Going back to the show after 3 years and a half [3/26 episodes watched from Season 7]

In April 2017, after watching Celestial Advise, I said that I stopped watching My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, mainly for three reasons:
 
-Fatigue, exhaustion and a huge disconnect to the fandom due to some disagreements  
-I didn’t like most of the creative decisions made in season 6, especially the stuff related to the changelings, Chrysalis, Pinkie Pie and Starlight Glimmer  
-I didn’t like Starlight
 
At the time, the only thing I cared about MLP was the 2017 film. I watched in cinemas and I loved it so much that one year later I went back to the same cinema and watched it twice (three times in total). That movie made me appreciate MLP in a way that I went back to love my favourite characters. Now, after 3 years and a half, I decided to give the show another chance. A chance to go back and finish the last three seasons of the show. For two reasons:
 
-I’m more calm now than I was back in 2015 and 2016, where I was annoyed by many episodes I didn’t like. If I watch an episode that annoys me or angers me, I’ll take a different spin on it because constant negativity is tiring and unhealthy. Outrage without direction doesn’t lead to a solution. As HelloGreedo once said: “So you didn’t like a thing? Cool! Make some goofy videos making fun of the thing you don’t like, make a video essay or write a blog entry about why you didn’t like the thing, in detail, and have fun with it and get creative. […] Accept that you’re not going to love or even like everything”
 
-In 2018 I’ve watched the fourth Equestria Girls film, and that movie made me appreciate Sunset Shimmer. A lot. She became from one of the most boring characters in EG to one of the most likeable and fun characters in MLP overall. This week I thought “Maybe Starlight would have an episode in the last three seasons that would make me appreciate her”.
 
Although that’s gonna be insanely hard for her, because Sunset Shimmer, in her four movies, didn’t have a moment like this.
 

 
If this experience happens to be somehow annoying, I’ll drink some beer. With that said, let’s have some fun. 26 episodes from season 7, another 26 from season 8 and the last 26 episodes from 9. Hopefully I’ll finish this before 2021.
 
If you happen to have finished the show or you happen to be bored due to the quarantine and the COVID-19 pandemic, consider this a playground to have fun and remember the good episodes and the good times. I’m just doing this for fun, after all.
 
So, Celestial Advise. So the first image we see-
 

 
I’m gonna grab some beer.
 
Ok, I have a couple of things to say.
 
-Is it me of are the episodes getting slow? The reason why I ask is because most of the things that the characters were saying were either redundant or unnecessarily slow.  
-All bottled up, aside from the fact that it sounds like a fanfiction, I would have like it in another character and from another angle that doesn’t involve magic. I believe you can tell a story about anger or controlling it properly without associating it with magic. Putting your hoof down talks about being assertive and the consequences of being extremely assertive without using magic. So why would you use magic this time? Because you wanna make Starlight so powerful that she can canalize dark corrupted magic everytime she gets angry?
 
So know you have an unstoppable unicorn that:
 
-Can take off other cutie marks  
-Manipulates other ponies for her own benefit  
-Can make a time travel spell not only once, but many times  
-Can go so fast that we can see two Starlights, kinda invalidating Rainbow Dash’s unique skill to go fast  
-Can create dark magic to manipulate other ponies and make them bad everytime she gets angry
 
And people ask me why I don’t like anime, superhero stuff and power fantasy.
 
Speaking of that episode, I think we have the equivalent of Every little thing she does for Trixie. In season 6, we have an episode where Starlight ignores her friendship homework to do what she wants, ignoring the consequences. In season 7, we have an episode where Trixie ignores her friendship homework to do what she wants, ignoring the consequences.
 
Congratulations, DHX Media, we have two psychopaths instead of one. And one of them has learned real magic in ten seconds instead of giving her some time in the learning process.
 
Way to go. xD
 
-On the other hand, A flurry of emotions happens to be the best out of the first three episodes. An episode about Twilight and Flurry Heart sounds like a good episode and a type of story we haven’t seen in the show, and it is. The story is decent, the episode wasn’t slow and the jokes are funny, especially the gallery art, definitely my favourite part of the episode. It reminds me of not only the gallery art scene from the 2012 film Skyfall, but it also reminds me of the works from the art school where I studied. I think I like this one much more in comparison to the other two episodes because it shows a constant contrast in design or character dynamic for comedic purposes or character development, like Flurry being a little yet so powerful alicorn (that is funny), the dinamic between all the characters, especially Twilight and Spike; and Twilight trying to be patient with Flurry and learning from her mistakes.
 
I guess the only two problems I have with this episode are, one, this frame:
 

 
At least it’s one frame. xD
 
And two, wouldn’t have made more sense if this episode was from season 6? I mean, you have introduced Flurry Heart in the first episode of that season, you would expect an episode dedicated to her. Why would you wait until the next season when you decide it’s the best moment possible to have an episode dedicated to the little alicorn? I don’t get it, maybe it was too late for season 6 in terms of pre-production or production, maybe they have mixed things up, who knows.
 
But overall, it was a decent episode. A very decent one. I wouldn’t mind watching it again with better image quality (I’m watching 360p videos to give you an idea).
 
-As a final thought, I really really don’t like all the narrative attempts to glorify Starlight and Trixie and make them look like the good girls. I don’t care too much about Discord or Thorax, but I dislike the fact that Twilight sees her as a student and as a friend. I dislike the fact that there was a whole entire ceremony dedicated to these two, including Celestia as a guest. I don’t like the fact that Discord refers to Starlight as “student of the year” or “she has so much potential”. I’m not into the fact that someone like Starlight and Trixie got a medal. I’m assuming many fans have watched that episode many months after the previous season finale. In that time, you only have an abstract idea of what kind of pony Starlight was. I’m saying this because it’s pretty easy to think she’s good and to sing “Friends are always there for you” while you forget what she did in the past and what she did in Every little thing she does. She’s a manipulator psychopath.
 
We could say the same thing about Trixie. It’s pretty easy to say that in No second prances she was questioning Twilight’s decisions to judge her, that Twilight was mean to her, while you forget that she did pretty obvious evil things in season 3.
 
 

 
It’s really weird to defend or even admire someone like that.
 
You could argue that “she saved Equestria”. Yeah. But in order to do that, the writers made the Mane 6 completely useless and defenseless in a point of the show where they can practically defend themselves and they drastically changed the cool design of the changelings, like the writers were objetivists. It’s like “oh, you want an episode of Applejack? Great, but the episode has to have a very boring concept”. “You want an episode of Rainbow Dash? Good, but she has to be mean the entire time”. “You want Starlight to be relevant? Ok, but we’ll make the Mane 6 defenseless and we’re gonna change the changelings”. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was another episode where, in order to make Starlight look good, Twilight has to lose her reading skills and Starlight has to help her.
 
I’m saying this because I don’t want that her ultimate redemption (if there was one in these three seasons) happening in exchange of another thing from the show just to make her look good. If you have in your story decent and likeable characters, you’re gonna be fine. That’s why I really like the Flurry Heart episode.
 
If these three seasons are gonna have this specific tone and context, a tone where the main focus is Starlight, a supersticious tone where every single character in the entire Equestria glorifies her and says only good things about her and where you won’t hear a second opinion or they won’t question her attitude and her decisions, a tone where Starlight has to look good at whatever cost in terms of consistency, narrative, retcons and story… I’ll probably be clutching the Mane 6, the first seasons, the IDW comics and the 2017 film even tighter.
 
My original plan was to watch 6 episodes today and keep watching these everyday (or at least the days where I can watch 6 episodes each day), but I got some issues with the wifi, so I watched 3. I’ll try to watch the rest of the episodes and updating this topic.
 
But, yeah. Three episodes down. 73 to go.
 

 
Love and take care everyone.

All Bottled Up doesn’t really glorify Trixie and Starlight. It intercuts a song where the mane cast sing about how they’re such good friends, with Starlight’s emotions wreaking havoc because she’s pissed off at Trixie. It ends with her having to learn a lesson.
 
Starlight’s powers basically never solve a conflict in this show. They’re not really setting her up to be unstoppable.

Today I’ve watched two more episodes: Rock Solid Friendship and Fluttershy leans in. I wanted to watch more, but I have some wifi issues.
 
The Fluttershy episode was cute, but I think it was kinda boring. Some jokes were fine (especially that bear cleaning itself xD), but It was very predictable. Probably because I was assuming the type of ending it would have: They finally did it after some disagreements. I would have loved the episode if it was more unpredictable.
 
Then we have Rock Solid Friendship. It’s essentially what you’d expect from a 22 minutes with Pinkie Pie: Lots of screams, disturbing faces and no charm. With an extra dip of Starlight Glimmer. Wonderful, classy.
 
What bothers me was actually two things:
 

@gingerninja666
 
I can’t think of one StarTrix-centric episode that really “glorifies them,” ultimately, considering how their character flaws are prominent basically every time.
 

 

 

 
That isn’t what the flashback actually said.
 

 
“Store” ≠ “Extract”
 

 
I’ll say that Philweasel’s comment on this was correct, but I’ll add on my take: Starlight is, in the end, probably a desperate introvert-leaning pony, in some ways. The reason ELTSD happened was doing things with others she didn’t know well caused her to freak out, so she fell back on something that was in her comfort zone.
 

 
That kind of dialogue goes back to her villainous mindset, and it shows that character is still there on some level, under it all. She still on some level fears abandonment, she fears being judged, and so she’s telling Maud that she can relate to her, trying to show empathy to her, in this scenario.

@AC97  
About Rock solid friendship, I’d agree with that if it wasn’t for the fact that Starlight, an unicorn that was manipulating other ponies to do what she wants (and I’m assuming one of the desires, including taking out the cutie marks, is to not judge her), was saying that she loves things or ponies that don’t judge her, especially is she has the power, the magic, the spells and the skills to repeat that process. It’s literally a powerful videogame character in a television show. It’s really insane.
 
I can see that dialogue in a vulnerable character. Someone who suffered constant bully, someone who isn’t appreciated because of other ponies who judge her for her looks, someone to laugh at, someone who was insanely lonely. I can see that in Babs Seed from season 3 and Diamond Tiara from Crusaders of the Lost Mark. I don’t see that in someone like Starlight.
 
And about ELTSD, baking a cake can be hard, but that’s not a reason to make her doing the complete opposite thing she said she wanted to do (during the ending of season 5 and the first half of season 6, I must add). If she had the ability to control, manipulate and maintain a whole town, she wouldn’t find scary something as mundane as baking a cake with a new friend.
 
I would have liked that episode if, instead of doing things with magic like an anime/weeb main character, she tries to get along with Twilight’s friends until she eventually starts losing her patience. Then, she would learn that she’s not patient and she needs to have patience with other ponies. You don’t need magic, you don’t need power fantasy, you don’t need a “Twilight VS Starlight” scene, you don’t need contradictions, you don’t need to ignore character arc… you just have an interesting plot.
 
I’m not mad at this because at least I have my favourite MLP episodes. And at least I really like the Flurry Heart episode. I think the season 7 will have some episodes like that.
 
Besides, outrage without direction, just plain anger, no matter how justified it can be, doesn’t lead to a solution.

@Ring Team  

 
…That rock was for storing cutie marks not for extraction. this is just embarrassing, man.

@Ring Team
 
Starlight’s whole motive is that she became evil because she was traumatized by her best friend going away. She spent years not making any other friends because she was terrified of them leaving her too. When she created her village, she had to completely dominate them and take away everything that made them special, just to create an environment in which she could never be hurt again. The only thing her village baked were these terrible, almost inedible muffins.
 
Her needing to bake with Pinkie Pie is a completely different situation. She’s no longer the dominant party in the relationship. She needed to be the one listening to Pinkie, following her advice, and letting herself make mistakes. Since her fear is that when someone is better than you at something you no longer see eye to eye, I get why that would cause her stress.
 
You focus in on her power so much when it only ever causes her problems. Even that Twilight vs Starlight scene was Starlight manipulating Twilight to keep her from noticing that she’s lagging with her friendship lessons.
 

 
Starlight is a vulnerable pony (at least in her mind). For all her power, she’s pretty melancholic and terrified of her relationships with her friends. Her acknowledging why Maud likes rocks, because rocks bypass this whole rigamarole of other ponies being mad at and potentially judging you, is just her being empathetic and trying to form more of a bond with Maud. She’s not saying she doesn’t want to be friends with ponies anymore (she’s saying this to get closer to another pony who could, theorhetically hurt her one day after all), she knows she has to get better, but she can see the appeal because of how she thinks.

@Ring Team
 

 
Just because you have great magical power doesn’t mean you’re not emotionally vulnerable, as gingerninja said. Discord is probably another example of this, in more than one case, even if he’s noticeably more abrasive than Starlight is.
 
@gingerninja666
 
At the best of times, Starlight’s magic is secondary to solving a given friendship problem (A Royal Problem, where the ponies in question still had to reflect on the matter, which wasn’t forced along per se), when it’s not causing it outright, not helping, and/or making it worse. S7 has multiple examples of this. Someone can fixate on “Starlight’s a pretty powerful pony” all they like, and be within their rights to do so, but the show never distanced itself from that line of thinking with Starlight, from S5 to S9, pre-reform or post, and I feel it’s missing the point to not see it that way.
 
You said it pretty well, all-in-all.

@gingerninja666  
@AC97  
Yes, Discord is extremely powerful. But it’s because he’s a different creature, he’s visually weird, he can do chaotic things, he’s an ancient creature. We was the only character who had this type of power, but it only uses it for unpredictable jokes. I think the only moment where I find his emotional side logical was the ending of that episode from season 3. It made sense because Fluttershy was becoming his first friend.
 
Starlight is a unicorn, but she’s somehow more powerful than an alicorn like Twilight, like taking out her cutie marks. I cann see that in a new weird creature, but not in a OP unicorn.
 
And now that you mentioned Discord, here’s another thing: it’s very weird that the Mane 6 as well as the entire Ponyville are completely supersticious about her. In Rainbow Rocks, every single student gave a bad look at Sunset Shimmer because of her previous actions in the first EG film. That makes total sense.
 
In seasons 4, 5 and 6, nopony trusted Discord because of his previous actions in many of his appearances in many episodes (the Mane 6 gave him her “I don’t trust you” looks). That also makes sense.
 
In Luna Eclipsed, everypony is afraid of Luna because of her previous actions in season 1. That’s understandable.
 
So… every single character is ok with someone like Starlight after her previous actions, including manipulating towns and trying to destroy the world by time travelling? Really? That’s… weird, to say the least.
 
And about “Starlight is emotionally vulnerable”, I’ve read that type of excuse in many anime shows. I’ve read that in Sword Art Online (Kirito) and I’ve read that in One Punch Man (I don’t remember the name of the bald guy). Yeah, Kirito is an OP hero inside a videogame, but he’s emotionally vulnerable. Yeah, the bald guy from One Punch Man is powerful, but he wanted to live a normal life. There’s a contrast between the power fantasy and the personality of the characters that hinders the narrative.
 
The specific weaknesses Starlight has in many episodes don’t sink up with the rest of the character. It’s just a convenience in service of her, not in service of the show.
 
Besides, I’ve been out of the “power fantasy” wagon for many years that action and fantasy films are boring to me. I love a character more when he or she has to put more effort into overcoming a problem or conflict.
 
She’s not a perfect character, but I’m the type of fan that:
 

@Ring Team
 
Starlight doesn’t really beat Twilight in a straight up fight at any point. She caught her off guard in Cutie Map, they fought to a draw in Cutie Remark, in a fight that Starlight had more time to prepare for, and in ELTSD she was explicitly trying much harder than Twilight was because she was trying to impress her.
 
You keep insisting that she’s a power fantasy, but many of her fans don’t like her because she’s strong. Her strength causes or exacerbates problems. I feel like you keep ignoring this fact. Her magic doesn’t let her easily solve conflicts because the vast majority of the time she doesn’t encounter problems that can be solved with magic.
 
Her flaws are mostly consistent. She overreacts to problems, she’s very “woe is me”, she’s neurotic about her relationships with her friends, and she often misses the point in her attempts to fix things.
 
And are you saying that a story is weaker if a physically strong character has emotional vulnerabilities?

@Ring Team
 

 
She ran a cult that Ponyville residents wouldn’t know about generally (seriously, ponies can be rather ignorant, even aside from what they decide not to tell them about), and how many characters know about the time travel (which since you worded it as “tried to destroy the world,” I can’t help but get the impression you’re either arguing in bad faith, or your bias is coloring your recollection, considering her intentions weren’t that), again, beyond the Mane Six and Spike? Didn’t the timelines cease to exist basically?
 
Since you brought up Sunset Shimmer (who I find problematic/uninteresting in that she had any real moral struggles erased by the second movie, unlike both Discord and Starlight, who had to deal with their negative tendencies rather consistently; the conflict isn’t about Sunset changing, Rainbow Rocks, it’s about her proving to the world she’s already changed offscreen, already became an ideal person), the Mane Six in either world are quite forgiving, as long as you’re not going out of your way to antagonize others, which I feel plays a large part in how Discord was treated by them, because he absolutely does that, and even then…
 

 
…she has had people react negatively to her using magic, multiple times, in S6, sometimes more than once in the same episode (with Applejack getting pissed at Starlight over what happened with Big Mac), and/or she’s ended up regretting doing that herself.
 
That’s not typically a trait of a stereotypical “power fantasy,” because any “flaws” don’t meaningfully hinder the characters in those types of stories so they have to fix their problem, or at least they’re not called out properly, as being a bad thing (I’ve seen the former two happen in bad fanfics), whereas Starlight’s do.
 

 
…what are you trying to say? Starlight’s flaws do sync up with her as a character. She’s been influenced by her anger in a way that clouds her judgement (S5, No Second Prances, All Bottled Up), she’s shown difficulties with truly understanding the viewpoints of others, and she doesn’t always think things through (S5 [as effective as the plan was, not thoroughly looking at what the consequences could be, which is part of why she flipped out], S6 [just look at the initial plan to destroy Chrysalis’ throne that fell apart], S7), which are all portrayed as flaws that she needs to overcome.
 
@gingerninja666
 
I’ll also note that Twilight was caught off-guard at one point in Cutie Re-Mark, where she was hit because she carelessly had her eyes closed while talking to Spike about finding Starlight, and Starlight ended a fight at another point by dodging a crystallization spell directed at her… which hit Rainbow Dash.
 
I’m really not convinced she just had to be more powerful than Twilight to put up a fight against her, considering the latter doesn’t seem to be that skilled at combat. She never once got through one of Twilight’s shields, for instance. Starlight’s reflexes seem to be consistently better than Twilight’s.
 
And I think it’s looking like they’re saying that internal conflict makes for a weaker character, if they’re powerful. …I’m not sure.
 
(also on the note of “physically strong,” Starlight can still be easily defeated in a physical fight, if she gets hit first, for all of her magical power; she is a Squishy Wizard unicorn, not an alicorn with super strength and/or durability)

I recently watched the next episode, Forever Filly.
 

 
It was like Sisterhooves Social but with a twist. In that episode from the season 2, Sweetie Belle wanted to spend some quality time with Rarity even though she’s busy. In this episode, Rarity wants to spend some quality time with her sister while thinking she’s still a very little pony. I liked that episode because it was relatable not only to young people, but to older brothers as well. Most of the stuff Rarity says are lines we occasionally have heard from adults such as “Oh, you were so little I didn’t even see you!”. My mother usually says “I thought you love Christopher Nolan!” and I always said “Yeah, I did”. Nolan right now to me is a convenient film director, no matter how much I love Memento.
 
I also like the character design in this episode, mostly the sculpter filly and the other filly who loves her dog. I really like her voice. Correct me if I’m wrong, but did she appear in the Filli Vanilli episode, with that little filly having a birthday party or something and flying with her little wings?
 
Even though I love the concept of the episode, the second half of the episode was boring. Whenever I think of Sisterhooves Social, I remember the funny moments, the whacky moments, the emotional moments… This episode has very little of that. I also find the CMC without Sweetie Belle kinda passive. In almost all CMC episodes we have these three little ponies doing wacky and different stuff to make a very entertaining episode, like the beginning of this episode, with the CMC doing downhill with that huge rock. That didn’t feel right in the second half.
 
I think I would have loved Forever Filly if Rarity was more extreme and Sweetie Belle was more annoyed by her actions, kinda like that Steven Universe episode with Sadie, her passion of singing and her mother.
 
Overall, it was good but the second half was boring. Better than nothing. If I have more time, I’ll watch more episodes today.

So, after two long months, I decided to watch Parental Glideance, hoping I’d finish the season 7. And it was pretty good!
 

 
When I finished watching Sleepless in Ponyville back in 2012, my first thought was “we need an episode about Rainbow Dash’s parents with their daughter and Scootaloo”. This episode took a different spin on the concept that I ended up liking: The support Dashie receives from her parents might be too embarrassing. If you didn’t like the episode, it’s because you don’t have parents like Dashie has. But I’m assuming this is one of the favourite episodes in season 7, right?
 
The story is pretty decent, with a pretty funny opening that reminds me of the cheat codes from GTA San Andreas. Remember those? I also like the fact that this story started this way to go on and becoming an episode about oversupportive parents. I think it was in Dashie’s room where I thought “Oooh, I feel sorry for her”. Nobody is that detailed. So I like that. I think I didn’t mind the plot was a bit predictable because I was interested in what Rainbow Dash has to say about this.
 
I like some of the funny moments, particularly the animation and the facial expression. It’s really funny. I also find Rainbow Dash pretty relatable in this episode, even in the scene where she loses it. You can see her anger, you can understand her frustration, you can empathize with her.
 
The only thing I didn’t like about the episode is that the ending might be too corny. However, I’d say one detail about the ending I love, and it’s the fact that Dash’s parents said that her apology was too embarrassing. I love that detail.
 
By far, my favourite episodes in season 7 are A Flurry of emotions and this one. I think I like more the Flurry Heart episode because it’s more balanced and the characters are more relatable and more likeable. The only major problem I had in that episode was that it should have been an episode from season 6, not 7. But yeah, these two episodes are my favourite right now in this season.
 
Can I say how refreshing it is to see a My Little Pony episode where Rainbow Dash wasn’t incredibly mean? I usually dislike these episodes, and this one, even though she loses it in one scene, it wasn’t in the entire episode. Remember Tank of Memories where Rainbow Dash denies her turtle needs to be point where she destroys Cloudsdale? Remember Rainbow Rocks, where she was possesive and mean during the entire film except in the last 15 minutes? Remember 28 Pranks later, where Rainbow Dash scares Fluttershy even though she was told back in season 1 that she was too sensitive? Most people are fine with this type of attitude with Rainbow Dash, but I don’t, it’s the total opposite of loyalty. So I really like that detail in this episode.
 
But, yeah, one good episode. 7 out of 26 episodes watched.

 
Are you actually kidding me.

I’ve watched more episodes from season 7 and I’m about to watch Fame and Misfortune, but I’d like to talk about two specific episodes: Discordant Harmony and Perfect Pear.
 

 
The Discord episode is pretty decent. Before watching it, my first thought was “ok, Discord will learn how to be himself, but is this gonna be funny and inventive?”. And, thanks to some little genuine touches on animation, it is. And I appreciate it, because he was kinda boring in Celestial Advice. Every five seconds something happens that was made by Discord, something chaotic and random. And this episode is filled with small funny details. And we also see Discord’s houce in his weird dimension. Back in season 5, my first question was “why don’t we see this dimension very often?”. And this episode shows his house and it’s as weird ad him and his dimension or physical plane or whatever it is.
 
And it’s kinda cool to see why Discord likes being chaotic. Let’s face it, we don’t know too much about Discord, so what happens in this episode explains why he’s like that, and it was kinda cool.
 
The only nitpick I have with this episode is that the first minutes of this episode were very slow and less funny than the rest of the story. The water punchline was very predictable and I wish the first scene was faster or funnier. But I think most people would agree this is a pretty good episode. And it’s also nice to see Pinkie Pie not acting or screaming like she consumed some drugs.
 

 
Perfect Pear might be the answer to most people who asked “what happen to Applejack’s parents?”. Back in season 3, in Apple Family Reunion, someone from the animation team said in Twitter or somewhere that the two stars from the ending were represented as Applejack’s parents. And that’s it.
 

 
And, even I was ok with that, I was a bit curious for one reason: The writers of the show don’t know how to write romance. We’ve seen a boring romance in Equestria Girls, in Rainbow Rocks, in Simple Ways, in Legend of Everfree even though I like that movie… But yeah, boring romances. What kind of romance do the writers have this time? surprisingly enough, Applejack’s parents are very cute together. This episode seems to be the first one in the show to have an actual nice romance. And the song is great. It’s pretty nice to hear a song like that in the show. The ending is also very cute. Not the tree, but the return of one of the members of the Pear family. I think it was cool to see someone like that pony to say sorry and apologies.
 
The only problem I have with this episode is that, as much as I like watching Applejack’s parents, I wish the story was told by one pony instead of many ponies. I think just one pony was more than enough as someone representing a narrative to tell the story. Having many ponies can be tiring. Which one would I pick? I don’t know, but I’d say the Pear grandpa because, for him telling a story like that, his apologiez would be more satisfied. He could say sorry for not seeing the pure love his daughter felt for Applejack’ father that he sees now. It would have been nice.
 
However, that’s a nitpick. It’s pretty nice to watch two very good episodes in a moment where I have conflicting feelings about season 7.

@AC97  
Interesting perspective on Starlight’s character.