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Season 7, Episodes 11-12

Whew, I finished this post the day before I leave for Eurovision 2025! And after I come home, I’ll be preoccupied making a video about the trip, then a pair of blog posts reviewing the contest. I’ll review the non-qualifiers in the first post and the finalists in the second, as per usual.

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Season 7 Episode 11: Not Asking for Trouble

In five words: Yaks are being needlessly stubborn.

Premise: The yaks have returned! Pinkie Pie is sent on a mission to Yakyakistan which gets buried amidst an avalanche, but the yaks refuse to accept external help to solve this mess.

Detailed run-through:

To begin this episode, Pinkie Pie sprints across Ponyville screaming “oh my gosh” over and over, because Prince Rutherford, the leader of the yaks, invited her to an event called Yikslurbertfest (inspired by Oktoberfest?) in Yakyakistan. Rarity asks what in the world Yikslurbertfest is, and Twilight Sparkle apparently knows it’s a sacred yak holiday. I’m a bit surprised Twilight knows it, but also can see why: she probably read it in the pony equivalent of a Wikipedia spiral, which I guess is a regular encyclopedia spiral.

Pinkie Pie claims she subtly hinted to the yaks that she wanted to attend this event, which means she sent a huge amount of letters begging for her to go. Twilight Sparkle officially declares Pinkie Pie the friendship ambassador to the yaks, and then Pinkie sets out for Yakyakistan.

It’s bittersweet to see Gummy now, because he reminds me of my toothless cat who I had to put down in February.
Rest in peace, Mini.

Pinkie Pie sees the yaks smashing logs to pieces and thinks they’re having a fight of some sort, but in reality, destroying logs is a cultural tradition for them. This is symbolic of… well… dang it, I’m stumped here.

You know what? Instead of trying to analyze yak culture, I’ll discuss why they aren’t a good addition to the show. Let’s compare them to other non-pony species in the show. Dragons, changelings, and griffons are all gradually introduced to the show starting with a token character who’s friends with the main cast—Spike, Thorax, and Gilda respectively. Yes, I know changelings debuted in season 2, but the first one to befriend the main cast didn’t exist until season 6. The additional dragons bring out something new in Spike’s character, and same with the changelings for Thorax. The situation with griffons is a little different, because Gilda only speaks in two episodes, but the griffon characters always have an interesting dynamic with our pony friends. On the other hand, the yaks are just sort of dumped on us and don’t bring out anything new in our core cast. Not even Pinkie Pie, the main one who interacts with them. They only exist for us to learn occasional friendship lessons, I guess. It gets a little better when Yona is introduced, but the fact that the Student Six member is the most interesting yak character isn’t a good sign.

If you’re mad at me for bashing on the Student Six, I have a disclaimer in the miscellaneous notes.

I’m also not sure what the point is of the scene where Prince Rutherford says Pinkie Pie destroyed a sacred artifact, then reveals that was just a prank. I think the scene is supposed to show yaks can have a sense of humor, but it’s at odds with the rest of the episode where they take everything dead seriously.

If Pinkie Pie’s hooves struggle to destroy a simple stick and easily damage a yak house, then how do the yak homes stay intact each day? I think the episode can’t decide if it wants to portray the yaks as competent at what they do or not. Uh, what’s next… this is yak X, X where yaks Y… more smashing logs…

… okay, NOW something happens. And that something is an avalanche that buries the entire yak village in snow. Pinkie Pie asks the yaks if this is a normal occurrence and they refuse to admit it isn’t. The yaks claim that they’ll be able to dig through the snow all on their own, and Pinkie Pie and Gummy assist them with her cartoon physics and his elastic tongue respectively.

OK, but I do love the gag where Gummy swallows a ball of snow. How can you not love this alligator?

This screenshot is exactly 11 minutes in.

We’re halfway through the episode and it’s almost impressive how little has happened. Pinkie Pie visited the yaks, they got buried in snow, they refuse external help, and then 30 seconds ago Prince Rutherford said that if Pinkie Pie gets the rest of her friends to help clear out the snow, she can leave Yakyakistan forever. Basically a natural disaster happens, then Prince Rutherford invents a forced conflict. I think this is pretty much an irredeemable episode, but it took me analyzing it in depth (or attempting to) to realize that.

What’s even worse is, the adult yaks seem to not care at all that these two little yaks are starving. Do Rutherford and his crew even know these kid yaks exist? And why do the adult yaks maintain their composure when eating snow while the kid yaks starve? This episode makes no sense. Pinkie Pie’s next idea to change Rutherford’s mind is to tell a story with a moral at the end.

Pinkie Pie: Pink pony has gathered you around the new ceremonial yak firepit, to tell you a story. A yak tradition, right?
Yaks: (chatter in agreement)
Pinkie Pie: This is a story about a group of… uh, goats! Who live in the desert. There was a sandstorm and their entire village was buried in sand.
Pinkie Pie: There was nothing they could do. They knew they could not survive on only eating sand… wiches. Get it?
Yaks:
Pinkie Pie: Okay. Anyway, finally, the goats’ brave, wise leader—let’s just call him Prince… uh, Drutherford—decides that they couldn’t do it by themselves, so he asks the neighboring town of, uh… Bovineville to come help them. Yeah, cows!
Pinkie Pie: The magical cows helped the goats, everyone survived, and lived happily ever after.
Pinkie Pie: Because they asked for help. The end!
Yaks: (cheer)
Pinkie Pie: So what is the moral of that story? Is it: A, asking for help is okay? B, asking for help saves the day? Or C, asking for help is good for everyony?
Prince Rutherford: D, goats weak and horrible. Magical bovines need to stay out of goats’ business.

If you try to change someone’s mind using an analogy, typically one of two things happen. Either they will insist it’s not the same thing, or they will apply their current opinion to the analogous situation. Prince Rutherford chooses the second option, which is the more frustrating of the two because it means he simply isn’t interested in changing his mind. It would be more interesting if he insisted the analogy doesn’t apply to him, because if you’re lucky, someone insisting the analogy isn’t the same will eventually start thinking and change their mind. Perhaps if he said something “snow edible, sand make yak’s teeth hurt, so story does not apply to yaks”, that would’ve shown a crack in his stubbornness and paved the way for a proper resolution. But no, the episode doesn’t want to make the yaks interesting characters.

Pinkie Pie claims that the rest of her friends would love to try some snow sandwiches, then they could help the yaks clear the snow. Prince Rutherford responds with a totally 100% real story about the time he was stuck in a hole for an entire winter and survived. Pinkie Pie is quick to notice contradictions in the story—for example, how did Prince Rutherford breathe when the hole was covered in ice?—which does not make the viewer like the yaks any better, especially their leader. So then, her honorary yak status is officially revoked because… she noticed contradictions in a story he told? Weird, I didn’t know yaks were this petty.

To be fair, there could be some truth in Prince Rutherford’s story, because he and his crew do not seem to be getting any hungrier the day after the avalanche. He says that snow sandwiches have lost their novelty and their next meal will be snow couscous, which implies that maybe Rutherford really does survive without eating. Now the part about breathing under ice, I’m not so sure about. Maybe Rutherford was exaggerating a little bit.

Spike’s chair is empty. I wonder what he’s doing?
Wait, I’m pretty sure the writer just forgot he existed.

The Mane 6 agree that what they need to do is clear out all the snow without the yaks noticing. That seems fine and all, if it weren’t for a major problem: if the yaks never learned that the ponies helped them out, they’d have believed the snow magically disappeared because the yaks are so strong-willed, and then they’d repeat their mistakes in the future. Did Pinkie Pie and her friends really not think that far ahead? Normally they’re all about teaching others friendship lessons, but the yaks would’ve learned nothing if the ponies’ plan went as intended.

I’m starting to get annoyed by these montages in the late seasons that all use the same generic background music.

The ponies sneak into Yakyakistan, and then comes the usual montage of unicorns (and to a lesser extent pegasi) being overpowered. I mean seriously, not only can Twilight Sparkle and Rarity lift huge chunks of snow with their horns, Twilight can even use magic to grow a garden. The yaks can only dream of having such superpowers! I’m pretty sure that in the Generation 5 shows, growing plants becomes an earth pony ability instead.

Prince Rutherford claims that all the snow melted because the yaks waited patiently, and I guess he thinks the decorations and plants appeared out of thin air. The other yaks concur with him because why would he ever be wrong? Unfortunately, Rutherford catches a glimpse of Pinkie Pie leaving Yakyakistan, which is weird because it implies the Mane 6 slept there overnight even though they had no need to. But I get it, it’s necessary for the plot.

Pinkie Pie: We didn’t help fix Yakyakistan, no, no. We’re just here for the snow sandwiches. But then we got here and the snow’s gone, so we thought we’d hit it down here on our way back to Ponyville. Bye bye!
Prince Rutherford: Wait! Yak not mad at pink pony.
Pinkie Pie: Yak not?
Prince Rutherford: Pink pony help yaks without yaks asking. Means pink pony understand yaks.

You know, the moral of this episode isn’t actually too bad. Prince Rutherford’s positive reaction to finding out the ponies helped him is a bit of a surprise, but it proves that it always feels good when someone helps you out of a tough situation. This in turn tells viewers that they shouldn’t be resistant to letting others help them, which is a good thing for anyone to learn. It’s too bad this had to be done entirely through contrivances.

And so, Pinkie Pie gets her honorary yak status back. Which is weird because it happened only because Rutherford caught a glimpse of her leaving Yakyakistan, so it doesn’t really feel like she earned the status back. But at least it’s nice to see the ponies do something nice for the yaks for once. Now let’s hope the yaks eventually do something nice for ponies in return.

Overall thoughts:

Yeah, this episode isn’t good at all. Pretty much nothing happens for the first half, then a set of contrivances happens so that the ponies can teach the yaks a lesson. The yaks are arbitrarily stubborn and don’t accept the ponies’ help, until they abruptly change their mind at the end, and that’s all because of a coincidental glimpse at Pinkie Pie. Plus, the yaks are insufferable throughout most of the episode even though the ponies hold them in such high regard. It has a decent enough moral at the end, and a few good cartoon gags like pretty much any episode, but there’s little good to be found here otherwise.

Grade: F

I think this is the first episode I gave an F that I didn’t expect to originally. And only the fourth F I’ve ever given—a pretty good track record!

Miscellaneous notes:

• Since I mentioned the Student Six and am not too far from their debut, I should say when I reach their episodes, I’ll keep an open mind and try my best to see the positives in them as characters. The good thing is, there’s one episode focused on them that I love, and it’s The Hearth’s Warming Club. And most of the others focused on them, I don’t remember that well anyway.
• The magical cows make me wonder… why did humans never invent winged cows or pigs with horns, or any other farm animals? Why is it horses that play such a role in mythology? Maybe we humans are just predisposed to think horses are cool, I suppose.

The next episode is quite a bombshell, and the next two after that are even bigger bombshells.

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Season 7 Episode 12: Discordant Harmony

In five words: Discord tries to become normal.

Premise: Discord invites Fluttershy for tea at his place for the first time, but he worries about how Fluttershy will perceive him, so he tries to make his house as normal and un-Discordy as possible.

Detailed run-through:

See the miscellaneous notes for my thoughts on crustless sandwiches.

This episode begins with Fluttershy and Discord having fairly shippy tea times (though the pillow with their faces is more than “fairly” shippy), and unlike the last few episodes that opened with them having tea, it’s not interrupted with an announcement of something totally different. This proves that the episode will put their relationship front and center.

Discord: Can I trouble you for another sugar cube?
Fluttershy: Oh no. I’m so sorry, but I seem to be out.
Discord: Well, I can just pop us in some more.
Fluttershy: Oh, that’s alright. I need to go to the market anyway. I had to restock my pantry for our tea party next week.
Discord: Oh, I never realized how much work you put into hosting these tea parties.

Discord is surrounded by evidence of the hard work Fluttershy puts into hosting the tea parties, but it’s perfectly believable that this didn’t dawn on him until now. He’s almost like a child who never realized the hard work his parents go through, because that’s how all children act. Not to say Fluttershy and Discord are like a mother and son—they’re practically a romantic couple in this episode. But even then, it’s just as common to not realize how much hard work your romantic partner does. I think they’re at a point where they aren’t officially dating, but clearly have feelings for each other, and some might say they’re dating in all but name.

Evidence of this lies in the Fluttercord pillow that catches Discord’s eye. We don’t know where Fluttershy got this pillow from, but it’s a strong clue that she has romantic feelings for Discord. The episode doesn’t outright state they have feelings for each other, but it gives lots of implications that they do, which is normal at this stage of a relationship.

Discord struggles to think of an idea for how to return the favors Fluttershy has done for him, then his clone suggests to him that he should host the next tea party. Discord tells Fluttershy he should host the next tea party, to which his clone says that was his idea. He starts to panic about the troubles of hosting a tea party, then decides he has to leave.

I love the detail of Angel rowing a boat using a spoon.
Well, technically it isn’t a boat, but a carrot bowl.

Fluttershy’s house turns into a mess and Discord cleans it up with a snap of his fingers, saying the following:

Discord: There you go. Back to normal, just the way you like it.

This line is a clever bit of foreshadowing of what Discord intends to do with his home: make it as normal as possible for Fluttershy. It’s the kind of foreshadowing you’ll only notice upon a rewatch. He zaps in the scene one last time and leaves, which causes Fluttershy to do a romantic giggle. I’m not an obsessive Fluttercord shipper or anything, I just can see the signs of a fictional relationship in the making.

I find it funny that all the ponies are now unfazed at Discord being Discord. Even the ones that have probably never met him.

Discord sets out to prepare a tea party for Fluttershy, which makes for a perfect way to dig into his psyche. It’s not often we see an episode told from Discord’s perspective: the only others beforehand that I can think of are Make New Friends but Keep Discord, and to a lesser extent Dungeons & Discords.

In this scene, it’s made clear why Discord doesn’t spend time around most other living beings. They all don’t get what kind of guy he is, so he prefers the company of the only draconequus he knows, which is himself. He likes to make analogies literal, so when he talks to himself, he’s not just monologuing, but conversing with a copy of himself that is still part of his own soul. The one thing better than talking to yourself (I do it all the time) is talking to a different person who gets you, and for Discord that can only be Fluttershy. Maybe to a lesser extent, his O&O clubmates Spike and Big Mac.

Now Discord does something unusual for him: he explores the outside world and goes shopping. He is absolutely shocked by how normal everything is.

Discord: Excuse me. Is this where Fluttershy usually buys her tea?
Salespony: Why yes, it is.
Discord: Oh, wonderful! I’ll be enjoying her company tomorrow, so I will be needing your very best tea. Please, something specially special.
Salespony: I’m sure Fluttershy would enjoy some of our rose hip green tea.
Discord: Oh, interesting. Does it decorate your hips in roses or turn you green?
Salespony: Uh, neither? It just tastes good.
Discord: How boring. Pass.

I think Discord explores the outside world so little that he still expects all other ponies to have the same kind of brain he does. He refuses to understand that most ponies like things normal and probably thinks the Mane 6 are exceptions. To him, there’s no point in having hundreds of types of tea if they only differ by taste.

Discord then gets gin sing tea and thinks that the tea can sing. When he’s told the tea still just tastes good, he snaps his fingers and makes the packets sing.

Discord: Singing gin sing! I’ll take it.
Salespony: Are you sure you’re friends with Fluttershy? You seem so very different from her.
Discord: Well, of course we’re friends. She gets me, and you obviously do not.
Discord: (mocking) “Are you sure you’re friends with Fluttershy?” Why, the very nerve.

Discord may be reformed, but he’s still a jerk and/or trickster to anyone who isn’t Fluttershy, and I like that he’s characterized this way. To him, there’s no reason to be kind to ponies who aren’t as kind to him as she is. That said, it’s easy to see why he would be offended by this line. “Are you sure you’re friends with Fluttershy” implies that Discord doesn’t understand what friendship means, or maybe even that he has a poor memory. I think he’d have been less offended if she said “are you really friends with Fluttershy?”

Discord is also a jerk to the clerk pony who sells teapots: he gets absolutely offended when she questions his friendship with Fluttershy. He sees a teapot that only pours tea, then Discordifies it by giving it some wings. What I like about this episode is that even though it’s his most sympathetic portrayal in the entire show, he’s still a jerk to strangers whether he realizes it or not.

But he’s not enough of a jerk to shoplift, thankfully. In fact, he gives the clerk pony a generous sum of bits. This proves he really is trying to be a good guy in this episode.

Next up, Discord shops for some party supplies. First he makes a piñata able to sneeze, then he turns a lava lamp into a miniature volcano (see the miscellaneous notes), and afterwards he encounters some napkins and he ponders on how to chaotify them.* I bet most viewers struggle to think of a way to make napkins more Discordy, but he finds a way. First he makes them glow, then he makes them fly, then he makes them fold by themselves. This scene proves he’s a natural at making things chaotic, and not just for villainous reasons. His magic can make any event more exciting, as we saw in Dungeons & Discords. I wonder if he could spice up the Grand Galloping Gala with his magic, if he’s invited every year?

* Don’t you dare tell me “chaotify” isn’t a real word. Don’t even think about it.

I love her overflowing cart of party supplies.
She needs these, how else will she prepare for Tender Taps’ cutie-mark-iversary?

Discord encounters Pinkie Pie in the shop and seeks advice from her. She suggests that he make Fluttershy feel comfortable in his house, which should be easy for him. Sounds like pretty good advice, right? Well, as we’ll see later, it almost gets Discord killed, so thanks a lot, Pinkie Pie. Actually, it leads Discord to learn a friendship lesson, so I’ll give her an unironic “thanks a lot” instead.

Pinkie Pie: Excuse me! Where can I find the glowing, flying, self-folding napkins?

This silly line has some implications regarding a potential Pinkie Pie/Discord friendship. Even though the Mane 6 member he’s closest with will always be Fluttershy, I think that once he’s settled into friendship with the rest of them, he should totally plan a party together with Pinkie Pie. Her reality bending powers would make a great match with Discord’s powers, which are also reality bending. But he would need Fluttershy by his side in order to restrain him.

What’s your favorite part of Discord’s living room? Mine is the donut tire swing.

And now we enter Discord’s house for the second time: the first was in Make New Friends but Keep Discord. Taking a look inside his place, he’s now faced with a dilemma: is this somewhere Fluttershy will feel comfortable?

Discord: Maybe I just need another set of eyes. What do you think?
Discord 2: (gasp)
Discord: That bad?
Discord 2: No, worse. Fluttershy would never be comfortable here. What have you done?
Discord: I was trying to make the tea party different and special, like me. But all I did was make it chaotic and weird, like me. What if those ponies at the tea shop and china shop were right? What if Fluttershy sees how crazy this place is and realizes how different we are, and then doesn’t want to be friends anymore?

It’s pretty interesting to see Discord of all characters go down a spiral of what-ifs. This goes to show that even though he’ll probably never be 100% reformed, he’s reformed enough to worry about how his closest friend sees him. What he’s feeling is a perfectly realistic worry about when a friend enters your house for the first time. The fact is, if your friend doesn’t like the real side of you, then they’re not a real friend to begin with.

Discord and his clones gradually clean up his house and take out anything Fluttershy may not like, such as stairs that go nowhere or the lack of gravity. Even though Fluttershy doesn’t need everything on the floor, since she’s a pegasus. It’s her wings that help her re-Discordify his house. Soon enough, his house becomes completely normal and he’s proud of the result.

Don’t ask me why his clones are carrying cell phones or where they came from.
Actually, where the phones came from is easy, it’s his magic.

Discord’s next step is to give himself a makeover in order to impress Fluttershy, which is very believable for someone who wants to leave a good impression on his maybe-girlfriend, and shows how much their relationship has blossomed. When I call her his maybe-girlfriend, I don’t mean I’m unsure whether they’re in a relationship, but that they aren’t sure whether they are. That’s the stage their relationship is in. It’s actually interesting to have the male character fret over how he presents himself, because more often it’s female characters who concern themselves with making a good impression. He goes on to practice some small talk phrases for Fluttershy, then remarks that for the first time in his life he feels completely normal. That’s just in time for Fluttershy to arrive.

Unlike that brave mail pony, Fluttershy didn’t go on a grand journey to Discord’s place.
He simply zapped her in.

Fluttershy: Discord! I’m so excited to finally see where you live.
Discord: Greetings, friend. Please do come in.
Fluttershy: I can’t wait to see how, uh… oh.
Discord: Is something amiss?
Fluttershy: Um, no, no, not at all. It’s just… not what I expected. It’s quite… lovely.

Because she’s good friends with Discord, it’s only natural that Fluttershy gives him the benefit of the doubt at first, or at least tries to. She can’t keep up the act for too long, because this is so completely unlike him.

Discord: I think you’ll be quite pleased with the green tea I’ve selected for us today.
Fluttershy: Ooh! Does it actually turn us green? Is it really envious of the other teas? What’s it do, what’s it do?
Discord: Well, it tastes delicious.
Fluttershy: Oh… okay.

I love this passage because the roles of Discord and the normal pony who likes normal things are swapped here. It’s a nice little callback to the salespony who says that her tea just tastes good. It shows that Fluttershy can practically read Discord’s mind, and that Discord has completely transformed into a normal guy. Her ability to predict what Discord is thinking is borderline shippy, but it could just as well apply to close friends or family members. It’s also the point where Fluttershy fully accepts something is off.

Fluttershy and Discord have a boring conversation about the weather, then Discord presents her with some milk toast. I thought this was just a pun on the slang term “milquetoast” which means boring and inoffensive, but I looked up milk toast and apparently that’s a breakfast that was popular a century ago and a little less popular now.

Discord tries to lift a teapot but then something crazy happens: he starts to fade from existence, beginning with his left hand. This is a shocker moment that leads to one of the most lowkey unsettling things the show has ever done. If he fully faded away, this wouldn’t be your usual death, but a full erasure from existence.

As Discord continues to fade, Fluttershy panics at first but quickly comes to a conclusion: he’s the Lord of Chaos and thus he’s losing the essence of what makes him him. Thus, she needs to make the house more chaotic to stop Discord from existing.

Some viewers theorize that Discord is only pretending to be dissipating from existence, in order to teach Fluttershy a lesson. I’m in two minds about this theory, because knowing other episodes this is absolutely something Discord would do, but… would he do this to Fluttershy? To any other character, sure, but I cannot see him fooling his maybe-girlfriend into thinking he’s dying.

Fluttershy tries to do something chaotic to bring back Discord, but she’s never done that before so she isn’t good at it at first. She tries tipping over the cup and taking one bite out of every sandwich, but he just continues to fade. He even loses his ability to snap his fingers, and his fingers instead just creepily intersect.

So now, Fluttershy has to think on her feet—sorry, I mean think on her hooves—and chaotify the house as much as she can. She starts by finding as many reflective objects as she can to make mirror images of herself, then pretends to have a conversation with them as Discord would with his clones. It’s not enough to reverse the fading, but it provides her some inspiration.

Fluttershy moves furniture together to build a staircase that leads nowhere, though it’s not recognizable as a staircase until she puts a rug on top. This is what leads Discord to start un-fading. This is the classic trope of making a character remember who they truly are by doing something they would, which never happens in real life but is fairly common in cartoons for some reason. If there’s any character in MLP it makes sense to do this trope with, it’s probably Discord, because of his crazy powers and unexplained origins.

I have some questions about how Fluttershy is able to nail the furniture to the ceiling all on her own. Is she secretly really strong, or does the furniture consist of chaos magic, or is her determination to save Discord so fierce that it turns her into the Incredible Hulk? Well, she’s turned into Hulk before, but this time she’d only be a Hulk on the inside. And how can the nails hold the funiture up when they don’t even go through the ceiling? Maybe I can chalk that up to Discordy magic.

In any case, the upside-down furniture serves works as the second step to restore Discord. He looks heartwarmed to see someone behave as chaotically as him. She had never been to Discord’s house before, but she has exactly the right idea of what his place should logically look like.

Fluttershy: And he’d have a chaise lounge that would actually chase you, because he’s funny like that!

Is there anything more romantic than mentioning all the subtle things you love about someone? Well OK, a kiss or a fancy dinner together is more romantic than that, but you know what I mean. Again, it can apply to a close or longtime friendship as well, but they’re definitely being shippy in this scene.

There’s only one draconequus who can make this idea into reality. Upon hearing the suggestion, Discord snaps his fingers and becomes fully restored. He takes a few more proposals to re-Discordify the place: singing gin sing tea and lack of gravity.

The background music changes to “touching friendship lesson” music right…

Fluttershy: Now this is exactly what I was hoping for!
Discord: This is what you were hoping for?

… HERE! (right when Discord begins the next line)

Discord: But this is the complete opposite of your tea parties.

And my god, it works like a charm. It’s a bit of an abrupt transition, but it works so incredibly perfectly, because the friendship lessong here feels so earned.

Fluttershy’s view of Discord is one of true love. She likes him for who he really is, not for who she wishes he was. If you have a crush on someone solely because there’s a cool and amazing person you wish they were, you’ll keep getting disappointed because they aren’t really that person. There’s a crucial difference between in-love-ness and true love.

Fluttershy: I wouldn’t expect you to throw a tea party the way I would. We’re different!
Discord: I know. I was afraid that if you saw exactly how different we are, you wouldn’t want to be friends anymore.
Fluttershy: What? Why would you ever think that?
Discord: Because… you and I don’t make sense to anypony else.

Discord is worrying about and concerning himself with how others see him? Now that’s a brand new side of him that could’ve only been unlocked via Fluttershy. He’s very particular with who he’s willing to befriend, but his heart is open to her.

Fluttershy: That may be true, but we make sense to me. I never would have thought to make singing gin sing before I met you.
Fluttershy: You opened me up to so many more possibilities and impossibilities. So I guess what I’m trying to say is, I like you because you’re so different from me.

D’awww. How romantic can this episode get? Well, promoting them to an official couple would be more romantic, but the show goes by just fine without that. Fans are going to ship the hell out of them either way.

Discord: You do?
Fluttershy: Of course I do, silly! And besides, what’s Discord without a little chaos?

It’s super believable that Discord was unaware of how much Fluttershy loved him for him, because that’s very typical for love interests. In actually healthy relationships, that is.

Discord takes off his suit and glasses, briefly reveals a Fluttershy costume underneath, and so the episode ends almost where it started: some proper Fluttercord tea time, but this time at Discord’s place. A well-earned conclusion for a surprisingly emotional episode. At the final moment, a circle closes in on them laughing together.

Overall thoughts:

Given the prominent role Discord has played in the show ever since reformation, it’s only natural that he would eventually get an episode where he tries to become normal. He’s a stubborn and mischievous guy, so the only character that could possibly make him reinvent himself is Fluttershy. This episode does a great job not only tackling the premise of “what if Discord was normal”, but also advances his relationship with Fluttershy in the process.

This episode also does a great job with its moral, which can be summed up in two words as “be yourself”. This isn’t the only episode with a message of this type, but I think it’s the best one that does. There’s no better character than Discord to have a “be yourself” episode about, since he’s so weird and zany. Overall this episode does a fabulous job with many things at once: expanding Fluttershy and Discord’s relationship, exploring what would happen if Discord became normal, and telling the viewer to embrace who they really are.

Grade: A

I admit, this is an episode where I had to think for a bit before giving it an A. But it’s surprisingly sweet and unexpectedly emotional, so yes, it deserves that grade.

Miscellaneous notes:

• The beginning of the episode with the crustless sandwiches has me thinking… if the crust is really that much of an issue, then it isn’t a good sandwich to begin with. In an ideal sandwich (or pizza for that matter), the crust should add to the experience, not detract from it. Sandwiches with zero crust are also annoying, because the crust is there to stop all the ingredients from slipping out.
• In Discord’s shopping cart, an animation error messes up one of the gags a little bit. First there’s a mini-volcano in his cart, then the zoom-in shows a lava lamp, and then Discord snaps his fingers to turn it into a volcano. It should’ve been a regular lava lamp until he snapped his fingers.
• I wonder if there’s an alternate timeline where the Mane 6 (or some other set of heroes) defeated Discord by forcing him to act normal until he fades from existence? That would be a more disturbing (and irreversible) way to defeat him than turning him into stone.

If you thought Fluttershy and Discord were a perfect pair, then wait till you hear about the pair we’ll learn about in the next episode. Oh yes, we’re about to reach my favorite episode of the entire show.

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I go on a trip starting tomorrow, so don’t expect my next MLP episode review to come out just yet. But I promise you, the next one will be a doozy and a half. Wait no. Approximately a thousand doozies.