My Little Pony

[lordofchange13]

I retract the question about the cake, missed the edit time. Would have been cool is Celestia was being a troll and secretly eating all the deserts.

[Zixinus]

What I liked is that in this case, the "letter to the princess" (moral of the story) and the actual events lined up very well. The basic moral was that one should focus on facts rather than on wild accusations and gut-reaction. A mystery-novel presentation of this seems pretty thematically appropriate and good for the intented target audience, with plenty of silly things happening in-between to entertain others.

[Starglider]

I particularly enjoyed the parody of the silent/60s spy/70s kung fu movies, and the bubble pipe.

Would have been cool is Celestia was being a troll and secretly eating all the deserts.

No, that would have seriously damaged the characterisation for cheap and pointess fan pandering.

[Revy]

Loved it. I was hoping we'd get a detective/crime spoof episode, I just didn't expect it to be over a half-eaten cake. Pinkie's wild accusations/imagination scenes totally cracked me up. Twilight would make a great detective, and she was one of the very few ponies present who didn't cave in and eat one of the contest entries. Yay Twilight. Is it just me, or do Twilight and Pinkie go well together? They made a funny team in the time travel episode as well. I think it's because they're almost complete opposites. It's like having Hermione and Luna from Harry Potter work together.

[Shadow6]

It was slightly disconcerting that Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity were so lacking in self control, given how (presumably) important this was to Pinkie and the Cakes. I suppose they'll take it as a compliment, especially given its irresitable pull over even Goddesses. AJ > Celestia, obviously.

Apart from that it was a great episode, especially the three accusation scenes. (Pony Joe gets all the mares.)

[Crazedwraith]

Very enjoyable but ultimate pretty forgettable. Like Pinkie's imagine spots and the gentle ribbing of the Holmes/Watson dynamic and loved the constant swapping of hats with Twilight and Pinkie Pie when they took the lead in the investigation.

Episode get bonus points for having the entire mane six involved with Twilight having a big role. More like a season 1 episode. Times like this that really remind how much I like Tara Strong's voice acting as Twilight.

[Zixinus]

Wedding Invitation

You all know what this means, right?

It's only a matter of time till we get a leak!

Well, maybe. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hub is being tight-fisted about this.

[madd0ct0r]

anyone seen the new episode?

[evilsoup]

Huh? What? There was no episode this week (but a double-episode next saturday).

[Wing Commander MAD]

So does anyone find it a bit odd that they're having a host, IIRC Tori Spelling, for the wedding episodes? I guess we can look forward to stupid commentary or some such.

[Shadow6]

Uh, I'm going to wait until after I get some sleep to comment on it in depth, but that was amazing.

Tori Spelling and the ad breaks on the other hand

[RogueIce]

So does anyone find it a bit odd that they're having a host, IIRC Tori Spelling, for the wedding episodes? I guess we can look forward to stupid commentary or some such.

Tori Spelling and the ad breaks on the other hand

Just to ease any fears: the segments were lame, but they in no way affected the episode itself.

And it was a pretty awesome episode. Yay Luna! "Rest my sister, as always I will guard the night." Complete with her music when she flies in. Aw yeah!

Yep, one could analyze this, and it seems to me Luna does sleep during the day, with Celestia staying awake a little...if she wants to. Or maybe there's an overlap between them, which seems likely.

Amazing episode all around though. And I liked the ending: the Mane Six didn't save the day, but I thought it was better for it. And the ending part...dayum. Almost felt like a series finale type of ending...luckily we all know there will be a third season.

Thankfully. I love this show.

[RogueIce]

So much to say, so little time. Still, a couple (non-Luna) things I want to point:

Those snapshots at the end were cool. Spike dancing with Sweetie Belle? Fancy Pants and Rarity! Also loved the CMCs as flower girls.

And on another note, seeing Celestia get blasted and her crown flying off...you could feel the shock in the room when that happened. And I felt shocked, too. The Princess Celestia was defeated? Shit just got serious, son.

[RogueIce]

*edit*

Whoops, fubared that one. Nevermind.

[SpaceMarine93]

Brilliant episode. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. The drama involved was awesome, they finally got action scenes into show that bronies could be proud of (They Mane Six FOUGHT THEIR WAY THROUGH AN ENTIRE HORDE OF ENEMIES to get to the Elements of Harmony), characterization of Princess Cadence, Shining Armor was decent, songs are great, how they defeated the villains at the end (with the power of love no less) was perfect, and the real wedding scene was the most heartwarming thing I had seen recently, especially with Princess Luna and DJ Pony actually participating in it.

And seriously, who anticipated the villains?

Overall, BRILLIANT.

[Crazedwraith]

Just finished Part 1. Not letting myself see part 2 until I've got some more uni work done.

But thus far the biggest stumbling block for me is still that Twilight suddenly has a brother that she's really close to, that we've never seen or had reference to at all. I really like the idea of Spike being the closest thing to a brother. It wouldn't be so bad if one of the mane six had actually said 'if you so close to your bbbff, how come you've never mentioned him before?'

And Twilight did not do a good job explaining Cadence = Evil. Saying she did a spell that makes someone's eyes twirl is not quite the cunning argument telling them you saw them having a disagreement then the spell then Shining Armour suddenly falling in line with her wishes.

[Rossum]

Yeah, Twilights "description" of the spell was less than stellar. She's the Element of Magic and (I think) can duplicate spells after just observing them once. You'd think she could have described in in more concrete terms like "She used an enchantment on my brother!" or "I know she has a spell that can make ponies fall in love. She's just using a spell on him to make him feel this way!" (really, that one scene in the flashback where she used that love spell on those two fighting ponies put a great deal of suspicion on her.) or even something like "She's an imposter! Know why? The Candance I knew had magic with a purple aura, this one has a green aura! She's obviously a fake!". Or anything like that.

But then again, Twilight doesn't exactly have the best social skills around so I guess her fumbling her big speech isn't completely out of character.

I just couldn't help thinking that if Queen Chrysalis (link to Equestria Daily article) had just left Twilight alone to feel miserable then she would have one. Even teleporting her into that cave and not talking to her, just letting her sit alone in the dark, would have kept her out of the way long enough to pull off her evil plan.

Though, even with all that, it was pretty interesting to see that the Changelings were defeated by Shining Armors shield spell instead of the Elements (even looks like the shield spell was based on the shield Twilight used against Discord... or Twilight learned that spell from her brother). Twilights shield was able stop Discords magic and even restore a bit of the ground. Shining Armors shield encased all of Canterlot, let ponies through, and launched all the changelings out when it activated.

It looks like Shining Armors special talent is protecting ponies and he's got alot of magic in him like Twilight. He could be just as powerful as her but only knows a select few spells based on protection, the Canterlot Protection spell being one of them. For the sake of everyponys sanity, I'm going to assume that Candances love spell just reawakens existing love instead of brainwashing ponies. Though it did look suspiciously like the Want-it-Need-it spell and the effects of Love Poison.

[Rossum]

And of course, we'll never see a member of this race again because... they're changelings! It's also funny how those thousands of changelings were just launched out of Canterlot into the surrounding countryside, a whole army of shapeshifting emotion eaters who can fly.

[Starglider]

And Twilight did not do a good job explaining Cadence = Evil. Saying she did a spell that makes someone's eyes twirl is not quite the cunning argument telling them you saw them having a disagreement then the spell then Shining Armour suddenly falling in line with her wishes.

That was completely credible, because even a well-adjusted person would have trouble explaining the details of a briefly glimpsed magical spell to a hostile crowd (including beloved brother and god-queen-mentor) after days of extreme emotional stress, never mind a socially awkward nerd. Twilight probably found it hard enough to keep speaking at all.

[evilsoup]

Oh Twilight, you really should have just gone to see Celestia with your suspicions.

Great episode. I loved that Twilight had the same reaction to princess Cadence at the beginning as the fandom's reaction - 'who the hell is that!?' This also confirmed that Twilight didn't have any friends at all in Canterlot.

One cool touch was the colour of queen Chrysalis/fake Cadence's magic. I was expecting it to signify she was possessed or something, but it served as a good visual cue. And how did she know about those caves under Canterlot? Sounds like a fanfic waiting to be written... did anyone else think that Celestia didn't seem entirely surprised of the queen? And she was fairly certain she could win...

Oh, and I guess Equestria is confirmed as being a country, rather than the world, from the changeling queen's line about it being the most love-filled place she'd ever come across (unless they were dimension-hoppers, I suppose).

I was a bit disappointed with Celestia's showing... she should have held off the queen so the mane six could escape to try and fetch the EoH, or something. I would like her to actually succeed at beating something on her own in a future episode, or she risks becoming the character who keeps getting beaten to show how powerful x new villain is.

Oh, and Luna was actually there, YES!

(A cute little background detail: during the proper wedding, when AJ takes the opportunity to put on her hat, the face she makes haha).

As for those snapshots, all I could think of is: shipping ahoy!

[Kuja]

Just a little thing I noticed-

[Rabid]

First, let me say this :

[expletive] YEAH ! That was truly magnificent !

Sure, the sudden appearance of a brother when he was never referred to before is a bit strange, but, oh well, what the hell, better late than never, huh ?


Now, changelings. Goddamn. I fucking love their designs, Queen Chrysalis is just awesome, and oh boy is it going to throw out of whack some fanfictions !


It's good to see that the Canterlot guards aren't just there for show but serve a real purpose. And maybe it's possible that we're going to see the changelings as recurring villains now : NMM has "become" Princess Luna and Discord has been sealed away, when they have just been thrown away instead. Nothing guarantee, apart from author fiat, that they aren't going to come back for a second round

I also get the impression that the Princesses weren't expecting the Changelings, and were actually guarding Canterlot from another menace. Am I the only one to think it's foreshadowing something for next season ?


Speaking of Discord, there's been rumors he's going to reappear in Season 3. Heh. How many guesses as to who or what is gonna release/reawaken him if it's true ?



(also, first appearance of Celestia and her telescope : I'm going to hell, cuz' the first thing I thought upon seeing that, was that it was a reference to "Princess Molestia"...)

Just a little thing I noticed-

[snip image]

OR IS IT ?

[tim31]

And the ending part...dayum. Almost felt like a series finale type of ending...luckily we all know there will be a third season.

Damn, son, I'm with you. Whenever I hear that chord progression in media it immediately invokes Happy Ending, with an emphasis on Ending, giving it a decidedly bittersweet taste as a fan.

(also, first appearance of Celestia and her telescope : I'm going to hell, cuz' the first thing I thought upon seeing that, was that it was a reference to "Princess Molestia"...)

Ashamed to admit that was my first thought

[Rossum]

Yeah, the Changelings are a pretty awesome new villain. Unlike Discord or Nightmare Moon where were both super-powered beings who's basic MO was 1). Show up 2) Declare themselves ultimate rulers of Equestria and 3). Get defeated with the Elements of Harmony (which are explicitly said to be the strongest magic known to ponykind) they are a whole army or species of bad guys who were thrown out using a powerful spell.

So, even if the Queen is defeated, that doesn't guarantee that there won't be random changelings running around elsewhere. In fact, my own headcanon is that the Queen was trying to take over Equestria to establish a home nation for the changelings. So all the changelings would have one nation and one ruler and a reliable food supply instead of them all being spread out with individual changelings doing stuff like stealing babies and replacing them with their own young, or kidnapping someones mate and replacing them. Instead of changelings being a sort of diffuse and uncommon species occasionally messing with someones life then she wanted them to be a unified nation.

She did insist that she came here to provide food for her subjects and once the mane cast were captured she told her minions to "Go, feed!". She's evil alright and obviously was beaten by thinking she had everything under control, but to be honest she had pretty much won and it was only that one shield spell that knocked them out of Canterlot. But the idea that part of her hubris in letting the heroes be free enough to do their job was letting her minions go out to feed themselves implies that this evil queen does care for her underlings.

Oh, and 35:05 of the above video you can see Dr. Whooves running away from a changeling. This would totally fit in well as an episode of Doctor Who and the changelings would make great Dr. Who villains.

On that note, just thinking how these guys could cause chaos in Equestria brings to mind that one episode of DS9 where one changeling showed up on Earth, started causing a panic, and Starfleet turned Earth into a police state with people getting regular blood extractions to ensure they weren't changeling spies.

Also, I've been playing Team Fortress 2 and the mere existence of spies in that game makes everyone paranoid. I imagine any new MLP:FiM crossovers with TF2 are going to involve changelings in the spy class. Hell, they are bug creatures and that almost gives new meaning to the term spycrab.

[Ritterin Sophia]

Loved the aria. Anyone but me feel the ending, especially the poppy song would've better befit a MLP movie?