When the Cutie Mark Crusaders are magically transformed into grownups,they discover that growing up the right way means gaining experience and wisdom that simply can’t be rushed.
Reminder: Links to unofficial streams/downloads of episodes are not allowed!
When another author releases his own version of the events in AK Yearling’s Daring Do books, Rainbow Dash is furious, while Fluttershy is curious to know the truth.
Reminder: Links to unofficial streams/downloads of episodes are not allowed!
Starlight decides to hire a Vice Headmare in preparation to take over the School of Friendship from Twilight. But she soon realizes that hiring the right pony for the job is going to be a lot harder than she thought.
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Twilight's hopes of keeping her Trivia Trot winning streak alive are waylaid when she's unexpectedly paired up with Pinkie Pie, who has never been to a trivia night before.
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Starlight Glimmer relishes her role as school counsellor and encourages the students to come to her anytime about anything , but she becomes overwhelmed and learns a lesson.
Reminder: Links to unofficial streams/downloads of episodes are not allowed!
Who the Hell is Lemon Crumble and why do you have so many sentences dedicated to lamenting her lack of inclusion? I know background ponies have big fanbases, but Goddamn, that's like complaining that the episode didn't have enough Octavia Melody.
Anyway, I always enjoy Trixie and Starlight's interactions with each other, so I really enjoyed this episode overall. Also Maud swooning over petrified Mudbriar finally made his existence slightly better than a worthless irritation.
Methinks Starlight has picked up some of Twilight's bad habits when it comes to overworking. The apple doesn't fall that far from the tree it seems.
This episode was a lot of fun. From Trixie's frustrations with Starlight's workaholic nature to Maud and Mud Briar's deadpan comedy, there were a lot of laughs to be had. And of course, the lesson about proper time management is always valuable. In other news, Silverstream now has a pet cockatrice. What more can you ask for?
Because I'm Lemon Crumble's fan. All the reason it needs.
Edit: For who she is, you can just follow the links in the blog entry and you'll see. Not much to tell about her, sadly, since she is a background filly without speaking role, so far. But I'll write a lot about her in a fic I am working on.
If you compare S9 Starlight to S6 Starlight, she’s almost unrecognizable. She actively tries to be responsible now, and it took active intervention from Trixie to convince her to take it easy on that front, for a bit.
The fact that I actually saw some people speculating based on the synopsis that this might involve brainwashing or something is kinda laughable.
It’s like how Rainbow Dash is significantly different from the pony who had an aversion to reading books, to being shocked that Wind Sprint didn’t like Daring Do (which to be fair, might’ve been Quibble’s fault, regarding how he presented it).
Mudbriar was more bearable here, and Sunburst saying "How do you tell the difference?" regarding him being unpetrified toward the end was perfect.
As for Silverstream (who expected her brother to return? Probably nobody), has she really had personal development on the "tell the others about what you’re up to" front before? I can’t recall if she has. Edith instantly made me appreciate Cockatrices more. Can we see more of her plz?
Regarding this part (unfortunately, there isn't a gif of it yet), I thought it was worth noting just how quickly Starlight ducked under that. She comes across as a skilled fighter, doesn't she? (Granted, it's been like that since S5)
Anyway, good episode. Starlight has needed some spotlight in this season, and so did Trixie.
This episode was essentially about the possibility of trying to be TOO selfless, which works for Starlight Glimmer, since she has been trying REAL hard to be a better person ever since her reformation. It makes sense that she would take it too far and overcompensate for her own past.
Regarding this part (unfortunately, there isn't a gif of it yet), I thought it was worth noting just how quickly Starlight ducked under that. She comes across as a skilled fighter, doesn't she? (Granted, it's been like that since S5)
Anyway, good episode. Starlight has needed some spotlight in this season, and so did Trixie.
Since you're bringing up a similar topic, I think I'll bring up a minor complaint: My annoyance that a top tier wizard who can vaporize trenches with non-combat spells alone
is running scared of entities that she should be able to literally roast in a single blast. Or literally any other spell. Who cares if they can turn you to stone? It clearly isn't instant, and can be avoided relatively easily if you avoid direct eye contact. And with how fast even basic combat spells can be cast? Let's be real here: It's the Cockatrices that should be running.
This may be just me shrugs, but, a bit disturbing that Terramar came in, frantically saying his sister is lost (judging from his tone, maybe be gone forever or critically injured or hell, dead) and Trixie stands there, chewing her food, looking more apathetic than Maud or Mud.
Besides the other comment I made here, I liked the episode and enjoyed the Maud and Mud interaction, especially when he got turned into stone. I'm one of the few people who actually likes the shipping and so I enjoyed the scenes of that. derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/6/8/2060948.png
...Why weren't there substitute teachers for the school? Why not close it if 90% of the staff was going to ditch?
Are these really the ponies Celestia and Luna have slated to take over for them? Because so far, the Main 6 seem to be living up to Neighsay's exact reasons why he didn't want the school in the first place...
Bright side, more Trixie and Starlight is never a bad thing. Just wish the writers would stop butchering the Main 6 while they were at it...
My understanding is that the school was on Spring break, Starlight Glimmer just remained on duty to help those remaining students who hadn't left for their own breaks yet. There were no classes in session to teach, which is why there were no teachers around.
...Why weren't there substitute teachers for the school?
It was stated that it was the beginning of Spring Break, Starlight was just taking care of things until everyone went home.
Because so far, the Main 6 seem to be living up to Neighsay's exact reasons why he didn't want the school in the first place...
That's a pretty out of context reasoning. Neighsay disliked the idea for the school at the beginning because there were non-ponies attending, the Mane 6 having their Adventures was a minor addition to that complaint.
Not to mention the fact that Twilight was already shown to have a contingency plan regarding having Starlight recruit back-up teachers in case they did have to leave (case in point: Matter of Principals)
Just wish the writers would stop butchering the Main 6 while they were at it...
Not sure where that comes from, the Mane 6 have been written in character in pretty much every episode this season so far.
5071535 In general I dislike how people often mention that "Neighsay was right" but completely ignore that NEighsay didn't particularly care about his own points and only made them when it would make his racist stance sound more legitimate.
He flat out says "Maybe If you had higher standards for who was admitted, this could have been avoided." referring to the non pony students. But even if ponies were the only creatures in attendance, that wouldn't change the fact that the teachers were supposedly unqualified now, would it? So, by his own admission, the teachers being unqualified isn't what he cares about.
Trixie and Maud were gloriously brilliant this episode.
(Good job, really, since Silverstream burned a lot of the very limited amount of good will she's generated.
Though at least she (or Twilight) wasn't stupid enough to actually go wandering around like an idiot, because she was clearly so overworked she forget a) the most logical place to look for her student (until they actually got there, I genuinely though Starlight had checked there to start with) and b) that she's so ridiculously OP that she could probably have vaporised the entire valley full of cockatrices or just peterified THEM, yes Starlight, I mean you!
I think Starlight glueing the idiot ball to her horn clearly showed that working herself silly dealing with really stupid problem adults (even young adults) couldn't be arsed to deal with themselves is very emphatically thr wrong way to go about things...
I would have to say I enjoyed the episode but Trixie to me was a little too harsh in a way I mean its Starlights job she gets paid to do that stuff (at least I hope).
Also didn't the school year just start!? how can it be spring break! I really dislike the time flow if this show sometimes. It being spring d would mean its close to the end of the students third year.
the beginning of season eight was the first year that the hearths warming special is the mid point in year two and the beginning of nine is year three. that's my time line for the two seasons we lost practically two entire school years just. oh not to mention its now been about half a year since the princesses announced retirement.
So we finally get a new Starlight episode (hopefully not the only one this season).
To think, it wasn't so long ago that Starlight felt like she had nothing to do as guidance counselor, and now she's got so many students lining up to see her all the time that she can barely tear herself away (to Trixie's annoyance).
It was great to see all of Starlight's friends together, along with Mudbriar and Terramar. They all had funny moments (like Maud liking Mudbriar even as a statue), and nice chemistry amongst the group.
And Silverstream apparantly has a way with animals. No prizes for guessing where she picked that up...
In the end, this was another great season 9 episode. Starlight really got to shine here. As I said above, let's hope she can get at least one more episode in the second half of the season.
Who was Lily talking to! I mean, there was one scene where Lily Valley was in the background talking to a pony with a grey coat and white hair. The animated their lips like a conversation was going on. Do they always do that with ponies who are just in the background. The amount of mouth animation makes me think this was more then just random ponies picked for scenery. On the other hand, I've seen that guy in Canterlot before. He's probably a Canterlot pony who accidentally got animated into Ponyville, Right?
Alright episode. The conflict(s) could've been entirely avoided on numerous occasions, but I suppose that's fine. There was one thing that bothered me though...
Spring doesn't have a solstice, it has an equinox. Yet many of the characters still referred to the 'Spring Solstice', with the term 'equinox' only being used once.
5071509 Oh my gosh. I like the MaudBriar ship too. Also, it's not like Mudbriar was being annoying on purpose. Regarding Mudbriar, I did realize something admittedly off-putting. Mudbriar's only takeaway from being turned to stone was that being a rock gave them a greater appreciation for them, so is he saying that he in a way ENJOYED being a rock? Oh, yeah, he and Maud were made for each other.
I liked this episode. Nice to see an episode focused on Starlight and Trixie and their friends. Maud and Mudbriar were great throughout, and this episode reminded me of how much I like them as a couple. Nice to see Terramar and Silverstream some more as well. So far I've liked every episode of season 9, and I'm hoping that continues until the end of the season.
Message aside, this episode was a great example of how much the "B" cast can carry an episode. This one felt so refreshing getting to new character interactions and the comedy was spot on. It's a shame were only getting episodes like this now in the final season. Starlight and her circle could easily support their own spin off.
Today's Lessons: If your crazy lesbian wants to hang out—give her attention. Never go between an angry lesbian and her wife. Agalmatophilia is a word and canon to the show. It's petrifying to gaze at a cock.
My favorite episode this season. Heck, I liked this episode better than any from S8, nudging out even On the Road to Friendship and The End in Friend.
Not terribly important, but there have only been four episodes to date that lack any M6 appearance. The other three were all CMC episodes, making this the first one to include no "major" characters in it. Only Trixie is an "OG." The three other episodes were On Your Marks, Hard to Say Anything, and Marks and Recreation.
Trixie was amazing in this episode. I just love her honesty/dishonesty duality. She keeps her promises, but she also has a lot of experience in convincing others that she has a lot of experience dealing with dangerous monsters from the Everfree. Between her picnic at the start, her behavior while out shopping, at the underground party, and her antics in the Everfree, I loved every single expression, word, sound, growl, or sigh she made.
It feels like Mudbriar has made some growth since his introduction last season. Instead of simply spouting off with "technically ..." he has, several times, followed it up with some acknowledgment of the context/point of view of others. That's kind of interesting, in a minute way. For the most part though I enjoyed Maud's behavior around and concerning him, even if it is an icky straight ship.
Sunburst kind of felt like a token addition to the episode. He wasn't bad or anything, he just felt included because he needed to be there as one of Starlight's friends.
As for Glimmy, not only does she continue to have the best interactions with Trixie, she had a pretty great story to tell here. Unlike a lot of other conflicts, this one was the tug of war between several "right" sides, with the eventual correct answer at the end being a compromise between those sides rather than declaring one or the other the winner. This is how you present a "balance between work and play" moral, unlike the previous episode.
The episode didn't really focus on Silverstream, but I somewhat fear this will count as "her episode" for the season. Again, the hypothesis begins with She's All Yak, includes Sweet and Smokey, and potentially now Student Council. If I'm right, we'll see three more episodes this season with some degree of "focus" on Gallus, Ocellus, and Sandbar. If we do, I hope they're as unfocused as this one and Sweet and Smokey were, but I also hope we'll get a real focus episode for Silverstream and Smolder.
As for her actual contribution to the episode, I liked seeing a more developed side to her. She's still got a rather childlike lack of cynicism and you can still see her approach to problems is that of someone isolated from the world. She's past the silly "omg, stairs!" state of wonder at practically everything, and she's moving on to try to teach her younger cousins about stuff. She's such a fun character.
Overall, this episode was great. It included some of the best characters in the series, and even the less great ones were pretty pleasant on screen. The interactions were top notch, and the plot and resolution were great. The moral was solid, and it was delivered reasonably by way of actual discussion and changing of minds at the end. Good lessons for many on this site to pay attention to and learn from!
Not terribly important, but there have only been four episodes to date that lack any M6 appearance. The other three were all CMC episodes, making this the first one to include no "major" characters in it. Only Trixie is an "OG." The three other episodes were On Your Marks, Hard to Say Anything, and Marks and Recreation.
Actually, "To Change A Changeling" did not include any of the Mane 6 or CMC's either. "Frenemies" TECHNICALLY didn't either, depending on whether or not you count Chrysalis' change into Twilight Sparkle.
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Well, since I'm having an opportunity to leave the first comment here, I might as well go and link this:
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/859914/student-counsel-review-from-villain-to-workaholic-or-lemon-crumble-where-are-you
It is a good episode. It was nice how it portrayed Starlight and Trixie as both having good points.
Pretty decent episode. So far, Season 9 hasn't made an absolutely terrible episode yet, and I hope it keeps it up.
Okay, flirty Maud was hilariously wonderful. I kind of want to see more of her.
5071478
Who the Hell is Lemon Crumble and why do you have so many sentences dedicated to lamenting her lack of inclusion? I know background ponies have big fanbases, but Goddamn, that's like complaining that the episode didn't have enough Octavia Melody.
Anyway, I always enjoy Trixie and Starlight's interactions with each other, so I really enjoyed this episode overall. Also Maud swooning over petrified Mudbriar finally made his existence slightly better than a worthless irritation.
Methinks Starlight has picked up some of Twilight's bad habits when it comes to overworking. The apple doesn't fall that far from the tree it seems.
This episode was a lot of fun. From Trixie's frustrations with Starlight's workaholic nature to Maud and Mud Briar's deadpan comedy, there were a lot of laughs to be had. And of course, the lesson about proper time management is always valuable. In other news, Silverstream now has a pet cockatrice. What more can you ask for?
[maud] swoooooooon.
5071490
Because I'm Lemon Crumble's fan.
All the reason it needs.
Edit: For who she is, you can just follow the links in the blog entry and you'll see. Not much to tell about her, sadly, since she is a background filly without speaking role, so far.
But I'll write a lot about her in a fic I am working on.
5071483
On the contrary, this has been the first episode that wasn't objectively terrible.
5071496
I have to be honest: I thought that was a colt at first because of the hairstyle.
If you compare S9 Starlight to S6 Starlight, she’s almost unrecognizable. She actively tries to be responsible now, and it took active intervention from Trixie to convince her to take it easy on that front, for a bit.
The fact that I actually saw some people speculating based on the synopsis that this might involve brainwashing or something is kinda laughable.
It’s like how Rainbow Dash is significantly different from the pony who had an aversion to reading books, to being shocked that Wind Sprint didn’t like Daring Do (which to be fair, might’ve been Quibble’s fault, regarding how he presented it).
Mudbriar was more bearable here, and Sunburst saying "How do you tell the difference?" regarding him being unpetrified toward the end was perfect.
As for Silverstream (who expected her brother to return? Probably nobody), has she really had personal development on the "tell the others about what you’re up to" front before? I can’t recall if she has. Edith instantly made me appreciate Cockatrices more. Can we see more of her plz?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/5/22/2045978__safe_screencap_starlight+glimmer_sunburst_student+counsel_spoiler-colon-s09e11_blast_cartoonito+logo_magic_magic+blast_pony.png
Regarding this part (unfortunately, there isn't a gif of it yet), I thought it was worth noting just how quickly Starlight ducked under that. She comes across as a skilled fighter, doesn't she? (Granted, it's been like that since S5)
Anyway, good episode. Starlight has needed some spotlight in this season, and so did Trixie.
In which Smolder is a little shit, and Gallus isn't pleased. She isn't entirely unlike her brother.
5071500
This episode was essentially about the possibility of trying to be TOO selfless, which works for Starlight Glimmer, since she has been trying REAL hard to be a better person ever since her reformation. It makes sense that she would take it too far and overcompensate for her own past.
5071500
Since you're bringing up a similar topic, I think I'll bring up a minor complaint: My annoyance that a top tier wizard who can vaporize trenches with non-combat spells alone
is running scared of entities that she should be able to literally roast in a single blast. Or literally any other spell. Who cares if they can turn you to stone? It clearly isn't instant, and can be avoided relatively easily if you avoid direct eye contact. And with how fast even basic combat spells can be cast? Let's be real here: It's the Cockatrices that should be running.
5071499
That can happen.
This may be just me shrugs, but,
a bit disturbing that Terramar came in, frantically saying his sister is lost (judging from his tone, maybe be gone forever or critically injured or hell, dead) and Trixie stands there, chewing her food, looking more apathetic than Maud or Mud.
Besides the other comment I made here, I liked the episode and enjoyed the Maud and Mud interaction, especially when he got turned into stone.
I'm one of the few people who actually likes the shipping and so I enjoyed the scenes of that.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/6/8/2060948.png
Also,
That's okay, I enjoy seeing Knighty make mistakes anyway.
Okay, a couple things:
Trixie and Starlight are totally dating. Trixie totally has that "I don't like being stood up" vibe going for her.
Absolutely love how Mudbriar's "technically" attitude annoys everyone and not just Pinkie.
Also, part of me wishes that Pinkie Pie was in this episode, if only to have this interaction:
Maud and Stonebriar... uh, Maud? Children are watching.....
And finally, can we all just acknowledge the awesomeness of the fact that Silverstream managed to tame a Cockatrice!?
Mudbriar: so terrible that when he gets petrified, even his marefriend thinks it's an improvement.
(But honestly, he's a lot more bearable when people call him out on his "Technically..." habit.)
5071522
To be fair, this is Maud we're talking about....
derpicdn.net/img/2019/6/8/2060815/medium.jpeg
...Why weren't there substitute teachers for the school?
Why not close it if 90% of the staff was going to ditch?
Are these really the ponies Celestia and Luna have slated to take over for them?
Because so far, the Main 6 seem to be living up to Neighsay's exact reasons why he didn't want the school in the first place...
Bright side, more Trixie and Starlight is never a bad thing. Just wish the writers would stop butchering the Main 6 while they were at it...
5071528
My understanding is that the school was on Spring break, Starlight Glimmer just remained on duty to help those remaining students who hadn't left for their own breaks yet. There were no classes in session to teach, which is why there were no teachers around.
5071528
It was stated that it was the beginning of Spring Break, Starlight was just taking care of things until everyone went home.
That's a pretty out of context reasoning. Neighsay disliked the idea for the school at the beginning because there were non-ponies attending, the Mane 6 having their Adventures was a minor addition to that complaint.
Not to mention the fact that Twilight was already shown to have a contingency plan regarding having Starlight recruit back-up teachers in case they did have to leave (case in point: Matter of Principals)
Not sure where that comes from, the Mane 6 have been written in character in pretty much every episode this season so far.
5071535
In general I dislike how people often mention that "Neighsay was right" but completely ignore that NEighsay didn't particularly care about his own points and only made them when it would make his racist stance sound more legitimate.
He flat out says "Maybe If you had higher standards for who was admitted, this could have been avoided." referring to the non pony students. But even if ponies were the only creatures in attendance, that wouldn't change the fact that the teachers were supposedly unqualified now, would it? So, by his own admission, the teachers being unqualified isn't what he cares about.
Trixie and Maud were gloriously brilliant this episode.
(Good job, really, since Silverstream burned a lot of the very limited amount of good will she's generated.
Though at least she (or Twilight) wasn't stupid enough to actually go wandering around like an idiot, because she was clearly so overworked she forget a) the most logical place to look for her student (until they actually got there, I genuinely though Starlight had checked there to start with) and b) that she's so ridiculously OP that she could probably have vaporised the entire valley full of cockatrices or just peterified THEM, yes Starlight, I mean you!
I think Starlight glueing the idiot ball to her horn clearly showed that working herself silly dealing with really stupid problem adults (even young adults) couldn't be arsed to deal with themselves is very emphatically thr wrong way to go about things...
5071508
Personally, I thought Trixie giving no fracks was absolutely priceless.
5071538
Yup. To quote some lost cause on FimFiction:
5071500
Yes, isn't it nice when character development happens?
Never thought I'd see an episode where other ponies - Maud included - didn't have time for Mudbriar's technicalities.
Maud did have some good lines. Silverstream taming an alpha cockatrice was badass.
5071518 That dialogue was funny
Seriously, like the funniest episode of the season so far. Great episode.
Does Starlight feel old already?
I would have to say I enjoyed the episode but Trixie to me was a little too harsh in a way I mean its Starlights job she gets paid to do that stuff (at least I hope).
Also didn't the school year just start!? how can it be spring break! I really dislike the time flow if this show sometimes. It being spring d would mean its close to the end of the students third year.
the beginning of season eight was the first year that the hearths warming special is the mid point in year two and the beginning of nine is year three. that's my time line for the two seasons we lost practically two entire school years just. oh not to mention its now been about half a year since the princesses announced retirement.
So we finally get a new Starlight episode (hopefully not the only one this season).
To think, it wasn't so long ago that Starlight felt like she had nothing to do as guidance counselor, and now she's got so many students lining up to see her all the time that she can barely tear herself away (to Trixie's annoyance).
It was great to see all of Starlight's friends together, along with Mudbriar and Terramar. They all had funny moments (like Maud liking Mudbriar even as a statue), and nice chemistry amongst the group.
And Silverstream apparantly has a way with animals. No prizes for guessing where she picked that up...
In the end, this was another great season 9 episode. Starlight really got to shine here. As I said above, let's hope she can get at least one more episode in the second half of the season.
This one was all around great. Attention to detail in the animation (The books falling over!), comedy, moral, I love it.
I mean, there was one scene where Lily Valley was in the background talking to a pony with a grey coat and white hair. The animated their lips like a conversation was going on. Do they always do that with ponies who are just in the background. The amount of mouth animation makes me think this was more then just random ponies picked for scenery. On the other hand, I've seen that guy in Canterlot before. He's probably a Canterlot pony who accidentally got animated into Ponyville, Right?
Alright episode. The conflict(s) could've been entirely avoided on numerous occasions, but I suppose that's fine. There was one thing that bothered me though...
Spring doesn't have a solstice, it has an equinox. Yet many of the characters still referred to the 'Spring Solstice', with the term 'equinox' only being used once.
A N G E R Y
This episode was all over the place. But it was nice to have Terramar back, and Maud's moments were priceless.
5071509
Oh, yeah, he and Maud were made for each other. 
Oh my gosh. I like the MaudBriar ship too. Also, it's not like Mudbriar was being annoying on purpose. Regarding Mudbriar, I did realize something admittedly off-putting. Mudbriar's only takeaway from being turned to stone was that being a rock gave them a greater appreciation for them, so is he saying that he in a way ENJOYED being a rock?
I liked this episode. Nice to see an episode focused on Starlight and Trixie and their friends. Maud and Mudbriar were great throughout, and this episode reminded me of how much I like them as a couple. Nice to see Terramar and Silverstream some more as well. So far I've liked every episode of season 9, and I'm hoping that continues until the end of the season.
5071601
Especially since there's a built-in pun right there for EQUINox!
5071601
How could the conflicts have been avoided, in your opinion? Just asking.
5071545
Cancer.
Message aside, this episode was a great example of how much the "B" cast can carry an episode. This one felt so refreshing getting to new character interactions and the comedy was spot on. It's a shame were only getting episodes like this now in the final season. Starlight and her circle could easily support their own spin off.
Finally more Terramar.
5071564
¨
Yeah, but even the most demanding of jobs needs to have hours off.
And Starlight was at work 24/7, no time off, no time for herself or her friends.
That makes it basically slave-labor, rather than a real job.
Sounds like you haven't been paying attention.
In 'non-compete clause' it was clearly shown that Fluttershy has won teacher of the MONTH award for 8 months.
So alone by that episode, the season has taken almost a year.
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/3/32/Fluttershy_the_eight-time_Teacher_of_the_Month_S8E9.png/revision/latest?cb=20180513140621
Today's Lessons:
If your crazy lesbian wants to hang out—give her attention.
Never go between an angry lesbian and her wife.
Agalmatophilia is a word and canon to the show.
It's petrifying to gaze at a cock.
My favorite episode this season. Heck, I liked this episode better than any from S8, nudging out even On the Road to Friendship and The End in Friend.
Not terribly important, but there have only been four episodes to date that lack any M6 appearance. The other three were all CMC episodes, making this the first one to include no "major" characters in it. Only Trixie is an "OG." The three other episodes were On Your Marks, Hard to Say Anything, and Marks and Recreation.
Trixie was amazing in this episode. I just love her honesty/dishonesty duality. She keeps her promises, but she also has a lot of experience in convincing others that she has a lot of experience dealing with dangerous monsters from the Everfree. Between her picnic at the start, her behavior while out shopping, at the underground party, and her antics in the Everfree, I loved every single expression, word, sound, growl, or sigh she made.
It feels like Mudbriar has made some growth since his introduction last season. Instead of simply spouting off with "technically ..." he has, several times, followed it up with some acknowledgment of the context/point of view of others. That's kind of interesting, in a minute way. For the most part though I enjoyed Maud's behavior around and concerning him, even if it is an icky straight ship.
Sunburst kind of felt like a token addition to the episode. He wasn't bad or anything, he just felt included because he needed to be there as one of Starlight's friends.
As for Glimmy, not only does she continue to have the best interactions with Trixie, she had a pretty great story to tell here. Unlike a lot of other conflicts, this one was the tug of war between several "right" sides, with the eventual correct answer at the end being a compromise between those sides rather than declaring one or the other the winner. This is how you present a "balance between work and play" moral, unlike the previous episode.
The episode didn't really focus on Silverstream, but I somewhat fear this will count as "her episode" for the season. Again, the hypothesis begins with She's All Yak, includes Sweet and Smokey, and potentially now Student Council. If I'm right, we'll see three more episodes this season with some degree of "focus" on Gallus, Ocellus, and Sandbar. If we do, I hope they're as unfocused as this one and Sweet and Smokey were, but I also hope we'll get a real focus episode for Silverstream and Smolder.
As for her actual contribution to the episode, I liked seeing a more developed side to her. She's still got a rather childlike lack of cynicism and you can still see her approach to problems is that of someone isolated from the world. She's past the silly "omg, stairs!" state of wonder at practically everything, and she's moving on to try to teach her younger cousins about stuff. She's such a fun character.
Overall, this episode was great. It included some of the best characters in the series, and even the less great ones were pretty pleasant on screen. The interactions were top notch, and the plot and resolution were great. The moral was solid, and it was delivered reasonably by way of actual discussion and changing of minds at the end. Good lessons for many on this site to pay attention to and learn from!
5071696
Actually, "To Change A Changeling" did not include any of the Mane 6 or CMC's either. "Frenemies" TECHNICALLY didn't either, depending on whether or not you count Chrysalis' change into Twilight Sparkle.
5071697
Good catch. I forgot about those two episodes. My mistake.
5071676
Wait, it is canon?