My Top Ten Fanfics and other Reccomended Fanfics!

I will probably never do full reviews for my top ten fanfics, which is a shame as that was part of the reason I started this blog. But doing full out reviews for each of my top ten fanfics will take ages and my top ten fanfics has changed slightly since I started doing my top ten fanfic reviews. This is because some have changed ranks, and one of the fanfics, 'You Mustn’t Leave', a Super Smash Bros fanfic by Crazy Froxie, no longer even exists (which is a shame, I considered it my fifth favourite fanfic). I can at the very least post my top ten favourite fanfics with links to each one, as well as discuss with you other fanfics worthy of mention.

Souldin's Top Ten Fanfics!

10) One Problem Child, a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanfic by SlyWit.

9) Fun at the Hotel Hedonist, a Kirby fanfic by that one little guy.

8)  Marth's Curse Reeditized!, a Super Smash Bros fanfic by Pikana.

7) Fluff and Circumstance or The Cult of Ario, a Super Smash Bros fanfic by Ze Dybbuk.

6)  One Piece: A Smash Adventure, a One Piece/Super Smash Bros fanfic by Specter24.

5) After Dark: The Mansion Incident, a Super Smash Bros/Resident Evil fanfic by Smash King24.

4) A Winter Joust, a Touhou Project fanfic by Omegahugger.

3) Occasional Fluctuations in Character in Character, a Star Fox fanfic by Basil-Ovelby.

2) Cheers a Super Smash Bros fanfic by hawktakesflight.

1) Not a Monster, a Mario fanfic by Cyndi.

Other fanfics I feel are worth mentioning include Wrath's Journey Reeditized by Pikana, the sequel to Marth's Curse Reeditized! It is not finished and thus why it was not eligible for this list but it is coming out great so far.  Fluff and Happenstance or All by Spontaneity by Ze Dybbuk, is the completed sequel to Fluff and Circumstance or The Cult of Ario, and while not as good as the first in the series, it is absolutely hilarious and I at least consider it in my top twenty fanfics (though I have not thought out my top twenty fanfics and so this is a rough estimation). It's All Downstream From Here by that one little guy, is not a sequel to Fun at the Hotel Hedonist, but simply the author's most recent, ongoing Kirby fanfic and one that is really worth checking out.

I would also like to recommend the following authors; hawktakesflight, LittleBlueNayru, and MessengerOfDreams. All three happen to be good friends of mine and all three happen to be amazing writers. I am literally advising you to read all of their works if you want good Pokémon, D.Gray Man, Legend off Zelda, Axis Power Hetalia, Mario, and of course, Super Smash Bros fanfics.

Most recently I have been spending time on Fimfiction.net, due to being more involved with the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic community than that of the Super Smash Bros or Kirby community as of late. As such I feel it is only fair to suggest at least six fanfics from Fimfiction.net that I hope you will be able to enjoy as much as I did. I have already suggested for you to read One Problem Child by listing it as my tenth favourite fanfic so I will only list the other five I would like you to check out. Sparkle's Law by AestheticB, The Cutie Mark Conspiracy by Cold in Gardez, Pony Tales: Belle Runner by Andrew Joshua Talon, World of Chaos by ugugg93, How We Met by Rated PonyStar.

I have nothing specific to say to wrap things up on this post so I will leave it at just saying that I hope you enjoy these fanfics as much as I did. Cheerio!

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Season 2 Couple Sentence Opinions.

Now that season 2 is over, like with how I composed a short couple sentence opinion list of all season 1 episodes, I have done much the same for the most recent season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. If you have been reading any of my previous blog posts you may notice that some of my opinions on certain episodes have changed, and that is because I have had chance to reflect upon them and understand them in new ways. Enough of my babbling, I present to you my season 2 couple sentence opinions.

The Return of Harmony Part 1 – An average episode, Discord and his harsh but true lessons were brilliant aspects but the corruption of the Mane 6 felt rushed (with exception to Twilight and Rainbow Dash) and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were OOC in the opening.

The Return of Harmony Part 2 – An average episode, with the Rainbow Dash chase scene being a superbly done action moment however the episode is let down by the anti-climatic final battle.

Lesson Zero – A good episode, while there are several good things such as Rainbow’s sonic nuke, Fluttershy snapping a bear’s neck, and Spike breaking the fourth wall constantly, I have never felt an urge to re-watch the episode and the Mane 6 seemed too willing to abide by Celestia’s decision if she made one.

Luna Eclipsed – A good episode, Luna comes across as deep, amusing, and interesting however the episode is rather formulaic.

Sisterhooves Social – My fourth favourite episode of season 2 because of how touching and realistic the sibling relationships of Sweetie Belle and Rarity, as well as Apple Bloom and Applejack are. I also don’t have anything to criticise about this episode (a recurring thing seemingly with Rarity episodes).

The Cutie Pox – A good episode, my favourite part being tied between Twilight obtaining Rarity’s mane style and Spike adoring it, or the moment Apple Bloom asks her sister for help and you see the look of fear and horror on both their faces. Criticism comes in the form of the coincidental cure for a Heart’s Desire being a flower that requires you to tell the truth.

May The Best Pet Win – My fifth favourite episode of season 2, my favourite moment being the ‘May The Best Pet Win Song’ (It’s a Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash duet and the song closest to being a musical; in the fact that they are having a conversation through song). As for a flaw, nothing in this episode was exceptionally funny, there was lots of humour but it never made me roar with laughter and the jokes don’t spring to mind easily.

The Mysterious Mare Do Well – An average episode, though I had for a long while considered it poor. Originally I had believed the rest of the characters (not Rainbow Dash; she came across as sympathetic to me) came across as jerks but when I saw an episode where they really did come across as jerks, I realised they were not mean in this episode, just that their plan was stupid. Even when I did consider it poor though I was able to enjoy it for its superhero parodies and the fact that Rainbow Dash asking why she is alone is for me, the saddest moment in this entire series (Sisterhooves Social made me sad but even that was outdone for the sadness I felt when Rainbow was all alone).

Sweet and Elite – A fantastic episode, loved for the introduction of Fancy Pants, the fact that they surprised me with the lesson, and for the moment the Mane 6 are partying (both Twilight’s party and the garden party). My only criticism is that I find it strange that Rarity would need to lie in the first place, considering she and her friends have saved country twice.

Secret of my Excess – A fantastic episode, for many a reason but I will just point out three. The development of Rarity and Spike’s relationship, Spike’s rampage through Ponyville, and the fact that this was the episode that made me ship FlutterDash (yes, a Sparity episode made me ship FlutterDash). I don’t really have anything big enough to be worth criticising so nothing to say for negatives.

Family Appreciation Day – An average episode, with only the introduction of timber wolves and a few scenes of the Cutie Mark Crusaders (Scootaloo hitting a light bulb, Sweetie Belle bucking the zap apple tree, and Scootaloo delivering a telegram) being of any interest to me. The rest of the episode was just boring to me.

Baby Cakes – A good episode, with all-round great comical and emotional moments. Nothing to fault really, it just wasn’t the strongest of episodes and lacked a moment that truly had me in hysterics (constant giggles, sure, bursting out loud with laughter, no).

Hearth’s Warming Eve – A fantastic episode, the history of Equestria being presented in the form of a play being simply marvellous and this has for me Pinkie Pie’s best moments though I dislike friendship being formed on the basis that if they are not friends they get killed by Windigoes, kind of ruins the whole message.

The Last Roundup – My favourite episode of the entire series, I loved every moment of the episode, especially the chase scene, and my one criticism is concerning fan-reaction, Applejack being ignored almost entirely because of Derpy and how many seem to only consider it good because of Derpy.

The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 – My third favourite episode of season 2 and for good reason. Overall it is amazing thanks to a brilliant song and a nice recurring joke with Rainbow Dash but it also has my favourite opening and closing moments to an episode in the entire series. It starts with what is effectively a FlutterDash opening and ends with Applejack trolling Princess Celestia. I can understand those who dislike this episode, the song goes on for too long, neither group seems to have much business sense, and the Flim Flam brother’s exit is rushed due to time restraints.

Read it and Weep – A poor episode because of how boring I find it. The ‘Rainbow Dash stealing slippers’ joke is hilarious and the Daring Doo moment where all the cliché death traps happen all at once are funny however I have to manage to keep myself awake to witness these scenes.

Hearts and Hooves Day – A fantastic episode, my favourite thing about it is tied between ‘The Perfect Stallion’ song and Sweetie Belle’s role in the episode. I dislike Twilight’s crammed in appearance and Zecora’s absence though the true negative comes in the form of the reaction of the FlutterMac fans to the premise of this episode.

A Friend in Deed – A good episode, which displays Pinkie Pie at both her best and worst. It’s a brilliant study of Pinkie Pie as a character and Crankey Doodle Donkey comes across well but the ending is a rushed copout and prevents the episode from reaching a fantastic rating in my opinion.

Putting Your Hoof Down – A poor episode, as while I did enjoy the ‘old Fluttershy, new Fluttershy’ joke quite a bit a lot of the episode made no sense, in particular how Fluttershy becomes the meanest character in the entire series without much effort (even her Discorded self seems nice in comparison).

It’s About Time – A fantastic episode with my favourite part about the episode being the disaster proofing Equestria scene, it just invoked strong feelings of community spirit and presented the way I wish our world was more like. My only criticism is how the moral comes close to being a ‘you can’t change fate’ message.

Dragon Quest – an average episode and the closest one to being rated as good instead. It has several neat moments that stand out, my favourite being Rarity threatening to rip the dragons to pieces, but the dragons themselves are stereotypical jocks and it ends up creating a middle half to the episode which is predictable and bland (the lava dive and Crackle joke being the only parts to amuse me during that middle point).

Hurricane Fluttershy – My second favourite episode of season 2 as it demonstrates the relationship between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash brilliantly, every moment these two characters were in the same scene was a moment I smiled. It also stars all my favourite characters par one; Scootaloo, and her absence/lack of mention, is the only fault I find with this episode.

Ponyville Confidential – A poor episode and my least favourite of the entire series. Several of the characters act like hypocritical jerks to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, or just plain jerks, and this was the first time watching this entire series that I wanted to inflict actual pain to a character. Big Mac’s talk to the Cutie Mark Crusaders got me so angry that the only thing I wanted to do was grab a crowbar, find my way to Equestria, and break each of his legs as I pummel him in with it. The humour was generally weak and the only saving graces I find to this episode are the characters of Rarity and Diamond Tiara. Rarity is the only one who acts like they should when pointing out that a child has done something wrong, she admits to her hypocrisy and sits down and explains what Sweetie Belle did wrong and why it is wrong. As for Diamond Tiara, she stops being simply bitchy and becomes outright evil in this episode; and I love it, she truly feels like an antagonistic villain in this episode and her moments were always good to see. Unless it’s a part of a marathon, this is probably the only episode I will never watch again.

MMMystery on the Friendship Express – A good episode, most notable for Pinkie Pie’s imagination sequences (my favourite is Gustavs) but the quality and interest in the episode starts to decline after that and unfortunately this episode has suffered from me having extremely high expectations.

A Canterlot Wedding Part 1 – A good episode, with an ending that made me yell out "Holy s**t! They just killed Twilight!" On the negative side I would say Candence’s power irritates me and is never explained too well (also Twilight’s friends abandoning her so easily).

A Canterlot Wedding Part 2 – A fantastic episode, the final battle was once again rushed and pathetic but the action scenes leading up to it were terrific and my favourite part will always be Rainbow Dash kissing Fluttershy because while this alone does not make the pairing canon I still saw Rainbow Dash kissing Fluttershy!

I'd love to see people commenting on this; be it whether you agree or disagree, discussion will always be appreciated. Cheerio!

A Canterlot Wedding Musing.

I have not seen too many opinions of the two part season 2 finale, 'A Canterlot Wedding' but the majority were probably expressed on forums and have yet to be composed into larger and more orderly blog posts. I posted this about 8 hours earlier over on Fimfiction.net and the only reason I did not post it here immediately is that I was tired, I wanted sleep first. Anyway here is my recent post on both parts of the episode, 'A Canterlot Wedding' written on the 21st April 2012.

What do the following episodes 'Mare in the Moon', 'Elements of Harmony', 'The Best Night Ever', 'Return of Harmony Part 1', and 'Return of Harmony Part 2' have in common. I consider all of them to be average. Yes, even the Discord episodes, for while Discord was a great villain, his not wrong but sinister lessons were smart as well as neat, and the Rainbow Dash chase was awesome they were not enough for me to consider the episodes above average (from time to time 'Return of Harmony Part 2' enters the good zone but I've never felt compelled to watch it again). I just felt they could be much better, and I will now say that 'A Canterlot Wedding Part 1' and 'A Canterlot Wedding Part 2' were also average episodes...but then I'd be lying.

The first part was good, and the second part would be in my top five episodes if I didn't favour 'May The Best Pet Win' to my fifth spot, and consider 'Secret of my Excess' to be just a little better than it, thus taking spot number six. Still, placing as my seventh favourite episode of season 2 is certainly not bad. Why is it that the first half is good but the second half is fantastic? Well the first half is the build up; the second half is the release of said build up. The second half also has the factors of the better song (although all the songs in the two parts were excellent), the reveal of the villain, and absolutely awesome action scenes.

My high opinion of these episodes does not mean I have nothing to criticise but I will get to the faults later, let’s first talk about the good. The songs were just...wow. All three (or was it four) songs were brilliant and I would go so far as to say that the Candence and Changeling song is my third favourite of the entire show (sorry Happy Monthiversery). The humour was brilliant, with bits to each and every one of the Mane 6 and Spike. Luna's appearances kind of felt like cameos but were appreciated. The Mane 6 vs. changeling battle was brilliant, a proper brawl that I wished to have seen in the other two part episodes (and 'A Dog and Pony Show') but never recieved. Once again this show has tugged at my heart with every moment of Twilight Sparkle, having everyone doubt her like that was awful, even more so when you know she is right. As for the new characters introduced, well I don't have much to say about Shining Armour and Candence. Shining Armour seems like a nice guy but he never really interested me, and while I liked Candence more than I ever expected too, it is only a small liking of her that I have. The Changeling queen on the other hand was an absolutely brilliant character. Someone who was completely evil, who actually felt evil, and yeah, I'm possibly considering her for my top twenty characters. Heck, she managed to do something I never thought was possible, she managed to make me like Celestia a little more. Yeah, Celestia is still in my bottom ten characters of the show but she is no longer in the bottom three.

There are a few minor things I could criticise but I will stick to pointing out two things I did not like about these two episodes. First, Candence's power, I hate it. The reason I was okay with the love potion in 'Hearts and Hooves Day' was because it didn't work, it didn't make them fall in actual love because it couldn't replicate the multitude of emotions that make up love. Candence's power on the other hand (or hoof in this case) appears to do exactly that though, make ponies fall in love and that...that is probably why I don't like her (along with her being apparently perfect in the eyes of everyone, though that is mostly redeemed for how she is shown to be frail and vulnerable in quite a few moments). My other criticism is that the people working on this show just can't seem to do an epic final showdown. It annoys me that the Mane 6 were not the ones to take down the enemy (or even have much involvement in taking them down), and it frustrates me that the Changeling queen did not even try to stop Candence and Shining Armour even though she had previously used the power of love to take down Celestia. I immediately thought of a better way to do that scene the moment the episode ended, and that was to have the Changeling queen try and stop the two from using the power of love, only for the Mane 6 to slow her down and prevent her from stopping the magic.

Of my favourite moments of each of the two episodes they were both parts that blew my mind, and almost prevented me from staying conscious. My favourite moment in the first part can be summed up with what I yelled out "Holy s**t! They just killed Twilight!" I then began to hyperventilate from seeing my favourite character being burned to death. My favourite moment in the second part was when Rainbow Dash saves Fluttershy from her clones and she helps Fluttershy up and...and...did I just hear...did I just see...DID THEY JUST KISS! How close the two characters were, their faces actually touch, and you can even hear the sound affect of a kiss. The closeness of their faces may be a trick of the eye but the sound of a kiss, I did not mishear that, heck, I even think someone has screen capped it already. I only managed to keep myself in the realm of living because I did not want to miss out on the rest of the episode but geez; I had a flipping heart attack.

Now to conclude, season 2's finale was brilliance stacked upon brilliance. Yes it could have been better, the Mane 6 didn't feel all that involved, stuff like Twilight having a brother should have been foreshadowed earlier in season 2, and while the romance was sweet it doesn't compare to the relationships presented in 'Secret of my Excess' and 'Hurricane Fluttershy' (and I'm pretty sure they weren’t even intending for it to come across as roma-actually, considering all the hints of FlutterDash throughout season two I'm not so sure; I think one of the writers or animators that joined in season 2 must be a FlutterDash shipper). Anyway, season 2 has ended with a bang, an unexpected bang and one bigger than what even season 1 had. Now I face two problems; waiting for season 3 and thinking of things to talk about in place of the episode musings until season 3 starts.

My musing this time is incredibly recent so there should in theory be little for me to say however I did find out a few things after writing my musing and thought of a the odd other likable moment. First off, the song that is now my third favourite is called 'This Day Aria' and the Changeling queen who looks to take a spot in my top twenty characters is called 'Queen Chrysalis'. To be clear on my opinions of Shining Armour and Candence, I do not hate them but neither do I like them; they sit firmly in a neutral zone. As for the FlutterDash kiss scene I thought I saw...I did see it, as well as several other people (they have it in the form of screenshots and YouTube clips already). Either my OTP is canon, the animators made a mistake, or the animators are trolling us like in the Mare Do Well episode with the Appledash kiss hidden by a camera flash. I'm hoping, however unlikely, for the first of these ideas. As for other things I thought were worth noting, Applejack putting on her hat the moment Rarity looked away, and doing so with a Liarjack expression. Marvellous. As always I wish to hear your opinions so discussion may be generated but for now cheerio!

My Top Twenty MLP:FiM Characters!

As it will be a while before I can upload my blog on Fimfiction.net I decided that I might as well upload the half of it that I planned to upload here earley, before my Fimfiction.net blog. This isn't an old or recent episode musing but a list of my top twenty characters with a brief explanation as to why I like them (I would go into more detail with each one but I didn't want to make the post too long).

20) Mr. Cake – Yes, this character probably would not be on this list if it were not for the fanfic ‘Old Friends’ by Bellum Civille (by the way you should go read that fanfic, even if it is on hiatus currently and it’s easier to read on Fanfiction.net) however there are several canon parts that make him likable. His design and voice are instantly recognisable and I’ve enjoyed his humorous moments in ‘Baby Cakes’ and ‘MMMystery on the Friendship Express’.

19) Tank – I like tortoises and this is a loyal and determined one who travels via a helicopter blade mechanism. I don’t see whats not to like about him.

18) Fido – I love the diamond dogs as a race and I really like the overall feel of Fido. He’s big, broad, and has a deep voice but he isn’t a lackey or considered dumber than the other two of the trio and I like that.

17) Flam – Why is Flam on the list but not Flim? The moustache. Otherwise I like the character for his vibrant attitude and their contribution to the show via a great song.

16) Zecora – I may not like rhymes but I like zebras, and I in particular like the sagely Zecora and her role as a sort of secondary mentor to Twilight.

15) Cranky Doodle Donkey – He reminds me of Carl Fredricksen and anything that reminds me of Up cannot be bad. Furthermore I can relate to the character, love how he’s presented as preferring solitude but with good reason and never comes across as mean. I also like his dedication to love. Seriously, travelling across Equestria for your entire life for a girl you met for one day, that’s deserving of respect.

14) Pinkie Pie – I know a certain friend of mine is displeased at seeing this pink pony at only 14 but that doesn’t mean I don’t love Pinkie Pie. She’s a brilliant character, hilarious and crazy but with a ton of depth to her. She’s only at this point because of characters I like more and the fact that I probably would not get along well with Pinkie Pie if I were to encounter her (anti-social as I am).

13) Applejack – Of all the characters Applejack is the one I most want to hear a solo from because I love her accent in the singing moments. She’s honest and stubborn, both traits I like, and though not a farmer myself I have respect for those who are.

12) Rarity – She often shines for having the best lines in most of the episodes but another reason I like her is that she feels the most balanced. She has pro’s and she has flaws, and this makes her the most believable character, the sort you could actually encounter and range from spending good days and bad days with. I also love how overdramatic she can be, and along with her speech, she often steals the spotlight almost as much as Pinkie’s comedy.

11) Chief Thunderhooves – Just one line and I came to love this character. His declaration of it ‘being the worst performance he had ever seen’ just had me in tears and I like how reasonable they presented him. He had demands and he wasn’t backing down from them but he also considered other options and listened to those around him.

10) Apple Bloom – Once again I love the accent but also the enthusiasm the character has. Her skill is an interesting one and I’ve enjoyed her interactions with the crusaders, her sister, and Zecora.

9) Fancy Pants – Monocle! I should probably expand on that but simply put, I’m British, Fancy Pants is the most British character in the show, and it’s nice to see a rich character that is in turn nice. He also has a monocle.

8) Rover – My favourite of the diamond dogs. I like his design and raspy, recognisable voice, as well as his seemingly greater intellect among his kin.

7) Sweetie Belle – Originally Sweetie Belle was my least favourite among the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and would have been below Apple Bloom on this list however ‘Hearts and Hooves Day’ did wonders for my appreciation of this character. I like how, despite being a bit slow and spaced out, she isn’t depicted as being stupid and actually shows a lot of initiative in cases such as ‘Hearts and Hooves Day’. “Oh come on!” is also one of the best executed lines of the entire show.

6) Fluttershy – I like animals. I’m not necessarily good with them but me and my family have always had pets in the house and I generally prefer their company to other people. Thus part of the reason I like Fluttershy, I can respect her preference to spend time with the animals than other ponies, relate to her days of being bullied (although my case was more people stealing my stuff to prevent me from working in the midst of class), and I generally like kind and shy characters in most stories/anime/cartoons/games.

5) Rainbow Dash – Though I’m not usually a fan of fast, athletic characters I do like proud characters. Her personality also allows for some of the better interactions with other characters, either through showing off her good points or through creating conflict and thus producing a more interesting story to follow.

4) Spike – He’s quite noticeable as the only main male character but is also surprisingly diverse. At times he is the young child he is and at others he is the most level headed probably because he ends up seeing most situations from outside the conflict. I love his charmingly sweet and surprisingly real affections for Rarity as well as his little brother to older sister interactions with Twilight. At times he can be surprisingly effeminate with wishes for greater masculinity, and at others he shows off his masculinity through the finer art of being a true gentleman.

3) Angel Bunny – Anyone here like Bender from Futurama, or Dan from Dan Vs. They are jerks but you can’t help but love them. That is what Angel Bunny is, he is a lovable jerk. There is the ironic joke of him being a bully while being a cute little rabbit and the fact that his owner (allthough at times it seems he is the owner) is the bearer of kindness. He enjoys being evil as it were, it’s fun to be evil; however he also knows when to limit himself, call it quits, and be kind, particularly to Fluttershy who he is constantly trying to get to stand up for herself and voice her opinion (people seem to forget his moments in ‘Ticket Master’, ‘Dragonshy’ and ‘A Bird in the Hoof’). He just doesn’t like doing it because it’s no fun being the nice guy.

2) Scootaloo – While indeed Scootaloo is one of the characters most affected by fandom in regards of how much I like her this would not remove her from my top ten (without fandom she would probably be my sixth favourite character). Her attitude is one feature I like, and though I can never phantom the concept of role models, having never aspired to be like anyone in my entire life, I do find her admiration of Rainbow Dash both a sweet and amusing trait (even more so when you enter Stalkerloo territory). I also find a few of her moments and lines to be more memorable than others.

1) Twilight Sparkle – Twilight Sparkle has been liked by me since the first episode for her intellect, her passion for reading, and for being anti-social but it was ‘Look Before You Sleep’ with her naivety, lack of street-smarts as it were, and absolute adorkableness (which makes me claim that she is the cutest character in the show) that grounded her as my favourite character. I’m surprised at my ability to relate to the character and I appreciate seeing the intelligent, bookworm character being the lead protagonist.

There you have it, my top twenty characters. Will this list change in anyway by the last two episodes of season two? Probably not but is a possibility. Will this list change by the end of season three? More than likely through new additions, so I will upload an updated version of this list when season three ends but for now these are my twenty most loved characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

An Old 'MMMystery on the Friendship Express' Musing.

Here it is, here it finally is. With this I will have finally uploaded by backlog of episode musings from Fimfiction.net, leaving only the finale to muse upon (which will be uploaded to both Fimfiction.net and Blogspot at around the same time). Without further ado here is my old post on the episode 'MMMystery on the Friendship Express' written on the 7th April 2012.

Onto the episode, 'MMMystery on the Friendship Express', to which I have one disappointment from it. It has not made it any easier to think of my sixth favourite episode of season 2, which is still being fought by 'Hearts and Hooves Day' and 'It’s About Time'. It's a fantastic episode, don't get me wrong (Is it better than my favourite Rugrats TV Special 'Mumur on the Ornery Express'? No, not even close) but it is not as good as either of those two episodes mentioned.

'MMMystery on the Friendship Express' had some splendid moments, a hilarious opening, brilliant Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle interactions, interesting character designs, and gut bursting imagination sequences. I will give this episode credit where it is due, Pinkie Pie's scenario's on how each baker harmed the cake is one of the best moments of the entire series, not just season, series, but I'm a sucker for such humour. Animation also looked great and my gosh every one of Pinkie Pie's and Twilight Sparkle's movements got me to giggle. The problem I would say is that interest began to wane halfway through the episode.

The mystery was rather weak, and the only remarkable thing that went on once Twilight and Pinkie Pie switched roles were their small movements that seemed a lot more entertaining than anything going on. I wouldn't say it is bad, just un-engaging at that point.

This is probably my shortest episode musing, but the best moments happened to be clustered together making it quicker to sum up. Certainly not a bad or average episode, and filled with fantastic moments, but I guess I had my hopes up too high considering how epic I have found all other incident on train storylines.

My hopes were up too high for this episode, I compared it to Rugrats and Paper Mario, I expected it to be a top five contender but it couldn't manage. It is certainly good and an episode I will always enjoy re-watching, but it's not fantastic and there are better episodes in the season to watch. Feel free to comment and cheerio!

A response to my first comment on my old musing of Hurricane Fluttershy.

It was only after finishing a nice, long response to my first commenter on my Old Musing posts that I found out that there is a character limit to replies. As such, having already spent a long time writing the reply, I have decided to simply respond to Look down Look up Youre a Brony here. So the following is my response to Look Down Look Up Youre a Brony’s comment on my musing of Hurricane Fluttershy.
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Thank you very much for the comment, the first comment I have recieved for my old musing posts here on Blogspot. Even though the comment expresses an opinion that disagrees with mine I am joyful to receive nonetheless and this at least opens up room for debate and discussion.

From your comments it seems you are not too fond of Rainbow Dash and it’s a shame this episode didn’t win you over because it is the most likable Rainbow Dash gets, being the best presentation of her as the element of loyalty. Anyway I will not bring up the topic of the pairings of FlutterSparkle (or is it TwiShy) and FlutterDash because I have never thought much about Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle being a pairing while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash is my favourite pairing of all and we will be here a long time if I were to focus on it. Instead I will try and downplay your argument of Rainbow Dash caring more for the record than Fluttershy with my own argument.

First, while Rainbow Dash did indeed care for breaking the wing power record, that does not collate directly with her dreams. It would indeed help her chances with joining the wonderbolts but the breaking of the record is more akin to Applejack performing in the rodeo in ‘The Last Roundup’, it’s for Ponyville, after all the hurricane creation is a community event. Secondly, Rainbow Dash’s dreams never even entered the fold of the episode, for not only did Rainbow Dash play little heed towards Spitfire’s appearance but she even passed credit that she was being given to Fluttershy. That though is merely my reasoning for why Rainbow Dash’s dreams were never brought up as a part of the episode however the main argument of yours is that Rainbow Dash did not start caring for Fluttershy until after she knew that they could beat the record without her, something I plan to disprove.

First, Rainbow Dash changes her approach with Fluttershy. This is the first time we ever see it happen but Rainbow Dash puts a lid on her more direct behaviour and actually reflects on Fluttershy’s feelings, and tries to convince both calmly and sympathetically. Second, she accepts that Fluttershy doesn’t want to participate, and rather than resorting to force, she leaves. She’s saddened but she accepts that her friend doesn’t want to participate and allows her not to. Third, she tries to get Fluttershy to participate regardless of how much of a difference her contribution would make...twice. The second time, sure, they knew that they had enough wing power to break the record but the first time they didn’t, and Rainbow Dash flies on after Fluttershy. This is where you argued that Rainbow Dash’s “I need you!” is for wanting to break the record however that makes little sense when considering how small Fluttershy’s wing power was. Furthermore there is a genuine tone of concern to her, through Rainbow’s voice, expression, and most of all action, once Fluttershy leaves. She reaches out for her, trying to say something but not knowing what to say to help her friend leaving only to be able to buck in frustration and return to coaching downcast. I personally see the “I need you!” to be a matter of support, Fluttershy simply being there in some form being enough to boost Rainbow’s morale and ability, knowing she has a friend helping her in this important task, but it is open for interpretation just like you’ve got a very different one to mine. Fourth and final example I will use is when the pegasus are trying to create the hurricane for the second time. At this point Rainbow Dash isn’t trying to break the record but is simply trying to create the hurricane necessary for Cloudsdale. She crashes by Fluttershy, but doesn’t try to ask her for help despite how much they need it. Rainbow Dash accepts that her friend doesn’t want to participate and puts her friend’s choice over a vital role needed to support the whole of Equestria.

Like with most of the things I speak of regarding my musings, they can often be found but better said by other reviewers such as James Corck at http://awthredestim.blogspot.co.uk/ or by PaleoSteno at http://www.youtube.com/user/PaleoSteno. I would recommend reading/watching their reviews. Once again, thanks for commenting and thanks for expressing your opinion even if may differ greatly from my own. Cheerio!

An Old 'Ponyville Confidential' Musing.

At the time I wrote the musing on this episode I was also doing my short opinion list on each and every episode of season 1, so it may not be as good as my other musings. It also does not help that my previous musing was on an episode I loved to bits while this one...well you'll see. This here is my old post on the episode 'Ponyville Confidential', written on the 31st March 2012.

Now it is time for a more in depth musing though, this time on recent episode ‘Ponyville Confidential’. Once again it has not been long since I watched the episode and yet I am already writing down my thoughts. I think this will be what I will do, rather than give time to think about the episode over and over again I will head in with my first opinions of the episode. Sure, this likely means my opinion on the episode will change however I can always cover that in the future by having a short all episodes opinion thing for season 2 like I have just done with season 1.

So what do I have to say on the episode, well my opinions are mixed mostly. I love the Cutie Mark Crusaders and once again their interactions with one another prove enjoyable. There are several funny moments, we got to see a lot of Diamond Tiara in an antagonistic role (something this show needs more of) and I liked both the design of Feather Weight and the small actions of the chubby pony. The one thing I found remarkable about this episode is how the Cutie Mark Crusaders had doubts over what they were doing but continued to do so despite their guilt because of both Diamond Tiara and because it was making the other ponies happy. Unfortunately it is the featuring of this surprising factor that causes great problems in my feelings towards this episode as it sets up a great amount of sympathy for the Crusaders.

To explain, one of the key problems I found with 'The Mysterious Mare Do Well' is how, despite it trying to present Rainbow Dash in the wrong, I could not help but feel sympathetic for Rainbow Dash and this made the other characters come across as real jerks. Here it is even worse, we are shown that the crusaders feel guilty for what they are doing but knowing that it has been making ponies happy (which it does until it happens to each of the characters) they continue to do so, even if what they had been doing was wrong they were doing so for the right reasons. The fact that the other characters barely give them a chance to explain and get furious over something they originally were happy about and the fact that the ones they lash out against are children pretty much makes everyone out to be a bunch of hypocritical assholes. I was amazed that 'A Friend In Deed' managed to make me dislike Pinkie Pie for a short period of time (because of not being properly reprimanded for accidentally destroying Cranky Doodle Donkey's stuff) but here, from watching 'Ponyville Confidential', I have temporarily gained a hatred for pretty much all the characters outside of the Crusaders. Heck, I feel like I have a right to put Big Mac on my list of disliked characters for his lines in this episode, and that list of disliked characters on this show doesn't even reach ten. I can sort of understand the reactions of the other ponies but they took it too far, and the feelings they had are not something I can relate to personally. When I was at school people spread lies about me and I just let it happen. It didn't bother me; I don't care about what other people think of me. As for something to hide, I have next to nothing. I'm incredibly blunt, like stating my opinions on subjects even when they’re not needed, and the only things I keep secret are bank and security details (also presents, I keep presents I have bought for people a secret).

Overall while there is a good amount to love about the episode, the flaws I feel can be too great at times. It's an episode that I will probably later consider average but currently it has its foot too far into the poor zone. Next week we have 'MMMystery on the Friendship Express' an episode that I look forward to immensely. The reason for this anticipation is because my favourite Rugrat's special (just stating now, Rugrats is my all time favourite cartoon ever, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is only my sixth favourite cartoon) 'Murmur on the Ornery Express', is based off the same thing, and both it and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door have given me a love for mysteries on trains.

You know how I said I would probably consider this episode average later on, well I was wrong. Not only do I consider it poor but I think I would rate this episode as my least favourite, even more so that 'Owl's Well That Ends Well'. Sure, there are some good things about this episode and one key thing I never pointed out was Rarity. Everything about Rarity came across brilliantly and she is the only character who does the right thing, she talks with Sweetie Belle about how what she has done was wrong rather than simply ignoring or lashing out at her. I also likened to Diamond Tiara, not because she is a likable character but because she makes a great antagonist. In previous episodes she was simply bitchy, here she is outright evil...and I love it. The final good thing it did was give me a better appreciation of 'The Mysterious Mare Do Well', the characters had good intentions in that episode, they just went about it as a bunch of idiots; jerks via stupidity, rather than intentionally mean.

As for how this episode has worsened over time, well with exception to Rarity's line, 'I'll Destroy Her!" nothing made me burst out laughing. There are few neat little animations/silent character actions that make me snicker but I often have a hard time remembering the good of the episode because it feels kind of weak and forgettable. The bad on the other hand, that has just gotten worse over time, more so with the knowledge that this episode was the first time I wanted to violently attack a My Little Pony character. Heck, it's rare I ever get that angry with a cartoon character but in that Big Mac moment I felt the urge to somehow warp to Equestria if only to take a steel bat and beat him with it until all four of his legs were broken. At least such a thing will open a gigantic doorway for discussion so feel free to comment and cheerio.

An Old 'Hurricane Fluttershy' musing.

I'm excited being able to post up this musing because not only is this my best musing of an episode to date, but it also means I'm closer to catching up with the current episode where I will probably receive comments...as well as gain the free time to comment on other review blogs. Anyway, this here is my old post on the episode 'Hurricane Fluttershy', written on the 24th March 2012.

Unlike last week I don't have much reason for updating my blog after only two to four hours since the latest episode, although I did wish to inform my readers of the continuation of 'Thank You Cider' so there is that. Not to worry though, my opinion of ‘Hurricane Fluttershy’ is pretty well affirmed. Second Best Episode Ever! As it stands now, including both seasons, my top five favourite episodes are the following 5) ‘A Dog and Pony Show’, 4) ‘Look Before You Sleep’, 3) ‘The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000’, 2) ‘Hurricane Fluttershy’, and 1) ‘The Last Roundup’.

You know, I was really worried about this episode, I feared it would cast the relationship between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in a negative light like Dragonshy and/or change Fluttershy into a completely different and unlikable character like in 'Putting Your Hoof Down' but I was wrong, I was really wrong. You might as well re-name this episode FlutterDash, the only way you could have made it more ship like is if you had them kiss (and I would have leapt with joy), and the best thing of all is that they manage to present this great yet unlikely friendship while keeping the characters as themselves. Speaking of characters, this episode featured in good amounts my 6th favourite - Fluttershy, my 5th favourite - Rainbow Dash, my 4th favourite - Spike, my third favourite – Angel Bunny, and my favourite character – Twilight Sparkle. They all had decent amounts of screen time, all played a role, and all managed to come across as either likable and/or funny. The only one missing was Scootaloo and you would have my top 6 favourite characters at once. Things to mention that were praiseworthy, the mule joke, Fluttertree camouflage, any interaction going on between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy (also notice how in Fluttershy's house she has a painting of two butterflies and a rainbow, just saying), Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as fillies, a training montage, and they made the results believable (they couldn't set a new record and Fluttershy did not suddenly become super fast, but they managed to get the job done and Fluttershy managed to help so it all works out). One repeated detail that was nice was the coughing, Thunderlane coughs at several points and he later has the feather flu, furthermore when Thunderlane was called up the Blossomforth next to him also begins coughing. Those small details are just incredible.

As for negatives, well there is little to say. Spitfire didn't really have much effect on the episode and ultimately felt pointless, Scootaloo (a pegasus need I remind you) wasn't featured at all, and I was hoping for there to be lyrics with the montage but the music works well enough. Ultimately the things I can suggest as negatives are more improvements, even if you don't consider this episode as a favourite or even great you have to admit that it was a solid episode with few things to fault about it. Overall, I have watched this episode twice already and I eagerly await the influx of more FlutterDash supporters. Next week will be the episode 'Ponyville Confidential', an episode where I will probably disagree with the moral (going on my predictions of the moral of the episode) but I do love the Cutie Mark Cruaders and the episode will be worth watching simply to hear Rarity say the following line in the episode "I'll Destroy Her!"

I still love this episode the point where it still remains as my second favourite episode of the entire show so I have nothing new to say here. As such, feel free to comment and cheerio!

An Old 'Dragon Quest' musing.

No fancy introduction this time, just stating that this here is my old post on the episode 'Dragon Quest', written on the 17th March 2012.

It is time to start my episode analysis on 'Dragon Quest', an episode starring my fourth favourite character Spike and so of course I'm going to start...by pointing out evidence for the FlutterDash pairing. I know it will most likely never be canon but finding evidence to suggest it is fun, and that little part at the beginning with Rainbow Dash stating how she went with Fluttershy to watch the Butterfly migration was just a great bit. Also funny how it appears that Rainbow Dash was the only one who went with Fluttershy (although I then wonder who took the picture then).

Oh yes, back to Spike and his episode. Today's episode had several brilliant moments and yet it is certainly not one of the best episodes. The opening was fantastic, the moment with the Mane 6 (Fluttershy excluded) watching the dragons was hilarious, and Spike's emotional crisis was actually touching. It was when Spike met up with the dragons that things became a bit dull, as the dragons were rather two dimensional and the happenings were all things I have seen before. There was the occasional laugh and I loved how the dragons don't care about Celestia (now all I need is for a good guy to not bow and scrape before her, and actually object to her and I will be very pleased) but it was the weaker moments of the overall episode. Once Spike says no to the dragons the greatness returns and I absolutely love the moment where Rarity threatens the dragons, best part of the episode. I also found it fascinating how this episode encouraged RariSpike, but from Rarity's side rather than Spike's, very interesting and a good way of doing it considering Spike is more focused on finding out who he is in this episode. Overall, while the episode had moments where it got dull and predictable it was also filled with brilliant scenes of humour, animation, and emotions, and while I would not consider it one of the best of the season, it was still a strong and enjoyable episode.

Next week we have 'Hurricane Fluttershy' an episode I am both excited for and worried for. You see, I'm not a big fan of the whole controlling weather thing (or most things that go against Mother Nature, an issue I would like to see raised as well as a concept possibly used for an antagonist in the future) and the last Fluttershy episode was pretty bad in my opinion. I am however excited for it because of it focusing on Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and well, you can probably guess why. I think I will settle with being cautiously optimistic about this episode.

No fancy ending comments either, I just hope you'll comment, thank you if you do, and day cheerio.

An Old 'It's About Time' musing.

I do believe I will get comments once I have not only caught up to the current episode, but also begin commenting on other review sites. The plan to comment on other review sites though is something I will not enact until after season 2 ends but hopefully one or two people will eventually find this blog and comment. Continuing on with this backlog, here is my old post on the episode ‘It’s About Time’ written on the 11^th March 2012.

Recently I haven't been enjoying the episodes of Friendship is Magic. While I loved 'Hearts and Hooves Day', and I enjoyed 'A Friend in Deed' even if I dislike the rushed, cop out ending, I found 'Read it and Weep' to be boring, and 'Putting Your Hoof Down' to be irritating. As such I have found it hard to be optimistic towards the episodes as of late but then came 'It's About Time', an episode starring best pony Twilight Sparkle and it was about time she got back into the limelight because this episode was awesome.

True, the ending was predictable, but the jokes and events happening before the end were all worth it. Each of the mane 6 got a moment, even if Applejack's and Rarity's were fairly small, we got to see all of Ponyville banding together in scenes that warmed my heart, saw Cerberus attack Ponyville and Twilight nonchalantly going up to him, confident she could beat the guardian of Hades (or in this case, the gates of Tartarus), Twilight pacing a hole in the ground, Spike acting like an annoying but well meaning little brother, more Friendship is Witchcraft stuff becoming canon, Twilight going crazy in a more reasonable but still entertaining manner than she did in 'Lesson Zero', Twilight Sparkle breaking into the royal castle library along with Pinkie Pie and Spike, showing how useless the guards are once again, showing how pointless it was to sneak about in the first place and no letter to Celestia was given. That, which is pretty much the entire episode, are all the things that I liked.

I preferred the more structured but still rather eccentric and creepy manner of crazy Twilight went through here than the outright manically insane crazy she went through in 'Lesson Zero'. I was also pleasantly surprised by the introduction of Cerberus and was roaring with both laughter and amazement at the reactions of Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Fluttershy in that instance. Sure the ending was predictable and the moral came close to a 'you can't change your destiny' morale (which I hate, liking the Tengen Toppa style of throwing reason to the curb and doing the impossible route when facing destiny morale instead) but otherwise I loved this episode.

Next week's episode is 'Dragon Quest' an episode I will love if it includes a great deal of RPG references and parodies (even if I'm not a fan of the Dragon Quest series in particular) but one which I fear will lack involvement on the part of the Mane 6 (hopefully they are involved in a good deal as I miss each of the six main characters when they are not featured).

Opinions remain unchanged on this episode, still one of my top ten for season 2 and almost a top ten episode for the entire season (I can't decide which is better, this episode or 'Hearts and Hooves Day'). Feel free to comment, I will reply if you do, and cheerio!

An old 'Putting Your Hoof Down' musing.

No witty comments for the introduction or short informative sentence or two, just saying that this is my old post on the episode 'Putting Your Hoof Down', written on the 6th March 2012.

Now onto the hard part of today's blog entry, my episode analysis on 'Putting Your Hoof Down'. My opinion on this episode is much like that I have for 'A Friend in Deed', in the fact that I don't consider it a bad episode but nor do I consider it a great episode. The difference lies in that such a reasoning for a 'A Friend in Deed' came from its rushed cop-out ending and my hatred for Pinkie's actions within the episode (which would have been okay if she was reprimanded for her actions and learnt a lesson from it), with the episode itself being simply brilliant with great humour, catchy music (I actually preferred each of Pinkie's shorter songs to her Smile, Smile, Smile song) and a great new character in Cranky Doodle Donkey.

This week's episode had nothing objectionable to it per say (maybe one thing about it but such a thing can be excused by rule of funny), it just wasn't all that good. It had some funny moments, in particular the Old Fluttershy, New Fluttershy joke, and whiles the rest of the jokes where funny I don't find them memorable. The plot is simplistic and went about exactly as expected, it could have been worse and two weeks ago I feared the worse for it, and while it beat my worst expectations of it, after seeing the preview clip of it on Thursday I actually had my hopes up for the novel twist of having a large amount of Ponyville all become jerks from Iron Will's teachings, and not just Fluttershy. Sadly this didn't come true and it was simply Fluttershy who suffered from his teachings. Furthermore I was disappointed that the character of Iron Will wasn't more antagonistic, this show needs antagonists darn it, and while it was original for the large mouthed minotaur to come across as an okay guy (he was pushy but he accepted Fluttershy's refusal), doing so just made him rather bland (the only way I remember him is that he is voiced by the voice actor of Hercule from Dragonball Z, which is pretty awesome, I liked Hercule).

I enjoyed seeing Pinkie Pie and Rarity together (their character interactions are incredibly funny), I enjoyed Fluttershy's reaction to thinking she had become a monster, and I enjoyed seeing more of Angel Bunny (who is my third favourite character of the show and I'm going to have a lot of people complain at me for saying this aren't I) but overall the episode was for me, average at best, and somewhat poor at worst. I'll be sure to cheer myself up with next week's episode though because it is a Twilight Sparkle episode and I'll sure to enjoy an episode focusing on my favourite character even if I bet the episode, 'It's About Time' will include plenty of references I will not get (I do not like Doctor Who and I have never watched Back To The Future and as an episode about time travel what do you think the chances are that they will put in a joke about those two things).

My opinion of this episode has altered slightly since the review, the odd moment for the better but mostly for the worst. The character of Iron Will, while still coming across as a little bland, is still a neat, original move in having him be an okay guy. As for the rest though, well everyone being jerks, even for rule of funny, now feels inexcusable. Now Angel Bunny it's mostly okay for, his role is to be the funny jerk, but even in this episode I feel some of his actions take things to too high a level of jerk. It's strange that so many ponies of ponyville act like jerks, but even more bizarre is how Fluttershy became a jerk so easily. In fact, Fluttershy's moments proved her more evil than all previous villainous characters in the show (with possible exception to Nightmare Moon and Discord who were causing serious problems to the entire of Equestria with their actions). So overtime this episode has gone from being most likely poor in my opinion to being definitely poor. Please comment and cheerio!

An Old 'A Friend In Deed' musing

Apparently my blog post that was uploaded earlier this morning at 40 minutes past midnight counts as being a part of yesterday. Strange. Anyway, this means I will be uploading a post in less than 24 hours of each other as the last one counted as part of yesterday so I need one up for today. Not that anyone appears to be reading them as of yet but hey, maybe when I get up to date with the episodes they will. Here now is my old Fimfiction post on the episode 'A Friend In Deed', written on the 18th February 2012.

Now onto the episode, 'A Friend in Deed', an episode I have had much trouble thinking about. I can safely say that today's episode is not a bad one and avoids being placed in my dislike category alongside 'Owl's Well That Ends Well', 'The Mysterious Mare Do Well' and 'Read It And Weep' but I know I can't consider it a great episode either. It has a ton of good things about it, the song is a really good one, and while my enjoyment of it was only about average I can see it was presented well and gives a good feel for the character of Pinkie Pie.

The humour was humorous as one would expect from a Pinkie Pie episode, the plot was nicely thought of, the continuity and fan shout outs were lovely to see, and I really like Cranky Doodle Donkey. He rejects Pinkie Pie's friendship but never comes across as harsh, he shows he is grateful when she does something nice for him that actually works out, and when he does become mean towards Pinkie there's actually a good reason and Pinkie Pie actually deserves the prompted reaction.

Now you may be wondering how, despite all these liked parts of the episode, I can still be debating to myself on whether was good or not. The answer to this is that there are also a lot of things I disliked, such as how this episode made me actually dislike Pinkie Pie by the end of it. It's strange in how well they present Pinkie Pie during the first half of the episode but when it goes onto to the second half and focuses on her attempts to become friends with Cranky, she comes across as intrusive and disrespectful. Cranky is politely refusing Pinkie Pie's friendship but she is insistent, and her attempts not only end up causing him trouble but also end up damaging his property. The ending feels rushed, as rushed as the ending of the episode Friendship is Magic part 2, maybe even more so, and ends up feeling weak as a result. I also dislike how Pinkie Pie's intrusive behaviour was never addressed as part of the moral, and with the way the episode turns out it seems to say that she was right in how she acted. As for the moral, while I agree with it, it never felt like the main issue and I imagine that such a moral could have been reflected in an episode with a more fitting design. I guess the reason why I’m having trouble considering this episode as good is because, while it was funny and has the introduction of a great new character in Cranky, this is the first episode to actually make me dislike any of the Mane 6 in an episode. Such a thing is not enough to change her position of 14th in my top 20 favourite characters (although the addition of Cranky to the list may change that) as I have liked her in the other episodes but is enough to view her poorly in that one particular episode.

The next episode (whenever it airs) is ‘Putting Your Hooves Down’, an episode I don’t have high expectations for but I didn’t have high hopes for ‘Green Isn’t Your Colour’ and ‘Baby Cakes’ and they both turned out terrific so hopefully it will also be a terrific episode that I can enjoy.

Since this musing I have come to tolerate the actions of Pinkie more so and bask more in the great humour of the episode. While I still think of the ending as rushed and found the 'Smile, Smile, Smile' song to be rather dull, the actions of Pinkie Pie were well meaning and she did feel remorseful for what she had done. So yeah, I have come to like this episode more since my musing, the ending feels like a cop-out but the humour sure as heck isn't, and while I wouldn't rate this episode as fantastic it certainly isn't average. I hope you enjoyed reading, feel free to comment, and cheerio!

An Old Hearts and Hooves Day musing.

I happen to be up very late tonight, or as it's past midnight, very early. Anyway here is my old Fimfiction post on 'Hearts and Hooves Day', written on 11th February 2012.

As for the episode of which, yes I watched the episode early, and as such have had plenty of time to think about it, my first thought is one of four words; The song is awesome. I loved the Hearts and Hooves Day song, it had tons of fan shout outs, it's memorable, and it's also funny. Though I imagine many people’s favourite part is the pony obsessed with jars of jelly, mine is the ending line of Apple Blooms.

I can automatically say that I found this week's episode to be much more enjoyable than the last, and I really liked it in general. Sweetie Belle stole most of the show, but even then there are parts with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Big Mac, Cheerilee, and even background characters to which I can remember with a smile. I found the love potion plot to be a well executed one, not original, but it's one of the better versions of the plot.

Despite my enjoyment though I can still voice some dissatisfaction about it, for instance, not much of the episode was devoted to the love potion premise and I thought there was a lot more they could have done with it in regards to stalling tactics or love potion antics (for instance I wonder what happened to the rest of the love potion they had left over). The absence of Zecora was also disappointing and while Twilight Sparkle may be my favourite character I would have found it much more interesting to have the Cutie Mark Crusaders encounter Zecora, rather than Twilight (and thus we would end up with an episode where not a single one of the Mane 6 appears; not a concept I like usually but here I wouldn't mind it).

In the end my thoughts on the episode are this; while much more could have been done with the episode, it is, one of the best executions of the love potion plot I have watched and an episode I found immensely enjoyable. I also cannot get the Hearts and Hooves Day song out of my head and yet, I don't mind, it's an amazing song to have stuck in your head.

Nothing else to say, my opinions on this episode remain pretty much unchanged and it still stands as one of my favourite episodes of season 2. Feel free to comment and I hope you do, cheerio!

An Old 'Read It And Weep' musing.

So far my brilliant plan of posting on here to get more comments and as such generate discussion with fellow fans of the show has proven rather ineffective. I should probably go about and comment on other review sites as well, though I only know of two on blogspot for 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'. Moving on though, here is my old Fimfiction post on 'Read It and Weep', written on the 4th February 2012.

Now to talk about today's episode, Read it and Weep. Today's episode was not faulty, a part of me knows it to be a good episode, but unfortunately, like with the case of The Cutie Mark Chronicles, I also found it to be boring. This could be because the last two episodes have been absolutely brilliant and ones that I really like and it could very well be a case of these two episodes over shadowing today's episode in my mind. Such a thing I will only be able to tell once I look back on the episode sometime in the near future but as for now, for the present moment I found the episode to be dull.

I can't say I dislike the episode but neither did I find it enjoyable, this is not the case of The Mysterious Mare Do Well, where while I laughed an awful lot in the episode the concept of it brought it down and left me with a bitter taste, or the case of the Owl’s Well That Ends Well episode where I outright hated it, because there is nothing I can point out to say, “this part makes me dislike the episode”. I just found it to be uninteresting, I can think of ways for it to be made interesting (such as having a range of books for Rainbow Dash to be reading, and in each one imagining the various characters in the role of the fictional characters, something I always enjoy seeing), but I can’t pinpoint what it lacks in comparison to the other episodes.

Hopefully I will find next week’s episode to be a more enjoyable one, and even if the episode itself is not entertaining, I’m sure watching the affects it has on the community will be most enjoyable (it is cruel to say that I will be laughing when the torpedoes’ strike the S.S. FlutterMac, cruel but true).


If I were to muse on this episode now I would have a lot more to say on it, such as pointing out the few enjoyable moments I did find in this episode. I also know roughly why I found this episode to be boring (I believe a good chunk of the reason is due to its focus on Daring Doo). Once again I would love to be able to discuss this as well as other episodes with you but for now, cheerio!

An Old 'The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000' musing.

As I mentioned in my previous post I will be uploading my old musings of episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic that I have been doing on Fimfiction.net for a while, now to this blog. I will upload one old post each day until I catch up with the current episode for this blog. Now do keep in mind that what I am about to post is an old musing on the episode and my opinions may have changed since then, also that the first few of these were done simply for my own amusement and as such do not match the quality of my later musings. Without further ado, here is the entire extract of my musings on 'The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000', written on 29th January 2012.

'Now I could end this post here and it will be all fine and dandy however I won't because I like writing this blog and so I shall take this opportunity to its full advantage. The other thing I would like to comment upon is the recent episode (I am considering updating my blog each week to talk about both my fanfic progression and comment upon the recent episode), 'The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000', an interesting episode in my eyes for while I consider it to be the third best episode of season 2 so far ('The Last Roundup' is 2nd and 'Sisterhooves Social' is 1st), I can easily understand it if others dislike the episode.

This episode, for me at least, boasts the best opening and closing parts of all episodes so far, and while many are ready to agree with me on the closing (Applejack's letter to Celestia is the best letter ever), I like the first part of the episode so much because I am a fan of FlutterDash. While of course that is not truly what went on in the opening, the fact that it starts with Rainbow Dash bursting into Fluttershy's bedroom in the morning and then has Fluttershy blush when Rainbow Dash pulls away the covers is enough to fuel my mind with happy thoughts. I also would like to note two interesting (and cute) details concerning the two; first off is the fact that Rainbow Dash had no reason to bring Fluttershy along, who doesn't even seem to be all that interested in the cider, but does so anyway, and second is that even though Rainbow was desperate to be first in line she allows Fluttershy to go before her. Those small details...there just sweet to spot (I also cannot help but wonder when we will receive a Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy episode exploring the fact of them knowing one another since they were fillies).

Of course the episode had plenty of other things to enjoy, the gag of having Rainbow Dash unable to get cider was hilarious (though I started to feel sorry for her when she began to cry) and the Flim Flam brothers song was brilliant (a little bit long but catchy and currently stuck in my head). Overall I really liked the episode, one of my favourites of season 2 and high up on the list of liked episodes in general (which is a very large list considering there has only been three to four episodes I did not enjoy a great deal).'

Looking back on this musing I do feel I never did this episode justice, probably because I linger to long on the subject of FlutterDash (it is my FiM OTP admittedly). There was a lot more I could have praised about and pointed out, and this episode still stands as my third favourite episode of the series so far. Anyway, though some of the opinions may have changed (though my love of this episode clearly has not) I would still love to see some comments so I may engage in discussion with anyone that happens to be reading this. Cheerio!

I have decided to use this blog for something once again; ponies!

This blog of mine was created for no real purpose other than to be able to keep track of other blogs with greater ease. Sure I have tried to use it for a purpose once or twice, mostly in making it into a Fanfiction blog, but I have not been as heavily invested in fanfiction as I once was for quite some time (although I am slowly getting back into it, the Review King will take up his crown once more). In the meantime I have discovered something I can use this blog for, posting up my opinion on episodes of (if you can't tell from the rather obvious title) My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic currently stands as my sixth favourite cartoon, and it is thanks to its community that I have been slowly investing my time and attention back into fanfiction. After joining Fimfiction.net (once again with the intention of using it only to track stuff, not invent) I ended up writing a Friendship is Magic fanfic (incomplete as of the moment but it will be finished by the end of this month and is available for reading at both Fimfiction.net and Fanfiction.net) and also began utilising my profiles blog. For you see on Fimfiction.net each profile has a blog, and since 'The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000' I have been posting my opinions on episodes of Friendship is Magic. I wouldn't consider them reviews per say, if you want reviews you should visit 'awthredestim.blogspot.co.uk' and read James Corck's brilliant reviews; mine are merely musings where I can ramble on about my opinions on episodes in the hopes that I can discuss them with other people. Sadly I have only one follower on Fimfiction who joins in on the conversation but that's when I had the brilliant idea of posting my episode musings here.

Now this first post will concern my opinions on all episodes of season 1. I have written my opinions of the episodes in short one to two sentences with a pretty basic rating system (it goes poor, average, good, fantastic, and then top five of the season) because if I were to do an in-depth musing/review for each one this post would be blooming long. I will be posting my episode musings that I have done on Fimfiction.net at a later point but for now here are some quick opinion shouts about the episodes of season 1.

Mare in the Moon – A good episode, with my favourite part being how each character was introduced but the episode could have been improved if it lacked any mention of Nightmare Moon being Celestia’s sister, a fact later shown to have not been known by the characters (despite Twilight reading it from a book earlier).

Elements of Harmony – An average episode, with my favourite part being the manticore fight, although I felt Luna’s apology and turn over to good was both rushed and silly (it would have made more sense if the Mane 6 understood Luna’s pain and offered her their friendship rather than solving the problem with rainbow laser beams).

The Ticket Master – An average episode for lots of reasons but for me it was the introduction of my third favourite character Angel Bunny, however there was nothing in this episode that made me wow or go into hysterics.

Applebuck Season – A fantastic episode, the bunny stampede being my favourite part (Twilight’s deadpan reaction is just brilliant), with nothing really to dislike about it.

Griffon The Brush Off – An average episode, Pinkie’s line of ‘Can’t you watch me like a griffin’ being simply brilliant though I felt the rest of the prank based humour to be rather weak overall (too long to execute without enough humour in the result).

Boast Busters – An Average episode, as while I loved the Twilight Sparkle vs. Ursa Minor scenario this episode also introduced Trixie (whom the fandom is obsessed with for some reason), Snips, and Snails, some of the few characters that I dislike.

Dragonshy – A good episode, mostly for anything that Pinkie Pie and Rarity do in the episode (these two characters work brilliantly together), but I disliked the negative presentation of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s relationship (although I can understand her annoyance you would think Rainbow Dash would be used to Fluttershy’s many fears, having known her for so long).

Look Before You Sleep – My number one favourite episode of season 1 because Twilight proves to be best pony by having her most adorkable moments in this episode, the only grounds I can think of for disliking the episode is how it seems to side more so with Applejack than Rarirty when the plot should be neutral in opinion.

Bridle Gossip – A fantastic episode, I would say the best moments coming from Flutterguy, my only fault being that they were just as harsh on Twilight as the others despite her only jumping to conclusions when she had some form of evidence unlike the others who did so without any form of proof.

Swarm of the Century – A good episode, with Celestia’s reaction to Pinkie Pie being priceless, and though the episode doesn’t reach fantastic I don’t have anything to say for a negative.

Winter Wrap Up – A fantastic episode, with what is still my favourite song of the series, and the only possible negative being the odd moment from Spike (although those moments were played for laughs).

Call of the Cutie – A good episode because it introduces the Cutie Mark Crusaders though there is a key fault in how it makes no sense how Apple Bloom would not know of Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo considering there is only one school, teacher, and class.

Fall Weather Friends – A good episode with Spike and Pinkie Pie’s commentary being one of my all time favourite moments in the series (I hope we get more moments where main characters get to commentate on an event) and my only dislike centres on the fandom side of how this episode is probably what got AppleDash to be so popular (not that I dislike the pairing but it’s insane popularity does make other pairings involving Applejack or Rainbow Dash struggle to be noticed).

Suited For Success – A fantastic episode, with a fantastic song, and nothing I find too serious to point out as a negative or fault.

Feeling Pinkie Keen – A good episode, I loved seeing Twilight stalk Pinkie Pie and all the jokes that came with it however I dislike that Twilight believed in Pinkie Sense at the end rather than simply accepting that it wasn’t up to her to decide what others should believe in.

Sonic Rainboom – A fantastic episode, Fluttershy’s cheering is simply adorable at all moments (even when it becomes yelling, still cute) though the episode does suffer from the downside of being very predictable.

Stare Master – A fantastic episode, Cutie Mark Crusaders Carpenters is just a brilliantly written joke. The episode has quite a few small negatives such as the lack of Angel, the hopeful appearance of but then also lack of Zecora, and how Fluttershy proves she is good with children making the moral redundant being the minor nitpicks I had with the episode.

The Show Stoppers – My fifth favourite episode of season 1, Scootaloo makes every moment she is in rock and my two dislikes of a general lack of Rarity (we got to see Applejack reacting to the Crusaders practise and performance but I would have love to have seen Rarity’s as well) and Applejack lying (is it just me or does it seem like it would make more sense if Applejack was the element of loyalty and Rainbow Dash was the element of honesty) are pretty small.

A Dog and Pony Show – My second favourite episode of season 1, the diamond dogs are still my favourite creatures in the series, and my only disappointment was the lack of a fight (this episode felt it was the most likely to have a proper battle as it were, like the manticore battle).

Green Isn’t Your Colour – A fantastic episode, Twilight attempting to keep a secret is just absurdly hilarious, and nothing too big to write down as a fault.

Over A Barrel – My fourth favourite episode of season 1, because of the opening with Applejack reading a bed time story to an apple tree, and because of the train ride conversation, and because of Chief Thunderhooves, and because of a lot of things that I really can’t decide which is better, those three are equally rated as my favourite parts from this episode. A big negative with the episode is how the Mane 6 don’t help solve the problem, in fact they make it worse (which would be okay if the moral was that sometimes trying to interfere with another person’s problems can cause more harm than good but that wasn’t the moral).

A Bird in the Hoof – A fantastic episode, with the ‘banish you, or put you in a dungeon or banish you and put you in a dungeon where she banished you’ being a terrific moment. As for a dislike, well Philomena came across as a real jerk and faking your death to cause Fluttershy to start tearing up is just a step too far for any prank.

The Cutie Mark Chronicles – An average episode, and while Scootaloo was also awesome in this episode, as a FlutterDash fanatic, the best part for me was Rainbow Dash protecting Fluttershy from bullies and then proceeding to race to defend her honour. I’m not a big fan of the episode for how disjointed it feels and the overall moral suggests that they are together because of destiny rather than simply wanting to be friends out of completely their own choice.

Owl’s Well That Ends Well – The only episode of season 1 I consider poor as while the ‘punch has been Spiked’ was a surprising joke not much else was all that funny, Owloysius feels like a mere plot device and Spike comes across really bad for his first character focused episode (although he shared the main character spotlight in A
Dog and Pony Show with Rarity and came across much better there).

Party of One – My third favourite episode of season 1, while Pinkie Pie going crazy is an incredible moment I think my favourite part is the house-sitting for Harry the bear/collect volleyballs and play seashells part, both in its execution and when it is referred too later. Nothing to complain about this episode other than the fandom assuming that every time Pinkie Pie becomes sad her hair instantly deflates (in this case she was really sad and depressed, stop making it happen with every little thing fandom).

The Best Night Ever – An average episode due to how disjointed a good amount of the episode felt (and Twilight having barely any involvement), but there were several great moments and in particular I loved Fluttershy’s trap and evil laugh.

There you go, now you know my opinions on all the episodes of season 1. While it would have been better to do more in depth musings on each one I feel that would have taken up quite a lot of time and that it is easier to just get my point across with these shorts.

If possible I would love for you to comment and share your opinions on the mentioned episodes or even the series as a whole. It doesn't matter if they differ, I would simply like to be able to converse with others about the show. Cheerio for now.