Tag Archives: scootaloo

Cookie Fonster Reviews Every MLP Episode Part 81: Hard to Say Anything + Honest Apple

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Introduction / Navigation

< Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 >

Season 7, Episodes 8-9

Sadly, my MLP blog post series is going through the same problem my Homestuck blog post series went through in late 2016 and early 2017: I’m slow as hell and unmotivated to write them. To repeat my words from 2017: But when you’re easily distracted by certain things this kind of stops being the thing you do the most often?

Season 7 Episode 8: Hard to Say Anything

In five words: Big Mac gains love interest.

Premise: The Cutie Mark Crusaders discover that Big Macintosh has a crush and thus sneak in with him on a trip to Starlight Glimmer’s old town. They try everything to help him win Sugar Belle’s heart.

Detailed run-through:

To begin this episode, the Cutie Mark Crusaders meet up at Sweet Apple Acres and rediscover their old costumes from a talent show. They’re not the same costumes from The Show Stoppers, but they look familiar because other characters wore them in the first two seasons.

Scootaloo: Whoa, that sure is a lot of apples.
Apple Bloom: Are you making another delivery to Starlight’s old village?
Big Macintosh: Eyup.
Sweetie Belle: That’s an awful long way for a pony to go, isn’t it?
Big Macintosh: Eyup.
Apple Bloom: You’ve been going there a lot lately. What is this, your fifth trip this week?
Big Macintosh: (laughs) Eyup.
Apple Bloom: OK, well, have fun!

Starlight’s old village is very isolated from the rest of Equestria, as you surely know. It’s not connected to anywhere else via public transit, so the only way there is by hoof. This begs the question: how did Big Mac discover a mare he liked all the way over there? I’m guessing it all started with a lengthy offscreen conversation with Starlight Glimmer, where an offhand mention of eligible mares piqued his interest.

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Cookie Fonster Reviews Every MLP Episode Part 80: Parental Glideance

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Introduction / Navigation

< Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 >

Season 7, Episode 7

Season 7 Episode 7: Parental Glideance

In five words: Scootaloo meets Rainbow Dash’s parents.

Premise: While doing a school report on a pony she admires, Scootaloo encounters Rainbow Dash’s parents who discover their daughter is a Wonderbolt. They cheer Rainbow Dash on for this feat so loudly it starts getting on her nerves. But could they be in the right for doing so?

Detailed run-through:

Who doesn’t love cartoon physics?

Compared to the last two episodes, this one has a very efficient cold opening. First, the Cutie Mark Crusaders set up a crazy scooter slingshot to send Scootaloo to Cloudsdale, but right as she’s about to be launched, she realizes she could have used something safer like a hot air balloon. Doing something overly ambitious when they could have used a quick and safe alternative is the essence of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

When she arrives in Cloudsdale, the first pony Scootaloo sees is none other than Rainbow Dash’s father, Bow Hothoof. Technically, this isn’t our first time seeing Rainbow Dash’s family: that would be the flashback in Games Ponies Play, which had a stallion that viewers thought was her father. But it’s still interesting that the show took so long to introduce us to her parents. Maybe it’s because the earlier seasons portrayed her as on the move and rarely showed inside her house, or because it’s common for shows like this to introduce the main cast’s parents after doing all the obvious episode premises.

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Cookie Fonster Reviews Every MLP Episode Part 69: The Cart Before the Ponies + 28 Pranks Later

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Introduction / Navigation

< Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 >

Season 6, Episodes 14-15

Warning: this post contains the most negative review of any episode I have written thus far. The second review, not the first one.

Season 6 Episode 14: The Cart Before the Ponies

In five words: Crusaders’ sisters ruin the fun.

Premise: The Cutie Mark Crusaders participate in a derby competition where they have to build their own carts. They each get help from their big sisters, who all take over the project and make it theirs.

Detailed run-through:

After all the adult fan-oriented humor of the last episode, it’s quite the whiplash to hear a bunch of foals say “good morning, Miss Cheerilee!” Unlike in the Crusaders’ episodes of season 1, which featured tons of generic background fillies, all but one of the foals in the class is a named character, and the unnamed one is a colt with a clearly distinct design.

The class is very confused when Cheerilee tells them they’re going to learn advanced physics. Then when she says it’s going to be for this year’s Applewood Derby, they all cheer in excitement. I bet Cheerilee wrote a whole bunch of advanced math formulas on the chalkboard just as a prank to the class, so she could see their relieved and delighted faces when they learn about the derby.

I’m further convinced the math formulas were a joke when Cheerilee puts a much simpler blueprint over the chalkboard. Each of the foals in her class will be provided a block of apple wood that they have to make a cart out of in one day, and they can each choose an older pony to help them—the Crusaders all know who they’ll pick. There are three different awards for the race: fastest, most traditional, and most creative. It seems obvious which of the Crusaders would want to win each prize… right?

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Cookie Fonster Reviews Every MLP Episode Part 61: On Your Marks

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< Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 >

Season 6, Episode 4

Exactly two weeks from today, I will move out of my dad’s house and into my own place for the first time. I’ve spent much of this month preparing to move out (though I prefer to think of it as moving in, so it feels more like a beginning than an ending), and now that the date is closer, things are ramping up. Because I’m getting ready to move and preparing for MAGFest 2023 (January 5-8), this might be my last MLP post for the next several weeks. It’s likely my next episode review won’t be until January 20.

Moving into a new house is incredibly bittersweet for me. It’s an exciting and long overdue big step, but at the same time, I’ve lived in the same house since November 2012, and in the same neighborhood since March 2004—almost the entirety of the portion of my life I can remember. The neighborhood I’m moving into is only two miles away, but this will still take a ton of adjustment. And what do you know: this episode is also about adjusting to a new phase in life! Convenient timing, I must say.

Also, sorry this post was again about an hour late. I finished writing it last night, and I spent this morning copying the contents over to WordPress. Since the start of season 5, I’ve switched from writing the posts directly in WordPress to writing a Word document and then pasting the contents into here, and I always need to upload the images manually.

Season 6 Episode 4: On Your Marks

In five words: Crusaders experience post-victory rut.

Premise: Now that they’ve earned their cutie marks, what are the Cutie Mark Crusaders going to do each day? Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle have some good ideas, but Apple Bloom feels a void she hasn’t experienced since founding the group.

Detailed run-through:

The intro of this episode reminds us that even after earning their marks, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are still a bunch of goofy kids. Apple Bloom starts a club meeting, but Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are distracted admiring their cutie marks, much like a kid who won a chess tournament staring at their trophy, or someone watching in glee as their newly popular video’s views surpass a million.

Apple Bloom: Look, I know our cutie marks are amazing. But is that all we’re gonna do now? Just spend our day staring down at our own flanks?
Sweetie Belle: (sigh) I guess not.
Scootaloo: (staring at her mark) Yeah. I suppose that could get real boring.
Apple Bloom: Yeah…
Apple Bloom: (rattles her head)* This is ridiculous. We need to go out and do something.

As the firebrand spirit who got the Cutie Mark Crusaders together, Apple Bloom is reacting to victory differently from the other two. Unlike her friends, she isn’t one for stopping to appreciate her victory…

* I totally could have used the phrase “rattles her head” to transcribe Derpy Hooves snapping out of her spacey attitude in Slice of Life, rather than the clumsy phrasing I had used.

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Cookie Fonster Reviews Every MLP Episode Part 54: Crusaders of the Lost Mark

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Introduction

< Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 >

Season 5, Episode 18

Season 5 Episode 18: Crusaders of the Lost Mark

This review contains spoilers for things that happen up to the season 8 finale, and for things that don’t happen for the entire rest of the show.

In five words: Cutie Mark Crusaders’ ultimate payoff.

Premise: In the show’s third musical episode, the Cutie Mark Crusaders discover a surprising secret about Diamond Tiara’s upbringing after they made her lose a school election. This is definitely the only notable thing that happens in this episode. Totally.

Detailed run-through:

Something unique about this pivotal episode is that it was scored entirely by Daniel Ingram, the usual composer of the musical numbers. I didn’t learn that until I wrote this post, and it explains why the background music transitions so seamlessly to and from the songs. Having the same person handle the background music and songs suits this musical number-heavy episode well, setting it apart from most of the show—not that I’d ever want to discredit William Anderson for his scoring work.

Similarly to Magical Mystery Cure, this episode starts off with a musical number—technically with a few lines from the Crusaders, but set to background music that clearly starts a song. The song is called “We’ll Make Our Mark (Prelude)”, and the Crusaders sing about how they aren’t going to give up on getting their cutie marks. Something I really admire about this episode, at least from what I’ve been told about it, is that the previews and trailers made absolutely no hint at the Crusaders earning their marks, and fans were caught completely by surprise when it happened. This is a MASSIVE contrast against Magical Mystery Cure, whose previews shoved alicorn Twilight Sparkle in fans’ faces.

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Cookie Fonster Reviews Every MLP Episode Part 45: Tanks for the Memories + Appleoosa’s Most Wanted

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Introduction

< Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 >

Season 5, Episodes 5-6

Season 5 Episode 5: Tanks for the Memories

In five words: Rainbow Dash sequentially experiences grief.

Premise: When she learns that her pet turtle Tank will hibernate through the winter, Rainbow Dash tries to stop the season from happening so she won’t have to say goodbye. This matches heavily with the five stages of grief.

Detailed run-through:

Season 5 has tons of fun callbacks to early seasons, showing how far the show has come.

The start of this episode provides a snappy little recap of how the seasons work in Equestria, something we learned in two close-by season 1 episodes. Rainbow Dash notices that Cloudsdale is coming to Ponyville, meaning that winter is soon to start, and she’s super excited about this because it’ll be her first winter with Tank by her side. Season 5 has several episodes that take place a year (or maybe two) after episodes in the early seasons, and this one occurs a year after Fall Weather Friends. Or maybe if you’re willing to shuffle around the order of episodes in seasons 1 and 2 (like Winter Wrap Up and Hearth’s Warming Eve), you could argue it’s two years after? Whatever, mulling over numbers isn’t the point of these reviews.

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Cookie Fonster Reviews Every MLP Episode Part 44: Bloom & Gloom

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Introduction

< Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 >

Season 5, Episode 4

Warning you now: this review is even longer than the last one (believe me, I didn’t plan that). It’s slightly longer than that of The Best Night Ever, for reference.

Season 5 Episode 4: Bloom & Gloom

You know the drill. Cutie Mark Crusaders episode, spoilers for the big thing that happens midway through season 5.

In five words: Nightmares tease Crusaders’ running mystery.

Premise: Apple Bloom has a cyclical series of dreams where she earns her cutie mark, and nightmarish things happen each time. Luna eventually comes in to alleviate her worries.

Detailed run-through:

Over time, the Crusaders’ clubhouse has gradually gotten more decorations.

The first Cutie Mark Crusaders episode of season 5 begins with these three being exactly the same goofy kids I remembered. Apple Bloom hosts a meeting and does a roll call that the other two point out are unnecessary, demonstrating the trio’s endearing flavor of pseudo-formality that shows they have high dreams but don’t know what they’re doing. And this brings me to something I recall thinking when I first watched several Cutie Mark Crusaders episodes in the last season: are these three ever going to get their cutie marks? Season 5 has several episodes that build up this mystery before giving it a glorious resolution in an episode I plan on going through in extreme depth, like Magical Mystery Cure levels of depth if not more.

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Cookie Fonster Reviews Every MLP Episode Part 36: Twilight Time + It Ain’t Easy Being Breezies

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Introduction

< Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 >

Season 4, Episodes 15-16

Looking at the lineup of season 4 episodes left for me to analyze, here are the ones that I’m the most excited to go through:

  • Episode 18, Maud Pie (because I think Maud Pie is awesome)
  • Episode 19, For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils (because I think Sweetie Belle is cool)
  • Episodes 25-26, Twilight’s Kingdom (the absolutely epic season finale)

The rest of the remaining season 4 episodes I’m not nearly as excited to go through; I’ll have fun with them for sure, but the really exciting ones are listed above. And then when I get through season 5, I am looking forward to analyzing pretty much every episode of the season. You can expect my season 5 reviews to be some of the most long-winded ones yet.

Season 4 Episode 15: Twilight Time

As with several other episodes involving the Cutie Mark Crusaders, this one contains spoilers for midway through season 5. Also a few for the season 4 finale. Plus a bit of early season 6.

In five words: Crusaders exploit Twilight’s big name.

Premise: The Cutie Mark Crusaders come to Twilight Sparkle to help them learn skills, but they get carried away in using Twilight’s princess status to their advantage.

Detailed run-through:

We haven’t been to Twilight’s place that often in season 4. It sort of feels nostalgic being in here now.
Also, I like how this scene teases the mystery of the chest with six keys.

This episode starts with the Cutie Mark Crusaders at Twilight Sparkle’s place practicing skills they want to learn: Sweetie Belle with magic, Scootaloo with assembling a unicycle, and Apple Bloom with brewing potions. Each of the Crusaders is at least partly hoping to get their cutie mark through these activities, and they’re all reluctant to read detailed instructions. I think there’s something interesting to analyze from each Cutie Mark Crusader’s choice of activity to learn.

For Sweetie Belle, I’m not sure what the common fan consensus is on how long it usually takes unicorns to learn magic, but my view is as follows. Unicorns typically learn magic through tons of practice, and Sweetie Belle never had much reason to use magic while growing up. But now that she’s getting older, she feels that it’s her duty as a unicorn to properly learn magic, and through enough determination, she admirably figures it out by the end of this episode.

But while Sweetie Belle’s motive is to rectify her lack of a fundamental unicorn skill, the other two Crusaders are pursuing activities that relate more to their usual interests. Scootaloo wants to branch out her interest in athletic stunts by assembling vehicles on her own, while Apple Bloom, the one who perpetually flits between various interests, wants to hone in her potion-making interest a little more.

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Cookie Fonster Reviews Every MLP Episode Part 31: Flight to the Finish + Power Ponies

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Introduction

< Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 >

Season 4, Episodes 5-6

Season 4 Episode 5: Flight to the Finish

In five words: Bullying gets better of Scootaloo.

Premise: The Cutie Mark Crusaders prepare an opening routine for the Equestria Games, but when Diamond Tiara mocks Scootaloo for her inability to fly, they’re discouraged from going further.

Detailed run-through:

Been a while since we last were at the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ school.

To start this episode, Cheerilee brings two special guests to the class she teaches: Ms. Harshwhinny and Rainbow Dash. They announce that the kids may get to take a part in the Equestria Games, specifically through a competition where they each need to come up with a flag-carrying routine, and the winning team gets to perform it in the games. This is the point where I remember that the Equestria Games are the other overarching plot of season 4—the one that doesn’t involve finding the keys for the mysterious chest, that is. But those plots do intersect in Rainbow Falls, which is a few episodes from now.

Ms. Harshwhinny and Rainbow Dash play off each other in fun ways as they explain the rules of the opening routine. Ms. Harshwhinny insists on keeping a reserved, professional attitude, while Rainbow Dash can’t control her excitement and brags about the time she carried the flag as a filly, which Scootaloo of course swoons over. When Ms. Harshwhinny mentions that Rainbow Dash will accompany the winning team to the Crystal Empire, the Crusaders’ faces light up one by one. To them, this is their chance to see the place they got a taste of when Spike wrangled them up in babysitting antics! And opportunities to go such places don’t come easy for them, being fillies and all.

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Cookie Fonster Reviews Every MLP Episode Part 24: Magic Duel + Sleepless in Ponyville

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Introduction

< Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 >

Season 3, Episodes 5-6

Pointless trivia: I worked on my review of Magic Duel entirely within my own house, whereas I worked on my review of Sleepless in Ponyville entirely within a hotel room at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. Pandemic restrictions or not, I’m happy to report I had a great time at MAGFest 2022 (though as of this post’s publication, it already ended a few weeks ago).

Season 3 Episode 5: Magic Duel

In five words: Boast Busters’ much better sequel.

Premise: After getting brutally owned in Boast Busters, Trixie returns to Ponyville with a desire for revenge and a special magical amulet.

Detailed run-through:

The intro portion of this episode teases viewers with loose hints of a familiar face. A hooded figure goes to a shop to obtain a dangerous magical amulet, and while she’s denied it at first, she gets it after giving the shopkeeper a big bag of money. Trixie is a fan favorite character, so it makes sense that her return would start off subtle.

After this, we get a scene of Twilight Sparkle practicing her magic skills much like she did at the start of Boast Busters, showing that she’s sharpened her magic prowess since then. She uses a magic spell to levitate Fluttershy’s animals in a gentle looping formation, keeping them calm and happy despite Fluttershy’s extreme nervousness. Again like Boast Busters, this scene shows that Twilight takes great pride in her magic skills. Twilight then mentions Celestia hired her for the entertainment in an upcoming special event. She’s clearly referring to magic tricks here, and that was the one thing Trixie thought she was so good at.

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