My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Season 8 Episode 23: "Sounds of Silence" (SPOILERS) · 4:02pm Sep 29th, 2018
In which ....
The Map summons Fluttershy and Applejack again, this time to send them to the Peaks of Peril.
Random Shakira reference out of nowhere!!
So anyway, this time out we're introduced to the Kirin (wow!) and the Nirik.
OK that conductor at the end of the line has been alone for far too long. Yikes.
Applejack is in a hurry to get up the peak and gets upset with Fluttershy for not keeping up with her breakneck pace, but Fluttershy's stopping to visit with the squirrels actually yielded a shortcut to the Kirin Village! Score one for working smarter, not harder.
The Kirin are quite majestic...but not very talkative. This leads to Applejack pulling the "obnoxious tourist" routine until Fluttershy hits on the problem: the Kirin understand them perfectly, they just don't talk. Of course, this is a problem in terms of actually solving the friendship problem at hoof: how do you find out what's wrong if nobody's talking to you?
So anyway, Applejack tries to annoy the Kirin into talking, but to no avail. Then she ventures down a forest trail in search of anyone who talks. She finds one: Autumn Blaze, who hasn't spoken for so long she's kind of a motormouth. Like, Dory level motormouth. AJ learns that the Kirin have all taken a vow of silence.
Autumn Blaze's song that explains the Kirin's issues is...something. Long story short, the Kirin got into an epic fight that destroyed their village, and their leader ordered them all to ford the "Stream of Silence", which cools emotions and purges the power of speech. Autumn Blaze couldn't stand the forced eternal quiet game, so she found a cure for silence, but then she just got on the others' nerves and they shunned her.
AJ decides the way to fix things is to get the Kirin to accept her back, then take the cure for the silence--except the flowers Autumn Blaze made them from haven't bloomed in forever.
AJ returns to the village to tell Fluttershy her plan, but Fluttershy sees things differently, explaining that the Kirin, when angry, turn into the Nirik and burn things down around them. When they start arguing, the Kirin gather around and try to throw them into the Stream of Silence, but Autumn Blaze comes along and saves them.
And so the moral of the episode arises: Friends can argue and fight without burning down their friendship, and just because anger isn't a pleasant emotion, it's still important to learn to deal with and control.
Predictably, the all-knowing, all-seeing squirrels know exactly where the magic flowers are, Autumn Blaze cures the Kirin, and all ends well.
Hm. 8/10 for being a pretty decent episode.
Well that's a quote and a half.
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The Kirin took the Vulcan way to its extreme.
That is not the Equestrian way.
Balance is the Equestrian way.
Just keep trotting, Just keep trotting, just keep trotting, trotting, trotting.
Really good episode.
The craze pony at the end the line make me crack up, because of how much it reminds me of those old craze people in old cartoon horror episode.
I also like the Lassie reference when the Kirin tried to mime asking about the cure to Autumn.
The only thing that bugs me is how the episode abruptly end. I don't know, it seems like it was cut off.
We got fairy horses, glass horses, griffon/fish horses, we got a demon horse, and now we got dragon horses. WHERE ARE MY NON-BACKGROUND BAT HORSES?
I kept hoping the old conductor would pop up randomly to crazy-evil laugh at AJ & 'Shy, just for comic relief.
"Kirin" and "Nirik." Subtle as a shovel to the face, that.
I like the newest pony hybrids. They do look majestic AF, and they're even moreso when they're silent. They could give Fluttershy a run for her money in a game of "Shh."
The moral's not bad either. Anger can be an okay emotion as long as you don't let it get out of control. Also, it's good to talk out disagreements with friends.
Autumn Blaze is a riot! I think her song was the best of the entire season.
Typical government, instead of actually dealing with the problem they just demand everybody shut up.
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Have to agree with you there. I am pretty disappointed with this season but this episode was actually my favorite one so far...and that's not saying much. And yes, Autumn Blaze was a joy.
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Yeah, the first time I heard Nirik, I actually said out loud "Are you fucking kidding me!?"
The Kirin are absolutely adorable, especially Autumn Blaze.
I'm just gonna say it.
Hello darkness, my old friend...
Squirrels confirmed for true masters of the world.
But yeah, this one was great.
I am honestly (pun intended) a little stumped on why Applejack had to be there. Fluttershy, sure. Best approach, just let her talk to the local fauna, that will eventually solve the problem. No idea why they haven't made this standard operating procedure yet. But Applejack?
The best I could come up with was, basically, by denying a part of themselves, the Kirin weren't being honest towards their true natures. Denial of negative emotion by numbing every emotion can't possibly be healthy. That's, like, self-induced depression.
Anyone else have a good answer?
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Weren't they just nightmare night costumes? They only appeared in that one episode and Dash had the bat wings in the season 5 finale.
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But those other guards had fur at the tip of their ears, while Dash’s are lacking
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i've come to talk with you again...
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She also didn't have their pupils.
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You need to zoom in a lot, but the one in the middle should show them off quite well.
By the by, no regular bat-ish pony we've seen had fangs. Flutterbat had them, but she's a magical aberration.
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Because in darkness slowly creeping...
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❌
Sorry, you fail! The next line is:
Because a vision softly creeping
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left its seed while i was sleeping
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And the vision that was planted in my brain...
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still remains..
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Within the sound of silence.
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in restless dreams i walked alone
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Narrow streets and cobblestones
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'nieth the halo of a street lamp
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I turned my collar to the cold and damp
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When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
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That split the night
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and touched the sounds of silence...
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And in the naked light I saw
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ten thousand people, maybe more
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People talking without speaking
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people hearing without listening
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People writing songs that voices never shared
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no one dared
disturb the sound of silence
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Fools, said I, you do not know
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silence like a cancer grows
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Hear my words that I might teach you
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Take my arms that I might reach you
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But my words, like silent raindrops fell
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and echoed in the wells, of silence
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And the people bowed and prayed
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to the neon god they made
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And the sign flashed out its warning
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In the words that it was forming
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And the sign said the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
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And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound...of silence