This post is copied wholesale from my off-site blog.

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Welcome to the Sky Show

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Back in 2013 and 2014, I wrote a lot of posts about showing and telling. Forget the subtleties for now. Here are the basics:

- "Showing" means depicting concrete actions, places, or things, or using poetic metaphors that are vivid and communicate more precisely than an equal number of words of literal description could.

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So I recently got back from Everfree Northwest. I should probably consider making a recap blog of that, but for now I've been trying to unwind and get back to work and the like.

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Exodus: Gods and Kings (March 1st)

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Mar 3rd)

Star vs The Forces of Evil (Mar 8th)

Sleeping Beauty (Mar 10th)

Gargoyles (Mar 15th)

Captain Marvel (Mar 17th)

The Incredible Hulk [2008] (Mar 22nd)

Bee Movie (Mar 24th)

Batman: Year One (Mar 29th)

Batman: Gotham Knight (Mar 31st)

Yes, there are still annoying continuity issues. Yes, the "here's Fluttershy going over the top" bit is still overlong. But honestly? It was more fun second time through. I think this might be because on initial viewing I was on tenterhooks waiting for the bits when Rarity and Fluttershy bonded in some adorable way -- and, except right at the end, I didn't get them. I felt so disappointed. Second time through, I knew I wasn't going to get that and so it bothered me less when it didn't arrive.

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Yup, there's a show I just got introduced to the other week. And I LOVE it. I'll provide hints as to what it is:

1. It's animated
2. It's a mystery show.
3. Its name is the location it takes place in.
4. There's codes at the end of each episode.
5. The villain is a demon of chaos.
6. The show airs on Disney XD
7. The theme has no words.

I remember saying this way back in season 5. But so this is where all the songs went.

Oh look, we have all the background ponies preparing for Hearthswarming eve, yay. Canon-shipping Lemon Hearts?! Also, Muffins ya derp

Oh hey! It's Starligh-

Oh haha, you're just kidding right?

Right?

RIGHT?!!?

>Title sequence plays

...

Twilight's favorite Hearthswarming story? Here we go then...

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Discovery Family have confirmed, with the release of a trailer stating the date, that Season Six of Friendship is Magic will begin not in May, as we'd been led to believe, but on Easter Saturday. The trailer is very spoilery, so watch it at your own risk! But yikes, all of a sudden the new season is almost upon us. I'm pleased to find that yes, I am very much hyped for it: no sign of interest diminishing here. Looking forward

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Mixed feelings. Fairly funny on the whole, and the song battle was enjoyable. On the other hand, I got a bit bored by the actual romance stuff. So not as good as episode 7, but still a reasonably solid time-passer. ★★/★★★

Sorry guys, but there's no way I'm waiting several weeks to say anything about a new episode. My guideline is "first official showing", and if that means Treehouse, so be it. I will use page breaks more than usual, though. Anyway, today's episode was a pretty typical G. M. Berrow story: not exactly deep, but cute and with some fun guest characters. I'm obviously biased when there's a Fluttershy episode, but there wasn't a great deal of depth here. So, yet another ★★★ ep.

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Yeah, I'm late with this. I'm late with everything just now. Anyway: a step up from last week, mostly due to the fantastic Starlight/Trixie snarkfest. We didn't really need anything else. We got Thorax, who seems to have put a few of Ember's lessons into practice. We also got Pharynx, who was fairly fun. But apparently bullying is good. Hmm. With just the ponies arguing, this could have been a four. ★★★

Can't say much about this one without spoilers, but I thought it mixed rather too much cringe humour (even for me) with some really interesting character development. This three-star rating is definitely one of the more provisional ones, but it may take until much later in the season (or even series) to firm it up entirely. ★★★ ★★★★Bumped up to four on a rewatch!

I've actually seen the finale already, but my schedule hasn't got back to normal yet, so... this wasn't bad by episode 24 standards. Made me feel outright sorry for Starlight in a way I don't think I had before. Still don't find Sunburst that interesting, though. ★★★

I was a bit underwhelmed with this week's episode. For a start, it was really three short specials stuck together with a rather weak camping story. I didn't find the legends that interesting either, a little surprisingly as I've generally enjoyed the comics they tie in with. Also, while I loved the clear affection Rainbow showed towards Scootaloo, I didn't like the way Scoots herself reacted. ★★

Another entertaining-but-not-amazing episode. I really liked Starlight in this, and I thought Limestone was good fun as well. Pinkie and Maud were generally good but iffy in the first act, and I was disappointed that Marble was reduced to a couple of mumbles. Not one of Nick Confalone's best, not one of his work. An okay episode. ★★★

(Oh and yeah, The Danger Within is still coming along. Slowly, too slowly, but it is.)

Yeah, I know, I'm late. In brief: this was a good episode. Fluttershy was great, Twilight was generally reasonable, Zecora was back, the swamp fever stuff was surprisingly dark, things worked out in the end. I'll be watching this one again. ★★★★

I am sorry to anyone who has been waiting for ages for me to continue with "Horse and Pony Show"
I finally have a new chapter up and hope to keep adding regular installments to it plus others I am writing. I actually have a few ideas that are in the works and hope to have first chapters up soon. I am also planning my wedding but I will still make sure to keep up the writing!
Anyway hope you like Chapter 2!

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An episode that was funny in places, but was also tiresome and repetitive. Pretty much a rehash of an earlier episode, and this one also annoyed me for trampling on show canon. A real disappointment. ★★, just for the amusement value.

By 'eck, it is an' all. And when you consider that Friendship Games turns up in late September, we're going to have the opposite problem to last time. Instead of an enormous hiatus in which we all get impatient, we'll have too little time to write fanfics. Curse you, Hasbro!

Sigh. Update: https://twitter.com/HasbroNews/status/619201901691842560