Right as Season 5 was at last hitting some consistency of quality, we had a Discord episode. Granted, he'd been pretty good in "Make New Friends, But Keep Discord" so maybe that wasn't automatically a death sentence despite the synopsis. However, the one writing it was Neal Dusedau, now on his own after he had previously been "helped" on "Princess Spike" by Jayson Thiesen and Jim Miller. But hey, Nick Confalone was able to do well enough on his own (even going on to last until the end of the

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Fun fact about this episode, it originally aired about a week before Halloween due to being bumped around in episode order and that made it a sort of The Nightmare Before Christmas situation, having a Christmas themed episode before Halloween. Yes, that's right, we got our second bite at a holiday episode after "Scare Master" was another attempt at the Halloween episode (which sadly still fell flat). This time around, rather than focus on the entire mane six we were just going to focus

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Not exactly an original title considering Season 1 had "Stare Master" and this was a Fluttershy episode. It was one taking place on Nightmare Night, which got bumped around so that it could actually air on Halloween. Given that our last direct visit to Nightmare Night was in "Luna Eclipsed" that wasn't exactly boding well. But the synopsis made it sound like Fluttershy was ready to come out of her shell and face her fears. Natasha Levinger, who'd prevously penned "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies"

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Season 5's first half had been unfortunately quite the rollercoaster ride, perhaps hampered by two new writers debuting to less than stellar results and M. A. Larson hating the idea of story editor, to the point where he handed it back to Meghan McCarthy. By now word had come out that a theatrical movie was in the works, and Meghan would begin to be called away to help work on it. Still, for the time being she was serving as story editor again. Meanwhile, to kick off the second half we had Amy

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So after the 100th episode came and went it was back to business as usual for Season 5, in more ways than one. And by a stroke of misfortune, the episode now having to follow up on the fandom love letter was a Spike episode. Considering even "Equestria Games" had been met with criticism over its abrupt shift to Spike, it seemed like a lot was working against this episode already. Not helped by the fact that a brand new writer in the form of Neal Dusedau debuting here, though the story was being

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So just two episodes after "Bloom and Gloom" potentially opened the door for the next phase of the CMC's development, we now had this episode involving them looking for an outlaw. Dave Polsky was picked to write this episode, coincidentally around the time he was establishing himself on the then new Sonic Boom cartoon. Considering Dave had undergone a writing metamorphosis in Season 4, shedding his usual comedic ways and branching out into new areas, this should've been a good sign

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Season 5 unveiled some new writers as well, though nowhere near as many as had been introduced in Season 4. Jonna Lewis and Kristine Songco were introduced, the two having previously worked together on Butch Hartman shows like The Fairly Odd Parents (which Ed Valentine had also written for) and T.U.F.F. Puppy. Meghan McCarthy was also credited as story editor here, which may be either an indicator that this episode was meant to be the Season 5 premiere originally, or how it's been

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So now that the key episodes were all done, what was left for Season 4 before the finale? The short answer, not much. The Equestria Games would ultimately get their own conclusion in the penultimate episode, but this and the next episode would be left to their own devices. We'd already had a supposedly "Very Special Episode" about Scootaloo's potential disability in "Flight to the Finish", but now this one was going to focus on Rainbow Dash and on studying for a test. Amy Keating Rogers was

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Season 4 was chugging along just fine five episodes in, the season seemed to be firing on all cylinders and although there were still divisions within the fandom most were accepting of the new changes. And now it was time for the first of what would be three Spike focus episodes for the season. Considering the reputation Spike episodes had garnered by this point, it was really worrying and concerning to have one now when only "Secret of My Excess" had been a success with Spike in the lead role.

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The next couple of episodes of Season 3 got rearranged and mixed up from production order. This episode was the ninth in production order but got bumped up to the eighth episode to air (the intended eighth episode was moved to the eleventh episode to air, most likely because of what it was meant to be tied to). And although not intended, it was the first of two Applejack episodes back to back (the latter of which had started life as a Rarity episode before being switched to Applejack). Cindy

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This and the next couple of episodes could be said to be a rather abrupt dry patch for the show, not necessarily as long lasting as Season 1's which lasted from "Stare Master" through "A Bird in the Hoof" but still a stretch marked by episodes that don't tend to be remembered very fondly (if at all). Amy Keating Rogers, now defined primarily by "The Last Roundup" and the still ongoing controversy about Derpy, penned this episode. Was Amy about to fall off her pedestal like Larson did or was she

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So, what was next for Season 1 after the weirdness and stupidity on display in "Over a Barrel"? Well, apparently this, an episode written by Charlotte Fullerton whose track record was very uneven. But hey, she was able to improve from "Look Before You Sleep" by writing "Suited For Success" which was the show's breakout episode. So maybe she could get Season 1 back on track? Well, let's find out.

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