Season 4 Episode 1 & 2 Discussion

Best... apprentice... ever...

 

Minor nitpick: Pinkie's twitchy tail means something's going to fall from the sky, but this time, a branch came thrusting through the window.

 

I didn't even notice the twitchy tail.

 

Well, we only saw the tail twitch, but it could have been part of a combo.
Something like, "tail twitch plus itchy nose means, 'duck.'"

 

There are a few ponies that look like Derpy, but only one real Derpy Hooves.
Accept no substitutes.

-Edit-
The pony in that picture is called Orange Box. She's appeared in three episodes.

 

I definitely enjoyed the episodes a lot! There are a lot of things that have me wondering, but all of them have been covered already. I was also confused by the use of dark magic on the potion to make it work. Twilight has used dark magic as both a unicorn and alicorn, Celestia has used it as an alicorn, and Sombra has used it as a unicorn. So it seems really inconsistent on if there's a certain type of pony that can use it exclusively.

If this were an episode of Storage Wars: Equestria Edition, one of three questions I have got answered. The questions being who gets the box? The other questions left unanswered are what's in the box? How much is what's in the box worth? I'll be curious to see how they go about finding keys for the box, and then seeing what's inside. I'm sure they'll each have a personal challenge akin to what Discord did for each of them, which I think would be awesome to see the challenges the writers can come up with.

I thought the Harmony Tree was a unique idea. I can definitely see that being a majorly exploited weak point at some point in the future. As was touched upon already, Discord sowing the seeds of his namesake to mess with the tree was a cool idea. Sort of like a nature against magical nature effect. Speaking of Discord, I was so happy to see him return again. He's by far one of my favorite characters on the show.

One of the things I've read that hasn't been mentioned yet, is some people feel the mane 6 were dumbed down a bit in this episode. I can kind of see this to an extent, but I don't think it was obvious enough to completely detract from the episodes.

The one thing I'm not looking forward to is the new villain that was shown in one of the ads. If they get a really awesome script to work with, then I might change my mind. Based on just appearance though, I wasn't impressed. They'll likely be in the Power Ponies episode, now that I think on it. If more villains do get introduced this season, I hope they're done well.

 

So I thought the new animation style was awesome, and very much appreciated the subtle things, like Twilight's wings folding in at the end of part 1. I truthfully thought it would give the show that little recognizable shot that tells you this is here to stay for a good long while. Just the small fresh Ideas.

Now otherwise I have to say the writing was great, discord showed his "reformed-ness" Quite well in convincing Twilight to go back (in his own weird way of course.)

I LOVED CELESTIA VS NIGHTMARE MOON! The transformation sequence was phenomenal I loved the sounds and everything I have watched that 50 thousand times. Luna's eyes flashing white when she was yelling at Celestia, the transformation and Celestia's scream when she was hit by Luna's magic, made me believe it hurt. Twilight's crying was just heart wrenching, as was Celestia's as she had to blast her own sister away to the moon. I loved it. all of it.

As far as Twilight's use of dark, Magic, I think it's a possibility to anypony gifted enough that has a horn, therefore Twily CAN use it, but I do not think that Alicorn magic is dark in nature, I think that possibly Twilight just knows instinctively when to use dark magic now that she has learned it, we do know her to be a habitual studier. So I just think it's a matter of being taught, and/or gifted enough to use it, to be able to tap into that, would take something totally different than what the average unicorn would have.... Just my thoughts.

I enjoyed the rest of the Mane 6 but did expect this to focus on Twilight at least for the first episode, but I was not disappointed at all, every other character got enough screen time for me. Considering I expected Twilight to be the focus and she was. Also Discord was awesome.

9.5/10

 

That was pretty nice. The pacing felt better than that of the other two-parters, Celestia had some really cute moments with Twilight and Discord singing was funny.

I have yet to see a good quality version of the intro, but what little I did see, I liked.

So, Twilight is so distracted by her wings that she forgets that she also has a horn at her disposal? Huh... makes sense, I guess. Poor girl was never good at handling stress.

The box at the end... I can't say I really cared much for it. There wasn't enough information to spark my interest other than it just being there. So yeah.

Ah, so that's why it was so important for Twilight to get back the crown despite Celestia being able to keep Equestria peaceful for a thousand years without the Elements all by herself. With all the weird things that happened just in the last few years, Celestia must have expected that all of them would soon be needed to revitalize the tree. Clever.

I didn't quite get why Celestia acted as if this was the first Summer Sun Celebration after Luna's return. Luna has been back for some years now. Did Celestia just skip the last few festivities? As this day also marks Luna's return, that seems quite unlikely to me.

 

The writers have been very clear on the fact that the episodes have not been in chronological order.
If you remember the end of Magical Mystery Cure, Twilight Sparkle said that she had moved to Ponyville "a little while ago."
That leads me to believe that the events of the first three seasons all took place over the course of less than a year.

 

Seeing how season 1 started with the Summer Sun Celebration and season 4 did so too, I'd say the events of Season 1-3 took place over the course of a full year, probably.

Anywho, liked the episodes, exceeded most of my expectations, Discord was lulzy as always, and it was nice seeing what happened in the past. Looking forward to the next episodes!

 

I thought that this only applied to the first season.
Also, with the weekly friendship reports, the season 2 episodes set on various holidays vaguely corresponding to real life holidays in real-time (if I remember correctly) and various other episodes with events that at least suggest specific time periods they had to to have taken place in, I find it hard to believe that the whole series up to this point has taken place within a single year.
Where is a timeline when you need one?

 

Watched each ep 3 times already (plan on going for 4th time before new episodes).

Very interesting episode. For once, we get to see how Luna becomes Nightmare Moon and the banishment, which was epic.

And learn just how much of a jerk discord really used to be U.U;;...but now he's like a cool jerk isn't he. XD

 

I watched them and I loved it.

 

[YOUTUBE]27PydomerjM[/YOUTUBE]

 

It was easily the second best two-parter. I loved how it expanded on Equestria's history with the flash backs (even if they made the battles a little short), and expanded Discord's character by showing he has no intention of giving up his mischievous nature after his reformation. Although I have to say, I'm going to miss the elements. Those were some of the coolest pieces of jewelry ever.

 

"Hey Twilight, drink this mystery liquid and you'll see all kinds of cool stuff."

"uhh ok, sounds legit."


Lol, couldn't help but think just how sketchy that scenario was. Anyway, it was a pretty interesting episode albeit somewhat predictable. Discord's brief appearance was welcome, and I'm pretty sure everyone got their wish satisfied in the beginning scenes where Twilight was learning how to use her wings/dealing with her new 'Princess' status; not to mention moar Luna and the cool flashbacks giving us more insight into the lore and history of Equestria.


I like.