TheBrianJ Reviews: Amending Fences (and a long personal story) · 3:33am Jul 9th, 2015
It’s not often that MLP gets to me.
Yes, there have been a few “awwww, that’s sad” moments, the chief of which was Tanks for the Memories. There have been times where I can relate to the issues at hand as I have gone through them myself, such as Testing Testing 123. There have even been episodes that really spoke to me legit, such as Filli Vanilli, which was an episode that sorta helped me break out of a bit of a funk I had been in.
But this episode. This episode, man…
Head below the Minuette and we can discuss one of the most emotional episodes of MLP, and one that I’ll just come out and say, is the most important episode of MLP to me by a wiiiiiide margin. Warning, this blog will take on a more serious/personal tone than any of my other reviews, but if you don’t mind the read, I’d say it’s also by far my most important review.
But also silly glasses happened too.
I never really thought about Twilight’s former friends, because I guess I just assumed she didn’t have any. She talked to a few background ponies on the way back to her house in episode one, and another background pony (hur hur, Lyra is a Background Pony) waved to her, and that was about it. Seeing them come back in such a major role was surprising, but I was excited to see what they did with them.
And what they did with them, I really liked! For as much fandom love as she gets, I’m surprised that Minuette/Colgate has never really had a fandom-created character. She was a dentist because her hair kinda looks like toothpaste, and that was pretty much it. But the writers went with a bubbly, excitable, almost uncomfortably happy character, and I think it absolutely worked for her. Of the three friends who hung out with Twilight the most, she was the one with the most screen time, and I’m glad, because i thought the other two, while perfectly fine, just didn’t have the same charm as Minuette did.
Then, we met our real protagonist of the episode.
Behold: the glorious Moondancer
As we saw her for the first time, I had a feeling I knew where the episode was going: this was anti-Twilight. Negaverse Twilight. Moondancer was what would have happened if Twilight had stayed in Canterlot, told Princess Celestia to fix her own problems, and none of the show had happened. Almost like It’s A Wonderful Life, but actually happening.
Moondancer was beautifully characterised. A pony whose entire life is books, doesn’t have time for friends… as I said, it was NegaTwilight. This was pushed even further by the fact that her design was basically just a color swap of Twilight herself, albeit somehow more adorkable.
The episode, for the most part, played out how I expected it to. Moondancer was resistant to Twilight’s attempts to re-learn the magic of friendship, all that. But as it went on, there were constant references to the fact that the party that Twilight skipped clearly meant something to her.
And then, we got to the big reveal.
Silly gif because we’re about to enter Serious Mode. Also, look at that gorgeous animation.
We got to the big party scene, and that’s where Moondancer’s big breakdown happened. She talked about how much the party meant to her, and how horrible it was to lose Twilight as a friend. How she felt like she wasn’t important. How three of her friends had convinced her she’s a good pony, but Twilight just abandoned her. How she was afraid to put herself out there again, because she was so afraid of getting hurt.
She poured her heart out. And then she broke down and sobbed.
One of the most legitimately sad moments in this entire show.
Let me take you back to when I was in Middle School. I was always a shy kid (still am a bit shy all these years later), never really fit in with people. I had my little group of friends, but that was still the age where everyone is friends with everyone. As middle school came around, I became the subject of a lot of bullying. The Middle School and HIgh School that I went to, while certainly strong academically, were both run by a bunch of ninnys who refused to acknowledge this problem. So I found myself trying to stay close to my friends as much as possible.
High School are the most horrible 4 years of anyone’s life. Anyone who says “High School is the best years of your life” is full of shit. Because High School is when kids are growing up, and often in that awkward adolescent period, undergo personality changes that aren’t exactly ideal. And it was during this time that I lost a lot of friends, because they began hanging around with the cool kids. And in my school, the cool kids were the bullies. And thus, people who I once was close with, once regarded as friends, began treating me like dirt.
For four years in High School, I was miserable and depressed. I didn’t have friends, I had acquaintances. I didn’t go out on weekends because I didn’t want to run into anybody and put myself at risk of being bullied again. It wasn’t until college (and in many ways, not in full swing until a year AFTER college) that I began to trust people and make friends again. I was afraid to put myself out there, because I had been burned so many times in the past that I didn’t want it to happen again. Last sentence sounds familiar, doesn’t it.
Moondancer is the most I’ve ever related to a pony. It’s truly tough to put yourself out there and make friends when the precedent has been set that you could be burned and abandoned again at any minute. Even if that’s not true—true friends don’t abandon you, they’re your friends—it’s not about what reality is, it’s about what you THINK is happening. It’s a lesson that it took until I was 23 years old to learn, when I moved halfway across the country and in many ways started my entire social life over.
Moondancer’s breakdown, and subsequent collapse into tears, I have been through. Almost note-for-note. It’s the most horrible, depressing feeling in the world. The things that Twilight said to her afterwards are the kinds of things I wish I had learned years ago… stuff that would have made my years in High School and College go far better for me, emotionally. The episode was brutally honest, in the best possible way.
And that last scene. Moondancer looks at the picture of her and her friends, and the soft French accordion music plays as she and her friends reconnect and go out to have fun… man, I had a lump in my throat. Yeah, at the end of the day, My Little Pony is just a silly cartoon show. But sometimes, silly cartoon shows can have powerful lessons that get to us, and in this case, it got to me.
I don’t have much else to say about this episode. It was funny and well done for most of it, then the last 5 minutes pushed it into being one of the most stunningly emotional, beautiful episodes of the series, one that I connected with FAR deeper than I ever expected to connect with a show about magical talking ponies. Episodes like this deserve to be remembered, not just as a great MLP episode, but as a great episode of ANY cartoon, because no matter what age you are, the lesson can be strong. The episode brought some bad memories to the forefront for me, but also brought all the good memories, too. Knowledge of just how far I’ve come, how truly happy I am now, and how the depressing past is just that: the past.
Just one of the best made episodes of the series, and all who worked on it should be proud that, at least in one case, they were able to reach someone and really truly speak to them.
Friendship is Magic, after all.
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This episode, while heartbreaking at times, made me happy. I want to pay that happiness forward, even if it's just a little thing. Recently, Fimfiction user Dapper Guy posted a long review of Exit Through Canterlot. I always love reviews, so you should head on over and read that review. And show Dapper Guy some love, he's just starting out getting into reviewing and deserves to have more people read these reviews than he currently is getting.
The feeling running up through your heart when you see your review mentioned.
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I agree, it was a beautiful episode. One of the best in the whole show, in my opinion. And it was very relatable for me, too. Not because I was bullied, but because my dad's job required us to move a lot, and I got tired of meeting new friends at each new place, only to lose them 2-3 years later. It became easier, emotionally, to just keep to myself, so it wouldn't hurt as much when we inevitably moved. Not exactly like Moondander's situation, of course, but it still hit pretty close to home for me.
Cause and effect seem a bit snarled here. Did Minuette get more screen time because of her charm, or is her charm because of how much screen time she had?
Still, I agree with your assessment of the climax. One of the most emotionally powerful episodes of the show thus far, if not the most. (Honestly, I related with Twilight. I've let more than a few friends drift away...)
I quite agree...this is one of the best, if not the best episode thus far. It really struck a chord with me as well, personally. My situation growing and even sometimes now as an adult is very similar to yours. I won't go into details here but high school and most of my adult life haven't been joyful....at least until I found Pony, that is, and the great people I've come to know here in the fandom.
Moondancer's reaction to Twilight was very real and I congratulate the staff for telling this story so emotionally and openly. As sad as it may have been at moments it was beautiful and heart warming to see Moondancer and Twilight reconnect. It made me so happy that I had the best night's sleep I've had in weeks, if that can explain how good it made me feel. Glad it was great for you, too.
It's been nearly 50 years since I was in high school, but I can't at all argue with this:
If you're lucky, it will leave you merely scarred and disillusioned. (Your mileage may vary, but then you might be lucky.)
You weren't the only one affected in such a way...
And... out of curiosity, do you plan to be at Bronycon, by any chance?
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Sorry, but no. Don't really do many conventions, the only one I go to every year is PAX Prime.
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Ah, a pity. I would have liked to meet you. Your writing's just so damn good, I want to shake your hand, man.