Season 5 Cutie Markless, My Thoughts

Alright people! For those not in the know, MLP season 5, episode 1 and 2 came out yesterday, starting off the newest set of episodes in the story that will surely spark great excitement in the community, I'm here to offer my thoughts on the issue and show my appreciation for the continued franchise!

Alright, so I suppose I should give the basic storyline, and just to start it off/SPOILERS-START/, at the start we are treated with the Mane 6 (plus one sleeping Spike) Inside Twilight's new castle toy line, trying to puzzle out exactly why it appeared in the first place, or more like Twilight tries to push the issue and everypony else doesn't see the point in plot progression.

Bring me another slice of LIFE!

Anyway, since the premiere of the story needed something with a whole lot more OOMPH! They managed to activate the secret map table that looks like a ripoff of the round table, that surprisingly had nothing to do with Spike tripping on something. And so their course is set when they find their Cutie Marks have become Pony Signals to spread friendship to far off parts of Equestria!

And so, they find themselves in the town of... uh, hold on...
Uh, doesn't seem to be a name... I'm going to call it the town of Double Dash and leave it there, not like it's much better than Ponyville...

And we can immediately see that something is WEIRD, and I mean weird weird as in there is something definately going on, as each and every one of them are near identical to one another, their Cutie Mark's are all the same and I can't help but feel a frightful comparison to Apple Bloom's adventure to the town of the Blanks was a fair thought. There they find the leader of the town Starlight Glimmer-

-who explains that this is a town where ponies are no more or no less than each other, working towards true friendship in which nopony will have to argue against one another, because you all are part of the same hivemind!

Soon after managing to pry knowledge out of the populace, they find that the Cutie Mark's of the whole town are stored in a vault to... remind themselves of their miserable life's of pain and despair?
...
More on that later, after trying to look into whats happening, they find out-

And have their OWN marks stripped from them using the ninth artifact of some pony we don't know, staff of smiting is the now agreed upon name.

Then they are thrown inside brainwashing facility 004# and made to listen to their propaganda, each of their talents are gone and they need to find a way out. Thankfully enough, Fluttershy has had experience escaping power hungry tyrants before and so volunteer's (voted and pushed) to pretend and be indoctrinated by the belief of the town.

Soon enough, it is found that Starlight is in fact NOT as equal as the others think she is, as she still retains her mark and lied about the artifact having done the deed, the pony population rebel at the unfair degree and charge into the cave to get their Cutie Mark's back, unfortunately, Starlight is a step above the normal villain and steals the Mane 6's Marks and tries to run away, thankfully, the ponies with their marks chase after her and retrieve them back, thus ending the episode with a celebration of the NEW town that are now properly getting to know one another.

Now, onto the analysis.

Now the concept is rather promising, because this series is actually directing itself to a new genre with this 'Map of Friendship' ordeal, Adventure, this will open up a while NEW amount of places where the Mane 6 will visit and help, the artists definitely have their hooves full with this one and I look forward to the future episodes using this mechanic. And judging from the next few short concepts for future, they aren't going to skimp on the episodes close to home either.

The episode itself was rather lackluster compared to other season premieres, sure the implied 'threat' that Starlight had intended for Equestria was sort of dire, but nothing like Eternal Night, or Discord's Chaos Capital, Sombra and his Crystal Slavery was more dangerous than this! And the Mane 6 didn't even have to do that much. Fluttershy did more with a bucket of water and her spying capabilities, and maybe Twilight's quick planning and that's IT! Otherwise they were just damsels in distress.

Now for the antagonist of this premiere... this is sad, seriously? STARLIGHT GLIMMER? Oh my doesn't that sound familiar, I wonder wha- Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer ACK! Really?
She isn't that much of a presence in the piece, the scariest thing is what she turned the town into, she isn't even a new kind of villain despite this as she steals qualities from a number of other characters.
She steals her first and second names from Twilight and Sunset respectively.
Her leader mentality and minions have already been done by Chrysalis.
Her leaving all of a sudden and obvious exposition marks like Trixie's departure.
Heck, even her motivations, as hidden as they may be are around FRIENDSHIP, Twilight's usual shtick with a warped perception!
However, I will grant that her magic is something else entirely, we're talking about her Cutie Mark removal spell that was a tricky topic for Twilight to even try and mess with, if we are to believe her pre-experience in trying to get Apple Bloom one, then again, that was very early and only as a unicorn.

It's humor was top notch however, and reaches back the the creepy roots of the Pinkamena mental break in Party of One, the fact this awkward and wacky atmosphere was what really made this episode distinguishable, and Pinkie managed to hit every joke perfectly from the morning the loss of her holographic parents stepped on by Spike-zilla, to her monotone replies when affected by the Math Mark.

And now, the characters themselves, starting with the villagers.

I'm saying this out clearly, this is a cult, it has all the signs, no individuality, working towards a goal that is out of the norm, fully believing that their beliefs are the truth so much so that they FORCE others to follow them, and I wasn't kidding, that room was CLEARLY brainwashing! Loudspeakers repeating phrases over and over again to break ponies will so that they follow the pony collective afterwards? Imprisoning them without any clear sign of food or water being given?! This is tricky territory that the writers are treading!

Now the Mane 6, Twilight is meh, she follows through and tries to give a rousing speech of friendship, showing fully that she must have learned so much as the princess of it that she doesn't need to write a letter detailing her learning about it.
Applejack has managed to show generic as an actual trait, as her Cutie Mark actually manged the mess with her 'country-isms' and it looks like she can't spin a farm related metaphor, or an apple related one at least, good gag I suppose.
Rainbow of course is a daredevil in the idea that there might be a monster, or great evil behind the scenes, she perfectly sets an example of how the whole situation isn't as big as what they faced before and is kind of disappointing because of it.
Pinkie has already been said, but she is REALLY good humor wise again, being a proper funny one and getting back some of that reputation she has been losing, also, credit to her not dropping her suspicious thoughts on the situation.
Rarity is a dear and also manages a number of funny situations, she of course shows her inner fashionista when observing her surroundings, but not as much that she is repeating herself.
Fluttershy... URG, I think we need a new episode on Fluttershy, why? Because she needs another one like 'Put your Hoove Down' only for to stop being THIS nice and forgiving, she see's the world with rose colored glasses if she can't see how wrong the place is. And I am not joking, if she wasn't pushed into it, this is a very real example of how easily she could be dragged into a cult or something else.

All in all, I give this an 7/10 of pure potential and possibility, Starlight is definitely going to appear again this season, the map is certainly going to have another quest to go on, and I hope this Pinkie Pie moment will be a continuous theme for the future.

Here's to season five! I'll see you at episode 3!