Okay, so the next episode is by Dave Rapp, and is called "The Parent Map", which I suppose rhymes with Rapp. He's credited on Newbie Dash, Flutter Brutter, and Where the Apple Lies. Well, no episodes I've decided to watch multiple times there. Come to think of it, I stopped Newbie Dash early on and never watched the rest of it. I forgot about that...

"The Parent Map" sounds kinda like the movie "Parent Trap", only with Twilight's friendship map involved. The friendship map sends somepony out to deal with a friendship problem with their parents? Maybe we find out that Scootaloo's parents are separated and she has an identical twin living with her other parent. Then we could get twice as much Scootaloo around.

Anyways, this is the discussion thread for the episode, so feel free to talk about it here! Though use spoiler tags at least until the episode's aired.

--Sweetie Belle

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i’m still trying to catch up on all the other episodes that have been least cost for some reason I cannot see them on YouTube and dailymotion does not have them either.

Anyways I’m really excited about this episode.

Actually it's going to be a Starlight Sunburst map mission.

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I'm actually behind a fair bit at the moment, too. I've got most of the episodes ready to watch that I've missed. I just have to do a bit of a marathon, and I'll probably do that soon.

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Well, it has the map in it, at least. If all the episodes I thought might revolve around Scootaloo did, the cutie mark crusaders would be the main three characters.

It still could be based on the plot of Parent Trap, tho'. (Or maybe it's a literal parent trap. Starlight wants to lure them into a trap so she can do magical experiments on them or something.)

--Sweetie Belle

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That's not Scootaloo on the right?

--Sweetie Belle

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No, no, no. Clearly parent map refers to AJ finding a pirate map left by her parents. She then gathers her friends as makeshift crew to find her parents only to find family treasure instead and a message from her parents that they are proud of all of their children.

Celestia and Luna's parents, Zecora's parents, Spike's parents, Discord's parents, Trixie's parents...

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and of course..... Sunset Shimmer's Parents.

I found this episode underwhelming.

I will say it was nice to see an episode featuring Sunburst and Starlight without their friendship being strained (The Crystalling, Uncommon Bond, Shadow Play). Then with the introduction of the feuding parents, it appeared the problem was one of conflict between preservation and development. I thought this would have been an innovative topic for a children's show. As one who loves history, I often bemoan the loss of our history (Civil War battlefields being paved over, historic homes torn down, or great ships sent to the scrapyard). So it would have been enjoyable to see an entire episode devoted to the subject. The fact that the true friendship problem was not related to progress, but with the parents, was an interesting twist, but also felt like we were going down a familiar path. Nevertheless, I hope the parents make a return - either in Ponyville or the Crystal Empire.

Dreadnought
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"Guys! Guys, guys! Guys!"

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The preservation vs development angle didn't really go anywhere and not having Applejack would have been a missed opportunity if they actually decided to explore the conflict between the parents. With Applejack being traditional yet still putting a value on utility and functionality, thus you can have Applejack critical of both side, i.e not being able to buy fruit and the bread not being editable.

Also the whole magic map is getting ridiculous, such friendship problems should be common to the point of it being futile to fix in such a manner. Basically the map is sending ponies on quests with no stakes, if Sunburst and Starlight failed, there would have been no real consequence for Equestria or even Sire's Hollow.

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I admit that I was hoping for some confirmation that Sunburst and Sunset are siblings...

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Same.

.....That past already.