So, it's that time again: Season Four of My Little Pony! Review of Episode 3 (contains spoilers.)

[profbutters]

I haven't done the season premiere yet, and I'm not sure I'm going to commit to every single week, plus the market is FLOODED in those analysis videos. I'm not even going to try to compete with that.  I don't even want to.

But so far, the season is looking good!

[Here be spoilers]

I have to say that I adored Rarity in this episode.  It was really nice to see the girls broken down into Rarity/Fluttershy and Applejack/Rainbow Dash.  I don't mean that in a shippy way. It's just that we haven't really seen those particular friendship pairs in a long time, and particularly with Rarity and Fluttershy, it helped underline that they are friends and why they are friends. Did you notice that even though Rarity didn't exactly get Fluttershy's panic about Angel and Fluttershy didn't quite get Rarity's passion for antique textiles, they were at least understanding and supportive towards each other?
I also loved it that Fluttershy didn't seem particularly panicky for herself, or at least not more so than anybody else.  She was entirely worried about Angel.  And Rarity was so focused on those tapestries that she simply didn't have time to be scared (except for that scream of horror when she saw she'd ripped something.)
I didn't quite appreciate it until I saw it a second time, but the idea that history makes you learn things and keeps you from panicking and that it is worth preserving in its cultural and literary forms?


Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot and I thought it made up for the sort of obvious Scooby-Doo-ish-ness, which is fine with me anyway.
The journals are obviously a transition away from the "Dear Princess Celestia" format, which is also fine with me. I'll be curious to see what they do with that.
Also, calling it now: Shadow Pony is something real.  When has Granny Smith ever been wrong about old legends?

Also, evidently Meghan McCarthy tweeted something joking about Rainbow Dash wanting Applejack under her hoof or something and shippers and non-shippers alike freaked completely out.  Meh.  In the first place, there didn't seem anything particularly romantic to me about that kind of dare.

Unless, of course, you find this kind of thing romantic.

Click to view

And in the second place, everybody knows that's just a tease, so there's no need for anyone to get all excited and upset about it. I don't really ship ponies, and I only object to stuff like Spike and Rarity (he's a baby dragon, and word of God says he's around eight or ten years old).

Anyway, enjoyed it a lot, and based on the titles and the synopses, the next few are really going to be something to look forward to!