Project Edophious and Apple Family Reunion Review · 2:38am Dec 27th, 2012
Project Edophious, as it is being called for the moment, is to be the second sequel to the somehow popular Sunset "Saga." Though not intended to be as long or dark as For Want of a Dawn[, it will still be quite lengthy and tax the abilities and sanity of out favourite egghead unto the breaking point and maybe beyond. With old characters and new coming onto the scene, I intend this story to have the epic story of For Want with the brevity and intensity of Sunset. I have learned from my mistakes and will try to keep subplots to a minimum. As well, unlike Sunset or For Want there will be no stories that are required reading to understand Project Edophious. Apparently, doing something like that is just shoddy storytelling and it makes sense. If I can not give the relevant information in with the main plot, then why do a sequel at all?
Speaking of plots, I am not giving you anything; not even a little tidbit. =P
Also, I hope everyone that celebrates it had a merry Christmas. If you don't celebrate, then just replace "merry" with "happy" and "Christmas" with your holiday. Political correctness is a good thing, but when you get to being forced to call a Christmas Tree a Festive Tree, that is when the line gets drawn. Why not call a Menorah a "Festive Candle" while we're at it, hmm? /minirant. But yeah. New ponies Saturday and New Years on Tuesday! Also, I got ponies for Christmas: Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and the glowing Zecora. =D
Review after the break.
Many people in the fandom say that there has never been an episode centered around Applejack. However, the forget that she did, arguably, have three episodes previous. It was way back in season one and long before the word "Brony" ever existed. The first was the second episode after the two pilots, called Applebucking Season. The other two were called Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 and The Last Roundup. We all know what happens, so I am not going to go into details. The point I am trying to make is that, while overshadowed by the rest of the mane six, Applejack has had her chance to shine before. Maybe not with the precedent that Twilight does not need to be in every episode, but a chance all the same. She is just very much a "what you see is what you get" kind of girl/pony.
Thankfully, the plot of this episode is as simple as the farmer herself, so I can condense it and get into the jokes and stuff faster. It all starts one afternoon when the Apple family are getting things ready for their family reunion. They pull down a box filled with memorabilia and a photo album when Applebloom tells them that their entire family is going to be able to come together for this particular reunion. As Granny Smith takes a jog down memory lane later on with the photo album, Applejack realizes that since this may be the only time for a very long while that the whole clan can come together, things lose their simplicity.
After getting things ready for the big day with the help of Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie and Spike (of which only Pinkie gets a marginal speaking role) it quickly becomes evident that Applejack has gone overboard with her planning. Cruel and unusual punishment, slave labour, elder abuse; you name it and you might find it here. Now, I can see this happening if Twilight was asked to hold a reunion for the princess of something, but Applejack?
Applejack: Camp Dictator Director
After running her family ragged for what we can assume is a couple of hours, Applejack calls for a short break before their next series of events. However, after hearing how the family dislikes the activities she decides to kick things up a notch with a nice "relaxing" hay ride down to the west orchard, long since abandoned by a new creature to the MLP bestiary: Fruit Bats. It is exactly what it says on the tin. With a smart kick to one of the trees, she sends out a swarm over their heads in a rainbow so vibrant it would make Dash blush and everything goes fine... Until the bats see the fake fruit on one of the pony's hats and swarm them, causing the cart to run out of control and into the barn which quickly collapses. What is that thing made of anyway?
Sweet Apple Acres Barn: 0 Shenanigans: 5*
*Count may not be completely accurate
After the destruction of the barn, Applejack laments over the state of the 'union and wallows in whatever it is ponies wallow in. Granny Smith then reminds her that a reunion is all about spending time as family; not activities or trying to cram as much in a single day as possible and to let ponies do what they want by and large. Unfortunately, due to its collapse, they can not take the family photo in front of the barn. That is when AJ gets another idea: a family barn raising! We are then taken into a song where they work all day and apparently have fun doing so. After a day well spent, everypony goes their separate ways and Applejack actually writes a letter to Princess Celestia for once. Well, one where she actually learns something anyway.
See? That was not so long, now was it? Although the plot might be mediocre and the very definition of a slice-of-life episode, it has its own rustic charm and does not promise anything grand or spectacular. What really sells this episode are the visuals and the feeling of nostalgia and coming together that, sadly, only a minority of families really get to experience in the way the Apples do. The character designs were also really impressive in that it is apparent that they are all related, but maybe not as closely as others. For example, while we might not see them for all but one shot, Aunt and Uncle Orange are present at the reunion.
Young Granny Smith is ADORABLE! <3
Also, in this episode we are given the only Applejack solo with "Raise this Barn", often misheard as "Racist Barn." I am not even going to begin going into the latter. While many people have said that they did not care for it, I found it simply wonderful. Sure, the lyrics might be lackluster, but they are genera-accurate and fit the spirit of the Apple clan. Square dancing is all about direction and an upbeat attitude; the words only give the dancers instruction, but it is the actual music that does all of the rest. To that end, the song here pulled it off to a tee and just goes to show how Daniel Ingram is good at what he does. You also have to remember that he seldom does the lyrics, so in this case, the lyrics were probably part of the script? Only he could say for sure.
By the way, this is a warning for the faint of heart.
Ciroton.exe has crashed! Attempting to reboot.
It was also great to see Babs Seed again after One Bad Apple and how she has progressed in the time since. Apparently, she is going to a new school and has some ponies interested in joining her in a Manehattan branch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Historians will later blame Princess Celestia for not forcing them to disband before starting the Great Fire of Fillydelphia. But as good as that was, it was even better to see the new additions to the Apples and some character designs not seen since season two or earlier. The Octavia re palette, popularly known as Fiddlesticks, seems to be making some strides of popularity as a cousin or twin sister to Octavia. Fan Fics, on your marks... Get set... GO!
Or is it Octavia slumming? o-o Dun dun dunnnn!
Speaking of new things, as I said earlier, we have a new addition to the bestiary this season. Fruit Bats are exactly what you would expect out of the MLP universe. They are bats made of fruit and come in subspecies that are, literally, every colour of the rainbow. Like their real-world counterparts, they just LOVE fruit. I guess you could say that they go... Batty for them? *Is shot for the bad pun* Although they have moved into the farm's western field, the Apples do not seem to see them as much of a threat to the REST of their crops, like any other farmer might, so they must have reached a balance with those trees. Who knows?
Taste the Rainbow!
That's just about everything for this episode... except for the elephant in the room: where are Applejack, Big Mac and Applebloom's parents? While they are not seen or referred to in the episode itself beyond a wistful glance at a pair of shooting stars, it has been confirmed by the leading editor of the show that they are indeed dead. The shooting stars seen at the beginning and end of the episode represent their spirits or something to that effect. Does this mean that when ponies die, they create stars? We will never know. That is a question only you the readers can answer by reading fan fiction and forming your own conclusions. Hopefully we'll get a flashback of them one day, or maybe just their names. That would be great.
The unknown Apples fly overhead in spirit. Rest in peace.
Now, let's just pause a moment for this "100 moons" talk. Many people seem convinced that this means the episode takes place eight years after the pilot. There is a bit of evidence to support this, but also a bit of really important evidence to deny it as well. Yes, Granny does say that the family has grown since the last, and it has since the reunion in Elements of Harmony but there is also the key fact that Applebloom had yet to earn her cutie mark. You can not tell me that pony adolescence happens that slowly, or that ponies don't age very fast. Until I see hard evidence to support the theory, I maintain that the reunion in the pilot was a smaller one that happened because of the Summer Sun Celebration and was NOT the full-blown reunion that we see in this one. Discussion about it will be allowed and encouraged in the comments though. ;P
So, in general, I liked this episode. While it was a little simple and the moral was easy to spot for us older viewers, it still had charm and humour with the best of them. It was also great timing on the Hubs part to air this during the holiday season to remind us of the importance of family. After all, you never know what can happen tomorrow and what, or who you might lose. I think that might be the deeper lesson to the show here: enjoy your family while you still have them. Of course, I might be reading too deep into it. That is up to you to decide.
Now then, on to the rating. If you pointed Zippo Spike at me and threatened to roast me into an apple fritter, I would rate this episode 70/100.
Next week, we have Spike at your Service. If you've watched TV in the past ten years you will know what this is all about right away. However, I look forward to seeing how they do it. Will it be the same, or will they mix it up somehow? That is a question that will be solved next week. Until next time, this is Ciroton saying, "Have a safe and happy New Year."
Here's to 2013, everypony! Yeehaw!
yay!
you evil son of bitch!
(i don't actually mind at all
)
Alright. Now to await some form of story.
I think the easiest explanation for the "100 moons" thing is that the Lunar cycle is simply much quicker for Equestria than it is for Earth. So maybe it means eight years or so on Earth, but in Equestria it could only mean one or two years.
Given that the moon is itself directed by the whims of an immortal God-Princess, this seems pretty viable.
I don't think I can quite convey to you how much I eagerly await Project Edophious. So I will attempt to do so with loud screeching and interpretive dance.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
*and nails the pirouette*
Sunset was the very first piece of pony literature I ever read and is still to this day one of my all time favorites. It would be no small exaggeration to say it was one of if not the final straw that convinced me to finally give in and join the herd. And I've never regretted it for a moment. The fact that I always eagerly await anything to do with it is such an immutable and obvious thing that it doesn't really even need stating. It's just one of the facts of life. The sky is blue, the grass is green, the sun rises, Twilight reads a lot and I love Sunset. I'll be watching this every step of the obviously.
And if you lied and put out a teaser for something that doesn't ever come, I will find your house, break into your room, stand over you bed in the middle of the night and cut myself, all the while scream, "Look at this! You did this! You made me do this!"
(Also, in regards to 'Fiddlesticks', I prefer the other name I heard: Viola Apple. Fits better with the whole Tavi recolor thing, and to be honest fiddlesticks is a pretty stupid name.)
~Signed, InfiniteBrony
Yeah, not my favorite episode this time around, but it was a classic and enjoyable to an extent. I personally liked the song, especially when AB and AJ sung together, even though was only for one line. Hopefully, can get a bigger song with two of them next time have an AJ-centric episode (or with AB), as someone in a stream I was on said something about that.
And yeah, I later noticed that Aunt and Uncle Orange were in the pic when I watched a video of the song from Youtube, despite seemingly not being in any of the matters; same goes for the Octavia lookalike, once I looked at her enough (not to mention the cutie mark).
I agree about the friendship letter where she actually wrote it (though she learned something from The Last Roundup, even though everypony wants to draw focus and call it a Derpy episode, but I don't, despite having liked Derpy as she was originally; also are forgetting Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, which was pretty much an AJ episode as well
), but you'd think a pony like AJ would've already known something like that, if she's been raised as an Apple practically her whole life and only has had her family up until the series' beginning, barring the short time she ran away to Manehatten as a filly. And I didn't think it was 8 years, just thought it was something like 3 months, as I've never seen the moon as anything but full before. Though thanks to your pic, I may have to re-evaluate that theory of mine. 
I really don't support why the Ponyville Apples wouldn't have parents who are still alive, but hopefully as you said, get some feedback on that someday in a future episode. But even if don't, there's always fics to do that, even if might be vastly different and not at all canon.
And I'm confused, is the barn also their home? And how'd they rebuild all the stuff that was lost if the original one collapsed that day? Assuming it's not the same barn that was just rebuilt in Too Many Pinkie Pies or even the same barn, that again also serves as their house. Since if you compare the last two pics, it looks pretty much like the same thing.
Though I'm not sure if the thing on the far left is actually the house. Forgive my rambling. 
And about the last paragraph, what does that mean exactly?
The concept of somebody saving somebody else's life and then feeling indebted to the saver's life, to go so far as to serve them or do whatever they ask? Just so I'm clear. But yeah, that should be a good one and serve as good fuel to the SpikeJack shippers out there.
Also, is Project Edophious something I've not seen about already? Haven't been by your DA page in a while, only one I saw that was related to the others was something about how Dash would possibly get invited into the Wonderbolts, even though not sure how that relates to the other Sunset universe stories (which I really need to read in entirety one of these days, I read most of Sunset to get an understanding, even though didn't fully with most of the chapters and read several For Want of a Dawn chapters, but others cause of length or time frame between chapters, whatever
). But as I recall, title was to be Living the Dream? Well, even if not what I thought of at first, looking forward I guess to seeing what new and fresh Hell you're gonna put Twilight through. But maybe not expecting you to tell me, as just reread you saying wouldn't give any hints as to the plot. 
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Forgot about those two. xD And I did not mean it was an occurrence that began these past ten years, but rather if you have watched TV in that timeframe you've seen the same premise done over at least a dozen times. =p
More Sunset series Twilight?
Sign me up!
On a side note, while I did find For Want of a Dawn long... it wasn't bad. In fact, the side stories helped flesh things out. I really liked seeing RD's plight get resolved.
If you are willing to write more, sign me up for the trip reading it!
Good show sir!
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(Sorry, had some problems tonight and was trying to wrap up things in notifications, before stuff vanished, but... didn't succeed, before had an Internet crash.)
I once read an ingenious explanation to the whole 100 moons thing (probably here on Fimfiction). I don't remember the original author, but he (or she) reminded that during Discord's few-hours rule, he changed day and night in a matter of minutes, thus easily gaining anywhere between 30 to 60 moons in a matter of that single day.
How's that for over-analysis?
So, unicorn cousins Apple Bloom's age...when did the Apples suddenly get unicorns integrated into the family? Sure, Twilight, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle might count as honorary members, but these are legit. I think I'll go to the pony wiki to do some research...
Cool review.
And new story? I didn't want to get to the other 100 fimfic stories on my "to read" list, anyway
Well, referencing side stories is fine, just don't base any main plot points on something outside the story. References and such that fill out the story outside the main plot are great.
So the Sunset/For a Want to Dawn Saga will continue? That is something I truly did not expected but....thank you. I loved Sunset and For a Want to Dawn so much. And to see it continue makes me happy.
You said that "old" characters might return. I really hope the Golem Ironhead returns in some way, shape or physical form.(I really liked him that much. If he returns I hope Twilight orders him to call her mom or mommy instead of master.)
What kind of suffering will Twilight have in this new story? Does Twilight confess about her Golem origins? Will the Twilight from the "Alternate" reality make an appearance? Will the citizens of Equestria persecute her because she's a Golem or the cloned daughter of Celestia?
I don't think my body will be able to handle that much awesome. I hope it's darker, more violent, more tragic with a hint of happiness at the end.