EP 21: Testing Testing 1, 2, 3
Rating: 4 3 4
The episode opens with Rainbow Dash ruining Twilight learning about a spell or something and Twilight decides to go tell Rainbow Dash off about how she's not studying for her Wonderbolts history exam which is tomorrow. Except Rainbow Dash saw and heard Twilight mumbling about her plans foreshadowing what happens later in the episode.
We then hear Twilight explain to Rainbow Dash about the Wonderbolts reserves which have just been recently created. This was obviously written to explain how Rainbow Dash can be part of the Wonderbolts while still living in Ponyville and stuff.
Twilight then decides to school Rainbow Dash and make her study. She starts with having Rainbow Dash highlight things in a history book but she just highlights everything and draws Twilight instead.
Twilight then tries lecturing Rainbow Dash and we learn about how the Wonderbolts were formed on the first Celestial year of peace after Luna's banishment meaning the Wonderbolts are over 1000 years old. However, during this, Rainbow Dash was using her chair as an instrument and Owlowiscious and Spike assisted her in making a song until Twilight notices. This reminds me of how I used to very intensely rock back and forth during schooling and pseudo-education. A lot of people have used this episode to try and diagnose Rainbow Dash with "disorders" and I will discuss that at the end of this episode's commentary along with my thoughts in general on characters' "disorders". Also, at 4:08, the animators forgot to animate Twilight's mouth since she's talking despite her mouth not moving.
Twilight then tries using flashcards which is completely fucking useless. Index cards are good for everything except studying. Seriously, brute force memorization doesn't work. Twilight then gets mad at Rainbow Dash for shooting spitwads from straw at her claiming she could get hurt because it could hit her in the eye which is pathetic. Twilight has clearly never been assaulted, battered, and threatened in a schooling environment and been the one to be punished despite literally being kicked repeatedly on the ground after attempting to defend yourself from assault. A spitwad to the eye is nothing.
Twilight then tests Rainbow Dash's knowledge since she's so sure she can pass and she fails resulting in Twilight and Rainbow Dash arguing until Fluttershy shows up and stops them and reveals she can be assertive now and no longer stays too quiet for anyone to hear her when she wants to get someone's attention.
The other ponies then try to teach Rainbow Dash the Wonderbolts history and Pinkie's is a 90's rap music video simulating a CRT screen with scanlines and a 5:4 aspect ratio which I don't think is accurate since everything used 4:3 in the era this is simulating. The only use of 5:4 in video that I found was in televisions before 1950. Pinkie afterwords looks adorable.
Rarity tries teaching Rainbow Dash with outfits next and this utterly terrifies her and Applejack then indirectly insults Rarity. After the traumatic experience with Rarity, Applejack then mentions that Granny Smith discovered the first granny smith apple as a filly is Fillydelphia which may suggest she was Fillydelphian before traveling and founding Ponyville. Everyone then nags Rainbow Dash to learn their ways and she then freaks the fuck out and runs away.
Twilight catches up to her they have a little spat until Rainbow Dash reveals her environmental awareness while flying and saves Twilight from being hit by a helicopter which is technology Equestria has in addition to gyrocopters. Rainbow Dash also reveals she could see precise details and hear talking on the ground while flying revealing either that pegasi have higher perception than earth ponies and unicorns or Rainbow Dash herself has an agility-perception build just like my Fallout 76 character. Twilight then gets the idea to teach her using her flying perception and it works. She then passes the Wonderbolts exam and the episode ends.
So this episode is often used as evidence that Rainbow Dash either has autism, ADD, or ADHD. I view this as stupid. I think people are just projecting their own diagnoses onto characters for some sense of validation and because modern psychiatry is about telling people they have "mental illness" or "disorders", these labels create the perception that there is something wrong with a person if they are diagnosed with something. And as I already stated in the Over A Barrel commentary, these are often in reality just personality types that are rare and result in behavior people only view being a result of "mental illness" or "disorders" because of it being unconventional within society. They are really just labels to put people down and allow for discrimination. Because of this, people with these "disorders" that make them perceived as lesser, seek validation for these "disorders" which includes projecting their traits onto characters they view as people that are an example of a "good" person with the "bad" traits they have. In MLP, while there are certainly scenarios that are adjacent to the experiences of people with these "disorders" such as the autism stuff I've pointed out, I believe labeling these characters the same way we label ourselves is disrespectful to those of us that are of these labels. I declared Scootaloo as my symbol of autism in the Equestria Girls commentary not because she's autistic and she objectively isn't but because of the perception of her in a meta sense with how people hate her for things she can't control similar to my experience being autistic. I don't call myself autistic in a way to validate my "disorder" but I use it as an "I do exhibit behavior you'd call autistic and I have no intention of conforming to your ideals.". These labels are used to put people down so I believe we shouldn't apply these labels whether we embrace them ourselves or not, to the ponies.
The episode was alright, 4 EV. 3 VB because I'm pretty sure the whole 'learning styles' thing is a myth. 4 DV for the Wonderbolts history.
EP 22: Trade Ya!
Rating: 4 5 4
So the ponies are at a place called Rainbow Falls which the place from the episode Rainbow Falls. We then learn there's always a princess at the exchange thing they're going to and that Cadance was the princess last year in year 4 which does chronologically fit within my timeframe theory I think. They go to the trade thing and we get a Power Ponies callback. We also see a little foal waggle their tail when seeing Princess Twilight wanting an autograph. I don't recall ever seeing this body language before so I don't know if it's accurate to pony behavior but it is very cute.
Majority of the rest of the episode is just trading shenanigans and I spent my mental energy on the previous episode's commentary and there's not much to say this episode. Rarity does commit property damage at a point though. At a point, a little foal wants to trade a broken pen for all of Twilight's books she had at her trading table which is pretty amusing. Pinkie then scares the child. Applejack and Rarity bicker like a couple over who will be the better "friend" and allow the other to use both their stashes to trade for what they want. At a point, Flutters says to Dashie "There's nothing I could've traded it for that's more valuable to me than you.". Us FlutterDash fans fine dining tonight!
Fine episode. 4 EV. 5 VB for the message of not giving your friends up to indentured servitude for stuff. 4 DV because of continuity callbacks.
EP 23: Inspiration Manifestation
Rating: 4 5 3
My only note for this episode is "Ending funny" so hopefully it's another easy one I don't have to write much for.
It's the Ponyville Foal and Filly Fair and Rarity wants to make a puppet wagon for a puppeteer to use for the fair but because Rarity doesn't understand function over visual design, the puppeteer hates it. Now if only more people would have this attitude towards web design, maybe we'd have a less bloated internet instead of every fucking website having 20 MiB of ads and external media and JavaScript that maxes out your CPU, DoSing your machine and breaking websites when you use ad blockers or disable JavaScript. But no, webdevs are too busy using 50 fucking frameworks or whatever to make some text animate because their clients are all fucking technologically illiterate morons that only keep these fuckers having a job because they're too ignorant to get people that can make websites that aren't literal denial-of-service programs.
Spike finds a magic book to help Rarity with creativity or something and when she reads it, she begins transforming crap to her desire like a Reddit moderator transforming a subreddit to their image and silencing all critique. Then corrupted Rarity which is just like normal Rarity but slightly worse starts destroying the town ruining everyone's day as per usual.
Then fucking Mayor Mare comes begging Twilight to fix the town's problems because she's too incompetent to do anything herself. Spike then eats the book that corrupted Rarity and Spike uncorrupts her or something.
Herobrine sighting #12
I don't know what about the ending I found funny.
4 EV again for reasons or whatever. 5 VB for the message of telling your friends and crap to not do stuff you think is harmful. 3 DV because nothing significant happens.
EP 24: Equestria Games
Rating: 5 4 5
We start by seeing that the Crystal Empire is no longer in a tundra apparently. Even looking through the train's windows, there's no snow. Scoots at a point says "Winners or not, we still have a chance to be awesome." which is another reason why she's best filly. At the train station, Spike is then abducted and we learn he's considered the hero of the empire to the crystal ponies since he saved the Crystal Heart back in season 3.
The Equestria Games then start and we can see apparently Mayor Mare and Cherry Jubilee get to sit among royalty. Shouldn't Mayor Mare be in jail for embezzlement and why is Cherry there? She's just a cherry farmer.
It's then time for Spike to light the torch but he gets nervous and Ms. Harshwhinny keeps calling him Mr. The Dragon like it's his lastname which is pretty amusing. Spike then suggest that 30,000 ponies are at the Equestria Games as he's panicking. Twilight eventually lights it for him and he thinks he did it and starts ego tripping. We also see Spike with a weird hand.
Spike then becomes religious, thinking he has magical thinking powers able to change the world with thoughts. Twilight then crushes his beliefs with facts and logic explaining she's the one who lit the fire and Spike then has an existential crisis now that he has no cope to deal with the meaninglessness of the world.
The next scene, we see ponies entering the games and unicorns have to undergo a spell that disables their active magic. We then see how this process occurs on Lyra and after be stripped of the very thing that's integral to her race, she smiles which just seems cucked.
The aerial relay is shown and Pinkie is turning ponies into popcorn-heads.
We then see that the Wonderbolts are using the same horseshoe baton as shown in Rainbow Falls which is continuity. Ponyville gets second place to the Wonderbolts. During the post-event winners ceremony, Spike offers to sing the anthem thinking it's the Crystal Empire one only to find he has to sing the Cloudsdale one since the Wonderbolts won. Shining also says the Wonderbolts are from Cloudsdale when it was stated in Rainbow Falls they're just representing Cloudsdale these games. Spike then just makes up a song and Pinkie loves it.
Eventually during an ice archery event, an archer fucks up and shoots an ice arrow at a cloud turning it into ice and it falls towards the coliseum. The pegasi try to stop it falling but can't and the unicorns can't help because they got cucked out their magic. Disabling the magic of unicorns is similar to the state regulating firearms. When you take away an individual's ability to defend themself or others, this only results in more harm and victimization since the state has a violence monopoly and can decide themselves who is worth saving, worth letting die or be victimized, or who can be legally murdered. Distribution of the means of violence or as I like to call a violence meshnet, is the only way to guarantee liberty of the individual. Any society with state-centralised violence is not free, being at the mercy of the state.
Spike then comes in and single-handedly melts the giant ice cloud with his fire breath. This is the most powerful thing he's done so far and shows he's becoming stronger. I also wonder if him eating the Inspiration Manifestation book the episode prior has anything to do with this power. When Cadance tells Spike he must be very proud, he just says "I guess." which makes all the ponies surprised. Spike understands that pride does nothing. Pride is just self-assertion that one's actions are just or inherent qualities are positive. Pride does not benefit the individual nor a collective, it only affirms behaviors and qualities whether good or bad. Ponyville then wins the medal count despite being a small town going up against cities.
A very entertaining episode worth 5 EV my notes say. 4 VB for Spike just doing the right thing and not having pride. 5 DV because this concludes the Equestria Games arc.
EP 25: Twilight's Kingdom Part 1
Rating: 5 6 6
We start and we're still in the fucking Crystal Empire and the lands are still green so the snow must have actually melted. Spike then mentions how he saved the Crystal Empire again. Twilight has to go to some bullshit royal ceremony thing to smile and wave and we see Flash Sentry. Fuck you Flash Sentry. Spike then berates the situation afterwards about how Twilight was summoned all the way to the Crystal Empire just to do ten seconds of work making her have an internal crisis about her value as a princess. There's an animation error at 2:06 as the screen fades to black. Applejack's head snaps from a profile view to front-facing and she loses her hat.
Twilight tells the other princesses about her woes and we get a song that's decent and about reaffirming Twilight's value as a princess. Ok, the chorus is great. Afterwards, we see a mysterious hooded creature approach a pony on a dark street and steal their magic which prompts both Luna and Celestia to sense it and panic showing that Tirek's abilities somehow can be sensed by the Alicorn Sisters. We then get a lore dump on Tirek and Scorpan about how both came to steal Equestrian magic but Scorpan came to appreciate the ponies and it's implied he befriended Starswirl placing the timeframe around 1000 years ago... again. Scorpan then snitched on Tirek and returned to his own land and Tirek was sent to Tartarus. Scorpan presumably never returned and he and Tirek seem to be quasi-immortal like Celestia and Luna. Cadance states Tirek likely escaped when Cerberus left its post back in It's About Time so he's been free for years and no one noticed. They then come up with the plan to get Discord to stop him since he can sense Tirek much better.
The Mane 6 then go to the Tree of Harmony and Discord shows up ensuing in hilarity. It's then implied that Luna can dreamwalk in Discord's dreams. Discord then mentions the Tree's lockbox and how Twilight is feeling down prompting Pinkie to ask how Discord knows this to which he states he's been eavesdropping. He's just like me. Discord then gives the ponies their journal prompting them to go to the old castle to figure stuff out about the lockbox and why's Applejack reading like that?
Discord then confronts Tirek who at first believes Discord has "escaped" which may suggest Discord was turned to stone before Tirek was sent to Tartarus. Back at the old castle, Twilight finds that Discord had highlighted the sections pertaining to the episodes where the ponies earned an object at the end. They then bring the objects to the Tree and they turn into keys with the magic one missing.
Twilight's then summoned to Canterlot where the princesses explain Discord has betrayed them and we see Tirek steal more ponies' magic. Luna mentions how ponies will no longer be in control of their world with the power solely belonging to Tirek which just makes me think of Tirek representing the government taking people's liberties with laws, force, and memetics, forcing people to be reliant on the state with all freedom within the state being only an illusion that tricks people into believing they have power with bullshit like democracy or republican governments when the state can in reality do whatever they want and these illusions of freedom are only there to quell the people as society rots and the government becomes stronger, weakening the people.
DERPY DOWN! I REPEAT, DERPY DOWN!
EP 26: Twilight's Kingdom Part 2
Rating: 6 6 6
The princesses tell Twilight they have to give her their magic so that Tirek can't steal it.
Herobrine sightings #13, #14, #15
It succeeds and we see Twilight glowing, sparking, and with a waving mane and tail with stars.
Herobrine sighting #16
Eventually Twilight since she can't control her magic fully, decides to go somewhere secluded and when she takes off to fly, she leaves a small crater, sends Spike flying, and flies extremely fast through the sky suggesting that pegasi's flight magic is a more important factor in flight speed than physical ability.
Tirek then sends the princesses to Tartarus and gives Discord Scorpan's pendant. Discord then gives Tirek Twilight's location. They go to Ponyville, entrap the other ponies and steal their magic and then Tirek betrays Discord.
Then Tirek finds Twilight and what proceeds next is one of the most badass things that will ever happen in this show. Tirek tries to steal Twilight's magic but she escapes to her library only for Tirek to shoot a magical beam completely obliterating it. Her home is gone. Twilight then fully realizes the stakes and goes on the offensive, using all of her quad-alicorn power and fights Tirek and I am confident Twilight was fully willing and trying to kill Tirek at this point. Both are blasted with magic beams probably intended to kill and thrown into the terrain hard enough to destroy it. They reach an impasse however and Tirek offers to free her friends in exchange for her magic which she accepts.
Tirek then frees the five friends and Spike, leaving Discord still imprisoned. Twilight then says "All of my friends." and this moment goes hard. Discord then gives the Scorpan pendant as a true token of friendship which turns out to be the last key to the Tree of harmony's lockbox. They unlock it and become marketable toy designs with ultra-friendship powers and defeat Tirek with rainbows.
Then after Tirek's been thrown back in Tartarus and Equestria's magic is restored, the lockbox shoots away to the outskirts of Ponyville and transforms into a castle which is revealed to be Twilight's castle and now Twilight is officially the princess of friendship.
I believe the Tree of Harmony is further evidence of my manifestation theory. The Elements have been able to stop all threats to Equestria and now, the Tree has manifested a castle for Twilight to further spread friendship. The Tree seems to be acting as the world itself manifesting things towards harmony, towards friendship and either stopping or providing the means by which to stop what interferes with harmony and the world's development. Perhaps somehow, the Tree or the world's harmony itself is what makes alicorns since all of them progress the world towards harmony and when Luna turned on Equestria, the harmony rejected her which is why the Elements were able to defeat her and can so easily defeat every villain.
Amazing episode, it was thoroughly entertaining in a similar way to Magical Mystery Cure, being that while not really being humorous at any point, progressed in such a way to keep my enjoyment of it high at all times warranting part 2 the esteemed 6 EV. Part 1 was also similar in this regard and had a few humorous moments but it was not as strong as part 2 so it gets 5 EV. I give the esteemed 6 VB for depicting the fight and that Twilight has been elevated in her role to bring friendship. The Tirek fight is further proof that the show understands that not everything will end in friendship and happy endings and that sometimes, violence is necessary. I give the VB rating for Twilight's elevated status due to the fact that she is bettering the world and is rewarded with even more opportunity to do so at a greater level. I give 6 DV for the lore dump, the continuity callbacks, the completion of the lockbox arc, and Twilight's progression of being a princess. This is the first episode with a perfect score.
Post-Season Notes
Back when I watched My Little Pony for the first time back in 2014, this was the latest season at the time and also my favorite so far with Twilight's Kingdom Part 2 being my favorite episode of the series. I am one of those that believes the middle seasons (4 and 5) were the best of the show and have high expectations for season 5 which I highly doubt will disappoint since it became my new favorite.
Now it's time to discuss timeframes. Princess Twilight Sparkle takes place before the Summer Sun Celebration and considering that Equestria Girls mostly likely takes place in October and the entirety of season 3 takes place in the later half of year 4, this episode starts on June 19 of year 5 and ends on June 21.
In Daring Don't, we know the next Daring Do book comes out months after when the episode starts and we see Rainbow get a copy a week early at the end. So this episode spans across multiple months but it's entirely possible that other episodes take place during the waiting period. The book was originally going to come out 4 months from the start of the episode so it probably ends sometime around October or November unless A.K. Yearling got it done faster by the end.
In Filli Vanilli, Rarity mentions singing at a zap apple jam thing and I concluded in season 2's post-season notes that Family Appreciation Day, the zap apple episode has to take place between early summer and the start of winter which does match up with my theory of this season's timeframe being in the second half of year 5.
Pinkie Pride has Rainbow Dash's birthday and it's before Filli Vanilli. There's not enough hints to suggest even a month this could take place but we can certainly deduce that Rainbow Dash's birthday is somewhere from July to November unless there's an official happy birthday post by Hasbro I couldn't find. Simple Ways, they are celebrating the founding of Ponyville and this episode is the one before Filli Vanilli so the zap apple stuff matches up. After this point, there is simply not enough evidence to suggest when this season ends. It could end in the very last days of year 5 or go sometime into year 6.
MLP Commentaries IndexWritten 2024-11-26 Published 2024-12-1