On "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?"

That wasn't even Angel's final form.

Hallelujah, a Moonbutt episode. And I really liked this one. The Krueger-esque threat of the Tantabus was pretty damned awesome, I enjoyed the fandom nods (and the people who think this was enough to be called pandering need to learn about scale and proportionality), and I love the idea of the entire town rising up to stop a threat, which was a criticism I saw thrown towards "Slice of Life" for having only the mane six do it. Never understood why the heroes being heroes was an issue...

And a crucial character moment that the fandom totally called came into play as well: Luna's overwhelming guilt for her actions as Nightmare Moon. It was addressed in the comics during the Nightmare Rarity arc, but I don't think it got the same attention in the alpha-canon until now. Granted, the resolution felt a bit abrupt, a criticism one can levy towards a fair number of even the GOOD episodes of the series' run, but it was absolutely a conflict worth addressing, and I loved the way they did so.

This has been a fairly strong first half overall. "The Cutie Map" was a glorious start, I loved the world-building in "Griffonstone" and "Party Pooped," I loved the canon callbacks in "Amending Fences" (and everything else about the episode), I loved the fandom bone-throw that was "Slice of Life" (which I'd forgive you for calling THAT pandering), I loved the dilemmas and themes tackled in "Bloom and Gloom" and "Castle Sweet Castle," and I loved Discord's return in "Make New Friends." Of course, a lot of them still had things that didn't work as well, but even "Appleoosa's Most Wanted" and "Tanks for the Memories," two episodes I was more critical of, had elements that I enjoyed, elements that just remind me why I still watch and enjoy the show even at its lowest.

"Princess Spike" can fuck right off, though. We got a cute breakout character with the Whinnyapolis delegate, but nothing else of much value.

"Canterlot Boutique," the start of the second half, won't be out until roughly Q4 2015, after Friendship Games. I still haven't even seen Rainbow Rocks despite reassurances that it's better than the first EqG movie, so I'd need to do so before I dedicate my time and attention to the next one.

Still, though, one of the teases for 5.5 was Fluttershy's brother. I think she's legit the only mane six member we haven't seen any family for now that Rainbow Dash's father has been seen in a flashback, so that'll be exciting. And they must really want us to care about this Orchard Blossom character if that's one of the highlights they gave us. My favorite tease, though, was the storyboard sequence showing the return of Starlight Glimmer, supposedly for the season finale. I LOVED Starlight as a villain, so this'll be fun to see.

Alright, that's it for episodes for a while. The next you'll hear out of me is F/F/T3K15 updates.