In which I become a ray of sunshine in the dark. At least, I'm gonna be positive when most everyone else is negative. · 5:17am Mar 27th, 2016

Alrighty, so this post has to do with the Season 6 premiere, and as such, I will use the handy dandy page break function to hide all of those nasty, villainous spoilers from you good denizens of this great website. Get the rest of the post under the big green button!

Alright, now that everyone who is being a chowderheaded straggler has left us, let's get into the rootin' tootin' frootin' goodness that was, "The Crystalling"!

It was fantastic!

Alright, that's it, show's over. Glad you all stopped by!

Oh right, I should probably go into a few reasons why. Let's start off with...

I mean, where do I begin? I can't name a single instance where any of the characters were less than stellar. Though everyone was in top form, I want to focus specifically on Shining Armor and Spike.

Shining Armor has always faced a lot of criticism of being just a cardboard cutout of, well, the knight in shining armor trope. He never got any moments to really come into his own, that is until recently. The first real instance of him getting some honest-to-goodness characterization came in "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows". That little cutaway gag with him going full-nerd was a glimmer of him showing something besides being the typical macho, cool guy who doesn't have any real quirks or flaws. Fast forward to the S6 premiere, and he's put into a brand new role: Fatherhood. Not only was he about to fall over dead from exhaustion, but in other moments, he showed a lot of good genuine characterization. Stressing out over stuff he hadn't gotten to do, acting goofy as all hell, you get the idea.

You know, like this!

Spike, on the other hand, got to shine like a star this episode as he assisted Starlight in her friendship quest. Lots of episodes that feature Spike either make him the butt monkey of a joke, or rehash the fact that he is prone to dragon greed. In this episode, he was able to act as the guide to help Starlight along her path, and that is really the best role he can play. He is at his best when he is assisting someone, and he was on point with this episode. Props to Josh Haber for handling him so well. Now that we've addressed my favorite part of the episode, let's move on to my other point for liking this episode so much.

This episode had a lot going on, and that is no overstatement. The multiple plot threads kept things quite busy throughout the entire episode, but that never works against the storytelling. The pacing fit the scenes, and masterfully brought the different plot elements together. It was a beautifully done payout at the end, where much like the season 5 premiere, the secondary characters are the ones who get to save the day this time. I loved it, pure and simple.

I'll just list off the other little things that I liked here.

The circumstances around Flurry Heart's birth are still left a mystery, and I look forward to learning why she was born an Alicorn as the season progresses.

Luna and Celestia (major emphasis on the latter) stepped up and did something! Seeing them work to help solve the problem instead of just sitting around and waiting for Twilight to save the day was a much-needed breath of fresh air.

While Starlight's backstory is a little more believable this time around, I still wish they had given a better reason for Starlight to be just as maniacal as she was in Season 5. Still, I loved Sunburst. His character carries with it a great message, that even if you aren't capable of helping in some ways, there are still things you can do to help.

The writers are getting really good with continuity. Older seasons felt more like monster-of-the-week type shows such as Scooby Doo, but the newer seasons are starting to carry with them a better feel of contiguous storytelling, like we are progressing along a greater story rather than just bogging down in scenarios that have no long-term impact.

And finally, the fan-pony with all the badges was a good nod and slight ribbing to the fandom. Props for that little joke.

And that pretty much wraps it up. I can't really name anything I disliked about this episode, and I really wish that more people were responding as positively as I have. It seems like everyone else on site has been putting out pessimistic reviews, so hopefully I do my part to help break that trend. It honestly feels like people are being negative because they're scared of Flurry Heart ruining the show's balance. It's a valid concern, but it honestly feels a lot like Twilicorn all over again.

Only time will tell where the show goes from here, and here's to the season! May it be every bit as good as the last one, and much more!

EDIT: One complaint. Cheerilee was not the hero of the entire episode, and therefore, I take back everything I said. The episode was trash. You can all go home now. I lied to you all and now you're just here because I decieved you. How's that for being bamboozled?