EP 8: The Lost Treasure Of Griffonstone
Rating: 4 5 5
Pinkie only has one oven. In a bakery. Get more ovens. She's summoned to the castle map and Gummy is left to man the fort. At the castle, Twilight and Rainbow Dash are there but only Pinkie and Rainbow will be going on the adventure to Griffonstone which Twilight explains is the heart of the Griffon Kingdom suggesting the Griffon Kingdom is self-sovereign and separate from Equestria. Rainbow Dash then bitches about griffons in reference to Gilda. This contrasts with It Ain't Easy Being Breezies where she wanted to be a griffon. We then get a lore dump on the Griffon Kingdom. Twilight then says "coolest kingdom in all of Equestria". So is the Griffon Kingdom actually like a confederated state within Equestria or was this a writing error? In season 1, Equestria is referred to as a country and isn't the world so I don't know what's going on.
On the train there, Rainbow Dash becomes Twilight and Pinkie is fucking loaded.
They arrive to find that Griffonstone is a complete dump and everyone hates each other. Then Gilda shows up. Then an old head griffon shows up and gives us another lore dump. Rainbow Dash gets the idea that she and Pinkie have to find an idol that brought the griffons together in the past which prompts Gilda to mention "typical pony hero complex" which really says a lot about pony psychology.
The griffons are also really greedy and use bits as currency. Either bits have metal value or the Griffon Kingdom really is a part of Equestria in some way. We eventually learn Gilda's specialty is making scones which Twilight's book mentioned are griffons' signature food. I looked up what scones were and they are of English origin suggesting the Griffon Kingdom is supposed to mirror England. Makes sense.
Rainbow Dash is then abandoned in a ravine because griffons value money more than the lives of others and Pinkie and Gilda have to save her. We also get a flashback to flight school with how Rainbow Dash and Gilda met. Also seeing as Gilda seems to be the only griffon at the flight school and was friends with Rainbow Dash, she might be one of the best griffon flyers. I wonder if griffons are allowed to enlist in the Wonderbolts.
They save Rainbow Dash and find the idol but Gilda lets it fall into the abyss so she can save Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. Then Gilda begins fixing griffon society with Pinkie's modifications to her scone recipe. The end.
It was an alright episode so it gets 4 EV. 5 VB for the message that friendship is more important than symbols of a society. 5 DV because we see Griffonstone, see Gilda again, and get lore dumps on griffon history.
EP 9: Slice Of Life
Rating: 6 6 6
Cranky and Matilda are getting married but the invitations all have the wrong date thanks to Derpy.
After the theme song, Derpy is explaining to Dr. Whooves about how she was able to get invitations sent out cheaper than anyone else but had to use someone that was inexperienced with a printing press and then we see a shot of Featherweight in the school newspaper room. This was very amusing. Derpy then says she wishes she could go back in time to fix her mistake prompting the Doctor to bring her to his laboratory. As the Doctor's talking about crap, Derpy plays around with his lab equipment.
The Doctor then mentions "Decades, no centuries really of research and experimentation and I nearly had it cracked." in reference to his theory about time travel before referencing Starswirl's time travel spell. So what does he mean by centuries? He hadn't gotten time travel to work yet so this couldn't've been clever wording so is he referencing ponies before him trying to figure out time travel? This already implies that he's not like the Doctor from Doctor Who who can already time travel so I don't know what he meant by this.
The Doctor then remembers he has to get his suit tailored for the wedding and rushes to Rarity's boutique but she's not there and he comes across Vinyl and begs her to help him. She however is blasting music through her headphones and can't hear him, only seeing him franticly wave around and she just starts walking after seeing him draw a circle with his hooves. She leads him to the bowling alley then just fucks off.
He then has to bowl to get his suit tailored by the Big Lebowski ponies. Next, we see a bunch of ponies watching the Mane 6 while Octavia bitches about stuff. Then a bugbear appears and the Mane 6 begin fighting it with violence. The bugbear begins destroying Ponyville. We then see that Derpy is completely unfazed by the monster destroying the town and is instead still worrying about her mistake with the invitations. She finds Matilda and tries to apologize but is screamed at to get flowers.
Happy Derpy!
Derpy then beats the flower shopkeepers within inches of their lives and steals their flowers.
We then see Lyra and Bon Bon working together. Lyra explains how there's a bugbear attacking Ponyville which prompts Bon Bon to panic stating that it found her. We get Bon Bon's backstory and how Bon Bon is actually a cover name and her actual name is Special Agent Sweetie Drops. She explains she worked for a secret anti-monster agency in Canterlot until the bugbear went missing from Tartarus years ago. This escape then made the agency have to disband and all evidence of its existence had to be destroyed. She also states that Celestia demanded complete deniability of the event which reveals that Celestia actually is involved with some shady shit. She then explains how she went undercover in Ponyville and took the name Bon Bon to hide from the bugbear but it has now found her. And in case any plebeian non-bronies are reading, yes, this is literally part of the episode.
Lyra then cries thinking their whole friendship was a lie and mentions the benches. Bon Bon reassures her it was real and then grapples out a window saying she has to find a crowd to blend into, clearly referencing the fact that she's a background pony.
Meanwhile, Derpy somehow knows the Doctor is at the bowling alley and comes in startling him and making him lose the tournament thing he and the Big Lebowski ponies are in. Derpy decides to steal the Doctors exploding flower things he showed off back at his lab.
Then at the spa, Matilda's getting her mane done and Steven Magnet is there. He reveals he and Cranky have known each other for a long time.
Next scene, we see Vinyl and Octavia's house and we can see that Octavia has more area than Vinyl.
Octavia bitches about wedding music being generic and Vinyl drinks a bottle of milk. Glad to see Vinyl is a fellow milk drinker.
Then they both create some sort of electronic classical music and rush to the wedding after realizing they're gonna be late. They rush out on a stereo car thing and crash into all the other ponies, picking them up for the ride to the town hall where the wedding is to take place. Also, Twicane.
This is literally a frame in the episode.
Then Gummy has an existential crisis and reveals he's a fully sapient and intelligent being.
Now pretty much everyone is at the wedding including Celestia and Luna who know Cranky and Matilda apparently. How did Cranky and Matilda get into the gala all those years back anyways? Why are they such important donkeys? Celestia and Luna then argue because they forgot the wedding present at home. Wedding presents are a thing?
Bon Bon comes in and states that the bugbear has been defeated. Something tells me she had something to do with that. She then goes to talk to Lyra who's still upset but they make up and Lyra tells her she ate her expensive imported oats. At 18:00, two ponies pop into existence as the camera pans.
Then the Doctor arrives and greets Derpy. Steven fixes Cranky's baldness with his mustache like how the white one fixed his mustache back in the second episode. Derpy then locks the Mane 6 out of the town hall and the wedding starts and is finalized or whatever the word is.
Then the purple one says some sappy shit at the end. This isn't your episode, shut up.
6 EV. Obviously this episode gets 6 EV. Funny, engaging, entertaining, whatever. It deserves it. I also give this episode 6 VB. Not just because the characters are wonderful but because this episode is very special to us since it's a love letter to the enjoyers of the show. I have seen criticism of this episode saying how this episode panders to the adults and is very confusing to the kids that watch the show but these are non-brony idiots that understand nothing. Children know about the background ponies. I myself have seen shittons of kids that are just as knowledgeable about the background ponies and fanon stuff as the bronies. In fact, in the Comic-Con panel bonus features, there are literally a bunch of little kids asking about background ponies and side characters in each one. The people who say this episode only appeals to the bronies are absolute fucking idiots that don't understand the show's audience. This episode also obviously gets 6 DV because we learn so much about the background ponies.
EP 10: Princess Spike
Rating: 3 3 3
We're back in Canterlot and there's some summit thing with city delegates. Episode's about how Spike has to make sure Twilight can sleep because she's been awake three straight days and has to be awake for some thing later. My record's somewhere over 50 hours I think because I was chugging coffee and soda and literally couldn't sleep.
Eventually, Spike realizes he can get others to do what he wants if he just invokes Twilight's name. This is pretty much all that happens this episode. Eventually the castle or wherever this is floods.
That isn't going to work.
Fancypants gets blasted away when opening some doors at a point which is pretty funny. Then a statue thing that represents the cities' unity or something gets destroyed because it's fragile and is a horrible concept for a statue. Then at the end of the episode, Spike learns his lesson or something. The ponies repair the statue and then it gets destroyed again at the very end. Spike also tries to commit suicide by jumping out a window at a point.
Not an interesting episode but isn't offensive so it gets 3 EV. 3 VB because the message is a generic "don't power-trip" and has some stuff about unity or something. 3 DV because barely anything new is learned or seen.
EP 11: Party Pooped
Rating: 5 5 5
Equestria and Yakyakistan haven't opened their borders for hundreds of moons. So who initiated closing their border to the other or was it mutually agreed upon. This also means the borders have been closed for anywhere between 16 to 80 years. Twilight then states that Yakyakistan is so far north of the Crystal Mountains, no pony has been there. The yaks then arrive and Spike is knocked away as they enter. The ponies then bring out traditional yak foods which then offends the yaks for not being authentic and they rampage and destroy the place. This opening sequence is pretty funny.
The ponies are trying to befriend the yaks for diplomatic reasons and have to do so before the princesses arrive for some party thing. Pinkie reveals herself to be a yakaboo and she's tasked with befriending them.
Also, I've forgotten to bring it up until now but look at how Pinkie is smiling in the below screenshot. I noticed that ponies smile this new way a lot this season. I think this may also be the season the animators started going heavy with the goofy pony faces.
The yaks destroy Applejack's barn because the hay beds weren't made of actual yak hay. Then Fluttershy has her animals perform a show for the yaks and the prince yak simply says "animals cute!" which is pretty much how we view ponies. Then a bird loses its costume and the yaks rampage again. Then the yaks try eating Rarity's fabric and because it doesn't taste like yak fabric, they destroy and burn down the Carousel Boutique and crucify Rarity above the burning ruins.
Pinkie decides to go to Yakyakistan to bring back authentic yak stuff. The yaks then destroy Sugarcube Corner because a cake had too much vanilla extract. Pinkie arrives in Dodge City and comes across Cherry Jubilee who's going to the Crystal Empire. They then almost die and Pinkie has to save them. Meanwhile, the yaks reveal they are sensitive to the arts but end up destroying the place anyways because Spike wasn't actually playing the piano and was using an auto-player. The yaks then threaten war if they aren't satisfied soon which would actually be extremely dumb considering they seem to lack weather manipulation abilities and if such a war ever occurred, pegasi could simply manipulate Equestria's weather to the yaks' disadvantage or perhaps even take the weather manipulation directly to them and fuck with their climate and therefore food supply.
The ponies are failing.
Pinkie arrives at the boundary between the Crystal Empire and Yakyakistan with Cadance who states that no pony who's attempted the climb past the boundary has ever returned meaning either they died, joined the yaks and never returned, or the yaks killed them. I like to imagine there are just a bunch of expatriated ponies living with the yaks.
The other ponies then find Pinkie's secret basement. Pinkie arrives at Yakyakistan only to be sent all the way back to Ponyville before she can enter. In Pinkie's basement, the ponies discover she's secretly a bioluminescent government agent and has files and intel on everyone in Ponyville. Then Pinkie realizes she should show the yaks the greatness of Equestria instead of trying to bring their home to them. The yaks then realize Equestria is great.
Very funny and entertaining episode worthy of 5 EV with all the yak shenanigans. 5 VB for the message of making the yaks feel at home in Equestria as opposed to trying to pander to them and bring a false sense of their own home. 5 DV for learning about yaks and their nation.
EP 12: Amending Fences
Rating: 5 6 5
We start with Twilight saying after three events in one week, she really needed a good book. This may indicate the last three episode occurred during the last week or it could just be some stuff we didn't see. I do believe the previous episode had to be one of the events at the least.
Then Spike calls out Twilight for being a horrible friend before she met the other Mane 6 which prompts Twilight to realize she abandoned her old Canterlot friends. She decides to go to Canterlot to make amends.
They arrive back at the old library dorm from the first episode which has been completely abandoned these past years. We also get callbacks to that episode too. They then decide to go to Minuette who was one of her friends and Twilight has an ego trip thinking her friends are suffering since she abandoned them. Minuette turns out to be completely fine. They then go off to meet Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine who also are completely unfazed by Twilight abandoning them. They then mention Lyra, who was also her friend, moved to Ponyville. They then all laugh in Twilight's face when she apologizes for abandoning them because she's an overly sensitive autist that doesn't understand she isn't the center of everyone's lives and her former friends have completely moved on.
They then mention Moondancer who they say drifted away after Twilight left. They go to her house which is a complete dump and she arrives at the door after Twilight knocks to reveal she's a complete NEET that lacks social skills, sort of like the average brony. Minuette then mentions that Moondancer now is like what Twilight used to be. This gives the impression that Twilight would be an isolated NEET if Celestia hadn't made her go do stuff in Ponyville. Moondancer is the negative mirror of Twilight. They then decide to spy on her like they're a bunch of glowies and Twilight mentions how when Moondancer is traveling, no one looks at her, smiles at her, or says hello to her which sounds like paradise. I fucking hate stupid pleasantry shit like that. I'd much prefer people pretend I don't exist if I have to be in public.
So then Twilight realizes Moondancer's party she bailed on back in episode 1 is why she's so fucked now and decides to make amends or something but Moondancer's not having any of her shit. She calls Twilight "Twilight Twinkle" while schizomaxing at a book at a point which is a reference to Twilight's old name when the show was being conceptualized. Twilight bribes Moondancer into talking to her with teaching her a spell. This results in them sperging out with each other over spells and crap.
Twilight bribes Moondancer yet again to get her to come to dinner with her old friends. At the thing, like an autist surrounded by a bunch of neurotypical normies, Moondancer completely fails at socializing with the old friends and then just leaves. After Moondancer tells Twilight she gave friendship a chance and it failed, Twilight realizes she's the real failure or something. Twilight then has a depression-induced schizophrenic episode and hallucinates the party she never went to that triggered Moondancer's decent into being a NEET.
So then Twilight gets Pinkie to throw another party for Moondancer but she just has an autistic meltdown. Also Twilight mentions that she and Moondancer were in school together back when the original party took place confirming that Twilight was indeed in school until she went to Ponyville. I believe this was more like college or university as opposed to high school or secondary school since we don't see any evidence of secondary schooling even existing in Equestria. Eventually Moondancer gets over it or something.
Okay, so this episode was thoroughly engaging which is mostly the reason I give it 5 EV but it also had a few funny moments too reinforcing that rating. 6 VB mostly because of Moondancer's character which is basically the story of my life except instead of being abandoned by someone important, I had to be the one to abandon the only friends I've had. Moondancer is also very similar to autistic people that either never received help to become more functional or were treated like shit due to autistic traits which further worsens the negative traits of autism. 5 DV because this episode is a callback and resolution to Moondancer's part from the first episode. We also learn a little about Twilight's old friends further contributing to the score.
EP 13: Do Princesses Dream Of Magic Sheep?
Rating: 3 5 4
Another dream episode. Luna is surprised when she has a dream with a happy ending prompting her to freak the fuck out.
Herobrine sighting #26, #27, #28, #29, #30, #31
So now everyone's tired and had the same nightmare. Luna comes and explains the blue smoke thing that's the source of everyone's nightmares is called the Tantabus and it escaped from her nightmare. So then Luna explains that since the Tantabus has escaped her dream into the dreams of others, it's possible that it could escape into the real world and now this just became the plot of a video game about Jungian psychology.
Luna then has to dreamwalk in the ponies' dreams to hunt down the Tantabus and also reveals Celestia lacks the dreamwalking ability. Next couple minutes is just a montage of Luna dreamwalking chasing the thing down and isn't really that entertaining.
Then Pinkie accidentally infects all of Ponyville and Luna has to create one giant shared dream among all of Ponyville. In this shared dream, we see the wacky dreams of the Ponyvillians and eventually the Tantabus appears which they all have to fight until Luna confronts herself or something to stop it and reveals the Tantabus is pretty much just her self-harming and the episode ends.
Really not an interesting episode despite all the wacky dream stuff and especially because we already had a dream episode that's one of this season's weakest so this one only gets 3 EV. It gets 5 VB because it does get real with the Tantabus being a metaphor for self-harm and if you know Jungian concepts, there's some stuff to think about. 4 DV because we learn about the Tantabus and stuff.
MLP Commentaries IndexWritten 2025-1-12 Published 2025-2-1