara - or at least, push her into the background - because so many fans (myself included) hated her. And considering what's happened to the majority of the Equestria Girls villains and, more recently, Chancellor Neighsay, it's not entirely off the table.

But even if you take Diamond Tiara's redemption arc out of the equation, this is basically the episode where the Crusaders' arc about getting their cutie marks comes to a close. Because so much time is spent on Diamond Tiara, only three or four minutes is dedicated to the Crusaders getting their cutie marks at long last.

Tell me; how does this actually relate to Diamond Tiara's story arc, and how exactly did they help her figure out her true talent? Her cutie mark is... well, a tiara. What does that even mean to her? This is basically what people accused Twilight getting her wings in Magical Mystery Cure as; something that was pulled out of the writers' asses just to complete a story arc. At least with the season three episode, we got some clear foreshadowing with where Twilight's destiny was going, but here? Nothing. Even if you watched Appleloosa's Most Wanted, it still feels extremely forced. And you can't say they were short for time since they had 22 minutes to work with! Yes, the writers aren't perfect, but working to a time frame is very important.

So yes, long and short, I now hate this episode. It's the most insulting way to conclude a story arc, the ending feels undeserved, and overall, a celebration in all the wrong ways. You'd probably be better off listening to the ending song by itself. Not only would there be a more satisfying experience just listening to the song, you'd have also heard the whole thing play out in one-tenth of the episode's run time.

Rating: Atrocious (-10/10)

MLP Episode 913: Between Dark and Dawn

Well, we're at the last episode before the final hiatus of the show, excluding Rainbow Road Trip. Ever since the bombshell dropped about Twilight taking over for Celestia and Luna, the big question on everyone's mind has been, "Okay, then what?" As we've seen thus far, very little. Not a single episode felt like it belonged in season nine and instead felt like they were leftovers from previous seasons for the most part. The sole exception seems to be Frenemies, and that was atrocious. But now we're gonna see how the final mid-season finale goes.

Between Dark and Dawn

Written by Gail Simone

For pony's sake... This is practically the lovechild of A Royal Problem and Road to Friendship with bits of Once Upon a Zeppelin and Pinkie Apple Pie being sprinkled into the mix.

I'm sick of mentioning this, but it's now gone beyond its nadir. This retreading of older ground needs to be put to bed! It never hurts to exercise a little creativity, you know? Not only that, the way both Celestia and Luna are portrayed completely devalues what they learned from A Royal Problem. But that's not the biggest issue I've got with the episode, especially since the main story with them gives me very little to talk about.

The B-plot with the Mane Six, which I'm laser-focusing on for the review, further emphasizes my hatred for The Point of No Return. That episode seemed to tell me that Celestia and Luna were practically giving their duties to a pony with paranoid schizophrenia. I'm not kidding; that is a mental disorder that Twilight has, so what's going to happen the next time she freaks out? Send Equestria at war with itself?

Also, consider that in The Beginning of the End, Luna said that Equestria has endured its longest period of harmony in recent years. Yeah, if you can consider a wedding almost being crashed, a raging monster going loose and stealing magic, royalty and close friends being kidnapped, and even a filly committing treason as "harmonic", then I'd really hate to see what things were like before Twilight and her friends obtained control of the Elements of Harmony...! But seriously; why would Luna make such a claim if we see evidence contrary to her statements?

Taking those facts into consideration, Twilight taking over for the sisters was probably an idiotic idea to begin with. I don't care if it was an idea Lauren Faust had planned from the start, but consider Twilight's history with acting without thinking as well as her ignorance to obvious problems from season six onward. Hell, this episode specifically shows her brushing off Fancy Pants' concerns, thinking that she knows best.

Here's something the writers have seemingly forgotten; Twilight is meant to be the voice of reason for the Mane Six! Yes, she has flaws, and without them, you'd border on making her a Mary Sue, and we know how despised many of them are. But you can also go too far the other end as well by exaggerating her flaws, making her an idiot at best or a toxic leader at worst. This episode and The Point of No Return are prime examples of that. This is what's known as flanderization, taking a common trait the character is known for and exaggerating it to the point it feels like it's their sole personality trait.

You know who would've been a better choice to take over for Celestia and Luna? Fluttershy. Out of the Mane Six, she's grown the most in terms of maturity, she's not afraid to stand up for herself in recent episodes, and she's even shown genuine concern for her peers, pony or otherwise. Heck, why do you think Celestia trusted her in redeeming Discord back in season three?

Getting back to Celestia's and Luna's story, they reconcile, fly back to Canterlot, and then the episode just... stops. Yeah, that's how they end it, and we never see them help Twilight in handling the raising and setting of the sun and the moon. This is also what happened in Fame and Misfortune with the story stopping at a completely random point. The Movie also stopped at a random point, but at least it felt like it was meant to bring the story and Tempest's character arc to a close. Here? It just stops because... reasons.

The only good aspect about this episode is Celestia and Luna's duet, and hearing them sing together is one of those "once a show" moments. And the sisters' performances by Nicole Oliver and Tabitha St. Germain (and Aloma Steele when Luna sings) shine through despite the thoroughly awful script.

Final Thoughts

This is one of the most abysmally written episodes of the entire series. It's pretty much the culmination of all the problems I've had with season nine thus far; retreading old ground (and doing nothing to make it stand out on its own), unfortunate implications, and an uninteresting end result. It almost feels like the writers simply aren't invested in the show anymore and want it to end. But even if you disregard the fact that it's the final season of the show, that's no excuse to not put in any effort into the writing.

I'm more frustrated than ever about the problems surrounding Twilight's character arc piling up. In fact, I may end up doing a follow-up post about it. Twilight needs to get her shit together by the time the finale airs in October; otherwise... Equestria's royally fucked.

Rating: Atrocious (-10/10)

My Little Pony Revisited: Season 5, Episodes 8-13

Here's the second batch of season five revisits!

The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone

Written by Amy Keating Rogers

If you've read my revisiting of Griffon the Brush Off, then you'll know how much I hated Pinkie's portrayal and how it tried to paint her as being in the right. In fact, Gilda was the one I ended up sympathizing with despite that the episode tried to make her the antagonist. But does the sequel resolve the problems of the first?

It did fix up the aforementioned episode, and then some.

For a start, Pinkie and Rainbow aren't treated like oblivious idiots or insensitive jerks toward a character that didn't deserve it. Rather, they both have different ideologies as to how they should help Griffonstone. Rainbow Dash wants to recover their lost idol, but Pinkie, ever the idealist, thinks the griffons need a bit of friendship, beginning with Gilda.

Why does Dash want to find the idol? Because it helped make Griffonstone stand out in all of the land, but when a creature came to steal it, it lost its glory, and the kingdom's griffons lost their morale and fell into poverty. No wonder they're so grouchy.

Rainbow Dash's attempt at getting the idol back leads to her getting stuck and needing help from Pinkie and a reluctant Gilda. She sees the idol, but ultimately chooses to rescue Rainbow and Pinkie instead. Which is a great moment from her; there's nothing more valuable than your friends' lives. Sure, they weren't exactly friends at this moment, but I think you get the idea.

Gilda changing her ways was also great, especially when giving her own scones to Greta after adding some baking powder. Yeah, Griffonstone lost its idol possibly forever and is still in ruins, but the ending implies that things will get better in the future, which was good. Not everything can be fixed immediately.

There are only two problems I have here; one is that despite Rainbow and Pinkie promising to visit Gilda, it's never built upon. The other is that, again, after this episode, we don't see Gilda apologize to Fluttershy. Rather sad, really.

I'll admit they don't affect this episode specifically, but I did think it was worth pointing out. In fact, it's easy focusing on what the episode doesn't have, but what it does have is some good character moments and a fantastic theme. That's all that really matters here. Oh, and that brick joke with Gummy. So funny.

Rating: Excellent (9/10)

Slice of Life

Written by M. A. Larson

Well, well. We meet again. The 100th episode of the show, and ever since it aired, I had a personal grudge with it. There are many reasons why, but I'll focus on the three big problems this episode faces. (Though admittedly, they kind of go hand in hand.)

The first problem is the execution of the message that everybody has their role to play in a bigger story. Fine, that's their intention. However, you can't shoot that message in the foot by then throwing the Mane Six out of the wedding as if they didn't exist, especially since they were the main reason the wedding took place at all! But then again, considering Pinkie's behavior towards meeting Cranky Doodle Donkey for the first time, maybe that would soften the blow a little, but still.

And brings me onto the other two main problems; the abundance of the background ponies and the fan-pandering. Again, they go hand in hand. Let's break it down, shall we?

1. This is a show for little girls. It always has been, and it always will be. How many of them are expected to know who the likes of Derpy, Vinyl Scratch, Lyra, etc. are? The only side characters they're likely to remember are the Crusaders, the Royal Sisters, Shining Armor and Cadance. And maybe Cranky Doodle and Matilda if they've seen A Friend in Deed, as bad as that episode was.
2. The Background Six (Derpy, Dr. Hooves, Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Lyra, and Bon Bon) have barely been given the time to shine in the past four seasons and the first quarter of season five, mostly to serve as background characters.
3. Trying to get the audience to suddenly care about six characters we may never have heard about in a 21 minute timeframe (excluding the title sequence and end credits) is extremely problematic. At best, each is likely to get around three or four minutes' worth of screentime. Tops. It worked a lot better for the Mane Six in the first two episodes of the show because it was made to establish who the main characters were and what their personalities were like.
4. If you're to celebrate 100 of something, you should at least think about what made the show to begin with, not the people who made it popular to begin with!
5. Because of the over-emphasis on the background characters, the plot feels like a complete afterthought with the gags overshadowing the story itself, and they're all tied together extremely loosely. Not to mention the happy ending feels unearned.

Taking all of those points into consideration, I began to watch the show because of how interesting the main characters were (reminder; I started watching in 2013). Not because of the background characters. I'd make suggestions as to how you could fix this episode, but all I need to do is direct your attention to an episode that came three weeks after this one, also by Larson, and I'll get to that soon enough.

Bottom line, this still remains one of the worst ways to celebrate 100 episodes. If I wanted one done right, I'd rather watch Thomas and the Special Letter. No, it's not a perfect adaptation, but at least it tries to tell an engaging story and has a lot of fun moments in a shorter timeframe.

Rating: Terrible (0/10)

Princess Spike

Story by Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller
Written by Neal Dusedau

I like the idea of a character trying to take over duties for a job they know nothing about, but it falls apart when all Spike had to do was close the window so Twilight wouldn't be disturbed by the loud noises. Not to mention all the consequences are heaped upon Spike, whose heart was in the right place.

Apart from that, there's... nothing really to talk about. The only positives that are noteworthy is Cadance being a voice of reason to Spike when he starts to abuse his power, and the pacing isn't too bad either, despite the cliched plotline and abuse Spike gets for his behavior. Yeah, he deserved consequences for abusing his power, but it was too much. In fact, it was so disliked by a lot of fans that even Jim Miller admitted in hindsight that it was too far.

Also, this has nothing to do with the story, but why is it called the Grand Equestria Pony Summit when a griffon is visible in the crowd? Wouldn't simply calling it the Grand Equestria Summit - minus the term "pony" - have been a lot more creature-neutral? It's not like the griffon involved was a major threat here!

Rating: Bad (3/10)

Party Pooped

Story by Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller
Written by Nick Confalone

Another episode that I've always disliked. This time around, it introduces characters out of the yaks (excluding season eight's Yona; someone should put bubble wrap around her) and their leader, Prince Rutherford, became one of my personal most disliked characters of the series.

He leaves a bad impression straight away in the cold open when he and two of his fellow yaks destroy the buffet the ponies made for them, just because the food wasn't perfect and not yak food. Rutherford's antics go on for the rest of the episode (especially in the first act), and it gets to the point you almost wish he could hunted down and stuffed on a wall. Seriously, whoever made this guy the leader of his tribe must've been braindead!

Then there's Pinkie Pie. To be fair, her character was fine for the most part, but if there is any episode where she should be portrayed in a positive light, it shouldn't be this one.

Adding on top of the selfish, ungrateful behavior the yaks display, the plot is extremely convoluted. How did Pinkie Pie end up playing with a Beatles-like band over an apparent period of several years before arriving to the Crystal Empire before making it to Yakyakistan only to end up on a sled taking her all the way back to Ponyville... within a single afternoon?! I just felt confused typing that!

I know this is a cartoon and you sometimes have to bend the rules of logic for the sake of storytelling, but this is too much, even by Pinkie's standards. If her story had happened the same way it did and if it had actually taken place over a period of several years, Ponyville would be annihilated by now!

Oh yeah, and how did the Wonderbolts know Pinkie and Cherry Jubilee were in trouble? That's another part of Pinkie's journey that made no sense.

The ending is perhaps one of the stupidest ever. Pinkie comes back to Ponyville after her convoluted, pointless journey and throws a last-minute party for the yaks... and they become friends with ponies just like that? Sure, it's to teach a lesson, but the way it was executed makes the happy ending feel sudden and undeserved. Do I need to mention it's because of the yaks' behavior?

Nick Confalone left a bad impression when he introduced us to the yaks. To be fair, Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller were also involved in the story like they were with Princess Spike, but after that, Confalone was a solo act and gave us horrendous stories like No Second Prances and Forgotten Friendship. Sure, he had the odd gem like Dungeons & Discords and The Break Up Break Down, but his bad episodes stood out for all the wrong reasons, and Party Pooped is a prime example of this.

Again, in fairness, he's not the only writer to (perhaps unintentionally) implant unfortunate implications in his scripts. Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco did so when it came to Legend of Everfree, as did Amy Keating Rogers with A Friend in Deed, and as for Scott Sonneborn... well, I don't wish to spoil anything in regards to his last contribution of the show, but...!

Rating: Bad (1/10)

Amending Fences

Written by M. A. Larson

Remember in the Slice of Life revisit where I said a later Larson episode did a similar concept way better? Well, this was the episode I had in mind.

First of all, there's actually a focused plot going on. Twilight suddenly remembers her old friends from Canterlot and feels like she hurt them without knowing it. But to her surprise and relief, Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts don't show any resentment towards her. But a fourth pony does, and her name is Moon Dancer.

You know, the pony who was mentioned to having a party in the first episode of the show? They tie into that extremely well, and it didn't feel out of place. The inclusion of the aforementioned background mares helped the continuity a lot.

Secondly, there's a lot of character involved. Sure, Minuette (my favorite of the trio), Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts are a bit interchangeable with each other, but Twilight, Spike and Moon Dancer especially were brilliant. Plus the flashback with them in the science lab as fillies was adorable.

You feel a lot for Twilight when she tries to start over with Moon Dancer, and unlike A Friend in Deed, where Pinkie didn't realize that her stupidity was driving Cranky Doodle away from her, Twilight wanted to know where she screwed up and kept searching until she got her answer.

Which brings me neatly onto Moon Dancer. She was much like Twilight in her youth, more into books than making friends, but with the help of the Unicorn Trio, she began to open up about the idea... until she learned about Twilight leaving Canterlot without so much of a goodbye, which made her bitter and resentful. It finally boils over when she chews out Twilight before breaking down in tears.

It also makes Twilight understand where she messed up and apologize for hurting Moon without meaning to. This shows that you should never hold onto a grudge against someone who didn't show up where you invited them... unless, of course, the friend was really that bad. Moon Dancer is one of the show's most sympathetic characters, and it's a shame they never gave her another role after this one (we're just going to pretend that The Point of No Return doesn't exist).

This is the celebratory episode Slice of Life wished it could be. It calls back to the first episode of the show, it celebrates what made said show good to begin with, and it has an engaging story viewers of all ages can relate to, fun characters, and a sweet, heartwarming message.

Rating: Excellent (10/10)

Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?

Story by Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller
Written by Scott Sonneborn

I understand what this episode is trying to say in regards to its message. But to be frank, the intention doesn't mean anything. The execution of the message does.

The story begins well enough with the Mane Six dreaming about a mysterious creature Luna calls the Tantabus. Eventually, everypony in Ponyville gets involved into a combined dream to fight off the Tantabus before Luna delivers this bombshell to everypony...

"I created the Tantabus to give myself the same nightmare every night... to punish myself for the evil I caused as Nightmare Moon! ... To make sure I never forgave myself for how much Equestria suffered because of me! But it seems I have not learned my lesson, for now I have only made you suffer more!" - Princess Luna, 7/11/2015

Up until that point, the episode's message, as intended, was to forgive yourself for your past mistakes. But Luna's dialogue near the end completely destroyed this episode's intended message and instead implies that you shouldn't seek help when you have a problem. That is right up there with Apology Impossible's toxic lesson that kids shouldn't stand up to bullies!

"But Luna stopped the Tantabus by forgiving herself. Doesn't that make it better?"

No, that doesn't make things any better; it makes things worse! Not to mention it felt superficial and Luna only forgave herself because of Twilight's speech, and not because of Celestia, the pony Luna hurt the most, who should've been there to speak with her sister. And you can't say "they had no room to put Celestia in," because this would've been the perfect opportunity for them to have a moment as sisters! Instead, we had to wait two years to actually get an episode featuring them. Time constraints in an episode are no excuse for this.

Not only that, it completely destroys her development from Luna Eclipsed, as bad as that episode was. There, it was shown that the ponies had accepted her once again, and in the Crusaders/Luna trilogy, we got to see a more wiser side to Luna, even though it makes her feel a bit like a dark blue Celestia. Could you imagine how the Crusaders would feel about this; the mare who gave them comfort in their dreams was actually tormenting herself for something extremely petty? It puts their respective episode arcs in a completely different light and sends even more unfortunate implications.

Also, note how I said Luna tormented herself for something petty. Her time as Nightmare Moon wasn't even a full day overall. At best, it was about a few hours, and the worst that happened was that it was dark. Nopony died, nopony ended up with serious injuries, and yet Luna treated it like it was Armageddon!

And her guilt is fed upon by the Tantabus which, again, she created herself. Would anyone want a leader like Luna acting this way in the real world? People wouldn't feel safe! This is confirmed by the fact that it escaped and found other hosts with the Mane Six and, no thanks to Pinkie, the rest of Ponyville. And instead of destroying it, which would've been a perfect metaphor for seeking help, Luna absorbs it once again, suggesting that things will get worse in the future if she sweeps it under the rug like that!

Princess Luna gets a rough treatment from the writers, possibly more so than Starlight Glimmer, and this episode is the nadir of that. It's because of this episode and Luna Eclipsed that she's my least favorite of the princesses, and her wangsty behavior here did not help at all. And if you feel like the overall premise feels like it came from Final Fantasy... you're right.

Hasbro should be ashamed of themselves for letting this episode's ending come out in this state. Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? is yet another contender for worst episode of the series.

Rating: Atrocious (-10/10)

MLP Episode 912: The Last Crusade

Well, this is going to be interesting.

The Last Crusade

Written by Nicole Dubuc

I like the idea of one of the characters worrying about moving and leaving their friends behind. But I've watched the show long enough to understand that nothing is going to break the Crusaders' friendship. They try covering it up with a lot of tear-jerking and heartwarming moments, but they completely lose their shine due to how obvious the ending is.

That's not to say the episode is without its merits. For the first time ever, we finally get to see Scootaloo's parents. It's nice to see her hype them up as cool and being proven true when they defeat an escaped cragadile at the school. That's a nice establishing character moment right there. And even though I don't comment about character designs, the father's an earth pony and the mother a Pegasus, which might explain Scootaloo's poor flying abilities. She's half-Pegasus!

And there's even the implication that her aunts Lofty and Holiday are married, which is very progressive in a kid's show. As much as I cared very little about Trade Ya!, they showed a disabled pony which was a nice touch.

Unfortunately, that is where the praise ends. Despite Scootaloo's parents being nice characters and all, this episode just raises in-universe questions why Scootaloo never brought them up in a conversation up to this point. Does she really not care for them as much as the episode wants us to believe? On top of that, what's even the point of having her parents turn up if we never see them again in the last thirteen episodes?

You'll notice that earlier, I said the ending was obvious. The episode itself feels like an allegory for friends moving away and trying to cope with it during their final days together. This wouldn't be a problem if Scootaloo hadn't chose to stay in Ponyville after all, which means all the tension and drama leading up to this point was for nothing!

If I had to compare it to something else, look at Toy Story 3. The ending is one of the biggest tear-jerkers in cinema history, and yet you're still smiling knowing that Woody and his friends will have a new kid playing with them. Before all of that, they were afraid about being abandoned by Andy when he went to college and ended up at Sunnyside Daycare before realizing it was a sort of hellhole being run by a monster in the guise of a pink teddy bear.

And then, when they escape, they end up close to death before being saved at the lost moment and that was when Woody decided his friends deserved a better fate than being stuck in the attic. It all comes together towards the happy-yet-emotional ending, and a real masterclass in storytelling. Yes, this film had 90 minutes or so to work with, but you can still tell emotional stories in a shorter runtime.

As an example, there's Sleepless in Ponyville. Scootaloo looks up to Rainbow Dash like a big sister and wants to be as cool as her when she grows up, but she's afraid she'll abandon her for being afraid of scary stories. It's only when Luna speaks with the young filly that Scootaloo opened up to Rainbow Dash about how she really felt. It hits all the right notes, the ending is earned, and there's something to actually gain out of all of it.

Getting back to The Last Crusade, and that's the overall problem with the episode. It very much goes for the "Status Quo is God" trope, which is one of the worst when it comes to writing. It makes the overall conflict pointless and there's nothing to gain out of watching it.

Also, think about how many times the status quo has been broken in Equestria, some leaving impacts bigger than others, I'll admit: Twilight moving to Ponyville from Canterlot, Princess Luna returning, the Cake twins being born (why they're still babies after at least four years in-universe time, I don't know), the wedding between Shining Armor and Cadance, the return of the Crystal Empire, Discord's redemption, Twilight becoming an alicorn, Rainbow Dash become a Wonderbolt reserve before joining the team full time, the destruction of Golden Oaks Library, the growth of Twilight's new castle, Griffonstone rebuilding itself, Rarity starting up business outside of Ponyville (once in Canterlot, once in Manehattan), the Crusaders gaining their cutie marks, Starlight joining the main cast, the birth of Flurry Heart, Ember becoming the new Dragon Lord, Flim and Flam running their own business in Las Pegasus, Thorax taking over the Changeling kingdom, Fluttershy starting up an animal sanctuary, Big Mac and Sugar Belle starting a relationship, the Crusaders helping foals their age figure out their destinies, the Pillars of Equestria and Stygian coming back from limbo in the present day, Hippogriffia coming back, the School of Friendship being founded, Maud finding a new coltfriend, Sugar Belle getting an internship in Ponyville, Spike gaining wings, the Tree of Harmony being destroyed and then revived, and by the end of the season, we'll see Twilight take over for Celestia and Luna. (Wow, that's a lot of changes to the status quo, now that I think about it.)

And yet Scootaloo moving from Ponyville is where the writers draw the line? That's a total cop-out if I ever heard of one!

There's a very simple way to fix the episode without making the ending obvious or relying on the "Status Quo is God" trope. Have Scootaloo first talk to her parents about the situation, and so they show pictures of their planned new home, giving Scootaloo the chance to think about this decision with her friends. They're still sad about the idea, but they give her support because kids are resilient when it comes to a friend moving house. Scootaloo then thinks about all the adventures she had in Ponyville, and figures that she could still have new adventures in a new place and return to Ponyville whenever she has the chance. Even if she makes new friends there, she'll still have her old Ponyville friends to go back to, as if they were never apart to begin with. There's even the possibility of helping blank flanks beyond Ponyville discover their true destinies!

See, looking at what I propose, that is where The Last Crusade really slipped up. Yes, the ending is uplifting (or at least, it was intended to be), but if they went for what I propose instead, it would be even more so and beautiful with the Crusaders coming out the other end a lot stronger emotionally, developing their characters.

Final Thoughts

If you want this story done right, watch either Tanks for the Memories or A Shed for Edward from Thomas and Friends. The former does a great job in showcasing Rainbow Dash learning to accept the fact that Tank would be going into hibernation, and the latter's ending properly shows how to deal with a friend moving away.

The Last Crusade, as it stands, feels like it was designed to be watched once, and even when watching for the first time, the ending is obvious, making the entire conflict pointless. The only salvaging moments were getting to know more about Scootaloo's family, showing how much the Crusaders care for each other, and the plot is relatively fine for the most part. But other than that, the end result is really frustrating.

Rating: Terrible (-2/10)

My Little Pony Revisited: Season 5, Episodes 1-7

Four years ago, I reviewed season five as each new episode aired with a few exceptions, but since then, I've never been happy with how some reviews have turned out; a few in particular, and I'll get to those soon enough. That's pretty much why I reviewed season seven long after its initial airing, to make sure my reviews were up to standard. It's also why some season eight reviews were some of the best I've written up to date.

With that out of the way, here's the first batch of season five revisits!

The Cutie Map

Story by Meghan McCarthy
Written by Scott Sonneborn and M. A. Larson

It feels like forever when I first watched this episode...! Whilst my stance Starlight has almost gone a full 360 since this episode first aired, I still think it holds up for the most part. Any problems I have are less to do with this episode specifically, and more to do with what came after.

These days, it almost feels as though the Cutie Map itself serves as some kind of plot device just to drive certain episodes. If it was just the Mane Six, that would be excused, but since then, Starlight (twice), Spike (despite not being a pony), the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Sunburst have been called by the map and heck, Discord once tampered with it just to screw with the Mane Six. If other ponies (or creatures) outside of the Mane Six are being called by the map, then really, what was the point of the map to begin with?

Out of the Our Town Quartet, only Sugar Belle has gained relevance following Hard to Say Anything. After this episode, Double Diamond, Party Favor and Night Glider seemed to become afterthoughts, the latter especially as she wasn't even referred to by name here (and people say Aria Blaze had it bad). It's a crying shame as in this episode, Party Favor was my favorite of them.

He's probably the most sympathetic of the lot, given that he was one of the first to rebel against Starlight's beliefs and later got his happy ending. After that, not much of note except for a one-off gag in The Movie. If they were able to give Sugar Belle more screentime, then why not the other three? There's lots of untapped potential there, more than what Sunburst ever had.

Speaking of, the whole premiere is largely character driven. And even back in 2015, Starlight's role as the antagonist was really good. Right from the get go, you can tell something is off with her colors. She's a lot brighter compared to everyone else, who looked to be in gray with hints of their former colors before regaining their cutie marks again. That's a really good use of visual direction.

Mind you, Fluttershy was the premiere's MVP. Despite the seemingly creepy atmosphere and the ponies' excessive smiles, Fluttershy finds the place nice, charming and quaint (she didn't actually say that; just a summarizing is all). And when the Mane Six lose their cutie marks, they volunteer Fluttershy to get them back, but she notices something off about Starlight; her cutie mark was a fake! And the next day, she exposes Starlight's deception and hypocrisy to the ponies of Our Town, causing their former leader to flee.

There isn't much to talk about in terms of story, but the morals presented were really good; everybody is unique, you can't force friendship by having the same beliefs, and one good turn deserves another (when the Mane Six help the Quartet and vice-versa). And the ending with Starlight escaping was well done too. Although the resolution in the finale wasn't great, it left you wondering as to what she might be planning next.

Rating: Good (8/10)

Castle Sweet Castle

Written by Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco

It was inevitable that there would be a response to those who weren't happy about the destruction of Golden Oak Library in Twilight's Kingdom. Seriously guys; it's just a tree.

But at the same time... it was a home to Twilight. She's gotten a new castle in place of the library, but she doesn't feel at home there. So the Mane Six try to make her feel at home and send Spike to distract Twilight. Their first attempt is a failure, so they go back to the drawing board, especially after Spike's comment that it's terrible. Which was pretty funny, as was the group's reactions to their initial redecorating.

Re-watching this episode made me think about when I moved to Oregon a couple of years back. It felt strange at first, but I did get used to the routine in due time. Seeing the ruins of Golden Oak Library can be pretty heart-wrenching, especially Twilight and Spike's reactions to it.

Like Meghan McCarthy before them, Joanna and Kristine were off to a flying start. This episode is a pick-me-up if you need it. Although there are some sad moments, it's balanced out by the humor like Twilight kicking Angel into a mud puddle (especially given his behavior in past episodes) and Bulk Biceps working at the spa. Seriously, how do they keep him around despite his accidental destruction at times?

Overall, it does everything a great episode should.

Rating: Excellent (10/10)

Bloom & Gloom

Written by Josh Haber

I was never much for this one. As the last episode of the Luna/Crusaders trilogy (the others were Sleepless in Ponyville and For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils), this was a letdown. Honestly, I feel the episode tries too hard to be unsettling and... nothing else.

Yeah, we get it. Apple Bloom suffers from anxiety as to what her cutie mark would be like when she finally gets it, and we get a string of nightmares about it, each more disturbing than the previous. Though they seem to border on weird at best.

Whilst Scootaloo's and Sweetie Belle's episodes had their moments, Apple Bloom's didn't, and it's almost a slog to sit through. What makes it sadder is that it's the last time Babs Seed got a mention in the series, save for a few cameos in the background. She deserved so much more than what she got.

Rating: Bad (3/10)

Tanks for the Memories

Written by Cindy Morrow

This episode pretty much showcases the five stages of grief; first, Rainbow Dash expresses denial about Tank wanting to go into hibernation, then she takes her anger out on her friends when they come close to mentioning the word "hibernate", then she resorts to desperate measures to keep winter from coming, then she falls into depression over failing to stop winter, and finally comes to accept having Tank hibernate for the winter.

Sure, Rainbow's sabotaging of winter could be seen as petty on her part, but she was treating the whole scenario as if she was losing Tank forever. To a pet owner, they're pretty much their friend and source of comfort when nobody else is around. And as mentioned earlier, Rainbow was desperate.

All it took was Fluttershy to break her with the "cruel to be kind" approach. From the start, she knew Tank was going to hibernate but Rainbow dismissed her knowledge, only for that fact to come back and bite her on the tail. So did her failed attempts at stopping winter (which were pretty funny) and making things worse for herself as a result, but still. It's moments like these that make Fluttershy my favorite of the Mane Six.

After a rocky start in season one, Cindy Morrow ended her time with My Little Pony on a high note. At first, I didn't think much of it, but I thought it deserved so much more, in hindsight. It's one of those episodes that children, teenagers and adults can relate to, whether it be for the loss of a pet, a family member, or a close friend. Plus, how often do we see Rainbow Dash being a softie?

Rating: Excellent (10/10)

Appleloosa's Most Wanted

Written by Dave Polsky

Yes, I know the actual episode title says Appleoosa, but the name of the town itself has the second L, so that's what I'm sticking with.

Anyway, this was another pretty good episode as well. Yes, it's not the most exciting episode, nor is it one of the more complex. Trouble Shoes is a guy who's not wrecking rodeos on purpose. All he wants to do is partake in one but gets into accidents that give him a bad name. Luckily, the Crusaders came around to help him look at his cutie mark in a different light and he got his wish in the end.

It's simple, but it does the job it should, and it even foreshadows the Crusaders' future roles to come. That being said, if you're not the biggest fan of the "jumping to conclusions" plot trope or don't care for rodeos in general, then you're probably not going to like this one.

Rating: Excellent (9/10)

Make New Friends but Keep Discord

Written by Natasha Levinger

The first point of contention is Discord's behavior. It's pretty obvious he likes hanging out with Fluttershy, but why does he get jealous when she hangs out with Tree Hugger and yet has no problem with her being with the rest of the Mane Six? Yeah, Discord doesn't have the best relationship with the others, but still.

Speaking of whom, it almost sounds as if Twilight is still distrustful towards Discord despite that he regretted betraying them in Twilight's Kingdom. But then again, considering the next episode he starred in this season...

In fact, it feels as if Discord comes off as the Designated Villain by sabotaging the Grand Galloping Gala just to impress Fluttershy and tries to make her jealous by being friends with the Smooze. But if you consider that between Keep Calm and Flutter On and this episode, Discord hasn't really been invited by the rest of the Mane Six to hang out with them, not even Pinkie. The sympathy cranks up when his comedy routine fails and Maud roasts him.

Also, the Smooze is a thing. It's just... there. It doesn't have much in terms of character, it doesn't speak. All it does is serve as Discord's plus one to drive the plot. And how does Tree Hugger know about it? (Not that she had much personality or backstory to begin with, but still.) Heck, a lot of this episode feels like it was contrived for the sake of happening.

And this last point is minor, but I'll mention it anyway; why does Rarity say that the Crusaders are "going as [hers, Applejack's and Rainbow Dash's] dates"? Simply saying "plus ones" would've been fine. (Yes, it's a minor problem I have, but it's not the problem.)

There are episodes that age well or improve over time, but Make New Friends but Keep Discord is one of those episodes that doesn't. Granted, there are worse episodes in existence, but this episode feels mean-spirited against him and you almost feel like rooting for him when the other ponies mock him or get on his nerves. Considering her previous efforts in season four, I don't think Natasha Levinger is a bad writer, but she didn't do Discord any justice here.

Rating: Bad (1/10)

MLP Episode 911: Student Counsel

You wait eleven episodes, and then a wild Glimmer appears in a blatant beat for beat retreading.

Student Counsel

Written by Josh Haber

So Starlight finds herself overworked in helping students at the School of Friendship with their problems, and then a party with her and her friends gets cut short when Silverstream seems to go missing. And they run into trouble with a herd of cockatrices. It's like a mashup between Every Little Thing She Does and Stare Master. There's nothing new or interesting in regards to the story. The theme isn't new either; it's basically "don't overwork yourself" which, again, older episodes have already done.

Final Thoughts

This is a very short review, but to be honest, there's nothing for me to talk about. It's one of the most boring episodes of the entire show. Everything this episode did was done in past episodes and was far more interesting.

Rating: Bad (1/10)