Got No Beef Whatsoever!

---Season 9--Episode 7 - She's All Yak

I've always enjoyed the Student 6 than it seems most people do on this website (although that's just among the sample size of bloggers I follow). But I never expected to be cheering this much Yona. In her montage, Yona is never spontaneously inept at something, and the strides felt objectively obtainable, just requiring rigorous work. And she works her butt off and attains it.

It would have been really easy to furlough Rarity into being less sensitive than she should be to Yona's struggle. At worst, it might have made her into a condescending prick. But this is the woman who we all admire for her maximum effort, and no hesitation in giving. She never demeans Yona's physicality, her sociology or culture. Her enthusiasm comes from the excitement of sharing something that brings her joy. In fact, this might have been Rarity's first chance to ever do so; I can't recall a time where any of the Mane 6 or CMC ever asked her to tutor them so much in higher society. Also, I'm going to steal quote FanOfMostEverything's overview to add something on:

The song reflects the same issue Rarity showed in “Spice Up Your Life.” She’s brilliant when it comes to operating within the bounds of society, but she has a blind spot when it comes to when it’s best to work from outside of those bounds. She may innovate in terms of fashion, but she plays the rest of the game by the rules.

Actually, all the non-royalty Mane 6 got to share their passions that logically tied in to the Ball, and giving advice to Yona. Amity Ball worked remarkably well as a device for including the original cast that went beyond cameos, and didn't feel awkwardly shoehorned. Also, how rare is it for an episode to have all of the girls EXCEPT for Twilight be have a supporting role in a story?

The time Yona spent with her teachers is never actually portrayed as detrimental or some kind of "pony-washing." Her newfound skills were achieved with her qualities of work ethic, and can probably serve her later in life. (You'll notice that the show never slights her change in recipe for the potluck; that root stew seemed more in line with survival rations.) But there are still nods at ethnic exclusivity that persist even after the threat of overt racism has been defeated back in Season 8. Along with the name change to the award implemented at the very end, Spike accidently slips in the Fetlock Fete, reminding us that the Ponyvillians have essentially lifted and transplanted one of their own celebrations. Yona is literally pointing it out the (unintentionally) intended audience with the pony silhouettes on the posters. How often has the MLP community seen or used that artstyle and imagery in our own fan works? These stylized pony silhouettes that have for so long been part of the details of the living setting. But now Equestria itself might now be making the conscious decision to alter that.

This recognizable shift in the culture reminds me of how the trailer for the new Adams Family begins.

A really amazing detail is how the end product of Yona's dress doesn't really look right on Yona. The dress itself isn't ugly at all. It just never looks like it's suppose to go over a Yak.

_{The wig does kinda suck.}

It doesn't fit her form and feels more stretched , and the colors aren't right for the distinct mud brown that makes up most of her color pallet. This seems like was literally meant for the pony form of Yona, working with the typical pony form, and having the cream color of her muzzle suddenly extending all across her. Think back to what Fluttershy was wearing during her stint as a model; she may have hated the role, but most of those outfits looked like natural extensions of her character. They didn't just look good, they looked good on Fluttershy. Whoever illustrated all this is a true artist that understands the language of fashion, and captures a struggle that some demographics of people face when accessorizing themselves or are using designing as expression. Say, a black women whose natural hair won't ever be falling down shoulders and back (barring copious hair product).

The only true downside that stuck out to me were the overabundance of cartoon physics towards the end. Yona trips with one leg, and suddenly she's launched at a 15 foot arc. That could be believable if she went off balance while charging, as would happen during during School Daze. But not while just taking several-inch steps. This hyper-destructiveness is something I had worried about earlier with the "spontaneous ineptitude," although not as demeaning to Yona or the audience. Recall the destruction at the end of the first Grand Galloping Gala. The scale of property destruction came from more logical preceding steps, with a statue tilting on its axis (Rainbow Dash) and knocking one heavy pillar into the next. Then we got an unspecified number of scared animals spreading the destruction across the venue. It also just feels more satisfying because each character's faff-up was building up, and then combine like Faux Pas Voltron.

Then there's this weird habit of characters running at full tilt whenever they lose their vision. This is something I found bizzare and extremely annoying back in Games Ponies Play with Peachbottom. When someone's cut off from light, their first instinct is to try and figure out their surroundings. Why would that ever lead to a decision to INCREASE their speed?

I guess I'm suppose to realize that this is a reference to the instincts and habits of animals, much like when crowds of ponies shake the ground they're standing on instead of applauding. But that could be made more clear with unspoken details, like a yelling yak noise from Yona her sight is taken from her.