EP 8: Look Before You Sleep
Rating: 3 3 3
We start with Rarity making art out of leaves and then Applejack comes and breaks the branch her art is on deservedly. We then hear dialogue about how pegasi are making a storm come confirming that pegasi have complete control over the weather which I think was only implied in earlier episodes.
Rarity decides to be a prissy little bitch refusing to seek cover from the rain because she doesn't want her hooves to get muddy. Rarity also seems to understand numbers past infinity as she says "infinity plus one" and one ups Applejack in a verbal battle. Rarity maybe has higher IQ than Applejack? Both are also cowards that are scared of thunder and lightning.
They go to Twilight's tree library to get out of the storm. We learn that Spike is away at Canterlot for "royal business". What the hell is this child doing in Canterlot on royal business? You know what? Maybe in that earlier episode when Twilight asked Spike if he'd ever been to the Grand Galloping Gala, maybe it wasn't a stupid question. Twilight declares that Rarity and Applejack have a slumber party with her. Being adults that don't have a stunted development with interest in a children's crap, they try to make excuses as to why they can't stay but Rarity is a prissy bitch and Applejack is scared of thunder so put up with Twilight's childish plans. Really, what kind of person retains interests in stuff made for children as a fully grown adult? Also, Applejack lied.
They continue with slumber party crap and at one point Rarity says "100 miles". Might imply ponies prefer miles over kilometers for larger distances like any sane person should. They tell ghost stories and Twilight frightens them. Seriously, AJ and Rarity are cowards. Then they continue with the slumber party until they play truth or dare. Rarity is dared to step into the rain and ruin her mane like she deserves.
Then Applejack is dared to dress up and we get this:
Then they have a pillow fight and then go to bed. Rarity decides to be a bitch and take the covers. AJ takes them back and Rarity violently shoves her off the bed.
So after Rarity makes the bed, Applejack decides to just jump into it and when she says "Geronimo!", you can really hear Rainbow Dash's voice break through. Then they fight and Twilight wakes up pissed.
They should just kiss already.
Applejack saves a house from a falling branch and crashes it into the library. Then they work together to fix the problem after Rarity continues to be a bitch. The day is saved and the episode ends.
This episode gets the first 3 EV. It was entertaining enough that I wasn't that bored but still not that great. Message is a generic "different people can get along" so it gets 3 VB. There is no development so 3 DV.
EP 9: Bridle Gossip
Rating: 4 6 5
We start with everyone in town locking themselves away. I also love how there's a happy little filly just enjoying existence and then they get yanked inside. Spike says "pony holiday" instead of just holiday implying he knows of holidays of other races. Spike also mentions zombies which means the concept of zombies exists in Equestria. Then Pinkie gets Twilight and Spike into Sugarcube Corner. Twilight's friends are also there and it's revealed everyone's hiding from a pony just digging into the ground.
It's revealed the mysterious pony is a zebra named Zecora and Rarity is just racist. After Twilight tells them she's a zebra, they don't know what a zebra is further showing Ponyville's seclusion. Even Spike doesn't know meaning zebras must also be extremely rare to come across even in Canterlot. Upon Twilight telling Rarity the stripes are what Zecora was born with after Rarity calls her stripes garish, she faints. Genuinely, what a cunt. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy talk about how the Everfree Forest is scary 'cause the plants grow, animals take care of themselves, and clouds move on their own. This reveals how ponies have a fear for things they can't control. Pinkie then does her 3rd song. Rainbow Dash says "month". Then Twilight mocks everyone for their stupidity. Apple Bloom is also the only one other than Twilight that isn't a racist.
Apple Bloom then sets off to follow Zecora to prove she's not bad. The Mane 6 then find Apple Bloom in the Everfree before she can follow Zecora all the way.
The next day, everyone is 'cursed' and they blame Zecora. They then decide to go to Zecora's and as the camera pans out, Flutterguy says "That woman's gotta be stopped." going against the linguistic logic of MLP. Apple Bloom sets off to go to Zecora again. Tiny Applejack hops onto Apple Bloom to follow her and the other ponies after finding Applejack missing think they may have stepped or sat on her and freak out.
Apple Bloom abandons tiny Applejack in the Everfree. The other ponies catch up and Rainbow Dash finds her and then Applejack flies RD out with one of those things you put in a horse's mouth to control it. This was kinda weird.
We then get to Zecora's hut and she speaks a different language. Flutterguy then sings Pinkie's song. Rainbow Dash and Applejack then destroy the hut. They confront Zecora and eventually learn that Zecora was actually trying to help them and Apple Bloom comes in. They learn that their curse was actually the effect of a plant called poison joke. A book Twilight previously dismissed as being useless turns out to have the recipe to the cure of their ailments and Twilight decides to help Zecora get the ingredients.
Twilight convinces the townsponies not to be racist little shits, the Mane 6 take their cure bath. During the bath, they find that tiny Applejack is missing. They find her dead face down in the water. The end.
Episode was entertaining enough for 4 EV. This is an episode worthy of 6 VB. The reason being not just because the message of "Don't judge a book by its cover" but the way this episode handled Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom, a child is not a racist and refused to just go along with the beliefs of the adults. Why this gets high VB from be is because of my personal experiences dealing with adults as a child and how they all thought they knew what was best for me when all they did was harm me. Just like how I refused to give into the bullshit the adults spouted to me, Apple Bloom also refused to believe the bullshit spouted by everyone and Applejack who was treating her like she wasn't worthy of making her own decisions. 5 DV because we learn zebras exist and all the little implications about the world.
EP 10: Swarm Of The Century
Rating: 3 4 4
So we start this episode with an erectile dysfunction joke I think. Fluttershy discovers a tiny flying creature and takes it in.
We learn Princess Celestia is coming to Ponyville and Twilight and Spike argue. Twilight leaves to make sure the town is preparing well for Celestia's arrival. We see a sign that's written in Latin script and it completely ruins my immersion thinking that the ponies had their own writing system as shown in Episode 1 and by the fact that the animators purposely avoid showing writing. 0 VB.
Next scene we arrive at Pinkie ruining the banquet preparations. Then we get to see a cute little Flutterslide as Flutters arrives. Fluttershy reveals the creature, now creatures she found. Twilight likes them but Pinkie hates them.
Then we see Rarity forcing Rainbow Dash to dress in a gaudy outfit and she hates it. Rarity is a prick to her and makes her stay in it. The parasprites reveal themselves to RD and Rarity and they love them.
The day is finished and we arrive at the next day and see the parasprites are everywhere and destroy the place. Then we arrive at Rainbow Dash's house and the parasprites sexually harass her. Next they fuck with Rarity which she deserves.
They all go to Fluttershy for her help and she's having the same problem. Applejack's shipments gets eaten and they all capture the parasprites and send them away. RD accidentally hurts Fluttershy.
It is revealed that Fluttershy kept one and the problems starts over. They work on getting rid of them again but they mess everything up and the parasprites are sent into Ponyville and Lyra is sad.
The parasprites ravage the town and Twilight casts a spell to make them stop eating for only for them to eat everything else making the problem worse. Rarity cares more for her outfits than anything else. The parasprites then eat the Sweet Apple Acre's barn and because the Apple family is uninsured, this leads to their bankruptcy.
Twilight then takes a parasprite to Zecora trying to get her help and Zecora gets pissed at this light-lavender-skin ass barging in and ruining her meditation. Zecora basically tells Twilight "LOL, you're fucked" and Twilight leaves. I like that they maintained continuity with Zecora returning this episode.
As Celestia arrives, Pinkie saves the day with a ripoff of that piper story. Celestia arrives and mentions an infestation in 'Fillydelphia', a new mentioned location. Celestia then tells Twilight to give her friendship report "in-person".
This episode was a 3 EV. Wasn't that good. 4 VB only for the message saying "solutions come where you least expect it.". 4 DV for continuity with Zecora and showing parasprites.
EP 11: Winter Wrap Up
Rating: 4 4 5
We start this episode with Twilight excitedly waking up Spike to which Spike wakes up confused saying "mommy?". After seeing Twilight, Spike says "You're not mommy." showing that Spike doesn't view Twilight as a mother figure and also has thoughts about his mother. After Twilight continues with her excitement, Spike chastises Winter Wrap Up Day and mentions how Canterlot uses magic to change the seasons. Twilight then mentions that Ponyville was started by earth ponies and says they've wrapped up winter themselves for "100s of years". As we will learn in a later season, Ponyville hasn't been around for that long. Fortunately for this episode since it takes place before we get Ponyville lore, I will not deduct DV. It's also possible Twilight is just stupid and didn't actually know Ponyville's history.
They go to the Winter Wrap Up starting meeting with Mayor Mare telling everyone the plan for the work they will do. Everyone has a vest signifying which team they're on but notice how Mayor Mare doesn't have one. Lazy fuck. She then sets everyone off on their jobs and Lyra is fucking excited!
Then we get the Winter Wrap Up song. I like this song. Also a lyric has the word "everyone".
Twilight talks to Rainbow Dash and forgets she doesn't have wings. She then goes to Rarity asking if she can help her with anything. Rarity offers her the job of making bird nests but Twilight fails so bad that Spike declares the nest be condemned. As Rarity's distracted fixing Twilight's sad excuse of a nest, they leave.
They then go onto Pinkie Pie to try to help her with her ice-skating which is to cut the ice in the lakes. Pinkie mentions that she's been ice-skating since she was an itty bitty little little twinkie Pinkie which implies she was a child. As we learn in a later episode, she's not originally from Ponyville but moved there. This comment implies that either she somehow got into ice-skating while she was still at the rock farm or she moved to Ponyville by herself when she was still a filly. Twilight then mentions that there's quite a few lakes in Ponyville. Twilight then puts on ice-skates but can't balance which is just pathetic. It's very easy to balance in ice-skates in case you didn't know. Spike then pushes Twilight out onto the ice and she is fucking terrified.
Twilight then crashes and Pinkie tells her she sucked. Twilight goes to help Fluttershy next. Spike doesn't know what hibernation is. Twilight fails at helping Fluttershy.
Twilight tries to help Applejack. She decides to cheat and use magic. AJ mentions that Twilight is a little pony. I would assume that this means compared to the other 5, Twilight would be the smallest or at least second smallest so remember this for your visual art that gives them different body shapes. Twilight's magic then fucks everything up.
Twilight declares herself a winter mess-up. Spike at a point says "That's what I'm here for, sister." which while more of an expressive context, has at least some implication that Spike may view Twilight more as a sister. There's then a conflict of orders and Winter Wrap Up gets messed up. Mayor Mare decides to chastise everyone while doing no actual work herself. We also hear mention of Ditzy Doo which is one of Derpy's names but in this episode there's no proof that Ditzy Doo is Derpy. Twilight then saves the day with organizational skills and we get a boring sequence but at least Mayor Mare actually does something. Spike is sleeping on ice which may mean he has some degree of cold resistance.
Now, to my surprise, this episode almost got 3 EV but the song saved it and got it a 4. This is one of the popular episodes and I'm just as surprised as you probably are if you're reading this actually giving a shit about MLP. It just wasn't that entertaining. It was a little boring and had barely any funny moments. It gets 4 VB for it's message about people having hidden talents. It gets 5 DV for Winter Wrap Up itself and all the little implications of things.
EP 12: Call Of The Cutie
Rating: 5 4 4
The Cutie Mark Crusaders' origin episode. We start the episode with an explanation from Cheerilee on how cutie marks work and learn about her cutie mark and its representation. We also get to see an 80s Cheerilee. Cheerilee then says the thing.
There is also a continuity error in this scene with a Sweetie Belle recolor switching to Sweetie Belle herself for a single shot while the rest are the recolor. There's also a recolor of Scootaloo but it's consistent with her.
Diamond Tiara then trolls Apple Bloom with note passing making fun of her for being a blank flank. Diamond Tiara and Sliver Spoon continue to harass Apple Bloom after school.
Apple Bloom then goes to Applejack and complains to her about not having a cutie mark. We then learn that the Apple family were all late bloomers that got their cutie marks last in their class. Probably because they run a farm and eat natural food that isn't pumped with hormones and chemicals that makes foals get their cutie marks earlier and earlier. Apple Bloom then notices the pattern of the Apple family all having cutie marks with apples and realizes hers must be one with apples.
Apple Blooms tries helping Applejack sell apples in town but gets really annoying with trying to advertise. Apple Bloom then starts harassing a pony to buy apples like an online news publication harassing you to spend $50 a month to read their dogshit articles. After the pony succumbs and buys an apple, Applejack tells him he forgot his change which implies that bits have different denominations. Apple Bloom mentions "we take cash or credit." implying that the scam known as credit exists in Equestria.
After getting fired from helping sell apples, Apple Bloom goes to Peppermint Twist's house to ask her to go to Diamond Tiara's Cute-Ceañera with her so she won't be the only blank flank but she reveals to have gotten her cutie mark already.
Rainbow Dash finds Apple Bloom sad Apple Bloom and explains her problem to RD. Rainbow Dash offers to help Apple Bloom and reveals she was first in her class to get a cutie mark. We get a compilation of Apple Bloom trying a bunch of things to get her cutie mark one of which being karate in a Japanese-style building implying some sort of Japanese culture equivalent exist in the world of FiM.
Apple Bloom then tries baking with Pinkie and we get the 4th Pinkie song, 4 of the 5 songs so far being Pinkie's. Apple Bloom utterly fails. Then Twilight comes and Apple Bloom complains to her and Twilight proves to Apple Bloom that she can't help her.
We're now at the Cute-Ceañera and Snails goes Chad mode and eats Diamond Tiara's cake right in front of her. Apple Bloom tries to escape and fails bumping into Applejack and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon find her and decide to be cunts again. Apple Bloom lies that she got her cutie mark and passes a speech check to get out of showing it only for her disguise to fail.
Then as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are making fun of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo come from hiding underneath a table they were under this whole time apparently and confront the bullies. Scootaloo mocks them and Sweetie Belle goes on about Apple Bloom's lack of a cutie mark meaning she has potential. Sweetie and Scootaloo then reveal that they are blank flanks too. Twilight then also puts the spotlight on the 3 and everyone then ignores Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
The 3 fillies then decide to make a secret society, which is literally the term they use, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders are founded.
I liked this episode a lot so I gave it 5 EV. I also want to point out I just love the way fillies walk in this show. Watching their stubby little legs keep up with them is very amusing. I gave it 4 VB because of the cute fillies and the ending message of finding friends in places that others look down upon. 4 DV for the founding of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the lore implications and information.
EP 13: Fall Weather Friends
Rating: 4 5 4
After Applejack beats Rainbow Dash at a horseshoe game, Rainbow Dash challenges Applejack to test who's the better athlete. They prepare and Spike decides to be a commentator for the thing.
The first trial is for running between barrels and Rainbow Dash wins but only by a technicality. AJ got 17 seconds but got a penalty while RD got 18 seconds. While Rainbow Dash won, this still shows that Applejack potentially has better ground agility than Rainbow Dash or they are both equal if the penalty was because Applejack couldn't maintain composure at her speed.
Next is testing who has the stronger buck and Applejack obviously wins this one proving she has much greater hindleg strength than Rainbow Dash. They do some other trials. Rainbow Dash has much better hoof-eye coordination. AJ has better neck strength. Rainbow Dash wins a hoof wrestle proving she has greater foreleg strength and has improved since her draw with Applejack in The Ticket Master.
During a push-up contest, Rainbow Dash cheats as both are at 99 and wins. Both were at failing point which shows they have equal foreleg endurance. Rainbow Dash cheats again at a jump distance trial and shows that Applejack actually has a greater jump distance. During a tug-of-war trial, it's shown that Rainbow Dash's wing power is greater than Applejack's strength to stay grounded. Rainbow Dash wins the competition and Applejack challenges her to race in the Running of the Leaves.
At the starting line of the Running of the Leaves, I noticed Twilight is number 42 which is a reference to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy most likely and Rainbow Dash is 11 which is how many letters are in her name. Applejack is 8 even though her name has 9 letters so I don't know if her number is an Easter egg. There's also a minor shot continuity error with ponies disappearing and reappearing and numbers flipping.
Pinkie Pie and Spike start the race and we see bunch of pony duplication. Like, come one, this was is the most obvious instance so far.
Pinkie says the thing.
12:06 animators forgot to put the numbers on.
Pinkie then says one of them is ahead by 63.7 percent of a nose. I tried finding if there is any significance to this number but found nothing that it could be a reference to. Looked at Bible verses but they didn't provide any relation other than one mentioning wings. I did however notice that Pinkie is 6 letters and Pie is 3 letters and if you divide 63 by 7, you get 9 which is 6 plus 3, the amount of letters in Pinkie Pie's name.
AJ and RD each trip and eat shit. Eventually Rainbow Dash catches up to Applejack and with her wings tied passing her says "Look, ma, no wings!". Although probably unintentional, this could have a double meaning. Mǎ is the Mandarin word for horse and as they're horses, this would fit contextually. Though the tone isn't pronounced.
RD and AJ keep cheating each other. Twilight approaches Rainbow Dash and we get this image.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack then tie for last place and find out Twilight got 5th by using a strategy. Then fucking Celestia comes out of nowhere and RD and AJ learn their lesson.
Entertaining enough for 4 EV. 5 VB is given because of the Easter eggs or at least my probably overanalyzing leading to me finding stuff that isn't actually there. 4 DV is given because of the physical ability comparisons between Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
MLP Commentaries IndexWritten 2024-10-14 Published 2024-11-1