Season 1 Episodes 21-26

Why disc 4 missing Rainbow Dash pony profile? >:(

EP 21: Over A Barrel

Rating: 5 6 6

This episode starts off weird. We see a steam engine which should have the ability to be mechanically powered telling by its design but yet a fleet of ponies is running pulling the entire train. Applejack is schizomaxing reading to a tree who's named Bloomberg. Rarity comes in upset that she can't unfairly have the private car for herself and argues with Applejack to take her meds. Don't do it, AJ, psychiatric medication and in fact the whole psychiatric industry is controlled by Big Pharma to psyop the populace into believing personality types and natural psychological reactions to constant negative stimuli and lifestyles are mental illness that must be cured but only by licensed professionals that will charge out the ass, get you hooked on psychology-altering drugs that will cost you out the ass, and throw you in padded cages against your will for breakdowns that any sane person should be having in this hell of a world, all while your insurance companies get all this information and use it to increase your rates. And now I don't have to write the Illusion Of Mental Health article.

So after the theme song, we hear chatter and Rainbow Dash says "Oh man, we're going fast!" and I just find this line so amusing for some reason. Rarity and Spike are pissed at the chatter and just want to sleep and Twilight tells everyone to sleep. Everyone then whispers to each other about Fluttershy being a tree to which Flutters says she'd like to be a tree. Notice how Rainbow Dash asks Pinkie first if she's asleep yet.

Spike gets pissed at the ponies disrupting his sleep and goes to sleep with Bloomberg. The next day, the train is attacked by buffalo and we see a pony ball.

A little girl buffalo then jumps on the train and Rainbow Dash chases her but fails and the buffalo steals the last train car and abducts Spike and Bloomberg.

They then arrive in Appleloosa, the place they were supposed to plant Bloomberg and are greeted by Braeburn, Applejack's cousin. We learn that Appleloosa was built in the past year. After Braeburn refuses to shut up about the town, Applejack gets tired of his shit and shuts him up so the situation of the lost train car can be explained and we hear that the buffalo are trying to disrupt the pony's land.

We see then Rainbow Dash in the desert scheming to get back at the buffalo and she comes across Pinkie Pie who's also there for some reason.

Aww, she kisses her.

After Rainbow Dash yells at Pinkie, the buffalo find them but Spike appears as a diplomat and take them to the buffalo tribe. We then hear the little girl buffalo, Little Strongheart explain the situation of the buffalo disrupting Appleloosa being that the ponies took their land in a clear reference to American Colonisation. We then get to meet the chief who explains that the ponies built on top of their stampeding grounds and that the chief's father stampeded on these ground, and his father before him, and his father before him, and his father before him, and his father before him, and his father before him... I though this bit was really funny. Rainbow Dash decides to side with the buffalo.

The ponies in Appleloosa set off to find Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Spike but they come across them right as they are about to leave town and Flutters leaps with joy at Pinkie Pie.

Both sides then argue with each other over who should get the land. Pinkie gets the idea to perform a show to get the Appleloosans and buffalo to get along and we get to see Rainbow Dash's infamous wing boner and a Pinkie song.

The performance amplifies hostilities and a battle is declared. The next day the battle is to begin. The buffalo almost withdraw before battle but Pinkie starts doing her performance again angering the buffalo leading to them attacking. The battle results in the death of hundreds.

Both sides after losing families, realize the utter horror they bring with war and create an agreement to stop the bloodshed being an economic relationship as a compromise. The episode ends and we never see buffalo in this show again and while one may think it's due to the depiction of war and bloodshed in a children's show, it's actually because parents and politicians were pissed at the message that it's possible for warring states to come to compromises and this disrupts the psyops conducted by militaries and the weapons industry to convince children to die for institutions ran by old men that couldn't give less of a shit about them while propagandising their meaningless marches to potential death as patriotic.

So I really liked this episode. I was very close to giving it 6 EV but I believe it was just barely not hilarious enough to warrant it so I give it a very strong 5 EV. It gets 6 VB because I truly believe this may be one of the best lessons a children's show could give to actual children and isn't just some generic friendship crap like most episodes. Maybe my personal beliefs amplify my perception of the value of the message but the message of compromising on stuff to avoid conflict is important to all people and groups. It gets 6 DV because we see a whole new town, biome, a new sapient race, and decent characters.

EP 22: A Bird In The Hoof

Rating: 6 4 4

We start with finding out Fluttershy's late to a brunch with her friends and Celestia and while she's panicking, we see the dresses Rarity made in that one episode for a few frames. So is Fluttershy doing some work on the dresses or something or holding onto them for Rarity for some reason? Or am I looking too far into a children's show?

After the theme song, we see Sugarcube Corner being guarded by two royal guards and Rainbow Dash decides to mess with them. She also says "anybody" at a point. When RD gets bored of trying to troll them, Fluttershy comes by and the guards refuse her entry even though she is a literal former celebrity and an Element of Harmony and they should know who she is. Twilight has to let her in.

Twilight reveals she's insecure about Celestia approving of her friends. Rarity's being an obnoxious overly-cautious cunt because she's in a dress freaking out about keeping it clean then literally shivers in fear at the possibility of her dress getting stained. Applejack doesn't understand what she can eat first. Twilight continues to be insecure about her friends' behavior then Pinkie comes in, bounces around, slams a pie in her face, shoves her entire head into a chocolate fountain, then steals a cupcake from Celestia. Pinkiepilled.

Celestia then drinks some tea and the Cakes refill her teacup. She keeps drinking as they refill it until she trolls them by faking a sip causing the next refill to overflow and spill. This was pretty funny.

We then get to meet Celestia's bird which is clearly on its deathbed. The brunch at Sugarcube Corner is then canceled because Mayor Mare doesn't know how to schedule and must meet Celestia right away for some reason. As everyone's leaving, Pinkie cartwheels through the room and knocks a bitch out in a scene about as funny as when Applejack fell to her death.

Fluttershy steals the bird. She tries to cure the poor bastard but fails constantly.

Redditor bird.

Twilight comes and sees that Fluttershy stole the bird. Guards arrive and Twilight passes a speech check to get the guards to go away. Twilight arguing with Fluttershy bumps her making the bird fall out of a basket and knock itself out in a pretty funny visual gag. The bird then escapes its tormentors and we get a chase scene as the bird utterly fucking trolls Twilight and Fluttershy.

Aww, they're cuddling.

Then the bird just fucking dies.

Then Celestia arrives and tells the bird to stop playing bullshit and it rebirths as a phoenix revealing it didn't actually die. After Flutters asks Celestia if she's gonna banish her and throw her in a dungeon in the place she was banished to, Celestia says the thing.

This episode was pretty funny, especially the beginning so I believe it's worthy of 6 EV. 4 VB I guess for the message of don't do shit before you understand the context. 4 DV for the fact that we get to see a phoenix, a new mythical animal.

EP 23: The Cutie Mark Chronicles

Rating: 5 4 6

This episode's plot begins with the CMC getting the idea to ask ponies how they got their cutie marks so they can hopefully gain knowledge on how to get theirs. We also get to see an adorable Scootaloo.

Scootaloo mentions asking the coolest pony in Ponyville first and Apple Bloom thinks it's Applejack and Sweetie Belle thinks it's Rarity indicating that they value their sisters a lot and have functional families. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle also think Pinkie is the strongest and bravest pony in Ponyville at first and think Fluttershy is the greatest flier from Cloudsdale which hints at Fluttershy originating from Cloudsdale which I don't even remember it this was stated in Sonic Rainboom or if this is the first time it's been brought up.

Scoots zooms into town with the other two and still has her ability to copy engine sounds which will be very useful if demons ever invade Equestria. They crash into Applejack and she tells them how she got her cutie mark. She states that she was littler than the CMC when she got her cutie mark as we go into the flashback. We see in the flashback AJ going to Manehatten showing this city for the first time in the show. Eventually she gets tired of the city slickin' and after seeing a rainbow, returns to Sweet Apple Acres and gets her cutie mark.

The CMC almost crash into Fluttershy and her cutie mark story is next and we see Cloudsdale again with an older filly Fluttershy which is continuity callback to her "I'm a year older than you." comment. We learn that apparently, pegasus foals in Cloudsdale go to flight camp to learn to fly properly. Flutters gets bullied and a tiny filly Rainbow Dash confronts the bullies. RD and the bullies race and at the race knock off Fluttershy from the clouds and she's saved by butterflies and we get her song. Narrator Fluttershy also states that she's never been near the ground before meaning her whole life up to this point has likely been in Cloudsdale unless some other cloud city moved next to Cloudsdale for some time. Flutters gets her cutie mark after a rainbow explosion and comforting the scared animals.

We get Rarity's story next and we see a little Cheerilee in her flashback meaning she's about the age of the Mane 6 and seeing as the Mane 6 are young adults probably around their 20s, this means that the equivalent of the 80s happened only a few years ago from when the show is currently taking place. Also, don't listen to the idiots that use Equestria Girls as proof they're teenagers in the horse show; these people are fucking retards that are usually not even bronies that don't know what they're talking about and just want an excuse to call people pedophiles when anything even vaguely lewd or grimdark is made with the characters and yes, I've seen and heard this enough times to warrant this sentence.

We then see filly Rarity possibly working in the Carousel Boutique so how's she have this place if that's the case? Her magic acts up and drags her to a rock where she sees a rainbow explosion that breaks the rock to reveal gems and she gets her cutie mark later.

Next is Twilight. She tries to enroll in Celestia's school for gifted unicorns but she struggles at magic about as much as me trying to do something in CSS. We also see her parents. After pretty much failing the entrance exam, a rainbow explosion startles her causing her magic to go berserk and she passes with Celestia herself coming to accept her. We also see Spike hatch from the egg revealing how the two became pretty much family.

Herobrine sighting #2

Next is Pinkie who spontaneously appears in the wagon Scoots is driving. We start with Pinkie revealing her and her sisters were raised on a rock farm and oh my god look at the cute little Pinkamena!

The rainbow explosion appears and she's inspired to throw a party. This is also when we hear that Pinkie Pie is her new name with Pinkamena Diane Pie being her old name. Her family likes her party and she gets her cutie mark. Maud's missing though. Pinkie after the flashback says "And that's how Equestria was made!" which seems like a random Pinkie moment but may actually have a deeper meta meaning. So we know Pinkie is capable of breaking the 4th wall and is to some degree at least unconsciously aware that she's a cartoon so this comment may actually be a reference to the show itself coming into existence bringing people in real life joy like her parties bring joy to ponies.

Next is Rainbow Dash. She wins the race by doing a sonic rainboom and gets her cutie mark. She also says "people" at a point. We then learn the sonic rainboom is what lead to the others getting their cutie marks sealing their destinies together. They didn't know this connection until this point so I guess Pinkie technically wasn't lying in Sonic Rainboom.

Very entertaining episode so it gets 5 EV. 4 VB cause there's not much to vibe with; however, I do have personal experience with rainbows and synchronicity. In 2017, after watching the MLP Movie in theaters, there was a double rainbow outside. And a few months ago, after writing the portal to Equestria article for Moxistan News, there was a double rainbow the same day. Go to Brony Ramblings and Moxistan.com articles for pictures. This episode is truly worthy of 6 DV as we learn of the Mane 6's cutie mark stories and learn a lot about their pasts and how they relate to each other.

EP 24: Owl's Well That Ends Well

Rating: 4 3 4

After Spike burns an astronomy book Twilight wanted for it being secularist propaganda, we arrive at the meteor shower taking place with everyone there. After Spike is complemented for being a great assistant, Rainbow Dash says she wishes she had an assistant and Scootaloo walks up and offers to be her slave. The meteor shower starts and eventually, we get the spiked punch joke that's totally hilarious and not generic unfunny adult humor.

At home, Twilight begins writing a Wikipedia article on comets until she hears a noise and eventually an owl appears and fixes Twilight's problems. Spike wakes up and gets mad when he realizes the owl without proof of citizenship has taken his job. We hear the owl's name is Owlowiscious which after looking up why he's named that, is apparently a really fucked transliteration with an owl pun and not at all related to whatever-licious trend thing from long ago.

Spike confronts Owlowiscious and we get a 'Who's on first' bit. After overhearing the other ponies compliment Owlowiscious, Spike then begins to think he's going to be replaced and starts believing dragon genocide is real and then goes online to bitch and complain on Odysee videos due to his recently developed prosecution complex that is totally justified and not just a memetic virus spread by idiots that don't understand American immigration history and the correlations between wealth and reproductive frequency and how historical contexts affect minority racial groups in this regard.

Owlowiscious continues to take Spike's jobs. Twilight then confronts Spike on his burning of her astronomy book. Twilight tells him she's disappointed in him for lying and the fact that his identity now revolves around anger and hatred because internet people with agendas told him bad things are happening and only perpetuating hatred and constant anger will fix society because it just will, okay?

Spike then tries to frame Owlowiscious for a crime like a YouTube grifter implying but not explicitly saying a certain group of people is responsible for a crime when in reality, it was just some crazy guy. Twilight catches him and is even more disappointed in him. He runs away and comes across a cave with a bunch of gems and then finds out they belong to some other dragon. The dragon attacks him for trespassing and theft and Owlowiscious has to save him. After being saved, he realizes that maybe owls aren't subponies that need to be culled and maybe people of his own race are also capable of being degenerate dipshits and the episode ends.

Alright episode, 4 EV. Nothing I vibe with so 3 VB. 4 DV for Twilight getting a new pet.

EP 25: Party Of One

Rating: 5 6 3

We start with Pinkie singing a song inviting everyone to Gummy's 1st birthday. We arrive at the party after the theme song and at a point Rainbow Dash assaults Applejack then Gummy, Rarity assaults Pinkie, and Pinkie assaults Twilight and Fluttershy. After a successful party, Pinkie wants to throw another one.

The next day Pinkie starts inviting everyone to another party and we get a bunch of animation continuity errors with the number of invitations in her basket hat.

3 invitations.

5 invitations which is the correct amount.

5 after a shot showing 4 invitations after Twilight took hers.

Cutie moment.

Scene takes place after AJ gets hers so there should be only 3 which there are in the rest of this scene's shots but there's 5 in this one.

There should be 3 since Rarity didn't take hers but there's 5 in some shots with RD and Flutters.

Pinkie begins to get suspicious as to why none of her friends want to go to her party. She then begins spying on everyone, following them through town until she comes across Rainbow Dash and she flies away with Pinkie keeping up with her and it's shown that Pinkie can run as fast as Rainbow Dash flies. They arrive at AJ's barn but Pinkie is refused entry and AJ lies saying the rest of the ponies are doing construction on her barn and try to imitate construction equipment to trick Pinkie but they aren't good enough to form pacts with demons yet. Pinkie eventually leaves them alone.

She then harasses Spike into telling her what's going on and Spike tells her what she told him to tell her out of fear that being how her friends don't want to be her friends anymore and she then gets depressed. We then get to see her go into Pinkamena mode.

Then we get to see more Pinkamena, the cutest most bestest pony in the whole show and I love her so much!!!!

Look at her adorableness!

Then she goes a little crazy and starts talking to non-living objects along with having a few crazy person jerks that I'm sure we've all experienced.

I've been here before.

During cutie pie's little schizo fit, RD comes by and invites Pinkie to come back to Sweet Apple Acres but she refuses to leave.

Rainbow Dash then literally drags Pinkie all the way to Sweet Apple Acres. She then schizes out about everyone hating her after they reveal the surprise party. We also get this Pinkamena face I like a lot:

And this one:

Then Pinkie realizes it's her birthday and gets happy again and the episode ends.

Very entertaining episode worthy of 5 EV. It gets the esteemed 6 VB because it has Pinkamena, my favoritest pony and I love her so much! This episode is also pretty much the story of my childhood minus the happy ending. 3 DV because nothing of any interest happens in terms of world development.

Also fun fact: The Cupcakes fanfic came out months before any portrayal of Pinkamena existed meaning portraying Pinkie Pie as Pinkamena in reference to this fanfic is actually incorrect.

EP 26: The Best Night Ever

Rating: 6 6 5

I'm the best Night ever.

We start with Twilight ripping off Cinderella but it fails and Rarity makes some stallions pull them to the gala later. While preparing to go to the gala, Rarity reveals that her eyelashes are fake. Then we get to see Pinkamena again:

God, she's so beautiful.

Later that night, they're being driven to the gala by the stallions implying Canterlot is within walking distance which will be implied to be untrue later in the show. They arrive and we get to see the ponies in their dresses.

Then the gala song starts and it's pretty good. RD's part is really good. Pinkie's is really cute.

Derpy sighting.

We see the Mane 6 start to go do their things expecting to have the best night ever. During RD's, Spitfire mentions her saving the Wonderbolts during the Best Young Flier Competition in Sonic Rainboom in a continuity callback. We get another Pinkie song.

Their expectations begin to break down as no one likes Pinkie's singing, Prince Blueblood is prick in front of Rarity, the animals run away from Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash can't get the Wonderbolts' attention, Twilight can't spend time alone with Celestia, and Applejack can't sell her crap. They then decide to force it to be the best night ever.

As they continue to fail, Pinkie starts another song which is decent. I especially like the part where Fluttershy yells "Come out!".

After seemingly getting another opportunity to fix things, everything then goes to absolute shit with AJ's new cake getting destroyed by Pinkie stage diving into it and getting it all on Rarity as Blueblood uses her as a shield against it and then Rarity gets it on him causing him to hit a statue that Rainbow Dash prevents from falling only to lose balance and knock over a bunch of pillars and destroy the place. Celestia and Twilight walk in on this and as Twilight says it can't get any worse, Flutters unleashes all the courtyard animals inside while blinded by rage. They then have to escape.

We then see Spike at a bar upset and the Mane 6 walk in. Celestia then walks in proclaiming it was the best gala ever because of all the chaos making it actually entertaining and not a boring kiss-ass event.

I loved this episode. It gets 6 EV. 6 VB for the chaos and the ending message. 5 DV for the continuity of the Grand Galloping Gala storyline throughout the season, the continuity callback, and we see Canterlot upper society.

Post-Season Notes

So I've been a brony for a decade and watching this season has been the first time I've watched MLP:FiM since 2019 making it 5 years. So after watching it again, has the magic of MLP worn off at all? Is it perhaps time I move past watching a little girl show?

NOPE! THE RIDE NEVER ENDS AND I DON'T EVER WANT TO GET OFF THIS WILD RIDE!

Let's discuss the timeframe of this season. Back when I first watched the show, for some reason I came to the conclusion that Seasons 1-4 took place across a single year but after watching season 1 again, I realize I was wrong. This season takes place across 11 months at most. Assuming pony world has 365 days like ours, the very first day of the show takes place on June 19 and the premier takes place across June 19-21. Episode 3 Spike says the Gala is on the 21st of some month but doesn't specify.

Eventually we get Winter Wrap Up as episode 11 which most likely takes place during March or February since there's snow and that's when it stops snowing in North America which is what Equestria is based on. This means episodes 3-10 take place across 8 months at least. The next time reference is Pinkie's birthday which depending on interpretation can be on different days but there's three possibilities and only two of which are compatible with the season's continuity.

First, there's the listing of Pinkie Pie's day on Equestria Daily as World Smile Day but I looked up World Smile Day it has no set date, being the first Friday of October making this incompatible with being a birthday date. Then some people say the original airing date of Party Of One is Pinkie's birthday date on April 29. However, I remembered seeing birthday posts by official MLP accounts in places but almost no one mentions these in the discussions I found searching for Pinkie's birthday until I finally found a link to a Tw*tter post saying it was May 3.

Both of these allows for the Grand Galloping Gala to be on May 21 only. This makes season 1 be from June 19 of year 1 to May 21 of year 2. This also means Episodes 12-24 took place across 3 months at most.

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Written 2024-10-17/18 Published 2024-11-1