Sparkle’s Seven/A Friendship is Magic Season 9 Review

(Early that morning, a mysterious figure at work on a computer, when an email alert interrupts his progress. The person plugs in some headphones into the computer, as he clicks on the email symbol and moves the mouse toward the link in the description. A voice-over relays some instructions to the author)

Good morning Dramamaster, you have been assigned for surveillance duties as part of a team of spies set out to recover the Helm of the Sibling Supreme. Our inside source has informed us that the crown’s current holder, Prince Shining Armor, has loaned the crown to the Royal Sisters to be held within Canterlot Castle. Word has it that the crown itself will be on displayed in the very throne room of the palace and heavy security measures have been taken to ensure the crown is not removed from it’s spot for the next twenty four hours. Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to ensure the team successfully penetrates the security and recovers the crown to ensure your client holds the title of Sibling Supreme. Failure to do so and the division won’t be held accountable and will sever all ties to ensure the protection of our organization. This message will self-destruct in five seconds, good luck.

(The author quickly turns around, his image only seen from the neck to below the waist, as his computer explodes in the background).

Let’s do this…

(Several hours later...)

GOOD AFTERNOON, FIMFICTION FANATICS!!! This is the Dramamaster829; Critic, Actor, Writer, Motivational Speaker, and Occasional Singer, keeping you up to date with the latest news for the final season of MLP! Several seasons ago, the series’ 100th episode served as a love letter toward all our favorite background ponies, granting them a chance in the spotlight and demonstrating that they are just as important to the show as our Mane Six (And Spike). But this year, we have reached the 200th episode and this time it’s a story that serves as a thank-you letter to the major actors who made the show possible, as a special bonus it’s a story developed by the five main actors themselves. So, without further ado, we get this story underway with an ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ style story appropriately called…

Sparkle’s Seven… Though some prefer ‘Twilight’s Seven’

Warning: The following review will contain spoilers, if you haven’t seen the episode yet please skip this post now.

The Story

So pop quiz my fellow readers, what do you get when you ask the main actors from the show for stories their characters should have? Having been discussed for at least two years, each of the cast has had numerous ideas and several have been accepted: A long standing rivalry between Twilight and Shining Armor; Rarity organizing a heist of some kind (Ultimately the backbone); Pinkie going to space; further interactions between Rainbow Dash and Zephyr Breeze; A.J. having a secret past; Fluttershy having a bad-ass spy moment; and Spike’s familial relationship with Twilight as a sibling. And when we put ALL these elements together… We get one of the funniest episodes the staff have put together, all serving as a tribute to the classic heist movies. And what heist could they possibly pull off? Why ‘stealing’ the crown of course!

Oh… That crown… Apparently people are still excited over paper mâché.

But on a more serious note, this plot device serves to further dive into the relationship between Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor (There’s a ton of flashbacks in this episode). By now, we are all familiar with the sibling dynamic in our personal lives and for years these two have competed to determine who is the best overall sibling. And believe it or not, they’d do just about ‘everything’ to get that crown.

And this is where Twilight’s love for charts comes into play.

Now it’s been implied that Shining Armor has held the crown the longest and at this point Twilight’s had little success of having the crown back on her head. We can only imagine just how desperate she is to finally win it back this year.

My precious!

This year, Shining Armor makes a bold challenge to Twilight Sparkle: To get the crown, all Twilight has to do is retrieve it from the throne room of the Royal Sister’s castle in Canterlot. Sounds easy, right? Nope… As ‘Captain of the Guard’, Shining Armor has taken every precaution to ensure Twilight won’t have easy access of getting in. Course, it’s not like he can go overboard… Could he?

This isn’t ‘Take Your Daughter to Work’ day; those are legit female guards!

The lengths that Twilight would have to go to penetrate every defense Shining Armor dishes out puts her in full ‘Twilight Mode’ taking up her entire throne room just to organize a plan:

I look at this equation and what comes to mind is the recipe for ‘toast’.

It’s a big task that Twilight herself won’t be able to accomplish alone, which is why she’s assembled her friends together knowing they have all the tools and their own talents to bypass all of Shining Armor’s defenses to help ‘Twilight win the crown’… Wow I never thought I’d use a reference from the first ‘Equestria Girls’ movie for this review. Anyways, it seems that Twilight has it all put together… Unfortunately, Shining Armor had already expected his own sister to formulate this kind of plan.

That look when someone already put together a project you’ve planned.

Of course, rather than just throw in the towel and accept defeat, Rarity devises a scheme so cunning that it’s crazy enough to work: Doing the ‘opposite’ of what everypony expects to happen!

Nopony expects the Spanish Inquis… Whoops, wrong story.

Anyways, with Rarity taking charge of the whole operation, she assigns every pony to fill in a role asking them what they’d do that nopony would expect. And as a form of symbolism to how the cast put together this story, every pony shares some rather interesting ideas…

Whelp, I lost the bet that this would be part of the ‘Cheese Sandwich’ episode.

Now I actually want to know how legit is this ‘Apple Chord’ story.

Damn it, I’m falling in love with a cartoon star again! (Don’t let Discord hear me say that)

With all that said, what do they have Twilight Sparkle doing in all this? Nothing… No, I’m not kidding, she has to do ‘nothing’ through the whole operation. Oooh that’s going to be tough…

That face when everyone gets the lead and you’re stuck in ensemble (I know I made this joke twice!)

And yet this is where the familiarity of the plot comes in: In your head, it all seems pretty bad ass that it’s a plan guaranteed to work. But if there’s one thing that sequences from ‘The Loud House’ or even as less known as ‘Laverne and Shirley’ has taught us, nothing ever goes as planned. And in this case for this episode…

“Wanna go to space, wanna go to space, SPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCE!"

“I don’t want lunch; I want pancakes!” (Props if you get the reference)

And this is why the shippers still pair Rainbow Dash with women... Or 'Soarin'.

As you can see, the plan to do things unexpected ends up going pear-shaped very quickly. Which when you think about it is pretty ironic that when they stick with the ‘formulaic’ method of how they typically handle the issue… It actually ends up working out better.

Huh… I can’t believe this actually worked.

But as it turns out, Shining Armor had been waiting for their arrival the entire time they had this all planned out and while he admitted he found the predictable route surprising, he still thinks Twilight failed to secure the crown. But it is only until this portion of the episode that we get a twist that some of us ‘may’ have seen coming and others didn’t (Unless you saw the ‘Behind the Scenes’ video before this episode, you know who you are):

I did it, ya see? And I’m glad, glad I tell ya!

Now if we can take a brief pause from the heist segment of the story, those who had paid attention to the subtle details of the story will notice there is a subplot between Twilight and Shining Armor’s rivalry. Most of us are so caught up in all the crazy shenanigans and references the ponies make, we almost ignore the fact that Spike had been looking forward to this competition ever since he was a baby:

This is a relatable topic for families, plus this was so adorable.

Turns out while Shining Armor was busy monologuing his plans and Twilight was attempting to find a way to penetrate past his defenses, Spike was already hard at work devising a plan to get the crown. Course, he couldn’t give away too much (At least not yet) as he allowed the girls to carry out their own plans while Spike just bided his time. Course, since this little Dragon couldn’t possibly get the crown on his own, he knew he needed some inside help. Some pony he knew could benefit to his plan, some pony who suspected Shining Armor’s ‘interior’ traps ignored the ‘bigger picture’, and some pony who is just as overshadowed as Spike…

My regret is that while I’m familiar with this pose, I never once saw ‘The Godfather’ in it's entirety.

Having carried out this plan so well and pulling off what none of the ponies suspected, it was only fair that Spike was given the crown. But it wasn’t just the crown he sought, but something far bigger: To be accepted as the little brother Twilight and Shining Armor always had. So, when we take the time to think about it, this was just as much a ‘Spike’ episode as it was a Mane Six episode also symbolizing how valuable Spike is to the cast. Sure this episode may not have been as big as the 100th episode to some degree, but the amount of absurdity, the expressions, the references, and even a few surprise appearances still leaves this episode an enjoyable experience for fans. And considering that this was an episode put together by the actors themselves, the work the crew put in to tie this all together, and that it was an episode dedicated to the fans for making this possible… This to me is a fun episode I’ll remember most of out of the season (Unless there’s some other good episodes yet to come).

Such an adorable ending, shame Applejack was hidden in the picture.

The Characters

Pros: As a love letter to the Mane Six themselves, each of them had the proper amount of screen time to shine during this episode and many of their moments we’re so memorable that it would be an injustice in saying who did the job the best. The madness Twilight herself is typically enjoyable to watch especially those cute moments when she one-ups Shining Armor in several areas:

Ironically this nearly defines my relationship with my younger sister.

Now if you’d take a look at this image, you cannot honestly say that this isn’t a subtle reference to the ‘Ocean’s’ movies:

All it needs is some ‘Noir’ editing and ‘Twilight’s Seven’ and it matches the 1960’s posters.

There were a ton of moments the Mane Six shared that made us laugh. Even though we knew what they imagined doesn’t quite turn out the way it works in reality, it’s interesting to note how it reflects a part of their character development. Some of their ideas is something we can expect (Whether it’s Pinkie’s random space pursuit or Rarity’s noir imagination) and some are so out there it’s no wonder some characters call out on the continuity…

My two takeaways: The outfit A.J. wears are proof she can pull off fashion and my desire to hear the full track has doubled.

But for me, the episode that really ties this whole episode together is the fact this has the feeling of a ‘Spike Episode’ that’s been done right…

We all feel for you Spike, most of us have been there.

Ever since Spike was first hatched in the very first season, it’s been debated where Spike stands as far as family is concerned. Although we’d want to see Spike’s real family (And not that fraud from last season), still fans wonder where he stands having lived with ponies for so long. Is Spike truly content with being Twilight’s number-one assistant or is there this desire to feel like a son or a little brother for Twilight? Over the course of the seasons we’ve grown used to Spike being the butt of jokes, often pushed aside or ignored for comic relief, or a glutton for punishment. And yet, even WAY back in previous generations, Spike has always been there for the ponies yet it’s this series in general he’s tried to prove himself to his friends as more than just a character to throw in witty remarks or just doing insane chores. So to Spike win the crown, handed to him by Twilight and Shining Armor for pulling a fast one under their eyes, for me is a well deserved victory for Spike proving that he’s truly the brother they’ve always had.

Don’t worry, I’m getting to you ladies.

Now of course, much like the 100th special, it was always fun to see these two bickering the way we expect sisters to do. Even though we often see them as the picture-perfect rulers every pony looks up to, Celestia and Luna still have their different viewpoints which shows when Celestia is all up for Shining Armor’s methods of security while Luna’s views on the flaws go unnoticed or pushed to the side. Which is why we knew Luna and Spike would have this alliance in making sure the latter can sneak off with the crown…

I’m about to make you an offer you can’t refuse.

Thereby the moments we see where everything seems to go wrong are no mere accidents. From Pinkie’s balloon imploding to Zephyr Breeze’s promotion to guard (I’ll get to him later), it was all concocted to throw everypony off guard while the real mastermind was at work. Something not even Princess Celestia could foresee.

One of these days’ Luna, one of these days… POW! To the moon!!!

The rest of the cast had pretty subtle moments in this episode from Shining Armor’s cockiness with comedic results…

When you try to keep a straight face knowing this show will soon be over.

Even something as subtle as some unexpected guest appearances…

I know she doesn’t play a huge role, but this part was priceless.

Cons: While there have been some decent characters moments throughout this special, sadly a few of the cast kind of got shafted in order to fulfill the plot brought together by our cast. Well, specifically just one…

You did remember I easily broke into your own castle, right?

To be fair, Kelly Sheridan wasn’t a full time member of the cast by this point and this ‘was’ an episode made specifically by the cast that started the show. I just felt that if anyone knew how to get into the throne room, you’d think Twilight Sparkle would’ve had Starlight Glimmer in on the whole scheme. But it seemed she only meant to appear just to have some pony take charge of the school while all her friends have all the fun. Never mind the fact that the one-time Starlight was neglected, she went ballistic and brainwashed an entire village… But why split-hairs. Overall, I know we are still early in the season and even Starlight is bound to have her moment eventually I just felt this was ONE nitpick I couldn’t ignore.

Yeah, I only accepted the job to pick up hot babes.

Now it’s no secret that I’m not a big ‘Zephyr Breeze’ fan (Though I respect the desire to have more interaction between Zephyr and Dash). For me, I see Zephyr as like Emperor Kuzco… Only twice as annoying and not as enjoyable (It’s also no secret I’m not a fan of ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’, mostly with the protagonist). And let’s face it, we started to piece together Luna only gave him the job of guarding the castle just to fail and frankly… That suit of armor just wasn’t cutting it. While I will admit some of his humor in this episode gave me a laugh, it was clear to see what an uncomfortable scene this was for Rainbow Dash (Though props on pulling off the Megara look).

Overall, for me this 200th episode was a fun experience to watch from start to finish. The subtle references to all the classic ‘Heist’ movies were clever, the humor in this episode was astounding, the various animation techniques were unique, and for a story crafted by the ideas of the cast it was a unique approach to the show. In the end, it accomplishes its goal of being a love letter not just to the actors who portrayed our favorite ponies but also giving a little Dragon credit where credit is due. Even though we know how this plot usually works or how some characters ended up pushed to the side, while it’s not as popular as the 100th episode I do agree that it was loads of fun in it’s own way. I’d go back and watch this episode over and over just because I had a fun time watching this.

But now the big question remains: What did YOU think? Be sure to leave a comment below when you get the chance.

Until next week, this is the Dramamaster829… Signing out!

When you contemplate revenge for being left out of an adventure... Again.