So after an insanely long stretch of not being focused on or even being mentioned, Starlight Glimmer was finally going to get an episode to herself. And this time she wasn't going to be sharing it with Twilight, or Spike, or Trixie. This was Starlight's first true solo outing since her redemption, which was still looking questionable to many. Michael Vogel was going it alone on this episode, and his previous solo outing had been the quite enjoyable "A Hearth's Warming Tail". Yet many regard

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Season 6 had finally seemed to be getting better. "Flutter Brutter" had been better than "Applejack's 'Day' Off", "Spice Up Your Life" had mostly been better received than "Flutter Brutter" and "Stranger Than Fanfiction" was definitively better than that (arguably rivaling "Gauntlet of Fire" for Season 6's best episode). Though a good deal of that had been because of Josh Haber and Michael Vogel, though Meghan McCarthy still had some indirect contributions even as she was facing down a movie

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I guess the map missions were good enough to warrant coming back for a second season, the first major development for Season 6 since Rainbow Dash's debut as a Wonderbolt in "Newbie Dash" (which was a disaster in every sense of the word). Michael Vogel was back to write it, this time having no template at all to go and thus meaning he had to start completely from scratch (it's even possible that some of what was seen in "A Hearth's Warming Tail" was meant for "The Cutie Re-Mark" initially). Was

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And now we had an Applejack episode even as it was clear that Season 6 didn't seem to be willing to commit itself fully to anything and was just settling for a quality of good but not great. Applejack had been noticeably getting paired up a lot lately, though her most recent focus episode had been "The Mane Attraction", though even that one had made her the one teaching a lesson to someone else. The Fox Brothers Michael P. and Will were tasked with writing this episode, and apparently someone

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If there was ever an episode that fans were hyped up to see it was definitely "Newbie Dash". Much like the CMC and their cutie marks, fans had been expecting Rainbow Dash to chase after her dream of being in the Wonderbolts only to never truly achieve it. But at long last it was going to happen, and this episode should've been an instant success because of that. However, a worrying sign could be found in who wrote this episode: David Rapp with the help of Dave Polsky. David Rapp had no prior

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So now Starlight Glimmer was getting a focus episode, an episode carrying rather high stakes considering how devisive she still was. And this episode was being touted largely for the return of a certain fan favorite character who fans had been dying to see more of since Season 3. Nick Confalone was writing this episode, and by now he'd proven himself to be a pretty competent writer. But not only did this episode go on out to be overshadowed by what came next, but nowadays it tends to be seen as

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And so it was that, after a season of several unexpected shake-ups as the show seemed to be maturing (or at least trying to), we would come to a finale where spoilers had already given away what was going to happen. A sign of how things would not be as tightlipped for future seasons as they had been in the days of The Hub. So instead of another "Twilight's Kingdom" that everyone was looking forward to, it seemed like the finale would be another "A Canterlot Wedding" or "Magical Mystery Cure"

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So, after the map called all of the mane six to a village in the middle of nowhere, and then called Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to Griffonstone, what was next for the map? Calling Applejack and Rarity back to Manehattan, a familiar location. This episode actually has a very interesting production history, because it was originally going to involve Flim and Flam again. One of them would become mayor and ban all apple products within the city. However, it would all turn out to be another

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The show decided to take another crack at the "Very Special Episode" plot after "Flight to the Finish" only kind of vaguely hinted at Scootaloo's disability (potentially) and tiptoed its way around the subject. And just like with "One Bad Apple", the writer was Cindy Morrow and this time the subject was supposedly death. More specifically the death of a pet, a very tricky subject. Cindy Morrow had been absent from Season 4 (alongside M. A. Larson) and her last writing endevor before this had

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Because Season 4 didn't already have enough on its plate with two arcs (assuming you count Twilight trying to figure out her role as an alicorn princess as one), a third one was added with this episode. Everyone probably thought the Equestria Games would never be seen, but surprisingly they would come back for Season 4. I'm willing to bet though that the games were originally meant for Season 3 before it was made a half season, so once Season 4 was announced they came back to some of their

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With Season 3 winding down, word began to spill out about what was coming: Namely Twilight Sparkle becoming an alicorn princess and that Season 3 would supposedly be the final season. Fans were shocked and many were outraged at the very idea, the debate over whether or not Twilight should be an alicorn divided the fandom and quite a few threatened to leave the fandom all together if indeed Twilight becoming an alicorn turned out to be true. Amidst all this drama, almost no one seemed to pay

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This episode is rather interesting in that it was originally planned for Season 2 (Sweetie Belle's nightmare night costume in "Luna Eclipsed" was meant to be an early foreshadowing), before it was bumped to Season 3. No official word has been given as to why that was. However, it's recently come to light that Lauren had originally hoped to build up to Discord through some "dark elements" and it's likely that this episode was going to be one of them. When that got dropped this episode got pushed

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If "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" was the first true dud of the show and "Hearth's Warming Eve" is the most pointless episode of the show, then this is the most forgotten episode of the show. It seems like an episode that a lot of people forget exists. It's written by Cindy Morrow who had just come off her high from "Sisterhooves Social", so that should've been a sign of something, right? Well, let's find out.

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Usually by this point you can get a feel for how good (or bad) a show is going to be. If something engaging isn't happening you're probably not going to hold the audience's attention for much longer. But for this show it was still impossible to tell if it was going to last, quality was impossible to gauge because it had been all over the place and the show itself seemed unsure of what exactly it wanted to do. Nevertheless, with Amy Keating Rogers at the wheel we have an episode that marks the

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