In all honesty, I'm at a loss of words. I seriously don't know how to describe this episode. Is it good or bad. I'm I happy or sad. I have no idea. I feel as though reality as I know it is falling to pieces. Diamond Tiara has finally been redeemed, but the thing is, I'm not sure if I wanted her to be. I wanted her to get more character development, yes, but I don't want to lose the character I've grown to like. Though, if you look at characters like Sunset Shimmer who started off kinda forgettable, but become more interesting after she was reformed, there still can be something said. I guess it really depends on how the writers handle her character now.

What are your thoughts?

That's basically my reaction, too. There's so much to process here I honestly don't know where to start. I'm just overloaded.

Meanwhile, my fanfics and headcanons somehow got completely smashed* and completely supported in the same blow, good lord.
Sheesh.

*Actually not that smashed with some backpedaling and work-around.

4769146 My "Diamond as Adamant" headcanon has been confirmed, for one.

My headcanon was more or less confirmed too - DT's cutie mark symbolized her talent for leadership all along. I literally cried at this one, guys! This episode was everything I dreamed it would be.

4769146 I'd have loved to have seen more interaction between Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon after their friendship split apart for that moment, but other than that, it was everything I ever hoped for regarding an episode with Diamond and Silver. Both of them received excellent amounts of character development and were redeemed, not to mention the huge moment at the end with the CMC. It also showed that musical episodes in MLP can be just as awesome as the usual episodes.

And maybe we'll get a musical when Rainbow Dash finally becomes a Wonderbolt.

Also, while some of my headcanons and fics may no longer align with canon, I'm actually thrilled with how everything turned out. Easily one of my top ten favorite episodes.

4769146 I can't believe they did it! But they did it so well! I don't know if they'll ever top this!

Honestly, I thought it would suck. Boy I was wrong. The songs were gorgeous. She finally have a song ! Rejouée !

Yes, I didn't want her to be redeemed, now it's done, and I'm okay with it. I'm just afraid that we never se her again, cuz she isn't an antagonist anymore.

It was everything I dreamed of and more. I was worried at first when the episode seemed to go out of its way in the beginning to establish yet again that DT is a spoiled brat, but that just made the scene with her mother afterwards all the more heart wrenching. I spent most of the second half of the episode with the biggest grin on my face and beyond ecstatic.

4769146 The bad news is, I'm not going to bother making my Nightmare Night DT fic because now the Crusaders have forgiven her.

On the other hand, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA They got their cutie marks! And Diamond's mother is an abusive wannabe social climber! And her talent is leadership! And she's using her powers for good! And Pip is president! And an entire song using unbreakable diamond imagery!

Also, Apple Bloom confirmed orphan!

THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!

Now she is reformed, Does this mean we will never see her adorable face scowling ever again ?

I just hope they get more episodes.

4769146 Well I don't know about you guys, but this episode put to an end of the Silver Spoon is redeemable, Diamond Tiara is not! fanon to the garbage.

Anyone agree with me.

4769357 Oh yes it did and I´m so happy =)
I loved the episode! And I don´t think this will be the end of Diamond Tiara unless the writers decide to cop out. In Friendship Games, they brough back Sunset Shimmer´s short temper anger self that was missing from Rainbow Rocks but she didn´t revert to a villian so they can have Diamond Tiara be a friend of the crusaders but still be a jerk all around like she wants to help them in one episode but her idea of help is "do everything as I told you to" so yes I´m really happy with how this turned out.

4769357
Oh, absolutely. And it was gorgeous.
Silver Spoon could have reacted a lot of ways to how rough Diamond treated her this episode, but she never simpers or cringes or cries at it. No, she gets offended. She gets mad. And then she turns around and unleashes all that nastiness normally reserved for the CMC on Diamond Tiara. This is not sweet, browbeaten filly who's only nasty because Diamond made her, she can dish out that cold cruelty all on her own. It's not a matter of "you're being mean and it tears me up inside" it's just a matter of friendship and being pushed too far this time.

In other news, someone hug this poor horse child immediately! Sweet lord, that is pure terror on this nine year old's face. That short flash of helpless despair in the thick of it kills me. All the fight just crushed out of her, it hurts to watch.

4769310

Also, Apple Bloom confirmed orphan!

THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!

Wow, harsh. :)

4769499 That's taken out of context!

Horrendous pacing, total ripoff of Pacifica Northwest, subtlety at absolute zero

and yet... I love it

4769310 Do this episode damage your story you are writing how?

4769642 My story was predicated on the idea that the CMC would hold onto the scars of their childhood forever, and assassinate Diamond Tiara as 'punishment' for the 'crime' of becoming a successful business pony. For a variety of reasons, I no longer feel comfortable doing this.

4769650 Okay.

4769650 Or you could write this as an Halloween oneshot and put the alternative would tag. More scories is always welcome.

4769786 Eh, possibly. My heart's not in it, though. DT is finally good in something that isn't fanon, and I can't bring myself to twist the CMC into vengeful murderers.

At least, not right now.

4769146 4769167 I'm literally broken up. I am morbidly happy to see others feel the same.
Hawthorn knows how I feel about the episode. But hell, it's so exhausting trying to keep it together. The conflicting storm within me is screaming so many conflicting things I can't decide. But I do know is that Diamond Tiara singing is ambrosia to my ears. That's all I can say for now.

4769310 Is it wrong of me that I cheered when AJ said all that? Because I cheered pretty hard. I'm such a bad pony. But I cheered with love FOR them! How does this help? I don't know.

4769945 I'm back, and I think I've finally figured everything out. How I feel about this episode, and how it has effected Diamond Tiara for me as a character. Go to my new thread, and you will gain the knowledge that you seek.

4770435 Oh I did, even without this notice, but yeah, I fully agree. Though my initial thoughts and fragmented love/hate moments will forever be sealed between me and Hawthorn. Never a good idea to try and do a review out of a fresh take of something. I'll certainly need more time. But for the most part, I welcome the change. Because, in the end, I love Diamond Tiara the character. Her good and her bad. She can still be tsundere, snarky, and sarcastic. That doesn't have to change.

But I can see it being used less. She has tried to befriend the CMC before, so calling them friends this time with all her heart didn't feel out of place. Not how I imagine the episode to go, but it was still emotionally powerful. Especially when Diamond Tiara came to Silver Spoon's aid as Silver was getting depressed/exhausted.

(I legit got misty eyed at this part. All my love for this.)

Wonderful episode. And DT even managed to plug the Cheerilee Schoolyard playset.

4770494

She can certainly be the same Diamond. Just because her outlook has changed doesn't mean she's a different pony. She doesn't even have to have reformed as much as we see in the episode.

Shortly after the episode ends:

Diamond slowly opened the door to the manor and walked inside, ready to head up to her room and rest after a long day. Her mother stopped her halfway, much as she'd expected.

"Diamond Tiara! I have some word for you, young filly!" her mother shrieked, predictably.

"And I have something to say to you, mother," she snapped back. "Hang out with the influential ponies? Are you blind? The moment those 'blank flanks' got their marks, the whole town was there. Everypony who was anypony in town was cheering them on. I could have shunned them, or sabotaged them, and I'd still just be the town bully, of no consequence to anypony."

She moved a little closer. "But because of what I did, I'm friends with the most influential fillies in town, the class president knows who he really owes his success to, and everypony knows it's really me that saved that playground for them. I have learned something, and it's something you never did. You can get your way better working with everypony rather then against them."

She headed up the stairs, leaving her shellshocked mother behind, but paused for a moment, looking back at her. "But then, I suppose you didn't have to do that, did you? All you had to do was marry Daddy. But some of us'll have to do things the hard way."

She slammed the door behind her, locked it, headed over to her desk, and started making her new plans to control the school behind the scenes...

--arcum42

4770554 HA! That was awesome. And even if she's in control, at least she'll be working with ponies for once. Even though it leaves room to go either way. Diamond Tiara, Double Triple Secret Agent Filly. Even SHE doesn't truly know whose side she's on.

4769565 So it IS possible to express those feelings in under 10k words or less. Yup. you pretty much summed up all my gripes with the episode. And yet, I too can't help but love the hell out of it.

4770681 You wrote a 10k word paper on this episode?

4770669

Thanks. Of course, there's room for both what she said in my omake and the episode to both be true. I just like her to stay a conniving, cunning manipulator while she turns her life around. As you may have noticed, I prefer slow reform.

Funny thing is that saying "All you had to do was sleep with Daddy." occurred to me, but the dialogue was filtered through the section of my brain that does my Diamond Tiara, and she's clueless about sex.

4770681
You know, sometime in the last month or two, I binged through Gravity Falls. I Pacifica Northwest. Of course, I Grenda, too...

--arcum42

4770686 That's the minimum I'd imagine to truly sort out my initial impressions. My views on the story. My feelings on the direction choice and so forth. This episode sort of left me mentally and emotionally conflicted. But yeah, you know how wordy I can get.

4770744 That's what I did when I first heard of Pacifica getting a redemption episode. Such a fun show. Loved the time travel episode so much. Dat screwdriver. THE FEELS.

4770888

Yeah, it's a fun, crazy, and intelligent show. I had a lot of fun watching it. Of course, I told Elric how much I was enjoying it, and he turned out to have been a big fan for a long time.

The time travel episode was great. I also enjoyed the one MA Larson wrote, with the multiple Dippers. The D&D one had a lot that I related to. And who can forget "The Last Mabelcorn"?

Hmm, I'd better go watch "Roadside Attraction"...

--arcum42

4770888 4770923
Yes. There is a reason why Gravity Falls is my personal number one for currently airing cartoons.

Just finished watching the episode. So thoughts as they come to me:
1. The lesson to be learned from the story is that, if Diamond thinks of you as a friend, good stuff happens to you. Whether you are worried about being freakishly strong, ashamed of having huge teeth, or are a blank flank, being friends with Diamond fixes that. On the other hand, if she doesn't really care for you, you are doomed to failure, season after season.
2. This episode follows the typical Silver Spoon fan-fic redemption plot: Pony is bad due to someone else, but really is nice. Breakup with friend as a low point. CMC friendship stuff happens. Pony now good.
3. Spoon once again revealed to be a true friend and to have a spine.
4. The high point for me was when Spoon was going to suggest to Diamond that she show that she really cares. Doesn't get that last word out, of course, due to Diamond, but that line, right there, shows that DT was never as cold-hearted as many thought her to be. And, of course, that Spoon has known this all along. Spoon secretly crushing on DT shipping fuel for you DT+Spoon shippers.
5. DT's singing parts during the election song, as well as her post election song... best song bits.
6. Twi has stained glass windows. DT has a stained-glass window. Princess DT in the future confirmed!
7. Hopefully DT will keep some of her snark/attitude, even if she is a better pony now.
8. The CMC's cutie marks essentially means they're career guidance counselors. A fitting choice for them though, especially with them all earning their cutie mark in a single episode. Also, opens up the possibility for various background foals, like Alula, to get some lines in future episodes. Just as long as there's still a good DT episode per season.
9. Hope that Diamond statue shows up again in a future episode.
10. Not my favorite Diamond episode, but still liked it better than most episodes this season.
11. Would have preferred this arc for her in the last season of the show, rather than now. But at least this guarantees it has been done. And she still has tons of potential for future episodes, so hopefully the writers take advantage of that.

4770554

4770744 4770888

This episode was amazing! My only complaint is that there could've been a little more interaction between DT and Silver to build to the breakup. Otherwise, this episode was as near to perfect as as you could get. I do hope Diamond still gets attention, and isn't cast out like Trixie; I am actually getting more worried about that the more I think about it.

I don't know about the rest of you who are fic writers but I have invested WAY too much time and effort in my story to let CotLM discourage me from continuing it. The canon giveth and the canon taketh away and the things that this show has provided me with is far greater than what one episode has undone. What I have in store for Di, Silver, and company is more poignant than Hasbro will allow dhx to go so I see myself in the position of providing something different.

I will never have tons of money. I will never be famous. I will never have hot movie starlets throw themselves at my feet. And I don't care. But by Celestia, I will finish this monster of a story of mine or die trying. That is the only thing I want to be remembered by.

4769146

I, for one, welcome our new cutie mark overlords thought this episode was totally adorable.

I didn't really like the cutie marks, though. They look wrong, somehow.

4769146 For a long time, Diamond Tiara was seen as a pariah by the fandom. So it's natural that such a surprise can come from a reformation episode like this. But the reason why people will still see her as a brute, is because it was natural from the beginning, and was only brought to an end in this particular episode.

The reason why people see Sunset Shimmer as a heroine now is because for both Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games, she was on the side of the Magic of Friendship, and used it to defeat the villains of both movies. And seeing that that's been shown more than her evil side, that's naturally what people think of Sunset Shimmer now.

As for a personal comparison, it stands to reason (at least for me) that Diamond Tiara is now like Egil from Xenoblade Chronicles. Both of them were misguided by false truths, and it led them to becoming unlikeable characters for most of the fanbases. It was only after they saw the light from their opposition that they turned themselves around and lended helping hands to them.

4777209 Dude! Spoilers for xenoblade? I know I can't afford the ridiculous price of the game online, and that it isn't localised in europe, but c'mon! can you spoiler tag that?

4777229 Sorry... Better?

4777276 Thank you.

4774333 I

will never have hot movie starlets throw themselves at my feet.

No hot starlets, Instead you have ackward brony like myself. That's a start.

And I don't care. But by Celestia, I will finish this monster of a story of mine or die trying. That is the only thing I want to be remembered by.

I'm glad you think that way, even if I though you are too ambitious for your own good. The Diamond exchange is a must-read for All DT fan.

4781391
I was up late last night and Telaros and I were trying to convince a Silver Spoon fan on derpibooru to read The Diamond Exchange. Judging from the comments, he spent the next 14 hours straight reading and commenting on the chapters one by one! I'm so honored by someone finding my work to be that good that I can't put it into words.

4802472 THE Serving Spoon. Not just *any* Silver Spoon fan, they are *the* Silver Spoon fan. <3

They used to be pretty regular around here as well, but they got busy. They reside normally within the Tumblrverse. But yes, Serving Spoon is hardcore. Totes the most lovable Spoon around. I sadly passed out for some hours while Serving continued to read and comment. I was hoping to be there the whole way through as they read just for funsies. xD