Episode Review: Bats! · 2:25am Dec 31st, 2013
Episode review: Bats!
We begin at everypony’s favorite apple orchard where it’s AJ’s own Christmas, Applebuck Day!
But something is not right, all the apples are rotten and AJ knows why quoting the famous Poltergeist saying “they’re back!”
The rest of the gang arrive and Applejack tells them that her orchard has been taken over by fruit bats! Remember them from Apple family reunion?
Well apparently these guys have a little twist, they’re not just fruit bats they’re vampire fruit bats! They don’t eat fruit though they suck all the juice out of it leaving rotten fruit. Applejack recalls a story Granny Smith (who by the way is in Appleloosa checking out the competition with Big Mac and Applebloom) told her of the last time the Vampire fruit bats invaded in which apples had to be rationed and there wasn’t a drop of cider! (At this point we’re remind of RD’s little problem with the stuff when she panics at the thought of no cider) We get a new song entitled “Bats” where Fluttershy remarks that the bats aren’t so bad…
She believes she can reason with the bats and points out that while they do suck the juice from fruit they also spread seeds across Equestria giving birth to new trees (un-mentioned is how a bats guano contributes to that). But everypony else on the other hand remarks them as vermin and monsters…
Fluttershy suggests giving the bats part of the apple orchard but no one really listens. Twilight devises a plan in which she will cast a spell that will take away the vampire fruits bats desire to be vampire fruit bats but for the spell to work she’ll need the bats undivided attention and convince a reluctant Fluttershy to use the stare on them. The plan seems to work, the bats refuse offered fruit. However the next day AJ tries to buck apples only to get…
Rotten apples! The gang investigates and finds that the bats still aren’t eating the fruit juice so what is? The ponies decide to have a stakeout to find out what’s rotting the apples; everypony has a single to send up if they find anything. However Fluttershy states they might want to call it off and states that she’s hungry…
The gang find several clues and some of them have encounters with a strange shadow, suddenly AJ’s signal goes up and the gang finds…
A giant bat?
Fluttershy?
No Flutterbat!
The gang tries to get Flutterbat down to quote Rarity “Fluttershy sweetness, please come down, and do stop being a vampire bat.” As Flutterbat takes flight Pinkie is worried that since vampire fruit bats eat fruit vampire ponies might eat other ponies! Twilight is the one to explain Fluttershy’s transformation…
When Twilight cast her spell the vampire fruit bats instincts didn’t just disappear it was transferred into Fluttershy! The ponies attempt to catch Flutterbat who seems to be getting more bat like by the minute! The ponies use AJ’s prized apple as bait for Flutterbat and using mirrors get Flutterbat to use the stare on herself allowing Twilight enough time to cast the reversal spell. Fluttershy has no memories of her time as Flutterbat and Pinkie is little help in clearing confusion.
In the end the ponies create a sanctuary for the vampire fruit bats, a small section of the orchard which seems unattended anyway. The ponies write a journal entry about what happened, short terms solutions coming up short, and not letting anypony even your friends pressure into doing something. The episode ends with everypony laughing with Pinkie who’s doing an impression of a vampire with false vampire teeth and an apple.
THE END!...
Or is it?
So what do I think of this episode? Well everypony seems pretty much to their characters thorough out the episode, the song was decent, the bats facts were cool, and Ponyville may have a new urban legend. However the episode seems mostly focused on Applejack and Fluttershy and while the rest of the gang provides support and comic relief they seems a little out of place. Overall I’d say -A.
