Thoughts on “Once Upon a Zeppelin”

          Okay, this episode has just tied with “Flurry of Emotions” for Best Episode.  It really hit home for me on so many levels, especially with the season of life that I’m currently in.
          So, I’ve been avoiding specifically mentioning this because I didn’t want to come off as bragging, but I started my first year of medical school right around the time that I published the last story in the “Love Tap of Marendelle” collection.  Now, in the process of actually entering medical school, I also had to go to interviews.  I remember one of my interviewers saying that he hadn’t gone home for the holidays in YEARS.  I freaked out a little because one, I love holidays, two, I love my family, and three, I love holidays WITH my family.  However, I also realized that I was going to have to sacrifice a lot to get my dream career, and time was going to end up being one of things I was going to end up sacrificing.  However, as willing as I was to give up my holidays, I promised myself that I was not going to let anything keep me from spending Christmas with my family.
          Thankfully, I got into a school that was just a few minutes away from home.  I still had to give up time that I normally spent with my family, and I am probably going to have to give up my summers, but I digress.
          Anyway, Twilight in this episode reminds me of, well, me.  Like Twilight, I am also heavily driven by my obligations, and I beat myself up over the ones that I end up not fulfilling.  Right now, my biggest obligation is to successfully pass my first year of medical school, and I have had nights where I had to stay at the school until 11 to study.  I’ve done that often enough that my younger siblings get excited when I get home by 9.  Luckily, I realized early on that as much as I needed to succeed, I also needed to set boundaries regarding how much time I spent away from my family; hence I made a promise to not let anything touch my Christmases.  I was personally incredibly touched to see Twilight realize the same thing.
          On another note, I remember saying in an older post that Twilight didn’t seem like somepony who habitually bottled up her emotions, yet here she is, bottling her emotions again.  However, I still stand by my original opinion.  I still don’t think that Twilight makes a habit of hiding her feelings.  However, I also said in the previous paragraph that Twilight was very obligation-driven, and in both “What about Discord?” and this episode, Twilight felt obligated to feel a certain way.  In the end, her sense of responsibility overrode the fact that she’s normally open and honest about her feelings.  She has moments where she feels totally obligated to have everything together, so she keeps forgetting that she’s allowed to make mistakes and not be perfect.  Boy, do I know how that feels.
          Anyway, this episode was great and was just what I needed during this particular season of my life.