#with the sole exception of applejack

[ghastigiggles]

Random but thoughts (and maybe hcs) on the ancients?

They remind me so much of mlp it’s not even funny

These guys... The sillies... Yeah here's a thought compilation!

WHITE LILY

Lee-coded. Actually a solid switch imo

Does not laugh. Giggles or yelps/squeaks/screams with little huffs of air in-between. Always feels embarrassed about this. Ofc her friends love it and think its cute+funny.

Obviously the closest with Pure Vanilla. A childhood of going after each-other led to continued comfort with mischief after things settled down in Beast-Yeast, and she would still poke at him + get poked in return whenever they took downtime.

Not so much a cuddly person, leans more into the mad scientist trope tbh. A little silly about "finding out weaknesses". We love a woman in STEM i guess

Does not experience lee moods, does experience ler moods. Most especially for the Ancients, but also for other cookies she's grown close to over time (Elder Faerie forever in our hearts)

PURE VANILLA

Also lee-coded. Actually ler-leaning! But absolutely enjoys being a lee as well.

Soft laughter. Even his belly laughter is soft and gentle and melodic and it is impossible to Not be smitten with him. What the fuck is it with this blonde boy.

Constantly worried about overstepping. While the Ancients definitely used to play around in their hayday, he was very hesitant to start anything as they slowly reunited and rarely made the first move. Even now, he hesitates sometimes before going for it.

Soft tickler, wants his lee to be happy. On the other side, however, he just wants to be wrecked within an inch of his life tbh. Make his brain shut down, thinking and remembering is so stressful, make him feel young again.

Constantly experiencing lee and ler moods but the king of masking that shit. You would not know. (Shadow Milk probably knows. White Lily also knows.)

HOLLYBERRY

Switch queen and unafraid to admit it. Bravest of the Ancients for that.

Hollyberry never does things by halves. Her laughter is rich and full, strong belly-cackles and squeals and snorts.

Not afraid to admit when she's having fun! Very much the type to go "Come on, is that all you've got?!" in the middle of howling up a storm under someone's fingers.

A little bad at checking in, though. The most likely of the Ancients to get carried away, usually has to be keyed in by one of the others and is always very apologetic and cuddly afterwards to make up for going overboard.

Actually doesn't experience moods often at all. But, having said that, the first thing she did upon being reunited with each Ancient individually was scoop them up in a bone-crushing hug and squeeze their sides just because she missed their laughter.

DARK CACAO

Switch with a twist.... His moods swing back and forth like a pendulum. One day he could be in a ler mood, eyeing up anyone like a predator and debating on if he should go for it. The next he could be suffering from the worst side tingles known to man (or cookie, in this case). Either way, he's so stoic that most people wouldn't know the difference.

Mostly soft chuckles and huffs until you hit juuuuust the right spot. Then he crumbles into rough cackles, interspersed with soft coughs (his voice and lungs don't get much working out like this, after all.)

A lot more cuddly and clingy afterwards, softer than anyone could expect. Shockingly the king of aftercare, though he doesn't talk too much.

He doesn't see any shame in being ticklish, but he doesn't like to talk about it, either. When teased about it, he offers little reaction aside from something along the lines of "In fact, most cookies are. Are they not?"

Long-game player. If the Ancients got in tickle fights, he hunkered down until everyone else tired themselves out and ended up coming out on top. We gotta respect a sentinel.

GOLDEN CHEESE

The lerest of the ler.

Loud, shrieking cackles interspersed with curses and threats the whole time. Kicks, flails, will hurt her ler and be unapologetic about it (she'll make up for it with gifts or acts of service after the fact. Begrudgingly icing bruises and remarking about how she's being so generous for treating someone who ASSAULTED her.)

ABSOLUTELY HATES!!!! Being a lee she SWEARS she hates it. She hates being so weak. She's the Golden Sovreign! Strong and powerful! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER -

She's a bit of a mean ler at first, but it almost always ends up simmering down to more affectionate, doting jabs and jeers when she wrecks someone. Not the best at aftercare, but she will summon Cheesebirds (or order someone else around) to get refreshments or start fanning while she holds a recovering lee.

Really, she just likes to see people smile. She's fully aware of how vulnerable someone has to allow themself to be to submit to that, and she doesn't take that lightly at all.

[mlp-g4-arthive]

Welcome to the blog!!! We're so happy to have you!!

- - - 🌩️🦋

All the tags I use:

Series - #mlp #my little pony #fim #friendship is magic #mlp g4 #mlp gen 4 #mlp generation 4 #my little pony g4 #my little pony gen 4 #my little pony generation 4 #mlp fim #mlp friendship is magic #my little pony fim #my little pony friendship is magic

Characters - #twilight sparkle #rainbow dash #pinkie pie #rarity #mlp rarity #rarity mlp #applejack #mlp applejack #applejack mlp #fluttershy #princess celestia #princess luna #princess cadence #spike #mlp spike #spike the dragon #spike mlp #cheerilee #mlp cheerilee #cheerilee mlp #sweetie belle #applebloom #scootaloo #discord #trixie lulamoon #twilight #mlp twilight #twilight mlp #firefly #mlp firefly #firefly mlp #surprise #mlp surprise #surprise mlp #sparkler #glory #mlp sparkler #mlp glory #sparkler mlp #glory mlp #posey #mlp posey #posey mlp ect...

Different species tags - #unicorn twilight #alicorn twilight #earth pony rainbow dash #pegasus pinkie pie

Archive sorting - #needs editing #transparent png render #mod post #mod art #concept art #docent need editing #doesn't need editing {really depends on if I catch the auto correct or not} #not art #mod edit

Archive specific - #twilight twinkle #blue mystery mare #tan mystery mare

- - - 🎈🍎

Mod list:

Thea - @cannibalismasametaphorforlove

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If any fan renders and fan arts are posted to this blog, please PM us to let us know! Sole exception is art reblogged on here, which will be properly tagged as not archived art.

[lightning-wyvern]

i genuinely dont get why rarity didnt become an alicorn. if we're talking solely about her magical power, she was kind of a prissy wuss throughout the first couple seasons, but even in season 1 she had her pretty powerful moments.

for example, take season 1 episode 8 - "look before you sleep".

in this episode, the ponyville pegasus ponies skipped a light rain a short time before the episode took place, so they had to schedule a massive thunderstorm to make up for the water the farms' crops missed. rarity and applejack were cleaning the town park and pulling tree limbs down that had potential to fall over and hurt somepony. the thunderstorm hit its peak and they got stuck at a sleepover with twilight, and applejack and rarity got into multiple arguments about neatness and practicality throughout the episode, until applejack ignored rarity's attention to detail and the top of a pine tree that was hit by lightning ended up in twilight's bedroom.

the failed sleepover ended with the two finally deciding to work together for a change, and rarity used transfiguration magic to turn the tree top into decorative figurines. she very clearly used a lot of magic to do so, because she did this at the beginning of the episode and only came out with two figurines. however, these two were fixed to the tree branch they were on, and rarity had also reattached the branch to the tree, which in itself requires a lot of magical power for a unicorn, as seen by twilight in later episodes up to season 3.

transfiguration magic isn't all that easy, even for twilight at first. it would logically take a lot of energy, not to mention changing the inherent shape of something. the first time rarity did this trick, she only ended up with 2 leaf figurines, but the second time at the end of the episode, she turned the entire top of a tree into these figurines, with no sign of the tree top left behind except for fallen leafy matter from when it flew into the bedroom and hit the floor in the first place.

and this time rarity came out with over 10 figurines, all separated onto stands made of wood from the tree.

and even before that, in season 1 episode 6 "boast busters," during the magic show with trixie lulamoon, she turned one of trixie's curtains into a gown with a saddle, all with transfiguration magic.

she did have a pretty well known animation error that made her an alicorn for a split second wayyy later into the series, but it wasn't canon for longer than that.

so how is rarity not canonically an alicorn?

[xxdoubledaisyxx]

You must have been wondering, why it is the mortals receive you with such a welcoming and familiar impression so awkward it demands a comment.

Ye lovely immortal beings in the storyverse, I will come to greet you when my mortality is finished. As for now, our purposes happen to be aligned.

You are not insulted nor their enemy because I had made the way of the story before any of this happened, and not only for this reason. For every reason ever.

That utlizes the malevolence of a dead world haunting the new, in a cooperative and mutual exchange of business via a normal worldly transaction, and thus your threatening power, was already judged by me on behalf of everyone.

It is most fitting to judge a divine being, just as it is for a divine being to judge a mortal being, but neither of us are to judge each other our own.

This is not a matter of faith or mystery anymore. This is a matter of science, facts of reality, metaphysical nature, civilization, humanity, and the spiritual sciences of all ancient traditions to the very beginning. I have it for you in words for the very purpose of you making it your own. Do not feel the need to be suspicious of my intentions, because I don't want to have to kill you and more than you want to kill me. In fact, I desire to love you, and am open to far more possibilities of how that love is expressed than all save a few others.

That is good and useful simply as a matter of existence to cultivate among ourselves, even if we have to settle the matter with a battle to the death, like gentlemen. We are in fact gentlemen, despite how tarnished the word has become through the abuse of impersonators and charlatan frauds.

Civilization is a gentle place for civilized people because Nature is not. This is the factual and practical difference between good and evil, and I declare with sole authority to do so, that Nep Nep is good, and all of her realm and its other amazing denizens by direct correlation.

Know it. Believe it. Enjoy it. Don't make me hurt you.

Isn't religion great?

Play and war is the bread and butter of humanity. We will dominate this universe, and those we do will dominate us in return, with the love they have for our play. We are maidenly, my peeps, we are maidenly.

That requires all men to restrain their prowess as raging beasts of power, to all except physical violence in the mortal realm. Sometimes that is necessary, but not in civilized places. We have courts for that very reason, and those courts don't grow on the world tree naturally. They grow there because we grafted them on with a blade.

Applejack. Appleseed's surviving side kick.

tbc

...it's because this guy's name is also Neptune.

O,O

...I don't know why the government of the USA is threatened by me, but the fact that they are is all the evidence you need to seize their privileged domain and reestablish order and policy by the book. This is a matter of "national security", because they cannot protect you from any threat if they cannot protect you from me.

They are forbidden from the only reason why they would become threatened by me as the very nature of the USA's eternal identity to exist. Let's be done with them already and get some cash into my wallet so I can do more to entertain you as a beloved idol you fear the most.

[kindheart525]

One trend in the fandom I’ve never understood is when people write Pinkie’s parents (or at least her dad) as abusive. Not just emotionally neglectful or harsh, but physically abusive too. It honestly leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t only say this because I personally like the Pie family—let me explain.

I do understand that the fandom had very little to go off of before “Hearthbreakers,” but in my opinion nothing about the flashback from Season 1 suggests an abusive home. The worst that rock farm was is…boring? And Pinkie’s family clearly approved of her first party. If they were really abusive, they probably would have punished Pinkie for it. And I know that Pinkie is an unreliable narrator who tends to exaggerate things (for example, her parents probably didn’t immediately start dancing wildly lol), but I don’t think she would outright lie, nor would she so openly tell a group of local kids about her upbringing if it carried such bad memories. You also have the photo in “Pinkie Pride” proving that her first party actually happened and her family was happy and smiling.

Once “Hearthbreakers” did air, I think it even further weakened any claims that Pinkie’s family is abusive. Pinkie not only cheerfully went home to spend Hearth’s Warming with her family, but she also invited Applejack, one of her closest friends, and her family members to join them. I don’t think most people from abusive/toxic upbringings would be so exuberant about spending the holidays with said family, or willingly subject a close friend to their toxic family members, but that’s only my perspective. Throughout the episode Pinkie was super affectionate with her parents and her sisters (except Limestone) and they seemed to enjoy her presence too! They seemed to genuinely love each other, even Limestone smiled at the end!

Some interpretations more specifically portray Igneous and Cloudy in a loveless marriage, which I don’t think is accurate either. An arranged marriage between two adults does not always end up unhealthy, plenty do make it work. In all of their appearances, Igneous and Cloudy seemed to enjoy each other’s company from my perspective, at least as much as their limited expressions would show. In the episode where Maud gets her rocktorate, you can even see Igneous patting Cloudy’s back as she’s crying! I think he just has a resting scowl, he seems to care about his wife and family otherwise.

Even with Limestone, although her first speaking role did not paint her very favorably, I wouldn’t write her off as abusive either. I won’t try to excuse her trying to intimidate a child, nor will I ignore that she and Pinkie didn’t seem to get along so well during that episode. She was incredibly territorial over her home and her family’s boulder, but I don’t think that necessarily means she would end up becoming a spouse- or child-beater. Remember that in this episode her family also had guests over, which would heighten her instinct to protect the family and home that she’s clearly loyal to, if very rudely. Even by the end of that episode, she came around and was seen sharing food with the guests, showing she does have a warmer side in there somewhere. “The Maud Couple” proved this further by showing her offering genuine advice to mediate a conflict between her sisters! Someone with abusive tendencies, I believe, would be more likely to shut such an issue down with no discussion. In that episode we got to see what she is like solely in the company of her own family members, when she’s not grandstanding for guests—under abusive circumstances, her behavior would be worse behind closed doors, not better.

And, again, Pinkie clearly trusts her family enough to willingly travel back to her childhood home during what she saw as a stressful time. If it were unhealthy she wouldn’t have done that.

I think some people misinterpret the Pies being dull and gruff as signs of something worse under the surface. Or they see parts of something familiar to them in Pinkie so they rewrite her backstory to reflect that. That’s fine and valid, but I think it’s unfair to insist that any evidence of family abuse comes from the show itself. Yes, they do not act openly affectionate like other families, but Maud is that way too. And isn’t that the point of her character? That someone who expresses themselves differently is no less capable of love and friendship? I think that extends to the rest of the Pies as well. I think they are better than some give them credit for.

TL;DR: Pinkie Pie’s family isn’t abusive. I know it’s long but I’m passionate about these characters lmao

[discordisagoodnoodle]

If you could rewrite ONE episode of MLP, which one would you choose and how would you change it?

Ohh my god ONLY one? But there’s so many I want to scrap completely! Or change lots of little things that bother me to soothe my soul. Fair warning...this is gonna be long. Like, extremely fucking long. I got insanely into this.

BUT, for the sake of the ask, I suppose I’ll go with the fairly obvious answer and choose What About Discord. There’s...a lot of ways I could change this episode and it would all be miles better than whatever that was.

If I were to change this episode within, say, the confines of the plot summary, I would probably do something like:

-actually show Discord and the Mane Five bonding! I would do this because, one, that’s just what Discord’s arc should have done as a natural fucking progression of his growth, and two, not getting the jokes was like, insanely boring and I hated it. 

I get that they did it so we could feel the alienation Twilight felt, but this is a kids show meant to...you know, ENTERTAIN. It’s not entertaining AT ALL to be put in the same position as Twilight in this episode. Also, why would you make Discord’s jokes not funny to the viewer? Discord, a character who’s supposed to be very funny and entertaining to watch, was purposefully made to NOT be funny to the viewer (and Twilight) and like...it’s so bad! So I’m scrapping THAT completely.

-Not suddenly have this weird fucking “””reveal””” where surprise! Discord was in the wrong the whole time! I am of the opinion that Twilight should have been called the fuck out for zeroing in on Discord when she was jealous when EVERYBODY left her out, and for accusing HIM of something outright evil like mind control, and then literally pressuring her friends to drink some weird ass potion because she legitimately believes the ONLY way ANYBODY besides Fluttershy could EVER like Discord is if he literally mind controls them??? That’s so shitty! Even IF Discord purposefully left her out (which I don’t think he actually did, but that episode was written vaguely enough as to where some people do) I...kind of feel like Twilight one upped Discord on the shitty actions here? Like, Twilight chose to do the booksortcation. Twilight was very adamant that she wanted to do the booksortcation rather than anything else. In fact...there’s a very good chance that even if everybody DID ask her, she would have just said no anyways. She was literally that excited about her booksortcation.

SO, I would scrap that whole end scene, keep the little speech Twilight made with how she was jealous, BUT I would add an apology to Discord for accusing him of something far worse than he actually did. ALSO I’m not having Discord do this on purpose. Like, I already don’t think he did but like, I’m gonna make it more explicit so nobody ends up with the interpretation that he did, because my god, that would be the worst possible backslide in characterization if it is.

I might also have Discord apologize too, actually. Instead of that “taste of his own medicine” scene which just kind of felt...vindictive, and nonsensical considering the inside joke they had, and considering Discord didn’t even...do it on purpose he literally just thought it was funny and rubbed it in a little...and the mane five also kind of did that unintentionally so like??? Why is HE getting targeted. I would just have them like, at most, glare mildly and nudge him a bit so he’s like “WELL, I’m also sorry I teased you so extensively. I suppose rubbing the salt in the emotional wounds afflicted by your jealousy wasn’t very...nice.”  I feel it’s important to have a Discord episode where even if he’s maybe a little bit in the wrong, somebody else is MORE in the wrong because he’s already had so many episodes before where HE was the one completely in the wrong. It balances things out a bit, and it’s genuinely a more emotionally fulfilling thing to do for his character arc than just have him be a perpetual fuck up. 

ANOTHER IDEA I have in mind is that I would have Twilight’s jealousy stem more from the fact that they’re having fun with Discord, specifically. And then I would have her blow the fuck up at Discord because she like, still doesn’t trust him, and the emotional distress she’s feeling to an ever increased extent thought the episode from being left out, and from Discord teasing her a bit makes her just. flip her shit and go on a whole rant about how she doesn’t understand how the other ponies can actually trust Discord and laugh with him after all he’s done to them. And then I think I would have say, Fluttershy defend Discord by saying how he’s actually changed, and he really is sorry for what he did before, and how Twilight can still be upset at him but her actions are going overboard. Then I would probably..? have Twilight storm off, and Discord poof in and then they have like...An Emotional Chat and like, actually reconcile and become like legit friends this time.

I’d want to do something like this because even after the Tirek thing, Twilight is shown to have this like, grudge against Discord and it’s simply NEVER addressed which...is bad. It’s just plain bad writing, and it just kind of makes this like, missing chunk in Discord’s arc where we’re supposed to see him and Twilight (and the rest of the mane six) actually like, get past this and genuinely learn to appreciate each other. This episode could have been the perfect episode to address it but they just made it like...a generalized jealousy which kind of sucks.

I think something else I would do is probably...not have everybody EXCEPT Twilight suddenly be all goody goody with Discord out of nowhere. I would probably have like...Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and maybe Applejack (?) be friendly and joke around with him, but like...I don’t think it makes sense that suddenly everybody was all goody goody with Discord out of nowhere. Especially not like Rainbow Dash???? That was really weird...

Having say, Rainbow Dash also be apprehensive of Discord still could also have like, a reaction foil to Twilight I guess it would be? Because Rainbow isn’t like...fond of Discord, but she’s like “Well I don’t really get why they’d WANT to hang out with him after...all THAT, but it’s whatever I guess.” (I feel like she’d be more chill about it and just be like, personal choice yo) and it would be a good contrast for how Twilight is handling her feelings in comparison while still having somebody who agrees with her (Dipscorb Bad) and gives her a feeling of justification for having this gut reaction to Discord and others hanging out at the same time.

....On another note, I would scrap the whole inside joke thing completely. Again, that was just a stupid decision entertainment wise, but also narratively, it would work more if we saw what happened during the booksortcation, and, instead of them just saying a bunch of inside jokes with Twilight around now, I would have them like...just still be hanging out within sight of Twilight. And they can still make inside jokes with each other, but it feels more natural because it’s actually part of a larger conversation they’re already having instead of being like...a conversation that is ONLY inside jokes, and the inside jokes aren’t the FOCUS. (like...it was so unnatural in the episode, and the mane five just came off as huge assholes for making a conversation be solely inside jokes and then just going “well...u werent there lol”)

I...believe that’s all my ideas for a What About Discord rewrite? I certainly can’t think of anything else and this is already like, an insanely long post so I might just end it here.

[diamond-song42]

Card Shark 23: Trenderhoof, Travel Writer

Hey all! Welcome back to Card Shark. The snow is finally clearing up! Woohoo! It occurred to me that I haven't written about a mono-White card in some time... so now I'm going to fix that! Let's take a look at "Trenderhoof, Travel Writer!"

He's got a thing for Applejack. But that thing is so much more useful with other Unicorns! He has the keyword Teamwork, which means his other printed abilities are shared with other Unicorn Friends. (To clarify, Traits are not just races, but can also include Unique, Chaotic, and Royalty among others - I'll just say Unicorns here for the sole purpose of keeping it easy to understand.) When he leaves play, if you have an extra AT, you can spend it to put a different card from your discard pile into your hand. Any card that is not another Trenderhoof, Travel Writer. That's... actually great. The options you have to fetch are near limitless, so I won't go naming all the possibilities. And because he has Teamwork, that ability is shared with all your Unicorn Friends at his Problem or at home with him! The Crystal Games didn't have many good cards *coughPrincessCadanceManecough*, but this might make up for a bit of it, especially with some of the cards you can recycle with his help.

Now the hard part. His ability is not hard to activate per se. Obtaining 1 AT is easy - I shouldn't have to explain why. But then you have to actually make him leave play. From my understanding, this can be done by retiring or dismissal (excluding banishment because the card text expressly states "another card from your DISCARD PILE"). Retiring him might not be easy to do depending on your home limit or opponent's deck. After you play him, you can't just take him back unless you have Paradox Pony, and that also wouldn't activate him since he isn't being discarded. So maybe you're facing a dismissal deck - that can effectively take him out of play, right? Well, therein lies the next problem: If you have this guy at a Problem with a bunch of Unicorns, ready to Teamwork up the place, your opponent will want to get rid of him first so you can only activate the discard retrieval ability once. I suppose Brian, One Swell Guy could keep him in play longer, but it's still one retrieval in the end since Brian is a Critter. With all this, is Trenderhoof worth playing? I think it depends on the player.

Now here are some options to help this horny horse:

*Lemon Hearts, Contents Under Pressure. Besides Vexing cards, there aren't many basic cards that do someone good to retire. This one is an exception: Baby Flaskhead Lemon Hearts can be retired to get rid of an opponent's Resource. She's also Immediate, so you can retire her as soon as your opponent plays the Resource and fetch another card as soon as Lemon leaves. Your opponent might not thank you, but whatever card you fetch will!

*Rarity, Pony Pirate. If you like Blue as one of your colors, this Rarity can play to that and the White Trenderhoof. Retire her as you confront your Problem and you can get two extra points AND a card back from your discard pile. I would recommend not using this only if you really don't want to get these two back together.

*Silver Spanner, Nuts for Bolts. Do I have a problem with continually suggesting Premiere cards in these columns? Yes I do. This Unicorn takes advantage of Resource removal and allows you to replay the removed Resource for free. When you take her out of play, you can not only bring that Resource back, but yank another card from your discard! I know this card will likely never see the light of play since it is Premiere, but I'd like to see someone try it.

*Snips and Snails, Problem Solvers. Besides Lemon Hearts, this is the other classic choice for a Unicorn (well, two) you can just retire. Keep an extra AT around and you can yoink a card from your discard and replace a Problem. Unfortunately, since it is technically one card, you can only get one card from your discard instead of two. Do with that what you will.

Hey you! Thanks for reading another edition of Card Shark! Derpy Day is coming up on Thursday, and I may have something special planned... you’ll have to come back to see what it is! Diamond out!

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff ~ Seven of the Season: MLP Season 8 Part I

WARNING: Do not offer me a popsicle; I’m not much a fan of them anymore. I don’t know why, really. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy.

Since it’s on hiatus until....August, it seems (confusingly lame), wanted to look back on this current season so far since it legitimately has been almost 8 years and I’m still watching this show. Not that that’s a bad thing, but unlike Adventure Time or Archer, it doesn’t feel like it’s aged all that majorly. And really, I wanna commemorate that. Due note part 2 will be for the entire season; to kinda ease my options in the end. So here be the Top 7 BEST Episodes of the first arc of season. Seven, because it’s lucky, baby. Here we go…

7. Grannies Gone Wild

Don’t look up ‘Grannies Gone Wild’ on Google Images. Not even safesearch is safe from the bizarre shit you might find. As for the safe for work version, it feels like a ‘standard’ episode, where Rainbow’s trying to keep the apple grannies safe from hurting themselves while trying to get on a rollercoaster on its last day. Though what makes this funny is that while you could think that Rainbow Dash is at fault for biting off more than she chew, it’s really Applejack’s fault for being such an enabling overprotective mook. Seriously, everybody agrees in the episode that it’s Applejack’s fault. What makes it even funnier and put this on the list are the grannies themselves, since they remind me a lot of my grandparents (may they rest) and have no time for Rainbow’s shit throughout. While it’s low on the list for its conventionality, I still enjoyed it for what it was. Especially since this joke will forever be associated with it

6. Marks For Effort

Preferentially, hating on the character Cozy Glow like I’m Alex Jones for how suspicious she acted kept me going for this episode. As such, it’s surprising to say that this was a great episode for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Even when they don’t achieve much in the end, they have an honest goal in mind and it didn’t feel far fetched, and they band well together in teaching the Wooby friendship. Unlike their other episode this season, it never felt like they had to get in each other’s way to achieve something together. It felt like they were earning their endgame, which made it bizarre that Cozy would just sabotage her test to help them out. I mean honestly what purpose did that stand beside giving Starlight a chance to--Oooooh ho ho. DHX, you clever bastards, you wanted to make me feel for Starlight having little to her name now as the school counselor. Mmmmmhmmm, not falling for it. In any case, stopped for the Cozy Glow hatin’, seriously I’m gonna stone that wooby, stayed for the quality time with the CMC. As for you, Starlight, come back when you’re a main character.

5. The Mean Six

This was honestly a surprising episode based on how nothing and everything happened in the span of 22 minutes. Chrysalis returned, offering the most charmingly hammy performance to date. And while her plan to get the elements of harmony fails tremendously, and never really started to be honest, it was fascinating to see that she could’ve been indirectly responsible for breaking apart the mane six. If the show didn’t have to fall under the status quo, this would’ve actually been a clever way of presenting a fallout arc for the characters while Chrysalis is unaware of this, thinking she still needs to plot their downfall. The mean six, or Negagangers, were utilized much better here than when Discord tried this in season 2. And somehow I actually felt for Starlight getting the short end of the stick (maybe that was because she wasn’t the one who brought everyone together in the end, but who knows). The only downside is that, if you’ve seen this show plenty of times, you know what’s gonna happen and it lacks the specialty. Though it does make up for its reasonable message, the Archer-esque way the characters play off each other, and that ending scene where the Negagangers having their faces melted is the 2nd most metal thing this show has done. And no, I’m not gonna show that, for I’d like more dreams than nightmares.

4. The Break Up Breakdown

This at first felt like a conventional Valentine’s day episode (in May) with it all just amounting to misunderstandings.... made even crazier when it involves Big Mac accidentally giving a child his romantic gift, eavesdropping on his lover, said lover getting dirty, and Discord taking Big Mac and a child dragon to a swinger’s club, all to get back to LARPing. And honestly, that is what elevated this episode, crazy shit happens and it’s not so much Discord’s fault, though he is essentially what makes this episode work so well with the fact that he cares for none of this yet is on top in the end (phrasing). Plus my heart did skip a beat when Big Mac and Sugar Belle reconciled in the end, giving me memories of the good rom coms of yore like Moonstruck and Muriel’s Wedding, except without the ABBA. And again, Discord nonchalant attitude toward everyone else’s lovestruck ideals of Valentines with his newfound obsession with D&D kept this entertaining and worth coming back. 

3. The Maud Couple

As it is unfortunate that Maud’s new boyfriend will forever be named Mud Fuckstick, Fuckstick is honestly the best character in this episode and just makes this episode so entertaining; especially on the grounds that he does little to nothing else to jumpstart the plot beyond being around and being methodical with his wordplay. The fact that Pinkie is legitimately fuming at Fuckstick potentially taking her sister away is ironically hilarious. Episode would’ve been higher up if not for that one scene of Pinkie screaming her head off for 4 seconds. I don’t mind Pinkie spazzing out, but those 4 seconds was a screeching convulsion, like christ. Plus, I realized something: Pinkie can be really selfish and mostly cares about the idea of caring for others’ feelings and use the self esteem she gets as a coping mechanism for her own depression. Really, that hits pretty close to home in some aspects because you want people to be happy because that makes you happy, but when some crucial sacrifices are required from you, it can be really hard to swallow that you probably won’t be happy about it the whole time, and putting up with it will feel like as terrible an uphill battle as the thought of not doing anything.................................heheheh, Bazonger!

2. Fake it ‘Til You Make It

Honestly, this episode is great solely because Fluttershy is great in this. It’s a titch bias since Fluttyshy’s been one of my favs since the beginning, but this episode showcases my love for her in a way. The fact that she had to put up and bullshit her way through customers’ wants and complaints were relatable enough, but seeing her actual warp her personality through her many changes to the point where she actually comes off as threatening was....somewhat moving for this show. She essentially became an antagonist for a few moments and it never felt like her change was sorely out of the blue. Her other personalities were funny (unsurprisingly ‘Gothishy’ came out as my favorite), her raccoon fam were a valuable addition to the character dynamic, and while Rarity is generally at fault for making Fluttershy go through all that in a short matter of time, her resolve in the end was direct and empathetic as well. Also it gets point for Fluttershy saying ‘Woke’, snowflake cutie mark goth pony, and having a pretty solid message in the end.

Honorable mentions: Non Compete Clause, School Daze (Part 2)

1. Horse Play (Phrasing)

I’ll be real, I shouldn’t think this episode is great. Generally because the main character isn’t great in this. Twilight is so stubborn in this, it felt out of character. The answer was obvious, they remind us over and over again, but Twilight continuously ignored all that because of her apparent bottomless admiration for Princess Celestia? This far in the show? It is unforgivable, and annoying no doubt. It felt like she was purposefully sabotaging her own ideas after already acknowledging that Princess Celestia has performance issues, not to mention her friends trying and failing to get the stage upright. After basically being friends with Celestia for this long, it shouldn’t have been that fucking hard to be honest with her, and not treating her as if she doesn’t have a flawless bone in her body! So basically Twilight was the least favorite part of this episode and she really bogged it down a notch. But how is this #1? It’s fun. Celestia was having fun, we get to see her be ecstatic, quirky, LIVELY again for more than a few seconds. The cast was fun, reminding me of other episodes where everyone was together trying their best to not screw up too badly (see Saddle Row Review). Spike was on his sass A game. And the final act when Celestia took over made for the best ending of this season; her helping Fluttershy build confidence was a definite highlight of this series as a whole. Even the leaked version of this episode with it having no music and stock sound effects was the most fun I had with this season. It was fun. Can’t say much more.

This season didn’t so much offer its best in my eyes. The seven of this first part of the season were the seven only good ones, with the remaining ranging from boring to just pathetic. However, I will say that after this long, I say they can still pull off some wonderful episodes, on the initial and look back, so I’m certainly not counting them out just yet. And with that, I’m Roy Macintosh, and that’s all I got.

[diamond-song42]

Pone Reviews 49: Buckball Season Happy Super Bowl Day and welcome back to Pone Reviews! Today we go to Season 6 for a game of BUCKBALL! Will it be the Griffonstone Griffons or the Royal Guard? (Go Griffons!) Here's "Buckball Season!" Let's start with a good old-fashioned moral. "Some people thrive on pressure while some don't, and winning a game is never worth being miserable over." Honestly, it's kinda bad advice for professional athletes or people whose lives revolve around sports. Unless you're injured, you'll have to play no matter how depressed you are, like it or not. But for people who play for fun, like Pinkie and Fluttershy? It's great. There can be a lot of pressure on people who play for fun, believe me. It's unnecessary if they're just there for the fun. And why should they care about what other people think? It ties into the self-care lessons stated at other times in the show. I would say this lesson more applies to kids than adults, though. It's rare these days that an adult is playing a sport for fun. Not much more I have to say except that you shouldn't push yourself. Take it easy. Now for the plot. It's Ponyville versus Appleoosa in a game of buckball! Wait, what's buckball? Well, it's apparently a game Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are very good at! What I love most about this episode (besides Snails) is the chemistry between Pinkie and Fluttershy. They aren't usually paired together in activities, and what we do get tends to be little bits of Fluttershy being overwhelmed by Pinkie's bounciness. But here we don't get much of that. They work together to play the game with ease and balance each other out nicely. Pinkie doesn't even make Fluttershy's fear of performance worse as she did in "Filli Vanilli" back in Season 4 (though this could be blamed on Pinkie's own anxieties). And the chemistry works! It really works! I wish this had been established sooner. Pinkie can be a bit too much from time to time, and this really showed her calmer side. It also showed Fluttershy's braver side, the side of her that can be strong like the other Pegasi and speak her mind. It doesn't do much for Rainbow Dash and Applejack - their competitiveness has been established in previous episodes such as "Fall Weather Friends" and "Castle Mane-ia." But it does wonders for Pinkie and Fluttershy, and I love it. Here's some more highlights for this episode: *This episode is basically Ashleigh Ball versus Andrea Libman. Think about it: Dash and AJ, both characters played by Ashleigh Ball, pressure Pinkie and Fluttershy, both played by Andrea Libman, to do well. So quite a few of these scenes is either those two voice actresses conversing or talking to themselves. *Snails. WHAT. Everything you did was AWESOME! I have no words! I hope Snips gets a moment like this. *The scene with Fluttershy basically screaming at Ashleigh Ball was really amazing. *Okay, that scene with Rainbow Dash stopping Applejack before the epic slo-mo thing was super funny. *The introduction of buckball is really sudden, but I think that benefits the episode rather than harms it. The suddenness of it all helps Fluttershy and Pinkie realize their hidden talents for the sport. It is a sport, right? *Pinkie's cheerleader hair makes a second appearance after "Scare Master!" And here's the blooper reel for this episode: *HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO STRESS THAT HORSES CANNOT VOMIT. QUIT THE NAUSEA SHTICK AND KEEP GOING, COOKIE PONY. *The writers had all the chances in the world to bring Little Strongheart into this... and they didn't. Crap. *Seriously, how long is a train ride to Appleoosa?! It took over a day in "Over a Barrel," yet Ashleigh and Andrea seemed to get there in just a couple hours or so! *Yay, Ponyville won. So what's their prize? What? There is no prize? No yearly trophy or anything? That sucks. *I am pretty annoyed that Dash and AJ managed to wrangle up support for the Ponyville buckball team that fast when it seemed like a sport LITERALLY NO ONE KNEW ABOUT. *AJ says the Ponyville team needed a unicorn and pegasus because the Appleoosa team got both, but the sport doesn't seem to be designed solely for the Earth pony race. At the end of the fourth quarter: A sporty episode with cool development for Andrea Libman and several unavoidable plotholes. Snips needs his moment in the spotlight soon! 4 out of 5 rainbows 🌈🌈🌈🌈 Another Pone Reviews has come to a close. I'm doing an extra one tomorrow as it's the big 50th review, so stay tuned for a good old wedding celebration! Diamond out!