SPOILERS? Mariusioannesp Reviews: "A Flurry of Emotions"

WARNING!!! The following contains SPOILERS for the latest MLP episode “A Flurry of Emotions”.

Now, without further a-best-aunt-ever-do, here is my review of “A Flurry of Emotions”.

Princess Twilight Sparkle has quite a busy day of princess-ing planned when her brother Shining Armor and his lovely wife Princess Cadance show up with their baby Princess Flurry Heart. They need Twilight to watch Flurry Heart while they get some much needed alone time. Despite her busy schedule, Twilight agrees, determined to prove herself the Best Aunt Ever. Will Twilight realize what it real takes to be the Best Aunt Ever?

So what’s the verdict?

This was yet another nice, comfortable episode to start this new season with.

So yeah, I liked it.

We begin with Twilight Sparkle having a chat in the Castle of Friendship with none other than Nurse Redheart. It’s been a while since we've seen her in a speaking role hasn't it. Anyway, they're discussing having Twilight visit some foals at the hospital. Turns out, a whole class of foals came down with the horsey hives… on school picture day.

Horsey hives. That’s another illness to add to the roster of Equestrian diseases.

Twilight and Spike have it all planned out. They’ll get toys for the foals, some snacks, and borrow a book from Cheerilee to read to them. Food and presents always cheer Spike up. With that, Nurse Redheart leaves. Just as Twilight and Spike are about to get started, they get a surprise visit from Shining Armor, Cadance, and Twilight’s favorite niece Flurry Heart.

Clearly, parenthood agrees with them.

Shining and Cadance are here because they’re wondering if Twilight could watch Flurry Heart for a few hours. You know, if she’s not busy. Despite Spike trying to remind her that they do have a busy schedule, Twilight agrees because the Best Aunt Ever always has time for her niece. Best Aunt Ever. Someone should put that on a coffee mug. And give one to Twilight. Anywho, Twilight even already has a whole bunch of toys she got for Flurry. Because again, Twilight is the Best Aunt Ever. They then play together, levitating a pair of Teddy bears.




Shining and Cadance leave all of Flurry’s much needed supplies though Twilight doesn’t seem to be paying much attention. There’s mashed peas, which are her favorite. Then, there’s diapers, extra diapers, and backup extra diapers. Whoa, how much poo do alicorns make?! And then mashed peas, which are her favorite.

Yes, Shining you did say that already.

Most importantly though is a stuffed snail called Whammy, which calms Flurry down when she gets fussy. Twilight inquires as to what Shining and Cadance are going to do in Ponyville. Shining explains by asking if they remember his friend Spearhead from the Royal Guard. Spike shrugs, remarking that most of Shining’s guard friends had similar names. I think this joke would have had more impact if we knew of more of Shining’s guard friends. Unless this is supposed to refer to something that’s actually later in the season. Anywho, this Spearhead has a pop-up art show in a cafe in Ponyville that Shining and Cadance have decided to attend last minute. Royal guard to artist. That’s an interesting vocational transition. Though Shining and Cadance are not art enthusiasts, Cadance is looking forward to a night out. By that, she means a day out.


Yes, parenthood certainly agrees with them.

They ask Twilight again if she’s sure she can watch Flurry. Despite Spike’s quiet consternation, Twilight assures them the Best Aunt Ever has everything under control. With that, Shining and Cadance take off. Spike wants to head out right away, but Flurry wants to play pretend as bears. Twilight obliges her as she figures they have time for a quick game. Spike’s not so sure though. Twilight flies around with Flurry, growling like a bear. Then, she sneaks up in front of Flurry and roars at her.

Flurry freaks out and encases herself in a force field.


Twilight calms her down and notes how that was an advanced spell for somepony Flurry’s age. She must take after her Aunt Twilight. Of course she does. Spike reminds Twilight that they should be going, and Twilight agrees, but then Flurry’s stomach starts growling. She decides to feed her some mashed peas really quickly, but Flurry just magically flings the peas back at them.

Meanwhile back at the ranch,* Shining and Cadance are at Spearhead’s pop-up art show not quite admiring the art. They don’t quite get any of it.


Shining in fact confuses a trash can for an art piece.

I’m with you. I hate modern art.

This pretty much summarizes my opinion of modern art.

But enough of my art criticism. I have a pony review to write. Cadance though is just glad they’re not changing diapers. Spearhead himself greets them rather enthusiastically.

Let’s talk about Spearhead for a second. He seems like your stereotypical pretentious modern artist type. You know what I mean, right. Anyway, Spearhead shows them his latest piece, a black piece of canvas titled “A Thousand Nights in a Hallway”.

Cadance remarks awkwardly that nights in a hallway can be pretty dark.

So Spearhead agrees with Spinal Tap.

Kind of.

Cadance is still happy to be there because usually they’d be covered in peas right now.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Twilight and Spike are covered in peas. Spike speculates that perhaps mashed peas are not Flurry’s favorite for eating but decorating a room with. Then, Twilight starts freaking out when Spike informs her that they’re twenty minutes behind schedule. They rush to the toy store to get those toys for the foals at the hospital. However, Flurry wants to play with Twilight some more, so Twilight’s makes a game of their shopping by racing down the aisles with their shopping cart. When they stop at the register to pay though, Flurry still craves Twilight’s attention. Flurry ends up taking control of the shopping cart with her magic and running herself into a display. Twilight then has to clean up after her and properly organize the display.

Twilight runs down to the schoolhouse, thereby gaining for them five minutes. However according to Spike, they’re still fifty-five minutes behind. Twilight doesn’t appreciate that. Anywho, Twilight pays Cheerilee a visit at the schoolhouse, looking for a book to read to the foals at the hospital. Cheerilee wonders though why Twilight came to her given she already has a rather extensive library. I admit I was thinking the exact same thing at this moment in the episode. Though that is true, Twilight explains that the foals probably won’t be interested in The Unabridged History of Amulets in Pony Latin. Oh. Wait a minute. Pony Latin? I know we’ve been hearing quite a bit of Latin over the past season, but they’re really going with Pony Latin. Is it supposed to be like Pig Latin? I don’t know. Anywho, Cheerilee realizes coming to her was a good idea and so makes a few suggestions, like the complete collection of Ponyville Fables and Stables or Alien Alicorns vs Space Pirates.

You know, Alien Alicorns aren’t something completely foreign to the history MLP.

Spike suggests something called Burnferno, Warrior From Within, which is apparently about a dragon warrior who slays evildoers with his breath and snappy comebacks. Gee Spike, I wonder why you’d pick that. Twilight suggests he borrow that for himself. Cheerilee then suggests something called Gusty the Great. This happens to be a favorite of Twilight when she was a filly so she decides to take that. Hold the phone! Gusty, huh? You know, Gusty was the name of a G1 MLP pony. In fact the pony on the cover looks vaguely like G1 Gusty.

So all this time, Flurry has been craving Twilight’s attention. Flurry sees Cheerilee’s chalkboard, teleports herself to it, and starts messing with it. Twilight only realizes something’s up by the aghast look on Cheerilee’s face.

Whatever carefully constructed lesson Cheerilee had on the board has been replaced by a couple of doodles.

Twilight cleans up the board, but now Cheerilee has to write the whole thing again with her mouth. Do I sense some possible envy by an Earth pony of Unicorn telekinesis?

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Spearhead shows Shining and Cadance another of his pieces. It’s a canvas covered in hoofprints entitled “A Kitchen Guard’s Journey”.

Shining says that it reminds them of the time Flurry got into some chocolate pudding and left little chocolate hoofprints all over their carpet. Spearhead marvels at how evocative art can be because he wasn’t even going for that memory. So, did Spearhead have particular memories of Shining and Cadance in mind when he made his art? What?

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Twilight is running, dragging Spike along to their next errand. Spike suggests they might have to cancel their visit to the hospital, but Twilight will hear nothing of letting down sick foals. The B.A.E. would never countenance that--by this, Twilight means “Best Aunt Ever” and is not spelling that rather vacuous term of endearment popular among the youth these days. Twilight is confident this next errand at Sugarcube Corner will be different. Twilight can leave Flurry with Pumpkin and Pound Cake while she conducts her business with Pinkie Pie. Once they’re at Sugarcube Corner, Twilight has Spike watch Flurry while she plays with Pumpkin and Pound Cake as she takes care of her errand.

She picks up the cupcakes for the foals at the hospital, but also wants some apology snacks for Cheerilee and the salespony at the toystore. She asks Pinkie if she still keeps a record of everypony’s favorite treat, and Pinkie does in her secret party planning cave. Remember that from “Party Pooped” back in Season 5. Hold on a second. You got Twilight babysitting Flurry Heart, and Pinkie and the Cake Twins all together and there’s no reference at all to Season 2’s “Baby Cakes”. Instead, there’s a direct reference to Season 5’s “Party Pooped”. That’s a missed opportunity there. I shudder to think that the new writers behind this episode have only seen as far back as Season 5.

While all this is happening, Pound and Pumpkin start fighting over a toy hot air balloon.


Spike tries to assuage the situation by finding another balloon. Flurry takes the balloon from them and tries to alert Twilight of the situation but fails. Flurry tries to fix the situation by splitting the balloon in two parts so Pound and Pumpkin can share it.



They don’t like this at all. They start chasing after Flurry and chucking cupcakes at her as she flies away. Twilight then notices the aghast look on Pinkie’s face and realizes the mess Flurry has made.

It’s the same eyeball pop Pinkie first displayed in Season 5’s “The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows”, Flurry Heart’s very first episode.

Twilight then gets Pinkie an apology snack as well. Spike also happens to find that other balloon, but then it pops.

Just briefly, I’d like to point out that in this scene both Pumpkin and Pound Cake are no longer wearing diapers and walk fully upright while chasing Flurry. I remember them walking upright in last season’s “28 Pranks Later”, but I’m pretty certain they did not walk upright in their initial appearances. They’re also taller than Flurry. I think this is supposed to indicate that they have gotten older. It’s also interesting to see the former baby design and the new baby design side-by-side like this.

Twilight is once again running to her next destination. She thinks Spike is going to try and convince her to cancel the hospital visit, but she still refuses to consider it. Actually though, Spike was trying to tell her that they’ve just arrived, and only four-and-half minutes late. Twilight’s not too happy with that either. Soon enough, Twilight is reading the convalescing foals the story of Gusty the Great, marching on Cloudsdale with a band of Unicorn warriors when they encounter the treacherous Grogar!

Wait one cotton-picking minute! Grogar! GROGAR! FIM actually mentioned Grogar! Could this mean I could be proven right after all these years of speculating? Could we finally be seeing Grogar on FIM later this season? Perhaps. If so, I’m counting it.

The story happens to mention that Grogar got his power through fear. That’s an oddly specific thing to mention if it’s not meant to having any significance later on.

While all this is happening, Flurry starts throwing a tantrum when Twilight won’t give her the attention she’s craving. In the process, she kicks away her Whammy and loses track of it. Flurry then teleports herself and flies all around the hospital looking for it, making a mess along the way. When Flurry returns to the ward she started in, she starts levitating everything in the room to look under for her Whammy. Spike then makes Twilight realize that they’re all floating. Twilight tries to calmly tell Flurry to put them all down, but that doesn’t work. Twilight tries lowering everything herself, but Flurry’s too fast for her. Spike tries looking for the Whammy but realizes it’s missing. Finally, Twilight yells at Flurry to put them all down, and she does so. Twilight starts chewing her out, but Flurry panics and encases herself in a force field again.


Twilight realizes she freaked her out by yelling at her like a growling bear. Twilight ends up apologizing to Flurry because she understands now how she’s been a terrible aunt by not giving Flurry the attention she required. Flurry forgives her easily though. Twilight decides that they should head home as soon as they find Flurry’s Whammy and clean up.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Shining and Cadance find that many of Spearhead’s art pieces remind them of Flurry, even just by being small like she is.

Shining and Cadance realize they don’t want to be away from their baby any longer. Spearhead understands. His art speaks to him about what he loves and the fact that it spoke to them about what they love speaks to him. Yeah, it confuses them too, but then they’re off.

Back at the Castle of Friendship, Twilight is playing with Flurry when Shining and Cadance arrive. It looks like Twilight had a great time with Flurry. Twilight admits that Flurry got into a bit of mischief, but she taught Twilight an important lesson. Twilight should never have agreed to take care of Flurry with such a jam-packed schedule. Truly being the best aunt ever means not spending the most time with her niece, but quality time with her. That’s a lesson I can stand behind. Shining and Cadance assure her that next time they’ll give her ample notice. Cadance then asks if Twilight’s available the next Tuesday, for dinner not babysitting. Twilight’s pretty sure she can, but she’ll have to check with Spike. They then realize that Spike is nowhere to be found.

Turns out Spike is back at the hospital ward, reading the convalescent foals the exploits of Burnferno while they enjoy some of Twilight’s apology cake.


Spike is better at this than Twilight is.

A slight update from last week. From some posts on Equestria Daily, it turns out my suspicions were correct, and Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco aka The Lady Writers are in fact story editing for Season 7. I guess that makes them The Lady Story Editors as well. I wonder though what became of Josh Haber. He will be missed. No, he won’t.

This episode was written by Whitney Wetta and Sammie Crowley. This is their first time writing for MLP. They’ve both previously written for The Loud House. I’ve heard some good things about The Loud House, but I have yet to see it. I kind of want my mom to see it too. (She was one of nine children.) On her own, Ms. Wetta has also written for shows such as The Fairly Odd Parents, and T.U.F.F. Puppy. (I understand The Lady Writers also wrote for T.U.F.F. Puppy.) Why does this T.U.F.F. Puppy keep coming up? What is this T.U.F.F. Puppy anyway? T.U.F.F. Puppy was Nickelodeon cartoon created by Butch Hartman, who also created The Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom. It aired for apparently two and half seasons from 2005 to 2010, and yet I’ve never heard of it at all until now.

Interestingly enough, Ms. Wetta and Ms. Crowley’s writing style in this episode seems very similar to the Lady Writers. This episode hits many of same points that the Lady Writers’ episodes do, such as Twilight at the center, Spike as support and voice of reason, and some world building at least when it comes to Equestrian literature. It could be that the Lady Writers’ story editing might be a bit too heavy handed in this case. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, the Lady Writers have written some great episodes so it could great if all this season’s episodes became more like theirs. But then, it could become dull to see every episode bear a very similar writing structure. In the end, it does not appear clear to me what makes Ms. Wetta and Ms. Crowley’s writing quite stand out just yet. Still, they did a great job their first time out the horsegate.

This episode has an interesting structure consisting of a plot and subplot. It’s not the first time we’ve seen this though. We already saw this same structure in “All Bottled Up” last week. There’s the main plot with Twilight babysitting Flurry Heart and the subplot with Shining Armor and Cadance. This episode’s structure allows us to get to see a never before seen look at Shining and Cadance, especially in their new role as harried parents. We’ve never seen them on their own before in an episode. That’s something you only really saw in the MLP comics. In the past, they’re usually not far from Twilight and her friends. See, the benefit of this structure is that it allows a greater focus on secondary characters, like Shining and Cadance, without sacrificing the primary characters, like any of the Mane 6. In the past, I’ve seen shifting the focus away from the Mane 6 completely as a problem the show’s been having since about Season 5. Utilizing this structure in the series more will certainly address that issue.

I feel this episode features Spike at his best. This is definitely his best episode this season so far. As I’ve said before, Spike is at his best when he’s at a pony’s side, acting as their voice of reason. Here, he’s just great trying to keep Twilight on schedule and dealing with everything that happens. And then there’s the end where he fulfils Twilight’s obligation to the foals in the hospital better than she could.

Was the mention of Grogar in the story of Gusty the Great foreshadowing later in the season? I think it is. Like I said before, the mention that Grogar gets his power from fear is too specific to not have any significance outside of this moment. I know I’ve been saying since the end of Season 4 that Grogar would eventually appear on FIM. This, however, is the first time we got actual evidence that this could indeed happening, possibly at the end of the season. The last two seasons, we have seen attempts made to subtly set up the villain of the finale. In both cases, those were villains who had appeared before, Starlight Glimmer in “The Cutie Re-Mark” and Queen Chrysalis in “To Where and Back Again”. If it is in fact the case that Grogar is coming, this would mark the first time such hints were dropped to set up a completely new villain.

As for what I didn’t like, there was how they delineated the lesson at the end. I have a preference for more subtle lessons like in “All Bottled Up” last week as it respects the growing maturity of the main audience. Just laying it out like they did here I admit is very reminiscent of MLP’s early seasons, but it’s something that the show has been growing out of a bit. Otherwise, this was a solid episode.

This has nothing to do with this episode, but there’s was a promo during one of the commercial breaks for next week’s episode “Rock Solid Friendships”

I don’t think this is something we’ve ever seen before for MLP. They’re doing promos for every episode now. In the past, they’d just run the same promo with scenes from several episodes. This is something you see done normally for a more serious show. Perhaps this is an indication that Discovery Family is taking MLP much more seriously than in the past.

Overall, “A Flurry of Emotions” was a fun little episode. Another comfortable episode to start the season with. I like how the new season’s been going so far, and I very much look forward to what’s to come.

What did ya’ll think of “A Flurry of Emotions”?

God bless you. God bless America. And God bless Equestria.

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*Unfortunately, I will continue to use this phrase in my blog series in the event someone recognizes where it’s from.

Comments

[Evowizard25]

In all honesty, I actually do think shifting some of the focus of the show away from the main six can be a good thing. While the main six are great characters, most of them have come to where they want to be in their lives. As well, it gives the show new characters and possibilities to play with. Added to that, it really has come a long way in fleshing out the world. A problem I had with the earlier seasons was that it focused so much on the main six, I never really had a great sense of the world around them. It didn't feel all that important. The places they lived in felt more like setpieces then actual towns, which is something I really did love about season five (which is still my favorite season).

Still, I agree with you on that this is a great episode. (In all honesty, Games Ponies Play should have been a Cadance/Shining episode. Didn't need the main six at all in that one.) I'm glad they got some time to shine here. The parallel storytelling this season is interesting. Wonder if we'll see more of it.