Third Prances Are Perfectly Okay, Though [SPOILERS] (Also some updates and side notes) · 7:20pm May 6th, 2016
So having finally watched the episode... it was pretty good. Not great, but pretty good, and really underlined how far Starlight and Twilight have yet to go. She's still early in her reformation, and Twilight may want to trust her, but there's still that voice in the back of her head wondering if Starlight is really going to come around. And I liked that. It'll be interesting to compare this to other episodes later down the line, and see if Twilight ever reaches a point where she can laugh easily at Starlight's "I used to be an evil dictator" jokes. Also, if Starlight can laugh at them, too, for that matter.
I really enjoyed the opening act, with Starlight visiting each of the Mane 6 sans Twilight, to ask for their advice on making friends. Something about it was just really nostalgic to me. It also highlights, though, that Starlight definitely still has that 'magic first, questions later' instinct, and still keeps trying to change ponies to appeal to what she needs rather than meeting them halfway. Hopefully this will be addressed better in a later episode.
Also, that bit with Angel Bunny was hilarious.
Oh, and I suppose Trixie was in this episode. 
While I am still not a fan of Magic Duel, and regard Boast Busters as merely okay, (though rather nostalgic) I really liked how they used her in this episode, as a seeming counterpoint to Twilight and yet supportive of Starlight in only the way a fellow ex-villain could achieve. (I have a mental image of Twilight and Trixie playing tug-of-rope, with Starlight as the rope, though. Both had some moments of dickishness at Starlight's expense.)
I wish Hoofdini had been an Earth Pony.
The ending surprised me, actually - I was expecting the drama in the trailer to have all been staged by Starlight and Trixie to A: Convince Twilight to reconsider her position on Trixie, and B: get some low-key revenge on Twilight in a much less harmful way, getting some closure from previous incidents without resorting to drastic, outright evil measures.
The ending we got was kinda dark, but okay enough, I suppose, if a bit more straightforward than I was expecting. (Though why was Fluttershy of all ponies afraid of the Manticore?) That being said, I feel that making Starlight's upset with Trixie a genuine thing makes the episode stronger overall, and makes their reconciliation more meaningful. So I don't mean this as a knock against the episode at all when I say I wished there had been some sort of sleight-of-hoof going on at some point; it's more that it would have made the episode better in my eyes, rather than the lack of such dragging it down. Overall, I think my biggest gripe with the episode is that Twilight felt like she was trying to impress Celestia more than actually teach Starlight.
Oh, and Celestia! Even if she said nothing, I'm just really happy that her existence was actually acknowledged.
Overall, I give this episode a tentative 5/5 Silly Conical Cannon Hats.
So I've been going through some older threads in the Lunaverse group in an attempt to locate a certain picture someone linked on there.
I forgot how much of a pain in the rear I was back then.
Pretty Much Good To Go
The Atlantis Scenario (Chapter 2)
Sirens In The Distance (Oneshot)
Needs Editing
Fluttering, Shimmering (Chapter 1)
Harbringers (Chapter 1)
Temptation Waits (Chapter 2)
Needs Rewriting
-
Needs Finishing
Lunch Break (Oneshot) ~40%
The Shore Of Infinity (Chapter 1) ~33%
Contrast (Prologue) ~52%
Of Responsibility (Day One; Afternoon) ~15%
And updates. Not much of note here, but I looked at Temptation Waits and realized I already did the rewriting I needed to at some point. Huh.
Really? I can't say I recall that ever being the case... then again, I can be a pretty big pain in the rear myself sometimes, so maybe I just never noticed by comparison.
3924965 I was a bit of an attention hog at the time. Or at least, that's the way it looks to present-day me.
Heh, you were fine.