Season 3 Episode Reviews: Magical Mystery Cure · 7:06pm Feb 16th, 2013
Blogger: http://blogofpony.blogspot.com/2013/02/episode-reviews-magical-mystery-cure.html
Alright...I've got my bunker nice and secured, flame turrets are operating at maximum capacity, and I have enough canned spam and machine gun ammo to make a crazed Southern survivalist envious. When Alicorn Twilight hits and the world ends, I'll be able to ride out the apocalypse before single-handedly repopulating the human race. Not sure quite how that works but...
Either way, let's review “Magical Mystery Cure.”
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TECHNICAL SPECS:
Season: 3
Episode: 13
Written By: M. A. Larson
First Aired: 2/16/2013
SUMMARY:
Twilight Sparkle awakens on a fine, glorious day, which she celebrates with a song about how perfectly pleasant Ponyville is. Unfortunately, things go to crap soon after when a passing raincloud dumps water on her. Enraged, she calls for Rainbow Dash to fly down and face her punishment...but then discovers that Rarity is the one controlling the weather now. And she's doing a terrible job at it, too. The same pattern repeats with all the others. Rainbow Dash is failing to take care of animals, Fluttershy can't throw a party, Pinkie Pie is going insane on the farm, and Applejack simply can't make dresses. Even worse, they all have their Cutie Marks swapped with the pony who originally had that profession, and are blindly obeying them because Cutie Marks are Pony Law.
Horrified, Twilight and Spike return to the library, where the truth is revealed. A night before, Princess Celestia sent Twilight a package containing Starswirl the Bearded's last unfinished spell. Twilight tried casting it to see what it did, but when nothing immediately happened, she just let it go. What the spell actually did was rewrite reality so that the other Bearers all had different Cutie Marks. (Even their individual Elements have changed to match.) Even worse, all the previous cure-alls won't work in this instance. Twilight goes upstairs to mope for a while, but one pep talk is all it takes for her to resolve to fix things.
Gathering the Elements, she tracks down Fluttershy, who was just about to return to Cloudsdale in disgrace, and convinces her to go help Rainbow Dash, who's about to be cooked by angry native critters. When Fluttershy succeeds despite not remembering being able to do this, it restores her true memories, and applying the Element does the rest. They repeat the process with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and finally Pinkie Pie, thus restoring harmony to Ponyville and saving their friendship. And all to song, too.
This gives Twilight the inspiration she needs to finish Starswirl's spell, and everypony races back to the library to wrap things up. The moment Twilight finishes writing the rest of the incantation, however, the Elements suddenly go haywire, blasting Twilight and vaporizing her. Twilight, however, finds herself on another plane of consciousness, where Celestia herself shows flashbacks of her life and how much she's grown. But now it's time for her to complete her destiny...
A massive representation of Twilight's Cutie Mark appears in the sky, followed by her suddenly reappearing in front of her friends...as an Alicorn. Celestia sets down to explain that Twilight has learned so much from her friends in Ponyville, and that she's acquired all the skills and traits necessary to make a fine Princess. Twilight is afraid that this means she won't be her student anymore, but Celestia reassures her that she'll be there to guide her, but she's now less a student and closer to an equal.
Later, in Canterlot, Twilight's coronation goes off without a hitch, with her giving a speech about how awesome her friends are and how much she loves them. Shining Armor lets out some liquid pride, Twilight rides in a carriage, and then she flies off, telling the viewers that everything's going to be fine.
Oh, and Derpy's there too.
REVIEW:
Alright, the hatches have been sealed, security cameras are up and running, and we are ready to go...
To say this episode had a lot going against it would be a tremendous understatement. The fandom was quite ready to tear itself apart at the seams over the issue of Alicorn Twilight, and the fact that the rest of the episode made absolutely no mention of her becoming one did not help matters. Throw in all the other drama going on around the same time, the ill feelings about Season 3 being thirteen episodes, and the Toy Fair promo of the hideously overpriced doll, and you have a mess that not even a perfect episode would solve. And no, this is not a perfect one, either. But we'll get to that in a minute.
The episode opens by establishing just what kind of episode this actually is: a musical. Yes, this is FiM's all-singing, all-dancing episode, so if you don't like the songs in the show at all, this really isn't the one for you. The first tune isn't a fantastic one, but it does a great job of setting up the happy, peaceful setting before things go to Tartarus in a hoofbasket. And Twilight is best Spanish dancer, even when it's on top of something ponies eat off of. (The waiter does it too, though. Makes you wonder how many stars that place gets...) This all ends when Twilight gets rained on, a fairly stock prank courtesy of Rainbow Dash...only it isn't her this time, but Rarity who's failing at controlling the weather. (Apparently Unicorns can do that now, too. Suck it, lesser races! Bow before your true magical masters!)
Oh, and she has Rainbow Dash's Cutie Mark.
This brings us to the next song, a musical montage of the ponies doing things they aren't skilled at simply because it's what their Cutie Mark says. And while the song here is pretty good on its own merits, what sells this are the visuals. The way these ponies are utterly broken by doing things they are not skilled in and have no real investment in doing simply because their magical butt tattoos have gone Serpentor on them is both sad and funny. Rainbow Dash is unable to control that many critters at the same time. Fluttershy doesn't have the show presence necessary to give a command performance. Applejack's dress designs are gussied-up burlap sacks, and she can't figure out how to make them work. And Rarity's obsession with patterns and design have made a mess of Ponyville's weather systems, including frostbite over sunburns. Man, that has to hurt like hell.
One thing about Pinkie, though. She has her mane and tail flattened out like she did in “Party of One,” and a lot of fans said this is proof that she's gone Pinkamena. Only she hasn't. Keep in mind that the spell rewrote reality so that they all have different Cutie Marks, meaning that Pinkie never found her true calling and left farming behind. Anyone remember why she's called Pinkamena in the first place? Her mane and tail were like that before the Sonic Rainboom, thus explaining why a pony who still has no idea what joy is will continue to remain that way.
This brings us back to the cause of this disaster. Remember that book from “The Crystal Empire?” Turns out it was Starswirl the Bearded's journal, and within it is his last, unfinished spell. Twilight being Twilight, she immediately decides to blindly cast the spell a certified genius and one of the forefathers of Unicorn magic in general was unable to perfect. And then she shows that uncanny pony ability of being incapable of turning around, and thus misses the fact that her spell changed the Elements of Harmony. Way to go, Twilight. You cocked this one up good. Spike even launches into continuity mode, setting up why the tactics from “Return of Harmony” and “Bridle Gossip” won't work in this instance. Twilight has literally rewritten reality so that the ponies have different Cutie Marks than before, are forced to do different things, and thus have no memories of their former lives outside of being friends.
This brings us to the next song, and it's a very good downer tune. The entire montage goes gray as we witness Ponyville falling apart because of this blunder. Watching Sweet Apple Acres fall into disrepair and the dress shop close up is just downright depressing, even if the timing doesn't quite make sense. And the singing and music is simply fantastic. Unfortunately, this is kind of undermined by Twilight getting right back up after a very short pep talk from Spike.
This brings us into the fourth song this episode. This one was actually leaked almost a week ago, and while I didn't listen to it, I did read the comments, and they all came back to two things: the lyrics were awful and it sounded like Dora the Explorer. So now that the episode's aired, allow me to counter with this: I think this song is great and just needed the visuals to tie it together. In fact, that's kind of true of most of the music on the show; even “Smile, Smile, Smile” was universally panned when it was leaked, but became almost everyone's favorite when it actually aired. You need both the audio and visual components for these tunes to work, and they really deliver here.
The song starts with Twilight finding Fluttershy, who's basically ready to cash it all in and go back to Cloudsdale. Ah yes, failure, something I am intimately familiar with. Still, the spell hasn't erased the fact that the ponies know each other and are friends, so despite having never worked with animals in this reality, she still goes with Twilight to help. And that's good, because Rainbow Dash has screwed things up badly and is about to be cooked into a big tasty stew. Fluttershy has a few moments of hesitation, but once she starts getting into her groove, everything comes flying back to her. And then the Element comes on, restoring her memories and bringing back her Cutie Mark.
Cue the montage.
We see each of the ponies start to remember who they are as soon as they're back in their elements and wearing their Elements. This sequence is both funny and heartwarming, from Rarity complaining about being in a nightmare after seeing how AJ's messed up her place to Pinkie regaining her poofiness and cheering up the entire town. And at the end, we have everything coalesce into a fantastic chorus, with all of Ponyville cheering on the return of these dear ponies.
But then we get to the other part of the episode, that thing it...kind of has to do...
Twilight remembers the book that caused this whole mess and returns to the library, finishing the spell with some notes about friendship and love and all that. Unfortunately, she fails to notice everything slow down as the quill strikes down the last period, signaling her impending doom. For the Elements suddenly come alive again and blast Twilight with all of their power. The mare can only stand there and accept her end as she is utterly atomized, leaving only her friends and a scorch mark behind to indicate she was ever there.
YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW HER UP! AH, DAMN YOU! GODDAMN YOU ALL TO TARTARUS!
So...Twilight ends up in some higher field of consciousness or something; it's kind of hard to tell if she was just teleported there, or was actually killed by the Elements and her soul has ascended to this place. No matter what, though, Celestia is able to access this place, and we finally get the moment that made me squee with joy: CELESTIA GETS A SONG! And it's a pretty good one, too, going over Twilight's life up to this point and how proud she is of her accomplishments. This really buys into the theory that Celestia was grooming Twilight for this since the beginning, and in that respect, there are some hints from earlier episodes of this happening. From Twilight learning to delegate responsibilities to others, to looking outside the box to defeat Trixie, to entertaining the delegates from Saddle Arabia, this season has shown Twilight being given bigger and more responsible roles to play.
But alas, it's time for Twilight to finally ascend, and after a dazzling light show and return to the moral plane, she reappears before her friends...as an Alicorn. Yep, it finally happened. Alicorn Twilight has been made canon. Oh, and so has Alicorn, confirming that the Alicorn Amulet was not talking about the substance horns are made of. Eh, works better than winged unicorn in any case.
Alas, this is where things are going to be a bit rough to describe. Twilight basically voices our own insecurities on the prospect of her ascension, including losing her role as Celestia's student. What Celestia says, however, seems to imply that she'll still be there to guide her, but she's now surpassed being a mere student and is now almost equal to her master. In that way, it's actually kind of a touching moment, and gives some credence to the idea that this was intended to be a series finale in case the show didn't get renewed. (Which, given the way children's animated television works, was a real possibility. They've already confirmed that Transformers Prime is ending once it hits its syndication numbers, and that's one of their biggest shows, so...)
The actual coronation is pretty syrupy, but it also helps assuage one of my other fears about the Alicorn process; namely, Twilight no longer being Twilight. She's still her adorkable self, unsure of what to do, and still very much in love with her friends. Alas, we must kill the good mood by ending with a rather frustrating reprise of the opening song. Twilight jumping off the carriage to walk with her friends was nice, but then...she flies. And breaks the fourth wall to tell us that everything's going to be fine. And then we get the “Friend, Friend, Friend” song over the credits.
There are a few other things to note about these last couple scenes, though. We see Twilight's parents again, and Shining Armor lets his liquid pride leak out of his eyes. That is what I'm going to call all manly tears now. Luna wearing pink is horrifically wrong, and makes me wish they had kept the deleted Rarity scene from “Luna Eclipsed” just for the callback. Still, seeing the two smiling and loving each other was a nice touch. And even better, right as Twilight's walking with her friends, mere moments before the end of the episode, Derpy appears in plain view just at the right of the screen. After a whole season's absence, the muffin queen has returned. Here's hoping it marks a full return to the “Where's Derpy?” game next season.
CONCLUSION:
...This was going to be the series finale, wasn't it? I was just supposing before, but this...this feels like a final episode, even more than “Return of Harmony” did. Celestia's summation of what Twilight's learned from her friends, her ascension to princesshood, all of it just smacks of “This might be our last season, so let's wrap things up as best we can.”
I really, really enjoyed this episode. It's definitely in the top three this season for me. The musical setup provides a good way to rush through the two storylines while still fitting in all the important pieces, and while things are a bit too fast at points, the emotion and feeling of those moments are perfectly encapsulated by the music and lyrics of the songs themselves. If there was a rather specific weakness, it was that the two plots really don't fit together. Twilight finishes Starswirl's book, and bam, she's an Alicorn. I know it's become old hat by this point, but this needed a second part. They could have killed “Spike at Your Service” and provided us with a truly epic and fantastic finale.
As it stands, however, this was still a great episode. And according to Meghan's twitter, the Season 4 opener is going to continue from this point, setting up whatever they have planned for the fourth season of Miniature Equines of My Persuasion. So while I wouldn't call this a total success, it was still far from the apocalypse a lot of fans were expecting, and I'm eager to see how this develops from here.
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There will be a follow-up post to this, discussing the idea of destiny as it's presented in this episode and giving my own thoughts on it, but for now, I hope you enjoyed the review. Whether you agree or not, feel free to post below. Now in the meantime, I have to go hunt down the radioactive mutants that no doubt litter the land now.
*slow clap*
Excellent review.
BRING ON SEASON 4!!!!! I cant wait, I wnt to see it, but first...download time!
Season 4? yes. i was worried this was going to end.
I agree. I don't understand why people in the chat were giving it 0/10
There was no way they didn't do anything right. It was rushed, but hey, most of the episodes are. It's something that we should know to just accept as fact by now. It's a sucky fact, but there it is.
*braces for hate*
Welp. That's your opinion.
Normally I tend to agree with you, but this time...
Hope is restored. I feel so good after the episode. Season 4, come on down. (have to wait 7 months) CURSE YOU, HUB!
I really agree on the "Luna wearing pink is wrong" point. It really feels off
Technically, it's the weirdos in Montana and Idaho that bunker down like that.
I have to agree with you on pretty much every point, here. You nailed it on the head and voiced my concerns and thoughts pretty well.
Now remember, radioactive zombies are NOT like virus or supernatural zombies: shooting them in the head won't fully kill them, you have to do at least 85% total destruction to the torso, as well, before the things stop trying to take you down with them.
The episode was far too rushed and the "finality" of it ruined the mood for me.
We learned nothing about Celestia, Luna, or Cadance, so I get to be happy (until Season 4, anyway...). Indeed, Celestia even implied that, while she expected Twilight to be able to become an alicorn, it hasn't ever happened before - which implies that Cadance is a natural alicorn, as are Celestia and Luna.
So that works for me magnificently.
All in all, I think they stuck the landing. It was a little shaky, maybe, but they didn't fall on their face.
And Derpy's back! Four times, even!
All in all, I award this episode 6/6.
You know...I honestly feel we should have all seen this thing coming. I mean, almost every trailer on the hub prior to the Alicorn Twilight reveal keep banging on and on about Twilight "realizing her destiny". Sure, it may not have been the final destiny you all wanted, but, given how many Alicorn fics there are out there, I don't understand why this was seen as a BAD THING.
Oh well. Enjoyable review nonetheless
Oh, look at you, mister InsertRarityHere. I didn't know you had it in you to be a fashion critic.
I'm just happy it was something she "earned" and not just something that Celestia handed out. Still not sure about the whole princess thing, though, gonna wait till S4 to see how they handle that.
Great review I feel the same about a lot of things. The musical format really helped get everything through in a timely manner.
'Liquid Pride' is a FANTASTIC way to talk about manly tears
Still for the whole destiny thing, the way I see it the ponies were convinced they had always have those cutie marks, always were happy doing these jobs and were always successful at it. They just couldn't comprehend why nothing work, or why they didn't feel like they normally did. Their memories were telling them something different to what they currently felt, so they just kept at it, hoping things would work out. They weren't blindly obeying their cutie marks, but rather their memory of what it was and meant. Heck, Rarity's cutie mark doesn't even have anything to do directly with dress making, her cutie mark means basically 'making beauty shine through', but Applejack's memory told her that it was dress making!
Kinda wish Discord have been the band at the coronation. Just a bunch of Discord playing musical instruments XD
834059
Hey, no prob. I can definitely see how someone can dislike this one. I just happened to like it, that's all.
The way I see it, its akin to how Super Sailor moon worked Twilight only achieved this power up with all of them working with her (and once again Twilight is the spark that gets everypony together and is an unifing force that can change them) I also am startying to think that maybe princess has a lot less to do with royalty and is a title to be bestowed upon Ponies who show themselves to be excellent character (Blueblood is a duke in actuallity but was changed so lets wwork that its Duke blueblood for the rest) and are exceptional in abilty. Maybe you can be born as an Alicorn like the sisters and Cadence, but it is something very rare or works akin to Highlander.
Best episode of the season IMO. My only complaints would be how rushed it was (though you're right, the song montages helped that a lot) and that Twilight instantly knew how to fly at the end. For the time being I'm going to assume that Shining Armor used his Alicorn throwing skills and Twilight crashed offscreen during the credits.
Does the Derpy sighting mean we can stop pretending that reddit post from a while back was accurate?
I enjoyed the episode, and not just because Celestia got to sing *squee*... I'm with 834030, bring on the next season
We always knew Twilight was different from other ponies, we always knew she served a greater purpose, and I think deep down we always knew something like this would happen.
It was Les Miserable. The music was good, the scenes were good, the overall story was patchy and didnt work. When it comes to 2-3 minute bursts, this episode was great and fun. But as an overall episode it wasnt good at all.
The destiny approach was confusing and not really explained. Since when did cutie marks determine their jobs? Derpy has bubbles, Cheerilee has flowers, and most of ponydom has horseshoe cutie marks, when did that determine what they did with their lives? Why did Twilight immediately give up instead of trying to fix it? Its not like her to get depressed right off-the-bat. On that note why would she just non chelantly cast the spell and then just leave it at that? This is our laboratory-in-the-basement-need-a-checklist-just-to-make-a-checklist Twilight, thats not how she would have done it. Lets accept that spells can be read as canon, maybe thats what they have been doing in their heads all along, but just coming up with a poem at the end completes what is essentially a centuries old math problem? And why isnt she freaked out when she starts getting blasted by the elements when she casts the spell she admittedly doesnt understand?
The ending did feel like a series finale rather than just a season finale, and would have been an amazing series finale if it was done as a whole episode. The songs are what made this episode worth anything, and Danial Ingram has made up for his lack of songs in season 3 by saving his best for last. If we ignore the great songs though this episode really just falls apart and shows that some type of exec had their hands in it because no self respecting writer would cram this much info in a single episode. The way they spent 1/4 of the episode on her coronation just shows that they wanted to push the twilight toy. To compare, they spent the same amount of time for the wedding itself in season 2 finale and that was two episodes long. If they wanted to do this right, they either needed more time or needed to focus on one story line and tell it completely.
I was hoping for a reason to like alicorn Twilight and desperately wanted to be excited for season 4, but they just didnt give me a reason to. It wont kill the show for me but I'm really just not that interested in what being a princess is like and will just have to wade through it to find the better character developing episodes next season.
edit: should add that i found it weird that the color changes on the elements didnt match with the ponies themselves. Kinda odd they didnt do that. Also, new stories will abound on how twilight was incinerated in blast and everything after that was her interpretation of heaven.
834115
either that or the animators are going behind the backs of their supervisors out of spite.
images.4chan.org/mlp/src/1361038912884.png
overall, the episode was a cliffhanger. Id didn't do anything for me because there was not much to be effected with.
The begining was just a means to an end with the spellbok, and by the way, i though Rainbow Dash's talent was winning while Rarity's was finding gemstones, not weather patroling and dressmaking!
Overall, it had little conflict, and is just setting up for season 4.
anyway, I can see the fandom's reactions because of this episode,
First off, "Twilight's advanced lessons with Princess Celestia"... which involve massive amounts of rape and sodomy.
second off, The luna fandon: Lunar GArds Ar IS be Bestest Guards Cuz they No Puzzi Singalongs at Coronation Thingy.
third off: Luna Fics are going to have Twilight getting her ass handed to her by Luna for the beforementioned fans to have their jimmies unrustled.
Fourth off: there is going to be a ton of Trollestia fics and Twilight is going to dethrone her.
So: wrap them all together, and you get the summary for the next shitty story to find its way to the featured box!
"Upon Her coronation, Twilight goes Luke Skywalker with Jedi master Luna and trians in the art of dark magic. with the new trainings, Twilight dethrones her former mentor and retakes the sun, abiding to Princess Luna's switiching of day times with night times. Now denounced to a slave, twilight, the captain of the lunar Guard, and Celestia have S and M sex while singing the Golden Rule."
Your best review ever sir! I loved this episode and I cannot wait till season 4!
My heart goes out to all the fantastic people who go into making this wonderful show.
My opinion: It was decent, not the best of the season. But still good. Best part though? IT DOESN'T HURT ANYTHING I HAD PLANNED FOR A STORY IN THE LEAST! It helps it greatly actually. (To which I am rather pleased). So, yeah...I probably said this before. I'm not disappointed, nor am I impressed, but then again, I'm not an easy one to impress.
834153
Completely agree. The songs helped alleviate some of the rushed feeling, but the parts that were not song and dance felt awkward and out of place.
Starswirl's spell: was it supposed to turn ponies into alicorns? Or was it the fact that Twilight completed it the thing that caused her to change? If writing new magic means becoming an alicorn, then why is Starswirl not an alicorn?
Just like in Keep Calm and Flutter On, the problem was solved too easily. The big solution happened too fast. Quick pep talk from Spike and Twilight spontaneously knows how to reverse the spell? Not to mention a spell written by a master wizard who could not even complete it in the first place.
Not bad enough to hate it, not good enough to love it. Series 3 ended with neither a bang nor a whimper. More like the sound of a balloon sputtering across a room. Could rant more, but I would just be repeating what everyone is saying.
At least Series 4 will clear stuff up. It is going to be a long wait.
This episode takes on a drastic different meaning if there wasn't knowledge of a forth season, and the drama of the last couple weeks would have been nothing compared to what people would be thinking or saying.
I loved the episode and they basically took a no-win situation and lived to fight another day.
It seems to me to be an okay episode. It definitely felt rushed, much like Keep Calm and Flutter On; I suspect corporate issues at Hasbro limiting the number of episodes produced per season and forcing the team to compress two-parters into a single episode. I wonder what other episodes were planned for this season that didn't make the cut? Most of the episode's weaknesses come from it being too short.
Celestia was pretty clear that a new journey awaits Twilight Sparkle and her friends and I think we're going to be going on that journey in the next season. I also felt that the other Mane Cast members' involvement in the coronation festivities was reassuring about Twilight's future role with them too.
I conclude with the wise words of the Princess of Friendship that should counsel us to patience and optimism as we await what the future holds: "Yes, everything will be fine!"
Hasbro got a royal flush heart.
I liked it, willing to give it 7/10 stars, but the fashion designer needs to be shot, flipped over, and shot again. And then run over with a bus. I can see Celestia having a cardboard box in the back of the closet labeled "Fugley Crowns: Remove only in case of emergency", but either she's pulling the practical joke of all time by having Luna and Cadence wear those outfits, or there's been some special ingredients added to her Cloud Cakes lately. I guess that's what you get when you let Discord out of his cage, he decided to become a designer.
Oh, and give Applejack back her normal hat. You were probably holding it hostage to get her to wear that embarrassing outfit, but she did, and now you need to live up to your end of the bargain.
834474
considering toylines, episode numbers, when seasons begin, I imagine it wasn't limited funding but a desire to have a toy that the show reflected out at a certain time.
This. So fucking much this that I fistpumped when I read it.
I mostly agree with you. The part we might have different opinions is the pacing, and how Twilight is portrayed. Even though how rushed, the whole coronation seems to come in seconds after she's revealed. And also there are sooooo many questions that I have no idea even where to begin with, including the spell, the CM's changing, and what will happen to Twily now that she's a Princess in Canterlot? And to her relationship with her friends? Will it get smashed like her own with Celestia when she moved away, only meeting her on occasion and just sending them letters? Urgh.
I feel that the episode was rushed worse than Keep Calm and Flutter On. How long did it take Twilight to discover the solution to the episode's conflict? 30s? Less? It took longer to actually fix the problem (mostly to fit the song, and I did enjoy all of the songs in this episode), but discovering the solution took almost no time at all. The cutie mark problem almost didn't feel like a problem at all.
Like KCaFO, this ought to have been two episodes. I don't care that they're saying this was part 1 of 3 to be continued in season 4, this should have been longer. I also wish we didn't have Twilight flying fancy loops just before the credits, so that we can legitimately have a s4 episode devoted to Rainbow teaching Twilight how to fly.
I'm pleased with the actual alicornification scene, though. That's a word, I promise.
834405
Actually, given that it takes a moment for the Elements to go off, and that she's the one who sent the book to Twilight in the first place, I'm willing to bet Celestia was behind the whole thing all along. She knew that Twilight adored Starswirl the Bearded and couldn't resist blindly casting an incomplete, imperfect spell despite not knowing anything about it other than the author. Completing the spell wasn't what turned her into an Alicorn; it was just a sign that she had passed the test, both by showing her knowledge of her friends and her own magical prowess.
At least that's my theory, but it matches with Celestia's typical M.O. The whole series she's been manipulating ponies, moving them from one spot on the board to the next. She arranges for a travelling pilgrim family to set up a town right next to the same forest that houses the Elements. She seemingly picks out Twilight in a crowd and takes her in as her student. She "conveniently" vanishes during Nightmare Moon's return after sending her student there to make friends. She brings the girls to the Gala specifically to liven things up (and isn't mad that they destroyed the place). And during "The Crystal Empire" she set up an entire test revolving around Twilight showing leadership skills and delegating duties to others rather than taking all the glory for herself.
Actually what I think this episode really needed was NOT an extra 22 minutes, but an extra 264, or rather that is to say we needed the whole 13 episode season to have a stronger narrative focus. That's not to say it should have been like some overblown anime where each episode leads directly into the next in one drawn-out story that starts getting stale before it finishes. Rather that is I think we needed something a bit more like S1, with Twilight as the central focal character again. That's not to say the other characters should have been abandoned, but more of the episodes needed a place for Twilight to play an important role and so lend weight to the idea that she was building to something big. That's something they could have done while still basically keeping the episodes airable in basically any order.
Crystal Empire seemed to be trying to set that up, with Magic Dual and Games Ponies Play each arguable expanding on it, and even Spike at your Service could be said to relate to it (if only in the piles of homework Celestia gave Twilight). Still other than that the season was just a fairly standard hodgepodge of unrelated hijinks, and Twilight really didn't get much opportunity to show how much she's grown before we are told she's getting her big reward.
I don't hate this episode by any measure; I certainly don't hate what it did, and I'm eager to see where the crew takes things from here. This is however in no way one of my favorite episodes, and that's a shame. Something this BIG, this momentous should by default the be pretty much the BEST EPISODE EVER, or at least top tier, but other than a few catchy ear worms I find myself completely underwhelmed by the actual execution.
I couldn't stand the season 2 finale and this sound like an episode I'll hate so I'm gonna just ignore it and be neutral.(i still won't stop complaining about S2 ending)
That part in your review in which Celestia tells Twilight about her destiny sounds like an idea i had for a scene for a humanized pony fic i had.(It'll never get made because I suck at writing) the Twilight(who's born with wings and horns and bullied for it) feels like shes failed in getting the final element of harmony falls unconscious and wakes up in a strange land. here she meets her real mother (Celestia) who tells her that she's proud of how Twilight's grown, Twilight tells her she failed in finding the last elements but Celestia tells her it's more than just an item, it's a symbol of magic,life and friendship. when a monster comes to fight, Twilight realizes how lonely she was and how her friends helped her on the journey, and receives the Element of Magic.
The difference between what your review said and my idea is that the show was about destiny while mine was about self-realization.
imageshack.us/a/img194/4260/youruinedit.png
You manaics! You blew it up!
Loved that Slice of Life reference there.
Liquid pride. Sure, Shining Armor, sure.
Also, I can't wait for Season 4 now. Hasbro better not cancel it.
834632
The problem with that theory can be best demonstrated with the constant screams over no Rarity episode. Literally every other comment on EqD is a new person freaking out that Rarity isn't dominating this season like she did in the first two, with those mean old writers daring to write episodes about characters who haven't had tons of episodes devoted to their existence.
A stronger narrative focus might have helped this episode, but it would have also hurt a lot of what I really enjoyed about the season as well. "Too Many Pinkie Pies" and "Wonderbolt Academy" would simply not have worked anymore, "Sleepless in Ponyville" would have been totally lost, and Twilight would have been accused even more of taking over the show and ruining it for all the other, better ponies. Hell, the idea of a Twilight-centric season was a huge problem for a large portion of the fanbase when Season 3 was announced, especially for the fans who came in during Season 2 where she barely mattered anymore outside of the first three and last two episodes.
So...wonderful. Even you dislike this one. Well, back into the bunker where I belong. Clearly I do not deserve to be up in the daylight with the normals.
It was the first time I ever cried at an episode... which is something.
Well... it was okay. It wasnt horrible, by any stretch of reality and I enjoyed it. Still it is likely to cause some pretty serious issues, what, with Twilight losing what made her a good character and kind of being superior to anypony else. I still fail to undestand the reasosing behind the apocalypse this episode wa supposed to be. Also, Rainbow Dash Princess in the next season finale or bust.
Oh, yes, I almost forgot:
Pun?
Or typo? 
You decide! 
834761
...Okay, I have to ask: what did Twilight lose that makes her a bad character? This part of the whole debacle has always confused me. She's still the same character, just not a strict student any longer. As for her being superior to everyone else, I really don't see that, either. This was really her focus episode, so it's obvious they're going to play her up as much as they can.
But it all depends on what they do next season.
834795
Well, I didn`t really mean it like that. I would search for that quote I meant that was in your "Reasons Twilicorn might be bad" blog post, but I am far too lazy to do that. I dont really think it will COMPLETELY RUIN THE WHOLE CHARACTER OH GOD!, or at least I would like to believe it isnt going to happen. Whereas Twilight becoming more of an equal there a student is of no concern(or even going overboard, I am quite interested in that) to me, her somewhat sudden status upgrade still comes as a bit of a shock. If by any chance my explanation doesnt make sense, feel free to blame that on me.
834726
oh relax, everythign is going to be fine. YOu don't need to go into hiding, just walk around with a shovel, if anyone get in your shit, just go all quiet on the Western front and bust their collar bone.
To me, this episode was just trying to prepare the hsip from Twilight to alicorn Twilight, I sat at my bed, (first time I actually watched a whole episode live on TV BTW) and expected a part two to roll around, but was very dissapointed.
But, even though it ended in a pretty Sopprano's fashion, it DID at least finish its last thought rather than just ending.
Hey! with Twilight in Canterlot now, we will probably get the Celestia themed episode that you'vebeen waiting for.
(and unfortunately, since this is a little girl's show, we wont get the "Luna get's her ass whooped" episode to wipe those shit struck faces of the mega fanboys. )
834838
Hmm, I can understand that opinion. Either way, it all depends on what they do with the new situation. Either way, I am going to be here to find out, assuming the show doesn't suddenly get cancelled or ninjas break into my house and garrote me while I sleep.
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At least that makes sense in a round about way, Rarity's talent is making beautiful things and AJ was trying to make beautiful cloths. If she just thought herself a mere Tailor, she'd have probably been making much more practical outfits with no concern what soever given to how they looked.
Even more importantly though would be that Rainbow Dash's cutie mark has nothing to do with weather management, and instead represents her need for speed, thrills, excitement, and just the overall rush of adrenaline. Still, I sort of like your idea that what got switched was their memories or some such, but I'm not sure even that bares out under any kind of analysis, which is by and large why I'm not sure I want to analyze this episode. It accomplished what it set out to do, it made Twilight a princess, but too ask more of this episode then that -- at least as it was written -- might just might just be asking too much.
Finally, someone gets the point that this episode was supposed to be a musical!
And yes, this does feel like the last episode to the whole series.
If that turned out to be the case, this would've been a near-perfect spot to end the show.
The emotion is incredible, the songs (a small army of them) are memorable, and there were even some funny moments.
Well, that wraps up season 3. Gotta admit, this season is a lot more solid than the last one.
The only noticable weak spot for me was Spike at Your Service (yes, I enjoyed the premiere episodes, sue me).
Sleepless in Ponyville was definitely me favorite episode, and it's sad to know that Corey isn't on the team anymore.
But at least she wrote two awesome episodes to make up for it.
Now we must play the waiting game...
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Actually, the whole Cutie Mark-swap thing reminded me of that TNG episode where Doctor Crusher gets stuck in some kind of sub-reality warp bubble or something like that. People start vanishing from existence, and she's the only one who can remember then being there. Pretty soon, there's only her and Picard left, and when she asks how they've managed to operate an entire starship with only two people, he simply says that they've never needed any other crew members before. And when he vanishes and Crusher asks the computer to explain how one person can operate the entire ship, it can't think of a logical reason and refuses to respond.
The spell swapped their Cutie Marks and rewrote their memories so that, at some point in the past, this all made sense. The fact that reality doesn't match their memories is a side-effect of the spell.
I just realized something. Would people still make fanfics and art with Twilight as a unicorn or would people just use her new alicorn form.?
I mean think of the fanbase! Oh would someone please think of the fanbase!!!
834887
I would say what got switched were their instincts, because each is such a natural at their jobs that it's pretty instinctive to them. And while Dash's mark is about speed, if you look at what Rarity is doing with the weather, she seems to be moving it really, really fast.
834588
That theory actually makes quite a bit of sense.
Unfortunately, it begs the question: why Twilight? Furthermore, why does Equestria need another Princess?
On the whole, Twilight becoming an alicorn needed more reason other than selling toys. It just needed a more thorough introduction, rather than happening suddenly.
I am going to have to attribute the reaction to this episode to Series 3 only having 13 episodes. Like you mentioned earlier, threading an overarching plot throughout the entire series would have left several episodes irrelevant. What should have been done is that Series 3 should have been a full one, with more episodes leading up to the finale.
Series 4 will have plenty of questions to answer.