On Memorials · 6:56pm Apr 13th, 2019
This morning, there were emergency thunderstorm warnings in Texas.
I know this because the stream I normally watch is apparently streamed from Texas.
This was tolerable when the warning was just text, but less so when it took over the audio.
So let's talk about "Uprooted" before Texan thunderstorms improbably show up here and kill me because I didn't listen to the warnings.
Today's moral is that every time a tree dies, a memorial episode gets its wings.
But seriously, the moral is that the right way to remember someone or something is to embody what they meant to you, so when remembering a magical crystal tree it is definitely not right to all argue about the right way to remember it.
Seriously, though, I'm sure I'm not the only one to notice this episode is very reminiscent of "Castle Sweet Castle." Obviously the scenario is not entirely analogous as there is no replacement tree to break in until the end of the episode, but the broad sweeps are all much the same.
Maybe I'll take this bit out once a Youtube version goes up and I watch it to see the bits I missed, but did you catch what Sandbar was afraid of? Silverstream and Ocellus were having fairly standard lack-of-preparation dreams (even if Silverstream had the superhero landing down, so what else does she need to be a proper Wonderbolt?), Yona was falling, and Gallus and Smolder were hitting the same claustrophobia and image-consciousness as when the Tree tested them, but what was going on with Sandbar? Did I see a giant display case of cupcakes? Is that right? Is this related to the time his Hearth's Warming doll almost fell into the fire?
(It doesn't make much more sense when you do know what was said after the Tree of Harmony astral projected in.)
Am I the only one who got the impression that Silverstream is the only one whose permission slip acquisition was contingent on what the permission was for? Clearly Grandpa Gruff didn't care what he was signing, Ocellus apparently had to go home to get her permission slip signed by a couple of nymphs who surely didn't understand what was going on (okay, fine, there were also adults present), Smolder and Yona seem to have earned theirs through feats of strength/doing chores, and who knows what Sandbar did, but only Silverstream was actually seen telling her parents what the situation was.
Speaking of which, why were signed permission slips even needed? This is not a school-sponsored activity; it seems to me that Twilight is overstepping her authority to expect to be given proof that the Student Six are permitted to do this. She's not the boss of them during the summer.
Actually, maybe we should talk about Ocellus's apparent family. Where did they come from? At this point it should only be somewhere between one and two years since Chrysalis was deposed, and we never saw any sort of family structure under her rule. We even saw Thorax's hatching in conditions that point towards a eusocial structure rather than one where most adults reproduce with long-term mates.
I suppose the logical assumption is that it's one more manner in which changelings are emulating pony culture since they don't have much culture of their own that was worth retaining, and all the families are just small groups organized on no actual particular genetic affiliation.
You know, I liked Silverstream's impressionistic paintings. I mean, the swirly one on the ground felt kind of phoned-in, but the painting of her feelings about the Tree's destruction was pretty good.
One might question why she did her paintings in watercolors (well, I suppose technically gouache), but it certainly made removing the paintings easier once they decided that their unified vision didn't include impressionistic paintings. Still, it doesn't seem like a wise choice of medium for an outdoor painting, even if it's in a cave to partially shield it from the elements.
It's a good thing that Twilight wasn't there to see how much better than her Ocellus and Silverstream are at putting the Elements back together. Jealousy is not a good color on her.
I did anticipate that the Student Six were going to end up resurrecting the Tree of Harmony through their expression of True Philia. After all, if it was still able to come to their dreams, it stands to reason that it just needs a sufficient infusion of magic to heal.
I did not anticipate though that it would turn into their Fortress of Solitude Togetherness.
Sandbar's dream was literally a nightmare over choosing which cupcake to buy. I'm not kidding.
As Thorax pointed out, having documentation for when the kids casually traipse across national borders is a good idea if you want to avert a war.
That's what I'm going with.
Apparently a "fix stuff up" montage was enough to regenerate the Elements into neat, easily reparable halves. The Mane Six might have been able to pull it off with the right friendship speech if Sombra hadn't shivved their morale.
-sees the part about the stream-
I was watching that exact same stream as well!