S02 E01 : "The Return of Harmony" Part 1

   

Oops, I accidentally took a break! No, seriously, it was accidental. I was planning to do this one last week, but I ended up having to postpone it because of work-related exhaustion. But I'm back now, and ready to watch MLP until my eyes bleed (not really)!

The title indicates that we might actually see, and get this, THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY! You know, the things that saved the day in the pilot and were never seen again for no particular reason? I vaguely remember these two episodes because Adam was watching the premier at the time while I was probably playing a video game or something, I dunno.

The only thing that I clearly recall is that John De Lancie had a role as the villain Discord, which was basically Q as a tiny lil' dragon-thing. I love me some John De Lancie as Q...but how did he fare as Discord? We shall see...

S02 E01: "The Return of Harmony - Part 1"

As if the CMC weren't generally annoying enough, their "antics" went and awakened an ancient evil! Lovely. Discord is implied to have been freed by their negativity, and after the credits we see Ponyville assaulted by chocolate milk storms from candy cotton clouds, Applejack's trees wither and her corn pops into popcorn,  while Fluttershy's animals mutate and go all Biblical plague on Applejack's crops. The six ponies cooperate to stop the chaos, and are immediately summoned by Princess Celestia to Canterlot. 

Once there, she explains who Discord is and how he was stopped last time with The Elements of Harmony by Celestia and Luna. Turns out they were sealed away in the castle after the pilot episode, and that would have been great to know earlier so I wouldn't have spent time bitching about it. Celestia assigns the main 6 to track down Discord and seal him away again since they're the ones currently linked to the Elements...or she would have if they hadn't been stolen. 

Turns out, surprise, Discord took them. He demonstrates that he knows who the main 6 are, and he's decided to have a little fun with them by making them find the Elements. He gives a cryptic clue that Twilight Sparkle deciphers to mean that the Elements are hidden in Canterlot's hedge maze. The six take off, and just before they enter the maze, Discord takes their wings and horns to make sure that none of them use their natural abilities to cheat.

They enter the maze anyway, and Discord seperates them by summoning new walls into the maze. Twilight tells the others to regroup in the center, which everyone agrees to sans Fluttershy, who is too busy freaking the fuck out. Applejack is lead down her path by some apples which turn into living piles of apples. They taunt AJ by showing her a vision of the six ending their friendship, breaking her spirit. This gives Discord the opening he needs to brainwash her. When she is reunited with Twilight, she lies about what happened.

 Pinkie Pie is up next, and Discord convinces her that her friends laugh at her, not with her. Once she's distraught, Discord takes the opportunity to force her under his thrall, just before she's found by Twilight and AJ. This continues with the remaining ponies; Discord appeals to Rarity's greed by making her think she's found a giant diamond, Fluttershy is so good natured and resistant that he just cuts the shit and straight up brainwashes her out of frustration, and Rainbow Dash is tricked into flying away from the maze after being shown the destruction of Cloudsdale.

With that, the game is over-- Dash technically broke the rules by flying away. Discord declares victory and says that a new age of chaos will reign throughout Equestria!

OMG THEY'RE FUCKED

 

So what did you think?

Um...wow...this one was good! Like, legit entertaining! I haven't liked an episode this much since A Dog and Pony Show. I actually laughed more than once, out loud. Them's is LOLs, fuckers! 

There were quite a few humorous moments stemming from character interaction, and while that isn't doing much to make me give a shit about the non-Rarity ponies, they are at least entertaining to watch in this episode. Discord himself I was indifferent to, but that's because John De Lancie's performance was about what I was expecting. They have reached the lowest of bars once again, which is to say that I wasn't bored. I sincerely hope that bar is raised at some point.

"Hold on a second! Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain!"

  Worth it. 

The animation was good, and there was one moment in particular where Discord reveals himself in a stained-glass window that was very well done. Backgrounds, facial expressions, all as good as usual. Say what you will about the show (I sure fucking do), but it ain't ugly, and this premier episode was a reminder of that.

Overall, it's a great start to the season, and I'm going into the next episode A LOT less apprehensive than I've been since The Episode That Shall Not Be Named. Don't fuck it up, show!

- Apathy Pony

S01 E21: "Over A Barrel"

S01 E21: "Over A Barrel"

Episode 21! Season 1 is nearly over, and I for one am eagerly anticipating getting past it to Season 2, if for no other reason than the milestone. I have been...warned about this episode. I'm told that it's considered one of the worst of the series, but no details on why. Going into this one is what I imagine patronizing a gloryhole would be like if you only expected pain from the other side. Well, let's get this shit over with...

22:04 Cannot Get Here Fast Enough

00:13 Okay, so this episode starts off with something for me to nitpick-- steam-powered train...pulled by horses...so not steam-powered?

What.

00:40 In one of the passenger cars, Applejack is caught reading a bedtime story to an apple tree, and I felt about as annoyed and incredulous about it as Rarity did. The premise hasn't even been established and I'm already annoyed! I'm not even trying to make this a self-fulfilling prophecy or anything.

01:02 AJ says that this tree is one of her favorites, which is why she is cooing at it like a baby, Rarity is annoyed that the tree has it's own private car while she has to share with the other ponies...Alright, I'm giving a mulligan to all the characters in this episode for any stupid bullshit, since that seems to be the foundation upon which this episode is built.

01:31 Applejack states that the whole reason for the trip is to take Bloomberg (the tree) as a gift to her family in Appleoosa. I like that the ponies are going to other towns, it makes Equestria seem more fleshed out instead of being in Ponyville most of the time. They really should go back to Canterlot for a few episodes though.

Anyway, yeah, more sappy crap from AJ over the tree, Rarity stomps off in a huff.

02:22 Back from the intro and it's now night time and the ponies are up chatting excitedly about...whatever, except for Rarity and Spike, who would greatly appreciate it if the lot of them shut their goddamn mouths.

02:38 Spike complains that he had to get up early to fire-roast all the snacks their eating, and who else but Rainbow Dash would decide to pipe up and complain that all the kernels didn't get roasted. Spike does the only thing I like in this episode so far by breathing fire all over Dash's popcorn and scorching it entirely, except one kernel that promptly pops and strikes Dash right in her ungrateful fucking face.

GOOD.

02:48 Twilight Sparkle takes the hint and suggests that they all turn in for the night. Sometimes she really is the "smart one".

03:51 Or not-- Dash asks Pinkie Pie if she's asleep, who says no and asks if Dash is asleep, and this spirals into a stupid-ass conversation with Twilight and Fluttershy about Dash thinking Applejack is a tree...all these ponies totally need the mulligan for this episode, because this is a bunch of banal, cloying bullshit masquerading as "quirkiness".

Spike, the only relatable character thus far, tells them once again to shut the fuck up. They keep talking, Spike leaves in frustration, and they jabber on until Rarity also tells them to shut the fuck up. Thank God she was wearing her beauty mask and scared the shit out of them, or we'd never stop hearing this crap dialogue.

04:03 Spike snuggles up with Bloomberg and apologizes for his snoring. Spike, you're great. :)

04:36 Morning time, and the ponies are rudely awakened by a buffalo stampede that attacks the conductor ponies. I'd be more interested if I wasn't wondering when one of these things would talk and sound exactly like a Native American stereotype.

05:18 A female...I'll assume buffalo joins the fray and boards the train, all the while Pinkie Pie is encouraging her to do tricks. Dash states the obvious about this likely not being a circus act, and rushes off to meet the intruder. What gave it away, all the buffalos ASSAULTING THE CONDUCTOR PONIES AND TRYING TO DERAIL THE TRAIN MULTIPLE TIMES

05:44 Dash tries to confront the female buffalo, who ignores the fuck out of her and manages to outpace Dash, going so far as to leap over Dash and continue with her aggressive not-giving-a-shit about what anyone has to say.

I like her.

06:01 Dash tries to capture the female buffalo, but gets tricked into getting off the train and jumping face first into a crossing sign while the female buffalo uncouples the car with Bloomberg and Spike in it. Oh noes, don't let anything happen to the only characters in this episode I give a shit about!

06:26 The buffalos take off with the rear car and Bloomberg and Spike along with it. Dash swears vengeance, as if I care.

06:41 The gang arrives in Appleoosa and are greeted (read: ambushed) by Applejack's cousin who's name I could barely make out, and he starts yet another sequence where the characters can barely get a word in edgewise to say something critically important. So over this gag. Stop it.

07:02 Rayburn-- I'm calling AJ's cousin Rayburn because that's what it sounds like-- is a douche. He's pushy, obnoxiously congratulatory about how awesome Appleoosa is, and I hope I never see him again after this episode without a drastic rewrite of his personality.

07:18 "Horse-drawn" horse-drawn carriages, and there is nothing about this episode that I don't want to light on fire, including whoever wrote it.

08:00 Rayburn finally gets the hint, although I would have opted for physical violence by this point, what with one of my friends (and my apple tree) being in GRAVE DANGER

08:11 the look on Rayburn's face when he finally gets the info dump he's been delaying for the past two minutes is probably the only good thing in this episode so far, and probably for the duration.

08:29 At last, we hear why the buffalo are attacking; they want the settler ponies to take their fucking apple orchard and fuck off. If their only exposure to ponies was Rayburn, I cannot blame them in the slightest.

08:54 Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash is slinking around the desert, trying to track the buffalo.

(this is taking forever, god i wish this episode would end)

09:25 Pinkie Pie pops up, is exaggeratedly annoying (even for her), and they end up getting into an argument about how stealthy they need to be that attracts a huge group of buffalos. WAY TO GO

09:40 Dash gets ready for a skirmish, only to be interrupted by...Spike? And he's cool with the buffaloes, who sound more like buffa-bros than INJUNS, which thank GOD.

10:27 It's now night time, for some reason, and Spike explains that the buffalos only have a grudge against ponies, so he's an honored guest who eats only the finest gemstones while Pinkie and Dash get served sloshing bowls of brown disgusting-looking shit. Guess who finished hers and asked for seconds. We are formally introduced to Little Strongheart, the female buffalo from earlier in the episode, who is totally cool.

10:59 Little Strongheart lays it all out for us; she and the other buffalo stopped the train in order to prevent yet another apple tree get planted on their sacred stampeding grounds or some shit like that. Wasn't this Wesley Crusher's last episode?

Anyway, Spike suggests they go see Chief Thunderhooves for even more elaboration. *sigh*

11:27 Chief Thunderhooves starts pontificating about how his ancestors ran on the stampeding grounds for several generations like a book out of the Old Testament, and Little Strongheart puts a stop to that shit, because she's awesome.

11:52 Anyways, the chief explains that the Appaloosans (which he says with extreme disdain) planted apple trees all over their sacred ground without asking, and would greatly appreciate it if they'd find somewhere else to be annoying assholes. Dash seems antagonistic the entire time, but they do a fake out where she looks like she's gonna start some shit, but instead says they need to go talk to the Appaloosan settlers about working something out. Good for her! Dash, you can keep this specific development on your ledger (unless you fuck it up, then you still get to use your mulligan for this episode).

12:36 the not-Pinkie and Dash ponies, plus annoying douchey Rayburn run into Pinkie and Dash on their way to save them. lots of heartfelt reunion crap, blahbity-blah.

13:31 Dash and Applejack get into it about who has a claim to the land while drawing out Little Strongheart and Rayburn, who seems uncharacteristically conciliatory for once. A drama bomb begins to detonate until Twilight intervenes. 50/50 odds says she will competently play the role of the voice of reason.

13:47 NOPE, Pinkie is the one with an idea...and we cut to a stage with Spike playing a piano...goddamn it.

14:08 Pinkie comes out on stage in a giant clamshell which reveals her to be dressed like a burlesque performer of sorts, doing a musical number that I've already begun to tune out of my mind. On the plus side, Applejack has a look on her face that screams "Are you serious with this shit right now?"

If only Pinkie weren't serious...

14:58 Welp, song's over...UTTER. SILENCE.

YES.

15:53 The sheriff and the chief concur that Pinkie's performance fucking sucked, and the chief says he and his tribe are gonna stampede through the orchard grounds if it's still there or not, and the sheriff says he and the Appaloosans would be waiting for them, which is an empty threat because there's no way this show would allow for any of the kind of graphic violence that would inevitably result from this kind of conflict.

16:09 The Appaloosans are boarding up windows and bracing for the stampede, while Applejack laments that things have come to this. Twilight tries to reassure her by saying all they have to do is find a way to resolve this "before somepony gets hurt", showing that she doesn't give a floating fuck if anything happens to a buffalo.

16:21 The ponies try to reason with the Appaloosans, who promptly slam shutters and doors in their faces for their trouble. I totally wouldn't mind if their town got razed to the ground.

17:16 The Appaloosans continue to aggressively go about their daily routines and build barricades on the edges of town while angrily ignoring Twilight and the other's call for rationality. I hope Appaloosa ends up as a smoking crater.

17:54 The buffalos are getting ready for the stampede by donning stereotypical war paint and headbutting each other. Spike asks Little Braveheart if this can be stopped somehow, and Braveheart says it's unlikely if the Appaloosans don't move the trees.

Dash tries to get the chief to reconsider, but he ain't havin' any'a this shit. At noon, it's going down.

18:05 Game time! The buffalos have arrived in force and the Appaloosans look nervous.

GOOD.

18:48 Looks like the chief pussied out, which Pinkie uses as an excuse to sing again...which pisses off the cheif and myself, and he does what I would do and orders his troops to charge.

20:14 As I thought, lots of cartoon slapstick combat. The Appaloosans are throwing pies instead of using guns, which is a reasonable concession to tell a story that shouldn't have gotten out of pre-production in the first fucking place.

This goes on for a minute or so before the chief gets hit with a pie while trying to trample the sheriff. I'm sure the very next sequence will lead to both sides realizing that violence is never the solution and will you get this shit over with already? Please?!

21:09 As expected, the chief tastes a little bit of apple pie and decides to let the orchard stay, providing that the Appaloosans cut a path through to for the stampede and pay a tribute in the form of apple pies. You know what? I'm done. There's a minute left, and you can easily guess what happens next if you haven't even seen this. Roll credits. Fuck off.

TL;DR

Final Thoughts

This episode actually made me consider giving Adam a refund and swearing off this show for good. It was a pain to sit through and I truly hope that this is the series' lowest point over all. I don't know who wrote this off the top of my head (and I've been told, but keep forgetting because I didn't care enough to remember), but I will be watching for them so I can write a review that consists of the word FUCK 8,000 times.

See you next time for the hopefully less grating A Bird In The Hoof...

-Apathy Pony

S01 E20 "Green Isn't Your Color"

S01 E20 "Green Isn't Your Color"

Been a while, hasn't it? Sorry for the long delay, there's been a lot going on in my life lately, and on top of that...ugh...well. I'll just let you read the next review when it posts. I have 4 of these in the can as of this writing, so expect one every Friday at 5 PM PST for the next month. Anyways...

Episode 20! We're nearing the end of the first season, which I thought would be far further away than this, but thank God it's not. Only 6 more episodes after this and on to Season 2, and even better episodes, hopefully. This episode is another that I have no previous foreknowledge of, and Adam didn't tell me if it was any good or not, so I'll be going in blind once again. I do hope it's one of the better ones though, as he did tell me that of the remaining episodes two were meh and the others were decent...

Once upon a time PONIES

00:13 The episode opens in a salon/spa, where it seems Fluttershy and Rarity have a weekly get-together. You know, now that I think about it, how the fuck does Fluttershy make money? I know this shit isn't free. Does she pet-sit? Are her services funded by Ponyville's public works budget? Is she a vet?

ANSWER ME

Oh yeah, and Rarity, that hat...why

00:38 So Rarity is regaling Fluttershy with the story of how she ran into Photo Finish, a famous fashion photographer. Oh, and Rarity's robe has her logo on it, because of course it does.

00:54 So that ugly-ass hat Rarity was wearing was what convinced Photo Finish to do a fashion shoot at Rarity's boutique, of all things. You know, this is what, the 3rd episode where Rarity's fashion design sense is the center of an episode, and I haven't liked anything she's worn or made since the one with the fashion show nightmare. :/

01:15 Now we're getting to the meat of things-- Rarity wants Fluttershy to be her model for when Photo Finish shows up. Fluttershy is hesitant, naturally.

01:35 So Rarity is playing up the complements and resorts to full on begging, all the while, Fluttershy is using every excuse she can to justify why she isn't qualified. One such excuse is that there has to be someone "more into fashion", and after all that bitching she did about how Rarity designed her dress in Suited For Success, she really can't use that one and have me take it seriously.

02:04 Fluttershy caves, as expected, and she and Rarity leave the spa. On the way out, Rarity talks about how stressed she was trying to find a model, and feels a pimple coming on that she uses as an excuse to return to the spa once again. Rarity must really be raking it in to go to the spa twice in one day. I wonder what Ponyville exports besides apples and rarity's clothes, if anything...

02:48 Rarity already has Fluttershy in an outfit, which admittedly looks a lot better than her other current works. "She's going to want to see attitude and pizzaz!" Rarity says.

So why the fuck did you pick Fluttershy, I thought you chose her because she was pretty! make up your mind.

03:21 Rarity seems to have also dragged Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike into her scheme, demanding more light, more feathers, sequins, ribbons...that kitchen sink gag better make a comeback.

Also, Spike is trolling the shit out of Fluttershy with the ribbons, and she does not look amused, lol

Wait, isn't he spike supposed to have a crush on Fluttershy (or is it Rarity) wtf is going on

03:52 It's more clear now, pin cushion Spike is infatuated with Rarity, which I guess means the pilot's ship tease between him and Fluttershy is out the window. Eh, his feelings for Rarity were established in the last episode, AND GIVEN THAT I LOVE CONTINUITY I'm fine with it.
Twilight seems pretty disgusted and/or annoyed by this, which lol

04:13 So Spike asks Twilight and Pinkie Pie to keep a secret, and after much ado, the secret turns out to be that Spike has a crush on Rarity. Twilight's facial expression is priceless since this "secret" was blatantly fucking obvious to her and to us. Pinkie Pie is shocked beyond belief, but she's probably too busy paying attention to weird body shudders and twitching to notice.

04:29 Pinkie agrees to keep the secret, but Twilight calls bullshit, stating that "everypony already knows". Pinkie Pie is having none of it and makes her swear not to tell, which Twilight grudgingly agrees to, even though she thinks Rarity will figure it out in no time.

Pinkie's rationale for this is that even though Spike's crush is an open secret, Rarity doesn't know, and telling her would betray Spike's trust, and betraying a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend forever. Folks, I think we have a premise and a lesson for this episode.

04:37 THIS. SHIRT. <3

04:41 Photo Finish is here, and she looks an awful lot like Lady Gaga, at least to me.

04:55 Photo is entirely focused on the shoot, ignoring Rarity and setting up immediately. This freaks Rarity out even more and she reiterates ATTITUDE AND PIZZAZ to Fluttershy, who looks scared shitless.

05:30 Many a photo are taken, and every time Rarity tries to get Fluttershy to strike a pose or vogue or whatever, Photo Finish shoots her down and Fluttershy gets all timid, which Photo loves, for some reason. She takes 3 pictures and leaves abruptly, confusing everyone, including me.

06:10 Rarity is despondent when she feels the shoot didn't go well, but Photo Finish comes back as quickly as she departed to tell them that she's found a new fashion star in Ponyville, and that she's going to make her shine at a photo shoot in the park the next day...and takes off once again, assistants in tow this time.

Rarity jumps to the conclusion that it was her that Photo was talking about, as expected, but come on, we all know it's Fluttershy.

06:27 Rarity starts a squee session, jumping up and down and trampling Spike's tail, who seems to be getting off on it in a fucked up S&M kind of way.

06:41 Cut to the park, and Rarity is with Fluttershy getting ready for the shoot. I actually like the outfit she picked for Fluttershy this time.
Also, pretty sure the lesson is going to also involve envy, if the title and recent events are any indication.

06:59 Photo Finish is back, and this time carried like Egyptian royalty by two slave ponies, probably locals who got roped into doing it.

07:34 Photo Finish confirms my suspicions, and tells Rarity to fuck off with her designs and that the one she intends to make shine across Equestria is Fluttershy. Cue butthurt in 3...2...1...

08:01 Back from the mandated commercial break, and Rarity is being a surprisingly good sport about the whole situation! This shouldn't last long...

Oh, and Fluttershy's current dress looks even better than the one Rarity designed imo, so maybe Foto is
on to something...

08:22 Rarity slinks off as Photo tells Fluttershy how much better she looks "without all those sparkles"...

In the very next scene she's working at her sewing machine on some symbolically black fabric.
Rarity... ; _ ;

08:44 Twilight, Pinkie and Spike come to see how things went, and Rarity dons her now completed black hooded cape and melodramatically says that she just wants to be alone. I like your tantrums when they're more over the top, Rarity. :|

08:51 No sooner than those words are out of Rarity's mouth, here comes Spike, shoving Twilight and Pinkie out of the room. Look at this lil' white-knighting motherfucker! Twilight cuts that shit right the fuck out with the quickness tho'. I'm liking Twilight more because of scenes like this, I hope her character solidifies soon.

09:00 No, really, Photo is picking some awesome dresses for Fluttershy.

09:38 Fluttershy has make up applied to her and abruptly removed in a way that makes me think of animal testing for cosmetics, followed by Foto asking how she's feeling about the whole thing. "Distraught", "mortified", and "anxious" all come to mind after a quick glance, Fluttersy goes with "nervous".

09:45 "Nervous? Don't be ridiculous! You're only facing a large crowd of ponies that will be watching your every move and silently judging you!"

Best one-shot character of the season? Foto, I think so. Oh yes.

10:00 Fluttershy steps out onto the catwalk, and forces herself to walk in front of the croud, who quickly take to her "graceful" nature and start eating it up. I didn't see him, but Hoity Toity can be heard saying that Fluttershy would be perfect for his new advertisement, and I appreciate that because I was starting to wonder if they'd do a callback to him.

Also, Fluttershy, you're nervous because why? It was only a handful of episodes ago that you did exactly this same shit in front of ALL OF PONYVILLE, IN A FAR FUCKING WORSE OUTFIT THAN THE ONE YOU ARE CURRENTLY WEARING.

10:05 Blink and you'll miss it Derpy spotting-- She starts with her eyes derped and they go back to normal. Is this where they started doing these background gags with her on purpose?

10:13 Stomping is now officially the pony way to give applause since this is the second time they've done it (that I remember).

10:28 EMO FLUTTERSHY OMG

10:39 Fluttershy and Foto go into some red carpet gala event, and Rarity tries to sneak in with that guady-ass hat on from before, and she gets rejected by the bouncer.

10:49 Fluttershy is in advertisements all over Ponyville, and Rarity is so. fucking. SALTY.

I'm actually kind of glad this is happening. Rarity has had a lot of success in the last few episodes, and while she is my current favorite, I hope she comes away from this episode significantly more humble than she has been lately, especially in Sonic Rainboom.

11:12 Meanwhile, Fluttershy isn't taking her new found fame very well, but being hounded on land and in the air by paparazzi and Stans will do that to you.

11:32 Fluttershy ducks into Rarity's place, and Rarity does her best to pretend that she's totally okay with being out of the loop, even though it's clear that she isn't. See, this is what makes Rarity best pony-- clearly being a hater, but trying not to let her baser instincts get the better of her.

Best pony. Rarity.

12:18 Fluttershy badly puts on a brave face and pretends that she likes the attention, but is more interested in keeping her weekly spa date with Rarity. The instant they confirm that the date is still on, Foto comes and takes Fluttershy away. Once they're gone, some coattail ridin'-ass ponies show up and ask Rarity if Fluttershy was still there. When Rarity tells them that she left, but that she is having a sale, they ask who Rarity even is. This goes about the way you'd expect...you know, rage.

Also, shouldn't EVERYONE know who Rarity is? Even setting aside her recent achievements in the fashion world, she's the only clothing store in Ponyville as far as I know, and Ponyville isn't that big to begin with!

ffffffffffffffffffffffffff

12:58 Fluttershy is at the thing at the place, and Foto is reveling in her own genius as Fluttershy tries to tell her that she has to go so she can get to the spa on time. Foto proceeds to ignore the living shit out of her and drags Fluttershy off to some ballet opening. :(

13:10 Twilight runs into Rarity at the spa, who immediately goes into a bitter rant about Fluttershy thinking she's too good to spend time with her "best friend"--

Wait.

Fluttershy and Rarity are besties? Because there has been literally NOTHING to suggest that until possibly the start of this episode, and even then I was thinking of it in more of a Garak/Dr. Bashir kind of way. Whatevs. :/

13:39 Rarity confesses to being incredibly jealous and how much she hates that she feels that way, then begs Twilight not to tell Fluttershy about her feelings. Betraying a friend, blah blah-- HOLY SHIT PINKIE PIE

14:45 Rarity leaves, and Fluttershy is right behind her, having just missed Rarity. She tells Twilight that she could just scream, and then Fluttershy does that thing where she tries to express emotion and it just comes out as adorable squeals or something.

14:53 Fluttershy's "outburst" did nothing to make her feel better, and she instead confesses that she doesn't like modeling, the attention, any of it, and the only reason she's doing it is because Rarity insisted. It shouldn't take a genius to guess that Twilight is going to totally defy the lesson that they just reiterated not even two minutes ago by telling Fulttershy how Rarity really feel-- HOLY SHIT PINKIE PIE

"Foreverrrrrrrrrrrr!"...Pinkie Pie is pretty funny in this episode. I likes it.

15:27 Twilight and fluttershy are out in town talking about her current situation with Rarity. Twilight tries to tell Fluttershy about how rarity feels again, but is swiftly cock-blocked out of that by Pinkie, who is menacingly eating an apple...well, until she realizes it's delicious.

lol

15:56 Fluttershy suggests that maybe she can get out of modeling if only there were a more suitable alternative, which inspires Twilight, who knocks off Fluttershy's disguise and gets trampled by a herd of fan-ponies.

16:22 Twilight spills the beans on her secret plan to magically sabotage Fluttershy at her next fashion show in order to get her out of her situation, and makes Pinkie swear not to tell. It would be really, REALLY fucked up/funny if it ended up being Pinkie who rats everyone out after all this bullshit.

17:13 Fluttershy and Twilight are backstage prepping for the show, and Rarity walks in to "see what all the fuss is about". Hmmm...

18:08 The plan goes off without a hitch-- Twilight uses her (previously established) body-snatching power and makes Fluttershy do gross and/or ridiculous things to embarass herself, and the audience turns on Fluttershy, one going so far as to demand that she get off the stage. Rarity is horrified at how her friend is being treated, and gives some fierce applause in an act of friendship towards Fluttershy.

D'AWW BESTEST PONY

18:49 Too bad that this actually ends up winning the crowd back and completely ruins Twilight's plan. Poor Fluttershy. :(

20:28 Backstage, Fluttershy is despondant, and Rarity comes to see her. The two confess their true feelings as Twilight goes to greater extremes to stop herself from telling both of them the truth on her own. Oddly enough, it doesn't look like she's doing this on her own...PINKIE CURSED HER, I KNEW IT

20:54 Fluttershy and Rarity are all made up and besties again, and they tell Foto that she's gonna need to find a new model. As soon as they're out of the room, Twilight screams out that Spike has a crush on Rarity and PINKIE IS WATCHING HER FROM INSIDE THE MIRROR WHAT SORCERY IS THIS

21:34 Dear Princess Celestia, lesson of the week, blah blah blah, Spike is stalking Rarity inside the spa like a creeper THE END

TL;DR

Final Thoughts

A decent episode! Not exactly reaching the heights of A Dog and Pony Show, but up there among the more noteable episodes thus far. The writing is steadily improving, and the facial expressions continue to grow wackier every episode. My interest continues to be mild.

See you next time for Over A Barrel!

- Apathy Pony